Free Republic

ON SUNDAYS AT THE FARMERS MARKET IN SANTA MONICA THERE IS A GROUP OF BUSH HATERS AND HOWARD DEAN SUPPORTERS WHO GO UNCHALLANGED. THEY POST SLANDEROUS SIGNS AND HATE LITERATURE. WE NEED SOME REPUBLICANS TO COME OUT AND SHOW THE PUBLIC THAT WE EXIST. LOCATION MAIN STREET AND OCEAN PARK BLVD IN SANTA MONICA, CA EVERY SUNDAY FROM 9 AM TO 1 PM. click here for map  

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court Wednesday overturned part of a sweeping 1996 anti-terror law that prohibits financial assistance or "material support" to organizations classified as terrorist by the State Department. The government has increasingly used the law to prosecute suspected terrorists, and the ruling could be a blow to the Bush administration's legal strategy in the war on terror.The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that it is unconstitutional to punish people - sometimes with life in prison - for providing "training" or "personnel" to a terror group, categories the judges called overbroad. The...

WASHINGTON - Civil liberties groups and politicians raised the prospect Sunday that FBI (news - web sites) monitoring of anti-war protesters could stifle legitimate dissent and jeopardize people's First Amendment right to speak their mind. "What is the chilling effect that will be felt by Americans all across the country if they think they will come under FBI scrutiny just by going to a protest?" said Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites). An FBI official on Sunday denied any effort to collect intelligence on people exercising their rights to free speech. The...

"Stunning Reversal:" Ford Foundation Agrees to StopFunding Anti-Israeli and Anti-Semitic Groups By Andrew L. Jaffee, November 21, 2003 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Because of pressure by a coalition of U.S. Jewsish groups and members of Congress, the Ford Foundation has agreed to stop funding anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic groups. The Foundation's activities contradicted its self-stated principles to "reduce poverty and injustice, strengthen democratic values, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement". The organization at first denied charges it funded anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic groups. But Ford changed its tune after the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) published a series of articles exposing the Foundation's activities,...

I am perplexed and concerned at the response of many Ohio groups/organizations to netWMD's call to oppose the Palestinian Solidarity Movement's (PSM) planned conference at Ohio State University. In many instances, our calls and emails to various Ohio groups asking for support -- even constructive criticism -- have gone completely unanswered. How can these groups ignore the evidence we've documented for PSM's calls for the "liberation" (destruction) of "historic Palestine" (Israel) "by any means necessary." How can they ignore the evidence for PSM activists rioting last year at Concordia University (see the pictures for yourself), for PSM 2002 conference attendees...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Four government regulations completed on Monday and a half-dozen more in the works will provide federal money for religion-oriented programs run by people President Bush has dubbed America's "neighborhood healers." Cabinet members met with the president at the White House to discuss ways agencies are eliminating barriers that have kept "faith-based" groups from obtaining federal grants to help people in need. "These six new regulations and the four finalized ones represent a continued march by the president in the faith-based initiative's effort to spread compassion in our country and make sure that the most effective programs are...

<p>LOS ANGELES -- Oscar Rodriguez, a 30-year-old photography major at East Los Angeles College, says he's a registered Republican. But, he says, "I usually go for who has the better speech."</p> <p>He says he voted for Gray Davis in 1998 because he resented then-Gov. Pete Wilson's support of Proposition 187, intended to cut public services to undocumented immigrants. And he voted Democratic in 2002 because he has cerebral palsy and is concerned about cuts to Medi-Cal.</p>

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Two civil liberties groups sued Pennsylvania's attorney general Tuesday, claiming his tactics to stop child pornography also cut subscribers across the country from legitimate Web sites. The groups, in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, accused Attorney General Mike Fisher of creating a "system of secret censorship" that goes unchecked by state courts. "Child pornography has no place in a civilized society. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania's Web-blocking law does little to stop child pornography but does a great deal to violate the protections of the First Amendment," said Alan Davidson, associate director of the Center for...

