Free Republic

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A federal appeals court says the 14 crosses erected along state highways to commemorate fallen Utah Highway Patrol troopers are a violation of the U.S. Constitution. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the memorials had the effect of conveying a state endorsement or preference of a certain religion. The ruling reverses a 2007 judge's decision that the crosses communicate a secular message about deaths and were not an illegal public endorsement of religion. (snip) The 12-foot high white crosses were paid for with private funds.

Under the headline "'Without a revolution, Americans are history'..." Drudge has currently linked to a kooky article on Infowars.com which is accompanied by a somewhat violent illustration. Has Drudge gone loco? Is he just trying to increase the traffic on his website by posting something off-the-wall? Something is odd here, I smell a rat...Thoughts?

Nearly a century and half since the United States last divided, a new "irrepressible conflict" is brewing between the states. It revolves around the expansion of federal power at the expense of state and local prerogatives. It also reflects a growing economic divide, arguably more important than the much discussed ideological one, between very different regional economies. This conflict could grow in the coming years, particularly as the Obama administration seeks to impose a singular federal will against a generally more conservative set of state governments. The likely election of a more center-right Congress will exacerbate the problem. We may...

California Democratic policies are turning California into a playground exclusively for the rich with all the slave labor from South of the border a liberal California Demaristocract could possibly ask for. After 42 years as a registered Democrat I will vote straight Republican in CA and only then for fiscal conservatives. I am pro-choice and I support gay marriage but those issues must now take a back seat to reversing the collapse of our entire economy. Some Californians who fail to pass a smog test will have to sell their homes! Do California’s Demaristacratic liberals think everyone can afford a...

Police say a 67 year-old man owns the home and the weapons. He is a legally registered gun owner. "At the current time we're taking the firearms for safe keeping as evidence until we can further investigate this," says Deputy Chief Lindmark. Neighbors say even though the weapons may be legal, they still pose a security threat to their neighborhood. Woods' says, "Even if he's a registered gun owner or not, that just seems like its too many rifles."

One of about every 12 babies born in the United States in 2008 was the offspring of unauthorized immigrants, a Pew Hispanic Center study released Wednesday concluded. According to the study, an estimated 340,000 of the 4.3 million babies born in this country that year had parents who were in the United States without legal documentation. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution stipulates that those children automatically become U.S. citizens, but some members of Congress are pushing to change that provision. That effort -- rooted in the debate over illegal immigration, particularly of people from Mexico -- has created some...

The State Dept. will pay for the fund raising tour of the Imam who wants to build the mosque at Ground Zero. He will visit Riyadh, S.A., Quater, and Dubai, among other countries. After several days of phone calls and e-mail inquiries, the State Dept. answered, "we need to get clearance to comment" No denial was forthcoming. The Imam already has a mosque 10 blocks from the sone he wants to build.

As the hostilities between the current government and the Tea Party movement have become increasingly rancorous, the division of American society into two cultures holding thoroughly incompatible worldviews has become obvious. In fact, the two forces are clearly on an unavoidable collision course. Although many people may understandably be most interested in knowing which side will prevail, I think an equally important and troubling question is precisely by what means the matter will be resolved. Will reason prevail and the people in power either have their agenda confirmed or step aside gracefully? Or will there be intransigence, increasing conflict, and...

The NAACP will not release the actual text of its resolution condemning "racist elements" within the Tea Party movement until October, when the organization's board gives it final approval, a spokesman for the group has told me. Though the final version has not surfaced, I reported on some excerpts from the preliminary draft of the resolution yesterday, which I was able to record before a live webcast broadcasting the NAACP conference was cut off. Among other things, an early draft called Tea Party movement, a "threat to the pursuit of human rights, justice and equality for all." In a blog...

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) posted a threatening warning on Twitter yesterday adressed to millions of Tea Party activists as news broke of statements by the NAACP accusing the Tea Party of being a racist group led by "hardcore white supremacists."Msg to Tea Party: We will not allow u to send bigots into the Capitol, call civil rts heroes epithets & act like you didnt send em #NAACP101 about 16 hours ago via twidroidThe NAACP is holding its 101st anniversary convention in Kansas City this week. A resolution falsely accusing the Tea Party of being...

