Free Republic

The Environmental Protection Agency has said new greenhouse gas regulations, as proposed, may be “absurd” in application and “impossible to administer” by its self-imposed 2016 deadline. But the agency is still asking for taxpayers to shoulder the burden of up to 230,000 new bureaucrats — at a cost of $21 billion — to attempt to implement the rules. The EPA aims to regulate greenhouse gas emissions through the Clean Air Act, even though the law doesn’t give the EPA explicit power to do so. The agency’s authority to move forward is being challenged in court by petitioners who argue that...

Lackawanna County Judge Terrence R. Nealon admitted Wednesday to committing "a lapse of ethical judgment" seven years ago by privately advising local Democrats on how to oppose a county voting plan in a case over which he was asked to rule. Judge Nealon, a lifelong Democrat, admitted his lapse after being shown a copy of an email he sent to prominent Democrats on how to oppose the plan. The email was obtained from a confidential source by The Times-Tribune, and the judge confirmed he wrote it. Read Judge Terrence R. Nealon's email HERE (.pdf) Judge Nealon had been a contender...

Assume the polls are correct and Republicans win control of the House, and perhaps even the Senate, in next month's elections. What lessons will the White House learn? Will Barack Obama interpret the vote as a repudiation of much of his agenda, or will he conclude that he made a few tactical errors but was still right on the big issues? Bet on the latter. All indications coming out of the White House suggest that if Democrats suffer major losses, the president and his top aides will resolutely refuse to reconsider the policies -- national health care, stimulus, runaway spending...