Free Republic

“She” is Kathy Moore, a Lincoln Park friend and former public school teacher who was put in that unenviable position by the stark reality of political hide-and-seek. Or, in this case, seek-and-hide. Her reliably Democratic 11th District, which includes Lincoln Park and Lakeview, elected a brand new state representative, Ann Williams, in November, to replace John Fritchey, a popular long-time rep who won election to a seat on the Cook County Board. Fritchey began his new job in December, so Williams could have been sworn in as a state rep a month ago to represent the district in the lame-duck...

Portland residents will vote Nov. 2 on a proposal to give legal residents who are not U.S. citizens the right to vote in local elections, joining places like San Francisco and Chicago that have already loosened the rules or are considering it. Noncitizens hold down jobs, pay taxes, own businesses, volunteer in the community and serve in the military, and it's only fair they be allowed to vote, Rwaganje said. "We have immigrants who are playing key roles in different issues of this country, but they don't get the right to vote," said Rwaganje, 40, who moved to the U.S....

(CNSNews.com) - The Commerce Department’s Inspector General (IG) has confirmed whistleblower allegations that management at a local Census office in Brooklyn, N.Y., “directed employees to falsify Census questionnaires during” the decennial count’s largest and most expensive operation known as Non-response Follow-Up. Furthermore, the IG noted that during the Census Bureau’s efforts to re-count the fabricated questionnaires, employees charged with that task “were inferring the number of household residents through improper means.” “The complaints specifically alleged that the [Brooklyn Northeast local Census office] manager and assistant manager for field operations had directed employees to falsify enumeration questionnaires using information from an...

According to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the House will vote on H.R. 2499, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act, later this week. The legislation provides Puerto Rico a two stage voting process and makes some non-resident Puerto Ricans eligible to vote on Puerto Rican statehood. This legislation has rigged the process in favor of making Puerto Rico the 51st state and is not a fair way to force statehood on a Commonwealth whose people may not want it. Furthermore, this may be an expensive proposition for the American people who are already on the hook for approximately $12.9 trillion in...

Latino organizations and the U.S. Census Bureau plan in the coming weeks to step up their campaign to persuade Latino immigrants — especially the undocumented — to participate in the population count. Latino leaders and census officials say the effort is unprecedented, and made all the more urgent by a campaign spearheaded by a Bergen County pastor calling on illegal immigrants to boycott the census because of the failure of Congress to reform immigration laws. With Latinos fueling most of the population growth in New Jersey and nationwide since the 2000 census, Latino organizations in New Jersey and New York...

WASHINGTON – States are getting new leeway in tallying their prisoners in the 2010 census — a move that could reshape the political map, increasing urban population numbers while reducing the figures for rural voting districts where inmates are incarcerated. The Census Bureau said this week it would release data on prison populations to states when they redraw legislative boundaries next year. Previously, the agency provided the breakdowns on group quarters, like prisons, after states finished their high-stakes redistricting. That resulted in districts with prisons getting extra representation in their legislatures, despite laws in some states that say a prison...

[...] That’s a Republic. And despite the mind-numbing terror of it, it’s actually not a bad way to go. But why would so many free citizens be willing to put their lives and their fortunes into the hands of so few people? Well, we would do it if we believed that the person in question was one of us. We do it because we believe that the person we send to Washington represents not every little detail but at least the core of our values and desires, our needs and our hopes. We do it because the person – in...

Where was the American people's representation on health care reform in Washington on Saturday night? Or better, why did our representatives in Washington move so hastily to advance an inclusive health care reform bill that will permanently alter 1/6th of our economy and affect every citizen when most Americans don't support it? Despite the fact that the bill that was introduced only eight days earlier, has 1,990 pages (and nearly as many words as Tolstoy's War and Peace), House majority leader Steny Hoyer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi strong-armed 220 votes in favor of the "Affordable Healthcare for America Act" (HR3962)....

