Free Republic

You need to go read the original post first. Here's the link: America, the new serfdom.Are you one of the few Americans who knows your American rights, knows the value of them, and knows how to defend them? Let's find out. 1) Explain the connection between rights and freedom. 2) Explain in legal terms how a right creates freedom. 3) Explain why a courtroom is the best place to claim and assert your rights. 4) List 10 of your fundamental American rights. There are way more than 10. I'm just asking for 10. 5) Cite the legal authority for those...

Governments tend toward tyranny. Governments are comprised of selfish humans with personal desires for money, job security, and increased authority over fellow citizens. A citizen working for a government has opportunities to rule over and oppress fellow citizens, they would never have outside their government position. Therefore, government becomes a magnet for selfish power-seeking individuals. By their sheer size and superior firepower, governments tend to overrun and ignore personal rights. The machine capriciously devours it's victims. The Declaration of Independence declares that governments exist to protect the rights of citizens. The Constitution for the United States of America further states...

A British man was jailed for five hours after he photographed a cop reversing the wrong way up a one-way street. After Andrew Carter snapped the cop van, officer Aqil Farooq leaped out, hit the camera to the ground, handcuffed him and bundled him into the back of the vehicle. The plumber, 44, was arrested for supposedly being drunk, resisting arrest and assaulting the officer with the camera. He was kept in cells before finally being released on police bail at midnight. Carter, of Bedminster, Bristol, said: “I was nearly knocked down there once so when the police van went...

OSBI agents went to gun dealers and pawnshops to create a list of .40-caliber Glock owners. WELEETKA — Authorities working to narrow their leads in the June 8 shooting deaths of two girls used old-fashioned legwork to come up with a list of area gun owners with .40-caliber pistols, one of two weapons used in the slayings. Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agents knew the caliber of the guns used in the killings, so they merely checked with area gun dealers and pawnshops to determine who had bought or recently pawned .40-caliber Glocks. "It's a typical procedure of any investigation"...

Randy Sly, Associate Editor and Washington Correspondent for Catholic Online spoke this weekend with Rev. Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition upon his return to Washington after being deported by Chinese Authorities. Rev. Mahoney, along with two leaders from Generation Life, Brandi Swindell and Mike McMonagle, were in China to bring awareness to the world about issues involving human rights, life, and social justice. They were detained twice by police and finally deported. RWS: Pat, when did you begin to plan for the demonstration in Beijing? PM: When we heard a couple of years ago that Beijing would be...

As the world watches, the news cycle will be filled this week with the wonder of Olympic competition. The stories of athletes whose skill, struggle and triumph will be properly praised and the magnificence of their accomplishments will thrill us all and hopefully inspire the best in each one of us. We will also see the finest character on display as human persons from every Nation, race and tribe find their common ground in Sport because it brings out our values. However, the other story will unfold as well. The China not seen in that perfectly ordered celebration; the one...

Had the National Population and Family Planning Commission not rescinded its invitation, I would be in China right now as the Olympics opened. But the Commission, which is responsible for enforcing the one-child policy, belatedly realized that I was a well-known critic of that policy--and of that country's human rights record in general-- and barred the door. I confess to not having been overly disappointed by their decision. Despite the fact that I read, write and speak Chinese, it would have been nearly impossible for me to do anything else in Beijing but the one thing that I will not...

Everyone knows this, but it's worth repeating: The Republican Party is the party of Abraham Lincoln and was established in 1854 to block the expansion of slavery. The Democratic Party was the party of slavery: Its two founders, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, owned large numbers of slaves, and every party platform before the Civil War defended the institution unequivocally. After the war, it was the Republican Party that rammed through the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution over Democratic opposition. Republicans also enacted a series of civil-rights laws that culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1875,...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Proponents of gun rights gathered in the Loop Friday to push legislation legalizing concealed weapons in Illinois. Among the speakers at the rally was a Texas state representative whose parents were among 23 people gunned down at Luby's cafeteria in 1991. Recent rallies at the Thompson Center have been demands for gun control laws following fatal shootings of Chicago children. Thursday, the plaza was full again, but the message was from those demanding the right to bear arms. In a show of support for responsible gun ownership, about 200 chose the plaza of the Thompson Center for...

