Free Republic

Can We Run Our Cars on Natural Gas? In an attempt to insulate the U.S. from dependence on foreign oil, many have advocated that we transition our vehicles from oil derived gasoline to natural gas. One North Texas couple invested in this plan, and Bob Farris and Carole Hornsby Haynes, PhD, share their experience. While natural gas is a great fuel for fleet vehicles and large trucks or buses, it faces many challenges in the rest of the commercial fleet.

Some years ago, in an effort to avoid prosecution, Mafia boss Vincent “Vinnie the Chin” Gigante donned a bathrobe and wandered the streets of Little Italy and Greenwich Village posing as a demented old man. I wonder if Hillary Clinton is getting fitted for just such a bathrobe and starts wandering the lanes of Chappaqua in Westchester to avoid prosecution herself. For years I’ve saved lots of time by considering every word she says a lie, and her story about her emails and email server proves my point. Everything she said about the emails has come apart and now there...

[ Secondary blog source: Tyler Durden / The Zero Hedge / www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-24/we-live-new-world-and-saudis-are-first-get-it ] There are many things I don’t understand these days, and some are undoubtedly due to the limits of my brain power. But at the same time some are not. I’m the kind of person who can no longer believe that anyone would get excited over a 5% American GDP growth number. Not even with any other details thrown in, just simply a print like that. It’s so completely out of left field and out of proportion that you would think by now at least a few more...

Cash Price Propane: Mount Belvieu, Texas Tuesday, January 28, 2014 - $1.5114 Previous Day's price - $1.5155 Year ago - $0.8411 Natural Gas, Henry Hub $5.240 [1/28/2014] 5.750 [Yesterday] 3.191 [Year Ago]

"Mr. President, I wish to share a few other thoughts [...] Earlier, one of our colleagues, Senator Murray, for whom I have great admiration, I understand told NPR: All things considered, I have stood on the line in Everett, Washington, where we have thousands of workers who go to work every day to build these planes. I would challenge anybody to tell me that they stood on a line in Alabama and seen anybody build anything. [...] DOD’s latest acquisition strategy for the KC-X aerial refueling tanker replacement competition is, unfortunately, deeply flawed. Instead of the modern, multirole, game-changing, transformational...

The image of a very popular governor and possible 2012 rival hangs over the President-elect as he establishes a professional relationship with her. BHO is in a Catch-22. On one hand, he has an obligation to work with her on the natural gas pipeline project. On the other, if he helps make it a success, does he hand a potential rival an accomplishment?

Mideast edition, Thursday, August 14, 2008 ARLINGTON, Va. — President Bush has ordered the U.S. military to begin a humanitarian mission in Georgia. "This mission will be vigorous and ongoing," Bush said Wednesday at the White House, adding that a U.S. C-17 aircraft with humanitarian supplies was on its way to Georgia. Russian troops and tanks invaded the country last week in response to a Georgian offensive intended to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia. The Russian president later ordered Russian forces to halt their drive into Georgia, but it was unclear Wednesday whether Russian troops had moved further...

In late 2006, China for the first time in its history became a net coal importer. This changed the dyanmics of the world's energy market. Korea and Japan, previously importers of Chinese coal, were sent scrambling for alternative sources of energy. What they found in the winter of 2007 was LNG for $18-$20/BTU. China too was a willing buyer. The coal scramble was also felt in Europe. Australian coal was bottlenecked and/or kept in the Asian region. Power outages in South African coal mines made the situation worse for Europeans as they lost out on significant supply. What followed was...

When Defense Secretary Robert Gates summarily fired the top civilian and military Air Force officials last week, the reason he gave was a grave failure of leadership with respect to that service’s nuclear missions. The low priority assigned by the Pentagon to its nuclear stewardship responsibilities is systemic and acute. Consequently, this act of accountability is both warranted and a needed wake-up call to all the armed forces. As it happens, there is another ground on which the dismissal of Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne could be justified. He was specifically brought in to clean up Air Force procurement, but...

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait, Nov. 16, 2006 -- Instead of climbing aboard a snowmobile to track prey and patrol the vast wilderness, they now slide into military vehicles and patrol a sandy wasteland, looking for suspicious activity. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Alan Feaster, 3rd Battalion, 297th Infantry Regiment command sergeant major, listens to a training discussion at Camp Shelby, Miss., before the unit deployed to Kuwait. U.S. Army photo  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Leaving behind frozen tundra to serve in a scorching desert, hundreds of soldiers from the Alaska National Guard have taken over the quick-reaction force and...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas- Border Patrol agents aided by National Guard members arrested a 22-year-old suspected member of the violent Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, gang on Wednesday as he tried to re-enter the United States, Customs and Border Protection said. Andres Gonzalo Manzaneres, of El Salvador, was one of nine illegal immigrants spotted by National Guard members monitoring images from surveillance cameras placed near the Los Tomates international bridge in Brownsville. The Guard members alerted Border Patrol agents in the field, who arrested the immigrants. Agents processing Manzaneres noticed MS-13 style tattoos on his body, and said a fingerprint scan turned up...

