Free Republic

The Republican Party has a moral responsibility to offer alternatives to governing in Washington, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan said Friday. Speaking to members of the Journal Sentinel editorial board, as well as reporters and editors, the Janesville Republican said that the country is in a precarious state economically and that it's not enough to just win an election. "I don't like the direction the president is taking," Ryan said. "I should criticize those. I also should offer alternatives. It's not enough to run against somebody. We have a moral responsibility to offer alternatives . . . Our country is in...

With Newt Gingrich breaking out of the pack as the conservative alternative to front-runner Mitt Romney in South Carolina, he came under attack Friday from an old friend and colleague in Congress, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. Santorum had largely avoided political attacks against Gingrich, whom he once considered a political mentor. But on Friday, the glove came off as Santorum took the former House speaker to task for being insufficiently conservative on climate change, free markets and health care. "Conservative alternatives don't go out and attack the capitalist system as he has done. Conservative alternatives don't promote...

What would happen if conservatives targeted several dozen relatively weak leftist Democrats in states or districts conductive to the conservative message, and then sought to elect a genuinely conservative Democrat (recruited, of course, within the ranks of the conservative movement)? What would happen if conservatives decided in 2012 to unify behind an articulate conservative to run in the Democrat primaries and caucuses against Obama? Let the small leftist minority in America worry about not just losing a general election, but a primary: what would that do to the appeal of leftism in our political system? It would raise the profound...

As of this writing I don't know who is burning Korans and who isn't (or depending on when you read this, "did or didn't"), but this is an open letter to any holy person who thinks this is a good idea. -------------------------------------------- Dear Inglorious Pastards, Look at the mess you're creating. People yell at you not to do stupid stuff and you decide that you want to do it anyway. Hey! You should be a politician. Even better, since Obama is "obviously Christian" it seems you'd fit right in with his harem of spiritual advisors. Look, I'm not concerned...

"If there’s one thing Americans agree on when it comes to financial reform, it’s this," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. "Never again should taxpayers be expected to bail out Wall Street from its own mistakes. We cannot allow endless taxpayer-funded bailouts for big Wall Street banks. And that’s why we must not pass the financial reform bill that’s about to hit the floor." So much for that vaunted bipartisan cooperation, huh? The Republican attack on FinReg is that it creates a "permanent bailout." This isn't a judgment on the Dodd bill. In fact, it long predates the Dodd bill....

When oil crossed $120 a barrel for the first time in May 2008, oil cornucopians knew they were in trouble. Prices had quadrupled in just five years, yet had failed to bring new production online. Regular crude had flatlined around 74 million barrels per day (mbpd). The case for peak oil was looking stronger with every new uptick in crude futures. The following month, prominent peak oil critic and cornucopian Daniel Yergin of IHS-CERA changed his stance: The peak oil threat would be neutralized by peak demand. Gasoline consumption had peaked in the U.S. and Europe, he argued, due to...

Bandera local farmers and rancher charge that the I-69 Trans-Texas Corridor Tier One Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) has failed to meet important environmental standards. Barbara Mazurek, Bandera County Farm Bureau President says that these failures are indicative of the problems that exist with the entire Tran-Texas Corridor (TTC). “Because these environmental standards have not been met, the Texas Department of Transportation should seriously consider alternatives to its current model,” Mazurek said. According to Mazurek, there are three main reasons that the DEIS is flawed. • It limits its analysis to alternatives that fit the TTC “vision” of a multimodal...

The cheapest way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is probably to put a price on them. One way to do that is a direct tax (see "Q&A"). Another is a cap-and-trade system, where the government sets an overall cap on emissions, but indi­vidual businesses trade emission allowances. But surprisingly, a carbon penalty may do little to increase reliance on renewable energy or reduce petroleum consumption. Putting a price on carbon would certainly reduce the use of conventional coal-fired power plants. Coal emits more carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels, and its price would more than double. But natural gas would...

