Free Republic

Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. has said that he has no memory of belonging to the Federalist Society, but his name appears in the influential, conservative legal organization's 1997-1998 leadership directory. Having served only two years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit after a long career as a government and private-sector lawyer, Roberts has not amassed much of a public paper record that would show his judicial philosophy. Working with the Federalist Society provides some clue of his sympathies. The organization keeps its membership rolls secret, but many key policymakers in the Bush administration...

Pressure is building for greater use of video cameras to keep watch over the nation's cities — particularly in transportation systems and other spots vulnerable to terrorism — after the bombings in London. The calls have come over the last few weeks as British investigators released surveillance footage of the bombers in the deadly July 7 attacks and then put out frames of suspects in Thursday's failed attacks. "I do not think that cameras are the big mortal threat to civil liberties that people are painting them to be," Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony A. Williams said Friday.

The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the Central American Free Trade Agreement in the next two weeks, and one little-known provision of the agreement desperately needs to be exposed to public view. CAFTA, like the World Trade Organization, may serve as a forum for restricting or even banning dietary supplements in the U.S. The Codex Alimentarius Commission, organized by the United Nations in the 1960s, is charged with “harmonizing” food and supplement rules between all nations of the world. Under Codex rules, even basic vitamins and minerals require a doctor’s prescription. The European Union already has adopted...

CHINA gave way to mounting political, diplomatic and economic pressures yesterday by scrapping its decade-old currency peg to the dollar, revaluing the yuan and paving the way for further rises in its exchange rate. In long-awaited move, partly designed to defuse intense pressure from Washington for a rise in the super-competitive value of the yuan, China said it was switching to a complex new arrangement that linked the yuan’s value to an undisclosed basket of other world currencies. In the sudden change, which caught markets by surprise, China said that, under its new “managed float” arrangement, the yuan would immediately...

The House Ways and Means Committee marked up the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) June 30, but the pact does not have the votes to pass on the floor. The sticking point are Republican members concerned not only with the mounting trade deficit, which will likely top $700 billion this year, but the lack of action by the administration against the largest bilateral part of the trade imbalance, China. The issue is not just economics, but national security, as Beijing uses the gains from trade -- the inflow of capital and technology -- to support a foreign policy agenda...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush gave the right wing what it wanted, a certified conservative who could tip the Supreme Court to the right. At the same time, he robbed liberals of what they sought - a fire-breathing ideologue who would trigger an epic fight. In selecting Judge John G. Roberts, Bush sought to put his conservative stamp on the high court for the next generation or so, while making it hard for Democrats to stop him. With Republicans controlling the White House and the Senate, Bush had the luxury of choosing from a vast selection of conservative candidates. The...

WASHINGTON, July 18 - Administration officials said on Monday night that President Bush's selection process for a Supreme Court nominee was moving far faster than they expected, a signal that there could be a candidate within the next few days. They also said that Mr. Bush's remarks on Monday morning in an East Room news conference, in which the president suggested that he would take more time to interview candidates, did not rule out a quick announcement. In that news conference with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, Mr. Bush said that he was still reviewing the backgrounds of candidates...

White House officials have assured select conservative leaders that they will not nominate Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to the Supreme Court to replace retiring Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, according to a conservative familiar with the behind-the-scenes discussions. The message has filtered out to conservative activists that Gonzales, whom many activists believe would be too liberal on abortion and racial preference issues, is no longer a threat to their cause. That could portend a fierce battle in the Senate in September, as Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) has said Gonzales would be a qualified nominee, suggesting that his selection...

Congressman Tom Tancredo blasts Mexican presidential candidate Jorge Castenada for threatening the US with non-cooperation if we don’t offer illegal aliens amnesty. Castenada’s astonishing statement, said in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, has been picked up by few national press outlets. Watching Mexican presidential candidate Jorge Castenada shake down Congress this week was a lot like watching an episode of “the Sopranos.” Mexican President Vicente Fox’s former Foreign Minister – calmly told a Senate Committee in Washington this week that Mexico’s future cooperation with the United States would be on a quid-pro-quo basis. He didn’t parce words – telling...

Unocal board won't back CNOOC bid Unocal Corp.'s directors refused to support a takeover of their company by CNOOC Ltd., the oil company whose parent is owned by the government of China. Sources familiar with the bid said the Unocal directors didn't back the unsolicited takeover bid because the CNOOC bid did not raise the Chinese oil company's $18.5 billion cash offer. San Ramon-based Chevron Corp. (CVX) has offered $16.3 billion in cash and stock to snap up Unocal. Chevron says its bid is superior to CNOOC's because the Chevron bid would close quickly, while CNOOC's proposal faces lengthy government...

