Free Republic

PERHAPS the greatest scandal of the mortgage crisis is that it is a direct result of an intentional loosening of underwriting standards - done in the name of ending discrimination, despite warnings that it could lead to wide-scale defaults.

The SC DEM Chairman just referred to John McCain as a "72 year old man" in his criticism of him while trying to defend the abortion comment by a prominent Democrat chairwoman in South Carolina.

A wounded soldier home from Afghanistan on sick leave was forced to spend the night in his car after a hotel refused him a room. Corporal Tomos Stringer was told by staff at Metro Hotel, in Woking, that it was company policy not to accept members of the armed forces as guests. The 24-year-old had travelled to the Surrey town to help with funeral preparations for a friend killed in action. It was so late that Cpl Stringer, who had broken his wrist jumping off an Army truck as it was attacked, had no choice but to bed down in...

Will YOU Elect GynObama & VAWA Joe? 2008-08-23 at 7:55 pm · Biggest Setback to Men in US History Attention all men: do a quick testicular self-exam. That space you feel between your legs means that Barack Obama and Joe Biden — both on record as ballbusting misandrists — will easily convince you to send them to the White House. If you enable their victory, you will cause the biggest setback to men in US history. It is Saturday morning, August 23, 2008. All the networks are atwitter about Barack Obama choosing Joe Biden to be his veep. Fawning reporters...

Residents of the Castro are watching with growing concern as their neighborhood becomes a regular attraction on the sightseeing tour of the city. In the last three months, large tour buses have begun to park in the area on Thursday and Sunday afternoons, opening their doors and sending hundreds of tourists out to gawk and snap photos of the exotic sight of two men holding hands. For gay and lesbian residents, who are doing nothing more remarkable than, say, walking over to Cliff's Hardware Store, the idea that as many as six tour buses could turn up at once seems...

Celebrate the Autumn Equinox and help your community at the Central Jersey Pagan Pride Day festival from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 16 in Lot F, Colonial Park, East Millstone. All ages are welcome at this free event, which will feature a Pagan religious ceremony plus information on Pagan spiritual practices. Patrons are asked to share the harvest by bringing a donation of a nonperishable item to benefit Ronald McDonald House, or a monetary donation for the Central New Jersey Epileptic Fund or DeJesus Fund. ... The ceremony will celebrate the diversity of the Pagan community and bless the...

The New York Times recently reported on Barack Obama’s long-standing support for affirmative action that gives preferential treatment to members of disadvantaged minorities. While still a student at Harvard Law School , Obama readily admitted that “I undoubtedly benefited from affirmative action,” but the deeper question is how he could justify that advantage. Apologists for preferences explain these policies as a remedy for long family histories of discrimination, but Obama’s background features no such legacy of oppression. His mother was white and his father’s family, in Kenya , had never been enslaved or subjected to American “Jim Crow” laws or...

The tyranny of the matriarchy (Feminist agenda) The feminists are whipping up women to join their ranks and rebel against the tyranny of the patriarchy. They claim they want a society that will give them equal rights regardless of gender. They want a unisex society where women can enter the workforce and hold a good career as do the men. The feminists however want something else instead. They want more than a platform over a pedestal, they want a throne. During the sixties when you had in the name of civil rights radicals fighting for so called equality, these people...

Gay rights vs. faithful Christians' suits cite bias on job Pete Vere, THE WASHINGTON TIMES Thursday, July 31, 2008 The clash between gay rights laws and religious freedom has acquired two new fronts in recent weeks, both involving Christians who say they were punished on their jobs for actions that reflect religious disapproval of homosexuality.

. . . and also, it seems, for the New York Times. 28 July 2008 The New York Times is determined to show that women are discriminated against in the sciences; too bad the facts say otherwise. A new study has “found that girls perform as well as boys on standardized math tests,” claims a July 25 article by Tamar Lewin—thus, the underrepresentation of women on science faculties must result from bias. Actually, the study, summarized in the July 25 issue of Science, shows something quite different: while boys’ and girls’ average scores are similar, boys outnumber girls among students...

Sounds like somebody in the McCain camp recognized that they will probably get the votes of Clarence Thomas and Condi Rice, and that's it, from the black folks this year, so there is no use in pandering on the issue. White folks, to include Hillary's supporters, are the ones who get screwed by Affirmative Action, and this position will maximize the votes from the people who disagree with the policy.

The Dallas Housing Authority soon will begin accepting applications for court-ordered rental assistance available to black residents who want to live in predominantly white neighborhoods. The DHA is required to offer the vouchers only to blacks as part of a court settlement to address past discrimination.

