Free Republic

Alameda, an island long resistant to growth, threw a warm embrace around an unlikely suitor last year. The Southern California developer SunCal Companies proposed to build thousands of homes, sports fields, offices and a ferry terminal on 770 acres of a decommissioned naval base. The project promised to transform the island city, and its leaders lined up in support. City Manager Ann Marie Gallant and her staff homed in on the fine print of the ballot initiative. Their report raised concerns about an annual $4.8 million hit to the city’s general fund for city services; breaks on more than $82...

PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – The Paktika provincial government, along with the Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team, purchased and distributed tree saplings to land owners throughout the province, March 24. These trees will be equally distributed and planted throughout the region in order to allow the root systems to hold the soil in place. As an added benefit, the Paktika government plans to distribute fruit trees, giving the population a chance to produce their own food while simultaneously improving the soil. Staff Sgt. Derek Dosedel, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment’s liaison to the PRT’s reconstruction and agricultural projects sees the arrival of...

The San Francisco Chronicle reports today on a brouhaha afoot: a group of environmentalists are loudly protesting the construction of a complex of condominiums and offices, this time in the San Francisco suburb of Redwood City. Of course, even amidst recession, disputes such as these are commonplace in the Golden State – I wonder if the Chronicle has the article template already on file, and only has to insert the new town name (Santa Cruz, Sausalito, San Mateo) before proceeding with publication. As usual, the environmentalists are preaching precisely the wrong prescription. Because the call now should be for more...

Wake up this morning and saw the news about the huge earthquake in Chile. One thing I noticed was despite the earthquake being a magnitude 8.8 the early reports have only under a hundred deaths. My guess is one of the major reasons the death toll will be orders of magnitude below Haiti is Chile is the wealthiest country outside Canada and the US in the Americas. Chile could afford to build more structurally sound buildings and infrastructure designed to withstand this earthquake. The main reason Chile can afford earthquake proof structures is the economic policies imposed, I think you...

The earth may or may not be warming. If the earth is warming, that may or may not be due to human activity. But I can assure you that the present public discussion on this subject is not a scientific debate. Rather it is predominately political and emotional. Special interest groups are driving the agenda, skeptics are treated like heretics, contrary evidence is ignored, and nonsensical solutions to the supposed problem are being proposed while obvious remedies are not pursued. I fear that the good name of science and the ability of science to impact policy in a beneficial way...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an impassioned appeal Wednesday for greater US international development aid, saying it was vital to US and global security at a time of growing extremist threats. Development is a "strategic, economic and moral imperative," the top US diplomat said in a speech at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. "We cannot stop terrorism or defeat the ideologies of violent extremism when hundreds of millions of young people see a future with no jobs, no hope, and no way ever to catch up to the developed world," she said....

"Does anybody have any evidence (concrete example from a period of our history) that taxes stifle development? Just one??" Saw this question posted on FB and was curious if there are concrete examples of taxes hurting development. If there are I am sure someone on FR can help. Thanks

Dayton is being considered as a potential retail and residential development site by Hong Kong business mogul Zengbin Song, of Tian An China Investments Company. Working with local business owner Jack Gong, the Dayton Economic Development Corporation has now established a relationship with the Chinese investment community. Mr. Gong is the President of Overseas Operations for the Dayton office of Lucky Toys, a Six Flags distributor. Most recently, Gong developed, and leased, a shopping center in Willis, Texas. As part of a 60-member Chinese delegation to the Houston market, Song was attracted to Dayton as a high-growth submarket in the...

Since the 1970's stunning new data has been surfacing about the pretribulation rapture's long-covered-up beginnings in the 1800's. In recent years several persons associated with Dallas Theological Seminary (which had long been pretribized) have reportedly gone to Britain to check on my research sources and then write books opposing my claims. In 1990 an Ohio pastor told me that Dr. _____ _____, the most qualified DTS prof, traveled there and came back and wrote nothing! The pastor added that he and some others had a good laugh. But change was coming. In 1993 Chuck Swindoll, who became DTS president after...

TEA Parties and "End the Fed" Protests cannot win back the Republic without this information! Many Americans appear to be awakening from their slumber of apathy as government forces are making their move for total control of our lives. Massive TEA Party protests on April 15th, followed by more than 1000 again on Independence Day, show a growing movement of concerned, dedicated Americans. But there is a major component missing from those protests. There is a nearly universal lack of understanding of the issue of Sustainable Development and the dangers it poses to our liberty. Consequently, that issue is being...

here shows you how chinese devlope their country! then, you should know why chinese economy grow faster than others. Feb 2009

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, July 28, 2009 – Accompanied by members of Task Force Warrior and Task Force Gladius, a U.S. government business and stability operations team visited the Jabal Saraj Cement Plant in Afghanistan’s Parwan province July 25 as part of a fact-finding mission. Islamuddin Ahmadi, general manager of a cement plant in the Jabal Saraj district of Afghanistan’s Parwan province, points out deposits of limestone, clay and gypsum, the key raw materials needed to produce cement, to visiting U.S. development experts, July 25, 2009. U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Lory Stevens  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Deputy...

