Free Republic

In February of 2013, skywatchers around the world turned their attention toward asteroid 2012 DA14, a cosmic rock about 150 feet (50 meters) in diameter that was going to fly closer to Earth than the spacecraft that bring us satellite TV. Little did they realize as they prepared for the once-in-several-decades event that another bit of celestial debris was hurtling toward Earth, with a more direct heading. On Feb. 15, 2013, the Chelyabinsk meteor, a roughly 62-foot (19 meter)-diameter asteroid exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, as it entered Earth's atmosphere at a shallow angle. The blast shattered windows...

With the left looking for its next big cause, Congressional Democrats have latched onto the Sandy Hook massacre as an opportunity to push gun control. Yesterday alone, eight new bills were introduced relating to gun control. Two conservative bills were introduced relating to ending “gun free zones” under federal law. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) led the way with four bills introduced. Her husband was shot to death in 1993 and her son was severely injured when Colin Ferguson, a mentally unstable black militant (he spent time in his apartment chanting, “all the black people killing all the white people”), shot...

(CBS News) New York state lawmakers have proposed a ban on anonymous online comments. Called the Internet Protection Act (A.8688/S.6779), the legislation would require a web site administrator to pull down anonymous comments from sites, including "social networks, blogs forums, message boards or any other discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages."The bill states: A web site administrator upon request shall remove any comments posted on his or her web site by an anonymous poster unless such anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post and confirms that his or...

The federal worker pay freeze might be over. The White House will propose a 0.5% pay increase for federal workers in its 2013 budget proposal, an official from the Office of Management and Budget said Friday. Federal pay has been frozen since December 2010, when Congress signed off on an Obama administration proposal to freeze federal worker pay for two years in the name of deficit reduction. The administration is expected to release its new budget in February, and any proposed increase in federal pay will require the approval of Congress. Even if it does become law, the 0.5% increase...

Sacramento-Gov. Jerry Brown has a new tax proposal to sell the Legislature: raise levies on some large out-of-state corporations in exchange for new sales-tax exemptions for companies who make products and hire people in California.Under a plan to be unveiled in Sacramento on Thursday, Brown will ask lawmakers to revert state sales tax formulas to the way they were computed before 2009. That would force many large companies that sell their goods in California, but do not employ many Californians, to pay more in sales taxes.The request was part of Brown's original budget plan that was rejected by lawmakers.

Barack Obama will this week propose cuts in health care provision for the elderly and the poor as he seeks to reach agreement with Republicans on bringing America's record levels of debt under control. Aides said that in a major speech on Wednesday the US president will lay out plans that will include reform of Medicare and Medicaid, the major subsidised health care schemes that are among the main causes of the country's $14.25 trillion (£8.7 trillion) national debt. "The president will be laying out his approach to long-term deficit reduction," said David Plouffe, a senior adviser at the White...

WASHINGTON — As part of his emerging program to jolt the economic recovery from its stall, President Obama will call this week for allowing businesses to deduct from their taxes through 2011 the full value of new equipment purchase, from computers to utility generators, to increase demand for goods and create jobs. The upfront deduction would allow businesses of all sizes to keep more money now and would give large corporations, many of which are sitting on cash because of uncertainty about the economy, an incentive to spend and invest.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Democrats in the state Senate on Monday countered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget cuts with a plan to raise taxes by nearly $5 billion, largely by extending temporary taxes and delaying corporate tax breaks for two years.

Democrats in the state Senate on Monday countered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget cuts with a plan to raise taxes by nearly $5 billion, largely by extending temporary taxes and delaying corporate tax breaks for two years.

President Barack Obama will outline a revamped space policy on Thursday that will use $6 billion in new funding over five years to create 2,500 new jobs in Florida with the ultimate goal of going to Mars. Obama has been facing criticism from some members of the far-flung U.S. space community over the direction of space policy after NASA officials announced plans in March to kill the Constellation program that had been designed to launch astronauts into orbit and return Americans to the moon. The Constellation program, developed under the Bush administration, was aimed at returning astronauts to the moon...

WASHINGTON (AP) - An Obama administration official says the Treasury will propose the creation of a regulatory agency to protect consumers in their credit, savings and other banking transactions. The new agency is one of the central elements of President Barack Obama's overhaul of the financial regulatory system. The president is set to announce his broad plan on Wednesday.

