Free Republic

You like living out in the country. Living away from smog, noise, and crowded streets suits you just fine. But there's no reason to forgo some of the nicer things associated with civilization. This gadget guide for country folks offers some nifty items for off the grid living, or for those just outside the city limits. There's enough here to whet the gadget lust in any survivalist's heart. So let's take a look at some technology that will make that little cabin in the woods a lot more fun.

We stand at a crossroads in our nation's history. Barack Obama and his minions are attempting an unprecedented power grab. If they are allowed to succeed, it will forever change our country, and it will definitely diminish the rights of every American citizen. Obama has appointed no less than 37 czars that answer only to him. Even the House and Senate have no power over them. These czars have very radical backgrounds. John Holdren, the science czar, advocated population control and mandatory abortions. Van Jones, the environmental czar, was profiled byGlenn Beck extensively last week on his popular Fox News...

Is there anyone out there who needs any more proof that the usurper that sits illegally in the President’s chair in the Oval Office of the White House is, bit by bit, piece by piece, and day by day, in the process of totally destroying the democratic republic that once was the United States? With 80 percent of the communications network of this country shut down, for all intents and purposes, regarding reports on anything that is not popular with that usurper, you might say that they are in his back pocket. And for him, the usurper that is, if...

While America is supposedly now "post-racial", the city of Atlanta has a way to go to catch up. It would appear a "memo" has surfaced, advising the black community to unite behind one black mayoral candidate. Again, imagine the "stupidly" judgment indictments had this been the other way around.

Jean Sadler and Karen Griggs drove from Stockton, Calif., to attend the Tea Party Express rally in Sacramento. Both are worried about the government getting more involved in health care. The two met on the Internet while trying to find Tea Party events to attend. Photo Jeff Brady NPR. Conservative political activists associated with the so-called "Tea Party" protests have started a cross-country bus convoy dubbed the Tea Party Express. They plan to stop in 33 cities. Tea Party Express organizer Mark Williams, also a conservative talk show host, said there is a lot of dissatisfaction in the country right...

The Springfield one is downtown at the Gillioz Theatre at 12:30, the West Plains one is earlier in the day. Any Freepers showing up? Admission is first-come, first-served, although they request advance registration. I can't come; I would expect Spfd to likely designate a protest area but have not read that for sure.

The U.S. District Court in Maryland ruled in favor of an executive order first issued during the Bush Administration that would require all federal government contractors to use E-Verify. The order was delayed once by Pres. Bush and three times by Pres. Obama while they were awaiting the outcome of lawsuits filed by various business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Under the court's ruling, all federal contractors holding contracts of more than $100,000, regardless of size, will be required to use E-Verify, beginning on Sept. 8. Subcontractors will also be subject to the rule if their portion of...

Several Michigan football players claim the program regularly violates NCAA rules limiting how much time they can spend on training and practice sessions, according to a published report. Players from the 2008 and 2009 teams told the Detroit Free Press for a story published on the newspaper's Web site on Saturday that the amount of time they spend on football activities during the season and in the offseason greatly exceeds the limits. The players spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity because they feared repercussions from coaches.

In early June President Barack Obama appointed Kenneth Fienberg to act as the pay czar for the Treasury Department and essentially policing Wall Street Compensation. Fienberg is probably most known for overseeing the government’s compensation funds for victims of September 11th. However, many American may not be aware that Feinberg is no stranger to receiving huge executive payouts. Feinberg, who is working as the pay czar for free, took home $5.76 million in 2008 as a partner at this Washington based law firm, Feinberg Rozen LLP, according to reports. His assets are estimated to be worth upward of $37 million,...

MAY ROBERT NOVAK REST IN PEACE! I wish we could organize a farewell column of folks in the streets of DC or anywhere in the USA for Mr. Novak! Organize! Organize!

NEWTOK --The ground shakes whenever a new hunk of shoreline falls into the river outside Tillie Tommy's window. Like "somebody trying to jack up the house," she says. Her doorstep sits a short walk from the water's edge, where the swelling Ninglick River is gobbling more than 70 feet of coast a year -- one muddy splash at a time. At the current rate, the erosion will chomp its way to her house in as soon as three years. A few years after that, it'll be the school.

The Obama Administration has decided to block travel by the people of Honduras to the United States to punish their country for its Supreme Court’s refusal to back the return to power of Honduras’s ex-president and would-be dictator, Manuel Zelaya, who is backed by left-wing Latin American dictators like Castro and Chavez. The Obama Administration is now blocking the issuance of nearly all visas, meaning that a Honduran grandma who wants to visit her grandkids in the United States can’t...............

The London Times has a shocking article in which new details are discovered regarding the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber. The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal. Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.

The Blinn Buccaneers may want to play the Butler Grizzlies as their first opponent every year. For the second year in a row, Blinn upset the defending national champions and now the Bucs anxiously await the next NJCAA poll to see if they will assume the top spot just like last year. No. 1 Butler came to the Bucs’ home field and looked to have the game in hand early due to Blinn mistakes. But despite cramps and injuries, the Bucs came back in the fourth quarter to tie it and then go ahead by a touchdown with 1:39 left...

A recent (August 17) Gallup poll found that in every one of the 50 states, there are more conservatives than liberals. Gallup's astoundingly significant findings were virtually ignored by the liberal media, which has been reduced to nothing more than a giant public relations network for the leftist Democrat Party. Even Gallup itself couldn't admit the truth of its own survey results, headlining its report "Political Ideology: 'Conservative' Label Prevails in the South." The South? When did all 50 states become part of the South? South of what -- the moon? You have to read the sub-head to see that there...

Dick Cheney: "It offends the hell out of me".... Thank God for Cheney....

On March 1, 2003, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), the principal planner of the September 11 attacks, was captured in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. U.S. interrogators quickly went about the business of getting him to talk, and for good reasons. KSM's operatives were already here, inside America, planning attacks. Shortly after KSM was detained, an Ohio-based truck driver named Iyman Faris was arrested by the FBI. Faris had reportedly been under suspicion beforehand, but U.S. authorities suddenly determined that they had to arrest him. It turned out that Faris, an al Qaeda-trained sleeper agent, had been dispatched to the United States by KSM...

Al-Qaida claimed responsibility Sunday for a suicide attack that injured a Saudi prince and said the bomber — a wanted militant who had fled to Yemen — arrived on a royal jet after convincing the ruling family he wanted to surrender. Despite the attack on Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, his father and Interior Minister Prince Nayef said the kingdom would not change its open-door policy for militants to repent. Saudi Arabia has been praised for having one of the most well-developed terrorist rehabilitation programs in the world. Saudi officials have said the prince was lightly wounded in...

Take it from those who have been there: Prison life is hard on people who need to be in control. Especially politicians accustomed to giving orders, cutting deals, spending millions - and getting their way. Former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo is due to report to federal prison tomorrow, assigned to serve his 55-month sentence at a low-security institution in Ashland, Ky. His attorneys have fought that, wanting Fumo placed closer to family in Philadelphia. What's definite, experts say, is that prisons specialize in turning people like Fumo from kings to peasants. In free society, his dominion included four homes,...

What a difference a political philosophy makes when it comes to funeral coverage. Have you heard a word of complaint from the network anchors that perhaps television is "overcovering" the funeral of Ted Kennedy? Of course not. However, after President Ronald Reagan passed away in 2004, both Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather grumbled aloud about how his funeral was being "overcovered" despite the massive turnout of citizens when he was lain in state in the Capitol Rotunda. The difference between Kennedy and Reagan, of course, was their political philosphies which explains the vastly different reactions to their funeral coverage. So...