Free Republic

**SNIP** The president says that he is "under no illusions" about the situation in Syria, where government forces and rebel groups have clashed for two years. But he says Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime continues to weaken and will eventually come to an end.

It’s no secret that San Francisco hasn’t invested much money in bicycling improvements — almost nothing until the past couple of years. But even those relatively small investments have led to a surge in the number of commuters riding their bikes in San Francisco. Over the past decade the number of trips being taken by bicycle have increased by 71 percent. Now, bike advocates — and the Municipal Transportation Agency — would like to see what happens if they put some real money — perhaps as much as half a billion over the next five years — behind biking.

(11-29) 12:56 PST San Francisco -- Things are looking up for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's controversial plan to transform the old tank factory and postal facility at 390 Main St. into a suitable place for regional agencies to cohabit - particularly the price tag. The estimated cost now stands at $218 million, which is $38 million higher than the original estimate from July 2011 but $51 million more than the most recent estimate, adopted in November 2011. (The projected cost fell after the agency bought the building at a lower price.)

Just how many new riders would jump on a train to one of Silicon Valley's most desired destinations? About 200, it turns out -- and it would cost taxpayers up to $175 million to build the rail line to Los Gatos. The new projections come from the Valley Transportation Authority's updated forecast for a long-envisioned light-rail extension. Still years from reality, the Los Gatos line would be one of the least-used light-rail extensions planned in the nation -- and would reduce South Bay vehicle traffic by a mere 0.01 percent.

I am reliably told that NBC and Matt Lauer are closing in on a deal that will pay him an estimated $25 million per year over the course of a multiyear deal, possibly as many as three, but more likely two. NBC declined to comment.

Rags to riches tale of kitty who went from living on the streets to lap of luxury once down-on-his-luck stray cat has become the world’s richest kitty — thanks to a childless widow who left him $8.5 million in her will. Tommaso the black cat, who once scoured the streets of Rome for food, can now afford a gilded litter box with the inheritance. In a handwritten will penned shortly before her death last month, Maria Assunta, 94, ordered that the money from her real estate empire should keep the green-eyed feline she rescued in the lap of luxury. Animals...

For about $1 million, you can get a taste of Lake Wobegon on the St. Croix River. Garrison Keillor has put his 11.5-acre riverfront property in Pierce County, Wis., up for sale. Complete with 460 feet of shoreline and clay tennis courts, the two-parcel property features four dwellings: a nearly 1,900-square-foot log home, a log guest home, a studio and a detached office. "It's in the woods - it feels like a hamlet," said Joyce Peterson, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Burnet. The office, which, Peterson called "a writer's cottage," was where Keillor wrote the novel "Wobegon Boy," she said....

Madison - The top four spenders on lobbying the Legislature during the first half of 2011 were labor unions fighting against Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to curb collective bargaining, a report released Thursday showed. The four unions spent $6.3 million in the first six months of the year, the Government Accountability Board reported. Walker introduced his plan in February and the Republican-controlled Legislature passed it in March. The unions helped organize rallies at the Capitol in protest over the bill that grew as large as 100,000 people. The debate, which captured the nation's attention, also spurred Democratic senators to leave...

Over 153,000 people gather across country to take part in social protest movement marches, rallies being held; protesters in Tel Aviv's Kikar HaMedina prepare for huge rally. Over 100,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening for social movement protests taking place as part of the “March of the Million.” People were gathering in Kikar Hamedina in the city where a huge rally was set to take place after a march through the streets of the city.

HOLLYWOOD— The gunman's orders were dreadfully clear. "You will follow my demands," he said, "or I will kill this child." His pistol was pointed at the head of a baby in a stroller. The young victim was among employees and customers caught in a million-dollar, broad daylight heist at Koosh Jewelers on Tuesday. Apart from frayed nerves no one, including the baby, was hurt.

