Free Republic

I have an important announcement of interest to long-time FReepers: FReeper GladesGuru, ecologist, and private property advocate, has died from complications due to prostate cancer. He was 75. Jan (pronounced “Yan”) Jacobson was a man of acerbic wit who could cut to the bottom line with a merciless precision. Pity the bureaucrat or academic peddling questionable “facts” under his scrutiny. His passion was wildlife biology and its relation to habitat. For over thirty years, he was Director of the Everglades Institute, a private parcel within the Big Cypress National Preserve, immediately adjacent to Everglades National Park. The parcel is unusual...

This is the CDC procedure for donning and doffing personal protective equipment (PPE) specifically for ebola found here.

HK121 Universal Machine Gun. Modular. Reliable. Superior.As the successor of the MG3, The HK121 opens a new era of universal belt fed 7.62 mm x 51 machine guns. Compared to others, the gas operated HK121 offers an intelligent and contemporary build standard, with numerous technical and ergonomic innovations. The mounting interface of the HK121 is compatible with MG3 mounts and tripods already in service. The universal HK121 can be used by dismounted infantry in the ground role, as well as for air defence or as a vehicle mounted/co axial machine gun. approx. 600/700/800 rounds/min Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e29_1352371125#YrxJv3xJfutfzqvl.99

The origin of the modern belief that Nature is self-optimizing and alien from people is in the writings of a 1st Century BC poet, Titus Lucretius Carus. It was adopted by the philosophers of the 18th Century Enlightenment as a means to demean religion. This is an examination of the errors in that adoption and the practical consequences of the Nature mythos in modern life.

I just don’t get why Republicans, even conservatives, can’t seem to get their sound-bites wrapped around ZeroCare. The reason HHS keeps jacking "standards" is to raise the price of insurance such that people choose to pay the penalty and fund their own care. If they have a problem, they'll just have to rely upon Medicaid. It’s a twofer: a tax increase on the middle class with Medicaid becoming the default single-payer system. Middle class Americans will get the same "coverage" (or worse) than illegal aliens. It's equality and social justice for all you little people all in one swell foop!...

HOUSTON — Texas has been messed with, and now it’s sending in the helicopters. Starting today, Texans are taking their ceaseless fight against feral pigs to the skies, thanks to the Texas “Pork Chopper” bill, signed by Gov. Rick Perry. Once limited to killing invasive swine on the ground, licensed hunters can now shoot them from helicopters — for a price. “I’m ready to book a hunt today!” said David Fason, 48, who drove nine hours and paid $350 on a recent weekend to attend a class in Houston — the first of its kind — on how to safely...

Driving a well-used pickup truck with his tree-climbing dog “Cory” in the bed, David Bamberger wheels out of a picturesque field up slippery limestone scrabble. The day is a Hill County idyll, with one tour-jarring revelation. As we climb a small rise, an elevated deer blind comes into view. Bamberger’s displeasure is obvious. Nodding back down the hill toward a winch not more than 100 yards away that will hold a deer feeder when hunting season opens in November, he nearly spits. “You might as well be at a shooting range.” Yet this is where every one of his “high-dollar”...

In light of Lord Monckton’s recent dire warning about how a new treaty on carbon emissions is actually meant to institute a global bureaucratic authority, I thought it would be useful to point out the particulars and provide the background showing that, if anything, he has understated his case. It may take years before it becomes evident, but this IS about global government, with your rights and property signed away to a remote and unaccountable undemocratic bureaucracy at the flick of Barack Obama’s pen, the moment he signs said document. “Sign” did I say? Don’t treaties have to be ratified...

There are few things that keep me up at night, but this is one of them. It may be cynicism, but more likely it’s the long sad experience of watching the courts over the years. So when your side finally wins one that should have you celebrating, and yet you walk away with a knot in your gut, it’s probably warranted. Senior Judge Laurence H. Silberman’s majority opinion in Parker v. District of Columbia was a thing of beauty, affirming armed self-defense as an individual right pre-existing the Constitution. It was almost hard to believe. Maybe that's what’s bugging me....

BELLEVUE, WA – Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ troubling support of legislation that would allow him and future attorneys general the arbitrary power to block firearms purchases without due process is cause for him to step down as the nation’s highest ranking law enforcement officer, the Second Amendment Foundation said today. The bill, S. 1237, was introduced last week at the Justice Department’s request by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), one of the most extreme anti-gunners in Congress. Called the “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007,” this legislation would give the Attorney General discretionary authority to deny the...

