Free Republic

AN ACT TO PROHIBIT CERTAIN FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS FROM SERVING 1 FOOD TO ANY PERSON WHO IS OBESE, BASED ON CRITERIA PRESCRIBED BY 2 THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH; TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT TO 3 PREPARE WRITTEN MATERIALS THAT DESCRIBE AND EXPLAIN THE CRITERIA 4 FOR DETERMINING WHETHER A PERSON IS OBESE AND TO PROVIDE THOSE 5 MATERIALS TO THE FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS; TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT TO 6 MONITOR THE FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS 7 OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 8 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 9 SECTION 1. (1)...

No one can accuse the fine public servants of California’s Department of Food and Agriculture of sitting on their hands, and letting raw milk coliforms threaten the health and safety of California consumers. No, we can all breathe a sigh of relief. The junior he-men, working on behalf of the senior he-man-terminator, are out there…fighting the common enemy, raw milk coliforms.

The process developed by Somark involves a geometric array of micro-needles and an ink capsule, which is used to 'tattoo' an animal. The ink can be detected from 4 feet away. A startup company developing chipless RFID ink has tested its product on cattle and laboratory rats. Somark Innovations announced this week that it successfully tested biocompatible RFID ink, which can be read through animal hairs. The passive RFID technology could be used to identify and track cows to reduce financial losses from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (mad cow disease) scares. Somark, which formed in 2005, is located at the Center...

Grant the anti-childhood vaccine fanatics this; they are dogged. No amount of data and no number of studies from any array of sources will sway them from their beliefs – or claimed beliefs – that thimerosal, a mercury-containing vaccine preservative once used in many such injections, is causing the so-called “autism epidemic.� Therefore a California Department of Public Health study in the current Archives of General Psychiatry hasn’t either. Nevertheless, for the rest of us there are two valuable lessons. First, the lack of a thimerosal connection to the developmental disorder has once again been reaffirmed. And second, those fanatics...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The struggling economy gives Democratic lawmakers another weapon in their effort to expand a popular children's health insurance program. In the end, however, they appear to have made little headway in overcoming a presidential veto. In December, President Bush for a second time vetoed a bill that would more than double spending on the State Children's Health Program. Bush said the bill would encourage too many families to replace private insurance with government-subsidized health coverage. On Wednesday, the House was voting on whether to override that veto. In recent days, Democratic lawmakers have stressed that more families...

Over half the birthing facilities in Ohio are being equipped with an RFID infant protection system placed on infants at birth to prevent them from being abducted from the hospital or from being given to the wrong mother.  "Standard protocol in the hospitals using the VeriChip system is that the baby receives an RFID anklet at birth and the mother receives a matching wristband," VeriChip spokeswoman Allison Tomek told WND. "The mothers are not asked." VeriChip Corp., a publicly listed company headquartered in Delray Beach, Fla., is marketing though its wholly-owned subsidiary, Xmark, a HUGS brand tag-and-bracelet infant security system....

<p>A WEST Australian medical expert wants families to pay a $5000-plus "baby levy" at birth and an annual carbon tax of up to $800 a child.</p> <p>Writing in today's Medical Journal of Australia, Associate Professor Barry Walters said every couple with more than two children should be taxed to pay for enough trees to offset the carbon emissions generated over each child's lifetime.</p>

He wants private firms to partner with the state in building and maintaining roads and other projects. SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signaled a controversial push to engage private companies in the building and management of state and local public works projects, proposing a strategy widely employed in Canada, Europe and elsewhere. In such partnerships, which could take a variety of forms, private companies could finance, build and manage roads, schools, waste-water treatment plants, ports, levees, hospitals and other projects. The companies would rent the facilities to the government or collect fees from users. Though public-private partnerships have...

The government has a duty to look after the health of everyone and sometimes that means guiding or restricting our choices Lord John Krebs, of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics Government ministers should shrug off media accusations that they are running a nanny state and introduce tougher public health measures, experts say. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics said the time had come to consider a whole host of interventions in the UK after the introduction of a smoking ban. Its proposes raising alcohol prices, restricting pub opening hours and better food labelling to fight obesity. The government said it was...

WASHINGTON, DC - A conservation bill currently in the House of Representatives will reportedly contain provisions to protect sensitive cornfield ecosystems from farmers. The amendment was inspired by a recent University of California at Santa Barbara study of the unique wildlife supported by the fields, and the devastating effects on them due to harvesting. The amendment is expected to receive wide support and pass easily to the Senate...