Also FRom Yahoo! News 8/29/03 WASHINGTON - Several of the nation's most powerful interest groups say that despite high stakes they plan to stay out of California's recall, citing the high cost of campaigning there, the chaos of the race or simply a policy of skipping state elections. AP Photo "This is a bit of a bizarre situation and we have decided not to get involved in it," said Jeff Trewhitt, a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America. "There's no way," the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (news - web sites)'s political director, Bill Miller, said when asked...

In the name of fighting terrorism a new kind of government is being implemented in Washington, D.C. We are witnessing the birth of a powerful multi-billion dollar surveillance lobby consisting of an army of special interest groups, Washington lawyers, lobbyists, and high-tech firms with wares to sell. The personal rights of American citizens, protected until now by the Bill of Rights, are the farthest thing from their minds as they seek to fill their pockets while enabling government to monitor and control our lives to a degree unheard of prior to September 11, 2001. This army seeks riches as it...

<p>JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas announced late Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority was ending all talks with representatives of the militant groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas, both of which claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed at least 18 and injured more than 130.</p>

<p>French neo-Nazis formed an alliance with extremist Jewish groups on the Internet to publish a torrent of hate messages directed against Arabs and Muslims, according to a report by a leading anti-racist group.</p> <p>Members of extreme-right groups were prepared to set aside their anti-Semitic feelings to share Web space and know-how with extremist pro-Israeli campaigners, amid a rise in violence in the Middle East, the report said.</p>

<p>State anti-tax groups vowed Thursday to fight "with everything we've got" state schools chief Jack O'Connell's effort to set aside California's stringent vote requirement for raising taxes.</p> <p>O'Connell, the superintendent of public instruction, said Thursday that he plans to ask the state Supreme Court to lift the state's separate two-thirds vote requirements for raising taxes and passing budgets.</p>

<p>The recall of Gov. Gray Davis has yet to qualify for the ballot, but politicians across the state are pondering what comes next.</p> <p>"This is so great because there are so many permutations," said Bill Simon, the wealthy GOP businessman Davis defeated in November. Simon is seriously considering another bid for governor if the recall reaches voters.</p>

C.I.A. Warns U.S. Troops of Attacks in Iraq by Terror Groups Sat Mar 8, 2:58 PM ET By THOM SHANKER and DAVID JOHNSTON The New York Times WASHINGTON, March 8 The Central Intelligence Agency has warned that terrorists based in Iraq are planning attacks against American and allied forces inside the country after any invasion, government counterterrorism officials say. The agency's previously undisclosed assessment has circulated among senior Bush administration officials. It describes both the risks of terror attacks on American forces inside Iraq if an invasion occurs and the danger of similar attacks on troops already massing in the...

<p>In a frontal assault on one of the most contentious federal subsidies in the West, eight environmental groups sued the U.S. Forest Service on Wednesday for failing to complete a plan in the mid-1990s to increase fees that ranchers pay to graze livestock on public lands.</p>

<p>A move by several Central American countries to issue identification cards to their citizens in the United States has sparked complaints that the cards promote illegal immigration.</p> <p>The cards, patterned after Mexico's highly successful consular identification card, allow immigrants to open bank accounts, board airplanes and conduct other official business, regardless of their immigration status.</p>

<p>In the wake of massive sales of stock by insiders during the economic boom, reform advocates have called for numerous changes in rules for corporate governance and executive compensation to restore investors' faith.</p> <p>These proposals come from a diverse array of community groups, pension funds, politicians and even industry groups. The solutions they recommend include new laws, regulations and accounting procedures.</p>

<p>LEWISTON, Maine   An anti-Semitic white supremacist group is citing Lewiston's growing Somali population in an attempt to recruit new members from the area.</p> <p>''Did you know that there is a deliberate campaign to corrupt and pollute the Whitest areas of America as quickly as possible?'' the National Alliance writes in an open letter on a Web site, the Sun Journal reported.</p>

<p>This Independence Day, Richard Mak envisions American flags displayed proudly alongside the Peking ducks, Asian pears and jade rings in this city's bustling Chinatown.</p> <p>Mak and about 200 volunteers are planning to visit each Chinatown merchant in Oakland, and offer to hang free flags from storefronts. It's all part of a nationwide effort - given new urgency by last year's terrorist attacks - to blanket Asian-American neighborhoods with the Stars and Stripes for July Fourth.</p>