Free Republic

The Tennessee Tea Party is speaking out about Representative Frank tonight and their view is sparking some controversy. After hearing he's retiring, the Tennessee Tea Party tweeted "Good riddance, you perverted sodomite POS!!!" "I am appalled," says the Tea Party Nation's Judson Phillips. "This statement does nothing to advance the goals of the Tea Party movement and goes a long way towards offending people we need to be involved. Barney Frank is the worst congressman in the last century, but dumb comments like that tweet do not help our cause." A spokesperson with the Tennessee Tea Party told FOX17 NEWS...

The BBC's Business Editor Robert Peston has dismissed homophobia claims against him as 'bonkers', after he used the term 'Queer Street'. Mr Peston used the term on his blog to describe the European financial crisis. He also posted a link to the blog on his Twitter account, where he has 95,000 followers. In praising the UK's handling of the situation, he wrote: 'The Debt Management Office, has taken a reassuringly long-term approach to managing the UK government's debts - and without its prudence, we might all be in Queer Street or Skid Row by now.' However, Mr Peston was criticised...

<p>Caucasian woman pleaded not guilty Wednesday at her arraignment for punching a Hispanic man in the face and yelling racial slurs in an unprovoked hate crime, authorities said.</p> <p>As the man cleaned a brick planter bench, Vanveldhuizen is accused of approaching him while yelling. Vanveldhuizen, who was intoxicated, yelled racial slurs and profanity at the victim, the release said. She then punched the man, whom she didn't know, in the face without provocation, causing his lip to swell, officials said.</p>

You may have heard the story of Jamey Rodemeyer, Buffalo, NY, who was 14-years-old when he committed suicide, after being bullied online for over a year. Now, people all over the world are coming together to fight for Jamey, to end bullying. Jamey was an openly gay student at his middle school and was repeatedly bullied and harassed by peers who told him “JAMIE IS STUPID, GAY, FAT ANND (sic) UGLY. HE MUST DIE!” one post said, according to local reports. Another read, “I wouldn’t care if you died. No one would. So just do it It would make everyone...

If you think that academia is not the exclusive playground of the academic left, consider the fate of UCLA epidemiologist James Enstrom. In 2008, Enstrom thought that a report on the health effects of diesel emissions presented by the California Air Resources Board was faulty. As it turns out, CARB's nitrous oxide emission estimates were overstated by 340 percent. Enstrom and others had trouble believing that a Ph.D. statistician would make some of CARB's findings. They dug around and found that CARB researcher Hien Tran had falsely claimed to have a doctorate in statistics from UC Davis. In fact, Tran...

And sometimes a drawing is just a drawing. An eleven-year-old boy was taken from his home a couple of night ago, arrested, handcuffed, his mug shot was taken and he was jailed. Police charged the little eleven-year-old with interfering with staff and students at an Educational facility, a third degree misdemeanor an apparent trumped up charge to justify police’s Fascist intrusion into the home and the unlawful arrest and detention of a child. What did the little boy do? Months ago while sitting at his desk the little student drew a stick figure picture of a “kid” holding and firing...

The 1980s song Money for Nothing by the British rock band Dire Straits has been deemed unacceptable for play on Canadian radio. In a ruling released Wednesday, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council says the song contravenes the human rights clauses of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Code of Ethics and Equitable Portrayal Code. A listener to radio station CHOZ-FM in St. John's complained last year that the song includes the word “faggot” in its lyrics and is discriminatory to gays.

The 1980s song Money for Nothing by the British rock band Dire Straits has been deemed unacceptable for play on Canadian radio. In a ruling released Wednesday, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council says the song contravenes the human rights clauses of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Code of Ethics and Equitable Portrayal Code. A listener to radio station CHOZ-FM in St. John's complained last year that the song includes the word “faggot” in its lyrics and is discriminatory to gays. The broadcaster argued that the song had been played countless times since its release decades ago and has won music...

STANFORD, Calif. - President Obama is planning to hand the U.S. Commerce Department authority over a forthcoming cybersecurity effort to create an Internet ID for Americans, a White House official said here today. It's "the absolute perfect spot in the U.S. government" to centralize efforts toward creating an "identity ecosystem" for the Internet, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt said. That news, first reported by CNET, effectively pushes the department to the forefront of the issue, beating out other potential candidates including the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.

