Free Republic

Hill sources buzzing. A Senate bailout vote is scheduled tomorrow at 9pm Eastern. No bill details seen yet. How it will go down…There will be up to 6 roll call votes on the following items: (1)Motion to concur on the House message, H.R. 2095, Rail Safety; (2)a Dorgan amendment relating to H.R. 7081, the U.S. - India Nuclear agreement; (3)a Bingaman amendment relating to H.R. 7081, the U.S. - India Nuclear agreement; (4)passage of H.R. 7081, the U.S. - India Nuclear agreement; (5)a Dodd amendment to H.R. 1424, relating to the bailout package; and (6)passage of H.R. 1424, the bailout....

ActBlue $649,130 Altria Group $59,400 Verizon Communications $33,000 Northrop Grumman $32,800 HBK Capital Management $32,200 Covington & Burling $29,050 Columbia Capital $25,300 Hogan & Hartson $24,600 Norfolk Southern $24,200 Alion Science & Technology $22,900 Humana Inc $22,500 Patton Boggs LLP $21,300 Williams & Connolly $21,100 Time Warner $21,050 Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin $20,900 Dominion Resources $20,400 DLA Piper $19,850 SLM Corp $19,600 Friedman, Billings & Ramsey $19,400 McGuire, Woods et al $19,400

Big Oil Did you know that the United States does NOT have any big oil companies? It's true: the largest American oil company, Exxon Mobil, is only the 14th largest in the world, and is dwarfed by the really big oil companies--all owned by foreign governments or government-sponsored monopolies--that dominate the world's oil supply. With 94% of the world's oil supply locked up by foreign governments, most of which are hostile to the United States, the relatively puny American oil companies do not have access to enough crude oil to affect the market and help bring prices down. Thus, ExxonMobil,...

Tim Russert was an American. I'm not using the term in its patriotic sense, although he certainly was not just a patriot but an unabashed one at that. No, Tim Russert was an American in that very particular fashion that makes Americans the most distinctive breed of humans on the planet. He was an American in precisely the cultural sense that causes European elites -- and all too frequently our own -- to grind their teeth and look down their noses with such haughty disdain at the one population on earth composed of the entire world's rejects, refugees and descendants...

The National Taxpayer's Union recently published a variety of statistics that brings to light how far the national presidential front runners plan to go to expand the power and influence of the already-morbidly obese federal government. Assuming the most conservative cost estimates: “The eight candidates proposed a combined total of 189 items that would increase federal spending, 24 items that would decrease it, and 238 items whose budgetary impacts are unknown -- in addition to dozens of sub-items further detailing program components. The four respective frontrunners in the two parties (John McCain, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama), proposed...

These days Timothy Barry is living off the fat of the land, taking advantage of a huge market niche that has been overlooked by other business people. Barry sells products that make life easier for people who tip the scales at more than, say, 300 pounds.

Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical wellbeing and competence. The Times has seen a patent application filed by the company for a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolism. The system would allow managers to monitor employees’ performance by measuring their heart rate, body temperature, movement, facial expression and blood pressure. Unions said they fear that employees could be dismissed on the basis of a computer’s assessment of their physiological state. Technology allowing constant monitoring of workers was previously limited to pilots, firefighters and...

In what may be the largest early release of inmates in U.S. history, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is proposing to open the prison gates next year for some 22,000 low-risk offenders. According to details of a budget proposal made available to The Bee, the administration will ask the Legislature to authorize the release of certain non-serious, nonviolent, non-sex offenders who are in the final 20 months of their terms. The proposal would cut the prison population by 22,159 inmates and save the cash-strapped state an estimated $256 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1 and more than $780...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2007 – Army and Navy drummers, buglers and cheerleaders stormed the halls of the Pentagon over the past two days, rallying or roiling soldiers and sailors in their wake before tomorrow’s Army-Navy football game. The Navy Midshipmen, who enter the game with a 7-4 record, will try for their fifth consecutive win against the 3-8 Army Black Knights in the 108th year the teams face off on the gridiron. Despite being 14-point underdogs, the indomitable Black Knights, on hand at the Pentagon today, are poised to soldier on at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore tomorrow. Lifting a...

Follow link. Seems appropriate given today's date. Enjoy.

Igniting a public health war on smoke, the Bay Area's air pollution agency proposed Monday to ban wood fires on bad air nights and to bar new installations of open hearth fireplaces in homes and buildings. Until now, the air quality district has not regulated indoor burning of wood. Instead, the district has asked people to voluntarily refrain from lighting fires on chilly winter "Spare the Air" nights to protect the public from the health effects of tiny smoke particles that can lodge deep in human lungs. The particles can aggravate asthma, emphysema and lead to premature death among the...

