Free Republic

At a time when our country is sick, it shouldn't surprise that one our sickest places is our nation's capital. The poverty rate of Washington, DC, almost 20 percent, is one of the highest in the nation. Its child poverty rate is the nation's highest.. DC's public school system, with a graduation rate of less than 50 percent, is one of the worst in the country. According to DC's HIV/AIDS office, three percent of the local population has HIV or AIDS. The Administrator of this office notes that this HIV/AIDS incidence is "...higher than West Africa...on par with Uganda and...

Michigan - -(AmmoLand.com)- Things are going well with the Second Amendment March. We now have 29 State Coordinators and website traffic is holding steady at 45,000 unique visitors per week. Donations were up slightly last month but still painfully short of what we’ll need to pull this event off. I hate to beg, but even five dollars per person would be a great help in organizing efforts. Dennis Sanford, our Field Representative, will be sending out the official letters to the gun industry next week asking for monetary and logistical support. We’re hoping that during these times of record firearm...

Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl Washington D.C., Nov 18, 2009 / 06:32 pm (CNA).- The Archdiocese of Washington’s announcement that services would have to be cut if the District of Columbia City Council recognizes same-sex “marriage” without religious exemptions was not a “threat” or “ultimatum” but a simple recognition of the policy’s consequences, the Archbishop of Washington said in an opinion essay in the Washington Post.Without strong religious freedom protections, the proposed legislation would force the Church to choose between expressing Christ’s love in service to others and defending the nature of marriage, Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl wrote in his...

The two-member elections board said it could not accept the Marriage Initiative of 2009, filed by the Stand4MarriageDC coalition, because it "authorizes discrimination prohibited under the District of Columbia Human Rights Act." "This undemocratic decision is outrageous and a slap in the face of every resident of the District of Columbia," Mr. Jackson said. "To deny the people their fundamental right to vote on such an important issue as the definition of marriage in our society is simply appalling."

Two weeks ago, just after the Maine’s successful reversal of the state legislature’s decision to sanction same-sex marriage, MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer asked me a profound question: “Would Jesus have spent $550,000 to oppose same-sex marriage?” The question was exactly what many secular parties had been asking in Portland, Maine, where she was speaking to me by satellite. My answer was that Jesus would have given the money to oppose same-sex marriage. My reasoning was simple: Jesus would have upheld his own teaching; refusing to be a loving, permanent enabler of a misguided local government. I mentioned in the interview that...

Application of Second Amendment to be decided by Supreme Court Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll Lawyer Alan Gura says that owning semi-automatic guns is constitutional. The man who successfully challenged a prohibition against handguns in the District of Columbia before the Supreme Court said last night during a local debate about the Second Amendment that some states have gone too far. That's what happened in the District of Columbia, which required that firearms either be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled, said Alan Gura, a lawyer from Alexandria, Va., who argued the Supreme Court case. "If you have a...

The largest publisher of newspapers serving the gay and lesbian community in the US has shut down. Laura Douglas-Brown, editor of Southern Voice newspaper in Atlanta, said she arrived at work today to find the locks changed and a note saying parent company Window Media LLC had closed down.UKGuardian"Window Media long provided a very special outlet for the gay community to learn about itself way before there were a lot of other places to find that type of thing," said Michael Musto, an openly gay writer for the Village Voice in New York, which is owned by Village Voice Media...

The D.C. Council is considering a law forbidding discrimination against those in gay marriages. The law would apply to all groups that have contracts with the District, including Catholic Charities, one of the city's largest social services providers. The Archdiocese of Washington says that because of the Church's opposition to same-sex marriage, it would have to suspend its social services to the poor, the homeless and others rather than provide employee benefits to same-sex married couples or allow them to adopt.

The Archdiocese of Washington said Thursday that it will not extend benefits to same-sex married couples employed in Catholic schools -- a pre-emptive defiance of a bill expected to coast through the D.C. Council by the end of the year. "If this law is passed, we will have to break the law before we give up our religion," said archdiocese spokeswoman Susan Gibbs. A bill pending in the D.C. Council would allow same-sex marriages to be performed in the District. Currently, the District recognizes same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions. The church operates 21 schools in the District, attended by...

