Free Republic

.................. The irreconcilable facts of Robert E. Lee's biography – patriot, traitor; compassionate patriarch who lead a record of young men to their deaths – emerge from the chaotic, multidimensional, whirling fan of real life. Liberals demand that we view the South and indeed America only through the lens of condemnation. Real life shatters their command. Life's complexity emerges in shards that we must rearrange as our compassion and depth allows. I don't know, but I do guess, that many Southerners who cherish Robert E. Lee's statues do so for the following reasons. Their conquerors continue to depict them as...

Update to previous threads about getting an addition approved and finished in Campbell, CA Original 8/5/2015 - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3321218/posts Updated 11/3/2015 - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3356114/posts Current 3/31/2017 - The continuing saga of getting a simple <500 sq ft addition (master bedroom, master bath, laundry room) in a unused side yard at the back of our house completed. We broke ground May 22, 2016. The rains and delays for the cabinets (my brother built them and shipped them from Kauai) caused a lot of delays but we’re finally at the end and just need the final inspection. The inspector showed up and said “Your...

This is an update to to a post from Aug 5, dealing with the local planning commission. We attempted to submit plans (small, <500 sq ft addition in an unused side yard at the back of our house - adding exactly 2 walls) to the building dept in July and were told we were in a 'special study zone' and our plans needed 'extra' scrutiny before we can submit them to the building dept. 95 days and an extra $2000 later, we were given permission to submit our plans (after we had to provided them a paint and roof sample)....

We're attempting to build a master bedroom and move the master bathroom on our 2100 sq/ft house in Campbell. Total addition is ~500 sq/ft. We went to submit the plans on Monday and were told we're in a "special study zone" so a more complete design scrutiny review is required which will take 60 days to complete and requires buy-in from all our neighbors. Besides this giant hiccup, they said we have to replace our energy-saving water heater that was installed in 2011, change our current low-flow toilets from 1.6 to 1.2 gals, redo our drainage for the new downspout...

On Tuesday, September 30, 2014 6:15 PM, California Public Utilities Commission wrote: A Message from the California Public Utilities Commission Look for a Climate Credit from the State of California on Your October Utility Bill This month your electricity bill will include a credit identified as the "California Climate Credit." Twice a year, in April and October,* your household and millions of others throughout the state will receive this credit on your electricity bills. The Climate Credit is a payment to Californians from a program designed to fight climate change by limiting the amount of greenhouse gas pollution that our...

I need suggestions for dealing with the Cal. EDD I was on disability after surgery for a period of time in 2009 and 2010. After I went back to work in 2010 I realized I hadn't gotten my final disability check. I called the EDD and got help straightening it out. I told the woman I didn't think I had gotten my final check from 2009 either (it's a complicated [i.e. stupid] process). The woman said I missed the window to request it ($1600) but I could file a petition. I filed the petition. I received a notice for a...

We just received notice that PGE will be installing a "smart meter" at our house. I guess since California is so flush with extra money, they can afford another gigantic expense to further regulate our lives and determine our comfort level. Anyone have any experience with the new and improved "smart meters"? Doing a quick google on smart meters lists all kinds of problems people are having with them. Even ultra-liberal Santa Cruz is considering a moratorium as of Aug 25th, on them until problems get straightened out. Can I tell them not to install it?

America – The Grim Truth By Lance Freeman escape from the prison you call home Americans, I have some bad news for you: You have the worst quality of life in the developed world – by a wide margin. If you had any idea of how people really lived in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many parts of Asia, you’d be rioting in the streets calling for a better life. In fact, the average Australian or Singaporean taxi driver has a much better standard of living than the typical American white-collar worker. I know this because I am...

Help, my dad entered a hospital in No. California (begins with a "K", rhymes with miser) in Jan with a bellyache (diverticulitis) a week and a half later he gets a "severe, concerning, troubling" fracture of T12. Though he already had some compression fractures, he was mobile prior to admission and for the first week and a half at the hospital. We believe the fracture was a traumatic one caused by "man-handling" him getting him in and out of bed. He's now totally bedridden, with a great deal of pain and we can't get any answers about prognosis or even...

