Free Republic

...At the Swill level, the initiative against the building of minarets was accepted with 59% of the votes according to the projections of the SSR. The majority of cantons voted against it. This run directly against the polls that were taken before the vote...

A UKIP petition demanding a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU has been launched in the biggest-ever call to arms on the right to have a say over Europe. People will be given the chance to sign up to the petition online, by post or in the street at UKIP stalls run by party supporters. UKIP Leader Nigel Farage said: "This is a real chance for the people of Great Britain to show whoever forms the next Government that they are sick of being lied to and that they want a say over our continuing membership of the European...

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."

TEN years ago republican campaigner Phil Cleary celebrated a glorious referendum defeat by saying that "very soon" Australians would have the republic they wanted. Cleary's Real Republic group and other supporters of direct election had thrown in their lot with the monarchists to campaign for the rejection of a republic with a president appointed by parliament, a decision that helped turn a monarchist minority into a majority of rejectionists. Their strategy, as Cleary explained, was that, following the failure of the referendum, "I'm of the view that the momentum will build immediately" for the republic that people wanted, namely one...

LONDON (AFP) – David Cameron, leader of the Conservative party, widely tipped to be the next prime minister, is to drop plans for a referendum on the European Union's key reforming Lisbon Treaty, a newspaper said Tuesday. Cameron is set to announce he will abandon a pledge to hold a vote on the treaty if his party wins the country's general election due by next June, the Daily Telegraph said. A referendum had threatened to cause a headache for the European Union amid delays over the introduction of the treaty in the 27-nation bloc, which must be ratified by all...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The chief justice of the California Supreme Court is criticizing the state's reliance on the referendum process, saying it has "rendered our state government dysfunctional." .. the widespread use of referendums to change state laws and constitutions hampers legislators, burdens the judicial branch and gives special interests too much power. George says the system places California's lawmakers in a "fiscal straitjacket" that prevents them from effectively solving the state's financial crisis. The speech .. entitled "The Perils of Direct Democracy: The California Experience."

There has been some Internet chatter and small amounts of media attention on having a national referendum on health care. It was brought up at a very spirited Town Hall meeting with Senator Arlen Specter this week. One of the participants said to him that the issue should be decided the old fashioned way...by majority rule. "We'll tell you if we like your plan. Hows that work?" Specter, being the "career" politician, (and turn-coat), that he is was quick to answer, "Well, that's a fascinating idea to have a referendum," he said, "Well, that's one of the ideas I'm going...

Oregon's most recent Legislative session was marked by some disturbing trends.The greatest of which was the deliberate efforts to negate the will of Oregon voters. First, the legislature passed tax increases that will drastically affect Oregon citizens and businesses and they refused to send these taxes to the people for a vote. Most likely because they knew it would never pass. Instead of legislating the will of the people they were sent to Salem to serve, they passed legislation which will have the inevitable effect of costing tens of thousands of jobs in a state already facing unemployment of 13%....

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics rejected a proposal to allow voters to decide on whether the District should recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. Monday's ruling against a referendum irked pastors and traditional marriage supporters who want the people to be able to decide on the critical moral and social issue. "The real human rights issue at stake in this decision is whether the people of D.C. will be given their right to vote," Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md., told The Washington Post. "We are not going to sit still for allowing an unelected...

Tuesday night was tough for Sacramento: State lawmakers were handed a decisive defeat as voters rejected a series of ballot initiatives that would have allowed lawmakers to raise taxes and raid designated state funds to close a massive hole in the budget. Now the state legislature must work with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to craft a budget that reduces spending to levels that neither wants to accept. Their only alternative is to beg President Obama for a bailout on top of the stimulus funds Congress has already approved. Proposition 1A offered the carrot of a spending cap in exchange for the...

<p>Herman Escarrá says that Chávez would decree a state of emergency if he looses the referendum. He considers that the President will be defeated because in Venezuela they do not like the theme of indefinite re-election.</p> <p>President Hugo Chavez will decree a state of emergency if he loses the referendum on the amendment that will permit his re-election indefinitely, the constitutional lawyer Herman Escarrá asserted in an emphatic manner.</p>

Not many are aware November fourth isn’t just a presidential election, some think that it is just an opportunity to elect a nice African-American others think that it is a referendum against Bush policies others think they are voting to end a war. November is a - Referendum On Socialism – and nothing less. If hundreds of conservative bloggers like myself, those at Free Republic, Power Line, Hot Air and many others affiliated with Pajama Media start driving home that November Fourth is a - Referendum On Socialism - on all your respective blogs the semantics of the term might...

