Free Republic

Against GOP objections, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced that the Obama administration is sending $147 million in funding to the West Bank and Hamas-run Gaza. Despite a “hold by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.,” the administration is arguing the money needs to be sent on humanitarian grounds. They did not, however, explain how they plan to force Hamas to use the money for humanitarian purposes. And while “administrations generally do not disburse funding over the objections of lawmakers on relevant committees,” those associated with Obama have proven more than willing to sidestep Congress to place...

If California starts building a 130-mile segment of high-speed rail late this year as planned, it will enter into a risky race against a deadline set up under federal law. The bullet train track through the Central Valley would cost $6 billion and have to be completed by September 2017, or else potentially lose some of its federal funding. It would mean spending as much as $3.5 million every calendar day, holidays and weekends included — the fastest rate of transportation construction known in U.S. history, according to industry and academic experts. Over four years, the California High-Speed Rail Authority...

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) is in line to receive $150 million for the North and Southeast Corridor light-rail lines as part of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s fiscal-year 2011 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill approved last week. The House version of the FY2011 appropriations bill set aside $152 million for the projects. The full House will vote on the bill later this week. The $150 million proposed by the Senate committee would be in addition to $150 million secured in FY2010, bringing the total amount of federal funds allocated for the two light-rail projects...

As two companies compete to be the first to provide high-speed rail service between Las Vegas and Southern California in the not too distant future, a third is saying it will have a train click-clacking along next year. Las Vegas Railway Express will provide conventional passenger rail service to and from Los Angeles on existing tracks, its executives say. They’ve been studying the prospect since early 2009 and are now in the strategic planning stage for an inaugural run by mid-2011, more than three years ahead of when the planned DesertXpress high-speed rail system would make its first trip between...

This is the official live thread for the Space Shuttle Atlantis.. This mission among others prove one thing..... Humans can do a job 99 times better than robots..

U.S. newspaper businesses face the possibility of "unending losses" and Berkshire Hathaway wouldn't invest in the industry "at any price," Chairman Warren Buffett told shareholders on Saturday. "They were the ultimate business 30 or 40 years ago," Buffett explained at the company's annual meeting. "They lost their essential nature." Berkshire owns a large stake in the Washington Post Co. (WPO) and owns the Buffalo News. The Buffalo News is trying to develop a business model that allows it to make a little money, with the help of its unions, Buffett said. The Washington Post has other attractive businesses, but it...

Bet you didn't know that. On the other hand, you very likely did know - because it's mentioned repeatedly - that this country spends more on health care, as a percentage of gross domestic product, than every other advanced country. Why is spending so much on health care considered a national scandal by many commentators but the outsized spending on higher education is not? Could part of the answer be that the health-care system is studied, analyzed and dissected by a scholarly community that simply isn't willing to apply the same critical perspective toward the institutions that sign its checks?...

IT'S hard for Hollywood pacifists like Brian De Palma to capture the hearts and minds of America if Americans won't see their movies. While the public is staying away in droves from “Rendition," “Lions for Lambs" and “In the Valley of Elah," audiences are really avoiding “Redacted," De Palma's picture about US soldiers who rape a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, then kill her and her family.

NEW ORLEANS - The Army Corps of Engineers is proposing to divert up to $1.3 billion for levee repairs from the Mississippi River's East Bank, which was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, to the West Bank, where tens of thousands of people have resettled. The West Bank was one of the only parts of the New Orleans metropolitan area spared the flooding that followed the 2005 hurricane. But the levees protecting it - and the roughly 250,000 people who live there - are inadequate, the corps concedes. If approved, the plan has the potential to slow new levee work on the...

New Jersey took a leap forward in its self-declared race with other states for the lead in stem cell research yesterday as Gov. Jon Corzine signed a bill providing $270 million in state aid to build five research centers. Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex), a prime sponsor of the legislation, told a standing-room-only audience at the Statehouse ceremony that research to be conducted at the new centers will affect people all over the world. "The true scope of this initiative may not be felt for a decade or even longer," Codey said, "when people around the world live vastly improved...

