Free Republic

<p>The Anglican bishop for Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco was killed along with his wife by their son.</p> <p>Edward Robinson Cavalcanti, 68, and his 64-year-old wife Miriam were stabbed to death on Sunday, March 26, in their home in the city of Olinda.</p>

This week, talks for updating the treaty on Internet governance will begin in Geneva. This treaty could result in the granting of numerous new powers over the Internet to the United Nations. The push to finalize the treaty by year’s end comes from a number of countries, including Russia, China, and many Arab states. Their aim to give the U.N.’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) more power is based on a desire to impose international controls and regulations onto the Net, threatening technological innovation, free speech, and the free flow of information. A number of the proposals for these new powers...

Video of the moment:   LA Gov. Bobby Jindal Eviscerates Obama Administration On Energy2/28/2012Obama and IsraelNetanyahu will urge Obama to publicly back attack on Iran, sources sayTop US General Grilled on Iran Strike For the second time in two weeks... Sen. Lindsey Graham took aim at the Pentagon's top man over deteriorating relations with Israel. ...US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey .. told a Senate panel he did not counsel Israel against attacking Iran over its nuclear program.Israeli Officials angry and dismayed that Obama is conducting secret back channel talks with IranWhy won't Barack Obama cut...

For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. As states continue to crack down on things like voter ID while others continue to seek ways to enforce immigration laws, near all states are now also trying to protect their most coveted form of ID-- the driver license. Initially responding to the controversial federal secure driver license law, REAL ID, states have learned by implementing the REAL ID Act they have curbed the identity theft and fraud used extensively by the illegal alien population and criminals. Janice Kephart, Director of National Security Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies...

[On Thurs]day, the White House released a framework for online consumer privacy with the aim of enacting federal standards. While the report rightly does not make an outright call for heavy regulation, it does set the stage for federal action – whether legislatively or through agencies – that could create burdens on web companies and fundamentally upend the way consumers use the Internet today. Last year, at least six different privacy-related bills were introduced in Congress, all with varying degrees of heavy-handedness. At the same time, the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer privacy proceeding largely stalled, but paved the way for...

In 2010, Democrats gave their website a facelift and whitewash. Check out the screenshot to see what they used to say about their civil rights history compared to now. "Democrats are unwavering in our support of equal opportunity for all Americans. That’s why we’ve worked to pass every one of our nation’s Civil Rights laws, and every law that protects workers. Most recently, Democrats stood together to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act." "On every civil rights issue, Democrats have led the fight. We support vigorous enforcement of existing laws, and remain committed to protecting fundamental civil rights in America." This...

This month CBO has published another report that shows the cost of the “stimulus” package will be more than initially estimated. During consideration of the “Stimulus” bill in 2009 the CBO initially projected an “increase in budget deficits by $787 billion” as a result of the legislation between 2009 and 2019. In August of 2010 the CBO adjusted the anticipated cost from the ‘Stimulus’ to be $814 billion. The last quarterly report increased that estimate to $825 billion. Now the CBO’s report for February 2012 states the actual impact was $831 billion. If this pace is consistent, based on the...

Mitt Romney this week released “version 2.0” of his tax plan. It and those of his GOP primary competitors stands in contrast to the tax plan offered by President Barack Obama in his FY 2013 budget. In this budget, he announced that he is for tripling the tax rate on dividends, raising the tax rate at which the majority of small employer profits face taxation, hiking the capital gains rate, bringing the death tax to nearly half of an estate’s value, and raising taxes to hurt energy consumers. The list of tax hikes in the Obama budget is frankly staggering....

US gay group behind the shutdown of Julio Severo PayPal account wants to defeat Russian law banning homosexual propaganda By Julio Severo The world is cheering a new law in St. Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia, banning homosexual propaganda. Yet, AllOut is not cheering. It is calling upon gays and government officials in America, Europe and around the world to defeat the Russian law protecting children from gay indoctrination. The American gay group launched an international campaign this week to exert pressure on Russian lawmakers. AllOut says, “Over the past few months over 250,000 people have joined All...

Last month, the House Judiciary Committee passed the Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2011, H.R. 1433. This bill would suspend federal economic development funds for two years to any state or municipality that expropriates private property via eminent domain for a private purpose. H.R. 1433 enjoys the bipartisan support of Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) as well as more than two dozen other co-sponsors. If enacted, this legislation would strike at the heart of the 2005 Supreme Court decision Kelo v. City of New London. This ruling allowed government entities to expropriate private property at...

