Free Republic

EL PASO, TX — A critical opponent of drug law reform in Texas has been indicted on charges of trafficking 50 kilograms of marijuana and money laundering. El Paso County Commissioner Guillermo “Willie” Gandara Jr., 37, who is currently a Democratic candidate for the Texas legislature, along with Juan Canales, 50, were arrested late Wednesday night following a multi-agency investigation that included the DEA and FBI. A federal grand jury indictment charges the defendants with one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 kilograms or more of marijuana, and one count of possession with intent to distribute...

This month CBO has published another report that shows the cost of the “stimulus” package will be more than initially estimated. During consideration of the “Stimulus” bill in 2009 the CBO initially projected an “increase in budget deficits by $787 billion” as a result of the legislation between 2009 and 2019. In August of 2010 the CBO adjusted the anticipated cost from the ‘Stimulus’ to be $814 billion. The last quarterly report increased that estimate to $825 billion. Now the CBO’s report for February 2012 states the actual impact was $831 billion. If this pace is consistent, based on the...

'The American people aren't stupid," thundered President Obama yesterday in Miami, ridiculing Republicans who are blaming him for rising gasoline prices. Let's hope he's right, because not even Forrest Gump could believe the logic of what Mr. Obama is trying to sell. We'd almost feel sorry for Mr. Obama's gas-price predicament if it weren't a case of rough justice. The President has deliberately sought to raise the price of energy throughout the economy via his cap-and-trade agenda. He is now getting his wish, albeit a little too overtly for political comfort. Mr. Obama has also spent three years blaming George...

Bill Maher has reportedly become one of the biggest backers of pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action. The liberal comedian and talk show host on Thursday night presented a $1 million personal check written to Priorities during his comedy special “CrazyStupidPolitics: Live from Silicon Valley” which streamed on Yahoo.com.

Obama's Energy Plan -- Algae By Susan Jones February 24, 2012 (CNSNews.com) - "The American people aren't stupid," President Obama said on Thursday -- as he insisted that drilling for more oil on U.S. territory is "not a strategy to solve our energy challenge." The president's solution? Algae, for one. There are no quick fixes to the nation's eneergy problem, the president said, dismissing Republican calls for more drilling as a "bumper sticker." "We’re making new investments in the development of gasoline and diesel and jet fuel that’s actually made from a plant-like substance -- algae," the president said at...

Who said he hasn't done anything? That’s just not so... An impressive list of accomplishments! • First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then deny he was a foreigner. • First President to have a social security number from a state he has never lived in. • First President to preside over a cut in the credit-rating of the United States . • First President to violate the War Powers Act. • First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico . • First President to...

Overall, the Post found that $3.9 billion in federal grants and financing flowed to 21 companies backed by firms with connections to five Obama administration staffers and advisers. Obama’s program to invest federal funds in start-up companies — and the failure of some of those companies — is becoming a rallying cry for opponents in the presidential race. Mitt Romney has promised to focus on Obama’s “record” as a “venture capitalist.” And in ads and speeches, conservative groups and the Republican candidates are zeroing in on the administration’s decision to extend $535 million to the now-shuttered solar firm Solyndra and...

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent Jaime Zapata was shot and killed in the line of duty Tuesday, Feb. 15 2011 after he was attacked by unknown assailants while driving between Monterrey, Mexico, and Mexico City. One year later, his family still lacks answers about his death.(Credit: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Prosecutors recently sentenced a Texas man, Manuel Barba, for trafficking a weapon connected to the murder of Immigration and Customs (ICE) Agent Jaime Zapata. Nobody was more astonished to learn of the case than Zapata's parents, who didn't know that Barba had been arrested or linked...

Several people have become interested in a quite controversial topic called "AGENDA 21." They have requested being on a ping list for this topic. While I do not have time to do a thorough treatment of this subject, nor am I in any way an expert, I am willing at least for a time,to ping people as I run across articles which might pertain to this concern. It might be good to start with an examination of just what it is or might be. To kick this discussion and exploration off,I did a Google search (just for fun) on "Agenda...

President Obama and his West Wing aides ignored a subpoena of documents pertaining to the Solyndra loan guarantee even after congressional investigators met with White House officials to negotiate the scope of the subpoena, according to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "The White House's failure to comply with today's document deadline is a sad milestone on the path chosen by this administration to obstruct and delay our investigation rather than cooperate and help deliver answers for taxpayers," committee chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee chairman Cliff Stearns R-Fla., said in a statement this evening. House investigators...

NORTH BERGEN -- A Target employee who police say staged an elaborate scheme in an effort to fake an accident and collect workers' compensation apparently forgot one thing in the planning -- the cameras in the storeroom were rolling. .... Colon was employed in the customer service area at the North Bergen Target on June 2 when she claimed a box she was carrying hit the edge of a shelf and boxes fell off the shelves and struck her head, neck and back -- and even caused her to vomit, authorities said.

