Free Republic

A state agency under scrutiny for failing to act on misconduct complaints against two former Luzerne County judges never investigated an earlier complaint and adjusted its handling of the most detailed allegations because it was already prosecuting ex-county Judge Ann H. Lokuta, agency officials said. The state Judicial Conduct Board has received four complaints against former judges Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. between July 2004 and July 2008 but never took action because the allegations were either outside the scope of a state judicial code or conflicted with other investigations, the officials said. In written answers to...

MONROEVILLE, Pa. -- The death of a Gateway High School cheerleader fatally stabbed 16 times by her on-again, off-again boyfriend has inspired lawmakers to take action. Demi Brae Cuccia's hometown resolved to not to let domestic violence happen to another young girl. Council members in Monroeville unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday night in support of the Demi Brae Cuccia bill, named for the teen killed in October 2007. The bill would mandate teen dating violence education be taught in all Pennsylvania school districts. "I would think it's a no-brainer that this education needs to be taught," said Cuccia's father, Gary....

Sad news: George Monbiot, the high priest of the AGW cult, is feeling frustrated and depressed. He is oppressed by the realisation that, as the politicians phrase it, he is not getting his message across. And this blog, at least in a small way, bears some part of the responsibility. From his pontifical throne in the Vatican of global warming – The Guardian – he has issued an anathema. Quoting from a recent anti-AGW scam posting by me, he observes: “The attack on climate scientists is now widening to an all-out war on science.” Don’t get carried away, George. It...

There is a new national ID card being proposed in the Senate as part of the left's latest attempt to import 15 million new Democrat voters (illegal immigrants) that will contain the fingerprints and other personal information of the person it belongs to.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has postponed the hearing for a controversial Court of Appeals nominee after the panel received a letter from a home-state prosecutor blasting the candidate as a judicial loose cannon and after Republicans raised concerns about bias in favor of sex offenders. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Chatigny gained notoriety in 2005 for his role in trying to fight the execution of convicted serial killer and rapist Michael Ross, also known as The Roadside Strangler, whom Chatigny had described as a victim of his own "sexual sadism." His conduct in that case, which included threatening to go...

It all started here this morning: The Obama administration will accept no more public input for a federal strategy that could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing the nation’s oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters. I had to read that 3 times before it sank in…and then I did a little research. Guess what old Barack (I’ve never had a fishing rod in my hand a day in my life) Obama has been up to since last year? Plotting a Federal takeover of all our bodies of water (freshwater…saltwater…doesn’t matter), in an effort to set up MORE bureaucracies...

Therefore, this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed FREEDOM for your fellow countrymen. Jer 34:17 The main war in America is the secularist/Atheists vs. Christianity. The National Religion of the US is Atheism which is being preached by fundamentalist Atheists every Christmas and Easter. If they’re so comfortable w/their religion why are they so defensive against Christianity. Not only are they forcing the Courts to ban Christians from every public event, they will not tolerate any Christian symbol or thought anywhere outside the Church. Atheism is the foundation of liberalism just as...

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and the White House on Tuesday engaged in a rare public dispute over when healthcare reform will be voted on. The clash comes as Democrats on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue begin to count votes for a health reform bill that will be extremely challenging to pass. Hoyer on Tuesday morning suggested the March 18 deadline recently set by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was not endorsed by congressional leaders. “None of us have mentioned the 18th other than Mr. Gibbs,” Hoyer told reporters when asked if March 18 was still a “viable”...

A woman talking on a cell phone during a movie didn't take to kindly to being 'shushed' by another moviegoer. Or at least her boyfriend didn't. In a drama that turned more lively than the one on screen, the boyfriend allegedly attacked and stabbed the 'shusher' in the neck. With a meat thermometer. According to KTLA: The stabbing occurred last Saturday at the Cinemark 22 theater at 2600 West Avenue I in Lancaster, according to Detective Richard Cartmill of the Lancaster sheriff's station. Deputies say that while the movie was playing, a woman was talking on her phone and the...

Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued its long-term projections regarding President Obama's new budget proposal this year. Those projections show even higher Federal spending, deficits, and debt than Obama's budget confessed to just last month. The CBO projects that President Obama's deficits would be $1.2 trillion higher over the next 10 years than estimated in Obama's budget released on February 1. Federal deficits over those 10 years would be almost $10 trillion ($9.761). National debt held by the public would double in just 4 years, from $5.8 trillion at the end of 2008 to $11.6 trillion at the...

Rep. Barney Frank: ‘I shouldn’t be a homeowner’By Christina Wlkie - 03/08/10 07:57 PM ET The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee wields a gavel with jurisdiction over the nation’s housing industry. But he’s not a homeowner. And he likes it that way. In a speech Friday to three real estate groups, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said that despite having owned condominiums before, he prefers to rent his living space. Or spaces, as it were. Frank classified himself as a double renter — he has an apartment in Washington and one in Newton, Mass. “Given my personality and my...

Whites Moving Closer To Minority Status In U.S.Demographers Say 48 Percent Of Kids Born In 2008 Were Minorities, And This Year Could Be The "Tipping Point" Mar 10, 2010 7:00 am US/Eastern WASHINGTON (AP) - This could be the year that the number of babies born to minorities in America outnumbers babies born to whites. That's because immigration has boosted the number of Hispanic women in their prime childbearing years. Hispanic women have an average 2.99 children to 1.87 among white women. In 2008, 48 percent of the children born in the U.S. were minorities. Sociology professor Kenneth Johnson of...

LITHONIA, Ga. -- An 8-year-old girl was attacked by two Staffordshire bull terriers in Lithonia Tuesday afternoon, DeKalb County police said.The attack happened while the girl was playing in the yard of her home on Margaret Court.CBS Atlanta spoke to the girl’s father on the phone Tuesday night. He identified her as Erin Ingram. He choked back tears as he said his daughter wasn’t doing well.“I think that this is horrible, horrible,” said neighbor Veronica Cook.Cook and her son Kahlil Smoot couldn't believe Ingram was viciously attacked by two neighborhood dogs.“She's a sweet little girl,” said Smoot.Police say Ingram was...

Millions of Americans have been forced to rely on unemployment payments for extended periods as the nation struggles through its longest period of high joblessness in a generation, and critics are taking aim, saying that the Depression-era program created as a temporary bridge for laid-off workers is turning into an expensive entitlement. About 11.4 million out-of-work people now collect unemployment compensation, at a cost of $10 billion a month. Half of them have been receiving payments for more than six months, the usual insurance limit. But under multiple extensions enacted by the federal government in response to the downturn, workers...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- An I-team investigation has uncovered more than 100 cases of people with criminal records becoming police officers in Tennessee.Some of these officers are even accused of committing new crimes once they are hired. So how are convicted criminals still getting badges, guns, and the power to arrest members of the public? An audit found that the police chief and mayor of Burns, Tenn., hired a convicted felon as a police officer. The mayor soon stepped down and his whole department was almost decertified. "Was it a classic example of the good-old-boy network?" asked reporter Jeremy Finley. "I...

An indictment against a suburban Philadelphia woman accused of recruiting jihadist fighters online and moving to Europe to try to kill a Swedish artist is a rare case of an American woman aiding foreign terrorists, authorities say, and shows the evolution of the threat of terrorism. Colleen R. LaRose agreed to murder the artist, marry a terrorism suspect so he could move to Europe and martyr herself if necessary, the indictment filed Tuesday said. LaRose, who called herself JihadJane online, is "one of only a few such cases nationwide in which females have been charged with terrorism violations," said U.S....

(CN) - San Francisco police officers who fatally shot a man after a warrantless entry into the apartment where he was staying are not immune from charges because they may have "intentionally or recklessly" violated the man's Fourth Amendment rights, the 9th Circuit ruled. Three San Francisco police officers, the police chief, and the City and County of San Francisco appealed the district court's denial of their request for immunity after the court determined that there were issues regarding whether the officers violated Asa Sullivan's Fourth Amendment rights. In two opinions, the three-judge appeals panel agreed with the district court...

