Free Republic

"Four suspected pirates in a skiff attacked the ship again on Tuesday around 6:30 a.m. local time, firing on the ship with automatic weapons from about 300 yards (meters) away, a statement from the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain said."

While we should always be cautious of Greeks bearing gifts, there is a movement across the United States of America, in which moderate Democrats are becoming Republicans, leaving the Democrat party they feel is just to liberal. While Conservative Republicans have felt this way for years, it appears our new found friends are beginning to smell the roses, with the help of Barack Obama. I have two reports upcoming of elected officials or activists who are either leaving the party, or are considering leaving the party, because of the radical leftward tilt of the party, associated heavily with the actions...

ROLL TIDE! Yahoo!!!!!

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, D-Birmingham, announced today that he will vote against the version of health care reform legislation pending in the U.S. House. The decision means all three Democrats from Alabama will defy their party leadership on the biggest domestic policy agenda item of the year. "I am a supporter of health care reform who believes that the House leadership's approach is not the best we can do," Davis said in a prepared statement. "Because we risk a disaster if we get this wrong, I will vote no on the House legislation and continue to root for...

MONTGOMERY | Alabama has earned a spot on a Top Ten list it didn't want. For September, Alabama had the 10th highest unemployment rate among the 50 states. It also recorded the nation's third-fastest growth in unemployment for the past year. The director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama said moving into the worst 10 states for unemployment has psychological impacts, particularly for the unemployed who have been looking for work and are on the verge of giving up. 'It has a dampening effect on morale,' Sam Addy said Tuesday. Alabama's unemployment rate...

. Amp Energy Drink 500 Sunday 1:00 pm on ABC from Talladega Superspeedway SPEED Pre-race show at 10:00 EasternABC Pre-race show at 12:00 Eastern Green Flag 1:19 Please visit the FR Canteen - Dedicated to our troops, veterans, and their families: The FR Canteen God Bless Our Troops Please pray on this day, and every day, for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm's way around the world in defense of our liberty, and for the families awaiting their safe return.

TUSCALOOSA -- Larry Langford was por trayed last week as a serious clotheshorse whose love of shopping was like a heroin addiction, a man who couldn't pay his tai lors, was behind on his taxes and past due on a fat bank loan. If that wasn't enough, federal prosecutors in Langford's cor ruption trial charged he used his power and influence as then-president of the Jefferson County Commission to trade millions of dollars in county business for cash and gifts. Langford's own lawyers portrayed him as a victim of slick Wall Street bankers and as a man too trusting of...

<p>An Army investigation has found that soldiers should have never been sent to a small Alabama town after 11 people died in March during a shooting spree.</p>

This is the original manuscript that I submitted to the Crimson White, my campus newspaper. While I understand their need to edit the size of the article, they truncated much of the content that I believe was necessary to explain my position. I know that they could have included it because I was under the 800 word limit. The published article can be found at the source URL. Anyhow, here goes... (Begin) Candidate’s Progressive Views Troubling Gregory Poole I am appalled at the brazenness of State House candidate Susan Pace Hamill’s approach on taxation as quoted in the October 15...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Mayor Larry Langford, who could be tossed out of office and go to prison if convicted of federal bribery charges, recently offered some advice to a new Birmingham City Council member. "The illusion of power is the most dangerous drug on the planet," Langford said. "A little bit of power — nothing intoxicates like it." Last week's comment may sound a lot like the government's opening argument against Langford, 61, the most recent in a long line of prominent names in the state Democratic Party to face corruption charges. Jury selection begins Monday. Prosecutors claim a...

The Florida Gators held the No. 1 spot in the first Bowl Championship Series rankings, despite playing a relatively weak schedule and struggling offensively in recent weeks. The Gators (6-0) had .989 points, giving them a 0.36-point lead over No. 2 Alabama in the standings, released Sunday for the first time this season.

In assembling a new committee of Mobile County Democrats, the state Democratic party included one person who died last year, his widow and other party members confirmed this morning. Reynolds Smith, Jr., of the Eight Mile community, passed away in November at age 83, according to a Press-Register obituary at the time.

