Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- For decades, the phrase "Southern strategy" has had a negative connotation of Republican presidential candidates playing to the racial fears of Southern whites. In 1968, Richard Nixon wooed Southern Democrats with the idea that he wouldn't push too hard for progress on civil rights. He railed against court-ordered busing and affirmative action. In 1980, Ronald Reagan won Democrats in the South and elsewhere by focusing on traditional values, complaining about "welfare queens" and promising to move able-bodied "young bucks" off the dole. Today, though, appealing to Southern Democrats is more complicated. Even Southerners have a hard time making...

<p>CHARLOTTESVILLE - It might not be the mystery of the century, but historical researchers at Monticello are puzzling over just how Thomas Jefferson's elaborate but primitive system of privies operated both inside the great house and out.</p> <p>Was the waste meant to be flushed away by water or hauled out by a wheeled device called an "earth car?" Were the privies locked for use only by the select? Were they used according to gender or station? What was used for toilet paper? Did they wash their hands after? What was the purpose of the long tunnels connected to the privies that Jefferson referred to as "sinks"? Why did he call the privies "air closets?"</p>

Preserving America: George Soros versus Thomas Jefferson by Edwin A. Locke (June 1, 1999) Summary: As the anniversary of our country's founding approaches, it is important to understand not only what our country stands for but what is required to protect it [www.CapitalismMagazine.com] As the anniversary of our country's founding approaches, it is important to understand not only what our country stands for but what is required to protect it. Recently, financier George Soros gave us his widely publicized view. His thesis is that the greatest danger to our freedom is the conviction that we can possess rational certainty. People...

When they were young, their parents told them they were related to a famous man, a slave owner who became president. They called it a family secret, since outsiders would never believe that black children could be descendants of a president. But some did talk about that distant ancestor, Thomas Jefferson, and were laughed at or called liars by friends and even teachers. No one is calling them liars anymore. Nearly five years after DNA testing provided compelling — some argue overwhelming — evidence that Jefferson fathered at least one child with a young slave named Sally Hemings, about 150...

The National Historic Preservation Act on its face does not exclude religious historical sites: As far as Congress is concerned, they too are eligible for federal funds to help with their upkeep. But the executive branch, to satisfy radical separationist interpretations of the First Amendment, has read the religious exclusion into the statute since 1966. The Bush administration has now changed that. Historic sites that happen to be religious in nature may now apply for preservation funds on an equal basis with secular historical sites. Why did it take so long? Because radical separationism has had a stranglehold on American...

Independence Day It’s not the most visited monument in Washington, but it is easily one of the most impressive. Built of marble and granite, and reflecting the architecture of his home in Monticello, the memorial to the author of the Declaration of Independence and our third President lies due south of the White House, across the tidal basin from the National Mall. As you climb the granite steps and pass underneath the marble dome, the statue of Thomas Jefferson stands tall before you. Surrounding the base of the dome, in deeply inscribed roman lettering, is the following declaration: I HAVE...

On July 4, Americans everywhere will, at some point, have an opportunity to hear the words of the Declaration of Independence as written by Thomas Jefferson. It is, without doubt, his best-known work. Jefferson, however, wrote volumes during his life and, not surprisingly, had many things to say concerning a myriad of subjects. He was, after all, a firm believer in "free speech and free press" and he often said precisely what was on his mind. The following is a small sampling of quotations by Jefferson, which reflect his timeless wisdom on a variety of subjects. Small wonder that he...

U.S. Supreme Court rewrites Constitution and 3,000 years of history WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court today rewrote the U.S. Constitution and 3,000 years of legal history by striking down the Texas sodomy law in a 6-3 decision. The court overrode the Constitution, the history of American law, and its own precedent by declaring in Lawrence v. Texas that there is a right to privacy to protect private, adult consensual sexual activity. Justice Kennedy wrote for the majority, and only Justices Scalia and Thomas and Chief Justice Rhenquist dissented. The majority reasoned, unbelievably, that because of the trend in state...

PHILADELPHIA - Stories of Lewis and Clark usually start out west, where the explorers paddled up the Missouri River in 1804 to explore the Louisiana Purchase and find an easy water route to the Pacific Ocean. But it was 200 years ago that the tale really began - in Philadelphia. A few years after drafting the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society, based in Philadelphia. Though he had never traveled more than 50 miles west of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, Jefferson dreamed of a scientific exploration of the unmapped West. So when he...