Recently I discovered this blog and find its conservative views aligned with mine. Some of you may also. Lorenzo Verlaine

Read the Declaration today. Then read it to your kids. Talk to them about the sacrifice of time, treasure and life that our Founders made (and that many in their families made as well). Ask them if they would have signed, knowing that as they did so, they were signing their own death warrants. Then remind them that today, as we eat hot dogs and corn-on-the-cob and gasp at amazing pyrotechnical displays (probably from China), we have men and women—almost children themselves—fighting and dying to protect our liberty. Most of you who have discovered this site hold the same profound...

"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." -Thomas Paine --Disclaimer-- Highly offensive material listed Is anyone aware of this subculture known as ghetto bragging rights? I feel these items need more attention due to the seriousness. I feel it is necessary to either authenticate this movement and push back or make a determination that is just a front for white supremacists. Either way, it is the most vile issue I have ever looked into. Some of the more revolting items I have gleaned are... ...Along with a variety of protests which may include theatrical home invasions, carjackings, strong armed...

Here's video of a scene that would play out much differently in most places outside New Hampshire...Ryan Marvin of Manchester shows up to file a complaint against the police while openly wearing his massive .22. http://youtube.com/watch?v=zrhmhxDd1S4

<p>A Canadian stand-up comedian will face a human rights tribunal hearing after a woman complained she and her friends faced a "tirade of homophobic and sexist comments" while attending one of his shows.</p> <p>In a decision released this week, the B. C. Human Rights Tribunal ruled there is enough evidence to hear the case of Vancouver woman Lorna Pardy against Toronto comedian Guy Earle. Zesty's Restaurant in Vancouver, where the May 22, 2007, show took place, has also been named in the complaint.</p>

· Candidate's stance at odds with former position · Democrat backs death penalty for child rapist Barack Obama intensified his campaign to appeal to voters on the life-and-death issues of the American heartland yesterday by stepping away from his past support for gun control. In the latest in a series of policy reversals for the Democratic presidential candidate, Obama came out in support of yesterday's supreme court decision overturning a gun ban in the city of Washington that had been a model for fighting urban crime. He had previously supported the Washington ban, the strictest in the US. It was...

Clashes are increasing between Somali Muslims and Minnesota employers. Can the loose-fitting garb be a safety hazard? Is there a difference between a bathroom break and a prayer break? Fatuma Hassan has just enough rice in her near-empty cupboards to make it through the month. The anger she felt when she lost her job in May has given way to a dull, nagging hunger. Yet this soft-spoken 22-year-old became an unlikely hero within the Somali community when she and five of her Muslim co-workers were dismissed last month from the Mission Foods tortilla factory in New Brighton for refusing to...

On the same day that Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for president, the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest LGBT lobbying group, issued a dire warning about John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee. HRC vice president David Smith, in a telephone press conference, argued that the November election presents a clear choice between "an ally of our movement or someone who pushes back consistently against our interests." Only a week earlier, HRC endorsed the incumbent US senator from Maine, Susan Collins, a Republican, because of her record of support for LGBT issues. Smith emphasized that the group's...

A group of Muslim workers allege they were fired by a New Brighton tortilla factory for refusing to wear uniforms that they say were immodest by Islamic standards. Six Somali women claim they were ordered by a manager to wear pants and shirts to work instead of their traditional Islamic clothing of loose-fitting skirts and scarves, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil liberties group that is representing the women.

Why not legalize same-sex marriage? Who could it possibly hurt? Children and the rest of society. That’s the conclusion of David Blankenhorn, who is anything but an anti-gay “bigot.” He is a life-long, pro-gay, liberal democrat who disagrees with the Bible’s prohibitions against homosexual behavior. Despite this, Blankenhorn makes a powerful case against Same-Sex marriage in his book, The Future of Marriage. He writes, “Across history and cultures . . . marriage’s single most fundamental idea is that every child needs a mother and a father. Changing marriage to accommodate same-sex couples would nullify this principle in culture and in...

LBJ should share in Obama's success Johnson's voting rights program marked an earlier pivotal point in American history. And yet his name is rarely invoked. By Carl Leubsdorf As former aides, historians and journalists met recently at a celebration of Lyndon Johnson's 100th birthday, a persistent theme was the way echoes of his presidency still reverberate through the nation's politics. Four decades after Johnson's inability to settle the Vietnam War destroyed his presidency, the nation is coping with how to extricate itself from another quagmire - in Iraq. But the impact of his landmark domestic achievements, especially the historic measures...

