Free Republic

During a speech Monday, the president said he is signing two proclamations which will shrink the Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. He called the measures a reversal of federal overreach, and says the move will restore the rights of land to the people of Utah. The president says the residents of the state know how to protect and conserve their own land, and Washington politicians do not. He added, lands must be protected and now will be protected by this new measure.

It looks like a big flashlight — but it's really a nonlethal weapon designed to make you sick. Intelligent Optical Systems, Inc., of Torrance, Calif., has been granted a contract by the Department of Homeland Security to develop what it calls the "LED Incapacitator," according to a DHS online newsletter. The handheld device using light-emitting diodes to emit super-bright pulses of light at rapidly changing wavelengths, causing disorientation, nausea and even vomiting in whomever it's pointed at.

In Virginia, Ohio, and Maryland, Kingpin Spammers Go to the Slammer:State Laws Rightly Criminalize Fraudulent Bulk SpammingBy ANITA RAMASASTRY Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2004 According to a recent report from an Internet security firm, in September 2004, a whopping 82% of inbound email messages to consumers consisted of spam. Does the sheer volume of spam mean it is impossible to stop? The answer is potentially no. According to one spam watchdog group, Spamhaus, only 200 spam operators are responsible for 80 percent of the spam received by internet users in North America and Europe - and it is well-known exactly who...

Self Defense -- A Vital Human Right by Don B. KatesHANDGUNS April/May 2004, Gun Rights column, pp. 34-37 Gun owners should be aware that for more than a decade there has been a massive, richly funded international effort to ban and confiscate all civilian-owned firearms in the world. This effort, which is being promoted under the aegis of the U.N., is not being pushed by the usual idealistic "public health"-type mush heads. Its far more sinister sponsors are a host of brutally represive governments, many with records of genocide and all desiring to keep the option of committing genocide in...