<p>The Pilgrims and the Mayflower also are excluded, as well as the word "war," which has been replaced with "conflict" in lessons about the early settlers, colonization and expansion.</p> <p>Also gone are most references to the inhumane treatment many American soldiers endured in wars overseas during the 20th century. However, the standards specifically note that students should identify slavery, the Holocaust and modern Iraq as examples "i n which people have behaved in cruel and inhumane ways."</p>

The Jan. 28th edition of the Washington Times reports that "George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin are not included in the revised version of the New Jersey Department of Education history standards. The Pilgrims and the Mayflower also are excluded, as well as the word 'war,' which has been replaced with 'conflict' in lessons about the early settlers, colonization and expansion." The educrats and shallow politicians may not like to admit it, but there is a war going on in education, and New Jersey, the location of Washington's great revolutionary victories at Trenton and Princeton, is among the battlefronts. ...

Chat room spy irks descendants Woman says she wanted Hemings kin out of Jefferson reunion05/03/2003 Associated Press ROANOKE, Va. – Relatives of reputed Thomas Jefferson mistress Sally Hemings say their Internet chat group was infiltrated by the head of the Jefferson family association, who pretended to be a 67-year-old black woman. But Nat Abeles says the real spy was his wife, who admitted to the subterfuge to help in her husband's efforts to keep the slave descendants out of the annual Jefferson reunion this weekend. "This started out as a prank," said Paulie Abeles of Washington D.C., who participated for...

Loyalty Day, 2001 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Two hundred and twenty-five years ago, America's founders faced a decisive crossroads. Thomas Jefferson later remembered "the bold and doubtful election we were to make for our country, between submission or the sword." They chose the sword, and a Nation was born. Today, we celebrate our loyalty to this country and to the principles for which America stands. Americans demonstrate their dedication by protecting our Nation and its people, promoting our commonly held ideals, and passing these values on to future generations. Many Americans display their...

In Atlas Shrugged, Dr. Robert Stadler finds it "outrageous" that a genius such as John Galt would have "performed a major revolution in the science of energy, just as a means to an end." "Why," Stadler demands, "did he want to waste his mind on practical appliances?" Dagny Taggart answers: "Perhaps because he liked living on earth." That reply summarizes the attitude of the American Enlightenment, most especially the attitude of the man whose birthday we celebrate on April 13: Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson is best known as the leading "classical liberal" in American history. As the author of the Declaration...

Posted on Thu, Apr. 24, 2003 Nickel Makeover to Commemorate 2 Events REBECCA CARROLL Associated Press WASHINGTON -The nickel is getting a makeover. The back side of the new 5-cent coin will commemorate the bicentennial of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase and the 1804-06 Lewis and Clark expedition. The U.S. Mint hopes to issue the nickels late this year or in early 2004. In 2006, nickels will return to a depiction of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's Virginia home, although the image will not necessarily replicate the version on today's coin. Lawmakers from Virginia pushed for and received assurance that the coin design...

Rumsfeld: Iraqis Free to Form Own Gov't WASHINGTON - Iraqis will be free to form their own government as long as it is not an Iranian-style theocracy, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday. "If you're suggesting, how would we feel about an Iranian-type government with a few clerics running everything in the country, the answer is: That isn't going to happen," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. Speaking in his Pentagon (news - web sites) conference room, Rumsfeld also said that U.S. and British forces are searching for many more former members of the Saddam Hussein...

President Bush made the issue crystal clear in his speech Monday to the people of the United States when he said: "Efforts to disarm the Iraq regime have failed again and again because we are not dealing with peaceful men. "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised. This regime has already used weapons of mass destruction against Iraq's neighbors and against Iraq's people. "The regime has a history of reckless aggression in the Middle East. It has a deep hatred...

Do the Federal courts have a monopoly of the interpretation of the Constitution? Further, are the judges, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, "the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions . . ."?.1 There is little reason to doubt that the prevailing view in the country would give a resounding affirmative answer to the first question. There are dissenters, of course, but so far as they are numerous and widely influential, their dissents are to particular decisions or opinions of the courts, not to the propriety of the courts making some decision. The judges act as if they have a...

<p>It has been argued that the 9th Circut Court's banning of the word God will be quickly overturned by the Supreme Court, but the lower court closely followed long established Supreme Court guidelines for prohibiting religion in state run schools.</p>

<p>Iowa prisoners reclaiming their lives in a faith-based rehabilitation program have become pawns in a bigger battle.</p> <p>Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a federal lawsuit Feb. 12 against the well-respected Prison Fellowship organization, arguing its InnerChange Freedom Initiative violates the First Amendment's freedom of religion clause.</p>