Free Republic

If the presidential election was held now, Mr Obama would win 51 percent of votes, ahead of 45 percent for Mitt Romney, the Republican frontrunner, according to the ABC/Washington Post survey. It is the first time that any contender has broken the 50 percent barrier in months. "I deserve a second term, but I am not done," said Mr Obama. "We've created 3.7 million jobs in the last 23 months. We've created the most jobs since 2005, the most manufacturing jobs since 1990, but we're not finished." Mr Romney leads the Republican field after winning the Nevada caucuses over the

HJR 2001, the legislation that reverses Iowa DNR's ban on lead ammunition during dove hunting season, passed in the Iowa House this morning on a 73-27 vote. The issue will now go to the Senate for debate. If it passes in the Senate, it is reported that Governor Branstad will sign the legislation into law. Also today, HJR 2005 was passed in a House Public Safety subcommittee meeting. HJR 2005 is legislation that would provide for an amendment to the Iowa Constitution that secures the right to keep and bear arms. The vote was 2-1, with Reps. Windschitl and Brandenburg...

Three neighbors have sued the Ashland Gun Club and the city of Ashland, alleging that lead ammunition is contaminating the environment and stray bullets are striking one of their properties. Cathy DeForest, her husband, Leon Pyle, and Dr. Edward Kerwin filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Medford on Dec. 23. They are represented by attorney Tom Dimitre, who is also chairman of the Rogue Group Sierra Club. The gun club has operated on city-owned land east of the Ashland Municipal Airport since the 1960s. It has a lease agreement with the city for use of the site. DeForest...

Attack dogs have finally been unleashed on Ron Paul. Those barking dogs caused Andrew Sullivan to Re-Think The Paul Endorsement Time Magazine even launched a headline Paul Walks Away No Need to Rethink Endorsement There is no need to rethink endorsements. Here is the deal: Ron Paul did not say the things attributed to him. He denies them, disavows them, and most importantly, his voting record proves it! Can anyone honestly tell me why things Ron Paul did NOT say over twenty years ago should be news today? Paul Missed Best Tactic How many times does he have to deny...

Arsenic has long been recognized as a poison and a contaminant in drinking water, but now concerns are growing about arsenic in foods, especially in fruit juices that are a mainstay for children. Controversy over arsenic in apple juice made headlines as the school year began when Mehmet Oz, M.D., host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” told viewers that tests he’d commissioned found 10 of three dozen apple-juice samples with total arsenic levels exceeding 10 parts per billion (ppb). There’s no federal arsenic threshold for juice or most foods, though the limit for bottled and public water is 10 ppb....

Bradley Abelow, President, MF Global Inc., is a Senior Advisor at the Firm. Mr. Abelow was a Partner at NewWorld before joining MF Global, where his long-time associate Jon Corzine is CEO. Prior to co-founding NewWorld, he was Chief of Staff to Jon Corzine, then Governor of the State of New Jersey, where he oversaw state-level environmental programs, and earlier served as Treasurer of New Jersey. Before that, Mr. Abelow was a General Partner and Managing Director of The Goldman Sachs Group, where he held a variety of senior leadership positions. Mr. Abelow has been active in environmental matters for...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   California: NRA/CRPAF Reveal Obstruction Of Lead Ammunition Research Probe But Efforts to Obtain Information Continue   Thursday, September 15, 2011   National Rifle Association (“NRA”) and the California Rifle and Pistol Association Foundation (“CRPAF”) representatives made presentations to the California Fish and Game Commission (“Commission”) at its June 30, 2011 meeting in Stockton, California. The presentations revealed the numerous obstacles frustrating the NRA/CRPAF’s pursuit of underlying data behind taxpayer funded “research” that is being used to advocate proposed lead ammunition bans in California and in other states.The information behind these research...

Leading by Example Leadership is one thing about which I can speak with some authority, though I've neither headed vast corporations, nor large governmental bodies. I served in the Army, and I was a leader. My duties demanded it of me before it was my official mandate, and like millions of other before me, and since, I faced the challenges to carry out my missions as best I could under difficult conditions. The United States military has spent many billions of dollars in the effort to build and nurture leaders. Some people are born with it, some have it...

Fresh off her well-received performance in last week's GOP presidential debate, Rep. Michele Bachmann now tops the field of candidates in a new Zogby poll of Republican primary voters. The poll found Mrs. Bachmann garnering 24 percent of the vote, well-ahead of businessman Herman Cain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who each received 15 percent support.

