Free Republic

The Capitol Visitors Center was supposed to open in time for the inauguration. And it will, just one inauguration later than expected. Originally projected to be unveiled upon President Bush’s 2004 inauguration, this grand, underground visitors center is slated for a Dec. 2 open house for members of Congress and the public. The long-delayed opening ceremony marks the 145th anniversary of the day the Statue of Freedom was installed atop the Capitol dome. The next day the regularly scheduled tours will begin — tickets are required and can be obtained through the CVC website, which will go live Nov. 14....

Pelosi to Light Capitol's Energy-Efficient Christmas Tree @ 5:10 pm by Hill Staff This year's U.S. Capitol Christmas tree will bring the gift of light–energy-efficient light–to Washington, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office (D-Calif.) said Monday. Pelosi's office said the Speaker, joined by the Montana's congressional delegation and governor, will participate in a ceremony Tuesday, December 2 to light the tree, a 70-foot subalpine fir from a Montana national forrest. The tree won't be the only "green" component in the Christmas celebration, though. The tree will be decorated with energy-efficient LED lights, part of the Capitol's efforts to conserve energy. The...

E-mail down on Capitol Hill By Jordy Yager Posted: 10/10/08 12:35 PM [ET] House lawmakers and staffers were without access to e-mail Friday after a circuit breaker overloaded a House data center Thursday afternoon. Officials with the Chief Administrative Office (CAO) said they dispatched computer engineers Thursday night to resolve the failed service and expected the current e-mail outage to be resolved sometime Friday. They attempted to reinforce the “strained” system with new electrical equipment all morning Friday. The overload, which has not affected Internet service, occurred as the House has continued to add more servers to satisfy the increasing...

Sarah Palin has accused presidential candidate Barack Obama of "palling around" with terrorists - referring to his acquaintance with a former member of the Weather Underground. So who were the Weather Underground? Embroiled in an unpopular war in Vietnam, with many of the grievances of the civil-rights movement still unanswered, the US government was facing widespread protests in the late 1960s. Often those who rebelled were rich in idealism but unable or unwilling to take concrete action. On 8 October 1969, all that changed. A newly-formed group of left-wing extremists, dubbed the Weathermen, went on the rampage in a well-planned...

How the New Capitol Visitor Center Distorts American History by Gina L. DiorioWhile the media trains its cameras on the bailout proceedings on Capitol Hill, another fierce battle is being waged just a few feet away. A battle over our nation’s past, it has profound ramifications for our future. Yet, thanks to the mainstream media’s overwhelming lack of interest in telling the story – or perhaps overwhelming interest that the story not be told – most Americans will never hear it. The clash is over the glaring historical omissions of the soon-to-be-opened Capitol Visitor Center (CVC). The largest undertaking in...

American taxpayers have spent more than $600 million on a new visitors' center at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., and it will have acres of marble floors and walls, photographs of Earth Day, information about an AIDS rally and details about the nation's industrial sector. What it will not include is America's Christian heritage, raising objections from members of Congress and drawing an inquiry from Chuck Norris about whether he can help fix it. The new 580,000-square-foot center, mostly built underneath the grounds just east of the U.S. Capitol to protect the scenic views of the historic building, is about...

A man is under arrest in Washington after an improvised explosive device, a rifle and some ammunition were allegedly found in his jeep, Capitol Police said Friday. The man stopped to ask police for directions near the Capitol building at about 11 a.m. EDT Friday, at the intersection of 2nd and Independence Avenue Southeast, according to Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider. The officer responding noticed a rifle case on the car seat and inspected the jeep, discovering the IED, rifle and ammunition. A canine unit was enlisted to help.

Now that Congress has recessed, and since the conventions aren’t for a couple of weeks, Thursday’s The Situation Room turned back to the "hot" issue of what many liberals are calling on congressional Democrats to do: arrest and lock-up Karl Rove for his failure to testify on the issue of the firing of U.S. attorneys in late 2006. CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, as part of a report on this possible move by the Democrats, conducted a search for the supposed jail inside the U.S. Capitol. He also addressed the little-used power of the legislature to arrest and try government officials...

United States Capitol Police early Tuesday resolved a situation in the Hart Senate Office Building atrium area, where a man had been threatening for hours to plunge himself from the seventh floor. The unidentified man turned himself over to Capitol Police at approximately 2:00 am, according to police sources familiar with the event. For more than eight hours, the man had stood about 50 feet above the ground on the outside ledge of the glass wall overlooking the building’s atrium as negotiators continued to speak with him through a translator in Mandarin Chinese, according to Capitol Police. He had climbed...

