Free Republic

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday his department would formally unveil its highly anticipated rules for hydraulic fracturing on federal lands in “a few weeks.” The Interior Department has worked on a trio of rules that would require companies operating on federal lands to disclose the chemicals in their fracturing fluids (with a trade-secret exemption), impose standards meant to ensure wells can withstand fracturing and require companies to explain how they plan to dispose of flowback water. “If we are going to be successful, the public needs to have confidence that fracking operations are being conducted safely, and that drinking...

Less is more, according to New Hampshire lawmakers debating whether to ban the use of scented or fragrant soaps by state employees. Under House Bill 1444, state workers who interact with the public would be prohibited from wearing fragrances or scented products while on the job, MyFoxBoston reported. The reason for the proposed ban -- exposure to scented products can irritate or worsen symptoms for people with asthma or allergies. "The chemicals in some of these products can trigger the nasal congestion, sneezing and the runny nose," Dr. Stanley Fineman, an allergist with Emory University and the Atlanta Allergy and...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Shoppers in San Francisco will have to pay 10 cents per bag and more retailers are now banned from handing out plastic bags under a proposal approved Tuesday by the city's Board of Supervisors. San Francisco already bans large grocery stores and chain pharmacies from using plastic bags, which are blamed for clogging landfills and waterways. The proposal extends that ban to restaurants and to gift shops, hardware stores, boutiques and other retailers.

LOS ANGELES -- A top county official held a news conference Thursday night to set the record straight on an issue of paramount importance to Los Angeles: beach football. Pigskin chucking, Frisbee hurling and all manner of ball play are OK on Los Angeles beaches, as long as people play safely, said county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. An exasperated Yaroslavsky said he was forced to call the news conference after a media misfire earlier this week prompted a flood of calls and emails to his office, with one complaint from as far away as London. "Nobody is going to get fined...

“There will come a day, a point in time, when that frog is cooked, and all our rights and all our freedoms and all our liberties are going to be gone, folks,” comments made by Ashe County Commissioner, Gerald Price, in support of a motion he had made to not ban the carrying of concealed weapons on county property. His motion was made after listening to nineteen speakers share their beliefs, pro or con, during a public hearing on the issue. Rita Prevette, director of Ashe County Parks and Recreation Department, was one of three speakers who encouraged the Commissioners...

The only people authorized to carry weapons during the 90-day trial that began Wednesday are active and retired police and soldiers, bodyguards of diplomats, politicians, judges and prosecutors, armored car guards, gun club members and hunters. Anyone else caught with a gun will have it seized indefinitely, said the 51-year-old Petro, who took office last month. Such bans are rare in Latin America, though Brazilian civilians have not been permitted to carry arms since 2003, and Venezuela instituted a ban in November on carrying guns on buses and in passenger terminals. Bogota’s ban aims to reduce the murder rate, although...

Iran is upset over a television promotional spot for Israeli cable provider HOT, and is threatening to ban an electronics firm whose product is featured in the spot. The commercial shows the characters from a popular show, Asfur, portraying Mossad agents dressed up as women, at an outdoor cafe somewhere in Iran. The characters are impressed by a Samsung Galaxy tablet and accidentally press a button that causes a nearby Iranian nuclear facility to explode. The cable provider is offering the tablet to new subscribers. Samsung Electronics said on Saturday it had not been involved in the production of the...

HJR 2001, the legislation that reverses Iowa DNR's ban on lead ammunition during dove hunting season, passed in the Iowa House this morning on a 73-27 vote. The issue will now go to the Senate for debate. If it passes in the Senate, it is reported that Governor Branstad will sign the legislation into law. Also today, HJR 2005 was passed in a House Public Safety subcommittee meeting. HJR 2005 is legislation that would provide for an amendment to the Iowa Constitution that secures the right to keep and bear arms. The vote was 2-1, with Reps. Windschitl and Brandenburg...

