Free Republic

The scientist who cracked the 150-year-old mystery of the the sinking of the H.L. Hunley Confederate submarine has revealed the painstaking steps she took to demonstrate what killed its eight-man crew. Rachel Lance, a biomedical engineer and blast-injury specialist, describes her breakthrough in the forthcoming book In the Waves: My Quest to Solve The Mystery of A Civil War Submarine, due out April 7. The Hunley was the first combat submarine to sink an enemy warship, but as soon as it succeeded in its mission targeting the USS Housatonic in Charleston harbor in 1864, it mysteriously sank with all hands...

Some 150 years since Abraham Lincoln outlawed slavery in the U.S., a collection of rare Civil War-era photographs have been brought to life through painstaking colorization. February 1 marks National Freedom Day, honoring the signing by President Lincoln of a resolution which became the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and abolished slavery.

To the legislators of the states of New Jersey and Rhode Island, upon the approach of your votes for firearm confiscation: The firearm owners of your respective states tell me that you are busy men and women with short attention spans so I will try to make this brief, beginning with an instructive story from the history of my adopted state, Alabama. Some still tell it with pride in the hills of north Alabama. Like all the best stories, it has the advantage of being true. In 1863, eight duly sworn and appointed law officers of the state government, acting...

It seems fitting that the de facto anthem of the Confederacy during the Civil War, which some people might still be shocked to learn the North won, turned out to be "Dixie." After all, since Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox there's been no shortage of looking away, looking away at the reality of history when it comes to the Civil War. Nowhere is that full flower of denial more apparent than among the followers of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which is upset about a proposal to erect a monument to Union soldiers who died in the Battle...

FREDERICKSBURG, Va., April 10 (UPI) -- A Virginia man who found a silver ring engraved with the name a Civil War soldier said he spent seven years tracking down the owner's family. John Blue of Manassas, who has been hunting Civil War relics for 30 years, said he found the ring engraved with the name of union soldier Levi Schlegel at a Fredericksburg construction site and decided to return the $1,500 relic to Schlegel's family, WUSA-TV, Washington, reported Wednesday. "I wanted to set an example. I've never heard of an ID piece going back to an original family member," Blue...

Dear Mr. Chairman: On Thursday June 28, 2012 the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the monstrous legislation known as “Obamacare.” As I am sure you are aware, the Washington State Attorney General and a Republican candidate for Washington State Governor, Rob McKenna, has said that he opposes a repeal of any portion of the Affordable Care Act and is ready to implement it if elected Governor of Washington. This statement by a Republican candidate is both shocking and offensive. I had the honor and privilege of representing my congressional district as delegate to the 2012 WSRP Convention. As...

Four people shot in Skyway and hours later, the same “person of interest” is allegedly involved in the slaying of a Mount Rainier National Park ranger, and in the aftermath, a debate is erupting over a 2010 law that allowed private citizens to carry loaded firearms in national parks in accordance with the laws of the state in which the park is located. Congress lifted a ban on carrying loaded guns in national parks in February 2010 amid warnings by critics that the action would lead to gun violence and poaching.—Seattle Times KING 5 morning anchor Joyce Taylor also tried...

KING, N.C. – The Christian flag is everywhere in the small city of King: flying in front of barbecue joints and hair salons, stuck to the bumpers of trucks, hanging in windows and emblazoned on T-shirts. The relatively obscure emblem has become omnipresent because of one place it can't appear: flying above a war memorial in a public park. The city council decided last month to remove the flag from above the monument in Central Park after a resident complained, and after city leaders got letters from the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for the Separation of Church...

Not long ago I heard a young man ask why people still kept up Memorial Day, and it set me thinking of the answer. Not the answer that you and I should give to each other-not the expression of those feelings that, so long as you live, will make this day sacred to memories of love and grief and heroic youth--but an answer which should command the assent of those who do not share our memories, and in which we of the North and our brethren of the South could join in perfect accord.

