Free Republic

JEFFERSON CITY • Many Missouri lawmakers want to protect gun owners from any threat of workplace discrimination, just as state residents currently are protected for race, religion and gender. Legislation that would make it illegal for employers to discriminate against people because they own or use guns overwhelmingly passed the Missouri House before lawmakers left for spring break. For bill sponsor Wanda Brown, a Republican from Lincoln, the goal is simple: "We would never consider giving up our First Amendment (free speech) rights for a job. Why should we give up our Second Amendment rights?" The National Rifle Association is...

Thomas Jefferson was only 22 years old when the Son’s of Liberty raised the “rebellious stripes” to the top of the Liberty Tree in 1765. Ten years later he would draft the Declaration of Independence defining in timeless prose the rights of all men to be free. But his wisdom may have been even more evident when in his Inaugural Address in 1803 he warned against the redistribution of the fruits of free enterprise. He said “To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare...

Leaders of the resurrected radical group ACORN are lobbying the Obama administration in what appears to be a concerted effort to game the electoral system to help Democrats, new evidence suggests. At least five Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now leaders have visited the White House this year alone. One of those ACORN officials has been involved in vetting Department of Justice hires who may help to enforce the voter fraud-enabling National Voting Rights Act (NVRA), also known as the Motor-Voter law. The Department has come under fire for refusing to enforce Section 8, which requires states to remove...

Unfortunately, many Americans have become inured to the trampling of freedom of association. You can work your fingers to the bone starting a business, and the government becomes a partner that contributes nothing but extracts much. It not only shares your profits and regulates you to death, but, more to the point here, dictates whom you must serve and the bases on which you may hire and fire people. And woe betide he who doesn't bow before Leviathan. A recent example of this is the Wildflower Inn, a Vermont B&B. After devout Catholic owners Jim and Mary O'Reilly refused to...

Unfortunately, many Americans have become inured to the trampling of freedom of association. You can work your fingers to the bone starting a business, and the government becomes a partner that contributes nothing but extracts much. It not only shares your profits and regulates you to death, but, more to the point here, dictates whom you must serve and the bases on which you may hire and fire people. And woe betide he who doesn’t bow before Leviathan. A recent example of this is the Wildflower Inn, a Vermont B&B. After devout Catholic owners Jim and Mary O’Reilly refused to...

For more than 20 years, candidates running for office in the Hillbrook-Tall Oaks Civic Association in Annandale have stood, waved and received polite applause at the annual meeting in June. Everyone votes, eats ice cream, chats with neighbors and goes home. This past election, to make the meeting move faster, only the names and qualifications of the candidates were announced. Running for president, Ms. Beatha Lee was described as a relatively new resident, interested in neighborhood activities and the outdoors, and who had experience in Maine overseeing an estate of 26 acres. Though unfamiliar with Lee's name, the crowd of...

Here is a new hard hitting video from the Republican Governors Association. This is a very powerful and hard-hitting ad that needs to go viral. Wow! Just Wow!

Catholic Medical Association: Senate Health Care Bill Funds Abortions Washington, DC -- Another prominent Catholic organization has weighed in on the abortion-health care debate and it says any Catholics who support the pro-abortion health care bill are out of step with the pro-life teachings of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Medical Association's statement follows on the heels of the Catholic Health Association giving some Democrats cover to back the pro-abortion bill. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat6147.html

Liza Northrop Beale, the general manager of The Almanac, a weekly newspaper in Washington, Pa. died Saturday of complications related to the H1N1 virus. She was 49 and lived in Peters Township which is suburban Pittsburgh.

Introduction to the “Right of Association” This is BIG. According to at least one Supreme Court case, the “right of association” can even trump National Security interests. In other words, if the U.S. Supreme Court is called upon to balance the “right of association” against governmental interests in National Security, the private “right of association” can win. The “right of association” can be more important than National Security. I find that to be astonishing. In fact, there are elements of the research presented in the balance of this article that I find sometimes breathtaking and sometimes weird. There appears to...

(CNSNews.com) – NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith would not say whether the NFL had treated talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh fairly when racist quotes were falsely attributed to Limbaugh shortly after word leaked that he was involved in a potential bid to buy a stake in the St. Louis Rams.

