Free Republic

It's a small sign with a big message, but Bartow residents are now being ordered to uproot their "God Bless America" yard signs. About 300 of the signs were handed out at First Baptist Church of Bartow following a Fourth of July sermon. But three months later, City of Bartow Code Enforcement says the temporary signs have worn out their welcome. Residents have three days to pack it up or pay a minimum fine of $25 a day. "Being a veteran, I felt like I was just kicked in the gut. I couldn't believe it, that I couldn't display my...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri State Fair on Monday imposed a lifetime ban on a rodeo clown whose depiction of President Barack Obama getting charged by a bull was widely criticized by Democratic and Republican officials alike. The rodeo clown won't be allowed to participate or perform at the fair again. Fair officials say they're also reviewing whether to take any action against the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association, the contractor responsible for Saturday's event. The entertainment during the bull riding contest featured a clown wearing a mask of Obama with an upside down broomstick attached to his backside....

Comcast Cable, "the nation's largest cable provider," has decided it will not accept firearm and ammunition advertisers in the future. This decision comes after Comcast has been running ads for some gun and hunting groups for decades. Comcast chose this new position after purchasing NBCUniversal, which has a long-standing ban against firearm, ammunition and firework advertisements. This move brings Comcast in line with its competitors, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications. Cox already had a ban similar to the one Comcast has now instituted and Time Warner Cable announced in January that it was banning "ads showing semi-automatic weapons and...

Autocracy: Still pulsing with the power from outlawing big servings of sweet drinks, Michael Bloomberg now wants to run Styrofoam out of his city. Clearly, he believes that everyone has to live exactly as he wants them to live. During Thursday's State of the City address, New York Mayor Bloomberg called for a ban on Styrofoam food packaging. It's all a part of his crusade to eliminate smoking, sugary drinks, salt and other items he doesn't like — and, hence, thinks no one else should have. So what comes next, Mr. Mayor? What's the target after Styrofoam? Beef? Eggs? Cheese?...

Abstract: Recently, many jurisdictions have implemented bans or imposed taxes upon plastic grocery bags on environmental grounds. San Francisco County was the first major US jurisdiction to enact such a regulation, implementing a ban in 2007. There is evidence, however, that reusable grocery bags, a common substitute for plastic bags, contain potentially harmful bacteria. We examine emergency room admissions related to these bacteria in the wake of the San Francisco ban. We find that ER visits spiked when the ban went into effect. Relative to other counties, ER admissions increase by at least one fourth, and deaths exhibit a similar...

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP)- Gov. Jack Markell is proposing background checks for private gun sales as part of a new package of gun control legislation for Delaware.

After Hungerford, the British government banned semiautomatic rifles and brought shotguns—the last type of firearm that could be purchased with a simple show of fitness—under controls similar to those in place for pistols and rifles. Magazines were limited to two shells with a third in the chamber. Dunblane had a more dramatic impact. Hamilton had a firearm certificate, although according to the rules he should not have been granted one. A media frenzy coupled with an emotional campaign by parents of Dunblane resulted in the Firearms Act of 1998, which instituted a nearly complete ban on handguns. Owners of pistols...

A&E doctors are calling for a ban on long pointed kitchen knives to reduce deaths from stabbing. A team from West Middlesex University Hospital said violent crime is on the increase - and kitchen knives are used in as many as half of all stabbings. They argued many assaults are committed impulsively, prompted by alcohol and drugs, and a kitchen knife often makes an all too available weapon. The research is published in the British Medical Journal. The researchers said there was no reason for long pointed knives to be publicly available at all. They consulted 10 top chefs from...

[snip] Under the ordinance, stores will be prohibited from offering customers plastic bags for carrying out purchases and will be required to charge a dime per paper bag. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2015, the price of paper bags will go up to 25 cent each. [snip] "Most of the comments I've gotten to date are not only supportive, but they are really enthused about it," said Moura, adding that the only complaint he's heard involves the paper bag charge. County officials are hoping as many of the bans will go into effect as possible by April 22, which is Earth...

LOS ANGELES – "Whatever it is, I'm against it!" Groucho Marx sang in a 1932 picture filmed on the Paramount lot here. Today's Southern Californians seem to agree. Once know for its sunny, freewheeling disposition, this region has long been as regulated as anywhere. Lately, however, cities, school districts and even libraries have been outlawing chunks of what used to pass for birthright at a startling clip. Bonfires on the beach? Sorry, Gidget: Newport Beach is waiting for permission from the California Coastal Commission to remove its long-cherished fire pits, which it banned this summer as health hazards. Newport's fleet...