The D.C. City Council took one step closer to allowing same sex "marriages" in the District of Columbia on Tuesday when they voted the legislation out of the Committee on Public Safety & Judiciary. The panel refused to include protections for religious organizations--putting at risk the numerous churches in the region that provide goods and services to the needy who would have to decide between their faith or compliance with the city's commands. One of the largest area provider of relief services, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, took a stand yesterday, just as their counterparts in Massachusetts's had done in...

Federal program checks fingerprints of local crime suspects D.C. police will be the next department to take part in a federal program whose ultimate aim is to check the immigration status of every person booked into a local jail, homeland security officials announced Thursday. The program, known as Secure Communities, matches inmates' fingerprints against a federal database so that federal authorities can identify and possibly remove deportable illegal immigrants before they are released from custody. Similar checks are done at all 1,200 federal and state prisons. But authorities have lacked the ability to do them across the nation's 3,100 local...

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care. Under the bill, headed for a D.C. Council vote next month, religious organizations would not be required to perform or make space available for same-sex weddings. But they would have to obey city laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians. Fearful that they could be forced, among...

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington says it won't continue social service programs it runs for the District if the proposed same-sex marriage law isn't changed. The bill states religious organizations wouldn't have to perform or make space available for same-sex weddings, but they must obey city laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians. Opponents say the religious liberty exemption is too narrow. The archdiocese says religious organizations and individuals would be "at risk for adhering to the teachings of their faith." The archdiocese says that among other changes, it would have to extend employee benefits to same-sex married couples,...

WASHINGTON - D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty's use of government resources to facilitate his recreational activities isn't limited to a police escort while he trains with his bike team. The mayor has used a federal Homeland Security vehicle to transport himself and his bike to at least 14 races in the past two years. The District's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency has two large SUVs, which are detailed to the city from the U.S. Government Services Administration. According to records obtained by WTOP through the Freedom of Information Act, the mayor's Executive Protection Unit has signed out one or both...

RICHMOND, Va. - John Allen Muhammad was executed Tuesday night for the sniper attacks in 2002 that left 10 dead and spread such fear people were afraid to go shopping, cut grass or pump gas. The three-week killing spree in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., was carried out with a teenage accomplice who is serving life in prison without parole. Muhammad, 48, died by injection at 9:11 p.m. EST after he exhausted his court appeals and Gov. Tim Kaine denied clemency. Muhammad's attorneys earlier had asked Kaine to commute his sentence to life in prison because they said he was...

Virginia --(AmmoLand.com)-We all have various milestones in our lives. I have had a number of them since May 2001 when I came to this country on the employment visa. November 18, 2009 will be another milestone in my life – I am required to take a two hour civics test and English language knowledge test as part of my naturalization process. I got a notice from USCIS in August 2009 that I am now eligible to apply for a U.S. citizenship. I jumped for joy, to say the least. The next thing I did was to ask my lawyer which...

With the help of Steve McGough's mother, Carol, who was in D.C. today to give a report to Jim Vicevich. Taped report on the blog. We’ll try to get some pictures posted in the next two days, but for now you can find images over at Gateway Pundit. I’ve also got the audio posted below from Carol’s (mom’s) live report from the capital steps this morning minutes before the health care rally got started. If you’ve got links to more information and photos, post them in the comments section to share with everyone.

Only video I could find, CSPAN 3 and Foxnews.com carried it, but the Foxnews.com live stream had no volume.... Mark Levin Speech At Health Care Tea Party Washington D.C. "You see that building, you own that building...they are taking a wrecking ball to this magnificent society and that's just the first 9 months" Fox News article As a crowd of protesters shouted "kill the bill," House Republicans on Thursday rallied opposition against the Democrats' health care legislation, decrying the bill on the steps of Congress in a last-ditch bid to derail or at least delay the legislation heading toward a...

RICHMOND, Va. — Attorneys for John Allen Muhammad released a May 2008 letter on Wednesday in which the mastermind of the deadly 2002 sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C., area proclaims his innocence. The rambling, handwritten letter was made available because of requests for a statement from Muhammad, his attorneys wrote on the Web page of their law firm. The letter was filed in federal court in connection with Muhammad's unsuccessful attempt to block his execution, the attorneys said.

