Free Republic

Cash-strapped cities and towns across America are having to pay out millions of dollars on new signs under orders of the federal government - because they are the wrong letter size. Washington officials have demanded that every single street sign in the nation which is currently in capitals must be replaced because they are supposedly too hard to read. In their place will be new signs with the same green background and the same font, the only difference being that they are in lower-case letters. For some cities the cost will be millions of dollars at a time when budgets...

British Foreign Secretary William Hague signed a “treaty between nations” with Palestinian Authority leaders on Wednesday. “This agreement is the first ever bilateral treaty between the two nations,” the British Consulate-General site proclaimed. The treaty covers cooperation in the film industry. Hague signed a similar agreement with Israel. Aside from its reference to the “treaty between nations,” the UK Consulate site also referred to Hague's trip to visit PA leaders in Ramallah as “his first visit to Palestine,” apparently recognizing a new country of “Palestine” before even PA leaders have declared one to exist.

A new analysis of political signs displayed at a tea party rally in Washington last month reveals that the vast majority of activists expressed narrow concerns about the government's economic and spending policies and steered clear of the racially charged anti-Obama messages that have helped define some media coverage of such events. Emily Ekins, a graduate student at UCLA, conducted the survey at the 9/12 Taxpayer March on Washington last month by scouring the crowd, row by row and hour by hour, and taking a picture of every sign she passed. Ekins photographed about 250 signs, and more than half...

One year after the Nobel prize jury made its controversial decision to award President Obama the prize for world peace, a larger jury is still waiting for the president to live up to those lofty expectations. Even some of Obama's allies -- like former Nobel laureates Al Gore and Jimmy Carter -- declined to assess his performance in fulfilling what the peace prize said was his "vision" of world harmony. The one year anniversary of Obama's prize comes as fighting is escalating in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq continues to smolder and Obama struggles to keep fledgling Middle East peace...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday signed seven major health care-reform bills, including legislation establishing a Web-based insurance exchange that will allow consumers to comparison-shop for coverage. The governor's action makes California the first state to implement an oversight board for insurance exchange marketplaces since the new federal health care law was enacted earlier this year. Massachusetts implemented its exchange prior to reform. "For national reform to succeed, it will be up to the states to make it work, and California is moving forward on reforms that will provide affordable and quality health care insurance," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

Any good suggestions for preventing or capturing DemoRATS that steal campaign yard signs from your yard? Maybe rat traps? http://tucsoncitizen.com/in-the-aggregate/tag/dems-steal-campaign-signs-in-ld-20/

Republicans question the estimates as being too low Stimulus sign (CNSNews.com) – At a minimum, taxpayers have spent $9.1 million as of July 2010 on signs advertising the Obama administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the stimulus law, according to federal officials reporting estimates to the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board.But the cost is probably much higher since the six government agencies that spent stimulus dollars relied largely on sampling to get an estimate of how much money was spent on posting signs near Recovery Act projects.Most of the signs read, “Putting America to Work,” and they...

http://news.discovery.com/space/hubble-spots-ghostly-space-spiral.html

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has dropped its requirement for "stimulus" project propaganda signage, according to a communiqué from the department’s inspector general. As of July 15 the policy changed, the I.G. says, and signs and plaques promoting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) at jobsites and on things like "stimulus"-funded railroad cars were “strongly encouraged” in lieu of the mandate. Sounds like a Capone line.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act sign near Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia. (Photo by Rachel Jeffries/Courtesy of House oversight committee staff)   (CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Department of Transportation imposed strict guidelines for the placement, size, and visibility of signs promoting the $862-billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), popularly known as the economic stimulus bill, according to a review by DOT’s inspector general released on Thursday. Some Republican congressman say the signs amount to taxpayer-funded propaganda for the stimulus package. Two DOT agencies--transit and rail--initially required that stimulus-funded projects post ARRA signs, but now the DOT “strongly encourages”...

Complete title: White House Directive: Erect Signs at All Stimulus Projects as ‘Symbol of President Obama’s Commitment to American People’ This is one of the suggested templates for a sign promoting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that the Department of Housing and Urban Development encouraged federal contractors to post at job sites after the Obama White House issued a directive saying that all ARRA job sites should post signs as "a symbol of President Obama’s commitment to the American People." (Image is from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.) (CNSNews.com) - Federal contractors receiving money for...