Bill Maher's closing bit the other night: "Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you any more. There's no more money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't start another war because you used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. Listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit cards maxed out. No one's speaking to you. Mission accomplished. "Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. Like you did with your military service...

A gem by Anne Coulter..... "On the bright side, after two weeks of TV coverage of the Terri Schiavo case, I think we have almost all liberals in America on record saying we can pull the plug on them. "

History Lesson for The Day: Division of the human family into 2 distinct political groups began some 12,000 years ago. Humans existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunter/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains in the summer. They would go to the beach and live on fish & lobster in winter. The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer & the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These two inventions became the foundation of modern civilization. Together they were the catalyst for the...

Please offer prayers for my friends 9 yr old daughter. She has been suffering the effects of Stevens Johnson syndrome since April 2002 and is having a very difficult time breathing. (See original prayer request http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/665591/posts?page=1,50) It all started with an allergic reaction to over the counter Children's Ibuprofen. She is now blind, has a tracheotomy, a feeding tube, is on a portable ventilator and bi-pap machine and in a wheelchair. Her lungs look like an 80 year old with emphysema. She is not a candidate for a lung transplant (though her mom offered) because of her trachetomy and her...

April 8, 2002 Why economists are not popular One of the many reasons why economists are unpopular is that they keep reminding people that things have costs, that there is no free lunch. People already know that -- but they like to forget it when there is something they have their hearts set on. Economists don't have to say anything when people are buying things at a shopping mall or at an automobile dealership. The price tags convey the situation in unmistakable terms. It is when people are voting for nice-sounding things that politicians have dreamed up that economists are...

This is a prayer request for a dear friend's 8 year old daughter. Sunday she started developing a minor rash which was treated with over the counter Benadryl at the doctor's suggestion thinking is was a slight allergic reaction. By Sunday evening she had developed a severe rash and a very high fever. She spent 10 hours in the Emergency Room on Monday where they quickly diagnosed the Stevens Johnson Syndrome condition. She was moved that evening to a pediatric floor, but by morning she was having difficulty breathing and they moved her to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)...

Message from a Marine in Afghanistan Published: November 11, 2001 Author: Saucy Jack The following was read on the Sully and Scooter (Radio KOGO in San Diego) Show Saturday, November 17th. Just outside of Ab Gach, in the northwest panhandle of Afghanistan between Tajikstan and Pakistan. -------------------------------------------------------------------- November 11, 2001 Bizarre, It's (expletive) freezing here. I'm sitting on hard, cold dirt between rocks and shrubs at the base of the Hindu Kush mountains along the Dar 'yoi Pomir River watching a hole that leads to a tunnel that leads to a cave. Stakeout, my friend, and no pizza delivery for ...

So You Want to be an Activist [BSNN.net today released its 6th annual "America's Best Universities" rankings on its Web site. BSNN named Activist University in Seattle, Washington as the best national university. The following is a special paid advertising section for Activist U, written by BSNN correspondent Richard Venn. ] Are you bored? Looking for meaning to your existence? Are you an insignificant fish in the great ocean of life? Then do today what thousands of others have already done and enroll at Activist University! Yes, at Activist University you will receive the training to become the uninformed, emotional ...

Lee Rodgers, the morning host from KSFO560, received an e-mail from a listener who said that Clinton finally has a legacy in Bangkok (how appropriate). It's called ClintonPlaza in downtown Bangkok and it's advertised as Bangkok's newest and hottest nightspot. It comprises six floors of clubs, go-go bars, restaurants and general night-time entertainment. Now that's something to be proud of.....barf! www.clintonplaza.com

Gennifer Flowers is on KSFO 560 am being interviewed by Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan. You can listen via the internet - go to http://www.ksfo560.com/