Free Republic

I know I posted this earlier, Friday I think. But this is, imo anyway, important. It is important that we let the Left know that we take seriously our freedom of speech, our freedom of religion, our right to exist and live within our conscience. If you are unfamiliar with what specifically I am talking about, please listen to the ten min interview with Colorado state Senator Tim Neville, that my posting links to. Know also, that Senator Rollie Heath postponed the hearing concerning this Senate Memorial. A memorial has no force of law behind it, yet Heath killed it...

NEW ORLEANS -- There are several political signs attracting all kinds of attention in one Uptown neighborhood. On Wednesday, crowds gathered at the corner of Calhoun and Coralie streets, looking at several signs depicting President Barack Obama as either a dunce, a puppet or a crying baby in a diaper. "It disrespects the nation -- and President Barack Obama represents our nation," said Skip Alexander, as he looked at one of the signs. "He represents everybody, not some people." Dozens of protesters came by the house in the 1500 block of Calhoun throughout the day, demanding the sign come down....

The Palm Beach Post vividly illustrated its anti-Second Amendment, anti-gun bias in its latest article documenting the attempts by the Palm Beach County Commission to illegally regulate gun rights by refusing all comments on the Aug. 16 article, "County Commission: new state gun law could create 'Wild West' Palm Beach." Putting aside the inflammatory headline (I've written a few of those myself), the story isn't bad, and both sides of the issue are represented. So why did The Post use the "User comments are not being accepted on this article" dodge usually reserved for reports on criminals of certain favored...

Anger over a decision to pay Bristol Palin several thousand dollars in student fees to talk to Washington University students about abstinence led to a decision Thursday night to nix Palin's appearance on a panel here next month. Washington University's Student Health Advisory Committee had extended an invitation to Palin, a spokeswoman to prevent teen pregnancy, to speak on abstinence as part of the university's Student Sexual Responsibility Week. But because of a growing controversy among undergraduates over the decision to pay for her talk with student-generated funds, the advisory committee and Palin decided Thursday night "that the message that...

Heightened and "vitriolic" political rhetoric is being blamed by some for the kind of violence that landed Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in intensive care following a mass casualty shooting on Saturday, but others say a blame game is hardly appropriate or useful right now.

Controversial remarks about homosexuality and religion have forced the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office to begin investigating what happened when Deputy Jim Goff was caught on camera by religious protesters. Several deputies were called to the Hard Rock Casino Albuquerque presents the Pavilion on July 17 to escort several religious protesters away from the entrance gate. The protesters taped their preaching and the encounter . “I am a non-believer, there is no God, there is no Jesus, there is no Satan,” Goff said to the protesters. He later told the cameraman, “You must have a crush on me. Man are you...

At a time when our economy is struggling to produce jobs, the left is still intent upon keeping Americans from earning a livelihood. On Saturday, Democratic Representative Gabriella Giffords held a public hearing on a proposed copper mine in her district in Southern Arizona. But rather than being a public hearing designed to share information on the project, some felt it was more accurately a public hearing designed to present only one point of view. Not surprisingly, Ms. Giffords, all four panel members and all but one speaker were against the project. In a letter to the editor, one attendee,...

Someone has vandalized a banner on a Richmond strip club that depicts President Barack Obama as the Joker of the "Batman" movie series fame. The graffiti includes the word "RAPIST," an apparent reference to a criminal case involving the club's owner, Samuel J.T. Moore III. He was convicted last year of three misdemeanor charges related to having sex with a minor and another female at his apartment above the club, and filming it illegally.

Dear conservative friend, In one of the White House's creepiest acts yet, it has posted a blog, which amounts to asking citizens to turn in those opposing Obamacare. They even set up an email address so citizens may tell the White House who is spreading "disinformation" (wink, wink) about Obamacare. Can you believe it? President Obama and his radical community organizers at the White House want literally to "keep track" of those who disagree with the government-run, potentially bankrupting health care bill, with its rationing of medical procedures to control costs, which Obama and Democrats in Congress are trying to...

Officials at the University of Texas at Austin are defending their actions following a minor confrontation between school officials and members of the Young Conservatives of Texas that has left the latter group decrying censorship. On Tuesday, YCT members took aim at a Diversity Training Program taking part on campus as part of the annual Summer Orientation program for incoming freshmen students. YCT contends that such diversity programs represent a radical agenda that devalues the individual and tries to indoctrinate students in a group consciousness system that many students may not wish to be a part of. Members showed up...

