Free Republic

PROVIDENCE — California is not the only state to oppose same-sex marriage. According to a new USA Today/ Gallup poll, the majority of Americans continue to oppose gay marriage. Gallup found 57 percent of Americans oppose legalizing same-sex marriage. On May 26, the California Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage will remain banned in the state of California, upholding Proposition 8, which declares that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." Those who married before the initiative was passed will not be affected by this decision. Researchers at Brown University released a poll...

snip... "On the other end of the spectrum, it was traditionally Democratic states that earned the title of "least free," according to the study. Rhode Island, New Jersey, and New York-all of whom voted Democratic in the past three presidential elections-came in at 48th, 49th and 50th, respectively. However, it is important to note that the study's findings do not all fall along these predictable party lines. Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana, for example, all fall in the bottom eleven among states with the most Personal Freedom. Arkansas, Texas, and Missouri, meanwhile finish fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively in...

Blogger claims he received visit from FBI after sending letters to lawmakers. BY CHELSEA SCHILLING A tea party protester claims he was investigated as a terrorist by the Joint Terrorism Task Force of the FBI after he sent letters to his representatives criticizing the government for spending money he says the U.S. does not have. Steve Shirk, a Tea Party Patriots blogger who attended the Atlanta Tea Party, said he began a letter-writing campaign in September 2008 to representatives, senators and the White House to express his frustration with what he considers to be irresponsible spending. He said he sent...

Names of the six senators who voted to fund the closing of GITMO: Durbin - Illinois Harkin - Iowa Leahy - Vermont Levin - Michigan Reed - Rhode Island Whitehorse - Rhode Island Source: michellemalkin.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The mayor of Providence wants to slap a $150-per-semester tax on the 25,000 full-time students at Brown University and three other private colleges in the city, saying they use resources and should help ease the burden on struggling taxpayers. Mayor David Cicilline (sis-ah-LEEN-ee) said the fee would raise between $6 million and $8 million a year for the city, which is facing a $17 million deficit. If enacted, it would apparently be the first time a U.S. city has directly taxed students just for being enrolled. The proposal is still in its early stages. But it has...

The tale begins and ends with Pocahontas Cooley (photo here), whose very name lends a fictional tone to a true story of justice deferred. The travesty is the number of times the setting has been the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson, Rhode Island Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse's pick to fill a vacancy in the first U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case itself defies all reason, but the explanation could be precisely the judicial empathy for "underprivileged" groups on which President Barack Obama has placed such emphasis. The person who is actually disadvantaged in the...

While racy photos of Miss California Carrie Prejean could cost the outspoken first runner up in the Miss USA pageant her crown, pageant officials don't seem to care about even steamier photos of Miss Rhode Island that appeared in a men’s magazine. So is Prejean being targeted simply for her beliefs?

Gay marriage could soon become the law of the land across New England — except in the heavily Roman Catholic state of Rhode Island. A string of sudden successes for gay marriage advocates has left Rhode Island a political outlier. Maine became the fourth state in New England to legalize same-sex unions on Wednesday, while New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch is now deciding whether to sign similar legislation.... Yet the movement has stalled in Rhode Island, perhaps even lost ground, after a stalemate at the Statehouse, a loss in the state's top court and continued opposition from religious leaders. "I...

PROVIDENCE — The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday evening swiftly approved a bill to criminalize prostitution that occurs indoors, with a full vote on the House floor expected as early as next week. The bill, which the committee approved in an 8-to-4 vote, with 3 members absent, seeks to rewrite a nearly 30-year-old law that outlaws streetwalkers and soliciting for prostitution outdoors, but has no prohibition against prostitution that occurs indoors. Rhode Island is the only state, except for certain counties in Nevada, that has no prohibition against indoor prostitution. “Why should Rhode Island have this dubious distinction?” Rep. Joanne...

Providence College has blocked a campus speech by former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo, a vocal opponent of illegal immigration. It also said Tancredo's stance on illegal immigration "directly contrasts" with Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, a member of the college's Board of Trustees.

