Free Republic

I just caught the start of the Steelers-Bears game. As was expected, the Steelers did not come out for the playing of the national anthem. Except for one. Alejandro Villanueva came out. And he stood for the anthem with his hand over his heart.

RICHMOND For years, gay rights has been one of the hot-button social issues that serve as fodder for partisan warfare in the General Assembly, with Democrats favoring gay-friendly measures and Republicans opposing them. But the partisan lines are starting to blur a bit. This year, several lawmakers have introduced legislation to prohibit discrimination in state employment based on sexual orientation, and one of them is a Republican: Del. Ron Villanueva of Virginia Beach. The 43-year-old delegate, who is beginning his third two-year term in the House, said Monday his decision to try to help protect Virginia's gay minority was rooted...

It’s final. Republican Ron Villanueva is the winner of the 21st House District seat after a recount Monday. Villanueva, a city councilman, increased his margin of victory over incumbent Democrat Bobby Mathieson by two votes after all the ballots were rechecked. In the end, Villanueva received 7,674 votes, and Mathieson got 7,658. “I feel elated,” Villanueva said Monday night. “It was exciting to see the process in action.” Mathieson, who asked for the recount, said his camp was aware going in that a different outcome was unlikely with so many ballots cast electronically and the chances of finding mistakes minimal....

MEXICO CITY — Mexican police rearrested a former governor Thursday as he was released from prison with the intent of extraditing him to the United States to face cocaine-trafficking charges. Mario Villanueva, 58, who governed the Yucatan Peninsula state that includes the resorts of Cancun and the Riviera Maya from 1993 until 1999, was arrested at dawn, moments after finishing a six-year sentence here for money laundering. He faces federal charges in New York of taking part in a conspiracy to smuggle as much as 200 tons of cocaine into the United States while governor of Quintana Roo state. Much...

Leftist Democrat Congressman Bob Filner has gotten himself into hot water. Filner has injected himself into a tenants dispute in a HUD housing complex owned and operated by the Catholic Church in San Ysidro, California. Mike Giorgino, retired-Navy Commander and Republican nominee for Congress in CA-51st has stepped in to help the tenants. Help Mike beat Filner by going to: http://www.Giorgino4Congress.com