Free Republic

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- The Washington state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage, setting the stage for the state to become the seventh to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed. The measure now heads to the House, which is expected to approve it. Gov. Chris Gregoire supports the measure and has said she will sign it into law, though opponents have promised to challenge it at the ballot with a referendum. The packed public galleries burst into applause as the Senate passed the measure on a 28-21 vote Wednesday night after nearly an hour...

American citizens can be ordered to decrypt their PGP-scrambled hard drives for police to peruse for incriminating files, a federal judge in Colorado ruled today in what could become a precedent-setting case. Judge Robert Blackburn ordered a Peyton, Colo., woman to decrypt the hard drive of a Toshiba laptop computer no later than February 21--or face the consequences including contempt of court. Blackburn, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled that the Fifth Amendment posed no barrier to his decryption order. The Fifth Amendment says that nobody may be "compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself," which...

GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul warned that the National Defense Authorization Act, which was passed by Congress this month, will accelerate the country’s “slip into tyranny” and virtually assures “our descent into totalitarianism.” “The founders wanted to set a high bar for the government to overcome in order to deprive an individual of life or liberty,” Paul, the libertarian congressman, said Monday in a weekly phone message to supporters. “To lower that bar is to endanger everyone. When the bar is low enough to include political enemies, our descent into totalitarianism is virtually assured. The Patriot Act, as bad as...

The Second Amendment Foundation, SAF, and Alan Gura filed an amicus brief AGAINST the open carry of firearms. I believe they have been hiding their real agenda for some time now. I believe their agenda is to establish a permit or licensing scheme for the bearing of arms. If anyone has read their briefs, they do not seem to want open carry as an option. Here is a link to the brief which was filed 12-5-2011 https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4xDZlk5vthcODdkNmEzZWMtYTFkYi00ZWZmLTg3ZDYtZTY4OWQ0Yzk2NzZm

SEE: House GOP sets vote on balanced-budget amendment ``House GOP leaders have scheduled a vote next week on a constitutional amendment that would require a balanced federal budget.`` Now, let us take a look at what the GOP offers to restrain our Congress which has brought our nation to the brink of financial suicide and a national debt of over $15 TRILLION which represents our nation‘s entire gross domestic product for one year!. SEE H.J.RES.2, THE GOP BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT and particularly note alleged ``conservatives`` who have put their name to this fraud! `Section 1. Total outlays for any fiscal...

Rep. McGovern introduces Constitutional amendment By Staff reportsMetroWest Daily News Posted Nov 16, 2011 @ 03:39 PM U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern has introduced a Constitutional amendment in the House of Representatives to repeal the recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission. The amendment would restore the Founding Fathers’ intent to grant rights to people, not corporations, according to McGovern’s office.The legislation, H.J. Res 88, is intended to “clarify the authority of Congress and the States to regulate corporations, limited liability companies or other corporate entities established by the laws of any state, the United States,...

Between 1764 and the Declaration of Independence in 1776 Americans produced a rich series of pamphlets and resolutions listing their grievances against the central government of the British Empire. As I have pointed out before, reading those pamphlets is very helpful in understanding what the Constitution really means. And ignorance of them contributes to common constitutional mistakes. These pamphlets are particularly useful in comprehending the Founders’ version of federalism. This is because the constitutional balance between states and federal government partly reflected what the Founders had wanted the balance to be between colonies and imperial government. One of the most...

Author of Durbin amendment doesnt like a bank reacting to the negative effect of his amendment. “Bank of America customers, vote with your feet, get the heck out of that bank,” Durbin said on the Senate floor.

