Free Republic

The SCOTUS Justices who ended segregation qualify as liberals. Justices who require that states allow continued operation of Jane Crow health facilities don't qualify as liberals. . A Jane Crow facility provides health care to black women but doesn't have to meet the same high standards as facilities that treat white men. The 14th Amendment requires states to guarantee "the equal protection of the laws." Unfortunately ultraconservative Supreme Court justices such as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg don’t believe states should be allowed to protect women from unsafely operated abortion clinics. Yes, I said "ultraconservative". I know people such as Ginsburg...

This was a video from a Facebook user who started recording a conversation between him and his friend and a Pinellas county (Florida) environmentalist saying bbq smoke out of your yard is illegal!

One of the main things gained from experience is a better appreciation of the counter-productivity of taking things to the limit without first testing and retesting the waters. That is not to say that the risks always lead to a disaster — most of the time they don't. And that is precisely why the young man is willing to go full steam ahead. For him who hasn't seen the likes of Nadav and Avihu the risks remain theoretical. But for the old man who has seen the devastating catastrophes that can result from lack of caution, the dangers are soberingly...

Since the first decade of the 20th century, left-wing politicians, activists, and intellectuals have arrogated to themselves the designation “progressive.” But are they really? Even a brief analysis will show that leftists oppose anything that can even remotely be called progress – be it in the technological, the social, or the moral sense. When it comes to technology, the Left has never quite gotten over the Industrial Revolution – a period of dramatic improvements in virtually every ones standard of living and an era falsely caricatured by the Left as a time when the so-called Robber Barons made fortunes off...

<p>PARIS -- French libraries are said to file their nation's constitutions -- there have been more than a dozen since 1789; the current one is a relatively ancient 49 years old -- under periodicals. Now Nicolas Sarkozy, France's peripatetic new president, has created a commission on constitutional reform. The commission includes Jack Lang who, as minister of culture in 1983 under President Francois Mitterrand, staged a sublimely unserious conference on the (supposed) world economic crisis, featuring the likes of Sophia Loren, Susan Sontag and Norman Mailer.</p>

Bush says Muslim welcome to head UN (AFP) 11 July 2006 WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush said he did not oppose the idea of a Muslim being the next UN Secretary General as long as they were willing to “blow the whistle” on human rights abuses. At the same time, he told a small group of reporters on Monday, two days before leaving for Germany and a group summit in Russia, ”we’re really looking in the Far East right now” to find a successor to UN chief Kofi Annan. But asked whether he would oppose a Muslim in...

DANVILLE, Va. - More layoffs were announced Wednesday at Dan River Inc. as the textile manufacturer eliminated 110 jobs at its Brookneal, Va., sewing and finishing plant. Approximately 300 workers will remain at the Brookneal facility, according to Calvin Barnhardt, Dan River’s vice president of human resources. A total of about 600 area workers will stay with the company - 300 in Danville. Many employees leaving work at the Brookneal plant on Thursday were unaware of the layoffs. Those who did know about the cutbacks worried about losing their jobs. “They’re just giving us bits and pieces (of what is...

From Social Security, to intervention in the sad case of Terri Schiavo, to the appointment of conservative federal judges, every major debate positions the parties in the same way: Republicans are on offense, Democrats on defense. The debate on the federal budget isn't about whether to raise taxes to reduce the deficit, it's over how much more to cut taxes. Washington isn't examining how to expand coverage for those without health insurance, but whether to cut the Medicaid program that provides the central strand in our society's safety net. Democrats are furiously laboring to prevent Bush from carving out private...

So a special election is a big risk even for a celebrity politician considered by many to be invincible. If there's no compromise with the Legislature on these proposals, there'll be a bitterly partisan shootout between Schwarzenegger and Democrats — between his special interests and the Democrats' interests, including the potent California Teachers Assn. The Terminator could meet his match in teachers — and schoolkids and parents.