Free Republic

Portsmouth parents are speaking out about a school principal who allegedly fired two teachers over a pizza party. The parents gathered together in the cold weather outside Portsmouth Catholic School Tuesday night to demand answers from the administration on why two of their favorite teachers are no longer employed. NewsChannel 3 met exclusively with a group of parents Monday night, just hours after they said two teachers were fired because they held a Christmas pizza lunch. The parents say the new school principal banned any parties during the school day, but argue that the teachers simply brought pizza in for...

Fledgling group ministers to Muslims behind bars By Frank Green A seven-year-old prison chaplain group recently was awarded a one-of-its-kind, $25,000 state subcontract to minister to a rapidly growing faith behind bars: Islam. But the all-volunteer Muslim Chaplain Services wants more state funding... The Chaplain Service of the Churches of Virginia, a Protestant group established in 1920, has the full, $780,000 contract... Relations between the two chaplain groups are cordial... So, too, do some secular experts... Mark Hamm ... said that "Islam, by all accounts, is the fastest-growing religion among prisoners in the Western world, including the United States." And...

Delegate Scott Lingamfelter (R - Prince William and Fauquier Counties) Virginia State Delegate Scott Lingamfelter (R - Prince William & Fauquier Counties), a retired US Army Colonel who sits on the influential Militia, Police, and Public Safety Committee, has pre-filed House Bill 49 ahead of the 2010 Virginia General Assembly session. HB 49 would repeal Virginia's one handgun a month purchase rationing scheme. Only 3 other states ration handgun purchases: California, Maryland, and New Jersey (South Carolina repealed their gun rationing law several years ago). Governor-elect Bob McDonnell (R) voted for the one handgun a month law in 1993 as...

State Sen. Robert Hurt has proposed the 5th District GOP host five debates before the June primary for the seven candidates hoping to challenge Democratic incumbent Rep. Tom Perriello in November. In a news release sent Thursday, Hurt called on all 21 Republican unit chairs in the district to work together to sponsor, schedule and plan the debates across the district in the coming months. “I believe that by having the local Republican committees develop the plan for these five debates, Republican voters across the 5th District will be well served by increased debate attendance, greater participation by smaller units...

The Jefferson Area Tea Party has been officially banned from the area around Congressman Tom Perriello’s office. The landlord of the building where Perriello’s office is located, Lisa Murphy, has convince the local officials that recent protests outside the office is negatively affecting the other tenants in the building. Originally the tea party was told that as long as they did not interfere with the flow of traffic in the parking lot and obstruct business, because the lot was open to the general public, they would be allowed to protest in the parking lot. However, Ms. Murphy who donated $1000...

examiner.com — Virginia Delegate Scott Lingamfelter . . . has pre-filed House Bill 49 [to] repeal Virginia's one handgun a month purchase rationing scheme. Only 3 other states ration handgun purchases . . . growing . . . recognition of gun ownership as a fundamental constitutional right makes gun rationing increasingly seem "about as un-American as book burning.

The birth mother of a 7-year-old Virginia girl must transfer custody of the child to the woman's former lesbian partner, a Vermont judge ruled, adding that it seems the woman has "disappeared" with her daughter. Vermont Family Court Judge William Cohen ordered Lisa Miller of Winchester, Va., to turn over daughter Isabella to Janet Jenkins of Fair Haven at 1 p.m. Friday at the Virginia home of Jenkins' parents.

A Roanoke man says officers violated his rights during a dispute about his gun license. A Roanoke man is suing city police over an altercation with officers that he said began as an argument about his permit to carry a concealed firearm. Aaron A. Stevenson filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke alleging that his constitutional rights were violated during a May 6 traffic stop. He named two officers, Chief Joe Gaskins and the city as defendants. On Wednesday, police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson referred questions to City Attorney Bill Hackworth, who was out of town and could...

A woman at the center of a complex dispute with her former lesbian partner defied a court order to give up custody of her 7-year-old daughter, an attorney said Friday. A Vermont judge had ordered Lisa Miller to turn over daughter Isabella to Janet Jenkins at 1 p.m. Friday at the Falls Church, Va., home of Jenkins' parents. Miller did not show up with the girl, said Sarah Star, Jenkins' Vermont-based attorney. Jenkins has notified Fairfax County, Va., police that Isabella is missing, Star said. "She's very disappointed, obviously," Star said. "She's very concerned about Isabella and asks that if...

