Free Republic

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. made it clear as he began taking questions at yesterday's National Italian American Foundation luncheon that he couldn't reveal any of the Supreme Court's forthcoming opinions. But did he at least give a hint? Two of the court's biggest remaining cases focus on the First Amendment, and while Alito didn't mention either, he did make it clear that any restrictions on speech face a high hurdle with him. "I'm a very strong believer in the First Amendment and the right of people to speak and to write," Alito said in response to a question of...

What’s the Matter with Kansas? Dishonest Darwinists -- coming to a state near you. By David Klinghoffer ----------------------------------- State school-board elections don’t normally receive much national media attention. Yet the school-board primary race in Kansas on Tuesday, representing a key front in the Darwin wars, was an exception. Will Darwinism be taught as unquestionable dogma? That’s the question that voters decided. In Kansas, it seems it will. Kansas has been one of five states with biology curricula that include instruction about the evidence both for and against neo-Darwinism, requiring that students learn about the “critical analysis” of evolutionary theory. Darwin...

In 2004 it was blogging. What will be the next techie breakthrough for getting in touch with voters? Strategists won't let it surprise them. ... As people increasingly tailor their leisure time to suit their lifestyles — through blogs, MySpace, iPods, video on demand — politicians and their promoters are facing the same problem as Hollywood and the makers of toothpaste: How do you sell your product to an increasingly fragmented audience? ... In the latest creative wrinkle, politicians are podcasting — White House hopefuls Gen. Wesley K. Clark, John Edwards and Sen. Bill Frist are among those regularly offering...

So the religious genie whose head and shoulders appeared from confinement in the 2004 presidential election may be completely out of the bottle the next time. Take the case of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. If there was any lingering doubt about her intentions in 2008, they were put to rest recently by her on-air conversation with National Public Radio host Tavis Smiley. The subject of her remarks _ nicely set up by Smiley _ clearly indicated that faith would be part of her campaign for the Democratic nomination for president, if she chooses to make it. That...

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) issued proposed rules Thursday attempting to eliminate any restrictions on political blogging. The rules focus on paid online advertising and political e-mail instead. FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub said the panel is still trying to determine whether a specific regulation exempting bloggers needs to be written, or if blogging would be protected by simply not including it in the proposed rules. "That's the sort of discussion we've been having, and however we resolve it, I think it's pretty clear that the result is not going to be bad for bloggers," Weintraub said in a statement. In...