A Clay County grand jury indicted a former Metro Police officer on two counts of aggravated sexual battery of a victim younger than 13. James Stackhouse with an indictment on two counts of aggravated sexual battery March 1, according to Clay County Assistant District Attorney Mark Gore. Stackhouse bonded out of jail and is set for arraignment on March 29. Stackhouse was a 17-year veteran of the Metro Police Department when he resigned in August 2009, following allegations he had inappropriate relations with a child. The incident reportedly took place on Dale Hollow Lake in Clay County, and that county’s...

Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev’s, recent trip to Paris for bilateral talks with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, followed by receiving the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in Moscow on March 5, intensified speculation over the procurement of the amphibious helicopter landing ship, Mistral, and the future of the Black Sea Fleet base in the Crimea (Interfax, March 2-5). Also, on March 5, the Russian Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov stated that Moscow wants to purchase one helicopter carrier abroad and build three identical platforms on its own territory. While reiterating that in addition to the ongoing negotiations with France, talks were also...

The greenhouse gasses keep the Earth 30° C warmer than it would otherwise be without them in the atmosphere, so instead of the average surface temperature being -15° C, it is 15° C. Carbon dioxide contributes 10% of the effect so that is 3° C. The pre-industrial level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 280 ppm. So roughly, if the heating effect was a linear relationship, each 100 ppm contributes 1° C. With the atmospheric concentration rising by 2 ppm annually, it would go up by 100 ppm every 50 years and we would all fry as per the...

European countries have accused Washington of foul play after the continent’s largest aerospace and defence company pulled out of a multibillion-dollar race to supply the US ­military, alleging unfair ­competition. Ministers in the UK, France and Germany, as well as the European Commission, hinted at possible repercussions from the collapse of the $50bn (£33bn) tender to supply the US Air Force with 179 air refuelling tankers. EADS and its US partner Northrop Grumman decided late on Monday night to pull out of the tender after concluding that, under current rules, their larger A330 tanker could not win. The decision is...

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Credit-card debt has been falling for 16 straight months but consumers aren't paying off their financial obligations as much you might think. Instead, they're walking away from the debt, forcing credit-card issuers to write off as much as 90% of that reported drop, according to a new report by CardHub.com. U.S. banks charged off a record $83.3 billion in credit-card losses last year. That makes up the bulk of the $93.2 billion drop in outstanding credit-card debt that was reported by the Federal Reserve for 2009.

Alliant Energy’s Iowa customers will be seeing higher bills this month to pay for the utility’s investments in green energy. The utility plans to ask state regulators for a 13.8 percent, $163 million annual rate increase today to pay for a new $468 million wind farm, and to improve its ability to transmit energy from renewable sources. The 200-megawatt Whispering Willow Wind Farm in Franklin County is the first owned by Alliant’s Interstate Power & Light utility. It began operating in December, and has enough capacity to serve about 150,000 homes at full output. Improving the transmission grid to enable...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—A former top aide to Bill Clinton, charged with trying to smuggle contraband to a death-row inmate, will ask a state court to allow a videotaped deposition of the man before he is executed. The request, to be made Wednesday in Pine Bluff, is the latest twist in the case of Betsey Wright, an outspoken death-penalty opponent accused of trying to take tattoo needles tucked inside a bag of Doritos chips, as well as a pocketknife and a box cutter, into a high-security prison. The videotaped deposition is necessary because her trial is set for May 25, several...