I know we have had several calls for boycotts of papers and of MSM stations, and those calls have extended to boycotting of advertisers. I am wondering if we had a place to post those advertisers we are targeting in an organized way, as well as a place to post an alternative to the product/company being advertised, it might have more impact on the advertisers and be easier for us remain in an active boycott of a product. I don't post many vanities, this may be my second on in 3 years. Sorry if it's annoying.

The precipitous rise in oil and gas prices over the past year has made the debate on greenhouse gas emissions moot. The reduction in the output of those gases will move forward at warp speed, not because of rules, regulations and cap-and-trade decrees but because of free markets and economics. (...) How have we come to this point? Blame it on oil prices and technology. The extraordinary increase in the price of hydrocarbons and coal has created a price umbrella under which competing technologies can flourish. (...) Today, wind energy is economic at about 7 cents per kilowatt hour. (...)...

Americans have at long last seen some leadership on Capitol Hill on the energy crisis. The bad news is, that leadership had to come from outside Washington. Famed billionaire oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens brought a clear vision and a reverberating sense of urgency to Congress this past week in promoting his plan for energy independence. The plan includes a huge shift to wind energy for electricity and to natural gas for cars and trucks. He suggested the government should lead the way, by mandating that government agencies switch to natural gas vehicles. "This is an emergency," he said. "This...

I few days ago I stressed the need for energy independence. I recommended a major commitment to nuclear generated electricity. Our Hopeless Energy Policy by Irwin M. Stelzer in Weekly Standard, has a different take. After discussing all the wrong decisions politicians have made, he says don't ask how to lower gas prices. "Lower gasoline prices would encourage Americans to drive more, use more of the cheaper gasoline, emit more pollutants, and increase the demand for crude oil". Next wrong question, and one being asked not only in America, but in most other countries: "How can we replace crude oil...

Texas Farm Bureau offered several viable transportation and funding alternatives to the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) in meeting Texas’ future transportation needs during testimony before the Senate Transportation Committee. “Let me assure you, as an industry we absolutely support and recognize the need for building and maintaining roads in Texas,� said Texas Farm Bureau State Director Tom Paben. “We feel this can be accomplished within the current framework of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).� “However, there is a need for redirection, as well as a review of the current priorities of the agency,� Paben added, noting several concerns about...

As the state's population continues to grow in its urban centers, expansion plans for the highway system continue to be the focus for transportation improvements. The Trans Texas Corridor proposal is aimed to alleviate traffic congestion, improve air quality and provide safer traveling for drivers, among other goals. In 2002, Texas Governor Rick Perry released the plan to create the passageway, which spans northeast from Laredo to Oklahoma and is set to total 4,000 miles in the next 50 years. The $140 billion project calls for the incorporation of new toll roads, commuter railways, power lines and gas pipelines, while...

Plots by Communists to infiltrate America. The disintegration of borders and rural areas. Citizens mobilizing and rising up against government agencies and big business. It all sounds like the plot for a summer blockbuster, but it's something that could be happening in your own backyard. These were just a few of the topics addressed in the "How to fight the TTC" workshop, held Monday at the Pitser Garrison Civic Center in Lufkin. The conference served as an informational meeting aimed at informing citizens and local government officials how they can unite in trying to stop the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor project....

Time is almost up for Texas residents who wish to submit a comment on the proposed Trans Texas Corridor, which must be received by the Texas Department of Transportation by Wednesday. Submissions of comments would have to be made either by mail or online at this point, and can be sent to I-69/TTC, P.O. Box 14428, Austin, TX 78761, or go to keeptexasmoving.com, then click on “question or comment” on the left side of the screen. Previously, throughout February and March, TxDOT held 47 well-attended hearings at which oral comments from the public were taken into account. The TTC has...

In the midst of inflation, funding difficulties and halted expansion projects, a budget error on the part of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) may have exacerbated their challenges. "TxDOT does some mysterious accounting," said Rep. Chuck Hopson (D-Jacksonville). "They had close to $1 billion counted in their budget twice." "That was a serious error on our part and we have made changes to try to prevent that type of error from occurring again," said TxDOT Spokesman Chris Lippincott, adding that the amount added twice in their financial statement was unrelated to the $1.2 billion in federal rescissions, which are...

