Free Republic

Regulations: The Clean Water Act is being rewritten to give a government bureaucracy the power to regulate every body of water from the Mississippi River to a rain-flooded field. The first casualty may be American coal. With all the concern for the harm that cap-and-trade and regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant might do to the American economy and free markets, the Environmental Protection Agency is doing quite enough damage with an existing law on the books — the Clean Water Act. Congress plans to revise it to make it an even more powerful bludgeon against industry, energy producers and...

At the close of a year justly described as a "Docket-buster" -- 27 appointments on these shores... even more close at hand -- no shortage of new high-hats have had to travel some to reach their new assignments. Yet of them all, none's been called on to undergo a greater change of scenery than Bishop Fernando Isern of Pueblo, who's had to trade Miami's warm sun for a Southern Colorado so frigid that, on his ordination yesterday (photos), the news reported closures due to bursting pipes. The first Cuban exile to lead an American diocese since 1994, the 50...

The likelihood of outrage seems inevitable this year in college football: The BCS controversy, which even President Obama has issued proclamations about, seems ready to explode, since six undefeated teams - two from minor conferences - survive with only three games left in the season. Two conferences, Mountain West and Western Athletic (WAC) are excluded from automatic participation in the BCS, and must compete for one of two wildcard teams, and both still have undefeated teams. But should a team which has gone undefeated and unchallenged take a slot from Alabama or Florida, which are likely to also go undefeated......

Forty years ago, BYU and Wyoming met at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyo., for a football game that turned out to be much more than a game. It was October, 1969 -- a turbulent time in American history, with demonstrations and protests abounding around the country, sparked by the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. So when 14 black Wyoming football players decided to wear black armbands for the game against BYU -- to protest what they considered to be "racist practices" of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns and operates BYU -- and...

Almost 20% of West Virginians eligible to vote are either dead or have moved. Five States with the Most Dead People Eligible to Vote: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming. FUN TIME IN ACORN TOWN: DEAD PEOPLE RULE! Are you lonely when you go to the polling place? Want some company? Perhaps, you'd like to take along a dead "friend" to vote with you. That's a scenario that's becoming more possible across the United States. A combination of old voter registration lists that still contain the names of dead voters and voters who have moved, new "Motor Voter" legislation,...

<p>Need some FReeper help! The Tea Party Express is coming to Wyoming & Colorado on Wednesday for a series of tea party rallies and we're working hard in the short time that remains to get the word out and build up the sizes of the crowds.</p>

After what could be the first grizzly bear attack on a human in the Upper Green, a 46-year-old sheepherder was life-flighted to Idaho Falls early Monday morning after being seriously mauled. The grizzly began its rampage in the early hours in a sheep herd grazing near Forest Road 617, at the eastern edge of the Gros Ventre Wilderness near Tosi Creek. The herd is tended by Marcello Tejeda, of Rock Springs, and Jorge Mesa, both of whom were awakened by what they thought was a black bear in the sheep, according to their employer, rancher Mary Thoman of Fontenelle. Monday,...

The Associated Press must have thought that it had quite a story on its hands when it published "Protest brews over Cheney center at Univ. of Wyo." After all, it had Dearth Cheney, protesters, a university and a petition drive to keep the evil VP at bay. It was all the makings of a good story of "controversy" of the Bush/Cheney years. Apreantly the era of hope-n-change has not quite depleted the APs desire to rehash the Bush years. As it happens, the Cheney family is donating $3.2 million to the University of Wyoming for the new Cheney International Center...

In a last effort to give the Senate a bipartisan health care bill, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee circulated a comprehensive proposal on Sunday to overhaul the health care system and proposed a new fee on insurance companies to help pay for coverage of the uninsured. ... The proposal by Mr. Baucus does not include a public option, or a government-run insurance plan, to compete with private insurers, as many Democrats want. ... It remains to be seen how Mr. Baucus’s plan might mesh with any proposals Mr. Obama lays out as he tries to pump up support...

State agents are investigating a Saturday incident in which a 76-year-old man driving a tractor in Glenrock was tasered by police after allegedly failing to obey their orders. The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation will look into whether anyone connected to the incident committed a crime, said Special Agent Tim Hill. The incident happened at Glenrock's annual Deer Creek Days event. Glenrock police said the man, who was operating an antique tractor, failed to obey directions in a parade, Hill said. At some point afterward, police subdued and tasered the man. During the incident, the man's tractor apparently ran into...

Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal today transmitted the following memorandum and proposed resolution on state sovereignty to the Wyoming Legislature’s Management Council. MEMORANDUM To: Management Council Members From: Dave Freudenthal, Governor Date: July 28, 2009 Re: Sovereignty Resolution As you know, individual states have been adopting Sovereignty Resolutions over the past few years. Such resolutions have been considered by the Wyoming Legislature over the years as well. Representative Illoway is working on one for this session. The attached version expands slightly on the versions currently circulating. The resolution includes a list of specific federal laws and a reference to the idea...

Jerry Ruth saw the grizzly for just a fraction of a second before it was on him. Within seconds, the 275-pound animal had crushed the Wyoming man's jaw when it bit him in the face, fractured his rib and punctured his lung and left deep bite wounds in his calf and scratches across his back. Ruth grabbed for the .41-caliber magnum revolver he was carrying in a hip holster and relied on his training and experience as a police officer to save his life. He fired three times, saving three bullets in case his first shots failed. Ruth said he...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture again has excluded national forests in Wyoming from receiving federal economic stimulus program money. The federal agency on Tuesday announced nearly $275 million in new federal funds for improvements to U.S. Forest Service trails and facilities in 32 states. It included none for Wyoming.

A crew from the Weather Channel, as part of the VORTEX2 tornado study, caught the full life cycle of a tornado in Wyoming the other day -- including an incredible look inside tornado as its top leaned down toward the camera. Can anyone get a screencap of the tornado about 1:45 in? Amazing stuff.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal concedes that he could have stretched next year’s budget without $230 million in cuts, but that it would be a very short-sighted view to take. Freudenthal addressed a packed room of Wyoming stock growers during their annual convention Friday at Cam-plex Energy Hall. He started the speech with a rundown of agriculture bills that didn’t make it through the state Legislature in the last session, but then moved into his recent 10 percent budget cut for the next fiscal year. “We are not the federal government,” Freudenthal said. “We don’t borrow money, we don’t print money and,...

A THREE-TOED dinosaur which once roamed the Isle of Skye may have been the same species as one whose prints have been found in the Red Gulch mountains in Wyoming, paleontologists said yesterday. The 170 million-year-old tracks are so similar that Glasgow paleontologist Neil Clark believes the Wyoming dinosaurs may have swum or waded over to Skye – which at that time was part of an island off the east coast of America. US scientists now plan to put his theories to the test, using 3D mapping technology to compare both sets of footprints. Dr Clark, Curator of Paleontology at...

Note: The following text is a quote: Eight Uzbekistan Nationals Among 12 Charged with Racketeering, Human Trafficking & Immigration Violations in Scheme to Employ Illegal Aliens in 14 States Twelve defendants, including eight Uzbekistan nationals, have been charged in a 45-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., on May 6, 2009, on RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) charges related to labor racketeering, forced labor trafficking and immigration and other violations in 14 states. Abrorkhodja Askarkhodjaev, 30, Nodir Yunusov, 22, Rustamjon Shukurov, 21, citizens of Uzbekistan residing in Mission, Kan.; Ilkham Fazilov, 44, Nodirbek...

It's been said that conservatism has different meanings for different people. It may not be textbook, but without a whole lot of navel gazing, here's what it means to me and what Free Republic is all about: In a word, Freedom! In two words, Preserving Freedom. In a handful of words as stated by our Founding Fathers, to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity! America was founded on the proposition that all men are created equal by God and that our unalienable rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness are granted directly by God...

Do not believe the nattering nabobs of negativity. The Nationwide Tax Day TEA Party/Tax Revolt was a huge success!! What we need now is MORE and LOUDER!! Obama has no clue. Being confronted by millions of fed-up citizens is new to him. He never expected the otherwise docile American people to rise up against his wannabe Marxist/fascist totalitarian regime. He's now lashing out at us through the Dept of Homeland Security as if We the People are his enemy. Well, we are! And he now knows it. And he's scared witless!! And the media has been reduced to the speechless,...

Congratulations FReepers and Patriots! According to Henchster's ongoing tallies, we've surpassed 750,000 participants in our nationwide Tax Day TEA Party/Tax Revolt! Woo hoo!! All 50 states fully engaged! Over 600 cities represented and reports still coming in! Huge turnout, huge SUCCESS!! Elected officials take note: DO NOT TREAD ON ME!! Tyranny, usurpation, corruption, overreaching, big spending, high taxing will no longer be tolerated! We the people are FED-UP and we're not going to take it anymore! Ignore us at your own peril! All Congressional seats, all elected offices throughout the land at risk! Revolution is in the air!!

