Free Republic

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) lost his battle against the new health-care law but he already has a new target in sight: the Federal Communications Commission. The tea party member late Wednesday blocked the confirmation of Tom Wheeler as chairman of the FCC, saying he wanted greater assurance from President Obama’s nominee that the agency wouldn’t require more funding disclosures for political TV ads. Cruz has said that such free speech should be protected. When asked about the issue in a June confirmation hearing, Wheeler demurred, saying he would study the issue.

An unknown Republican Senator is blocking a bill that will require police to obtain a search warrant before accessing emails and online messages. The Hill reported: An anonymous Republican senator has delayed a vote on legislation that would require police to obtain a warrant before accessing emails and other online messages. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) pushed for a vote on the bill before Congress left for its August recess. He secured unanimous support from Democrats, but at least one Republican objected to the bill, according to a Democratic Senate aide. Leahy had hoped to fast-track the bill...

On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blocked a vote on the border security amendment to the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill offered by Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Grassley was pushing for an up-or-down vote by the Senate on his amendment, which would have required the border to be secured for six full months before any legalization of illegal immigrants in America began. Reid objected to Grassley’s motion, effectively implementing a 60-vote threshold that completely blocked any attempt at a fair vote on the amendment. Grassley protested Reid’s plan, which the Senate Majority Leader...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal court ruled on Tuesday that a controversial Texas voter identification law discriminates against black and Hispanic voters, effectively killing the law before it could take effect for the November 6 presidential election. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued the ruling. ..

The US Senate has blocked a proposal by the Obama administration to limit potatoes in school lunches. The lawmakers also backed an amendment which bars putting any limits on serving other vegetables in US schools. The administration's proposal had envisaged that pupils would have no more than two servings a week of potatoes and other starchy vegetables. Government health officials say pupils should have more diverse diets, because they get enough potatoes already.

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department is refusing to release legal memos the George W. Bush administration used to justify his warrantless surveillance program, one of the most contentious civil liberties issues during the Republican president's time in office.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans on Monday blocked President Barack Obama's choice for the No. 2 job in the Justice Department and dampened talk that Osama bin Laden's death might usher in bipartisan cooperation on terrorism matters. The 50-40 vote, short of the Senate's required 60-vote threshold, sidelined Obama's monthslong drive to make official James M. Cole's position as deputy attorney general. ((snip)) Some saw the vote Monday, which Senate Democrats kept open for about 40 extra minutes, as an early sign of whether Republicans might give Obama the national security team he seeks. Only Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., crossed...

A US Senator has taken the extraordinary step of blocking more than 70 of US President Barack Obama's nominees amid a dispute over a lucrative US Air Force tanker deal, senate aides said Friday. Senator Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, placed a blanket "hold" in part because of the feud pitting Airbus parent EADS and its partner Northrop Grumman against Boeing, his office said. "Senator Shelby is holding all of the president's nominees pending on the Executive Calendar," a total of "70-plus" people, said a spokeswoman for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Regan Lachapelle....

Researchers at National Jewish Health have discovered that a naturally occurring lipid in the lung can prevent RSV infection and inhibit spread of the virus after an infection is established. RSV is the major cause of hospitalization for children in the first two years of life, and is increasingly recognized as a dangerous pathogen in adults with chronic lung diseases, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals. Currently, there is no effective vaccine for the virus. The findings, published in the December 21, 2009, issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also help explain how the lipid, known as...

WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior has frozen oil and gas development on 60 of 77 contested drilling sites in Utah, saying the process of leasing the land was rushed and badly flawed. The 77 government-owned parcels, covering some 100,000 acres in eastern and southern Utah, were leased in the last weeks of the Bush administration. But the leases were immediately challenged by conservation groups, and in January a federal judge blocked drilling on the ground that the Interior Department had failed to follow its own procedures for reviewing the appropriateness of lands designated for oil and gas extraction.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has blocked Israel's request for advanced U.S.-origin attack helicopters. Government sources said the administration has held up Israel's request for the AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter. The sources said the request was undergoing an interagency review to determine whether additional Longbow helicopters would threaten Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.

