Free Republic

About Me:Non-deep pocket with a lot of heart. Began life as a computer operator, military service leading to non-physical disability, unable to resume career, left main stream and lived in small towns for a decade studying library books and piano, moved into Tucson in 1994 and worked as a Chauffeur for most of 10 years, presented state-wide initiatives at libraries, worked elections, in ’09 worked at the Census Bureau as a field rep and a clerk. Non drinker for one year, non smoker for 40 years.

@caitieparker was there anything unusual about him that would give you indication of his state of mind? @antderosa As I knew him he was left wing, quite liberal. & oddly obsessed with the 2012 prophecy. @antderosa he was a pot head & into rock like Hendrix,The Doors, Anti-Flag. I haven't seen him in person since '07 in a sign language class @antderosa He was a political radical & met Giffords once before in '07, asked her a question & he told me she was "stupid & unintelligent"

As cities and towns buckle under the weight of rising health care costs, some are looking to the credit card - and Beacon Hill - for short-term help. In the most recent example, Gov. Deval Patrick is weighing a proposal to permit Orange, a western Massachusetts town of fewer than 8,000 residents, to borrow $445,000 to cover health care claims and pay it back over the next five years. The bill, passed by lawmakers last week, would spare Orange further cuts to its $16 million budget, said the town’s state representative, Christopher Donelan. He added that local officials opted to...

This will go over well with the conservative base… If you thought the fact that RNC Chair candidate, Maria Cino, was an Obamacare lobbyist was outrageous wait until you hear the latest… The leading candidate in the race – Reince Priebus‘s law firm supports Obamacare and says its constitutional! Yes, you read that correctly. Reince Priebus’s law firm supports Obamacare and says its constitutional. Unbelievable.

Click here or at the link.

Has Barack Obama given up? I sure HOPE SO!!!Bob rants out Obama/Soetoro as a lazy punk. Click here, or YouTube link.

The barista who fatally shot a would-be robber at a Dutch Bros. coffee kiosk in Eugene on Nov. 24 broke company rules by taking a gun to work, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be welcomed back if and when he’s ready to return to the job, the company’s top executive said Friday. Travis Boersma, a Grants Pass resident whose drive-through coffee chain includes more than 150 locations in five states, said during a telephone interview that he supports the employee for taking action to defend himself during the robbery attempt. “Under this unique circumstance, the (barista) who went through...

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) reported to the State Council recently, urging the large-scale high-speed railway construction projects in China to be re-evaluated. The CAS worries that China may not be able to afford such a large-scale construction of high-speed rail, and such a large scale high-speed rail network may not be practical. The report submitted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences said China's high-speed rail construction has caused debt that has already reached unsustainable levels

.....Andrew Wiltshire, 25, one of the Paras in the advance described it like a scene from the wartime drama Band of Brothers. "The blokes were ducking down behind the Mastiffs with rounds coming in hitting the sides. We were trudging through fields trying to keep up with the vehicles with mud clogging our boots. You certainly got an idea what it was like for an infantryman to be following a tank while under fire in World War Two. Either you stay behind it or you get shot." With the Mastiffs ahead of him Lt Whitlam, 25, had to lead his...

Add another name to the list of Massachusetts conservatives who have signed the ABM Treaty: Anyone But Mitt. Until Mitt Romney admits that his mandate-driven, big-government Romneycare was a mistake, I will be supporting any viable GOP candidate running against him in 2012. And I’ll be urging my fellow New England Republicans - including my many friends in New Hampshire - to do the same.......

35,000+ Members

Youtube link.

The Marcellus shale field alone, in New York and Pennsylvania, has been estimated to be worth as much as US$2-trillion. The American Petroleum Institute has calculated that it could support 280,000 jobs. In Quebec, a report this week suggested that the industry could create almost 5,000 jobs a year for the next 10 years. So much for running out of hydrocarbons. Another sure sign that shale gas has great potential is that environmental activists are trying hard to close it down (or at least use it as a new source of fundraising). At the World Energy Congress, protestors covered in...

Piggybacking off of this Politico article on conservatives attacking RomneyCare, Jon Chait asks why in 2008, "nearly all (conservatives) were fine with Romney's health care plan." If you were reading the National Review -- which had a soft spot for Mitt -- I can see why you would have that impression, but the reality is a lot more complicated. For starters, there were a lot of conservatives who did raise issues about his health care plan, and we published a lot of them here at the Spectator. I was a frequent critic of both Romney and his health care plan,...

On Monday, the Antiplanner rode a high-speed train from Tokyo to Nagano, probably the most expensive high-speed rail route in the world. According to one source, it cost more than half a billion dollars per mile in 1997 dollars, no doubt because much of the route is in tunnels. The train I was on was practically empty, and I understand that is the usual condition.......

Private-sector employment decreased by 39,000 from August to September on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report® released today. The estimated change of employment from July to August was revised up from the previously reported decline of 10,000 to an increase of 10,000. The decline in private employment in September confirms a pause in the economic recovery already evident in other data. A deceleration of employment occurred in all the major sectors shown in The ADP Report and for all sizes of payroll. The September decline in employment followed seven monthly increases from February through...

Cobb taxpayers have footed the bill for $78,000 on the mules in the past year — including purchase price, a caretaker, food and other expenses. With the cost rising, the county has been trying to sell the mules since June but has not found a buyer. The problems don’t surprise the Alabama farmer who sold the animals to Cobb officials. “Most of that bunch, you know, they didn’t know a mule from a donkey,” said Terry LeDuke of Vincent, Ala.

DENVER -- They are good for the environment, but reusable grocery bags are also a breeding ground for bacteria. Many responsible shoppers carefully choose their groceries and put them into the same cloth or plastic bags over and over again on every trip to the store. “Did you ever wash your grocery bags?” asked Call7 Investigator Theresa Marchetta. “Um, no! I never wash my plastic bags or my paper bags," responded a 7NEWS colleague. Marchetta could not find anyone who regularly cleaned their reusable bags. “Do you ever think to wash the bags?” Marchetta asked another colleague. “No. Not really,”...

DURHAM, N.C. — The United States is at risk of developing a cadre of military leaders who are cut off politically, culturally and geographically from the population they are sworn to protect, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told an audience at Duke University on Wednesday night. In a speech aimed at addressing what he sees as a growing disconnect between the country as a whole and the relatively few who fight its wars, Mr. Gates said that although veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan were embraced when they came home, “for most Americans the wars remain an abstraction — a distant...

When USC professor and transportation expert James Moore heard the findings several days ago that the $9 billion Subway to the Sea won't relieve congestion on the Westside, as vowed by Antonio Villaraigosa, Moore was among a number of transportation insiders who wasn't stunned. "I didn't need an Environmental Impact Report to know that," says Moore, iconoclastic director of transportation engineering at USC, referring to an environmental study by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Moore says the truth about how Metro plans to use up to $9 billion in sales taxes being paid by 8 million consumers in Los Angeles County...