(NANJING, China) -- Mi Zhantao, a poor 25-year-old living with his parents outside this provincial capital in eastern China, was battling depression and had trouble socializing. Doctors said he had schizophrenia. They recommended brain surgery. Mr. Mi's family spent about $4,800 -- the equivalent of four years' income, and more than their life savings -- on the operation, at No. 454 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army in Nanjing. The highly controversial procedure involved drilling tiny holes in the young man's skull, inserting a 7?-inch-long needle and burning small areas of brain tissue thought to be causing his problems. The...

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 31 — Federal fisheries officials in Seattle on Wednesday endorsed, with minor modifications, a plan for the government’s continued operation of the hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. They said it did not jeopardize the survival of 13 stocks of salmon and steelhead that the government must protect under the Endangered Species Act. The endorsement, a draft analysis from the National Marine Fisheries Service, agreed with dozens of proposed protective actions that would provide enhanced measures to get juvenile fish past the dams as they swim seaward, improve habitat in the river and discourage predators...

Launched by an Executive Order in April of 2002 under the guise of expanding the scope of 1990's Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health has since received the official sanction of the U.S. Congress... This commission is the driving force behind a massive policy shift that will literally turn public schools into mental health screening centers...all parents of public school children are supposed to be receiving written notice of these new federally mandated mental health screening policies. Some will also get permission slips to sign that will allow school counselors or other non-medically-educated bureaucrats...

AGENDA 21 is one of five documents agreed during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992(1). Signed by 179 Heads of Government, it is a blueprint for sustainable development in the 21st century, aimed at providing a high quality environment and healthy economy for all the peoples of the world. Commentators point to two major features of this agreement: a) No longer can social, economic and environmental development be seen as separate issues, their interdependence has become clearly established. b) It was formulated in negotiations involving an unprecedented number of people...

A Minnesota college student was suspended and ordered to undergo "mental health evaluation" for his response to campuswide e-mails from school officials concerning the Virginia Tech massacre. The college, Hamline University, a private, liberal-arts institution affiliated with the Methodist Church, has a policy on "Freedom of Expression and Inquiry" that guarantees that Hamline students will be "free to examine and discuss all questions of interest to them and to express opinions publicly or privately." With such a strong guarantee on students' "freedom from censorship and control" by the university, student Troy Scheffler's e-mail must have been horrifically bad to warrant...

When agriculture inspectors come calling at 7 on a Saturday evening, watch out. That's what Barbara and Steve Smith learned last Saturday evening.

More Doctors in Texas After Malpractice Caps By RALPH BLUMENTHAL HOUSTON, Oct. 4 — In Texas, it can be a long wait for a doctor: up to six months. That is not for an appointment. That is the time it can take the Texas Medical Board to process applications to practice. Four years after Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment limiting awards in medical malpractice lawsuits, doctors are responding as supporters predicted, arriving from all parts of the country to swell the ranks of specialists at Texas hospitals and bring professional health care to some long-underserved rural areas. The influx,...

Health Care: "What about the children?" Whenever Democrats drag out that perennial question, you know Republicans are about to get rolled. That's the case with the children's health care bill the House just passed. The bill that would more than double current spending on children's health care to $60 billion over the next five years passed by a surprising 265 to 159 vote late Tuesday, with 45 GOP representatives in favor. Just a month ago, the bill could only muster support from a lonely five Republicans. What happened? Did the GOP suddenly realize the merit of the bill, and have...

WASHINGTON--the House late Tuesday passed--by a less-than-veto-proof 265-159 margin--an expansion of a children's health insurance program over the objections of area Republican members, who voted against the bill. President Bush has threatened to veto the Democratic-backed bill, which would add coverage for several million children and families under the State Children's Health Isurance Program by increasing cigarette taxes by 61 cents a pack. "This is a crummy bill," Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said. "We created this program 10 years ago to help working families, but this goes way beyond the original intent of the bill." http://www.timesfreepress.com/absolutenm/templates/local.aspx?articleid=22217&zoneid=77

The justification for U.S. ratification of the Law of the Sea treaty is simple: trillions of dollars of undersea mineral wealth just waiting to be exploited. The United States stands to gain nearly 300,000 square miles of additional ocean holdings, including an estimated 400 billion barrels of untapped undersea oil and gas, experts say. That's because the treaty allows countries to extend their claims beyond the current 200-mile limit, if they can demonstrate the continuity of their continental shelf. The result could make the 1849 Gold Rush and the Texas oil boom seem trivial by comparison. Not surprisingly, U.S. oil...