I probably should have just listened to Paul Harvey. Though it wasn’t actually Paul Harvey. It was Ron Chapman. And that’s probably the problem. I understand Ron Chapman is a radio legend somewhere, but I don’t live there. So, to me, he’s just an insufferable bore. But I should have been listening anyway. Instead I got an idea. An idea that had been kind of simmering in my head for a week or so. I was trying to think of a way to show that I wasn’t happy. That I was tired of bailouts. That I didn’t want to pay...

MARYSVILLE, Wash. - At least three students were suspended from Marysville-Pilchuck High School after displaying the Confederate flag. Ray Hauser, spokesperson for the school district, said one incident occurred in October, and another just last week. The students say the flag is a symbol of culture and heritage, but the school district says it's also a symbol of hatred. Hauser said the students are aware of school policy, and when the administration learned of the displays, the students were called in for a discussion and suspensions occurred immediately. Eighteen-year-old Ethian Allen is a senior at the school. Over the past...

Google this week admitted that its staff will pick and choose what appears in its search results. It's a historic statement - and nobody has yet grasped its significance. Not so very long ago, Google disclaimed responsibility for its search results by explaining that these were chosen by a computer algorithm. The disclaimer lives on at Google News, where we are assured that: The selection and placement of stories on this page were determined automatically by a computer program. A few years ago, Google's apparently unimpeachable objectivity got some people very excited, and technology utopians began to herald Google as...

Obama campaign confronts WGN radio by John McCormick and Steve Schmadeke DENVER -- Sen. Barack Obama's campaign organized its supporters Wednesday night to confront Tribune-owned WGN-AM in Chicago for having a critic of the Illinois Democrat on its air. "WGN radio is giving right-wing hatchet man Stanley Kurtz a forum to air his baseless, fear-mongering terrorist smears," Obama's campaign wrote in an e-mail to supporters. "He's currently scheduled to spend a solid two-hour block from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. pushing lies, distortions, and manipulations about Barack and University of Illinois professor William Ayers." Kurtz, a conservative writer, recently wrote an...

Reagan Library Republican Presidential Debate: January 30, 2008 SIMI VALLEY, California (CNN) -- Republican presidential hopefuls will face off Wednesday night without a familiar face as ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is expected to drop out and endorse front-runner Sen. John McCain. The remaining candidates will take the stage in a debate -- sponsored by CNN, the Los Angeles Times and Politico -- beginning at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday. The event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, follows McCain's Tuesday night win in the Florida primary. McCain topped former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 36 percent to...

Judge Andrew Napolitano is one of American media’s most tenacious defenders of Americans' rights. His official title at Fox News, where he appears regularly on Fox and Friends and The Big Story, is “Senior Judicial Analyst.” But at the often Bush-besotted network, the decidedly skeptical Napolitano thinks of himself more as “House Civil Libertarian.” He’s the youngest life-tenured Superior Court judge in New Jersey history, and a former teacher of constitutional law at Seton Hall Law School. He also writes books alerting Americans to how their own government threatens their liberties, including The Constitution in Exile and Constitutional Chaos: What...

Early coverage of Al Gore's new book, The Assault on Reason, has focused on the fact that the book is largely an assault on the Bush administration. But they have glossed over the most significant and alarming theme that Al Gore has taken up: his alleged defense of "reason" includes a justification for government controls over political speech. Judging from the excerpts of Gore's book published in TIME, his not-so-subtle theme is that reason is being "assaulted" by a free and unfettered debate in the media--and particularly by the fact that Gore has to contend with opposition from the right-leaning...

Liberal Democrats are attempting to muzzle conservative talk radio: they are assaulting free speech. Like the communists in the former Soviet Union, America’s liberals seek to crush dissent by consolidating control over the media—especially talk radio, which has emerged as the dominant medium for conservative opinion. Allies close to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are promoting legislation, which if passed, will take off the air prominent conservative radio hosts such as Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly—along with thousands of smaller conservative broadcasters. The bill, entitled the "Media Ownership Reform Act," is sponsored by Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a...

The Federal Election Commission said yesterday that it will police "527" groups, political organizations that largely operated outside the new campaign finance limits during the 2004 presidential election, by looking at how the groups word their appeals for contributions, how they describe themselves, and how they spend their money. If the groups make clear that they are advocating for or against a specific candidate, the FEC would regulate them. "We're providing clear guidance," said FEC Chairman Robert D. Lenhard. "This makes it clear that the existing rules will be enforced." The FEC filed the 44-page explanation of its approach in...

Anger over cartoons spreads in Europe AP Gaza City: Rage against caricatures of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) poured out across the Muslim world on Saturday, with aggrieved believers calling for the execution of those involved, storming European buildings, and setting European flags afire. The cartoons, first printed in Denmark, and then published elsewhere in Europe, have touched a raw nerve, in part because Islamic law is interpreted to forbid any depictions of the Prophet. Muslims in Europe have reacted less passionately than their counterparts in the Mideast and Southeast Asia, but on Saturday, anger in Europe swelled, too, with demonstrators clashing...

