Free Republic

Where did Reagan go away? Republicans help Labor unions to a major victory How could these Senate Republicans help labor unions to a major victory? Call your Senator now to stop S.2123. The misnamed and egregious "Public Safety Employer-Employee cooperation act of 2007" was introduced by Senator Gregg on October 1 with enough Republicans (11 Republicans) to invoke cloture and pass the Bill.

IN the 1960s, my sister was part of the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley. She was arrested in a civil rights sit-in. Naturally, she was a lifelong Democrat. Today, she is a “9-11 Republican.” She is not alone. My sister is no less committed to civil rights than before. But she believes that not being murdered by Islamist terrorists is also an important civil right. She is not sure that the Democratic Party completely agrees with her. For 9-11 Republicans, this is the most significant political issue. The GOP “gets it,” while the Democratic Party doesn't. Many recent former Democrats...

CHICAGO, March 3 (UPI) -- New wireless technologies being developed by a secretive government agency in collaboration with private contractors may dramatically improve communications for homeland defense among federal, state and local officials, experts tell United Press International's Wireless World. The Department of Homeland Security, working with BlackBerry Wireless devices, Palm Treos and other mobile handheld computers, has been working to secure wireless e-mail through a testing program being run by its very secretive Advanced Research Projects Agency, a unit created for the war on terror that is analogous to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, devised during the Cold...

(snip) Maj. Gen. Glenn K. Rieth, the Guard's adjutant general, ordered the naval militia to stand down in 2002 while state officials, concerned about training, liability and funding issues, reviewed its status. Jordan and fellow militia members John Jedrejczyk and Mark Tegeder, along with former member Louis Ianniello, counterattacked this month. They fired a legal salvo at state officials, accusing them in a civil rights complaint of military branch discrimination. "We're doing this for the other members," said Jordan, 47, of Jackson, a certified firearms instructor. "We hope to get this moving again in the right direction. We've been totally...

...Notably, the New Orleans mess improved only after the Pentagon got involved. Though the military is normally barred from domestic law enforcement by the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, Defense officials have been doing a lot of creative thinking about what they can do and what the public now expects post-September 11.... Mr. Bush will also need to guide the rebuilding choices for New Orleans and the Mississippi delta.... But clearly there is an issue of how much federal money to pour into a city that is below sea-level and would still be vulnerable to another Category Four or Five...

What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't sit around and complain that the government hasn't taken care of them. And they don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men.

August 19, 2005 The Honorable Mark R. Warner The State Capitol 3 rd Floor Richmond, Virginia 23219 Dear Governor Warner: As you may have recently heard, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano declared a “state-of-emergency” in their respective states to combat the issue of illegal immigration. My understanding is these declarations have made additional federal homeland security funding available to more directly confront the unauthorized immigration taking place in these states. Representing an area that is increasingly burdened by illegal immigrants, I believe the time has come for you to join with Governors Richardson and Napolitano...

07.22.2005 From The Editor Good News and Bad: We’re Preparing for Terror Combat Here By Ed Offley Two weeks before four British citizens on July 7 strapped bomb-laden rucksacks on their backs and set out to kill scores of London commuters and injure hundred of others – an attack that British security officials concede they had no inkling was in the works – the Pentagon formally adopted a new "Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support" that anticipates even grislier terror strikes here at home within the next 10 years. Whether you are an active-duty soldier or Marine, or an...

Okay...It's Friday and time for a gun thread. Yesterday at the local gun and toy store in (believe or not, Maryland, I got to handle the FN Herstal PS90, the civilian semi-automatic version of the P90.This bull-pup 5.7x28 mm has been around for the LEo and Military markets for a few years. I always thought it strange looking but technically very interesting. A closed breech blow-back design, it has a unique horizontal top mounted magazine; 30 or 50 rds. Ambidextrous mag releases make it surprising fast to swap out mags. It ejects spent casings from the bottom.The strange looking stock...

Federal officials are investigating whether illegal aliens are being trafficked through the Washington area after authorities detained 12 illegal aliens traveling in a van in Spotsylvania County, Va., late Tuesday -- the second such discovery in the state in three days.