I discovered while searching that Giant Geyser has become reasonably active, erupting every 7-10 days or so, sometimes even less. Because Steamboat in the Norris Geyser Basin is extremely irregular (1-5 eruptions a year), this probably makes Giant the largest regular performing geyser in the world. For perspective, an eruption of Old Faithful puts out about 10,000 gallons. An eruption of Giant puts out roughly a million gallons. More pictures of this eruption here: Giant Eruptions September 4 and 9, 2006

Speaking in 2004 to a crowd of wealthy democratic supporters during a fund raising event in San Francisco, Hillary Clinton spoke the very words that illustrate the intentions of the government so very well. "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." While those words were spoken three years ago, they are just as important today. They represent not just the Democrat party's strong commitment to the redistribution of wealth rightfully earned by the American people, it provides insight into the focus that our politicians have in running our nation. It highlights the precise...

WASHINGTON, March 25, 2007 ? An early withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq would be a catastrophic mistake, Iraq?s Ambassador to the United States said here today. ?If we set out a date now for a complete withdrawal [of U.S. forces from Iraq}, you can bet your bottom dollar that the terrorists will be waiting for that date and attacking and launching their biggest attacks? on Iraqi civilians and government institutions, Samir Sumaidaie told CNN Late Edition television news show host Wolf Blitzer today. The Defense Department?s emergency fiscal 2007 supplemental requests includes $93.4 billion to help fund U.S....

THERE are a few exceptions which will always stand out, but most female stars yearn for a diminutive derriere. However, it appears that the small and slender bottom is very much a recent trend after an archaeological discovery revealed how Stone Age pin-ups were far from size zero. Ancient carvings depicting the female form 15,000 years ago reveal that prehistoric women were revered for their curvaceous bodies and prominent buttocks. The most popular were the cave-dwellers’ equivalents of Kylie Minogue (pictured), whose renowned behind is the world’s most popular posterior. Historians claim that the carvings – found at a site...

Remember back when Rick Warren was adamantly denying that his inviting Barack Obama to his HIV conference had anything to do with politics? Well - if that's the case - why is it that he's now TALKING POLITICS on CNN and sending the message that "Obama's Da Man"?

ROSEVILLE, Mich. -- Roseville police said a man carrying "the biggest gun they've ever seen" robbed a convenience store on Masonic Boulevard on Friday.

The oil industry is on the verge of cracking open a deep-water region in the Gulf of Mexico that could become the nation's biggest new domestic source of oil since the discovery of Alaska's North Slope more than a generation ago. Chevron Corp. and partners Devon Energy Corp. and Statoil ASA announced today the first successful oil production from the region, a 300-mile-wide swath of the Gulf that lies below miles of water and deep within a bed of ancient rocks geologists call the lower tertiary. The company said the well sustained a flow rate of more than 6,000 barrels...

Neolithic stone carving of Big Dipper discovered in northwest China A neolithic stone carving of the Big Dipper star formation has been found on Baimiaozi Mountain near Chifeng City in northwest China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to experts. The stone carving was discovered by Wu Jiacai, a 50-year-old researcher in literature and history with Wongniute Banner of Inner Mongolia. Wu found a large yam-shaped stone, 310 centimeters long, onto which 19 stars had been carved. The representation of the Big Dipper is on the north face of the stone. The stars are represented by indentations in the stone. The...

8/8/2006 - KARADJE, Niger (AFPN) -- Niger villagers were smiling ear-to-ear when 14 Airmen from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, handed out soccer balls and rice in July. The 787th Air Expeditionary Squadron, made up of Airmen from the 24th Intelligence Squadron and 1st Combat Communications Squadron, is deployed to Niger for Eagle Vision. The focus of the deployment is to collect satellite imagery for mapmaking purposes. "Whenever we deploy on Eagle Vision missions, we help out host nations," said Capt. Ben Powell, 787th AES commander. The squadron collected 30 soccer balls donated by people in the Kaiserslautern Military Community. "Usually...

Alfie Carter : photo Jamiescottimages.com Big Wave News Oakley/ASL Big Wave Awards Are Off to a Cracking Start Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 2 August, 2006 : - - Gold Coast, Queensland, -- The Oakley/ASL Big Wave Awards provide Australia with a premier heavy-water surf event of epic proportions. Dozens of ultra-qualified surfers on the open ocean coasts of Australia and New Zealand spend seven months in pursuit of the best and biggest waves they can find. The goals? Ultimate respect from their peers, the thrill of the chase, and $30,000 in total prizemoney. This year’s event kicked off on June...

