Free Republic

The American Constitution may be vague on many things, but on one thing, it is clearer than Georgia dew: taxation. Even as schoolchildren, we are taught the American Revolution was, as much as anything, spurred by excessive and oppressive taxation by the King without means of redress. Consequently, our Constitution leaves no room for dispute when it comes to who has the authority to divest us of our hard-earned wages through taxation. Our cherished Guiding Document places the sole power of the purse in Congress. Indeed, when for the introduction of revenue-raising bills, only the House of Representatives — the...

By a 2-1 vote, Bad Marriage won on appeal. This case involves alcohol abuse, Indian reservations, extensive prior arrests,and the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. It's a long read, I skimmed over it, seems the 9th circuit says it's not his fault, alcohol abuse is to blame and we are at fault for not doing more on Indian reservations to help with alcohol abuse. They also stated a number of his 35 or so convictions were not for serious crimes. Some of which were assaulting a police officer, domestic violence etc.

When I was house-hunting, one of the things that struck me about the house that I eventually settled on was the fact that there were no curtains or shades on the bathroom window in the back. The reason was that there was no one living on the steep hillside in back, which was covered with trees. Since I don't own that hillside, someday someone may decide to build houses there, which means that the bathroom would then require curtains or shades and our back porch would no longer be as private. Fortunately for me, local restrictive laws currently prevent houses...

There is a lot of inertia in politics. The "solid South" voted for Democrats in every Presidential election for more than a century. Blacks have voted for every Democratic candidate for President from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Al Gore. The Jewish vote has been just about as solidly Democratic as that of blacks. Recent polls suggest that President Bush will get a higher percentage of the black vote in this election than he did in the 2000 election -- and higher than Republican Presidential candidates have been getting in recent times. More blacks are apparently stopping to think. There is...

OCEAN CITY, Md. (AP) A judge, while acknowledging he believed a college football player was ''guilty as sin,'' acquitted him of charges related to a run-in with police after a lawyer argued that a conviction could end the player's career. Gregory D. Powell, 20, was charged with assaulting police and disorderly conduct after a June disturbance at a motel where police had ordered underage drinkers to pour out their beer. Powell's attorney told Judge R. Patrick Hayman during the non-jury trial that a conviction or probation could end Powell's career as a wide receiver at the University of Maryland. ''Son,...

CURRENT EVENT/RESULT From... "Judge Ronald Evans Quidachay denied the Campaign for California Families' request for a temporary restraining order Friday, saying conservative groups failed to prove same-sex weddings would cause irreparable harm. In a separate case, another judge declined to order an immediate stop to the marriages Tuesday." HISTORICAL INFORMATION In San Francisco, a judge invalidated a ballot initiative, "Care Not Cash," approved by 60 percent of the voters. The measure would have reduced the cash payouts to homeless individuals and used the savings to treat addiction and build shelters for them. Superior Court Judge Ronald Quidachay said that the...

A three-judge panel of the ultra-liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today heard arguments in the case the ACLU has brought to postpone the CA recall election till March. The ACLU is arguing that the punch card system still in effect in some counties will disproportionately disenfranchise minority voters. In a live report on the hearings, MSNBC's David Shuster (formerly of Fox News, and a seemingly sound reporter) said that "things could not have gone worse in the hearing for the State of California (which is arguing against the postponement)." Shuster said that two out of three of the judges...

Ruling on an issue that has sharply divided the federal courts, a Middle District of Pennsylvania judge has held that the public accommodations prong of the Americans with Disabilities Act covers police practices -- including arrests -- and that a police department can therefore be sued for failing to train its officers to handle disabled suspects. "Nothing in the statute, regulations, or legislative history [of the ADA] suggests any exceptions to the Act for certain police activities," U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane wrote in her 12-page opinion in Schorr v. Borough of Lemoyne. The ruling green-lights an ADA claim in...

THE CITY'S Common Pleas judges have taken on an unlikely foe: District Attorney Lynne Abraham. In an unprecedented action - unreported until now - the city's Board of Judges voted overwhelmingly last fall to file a formal complaint accusing Abraham of unethical conduct because of her scathing criticism of judges. The board then hired an attorney to file the complaint of misconduct with the disciplinary board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The vote, which came at a September meeting attended by 60-some judges, reflected long-simmering resentment about Abraham's public reprimands that came to a head over her comments about...

(AgapePress) - The chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court says he supports a court decision that denied child custody rights to a woman because she is a lesbian. Chief Justice Roy Morre -- in an opinion backing the unanimous decision -- said the homosexual conduct of a parent "creates a strong presumption of unfitness that alone is sufficient justification for denying that parent custody of his or her own children or prohibiting the adoption of the children of others." His opinion continued: "In this case there is undisputed evidence that the mother of the minor children not only dated...

Posted July 30, 2002 ‘Pure evil’ serial killer Spanbauer dead at 61Crime spree terrorized Valley in ’90sBy Dan Wilson and Ed Culhane Post-Crescent staff writersDavid Spanbauer — the serial rapist who abducted and murdered two young girls and then killed a young Appleton woman during a botched burglary —died in prison Monday at the age of 61. Spanbauer — called “pure evil” at his sentencing by Outagamie County Circuit Judge James Bayorgeon —never expressed remorse for his crimes. He was sentenced eight years ago to three life terms in prison without parole plus 403 years. A lifelong burglar and thief...

VANCOUVER - A B.C. judge cited the "artistic or literary merit" of stories describing sadomasochistic sex between men and young boys yesterday in finding a man not guilty on two counts of possessing child porno-graphy. Federal lawmakers were urged yesterday to narrow Canada's definition of artistic merit after the judge ruled John Robin Sharpe's "Kiddie Kink Classics" were not criminal. At the same time, the court found Sharpe guilty of two other child pornography charges for having 400 pictures of young boys in sexual poses. The ruling by Justice Duncan Shaw, of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, relied on...