WASHINGTON -- The White House now says it won't display a Christmas tree ornament by a Seattle artist that includes a message supporting President Bush's impeachment. Artist Deborah Lawrence says she wanted to salute Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott of Seattle, a longtime Bush foe who backs impeachment. The nine-inch ball, is covered with swirly red and white stripes and features a picture of McDermott. Tiny glued-on text salutes the impeachment resolution.

A friend came to me two weeks ago and, with great relish, displayed a hand-printed poster his young daughter had designed that urged the reader to ?Vote for America!? and listed Republican candidates who were vying for various local and regional offices. ?That?s my girl? he exclaimed, beaming with pride. Last week he returned with a much more somber look on his face. Knowing full well what was depressing him, I struggled to find a way to broach the subject. Not being worth a damn at subtlety, I said, ?So, how about those Republicans!? A defiant glare was quickly replaced...

When Rudyard Kipling said it was a great virtue "if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you," he was not thinking of Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington. This week, as gasoline prices remained above $3 a gallon, she proposed giving the president the power to tell retailers what they can charge at the pump. A lot of people grew anxious seeing long lines forming last week, as motorists rushed to fill their tanks in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. But Cantwell apparently enjoyed the sight well enough that...

King County Elections Director Dean Logan yesterday said his staff had used "flawed methodology" but hadn't attempted to falsify a report on absentee ballots cast in the contested November election. Yet even as Logan sought to control damage from revelations about the ballot report, a manager testified that Elections Superintendent Bill Huennekens knew in November that the report was inaccurate. Huennekens didn't inform his boss or the county canvassing board, which certifies election results. Garth Fell, assistant superintendent of ballot processing and delivery, said in a newly released legal deposition that Huennekens was aware of the flaws before the canvassing...

More reports of dead people receiving ballots or voters receiving multiple ballots for Valley Medical Center's all-mail election have some voters again shaking their heads in frustration. Four people reported to the Journal this week that their dead relatives were mailed ballots for the special election. They joined another man upset last week when his son who died two years ago was mailed a ballot. Already inundated by reports of election malfunctions in King County from last November's governor's race, voters are much more sensitive to any irregularities, especially when they show up in their mailboxes.

OLYMPIA - The Washington State Patrol is keeping close watch over both Gov. Christine Gregoire and her Republican rival, Dino Rossi, after Gregoire received a death threat and emotions over the contested election continue to run high. Gregoire told reporters Thursday she received a death threat and that she plans to keep a lid on publicizing her movements outside the heavily guarded Capitol and Governor's Mansion. Rossi has around-the-clock protection.

King County should consider conducting elections entirely by mail, County Councilwomen Julia Patterson and Kathy Lambert said yesterday. Patterson, D-SeaTac, and Lambert, R-Woodinville, introduced a motion that would direct County Executive Ron Sims to choose "an appropriate" election to test a vote-by-mail election.

OLYMPIA — Secretary of State Sam Reed filed court papers this week siding with Republicans on key legal issues in the lawsuit over the governor's election, saying, for example, that the dispute should stay in the courts and not move to the Legislature as Democrats want. Reed said that in court, the Republicans' effort to have Gov. Christine Gregoire removed from office and to force a new election can be decided in "a prompt, orderly, and non-partisan manner." Reed is a Republican and the state's chief election official. In the nearly three months of legal wrangling over the Nov. 2...

The new security measures at the reopened state Capitol are meant to make the building safer without being intrusive. State Treasurer Mike Murphy says they’re not doing either. Murphy has bristled at having to pass through the system of metal detectors and X-ray machines to get to his second-floor office. And he says the Capitol and his office are no safer. “It’s a joke,” Murphy said in an interview last week. He pointed out that the security system allows people to carry concealed firearms into the building, but it requires most elected officials and their staffs to pass through screening....

If you use shared or public computers, you have a new privacy risk to consider: Google Desktop Search. Announced last week and currently available in a beta version, Google Desktop Search allows you to scour your hard drive for lost or forgotten documents. But it just may be too good at what it does, according to privacy and security experts, who say it poses risks for users who don't understand its power. Once installed, Google Desktop Search scours a computer for Microsoft Office files, AOL IM chat sessions, cached Web pages, and Outlook and Outlook Express e-mail files, and creates...