Free Republic

SANTA CRUZ -- City leaders will pay the state $25,000 to settle a 2006 allegation that sediment illegally backed up in a North Coast waterway that provides almost 10 percent of the city's drinking water.

During the 108th Congress, the democrats were screaming ugly about the procedural abuses of the Republican-led Congress. They issued a report entitled "Broken Promises: The Death of Deliberative Democracy - A Congressional Report on the Unprecedented Erosion of the Democratic Process in the 108th Congress." Significant portions of the Executive Summary are below. The report includes precise allegations on an action-by-action basis. Not quite humorously, we are watching as the dems are guilty of precisely their claims again the pubs just a few years ago.

Here is video of former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino saying the White House Press Corps is giving Obama a free pass on the unsolicited emails sent to citizens who never requested to receive the emails from the White House. Perino likened what the White House has done to it being the same if people had gotten unsolicited emails from former Bush strategist Karl Rove, which Perino said would have made people "go crazy." Only Fox News is questioning these actions by the White House, and it is absolutely true that had the Bush White House done anything like...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is ticked off at CBS' late-night host for the barbs he's thrown at her and her daughter. Maybe we all should be ticked off at the obvious farce we had to be subjected to by the Palins when they showed up at the Republican National Convention, with her unwed pregnant daughter and her soon-to-be son-in-law in tow. It was pretty pathetic to witness the fake relationship that we were told would result in a marriage. I took a bet with some of my colleagues that that sucker never would happen. And we learned in March that...

If the government has its way, Eminem’s new single could land him in jail, Jon Stewart’s book, America, could have been banned, and advertising Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 on television or radio would have been a felony. That’s what the government argued two weeks ago in my organization’s Supreme Court case against the Federal Election Commission, Citizens United v. FEC. In oral arguments before the nine justices of the Supreme Court, the Deputy Solicitor General of the United States asserted that the government had the constitutional authority to criminalize the production of any communication with corporate assistance (such as from...

In light of the recent “Honor Killing” on our own soil (and the complete lack of media attention), the religion of Islam needs a healthy dose of criticism. Sure, I could have made a video about Christianity or Buddhism (only to receive a handful of respectfully scolding letters)… But what’s the fun in that?! Read your Qur’an.

<p>Barack Obama's inauguration address will stress "responsibility" by calling on Americans in government and business to embrace a new era of proper behavior.</p> <p>"Getting our country back on track," is the core theme of the speech, said Obama Press Secretary Rob Gibbs, adding that the president-elect wrote the bulk of it as it is now.</p>

By now, most McCain haters will have already skipped down to the comments section to post their expletives and tell me how it’s a free country and they have a 1st Amendment right, etc. to yammer on and on about how bad McCain sucks, totally missing the point of my post, again. But I’m here to tell you, in this free country, that in my opinion, you should SHUT YOUR STINKIN TRAP! To all you ingrates, rageaholics, and self-absorbed punks, WE KNOW YOU HATE MCCAIN. You can give yourself a rest now and stop posting on every single thread the...

A survey of travel habits has revealed that the most environmentally conscious people are also the biggest polluters. "Green" consumers have some of the biggest carbon footprints because they are still hooked on flying abroad or driving their cars while their adherence to the green cause is mostly limited to small gestures. Identified as "eco-adopters", they are most likely to be members of an environmental organisation, buy green products such as detergents, recycle and have a keen interest in green issues.

It’s been a while since I printed hate mail. You’ve seen one “Hey, BusHitler’s Asian whore, go home” letter, you’ve seen ‘em all. But this one’s such a prize-winner, I had to share: from Joe Roppe {snip} Michelle Malkin, I bet we could make your cry for real. Force you to eat a hamburger. I often wonder what will happen when we progressive liberal adults take back our country. The adults will stop wars for oil, Everyone will have health care. Everyone will have a roof over their heads. Everyone will have a voice in our government. Everyone will pay...

