Free Republic

By If you drive around Los Angeles, you’ll find gas prices all over the map. From the high $3 range to - yes, it’s true - more than $5 in some spots. And no one is happy about it. "Very upset," Israel Valenzuela said after buying gas for more than $5 a gallon at a Mobil station in Hacienda Heights. "I’m so angry at the government." So why did he pay so much? "Because I was on empty," he said. "It was just on fumes, so I had to stop here." The worst part about it was that Valenzuela could...

Fast running out of money, solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC last summer sold off nearly $60 million worth of inventory for less than $20 million in cash to a newly formed corporate entity closely tied to the company’s biggest investors, records show. Backed by $535 million in federal loan guarantees but burning through the little cash it had left, Solyndra made its first sale in late July to a corporate entity that had been formed just a day earlier. Three more transactions followed over the next few weeks with the same buyer, Solyndra Solar II.

This holiday season is a time to examine who's been naughty and who's been nice, but I'm unhappy with my findings. The problem is this: We liberals are personally stingy. Liberals show tremendous compassion in pushing for generous government spending to help the neediest people at home and abroad. Yet, when it comes to individual contributions to charitable causes, liberals are cheapskates. Arthur Brooks, the author of a book on donors to charity, "Who Really Cares," cites data that households headed by conservatives give 30 percent more to charity than households headed by liberals. A study by Google found an...

Tiger Woods might never return to the top of the World Golf Rankings, but at least the disgraced former star has earned a No. 1 ranking in something. Woods, despite a net worth of $500 million, is the worst celebrity tipper in America. Eldrick's excuse: He never carries cash. Woods is said to have made a woman in Las Vegas tip for him when they went out. While playing $10,000-a-hand blackjack, Tiger re-pocketed a $5 tip after realizing he tipped her early in the night.

You may be paying over $4 a gallon for gas in the U.S., or even more in Europe, but there are some corners of the world where gas costs less than a dollar a gallon. But they all have in common is something the U.S. and Europe don't have: easy and abundant access to domestically or locally produced oil. On top of that, many of these governments provide large gas subsidies to keep prices down. Some of these gas cheapskates are OPEC members, but others are just close to the source. Many are now experiencing domestic instability that may be...

Spaceships powered primarily by water could open up the solar system to exploration, making flights to Mars and other far-flung locales far cheaper, a recent study has found. A journey to Mars and back in a water-fueled vehicle could cost as little as one space shuttle launch costs today, researchers said. And the idea is to keep these "space coaches" in orbit between trips, so their relative value would grow over time, as the vehicles reduce the need for expensive one-off missions that launch from Earth. The water-powered space coach is just a concept at the moment, but it could...

REP. CONYERS TO FUNNYMAN: 'I'm asking you to leave the committee room completely, and submit your statement'... MORE... Rep. Lofgren steps in: 'Many are eager to hear his comments' ... Colbert mugs: 'I'm here at the invitation of the chairwoman, and if she would like me to remove myself from the hearing room I am happy to do so. I'm only here at her invitation'...

For the last few years IÂ’ve been seeing cheap netbooks make appearances at trade shows. They typically have tiny keyboards, 7 inch displays, ARM-based processors and either Windows CE or Linux. TheyÂ’re not for everyone. But they are dirt cheap.The only problem is that most of these mini-laptops arenÂ’t available to the general public in the US. The ones I see at trade shows are OEM products that Chinese manufacturers are trying to market to international distributors.Well, a company called ITA Computers is taking them up on the offer and selling a 7 inch mini-laptop for just $98. You can...

Frugality. That's been the buzzword of the Great Recession.   Sliding home values, stumbling stock portfolios and a shaky job market brought with them a consciousness about spending that many of us misplaced during years of consumer overindulgence. Americans responded to the crisis by buying less, clipping coupons more and increasing savings to 4.8 percent of disposable income in December, up from near zero before the recession.   In the past year, blogs about frugality went viral. Everyone from Oprah to President Obama joined the frugality parade.   Now a new term is marching through the blogosphere: Frugality fatigue. But...

Welcome to the Golden Era of budget cars. Think about it — at one time a small budget meant buying a small car with limited equipment and even more limited style. Things are different now. Not only do inexpensive cars come decently equipped but some are even considered cool. Prices are MSRP (sticker price) plus destination charge. View List of the 20 Cheapest Cars of 2010...