Other gun bloggers (War on Guns and Snowflakes in Hell, to name a couple), have covered the outrageous (and criminal) police harassment of open carry activists in Dickson City, PA. The police thuggery eventually led to the arrest of a man who had broken no laws, and the confiscation of his entirely legal firearm. As I said, this has already been well covered. The reason I am writing about it today is to respond to this editorial piece, "Big difference in right v. smart." Police detained one of the armed diners and temporarily confiscated his weapon when he declined to...

We have been told for as long as we can remember that voting is a god given right in this country. To be politically incorrect “One man, one vote” is what we are told. How could anyone disagree? What a wonderful world we live in with our wonderful democracy here in the U.S. Well I, the WhiteDevil, will now disagree. We already put some limitations on voting. We may not vote until we are 18. Not all people living in America can vote such as legal or illegal immigrants. Felons cannot vote in most places. A judge can remove the...

At Whirlpool Corp. in Evansville, Ind., 39 factory workers, all who had claimed they were non-smokers to get a $500 discount on their company health insurance, were suspended without pay after they were seen smoking outside their factory.

I found this editorial from the National Organization of Rural Landowners to be a poignant message that goes well beyond the issue of property rights. I believe it worth thinking about and passing on as well as discussing here.

Imagine an election race of Pat Robertson versus James Dobson, each of them appearing at organic grocery stores and Starbucks throughout Massachusetts, with each candidate insisting that he alone deserves the vote of gay-marriage advocates... --snip-- However, having the right to arms and the liberty to hunt is worthless if you can't buy a gun. In 1999, Mr. Obama urged enactment of a federal law prohibiting the operation of any gun store within five miles of a school or park. This would eliminate gun stores from almost the entire inhabited portion of the United States. As a state senate candidate...

I just got off the phone with David Olofson. You may remember he’s the Wisconsin resident who’s awaiting sentencing for transferring ownership of a “machine” gun. You may also remember it was an AR-15 that miss-fired giving off a burst and then jamming. The story has been on the Lou Dobbs Report on CNN. Last night Lou reported that the sentencing hearing has been set for May 8th. David has been railroaded by the ATF. There is an indication that he was set up by the ATF. Jeff Knox of the “Firearms Coalition” relayed to me that the ATF has...

D.C. police have scaled back plans to go door-to-door asking residents in high-crime neighborhoods whether officers can search their homes for guns as part of a new amnesty program aimed at getting weapons off the streets. The Safe Homes program instead will be offered by appointment only at residents' request, said Chief Cathy L. Lanier...

LUXEMBOURG - EU nations that recognize same-sex unions as legal marriages must grant surviving partners the same pension rights as given to those in traditional marriages, the EU Court of Justice ruled Tuesday. The Luxembourg-based court ruling was seen as a victory for a German man who was denied his partner's retirement plan payments after his partner died in 2005. The EU court said pension plan had discriminated against the man on the grounds of sexual orientation because the men's relationship had been recognized under German law as a legally registered life partnership equivalent to a traditional marriage. The court...

...Since the first court hearing about the lesser charges filed against Rodriguez, Kallas said he had felt victimized all over again. That's when he told authorities he would be contacting ABC15. About an hour after our arrival at John's home on Monday, he received a phone call from detectives, telling him the stricter charges were back in place and that Rodriguez would indeed be facing aggravated assault and burglary. ...

It's good to see The Second Amendment proudly upheld out in Nevada.

BEIJING - A Chinese activist who had petitioned for land rights was sentenced Monday to five years in prison and then shocked with electric batons when police scuffled with his family, his lawyer said. Yang Chunlin had gathered more than 10,000 signatures for an open letter titled "We want human rights, not the Olympics." Most of the signatures came from farmers demanding redress for land taken from them by officials for development. Yang, a former factory worker, was convicted of subverting the power of the state, a charge that authorities commonly use to clamp down on dissidents. Family members tried...

