Free Republic

Fargo Forum: A man who moved from Florida to Dilworth last summer admitted today that he allowed his 32 ball python snakes to freeze to death in an unheated storage unit in Glyndon last winter. “I just couldn’t find any place to put them,” 50-year-old Henry Ward Atherton Jr. said in Clay County District Court. Atherton pleaded guilty to all three charges against him: one felony and two misdemeanors counts of mistreatment of animals. USA Today: Sightings of raccoons are down 99.3%, opossums 98.9% and white-tailed deer 94.1%. According to Linda Friar with Everglades. National Park, park personnel have captured...

Even with Calculators on the Floor, the Senate Still Comes Up With a Zero on the BudgetBy Sunlen Miller | ABC OTUS News – Wed, May 16, 2012 You would have thought that starting the day with a vote permitting the use of calculators on the Senate floor today was a good sign that it could potentially be a productive day for the U.S. senators. But you would have been mistaken. The Senate spent the whole day today, with over six hours of straight floor speeches, debating five nonbinding budget resolutions that everyone knew in advance would not pass. And,...

Was Facebook systematically overvalued in order to force it into a government bailout? That’s the hypothesis that Glenn Beck offered on GBTV tonight, and like many of Beck’s hypotheses, you might be surprised at the evidence that exists for it. In a nearly 20 minute segment, Beck meticulously and carefully picked his way through the past record of the company that handled the IPO for Facebook – Morgan Stanley – and pointed out that they don’t exactly have a record of success in helping companies go public. “Morgan Stanley was the lead consultant on Fannie and Freddie bailouts,” Beck said...

What better way to control citizens of a country than to control the water supply? What better way to control the countries of the world than to control the seas? As we have been watching the nightmarish infiltration and takeover of the United States of America by evil, communist enemies within, I have dreaded seeing each step they take to impose their iron grip on the American people. These criminal traitors in the current federal government are no longer even trying to pretend that they are not the America-killing, communist poison we know them to be. We have two stories...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are rejecting the Obama administration's plan to accommodate faith groups that object to the birth control mandate. The bishops said in a statement Tuesday to Health and Human Services that the prospective new rules don't do enough to protect religious liberty. The mandate requires employers to provide health insurance that includes birth control for workers. The plan sparked protests from faith leaders because it included most religious nonprofits such as hospitals and colleges. President Barack Obama offered a compromise. He said insurers would bear the cost of the birth control instead of religious employers....

[Author's title: "In Reading We Can Read The Contempt of Socialists"] What, if any, is the connection between illiteracy and ideology? George Orwell, our greatest political sociologist, has some ideas. He is the master explainer of governance, power, totalitarianism, education, and the dynamics of class warfare. It's an ugly picture. In his seminal essay, "Ignorance Is Strength," Orwell lays down the iron rule of history: "Throughout recorded time, and probably since the end of the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of people in the world[:] High, Middle, and Low." Orwell cynically notes that the Middle always campaign for...

Government-controlled gun access in your home might not be as far fetched as you think... California gun-control zealots in the state legislature have already... Passed a new 'unloaded open carry' handgun ban earlier this year... while concealed-carry permits have become considerably harder to come by. Mandated long-gun registration (effective 2014) Demanded that ALL gun-buyers -even by the permanently cleared- observe a full ten-day waiting period. Banned removable magazines for any rifle with a pistol-grip (huh?)... that is, unless equipped with a 'mag-lock', 'bullet-button', or switched-out to a 'monster-man grip' (since CA gun-control legislation appears to be written by those with little...

Subject: Ever notice how the Arab oil interests control our economy? Author: Chris Kloss Date: 13 Jul 2009 IMHO, if the price of oil had remained low, the financial crisis would have been of short duration. Oil price affects just about everything in our economy, not just gasoline for cars. A rapid increase in the price of oil requires a reallocation of the money people and businesses spend. Businesses must raise prices and, one result of this might be a lower demand. Businesses need more money to replace inventory. Persons and businesses on the edge cannot meet their financial obligations....

President Obama has made clear that he’s determined to continue pushing his “progressive” agenda, regardless of constitutional limitations on his power. He aims to have his way by issuing more and more executive orders. The most ominous sign of possible things to come appeared on March 16, 2012, when President Obama signed executive order 13603 about “National Defense Resources Preparedness.” This 10-page document is a blueprint for a federal takeover of the economy that would dwarf the looming Obamacare takeover of the health insurance business. Specifically, Obama’s plan involves seizing control of: * “All commodities and products that are capable...

