Free Republic

The added security the Garland ISD assigns when controversy comes to the Curtis Culwell Center is paid for up-front, the president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative said today. Pamela Geller said the group was charged roughly $10,000 for security when it booked the school district’s arena as the site of the May 3 “Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest.”... “That’s the first time in any of our events across America,” Geller said.

A British agent left top secret information about covert operations on a bus in South America when she lost her handbag while on assignment. The MI6-trained agent left her handbag on a transit coach at El Dorado airport in Bogota, Colombia. Intelligence chiefs were forced to wind up operations and relocate dozens of agents and informants amid fears the device could fall into the hands of drugs barons. The incident, which was hushed up by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), the agent’s employer, is an embarrassment for the government.

DENVER – Questions about the future of the Rocky Mountain News had become so common, the newspaper's staff put up a handwritten paper sign on the news desk that said, "We don't know." On Thursday, someone wrote over it in heavy black marker: "Now we know." Colorado's oldest newspaper, which launched in Denver in 1859, printed its last edition Friday, leaving The Denver Post as the only daily newspaper in town. Since 2001, the News has shared business operations with The Denver Post in a joint operating agreement between Scripps and The Post's owner, MediaNews Group Inc.

Did anyone else see the Letterman Show tonight, Friday 8/15: when actor Ben Kingsley walked out to great applause, he walked up to Dave Letterman and said "God Bless American Enthusiasm!" and then repeated himself, "God Bless American enthusiasm!" Except CBS simply filtered out the word "God." Both times. Watching closely, I know I saw Kingsley's lips form the word "God" both times, his lips were clearly moving before I heard "...Bless American enthusiasm!" I thought I was imagining things, but it happened a second time!

Many governments justify public ownership of corporations as a way to increase economic equality. But Yale economics professor Zhiwu Chen GRD ’90 disagrees. Chen, who studies the Chinese economy, argued in a lecture Tuesday that the Chinese government ought to decrease the stake it holds in its economy in order to even income distribution among citizens. During the talk, which was the first hosted by the undergraduate founders of the China Economic Forum, Chen talked to roughly 30 students about China’s experience with state ownership and its effect on the inequality of wealth across different regions of the country. “The...

"The Legislature has passed a bill allowing people to keep guns in their cars at work, even if their employers don't want them to. Should Gov. Charlie Crist sign the bill into law?"

For decades, conventional wisdom has held that daylight-saving time, which begins March 9, reduces energy use. But a unique situation in Indiana provides evidence challenging that view: Springing forward may actually waste energy.(snip) (A University of California-Santa Barbara study of daylight savings time was conducted during the recent change in Indiana) Having the entire state switch to daylight-saving time each year, rather than stay on standard time, costs Indiana households an additional $8.6 million in electricity bills. "I've never had a paper with such a clear and unambiguous finding as this," says Mr. Kotchen, who presented the paper at a...

After the beating the Republican Party took in the 2006 midterm elections and the projections that Democratic majority will increase in the Senate in 2008, the Republican Congressional delegation is in need of some good news. I am not projecting some great groundswell for Republican candidates, but I do believe the first elections after reapportionment in 2012 will help the Republicans. Article I of the U.S. Constitution requires that every 10 years the United States undergo a census to count every resident. The purpose of the census is clear: Count up every person in order to figure out how many...

New Haven Solidarity Week kicked off Monday amid growing disagreement between Yale’s Local 35 union and an anti-illegal aliens group, which has now brought Yale students and University management into the fray. Thirteen Yale student groups released a statement yesterday condemning a Community Watchdog Project-sponsored petition that calls for the withholding of union dues from Local 35’s pro-immigrant rights national affiliate UNITE HERE. Since the petition began circulating 12 days ago, Local 35 leadership and CWP organizers have engaged in a tense back-and-forth that has thus far failed to produce any resolution between the two sides. CWP members said they...

(7/23/07 - WALLIS, TX) - A small town just southwest of Houston, is getting some big time attention for a sign that sits on the side of the road and not everyone there is happy with the message. In the small community of Wallis, a sign is the big talk of the town. "To me they are racially motivated, they are singling out certain nationalities and that's just not appropriate," said Titania Newsom. The sign sits in front of CNL's Icehouse. This month's message reads "Welfare started as a hand up, not a generational lifestyle." Past messages have included:...