A588 would enable the Attorney General to ban handgun and rifle ammunition by executive fiat. Trenton, NJ --(Ammoland.com)- Common hunting, target, and self-defense ammunition would be subject to ban under A588, along with BB’s, airgun pellets, and plastic airsoft pellets! Additional legislation being considered (A1013) could land gun owners in jail for refinished or damaged firearms that might be deemed “defaced” On Monday, January 30 at 2:00 p.m. the New Jersey Assembly Law & Public Safety Committee is scheduled to consider A588, legislation that would enable the Attorney General to ban all handgun and most rifle ammunition if he unilaterally...

WASHINGTON - Frederick County wants to make visitors feel right at home with welcome signs highlighting some of its best aspects, but Maryland is blocking efforts to put the signs on state highways. The signs say, "Welcome to Frederick County. Open for business." Board of County Commissioners President Blaine Young said he believes politics is to blame for the state's rejection. "The state feels that government creates jobs. We feel that businesses create jobs and that's why they reject putting our signs on state-operated highways," he said. "If the State of Virginia can have 'open for business' on their welcome...

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel Sunday to end its “occupation” of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. Wrapping up the final day of his three-day visit to Lebanon, Ban slammed Israel in remarks made during a keynote speech in Beirut at a conference entitled “Reform and Transitions to Democracy.” The conference was organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. Among the speakers at the three-day event were former Arab League secretary-general and Egyptian presidential candidate Amr Moussa, and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. “The Israeli occupation of Arab and Palestinian territories must end. So must...

This is just too good. Many of you know that in a few days the federal ban on conventional incandescent light bulbs will go into effect. And while House Republicans included a provision in a recent spending bill that will block funding for the ban's enforcement, it's said that it will have little effect; manufacturers have prepared for the new standards and will no doubt abide by the law. So does this mean we'll be forced to buy more expensive LED (light emitting diode) or CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs, the latter being those squiggly things said to be loaded...

When Republicans suspended the 100-watt-light-bulb ban, they said they were trying to protect consumer choice. But they also managed to show how regulations help big business at the expense of the little guy.

Newton schools are asking parents to have their kids leave so-called "celebratory" clothing at home. They’re talking about accessories or clothes given out at a birthday parties or other celebrations that kids then wear to class on Monday. School officials say this is becoming a trend at Oak Hill and other Newton middle schools. They say it leads to other kids feeling excluded and reminded they were not included in the festivities.

A Queens man is very upset after trying to put his trash out for collection and ending up with a ticket. He, and others, are getting snared in an enforcement of a law that few people even know exists. The scrooge award goes to the New York City Sanitation Department for the $100 tickets. Raymond Janson says he received the $100 fine for putting his garbage cans at the curb 30 minutes early. It is legal to put out the trash cans the day before pick-up but the time of the day matters. City sanitation rules say the cans can...

Houston, Tx --(Ammoland.com)- This Monday, December 19th, the city of Shavano Park, near San Antonio, will reconsider the passage of an ordinance dealing with the discharge of a firearm within the city. Mayor David Marne refused to sign the ordinance, sending it back to the 5 member city council. In a letter to the Shavano Park City Council, Mayor Marne lists the ordinance as unnecessary and over-reaching. Mayor Marne also notes that state law, currently in place, adequately covers public safety concerns. This far-reaching ordinance could be read to prohibit the legal use of a firearm for self defense. The...

Casper city council has recently released a statement suggesting they had no intentions of advancing gun free zones. But they have something they don't want you to know! During a council business meeting it was revealed that they were working with other police chiefs across Wyoming. They even stated on the record that the University of Wyoming Police Chief has commented that the Wyoming Association of Municipalities is working to advance gun free zones. What exactly other than pushing more bans does the University of Wyoming's Top-Cop have to do with Casper--and why did his name come up at a...

