Free Republic

Civil Rights: The Justice Department explains that it dropped a Black Panther voter-intimidation case because of lack of evidence. Pay no attention to the thugs outside the polling place. Yet another reason Eric Holder must go. On Election Day 2008, New Black Panther Party members King Samir Shabazz, Malik Zulu Sha-bazz and Jerry Jackson were charged in a civil complaint with civil violations by "allegedly" violating the Voting Rights Act through intimidation, threats and coercion as they stood outside a Philadelphia polling place. It was what Bartle Bull, a former civil rights lawyer and publisher of the left-wing Village Voice,...

Something is wrong with a Justice Department that treats its own attorneys worse than it treats civil-rights violators those attorneys would prosecute. On Friday, after evasive testimony by Justice official Thomas E. Perez to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, department attorney J. Christian Adams resigned in obvious disgust at the deep-sixing of a voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party. Mr. Adams and Justice's former voting rights section chief, Christopher Coates, are the two attorneys most responsible for pursuing the case against the Black Panthers videotaped in menacing poses outside a Philadelphia polling place on...

At the U.S. Civil Rights Com- mission's upcoming hear- ing on May 14, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez will attempt to explain why the Obama administration dropped federal voter intimidation charges against two New Black Panthers. Clad in paramilitary uniforms and armed with a nightstick, the Panthers had spent several hours on Election Day 2008 stalking the entrance of a voting place in Philadelphia - hurling racial epithets at whites and blacks alike, taunting poll watchers, and intimidating voters who sought to cast their votes for president as well as other candidates on the ballot. These voting rights violations were...

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international treaty commonly referred to as CRC, is one of the greatest threats to parental rights our country has ever witnessed. Fasten your seatbelts for the fight for ratification. The CRC’s devastating impact on American children and their families can be seen easily in the text of the treaty and its application in both foreign states and in recent U.S. court decisions. Do not be misled by the arguments of American legislators, legal scholars and transnationalists who say U.S. ratification of the CRC would prove our commitment to the protection of...

In the matter of a voter-intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party, it's long past time for Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary committees to start protecting the institutional powers of Congress and of independent agencies. Eleven months ago, the Justice Department suddenly and surprisingly dropped its case against three defendants and accepted a weak injunction against a fourth, stemming from the incident in Philadelphia on Election Day 2008 in which Black Panthers disrupted a neighborhood polling place. Since then, the Justice Department has stonewalled multiple requests for information from news organizations, a number of congressmen and the...

WASHINGTON, March 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United States Commission on Civil Rights announces that it will hold a public hearing on this investigation on April 23, 2010. This meeting is open to the public and the media. DATE AND TIME: Friday, April 23, 2010; 9:30 a.m. ET PLACE: 624 9th St., N.W. Room 540 Washington, DC 20425 The Commission will hold a hearing regarding an incident on Election Day 2008 at a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania polling place involving members of the New Black Panther Party. The hearing will collect facts related to civil charges brought by the Department of Justice and...

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), a seemingly harmless treaty with dangerous implications for American families, is approaching possible ratification by the United States. if this treaty is made binding upon our country, the government would have the power to intervene in any child's life to advance its definition of "the best interests of the child." The scenarios that could occur—and are occurring—as a result of this dangerous notion are both manifold and frightening. Under the UNCRC, instead of following due process, government agencies would have the power to override your parental choices at their whim...

The Obama administration is renewing efforts to sign a United Nations treaty supposedly aimed at protecting children’s rights. Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the UN announced on Monday that the administration is investigating “when and how it might be possible to join” the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). While a treaty codifying children’s rights may sound harmless, the true nature of this treaty is devastating to our family structure, Constitution, national sovereignty and security. New rights granted the child would include the right to “thought, conscience and religion.” Do our children not already enjoy these rights?...

Political activists who masquerade as non-partisan community organizers have joined with organized labor to pressure elected officials into supporting left wing causes, according to a top analyst with the Capital Research Center (CRC). Matthew Vadum, a senior editor and analyst with CRC has determined that the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) is best described as a “multi-headed hydra” with over 400,000 member families positioned in 110 cities fiercely opposed to the capitalist system.

This afternoon at 3:00 (EDT), Representative Pete Hoekstra (MI) and Senator Jim DeMint (SC) will hold a joint press conference at Upper Senate Park, next to the Russell Office Building in Washington, D.C., to announce the introduction of the Parental Rights Amendment in both houses of Congress. Perhaps you will be able to catch a glimpse of it this evening on the national news! Introducing the Amendment, of course, is only the beginning – and now the clock is ticking. Today’s announcement will no doubt get the attention of opponents to the Amendment, and we will have to stay ahead...