They are the Duke 88. Or Nifong 88. They are the leftists, feminists and fascists — professors all — who signed an ad in the student newspaper in April 2006 that condemned the culture of racism and sexism on the campus. They also bemoaned "what happened to this young woman" in the politically motivated lacrosse case. They have been conspicuously silent since the facts started to overtake the fabrications of sleazebag district attorney Mike Nifong. Nifong has been disbarred now, and the university has reached an undisclosed financial settlement with the three former lacrosse players wrongly accused of raping a...

"Goodbye, boys, I die a true American." So went the apocryphal last words of Bill "The Butcher" Poole as he died on March 8, 1855. He'd been fatally shot in the heart, but he'd hung on for another 11 days, presumably to think of something totally metal to say. Born in New Jersey in 1821, William Poole had by the 1850s become known in Manhattan as a butcher, a boxer, a gang leader and a political enforcer for the local nativist political party - the Know-Nothings - to which he was attracted because of his virulent hatred of Irish-Catholic immigrants....

FARMERS BRANCH – ... residents crowded into the council chambers to discuss whether the city should restrict illegal immigrants through such measures as making it illegal for landlords to lease property to them; fining businesses that employ them; making English the city's official language; and halting funding for children of illegal immigrants to participate in ... youth programs. Those ideas, by council member Tim O'Hare, were borrowed from ordinances adopted by Hazelton, Pa., and under consideration by cities in California, Florida and elsewhere. Mayor Pro Tem Ben Robinson had more ideas. He suggested that the council also consider prohibiting the...

Eric Clapton has agreed to headline a controversial seven-hour concert supporting the Countryside Alliance in its fight to lift the ban on fox hunting in the UK. The hitmaker will join fellow rockers Bryan Ferry, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and Nick Mason, Roger Daltrey of The Who and Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford at the gig at Highclere Castle in Berkshire this summer. Clapton's spokesperson confirmed last night, "Eric supports the Countryside Alliance. He doesn't hunt himself, but does enjoy rural pursuits such as fishing and shooting. He supports the Alliance's pursuit to scrap the ban on the basis that he...

A suspect in a 1998 Vail Mountain firebombing was indicted yesterday in connection with two Oregon fires as part of a federal sweep aimed at resolving a wave of long-unsolved ecoterrorist attacks. U.S. Attorney Kirk Engdahl told U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Coffin that she was a suspect in the Vail arson, a $12 million rampage that destroyed buildings and ski-lift sites at the resort. The indictments came a week after a five-state sweep in which federal authorities arrested six suspects for a string of ecoterrorist attacks between 1998 and 2001 in Colorado and the Pacific Northwest. ...(ELF) and Animal...

An innovative proposal by Harris County's only Hispanic commissioner would tax international money transfers to fund indigent health care. Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle As one of the top Latino elected officials in the United States, measured by number of constituents and size of budget, Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia is in a unique position to assure immigrants, many of whom send money back home, that she's looking out for their best interests. She will need that credibility to convince them and their advocacy groups that her proposed Health Care Recovery Fund deserves their support. The commissioner wants to establish a...

Texas Children First Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and members of the Texas Senate recently showed unanimous support for an initiative to improve our schools while reforming the way public education is financed. The Lieutenant Governor and members of the Senate presented their agreed-upon ideas to put "Texas Children First" as they tackle the issue of school finance. Which of the following objectives do you feel is the best part of the proposed State Senate goals for school finance reform? Teacher Pay Raise End to Robin Hood 1/3 Cut in School Property Taxes Increased Accountability for School Standards Increased Funding for Schools...

Red-light runners beware: Cameras soon will be watching in Denton. The City Council this week approved a new ordinance for the installation of cameras on some streets to photograph cars that run red lights. The measure, similar to ones in Garland, Frisco, Richardson and Plano, aims to prevent accidents. City officials will search for a vendor early next year to install and operate the system, and cameras will be placed at yet-to-be-chosen intersections by the end of 2005. Violators will be mailed $75 tickets. For people with three or more violations, the ticket is $150. "Hopefully the cameras will cut...

Just heard Martin Frost concede the election to Republican Pete Sessions! With 21% of precincts reporting, he trailed Sessions 57% - 43%. To his credit, Frost's speech was brief, and gentlemanly.

A small rodent could hold the key to the Senate THE black-tailed prairie dog has never been a political animal. For centuries, on South Dakota’s vast and mysterious plains, it has played no part in the state’s momentous events. You will find no reference to it in accounts of how General George Custer’s troops were massacred at the Battle of Little Bighorn, or of the US Army’s bloody revenge on the Sioux at Wounded Knee. But in a graphic demonstration of the axiom that all politics is local, South Dakota’s prairie dog, a fluffy, slightly gormless rodent, has suddenly landed...