The Vatican has blocked the appointment of Caroline Kennedy as US ambassador, according to reports. Vatican sources told Il Giornale that their support for abortion disqualified Ms Kennedy and other Roman Catholics President Barack Obama had been seeking to appoint. Mr Obama was reportedly seeking to reward John F Kennedy's daughter, who publicly gave her support to his election bid. She had been poised to replace Hillary Clinton as New York senator, but dropped out amid criticism that she lacked enough experience for the job.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China, widely criticized for its censorship of the media, this week blocked access to The New York Times, the newspaper said on Saturday. When computer users in cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou tried to connect on Friday to nytimes.com, they received a message that the site was not available, the newspaper said. There was no access to the site from Beijing late on Saturday without the protection of a virtual private network (VPN). The State Information Office said it had no information on the case. The Foreign Ministry said this week that China, which eased its...

WASHINGTON - The Senate drove a stake Thursday through President Bush's plan to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants, likely postponing major action on immigration until after the 2008 elections. The bill's supporters fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to limit debate and clear the way for final passage of the legislation, which critics assailed as offering amnesty to illegal immigrants. The vote was 46 to 53 in favor of limiting the debate. Senators in both parties said the issue is so volatile that Congress is highly unlikely to revisit it this fall or next year, when the presidential...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri locked out lawmakers from the chamber Tuesday, seeking to block efforts to approve an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of a former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. It was the third attempt in as many weeks by lawmakers from the Parliament's anti-Syrian majority to try and force Berri, a key opposition figure, to open the chamber's doors and call a session. Tuesday's events have deepened both the paralysis in Parliament and the political crisis in Lebanon, which since December has been buffeted by an opposition campaign to bring down the Western-backed...

Village Blocks Insurgents; Gains Jobs, Revenue Reconstruction brings life to Iraqi economy. By U.S. Army Spc. Joshua R. Ford AL BAKR, Iraq, Dec. 20, 2006 -- A group of retired Iraqi Air Force officers sat in the conference room waiting for an American Army brigade commander they had never met. Looks of concern painted the faces of the retirees as they anticipated bad news from the American that may change everything - economy, employment and overall quality of life - in their quaint village just outside Logistic Support Area Anaconda near Balad.Once Col. Bryan Owens, 3rd Brigade Combat Team...

SAN DIEGO A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the city of Escondido from enforcing a law that punishes landlords for renting to illegal immigrants. U.S. District Judge John Houston said he had serious questions about whether the law would survive legal scrutiny and said it may inflict "irreparable harm" on tenants and landlords. The law was scheduled to take effect Friday in the suburb 30 miles north of San Diego, where Hispanics make up 42 percent of the 142,000 residents. Houston did not say how long his order would last, but said he would schedule a hearing in the...

BATON ROUGE, La. -- A state law that would ban sales of violent video games to minors violates free speech rights and cannot be enforced, a judge ruled. U.S. District Judge James Brady said the state had no right to bar distribution of materials simply because they show violent behavior. Brady issued an injunction, calling the law an "invasion of First Amendment rights" of producers, retailers and the minors who play the games. ----snip----

Isn't it ironic that one of the things our enemies, the Islamofascists, hate about America is the very thing that enables them to operate here? I'm talking about our openness. Our rights to privacy. The many freedoms granted us by the U.S. Constitution. And the protections and even special treatment afforded Muslim organizations in the U.S. We're a society like no other. Take for example last week's decision by Federal District Court Judge James Whittemore of Florida, who ruled in favor of ACLU lawyers last week that pat down searches before football games should be prohibited because they violate fans'...

WASHINGTON - The House Intelligence Committee on Thursday rejected a proposal to withhold money from the National Security Agency if the White House did not reveal information about the cost of the agency's warrantless surveillance program. In a session closed to reporters, only Rep. Heather Wilson (news, bio, voting record), R-N.M., who heads a subcommittee that oversees the NSA, voted with the Democrats to support the measure to withhold one-fifth of the agency's budget. The committee also rejected legislation that would force the Bush administration to carve out $3 million for a board created in late 2004 to protect Americans'...