Free Republic

There are only two basic engines for making law. One is top down: it is law by edict and national commission. The other is bottom up: law built by adjudication in common-law courts. One kind of law occupies thousands of pages in the U.S. Code and the Federal Register. The other evolves in the courts, as a pure product of common law, or under short, general mandates like the Bill of Rights or the Sherman Act. The first century or so of law in the telecosm was given to the top-down managers. Herbert Hoover gave it to them. As a...

U.S. Soldiers have set over 1,000 feet of pipe connecting two pump houses and increasing the water pressure flow to Q-West. Photo by Spc. Lisa A. Cope, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary). Q-WEST — In the hot summer months, seasonal trends here make water a commodity and conservation a necessity to prevent depletion of the area's water reserves. In an effort to assist in this important task, service members are limited to roughly 15 gallons of water per day.Local Iraqis share water lines with Contingency Operating Location (COL) Q-West to irrigate their crops during the planting and growing seasons, and have...

Here is video about an alleged drunk driver that ran a stop sign in Long Island, hit a mound of dirt going airborne, and landed in the 2nd Story of a house! The owner of the home is interviewed about what it was like to have a car land in your house. No one was injured in the home. Video of the car in the house is shown. . . . (VIDEO)

Government Insurance 'Trigger' Draws Bipartisan Criticism in Health Care DebateFOXNews.com Sunday, September 06, 2009 Conservatives and liberals alike are puncturing the latest trial balloon in the health care reform debate, finding flaws with a proposal that would keep a government-run health insurance plan on reserve in case private insurance companies don't meet certain benchmarks. The so-called "trigger" has been floated by Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, a member of the "gang of six" Senate negotiators who are trying to broker a bipartisan compromise. Under such an option, if agreed-upon goals are not met by the insurance industry, then that would pull...

In my ongoing series on the book of Revelation, I now move on down the postal route to the next church in Christ's message to the seven churches of Asia, Sardis. The fifth church mentioned in John’s message was probably the oldest settlement in Asia Minor. Archeological evidence shows that Sardis was probably first inhabited shortly after the confusion of languages and the subsequent dispersion of the people (Gen 11:5-7). As the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, Sardis was one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. In the 6th century BC it was ruled by...

Daniel H from northern England wrote CMI-UK a really encouraging, spontaneous letter, a testimony that we think will also encourage many readers. To: All my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. … I would like to thank the team at Creation Ministries International (CMI) for their resources, time, love, dedication and zeal for our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ; the Almighty Father and the Holy Spirit, who empowers the church to give glory to the Son and live holy lives and become more fruitful in our walk in the LORD, Amen. Formerly, I was an unbeliever who mocked the...

Sometime on Saturday, maybe the wind will suddenly whip up. Maybe the sky will part. And, maybe fantastical things will happen up on College Hill in Providence. Brown University will welcome its freshman class. And it just might welcome a wizard, or at least a wannabe: Emma Watson, the 19-year-old British actress who plays Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi River Police (IRP) conducted operations here on the Tigris River to hone their skills in keeping Iraq’s waterways safe from terrorists, Sept. 1. The mission of the IRP is to provide search and rescue, safety patrol, and counter smuggling operations along the waterways of Iraq. Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq advisors, mentors and trainers help the IRP accomplish this mission. There are two advisors at the River Patrol. One is responsible for teaching waterborne operations, how to pilot the boats, and how to use the boats to conduct the operations found in the mission statement. The second advisor...

If you're mad as heck with government and don't want to take it anymore, the Tea Party Express wants to release those frustrations. Dick Jacobs works on a sign that says "Wake up America" at a Brighton Township residence, preparing with others for a Tea Party Express protest scheduled for this week. (Photo by GILLIS BENEDICT/DAILY PRESS & ARGUS) The tour is coming to the Mill Pond in Brighton at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, and local residents are gearing up for it. Several busloads of conservative activists have been making a cross-country tour that has been named after the legendary Boston...