From CommunityDispatch.com CDC Health Advisory Notices & AnnouncementsInterim Guidance about Marburg Virus Infection for Airline Flight Crews, Cargo and Cleaning Personnel, and Personnel Interacting with Arriving Passengers By Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Apr 13, 2005, 20:28 This interim guidance is intended to assist commercial passenger airlines, cargo and charter carriers, and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (BCBP), and other relevant agencies in establishing appropriate precautions for Marburg virus infection. Recommendations are based on standard infection control practices and on available epidemiologic information about the Marburg virus. Overview of Marburg Disease...

September 11, 2001, changed the life of each and every American and brought to the forefront a compelling need to change how the federal government is organized to meet new and emerging challenges to our homeland and national security. Congress and the President worked together to create the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The U.S. House of Representatives created a Select Committee to oversee the new Department and its activities. A growing yet underestimated threat is that of a cyber attack on U.S. critical information infrastructures. Criminals, terrorists, and foreign governments are exploiting the anonymity and global reach of the...

(AP) When the FBI shifted its focus to anti-terrorism efforts, investigations targeting illegal drugs, organized crime and white-collar crime took the biggest hit, according to a Justice Department report Monday. The report by Glenn A. Fine, the department's inspector general, provides the first detailed look at where the FBI moved resources following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Fine said the review, which drew no conclusions about the wisdom of the changes, did show that the FBI's changes "generally were in line with its post-Sept. 11 priorities." The greatest reduction occurred in the FBI's organized crime and drug program, which lost 758...

AIRPORT WATCH CONCEPT HELPS NAB 'BAD GUYS' Here's proof that GA airports really are small communities and that the "residents" know when something is amiss. On Wednesday, this led to the nabbing of some suspicious characters at St. Louis Downtown Airport. It all started when a man telephoned an FBO not far from the Gateway Arch and asked about chartering a helicopter. About an hour later, two men walked into the FBO, pulled out cash to pay for the flight, and presented driver's licenses from two different states as ID. Office staff noticed their car was registered in a third...

ATLANTA - A military rocket launcher was found Tuesday near a rail-transit station, but the FBI said it looks to be a less-powerful model commonly used to train soldiers and would be unable to bring down an aircraft or destroy a train. . . . Lazarus said there was no cause for public alarm and the city's rail-transit system was not interrupted by the discovery.

Governors will be able to call on at least 50 percent of their National Guard forces for homeland defense missions and other state emergencies because of a plan to realign Army and Air Guard units during the next few years, the chief of the National Guard Bureau promised in late February. "We will balance our forces, focusing on the right force mix and the right kinds of units with the right capabilities in every state and territory," vowed Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum while addressing the National Governors Association's winter meeting here. The intent is to have no more than...

The mission of homeland security is like playing an "away game and a home game," said the U.S. military's homeland defense commander. In war, just as in sports, it's the away game that you "want to win," but it is the home game that you "must win." Air Force Gen. Ralph Eberhart, head of U.S. Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., used the analogy to explain his views on how to handle the nation's security challenges. He spoke Feb. 25 at the 2004 Armed Forces Communication and Electronics Association Homeland Security Conference here. Eberhart, who also heads the...

Acknowledging that the president's budget request for fiscal 2005 represents "an enormous amount of money," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told Congress today it funds investments that ensure the nation's ability to face future threats, including those posed by terrorists. Rumsfeld told the House Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee that the $401.7 billion budget request will cover operations and initiatives needed "because our nation is engaged in a struggle that could well go on for a number of years." To ensure victory, he said, the United States must ensure it has "the best- trained, best-equipped fighting force in the world." Likewise,...

The President had a busy weekend. He called the President of China to thank him for his recent comments on Taiwan and they discussed by phone how to restart North Korea nuclear talks. During the conversation Saturday night, the two leaders made a favorable appraisal of Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to the United States this month. Hu told Pres. Bush he hoped the goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula can be realized through a way acceptable to all parties concerned. Sunday, after attending St. John's across the street from the White House, the President met with his Security Council...