While this may be a vanity, I believe it is another chapter in a growing trend of government to prey on its citizen subjects to add to their coffers.Yesterday, while returning home from a Christmas visit to relatives, my daughter was picked up on I-77 just north of the Big Walker Mountain Tunnel.She is 24, a cautious driver and never had a speeding ticket before. I'm 54 and have had only one, when I was slightly younger than she is now.The circumstances of the ticket are suspect. She was passing a semi-trailer going in the 50's on a steep downhill...

"U.S. mosques fear influences on young" "Extremists, especially online, can be a powerful lure. "I have to be a virtual imam," counters one Va. leader." Washington Post WASHINGTON - SNIPPET: "Mustafa Abu Maryam, a Muslim youth leader who has known the five arrested men from Alexandria since 2006, said he was alarmed by their decision to go to Pakistan after exchanging coded e-mail messages with a recruiter for the Pakistani Taliban." SNIPPET: ""I'm really concerned about what the Internet is doing to my young people," said Mohamed Magid, imam at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Sterling, Va. "I...

In the past year, exposure of significant jihadist recruitment inside the United States has left Americans worried that "homegrown terrorism" may become a serious threat. Eight years after the atrocities of September 11, 2001, media and government appear stunned by the upsurge of jihad incidents in the United States, including two lethal attacks. The Fort Hood massacre on November 5, for which an Army psychiatrist, Nidal Hasan, has been charged with 13 deaths, has been followed by two more cases. On December 9, five college-age Muslims from northern Virginia were arrested in Pakistan. They were allegedly headed for terror training...

RICHMOND | Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said Wednesday that a 1 percentage point increase in the state's income tax that he has proposed in his final weeks in office is the most responsible way to make up a nearly $2 billion shortfall in the state's finances. "I think the only other alternatives are draconian cuts that would squander Virginia's leadership position or kind of gimmicky 'Let's take a bunch of money out of the retirement fund' or 'Let's pull out the credit card and borrow a bunch of money.' But I think that would threaten our AAA bond rating," Mr....

A man suspected of taking hostages in a post office in the US state of Virginia has been arrested after a stand-off lasting several hours, police say. Authorities in Wytheville persuaded Warren Taylor to give himself up and release three people he was holding. Mr Taylor was reported to have entered the post office pushing a wheelchair and claiming to be carrying explosives. He initially fired shots from the building but no-one was reported to have been injured.

SNIPPET: "...let's get back to the woeful tale of Bro. Ismail Royer, as presented at the Umar Lee blog:" SNIPPET: "Mr. Royer, formerly associated with CAIR, is currently serving a 20 year sentence for his work on behalf of designated Terrorist group Lashkar e Taiba. Lashkar e Taiba is notable among other things for having killed 171 people in Mumbai in 2008, among many other atrocities."

WYTHEVILLE, Va., Dec. 23 (UPI) -- A gunman with explosives who had held hostages for about eight hours at the Wytheville, Va., Post Office apparently has surrendered, police said. The man rolled himself onto the street in a wheelchair and was lying on the ground on his stomach as about 20 officers wearing shields approached him, WSLS-TV, Roanoke, Va., reported Wednesday night. State Police Sgt. Mike Conroy said three hostages have emerged from the building and officers were checking to make sure nobody else was inside. Police exercised caution because "we don't know what he had," Conroy said, The Wytheville...

The text that is in quotes are excerpts from Warner's canned response back to my first letter asking him to not support the bill! “...As the debate in Congress continues, it is of utmost importance to recognize that our current health care system is financially unsustainable. ..." Only the government run systems are unsustainable! All current US State run systems (Ca, Mass, Tenn, others) are in the red and don’t even come close to living up toward the extravagant promises made by the state politicians that insisted on them. In fact these systems sole recourse is to pass costs to...

WYTHEVILLE, Va. - Authorities in Wytheville are dealing with a hostage situation at the town's post office. Mayor Trent Crewe says five hostages are inside the building, including three employees and two customers. Shots have been fired, but Crewe says no injuries have been reported. The situation began at about 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The suspect has not been identified.

<p>The man entered the Wytheville, Virginia, post office about 2:30 p.m. and fired a shot, Mayor Trent Crewe said. No one has been hurt, but three postal workers and two customers are being held hostage, he said.</p> <p>There also are reports that the man has a "device" and it appears the man's car, parked outside the office, is equipped with some type of device, Crewe said. He did not elaborate on what the device could be.</p>

During Virginia Governor Tim Kaine's last radio show today on WTOP radio, he got a surprise call from a "Barry from DC." "Barry from DC is calling," Kaine said on live radio. "Go ahead Barry" "Well, uh, governor Kaine this is, uh, actually the president of the United States calling," Obama said joking that he had some, "questions about traffic in northern Virginia." Actually, the President was calling into Kaine's last radio show to wish him a congratulations for a job well done as Virginia's governor. Kaine is leaving his office as governor in January, but will remain chairman of...

