Free Republic

Back in 2004, both a network TV crew and eager motorists were on hand when an E-85 pump opened for business at a busy SuperAmerica station in St. Paul. The excitement didn't last. Today, that pump at the station on Grand Avenue sells only unleaded gasoline, not the 85-percent ethanol blend once touted as leading a revolution in biofuels. That single St. Paul pump mirrors the struggles E-85 has had penetrating the consumer market across the state, especially in urban areas. The volume of E-85 sales has fallen about 25 percent from its 2008 peak, Minnesota statistics show. And the...

Record spending on judicial elections around the country has prompted calls for changes from a broad array of advocates, including moderate conservatives such as retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor. But a report issued Thursday by a small conservative group active in judicial elections alleges that the efforts to change such elections amount to a campaign to bolster liberals, with backing from financier and philanthropist George Soros. The report from the American Justice Partnership alleges that Soros has spent millions on "a highly coordinated, well-funded campaign" to "fundamentally alter the composition of America's state courts." Some advocacy groups say...

This video is already spreading across the Internet like a duet from Justin Bieber and a zombified Liberace and will soon be on every blooper reel created from now until the end of time. For good reason, too. It's a smidge embarrassing. In a tense match between Maghreb Fez and FAR Rabat to decide who reaches the quarterfinals of Morocco's Coupe du Trone, they had to go to a penalty shootout to decide a winner. During that shootout, FAR goalkeeper Khalid Askri thought he came up with a big stop and immediately began to celebrate his triumph, turning his back...

The imam behind a mosque project near Ground Zero said in an interview that "certain politicians" were exploiting the controversy. The imam behind a mosque project near Ground Zero said in an interview aired Sunday that "certain politicians" were exploiting the controversy. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf told ABC's "This Week" that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's assertion that that mosque was an unnecessary provocation was "disingenuous." "The discourse has been hijacked by radicals on both sides," he said, adding that protesters in the U.S. and protests in the Muslim world "feed off each other." When asked whether he would consider...

Court documents obtained Saturday by THE WEEKLY STANDARD reveal surprising new details about the gender discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Christine O'Donnell in 2005 against her former employer, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a conservative non-profit based in Delaware.* O'Donnell, who is now challenging moderate congressman Mike Castle in the September 14 Delaware GOP Senate primary, sought $6.95 million in damages. In a court complaint, she extensively detailed the "mental anguish" she suffered after allegedly being demoted and fired because of her gender. And, although she didn't have a bachelor's degree until this year, O'Donnell implied she was taking...

Maybe My ears aren't what they used to be but it sounded like in the Background that awfull sound of a Muslim Call to prayer.... Just what I heard not sure if it was that or some singing REALLY BADLY! Anyone else see/hear??

The ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee accused the imam behind the mosque project near Ground Zero of arm-twisting and "blackmailing" to push Park51 through. "To me, it's almost as if he's blackmailing and threatening the United States that somehow if the mosque is not approved or people speak out against his mosque, you have to worry about being attacked by Islamic terrorists," Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf on Fox Business Network on Friday. King said that the Islamic center was being "put their to make a statement, not to build bridges, but...

Quebec's public hearings into assisted suicide continued in Montreal Wednesday, with an appearance by the president of the Right to Die With Dignity Association, among others. Hélène Bolduc told the all-party panel of MNAs leading the hearing that the debate is being sidetracked by calls for better palliative care, more hospital beds and better pain management. Bolduc said she's surprised by the opposition to euthanasia from doctors working in palliative care. "We seem like radicals now," Bolduc said of her association, which has 310 members. "I am not a radical." Bolduc said she finds it hard to be on the...

Planners were unaware that the endangered species’ burrows were scattered throughout area proposed for photovoltaic power plant When biologists began surveying more than 4,000 acres on the eastern end of the California Valley earmarked for a large solar project, they knew the area was home to kangaroo rats. Signs of the rodents’ large burrows — biologists call them precincts — were visible everywhere. However, it wasn’t known whether the kangaroo rats were the endangered giant species or the more common Heermann’s variety. Biologists eventually determined they are giant kangaroo rats and that they are scattered throughout the center of the...

While U.S. Army Maj. Frank Fair was away in Afghanistan, Iraq and Qatar, his 7-year-old daughter lost her front teeth and learned to write letters. Wearing a red, white and blue sundress, Katherine said she couldn't wait to give him a hug. His 4-year-old son had to have surgery after getting his hand caught in an escalator. Nikolas, who saved a spot on his cast for his father to sign, said he couldn't wait to play again with his dad. The two, with their 38-year-old mother, Kristen, gathered wi....