Every Tuesday I go to Murphy's Taproom in Manchester to hang out with a bunch of liberty-oriented people. This is a famous event among Free-staters. About 40-60 people gather weekly for about 4 hours and eat and drink and are merry. I'm no longer allowed to go there, because I don't tip. I've written some of my thoughts about tipping in the past, and have since fleshed out my position in my mind, so I won't focus here on the reasons to tip or not to tip. Here, I want to merely explain what happened tonight. About 6 weeks ago,...

She is known for her unconventional choices and now US first lady Michelle Obama is setting another precedent by the first presidential wife to appear on a reality TV series. The First Lady will make a guest appearance on the popular series 'Iron Chef America' which features British cook Nigella Lawson as a judge, reported Daily Mail online. The episode of the popular series, which pits well-known chefs against each others, has been filmed at the White House and will be aired in the New Year. Many of the ingredients for the meals prepared in the show were chosen from...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – James and Maria Ivory's dreams of a relaxing retirement on Florida's Gulf Coast were put on hold when they discovered their new home had been built with Chinese drywall that emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes pipes. It got worse when they asked their insurer for help — and not only was their claim denied, but they've been told their entire policy won't be renewed. Thousands of homeowners nationwide who bought new houses constructed from the defective building materials are finding their hopes dashed, their lives in limbo. And experts warn that cases like the Ivorys',...

This was announced by the Obama administration last evening. President Barack Obama on Friday slapped punitive tariffs on all car and light truck tires entering the United States from China in a decision that could anger the strategically important Asian powerhouse but placate union supporters important to his health care push at home. Obama had until Sept. 17 -- next week -- to accept, reject or modify a U.S. International Trade Commission ruling that a rising tide of Chinese tires into the U.S. hurts American producers. A powerful union, United Steelworkers, blames the increase for the loss of thousands of...

This an unrestricted tout of an "incredible" printer. It's a Brother HL-2140 monochrome-only, but there are a few other brands like this. Monochrome only, laser printer, the cartridges are REALLY cheap, and they have significant life. The cart that comes with the printer is good for 1000 pages. The replacement ones are 1500 pages. Tired of having to refill or rebuy ink-jet printer cartridges, especially since 98% of my printing is just monochrome anyway. This little dude was SIXTY BUCKS at Fry's, including the cartridge. It's USB-only (no parallel input) That may have SOME impact on one's ability (in Windows)...

For more than a decade, scientists have been frustrated in their attempts to create continuously emitting light sources from individual molecules because of an optical quirk called "blinking," but now scientists at the University of Rochester have uncovered the basic physics behind the phenomenon, and along with researchers at the Eastman Kodak Company, created a nanocrystal that constantly emits light. The findings, detailed online in today's issue of Nature, may open the door to dramatically less expensive and more versatile lasers, brighter LED lighting, and biological markers that track how a drug interact with a cell at a level never...

Gutsy Americans get back to grandma's Depression roots by hunkering down - for good. Adaptive re-use it ain't.

By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Writer Anne D'innocenzio, Ap Retail Writer – Tue Mar 10, 4:29 pm ET AP NEW YORK – Amy VanDeventer has always been a cheapskate. The recession is taking her to new extremes.Before the economy tanked, she was still wearing maternity clothes from her last pregnancy, clipping coupons and using hand-me-downs to dress her daughters, ages 2 and 3. Now, she's salvaging bagel scraps left on their plates for pizza toppings and cutting lotion bottles in half so she can scrape out the last drops."I was already cheap," said VanDeventer, a 36-year-old mortgage loan underwriter from...

British press aghast at 'cheap' Obama giftMarch 07, 2009 British newspapers are upset over what they see as rude treatment given to Prime Minister Gordon Brown by U.S. President Barack Obama this week, observers say. The London dailies criticized Obama's treatment of Brown during his state visit to Washington this week on several fronts, including alleged cheap gift-giving, the New York Daily News reported Saturday. President Obama has been rudeness personified toward Britain, The Daily Telegraph wrote Friday. His handling of the visit of the prime minister, Gordon Brown, to Washington was appalling. The main point of contention was an...