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling sent a strongly worded letter to Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner Monday expressing outrage over special concessions given to certain states to obtain support for federal health care legislation from their Senators and asking them to oppose this legislation, which Bolling called “misguided.” “As you know, one of our major concerns with this legislation is the potential impact it could have on the cost of Medicaid for Virginia’s state government,” wrote Bolling. “Many reports have suggested that this legislation could result in much higher Medicaid costs for state governments across the nation, costs that state...

By MARTHA IRVINE and NAFEESA SYEED (AP) – 1 hour ago ALEXANDRIA, Va. — There was a book left in a Pakistani hotel room where several young men from Virginia suspected of trying to join Taliban forces stayed. Called "The Pact," that book tells the true story of three boys from a rough neighborhood and broken homes who bond and eventually help one another through medical and dental school. "This is a story about the power of friendship. Of joining forces and beating the odds," reads one snippet on the back of the book. It is also a story with...

“Arrested Americans show no remorse about their terror plans” PTI Monday, December 21, 2009 14:44 IST SNIPPET: “Lahore: Five American Muslim youth arrested by Pakistani authorities on suspicion of terror links have shown no remorse about their plans to commit terrorist acts and one has even said they should be hanged so that they could become martyrs, a senior police official said today.” SNIPPET: “Zamzam, Waqar Hussain Khan, 22, Ahmed Abdullah Minni, 20, Iman Hasan Yemer, 17 and Omar Farooq, 24, were arrested in Sargodha, located 200km from Islamabad, on charges of planning terror attacks in Pakistan and abroad.” SNIPPET:...

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) announced Sunday evening he will support Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) $871 billion health care reform package but warned that he could withhold his backing for the final bill as negotiated in the House-Senate conference committee if he is unhappy with any changes made to the legislation.

FAIRFAX, Va. - As Erick Williamson sees it, being naked is liberating, and if passers-by get an eyeful while he's standing in front of a picture window, that's not his problem. A Fairfax County judge saw it differently Friday, convicting Williamson, 29, of indecent exposure in a case that raised questions about what's OK when you're in your own home. Two women said they saw much more of Williamson than they cared to in October, even though he never left his home. He received neither jail time nor a fine but is appealing anyway, saying a larger principle is at...

Liberty Republicans need to think about strategies to counteract the cooptation of the revived liberty movement that Rockefeller or Progressive Republicans will attempt. The Tea Party movement’s explosion shows that liberty Republicanism can succeed. As well, the failure of Rockefeller Republicanism under the Bush administration might keep big government Republicans from success, especially when we liberty Republicans refuse to cooperate with them. Because the Tea Party movement is composed of many fine and well meaning but inexperienced activists, it is susceptible to the same tactics that coopted the libertarian movement in 1980. If a Progressive Republican calls himself a “libertarian”...

A US man has been charged with indecent exposure for being naked in his own home. Erick Williamson, 29 was observed without clothes through a doorway and a window, by a seven-year-old boy and his mother who were walking by. Williamson argued that it was his home, and therefore he could choose to go nude. But a judge found against him, saying that he intended to make himself visible to passers-by. The Virginia man said he will appeal the decision. "I think that being tried and found guilty of something like this is outrageous," Williamson said after he was convicted...

J.P. Hale usually stands behind a pulpit, but this week he was standing in front of a police camera as they snapped mug shots. The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office says this week the 73-year-old pastor was arrested and charged with one count of indecent liberties with a child. It’s a class six felony. Thursday afternoon we showed up at Hale’s house to talk to the accused religious leader, but he had been advised by his attorney not to talk. The Pulaski County Sheriff won’t give any details on the alleged crime or when it happened, but Sheriff Jim Davis did...

A loophole in state law is preventing Campbell County investigators from charging a woman they say killed her newborn baby. Deputies were called to a home in the 1200 block of Lone Jack Road in Rustburg around 11:00a.m. Friday. The caller said a woman in her early 20s was in labor. When deputies arrived, they discovered the baby had actually been born around 1:00a.m., about ten hours earlier. Investigators say the baby was already dead when deputies got there. Investigators tell WSLS the baby’s airway was still blocked. They say the baby was under bedding and had been suffocated by...

