Free Republic

Day 2 and the controversy heats up: Did Big Guy play golf or go shootin’ on his birthday? First, some information on background: Despite being surrounded by well-equipped Secret Service agents at all times, BO insists on packin’ his own: Oh yeah; it’s big. It’s black. It’s powerful. It’s Barry’s Black-Barry (BBB), and it’s smokin’ hot. BBB allows him to shoot off important text messages at any time:    After handling another crisis, Big Guy returns his piece to its holster: For an experienced shooter like BO, there is no doubt in my mind that he could squeeze in both...

Senseless advice and nothing nice; that’s what little-girls-in-combat policy is made of. The obvious has already been said about placing women in front-line combat positions. Their presence will reduce unit cohesiveness; male soldiers’ natural instinct to protect women will influence battlefield decisions; there will be the problem of sexual impropriety within the ranks and of rape when women are captured; women will have more trouble measuring up to the physical and psychological demands of battle; special accommodations will no doubt be made so that women may tend to feminine concerns; and, as the high pregnancy rate aboard naval vessels has...

With California mandating that 33 percent of electricity be generated from renewables by the end of the decade, there are 227 proposed solar projects in the pipeline statewide.. Coupled with wind and other renewables they would generate enough electricity to meet 100 percent of California's power needs on an average summer day... Developers are flocking to flat farmland near power transmission lines, but agriculture interests, environmental groups and even the state are concerned that there is no official accounting of how much of this important agricultural region's farmland is being taken out of production. Planning department records in four of...

Duke Energy will close two of its oldest coal-fired power plants, Riverbend west of Charlotte and Buck in Rowan County in April, two years ahead of schedule. Both plants date to the 1920s and had been planned for retirement in 2015. They’re among a wave of older, smaller coal plants closing down rather than investing in new pollution controls to meet federal environmental regulations. The plants had been little used in recent years as larger, more efficient plants came online and falling natural gas prices shifted generation to gas. ....

| A previously unidentified man who was caught attempting to enter Germany last month with a check worth about $70 million in his baggage has now been named. On Sunday, the German weekly newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported the well-heeled mystery man was the former head of Iran’s central bank, Tahmasb Mazaheri, according to the Associated Press. On Friday, the German customs agency issued a statement saying that on Jan. 21, its officials at the Duesseldorf International Airport found the check for 300 million Venezuelan bolivars issued by the Bank of Venezuela in the luggage of an unidentified 59-year-old man....

Three newsworthy statements were reported over the past week that present a disturbing pattern for me.  President Obama’s ambitions for fundamentally transforming the United States of America are well underway and it appears that resistance, challenges, and obstacles to the program are becoming societally unacceptable. During his usual post-tournament conference, professional golfer Phil Mickelson commented on the personal effects to his affairs from accelerated government spending by the California and U.S. governments; "If you add up all the federal and you look at the disability and the unemployment and the Social Security and the state, my tax rate's 62, 63 percent. ...

A Lexus drives down the eight-lane highway outside Palo Alto, California, in heavy traffic. Except for the rotating cylinder perched on its roof like an oversized tin can and the word "Google" on its doors, it looks like any other car. In reality, though, it's a search engine on wheels. The Lexus steers itself down the highway by itself. The man in the driver's seat -- Dmitri Dolgov, software engineer, never actually touches the wheel. Dolgov explains what the car can do, which turns out to be quite a lot. It can steer, accelerate and brake automatically; it surveys its...

U.S. drivers are now paying more to fill up their gas tanks than they ever have at this time of year. The national average price of retail gasoline posted its biggest overnight increase in 23 months, rising four cents to $3.462 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA. The average price has risen 13 cents in the past week, a 4 percent jump. "This is the highest price record for February 1st," says OPIS analyst Tom Kloza, who predicts the average price could reach $3.50 a gallon this weekend. "Refinery issues and speculation about refinery issues has a lot of...

Utah Governor Gary Herbert Utah Governor's Office Phone: 801-538-1000 Toll Free: 800-705-2464 Open: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Utah Governor Gary Herbert criticized efforts to oppose federal firearms restrictions and declared that Utah will obey federal gun control laws. Utah Governor: "Utah Will Adhere to the Law" and Obey Federal Gun Laws The New American 03 February 2013 As courageous state legislators enlist in the fight to repel the federal government's assault on the Second Amendment, the governor of one western state is telling a liberty-minded state representative to stand down. Governor Gary Herbert of Utah recently called a pro-gun...