As a black American, I would love to see a class action law suit against those responsible for the big lie,“Blacks can't make it in America”. Black America vs The Modern Civil Rights Movement. Big Civil Rights is guilty of an relentless and cruel self aggrandizing effort to instill victim and entitlement mindsets into black youths. Damages are extensive including an elevated percentage of black males in prison, school dropouts, illegitimate births, stolen dreams, racial hatred and anti-patriotism. My witnesses for the prosecution would begin with Oprah, Chris Gardner, portrayed in the movie, “The Pursuit of Happyness” and the roster...

Supreme Court Hears “The Threshold Question” EDITOR's NOTE: Outdoor & Shooting Wire editor Jim Shepherd is in Washington for the Supreme Court's hearings on the Constitutionality of the District of Columbia's long-standing firearms ban. Due to the significance of this story, Jim's feature appears in both the Outdoor and Shooting Wires. Additionally, you can hear the actual Supreme Court arguments on the case, a variety of constitutional experts and Jim discussing the case with Michael Bane on Down Range TV (http://www.downrange.tv/rkba/dc-v-heller.htm). There is extremely heavy traffic on the site, but you can hear one of the most important Supreme Court...

Liberals get really testy when some folks, devout Christians for example, choose to live their lives under God’s laws; but have no compunction in compelling others to live under the tender mercies of the Nanny State where they make the rules. Five years ago, when the smoking ban in restaurants first went into effect in my home state of Connecticut, I told a few folks who were happy about it, that it was only a matter of time before the government came after their private property rights or other issues that were near and dear to their hearts. Most people...

FOR the first time in 70 years, the US Supreme Court will take on the question of whether individual Americans have the right to keep and bear arms or whether it is a collective right of the people for service in a state militia. That question is at the heart of a long, impassioned debate about how much power the government has to keep people from owning guns and it could soon be decided by the US Supreme Court in a case about one of the nation's strictest gun control laws. Set for arguments on March 18 and with a...

You cannot have it both ways! Every year in America, this “both ways” mentality gets worse and worse. Somewhere along the line Americans started thinking that we could have all of our rights and freedoms and have expedient justice and results at the same time. Well, I have to tell you: YOU CANNOT. There is a blend of the two that must be championed if we are going to continue being a successful country. The mortgage crisis of late is one of the great disasters caused by this “have it both ways” mentality. The government was constantly pressured by citizens...

Asian workers work long hours in poor conditions for little pay For decades, migrant workers in the oil-rich Arab states of the Gulf worked hard, sent home millions of dollars' worth of remittances - and seemed immune to labour unrest. Now there are signs that is beginning to change. On Sunday, a court in Dubai sentenced 45 Indian construction workers to six months in prison for their involvement in protests demanding pay increases. On their release from jail, they face deportation. The sentences follow a series of demonstrations late last year, when construction workers demanding better pay and conditions...

An evangelical Christian photographer was brought before the New Mexico Human Rights Commission after she declined for religious reasons to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony. When Elaine Huguenin of Albuquerque, N.M., declined in September 2006 an e-mail request from a lesbian couple to photograph their ceremony, one of the lesbians responded by lodging a human rights complaint with the New Mexico Human Rights Division, the state agency charged with enforcing state anti-discrimination laws and sending cases to the commission to be adjudicated.

Residents of a tony, high-rise condominium along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis are among the first to vote to make their building smoke-free, taking Minnesota's battle over smoking bans into private homes. The rule, at La Rive Condominiums near St. Anthony Main, covers individual units, common areas, garages and private balconies. Current owners who want to smoke will be grandfathered in, but future buyers will have to abide by the rule. Opponents say the ban is an intrusion into private property rights that could hurt resale prospects at a time when the market is already soft. Supporters counter that, not...

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Groping and verbal harassment is an exasperating reality for women using public transportation in this sprawling capital, where 22 million passengers cram onto subways and buses each day. Some men treat women so badly that the subway system has long had ladies-only cars during rush hour, with police segregating the sexes on the platforms. But that hasn't helped women forced to rely on packed buses, by far the city's most-used form of public transportation - until this week. Acting on complaints from women's groups, the city rolled out "ladies only" buses, complete with pink signs in...

A little-publicized Miami charter change proposal on the Jan. 29 ballot includes a gay-rights component. Miami voters are being asked Jan. 29 to approve a 'Citizens' Bill of Rights'' that would, among other things, promote religious freedom, clean air and scenic beauty. It would also ban discrimination on the basis of domestic relationship status, sexual orientation and gender identity and expression -- though relatively few people are aware of it. The proposed city charter change hasn't drawn much attention. The actual ballot wording never mentions gay or transgender rights. On Monday, even some leading gay and Christian activists didn't know...