STATEMENTS SEEN AS ATTEMPT TO DEFEND HERSELF AND DEPARTMENT FROM INQUIRIES REGARDING CONFLICTING PUBLIC STATEMENTS ON OBAMA’S VITAL RECORDS (Mar. 9, 2010) — The Post & Email has received documentation which discounts the testimony which Dr. Fukino gave to the Hawaii Senate Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations regarding SB2937. In her testimony of February 23, 2010, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, Director of the Hawaii Department of Health stated, “For more than a year, the Department of Health has continued to receive approximately 50 e-mail inquiries a month seeking access to President Barack Obama’s birth certificate in spite of the fact...

A Santa Rosa County deputy was arrested Tuesday on charges of sexual battery, a first-degree felony. John Mitchell Tomlinson, 46, of Navarre, a lieutenant with the Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office and former supervisor of District 2, which includes Navarre, was arrested after a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation resulted in his being charged with 120 counts of sexual battery on a child between the ages of 12 and 18. “If these allegations are true I will be very disappointed in Lt. Tomlinson’s behavior,” said Santa Rosa Sheriff Wendell Hall. “However, if he’s found guilty he should be punished like...

On her blog, Elizabeth Wright offers an excellent analysis of the mass hysteria that is the Sarah Palin phenomenon. Wright is a black conservative who specializes in debunking the sense of victimhood that so many black leaders love to employ to their advantage. She argues that the many wannabe conservatives who are Palin fans are employing the same tactic. They invoke the liberal sense of victimhood in her defense. That of course is the essence of the Palin cult. It consists of people who feel that they're being put upon by their betters. It never occurs to these characters to...

'Jihad Jane' indictment alleges threat from within U.S. American Colleen R. LaRose, 46, is accused of using the Internet to recruit and assist Muslim terrorist operations in Europe and Asia. Reporting from Washington - Using e-mail, YouTube videos, phony travel documents and a burning desire to kill "or die trying," a middle-aged American woman from Pennsylvania helped recruit a network for suicide attacks and other terrorist strikes in Europe and Asia, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Tuesday.

AU.S. toddler accidently killed herself after mistaking her stepfather's handgun for a Nintendo Wii control. Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan, three, shot herself in the stomach with the .380 caliber, semi-automatic weapon after finding it lying on a table in the living room. Her mother was sitting at the computer just a few feet away while her three-month-old brother was also lying nearby. Investigators today said that the child had probably mistaken the weapon for a Wii control.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama stood with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Tuesday and pledged that the United States would work with its ally, even as Greece's enormous debts sparked frenzied trading. Papandreou said he outlined European proposals in his White House meeting and Obama reacted positively to European ideas about cracking down on currency speculation. He also said the issue would be discussed at the next meeting of the Group of 20 summit of leading and emerging economies in June. Earlier Tuesday, European officials urged the U.S. to curb certain financial instruments. A market frenzy in recent weeks...

News has just reached me that the great Professor Ian Plimer, scourge of climate-fear-promoters everywhere, has been suddenly disinvited by the Royal Society of Artists (RSA) from a lecture he was due to give in May before an audience including the Duke of Edinburgh. Here’s part of the embarrassed kiss-off Prof Plimer received from the RSA’s chief executive: I am afraid I am writing to you with some disappointing news regarding the Prince Philip Annual Lecture on 5 May. As you well know, the debate around climate change has recently become highly politically charged, both globally and especially in your...

New Zeal has an explosive piece up that is absolutely mind-blowing: Obama File 99 Security Risk? Obama “Science Czar” John Holdren and the Federation of American Scientists Last time we looked at Holdren, we covered his Soviet ties, his relationship with the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists and his contacts that were Communists, Socialists, radicals and spies. I know it sounds like a Hollywood thriller, but unfortunately it’s not – it’s based on facts and evil just as the rest of Holdren’s story is. Snip A number of the founders/sponsors for the F.A.S. have interesting histories involving Communism, Socialism and active...

Concerns about an Oregon Department of Transportation employee who purchased several guns after being placed on leave prompted law enforcement across Southern Oregon to step in. Negotiators and a SWAT team from Medford police safely took a man — whose name wasn't released — into protective custody Monday morning in the 500 block of Effie Street, Medford police said in a news release. He was taken to Rogue Valley Medical Center for a mental-health evaluation. The man recently had been placed on administrative leave from his job and was "very disgruntled," the news release said. ODOT Communications Director Patrick Cooney...

