Free Republic

Massive abuse of parking permits by New York City, New York agency bureaucrats causes congestion and ties up 43 percent of available parking spaces. A New York City, New York Department of Transportation study released last week confirmed that the liberal distribution of free parking placards to city workers has resulted in nearly half of all street level parking spaces in Lower Manhattan being taken by vehicles displaying some form of official permit. This causes a ripple effect on traffic congestion and parking availability in the city. "If one is at the top of the permit hierarchy with a Law...

A powerful US politician added her voice yesterday to the worldwide chorus condemning China’s crackdown in Tibet and demanded an international investigation. “The situation in Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world,” Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, said as she strolled arm-in-arm with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the restive Himalayan region.

The State Department probe of unauthorized computer access to passport records of three presidential candidates is focusing on the one remaining employee -- a contract worker with a company headed by an adviser to the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama.

Common Single-Issue Issues Many of the issues that attract single-issue voters are the so-called “wedge” issues. These are usually the most controversial and divisive issues there are. These are the issues that are meant to either leverage or ignite a candidate’s base. These issues, such as gay marriage, flag burning, gun control, abortion, immigration, etc., are usually ones that a candidate has no ability, or is unwilling, to bring about any change in policy on. Gay marriage is a matter for state and local governments. While I may not personally like guns, gun ownership is a right guaranteed in the...

Somebody better break it to the New York Times: they might still be the paper of record in their own minds, but to the rest of the world, they're just one more dead-tree joint struggling for attention. The Old Grey Lady's unjustified conceit was on display during this afternoon's Hardball, when one of its reporters was aghast that Chris Matthews had had the audacity not to have read her oeuvre. NYT reporter Deborah Solomon had interviewed the Rev. John Hagee, a minister who has endorsed McCain and has made a number of controversial statements. I would mention in passing that...

SAN DIEGO – It turns out the beloved 1965 Ford Mustang coupe Judy Smongesky has had since high school graduation nearly 38 years ago doesn't really belong to her. The vintage vehicle had been reported stolen two weeks before her father bought it as a present when she was 18. The Mustang actually belongs to Eugene Brakke, who is retired and lives in the Los Angeles area. Police notified him this week that his long-lost car has been recovered. He has not decided whether he wants it back, said Smongesky of City Heights. Smongesky and her dad, who lived in...

Almost four months before Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned in a sex scandal, a lawyer for Republican political operative Roger Stone sent a letter to the FBI alleging that Spitzer ''used the services of high-priced call girls'' while in Florida. The letter, dated Nov. 19, said Miami Beach resident Stone learned the information from ''a social contact in an adult-themed club.'' It offered one potentially identifying detail: the man in question hadn't taken off his calf-length black socks ``during the sex act.'' Stone, known for shutting down the 2000 presidential election recount effort in Miami-Dade County, is a longtime Spitzer nemesis...

Dave Barry: Put Florida primary in prime time -- and text in your vote Mar. 21, 2008 I got to thinking about the Florida primary election mess the other night when I was watching TV with my wife. Actually, she was reading a book, because she hates the way I watch TV. I follow Standard Guy Remote Control Procedure (SGRCP), which requires you go to the next channel the instant that the current channel commits one of the Deadly Channel Sins, such as showing a commercial, or people redecorating a house, or Howie Mandel. Anyway, I was whipping through the...

Public's help needed to find missing sex offender William A. Blythe         Story Published: Mar 21, 2008 at 1:38 PM PDT Story Updated: Mar 21, 2008 at 3:00 PM PDT By KOMO Staff   Pierce County sheriff's detectives are seeking the public's help in locating a missing Level 3 sex offender with a history of child rape and molestation. A reward of up to $1,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of William A. Blythe, 29, who is considered very dangerous and at serious threat to re-offend. A felony warrant has been issued...

Check out this song and video blasting back at the Vichy Chicks! Not Ready To End The Fight

NBC Plans Countdown with Keith Olbermann Anniversary Special Broadcast Network Hopes to Expand Audience for Sister Cable Network MSNBC’s Series By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/20/2008 3:26:00 PM NBC will broadcast an anniversary special commemorating five years of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, the top-rated program on sister channel MSNBC.NBC will air the Countdown special March 30 at 7 p.m.The network hopes to expand the program’s audience by giving broadcast viewers a look at the show.  Countdown last appeared on NBC in a special edition slated before Sunday Night Football last August. That special did not score with viewers, finishing...