Students attending a youth leadership conference were reprimanded by capitol security on July 10 for singing the National Anthem and God Bless America in the state capitol rotunda. The patriotic expression was apparently so egregious that state troopers were called in to the rotunda to rebuke the students. As the students ended their singing, several armed troopers entered the rotunda along with capitol sergeants-at-arms. They confronted conference staff and informed them that such singing is prohibited in the state capitol without a permit from the Rules Committee. Undeterred by their shocking treatment at the hands of government officials, the students...

April 07, 2008 © 2008 WorldNetDaily A group of concerned citizens has been raising alarms about the Islamic elements planned for the Flight 93 Memorial near Shanksville, Pa., for years. And a member of Congress has demanded the National Park Service make changes in its plans. But there's been no substantive response, and now the activists say it's time for the American people to let officials know whether they want to pay for and have installed in the memorial a crescent that points to Mecca to make up a "mihrab," the foundational point for every Islamic mosque, a tower that...

An approving nod to the Sun-Times for finding it no big deal that Barack Obama is on friendly terms with Bill Ayers, even though, back in the day, Ayers was a Weatherman who "bombed the U.S. Capitol, a bathroom in the Pentagon, and even cased out the White House." The Sun-Times regrets that Ayers "remains sadly unreflective about his Weatherman days, as revealed in his memoir Fugitive Days. . . . But Ayers, it is also true to say, has since followed in the footsteps of the great Chicago social worker Jane Addams, crusading for education and juvenile justice reform....

WASHINGTON — Senator Obama's ties to a former leader of the violent left-wing activist group the Weather Underground are drawing new scrutiny as he battles Senator Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. As an Illinois state senator in 2001, Mr. Obama accepted a $200 contribution from William Ayers, a founding member of the group that bombed the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon during the 1970s. Mr. Ayers wrote a memoir, "Fugitive Days," published in 2001, and on the day of the September 11 terrorist attacks, he was quoted by the New York Times as saying: "I don't regret setting bombs....

A man carrying a loaded shotgun, a samurai sword and a bag filled with gunpowder was arrested near the Capitol yesterday, authorities said. The man, identified as Michael Steven Gorbey, 38, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, Capitol Police said. They gave no address for him. He was wearing a vest like those used by police and military personnel and had a bow in his car, said Terrance W. Gainer, Senate sergeant-at-arms. -snip- Police said they found the man's truck parked at Louisiana Avenue and D Street NW. Officers were alarmed to see wires coming...

WASHINGTON - U.S. Capitol Police arrested a man carrying a rifle outside the Capitol building Friday, authorities said. The man was in custody and no one was injured, police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider. An officer first spotted the man near Union Station, about two blocks from the Capitol. A car belonging to the suspect was being searched.

A Capitol Police officer has been suspended in connection with the series of restroom fires that broke out in Senate office buildings over the past three months. Several law enforcement sources who wished to remain anonymous confirmed on Monday that Officer Karen Emory recently has been suspended in connection with the fires, although details about her involvement, including whether she is a suspect in the case, are not known. Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider refused to comment on the suspension, other than to say that no charges have been filed. “We don’t discuss personnel issues,” she said. “When there...

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. Capitol Police on Friday were investigating the latest in a series of suspicious fires occurring in Senate office buildings. Police spokesman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said a small fire was discovered about 8:00 a.m. EDT in a 2nd floor woman's restroom of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. She said it was quickly extinguished and there were no evacuations or injuries. Schneider said it was at least the 7th confirmed fire in the office buildings since late September. The fires are all suspicious in nature and Capitol Police are exploring the possibility that they are linked, she said....

God is Back on U.S. Flag Certificates Tuesday , October 16, 2007 By L.A. Holmes WASHINGTON — God is here to stay, say members of Congress who on Tuesday presented a 17-year-old Eagle Scout with a corrected version of a certificate that accompanied a flag that he purchased to fly over the U.S. Capitol. Andrew LaRochelle was the first to raise questions about the Architect of the Capitol policy that censored the word “God” out of certificates verifying the flag's authenticity. The flags are purchased and flown at constituents' requests, and include personal messages that until last week could not...