You drink diet soda, so you must be healthier. Right? That's what New York Gov. David Paterson is talking about with his proposal for an "obesity tax" — a 15 percent slap on non-diet sugary soft drinks. Think $1 for a Diet Coke, $1.15 for a Coke. There's just one problem: Studies have found links between drinking diet sodas and obesity and diabetes. A 2005 study at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, and separate studies released in 2007 at the University of Alberta in Canada and the University of Massachusetts found that diet soda drinkers were...

As John McCain's campaign hits hard at some of Barack Obama's past associations, one person closely tied to the Democratic candidate is conspicuously absent from the attacks: the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. It is an omission that some Republican strategists and McCain supporters find puzzling and frustrating. In advertisements, in Web videos and on the campaign trail, McCain repeatedly heaps scorn on Obama for his ties to convicted Chicago financier Antoin "Tony" Rezko and to William Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground, the violent 1970s radical group. The Republican nominee never mentions Wright, the controversial black minister...

Is there such a thing as guilt? Is there such a thing as finding out just how guilty someone is of wrong doing by associating that person to organizations and people who are proven guilty of wrong doing? Oh yeah! If a bank is robbed and the perps caught, and one of the perps merely drove to and from the crime scene, is the driver guilty of the crime by association involvement in the crime? Absolutely. Just for the sake of exploring guilt by association, let’s presume for a moment that the driver makes a claim that he/she didn’t know...

US Christian group boycotts McDonald's for association with gay organisation Elana Schor in Washington guardian.co.uk, Tuesday July 15, 2008 The US Christian group that pressured Heinz to pull an UK commercial featuring two men kissing is now targeting McDonald's, accusing the fast-food chain of refusing "to remain neutral in the culture war". The American Family Association began a boycott campaign against McDonald's in response to the company's membership in the Washington-based National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC).

American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA, a front for anti-Second Amendment entities) is running an ad in Pennsylvania that says Obama supports the rights of hunters and shooters. “The Democrats and Gun Control” from the Wall Street Journal [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120839466717921537.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries] exposes Obama for the liar he is. As a state senate candidate in 1996, Mr. Obama endorsed a complete ban on all handguns in a questionnaire. The Obama campaign has claimed he “never saw or approved the questionnaire,” and that an aide filled it out incorrectly. But a few weeks ago, Politico.com found an amended version of the questionnaire [http://www.politico.com/static/PPM43_080328_obama_iviquestionaire_091096.html]. It...

WASHINGTON, April 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) announced the endorsement of Senator Barack Obama on a national conference call this morning organized by the Obama for President campaign. AHSA President Ray Schoenke made the following statement in his endorsement of Senator Obama: ...As a gun rights organization we have not come to this decision lightly. We were formed two years ago because our research shows that millions of gun owners wanted a change. They not only wanted an organization that would protect their gun rights but an organization that was also committed to the protection...

For a United States Senator, Barack Obama has been doing a lot of explaining about the company he has kept for the last 17 years or so. Take some Joe Blow Alderman off the streets of Chicago and examine his friends and acquaintances and you’re bound to come up with a couple of unsavory characters that straddle the line of legality with regard to city contracts or their business dealings. But Obama is not some regular Machine pol juicing the way for his ward heeling friends so they can grow fat and rich at taxpayer expense. He is a United...

>Nebraska State Senator DiAnna Schimek's 20-year legislative career is nearly over. She feels victimized, no doubt, by the voter-enacted term limits that make this her final year in power. Still, Senator Schimek hopes to go out with her boots on, firing one final shotgun blast to maim or kill the initiative process she has long abhorred. You see, it was only through the voter initiative that Nebraskans passed term limits . . . three times. Yup. It took three petition drives and three votes of the people. Of course, term limits passed overwhelmingly each time. But a charmed third initiative...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2007 – The founder of an organization that provides comfortable and functional adaptive clothing to wounded servicemembers is being honored for her efforts. Ginger Dosedel, an Air Force wife and founder of the group "Sew Much Comfort,"� is one of the National Military Family Association's 2007 Very Important Patriots, an honor for which a friend secretly nominated her. "I was very surprised and honored,"� Dosedel said. "It's nice when recognition comes from a friend unexpectedly."� Sew Much Comfort provides clothing specially adapted for wounded troops recovering in military hospitals. Off-the-rack clothing often doesn't accommodate medical devices. She...

In a remarkable moment of candor, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell today acknowledged that stronger gun laws could not have prevented the horrible shooting at the Amish school in Lancaster County. Rendell, a staunch gun control advocate, admitted, “I believe with all my heart that we need more gun control” during a live press conference. But he also acknowledged that tougher gun laws would not have prevented gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV from carrying out his deadly attack, noting, “You can make all the changes you want, but you can never stop a random act of violence by someone intent on...

