Free Republic

"If we concentrated on the really important stuff in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles" If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for being in the country illegally ...you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots. If you have to get your parents’ permission to go on a field trip or take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots. If the only school curriculum allowed to explain how we...

The true source of the hellishly-hot-mess of a government America currently finds herself saddled with ultimately has to be the willfully uninformed Americans that voted for him... especially the ones not on welfare that pulled the lever for Obama twice. It's these supporters that are really what's wrong with this country.  Why try to blame a statist ruling class living like kings on our dime- unprincipled people usually take care of themselves first. But they wouldn't be there if not for millions of voters who handed it to them on a platter. People like John Kerry, Hillary, Obama... they're...

EUGENE, Ore. -- Dozens of moms spent their Mother's Day marching against gun violence. The 14th annual Million Mom March in Eugene stepped off from EWEB Waterfront Plaza Sunday afternoon. Before the march, Mayor Kitty Piercy and other women spoke about the need for stricter gun laws. Betsy Steffensen helped organize Eugene’s march, and said the event gives moms the power to make a huge change in the world.

The Obama administration got some backing Sunday for the way in which it responded as terrorists attacked the US diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, last September – a night of violence and confusion during which Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a Republican who served in both the Bush and Obama administrations, said if he had been at the Pentagon at that time, "Frankly … I think my decisions would have been just as theirs were.” Republican critics have said a Special Forces team or overflights by fighter aircraft based in Italy...

The Prince of Wales has criticised "corporate lobbyists" and climate change sceptics for turning the earth into a "dying patient", in his most outspoken attack yet on the world's failure to tackle global warming, made shortly before he is to take over from the Queen at the forthcoming meeting of the Commonwealth.

Kelly has thrown down the gauntlet to Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s combative chief executive, on the opening day of the gun lobby’s annual convention in Houston, Texas. Writing in the Houston Chronicle, he accuses LaPierre and the rest of the NRA’s leadership of turning their back on the traditional values of the association in a simple drive for profit.

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Students at Carnegie Mellon say it’s freedom of expression, but the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh calls it inappropriate and disrespectful. At an annual art school parade, a female student dressed up as the pope, and was naked from the waist down while she passed out condoms. Even more, witnesses say the woman had shaved her pubic hair in the shape of a cross. The Diocese has asked CMU to take action. “I think we all know that when we’re growing up we do stupid things but to cross over the line in this instance shouldn’t happen with...

Senior Director of Institutional Giving for NPR Betsy Liley said it is still a question of whether or not Barack Obama was born in the United States. She clearly is heard talking about a coverup, keeping the birther issue out of the news because it was “political” and even indicating that there was monkey business going on in Hawaii concerning Obama’s birth certificate. Listen to the brief audio below and see for yourself. Birthers are not just on the right. There are clearly birthers on the left, they just want to cover up the truth.

General Electric, Co. has been quietly informing gun shop owners that the company will no longer be providing lending services to them, the Wall Street Journal reports. GE Capital is apparently reconsidering its relationship to firearms companies following the Sandy Hook shooting.

Last week when Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was running from police through neighborhoods where families live, I tweeted the following:

Earth Day is here again, but few people seem interested any more in global warming. It's plausible to inquire whether people realize we've got a duty to protect the environment. Actually, "protecting the environment" is not necessarily the same topic as "global warming." Confusion about the two needs to be cleared up

New Jersey has the second toughest gun laws in the nation—it’s one of seven states with an “assault-weapons ban,” one of three with a one-gun-a-month law and gun shows are not permitted. But on Friday when the nation was fixated on the events in Boston, Gov. Chris Christie was pushing for even more gun control.

The two brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings, who police say engaged in a gun battle with officers early Friday after a frenzied manhunt, were not licensed to own guns in the towns where they lived, authorities said on Sunday. But neither brother appears to have been legally entitled to own or carry firearms where they lived, a fact that may add to the national debate over current gun laws. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was killed in the shootout with police, would have been required to apply for a gun license with the local police department where he lived...

Overwhelming evidence is no match for stupidity. Hot on the heels of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's arrest last night, the Facebook group "Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is Innocent" was quickly formed. As of writing this article, the group has over 700 members. Why anyone would create a group like this can only be speculated upon. The only thing written in the description of the group is, "this is a set up!" Additionally, the group is claiming that the Boston Bombings themselves never occurred, and that some sort of government entity killed innocent people, while staging the explosions, with thousands of operatives (pretending to be...

When a lobbyist for families of Newtown shooting victims called the office of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to set up a meeting, the first response was a standard D.C. offer. They could get a meeting with her staff, and a quick and simple “hello” from Collins herself, they were told. The families’ answer: not good enough. According to their lobbyists, the families have a rule against staff-only meetings: They won’t do them. They insist on sitting down with the senators themselves.

The State of California has one of the worst proposals of any legislature in the country this year with a new bill that would force every restaurant and food service business in the state to commission an expensive "risk assessment" test for every menu item. Such a test could cost thousands of dollars for every food item sold. This outrageous and cost prohibitive testing would certainly cause all but the biggest chain restaurants to go out of business almost instantly. In another exercise in nanny-statism, California's State Senate Democrats want this "risk assessment" conducted to determine whether food being sold...

NEW YORK (AP) -- A judge in New York says he finds it "stunning" that federal budget woes could delay the start of a terrorism trial for Osama bin Laden's son-in-law. ~~snip~~ Kaplan suggested he might set a trial date as early as September. But Ghaith's lawyer complained, saying public defenders are being furloughed for more than five weeks because of automatic budget cuts. ~~snip~~ In other news: Obama Plans $195 Million in Renovation and New Construction at Guantánamo/a>

The Obama administration has no evidence to back up a claim by Syrian PresidentBashar al-Assad's regime that the U.S.-backed Syrian rebels used chemical weapons, the White House said Tuesday.

Dear Mr. Ballantyne: Thank you for contacting me about the citizenship requirements for the office of President of the United States. I appreciate knowing your views on this issue. As you may know, Section 1 of Article Two of the United States Constitution sets forth the eligibility requirements for serving as President of the United States: “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have...

A bipartisan group of former U.S. foreign policy officials, military leaders and lawmakers pushed on Monday for action on addressing climate change in poor nations, arguing it represents a major national security threat. **SNIP** Reagan administration Secretary of State George Shultz signed on, as did George W. Bush Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. Sixteen former members of Congress also signed on, many of whom took leading roles on foreign affairs and defense committees. Those on the letter include former Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), and former Republican Reps. Sherwood...