Free Republic

I have a friend who recently joined Free Republic after an epiphany of realization that lead her to convert to a conservative virtually overnight, and now she's getting quite an education by reading FR. But she's frustrated because she can't join ping lists or send messages to people. Apparently newbies are blocked from doing a lot of things, but I can't find the rules written down anywhere. What are newbies forbidden to do, and for how long, and how do the restrictions get lifted?

My friend Jack pulled the car into a grassy clearing. We donned rubber boots, fetched a metal detector and digging tools from the trunk, and headed off along a game trail. Our mission: To dig up and test fire a pistol Jack had buried years ago. The trail disappeared into a wetland, which Jack crossed with confidence. The muddy water was only about six inches deep where he walked, but I couldn't see the bottom so I waded gingerly after him. It was at this point I discovered that my borrowed waterproof boots — weren't. I squished along after Jack....

For months, federal agencies and the White House have sidetracked dozens of major regulations that cover everything from power plant pollution to workplace safety to a crackdown on Wall Street. The rules had been largely put on hold during the presidential campaign as the White House sought to quiet Republican charges that President Barack Obama was an overzealous regulator who is killing U.S. jobs. But since the election, the Obama administration has quietly reopened the regulations pipeline. In recent weeks, the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed rules to update water quality guidelines for beaches and other recreational waters and deal...

Inhofe: Some Dems won’t ‘fall on the sword of Obama’ to defend EPA rulesBy Ben Geman - 12/02/12 02:47 PM ET Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) believes all is not lost in his push to thwart Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations despite President Obama’s victory and Democrats’ continued control of the Senate. Inhofe, one of Capitol Hill’s most persistent critics of EPA regulations on carbon dioxide and other pollutants, said in an interview broadcast Sunday that new political opportunities await EPA foes. “There are a lot of Democrats who are coming up for re-election in 2014 who are not going to...

The Obama administration issued new rules Tuesday that require insurance companies to cover people with preexisting conditions — one of the most popular provisions of President Obama’s healthcare law. The Health and Human Services Department also began to implement other popular, but expensive, parts of the Affordable Care Act. Regulations released Tuesday will prohibit insurers from charging women a higher premium than men, and will require plans in every state to cover certain services.

For the most part everything played out as I feared in this February 16th, 2010 article Coming Sequel to the Romulan-GOP Schism. The thesis of our party splitting our conservative votes over multiple candidates, thereby electing the ONE weak candidate in the race became the reality. The pundits of Fox News who are mainly responsible for this outcome are now telling us we need to further abandon the fundamental principles upon which our party was founded. We need to further -become- the Democrat Party to defeat them as though this were simply a sporting event devoid of any moral rectitude....

As many as 1,000 students at a New Jersey high school are expected to boycott their cafeteria today to protest the Obama administration’s new lunch guidelines that many teenagers say are leaving them hungry. Instead of purchasing their lunch in the cafeteria, many students at Parsippany Hills High School are brown-bagging it – upset over smaller portions and higher prices. “We’re asking everybody not to buy lunch or anything from the cafeteria,” student Brandon Faris told the Parsippany Patch. Faris, a 17-year-old senior and junior Nicholas Caccavale, organized the strike and more than 1,000 of their classmates have joined a

A judge ordered Thursday that Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in a 2009 deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood, must shave or be forcibly shaved before his trial. Judge Col. Gregory Gross had said he would deliver a definitive order this week after a hearing to determine whether Hasan would be allowed to keep his beard, which he started growing while in jail earlier this summer. Gross barred him from appearing in military court, citing the Army’s strict regulations regarding grooming standards. Hasan's attorney, Lt. Col. Kris Poppe, said his client grew the beard as a “deeply sincere”

Hurricane Isaac isn’t the only storm developing in Tampa. The Republican National Committee is brewing up one of its own. Florida has a penchant for jumping in the gun when it comes to scheduling presidential primaries. We did it in 2008 and again in 2012. Republican National Committee rules provide that when a state moves its primary ahead of those of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, the state forfeits half its delegates. That rule ended up reducing Florida’s delegates from 99 to 50 at Tampa convention.

Wisconsin --(Ammoland.com)- When Act 35 (Wisconsin’s concealed carry law) went into effect in November of last year there were “emergency rules” that were in place that defined the specific requirements of how the law would be implemented. These rules have been in place since November 1st and are the rules under which over 120,000 concealed carry licenses have been issued. The Department of Justice now wants to implement “permanent rules” that are different from the “emergency rules”. Most notably, the DOJ wants to limit class size for the state mandated “training class” that one must take before they may apply...

