Free Republic

Michael Bullard and Richard Armstrong were convicted yesterday by a jury in Boise, Idaho, on federal hate crime and conspiracy charges in connection with the racially-motivated assault of an African American man outside of a Wal-Mart store in July 2008, announced Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division; Thomas E. Moss, U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho; Timothy Fuhrman, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office; and Bill Augsburger, Chief of the Nampa Police Department. Bullard and Armstrong each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Sentencing is...

WASHINGTON, July 20, 2009 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said American commanders are “sparing no effort” to locate a U.S. soldier who went missing early this month in Afghanistan. Speaking to reporters today during a Pentagon news conference, Gates also expressed his disgust at the exploitation of Army Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, who the Defense Department identified as the missing soldier and who is featured in a video apparently released yesterday on the Internet by his captors. “Our commanders are sparing no effort to find this young soldier, and I also would say that my personal reaction was one...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon has identified the American soldier who went missing June 30 from his base in eastern Afghanistan and was later confirmed to have been captured. The Defense Department said in a statement Sunday that the soldier is Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, of Ketchum, Idaho. The statement also says his status is now classified as missing-captured, rather than whereabouts unknown. In a video posted online by the Taliban on Saturday, he's heard saying he's "scared I won't be able to go home." Before the Pentagon released Bergdahl's identity, two U.S. defense officials confirmed to The Associated...

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon on Sunday confirmed that an American soldier who went missing from his base in Afghanistan has been captured and identified him as a private from Idaho serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment. The Defense Department released the name of Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, of Ketchum, Idaho, one day after he was seen in a video posted online as saying he was "scared I won't be able to go home." Even before his name became public, two U.S. defense officials confirmed to The Associated Press that the man in that 28-minute video was the captured soldier....

BOISE, Idaho — Police say an Ada County man shot and killed an attacking pit bull. Josh Hobson says he was responding to pleas of help from a jogger on Saturday night. Armed with his shotgun, he says he shot one of two dogs as it turned on him. Neighbors say the jogger, with his own dog, were running down the sidewalk when the two pit bulls ran out an open door and across the street, snarling and barking. The jogger took refuge in a pickup truck. Ada County officers say Hobson did nothing wrong. Deputy Nicole Hudson says the...

The Obama administration will make reforming the nation's 137-year-old hardrock mining law a top priority despite a full plate of higher profile issues, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday. Salazar told a Senate committee considering reform legislation that "it is time to ensure a fair return to the public for mining activities that occur on public lands and to address the cleanup of abandoned mines." The General Mining Act of 1872, which gives mining preference over other uses on much of the nation's public lands, has left a legacy of hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines that are polluting rivers...

MOSCOW, Idaho — The giant Palouse earthworm has taken on mythic qualities in this vast agricultural region that stretches from eastern Washington into the Idaho panhandle — its very name evoking the fictional sandworms from "Dune" or those vicious creatures from the movie "Tremors." The worm is said to secrete a lily-like smell when handled, spit at predators, and live in burrows 15 feet deep. There have been only a handful of sightings. But scientists hope to change that this summer with researchers scouring the Palouse region in hopes of finding more of the giant earthworms.Naturally the enviros already want...

SUN VALLEY, Idaho – Security is tight at investment bank Allen & Co.’s annual conference. Held at the tony Sun Valley Resort nestled in the northern Rocky Mountains, the fairly secretive gathering of media kingpins, technology geniuses, billionaire investors, politicians and even the occasional star athlete is also filled with moonlighting detectives and retired police officers watching everyone and everything like a hawk. What exactly are they guarding? The businesses of most in attendance here have already walked out the door, and no one seems to have a clue where they went. With the world’s economy mired in the recession,...

The final chips are rolling out of Micron Technology Inc.'s fabrication plant over the next few weeks, ending a nearly three-decade run that helped launch Micron into an international, multibillion-dollar powerhouse and put Boise on the global high-tech map. Now, the Treasure Valley will have to cope with the loss of at least 3,500 Micron jobs in 10 months during one of the nation's worst economic crises. Micron announced in February that it would lay off 2,000 people by August as it stops making its primary product, dynamic random-access memory chips, at its outdated Boise plant. That announcement came on...

Contact: Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Christian Defense Coalition, 540-538-4741, 202-547-1735; Brandi Swindell, Director, Generation Life, 208-867-1307; Patti Syme, Director, The God and Country Rally, 208-573-9300 NAMPA, Idaho, July 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- This marks the first time in the 42 year history of the event that a flyover request was denied by the Pentagon. The event is held ever year to honor the spiritual foundations of our country with a special emphasis on the men and women who serve in the armed forces. In past years, the "God and Country Rally" has focused on honoring and paying tribute to those...

