Free Republic

The effort to get same sex marriage on the California ballot in 2010 took a hit Monday. Rick Jacbos, the leader of the 700,000-member Courage Campaign just told us that after spending more than $200,000 on "qualitative research" into the issue in California that "We do not see a path to victory." So, the Courage Campaign sent a note to its supporters Monday calling for "for more research and time to change hearts and minds before returning to the ballot." Lambda Legal, a LGBT legal organization, said largely the same thing Monday. Jacobs told us that the research -- led...

Washington – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, today responded to the “Manhattan Declaration” produced and released by 145 evangelical, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders indicating that they will not cooperate with laws that conflict with their beliefs, including those recognizing same-sex couples. The document also references the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) as a threat to religious liberty. Yet ENDA – which prohibits workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity – broadly exempts religious organizations. The declaration also argues that religious groups that receive public funds...

Van Jones may have resigned but there are over 30 other "czars" in the White House we need to be aware of and start targeting one by one. Van Jones was easy pickings. His trail was very public, very well documented and contained many easy use statements on videotape from his speaking engagements. I doubt more powerful and possibly more radical "czars" will be as blatant in their public disregard for America and American values. We surround them. Remember, only 1/3rd of colonists were self-described patriots and only 10% of colonists actively took up arms or directly supported the Revolutionary...

Obama and ‘Redistributive Change’ Forget the recession and the “uninsured.” Obama has bigger fish to fry. By Victor Davis Hanson The first seven months of the Obama administration seemingly make no sense. Why squander public approval by running up astronomical deficits in a time of pre-existing staggering national debt? Why polarize opponents after promising bipartisan transcendence? Why create vast new programs when the efficacy of big government is already seen as dubious? But that is exactly the wrong way to look at these first seven months of Obamist policy-making. Take increased federal spending and the growing government absorption of GDP....

August 26, 2009, 4:00 a.m. Obama and ‘Redistributive Change’Forget the recession and the “uninsured.” Obama has bigger fish to fry. By Victor Davis Hanson The first seven months of the Obama administration seemingly make no sense. Why squander public approval by running up astronomical deficits in a time of pre-existing staggering national debt? Why polarize opponents after promising bipartisan transcendence? Why create vast new programs when the efficacy of big government is already seen as dubious? But that is exactly the wrong way to look at these first seven months of Obamist policy-making. Take increased federal spending and the...

Come what may in regard to President Obama’s Health Care reform bill, what will most likely stand out in the process is the national rebellion against the bill’s beltway intrusiveness. Many on the Right have warned for decades of the creeping hand of government--a government that has methodically tightened its grip around a free nation. Through legislation and judicial fiat, the incremental confiscation of basic freedoms and the wealth that often enables those very freedoms, progressive policy has become the prime impediment to America’s promise of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

I have noticed that many leftist/socialist/communist regimes end in bloodshed. Well save a few, like Poland. Any reasons why that happens and why the end in bloodshed? Nazis Germany-World War II Soviet Union-Christmas Day Coup Fascist Italy-World War II. Benito Mussolini was executed and hanged in public. Salvador Allende-September 11, 1973 Coup Communist Romania-Nicolae CeauÅŸescu got executed Baathist Iraq-America invaded Iraq in 2003

Sen. Dick Durbin was just 10 or 11 when he and his cousin Mike sneaked out behind a garage in East St. Louis, Ill., to have a smoke, Durbin's first. He didn't care much for the taste of the cigarette but, unfortunately, Mike did. Mike died two weeks ago of tobacco-related lung disease. "There he was, on oxygen, smoking the night before he died," remembered Durbin, D-Ill. "He just could not quit. It is a terrible addiction." Durbin's father, also a smoker, died at age 53 of lung cancer. "It was devastating to my family," Durbin said... ~snip" Reid said...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An Obama administration official says the administration will appoint a "special master" to oversee executives' compensation at companies receiving large amounts of government aid, with the power to reject pay plans deemed excessive. The official said the special master will review the compensation for the top 100 salaried employees at firms that receive exceptional assistance under the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Among the companies that could be affected would be Bank of America, General Motors and the American International Group. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the program had not yet been...

Why not legalize same-sex marriage? Who could it possibly hurt? Children and the rest of society. That’s the conclusion of David Blankenhorn, who is anything but an anti-gay “bigot.” He is a life-long, pro-gay, liberal democrat who disagrees with the Bible’s prohibitions against homosexual behavior. Despite this, Blankenhorn makes a powerful case against Same-Sex marriage in his book, The Future of Marriage. He writes, “Across history and cultures . . . marriage’s single most fundamental idea is that every child needs a mother and a father. Changing marriage to accommodate same-sex couples would nullify this principle in culture and in...