Maureen Dowd really, really dislikes Paul Ryan, resenting even the man's moderate demeanor for hiding what she is sure is "full-tilt virulence." Her Sunday column for the New York Times, "Beware a Beautiful Calm," not only extensively quotes that well-known political commentator Tom Morello (of the left-wing rock band Rage Against the Machine, which hasn't released a studio album since the year 2000), but diagnosed Ryan as psychologically "hysterical." What happens when you realize you are the machine you’re raging against? Tom Morello, the Grammy-winning, Harvard-educated guitarist for the metal rap band Rage Against the Machine, punctured Paul Ryan’s pretensions...

Money cannot buy you happiness... but it's more comfortable crying in a Mercedes than on a bicycle. Forgive your enemy- but don't forget the SOB's name Help a man in trouble... and he'll remember you (when he's in trouble again!) Many people exist in this world only because it's illegal to shoot them Trying to debate facts with an Obama voter is like trying trying to pick-up a cow pie by the clean end~ ___________________________________________ h/t Kirby

MADISON — The Legislature's rules committee voted Thursday to extend through mid-October temporary regulations that enacted Wisconsin's concealed carry law. The state Justice Department drafted the rules last fall to implement the Republican-authored law. The regulations allow anyone 21 years or older who can legally possess a firearm provides proof of training to apply for a concealed carry permit.

MADISON, Wis. -- State unions were dealt a setback Friday when a federal judge said they would have to get their members to opt in, rather than opt out, to having the state deduct union dues from their paychecks. What's more, the judge did not rule on dues deductions for unions that he earlier found the state improperly decertified. The state's largest unions were decertified, and the ruling -- at least for now -- will make it harder for them to get money from dues. But U.S. District Court Judge William Conley gave unions one beneficial ruling by saying that...

The Obama administration tightened rules on hydraulic fracturing Friday, requiring the disclosure of chemicals used in the process when done on federal and American Indian lands. The new rules will also require additional testing of oil and gas well construction and require the industry to have a management plan for the water used in the process. "This proposed rule will strengthen the requirements for hydraulic fracturing performed on federal and Indian lands in order to build public confidence and protect the health of American communities, while ensuring continued access to the important resources that make up our energy economy," the...

If Newt Gingrich fails to win five states, he might not be eligible in the first round of voting at the Republican National Convention. That doesn’t mean he can’t be the nominee, and it may not even complicate his chances any further than they already have been... [...] If no candidate wins on the first round of voting, primary and caucus results will matter progressively less. Some states’ delegates are bound by primary results only through the first round of convention voting. Others’ are bound through the second and third. If Gingrich enters the convention ineligible, he can still win...

On Wednesday, February 29th, an extraordinary emergency meeting of the State Republican Executive Committee was convened in Austin, TX. The purpose of the meeting was to consider adopting new rules in accordance with the San Antonio three-judge federal panel's instructions to propose a new way to pick delegates to the State Convention so as to allow for a May 29th or June 26th statewide primary date. As we previously reported, both the state Republican and Democratic parties reported to the Court that it would be impossible to comply with the current procedure for selecting delegates to state conventions and also...

House votes to roll back Department of Education rulesBy Pete Kasperowicz - 02/28/12 04:29 PM ET The House on Tuesday afternoon voted to repeal two Department of Education regulations, an act that Republicans said would help lower the cost of college for millions of students. Members approved the Protecting Academic Freedom in Higher Education Act, H.R. 2117, in a 303-114 vote. Despite Democratic complaints about the bill during floor debate, 69 Democrats joined all voting Republicans in support of the legislation. Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), who chairs the House Education and the Workforce Committee, argued on the floor that college...

House Republicans, and some Dems, press White House to kill climate rulesBy Andrew Restuccia and Ben Geman - 02/23/12 03:38 PM ET More than 200 House Republicans and about a dozen conservative Democrats called on the White House Thursday to kill pending climate regulations, arguing they will impose huge costs on consumers. “Affordable, reliable electricity is critical to keeping growing jobs in the United States and such a standard will likely drive up energy prices and threaten domestic jobs,” the 223 lawmakers, including 14 Democrats, wrote in a letter to White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) acting director...