Free Republic

UPDATE: 8:20 AM PST These emails have not been verified yet, and this story was posted by one of my moderating staff while I was asleep. Until such time they are verified, tread lightly because without knowing what is behind the rest of the zip file, for all we know it’s a bunch of recipes and collection of ipsem lorem text files. I’m working to authenticate these now and will report when I know more – Anthony Watts UPDATE2: 8:45AM PST The Guardian has a story up be Leo Hickman, and this excerpt suggests they may be the real deal:...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon has decided that military chaplains may perform same-sex unions, whether on or off a military installation. The ruling announced Friday by the Pentagon's personnel chief follows the Sept. 20 repeal of a law that had prohibited gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal appeals court refused Thursday to decide the constitutionality of the military's now-repealed "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning openly gay troops, saying the issue has been resolved since Americans can enlist and serve in the armed forces without regard to sexual orientation. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco tossed out a lawsuit that had challenged the military policy as a violation of gay service members' civil rights. In doing so, the appeals court also dismissed a Southern California trial judge's year-old ruling that the policy was...

When President Obama provides his roadmap for saving the economy, he needs to explain why it is bad to privatize Social Security but good to privatize military retirement, changing it from a government pension plan to a 401(k) investment program. And if this really is the key to economic solvency in the retirement system, then why not privatize Social Security as well? When things aren't broken, don't fix them. The all-volunteer military system still attracts some of our finest young people even though we have been at war for ten years. If a change to 401(k)s is a good idea,...

When Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services, which manages health programs within the state, wanted to get a better sense of how last year’s health care overhaul would affect insurance coverage within the state, they turned to Jonathan Gruber, a health policy expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who served as a consultant on both Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts health care overhaul and (somewhat controversially) President Obama’s nationwide successor program. Gruber is a frequent defender of ObamaCare as well as one of its architects. And the report was ordered under Wisconsin’s departed Democratic Governor Jim Doyle, who, after leaving the governor's...

Kody Brown is a proud polygamist, and a relatively famous one. Now Mr. Brown, his four wives and 16 children and stepchildren are going to court to keep from being punished for it. The family is the focus of a reality TV show, “Sister Wives,” that first appeared in 2010. Law enforcement officials in the Browns’ home state, Utah, announced soon after the show began that the family was under investigation for violating the state law prohibiting polygamy. On Wednesday, the Browns are expected to file a lawsuit to challenge the polygamy law. The lawsuit is not demanding that states...

Kind of long, so I'm just going to post a link to a blog which publishes what claims to be an e-mail exchange between a Navy officer and an official in charge of the repeal training. I have no way to verify the e-mails, but looks pretty plausible to me based on what I've read about the DADT repeal training: http://minorityrightsadvocate.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/the-military-is-not-ready-for-the-dadt-repeal-no-matter-what-the-spin-they-cannot-address-the-questions-from-the-front-line-leaders-or-front-line-members/

Link only due to copyright restrictions: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/05/10/national-emergency-alert-system-set-to-launch-in-nyc/

HONOLULU – Until this week, Hawaii officials said they wouldn't release original birth records for anyone, under any circumstances. Even if it was President Barack Obama. Then they heard from the president himself. "I am writing to request two certified copies of my original certificate of live birth," the president wrote on White House letterhead, dated April 22. State officials then decided to make an exception to a 2001 policy that prohibited anyone from getting a photocopy of an original birth certificate. They usually hand out computer-generated versions. Obama's waiver was the first since 2001. Officials said it would be...

So much for support from the common man. The Indiana Democratic Party’s first quarter campaign finance report was filed last Friday and confirms what everyone already suspected but Democrats denied: their “We Are Indiana” walkout was bought and paid for national unions. Read the report here: Dem Finance Report During the period of the walkout that began on February 22 and ended on March 28, Democrat-backed unions contributed nearly $140,000 to the Indiana Democratic Party. Their goal: stop the legislative session in its tracks, kill anti-union bills, and pay whatever it took to keep Democrats holed up in an Illinois...