At his White House press conference Friday, President Obama once again endorsed the placement of a triumphalist mosque in immediate proximity to Ground Zero, declaring it the “inalienable right” of the increasingly transparently immoderate imam determined to build it there. Troubling as this evidence is of Mr. Obama’s submission to shariah – the supremacist political-military-legal code of places like Saudi Arabia and Iran that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf says he wants to bring to America, even more worrisome is something else he at least implied: He was prepared as “Commander-in-Chief” to prevent the burning of Qurans by a pastor in...

Barack Obama is the most antibusiness president in a generation, perhaps in American history. Thanks to him the era of big government is back. Obama runs up taxpayer debt not in the billions but in the trillions. He has expanded the federal government's control over home mortgages, investment banking, health care, autos and energy. The Standard summarizes Obama's approach as omnipotence at home, impotence abroad. The President's actions are so bizarre that they mystify his critics and supporters alike. Consider this headline from the Aug. 18, 2009 issue of the Wall Street Journal: "Obama Underwrites Offshore Drilling." Did you read...

I STILL remember learning from my father how to carefully remove a dipstick to check the oil level in our cars. It was drilled into me — along with turning off the lights when you left a room and clearing the plates off the table after dinner — that oil needs to be changed every 3,000 miles or so. I’m not sure what I thought would happen if I didn’t, but I vaguely imagined an unlubricated engine grinding to a halt. Childhood habits are hard to undo, and that’s often good. To this day, I hate seeing an empty room...

Congress returns this week with embattled Democrats torn between trying to show they have the economic answers and fearing the further wrath of voters over new government programs. It appears the fears will win out. The inbox is overflowing as lawmakers end their summer recess and undertake four weeks of writing and trying to pass bills before leaving town ahead of the Nov. 2 election: Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire at year's end; annual spending bills await action;

George Soros, patron saint of Democrats everywhere, sugar daddy of their party, early backer of Barack Obama, funder of influential think tanks (such as the omnipresent Center for American Progress, a group that has become a media mouthpiece), and the grand champion funder of 527 groups nationwide (such as MoveOn.org) has been funding the takeover of one more branch of government: states' judiciary, according to this (Washington Post).[snip] Of course, Soros and his allies and employees are fighting back-justifying their actions by bringing out the old bugaboo of corporate America. They justify their efforts by characterizing them as defensive and,...

The House Republican leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, said on Sunday that he was prepared to vote in favor of legislation that would let the Bush-era tax cuts expire for the wealthiest Americans if Democrats insisted on continuing the lower rates only for families earning less than $250,000 a year. Speaking on “Face the Nation” on CBS, Mr. Boehner made clear that he supports continuing the lower tax rates at all income levels and that he believes the Democrats would be making a mistake by increasing taxes on anyone, given the weak economy. But Mr. Boehner said that...

So here was the scene yesterday … The POTUS lecturing the American people about being tolerant … Muslims worldwide burning American flags and Israeli flags with impunity while shouting chants like “Death to America.” … Ah, must be September 11th. Because that’s what seems to happen these days on the anniversary of an event that Muslims worldwide celebrate with vigor: Muslims wreak havoc around the globe, and we Americans get lectures about how intolerant and Islamophobic we are. And to add insult to injury, the president from whom these condescending lectures come has surrounded himself with characters who have openly...

I am worried because too many people, especially our youth, don't even have a clue as to what living under a totalitarian regime is like. Here is my story, how I learned about the evils of government domination and became the patriotic freedom-fighter that I am today. I am a descendant of immigrants from Yugoslavia. They immigrated to the United States around 1900........ He told me that leaving his country, his home, was very difficult. I later learned that he had had a girlfriend in Yugoslavia, and when he left with my mother, she fell on the ground, sobbing, "I...

So how far along are we towards completing the Freedom Tower? Not far along as far as we can tell. Michelle Malkin asks the same question I’ve been wondering about for the last four or five years. Why is the Freedom Tower not done yet? Will it take longer than the construction of the Pyramid at Giza?

Ellison: Homegrown terror is a threat; Muslim parents need to talk to their kids By Bridget Johnson - 09/12/10 11:49 AM ET The first Muslim elected to Congress said Sunday that homegrown terrorism is an increasing problem, but cautioned law enforcement to work with the Muslim community to catch extremists. On CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, chairman of the 9/11 Commission, said a report last week from the Bipartisan Policy Center assessing the threat nine years after the attacks showed that al-Qaeda's shifting strategy was a "real threat." "The strategy has changed," Kean said....