Free Republic

In my Washington Examiner column this week, I note the media’s failure to draw the connection between recent state abortion regulations (obviously in Texas, but also in Pennsylvania and Virginia) and the murder trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell. In fact, many of the regulations being considered or enacted — including the ones in the bill that Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, D, filibustered last week — stem directly from the recommendations of the Gosnell grand jury. The regulation mentioned most frequently as burdening abortionists is the rule requiring wide hallways. This specific rule, along with closer regulation and oversight of...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has started waging war on the American standard of living. During the past few years, the agency has undertaken the most expansive regulatory assault in history on the production and distribution of affordable and reliable energy. Numerous regulations, all proposed within a short timeframe, have created chaos and uncertainty, stagnating investment as the economy attempts to recover from recession. These regulations are causing the shutdown of power plants across the nation, forcing electricity generation off of coal, destroying jobs, raising energy costs, and decreasing reliability. In addition, the EPA has radically shifted the balance...

A bill that opponents claimed would virtually ban abortion in Texas failed to pass late Tuesday after lawmakers missed a deadline by just minutes. There were chaotic scenes after a filibuster attempt fell just short and protesters cheered, clapped and shouted for the final 15 minutes as lawmakers tried to hold the vote before the session ended at midnight. The filibuster by Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, lasted more than 10 hours but ended after three challenges to her speech were upheld. Spectators in the Texas Senate chamber protest a halt to Sen. Wendy Davis' filibuster against an anti-abortion bill....

On the November 8 general election ballot: Issue 2. As the Labor Union Report summarizes the measure: Issue 2 on Ohio’s November 8 ballot poses a simple question to voters: Should SB5, Ohio’s government reform effort to get control back from union bosses, be allowed to go into effect? Lined up against Ohio GOP Gov. John Kasich and fiscally responsible supporters of Issue 2: All the D.C. unions.

It's (not quite) official: Ohioans will have the chance to vote yes or no on the controversial public employee collective-bargaining bill known as Senate Bill 5. Based on preliminary numbers provided to The Dispatch by county boards of elections, the petition to place the referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot has enough valid statewide signatures from just two counties, Cuyahoga and Franklin. Collectively, these two counties have validated more than 235,000 signatures. Fewer than 232,000 signatures are needed to place the item on the ballot. Additionally, at least 44 of Ohio's 88 counties must have signatures from 3 percent of...

Union supporters disrupt GOP senators' restaurant meal Friday, March 4, 2011 12:28 AM By andJim Siegel Kathy Gray The Columbus Dispatch The volatility surrounding the collective-bargaining debate spilled into the night Wednesday when police were called to a German Village restaurant after a group verbally accosted a gathering of Senate Republicans. After the vote on Senate Bill 5, seven Republican senators, including President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, grabbed dinner at the Easy Street Cafe. As the lawmakers neared the end of their meal, a group of five to 10 union supporters angry about the passage of the bill hours before...