Free Republic

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) inserted a last-minute 310-page amendment into the cap-and-trade climate change bill just hours before the bill reached a House vote last Friday evening, and the amendments included indecipherable provisions for something called a “central procurement state.” Lawmakers, who eventually passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 on a 219-212 vote, had little time to review the lengthy amendment, which was posted at 3:09 a.m. Friday, less than 15 hours before the 5:30 p.m. vote. The amendment referred to a “central procurement State” 11 times, but no provisions for a "central procurement state" had...

Here's an interesting and surprisingly realistic take on Zelaya and his good buddy Chavez from the Voice Of America, of all things! By Carolyn Presutti Washington 02 July 2009 The coup in Honduras that ousted President Manuel Zelaya has been widely condemned by the international community. The United States and other countries around the world are calling for his reinstatement. Among the most vocal advocates of the ousted president is Venezuela's populist firebrand leader, Hugo Chavez. Hondurans continue to protest in the streets. Pitting supporters of exiled president Manuel Zelaya, against those favoring interim president Roberto Micheletti. Soldiers forcibly expelled...

Move Over Fed, California's Now Printing Its Own Money Watch out Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve now has competition in the currency game. California is planning to create its own money in the form of IOUs, just like the Fed. What is the California IOU – currency or an interest bearing note? Officially the IUOs will be called “registered warrants”. State Controller John Chiang planned to issue $3.4 billion, maturing on Oct. 1 to replace state payments. The interest rate is set to be determined on Thursday, but cannot exceed the statutory limit of 5%. The San Jose Business Journal...

<p>WASHINGTON – The latest billboard in the "Where's the birth certificate?" campaign is up for gawkers in the Waco, Texas, area.</p> <p>And the national fund-raising campaign to erect many, many more billboards around the country questioning Barack Obama's constitutional eligibility for office is going strong – with a total of $100,000 collected so far.</p>

Americans citizens have had enough already. The course the nation's government has taken over the past few decades has slowly slid away from the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law. The executive, legislative and judicial branches are running roughshod over the American people. It was only a matter of time before the American spirit rose up to fight against the rogue federal government; the T.E.A. (Taxed Enough Already) movement grew out of that vital American spirit. Conservatives were troubled when the Democrats took the majority in Congress and President Obama won the White House. We feared the worst with...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 2 -- Honduran leaders who supported the coup against President Manuel Zelaya maintained a defiant stance Thursday in the face of international pressure, as diplomats conceded that a quick, painless resolution to the regional crisis might not be possible. Officials in the new Honduran government led by interim President Roberto Micheletti said that they were prepared to hunker down for weeks or months and that they could survive economic sanctions, diplomatic isolation and even the condemnation of their closest ally, the United States, which has played an outsize role in the history of Honduras for a century....

THE Supreme Court's deci sion in Ricci v. DeStefano, the case of the New Haven firefighters, was a ringing endorsement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964's ban on racial discrimination and a repudiation of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's decision in the Second Circuit US Court of Appeals. While five justices flatly rejected Sotomayor's ruling, even the four dissenters wouldn't have let stand her ruling allowing the results of a promotion exam to be set aside because no black firefighter had a top score. Ricci is also something else: a riveting lesson in political sociology, thanks to the concurring...

THE White House sure likes to put on a show. The Obama administration broadcast a health-care propaganda play this week under the guise of a citizen "town hall." It was filled with backroom players and a supporting cast of socialized medicine activists. One of three lucky audience members whom President Obama chose for questioning was Jason Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum works for the Washington-based Health Care for America Now. That's the same K Street Astroturf outfit I reported on last week -- the one with a $40 million budget to lobby for government-run health care. The one linked to left-wing billionaire George...

I apologize for how ridiculously late these digg suggestions are, but life got hectic and I just wasn't able to get to them yesterday. Nonetheless, here you go! http://diggsandburies.blogspot.com/

In his weekly radio address on June 27, President Barack Obama praised the House of Representatives for just passing the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, more commonly known as the cap and trade climate bill. He said: This historic piece of legislation will not just lessen our dependence on foreign oil, but also spark a clean energy transformation in our economy that will create millions of new American jobs that pay well and cannot be outsourced. Clean energy and the jobs it creates are critical to building a new foundation for our economy. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi...