ALBERTVILLE, AL - A Marshall County woman is in the city jail here for having her 13-year-old daughter ride in a cardboard box atop her van. Albertville Police spokesman Sgt. Jamie Smith said Jackie Denise Knott, 37, of Albertville was charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Smith said the child was turned over to a relative. Smith said police received a call Sunday morning of a minivan traveling on U.S. 431 with a large cardboard box on top with a child inside. Officers stopped the van on U.S. 431 and asked Knott why the child was riding atop...

Note: The following text is a quote: September 11, 2009 ICE works with local law enforcement to arrest 23 gang members BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Twenty men, two women and one juvenile with ties to the violent gangs Sureno-13, La Quemada, MS 13, Brown Pride 13, Southside Locotes, Lejion Negra (Mexico) and Judas 13 (Mexico) are facing deportation following a four-day enforcement operation involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and several local law enforcement agencies. The arrests were made as part of an ongoing initiative by ICE's National Gang Unit dubbed Operation Community Shield. As part of the initiative, ICE...

On Tuesday morning, 14-year-old Ta’veon Tashawn Mason should have been at his desk at Austin High School, but he and two friends skipped school. Police said the ninth-grader died in a Southwest Decatur backyard from a single gunshot wound. A press release said a resident shot him inside the house during a burglary at about 10:30 a.m. Noel Mclean at 1432 Fifth Ave. S.W. said he shot Mason. He said he was awakened by the intruders and he shot out of fear. One of three suspects Lt. Jonathan Green, public information officer, said Mason was one of three teen boys...

Here is video of a Fox News Exclusive report on an American turned terrorist-jihadist, Abu Mansoor al-Amriki. They profile the young man, whose actual name is Omar Hammami, who grew up in Daphne, Alabama with a Muslim father and a Baptist mother. Hammami chose to become a Muslim and attended the University of South Alabama. He was the President of the Student Muslim Association. Eventually he made his way overseas where he is now part of a terrorist group in Somalia that wants to bring an Islamic state to East Africa, and is pushing for Global Jihad. Below is a...

Does anybody know if there is any effort going on to reverse the open primary system that gave us John McCain? According to Wikipedia the following states have open primaries: * Alabama * Arkansas * Georgia * Idaho * Indiana * Michigan * Minnesota * Mississippi * Missouri * North Dakota * South Carolina * Tennessee * Texas * Vermont * Virginia * Wisconsin I've run a google news search and come up with blanks.

I need some advice about a legal matter that has visited me from the past. I just went down to renew my drivers license in California, and when I talked to the DMV clerk she told me I needed to call Alabama because they put a hold on authorizing my renewal. The clerk gave me a phone number to call, and a half hour later I was in touch with the Alabama DMV.First you need to know that I have been a California registered resident since 1988, and never had trouble renewing my drivers license. Now, when I contacted the...

MARION, Ala. — Two Alabama families that had been fighting for years turned their feud into a full-scale riot Monday outside a small-town city hall, with up to 150 screaming people hurling tire irons and wielding baseball bats. Eight people were arrested, and at least four were hurt, Trooper John Reese said. Two were taken to hospitals. The town's police chief was hit in the head with a crowbar but was OK. The two- or three-year-old feud apparently prompted a fight earlier in the day at a high school, after a window was shot out of a home Sunday night....

"State health labs have confirmed 652 cases of influenza in the past four weeks and all of them were the H1N1 strain. Two deaths in Alabama have been linked to the virus since it was first detected in April."

Wednesday, August 19, saw the shine stripped from Alabama Congressman Bobby Bright, and he did the stripping himself. A group of Mr. Brights senior constituents gathered at his office, calling themselves ...

Bachus: Social Security may face deficitLegislator predicts progam could be out of money in two years By Tommy Stevenson Associate Editor Last Modified: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 9:39 a.m. TUSCALOOSA | Social Security could face a deficit within two years, according to U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus who met with The Tuscaloosa News editorial board Tuesday. “The situation is much worse than people realize, especially because of the problems brought on by the recession, near depression,” said Bachus, R-Vestavia Hills, in an interview with the Tuscaloosa News editorial board. Bachus, the ranking member of the House Committee on Financial Services,...