It's all right. For their service to the umma, they'll be stoned to death last. "Hijab-Wearing ‘Flash Mob’ Invades RightOnline," by Evan McMorris-Santoro for TPM, June 18 (thanks to Weasel Zippers): MINNEAPOLIS -- A group of around ten women in Muslim headscarves crashed the RightOnline conference for about ten minutes Saturday, protesting what they said was an incident targeting Muslim women Thursday night. The event was the latest spark kicked up by the proximity of Netroots Nation and RightOnline. The two conferences are blocks apart -- RightOnline is being held in a hotel many Netrootsers are staying in -- and...

Think Donald Trump's proposed presidential run is nothing more than a stunt? So does NBC, home of the real estate mogul's hit show "Celebrity Apprentice." An executive at the network told Entertainment Weekly on Tuesday that no one is falling for Trump's much-rumored 2012 campaign. "We at the network have no idea whether Trump is serious about [running for president] or not," the executive, who asked to remain anonymous, told EW. "He won't tell even us - and we haven't pushed because we've just decided it is whatever it is. If he wants to spout off about things, we're happy...

(CBS/AP) DES MOINES, Iowa - Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton said Saturday that President Barack Obama isn't qualified to lead the country. Bolton was among the featured speakers at a conference of conservative Republicans in Iowa. Bolton was nominated for the ambassadorship in 2005 by President George W. Bush. Bolton told the crowd that Mr. Obama doesn't care enough about national security issues and doesn't view the world as a threatening place. Bolton also says the U.S. could have made a big difference in Libya, but Mr. Obama couldn't make up his mind on which steps to take.

"Borrowing and spending is not the way to prosperity," Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said on "Fox News Sunday."

Citing the need to prevent lead toxicity hazards to wildlife, the Federal Government's primary wildlife management agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildife Service (FWS) has banned the use of lead ammunition for hunting nuisance birds. The decision was published by FWS as a final rulemaking action in the Federal Register. American Bird Conservancy (ABC), the nation's leading bird conservation organization, expressed support for the decision in a letter sent today to Fish and Wildlife Service Acting Director Rowan W. Gould. Depredation orders are issued by FWS to allow the killing of migratory birds such as crows, grackles, and blackbirds which...

Gun owners dodged a bullet—or at least a proposed ban on them—in August. The Environmental Protection Agency announced opening of public comments on a petition submitted by the Center for Biological Diversity, charging bullets and shot made of lead were environmental hazards, and seeking to forbid their use under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Leading the mobilization to protest this scheme was the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). “If the EPA approves the petition, the result will be a total ban on all ammunition containing lead-core components, including hunting and target-shooting rounds,” Senior Vice President/General Counsel Larry Keane warned...

On the rare occasion when federal bureaucrats waver in their commitment to expanding their own regulatory power, environmental extremists can always be counted on to look for a sympathetic judge to expand it for them. The latest clever scheme would undermine the right of Americans to hunt and fish, using the judicial branch to implement policies too hot for regulators or lawmakers to touch. Congress needs to step in and disarm this assault on traditional sporting activities. The California-based Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) fired the first shot in August when it asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban...

KABUL, Afghanistan (Dec. 31) – Furthering their development, Afghan National Police led a key-leader engagement operation, with coalition force support, in the Towp Kalay village of the Sayyidabad district, Wardak province, Dec. 27. Training Afghan forces has been the focus for U.S. Army Maj. Roy Miller, team chief of 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division’s Task Force Warrior Security Forces Advisory Team. Miller advises the national police about security matters and what they need to do to take the lead during operations such as the joint key leader engagement just conducted. “The ANP ......

Gold rose to within $10 of a record high on Friday, closing out an unprecedented tenth annual gain as the combination of a weaker dollar and global economic uncertainty seemed to pave the way higher next year. The entire precious metals complex had a stellar run in 2010, led by palladium's 97 percent rise, in a broad commodities rally that pushed the 19-commodity Reuters-Jefferies CRB index up 15 percent. Spot silver, too, swept higher for an 83 percent gain on the year, as investors sought the white metal as an alternative to gold. It was the best-performing assets in the...

Research reported recently by the Associated Press found that lead and cadmium were present in cartoon character drinking glasses. Now a new study has found that many other items available for purchase throughout the United States – such as toys, home décor items, salvage, kitchen utensils and jewelry – contain surface lead concentrations more than 700 times higher than the federal limit.