Most of you voted for this guy, on his word. You bought into his bag-o-crap! And his word is not worth the money if would cost to flush his sorry ass down the toilet! "No tax increase for those making 250 or less". BS! What is it now" 90? How can any of you who voted for this dirt bag honestly look people in the eye? You know damn well it is your fault the country is in the predicament that it is. You knew he was a snake when you voted for him.You knew he has no experience. But...

After a long hiatus, the Israeli Navy has returned to sailing through the Suez Canal, recently sending one of its advanced Dolphin-class submarines through the waterway to participate in naval maneuvers off the Eilat coast in the Red Sea. IDF sources said the decision to allow navy vessels to sail through the canal was made recently and was a definite "change of policy" within the service. In 2005, then OC Navy Adm. David Ben-Bashat decided to stop sending Israeli ships through the canal due to growing threats in the area. However, the Dolphin-class submarine sailed through last month to get...

There is probably nothing that pleases our libertine left more than a social conservative's fall from grace. Just witness the predictable feeding frenzy that ensued when South Carolina governor Mark Sanford confessed to marital infidelity. Why, so voracious are his critics that a Google search for Sanford's name in parentheses and the word "hypocrite" yields 20,600 of their pages. Among other things, with the governor's condemnation of Bill Clinton's serial adultery in the 1990s, the left has put him in a glass house the size of the Crystal Cathedral. And, in all fairness, Sanford should be taken to task. We...

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Masquerading as an instrument of environmental salvation, the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill will result in one of the largest seizures of wealth in human history. The legislation will wreak havoc on American manufacturing and industry, and coerce the conformity of an already economically squeezed populace. The bill is a transparent power grab, based on a fictional crisis-the left's ever-dependable threat of global warming. But global warming is finally coming under the scrutiny it deserves. Not only are NASA satellites showing a cooling trend, but 700 scientists-to the UN's 50-have come out in opposition to the patently false claims of the global...

Cell tracking shows that axolotl cells in a regrowing leg retain distinct roles. The amazing axolotl - legless, but never for long.Wikimedia Commons Salamanders have the ability to regrow amputated limbs – but what stops a tail growing from the stump, instead of a leg? A team of scientists are now a step closer to the answer. They studied tissue regeneration in axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum), salamanders endemic to Mexico. The creatures heal so well because the muscle, bone and skin cells nearest to the amputation site revert into a more generic form, forming a clump of adult stem cells called...

Note: Photos included. Note: The following text is a quote: Thursday, July 2, 2009 Victims of June 30 Muslim violence continue to receive threats About 100 Christian homes and churches were set on fire By Dan Wooding and Sheraz Khurram Khan Special to ASSIST News Service KASUR, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- The Muslim anger over a blasphemy accusation against Christians has not apparently subsided, as Christian villagers from Bhamniwala, which is located in the district of Kasur in Punjab province, Pakistan, continue to face threats from radical Islamists. Christians of Bhamniwala village await justice The local Christians were attacked by 500...

The committee on drugs policy recommends making the coffee shops members-only clubs, and experimenting with legal cannabis production. Neither will pass the European test. We can't go on like this, but where do we go from here? That has been the miserable state of the Dutch policy on drugs for years. Supporters of prohibition and tolerance have each other pinned down. They know that the production of cannabis invites crime, that the Netherlands has become a large-scale exporter of cannabis, that cannabis consumption leads to children dropping out of school, and aggravates social problems, and home-growing runs down neighbourhoods. The...

For years, broadcasters have told consumers seeking the best high-definition picture quality to use an antenna to receive signals over-the-air, instead of relying on a cable or satellite operator to deliver the programming. That's because many multichannel operators have recompressed, or “rate-shaped,” broadcasters' HD video to reduce the bandwidth needed to pass along the signal. For example, a cable operator might receive an 18 megabit-per-second HD stream at the headend and recompress it to 15 Mbps before passing it down the pipe. So, receiving the signal directly over-the-air would ensure that the viewer got exactly what the station transmitted. But...

The “radio mullah” Maulana Fazlullah may be dead, according to still unconfirmed reports from Pakistan. After Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik announced on Wednesday that Fazlullah was seriously injured, Pakistan forces reportedly conducted an operation in an area in Swat which was the hideout of Fazlullah. Fazlullah was reportedly killed in the operation. Fazlullah was traced after he called the Tehrik-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi spokesperson, Muslim Khan, directing attacks, which was tracked by the forces. In his conversation, he admitted to being injured and surrounded, having lost many commanders. The Pakistan government had last week placed his family under detention. If Fazlullah’s death...