WASHINGTON - A 17-year-old Eagle Scout wanting to honor his grandfather's "love of God, country and family" with a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol has helped remove a ban on the word "God" in certificates that accompany these flags. ADVERTISEMENT The acting Architect of the Capitol, Stephen Ayers, said Thursday he was revising guidelines on Capitol flag certificates because it was "beyond the scope of this agency's responsibilities to censor messages from members of Congress." Last week Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, protested upon learning that the Architect's office had removed the word "God" from the certificate of authenticity accompanying...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today defended the Architect of the Capitol's refusal to permit use of the word "God" on official certificates enclosed with flags flown over the U.S. Capitol. Dayton-area GOP Rep. Michael Turner and more than 100 of his Republican colleagues sent a letter to Pelosi last week after an Eagle Scout in his district asked that a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol be sent to his grandfather with a certificate inscribed with the message: "In honor of my grandfather Marcel Larochelle, and his dedication and love of God, country, and family." The boy and his father...

Midland Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Camp is among lawmakers objecting because the U.S. Capitol's architect won't allow God to be mentioned in certificates of authenticity accompanying flags flown over the Capitol and bought by constitutents. "This is as insulting as it is absurd," Camp said in a prepared statement. "The architect has gone way too far. If we can put 'in God we trust' on our money, then we can certainly put it on a flag certificate when a citizen wants it there." Camp and dozens of other lawmakers are sending a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi...

U.S. Rep. Dave Camp is among lawmakers objecting because the U.S. Capitol's architect won't allow God to be mentioned in certificates of authenticity accompanying flags flown over the Capitol and bought by constitutents. "This is as insulting as it is absurd," Camp said in a prepared statement. "The architect has gone way too far. If we can put 'in God we trust' on our money, then we can certainly put it on a flag certificate when a citizen wants it there." Camp and dozens of other lawmakers are sending a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi calling for...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Members of the 1st Battalion 265 Air Defense Artillery have mobilized and are on a plane headed first to Ft. Bliss, then for federal active duty in the capital region. The troops will be deployed for a year. "It's going to be all right It's OK if he helps people and everything, and it's his job. He’s got to do it. He just got to do it," Jessica Ward said, whose father is being deployed. Click here to find out more! Jessica speaks for many when she talks about her father's deployment. Michael Ward and company...

WASHINGTON (CNS) – Washington is a city rich with powerful symbols. It is known for its monuments, memorials and corridors of power. And its big landmarks, the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument, will always loom large because of an 1899 law stipulating that no private structures in the city can be higher than either of them.In tourist season – early spring to late summer – visitors to the capital flock to the seats of government and monumental tributes to history with cameras always at the ready. But what they might not readily notice or capture for their photo albums...

People around the country have long complained that politicians are full of it. Now their workplace is too. The story, apparently broken by Roll Call, is that on Wednesday, workers found at least three piles of poo (yes, actual poo) in the hall on the Senate side of the building, and possibly some more in a gallery overlooking the Senate chamber. There have been piles of questions about this - some have speculated it was an accident by a kid (who must have really had to go), that it was some political statement by one or more adults judging by...

Al Qaeda has a new opening graphic for its propaganda tapes: the U.S. Capitol under "attack." "The Islamic State of Iraq...March Toward Washington" reads the headline in English superimposed over a digitally created scene of the U.S. Capitol under attack in the introductory sequence of one tape released on the Internet this week. Another from al Qaeda's "as Sahab" production arm announces "Holocaust of the Americans in the Land of Khorasan" and shows an image of the U.S. Capitol to introduce a short clip of al Qaeda fighters. "This is a disturbing new trend," says Laura Mansfield, an Arabic expert...

French fries are back on the menu in the US House of Representatives, three years after the name was ditched in favour of "freedom fries." House Republicans renamed fries and French toast in 2003 to protest at France's opposition to the war on Iraq. The patriotic name change hit the headlines at the time but the change back is getting much less coverage. A House official would only say that fries are no longer being offered under the "freedom" nomenclature. The Washington Times newspaper contacted aides of the two congressmen behind the move to "freedom fries " to see...

Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley. What is the most powerful room in the United States Capitol? Ask some members of Congress and you would probably hear this: Room 219. It’s the room closest to the House Chamber, and its walls have been privy to some of the most pivotal discussions of our history. Recently, however, Room 219 just got a whole lot more powerful. How so? You see, in Room 219 some of the highest elected officials of our land are bending their knees in weekly prayer gatherings—openly declaring, not their power, but their...