It's been said that conservatism has different meanings for different people. It may not be textbook, but without a whole lot of navel gazing, here's what it means to me and what Free Republic is all about: In a word, Freedom! In two words, Preserving Freedom. In a handful of words as stated by our Founding Fathers, to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity! America was founded on the proposition that all men are created equal by God and that our unalienable rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness are granted directly by God...

RI GOP Chair Calls on RI Congressional Delegation to Give Back Their AIG "Bonuses" RI Delegation Raked in More Than Thirty-Six Thousand Dollars Directly from AIG Rhode Island GOP Chairman Giovanni Cicione today called for the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation to give back the money they received from AIG to fund their campaigns. "I hear our delegation calling for AIG executives to give back their bonuses, even though those same members of our delegation voted to allow the bonuses, but when are they going to give back the money they took from AIG?" ,said Cicione. “Perhaps they didn’t read...

Several high-ranking senators led by Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) on Tuesday relaunched their push to require gun sellers to conduct background checks on purchases of all types of guns at state gun shows. On the heels of the 10-year anniversary of the Columbine shootings the lawmakers pushed to close the gun show “loophole” that exists in more than 30 states. These states do not require personal gun sellers, who are authorized to hawk their own firearms at gun shows, to conduct a background check on buyers of the guns. This allows people with criminal histories to easily obtain weapons like those...

Nobody can sell any ammunition after June 30, 2009. It has already started: 'Ammunition Accountability' Legislation. Remember how Obama said that he wasn't going to take your guns? Well, it seems that his allies in the anti-gun world have no problem with taking your ammo! The bill that is being pushed in 18 states (including Illinois and Indiana) requires all ammunition to be encoded by the manufacturer, a data base of all ammunition sales. So, they will know how much you buy and what calibers. Nobody can sell any ammunition after June 30, 2009 unless the ammunition is coded. Any...

Do not believe the nattering nabobs of negativity. The Nationwide Tax Day TEA Party/Tax Revolt was a huge success!! What we need now is MORE and LOUDER!! Obama has no clue. Being confronted by millions of fed-up citizens is new to him. He never expected the otherwise docile American people to rise up against his wannabe Marxist/fascist totalitarian regime. He's now lashing out at us through the Dept of Homeland Security as if We the People are his enemy. Well, we are! And he now knows it. And he's scared witless!! And the media has been reduced to the speechless,...

Congratulations FReepers and Patriots! According to Henchster's ongoing tallies, we've surpassed 750,000 participants in our nationwide Tax Day TEA Party/Tax Revolt! Woo hoo!! All 50 states fully engaged! Over 600 cities represented and reports still coming in! Huge turnout, huge SUCCESS!! Elected officials take note: DO NOT TREAD ON ME!! Tyranny, usurpation, corruption, overreaching, big spending, high taxing will no longer be tolerated! We the people are FED-UP and we're not going to take it anymore! Ignore us at your own peril! All Congressional seats, all elected offices throughout the land at risk! Revolution is in the air!!

NEWPORT, R.I., April 17, 2009 – Though the proposed fiscal 2010 defense budget reflects some shifts in emphasis, it is important for the United States to maintain its capabilities for conventional warfare dominance, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told members of the Naval War College here today. But America also must be ready to face enemies across a wide spectrum of conflict, the secretary said. Gates spoke at the Marine Corps War College on April 13, the Air War College on April 15 and the Army War College yesterday to present his rationale for budget-related decisions. In all three venues,...

If the Obama administration has taken flak for suggesting that conservative groups might be home to domestic terrorists, it looks like some House Democrat leaders are willing to go even further: But in an interview on Fox TV in San Francisco, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) chalked up the GOP grass-roots effort as “AstroTurf.” “This initiative is funded by the high end; we call it AstroTurf, it's not really a grass-roots movement. It's AstroTurf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class,” Pelosi said....

After the 2010 census has been held, the number of seats held by each state in the U.S. House of Representatives will change. The National Conference of State Legislatures recently estimated what the 2010 reapportionment will mean for each state. Eight states are expected to lose one seat each, in the U.S. House and in the Electoral College. They are Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. States that will gain will be Texas (3 seats), and one each for Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Utah. If the bill now pending in Congress to expand the...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee created a committee on Monday to explore a run for governor next year as an independent candidate after leaving the Republican Party, his first formal move to enter the race.