4:49pm (UK)Blunkett Accused over Anti-Terror Detentions By David Barrett and Tim Ross, PA News Home Secretary David Blunkett threatened to quit as a member of Amnesty International tonight after the human rights group criticised his anti-terror policies. Amnesty said the Government’s emergency measures to combat terrorism had created a “Guantanamo Bay in our own backyard”. But Mr Blunkett, who said he has been a member of Amnesty for 20 years, rejected the criticisms, adding that he was considering resigning from the organisation. Amnesty said Mr Blunkett’s emergency measures – brought in shortly after the September 11 atrocities – had created...

The Austrian Data Protection Commission is claiming that information on airline passengers that the United States is requiring cannot be released in Austria for legal reasons. It is a development that could hamper U.S.-bound flights from the European country. The problem for Austria is a U.S. Department of Homeland Security requirement that airlines pass on Passenger Name Records (PNR) data for flights to the United States. This sort of information includes, among other things, the passenger's name and place of birth, gender, passport number and contact numbers. But the Austrian Data Protection Commission says that because it could also include...

Buckley AFB F-16s take up residence as runways improved By Dominic Weilminster, Rocky Mountain News June 11, 2003 Sleek, sharp curves make Buckley Air Force Base's F-16 squadron look like Ferraris parked in a lot of buslike jumbo jets. But their presence at Denver International Airport so far has caused little commotion. The 15 fighters are stationed away from home temporarily while their runway system is revamped. "Everything is really integrated well," said Maj. Jerome Dyck, acting public affairs spokesman for the squadron. According to Dyck, despite minor delays for F-16 practice flights to accommodate airliners, there have been almost...

Muslims 'draw line in the sand' in D.C. Civil rights rally touted as largest Islamic gathering in capital Posted: May 17, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Art Moore © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com U.S. Islamic activists are uniting with a leading anti-war group to hold a civil rights march and rally they tout as the largest gathering of Muslims ever in the nation's capital. Participants in the May 24 event "will demand an end to the mounting attack on the civil rights of Muslims in America" since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to the organizer, the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation....

In reorganizing the federal government to combat terrorism, President Bush has made a bold step. This seems to be a commonsensical move in light of the apparent collapse in intelligence sharing of various government agencies prior to September 11, 2001. A watchful eye must be ever vigilant, both in defense of our way of life, and in the expansion of government. The new Department of Homeland Security, headed by Tom Ridge, is massive and if not controlled, may be used by the left to increase the pressure on the freedom of Americans Considering that there are now many eyes looking...

During the noon news update (just before the Rush Limbaugh show) today, WMAL reported (and I paraphrase): DC Mayor Anthony Williams is complaining today that the city is quickly going through the funding it received for first-responders as part of the Homeland Defense appropriations "because of all the demands placed on DC police due to the recent Anti-War protests." The Mayor indicated he would be going back to the Administration to seek more funds.

<p>HEAVILY armed al Qaeda thugs practiced storming a school, shooting children and taking hostages in a videotaped training exercise, The Post has learned.</p> <p>The terror rehearsal took place under the mandate of al Qaeda's operations chief, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.</p>

A Tinley Park man was one of four U.S. residents charged today with conspiracy to murder Israelis in terrorist attacks—including a suicide bombing that killed 21 people in 1995. Ghassan Zayed Ballut, 41, was described as a leader in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has been deemed a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, according to a 121-page federal indictment returned in Tampa and unsealed today. Ballut was arrested shortly before 6 this morning at his home in the south suburb. He appeared before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Geraldine Soat Brown, who ordered him transferred to Florida. Ballut, represented by...

Does anyone have a nice graphic of the Operation Eduring Freedom Logo you could post to this thread?I would like to download and print out so I could put in my car along with my American flag

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley took President Bush and the Republican Party to task Saturday for failing to provide cities with funds to protect against terrorist attacks. ``Your neglect of homeland defense funding has relegated 'the common defense' to yet another unfunded federal mandate for already cash-strapped cities — cities that are still reeling from federal and state tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy,'' O'Malley said in the Democrats' weekly radio address. O'Malley, who was chosen by Senate minority leader Tom Daschle to give the Democratic rebuttal, said...

