Free Republic

There may be a time when John Boehner becomes a hate figure. Say, after he loses a government-shutdown fight with the president and makes enough radioactive comments that he starts to glow -- Newt Gingrich's path to notoriety in the 1990s. Until then, the leader of a Republican House minority that's routinely been trampled by Democrats with their 70-vote margin is not going to make a deep impression, no matter how much President Barack Obama inveighs against his callous disregard for all that is right and good. It must have been a sad, desultory meeting of White House strategists when...

Religious vilification laws converge with the Islamist vision of a blasphemy-free society. ON SEPTEMBER 6 AND 7, Pastor Daniel Scot, who last year was found to be in breach of Victoria, Australia's Racial and Religious Tolerance Act, met with human-rights lawyers and policymakers in Washington, D.C. In these meetings, Scot described his experience defending himself in Victoria's courts against the charge of inciting hatred against Muslims. Many of the people and groups with whom Scot met hope his visit will serve as a springboard for a campaign against the religious vilification laws that have been increasingly considered, and adopted, in...