Free Republic

Property Rights is not just a Western problem Over the past few weeks, we have been inundated with heartrending stories concerning the theft of Property Rights by various government agencies manned by unelected bureaucrats foisting their policy regulations with no valid constitutional basis. I believe it fair to say most of us are not only concerned, but getting damned angry in finding just how pervasive the usurpative practices are becoming in even the smallest of communities. Back in the early Eighties, I bought a small agricultural holding with an old eight room house, a tri-level 20,000 sq.ft. post-and-beam barn, ...

Can an American soldier be forced to serve a foreign power? That's what we're going to find out! American sovereignty hangs in the balance. (Washington, D.C.) Attorneys for Army Specialist Michael New submitted a petition to the Supreme Court today, requesting that they hear his case and overrule the lower military courts.  Michael New is the American soldier who refused to wear a United Nations uniform in 1995, was court-martialed and subsequently convicted of disobeying an unlawful order. At the heart of his appeal is Newís right to his day in court ñ to be heard on his claims that ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 10, 2001 CONTACT: John Cardarelli 202-225-2276 * MEDIA ADVISORY * Hearing Witness List Announcement Note Time Change WHO: The House Committee on Government Reform Dan Burton (R-IN), Chairman WHAT: Full Committee Hearing- “The Need for Congressional Oversight of the Justice Department” WHEN: Thursday, September 13, 2001 1:00 p.m. WHERE: Room 2154 Rayburn House Office Building WITNESSES: Panel One The Honorable John Ashcroft, Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice Panel Two Mark J. Rozell, Professor of Politics, Catholic University of America Morton Rosenberg, Specialist in American Public Law, Congressional Research Service Victor J. Garo, Esq., Attorney at ...

Some time ago Robert Waters (author of The Best Defense) started a project called Operation Self Defense. Robert recruited a team of volunteers to scan online news sources for documented stories of the lawful use of a firearm in defense of life and property. The project has grown and for a variety of reasons (including finishing a new book) Robert has entrusted the folks at KeepAndBearArms to continue what he has started. Today, September 11, 2001, KeepAndBearArms announces the launch of the "systems upgrade" of Operation Self Defense. The goal is to cover every online news source throughout the nation ...

THE National Organization for Women turned 35 years old this past July. The work of the organization has seen many advances and changes for women and society in general. However, NOW has been maligned and demonized to an incredible degree by the radical right. NOW has been accused of using the Andrea Pia Yates case as an attack on motherhood. In fact, NOW seeks to help women and their families. Apparently the only way for our critics to establish validity is to discredit feminists. A review of the Web site of one group, the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute, seems ...

Father Pavone Asked to Leave Priests for Life New York -- Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life for the past eight years, has been asked by Cardinal Edward Egan to resume full-time work within the Archdiocese of New York and leave his present position with Priests for Life. The reason for the decision is the need for parish priests in New York, and is consistent with similar decisions of the Cardinal to call back many other New York priests who are on special assignment. Anthony DeStefano, Executive Director of Priests for Life, made the following statement: "We ...

<p>If you look back at the bleak life of Andrea Yates, the Houston mom who drowned her five children in the family bathtub, the clues were all there. She attempted suicide twice. She waged a losing struggle with depression that began after the birth of her first child, Noah, in 1994. Her doctors documented periods when she heard voices, had visions and became so unhinged mentally that they diagnosed her as psychotic. But was she insane the morning of June 20 when she killed her children, one by one? Her lawyers say she is not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors have charged her with murder and are seeking the death penalty.</p>

House OKs trade relations with Vietnam The United States would have normal trade relations with former enemy Vietnam under legislation the House approved Thursday, 9/6/01 on a voice vote. The Senate is expected to approve it next month. Normalizing trade would boost U.S. companies' access to Vietnam's 80 million people and improve Vietnam's economy. Opponents say Vietnam persecutes religious and ethnic minorities. Lawmakers voted to link future increases in non-humanitarian aid to Vietnam's improvement on human rights. The pact would remove one of the last vestiges of a war that ended 26 years ago with the defeat of South ...

<p>Laura Bush is shedding her low-profile approach to being first lady. In recent weeks, she has made more appearances around the country with President Bush, made more speeches and given more interviews. Today, the former elementary school teacher and librarian testifies before Sen. Edward Kennedy's education committee to press for more attention to developing the learning skills of children younger than 3. Among the committee members she will face across the witness table is her predecessor, Hillary Rodham Clinton, now a New York senator.</p>

Monday September 10 8:24 PM ET No Clear Victor in Norway Election No Clear Victor in Norway Election By DOUG MELLGREN, Associated Press Writer OSLO, Norway (AP) - The ruling Labor Party suffered its worst election showing in 77 years Monday, with voters turning away from the architects of Norway's high-tax funded social welfare system. With 94 percent of the vote counted, no party emerged with a majority in the legislature, setting off a scramble to forge alliances to possibly force the Labor government from power. However, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said he was remaining in office until he could ...

