Free Republic

By Mr. Curmudgeon:Democrat Joe Morissey rose to his feet in the Virginia House of Delegates to protest the tabling by that body's Militia and Police subcommittee of his Obama-like gun-control measure. To emphasize his point, he hoisted an AK-47, single-handed, over his head, pointing the weapon's muzzle at the ceiling - like a celebratory Taliban fighter at a traditional Afghan wedding. "... You can take this gun," said Morrissey, "you can walk in the middle of Main Street loaded and not be in violation of the law."In response, Republican Delegate Todd Gilbert quickly rose to his feet and made a...

Enough already with the spirit of defeat by our friends here. Show some backbone and stop bashing Republicans. We lost the election due to rigid concepts over religion so Romney s faith kept voters home. We should have won easy. A house divided cannot stand. Please stop bashing our allies and let the Obama chickens come home to roost. Obama will pay for his blindness. Let us stop hating our own.

Nobel Prize winning left-wing economist Paul Krugman maintains that concern about bloated government spending and multi-trillion dollar debt is unwarranted. “The right-wing enemies of President Obama are playing on the average person’s fears of bankruptcy in order to limit his power,” Krugman said. “While it may be true that an individual who owes more than he can pay could face financial ruin, the same is not true for the Government.” “A key difference is that most individuals’ income is restricted to what they can earn by offering services in the marketplace,” Krugman continued. “Government, though, doesn’t have to earn its...

Has America’s choo-choo jumped the tracks? I was out of the country for a few days and news from this great republic reached me only fitfully. I have learned to be wary of foreign reporting of U.S. events, since America can come off sounding faintly deranged. Much of what reached me didn’t sound entirely plausible: Did the entire U.S. media really fall for the imaginary dead girlfriend of a star football player? Did the president of the United States really announce 23 executive orders by reading out the policy views of carefully pre-screened grade-schoolers (“I want everybody to be happy...

he Algerian government says 32 militants and 23 captives were killed during the three-day military operation to end the hostage crisis at a natural gas plant in the Sahara. The provisional death toll was issued by the Interior Ministry on Saturday after the special forces operation crushed the last holdout of the militants at the gas refinery, resulting in 11 extremists killed along with seven hostages.

Throughout the country, lawmakers have discussed expanding educational options for students by establishing charter schools or allowing public dollars to go to private schools. Yet bills that legislators proposed often failed to gain much traction; in part, because opponents of school choice often hail the traditional system where children are zoned for a local public school based on their address. Some view this method of delivering public education as the model because democratically elected officials control the schools on a local level. Though democratically controlled local school districts meet the needs of many students, they simply cannot satisfy the needs...

Obama urged Congress to pass measures aimed at reducing gun violence, while reaffirming his commitment to the right to bear arms. .....

The board of education says it has looked into the concerns surrounding two cases of possible plagiarism by Superintendent of Schools Carolyn R. Koos, and is "satisfied that she understands her mistake and will not repeat it," board president Louis Casella said in a statement. "The board has fully expressed and discussed its concerns with the superintendent," Casella said. "Superintendent Koos has apologized for any adverse effect this may have had on the district." NJ.com first reported the possible plagiarism Jan. 10, when a letter sent to the district appeared to be a near word-for-word copy of a Nov. 27...

Two months after his owner died, a dog in Italy keeps turning up each day at the church she used to attend.Ciccio, a 12-year-old German shepherd, waits in vain in front of the altar of the Santa Maria Assunta church in the village of San Donaci in the southern region of Puglia. He heads to the church as soon as the bells begin to ring each afternoon, just as he did for years when his owner was alive. The woman, who was known in local dialect as "Maria tu lu campu" - "Maria of the fields" – died suddenly in...

Tzipi Livni, leader of Hatnua, harshly attacked Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett, in a behind-the-scenes incident that took place just before a televised interview pitted them against each other at week's end. According to Walla! News, the two rode the elevator together before appearing on Nissim Mishal's show on Channel 2. Bennett initiated the conversation, telling Livni she had gone too far with a Facebook status in which she referred to a report that said Yitzhak Rabin's assassin, Yigal Amir, was going to vote for Bennett. Livni allegedly told him: "I don't regret it; I don't even want to talk...

