Free Republic

You might have thought the demented Americans with Disabilities Act — a bonanza for lawyers that requires any public facility to be designed with handicappers in mind or be sued out of existence — would be the last word in otherly-abled totalitarianism. Not so. Visitability is a concept that makes the ADA downright libertarian by comparison. The initial objective of Visitability proponents is to impose on every home a zero-step entrance, interior doors at least 32" wide, and at least one wheelchair-accessible bathroom on the ground floor. Once they've managed to have this mandated, we'll see where they go from...

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama's plan to build up U.S. forces in Afghanistan while keeping perhaps 50,000 troops in Iraq has triggered a deep rift among antiwar activists, a reminder of the difficult tasking facing the presumptive Democratic nominee as he tries to broaden his appeal. The Illinois senator wrapped up three days of tours and talks in the war-ravaged nations Tuesday, stressing in a news conference that the "situation in Afghanistan is perilous and urgent" and that "we should not wait any longer" to provide additional troops. In Iraq , Obama won a tacit Iraqi endorsement of a plan to...

Peace activists want equal access to Los Angeles high schools to counter military recruiters they describe as "car salesmen" bent on meeting quotas. The Coalition Against Militarism in Our Schools says it's vital for students to have unvarnished information about military service. The coalition promotes nonviolent alternatives to military service. Group coordinator Arele Inouye says recruiters "have a quota and it's their job to get students to sign up. So just like a car salesman, they're going to say everything they can to get students to sign up." The group's access proposal could be considered by the school board next...

Defenders of Marriage as a lifelong union between one man and one woman faced another challenge in the growing activist led effort to compel Legal recognition of equivalent status for homosexual partnerships and married couples. On Wednesday, May 28th, California’s Chief of Vital Statistics issued guidelines to the 58 County Clerks’, effective June 17, 2008, requiring that they issue marriage licenses to homosexual partners. In addition, she issued new language which removes any reference to the applicants being a man or a woman, assigning instead the new identification of “Party A’ and “Party B” to the applicants. ...There is a...

The California Supreme Court today trashed society's traditional institution of marriage, opening it up for same-sex duos because retaining the historic definition "cannot properly be viewed as a compelling state interest." In a 4-3 decision replete with concurring and dissenting opinions filed by individual members of the court, the majority opinion determined state laws specifying marriage as being between a man and a woman were unconstitutional.... "It is certainly disappointing that the court, in declaring a right to same-sex marriage in the California Constitution, has shown an outrageous lack of respect for a majority of California voters and ignored a...

CAIRO, Egypt - The Egyptian state prosecutor on Wednesday ordered 147 detained members of the Muslim Brotherhood to be investigated on rioting accusations, a judicial official said, in the latest crackdown on the country's largest opposition group. The detainees, who have not been formally charged, are also accused of holding unauthorized demonstrations after a flurry of protests in northern cities, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members demonstrated across the Nile Delta on Tuesday, accusing the government of preventing them from participating in...

From San Francisco to Berkeley to Washington, D.C., peace activists plan demonstrations across the nation today to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. More than 600 events are scheduled. Anti-war activists say their goal is to use the occasion to renew interest in the conflict when many Americans are focused on the troubled economy and the presidential election. "We want to make sure that this war is put back into the American consciousness as an issue," said Bill Hackwell, spokesman for the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism coalition, or A.N.S.W.E.R. "This has...

Plots by Communists to infiltrate America. The disintegration of borders and rural areas. Citizens mobilizing and rising up against government agencies and big business. It all sounds like the plot for a summer blockbuster, but it's something that could be happening in your own backyard. These were just a few of the topics addressed in the "How to fight the TTC" workshop, held Monday at the Pitser Garrison Civic Center in Lufkin. The conference served as an informational meeting aimed at informing citizens and local government officials how they can unite in trying to stop the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor project....

