Free Republic

When was the last time you rode in the back seat of your own automobile? I have owned at least eleven cars since I started driving in 1979: Oldsmobile 98 AMC Pacer Volkswagon Rabbit Ford Escort Mitsubishi Galant Ford Tempo Nissan Maxima Nissan Altima Ford F-150 (that the wife tipped over and wrecked) Nissan Murano Subaru Outback I might have missed one or two and I'm not counting my wife's cars - though I did point out she wrecked my F-150, the one pickup truck that I ever owned. She lost control over a patch of ice and flipped it...

Obama's back seat of the car quip has been used by him all month. The Rosa Park's clip was used in my video on 10/9. Suddenly, people seemed to pay attention to it in RI.

MANASSAS, Va. --Kevin Kelly is a law-abiding citizen who, much distracted, left his beloved 21-month-old daughter in a sweltering van for seven hours. Frances Kelly had probably been dead for more than four hours by the time a neighbor noticed her strapped in her car seat; when rescue personnel removed the girl from the vehicle, her skin was red and blistered, her fine, carrot-colored hair matted with sweat. Two hours later, her body temperature was still nearly 106 degrees. What is the appropriate punishment for a doting parent responsible for his child's death? A judge eventually spared Kelly a lengthy...

California's Republican governor and top Democratic lawmakers are talking tough, prompt action to battle climate change, yet unlike its pioneering restrictions on air pollutants, the state is taking more measured steps in regulating greenhouse gases. In fact, Sacramento could end up pushing Washington into action but lagging behind the federal government when it comes to curbing greenhouse emissions. Last week, Democrats led by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Woodland Hills,filed legislation calling for mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions by major emitters in January 2008 and a gradual capping of those emissions starting in 2012. Gov. Arnold...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Republican Party is presenting a moderate image at its national convention but conservatives who dominate the party say they are happy to stay in the background, confident that President Bush (news - web sites) will take care of their interests if he wins the election. "The speakers at the convention may be thought of as moderate but their message is a strong conservative message. They are not going to be speaking about abortion rights or same sex marriage -- that would go down like a lead balloon," said Gary Bauer (news - web sites),...