1. Alaska 2. Maine 3. New Mexico 4. Arkansas 5. Texas 6. Missouri 7. Oregon 8. Idaho 9. Virginia 10. Wyoming

Now the government has taken over General Motors. Hundreds of profitable auto dealerships are being closed down against their will, sending 100,000 more people to the unemployment lines. And we also now have a “Pay Czar” who will not only control the income levels for businesses taking government bailouts, but will also set the standards for private business that has not. The government thinks they know best; they will tell business how to run itself and how to pay its employees and executives. Is it time yet? Our local government also acts as if it knows far better than the...

U of I pays 'inspiration officer' $112K for 9-month contract MOSCOW, Idaho. - Public records show the University of Idaho is paying a Minnesota consultant who spends less than two weeks a month on the Moscow campus $112,500 to serve as its "chief inspiration officer." The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reports the university signed a contract with Magaly Rodriguez last year, paying her $12,500 a month as part of a nine-month contract that expires in June. Schools officials say the workshops conducted by Rodriguez have helped save programs, but some faculty are criticizing the contract that was signed during the same...

The Wyoming Attorney General said Friday will file a lawsuit next Tuesday to challenge the recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's ruling that rejected the state's wolf management plan. "The Endangered Species Act requires listing and delisting decisions to be based on science," Bruce Salzburg told the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation at a symposium about the law in Casper. But the Fish and Wildlife Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Interior, decided in early March to leave the gray wolf in Wyoming on the endangered species list for political and public relations reasons... The Fish and Wildlife Service,...

Ranchers in the Lemhi Valley of Idaho have suffered increased losses from wolf depredation, as wolf numbers expand. Allen Bodenhamer, who raises cattle near Baker, ID lost three calves this past spring. At first he thought the kills were made by coyotes, then realized he was dealing with wolves. “When coyotes kill a calf they get hold of the back of the neck and basically strangle it. They usually don’t start eating on it while it is still alive. A wolf grabs it by the top of the back or just in front of the hips and is eating on...

LEWISTON, Idaho - Idaho Rep. Walt Minnick says gun owners don't need to worry about their gun rights being eroded in the current U.S. Congress. "There is no possibility there is going to be any gun control in this Congress," Minnick told the Lewiston Tribune. Minnick said he's one of 52 conservative "blue dog" Democrats in the House who oppose further gun control. "Nothing can pass in the House without some blue dog support," he said. "The support (for Second Amendment rights) goes far beyond the blue dogs. It's not just fiscally conservative Democrats. I would warrant it's a solid...

When Nampa gun store owner Roberta Regnier offered a chance to win an AR-15 rifle for anyone who brought in two cans of food, she got 7,000 entries and collected 10 tons of food for the Boise Rescue Mission. The winning ticket was drawn on April 15. The raffle piqued so much interest that Regnier's Alpha Omega Services is doing another one - the shop's third - this time for a new, 1927-style Tommy gun. Other businesses are catching on. Sheepdog Ammo in New Plymouth donated 1,000 rounds of ammunition to Regnier's raffle. Archery Outfitters of Nampa is holding its...

STITES, Idaho - The FBI and Nez Perce Tribal Police are investigating a fatal shooting at that took place at a grocery store in Stites early Thursday morning. It happened during an apparent attempted break-in The Idaho County Sheriff's Office confirmed that a 21-year-old Kamiah man was pronounced dead at the scene. His identity was being withheld until family was notified. He was one of two men who were reportedly trying to break into the Stites Grocery Store. He was shot and killed during the alleged break-in. The Sheriff's Office says the other suspect ran from the scene. Witnesses say...

Public health officials are conducting tests on four Idahoans who may have contracted swine flu. According to reports, two people from Madison county, along with one from Fremont and Ada counties have exhibited symptoms of swine flu. The four are currently undergoing tests to determine if they have contracted the virus. Results of those tests will be released sometime this evening or tomorrow morning. Meanwhile the Idaho Division of Public Health has alerted medical providers across the state to monitor respiratory illnesses that might be related to swine flu. Federal health officials said 40 confirmed cases of swine flu have...

It's been said that conservatism has different meanings for different people. It may not be textbook, but without a whole lot of navel gazing, here's what it means to me and what Free Republic is all about: In a word, Freedom! In two words, Preserving Freedom. In a handful of words as stated by our Founding Fathers, to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity! America was founded on the proposition that all men are created equal by God and that our unalienable rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness are granted directly by God...