AUGUSTA, Ga. - A Southern heritage group wants the Confederate flag restored to its former place on Riverwalk Augusta and has sued the Augusta Commission and the city's former mayor in the process. Georgia Heritage Council Inc. filed the civil lawsuit against the commission and former Mayor Bob Young on July 7. The Gainesville, Ga.-based group argues in its court filing that the Confederate flag constituted a memorial to the state's Civil War veterans. The suit alleges that the city violated a section of state law that prohibits the alteration or defacement of monuments that honor or memorialize veterans, regardless...

VANCOUVER - A Lumby, B.C., mother believes her daughter got the short end of the hockey stick while she was a member of the town's bantam house team, thanks to a B.C. Amateur Hockey Association policy requiring male and female players to change in separate rooms. Jane Emlyn says female minor hockey players' rights are violated when they're forced to use separate changing rooms. She's presenting her case to a mediator from the Human Rights Tribunal this morning, facing off against representatives from the B.C. amateur hockey association and the Lumby Minor Hockey Association at the Vernon courthouse. "There's a...

Ask President Bush NOT to nominate the anti-gun Alberto Gonzales It looks like the judicial rumor mill was right on the money. There had been increasing speculation in recent weeks that a Supreme Court Justice would be stepping down soon. And while many thought it would be Chief Justice Rehnquist because of his failing health, many Capitol Hill insiders suspected it would be Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. They were right. Justice O'Connor retired from the high court earlier this month, leaving a huge vacancy that President Bush will now have to fill. Obviously, no one outside of the President's closest...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Congress is again preparing to tackle one of the thorniest social issues in contemporary America — what to do about the thousands of illegal aliens attempting to cross U.S. borders every year as well as the millions who are already here. "It is affecting every member of Congress in their district back home, it is a top-tier concern," said Rep. John Shadegg (search), R-Ariz. Shadegg said the issue is gaining so much attention from the public that border security trumped White House marketing of Social Security reform. "We were at home aggressively doing town halls on...

THIS LAND WAS YOUR LAND Movement builds to seize Souter home If New Hampshire selectmen don't bite, ballot initiatives planned Supreme Court Justice David Souter probably never expected his vote to permit a Connecticut town the power to seize the homes of citizens would come back to haunt him. But it may. An effort by a Los Angeles advertising entrepreneur to persuade the city fathers of Weare, N.H., to turn the tables on Souter by seizing his home and building a hotel on the site is gaining steam. Logan Darrow Clements and his company, Free Star Media, are now collecting...

CHICAGO -- The Pot Suckers are going up in smoke. A New Jersey-based company has agreed to stop selling the controversial marijuana-flavored lollipops. The move by ICUP, Inc., comes after company officials received a subpoena from the Illinois attorney general's office. Attorney General Lisa Madigan said she was told by the company that pulling the plug on the pot candy was a business decision. A number of pot-flavored novelties have appeared in stores across the country. While the distributors said they're perfectly legal, critics charged the pot candy sends the wrong message to kids. Last week, the Chicago City Council...

Law enforcement authorities in major U.S. cities put riot police on high alert today after recently-jailed journalist Judith Miller complained that prison guards had desecrated her copy of The New York Times. "We know that journalists worship the Times," said one deputy police chief, "If they take to the streets in protest, things could get ugly fast." Ms. Miller, who works for the Times' counter-intelligence department, told an unnamed visitor that her copy of the revered 'Gray Lady' had been carelessly tossed on the floor, handled by a conservative Republican jailer (who she called 'an infidel') and may have been...

DUmmies are saying Andy Stephenson is dead. Anyone know if it's true?

Hyperactive like the rest of her breed, the Jack Russell terrier named Kaylee would chase anything thrown her way. And to the horror of adults and children at a family July Fourth picnic, she did just that when a powerful firecracker was thrown into her yard. She chased it down and was killed outright when it went off. "I lost a family member," Joseph P. Kolinoski, 26, wrote in a statement to a Martin County sheriff's deputy. Kolinoski said the family was celebrating in their yard when his wife's uncle drove by and threw the powerful firecracker about 5:30 p.m....