Free Republic

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Republican Senator Orrin Hatch doesn't think Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson will run against him next year. What's more, Hatch isn't ruling out yet another run in 2018. (snip) Senator Hatch, not surprisingly, thinks Jason Chaffetz made the right decision to stay in the House of Representatives. Not that the senator was worried about getting the boot from the former BYU kicker. ABC 4: "I always got the impression you were confident you could beat him?” Senator Hatch: “Well, let's put it this way. I am a hard worker and no one is going...

"The Koreans put in a determined bid, stressing their virtues of perseverance and patience, and employed their country's President Lee Mying-bak and Olympic women's figure skating champion Kim Yuna to persuade and charm the IOC."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) announced Thursday that he would pull out of a regional climate pact by the end of the year, delivering a political setback to the fledging effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming. In a news conference, Christie said the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a 2005 accord in which 10 states agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants 10 percent by 2018, would not be able to meet its goals. The program requires plants in the region that burn fossil fuels to buy pollution allowances for the carbon they...

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore said on Thursday that Americans must abandon fossil fuels within a decade and rely on the sun, the winds and other environmentally friendly sources of power, or risk losing their national security as well as their creature comforts. “The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk,” Mr. Gore said in a speech to an energy conference here. He called for the kind of concerted national effort that enabled Americans to walk on the moon 39 years ago this month, just eight years after President John F....

March 10, 2008: Stung by rumors that they were not serious about developing a new heavy bomber, the U.S. Air Force announced that it was developing such an aircraft, that it would be in service by 2018, and would be able to operate with, or without, a crew. The implication was that the design of the new bomber was already quite advanced, and that it was, like the B-2, being handled as a "black project" (all work done in secrecy, until ready for production.) The new bomber would be similar to the current B-2 in many ways. That is, it...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq's defense minister said on Monday his country would need foreign military help to defend its borders for another 10 years and would not be able to maintain internal security until 2012. Abdul Qadir's remarks, in an interview with The New York Times posted on the newspaper's Internet site, could become an issue in the U.S. presidential campaign. "According to our calculations and our timelines, we think that from the first quarter of 2009 until 2012 we will be able to take full control of the internal affairs of the country," Qadir said. "In regard to the...

Several gathered up at Mt. Rose on Tuesday with one goal, to bring the 2018 Winter Olympic Games to Reno-Tahoe. The 1960 Winter Games were held in Tahoe, but were confined to Squaw Valley. Those supporting the 2018 campaign told News 4 the Reno-Tahoe games would include more events and athletes, as well as have a huge impact on tourism in the region. They also said they are confident Reno-Tahoe has the capability to host such an event, with large venues like Lawlor Events Center, and the University of Nevada, Reno, to serve as a plausible Olympic Village.

With the shuttle fleet grounded and the International Space Station staffed by a skeleton crew, NASA is set to unveil plans on Monday to take people and cargo to the moon.Even before the official announcement, there is criticism from Capitol Hill over the reported $100 billion cost of the lunar program, given U.S. government commitments to the Iraq war and the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. "This plan is coming out at a time when the nation is facing significant budgetary challenges," Rep. Bart Gordon, a Tennessee Democrat on the House Science Committee, said in a statement. "Getting agreement to move...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California could have 1 million buildings producing solar energy by 2018, with half of all new homes powered by the sun, administration officials said Monday as they outlined ways to meet one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's more ambitious campaign promises. The goal is to create a self-sustaining solar industry in 10 years, making the zero-pollution power source so commonplace and cheap that costly incentives are no longer necessary, said Joe Desmond, Schwarzenegger's deputy secretary for energy. Until then, environmental officials are considering funding methods that could include a charge on electricity bills to pay the estimated $700...

MOSCOW - Russian scientists have started constructing space ships of a new type. One of them will allow travelling to USA through space, another is to land in Gusev crater on Mars. First type ship is named “kosmoplan”, or “space-glider”. The model tests were successful, the ship took off and landed in an appointed place, Izvestia reports. This ship is a kind of analog to American shuttle, as it does not need rocket carrier and vertical launch. Kosmoplan, like an ordinary plane, can take off unaided from an ordinary air field, then, reaching speed fourteen thousand km/hour it goes to...