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<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major step toward opening U.S. skies to thousands of unmanned drones, federal officials Thursday solicited proposals to create six drone test sites around the country.</p> <p>The Federal Aviation Administration also posted online a draft plan for protecting people's privacy from the eyes in the sky. The plan would require each test site to follow federal and state laws and make a privacy policy publicly available.</p>

There is well known quote of Adam Smith's, that goes as follows: People of the same trade seldom meet together even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public or some contrivance to raise prices. This can be found in The Wealth of Nations, Book 1, Chapter 10, "Of Wages and Profits". Part 2, page 207, very top of the page.I find this quote to be interesting. Not necessarily for what it states, but for how it's been nearly universally received. Finding the direct source of the quote led me to all sorts of...

Saving the fish isn’t about saving the fish. It’s about preventing fishermen from making a living selling the fish. Otherwise, our moonbat rulers wouldn’t blow the fish to bits: A federal mandate to remove old, abandoned oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico is blowing up a lot more than just the rigs. Undercover video obtained by Local 15 shows thousands of pounds of dead fish, mostly red snapper, floating to the surface after one of the controversial demolitions in the Gulf. According to marine scientist Bob Shipp, the “abominable” demolitions occur as often as three times a...

An elementary school principal in the Denver suburbs told parents that white children would be excluded from an after-school tutoring initiative. Andre C. Pearson, the principal at Mission Viejo Elementary in Aurora, Colorado sent letters home to parents informing them that only students of color are eligible for the program, KJCT, the local ABC affiliate, reports. Some shocked parents have alleged discrimination and segregation, reports CBS Denver. “I was infuriated,” one parent, Nicole Cox, told CBS Denver. “I didn’t understand why they would include or exclude certain groups.” “We have come so far in all of these years to show...

A large global warming protest with a very Canadian connection is scheduled for Sunday February 17th at the White House. The protest, organized by the Sierra Club and 350.org, is being dubbed as the biggest climate rally in U.S. history and is meant to encourage President Obama to veto the construction of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would carry oil from northern Alberta down to the Gulf of Mexico. In a telephone interview with Yahoo! Canada News, 350.org's Daniel Kessler said that he is expecting tens of thousands of people including "several groups" from Canada. Obama is expected to...

A 10-ton meteor exploded in the sky above Russia on Friday, causing a shockwave that blew out windows injuring some 400 people and sending fragments falling to the ground in the Ural Mountains.

I rarely do book reviews. I not only don’t have time, but I’m actually uncomfortable doing them. That’s because if I don’t care for a book enough to recommend it, that is, to put my name behind an endorsement and encourage readers to buy a copy, I realize it’s generally simply a matter of subjective preference, so I don’t figure it’s my place to publicly rain on someone’s labor of love, hopes and hard work. And that’s why my policy is I will only give good reviews. None of this is to say books I’ve chosen to not review...

North Korea has just pulled off an impressive dual feat -- the successful test both of an intercontinental ballistic missile and an atom bomb in the 6-kiloton range. Pyongyang's ruler, 30-year-old Kim Jong Un, said the tests are aimed at the United States. So it would seem. One does not build an ICBM to hit Seoul, 30 miles away. Experts believe North Korea is still far from having the capability to marry a nuclear warhead to a missile that could hit the West Coast. But this seems to be Kim's goal. Why is he obsessed with a nation half...

To the dictators of relativism and their allies in the chattering class, the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is seen as an occasion for celebration and a chance to lobby the Church for a liberal successor. The mischief is already underway, as seen in such headlines as: “New Pope should not condemn contraception, says cardinal.”The Church’s enemies, both within and without her walls, see an opportunity to capitalize on Benedict’s resignation, and the media, as always, stands ready to help. The coverage so far of the resignation has been grotesquely biased. ABC News wins the prize for the most ludicrously...