So, according to the AP’s guidelines, it would fall under the heading of fair use when I point out the following Reuters photograph, and mention that it’s yet another example of the mainstream wire services’ utter corruption and moral blindness, labeling Hamas terrorists in suicide bomber outfits as “activists.” They’ve slowly debased the language to the point where this kind of sick, evil description is routine business as usual. Palestinian Hamas activists take part in an anti-Israel rally organized by the Hamas movement in Gaza March 7, 2008. (Reuters)

A 20-year-old legal fight over protests outside abortion clinics ended Tuesday with the Supreme Court ruling that federal extortion and racketeering laws cannot be used against demonstrators. The 8-0 decision was a setback for abortion clinics that were buoyed when the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals kept their case alive two years ago despite the high court’s 2003 ruling that had cleared the way for lifting a nationwide injunction on anti-abortion leader Joseph Scheidler and others. Anti-abortion groups appealed to the justices after the lower court sought to determine whether the injunction could be supported by findings that protesters...

At least three Hamas members were killed and two others injured in an Israeli missile strike in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Palestinian medical workers said. According to Reuters, locals said the group of fighters had been firing mortars at Israel at the time of the strike. The incident took place around the town of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed the army carried out an air strike on activists who were about to fire mortars into Israel. Israel said that on Tuesday alone, Palestinians fired 21 rockets and mortars against Israeli targets, bringing...

November 23, 2007 — Adbusters, the Canadian culture jamming magazine largely responsible for propagating Buy Nothing Day, has once again been rejected in its attempt to buy advertising on MTV in promotion of the anti-consumerist holiday. MTV's Advertising Standards representative, Elisa J. Billis, didn't deny that the rejection was based soley on the message of the ad, simply saying that "the spot goes further than we are willing to accept on our channels." The ad features a burping animated pig and seeks to illustrate the divide in the amount of waste produced by the richest and poorest countries in the...

FORT HUACHUCA — It was a meeting of polar opposites. On one side of a conference room on this Southern Arizona post were three people who wanted to know why the Army teaches torture techniques. On the other side were four soldiers — three officers and one chief warrant officer — who said the Army does not teach torture and does not condone such practices. For some, the meeting, which was approved at the highest level of the Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca, may seem strange, since two of the three civilians have protested outside the fort in the past,...

While most of us spend our time working to pay our energy bills and put food on the table, Friends of the Earth (FOE) spend theirs doing everything in their capacity to insure that the nation and the world will not have sufficient energy to meet the needs of the human family. They may be friends of the earth, but they are no friends of those of us who live on it. This Mother of All Green Groups has devoted itself to finding every way possible to make our lives miserable, all in the name of protecting the environment. They...

Most of them didn't endorse Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor, and they clash with him occasionally on issues ranging from smog to logging. But environmental groups said Monday they are surprisingly pleased with the number of environmental bills Schwarzenegger signed ... Of the Sierra Club's list of 25 priority bills, Schwarzenegger signed 18 - or 72 percent - the highest ... since he took office. "It is important that he is signing more environmental bills and across a variety of subjects," said Bill Allayaud, the Sierra Club's state legislative director. "The environment did well this year." Working until nearly midnight Sunday,...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Russian human rights activists on Saturday she wanted to help them build institutions to protect people from the 'arbitrary power of the state'. "I think that there is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin," she later told reporters. Her remarks and the meeting with eight human rights leaders could irk the Kremlin, which is sensitive to Western accusations it is rolling back democratic freedoms and suspects foreign governments of trying to influence next year's presidential election. Rice told the rights activists she wanted to hear about their efforts...

Call it ActRed. There’s something of a competition brewing between three new Republican groups angling to cut into the online fundraising advantage enjoyed by Democrats and their Internet money machine, ActBlue. Rightroots, Big Red Tent and Slatecard.com are the latest in a series of as yet unsuccessful efforts by GOP operatives to close their party’s Web-cash gap with Democrats. All three will allow visitors to their websites to contribute to Republican candidates running for federal offices, plus in Rightroots’ case a few who aren’t – namely might-be presidential candidates Fred Thompson, Newt Gingrich and Chuck Hagel. The committees will forward...

