Free Republic

TALLAHASSEE - Workers readying the Capitol for today's inauguration put the finishing touches on lighting and a stage that will be the setting when Charlie Crist takes the oath of office for governor.In a light rain, workers also arranged chairs for spectators on the front lawn of the Old Capitol building, where Crist will take the oath from Florida Chief Justice Fred Lewis before delivering his inaugural address.Crist then will join in a parade from the Capitol to the governor's mansion, where he will live for at least the next four years.There will also be a 19-gun salute by Florida...

A local lawman has learned about life on the other side of the badge. Being told not to talk. Spending 12 hours without a drink. Not going to the restroom. Limestone County Sheriff's Department Deputy Chad Smith said because of that experience, he'll never again cross the Mexican border. Smith and his friend Jason Sherman went to Texas on vacation at the end of February and first of March. They spent the last day of that vacation in custody. News of their ill-fated trip made its way through Limestone County as slow as a Sunday driver, and as the story...

Despite my best efforts an’ considerable years of experience, another birthday has managed to sneak up from behind and coldcock me. Damnation! In the words of Mickey Mantle, "If I’d known I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself." Or maybe it was Yogi Berra, I can’t remember. I’ve always heard that wisdom comes with age, but I’m here to tell ya it’s a damned lie. Accordin’ to the experts, an’ my oh my there seems to be a gunnysack full of the socialist muckspouts out there, I’m dumber than a box of rocks. ...

A white science teacher was removed from Lee High School last week after a black student accused her of using a racial slur.According to official accounts, Dana Beth Bohannon is accused of telling a high school student to quit acting like a "project n-----."Bohannon has been on paid suspension since Feb. 11, said Superintendent Ann Roy Moore. Bohannon has not denied the allegations, said Moore."The principal did some investigating, and now I'm doing some," said Moore. "Based on my findings, I will deal with the situation."Moore declined to discuss the range of possible outcomes for Bohannon."If she did that, she ...

14. Chapter 1: How to Read13. Chapter 6: Dress for Success: Tube Tops and Skynyrd Tour Shirts12. Chapter 4: Advanced Technical Terms -- "Yeeeehaww!", "Whoooodoggie!" and "Golldurn!"11. Chapter 12: Why Drunk Chicks Flash the Drivers, and How to Nail Them10. Chapter 17: "I Watch It for the Allegorical Portrayal of Post-Modern Tropism" and Other Things to Tell Fancy-Pants Urbanites9. Chapter 5: Saying "Dick Trickle" Without Snickering8. Appendix A: 20 Quick Prayers for Those Upside-Down Moments7. Chapter 2: The Finer Points of Hating Jeff Gordon6. Chapter 13: Where to Find Them Little Fake "Calvin" Kids Peeing On Stuff5. Chapter 8: I ...

The events of September 11th, the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, and economic troubles at home all serve to make 2002 a year of great uncertainty for America. The President already has warned the nation that 2002 will be "a war year," and economic recovery in the near future seems unlikely. It is easy for us to lose sight of the primary responsibility of our government during troubled times, because we naturally are anxious to have Washington eradicate terrorism and "fix" the economy. Yet we should not forget that peace and prosperity are best secured by a government that secures liberty ...

Now that it is being rededicated as part of the war on terrorism, the hapless war on drugs will claim even more liberties and lives than it already has. While omnibus antiterrorism bills were being rammed past pliant populations in the U.S., Canada, and Britain, Tony Blair got on the drug tack by ominously pointing out that the avails from drugs finance roughly 25 percent of the world's terrorist activity.Blair, whose New Labor is committed to a "curious blend of moralism and utilitarianism" (TLS, September 14), one that has enshrined in law coercive drug testing and compulsory treatment protocols, proclaimed ...

Sixty years after Pearl Harbor, we are at war again, and comparisons with 1941 are inevitable. Some people think the country ain’t what it used to be. And they’re right: it ain’t. But there are interesting parallels.Writing in The Weekly Standard, David Brooks notes that America in 1941 was far more upbeat than today: "Everybody had a patriotic duty, it seems, to be optimistic. Being happy was a sign of success. It wasn’t yet cool be thoughtfully gloomy or alienated." This spirit was reflected in the American press, which was much more eager for war then than now.Brooks supports this ...

Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this important hearing examining the question of whether national ID cards would enhance security. Protecting the security of the American people from foreign threats is the most important responsibility of the federal government, and there is much the government needs to do in this area. Among the steps the federal government should take is to restrict immigration from countries which support or harbor terrorists, and implement policies to effectively enforce existing immigration laws. Moreover, private property owners certainly can take steps to protect their property from terrorists and other criminals. For example, it is ...

<p>When Robert Pacuinas addressed the Sacramento City Council on Tuesday, he was talking a blue streak about red-light cameras.</p> <p>At one point, the 39-year-old lawyer emphasized his point by saying, "I think we should call a spade a spade."</p> <p>He had only three minutes to speak -- but it was enough time for Pacuinas, who is white, to step into the confounding quagmire of race, language and context.</p>

Seventeen years later than expected, 1984 has arrived. In his address to Congress Thursday, George Bush effectively declared permanent war -- war without temporal or geographic limits; war without clear goals; war against a vaguely defined and constantly shifting enemy. Today it's Al-Qaida; tomorrow it may be Afghanistan; next year, it could be Iraq or Cuba or Chechnya.No one who was forced to read 1984 in high school could fail to hear a faint bell tinkling. In George Orwell's dreary classic, the totalitarian state of Oceania is perpetually at war with either Eurasia or Eastasia. Although the enemy changes periodically, ...

No Friends of Liberty in Foxholes? by David M. Brown dmb1000@juno.com Exclusive to TLE Are there no libertarians in foxholes? In a recent op-ed first published by the Boston Globe, reprinted by Reason Magazine at their web site, then reprinted by the electronic newsletter Freematt's Alerts, Cathy Young opines that maybe individual rights and human freedom aren't so sacrosanct after all -- not if we're in a foxhole and the terrorists are lunging at us with box-cutters in their teeth. Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, perhaps there are no libertarians in them either, Young suggests. I ...

It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and sputtering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spreads of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with ...

CLIMAX, VA. - Tim Smith is a mechanic, not a moonshiner. That's not to say he didn't have a chance: Using recipes dating back centuries, both his father and brother tended "black pot" stills here in the bottom of Appalachia's eastern foothills.Today, Mr. Smith is more interested in the heritage of the moonshiners than in their hard-knuckled brew. In an outdoor museum of sorts, the former Army intelligence officer has recreated several rusty stills complete with "mash boxes," "doublers," distilling "worms," and "axe gashes." A few weeks ago, the Third Annual Moonshiners Jamboree drew 700 people to this cornfield near ...