Candidates for Congress get questionnaires from many organizations. Most encourage us to file our answers on line. All but one have assured us that our “answers will not be edited” or censored. There was one, glaring exception, the North Carolina “Edukashun” Association. This group keeps their answers private, sharing them only with their state leaders and their “member-convenors” who interview us in district to see if we’re really toeing the party line. Answers are never shared with union members. Okay, let’s break the embargo. Here are some of my answers, and I welcome responses from teachers who agree, or disagree,...

MAHWAH -- Two white watering cans and a yellow broom dangle above the porch of a stone and shingle house perched atop North Hillside Avenue. Just below, empty flower pots and plastic chairs and tables clutter the entryway. "No trespassing" and "Beware of dog" signs line the sloping property. The more-than-100-year-old house has been home to Samantha Moor for 10 years. Its sloppy condition is the reason she nearly spent the night in jail. Moor, in her late 40s, was arrested Tuesday morning and sent to the Bergen County Jail for failing to pay $4,921 in fines issued by Mahwah...

TAMPA - Before David Kelley went to Iraq, he bought his wife a "Support Our Troops" sign to display outside the couple's home in the Westchase subdivision. When Kelley, an Army private, went overseas in November, Stacey Kelley posted the sign outside their home. For her, the sign is a daily reminder of the sacrifice her husband and fellow soldiers are making. But officials of Westchase, in northwest Hillsborough County, view the sign differently. They say the 2-foot-high sign violates community rules. Stacey Kelley, 24, received a letter from the homeowners association last month stating she could be fined $100...

The disciplinary arm of the N.C. State Bar dropped charges of felonious misconduct against two former Union County prosecutors Friday because of a 1999 clerical error at the state Supreme Court. The State Bar had charged Kenneth Honeycutt and Scott Brewer with lying, cheating and withholding evidence in a 1996 death penalty case. The ruling Friday marks the second time that Honeycutt and Brewer won on procedural grounds before the bar's Disciplinary Hearing Commission, which sits as judge and jury in disciplinary cases. . . . Prosecutors around the state are concerned that the case is damaging their reputation and...

Michael Scanlon, a former aide to U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to bribe public officials, a charge growing out of the government investigation of attempts to defraud Indian tribes and corrupt a member of Congress.

Violence Policy Center Urges Washington Redskins to Withdraw From Shooting Fundraiser With National Rifle Association as NRA Lobbies on Capitol Hill to Overturn D.C.'s Gun Laws Redskins/NRA Event Announced Same Month That NRA's Magazine Attacks D.C. Mayor Williams and Police Chief Ramsey WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The Violence Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based national non-profit organization working to reduce gun death and injury, today sent Washington Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder a letter urging him to "end all participation" by the Washington Redskins in a planned shooting event with the National Rifle Association on October 25, 2005, to...

Association threatens $50 fine if pets urinate on grass Ruthie Dahlstrom has put her University City condominium up for sale. She decided to go because her dogs can't. The Legacy at Davis Lake homeowners association has threatened to fine Dahlstrom $50 every time her two Shih Tzus urinate on any common area, which includes all grass. Even the patch in front of her home. "It's ridiculous," said Dahlstrom. "Dogs have to do what dogs do. If someone reports me every time my dogs urinate, it will cost me $18,000 a month." The association's board approved the rule in July to...

An animal rights group claimed that its proposed sculpture of a sad-faced circus elephant in shackles was a form of political speech that should not be silenced. But a federal appeals court said yesterday that it could not quarrel with the city's view of the statue: This wasn't a case about free speech. This was just bad art.

<p>SEN. Hillary Rodham Clinton's pals stress that she's not a target in the criminal case against former chief fund-raiser David Rosen — but Democrats have the jitters because she could still pay a hefty political price.</p> <p>"Whether or not he's convicted, it reminds people of the downside of the Clinton years — the mess. We're a political party looking to move into the future and getting dragged back 'ceaselessly into the past,' to quote 'The Great Gatsby,' " said a top Democratic strategist.</p>

Congressional Democrats could use a spoonful of sugar this week to help swallow their medicine. With tort reform on top of the Bush administration's to-do list, a new poll suggests Americans are solidly in favor of capping jury awards against the health-care industry. The poll, done by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health, came the week after Presdient Bush gave speeches in Illinois to focus attention on the need for medical-malpractice reform. While only a quarter of those polled said lawsuits were their top health-care policy concern, 63 percent said they would support a law...