WESTFORD (CBS) – Westford school officials are getting tough on classroom holiday parties. They’re banning sugary snacks and sweetened beverages from the celebrations this year. Students are being told to leave the Christmas cookies, cakes, candy bars, and soda at home and to bring fruits, unsweetened juices, popcorn and raisins instead. Superintendent Everett Olsen says the ban on holiday sweets has nothing to do with being politically correct, rather, his motive is simply promoting a healthy lifestyle. “We aren’t trying to take the Christmas out of Christmas. We’re not trying to take the enjoyment out of children’s lives. We’re just...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal accident investigators recommended states ban the use of cell phones and other electronic devices by all drivers except in emergencies. The National Transportation Safety Board's recommendation followed a finding by the board that the initial collision in a deadly highway pileup in Missouri last year was caused by the inattention of a 19 year-old-pickup driver who sent or received 11 texts in the 11 minutes immediately before the accident. The pickup driver and a 15-year-old student on one of the school buses were killed. Thirty-eight other people were injured. The NTSB's recommendation makes an exception for...

The City of Austin might enact one of the broadest bag bans in the nation and prohibit disposable paper and plastic bags at all checkout counters starting in January 2016. In the meantime, starting in 2013, retailers could continue to offer thin, so-called single-use bags, but customers would have to pay 25 cents apiece for them, according to a draft of the ban. That three-year period would give the public and retailers time to prepare for the ban, city officials say. More than two dozen U.S. cities have enacted bag bans since 2007. Most prohibit plastic only, or ban plastic...

City officials point to conversations with their employees about safety concerns in their decision to approve an ordinance banning concealed weapons in all city buildings. "While your number one duty is to represent the city, your employees have asked you that they don’t want the guns," Port Washington Mayor Scott Huebner said to the council Tuesday night. "(City employees) strongly don’t want them in here, and there hasn’t been a strong outcry from the public that they do want them in here." The council voted 5-3 to approve the ban, with aldermen Joe Dean, David Larson and Burt Babcock voting...

Attention iPhone dependents: Could you imagine what it might look like if your government told you that you couldn’t use your beloved, probably integral-to-your-new-way-of-life iPhone? Well, in Syria, it looks like this: [go to article to see photo] That’s a photo of the mandate (which is currently making the rounds on Twitter and Facebook) being issued to activists in Syria by the country’s Customs Department of the Syrian Finance Ministry. I am not versed in Arabic, but reports say that the slip of paper being handed out reads, “The authorities warn anyone against using the iphone in Syria.” The Twitterscape...

The FDA has issued a proposed mandate that represents the greatest threat to dietary supplements since 1994. Back in the early 1990s, consumers were so alarmed by FDA bullying that they staged a massive revolt. The result was that Congress passed a law prohibiting the FDA from banning popular nutrients (as the agency had threatened to do). There was, however, a loophole in the 1994 law. The FDA was given authority to regulate ingredients introduced after October 15, 1994. It has been 17 years, but the FDA just issued draconian proposals as to how it intends to regulate what it...

Massachusetts considering ban on Romney recordsBy Mark Hosenball | Reuters – Tue, Nov 29, 2011 BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts officials are reviewing a 14-year-old state court ruling to determine whether they should ban public access to paper records generated by leading Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney when he was the state's governor. Officials said the review, revealed to Reuters, began after they received a surge of requests for records from Romney's governorship. It was not prompted by a request from Romney camp, they said. The review follows reports by the Boston Globe newspaper last week that just before Romney left...

The City of Seattle has petitioned the state Supreme Court in an effort to resurrect its city parks and community centers gun ban after losing the battle twice to the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and the National Rifle Association, in King County Superior Court and at the State Court of Appeals. This column discussed that court ruling in October. SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb told this column Thursday that “If they want to go to that expense, we’ll be happy to beat them again. It’s entirely...

“Father Pfleger lobbies against concealed weapons law,” WBEZ91.5 reports. Illinois is the only state that doesn't allow carrying concealed weapons. Father Michael Pfleger is pushing to keep it that way in Illinois, and lobbying against the national effort, too. In order to do so, Pfleger, nicknamed “Snuffy” at The War on Guns blog for urging an indignant mob of his followers to “snuff out” a gun shop owner, “held a press event” at St. Sabina Church. In spite of the Church’s tax exempt status, it would seem. As a registered 501(c)(3) public charity: The organization will not, as a substantial...

