Free Republic

A geothermal energy company with a $98.5 million loan guarantee from the Obama administration for an alternative energy project in Nevada - which received hearty endorsements from Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid - faces financial problems, and the company’s auditors have questioned whether it can stay in business. Much like Solyndra LLC, a California solar-panel manufacturer with a $535 million federal loan guarantee that went bankrupt, Nevada Geothermal Power (NGP) has incurred $98 million in net losses over the past several years, has substantial debts and does not generate enough cash from its current operations...

Another group of unclaimed veterans’ remains will be placed in a columbaria at the Southern Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery during a 1 p.m. ceremony Friday. It will the third placing of unclaimed remains, some whom were homeless or indigent veterans, headed by the Missing In America Project. Bob Day, the Arizona M.I.A.P. state coordinator said, “Similar to no man left behind in battle, we believe no veteran should be forgotten and that each deserves to be laid to rest with honor to acknowledge his or her contributions to our freedom.” The Friday event will begin in Tucson where the cremains...

Satellite photos used to be for military eyes only, but Google Earth changed all that. Now something similar is happening to the ocean depths, with any web user able to listen in and "surf the sea floor" - and the US Navy is not happy."The cable is going underneath here," says Benoit Pirenne, standing at the water's edge on Canada's Vancouver Island. "It's going out 500 miles (800km) in a big loop in the ocean, coming back in the same place." The Vancouver cable connects a network of scientific instruments on the floor of the north Pacific, some as deep...

So earlier this year, I came across a great deal, two late '60's Winchester model 94 30-30's, one was in decent shape and had an octagon barrel (unfortunately not the collectable one) and the other a total rust bucket I was just going to use for a wall piece. Paid $50 each for them, great deal! I got thinking last night that I should just do something crazy with the rust bucket it since it will never be a valuable rifle so I stripped the old blue off and started working on the pitted rust and it came to me....

Documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal open a rare window into a new global market for the off-the-shelf surveillance technology that has arisen in the decade since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The techniques described in the trove of 200-plus marketing documents include hacking tools that enable governments to break into people’s computers and cellphones, and "massive intercept" gear that can gather all Internet communications in a country. The documents—the highlights of which are cataloged and searchable here...[snip]

George Soros’s latest attempt in new media is about two years behind the conservative trailblazers who changed the face of elections and political blogging. At 27, he is a full-time “tracker” for American Bridge 21st Century, a new Democratic organization that aims to record every handshake, every utterance by Republican candidates in 2011 and 2012, looking for gotcha moments that could derail political ambitions or provide fodder for television advertisements by liberal groups next year. [...] While the Democratic National Committee and Democratic candidates also have trackers, federal campaign laws prohibit the outside organizations from coordinating closely

Imagine a scenario in which the media outlet most afflicted with Barack Obama Sycophancy Syndrome (BOSS) – the place Chris ‘thrill up my leg’ Matthews calls home – presented a ’smoking gun’ that could implicate the Obama White House in a cover-up akin to that of Watergate but with the added scarlet letter of murder. The notion of such a thing would be like Woodward and Bernstein ignoring Deep Throat. Impossible, right? Yes, unless it did so unintentionally. It looks like that honor may just go to none other than Michael Isikoff who, in September of 2010, wrote about an...

Arizona lawmakers want to erect a fence along the border with Mexico - whether the federal government thinks it's necessary or not. They've got a plan that could get a project started using online donations and prison labour. If they get enough money, all they would have to do is get cooperation from landowners and construction could begin as soon as this year. Governor Jan Brewer recently signed a bill that sets the state on a course to building a permanent barrier along its borders, and a website is being launched to raise money for the work.

Three Project Gunrunner documents Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican and House Oversight Committee chairman, released on Wednesday show high-ranking Justice Department officials were aware of Operation Fast and Furious and that there was a consistent administration policy that allowed American guns to be “walked” into Mexican drug cartels’ possession. One of the documents shows Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer approved a wiretap application for suspects Operation Fast and Furious targeted in March 2010. The wiretap application process is lengthy and cumbersome, and often requires those applying to make strong case as to why they need it. So, Breuer would have...

Top GOP oversight officials say they took their investigation of the Justice Department’s “Project Gunrunner” – in which military-grade weapons were permitted to be smuggled into Mexico – to the Phoenix, Arizona last week and that transcribed interviews with key officials there contradict the agency’s official story. In a May 3 letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, House oversight committee Chairman Darrell Issa and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley criticize Holder for continuing to deny the increasingly apparent facts that guns were allowed to be smuggled across the border. Grassley even added a personal touch, advising in a handwritten “P.S.”...