BARRING some seismic scandal, unforeseen late entry (“Al Who?”), or unlikely surge by John Edwards, it is wholly inevitable that the race for the Democratic nomination will end next August in an epochal first. Either Senator Barack Obama will be the first African-American or Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the first woman to win the presidential nomination of a major American political party. One of them will take the stage at Denver’s Pepsi Center, specked with confetti and soaked in history as a culminating figure of one of the great ideological movements of the last century — civil rights...

Following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi women's rights activist Wajiha Al-Huweidar, which aired on Al-Hurra TV on January 13, 2008: To view this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1656.htm. To view more clips of Wajiha Al-Huweidar, visit http://www.memritv.org/subject/en/460.htm. "This Saudi Patriarchal Culture Has Become Prevalent under Religious Guise" Wajiha Al-Huweidar: "We have raised a generation - I think it began with my own generation - on the belief that we are a special people, that we are the cradle of Islam, that the truth is ours and ours alone, that we are the Saved Sect of Islam. People have begun to...

The news in early December that Mark Steyn and Macleans Magazine are the subject of a complaint to the B.C. and federal Human Rights Commissions because of an article the magazine published, excerpted from Mr. Steyn's book "America Alone", is a higher-profile example of an ongoing pattern in the use of human rights' commissions to penalize the expression of unpopular opinions, says the Catholic League in a press release.  The League is concerned about the disturbing trend, since it often involves opinions based on religious beliefs. In several cases, some of which has seen the League participate as an intervenor,...

Very informative!... This is a very informative discussion by Libertarian Michael Badnarik discussing and explaining the first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Condoms Availability: Most models in stores through April 2005. Clickfor more information. In performance order.Models with identical overall scores are listed alphabetically. Excellent Very good Good Fair Poor   Brand & model Price Overall score Test results Lubricant Features   1 Durex Extra Sensitive Lubricated Latex $0.83 Regular   •   2 Durex Performax Lubricated 0.83 Numbing        3 LifeStyles Classic Collection Ultra Sensitive Lubricated 0.92 Regular   •   4 TheyFit Lubricated 1.00 Regular       5 Trojan Extended Pleasure Climax Control Lubricant 0.83 Numbing         6 Trojan Non-lubricated 0.54 None      ...

Thursday, December 20, 2007 MITT ROMNEY, 2008 HOMEPAGE CAMPAIGN BOXDid Romney's Father Really March With MLK? (UPDATED)I had seen this story yesterday, and been not quite sure what to make of it - some folks said they couldn't find anything to verify Mitt Romney's story of his father, Michigan Governor George Romney, marching with Martin Luther King. Romney said he remembered watching it, and David Broder had apparently made a reference to it in one of his books. And in the passing decades, records get lost, photos (if any) get lost. Memories fade.But it looks like Mitt Romney and his...

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. General Assembly approved a draft resolution Tuesday expressing "deep concern" at the systematic human rights violations in Iran, including torture, flogging, amputations, stoning and public executions. The 192-member world body adopted the resolution by a vote of 73-53 with 55 abstentions. The resolution is not legally binding but carries moral weight and reflects the majority view of world opinion. The resolution was introduced by Canada and backed by the United States and Western nations. It was opposed by many countries whose human rights records have been criticized and who object to the General Assembly targeting...

We often hear liberals refer to a “right” to housing, or health care, or education. Of course, they always make you pay for these “rights” rather than break out their own checkbooks. The truth is, there is no such thing as a right to any material good or service. If there were, then someone else must provide that good or service whether they want to or not. After all, to refuse is to deny someone their right. And if someone must be forced into that provision, they are at best being stolen from and at worst made into the recipient's...

Despite all his tough talk about securing borders and immigration reform, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last month signed AB 976, making California the first state in the union to prohibit landlords from asking tenants about their immigration status. Talk about your dubious distinctions. Not a single Senate or Assembly Republican voted in support of the bill, but the governor -- never one to fret over party loyalties -- signed anyway. The governor's approval of the bill made Bakersfield Assemblywoman Jean Fuller so mad, she fired off a letter to The Californian's editorial page, blasting the bill for "making it easier for...