Looks like we're moving to Washington this summer. What are the public schools like there (elementary schools, in particular)? Do they have a lot of social engineering? We're trying to decide if we should look into private schools or homeschooling instead. Thanks in advance!

Glenn Beck will end his daily Fox News Channel program later this year. His departure was jointly announced in a statement on Wednesday by Fox and Mr. Beck’s company, Mercury Radio Arts. The statement did not specify an end date for the show, called “Glenn Beck,” which has been telecast at 5 p.m. on Fox News since early 2009.

SEATTLE — The health care board was in session, and Deryk Lamb was pleading for them to continue paying for the spinal injections he receives to dull the pain from a workplace injury. “My life would be a living hell without these injections,” said Mr. Lamb, a 44-year-old carpenter from Lake Stevens, Wash., who was crushed between two trucks in 1996. “I don’t deserve to be sentenced by a committee to a life of agony.” Mr. Lamb was testifying on Friday before Washington State’s Health Technology Assessment committee. The committee has authority under state law to determine which medical devices...

Donald Trump says he's willing to open war chest for possible presidential run.

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, told CNSNews.com today that the health-care law that President Barack Obama signed last March is a “platform” for building a single-payer health care system in the United States. During a newsmakers program at the National Press Club on Monday, Conyers said that after discussing the issue with Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D.-Ohio) he voted for the health-care law because he saw it as a necessary "platform" for building toward a single-payer health-care system in the United States. Speaking with CNSNews.com after the event at the National Press Club, Conyers...

Explicit cartoons, films and books have been cleared for use to teach sex education to schoolchildren as young as five. A disturbing dossier exposes a wide range of graphic resources recommended for primary school lessons. The shocking material – promoted by local councils and even the BBC – teaches youngsters about adult language and sexual intercourse. Among the books singled out in the report is How Did I Begin? by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom which has a cartoon image of a couple in bed in an intimate embrace. It is accompanied by an explanation – using frank and adult...

A federal judge has upheld the national health care law, making it the fifth ruling on the merits of the legal challenges to the individual mandate. The ruling by the Clinton appointee, U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler of the District of Columbia continues the pattern of Democratic-appointed judges siding with the Obama administration and Republican judges siding with the plaintiffs in ruling the mandate unconstitutional. Kessler's ruling comes in a case brought by individual plaintiffs, where as the two decisions striking down the mandate have come in cases brought by 27 states, based in Virginia and Florida. Like the...

"Doodle-4-Google" is so much more than an art contest. Sure, the game, which received 33,000 entries last year, celebrates "the creativity of young people" by having them send in a drawing under the theme "What I’d like to do someday …" But, there's another component, as well. It also helps Google collect some very personal data on students K through 12. Along with the submission, the contest's initial Parent Consent Form asked for the child's city of birth (not current city, mind you), date of birth, the last four digits of the child's social security number, as well as complete...

US judge may escalate battle over healthcare reform * Judge would be second to rule law unconstitutional * Ruling marks major challenge to federal authority * Judge may seek to invalidate law, order injunction MIAMI, Jan 31 (Reuters) - A Florida judge could on Monday become the second U.S. judge to declare President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law unconstitutional, in the biggest legal challenge yet to federal authority to enact the law. The judge, Roger Vinson of the U.S. District Court in Pensacola, Florida, was expected to rule on a lawsuit brought by governors and attorneys general from 26 U.S....

Probe: Army ignored warnings over soldier Supervisors unwisely sent to Iraq an Army private later accused of spreading sensitive information to WikiLeaks, an investigation has concluded. WASHINGTON -- Investigators have concluded that Army commanders ignored advice not to send to Iraq an Army private who is now accused of downloading hundreds of thousands of sensitive reports and diplomatic cables that ended up on the WikiLeaks website in the largest single security breach in American history, McClatchy has learned. Pfc. Bradley Manning's direct supervisor warned that Manning had thrown chairs at colleagues and shouted at higher ranking soldiers in the year...