Free Republic

Posted: 5:54 pm EST November 11, 2009 Updated: 6:53 pm EST November 11, 2009 BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- Fishermen say an effort to protect the red snapper could kill Brevard County's fishing industry. They're gathered in Cape Canaveral to fight a ban on "bottom fishing."

It's been criticized as an expression of prejudice at odds with European values of tolerance. But in a referendum on November 29, Swiss voters approved a ban on the building of minarets. And now populist parties in Denmark and the Netherlands say they want referendums, too. The calls came from two parties known for their tough stances on immigration. Geert Wilders, head of the Dutch Freedom Party, told the Dutch daily "Volkskrant" that his party "will call upon the government to make a similar referendum possible in the Netherlands." And in Denmark, Danish People's Party head Pia Kjaersgaard welcomed the...

Thirty minutes after the referendum finished at midday, Swiss television reported: “The initiative would appear to be accepted. There is a positive trend. It’s a huge surprise.” According to the respected gfs.bern polling institute an estimated 59 per cent of voters backed the ban. A majority of cantons were also in support of the initiative. “A majority have voted for a nationwide ban on the construction of minarets,” said the institute’s director Claude Longchamp, speaking on Swiss Radio DRS.

I know why they don’t want to call it a Christmas Tree anymore!I know why they want to banish it from the public square! An evergreen is a symbol of eternal life; yet, it is cut down and nailed to two wooden members— reminding men of the Eternal Son of God Who was nailed to the Cross. It is topped with a star reminding men of the Bright and Morning Star or the Star of Bethlehem; or, it’s topped with an angel who announced and attended His birth; or, the bow— a love-knot binding the two: man and God together...

The Obama administration has decided not to sign an international convention banning land mines. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Tuesday that the administration recently completed a review and decided not to change the Bush-era policy. "We decided that our land mine policy remains in effect," he said. More than 150 countries have agreed to the Mine Ban Treaty's provisions to end the production, use, stockpiling and trade in mines. Besides the United States, holdouts include: China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar and Russia. Human rights groups had expressed hopes that the Obama administration would sign the treaty. Stephen Goose, the director...

Obama administration will not sign land mine banBy DESMOND BUTLER, Associated Press Writer Tuesday, November 24, 2009 15:06 PST WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration has decided not to sign an international convention banning land mines. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Tuesday that the administration recently completed a review and decided not to change the Bush-era policy. "We decided that our land mine policy remains in effect," he said. More than 150 countries have agreed to the Mine Ban Treaty's provisions to end the production, use, stockpiling and trade in mines. Besides the United States, holdouts include: China, India,...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Before the Senate Judiciary Committee November 18th, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder revealed a stunningly broad and aggressive anti-gun agenda. "The President of the United States asked that politicians not use the Ft. Hood attack to engage in 'political theater.' It appears those committed to attacking gun owners and the Second Amendment simply can't help themselves and are engaged in blaming guns and gun owners on the heels of this terrorist attack. Sadly it looks like 'politics as usual,'" said LEAA's spokesperson, Ted Deeds. After explaining and defending his decision to give enemy combatants constitutional...

Death sought over Ibaraki stabbing spree MITO, Ibaraki Pref. (Kyodo) Prosecutors sought Friday the death sentence for a man accused of a stabbing spree in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Prefecture, that left two people dead and seven others wounded. At the Mito District Court, the prosecutors said Masahiro Kanazawa, 26, "wanted to end his boring days" with the death sentence he thought he would get for the March 2008 stabbings at Arakawaoki Station. Kanazawa's counsel asked for life imprisonment. Kanazawa was also accused of fatally stabbing a 72-year-old man at the victim's home in Tsuchiura four days before the stabbing spree. He...

The sound of carol singers at the door at Christmas is as traditional as mince pies, mulled wine and roast turkey. But one town could be dispiritingly silent this festive season after householders were urged to turn Scrooge and ban carollers.The sound of carol singers at the door at Christmas is as traditional as mince pies, mulled wine and roast turkey. But one town could be dispiritingly silent this festive season after householders were urged to turn Scrooge and ban carollers.Householders are being handed postcards that warn carol singers will not be welcome this Christmas because many residents are 'uncomfortable'...