The Constitution says the president “shall from time to time give Congress information of the State of the Union.” The Constitution does not require a particular format, but modern presidents have fulfilled this obligation by delivering a speech from the well of the House of Representatives. Just above where the president speaks are four large words written in gold: “In God We Trust.” Very few Americans are aware how those words got there. The phrase “In God We Trust” has been on our money since the Civil War. In 1956, Congress made it our national motto. However, the display of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Illegal immigration protesters wrapped up a cross-country caravan on Friday with a rally in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, as immigrant-rights activists chanted for them to "go away." Members of the Minuteman Project and other border-patrol groups warned the United States was in danger of being overrun by Mexicans if the Senate passes a bill that would give millions of illegal immigrants a chance to earn citizenship. "They should be rounded up and deported, every single one of them," John Clark of the American Immigration Control Foundation said to a cheering crowd of about two dozen....

Rep. Patrick Kennedy crashed his car near the Capitol early Thursday, and a police official said he appeared intoxicated. Kennedy said he had had no alcohol before the accident. Kennedy, D-R.I., addressed the issue after a spate of news reports. "I was involved in a traffic accident last night at First and C Street SE near the U.S. Capitol," Kennedy said in a written statement released by his office. "I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident. I will fully cooperate with the Capitol Police in whatever investigation they choose to undertake." Kennedy appeared to be intoxicated when he crashed...

CAPITOL HILL (AP) — Police have closed off entries and exits to the U.S. Senate's Dirksen Office Building. The Dirksen building itself was not evacuated. Police have also announced that people should avoid a sub-basement level where a subway connects the building to the Capitol. Fire trucks and ambulances are positioned between the Capitol grounds and the office building. Some firefighters have put on white hazardous material outfits.

<p>Police ordered an evacuation of the U.S. Capitol shortly after noon Monday after the building lost power.</p> <p>Sirens signaling the evacuation went off and lawmakers and visitors were told to leave.</p> <p>It was not immediately clear what the cause of the outage was.</p>

WASHINGTON - Rep. Cynthia McKinney and a police officer scuffled Wednesday after the Georgia Democrat entered a House office building unrecognized and refused to stop when asked, according to U.S. Capitol Police. McKinney, a sixth-term congresswoman who represents suburban Atlanta, struck the officer according to one account, a police official said, adding there were conflicting accounts of exactly what happened. The officer, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the incident, spoke only on condition of anonymity. McKinney's office did not immediately return a call for comment. Members of Congress do not have to walk through metal detectors as...

According to sources on Capitol Hill, U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) punched a Capitol police officer on Wednesday afternoon after he mistakenly pursued her for failing to pass through a metal detector. Members of Congress are not required to pass through metal detectors. Sources say that the officer was at a position in the Longworth House Office Building, and did not recognize McKinney, nor saw her credentials as she went around the metal detector. The officer called out, “Ma’am, Ma’am,” and walked after her in an attempt to stop her. When he caught McKinney, he grabbed her by the arm....

Smoking bans may be taking hold around the country, but not at the U.S. Capitol. Congress is one of the few indoor workplaces where it is still legal to smoke.

The statue crowning the U.S. Capitol is called "Freedom." Yet it was a black slave who figured out how to coax apart the 19½-foot, 15,000-pound plaster statue so it could be cast in bronze and rejoined atop the dome. Slaves, in fact, helped build much of the building and grounds of Congress, their owners earning $5 per month for their work. Ed Hotaling, a retired TV reporter in Washington, was among the first to widely publicize this in a report in 2000. Following Hotaling's lead, a task force is planning a permanent memorial to the hundreds of slaves who helped...

WASHINGTON - Eight senators were among 200 people who were held in a Capitol parking garage Wednesday night after a security sensor indicated the presence of a nerve agent in their office building. Later tests proved negative. "Test results have been cleared and all test results are negative, so that's very good news," said Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider. The all-clear came three hours after an air-monitoring sensor indicated a suspicious substance in the attic of the Russell Senate Office Building. It initially tested positive as a nerve agent. Lawmakers, aides and other personnel were evacuated to the nearby West...

2 positive "hits" for a "nerve agent".......Breaking on CNN

Three conservative Christians barred by Capitol police from "consecrating" the hearing room say they'd secretly done it earlier. "We did adequately apply oil to all the seats," Rev. Rob Schenck says.