Public hearings would instead be used to drag unfavorables like Rush Limbaugh before the Commission to "explain how they justify" their availing themselves of their First Amendment rights. And to threaten their stations' broadcast licenses should they fail the FCC's definition of "justification."

There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment... (ORWELL 1984)

There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment... (ORWELL 1984)

(CBS) A flight attendant and cancer survivor said she was forced to remove and show her prosthetic breast to a TSA agent during a security pat-down. Cathy Bossi of Charlotte, who has been a flight attendant for the past 32 years, told CBS Affiliate WBTV that in August she was asked to go through the new full-body scanners at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. As a 3-year breast cancer survivor Bossi said she didn't want the added radiation through her body, but reluctantly agreed. "The TSA agent told me to put my ID on my back," Boss told WBTV correspondent Molly...

The firing of Juan Williams by National Public Radio (NPR), alleging that he was guilty of bigotry during a recent appearance on Bill O’Reilly’s FoxNews Channel television program, is another case of political correctness mixed with demagoguery run amuck. Here are the “horrific” words that did him in:

Juan Williams once again got himself into trouble with NPR for comments he made at his other job, at Fox News. And NPR's reaction has unleashed an unprecedented firestorm of criticism directed not at Williams – but at NPR. (snip) Thursday was a day like none I’ve experienced since coming to NPR in October 2007. Office phone lines rang non-stop like an alarm bell with no off button. We’ve received more than 8,000 emails, a record with nothing a close second. (snip)At noon, the deluge of email crashed NPR’s “Contact Us” form on the web site.

Friday September 17, 2010 Christian Students Suspended for Krispy Kreme Doughnuts with Bible Verses ROSWELL, New Mexico, September 17, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A New Mexico School principal has penalized three Christian students with suspensions for giving fresh Krispy Kreme Doughnuts with Bible verses to each of their teachers, according to the public advocacy group Liberty Counsel. This school is already named in a pending lawsuit filed by Liberty Counsel on behalf of families and students who were bullied, and one suspended, for exercising their freedom of religion by distributing abstinence wristbands and plastic models of babies at 12 weeks...

A clear pattern of behavior has emerged over the last 16 months. According to liberals, if you disagree with their thinking, and if you disagree with the Obama administration, you are not only wrong, you are a “racist.” The latest strike by the left comes from the NAACP, which has resolved that the tea party movement is inherently “racist.” At its most simple, this is a direct attack on the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans. The NAACP has long history of liberalism and racism. If you are a conservative — including a conservative African-American — there is no...

A new policy blocking access of Transportation Security Administration employees from websites with “controversial opinion” content has been withdrawn, a spokesman tells The Examiner: I wanted to let you know that after further review, TSA determined the “controversial opinion” category may contain some sites that do not violate TSA’s policy and therefore has concluded that the category is no longer being considered for implementation. Our intent is not, and never has been, to limit our employees’ ability to access or share “controversial opinions.”

Is the Obama Administration preparing the ground for a Ministry of Truthiness? The President's latest wide-ranging speech at Hampton University made a halt at a very strange outpost, before moving on to education. Obama, it seems, is vexed by the idea of conspiracy theories. Apparently people aren't thinking the right thoughts. Obama's internet Yoda, Professor Cass Sunstein*, is also besotted with the idea. Two years ago, Sunstein proposed what you might call an 'active government solution' to conspiracies. The best way to counter conspiracy theories, Sunstein and co-author Adrian Vermeule argued, is with the "cognitive infiltration of extremist groups". This...

(CNSNews.com) - Chai Feldblum, the Georgetown University law professor nominated by President Obama to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has written that society should “not tolerate” any “private beliefs,” including religious beliefs, that may negatively affect homosexual “equality.” Feldblum, whose nomination was advanced in a closed session of the Senate Health Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on December 12, published an article entitled “Moral Conflict and Liberty: Gay Rights and Religion” in the Brooklyn Law Review in 2006. “Just as we do not tolerate private racial beliefs that adversely affect African-Americans in the commercial arena, even if such...

