Free Republic

A county ethics commission in Maryland has determined that if you make negative statements about transgenderism, your word is not reliable. The stunning conclusion, now under appeal at a state ethics panel, was made by the Montgomery County Ethics Commission and signed by member Nina Weisbroth in a four-year-old dispute over an effort to hold a referendum on the county’s adoption of what’s become known as the “coed showers” bill. The law provides “discrimination” protections for transgenders, and critics say it opens up virtually all of the county – from shower rooms to restrooms to other private areas – to...

Democratic Sen. Edd Houck announced Thursday he will not request a recount and conceded his race to Republican challenger Bryce Reeves, giving the GOP complete control of government in Richmond. Houck, a seven-term incumbent from Spotsylvania, was 86 votes behind Reeves on election night Tuesday, but the gap grew to 222 after localities tallied provisional ballots. The 0.5 percent difference in 45,077 votes was still close enough for Houck to ask for a recount, but he said he would decline that opportunity during a press conference Thursday. Reeves' victory gives the GOP a two-seat gain in the Senate and forces...

The fight over the California Dream Act, controversial legislation signed by Gov. Jerry Brown to help illegal immigrant students pay for college, is not over. Earlier this week, State Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Hesperia, started gathering signatures for a referendum that would eliminate part of the act. He wants to overturn Assembly Bill 131, which Brown signed on Oct. 9 allowing illegal immigrant students to apply for state-funded scholarships.

After a tumultuous day of political gamesmanship, Prime Minister George Papandreou called off his plan to hold a referendum on Greece’s new loan deal with the European Union, opened talks on a unity government with his conservative opponents and vowed to continue in office despite rumors he would resign. In an address to his party’s central committee on Thursday evening, Mr. Papandreou said there was no need for a referendum now that the opposition New Democracy Party had said it would back the debt deal. He invited that party to become “co-negotiators” on the new deal. “The question was never...

Greece's Prime Minister has told Sky News the referendum on the the eurozone bailout plan will no longer go ahead - and it was never his intention for it to happen. "The referendum was never an end in itself," George Papandreou told the cabinet according to statements released by his office. "We had a dilemma - either true assent or a referendum. I said yesterday, if the assent were there, we would not need a referendum." Mr Papandreou had been under pressure to stand down, as a split emerged in his government over the plans to hold a public vote...

Campaigning in Ohio today, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney stopped by a Republican Party phone-bank making calls in support of Gov. John Kasich's government union reform referendum, but refused to endorse the actual referendum. CNN's Peter Hamby called the scene an "incredible moment in politics."

Republican Mark Amodei won the Congressional election yesterday in Nevada by 20 POINTS. It was NOT EVEN CLOSE. Republican Mark Amodei speaks at a victory party in Reno on Tuesday after defeating Democrat Kate Marshall in a special election for Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District. Amodei’s daughters Erin, left, and Ryanne were among the supporters on hand. (LV Sun) Amodei won by more than 20 points in a referendum on Barack Obama’s failed policies. Reuters reported: Nevada Republican Mark Amodei easily won a special election on Tuesday to fill a vacant House of Representatives seat in a largely rural district that...

A group of Republican leaders said Monday that the new redistricting plan will be challenged by a referendum drive. "A referendum will be filed with respect to the Senate lines and possibly the congressional lines," said California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro. "The California Republican Party will wholeheartedly support those efforts when they come about." He said the redistricting commission's actions "have been unfair if not unconstitutional." GOP lawmakers and activists have formed a committee called Fairness & Accountability in Redistricting to launch a petition drive to overturn the state Senate lines, according to Republican political consultant Dave Gilliard.

Do California Democrats want to eviscerate the initiative process, or merely smother it to death with a blanket of supposed reforms? The party has almost complete control of state government and apparently doesn't want to contend with pesky ballot measures. So this year – the 100th anniversary of the initiative, the referendum and the recall – it has declared war. Last weekend, the state Democratic executive board made it official, declaring that "the initiative process is being abused by the use of misleading titles and advertisements by unscrupulous signature-gathering companies, hired signature collectors, and concealed sponsors to create laws and...

Conservative leaders in California are gathering support for a referendum to block the state’s new law that mandates that history curricula highlight homosexual figures, and that forbids any teaching that reflects negatively upon homosexuality. Governor Jerry Brown this month signed SB 48, which mandates an emphasis on “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender” role models in K-12 history and social science textbooks. In response, the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) with several other pro-family organizations quickly launched a referendum for a SB 48 repeal. Papers have been filed with the California Attorney General’s Office, where officials will craft an official title and...

