Free Republic

Bronze statutes of two Confederate generals are being taken from public property in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, almost four years after they were a flashpoint for a violent "Unite the Right" rally that left one person dead. Heavy machinery lifted a statue of Robert E. Lee in Market Street Park from its stone base around 8 a.m. A crowd that gathered to watch clapped and cheered.

The Constitution of South Dakota says, in Section 24 of Article VI, the following: The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the state shall not be denied. The language is plain, with perhaps the only confusion being that of the word ‘shall.’ The word itself is nearly synonymous with ‘will,’ except that when used in a sentence in the 2ND or 3RD person it implies authority, command, threat, promise, determination, and/or inevitability. By its usage in the above cited constitutional section its meaning can be discerned obviously as being a command, and being...

It is the equivalent of the bible for Wisconsin political and media junkies, and its biennial publication makes its release celebrated among the state’s political class. It is the Wisconsin Blue Book. First published in 1853, the Blue Book is a product of the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. It was one of the best legislative and political resources available to Wisconsinites on their state government, filled with the biographies of all state and federal office holders, information on state government agencies, statistical data, recent election results and the Wisconsin Constitution. But is it time to make changes to the Blue...

Will the governor sign the death certificate for his brainchild? The House unanimously voted late Monday to accept Senate changes to House Bill 1201, Rep. Lois Kolkhorst's legislation that would remove all references to the Trans-Texas Corridor from state statutes. And, oh yes, allow an 85 mph speed limit on certain roads completed after June. The bill now goes to Gov. Rick Perry for his signature, or his veto. For now, the only road likely to qualify for the 85 mph limit will be the southern 40 miles of the Texas 130 tollway, now under construction between the southeast outskirts...

PRISTINA, Kosovo (Nov. 1) - Thousands of ethnic Albanians braved low temperatures and a cold wind in Kosovo's capital Pristina to welcome former President Bill Clinton on Sunday as he attended the unveiling of an 11-foot (3.5-meter) statue of himself on a key boulevard that also bears his name. Clinton is celebrated as a hero by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority for launching NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999 that stopped the brutal Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians. This is his first visit to Kosovo since it declared independence from Serbia last year. Many waved American, Albanian and...

A spokesman for the family of Terri Schindler Schiavo said Thursday the Florida judge presiding over her case "ignores the state's laws and orders the premeditated killing of a disabled Florida woman by her husband." Pamela Hennessy, media director for the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, in a press release Thursday called on disability and eldercare advocates to press for Circuit Judge George Greer's "immediate impeachment." "If there is a single person following this who doesn't believe Judge Greer has legislated from the bench, trampled Florida's laws and deprived Terri Schiavo of her retained rights, they are simply not paying attention," Hennessy...

There's an old saying in the legal community: "Bad facts make bad law." Activist judges continue to prove that bad judges make bad law. The Jan. 20 decision in U.S. v. Extreme Associates dramatically shows just what judicial activism really is and the real dangers that it poses to society. The Justice Department had brought a 10-count indictment against a company called Extreme Associates, which produces films that, according to one report, "even porn veterans find disturbing." Extreme co-owner Janet Romano, whose "professional" name is Lizzy Borden, admitted in a May 2001 interview that women in their films, receive real...

If you are looking for a reason to vote for Ralph Nader, the way both parties are handling the “gay marriage” issue should give you lots of data. John Kerry, when asked his opinion of “gay marriage,” looks like a dog getting a bath, as Chris Hitchens puts it. Kerry says he personally opposes “gay marriage”—but he favors civil unions, which are exactly the same thing. The states, he says, should decide the issue, but he voted against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, which was specifically designed to allow each state to reject marriage licenses issued in other...

FORT WORTH - Donnie and Tara Reese celebrate their son Clarence's birthday every year at his small grave in vast Greenwood Cemetery. It's one way of dealing with the loss of their son, who died at a hospital before ever taking a breath. "I bring him presents, a balloon, a cake," Tara Reese said last week as she stood over Clarence's headstone. "Everybody sits down and eats some of the cake here." Besides drawing the Reeses to the cemetery each year, the love they feel for their stillborn son has put the shy River Oaks couple into the middle of...

Florida Man Wades into Kobe Drama Lawyer asks judge to bar cameras from court to keep filth off television By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News August 20, 2003 The peanut gallery surrounding the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case keeps expanding and is making itself heard loud and clear. On Tuesday, one day after a Boulder couple associated with the JonBenet Ramsey murder investigation filed papers in the Bryant case which one legal observer labeled a "legal version of junk mail," a Florida attorney with no previous connection to the Eagle County proceedings waded into the Bryant drama with a motion...

§ 23-15-855. Elections to fill vacancies in office of U.S. Senator; interim appointments by Governor. (1) If a vacancy shall occur in the office of United States Senator from Mississippi by death, resignation or otherwise, the Governor shall, within ten (10) days after receiving official notice of such vacancy, issue his proclamation for an election to be held in the state to elect a Senator to fill such unexpired term as may remain, provided the unexpired term is more than twelve (12) months and the election shall be held within ninety (90) days from the time the proclamation is...