When I was in grade school, I remember going to birthday parties at the local bowling alley. Before the games would begin, the workers would install bumpers inside the gutters in order to prevent gutter balls and avoid "failure." When I was growing up, it was common for sports teams to award trophies to all the players so no little kid would have his or her feelings hurt at the end of the season. Today, there are school districts which no longer give out "F'" grades, and hundreds of high schools have removed class ranks so that my generation...

Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman, has predicted China will be the world's most 'sophisticated hacker' in his new book predicting the future of technology. His new book 'The Digital Age' co-written by Jared Cohen, who runs Google Ideas, the search giant’s think tank, believe that China, is 'the most sophisticated and prolific hacker of foreign companies'. They also say that the country is the 'the world's most active and enthusiastic filterer of information', highlighting how China strongly censors information from outside, carefully selecting what its population can access. The Wall Street Journal, who reviewed the book, say that the book...

--IMAGE HERE -- It is becoming increasingly clear that anti-gun advocates, media personalities, and politicians are completely immune to the laws they insist the rest of must abide by, at least in the District of Columbia. While average citizens and veterans who have served our nation with distinction see their lives ruined, prosecutors repeatedly turn a blind eye when the person breaking the law is espousing an anti-gun agenda. It all started with David Gregory. Despite being warned by the Capitol Police that he could not possess a normal-capacity magazine inside the District of Columbia, he did so anyway. Even...

President Barack Obama is coming to Minneapolis on Monday, Feb. 4, to advance his proposals to reduce gun violence, which is a little bit like taking a boat out into the middle of the ocean to discuss the risk of fire in Joshua Tree National Park. Why doesn't he go to Chicago, where there is gun violence? And then, once in Chicago, why wouldn't he discuss that city's problem of gang violence? In fact, so long as he has the itch to take his bully pulpit on the road, Chicago is the natural, ultimate stop. Why, it is ground zero....

There’s been a lot of discussion within some in the media regarding the demographic changes taking place in Europe. But those of us who’ve travelled there have observed it firsthand: namely, the decreased birthrate among Europeans compared to the enormous birthrate increase among Muslim immigrants. Overall, the birthrate across the continent is far below the replacement level of 2.1 children per couple. Italy, Spain, Austria, and Germany have a fertility rate of only 1.4, while Poland and Russia languish at 1.3 and 1.2, respectively. However, as a subgroup, Muslims in Europe are producing from 4 to 6 children per couple....

Super Bowl XLVII, February 3rd, 2013 New Orleans Mercedes Benz Dome, CBS-TV, Westwood One radio, 630pm EST Baltimore Ravens v San Francisco 49ers (-4.5, O/U 47.5)

've been asked more times than I can remember by secular people and the secular press if Christianity is now, truly...finally...a dying religion. The scenario plays out a bit like this. A reporter, after rattling off a steady stream of apocalyptic examples "supported by research," then asks something like: "Given the decline of Christian influence in our society, and around the world, is Christianity on a respirator?" At this moment, I think they expect me --us -- to jump on the blame bandwagon, and moan on about why Christianity is in danger of being relegated to history's dustbin. If you're...

Requiring the citizens of the kingdom to purchase something that doesn’t exist, and then fining them for not doing it sounds more like the behavior of a tinhorn dictator than the actions of a global superpower—but then, maybe the “superpower” status has led the US government to believe that it can “let the wish be father to the thought.” Perhaps Congress, the authors of the Clean Air Act, and, more specifically, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—and even biofuel lobbyists—have attended too many motivational seminars in which they were taught: “If you can dream it, then you can achieve it.” The...

The biggest donors in the Republican Party are financing a new group to recruit seasoned candidates and protect Senate incumbents from challenges by far-right conservatives and Tea Party enthusiasts who Republican leaders worry could complicate the party’s efforts to win control of the Senate. The group, the Conservative Victory Project, is intended to counter other organizations that have helped defeat establishment Republican candidates over the last two election cycles. It is the most robust attempt yet by Republicans to impose a new sense of discipline on the party, particularly in primary races. “There is a broad concern about having blown...

Foes of same-sex marriage are laboring to pay the tab for an epic legal case now before the U.S. Supreme Court, as the movement suffers from fundraising shortfalls that could sap its strength in future battles. ProtectMarriage dot com, the advocacy group defending a California gay marriage ban now under review by the high court, showed a $2 million deficit in its legal fund at the end of 2011 - the third year in a row that expenses exceeded donations, federal tax records show.... "Unless the pace of donations starts to pick up right away, we could soon be forced...

OK, somebody has to do it. Where else will we turn?