A husband and wife who headed an antipoverty program in Alameda County were indicted Tuesday for allegedly misusing more than $200,000 in taxpayer money, which prosecutors say they spent on travel, meals and home repairs. Nanette Dillard, who headed the Associated Community Action Program, and her husband, Paul Daniels, the program's former grant administrator, were charged with one count each of grand theft, conspiracy and crime by a public officer. Although the couple are charged with misspending $200,000, "the final bill" was probably in the neighborhood of $1.5 million, said Robert Lieber, an Albany city councilman and former chairman of...

I discovered an interesting fact while reviewing the 2011 IRS form 8936 used for the $7500 EV tax credit. While under most circumstances it is the wealthy purchasers of Chevy Volts and other high priced plug-in vehicles that get the taxpayer-funded handout, it appears that General Motors' dealerships that sell the vehicles to government entities are benefiting by being able to claim the credits. These dealers are able to double-dip into the seemingly endless pool of taxpayer funds designated for cronies of the Obama Administration under the guise of green initiatives. Not only do taxpayers pay for Chevy Volts...

One of my dad’s favorite sayings was, “Live fast, die young, and leave a good looking corpse.”How about a corpse that can vote?An outfit called Project Veritas – run by James O’Keefe, who made the videos that brought down ACORN – ran a little experiment in New Hampshire Tuesday and found that without voter ID requirements, dead people were offered a rare opportunity to participate in the political process.Because you see, Mssrs. Obama and Holder, states want voter ID laws not to prevent minorities from voting, but to PREVENT THE DECEASED FROM VOTING.Attorney General Eric Holder has been waging an...

Mark Levin talked about this last night. You can hear it right here. This comes from the first hour of his show. In the LA Times, October 22nd, 1989, David M Graber, a research biologist with the National Park Service, wrote the following: Mother Nature as a Hothouse Flower : THE END OF NATURE by Bill McKibben (Paragraph 9)There is no chalk line between man and nature that we have crossed. We contaminated the planet with atmospheric hydrocarbons and metals beginning with the Industrial Revolution. The Atomic Age wrote another indelible signature in radioisotopes on every bit of the Earth's...

The Headline at WUWT is: BREAKING: Gleick Confesses*****************************EXCERPT*************************************Posted on February 20, 2012 by Anthony Watts Since I have started updates here, I’ll keep this post as a “sticky” – new content will follow below it and linked within updates. – AnthonyUPDATE15: 11:08AM 2/21 Unbelievable. Daily Kos elevates Gleick to hero status (via Tom Nelson):Daily Kos: Hero Scientist responsible for Heartland Expose Hero scientist, Peter Gleick, a water and climate analyst is the one responsible for exposing the Heartland agenda to spread misinformation and lies and subvert any real action for the climate change crisis. He did so at considerable risk...

Commenter FP writes: Hmm, they’ve removed Peter Gleick’s name from this page:http://www.agu.org/about/governance/committees_boards/scientific_ethics.shtmlIt was there four days ago, according to google’s cache. Has he resigned/been fired already? It had read as the page screencap shows: (from Google cache here) Chair Peter Gleick, Pacific Institute, Oakland, CaliforniaNow reads:

Carney: GOP cancelled Keystone, not Obama By Neil Munro - The Daily Caller 1:49 PM 02/21/2012 WASHINGTON – The president didn’t stop the Keystone XL oil pipeline — Republicans did. That’s the message on Tuesday from White House spokesman Jay Carney as gas prices rise above $4.00 per gallon. “The president didn’t turn down the Keystone pipeline,” Carney said, because the proposal to construct the pipeline was reviewed by the Department of State. President Barack Obama’s decisions to nix construction of the pipeline has been repeatedly attacked by the GOP, and by some Democratic-allied unions representing construction workers. They say...

From Gleick's Huffington Post confession: Given the potential impact however, I attempted to confirm the accuracy of the information in this document. In an effort to do so, and in a serious lapse of my own and professional judgment and ethics, I solicited and received additional materials directly from the Heartland Institute under someone else's name. The materials the Heartland Institute sent to me confirmed many of the facts in the original document, including especially their 2012 fundraising strategy and budget. I forwarded, anonymously, the documents I had received to a set of journalists and experts working on climate issues....

The Obama Administration Department of Justice is refusing to carry out provisions of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) requiring that the names of voters known to be deceased be purged from registration rolls. The rationale for this failure to execute the laws of this country was explained by a DOJ attorney: “removing dead people from the rolls doesn’t increase turnout. It stops people from voting.” “We’d rather err on the side of inclusiveness,” explained Attorney General Eric Holder. “How do we know for sure a person is dead? I mean, unless I’ve seen the body how can I rule...