Free Republic

Downpour didn’t dampen the anger of about 60 demonstrators who stood under umbrellas on the steps of an empty Atlanta City Hall on Saturday to protest a police raid on a gay nightclub. “We were mugged by the police,” said Mike Alvear, 50, of Midtown, a community activist and the host of HBO’s ‘The Sex Inspectors.’ “They stole our dignity the same way crooks steal our wallets.” Danni Lynn Harris, the Police Department’s liaison to the gay community, asked the crowd to let the internal affairs unit investigate the Sept. 10 raid of Atlanta Eagle on Ponce de Leon Avenue....

Were the apparatchiks of CNN asleep at the PC wheel? Not only did the network air a balanced report on medical care for an illegal immigrant. It surprisingly failed to snip out a line by the reporter contrasting the illegal's use of the American legal system now with his disregard for it when he illegally entered the country! Aired at 6:22 EDT today, the segment focused on the case of Francisco Pantaleon, an illegal Mexican immigrant who fell into a coma in July and who has since been receiving extensive care from a Chicago hospital--all at the hospital's expense. Now...

WASHINGTON - The government's plan to crack down on illegal workers could cost employers more than $1 billion a year and legal workers billions in lost wages, a study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says. Those costs are enough to trigger a federal law that would require the Homeland Security Department to analyze more thoroughly the effect of its proposal, said Richard Belzer, a consultant hired by the chamber to do the study. It was made available to The Associated Press on Thursday. The department's proposed "no match" rule would require employers to fire workers who can't resolve...

CLINTON — The peace activists — a hospice nurse, a Catholic priest and a minister — said they were following a higher law to protest a crime against humanity: the making of nuclear weapons. The judge said the laws he took an oath to uphold bound him. “I’m obligated to follow the law and treat you like any other defendants,’’ Anderson County Criminal Court Judge Don Elledge told the activists. With that, Elledge today threw the book at Father Tom Lumpkin, Rev. Erick Johnson and nurse Pam Beziat, meting out the maximum 30-day jail sentence for obstructing a roadway. They...

If we fail to abide by our bedrock principle, we become a society of arbitrary and capricious actions. When we make exceptions to one set of laws, we will make exceptions to others, and anarchy and social disintegration will follow. NAME REDACTED Manhattan

The US government is on the verge of approving a mass amnesty to millions of illegal aliens - a plan pushed aggressively by meddling Mexican officials who reap billions of dollars in remittances (illegal aliens' earnings sent back to Mexico) without having to lift a finger to clean up their own country. And the thanks we get? Internationally televised public humiliation. --SNIP-- During an Olympics qualification soccer match between the US and Mexico (Guadalajara 2004), the stadium erupted in boos during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Fans yelled "Osama! Osama!" as Mexico's team eliminated the US squad. At a...

The U.S. Senate's compromise immigration bill offers something for everyone to hate, including presidential candidates forced to confront the divisive issue. Unlike the war in Iraq, which separates lawmakers mainly along party lines, immigration fractures Republican and Democratic ranks from within: splitting business interests from social conservatives, dividing labor from Hispanic groups. "The issue is fraught with danger," said John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster. "It's one where it's tough to please everybody within your base or coalition." For that reason, perhaps, the only major candidate who embraced the bipartisan proposal announced Thursday was Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., -- which was...

LOS ANGELES — With millions of illegal immigrants planning to demand a path to citizenship by marching through the nation's streets on Tuesday, Los Angeles and other major cities are bracing for rally gridlock. Demonstrators hope the marches will push Congress to answer their calls for action for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States before the presidential primary season. Cities from coast to coast were preparing for the marches and voter registration drives stretching from California to New York on the May 1 International Workers' Day. In Los Angeles, march organizers say there will...

