Free Republic

This article features a single cabin which is perhaps the most primitive example of such a habitation you'll ever see. But it is the real McCoy -- a one-room, round-log Backcountry settler's cabin, the kind of structure that was thrown together quickly by tens of thousands of immigrants in the mountains of Southern Appalachia during the colonial years. Previously I would have been confident in stating that not one of these structures had survived much past the time of the Civil War -- but not only was this one still standing when it was photographed in 1902, it was the...

SACRAMENTO -- The county district attorney says Republican state Sen. Roy Ashburn's blood-alcohol level was .14 percent when he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after leaving Faces, a gay bar and nightclub. Ashburn has voted against every gay rights measure the senate has voted upon, according to Project Vote Smart. The California Highway Patrol says the Bakersfield lawmaker was arrested early Wednesday after he was spotted driving erratically. Ashburn was taken to the Sacramento County Jail, booked and then released. Ashburn, the married father of four, was reportedly driving with a male passenger who was not identified. A...

Tennesseans are proud of their frontier heritage and have preserved quite a few vintage log cabins and farm buildings. After the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established in the 1930s, mountain communities were displaced but some of their habitations were preserved. This article presents an archive of monochrome photographs which documented these historic structures.

California Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chairman Ryan Sorba generated a media controversy when he was shown at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) denouncing the organizers for inviting a homosexual Republican group, GOProud, into the event as an official sponsor. In "controversial" remarks, Sorba said homosexuality was unnatural and that he welcomed more debate and discussion about the subject from his political adversaries. But what many people don't realize is that Sorba's "outburst" was provoked by a speaker who preceded him, Alexander McCobin of Students For Liberty (SFL). McCobin went out of his way to use valuable time from...

The Shenandoah National Park displaced some 450 families from the northern reach of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. The Park meant the end of a generations-old way of life for the mountain folk, many of whom didn't want to leave. [numerous vintage photographs]

The establishment of the Shenandoah National Park displaced the traditional communities of Backcountry folk who had lived for generations in the Blue Ridge Mountains between Front Royal and Rockfish Gap. By and large, the houses, barns, and stores which were within the Park boundaries were not spared -- they were razed. [Vintage photographs]

Kentucky lays claim to the most famous of log cabins -- the one in which Abraham Lincoln was born. In the early days of Kentucky, log cabins were abundant throughout the state, and a few of these survived to be photographed in the early 20th century. Also in this collection of vintage images -- two log cabins under construction in 1940 in East Kentucky, where the old ways die hard.

President Obama’s address to the nation tonight provides a stark contrast to the reality that all Americans – not just gays and lesbians – are living,” comments Terry W. Hamilton. “The increasingly dominant role of government in the daily life of gays and lesbians under President Obama’s leadership has done nothing but put our community in jeopardy – from his support of the Estate Tax, instructing his Administration to defend the failed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy in court, to stifling small business development across the nation, all Americans should take heed to his overarching promises that are long on...

Taking a risk here, but politics makes for strange alliances, whether we know about the alliances or not. Credit should be given where it is due.

The founder of the website "Free Republic", Jim Robinson, has joined a growing boycott of the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) due to a homosexual activist group sponsoring the event. GOProud, a group that advocates same-sex "marriage," a repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and "expanding access to domestic partner benefits" for homosexuals, is listed as a sponsor of the event at CPAC's website. Mr. Robinson has joined a number of conservative activists including Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr., Liberty Counsel founder and chairman Mat Staver, and Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of...

SALT LAKE CITY -- A gay rights group says it is securing Republican support in the Utah state Legislature for anti-discrimination laws. The Deseret News reports members of the Utah Log Cabin Republicans, a gay and lesbian political group, say two bills granting gays extra rights in Utah will have GOP sponsors when they go before the Legislature in the 2010 session. The group is not saying who those sponsors are. One of the measures is similar to an ordinance approved in Salt Lake City that states gay workers can't be fired because of their sexuality. The Deseret News reports...

