Free Republic

In his classic 1932 book, Toward Soviet America, Communist Party boss William Z. Foster wrote about how “The United Soviet States of America” will come about. As a result of various capitalist crises, the national government would assume more and more control over the economy. “In finance,” he wrote, “it will mean the nationalization of the banking system and its concentration around a central State bank…” Foster is dead, but the Wall Street financial “bail-out” plan offered by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, in coordination with the Federal Reserve, will bring about a socialist America.

BLACKSTONE, Va. - Like some other residents of this small town, Mary Elizabeth Goodwyn doesn't go outside after dark much anymore. ADVERTISEMENT Goodwyn, 81, used to welcome the dusk under a red maple tree in her front yard every evening, but that was before cougars started showing up in Blackstone _ at least in the local newspaper.Since 2003, the Courier-Record has run at least 15 stories on cougar sightings in town and in the neighboring 41,000-acre Army National Guard training base.Wildlife officials say that except for a known population of 100 in Florida, the large cats _ also called mountain...

A man was shot and killed early yesterday morning in central Goochland County after he allegedly entered an unlocked mobile home and tussled with the owner, authorities said. Adam Stone, the homeowner, called the Goochland Sheriff's Office just after 3 a.m. to report that he'd shot a man with a 12-gauge shotgun.

JERUSALEM: A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days. If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.

My wife's parents have been missionaries to Mexico since 1960. They just sent us word that today they are leaving Tucson for the center in southern Mexico. I would ask you all to keep them in your prayers for several reasons Dad is 78 and Mom is 77, and it is 1400 miles from Tucson to their destination many of it through mountains. They are traveling by car. They do this every few years either coming or going, and usually stay for a couple of years at a time.It has become increasingly dangerous for Americans crossing the Mexican/US border, specially...

---------------------------------------------------------------------- VCDL's Gun Dealer Legal Defense Fund -- help fight Mayor Bloomberg's scheme to cripple Virginia firearms dealers.  See:www.vcdl.org/index.html#DefenseFund ---------------------------------------------------------------------- VCDL's meeting schedule:  http://www.vcdl.org/meetings.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Breaking news!  The Department of the Interior has now published a proposed rule change for the National Park Service! The proposed rule change is as follows for National Parks: "A person may possess, carry, and transport concealed, loaded, and operable firearms within a national park area in the same manner, and to the same extent, that a person may lawfully possess, carry, and transport concealed, loaded and operable firearms in any state park, or any...

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- State police say a sniper wounded two people and hit at least four cars on Interstate 64 near Afton Mountain this morning. The injuries were not life-threatening and the victims were treated and released from Augusta Medical Center. More than 20 miles of I-64 was closed between Charlottesville and Waynesboro from shortly after midnight until about 6:20 a.m. State troopers, Charlottesville police and Albemarle County deputies are searching wooded areas along the interstate, but no suspect has been found.

A man in his 50s died this afternoon in an explosion at a house in Chester caused by what appeared to be a Civil War ordnance, police said. No other information about the victim was immediately available.

The French train maker (Alstom) introduces the AGV, which took 10 years and $147 million to develop and will link Milan and Naples in 2011. The Automotrice à Grande Vitesse, or AGV for short, showed its long, silver-and-black nose to the public for the first time on Tuesday. With French President Nicolas Sarkozy in attendance, Alstom unveiled its new, fourth-generation high-speed train at its headquarters in La Rochelle. The train-maker spent 10 years and €100 million ($147 million) to develop the AGV, which it compares with the Airbus's giant A380 jetliner in terms of innovation and its impact on the...

Armed Citizenry Will Not Be Oppressed Editor, Times-Dispatch: As a liberal, a member of the ACLU of Virginia, and a self-proclaimed student of the Constitution of this nation I was interested John Schuiteman's letter, "Safe Society Demands Tight Gun Regulation." The writer is correct that tightened gun regulation would probably increase public safety. However, public safety was not the concern of the drafters of the Constitution or the purpose of the Second Amendment.To exist in a society and interact with others brings two compelling and conflicting pressures to bear: safety and freedom. With more safety there is less freedom. With...

Senator Marsh's attempt to strip away the private sales of guns at gun shows was crushed in the Senate Courts of Justice committee this afternoon when SB 109 was defeated! Senator Deeds offered an amendment that would have exempted concealed handgun permit holders and would have exempted parking lots that weren't part of the leased property for the gun show. That amendment still left huge problems and none of the gun organizations supported his amendment. Senator Marsh was madder than a wet hen when he realized that his bill was dead for the year.

Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) has sent the following letter to the White House asking them to undo the huge harm they have caused the Second Amendment with the brief they filed in the DC gun ban case. ------------------------------------- January 22, 2008 President George W. Bush The White House1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington DC 20500 Dear President Bush: Your Solicitor General has just filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the D.C. v. Heller case arguing that categorical gun bans of virtually all self-defense firearms are constitutional if a court determines they are "reasonable" -- the lowest standard of constitutional...

The Ruger 10/22 semi-automatic rifle has been with us for over forty years now, and Ruger has sold over five million of the handy little carbines. Chambered for the most popular cartridge in the world; the .22 Long Rifle, the 10/22 is one of those guns that everyone should own,...... Now, after all this time and millions of rifles later, Ruger has taken the 10/22 and made it into a pistol! When I first heard of this back in mid November of this year, my first thought was "Why?", but upon opening the box at the hardware store, my next...

Pressure on the Department of the Interior (DOI) to change the rules in National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges to allow law-abiding gun owners to carry guns for self-defense has just increased dramatically! **Forty-seven** Senators have co-signed a letter from Senator Mike Crapo to Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Department of the Interior (DOI) asking DOI to allow state law to determine if guns can be carried in National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges in that state! The letter (and a link to the PDF version of the letter) is below. Virginia Senator Jim Webb signed the letter. Senator John...

Legal Challenge to Immigration Law Enforcement Dismissed!Rule of Law Prevails in VirginiaA federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Friday that challenged a suburban Washington county's (Virginia) recent effort to clamp down on illegal immigrants, one of the toughest such crackdowns in the country.U.S. District Judge James Cacheris said the plaintiffs (pro-illegal alien invasion supporters) lacked legal standing to challenge measures passed earlier this year by the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.One of the resolutions requires police to check the immigration status of people they detain if they have reason to suspect the person is an illegal immigrant. A second resolution...

ARLINGTON -- Texas Rep. Ron Paul easily won a presidential poll at a Republican Party of Virginia conference here yesterday. Paul polled 182 out of about 500 votes cast. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson finished second with 112 votes, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee finished third with 51 votes. The straw poll was held at the 24th annual Republican Advance, generally attended by activists and grass-roots workers, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel in the Washington suburbs.

The Supreme Court's decision to hear District of Columbia v. Heller (formerly known as the Parker case), provides a welcome opportunity to air out a subject that has grown musty from malign neglect. The case asks whether the District's ban on owning handguns, and its requirement that long guns be disassembled or stored with trigger locks, violates the Second Amendment. Any reasonable reading must conclude yes. (For the record, the Second Amendment reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.")...

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- A judge has ordered a man to lay an unusual family heirloom to rest: a mummified baby has been passed down for generations. Authorities seized the mummy last year when the man's niece mentioned it to staff at a day care center. State tests showed the baby had died of natural causes, but they didn't establish a family relationship. Now, the state won't release the remains to the Charles Peavey family without proof of kinship, and Peavey says he can't afford DNA testing. Prosecutors raised concerns about the family's treatment of the mummy if it was...

Dear HSLDA Members and Friends, We have a date for our CAP training and preparation day! It will beMonday, December 10, starting at 10 a.m. Lunch will be served aroundnoon, and then we will wrap up by 3:30. We will meet at Patrick Henry College's Town Hall in Purcellville,Virginia. Our goals for the day include having current CAP members share some oftheir lobbying experiences and tips for what worked (and what didnot), and having speakers address some of the issues we will discusswith congressional legislators and staffers.  We will also prepare youfor our second CAP on the Hill lobbying day...

Just in time for next Thursday's "Bloomberg Gun GiveAway," here is aletter from Attorney General Bob McDonnell to New York City MayorMichael Bloomber, telling the Mayor not to run any more unauthorizedstings in Virginia: http://www.vcdl.org/pdf/AG_McDonnell_letter_to_Bloomberg.pdf COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIAApril 13, 2007Office of the Attorney GeneralThe Honorable Michael BloombergMayor, City of New YorkMunicipal Building, One Centre StreetTenth Floor NorthNew York, NY 10007 Robert F. McDonnellAttorney General900 East Main StreetRichmond, Virginia 23219804-786-2071FAX 804-786-1991Virginia Relay Services800-828-11207-1-1 RE: Unauthorized Undercover Firearm Transactions in the Commonwealthof Virginia Dear Mayor Bloomberg: I write you regarding Chapter 509 of the 2007 Virginia Acts ofAssembly, introduced at my request,...