Texas spirit was alive and well at the Navasota DEIS public hearing on Feb. 28. Opposition groups, such as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, came from as far as Washington, D.C. to give recorded testimony, and get a first hand look at TxDOT process procedures. Assistant Director of Communications, Leigh Strope, who attended the meeting on behalf of the 34,000 Texas Teamsters Union members, says, “Teamsters want to stop the dangerous trend of selling our roads and bridges to foreign investors so they can slap tolls on the driving public. We are also concerned because the Trans-Texas Corridor would form...

n what may have been the first hint of victory for opponents of the Trans Texas Corridor, a high-ranking Texas Department of Transportation official said Thursday he regretted his agency's communication failures and said one proposed version of the corridor, a 10-lane super highway with rail and utility pathways, will "probably not" be built in East Texas, based on the overwhelming resistance to the idea expressed at public hearings on the project this month. Phillip Russell, assistant executive director for innovative project development at TxDOT, was the keynote speaker at the Lone Star Legislative Summit at SFA Thursday, where he...

“We could've talked for another hour. People were really getting into it,� said Reuben Grassl, who organized a Feb. 14 community meeting in Shiro to discuss the proposed I-69 corridor route through Grimes County. The meeting was led by Grassl, Charles Wendt, and Edna Keasling and was attended by a cross section of 65 people from as far as Madisonville and Iola, who showed up with both questions and suggestions for opposition plans. “We gave them the latest information we received from the four recent meetings in the area, because a lot of information TxDoT and TTC put out would...

AUSTIN - When it comes to road improvement and maintenance, by most accounts, the South Plains and Panhandle are fortunate. Despite a $1.1 billion accounting error, the Texas Department of Transportation recently reported no projects in the region have been canceled or delayed while cities like Dallas, Houston and Laredo had at least a half dozen highway projects delayed. But the $1.1 billion-error, which occurred because TxDOT inadvertently counted some bond money twice and consequently allocated more funding than it had, is just the latest problem plaguing the beleaguered agency. For months, TxDOT executive director Amadeo Saenz and other transportation...

NACOGDOCHES — The rows of extra chairs brought into the The Fredonia's biggest meeting room Thursday night were not enough to accommodate more than 750 people who attended an open house and public hearing on the proposed TTC-69 highway. Texas Department of Transportation officials heard hours of public testimony that continued late into the night overwhelmingly opposed to the construction of new roadways through East Texas. Applause throughout the hours-long meeting never swelled as loudly as it did when the first speaker of the night, state Rep. Wayne Christian, told TxDOT representatives emphatically that "our answer is 'no' on the...

HOUSTON -- It did not take long Tuesday for the Texas Department of Transportation to find out what the Houstonians at a public hearing thought about the proposed 600-mile Trans-Texas Corridor, KPRC Local 2 reported. "George Washington, Sam Houston would vomit on you people," one attendee said. Chris Zora, who opposes the plan, attended the hearing at the Arabia Shrine Center in Southwest Houston. "I'd like to see a show of hands here of anybody that approves of this corridor," Zora said. "Is there anyone in this room who approves of this corridor? Raise your hands if you approve of...

ROBSTOWN, Tex. — Leon Little’s farm here near Corpus Christi would not be seized for Texas’s proposed $184-billion-plus superhighway project for 5 or 10 years, if ever. But Mr. Little was alarmed enough to show up Wednesday night with hundreds of his South Texas coastal neighbors to do what the Texas Department of Transportation has been urging: “Go ahead, don’t hold back.� Don’t worry. Texans have gotten the message, swamping hearings and town meetings across the state to grill and often excoriate agency officials about a colossal traffic makeover known as the Trans-Texas Corridor, a public-private partnership unrivaled in the...

Not one of the 11 East Texans who approached the podium at Wednesday's hearing on Interstate 69 voiced support for the planned highway. "This is highway robbery, and we should not pursue this project," said David Simpson, a Longview resident and fifth-generation Texan. "This process has bypassed the Constitution. It has bypassed the U.S. Congress, and I'm opposed to it because of the unconstitutional way that it has been pushed through." The public hearing, held at Maude Cobb Convention and Activity Center, was a chance for residents to comment and ask questions about Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor. The corridor would extend...