If the accusations against Chad M. Storey are true, give the North Oaks man a big fat A for effort, along with some jail time. Storey, 34, is accused of concocting an elaborate system of hoses and switches that allowed him to siphon gasoline from another vehicle into his own, all from the comfort of the driver's seat of his shiny red Dodge Ram 1500 4x4.

You didn’t have to be a rocket scientist in the 1990s to figure that speculative investment in dot-coms with no revenues would be disastrous. The same goes for lenders giving mortgages to borrowers with no job, no income and no assets. So after surviving the tech bubble and while trying to extricate the economy from the housing bubble, why are we bent on heading into the global warming bubble? So who in their right mind would push for this? I met many of them up-close-and-personal last week at a major Wall Street Journal conference at which I was an invited...

The case echoes last year's scandal involving brick kilns Police in China have rescued 33 mentally disabled men who were forced to work as slaves at a building site, Chinese media report. The men were said to have been discovered in a filthy 30sq m (320sq ft) room in Hulan, a city in the north-eastern province of Heilongjiang. At least three people were detained, suspected of keeping the slaves. College students reportedly saw a man jump to his death from a seventh-floor window, and raised the alarm. Last year, one man was sentenced to death and 28 others were...

Where there are superdelegates there will be a Clinton. And that includes next weekend's state Democratic convention in San Jose. State Party Chair Art Torres said Friday that Bill Clinton has accepted his invitation to a private meeting with superdelegates and the ex-president also will speak to the entire convention Sunday morning. [snip] One prominent uncommitted California superdelegate, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, will address the state convention on Friday night. She is uncommitted because she holds the title of chair of the party's August convention in Denver. But recently she has made comments suggesting the leader in the...

Central banks on both sides of the Atlantic are actively engaged in discussions about the feasibility of mass purchases of mortgage-backed securities as a possible solution to the credit crisis. Such a move would involve the use of public funds to shore up the market in a key financial instrument and restore confidence by ending the current vicious circle of forced sales, falling prices and weakening balance sheets.

Today in music historyAlan Freed, the American D.J. who coined the term “rock and roll”, had his 1952 Rock ’n’ Roll Stage Show at a local arena cancelled when 30000 fans overcrowded the venue. Fire regulations allowed only 10000. The Guess Who released their biggest hit, “American Woman,” this week in 1970. Randy Bachman left the band four months later because of religious conflicts with the rock and roll lifestyle. Burton Cummings carried the band until 1975. Bob Dylan’s song, “Hurricane,” caused enough publicity to get Rubin “Hurricane” Carter released from jail in 1976. The song promoted Carter’s innocence and...

March 21, 2008, 0:00 a.m. Grandma Got Run Over By a Campaign SpeechThe road to universal love is paved with cheap shots. By Mona Charen It’s a mistake to try to pigeonhole Barack Obama. He is too smart and too agile to succumb to easy categorization. But the candidate’s eloquence is often more of a curtain than a window to his soul — and one is left to wonder where his heart truly lies. As George Burns said of acting, “Sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” Discussing his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, who asked...

The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., presidential candidate Barack Obama’s minister, agreed to speak April 13 at Bank Street Memorial Baptist Church long before his sudden notoriety for his strong social commentary. Bank Street’s interim pastor, the Rev. William Dixon, said Wright was invited months ago because he is the nephew of the church’s late minister, the Rev. J.B. Henderson. Wright’s visit will coincide with the church’s celebration of its booster club, formed years ago to fundraise for Henderson’s missionary travels. “We do not know at this point as to what he’ll be speaking about,” Dixon said of Wright. Wright...

Mar 21, 2008 WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States slapped sanctions on British and Armenian firms Friday for unauthorized re-exports of aircraft to Iran, officials said. The US Commerce Department suspended export privileges of British-based Balli Group PLC and related companies, Armenian-based Blue Airways, and Iran-based Mahan Airways for 180 days. A statement said US officials learned that the companies "knowingly re-exported three US origin aircraft to Iran in violation of the Export Administration Regulations and are preparing to re-export three additional US origin aircraft to Iran in further violation of the (rules)." In addition, the agency said "false statements...