Free Republic

Europe’s Ban on Old-Style Light Bulbs Begins By JAMES KANTER BRUSSELS — Restrictions on the sale of incandescent bulbs begin going into effect across most of Europe on Tuesday in the continent’s latest effort to get people to save energy and combat global warming. But even advocates concede the change is proving problematic. Under the European Union rules, shops will no longer be allowed to buy or import most incandescent frosted glass bulbs starting Tuesday. Retailers can continue selling off their stock until they run out. While some Europeans are eagerly jumping on the bandwagon, others are panicking and have...

It has the makings of the opening sequence in an apocalyptic thriller. A ship enters the Gulf, carrying a secret, illicit cargo of munitions, bound for Iran from North Korea. The ship is seized by the United Arab Emirates, where authorities discover that instead of the oil boring equipment listed on the manifest, the cargo includes some 10 containers filled with rocket launchers, ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and detonators. The UAE seizes the cargo and notifies the United Nations Security Council. But for weeks, the public is told nothing about it – not by the UN, and not by Washington. The...

Can the overturning of our nation's healthcare system, also known as "Obamacare" be good for the country if it's fervently backed by the Communist Party?

Mobile towers threatening honey bees ... you have to wonder if Pelosi or some other liberal CA DEM is responsible for the fire in CA Mobile towers are posing a threat to honey bees in Kerala withe electromagnetic radiation from mobile towers and cell phones having the potential to kill worker bees that go out to collect nectar from flowers, says a study. ... Fire threatens major communications facilities (Updates with quotes from residents, new numbers) From LA Times (http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN3040804320090830)

Charles R. Bond Jr., a retired Air Force major general and one of the last surviving Flying Tigers, died Aug. 18 of dementia at Presbyterian Village North, an assisted living community in Dallas. He was 94. In September 1941, he left the Army Air Forces to volunteer for service in China as part of a secret program, the American Volunteer Group, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, under Gen. Claire Chenault. Made up of about 400 pilots and ground personnel and based in Burma, the Flying Tigers protected military supply routes between China and Burma and helped to get supplies to Chinese...

Here is video of a curt White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today refusing to respond to a question about whether the White House is troubled by the fact only 4% of Israeli's believe President Obama to be "pro-Israeli," according to a Jerusalem Post poll. Gibbs would only respond, "I haven't seen the poll," and then went on to someone else. It seemed odd to me he did not even make an attempt to paint Obama as pro-Israel, or to mention the strong friendship that has existed between the U.S. and Israel. His non-response speaks volumes about where things stand...

UPDATE: Governor Deval Patrick announced today that a special election will be held on Jan. 19 to fill the seat vacated by the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. A state legislative committee will hold a hearing next week on a bill to allow Governor Deval Patrick to appoint a temporary replacement for Senator Edward M. Kennedy while a special election is held to fill his seat, a signal that Beacon Hill is moving to accommodate Kennedy's request that Massachusetts maintain two voices in the Senate. The House and Senate chairmen of the Joint Committee on Election Laws announced today...

For months the Obama administration has been working to scare the hell out of every American concerning a “world wide pandemic” of the H1N1 “swine flu” virus. This week, Obama health officials are out in number warning that the virus will infect 50% of Americans over the coming weeks, and that at least 90,000 Americans will die, double the number of normal flu season fatalities. The information on the subject has been lies covered up with more lies and wrapped in an enigma of scattered half-truths and intentional misdirection from our fools in government. The incredibly poor handling of the...

Former Miss USA runnerup Carrie Prejean is firing back at California pageant officials with a lawsuit that claims the state organization discriminated against her religious beliefs, caused her emotional distress and engaged in slander, her lawyer confirmed to FOXNews.com Monday. The 22-year-old beauty queen filed a complaint Monday morning in Los Angeles Superior Court against K2 Productions (the franchise that operates the Miss California Organization) as well as co-executive directors Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler and publicist Roger Neal. Prejean lost her crown three months ago for what state pageant officials claimed was a “breach of contract” and failure to...

Thank you for voting! Yes. 92% (43122 votes) No. 8% (3586 votes) I'm not sure. <1% (232 votes) Total Votes: 46940

To change the way all of us live and die for selfish short term political gain by invoking a departed liberal hero is to lose the confidence of Americans. Grief at the passing of Senator Kennedy has turned into raw political opportunism. Liberal Democrats, and their twittering mainstream media acolytes, are posing a loaded question which for them suggests its own answer: What would Teddy do about health care? Fans or not fans-- we owe the Senator acknowledgment for a lifetime of service. But the debt ends there. We have seen a month of the true American Congress-- the town...

If those commercial loans turn bad the domino effect would ripple through the economy.

This is the podcast from the August 24th show of YGC Radio on Technofrag Radio. Enjoy!

That's the view from this particular blog. The free market understands that auditing the fed is a very dangerous line to cross. If crossed, U.S. inflation will likely skyrocket over the next decade to unseen levels. U.S. economy tanks. Bond investors lose money as interest rates rise. Stock investors earn negative real return as equity risk premium rises and aggregate PE ratio tank. The US Dollar erodes due to higher domestic inflation relative to foreign inflation. Gold and commodity prices rise.

In the Guardian (shock), Michael Tomasky approvingly quotes Andrew Sullivan’s analogizing CIA interrogators to the Gestapo. He writes; This reminds me of my larger theory, which I may get around to presenting to you sometime, that I believe that Nazi analogies should be more permissible in today's political discourse than they are. Not personal comparisons of Politician X to Hitler, because Hitler remains a unique monster; but analogies to Nazi ideology and tactics, when accurate and appropriate. Hmm. I seem to recall he had a rather different opinion when reviewing a book that pointed out that whole swaths of his...

Silky, straight hair has long been considered by many black women to be their crowning glory. So what if getting that look meant enduring the itchy burning that's a hallmark of many chemical straighteners. Or a pricey dependence on "creamy crack," as relaxers are sometimes jokingly called. Getting "good hair" often means transforming one's tightly coiled roots; but it is also more freighted, for many African-American women, and some men, than simply a choice about grooming. Straightening hair has been perceived as a way to be more acceptable to certain relatives, as well as to the white establishment. "If your...

The last time many people heard Caroline Kennedy, she was a tentative, tongue-tied U.S. Senate hopeful from New York. But Friday night - as Kennedy remembered her late uncle at a presidential library in Boston that bears her slain father's name - she was an eloquent, loving niece, and perhaps the last living link to the age of Camelot. Poised despite her grief, Caroline recalled the many times her uncle offered her words of support - and similar encouragement to his other 27 other nieces and nephews. She recalled on the night he died looking out at the ocean he...

CULIACAN, Mexico — A shooting that killed eight people partying on a seaside boulevard in northwestern Mexico may have been the work of vigilantes targeting car thieves, a prosecutor said. The gunmen drove up in a white SUV and fired on the festive crowd without saying a word, Sinaloa state deputy Attorney General Jose Luis Leyva said Sunday. A 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl were among the youngest killed Saturday night in the Pacific coast town of Navolato. Four people were wounded. Also among the dead were two brothers in their 30s who had a record of car theft,...

Blagojevich writes in “The Governor” that Emanuel spoke with him about whether it was possible to appoint a “placeholder” to the congressional seat Emanuel was giving up so that he could win back the seat in 2010 and continue his efforts to become speaker some day. …