Cass Sunstein sees Web as anti-democratic, proposed 24-hour delay on sending e-mail WASHINGTON – Barack Obama's nominee for "regulatory czar" has advocated a "Fairness Doctrine" for the Internet that would require opposing opinions be linked and also has suggested angry e-mails should be prevented from being sent by technology that would require a 24-hour cooling off period. The revelations about Cass Sunstein, Obama's friend from the University of Chicago Law School and nominee to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, come in a new book by Brad O'Leary, "Shut Up, America! The End of Free Speech."...

Senators have tabled, or killed, an amendment offered by Senator David Vitter (R-LA) to the Serve America Act (S. 277 / H.R. 1388) by a vote of 53 to 43.The amendment would state that no funds within the underlying bill for various service-related programs can go to “ACORN or any of its affiliate organizations in any way.”ACORN stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. It’s a community organizing group for “low- and moderate-income people” according to its website.The group’s political committees generally support Democrats. You’ll recall that it came under fire in the media for alleged voter...

Interestingly enough an important amendment brought to the floor today was not in the H.R. 1388 when it passed the Senate today. The first presented by Sen Vitter (LA) wanted to insure that no money be made available to ACORN and its affiliates, on the grounds that it is a organization with possibly suspect behaviour and that including it in the bill would not be able to politicize charitable giving and activities. Saying that the bill doesn’t allow politicized does not necessarily protect the country from ACORN’s “so-called” charitable activities. ACORN has already received considerable funding from the government, for...

Charlie Rangel, one of Congress' Dem professional criminals, was just interviewed by Chris Wallance on "Fox News Sunday." Among other bombshells was his answer to Wallace's question about the AIG bonus kerfuffle. Rangel suggested that, regarding private businesses that take no bailout, he is planning on limiting the pay and bonuses received by ANY business manager, whether the company involved has received any government money or not, to ensure the "fairness" of the system. Barney Frank has already stated as much although we haven't heard much on this from Frank since the beginning of the year. But it seems clear...

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined a broad economic vision Tuesday, saying it's time to replace an "on your own" society with one based on shared responsibility and prosperity. The Democratic senator said what the Bush administration touts as an "ownership society" really is an "on your own" society that has widened the gap between rich and poor. "I prefer a 'we're all in it together' society," she said. "I believe our government can once again work for all Americans. It can promote the great American tradition of opportunity for all and special privileges for none."...

BE HERE, OR BE NOWHERE!

BE HERE, OR BE NOWHERE!

A coalition of 18 advocacy groups is opposing Arizona Senator John McCain's plans to introduce legislation to ban so-called "527" groups. McCain is preparing legislation that coalition leaders believe would stifle the political speech of groups that, ironically, were started as a result of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill passed by Congress in 2002.

While the White House is taking a hands-off approach to the 2008 GOP presidential primaries so far, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is quietly seeing an administration cheerleading section grow. One insider said that it is built on the fact that Giuliani continues to beat Sen. John McCain in the polls and also because he is offering to stick with several Bush programs, including an aggressive stance against terrorists, and promises to name conservative judges to the court. One Bush official today noted Giuliani's pledge to nominate conservative judges and applauded the New Yorker for making that claim in...

Nobody can discredit the talent, skill and sheer genius of Frank Sinatra. Emerging onto the music scene in 1935, the hoodlum from Hoboken went from the marketplace to the marquee. For six decades this musical rock of Gibraltar wooed audiences from Jersey to Japan, Connecticut to Cambodia. He was a living legend. But like most legends, Sinatra had an Achilles heel. While drugs, alcohol and cigarettes may be addictive, the spotlight is down right infectious, and when one has occupied the spotlight for decades, it is pretty much impossible to vacate it. Sinatra, even though a maverick of music, fell...

Views of Giuliani put GOP to the test His moderate stands on social issues part with conservative base .......On the first day of his five-day California swing, a blog popular with state conservatives, Flash Report.org, posted a YouTube clip from a February 2000 Meet the Press in which Giuliani boasts that no public official in the nation is "more strongly pro-immigrant than I am." For conservatives who want a president who will crack down on illegal immigration, that sort of talk is very troubling. "That's a big mistake," said Linda Sutter, 50, of Crescent City, Calif., who supports Giuliani because...