Nearly bankrupt Nassau County, NY is proposing a $800 million bond issue to build a hockey arena. Tea Party and conservative groups are rising up in opposition to this very expensive and bad proposal. The NY Daily News and the Long Island News are opposing the bond.And the politicians have scheduled a vote on this proposal on August 1, hoping taxpayers would not pay attention during the summer months. For more news on this travesty visit Beat the Bond https://sites.google.com/site/beatthebond/home there is a link to a Facebook page.

Opponents of a Maryland same-sex marriage bill are preparing for its passage in the General Assembly by directing their efforts to a referendum that would delay implementation of the measure until December 2012 at the earliest. The bill, called the Civil Marriage Protection Act, passed the state Senate on Thursday and is before the House of Delegates, where supporters say they are only a handful of votes short of the 71 needed to approve the measure. Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, has indicated that he would sign the bill. But opponents are also looking beyond the vote to a Maryland...

The Maryland Senate on Thursday evening approved a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state, sending the issue to the House of Delegates where a similar measure is scheduled for debate beginning Friday. The Civil Marriage Protection Act cleared the Senate on a 25-21 vote after it was amended in recent days to provide additional protections to religious groups that oppose gay marriage to ensure they can’t be legally compelled to perform or take part in ceremonies or to recognize the unions. The bill was passed one day after the Obama administration announced it had withdrawn its legal support for...

ZURICH—Following an emotional debate over gun control, Swiss voters firmly rejected a referendum that would have forced soldiers to end the longstanding practice of keeping army-issue firearms at home and tightened restrictions over civilian gun ownership. According to exit polls, 57% of voters rejected the initiative. The referendum sparked a heated debate over the right to bear arms in a country that has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world. Between 1.2 million and 4.5 million firearms are estimated to be in circulation in Switzerland, putting the Alpine country behind only the U.S. and Yemen in...

As the international spotlight on South Sudan’s referendum shines even brighter at two days and counting, little attention has been directed at the political posturing that escalated in the North over the holidays. As stakeholders in the North imagine the possible political reconfigurations in a post-secession Sudan, it should be remembered that the political relations that emerge in a new northern state have everything to do with the future of marginalized areas – Darfur, Blue Nile, South Kordofan, the East – and the potential for the resumption of mass violence across the country. Questions of the type of state the...

"David Cameron says he is 'exasperated' and 'furious' with the way in which he has no power other than to capitulate to bullying from European Courts," said UKIP Leading Spokesman Nigel Farage. "Well he must at last be sharing the rage of the British people who are fed up with being dictated to by people like him and his close friends in Brussels. "As far as anybody can see the fact that he may allow rapists and murderers to vote is a direct consequence of Britain's acceptance of the Lisbon Treaty, which put the European Convention on Human Rights and...

But Barack Obama is not an "other" so much as he is a child of the 1960s. His coming of age paralleled exactly the unfolding of a new "counterculture" American identity. And this new American identity—and the post-1960s liberalism it spawned—is grounded in a remarkable irony: bad faith in America as virtue itself, bad faith in the classic American identity of constitutional freedom and capitalism as the way to a better America. So Mr. Obama is very definitely an American, and he has a broad American constituency. He is simply the first president we have seen grounded in this counterculture...

George Soros is a major funder of the Democratic Party. The party sometimes has problems motivating young people, who vote overwhelmingly Democratic, to get to the polls. One way Soros has helped drive them to get into the voting booth is to stoke up their enthusiasm with efforts such as MoveOn.Org - give them a sense of involvement. Barack Obama uses the same strategy: meetups, basketballs games, Organized for America, the internet: make it fun for young people to become Democrats. But over the last year, the young have grown disaffected with Democrats; midterms always pose a problem with...