A 69-year-old German tourist could go home to tell the ultimate "big fish story" after a fishing adventure on Norway's Sognefjord. Dieter Krüger of Hamburg also had to go home exhausted and slightly shaken after hooking a halibut that weighed in at 105 kilos (231 pounds). But very happy indeed, if a bit stiff.

WASHINGTON, July 14, 2006 – The Army National Guard is experiencing its biggest and longest-running recruiting success since the end of the draft, the chief of the National Guard Bureau told Pentagon reporters today. The Army Guard has met or exceeded its recruiting goals for the past nine months, Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum said. The force also increased its end strength each month for the past nine months, to its current 350,000, he said. Defense officials announced earlier this week that the Army National Guard has recruited almost 51,500 soldiers since Oct. 1, about 1,500 above its year-to-date...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, July 12, 2006 – Air Force Tech. Sgt. William Long likes a challenge. But a couple weeks ago, one challenge seemed insurmountable. Air Force officials had notified an airman deployed to a remote forward operating base that his wife was gravely ill. The Air Force placed him on emergency leave, then tried to figure a way to get him from the Afghan frontier to the United States. As a controller in the Air Terminal Operations Center here, Long decided to tackle the problem. Long, deployed from Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich., found an Army helicopter...

Until now I never understood how Michael Medved could believe in Bigfoot. But seeing is believing. http://www.getdisco.com/getdiscoMain.html Click on the 2nd video on this site to see the irrefutable evidence.

"It's a glow-in-the-dark compass ring. So you don't get lost." -Josh (played by Tom Hanks), in the movie, "Big" Maybe what we need in California is a glow-in-the-dark compass ring. Or, maybe it's just Republicans that need one. Perhaps just Arnold Schwarzenegger. Heck, maybe it's all three. Let's face it...to our fellow citizens, Arnold is the face of California and the State GOP (with all due respect to Ackerman, Plescia and Sundheim). As Jon Fleischman and I wrote on the heels of the Governor's January 5 State of the State address, "Now, 'Mr. Hollywood' has come up with his BIGGEST...

Curse of big brother stalks Jeb Bush By Toby Harnden in Washington (Filed: 11/06/2006) He is a popular governor of a pivotal southern state, who has impressed with his leadership of hurricane relief efforts, is a charismatic speaker and a renowned policy expert - and is steeped in political campaigning. Normally, such attributes and qualifications, along with his small government, libertarian brand of conservatism, would make him a front runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. Dynasty: Jeb Bush’s presidential hopes have been put on hold But the governor of Florida, who has a popularity rating of 63 per...

Scientists use quantum gravity to describe the universe before the Big Bang.Scientists may finally have an answer to a "big" question: If the Big Bang was the beginning of the universe, what could have caused it to happen? Using a theory called "loop quantum gravity," a group led by Penn State professor Abhay Ashtekar has shown that just before the Big Bang occurred, another universe very similar to ours may have been contracting. According to the group's findings, this previous universe eventually became so dense that a normally negligible repulsive component of the gravitational force overpowered the attractive component, causing...

Building near WTC entombs toxins, remainsBy AMY WESTFELDT, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago AP Photo: In this Sept. 30, 2001, file photo NEW YORK - While debates rage about why more buildings have not gone up at the World Trade Center site, there is one, shrouded in a web of black netting and full of trade center dust, that can't seem to come down. The vacant 41-story former Deutsche Bank AG building looms above ground zero, contaminated with toxic waste and still holding tiny body parts more than four years after the trade center collapsed onto it on Sept....

FORT HUACHUCA — Described as a “big goofy, lovable animal” that appears to have a touch of the equine equivalent of attention deficit disorder Big Whiskey is going from training as a race horse to become a cavalry mount. That the thoroughbred is even alive to do something else is a miracle, Chris Zimmerman said. A few years ago, he was in a trailer that overturned and one of the major injuries the horse received was a piece of metal that went through one side of his neck and came out the other, he said. The previous owners decided he...