And on the 100th day, they retreated to their respective corners. After cake, of course. One day after Gov. Butch Otter threatened to keep the Legislature in session indefinitely if he did not get enough money for road and bridge maintenance, the Idaho House defiantly rejected another bill to increase the state's gas tax. With just four Republicans siding with the Republican governor, the House voted 55-15 to kill the bill that would have increased the gas tax by 6 cents over the next 15 months, raised license, registration and other Division of Motor Vehicles fees, and eliminated the tax...

Do not believe the nattering nabobs of negativity. The Nationwide Tax Day TEA Party/Tax Revolt was a huge success!! What we need now is MORE and LOUDER!! Obama has no clue. Being confronted by millions of fed-up citizens is new to him. He never expected the otherwise docile American people to rise up against his wannabe Marxist/fascist totalitarian regime. He's now lashing out at us through the Dept of Homeland Security as if We the People are his enemy. Well, we are! And he now knows it. And he's scared witless!! And the media has been reduced to the speechless,...

Last month, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the Obama administration would seek to reinstate a ban on assault weapons that the Bush administration let expire in 2004. Last week, Obama said he will not reinstate the ban. ---- SNIP ---- Minnick, a conservative freshman Democrat, has broken with the Obama administration on budget and stimulus bills in his first two months in Congress. -- SNIP -- "There is no possibility of HR 45, or the policy position it advocates, of passing this Congress or becoming law during this administration," said Minnick. -- SNIP -- The right to own and...

Congratulations FReepers and Patriots! According to Henchster's ongoing tallies, we've surpassed 750,000 participants in our nationwide Tax Day TEA Party/Tax Revolt! Woo hoo!! All 50 states fully engaged! Over 600 cities represented and reports still coming in! Huge turnout, huge SUCCESS!! Elected officials take note: DO NOT TREAD ON ME!! Tyranny, usurpation, corruption, overreaching, big spending, high taxing will no longer be tolerated! We the people are FED-UP and we're not going to take it anymore! Ignore us at your own peril! All Congressional seats, all elected offices throughout the land at risk! Revolution is in the air!!

If the Obama administration has taken flak for suggesting that conservative groups might be home to domestic terrorists, it looks like some House Democrat leaders are willing to go even further: But in an interview on Fox TV in San Francisco, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) chalked up the GOP grass-roots effort as “AstroTurf.” “This initiative is funded by the high end; we call it AstroTurf, it's not really a grass-roots movement. It's AstroTurf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class,” Pelosi said....

A Senate committee narrowly approved a bill that would encourage companies to adopt policies that let workers keep guns in their cars. The Senate State Affairs Committee voted 4-3 on April 16 to pass a measure that would provide legal protections to companies that “allow or (do) not prohibit” employees to store firearms in their vehicles. Those businesses could not face civil damages for such policies. Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Idaho Falls, said prohibitions on guns in employee vehicles infringe on the rights of hunters and people who carry guns for self-defense. But he said businesses that have such policies wouldn’t...

Several part coverage. First (and link is in title) is to video by local news outlet. Of course the "other side" is a release from the democratic party of Idaho blaming Bush and the "unnessecary" war in Iraq for the economic problems. Second part is from Tea Party Boise: Tea Party Boise Rally/March a HUGE SUCCESS!!! Wow is a word that could sum it up. There have been reports from 2500 to 6000 people throughout the day who came for a peaceful and successful protest. Keep in mind, the Treasure Valley has much less population in comparison to these major...

A buoyant Boise crowd police estimated at 2,500 people braved drizzle, temperatures in the 40s and the temporary absence of a sound system Wednesday to signal their opposition to a growing government. “Where’s our bailout?” asked Jocee Vreeland of Nampa, a stay-at-home mom who said she’s now looking for work because her carpenter husband is underemployed. “They give the automobile guys a bailout, but what about the carpenters and the contractors?” Vreeland said she didn’t really want money from the government, but that businesses should be allowed to fail. “When a private business fails, it fails. They made bad choices,...

Just got back from the North Idaho Tea Party. GREAT GATHERING! The crowd was All-American - young and old, boys and girls, men and women, fat, skinny and in between. We met on the North Shore of Coeur d'Alene Lake. Right in the middle of town. I am sure the crowd was over 1,000 people. Very lively, but typically well behaved. TV crews from two local stations were there. Local for us is Spokane, WA. Great speakers. One young man named Brock [10 years old] stole the show with Patrick Henry's "Give me Liberty or Give me Death" speech. He...

