Free Republic

Everyone knows this, but it's worth repeating: The Republican Party is the party of Abraham Lincoln and was established in 1854 to block the expansion of slavery. The Democratic Party was the party of slavery: Its two founders, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, owned large numbers of slaves, and every party platform before the Civil War defended the institution unequivocally. After the war, it was the Republican Party that rammed through the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution over Democratic opposition. Republicans also enacted a series of civil-rights laws that culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1875,...

Southerners have never been known for tolerance or progressive diversity measures. Some of the country’s most pivotal historical moments and controversial court decisions concern local authorities violating civil rights. If you just rolled your eyes thinking, “What did the Texans do now?” I’m sorry to disappoint you. The setting for this particular incident is thousands of miles to the east, in the south of Italy, where Sicilian authorities forced a man to retake a driving test or have his license suspended because he is gay. The man’s license was renewed for a year, rather than the standard 10 years, because...

Jesse Jackson’s term as a the unofficial leader of the black civil rights movement ended abruptly with the release of excerpts from the Fox News’ tape of Jesse Jackson’s off-camera statements. Americans of all races have lost confidence in him. His own son, Jesse Jackson Jr, led the way in renouncing him as the reigning monarch of black political leadership. As many folks have suspected for years, Jesse Jackson revealed to everyone that he has an opportunistic side. His motives seem to be mixed and confusing. It’s safe to say that he, like many others, jumped on the Obama bandwagon...

The GITMO Road Show by: Brooke Rieder, July 10, 2008 Just past Bhutan and Texas, and a stone’s throw away from NASA, stood Guantanamo Bay, ablaze in vibrant orange. On the outskirts of the Smithsonian Folk-life Festival recently, alive with bluegrass music and monastic dancers, members of Amnesty International quietly presented a more somber message. With a 7x8 ft brightly colored replica of a Guantanamo Bay prison cell, the exhibit announced “Welcome to Guantanamo: a global symbol of torture, presumed guilt, unfair trials, and no legal rights—courtesy of the U.S. government.” Life-sized orange cutout figures lined the fence around the...

Anti-Civil Liberties Union by: Malcolm A. Kline, July 09, 2008 The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has sold many college students on the notion that the group defends the downtrodden against the powerful. In reality, the ACLU bears a closer resemblance to the insulated plutocrats it inveighs against than it does to any underdog that you can think of. “The ACLU forced a Catholic charity to pay for an employee’s abortion and an Orthodox Jewish charity to provide housing for an avowedly lesbian employee and her lover,” Steve Aden of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) said at a seminar on...

Walt Disney World fired a security guard on Monday after he protested the company's decision not to allow people with concealed weapons permits to keep guns in their cars on Disney property. Disney terminated Edwin Sotomayor, 36, of Orlando for violating three Disney employee policies, essentially for failing to cooperate with an internal investigation, said spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez. Sotomayor vowed to continue his fight. At issue is Florida's new law that allows people with concealed weapons permits to keep firearms in their vehicles in employee parking lots. Disney advised its employees late last month that the theme-park resort is exempt...

On April 4, 2008, mourners gathered at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York to memorialize William F. Buckley, Jr., who had died five weeks earlier. That same Friday, mourners one thousand miles away gathered at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis to memorialize Martin Luther King, Jr., who had been murdered there exactly 40 years before. The coincidence resonates. Drawing on exceptional rhetorical talents without ever being elected to public office, each man transformed the terrain where mere politicians clash. Buckley and King, born less than four years apart, both attained national prominence while still in their 20s. Buckley founded National...

Abraham Lincoln would be amazed by this race but not for the reason you might think. In an under-remarked historic irony, the political party that long defended slavery and racial segregation has become the first to nominate an African-American for president. And the GOP, the Party of Lincoln, which fought for union and advanced civil rights from Reconstruction to Little Rock, has been left with a troubling lack of diversity on its political bench. The legacy of Lincoln and the Civil War formed the basic fault lines of American politics. From 1860 to 1960, the current "red" and "blue" states...

Are You A Fascist? Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 9 June 2008:A Canadian human rights tribunal ordered a Christian pastor to renounce his faith and never again express moral opposition to homosexuality, according to a new report. In a decision dated May 30 in the penalty phase of the quasi-judicial proceedings run by the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal, evangelical pastor Stephen Boisson was banned from expressing his biblical perspective of homosexuality and ordered to pay $5,000 for "damages for pain and suffering" as well as apologize to the activist who complained of being hurt. ... [T]he penalty could foreshadow the possible fate...

