Free Republic

Tractors lumbering down country roads are as common as deer in rural Montana, but the federal government wants to place new driving regulations on farmers and ranchers. “It’s a huge deal for us,” said John Youngberg of the Montana Farm Bureau. After years of allowing state governments to waive commercial driver’s license requirements for farmers hauling crops or driving farm equipment on public roads, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is poised to do away with the exceptions. Regulators are suggesting that all wheat shipments be considered interstate, even when farmers making short hauls to local grain elevators aren’t crossing...

California is being left behind by the new Gold Rush. Despite sky-high prices and the state's rich gold legacy, the industry here is mostly dormant. California trails the leading gold-producing state, Nevada, by a wide margin. A California revival is hardly imminent. Companies trying to reopen old mines in Grass Valley and near Sutter Creek have slogged through years of red tape, and there are no guarantees of success. The Sutter Creek plan is at least a year away, while Grass Valley is several years from reopening. Standing in the way: scarcity of capital and strict environmental standards. * *...

The deficit reduction committee, created by President Obama a few months back to kick the can of his irresponsible overspending down the road a few decades, is out with its trial balloon recommendations for reducing the federal deficit. According to the Wall Street Journal, its ideas include: For businesses, it would lower the corporate tax rate but remove a number of deductions currently available. It would make permanent the research-and-development tax credit. Federal subsidies to agribusinesses would begin to be slashed by $3 billion a year. On Social Security, it would gradually increase the retirement age when people can start...

If you have ever worked at a government job, please tell us some of your experiences good or bad.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think about California’s economy? If it’s the high unemployment numbers or the budget deficits in Sacramento, you are not alone. But it’s also true that California, in spite of its problems, remains one of the ten biggest economies in the world and America’s leader in categories like industrial research and development and attracting foreign direct investment. California cannot allow the past few years of recession to threaten our state’s economic standing on the world stage. We must do everything we can to make sure our state remains an attractive place...

President Obama's politicized, profligate U.S. census drive is so desperate for positive press that it has now recruited former Bush senior adviser Karl Rove to do public service announcements. Rove pleads on video: "Please answer the 10 easy questions. They're almost the same ones Madison helped write for the first census back in 1790." Message: If you don't join the census bandwagon, James Madison will have lost! Sorry, Mr. Rove. Playing the Founding Fathers card isn't going to quell conservative criticism of how the Obama administration has exploited the census boondoggle for both economic and ideological gain. For the record,...

Even as President Obama vowed last week that he's "a strong believer" in the free market, he and his DC pals were moving to undermine it. The most troubling sign: The Wall Street Journal's story about a Federal Reserve plan to play a role in setting pay for tens of thousands of bank workers nationwide. That alone makes hair stand on end. But Americans might have shuddered -- or scratched their heads, anyway -- even as Obama was giving his big speech on the need for financial regulation. "We've worked closely with leaders in the Senate and the House," the...

Lawyer gets 5-cent IRS bill, 4-cent refund Detroit defense attorney remains confused over two notices DETROIT - James Howarth is a little confused by two letters he has received from the Internal Revenue Service. The Detroit defense lawyer received one letter in November that said he owed the IRS money — five cents. He was warned that he should pay "to avoid additional penalty and/or interest," the Detroit Free Press reported Saturday. Howarth said he then received a second letter telling him the government owes him money — four cents. He was told he would have to request the refund...

Fred Thompson or Ron Paul? Like Perry and some others, I would rather see a big government Democrat elected than a big government Republican. At least that would bring back some opposition. Republicans in Congress have a much better record of reining in the Democrats' presidents than their own. And as I explain later, I think that one of these two is the only Republican candidate capable of winning the national election. Ron Paul answering the What programs? question by naming three cabinet level departments ... Wow. Good answer. If there was no rest-of-the-world, he would possibly have my vote....

