Free Republic

Ask people to name the most influential Canadians of the 20th century and they will throw out familiar entries from the centre-left political firmament: Pierre Trudeau, Lester Pearson, Tommy Douglas. Yet there was a woman who eclipsed all these men: a Canadian preacher who reinvented American Protestantism, starred in a crime sensation rivalling that of the Lindbergh kidnapping and helped fuse the alliance between evangelism and right-wing ideology that drives American politics to this day. And amazingly, I bet you've never heard of her. Perhaps a newly published biography will change that. Aimee Elizabeth Kennedy was born to a hardscrabble...

By the summer of 1862, George McClellan had come within six miles of Richmond and Union forces had obtained 50,000 square miles of key territory in the West. The Confederacy, a fledgling country then only a little over a year old, was an inch away from ceasing to exist. If it had surrendered then, the North would have allowed slavery to persist in the South, at least for a time. But the South was cursed by a hero named Robert E. Lee who took command of the Army of Northern Virginia. “[L]ee’s counteroffensive in the Seven Days battles and other...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Ex-New Orleans Saints quarterback Adrian McPherson is suing the Tennessee Titans because the team mascot hit him with a golf cart before the second half of an August exhibition. McPherson is seeking $15 million in punitive damages. He also seeks $5 million in compensatory damages for what he called the Titans' negligence. A team spokesman said Monday the Titans are aware of the lawsuit but had no further comment. The quarterback was on the field Aug. 12 warming up when T-Rac, the Titans' mascot played by director of mascot operations Pete Nelson, hit him with a golf...

Welcome to the live thread for the California Primary Election. Polls are open until 8pm tonight. If you are a registered voter, it is your duty to vote and defend your rights and civil liberties, protect your pocketbook, and vote the bums out where applicable. Feel free to discuss issues key to your local area that others may be interested in. Post your polling place experiences if you like. And post numbers as they come in later tonight.

Sequoia touch-screen is California's most widely used Days before the election, state officials have learned that California's most widely used electronic voting machines feature a button in back that can allow someone to vote multiple times. Several computer scientists said Wednesday that the vulnerability found in all touch-screen machines sold by Oakland-based Sequoia Voting Systems was not especially great because using the yellow button for vote fraud would require reaching far behind the voting machine twice and triggering two beeps. "If the machine beeps loudly and someone has their arms wrapped around the machine, the poll workers are going to...

As Phil Angelides' hopes of becoming governor of California sink to zero, political junkies and interest groups are turning their attention to a handful of other statewide offices that, with less than a week of campaigning remaining, are still in contention. The big question is whether a very strong re-election vote for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, perhaps even a landslide, will translate into Republican gains in down-ballot contests, especially if Angelides' poor showing depresses Democratic turnout. As a new Field Poll underscores, Democrats have pretty much sewed up two of those offices, attorney general and treasurer. Former Gov. (and current Oakland...

THE TWO major-party candidates for California secretary of state could not be more different in style or in philosophy about the role of the office. Incumbent Bruce McPherson, a Republican, is an engaging, low-key centrist with great faith in modern electronic voting systems and great concern about the potential for shenanigans at polling places. Sen. Debra Bowen, a Democrat who brings a lawyerly edge and high-tech guile in her approach to public policy, is highly skeptical about the current safeguards on electronic voting systems. One trait these two veteran politicians share is a high level of competence. It's unfortunate they...

Incumbent McPherson defends reliability of the machines as challenger Bowen says they need stricter monitoring. In their only face-to-face debate before the November election, Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and his challenger, state Sen. Debra Bowen, on Wednesday sharply disagreed about the reliability and vulnerability of electronic-voting machines used by many California counties. Bowen, a Democrat from Marina del Rey, argued that electronic slot machines face greater scrutiny than machines that count votes in nearly two dozen of the state's 58 counties. If elected, she said, she would revisit the systems that have been approved by the state, and create...

Click Here To Watch Debate (CBS 5 / The Chronicle) SAN FRANCISCO--The San Francisco Chronicle Editorial board hosted a 60-minute debate between attorney general candidates Jerry Brown and Chuck Poochigian on Thursday afternoon at the CBS 5 studios in San Francisco. This was the first debate between the two candidates, and is the only one currently scheduled. The debate is presented via streaming video here on CBS5.com and is the first of several Chronicle Editorial board candidate debates that will be offered via live and tape streams here on CBS5.com. Other upcoming debates will include: Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2...

