Free Republic

A three judge panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals may have a decision next Tuesday as to whether the initiative to change political redistricting is on the November ballot. But while today's two hour hearing focused on legal and constitutional issues, it also shed some light on what might become a political powderkeg: who knew there were problems with the initiative's language, and when? In particular, Dan Kolkey, the attorney representing the authors of Proposition 77, was asked when he knew of the language differences between what was circulated for signatures, and what was submitted to the Attorney...

I have run spybot and it didn't see it. I despise MS' model for adding "features" to IE.

Liberals and criminals alike are anxiously awaiting the verdict on Illinois’ newest gun ban, HB 2414. Honestly, it’s hard to tell who’s more excited. I guess liberals figure if they can’t keep Americans from buying guns, they’ll try putting people in prison for owning them. Meanwhile, thousands of law-abiding citizens in Illinois are forced to imagine being incarcerated for legally purchasing and owning a gun. That’s the idea behind The People’s Republic of Illinois House Bill 2414, in which gun owners would have 90 days to surrender their legally purchased semi-automatic firearms to the police, or face felony prosecution and...

CBS's Lesley Stahl and MSNBC's Chris Matthews, both liberal Democrats, whined repeatedly on Hardball about bloggers and other alternative media who have deflated the liberal media monopoly Matthews, who hosts a show of unedited opinions, rued how news is "coming out of blog sites and stuff that is unedited in a lot of cases, which is my big problem with it."There's no editors around." Stahl complained "it's contributing to the public's continuing dislike of us and mistrust of us." Stahl, who works for an outlet which used forged memos in a political hit job, lamented that instead of checking facts,...

Does anyone have their ear to the ground regarding "The Warroom" and the potential for nationwide syndication?

commentary Javad Gholam Tamayomi, Omid Memarian, Shahram Rafihzadeh, Hanif Mazroi, Rozbeh Mir Ebrahimi, Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and Fereshteh Ghazi are some of the most courageous people you've never met. Not exactly household names, but each deserves a standing ovation. During a crackdown against Iran's nascent online press last year, these sundry online journalists and bloggers got chucked into jail. The cyber seven were subsequently released but continue to invite the periodic and not-so-tender attention of the local police. A blogger named Mojtaba Saminejad, also arrested on trumped-up charges at the beginning of November after condemning the jailings in his blog, is...

SUNBURG, Minn. - A man died after being attacked by a bull on a farm near this small town about 20 miles northwest of Willmar, authorities said. Kandiyohi County Sheriff Dan Hartog said Brian Olson, 53, was wounded by a bull at his farm and taken to a Willmar hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Deputies said Olson was either kicked or butted by the bull.

SANFORD, Fla. - Eleven people directed to the wrong courtroom in the Seminole County Courthouse were arrested and jailed when they didn't appear before the proper judge, who was in an adjoining courtroom less than 100 feet away. The six men and five women spent eight hours Friday in a Seminole County Jail cell before everything was straightened out. "I'm hungry, I'm tired and I'm disgusted," said Frantarshia Coleman, after she was released from jail. "This is ridiculous. This is disgusting." Coleman, 33, of Orlando was in court on a ticket for not having her registration and proof of insurance....

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

I was just thinking about the Jeremy Glick episode. O'Reilly may be moderate politically, but that doesn't mean unbiased these days. His problem is that he isn't neutral when it comes to the United States. He is pro-American. To the left, that's biased.

U.S. and Iraqi forces patrolling Fallujah have discovered a weapons cache large enough to supply a nationwide “insurgency.” The weapons were found in central Fallujah’s Saad Abi Bin Waqas mosque, where Sunni cleric Abdullah al-Janabi preached hatred. How many times have Coalition forces been shot at from mosques or found weapons stockpiles hidden in them? Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army used Shiite Islam’s most holy shrine, the Imam Ali mosque, to wage their campaign of murder and mayhem in Najaf. Just how are all we infidels supposed to believe that Islam is truly a “religion of peace?” Just when...

There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq during the month of January. In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 MURDERS in the month of January Thats one American city about as deadly as the entire country of Iraq as war. When some claim President Bush shouldn't have started the war, state the following FDR led us into WW2 Germany never attacked us the Japanese did From 1941-1945, 450.000 lives were lost an average of 112,500 per year Truman finished that war and started one in Korea. North Korea never attacked us from 1950-1953, 65,000 lives were lost...

third of 12-year-old boys in the Gaza strip want to become martyrs for the Palestinian cause. Are they victims of Israeli oppression or their own side's propaganda? Ed O'Loughlin reports. A Friday afternoon in Gaza City and a Palestinian militant group is staging a passing-out parade for its newest graduates. On a dirt soccer pitch, 24 masked recruits of the Popular Resistance Committee go through a program of song, march and very ragged foot drill. Some clutch real rifles, others wooden cut-outs. The crowd of onlookers is appreciative, but smaller than it might have been. There are wanted men...

Concerning those forged memos: What did John Kerry know and when did he know it? There are a few seldom mentioned interesting facts that almost answer that question. The accumulation of "facts" do not speak well for John Kerry and his campaign workers at all. The first interesting tidbit was published in the Sept. 21 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle[1]. The lead paragraph tells the story: "Former Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign heard but did not pursue allegations about George W. Bush's Air National Guard service, similar to the information in discredited documents aired by CBS News this...

I ordered 3 copies of Unfit for Command from Amazon last week. I am still waiting for them to be shipped. Tonight, on our way home we were listening to Mark Levin talking to people give anecdotes from people trying to buy the book and the troubles that people were having with that. We decided to stop by Barnes and Noble since it was on our way home. Here is what followed: I walked in and Bill's book is front and center as you walk in the door. I walked around looking for the book. Well, you guessed it, nowhere...

Hi, I'm fairly new to FR, and there are some terms I'm confused about. I have an idea, but I want to make sure I have it right. Bump-does it stand for anything? Ping-Pass it on to the next guy? Any other FR terms I should know?

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger is playing both ends of the gender gap in his run for California governor, booking an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" while seeking a guest spot on the testosterone-fueled radio show hosted by Howard Stern. The Republican movie star turned candidate is set to appear with his Democratic wife, Maria Shriver, on Monday's season premiere of "Oprah," the leading syndicated daytime talk show whose principal audience is voting-age women.

Didn't find a post on this so I thought I'd start one. Post your comments and reactions to Rush Limbaugh's debut on ESPN.

Can someone update me on the status of the Child Tax Rebates we were supposed to be getting starting this July? Also, the retroactive tax rate decrease ( to last Jan ), that was supposed tokick in?

When I changed parties a few years ago, many of my Republican friends couldn't believe it. After all, I'd been a Republican since my first vote. I had long dreamt of the day when the Republicans would win control of the House and Senate. In 1994 I got my wish. I was certain the policies Ronald Reagan espoused would soon become a reality. Spending and taxes would fall faster than sweat from a fat man's brow on a hot day in Juarez. Freedom from government regulation would reign across the land. Political expedience in the legislature would come to a...