Are you ready for a FReepathon!!? Well, it's a new quarter and a new president and he's everything we knew he would be. In less than 90 days he's managed to take an economic downturn and turn it into an unmitigated disaster for good old American capitalism. Never let a good crisis go to waste! The government is now printing money as fast as they can run the presses. Our federal budget is doubling and tripling and the Fed is running with no controls or oversight whatsoever from the congress, pumping trillions more into the "economy." The government now spends...

Seven states posted unemployment rates above 10 percent in February, as Georgia is inched toward the double digits, according to seasonally adjusted figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Georgia's unemployment rate for February was a record high 9.3 percent. Metro Atlanta's unemployment rate also was 9.3 percent in February. Michigan registered the nation’s worst rate, with 12 percent of its labor force out of work as of February 2009. Also in double digits were South Carolina (11 percent), Oregon (10.8 percent), North Carolina (10.7 percent), California (10.5 percent), Rhode Island (10.5 percent), and Nevada (10.1...

More states logged double-digit unemployment rates in February, with North Carolina and Rhode Island seeing their rates hit record highs. The U.S. Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed the terrible toll the recession, now in its second year, is having on workers and companies alike. Seven states have unemployment rates that topped 10 percent last month. That's up from four states in January.

WASHINGTON – Double-digit unemployment rates hit more states in February, with North Carolina and Rhode Island seeing their rates hit record highs. The U.S. Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed the terrible toll the recession, now in its second year, is having on workers and companies alike. Seven states have unemployment rates that topped 10 percent last month. That's up from four states in January.

We've had two good weeks of gubernatorial fun in the Crystal Ball, reviewing the early match-ups for the 2010 midterm Governor battles here and here. Now it's time to examine the remaining sixteen statehouses, all currently controlled by Republicans. ALASKA--Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK): Assuming Palin runs for Governor again instead of challenging U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), as is likely, Palin is close to a shoo-in for a second term, despite her recent troubles in and out of the state. John McCain had been faring poorly in Alaska until Palin was put on the ticket, and then the GOP won...

Here’s a scary newspaper headline: “Could global warming turn R.I. into the under-Ocean State?” The answer to that question could only be, “Yes.” And so it was in a one-sided report in a Rhode Island newspaper. A news article in the March 22 Providence (R.I.) Journal by G. Wayne Miller details how a portion of the beautiful harbor town of Newport will be underwater due to the effects of anthropogenic global warming by the year 2100. ...more...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Here's a job opportunity you won't need to buy a new wardrobe for. Hoping to take advantage of Rhode Island's floundering economy, owners of the Foxy Lady strip club in Providence plan to hold a job fair on Saturday. They say they're looking to fill around 30 positions, from strippers and waitresses to disc jockeys and bartenders, at that club and two others in Massachusetts. "I need more managers, I need more competent staff, and I need more attractive waitresses to go along with the ones I have right now," said co-owner Tom Tsoumas.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Rhode Island woman faces charges after allegedly punching and biting her 11-year-old son's school principal after being told the boy was being suspended. Police said 30-year-old Aleyda Uceta also bit an officer trying to arrest her after Friday's incident at Roger Williams Middle School in Providence. She was charged with assault on school officials, assault on police officers and resisting arrest.

Four states — California, South Carolina, Michigan and Rhode Island — registered unemployment rates above 10 percent in January.

4 states see double-digit unemployment rates in January; national rate headed that way WASHINGTON (AP) -- Four states -- California, South Carolina, Michigan and Rhode Island -- registered unemployment rates above 10 percent in January, and the national rate is expected to hit double digits by year-end. The U.S. Labor Department's report on state unemployment, released Wednesday, showed the increasing damage inflicted on workers and companies from a recession, now in its second year. Some economists now predict the U.S. unemployment rate will hit 10 percent by year-end, and peak at 11 percent or higher by the middle of 2010....

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,...

