Free Republic

Gay-rights opponents predict that a ruling from the Massachusetts high court barring out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying here could reinvigorate efforts in a handful of states that do not expressly prohibit such marriages. Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, a conservative legal group based in Florida, said the high court's ruling could strengthen opposition in states that now do not have either a law or a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. "I think that was already in process, but I think that this was just an extra impetus for a state to get a Defense of Marriage Act or a...

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2006 – Coalition forces killed 32 insurgents and destroyed two Taliban headquarters buildings in Afghanistan's Helmand province today, officials at Bagram Air Base said. The early-morning engagement continued into daylight hours as coalition forces defeated a large enemy element that was attempting to retreat into sanctuaries. Coalition forces also discovered large caches of munitions as they overran the Taliban compound and the enemy fled. Coalition forces destroyed the munitions, which included weapons and bomb-making materials, causing multiple secondary explosions and destroying the compound and all enemy military equipment inside. "The capturing of these two compounds with boots...

3/7/2006 - MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AFPN) -- The Spanish detachment here safely moved about a dozen U.S. Air Force officers to Kabul, Afghanistan, March 3. Manas is known as the “Gateway to Operation Enduring Freedom” because all troops moving in and out of Afghanistan stop here first to transfer to civilian or military aircraft. The Spanish detachment’s support helped expedite the effort to move an unusually large influx of troops to this base, said Lt. Suzan Whiting, personnel terminal chief here. It also saved the officers the risk and time of riding in a convoy from Bagram to Kabul...

NORFOLK, Va. - Fellow conservative religious leaders have expressed concern and even open criticism over Pat Robertson's habit of shooting from the hip on his daily religious news-and-talk television program, "The 700 Club." The Christian Coalition founder and former GOP presidential candidate has said American agents should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for pulling Israel out of the Gaza Strip. Some observers say Robertson, who'll turn 76 next month, courts controversy as a strategy to stay recognizable and keep his followers mobilized. Others say he remains important to...

Rome paid tribute to the barbarians clamoring at her gates. It didn't do any good. Paying ransom only postponed the inevitable sacking, burning, and looting of the empire's capital. The UK's Neville Chamberlain sought to pacify Hitler, only to see Brits hiding in basements from the blitzkrieg a few years later. Instead of remembering history's lessons, the Washington Post today indulges in feel-good, intellectual rationalization of Muslim intolerance and hatred. In a 5-page manifesto entitled, "Anatomy of the Cartoon Protest Movement," authors Anthony Shadid and Kevin Sullivan exercise unlimited poetic license, calling Islamist hooliganism "a rare moment of empowerment among...

A conversation with Amir Abbas Fakhravar. Iranian Amir Abbas Fakhravar is a hunted man. A former medical student and journalist for the now-banned reform newspapers Moshareka and Khordad, Fakhravar came to prominence with the publication of his book This Place Is Not a Ditch, in which he criticized Iran’s rulers and called on the Iranian people to reject the mullahs’ regime. For doing so, he was sentenced in 2002 to eight years in prison. His status as a political prisoner and his mistreatment while incarcerated — he was reportedly denied medical care, and suffered frequent physical attacks — brought international...

Who:Hello everyone, and good day. Anyone no matter your sex, race, religion, or creed can join this movement of peace and patriotism. I am founding a group mostly for young conservatives, but really for anyone that is proud to be an American. I urge you to join and share your beliefs, feelings, and ideas for the movement. What:A "Team of Patriots" that will stand up against unpatriotic lunacy. We will work for a better government and country without committing treason, libel, or slander. We strive for greatness without degrading the beautiful country we live in. We will stand up...

WASHINGTON - Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan says he wants this weekend's gathering on the National Mall to be the start of a long-range movement to empower minorities, not just a one-day event. Dubbed the Millions More Movement, Saturday's event marks the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March. "We're tired of begging others to do for us what we have the capacity to pool our resources — intellectually and financially — to do for ourselves," Farrakhan said Thursday at the National Press Club. "We will make demands from our government, but we know those demands will fall on...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 /U.S. Newswire/-- The Millions More Movement weekend will kick off Oct. 14 with a powerful Black Family Conference entitled: "Reparations, Healing, and Hurricane Katrina." This historic national event will take place from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Scripture Cathedral Church, located on 9th and O St. NW (2 blocks from the DC Convention Center) in Downtown Washington D.C. Doors will open at 4 p.m. There will be a special guest appearance by Millions More Movement Convener, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, who will offer words of wisdom and guidance. Hosted by National Co-Convener and New...

ANSWER A CALL TO ACTION: In solidarity with the student movement in Iran, we are seeking international artists and activists to perform guerilla street theatre in Tehran. We are interested in shifting boundaries and altering landscapes by engaging with Tehran's socio-political realities; by displaying the obvious in a satirical and non-confrontational manner. For instance, one scene could be a group, 4 or 5, boys and girls standing at an intersection and laughing aloud to one another. Another would have people wearing various costume's, yet still observing the Islamic dress code i.e girls in pumpkin head outfit or a gorilla suit;...