New York - The United States is stepping in to help bail out another American industry -- chicken farmers and meat processors. The nation's chicken industry is having a difficult year. Chicken producers are struggling with higher costs of running their business at the same time that consumers are buying less meat. This has created a glut of chicken products in the market. Total chicken production in the first half of 2011 rose 4% compared to the same period a year ago, while demand for chicken has cooled, (Snip) The Department of Agriculture, keenly aware of these issues, announced Monday

Leave Congress in disgrace? Collect one million dollarsThe Daily Caller Thu, Jul 28, 2011 Oregon Democratic Rep. David Wu is leaving Congress without his dignity — after donning a tiger costume and allegedly sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman — but he will have a generous congressional pension to ease the pain. According to the National Taxpayers Union, Wu stands to benefit from nearly $1 million in pension payments. And his case is far from unique. In fact, congressmen convicted of crimes — including former Reps. James Traficant of Ohio, William Jefferson of Louisiana and Duke Cunningham of California — can...

Ruger is attempting to become the first firearms manufacturer to sell one million guns in one year. They issued the following release saying what happens if they meet their sales goal. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE: RGR) is proud to announce the "Million Gun Challenge" to benefit the NRA. Ruger pledges to donate $1,000,000 to the NRA if one million new Ruger firearms are sold between the 2011 and 2012 NRA Shows. "Our goal is to present the NRA with a check for one million dollars during the 141st NRA Annual Meeting in St. Louis next April," said Ruger...

Well, Florida pastor Terry Jones has gone and done it. The evangelical minister, who threatened last September 11 to burn a copy of the Koran and then backed down in the face of public pressure, has made good on his incendiary promise. With 30 people present as witnesses, he set fire to a copy of the embattled religious text. And, as happens in the event of real or imagined slights, the other shoe summarily dropped. No sooner had Jones fired up his Bic than an Islamic “court” in Pakistan found him guilty of the crime of desecrating the religion’s most...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP/WBTV) - North Carolina transportation officials say they've reached an agreement that will allow them to obtain $461 million in federal grants to improve train service. The agreement will allow faster and more frequent passenger service between Charlotte and Raleigh. State transportation secretary Gene Conti says the agency will seek bids for contracts for tracks, bridges and trains. Officials say the new service would cut travel time from Charlotte to Raleigh to less than three hours, even with seven stops along the way. However, the ride will only be 13 minutes faster. The project is expected to create...

Here's your eye-popping statistic of the day, courtesy Stephen Losey at Federal Times: Does job performance play a factor in employee raises and step increases? Unions defending the General Schedule say yes. But the latest numbers say clearly no. Only 737 out of more than 1.2 million GS employees — or one in every 1,698 — were denied a regularly scheduled step increase and accompanying raise in 2009 because of poor performance, according to data provided by the Office of Personnel Management at Federal Times' request. That equates to a 0.06 percent denial rate, which is far lower than any...

Official figures to be published on Thursday will confirm that foreign immigration under Labour added more than three million to our population. At the same time nearly one million British citizens voted with their feet, some saying that they were leaving because England was no longer a country that they recognised. How could all this have happened in the teeth of public opposition? Even the Labour government’s own survey last February showed that 77 per cent of the public wanted immigration reduced, including 54 per cent of the ethnic communities, while 50 per cent of the public wanted it reduced

Retiree Care to Cost City $4.4 BillionBy ELIZABETH LESLY STEVENS Published: December 16, 2010 After months of delays, the San Francisco controller’s office announced Thursday that it expected the city to pay $4.4 billion to provide municipal retirees and their dependents with lifetime health benefits. The city has set aside $9.7 million to cover the costs. The estimate of San Francisco’s unmet health care liability has been closely watched by ratings agencies, labor unions and other groups concerned about the city’s long-term finances. Moody’s Investors Service downgraded San Francisco’s debt rating in November, citing the enormous retiree health-care obligations, among...

The ratings are in, and it looks like “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” is a hit. TLC says nearly 5 million total viewers tuned in to the premiere of the series. In case you haven’t seen our previous coverage, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” is a documentary series from producer Mark Burnett and starring former Alaska governor and Fox News Channel contributor Sarah Palin. TLC says 4.96 million total viewers tuned in, including 1.8 million adults 25-54, and 1.6 million adults 18-49, two of the network’s key demos. That is the best premiere in network history with regards to total viewers, beating the 2003...

Displayed in all their exquisite detail, six spectacular galaxies are pictured more clearly that they ever have before. All of them are beautiful examples of spiral galaxies and were captured in images from ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The pictures were taken in infrared light, using the impressive power of the HAWK-I camera, and will help astronomers understand how the remarkable spiral patterns in galaxies form and evolve.-incredible-new-detail.html#ixzz13uAfNijg