Free Republic

Klingenschmitt said, "Please call 202-456-1111 today, and tell White House comment line operators: 'Mr. President, please keep your promise and veto the F-35 second engine in the Pentagon Budget, 2010 Defense Authorization Act.'" "Several months ago, President Obama promised to veto the Pentagon budget if it contained funding for the F-22 or a second engine for the F-35. The Senate killed the F-22, but after receiving nearly 22,000 faxes from us in the last 48 hours, the House ignored Obama's veto threat and voted Thursday to fully fund a second engine for F-35s. The House also sadly attached the pro-homosexual...

The federal government is forcing 3 million Americans to disclose sensitive, personal information about finances, health and lifestyle in a 14-page survey – including questions about availability of household flush toilets and difficulty with undressing and bathing. The 2009 American Community Survey, an annual supplement to the decennial Census, asks about residents' personal relationships and whether a home has hot and cold running water, a flush toilet, bathing facilities, appliances and phone services. It also asks how many rooms are in a home and what vehicles are used at each household. The new questionnaire asks respondents what they pay for...

Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child is an axiom that Democratic Assemblywoman Sally Lieber apparently doesn’t recognize. She apparently believes that because spanking “Could Lead to” child abuse, that spanking should be done away with altogether. Let me ask you this Sally, Should every potential ‘gateway’ activity then be made illegal by our government? Should sugar be made illegal because it gives a child a buzz if too much is taken in, which ‘could then lead’ to a desire to experience more intense highs later on? Should alcohol be outlawed because it ‘could lead to’ a desire to use...

Sports are important, as they provide physical exercise and personal camaraderie, but to make a fetish of anything in life is always disastrous. So it is with sports, as we see all too often in these days when Americans have so much time, money, and freedom (all of which are good things, of course, and are great blessings when used properly). The Associated Press reports just such an incident this week: "Upset that his 7-year-old son wouldn't wear a Green Bay Packers jersey during the team's playoff victory Saturday, a man restrained the boy for an hour with tape and...

I posted a while back about the financial and business aspects of CALEA on your local ISP's. Oddly enough, most people thought I was just ignorant. Well, THEY are ignorant. There's an interesting blog thread here: http://blogs.globalcrossing.com/paulk?from=60 He makes a very sharp point. While the original CALEA legislation was little other than requiring (and paying) the telcos to ensure that normal phone taps could occur, the DOJ and FCC have suddenly strayed far beyond that. VIOP was unknown at the time CALEA was written. But, it's been construed by the FCC to apply to all services that carry voice, chat,...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A quarter century after the Reagan revolution and a dozen years after Republicans vaulted into control of Congress, a new CNN poll finds most Americans still agree with the bedrock conservative premise that, as the Gipper put it, "government is not the answer to our problems -- government is the problem."The poll released Friday also showed that an overwhelming majority of Americans perceive, correctly, that the size and cost of government have gone up in the past four years, when Republicans have had a grip on the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House.Discretionary spending...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City's Health Department on Tuesday proposed a near ban on the use of artificial trans fat at restaurants, likening its health danger to that of lead paint. The proposal would limit the use of the artery-clogging fat, which is often used in fast foods, to 0.5 grams per serving. The proposal comes after a year-long city campaign to educate restaurants on the effects of such fats and encourage them to stop their use. The city said the voluntary campaign failed and while some of New York's more than 20,000 restaurants reduced or stopped using...

The caretakers of Ernest Hemingway's Key West home want a federal judge to intervene in their dispute with the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the six-toed cats that roam the property. More than 50 descendants of a multi-toed cat the novelist received as a gift in 1935 wander the grounds of the home, where Hemingway lived for more than 10 years. The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum disputes the USDA's claim that it is an "exhibitor" of cats and needs to have a USDA Animal Welfare License, according to a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Miami. "What...

I heard today as I was getting ready to leave work that as of today, it is illegal in the state of Arkansas to smoke in a private vehicle with a minor or on the premises of any business establishment frequented by minors. Does anybody have any more detailed information on this? If true, this is an outrage! Not unexpected, but an outrage nevertheless. Before we know it, we will have to have prior government approval to use a public restroom.

Primary schoolchildren are to be weighed regularly and their parents told if they are too fat under a Government drive to reduce obesity. Children aged four to 10 in England will be put on the scales this term to help prepare an obesity "map". From next year, parents of any obese four- to 10-year-old can expect a letter telling them that their child faces long-term health problems unless they live a healthier life. Yesterday, the Department of Health rejected suggestions that the Government was "policing" the size of children and increasing the risk that some children could be stigmatised or...

Calabasas makes it illegal to light up in public spaces, with fines up to $500. Some residents breathe easier, but others just fume. As a pioneering public smoking ban went into effect Friday in Calabasas, enforcement came from a higher authority: Mother Nature. A pouring rainstorm snuffed out renegade smokers' cigarettes and sent them scurrying for cover as security guards began issuing warnings at the town's main shopping center. Calabasas, an upscale suburb perched on the western edge of the San Fernando Valley, was generating international attention for what appears to be the nation's first ban on smoking in all...

(AP) DENVER With health costs rising, one state lawmaker thinks it's time to start discussing whether the state can afford to pay to treat smokers who get lung cancer, heart disease and other diseases linked to tobacco. Sen. Ron Teck, R-Grand Junction, wants to put people who continue to smoke despite the health risks on notice. Under a proposal set to be reviewed Wednesday at the state Capitol, people who started smoking before 1975 would still be eligible for Medicaid payments to treat smoking-related illnesses.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Senate Republicans are renewing efforts to reward people for exercising and not smoking, a move they say will drive down health care costs. Legislation unveiled Monday by state Sen. Tom George would charge Medicaid patients less for services if they exercise regularly and don't smoke, and give state contracting preferences to businesses that have employee wellness programs. Other bills would let health insurers provide better rates to small businesses that employ fewer smokers, require elementary schools to offer physical education for 30 minutes at least two days a week and establish a wellness program for state...