Holmes Norton: Republicans to blame for high D.C. AIDS rate By Silla Brush - 11/04/09 06:00 PM ET Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) is blaming Republican lawmakers for the District of Columbia’s high HIV/AIDS rate. In a letter posted on her website, Norton lashed out at Republican efforts in recent years to attach riders to annual congressional spending bills that limited the District from using locally raised revenues to support needle exchange programs. She said this explains “in large part” why the District has a higher HIV/AIDS rate than do similar cities. “The District has a higher HIV/AIDS rate than...

A power outage at Metro's headquarters has led to massive problems systemwide, allowing people to ride some buses for free and shutting down WMATA's Web site, call center and e-mail alert system. Metro said it experienced a power outage at about 2:45 a.m. that took down the data center responsible for communication functions. Besides the Customer Call Center not being able to make or receive calls, Metro said the following problems have developed: Some Metrobus fareboxes are not functioning and if that is the case, customers are being allowed to ride without paying a fare. The NextBus system is not...

Rep. Michelle Bachman is calling all Americans to join her on the steps of the Capital Building in Washington DC on Thursday November 5th to stop "the Crown Jewel of Socialism."

<p>Would you please post this from in the principal part of the thread/introductory remarks? Or pull the thread. I don’t want to confuse members/readers.</p> <p>1. The House votes on their version of the health care bill Friday, 11/6.</p> <p>2. The Senate votes on their final version on Monday, 11/16.</p>

Democrat leadership in the House wants to pass a government run health care bill before Veteran's Day, and it's up to us to make sure this prescription for socialized medicine doesn't pass. If you can come to Washington to look your Member straight in the eye and tell them to keep their hands off your heatlh care, do it. If you can't make it to Washington, go to your Member's district office. And, if you can't do that at least call and email. Also, Americans for Prosperity is organizing a House Call to legislators district offices on Thursday at noon,...

Michelle Bachmann has asked that as many as possible meet with her on Thursday to chase down congressmen and look them in the eye and tell them NO on the health care bill. It would really be great if lots and lots of people answered her call.

Maybe Freepers need a forum devoted to movies, stage, acting, and the arts.

Kevin Chavous is an African American and former Democratic city council member from Washington, D.C. He says he’s an Obama supporter, but he is distinctly unhappy with the president. Elections may have consequences, but no one expected that the White House would be so brazenly petty as to allow poor minority children in the nation’s worst school district to become the victims of political score-settling. That’s exactly what happened when the Obama administration killed off the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program several months ago. Of course, if the White House thought that it could pay off the powerful teachers’ unions, and...

The Washington, D.C., City Council will hold hearings Monday on whether it should legalize gay marriage in the district. So far, city leaders have rejected the call for a public vote, saying marriage is a civil rights issue that should not be on the ballot. But some local pastors and other citizens believe the voters should decide in a referendum. Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America, joined the CBN News Channel’s Midday program to discuss the national implications should the law be passed. Click play to watch the interview. Also, click here for more on concern surrounding gay...

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qxjocm5fCc Video Description - quote: "Homosexuals Must Be Killed" Muslims speak out - Muslim Day Washington, DC October 16, 2009 Disturbing video of Shariah Law anti-gay sentiment uncovered by ACT for America Randy McDaniels (Jacksonville, FL) during Muslim Day prayer event Washington, DC Category: News & Politics Tags: Muslim Day ACT for America Washington DC Homosexual Gay

The District of Columbia's embattled school-voucher program, which lawmakers appeared to have killed earlier this year, looks like it could still survive. Congress voted in March not to fund the program, which provides certificates to pay for recipients' private-school tuition, after the current school year. But after months of pro-voucher rallies, a television-advertising campaign and statements of support by local political leaders, backers say they are more confident about its prospects. Even some Democrats, many of whom have opposed voucher efforts, have been supportive. At a congressional hearing last month, Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and vocal critic of...

Here's a video my daughter put together of the March on D.C. The majority of the pictures are our own, but she did borrow a few off the net to fill in here and there.