Mineola, NY –-(AmmoLand.com)- The Nassau County local law banning the possession of handguns mislabeled “deceptively colored” remains on hold indefinitely pending the outcome of a legal challenge by gun-rights activists. In June 2008, Nassau passed Local Law #5, criminalizing the possession and sale of “deceptively colored handguns” as a supposed danger to law enforcement. The law originally banned all handguns except for those that are “black, grey, silver, steel, nickel or army green.” It does not grandfather currently owned guns and mandates that gun owners surrender all banned guns for destruction without any compensation, and with no opportunity to sell...

Artist and blogger Todd Wilkinson is unhappy about the upcoming rules change which will permit law abiding citizens to carry defensive firearms in National Parks beginning in February. He asks... Always, the first question responsible legislators should ask when writing a law is this: What significant problem is being solved by putting another code on the books? I happen to agree with that particular statement. In this case, the significant problem being solved is that visitors to National Parks, unlike State and local parks, are having their Second Amendment rights taken away from them and are rendered defenseless. Wilkinson doesn't...

Time after time, public murder sprees occur in "gun-free zones" - public places where citizens are not legally able to carry guns. The list is long, including massacres at Virginia Tech and Columbine High School along with many less deadly attacks. Last week's slaughter at Fort Hood Army base in Texas was no different - except that one man bears responsibility for the ugly reality that the men and women charged with defending America were deliberately left defenseless when a terrorist opened fire.

Cities, counties no longer mellow about pot dispensaries At least 120 cities and eight counties in California have banned medical pot shops, fearing crime and profiteering. Some cite the proliferation of dispensaries in L.A. By John Hoeffel November 10, 2009 As hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries have opened this year in a startling rollout across California, unnerved local officials have started to push back aggressively. Many cities and a few counties have banned them. Others have imposed emergency moratoriums. And some have started to sue dispensaries to force them to close. So far, the state's courts have sided with local...

...or maybe not. Faced with increased violence, Britain deploys permanently armed police in London

The Left barely tolerates conservatives only so long as they talk to one another, write for one another, post for one another, and interact with one another. But if a conservative, especially a prominent one, should dare to leave the conservative “hood,” they jump all over him. He must be punished severely, so he will never again make the mistake of trying to mingle with “nice” people. That’s liberal? That’s progressive? That’s tolerant? That’s inclusive? No, that’s just the way things are.

A press release and automated calls to voters by Seattle mayoral candidate Mike McGinn’s campaign, accusing opponent Joe Mallahan of wanting to “make it legal to bring loaded firearms to playgrounds, pools, and community centers,” was touching off dueling statements of lying and waffling Friday evening. And in response to a challenge from McGinn asking Mallahan to say whether he would defend in court a new ban on firearms in Seattle parks, community centers and other facilities where children might be present, Mallahan spokeswoman Charla Neuman was non-committal.

An Oregon apartment complex reversed its ban prohibiting residents from flying American flags from dwellings and parked vehicles after the property manager decided she didn't have the legal standing to do so, KATU in Portland reported Wednesday. The American Civil Liberties Union said that Barb Holcomb's ban at Oaks Apartments did not violate any laws, but Holcomb said her legal cousel led her to believe otherwise so she reversed the decision. "If people want to fly any flag of any nationality, it's their right," she told KATU. "When a tenant rents the unit, the inside of the unit belongs to...

The influential lobby group Consumer Electronics Assn. is fighting what appears to be a losing battle to dissuade California regulators from passing the nation's first ban on energy-hungry big-screen televisions. On Tuesday, executives and consultants for the Arlington, Va., trade group asked members of the California Energy Commission to instead let consumers use their wallets to decide whether they want to buy the most energy-saving new models of liquid-crystal display and plasma high-definition TVs. "Voluntary efforts are succeeding without regulations," said Doug Johnson, the association's senior director for technology policy. Too much government interference could hamstring industry innovation and prove...

October 5, 2009 - Alexandria, Va. – A sweeping oceans and Great Lakes management policy document proposed by the Obama Administration will have a significant impact on the sportfishing industry, America’s saltwater anglers and the nation’s coastal communities. The draft policy, the Interim Report of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, issued on September 17, will govern federal Pacific and Atlantic Ocean waters and Great Lakes resource conservation and management and will coordinate these efforts among federal, state and local agencies. This past June, President Obama created the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, led by the Chair of the Council...

Sep 9, 2009 10:40 pm US/Central Air Rifles And BB Guns: Toys Or Weapons? SEND A TIP TO THE 2 INVESTIGATORS Reporting Dave Savini CHICAGO (CBS) ― Just a few hours ago a Naperville high school student was arrested for shooting a BB gun at students from Chrone middle school. Fortunately no one was hurt. Not the same can be said for one Glen Ellyn woman who had a BB pellet pulled out of her heart. That's why there is a growing call to have BB guns and air rifles regulated like handguns. CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini takes a...

