Free Republic

I first reported in April 2023 about a new California state law that would require utility companies to come up with a fixed-rate plan as a way to help stabilize rates and make billing more "equitable." Hence, the state’s soon-to-be-implemented "equitable" policy will base residential electricity bills on income rather than usage, even as public and political opposition to the idea builds in the Democratic coalition.I titled my 2023 article "Marxism, California Style? New State Law Will Lead Energy Companies to Bill Customers Based on Income" because of a phrase popularized by Karl Marx as part of a larger communist...

Global electricity use forecast to fall By Kate Mackenzie in London Published: May 21 2009 19:52 | Last updated: May 21 2009 19:52 Global electricity consumption will fall this year for the first time since 1945, according to the International Energy Agency. The watchdog for developed energy consuming countries will tell energy ministers from the Group of Eight leading economies on Sunday that electricity demand will fall 3.5 per cent in 2009. In China, where power use is seen as a more reliable barometer of economic activity than official economic measures, consumption will be more than 2 per cent lower...

Internet provider's usage cap raises questions Friday August 22, 10:36 am ET By Peter Svensson, AP Technology Writer Company's limit on Internet use upsets customers and portends new era in online service NEW YORK (AP) -- Three months ago, Guy Distaffen switched Internet providers, lured from his cable company to his phone company by a year of free service on a two-year contract. But soon the company quietly updated its policies to say it would limit his Internet activity each month. "We felt that were suckered," said Distaffen, who lives in the small village of Silver Springs in upstate New...

Telegraph wins website usage case Last Updated: 4:15am BST 25/04/2007 The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld the Telegraph Media Group's right to describe Telegraph.co.uk as "Britain's No. 1 quality newspaper website,'" dismissing a complaint about an advertising campaign in the first two months of 2007. The Telegraph advertisement was based on research by Hitwise, which monitors web usage by more than eight million British users. According to Hitwise, Telegraph.co.uk had more UK visits than any other quality newspaper website in 2006.

"If I was President, this wouldn't have happened," John Kerry said during Hezbollah's war on Israel last summer. As 2004's Democratic presidential nominee should know, he should have said, "If I were President…" It's sad, but hardly surprising, that the subjunctive evades someone of Kerry's stature. The English language is under fire, as if it strolled into an ambush. It would be bad enough if this assault involved the slovenly grammar, syntax, and spelling of drooling boors. But America's elites -- politicians, journalists, and marketers who should know better -- constantly batter our tongue. The subjunctive, for instance, lies gravely...

One in three people is enduring one form or another of water scarcity, according to new findings released by the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture at World Water Week in Stockholm. These alarming findings totally overrun predictions that this situation would come to pass in 2025. "Worrisome predictions in 2000 had forecast that one third of the world population would be affected by water scarcity by 2025. our findings from the just-concluded research show the situation to be even worse," says Frank Rijsberman, Director General of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). "Already in 2005, more than a...

WASHINGTON, July 5, 2006 – The new al Qaeda in Iraq leader is an explosives expert who could opt to increase insurgent attacks using car and truck bombs, a senior U.S. military officer said in Baghdad today. Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, told reporters that it would be prudent to expect a rise in attacks with such devices in light of Egyptian Abu Ayyub al-Masri's reputation. Masri's predecessor as the head of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed June 7 during a U.S. aerial bombing raid. Caldwell said security is...

Seven years later, the pain lingers for some. “Since ‘Seinfeld’ ended its first run, no new network sitcom has come along that even compares with it in terms of intelligence and wittiness -- especially not at NBC, which each fall stands for New Bad Comedies,” Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales wrote in July 2003, after watching Jerry Seinfeld perform his standup routine. It’s cute that he slips the words “first run” in there, as if there may eventually be a “second run.” There won’t be. The actors have plenty of cash, and aren’t likely to tarnish their franchise with...

The lesson is, unless it's a real emergency, stay off the phone while driving! Why is that such a hard concept for so many to get? I first wrote about this problem in a March 2001 column titled, "Get Off The Phone," and things have gotten a lot worse since then. It seems that at least half of all drivers I see are on a cellphone these days, while sometimes drinking coffee or doing other things at the very same time. The study was done over a period of one year and kept track of 100 cars and drivers. Cellphones...

As is often the case these days, offensive language or behavior is in the eye of the beholder. It depends on whether one subscribes to old school or new-age definitions of words that have been around for centuries. This word discrimination used to be a compliment of sorts, as in “one has discriminating tastes” based on the old school definition “To make a clear distinction; distinguish: discriminate among the options available. To make sensible decisions; judge wisely.” Of course the new-age definition is much less flattering, “to treat one person or group worse than others or better than others, usually...

I am starting a grammar thread at the behest of Xenalyte and TheMom. Post your most irritating pet peeves of grammar or usage here.

<p>Hawai'i has the worst crystal meth problem in the country and it is destroying families and communities, U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo said yesterday.</p> <p>Meth users who support their habits through burglaries, shopliftings, robberies, purse snatchings and car thefts have helped to raise Hawai'i's larceny-theft rate to the highest in the United States, Kubo said.</p>

A federal judge on Wednesday refused a request to set aside a $102 million tobacco settlement payment, allowing Tennessee to use the money to help balance its cash-strapped budget. Attorneys for two Tennessee smokers asked that this year's payment be held in an escrow account until a larger lawsuit over tobacco-related injuries was resolved. In denying that request, U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger agreed with government officials who said if the state didn't receive this year's payment, it could "precipitate an unprecedented fiscal emergency." Charles Temple's and James Wheeler's lawsuit claimed that people treated for tobacco-related injuries under the state's...