Free Republic

The Obama administration is raising the stakes in a fight over states' rights and firearm ownership by arguing that new pro-gun laws in Montana and Tennessee are invalid. In the last few months, a grass-roots, federalist revolt against Washington, D.C. has begun to spread through states that are home to politically active gun owners. Montana and Tennessee have enacted state laws saying that federal rules do not apply to firearms manufactured entirely within the state, and similar bills are pending in Texas, Alaska, Minnesota, and South Carolina. Yet the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Explosives now claims that...

In these hard times, Americans are trying hard to relax and take refuge in entertainment. But The Washington Post is insisting that country music fans are not really sympathetic figures. They are prone to self-congratulation and "closing ranks" behind the thought that they live in the "real America." The Post music critic going by the name Josh Freedom du Lac -- that just can't be his name -- doesn't really seem to like patriotic music, despite the patriotic byline. He worries that songs like Jason Aldean's "Hicktown" or the Zac Brown Band's "Chicken Fried" do something wrong: They are "narrowcasting...

A letter of Lt. William Wheeler, 13th New York Light Artillery, camped at Stafford Courthouse, VA to home: It is Christmas Eve, when “Peace on earth and good will toward men” is the text, and although nothing is said of good will toward women, yet I suppose that they are included, and so will pardon your long silence to-me-ward, and will do my best to spend this evening with you in thought and spirit, at least, if not in person, as in very happy years in the past.Nothing among us here indicates the time. The country is too poor to...

SAG Strike Could Spell Disaster for TV (Cable Networks DeathWatch™) Nov 25, 2008 -By Nellie Andreeva, THR.com LOS ANGELES Already engaged in deep soul searching following a dismal fall TV season and flatlining ad market, broadcast networks are facing another blow: a potential Screen Actors Guild strike early next year. SAG's decision during the weekend to seek a strike authorization from its membership following the breakdown of its negotiations with the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers has shifted the once-remote possibility of a SAG walkout much closer to reality. While its effect would not be as far-reaching as...

RUSH: Here's Sandy in Chicago. Sandy, glad you waited. You're next on the Excellence in Broadcasting Network. CALLER: Hello, Rush. Thank you for taking my call. RUSH: You bet. CALLER: If you think your head is exploding, Rush, how do you think we feel out here? Last night I thought that McCain had outmaneuvered Obama totally on this, and then when the Democrats started putting out their talking points that McCain is causing nothing but problems, and then, of course, the mainstream media runs with that. I mean they're just going to run with their talking points on this. And...

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright has taken Barack Obama's critically acclaimed race speech in Philadelphia, ripped it to bits and tossed it in the air to serve as confetti for his parade through the media... Then cometh the good reverend to step all over the out-of-context defense in a speech at the National Press Club. He defended his "chickens come home to roost" statement about 9/11 in exactly the same terms as in his original sermon: "You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back on you." He stood by his damnation of America and his...

NORTH HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- A former Norwin homecoming queen accused of attacking her sister with a prosthetic leg and threatening to burn down a neighbor's trailer was ordered on Wednesday to go to rehab. Donna Sturkie-Anthony showed up for her preliminary hearing before District Judge Douglas Weimer, but the 41-year-old woman's hearing was continued so she can go to Greenbriar Treatment Center. Police said Sturkie-Anthony's sister came to visit her at Lincoln Mobile Home Park on Route 30 in January, and the two started arguing about her alcohol abuse. Then, police said Sturkie-Anthony pulled off her sister's prosthetic leg and...

Pro-immigrant groups across the country are preparing to stage a series of marches May 1, pressing the White House and the Homeland Security Department to halt immigration raids and move forward on comprehensive immigration reform. “Change is in the air,” Juan Jose Gutierrez, director of the Los Angeles-based Latino Movement USA, promises. This year marks the third grass-roots-organized May Day event with two unique factors: — The marches are being guided by a national coordinating committee — The First Parliament of Mexican Migrant Leaders Living in the U.S.A. — This is the first time that the marches will be held...

This was going to be the CW's breakthrough year. The little TV network was full of promise five months ago on the eve of its second season. Advertisers and even curmudgeonly TV critics were gushing over its new fall shows. Buzz on the Internet was wild in anticipation of the much-hyped "Gossip Girl," a soapy drama about pampered prep school students in Manhattan. But instead of catching fire, the CW's new crop of shows flickered in the ratings. Then came the strike by Hollywood writers, which halted the production of programs including CW's "Smallville" and "Supernatural." "The strike is a...

Kid Rock performs some of his most popular songs for the gathered troops during the 2007 USO Christmas show, Dec. 19, at Camp Ramadi. Photo by Spc. Ricardo Branch, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs. CAMP RAMADI — The United Service Organization brought its Holiday Troop Visit Tour to the service members and civilians here with a special show at the Morale Welfare and Recreation (MWR) center, Dec. 19. Adm. Michael G. Mullen, the 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, opened the show to an excited crowd of more than 600 attendees.“You all do a...

KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Dec. 23, 2007 – Military men and women in eastern Kunar province were surprised Dec. 21 by a visit from the Army’s top enlisted soldier and several celebrities at the remote Camp Blessing, Afghanistan. Country music singer Darryl Worley (center) sings for military men and women Dec. 21, 2007, at the Camp Blessing dining facility in Kunar province, Afghanistan, accompanied by band mates Scott Randon (left), and Jeff Jared. Worley was a part of the sixth annual Hope and Freedom USO Tour, hosted by the sergeant major of Army. Worley, four Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, fellow country...

With the Dec. 3 publication of a completely unexpected declassified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), "Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities," a consensus has emerged that war with Iran "now appears to be off the agenda." Indeed, Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claimed the report dealt a "fatal blow" to the country's enemies, while his foreign ministry spokesman called it a "great victory." I disagree with that consensus, believing that military action against Iran is now more likely than before the NIE came out. The NIE's main point, contained in its first line, famously holds: "We judge with high confidence that in fall...

3/20/2007 - AUSTIN, Texas (AFNEWS) -- The air crackles with anticipation, as he makes his first move. G,C,C,G,C,C,D,G. The letters are the opening chords of country music artist Charlie Robison's song, "My Hometown," one of the songs he will perform during an Armed Forces Entertainment tour March 18 to 27 to Kuwait and Iraq. He feels the song is perfect for the audience he will be seeing overseas since they all have many different hometowns of their own. Fellow country star Kevin Fowler will also perform during the tour. Mr. Robison first gained an appreciation of the military by watching...

Morse code is in need of some serious SOS. The language of dots and dashes, first used during the infancy of electronic communication in the mid-1800s, is going the way of Latin. Beginning today, amateur or "ham" radio operators in the United States won't be tested in Morse code – also known as Continuous Wave – in order to be licensed by the federal government. In an effort to advance the hobby, the Federal Communications Commission in December agreed to eliminate the five-words-per-minute Morse code requirement for people seeking their upper-level class licenses.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: December 15, 2006 Chelsea Fallon: (202) 418-7991 FCC MODIFIES AMATEUR RADIO SERVICE RULES, ELIMINATING MORSE CODE EXAM REQUIREMENTS AND ADDRESSING ARRL PETITION FOR RECONSIDERATION Washington, D.C. – Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration (Order) that modifies the rules for the Amateur Radio Service by revising the examination requirements for obtaining a General Class or Amateur Extra Class amateur radio operator license and revising the operating privileges for Technician Class licensees. In addition, the Order resolves a petition filed by the American Radio Relay League, Inc....

RUSH: We will start with the Iraq surrender group, big press conference today chaired by Lee Hamilton and James Baker. I think one of the best ways to share with you my thoughts on this is to read to you an e-mail I got from an Air Force friend of mine, a veteran in Iraq watching this this morning. "Hey, Rush, I'm climbing out of my skin here, watching the Iraq surrender group unfold on TV, but they're missing the point. Iraq is not the problem. The hatred our enemy has for us, that's the problem. Iraq is only a...

PUEBLO, COLORADO (The following is excerpted from "Chemical Weapons Disposal and Environmental Justice" written by Suzanne Marshall PhD. and published by the Kentucky Environmental Foundation, November, 1996, with funding from the Educational Foundation of America.) The Pueblo Army Depot, which began as an ammunition storage and supply site in 1942, is located east of Pueblo, Colorado, a city with a population of 98,640--40% Latino- American--in the county of Pueblo with a population of 123,051. The communities closest to the Depot are North Avondale, Avondale and Boone, all of which have been declining as the depot has reduced employment. The two...

WASHINGTON, March 24, 2006 – Raymond Harris hopes to do something no other performer is doing. The country music singer plans to spend five years on a tour to every possible military installation to support America's troops. America Supports You member Raymond Harris (center) poses with Army Lt. Gen. Russell Honore and Army Col. Angela Manos-Sittnick at Fort Gillem, Ga., Dec. 14. A country music entertainer, Harris is in the midst of a five-year tour of military installations to support America's troops. Photo by Sherrye Ehrenberg   In the past 13 months, Harris has played to crowds at 70 military...

Last month, a briefly worded press release went nearly unnoticed. It simply read: "Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging Services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage." After 155 years, and millions of telegrams and Telex messages, a major part of American history quietly slipped into obscurity. For more than 100 years, Socorro was part of that history. With today's telephones, cell phones and e-mail, we can contact almost anyone we wish immediately and cheaply. This wasn't always the case. In Socorro's early days,...

A century-old hobby filled with dots and dashes is embroiled in a debate about its future and what level of training should be expected of those called on to help during local and national emergencies. Morse code, a slowly dying language, has become radio's equivalent of Latin: historically important, but increasingly irrelevant in a world of cell phones, computers and instant messaging. With mariners and the military having moved to other technologies long ago, ham radio operators are virtually the sole practitioners of a technique that made national and international communication possible with the telegraph.

The Maritime Radio Historical Society, in cooperation with the Marconi Conference Center, will return historic Morse code radio station KPH to the air from its original Marin county, CA location on Sunday, 26 February. KPH, once called the "wireless giant of the Pacific", arrived in Marin county in the early 1920s. With its receiving station at Marshall, CA and transmitters at Bolinas, CA, KPH provided telegram service to ships at sea via Morse code. Operation at Marshall continued until the beginning of WWII when KPH was shut down for the duration. After the war the receiving station was moved to...