New York City is starting to monitor the blood sugar levels of its diabetic residents, marking the first time any government in the United States has begun tracking people with a chronic disease. Under the program, the city is requiring laboratories to report the results of blood sugar tests directly to the health department, which will use the data to study the disease and to prod doctors and patients when levels run too high. Some public health experts, ethicists and privacy advocates, however, say that the initiative raises serious concerns about confidentiality and is an alarming government intrusion into people's...

On Saturday, November 12, Free State activists from Keene and as far away as New London Connecticut gathered to defy national identification systems. In full view of the social security administration, social security cards were burned, sending a message that national ID will not be accepted. Around twenty activists gathered to take part in the torching festivities. When Social Security was first foisted on America, the cards were imprinted with, "Not to be used for Identification." People were wary of the tyranny involved with a national ID card, so the government had to promise that the Social Security number would...

NEW YORK - At least half a million New Yorkers have diabetes, many of them at risk for blindness, kidney failure, amputations and heart problems because they are doing a poor job of controlling their illness. The question is, how much privacy are they willing to give up for a chance at better health? A century after New York became the first American city to track people with infectious diseases as a way to halt epidemics, officials here propose a similar system to monitor people with diabetes, a non-contagious foe. Conceived after a sharp rise in diabetes deaths over the...

MD State Police are using "night vision goggles" to go after seat belt violators.

ON CAPITOL HILL Lawmaker tries to block mental-health screening Rep. Paul offers language to require parental consent for evaluating kids Posted: November 18, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, is making a final attempt this week to lessen the impact of a new program that calls for all the nation's children to be screened for mental-health problems, offering language to the federal omnibus spending bill that would require parental consent before such testing could be done. As WorldNetDaily reported, in September Paul attempted to have the program removed from Labor, HHS and Education Appropriations Act....

Jimmy Mac's is up for sale Owner says smoking ban hurt the business By LISA HAARLANDER News Business Reporter9/15/2004 Mark Mulville/Buffalo News Rick Naylor, owner of Jimmy Mac's restaurant and bar on Elmwood Avenue, was fined $2,000 by Erie County. A restaurant that has openly defied the state's smoking ban is now for sale. Owner Rick Naylon is asking $125,000 for Jimmy Mac's, a restaurant with a bar at 555 Elmwood Ave. E.K. Henderson Assoc., a company in which Naylon has a minority ownership interest, would retain ownership of the building. The restaurant's equipment and other assets are for sale....

Go to:Davis County Clipper The poll is on the right side (vote "none of the above" or "Wal-Mart and Costco only") The city mayors (RINOs) have organized and are likely indirectly funding the 'pro-rec' group to shove a tax increase down our throats. The cities involved have private health/fitness centers and there are even more located withing a 10 or 15 minute drive of each city. The mayors state that no one attended their meetings. However, the meetings were not announced (except for the meeting to establish the taxing district where the only dissenting voice was booed and later told...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Communications Commission is taking a look at how to regulate phone calls made over the Internet rather than the conventional handset.Chairman Michael Powell said Thursday that the panel would hold a forum on the issue Dec. 1 and then ask for public comments on what regulations, if any, should be imposed.``The deployment of broadband Internet services to every American is a national imperative,'' Powell said in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. ``The FCC will continue to stay at the forefront of change.''Wyden's legislation continuing a ban on Internet taxes would not apply to...

<p>WASHINGTON — The IRS is poised to begin using private debt collectors to snag some of the $76 billion in taxes going uncollected because of manpower shortages.</p> <p>"This problem is so enormous and growing at such a pace, we need to do something dramatically different," says the IRS' Brady Bennett.</p>

As a casual observer of what makes this country work and what stops it cold, I hereby offer a few suggestions on how we can ruin American competitiveness and innovation in the course of this century. I think the reader will agree with me that we are already far down the road on many of them:

Rather than recycle the same security information that’s existed for over 15 years, the same information found in every computer security book on the shelves, I instead propose a solution, one that only the government can initiate because the solution needs to be mandatory. By “mandatory” I mean that it should be made into law. Legally compelling organizations to meet security requirements seems to be the only way to get them to take security seriously. I propose three basic laws that will stiffen cyber-security...

Mother Is Jailed After Children Are Sunburned By ADAM LIPTAK An Ohio woman has been jailed for allowing her three children to get severely sunburned at a county fair. The woman, Eve Hibbits, 31, of Brilliant, Ohio, faces three felony counts of endangering her 2-year-old daughter and 10-month-old twin sons. She is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing today. "As soon as I looked at them I could tell," said Sheriff Fred Abdalla of Jefferson County, in eastern Ohio. "It looked like the children had been dipped in red paint. It was 95 degrees, and they were literally baking." The...

Legal Concerns in Michigan for Home Schooling Families For a number of West Michigan Home Schooling families, this update will be old news. A number of us attended the INCH Convention this past weekend in Lansing. Among the many encouraging speakers, was a presentation by attorney David Kallman from Lansing. Mr. Kallman informed us of at least two cases that have come up in the last two weeks where home schooling families have been either harassed or arrested for home educating their children ... in Michigan! One case involves a family in the Traverse City area where the mother...

If your TV is off when disaster looms, some emergency managers want to be able to turn it on to warn you of the coming danger. The technology that would allow the government to remotely activate your television or radio is already there. But it's never caught on because so many people don't like the idea of government reaching into their homes. Still, one of the emergency specialists who believe that a "smart receiver" system can save lives intends to delicately broach the idea at the National Association of Broadcasters convention today in Las Vegas.