M.O.M. for America Washington, DC Rally - Saturday, August 14, 2010 OUR PERMIT APPLICATION IS BEEN CONFIRMED, WE SHOULD BE RECEIVING THE PERMIT NEXT WEEK! (10/9/2009 - 12:23 p.m.)

By his own estimation, the Rev. Mark Batterson has preached about 1,000 sermons in his makeshift sanctuary at Union Station's Phoenix Theatres, where his congregation has met for the past 13 years. Last week's was one of the most difficult: In his remarks he told his congregation it would be the final service at their unconventional church. The train station's movie theater closed abruptly last week. Mr. Batterson said that for the past two years he had been hearing rumors the theater would close, but he had been assured they were not true. So it came as a shock when...

Major U.S. banks and securities firms are on pace to pay their employees about $140 billion this year -- a record high that shows compensation is rebounding despite regulatory scrutiny of Wall Street's pay culture. Workers at 23 top investment banks, hedge funds, asset managers and stock and commodities exchanges can expect to earn even more than they did the peak year of 2007, according to an analysis of securities filings for the first half of 2009 and revenue estimates through year-end by The Wall Street Journal. Total compensation and benefits at the publicly traded firms analyzed by the Journal...

Is it just me, or are Muslims causing more and more problems in our country? Didn't we recently see numerous other Islamic terror plots stopped here in America? Because according to the Islamic apologist crowd, this would never happen here. Oh yea....lets cue the Muslim victim card. DC Security Scare Becomes Federal Case Documents: Man threatened to blow up NW DC Metro

Note: The following text is a quote: Thirty-Nine Individuals Charged with Conspiring to Bribe Chair of D.C. Taxicab Commission WASHINGTON—Yitbarek Syume, 51, of Silver Spring, Maryland, Berhane Leghese, 47, of Arlington, Virginia, and Amanuel Ghirmazion, 53, of Hyattsville, Maryland, were indicted on bribery charges on October 1, 2009, by a grand jury sitting in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, announced Acting United States Attorney Channing D. Phillips and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Joseph Persichini, Jr. The indictments, unsealed today, allege that Syume, Leghese, and Ghirmazion, conspired to bribe the Chairperson of the District of...

Unbelievable, just unbelievable. The nominations were due to the committee on Feb. 1, and the president took office on Jan. 20. Did our president do enough for world peace in 264 hours to deserve even nomination let alone the win the award? I guess he can check this one off the bucket list. From Breitbart…

"Muslim in Washington, DC: "I'm not scared to die! I will kill you! I will blow people up and the Metro!"" SNIPPET: ""Three blocks of Wisconsin Avenue Northwest were cleared of cars and pedestrians. Adjacent buildings and restaurants were evacuated..." "DC Security Scare Becomes Federal Case," by Bob Barnard for MyFoxDC, October 8 (thanks to Heidi): WASHINGTON, D.C. - A man who was arrested in a security scare in Northwest D.C. on Tuesday night threatened to blow up the Friendship Heights Metro station, according to a criminal complaint in the case. It was a chaotic scene Tuesday night in Friendship...

Washington’s Archbishop Donald Wuerl has published a letter in his diocesan newspaper, and sent a copy of the statement to all pastors for them to use, stating that his opposition to same-sex union is not rooted in anti-gay prejudices. “Our support for marriage is not meant to discriminate against any individual or family,” Archbishop Wuerl wrote. “The Catechism of the Catholic Church upholds the dignity of every person and condemns any form of unjust discrimination (2358).”The statement articulates the Church’s teaching on the traditional marriage but goes on to say: “For our parishioners who are homosexual, I recognize that the...

The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to block Ximena Hartsock from becoming the next director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, aggravating the tension between the council and the mayor and casting fresh doubt on the future of the troubled agency. After a long debate, the council voted 7 to 5 to reject Hartsock and remove her as the head of an agency that has had seven permanent or interim directors in the past decade. It was the first time since Fenty took office in 2007 that the council had rejected one of his nominees ...The vote followed a contentious...