On August 28, 2009 Taxpayers will go back to the Capitol to Demand our Representatives stop taxing us and start representing us! In California's vast and fertile central valley, the federal government has shut off the water to farmers. Fields lie fallow, and once thriving orchards are dry and dead. After generations on the land, families are losing their farms. In some areas unemployment exceeds 40%. All this to protect a "minnow." The government is putting fish before families. This insanity must end. In the mountains, family owned timber operations, working and managing our forests for generations, are being forced...

As outlined in Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, the members of the House of Representatives are elected every two years. The reason for this was to guarantee the House members would be responsive to their constituents. Delegates at the constitutional convention felt that a two-year term of office would give new House members the opportunity to learn their job, while at the same time keep them dependent upon and therefore responsive to the wishes of the people. In a young nation where the town meeting was a common part of the governmental process, the House of Representatives was...

President James Madison, considered by many to be the "Father of the Constitution" and author of over a third of the Federalist Papers, wrote that legislators should be "called for the most part from pursuits of a private nature and continued in appointment for a short period of office." President Abraham Lincoln stated during the Gettysburg Address "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." No honest person would argue that both these presidents were not only brilliant statesman, but also possessed an intellect rarely matched. They would also agree that...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A U.S. crackdown on European online gambling breaches World Trade Organization rules and would justify action at the World Trade Organization, the European Commission said on Thursday. The European Union executive, which oversees trade policy for the 27-nation bloc, said its draft report found that such U.S. laws hampered trade and thus were inconsistent with WTO rules but stressed it would seek a negotiated solution. "It is for the U.S. to decide how best to regulate Internet gambling in its market, but this must be done in a way that fully respects WTO obligations," EU Trade Commissioner...

On December 1, 2008, a California voter filed a federal lawsuit, charging that the population of California legislative districts (the lower house in particular) is so vast, that Californians do not have true representation in either house of their state legislature. The lawsuit is filed in federal court and argues that the U.S. Constitution protects the ability of ordinary voters to have meaningful representation. It argues that given the 475,000 population of California Assembly districts, there is no real representation.For those of you interested in learning about the litigation to end the legislative oligarchy in California, watch this interview of...

When the 111th Congress convenes on Jan. 6, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus will be underrepresented in its membership. No shocker there perhaps. But a new analysis of incoming members' religious affiliations by the Pew Forum indicates there's no small measure of change in Congress' religious ties: It's much more diverse than just half a century ago.

"Voters in Tennessee have complained that their Republican choices switched to slates of Democrats..."

September 28, 2008 America is lucky - it’s being saved by the mob Simon Jenkins Party politics is customarily suspended in time of war. It should have been suspended in America this weekend, with a crisis raging in the markets and confidence in the nation’s leadership on the line. The purpose of an election campaign is to expose weakness in contenders for high office. Today the purpose should be to restore confidence in their strength. Friday’s presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain was, as a result, a flaccid affair. They were clearly discomfited, like boys caught fighting during...

I think it's time to let Congress feel our election fury this November. As reflected in the latest Rasmussen Reports, "Just 9 percent (of Americans) say Congress is doing a good or excellent job." It is the first single-digit approval rating for Congress in Rasmussen's history, and it makes Bush's 30 percent approval rating seem like a stat to boast. The study went on to explain: "Just 12 percent of voters think Congress has passed any legislation to improve life in this country over the past six months. That number has ranged from 11 percent to 13 percent throughout 2008."...

"...many experts say that a paper trail alone can't solve the problem..."

"...electronic voting system shut down across the board..."

"...The issue of voting machine certification is critical because of tests that have revealed teams of computer hackers sanctioned by California Secretary of State Debra Bowen were able to hack without difficulty into various vendors' touch-screen voting machines during a "top to bottom review" of every system certified by the state, according to a University of California study. Diebold touchscreen voting machine The report concluded the machines could be manipulated using "tools that can be found in a typical office and could be executed by a very low-skilled attacker." Voting equipment for the timed test included devices from Sequoia, Hart...