The Virginia Frontier Culture Museum's 1740s log cabin is displayed as a work in progress. The cabin is a typical peeled-log, saddle-notched settler's cabin of the kind favored by Scotch-Irish moving into the wilds of the Backcountry. The construction was simple and required few tools. The museum's replica is built with one door and no windows -- a common practice which led to laws requiring homesteader's cabins have at least one window.

Featuring log buildings presently under re-construction at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia. This provides a good look at how such buildings were made.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 12 (UPI) -- Meghan McCain, the 24-year-old daughter of the 2008 Republican U.S. presidential nominee, could be the upcoming face of the GOP, political analysts say. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday that the younger McCain has described herself as a pro-sex, "pro-life, pro-gay-marriage Republican." The newspaper said she appeals to younger Republicans, who could become known as the "Meghan McCain Republicans" -- interested in fiscal conservatism and less government involvement in peoples' private lives. "That's the kind of positioning it will take to appeal to more millennials," said Mike Hais, a fellow with NDN, the Washington...

According to an article in the New York Daily News of April 11, Mayor Mike Bloomberg has now secured the support of the county chair of the Bronx Borough Republican Party. New York election laws permit an independent (or a member of another party) to run in a party primary for Mayor of New York City, if that candidate gets permission to run from 3 of the 5 boroughs of the city. Bloomberg had already been endorsed for re-election this year by the leaders of the Brooklyn and Staten Island Republican Parties. Bloomberg has been a registered independent since late...

Republican in Name Only? Try the future of the GOP. The following is Meghan McCain's address to the Log Cabin Republicans Convention—a group that promotes gay issues within the GOP—on April 18, 2009. Thank you all for having me here tonight. I am thrilled to be able to speak to you this evening to share some of my experiences from the campaign and observations on where our party is today. And I’m proud to tell you there is a special role for the Log Cabin Republicans to play in our future. The last two years of my life have been...

The Log Cabin Republicans are holding a convention in Washington, D.C. this week and weekend to discuss the future of the Republican Party and how gay Republicans can feel at home within it. POLITICO caught up with Terry Hamilton, the group's chairman, and interviewed him about whether it's easier to be a gay Republican or a gay Democrat, if the Republican Party is becoming more accommodating of gay conservatives, and whether Meghan McCain — who speaks Saturday at the convention's closing dinner and who has passionately encouraged the GOP to support gay marriage — has become a hero for Log...

McCain Strategist Warns GOP Risks Becoming 'Religious Party' Steve Schmidt urges Republicans to begin voicing more support for civil unions and gay rights. FOXNews.com Friday, April 17, 2009 Steve Schmidt, former top adviser to John McCain during the presidential campaign, is urging Republicans to shift their views on gay marriage. (AP Photo) John McCain's top adviser from the presidential campaign urged fellow Republicans on Friday to warm up to gay rights and warned that the GOP risks becoming the "religious party" with its opposition to same-sex marriage. Steve Schmidt, in his first political appearance since the election, spoke at the...

McCain Strategist Warns GOP Risks Becoming 'Religious Party' Steve Schmidt urges Republicans to begin voicing more support for civil unions and gay rights. FOXNews.com Friday, April 17, 2009 John McCain's top adviser from the presidential campaign urged fellow Republicans on Friday to warm up to gay rights and warned that the GOP risks becoming the "religious party" with its opposition to same-sex marriage. Steve Schmidt, in his first political appearance since the election, spoke at the Washington, D.C., convention for the Log Cabin Republicans -- a grassroots group for gay and lesbian Republicans. He urged Republicans, in the near-term, to...

Washington (CNN) - Steve Schmidt, a key architect of John McCain's presidential campaign, is making his first public return to Washington a bold one. Schmidt will use a speech Friday to Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights group, to urge conservative Republicans to drop their opposition to same-sex marriage, CNN has learned. "There is a sound conservative argument to be made for same-sex marriage," Schmidt will say, according to speech excerpts obtained by CNN. "I believe conservatives, more than liberals, insist that rights come with responsibilities. No other exercise of one's liberty comes with greater responsibilities than marriage."