Free Republic

Acting recently as an expert witness in a murder trial, I became aware of a small legal problem caused by the increasingly multicultural nature of our society. According to English law, a man is guilty of murder if he kills someone with the intention either to kill or to injure seriously. But he is guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter if he has been sufficiently provoked or if his state of mind at the time was abnormal enough to reduce his responsibility. The legal test here is a comparison with the supposedly ordinary man—the man on the Clapham omnibus,...

Public concern about the impact of new immigration on America has reached a pitch not seen since the early 20th century. Americans have experienced an immigration surge unprecedented in their lifetimes. This is an unsurprising coincidence in light of the fact that our immigrant population of 37 million is, in absolute numbers, greater than it has been at any time in our history. It’s nearly as large a percentage, 12.5%, of the population as it was at its historic peak at 14.5% in 1890. Today, there are more immigrants from Mexico than there were foreign-born residents from all countries in...

Cheap Tomatoes And Cheap Labor CHEAP TOMATOES? This should make everyone think, be you Democrat, Republican or Independent. From a California school teacher - - - 'As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration, there are some things that you should be aware of: I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower social economic and income levels. Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell Gardens , Huntington Park , etc.,...

Pa. judge sentences 3 men to learn English or go to jail The Associated Press WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - An eastern Pennsylvania judge known for creative sentencing has ordered three men to learn English or go to jail. Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. said the men, who faced prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, can remain on parole if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs and get full-time jobs. Olszewski noted that the three men, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Dominguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo, plus a fourth defendant, Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, all needed translators in court when...

PROVIDENCE — A new initiative borne of a recent incident between a Providence storeowner and two Spanish-speaking customers is asking all Rhode Islanders to help stop hate speech and violence directed at “immigrants and communities of color.” The “We Can Stop the Hate” campaign was announced at the University of Rhode Island’s downtown campus, a week after published reports about a March 1 encounter between two Dominican natives who are also U.S. citizens, and David C. Richardson, owner of Rhode Island Refrigeration. The incident provoked accusations against Richardson of racial profiling and committing a hate crime. The “stop the hate”...

Angry Chicago Latino parents threatened Tuesday to keep their kids home on test day next month if state education officials insist on giving students who are still learning English an achievement test in English.(snip) Speaking through a Spanish-English translator, parent Erika Soto said her third-grade daughter is “very smart, but because of this test, she is going to be labeled a failure. So how is she going to feel?’’Parents raised their hands in agreement Tuesday when asked if they would keep their children home rather than have them take the new test.“We have to push them to pay attention and...

I don't mean to be a downer, but we've lost. And I don't mean the primary. The popularity of Obama among all groups and the increased support for liberalism and Democrats especially among the youth portend disaster. Even if Conservatives were to magically retake the GOP, we are losing the country. Although individual conservative ideas are still popular, the American people want the nanny state to protect them, the government to provide or regulate health insurance at magically low cost, increased spending on all sorts of social programs and pork. The failure of "big government" in the late 1960s to...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2008 – A Defense Department employee was among three people arrested today for espionage after allegedly passing classified U.S. government documents and information to the People’s Republic of China, Justice Department officials announced. Gregg William Bergersen, 51, a weapons system policy analyst at the Arlington, Va. -based Defense Security Cooperation Agency, is accused of being the source of the classified information. Much of the information related to U.S. military sales to Taiwan, Justice Department officials said. Bergersen allegedly passed the information between January 2006 and this month to Tai Shen Kuo, 58, a naturalized U.S. citizen and...

One of the Church of England's most senior bishops says he fears Islamic extremists are creating "no-go areas" across Britain for non-Muslims. The right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali, the Church's only Asian bishop, says people of a different race or faith face being attacked in some Muslim areas. In the Sunday Telegraph he criticises the doctrine of multiculturalism for creating separate communities which fail to integrate in to the mainstream of society. In a wide-ranging attack, Dr Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, compares intimidation by Muslim radicals to that by far-Right extremists. He questions whether elements of Sharia law are applicable...

Lubbock Hispanic Chamber of Commerce officials say a proposed merger with the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce will fix the Hispanic group's financial problems and allow it to better serve its members. But some residents and members are concerned that merging could mean Hispanics will lose their voice, allowing their needs and interests to disappear in the system. The Hispanic chamber held a public forum Saturday morning to discuss the pros and cons of a merger, which has to be approved by members and accepted by the Lubbock chamber to happen. If the two chambers merge, the Hispanic chamber, which has...