Wily Milosevic seeks to put UN tribunal on trial Defense opposes court's legitimacy By Tom Hundley Tribune foreign correspondent Published September 10, 2001 BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- After two courtroom appearances, Slobodan Milosevic has made his defense strategy clear: The United Nations international war crimes tribunal will be put on trial. The former Yugoslav leader is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the 1998-99 campaign of violence and terror directed against the ethnic Albanian minority in Kosovo. Sometime next month, Carla Del Ponte, the tribunal's chief prosecutor, is expected to expand the indictment to cover ...

"Congress," he added, "for too long has been on fishing expeditions and endless investigations."A. Paul BegalaB. Henry WaxmanC. Dick GephardtD. Maxine WatersE. Ari Fleischer

Infamous Palm Beach County voting machine goes into museum Tuesday, September 11, 2001 By BILL KACZOR, Associated Press TALLAHASSEE — A punch-card voting machine complete with a butterfly ballot, its chads neither dimpled nor pregnant, became a museum piece Monday. Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore handed over the portable, suitcase-size Votomatic to Clay Roberts, director of the Florida Division of Elections. It will be part of the new Florida Center for Political History and Governance in the Old Capitol. Clay Roberts, director of the Florida Division of Elections, right, accepts a voting machine from Palm Beach County ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (Reuters) - New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, the highest-ranking Republican to advocate legalizing marijuana, argued his case on Monday in a debate with Drug Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson, who said legalization would introduce another harmful element to society. While Johnson called the U.S. war on drugs an ``absolute, miserable failure'', Hutchinson, a fellow Republican and former Arkansas congressman, said the national effort against drug trafficking needs to be re-energized. ``The law is a master teacher that guides conduct in this country,'' Hutchinson said, arguing that drug use should be discouraged through ``persistent education, treatment programs and law ...

Ex-officer jailed in shooting cover-ups Tuesday, September 11, 2001 By CATHERINE WILSON, Associated Press MIAMI — A fired Miami police officer was ordered Monday to be jailed until trial after a prosecutor warned of possible witness intimidation and recited details of an unsavory past. Jesus Aguero is the only one of 13 members of special Miami police squads to be detained after being charged with planting guns at crime scenes and covering up four questionable police shootings that left three people dead. Aguero, the only officer among those charged last week to be thrown out of the department, fired shots ...

In a NewsMax story, Sean Hannity hits the radio airwaves today, on ABC radio affiliates in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Dallas, San Francisco and Detroit. I live in Chicago and News Talk 89 WLS our AM ABC affiliate does not air Sean Hannity's show. If anyone knows what radio station in Chicago airs Sean Hannity's program let me.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;An Orem Sizzler restaurant lets LDS youths bound for the nearby Missionary Training Center eat free on Wednesdays. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Meier & Frank, honoring a practice it inherited from the ZCMI department stores it now owns, offers LDS missionaries and "clergy of widely recognized religious denominations" 10 percent off on men's and women's clothing, footwear, home textiles and luggage. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And Mancuso's Religious Goods, Gifts & Books, which carries primarily merchandise directed at Roman Catholics, offers discounts to Catholic parishes, Episcopal dioceses and LDS wards. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; These are but a few examples of a retail practice common in Utah that may ...

HAVANA (AP) - Cuba has the right to seek information on exile groups in the United States, the foreign minister said Monday, responding to the arrest of two more Florida residents accused of being Cuban spies. Cuba has said that five people convicted of being part of a Cuban spy ring called "La Red Avispa," Spanish for The Wasp Network, are innocent and were only trying to collect information on exile groups. "Cuba believes there is no other option than to continue seeking this information by its own means," Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said Monday. At least five people ...

'Reverse Elian' readjusting to life in America Tuesday, September 11, 2001 Associated Press HOMESTEAD — A young American boy is relearning English and adjusting to his new life nearly a month after returning from Cuba where his mother had taken him during a custody dispute with her former husband. Jonathon Colombini, 6, is starting to speak English again after forgetting much of it during his stay in Cuba. He now lives outside of Miami with his father, stepmother and their two children. Jon Colombini and his 6-year-old son Jonathon play in their yard in Homestead, Sept. 9. Jonathon's mother, Arletis ...

Accused secret agent held without bond Tuesday, September 11, 2001 Associated Press MIAMI — An accused Cuban spy agreed Monday to be held without bond for trial on charges that he and his wife tried to infiltrate a U.S. military base and exile groups. George Gari and his wife Marisol were indicted last month as unregistered foreign agents and reputed members of Cuba's Wasp Network, two months after the conviction of its leader and four other agents. The couple were accused of being assigned to infiltrate the U.S. Southern Command and following the mail and moves of exile leaders in ...