Solyndra execs invoke Fifth Amendment more than a dozen timesBy Andrew Restuccia - 09/23/11 11:17 AM ET House Republicans pressed top executives at the failed solar company Solyndra Friday for answers regarding the company’s decision to declare bankruptcy just two years after receiving a $535 million loan guarantee from the Obama administration. But the executives, surrounded by photographers, invoked their Fifth Amendment rights more than a dozen times during the hearing of a House Energy and Commerce Committee investigative panel. “On the advice of my counsel I invoke the privilege afforded to me by the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution...

by John HillStand With ArizonaWe have covered the disgraceful sham of "anchor babies" and birthright citizenship for a long time - illegal aliens using America's current misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment to obtain citizenship for their illegal babies - just by getting inside our borders prior to the birth. You have seen the Mexican women who come across the Rio Grande in labor, to have babies in Texas hospitals. Like this woman, who did just that, failed to pay her hospital bill, and just "doesn't understand the anger" of Americans at her willful disregard for our laws or her personal...

Congressional Reform Act of 2011 1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office. 2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose. 3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just like the rest of us. 4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a...

<p>ALEIGH, North Carolina, September 13, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – North Carolina voters have been granted a chance to vote on a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman next year.</p> <p>The state Senate voted 30-16, with one Republican absent, to approve the measure Tuesday afternoon.</p>

In a way, commercials can tell you more about how we've changed than history books. The other day I came across the following 1960s TV commercial on YouTube; it's for a toy set called the "Gung Ho Commando Outfit" by Marx. And it's a perfect snapshot of the America that, sadly, no longer exists.

The American Thinker has published as a blog item my review of President Obama’s so-called regulatory review (You call this regulatory reform?). Under the direction of Professor Cass Sunstein, President Obama’s former University of Chicago law school colleague, all federal regulatory bodies were to eliminate regulations which were unduly burdensome to small businesses. Private sector critics promptly called the reforms a drop in the bucket. Let’s look at that. Professor Sunstein claims that the reforms could save businesses over $10 billion in compliance costs over the next five years. The Small Business Administration reports that the total cost of regulation...

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi confirmed that they would be moving toward a balance budget amendment on Friday, after rampant speculation that the European Central Bank would intervene bond markets and purchase Italian and Spanish debt in exchange for structural reforms.

Earlier today Obama threatened he would veto the Cut, Cap, and Balance bill if it reaches his desk. Levin says the only problem with this is that, while he can veto the Cut and Cap part, if the Balanced Budget Amendment passes both the House and the Senate it goes to the states, not Obama. He’s got nothing to do with it. One would expect a brilliant, ivy league Constitutional Law Professor to know these things:

Balanced budget amendment headed to House floor next weekThe Daily Caller – 15 hrs ago A balanced budget amendment will be considered on the House floor next Wednesday, The Daily Caller has learned from a senior GOP source on Capitol Hill. House leadership gave the amendment its stamp of approval, when House Speaker John Boehner laid out three conditions for any deal on the debt limit to reporters Tuesday. Republican freshmen have been pushing the balanced budget issue for weeks. (Dems: We couldn’t attack Republicans if we agree to Medicare cuts) “The spending cuts have to be larger than the...

Will Obama trash the Constitution to raise the debt ceiling?In your face, Tea Partiers!Left-wing pundits like Keith Olbermann (Current TV), Lawrence O’Donnell (MSNBC), and Katrina vanden Heuvel (Washington Post) practically drool at the recent claim that President Obama can unilaterally declare the debt-ceiling law unconstitutional, break off negotiations with Republicans, and order the Treasury secretary to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars without consulting Congress.O’Donnell revels in the Eureka! moment as he realizes Obama doesn’t need to negotiate with stubborn Republicans, he can just dictate terms thanks to this “nuclear option.� Vanden Heuvel thinks the president should threaten to deploy...

There is growing sentiment that one or more constitutional amendments may be necessary to rein in the runaway Congress. The principal mechanism the Founders built into the Constitution for such contingencies is the procedure in Article V by which two thirds of the state legislatures force what the Constitution calls a “Convention for proposing Amendments.” Essentially this is a meeting of state legislative representatives for the drafting of one or more amendments on subjects designated by the legislatures. Of course, Congress and its apologists have every reason to prevent such a convention from being called, so they have widely misled...