After a Nato airstrike killed as many as 125 people last week, General Stanley McChrystal was keen to get the situation under control — fast. When he tried to contact his underlings to find out what had happened, however, he found, to his fury, that many of them were either drunk or too hungover to respond. Complaining in his daily Commander’s Update that too many people had been “partying it up”, General McChrystal, head of International Forces in Afghanistan (Isaf), banned alcohol at his headquarters yesterday,

Along with a box of matches and a piece of string, they've always been an essential part of a Scout's kit. But now penknives are going to be restricted on scouting trips as a seemingly innocent tradition succumbs to concerns over the nation's blade culture. The Scout Association is advising boys and their parents that they should not bring such knives to camp - despite it being legal for anyone to carry a foldable, nonlocking blade in a public place as long as it is shorter than 3ins. Scouts have been taught to carry knives and have used them to...

Glen Cove District Students Urged To Have No Skin-On-Skin Contact With Swine Flu Outbreak Looming Parents Told To Provide Kids With Tissues, Hand Sanitizer, Ibuprofen Reporting Jennifer McLogan NEW YORK (CBS) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1 DNA test kits of the the influenza A(H1N1) or Swine Flu virus prepared by PrimerDesign Ltd are displayed at the company laboratory in Southampton on May 2, 2009. Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images Close numSlides of totalImages Poll Is Glen Cove going too far in telling its students not to touch each other to fight H1N1? Related Slideshows Celebs Who Lean To The Right 2009...

(IsraelNN.com) Hareidi and national-religious rabbis will meet Monday in Jerusalem to discuss ways of dealing with the Arab influx into Jewish neighborhoods in northern Jerusalem, as well as the purchasing of agricultural land in the Galilee by wealthy foreign Arabs. The rabbis are expected to call for an end to the phenomenon of sale of land and houses by Jews to Arabs. The organizer, Aryeh King, who heads the Israel Lands Fund, told Arutz Sheva's Hebrew service that he is hoping to see the rabbis issue a pronouncement that sale of land and houses to Arabs is forbidden.

OSLO (Reuters) – Norway's ambassador to the United Nations has accused Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of weak, ineffective and at times counterproductive leadership during recent crises, the daily Aftenposten reported on Wednesday. Aftenposten published what it said was a letter from Ambassador Mona Juul to Norway's Foreign Ministry, where she said Ban was late in handling challenges and that his abrasive style irked even seasoned diplomats. "At a time when the need for the United Nations and for multilateral solutions to global crises is greater than ever, Ban and the United Nations are conspicuous in their absence," Aftenposten quoted the letter...

CBS News 2: Wednesday night one local congressman facing a crowd of protestors tried to keep CBS 2 HD (NY) cameras out. The forum was one viewers almost didn't see, after Congressman Anthony Weiner's staffers said the meeting was not open to our cameras.

We've all been there, a restaurant, church, classroom, shopping aisle and yes a bar, when someone will walk in and the place turns to weeping eyes and sneezing. How well do you think people take it when asked to "remove" their perfume? But due to stories like the people above who fell ill due to someone's perfume I believe people are starting to look at perfume as the next cigarette.

Imad Mustafa, the Syrian envoy to the US, said Monday that the Obama administration had lifted the ban imposed on exporting goods to the Syrian Aviation Industry, the Kuwait News Agency reported. Speaking on Syrian national television, Mustafa revealed that the US had also lifted the ban on exporting IT products, whether they were hardware or software, adding that US President Barack Obama was considering lifting more such restrictions.

Britain's incoming home secretary says ban on radio talker's travel to be lifted Radio talker Michael Savage told WND he was "stunned" by the quick decision by incoming United Kingdom Home Secretary Alan Johnson to scrap his predecessor's list of people banned from Britain – a list that included Savage along with Islamic hate preachers and terrorists. Savage had sued outgoing Home Secretary Jacqui Smith for libel for listing him, along with 15 others, as "least wanted" visitors in the country. Meanwhile, Smith's successor, Alan Johnson, called the move a terrible blunder and told the London Daily Mail he would...

