Free Republic

I leave and heave A sigh and say goodbye

In the glorious spirit of erstwhile Protest Warriors and Communists for Kerry, disorganized multitudes of pro-capitalist miscreants and saboteurs are getting organized again! Meet Liberate Wall Street - a loose coalition of the willing to mock, satirize, and expose the leftist absurdities of the Wall Street Occupussies. The Occupussies demand free lunch in exchange for a total Big Government takeover of their lives. That would have been funny if that didn't involve the takeover of everyone else's lives as well - including yours and mine. They are too misguided and too misinformed to realize that "A government big enough to...

Who knew...??

Vancouver, WA - At least a dozen police officers and firefighters worked Sunday afternoon to get a man to come out of the Columbia River at Vancouver Landing. It took a three firefighters in the water and a fire rescue boat to finally get the man out of the river shortly after 3 p.m. The man, who police said was born in 1965, was standing river waist deep in the river with his head down. He was about 15 feet from the shore and 40 feet from the dock near the Red Lion Hotel at the Quay. Starting at about...

Portland, OR - Black-clad demonstrators gathered in front of the Mars Hill Church in Southeast Portland this morning to protest the church's stance on homosexuality. About 20 protesters lined Southeast Taylor Street carrying flags and shouting obscenities as church-goers left when the service ended. "Shame on you bigots," one woman yelled at worshippers as they left. "Shame on you homophobes. You're not welcome here. You're going to burn in hell." She declined to comment for this story. Brad Salyers came to Mars Hill from Wilsonville Sunday with his wife and two young children. . It was his first visit to...

Vancouver, WA - Police officers are continuing to process evidence and investigate Thursday’s raids in Operation Gang Green. The bust that netted 6,800 marijuana plants and saw 49 people arrested isn’t over just yet. “We’ll analyze evidence to look for further connections between involved parties,” said Cmdr. Mike Cooke of the Clark-Skamania Drug Task Force. “We’re going to move forward to present a solid case for prosecution.” Police don’t think the bust will necessarily take marijuana off the street in Clark County. “Our indications are, this isn’t being grown locally to be smoked locally,” Cooke said. “It will affect drug...

Go ahead and date yourself with this one. (With Thanks to BigFurHat at IowntheWorld dot com)

Video at the link...

<p>TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A federal judge fined a Longshore union $250,000 on Friday for its tactics in a Longview labor dispute, and he warned that individual protesters could face their own penalties for future violations of his orders.</p> <p>U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton has already held the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in contempt for blocking a train and storming a grain terminal earlier this month. Authorities have said the protesters overpowered security guards, damaged railroad cars and dumped grain.</p>

Vancouver, WA - BNSF Railway is offering a reward for information in connection to the suspected tampering of railroad tracks that delayed nine trains in Southwest Washington on Monday. The railroad is offering an up to $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of person or persons responsible for tampering with tracks between Vancouver and Chehalis on Monday, spokesman Gus Melonas said. Anyone with information should call the crime tip hotline at 1-800-832-5452, he said. Informants aren’t required to give their name to get the reward. Officials discovered the tampering just before 11 a.m. Monday near the...

Vancouver, WA - A main rail line in the Portland-Vancouver area was taken out of service for hours Monday after officials received reports of track tampering. The Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office said about a dozen locations in a 60-mile stretch from Vancouver to Chehalis, Wash., were tampered with. Local law enforcement agencies were working with railway investigators. Burlington Northern Santa Fe workers discovered the tampering about 11 a.m., said Gus Melonas, a spokesman for BNSF, which owns the line. Several Amtrak passenger trains were delayed as inspectors checked the tracks. At least nine trains, including freight as well as passenger,...