The lefties are way out in front so far. 32.5% Yes 58.9% No 8.6% Don't care

Currently, Washington Republicans are mulling over two versions of a Balanced Budget Amendment. One, sponsored by Sens. Orrin Hatch and John Cornyn, would limit government spending to 20% of GDP and require a balanced budget (i.e., without a deficit) five years after the amendment is ratified. The version introduced by Sen. Mike Lee would be similar, but it would limit government spending to 18% of GDP, the lowest in decades. Both versions, however, are fundamentally flawed and therefore utterly unacceptable. Let me explain. Firstly, and most worryingly, both proposed amendments would effectively undo all the limitations on the federal government...

Three reports have been released this month that all come to the same conclusion; we, as a nation, are about to go down the drain economically if the Federal Government cannot bring its spending habits under control. First it was the Pew Charitable Trust with its addendum to the No Silver Bullet report; then the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook; and finally Standard & Poor's Ratings Service which lowered its long-term outlook for the United States' sovereign debt to "Negative" from "Stable." But this is old news as far as reports go. Last July the Congressional Budget Office issued...

The freshman Congressman representing Virginia’s 9th district Morgan H. Griffith has recently introduced H.J. Res 46, which is a constitutional amendment that will allow any federal law to be nullified by a two-thirds super-majority of state legislatures. The text of the bill is as follows: H.J.RES.46 -- Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to allow the several States to nullify a law or regulation of the United States. (Introduced in House - IH)

Kucinich to offer amendment to de-fund Libya military actionFrom NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, Luke Russert, and Domenico Montanaro Liberal Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) is vowing to introduce an amendment to de-fund the military action in Libya. It's not likely to pass the House. Below is the full press release. Kucinich last night also sent out a fundraising solicitation last night on the military action and on the potential that his district is eliminated after districts are re-drawn later this year. Here's Kucinich's release: Amendment Would Deny Funds for the Military Offensive in LibyaWashington D.C. (March 22, 2011) - Congressman Dennis Kucinich...

We must face reality. Politicians are just not able to balance the Federal Budget. It' just not in their natures. The vast majority of them live in a fantasy world as far as money management is concerned. Even freshman congressmen, who are the most likely among them to have dealt at some point with real life, soon learn that personal finance problems become a thing of the past. They have little to be concerned about when dealing with the costs of health care for themselves. Their personal retirement security concerns fade in importance as well. They no longer need be...

First they came for our bicycles. Now they’ve come for our guns. One day after word leaked of a New York State plan to require license plates and annual fees for bicycles, information has gotten out about pending legislation that would register and attach a fee to every firearm in the state. Already one of the most anti-gun states in the country, New York’s move would all but nullify the Second Amendment. At issue is Senate Bill 2994, which is linked in its entirety at the bottom of this column. It would require every gun owner in the state to...

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is planning to offer an amendment to slash as much funding to the Department of Justice as would have been used to defend the Defense of Marriage Act. "What I intend to do, and there are other solutions that are offered, and I believe that the Speaker is focused on this, as well ... is to offer an amendment on an appropriations bill that would cut the funding to the Department of Justice in an amount yet to be

I always find the process of purchasing a weapon interesting since it is a right guaranteed to all citizens assuming they are not felons, drug addicts, illegal aliens, domestic abusers, or mentally unstable....supposedly. My experience this time around, which was my 5th, seemed to be different in a few ways and I wantd to share it and solicit opinions from my favorite 2nd ammendment defenders.

H.R. 822, introduced in the U.S. House by Representatives Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), would allow any person with a valid state-issued concealed firearm permit to carry a concealed firearm in any state that issues concealed firearm permits, or that does not prohibit the carrying of concealed firearms for lawful purposes. A state's laws governing where concealed firearms may be carried would apply within its borders. The bill applies to D.C., Puerto Rico and U.S. territories. It would not create a federal licensing system; rather, it would require the states to recognize each others' carry permits, just as...

The Iowa House Public Safety Committee (HPSC) will be meeting at 2 PM on Thursday to discuss HSB 17. This is the bill that would put the Right to Keep and Bear Arms into the Iowa Constitution. Right now, Iowa is one of only six states in the country that does NOT have this protection in our state constitution. This is the text of the amendment that is being proposed: The right of an individual to acquire, keep, possess, transport, carry, and use arms to defend life and liberty and for all other legitimate purposes is fundamental and inviolable. Licensure,...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Three people were arrested Thursday in connection with the fatal shooting of a woman on Indianapolis' northwest side during an apparent robbery attempt.

