Free Republic

I'm running for the Fla. House in District 40 Orlando as a Libertarian and have one opponent. I could use a heads up from my gang at Free Republic.

On the eve of our great national birthday party and in the aftermath of Sept. 11, when millions of us turned to God and prayed for forgiveness of individual and corporate sins and asked for His protection against future attacks, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has inflicted on this nation what many will conclude is a greater injury than that caused by the terrorists. The court ruled Wednesday that the Pledge of Allegiance, as recited by millions of American schoolchildren, is unconstitutional because Congress, in 1954, inserted the words "under God." According to the court,...

Greetings once again, faithful Patriot Edition Newsletter readers... God bless! Wait... am i allowed to say "God Bless" in my newsletters? Perhaps the courts will rule that i cannot someday. After all, they banned the Pledge, didn't they? sickening... They ban the Pledge of Allegiance because it mentions "God". Meanwhile, teachers in certain special interests classes are showing your children how to put a condom on a cucumber. Brilliant. Where are our values going, anyway? Down the tubes... A Clintonized America is what we have become, and it is getting worse. On to the Middle East for a second... First...

Seattle and King County have been disproportionately targeted by Islamic terrorists for possible attack, according to the local FBI chief, who also warns that there are an undisclosed number of people in the region "willing and able" to help international terrorists.Charles Mandigo, special agent in charge of the Seattle FBI office, told King County Council members in a closed-door briefing Wednesday that the region is seen by terrorists as an "easy target," caused by the reality of chronic understaffing among local police agencies.Mandigo made his statement before a homeland security hearing that was abruptly closed to the public. His presentation...

Closure looms for 'best newspaper on the internet' By Charles Arthur, Technology Editor 28 June 2002 Salon.com, which describes itself as the "Web's best newspaper", faces closure unless it can attract new funding. The site's owners have been forced to admit that their outspoken stance on political issues is alienating users and potential advertisers.Salon.com's founder, David Talbot, has lodged an annual formal document, an "SEC 10-K", with the US Securities and Exchange Commission explaining its financial plight.The pioneering, left-leaning website – which refused to comment on the move yesterday – recently claimed to have revealed the identity of "Deep Throat"...

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Representatives of 57 Muslim nations pledged support for Palestinians in a resolution yesterday that made no mention of President Bush’s call for Palestinians to elect a new leadership. The resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, was adopted at the end of a three-day meeting of foreign ministers and senior officials of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The omission of any reference to Bush’s speech this week was designed to give Arab nations, particularly Saudi Arabia, time to get further information from Washington, said Palestinian chief delegate Farouk Kaddoumi. Secretary of State Colin Powell talked by...

<p>Transportation Secretary Norm Y. Mineta said Thursday that trucks that meet border inspections should be on American roads by mid-summer.</p> <p>They will have to get through nearly 150 new border inspectors and 67 new safety auditors before they can travel into U.S. territory. If they don't, Mineta said, they won't be allowed on U.S. soil.</p>

<p>Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday that al Qaeda and hard-core Taliban fighters are receiving new shipments of equipment to fight American troops and their allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan.</p> <p>The defense chief said his troops recently discovered a fresh shipment of military gear that was "modern stuff." He declined to identify it. "There's still more money and more new things coming in," he said. Mr. Rumsfeld said he has ordered his commanders to stop destroying all the arms they find and to save the best for the emerging Afghan national army.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans pushed Medicare prescription drug legislation through a weary House early Friday, rejecting Democratic claims the bill was an election-year gimmick that would do little to help senior citizens. The 221-208 vote fell largely along party lines, and sent the measure to an uncertain fate in the Senate. ``This bill is a giant step forward for seniors in America,'' said Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn. ``This is the greatest leap forward for women in health care since the founding of Medicare.'' In a debate that stretched well past midnight, Democrats countered the legislation marked the latest in a...