7/20/2009 - RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) -- England's Air Training Corps sent numerous cadets to Ramstein Air Base in July in hopes to guide their cadets "to foster the spirit of adventure and develop qualities of leadership and good citizenship." As one of the goals for cadets according to the Air Cadet Organization's Web site, cultivating this spirit involves summer camps held throughout England, but sometimes cadets have the chance to travel to other countries. British cadets learned how the U.S. Air Force operates with a tour of a C-130 Hercules as well as participated in hands-on activities pertaining...

The big problem with renewable energy is that it just doesn’t renew itself. The sun does not shine enough and the wind doesn’t blow enough to power the towns, cities, factories, hospitals and schools that make our lives so livable. No environmentalist would ever allow their child to be treated in a hospital fully powered by “renewables”. They would not take the risk that the wind might stop whilst their baby was on the operating table. They would insist that the hospital and the life support systems had a fossil fuel powered back-up. And so it is with “sustainable development”....

Redefining Human Rights by: Bethany Stotts, May 04, 2009 When Nobel-prize winning economist Amartya Sen released his book Development as Freedom in 1999, his argument that democratic freedoms had an economic component in the developing world was greeted with acclaim. Now a World Bank employee building upon Sen’s conception of positive and negative freedoms is arguing that the twin discourses of human rights and development need to reach an accord. “In many instances when policy makers are producing policies in these countries, they pay only lip service to the role of economic freedom in their own development strategy,” said Jean-Pierre...

Veterans In Politics Talk Show Introduces Henderson Kathy Mirrer, Jeff Hildebrandt, Randalen Sergent LIVE on www.AllTalkRadio.net May 9: Kathy Mirrer and Jeff Hildebrandt SBA Loans for Veterans Business Development Specialist: Randalen Sergent Model and VIP Host: "Veterans In Politics" is a weekly radio show produced by the Veterans In Politics International and hosted by Steve Sanson and Co-Hosted by J. "Sage" Bocook. The "Veterans In Politics" show is live every Saturday 2:05 PM Pacific Time you can call in and speak to the guest or/and hosts at (702) 309-6690. Listen to the Veterans In Politics Municipal Candidate 2009 Endorsement Interview---...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration is expected to unveil its plans on Thursday for accelerating development of high-speed rail, a concept that in the past has had mixed political support and little public funding. "It will be broad and strategic," Karen Rae, acting head of the Federal Railroad Administration, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday about the initiative described by officials as President Barack Obama's top transportation priority. "It's going to talk about how we begin to create this new vision for high-speed and intercity rail," Rae said. White House and transportation officials have spent the past several...

4/7/2009 - PANJSHIR, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- For more than eight years, the government of Afghanistan has been building from the ground up, using millions of dollars in aid from foreign governments and private organizations. These funds impact both the central government in Kabul and the country's 34 provinces. Due to the unique relationships between American servicemembers of the Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team have with the people of the Panjshir province and the region's local government, progress is not measured merely in dollar signs and projects completed but by how well the Panjshir people can care for themselves. The PRT's commander...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE GARDEZ, Afghanistan, Feb. 26, 2009 – In a recent meeting in downtown Gardez City with local government officials, Army Lt. Col. Donald Cullison struck an unintentional pose that symbolizes coalition efforts in eastern Afghanistan. A group of men stand outside the Sayed Karem district center waiting for humanitarian assistance to be distributed, Feb. 24, 2009. The civil affairs section of the Paktia Provincial Reconstruction Team distributes food, clothes and blankets during the winter as a sign of goodwill in the communities. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. In one...

CAMP VICTORY — Although Iraq has taken huge steps toward becoming a safe and democratic nation, there is still more to be done. To that end, The United States Agency for International Development is continuing its mission to bring peace and stability to Iraq through various community programs. “USAID has been in Iraq since 2003 and has spent over 6.1 billion dollars through various programs designed to promote peace and stability,” said Maj. Gita Velu, liaison officer to USAID. USAID is a branch of the State Department based in Washington D.C. with offices in developing countries all over the world....