Rep. Mike Turner, (R-Ohio) has introduced a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit federal government ownership in private enterprises. Called the Preserving Capitalism in America Amendment, the amendment would prohibit the government from buying stock or equity in corporations. In a statement posted on his website Monday, Turner said roughly 1,000 non-union retirees in the Dayton, Ohio region suffered up to a 70 percent reduction in pension benefits after the pension liabilities of the bankrupt Delphi Corporation, a former subsidiary of General Motors, were assigned to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation in July of 2009. The federal agency took over $6.2...

Virginia House backs constitutional amendment to limit unionsBy Fredrick Kunkle Posted at 6:18 PM ET, 01/18/2011 The House of Delegates on Tuesday approved a resolution that would enshrine Virginia's "right-to-work" law in its constitution, thereby making permanent the state's traditional wariness toward the influence of labor unions. Republicans argued that Virginia's laws against compulsory union membership are key to its reputation as a business-friendly state, and that a state constitutional amendment reiterating those principles would strengthen its ability to counter recent pro-labor actions from Washington. The resolution, HJ500, sponsored by Del. Richard Bell (R-Franklin), passed 61-36. But it seems less...

Text of H. J. Res. 17: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second... Back to Bill Status Show this version: Download PDF Full Text on THOMAS Compare to this version: Show changes: Side-by-side Highlighted Expand all sections Collapse all sections Link to this view Jan 7, 2011 - Introduced in House. This is the original text of the bill as it was written by its sponsor and submitted to the House for consideration. This is the latest version of the bill currently available on GovTrack. HJ 17 IH 112th CONGRESS 1st Session H....

An earlier comment concerning the freedom of speech question in the Giffords case got me wondering about this. I'd love to see the results, and I'll be sharing the percentages with my government and U.S. classes. Thanks!

As the new Congress convened, a group called State Legislators for Legal Immigration proposed two laws. One would declare that children of parents who immigrated here illegally are not born "subject to the jurisdiction" of the U.S. and so are not birthright citizens under the 14th Amendment. Under the other, states would issue two types of birth certificates, one for those born "subject to the jurisdiction" of the U.S. and one for everyone else. The states have no power to pass the first proposed law. Congress may be able to, but it is a bad idea that will not halt...

Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States ."

Zelman, Aaron S. December 21, 2010, age 64 years, of Erin, WI. Beloved husband of Nancy Zelman (nee Soderlund). Dear father of Erik and Jeremy Zelman. Further survived by other relatives and friends. Funeral services 11:00 AM Friday, December 24, 2010 at Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue, 2909 W. Mequon Rd., Mequon. Memorials to JPFO, P.O. Box 270143, Hartford, WI 53027 or Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue are appreciated.

Amendment Would Enable States to Repeal Federal LawBy KATE ZERNIKE Published: December 19, 2010 The same people driving the lawsuits that seek to dismantle the Obama administration’s health care overhaul have set their sights on an even bigger target: a constitutional amendment that would allow a vote of the states to overturn any act of Congress. Under the proposed “repeal amendment,” any federal law or regulation could be repealed if the legislatures of two-thirds of the states voted to do so. The idea has been propelled by the wave of Republican victories in the midterm elections. First promoted by Virginia...

In a landmark decision issued today in the criminal appeal of U.S. v. Warshak, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the government must have a search warrant before it can secretly seize and search emails stored by email service providers. Closely tracking arguments made by EFF in its amicus brief, the court found that email users have the same reasonable expectation of privacy in their stored email as they do in their phone calls and postal mail.

Health care repeal amendment clears first panelby Keith Laing The News Service of Florida 12/09/2010 After being fast-tracked through its first committee stop Wednesday, a proposed constitutional amendment to prevent the federal government from compelling people to participate in any health care system could be the first bill passed during next year’s session, Senate President Mike Haridopolos said Wednesday. The resolution, SJR 2, easily cleared the Senate Health Regulation Committee, with only the Democratic members of the panel, Sens. Jeremy Ring (D-Margate) and Eleanor Sobel (D-Hollywood), voting against it. The proposal is a tweaked version of what would have been...

