Free Republic

Minnesotan Jim Johnson, the disciplined, discreet and obsessively meticulous vice presidential vetter for Barack Obama, is a stalwart of the Washington establishment. In the mid-1990s, he headed up a power trifecta: mortgage giant Fannie Mae, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Brookings Institution, one of the city's most prominent think tanks. At various times, political insiders have floated his name in Democratic administrations for White House chief of staff, Treasury secretary and president of the World Bank. His circumspect ways - rare in a town known for its shameless attention seekers - have helped make...

You can almost hear the pure, unfiltered stupidity: Linky

Calif. Wildfires Drive Lawyers From Homes, Offices As fires sweep across seven counties, attorneys and staff scramble to set up shop -- or just find shelter for a night Kellie Schmitt The Recorder October 24, 2007 As a brown haze shrouded Southern California on Tuesday, law firms in San Diego's Carmel Valley region remained shuttered, and more and more local attorneys were forced to leave their homes. At Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps, the chief operating officer and a partner have already lost their homes, and dozens of attorneys have been displaced -- including managing partner Robert Bell. "It's pretty...

Editorial: Fires are terrible, arson is worse Amid so much tragedy and destruction, some of it appears deliberate An Orange County Register editorial We had hoped beyond hope that, somehow, in this season when all the conditions, including a devastating lack of rain, were ripe for the kind of wildfires that are a regular feature of life in what we like to think of otherwise as near-paradise, we miraculously would be spared. But it was not to be. Our dismay is doubled, however, by the circumstances that authorities believe caused the fire that has burned at least 8.800 acres in...

Sunrise over Naval Base San Diego, California, on 23 October 2007 -- the view from the sea. Photographer Cdr. Jane Campbell, United States Navy CourtesiesGallery of Sunrises and Sunsets, http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-200702.htm (photo no. 81, medium, large) http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=51976

UPDATE: The city of Malibu is advising residents in Puerco Canyon to begin evacuating due to a wildfire driven by powerful winds. This area is north of Pacific Coast Highway and about 1 mile west of Pepperdine University. Residents along the beach on Malibu Road may soon be evacuated. Pacific Coast Highway is closed between Kanan-Dume Road and Topanga Canyon. Residents are advised to head to the west. Evacuation centers are being set up in the Zuma Beach area. A wildfire driven by powerful winds in the Malibu Hills this morning threatened a university, destroyed at least one home and...

<p>Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh today attacked actor Michael J. Fox for inserting his halting voice into the U.S. Senate campaign in Missouri, suggesting Fox was "acting" in a commercial where he's shown shaking while endorsing the importance of stem cell research.</p>

Roh Under Fire Over Wartime Command Withdrawal Korea Could Take Back Wartime Troop Control in Five Years: MinisterPillar of Korea-U.S. Military Alliance 'for the Scrapheap' Look Around Before Dismantling the Pillar of Our Security U.S. 'Wants Shot of Wartime Command Sooner' Korea, U.S. in War of Nerves Over Troop ControlU.S. Flags More Troop Cuts in Korea Staking National Security on Semantics Roh Says Korea Could Handle Wartime Control 'Now'Roh Turns Deaf Ear to 16 Former Defense Chiefs Sixteen former defense ministers and nine retired generals on Thursday expressed dismay at President Roh Moo-hyun’s remarks in an interview Wednesday that...

Gov. Tim Pawlenty's controversial report on the cost of illegal immigration apparently has created an emerging political storm that will play out in the 2006 legislative session and next year's elections. The report, which estimates undocumented immigrants and their children cost Minnesota taxpayers about $175 million a year for state services, may have roused a "sleeping giant" in immigrant communities that have been politically apathetic until now. Pawlenty told a group of police chiefs Thursday that illegal immigration is a large and growing problem that will be at the top of his public safety agenda in the coming legislative session....

What kind of a historian is Douglas Brinkley anyway? These days Brinkley is acting a lot less like a historian and a lot more like a PR flack for John Kerry, the subject of Brinkley's flattering bestseller "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War." Brinkley proclaims his independence from the Kerry campaign -- "This is my book, not his," he writes in "Tour" -- but he's become a major player in the Kerry agitprop machine.

Cal Fire Maps http://wildfire.cr.usgs.gov/ca_geomac/viewer.htm http://www.incidentcontrol.com http://www.firedetect.ssd.nesdis.noaa.gov/Run.htm Live online scanner feeds for fire, cops, CDF, air attack http://www.live365.com/stations/kb6jag FYI, this gives popups http://www.police-scanner.info/livescan.htm - No pop ups on this feed http://www.compucations.com/nuke/html/modules.php?name=LiveScanners - click on Big Bear Feed http://verdugo.ci.glendale.ca.us/radio.html - Verdugo fire scanner http://www.shoutcast.com/directory/?s=scanner&numresult=100&x=34&y=9 - Simi Valley fire scanner http://209.153.152.2:8888 - Ventura county scanner chatter Big Bear online scanner feed for CDF, cops, air attack etc. Go to Yahoo.com and register if you're not a member. Once you register you can go into any chat room In the text box of your chosen chatroom type: /join the old fire scanner:1 This should...

Cal Fire Maps http://wildfire.cr.usgs.gov/ca_geomac/viewer.htm http://www.incidentcontrol.com http://www.firedetect.ssd.nesdis.noaa.gov/Run.htm Live online scanner feeds for fire, cops, CDF, air attack http://www.live365.com/stations/kb6jag FYI, this one gives pop ups if you use it. No pop ups on this feed http://www.police-scanner.info/livescan.htm Another live scanner feed. Click on Big Bear Feed http://www.compucations.com/nuke/html/modules.php?name=LiveScanners another live feed for socal, Verdugo Fire Communications Center http://verdugo.ci.glendale.ca.us/radio.html Simi Valley fire scanner http://www.shoutcast.com/directory/?s=scanner&numresult=100&x=34&y=9 http://209.153.152.2:8888 lots of scanner chatter in Ventura county CHP Dispatch http://cad.chp.ca.gov/ CDF AIR CHANNELS Red - 151.220 - Air to ground units Blue - 151.280 - Air to air Green - 151.295 - Air to air Yellow - 151.310 - Air...

SoCal Fires Live Thread 10/28

Southern CA fires - Live Thread 10/27 Cal Fire Maps http://wildfire.cr.usgs.gov/ca_geomac/viewer.htm http://www.incidentcontrol.com Live online scanner feeds for fire, cops, CDF, air attack http://www.live365.com/stations/kb6jag FYI, this one gives pop ups if you use it. No pop ups on this feed http://www.police-scanner.info/livescan.htm Another live scanner feed. Click on Big Bear Feed http://www.compucations.com/nuke/html/modules.php?name=LiveScanners another live feed for socal, Verdugo Fire Communications Center http://verdugo.ci.glendale.ca.us/radio.html CHP Dispatch http://cad.chp.ca.gov/ CDF AIR CHANNELS ---------------- Red - 151.220 - Air to ground units Blue - 151.280 - Air to air Green - 151.295 - Air to air Yellow - 151.310 - Air to air Victor - 122.925 AM...

<p>Democrats may have lost the battle over whether Gov. Gray Davis must stand before voters in a historic recall election, but they were zeroing in Wednesday on a politically charged legal strategy that could preclude voters from picking his successor if Davis gets tossed from office.</p>

A few minutes ago the fire entered the west part of town with several houses on fire..pray UPDATES BEING POSTED HERE