Grimes County commissioners and County Judge Betty Shiflett made sure they attended a TTC/I-69 meeting at the Walker County Fairgrounds last week, as residents previously demanded they take a stronger stance against the proposed route through Grimes County. Shiflett received a roaring applause from audience members with her speech that ended with the question, “What part of “no� do you not understand?� Shiflett added that Grimes County was not given an option for having a town meeting, just the environmental meeting. “Representative Lois Kolkhorst stole the show as she announced loud and clear that she was against TTC I-69,� said...

A so-called “NAFTA Superhighway� earned support from the city’s mayor and discussion among residents Monday during a public hearing on the Texas Department of Transportation’s I-69 project. TxDOT held a public hearing at the Brownsville Events Center Monday to explain the progress of the Trans-Texas Corridor, a future segment of Highway I-69, which will link the U.S.-Mexico border to the U.S.-Canada border. After a short presentation, the floor was open for comments. Among the local politicians, college students and retirees at the hearing there was a wide range of opinion on the project. According to Mario Jorge, district engineer for...

Anyone whose feet are set in concrete against toll roads is going to get run over. Toll roads are here. They are coming. The need is undeniable, as is the rationale in many cases. But you can’t defend toll roads in every instance, and the proposed I-35 toll lanes through Waco sound indefensible. Two concerns present themselves immediately — one about Waco’s self-interest and one about fairness to motorists. First, the provincial concern: The proposed self-contained toll lanes would deliver a lot of travelers through Waco without access and egress to take advantage of what the city offers, even if...

Socialism always plants the seeds of its own destruction, and state-owned oil is no exception...that about 90 percent of the world's liquid oil reserves are controlled by governments or state-owned companies. Exxon Mobil, the world's largest privately owned oil company, owns only 1.08 percent of the world's oil reserves, and the five largest private global oil companies together own only about 4 percent... There is enough liquid oil in the ground to last generations; and when oil sands and oil shale are included, there is enough oil to last centuries. If there were a truly free market in oil...the price...

For months, the establishment dismissed those of us opposed to amnesty as a tiny minority of the public and the Congress. On Thursday, that “tiny minority” outnumbered the pro-amnesty forces in the Senate, dealing a humiliating and well-deserved defeat to President Bush. The same White House that insisted that there was no realistic alternative to “comprehensive immigration reform” had better recalibrate its realism now. There always were better alternatives, and the president and his party have no way out of the immigration morass he has created unless they pursue them. Nor does the country. The public is rightly dismayed at...

AeroVironment (AV) (NASDAQ:AVAV), a leader in unmanned aircraft systems and efficient electric energy systems, today announced that it performed a fast charge demonstration of a lithium chemistry electric vehicle battery pack for representatives of the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The 35kWh (kilowatt-hour) battery pack, developed by Altair Nanotechnologies, (NASDAQ: ALTI) is designed for use in the Phoenix Motorcar Sport Utility Truck. This battery pack is designed to allow the truck to travel more than 100 miles on a single charge. The test, conducted by engineers at AV’s Monrovia, California Energy Technology Center, was a milestone in battery fast charging,...

Lithium Technology Corporation on May 23 hosted an exposition in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., of the company’s breadth of power solutions and unveiled a retrofitted Toyota Prius, with plug-in capabilities allowing for 125-plus miles per gallon fuel efficiency, which is powered by the company’s unique battery technology. The battery for the Prius utilizes LTC’s new product line of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) cells, the largest cells of their kind in the world, which are considered to be the technology of choice for the American car manufacturers. “We are delighted to demonstrate and deliver the technology that the automotive industry has been...

TOYOTA CITY, Japan (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp. expects to cut costs for hybrid cars enough to be able to make as much money on them as it does on conventional gasoline cars by around 2010, a top executive said on Thursday....... But Masatami Takimoto, executive vice president in charge of powertrain development, said cost-cutting efforts on the system's motor, battery and inverter were bearing fruit, and the cost structure would improve drastically by the time Toyota reaches its sales goal of one million hybrids annually in 2010 or soon after. "By then, we expect margins to be equal to...

