Free Republic

Sheep don't mix well with grizzly bears and wolves. Now they won't mix at all on more than 70,000 acres in the Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness. A 74,000-acre sheep grazing allotment south of Big Timber in the Gallatin National Forest has been permanently closed and the ranchers who used it for generations have been paid to move their sheep elsewhere... The agreement is the eighth -- and second-largest -- in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem in recent years that has led to the retirement of about 300,000 acres from grazing. The latest involves the Ash Mountain and Iron Mountain allotments used for generations...

PHOENIX ¡ª State election officials are scrambling to interpret a ruling that Arizonans do not need to show proof of citizenship when they register to vote with a federal registration form. Issued Monday by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the ruling amounts to a potential loophole in Proposition 200, the voter-approved initiative that made Arizona the first state in the nation to require proof of citizenship for voter registration. The ruling says "Arizona may not refuse to register individuals to vote in a federal election for failing to provide supplemental proof of citizenship," as required under Prop. 200. In a...

The Bush administration will reverse its decision to allow a Dubai company based in the United Arab Emirates to gain control over several key U.S. ports, the Fox News Channel's Brit Hume predicted on Sunday. "I don't think the administration will be able to sustain this," Hume told "Fox News Sunday." "I think it will have to reverse itself in some way or create some entity that stands between the company and the management of the ports." "I just don't think [the decision] can stand," he added. "It doesn't sound good to let some Arab shieks to be in charge...

Dear NewsMax Reader: NewsMax.com, one of America's leading online news services, is conducting an urgent national online poll. Should the U.S. bomb Iran and stop its nuclear weapons program? We need to know your opinion in this online poll. Just Go Here Now to vote. NewsMax will provide the results of this poll to major media. Additionally, NewsMax's results will be shared with every major radio talk show host in America. NewsMax reports have been cited by national major media, including Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. Don't miss this opportunity to let your voice be heard! Vote today! Go...

Date: January 20, 2006 From: Jerry Falwell EMINENT DOMAIN KNOCKING ON CHURCH’S DOOR I learned this week that a small Baptist church in Oklahoma is at risk of losing its place of worship because it sits on a site where city leaders want to build a shopping plaza. This eminent domain business is getting serious. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Kelo ruling last year, we are facing a brand new ballgame in terms of private property and what that term really means. For the Rev. Roosevelt Gildon, pastor of the Centennial Baptist Church in Sand Springs, Okla., eminent domain is...

District Court Judge Freeman accepted Jabara’s arguments in a precedent-setting opinion, holding that the FBI and NSA violated Jabara’s Fourth Amendment rights. The judge first found that Jabara had a well-based expectation of privacy when he made his overseas telephone calls. Next, the court found that because the FBI evidence failed to tie Jabara or domestic organizations he was affiliated with to a foreign agent or to collaboration with a foreign power, the FBI should have sought a warrant before asking the NSA to “seize” his telephone calls. Finally, the court held that the NSA...should have sought a warrant before...

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court has rejected a stay of execution for Crips co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams, who is scheduled to die after midnight. The court's decision comes a day after the California Supreme Court refused to grant a stay of execution for the convicted killer meaning the former gang leader who became an outspoken critic of gang violence will be executed early Tuesday unless the governor grants clemency. Williams' supporters also made another pitch directly to the governor Sunday to spare his life, telling Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a letter that they had a new witness who...

When the 9th Circus says it's ok to go ahead with the execution, a bunch that has opposed most capital punishment it seems like an easy call. 26 years of appeals, 4 murders directly and thousands more indirectly by starting the Crypts gang. If writing childrens books gets you off death row I can see a bunch of new authors coming out.

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations put off a decision on how to respond to a ruling by an appeals body that vindicated the lone employee fired over the Iraq oil-for-food scandal, despite promises that it would come to a conclusion on Monday. The move gave Joseph Stephanides the right to a copy of the ruling, made 30 days ago, which said he was wrongly fired and should be reinstated, paid two years of back pay as compensation and given a written apology. A copy was obtained last week by The Associated Press but it has not been made public....

SAN FRANCISCO - California, New Mexico and Oregon sued the Bush administration over the government's decision to allow road building, logging and other commercial ventures on more than 90,000 square miles of the nation's remaining pristine forests. In the lawsuit filed Tuesday, attorneys general for the three states challenged the U.S. Forest Service's repeal of the Clinton administration's "roadless rule" that banned development on 58.5 million acres of national forest land, mostly in western states. "The Bush administration is putting at risk some of the last, most pristine portions of America's national forests," California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said. "Road...