Presenting the grand opening of our new website. www.nyra.us New York Republican Association, check it out!!!

NEW YORK - Retired Marine Gen. Anthony C. Zinni criticized the Bush administration's run-up to war but said now that U.S. forces are in Iraq (news - web sites) "we can't afford failure." Zinni said in a speech Thursday he expects American troops to be in Iraq for five to 10 years, facing a "witch's brew" of insurgents, criminals and "al-Qaida wannabes." The Bush administration has said it intends to keep troops in Iraq for as long as it takes the country to achieve stability, but it has not been more specific. Zinni served as commander in chief of the...

126th National Guard Association of the United States General ConferenceFor Immediate Release Las Vegas, NV - I’m honored to be here today at your 126th Convention.  I can’t tell you how proud I am to stand before you – and how grateful I am to have the opportunity to talk with you today. I came out here because I wanted to look you in the eye and say thank you.  Thank you for your service; thank you for caring; thank you for the sacrifices you and your families make for our country. I come from a state with a great...

Editor’s Note: Last year, Students for Academic Freedom defended the Metropolitan State College of Denver College Republicans when Professor Oneida Meranto, the faculty advisor for the Political Science Association, told the College Republican that they “need to withdraw from the Political Science Association,” accusing them of conspiring with a conservative think tank to have her fired. Dr. Meranto offered no evidence for this preposterous assertion. Metro State College Republican Chairman George Culpepper reported Dr. Meranto’s comments in testimony before a state senate hearing which was called to determine if an Academic Bill of Rights should be adopted for Colorado students....

SEANC backs Ballantine, who backs raises Published: Sep 1, 2004 By AMY GARDNER, Staff Writer The State Employees Association of North Carolina's political committee endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Patrick Ballantine on Tuesday -- the first time ever the group has supported a Republican for statewide office. The endorsement is a rebuke to Democratic Gov. Mike Easley, who led state government through a three-year budget crisis during which state workers received paltry pay increases. "Patrick has a clear desire to have us at the table when he puts together his budget and when he develops policy and procedure," said Dana Cope,...

Remarks of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as Delivered to the National Education Association July 6, 2004 I was just in the neighborhood. I heard there were a few of my friends over in the Convention Center. I decided I’d come by and just kind of get a look at you. You’re looking really good. And you made a great decision when you decided to pledge your support and endorse John Kerry for President of the United States. Today John Kerry made a great decision in choosing John Edwards to run with him. The Kerry Edwards ticket will restore a sense...

As News Weekly goes to press, the NZ Labour Government has rushed legislation into Parliament which will effectively legislate for gay marriage, through what are called "civil unions". The bill was tabled in Parliament on June 21, and MPs were expected to vote on it on July 23 or July 24. The bill creates a new form of legal relationship - a registered civil union - that would apply to same-sex relationships and heterosexual couples. Running alongside the Civil Union Bill will be the Relationships (Statutory References) Bill that removes discrimination based on marital status. It amends over 1000 provisions...

Recent findings that gays can go straight radically alters the debate on gay marriage, says David van Gend. The Titanic of Gay Rights, leaving all in its wake, is about to founder on a large and immovable fact. My concern is not for the glamorous first-class passengers - the prominent doctors and judges - or for the Mardi Gras exhibitionists leering and lurching across the deck, but for the unknown homosexuals down in their lonely cabins feeling sick. These are the ones who want to stop the ship and get off. The homosexuals who do not want to be homosexual,...

Education Officials Review Use of Tenure WASHINGTON - The decades-old tradition of tenure protects teachers, often frustrates principals and has even surfaced as an issue in the presidential campaign. Now tenure itself is under review. Tenure guarantees that public school teachers who have this protection cannot be fired without legitimate cause and due process, perhaps even a court hearing. Almost every state provides tenure in some form. Yet with federal law requiring schools to have a top teacher for every core class, more administrators are questioning whether tenure keeps them from getting rid of even a small number of instructors...

