Free Republic

WhilWASHINGTON - Despite their claims, the Republicans' ban on earmarks won't stop lawmakers from steering taxpayers' dollars to pet projects. And it will have little if any effect on Washington's far graver problem — the gigantic budget deficit.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) is in line to receive $150 million for the North and Southeast Corridor light-rail lines as part of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s fiscal-year 2011 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill approved last week. The House version of the FY2011 appropriations bill set aside $152 million for the projects. The full House will vote on the bill later this week. The $150 million proposed by the Senate committee would be in addition to $150 million secured in FY2010, bringing the total amount of federal funds allocated for the two light-rail projects...

The U.S. Senate voted 58-40 on Tuesday to halt production of the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter. The fighter is built by Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) through its Aeronautics unit based in Marietta, Ga. The F-22 program, to develop, build and buy the jets, is managed by Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The center is part of Air Force Materiel Command, a major command that also is headquartered there. The command executes cradle-to-grave research and acquisition of all Air Force weapon technology, including new aircraft. The Senate’s vote to trim $1.75 billion from a $680 billion defense...

For millennia, civilization’s main event, the harvest, has focused our attention upon the fruit of our agricultural efforts — the kernel, the grain, busheled and bagged. So it’s no surprise that the fledgling biofuel industry has been similarly focused: America’s favorite biofuels come mostly from corn and from soy. But when food crops are used as fuel, difficulties may follow. The vogue for corn ethanol has driven up the price of corn around the world, putting the poor in jeopardy. (An expert affiliated with the United Nations went so far as to label the production of biofuels derived from food...

BLUFFTON -- Sun City Hilton Head residents got face time with Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani on Friday morning, and while his talking points focused primarily on the economy, Sun City attendees seemed most interested in his immigration policy. Illegal immigration, Giuliani said, needs to be stopped "right at the border." He supports building a fence along America's 2,000-mile border with Mexico and said he would use technology -- cameras as well as heat and motion detection equipment -- to "change behavior" and encourage people to come into the country legally instead. "Legal immigration is good for us," he said....

In the minds of many regional officials, high-speed rail connecting Northern and Southern California ---- with stops planned for Southwest Riverside County and Escondido ---- is the best way to meet the state's future booming transportation demands. Now, residents will have a chance to tell officials what they think about it. A formal 90-day comment period that the California High-Speed Rail Authority started Friday has provided the public with a variety of ways to speak its collective mind. The draft environmental report is available for review online at the authority's Web site (www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov) and at the public libraries in both...