WASHINGTON — D.C. police are investigating after an officer shot and killed a dog that allegedly attacked him while serving a search warrant at a Northwest Washington home Tuesday night. Marietta Robinson, who lives at the address, said police were unjustified in killing the dog, which she put in the bathroom before police entered the home. Police were searching for her grandson, who the woman said hasn’t lived there in so long, not even her 13-year-old dog knew what her grandson looked like. An officer entered the bathroom over the 62-year-old woman’s protests and shot the dog, named Wrinkles. As...

Shortly after assuming his position, Attorney General Eric Holder called America a “nation of cowards” because we were too afraid to speak about race. My former colleague Congressman Steve King (R-IA) recently tried to initiate a discussion, and the Democrats and politically correct Republicans are castigating him. Rep. King told a talk show host that “the president has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race — on the side that favors the black person.” He stood by his remarks stating that there “appears to me to be an inclination on the...

Congress wouldn't tax Roth IRAs, would it? It is a burning question for thousands of taxpayers now deciding whether to pay taxes to convert their regular individual retirement accounts to Roth accounts. All taxpayers are eligible to make the switch, because this year the income limit of $100,000 was permanently repealed. Many have done so already: Fidelity Investments says that as of May 31, the firm had handled 87,000 Roth conversions this year, about four times the number for the same period last year. But dozens of less-convinced readers have asked Tax Report about Congress's intentions, and well-known IRA expert...

In 1861 America fought a civil war over slavery, States’ rights and economic differences between North and South. The opening shots of a second civil war were fired one hundred years later. War began on college campuses with rebellion against academic and civil authorities. Hostages were taken, buildings occupied. There were riots and bombings. Students and police were killed and wounded. Anarchists joined civil rights activists and so-called “peace” activists in violent anti-war, anti-capitalism riots. In common was the attack on society and the Constitution in favor of an ill-defined “just” society to be created. Civil society suppressed the foul-mouthed...

Several Senators have learned of a possible plan by the Obama Administration that would provide a mass Amnesty for the nation's 11-18 million illegal aliens. Led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), eight Senators addressed a letter to the President asking for answers to questions about a plan that would allow DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to provide an amnesty if they can't secure enough votes for a bill in the Senate. The letter that was sent to Pres. Obama earlier today asks the President for clarification on the use of deferred action or parole for illegal aliens. The executive actions are...

Once upon a time a time -- 1861-65 to be more exact -- the United States had another president from Illinois. Those lost in the present may consider that long ago, a piece of ancient history of no relevance to today's oh-so-advanced, oh-so-high-tech economy and society. For what could today's experts, technicians, pundits and poobahs possibly have to learn from a long-ago president in a stovepipe hat who by now has become more caricature than guide? Such is the arrogance of the self-absorbed present, and why it so often leads to a failed future. For despite all their expertise, our...

A new U.S. Senate bill would grant the president far-reaching emergency powers to seize control of or even shut down portions of the Internet. The legislation announced Thursday says that companies such as broadband providers, search engines, or software firms that the government selects "shall immediately comply with any emergency measure or action developed" by the Department of Homeland Security. Anyone failing to comply would be fined.

I’ve often heard the statement: “The south shall rise again.” I think Texas and Arizona are the vanguard of a new conservative movement that might result in a second Civil War, perhaps with the south winning this time. Arizona, ignored by the Obama Administration, boldly took action asserting its right as a state to defend itself against the serious consequences of illegal immigration. The Texas Board of Education decided it was time to eliminate the liberal bias in social studies textbooks and ensure they were written to allow a broader interpretation of historical and global events. Both of the above...

What if during the Bush Administration, it was discovered that Karl Rove, with the President's approval, hatched a plan to influence the outcome of at least two elections? The outcry from all Americans and particularly the liberal media would have risen to the heavens, and rightly so. No doubt there would have been demands that Bush be impeached. However, because it is the Obama administration that used these tactics, the reaction from the media has been a big "so what?" Liberals are saying it's just politics as usual, which is partly correct. In Chicago, it is considered politics as usual....

Outside of Rep. Mel Watt’s office (D-NC) in Greensboro, North Carolina this week a disgruntled liberal attacked a group of local Tea Party protestors peacefully chanting “no more bailouts.”“Don’t touch my property again, and don’t push me again” the cameraman said calmly.“Then get the f*** out,” said the aggressor, a black man in his 50’s, before he punched the cameraman in the face.The unidentified man, who earlier blamed George W. Bush for “the mess we are in,” was later asked on camera to wait for the police after the attack. “If you f*** around you are going to get hurt,”...