If the Obama administration has taken flak for suggesting that conservative groups might be home to domestic terrorists, it looks like some House Democrat leaders are willing to go even further: But in an interview on Fox TV in San Francisco, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) chalked up the GOP grass-roots effort as “AstroTurf.” “This initiative is funded by the high end; we call it AstroTurf, it's not really a grass-roots movement. It's AstroTurf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class,” Pelosi said....

After the 2010 census has been held, the number of seats held by each state in the U.S. House of Representatives will change. The National Conference of State Legislatures recently estimated what the 2010 reapportionment will mean for each state. Eight states are expected to lose one seat each, in the U.S. House and in the Electoral College. They are Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. States that will gain will be Texas (3 seats), and one each for Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Utah. If the bill now pending in Congress to expand the...

We cheer the reddest. We corn the hardest. And, apparently, we grin the widest. Because Nebraska is the happiest state in the U.S., a new study says. The survey — conducted by personal finance Web site MainStreet.com — ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia from fiscally happiest to saddest based on a few factors of economic well-being. These included foreclosure numbers, unemployment rates and the ratio of average debt to average annual income. “It reflects the attitude of this state,” said Gov. Dave Heineman. “We are a positive people with a can-do attitude who are focused on...

Are you ready for a FReepathon!!? Well, it's a new quarter and a new president and he's everything we knew he would be. In less than 90 days he's managed to take an economic downturn and turn it into an unmitigated disaster for good old American capitalism. Never let a good crisis go to waste! The government is now printing money as fast as they can run the presses. Our federal budget is doubling and tripling and the Fed is running with no controls or oversight whatsoever from the congress, pumping trillions more into the "economy." The government now spends...

The state of Wyoming has adopted a resolution to inform Washington bureaucrats and bureaucracies of its opposition to any plans to hold a Constitutional Convention that would recommend changes or alterations to the nation's founding document. House Enrolled Joint Resolution 3 was signed recently by Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal. The Wyoming Family Coalition said the measure, sponsored by state Rep. Bob Brechtel, R-Casper, is intended to announce the state's opposition to "any attempts to dismantle the United States Constitution which has generally served the country well for nearly 230 years." WND reported earlier when Wyoming legislators expressed alarm at the...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – A blizzard shut down major highways Monday in Wyoming and South Dakota, and meteorologists said one mountainous area might get as much as 40 inches of snow. Mount Rushmore National Memorial closed because of the icy, blinding weather in South Dakota's rugged Black Hills. Temperature plummeted as the storm moved eastward and wind gusted to more than 60 mph. Some residents of hard-hit northeast Wyoming said they had heeded forecasts and stocked up on groceries. "We are well prepared for a day or two of blizzard conditions,"

In a second reversal of the Bush administration, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday he is scrapping leases for oil-shale development on federal land in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Salazar rescinded a lease offer made last month for research, development and demonstration projects that could have led to oil-shale works on 1.9 million acres in the three states, greatly expanding the program. "I am withdrawing that Jan. 14 solicitation because in my view it was a midnight decision, and it was flawed," Salazar told reporters on a teleconference call from Washington, D.C

The State of Wyoming has announced they are dropping reciprocity with fifteen states because their "concealed firearm permit statutes are not sufficiently similar to Wyoming’s." Ohio was one of only eight states kept. As listed on their website: The Wyoming Attorney General holds that if a misdemeanor drug conviction disqualifies a Wyoming resident, it also needs to disqualify an out-of-state permit holder. Due to the difference in how each state handles controlled substance convictions, Wyoming is also limited in our ability to maintain reciprocity with states we may have previously. Wyoming recognizes concealed firearm permits from the following states. Accordingly,...

JACKSON, Wyo. — When the mighty elk herds of the West were facing the possibility of extinction from overhunting, settlement and neglect a century ago, people here stepped forward and began what has turned out to be a profound biological experiment....A federal lawsuit filed last year by a coalition of environmental groups charges that feeding the elk violates the Fish and Wildlife Service’s charter to manage refuges for healthy populations and biological integrity.