Article cannot be posted due to copyright issue URL Only http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/12/17/1197740183601.html

Half an hour's drive from Indonesia's parliament, the civilian police in the district of Tangerang go on patrol every evening. A dozen men, crammed into the back of a pick-up truck, cruise the dimly-lit streets, looking for anywhere serving alcohol or any woman they think might be a prostitute. The municipal government in Tangerang has banned both alcohol and "any behaviour that suggests prostitution". It is one of a number of districts which, despite the fact Indonesia is a secular state, have recently brought in local Islamic-style laws. On the night of my visit, the patrol was doing spot-checks on...

TRENTON, N.J. - Last year, New Jersey law officers ticketed 271,182 people for not wearing seat belts in violation of state law. This year, one will stand out: Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who was critically injured in an automobile accident last week. David Wald, spokesman for state Attorney General Stuart Rabner, wouldn't say why state police assigned to protect the governor didn't insist Corzine obey the seat belt law. "As always, we urge all drivers and passengers to wear seat belts," Wald said. Corzine, 60, broke multiple bones in the wreck and remains hospitalized in intensive care, breathing with the...

In the November 2006 election, the voters demanded congressional ethics reform. And so, the newly appointed chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is now duly in charge of regulating the ethical behavior of her colleagues. But for many years, Feinstein has been beset by her own ethical conflict of interest, say congressional ethics experts. As chairperson and ranking member of the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MILCON) from 2001 through the end of 2005, Feinstein supervised the appropriation of billions of dollars a year for specific military construction projects. Two defense contractors whose interests were largely controlled by...

RNC CHIEF KEN Mehlman accepted political contributions from gay porn king?Last week, you'll remember, the RNC, headed by Ken Mehlman, was running that race-baiting 'bimbo' ad against Rep. Harold Ford (D) down in Tennessee. One of the barbs in that ad was the claim that Ford had taken political contributions from "porn movie producers."But it seems there is plenty of porn movie producer money to go around.It turns out that the Republican National Committee is a regular recpient of political contributions from Nicholas T. Boyas, the owner and CEO of Marina Pacific Distributers, one of the largest producers and distributers...

If there were an Academy Award for Hypocrisy, the surefire favorite for 2006 would be the Democratic Party. Just two recent items make the decision a virtual certainty: The Representative Foley "scandal" is really worthy of a whole book on hypocrisy. On the one hand, we have a poor misguided Republican man who had a romantic thing for young boys. He sent them suggestive e-mail. I agree, that's not great. On the other hand, we have a Democratic party that worships ( not likes, WORSHIPS ) a man named Bill Clinton who did not send suggestive e-mails as far as...

WASHINGTON — Democrats are blasting President Bush for giving what they call a political prime-time speech on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The Chinese authorities say they are putting up a huge statue of Chairman Mao Zedong in Tibet. The 35-ton memorial is being built to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the former leader's death. It is being erected in Gonggar County, near the Tibetan capital Lhasa, China's state-run news agency Xinhua said. The statue will rise 7m from a 5m pedestal strengthened to withstand earthquakes. Mao Zedong ordered the Chinese takeover of Tibet in 1950. The statue will be the central landmark of Gonggar County's Shangcha square, which covers about 40,000 sq metres, and is scheduled for completion in July.

After Sen. Hillary Clinton went on TV and blamed Bush administration "incompetence" for alleged inadequacies in body armor supplied to U.S. troops fighting in Iraq, Senate Armed Service Committee chairman John Warner agreed to hold hearings. But when Warner gaveled the proceedings into session on Wednesday, body armor expert Hillary was nowhere to be found. "Senator Clinton had a long planned day of events with her constituents in New York and wasn't able to attend the short-notice briefing attended by the chairman and two members of the minority," Hillary spokesman Philippe Reines told the Washington Times. "Her defense aide attended,...

MOSCOW, Dec 20 (Reuters) - He is 29 years old, bearded, exhorts his troops to fight in the name of Allah and speaks Russian with a heavy Chechen accent. Not long ago, that would have perfectly described one of Moscow's most bitter foes. But now, while his former comrades-in-arms dodge troops in the Chechen mountains, Ramzan Kadyrov is a hero of Russia, a frequent guest of President Vladimir Putin and regional leader of the pro-Kremlin political party. Kadyrov is officially deputy prime minister of Chechnya but observers say the Kremlin has made him de facto leader -- something, they add,...