On August 10, 2009, Alabama State Representative Mac Gipson along with 22 other co-sponsors, introduced House Joint Resolution 10 (HJR10). The purpose of the resolution is to “affirm the rights of all states including Alabama, based on the provisions of the ninth and tenth amendments to the United States Constitution.” HJR10 was introduced on the first day of the Alabama Legislature’s 2009 First Special Session. An Extraordinary (Special) Session can consist of no more than 12 Legislative (meeting) days, within a 30-day calendar period. The resolution was read and referred to the House of Representatives committee on Rules. Two similar...

This resulted from a Mom in Alabama asking her high school son to help with a commercial for the Tea Party she was involved in organizing. Boy, does it slam the message home. Very impressive. Here is her note: "I asked Justin if he could help me make a commercial for my group's Tea Party. He sat down at the laptop for about an hour, and then brought this to me and asked, 'Is this okay, Mom?' After I finished watching it, my stomach was in my throat. Everyone that I have sent it to has really enjoyed it, so...

City leaders in Oxford, Ala. have approved the destruction of a 1,500-year-old Native American ceremonial mound and are using the dirt as fill for a new Sam's Club, a retail warehouse store operated by Wal-Mart. A University of Alabama archaeology report commissioned by the city found that the site was historically significant as the largest of several ancient stone and earthen mounds throughout the Choccolocco Valley. But Oxford Mayor Leon Smith -- whose campaign has financial connections to firms involved in the $2.6 million no-bid project -- insists the mound is not man-made and was used only to "send smoke...

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Alabama's debt-ridden Jefferson County laid off about two-thirds of its 3,600 employees on Monday because of plummeting revenues, a move that will sharply curtail services in areas ranging from roads to courthouses. The cuts are just the latest blow to Jefferson, whose population of 660,000 includes Birmingham, the state's largest city and its economic powerhouse. They come after the county racked up around $4 billion in debt by using exotic financial instruments to fund a revamp of its sewer system. The work force cuts will hit the roads and transportation, revenue and security departments, and cuts...

A robber who tried to hold up a bingo hall called “It’s Your Lucky Day” is not alive to see the irony of his killing by a security guard. William Cantrell Jr, 43, entered the charity bingo hall in Jasper, Alabama on Saturday night at around 11pm and fired a shotgun into the ceiling. He then shouted: “This is a robbery. Everybody get out of here.” As Cantrell approached the cashiers’ cages, he fired more shots at the ceiling and then at a cashier’s cage and a safe.

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WSFA) - A car bomb detonated late Wednesday evening near Birmingham. WSFA 12 News' sister station WBRC Fox 6 confirms the explosion in Walker County. Information is limited at this time, but WBRC is setting up a live feed for continued coverage. The explosion happened in the Parrish community of Walker County. A victim was taken to UAB Hospital with serious injuries according to a hospital spokesperson. The victim's name is not being released, but sources confirm it was a male. The Walker County Sheriff's Department, The Parrish Fire and Police departments as well as the State Fire...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - As a government shutdown loomed, residents of Alabama's most populous county lined up Friday to renew their car registrations and settle their tax bills. By Monday, at least a quarter of the county's 3,600 employees will be on unpaid leave and many county offices will be closed or cutting back hours. The county, with 640,000 residents, has been on the brink of filing the nation's largest municipal bankruptcy for the past year due to a sewer bond fiasco that remains unresolved. Then things got worse: A judge ruled the county's occupational tax is illegal and courts...

Join these Alabamians Who Oppose Universal Abortion Coverage in Obamacare [FPN] – Residents across the state of California are voicing their opposition to a congressional proposal that would use taxpayer money to pay for abortions under the guise of so-called health care “reform”. Pro-family Californians are signing Family Policy Network’s petition urging both houses of Congress and President Obama to reject health care “reform” that provides universal abortion funding on the backs of American taxpayers. The petition reads as follows: Please OPPOSE any and all attempts to include funding and/or mandates for abortions in health care “reform” legislation.Destroying innocent human...

