Free Republic

Echoing what the Peak has been writing for at least six months, Independence Institute’s Senior Fellow in Fiscal Policy, Barry Poulson, is now joining those who are sounding the alarm about the poor state of Colorado’s public employee retirement plan. From his recent op-ed to the Colorado Springs Gazette: There is no other pension plan in the country that imposes such a financial burden on future taxpayers. Every household in Colorado would have to pay $1,739 more in taxes annually, just to meet pension obligations. Poulson also calculated that if PERA’s financial analysts were to use current market realities to...

The U.S. Department of Energy has confirmed that its computer systems were hacked into last month. According to The New York Times, the federal agency sent around an internal e-mail on Friday telling its employees about the cyberattack. "The Department of Energy has just confirmed a recent cyber incident that occurred in mid-January which targeted the Headquarters' network and resulted in the unauthorized disclosure of employee and contractor Personally Identifiable Information," the e-mail said. The agency said that it is working to figure out the "nature and scope of the incident"

Starting this week, Chicago police are changing their responses to 911 calls. They’ll no longer come right away to reports of things like criminal damage to property, vehicle thefts, garage burglaries, or other crimes in which the suspect is no longer on the scene, and the victim isn’t in immediate danger. The move will free up the equivalent of 44 police officers a day for patrol duties. CBS 2′s Jim Williams spoke to some Chicagoans who think it’s the wrong move for the police. On the block where burglars broke into a home on Christmas Day, Carmen Curio has a...

(Crappy muslim amusement park- Gaza children celebrated Eid al Adha in an amusement park in Gaza City; but they didn't look happy about it.) Amusement park planned in Pakistan town where bin Laden lived (Reuters) - Pakistan plans to build a $30 million amusement park and outdoor activity centre on the edge of the northwestern town of Abbottabad, where U.S. special forces killed Osama bin Laden, an official said on Monday. The private venture in the foothills of the Himalayas will include a zoo, water sports, a mini-golf course, rock climbing and paragliding, said Jamaluddin Khan, the deputy provincial...

Move over Orlando, here comes Abbottabad. Pakistan's tourism officials have announced plans to build a $30 million amusement park on the outskirts of the Himalayan foothills town that gained worldwide attention as the place where U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden. The 50-acre site will include a zoo, restaurants, water sports, miniature golf as well as rock climbing and paragliding, officials said. Officials in north Kyber Pakhtunkwa province denied to Sky News that the project was a way to improve the town’s image after the bin Laden raid, saying the goal is simply to boost tourism. "This project has...

Sixth-grade children in many Texas public schools are being tasked with designing flags for a new socialist nation as part of the state's curriculum, EAG News reported Monday. "Notice socialist/communist nations use symbolism on their flags representing various aspects of their economic system. Imagine a new socialist nation is creating a flag and you have been put in charge of creating a flag," says a lesson plan being used as part of CSCOPE, the curriculum being used by over 70 percent of Texas school districts. "Use symbolism to represent aspects of socialism/communism on your flag. What kind of symbolism/colors would...

RS 2477. What is it? It is a provision of federal law supporting the actions of these courageous townspeople. Though repealed in 1976, its powerful effects are not repeal-able. It is about preservation of public property, i.e. rights of way. It is a matter of liberty!! Of the freedom to travel!

The United States is sitting on massive natural gas and oil reserves that have the potential to shift the geopolitical balance in its favor. Worries are increasing in Russia and the Arab states of waning influence and falling market prices. Williston, North Dakota, is a bleak little city in the vast American prairie. It's dusty in the summer and frigid in the winter. Moose hunting is one of the few sources of entertainment. But despite its drawbacks, Williston has seen its population more than double within a short period of time. The city is so overcrowded that new arrivals often...

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — A small helicopter that crashed Saturday in far western St. Lucie County was carrying an internationally known firearms expert who was hunting wild hogs from the air using a handgun. Live Oak resident Massad Ayoob, 64, his hunting companion Jonathan Strayer, 46, and pilot William Harward, 55, were above the tree tops, at about 100 feet, when the Hiller helicopter lost power and plunged to the ground around 9:15 a.m. Saturday, Ayoob said Monday. “A few minutes into the flight, as we were zoning in on an oinker that had run under the canopy of some...

Muslim Patrols Could Become More Prevalent And More Violent, Warns Anti-Extremist Muslim patrols stalking British streets could become “a lot more dangerous” and perhaps even willing to maim or kill, the head of an anti-extremism organisation has warned. By Rosa Silverman 30 Jan 2013 As British jihadists venture abroad to capitalise on the aftermath of the Arab Spring and then return to the UK, they are likely to bring a greater level of violence back home, Maajid Nawaz, the chairman of the Quilliam Foundation, suggested. His comments follow incidents in which groups of Muslim vigilantes, dubbing themselves 'Muslim Patrols' have...