Yesterday, the Center for Biological Diversity along with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Project Gutpile filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Environmental Protection Agency. After their petition to ban lead ammunition and lead fishing sinkers was denied by the EPA, they have sued in an effort to force a ban on lead ammunition and fishing sinkers. CBD and PEER are well-known and well-funded environmental lobbies. Project Gutpile, on the other hand, is an organization that has come out of nowhere to be a participant in the suit. They are portrayed as...

Three environmental groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday to force it to prevent lead poisoning of wildlife from spent ammunition and lost fishing tackle. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court by the Center for Biological Diversity, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the hunters group Project Gutpile. It comes after the EPA denied their petition to ban lead ammunition and lead fishing tackle, which the groups say kills 10 million to 20 million birds and other animals a year by lead poisoning. "The EPA has the ability to protect America's wildlife from ongoing preventable lead poisoning,...

A website launched on Tuesday, which published the names of 200 Israeli soldiers who participated in the Cast Lead counterror operation in 2008 and 2009 in Gaza, as well as their photographs, ranks, positions, birthdates, identity numbers and addresses, was taken down briefly Thursday for violating the terms of its use. The site was back up later, referring to the soldiers as war criminals.

(Reuters) - Scientists at the CERN research center say their "Big Bang" project is going beyond all expectations and the first proof of the existence of dimensions beyond the known four could emerge next year. In surveys of results of nearly 8 months of experiments in their Large Hadron Collider (LHC), they also say they may be able to determine by the end of 2011 whether the mystery Higgs particle, or boson, exists. Guido Tonelli, spokesman for one of the CERN specialist teams monitoring operations in the vast, subterranean LHC, said probing for extra dimensions -- besides length, breadth, height...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency denied on Thursday a petition by several environmental groups to ban lead in fishing tackle, two months after rejecting the groups' attempt to ban it in hunting ammunition. The EPA said that the petition did not demonstrate that a ban on lead in fishing tackle was necessary to protect against unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, as required by the Toxic Substances Control Act.

A proposal to ban lead fishing tackle to protect birds and other wildlife has been shot down by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The decision was immediately praised by fishing groups worried lead substitutes would cost more and be less effective in catching fish. Jim Hutchinson, of the Galloway Township-based Recreational Fishing Alliance, said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson made the right decision. "We're certainly happy with the EPA. It will be helpful in this tough economy for tackle shops, charter boats, and individual anglers. An outright ban would have just kept fishermen off the water, and that's ridiculous," Hutchinson said....

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency denied on Thursday a petition by several environmental groups to ban lead in fishing tackle, two months after rejecting the groups' attempt to ban it in hunting ammunition. The EPA said that the petition did not demonstrate that a ban on lead in fishing tackle was necessary to protect against unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, as required by the Toxic Substances Control Act. In a letter to the American Bird Conservancy, one of the groups that filed the petition, EPA Assistant Administrator Stephen A. Owens said that a number...

VERNON HILLS, Ill.—Rick Woldenberg runs an educational products company from a suburban Chicago office stacked with brightly colored toys. He backed Barack Obama in 2008. But he has turned on Democrats this year. Rick Woldenberg, chairman of Learning Resources in Chicago, backed President Barack Obama in 2008 but is now raising money for Republicans. .Mr. Woldenberg has never before been active in politics, but he is angry that Congress and the Obama administration won't revise expansive new rules on lead testing in children's products that he says will kill his business, Learning Resources Inc. So he is raising money for...

Research team at UH sees novel changes in retinal anatomy, results published in high-impact journalHOUSTON, Oct. 25, 2010 – Some unexpected effects of lead exposure that may one day help prevent and reverse blindness have been uncovered by a University of Houston (UH) professor and his team. Donald A. Fox, a professor of vision sciences in UH's College of Optometry (UHCO), described his team's findings in a paper titled "Low-Level Gestational Lead Exposure Increases Retinal Progenitor Cell Proliferation and Rod Photoreceptor and Bipolar Cell Neurogenesis in Mice," published recently online in Environmental Health Perspectives and soon to be published in...

Every time I conclude that the Environmental Protection Agency cannot get crazier, they demonstrate they are not only crazy, but a continued threat to the health, national security, and the right of Americans to be free of incessant governmental intrusion into their lives and choices. Mind you, they get lots of help from environmental organizations and the latest example was a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity asking the EPA to ban lead shot and bullets under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). There is, of course, no doubt that if you take a bullet to the brainpan,...

