Free Republic

Some cities in California are so bloated in debt and other problems they are considering dissolution. Mercury News asks is this The End of Half Moon Bay? Between budget losses and lawsuit payments, Half Moon Bay's financials have become so dire that if a local sales tax measure doesn't pass this November, officials say they may have to disincorporate. City leaders have been using the "D" word for a few weeks now as they try to persuade voters to pass Measure K, a one-cent sales tax increase that would help the city balance its budget with an extra infusion of...

Adam Fisher: Big Chance Euro Zone Will Devalue or Dissolve Thursday, 13 May 2010 01:01 PM By: Forrest Jones There is a 65 percent chance euro zone countries will allow their currency to devalue or dissolve and everyone does their own thing, says Adam Fisher, Co-founder, CommonWealth Opportunity Capital, a Los Angeles Hedge Fund. Europe spent $140 billion aiding Greece, a figure that could have been a lot smaller had the rescue come months ago. Plus, other countries such as Spain and Portugal are going to come asking for help as well, Fisher says. “We're horribly bearish about the options...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - In an implicit rebuke to Iran's ruling elite, a conservative presidential candidate warned Sunday that the political and social rifts opened by the disputed June 12 vote and subsequent crackdown could lead to the nation's "disintegration" if they were not resolved soon. The candidate, Mohsen Rezai, made his warning in a long statement about the election and its bloody aftermath, in which he called for reconciliation and spoke about the danger of "imprisoning" the legacy of the Islamic Revolution in divisive and shortsighted politics. The statement was posted on his Web site. Although his message was largely...

Five years ago, I wrote that the civilized world would benefit from the dissolution of the United Nations, already then a dysfunctional assembly of nations dominated by tyrannies and dictatorships. Since then, despite the welcome replacement of secretary-general Kofi Annan by Ban Ki-Moon and aside from a few symbolic meetings in New York condemning anti-Semitism, the situation has dramatically worsened. The newly created UN Human Rights Commission, intended to be more balanced than its predecessor, shamelessly promotes medieval anti-Semitic blood libels and demonization of Israel at levels unprecedented even by UN standards. Many of the Israel-speeches dominating the agenda could...

SACRAMENTO — A day after lawmakers failed to pass Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's bond plan for the June ballot, the governor and legislative leaders vowed Thursday to put a proposal before voters in November — though efforts will likely get tangled in the budget and election-year politics. At the same time, Bay Area lawmakers attacked state government secrecy in light of the historic amounts of money in public works ballot bonds and in the wake of reports of dismal state compliance with the Public Records Act. Schwarzenegger remained optimistic about his $222 billion, multi-year plan to upgrade infrastructure. "As long as...

That booming thunderclap you heard the Monday after Thanksgiving was the sound of a neighboring country's government collapse. What, you didn't notice? That's because Canadian news travels at frequencies Americans can't quite hear. Though Ottawa is only 50 miles from the New York border, the vote that signaled the end of Prime Minister Paul Martin's tumultuous 17-month term barely made a wave on this side. Beneath the surface of this seemingly mundane internal matter, however, lies a story worthy of our attention. To be sure, the end of the Martin government's brief rule was no surprise to anyone. It follows...

According to the text of the page, this feature can be seen on a hike to Lexington Arch in Great Basin National Park. I actually was looking for pictures of Lexington Arch, and there are a few, but this one seemed more interesting. The site is nice if you like arches (I do).