Police Find Assault Weapon Near Supreme Court Associated Press WorldStream via NewsEdge Corporation WASHINGTON_Police are investigating a loaded assault weapon found in a parking lot a block from the Supreme Court, a law enforcement official said. Members of the Supreme Court police force discovered the machine pistol on Dec. 2 in the lot in the residential Capitol Hill neighborhood east of the Court and turned it over to the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said Friday. The U.S. Capitol is west of the Supreme Court. Officials at the Supreme Court and Metropolitan Police Department would...

Capitol Tree Gets Christmas Moniker Back Friday December 9, 2005 12:46 AM By ELIZABETH WHITE Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Lighting up the chilly night with a resolute flick of a switch, House Speaker Dennis Hastert on Thursday night illuminated this year's Capitol Christmas - not ``holiday'' - Tree, reinstating its religious title for the first time in years. Known as the Capitol Holiday Tree since the 1990s, the Engelmann spruce towering over the Capitol's West Lawn became a symbol of the Republican-led Congress's resolve on the matter of holiday wishes. The issue touched the White House when some...

Hastert Wants 'Christmas,' Tree Together Nov 29 9:46 PM US/Eastern Email this story WASHINGTON If it's a spruce tree adorned with 10,000 lights and 5,000 ornaments displayed on the Capitol grounds in December, it's a Christmas tree and that's what it should be called, says House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Hastert, R-Ill., in a letter to the Architect of the Capitol, recommended that the annual Capitol Holiday Tree, as it has been called the past several years, be renamed the Capitol Christmas Tree. "I strongly urge that we return to this tradition and join the White House, countless other public institutions...

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert has told federal officials that the lighted, decorated tree on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol -- known in recent years as the "Holiday Tree" -- should be renamed the "Capitol Christmas Tree," as it was called until the late 1990s. The Capitol's senior landscape architect confirmed the name switch yesterday for The Washington Times. "It was known as the 'Holiday Tree' for several years and just recently was changed back to the 'Capitol Christmas Tree.' This was a directive from the speaker," said Capitol architect Matthew Evans. "The speaker believes a Christmas tree...

WASHINGTON - If it‘s a spruce tree adorned with 10,000 lights and 5,000 ornaments displayed on the Capitol grounds in December, it‘s a Christmas tree and that‘s what it should be called, says House Speaker Dennis Hastert . "I strongly urge that we return to this tradition and join the White House, countless other public institutions and millions of American families in celebrating the holiday season with a Christmas tree," Hastert wrote to Architect Alan Hantman. On Dec. 8 Hastert will flip the switch to light the tree, a 65-foot Engelmann Spruce from the Santa Fe National Forest in New...

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Dennis Hastert has told federal officials that the lighted, decorated tree on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, known in recent years as the "Holiday Tree," should be renamed the "Capitol Christmas Tree." The name change on Tuesday comes one day after the Engelmann spruce was delivered from New Mexico to Capitol Hill for decorations and displays until Jan. 2. Hastert will light the tree, referred to as the "People's Tree" by the New Mexico-based committee that delivered it, during a ceremony on Dec. 8.

A great big thank you and Merry Christmas to the Speaker of the House, J. Dennis Hastert. In this era of PC gone wild, the Speaker stepped up to the plate to save the Capitol Christmas tree. The Christmas tree is under the control of the Architect of the Capitol. The Architect reports to the Speaker. On Nov. 19, 2005, the Speaker sent the following letter to the Architect. Chris Taylor, Asst. Press Secretary to the Speaker was kind enough to email me a copy. Upon receipt of the letter, the Architect phoned the Speaker and asked if he really...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A terror suspect arrested in England had images of the Capitol and other Washington landmarks on his computer, according to federal authorities who were skeptical that an attack on the capital was being planned. Younis Tsouli, 22, was one of three men charged with a variety of terrorism offenses. One of the charges against Tsouli alleges that a video stored on the hard drive of a computer in his bedroom showed how to make a car bomb and another showed a number of places in Washington. The charge sheet did not name the places. However, a U.S....

WASHINGTON (AP) - A terror suspect arrested in England had images of the Capitol and other Washington landmarks on his computer, according to federal authorities who were skeptical that an attack on the capital was being planned. Younis Tsouli, 22, was one of three men charged with a variety of terrorism offenses. One of the charges against Tsouli alleges that a video stored on the hard drive of a computer in his bedroom showed how to make a car bomb and another showed a number of places in Washington. The charge sheet did not name the places. However, a U.S....

A closed casket bearing the body of Rosa Parks will be placed on a platform for public viewing inside the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol building. U.S. Senate historian Richard Baker says Rosa Parks is the first private citizen in the United States to be accorded the honor...