Conservative talk-show host Michael Graham was suspended without pay on Thursday, July 28 by ABC Disney following threats by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) over his on-air comments regarding terrorism and Islam. The suspension came despite repeated statements of support for Graham’s free-speech right by management at 630 WMAL in Washington, D.C.; the ABC owned stations where Graham had worked as mid-morning host. The suspension is pending an “investigation” of comments he made regarding Islam’s ties to terrorism. "I honestly don't know what Disney is investigating me for, unless it's for doing a compelling talk show that gets people's...

Town Council's Ban on Talk of Wal-Mart Draws Protest From ACLU The Associated Press Published: Jul 8, 2005 YELM, Wash. (AP) - The town council barred residents from mentioning Wal-Mart at meetings, prompting a challenge by civil libertarians who said a "free and accountable" government depends on a citizen's ability to voice concerns openly. The retailing giant has an application pending to build a superstore, spurring controversy in the small town about 15 miles southeast of Olympia. In a letter to the council, American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Aaron H. Caplan said his group believes it is unconstitutional to ban...

Police charge pair with obstructing pedestrian traffic Two street preachers were arrested Saturday night on the Strip, reigniting a long-standing dispute between police and the American Civil Liberties Union over whether the preachers' actions are protected by the First Amendment. Jim Webber and Tom Griner were arrested Saturday night in front of the Bellagio and charged with obstructing pedestrian traffic, according to ACLU of Nevada Executive Director Gary Peck. "We will now sue the county and the police department ... because that is the only way, obviously, to get them to stop," Peck said. He did not give a timetable...

Chipping away at freedom of religion Lorne Gunter National Post - Editorial April 4, 2005 Like everyone else, members of Canada's political establishment are making a great show of respect for the passing of Pope John Paul II. But even as they are doing so, the forced secularization of Canadian society is continuing apace. Consider, for instance, the plight of Fred Henry, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Calgary, who is being hauled before the Alberta Human Rights Commission for arguing against same-sex marriage in a letter he sent to his flock in January. Bishop Henry's case is being pursued under...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2005 — While its previous owners considered adult entertainment "immoral," Adelphia Communications Corp., the country's fifth-largest cable television provider, last week became the first to offer hard-core adult films on pay-per-view to its subscribers. "It's a very lucrative source of funds," said Dennis McAlpine, a media and entertainment industry analyst. "The cable companies and the satellite companies are programming agnostics in the sense that they don't care what the programming is. It's what the viewers want to see." Viewers can watch such sexually explicit movies in the Hilton and Marriott hotel chains on video services like LodgeNet...

Written 12/15/2004 Updated 12/16/04 Updated 12/19/04 Updated 12/22/04 With all the legislative attack on Christianity this season headed by liberal groups such as the ACLU (liberal anti-Christ union), many private Christian citizens around America are retaliating by putting simplistic to extraordinary effort in the Christmas decorations they are displaying in their front yards. If liberals are serious about their intention to secularize the entire nation, they're eventually gonna have to come out to Parker, Colorado from where these pictures have been taken. Christmas is about Jesus Christ, no matter how it has been argued. Download Oh Holy NightMP3 (organ instrumental)...

Written 12/15/2004 Updated 12/16/04 Updated 12/19/04 Updated 12/22/04 With all the legislative attack on Christianity this season headed by liberal groups such as the ACLU (liberal anti-Christ union), many private Christian citizens around America are retaliating by putting simplistic to extraordinary effort in the Christmas decorations they are displaying in their front yards. If liberals are serious about their intention to secularize the entire nation, they're eventually gonna have to come out to Parker, Colorado from where these pictures have been taken. Christmas is about Jesus Christ, no matter how it has been argued. Download Oh Holy NightMP3 (organ instrumental)...

(excerpt follows)... Verdict in 'Vilifying Islam' Case Exposes Christian Fault LinesBy Patrick Goodenough CNSNews.com International Editor December 20, 2004 Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - An Australian state tribunal's finding that two pastors had vilified Muslims looks set to widen the divide in the country's Christian community between liberal mainstream church representatives who lauded the ruling and evangelicals who argued that it constituted a dangerous threat to free speech and freedom to evangelize. Critics of the tribunal decision in the state of Victoria called for the repeal of the controversial legislation that made it possible. BIG SNIP Another irony was seen...