The U.S. election of 2008 is shaping up as a contest about a vice-president — possibly a first in America. In most American elections, few things matter less than the second-in-command. In this one, judging by the media attention, few things matter more. There are various reasons for this, but one is obvious. John McCain is 72. Never has a 2IC had better odds of becoming a commander-in-chief before she figured out the location of the washrooms in the White House than this Republican nominee. Her resumé might end up reading: Small town mayor; small state governor; leader of the...

The U.S. Supreme Court created a huge political backlash when it ruled that local governments could use eminent domain to seize private property and transfer it to other private owners for "economic development." Since the Kelo ruling in 2005, 42 states have enacted limitations on eminent domain — not always effective ones. But like lawmakers in many other states, some California officials are trying to block real eminent domain reform. On June 3, Californians will vote on Proposition 99, a ballot initiative sponsored by groups representing cities, counties, redevelopment agencies and other pro-condemnation interests. It purports to protect property rights...

Lisbon will be crucial for Cowen The first and most pressing political challenge for the new taoiseach [Irish leader] will be to secure the passage of the Lisbon Treaty in the referendum to be held on June 12. Though European issues often tend not to be rated by the electorate, it would be difficult to overestimate the importance placed by the government on passing the treaty. Belief in the treaty is shared by all other parties in the Dáil apart from Sinn Fein, and all parties will campaign on the issue. However, should the treaty be rejected by voters, it...

TEXAS CITY — A massive superhighway that Texans have protested at public hearings statewide drew heated opposition among Galveston County residents, who said they feared the toll road would cripple the local shipping industry and do nothing to improve insufficient hurricane evacuation routes. The Trans-Texas Corridor would wind from Laredo to Corpus Christi, wrap around the western edge of Greater Houston, parallel Interstate 59 through East Texas and leave the state in Texarkana. But residents at a public hearing Thursday night in Texas City questioned the real purpose for the road, which would also be part of a national Interstate...

George Washington said the following: “The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.” "The National Initiative for Democracy is a proposed law developed by The Democracy Foundation, over the past decade, along with a plan to get it enacted by the people (not by the government) creating, for the first time, a government 'by you, the people.'"

This is one of the best short online videos I have seen in a long time.Go to the link above, or here:http://www.el-nacional.com/www/site/detalle_multimedia.php?q=med/5947Let it load (be patient if not on good broadband), turn up your speakers, and get dig this totally ballistic Hugo Chavez supporter after losing an election in Venezuela recently.You won't be disappointed. This is right after the communist Reds in Venezuela under Chavez lost a vote to anti-Chavez forces.

CARACAS (AFP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday he will govern until 2013 when his mandate ends, now that voters rejected constitutional reforms that would have allowed him to seek endless reelection. "The shouting is one thing, the reality another ... The reform was not approved, so I have to leave the government in the year 2013. I will work tirelessly until the last day I have left here," Chavez said at an event in the capital. He also told his supporters: "You have a debt with me, you will tell me if you will repay it or...

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, loser in the recent Venezuelan national referendum which would grant him increasing dictatorial powers, has ended his brief benevolence and contrition (if it ever was there) it would seem. But he did so with a backdrop of Venezuela's top military, sending a strong, yet somewhat shaky, staged subliminal message to his opponents.The video (short, in Spanish) is at the link above and here: http://www.el-nacional.com/www/site/detalle_multimedia.php?q=med/5475 Just hit the white "arrow" to see.

During this year's legislative session, Texas had an "oh, wait, hold on, don't do that" moment on privately funded tollways. Fair enough, but now it's time to figure out what the state should do, including how to pay for what the state's highway czar calls a $100 billion shortfall in money needed for essential highway projects. Ric Williamson, the Weatherford businessman who is chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, says "the entire future of the state transportation system" depends on potential revenue from private toll road investors. Without it, staffers with the Texas Department of Transportation told commission members at...

This is the first time I've posted anything, so forgive me for whatever mistakes I make. Yesterday on FR, several articles appeared about the passage of SB 777 in California. See Tom McClintock: The Perils of Perfection... (SB 777 - Fight back!) Governor Signs SB 777 New law will open female locker rooms to transgender men CA: Governor Signs SB 777 (New law will open female locker rooms to transgender men) One article mentioned the Capitol Resource Institute in California, a traditional family organization. I joined the organization, and received the following e-mail from them. "Last fall California families were...