SAN FRANCISCO Mayor Gavin Newsom is opposed to federal law enforcement efforts to apprehend illegal immigrants who are violating deportation orders. Ess Eff, the mayor told a gathering at St. Peter's Church Sunday is a "sanctuary city" -- and has been since 1989. So, Newsom assured the audience, "I will not allow any of my department heads or anyone associated with this city to cooperate in any way, shape or form with these raids." Illegal immigrants, rejoice. The folks at Immigration and Customs Enforcement are none too happy with the term "raids." Raid implies that agents sweep into homes and...

SANTA CRUZ -- Tax time is here again -- for most people, anyway. Risking frozen bank accounts and even jail time, some are refusing to pay the portion of their federal income tax they believe goes to support the military and the war in Iraq. Although the IRS doesn't release information about the number of tax scofflaws -- and local accounts say they are few -- some in Santa Cruz do defy the taxman. Scott Kennedy, in fact, has been doing it for 30 years. Kennedy, 59, a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, has not paid a full federal...

The controversy over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys for reasons that may or may not have been political has reached the high-drama stage, with Congress approving subpoenas and President Bush daring the legislative body to carry them out. But a study by two communications professors that suggests the Bush Justice Department is seven times more likely to investigate Democrats than Republicans may point to a much larger scandal.The professors, John Cragan, of Illinois State University, and Donald Shields, of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, looked at news reports of 375 elected officials between 2001 and 2006 and concluded the...

Immigrant rights activists are asking the Bush administration to stop deporting undocumented immigrants picked up in stepped-up immigration enforcement. The loud knocks on the door awoke Verónica Ruiz and her family at 5:59 a.m. Feb. 6. ''At first I thought it was a robbery, but then I knew,'' Ruiz said. ``Immigration agents were outside looking for me.'' Ruiz jumped out of bed, gathered her husband and two children in a room of their Miami-Dade apartment and hid for five hours as immigration officers outside shone flashlights through windows. Eventually, the officers left without making the arrest -- and Ruiz went...

Maryland and illegal aliens Hello all the wacky Democrat members of the Maryland General Assembly are at it again.  They want to give lawbreaking illegal alien kids instate tuition to attend the University of Maryland.  This is an outrage I for one who’d grandparents came from Germany in 1950 the right way, btw am I the only one who seems to think amnesty and turning a blind eye to illegal aliens, is a slap in the face to all immigrants who came over the right way? Before I get carried away with my rant I want to ask two things...

November 16, 2006 FEC fines Sierra Club By Jim Snyder A Federal Election Commission settlement with the Sierra Club will likely put new limits on how explicit outside groups may be when trying to influence voters. The environmental group agreed to pay a $28,000 fine to settle charges that it had paid for a brochure that expressly advocated the election or defeat of candidates in the 2004 presidential and Senate races from its corporate treasury. Because the Sierra Club brochure was found to contain express advocacy, it was determined to be an independent expenditure. Campaign finance laws prohibit money from...

Orlando, FL (LifeNews.com) -- The Orlando Women's Center abortion facility run by embattled abortion practitioner James Scott Pendergraft isn't supposed to be doing abortions. The state health department suspended abortions there last week after saying he did two illegal late-term abortions in violation of state law. But abortions may still be happening there.Florida officials suspended abortions at Pendergraft's two abortion facilities in Orlando, including the Women's Center and temporarily halted abortions at three other abortion centers in the state.The state suspended Pendergraft's medical license last Wednesday in an emergency order that says he showed a "flagrant disregard for the...

Matt Farrell, a video producer, needed an attorney after he had been charged with growing marijuana. He hired Allison Margolin, "L.A.'s dopest attorney," on a friend's recommendation. Farrell's first impression was "she was hot." His second was doubt. She looked too young to be a lawyer. Then he saw the Ivy League degrees on her wall. Like actress Reese Witherspoon's character in the movie "Legally Blonde" — a rich, ditsy Beverly Hills blond who goes to Harvard Law School — Margolin, 28, is the kind of lawyer who might be easy to dismiss. The graduate of Beverly Hills High talks...