SWEET HOME ALABAMA

Over the past several years, I have traveled to every corner of this state, from the Gulf Coast to the Tennessee Valley, and I have heard a lot of the same stories from people. They wonder if Alabama will keep its promises to our young people; they sense that Alabama is not doing enough to grow our job base; and they know that our state has never fulfilled the commitment to give our children the schools and the education they deserve. In short, we all know that Alabama can do better. But it's going to take all of us, working...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- A wine label showing a nude nymph is too racy for Alabama's liquor control agency, which has told restaurants and stores not to sell the product.

The video-sharing platform YouTube has yanked from its site another video that exposed a Planned Parenthood's complicity in protecting perpetrators of child-rape. The video recorded by Live Action Films undercover investigator Lila Rose recorded staffers of a Birmingham Planned Parenthood stating their willingness to "bend the rules a little bit" and violate state laws requiring parental consent for a minor's abortion and mandatory reporting of child statutory rape. The video in question has prompted Alabama's Attorney General's Office to investigate Planned Parenthood and its practices, but, according to Live Action Films, the student-based non-profit organization behind the exposé, YouTube gave...

Republicans have picked up another seat in the Alabama House. Republican businessman Phil Williams defeated Democrat Jenny Askins in a special election for the House District 6 seat in Madison County on Tuesday. Williams carried 60% of the vote and will replace Democratic Rep. Sue Schmitz. She was automatically removed from office after being convicted on federal fraud charges earlier this year. It was the GOP's second legislative victory of the summer in Huntsville. First-time Republican candidate Paul Sanford defeated a Democrat earlier this summer in a special election to replace Parker Griffith, a Democrat who was elected to Congress....

Republican Phil Williams Claims Victory in House District 6 SpecialBirmingham –Unofficially, Republican Phil Williams claims victory in the House District 6 special election – by a total of 62% to 38% over Democrat Jenny Askins. The HD6 win is the second election in just five weeks that the Alabama Republican Party has picked up a seat in the Legislature. Even more historic is the blow delivered to the over 113 years of Democrat rule in Alabama, as Republicans are within single digits of the majority in the House for the first time since Reconstruction. In the winning effort, the Party...

Today Fort Payne had a nice gathering of concerned citizens come together in heart and mind in defense of America and it's citizens. A wonderful group of locals spoke from about noon to 2pm at the city park (formally known as Union Park). Fort Payne with a population of about 12,000 put together a nice T.E.A. party and had 200 (+/- 50) people attend. It was a pleasant day with a nice breeze to help with the low 90's temperature.

A News 8 investigation found that hundreds of aircraft mechanics have been brought into the United States to work at aircraft repair facilities. Insiders say the companies that are importing the mechanics are so eager to save money, they’re overstating their qualifications. The result may be a threat to safety, abetted by lax enforcement of immigration law. At daybreak any morning at San Antonio Aerospace, hundreds of workers amble through the gates for the day shift. They repair big jets like Airbuses, Boeing 757s and MD-11s. But, despite the fact that it's a huge facility in the middle of the...

Bert Bank was a World War II veteran who survived the Bataan Death March, became a state legislator and founded two Tuscaloosa radio stations. Perhaps his biggest claim to fame, though, was as founder of the Alabama Football Network. Bank died Monday night at age 94.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Restaurateur Paul Sanford has defeated state Rep. Laura Hall to win a special election for a vacant seat in the Alabama state Senate. With 56 of 57 precincts reporting, Sanford, a Republican who operates "Little Paul's Barbecue" in Huntsville, had nearly 12,000 votes to about 8,900 for Hall, a Democrat who has represented Huntsville in the House since 1993. Gov. Bob Riley campaigned for Sanford, and he had the endorsements of the five candidates he defeated in the Republican primary and runoff. Sanford will replace Huntsville physician Parker Griffith, a Democrat who was elected to the...

Note: The following text is a quote: Eight Uzbekistan Nationals Among 12 Charged with Racketeering, Human Trafficking & Immigration Violations in Scheme to Employ Illegal Aliens in 14 States Twelve defendants, including eight Uzbekistan nationals, have been charged in a 45-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., on May 6, 2009, on RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) charges related to labor racketeering, forced labor trafficking and immigration and other violations in 14 states. Abrorkhodja Askarkhodjaev, 30, Nodir Yunusov, 22, Rustamjon Shukurov, 21, citizens of Uzbekistan residing in Mission, Kan.; Ilkham Fazilov, 44, Nodirbek...