Obama's blockbuster gift for Brown: 25 classic films Joe Murphy March 5, 2009http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23657981-details/Obama's+blockbuster+gift+for+Brown:+25+classic+films/article.do ...Sarah Brown gave Sasha and Malia Obama an outfit each from Topshop, which has just opened its first American store in New York. She also picked six children's books by British authors which are shortly to be published in America. In return, the Obamas gave the Browns two models of the presidential helicopter, Marine One, to take home to sons Fraser and John...     http://whitehouse.merchantcart.net/mainshopping.cfm?icg_id=10&showsku_ID=434&Show=PURCHASE  

<p>"That was amazing," said Joosten, who normally spends about $100 to fill up her 1998 Ford Expedition.</p> <p>Joosten proudly showed off her receipt for 25.36 gallons at $8.85. She said she saw other motorists filling gas cans, too, at the discounted price.</p>

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, now reminds voters that deeds speak louder than words in politics because the two are so often out of sync. Last year, Pelosi supported a bill to prohibit both direct and indirect payment to spouses by campaign committees and political action committees for consulting, fundraising or other services. Nor could companies that employed spouses be paid for their services. Since such compensation makes its way into family coffers, it's a sort of self-dealing, and most members of Congress sensibly shy away from it. The House passed the bill by voice vote. It failed in...

We all heard about the person who sat next to traffic and pointed a hair dryer at oncoming cars to see their reactions.I tried it with illegal aliens and a throw away camera. I went to the local gathering places, Circle K, Home Depot, wherever they gather waiting for an early morning pick-up. The minute they saw the camera, they dispersed. Some ran, some wandered away, but the outcome was undeniable. They left!I decided to expand the experiment and took the camera to Wal-Mart. It worked there too! The illegals got out of the store and walked away. Some around...

Call Congress back to have an up-or-down vote on a comprehensive energy bill which includes expanded drilling for oil. There is a petition here: http://www.callbackcongress.com/

TIJUANA, Mexico, June 15 (UPI) -- California motorists are heading across the U.S.-Mexico border into Tijuana to escape record-high gas prices, officials say. Although diesel was in short supply in Saturday at some Tijuana gas stations, they are keeping up with increased demand for regular unleaded and premium gasoline, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Sunday. Regular unleaded gasoline sells for $2.54 per gallon in the city, premium for $3.20 per gallon and diesel for $2.20 per gallon, the newspaper reported. At a filling station on Bellas Artes Boulevard, about two blocks from the Otay Mesa border crossing, the station began...

You Get What You Pay For? Costly Placebo Works Better Than Cheap One ScienceDaily (Mar. 5, 2008) — A 10-cent pill doesn't kill pain as well as a $2.50 pill, even when they are identical placebos, according to a provocative study by Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University. "Physicians want to think it's the medicine and not their enthusiasm about a particular drug that makes a drug more therapeutically effective, but now we really have to worry about the nuances of interaction between patients and physicians," said Ariely, whose findings appear as a letter in the March 5...

'Tax Me More Fund' raises little revenue February 15, 2008 By Seth McLaughlin - RICHMOND — State lawmakers can rule out Virginian's offering up more of their hard-earned money to fix the $1.4 billion budget shortfall Gov. Tim Kaine announced this week. At least that is what a peek at the so-called "Tax Me More Fund" suggests. Since its inception in 2002, the fund has collected a total of $10,217.04. It was established a year after Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee challenged proponents of higher taxes to contribute to a similar program when he was governor of Arkansas. Both programs...

Why Did Russia Sell Us Alaska So Cheap?By John Steele Gordon The check, dated August 1, 1868, that was used to pay the purchase price for Alaska to Eduard de Stoeckl on behalf of the emperor of Russia. (National Archives) A hundred and forty years ago today, sovereignty over Alaska was transferred from the Russian Empire to the United States. The transfer completed the national territory on the North American continent. It was one of the great bargains of all time. For a price of $7.2 million, this country got 365 million acres of land and another 13 million of...

Chattanooga businessman John Thornton and his wife, Eileen, will host a fundraiser for presidential candidate Fred Thompson on Sept. 10. It will be at the Thornton home in Riverview at 12 Rivervista Dr. The reception begins at 6 p.m. It is $2,300 per couple. The former senator is due to officially enter the race for the Republican Party's presidential nomination on Thursday. He will do so with a video webcast, followed by visits to the early presidential contest states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Chattanoogan Zach Wamp has played a key role in the Thompson effort thus far...

Prices to rise as 'era of cheap food is over' By Charles Clover, Environment Editor Last Updated: 6:01pm BST 12/07/2007 The price of a loaf of bread is likely to rise 5p as a result of spiralling wheat prices, a leading firm of agricultural accountants has said. Grain being used to produce biofuels is having an effect on prices The price of milk, poultry and pork is also expected to rise as a result of an increase in the cost of livestock feed, according to Deloitte. Wheat and maize prices are now at the highest level in more than a...