"ANY USE OF TOBACCO WHILE IN UNIFORM SHOULD BE PROHIBITED!" Thats what the medical institute report to the Pentagon concludes. Brian Wise, executive director of Military Families United, decried even the discussion of such a ban. "With all the issues facing our military today and the risks our troops take to protect our freedom, banning smoking should not even be on the radar screen," Wise said in a written statement Wednesday. "Nobody doubts the effects of smoking, but it is not an illegal substance and should not be banned," he said. "Our troops make enough sacrifices to serve our nation....

Lithuania's parliament approved a law on Tuesday to protect minors, including a ban on information seen to promote gay relationships. Human rights groups criticised the law as evidence of homophobic attitudes in largely Roman Catholic Lithuania. The law bans the spread of information about homosexual or bisexual relations or polygamy to minors. It also prohibits information which "subverts family relations and degrades its values". "I welcome the decision," opposition lawmaker Petras Grazulis, who had proposed amendments covering homosexuality to the law, told Reuters. He said gays should limit their views to private life and public demonstrations should be banned. Rights...

Wow. And I thought we were supposed to smoke for the children. I can't believe this isn't some type of joke, but there it is in USA Today. Pentagon health experts are urging Defense Secretary Robert Gates to ban the use of tobacco by troops and end its sale on military property, a change that could dramatically alter a culture intertwined with smoking. Jack Smith, head of the Pentagon's office of clinical and program policy, says he will recommend that Gates adopt proposals by a federal study that cites rising tobacco use and higher costs for the Pentagon and Department...

Link only - San Francisco to Consider Cat De-Clawing Ban

Like gamers around the world, Germans love their shoot-'em-ups. Sure, video gaming isn't quite the industry in Germany that it is in the U.S. (or some other parts of Europe), but it's still an enormous market for the industry. Those days are quite likely to come to a screeching halt in a matter of weeks, as Germany is well on its way to banning all "violent video games," defined (via translation) as games "where the main part is to realistically play the killing of people or other cruel or inhuman acts of violence against humans or manlike characters." Hmmmm... sounds...

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel joined 21 other state attorneys general Thursday in writing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to oppose any proposed effort to reinstate the federal assault-weapons ban, which was passed in 1994 but expired in 2004. President Barack Obama said in April that the ban "made sense" but that he wouldn't push to reinstate it because it would be difficult to pass in Congress. McDaniel said in a news release that he shared Obama's desire to reduce crime. "However, based on the facts available, there is no reason to believe this law will result in any meaningful reduction...

Remember CANDIDATE Barack Obama? The guy who “wasn’t going to take away our guns”? Well, guess what? Less than 100 days into his administration, he’s never met a gun he didn’t hate. A week ago, Obama went to Mexico, whined about the United States, and bemoaned (before the whole world) the fact that he didn’t have the political power to take away our semi-automatics. Nevertheless, that didn’t keep him from pushing additional restrictions on American gun owners. It’s called the Inter-American Convention Against Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials. To be sure, this...

Sen. Tom Coburn, who is also a medical doctor, is calling for an outright ban on the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products. "What we should be doing is banning tobacco," the Oklahoma Republican declared on the Senate floor during a debate on a tobacco regulation bill. "Nobody up here has the courage to do that. It is a big business. There are millions of Americans who are addicted to nicotine." The battle against tobacco use has been ongoing. Earlier this year Congress passed legislation that included an increase in the federal tax on cigarettes of more than 60...

t's the clash of the titans, pitting talk-radio god against fierce national gatekeeper. Michael Savage made good on his threat to sue British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith for libel, with the official notification letter arriving at her office Monday. Her response: bring it on.

Roll Call is reporting that during the typical Friday afternoon document dump — a practice used to hide actions that might prove somewhat embarrassing to the White House — the administration quietly announced that some of the former restrictions on lobbying ballyhooed about during the late campaign have been lifted.Let special interests ring!Roll Call (see here, but subscription is required) says that the administration lifted bans on lobbyists that have some part of spending “stimulus” funds. So now getting hooks into bloated federal spending is open season for the very lobbyists that Obama pretended to disdain only months ago.So much...

America’s 1st Freedom June 2009 Magazine has called the Democrats onto the carpet. And it isn’t pretty. Marshall Lewin in an article titled:”Showing their True Colors”, lays it all on the line. In his article he describes a ruthless calculation, Democrat leaders in the White House and in Congress are waiting for people to die. That’s right. They are waiting until there is some national level tragedy, the loss of life involving firearms, to introduce and then pass legislation banning guns.