SACRAMENTO – With scattered rationing punishing cities and farms statewide, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein Thursday jointly unveiled a $9.3 billion water bond proposal, convinced that fears over prolonged shortages and environmental collapse in the vital Sacramento delta will be enough to overcome resistance to building dams and a north-to-south delivery canal. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and Feinstein, a Democrat, plan to aggressively push lawmakers to approve taking the bond measure to voters in November. The plan still faces tough odds. The ballot is already crowded with controversial initiatives addressing same-sex marriage, abortions for minors and caged farm...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will propose borrowing against future state lottery revenue to help close a $15.2 billion budget deficit in the next fiscal year. Administration officials told The Associated Press that the governor on Wednesday will propose raising $15 billion over the next three years by selling bonds based on anticipated lottery revenues and using about $5.1 billion in the 2008-08 fiscal year to help erase the deficit. The other $10 billion would be left in a rainy day fund the governor wants to create as part of a budget reform proposal to ease the effect of...

Jefferson exit spurs new rulesBy Josephine Hearn Several House Democrats have proposed significant changes to their party’s caucus rules, with at least two of the changes prompted by internal caucus controversy over the recent ouster of a caucus member from the Ways and Means Committee. Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) has written a proposal to handle situations in which leaders may seek to revoke a lawmaker’s committee assignment while he or she faces government investigation. Butterfield and others were upset that Democratic leaders ousted Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) from the committee while he faces a federal corruption probe. The proposal would...

EU to propose 'bold' Iran package Solana says Iran will find it hard to refuse the "generous" EU package The EU is preparing a new package of measures that it hopes will convince Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions, top EU diplomat Javier Solana has said. The "bold" package would include economic, nuclear, and possibly security guarantees, Mr Solana said. The incentives would be difficult for Tehran to refuse if what it really wanted was nuclear energy, he said. EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels, partly for discussions on Iran's nuclear programme. The EU and the United States fear...

SACRAMENTO - Frustrated by the federal government's inability to stop the flow of illegal immigration, the state's Republican lawmakers are attempting to put the squeeze on millions of undocumented workers, students and parents in ways unseen since the movement that led to Proposition 187 more than a decade ago. Assembly and Senate Republicans have proposed 25 measures this legislative session that would restrict illegal immigrants' access to college, block state-funded benefits and encourage police officers to act as immigration agents. Some of the measures will be vetted at committee hearings in the coming weeks and it's almost certain that most...

HILLSBORO, N.D. - It's the thought that counts when it comes to a marriage proposal. ADVERTISEMENT Chris Mueller, 25, was nearly finished etching the big question into a harvested soybean field when he realized the 'm' in 'marry' took up too much room. Since he couldn't erase a plowed field, he had a decision to make. "I figured it would look better to spell it wrong and get a laugh out of it, rather than botch it all," Mueller told the Grand Forks Herald. "I could have fit all the letters in, but it would have looked tacky." Instead, it...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United Nations reacted warily Wednesday to a bill proposed by two U.S. Senators that gives the United States the right - but not the requirement - to withhold dues if the United Nations doesn't enact wide-ranging reforms. The bill, which was introduced Tuesday, got a better reception than a House measure, which requires the dues withholding if there are no reforms. Yet even the latest threat was enough to make the United Nations wary. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric called it a "tough piece of legislation." "Any such withholding would only hamper attempt to make the organization...

To prove his love, a 38-year-old man set himself on fire before getting down on one knee and asking his girlfriend to marry him. About 100 people gathered to watch Todd Grannis perform the flaming stunt on Monday, which involved wearing a cape soaked in gasoline. Grannis climbed up a 10-foot scaffold, was set on fire and then plunged into a swimming pool, dousing the blaze. Emerging unscathed, he got down on one knee and proposed, as a friend standing nearby slipped him the engagement ring. "Honey, you make me hot," he told his sweetheart, Malissa Kusiek. "I hope I'm...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Setting the stage for a bitter summer budget fight, Assembly Democrats on Tuesday proposed adding $3.1 billion to schools and paying for it with an income tax hike on the state's top earners. The proposal puts Democrats at odds with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has been locked in a fight with educators since January over the amount of money due schools. The governor also has vowed to balance the state's budget without raising taxes. Schwarzenegger has proposed an increase of $3 billion in school funding over last year. But the state's powerful education lobby claims public schools...