Free Republic

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said if confirmed as the next Secretary of State, he would support making the United States a party to a United Nations convention that has been repeatedly used to advocate for abortions, oppose restrictions and support government funding across the globe. The treaty, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 but has never been ratified by the Senate. During Thursday’s confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) asked, “You have been a supporter of...

Sarah Palin used the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling to criticize President Obama on abortion, saying that he is a hypocrite for advocating gun control as a means to protect children while failing to protect the unborn. Palin made the claims on her Facebook page, saying that Obama is a hypocrite for his stance. She noted that Obama has said, if even one life can be saved by gun control, it is worth the effort. She found this to be ironic considering his continued support of abortion rights. Sarah Palin wrote: “The hypocrisy of it all,...

Who is Rick Kochuyt? For one thing, he’s about to be the new owner of U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Grandview Auto Wash, which Kochuyt has managed since 2007. His attorney, Joe Harter of McDowell Rice Smith & Buchanan PC, confirmed that an entity controlled by Kochuyt is close to completing the purchase. The agita the carwash has caused Cleaver has been well documented. Bank of America sued the congressman in March for defaulting on a 2002 loan that, with interest and late fees, has racked up a balance of $1.6 million. A trial in that case is set for April....

Five people so far have been arrested by the police in connection with the offences committed by the self-proclaiming "Muslim vigilantes" last weekend, including causing grievous bodily harm and public order offences. The video that can be seen clicking on the link just below the post title shows ordinary people on the streets of East London being confronted by Muslim vigilantes telling them that it is a "Muslim area" and "this is a Muslim patrol". They say: "No alcohol is allowed", "The Muslims patroling this area forbid evil, and alcohol is evil", forcing people to relinquish cans and bottles. Other...

With little discussion or fanfare, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lifted the ban on women in combat that has been in effect for as long as there has been a U.S. military. Feminists and some women serving in the military are applauding the move as a victory for equal rights. They claim that justice requires nothing short of opening all positions to females, regardless of the consequences to combat effectiveness, unit cohesion, or military readiness, factors whose importance they minimize in any event. What is perhaps most striking about Secretary Panetta's action is that it reverses the combat exclusion policy that...

Barack Obama faced intense pressure to break with his inauguration day promise on climate change on Thursday, after a bipartisan majority in the Senate urged approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. The letter from 53 senators said there was no reason for Obama to deny the pipeline – as campaigners are demanding – because the project had now undergone exhaustive environmental review. The letter, signed by Democrats as well as Republicans, underlined the high political cost to Obama of living up to his promise to act on climate change. Campaign groups have made the pipeline their signature issue, saying the...

Local military veterans said Thursday they overwhelmingly support lifting the ban to allow women to serve in direct combat roles. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta rescinded a 1994 ruling yesterday to remove the military's ban on women serving in combat, thus opening hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after more than 11 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The plan to integrate women into direct combat position will be implemented as early as May with full implementation slated by 2016. “American women have been serving in our nation's Armed Forces for decades, and I am...

A Japanese envoy to Beijing said on Friday that he believed tensions with China over a group of uninhabited islands could be resolved, after meeting China’s president-in-waiting Xi Jinping. … Tensions over the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, have flared in recent months, dragging down bilateral ties. …

Women can now officially serve in ground combat roles. On Thursday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed an order rescinding the 1994 rule that prevented women from being permanently assigned to combat units. Women have been allowed to serve in some combat roles for years, but this new announcement means women could eventually serve as Navy SEALs. Retired Admiral George Worthington served more than 30 years as a SEAL, and says he supports women serving with SEALs. But, when it comes to women being SEALs , he doesn’t believe they can make the cut. “A lot of the men can't do...

January 25, 2013   Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle   Reading 1 Acts 22:3-16 Paul addressed the people in these words:“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia,but brought up in this city.At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral lawand was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.I persecuted this Way to death,binding both men and women and delivering them to prison.Even the high priest and the whole council of elderscan testify on my behalf.For from them I even received letters to the brothersand set out for...