Once upon a time, it was the contention of global warming alarmists that the earth was getting warmer -- a lot warmer. Now, after decades of such claims, the evidence points to a world that is, for the present at least, growing colder. When that fact became evident, alarmists shifted the ground of their argument. The earth's climate was not necessarily getting warmer; it was just "changing," and that was somehow a bad thing. No matter that the climate had been changing for more than four billion years, ever since the earth's formation. Not to be deterred, climate alarmists insist...

I am in Control Day Not to be confused with Back Up Your Birth Control Day When : Always March 30th On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was wounded in an assassination attempt. Lots of confusion prevailed. In the White House, then Secretary of State Alexander Haig was taken a little out of context when he said "I am in control here". Instead of focusing upon the entire statement, people and the press focused upon these few words. Political uproar eventually led to his resignation. On that infamous day, I am in Control Day was born. History sometimes...

Thirty-year-old Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke, who told a House Steering and Policy Committee hearing convened by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi last month that contraception can cost a student $3,000 during law school, told CNSNews.com on Tuesday that she did not know that the Target store 3 miles from the Georgetown Law campus sells a month's supply of birth control pills for just $9. Target advertises the $9-per-month birth control pills on its website, and CNSNews.com confirmed and reconfirmed that the $9 pills were in fact available at the Target near Georgetown Law. “Without insurance coverage,

Vulnerable Senate Dems don't rule out voting against Obama cost-control boardBy Julian Pecquet - 03/17/12 03:00 PM ET Several Senate Democrats up for reelection tell The Hill they haven't ruled out bucking President Obama by voting to repeal the health law's cost-control board. The House is expected to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board next week, putting pressure on the Senate to follow suit. While the bill has broad bipartisan support in the House, no Senate Democrats have so far signed onto repeal legislation despite coming under increasing pressure to do so. "We're looking at it, let's put it that...

White House spokesman Jay Carney on Thursday dismissed calls for a reconsideration of President Barack Obama’s controversial regulation of the health care policies offered by religious organizations, one day after Catholic leaders repeated their offer to hash out an agreement. “The solution that was reached here … has been reached, and we firmly believe that it achieves the goals that the president set,” Carney said at Thursday’s White House press conference. On Feb. 10 Obama announced a new regulation that forces religious groups to financially support activities they abhor, but that the government supports. In particular, the president directed religious

Just when you thought you’d seen everything. Poor Sandra Fluke, the 30 year-old far left activist who wants you to pay for her $9 a month birth control, is dating a rich socialist. They recently traveled to Spain and Italy together. It was a lovely getaway for the women’s rights activist and her rich socialist boyfriend. Here the two lovebirds are roughing it late at night in Barcelona – drunk. And, here the poor little darling tries to make ends meet in Pompeii.

A laptop stolen from NASA contains the control codes used to command the International Space Station. The unencrypted laptop stolen last year is among dozens of mobile devices containing sensitive information that have been reported missing from the space agency, an internal investigation has found. Giving testimony on the space agency's security issues, NASA Inspector General Paul K. Martin told Congress that 48 agency devices were lost or stolen over a two year period. The mobile devices, which contained personable data, intellectual property, and highly sensitive export-controlled data, were stolen between April 2009 and April 2011, CBS News reported. Over...

The state's independent Legislative Analyst's Office warns that Gov. Jerry Brown relies on too much money from cap-and-trade taxes to shore up the state's beleaguered budget. In his 2012-13 budget, the governor overestimates how much relief he can expect from businesses forced to buy "credits" beginning in August to permit greenhouse gas emissions. The 2011-12 budget fell billions short of Mr. Brown's projected revenue, despite his boast last year that it was balanced....

Just in case there is anyone out there who still thinks the global warming alarmist movement is about the globe warming (which it hasn’t been doing for quite some time), it might be instructive to consider the words of one of the warmist champions. Today we offer it up as our Global Warming Quote of the Day: . . .