The lawyer who handled the years-long battle by Pastor Stephen Boissoin over "hate speech" charges for a letter he wrote to the editor of a local newspaper that cited the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality is forecasting a nationwide "witch hunt" in the U.S. prompted by an expanded "hate crimes" law signed by President Obama. Gerald Chipeur,  who supervises law offices across Canada, worked from his Calgary headquarters on the defense of Boissoin, who was accused by a university professor of instigating hate against homosexuals with his letter to the editor. As WND reported, an appellate court in Canada recently reversed...

College Thought Police Enforce Global Values By Mary Ann Collins December 7, 2009 "The way to redefine a word is to get the new definition repeated as often as possible.... This, so far as words are concerned, is the public opinion battle for belief in your definitions, and not those of the opposition. A consistent, repeated effort is the key to any success with this technique of propaganda." (L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology)[1] "A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The term applies to all...

Are you unwittingly offending people in your office? Do you say things that cause others to wince or lose interest in having a collaborative relationship with you? You may be in need of good diversity training. DiversityInc put together a list of signs to show where you might be making cultural missteps. 1. Race/Ethnicity How do you interact with people from different races and ethnicities in the office? Have you ever found yourself complimenting a Black person on her ability to articulate well? Did you tell a Latino coworker that you were surprised he didn't have an accent? Do you...

Photo credit Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2009 - President Barack Obama today signed the fiscal 2010 National Defense Authorization Act during a ceremony at the White House. Obama hailed the act, which contains $680.2 billion in military budget authority, as transformational legislation that targets wasteful defense spending. The president was accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, congressional leaders and other senior officials, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "There's still more waste we need to cut; there's still more fights that...

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Attention all you legal geniuses. Here's a quick quiz.

A hate crimes bill sent to President Obama for his signature raises a red flag for Christians. On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed a hate crimes bill that Christian leaders have warned for years could greatly infringe on the rights of those who speak to loudly about their religious views. Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel agrees with most observers that President Obama will sign the measure -- adding that the president desires to "throw a bone to homosexual activists because they have been breathing down his neck...and this is a way to hold them off."

A "hate crimes" plan that opponents have warned will be used to crack down on Christian speech, even the reading of the Bible, is poised to be signed by President Obama, a longtime proponent of the plan to give homosexuals and those with other alternative lifestyles special protections not provided other classes of citizens. The Senate approved the "hate crimes" plan 68-29 today after Democrats strategically attached it to a "must-pass" $680 billion defense appropriations plan. Most Republicans, although normally strong supporters of the U.S. military, opposed the plan. "The inclusion of the controversial language of the hate crimes legislation,...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Senate passed groundbreaking legislation Thursday that would make it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. The expanded federal hate crimes law now goes to President Obama's desk. Obama has pledged to sign the measure, which was added to a $680 billion defense authorization bill.

The White House escalated its offensive against Fox News on Sunday by urging other news organizations to stop "following Fox" and instead join the administration's attempt to marginalize the channel. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel told CNN that President Obama does not want "the CNNs and the others in the world [to] basically be led in following Fox." Obama senior adviser David Axelrod went further by calling on media outlets to join the administration in declaring that Fox is "not a news organization." "Other news organizations like yours ought not to treat them that way," Axelrod counseled ABC's...

'Hate' Crimes: The House has voted to make it a federal crime to assault people because of their sexual orientation. Aside from violating the Constitution's equal-protection clause, just what does this have to do with national defense? The House voted 281 to 146 Thursday to make it a crime to attack homosexuals and others. The measure was attached to a must-pass $680 billion defense bill. We think the amendment itself is a crime against common sense and the law. Saying "it's a very exciting day for us here in the Capitol," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised the passage of the...

Klingenschmitt said, "Please call 202-456-1111 today, and tell White House comment line operators: 'Mr. President, please keep your promise and veto the F-35 second engine in the Pentagon Budget, 2010 Defense Authorization Act.'" "Several months ago, President Obama promised to veto the Pentagon budget if it contained funding for the F-22 or a second engine for the F-35. The Senate killed the F-22, but after receiving nearly 22,000 faxes from us in the last 48 hours, the House ignored Obama's veto threat and voted Thursday to fully fund a second engine for F-35s. The House also sadly attached the pro-homosexual...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Assaulting people because of their sexual orientation would become a federal hate crime in legislation the House is set to vote on Thursday. The bill would significantly expand the hate crimes law enacted in the days after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968. With the expected House passage and eventual approval by the Senate, federal prosecutors will for the first time be able to intervene in cases of violence perpetrated against gays based on their sexual orientation.