Maryland Police: Disabled Man Has 'No Good Reason' for Handgun Jeff Johnson, CNSNews.com Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2003 Maryland has denied a physically disabled citizen a permit to carry a concealed handgun because he does not have a "good and substantial reason" to be armed. Dan Sullivan worked as an emergency trauma nurse before muscular dystrophy severely limited the use of his legs. He can now walk only with the assistance of two canes. What Sullivan calls his "visually obvious physical disability" makes him an attractive target for criminals, he believes. It also makes it almost impossible for him to flee...

U.S. Navy Debuts It's New Anti-Terrorist “Catch and Release”Program The US Navy will be implementing a new "Catch and Release" program in its war on terrorism. This new program targets smaller terrorist cells and fringe groups for the purpose of intelligence gathering. Once these small groups are captured and interrogated, they are then released in neutral territory, as seen in this Navy photo.

The Daschle Democrats (bowing to pressure from their union constituency) resisted passing the Homeland Security bill prior to the election because President George W. Bush demanded wide authority to fire or transfer employees in the new 22-agency bureaucracy. In the lame duck session, Congress is hastily passing the bill. But I'm confused. If Bush is so eager to have the right to fire government employees, why hasn't he fired anyone for the many pre-9/11 and post 9/11 mistakes? Mistakes is actually a euphemism for grievous lapses of duty or violations of the law, some of which were fatal to innocent...

AP • Reuters • CBS • MSNBC Justice Dept. Wins Wiretap Authority Email this Story Nov 18, 2:39 PM (ET) By CURT ANDERSON WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department has broad discretion in the use of wiretaps and other surveillance techniques to track suspected terrorists and spies, a federal appeals court panel ruled Monday. In a 56-page opinion overturning a May decision by the ultra-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the three-judge panel said the expanded wiretap guidelines sought by Attorney General John Ashcroft under the new USA Patriot Act law do not violate the Constitution. The special review court ordered...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 — The F.B.I. has initiated an unusual behind-the-scenes attack on another law enforcement agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, as part of an effort to protect its turf and responsibility for domestic security, law enforcement officials said today. An internal F.B.I. draft full of criticisms of the firearms agency has circulated in the last week among law enforcement officials. Some of those officials say the draft is part of an effort by the bureau to head off a plan to move the firearms operations from the Treasury Department to the Justice Department in a broad...

Excerpt from "Ballistics match rifle to sniper attacks" on CNN.com: ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CNN) -- Ballistic tests on the rifle found in the car of the men authorities believe were involved in the Washington-area sniper attacks matched the weapon to the bullets in all but three of the 14 shootings, law enforcement officials said Thursday evening. The rifle "has been forensically determined to be the murder weapon," Michael Bouchard of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms told a news conference in Montgomery County, Maryland. "We have the weapon. It is off the street," said Montgomery County Police Chief Charles...

SWAT team invades elderly widow's home By Stu Bykofsky Daily News Columnist IT'S 10 a.m. on a quiet Sunday morning in Oxford Circle. The coffee's making, the birds are chirping. An elderly widow is in her bathroom, toweling off after a shower. A four-member Philadelphia Police Department SWAT team arrives - clutching a search warrant for guns and drugs - and pounds on her Sylvester Street door. A neighbor hollers to the cops they've got the wrong house. They tell her to shut up and go back inside. With the pounding unanswered - the 4-foot-8, 85-year-old grandmother doesn't know the...

Opponents of the Democratic-backed proposal to establish a Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security defeated a Senate motion to move to a final vote, citing a White House demand to remove conventional labor protections from the new agency. The 49 to 49 cloture vote, which needed 61 votes to pass, would have ended debate on the proposal offered by Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., that leaves the conventional collective bargaining, workforce protection and other labor standards in place. But faced with stiff White House opposition and a GOP-backed counterproposal that removes many of the labor protections, the Senate was unable to move...

Since 9/11/01, national security has been sexy. It has been a topic on which suddenly everybody has an opinion, however influenced by the media, and everyone is willing to share it. Once again it has become, much to the chagrin of the phatic Left, okay to be cautiously isolationist. It is we of the clear eye and lucid mind who are questioning the refusal of airline security to offend or inconvenience those passengers who are statistically far more likely to pose a security risk than the old and infirm who are the favorite targets for screening. Of course we, the...