The term "assault weapon" has always rankled Second Amendment absolutists. Handled properly, an umbrella could be an "assault weapon." Considering the purpose of a weapon, the term "assault weapon" is rather redundant. In this state it's also "unconstitutionally vague" according to a lawsuit filed this week by a band of gun rights crusaders. The plaintiffs in the case, filed Thursday in Oakland, are the Calguns Foundation, the Second Amendment Foundation, and Brendan John Richards. The latter is an Iraq vet who managed to get himself arrested and his guns impounded -- twice. The former are two litigious firearms aficionado groups...

The US Army aids and abets the Islamic war on free speech and bans Atlas without explanation. Meanwhile I am sure that real hate sites, like that of Hamas-linked CAIR, are easily accessible. An Atlas reader sent me these two emails: Just FYI... I work for the US Government and noticed that your web site http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/ has been blocked. Not CNN, FOX, or any other site, just yours. I checked with our FireWall team and they said a Tasker was put out to block it. I find this interesting considering we are getting closer to elections and your site, the...

The Casper City Council agreed to postpone until its Dec. 6 meeting any further action on a proposed gun ban at local government meetings. The controversial Second Amendment right issue continued to occupy the council’s agenda, however, as they attempted to deal with what they perceived as misinformation about the proposal. “There’s obviously a great deal of misinformation being promoted and repeated and exaggerated,” said council member Charlie Powell. “Are there any steps we can take to try to correct some of this misinformation so people know in fact what we’re really voting on?” “I agree with Charlie, there’s to...

White House Knew Obamacare Abortion Funding "Ban" a Sham Efforts by the watchdog group Judicial Watch to demand that Justice Elena Kagan recuse herself when the Affordable Care Act (Health Care Reform) is brought before the Supreme Court later this year resulted in the release of emails between Kagan (back when she was Solicitor General) and a top Department of Justice official. They unsurprisingly, confirm what pro-lifers have been saying all along about the phony agreement which Democrats have claimed prevented health care reform from creating new abortion funding streams. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/15/white-house-knew-obamacare-abortion-funding-ban-a-sham/

SILVER SPRING, Maryland, November 2, 2011 – They escaped arrest. The “raw milk freedom riders� who illegally transported raw milk from a farm in Pennsylvania to FDA headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland and then drank it and distributed it to a crowd rallied in support of their efforts got away with their crime.As reported yesterday in this column, this group of raw milk activists planned the ride and rally to protest government restrictions on the sale of raw milk and the spending of taxpayer money to raid and bankrupt small family farms.The rally began at noon as the swelling crowd...

That was fast! Kim Kardashian filed for divorce Monday just 72 days after tying the knot with Kris Humphries in a lavish ceremony that was taped for her reality show. "I've spoken to her briefly and she says she's sad and got caught up in all that was going on," Ryan Seacrest, who produces her show, said on his KIIS-FM radio program Monday morning. Kardashian, 31, lists the date of separation as today, Oct. 31, 2011, and cites the usual "irreconcilable differences," according to her Los Angeles Superior Court filing. She also says the couple has a prenuptial agreement and...

The political geniuses in Louisiana have decided they hate poor people so much, they passed House Bill 195—near unanimously! (One nay in the senate.) It bans cash on all second-hand transactions. Now, when a good Louisianian holds a garage sale after a bout of spring cleaning, if they accept cash for their old vinyl collection, they’ve broken the law. Swap meets. Church bazaar sales. Antique stores. Buying used skis off Craigslist. You can’t use cash in the Pelican State. Their stated reasoning is to prevent the sale of stolen goods—their view is cash transactions make it easy for criminals to...