Just yesterday, one of my favorite classic-car magazines arrived in the mail, containing a list of "10 future collector cars you should buy now." Sitting back with my morning coffee and looking over the list, I was appalled to find it contained both an AMC Matador and a Chevrolet Chevette Diesel. Well, not appalled. There's an element of offbeat good fun in stumbling across cars like these in your neighbor's backyard, but I can't see anyone actually "collecting" them on purpose. Still, I suppose this list was inevitable. After all, we live in an age where car auctioneers are wringing...

Kirtland Air Force Base NM (SPX) Jan 16, 2006 The Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center recently completed the F-22A Raptor Follow-on Operational Test and Evaluation and has rated the Air Force's newest fighter as mission capable in the air-to-ground role. This "Mission Capable" rating is part of AFOTEC's newly developed system now being applied to programs under test at AFOTEC. The new rating methodology starts with traditional effectiveness and suitability measures as a foundation for determining potential operational impacts on mission accomplishment in the expected operational environment.

Federal officials warn that the Big Dig's cost may rise by an estimated $75 million, forcing state taxpayers to cover any increase. The projected hike, outlined in a memo drafted by the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general, would be the first increase in the project's price tag since 2001. There are numerous reasons for the possible hike, federal officials told The Boston Globe: Officials may have miscalculated the cost of settling disputes with Big Dig contractors and underestimated how much money the state will recover from contractors that performed late or shoddy work. A spokesman for Transportation Inspector General...

President Bush will request billions more to help rebuild the levee system in New Orleans, Louisiana, Donald Powell, the top federal official for reconstruction, announced Thursday. "The levee system will be better and safer than it's ever been before," Powell said at the White House. When asked if the levees would be built to withstand a Category 5 storm, officials used broader language instead, promising that the city's citizens would be safe and the levees would be "stronger and better." "The federal government is committed to building the best levee system known in the world," said Powell. "It's a complicated...

What lies at the bottom of the Money Pit? Imagine yourself walking through the trees of a wooded island rumored to hide buried pirate treasure. Suddenly you come across a depression in the ground. It's roughly circular and there's a tree standing above it with a branch that has been cut and appears to have been used as a pulley. Your imagination is fired and hope soars. You run off to get your friends and digging equipment. You and two friends return the next day, shovels in hand, ready to claim your prize. The digging is easy. The dirt...

It may look like a fixer-upper at first glance, but what is buried beneath scrubby little Oak Island might just make its estimated $7 million price tag worth the investment. Oak Island, in Nova Scotia, is famous for its Money Pit, a mystery that has endured two centuries, claimed six lives and swallowed up millions in life savings. The Pit was discovered in 1795 by a local boy named Daniel McGinnis who, spotting an unusual clearing in the earth under one of the island's oak trees, was prompted to start digging. The discovery of layered planks, mysterious stone slabs, and...

At the moment, rescue and relocation are the primary concerns along the Gulf Coast ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. In time restoration will become the leading issue. Most property owners from Mobile, Ala., to New Orleans will want their buildings repaired or replaced. They will seek to recreate the past instead of looking to the future. A more comprehensive approach is appropriate. Let's consider the Gulf Coast as a region, centered on New Orleans, that stretches from Florida to Texas. This area is highly attractive for an extraordinary variety of commercial and recreational purposes. It also is hurricane prone. Given what...

High maintenance women are like high maintenance sports cars. They're lots of fun when you're out on the town together, but for every hour of showing off, there are another 10 spent on upkeep and repair behind the scenes. After hours of polishing the headlights in your garage, you might ask yourself -- is this really worth it, just for a couple of rides? Probably not, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't consider dating high maintenance women. Read on to learn how to identify these demanding gals, and the positives and negatives that go along with them. TELLTALE SIGNS...

RIDING THE RAIL Late-night rail service's fate riding on Metro evaluation Low ridership could spell end to 'last call' trains By LUCAS WALL Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Late-night bar patrons downtown might be running out of time to use the train as their designated driver. Metro is reviewing whether to continue late rail service on Friday and Saturday nights. The extended weekend hours began in June at the request of city officials and downtown businesses who hoped the availability of the rail ride might lure more customers. It hasn't happened. "Ridership has been disappointing, but Metro leadership is now working...

'AIR AMERICA' FADES MONTH TO MONTH: 2.2 SHARE APRIL DEBUT, 1.7 SHARE IN MAY, 1.2 SHARE IN JUNE...