September 11th was, according to CBS' special commemoration, "The Day That Changed America." Fox, slightly less passive, has gone with "The Day America Changed." But the best proof that nothing has changed are the networks' day-that-everything-changed specials themselves. My pleas not to Dianafy September 11th have fallen on deaf ears. The all-star sob-sisters will be out in force with full supporting saccharine piano accompaniment. The networks have decided America's anger needs to be managed. It's a very September 10th commemoration of September 11th. So be it. Nations do not change in a day. The only change that occurred on September...

The weekly Spanish-language newspaper for the D.C. area, Washington Hispanic, does not think anyone is listening in, apparantly.Here is an starkly frank comment by an Admissions Officer at the Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) discussing openly (in Spanish) in this week's edition how presumed illegal aliens can get around regulations to study at the taxpayer-funded college.Again, it should be noted that NOVA is a state-run institution, funded by tax dollars. State and federal legislators may want to follow up to see if Miss Mariella Abanto's comments reflect official school policy...and how widespread this is throughout the U.S.A. SCROLL DOWN FOR...

<p>Officials at the Chantilly, Va.-based National Reconnaissance Office had scheduled an exercise that morning in which a small corporate jet would crash into one of the four towers at the agency's headquarters building after experiencing a mechanical failure.</p> <p>The agency is about four miles from the runways of Washington Dulles International Airport.</p>

Astronotes: O'Keefe For Homeland Defense? Bolden to Retire! Beltway Gossip! August 9, 2002 NASA's O'Keefe to Head Homeland Defence? Bolden to Retire? NASA was atwitter this week with rumors that administrator Sean O'Keefe might be tapped by the White House to head the new Department of Homeland Security currently in the works. O'Keefe's name surfaced this week in a U.S. News and World Reports column suggesting that President Bush is under pressure to name someone to head the new department. NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs said he was not aware of any plans by the administrator to leave the sapce agency....

It is nearly twenty years since President Ronald Reagan launched his Strategic Defense Initiative or SDI. Quickly dubbed "Star Wars" by the opposition, the program proved to be extremely popular. Still, Reagan would not opt out of our disarmament agreement with the then-Soviet Union known as the ABM treaty, so the best that could be done during the last six years of the Reagan Presidency was to research SDI and begin limited testing of it. The same held true for the Presidency of the senior George Bush, who was distinctly less enthusiastic about SDI than was his predecessor. Moreover, the...

Here is a little comparison of the old Soviet Unions Homeland Defense Organizations and it's role. You be the Judge of where this is taking the USA; INTERNAL SECURITY FORCES: The Soviet Union maintained a group of 430,000 militarized security forces personnel in addition to the its regular Armed Forces. Made up of two groups: Internal Troops and Border Guard Troops and under the contol of the USSR Council of Ministers through the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD); Responsiblities: Maintain Domestic security and performing special communications and guard functions; a. Militia (Police), criminal investigations, motor vehicle inspections, contol and issuance...

A Report to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Minority Leader from the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence July 17, 2002 Executive Summary The principal objective of this report and the work of the Subcommittee has been to review the counterterrorism capabilities and performance of the Intelligence Community before 9-11 in order to assess intelligence deficiencies and reduce the risks from acts of terrorism in the future. The terrorist attacks perpetrated on September 11, 2001 constituted a significant strategic surprise for the United States. The failure of the Intelligence Community...

Security bill loses ID card, TIPS Ellen Sorokin THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 7/19/2002 House Majority Leader Dick Armey, in his markup of legislation to create a Homeland Security Department, yesterday rejected a national identification card and scrapped a program that would use volunteers in domestic surveillance. Mr. Armey, chairman of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, included language in his markup of the legislation to prohibit the Justice Department from initiating the Terrorism Information and Prevention System, also called Operation TIPS. Mr. Armey's bill also would create a "privacy officer" in the Homeland Security Department, which he said was...

<p>As part of the country's war against terrorism, the Bush administration by next month wants to recruit a million letter carriers, utility workers and others whose jobs allow them access to private homes into a contingent of organized government informants. The Terrorism Information and Prevention System (Operation TIPS), a national reporting pilot program, is scheduled to start next month in 10 cities, with 1 million informants — or nearly 4 percent of Americans — initially participating in the program.</p>