Free Republic

A month ago, the world's largest passenger plane, described by one over-excited spotter as "bloody enormous", made a triumphant debut at London's Heathrow. Now, in two days, the double-decker A380, which can carry 840 passengers, has fallen to earth. EADS, majority owner of the superjumbo's maker, Airbus, lost €5bn (£3.4bn) or a quarter of its market value this week.

Games and circuses once were provided by government. How better to satiate the desire of the Roman masses than to entertain them in the Arena? Today, governments build stadiums to attract sports franchises for the same purpose. But the American masses seem to be tiring of transferring billions of dollars to billionaire team owners. New York City is beset with wealthy supplicants: Major League Baseball's Yankees and Mets, and the National Football League's Jets all want new stadiums. So do the NFL San Diego. The MLB St. Louis Cardinals did too, before the legislature rejected most of their requested public...

One would think that "standing up for a stronger, more secure nation" would also include protecting our borders against the massive onslaught of illegal aliens and tons of illegal drugs entering with near impunity. Unfortunately, that is not the case at all. The federal government talks of terrorism. Well, when American citizens are not able to walk the streets of major cities because gangs of illegal aliens, not police, control those streets, we class that as terrorism. That came about, of course, because of the negligence of the central government. Our country's borders have major holes through which thousands of...

The Washington Times published a very interesting three-part series on illegal immigration.(1) This series should be required reading for those in many states who wonder why their local taxes are so high. According to The Times, there are an estimated 8 million to 12 million illegal aliens living and working in the United States. Worse yet, they have little or no real fear of ever being detained or deported. Because, the federal government only has a total of 2,300 federal agents assigned to apprehend them. As reported, if the current roster of 2,300 agents dedicated to pursuing illegal aliens now...

BLAGNAC, France - European aircraft maker Airbus SAS on Friday launched production of its A380 "superjumbo," the biggest ever commercial airliner, stepping up its challenge to U.S. rival Boeing Co. which has staked its future on a new mid-sized jet. During a ceremony attended by French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Airbus unveiled the first fuselage at its new $435 million assembly plant near the southern city of Toulouse. The 545-acre site will receive sections of the plane built by Airbus workers in France, Germany, Britain and Spain and transported to Toulouse on specially constructed ships, river barges and trucks. The...

The most interesting news of the day is rarely in the A-section; it’s buried in the back pages of the Wall Street Journal, where you get a glimpse into some small aspect of the future that will die or flourish in months to come. My favorite article today concerned the French computer game industry, and yes there is such a thing. Turns out that it’s in the pissoir for all the usual reasons - the companies can’t fire anyone when business heads sud, the taxes are onerous, and, uh, the games suq. But the French PM believes that the industry...