Tashiana Johnson, 8, holds a sign for her father,Gerard Johnson of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7 ________________________________________ GULFPORT — A plane carrying 310 Seabees was greeted by jubilant family members Saturday afternoon when about half a contingent of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7 returned from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. A unit spokesman said no casualties occurred among the Gulfport-based Seabees during their battle-zone tour. They were part of 600 Seabees from NMCB 7 deployed to the Middle East. The remainder are expected to return home in mid-March. --------- Snip The Seabees had originally deployed to Iraq, but later...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island is in the midst of an especially grim economic meltdown, and no one can pinpoint exactly why. The smallest state, it is saddled with some of the nation’s biggest problems: the second highest unemployment rate, at 10 percent, according to the latest federal figures; and among the highest foreclosure rates, widest budget gaps and most-vulnerable pension systems. Rhode Island is arguably the most economically hobbled state after Michigan [...]. ... Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, a Republican, and the overwhelmingly Democratic General Assembly have often found themselves at loggerheads, with the legislature more focused on supporting...

FEBRUARY 18, 2009 The Decline of California They still think they can tax their way out of this one. If you thought Washington's stimulus debate was depressing, take a look at the long-running budget spectacle in California. The Golden State's deficit has reached $42 billion, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to furlough 20,000 state workers (go ahead, make our day), and as we went to press yesterday Democrats who control the legislature had blocked lawmakers from leaving until they finally get a deal. It's sad to watch. The Golden State -- which a decade ago was the booming technology capital...

Just throwing out a handful of ideas for discussion: How to develop local chapters/conservative grassroots groups. Develop a conservative platform and a plan for recruiting, training, supporting and electing conservative candidates. Develop ideas for building an effective nationwide conservative grassroots network. How to combat the Fairness Doctrine? Install offshore servers? Private BBS? Email/Phone/Fax lists? Shortwave radio? Local/personal networking? Working with other conservative groups, political parties? Would a FReeper PAC be feasible? Practical? Effective? Would a FReeper 527 organization be feasible? Practical? Effective? How to infiltrate/influence local political organizations? Select and fund delegates for a national convention should our membership decide...

A few weeks ago, I posted a thread asking how many of you would be interested in holding a centralized FReeper meeting somewhere in the middle of the country, possibly on an airline hub so a maximum number of FReepers could attend. Lots of people sounded interested, but only if it were held closer to home and preferably within driving distance. Ok, if one big central meeting is not feasible, I posted another thread asking about regional meetings. Sounds like a lot more people are interested in this, but everyone's asking when one will be scheduled in their area. Well,...

Gov. Don Carcieri proposed Tuesday phasing out Rhode Island's corporate income and estate taxes and cutting personal income tax rates, saying it would spur the economy and create jobs in a recession-stung state with 10 percent unemployment. Carcieri described the tax-cutting proposals in his seventh annual State of the State address as one fix for a bitter recession that wiped out 22,000 jobs last year, decimated home prices and pushed the state budget deep into the red. Unemployment hit 10 percent in December, making Rhode Island the second-worst performer behind Michigan. "I'm firmly convinced that if we dramatically change our...

Congratulations to all who objected to the appointment of this tax cheating crook and put up a fight! Cracks are forming in the great Obamassiah's defenses. Keep the pressure on!! Click the link above to support our fight against Marxism, or mail checks to: Free Republic, LLC PO Box 9771 Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you all very much!!

If enacted, the Senate stimulus bill would fund over $100 billion in new government construction projects with the goal of providing additional jobs to unemployed Americans. The House-passed stimulus bill contains explicit language to bar employment of illegal immigrants in these construction projects. However, the Senate bill deliberately omits this language. If the Senate version of the bill becomes law, a great number of the workers employed in government construction programs will, in fact, be illegal immigrants. About one out of seven (or 15 percent) of workers employed in construction in the U.S. is an illegal immigrant.[1] Unless strong mechanisms...

In December 2008, Michigan and Rhode Island reported the highest jobless rates, 10.6 and 10.0 percent, respectively; Wyoming posted the lowest unemployment rate among the states. The Rhode Island rate was the highest in its series. (All state series begin in 1976.) Four additional states recorded rates of 9.0 percent or more: South Carolina, 9.5 percent; California, 9.3 percent; Nevada, 9.1 percent; and Oregon, 9.0 percent. Wyoming posted the lowest unemployment rate, 3.4 percent, followed closely by North Dakota at 3.5 percent. Overall, 10 states and the District of Columbia registered significantly higher jobless rates than the U.S. figure of...