A $37-billion package of proposed public works bonds that has strong bipartisan support in Sacramento is in some peril among voters, along with ballot measures dealing with alternative energy and a cigarette tax, according to a new Los Angeles Times poll. The vast majority of likely voters knew too little about the infrastructure bonds — backed by both Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic legislators — to express an opinion. After poll respondents were read a ballot summary of each measure, none of the items generated much enthusiasm. Only two eked out a bare majority: those on housing and disaster...

SACRAMENTO—The race for secretary of state this fall could be the Republicans’ best hope of retaining a statewide office, and it has left the Democratic challenger struggling to find a weakness she can exploit in her moderate opponent. Incumbent Secretary of State Bruce McPherson has steered a centrist course since being appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in March 2005 after Democrat Kevin Shelley resigned amid allegations of financial impropriety. That has helped him win over many Democrats and left-leaning organizations. He has received the endorsement of groups such as the California Teachers Association, an influential player in statewide political campaigns....

Welcome to the live thread for the California Primary Election. Polls are open until 8pm tonight. If you are a registered voter, it is your duty to vote and defend your rights and civil liberties, protect your pocketbook, and vote the bums out where applicable. Feel free to discuss issues key to your local area that others may be interested in. Post your polling place experiences if you like. And post numbers as they come in later tonight.

SACRAMENTO — California's top elections official Thursday said he has a remedy for voters who say they are sick of being propositioned endlessly by everyone from governors to masked interests, using everything from twisted ads to flurries of fliers. Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and lawmakers, backed by the League of Women Voters, pitched a bipartisan package of initiative-revamp bills that would let the Legislature adopt a proposition, avoiding a nasty, costly campaign. McPherson said at a Capitol news conference that the legislation would "provide greater access for all Californians, strengthen the integrity of the initiative process and result in...

(Someone sent this to me via Email. Looked interesting). Protest of California Secretary of State: Decision To Hold A "No Hearing Hearing" On November 21, 2005, citizens may voice their concerns about what voting system will record their votes, but thanks to a decision by Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, there's absolutely no guarantee that anyone with the authority to certify voting systems in California will hear those voices. California law requires the Secretary of State to conduct a public hearing as a condition of certifying any voting systems in the state. The Secretary of State has scheduled a hearing...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Secretary of State Bruce McPherson on Monday proposed changing the state's election process so state officials and initiative sponsors would have more time to review petitions before seeking voter signatures. The change is designed to prevent problems that arose earlier this year when proponents of Proposition 77 discovered they had used two different versions - the one they circulated to voters differed in 17 places from the one they had submitted to the attorney general for review. The disclosure prompted a court fight that ended Friday when the state Supreme Court allowed the measure on the Nov....

A three judge panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals may have a decision next Tuesday as to whether the initiative to change political redistricting is on the November ballot. But while today's two hour hearing focused on legal and constitutional issues, it also shed some light on what might become a political powderkeg: who knew there were problems with the initiative's language, and when? In particular, Dan Kolkey, the attorney representing the authors of Proposition 77, was asked when he knew of the language differences between what was circulated for signatures, and what was submitted to the Attorney...

AG Files Lawsuit To Remove Redistricting Initiative From Ballot Lockyer Says Ballot Differences At Issue SACRAMENTO -- Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed a lawsuit Friday to remove Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting proposal from the November ballot. At issue is whether backers of Proposition 77 made a mistake that could invalidate the 951,000 signatures needed to qualify the measure for the ballot. Organizers gave Lockyer one version of the measure, but provided a different version for the signature gathering, according to the attorney general (pictured, left). Prop. 77 would move redistricting power from the Assembly to a panel of retired judges....

When Secretary of State Bruce McPherson addressed the Sacramento Press Club last week, Steve Maviglio listened closely. Maviglio was the press secretary to ex-Gov. Gray Davis and now flacks for Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez. A couple of hours after McPherson finished his speech, Núñez declared that he was "pleased that the Republican secretary of state has joined the chorus of other Republicans and county election officials who believe that the governor's redistricting plans are ill-conceived and unworkable." Sell It Yourself McPherson did not, however, say that the redistricting measure that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is promoting, and that will likely appear...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Secretary of State Bruce McPherson cast more doubt Tuesday on the need for a special November election, saying the new legislative and congressional districts sought by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can't be in place for elections next year. "There's no way I can see that we can make 2006," McPherson, California's top elections official, told members of the Sacramento Press Club. "Maybe 2008, but that's a question mark." Schwarzenegger announced in January that he wanted to take the power to draw the districts away from the Legislature and have a panel of retired judges draw new lines in...

