Free Republic

I woke up this morning to the sound of my alarm clock, which is powered by electricity provided by the public power monopoly that is regulated by the US Department of Energy. I then proceeded to take a shower in clean, drinkable water from the Municipal Water Utility. After that, I watched on of the FCC regulated channels on my TV to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determinded the weather would be like by usinc satellites launced, maintained, designed and built by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watched this while...

A NEW weapon in the battle against obesity was rolled out last month when the Los Angeles City Council decided to stop new fast food restaurants from opening in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Even in a country where a third of the schoolchildren are overweight or obese, the yearlong moratorium raises questions about when eating one style of food stops being a personal choice and becomes a public health concern. The Sisyphean struggle against poor diets has included booting soda from schools, banning trans fat and, more recently, sending New Yorkers into dietary sticker shock with a law...

Conservative blogger John Hawkins of Right Wing News has now decided to join Michael Medved in a new ad hominem attack by using a disparaging adjective to call me a name (“kooky”) and placing me No. 3 in the list of the 20 “people on the right” he finds most annoying. Hawkins places me between No. 2 Mark Foley, whom Hawkins characterizes as a “page-molesting pervert,” and No. 4 Duke Cunningham, the congressman Hawkins notes is “going to jail for 8 years after taking a bribe.” I am honored to be included on any list John Hawkins wishes to create....

L.A. gets temporary victory in sludge fight Ruling lets city, Orange County continue trucking waste to Kern LOS ANGELES -- The city of Los Angeles and Orange County can continue spreading their treated sewage sludge on Kern County farmland under a tentative ruling issued Monday in U.S. District Court. The ruling overturns, at least for now, the Measure E sludge ban passed by Kern County voters in June. Judge Gary Feess said he believes state laws that push for recycling of all solid waste -- including sewage sludge -- take precedence over the Kern County ordinance that bans spreading treated...

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico warned Thursday that the U.S. proposal to build miles of border fence will damage relations between the two countries. The Foreign Relations Department said it was "deeply worried" about the proposal, which is working its way through the Senate, adding it will "increase tension in border communities." "These measures will harm the bilateral relationship. They are against the spirit of co-operation that is needed to guarantee security on the common border," the department said in a statement. The House of Representatives and Senate are maneuvering to speed construction of a 700-mile fence along the United...

A bipartisan group of Michigan lawmakers wants all sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated against cervical cancer. A Republican state senator who is the lead sponsor said it's the first legislation of its kind in the U.S. The vaccine was approved by federal regulators this summer and hailed as a breakthrough in cancer prevention. The shots prevent infections from strains of a sexually transmitted virus -- human papilloma virus, or HPV -- that can cause cervical cancer and genital warts. At the time, conservatives expressed concern that schools would require the vaccine for enrollment. They argue that such mandates infringe on...