Environmental activists get a shock in Vt.By Kristi Ceccarossi, Globe Correspondent July 28, 2007 BRATTLEBORO, Vt. -- Activists opposed to development planted flowers and herbs in a gentle protest that stretched through the night. In the morning, when they refused to leave a vacant lot where a truck stop has been proposed, things got ugly. The protesters were Tasered by police. "It was torture," said Janisse Ray, one of the protesters, who witnessed Jonathan "Slug" Crowell and Samantha Kilmurray being shocked. Police acknowledged that they used the devices Tuesday, but said they had to use them to get the protesters...

Historians and Orthodox activists of Moscow call to rename the metro station Voikovskaya named after Peter Voikov, a Soviet commissar who was directly relevant to the death of the Russian Royal Family.

THE Pasha Bulker isn't Australia's only large, red, shiftless, inert mass. Australia's lefty activists were once active; they wanted change, movement, action. Today's activists want anything but. These modern so-called activists are mooching in on our conservative "let's do nothing" scam! Consider recent inactivist actions: On Iraq: Activists (who invariably claim they always wanted to bring down Saddam Hussein's oppressive regime) first opposed sanctions against Iraq and then opposed a military removal of the nation's brutal dictator. Left to lefty activists, Iraq would still be ruled by Saddam – who paid thousands to the families of Israel-bound suicide bombers –...

How many "human-rights activists" does it take to betray civilization? After the Fatah al-Islam terrorists holed up in a Palestinian camp carried out a wave of bombings, bank robberies and assassinations, Lebanon's struggling democratic government ordered its army to stop them. The Palestinian refugees themselves applauded the army's efforts, stating that few of the terrorists were local and most were fanatics from other Muslim states. The terrorists ruled with the gun and sought to enforce Sharia law. Their victims want them gone. The response from Human Rights Watch? Ignore the crimes of the terrorists and criticize the Lebanese army for...

Did the New York City Police Department spy on peaceful groups and citizens trying to exercise their constitutional right to protest the renomination of President Bush at the Republican National Convention in the summer of 2004? This is what civil liberties groups allege, and what the NYPD denies. Who is right? The issue is at the heart of several interrelated suits being adjudicated in federal district courts in New York, many of them filed on behalf of the 1,800 protesters who were arrested during the largest protest at a political convention in American history. In its complaints, the New York...

Pro-war veterans group and anti-war adversaries warily promise peaceful event Police say World Can't Wait will have exclusive right to plaza Jordan Green News editor In late January, protesters swarmed onto the steps of the US Capitol and spray-painted antiwar slogans during a rally to pressure President Bush and the Democratic Congress to wind down the war in Iraq. That was the tipping point for Charles Gant, a disabled Vietnam combat veteran from Greensboro who volunteers his time with others who have served in the US armed services. "The silent majority is tired of the extreme left-wing viewpoint," Gant said...

A gay rights activist group plans to hold a press conference at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville Thursday in an attempt to convince the college to change its policies toward gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Patrick Henry College, a conservative Christian college, does not plan on welcoming the Soulforce Equality Riders onto campus. College spokesman David Halbrook said the school has requested the presence of town and county law enforcement to bar the activist group from campus. According to a press release from Equality Loudoun, a local group promoting Soulforce's visit, the group will arrive at Patrick Henry College...

NEW YORK - Undercover NYPD officers traveled around the U.S. and even to Europe to observe activists who planned to protest at the 2004 Republican National Convention — including hundreds who showed no sign of illegal intent, a newspaper reported. Posing as activists or sympathizers, the officers attended meetings of political groups in at least 15 states and filed reports with the police department's intelligence division, The New York Times reported on its Web site Saturday. The officers involved in the "RNC Intelligence Squad" then identified certain groups as potential threats, the Times reported, citing hundreds of still-secret reports it...