Cable could benefit from merged WB and UPN while some local affiliates get left out in the cold. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – Who will be the big winner from the creation of the new CW television network? Here's a hint. It might not be CW or even the other major TV networks. Media buyers said cable could wind up gaining more viewers once the CW, created from the merger of CBS (Research)-owned UPN and Time Warner (Research)-owned WB, begins broadcasting in the fall of this year. (Time Warner also owns CNNMoney.com) Sure, the WB and UPN will have the luxury...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Two small, struggling television networks, UPN and WB, will merge to form a new network called The CW, executives from them companies that own them said Tuesday. The announcement was made by executives from CBS Corp., which owns UPN, and Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc., which owns WB. Both UPN and WB had struggled to compete against larger rivals in the broadcast TV business, including Walt Disney Co.'s ABC, News Corp.'s Fox and CBS Corp.'s CBS.

Survivors of Iraqi chemical attack on Iranian town, Sardasht in 1987, gave emotional testimony in the Hague, Netherlands, Thursday. The testimony was given at the trial of a Dutch businessman accused of complicity in genocide for supplying chemical materials used by Saddam Hussein in attacks on Kurds in Iraq and Iran. Frans Van Anraat, 63, is the first person to appear in court on genocide charges in connection with the poison gas attacks on Sardasht, Iran, and the Kurdish town of Halabja in northern Iraq in March 1988. The massacre, which killed more than 5,000 people in a single day,...

Unheard by most of us is a constant conversation over the airwaves in the di-da tones of Morse code, the crackling of static and staccato voices keying in and out: Ham radio operators who broadcast from garrets and garages, tents and trucks, homes and businesses. Saturday's Radio Fest 2005 offered a glimpse into this world at Fort Ord's Stilwell Community Center, sponsored by the Naval Postgraduate School Amateur Radio Club, the Monterey Bay subsection of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Amateur Radio Relay League. Radio Fest looked like nothing so much as an electronics garage sale,...

Randy Gehman, N3LJE, of Waminster ARC talks with members of the Morse Family. One of the greatest things about Amateur Radio is that you just never know who you will run into. Such was the case for Warminster Amateur Radio Club at the special event station the club set up at the Middletown Grange Fair in Wrightstown in Bucks County Pennsylvania. For decades the club has had an Amateur Radio station on display every year at the Grange Fair where they provide information about ham radio to the public. The club accepts messages from fairgoers and passes the messages...

Background Briefing Friday, November 14, 1997 Subject: Iraq's Chemical & Biological Weapons Capability Senior Defense Officials ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mr. Bacon: Many of you have asked questions about the chemical and biological weapons capability of Iraq, so we' gotten a senior military official and several of his civilian assistants to come down and answer your questions. The senior military official will begin with a brief opening statement, and then he and the senior civilian officials will respond to your questions for the next 20 minutes or so. Briefer: You did a great job of delivering my opening statement! I am, of course,...

Yahoo! News   Sat, Feb 07, 2004 Search for Senate Ricin Source Widens Fri Feb 6, 3:29 PM ET By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Searches of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's offices in Tennessee have uncovered no ricin or other evidence that might explain how the poison wound up in his Capitol Hill mailroom, officials said Friday. The senator's six offices in Tennessee reopened Thursday after being closed for two days while the FBI (news - web sites) and other investigators checked the mail and searched for other evidence. Nothing was found, said a federal law enforcement...

SYRIA COMPLETES CW WARHEADS Syria has completed chemical warheads for its arsenal of Scud-based missiles. U.S. officials said Syria, with help from North Korea, has succeeded in designing and installing CW warheads for the Scud B, Scud C and Scud D missiles. This provides Syria with warheads that can reach distances from 250 to nearly 700 kilometers. The chemical agent deployed in the CW warheads is sarin, regarded as the most toxic of material. Syria has also been developing more toxic agents such as VX. "Since the 1970s, Syria has pursued what is now one of the most advanced Arab...

Here I am in my palatial office above my garage, outlining a speech for a gathering of Civil War Battlefield Preservation Trust contributors, of whom I am one. First, I'll tell a few jokes, and then I'll talk about how I read a lot about the CW. I'll talk about how I grew up in Maryland a stone's throw from the house where Jubal Early made his headquarters during his 1864 raid on Washington, D.C., and how the old house behind me still had slave quarters rotting away when I was a lad. I'll talk about how my wife's family,...

Chemical weapons depot has a security crack 03/17/03 Karen Zacharias HERMISTON -- Post 9/11 security is so tight at the Umatilla Chemical Depot that even pizza deliveries go no farther than the front gate. Yet that level of concern doesn't appear to apply to the union employees who tend the furnaces where 3,717 tons of deadly sarin, VX and blister agent will be baked at this chemical weapons depot in Northeastern Oregon. Depot Commander Lt. Col. Fred Pellissier recently told the Citizens Advisory Commission here that background checks on union employees isn't the Army's job. "We rely on the unions...