Free Republic

NJ Transit sent four employees to the Super Bowl in New Orleans—including a key rail official who was in charge of the Hoboken terminal when dozens of rail cars and locomotives, left to sit in low-lying yards, were damaged during superstorm Sandy—at a taxpayer cost of $14,505, expense reports show. The bills, obtained by The Record through an Open Public Records Act request, include: $7,800 for lodging from Jan. 31 through Feb. 4, 2013;$5,241 for airfare;$423 in miscellaneous expenses.The intent of the visit was to ground NJ Transit officials in procedures used to handle transportation and security at the Super...

Today, February 15, 2013, Attorney Orly Taitz brings her request to move the Obama eligibility challenge from conference to the oral hearing stage at the US Supreme Court. She is moving forward in spite of the fact that four African-American Supreme Court clerks refused to allow Taitz to see the signature of Justice Anthony Kennedy who denied her petition originally. “But I resubmitted to Justice Roberts, and he sent it to the conference,” Taitz said. (1) The California attorney is asking “…how do we know that he (Kennedy) ever saw the brief?” In no uncertain terms clerk James Baldin told...

GOP Denies Hagel Block A True Filibuster Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) (R) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) hold a press conference demanded answers on the attacks on an American diplomatic outpost in Benghazi and to announce they will hold President Obama's pending nominations until they receive the information for Defense Secretary and CIA Director WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Republicans denied their move to block Chuck Hagel's defense secretary nomination was a true filibuster because they expected Hagel to be confirmed. They said they stalled the nomination because they wanted more information about their fellow Republican's post-Senate career,...

Proponents of President Obama’s universal prekindergarten proposal make a strong case for the potential benefits of such a plan. Studies of about 100 low-income kids enrolled in two pricey and intensive preschool projects in the 1960s and 1970s found the children, while not experiencing any permanen IQ improvement, developed life skills that meant they were more likely as adults to hold a job, own a home, and stay out of jail than counterparts in a control group. More recently studies of broader, statewide pre-K programs, particularly in Oklahoma provide some further evidence of effectiveness, though the results are certainly not...

The commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command denies allegations made in an Esquire feature article that the SEAL team member who claims he first shot Osama bin Laden was left in the dark about what benefits were available to him after he left the service. "This former SEAL made a deliberate and informed decision to leave the Navy several years short of retirement status," Rear Adm. Sean Pybus, commander of Naval Special Warfare Command, wrote in a statement. "Months ahead of his separation, he was counseled on status and benefits, and provided with options to continue his career until...

Yesterday's earnings' report by General Motors threw up some red flags that I reviewed here. In recent quarters, the media seemed to give quite a bit of coverage on GM's earnings, but not so this time. I wanted to follow up and discuss what the financial news networks obviously will not. The most glaring number that warrants further discussion was the $35 billion deferred tax valuation allowance. This tax credit is not allowed under GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) but that does not stop many companies from using it as they tout non-GAAP earnings. It is the huge amount of...

Lakeside, AZ --(Ammoland.com)- One last poke at the libs before the before the federal government rams through gun control and universal background check becomes law. We are restoring America’s Heritage! Maybe the first ever all private gun show! •No Taxes! •No Dealers! •No paperwork! •No Background checks! •Buy, sell and trade! •Experience gun trading as it should be! This show is solely for guns and products relating to America’s firearms heritage. People can come and sell their guns while walking around and visiting with friends or purchase a table, stay all day and peddle your items. Vendors are encouraged to...

Featured Term (selected at random):SYNCRETISM The effort to unite different doctrines and practices, especially in religion. Such unions or amalgams are part of cultural history and are typical of what has occurred in every segment of the non-Christian world. Syncretism is also applied to the ecumenical efforts among separated Christian churches and within Catholicism to the attempts made of combining the best elements of different theological schools. But in recent years the term mainly refers to misguided claims that religious unity can be achieved by ignoring the differences between faiths on the assumption that all creeds are essentially one and...

Since Pope Benedict’s shock announcement Monday, I have held off commenting. Time was needed to step back and consider just what this astounding action from the world's leading defender of life and family really meant. It was an earthquake announcement that had to have greater significance than the Pope merely being tired and worn out. The two lightening strikes onto the dome of St. Peter’s that evening added an uncanny emphasis that the Pope’s action demanded the world’s attention.

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- The Left is not happy at all with Gun Owners of America: “It’s people like [Erich] Pratt who could derail even modest efforts to bring a modicum of sanity to the nation’s gun laws,” said The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart on January 16, 2013. And then there were the insults that CNN’s Piers Morgan threw at GOA Executive Director Larry Pratt when Morgan ran out of arguments — even calling him an “idiot” and “incredibly stupid.” The Left is scared that their hopes for greater gun control may fall short. They are scared that history is going...