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) announced today that California Congressman Duncan Hunter will address the nation’s oldest and largest gathering of conservatives on Saturday, March 3, 2007 at 8:30 a.m. in the Omni Shoreham Hotel’s Regency Ballroom in Washington D.C. “For more than a quarter of a century, Congressman Duncan Hunter has been a strong and reliable voice in the U.S. House for conservatives, fighting the good fight to keep our military up to speed, up to date, and up to the dangerous tasks our nation asks of them,” said J. William Lauderback, Executive Vice President of the...

Activists Blast Saudi Arabia Beheadings Friday February 23, 2007 1:01 AM By JAMES CALDERWOOD Associated Press Writer DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - A human rights group said Thursday that Saudi Arabia violated international law when it ordered the beheadings earlier this week of four Sri Lankan robbers and then left their headless bodies on public display in the capital of Riyadh. Human Rights Watch said the four men had no lawyers during their trial and sentencing, and were denied other basic legal rights. The group called on Saudi Arabia to halt all pending executions and retry those remaining on...

Two missing Sea Shepherd activists have been found safe in the Antarctic, and hostilities have resumed against the Japanese whaling fleet. The whalers called a truce to help the hardline anti-whaling group in their search caused when the two aboard a Zodiac inflatable dinghy disappeared suddenly in fog in icy waters south-west of Australia. Sea Shepherd president Paul Watson told theage.com.au the inflatable's engine broke down, stranding Karl Nielsen, of Perth, Western Australia, and John Gravois of Los Angeles, USA. "We just kept going out from one point in a circular search until we found them," said Captain Watson, aboard...

Two anti-whaling activists, one an Australian, were feared missing in Antarctic waters after a clash with a Japanese whaling fleet. A search for the two men was under way after the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd confronted Japanese whaling vessels in the Ross Sea. International director of Sea Shepherd, Jonny Vasic, said anti-whaling activists from two ships had used high speed inflatables to try to disrupt the operations of the whaling fleet. But a mayday message was issued after radio contact was lost with two activists in an inflatable. One of the men was an Australian from Perth and the other...

RICHMOND -- A Richmond community organizer alleged Friday that federal immigration agents are being deceitful by representing themselves as police officers in order to gain entry to homes and make arrests. Christina Espinosa of Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization, also known as CCISCO, a group of 25 religious organizations, said the tactics of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are jeopardizing efforts by Richmond police to gain the confidence of the city's immigrant community. Espinosa said her group and others have been working with Police Chief Chris Magnus on a community policing program aimed at giving immigrants trust...

WASHINGTON - California's environmental activists criticized President George W. Bush's global warming proposals Tuesday as lukewarm, half-measures if compared with the state's tough laws reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. While advocates praised the president for highlighting global warming in his State of the Union address, they said they are skeptical of his plan to increase the supply of alternative fuels to 35 billion gallons and set new fuel economy standards. Many compared Bush's vow to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 18 percent through 2012 with California's target of reducing emissions 25 percent by 2020. "As usual, California sets stricter standards...

Legacy Law Foundation is a non-profit organization advocating family issues and fighting against pornography. We use a software platform called CapWiz to handle a good deal of our advocacy issues to Capitol Hill. Today's conference is an exciting forum to discuss how to be most effective in advocating issues and influencing congress. I'll have more on this coming up. Check in live:

Manitoba had third largest group of subversives THE federal government had detailed lists of political activists and subversives it planned to arrest in the aftermath of a nuclear war or other national emergency, keeping such plans on the books until at least the early 1980s, according to new records obtained by an Ottawa historian. Anywhere from 700 to 2,500 people, including babies, would have been held in internment camps before being shipped off to more permanent detention facilities. Under the 1969 version of the plan, the majority of people were to be picked up in Ontario with the second-largest group...