WASHINGTON, D.C., JULY 23, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The chairman of the U.S. bishops pro-life committee says an issue is being discussed by members of Congress that should be a matter of agreement between "pro-lifers" and "pro-choicers": respect of conscience. Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the bishops' Committee for Pro-Life Activities, affirmed this in a letter Friday to members of Congress. The cardinal's letter responded to a debate that arose when the New York Times reported on July 15 that it had a draft of proposed federal regulations on the conscience rights of health care providers. According to the Times...

Opposing race-based preferences could help power a McCain comeback.

Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) is installing software which monitors diversity in all law firms it uses, regularly and just-in-time. Those firms falling short of Wal-Mart's diversity target numbers will be terminated. That move by Wal-Mart, which sets policy for how global supply chains are managed, will in itself radically change the composition of law firms - and eventually law schools.

All Desiree Carpenter wanted was a chance to succeed. As a young woman Ms. Carpenter (not her real name) had been subjected to repeated physical and sexual assaults, losing her eyesight during one attack. Her assailant did hard time, but now he was back on the streets and vowing to track her down. Her only hope was to flee to another state, assume a new identity, and start over. Washington was the best place to begin anew, since the state had passed tough anti-stalking laws. So she packed her bags and hopped on the train with her two children in...

A former corrections officer has filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against the Kane County Sheriff's Department, claiming he was forced to resign after refusing to shave his traditional Muslim beard. The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court, seeks unspecified damages and a letter of apology to Abal Zaidi, who says he was forced out of the department because of his faith. "I always had a beard as long as I can remember," Zaidi, 31, said in a brief telephone interview Tuesday. "They were just giving me a hard time." According to the lawsuit, Zaidi, of Streamwood, was a Kane County...

A federal appeals court in Chicago has ruled that fair-housing laws do not extend to permitting a Jewish resident to nail a mezuzah to a door frame, prompting an outcry from the Jewish community. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling on Thursday (July 10), decided the federal Fair Housing Act does not accommodate a resident’s religious requirement to affix the Jewish emblem to a doorway, if the ban on hallway displays applies to everyone regardless of religious beliefs. The case stems from the condominium association at Shoreline Towers, a Chicago housing complex, enforcing a rule...

(IsraelNN.com) An American court of appeals has ruled in a split decision against the right of Jews to post the traditional mezuzah on the doorposts of a condominium apartment if the bylaws of the building prohibit signs and objects on outside doors. The mezuzah contains parchment with verses from the Torah and is an ancient tradition commanded by the Torah before the Exodus of Jews from Egypt. We cannot create an accommodation requirement for religion. In the 2-1 decision, the court stated, "The hallway rule ... is neutral with respect to religion. It bans photos of family vacations, political placards,...

For decades, critics of affirmative action have contended elite colleges, in their zeal to form racially diverse student bodies, have discriminated against top white applicants. In a twist on that long-running feud, federal authorities are investigating an allegation that Princeton University discriminates against Asian-American applicants by accepting black and Hispanic students with lower entrance scores. At the heart of both arguments lies the question of whether and how colleges should consider race when choosing a class. The Supreme Court has ruled race can be a factor in the process, though racial quotas have long been declared unconstitutional. Critics say admission...

Should Barack Obama win this fall, 2009 will a busy year for enacting civil-rights legislation — perhaps the busiest since 1964. Numerous civil-rights bills have either passed the House or are pending in various committees, just waiting for a Democrat to be elected to the White House. Traditional civil-rights groups anticipate that without the threat of veto, expanded Democratic majorities in Congress will pass a number of these bills in the first few months of 2009. Here are just a few of the bills likely to be signed by a President Obama within the next year. Reparations Commission to Study...

There's a "deadlock" over pruning back overgrown bushes in an area known as Avon Gorge located in Bristol, England. The reason why the Bristol City Council has put on hold pruning the bushes and clearing away the overgrowth? Apparently gay groups claim it would be discriminatory to the men who use the area known as Circular Road for "dogging". Rather than just pruning back the bushes, a report was commissioned by the Downs Committee. In the report a recommendation by the Council's Rainbow Group--council employees who are lesbian, gay and bisexual--the employees claimed cutting the overgrowth and pruning the bushes...

SODUS, NY--According to several police officers who wish to remain anonymous, it has become an unwritten policy of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office to not report illegal aliens to the U.S. Border Patrol when they are taken into custody. On April 27th of this year, Juan Casarubia-Rendon, age 24, was stopped by Wayne County Sheriff's Deputies for numerous traffic violations. He was found to be highly intoxicated, with a blood alcohol level of .32%, four times the State threshold for vehicle operation. Juan had no license and no vehicle insurance, something that would have normally called for an arraignment for...