The GOP added a death penalty clause to the Matthew Shepard Act in hopes that a debate over capital punishment would derail the legislation.The Senate has joined the House in expanding the definition of "hate crimes" to include attacks on gays and lesbians. In doing so, however, it attached an amendment that would make some hate crimes punishable by death. Democratic congressional leaders should insist that the provision be removed. Also known as the Matthew Shepard Act, the legislation empowers the Justice Department to assist states and localities with the investigation and prosecution of crimes motivated by the victim's sexual...

Federal lawsuit claims Eastern Michigan University dismissed grad student from counseling program for her views on homosexuality by Amanda Hamon | The Ann Arbor News Monday April 06, 2009, 9:49 AM A national legal group has filed a lawsuit against Eastern Michigan University on behalf of a graduate student who allegedly was dismissed from a counseling program because of her beliefs about homosexuality.The complaint was filed Thursday with the U.S. District Court in Detroit, according to a federal database of lawsuits.The Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom says student Julea Ward was dismissed from her graduate program in March...

Senate Democrats achieved one of their longtime goals this month -- an ex pansion of federal "hate crime" law. Tacked on as an amendment to the defense-appropriations bill, the Matthew Shephard Hate Crimes Prevention Act -- named after a gay man murdered in Wyoming in 1998 -- includes essentially the same legislative language that Sen. Edward Kennedy has long pushed. It expands federal hate-crime protection to gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability. Now, it's easy to think hate-crime laws are harmless. After all, why not outlaw "hate" for one group or another? One problem, of course, is that laws...

I’ll grant supporters of hate crimes legislation one thing: they certainly understand the tactical advantage of being hateful when accusing others of hate. This weekend, after the Senate passed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Bill, I posted several articles on Facebook and my blog questioning the claim that Matthew Shepard was murdered solely because he was gay. Although the media and gay rights activists treat it as conventional wisdom, this claim has always been in dispute. Shepard’s murderers, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, admitted from the start that they were on a drug binge at the time of the...

Legislation long sought by Democrats that would expand federal hate-crime laws to cover gay and transgendered people has won approval in the Senate, raising expectations among supporters that the time has finally come for it to be enacted...The legislation, named the Matthew Shepard Act after the gay University of Wyoming student beaten to death in 1998, would impose longer prison sentences for offenses motivated by gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It also would make it easier for federal prosecutors to pursue hate-crime charges when local authorities do not.... The Senate approved the expanded hate-crime bill by voice vote...

The United States Senate approved an amendment yesterday adding "hate crimes" legislation to the annual Defense Authorization bill, which would add "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the list of federally-protected classes. The Senate voted 63 - 28 to attach S.909, the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (MSHCPA), to the $680 billion defense bill meant to support US troops fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada favored attaching the hotly-debated bill as an amendment, instead of putting it forward as a stand-alone bill, in hopes of easing its passage, but his tactic...

The Senate on Thursday approved the most sweeping expansion of federal hate crimes law since Congress responded four decades ago to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The legislation, backed by President Barack Obama, would extend federal protections granted under the 1968 hate crimes law to cover those physically attacked because of their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. "This bill simply recognizes that there is a difference between assaulting someone to steal his money, or doing so because he is gay, or disabled, or Latino or Muslim," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said. Voice vote passage came...

Senate Democrats announced on Monday that the Senate would consider a homosexual "hate crimes" proposal as an attached amendment to the annual defense authorization bill, and will likely vote on the bill tomorrow. In addition to adding "sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability" to the list of federally-protected classes, S.909, also known as the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, also expands the reach of hate crimes law by eliminating the restriction that such crimes disrupt federally protected activities. Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said Monday he would introduce S.909 as a bipartisan amendment to the defense authorization...