The group claims that Beyer interfered with its efforts to gather petition signatures to place a question repealing the county's new transgender protection law on the November 2008 ballot. Witnesses, including one who works for Giant, said they heard Beyer say that the county might penalize Giant for asking that Beyer and some members of her advocacy group, Teach the Facts, not interfere with the signature gathering. The group also claims that Beyer intimidated members and those who wanted to sign the petition, saying they would be labeled as bigots and their information would be published online.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama met with activist-actor George Clooney at the White House on Tuesday to discuss U.S. involvement in Sudan ahead of a critical election early next year in Africa's largest nation. Clooney recently returned from Sudan, and is asking the U.S. and world community to use international pressure and robust diplomacy to prevent violence ahead of the Jan. 9 election. The election is an independence referendum on south Sudan that is likely to split the country in two, and there are fears that the vote could lead to a new outbreak of north-south civil war.<>

Missouri voters go to the polls Tuesday for the first-in-the-nation referendum on President Obama's health care plan. It is likely to give Republicans a chance to brag about the unpopularity of Obamacare, but the vote will be largely symbolic. Courts will eventually decide whether Missouri and other states can legally trump federal law and exempt citizens from the mandate to buy insurance. But sending a signal to Washington will be victory enough for the Republicans and Tea Party activists pushing Proposition C. "You don't need to worry about the courts when the people are trying to have their say," says...

Niger's president pushed ahead Tuesday with a controversial referendum on a new constitution that would remove term limits and grant him another three years in office with increased powers. Security forces on trucks with mounted machine-guns blocked the streets around the mayor's office in Niamey, where President Mamadou Tandja cast his ballot. Opposition leaders called the move "illegal" and are boycotting the vote. International donors may respond by cutting aid to one of the world's poorest nations. Ruler of the uranium-rich country since 1999, Tandja, 71, has twice won elections that were hailed as free and fair. But in the...

A great beauty of the American federal system is that any of the 50 states can offer its policies as an experiment for others. So the nation owes some gratitude to Oregon for testing whether it is possible for a state to tax its way from deep recession to prosperity. Oregon's unemployment rate is 11.1%, among the nation's highest. But Oregonians are now voting by mail whether to endorse a pair of tax increases passed by the legislature last year: one to raise the state's top personal income tax, to 11% from 9%, and another to raise the business income...

...At the Swill level, the initiative against the building of minarets was accepted with 59% of the votes according to the projections of the SSR. The majority of cantons voted against it. This run directly against the polls that were taken before the vote...

A UKIP petition demanding a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU has been launched in the biggest-ever call to arms on the right to have a say over Europe. People will be given the chance to sign up to the petition online, by post or in the street at UKIP stalls run by party supporters. UKIP Leader Nigel Farage said: "This is a real chance for the people of Great Britain to show whoever forms the next Government that they are sick of being lied to and that they want a say over our continuing membership of the European...

The two-member elections board said it could not accept the Marriage Initiative of 2009, filed by the Stand4MarriageDC coalition, because it "authorizes discrimination prohibited under the District of Columbia Human Rights Act." "This undemocratic decision is outrageous and a slap in the face of every resident of the District of Columbia," Mr. Jackson said. "To deny the people their fundamental right to vote on such an important issue as the definition of marriage in our society is simply appalling."

TEN years ago republican campaigner Phil Cleary celebrated a glorious referendum defeat by saying that "very soon" Australians would have the republic they wanted. Cleary's Real Republic group and other supporters of direct election had thrown in their lot with the monarchists to campaign for the rejection of a republic with a president appointed by parliament, a decision that helped turn a monarchist minority into a majority of rejectionists. Their strategy, as Cleary explained, was that, following the failure of the referendum, "I'm of the view that the momentum will build immediately" for the republic that people wanted, namely one...

LONDON (AFP) – David Cameron, leader of the Conservative party, widely tipped to be the next prime minister, is to drop plans for a referendum on the European Union's key reforming Lisbon Treaty, a newspaper said Tuesday. Cameron is set to announce he will abandon a pledge to hold a vote on the treaty if his party wins the country's general election due by next June, the Daily Telegraph said. A referendum had threatened to cause a headache for the European Union amid delays over the introduction of the treaty in the 27-nation bloc, which must be ratified by all...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The chief justice of the California Supreme Court is criticizing the state's reliance on the referendum process, saying it has "rendered our state government dysfunctional." .. the widespread use of referendums to change state laws and constitutions hampers legislators, burdens the judicial branch and gives special interests too much power. George says the system places California's lawmakers in a "fiscal straitjacket" that prevents them from effectively solving the state's financial crisis. The speech .. entitled "The Perils of Direct Democracy: The California Experience."