Maury County fish are one step closer to being able to legally swim in fish tanks in barber shops. State Rep. Ty Cobb, D-Columbia, is leading an effort to overturn a state law that prohibits aquariums in barber shops. The Tennessee House of Representatives approved the measure in a 95-1 vote March 1, and the companion bill is scheduled to be heard by a Senate committee Tuesday. The House version of the bill was amended to allow barbers to display birds. Cobb says the legislation was prompted by concerns from Lori Corbin, owner of Hamilton Barber Shop on Trotwood Avenue....

Global warming skepticism rising in the GOPProminent Republicans such as Marco Rubio and Tim Pawlenty have started expressing doubts, indicating that By Jim Tankersley March 9, 2010 | 7:18 p.m. Reporting from Washington - It wasn't long ago that Marco Rubio and Tim Pawlenty -- two rising Republican stars -- supported legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions. But in recent weeks, both have begun to express doubts about whether cars, factories and power plants have anything to do with global warming. The shift by Rubio and Pawlenty -- as well as other prominent Republicans -- reflects the rising power of...

Arriving at work on 5 March, Stanford University ecologist Paul Ehrlich found a rambling and highly profane voice message from someone identifying himself as John Q Public. In one of his more lucid moments, the caller labelled Ehrlich and his colleagues in the climate-science community as "progressive communists attempting to destroy America". Once again, a private e-mail conversation about global warming had gone public, inflaming critics and giving climate scientists yet another lesson in the challenge of responding effectively. Several days earlier, Ehrlich had taken part in an informal discussion with leading climate researchers on a National Academy of Sciences...

Massa scandal explodesBy Susan Crabtree and Jordan Fabian 03/09/10 08:25 PM ET The scandal surrounding ex-Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) took several extraordinary turns on Tuesday as new allegations surfaced that Massa groped male staffers and behaved improperly with interns. Massa took to Fox television’s Glenn Beck show on Tuesday to deny the allegations in a sometimes bizarre interview. “No, no, no, no,” Massa said in response to questions about the reports. “I did nothing sexual.” He showed photos from his Navy career to illustrate that his physical behavior with staffers was innocuous, and held up an X-ray of his non-Hodgkin’s...

SPARTA, Tenn. -- It appears as though a Sparta police officer won't return to the job. Dale Dodson was fired last year for misconduct after he reportedly admitted to interfering with a murder investigation. When Dodson's appeals were denied, he filed a court petition asking for his job back. The Sparta city attorney confirmed a settlement has been reached with Dodson and said she doesn't expect Dodson to return to the police department.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Individuals who violate an order of protection in Tennessee could face a fine of up to $500 under a proposal advancing in the Senate. The measure sponsored by Democratic Sen. Beverly Marrero of Memphis was unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Violators are currently fined $50. But Marrero's proposal would give a court authority to fine a person as much as $500.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is sending in the bounty hunters to help root out health care fraud. Keeping up the pressure in his final push to pass health care overhaul, Obama signed an executive order Tuesday that encourages private auditors to search out improper Medicare and Medicaid payments, from billing errors to outright thievery. Equipped with special computer programs, the auditors would get a cut of whatever they recover for the government.

SNIPPET: "HONG KONG - AN ACID-FILLED beer bottle was thrown onto a street in the same area in Hong Kong for the fourth time in six months, police said yesterday, fuelling speculation about a serial attacker. The latest attack is the 12th in a series of attacks in Hong Kong - eight in urban areas and three in the New Territories - since December 2008, which have injured more than 100 people, the South China Morning Post reported. In the attack on Sunday evening, at least one male pedestrian was wounded when the Blue Girl beer bottle, filled with what...