Over at The Nation's political blog, John Nichols reports on efforts by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka to get steelworkers and other union members to throw their support behind a black presidential candidate: Trumka knew that the steelworkers had backed John Edwards for this year's Democratic presidential nomination -- and that the union had only endorsed Obama when Edwards finally came around. He understood that a part of his job was to get a union that is especially strong in the battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania excited about a candidate who must win those states. Trumka knew, as well, that...

The agreement between Attorney General Jon Bruning and the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission seems to be missing an important provision. The signed document should have included a stipulation that Bruning cease and desist from further grandstanding in NEOC cases. Bruning’s behavior in the controversy won acclaim from immigration hardliners — and an appearance on the Lou Dobbs show on CNN — but it has thrown a monkey wrench into actual governing. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development suspended its contract with Nebraska in April because of inadequate performance on cases of housing discrimination. While Bruning was milking the...

Caltrans moved them from I-5 checkpointFEDERAL COURT A federal judge has ordered Caltrans to repost the San Diego Minutemen road sign on a two-mile stretch of Interstate 5, a victory for the anti-illegal immigration group. The Minutemen were granted a northbound stretch of the highway near the Border Patrol's checkpoint south of San Clemente in November as part of the Adopt-a-Highway litter cleanup program. They were reassigned to state Route 52 near Santee in January after complaints to the agency about the group's controversial nature and the location near the checkpoint. The group, alleging free-speech discrimination, sued Caltrans in February...

Justice Department officials over the last six years illegally used “political or ideological” factors to hire new lawyers into an elite recruitment program, tapping law school graduates with conservative credentials over those with liberal-sounding resumes, a new report found Tuesday. The blistering report, prepared by the Justice Department’s inspector general, is the first in what will be a series of investigations growing out of last year’s scandal over the firings of nine United States attorneys. It appeared to confirm for the first time in an official examination many of the allegations from critics who charged that the Justice Department had...

Presidential contender Senator Obama moved quickly to reassure his Muslim supporters that the apparent discrimination that occurred at two of his speeches in Michigan “was merely cosmetic and should not be taken as a sign that I do not appreciate the value of their support.” The charges of discrimination were leveled by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) after Obama campaign workers barred two Muslim women from sitting behind the podium because they did not want the women's headscarves to be seen in photographs or on television. The women were reportedly told they couldn’t sit behind the podium unless they removed...

The city of New Haven, Connecticut, went to great lengths to devise a firefighter test that would not have "disparate impact" on minority applicants, but when the results of the 2003 test-taking came in, applying the city's "Rule of Three" which required selection from among the highest scorers, "no blacks and at most two Hispanics would have been eligible for promotion to captain and no blacks or Hispanics would have been eligible to make lieutenant". So the city civil service board vacated the results, frankly acknowledging that it was in search of better minority hiring numbers. White applicants sued and...

HOUMA, La. (AP) - A 6-foot-3, 265-pound man says a restaurant overcharged him for his trips to the buffet line, then banned him and a relative because they're hearty eaters. A spokesman for the restaurant denies the claim.Ricky Labit, a disabled offshore worker, said he had been a regular for eight months at the Manchuria Restaurant in Houma, eating there as often as three times a week.On his most recent visit, he said, a waitress gave him and his wife's cousin, 44-year-old Michael Borrelli, a bill for $46.40, roughly double the buffet price for two adults."She says, 'Y'all fat, and...

Come November, voters will decide on more than half a million federal, state and local officeholders and ballot initiatives. Ninety-nine percent of these decisions will matter less than will the five civil rights initiatives that might be on the ballots in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri. If the initiatives qualify for those states' ballots, all probably will pass. But the initiatives must surmount ferocious opposition from defenders of racial preferences, such as the politicians who administer and benefit from Missouri's racial spoils system. The crux of the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative (MoCRI) would amend that state's constitution to say:...

American Airlines’ new bag policy discriminates against women, because most women will have to check their bag while men will not. As an example, here are the non-solid products my husband and I take when traveling: My List: Shampoo, Cream Rinse, Body Wash, Body Lotion, Spray Perfume, Toothpaste, Mouthwash, Contact Lens Solution, Glasses Cleaner, Face Cleanser, Toner, Facial Night Cream, Moisturizer, Sunscreen, Vaseline Lip Therapy, Hand Cream, Mascara, Lipgloss My Husband’s List: Shampoo, Cream Rinse, Toothpaste, Mouthwash, Glasses Lens Cleaner Since we are required to put our lotions in a quart bag if we want to carry them on board,...