Senators urge baseball to ban tobaccoPosted: Oct 18, 2011 11:58 AM by AP WASHINGTON (AP) - Four U.S. senators and health officials from the cities hosting the World Series are urging the baseball players union to agree to a ban on chewing tobacco at games and on camera. The senators, including No. 2 Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois, and health officials from St. Louis and Arlington, Texas, made the pleas in separate letters, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. The World Series between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals begins in St. Louis Wednesday night. "When players use smokeless...

Asthma inhalers, available over the counter from pharmacies will become prescription-only from 2012. The move comes as worries over ozone layer damage persist from continued use of chlourofluorocarbons to propel the medicine out of the inhaler. Primatene Mist, the only inhaler still available from pharmacies without prescription is an epinephrine inhaler that causes airways to relax, helping asthma patients during hard times or breathing difficulty. It is not a preventing medicine, but acutely used when airways constrict. CFC’s (chlorofluorocarbons) are concerning environmentalists, due to their dangerous depletion of ozone, the layer around the earth protecting us from the sun’s harmful...

Hundreds of thousands of asthma sufferers who use an over-the-counter inhaler will be compelled to seek a more costly prescription device by the end of the year, when the federal government plans to ban them over environmental concerns. The Food and Drug Administration last week began a media push to get the word out about the looming phase-out. After Dec. 31, the epinephrine asthma inhaler known as Primatene Mist will no longer be available. The product is currently the only FDA-approved over-the-counter inhaler and is being taken off the shelves because it uses something called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as a propellant...

The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that the City of Cleveland Heights has repealed firearms ordinances following a lawsuit by Ohioans for Concealed Carry. From the article: City Council unanimously approved the measure at its Sept. 6 meeting, after the interest group filed to seek a permanent injunction against the city in mid-August for passing legislation that superceded state law. This included a ban against carrying a gun in a city park; which state law allows under its uniform gun law approved in 2006. According to Law Director John Gibbon, a pre-trial meeting scheduled for Sept. 12 was cancelled by...

Wausau Mayor Jim Tipple: "The banning of a political party from participation at any event co-sponsored by the City is against public policy and not in the best interest of all the citizens of the City of Wausau. And therefore, we encourage the event organizer to invite all interested parties, or reimburse the city for other costs."

A policy that bars gay men from donating blood for life is “suboptimal,” advisers to the Health and Human Services Department said on Tuesday, and needs another look. HHS asked a committee of experts on blood and tissue donations to reexamine the policy and see if there is a way to let at least some gays donate blood. (snip)Men who have sex with other men, including gay and bisexual men, have an HIV infection rate 60 times higher than that of the general population

California cities can protect workers from being fired immediately when their company changes owners, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.The 6-1 decision reinstated a Los Angeles ordinance, struck down by lower courts, that required supermarkets to keep their workforce for 90 days after a new owner takes over. Similar laws covering different industries are in effect in other cities - including Oakland, San Jose, Berkeley and Emeryville - and the state also has a law protecting janitors who work for building contractors. "When you're keeping a business open and all you're doing is changing the name

Boston’s Mayor Menino continues to pop his moron pills every morning, and local businesses continue to feel the consequences. The latest story involves the city’s soon-to-be-shut-down cigar bars.  Menino’s Department of Public Health has ordered the handful of cigar bars that haven’t already been driven out of business by ridiculously high taxes to shut down by 2018, anyway.Why is Boston closing popular, profitable private businesses? To “protect the workers,” a.k.a. “the people who choose to work there.”“Anybody working in a bar of any kind shouldn’t have to breathe in secondhand smoke in order to make a living,’’ said Michael Siegel,...

In an unscientific, but amazing on-the-ground poll, 36% of Chicagoans voted to ban Sarah Palin’s books from being sold in the Windy City. The guys from RebelPundit.com attended the Printer’s Row Literature Festival in June. The festival has city blocks roped off and thousands of titles on hand for display, discussion and sale. RebelPundit staff then set up a sandwich board device that offered people 11 choices of authors, and asked passersby which, if any, of these authors they would “ban” from Chicagoland bookstores. The authors included : Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter, Andrew Breitbart, Ayn Rand, Michael Savage,...