NORCROSS, GA. – In some ways, the traveling taco stand has become a symbol of the rise of Hispanics in the US. Here in Gwinnett County, Ga., it wasn't any different - until lawmakers outlawed the $1 street-corner taco vendor last month. Hispanic purveyors of the workingman's lunch represent an immigration policy many Americans feel has gone haywire. In many interior states where the Hispanic immigration had been minimal until recently, residents are encountering more new faces speaking an incomprehensible language and infiltrating street corners with their cilantro-spiced fare. In resisting the sudden and growing influence of Latino culture, some...

Most Utahns feel a state law that allows undocumented students to pay in-state college tuition should be repealed, according to a new Salt Lake Tribune poll. Seventy-one percent of the 625 registered voters who were interviewed by telephone for the statewide poll this week said Utah should "repeal the current state law that offers the discounted resident college tuition rate to the children of undocumented immigrants." Ruth Bick, a 63-year-old Ogden resident, said Utahns should not have to pay taxes to subsidize a college education for undocumented students. The state's middle class already is burdened enough with big tax bills,...

Can you believe this? I just got a letter in the mail from Allnative about my tobacco products that I order. "Effective immediately, AllNative.com, as well as many other cigarette retailers around the country, is being forced by the major credit card companies (Discover, MasterCard, Visa, and American Express) to eliminate credit and debit card purchases for cigarettes and other tobacco products. We were notified on Friday, May 19th that they were "pulling the plug" immediately with no time for us to notify our customers." When did this country go communist? This is freaking nuts. I called AllNative and they...

WASHINGTON - Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., of Charlotte and six other members of the Congressional Black Caucus were arrested outside the Sudanese Embassy on Tuesday while protesting the killing and starvation that continues in that African country's Darfur region. "We will not tolerate genocide," said caucus chairman Watt. "We are saying to Sudan: `This has to stop.' " The protesters' plan was to get arrested, Watt told the Observer, and they alerted Capitol Police beforehand that they would block the embassy entrance. Watt said the group was advised to stay off the sidewalk -- the jurisdiction of the District of...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., and six other members of the Congressional Black Caucus were arrested at the Embassy of Sudan on Tuesday after protesting over atrocities in the Darfur region of the wartorn nation. "We will not tolerate genocide," said Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., the caucus chairman. "...We are saying to Sudan this has got to stop." The seven members were hauled off in Secret Service cars after receiving three warnings that they were violating the law by blocking the entrance to an embassy. They were released a short time later after paying $50 fines.Rep. Barbara...

Senator Clinton says immigration bill would make her a criminal AP Friday, April 07, 2006 WASHINGTON (AP) - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that an immigration bill approved in the House of Representatives would make her and her aides criminals for their work on behalf of New York constituents. Clinton's comments are her latest salvo against the Republican-authored House bill that would penalise anyone who knowingly assists or encourages illegal immigrants to remain in the country. The bill, which passed the House in December, also makes it a felony to be in the country illegally. Speaking to the US...

INVASION USAU.S. alerting Mexico to Minuteman patrols'Unbelievable that our own government....is sending intelligence to another country' Posted: May 9, 2006 11:37 a.m. Eastern © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com The U.S. Border Patrol is tipping off Mexican authorities on the positions of members of the Minuteman civilian patrols. U.S. officials have agreed to the notification process to reassure the Mexican government that the illegal immigrants' rights are being observed, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario, Calif., reports. When the Minuteman and other civilian border patrol groups help apprehend illegal immigrants, the Mexican government must be notified, according to three documents on the...

May 3, 2006 -- WASHINGTON - Congress was abuzz yesterday over a shocking investigation of lawmakers that involves a top spy, limos, and hookers. Federal prosecutors are investigating whether contractors provided rogue former Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham with prostitutes as part of a bribery scandal that landed the lawmaker in the slammer. At issue is whether two government contractors gave Cunningham free limousine service and lined up hookers for sex trysts in Washington's Watergate Hotel. "The guy's certainly a scumbag - this is just more proof of that," said one House Republican aide. The brewing scandal took a new turn...