Troops arrive on the border"Welcome. I'm glad you're here and we can use your help," said Chief Patrol Agent Simon Garza, Jr., as he welcomed Texas National Guard soldiers to Customs and Border Protection's Border Patrol Marfa Sector earlier this week. The guard contingent is part of an overall deployment on the Southwest Border of the United States to assist the Border Patrol. "We've worked with the guard for a number of years so we know each other," said Garza. National Guard troops have been deployed in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas as a request from President Bush in...

ARLINGTON, Va. — Active duty troops will not be used to forcibly evacuate people from New Orleans, but National Guard troops might, the deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command said Wednesday. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin instructed law enforcement officers and the U.S. military late Tuesday to evacuate all holdouts for their own safety. But none have been forcibly removed yet, said Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Inge. Should authorities decide to remove the people, that task would fall to the roughly 900 New Orleans police officers still on duty and the National Guard, he said. Since forcible evacuations would be...

LANCASTER - Entire units of soldiers stationed in Iraq will soon be receiving many items that are difficult or impossible for them to get, thanks to the efforts of an Antelope Valley Hospital nurse. Wendy Fuentes, assistant director of the 2 Tower telemetry unit at the hospital , has gathered hundreds of nonperishable items, from beef jerky to toothpaste, and assembled large care packages to send to various units stationed in Iraq. Many hospital employees have gotten behind the effort, donating items as well as money for the considerable postage required to get the packages to their destinations. "Wendy Fuentes...

OAHU, Hawaii (Army News Service July 6, 2005) - More than 150 Soldiers from the Guam Army National Guard returned to Hawaii after serving a year with Combined Joint Task Force -- Horn of Africa June 28. Although the Company A, 294th Infantry Regiment (Light) has deployed in the past, this marks the first time the unit has deployed in support of a combat mission. The task force oversees counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa for U.S. Central Command in support of the Global War on Terrorism, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Several family members traveled to meet...

LANCASTER - The joint-Lancaster-Palmdale "Salute to Troops" event scheduled for July 10 at JetHawks Stadium will include a visit by the commanding general of a storied California National Guard division and a star of the Iraq war, an M-1A Abrams battle tank. National Guard troops from Lancaster, Palmdale, and all across the Antelope Valley have served in Iraq. A Marine Corps Reserve helicopter squadron from Edwards Air Force Base is serving in Iraq now, and the other Marine Reserve helicopter unit based at Edwards served in Afghanistan last year. The Lancaster-based National Guard 756th Transportation Co. is back in Iraq,...

PALMDALE - For Phelan resident Kevin Scott, it means seeing his 1-year-old daughter walk. For Tehachapi resident William Maybee, it's a new appreciation of what family and friends mean. For Wrightwood resident Adam Gorey, it means a honeymoon. For soldiers from Bravo Company, 185th Armored Regiment of the California Army National Guard, it means they can move on with their lives after more than a year. Two buses carrying the soldiers from the Palmdale Armory arrived in Poncitlan Square on Monday to a throng of supporters and to the arms of their families. "Today, we welcome soldiers who have fought...

Where danger is all around They started arriving in this dark and deadly part of the world a year ago. Young and old. Men and women. Plumbers, police officers and prison guards. The Virginia National Guardsmen from the 276th Engineer Battalion left their families. They left their jobs. They left their homes to help rebuild and protect Iraq, a country struggling with a robust insurgency. They found and destroyed roadside bombs. They protected other U.S. troops from suicide car bombers. They gave children school supplies and soccer balls. Meanwhile, insurgents persistently attacked the Virginia engineers with rockets, mortars and improvised...

TWENTY YEARS AGO today, San Francisco auto broker Paul Cosner disappeared. Cosner's sister Sharon Sellitto told the police her brother was missing, but they wouldn't come to his apartment. Police, however, did show up when she reported his 1980 Honda Prelude stolen. It was that car that ended one of California's most heinous killing sprees seven months later. Killers Leonard Lake and Charles Ng had been driving the car when they were caught shoplifting in South San Francisco. Ng escaped, but police nabbed Lake, who swallowed a cyanide pill and died. Police then traced the bullet-riddled car to the missing...

126th National Guard Association of the United States General ConferenceFor Immediate Release Las Vegas, NV - I’m honored to be here today at your 126th Convention.  I can’t tell you how proud I am to stand before you – and how grateful I am to have the opportunity to talk with you today. I came out here because I wanted to look you in the eye and say thank you.  Thank you for your service; thank you for caring; thank you for the sacrifices you and your families make for our country. I come from a state with a great...