The perfect liberal dream! "Now that summer is over, things are really heating up here in New Jersey – The Garden State! November is rapidly approaching and a $450 million stem cell bond question will be on the ballot for us to answer “Yes” or “No.” The question does not inform voters on what stem cell research will be performed. As we all know adult stem cells are highly successful – and do not require millions of dollars since they can be derived from bone marrow, umbilical chord blood and even from skin etc. However, this is not the type...

THE Kremlin said it may call a referendum on the closure of the Lenin mausoleum - where the mummified body of the father of the Russian Revolution once lay in honour. "It's obvious that having this necropolis in the centre of the country is a nonsense," Vladimir Kozhine, a Kremlin policy-maker said in the official Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper due to appear tomorrow. "But as for knowing whether it should be there or not, that's for others to decide and the best way for that is a referendum. "If 80 per cent of people say that Lenin's body should be buried,...

Beware of Bipartisanship by: Malcolm A. Kline, October 01, 2007 Even at the collegiate level, it is a good idea to look carefully at proposals that are “bipartisan,” such as the proposed increase in student fees at George Washington University here that students there recently rejected in an online vote that both the College Democrats and College Republicans supported. “The student body rejected a referendum to increase the student fee in a special election Tuesday, leaving the Student Association short of money it would like to allocate to student organizations,” Andrew Springer reported in the GW Hatchet online in a...

Thatcher urges Brown to allow EU treaty referendumLady Thatcher today urged Gordon Brown to allow a referendum on the EU Treaty. "This Treaty matters Prime Minister, so be bold and let the British people have the final say!" The former Prime Minister backed the newspaper campaigns for a referendum, saying: "Yet again the British people are being told that the changes in the Treaty are not important, that they are technical, and that in any case we have either blocked or gained opt-outs in all the worst cases. Well we've heard it all before only to see more and more...

Thursday September 13, 7:54 PM U.S.-Taiwan spat worsens despite progress on arms deal (Kyodo) _ Tension between Taiwan and the United States over a contentious referendum set to be held here next year has intensified, even as Washington signaled its readiness to approve a landmark arms deal worth US$2.2 billion. In an interview published in Thursday's Wall Street Journal, President Chen Shui-bian defended his plans for a referendum on whether Taiwan should be in the United Nations under the name "Taiwan," saying its people "have the right to express to the world our aspiration and determination to become a member...

The Texas Department of Transportation is pushing Congress to pass a federal law allowing the state to "buy back" parts of existing interstate highways and turn them into toll roads. The 24-page plan, outlined in a "Forward Momentum" report that escaped widespread attention when published in February, drew prompt objections Thursday from state lawmakers and activists fighting the spread of privately run toll roads. "I think it's a dreadful recommendation on the part of the transportation commissioners here in Texas," said Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee Chairman John Carona, R-Dallas. "I feel confident that legislators in Austin would overwhelmingly...

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — It looks like two new gay rights laws that are supposed to take effect on Jan. 1 will be suspended until Oregon voters have a chance to weigh in on them in November 2008, according to the group that's opposing the new legislation. Gay rights advocates scored major victories in the Oregon Legislature this spring when lawmakers approved laws to ban discrimination against gays in work and housing, and to give same-sex couples most state benefits of marriage through legal domestic partnerships. But a coalition of social conservative and church groups has been collecting petition signatures...

Submitted by Jorge Sosa on March 28, 2007 - 2:38pm. Filed under: Around McLeod County Proponents of building of a new McLeod County Jail have yet to win the hearts and minds of the public, according to County Commissioner Grant Knutson.Speaking at a jail planning group meeting March 27, Knutson said none of the constituents he’s talked to believe the jail is unnecessary. However, “I really get the feeling that a lot of people can’t see that dollar figure,” he said. At $25 million, Knutson thinks the jail is more expensive than it needs to be. He also believes the...

Abe resolves to pass referendum for revising Constitution TOKYO, Jan. 1 KYODO Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed determination in a New Year's statement on Monday to have legislation for a national referendum passed during the upcoming parliamentary session to pave the way for realizing his political goal of rewriting Japan's pacifist Constitution. ''I will ensure that the flame of reforms will keep on burning,'' Abe said, promising also to implement concrete measures to overhaul the education system and to carry out his reform plan to transfer surplus road-related tax revenues into general revenues available for a wider range of...