Organizers declared "The Proclamation for Responsible Immigration Reform" to chants of "Si, se puede" (Yes it can be done), a statement made famous by workers rights icon Cesar Chavez. The proclamation was read in Philadelphia's historic old city, site of Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and Declaration of Independence and considered the birthplace of liberty in this country. The proclamation reads, "Whereas the first Americans declared that 'all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness'… we assert our right to be...

Does a focus on family values demand a tight border to protect Americans from outsiders, or an open-door policy to ensure opportunity to the poor of other nations? It is more important to welcome the stranger or to respect the rule of law? At a forum Thursday hosted by the conservative Christian group Family Research Council, conservative and liberal religious leaders lobbed Bible verses, unable to agree on what Jesus would do about the nation's nearly 12 million illegal immigrants. Immigrant advocates warned that a crackdown would harm families and violate Scripture. And a lawmaker leading the charge for tougher...

It's time to play hard ball. Our lawmakers seem to have forgotten that there are real consequences for ignoring lawbreaking. Lawmakers will get this done or taxpayers will know the reason why. The rule of law demands serious consequences for ignoring lawbreaking. Now is the time for law-abiding citizenry of America notify the US Dept of Justice, that many of our "so-called lawmakers"---who are under oath---are ignoring our laws, and are aiding and abetting the illegal activities of aliens on US soil. Disregarding the committing of crimes is a crime in itself. PARTIAL LIST OF IMMIGRANTS' FEDERAL CRIMINAL FELONIES...

WASHINGTON: The trial of Rehana Khan, a Muslim girl of Pakistani-descent from Illinois who had her headscarf or hijab ripped off after she and several others were arrested for civil disobedience while protesting at a rally for immigrant rights last year, has finally been scheduled for April 25. A group of five young people - white, Latino, Muslim - are facing up to four years in jail for a protest against the racist vigilante group the Minutemen. Two Illinois state attorneys have reportedly refused to discuss a plea without jail time. Their case goes to trial on April 25, according...

Sonny Bono, in the fight over Proposition 187 (the 1994 initiative that would have rescinded welfare benefits for illegal aliens) had the best line about the debate over illegal immigration. Many charges were tossed back and forth about the initiative and the motivation of its sponsors. The response of the future Congressman to those charges was always: “What is it about illegal that they don’t understand?” Exactly! Like many others, I watched television as the protestors waved their Mexican flags, then changed those flags to American flags, then yelled “Si Se Puede,” then yelled “Yes, We Can,” then demanded the...

Inland area Roman Catholic priests and churches will continue to serve undocumented immigrants even if federal laws require them to review a migrant's legal status before giving aid, Bishop Gerald Barnes said Monday. "I don't think we have a choice," said Barnes, leader of the million-member Inland diocese encompassing Riverside and San Bernardino counties. "What the gospel calls us to do is what we are going to have to do. And it calls us to be compassionate and to help those who are in the most need." Rancorous debate between federal lawmakers over immigration has spilled onto the streets in...

Surrounded by supporters and buoyed with their blessings, a Catholic nun today reported to prison for trespassing on government property. Sister Mary Dennis Lentsch will serve six months at a Lexington, Ky., federal prison for civil disobedience. Before leaving in a car caravan, about 20 supporters surrounded Lentsch in front of the John J. Duncan Federal Building downtown to sing songs and pray for her. Lentsch was sentenced for a November 2005 incident when she and other protesters entered the grounds of Fort Benning, Ga., which houses a school that has been blamed for human rights abuses in Latin...

Immigration Reform and the American Church By Wiley Drake There's a great deal of talk in the media about President Bush's plans to reform our immigration policies, and for good reason. Any time that millions of people converge on America's largest cities to march through the streets and boycott, the public eye turns to watch. The right to vote, to hold jobs without fear, and to live peaceably in the world's freest nation is what mobilizes them, and their voices are growing louder with each passing day. The fact is simple. America must address the problems on our borders before...