Big Breakup: That's the way the comet crumbles Ron Cowen Scores of telescopes are watching a comet fall apart, and the main show may be only beginning. The comet has already fragmented into at least 59 pieces and may continue to break up as it reaches its position closest to the sun on June 6. In mid-May, the chunks will venture within 11.7 million kilometers of Earth—the closest any comet has come to our planet in 20 years—and the largest fragments should be visible with binoculars. Called Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, this body passes near the sun every 5.4 years and...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized 226 pounds of marijuana, 112 pounds of cocaine and 70 pounds of methamphetamines this weekend along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona. On Friday night at the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales, officers arrested a 54-year-old man from Cajeme, Mexico after he attempted to smuggle almost 70 pounds of methamphetamines hidden in a 2005 Chevy Tahoe, according to an agency press release. After further investigation by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Drug Enforcement Agency, officers arrested three more people and seized $236,432 and 36 ounces of cocaine. On Sunday night at...

'Big-mouth' bin Laden angered his lieutenants By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 06/04/2006) A senior lieutenant to Osama bin Laden has told US interrogators that the al-Qa'eda leader's big mouth was a security liability. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed also complained that the schemes bin Laden approved lacked destructive ambition. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Court papers released in America also depict the world's most notorious terrorist group as riven by internal disputes and hobbled by favouritism. The allegations have emerged from CIA interrogations of Mohammed, the Kuwaiti accused of masterminding the September 11 conspiracy. His comments were released as part of the evidence...

The bomb’s small size increases the number of weapons an aircraft can carry, therefore raising the amount of targets it can kill in one sortie. By Staff Sgt. Ryan Hansen / Air Armament Center Public Affairs EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., March 24, 2006 – There's an old saying that goes, "good things come in small packages." That saying rings true for the warfighter when looking at the capabilities of the small diameter bomb, the Air Force's newest precision guided munition.At just 5.9 feet long and 285 pounds, the bomb’s small size increases the number of weapons an aircraft...

Big boys' toys end riddle of the UFOs By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles (Filed: 21/03/2006) A spate of flying saucer sightings that alarmed residents of Orange County, California, and attracted attention from UFO researchers worldwide have been traced to the garages of a local heart surgeon and engineer. For the past few months, police have been logging reports of mysterious discs hovering and weaving over Aliso Viejo and nearby towns. In one sighting, recorded on a UFO research website, a witness reported seeing four craft studded with bright blue lights "dance around one another in the night sky". But...

Massachusetts' attorney general is demanding that contractors refund $108 million for poor work on Boston's "Big Dig," which is the biggest public works project in U.S. history and has been plagued by leaks and delays. Attorney General Tom Reilly's office plans to sue Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff and other companies if the two sides do not reach an agreement over some 200 complaints of shoddy work in putting a major highway running through downtown Boston underground... Costs for building the 7.8 mile underground roadway through Boston ballooned from under $3 billion to the current $14.6 billion.

In the long run, the battle to make America safer is part of a larger cause—the battle to make the free world safer and, indeed, to make the whole world freer. Victory will come only if representative government prevails, because freedom is the one force strong enough to stop tyranny and terror. In our modern day and age, America appears to have forgotten the guiding principles that have led her thus far. Getting America Right offers not a revolutionary, novel solution, but an answer that is as old as America herself—a conservative one...

3/1/2006 - KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFPN) -- When launched in 2010, a football-field-in-length demonstrator radar antenna, weighing more than 5 tons, will serve as the forerunner for the future of America's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets in space. Administered by the Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate here, the innovative space-based radar antenna technology, or ISAT, program focuses on developing systems to deploy extremely large (up to 300 yards) electronically scanning radar antennas flying 5,700 miles above the Earth's surface and providing improved ground target detection to the warfighter. "These huge antennas will enable the revolutionary performance...

One exciting thing about the free market is that you can't predict what the market will create. Big-government advocates tell you exactly what will happen when their plans work (as if they actually would work!), but we who trust the free market can only say that people will compete and good ideas will win. We do know that competition works. It works because it gives people the chance to be creative...

Environmental activists from six states descended yesterday on the Nashville office of Al Gore in an ongoing campaign to convince the former vice president to use his position as an Apple board member to urge the electronics manufacturer to recycle its computers. The Computer TakeBack Campaign, a national coalition of environmental organizations, turned its attentions to Apple Computer after successfully getting HP and Dell to support producer take-back recycling of toxic discarded products carrying their brand names. According to the group's website, Apple electronic wastes contain dangerous toxic chemicals. "The iLife isn't quite as harmonious as it seems. Lurking underneath...

FORT HUACHUCA — This year and next will be the toughest for the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, the service’s top enlisted soldier said Friday. Equating too many things coming together at once to the movie “The Perfect Storm,” Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth O. Preston said the Army is in the midst of a major transformation of creating more brigade combat teams, movement of forces from overseas locations, base closures and realignments, recruiting more soldiers and continuing to fight terrorism. What cannot be lost is protecting the nation, he told nearly 700 noncommissioned soldiers and officers during a...

