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An alert is still in effect at the nuclear power plant near Berwick. Freon continues to leak inside one of the reactor buildings at PPL Susquehanna. Both units at the facility are still in operation but PPL officials said crews are are still trying to stop a freon leak in the unit one reactor building. The plant has been on alert since 9:30 a.m. Tuesday but officials stress the public is not in any danger. PPL officials said freon gas is leaking from an important equipment cooling system inside unit one's reactor building. Workers were forced to evacuate the area....

Making Amends: A Mini-Manifesto By Francis W. Porretto Francis W. Porretto avatar Fran here. This will be in first-person, as I have some hard things to say. Forgive me, Gentle Reader, but I don't think you'll like them much. One caveat: When I use the pronoun we in what follows, I don't necessarily mean all of us alive today. I'm using we in its political application: to the polity we call today the United States, to the polity and society it has been in the century past, and to whatever emerges from the chaos I foresee. Please read carefully, and...

Market chatter suggests computer generated trading sent Wall Street spiraling out of control on Thursday. And it’s got Mark Fisher of MBF worried, very worried. Mark Fisher, founder and managing member of MBF Asset Management, rarely comes on TV but he felt Thursday's events were so important he agreed to an interview. "I came on TV because as someone who's been doing this for over 35 years I think this is a warning," he says. "I think what we saw on (Thursday) is just the tip of the iceberg," Fisher says.

It’s NOT a Health Bill, NOT a Medicare Tax and It Can’t Possibly Cost Only $940 Billion Posted by Alan Reynolds * The “reconciliation bill” is not a “health bill” but an anti-health bill. It relies heavily on price controls, taxes and fines to punish doctors, hospitals and formerly innovative companies the produce prescription drugs and medical devices. If we treated farmers, food companies and grocery stores the way Congress threatens to treat the health industries would anybody expect food to become better or cheaper? * The 3.8% tax on both labor and investment income is not a “Medicare tax.”...

NEW YORK—The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is seeking buyers for three banks in Puerto Rico, a small island with big banking problems. According to two people familiar with the matter, the agency has hired an investment bank to try to find capital or outright purchasers for W Holding Co. Inc., R&G Financial Corp. and Eurobancshares Inc., which have almost $21 billion in combined assets. The three banks hold almost 30% of Puerto Rico's $62 billion of deposits, and their bank subsidiaries are operating under enhanced FDIC scrutiny. The three banks didn't respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for the

Country Comparison :: Current account balance This entry records a country's net trade in goods and services, plus net earnings from rents, interest, profits, and dividends, and net transfer payments (such as pension funds and worker remittances) to and from the rest of the world during the period specified. These figures are calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.

Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Moody’s Investors Service Inc. said the U.S. government’s Aaa bond rating will come under pressure in the future unless additional measures are taken to reduce budget deficits projected for the next decade.

NEW YORK – An advertisement featuring the NBA's two biggest superstars includes a gun reference, the same week two players were suspended for carrying firearms to the locker room.

An out clause exists for Exxon in its merger with XTO Energy if Congress decides to regulate hydraulic fracturing, reported Russell Gold of the Wall Street Journal’s Environmental Capital blog on Wednesday. Exxon will spend $41 billion to purchase XTO, an energy firm known for its expertise in natural gas drilling and production. XTO has invested heavily in the Marcellus Shale, a region in western New York and northern Pennsylvania which is home to large reservoirs of natural gas. However, obtaining this gas is difficult and requires the use of hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, in which thousands of gallons of...

"Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal." (Excerpt)---"LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL" April 16, 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr.

My son just recently returned from Iraq. His screen name is hollywoodusmc. He's looking at this post now so please welcome him. Thanks all.---optiguy

Video at link. I stumbled across this. I was surprised to see a lefty pointing out Obama's double-speak.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 713-09 September 14, 2009 DoD Announces New Information-Sharing Access to Help Fusion Centers Combat Terrorism The Departments of Defense (DoD) and Homeland Security (DHS) today announced an initiative to grant select state and major urban area fusion center personnel access to classified terrorism-related information residing in DoD’s classified network. Under this initiative, select fusion center personnel with a federal security clearance will be able to access specific terrorism-related information resident on the DoD Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet)—a secure network used to send classified data. This classified data will be accessed via DHS’ Homeland Security Data...

No School September 8th September 8th is a scheduled Site Improvement Day for the Moore Public Schools. As referenced on our school calendar, school is not in session on this date. The district has been advised that President Obama will deliver an address directly to school children on the importance of education. Parents who wish to view the speech with their children may consult the U.S. Education Department's website.

On Jan. 20, 2007, five American soldiers were killed and three seriously wounded in Iraq. As Bill Roggio relates at the Long War Journal, it was a daring operation: a twelve-man terrorist team disguised as U.S. servicemen attacked our troops as they held a previously arranged meeting with local officials in Karbala. Four of the soldiers were alive when they were abducted from the scene. They were handcuffed and murdered in a remote location when the coalition forces attempting to rescue them closed in. ... That President Obama has exchanged a terrorist for hostages is now obvious, as should be...

Red light cameras now check for insurance, tooDrive without insurance? Then you'd better stay out of Ohio, where the state is considering a program that uses red-light cameras and insurance company databases to check passing traffic for uninsured motorists. The system would use license plate numbers to verify driver insurance. According to the Columbus Dispatch, officials in Chicago, who are considering the same system, from InsureNet of Novi, Michigan, think that such a program could generate $200 million in additional revenue for the Windy City. When the system identifies an uninsured motorist, the driver would be sent a letter instructing...

Feminists irate over game show ISTANBUL - A new game show claims there is entertainment value in asking men to guess which pair of women has managed to answer a simple trivia question. WomenÂ’s rights activists react after just two episodes, claiming the show is evidence of the discrimination against women in Turkish society. Â’Its format is an attack on women,Â’ the activists say Feminists irate over game show WomenÂ’s activists are up in arms over a new television show they argue depicts all women as unintelligent. The showÂ’s producer, however, says the show unveils the failure of the Turkish...

Today is Saturday, June 27, the 178th day of 2009. There are 187 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On June 27, 1844, Mormon leader Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, were killed by a mob in Carthage, Ill. On this date: In 1846, New York and Boston were linked by telegraph wires. In 1893, the New York stock market crashed. In 1944, during World War II, American forces completed their capture of the French port of Cherbourg from the Germans. In 1950, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution calling on member nations to help South...

MEXICO CITY, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Mexico's peso hit a record low on Thursday and stocks sank after surprisingly weak U.S. data stoked worries that the economic downturn is deepening in the United States, Mexico's top trading partner. The peso MEX01 briefly traded past the key psychological level of 15 per dollar, its weakest since new pesos were introduced in 1993 after years of high inflation. The currency bounced back to around 14.97 per dollar in late afternoon trade. Earlier, the peso notched a record low at the final central bank reference at 14.93 per dollar, down 0.27 percent. In...

FBI raided lobbying firm linked to Murtha -- WSJ By John Letzing Last update: 7:27 p.m. EST Feb. 10, 2009 Comments: 1 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation has raided a defense-related lobbying firm with ties to Rep. John Murtha, D-Penn., according to a report late Tuesday in the online edition of The Wall Street Journal. Arlington, Va.-based PMA Group turned over materials to FBI agents who arrived at its offices in November, according to the report. PMA Group was founded by a former top aide on a defense appropriations subcommittee chaired by Murtha, the report said....