Free Republic

Republicans in the U.S. Senate and House have filed legislation to ban federal employee retirement money from being invested in funds requiring compliance with ESG and DEI policies. The Stop TSP ESG Act was filed in the Senate by U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri. A coalition of Republicans in the House led by Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colorado, filed a companion bill on May 17. If the bills were to pass, it’s unlikely the president would sign them as his administration is advancing ESG and DEI policies, including a Department of Labor rule change over which 25...

Have you noticed a white film on your dishes in recent months? As we first reported earlier this year, the reason is a new environmental law. Most manufacturers have reformulated their dishwasher detergents after laws limiting phosphates went into effect last year. Julie Schimpf of Ft Thomas, Kentucky showed me how bad her dishes looked. Julie said "there's this frosty, filmy look on the top and bottom and it won't go away. I'm finding the same film here on the edges of my plates." Complaints Nationwide Our partners at Consumer Reports Magazine have heard many of the same complaints, from...

As many of you have discovered, you automatic dish detergent hasn't been working very well for the past year, leaving a white film on the dishes. Well, the reason, as usual, is the envirowhackos using junk science to claim that algae blooms in rivers are caused by the phosphates in your dish detergent. The phosphates in detergent do NOT cause the algae to bloom because the algae can't break down the trisodium phosphates. So, instead of check out the facts, the detergent companies were more interested in currying favor with the envirowhackos. Well, there isn't much way to get them...

I'm old enough to have a vague memory of clothes so white that they were called bright. This happened despite the absence of additives — the ridiculous varieties of sprays and bottles and packets that festoon our cabinets today and that we throw into the wash to try to boost the cleaning power of our pathetic machines and increasingly useless laundry soap. Then, the other night, I experienced an amazing blast from the past. I added a quarter cup of trisodium phosphate (TSP) and otherwise "treated" nothing. The results were nothing short of mind-boggling. Everything was clean — clean in...

You can chart the course of human progress in terms of how clean our clothing is. In early times people used animal skins, had no change of clothing, and had no soap. By Adam Smith's day soap had improved in quality, was produced industrially, and was becoming available to the common man. In fact, the Industrial Revolution, which is usually discussed in terms of iron, steam, and factories, was actually all about bringing products like soap and underwear — previously only available to the rich — to the common peasants. Only after WWII did electric automatic clothes washers displace hand-cranked...

To go with toilets that don't flush and light bulbs that don't light, we now have dishwashers that don't wash. In the last six months, a lot of people have suddenly discovered their dishwashers don’t work as well as they used to. The problem, though, isn’t the dishwashers. It’s the soap. Last July, acceding to pressure from environmentalists, America’s dishwasher detergent manufacturers decided to change their formulas. And the new detergents stink. One of the key ingredients in dish detergent is (or was) phosphorus. Phosphorus is a sociable element, bonding easily and well with others. In detergent, it strips food...

Pittsburgh isn’t even in the Chesapeake watershed. However, like everywhere else apparently phosphates have disappeared from dishwasher detergents. The result is dishes that aren’t particularly clean and feel ‘slimy’. After some checking, I found that the disappeared phosphate content in dishwasher detergent was around six percent. On a recent visit to the plumbing supply store to get some parts, I found that they still had one pound boxes of the real TSP (trisodium phosphate Na3PO4); not the fake ersatz 'TSP' stuff that Home Depot is only selling. In fact, the real TSP is still available all over the net. Not...

I began noticing the white coating, dull film, and simply unclean dishes a few weeks ago. Naturally, I suspected that other members of my clan were failing to place dishes on the racks of the dishwasher properly. "If the water can't reach it, it won't get clean," I lectured (not, ahem, for the first time), ostentatiously removing a small bowl that had been slipped under a larger one, no doubt by a person who clings to the discredited idea that dishwashers should be loaded to the gills. And those little separators in the utensil caddy -- they are there for...

It was not heavily advertised, but earlier this year dishwashing detergent makers reworked their formulas to comply with environmental regulations banning phosphates. NPR reports that consumers are starting to get very frustrated: Sue Wright from Austin, Texas, says for months her cups and glasses have been coming out of her year-old dishwasher covered with black specks. She called three repairmen to her kitchen, but her dishes were still dirty. "I looked at a plumber's rear end for about two months this summer sticking out from under my sink," Wright says. "I was just totally frustrated. I couldn't figure out what...