DES MOINES, Iowa - Former President Bill Clinton said Saturday that voters "know something is wrong" in Washington and urged Democrats to create change in the November elections. "I have never seen the American people so serious," said Clinton. "I think I know why. People know things are out of whack. The rhythm of our public life and our common life in America has been disturbed." The former president was the keynote speaker at the Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner, the Iowa Democratic Party's biggest annual fundraising event. He drew more than 3,500 activists. There is speculation that Clinton's wife, New York...

VERNON -- Four animal rights activists involved in a confrontation with hunters at Wawayanda State Park during last year's bear hunt were found guilty Thursday of harassment. The most prominent, Angela Metler of Vernon, drew a 40-day jail term. Municipal Court Judge C. William Bowkley Jr. found that the 49-year-old Metler, Terry Fritzges, 57, of East Windsor, Janet Pizsar, 53, of Milburn, and Albert Kazemian, 49, also of Vernon, were determined to disrupt the state-sanctioned bear hunt when they entered the park on the morning of Dec. 7. Besides sentencing Metler to jail time, Bowkley handed her and the others...

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Supporters and opponents of liberalized immigration laws bellowed at each other through bullhorns at a rally in Phoenix on Monday as pressure on the U.S. Congress to break a deadlock over a proposed immigration overhaul gathered pace nationwide. About a thousand supporters of a Senate bill offering millions of illegal immigrants a path to citizenship gathered outside the Capitol building in downtown Phoenix on Labor Day, chanting, "We are America" and waving U.S. flags. They were met by scores of angry opponents of the measure, toting placards urging authorities to "stop the criminal alien invasion" and "secure...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fueled by opposition to the Iraq war and anger at President Bush, liberal grass-roots and Internet activists on Wednesday claimed their most significant political victory -- the defeat of Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman (news, bio, voting record). The three-term senator from Connecticut was repudiated on Tuesday by voters from his own party who chose Ned Lamont -- a relative unknown with a fierce anti-war message -- to represent Democrats in the November election. "The winner is people-powered politics," declared the Daily Kos Web site, a sentiment that echoed throughout the liberal blogosphere. Lamont, a millionaire businessman who...

Activists held after boarding US plane searching for weapons Richard Norton-Taylor and Will Woodward Tuesday August 8, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Twelve antiwar protesters were arrested by police yesterday after campaigners boarded a plane at Prestwick airport in Scotland to search for US weapons being transported to Israel. David Mackenzie, of the campaign group Trident Ploughshares, said its activists had boarded a US plane at the airport after gaining access to it by cutting through a perimeter fence. They found the military area and a US plane with its door open. However, they did not find any weapons. One protester...

Five antiwar activists, four of whom have been on a hunger strike for 25 days, were arrested yesterday... {snip} The arrests occurred after the five blocked the entrance and ignored police orders to move..... Three of the people arrested are members of CodePink, including its co-founder, Diane Wilson of Seadrift, Tex.

Temecula's Kristin Shaffer says she felt intimidated Saturday when she found herself being videotaped by a man inside a government vehicle as she took part in a rally in support of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman accused of killing an Iraqi civilian. Christine Bruce says she wondered the same when the white sport utility vehicle stopped across the road from the approximately 100-strong group, and a man in a white shirt and tie emerged and trained his video camera on them. That man was from the base's Security Battalion and no intimidation was intended, base spokeswoman Capt. Carrie Batson...

RUSH: Pamela, New York City. Glad you called. Welcome to the EIB Network. CALLER: Hey, Rush. RUSH: Hey. CALLER: Maha Rushie, you rock, you rock my world. You rock the world, and I just want to say for the people, Rush's place in history has not been written yet. I just wanted you to know that. RUSH: Thank you. CALLER: You're a great man. RUSH: Appreciate that. Thank you very much. CALLER: But it's true. Listen, I just came from the Stand with Israel rally in New York City. And I wanted to say, first of all, there were tens...

BISBEE — A campaign by the Minutemen to build border fences on private land is facing growing criticism from other anti-illegal-immigration groups, as well from some of its original membership. The critics complain that the organization formally known as the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps has been raising large amounts of money for a costly Israeli-style barrier but has been building only inexpensive range fencing. And they direct their disapproval squarely at Minuteman founder and president, Chris Simcox. For his part, Simcox calls the criticism unfounded and petty, and insists his group will soon begin to construct the two-layered, Gaza Strip-model...