San Francisco -- A 21-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Friday for murdering the son of California's secretary of state during a street robbery, the San Francisco District Attorney's office said. Clifton Terrell Jr. could have faced the death penalty for shooting the 27-year-old son of Secretary of State Bruce McPherson in November 2001 because murder committed during the course of a robbery is a special circumstance under California law. But former District Attorney Terence Hallinan, an opponent of capital punishment, elected not to seek a death sentence for Terrell, who had turned...

Scientology, The Clearwater Bar Association, and Judge Greer Judge George W. Greer presides over Florida's Sixth Judicial Circuit Court. He is known internationally for the Terri Schindler Schiavo guardianship case. Pat Anderson, former attorney for the Schindlers, characterized Judge Greer's unprecedented rulings as "The Rule of Terri's Case." The Clearwater Bar Association is delighted with Judge Greer's performance in this particular case. They presented the John U. Bird award to the Pinellas-Pasco Circuit judge on May 15, 2004. This prestigious award, which is the Clearwater bar's highest honor for a judge, was granted to Judge Greer for the way he...

Shelley's Last Day As Secretary Of State Uneventful Friday was the last day in office for California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, who has already packed up his office and left town. "Kevin Shelley was here on Tuesday. (He) called an agency-wide staff meeting. (He was) very, very cordial, very pleasant. (He) thanked the staff for all of their hard work," said Secretary of State Office spokeswoman Caren Daniels-Meade. Shelley stepped down after being investigated for misuse of government money. He made the announcement last month and was set to resign March 1. But he extended the date until Friday...

Terrell convicted in McPherson killing SON OF SECRETARY OF STATE BRUCE MCPHERSON WAS GUNNED DOWN ON S.F. STREET By Ken McLaughlin and Mary Anne Ostrom Mercury News More than three years after former state Sen. Bruce McPherson's son was murdered in a botched San Francisco street robbery, 21-year-old Clifton Terrell Jr. was found guilty of the crime Wednesday. Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, his wife, Mary, and other family and friends helped fill the San Francisco courtroom every day of the two-week trial, which ended Feb. 22. Sentencing is set for May 6. Assistant District Attorney Harry Dorfman said he...

(02-11) 10:01 PST SACRAMENTO, (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to name a longtime former Santa Cruz legislator, Bruce McPherson, as California's 29th secretary of state Friday, sources told the San Jose Mercury News. McPherson, 61, who left the state Senate last year after 11 years in the Legislature, would replace Kevin Shelley, who resigned last Friday while facing numerous investigations into his conduct in office. Shelley's resignation takes effect March 1. The governor's office scheduled an 11 a.m. announcement on the appointment.

June 30, 2003 Chairman, Public Safety Committee State of California Sen. Bruce McPherson Via: Fax (916) 445-4688 Dear Senator McPherson, United States defense contractors such as Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Inc., Murfreesboro, TN USA rely on orders from the US Military as a primary source of income but this government income for most contractors is only part of the necessary income for long term survival. Commercial or civilian product sales are also a main source of income that makes payroll and for good working conditions for their employees. We must support these defense contractors in both peace and war and allow...

Dear Sierra Friends, A very good Friday afternoon to you all! In case you had not heard, I wanted to make sure you knew that the Sierra Nevada Conservancy bill, AB 2600, will be heard on the Senate Floor this coming Monday, August 23. Senator Bruce McPherson (R—Santa Cruz) will be presenting AB 2600 as the bill’s official floor jockey. Below, I am including material we’ve put together on the highlights of the consensus reached by Assemblyman Leslie and Assemblyman Laird and the Schwarzenegger Administration. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me by phone or e mail....