Rob Wittman was 40 minutes late to his town hall meeting in Montross on Dec. 8, where he received less than the hometown treatment from TEA Party members. Held at Washington and Lee High School, the town hall meeting, sponsored by the Westmoreland County Citizens Association, was the public's opportunity to question Wittman on everything the actions of Congress and federal government. While many questions posed to Wittman, first congressional district representative, dealt with health care and the economy, the show was quickly stolen by TEA Party members. Catherine Crabill, former Republican candidate for the 99th district seat in Virginia's...

Senate Republicans say they want to “smoke out” Democratic senators who could help them bring down the health care bill, and so far, they think they’ve found one in Sen. Jim Webb. With all the attention focused on four other fence-sitting moderates, Webb has voted with Republicans six times on the first series of amendments on the Senate floor — giving GOP leaders some hope that the unpredictable Virginian could buck his party in the end and block the bill. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, No. 4 in GOP leadership, said Webb’s votes “came as a bit of a surprise”...

Dear Ms. Daniel: Knowing of your interest in the ongoing debate in Congress over health care reform, I wanted to update you on a number of votes and positions that I have taken during the process. Together with 60 of my colleagues, I voted in favor of proceeding to debate the proposed health care reform legislation. I have yet to decide whether I will support final passage of the bill. I have stated on several occasions my concerns that the Obama administration should have begun the health care process with a clear, detailed proposal, from which legislation could then be...

Dear Friend, We thought you might be interested in the following column by Senator Webb published in today's Winchester Star. http://www.winchesterstar.com/pages/view/still.html Webb cites concerns, amendments, votes on health care Sen. Jim Webb Like all of my colleagues in the Democratic Party, I voted in favor of proceeding to debate the proposed health-care reform legislation. I have yet to decide whether I will support final passage of the bill. I have stated on several occasions my concerns that the Obama administration should have begun the health-care process with a clear, detailed proposal, from which legislation could then be put into place....

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - The five young Americans detained in Pakistan as part of a terrorism investigation were wholesome kids who never exhibited any signs of religious extremism, according to the youth director at a mosque where they worshipped. "I never observed any extreme behavior with them," said Mustafa Abu Maryam, who served as a volunteer youth director at the Islamic Circle of North America's small chapter mosque. It's in a converted single-family home in a residential neighborhood a few miles south of the Capital Beltway.

The speaker at Friday prayer services at Howard University's dental school stressed to worshipers that Islam is a religion of moderation. Ramy Zamzam, a student at the dental school, is among five men detained in Pakistan after they allegedly sought to join up with terrorist groups. In a brief sermon, Sultan Chaudhry, who serves as president of the dentistry school's student council, said: "Muslims have to follow the middle path with no extremes on either side." Chaudhry also said Islam promotes "human dignity and honor" and has a set of universal values that are "positive and life-affirming.".. At a Virginia...

Law: American heroes are arraigned for allegedly punching a terrorist in wartime. What happens to Tiger Woods isn't vital to our country's future. What happens to Matthew McCabe, Julio Huertas and Jonathan Keefe is. People are more likely to recognize the names of Tiger's alleged bimbo eruptions than the names of these three Navy SEALs we sent into battle. They are not household names in a nation consumed with Climate Gate, the public option and the antics of billionaire athletes. An administration consumed with apologies has said the architect of 9/11's massacre, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, must be given all the...

The county still has no approved Nativity scene or Christmas tree, more than a week after Loudoun's Board of Supervisors reversed a committee's decision to ban public displays. The supervisors will probably change that at a special meeting Thursday by ironing out details about who can set up displays...The meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. at the school administration building in Ashburn, an hour before a scheduled public input session on the budget. On Dec. 1, supervisors voted, 7 to 1, to allow community groups "equal access" to the grounds. A decision last month to bar any structures, religious or...

Police conducted a search operation in Tehsil Bhalwal, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Kotmomen and Shahpur and arrested 64 persons, including five foreigners, from hotels and other places.The police said most of the arrested persons belonged to Afghanistan. Our correspondent adds from Washington: The arrest of US-born Pakistanis of banned militant organisation Jaish-e-Muhammad in Sargodha has apparently solved the case of mysterious missing of at least three Pakistani-American students from the DC metro area.Earlier, it was reported here that the US federal investigators were searching for a Howard University dental student and four other Muslim men reportedly missing from the Washington, DC area....

Yesterday, the Investigative Project on Terrorism led with the story of five DC Area students who disappeared and were believed to be heading for terrorist training. December 8: Federal investigators are searching for a Howard University dental student and four other missing Muslim men reported missing from the Washington, D.C. area, the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) has learned. There is concern they may have been sent abroad to train for jihad. The five were last seen November 29.The identities of two of the missing men, Howard student Ramy Zamzam and Waqar Khan, have been mentioned in online postings, including...

