Free Republic

Scientists from Rosetta’s OSIRIS team have discovered an extraordinary formation on the larger lobe of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in the Aker region. From a group of three boulders the largest one with a diameter of approximately 30 meters stands out: images obtained on 16 September 2014 from a distance of 29 kilometers with the help of Rosetta’s scientific imaging system OSIRIS show it to perch on the rim of a small depression. There seems to be only a very small contact area with the nucleus. Similar geological formations are found also on Earth. So-called balancing rocks touch the underground with only...

Tea party Republicans, to their credit, want to pass a BBA that would include the supermajority tax limitation. But it has no chance of passing, and absent that rule, political pressure could turn the amendment into a driver for the entitlement state as successive Democratic governments raised taxes, most likely with a European-style value-added tax to balance spending commitments. The new Members who are intent on fiscal responsibility should visit with Congressional historians to discover a root cause of this modern spending catastrophe—the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act, the most laughable title ever placed on a federal law.

Sacramento -- When he presents his proposed budget next week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will have to maneuver around a sluggish economy and a series of his own spending promises in overcoming a $5.5 billion deficit. The Republican governor has repeatedly said he will not raise taxes but is also planning a major initiative in health care and faces a growing prison crisis that will likely cost the state money. Unlike previous years, the state's housing market is not likely to provide a fiscal windfall that will alleviate the need to make major cuts to balance the budget or pay for...

The Washington Post warns of "Pakistan's Awkward Balancing Act on Islamic Militant Groups." But if one looks closely at the actions of Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, it is clear that he has made his choice to side with the West, there's no going back, and he is beyond the pale of reconciliation with his country's lunatic Islamists. The scale has tipped to one side. It is time for Musharraf to explicitly say so and do so, as he'll never appease Pakistan's radicals. Here's an excerpt from the Post: The basic problem for Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is that he...

At the recent so-called "media reform" conference funded by George Soros, his friend Bill Moyers delivered a keynote address. Most of it was predictable left-wing rhetoric. But he did make a point we have been making-the American taxpayers should not be forced to spend their money on a public TV show featuring members of the Wall Street Journal editorial page. Moyers noted that Kenneth Tomlinson, chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, put up a considerable sum of money, about $5 million, for a new weekly broadcast featuring Paul Gigot and the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. Moyers...

<p>DAVIS -- As a first-year law student, few things would pull me away from my studies at this point of the semester. I plotted my way through the final volley of classes last week, and the first round of exams begin this week. Absent the death of a friend or family member, or some equally weighty act of God, I had no intention of pulling my nose from the law books. Then I learned of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to systematically dismantle the civil rights of Californians with disabilities in his attempt to fix the budget.</p>