SAN FRANCISCO - Mayor Gavin Newsom said Thursday that The City will not comply with any federal legislation that criminalizes efforts to help illegal immigrants. The mayor also denounced a bipartisan congressional proposal that would beef up border security and allow as many as 12 million illegal immigrants to gain legal status. Newsom, who has not been afraid to wade into controversial national issues such as gay marriage, appeared with a group of elected officials on the steps of City Hall to support immigrants, “documented as well as undocumented.”Newsom also signed a resolution sponsored by Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval, and passed...

A NATION OF LAWS by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher March 29, 2006 What the hell has become of America these days? The protest marches in Los Angeles and elsewhere around the country last week demanding that illegals be allowed to stay in America - despite the fact that their mere presence here is a crime - only goes to show the propensity, and even a preference on their part for considering themselves above the law. It is blowhards like these that only add fuel to the fires calling for a return to American isolationism on the world stage. Let...

Thousands of illegals are marching in Chicago insisting Americans do it their way.

An 11-year-old Lindenhurst boy who wanted to put an end to his mother's drug use took cocaine from his house Friday and brought it to school to show authorities, Suffolk police said. The boy woke up Friday morning and wanted his mother, Toni LaBarbera, 43, to take him to school at Deauville Gardens Elementary School in Copiague, police said. When he was unable to wake her, he noticed numerous plastic bags of white powder nearby and took one, police said. LaBarbera's boyfriend, Scott Pinto, 43, of Copiague, took the boy to school, where, upset over his mother's drug use, he...

HEBRON -- A Boone County High School student last Friday morning told his school resource officer about his parents growing marijuana in their home, leading authorities to arrest the Hebron couple later that day.John and Jennifer Williams, 51 and 36 respectively, were arrested at their Mineola Pike home at about 4:30 p.m. "What I understand is (the student) ... provided specific enough information to the resource officer for them, to number one, believe that his parents actually were growing marijuana in the house, from this boy's description," said Boone County Sheriff's Department spokesman Tom Scheben.The sheriff's department found 25 marijuana...

1/30/2006 9:13:00 AM  Birth rules degrade U.S. immigrationGuest Opinion by Rep. Tom Tancredo After years of lip service and outright neglect, immigration reform is finally front and center on Washington’s agenda. The issue has such resonance it seems every congressman has introduced a bill on the subject. At least in the House, a consensus is emerging to secure our borders, increase worksite enforcement and, now, revoke birthright citizenship. Currently, the U.S. grants citizenship automatically to every person born in our country, except children of foreign diplomats. That includes legal permanent residents, temporary visitors, nonimmigrants and illegal aliens. Obviously this...

Our good friends at The American Thinker and Israpundit have uncovered a fascinating limitation upon 501c3s like Cindy Sheehan's Gold Star Families For Peace and Medea Benjamin's Code Pink and Global Exchange.To wit, it is a violation of their tax exempt status for such "charities" to plan and engage in illegal activities. From the guidelines of the Internal Revenue Service: J. ACTIVITIES THAT ARE ILLEGAL OR CONTRARY TO PUBLIC POLICY1. IntroductionExempt purposes may generally be equated with the public good, and violations of law are the antithesis of the public good. Therefore, the conduct of such activities may be a...

TIJUANA — The Mexican gang of human smugglers, hiding behind the wobbly fence of a drab town house, prepare the car for the latest run across the border. Two young men wipe down the dusty windshield and check the brake lights while three migrants wait silently inside the house. Finally, the driver arrives, an American who puffs nervously on a cheap cigarette and calls himself Trent. Accompanying Trent is Felix, the heavyset smuggling boss. "Venganse!" — "Let's get going!" — a gang member yells. One by one, the migrants get in the trunk, twisting to fit inside. The one woman...