PHOENIX - Gov. Janet Napolitano wants up to 60 DPS officers certified by the federal government to enforce customs laws - a move that would give the officers authority to stop vehicles headed into Mexico and question the occupants. The proposal, unveiled Monday, would put Department of Public Safety officers at ports of entry along the state's southern border. There, the officers would have the power to demand identification from motorists for no reason except that the vehicles were leaving the country. DPS spokesman Rick Knight said the proposal is far broader than state law, which requires officers to have...

Tehran, Iran, Aug. 22 – An Iranian student activist was sentenced to one year in prison for organising anti-government demonstrations, the head of a student organisation said on Monday. Amir-Hossein Balali, a former student activist in Amir-Kabir University of Technology, had also been accused of inciting public anger against the state during the years 1998-2001, Yashar Qajar said. He also faced charges of insulting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Balali had previously been arrested in the summer 2001 and held in solitary confinement for one month on similar charges. According to Qajar, Balali has been active in setting up...

Contents IntroductionWhat is the PSM/ISM?ISM Rewriting History ACT NOW! - OPPOSE GOOGLE'S PLAN Automatically send emails opposing Google's planSign a petition Introduction According to Lee Kaplan, writing for FrontPageMagazine.com: The Internet giant Google will give news agency status to the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), according to an anonymous source at Google. If true, the ISM—an affiliate of the anarchist/communist wing of the PLO—would be on par with professional news services such as CNN, Fox, and Associated Press. … The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and the Palestinian Solidarity Movement (PSM) are related and interconnected organizations that have one goal: the...

Back in 2003, netwmd.com spearheaded an effort to oppose the Palestinian Solidarity Movement's (PSM) "conference" at Ohio State University (OSU). Despite the fact that the PSM is basically a group of pro-Palestinian terrorist supporters and enablers, Ohio’s “mainstream” Jewish community, including the Ohio State Hillel, did nothing to oppose the 2003 hate fest at OSU – this is even after repeated requests on my part for their assistance. [1] Yesterday, I received a form letter from Hillel decrying the PSM, and asking for money to “help Jewish students respond to the one-sided, anti-Israeli propaganda of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement on...

Auburn Vice Mayor Mike Holmes wants to expand stem cell research. He backs American troops but believes the United States entered Iraq under false pretenses and should leave as soon as possible. He supports abortion rights. And he's a Republican.

MORRISTOWN, Tenn. - A volunteer movement that vows to guard America from a wave of illegal immigration has spread from the dusty U.S.-Mexican border to the verdant hollows of Appalachia. At least 40 anti-immigration groups have popped up nationally, inspired by the Minuteman Project that rallied hundreds this year to patrol the Mexican border in Arizona. "It's like O'Leary's cow has kicked over the lantern. The fire has just started now," said Carl "Two Feathers" Whitaker, an American Indian activist and perennial gubernatorial candidate who runs the Tennessee Volunteer Minutemen, aimed at exposing those who employ illegals. Critics call the...

Green TheologyAustin Ruse, President of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, the only Catholic lobbying group at the United Nations in New York, reports that there are a number of troubling groups circling around the UN. One such group is fairly new and as yet little-reported movement called the United Religious Initiative (URI), now active in 58 countries and 33 states in the U.S. It has been described as "an exclusive, decentralized organization, a spiritual partner of the United Nations." URI positions support population control, environmental extremism, and are radical on sexual matters. A new document signed by URI's...

Iran Press News: The University Student offices of Tahkeem'eh Vahdat has sent out a bulletin reiterating it's stance: "based on an all points boycott of this bogus election and the immovability and unreformability of the regime ruling over Iran; we consider this fake election to be disastrous, highly restrictive and utterly ineffective and the office of the president should be castigated for this pathetic show of force." In several parts of this bulletin, the members of Tahkeem'eh Vahdat have referred to this as a filthy stain on Khatami's departing report card and went on to say that Khatami showed once...

<p>Wright participated in a service for the reinterment of the body of the boy with whom Wright, then 12, was sharing a bed in the Mississippi home of Wright's father 50 years ago. It was the night that lit the fuse of the civil rights revolution.</p>

The emotions this movement inspired coincided with the one deeply moral political phenomenon that postwar America has experienced--Martin Luther King's civil-rights movement. The Rev. King's multiracial civil-rights marches and their role in overturning de jure and de facto segregation in the U.S. were a political and moral achievement. In retrospect, it's clear that the moral clarity of the early civil-rights movement was a political epiphany for many white liberals. Some have since returned to traditional, private lives; others have become neoconservatives. But many active liberals carried along their newly found moral certitude and quasi-religious fervor into nearly every major public-policy...