Free Republic

With the 2012 presidential election already on presidential aspirants' front doorstep, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is hiking the campaign trail, stomping the path of ethanol subsidies. Last Tuesday, the former Speaker visited the Renewable Fuels Association summit in Des Moines, touting the praises of ethanol and its progressive impact on the environment. He then tenderized the farm industry saying, “We have had a problem of farm income back to the 1890s and 1880s [and] the fact is that every time the farmers start to do well someone starts to attack them.” A battle between Gingrich and the Wall Street...

...and he filled tanks feeding the boat’s 200 horsepower Mercury engine with gas that had been blended with 10 percent ethanol. “I heard a station in Greenville had straight gas, but I just took it to the next one I could find. Within 10 minutes, my engine started failing,” Gray said. “(The ethanol) had crystallized and crumbled and had clogged my fuel line, and I had to tear out all of the fuel system.” Gray saved hundreds of dollars by repairing it himself, but his troubles with the motor are nothing new to marine shop owners, lawn mower mechanics and...

Decades of autocratic government and a lack of free elections are, of course, the main drivers of the political upheaval in Egypt. But did the sinking dollar and skyrocketing food prices trigger the massive unrest now occurring in Egypt — or the greater Arab world for that matter? In addition to Egypt, the people have taken to the streets to varying degrees in Algeria, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, and Yemen. Local food riots have even broken out in rural China and other Asian locales. While the mainstream media focuses on the political aspects of this turmoil, they are overlooking the impact...

BOSTON -- The head of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority quickly rejected a request by the state's congressional delegation to provide free subway service during the Democratic National Convention. U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy and the state's 10 congressmen -- all Democrats -- made the request in a letter sent Friday to MBTA general manager Michael Mulhern and Boston 2004 president David Passafaro, asking them to make subways free in downtown Boston during the four-day convention in July. Mulhern said he was "very disappointed" in the request. "It's indicative of the lack of appreciation or understanding of how significant a financial...