Rudy Giuliani Has Got What You Need Posted by Mark Radulich on 02.15.2007 It won't matter what Giuliani thinks about about abortion if Iran drops a bomb on us. And quite frankly I'm much less worried about Islamic terrorism with President Giuliani in charge than President Brownback or Clinton.The story right now being bandied about by the mainstream media and the talk radio world is that the GOP has no front-runner for the 2008 Presidential election or that the front-runners are not exactly inspiring anyone. The three most prominent names right now are obviously John McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani....

In 1993 it became obvious that if Rudy was to avenge his narrow defeat for Mayor four years earlier, he would need more Democratic voters to cross party lines and support him. His campaign strategists knew I was disenchanted with the incumbent and put a full court press on me to meet with Giuliani. I was the elected head of the Democratic Party in a large Democratic district whose vote could be pivotal if it turned out for the I met him and we talked for about an hour. He impressed me then as he does now with his intelligence,...

[snip] Giuliani transformed a city whose budget and workforce were larger than those of all but five or six states. He and police chief William Bratton famously cracked down first on quality of life crimes like panhandling and public urination. Teenagers who leaped over the turnstiles at subway entrances were arrested — a departure from the practice under Mayor David Dinkins. Giuliani later quipped that the police under his predecessor had become "highly skilled observers of crime." Those turnstile jumpers turned out to possess a huge number of illegal guns, which were confiscated, and criminals throughout the city discovered that...

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has led the field for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination in most polls of GOP voters. His popularity among the party’s mainly conservative base is founded on his image of standing tall and reassuring New Yorkers following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on their city, though some voters also know him for his tough-on-crime persona and efforts to rein in government spending. But there are aspects of Giuliani’s record; his views, especially on volatile social issues; and his personal past that do not thrill conservative activists. In fact, some are inalterably opposed to...

Rudy Giuliani's announcement that he will seek the Republican presidential nomination brings to my mind a book I wrote in the early 1990s, "The Conservative Crack-Up." When I wrote the book, Ronald Reagan's successor, President George H. W. Bush, was ignoring many of the constituent ingredients of the Reagan Revolution, for instance, tax cuts. The various factions of the conservative coalition were disgruntled and threatening to take a walk. Once again liberal pundits were diagnosing the conservative movement as moribund. Ever since the conservative movement's ascendancy within the Republican Party in 1964, these grim diagnoses have been handed down episodically....

A local public relations heavyweight with ties to the Bush family has joined Rudy Giuliani's presidential team. Gordon C. James Public Relations is doing work for the former New York City Mayor's presidential bid. Gordon James has done work in the past for former President George H.W. Bush and current President George W. Bush. That includes inauguration planning, advance and public relations work. James' wife, Lisa, ran the Bush/Cheney 2008 campaign. She also works for the public relations firm and ran unsuccessfully for chair of the Arizona Republican Party last month. Gordon James told The Business Journal he had no...

Rudy Giuliani will prevent a conservative crack-up. Today, after very little effort, Giuliani is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination. Dick Morris is predicting a Giuliani vs. Clinton race in 2008. Yet some conservatives are dubious of the man who cleaned up New York, returned it to a vigor unimaginable from the 1960s through the 1980s, and then led New York and the country heroically through 9/11. Well, one knows a politician by the company he keeps, and Giuliani has around him the financial people who created the libertarian-conservative Manhattan Institute. He relied heavily on the Institute's policies while governing...

'THAT WAS A PRESIDENT... McCAIN ON MTP WAS A SENATOR... AND HILLARY IS A MONSTER'(Dick Morris on Giuliani) by Mia T, 2.05.07 Will be posting the Giuliani interview here shortly...

Breaking on Fox News. Giuliani Files Statement of Candidacy for President No article yet.

See video for Hillary's plan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1PfE9K8j0g

More voters say they would be comfortable with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as president than other top 2008 contenders, though majorities would also be comfortable with other leaders from both parties, according to the latest FOX News Poll. In addition, of all the 2008 hopefuls — announced or frequently mentioned as a possibility — voters want to hear more from one candidate specifically: Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. Opinion Dynamics Corporation conducted the national telephone poll of 900 registered voters for FOX News from January 30 to January 31. The poll has a 3-point error margin.

(CBS/AP) WILMINGTON, Del. -- Rudy Giuliani remains noncommittal on a possible bid for the GOP presidential nomination. The former New York mayor, however, sounded campaign-like themes in a speech to Delaware Republicans on Friday. He said the biggest question one has to ask is, "Can you really lead the country?"' The answer, he said, is that if he believes that he can do it, than he will. And if he doesn't, he'll support someone else. Giuliani said the key trait a leader needs is optimism. People follow hopes, he said, and they follow dreams and solutions to problems. The...

