Free Republic

<p>The exclusive NewsMax annual feature "United Nations Report Card" reveals that when it comes to supporting the U.S. on key issues, almost every nation in the world body gets a failing grade.</p> <p>NewsMax examined 12 key General Assembly votes taken on issues of critical importance to the U.S., and found that only four countries – Israel and the Pacific Ocean nations of Palau, Micronesia and Marshall Islands sided with the U.S. on most of the issues.</p>

Project engineer Peyton M. Magruder designed the Glenn L. Martin Company's B-26 Marauder in response to an Army Air Corps specification issued in January 1939. This specification also caught the attention of North American Aviation Inc. and that firm responded with the B-25. War fever caused the Air Corps to forego a prototype test stage and both bombers went from the drawing board straight into production. The consequences were deadly for crews that flew the Martin airplane.

An indication of the corruption of a nation's political integrity and quite possibly its existence simply is the degree to which its constitutional jurisprudence is relegated to "opinion" or uncertainty. Constitutional law, a republic's founding and fundamental jurisprudence, is predicated on certainty. This is not the least important, related aspect of our tragic confusion about Applied Science as Certainty, and all else as Uncertain. I ask that readers who are not clear about this matter to take note of this "problem" as you read about "jurisprudence and certainty" here. Certainty in constitutional matters arises from fidelity to the meaning of...

With many of our M16/M4 rifles reaching the end of their service lives, we have to find an affordable, acceptable solution, now. Utilizing this inspiration, Heckler & Koch (HK) has been working on an enhanced carbine that would outperform all current competition grade 5.56mm carbines in effort to provide superior performance after the incredibly successful mid-life upgrades to the British SA80 (L85/L86) Weapons System. And now, HK has stepped up to the plate with their newest enhanced carbine -- the HK416. The HK416 operates on a short-stroke piston gas system that does not introduce propellant gases back into the weapon's...

The Stoner 63 Weapon System is the brain child of Eugene Stoner, the chief designer of the AR-10, AR-15/M-16 and many other unique weapon designs. The project goal was to develop a family of small arms built around a common receiver and a number of assemblies. The precursor of the Stoner 63 weapon series was the M69W in 7.62X51mm.

Protecting individual liberty is the most important thing a legislator can do. Exercising power is easy; restraining the exercise of power is hard. Legislators, therefore, have a tendency to exercise power in strange and intrusive ways. The “Noseys” were designed to call attention to the stupid exercise of power in the California Legislature. The 2005 Nosey Award winner is: 1. AB 1677(Koretz) Correctional Condoms Act. This bill provides for the legalization of, and distribution of contraband in our states correctional facilities, by allowing any non-profit or health agency to freely distribute condoms and dental dams to inmates (Just what is...

The White House appears to have been truly blindsided by the vehemently negative response from conservative intellectuals to the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. In truth, this is a revolt that has been long in the making. The surprising thing is that it has taken such a long time for it to come out into the open. The truth that is now dawning on many movement conservatives is that George W. Bush is not one of them and never has been. They were allies for a long time, to be sure, and conservatives used Mr. Bush just...

The number is magic, recalling the era when Detroit dominated the world with its big, powerful, swaggering V-8s. The Chevrolet 427 V-8 first appeared as an experimental engine that powered Junior Johnson to a then-amazing 166-mph lap at Daytona in 1963. It went into production soon afterward, known variously as the Mark IV, the Chevy big-block, or simply the rat motor. Now the 427 is back, powering the fire-breathing 2006 Z06 Corvette. Okay, so the engine actually displaces 427.6 cubic inches (7008cc), about one more cubic inch than the original. That's because this new 427 is not a reincarnation of...

Some cartridges just seem to live forever. Thankfully the 45-70 Government is one of them. It began life in the days of black powder and has evolved over time into the cartridge we know today. After owning and shooting several guns chambered for it it’s easy for me to see why. It’s accurate, easy to reload for, and hits like a freight train. From the muzzle to 150-200 yard range this old cartridge is hard to beat. To really see the true performance of this round you do need to hand load for it though. Factory ammunition lacks the true...

How the gods do play upon the poor soul who is known to us all as Al Gore. On the day Boy Clinton was impeached they sent him out on the White House lawn to laud The Groper as "one of our greatest presidents." In Campaign 2000, they cast him as the Poor Loser. Ever since he has been wandering the land looking for a friend and intoning preposterosities even more absurd than when he wrote his green classic, Earth in the Balance. There he predicted that all the automobiles in America would soon be parked curbside while Americans squeezed...

