Free Republic

Mary Katharine Ham wrote last week about the porkfest in the Senate bill authorizing emergency relief spending for Hurricane Sandy, but the Senate hasn’t gotten the message yet. David Francis reports on more aspects of the larded-up bill for The Fiscal Times, while noting that this has become business as usual on Capitol Hill — especially while the normal budgeting process has been derailed: The Sandy emergency spending package also contains provisions that had previously been rejected or had not yet been considered by Congress. This includes a measure that alters how the federal government manages areas prone to flooding,...

And the probe doesn’t involve some bit players in an obscure program, either.  The 1603 Program was one of the centerpieces of Barack Obama’s 2009 stimulus, designed to subsidize a transition from hydrocarbon-based energy to renewables in the residential market, and federal government sunk $13 billion into the effort.  Now the Inspector General of Treasury has opened a probe of the three largest providers of solar panel installations, who gained the most from the 1603 Program, and who may have fraudulently calculated their bills in order to claim more taxpayer cash: Three of the country’s most prolific installers of...

News: Watchdog DHS grants 'like winning the lottery' for state, local officials December 5, 2012 | 11:00 am | Modified: December 5, 2012 at 11:05 am America is prepared if pumpkin-starved zombies that can only be killed with flavored snowballs invade, thanks to billions of dollars in federal grants to harden the homeland against terror attacks. What's not clear is whether the United States is any better protected against more conventional attacks by actual humans using guns, bombs or chemical weapons, according to report on wasteful spending of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) money issued today by Sen. Tom Coburn,...

Detroit councilwoman JoAnn Watson said Obama should help bail Detroit out of its financial crisis. The city faces a budget deficit of more than $200 million and is deep in debt. A Detroit city councilwoman thinks President Obama owes her city for his election victory – and it’s time to pay up. JoAnn Watson said Obama should help bail Detroit out of its financial crisis after its residents overwhelmingly voted him back into the White House, local Fox station WJBK reported. Detroit faces a budget deficit of more than $200 million and is deep in debt. "After the election of...

In an effort to help farmers across Minnesota who are facing uncertainty because a new Farm Bill hasn't been passed by the House of Representatives, U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) urged Senate leadership to include the bipartisan, Senate-passed Farm Bill in any deal brokered to address the nation's fiscal challenges. "Minnesota's farmers, livestock producers, and rural entrepreneurs support one in five jobs in our state, and they need a new Farm Bill so they can plan for next year," said Sen. Franken. "The Senate has passed a comprehensive Farm Bill that will give our farmers the stability they need, but...

This article was adapted from the Autumn 2012 issue of City Journal. Despite a bleak decade for air travel—the result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the post-2008 economic downturn—local governments, aided by Washington, have been pouring billions of dollars into airport development and expansion. They claim that these expensive, debt-laden facilities will spur growth in economically precarious locales by attracting businesses that want more air connections. But from Cincinnati to the Florida Panhandle, this Field of Dreams approach—build it, and they will come—hasn’t worked. In 1978, Washington transformed America’s airline industry, deregulating fares, routes, and the entry of new...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://frontpagemag.com - If Muslims Can’t Eat Pork, No One Can Eat PorkPosted By Daniel Greenfield On November 12, 2012 @ 12:45 pm In The Point | 20 Comments There’s a difference between accommodating the religious beliefs of employees by allowing them to pray or take time off on holidays and forcing everyone else to accommodate them by preventing them from having a ham sandwich. But that’s what BooHoo clothing , a UK online retailer of trashy outfits, has done by declaring their workplace a Halal environment where no one is allowed to eat pork.But it...

I am curious. Does Obama eat pork? I don't recall anywhere seeing Obama having pork on the menu, eating pork, visiting a hog farm, or anything of the sort....

For a moment there, hogs everywhere might have been snorting a sigh of relief. Earlier this week there was the prediction that a global pork shortage would drive up the prices of bacon, chops and other pork byproducts at your local grocery store. The three little pigs no doubt saw this as a sign that pork lovers would huff, puff and blow houses down elsewhere to satisfy their craving for the meat. Britain’s National Pig Association issued the earlier warning, predicting a “world shortage” of pork due to drought. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, however, said the fears across the...