Written 12/15/2004 Updated 12/16/04 Updated 12/19/04 With all the legislative attack on Christianity this season headed by liberal groups such as the ACLU (liberal anti-Christ union), many private Christian citizens around America are retaliating by putting simplistic to extraordinary effort in the Christmas decorations they are displaying in their front yards. If liberals are serious about their intention to secularize the entire nation, they're eventually gonna have to come out to Parker, Colorado from where these pictures have been taken. Christmas is about Jesus Christ, no matter how it has been argued. Download Oh Holy NightMP3 (organ instrumental) and listen...

With all the legislative attack on Christianity this season headed by liberal groups such as the ACLU (liberal anti-Christ union), many private Christian citizens around America are retaliating by putting simplistic to extraordinary effort in the Christmas decorations they are displaying in their front yards. If liberals are serious about their intention to secularize the entire nation, they're eventually gonna have to come out to Parker, Colorado from where these pictures have been taken. Christmas is about Jesus Christ, no matter how it has been argued. "Download "Oh Holy Night" MP3." Organizations like the ACLU are seeing to it that...

NEW YORK - The consortium of news organizations that runs the election exit polls has voted to delay distributing data for several hours on future election days. Exit poll data will not be distributed until after 4 p.m. ET to the organizations that have paid for it: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and The Associated Press, NBC’s elections director, Sheldon Gawiser, said Thursday. On Nov. 2, the companies conducting the polls, Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International, distributed the first wave of exit poll data at 1 p.m., and the numbers were immediately leaked on the Internet and...

Catholics Give Kerry Cool Welcome in Steubenville STEUBENVILLE, September 7, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A group of Catholic protesters gave John Kerry an unexpectedly cool welcome in that working class, traditionally Democrat town. Students, children, workingmen, housewives and nuns in full habits arrived in the rain at the park where Kerry planned to speak hours before his arrival. Carrying signs that read, "Crusade for the Defense of Our Catholic Church," "You Can't be Catholic and Pro-Abortion," and "Pontius Pilate was Also Personally Opposed." Clutching Rosaries, a crowd that the Sheriff's department estimated as large as 500, marched and silently protested the...

On Monday, April 22, nine members of TFP Student Action traveled to the College Park campus of the University of Maryland to collect surveys and pass out flyers in defense of traditional marriage. In 4 hours, Student Action collected more than 150 surveys, asking the opinion of students on homosexual “marriage,” and passed out nearly 2,000 “Stop Same-Sex Marriage” flyers. These flyers refute the scientific arguments used by the homosexual movement to push their agenda. Radical Moral Relativism Perhaps the most striking and pervasive aspect of those on campus in favor of same-sex “marriage” was their radical moral relativism. According...

SEATTLE - Campus bake sales by conservatives who oppose affirmative-action are cooking up discord — and complaints about restrictions on free speech. Organizers charge white students $1 for a cookie, while blacks and other minorities pay 25 to 95 cents. Doughnuts are available for 50 cents to everyone except Asian Americans and whites, who cannot purchase them. Unfair? So is affirmative action, organizers contend. "It's a good example of what affirmative action does, judging people based on race," said Jason Chambers, president of the University of Washington College Republicans, which held a sale in October that shut down when some...

HOLLYWOOD; FREE SPEECH ONLY GOES ONE WAY MARK A SITY 2/9/03 I was quite amused to read George cLooney's caustic remarks toward criticism of his most recent movie, which seems to have been a flop. Someone told him that the movie was "boring". On one level this could be viewed as constructive criticism, explaining why this movie flopped. However, this is not how Mr. Looney saw the remark. His response was, "You crack me up, man. You just wanted to get up and be a rat, you know that? You just wanted to get up and say something rotten. What...

"Falwell's statement constitutes hate-speech against an identifiable religious minority group," responded CIC legal counsel, Faisal Joseph. "It is both slanderous and provocative and totally irresponsible for any religious leader, specially at this sensitive time. We are therefore filing a formal complaint with the CRTC against all Canadian TV channels who broadcast this interview, and are considering further legal action under Canada's hate crime laws."

SCV(Sons of Confederate Veterans) Brigade Chaplain Loses Custody Battle because of SCV Membership A Louisiana Brigade Chaplain, The Rev. Denver P. Hutchens, of Beauregard Camp #130 recently lost a custody battle when he was judged to be an unfit parent because of his membership in the SCV and his interest in reenacting. The ruling was handed down in mid June in the 328th Judicial District of Texas in the court of Thomas O. Stansbury. Two judges, both SCV members, offered to testify on Hutchens' behalf, but were denied the opportunity to testify. During the proceedings, the opposing counsel (Lillian Satterwhite)stressed...