Bolton On the United Nations “[T]here is no such thing as the United Nations. There is an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world and that is the United States when its suits our interest and we can get others to go along.” -- Global Structures Conference in 1994. “Let us be realistic about the U.N. It has served our purposes from time to time; and it is worth keeping alive for future service. But it is not worth the sacrifice of American troops, American freedom of action, or American national...

Ten years ago I boldly wrote the following, truly believing sixguns could not get any more powerful: "I will say we simply cannot get any bigger. We have reached the ultimate top. There is no way to get any more power in a portable revolver and also have anything even close to being manageable by anyone. The .500 Linebaugh Long is right at the edge of manageability and then only with tremendous concentration and strength can it be handled." John Linebaugh's stretched .500 Linebaugh, the .500 Linebangh Long, used a .348 Winchester case trimmed to 1.610", blown out straight, with...

The sixtieth anniversary of Hiroshima seems to be shaping up as a subdued affair--though not for any lack of significance. A survey of news editors in 1999 ranked the dropping of the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945, first among the top one hundred stories of the twentieth century. And any thoughtful list of controversies in American history would place it near the top again. It was not always so. In 1945, an overwhelming majority of Americans regarded as a matter of course that the United States had used atomic bombs to end the Pacific war. They further believed that...

A HUNTER yesterday won the right to use a .44 Magnum revolver - "the most powerful handgun in the world" - to kill deer on estates throughout the Scottish Highlands. Trevor Jeans, a professional deerstalker who culls at least 300 deer a year, went to court after Northern Constabulary refused his application to carry the weapon, made famous in Dirty Harry, the cult thriller film starring Clint Eastwood. In the wake of the Dunblane shootings in 1996, the government outlawed handguns, with the exception of cases where professions such as vets or slaughtermen need the weapons as part of their...

“Our struggle against terrorism today necessitates absolute and determined moral conviction,” says gun law expert John Michael Snyder. Snyder is the author of a book about a mid-18th Century Catholic seminarian who in his own time and place manifested just such conviction. The seminarian, Gabriel Possenti (1838-1862) faced down a gang of terrorists alone and, without killing a single human being, managed to rescue an entire Italian village from about 20 cutthroats in 1860. He did it with the use of handguns he wrested from the hands of two rapist-intent terrorists. Pope Benedict XV canonized Possenti in 1920. Snyder thinks...

As the Senate moves closer to a vote this week on the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, gun-rights advocates are jubilant over the bipartisan support for the bill, which bans frivolous lawsuits targeting gun manufactures. National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said 2nd Amendment supporters have played a large role in politicians’ changing attitudes toward firearms. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (S 397), for example, has 56 co-sponsors in the Senate and 257 co-sponsors in the House--more than enough votes to pass. It is sponsored by Sen. Larry Craig (R.-Idaho) and Rep. Cliff...

The Viper pistol is a recent joint development between the American Wildey Guns company and the Jordan King Abdullah Design and Development Bureau (KADDB). Pistol was designed by the American citizen Wildey Moore (designer of the famous Wildey pistol), and is now produced in Jordan. Apparently this pistol will become the standard issue pistol for Jordan Armed forces, hence the another designation - JAWS, or Jordan Arms & Weapons System. Viper JAWS is a solid and well made pistol with several interesting features, such as simple and robust design and modular construction. VIPER pistol can be easily reconfigured for several...

Incorporating Ebonics into a new school policy that targets black students, the lowest-achieving group in the San Bernardino City Unified School District, may provide students a more well-rounded curriculum, said a local sociologist. The goal of the district's policy is to improve black students' academic performance by keeping them interested in school. Compared with other racial groups in the district, black students go to college the least and have the most dropouts and suspensions. Blacks make up the second largest racial group in the district, trailing Latinos. A pilot of the policy, known as the Students Accumulating New Knowledge Optimizing...

The Bushmaster .308 differs from the typical AR in a few of its controls. While the forward assist and safety are normal AR type controls, the bolt release is at the bottom front of the trigger guard, and is ambidextrous, having a mirror-image release on each side. This is an excellent design for the bolt release, and it is easily reached with the trigger finger of either a right-handed or left-handed shooter. The magazine release is in the normal AR position, but also has an ambidextrous twin on the opposite side of the receiver. The upper and lower receivers are...

As a US Senator from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison splits time between her home state, where she is allowed to own practically any weapon invented and can even carry a concealed handgun, and the District of Columbia, where she can’t even keep a .357 Magnum in her house. For 12 years she has managed to abide this without complaint, but apparently she’s had enough. In May, she filed a bill to overturn DC’s gun-control laws, and this week she indicated that she has more than 30 co-sponsors and intends to push it to the floor for a vote in the...