Environmentalists say deciding now on Idaho and Montana populations will prolong the legal battle over U.S. wolves.Federal wildlife managers hope to remove wolves from the endangered species list in Idaho and Montana before President-elect Barack Obama takes office. But environmentalists say a decision before President Bush leaves office will simply delay final resolution by throwing the dispute back into the courts. They say the best course is to take modest interim steps now and then let the Obama administration take a fresh look at wolf management nationwide next year. Either way, a new administration more favorable to environmentalists will inherit...

The ACLU has successfully gotten the Wyoming Department of Corrections to cater to the demands of its Muslim prisoners. Originally prisoners had to eat their meals within twenty minutes of delivery of that meal.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Democrat Barack Obama on Saturday lambasted Vice President Dick Cheney's endorsement of Republican John McCain as proof the Republican ticket is synonymous with President George W. Bush's administration. After Cheney hailed McCain as the right person to lead the country, saying the Arizona senator "understands the danger facing America," Obama mocked the Republicans for attempting to continue the policies of the last eight years. "Earlier today Dick Cheney came out of his undisclosed location and he hit the campaign trail," Obama told a rally in Pueblo, Colorado, quoting Cheney as saying he was "delighted" to back McCain....

A man apparently impersonating a police officer pulled a gun on a Gillette woman this morning after stopping her on Highway 259 between Midwest and Interstate 25. The man, who was driving a gray single cab pickup, had used a yellow light to stop the woman at about 7 a.m., said Natrona County Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Sellers. She didn't see a badge on him, so when he asked for her identification, she asked for his. That's when the man, who was wearing a black tee shirt that said "Police" on the back, pulled out a handgun. "He got irate at...

It was self defense. That’s what game and fish officials determined after a hunter shot a mountain lion north of Cokeville earlier this month. Adam Lancaster of Afton told the Wyoming game warden that he and his father were dressing out a buck mule deer they had killed when the lion moved in. Game and Fish officials say the lion was a sub-adult female apparently attracted by the smell of fresh meat – but they quickly add that such aggressive behavior toward humans is extremely rare. Lancaster told the warden the incident was over in seconds. The hunters left the...

An Excerpt From 'Neither Predator Nor Prey' We first told you about this novel by Wyoming State Shooting Association President Mark Spungin here. To recap: In a time of great economic downturn, the US Senate, in thrall to an evil leftist president, ratifies the UN Global Gun Ban Treaty. Congress passes implementing legislation and an aggressive enforcement effort is launched. There are those in Wyoming who decide not to comply with the new laws. The old ways suit them just fine, and they are willing to take whatever measures are necessary to preserve their traditional lifestyle. They have no intention...

Did anyone watch CNN before the debate..they put up an electoral map of 2004 and had Wyoming as a blue state! As a native Wyomingite who has seen Wyoming vote Republican for eternity..I am offended..what was their game in doing that? To make people in the west think it was ok to go blue?

Palin cancels Wyoming visitBy The Associated Press Thursday, September 18, 2008 2:06 AM MDT JACKSON -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will not visit Wyoming next week, deciding instead to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Taking her place at a fundraiser in Jackson Hole will be Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential nominee John McCain. **SNIP** "The people in Wyoming are so excited to have the future first lady in the state," said Amy Larimer, executive director of the state party. "The buzz is just general excitement. It's an honor for us, as well." Palin on Monday...

We recently had a chance to talk with Brother Simon Mary of the Cross, a monk at the Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Clark, Wyoming. Fr. Daniel Mary of Jesus Crucified, the Prior of the monastery, offered us this rare occasion to speak with Br. Simon Mary, in the hope that the story of his vocation would help other young men in their discernment, and inspire the prayers and generosity of our readers to preserve this monastic way of life and provide for the young men God is calling. Br. Simon Mary took us from his early,...

We recently had a chance to talk with Brother Simon Mary of the Cross, a monk at the Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Clark, Wyoming. Fr. Daniel Mary of Jesus Crucified, the Prior of the monastery, offered us this rare occasion to speak with Br. Simon Mary, in the hope that the story of his vocation would help other young men in their discernment.... Br. Simon Mary: I was born in 1984. I grew up in Cambridge, a small rural town in New York on the Vermont border. NOR: Only 24 years old -- you're still a...