Interested Parents, Tuesday, October 18th at the Biltmore Hotel & Conference Center – 7:00 – 8:30pm, we are holding a meeting to inform, educate, and rally the public around the egregious abuse of power by the Santa Clara Social Services, Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) – Child Protective Services (CPS) as they attempt to rip my family, and many others apart. The Biltmore is located just south of Montague Expressway, east of highway 101 at 2151 Laurelwood Rd, Santa. At issue are three key points that will be of interest to you as a parent: Our rights as...

Having seen not a little of John Roberts’ job interview before the Senate Judiciary Committee, it isn’t difficult to come away totally disgusted. In my case, that dismay is not for what was asked, but for what was not.   There are important and legitimate questions to be asked of Judge Roberts regarding judicial philosophy that in no case would betray how he might vote on a pending case. This brief list is intended to list such questions and elaborate somewhat on why they are of particular significance.   What does Judge Roberts believe was the original purpose of the...

SUNNI: Hi, Mark; how are you today? MARK: Burnt. I've been hacking up trees that we had taken down for power line clearance. It was 102° out there this afternoon. SUNNI: Ouch. Why did the trees need to be hacked? MARK: Annual power line maintenance on a rural property can cost the power company as much as a year's worth of electricity. The whole thing has become something of a scam, because the California Public Utilities Commission allows the power company to add a direct markup to the line maintenance cost. So they just love environmentalist-inspired regulations that favor expensive...

In the practice of Zen Buddhism, a koan is a statement that is intentionally insoluble to the rational mind, a tool by which to master life’s seemingly paradoxical events. Yet the Japanese Zen masters have nothing on us red-blooded Americans, who for over a century have become unconsciously adept at sustaining such conflicts, easily accepting contradictory interpretations of Constitutional Law, between the original scope of the Bill of Rights and that since the Fourteenth Amendment. As Madison elaborated in Federalist 45, the Constitution for the United States of America was sold as a list of strictly limited powers; leaving the...

The Freeper Analytical Team (FAT) OK, so what if the acronym is a bit bizarro. It fits this election fer sure. During our ugly experience in Florida in 2000, a number of Freepers, upon contemplating the numbers noted the stench of fraud and corruption. Whether it was precluding the military vote, noting multiple registrations, or debunking the "disenfranchisement" myth, the posters of FreeRepublic were often the first to get the data into the hands of both activists and public officials. Many Freepers possess impressive research and analytical skills. A number of us, notably Mulder, were gathering polling data by precinct...

Why Barbara Boxer Would Crush Bill Jones When I first heard that Bill Jones was running with the endorsement of the CAGOP establishment, I had the same reaction as most of you probably did. I remembered his feckless support for McCain, his critical vote in raising taxes for Pete Wilson, that he is a farmer, pro-life, and seemingly a nice guy. That's it. It was enough to get me to support Kaloogian instead. Well, unfortunately, my common understandign was not the whole story. The tipping point came with Arnold Schwarzenegger's endorsement. It was curious that Arnold chose to support Bill...

WRITTEN STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD OF DR. THOMAS M. BONNICKSEN PROFESSOR DEPARTMENT OF FOREST SCIENCE TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY and visiting scholar and board member The forest foundation auburn, california OVERSIGHT HEARING ON Crisis on our National Forests: Reducing the Threat of Catastrophic Wildfire to Central Oregon Communities and the Surrounding Environment BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON RESOURCES UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Deschutes County Fairgrounds Expo Center 3800 SW Airport Way, Redmond, Oregon Monday August 25, 2003 2:00 PM INTRODUCTION My name is Dr. Thomas M. Bonnicksen. I am a forest ecologist and professor in the Department of Forest Science at...

Afterburn: How Oregon’s Winter Fire charred the land and burned tempers. By Judy Blais Flames raced across Dutchman’s Flat and plunged down into the Punch Bowl, a rugged area near the center of Oregon’s Summer Lake Valley. It was clogged with an accumulation of fuel from decades of neglect and the firestorm exploded into a maelstrom of such raw power that even seasoned firefighters were awed. Self-generated winds fanned the frenzy, culminating in a fire tornado that raged crazily up and down forests of pine, juniper and mountain mahogany, demolishing everything in its path. Starved for oxygen, the tornado reared...

The environment isn't any longer an issue that can be separated into some arcane back corner for weird people with long hair. Regulations are driving food production offshore. More jobs have been exported for regulatory reasons than wage differences, energy costs, and taxes can explain. It is a life and death issue for the liberty of every individual. It determines our economic and military staying power. Your freedom rests upon understanding how and why these issues are slowly taking control of your life.That paragraph is from the following commentary, an analysis of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Environmental Policy, obtained from his website....