ELDORADO, Texas -- Hours after signing an order releasing FLDS children from state custody, 51st District Judge Barbara Walther arrived at the Schleicher County Courthouse in Eldorado to swear in a grand jury that may be considering indictments related to the polygamous sect. By the end of the day, 18 indictments had been issued, although no details were immediately available. The number was more than the usual; it is more typical for five to 15 indictments to be returned, a court clerk said. Walther arrived at at the Eldorado courthouse at 12:30 p.m., accompanied by two bailiffs and her court...

Come November, voters will decide on more than half a million federal, state and local officeholders and ballot initiatives. Ninety-nine percent of these decisions will matter less than will the five civil rights initiatives that might be on the ballots in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri. If the initiatives qualify for those states' ballots, all probably will pass. But the initiatives must surmount ferocious opposition from defenders of racial preferences, such as the politicians who administer and benefit from Missouri's racial spoils system. The crux of the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative (MoCRI) would amend that state's constitution to say:...

Don't be an angry mob. Lets learn to follow the law. That is what keeps us a functioning society. We are all angry about this issue but for different reasons. No person would ever say they are for child abuse, but no sane person would ever say we should throw the law away to protect children either. There is a middle ground and the law is already written that is sufficient as long as the actual law is complied with

WEAPONS OF CHOICE 30 months in jail for broken gun Judge hands down penalty for misfire from 20-year-old rifle A federal judge has ordered a 30-month prison sentence for a man whose rifle misfired, letting loose three shots at a firing range, prompting 2nd Amendment supporters to warn their constituents how easily they, too, can become a "gun felon." "It didn't matter the rifle in question had not been intentionally modified for select fire, or that it did not have an M16 bolt carrier or sear, that it did not show any signs of machining or drilling, or that that...

NORTHAMPTON - After several years of de-emphasizing SAT scores, Smith College has decided to drop them as a requirement for admission. Beginning in the fall of 2009, Smith will make the submission of SAT results optional in the application process, joining colleges such as Mount Holyoke, Hampshire, Bowdoin and Bates in looking at other aspects of prospective students. The policy change, which was recently approved by Smith President Carol T. Christ, is part of an effort to take a "holistic" approach to assessing applicants, according to Audrey Y. Smith, the college's dean of enrollment. "What we're assessing is their readiness...

Billary gave an impassioned speech in Boca Raton Florida in attempts to gain delegates in both Florida and Michigan. In her speech she states that her campaign’s struggle to succeed at this task is similar to the ending slavery. Clinton goes on to say: that it is also similar to “fighting racial discrimination at the ballot box” she stated. “This work to extend the franchise to all of our citizens is a core mission of the modern Democratic Party” Clinton adds. Let’s rewind to 2000 when Condoleezza Rice spoke at the Republican National Convention shall we? Rice recalls: “The first...

Billary gave an impassioned speech in Boca Raton Florida in attempts to gain delegates in both Florida and Michigan. In her speech she states that her campaign’s struggle to succeed at this task is similar to the ending slavery. Clinton goes on to say: that it is also similar to “fighting racial discrimination at the ballot box” she stated. “This work to extend the franchise to all of our citizens is a core mission of the modern Democratic Party” Clinton adds. Let’s rewind to 2000 when Condoleezza Rice spoke at the Republican National Convention shall we? Rice recalls: “The first...

Why is it that Republicans are so easily outmaneuvered by Democrats? Why do Republicans so readily fight among themselves? Why is it so difficult for Republicans to advance their policy agenda? Here's why. Having forgotten our roots, modern Republicans can be thrown on the defensive on nearly any issue. Democrats control most of the media, but they also write most of the history books, thereby controlling what even Republican activists think they know about our Grand Old Party. What we must do is to draw upon the strength and clarity to be found in the GOP's heritage of civil rights...

Six translations of Qur'an 4:34: "Men are superior to women on account of the qualities with which God has gifted the one above the other, and on account of the outlay they make from their substance for them. Virtuous women are obedient, careful, during the husband's absence, because God has of them been careful. But chide those for whose refractoriness you have cause to fear; remove them into beds apart, and scourge them: but if they are obedient to you, then seek not occasion against them: verily, God is High, Great!" (Rodwell's version of the Koran, Quran, 4:34) "Men have...