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SNIPPET: "A federal judge in California has ruled that the Bush Administration illegally wiretapped the U.S. branch of the Saudi Arabian-based charity al Haramain Islamic Foundation. While ground breaking in its assessment of the controversial Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP), Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling is perhaps more important in that it may dismantle a five-year investigation into al Haramain's financial support for terrorist organizations. Al Haramain is active in more than 50 countries. The U.S. branch registered as a non-profit charity in Oregon in 1999.While it claims to "stand against terrorism, injustice, or subversive activities in any form, and [ ]...

Glenn Beck: The One Thing: 3/19 (video)and Fed to Pump Another $1.2 Trillion Into U.S. Economy are my source material for this question. Other sources are: Fed Prints a Trillion Dollars, By Chris Martenson, March 21, 2009 A Recent Alert - Fed Prints a Trillion, Friday, March 20, 2009, 8:55 pm, by cmartenson

When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on January 20, Americans won't just get a new president; they might finally learn the full extent of George W. Bush's warrantless domestic wiretapping. Since The New York Times first revealed in 2005 that the NSA was eavesdropping on citizens' overseas phone calls and e-mail, few additional details about the massive "Terrorist Surveillance Program" have emerged. That's because the Bush administration has stonewalled, misled and denied documents to Congress, and subpoenaed the phone records of the investigative reporters.

Last Tuesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing--at which Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was insulted by senators and ridiculed by spectators--was Washington political theater at its lowest. But some significant information did manage to get through the senatorial venom directed at Mr. Gonzales. It now appears certain that the terrorist surveillance program (TSP) authorized by President Bush after 9/11 was even broader than the TSP that the New York Times first revealed in December 2005. It is also clear that Mr. Gonzales, along with former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, tried to preserve that original program with the knowledge and...

The Real Wiretapping Scandal Last Tuesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing--at which Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was insulted by senators and ridiculed by spectators--was Washington political theater at its lowest. But some significant information did manage to get through the senatorial venom directed at Mr. Gonzales. It now appears certain that the terrorist surveillance program (TSP) authorized by President Bush after 9/11 was even broader than the TSP that the New York Times first revealed in December 2005. It is also clear that Mr. Gonzales, along with former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, tried to preserve that original program...

In his first Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt said: This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. ‘Fear itself’ was Judge Anne Diggs Taylor’s lone justification for granting...

It would be wrong and regrettable, but it is certainly conceivable that the Supreme Court will eventually find the Bush administration’s National Security Agency's Terrorist Surveillance Program unconstitutional. One thing is certain, though. Such a ruling by the high Court will not rely on the handiwork of Michigan federal district judge Anna Diggs Taylor. Her effort yesterday to invalidate the program is a transparently political screed. Judge Taylor last garnered national attention in 2002 when she was caught trying to rig the outcome of an affirmative-action case. Now, this relic of the Jimmy Carter twilight has fixed her gaze on...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and conservative members of his panel have reached agreement on legislation that may determine the legality of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance program, GOP sources say. Specter has mollified conservative opposition to his bill by agreeing to drop the requirement that the Bush administration seek a legal judgment on the program from a special court set up by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978. Instead, Specter agreed to allow the administration to retain an important legal defense by allowing the court, which holds its hearings in secret, to review the...

WE ARE IN the first war of the Information Age, and we have a critical advantage over our enemy: We are far better at gathering intelligence. It's an advantage we must utilize, and it's keeping us safe. But every time classified national security information is leaked, our ability to gather information on those who would do us harm is eroded. We suffered a setback Thursday when USA Today ran a front-page story alleging that the National Security Agency was collecting domestic phone records. This article hurt our efforts to protect Americans by giving the enemy valuable insights into the Terrorist...

In the aftermath of the New York Times's illegal disclosure of surveillance by the National Security Agency, the Senate now debates whether to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the law that formulates a procedure for the president to obtain warrants to wiretap foreign individuals and entities within the United States. The senators claim they are considering such legislation not to bury the NSA program, but to save it. It's time for a legal primer on the Constitution and national security law.In Article II, the Constitution establishes the president as commander in chief. As such he has inherent authority...