Free Republic

A little story of the Forest Service and an open mine shaft.. My wife and I ride ATV's up by Red Feather Lakes, CO. We were up the first week of August and stopped in to eat lunch by an old mine. We noticed that someone had taken a cutting torch and cut the big metal door off of the mine shaft, leaving it wide open for anyone to wander in. A ton of kids ride up there and it was very dangerous. So I stop in the US Forest Service District Office in Fort Collins to report it.

A typographical error in a $39 billion domestic spending-cut bill signed into law by President Bush on Wednesday could mean another vote on the measure that passed only after Vice President Dick Cheney intervened with a tie-breaking vote. The law, which sparked fury among Democrats and strong opposition from some Republicans in an election year, cuts funds for health care, student loan and other programs. It passed the Senate only after Cheney cast his tie-breaking vote. The House passed it by a 216-214 margin. A Senate aide said that a clerical error written into the bill as it bounced between...

Abstract: This Essay examines what the Harry Potter series (and particularly the most recent book, The Half-Blood Prince) tells us about government and bureaucracy. There are two short answers. The first is that Rowling presents a government (The Ministry of Magic) that is 100% bureaucracy. There is no discernable executive or legislative branch, and no elections. There is a modified judicial function, but it appears to be completely dominated by the bureaucracy, and certainly does not serve as an independent check on governmental excess. Second, government is controlled by and for the benefit of the self-interested bureaucrat. The most cold-blooded...

A panel of 36 distinguished public policy experts and scholars—ranging from Nobel laureate Milton Friedman to Eagle Forum President Phyllis Schlafly to former House Majority Leader Dick Armey—has selected the Internal Revenue Code as the No. 1 item on this year’s Human Events list of the Ten Most Harmful Government Programs. The programs elected by our judges don’t just cost money, they also attack our values and corrode the spirit of liberty that makes America the greatest nation. As in previous years, we initially asked our judges to nominate programs for the list. The judges were then sent ballots listing...

Lyndel Lucas is angry. He's exasperated. He's indignant. And he believes he has been wrongfully denounced by a system that is supposed to protect all Americans. Lucas, owner of Norma's Nursery & Garden Center in Lampasas, said his ordeal with the Texas justice system started in 1986. Three years later, he began an arduous journey to clear his name, only to see obstacles block his path for the next 13 years. Jerry Winston Giles was a drifter who came into town on a bicycle. "He was hungry; he was down on his luck. He was begging for a job," said...