May 30, 2007, Grand Rapids, Mich. - As Christian Reformed Church synod agendas go, the 2007 version is a hefty one. At nearly 500 pages, it ranks as one of the lengthier agendas in this decade. There are some tough issues, issues that could generate heated discussion. But when 188 delegates, together with ethnic advisers, female advisers and seminary faculty advisers, convene on June 9 in Grand Rapids, Mich., there will also be a theme of celebration, since this year marks the 150th anniversary of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC). Women at Synod Synod 2007 will have to deal with...

It's like a Washington sequel to "Reservoir Dogs." Finally rested up from their cynical assault last year on John Kerry's patriotism, the most ruthless smear squad in American politics is back together again. And they're revving up for another nasty job. Their latest ugly enterprise? Sliming the AARP, which had the nerve to come out against President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security. This is the same gang of rhetorical hatchet men behind the deceptively named Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. During last year's presidential campaign, they were telling vicious lies about Kerry's combat record in Vietnam. Now, they're turning...

Blogger Breakfast with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Creative Responsive Concepts, the PR firm behind the SwiftVets campaign against John Kerry, hosted a "Bloggers Breakfast" this morning at the J.W. Marriott across the street from the Reagan Building where CPAC is being held. The event has MC'd by Greg Mueller from CRC and the featured speakers were John O'Neill and Bill Franke of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Greg Mueller John O'Neill did most of the talking with occassional comments from Bill Franke and Mueller. O'Neill got off on a strong note with the bloggers in the room by expressing...

Supporters of President Bush's judicial nominees have hired the same media firm used by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth for their efforts to defend the next nominee for any upcoming Supreme Court vacancy.     The aggressive media style of Creative Response Concepts (CRC) will be met by a "war room" already set up by the liberal People For the American Way (PFAW) on the other side, indicating that the next Supreme Court fight is likely to be one of the nastiest in history.     "There is nothing more important -- if and when it happens -- than a Supreme Court...

WASHINGTON: Two DC PR agencies eagerly fanned the flames of election-year scandal last week - one for the left and one for the right. Creative Response Concepts (CRC), the VA-based agency promoting the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, used right-wing blogs and news sites to turn a CBS report casting doubt on President George W. Bush's National Guard service into a potential black eye for both the network and the Democrats. A CRC client, the Cybercast News Service (CNS), was among the first to voice suspicion that documents suggesting Bush had received preferential treatment in the Guard were forgeries. "After...

Two DC firms ramp up efforts over latest presidential controversies Written by Douglas Quenqua Published on September 17 2004 WASHINGTON: Two DC PR agencies eagerly fanned the flames of election-year scandal last week - one for the left and one for the right. Creative Response Concepts (CRC), the VA-based agency promoting the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, used right-wing blogs and news sites to turn a CBS report casting doubt on President George W. Bush's National Guard service into a potential black eye for both the network and the Democrats. A CRC client, the Cybercast News Service (CNS), was among...

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches has condemned capitalism and elected Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA), as its new president. Meeting in Accra, Ghana, the alliance's General Council elected Kirkpatrick to a seven-year term. Ten U.S. denominations are members of the council, and most are generally regarded as conservative or moderate, with the PCUSA being the most liberal of the 10. But the majority of the delegates worldwide have reflected a liberal and anti-American bias. *** With Kirkpatrick's leverage, the PCUSA gives millions of dollars a year to the WCC, the NCC and the alliance –...

WASHINGTON—A Montreal man has emerged as the key figure in a controversy that has dogged Democratic presidential aspirant Wesley Clark during the summer months. Questions have swirled since June when the former NATO commander alleged on national television that he was pressured to link the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in a mystery phone call he received. Clark first implied the call, not long after the attacks, might have come from White House, then later said it came from a Middle Eastern think tank in Canada. He has never identified the caller. As Clark kicked...

Although the U.S. appeared to back down on such issues as abortion and homosexual rights, Janice Shaw Crouse of Concerned Women for America says she is "thrilled" with the document issued at the conclusion of the United Nations Special Session on Children. At the urging of the U.S., the phrase "reproductive health services," which conservatives consider a euphemism for abortion, was eliminated from the U.N. document. However, the report also recognizes the significance of previous U.N. documents and conferences where "reproductive health services" were endorsed. "The Bush administration does not support those other documents," said Crouse, in explaining why the...