Free Republic

Geologist Ian Plimer takes a contrary view, arguing that man-made climate change is a con trick perpetuated by environmentalists By Jonathan Manthorpe, Vancouver SunJuly 28, 2009 Ian Plimer has outraged the ayatollahs of purist environmentalism, the Torquemadas of the doctrine of global warming, and he seems to relish the damnation they heap on him. Plimer is a geologist, professor of mining geology at Adelaide University, and he may well be Australia's best-known and most notorious academic. Plimer, you see, is an unremitting critic of "anthropogenic global warming" -- man-made climate change to you and me -- and the current environmental...

The Wall Street Journal recently reported an important effect of the 2008 presidential campaign: For the first time, traffic at left-leaning political Web sites overtook traffic at right-leaning competitors. The Drudge Report and Free Republic had the largest number of unique visitors in September 2007, but in September 2008, that honor went to the Huffington Post.

GULFPORT -- A man suspected of being in the country illegally when he was in a fatal crash will be tried for leaving the scene, but he won't be prosecuted for driving under the influence. Results of a blood-alcohol test show Raymoundo Rojas Garcia was not intoxicated the morning his pickup collided with a motorcycle on U.S. 49 at O'Neal Road. The crash June 24, 2007, claimed the lives of Wayne Hughes, 45, and his wife, Michelle Hughes, 48. The couple lived in Saucier. Prosecutors in the District Attorney's Office confirmed the test results after a Harrison County grand jury...

Have you folks seen this site? It's an extension of Global Incidents Map concentrated on Illegal Alien Activity. I like the fact that they call them Illegal Aliens and not some PC title..... http://illegal.globalincidentmap.com/home.php

MOUNT ST. HELENS – Standing on Mount St. Helen’s southern rim, Cynthia Gardner sees much more than a smoldering volcano. Like her colleagues at the U.S. Geological Survey, Gardner sees an enormous gift basket packed with scientific marvels. She finds the ongoing eruption and burgeoning lava dome fascinating enough, but she sounds almost giddy when she talks about the crater’s glacier. “The glacier is mind-bogglingly cool,” said Gardner, a USGS geologist, “maybe even more interesting than the eruption.” Ever since St. Helens rumbled back to life in 2004, geologists have curiously watched the dichotomy of fire and ice play out....

Customers picking up pants and shirts pulled up beside a large bloodstain Monday in the parking lot of Joe's Cleaners. Asked to describe his lethal encounter with a robber a few hours earlier, owner Joseph Baggett apologized for saying little. But in between filling out police reports, pressing clothes and answering phone calls, the 53-year-old retired Army warrant officer gave his account. A man smelling of alcohol came into his store in the 1500 block of John West Road in Far East Dallas and then just left, Mr. Baggett said. A few minutes later, he returned, this time barging in...

She voted not knowing she wasn't a U.S. citizen By Robert Jablon ASSOCIATED PRESS June 24, 2007 LOS ANGELES – Zoila Meyer spent her whole life believing she was an American. Her parents brought her with them from Cuba when she was 1 year old and always told her she was a U.S. citizen. She even won election to the City Council of Adelanto, a town of about 23,000 in Southern California's high desert. But on Tuesday, immigration officers put the 40-year-old mother of four in handcuffs, and she is facing deportation for illegally voting. “To be honest with you,...

Kirsten Stewart is not the kind of American that President Bush and the Democratic congressional leadership is likely to bring up as they renew their push for so-called comprehensive immigration reform. Stewart is not the personification of any of the cliches that Bush and the Democratic leadership enjoy tossing about; she is not an impoverished illegal immigrant “living in the shadows.” Nor is she a businesswoman who can't seem to find an American willing to work hard for a fair wage. To the contrary, she is an example of the steep price America pays in integrity when its government refuses...

A judge examined the personnel files of the Coronado police officer who shot Chargers linebacker Steve Foley and decided yesterday that the records would not be released to defense lawyers. San Diego Superior Court Judge Charles Rogers agreed to look through the records to determine whether Officer Aaron Mansker had been accused of or investigated for excessive force, racial bias or dishonesty. Finding nothing in those categories, the judge refused to disclose any information from the files. Mansker, 24, said he saw Foley driving erratically on state Route 163 in the early morning of Sept. 3. The officer, who was...

PFAFFENHAUSEN, Germany – Ask Marc Bongers about the wisdom of introducing a speed limit on the German autobahn, and he answers by impatiently revving the 435-horsepower engine of a specially modified Porsche. Slowpokes, he said, already spoil half the fun. Few things are closer to the German heart than the freedom to drive like a Formula One champion. Rule-bound and risk-averse in so many other ways, Germans regard driving on the autobahn at face-peeling speeds as close to an inalienable right. Now, though, Germany's love of speed is colliding with its fears about global warming, as it becomes clear that...