FULL TITLE: 'We're just like everyone else': Transgender girl, 11, writes speech in response to Obama's historic inaugural address because she wishes he'd spoken about her community too When Obama addressed the nation in his inaugural speech on Monday, he became the first president in history to speak about gay rights during the momentous swearing-in ceremony. But while many in the LGBT community lauded his support, one 11-year-old transgender girl was left disappointed that he failed to address her community too. Sadie Croft, who transitioned to a female when she was in kindergarten, has now written an eloquent essay in...

A Parker County 17-year-old wrote in a confession released Thursday that the horror movie remake of "Halloween" gave him the idea to kill his mother and sister. Jake Evans is on trial for the Oct. 3 slayings of his 15-year-old sister, Mallory, and mother, Jami in their upscale Aledo home. The confession was introduced as evidence. In a four-page written confession to police hours after his arrest, Evans said he had watched the remake of "Halloween" three times earlier that week. The 2007 Rob Zombie film is about a 10-year-old boy who murders several people and kills a number of...

Gunny & Glock - Wrong Girl - Looks like someone picked the wrong girl!

The House of Representatives approved Wednesday, 285-144, a three-month extension of the debt limit. Included in that bill was a "no budget, no pay" provision, which requires members of Congress to pass a budget, or they will not receive a salary. Some of the lawmakers who voted against the bill say that the "no budget, no pay" provision violates the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The 27th Amendment states: "No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened." This amendment essentially says that if...

EL PASO, Texas -- Reaction to the historic decision to allow women in combat roles was swift at Fort Bliss. “It’s absolutely the right thing to do," said commanding General Dana Pittard following Wednesday’s announcement made by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Most of the 230,000 combat jobs that will open up to women are in the Army, giving them the opportunity for higher pay and a path to leadership. “It’s about time they let women have those options -- if they want them,” said Marlana Quendau, 27, who has served eight years in the Army. “If they want to do...

I have an idea on how to save not just one life but countless lives. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting a different result. Banning certain firearms because of their cosmetic appearances or magazines over 10 rounds won't save lives just like it didn't at Columbine under the 1994 AWB. It's time we try something different.

Indian air force Chief of Air Staff N.A.K. Browne is visiting Israel, a sign of deepening Indian-Israeli defense ties. "This is a part of routine reciprocal visits between chiefs of various wings of the defense forces of the two countries," an Israeli Ministry of Defense official told The Times of India. "The visit underlines a very strong strategic relationship between the two countries where cooperation with India would probably rank only second to the United States." India is Israel's the largest purchaser of arms and equipment, with Israeli total defense equipment exports to India reaching $9 billion since 1997, The...

The latest word out of the Senate is that if Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell doesn’t accede to changes in the filibuster rules over the next few days, Harry Reid will invoke the so-called “nuclear option” and change the rules with 51 votes. The most likely outcome would be outlawing the filibuster on motions to proceed, thereby forcing senators to take to the floor to filibuster bills, “Mr. Smith”-style. This move, and the overwhelming progressive enthusiam for it, are head-scratchers... --snip-- Weakening the filibuster was a perfectly sensible goal for liberals back in the 1970s, when Democrats arguably had natural...

As 3D printers increase in popularity, more and more people are using them to bring their unique projects to life. They've been used to manufacture everything from weapons parts (AR-15 lower receiver) to medical prosthetics (four-year-old Emma Lavelle’s "Magic Arms"), and now some are using them to bring new life to both old and new forms of recordable technology. In this case, 3D printing technology has been applied to restoration, and it only seems fitting that a relatively new invention was used to revitalize old recordings by prominent inventors from over 100 years ago. Researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National...

Wisconsin's budget picture brightened Thursday, with new estimates that show a surplus will grow to $484 million, giving Republicans and Gov. Scott Walker even more room to pursue their tax cutting agenda. The estimate from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau was nearly $137 million better than one Walker's administration released in November. ... In 2011, Walker took office facing a roughly $3 billion budget shortfall and