A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” -- even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S. The 16-page memo, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, provides new details about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration’s most secretive and controversial polices: its dramatically increased use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects, including those aimed at American citizens, such as the...

WASHINGTON — Last summer, as the fighting in Syria raged and questions about the United States’ inaction grew, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton conferred privately with David H. Petraeus, the director of the C.I.A. The two officials were joining forces on a plan to arm the Syrian resistance. The idea was to vet the rebel groups and train fighters, who would be supplied with weapons. The plan had risks, but it also offered the potential reward of creating Syrian allies with whom the United States could work, both during the conflict and after President Bashar al-Assad’s eventual removal. Mrs....

AUSTIN – You know America is changing when leftists have even infiltrated Texas schools. According to the website txcscopereview.com, a lesson plan for 6th graders in government schools reads as follows: Notice socialist/communist nations use symbolism on their flags representing various aspects of their economic system. Imagine a new socialist nation is creating a flag and you have been put in charge of creating a flag. Use symbolism to represent aspects of socialism/communism on your flag. What kind of symbolism/colors would you use?

    ~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: White Sands Missile Range, New MexicoWhite Sands Missile Range is a rocket range of almost 3,200 square miles area, the largest military installation in the United States. WSMR includes the Oscura Range and the WSMR Otera Mesa bombing range. WSMR and the 600,000-acre Fort Bliss Range Complex to the south form a contiguous swath of territory for military testing. White Sands Missile Range is a Test and Evaluation Command Installation operated primarily for the support of research, development, test, and evaluation of weapon and space systems, subsystems, and components. WSMR, established in...

Joseph Berger's long tribute to the late, legendary former New York City mayor Ed Koch made the front of the New York Times Sunday Metro section -- "So, How'd He Do?" But Berger stained Koch's memory by citing the irresponsible, inflammatory voices of Rev. Calvin Butts and Al Sharpton and bizarrely suggesting Koch's rhetoric played a part in racist assaults against blacks: "Despite his condemnation of the mob beatings, it was hard to tamp down a sense among blacks that his public rhetoric -- in the 1988 presidential campaign, for example, he said Jews would be 'crazy' to vote for...

SMALLISH countries are often in the vanguard when it comes to reforming government. In the 1980s Britain was out in the lead, thanks to Thatcherism and privatisation. Tiny Singapore has long been a role model for many reformers. Now the Nordic countries are likely to assume a similar role. That is partly because the four main Nordics—Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland—are doing rather well. If you had to be reborn anywhere in the world as a person with average talents and income, you would want to be a Viking. The Nordics cluster at the top of league tables of everything...

A facial reconstruction based on the skull of Richard III has revealed how the English king may have looked. A skeleton found under a car park in Leicester has been confirmed as that of the king. The reconstructed face has a slightly arched nose and prominent chin, similar to features shown in portraits of Richard III painted after his death. Historian and author John Ashdown-Hill said seeing it was "almost like being face to face with a real person". The development comes after archaeologists from the University of Leicester confirmed the skeleton found last year was the 15th Century king's,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A plan developed last summer by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then-CIA Director David Petraeus to arm and train Syrian rebels was rebuffed by the White House, The New York Times reported on Saturday. The United States has sent humanitarian aid to Syria but has declined requests for weapons by rebels fighting to overthrow the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The White House rejected the Clinton-Petraeus proposal over concerns it could draw the United States into the Syrian conflict and the arms could fall into the wrong hands, the Times said, citing unnamed Obama administration...

North could use uranium for test; tunnel site located Feb 05,2013 South Korea’s Defense Ministry released a tunnel map from captured footage by the North’s official Korean Central Television. The Defense Ministry analyzed the map, which shows the tunnel on the western side of the nuclear test site, where they think the second test was carried out. Provided by the Defense Ministry While the international community waits for Pyongyang to press the button for its third nuclear test, South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said the regime could use uranium fuel this time. Kim attended a meeting of the National...

A Christian church and school in Florida are devastated after they said Wounded Warrior Project refused to accept their fund raising effort because it was “religious in nature.” “We were heartbroken,” said Wallace Cooley, pastor of Liberty Baptist Church and Academy in Fort Pierce, Fla. Cooley said they had already paid a $100 registration fee to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project and were about to launch the campaign when they received an email from the organization. The church had planned on taking up a special offering on the last Sunday in February and students were collecting money from...