Free Republic

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California voters this fall may have the chance to answer a question of deep interest to politicians around the United States: will populist appeals to "tax the rich" resonate more than pragmatic arguments for budget-balancing solutions? Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, has all but staked his governship on a tax hike ballot initiative consisting of temporary increases in sales and income taxes. He has positioned the measure as a practical and necessary move to combat chronic budget deficits .. By contrast, the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), the smaller of two statewide teachers unions, last week...

Last night, Barack Obama distracted the nation's attention with a rousing, campaign speech dressed up as a State of the Union address. On domestic affairs, the President's Animal Farm-like attempts at saying black is white and night is day were wasted. The true nature of the Archangel Barack's politics and his vision for America have been clear for some time. As Hugh Hewitt blogged recently, "[t]he country knows." No one's fooled -- except, perhaps, for some of Mr. Obama's own partisans. But what is the Obama Administration's actual foreign policy? Well, as with President's "stealth" Marxism, he's not coming clean...

No Electricity, No Water, No Patience By Choi Song Min [2012-01-13 18:01 ] Many of the residents of luxury apartments in Pyongyang are leaving their homes for the heated homes of relatives or other warmer locations. An inside source who visited Pyongyang at the end of last month said in a phone interview with the Daily NK today, “People previously had no supplies of water so didn't have drinking water and could not go to the bathroom without difficulty, but now that there are heating problems too the people are inevitably leaving their homes. This year, many people are locking...

Promises upon promises abound in elections. Senator Obama proved himself a masterful coaxer in 2008, feasting on the pining of an electorate disillusioned with the American political system. He was the unifier, the inspirational personage representing the solution to a failed decade marked by a rowdy Texan in the White House who squandered America’s capital in foreign lands. The next four years, and surely the next eight, were to be ones marked by a robust economic recovery, a dramatic decline in poverty, and, of course, resurgence of confidence in America’s position in the world. None of these have materialized. In...

Everyone knows President Barack Obama likes a celebrity fix - just ask Johnny Depp. And today, just a day after pictures emerged of his extravagant 2009 Halloween party at the White House, the most powerful man in America was enjoying more VIP company. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie brought some Hollywood star power to Washington D.C. as they stopped by for a chat with the chief executive at the Oval Office.

Need help from people with Jeep mechanical electrical experience/diagnosis. Our 1996 Jeep Cherokee Country (classic, not Grand) 4.0L I6 4WD has started to have a repeating and random sudden loss of power (engine quits with NO dash warning lights on dash). Need suggestions from people who have been there and done this. I am a fairly savvy and experienced car mechanic on my own, and this has me baffled. See Body of Comment for details.

Vote obama out to regain our power

43,000 Chinese officials probed for abuse of power Beijing, Dec 23 : Over 43,000 government officials in China have been investigated this year in cases related to abuse of official power, according to latest figures. **SNIP** Prosecutors across China approved the arrests of a total of 837,736 suspects and prosecuted nearly 1.07 million people.

Sierra Club, Audubon settle with SWEPCO on Turk power plantPosted by Max Brantley on Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 10:16 AM The Sierra Club and Audubon Arkansas have announced a settlement with SWEPCO, the utility building the Turk coal-fired power plant in Hempstead County. This ends legal challenges to the plant and will be reflected in a consent decree to be filed in federal court later today in Texarkana. Nicholas Akins, CEO of American Electric Power, SWEPCO's parent, said in a release: “The provisions of the agreement are consistent with our commitment to renewable energy, energy efficiency and overall environmental...

I have an ASUS G72G laptop that had the power cord die. I have tried a couple of universal ASUS chargers but they don't work with this particular model of computer. Does anybody know where I can find a replacement? The model number of the original charger is ADP 150NB D 19.5V, 7.7A

Power Plant Closures Due to Environmental Regulations to Take Toll on TownsPublished December 20, 2011 | Associated Press For more than 90 years, the coal-fired power plant in Glen Lyn, Va., has been churning out electricity and contributing to local prosperity. Of late, it has generated nearly a quarter of the revenue for the $1 million budget of the town. Yet when the plant ultimately shuts down to comply with new federal air pollution regulations by the end of 2014, says Town Manager Howard Spencer, so too might the community of 200. "If the town lost all of that revenue,"...

