Free Republic

Suddenly, it's becoming less of a stigma for bigwigs to associate with gays in the Republican Party. Not only has former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman's 9/22 fundraiser for gay marriage rights attracted numerous high-octane Republican donors and activists, but Sen. John Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Rep. Pete Sessions, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee will help the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay GOP group, raise money for its political action committee. A glossy pamphlet advertising the Log Cabin Republicans' national dinner at the Capitol Hill Club highlights an hour-long cocktail gathering with...

Log Cabin Republicans National Dinner Washington, D.C. September 22, 2010 With special guests: Sen. John Cornyn*Rep. Pete Sessions Join us this September 22nd for Log Cabin Republicans' National Dinner in our nation's capital. Confirmed speakers include National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Senator John Cornyn* (R-TX), National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Representative Pete Sessions (R-TX), Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL), Representative Anh 'Joseph' Cao (R-LA), Representative Charles Djou (R-HI), Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, Daily Caller Publisher Tucker Carlson and Nick Herbert MP, Minister of State for Justice/Police (UK). (snip) *Senator Cornyn will be attending...

A growing number of Republicans are breaking with the party's traditional stance to publicly state their support for same-sex marriage, a shift strategists say stems as much from demographics as from the renewed focus on economics and the "tea party" movement. A solid majority of adults younger than 30 - about six in 10 - support the right of gay and lesbian couples to legally wed, according to a Washington Post poll in February. But even many older Americans and self-identified social conservatives have changed their view on an issue that just six years ago galvanized voters in support of...

Wynnewood Inn was built in 1828 in upper Middle Tennessee. It remained in an excellent state of preservation until suffering tragic tornado damage in 2008. A project to faithfully restore the historic structure is in progress.

Tishomingo County is a scenic slice of the Backcountry nestled in the Appalachian foothills of far northeast Mississippi. The Butler Dogtrot cabin was built near The Natchez Trace circa 1870 and survives as a fine example of this rustic architecture.

This log house was photographed near Hollins in Roanoke County, Virginia, about eight decades ago. I have been unable to determine whether it remains standing -- the structure was in serious disrepair when the photographs were taken long ago, indicating that its survival to the present time is questionable.

This unusual log cabin was photographed decades ago on Winterview Farm near Lexington, Virginia. I have been unable to determine whether it still stands.

A political activist and pro-family leader says a radical homosexual group is trying to infiltrate the Republican Party in order to render it less effective in standing up for policies like the ban on homosexuals from military service. On July 13, U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips will hear the lawsuit brought by homosexuals who call themselves the Log Cabin Republicans as they challenge Clinton's longstanding policy of "don't ask, don't tell," which bars homosexuals from openly serving in the military. Congress is already working on the legislation to repeal the actual 1993 law that declares homosexuality is incompatible with military...

Son Jim came up for a visit this weekend and we spent Saturday at The Breaks Interstate Park on the Virginia-Kentucky border. The Breaks Visitor Center features a single-crib log cabin and a moonshine still -- which comes with directions for use, in case you don't already know how. [Photographs]

During the second half of the 19th century, traditional methods of constructing residential buildings -- by using logs, timbers, or solid masonry of stone or brick -- rapidly were displaced by balloon-framing and platform-framing methods. But while the building of log cabins as primary residences faded, Americans did not stop building log cabins. They simply built them for other purposes, to serve as vacation cottages and fishing and hunting camps.

In this article, a selection of mountain cabins which were photographed when folks were living in them. The cabins depicted are all believed to have been located in Appalachia, although the location was in some cases not specified.

Vintage settler's cabins are rare finds, as most of them didn't survive very long. Many thousands of these shelters were built during the early history of the Backcountry, constructed quickly and simply of peeled logs, often with no windows. The cabin depicted here was located in the Rich Valley of Virginia and was photographed in 1880. [Picture is linked because of claimed library restrictions]

The log cabins in this collection of vintage photographs have been lost, to the best of my knowledge. Timbers may have been salvaged from some, and it is possible that one or two have somehow survived, but if so I can find no trace of them.

This article features a single cabin which is perhaps the most primitive example of such a habitation you'll ever see. But it is the real McCoy -- a one-room, round-log Backcountry settler's cabin, the kind of structure that was thrown together quickly by tens of thousands of immigrants in the mountains of Southern Appalachia during the colonial years. Previously I would have been confident in stating that not one of these structures had survived much past the time of the Civil War -- but not only was this one still standing when it was photographed in 1902, it was the...

SACRAMENTO -- The county district attorney says Republican state Sen. Roy Ashburn's blood-alcohol level was .14 percent when he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after leaving Faces, a gay bar and nightclub. Ashburn has voted against every gay rights measure the senate has voted upon, according to Project Vote Smart. The California Highway Patrol says the Bakersfield lawmaker was arrested early Wednesday after he was spotted driving erratically. Ashburn was taken to the Sacramento County Jail, booked and then released. Ashburn, the married father of four, was reportedly driving with a male passenger who was not identified. A...

Tennesseans are proud of their frontier heritage and have preserved quite a few vintage log cabins and farm buildings. After the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established in the 1930s, mountain communities were displaced but some of their habitations were preserved. This article presents an archive of monochrome photographs which documented these historic structures.

California Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chairman Ryan Sorba generated a media controversy when he was shown at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) denouncing the organizers for inviting a homosexual Republican group, GOProud, into the event as an official sponsor. In "controversial" remarks, Sorba said homosexuality was unnatural and that he welcomed more debate and discussion about the subject from his political adversaries. But what many people don't realize is that Sorba's "outburst" was provoked by a speaker who preceded him, Alexander McCobin of Students For Liberty (SFL). McCobin went out of his way to use valuable time from...

The Shenandoah National Park displaced some 450 families from the northern reach of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. The Park meant the end of a generations-old way of life for the mountain folk, many of whom didn't want to leave. [numerous vintage photographs]

The establishment of the Shenandoah National Park displaced the traditional communities of Backcountry folk who had lived for generations in the Blue Ridge Mountains between Front Royal and Rockfish Gap. By and large, the houses, barns, and stores which were within the Park boundaries were not spared -- they were razed. [Vintage photographs]

Kentucky lays claim to the most famous of log cabins -- the one in which Abraham Lincoln was born. In the early days of Kentucky, log cabins were abundant throughout the state, and a few of these survived to be photographed in the early 20th century. Also in this collection of vintage images -- two log cabins under construction in 1940 in East Kentucky, where the old ways die hard.