First Lady Michelle Obama plans to vacation in Aspen, Colorado this Presidents’ Day weekend, separately from her husband, who will land this evening in West Palm Beach for his own down time with the boys. According to Aspen newspapers, both Michelle and Vice President Biden are expected on the slopes. The White House has not yet announced the trip, and it’s not clear when she will be leaving, though she will presumably go today.

Missouri Democrats propose law giving gun owners 90 days to turn in weapons Gun control February 14, 2013 By: Joe Newby Missouri Democrats have introduced a measure that if passed into law, would give owners of certain types of "assault" weapons 90 days to either turn them in to authorities, disable them or ship them out of the state, Jim Hoft reported at the Gateway Pundit Thursday.

For those of you who might like to see the building in which Pope Benedict XVI will retire to, Robert Duncan of CNS has produced the following video which shows some outside views of it: Video link

By far the best line from this week’s dueling State of the Union messages came from Florida senator Marco Rubio. Nice and simple, and right to the point: “Presidents in both parties -- from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan -- have known that our free-enterprise economy is the source of our middle-class prosperity.” That’s a brilliant summary of pro-growth policies, on the supply-side and in a free-market context. Kennedy slashed tax rates and held down the budget. So did Ronald Reagan, who borrowed Kennedy’s ideas: smaller government, lower tax-rate incentives, and a thriving middle class, where the economic pie...

The mainstream media are suddenly taking a keen interest in Vatican affairs, sending reporters to process the latest unfounded rumors from Rome. Meanwhile self-proclaimed experts on Catholicism are flooding the internet with their own theories. As a result, thousands of inaccurate stories are appearing every day. Once again I encourage readers to treat every new report with caution, and sensational reports with outright skepticism. To separate the wheat from the chaff, keep checking this site. We cannot correct every misleading story that appears in the media; there are simply too many. But we can, and will, offer occasional bulletins to...

It’s natural for any employee to want to know just how committed the big boss is to the company’s future and, especially, to the expansion project that includes his job. So, even though Pope Benedict XVI didn’t make it to America in person, Father Jason Catania still appreciated the message he sent to the former Episcopal priests and others who swam the Tiber to Rome after the pontiff’s controversial “Anglicanorum Coetibus (“groups of Anglicans”) pronouncement in 2009. “We didn’t just wake up one morning last year and said, ‘Why don’t we join the Catholic Church?’ Many of us have made...

Over a decade after thousands of New Yorkers were murdered by Muslim terrorists, the city's mayor is declaring victory in the War on Salt. Next up he plans to wage a spring offensive on Styrofoam cups. After that, who knows? We live in surreal times. In the Middle Ages, cats and rats were put on trial. In this modern age, we began by waging wars on poverty and drugs, both of which we lost, and have now retreated to fighting wars on food ingredients, the bags we carry them in and the containers out of which we eat and drink...

If anyone remembers the story behind this great case of legal intepretation, please comment.

Should it be a federal crime for businesses to refuse to hire ex-convicts? Yes, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which recently released 20,000 convoluted words of regulatory "guidance" to direct businesses to hire more felons and other ex-offenders. In the late 1970s, the EEOC began stretching Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to sue businesses for practically any hiring practice that adversely affected minorities. In 1989, the agency sued Carolina Freight Carrier Corp. of Hollywood, Fla., for refusing to hire as a truck driver a Hispanic man who had multiple arrests and had served 18 months...

Senator Rubio, It is my understanding the GOP plans to fold next week and allow Hussein to appoint Hagel as SecDef. I hope I am wrong, and if I am, please disregard. I watched the stumbling fool give non-answers to the Senate Armed Services Committee last week. I know the GOP months ago asked for clarification to his possible contacts with radical Muslim groups. His recorded remarks over the years drip with anti-Semitism. With Hagel at Defense, Brennan at CIA, our military will be eviscerated, Israel will be destroyed and Obama's Muslim Brotherhood allies will reign supreme from Morocco to...