After addressing a large secular assembly on issues of moral controversy, I turned and faced a woman who urgently wanted to ask me a question: “Why won’t the abortion issue just go away?” I knew exactly what she was asking. I often meet abortion rights advocates who honestly thought that the national controversy over abortion would simply melt away within a few years of the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973. That was clearly the hope of the Supreme Court majority that signed onto the opinion written by Associate Justice Harry...

Master Gunnery Sgt. D. Michael Ressler opens the big fireproof safe, bends his tall frame and slides out the Marine Band leader’s logbook for 1937. He turns to Wednesday, Jan. 20. “Inauguration Day,” the entry begins. “Uniform blue and overcoats. Fierce downfall of rain near freezing during entire ceremony...a day long to be remembered ...band marched and played pretty much continuous...good to keep the blood circulating.” It was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second inauguration, says Ressler, 60. Roosevelt spoke, and the band played, before an ocean of umbrellas. This was before Ressler’s day. But in a way, it was his time....

Featured Term (selected at random):WEXFORD Shrine of Our Lady's Isle offshore, in the southeastern Ireland. Known as the Church of the Bright Plain since the seventh century, it was the place of a planned massacre by Oliver Cromwell in Reformation times, where many of the faithful were killed while attending High Mass. The shrine was destroyed except for a small statue of Our Lady. A church was rebuilt on the mainland, but the original site remains in ruins, although it has been visited by thousands. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal...

For Ignatius Joseph III Younan, a Christian presence in Syria is essential for confessional reconciliation between Alawis and Sunnis. Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for Aleppo university blast that killed 87. The violence of Muslim extremists and government forces could wipe out Syria forever. Patriarch calls on young Christians to stay in the Middle East to be witnesses of peace.Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "The United States, the European Union and the Gulf states have a great responsibility in this war, which began as a peaceful Arab spring," said Mgr Ignatius Joseph III Younan, patriarch of Antioch of the Syriacs since 2009. "By...

Congressional testimony about a young women who had an encounter with a shooter....

Barack Obama’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) has sent an open letter to all Federal Firearms License (FFL) holders/licensed gun dealers in the United States, recommending they “…enhance public safety and assist law enforcement by encouraging and facilitating transfers of firearms between private individuals through their business.” In short, FFL holders are being told to perform background checks and keep records of private gun sales between American citizens, EVEN THOUGH federal law may NOT require that they do so! (1) According to current federal law, gun sales between private individuals must be...

A few days ago, I checked with a half-dozen Washington-area hotels, ranging from the luxe Willard Intercontinental to the not-so-luxe Hampton Inn, and found that all had rooms available for this weekend’s Obama inauguration festivities. That was a huge change from Obama’s first inauguration, in January 2009, when nearly all the area’s hotel rooms were sold out. On Saturday, as Obama supporters arrived for the Monday ceremony, I checked with those hotels again. I asked if they had a room available for arrival on Saturday, staying three nights and departing on Tuesday, January 22. All still have rooms available. Earlier...

A lawyer and former Assembly member, Segerblom now chairs the state Senate Judiciary Committee. He said he will introduce bills during the 120-day legislative session to prohibit the sale of assault weapons and restrict the size of ammunition magazines to fewer than 10 bullets. He said he also wants to prohibit the sale of armor-piercing bullets and require background checks for gun sales in all instances, including gun shows.

Day two, and “the festival of individual story telling” continues in Park City at the Sundance Film Festival.     (snip)Every year there are several themes that emerge from the dozens of films selected for the festival(snip)that the Sundance selection committee feels need more cultural exposure.(snip)the major themes from 2013. (snip)anti-capitalism. (There are other themes too, butt I’ll cover them later.) Offered up in this category: “The East,”   terrorists for humanity "99%--The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film,"   Occupy for humanity and  my personal favorite, “Inequality of All.”     That’s right little man, we aren’t all equal. Some...

Now that President Obama has released his proposal for gun control in America, those of us who care about our constitutional liberties should reflect on what will happen if his policies become law. Among the proposals Obama is calling for are a ban on certain semi-automatic rifles and the limiting of ammunition to just ten rounds. This latest attempt at gun control is in response to the Newtown, Connecticut shootings, where a mentally disturbed young man, Adam Lanza, shot and killed his mother and more than 20 innocent people at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. You would think that current...