On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency denied a petition that called for an EPA ban on the production and distribution of lead in ammunition. In his explanation of the ruling, EPA assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Steve Owens said the reasoning behind the decision was simple: "EPA reached this decision," he wrote, "because the agency does not have the legal authority to regulate this type of product under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)." It was the clause following that explanation that has the firearms industry celebration: "...nor is the agency seeking such authority."

In a swift and unexpected decision, the Environmental Protection Agency today rejected a petition from environmental groups to ban the use of lead in bullets and shotgun shells, claiming it doesn't have jurisdiction to weigh on the controversial Second Amendment issue. The decision came just hours after the Drudge Report posted stories from Washington Whispers and the Weekly Standard about how gun groups were fighting the lead bullet ban. The EPA had planned to solicit public responses to the petition for two months, but this afternoon issued a statement rejecting a 100-page request from the Center for Biological Diversity, the...

Here's the link to the EPA documents and online means of leaving a pulic comment. http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#docketDetail?R=EPA-HQ-OPPT-2010-0681 and click on "Comment Due" Here's the comment I left: If you COMMIE APPARATCHIKS are hell bent on banning lead bullets, then be aware that many of the 100+ million gun owners in this country will be more than happy to come to DC to personnally deposit their lead bullets.

After carefull review, EPA has determined that TSCA does not provide the Agency with authority to address lead shot and bullets as requested in your petition......

NSSF Video discussing the EPA attempt to ban all lead ammunition.

Regulation: The U.S. Supreme Court says Americans have an individual right to keep and bear arms. The EPA says the bullets for those guns may be banned as an environmental hazard. The endless power grabs by the federal leviathan know no boundaries of law, science or even common sense. The Environmental Protection Agency of Lisa Jackson is seriously considering a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity, a leading anti-hunting group, to ban all traditional lead ammunition under the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) of 1976. If the EPA approves the petition, the result will be a ban on all...

Republican Meg Whitman has moved out ahead of Democrat Jerry Brown in the California governor's race after months of being in statistical or actual ties, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted Aug. 24. Whitman, the former head of eBay, leads Brown, the state's attorney general, by 48 percent to 40 percent with 6 percent favoring some other candidate and 6 percent undecided. The margin of error is 4 points. (Snip) When "leaners" are counted -- those voters who did not express an initial preference until pressed for a choice -- Whitman leads by 51 percent to 43 percent.

NEWTOWN, Conn --(Ammoland.com)- All Gun Owners, Hunters and Shooters: With the fall hunting season fast approaching, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Lisa Jackson, who was responsible for banning bear hunting in New Jersey, is now considering a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) – a leading anti-hunting organization – to ban all traditional ammunition under the Toxic Substance Control Act of 1976, a law in which Congress expressly exempted ammunition. If the EPA approves the petition, the result will be a total ban on all ammunition containing lead-core components, including hunting and target-shooting rounds. The EPA must...

Once again, the Øbama Administration is making another stealth move for circumventing the 2nd Amendment against the will of the American People. It is time to S.T.O.P. this nonsense once and for all, the EPA is the tool he is using again, this time to ban “lead” bullets … which are the ONLY kind that are affordable and legal. There is an actual petition that is now “ready for comment”. All of us need to take this opportunity to give them the “comments” they deserve. Below is the information you will need to (1) Understand the Problem, (2) Look at...

Here’s an astounding bit of government overreach: NSSF [National Shooting Sports Foundation] is springing into action, as the public comment period opens on EPA considering a regulation that will ban all traditional lead ammunition. This would basically end the shooting sports as we know it. Remember this is a no-win situation for us, because bullets made of materials other than lead are often considered armor piercing by law. Copper is your basic material, and copper is expensive, and has much poorer performance properties than lead.

Gold futures printed their highest settlement in nearly two months Wednesday as investors wanted the perceived safety of the metal following weaker-than-expected U.S. new-home sales and disappointing durable goods reports. Futures for December delivery, the most-actively traded contract, rose $7.90, or 0.6%, to settle at $1,241.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the contract's strongest finish since June 30. "The market just extended its recent flight-to-safety rally," said Bill O'Neill, a principal with Logic Advisors in Upper Saddle River, N.J. . SNIP The metal isn't that far from its all-time high above...