The American people stood up and demanded answers. Instead of providing them, the Administration had Jones resign under cover of darkness. I continue to be amazed by the power of everyday Americans to initiate change in our government through honest questioning, and judging by the other radicals in the administration, I expect that questioning to continue for the foreseeable future.

Yesterday's Employment Situation Report from Uncle Sam's Bureau of Labor Statistics had lots of dismal news. One of the bigger disappointments, but sadly not one of the bigger surprises, is that the teenage unemployment rate reached an all-time seasonally adjusted high of 25.5%. People who know even a little bit about economics should understand why, but an oddly titled New York Times blog post by Catherine Rampall took a pass on realistically trying to explain it: Oh What a Time to Be Young! Pity the unemployed, but especially pity the teenage unemployed. According to today’s job report, the overall unemployment...

EXHAUSTED doctors have confessed to killing and harming patients, falling asleep during surgery and crashing their cars because of marathon shifts. The public hospital medicos claim to be so tired on the job that they are working "like drunks". More than 100 doctors vented guilt and anger in a confidential Queensland survey. Almost 60 per cent admitted to fatigue-induced errors while performing procedures.

Delicious as a side dish or make a meal out of it by themselves!

Here is video of a man named Scott Weber, who confronted Democrat Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersy at a Town Hall Meeting. He is interviewed about his experience on Fox & Friends. Weber's told Pascrell that the "Public Option" would lead to "socialized medicine" and is "positively un-American." Weber said the crowd was so raucous because Pascrell and other speakers had droned on, killing all the time, and the people attending became very restless. . . . (VIDEO)

In German Election, Voters Question Party's Ability to Bolster Economy Among the victims of the Great Recession: Europe's big-government, welfare-loving socialist parties, which so far have been unable to exploit voter anxiety over the perils of runaway capitalism. In Germany, which will hold national elections Sept. 27, the pro-labor Social Democrats are headed to their worst showing in at least a generation, paving the way for the easy reelection of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Despite public anger over rising joblessness and the souring of attitudes toward unregulated markets, the story is similar for left-wing parties across Europe. In France, the Socialist...

As stocks continued to rally into September, one has to ask one's self, "just who's buying this rally?" The answer? Computers and no one else. I've written extensively about the computer trading programs that are dominating this market. All told, High Frequency Trading Programs HFTPs control 70% of trading volume on the NYSE. However, at this point, five stocks (yes only five) account for 40% of the trading volume on the market. Those five stocks: Citigroup, CIT Group, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG. Think about that, five stocks out of several thousand, are accounting for 40% of ALL trading....

Stand-up comedian Mike Pace performs for hundreds of U.S. troops at Joint Base Balad, Sept. 4. Pace has been to Iraq three times in the past 12 months to entertain service members. Photo by Sgt. Keith VanKlompenberg, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary). JOINT BASE BALAD — U.S. service members were treated to a night of good comedy and laughs when the "Comics Ready to Entertain" tour made a stop here, Sept. 4. Stand-up comedians Scott Kennedy, Mike Pace and Bob Kubota performed for hundreds of grateful Warfighters at the base's east side Morale, Wellness and Recreation center.Scott Kennedy, who has performed...

During the Anita Hill hearings after a series of implausible witnesses all of whom were black Yale law school graduates, Juan Williams wrote in the Washington Post that he could now understand the wisdom of the saying that Yale law school had ruined more good black minds than crack. I have found that to be an accurate observation and have always been grateful to Juan for having brought that to my attention. Obama's communist "green czar" lays out why this is so: "I had a professor who encouraged me to apply to Harvard and Yale [for law school], which was...

Tens of thousands of overweight children – some as young as four – will be shipped off to fat camp, under a Government scheme to tackle obesity. Primary school pupils identified as being overweight will automatically be offered a place on a state-funded diet and exercise scheme. Parents groups said the new NHS rules meant Labour had moved "beyond a nanny state, to a dictatorship." Health experts warned that the public branding of young children as fat could damage their confidence, expose them to bullying and trigger eating disorders. However, paediatricians welcomed the move. Under existing regulations, children are weighed...

Zechariah 7 4Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying, 5Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? 6And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? 7Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about...