Free Republic

Two monorail trains smashed into each other at Walt Disney World in Orlando early Sunday morning, killing one conductor and injuring the other. A Walt Disney World spokesman said the crash happened at about 2 a.m. Sunday on the monorail's last run of the day. The trains were carrying only five passengers and two employees, none of whom were hurt. "Two trains collided at the ticket and transportation center. One driver on one train is dead and the other driver from the second train was taken to the hospital," said Bo Jones of the Reedy Creek Fire Department. The crash...

Dan Probst, a retired restaurateur who raises chickens in Hunt County, says his urban sales have risen fivefold since last year. Hens typically cost between $15 and $40. At their peak, they can lay an egg a day. "Explosive growth," he said. A pastime once limited to the occasional overachieving gardener, backyard chicken farming has caught fire among suburbanites craving a slice of the countryside and the promise of fresh eggs. Not all are enamored of the trend, which some view as but an eco-friendly fad. Concerns about noise, odors and sanitation abound. (Supporters say those worries are unfounded.) And...

V.P. Biden famously declared paying higher taxes is a patriotic duty. Lou Dobbs bombasts that relocating a company outside the US is treason. Pres. Obama wants a special tax on US companies with foreign operations. These three, along with many others, reflect an ugly conceit that the US government is somehow an institution greater than the people who originally authorized it. Also, they make the policy error of assuming that businesses and the wealthy can be forced to remain in the US, that the taxman can squeeze them mercilessly without consequence. Of course none of that is true, and using...

On April 15, thousands of people in 100's of cities and towns gathered to protest rising taxes, failed bailouts, 1st and 2nd Amendment clamp downs and, in general, failing policies of the current Congress and Administration. Yesterday, there was a repeat of the Tea Party grassroots movement. Although conservatives make up the majority of those gathering, there are people participating from all over the political spectrum. Is it time for the Tea Party Movement to have a leader? To have an organized structure and means of communication? To have a fund raising instrument? Or would that ruin its goals and...

When Wall Street imploded last year, the Fed and Treasury took "some of the right moves" in order to revive the financial system, says William Cohan, author of House of Cards. But the government blew at least one crucial act of the saga, Cohan says: The backdoor bailout of AIG’s counterparties, notably Goldman Sachs, which received $13 billion of TARP funds via the AIG conduit last fall. Adding insult to taxpayer injury, Goldman Sachs is primed to benefit should AIG ultimately file for bankruptcy and default on its debt, Cohan reports, having invested about $200 million in related credit default...

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over...

Constitution of the United States of AmericaSection 2: Presidential PowersClause 1: Command of military; Opinions of cabinet secretaries; PardonsThe President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of...

The latest issue of Vanity Fair isn't even on newsstands yet and it's already making headlines for a not-so-politely titled article, "It Came from Wasilla," about Gov. Sarah Palin. William Kristol at the Weekly Standard is calling it a "hit piece," taking writer Todd Purdum to task for his "dubious claims." A blogger at the Atlantic writes that the article "paints a gruesome picture" of the governor. Politico's Jonathan Martin mulls the "political fallout from the very tough piece."

Latvian Banker Taking Souls as Collateral Reuters | 03 Jul 2009 | 08:45 AM ET Ready to give your soul for a loan in these difficult economic times? In Latvia, where the crisis has raged more than in the rest of the European Union, you can. Such a deal is being offered by the Kontora loan company, whose public face is Viktor Mirosiichenko, 34. Clients have to sign a contract, with the words "Agreement" in bold letters at the top. The client agrees to the collateral, "that is, my immortal soul". Mirosiichenko said his company would not employ debt collectors...

Airlines are reducing the size of spoons and dropping in-flight magazines to make planes lighter and save fuel during the recession, according to the International Air Transport Association. In the United States, Northwest Airlines has excluded spoons from its cutlery pack if the in-flight meal does not require one.

According to the Honolulu Advertiser, it was practice to get birth announcements from the Health Department via a news service, not from private submissions, as evidenced by that fact that two independent newspapers had the same announcement with the same announcements for other infants before and after. The announcement had to come from the Health Department, via the birth registration. So what gives? Did they live there or not? It all becomes clear with careful reading and examination of the evidence.