The Netherlands, one reads, has come to accept that magistrates require a generous range of motion to prevent radical clerics from "exercising their profession." But empowering judges will clearly not suffice to promote the "integration" of imams, or to groom a crop of clerics attuned to Western values. So while lawmakers across the Continent consider means to douse inflammatory speech and detain troublemakers "constitutionally," it's time again to consider l'exception française.France, far from those "Cheese-eating surrender monkeys" depicted in "The Simpsons," has distinguished itself (since the Paris terror bombings of 1986, especially) as a nation uniquely disposed to trample toes...

In Chandler Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix) there is a serial rapist on the loose. All of the 12-15 year old girls who have been raped by this man have given a similar description. The suspect is described as Hispanic, 5-feet-8, wearing a white t-shirt and jeans and boots. The police are sharing this information with all the local media in the hopes of getting some information from the public that will help catch this son-of-a-bitch. But local Spanish language radio stations are refusing to include the word “Hispanic” in the description because they feel it unfairly targets the Hispanic...

The Muslim Students Association at UTSC has ignited a fierce debate on the particulars of halal food on campus, refusing to support a long-awaited halal option at a Bluff’s, a UTSC campus restaurant. The result of numerous faculty, staff and student requests, the new menu was introduced to the campus on May 29, making all chicken and beef options certified halal. Despite this, many MSA members say that any establishment that also serves alcohol and plays dance music is an unsuitable environment for their dietary needs. This disagreement between the MSA and the university is not the first. Halal food...

AMERICANA, Brazil Now well past 90, Judith MacKnight Jones is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, the illness that robbed her of all of her memory, her most precious asset. She has been lying here for the past 11 years, covered by a patchwork blanket, made from pieces her great-grandmother brought from the United States between 1865 and 1885, after the Confederacy lost the Civil War. Unable to speak or remember now, her book "Soldado Descanso" ("Rest Soldier") is written in Portuguese, but soon will be translated into English, as the publisher thinks Americans should know about the proud history of Confederate...

After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Muslim immigrants were seen as a potential threat in the United States. They have since become model citizens -- and now they want a greater say in politics. Why shouldn't we wear head scarves? It is almost 1 p.m., time for noon prayers, and Abdul Malik Mujahid, 55, is in his office on the second floor of Chicago's Downtown Islamic Center, preparing for his sermon. On his desk are a Koran, a pad of paper and a Blackberry. A telephone rings in the next room as people hurry through the corridors. Soon Mujahid...

"The histories of bilingual and bicultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy." - Sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset Americans have an almost blind faith in the melting pot. Not without reason. Our greatest national achievement is fashioning a common identity out of a wide variety of races, nationalities and ethnic groups. The melting pot melted and we became (with a few lumps) one nation and one people. We did not create a perfect world, but we became a unified nation with a common identity, common language and common allegiances. E Pluribus Unum (From Many, One)...

U.S.-Born Students Are Going Back to Their Family Roots As the first day of school approached this month, Brian Agugoesi, 13, packed his bags with pens..He also included Honeycomb cereal, which is impossible to get at his school, and tablets to fend off malaria...The Randallstown, Md., boy was packing for his second year at Grundtvig International Secondary School in...Nigeria, an institution that, according to its Web site, boasts a water borehole and "network of tarred roads" on a 10-hectare campus... Brian's parents, Rita and Charles Agugoesi, chuckled at that story on the recent eve of Brian's flight to Lagos. It...

frontenac — Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., asserted Friday that his anti-immigration message, which brought a crowd here to its feet, is also dragging down his Republican bid for the White House. Why? "Money," or rather, lack of it, replied Tancredo, as he mingled with the audience of activists with Eagle Forum, a social conservative group holding a national meeting this weekend at the Frontenac Hilton. The major presidential fundraisers, regardless of party, "are taking money from executives with corporations that have a very big stake in this,'' Tancredo said. They oppose his candidacy, he said, because big business favors "massive...

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani stood by Congressman Peter King, a homeland security adviser to his campaign, over his comment that there are “too many mosques” in the country. Giuliani told reporters late Thursday afternoon, “I know exactly what Pete meant. I knew what he meant before I heard the clarification.” The political web site, Politico, reported King said in an interview this week , “Unfortunately we have too many mosques in this country, there's too many people who are sympathetic to radical Islam. We should be looking at them more carefully, we should be finding out how we can...

Young American Jews are feeling increasingly alienated and disconnected from Israel, according to a study to be released Thursday by Professors Steven M. Cohen and Ari Y. Kelman. Based on the responses of more than 1,700 non-Orthodox American Jews of all ages, the study indicates that successively younger age groups show a greater detachment from the State of Israel. According to the report, which was based on statistics collected as part of the 2007 National Survey of American Jews between December 20, 2006, and January 28, 2007, less than half of Jews under the age of 35 believe Israel's destruction...