August 6th marked the 60th anniversary of America’s use of an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. While some still argue that President Truman’s decision to use the A-bomb was “controversial,” they are afflicted with the scourge of our time, the loss of a sense of moral proportion and certainty. Unfortunately, those with relativistic morals will lead us to see the day when nuclear weapons are used again – this time to end once and for all the barbaric savagery of Islamism. Green Left Weekly (GLW) calls the U.S. putting a swift end to WWII – using atomic...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - An environmental group is suing California wildlife regulators, alleging officials broke the law by giving a North Coast timber company the right to damage the habitats of two endangered species. Pacific Lumber Co. gained permission under the 1999 Headwaters deal for certain logging activities that environmentalists said would harm populations of coho salmon and marbled murrelets, a seabird that nests in old growth redwoods. A Humboldt County Superior Court judge revoked the permits in 2003, saying they violated the California Endangered Species Act. In February, the state Department of Fish and Game cleared the way for the...

International law is not a suicide pact. Fashioned to ensure the survival of states in a world still lacking global government, these binding rules emphasize the right of national self-defense. This right may be exercised not only after an attack has already been suffered, but also in advance, if the defensive first strike can meet certain essential conditions. Consider Iran. President Bush has assuredly authorized the Pentagon to prepare plans for the pre-emptive destruction of that country's developing nuclear installations. Leaving aside the difficult tactical side of such an operation, a prior question arises: Would this particular pre-emption be permissible...

The Republicans' ideal Supreme Court nominee is someone who might overturn Roe v. Wade, but won't. That makes President Bush's choice of John G. Roberts pure genius. If defenders of abortion rights condemn the pick, so much the better. Social conservatives will think they won. And when a court ruling later proves they haven't, Republican leaders can comfort them. So far, all is according to plan. Roe v. Wade is the 1973 Supreme Court decision enshrining a federal right to abortion. If Roe went down, two bad things would happen to Republicans. One is that it would arouse America's pro-choice...

Laura Bush pressured to resign over Guantanamo Bay scandal - President withholds decision POSTED: 2:35 pm PDT July 16, 2005 (AP Photo/Haraz Ghanbari) WASHINGTON -- Former presidential candidate John Kerry said Saturday "Laura Bush ought to be fired." Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., a possible 2008 presidential contender, nodded in agreement when the two appeared together on Capitol Hill. Also Saturday, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said the matter of leaking a recipe from her cookbook "rises above politics and is about our national security." Leading White House critic Representative John Conyers added, “All we know is that it was...

Bill Cosby has drawn a good judge in Philadelphia. Last March, in a civil lawsuit, Andrea Constand alleged that Cosby had drugged and groped her at his home. Constand's suit also claimed that she had been contacted by 12 women who were willing to come forward and allege that Cosby sexually assaulted them in a similar manner. Attorneys retained by nine of the women had tried to keep the names of their clients a secret for a host of reasons, one of which was fear of a deteriorating bipolar condition brought on by intense media scrutiny. U.S. District Judge Eduardo...

RICHMOND, Va. — A federal appeals court yesterday reinstated a lawsuit challenging a Virginia law requiring parental supervision at a summer camp for juvenile nudists. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the American Association for Nude Recreation-Eastern Region could pursue its claim that the law violates its free-speech rights by crimping its ability to spread its social nudism philosophy. The organization claims it had to cancel a summer camp last summer in southeast Virginia because only 11 of the 35 youths who signed up would have been able to bring a parent as...

Five Supreme Court Justices with myriad educational degrees fumbled the simple meaning of the word “public”. Apparently the new meaning of the term “public use” is any use involving people. This is a brazen moving of the goal posts to rig the game in favor of powerful corporations and political interests. The Kelo vs. New London recision (it’s not a decision) is nothing less than a nail in the coffin of government by the people, for the people, and of the people. Here are five reasons why this has happened. BIG GOVERNMENT IS #1: The liberal wing of the Supreme...

This week, the Supreme Court of the United States once again proved that it is a feckless, dictatorial and altogether ridiculous body. Its latest spate of decisions reveals legislative usurpation, disingenuous deference and silly inconsistency. But, of course, what else should we expect from the court that tells us our Constitution protects pornography but not political advertising, sodomy but not the Ten Commandments, and mentally disabled murderers but not private property? For those disinterested enough not to gasp in horror at each new judicial outrage, it is fascinating to watch as the Supreme Court gradually turns the Constitution on its...

"The government can now take your home and sell it to a private developer." Those are the words of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in her dissent from the draconian Supreme Court ruling in the case of Kelo v The City of New London.. The Kelo decision is an outright repudiation of the most basic American principle -- constitutional protection for life, liberty and property. But we are not about to take this assault on our God-given liberties lying down!When we heard of this decision on Thursday, we immediately went to work. And Senator John Cornyn has already answered the call.Just...