In high school, music was Bill Zircher’s thing, mostly drums. He studied electrical engineering in college. In 1994 he married a woman he met in a band. The couple had a daughter, and Zircher was thrilled to be a father. Dana Zircher still plays the drums, is still a self-described high-tech nerd, and still a parent. She still works as a software design engineer for Microsoft in Beverly, though she now uses the ladies’ room instead of the men’s. As part of an aggressive grass-roots campaign, Zircher will testify today at a State House hearing in favor of civil rights...

Last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearings (video at the link) on the proposed federal hate crimes bill showed the dark underbelly of the Senate. The road to undermining the rule of law is being paved with the best of intentions and casual disregard (if not outright hostility) for the principles of limited government and equality under the law. I raise some objections to the bill in this podcast: The bill federalizes violent acts against victims by reason of their actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. Never mind that these acts are...

"We're not going to win this case, but that's okay. Once we get 'hate crime' laws on the books, we're going to go after the Scouts and all the other bigots." This was a remark made in the gallery by the Clinton White House liaison for "gay" issues during U.S. Supreme Court hearings on the Boy Scouts case in 2000. She had whispered it to the Rev. Rob Schenck, whom she mistakenly thought was one of those liberal clerics who think God is still making up His mind about sexual morality. The point is that the proposed federal "hate crime"...

Dear UNC-Wilmington Students: It’s getting close to time to start another semester. That means that it’s time to lay down the rules for all of my classes. I’m going to continue to use all the rules I’ve used before, which can be found in my syllabus. But, starting this semester, I’m adding three more rules. Gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgendered students (GILBERTS) need to pay especially close attention. First of all, GILBERTS will not be allowed to mention their status as gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or trans-gendered. A few semesters ago, a gay student in one of my classes said –...

Why a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity “Hate Crimes” Law Is Bad for You Part 3: Inroads against personal freedom already made in the United States by homosexual and transsexual political activismby Robert A. J. Gagnon, Ph.D. June 18, 2009  To print a clean copy with proper formatting and pagination go to the pdf version here.  Many proponents of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” legislation contend that “sexual orientation” legislation will not endanger civil liberties in the United States—in Europe, Canada, and Brazil, but not in the United States. The evidence to date suggests otherwise. An example of hate-speech prosecution in Philadelphia In Part 2...

MEDIA ADVISORY, June 16 /Christian Newswire/ -- This week, a letter is being hand-delivered to every member of the United States Senate imploring conservatives to join Senator Jim DeMint's filibuster of the pending Hate Crimes bill, which would criminalize preaching the Gospel and put preachers in the crosshairs. The letter explains that, in its current form, the Hate Crimes legislation would: "Silence the moral voice of the Church" -- "Punish principled dissent from the homosexual agenda" -- "Be a savage and perhaps fatal blow to First Amendment freedom of expression" -- and "Empower the left and encourage it to move...

At a family picnic tonight, I heard a story so unsettling and unreal, that I thought it was a joke until confirmed otherwise. A number of weeks ago, my uncle through marriage took it upon himself in a public place (a local convenience store) to criticize the policies of Barack Obama which was heard by a few patrons. A little background on my relation: he is a burly man with a creative tongue who, when speaking makes clear his opinions to everyone around him, but does so more to steam and vent than to do 'anything' about it. On this...

Write or call your two Senators and urge a NO vote on so-called hate crime legislation. The Democrat-controlled House just passed H.R. 1913, a so-called hate crimes bill that makes “sexual orientation,” “gender,” and “gender identity” into federally-protected classes under the law. The Senate version is S. 909, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. It must be defeated. This legislation begins to lay the legal foundation and framework to investigate, prosecute and persecute pastors, youth pastors, Bible teachers, and anyone else whose Bible speech and thought is based upon and reflects the truths found in the Bible. A...

... But this Memorial Day weekend he is calling ministers to fight for those freedoms – from their pulpits. "Pastors, if you wonder who is to blame for America's slide from the 'Ozzie and Harriet' morality of yesteryear to the 'Brokeback Mountain' immorality of today, look in the mirror," said Pastor Paul Blair of Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, Okla. Blair is founder of a group called Reclaiming Oklahoma for Christ, an outreach to pastors that encourages church leaders to take a stand against the spread of immorality in American culture. He is urging pastors across the nation to stop...