Free Republic

It may not come as surprising news to many of you that the United Nations doesn’t approve of our Second Amendment. Not one bit. And they very much hope to do something about it with help from some powerful American friends. Under the guise of a proposed global “Small Arms Treaty” premised to fight “terrorism”, “insurgency” and “international crime syndicates” you can be quite certain that an even more insidious threat is being targeted – our Constitutional right for law-abiding citizens to own and bear arms.

NEW YORK -- A Hamas leader says Muslims "have to build" a mosque near ground zero. Mahmoud al-Zahar said Muslims "have to build everywhere" so that followers can pray, just like Christians and Jews build their places of worship. Al-Zahar spoke Sunday on "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio" on WABC-AM. He is a co-founder of Hamas and its chief on the Gaza Strip.

Parents at Coconut Grove Elementary School are calling for the ouster of Principal Eva N. Ravelo this week after she told a parent in an e-mail to "eat sh-- and die." The controversy, which is now under review by the Miami-Dade County school district's central office, started Monday. Abigail DuBearn, a member of the school's Educational Excellence School Advisory Committee, or EESAC, had asked Ravelo and other council members whether student representatives of the committee "could be notified today and be invited to attend and participate'' at Monday's meeting. Ravelo, 44, then replied to DuBearn's e-mail with the message: "Advise...

U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (L) and Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) listen to cancer survivor Molly Secours as she speaks during a news conference on America

I come to New York to talk about a familiar subject: gun control. But let me warn you: this may be a different kind of gun control lecture than you have heard before. It will not be about gun control in the streets of Manhattan or Columbine, or the Brady Bill, or gun registration, or even the Second Amendment, at least not until the lecture's end.... [guns are evil blah blah blah] What should we do about it? We have knowledge, we have networks, we have an emerging horizontal process to generate norms. We now need those emerging norms to...

DHAKA (AFP) - Bangladesh wants rich nations to pay the billions of dollars it says it needs to help fight the effects of climate change because they are the biggest environmental culprits. < > "We need at least four billion dollars at least by 2020 to build dams, cyclone shelters, plant trees along the coast and build infrastructure and capacities to adapt to increasing number of natural disasters," Kabir said. < > "We hope Western countries will grant the money as compensation for being the biggest carbon emitters," Kabir said. "They are responsible for our woes and the increasing number...

Is it wise to refuse talks with Hamas if the price is typhoid and cholera? There was a large demonstration last month in Tehran, Iran. For some reason, the media, and not only the Israeli press, chose to ignore the bus drivers strike broken by the right-wing theocracy. A British organization found that more than 1,000 drivers were arrested. There's a lesson in this small story: Even the media is partner to attempts to present the Iranian regime as radical Islamist, anti-Western, anti-Israel bloc. And so it does not report on the struggle of a professional trade union. In any...

<p>Cindy Sheehan and other peace activists plan to "die symbolically" for the next four days outside the White House to represent the American soldiers who have died in Iraq. Sheehan, whose son Casey died in Iraq last year, organized the vigil as the U.S. military death toll in the war neared 2,000. "I'll be laying down and not getting up," Sheehan said Tuesday to a small crowd in which the number of journalists exceeded the number of protesters.</p>

A team of doctors has arrived at Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah where the ailing Palestinian leader's health has significantly deteriorated. One cabinet minister, who asked not be identified, told Reuters that Mr Arafat, 75, was "very, very sick". A crowd gathered, as a series of top Palestinian officials arrived. His wife Suha should arrive later on Thursday. Israel says Mr Arafat can go anywhere for treatment, but it is unclear if he would be allowed back to the compound. A top official told Reuters that if he leaves the West Bank, the question of whether he could return...

Homosexual activists are fuming over President Bush's refusal to declare June "Gay Pride Month." Nevertheless, without official support, several groups of federal workers are still planning activities. Leonard Hirsch, president of Federal GLOBE — the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Federal Employee’s organization — told the Washington Blade, a homosexual weekly, that events are scheduled at the departments of Transportation, State, Interior and the USDA, while other agencies have said they will not sanction events without White House approval. "We have continued to be boxed in a Catch-22 because agencies are saying that they can't provide support or statements unless the...

I have been a registered Democrat all my life. My family are from Arkansas via Tennessee, Kentucky and Virgina. My ancestors fought against Lincoln in the Civil War and the entire family has been Democrat ever since. But prior to that ... fought in the Revolutionary war. I believe in God and bear allegiance to America, liberty, freedom, and the Constitution of the United States of America - not some political party. And so for the last time I'm gonna tell you, this website is for the Constitution, not your bloodsucking party. In other words, kwitchyurbellyakin or bailthehellout!