MONTGOMERY, AL (WAFF) - A state lawmaker who represents parts of Morgan and Cullman counties is receiving some heat, all over a four-letter word in an e-mail he sent from his state account over the weekend. State Representative Ronald Grantland has apologized for the e-mail but the moral of the story here is think twice before you hit send, because once it's sent, you can't take it back. Many people receive dozens even hundreds of e-mails a day at work and at home. Sunday morning Democratic Rep. Ronald Grantland of Hartselle received an e-mail he didn't like. "The e-mail was...

By a vote of 249-175, Congress passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which gives federal hate crimes protection to queers and provides federal funding for local and state law enforcement agencies to investigate hate crimes. Generally voting along party lines, the Democratic majority pushed the bill through, which now heads to President Obama's desk. But then there's the case of Alabama Rep. Artur Davis, the only eligible member of the Congressional Black Caucus who did not vote for the bill. Surprised? Don't be. Back in 2007, Davis famously became the only CBC member not to vote for...

1,000 Pounds of Fertilizer Stolen, Police searching for burglarsClarissa Stephens, Shoals Bureau ReporterApril 30, 2009Burglars targeted a Tuscumbia business early Thursday morning. What's most alarming is what the thieves took from business. The stolen property is potential dangerous material. Approximately 1,000 pounds of high-grade nitrate fertilizer was taken from Greens Keepers on Gann Boulevard in Tuscumbia. The company handles fertilization and weed control for residential and commercial lawns. The owner, John Wagner, says he's been in business for twelve years and nothing like this has ever happened. "It's very unusual," says Wagner. "It was a very big shock to walk...

Morgan and Limestone County officials continue to investigate a weekend shooting in Morgan County. It happened at 8:45 Saturday night on Garrett Road in Priceville. According to the Limestone County Sheriff's Department, Tim Garth of Belle Mina shot brothers Ricky and Sam Brown. Ricky brown was taken to Huntsville Hospital where he was pronounced dead. His brother Sam was shot in the leg. Authorities say the two brothers initially assaulted Garth at his home. Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely says the case has not been ruled as a murder yet, and there may be indication the incident was self-defense. No...

What is happening in the cradle of the modern civil rights movement? Jimmy McCall would like to know. 'It was more my dream house,' he laments, 'and the city tore it down ... It reminds me of how they used to mistreat black people in the Old South.' In 1955, Rosa Parks took on the whole system of Jim Crow by refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus. Today, McCall is waging a lonely battle against the same city government for another civil right: the freedom to build a home on his own land. Though McCall's...

The cool thing about attacking someone that's been dead for over 100 years is that they can't fight back. The other cool thing is that you can use them to fuel your race baiting so that you can get some cheap publicity, get noticed, or play the faux "civil rights leader" on TV. Such is the case in Auburn, Alabama where a city councilman decided to get noticed by ripping tiny Confederate flags from the graves of long-dead Confederate veterans buried in a local cemetery. Shockingly those flags were placed there on Confederate Memorial Day. Who wouldda thunk it, eh?...

Black official removes graves' Confederate flags (AP) — AUBURN, Ala. (AP) Several Confederate flags placed on the graves of Civil War soldiers got pulled up by a black Auburn city councilman, who called them symbols of racism and hatred. Mary Norman, president of Auburn Heritage Association, said she was at her family's burial plot in Pine Hill Cemetery when Councilman Arthur Dowdell removed the small Confederate flag from her great-grandfather's grave Thursday afternoon. "He pulled up the flag, snapped it in two and put it in his car," said Norman, who is white.

It's been said that conservatism has different meanings for different people. It may not be textbook, but without a whole lot of navel gazing, here's what it means to me and what Free Republic is all about: In a word, Freedom! In two words, Preserving Freedom. In a handful of words as stated by our Founding Fathers, to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity! America was founded on the proposition that all men are created equal by God and that our unalienable rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness are granted directly by God...