There has been some Internet chatter and small amounts of media attention on having a national referendum on health care. It was brought up at a very spirited Town Hall meeting with Senator Arlen Specter this week. One of the participants said to him that the issue should be decided the old fashioned way...by majority rule. "We'll tell you if we like your plan. Hows that work?" Specter, being the "career" politician, (and turn-coat), that he is was quick to answer, "Well, that's a fascinating idea to have a referendum," he said, "Well, that's one of the ideas I'm going...

Oregon's most recent Legislative session was marked by some disturbing trends.The greatest of which was the deliberate efforts to negate the will of Oregon voters. First, the legislature passed tax increases that will drastically affect Oregon citizens and businesses and they refused to send these taxes to the people for a vote. Most likely because they knew it would never pass. Instead of legislating the will of the people they were sent to Salem to serve, they passed legislation which will have the inevitable effect of costing tens of thousands of jobs in a state already facing unemployment of 13%....

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics rejected a proposal to allow voters to decide on whether the District should recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. Monday's ruling against a referendum irked pastors and traditional marriage supporters who want the people to be able to decide on the critical moral and social issue. "The real human rights issue at stake in this decision is whether the people of D.C. will be given their right to vote," Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md., told The Washington Post. "We are not going to sit still for allowing an unelected...

Tuesday night was tough for Sacramento: State lawmakers were handed a decisive defeat as voters rejected a series of ballot initiatives that would have allowed lawmakers to raise taxes and raid designated state funds to close a massive hole in the budget. Now the state legislature must work with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to craft a budget that reduces spending to levels that neither wants to accept. Their only alternative is to beg President Obama for a bailout on top of the stimulus funds Congress has already approved. Proposition 1A offered the carrot of a spending cap in exchange for the...

<p>Herman Escarrá says that Chávez would decree a state of emergency if he looses the referendum. He considers that the President will be defeated because in Venezuela they do not like the theme of indefinite re-election.</p> <p>President Hugo Chavez will decree a state of emergency if he loses the referendum on the amendment that will permit his re-election indefinitely, the constitutional lawyer Herman Escarrá asserted in an emphatic manner.</p>

Not many are aware November fourth isn’t just a presidential election, some think that it is just an opportunity to elect a nice African-American others think that it is a referendum against Bush policies others think they are voting to end a war. November is a - Referendum On Socialism – and nothing less. If hundreds of conservative bloggers like myself, those at Free Republic, Power Line, Hot Air and many others affiliated with Pajama Media start driving home that November Fourth is a - Referendum On Socialism - on all your respective blogs the semantics of the term might...

The U.S. election of 2008 is shaping up as a contest about a vice-president — possibly a first in America. In most American elections, few things matter less than the second-in-command. In this one, judging by the media attention, few things matter more. There are various reasons for this, but one is obvious. John McCain is 72. Never has a 2IC had better odds of becoming a commander-in-chief before she figured out the location of the washrooms in the White House than this Republican nominee. Her resumé might end up reading: Small town mayor; small state governor; leader of the...

The U.S. Supreme Court created a huge political backlash when it ruled that local governments could use eminent domain to seize private property and transfer it to other private owners for "economic development." Since the Kelo ruling in 2005, 42 states have enacted limitations on eminent domain — not always effective ones. But like lawmakers in many other states, some California officials are trying to block real eminent domain reform. On June 3, Californians will vote on Proposition 99, a ballot initiative sponsored by groups representing cities, counties, redevelopment agencies and other pro-condemnation interests. It purports to protect property rights...

Lisbon will be crucial for Cowen The first and most pressing political challenge for the new taoiseach [Irish leader] will be to secure the passage of the Lisbon Treaty in the referendum to be held on June 12. Though European issues often tend not to be rated by the electorate, it would be difficult to overestimate the importance placed by the government on passing the treaty. Belief in the treaty is shared by all other parties in the Dáil apart from Sinn Fein, and all parties will campaign on the issue. However, should the treaty be rejected by voters, it...

TEXAS CITY — A massive superhighway that Texans have protested at public hearings statewide drew heated opposition among Galveston County residents, who said they feared the toll road would cripple the local shipping industry and do nothing to improve insufficient hurricane evacuation routes. The Trans-Texas Corridor would wind from Laredo to Corpus Christi, wrap around the western edge of Greater Houston, parallel Interstate 59 through East Texas and leave the state in Texarkana. But residents at a public hearing Thursday night in Texas City questioned the real purpose for the road, which would also be part of a national Interstate...