A highly decorated Arab-American sergeant in the US army, who is currently serving as a paratrooper in Afghanistan, faces deportation on his return to the United States because of an irregularity in his immigration papers.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 16 — The United States has failed to obtain a General Assembly resolution focused on rape used by governments and armed groups to achieve political and military objectives. A General Assembly committee has instead adopted a resolution that reiterates past condemnations of rape in general but eliminates language in the American draft making specific reference to rape employed by soldiers and militia members as a tactic for intimidation and in warfare. United Nations officials have identified the tactic as one used frequently by government-supported janjaweed militias in Sudan to terrorize the population of the Darfur region. The...

Whatever you made of the Chancellor’s various sleights of hand on Tuesday, lurking beneath his Budget plans was one inescapable fact. The hungry maw of the NHS is swallowing more and more resources, at the expense of virtually everything else. The defence budget is at its lowest since 1930, despite our dwindling troops being dotted across three continents. Prison overcrowding is at such record levels that Jack Straw will have to release even more inmates early in a few weeks’ time. But the health service marches relentlessly on, having hoovered up two thirds of the increase in public spending in...

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Come December 31st, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is set to effectively ban biodiesel in the state’s largest markets. The problem, they say, lies with the fuel’s nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and their contribution to the formation of ground-level ozone in Texas’ eastern counties. According to the TCEQ, biodiesel does not meet the stricter NOx standards recently imposed on diesel and alternative diesel fuels under new regulations. Efforts to clean up the air, led the TCEQ in November 2005 to adopt Texas low emission diesel standards (TxLED) in an effort to reduce pollutants in the state’s smoggiest 110...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryMarch 7, 2006 Executive Order: Responsibilities of the Department of Homeland Security with Respect to Faith-Based and Community Initiatives By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to help the Federal Government coordinate a national effort to expand opportunities for faith-based and other community organizations and to strengthen their capacity to better meet America's social and community needs, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Establishment of a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the Department of...

April 4, 2005: American infantry are beginning to fear that the U.S. Air Force will take away their UAVs. And therein lies a very curious situation. After half a century of losing out to the U.S. Air Force in the competition for budget dollars, the American Army is making a major comeback. Ironically, it’s all about technology. The air force has always touted its mastery of high tech as a reason to get more money than the army. But the cheap and abundant tech has created new devices, namely smart bombs, UAVs and “smart binoculars,” that are putting a lot...

CONGRESS LEANING TOWARD 3.5% RAISE FOR FEDERAL WORKERS Thu Nov 18 2004 20:06:33 ET Key members of Congress and staff worked Thursday night to wrap up a fiscal 2005 spending package for federal agencies, and Capitol Hill aides predicted that the legislation would include a provision for a 3.5 percent pay raise for federal employees. WASH POST reporting on Firday: Despite losing every pay raise vote this year, the Bush administration tried Thursday to hang tough on the proposed raise. The White House budget office released a five-page letter to House and Senate appropriators on the spending package and repeated...

<p>NEAR THE SYRIAN BORDER, Iraq -- This started as a good news story about bringing water to the desert. It still is, even though the water's not flowing yet. That's because this is also a story about why it is so hard to get things done in postwar Iraq.</p>

<p>I recently read an interesting article titled The Talent Myth— about the notion that if you take a bunch of talented people and put them into an organization, you can expect thereby to get a talented organization.</p> <p>It turns out not to be necessarily the case, but it got me to thinking.</p>

KfallsArizona Fire - Personal ReportThu Jun 27 10:43:09 2002152.163.201.69 Subject: FIRES: Re: Fires Burning in America - from buckland Folks,Here is another *personal report* from the FIRES zone. Pay attention to these personal reports - they seldom make the major media and are not subject to some reporter/editors spin. Many thanks to all who have taken the time to let us know the true story going on.Jackie JunttiWGEN idzrus@earthlink.net To: idzrus@earthlink.netDate: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 13:39:15 -0600Subject: Fw: Re: Fires Burning in AmericaFrom: gary l buckland Dear Jackie - It is a hobby of mine to "flip over" a lot...