Federal contractors receiving money for projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)—the $862 billion economic stimulus law President Barack Obama signed in February 2009—have been encouraged and, in some cases, required by the administration to post signs that say their work is funded by that specific act. Some congressional Republicans are calling the signs propaganda for the administration and questioning their cost. The Department of Housing and Urban Development recommended one model sign that included these words: “Funded By: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act/ Barack Obama, President.” The law itself does not require the signs. The program...

BETHESDA, Md. - When candidates are vying for votes it can be hard to get them to agree on issues. But WTOP managed to get all the major candidates in the Maryland governor's race to make the same pledge: Not to distract drivers by waving campaign signs at them. This pledge comes after political volunteers created 10 miles of delays on Interstate 270 last week by waving signs from the Falls Road overpass. Some drivers were furious about the delays. Others believe roadside distractions of any kind are a hazard that can cause crashes. "We would never condone stopping traffic."...

'Scary' growth of gangs in war zones Chicago cop who served in Afghanistan and Iraq has warning: Gang members are coming home with military training FRANK MAIN Being in a street gang is now forbidden for members of the U.S. armed forces. But you might not guess that if you were to visit U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to soldiers who have recently served there. Jeffrey Stoleson, a Wisconsin corrections official, returned from Iraq in January with photos of gang graffiti on armored vehicles, latrines and buildings. Stoleson, a sergeant with a National Guard unit, was there...

An MSM outlet picks up on the story of stimulus waste and misallocation after it appears on the House floor On Wednesday, the MSM picked up on a story that PJM reported on June 28. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, demanding an investigation into the use of stimulus funds to purchase signage Issa termed “propaganda.”Issa was particularly incensed by a sign at Dulles International Airport that cost $10,000.On July 5, PJM reported that Rep. Aaron...

On the road leading to Dulles Airport outside Washington, DC there's a 10' x 11' road sign touting a runway improvement project funded by the federal stimulus. The project cost nearly $15 million and has created 17 jobs, according to recovery.gov. However, there's another number that caught the eye of ABC News: $10,000. That's how much money the Washington Airports Authority tells ABC News it spent to make and install the sign – a single sign – announcing that the project is "Funded by The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act" and is "Putting America Back to Work." The money for...

Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed into law one of the more controversial bills from the recent legislative session, one allowing guns to be carried into houses of worship. Jindal's office said Tuesday the governor acted on the bill in the past few days after receiving it June 20. Including the "gun-in-church" bill, House Bill 1272 by Rep. Henry Burns, R-Haughton, Jindal has signed into law 940 of the 1,067 bills the Legislature sent him, vetoed 12, and used his pen to line-item spending measures in four different budget bills.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is slamming the Obama administration over government signs posted in the Arizona desert warning visitors to beware of illegal smugglers, saying the signs are hardly the kind of border security plan her state needs. "This is an outrage," Brewer said in a new reelection campaign ad. The ad shows the governor standing next to one of the warning signs in the middle of the Arizona desert, 80 miles from the border and, according to the ad, 30 miles from Phoenix. The signs have in recent weeks drawn attention from border-state lawmakers who say they demonstrate how...

A leaked partial document produced by the Bureau of Land Management and obtained by Fox News suggests the Obama administration is considering a plan to lock up 13 million acres of land -- and the Department of Interior is refusing to answer questions. First, a little background: The federal government owns about one-third of the land in the United States -- most of it in western states. For example, 84 percent of Nevada is owned by Uncle Sam. But the government leases large parcels of federal land for all sorts of things -- grazing, mining, exploration, recreation. Those commercial activities...

Thursday is April 15th, Tax Day and Tea Party Protest Day. Everyone needs ideas for signage, a reminder to locate your local Tea Party, and to gather your neighbors and attend. So please post your ideas for signage here so that everyone else can re-use your good ideas. Come here to pick up good ideas for your sign. For example, I find that the hot flourescent colored tagboard from Staples (or the equivalent) are inexpensive and highly visible. Bring extra blank ones for crowd members who didn't bring their own. Big fat black permanent markers are excellent for quick writing....