Today, the Universities and Colleges Union is discussing whether universities should single out Israeli and Jewish scholars for active discrimination. Yes, you read that correctly. The UCU is debating a motion which not only raises the spectre yet again of an academic boycott of Israel but demands of Jewish and Israeli academics that they explain their politics as a pre-condition to normal academic contact. The motion asks colleagues to consider the moral and political implications of educational links with Israeli institutions, and to discuss the occupation with individuals and institutions concerned, including Israeli colleagues with whom they are collaborating... the...

Group wants Wi-Fi banned from public buildings A group in Santa Fe says the city is discriminating against them because they say that they're allergic to the wireless Internet signal. And now they want Wi-Fi banned from public buildings. Arthur Firstenberg says he is highly sensitive to certain types of electric fields, including wireless Internet and cell phones. "I get chest pain and it doesn't go away right away," he said. Firstenberg and dozens of other electro-sensitive people in Santa Fe claim that putting up Wi-Fi in public places is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The city...

Growing up as a young man of mixed race, Barack Obama benefited from the spirit of tolerance that defined Hawaii's racial climate. His childhood in the country's idealized melting pot was far from painless, though. As part of the islands' small group of black Americans in the 1970s, he encountered racism and struggled to form a black identity. Obama's experience in Hawaii is echoed by other blacks, including some of his schoolmates, and challenges the state's vaunted image of racial harmony. "A big joke amongst the brothers was you could be anything else but a brother and have free rein...

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning on Monday defended his refusal to prosecute housing discrimination cases on CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” again couching his stance in the nationwide debate over illegal immigration. “In Nebraska, like every other state, our taxpayers have had enough, and they don’t want to see their state attorney represent illegal immigrants,” Bruning said on the show, which Dobbs has often used as a platform to protest illegal immigration. “My office isn’t going to be the free lawyer for illegal immigrants,” Bruning said. The attorney general has been in the spotlight recently for refusing to prosecute cases of...

Last week, with little attention or fanfare, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 414 to 1 to outlaw genetic discrimination. The only dissenter was the irascible libertarian Ron Paul. The Senate passed the same bill unanimously, and President Bush is ready to sign it. The bill tells employers and insurance companies that they may not use the results of genetic tests in choosing their employees and customers. One purpose of the bill is to encourage genetic testing. But the more important reason for it is to uphold a sense of fairness. Just as the law forbids discrimination against a person...

For over a year, we have been waging a relentless, nearly solitary battle in apprising the Congress and the American public about a billion dollar boondoggle and scandal: the lack of credible Arabic translators for our national security and intelligence agencies. As a result hundreds have been killed in Iraq from infiltration of our military and civilian intelligence agencies by agents of Islamist terrorists. Our FBI and CIA have been infiltrated by Muslim linguists who have successfully evaded polygraph tests and been able to pass on vital information to terror groups in the Middle East such as Hezbollah. Tens of...

The Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission has no way to pay for outside legal advice in its dispute with Attorney General Jon Bruning. But a Lincoln law firm that handles civil rights cases might step in to help the state agency that investigates employment, housing and public accommodation discrimination cases. “This issue needs to be decided. We would be willing to file suit so a judge can order Jon Bruning to do his job,” said Kathleen Neary, an attorney with Vincent M. Powers & Associates. Neary said she and Powers would be willing to represent the NEOC in court if the...

HANOVER, N.H. (AP) — A former Dartmouth College teacher and medical school researcher sent e-mails to some of her former students saying she plans to sue them because they "harassed, compromised, abused or discriminated against" her. Priya Venkatesan, 39, who received her bachelor's degree from Dartmouth in 1990, last week e-mailed the former students in her Science, Technology and Society course with the news that she is pursuing a federal civil-rights lawsuit against some of them. Venkatesan, now at Northwestern University, said in an interview with the Valley News that she is still searching for a lawyer to take her...

OMAHA — A Nebraska commission hoping to win back federal funding was scrambling to negotiate with federal officials and the state attorney general, who said Wednesday that it might be better to let federal investigators handle the cases instead. The Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission voted Wednesday to hire outside attorneys for the negotiations and possibly sue Attorney General Jon Bruning in order to retain its responsibility for the cases. If the commission were to permanently lose federal backing, discrimination cases in Nebraska wouldn’t be abandoned. The cases would be investigated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and...