After the 2010 census has been held, the number of seats held by each state in the U.S. House of Representatives will change. The National Conference of State Legislatures recently estimated what the 2010 reapportionment will mean for each state. Eight states are expected to lose one seat each, in the U.S. House and in the Electoral College. They are Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. States that will gain will be Texas (3 seats), and one each for Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Utah. If the bill now pending in Congress to expand the...

Idaho town could ban drive-thru windows02:39 PM MDT on Monday, April 13, 2009 SANDPOINT -- Residents in this northern Idaho city might have to start waving bye bye to drive-through businesses. A proposal to prohibit drive-through services recently passed the city's planning and zoning commission and goes before the city council in May. If approved the ordinance would regulate drive-through restaurants, banks, coffee shops, pharmacies, dry cleaners and other businesses that cater to customers in cars. Existing drive-through businesses would be allowed to continue but not rebuild. "Conceivably, as these existing drive-throughs degrade if they're not maintained, this could lead...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - The Senate used a voice vote to pass a resolution telling the federal government to respect Idaho's sovereignty.Sen. Monty Pearce, a Payette Republican, on Tuesday compared laws protecting states' rights to rules that govern sporting events, then accused Congress of ignoring those when it passes bills mandating states to do certain things under threat of lost funding or other punishment.

The last time Patrick Moroney saw his Cessna Stationair 206, it was flying away from a rural airstrip in Mulege, Mexico - hijacked by gun-toting drug runners who left him and his stunned family abandoned beside a burning car. -- SNIP -- there was no way I am getting my family out of this plane with a propeller moving. -- SNIP -- They told me I was going to die -- SNIP -- Kim Moroney called then-U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's staffers. They promised to help but nothing happened. But less than two hours after her initial conversation with one of...

Are you ready for a FReepathon!!? Well, it's a new quarter and a new president and he's everything we knew he would be. In less than 90 days he's managed to take an economic downturn and turn it into an unmitigated disaster for good old American capitalism. Never let a good crisis go to waste! The government is now printing money as fast as they can run the presses. Our federal budget is doubling and tripling and the Fed is running with no controls or oversight whatsoever from the congress, pumping trillions more into the "economy." The government now spends...

Recently, I joined the attorneys general of all the states in asking President Obama to reexamine actions by a federal agency permanently blocking states from enforcing their consumer protection laws with regard to certain financial institutions. I am also joining a brief asking the United States Supreme Court to hear a case that permitted this agency to block state enforcement of a state law against a national bank that was violating the state law. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is the federal agency responsible for oversight of national banks. The OCC's unprecedented seizure of regulatory authority...

Rep. Walt Minnick, Idaho's best liaison to the Democratic majority, surprised his colleagues and some Idaho institutions with the news he wouldn't bring federal dollars to his district through the widespread but controversial use of earmarks. --- SNIP ---- Minnick said he would not push for earmarks - specific spending authority placed in congressional bills - for at least one year. He said he would try to bring money to Idaho by helping businesses and agencies win competitive grants offered in the stimulus package. The Republicans who dominate Idaho's delegation were skeptical of his motives - even though all have...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a formal rule Wednesday to remove gray wolves from the federal endangered list in Montana and Idaho while keeping protections in Wyoming. That state and environmentalists promised to challenge immediately when the formal delisting rule is published Thursday in the Federal Register. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had said last month that he would uphold the agency's decision to continue managing wolves in Wyoming. State Attorney General Bruce Salzburg said Wyoming will sue over being denied management of wolves. The state has proposed classifying wolves as predators that could be shot on sight in...

The quest for squeaky-clean dishes has turned some law-abiding people in Spokane into dishwater-detergent smugglers. They are bringing Cascade or Electrasol in from out of state because the eco-friendly varieties required under Washington state law don't work as well. Spokane County became the launch pad last July for the nation's strictest ban on dishwasher detergent made with phosphates, a measure aimed at reducing water pollution. The ban will be expanded statewide in July 2010, the same time similar laws take effect in several other states. But it's not easy to get sparkling dishes when you go green. Many people were...

Prison employs dangerous dogs By Rebecca Boone Associated Press BOISE, Idaho - Nobody has broken out of the Idaho State Correctional Institution in more than 20 years. Prison officials like to think a hard-bitten corps of sentries with names like Cookie, Bongo and Chi Chi has had something to do with that. The institution is the only state prison in the United States to use snarling, snapping sentry dogs to patrol its perimeter. In a program begun in 1986, 24 mean dogs - mostly German shepherds, rottweilers and Belgian Malinois, with a few boxers and pit bulls - roam the...