Amazing new Drug: "Tryphorgeting" Hillary hopes to introduce to all Americans! Tryphorgeting

<p>WASHINGTON - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that a mandate requiring every American to purchase health insurance was the only way to achieve universal health care but she rejected the notion of punitive measures to force individuals into the health care system.</p>

Medicine: Sen. Hillary Clinton has fired the first shot in the war between socialized health care and consumer-friendly reform. The Bush administration sees less danger in acting now, before a new president takes office. Once the former first lady — who in 1993 failed spectacularly in her attempt to nationalize the massive health care sector of the economy — unveiled a new plan, the issue was bound to zoom to the front of public discourse. What has been unexpected, however, is Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt announcing President Bush's desire to establish universal coverage. Leavitt told USA Today...

Democrat and Republican liberals on the US House Education and Labor Committee have released their discussion draft for the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB).  Both Hillary Clinton, as the "mayor" of the government "village" which wants to raise our children, and the ghost of George Orwell, author of 1984, are well represented in this draft.  What began in 1965, ostensibly as an effort to help poor children improve academic achievement has grown and spread like a monstrous cancer that is destroying academic achievement and freedom, parental autonomy, privacy, and the ability to maintain our republic for ALL public...

Zeke lived with an FFA teacher because he had no other home. He worked for his room and board; he fed the pigs and chickens, and helped with the milking. The summer between the 8th and 9th grades, Jasper, the FFA teacher, took Zeke to a neighbor's ranch and let him pick out a day-old Hereford bull for his first FFA project. The deal was that Jasper would pay for the calf, and for the feed, and Zeke could repay Jasper when the calf grew to become the Grand Champion Steer at the state fair, and sold at the fair's...

This cycle doesn't look like it is going to end well, he says. His reasoning is deceptively simple: "There's a limit to what people can afford." When the coastal areas of the state were reporting home prices that seemed unrealistically high in the late 1990s, Levy was among those who thought prices throughout the state, on average, could go even higher. The centerpiece of his theory at the time was that prices remained below or in line with the national average in places such as Sacramento, Riverside and Fresno. "People would say, 'It's a long commute but I can get...

Property Rights activist and ranger, Wayne Hage said, "Either you have the right to own property or you are property." The backbone of the plan was a call for "public/private partnerships." Sustainable Development is not freedom. Not one of the three principles apply.

SB 375 requires all regional transportation planning decisions and all transportation funding to be limited to a “preferred growth scenario,” that requires a minimum housing density of 10 units per acre. It was adopted by the Senate on June 7, 2007. Here is Senator McClintock’s speech in opposition to the bill: Mr. President: This measure says that all transportation plans and transportation funding decisions must be made with the object of concentrating people in dense urban cores. In this bill, it is called a “Preferred Growth Scenario.” It says all transportation plans and funds must serve this “Preferred Growth Scenario,”...

The lines used to be so clear. On one side were free markets, free societies and openly elected representative governments, normally defined as democracy. On the other, was the force of totalitarianism choking off individual initiative, private ownership of property, cynically providing a ballot box with but one choice, normally defined as Communism. In the end, the "Evil Empire" disintegrated under the weight of its own ignorance of human nature. Or did it? Conservatives hailed the victory, dispatching Communism to the "ash-heap of history." Many Conservative leaders have put forth the idea that we are living in a "Conservative era,"...

This paper discusses the origins of the “Visioning Process”. This is not only a common land-use planning tool used in specific areas of our country, but it has become institutionalized by many local governments and non-governmental organization (NGO) activists across the United States, as well as around the world. It is specifically designed to build consensus from a diverse group of stakeholders. A brief explanation of the Visioning Process:  Elected officials and their staff see Visioning as an opportunity to get a better fix on what their citizens want from government.  Civic minded volunteers are recruited to this...

California's Anti-Global Warming Laws as Smokescreen to Blockade the Growth of Red Counties The Pasadena Pundit - Arpil 5, 2007 Preface: California's inland counties, mostly comprised of Republican strongholds, are growing rapidly and now are siphoning even immigrants from their landing zones in central Los Angeles. What can Democratic blue counties do to impede the gradual Republicanization of the state? Well, they could come up with a scheme that says that high-density housing, infill housing development shorter commutes, and mandating that people walk or bike to work is necessary to "save the planet" from global warming. Just think about it....