Fronting the pews at this morning's Red Mass in DC's St Matthew's Cathedral: the nation's First Catholic -- Vice-President Joe Biden -- joined by six Supreme Court Justices, including the bench's Chief John Roberts and newest member Sonia Sotomayor, both likewise of the fold. While the fulltext has yet to emerge, the wire's running a snip from the day's visiting preacher: The specialized, formal knowledge of the law "frequently becomes semi-mechanical, even distancing," [Cardinal Daniel] DiNardo [of Galveston-Houston] told the congregation. "The law and lawyers are around because justice among human beings will always be an issue." "Even sophisticated,...

Federal law-enforcement authorities Friday unsealed indictments against 39 D.C. taxicab drivers, charging them with conspiring to bribe the head of the city's taxicab commission in a widening criminal investigation into the industry. The indictments come just over a week after the chief of staff for D.C. Council member Jim Graham was charged with accepting bribes from a person with a financial stake in the taxicab industry to promote favorable taxicab legislation. * * * The indictments unsealed Friday charge that the men attempted to bribe Taxicab Commission Chairman Leon J. Swain Jr., who is identified by title but not by...

A massive layoff of teachers and support staff at D.C. public schools triggered chaos outside of McKinley High School Friday afternoon. The melee happened after school let out, as students and parents filled McKinley's parking. Many were upset about the layoffs of 388 school employees, including 229 teachers. "The students were emotional, you know, they were upset to see their teachers being escorted by the police officers, knowing that they did nothing," said Saymendy Lloyd, a parent activist. "Why do you choose to do it at the time the children are out there and you do not expect to have...

Gun Control: The Supreme Court agrees to decide if the Second Amendment applies to all of us, or just Washington, D.C. Why would the Founders put in the Bill of Rights something applying only to a federal enclave? In a 5-4 decision last year written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court overturned a draconian District of Columbia gun ban enacted 32 years ago that barred private ownership of handguns at all. Scalia wrote that an individual's right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted. The court ruled that...

D.C. Council member David A. Catania will introduce legislation Tuesday to allow same-sex couples to marry - a bill virtually assured passage by the council and unlikely to generate enough opposition to be overturned by the Democrat-controlled Congress. The bill, which could be given final approval by the council as early as December, would expand current laws that recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions to allow such marriages to be performed in the District. Currently, four states perform same-sex marriages. New Hampshire is scheduled to begin performing same-sex marriages in 2010, and Maine voters will consider the issue in...

  When Newt Gingrich was received into the Church last March, the reactions were predictable. The former Speaker of the House was simultaneously welcomed, jeered, and cynically accused of positioning himself to run for president in 2012.   When I spoke to him last Friday in his Washington, D.C., office, Gingrich was humble and soft-spoken about his new faith. He was also excited about his forthcoming documentary, Nine Days That Changed the World, recounting Pope John Paul II's first trip home to Poland in June 1979 after being elected to the see of St. Peter. Gingrich's wife, Callista, a...

The Big Islamic Fizzle Event Shunned by CAIR Bythelastcrusade.orgThe organizers of the event proclaimed: “Our time has come!” Well, their time has come and gone and the gala celebration on the National Mall turned out to be an embarrassing fizzle. Hassen Abdallah, one of the key planners of “the Day of Islamic Unity,” proclaimed that over 50,000 Muslims would make their way to DC for the event. Five hundred buses were secured to transport Muslims throughout the country to the National Mall so that their prayers to Allah would resonate throughout the Lincoln and Washington memorials and the joint...

This is a video I made of my DC trip on 9/12

Commentary On This From: Wallbuiders.com: QUOTE: "American Muslims have also enjoyed the direct support of President Obama. In April, he traveled to Egypt where he told the Muslim world that America no longer considers itself a Christian nation. He later traveled to Turkey and announced that America was one of the largest Muslim nations in the world (despite the fact that 78% of Americans claim to be Christians but only 1% claim to be Muslims). Then in May, President Obama refused to invite Christian and Jewish leaders to the White House to participate in the National Day of Prayer (as...

Federal authorities Thursday arrested the chief of staff to D.C. Council member Jim Graham and charged him with two counts of accepting bribes. In an indictment unsealed Thursday, authorities say Ted Loza, 45, received cash payments on two separate occasions in exchange for agreeing to promote legislation favorable to the taxicab industry. Mr. Graham is chairman of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, which oversees and regulates the city's taxicab commission. Mr. Graham is not mentioned by name in the indictment.