Free Republic

Contrary to recent media reports, the malicious prosecution of Julie Bass of Oak Park, Michigan has not ended. Authorities have also charged her with having unlicensed dogs, though they never escaped or threatened anyone. Here’s the unedited scoop straight from her own blog, Oak Park Hates Veggies: Home-grown: Julie Bass has fallen foul of local authorities by growing vegetables in her front yardHome-grown: Julie Bass has fallen foul of local authorities by growing vegetables in her front yard 1- the charges against us were not actually “dropped”. they were dismissed by some judge we have never heard of or seen....

Having just bought a new home, I m bound and determined to fly the American this July 4th. I have checked Home Depot and Lowe's and am not satisfied with the options. I want a looking metal or black wall mounted hanger. And a high quality flag ... Preferably cotton and USA made. Any suggestions for online purchases?

Would some garden-savvy FReeper please help identify this kind of weed: Its kind overtake my backyard every Spring. If left to grow long enough they can get pretty large/bushy.

Some folks think that you dig potatoes our of gravy, and that chicken is something you buy at the grocery store, ready to cook....

Catching up on the gardens this week we've lots of pics of the plants this spring of 2011. It's good but there's some horticultural editing needed. Here's a movie review of RIO, an animated film as pretty to watch as too the joyful plot. With an amusing story of a "Blue" bird that visited my own modest backyard. We’ve got a book review of a book that’s nebulous as to weather it’s fiction or non-fiction. It’s True Crime, the story of a cabal of murder investigators of the highest merit. They solve the unsolved crimes of the era and they’re...

The meats were like a bad joke gone bad. $7-10 for a small package of chicken breasts. I got enough food for a week and it was $107. The cashier lady told me some woman (when she noticed) milk at $4 a gallon asked if there was s milk shortage. Are people this stupid? I am truly afraid for this country in so many ways and as the cashier lady said she told the ditz lady it will get far worse before it gets better. And the cashier was in her 20's and she figured this out- so there is...

I want to plant a grape arbor. What is the best grape tu plant?

Unless you haven’t eaten in the past several months, or you already grow all of your own produce, you’ve probably noticed that food prices have been rising dramatically. According to the USDA, the average cost to the U.S. consumer of Lettuce is up 4.5%, and fresh Tomatoes are up 4.7% from the same time last year. The recently released U.S. Labor Department consumer price index survey reports that the price of grains such as corn, wheat and soybeans has roughly doubled since last summer...

You can learn a lot about life through manual labor. A few years ago my wife and I bought a lake house. The lawn was beautifully landscaped, but during the time the home was vacant things had been neglected. As I worked to clean out some flower beds for my wife, I began to clear out some of the weeds that had grown up. The worst of the weeds were the wild blackberries that were choking out the other, more desirable plants. My first plan was to grab them and pull them up, but it didn’t take long to figure...

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759 A couple of days ago, I read an article about how police in Michigan (go figure) were forcing motorists to surrender their cell phones upon being detention for traffic violations. They are using the common tactic that most liberals and anti-constitutionalist morons use that "if you have nothing to hide, you'll do what I ask." This, of course, is false logic. "If I've done nothing wrong, there is no reason to ask" is the proper...

Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-9) tweeted, 4 p.m., April 6, that four pieces of legislation that he supports have received committee approval. The bills are: SB 101 that hikes the penalty for violations of the state Sunshine Act from $100 to $1,000 for the first offense and $2,000 for subsequent offenses, and prohibits the offender from being reimbursed with tax money. SB 104 that mandates that all state-owned vehicles have an office use license plate and that all users of such vehicles be listed on state websites.

A year ago The Ready Store was kind enough to provide a discount code for FREEPERS that are preparing. Matt over at The Ready Store has come through again and provide a 10% discount code good until April 30th 2011. Of course if they are overwhelmed they may adjust the promotion code. No one connected with Free Republic makes anything of this promotion. This is a discount program for FREEPERS provided by The Ready Store. I highly recommend the site. The products are well thought out and their customer service is outstanding. The coupon code (applied at checkout) is: FR041110....

It is remarkable that since Nymans Garden was created in 1890 it has seen only three Head Gardeners: James Comber from 1895-1953; Cecil Nice, who began working at Nymans in 1924 and succeeded James Comber as Head Gardener in 1953; and currently David Masters, who took over when Cecil retired in 1980. Who cannot envy those three men for as we walked around those beautiful grounds we felt certain that Christian Bovee was right when he said “to cultivate a garden is to walk with God”

I bought a hummingbird feeder. I wonder if anyone knows what I ought to put in the feeder.

That's the question in Oregon this week. The Supreme Court of Oregon is deciding whether having a medical marijuana card that allows medicinal use of marijuana bars that card holder from obtaining a concealed handgun permit. Although some states issue cards making it legal to possess and use medical marijuana in those states, Federal law has stiff penalties for possession. However, the Feds generally seem to be leaving individual medical marijuana users alone and they have been targeting dispensaries in states such as Michigan as traffickers. A recent administrative opinion by Federal agents who administer the National Instant Criminal Background...

We've all seen 'em. You know the ones. The folks who walk into the local big-box garden center looking to fulfill their dreams of growing 4 pound tomatoes or blue ribbon-worthy pumpkins. Whatever their motivation - from a yearning for simplicity, a desire to eat more organically, or frugality - they've now decided to put in a garden. And could there be anything more inviting to a salesperson than the sight of the new gardener staring at the mountains of plants and supplies? Whether they grew up on a farm or could rival Billy Crystal for the lead role in...

Michelle Antoinette, the queen of deified fiber, cares about you. After all, the them she's talking about is you. Too slack-jawed to feed yourselves properly, much less your kids, the First Lady is sacrificing herself by doing battle with Big Chow on our behalf. Unfortunately, Americans having freedom, will probably not eat from the list of State sponsored foods until the food you love is made too expensive to buy. Look what we're making them do! Let them eat taxes.

. . . . . Last night I sent out an email to all on my list about the rising price of food in our supermarkets.  It included a post by Director Blue. This morning, as I was hearing Glenn Beck -- in a lead in to a commercial spot for a food storage company -- give out some facts and figures about how much food prices have risen, I was reading the responses to my email.  (I've  included them at the end of this post). Friends, I went shopping for groceries last Friday -- green peppers were $1.24 each...

Chris Barron, chairman of the board at GOProud, sent over a statement laying into Pawlenty calls for defunding the repeal of DADT. GOProud is a conservative gay group that's under fire from anti-gay social conservatives because of their sponsorship of CPAC, the conservative conference being held in Washington, DC. Both GOProud and Tim Pawlenty will be at CPAC this weekend. I understand that Pawlenty is trying hard to get people to pay attention to his campaign. Its certainly a challenge for someone with such little stature in the conservative movement to compete with high profile conservative leaders like Sarah Palin,...

The First Lady’s office confirms that the White House chefs made one batch of beer using about a pound of honey from the First Lady’s honey hive, on the South Lawn of the White House. The chefs used the traditional methods to brew the beer, and the First Lady’s office confirms that the Obamas paid for the equipment. The batch was made so that the nearly 200 Super Bowl guests – from members of Congress to celebrities like J-Lo -- could sample the new beer.