NEW YORK, June 26 (Reuters) - Boeing Co. (BA.N: Quote, Profile , Research) on Tuesday named retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, the former head of U.S. and NATO forces in Europe, to its board. The appointment is the latest in a line of retired senior armed forces and Pentagon leaders joining defense contractors, underscoring the tight relationship between U.S. arms makers and buyers. Boeing, which is the No. 2 U.S. defense contractor behind Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT.N: Quote, Profile , Research), said Jones' appointment was effective immediately. Jones, 63, is a decorated Vietnam War veteran with a 40-year military...

The guys at Arkansas Carry are tonight reporting that the Sebastian County Quorum Court meeting went well. In fact they apparently voted unanimously to end the ban on guns in city parks! Arkansas Carry gets a big, "Bravo Zulu" for their work tonight. This could effect the rest of the state's rules on guns in city parks. Right now here's the update from their website, "The Quorum Court agenda tonight was really full, and they moved the Ben Geren gun ban repeal to the very last. The meeting started at 7 pm, but they didn't get to our subject until...

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev confirmed the intention of the authorities to ban the gambling business in Russia. Mikhail Mokretsov, the head of Russia’s Federal Tax Service, signed the adequate order immediately after his meeting with Medvedev, The Kommersant newspaper wrote. All casinos and gambling bars were ordered to shut down their activities before July 1. Federal Tax Service officers will also take efforts to prevent the appearance of disguised gambling establishments. Medvedev said on May 6 that the new law would come into force on time. “There will be no way back, no matter how hard certain business structures might...

Is Geert Wilders’ film “offensive” to some? No doubt. Is Michael Savage’s radio show “offensive” to many? Undeniably. So what? The excuse for banning them is that they defame Islam and the Koran. But why doesn’t Britain ban Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, who express contempt for all religions? Why doesn’t Britain ban Ron Howard and Dan Brown, who write books and make films that defame Catholicism? I’ll tell you why − because Christians and Jews do not threaten violence against those with whom they disagree. Banning Wilders and Savage is an act of pure cowardice. And liberal Americans say...

SFGate... San Francisco-based conservative talk show host Michael Savage -- whose sharp-tongued right-wing commentary has earned him headlines across the U.S. -- is making news again: He's been banned in Britain. ... "When I woke up and saw this this morning ... my first thought was, damn, there goes the summer trip where I planned to have my dental work done," the "Savage Nation" host joked. "My second thought was, darn ... there goes my visit to the restaurants of England for their great cuisine." But, he added, the issue is no laughing matter -- and represents a serious threat...

Sixteen people banned from entering the UK are "named and shamed" by the Home Office. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she decided to make public the names of 16 people banned since October last year so others could better understand what sort of behaviour Britain was not prepared to tolerate. The list includes hate preachers, anti-gay protesters and a far- right US talk show host.

A proposal to ban sales of new gasoline-powered cars in Norway from 2015 could help spur struggling carmakers to shift to greener models, Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen said on Saturday. "This is much more realistic than people think when they first hear about this proposal," she told Reuters, defending a plan by her Socialist Left Party to outlaw sales of cars that run solely on fossil fuels in six years' time. "The financial crisis also means that a lot of those car producers that now have big problems ... know that they have to develop their technology because we also...

But the law of unintended consequences is a funny thing. If I am an al Qaeda thug what am I thinking about Obama's reckless policy? First, I am convinced that my assessment of him as a weak, liberal, self-destructive appeaser is right on the mark. After all, what leader says that his country's "moral authority" is eroded by the use of benign interrogation techniques, when the failure to use them actually diminishes his country's "military authority?" The former is cold comfort when you are dead due to the absence of the latter. Second, I am thinking that if I had...

Donald Harmon's attempt to save a few bucks on his heating bill could cost him $850 — more than half his monthly Social Security — because he picked the wrong fuel. The 82-year-old retiree was hit with a hefty fine in January for burning wood to take away the chill in his kitchen and the living area in his North Seattle home. The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency had declared a burn ban that day. While Harmon was feeding broken-up pallets into his woodstove, an agency inspector was outside taking notes and photos as the smoke rose from the chimney....

I have never understood the Michael Savage phenomenon. He's loud, he's abrasive, and he's hardly the "conservative" so many apparently think he is. I guess tapping into the border issue has convinced some that he is a kindred spirit. For anyone who place the Constitution first, he is not. Case in point, today's amazingly ignorant screed, "Why are the police outgunned?": So I put the question to the Savage Nation. Is it time to ban assault rifles? What are they really needed for? We know, of course, that Savage has no business defining what we "need," although I can think...