New York's next governor is more (and less) dangerous than you thinkEverything you need to know about Eliot Spitzer's future you can learn from two clicks on Amazon.com. New York State's attorney general is the subject of a comprehensive new biography, Spoiling for a Fight, by The Washington Post's white-collar crime reporter Brooke A. Masters. And Rudy Giuliani, that other New Yorker of wide forehead and wider renown, has won the hardcover treatment from Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins in a tome artfully titled Grand Illusion. Check out their Amazon pages and you'll find that the Rudy book is a...

Police arrest 67 at checkpoints Wednesday, May 31, 2006 By NADIA M. TAYLOR Staff Reporter Officers issued more than 1,800 tickets and arrested 67 people over the Memorial Day weekend at several driver's license checkpoints throughout the city, police said. Most of the 1,834 tickets issued were for not having a driver's license or proof of insurance, according to interim Mobile police Chief Lester Hargrove. Fifty-four people were arrested on outstanding misdemeanor warrants, and 13 people were arrested on felony warrants, Hargrove said. Most charges stemmed from traffic violations or drug offenses, police said. One man, Carl Mitchell Washington, 22,...

GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. (April 25) - A woman in a wheelchair who swung knives and a hammer at relatives and police died after being shocked by a stun gun, officials said. Police tried to talk Emily Marie Delafield, 56, into dropping the weapons before they used the Taser to subdue her Monday, Police Chief Robert Musco said. Delafield lost consciousness after the electric jolt and later died at Orange Park Medical Center. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating and an autopsy will be conducted to determine a cause of death. The two officers involved have been put...

Why Statists Always Get it Wrong by Per Bylund [Posted on Monday, February 20, 2006][Subscribe at email services and tell others] In a recent article, Carl Milsted uses Rothbard to argue it would be permissible to use force to make people pay for a service of which their benefit is at least double its cost. His conclusion is that it is reasonable, and even preferable, to establish a minimalist state if it is to people's advantage. As has already been argued by N. Stephan Kinsella, he totally misses Rothbard's point. Furthermore, he fails to show why people would not choose...

The Bush administration, seeking to revive an online pornography law struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, has subpoenaed Google Inc. for details on what its users have been looking for through its popular search engine. Google has refused to comply with the subpoena, issued last year, for a broad range of material from its databases, including a request for 1 million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period, lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department said in papers filed Wednesday in federal court in San Jose. Privacy advocates have been increasingly scrutinizing Google's practices...

News Veterans notes Last week we showed you the strong words American Legion National Commander, Tom Cadmus, had for Congress and their inaction during this session. Now Commander Cadmus has additional strong words for the leadership of the U.S. Senate on both sides of the aisle. As most citizens know The American Legion has been working to see that the American Flag is protected from desecration by enactment of a constitutional amendment. All 50 states have voted to ask Congress for a chance to vote on a constitutional amendment to protect the flag. Public opinion polls taken yearly have shown...

   And Speaking of Thumb SuckersDecember 11, 2003  La Leche League (another international organization) has succeeded in creating a legion of perpetually voracious thumb suckers.  Somewhere along the transitive path from opportunity to self-endowed “rights”, character development has morphed from “strength through adversity” into “entitlement through victimization”.  Perseverance is now defined as the “right” to total avoidance.  In our gradeless society, the individual always earns a pass because any hint of failure is the fault of someone else. In the never-never land of the far right hide the eternal malcontents under the Antistatist pseudonym.  On the surface, the Antistatists seek the admirable...

You would have never heard of Karl Marx had it not been for V.I. Lenin. Marx was neither terribly successful nor terribly important in his own right, and had it not been for a revolution carried out three decades after his death, he would be a footnote at best. But on this May Day, the high holy day of Communism and Socialism, it is important that we remember. As a student, both in England and America, I often heard the refrain -- even from conservatives -- that "communism wouldn't have been so bad if it had been carried out...

<p>NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Florida attorney Jack Thompson is not what you'd call a supporter of the video game industry. Over the past couple of years, his name has become synonymous with legal threats to publishers and developers he alleges create games that lead to real-world violence.</p>

War is caused by statists, who destroy individual rights. The Nobel Peace Prize was just awarded to Jimmy Carter. Although Carter’s efforts to convince Egypt to recognize Israel’s right to exist was a genuine achievement, he has otherwise continuously betrayed the principles on which peace depends. For many years Carter, espousing collectivist ideals, has traipsed the globe treating aggressor and victim with equal respect. For example, he aided the nuclear program of North Korea, the most repressive dictatorship on Earth and part of the axis of evil. Carter’s trip last May to Cuba, where he sanctioned and supported the dictator...