Here’s the news people on Twitter are buzzing about from tonight’s raincheck interview with the Manchester Union-Leader. We already knew this, though — sort of. Cain told Wolf Blitzer on Monday, before we had heard Ginger White’s name, that his wife didn’t know White. (Skip to 7:30 of this clip.) That’s ever so slightly different from saying his wife didn’t know about White or that he was sending her cash, but c’mon: If she did know that, don’t you think he would have mentioned it to Blitzer as proof that their friendship was no secret? Cain said that in about...

Carroll Quigley, in the course of his examination of the failure of most Latin American / South American nations-states, delivered an astonishing analysis of what he believed to be the root cause of these failures in the first edition (1966) of his renowned Tragedy and Hope. Here, in almost an aside, he defines what he calls the "Pakistani-Peruvian axis" - a combination of Asian despotism and Arabic outlook (key word, that - outlook), both of which have their roots in Bronze Age antiquity, that pervade what Quigley calls the shattered cultures that dwell on its axis from Pakistan to the...

If you want the will of God to be done in the earth you have your part to play. The entrance of earth into heaven is through Jesus, he said I am the door. But, the entrance of heaven into the earth is through you. By way of your spirit and mouth the will of God is loosed into the earth. Didn't Jesus say whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Matt. 18:18). Notice if something is going to be loosed from heaven someone has to loose it from earth first. Your heart has a door, Jesus...

Which would you rather have in the view from your house? A thing about the size of a domestic garage, or eight towers twice the height of Nelson’s column with blades noisily thrumming the air. The energy they can produce over ten years is similar: eight wind turbines of 2.5-megawatts (working at roughly 25% capacity) roughly equal the output of an average Pennsylvania shale gas well (converted to electricity at 50% efficiency) in its first ten years. Difficult choice? Let’s make it easier. The gas well can be hidden in a hollow, behind a hedge. The eight wind turbines must...

Second green flop stokes controversyBy Ben Geman and Andrew Restuccia - 10/31/11 08:36 PM ET The White House is facing fresh political headaches over energy loans as a second Energy Department-backed company goes bankrupt and Republicans prepare to subpoena White House internal communications on the failed solar company Solyndra. Beacon Power Corp., the energy storage company that received a $43 million Energy Department (DOE) loan guarantee last year, filed for bankruptcy over the weekend, prompting a fresh wave of GOP criticism of the embattled DOE loan program. The filing comes two months after California solar panel maker Solyndra — which...

Power of the people? Hundreds voice opposition to rate hikeBy: Mike Conley Published: October 26, 2011 Hundreds of people packed the main courtroom at the McDowell County Courthouse to capacity Tuesday evening to show their strong opposition to Duke Energy’s request for another rate hike. Donna Edwards of Marion was one of those who testified to the N.C. Utilities Commission. “I don’t represent anybody except myself,” she said in her testimony. “We’re making choices in my house about whether or not to buy medications or pay the power bill. I am all for Duke Power making money. That is what...

<p>People are always saying that China owns the United States. Here at Business Insider, we've gone over all the ways that that's not true.</p> <p>Now a new book goes even farther, it says that the United States owns China. And because of that, the United States will rise up and dominate in the coming decade.</p>

For over a year I have been warning that the Obama Administration plans to use Fannie Mae to nationalize a significant portion of America’s real estate market. Today the President announced plans to utilize executive orders to side-step Congress, usurp the Constitution, and allow the government owned mortgage giant Fannie Mae, to start gobbling up mortgages. The President’s plan will implement sweeping new rules that will allow the nationalized mortgage behemoth to refinance mortgages. Once Fannie Mae owns the mortgage, there’s nothing to stop the Obama Administration from using the Making Home Affordable Plan to allow people to exit their...

The American phoenix is slowly rising again. Within five years or so, the US will be well on its way to self-sufficiency in fuel and energy. Manufacturing will have closed the labour gap with China in a clutch of key industries. The current account might even be in surplus.

Windmills to shut at night following demise of rare batKathy Mellott - The Tribune-Democrat October 17, 2011 LILLY — Night operation of the windmills in the North Allegheny Windpower Project has been halted following discovery of a dead Indiana bat under one of the turbines, an official with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Monday. The finding marks only the second location where an Indiana bat has been found dead under a wind turbine. Two Indiana bats were found under turbines in the Mid-west, said Clint Riley, supervisor for Fish and Wildlife’s Pennsylvania field office. “While finding the dead...

