Free Republic

More than 5 million barrels of oil that were part of a historic U.S. emergency oil reserves release aimed at lowering domestic fuel prices were exported to Europe and Asia last month, according to data and sources, even as U.S. gasoline and diesel prices touched record highs. The export of crude and fuel is blunting the impact of the moves by U.S. President Joe Biden designed to lower record pump prices. Biden on Saturday renewed a call for gasoline suppliers to cut their prices, drawing criticism from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

An internal e-mail obtained by FOX 5 reveals members of the National Guard might still be in D.C. through the Fall of 2021. The National Security Council is asking the Department of Defense to engage Capitol Police on planning for post-March 12th support, according to the e-mail. There is a scheduled meeting for agencies to discuss on Wednesday, February 17th

My daughter is finishing up her 9th grade school year and just got an invitation to go to the National Young Leaders State Conference, put on by the Congressional Youth Leadership Council. The invitation contains lots of marketing information about the conference and the creative looks very expensive, with metallic colored seals and inserts. The conference is in Vienna VA for 4 days and costs about $1400. It names the HS teacher that nominated her for this "honor" and looks personalized. Because of the fee, my first instinct is to dismiss this as a money making scam, with a conference...

Virginians soon will be able to choose a "Choose Life" license plate for their vehicles. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said yesterday that he has signed legislation that approves a number of specialty license plates, including one that bears the anti-abortion slogan. "The practice has been for the General Assembly to allow statements of social political positions on these license plates," the governor said. "The clear trend of [recent court] decisions was if the state allows plates that have messages . . . once a state does that, these plates should be allowed." Then-Gov. Mark R. Warner, a fellow Democrat, vetoed...

NEW YORK Millions of workers at small businesses across the country will take time tomorrow to watch Barack Obama be sworn in as president -- and will do so with their bosses' blessings. Many companies will allow workers to take a break to watch the swearing-in on TVs or their computers, while others are making rooms available so staffers can gather. Still others are planning celebrations to mark a historic event, and some owners are giving staffers the day off. At BlissPR, a New York-based public relations agency, many employees will be in the conference room watching Obama's inauguration on...

Help! I'm stuck in iPod insanity! I have a new video iPod and downloaded some podcasts and movies. They sync great, as advertised. As soon as I watch one minute of the movie or start to listen to the Podcast, iTunes considers the content "Watched". The next time I sync, the movie/podcast is removed from the iPod. Of course, I can resync the content, but it can take a lot of time. I would like to keep the movies and podcasts on the iPod until I'm finished (and until nobody else in my family wants to watch them). At this...

For the second time this year, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has delayed the execution of triple murderer Percy Levar Walton, this time for 18 months. Walton, 28, had been set to be executed by injection at 9 p.m. Friday. In a prepared statement yesterday, Kaine said, "I am compelled to conclude that Walton is severely mentally impaired and meets the Supreme Court's definition of mental incompetence." -snip- Virginia Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell disagreed with Kaine's decision. In a statement released last night, McDonnell said, "I am most concerned about the impact today's action could have on our justice system....

Books have been the orphan in the digital world. Music has the iPod. Video has YouTube. Books have, well, Amazon.com, where you can buy them printed on paper. Of course, there are electronic books available for download at Amazon and elsewhere, but they haven't really caught on. Sony Corp. however is now tackling part of the problem with the U.S. launch of the first e-book reader that imitates the look of paper by using innovative screen technology. Is this the iPod for books? Not quite. But it is a step forward. The Sony Reader is a handsome affair the size...

My brother just called to tell me he is on his way to NOLA as part of a coordinated effort by the Sheriffs departments. He is a police officer from northern NJ. He was also on the scene on 9/11 shortly after the first strike. He told me he remembers a cop from NO offering him a bowl of hot gumbo during that tragedy and had to volunteer when asked to go. His wife is a dispatcher and the whole family went through so much during 9/11 and the following cleanup effort. We felt like things were finally getting back...

Today, as we witness the powerful demonstration of our Democracy, let us also be thankful for FreeRepublic. It's early in the day, and I'm already defending our President, country and the ceremony to the hate-Bush crowd. With their loud, obnoxious voices, they will try to shout over our freedom-loving celebration. The Blame-America-First losers will attempt to amplify their puny voices by feeding off each other. They are so hate-filled, they can't even celebrate the greatness of our country during a pinnacle event as this. It is fair to judge a person on how they act when they don't get their...

LOS ANGELES - A federal appeals court today upheld a lower court’s ruling that the presence of a large Christian cross on the federal Mojave Desert Preserve is an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. “The court took a look at this issue and concluded that the case couldn't be clearer: a religious symbol on government property violates the U.S. Constitution," said Peter Eliasberg, a managing attorney with the ACLU of Southern California, which brought the challenge. "At every level the courts have rightly agreed with this principle and there's no reason to believe that any amount of political grandstanding is...

(This is a copy of a letter I sent to Hardee's.) June 11, 2004 TO: HARDEE'S 1502602 7917 MIDLOTHIAN TURNPIKE RICHMOND, VA 23235-5229 (804) 320-0303 TO: CKE Restaurants, Inc. 6307 Carpenteria Ave, Ste. A Carpenteria, CA 93013 I was in your store on Midlothian Turnpike this afternoon at 11:30AM. As the funeral for President Reagan started, I realized your television was stationed to “CNN Headline News” which wasn’t showing the service. I was grateful for your television and asked the cashier if she could change the channel to any other showing the funeral. Being only 1 of 4 people in...

I have discovered a fool-proof strategy for beating the income tax, the Social Security tax and the Medicare tax: Lower your income. Lowering your income is much easier than increasing your income. And it helps you avoid the nasty traps Congress sets to catch those foolish enough to earn too much money -- phasing-out deductions and exemptions, selectively repealing deductions with an alternative minimum tax, limiting the share of income you can put away in a 401k plan, and denying eligibility for tax-financed benefits such as student loans and scholarships. Lower your income and these problems disappear. To do this...