Congress reached an agreement clearing the way for a bill to prohibit discrimination by employers and health insurers on the basis of genetic tests. Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican who had been almost single-handedly holding up action on the bill, said in an interview Tuesday that most of his concerns had been resolved and predicted that the bill would pass soon. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who is chairman of the Senate Health Committee, said a bipartisan agreement had been reached to move the bill to the Senate floor. Proponents say the new law, more than a dozen years in...

JERUSALEM (BP)--The Supreme Court of Israel has ruled that Messianic Jews have the same rights regarding automatic citizenship as Jews who do not believe in Jesus as the Messiah. The case was brought by 12 applicants who had been denied citizenship primarily because they were Jewish believers in Jesus. Most of them had received letters saying they would not receive citizenship because they "commit missionary activity," according to an e-mail circulated by Calev Myers, founder and chief counsel of The Jerusalem Institute of Justice. A clerk at the Ministry of Interior reportedly had told one of the applicants that because...

Father, Son Banned From U.K. Swimming Pool for Not Being Muslim Thursday , April 17, 2008 A father and his 10-year-old son were barred from swimming at a U.K. sports center because they are not Muslims, the London Daily Mail reported Thursday. The father, identified only as David T., told the newspaper that he and his son were stopped before going for a swim at the Clissold Leisure Centre in east London on Sunday morning. What the father and son didn’t know was that the pool had been holding a "men-only modesty session" for Muslims at the time, one of...

PLATTE CITY, Mo. — Kansas City officials say they plan to appeal a jury's $2.1 million award to a woman who claimed she was passed over for a city judgeship because she's white. Clay County assistant prosecutor Melissa Howard claimed in a lawsuit filed in Platte County that Kansas City council members wanted to fill the vacancy with a racial minority. Howard was one of three white women who were finalists for the post vacated by Marcia Walsh in 2006. City officials deny Howard was discriminated against. City attorney Galen Beaufort said that the state law upon which Howard based...

Ninth Circuit En Banc Opinion in Fair Housing Council v. Roommates.com is here; Chief Judge Kozinski writes the opinion for an 8-3 en banc panel. About to read it now; hope to have comments soon. UPDATE: The en banc court reaches the same result that the panel below reached. Let me summarize the issue, and the holding, by borrowing from my earlier post. The Fair Housing Council sued Roommate.com, which runs roommates.com, under the Fair Housing Act. Roommates.com (I'll use the more familiar plural site name, rather than the less familiar singular company name) contains many expressions of people's preference...

Iran Needs Gender Studies by: Bethany Stotts, April 03, 2008 With Columbia University so openly welcoming Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak this December, it is useful to remember what type of ideology the Iranian theocracy is promoting. A new study by the Freedom House, a non-profit advocating for religious and political freedom in all societies, illuminates the culture of discrimination promoted by Iranian leaders...Women:Within the Iranian textbooks, women are depicted as unempowered, dependent mothering figures who rely on male authority at all times. Paivandi writes that the textbooks portray women as · of little importance · performing traditional duties...

Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr.,Jeremiah Wright’s controversial sermons have created a huge media buzz concerning race in America. Most of us have heard nothing else on the cable news networks for nearly two weeks running. Last week I sat in the green room of the Lehrer News Hour preparing to discuss Wright’s theology and the role of the church to bring healing to the race problem in our nation. The segment just before me featured the head of the Pew Research Center. The Pew representative stated surprising results from their survey conducted from March 19-22. Although 35% of voters cited that...

Everything you need to know about Rep. Byron Rushing’s “anti-lookism” legislation, you can learn from your local Hooters. The restaurants, I mean. Anyone who understands the basic economic principles behind the world’s most successful retailer of both chicken wings and orange-clad booty knows what Rushing wants to legislate against isn’t discrimination. It’s human nature. In Rushing’s world, if Pamela Anderson and Paul Prudhomme applied for the same job at your business, you wouldn’t be allowed to notice the physical disparities. Either of them. To notice, Rushing told me yesterday, “would be unfair.” So if hiring a qualified George Clooney over...

LaBeouf Pleads Not Guilty To Unlawful Smoking Attorney Enters Plea On Behalf Of Actor After Warrant Issued LOS ANGELES -- Shia LaBeouf has pleaded not guilty to an unlawful smoking charge in Los Angeles. Attorney Michael Norris entered the plea for LaBeouf on Wednesday, a day after a judge issued a $1,000 warrant for the actor's arrest. The "Transformers" star, who was cited last month, was scheduled to be arraigned on the misdemeanor charge but he failed to appear at Tuesday's hearing. The bench warrant was dismissed. A hearing is set for April 24. If convicted, the 21-year-old actor faces...