The need for more transmission lines is apparent -- in the vast states where wind and other forms of renewable energy are produced, the energy is often hundreds of miles from where it would be consumed. The states, which along with local governments have long had authority over whether and where power lines get built, derided the plan as a move that would make it harder for local residents to weigh in. The proposed change has drawn the skepticism of at least one senator. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., who helped write a 2005 law that initially expanded federal power over...

Vladimir Putin declared on Saturday that he planned to reclaim the Russian presidency in an election next March that could open the way for the former KGB spy to rule until 2024. The announcement, greeted by a standing ovation at a congress of the prime minister's ruling United Russia party, ended months of speculation over whether he or President Dmitry Medvedev would run. The two have ruled in a power 'tandem' since Putin was forced by the constitution to yield the presidency in 2008 after serving a maximum two consecutive terms, and Putin said they had agreed several years ago...

It was an almost five-month wait after I gladly pre-ordered Dr. Michael Savage’s latest book, a novel, Abuse of Power. I was among the early fans who pre-ordered it when he first mentioned it on his nationally syndicated radio show, The Savage Nation. It finally arrived a couple of days after its release last week. I was excited to get a suspense thriller written by my favorite talk radio host. Having read all of Dr. Savage’s political books and written a thorough review of his last one, Trickle Up Poverty, I already know that he is an excellent writer. His...

On 17 September The Wall Street Journal published a fascinating article on “peak oil,” “There Will Be Oil,” written by Daniel Yergin, chairman of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, an energy research and consulting firm and deserved recipient of Pulitzer Prize for his 1991 book, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power. According to The Wall Street Journal, “There Will Be Oil” “is adapted from his new book, The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the Modern World.” The essay will doubtless have widespread influence amongst prosperous The Wall Street Journal readers, but in his glib...

A major power outage, which left more than six million people in California and Arizona in darkness, was caused by a single maintenance worker, it has been revealed. The power cut took two nuclear reactors offline, grounded flights, caused major traffic jams and trapped people in elevators and on fairground rides in both states. San Diego bore the brunt of the blackout and most of the nation's eighth-largest city was darkened. The city trolley system that shuttles thousands of commuters every day was shut down and rush hour traffic hit gridlock. APS, Arizona's largest electricity provider, said a utility worker...

SAN DIEGO - A major power outage knocked out electricity to up to 5 million people in California, Arizona, and Mexico yesterday, bringing San Diego and Tijuana to a standstill and leaving people sweltering in the late-summer heat in the surrounding desert. Two nuclear reactors were offline after losing electricity, but officials said there was no danger to the public or workers. San Diego bore the brunt of the blackout; most of the nation’s eighth-largest city was darkened. All outgoing flights from San Diego’s Lindbergh Field were grounded and police stations were using generators to accept emergency calls across the...

The Amazing Potential of Thorium Imagine a new kind of nuclear power plant that * cannot melt down * produces less than 1% of the amount of waste that current nuclear power plants produce * is based on proven technology and requires no new scientific breakthroughs * uses an abundant fuel that will last for thousands of years * cannot contribute to nuclear weapons proliferation * can actually burn up existing stockpiles of nuclear waste * is much simpler to build than current nuclear power plants because it operates at low pressure and does not require a huge pressure vessel

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Export-Import Bank, an independent agency of the federal government, says that it has $500 million in loans in the “pipeline” to fund new solar energy projects—in India. The $500 million in new loans will come on top of $75 million in financing that the Export-Import Bank has already provided this year for solar power projects in India. “In fiscal year 2011 to date, the Bank has approved financing totaling approximately $75 million for four solar projects in India,” the bank said in a July 18 press release. “The Bank also has about $500 million of India...

Sony has announced via its webpage the development of a new type of LCD display that uses either half as much power as current same-size LCD displays, or the same amount of power, but doubles the brightness. Called WhiteMagic, the new LCD screen, currently just 3 inches diagonally, achieves these results by employing a third, white pixel to create images on a screen. For the most part, most LCD displays use just three backlit pixels - Red, Green and Blue (RGB) to create one dot of color on the screen; the various colors are produced by filtering the light that...