NEW YORK — Skybus Airlines Inc., a new U.S. budget carrier, on Tuesday said it will start flying on May 22 with $10 one-way tickets available on all flights. "Beginning today, passengers can buy airline tickets for less than the cost of a tank of gas," Skybus CEO Bill Diffenderffer said in a statement. Click Here to Check Out FOXBusiness.com's Travel Section. The launch of the new low-cost carrier, which is based in Columbus, Ohio, could pressure established carriers like AMR Corp's (AMR) American Airlines and Delta Air Lines Inc.. Skybus, which plans to acquire more than 70 aircraft over...

Cheap, safe drug kills most cancers What makes cancer cells different - and how to kill them ? New Scientist has received an unprecedented amount of interest in this story from readers. If you would like up-to-date information on any plans for clinical trials of DCA in patients with cancer, or would like to donate towards a fund for such trials, please visit the site set up by the University of Alberta and the Alberta Cancer Board. We will also follow events closely and will report any progress as it happens. It sounds almost too good to be true: a...

It sounds almost too good to be true: a cheap and simple drug that kills almost all cancers by switching off their “immortality”. The drug, dichloroacetate (DCA), has already been used for years to treat rare metabolic disorders and so is known to be relatively safe. It also has no patent, meaning it could be manufactured for a fraction of the cost of newly developed drugs. Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and his colleagues tested DCA on human cells cultured outside the body and found that it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells, but...

Video: Machine gun problems in Afghanistan The lives of paratroopers were put in danger after the Ministry of Defence sent defective ammunition to Afghanistan, it can be revealed. The situation became so serious that a platoon from the 3Bn The Parachute Regiment refused to go out on patrol until the problem was resolved. The troops had to borrow ammunition off Canadian and American special forces as they battled to fight off Taliban attacks. The MoD, which yesterday unveiled plans for British troops to make a quicker-than-expected withdrawal from the front line in Iraq, has been unable to explain why defective...

The numbers just don't add up. On "Meet the Press" Sunday morning, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said "the next big challenge" for the state is to obtain health insurance for the 6.7 million Californians without it. ... But just last week, the governor was saying he wanted to get health insurance for only half that number of people. So the coverage, and the cost, effectively have doubled in a week. Host Tim Russert asked the governor where the money would come from in a state that still has a structural budget deficit of more than $5 billion. And Mr. Russert quoted...

How much does it cost to put a rocket into space? Three engineering students at Cambridge University in the UK reckon they'll be able to do it for just £1000 ($1879).

Any freepers know of point me to some cheap hosting that is reliable. This is for a simple 1-3 page website, 1 email. I have used zerodollars before 10$ year but the sevice is lacking big time. I appreciate it, thanks!

This is troubling - Backstory: my ex recently got prescription glasses at the age of 36. Cool, she can drive better now. So she picked out a very fashionable pair of frames for her prescription, I told her they looked great, and I assumed that was that.

Woman Dies During Liposuction at Home By Associated Press July 31, 2006, 11:46 AM EDT FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- A man was arrested on charges of practicing medicine without a license after a woman died during a liposuction procedure performed in the basement of a home, authorities said Monday. Luis Carlos Ribeiro, a native of Brazil, was to be arraigned in district court on Monday following the death of a 23-year-old woman Sunday. The Middlesex District Attorney's Office would not release the identity of the woman who died. An autopsy was scheduled. Police also charged Ribeiro with drug possession. A spokeswoman...

when James Brolin and Barbra Streisand got a free slide into their neighborhood theater, another Malibu denizen, Jennifer Grossman, was outraged. Mega-diva Barbra Streisand and television actor James Brolin might be millionaires many times over, but don't expect them to pay $20 for a pair of movie tickets. Arriving at the Mann Agoura Hills 8 near their Malibu estate on Friday night — apparently to see "Mission: Impossible III" — the 64-year-old singer-actress and her 65-year-old hubby wheedled their way into free seats by schmoozing the teenager in charge.