Attorney General Eric Holder used his testimony before a House committee on Thursday to tout the supposed need for new gun control laws to prevent “gun walking,” or the transportation of firearms across the Southern border. But he – and members of the committee – ignored existing laws that already accomplish Holder’s ostensible goals. “That is why we need a stronger gun trafficking law,” Holder said in response to questions about recourse against officials who signed off on the gun walking tactic. The tactic was integral to Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed the transportation of roughly 2,500 firearms into...

For all of his talk about jobs and the economy, President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech was not an economic policy blueprint. This was a speech about power — about increasing the scale and scope of government and the power of those who govern over the American people. If this claim seems over the top, consider the following: The President begins his speech by lauding the “courage, selflessness, and teamwork of America’s armed forces…They’re not consumed with personal ambition. They don’t obsess over their differences. They focus on the mission at hand. They work together. “Imagine what we...

First lady Michelle Obama on Wednesday unveiled tougher nutrition standards that school meals will have to meet starting this year. The new standards were required by the 2010 school nutrition bill that increased funding for school meals. The new regulations, according to the Department of Agriculture, will: Ensure that students are offered both fruits and vegetables every day of the week; Substantially increase offerings of whole grain-rich foods; Offer only fat-free or low-fat milk varieties; Limit calories based on the age of children being served to ensure proper portion size; and Increase the focus on reducing the amounts of saturated...

The Obama administration is launching a new space arms-control initiative that critics say will lead to restrictions on U.S. military activities in space, a key U.S. strategic war-fighting advantage. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to announce the initiative as early as Tuesday. The plan will be built on work contained in a European Union draft code of conduct for space that the Pentagon and State Department have criticized as too restrictive. “The United States has decided to enter into formal consultations and negotiations with the European Union

A free meal at school for breakfast, lunch — and dinner? About 450 city students have been eating supper in school cafeterias as part of a government-funded meal program that may expand in Hartford and also to other Connecticut school systems this year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture gives schools about $2.99 per dinner to serve students in after-school activities that involve academics.

This past Sunday, on the anniversary of the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and 18 others (six fatally), the Brady Campaign held several candlelight vigils across the country, in observance of what they called the "Too Many Victims Lost to Gun Violence." The Brady Campaign expects Americans to accept as an article of faith that "stronger" gun laws would dramatically reduce the number of said victims--presumably reducing that number to an "acceptable" level. That, of course, begs the question of what constitutes an "acceptable" number of people shot and wounded or killed. Luckily, we have Brady Campaign board member...

<p>President Obama is putting plans in motion to give the Commerce Department authority to create an Internet ID for all Americans, a White House official told CNET.com.</p> <p>White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt told the website it is "the absolute perfect spot in the U.S. government" to centralize efforts toward creating an "identity ecosystem" for the Internet.</p>

Rahm has deep financial ties to new Sun-Times owners December 22, 2011 It's nice to have friends in the media. Mayor Rahm Emanuel sure will have a ton of buddies in one key local media outlet, because virtually every one of the Sun-Times' new owners has been a major contributor, business partner or civic ally of his. For instance, at least eight of the 12 board members of the new company, Wrapports LLC, have donated to Mr. Emanuel's campaign fund in the past year, collectively plunking down $241,000 that I found in a quick survey of Board of Elections disclosures....

Jeff Knox wrote an interesting piece the other day titled Attention Lamestream Media: I am the ‘gun lobby’. It was positively cheerworthy. I, too, get irritated with the way the nefarious “Gun Lobby” is portrayed in the media. I personally know several of the people in the Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance (GOCRA) who were instrumental in getting the Minnesota Citizens’ Personal Protection Act (our “shall-issue” law) passed, and I met some of the opposition, including Heather Martens, the Executive Director of Citizens for a Safer Minnesota (CSM)… There were a couple of big differences between the GOCRA folks and...

In all of my years fighting on behalf of the National Rifle Association to defend the Second Amendment, I never thought I would see a White House so vehemently opposed to gun ownership that it would be willing to arm violent criminals and endanger American lives in pursuit of a gun control agenda. Readers will recall that a little over two months ago, in this same space, I wrote: "I would like to believe that President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder – no matter how much they oppose our Second Amendment rights – would never break the law...

Report: Iran says it can control the droneBy the CNN Wire Staff updated 5:29 AM EST, Tue December 13, 2011 (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday his country can "control" the U.S. drone aircraft that Iran claims it recently brought down, Venezuelan state TV reported. "There are people here who can control this spy plane, surely we can analyze this plane too," Ahmadinejad told VTV. "The systems of Iran are as advanced as this system." President Barack Obama said Monday that the United States has asked Iran to return the drone aircraft that Iran claims it recently brought...