Vedder Price Shareholder Elected President of United Nations Association - Greater Chicago Chapter Tuesday June 22, 12:32 pm ET CHICAGO, June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Gabrielle Buckley, a shareholder in the firm of Vedder Price Kaufman & Kammholz and Chair of the firm's Immigration Law practice, was elected last week as President of the United Nations Association, Greater Chicago Chapter at its annual meeting. The United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) is a not-for- profit, nonpartisan organization that supports the work of the United Nations and encourages active civic participation in the most important social and economic...

Would someone please tell me what in the world does providing the best education for our kids have to do with a pro-choice march in Washington, D.C., this Sunday, April 25? Why does the powerful and influential National Education Association feel it should have any role whatsoever in co-sponsoring such an event—to the point of allowing the NEA headquarters near the White House to act as a hospitality center for the “March for Freedom of Choice,” while the nation’s nearby state affiliates in New Jersey and elsewhere organize buses to bring in demonstrators for the all-day affair? So, tell me,...

<p>Couple lose their home over $120 debt By Michael Kolber -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 a.m. PST Saturday, January 24, 2004 Get weekday updates of Sacramento Bee headlines and breaking news. Sign up here.</p> <p>COPPEROPOLIS -- A retired couple's dispute with their homeowners association has spiraled out of control in this Calaveras County community -- and now they have lost their home less than a year after failing to pay $120 in annual dues.</p>

Contact: Richard Pearson of the Illinois State Rifle Association, 815-635-3198; web: http://www.isra.org SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Jan. 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was released today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA): "A beacon of common sense," is how the ISRA is characterizing a proposal filed yesterday that shields law-abiding citizens from prosecution under politically motivated gun control laws. SB 2165, sponsored by Sen. Ed Petka (R-Plainfield), provides an affirmative defense to a violation of a municipal ordinance that prohibits, regulates, or restricts the private ownership of firearms if the individual who is charged with the violation used the firearm in...

He's given hundreds of flu shots over the past few months, but health officials say he isn't a doctor and they still don't know exactly what he's been injecting. It's a story you saw First on News 3. Shahid Shiekh is under police investigation after shutting down one of his clinics in Washington State. News 3 has learned that Shiekh has also operated an office in Henderson. News 3's Kori Chambers is digging deeper. It's still unclear whether this phony doctor fooled any Las Vegans. We spoke with Shiekh's attorney and asked him point blank whether the man was giving...

Muslim Students Association Telling Lies By Diana Appelbaum, December 25, 2003 Home   Search   Forum   Terms At some point in the last two or three years, someone who hates Israel fabricated a bloodthirsty quotation and attributed it to Ariel Sharon. The false quote has circulated widely on anti-Israel and anti-Semitic WEB sites and list serves, and at least three student columnists have published it as fact in reputable college newspapers, the Georgetown University Hoya, the University of Florida Alligator, and the University of Illinois Daily Ilini. [http://www.thehoya.com/viewpoint/031902/view2.cfm, http://www.dailyillini.com/dec03/dec11/opinions/stories/opinions_column02.shtml, http://www.alligator.org/edit/opinion/issues/02-spring/020418/c02column18.html]. This is, or ought to be, a source of shame to the three newspapers...

Wisconsin passes its SB214 (Personal Protection Act) passes 28-4. Good Job WI!

Black Coaches Assoc. sets criteria for hiring report card Oct. 21, 2003 SportsLine.com wire reports INDIANAPOLIS -- The Black Coaches Association will use a five-part system next year to evaluate hiring practices in Division I-A football. "This will serve as a cornerstone for accountability," executive director Floyd Keith said Tuesday. "We want to recruit, train and retain coaches of color." Keith said the BCA's goal was to have 20 percent of all new coaches, dating to last year, to be minority hires. The association said it will grade individual schools on the number of contacts it has with the BCA's...

Defiant flag flier George Andres once again is facing the prospect of losing his Jupiter home after a Palm Beach County judge ruled Wednesday that his homeowners association could go forward with a foreclosure sale next month to collect legal fees. Andres, a Marine veteran, said he was worried about losing his home, but he vowed to appeal the latest ruling in a legal saga that has spanned more than two years.

What will your child learn about 9-11 on the second anniversary of the attack on America’s security and economy? On the occasion of the first anniversary of 9-11, the National Education Association urged teachers to not “suggest any group is responsible.” In suggested lesson plans, the NEA recommended that teachers “discuss historical instances of American intolerance” as the lesson children in elementary, middle and high school should take away from the most dastardly attack on America since Pearl Harbor. The NEA is an American Fifth Column, an enemy within that uses our public schools to turn children against their nation....