I want to thank you for getting involved with the CB Patriot Project. I am excited about the initial response considering this project was launched just this past week. The fact is that we have members joining us from our home state of Florida all the way across the US as far as California & Oregon. For those who signed up to participate, we will be reaching out to you from time to time to organize as we fill up more areas with like-minded and like-value patriots. "Test runs" will follow once we have enough members among us. That will...

Americans are dangerously inter-dependent upon cell phone towers and Internet servers throughout the nation. Whether intentional or by natural disaster, ALL of these can be instantly shut down during “emergencies”. The CB Patriot Project is organizing around a simple technology and making it the back-bone of an emergency plan. By linking patriotic Americans across their homes, cities, states & country, we will be prepared for national or regional emergencies that could otherwise shut down our ability to communicate with one another. After the financial meltdown of 2007 and the 2008 elections, millions of Americans organically organized and united with one...

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...

“I’m ready to offer my services for ur project. Contact me at ur earliest convenience 2 arrange for interview. Thanks in advance for ur consideration.” That’s a real cover letter from a real person claiming to be a real professional, who thinks she can get a real job. The letter was fielded by publicist and trend-spotter Richard Laermer, who gets so many of these he collects them and, when asked, forwards them to reporters for fun. The letter “just made me shake my head till it nearly fell off.” But it isn’t rare. In fact, Laermer says, it’s typical. “Lazy...

To commemorate this historic moment in time, when the President finally fessed up and admitted to making a mistake [although he says he only made a 'tactical' mistake], I decided to post the following Youtube video. [Scroll down for the video] Enjoy!: But first a little background material: President Obama recently sat down for an hour-long interview with the New York Times’ White House correspondent, Peter Baker. "During our hour together," writes Baker, "Obama told me he had no regrets about the broad direction of his presidency. But he did identify what he called 'tactical lessons'." Among the lessons gleaned...

A scientist and his wife who used to work at a high-level U.S. energy laboratory were arrested Friday after an FBI sting operation and indicted on charges of conspiring to help develop a nuclear weapon for Venezuela. After their arrest, the two appeared in federal court in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They dealt with an FBI undercover agent posing as a Venezuelan agent. The government did not allege that Venezuela or anyone working for it sought U.S. secrets.

Forgive the vanity, but wanted to put a goal/slogan out there. Here's 30 states who have the political base to elect 60 conservative senators, and form a firewall against RINOs and liberals. 1) MT 2) ID 3) NV 4) UT 5) WY 6) CO 7) NM 8) TX 9) OK 10) TN 11) KS 12) NB 13) SD 14) ND 15) AZ 16) MO 17) AR 18) MS 19) LA 20) AL 21) GA 22) SC 23) NC 24) VA 25) WV 26) KY 27) OH 28) IN 29) FL 30) AK This cycle looks excellent for purging libs and...

The chairman of a national leadership network of black conservatives Friday took the Rev. Al Sharpton to task over his criticism of Glenn Beck’s "Restoring Honor" rally, held Saturday, on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Mychal Massie, chairman of Project 21, chellenged Sharpton to a debate over whether race is more important than “the equality of all men under the Constitution and under God.” “The Constitution, and I’ve read the Constitution, permits for Glenn Beck to hold a rally. He is not in any way taking advantage

President Obama went to the groundbreaking of a road project in Columbus, Ohio, Friday to show that his massive stimulus package is still churning out jobs -- a "good news" story that was anything but for some construction workers who were trying to figure out how to make up for the payday they lost due to the president's visit. The workers were told not to report to their construction project at a nearby hospital Friday, because the Secret Service was shutting it down for security reasons. They also were told that they would not get paid for the forced day...

FORT DETRICK, Md., April 28, 2010 – In the blockbuster movie “Avatar,” Jake Sully, a former Marine who lost the use of both legs in combat, climbs into a vessel that magically restores his body when he assumes a new, 10-foot-tall avatar identity. A new project being funded through the Advanced Army Medical Technology Initiative promises to bring some of that same technology to real-life wounded warriors to promote their rehabilitation and help to ease their reintegration into society.The Amputee Virtual Environment Support Space project aims to create a virtual world in which military and veteran amputees can swap information...