Media cross-ownership ban restoredJuly 08, 2011 By Associated Press WASHINGTON - A federal Appeals Court has restored a long-standing ban that prevents media companies from owning both a newspaper and a television station in the same market. The 3d US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said yesterday that the Federal Communications Commission didn’t give the public adequate opportunity to comment on new rules that lifted the ban in the 20 largest media markets. The Appeals Court sent the rules back to the FCC to be rewritten. The so-called cross-ownership ban dates back to 1975 - a time when newspapers...

Is Ohio becoming the most pro-life state in the union?According to this report it seems darned certain to be trying. Reuters reports that the ban goes into place once a fetal heartbeat is detectable.Fetal heartbeats have been detected as early as five weeks into a pregnancy, though most are consistently screened for at six weeks. In essence this ban eliminates any partial birth abortions, and of course that Satanic practice that President Obama voted in favor of FOUR TIMES in his home state called “Born Alive Abortions.� (In essence infanticide caused by neglect. You know babies dying in soiled utility...

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is back on the air with another political ad, and this time his focus is guns.Just a few weeks after an operative from Al Qaeda released a video urging Islamic militants to take advantage of America as a country “absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms,” Mr. Bloomberg and his national anti-illegal gun coalition, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, released a commercial on Tuesday urging Congress to close what they say is a loophole in gun laws. That loophole is gun shows, the mayors say, where all kinds of people — even terrorists — can purchase firearms.The ad...

Earlier today, Chief Judge John P. Bailey of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia entered an order denying the City of Martinsburg's motion to dismiss WVCDL's lawsuit challenging the constitutionality and statutory validity of Martinsburg's city building gun ban ordinance. In his order, Judge Bailey found that WVCDL had clearly established standing to sue and requested supplemental briefing on whether he should defer further proceedings on WVCDL's federal constitutional claims and direct WVCDL to separately litigate its state law claims in state court and then return to federal court to litigate its federal constitutional claims...

First the bay city decided we American’s just shouldn’t be able to decide matters such as circumcision. We shouldn’t have to worry about decisions like that since we have a brilliant and all knowing government to think for us.Now San Francisco is taking things a step further by possibly relieving the American’s that live within its limits of the terrible right to purchase a pet goldfish. San Francisco’s Animal Control and Welfare Commission is recommending that the City ban the sale of goldfish, tropical fish and guppies in its borders, according to Matier and Ross.The recommendation to the San Francisco...

First kittens, then puppies and hamsters and now goldfish? San Francisco's Animal Control and Welfare Commission is recommending that the City ban the sale of goldfish, tropical fish and guppies in its borders, according to Matier and Ross. The recommendation to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is part of the commission's ongoing efforts to discourage "impulse buys" of animals. The commission's ban would cover pet stores and breeders in the City. It comes after more than a year of study and findings that aquarium fish are often mass bred under inhumane conditions or stripped from the wild.

ANN ARBOR (AP) — Lights-out time is approaching at the University of Michigan, where a campuswide ban on smoking outdoors and indoors takes effect next month. The school says it is the first major university in the state to adopt such a ban, while Big Ten rivals Indiana University and the University of Iowa already have them in place. “We are approaching this issue with great respect for the difficulty in discontinuing tobacco use,” said Robert Winfield, the university’s chief health officer. “It is our expectation that this will entail a culture change that will take a number of years...

Radio and television news anchors may no longer say the words “Facebook” and “Twitter” on air, unless the terms are part of a news story. This prohibits French news organizations from urging their audience to “follow us on Twitter” or “check out or Facebook page,” or other such promotions. The ban actually stems from a decree issued by the French government on March 27, 1992, which forbids the promotion of commercial enterprises on news programs. To sticklers of objective journalism, this may seem a reasonable rule. But as expat blogger Matthew Fraser points out, this type of regulation is absurd,...