Well, the good news is that we're two/thirds of the way there! January and February are paid for! Now working on March. And we've got all of February and March to git 'er done! Woo hoo!! With Obama recycling all the Clintonites, we'll need FR NOW more than ever! So, if you haven't done so already, please punch that donate link and make it happen!! Thank you for your support!! James

Continuing efforts to overturn more of the last administration's policies, President Obama signed a presidential memoranda today requesting the EPA consider approving a waiver that will allow 14 states to set their own stricter automobile emissions and fuel efficiency standards. In 2007, then-Environment Protection Agency administrator Steven Johnson denied California and 13 other states -- including Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and New Jersey -- the right to set their own clean air standards, despite staff scientists' recommendation to do so. "California has shown bold and bipartisan leadership through its...

He did not want the rats living with his new baby. BY BRUCE MORIN WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) - A Providence man is in trouble after he abandoned nearly 300 rats on the side of the road. The man, Toby Duffany, pleaded no contest to animal abandonment and was ordered to pay $1000 restitution and perform 50 hours of community service. Police say Duffany crammed 280 rats into aquariums and cages, and left them on the side of the road in Foster last month. The rats were discovered several days after they were abandoned. 72 rats had died and the rest...

WASHINGTON — When it comes to homeownership, Hispanics in New Jersey, single parents in California and senior citizens in Rhode Island all have something in common: More than a third have an unaffordable mortgage.

Two New England states have already legalized same-sex marriage, and a Boston-based advocacy group wants to see the other four join them. Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, known as GLAD, has launched a first-of-its-kind regional campaign aimed at winning approval for same-sex marriage in the six-state New England region by 2012. Same-sex marriage is already legal in Connecticut and Massachusetts, a result of court decisions in cases brought by GLAD lawyers. The 2003 Massachusetts decision was the first in the nation, while the Connecticut ruling went into effect Nov. 12.

Police investigate explosion in Starbucks in Rhode IslandThe Associated Press Friday January 02, 2009, 9:22 AM Police are investigating a small explosion that led to the evacuation of a Starbucks coffee shop in Providence, R.I. No injuries were reported and police said the only damage was minor charring on the floor. Investigators believe someone set off a homemade incendiary device in a plastic soda bottle as a prank Thursday night, police Maj. Thomas Oates said. About 25 people were in the shop on the city's East Side when the explosion happened. **SNIP**

Updated nation wide poll on "Do you think there is any merit to the controversy surrounding Barack Obama's citizenship?"... this poll originally came out 12/5/08 and looked dramatically different than now!!!!

Claiborne deBorda Pell, 90, who served as United States senator from Rhode Island from 1961 to 1997, died shortly after midnight today at his home in Newport. Democrat Pell, who had suffered from Parkinson’s disease since before his retirement from the Senate, died peacefully in the presence of his wife, Nuala O’Donnell Pell, and family members, according to a statement released by the family. Pell, perhaps best known nationally for the college grant program that bears his name, focused heavily on education, the arts and humanities, and foreign affairs during his 36 years in the Senate. During the latter part...

2008 was filled with triumphs and setbacks for Rhode Island’s GLBT community, and featured a scandal involving openly gay Providence Mayor David Cicilline. Cicilline was the subject of some complaints from the GLBT community when he failed to show up for the Pride festival in June. Cicilline had been announced as one of the grand marshals for the Illuminated Nighttime Parade. United States Senator Sheldon Whitehouse filled in for Cicilline as Grand Marshal. Rodney Davis, co-chairman of RI Pride, later claimed the city had thrown "stumbling blocks" in the organization’s path, making it difficult for RI Pride to put on...

PROVIDENCE –– Faced with exploding budget deficits, key lawmakers are seriously considering taxing movie tickets, newspapers, haircuts, car repairs, and even bowling, among a host of goods and services currently exempt from the state’s 7 percent sales tax.