Cold and Deep: Antarctica's Lake Vostok has two big neighbors Sid Perkins GREAT LAKES. Lake Vostok and the newly described 90°E and Sovetskaya Lakes lie beneath a kilometers-thick blanket of ice. The black square in the inset shows the outline of this satellite image on a map of Antarctica; the cross indicates the South Pole. R.E. Bell, et al. Trapped beneath Antarctica's kilometers-thick ice sheet are two bodies of water that rival North America's Great Lakes, new analyses suggest. The geological setting of these huge, unfrozen lakes hints that they may harbor ecosystems that have been isolated for millions of...

From: Korean Friendship Association/Corey Kobernik Sent: Sunday, February 5, 2006 1:54 PM Subject: Birth Anniversary of Leader KIM JONG IL Dear Friends, The 64th anniversary of the birth of Leader Kim Jong Il takes place on the 16th of February. This is a very joyous holiday in which the Korean people celebrate in a myriad of ways. People all around the world will be involved in marking the occasion as well through various activities including sending their own personal congratulatory greetings. We highly encourage you to avail yourself of this opportunity to honor Leader Kim Jong Il on his birth...

Mobile economy big winner after Katrina Wednesday, January 11, 2006 By ANDREA JAMES Business Reporter When talking about the fallout from Hurricane Katrina, economists often lump Alabama with Mississippi and Louisiana, but a new federal report indicates that the states' economic conditions are drastically different. In the third quarter of 2005, Mississippi had the highest unemployment rate in the country at 7.9 percent, followed by Louisiana at 7.6 percent. Alabama's figure was among the nation's lowest -- just under 4 percent. In quarterly job growth, Alabama ranked 29th nationally, while Mississippi and Louisiana experienced net losses and finished among the...

Government Prepares for Next Big Disaster By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Before the next big hurricane's winds howl ashore, Homeland Security officials want an emergency communications network operating, emergency medical facilities treating patients, and teams dispatched to search for victims at the likely ground zero. In the wake of congressional hearings that exposed the breathtaking failures of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration is retooling its disaster plan to react more quickly to the next catastrophe. Michael Brown, now the ex-chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, became the public face of Katrina's failure....

New York, New York (AHN) - Three people were stabbed Wednesday at a party celebrating a new record featuring murdered rapper Notorious B.I.G.About 3:10 a.m., police officers heard gunfire at a parking garage close to the club. They found three men inside with gunshot wounds. They are in stable condition at the hospital.A short time later, a 911 call was made about a stabbing at a Manhattan club called Exit. Police found two men who were cut in the face and one who was stabbed in the stomach. They were all hospitalized.Detectives are unclear whether the two incidents are connected....

Minneapolis-St. Paul is the "friendliest" major metropolitan area for people trying to quit smoking, according to an analysis released by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare on Monday.

Big brain means small testes, finds bat study 12:16 07 December 2005 NewScientist.com news service Gaia Vince Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences The brainier male bats are, the smaller their testicles, according to a new study. Researchers suggest the correlation exists because both organs require a lot of energy to grow and maintain, leading individual species to find the optimum balance. The analysis of 334 species of bat found that in species where the females were promiscuous, the males had evolved larger testes but had relatively small brains. In species, where the females were monogamous, the situation...

Preserving the Earth, One Joke at a Time By MICHAEL JANOFSKY Published: November 19, 2005 Jeffrey Tambor performing at the comedy show "Earth to America." Isaac Brekken for The New York TimesLAS VEGAS, Nov. 18 - Ice caps are melting. Oceans are rising. Villages are disappearing. Wild animals are not quite sure what is going on. Pretty funny stuff, eh? Well, on Thursday night it was, as a parade of comedians and a few serious actors joined forces here at Caesars Palace for two and a half hours of environmental consciousness-raising in a live show called "Earth to America," focused...

Is Big Brother under your hood? Monday, October 24, 2005 By Kyla King The Grand Rapids Press They're not black or even really boxes, but those data recorders inside some vehicles are raising questions about personal privacy. Should you be told they are in your car? Who gets access to them? How can the information be used? What are your rights? That's what state Sen. Tony Stamas, R-Midland, wants to figure out. Stamas says he expects to introduce legislation this week that addresses "personal privacy" issues and requires car makers to disclose which models have them. Advertisement State Sen. Wayne...