Breaking News: Pakistan Reportedly Detains Five D.C.-Area Muslims on Suspicion of Terror IPT News December 8, 2009 **Updated December 9, 9:00 a.m. EST A Pakistani newspaper reports the arrest of five foreign nationals after a raid in a town called Sargodha. The raid took place at the home of a member of the Jaish-e-Muhammad, a Pakistani movement designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2001. According to the report, "The DPO told that these people had been living in Sargodha since Nov 30 and it was quite a possibility that they were engaged in acts of...

RICHMOND, Va. — A 90-year-old Medal of Honor recipient can keep his 21-foot flagpole in his front yard after a homeowner's association dropped its request to remove it, a spokesman for Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said Tuesday.

email from Equality VA, a pro-homosexual group in VA: Exciting news! The Kaine administration has started the rulemaking process that could result in state employees being able to choose either to include either a spouse or an “otherwise qualified adult” on their state health insurance plan. Equality Virginia has been working to achieve this goal for the past year. These efforts finally have resulted in publication of aNotice of Intended Regulatory Action that is the first step in a long process that will not conclude until months after Governor-elect McDonnell takes office in January. To move this proposal from suggestion...

FAIRFAX, Va. -- Neither the first snow of the winter nor the slushy, untreated roads could deter hundreds of fans from coming here Saturday morning to get a copy of “Going Rogue” signed by it’s author, Sarah Palin. The BJ’s in the Fair Lakes Shopping Center welcomed hundreds of people to line up and wait for hours to meet the former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate. People came prepared to withstand the elements. Winter coats, umbrellas and most importantly plastic shopping bags, protected their books from the chunky, wet falling flakes. Some cuddled an armful of books for their favorite...

A deadline looms for businesses to glean usable parts from hundreds of automobiles. Last summer's Cash for Clunkers program has clogged auto salvage yards with a glut of trade-ins that are too damaged to drive but too good to be sent directly to scrap. The less glamorous side of the auto industry is having trouble digesting the byproducts of the buying frenzy that put nearly 700,000 new automobiles on the nation's roads -- and took the same number off. The future of millions of usable auto parts is in limbo as a critical deadline looms this winter under the federal...

Col. Van T. Barfoot, a local Medal of Honor recipient, is under the gun from his Henrico County community's homeowner association. In a five-paragraph letter to Barfoot that he received yesterday, Barfoot is being ordered to remove a flagpole from his yard. The decorated veteran of three wars, now 90 years old, raises the American flag every morning on the pole, then lowers and folds the flag at dusk each day in a three-corner military fashion. ... There is no provision in the community's rules expressly forbidding flagpoles, Barfoot's daughter said. But she said the board ruled against her father's...

Sarah Palin brought a taste of the Alaska winter with her to a Saturday book signing at the BJ's Wholesale Club in Fairfax. After alternating between drizzle and rain for much of the night Friday, snow flurries began in earnest about 8:30 a.m. "I wanted to feel like I was at home" Palin said, as she walked into the store while the first snowfall of the season soaked a crowd of about 2,000 people who came to meet her.

Notice how this document bears similarities to our Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. A declaration of rights made by the representatives of the good people of Virginia, assembled in full and free convention; which rights do pertain to them and their posterity, as the basis and foundation of government. SECTION I. That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring...

STERLING, Va. - A close inspection by Customs and Border Protection officers at Dulles International Airport turned up something unexpected. Inside a fully-cooked chicken they found cocaine with an estimated street value of $4,300. The 60.4 grams (2.3 ounces) of coke was found inside two small, clear plastic bags inside the chicken's cavity. Officers discovered the white powdery substance during a secondary inspection after a flight from El Salvador arrived shortly after midnight Saturday. It tested positive for cocaine. "CBP officers have seen many unique narcotics concealment methods, and they all present the same challenges to discover them. Our officers'...

Time: December 5, 2009 from 11am to 2pm Location: BJ's Street: 13053 Fair Lakes Shopping Center City/Town: Fairfax VA Website or Map: http://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin Event Type: book, signing Organized By: O. P. Ditch Latest Activity: 1 day ago

Gov. Tim Kaine did a victory lap around Virginia on Tuesday to mark the beginning of a historic ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, speaking confidently of the law's longevity despite his successor's opposition to it. Flanked by legislative allies at Chadwicks restaurant in Alexandria, the outgoing governor said the ban would cut heart and lung disease associated with exposure to secondhand smoke among restaurant patrons and workers, while not hurting the businesses' bottom lines. The stop was sandwiched by visits to Charlottesville and Richmond. The new law represents one to Kaine's few major policy wins in a term...