Wisconsin vote tests Tea Party powerAAP August 10, 2011, 5:22 pm Voters have tilted in favour of Republicans in Wisconsin recall elections that were closely watched for signs of a backlash against Tea Party conservatives in a presidential battleground state. Republican candidates successfully defended four seats in the Wisconsin state senate in Tuesday's elections, retaining control of the senate and holding Democratic gains to only two seats, results showed on Wednesday. Democrats had organised the recall vote - aimed at unseating legislators - against six Republican state senators after they sided with the Republican governor on a law that took...

The majority of Russians remain dissatisfied with the progress of democratization in Russia, a new poll has found. The Moscow Times reports that 62 percent of people recently polled in an All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre survey answered that they are “dissatisfied with the development of democracy in Russia.” This number, however, is down marginally from the 73 percent who were dissatisfied with domestic conditions twenty years ago. Meanwhile, those who believe the country is showing progress are largely supporters of the ruling "United Russia" party, are under 45 years of age, and generally active Internet users. [Editors’ Note: Given...

God has provided us with some powerful weapons that He has given to use to use against the devil, sickness, and problems. The main 3 weapons He has blessed us with is The Word of God, The Name of Jesus, and The Holy Spirit. As in Hebrews 4:12 "The word of God is quick and powerful." In other words the word of God is capable of performing exactly what it says. In Isaiah 55:11 it says God's word will not return to him void, but it will accomplish that which He pleases. Notice it says it shall accomplish, it(the word...

Let me restate that: There is no confidence in American leadership on the economy. Here are some of the reasons: Last December, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform issued its report calling for deep spending cuts and entitlement reform. President Obama thanked the commission, headed by Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, and then ignored most of their recommendations. A few months later, Mr. Obama proposed his budget for 2012. It was defeated in the Senate 97 to nothing. So let's review. The president sets up a financial commission and then ignores it. The president puts forth his budget...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Tuesday that he regrets making a commercial with then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on the need to address climate change. Gingrich, who partnered with Pelosi while she was Speaker for the 2008 ad, said the spot was "misconstrued," and for that reason, he wouldn't do it again. "I was trying to make a point that we shouldn't be afraid to debate the left, even on the environment," Gingrich said on WGIR radio of the 30-second television commercial. "Obviously it was misconstrued, and it's probably one of those things I wouldn't do again." That commercial...

Two years after he dramatically expanded the scope of so-called policy czars, President Obama this year quietly scrapped some of the most controversial posts, tamping down what had been a simmering constitutional fight with Congress. Thanks to what the White House says is a reorganization, czars no longer oversee health care or climate change policy, though less-visible officials such as “cybersecurity czar” and “Gulf Coast claims czar,” among others, are still on the job. But even as Capitol Hill’s objections have been overshadowed by other fights between the executive and legislative branches over the nation’s borrowing limit and the NATO-led...

Comedy gold or a pathetic partisan ploy can characterize Kathleen Sebelius’s testimony when she attempts to minimize the immense authority granted to the Independent Medicare Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), when so many of us know the raw real deal. On July 13, the House Subcomittee on Health and Energy held hearings on the controversial IPAB, in which Sebelius attempted to minimize and circumvent the truth (pdf and a must read) with regards to the IPAB. Congressman Michael Burgess (R-TX and yes, he is also Dr. Burgess) questioned Secretary Sebelius on several key factors, including the unelected 15-person panel, their potential...

I've been interested in firearm stopping power for a very long time. I remember reading Handguns magazine back in the late 1980s when Evan Marshall was writing articles about his stopping power studies. When Marshall's first book came out in 1992, I ordered it immediately, despite the fact that I was a college student and really couldn't afford its $39 price tag. Over the years I bought all of the rest of Marshall's books as well as anything else I could find on the subject. I even have a first edition of Gunshot Injuries by Louis Lagarde published in 1915....

Texas Governor Rick Perry and two top state regulators on Thursday blasted the U.S. environmental agency for including Texas in a rule to slash sulfur dioxide emissions from power plants, warning that the last-minute action could threaten the state's electric supply. The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule to reduce air pollution from coal-fired power plants in states east of the Rocky Mountains. "Today's EPA announcement is another example of heavy-handed and misguided action from Washington, D.C., that threatens Texas jobs and families and puts at risk the reliable and affordable electricity our state needs to succeed," said Perry,

From the very beginning it was God's plan that man rule over the earth and everything in it. In Genesis 1:28 God said subdue the earth and have dominion. And how was man to rule, by his words. Man was to follow God's example and rule by his words like God ruled by his words. Their authority was in their connection with God. But, they(Adam & Eve) allowed the devil to talk them out of their authority. From that moment satan became the father of mankind instead of God and by that things came into the earth that God never...

