Free Republic

Hello FreeRepublic. My name is Nathan I'm a GIS Mapping Technician in Ohio. I want to put my skills to good use in trying to restore America to its common sense roots. I created this map to show the votes of representatives on HR2454, otherwise known as Cap and Trade. If you are so inclined you can contact the representatives that voted for it and ask them to redact their votes. If you want to download the better PDF that better shows counties and congressional districts, go to my SkyDrive and download. Feel free to pass it on to anyone...

CORFU, Greece (Reuters) - The European Union on Sunday condemned Iran's crackdown on post-election protesters and said the EU would meet any Iranian intimidation of European diplomatic staff with a "strong and collective response". Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country takes over the EU presidency from Wednesday, said the Iranian government had been weakened at home and abroad. "Obviously the regime is trying to preserve its position by very harsh repression. But that cannot hide the fact that this is a weakened regime. It has lost legitimacy both internally and externally," Bildt said. EU foreign ministers were meeting on...

On the evening of June 27, 1844, an armed lynch mob descended upon the Carthage, Ill., jail. The mob, their faces disguised with a mixture of mud and gunpowder, was bent on killing Joseph Smith, the powerful Mormon prophet and founding father of the Church of Latter Day Saints. The Illinois governor had placed Smith under arrest for, among other crimes, ordering the destruction of a printing press that produced the first edition of the Nauvoo Expositor, a newspaper critical of Smith and the practices of his religious movement. The destruction of the press was not the best public relations...

During the last 30 years we Americans have been so politically divided that some of us have called this left-right, liberal-conservative split a "culture war" or even a "second Civil War." These descriptions are no longer accurate. The precise, technical word for what is happening in the United States today is revolution.

Nowhere in the Constitution is there a guaranteed freedom from being offended. It is not a right that comes with American citizenship, like the right to vote. Just the opposite. If the Constitution had a warning label, it would read: Caution, your right to freedom of speech means others have a parallel right, which is highly likely to occasionally provoke anger, annoyance, disgust and offense. This is a very small price to pay for the ability to speak our minds. But apparently it is too high for some. These people are the overly sensitive, easily wounded, walking eggshells among us...

USA is winning the final of the Confederation CUP, shortly before half time 2-0!!

Is this reform in the tradition of Hitler to filter out high heath maintenance citizens? Watch this testimony, very disturbing.

Around the corner from our office are a couple of antique stores that sell what I can only describe as the world's worst kitsch. A specialty is giant garden statuary of prepubescent children doing idyllic things that no kid has done since 1897, like playing leap-frog or fishin' with a branch. I figured the stores, which are always packed to the rafters, were some kind of money-laundering front. Now I know better. They were supplying Michael Jackson. If you have a few minutes, go check out the auction catalogs for Jackson's Neverland Ranch. The King of Pop, in desperate need...

Oldest known icon of St. Paul discovered! http://singinginthereign.blogspot.com/2009/06/oldest-icon-of-st-paul-discovered.html

Confederations Cup USA vs Brazil

WASHINGTON (AP) - One of President Barack Obama's top advisers says Republicans are using inaction as a political strategy. White House aide David Axelrod said Sunday that the GOP has used its opposition to a climate change bill as a plan for next year's congressional elections. He said the rival party should instead focus on how to help rebuild the economy.

BELLINGHAM -- The initiative that made Washington the second state to legalize physician-assisted suicide is the stuff of double-edged language and hard ethical choices. "It is a fact of life. We need to live with it," Arline Hinckley of Compassion & Choices of Washington State, which supports the initiative, told a packed house Wednesday at Bellingham City Club. "We have had two persons take advantage of the law in this state," she added. But the Whatcom County Medical Society has asked opposing physicians -- those who will not help patients kill themselves -- to identify themselves. "Many have done that,"...

Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets holding separate protests to support and condemn private TV station Globovision, which leftist President Hugo Chavez has threatened to shut down. Protesters aligned with the opposition called for "defending access to information" and denounced "the persecution against Globovision that seeks to close it permanently" in a statement read after their march. Caracas has stepped up its criticism of Globovision, the only anti-Chavez station still broadcasting on Venezuela's public airwaves, with the country's telecommunications regulator launching four different investigations into the channel for alleged violations. Police have searched a mansion belonging to the station's...

On Friday people flooded Representatives with phone calls, faxes and emails opposing the so called Cap and Trade bill (aka Cap and tax). I can personally attest to two toll free capital switchboard phones lines(800-828-0498, 877-762-8762) being busy from at least 7:45am-8:30pm. Rush Limbaugh commented during his radio show phone lines, email servers and fax machines were overwhelmed. Unfortunately the vote was 219-212 in favor of this socialist legislation with 8 Republicans supporting socialism. This could be viewed in one of two ways. One is the glass half full point of view as people are becoming more involved with the...

(AP) — AKRON, Ohio - Standing on brown earth on a flat field hundreds of yards from the nearest road, Don Carey is surrounded by tiny plants. He walks along a three-quarter-acre plot in a desolate spot in this rural township in northeastern Portage County and looks at the thousands of tobacco plants he is growing. Carey, 49, decided in April, when federal taxes on tobacco skyrocketed, to grow his own.

If you’ve been following the news closely you will have seen a wide variety of comments on the economy. Some paint a rosy picture, telling us that things are getting better and the recession will end in a few months, while others tell us we are headed for a depression to make the 30s look like a boom time. To help you evaluate the true condition of our economy, here are the top twelve indicators that the economy is bad: 12. CEO's are now playing miniature golf. 11. I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail. 10. I went...

Soldiers seized the national palace and sent President Manuel Zelaya into exile in Costa Rica on Sunday, hours before a disputed constitutional referendum. Zelaya, a leftist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said he was victim of a coup. The Supreme Court said it was supporting the military in what it called a defense of democracy, and the Honduran ambassador to the Organization of American States said the military was planning to swear in Congressional President Roberto Micheletti to replace Zelaya. Zelaya was arrested shortly before polls were to open in a referendum on whether to change the constitution. The...

For those keeping up (or trying to) with the eBay auction of the purported Obama birth certificate from Kenya I have communicated with the seller via ebay This is the last message I recieved: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hi, thanks for your note. The Barack Obama Birth Certificate auction is up again, for a 4th time. The auction number is 160345151420. You'll probably have to search for it by the auction number as of right now. The auction is still new and might not show up in a listing name seach just yet. However, the listing is titled: Profoundly interesting document found in...

Michael Jackson's death: Sharpton plans meeting with family to 'preserve and protect Michael's legacy' June 28, 2009 The Rev. Al Sharpton is scheduled to meet with members of the Jackson family at their Encino compound this evening, making him the second prominent African American civil rights leader to advise the family in the wake of Michael Jackson's death. His visit comes a day after the Rev. Jesse Jackson said the family was concerned about the medical care Michael Jackson received at his Holmby Hills home before he died Thursday. A Sharpton spokesman told Newsday that he was going to "meet...