Free Republic

As I jumped in my car yesterday and headed home from work, I immediately recognized the raspy, Texas-seasoned voice coming across Newsradio 1040 WHO. It was Ken Crow, founder of Tea Party of America, the organization sponsoring this weekend’s “Restoring America Event,” which will feature former Alaska Governor and 2008 Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin. I recognized Crow’s voice because, while attending the Polk County GOP Summer Picnic on Saturday afternoon, I had been approached by Crow who was hoping to arrange a meeting with Texas Governor Rick Perry, a presidential candidate and one of the speakers at the event....

Arizona Spanish language radio station KMIA-AM (710) was knocked off the air this week when one or more undocumented welders used a blow torch to cut the steel support rods on four 197-foot tall radio towers, toppling them to the ground. Damage is estimated in the millions of dollars and the station expects to be off the air for several weeks.  Station manager Tom Duran said he was not sure if the unauthorized toppling of the radio towers was related to this week’s massive marches by illegal aliens and their supporters, which were organized in large part by Spanishlanguage radio...

President Bush, "We need to stay the course in Iraq." Vice President Dick Cheney, "The INS should round up all illegal immigrants at these protests. It'll be like shooting fish in a barrel." Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, "Viva La Raza!" Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff, "What illegal immigration problem?" Senate Majority Leader Frist, "This is an extremely important issue that I intend to bring to the senate floor in 2008." Senator Hillary Clinton, "Nuevo York has a nice ring to it." Senator John McCain, "Just ask them to leave nicely." Senator Ted Kennedy, "Don't we get tequila from Mexico?" Senator...

A Jefferson County Grand Jury Thursday handed down an indictment for a man police say stabbed two people with a pitchfork inside a Port Neches home. 17-year-old Ivan Barraza-Alonzo was indicted on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Investigators tell Hometown News he busted into a home in the 700 block of Avenue C in Port Neches back in February and stabbed the homeowners with a pitchfork. The husband and wife were able to fight Barraza-Alonzo off. Police then used blood hounds to track him down at a nearby home. The Immigration and Naturalization Service put a...

Illegal immigration may be the hottest political topic on Congress’ domestic agenda, but Senator Tom Coburn believes redefining the United States trade policy with China is also a must-do priority. [snip]BORDER SECURITY Back on the homefront, the Senator assured audience members that illegal immigration and shoring up the nation’s border security whether with Mexico or through the ports is a priority. East Coast Ports: Coburn said last week, he joined two other Democrats in asking the President to take another 45 days to investigate the United Arab Emirates’ purchase of six U.S. ports on the East Coast, including: New York,...

Health care costs that are rising at 8 percent to 12 percent a year are on an unsustainable course, U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel said on Wednesday. Hagel spoke to members of the Grand Island Area Chamber of Commerce during a luncheon meeting at the Midtown Holiday Inn. He told the group that he has asked 15 people to serve on a Health Care Reform Commission to make recommendations for an "affordable, quality and accessible health care system in this country." Hagel had announced formation of the group earlier in the day in Omaha. He said the 15 commission members are...

There are jobs that most Americans simply won't do. And because of that, the government should work to let immigrants in to do those jobs, even if it's on a temporary basis. President George W. Bush outlined that plan to a crowd of more than 300 people at Cruise Terminal 3 at Channelside in Tampa Friday in an appearance meant to boost his administration's Global War on Terror. "If there's a willing employer and a willing worker on a job an American won't do, then it's OK to fill that job, so long as you're not here permanently," Bush said....

Rep. John Boehner’s rise to the second highest post in the House could benefit a number of business interests he has supported in Congress. Backers of for-profit education, free-market farm policies, immigration guest-worker programs and pension reforms could all benefit from Boehner’s victory, lobbyists say. As majority leader, Boehner will have broad, but not absolute, power to set the House Republicans’ agenda. Some things are unlikely to change under his leadership. Committee chairmen will maintain discretion to craft bills under their purview, and Boehner’s conservative political philosophy — lower taxes, fewer regulations — is in line with that of both...

America has a proud heritage as a beacon for the dispossessed and oppressed, who come from around the world for a shot at achieving their dreams. However, a nation that does not control its own borders is not secure. We need to know who is coming into our country, and we must keep out people who are not authorized to enter. With 500,000 or more people entering illegally every year, the status quo is not acceptable. Prior efforts by Congress to control immigration - including reforms enacted in 1986 and 1996 - failed for lack of meaningful employer sanctions. As...