ELIZABETH, NJ – A 50-million-gallon-per-year biodiesel plant went online Feb. 10 with plans to eventually use algae as a feedstock. Fuel:Bio is currently using soy and palm oil to produce ASTM D6751 B100 biodiesel. “At present, Fuel:Bio is the largest commercial producer of biodiesel in the northeast, as determined by production volume,” according to John Borruso, government affairs liaison for Fuel:Bio. Borruso said that Fuel:Bio Holdings, LLC, headquartered in Elizabeth, NJ, plans to eventually have 10 production facilities located along the east coast of the United States. The company is privately-owned by a consortium of individual investors, Borruso said. He...

29 March 2007 Air powered car provides cost savings A car with an air-compressed engine will be able to drive around 124 miles or eight hours for just under $2. The OneCAT, created by Moteur Development International (MDI) Founder Guy Nègre, can reach a speed of 68 mph and can cover about 124 miles, or eight hours of travel, which is more than double the road coverage of an electric car. When recharging the tank, the car needs to connect to an outlet for three to four hours or attach to an air pump at a gas station for two minutes....

Thousands of protesters greeted Mr Bush's arrival US President George Bush has met his Uruguayan counterpart, Tabare Vazquez, as part of his five-nation Latin American tour to promote trade.Mr Bush arrived in Montevideo from Brazil - where he signed a deal to develop alternative fuel sources. Uruguay is keen to sign free trade deals with the US, even if it means leaving the Mercosur trade bloc. The tour attracted protests in Brazil and about 5,000 protesters gathered in Uruguay for Mr Bush's visit. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is conducting his own tour of the region and addressed 40,000 anti-Bush...

The EU's top political leaders meet three times a year in a rose-coloured marble building known as Justus Lipsius. EU leaders arrived in gas-guzzling cars to debate green issues It is named after a 16th-Century Dutch scholar often described, predominantly by his fans, as one of the most learned men of his day, as well as the founding father of neo-stoicism, which combined pagan materialism with Christianity. Nowadays, the new Europe under Jose Manuel Barroso could even be described as eco-stoicism, combining materialism with environmental zealotry. The new movement, though, does not have as many converts as the Portuguese...

Teen cancer patient battles to choose own treatment 16-year-old wants alternative therapy, not ordered chemo RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- A teen cancer patient fighting to use alternative medical treatment said he told a juvenile judge in a closed hearing what it's like to go through chemotherapy and he didn't want to relive it. "I told him my story ... so he could understand where I was coming from and live through me," 16-year-old Starchild Abraham Cherrix said. In all, the judge heard 11 hours of testimony before the two-day hearing concluded late Tuesday. At issue is whether the teen can...

From the Editor: This is the second in a series of columns first posted on the Illinois Right to Life Committee's (IRLC) website [http://www.illinoisrighttolife.org/] written by Bill Beckman, IRLC's executive director. The RFFM.org re-posting of the column discusses how living wills can cancel out the wishes of patients and loved ones regarding end of life issues. Also, readers can learn how to seek out alternatives to living wills and find ways to ensure their end of life issues are respected and adhered to. Included are examples of how living wills have been used to disregard patients rights. The following was...

As for me, a little goodie I rented from Netflix: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067972/

Source: University of California - Berkeley Date: 2006-01-27 URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060126194250.htm Ethanol Can Replace Gasoline With Big Energy Savings, Comparable Impact On Greenhouse Gases Putting ethanol instead of gasoline in your tank saves oil and is probably no worse for the environment than burning gasoline, according to a new analysis by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. The researchers note, however, that new technologies now in development promise to make ethanol a truly "green" fuel with significantly less environmental impact than gasoline. The analysis, appearing in this week's issue of Science, attempts to settle the ongoing debate over whether...