<p>Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday that he wants to impose limits on new defense construction within 100 miles of the Pentagon.</p> <p>The defense secretary said "concentration of Defense Department activities in a single area is probably not a smart idea."</p>

<p>The Supreme Court yesterday cleared the way for schools to drug-test all children who join in extracurricular activities, such as the band, chess team, pompom squad or choir.</p> <p>"The invasion of students' privacy is not significant," said the 5-4 decision, which freed school boards to require random testing among 7 million schoolchildren involved in voluntary programs.</p>

The Emperor of Ice Cream Melts Down by Richard CummingsOne hears it everywhere. It is inevitable that the draft is going to come back. Across the political spectrum, the clamor for more military personnel grows as America’s commitments around the world broaden and deepen. And the reason for this is that George Tenet and Donald Rumsfeld have missed everything and now find the need to put more Americans in the line of fire to make up for their blunders, as the invasion of Iraq looms on the horizon.On June 26, Al Queda fighters, with the assistance of Pakistani tribesmen,...

Anyone who has ever been dissatisfied with his driver's license photo will have to admit there is something to be said for Sultaana Freeman's approach. In her picture, nothing is visible except her eyes and the bridge of her nose. The rest of her head is covered by a black veil. But Freeman's decision to wear the veil was not prompted by disgust at the quality of DMV photography. As a devout Muslim, she keeps her face concealed from men outside her family. The problem, as the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles sees it, is that...

WASHINGTON, Jun 27, 2002 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- The judge who ruled that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional issued a stay Thursday pending further appeals. Circuit Judge Alfred Goodwin's decision to stay his Wednesday ruling does not affect the case immediately, because the ruling was on hold for 45 days pending appeal. Goodwin gave no reason for putting his ruling on hold. The Justice Department, which was named as a co-defendant in the case, issued a statement Thursday saying it will immediately take legal steps to reverse the ruling. "At this time...

<p>June 27, 2002 There are times, George Orwell is reputed to have said, when the first duty of an intelligent man is to restate the obvious. President Bush did his duty this week when he cut through the murk of the past nine years -- the years of the Middle East "peace process" -- to assert some obvious truths.</p>

Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat began using a soft core sex video on Thursday to entice new "martyrs" to the cause of killing Israelis. Arafat's state-run Palestinian Broadcast Company debuted the sexy promotional film aimed at would-be suicide bombers, with footage that shows how Palestinian martyrs will be serviced by six dozen anxious-to-please virgins in the afterlife. The video, which preceded Thursday's 3 p.m. afternoon news, shows a young Palestinian man walking with his girlfriend as he spies some Israeli soldiers off in the distance. According to a report on the Mideast news website "Media Line," the man in the...

Feinstein Link to Attack on Pledge West Coast's 9th Circuit Court May Face Break Up Los Angeles Times 09-22-97 WASHINGTON - The judges of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have called it "idiotic," "silly" and "very odd." No, they were not referring to their usual nemesis, the U.S. Supreme Court. Rather, the target of their complaints was a plan by Senate Republicans to break up the West Coast's large and liberal-leaning judicial district. In July, shortly after the 9th Circuit suffered a rapid-fire round of reversals in the Supreme Court, the Republicans pushed through the Senate a...

The economy is doing fine, but the stock market is slumping. So far, the blame has rightly been placed on corporate corruption, dishonest accounting practices and some ill-advised protectionist trade moves by the Bush administration. But these, it seems, are only partly to blame. A worrisome USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll reveals that only one in three Americans believes the United States is now winning the war on terrorism, with a full half saying the war is at a stalemate. Compare this with last January, when two-thirds of the country said the United States was winning the war. Could it be...

ASHINGTON, June 27 — Declaring that the First Amendment protects the right of judicial candidates to express their views, the Supreme Court today struck down a Minnesota rule that prohibited candidates in judicial elections from taking stands on disputed legal or political issues.Because the Minnesota rule is typical of rules governing judicial elections in other states, the 5-to-4 decision had an immediately unsettling effect, casting doubt on rules limiting judicial campaign speech in a majority of the states. Most states elect judges to at least some courts. State judges and leaders of the organized bar have expressed alarm at...

Issues: In an intensive military modernization drive, Turkey is planning to purchase several major weapons systems in deals worth billions of dollars each. Of most concern to those interested in promoting human rights and peace in Turkey is a plan to buy 145 Bell Textron AH-1Z KingCobra attack helicopters. During Turkey's 16-year-old fight against Kurdish rebels, human rights groups and the U.S. State Department have documented Turkey's use of U.S.-origin attack helicopters in violation of international humanitarian and human rights law. For example, the military has launched indiscriminate attacks on Kurdish villages, forcing hundreds of thousands of villagers to flee....