City: Sacramento, CA Two closely-watched cases involving the conscientious rights of doctors and pharmacists have been scheduled for argument within the next few weeks. Pacific Justice Institute filed an amicus brief last week with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Stormans, Inc. v. Selecky, where pharmacists are seeking protection from a Washington law requiring them to dispense the "Plan B" abortifacient drug. A lower federal court ruled in favor of the pharmacists, allowing them to refer patients to other pharmacists who do not have moral objections to selling the drugs. The court cited a lack of...

Orange Countification: Part 1 Excerpt from One Night, Two Teams: Alabama vs. USC and the Game That Changed a NationBy Steven Travers Bill, I've just handed the South to the Republicans for fifty years. – President Lyndon Johnson talking with aide Bill Moyers right after the Voting Rights Act In 1964, the Democratic Party dominated U.S. politics. Lyndon Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater with 64 percent of the vote. He had enormous filibuster-proof majorities in the House and Senate. The imprimatur of John Kennedy’s legacy hung solidly on LBJ. A majority of America’s governors and state legislatures were Democrat. The Civil...

On this day in 1963, police in Birmingham, Alabama -- under the command of the Democrat sheriff, Eugene "Bull" Connor -- attacked several thousand African-American schoolchildren who were demonstrating peacefully for their civil rights. At the time, it should be noted, Connor was the Democratic National Committeeman for Alabama. Connor's men used dogs and clubs... [see http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com for more] Republicans would benefit tremendously from appreciating the heritage of our Grand Old Party. See www.republicanbasics.com for more information.

Martin would have been repelled by Mr. Lee's remarks. I was his lawyer and one of his closest advisers, and I can say with absolute certainty that Martin abhorred anti-Semitism in all its forms, including anti-Zionism. "There isn't anyone in this country more likely to understand our struggle than Jews," Martin told me. "Whatever progress we've made so far as a people, their support has been essential." Martin was disheartened that so many blacks could be swayed by Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam and other black separatists, rejecting his message of nonviolence, and grumbling about "Jew landlords" and "Jew interlopers"...

Liberals are right about the "Right-wing Noise Machine." It really is a wonder to behold, and last week it was performing like a well-tuned NASCAR race car. They say that liberals are all prepared for the inevitable "swift-boating" of Barack Obama. Look behind you, liberals. It already happened and, like last time, it was an own-goal scored by liberals. This time it's Bill Moyers' fault. Why, oh why, Bill, did you decide that you had to put Reverend Wright up Bill Moyers Journal on April 25, 2008 so that we could all hear his side of the story? You must...

For decades after the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan was the terrorist wing of the Democratic Party. Klansmen murdered hundreds of Republican activists and office-holders, including U.S. Representative James Hinds (R-Arkansas). On this day in 1871, the Republican-controlled 42nd Congress passed and the Republican President, Ulysses Grant, signed into law the Ku Klux Klan Act. The law banned the KKK and other Democrat terrorist organizations. President Grant then... continued at http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com. Each day, Grand Old Partisan -- http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com -- highlights 154 years of Republican heroes and heroics (and, occasionally, Democrat villainy).

Everything Obama says in his Selma speech is untrue. Here is newly obtained Video and Audio detailing Barack Obama lies as he attempts to associate himself with the American Civil Rights Struggle during speech at the event commemorating the Selma marches

Here's the first segment of video from the Baby Napalm incident. I'm reposting the description from this thread where I posted links to the transcript. In Rockford, Illinois, an abortion clinic known as the Northern Illinois Women's Center performs abortions twice a week. On March 29, the clinic was open for business. Two dedicated pro-life activists were there for sidewalk counseling and prayer. A neighborhood resident, Keith, arrived to accost them, making illegal physical contact with one of the men in the first moments of his criminal freakout, issuing forth a stream of vile racial and sexual epithets, threatening the...

A judge on Thursday dropped nearly half the charges against "private eye to the stars" Anthony Pellicano and a co-defendant at the request of prosecutors, who were preparing to rest their case in the wiretapping and bribery trial. The 28 counts against Pellicano and ex-Los Angeles police sergeant Mark Arneson were dismissed by U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer after federal prosecutors said that witnesses required to prove them could not be brought to court. Both men still face 35 counts in the case, which centers on accusations that Pellicano wiretapped telephones and bribed police and telephone company officials to run...

In Rockford, Illinois, an abortion clinic known as the Northern Illinois Women's Center performs abortions twice a week. On March 29, the clinic was open for business. Two dedicated pro-life activists were there for sidewalk counseling and prayer. A neighborhood resident, Keith, arrived to accost them, making illegal physical contact with one of the men in the first moments of his criminal freakout, issuing forth a stream of vile racial and sexual epithets, threatening the men with his dog, and even voicing his approval for what he himself calls child killing. After a seven minute spree of misdemeanors and behavior...