SAN DIEGO – San Diego Chargers linebacker Steve Foley, who was shot by an off-duty Coronado police officer last year, is suing the city of Coronado and the cop who shot him. Papers filed Friday in San Diego Superior Court name both the city and Officer Aaron Mansker in a civil negligence complaint. Mansker shot Foley twice Sept. 3 after following him for 10 miles from San Diego into a Poway cul-de-sac near Foley's home. Mansker, 23, said he suspected Foley, 31, of drunken driving after watching him driving erratically in his customized Oldsmobile Cutlass on state Route 163 at...

Cowboys release shaky Vanderjagt, sign Gramatica Mike Vanderjagt's short, but rocky tenure as the Cowboys' kicker is over. ESPN's Ed Werder reports that Dallas has released Vanderjagt and signed Martin Gramatica to replace him. The most accurate field goal kicker in NFL history, Vanderjagt, who signed a three-year contract worth nearly $6 million as an unrestricted free agent this spring, has converted only 13 of 18 field goals. That's only two fewer misses in 11 games than the nine-year veteran had in the past three seasons combined. In his eight seasons with the Colts, a tenure sometimes marked by petulance...

They sought citizenship, got walking papersIllegal immigrant couple sue consultant, and win By Jose Luis Jiménez STAFF WRITER August 21, 2006 VISTA – Although they were in the country illegally for many years, a Mexican couple who had planted roots in El Cajon sought to become citizens nearly six years ago. NELVIN C. CEPEDA / Union-Tribune Elias Ventura wouldn't get the same pay in Mexico that he gets here installing tinting on car windows. In the United States since 1989, he considers himself part of the mainstream. Elias and Martha Ventura's three children were born here. The couple pay...

In the quaint old days, when a heat wave like the one we're experiencing hit, you didn't worry about, oh, the planet's health or Earth's ability to sustain itself. You got a fan. But now when temperatures soar to record-breaking highs, as they did in San Diego County on Saturday, one of the first things that comes to mind is global warming. One can't help but wonder: Is that the cause of the sweltering heat? Are the record highs a sign that global warming is not the imagination of former Vice President Al Gore and so many nerdy scientists? Taken...

By Sandra Dibble STAFF WRITER June 10, 2006 Could Mexico's plunging birthrate and growing economy end illegal immigration to the United States? Mexican President Vicente Fox says they could. As soon as 2015, Mexico will be using “100 percent of its work force,” he said, and his countrymen won't need to cross the border in search of jobs. But demographers, economists, business analysts and others who follow migration and Mexico's economy have been quick to challenge the president's upbeat assessment. His comments last week followed the release of economic figures showing the best growth period of his administration and came...

I hardly ever watch primetime news(?), but after my 5:30 pm showing of the local news, I left it on cBS just to see how they portray the Jefferson story. It was the 3rd story in (1st was the VA losing personal data followed by the number of hurricanes predicted for 2006). Jefferson's pic came up and the story began. As the story went on, would you believe that the first party named was Republican?? Shieffer says something along the lines that even Republicans are wondering if the FBI over-stepped their bounds. The story went to another reporter who finally...

Accidental publicist Agencies risk unwitting release of sensitive information using popular office software BY Michael Arnone Published on Apr. 10, 2006 A new front line of national and corporate security is emerging, and some of the most common document applications, including Microsoft Word documents and PDFs, are putting people on it without their knowledge. In the past several years, federal agencies and private-sector companies have released documents on the Internet that they thought did not contain sensitive content, but they actually did. That has led to embarrassment, scandals, firings and national security breaches when unintended readers discovered the hidden data....

Purpose is to show role in U.S. economy By Hiram Soto UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER April 15, 2006 A worker boycott announced for May 1 in support of immigrant rights is picking up steam in San Diego and across the nation, with organizers calling for more marches that day. Locally, several Latino-owned businesses have announced they will close that day. Massive marches here and elsewhere have energized immigrants, some of whom said they planned to stay home from work May 1, despite facing an uncertain future. “I'm not afraid,” said Eduardo Miliche, who has two jobs, including one at a Red...

MEXICO CITY – Mexican officials are complaining that a bill in Georgia's state legislature to tax the hundreds of millions of dollars that illegal immigrants wire home would unfairly hurt Mexicans working north of the border. Sponsored by Republican lawmakers who charge that illegal immigrants use basic health and education services without contributing to them, the bill would force anyone unable to prove their legal status to pay tax on their wire transfers. Mexicans living in the United States sent home about $20 billion to their families last year, more than all the foreign direct investment in the country and...

2,400 officers made more than $100,000 By Steve Schmidt UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER February 28, 2006 Roughly one out of 10 California prison guards was paid more than $100,000 last year, fueled largely by a jump in overtime. Some 2,400 rank-and-file correctional officers' pay exceeded $100,000 in 2005, compared with 557 the year before, a San Diego Union-Tribune analysis of payroll figures shows. Big bucks in the big house One guard grossed $187,000, making him the highest-paid correctional officer in California, according to data provided by the state controller's office. At the historic San Quentin State Prison near San Francisco, one...