"Jihad Jane" was charged by US prosecutors on Tuesday with recruiting jihadist fighters to plan terror attacks in Europe and South Asia. Colleen LaRose, a woman from suburban Philadelphia who was "desperate to do something" to help suffering Muslims, is also accused of agreeing to kill a Swedish citizen on orders from unnamed terrorists. Miss LaRose, who is believed to be 47, is alleged to have travelled to Sweden to carry out the killing, but it is understood she was stopped by the authorities before she could do it. A US Department of Justice spokesman would not confirm whether the...

Upstate New York voters may be experiencing a sense of déjà vu, as state election officials prepare for the possibility of a third special election in the wake of Democratic Rep. Eric Massa’s planned resignation Monday amid allegations of ethical improprieties. But unlike in the two recent New York special elections, which Democrats won in Republican-friendly districts, Republicans are feeling bullish about their prospects for winning Massa’s seat, given the circumstances surrounding the vacancy and the conservative nature of Massa’s western New York district. Republicans hold a 45,000-voter registration advantage in New York’s 29th District, and it is one of...

Health Overhaul To Expand Medicaid To All Poor Adultsby Rick Schmitt March 8, 2010 Marilyn Matthews has no job, no health insurance, and until now, no chance of qualifying for Medicaid. She's unquestionably poor — her last regular paycheck was more than three years ago — and would meet the income criteria for Medicaid. The rub is that Matthews, 51, is a healthy adult with no children. While Medicaid is the main government health insurance plan for the poor, the joint state-federal program has excluded Matthews and millions of other adults with no dependent children since the 1960s. Medicaid has...

(CNSNews.com) - Kevin Jennings, the Obama administration's openly gay safe-schools czar who previously ran an organization focused on normalizing homosexuality in public schools, declined Monday to directly say whether the U.S. Department of Education should promote teaching school children that homosexual behavior is morally good. Instead, he pointing out that Congress has prohibited the department from interfering in the curricula of local schools. Jennings, the assistant deputy education secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, made a rare public appearance Monday, speaking to a gathering of school teachers at the National Press Club.

New York state is to examine the amount of taxes paid by Wall Street bankers as it tries to narrow its ballooning $9.2bn budget deficit in an attempt to fend off financial collapse. The state –America's third-largest by population – is considering a raft of drastic measures similar to those enacted by California to stay afloat. The measures, such as enforced, unpaid holidays for state workers and issuing IOU's, are being discussed alongside targeting the state's most lucrative asset: New York's financial centre. David Paterson, governor of New York, admitted that the state – which stretches from New York City...

International officials called on Nigeria on Tuesday to investigate the deaths of hundreds of unarmed civilians over the weekend in the latest incident of sectarian violence in the region. Acting president Goodluck Jonathan had promised fighting between Christians and Muslims would stop after more than 300 people were slain in January. While a curfew was in place in the nearby city of Jos, those who survived the attacks in three villages Sunday said security forces never provided them any guards. Witnesses say gangs armed with guns and machetes rampaged through three mostly Christian villages, firing shots to draw people from...

A new book by former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s ex-best-friend offers to fill a gap that has frustrated analysts of Spitzer’s aborted career: A grand unified theory of Spitzer’s spectacular fall, which ended with his resignation and disgrace nearly two years ago. Lloyd Constantine, a Spitzer mentor who became a close friend and top deputy, believes that Spitzer’s “compulsion� to use prostitutes began to twist his friend’s character during 2006, the year he was elected. Spitzer came to office knowing he was doomed, according to Constantine, and acted irrationally from the moment he arrived - his time in Albany...

Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) was sued on Monday by a large union pension fund that accused the Wall Street investment bank of overpaying its executives. The International Brotherhood of Electric Workers fund filed the lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court, seeking to recover money for the company on behalf of other shareholders. It seeks to stop Goldman from allocating roughly 47 percent of 2009 net revenue as compensation, saying such allocations "vastly overcompensate management and constitute corporate waste." The lawsuit also wants Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein and others in management, rather than shareholders, to be responsible for charitable contributions that...