Predictions: 2006 & Beyond Intuitive Sean David Morton of the Delphi Associatesreturned to check in on his past predictions and present his update for the year ahead and beyond. Here are some highlights of his forecast: The flu pandemic will reach its peak in 2006 and Asia will be particularly hard hit with deaths. Gold and precious metals will continue to rise in value. Gold will hit 725 by July-Aug. 0f 2006. Good stock picks for right now: Apple Computer, Pixar, Nuclear Solutions, Azure Dynamics and Magna Entertainment. The housing market/mortgage bubble will pop sometime within the next six months....

Quicktime video linkCrab vs. Pipe This is a video taken in 6000 feet of water. An undersea robot is sawing a 3mm wide slit (1/10th of an inch ... remember that width) in a pipeline. The pressure inside the pipeline is 0 psig, while the pressure outside is 2700 psi, or 1.3 tons per square inch. Then a crab comes along....

Though widely viewed as an arch conservative in the major media, Bruce Bartlett increasingly finds himself alienated from the president of his party. Bush's policies, he warns, have been anything but conservative. Bartlett faults Bush for moving away from free trade, adopting Keynesian economic theories, increasing government regulation and doing an extremely poor job of developing and selling conservative initiatives, such as Social Security reform. As such, George W. Bush, he says, has been a disaster for conservatism. Criticism of Bush from the right has largely been confined to fringe elements outside the mainstream of the conservative movement. Bartlett...

WASHINGTON -- Amid swirling speculation about reshaping the Supreme Court, a well-connected senior Republican senator told colleagues he has been informed what likely will happen: Chief Justice William Rehnquist would retire and be replaced by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, with that vacancy filled by White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales. Improbable though it seems, this scenario deepened conservative gloom following the high court's landmark decisions last week. O'Connor at age 73 would be an interim chief justice, capping off her career and giving President Bush credit for naming the first woman to the nation's highest judicial office. It is significant that...

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) had the look of a hunted man as he walked from the Capitol to the Longworth House Office Building yesterday for a speech to young conservatives. Pence, chairman of a group of House conservatives called the Republican Study Committee, was complaining to his companions about a Robert Novak column in yesterday's Washington Post saying Pence was subjected to a "closed-door auto-da-fe" from Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay for daring to suggest that the profligate House leadership should reconsider its big-spending ways. But Pence got the leadership's message, loud and clear. Pence's speech was...

Real player audio link"Disaster . . . it can happen anywhere, But we've got a few tips, so you can be prepared For floods, tornadoes, or even a 'quake, You've got to be ready - so your heart don't break." "Disaster prep is your responsibility And mitigation is important to our agency." "People helping people is what we do And FEMA is there to help see you through When disaster strikes, we are at our best But we're ready all the time, 'cause disasters don't rest." (Hat tip: NRO "The Buzz")

The Navy has hired Houston-based Halliburton Co. to restore electric power, repair roofs and remove debris at three naval facilities in Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Halliburton subsidiary KBR will also perform damage assessments at other naval installations in New Orleans as soon as it is safe to do so. KBR was assigned the work under a "construction capabilities" contract awarded in 2004 after a competitive bidding process. The company is not involved in the Army Corps of Engineers' effort to repair New Orleans' levees.

The 17th Street levee that gave way and led to the flooding of New Orleans was part of an intricate, aging system of barriers and pumps that was so chronically underfinanced that senior regional officials of the Army Corps of Engineers complained about it publicly for years. Often leading the chorus was Alfred C. Naomi, a senior project manager for the corps and a 30-year veteran of efforts to waterproof a city built on slowly sinking mud, surrounded by water and periodically a target of great storms. [snip] This week, amid news of the widening breach in the 17th Street...

What if? Always a good question. And in cable network FX's Sunday presentation of oil-shortage mockumentary Oil Storm , it makes for gripping TV. The two-hour movie, playing out in documentary style that looks remarkably like a PBS Frontline special, examines what could happen if a series of unfortunate events befell the nation's oil supply. What if speculators panicked and ran up the price of crude? What if the government bungled negotiations with foreign suppliers? What if, what if, what if. The result is a startlingly scary movie, partly thanks to the smooth, familiar voice of narrator Liev Schreiber, an...

(TUCSON, Ariz.) House Speaker Dennis Hastert says the long-awaited reform of immigration laws will be atop the list of chores when Congress reconvenes. However, he says you can't have legislation without consensus. He noted during a stop in Tucson that there are even wide differences in Arizona's congressional delegation on how do deal with illegal immigration. Hastert said whatever legislation surfaces from the process must address border security, a workable guest-worker program and how to deal with the millions of illegal immigrants living and raising families in the U-S. The House speaker was in Tucson yesterday to attend a fund-raiser...