George Washington said the following: “The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.” "The National Initiative for Democracy is a proposed law developed by The Democracy Foundation, over the past decade, along with a plan to get it enacted by the people (not by the government) creating, for the first time, a government 'by you, the people.'"

This is one of the best short online videos I have seen in a long time.Go to the link above, or here:http://www.el-nacional.com/www/site/detalle_multimedia.php?q=med/5947Let it load (be patient if not on good broadband), turn up your speakers, and get dig this totally ballistic Hugo Chavez supporter after losing an election in Venezuela recently.You won't be disappointed. This is right after the communist Reds in Venezuela under Chavez lost a vote to anti-Chavez forces.

CARACAS (AFP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday he will govern until 2013 when his mandate ends, now that voters rejected constitutional reforms that would have allowed him to seek endless reelection. "The shouting is one thing, the reality another ... The reform was not approved, so I have to leave the government in the year 2013. I will work tirelessly until the last day I have left here," Chavez said at an event in the capital. He also told his supporters: "You have a debt with me, you will tell me if you will repay it or...

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, loser in the recent Venezuelan national referendum which would grant him increasing dictatorial powers, has ended his brief benevolence and contrition (if it ever was there) it would seem. But he did so with a backdrop of Venezuela's top military, sending a strong, yet somewhat shaky, staged subliminal message to his opponents.The video (short, in Spanish) is at the link above and here: http://www.el-nacional.com/www/site/detalle_multimedia.php?q=med/5475 Just hit the white "arrow" to see.

During this year's legislative session, Texas had an "oh, wait, hold on, don't do that" moment on privately funded tollways. Fair enough, but now it's time to figure out what the state should do, including how to pay for what the state's highway czar calls a $100 billion shortfall in money needed for essential highway projects. Ric Williamson, the Weatherford businessman who is chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, says "the entire future of the state transportation system" depends on potential revenue from private toll road investors. Without it, staffers with the Texas Department of Transportation told commission members at...

This is the first time I've posted anything, so forgive me for whatever mistakes I make. Yesterday on FR, several articles appeared about the passage of SB 777 in California. See Tom McClintock: The Perils of Perfection... (SB 777 - Fight back!) Governor Signs SB 777 New law will open female locker rooms to transgender men CA: Governor Signs SB 777 (New law will open female locker rooms to transgender men) One article mentioned the Capitol Resource Institute in California, a traditional family organization. I joined the organization, and received the following e-mail from them. "Last fall California families were...

The perfect liberal dream! "Now that summer is over, things are really heating up here in New Jersey – The Garden State! November is rapidly approaching and a $450 million stem cell bond question will be on the ballot for us to answer “Yes” or “No.” The question does not inform voters on what stem cell research will be performed. As we all know adult stem cells are highly successful – and do not require millions of dollars since they can be derived from bone marrow, umbilical chord blood and even from skin etc. However, this is not the type...

THE Kremlin said it may call a referendum on the closure of the Lenin mausoleum - where the mummified body of the father of the Russian Revolution once lay in honour. "It's obvious that having this necropolis in the centre of the country is a nonsense," Vladimir Kozhine, a Kremlin policy-maker said in the official Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper due to appear tomorrow. "But as for knowing whether it should be there or not, that's for others to decide and the best way for that is a referendum. "If 80 per cent of people say that Lenin's body should be buried,...

Beware of Bipartisanship by: Malcolm A. Kline, October 01, 2007 Even at the collegiate level, it is a good idea to look carefully at proposals that are “bipartisan,” such as the proposed increase in student fees at George Washington University here that students there recently rejected in an online vote that both the College Democrats and College Republicans supported. “The student body rejected a referendum to increase the student fee in a special election Tuesday, leaving the Student Association short of money it would like to allocate to student organizations,” Andrew Springer reported in the GW Hatchet online in a...

Thatcher urges Brown to allow EU treaty referendumLady Thatcher today urged Gordon Brown to allow a referendum on the EU Treaty. "This Treaty matters Prime Minister, so be bold and let the British people have the final say!" The former Prime Minister backed the newspaper campaigns for a referendum, saying: "Yet again the British people are being told that the changes in the Treaty are not important, that they are technical, and that in any case we have either blocked or gained opt-outs in all the worst cases. Well we've heard it all before only to see more and more...