Do You Favor a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution? No -- It restricts the government's ability to respond effectively to a recession and alters the balance of power. Yes -- It's a simple rule of finance that even I have to live by: spend what you have, not what you think you'll have. Undecided -- The government sometimes needs to spend in response to emergency, such as war, and I'm not sure I want an amendment that could impede our response. Other (post a comment)

The federal government, and Congress in particular, has too much control over the states. They can pass laws that have a profound effect on the ability of states to manage their own resources, to keep a balanced budget, and basically to run things the way they see fit. States should be relatively independent in the way they run their affairs, with minimal interference by the Congress and the federal government. The states need a way to keep the feds in check. I am proposing an amendment that I believe would restore the proper relationship between the states and the federal...

Haslam showed up at a Tennessee Firearms Association meeting last night. Me and a couple of other guys including richard hamblin got him to say he would sign legislation. This helps pressure the legislature. This has been spreading all over Tennessee. It is a big deal because Haslam has a B rating with the NRA. He was a member of Bloomberg's Mayors against guns. As Mayor he oversaw the banning of guns in Knoxville City Parks. My audio on youtube which is only edited for time (I took out a few people's questions because they made little sense and had...

In light of President Barack Obama's recent attack on the Fox News Channel, the Wall Street Journal's James Taranto wonders: "why is the Ground Zero mosque the only case in which Obama has ever defended anyone's First Amendment rights without qualification?" There are a number of possible answers, and at least some of them are reasonable and worthy of media attention. And indeed, a few journalists have noticed and raised objection to the White House's selective contempt for opinion media - Fox is "destructive," but MSNBC libtalkers Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann "provide an invaluable service." But there is a...

Pathetic. Disturbing. Unreal. It’s already totally unacceptable the state of New Jersey severely restricts residents concerning their 2nd Amendment rights, but now a New Jersey state legislator suggests – for $500 per year – the state would reconsider their opinion. They think they can generate tax revenue through the scheme.

The Case for a ‘Repeal Amendment’ Randy Barnett • September 16, 2010 6:00 am William Howell, the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, and I have an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal making the case for a constitutional amendment giving 2/3 of state legislatures the power to repeal any federal law or regulation. Here is the wording of the Repeal Amendment: “Any provision of law or regulation of the United States may be repealed by the several states, and such repeal shall be effective when the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states approve resolutions for this purpose...

The suggestion by at least three senators that the Constitution be amended to deny birthright citizenship to children of illegal aliens born in the United States has induced derogatory retorts that to do so would negate the 14th Amendment's protection of civil rights. Historical facts - ignored by those opposed - in fact demonstrate that such an amendment would reinstate the rule as originally intended by the adoption of the 14th Amendment in 1868. At issue is the first clause of the 14th Amendment, which states, "All persons born ... in the United States, and subject to the

Spanish Fork • As Milton Salazar-Gomez was driving to work in early August, he saw red and blue lights in his rear-view mirror and pulled over. He handed the Utah County sheriff’s deputy his driving privilege card after the deputy told him that his car’s registration had expired. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent working with the deputy saw a star tattoo on Salazar-Gomez’s wrist, examined it and asked if he was in the country illegally. Salazar-Gomez said yes. Then they took him to jail, accusing him of being in a gang, Salazar-Gomez said. “I’m not in a gang; I...

Pulteney, N.Y. —An elderly homeowner thwarted an apparent break-in early Friday night when he twice shot the perpetrator in his home. Stephen Boyechko was napping with his wife in the bedroom of his ranch-style home at 8016 Brown Road when he was awakened by the sound of breaking glass in a nearby bathroom, Steuben County Chief Deputy Noel Terwilliger said at the scene. Boyechko, in his mid-80s, then grabbed a handgun and confronted the would-be burglar and fired twice, striking him in the abdomen and the groin. The name of the would-be burglar was not released, but he was described...