There was a big problem with Barack’s mea culpa speech in Philadelphia, defending his racist pastor, Jeremiah White. He failed to mention that over 300,000 white Americans gave their lives to end slavery. He didn’t mention that in 1854, abolitionists left the Democratic Party and founded the Republican Party specifically for the purpose of ending slavery and giving equal rights to all those who had been in bondage. And when he does mention the 3/5ths clause in the Constitution, he totally got it wrong, the way most Americans do. News flash...it was the abolitionists who insisted on it so that...

I received this bit of history by e-mail. Dr. King, from a speech given on April 4, 1967, in New York: "I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government" {snip} "The only change came from America as we increased our troop commitments in support of governments which were singularly corrupt, inept and without popular support. All the while the people read our leaflets and received regular promises of peace and...

Near the end of his life, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. felt cornered and under siege. His opposition to the Vietnam War was widely criticized, even by friends. He was being pressured both to repudiate the black power movement and to embrace it. Some of his lieutenants were urging him to jettison his urgent new campaign to uplift the poor, believing that King had taken on too much and was compromising support for the civil rights struggle.

Barring some event of staggering significance, Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee for president. Many, though, believe Obama doesn't deserve it. His refusal to walk out of the Chicago church where his former minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., made many incendiary remarks, including that AIDS was a white plot against blacks, render Obama too duplicitous and morally deficient to inhabit our highest office. Obama was straight in his speech on race about being an imperfect candidate, not possessing the moral purity his fervid supporters have wished upon him. Hillary Clinton supporters, and many of the media's bloviators, say...

The sanitation workers strike in Memphis could be seen as just any other labor-management dispute over pay, but since most of the workers were black, the racial aspect stood out. This brought Dr. Martin Luther King to Memphis in the spring of 1968 to support the strike that had begun in February. On March 28th, 1968 King marched with five thousand others in the streets of Memphis. Around 20 minutes after the march began, 200 youths began to break windows and loot stores along Beale Street. The march turned into chaos and Dr. King was taken away. One person was...

Hip Hop Revisionism by: Christine Axsmith Benedict, March 26, 2008 The Democratic Party lost its strong connection to young black professionals, asserts Keli Goff in her new book entitled Party Crashing: How The Hip Hop Generation Declared Political Independence. The visceral attachment to the Democratic Party, born of standing against fire hoses, is not present in her generation of American black. There's been "a shift in how race defines the American experience and you have to adjust the message to the audience you are trying to reach, and I don't think the Democratic Party has done that," Ms. Goff announced...

The following editorial was written a few years ago by Wayne Perryman, an inner city minister in Seattle and the author of Unfounded Loyalty. This is the man who brought a reparations lawsuit against the Democratic Party. What, you didn't hear about that in the media? Imagine that!  A Democrat By Design Or A Democrat By Deception By Rev. Wayne Perryman (African American Historian) Most people are either a Democrat by design, or a Democrat by deception. That is they either know the racist history of the Democrat Party and still chose to be Democrat, or they were deceived...

Barack, I didn’t do it for this. Barack, I was a civil rights worker… South Carolina, 1966… 22 yrs old … helping old folks register to vote, teaching kids to read and write, directing Raisin in the Sun… Barack, I didn’t do it for this. Barack, I dream of my kindergarten best friend Andy from Walden School, Manhattan, born one day after me, shot dead in Mississippi 1964. Barack, I idolized Stokley Carmichael and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Barack, I lost the full use of my left hand for life in South Carolina. Barack, I didn’t do it for...

CHICAGO (AP) - Craigslist should not be held liable for discriminatory housing ads posted on the popular Web site, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The decision by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a win for San Francisco-based Craigslist, an online network of classified ads and forums on which more than 30 million notices are posted every month, according to the ruling. It is also a triumph for Internet sites that depend on user-generated content and for foes of legal boundaries for the Web, experts said. The ruling means "the soapbox is not liable for what the...

It’s important to set difficult goals and work to reach them. But it’s also important to look back occasionally and realize how much you’ve already accomplished. When it comes to race, Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential bid gives our country -- which is famous for striving but not known for introspection -- a perfect opportunity to do just that. Critics insist the U.S. remains a racist nation. Race-baiters such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton still make nice livings insisting that racism is all around us. The United Nations, an organization that contains a number of prison states, recently decried “stark...