The Obama Administration today released a business tax reform plan which is hardly worthy of the name. It raises taxes on employers by hundreds of billions of dollars over this decade, makes both larger and smaller companies less competitive than today, and would do nothing to make American companies more competitive around the world. Raises taxes on employers with unemployment over 8 percent. The Administration plan is shameless in admitting that this is not actually business tax reform. Rather, it's a net tax increase on business with some shiny baubles that might remind one of real tax reform. How does...

A state commission in Indiana that was asked to review whether Barack Obama is eligible to be on the state’s 2012 ballot has scheduled a hearing for Friday, and warned the parties to the argument that those who fail to attend may be subject to a default decision. The notice was signed by Trent Deckard and J. Bradley King, co-directors of the Indiana Election Commission, and regards case No. 2012-176, which is a challenge to Obama brought by Karl Swihart. “The hearing is called to determine the merits of the candidate challenge pursuant to Indiana Code 3-8-1-2,” the notice, addressed...

Peter van Uhm: Why I chose a gunPeter van Uhm is the Netherlands’ chief of defense, but that does not mean he is pro-war. At TEDxAmsterdam he explains how his career is one shaped by a love of peace, not a desire for bloodshed -- and why we need armies if we want peace. General Peter van Uhm is the Chief of the Netherlands Defence staff. He has had an outstanding career over four decades in the Dutch military. In the Netherlands, he is know from his personal tragedy. On 18 April 2008, one day after Van Uhm was appointed...

No Child Left Behind is an example of why the 'one size fits all' mentality is an improper way to govern. Placing standardizations as well as allocating specific resources at the federal level is not working. Our education system is decaying. With increasing costs and decreasing scores it is clear that reform is necessary to ensure that the future of our nation have the knowledge and skills to compete in a global economy. Chairman Kline of the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee is sponsoring two pieces of legislation to address this issue. The two bills reform federal education...

After a yearlong fight, House Republicans land a blow against the politicized National Mediation Board (NMB). After assuming office in 2009, President Obama appointed two pro-union members to the three member NMB, the federal agency that oversees union-employer relations in the transportation industry. Effectively controlling the board, Obama’s Democrat appointees rewrote long-held election law to make it easier for unions to organize transportation workers. While the National Labor Relations Board’s nefarious activity has received much publicity, Obama’s regulatory overreach began with the NMB. Since the National Railway Act’s was ratified in 1926, a union needed to receive a majority of...

Today, President Obama released his budget for the 2013 Fiscal Year. The spending blueprint mirrors other plans he has put forward during his administration. It keeps spending at unprecedented levels, fails to address the looming entitlement crises and uses budget gimmickry to claim fake savings and unrealistic projections. The budget continues to call for spending at historic levels: the request sets spending for the fiscal year at $3.8 trillion and projects $47 trillion in spending over the next ten years Holds spending at 23 percent of the next ten years, two percent higher than its historical average Uses totally dishonest...

SNIPPET: "Reckless doesn't mean not dangerous. Quite the opposite. They may fail spectacularly, or be wildly successful. One thing I believe we can count on is that they will take risks, act swiftly, and burn as many assets as they have to along the way in order to do what Khamenei wants."

President Obama released his FY 2013 budget [Monday] morning. By his own numbers, his budget raises net taxes over the next decade by $1.56 trillion (Table S-9, page 225). As a percentage of the economy, tax revenues would rise all the way to 20.1% of GDP in 2022, far higher than the historical tax revenue average of 18.3% of GDP (Table S-1, page 205). Here are some of the tax lowlights: All 20 of the new or higher taxes in Obamacare are assumed to take place. That means that there will be a 3.8 percentage point surtax on investment income....

On February 13, a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at eminent domain abuse sailed through both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. This legislative action qualifies the amendment for a plebiscite vote in November. The amendment would stipulate that compensation resulting from eminent domain seizures include lost profits and access in addition to the value of the underlying real estate. This change has the support of Virginia property rights advocates including Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. If enacted, this constitutional amendment would strike at the heart of the 2005 Supreme Court decision Kelo v. City of New London. This ruling allowed government...

Obama Energy Tax Proposals The President’s FY 2013 budget contains billions in tax increase on energy production and consumption. These taxes will result in higher prices at the pump, increased utility bills, and fewer American jobs as companies flee the U.S. and companies cannot recover their investments. Below is a breakdown of energy taxes Obama put forth in his 2013-2022 budget: [HTML Chart was over 300 words so I could not carry it over.] ATR Recommendations Congress should reject these new tax increases and move to rapidly increase access to domestic energy resources in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, part...