IS THE New York Times a law unto itself? When the Times published its December 16 exposé of the secret National Security Agency electronic surveillance of al Qaeda-related communications, reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau noted that they had granted anonymity to the "nearly a dozen current and former officials" who were the sources for the story. Risen and Lichtblau stated that they had granted these sources anonymity "because of the classified nature of the program." Implicit in the Times's rationale is the recognition that leaks of such classified information are illegal.That recognition is, of course, correct. Section 793 of...

A few weeks back, a Code Pinko named Diane Wilson got her name in the papers by disrupting a Houston fundraiser for Rep. Tom Delay that was attended by Vice President Cheney.At the time, Ms. Wilson bragged that she only paid $50 to gain entrance to the event. However, her stunt has ended up costing her a whole lot more: 120 days in jail and a $2000 fine, to be precise.It seems she had a warrant out for her arrest stemming from her conviction almost two years ago for trespassing when she hung a banner from a Dow Chemical platform...

Civil Disobedience for a Moral Budget »See more photos and read testimonies of participants See video of the event in the following formats »WindowsMedia»RealPlayer»QuickTime »iTunes download 115 religious leaders were arrested in front of the Cannon House Office Building while kneeling in prayer to protest the immoral budget and tax agenda which slashes spending on the poor to finance tax breaks for the rich. Led by Jim Wallis of Call to Renewal, national faith leaders, clergy and faith-based providers of services to the poor held a press conference. Following the press conference the leaders kneeled in prayer blocking the entrance...

INVASION USA Tancredo wins round 1 to build Mexico fence House passes new border controls, with eye on deportations next year -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: December 17, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Rep. Tom Tancredo WASHINGTON – It was a victory the once-obscure Colorado congressman savored yesterday. When the House of Representatives passed a tough new border control bill last night, Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo was all smiles. He led an often-lonely and sometimes seemingly hopeless fight not only against Democratic opponents but against his own party and his own president. "Today, the House of Representatives passed a bill which...

<p>FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) -- Former national security adviser Sandy Berger pleaded guilty Tuesday to reckless driving after an officer clocked him at 88 mph in a 55-mph zone. A judge fined him $250.</p> <p>Berger did not speak during his brief appearance before Judge Richard Horan in Fairfax County General District Court. His lawyer entered the guilty plea on his behalf.</p>

It was several hours before President Bush touched down Monday afternoon at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to talk up his immigration reform plan. On a South Side street corner, several day laborers were already talking about Bush's immigration ideas. "He should give us work permits so we can work and return home to be with our families," said Carlos Jos¨¦ Vel¨¢squez, a 31-year-old Honduran. The morning air was still cold from the overnight freeze, but the three men know the political winds are burning hot with talk about illegal immigration. Nearly everyone has been talking about how to deal with...

TELEVISION Public TV federal fund use probed By Matea Gold, Times Staff Writer NEW YORK -- The inspector general of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is launching an investigation into whether public television and radio stations around the country inappropriately used federal funds to lobby against threatened budget cuts this summer. Kenneth A. Konz said Friday that he will examine the matter at the request of 18 Republican lawmakers, who asked the inspector general in August to determine whether the stations used federal money to finance on-air appeals asking viewers and listeners to contact their representatives about proposed cuts to...

About 3,000 activists at a Saturday rally called for a unified effort for immigrant rights, including expanded education and labor opportunities, that transcends their diverse nationalities and religions. The event was non-partisan but carried strong political undertones, with speakers primarily training their criticism on Republicans and feting a largely Democratic delegation on stage.

WASHINGTON - Iraq War protester Cindy Sheehan was found guilty Thursday of demonstrating without a permit outside the White House, a misdemeanor carrying a $50 fine. Twenty-six other defendants also were convicted at the end of a two-day trial before U.S. Magistrate Alan Kay today. Sheehan, who demonstrated against the war for several weeks near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, and the others were among 300 arrested September 26 while trying to deliver petitions calling for an end to the war. Some sat on the sidewalk outside the White House fence while others chanted and sang songs. They were...