Free Republic

"Warning: Police states are known to be hazardous to your health." Or, at least, that's what one pro-liberty group believes. And to help freedom lovers the world over keep track of where they stand in regards to the level of liberty that remains, the group has come up with a unique measuring "device" – a "Totalitarian Clock." Based on the creation of The Doomsday Clock, which was developed in 1947 by the publication "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" to track the world's nuclear weapons threat, the Concerned Citizens Opposed to Police States, or CCOPS, has produced its clock to measure ...

I see by the papers in the Yankee Capital that Johnny Cochran, and of course Jesse and Al, are wheezing and blowing like a county-fair calliope with a leaky boiler. They always are. This time it was about the need to pay reparations for the ravages trala of slavery. It got me to thinking. I hate it when that happens. Now, I know I´m hard-hearted, and mean-spirited, and no damn good. It´s probably my only virtue. But on consideration, I realized that they might be right. The ravages of slavery do run deep, and cause motingator trouble, with no end ...

QUICKLY now, who said it? "The great object is that every man be armed. ... Everyone who is able may have a gun." Most Americans of the liberal/left persuasion, the ones who believe guns are evil, might think it's Charlton Heston, president of the National Rifle Association. These days, lefty anti-gun nuts think of Heston as something akin to the Antichrist. They revile the NRA with a passion previously reserved for the Ku Klux Klan and Nazis. So Heston, of course, would be their prime suspect. No. 2 on the list would be anyone associated with the NRA. But, ...

Enter Stage Right - A Journal of Modern Conservatism The Chattering Class becomes the Stammering Class By Bruce Walker Life these days is frustrating for liberals. Decades ago, these ever self-indulgent children were our "intellectuals." It requires imagination, if one has not lived through those decades, to understand how the Marx could have even been presented as serious thought, or how obvious biological differences between men and women could have been the foundation for an academic demonology, or how the blood drenched hands of African gangsters could be excused indefinitely by ancient and putative wrongs by colonial rulers. But so ...

Rep. Gary Condit has no plans to address his constituents for the next several weeks — not until after a family retreat with his two adult children, whom he hasn't seen since the May 1 disappearance of Chandra Levy exposed his secret life. "Condit plans to use the August [congressional] recess to visit with his family," a source close to Condit told the Daily News. "He hopes that this period will allow him to regain the healing benefits of this kind of family retreat." His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, told the Los Angeles Daily Journal that Condit won't face his constituents ...

Aug. 1 — Does Charlton Heston deliver a pro-gun speech in “Planet of the Apes”? Or was the actor, who heads the National Rifle Association, tricked into making an anti-gun statement? HESTON, Who plays an ape in the new version of the 1968 film he made famous, has a dying scene in which his character discusses the human race’s use of handguns. After this column ran a short note on the irony of the scene, The Scoop was inundated with calls and e-mails from viewers. “Heston’s character does not ‘rail’ against guns,” a reader e-mailed. “He merely informs his son, ...

Puget Sound Gillnetters Association We were mislead and misinformed about the effect and ramifications of the PCFFA lawsuit. Those individuals on our Board who advocated signing on have been removed. We apologize to all those farmers, businesses in Klamath who have been so terribly and adversely effected. We are working to disavowal ourselves from the lawsuit. To the farmers we say, "We whole-heatedly support your efforts and will do whatever we can to help and to make amends. Lanny Pilatos, President, PSGA

OU Temple Mount Petition  The American based Orthodox Union is sponsoring a petition seeking to enlist the support of US elected officials to stop the ongoing Islamic Temple Mount desecration. The OU calls for Americans to contact their Representatives and urge them to co-sponsor and support the Temple Mount Preservation Act of 2001, H.R. 2566. This bill calls for the cut-off of aid to the Palestinian Authority until the desecration of the Temple Mount and the continued illegal excavations come to an end. To read and sign the petition, visit: http://www.ou.org/public/action/ipa-tm.cfm    

I still like Rush but this is getting old. Rush is just NOT a warrior for the cause anymore. His show is now RUSH RUSH RUSH ... 24/7. I wish he would network more with REAL conservative leaders who are trying to turn the tidalwave of statism which is sweeping over us all. He has achieved such a prominent standing .... and he uses it to preach and promote Limbaughism ... not conservatism.

Should "CBS Evening News" anchorman Dan Rather undergo sensitivity training after making a racially charged remark to Don Imus last month? Rather told the nationally syndicated radio host that his network bosses "got the Buckwheats" when they forced him to cover the Chandra Levy story. And now one major city newspaper suggests it's time for the network to take corrective action. "CBS should consider sensitivity training courses for its commentators -- or at least one of them," the Florida Times Union editorialized on Wednesday. "By the context of his comments, it was clear that Rather was referring to the ...

