Free Republic

Companies headquartered in California can no longer have all-male boards. That's according to a new law, enacted Sunday, which requires publicly traded firms in the state to place at least one woman on their board of directors by the end of 2019 — or face a penalty. It also requires companies with five directors to add two women

Hartford Courant Let's Buy The Whalers And Bring Them Back Home Bring Back The Whalers Hartford city councilman John Q. Gale has proposed a way for the Whalers to come back to Hartford. By JOHN Q. GALE Friday, May 5, 2017 Forbes Magazine says that the Carolina Hurricanes (our Hartford Whalers) National Hockey League franchise is worth $230 million. As the team has the lowest attendance in the league, this is likely an overstatement, but let's work with it. Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr. said earlier this year that he would entertain offers for his team. What if all 38...

The New York Times has a problem with guns. The problem is both personal and professional, namely: the fellows who run the Times do not know all that much about guns, and they do not care to take any steps to learn about them. The problem manifests itself heterogeneously: they cannot seem to get guns right no matter how they approach them. They do not understand concealed carry laws. They do not understand gun statistics. They do not understand assault weapons bans. They do not understand the rules of NRA conventions. They do not understand Australia’s gun control laws. They...

According to a recently released internal memo, Starbucks baristas will no longer write "Race Together" on customers' cups starting Sunday. Starbucks spokesman Jim Olson says the campaign to create discussion on diversity and racial inequality will continue without the handwritten messages, which are phasing out as originally planned.

OK I had to turn off the tv. Listened to as much of Obama as I could stand at one time. He's stuck on stupid. He's proposing more "shovel ready" nonsense.

This seems like a really good idea. A German company called Armatix has developed a handgun that can only be fired by someone wearing a biometrically unlocked wrist watch. An LED light on the gun glows green if it’s set to be fired or red if it’s locked. According to the product page: “To activate the wrist watch, the authorized person’s fingerprint must first be read by the wrist watch. An internal database compares the current fingerprint against stored prints and responds accordingly. The wrist watch is then activated for a definable period – e.g. an officer’s work shift or...

We need to slow America down. Slow down, America, and slow down the President and the Congress. Everyone knows that speed kills and haste makes waste. Wonder if the talk shows would be interested in a drive time story? The Tea Party was a good idea, and a massive April 15th showing on the Mall is good too, but how about a wide spread, simple plan to involve everyone with a wish to get active and create an impact without permits, plans, police, out of pocket expense and driving 1,000 miles. And something that could be done right away. Maybe...

AUSTIN — A state lawmaker wants to make sure no Texan is left out when it comes to hunting, even if the hunter is legally blind. Rep. Edmund Kuempel, a Seguin Republican, has filed a bill for the 2007 legislative session that would allow legally blind hunters to use a laser sight, or lighted pointing instrument. The devices are forbidden for sighted hunters. Blind hunters would also have to have a sighted hunter along with them, but they could hunt any game that sighted people can hunt in the same seasons and using the same weapons. "This opens up the...

THE idea seems like something out of a Superman comic: a machine or missile shoots tonnes of particles into the atmosphere that would block the Sun's rays, cool down the overheated Earth, and reverse global warming. But at the weekend scientists gathered in a closed session organised by NASA and Stanford University to discuss researching such a strategy. The idea is called geo-engineering: using technology to tinker with the Earth's delicate climate balance. Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University, said his modelling showed the idea worked. "We found that if...

In September, the headmistress of the Dvergsnes primary school in Kristiansand, Norway, proposed that boys be taught to urinate while seated, in order to reduce splashing and mistargeting, which burden the cleaning staff

Seattle -- A school bus driver fired after she reportedly made an obscene gesture at President Bush has filed a union grievance in an attempt to get her job back. The 43-year-old driver, whose name was not released, was driving middle school children back to school after a zoo visit on June 16 when the president and Republican Rep. Dave Reichert drove slowly by in a motorcade. From the bus, the children waved; with the windows down in their car, Bush and Reichert waved back. That's when the driver gave the president the finger, according to Reichert and Issaquah superintendent...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before being used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday. The object is basically public relations. Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions from others about possible safety considerations, said Secretary Michael Wynne. "If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation," said Wynne. "(Because) if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in...