Cannot Post due to copyright issues: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/03/17/080317taco_talk_hertzberg

A truly sickening site is the bending and twisting God’s word and a man’s morals to fit a political agenda. Yet it happens time and time again and in the center often stands the memory of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. During the South Carolina primary, Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama did so on a national stage. The Obama camp supporters accused Hillary Clinton of diminishing King’s roll in Civil Rights. Camp Hillary supporters accused the Obama camp of trying to unjustly flare racial tensions in order to obtain a vote.

Robert Latimer, the Saskatchewan farmer who killed his disabled daughter, is to be released on day parole. The decision comes from the appeal division of the National Parole Board and is a direct reversal of the regional board’s ruling of late last year. Latimer was convicted in 1993 of killing his daughter Tracy, who suffered from cerebral palsy. Although he argued that his act was a “mercy killing,� he was convicted of murder and began his sentence in 2001. (Ed. note: Read a timeline of Latimer's case) One of the central reasons why Latimer’s parole was originally declined in December,...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Johnnie Carr, who joined childhood friend Rosa Parks in the historic Montgomery bus boycott and kept a busy schedule of civil rights activism up to her final days, has died. She was 97. In a statement, Gov. Bob Riley said Carr was a "remarkable woman and will be deeply missed." She was a true inspiration, Riley said, and "leaves behind a lasting legacy of pride, determination, and perseverance."

Troubling Times If FreeRepublic stands for America, the real Anerica where the Constitution means something, where you have the right to be let alone in peace as a law-abiding citizen, where you have a right to defend yourself and your family then I need and beg for your help. Please ping any ping lists that apply. I’m posting as a newbie – I signed up in November 2000. I probably started lurking in late 1998. Before I post I’m alerting an Admin with my one and only original handle of this upcoming post to establish my bonafides. At first I...

Sometime before Barack Obama's strong showing on Super Tuesday, the Washington Post observed that the senator had been campaigning across this great land on a "platform of hope and change." Whether or not the Post was being arch, they had it about right. Obama rarely speaks about policy specifics; "hope" and "change" are the two dominant messages he preaches on the stump. But he has two secondary themes: "straight talk" and "unity." They don't receive nearly as much attention: Perhaps because an examination of them shows Obama to be a somewhat conventional political figure. During the course of his standard...

Attorney General "appalled" disabled man was dumped from his wheelchair at the Orient Road Jail TALLAHASSEE, Fla., (970 WFLA) - Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum says he's "appalled" after watching jailhouse video showing Brian Sterner being "tossed" from his wheelchair at the Orient Road Jail. McCollum says he has launched a civil rights investigation into the incident. In a written statement, McCollum says he's been in communication with Hillsborough Sheriff David Gee, who has suspended detention deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones and three of her supervisors. McCollum's statement: "I have viewed the video of Mr. Sterner's treatment and I am appalled by...

LOS ANGELES — Citing an effort to hold down costs, health insurance giant Blue Cross wants doctors in California to report conditions it could use to cancel new patients' medical coverage, it was reported Tuesday. The state's largest for-profit health insurer is sending physicians copies of health insurance applications filled out by new patients, along with a letter advising them that the company has a right to drop members who fail to disclose "material medical history," the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site.

Civil Rights Deconstructed by: Malcolm A. Kline, February 12, 2008 We’ve come a long way from Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech in which he exhorted listeners to judge others, if they must, on content of character rather than color of skin. “Colorblind discourse asserts that any consideration of race is itself racist,” Priya Kandaswamy writes in the latest issue of Radical Teacher. “It protects racism by making it invisible, and has been instrumental in the preservation of white privilege within universities through the dismantling of affirmative action in admissions and hiring, the delegitimization of scholarship that interrogates...

What’s the difference between an illegal alien stealing an American job, and Martin Luther King Jr. fighting for American rights? Don’t know? Congratulations, you too could be on the Boston City Council! Led by Councilor at Large Sam Yoon, the council passed a resolution last week endorsing something called the “Welcoming Massachusetts Pledge.” No, it’s not an effort to promote tourism - unless the word “tourist” has replaced “undocumented worker” as the amnesty crowd’s euphemism of choice. The pledge is instead a document declaring that every illegal immigrant has the “unalienable right” to come and live in Massachusetts. As a...

Black History Month is about informing citizens of the hurdles and heroes of America’s climb toward civil rights and equality. How interesting, then, that so many race-related political myths continue to be perpetuated by Democrats who know better...