Free Republic

Major airlines said Monday they oppose a new effort to advance legislation that would reduce fees charged by Visa and Mastercard on transactions, saying the bill could force them to stop offering rewards credit cards that give consumers frequent flyer miles for making transactions. American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and others including Boeing, Airbus and GE Aerospace, said in a letter to senators the legislation sponsored by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) could sharply reduce air travel and harm overall tourism. Airlines generate billions of dollars annually in fees for branded credit cards. Durbin has called...

On Monday, Pinal County (Ariz.) sheriff's deputies arrested Daniel Jupa-Fino, 21, after eluding deputies earlier in the day. Around 4 p.m. Monday, a deputy attempted to make a traffic stop on Interstate 8, when Jupa-Fino crossed into oncoming traffic, and leaped from the car. The passenger, identified as Felipe Gonzalez-Tempura, 19, was caught, after climbing over a barbed wire fence and running into a trailer park, according to deputies. A search of the vehicle revealed 10 bundles of marijuana, weighing in at a total of 220 pounds, according to deputies. The pot has a street value of approximately $165,000. Deputies...

Former Vice President Gore on Tuesday said "there's no such thing as ethical oil," slamming the notion that importing oil from U.S. ally Canada was better than doing so from unfriendly nations. “There’s no such thing as ethical oil. There’s only dirty oil and dirtier oil,” Gore told Canada’s The Globe and Mail during a Tuesday event in Toronto. Gore was responding to Globe and Mail Editor in Chief John Stackhouse on whether it made a difference that oil sands from the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would come from a democratic nation. U.S. backers of the Canada-to-Texas pipeline have pointed...

California's green governor will again go boldly where few politicians have gone: He plans to buy carbon credits to offset the greenhouse gas emissions from his extensive air travel. Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is working with Pacific Forest Trust, a San Francisco group, to offset the emissions. The trust manages a carbon credit program at the Fred M. van Eck Forest near Arcata in Humboldt County. In short, the trust sells the trees' ability to absorb carbon dioxide released when people burn fossil fuels. The 2,100-acre forest is owned by a foundation affiliated with Purdue University in Indiana. It is...