SACRAMENTO — Expect surprises. It's no longer politics as usual. Want to overhaul the Legislature into a single nonpartisan house? How about creating universal health care or a bullet train? Voters may soon get the chance. Californians are so tired of Sacramento and Washington that they are creating a "unique hybrid democracy" to dissolve political gridlock on key issues — a trend that could spread across the nation. That's the conclusion reached by California's two foremost pollsters, looking back to the Nov. 7 election and ahead to coming sessions of the Legislature and Congress. Californians are backing away from the...

South Dakota's voters rejected a ban on abortions passed by the Republican legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Mike Rounds. The margin was 56 to 44 percent. The results in smaller counties were mixed; voters in Minnehaha County (Sioux Falls) voted 57 percent against the ban, while voters in Pennington County (Rapid City), ordinarily more Republican but perhaps also more libertarian, voted 61 percent against. Those two counties provided almost half the popular vote margin against the ban (17,530 of 37,270).

One reason so many Americans despise politicians is because of the contempt that many politicians have for their fellow Americans. A case in point is the way the Massachusetts legislature used a procedural ruse to deny the voters even a chance to vote on the issue of same-sex marriage. Recall that in 2003 four of seven Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justices declared gay marriage a constitutional right. In response, opponents collected 170,000 signatures to support a ballot measure to amend the state constitution to make clear that marriage is between a man and a woman. But to get on the...

On October 30, 1995 a referendum was held in the Canadian province of Quebec. The referendum asked voters if they were willing to separate from Canada but maintain a "partership" link if so desired. Quebecers had long maintained that they had a strongly separate cultural identity from the rest of Canada and that their culture was being subverted. After a month long battle, the NO side (backed by then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien) defeated the YES side (backed by Premier Jacques Parizeau and Bloc Quebecois leader Lucien Bouchard. The NO side prevailed by only 54288 votes out of 4.7 million cast....

You would think that the straightforward spirit and language of Michigan's 2006 ballot proposal to "ban affirmative action programs that give preferential treatment to groups or individuals based on their race, gender, color, ethnicity or national origin for public employment, education or contracting purposes" is consistent with reinforcing the U.S. Constitution's 14th (equal protection) amendment. But for those who have followed the uphill battle of ballot supporters simply to get Proposal 2 before voters this fall, and to hear the distortions and opprobrium from the mouths of opponents, one can only conclude that political mendacity lies at the heart of...

Do you remember voting on the Trans-Texas Corridor? Me neither. But I think I might have. Sort of. Toll road proponents have said over the past couple of years that Texans had voted to authorize what has turned out to be a very aggressive push for toll roads. Gov. Rick Perry said as much in the Oct. 6 gubernatorial election debate. One of the moderators relayed a question from a McKinney woman asking why Texans haven't gotten to vote on the "Trans-Texas Corridor and related toll highways." The corridor is Perry's 4,000-mile plan of tollways, railroads and utility lines. The...

LOS ANGELES Two national Mexican-American organizations are launching a "popular referendum" to collect the opinions of hundreds of thousands of Spanish-speaking immigrants both legal and illegal on immigration reform legislation pending in Congress. Starting late next week, the Mexican Brotherhood Latin America and the Mexican-American Political Association will begin distributing questionnaires in Spanish at churches, work sites and activist organizations in over 20 states with high concentrations of immigrants. "This will reveal what immigrants think, what they are willing to accept, fight for and reject," said MAPA President Nativo Lopez. The nonscientific surveys come on the heels of massive national...

Direct democracy can be a headache for town officials who have to cut and re-cut before voters bless a municipal budget. Budget referendums are uncommon in most of the United States and aren't universal in Connecticut, taking place mostly in smaller towns. Last month, Bethel, Brookfield and Newtown each had two failed referendums, when voters decided the budgets just spent too much money. Some officials feel their towns are victims of a cycle of frustration stemming from rising prices everywhere else. "The negative side is that we are probably the only thing people can vote on and have an impact,"...

Citizens of Montenegro, the mountainous, sparsely populated former Yugoslav territory, will vote Sunday in a referendum on severing its remaining links with Serbia. The pro-independence camp is confident of victory. The referendum will determine whether the state of Serbia and Montenegro continues to exist. That loose federation - replacing the rump Yugoslavia - was created three years at the strong urging of the European Union, which at the time opposed the Montenegrin government's desire to break with Serbia. Since both Serbia and Montenegro wish to join the EU, Brussels has been deeply involved in the May 21 referendum. Under its...