Wyoming officials confirm fifth case of plague found in mountain lions Friday, June 6, 2008 4:51 PM MDT Mountain lion hunters, the owners of domestic cats and others who may come in contact with mountain lions in Wyoming and other Western states are urged to protect themselves and their animals against plague. “Plague was confirmed in a mountain lion found dead in mid-April by a landowner in rural Johnson County,” said Todd Cornish, an associate professor in the University of Wyoming College of Agriculture's Department of Veterinary Sciences. Cornish said this is the fifth case of plague confirmed in mountain...

Wyo. Lawsuit Alleges Prison Mealtime Violates Muslim Inmates' Freedom of Religion Thursday , April 03, 2008 AP CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming that a Wyoming State Penitentiary policy restricting prisoners' mealtimes violates the constitutional rights of two Muslim inmates. The ACLU filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court on behalf of Joseph Miller and Hurie Purdiman Jr., two inmates serving time at the penitentiary in Rawlins. At issue is an alleged "20-minute rule" requiring inmates to eat their meals within 20 minutes after the food is delivered to a cell or common...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a former Clinton administration appointee, announced Wednesday that he will support Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. Freudenthal said he was impressed by the large, enthusiastic crowds that turned out to see Obama when he visited Wyoming ahead of last month's caucuses. "They paid attention and were riveted and reactivated, and trying to be part of an America that's bigger than just their own self- interest," Freudenthal told The Associated Press. "And you hope that can work. Because something has got to dig us out of this morass that...

<p>With 96 percent of precincts reporting, Obama had 59 percent to Clinton’s 40 percent. Both candidates campaigned in the state ahead of the caucuses, but the onus was on Obama to regain his momentum after Clinton disrupted his winning streak Tuesday, scoring wins in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island.</p>

CASPER, Wyo. - Barack Obama was the projected winner in Wyoming's Democratic caucuses on Saturday, clenching a majority of the 12 delegates, NBC News declared.

Associated Press CHEYENNE - The House restored a critical provision to a self-defense bill Thursday, specifying that citizens have no duty to retreat before using deadly force. The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday had stripped the "no-retreat" language from the bill. But a motion to restore the language from sponsor Rep. Lorraine Quarberg, R-Thermopolis, passed Thursday in the House by a vote of 29-22. The House then gave preliminary approval to the entire bill, House Bill 137. It needs to pass twice more in the House before heading to the Senate. Quarberg and other supporters have said that Wyoming needs...

**EXCERPT** CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - A bill that sought to make it a felony to harbor or transport illegal immigrants in Wyoming died Tuesday when it failed to receive the required two-thirds vote for introduction in the House of Representatives.

CHEYENNE -- The results of Republican nonbinding straw polls in some Wyoming counties Saturday don't jibe with the statewide delegate selection results in favor of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. In Johnson County, for example, former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee came in first in the straw poll, while Romney was in fourth place. Johnson County Republican precinct voters chose as an alternate delegate Bob Snowdon, who is uncommitted and was the only person nominated to attend the national GOP convention, said Jerry Eastwood, chairman of the Johnson County Republican Party. Johnson County Republicans who contacted the Star-Tribune Monday,...

I can't say I agree with long-shot presidential candidate and current California Representative Duncan Hunter on everything. Actually, I'm not so sure I even agree with him on all that much. But he deserves some props. If you haven't heard, yesterday the Wyoming Republican party picked a presidential candidate to support at various county conventions. The winner turned out to be Mitt Romney. But that's neither here nor there. Being the political junkie I am, I dropped in on the caucus-thingie in my county to soak up the political atmosphere. Basically, the process involved people standing up and telling their...

Romney Wins Wyoming Caucuses By MEAD GRUVER – 7 hours ago CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Mitt Romney captured his first win of the Republican presidential race, gaining most of Wyoming's delegates at stake in GOP caucuses on Saturday. The former Massachusetts governor won seven delegates, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson got two and California Rep. Duncan Hunter won one, meaning no other candidate could beat Romney. Caucuses were still being held to decide all 12 delegates at stake. The win was a boost for Romney, coming two days after his loss to Mike Huckabee in the Iowa caucuses and three...

CODY, Wyoming (Reuters) - Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won the Wyoming Republican presidential caucus on Saturday, taking seven of the state's 12 delegates with nearly all precincts reporting, according to a state party official. Former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee won two delegates and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California won one, said Amy Larimer, executive director of the Wyoming Republican Party. Larimer said two delegates remained undecided while officials counted all the votes. A final tally was expected later in the day. The victory gives Romney supporters something to tout as the focus of the U.S. presidential election shifts...