Free Republic

Last week, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) introduced a bill that would remove the words “husband” and “wife” from the language used in federal law—a move that had drawn ire from faith leaders and family advocacy groups that see this legislation as expected fallout from the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. “It is as if a collective madness has settled over our nation's elite and they are trying hard to bring everyone under the same cloud of confusion,” Bishop E.W. Jackson, president of STAND (Staying True to America’s National Destiny), told...

House Dem: Climate change bigger health threat than AIDS, malaria By Andrew Restuccia - 04/06/11 12:25 PM ET Just hours before a vote Wednesday on a GOP plan to block Environmental Protection Agency climate regulations, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) called climate change a bigger public health threat than AIDS, malaria and pandemic flu. Capps and several other liberal Democrats spoke out Wednesday morning in opposition to the legislation, authored by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.). The lawmakers, who were joined by officials from the American Lung Association and the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the Upton...

California Rep. Lois Capps is being sued by the family of a young woman who was killed in a drunk-driving accident by one of her staffers, amid allegations her office initially tried to help the aide -- before abruptly cutting him off when the victim was taken off life support. Raymond Victor Morua III, an Iraq war veteran, was employed as a district representative for the Democratic congresswoman when he struck 27-year-old Mallory Rae Dies in a crosswalk on Dec. 6. Morua pleaded guilty on April 15 to hitting Dies with his Dodge Caliber and fleeing the scene after attending...

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — A woman who was struck by a car driven by a congresswoman's aide in Santa Barbara has died. ... The driver, 32-year-old Raymond Morua, was a field representative to Democratic Congresswoman Lois Capps. He was fired Monday. ... Morua, who has previous drunken-driving arrests, is charged with murder, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident.

Democrats in House of Reps. joined J Street in supporting Obama administration's attempt to force Israel into making painful concessions Seventy-four Democrats in the House of Representatives have joined the dovish J Street organization in supporting the Obama administration's attempt to force Israel into making painful concessions to the Palestinian Authority. “In our view, support for a two-state resolution is inseparable from such support for Israel, its special relationship with the United States, and its very survival as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people,” the letter said. Seven Jewish members signed the letter, including Reps. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), John...

Former Republican lieutenant governor and state legislator Abel Maldonado may run for Congress next year against longtime incumbent Democrat Lois Capps of Santa Barbara. The Federal Elections Commission confirmed Friday that Maldonado, who represented Monterey County as state senator from 2004-10, has filed the paperwork that will allow him to form a committee and collect money. The contest between the two veteran state politicians should ensure a lively race in a district that has been safely Democratic. Capps is "prepared for a competitive race regardless of who her opponents will be," said her spokeswoman, Ashley Schapitl. Capps will run on...

Seven House Democrats have written Attorney General Eric Holder invoking a list of grievances from radical Islamist groups and asking that Holder meet with representatives from those groups to hear their concerns, the Investigative Project on Terrorism has learned. The grievances include the use of convicted felons as informants in mosques, alleged religious profiling of Somali Muslims in Minnesota and elsewhere and allegations that the FBI is working with foreign governments to question American citizens who are terror suspects. In the letter, the representatives said: "These concerns raise legitimate questions about due process, justice, and equal treatment under the law....

WASHINGTON - In an effort to defend Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice against allegations of heavy-handedness in brokering an Israeli-Palestinian border-crossing deal, the heads of America's two largest synagogue movements are calling on members of the House of Representatives to sign a letter commending her efforts. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, and Rabbi Jerome Epstein, executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, sent a letter to all House members, urging them to sign a letter congratulating Rice. The letter is making the rounds on Capitol Hill. Seymour Reich, president of the Israel...

Voice From Lois Capps Every month some 37 million senior citizens, disabled persons, and surviving spouses and children receive a check from the Social Security Administration. That check keeps a promise to a senior after a lifetime of work, makes a long-term commitment to a family with a disabled child, and offers a helping hand to a widow trying to raise her children all alone. All that may soon end if President Bush has his way on the future of Social Security. Mr. Bush claims the system is "in crisis" and on the verge of bankruptcy. He proposes to address...

The FBI and the Federal Election Commission were told recently that a former campaign finance director for Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) allegedly embezzled $200,000 from the congresswoman's reelection campaign. Campaign officials with Friends of Lois Capps said they informed the federal agencies as soon as they could confirm the financial discrepancies through an audit. The embezzlement allegedly took place over three years. Jennifer Severance, a former resident of Santa Barbara who now lives in Boise, Idaho, has not been charged with any crime. But she has repaid $50,000 to Friends of Lois Capps and signed an agreement to repay...

Tired of Lois Capps? Do you call the Ventura Star newspaper the Red Star? Tired of the anti-war babies getting all the press? Let's get organized (in a very loose, non-committal kind of way). I'm trying to put together an e-mail/freepmail/ping list so that we, as a group of conservative Ventura County and Santa Barbara county residents, can mobilize quickly for firing off letters to the editor, attend rallies, etc. Please identify yourself if you wish to be included! We can really make a difference! I am also starting a Ventura County Chapter - about the only difference is a...