At this moment, there are three declared candidates who are considered “front-runners” for the Democrats’ nomination: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards. That rattling sound you hear are DNC nerves. It isn’t looking good for Hillary. Though polls show her as the early favorite, Hillary is sitting on so many fences that eventually she’ll succumb to splinter-shock. Her past as a radical leftist is bound to be dug up time and time again and used in comparison to her more recent “softer” statements, and Hillary will be forced to do more dancing than Ginger Rogers standing on a downed...

Proposition 1C is being billed to California voters as the affordable housing bond. But the reality is that it has very little to do with housing – and even less with affordability. (snip) There is no way to determine exactly how much of the bond money will eventually go toward actually building housing. But the most generous reading suggests that it will be no more than $550 million – or less than a fifth of the measure's $2.8 billion principal. Of the remainder, about $1 billion would go toward such welfare items as: homeless shelters; youth housing; down-payment assistance for...

37,000 Acres of Irvine Ranch Land Receives Prestigious ‘National Natural Landmark’ Designation from U.S. Department of Interior • ‘The Irvine Ranch National Natural Landmark’ joins Mount Shasta, Anza Borrego, Hawaii’s Diamond Head and other beloved national landmarks • Honor recognizes designated land as “a nationally significant natural area” • First site in California to receive NNL designation since 1987 • Land is “a shining example of our nation’s natural treasures,” says National Park Service Director Fran Mainella • Governor Schwarzenegger notes, “Today’s event celebrates another area of our state that can be enjoyed for generations.” NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standing on...

While this new world of corporate governance/ lobbyists/ privatization of the commons etc; seems difficult to understand (disguised as it is with buzz words – and meaningless jibberish), it’s really not as complex as one might think. After you learn how to ignore the superficial banalities, and get to the meat (if there is any) of the message being given. Most times you’ll hear just fluff and nutter talk – sounds important but isn’t. While we naturally focus upon local issues and concerns such as community development, roads, tons of garbage, forest access, tourism, sportsmen’s rights, lack of snow, no...

Stretching from mountain to ocean, threading through shipping ports that connect us to the world, our two dozen interstates form the spine and sinew of the California Dream. They helped make us who we are, fueled our love of freedom and passion for thinking big, then told our story to the world through cop shows and chase films. They've spawned a monster economy linking America to China, India and beyond. More changes are coming. . . . Planners are scrambling to steer the aging system around a crisis that threatens the economy and the lifestyle it spawned. Just as California...

Good evening, everybody. Tonight, an astonishing proposal to expand our borders to incorporate Mexico and Canada and simultaneously further diminish U.S. sovereignty. Have our political elites gone mad? Lou Dobbs on Lou Dobbs Tonight, June 9, 2005 Introduction The global elite, through the direct operations of President George Bush and his Administration, are creating a North American Union that will combine Canada, Mexico and the U.S. into a superstate called the North American Union (NAU). The NAU is roughly patterned after the European Union (EU). There is no political or economic mandate for creating the NAU, and unofficial polls of...

Nothing in the U.S. Constitution authorizes the federal government to regulate private property. Nothing in the U.S. Constitution authorizes the federal government to manage wildlife or prescribe land-use regulations within the various states. By what authority, then, has the federal government constructed the expansive bureaucracy that now forces wolves, panthers and bears on states and communities that don't want them, or levied fines, and jailed people who dare dig a ditch or dump a load of sand on their own private property? This federal power arises from the treaty clause (Article VI (2)) of the U.S. Constitution. Alabama attorney Larry...

When conservationists talk about "saving" this and "protecting" that, a logical question might be: Saving it from whom? Protecting it from whom? And why should the government force what you want on someone else who obviously wants something different, or there would not be an issue in the first place? After all, the Constitution says that all citizens are entitled to the "equal protection of the laws." Such questions almost never get asked. Nor do evidence or logic play much of a role in most conservation issues. Instead, we hear rhapsodies about "open space," sneers at "urban sprawl" and self-congratulatory...

With virtually no mention in the mainstream media, Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez convened on June 15, the first meeting of the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), an apparently extra-constitutional advisory group organized by the Department of Commerce (DOC) under the auspices of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). A March 31 press release on the White House website, under the title “Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America: Progress,” announced the formation of the NACC. The press release noted that the NACC would meet annually “with security and prosperity Ministers and will engage with senior government officials on an...

North America’s SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc., is a non-profit organization dedicated to developing the world’s first international, integrated and secure, multi-modal transportation system along the International Mid-Continent Trade and Transportation Corridor to improve both the trade competitiveness and quality of life in North America. The NASCO Corridor encompasses Interstate Highways 35, 29 and 94, and the significant east/west connectors to those highways in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The Corridor directly impacts the continental trade flow of North America. Membership includes public and private sector entities along the Corridor in Canada, the United States and Mexico. From the largest border...

