House Passage of Health Care Reform Now Appears Imminent by Gregory Hilton
The American people are the clear losers tonight. There were excellent alternatives to improve health care but the Democrats were not interested in compromise. Democrats admit the bill costs at least $1.3 trillion but they still say this will reduce health care costs. Speaker Pelosi and her allies are creating a bureaucratic beast that will end the American health care system as we know it. It will kill millions of small business jobs at a time when our nation’s unemployment rate has exceeded 10%. It will also cut Medicare, pile massive debt on future generations, and increase costs. Our health care system does need revamping, but we do not need to reinvent the wheel.

Book Review: “My Boyfriend’s Back: 50 True Stories of Reconnecting with a Long-Lost Love” by D
As a New Yorker and Rudy Giuliani fan I was fully prepared to dislike this book, but I ended up enjoying it. From 1994 through 2001 the author was First Lady of New York City. She and Giuliani were married for 18 years and had two children. She was the lead anchor for the 10 p.m. news on WPIX Channel 11 for much of the 1980s. She previously was an anchorwoman in Miami and also appeared on the syndicated Wall Street Journal Report. Donna Hanover and Mayor Giuliani had a public and messy divorce in which she refused to move out of NYC’s Gracie Mansion. The theme of the book is encountering the romantic past, and many of the couples had not seen each other since high scho

Global Warming: Why is Al Gore Refusing to Debate? by Gregory Hilton
Al Gore has avoided debating global warming since the release of his 2006 Oscar-winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.” In a rare move yesterday at the Society of Environmental Journalists he took half a dozen questions from reporters. He was asked to address the nine major errors in his film identified by a British court in 2007. The journalist had his microphone cut off by the moderators. Gore once again avoided having to defend many of his absurd claims such as sea levels rising by 20 feet. Most scientific studies say a worse case scenario is 8 inches. The UN IPCC says 17 inches over the next 100 years. Gore predicted cap and trade will pass the Sena

What I Learned From My High School Reunion by Gregory Hilton
This will surprise some of you but I actually did graduate from high school. My class reunion is this weekend but unfortunately I am stuck in a basement in Georgetown. I sure wish I was back with the old gang at Byram Hills High School in Armonk, NY. I received several wonderful letters from former classmates and so many of the people I really want to see are participating in the three days of activities. I have not seen 95% of them since graduation. I feel awful but Facebook has somewhat lessened the blow. While I am not there in person, I have been communicating with many of them via FB, e-mail and the phone. The result is that wonderful memories have come flooding bac

American Troops Are Coming Home From Iraq by Gregory Hilton
After a year in Iraq the 250 soldiers of the 146th Signal Battalion came home to Jacksonville, Florida today. They suffered no casualties. They faithfully answered our nation’s call and the U.S. mission to foster a free and secure Iraq is almost complete. Our troops pulled back from all of the Iraqi cities and towns in June. The tremendous change was demonstrated this week when Prime Minister Malaki announced his unity slate for the January 16th elections. It includes Sunnis, who turned on al-Qaeda, Kurds, tribal leaders, religious minorities and, of course, the dominant Shi’ite’s. The campaign will be difficult and the opposition National Alliance could wi