DILORENZO IS ESSENTIALLY CORRECT that the tariff supplied ninety percent of federal revenue before the Civil War. For the thirty years from 1831 to 1860 it was eighty-four percent, but for the 1850s as a decade it was indeed ninety percent. But the idea that the South paid about seventy-five percent of tariff revenues is totally absurd. DiLorenzo bases this on pages 26-27 of Charles Adams, When in the Course of Human Events, but Adams comes up with these figures out of thin air, and worse, appears to be measuring the South's share of exports, and then transposing that percentage...

<p>A .50-caliber BMG sniper rifle, in the wrong hands, would be terrorism unleashed.</p> <p>The gun is powerful enough to punch a hole in an oil tank or take down a civilian airplane. Its 5 1/2-inch long bullets can pierce an inch of armor 40 yards away and hit a target a mile away. A massive weapon, with some models weighing in at 28 pounds, it's ill-suited for hunters -- it would take out a deer and the tree behind it -- but ideal for assassins.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO - Buried under a pile of papers on state Sen. Bruce McPherson's desk on the fourth floor of the Capitol is a handwritten note from a Democratic colleague: ``More than any other single person here now, you are in a position to force a break in this dire logjam.''</p>

July will bring the 140th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg. Across Pennsylvania fields baking under the hot summer sun, reenactors will be out in force - most from the South, eager to replay, or imaginatively reverse, the whole encounter. Reenactments began in 1913, a time closer to the battle than to us. But Gettysburg is a place that history embalmed as a special shrine long ago. What new could there be to say about it?In the hands of two master historians, Stephen Sears and James McPherson, plenty, it turns out - though their books serve quite different purposes. McPherson's...

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) -- A judge in San Francisco held two young men for trial on almost all counts in the 2001 robbery-killing of a state senator's son and several other street robberies committed the same night. Dwayne Reed, 23, hung his head down as Superior Court Judge Kay Tsenin read her ruling. Last week she had found his Miranda rights had been violated and his admissions to police could not be used against him at trial, even though they were available at this stage of the proceeding because she deemed them voluntarily given. Nineteen-year-old Clifton Terrell, Reed's co-defendant in...

Princeton professor James M. McPherson's recent arguments for affirmative action, in a newsletter to members of the American Historical Association, makes many sweeping assertions and implicit assumptions that need not even be challenged to show the shakiness of his arguments. However, since we both belong to an organization devoted to history, let me make a few corrections of the history that Professor McPherson offers. First of all, he mentions that his academic career began in 1962 at Princeton, as a result of what he now calls "the infamous 'old boy network,' " which he characterizes as affirmative action for white...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A gambling investigation at Florida State centers on former Seminoles quarterback Adrian McPherson, who was kicked off the team last month after he was accused of stealing a check. University vice president John Carnaghi said Thursday that police ''are investigating rumors and hearsay regarding a single, former football player, Adrian McPherson.'' ''The investigation does not currently extend to any other student athletes at FSU,'' he said. McPherson's lawyer, Grady Irvin Jr., said his client has never bet on a sporting event. McPherson started four games this season, going 3-1. ''We will not participate in this unbelievable rumor...

As things seem to be going at present, it would seem that we are about to be bombarded with yet another round of blatant anti-Southern propaganda straight from the mouths and pens of Marxist/socialist "historians" who really know better but hope you don't. We were recently "treated" to yet another showing of Ken Burns' "The Civil War." I've heard comments by some that this series was somewhat redone and is, this time around, more objective than in the past. Having watched the miserable thing in its entirety twice over the years I felt no need to subject myself to it...

Some of the pro-north activists around here have been asking for a factual refutation of McPherson. Since I'm too cheap to purchase "Battle Cry" due to the fact that its revenues go into the pocket of an avowed Democrat with marxist political affiliations, I decided to examine his positions in one of those free articles on the web. Here goes... The following is intended as a refutation and analysis of the main arguments found in James McPherson's article "The Civil War: Causes and Results." I've broken it down by section to address his arguments in detail. His statements are selected...

The New York Review of BooksJune 13, 2002 Review Could the South Have Won? By James M. McPherson Look Away! A History of the Confederate States of America by William C. Davis The South vs. the South: How Anti-Confederate Southerners Shaped the Course of the Civil War by William W. Freehling Lee and His Army in Confederate History by Gary W. Gallagher The War Hits Home: The Civil War in Southeastern Virginia by Brian Steel Wills The field of Civil War history has produced more interpretative disputes than most historical events. Next to debates about the causes of the...