Mequon - Voters overwhelmingly rejected a referendum Tuesday that would have raised taxes in the Mequon-Thiensville School District by $2.5 million for each of the next three years. Fifty-seven percent of those who cast votes opposed the measure, which sparked one of the highest turnouts - 37% - among Tuesday's primaries in the metro area,3 according to unofficial results. Officials had said the referendum was necessary to offset a $6.5 million budget shortfall the district faces in the next three years. It would also have funded $1 million in technology upgrades and maintenance repairs. "It's a simple yes or no...

RICHMOND, Jan. 25 -- The state Senate all but guaranteed on Wednesday that Virginia will hold a November referendum on whether to amend its 230-year-old Bill of Rights to bar same-sex marriages. The Senate voted 28 to 11 to follow the House of Delegates in approving the amendment. Though each chamber still must pass the measure adopted by the other, their wording is identical and support among the senators and delegates is strong. "The family is the foundation of our society, and it's been based on a union of a man and a woman since the inception of marriage," said...

CAIRO, Egypt - In the aftermath of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's ascendancy to the presidency of Iran, the country's opposition is beginning to show signs of unifying as the clerical regime wages a war against internal dissent. Yesterday, the regime closed all schools in Tehran, citing poor air quality, after word leaked of the first major demonstrations since the summer. Nonetheless, a rally at Tehran University attracted 300 demonstrators amid a heavy police presence on campus. Of note is that before the rally against the new president, a coalition of Kurdish students also signed on to the call. In Brussels on Monday,...

CAIRO, Egypt -- In the aftermath of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's ascendancy to the presidency of Iran, the country's opposition is beginning to show signs of unifying as the clerical regime wages a war against internal dissent. Yesterday, the regime closed all schools in Tehran, citing poor air quality, after word leaked of the first major demonstrations since the summer. Nonetheless, a rally at Tehran University attracted 300 demonstrators amid a heavy police presence on campus. Of note is that before the rally against the new president, a coalition of Kurdish students also signed on to the call. In Brussels on Monday,...

How the liars won By John Ziegler THE RESULTS of the special election, while largely expected, are truly remarkable for what they reveal about who we are as a state and the current nature of our political landscape. They are not just important because they may end up being Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Waterloo, but also because they show so clearly that our political discourse is terribly broken, perhaps far beyond repair. For instance, how in the world did Proposition 77 get so badly clobbered? The initiative — which would have taken legislative and congressional redistricting out of the hands of...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4, 2005 – The secure environment in which Iraqis voted on a constitutional referendum Oct. 15 increased Iraqis' confidence in their security forces, a top official said. "I think the real success for the referendum security was the increased confidence it gave to the Iraqi security forces themselves and, through them, to the Iraqi people," British Royal Marine Maj. Gen. Jim Dutton, commander of Multinational Division Southeast, said in a news conference from Basra, Iraq, today. "That will be significant in the way in which the (security forces) are seen by the Iraqi people in the future." Dutton...

Coloradans have no commonsense. Within one year we reelected a financially incompetent, liberal Ken Salazar, then raised our own taxes and legalized marijuana. What is wrong with my neighbors? Well, they want to smoke pot and pay more taxes. One problem explains the other. Drug abuse is a large cause of liberal thinking. This is proven historically as we look at the ‘60s and ‘70s. Drug abuse and modern liberalism are synonymous. Person becomes rebel. Rebel smokes pot. Pot affects mind, causing liberal thinking. Liberals raise taxes. Its simple! Fortunately state and federal law will ensure that nothing in Denver...

WINDS OF CHANGE Rather, Hurricane force “Winds of Change”; that is what we are experiencing. Do you realize the significance of the results of the constitution referendum? To start with you have the percentages and figures. Of registered voters about 63% turned out to vote. Of these voters 78% voted "Yes" and 22% voted "No". Most of those who voted No were Sunnis. Some of the Sunnis have voted in favor, especially in Mosul. Therefore the percentages really reflect the percentage of Sunnis in Iraq. It is interesting that in Baghdad, roughly the same proportions of Yes & No’s as...

Will colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights be stripped away by Colorado voters tonight? Once strongly in favor of it, Colorado votes tonight whether to end the Taxpayers Bill of Rights. Opinions or comments on the vote?