Free Republic

Let No Quarter Be Given "It would be the greatest mistake, certainly, to think that concessions mean peace. Nothing of the kind. Concessions are nothing but a new form of war."—V. I. Lenin The above quote by one of the most brutal architects of human misery applies to any concession of liberty. The present attack on our Second Amendment Right to Keep and Bear Arms is being waged in the form of concessions. Any retreat is part of a fatal process. In our suicidal search for a "kinder, gentler nation," we are sacrificing our birthright of liberty. It is time...

Bullying is nothing new, but when a 12-year-old engages in it by making sexual demands on a 4-year-old, which allegedly happened on a Boston school bus this week, it ought to be a wakeup call for the rest of us. Adolescent sensuality is nothing new either, but when a 15-year-old girl, acting on a dare, publicly participates in sexual activity with a 16-year-old boy, which allegedly happened on a South Shore school bus a week earlier, it, too, ought to be a wakeup call for the rest of us. These are more than isolated incidents; they're reflections of the mess...

THE EVIL GENIUS OF WITHHOLDING Insight Magazine By Kenneth Smith December 9, 1996 Step aside, Steve Forbes. You too, Jack Kemp. Nice try, Bill Archer. It's time to make way for Washington's real tax reformer, whose contempt for the tax code is second to none. Of the World War II origins of the federal withholding tax, he writes: "There began a brutal, bare-knuckled assault on the lives and property and privacy of the American people. The withholding tax poured in more money than Beardsley Ruml (former chairman of R.H. Macy and Co. and of the Federal Reserve Bank of New...

ASHINGTON, Jan. 8 — A federal appeals court handed the Bush administration a major legal victory today in ruling that a wartime president can indefinitely detain a United States citizen captured as an enemy combatant on the battlefield and deny that person access to a lawyer.The case, which set up a stark clash between the nation's security interests and its citizens' civil liberties, may have expanded the power of the presidency as the three-judge panel ruled unanimously that President Bush was due great deference in conducting the war against terrorism.The judges of the United States Court of Appeals for...

Baltimore prosecutors today dropped attempted murder and first-degree assault charges against a man who shot four police detectives during a November drug raid, saying they believe Lewis S. Cauthorne acted in self-defense when he wounded the officers as they barged into his home. Investigators concluded detectives did not announce that they were police just before smashing down Cauthorne's door with a battering ram and rushing in to look for drugs, State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy said at a news conference this morning in Clarence Mitchell Courthouse. Cauthorne was interviewed by police the night of the incident and told them, "I...

Ms. Nancy Snell Swickard - Publisher Shotgun News P. O. Box 669, Hastings, NE 68902 Dear Ms. Swickard, I was very distressed to see the remark of one of your subscribers which you quoted on page 8 of your October 1 (1996) issue. The support of the "Drug War" by anyone who values the 2nd Amendment, and the rest of the Bill of Rights, is the most dangerous error of thinking in the politics of the "gun control" debate. This error is extremely widespread, although there have been some recent signs that some Americans are seeing through the propaganda of...

President Bush signs Wetlands Act The Democrat.com By James L. Cummins January 7, 2002 President George W. Bush recently signed into law the reauthorization of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. It's purpose is to encourage voluntary partnerships among public agencies and the private sector to conserve North American wetland ecosystems. It establishes an infrastructure and provides a source of funding to accomplish that end. The Act funds the protection, restoration, management and enhancement of a wetland ecosystem to benefit wetland-dependent wildlife. According to President Bush, "Today we take important action to conserve North America's wetlands, which will help keep...

Becoming a member of Congress is the experience of a lifetime. Your annual salary is $150,000 with automatic pay increases, plus travel expenses and per diem, an office budget for personnel and expenses of $2 million dollars a year and your personal automobile license plate reads, "Member of Congress." The perks and privileges are lavish including first class dining at bargain basement prices (subsidized by the public) and world class health club facilities publicly funded for members of Congress. Once you get in office you have the ability to promote and enact legislation that provides millions of dollars for projects...

This year may be long remembered as the year when either the wisdom or the lack of wisdom of our leaders decided the fate of Americans yet unborn. The undeclared war against this country by nations harboring and fostering terrorists sworn to our destruction became undeniable on September 11, 2001. The nuclear threat implicit in these undeclared wars became explicit last year, when North Korea openly repudiated the treaty by which Bill Clinton had tried to buy them off by essentially paying blackmail to get their nuclear weapons off the headlines. Sweeping the problem under the rug worked for Clinton,...

Losing your wallet in Cookeville, Tenn., can get you handcuffed on the side of the highway and your dog shot to death by police – at least, that was the experience of a North Carolina family returning from a vacation in Nashville. James Smoak apparently left his wallet on the roof of the family station wagon New Year's Day while getting gas prior to pulling onto Interstate 40, reports the Cookeville Herald-Citizen. He discovered it was missing after three police cars swarmed his vehicle in what appeared to be a traffic stop. But this was no ordinary traffic stop. According...

With looks that can kill, BB guns banned for youths Fed up with realistic toys, city officials OK measure. The BB gun, like the classic Red Ryder celebrated in a popular holiday film, is a traditional Christmas gift that has always come wrapped in a certain risk. Now the toy carries a threat that has nothing to do with putting an eye out: a $500 fine and two months in jail. It is a misdemeanor in Baltimore to sell or give a BB gun to anyone younger than 18, under an ordinance adopted by the City Council this month. In...

For nearly six years, I have written this daily column chronicling the news of the day, the problems of our world and offering some solutions to the challenges we face as Americans. Practically every day, during that time, readers have written to me asking for answers. They want to know what they can do to make their government accountable to them. They want to know how they can reclaim the cultural institutions that have drifted from them. They want to know how they can Take America Back. They don't want to be told to write to their congressman. They've tried...

<p>WASHINGTON — Prominent civil libertarians have suggested that a McCarthy style witch hunt for terrorists in America could be an even greater threat to America than the terrorists themselves.</p> <p>And now, a four-star general in charge of preparing the military for any future terror attacks is expressing similar concerns.</p>