An unauthorised biography of Barbra Streisand alleges the singer has had more than her fair share of celebrity sexfests in her day. In his new book, Barbra: The Way She Is, Christopher Anderson alleges Streisand notched up many big names on her star-studded belt, including Prince Charles, Dodi Fayed, Andre Agassi and Bill Clinton. Other alleged former conquests include Warren Beatty, Ryan O'Neal, Steve McQueen, Kris Kristofferson, Don Johnson, Jon Voight, Elliott Gould, Richard Gere, Omar Sharif and Liam Neeson. Anderson says the 63-year-old actress is "cheap", prone to huge tantrums and has a "Maria Callas-sized ego". Streisand was also...

Senator Feinstein seeks probe into sniper rifles WASHINGTON - Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is raising concerns that high-powered rifles could be used against Border Patrol agents near the U.S.-Mexico divide. In a letter to Deborah Spero, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Feinstein asked the department to look into whether .50-caliber rifles pose a threat to officers. The gun, which has been banned for sale in numerous U.S. cities, is a high-powered rifle that can fire accurately at targets up to a mile away and penetrate steel armor. "The threat posed the easy availability of the .50-caliber sniper...

I'VE had it with the bumper-sticker slogans that pop up in the debate over illegal immigration. You hear them all the time on ratings-driven television shows such as CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" and you see them on signs waved in protests at the U.S.-Mexican border. One of my favorites is: "Deport all illegals." See, thanks to Americans' insatiable appetite for readily available cheap labor, there are now about 10 million illegal immigrants in this country. And we're supposed to deport them all one by one? How many buses are we talking about? Simplistic solutions don't add a lot to the...

Dear XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX , We're writing with some important news. On May 20, 2005, Joi Internet will discontinue offering dial-up Internet access. In order to keep you connected, we've made a special arrangement with EarthLink, the nation's next generation Internet Service Provider (ISP).

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose country is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, said that the world should get used to high oil prices. "The world should forget about cheap oil ... it won't happen," Chavez told a news conference in the Indian capital on Saturday, saying that the new price range for oil would remain between 40 dollars and 50 dollars. "That is the new band for oil," said Chavez, whose country is the only South American member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Chavez, on the second day of a visit to India...

PHOENIX - Gov. Janet Napolitano is escalating her fight with the federal government after a top official at the U.S. Department of Justice refused to provide Arizona more money this year to house illegal entrants convicted of state crimes. Tim Nelson, the governor's chief legal counsel, said Friday that Napolitano is insisting on a face-to-face meeting with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. That comes after someone lower in the agency rebuffed the governor's demand for $118 million to cover the state's costs. But Nelson said if that meeting produces no better results - or Gonzales refuses to talk - the governor...

Afraid Microsoft's anti-spyware will muck up your hard drive, erasing your digital photos, music collection and work files? Don't worry, you've got a $5 rebate coming your way in this worst-case scenario--enough to buy five songs on iTunes. That is, if you read and take advantage of Microsoft's legal promise. According to the AntiSpyware Beta end-user license agreement (EULA), Microsoft will reimburse direct damages up to $5 for problems associated with the new downloadable tool that wards off spyware, adware and any other "potentially unwanted software." "It also applies even if Microsoft knew or should have known about the possibility...

A Castroite state-controlled media organ reports that El Barbudo is incensed about Cuba not having enough doctors in Cuba in this news item here. Oh really? It's enough to make me wonder if he's almost as oblivious to economics as El Supremo. Of course there aren't enough Cuban doctors, Castro! You sent them off to be spies in Venezuela! Cubans have noticed this. And so have Venezuelans! Daniel researched that Misión Barrio Adentro program and found quite a bit of evidence of such shenanigans here. You've got plenty of Cuban doctors, Castro. It's just that when you send them to...

STAMPEDE!! Injuries at IKEA opening By MICHAEL MCDONOUGH - Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A man was stabbed and five other people were taken to hospital after thousands of customers caused a stampede at the midnight opening of a new IKEA furniture store in north London, British authorities said Thursday. The Swedish retailer expressed regret at the incident. The stabbing victim, a man in his 20s, was attacked at around 1:30 a.m. near the IKEA store, a spokeswoman for London’s Metropolitan Police said, adding that his condition did not appear life-threatening. The new IKEA warehouse in the Edmonton district had...

Despite new evidence that Venezuela has become a sort of ''Club Med'' for Latin America's violent groups, the Bush administration is unlikely to start its second term taking major steps to isolate leftist-populist President Hugo Chávez. But, eventually, it will probably do so. Judging from what incoming Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Senate earlier this week and what I have heard in interviews with well-placed current and former U.S. officials, the U.S. strategy will be to wait until Chávez does something really obnoxious in the eyes of the world, which he probably will.