Free Republic

When the Supreme Court announced its decision Wednesday on whether a fisherman should be charged under Wall Street regulatory laws, Justice Elena Kagan decided to include an unusual judicial argument: Dr. Seuss. In 2007 in Florida, law enforcement officials confronted fisherman John Yates, saying he had caught several red groupers that were too small. Mr. Yates then tossed the fish overboard. But he was charged under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which sought to punish the destruction of physical evidence in wake of the Enron scandal where accountants shredded thousands of documents. In a 5-4 decision announced Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled...

John Yates, the under-fire assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police tendered his resignation on Monday afternoon amid reports he was about to be suspended pending ongoing investigations into the phone-hacking investigation. The move follows the resignation of his boss Sir Paul Stephenson, who quit as Met commissioner on Sunday evening. MPs said they were seeking to ask Mr Yates further questions on the relationship between police and News International. Boris Johnson, mayor of London, later held a press conference at which he said “both decisions [to resign] were regrettable but in both cases, the right choice has been made.” He...

Virginia Episcopal Bishop Peter J. Lee has ejected 20 of his former clergy from the priesthood after they quit the denomination in December over the 2003 consecration of New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, who is openly homosexual. In a document signed Aug. 1, the bishop defrocked 18 men and two women, saying they had "abandoned the communion of the Episcopal Church." The widely anticipated document came seven months after 11 churches — along with their clergy — voted to leave the diocese and the denomination. Bishop Lee retaliated Jan. 22 by issuing an "inhibition" order forbidding 21 clergy affiliated...

When even President Gerald Ford's funeral at Washington National Cathedral is not exempt from comment about the crisis in the Episcopal Church, we believe it is time to set the record straight as to why our church and so many others around the country have severed ties with the Episcopal Church. ...The core issue in why we left is not women's leadership. It is not "Episcopalians against equality," as the headline on a recent Post op-ed by Harold Meyerson put it. It is not a "leftward" drift in the church. It is not even primarily ethical -- though the ordination...

Cowboys, wannabes set out on 650-mile trail ride BY T.A. BADGER Associated Press Writer BANDERA, Texas - Dozens of cowboys and wannabes hitched up their horses and wagons in this Hill Country town on Monday and pointed them north along a historic route used by 19th-century cattle drovers to get their beef to market. The hardy travelers plan to take seven weeks to cover the 650 miles from Bandera, the self-proclaimed Cowboy Capital of the World, to the famed Wild West outpost of Dodge City, Kan. The ride will follow what was known as the Western Trail, along which millions...

<p>CATONSVILLE, Md. — When the Rev. Steven R. Randall learned that his denomination had consented to the first openly homosexual bishop in mainline Protestantism, he decided he could no longer trust the Episcopal Church and its leaders.</p> <p>Mr. Randall, 52, received a standing ovation yesterday after telling his 200-member congregation at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church here that he would no longer obey his bishop nor would his congregation send its monthly $5,000 pledge to the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.</p>

Letter to the Family of The Falls Church From John W. Yates II August 29, 2003 To the Family of The Falls Church from John Yates: On Monday, August 25, two hundred or so parishioners met in the church sanctuary to discuss our response to the recent General Convention decision to approve as a bishop a man living in sexual sin. Many will remember this as the “cornfields meeting” because of one parishioner's remark that he'd rather worship in a cornfield than go along with the decisions of the General Convention. In thoughtful, measured remarks, dozens of parishioners expressed their...