How to respond to a whining U.N. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: June 17, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Henry Lamb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com The U.N.'s second in command, Mark Malloch Brown, is unhappy about the lack of respect U.S. citizens afford the United Nations. He is particularly unhappy that U.S. officials allow "too much unchecked U.N. bashing and stereotyping" to reach the heartland through Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. Ambassador John Bolton called on Kofi Annan to repudiate Brown's remarks; Annan refused and stood by his deputy director. These comments come from the United Nations at a time when the U.N....

Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway, four football-fields-wide, through the heart of the U.S. along Interstate 35, from the Mexican border at Laredo, Tex., to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn. Once complete, the new road will allow containers from the Far East to enter the United States through the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, bypassing the Longshoreman’s Union in the process. The Mexican trucks, without the involvement of the Teamsters Union, will drive on what will be the nation’s most modern highway straight into the heart of...

In an attempt to tackle gun crime in the UK, researchers from Loughborough University are developing an innovative identification system that will use CCTV cameras to spot individuals carrying concealed firearms. Starting in June, the three-year multi-environment deployable universal software application (Medusa) project aims to develop intelligent software that can detect a person carrying a concealed weapon in real time. While it is difficult to predict if someone is carrying a gun before crime occurs, Professor Alastair Gale, head of Loughborough University's Applied Vision Research Centre and leader of Medusa, said there are a number of cues the CCTV operator...

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson was one of the first high-profile supporters of tiny microchips implanted in people's arms that would allow doctors to access medical information. Now the state he used to lead is poised to become the first to ban governments and private businesses from forcing such implants on employees, privacy advocates say. A proposal moving through the Legislature would prohibit anyone from requiring people to have the tiny chips embedded in them or doing so without their knowledge. Violators would face fines of up to $10,000. The plan authored by Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, won approval in...

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has just let the cat out of the bag about what's really behind our trade agreements and security partnerships with the other North American countries. A 59-page CFR document spells out a five-year plan for the "establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community" with a common "outer security perimeter." "Community" means integrating the United States with the corruption, socialism, poverty and population of Mexico and Canada. "Common perimeter" means wide-open U.S. borders between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. "Community" is sometimes called "space" but the CFR goal is clear: "a...

(CBS4) WESTMINSTER, Colo. The immigration debate and recent demonstrations over the issue have led to a change in the dress code for a middle school in Adams County. Students at Shaw Heights Middle School are no longer allowed to wear anything that is patriotic, including camouflage pants, because they have become a political symbol for a version of patriotism, CBS4 reports. "It upsets me that we cannot support our troops -- the military," said Kirsten Golgart, an eighth grader who was told she'd be suspended if she didn't change her clothes. "We can't support our country. If we're American, I...

While intense debate about illegal immigration continued in Congress, President Bush arrived in the Mexican resort town of Cancun for a trilateral summit with Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Border security and trade issues—particularly a long dispute over U.S. tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber (Reuters)—are hot topics for the meeting. But immigration will be at the forefront, and Fox, who hopes to revive his party's flagging popularity ahead of elections, will pressure Bush to push for a guest worker program (NYT). For Mexico, the lack of a pathway to legalization for Mexican migrant workers represents...

The Atlanta Roundtable held its second session on October 17, 2001 to discuss the future of North American integration in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Gordon D. Giffin, Vice Chairman of Long, Aldridge & Norman and former U.S. Ambassador to Canada, and Robert A. Pastor, Professor of Political Science at Emory University, led the discussion. [SNIP] A transformation occurred in Mexico with the election of Vicente Fox. He met with President Bush on September 4 and proposed a very broad agenda: legalizing anywhere from three to seven million illegal immigrants, expanding temporary migration from Mexico, increasing cooperation in law...

Unmanned aerial vehicles have soared the skies of Afghanistan and Iraq for years, spotting enemy encampments, protecting military bases, and even launching missile attacks against suspected terrorists. Now UAVs may be landing in the United States. A House of Representatives panel on Wednesday heard testimony from police agencies that envision using UAVs for everything from border security to domestic surveillance high above American cities. Private companies also hope to use UAVs for tasks such as aerial photography and pipeline monitoring. "We need additional technology to supplement manned aircraft surveillance and current ground assets to ensure more effective monitoring of United...