Free Republic

In all the controversy of the past few days, one of the most disturbing aspects of the Bergdhal scandal was the requirement that GIs who knew the truth firsthand had to sign nondisclosure documents not to discuss it. My questions: Is this a legitimate tactic that anyone in power in the military or the government at large can demand anytime to keep a scandal from emerging? Does one's oath of office for the military include honoring such orders when "following orders" goes against their conscience and?

The Environmental Protection Agency will require oil refiners to blend 16.55 billion gallons of renewable fuels into the nation’s gasoline supply this year as part of its efforts to spur new fuel technology and decrease fossil fuel dependence. Nearly eight months past the legal due date, the EPA announced its yearly blending targets under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on Tuesday. Renewable fuel associations applauded the announcement, but the oil and gas industry criticized the agency for continuing to push a “broken” system. The EPA’s blending requirements include 6 million gallons of the cellulosic biofuel, which is made from woodchips....

Nick Clegg is to make an explosive attack on British universities as ‘instruments of social segregation’ as he orders them to stop taking so many middle-class students. The Deputy Prime Minister will this week insist that top institutions must ‘throw open their doors’ and lower their entrance requirements for the less well-off.

January 25, 2007 WASHINGTON (UPI) -- U.S. courts are giving mixed reviews to new voter identification laws that keep some people from the polls. USA Today says courts in Georgia and Missouri have rejected laws that required voters to show photo ID each time they cast ballots. In Indiana, however, a federal appeals court upheld a state photo ID law. The Georgia law required people to show one of six government-issued forms of photo identification. Previously, state polling places had accepted non-photo ID as proof of residency. Missouri's requirement that registered voters show a state or federal photo ID to...

Uncovered: Many Errors by Election Clerks Protect Marriage Illinois and the Illinois Family Institute recently filed a complaint in Federal Court to protect the rights of Illinois citizens who have, in good faith, petitioned their government for a Marriage Protection Referendum to be placed on the Illinois General Election ballot on November 7, 2006. Background For the past three weeks PMI, IFI and dozens of good hearted volunteers have been analyzing thousands of signatures -- signatures that were "invalidated" by various Illinois Election Authorities (Boards of Election in Chicago, Cook, DuPage, Stark and others) in a random sample of PMI's...

John and Ken just said the judge in the case said he was leaning toward issuing a restraining order against the high school exit exam for graduation in June 2006

Introduction: Campaigning and the Shapes of Time There is a natural inclination to look back with the benefit of hindsight to find fresh patterns in history. Thus, for example, the period 1870-1990 can be viewed as Europe's "Hundred- Year Civil War," a perception not necessarily obvious to those engaged in that "war" at any particular time; and the Japanese have seen the Second World War from their viewpoint as variously a part of a "Hundred Years War,"1 a "Seventy-Five Year War," a "Great Pacific War" and a "Great East Asian War." More recent operations against Islamic extremists have been seen...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Secretary of State Bruce McPherson announced new requirements for electronic voting machines Wednesday and said he would create a unit in his office to test and certify the machines. "We must take these fundamental steps to guarantee public confidence in our voting process," McPherson said in a speech to the California Black Chamber of Commerce. He laid out 10 requirements that the machines must meet for use in California elections, starting in 2006, including approval by an independent testing unit certified by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Other requirements include providing state election officials with full information...

The REAL ID Act has many Americans, especially civil libertarians, up in arms. They are concerned that "Big Brother" has crossed the fine line between security and intrusion. While we are all well advised to guard against an ever-intrusive government, it serves no good purpose to denigrate a piece of legislation simply because special interest groups are attempting to persuade us into believing there is something sinister afoot. "We the People" have a responsibility to ascertain the facts about any given issue before we storm the village square, flaming torches in hand. This concept is called civic responsibility and our...

It is a rare person who has not heard of the recent cruel homicide of the Florida woman, Terri Schiavo. Everyone, it seemed, had a strong opinion on the subject. Yet, despite clear moral teachings on the evils of euthanasia, there are ‘Catholics’ who boast support for euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide.[1] Are these ‘Catholics’ badly formed and ignorant of their Church’s infallible teachings on the dignity and sacredness of all human life? Is it the fault of Catholic clergy for not preaching the Church’s teachings from the pulpit? In view of the clarity and frequency of the Church’s up-to-date teachings,...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- A Senate committee advanced a bill Tuesday that would require drivers and all passengers to wear seat belts in trucks, SUVs and cars. After hearing emotional testimony from family members of those killed in crashes, the Senate's public policy committee voted 10-0 to endorse the bill. It now moves to the full Senate, which approved similar legislation last year before it was blocked in a House committee. The bill requires people in front and back seats to buckle up in all vehicles with seat belts, with exceptions for trucks used on farms. People who cannot wear seat...

Bush’s Honorable Air National Guard Service Commentary by: Col. John H. Wambough, Jr. USAF (Ret.) George Bush and I were fighter pilots. Lt. Bush flew F-102s in the Air National Guard (ANG) -- 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS); I flew F-105s in combat -- 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS). Both our flying assignments were inherently dangerous -- Lt. Bush's because of the high performance nature of the fighter interceptor aircraft he was flying, the training required to fly the F-102, and the high risks that come with all weather (night and day) intercept missions. Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic National...

Exercising the "Fifth Amendment" By A Student Advocate Educational students statistics inflated to meet the requirements of many years. In my spare time I have been reading everything pertaining to politics that deals with education. It is nice to have all the tools to help me read those very lengthy articles.What is happening in the Cities and StatesOn August 8th, 2003 I thought that the Tom Brokaw Dateline special on adult literacy showed many aspects of problems that students face daily.The adults in the program at Queens Borough Public Library are working hard to be successful in their lives. I...

Harry Reid has stated that they will not allow a full vote before the Senate for the Miguel Estrada nomination because Estrada will not hand over memos when he worked for solicitor general, knowing full well that these memos are impossible to obtain. With that in mind, Democrats have decided to include even more requirements before allowing a vote for the Estrada nomination. Miguel Estrada must do the following: provide every piece of paper he wrote on during his schooling at Harvard. list the top 100 people he admires and the top 100 people he hates. provide a blood, urine,...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration will ease clean air rules, allowing power plants and refineries to avoid new pollution controls when expanding operations, administration sources said Friday. The long-awaited rule changes will "increase energy efficiency and encourage emissions reductions," the Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press. An announcement of the rule change was to be made later in the day. Environmentalists and a group of Northeastern states said they plan to file suit immediately challenging the changes. The state officials contend that the easing of the clean air requirements...

Found on a 21st CENTURY TEACHER APPLICANT Let me see if I have this right. You want me to go into that room with all those kids and fill their every waking moment with a love for learning. Not only that, I am supposed to instill a sense of pride in their ethnicity, behaviorally modify disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse and T-shirt messages. I am to fight the war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for guns and raise their self-esteem. I'm to teach them patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, how and...

<p>The state of California is trying to sidestep a federal requirement to put fully credentialed teachers in every classroom by 2006, says a coalition of education advocates.</p> <p>Critics, including a Bay Area legislator and the American Civil Liberties Union, the United Farm Workers and other groups, are charging the state Board of Education with backpedaling on the issue of teacher quality.</p>