I am not certain what the legal ramifications would be in changing Free Republic from donations to a subscription service. It seems to me the switch may be detrimental to legal issues such as copyrights. If that is true I'd appreciate if someone could briefly explain that to me. However if that is not the case here is my suggestion: I have been wondering about this for some time now and have not seen any discussions about it. So I would like to ask: Is it time for Free Republic to become an online subscription service? Currently, the site is...

SCOTUS: How to make Alberto Gonzales acceptable to the base. (Especially the Pro-Life base) Some random thoughts and more....... As reported by NRO, et al: "Speaking in Tallahassee yesterday, AG Alberto Gonzales sounded like someone seeking serious consideration as a Supreme Court nominee. He called Chief Justice Rehnquist a “hero” and suggested those who think he’d be significantly more moderate than other nominees are “ill-informed.”" I would suggest that there are options open to the White House to make Gonzales acceptable, but they involve at least one bold move. If it is that important to nominate him, however, they should...

WASHINGTON – It wasn't just a speech commemorating the 60th anniversary of the United Nations that President Bush delivered in New York yesterday. Instead, he laid out an ambitious program of increased U.S. foreign aid to tackle worldwide problems of poverty and disease. Think of it as Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty" plan gone global. And he characterized this plan as an extension of his war on terrorism. "Confronting our enemies is essential, and so civilized nations will continue to take the fight to the terrorists," Bush said. "Yet we know that this war will not be won by force...

Dalworthington Gardens, Texas police will draw the blood of drunk driving suspects. After completing a training course, Dalworthington Gardens police officers have been certified to draw blood from any motorist whom they suspect of driving under the influence of alcohol. The small North Texas city joins three counties -- Montague, Archer and Clay -- which have recently adopted similar policies. These jurisdictions are seeking to make drunk driving convictions less vulnerable to court challenge as mounting evidence shows breathalyzer machines can be inaccurate. Under the new policy, a suspect will be brought to a police station and asked in a...

Framers of Iraq's constitution will designate Islam as the main source of legislation — a departure from the model set down by U.S. authorities during the occupation — according to a draft published Tuesday. The draft states no law will be approved that contradicts "the rules of Islam" — a requirement that could affect women's rights and set Iraq on a course far different from the one envisioned when U.S.-led forces invaded in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein. "Islam is the official religion of the state and is the main source of legislation," reads the draft published in the government...

A parish priest has refused to give an Italian woman a Christian funeral because she had “lived in sin”. Father Giuseppe Mazzotta, parish priest at Marcellinara, near Catanzaro in Calabria, said that he had denied a Christian funeral to Maria Francesca Tallarico, who died of breast cancer at the age of 45, because she had lived with her partner but never married him. Her partner was separated and had an 11-year-old daughter. “She lived with her lover, so she was a public sinner,” Father Mazzotta said. “I decided not to celebrate an official Mass for this woman, who was not...

KANPUR: Five employees of the local branch of an insurance company have been arrested for putting up posters of terrorist Osama bin Laden to advertise a new scheme, police said on Wednesday. The employees of ICICI Prudiential Life Insurance Company, in a bid to launch a new policy of the company named ``Mission Jehad'', had pasted posters of Laden and put up green flags at their office at Mall Road here, they said. Inflammatory slogans They had also exhibited hand-bills with inflammatory slogans saying ``Dear terrorist naya farman jaari (new order has been issued), ten maro milton ke saath branded...

Bush waives restrictions on Palestinian aid WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush formally waived U.S. restrictions on providing direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority on Thursday in a move that set the stage for spending $50 million on projects in the Gaza Strip. The announcement came on the same day that a fragile Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire was imperiled, threatening disruptions to Israel's planned evacuation of settlers from occupied Gaza. Israel launched a fourth air strike in the space of an hour in the Gaza Strip on Friday, witnesses said, hours after an Israeli woman was killed in a...