Tonight [Thursday] during Governor Schwarzenegger’s state-of-the-state address, it is widely expected the governor will call for up to $27 billion of bonds to be issued over five years as part of a 10-year, $100 billion public works program. The bonds would pay to build roads, schools, jails, courthouses, levees and retrofit hospitals. If approved by two-thirds of the legislature, they would go on the June ballot for approval by the voters. If issued, the bonds would add about $2 billion per year in principle and interest payments to California’s budget burden, adding pressure to increase taxes. It’s this last issue...

S722 is presented as a “safety” bill-promising to safeguard consumers from unsafe dietary supplements-but it does not. Instead, the detail spell out plans to: * Increases health care costs and decreases consumer choices * Restricts access to supplements used by millions for better health * Subjects supplements to an unnecessary higher standard of scrutiny than most over-the-counter medicines and food additives * Questions the safety and potentially restricts access to any dietary supplement that receives even one complaint, legitimate or not. * Provides no more protection for consumers than the current law-DSHEA-already provides. The FDA has simply failed to fully...

Opening lead and paragraph: " Environmentalists aren't the only ones applauding the sales stumble of big SUVs and pickups in the face of high gas prices. Groups of conservative Republicans see an opportunity to step up a campaign to promote alternative-fuel vehicles and wean the nation from dependence on foreign oil. While skeptical about links between autos and global warming, the conservatives have concluded that cutting gasoline consumption is a matter of national security." "A who's who of right-leaning military hawks -- including former CIA director R. James Woolsey and Iraq war advocate Frank J. Gaffney Jr. -- has joined...

INDEPENDENT senator Brian Harradine has used a parliamentary committee to suggest government departments should be doing more to discourage abortion. The abortion debate raged again last week, in particular around the issue of Medicare funding for terminations. The federal government ruled out changing the current funding and policy arrangements. But Senator Harradine, who has six children of his own and seven step-children, asked officials from the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) in a Senate estimates committee today why their department wasn't doing more to help women avoid abortion. Advertisement: "Might I ask why you think this is, for...

Hello. This is my first post, so a quick introduction is in order: I am a microbiologist from Virginia, raised as a Christian by a Republican father that served in Vietnam and a Democratic mother now retired from nursing. I came to this forum to research conservative opinions on the current energy situation in our nation. I consider myself socially conservative but I greatly dislike Bush AND Kerry. I'm independent, but leaning more toward greens simply for their support of more intelligent resource use. This is THE major issue for me, as our basic survival allows for such opinionated exchanges...

I could not find the thread for us Careproviders. Quick and to the point I need help on resourses for my adult, medically fragile, Conservative sharp minded, great son. I use to be a great advocate when he was young but life slow down. If in the event of my leaving this world he has no family or friends willing to take on a huge responsibility. He needs a full time medical facility. He has his own vendors and private care coverage. But to get someone out to our home on shifts does not work. He cannot be left more...

Voluntary Alternatives to Taxation Stuart K. Hayashi Most Americans believe paying taxes is a patriotic duty. Yet this very nation was founded upon people evading taxes in 1776. When individuals don’t pay taxes, the government goes after them with guns, even though they haven’t used force on anyone else. Thus, taxation is an initiation of physical force against the individual’s right to life, liberty and property. Because taxation is forcible extortion, it violates your right to property. If you don’t pay taxes, you can be jailed, hence depriving you the right to liberty. And if tax “evaders” fight tax...

End of the Fossil-Fuel EraWill the European Union take the lead in staking out the future of energy? Two excerpts: "The European Union and the United States are beginning to diverge in the most basic aspect of how a society is organized: its energy regime. Nowhere was this more apparent than in Johannesburg, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, when the EU pushed for a target of 15 percent renewable energy by 2010 for the whole world, while the United States fought the initiative. The EU has already set its own internal target of 22 percent renewable energy...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressional Democrats uneasy with what they view as a precipitous move toward war are trying to come up with alternatives to President Bush's request for broad powers to eliminate the threats posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Opposition to the draft resolution that Bush sent to Congress on Thursday, under which Congress would authorize him to use all appropriate means to disarm Iraq, range from the party's most liberal to some of its moderate, pro-defense members. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House's second-ranked Democrat, said Monday she didn't think Democrats would offer a single alternative to the...