Free Republic

....Income tax reform. The real thing, not what the president's "advisory panel" came up with. The genuine article would trash the income tax altogether. And replace it with a national sales tax. The nuisance we've got is currently missing $1 trillion a year in unreported income. The FairTax would pick up all of that at retail as we spend. First-day price hikes would be a shock, but that would settle out, and the national aggravation factor would go way down. ....

New York City is studying a plan to charge $7 to motorists who drive into midtown during peak hours. The New York Times reports that the Partnership for New York City -- is engaged in a nine-month study of so-called "congestion pricing.'' Such a pricing model would theoretically lead more people to carpool or use mass transit, as well as help air quality and allow for speedier bus routes. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's spokesman told the paper it is not on his second-term agenda. According to outlines of the plan, the 840,000 cars that enter Manhattan south of 60th Street on...

The PA doesn't need to smuggle weapons underground to build a well-equipped army. Now, the PA can acquire additional rifles, bullets, and armored personnel carriers with IDF approval. The head of military intelligence, Maj.Gen. Aharon Ze’evi Farkash, told the government at a cabinet meeting on Sunday that Israel’s military establishment will recommend enabling the Palestinian Authority to become equipped with armored personnel carriers (APC’s). American pressure is purportedly behind the IDF’s recommendation. The recommendation represents the first time Israel has allowed PA troops to use APC’s since the PA began fighting Israel with the onset of the Oslo War in...

Facing criticism that he appeared disengaged from the disaster wrought by Hurricane Katrina, President Bush has been looking for opportunities to show his concern. But the White House will take the effort a step further Tuesday, venturing into untested waters by putting the nation's first lady on reality television. Laura Bush will travel to storm-damaged Biloxi, Miss., to film a spot on the feel-good, wish-granting hit "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Mrs. Bush sought to be on the program because she shares the "same principles" that the producers hold, her press secretary said. It's not clear exactly what Mrs. Bush will...

Conservationists tend to be conservative. But not always. Here is one strikingly non-conservative conservation idea PEOPLE and wildlife don't get on too well together. Large mammals, in particular, have a hard time at the hands of humanity. Their habitat gets taken for farms, their bodies for dinner and their heads for trophies. As human populations grow, the pressure increases, and it seems to decline only when people are rich enough to focus on the aesthetic as well as the economic possibilities of wild beasts. Often, such aesthetic appreciation thrives best in the safety of the city rather than in the...

This is my first time posting here, so I'm sorry if I messed something up. I think the Crawford rally is a really great idea, and I was glad that somebody took it upon themself to go through with it when Clear Channel backed down. But I've got an idea for a another rally, perhaps to be held simultaneously. Has anyone considered camping out in front of Cindy Sheehan's home in Vacaville and demand that she come out and answer a series of ridiculous questions, loudly calling her a fascist for not letting the rally use her front yard, and...

Order to evacuate entire county went against advice Sunday, July 24, 2005 By JEFF AMY and BILL FINCH Staff Reporters By calling for all of Mobile County to flee during Hurricane Dennis, local officials went against the prevailing wisdom of hurricane planners nationwide and disregarded federally sponsored evacuation guidance adopted by county emergency management officials five years ago. "Run from the water, hide from the wind," is the phrase long used by the National Hurricane Center to sum up its advice on evacuations. That means people who live in areas that might be flooded by storm surge should get out,...

"There is a growing consensus that more nuclear power will lead to a cleaner and safer nation," President Bush said on Wednesday during a trip to a nuclear power plant in Maryland. "It is time for this country to start building nuclear power plants again," he said to applause at the Calvert Cliffs plant. "We're taking practical steps to encourage construction of new plants, Bush said, as he pressed Congress to send him an energy bill by August. President Bush joked that he didn't understand all the buttons and dials in the control room of the Calvert Cliffs plant --...

<p>FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- If the car doesn't start, you are too drunk to drive. That is the premise behind a $600 sensor that can be installed in a steering wheel or in gloves and will test a driver's skin to determine alcohol consumption.</p>

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A teenager is suing her school district for barring her from the prom last spring because she was wearing a dress styled as a large Confederate battle flag. The lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court claims the Greenup County district and administrators violated Jacqueline Duty's First Amendment right to free speech and her right to celebrate her heritage at predominantly white Russell High School's prom May 1. She also is suing for defamation, false imprisonment and assault. "Her only dance for her senior prom was on the sidewalk to a song playing on the radio,"...

FIRE DREIER LIAR JUNE 2005 PRIMARY RALLY IF YOU ARE FURIOUS OVER DREIER'S VOTE ON THE INTEL BILL COME VOICE YOUR FURY AT A RALLY IN FRONT OF Dreier's OFFICE. Let's send the message to Dreier he will be ousted June 2005 Primary FIRE LIAR DREIER JUNE 2005 PRIMARY RALLY - BRING A SIGN, MAKE A SIGN, Join in Date: Thursday, Dec. 9 Place: Dreier's Glendora Office 2220 East Route 66, Glendora, CA 91740 Time: 4-6pm ********************************************************************************* ********************************************************************************* Call David Dreier - let him know we his constituents are mobilizing for the JUNE 2005 Primary and email Dreier! if you...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Californians will soon see advertisements urging them to help give Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other foreign-born citizens the chance to run for president. The cable television ads, set to being running Monday, are from a Silicon Valley-based group that wants to amend the U.S. Constitution, which limits the presidency to people born in the United States. Schwarzenegger was born in Austria but became a U.S. citizen in 1983. "You cannot choose the land of your birth. You can choose the land you love," Lissa Morgenthaler-Jones says in the ads. She is a San Francisco Bay area...

By at least one measure, Dallas far ahead of Houston The December bulletin of the American Public Transportation Association includes two items of particular interest to Houstonians, whether read separately or juxtaposed. One item concerns the control of bus pollution in Houston; the other marks a public transit milestone in Dallas. The board of Houston's Metropolitan Transit Authority, in action reported in the Chronicle last month by Rad Sallee, adopted a $23 million program to upgrade or replace 543 bus engines and switch to ultralow-sulfur diesel fuel systemwide. The fuel switch is intended to cut emissions of smog-producing nitrogen oxide...

Live in a Former Toilet -- Only $200,000 May 30, 2002 12:06 pm EST LONDON, May 30 (Reuters) - A former Edwardian public toilet in south London, measuring just four meters square, is to be converted into a two-story "duplex apartment" and will be worth 135,000 pounds ($200,000), say estate agents Acorns in Lewisham. "I don't think the fact that it was a loo will put people off," said an Acorns spokesman of the convenience, at 17 Devonshire Road, on the busy South Circular road. "It is very convenient as it is opposite Forest Hill station," added the spokesman....