At a time when economists say U.S. manufacturing policy is in "disarray," the Obama administration on Monday said it has created a new Office of Manufacturing Policy to be co-chaired by the Commerce Department Secretary and the director of the White House National Economic Council. "At this make or break time for the middle class and our economy, we need a strong manufacturing sector that will put Americans back to work making products stamped with three proud words: Made in America," President Barack Obama said in a statement. Wisconsin leads the nation with the highest share of its workforce employed...

The logical extension of Rahm’s famous remark about never letting a serious crisis go to waste. If a grave problem is an opportunity to push your agenda, imagine how much farther you can push it by making the problem graver. Another F&F bombshell from CBS’s Sharyl Attkisson: ATF officials didn’t intend to publicly disclose their own role in letting Mexican cartels obtain the weapons, but emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called “Demand Letter 3″. That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple...

China drift toward more state control "troubling": U.S.By Doug Palmer | Reuters – Wed, Nov 30, 2011 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday criticized China for backing away from free market reforms and moving toward more state control of its economy as Beijing approaches the tenth anniversary of its entry into the World Trade Organization. "China seems to be embracing state capitalism more strongly each year, rather than continuing to move toward the economic reform goals that originally drove its pursuit of WTO membership," U.S. Ambassador to the WTO Michael Punke said in remarks delivered in Geneva and...

Why not? We pay for having a terrible federal government every day. Why should this be any different just because it involves lost rights instead of lost money? Seriously, though, having Obama’s AG mumble about more gun regulation in front of a mic will accomplish two things. One: It’s bound to worry all sorts of swing-state gun owners in Pennsylvania and Ohio once word of his testimony gets around, which is all to the good for election day next year. Two: The more gun owners perk up about Holder’s testimony, the more public interest there’s bound to be in Fast...

For over a year I have been warning that the Obama Administration plans to use Fannie Mae to nationalize a significant portion of America’s real estate market. Today the President announced plans to utilize executive orders to side-step Congress, usurp the Constitution, and allow the government owned mortgage giant Fannie Mae, to start gobbling up mortgages. The President’s plan will implement sweeping new rules that will allow the nationalized mortgage behemoth to refinance mortgages. Once Fannie Mae owns the mortgage, there’s nothing to stop the Obama Administration from using the Making Home Affordable Plan to allow people to exit their...

Obama Plan: Teacher Jobs One Year OnlyAfter a year, there’s no federal funding for the added jobs By Don Carrington Oct. 3rd, 2011 RALEIGH — President Barack Obama stood before thousands of screaming supporters at North Carolina State University Sept. 14, urging Congress to pass the American Jobs Act, his $450 billion plan to create jobs and stimulate the economy. “Pass this jobs bill, and there will be funding to save the jobs of up to 13,000 North Carolina teachers, cops, and firefighters,” he said. But he didn’t say that his bill would fund the jobs only for one year....

At a Democratic National Committee fundraiser last night, President Obama expressed his ardent satisfaction that his new health law regulations will force faith-based health care providers to provide contraceptive services without any co-payment from those receiving them. When one particularly pleased member of the audience cried out, “birth control” as a “pre-existing condition,” the President said, “You’re stealing my line.” To yet another call-out, Mr. Obama said, “Darn tootin’.” Contraception as “preventive care?” According to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, “preventive care” refers to “those situations in which consumers may consider themselves healthy or physically at risk...

Challenge for the left: Find us one instance at a tea party that comes even close to this venom, and please, no far-left LaRouche supporters holding Hitler signs, they are not conservatives.

Business owners and others who have long complained that companies are overburdened by state regulations say a proposal now moving through the Legislature shows that lawmakers have lost all touch with reality: It would require that hotels use fitted sheets

In 1820, during the second Great Awakening of religious revival, a young man named Joseph Smith claimed to see God in a grove in New York. This claim started one of the most controversial religions in recorded human history, including, at various times, polygamy and racism; and many assert today that sexism is still inherent in the religion. In this article, the LDS, or Mormon, belief system will be called a church or religion for clarity's sake. Whether these things are right, wrong or even true is a topic of endless debate. Today, however, I want to address a very...

