Free Republic

US President Barack Obama says he has the “legal authority” to order US airstrikes on Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) forces in Syria, according to sources present at a dinner with foreign policy experts at the White House on Monday. Obama “thinks he has the legal authority he needs” to expand action in Iraq and Syria under the War Powers Act, according to Jane Harman, the president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, who told the Washington Post about the dinner. Another attendee of the dinner, former undersecretary of defense for policy Michèle Flournoy, told the paper Obama...

A White House Web site activated Monday uses the same set-up as the "Fight the Smears" page the Obama campaign maintained last year to battle rumors seen as potentially damaging to his candidacy. The Obama administration has launched a new Web site to battle what it calls "wild rumors" about the health care reform plans being pushed through Congress -- including an invitation for the public to tattle on any other "myths" they come across.

AUSTIN — Two state lawmakers are requesting formal inquiries into whether the Texas Department of Transportation is improperly spending money on advertising. Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, and Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, question whether an estimated $7 million to $9 million TxDOT is spending on its "Keep Texas Moving" campaign is a proper use of resources. The lawmakers have asked Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick look into the matter. Paxton said he is concerned that the transportation department is spending the money to argue its case before the public in response to lawmakers' questions about projects such...

(CNSNews.com) - A key Republican lawmaker in Virginia has threatened to block the re-appointment of a local judge because, in the lawmaker's judgment, the judge's personal behavior as a lesbian violates the state's sodomy law. Homosexuality advocates are protesting the lawmaker's lifestyle inquiry, which they claim has nothing to do with Newsport News Circuit Judge Verbena Askew's qualifications. Delegate Robert McDonnell (R-Virginia Beach) recently said Askew's homosexuality might prevent her from being sworn in for a second eight-year term. Virginia's "crimes against nature" law strictly prohibits anal and oral sex between consenting adults, regardless of gender. Speaking as chairman of...

<p>We often hear about left-wing thugs on college campuses stealing newspapers that print politically incorrect material, but usually the perpetrators are students. In this case, it's the mayor of Berkeley. The Daily Californian reports "Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates has admitted responsibility for stealing and trashing about 1,000 copies of The Daily Californian that carried the student newspaper's endorsement of his opponent." The mayor had earlier denied involvement in the heist.</p>

For immediate release: October 1, 2002 For further information contact Winnie Comfort, AOC (609) 292-9580 Supreme Court Oral Arguments in the Matter of the New Jersey US Senate Election The New Jersey Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the matter of The New Jersey Democratic Party et al. v. Hon. David G. Samsom et al. in the Supreme Court courtroom on the 8th floor of the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex, Market St., Trenton, at 10:00 a.m. on Wed., Oct. 2. The Court's Order setting the hearing and addressing other issues is available on the Judiciary Web site home...

<p>SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN, D-Conn., is worried about former Vice President Al Gore. Lieberman thinks that Gore came across as too anti-rich when they ran for the White House in 2000. And he thinks Gore is overly hostile toward business now, as they're eyeing each other and a new bid for the White House in 2004.</p>

'Law and Naivete' -- The Post Gets It Wrong By Chuck ColsonChairman of Prison Fellowship MinistriesJuly 18, 2002 Crosswalk.com News Channel - In a speech last week, President Bush responded to the corporate scandals by saying, "There is no capitalism without conscience; there is no wealth without character." The Washington Post fired back that conscience, basically, has nothing to do with it. Challenging Bush, the Post wrote, "There's no harm in this rhetoric, but it is naïve to suppose that business can be regulated by some kind of national honor code." Don't we ever learn? When I was in...