We've had two good weeks of gubernatorial fun in the Crystal Ball, reviewing the early match-ups for the 2010 midterm Governor battles here and here. Now it's time to examine the remaining sixteen statehouses, all currently controlled by Republicans. ALASKA--Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK): Assuming Palin runs for Governor again instead of challenging U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), as is likely, Palin is close to a shoo-in for a second term, despite her recent troubles in and out of the state. John McCain had been faring poorly in Alaska until Palin was put on the ticket, and then the GOP won...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Nobody has broken out of the Idaho State Correctional Institution in more than 20 years. Prison officials like to think a hard-bitten corps of sentries with names like Cookie, Bongo and Chi Chi has had something to do with that. The institution is the only state prison in the U.S. to use snarling, snapping sentry dogs to patrol its perimeter. In a program begun in 1986, 24 mean dogs — mostly German shepherds, rottweilers and Belgian malinois, with a few boxers and pit bulls — roam the space between the inner and outer chain-link fences 24...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - The Idaho House has voted 51-17 to tell the federal government to respect the state's sovereign rights.Rep. Dick Harwood, a St. Maries Republican, told the House Monday that the federal government is overstepping its role and Idaho's sovereignty with mandated programs like No Child Left Behind, the education reform legislation promoted by former President Bush.State sovereignty is outlined in the U.S. Constitution's 10th Amendment, which says powers not granted to the federal government are reserved for the states.Harwood says the country is not designed to be under the direction of 1 overarching government.Coeur d'Alene Rep. George...

The Obama campaign's grassroots tack got him elected. Now volunteers across the country — including Boise — are using the same strategy to get the word out about the president's proposed budget plan. Saturday, local volunteers are go door to door, canvassing their neighborhoods to tell people about the president's plans for health care and education, green jobs and more.

Boise, ID (LifeNews.com) -- A dangerous futile care bill has been stalled in the Idaho state legislature, but one of the prime opponents say more action is still needed. The legislation is similar to a Texas law that has concerned pro-life advocates because it can easily lead to revoking lifesaving medical treatment and euthanasia.Opponents of the measure say it could put elderly, disabled and terminally ill patients at risk. The Idaho Senate has approved the bill, S 1114, and bioethics watchdog and attorney Wesley J. Smith is very concerned about it moving further.Smith says the bill "is so bad...

The National Park Service has set a goal of eliminating lead from fishing and hunting gear by 2010. Acting Park Service director Dan Wenk announced the goal Wednesday in Washington. Fragments of lead bullets are suspected to contaminate scavenger birds, like ravens and eagles, and lead used as fishing weights could poison waterfowl and other species. A firearms group was quick to condemn the action. “The National Park Service’s decision is arbitrary, over-reactive and not based on science,” Steve Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said in a statement. His group is a trade association for the firearms...

BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho gun shop that went to federal court to keep the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from pulling its gun license has reached a settlement with the agency. Terry and Ryan Horsley of Red's Trading Post in Twin Falls asked the court to review their case in 2007, after the ATF revoked their license. The ATF said the shop had repeatedly violated gun sales rules. The Horsleys said they had been targeted by the agency and that most of the problems were clerical, such as using abbreviations on gun sale documentation. Red's Trading Shop...

Gov. Butch Otter said Thursday that he decided not to reject the federal government's economic stimulus money, but to accept it "reluctantly and cautiously" to help Idaho residents get through the recession. At a news conference, Otter said it “would be reckless if we put any of this money into ongoing needs, expanded current programs or created any new programs.” “If we were to have done that we’d be facing an automatic tax increase” in the future, Otter said. He said that tax increase might be as much as 50 percent. Otter said he took the money because “as long...

Conservative icon Rush Limbaugh has said that he hopes President Barack Obama fails. "No, I don't share that," Gov. Butch Otter said. Otter said his "free-market tendencies may ruffle a little bit" at Obama's strategy to pay for immediate economic stimulus by ballooning federal debt. But he said the country risks a worse recession if Obama doesn't succeed. "I think it'd be deeper and lengthen and maybe even go into a depression if we failed," Otter said. Restoring public confidence in the economy is critical, Otter said. "I'm going to do all I can to get as many people working...

Gov. Sarah Palin address to the Special Olympics 2009 in Boise, Idaho, talking about special needs children. Very cute video with Trig and Piper. The video is a few weeks old, but wasn't online until now.

At the triangle piece of lawn where Capital Blvd. and 9th streets converge, near Julia Davis Park (near 700 S. Capital Blvd.)