Older people almost always seem to think they had it tougher than “kids today” do. So some older folks are striking back against the privileges enjoyed by today’s young people. And this doesn’t bode well for the future of society. Consider a recent story out of Pennsylvania. “The owner of a small restaurant outside Pittsburgh is banning children under the age of six, saying they regularly disrupted other customers’ meals,” the Wall Street Journal reported recently. “I’ve decided someone in our society had to dig their heels in on this issue,” the owner (a former teacher, luckily not of grammar)...

The Proposed UN Small Arms Treaty; pushed by Hillary Clinton The greatest gun grab in world history is in the midst of debate in the UN and is being pushed by Obama, Holder, Clinton, and all of Obama's Czars. Citizens of the United States, in fact citizens around the world, deserve to know what this treaty, if ratified by the Senate, would mean to Americans. Here is a brief synopsis: • If ratified by the Senate the treaty would void the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. • The Treaty would violate the Tenth Amendment transferring and federalizing gun ownership,...

The Proposed UN Small Arms Treaty; pushed by Hillary Clinton The greatest gun grab in world history is in the midst of debate in the UN and is being pushed by Obama, Holder, Clinton, and all of Obama's Czars. Citizens of the United States, in fact citizens around the world, deserve to know what this treaty, if ratified by the Senate, would mean to Americans. Here is a brief synopsis: • If ratified by the Senate the treaty would void the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. • The Treaty would violate the Tenth Amendment transferring and federalizing gun ownership,...

Along with a motion to dismiss a lawsuit that alleges that the state's restriction on law-abiding citizens to carry a weapon outside of their homes violates the Second Amendment, Illinois Attorney General Lisa M. Madigan filed a response to the plaintiffs' request for a permanent or preliminary injunction. According to court documents filed on July 22, Madigan is asking the court to deny a summary ruling.

Why do we take it as gospel that Barack Hussein Obama gets to fundamentally transform America just because he makes the bold claim that’s what he’s going to do? Why do decent, rational, American-loving people let Obama get away with saying he will “fundamentally transform America”?The first time he arrogantly uttered these words, the response should have been: “It should go without saying that no one, not even a president or a king will ever be allowed to fundamentally transform America.”...In order to stop D.C.’s Marxist Commander in Chief in his tracks, he must be forced back to reality and...

A maniac disguised as a policeman went on a bombing and shooting spree in Norway, unopposed by responding law enforcement for a full 90 minutes. At this writing, eight people were killed by a car bomb explosion in Oslo, and less than two hours later, 69 people were shot and killed at a youth camp on Utoya Island. Per Radar Online, it was “the deadliest attack by a single gunman in history.” As expected, the anti-gunners went into full blood-dance mode. The Brady Campaign used the situation to accuse US-recognized firearms freedoms of being responsible for more carnage—citing several examples...

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- Colin Goddard, the misguided Virginia Tech shooting victim who has turned to the Brady Center to Promote Gun Violence for solace, said in a recent post about the Oslo Shooting: “Unfortunately, I was soon infuriated by the gun fanatics in America who immediately used this massacre to assert that strong gun laws, like Norway’s, don’t work.” Well, if you look at the case of Anders Behring Breivik, Norway’s ludicrous “gun control” laws don’t and didn’t work. So, the first question is: Who, Mr. Goddard, is actually the fanatic in this case? Is it common sense self defense...

Two national gun rights organizations currently monitoring international gun control efforts, including the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation, drew lines in the sand Thursday against a proposed United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, while anti-gun Congressional Democrats push a new gun control measure in "the other" Washington. SAF's activities at the U.N. this week further bolster the Washington State-based group's growing prominence in the gun rights community, guaranteed by last year's McDonald v. City of Chicago Supreme Court victory, and now on an international scale. The spotlight was on the National Rifle Association yesterday, however, as Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre threw...

VIPR Searches and the American Citizen: 'Dominate. Intimidate. Control.' By John W. Whitehead 7/5/2011 "They're trying to scare the pants off the American people that we need these things... Fear is a commodity and they're selling it. The more they can sell it, the more we buy into it. When American people are afraid, they will accept anything."--Kate Hanni, passengers' rights advocate "Uncontrolled search and seizure is one of the first and most effective weapons in the arsenal of every arbitrary government...Among deprivations of rights, none is so effective in cowing a population, crushing the spirit of the individual and...