A doctor in a white lab coat stands at the pearly gates. The voice of God booms, “And your good deeds?” The man responds, “Well, as a dermatologist, I’ve been warning people that sunlight will kill them and that it is as deadly as smoking.” His smug smile fades as God snaps, “You’re saying that sunlight, which I created to keep you alive, give you vitamin D and make you feel good, is deadly? And the millions of dollars you received from chemical sunscreen companies had nothing do with your blasphemy?” A bottle of SPF 1000 sunscreen materializes in the...

Dr. Yassir al-Burhami, a prominent figure in Egypt's Salafi movement and vice president of the Salafi Call—the same sheikh who seeks to punish Muslim apostates, condemns Mother's Day, and advocates deceiving Israel—has just issued a fatwa, published in the "Voice of the Righteous Salaf," forbidding Muslim taxi-drivers and bus-drivers from transporting Coptic Christian priests to their churches, which he depicted as "more forbidden than taking someone to a liquor bar." This analogy, of course, does not begin with Sheikh Burhami, but traces back to some of Islam's early giants, including Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim, who agreed that "building churches...

In Gotham, Michael the First, King of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and the rebellious province of Staten Island, has returned from celebrating his successful campaign against large sodas, to consider expanding the ban to large popcorn and milkshakes. Los Angeles has voted to ban the plastic bag and add a 10 cent fine for paper bags. Where does the future of the Nanny State lead? In Sweden, the Left Party is calling for men to be banned from urinating standing up. And why not? If the government should have a say in what food you eat and what you carry...

State police officers routinely scan license plates at toll booths to ensure emissions inspections are up-to-date. Portable cameras fine speeders practically everywhere in the state. In the name of safety, children of all heights and weights are now required to sit in a rear- facing car seat for their first two years, regardless of whether they fit in it. And legislators once again found new and creative ways to tax residents this year, in part by redefining rich. But, relax, the government doesn't control everything in this state ... yet. You can still freely sip sugary soft drinks of any...

While life expectancy in many parts of the United States is dropping, it has increased by 10 years in Manhattan since 1987. Researchers largely attribute that rise — the fastest in the nation — to a crackdown by the New York City health department on unhealthy behaviors. Manhattanites can now expect to live to the ripe old age of 82, and the average life expectancy across all five New York City boroughs is 80.6 years. That's three years beyond the national average, and a striking turnaround since the city's low point in 1990, when life expectancy there trailed the U.S....

Following on the heels of Mayor Bloomberg’s ban on certain sugary drinks in New York City restaurants, a wave of absurd regulations has seemingly begun emanating outwards. In neighboring New Jersey, drivers can be fined up to $1000 for driving with “unrestrained” animals in the car, and the Mayor of Berkeley, California is looking to ban sitting on sidewalks. According to CBS in Philadelphia, police and animal control officers will be authorized to ticket New Jersey drivers between $250 and $1,000 if they have “unrestrained” animals in the front seat of their car, on the driver’s lap, partially out the...

NEW YORK (AP) - Just how far would a government go to protect us from ourselves? In New York City - which already bans smoking in public parks in the name of public health and bars artificial trans fats from food served in restaurants - Mayor Michael Bloomberg now wants to stop sales of large sodas and other sugary drinks, in a bid to battle obesity. But in a country where fries have been equated with freedom, Bloomberg's proposal begs super-sized questions about government's role in shaping and restricting individual choices. What's next, a Twinkie purge?

Efforts to silence Rush Limbaugh are apparently having a significant impact on the talk radio business as a whole, including syndicated radio shows hosted by Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Glenn Beck. After provocative comments made about a female Georgetown law school student, Limbaugh's show has been targeted by liberal groups that have pressured more than two dozen advertisers to drop his program from their ad buys. Now, Rush's syndicator, Premiere Networks, is losing advertisers for other conservative programs it airs. According to an internal Premiere memorandum obtained by Radio-Info.com, the company says 98 advertisers no longer wanted to air...

All praise be to Allah! The federal government apparently has eradicated the illegal immigration that cripples America. It has eliminated the staggering unemployment that has brought so much misery to so many families. And, apparently, it has erased the suffocating debt and added enough spunk to the economy that it no longer needs all of those little tax dollars that small businesses provide. That is why the federal government has so much time these days for fine-tuning our society in ways that might seem frivolous if we didn’t have so much patience and extra money lying around. Just last week,...

DENVER — Starting Jan. 1, getting shark fins, caffeinated beer, cough syrup or a tan is going to be tougher than it was in 2011. The National Conference of State Legislatures issued Monday its annual list of laws set to take effect in 2012, and there was nothing but bad news for connoisseurs of shark-fin soup. Oregon and California passed laws prohibiting the sale, trade, or distribution of the fins, which are considered a delicacy in China. California also became the first state in the nation to require a prescription for obtaining any drug containing dextromethorphan, an ingredient found in...