This must be more of that smart power we heard so much about… They’re still pooping in buckets but Obama thinks they’re ready to celebrate gay rights. Pakistani radicals called for a holy war after the US Embassy held its first ever gay rights celebration. Under Islamic laws in Pakistan, homosexual acts are punishable by whipping, imprisonment or death. Iran Press News reported: After repeated violation of Pakistani air space, covert activities and military intervention, the US Embassy in Islamabad has arranged the first ever “Gay, Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Pride Celebration” ceremony and assured Washington’s support to the participants.

The latest news concerning the Strauss-Kahn rape case, is that prosecutors are considering dropping the case, after Strauss-Kahn's lawyers managed to attack the reputation of the witness. I am convinced that rich and powerful people are above the law in America, because decisions on prosecuting people are made by politicians, or by prosecutors who have an eye on a political career, and do not want to piss off potential donors to their future campaigns. In 1991, William Kennedy Smith, a nephew of Ted Kennedy, RFK, and JFK, was tried for rape. The facts of the case reported in the media...

Many are caught up in the illusion of right and left, chasing their own tail, hoping to be free. Once you take a look at this chart, you may start chasing the right people....right out of office!! The matrix, once seen, fades like the mirage it is.

I so hope this comes to pass. Oil might not be as abundant as sea water, but there’s enough to last for hundreds of years, if only governments would get out of the way.

OMAHA, Neb. -- While insisting that Nebraska’s two nuclear power plants remain safe in the face of record flooding from the Missouri River, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Wednesday issued a statement noting among other things “two feet of water” onsite in many areas of the Fort Calhoun plant which is 19 miles north of Omaha. The NRC says it has upped its around the clock coverage at Fort Calhoun which is operated by the Omaha Public Power District. In addition to the two resident inspectors “three more inspectors and a branch chief” are now at the plant...

Tony the Tiger, some NASCAR drivers and cookie-selling Girl Scouts will be out of a job unless grocery manufacturers agree to reinvent a vast array of their products to satisfy the Obama administration’s food police. Either retool the recipes to contain certain levels of sugar, sodium and fats, or no more advertising and marketing to tots and teenagers, say several federal regulatory agencies. The same goes for restaurants. It’s not just the usual suspected foods that are being targeted, such a thin mint cookies sold by scouts or M&Ms and Snickers, which sponsor cars in the Sprint Cup, but pretty...

Al-Zahar is demanding that Hamas-Gaza be given more weight in decision-making, while the Hamas leadership abroad contends that the center of power should remain outside of Palestine. Since the Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005, Hamas' decisive victory in the parliamentary elections of 2006, and Hamas' military takeover of Gaza in June 2007, the Hamas government has gained significant political and economic power. It conducts foreign relations and imposes taxes on imports from Israel and from Egypt which have become remarkable revenue sources. This has weakened the dependence of Hamas-Gaza on the Hamas leadership abroad. In addition, the consolidation of...

I'm trying to work through a thought and would appreciate input from other Freepers. Through most of human history and still throughout most of the world, there has always been a strong correlation between the possession of political power and of wealth. Wealth was largely a result or byproduct of the acquisition of political power. If anyone managed to become wealthy without either having political power himself or strong political allies, he was usually looted of his wealth in pretty short order. For some reason, this appears to seem normal and expected to people. We may be genetically or societally...

<p>Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant is an island, but authorities are hoping it stays dry.</p> <p>A fire in Nebraska's Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant briefly knocked out the cooling process for spent nuclear fuel rods, ProPublica reports. The fire occurred on June 7th.</p>

American Electric Power on Thursday announced it plans to shut down several coal-fired power plants, convert or retrofit others, and cut as many as 600 jobs in the next few years to comply with regulations proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Based on the proposed regulations, AEP will have to retire nearly 6,000 megawatts of coalfueled power generation; upgrade or install new advanced emissions reduction equipment on another 10,100 megawatts; refuel 1,070 megawatts of coal generation as 932 megawatts of natural gas capacity; and build 1,220 megawatts of natural gas-fueled generation.