SEPTEMBER 21--Meet Angela DeHart. The West Virginia woman, 23, is facing a pair of felony charges for allegedly stealing a hearse containing a body and driving home in it early yesterday. According to police, the hearse--parked outside the Ritchie and Johnson Funeral Home in Beckley--was swiped shortly after midnight on Tuesday. The driver, cops reported, had briefly left the hearse unattended--with its door open--while he entered the funeral home. The driver, Kenneth Bly, “pulled into the parking lot…in order to unload a corpse” from the 1996 Cadillac Fleetwood hearse, according to a court affidavit. As Bly moved toward the funeral...

Found on the ground in the parking lot.

Plan sent to feds despite high forecasts; data will be updated just prior to obtaining funding Traffic forecasts for the Columbia River Crossing that remain overinflated were among the details included in environmental plans sent to federal authorities last week. The numbers will not be updated until project officials are ready to secure funding. Vancouver, WA - Columbia River Crossing planners made several key changes to the project’s environmental plans before sending them to federal authorities last week, but opted to wait on at least one other matter — updating traffic forecasts that remain overinflated. The numbers used in the...

It's wrong to tar all of the government's green energy investments with the spectacular flameout of the solar equipment maker Solyndra If hyperbole could turn a turbine, the lights of Washington would be burning bright. Republicans are spinning the collapse of the solar manufacturer Solyndra, the Obama administration darling that churned through a $535 million federal loan, into an attack on all of green energy. Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., and chairman of a House Energy subcommittee looking into Solyndra's failure, claimed its downfall is an indictment of the "fervent religion of green jobs" and proves "that green energy isn't going...

One of the big successes in this year's garden has been my Ancho Chilis. I've already smoke-roasted a dozen or so with mesquite, until they were shriveled and dry. They make a great addition to beans or chili once you rehydrate them and strain out the skins. But what else do you do with an nice Ancho? I have a bunch more still on the plant and they are really nice, dark green and really delicious looking. I've been harvesting jalapenos and using them for cooking, but I have never cooked with raw Anchos, and was looking for ideas about...

Students and parents eagerly awaiting opening day Monday at Portland's new recording arts-centered charter high school expressed astonishment Friday that the school has been shut down. Sisters Gabby and Maya Vertner were ready to start their junior and freshman years at REAL Prep Charter Academy, whose personalized, hands-on philosophy was just what their mother, Patty, thought they needed. An open house at the school's Pearl District location two weeks ago kindled that feeling, with nothing seeming amiss. So they were among dozens of students shocked Friday to learn the hip-hop-themed school is dead, felled by its planners' failure to have...

News Release from: Cowlitz Co. (WA) Sheriff's Office SHERIFF GIVES MORE INFO ON PROTEST INCIDENT-CAR JACKING Posted: September 9th, 2011 6:01 PM Kelso, WA - With officers far outnumbered by protesters, Sheriff's deputies, police officers and Washington State Patrol troopers had to back off to a defensive position during Wednesday's ILWU rally due to threats to their safety. "Our teams of 4 or 5 officers were confronted by baseball bat and axe handle wielding protesters." Said Cowlitz County Sheriff Mark Nelson. "They had their protest signs attached to bats and axe handles. When we attempted to make simple, misdemeanor arrests...

(Portland, Oregon) Mayor Sam Adams decried the gun violence that broke out again in Portland Friday night after the Jefferson High School football game and said Portland police are "out in full strength" to prevent any tit-for-tat shootings. Six teenagers were wounded in the area of North Albina Avenue and Jessup Street around 11:20 p.m. The mother of one of the wounded youths said her son had been released from the hospital today, but the other five teens were still being treated. "To be very blunt, illegal guns have swamped the city," Adams said Saturday morning after being updated by...

Green Scissors 2011 identifies wasteful government subsidies that are damaging to the environment and could end up costing taxpayers more than $380 billion. Green Scissors 2011 builds on last year’s report by advancing cuts that could potentially save taxpayers $380 billion or more over five years. The report makes the case that the federal government can help protect our natural resources, reduce the growth of government spending, and make a significant dent in the national debt by eliminating harmful spending. The Green Scissors report finds cuts in energy, agriculture, transportation, and land and water projects. Targets include massive giveaways of...