Seattle megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll recently came to the defense of fellow Christian minister Joel Osteen, while admitting that his "Reformed brothers like to treat Pastor Joel like a pinata." In a recent interview with The Gospel Coalition, the Mars Hill Church pastor was asked to comment on a segment of his new book, Who Do You Think You Are?, that mentions "appreciated people" who "exchange grumbling for praying, competing for celebrating, bitterness for thankfulness, performing for serving, and boasting for encouraging." The interviewer, TGC's associate editor Matt Smethurst, asked Driscoll, "What's an 'appreciated person'? Isn't that what Joel Osteen...

No single climate phenomenon has more influence on year-to-year variation in average global temperature than the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). When the central tropical Pacific Ocean is warmer than average (El Niño) or colder than average (La Niña), a cascade of atmospheric changes ensures that many parts of the globe feel the effects. But here’s a problem to consider: if the ocean today is warmer than the long-term average, won’t it look like the tropical Pacific is in a permanent El Niño? Won’t La Niña—the cool phase—just disappear? Will we have to redefine the nature of these influential climate events?...

Economists have been talking for decades about why some countries get wealthy, and some do not. It was the subject of Adam Smith’s famous book, The Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. I suggest that the secret could be expressed in four words: Low Taxes, Stable Money. I call this the Magic Formula. The reason for this is simple. The primary way that countries have become wealthy is via capitalism. Capitalism works best with stable money and low taxes. If taxes are too high, and money is too unstable, capitalism – the incredibly complex arrangement...

Firearm manufacturer Olympic Arms announced that they will no longer sell to New York law enforcement in protest of the gun control laws recently passed there. “Legislation recently passed in the State of New York outlaws the AR15 and many other firearms, and will make it illegal for the good and free citizens of New York to own a large selection of legal and safe firearms and magazines. We feel as though the passage of this legislation exceeds the authority granted to the government of New York by its citizens, and violates the Constitution of the United States, ignoring such...

The meteor explosion over Russia that injured more than 500 people and damaged hundreds of buildings was not caused by an asteroid zooming close by the Earth today (Feb.15), a NASA scientist says.

One of the most intriguing sideplots from Senate Republicans’ successful filibuster blocking Chuck Hagel from becoming Defense Secretary was that one of the GOP ringleaders was recently tagged by critics as someone who shared his more-isolationist worldview. But freshman Kentucky senator Rand Paul, who openly talks about his presidential ambitions for 2016, is playing the long game – and his politically savvy positioning suggests he’ll be a major national player. Unlike his father, he’s not interested in pursuing ideologically charged issues just for the sake of making a point, he’s learning how to make an impact in Washington. One senior...

May 5, 2004 Jesus My dear earthly souls must fix their gaze on Me, much as a sailor will use the North Star to navigate his direction. If your gaze is fixed on Me, you will always be sailing toward heaven. There will be small diversions in your course, but generally you will be moving nearer. I speak now with firmness because I am certain there is no other way for you. If you take your eyes from Me for even the shortest period you will be swept away from your course, such are the winds of the world. You...

Skip to 3:35 for your media moment du jour and for the pitch-perfect reply from a guy who’s somehow managed to retain his sense of perspective better than CNN despite having spent the past three days floating around on a giant toilet. If you think conditions onboard weren’t that bad, read Lileks’s thoughtful piece this morning at the Bleat. Scorching heat, power outage, no showers, few working toilets for 3,000 people, and oh that stench: It was awfully unpleasant generally and 10 times as unpleasant for the crew, which had to cope with all that while tending to passengers for...

Valve Moves a Step Closer to Steam Box, Releases Steam for Ubuntu Valve Software, the owner of Steam video game distributing system, on Thursday announced the release of its Steam for Linux client. The launch of the Steam client for Canonical’s Ubuntu moves Valve a step closer to creation its own Linux-based low-cost personal computers for gaming. What remains to be seen is how well will titles developed with Windows in mind work under different OS."The introduction of Steam to Ubuntu demonstrates growing demand for open systems from gamers and game developers. We expect a growing number of game developers...

Call The Rush Limbaugh Show program line between 12 Noon and 3PM Eastern Time at: 1-800-282-2882 E-mail Rush: ElRushbo@eibnet.com Fax Rush at: 212-445-3963 Write a letter to Rush and mail it to: The Rush Limbaugh Show 1270 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 Join This Ping List Now! Click Here To Join this Ping List! Image by Cool Text: Free Logos and Buttons - Create An Image Just Like This