The British pork industry is collapsing, and it’s a story that should serve as a warning to all of us. Why? Because the agents of its demise have the entire West in their crosshairs. The numbers are staggering. With a pig herd halved during the last decade, Britain has gone from producing 110 percent of its domestic consumption of pork to only 40 percent. This is due to many of the nation’s pig farmers having left the business, and they’re poised to be joined by 100 more this year, which represents “10% of Britain's small to medium-sized producers,” reports the...

any one have any comments on the senate stopping a vets jobs bill? I read the text and it doesn't look to be much help more like a political ploy. I am in an argument with a land of fruits and nuts guy and am running out of ammo to overcome his feed the world attitude

A British pork industry group is predicting serious shortages next year that are now "unavoidable."Fox News: A world shortage of pork and bacon next year is "now unavoidable," a British industry group said in a press release. Britain's National Pig Association (NPA) says that pig herds in Europe are shrinking. As if that isn't bad enough, this trend is "being mirrored around the world," the group says in the release. Drought conditions, especially in the U.S. and Russia, have taken a toll on the price of the grain crops used for animal feed, and world food prices are expected...

California's controversial high-speed rail project received a boost Wednesday when the Federal Railroad Administration approved the proposed Merced-to-Fresno route, clearing the way for construction to start early next year. A federal record of decision signed by Administrator Joseph Szabo represents the final bureaucratic hurdle for the California High-Speed Rail Authority. The decision gives a federal blessing to the 60-mile route and to thousands of pages of environmental review for the project. Backers of the project hailed the decision as historic for the development of the first high-speed train project in the nation and the start of construction in the central...

Well this brings a whole new meaning to the term bringing home the bacon. Actor Josh Sankey has been hand-selected by Oscar Mayer to embark on a journey unlike any other where he will be required to travel to 12 American cities using only Oscar Mayer bacon as money. Sankey’s journey will conclude in Los Angeles on September 23, 2012 if everything goes to plan. The actor/comedian will have 3,000 pounds of the company’s new, thick bacon which they insist is “worth its weight in gold” but will have no form of currency, including credit cards, debit cards, cash or...

Ever since the Obama administration’s rollout of its space policy two and a half years ago, conventional ideological wisdom has been turned on its head. An administration that had seemed eager to increase government involvement in everything from auto companies to health care proposed a more competitive, privatized approach to spaceflight, and people claiming to be conservatives blasted it, demanding that the traditional (and failing) NASA monopoly continue. Jim Muncy, a former aide on space policy to California congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R.), put it cleverly: “Democrats don’t think that capitalism works within the atmosphere, and Republicans apparently don’t think it...

U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young has been in Congress since 1970. That was the last time he faced a Republican opponent in a primary, too. Every Democrat who has tried to unseat him has lost badly. Thanks to his longevity and his savvy at funneling federal money to his district, Young has literally become part of the Tampa Bay landscape, with several government buildings and a 15.5-billion gallon reservoir named after him. Now, for the first time in 42 years, the 81-year-old political veteran is facing Republican opposition. Young has drawn not one but two Republican challengers for Tuesday's primary....

Islam is incompatible with American Society. “We don’t have the option of putting unattractive women in burqas. And if it weren’t for alcohol, liberal women might never have children.” Islam is going to take away your Bacon and your Beer.

....breathtaking scenes with the Discover America’s signature song ‘Land of Dreams’ written and sung by Roseanne Cash, viewers don’t get a raincheck on the campaign’s multicultural theme and the spiral in the sand that builds the Open Society Logo in opening scenes. Such is the power of subliminal.  Discover America is $12.3 million dollars worth of free advertising for Soros. Blame Brand USA for the Open Society’s free advertising ride. Brand USA is governed by an 11-member Board of Directors appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, with headquarters based in Wa, DC. “Brand USA was established by the Travel...

A shocking and disturbing video taken by an undercover investigator at a pig farm depicts the horrific extent of animal cruelty being practiced at a pork-supply company used by Walmart. Mercy For Animals released the graphic video which documents the daily animal abuse allegedly taking place at Christensen Farms in Minnesota. The video depicts hundreds of pigs packed into cages so tiny, they can barely move or even turn around. Some of the usually-social animals bite down on the bars just for something to do.

As Gov. Jerry Brown barrels ahead with high-speed trains, he could find that his quest for a legacy derails the November tax measure he desperately needs to repair the state budget. For his entire political career, Brown has lived in the shadows of his visionary father, Pat, the governor from 1959-67 who brought us the State Water Project and the master plan for California higher education. The younger Brown has always been a big thinker in search of his own legacy. But, after his first gubernatorial tenure, from 1975-83, he was best remembered as Gov. Moonbeam, the ideas guy who...