Free Republic

Staff Published: December 22, 2008 Prince William County police have charged a 17-year-old in the double slayings of a Dale City woman and her teenage son. Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert said Monday that Jean C. Smith, 39, and her son James Smith, 19, were killed during an attempted burglary at their home on Langford Court on Friday afternoon. The 17-year-old, who lives in the neighborhood, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, burglary and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Neighbors and sources identified the teen as Xavier Pinckney. His girlfriend, 22-year-old Jacqueline Munoz,...

James Madison, father of our U.S. Constitution, must be rolling over in his grave. You see, he forgot to put love in it. By congressional edict, schools and universities across the nation were recently required to spend some time on or around September 17 teaching about the Constitution. That's the date our nation's founding document was ratified back in 1787. Robert Byrd, West Virginia's Ku Klux Klan leader turned Senator, authored the legislation. Byrd's considered something of a constitutional scholar by his congressional colleagues. (Mobsters, no doubt, thought Al Capone an expert on criminal justice.) The law mandates any educational...

As a 3-year-old, Alina Fernandez didn’t know that the Communist revolution that swept Cuba was led by her father. The only thing she could see was what the revolution did to her TV cartoons. Fernandez, who decades later fled Cuba in 1993, spoke Monday night at James Madison University. She described sitting in her own rocking chair as a youngster, when her favorite program was interrupted. "Shouts of ‘Viva Cuba Libre’ thundered through the living room, and the television screen filled up with all of these hairy people," she said. "Uncle Scrooge, his nephews and Mickey Mouse vanished from the...

This book helps the reader to understand and mediate the debates that arise when gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, intersex, and queer/questioning students and their families ask for equal treatment from the schools and are opposed by conservative parents. Sexual Orientation and School Policy is a case study of one school districts' attempt to adopt and implement policies that include sexual orientation. This book describes the work of the Safe Schools Coalition who advocate and educate for equal rights for gay lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, intersex, and queer/questioning (GLBTIQ) students. Concerned Citizens, a group of conservative parents, opposed the inclusion of sexual...

<p>WILLIAMSBURG - State Sen. John H. Chichester told a receptive audience yesterday that Virginia must raise taxes as an investment in making the state's future "worthy of its past."</p> <p>Chichester, a Stafford County Republican and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, received a standing ovation at the College of William and Mary after defending his budget proposal, which calls for tax increases of about $2.6 billion over two years.</p>

<p>Delegate Robert G. Marshall, who last spring denounced James Madison University's "SexFest 2003," is now demanding answers from another state school: Virginia Tech.</p> <p>Mr. Marshall said Virginia Tech misused taxpayer funds last week when school officials allowed Virginia Tech TV to tape on campus a "Sex Talk Live" show during which students discussed sex.</p>

Immigrant Group Sues Virginia Colleges Immigrant-Rights Group Sues Seven Virginia Colleges Over Admissions Policy The Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, Va. Sept. 3 — Immigrant-rights groups are suing seven Virginia colleges for allegedly following the state attorney general's advice to deny admission to illegal immigrants.The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, contends that the schools' policies usurp the role of federal immigration authorities. It was filed on behalf of unidentified students who either attend or have graduated from Virginia public high schools. The suit follows an advisory opinion issued last year by Attorney General Jerry Kilgore recommending that all Virginia...

A group of Hispanic illegal immigrants sued seven state colleges and universities yesterday in federal court, claiming the schools denied them admission because of their immigration status. The lawsuit, made public yesterday, says the schools' presidents and rectors are following ill-conceived legal advice from state Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore, who last fall issued an opinion recommending that all Virginia colleges deny admission to illegal immigrants and suggesting that admissions officers report potentially illegal applicants to federal authorities. The schools are George Mason University, James Madison University, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), the Northern Virginia Community...

<p>Washington area residents might be surprised to learn that universities in the District and Virginia are among the "Top 10 Activist Campuses" in the world, as rated in the September-October issue of Mother Jones.</p> <p>But let's first visit No. 1: the University of Tehran.</p>

<p>Gov. Mark R. Warner yesterday concentrated on education issues ranging from a dispute over banning all guns on high school grounds to his soon-to-be-released program proposing educational reforms.</p> <p>Additionally, the governor defended state colleges' enrollment of so many out-of-state students, a revenue-boosting practice that some complain denies admission of more Virginia students.</p>

Government Security Conference Run By Islamic RadicalsBy Joe Kaufman and Beila RabinowitzFrontPageMagazine.com | July 10, 2003 “The terrorist of the future won’t carry guns and explosives and force his way into sensitive areas – unless he wants to make a show of it… Instead, he'll sit at a computer terminal and, with a few keystrokes, do more damage than he ever could with physical force.” – Jerry Benson, Dean of the College of Integrated Science and Technology, James Madison University The Government Security Conference (known in the trade as GOVSEC) will convene on July 23, 2003 with the goal of...

Yes Virginia, at least for the moment, you have access to contraception. Virginia State Delegate Robert Marshall (R-13th) has ignited a firestorm on college campuses in the Old Dominion by advocating that the dispensing of emergency contraception, a.k.a. morning after pills, violated Virginia's 24-hour waiting period for abortion services. Thankfully, the Virginia Attorney General's Office intervened with a letter advising that Marshall's opinion was not based in law, but this dispute yet again identifies that leading opponents of reproductive rights seek not only to regulate abortions, but to also prevent access to contraception. This year, Marshall's crusade against reproductive rights...

Warner applauds Senior Center Makes remarks on pill debate during visit to Charlottesville By Bob Gibson / Daily Progress staff writer May 14, 2003 Gov. Mark R. Warner said Tuesday that he rejects a Northern Virginia GOP lawmaker’s efforts to redefine "morning after" birth control pills as abortion agents and to have the pills banned from university student health centers. "I agree with the attorney general’s office," said Warner, speaking in Charlottesville. He was referring to a Friday afternoon memorandum to colleges by Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore’s office that found the state’s universities are not violating Virginia’s informed...

HARRISONBURG, Va. -- In response to a complaint from a state legislator, James Madison University will stop providing "morning after" birth-control pills at its campus health center. The state-supported college's board of visitors voted Friday to stop dispensing the emergency contraception pill after receiving a letter from Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas, criticizing the practice.

Throughout American history, historians have accredited James Madison with many subtitles. Some are accurate, some not. He is commonly referred to as the Father of the Constitution. However, his record at the Constitutional Convention makes that point arguable at best. Atheists commonly cite Madison as being in favor of total removal of religious belief and guidance in government. That this fact is disputable is a gross understatement. However, that James Madison was the leading American constitutionalist among the founding fathers is beyond dispute. As with the study of any political thinker, the task of fully grasping Madison’s ideas must come...

WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- It has been reported that American intelligence operatives have e-mailed Iraqi generals in the hope that some of them might turn on Saddam Hussein. Some in the government seem to believe that the upper echelons of the Iraqi army are filled with closet Jeffersonians, waiting for just the right time to put a bullet in Saddam Hussein's head so that they can lead Iraq down the path of true democracy. Some believe that Iraqi generals are a cynical lot who might be expected to turn on Saddam to be on the winning side. The U.S....