Free Republic

A simple tweak by the Commerce Department would allow the U.S. to begin selling ultralight fossil fuels overseas, a significant first step in easing the 39-year-old ban on crude exports, a new report says. The analysis released by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, focuses on condensate, a natural gas liquid made up of light fuels such as propane and butane. The fuels generally flow as liquids at normal temperatures even if they’re gas underground. Though it is chemically different than crude, condensate is swept under the oil export ban — at least as long as the light hydrocarbon is coming out...

Stardate 20021005.2128 (On Screen): As I think many of my readers know, I used to work for Qualcomm designing cell phones. Qualcomm is the company which invented CDMA, and made it practical, and made it into a market success, and it now dominates the American market, where Verizon and Sprint both use it. There are two other nationwide cellular systems: AT&T currently uses IS-136 TDMA, which is obsolete and has no upgrade path. Cingular uses GSM, a more sophisticated form of TDMA from Europe. And right now I'm basking in the evil glow of a major case of schadenfreude. The...

Three of the nine teenagers accused of driving 15-year-old Irish immigrant Phoebe Prince to commit suicide have been ordered to stay away from her family. Sean Mulveyhill, 17, Austin Renaud, 18, and Kayla Narey, 17, were all freed today on personal recognizances as long as they left Phoebe's heartborken family alone. Judge Judd Carheart made the ruling in a brief arraignment which the three teenagers did not attend.