A petition designed to force the House leadership to allow a vote on campaign finance reform got off to a quick start, gathering about three quarters of the signatures needed to succeed, supporters said Wednesday. So far in this Congress, the House GOP leadership has thwarted previous attempts by Democrats and a handful of Republican allies to force a vote on a bill designed to eliminate unregulated donations to political parties that the sponsors say corrupt the political system. A coalition of conservative Democrats filed a discharge petition that became active Tuesday, which would force the GOP to schedule a ...

Defying the Bush administration, House and Senate lawmakers are on the verge of approving a generous pay raise for congressional staff aides, who earn significantly less than workers in the private sector with comparable skills and experience. The 4.6 percent increase, which most Capitol Hill staffers are expected to receive next year along with all federal employees, would be the second largest increase in the past 20 years. Lawmakers spearheading the proposal say it is needed to reduce the growing salary disparity between public and private-sector employees. "We've been falling further behind," said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). "The gap has ...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Jean Carnahan has amassed almost $2 million for a potential election bid next year, making her the best fund-raiser among Democratic incumbents in the Senate this year. In the first six months of the year, Carnahan, D-Mo., raised $2.3 million and had $1.75 million in the bank at the end of June, according to a Federal Election Commission report released Tuesday. She raised more money in the first six months of the year than any other incumbent Senate Democrat facing election next year, according to Democratic figures. The numbers make it clear that Carnahan - a ...

The SCOUTS are not Compromised by the Homosexuals Attack - but Newsweek Seems to be Always with an eye to selling the magazine, Newsweek chose the week of the Boy Scouts of America Scout Jamboree to publish a scout bashing article entitled "Scouts Divided." The article is bylined by David France, Senior Editor of Newsweek who has gone to incredible lengths to portray the Boy Scouts as being seriously compromised by its dogged determination to maintain the Scout Oath and Law. Boy Scouts, according to the oath written by its founder Lord Robert Baden-Powell, just about every time they meet: ...

Charley Reese, long time editorialist for the Orlando-Sentinel, announced his official retirement in his Sunday, July 29 column. It pains me to write this column, because on most of the issues, we have been in agreement over the years. I remember the first time I heard about Charley. My dad was always a staunch defender of Israel. He often spoke about Reese´s syndicated column, which appeared in the Scranton paper. Dad was filled with joy about the column. "Bonnie, think of it! Here´s a guy who´s not Jewish, and he enthusiastically supports Israel. He understands the plight and threat the ...

A company that touts its facial identification system as a powerful new tool for security and crime fighting has received millions of dollars in federal funding to improve its surveillance technology for military and intelligence uses, according to documents and interviews. Visionics Corp. of Jersey City, N.J., specializes in systems that use cameras linked to computers to scan faces and automatically compare them with electronic photographs stored in databases. The company gained widespread notoriety after its FaceIt system was installed by Tampa police to match images caught by dozens of cameras in an entertainment district against digital mug shots of ...

Transparency at the United Nations. Mr. Kopel is research director at the Independence Institute. Editor's note: This is the second installment in an NRO series on the U.N Small Arms Conference. For Part I, see Score One for Bush. At the Small Arms Conference, one of the buzzwords of gun-prohibition advocates was the need for “transparency” in small arms. This was shorthand for saying that there should be no privacy regarding gun ownership. Every government ought to have a list of every gun owner and every gun in the country. Registration has been used to facilitate gun confiscation in the ...

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is being given conflicting advice on Iraq. The dispute continues to focus between both the State Department and the Pentagon as well as within other departments on issues that include the future of United Nations and that of the Iraqi opposition. The argument is being reflected in conflicting advice being given to the White House from the strategic community in New York and Washington. The New York-based Council on Foreign Relations said the smart sanctions should be improved and allow for greater Iraqi purchases. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy has urged the Bush ...

>"We brought Poul home from Alta Bates for terminal hospice care. >We gave him Jubilaeum Akvavit, Carlsberg Beer and Boeuf Tartare. >We gave him all our love. About midnight, he slipped away." > >signed Karen, Astrid and the rest of the Andersons. > >Please pass this around verbatim and in toto. > >Everyone is encouraged to repost without alteration. Posted with permission.

MITSUBISHI AND CHINESE COMPANY SHARES IN PAPUA LNG PLANT July 16, 2001 BP Amoco is ready to offer some part of its shares to China National Oil Company (CNOC) in Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) field in Papua Province. The Upstream Director of state owned oil company Pertamina, Iin Arifin Takhyan, said the stock option is part of BP's strategic business plan to penetrate the Chinese gas market. BP Amoco Plc is the major shareholder of Pertamina's production sharing contractor at the Tangguh gas field located in Wiriagar, Papua. The Tangguh covers three sites -- Berau, Muturi and Wiriagar ...