SAN BERNARDINO -- A group of Latino activists on Monday delivered a letter to the Mexican Consulate, urging the administration of President Vicente Fox to stop using federal funds for partisan political purposes. The National Alliance for Human Rights, a Riverside-based immigrant rights network, gave the letter to Mexican Consul Carlos Giralt Cabrales, who promised to forward it to his superiors in Mexico. The two-page letter accuses the federal government and the Fox administration of spending public money to support the candidacy of Felipe Calderon, who is hoping to succeed Fox in the July 2 presidential election. From his D...

DES MOINES, Iowa - Four Republicans considering running for president in 2008 courted activists Saturday and predicted GOP success in the November elections despite the party's sagging support in polls. "The theme is we are right on the issues, not just for Iowa but for the country," said New York Gov. George Pataki. "I understand what the experts are saying, but if we stick to Republican principles we will succeed." Also at the Iowa Republican convention, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record) said, "The Democrats want this election to be a referendum election. But the best thing we...

On May 23, 2006, a grand jury at the U.S. District Court in Illinois handed down an indictment against Jeremy Alexander Hammond for hacking into the ProtestWarrior server. The indictment reads in part, "Between January and February 2005, defendant HAMMOND accessed ProtestWarrior.com's server without authority on multiple occasions in an effort to obtain information not otherwise available to him or the general public, specifically credit card numbers, home addresses, and other identifying information of the members and customers of ProtestWarrior.com." The specific violation is of Title 18, US Code, Sections 1030 (a)(2)(c) and 2. Per our understanding of the law,...

WASHINGTON - President Bush welcomed to the White House three human rights activists from China, including one whose Internet blog was blocked by Chinese authorities after it was nominated for two top international awards. The three — author Yu Jie, law professor and blogger Wang Yi and legal scholar Li Baiguang — are active in China's underground Protestant churches, which have been hit for months by a government crackdown in which many movement leaders have been arrested. Such underground Chinese churches, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, are known as house churches, a reference to their use of private homes for...

Even as Latinos in recent weeks have pushed for immigration reform on the streets and over the airwaves, another goal has emerged among a broader immigrant community: Translating street activism into political participation. Latino and Asian civic groups last week reignited voter-registration drives by calling upon the thousands who participated in protests to take their enthusiasm to the ballot box in November. But experts said that if history serves as any guide, short-term gains are likely to be few, while long-term gains will be significant. ‘‘If the next step and what we are seeing in the streets moves toward citizenship,...

Media Virtually Mute on Charlie Daniel's Baghdad Visit It amazes me. When this jerkoff "Flea" from the Red Hot Chili Peppers stands up and bashes President Bush, it seems to make it to a lot of the major news organizations such as the Associated Press and others. Neil Young, who I admire as a great musician and singer/songwriter, a guy who has given us rock and roll lovers so much great stuff, did indeed disappoint me with his latest anti-Bush tirade in his cd "Living with War" - and it also got a lot of internet-media attention. Again, Neil is a great artist, but...

I have disturbing news to bring to you. Right now, in the California State Legislature, a bill is being considered which would effectively silence any voice that dare oppose homosexuality. This bill will mandate that public school textbooks used by children be revised to include "gay history." But there's more. Not only would this bill revise textbooks to favor homosexuals, it would PROHIBIT teachers from saying anything that confronts or challenges homosexuality.This is nothing less than censorship of an Orwellian sort. We need your action now! Call your state senators and tell them to oppose SB 1437. http://www.crmail.org/public/lib.aspx?lid=3098 ++ FIND...

Those interested in Marx and Engels' remedy for exploitation and oppression are invited to attend lectures from International Socialist Organization and UT professor Dana Cloud and others...  Serious gag alert.