Oppose Petition to Ban Traditional AmmunitionNSSF All Gun Owners, Hunters and Shooters, The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) -- the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry -- urges you to contact the Environmental Protection Agency to oppose a petition filed August 3 by the extremist Center for Biological Diversity to ban traditional ammunition. Your right to choose the ammunition you hunt and shoot with is at stake. Express your opposition by calling or e-mailing: Lisa P. Jackson Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20460 (202) 564-4700 Fax: (202) 501-1450 Email:...

Lead, for centuries the core ingredient of ammunition, is now coming under attack itself. As the American military begins to embrace “green bullets,” environmental groups are pushing state and federal officials to ban the use of lead in hunters’ guns and fishermen’s tackle. Their goal is to protect both the animals that scavenge the carcasses of hunted prey and the people who consume meat from hunting expeditions. On Tuesday, the Center for Biological Diversity and the American Bird Conservancy plan to file a petition with the Environmental Protection Agency seeking a comprehensive nationwide ban on lead-based sporting ammunition and fishing...

WASHINGTON — Five environmental groups want the EPA to ban lead in ammunition and fishing tackle, arguing that millions of animals are dying from eating lead-shot pellets or carcasses contaminated by lead.

BAGHDAD – The U.S. Army's 1st Advise and Assist Brigade recently joined forces with Iraqi Commandos of the 7th Iraqi Army Division for an air assault operation in search of a possible IED production facility outside the town of Rawah. Soldiers assigned to 2nd Platoon, Company B, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, keep watch as Iraqi Army Soldiers conduct a search of an area outside the town of Rawah, Iraq, June 26. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. P. Valentine. “Five minutes!” Aboard four different aircraft, the U.S. and Iraqi Soldiers, following...

Omaha, Neb. (AP) - Union Pacific Corp. asked a federal judge Wednesday to order the Environmental Protection Agency to stop destroying records the railroad requested about lead contamination in Omaha.   The EPA and Union Pacific have been trying for years to settle who should pay more than $50 million to clean up 5,600 lead-contaminated properties in the railroad's home city because they disagree about the source of the contamination.   In Union Pacific's lawsuit, the railroad quotes from several e-mails where an EPA supervisor encourages employees to delete messages so they won't be subject to release as public records...

More than 160 children have died of lead poisoning in Nigeriain recent weeks, and more deaths are expected to follow. The number has been rising since March, when rural residents started digging illegally for gold in areas with high concentrations of lead. The victims were from several remote villages in the northern state of Zamfara. Marcel Lagenbach, head of the Medecins Sans Frontieres emergency response team in Zamfara, told Al Jazeera there are six villages in the state that have been affected. "Possibly there are some more villages that are contaminated, a lot of work remains to be done in...

Gallup's generic polling shows the number of voters saying that they would vote for Republicans rising three points from last week, while the number saying they will vote for Democrats dropped four points. The 49%-43% lead for the Republicans is the largest that the pollster has ever recorded for the party. Moreover, Democratic enthusiasm for voting this fall fell a point, while enthusiasm among Republicans stayed about fifteen points higher. This indicates an even wider lead for Republicans once Gallup imposes a likely voter screen this fall.

Gallup's generic polling shows the number of voters saying that they would vote for Republicans rising three points from last week, while the number saying they will vote for Democrats dropped four points. The 49%-43% lead for the Republicans is the largest that the pollster has ever recorded for the party. Moreover, Democratic enthusiasm for voting this fall fell a point, while enthusiasm among Republicans stayed about fifteen points higher. This indicates an even wider lead for Republicans once Gallup imposes a likely voter screen this fall. http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2010/06/01/republicans-jump-out-to-historic-lead-in-gallup-generic-ballot/

The nation's premier public health agency knowingly used flawed data to claim that high lead levels in the District's drinking water did not pose a health risk to the public, a congressional investigation has found. And, investigators determined, the agency has not publicized more thorough internal research showing that the problem harmed children across the city and continues to endanger thousands of D.C. residents. A House investigative subcommittee concludes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made "scientifically indefensible" claims in 2004 that high lead in the water was not causing noticeable harm to the health of city residents....

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (I) received a bounce in the polls when he left the Republican Party to run for the U.S. Senate as an independent. But a new Rasmussen survey suggests the bounce is over. Marco Rubio leads the Senate race with 39%, followed by Crist at 31% and Rep. Kendrick Meek at 18%. Twelve percent are undecided.