Free Republic

Why L.A. Should Be Pushed Into The Sea August 8, 2008 - by Richard Miniter In the 1950s, the most puritanical place in America was somewhere in Kansas. Today it is Los Angeles. Exhibit A: A proposal by the L.A. city council to ban smoking outdoors. Outdoors. Say on a patio or hotel balcony. Puritans are people who want to live according to a strict moral code of their own devising and want to make you live their way too. The first round of Puritans murdered their king, Charles I, and ignited the English Civil War, which left many cities...

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Officials are looking to capture some of Lake Tahoe's biggest polluters: Canada geese. A sewage spill at the lake last summer "is nothing compared to what's happening with these geese," said Jack Spencer, a federal Department of Agriculture wildlife biologist. Spencer said the bottom of Lake Tahoe is covered by up to two inches of goose feces in some areas. A 10-pound Canada goose can produce four pounds of nitrate- and phosphate-rich feces every day it waddles across the beaches, lawns and golf courses of Tahoe. The birds find refuge on Tahoe, one of the...

Lawyer for Gitmo Detainees Say Forced-Feeding Caused Drop in Number of Hunger Strikers SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A lawyer for detainees at Guantanamo Bay said Thursday that the military has used increasingly harsh methods, including strapping prisoners to a special chair, to force-feed those on hunger strike and persuade them to end their protest. Military personnel have strapped the striking detainees into a "restraint chair" to aggressively force-feed hunger strikers, Tom Wilner said. The attorney returned from the prison at the U.S. base in eastern Cuba last week and had his notes declassified by the government late Wednesday. The...