There is, perhaps, no subject that currently stands greater in importance—not to mention confusion, hype and hysteria—than the topic of climate change (formerly referred to as global warming). Regardless of man’s influence on the climate, policies under active debate and consideration could entirely change the way that we produce, and consume, energy to fuel our economy and lifestyle. This issue spans the globe, impacting both developed and developing countries. Whether the planet is in peril, or whether the risk is an artifice, potential climate change legislation will come with inescapable consequences, both intended and unintended; yet, the climate benefits may...

LISTS IRISH HIDEAWAY'S WORTH AS MERE $638G Sen Dodd (D-Conn) may have low-balled value of Ireland vacation property. Dodd's financial disclosures claim $638,000 for his 3-bedroom cottage on 10 acres with breathtaking views of the Atlantic......Dodd's next-door neighbor was selling for $1.2M. "Dodd continues to mislead about the property's value," charged DC-based ethics watchdog, Judicial Watch. Dodd purchased 1/3 interest for $160,000 with William Kessinger, Kansas, who was a business partner of disgraced Bear Stearns principal Edward Downe Jr, Dodd's longtime friend. Downe pleaded guilty to insider trading and securities fraud in 1993 but was pardoned, at Dodd's urging, by...

WASHINGTON - Police say former Washington Mayor Marion Barry has been arrested and charged with stalking a woman. The United States Park Police said Barry, a current D.C. Council member, was arrested Saturday in Washington after a woman flagged down an officer and complained that Barry was stalking her. Barry was charged with misdemeanor stalking and released.

HOUSTON -- NASA astronaut Jose Hernandez, set to fly aboard space shuttle Discovery in August, is providing insights about his training on Twitter in both English and Spanish. It will be the agency's first bilingual Twitter. Hernandez, who considers Stockton, Calif., his hometown, grew up in a migrant farming family, travelling each year between Mexico and California. He did not learn English until the age of 12. Hernandez, whose Twitter account is astro_jose, can be followed at: http://www.twitter.com/astro_jose "I was inspired to pursue a dream to one day work in space while listening to the radio news about space exploration...

ABC News: "The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy," Biden told George Stephanopoulos during an interview on "This Week" in Iraq. Biden acknowledged administration officials were too optimistic earlier this year when they predicted the unemployment rate would peak at 8 percent as part of their effort to sell the stimulus package. The national unemployment rate has ballooned to 9.5 percent in June -- the worst in 26 years. "The truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited," said Biden, who is leading the administration's effort to implement it's $787 billion...

Time This Blog Linked From Here My Earth Day article on Limbaugh show The Web This Blog Linked From Here My Earth Day article on Limbaugh show The Web Sunday, July 5, 2009 Why Leftist Thought is Predominant in America. “YOU LEFT THE FIELD OF IDEAS to people like me to be corrupted, while you went off to make money,” said Ellsworth Toohey to his former boss Gale Wynand in Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. The Toohey character represents the liberal intelligentsia. Wynand represents the Rockefeller Republican. This one statement by a fictional character articulates the present social, political, and cultural...

Nuclear tests set to the 1812 Festival Overture. This is what you get if you mess with us!

Snip"And I (Powell) never would have believed that we would have budgets that are running into the multi-trillions of dollars, and we are amassing a huge, huge national debt that, if we don’t pay for in our lifetime, our kids and grandkids and great grandchildren will have to pay for it.”WASHINGTON — Colin Powell worries that President Barack Obama is trying to tackle too many big issues at one time and he offers this advice: Take a hard look at costs and consider the additional red tape that will be created. “The right answer is, ‘Give me a government that...

Michelle Obama brings her superstar glamor to Moscow this weekend as she accompanies her husband on his summit with the Russian president. But the American first lady, who has wowed publics in the U.S. and Europe with her easy elegance and charm, will perhaps face a bigger challenge in winning over a Russian public that has scant respect for women who grab the limelight from their powerful husbands.