Free Republic

SACRAMENTO – Saying that government employees shouldn't be able to evade traffic tickets because they have secret license plates, Assemblyman Todd Spitzer said Monday that he will propose legislation to help traffic enforcement agencies pierce the shield. Spitzer was responding to an Orange County Register investigation that showed that a Department of Motor Vehicles program designed to protect law enforcement from criminals was giving them another kind of protection: They can drive on toll roads without paying, run red light cameras with impunity and park illegally. For example, 3,722 public employees have run the 91 Express Lanes in the past...

Add another one to the bizarro world of New York politics. It appears that the names of all four of the dropouts in the Democrat primary still appear on the ballot. Now, just which one of the two remaining candidates would benefit by a split of the vote? The Board of Elections has an excuse: "because the candidates dropped out of the race too late for their names to be removed from the ballot." Fair enough. But wait, Dodd and Biden dropped out before Fred Thompson. Kucinich dropped out before Giuliani, and Edwards dropped out the same day as Giuliani....

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Al Gore, who was criticized for high electric bills at his Tennessee mansion, has completed a host of improvements to make the home more energy efficient, and a building-industry group has praised the house as one of the nation's most environmentally friendly. The former vice president has installed solar panels, a rainwater-collection system and geothermal heating. He also replaced all incandescent lights with compact fluorescent or light-emitting diode bulbs. "Short of tearing it down and staring anew, I don't know how it could have been rated any higher," said Kim Shinn of the U.S. Green Building...

Only weeks after voting for a resolution that "recognizes the Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world," nine Democrats in the U.S. House refused to vote for a Christmas resolution that condemns the worldwide persecution of Christians.

Only weeks after voting for a resolution that "recognizes the Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world," nine Democrats in the U.S. House refused to vote for a Christmas resolution that condemns the worldwide persecution of Christians.

Investigative reporter Wendy Saltzman discovered more than 100 law enforcement officers have been arrested in Georgia for driving under the influence. Her investigation found some of them asked for favors, some wrecked department cars, and some were given special treatment. "I think that is outrageous frankly," said police psychologist Dr. Anthony Stone. "I can't imagine their being fit for duty, because almost by definition they have a drinking problem," Stone said. Habersham County Sheriff’s Captain Freddie Chapman has been arrested 4 times on alcohol related charges spanning back to an underage alcohol violation in 1988. His offenses also include three...

The Mexican Senate is urging President Felipe Calderon to send a stern note protesting the U.S.’s deportation of Elvira Arellano. Arellano is the illegal immigrant who had taken refuge in a Chicago church for the last year. She was apprehended and deported by U.S. authorities after she snuck out of the church and gave a speech to an illegal immigrant rights rally in Los Angeles. “For the Americans to deny her the human right to live in freedom and prosperity and forcibly send her back here is a crime,” charged Senator Ernesto Mentiroso (PRD-Sonora). “Mexico is no place for a...

Al Gore III pleaded guilty Monday to possessing marijuana and other drugs, but a judge told the former Veep's son he can withdraw that plea and have the charges dropped if he successfully completes a drug diversion program. What a bargain! Cops say the 24-year-old was going 100+ MPH in his Prius on an Orange County freeway when they pulled him over. Multiple drugs were found in his car.

The Chicago suburb of Waukegan, Illinois has been up in arms lately over a City Council resolution that would allow Waukegan police officers to begin deportation proceedings against immigrants convicted of felonies. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070716waukeganjul16,1,48589... The major thrust of this story is that the immigrants and the groups supporting them are upset essentially because the city is applying a version of federal law that allows for all immigrants, legal or illegal, to be deported if they commit felonies. Imagine that, getting felons off the street... I'm against police officers arbitrarily making false pretextual stops (Whren v. U.S.), so that concern might be...

N.M. college doors open for undocumented By Associated Press July 16, 2007 FORT COLLINS - At least 10 undocumented students from Colorado will get to attend classes at the University of New Mexico this fall, with many not having to pay for tuition or books. A new Colorado law prohibits state colleges from providing in- state tuition to undocumented immigrants. In New Mexico, the state is barred from denying education benefits based on immigration status, said Terry Babbitt, director of admissions for the University of New Mexico. While New Mexico's state financial aid is intended for residents, Poudre High School...

Business execs arrested for refusing to cut prices By Angus Shaw ASSOCIATED PRESS July 9, 2007 HARARE, Zimbabwe – Police arrested 16 more business leaders in a crackdown on those suspected of violating the government's order to slash prices by 50 percent, the official media reported yesterday. The mandated price cuts ordered more than two weeks ago are a desperate attempt to confront inflation that has spun out of control during Zimbabwe's economic crisis. The falling prices have caused stampedes, panic buying and near-riots. Among those arrested in the latest sweep were the directors of Edgars, a leading clothing and...

Back in the late 1960s, in the heyday of the civil rights movement, I remember a black activist complaining that movies and TV programs treated blacks too respectfully, as if they all resembled Sidney Poitier and Diahann Carroll -- soft-spoken, noble and almost angelic. We would know things had really changed for the better, he said, when we saw blacks in deodorant commercials, an admission that they could smell bad just like anyone else. In the political world, that day arrived some time ago. African-American and Latino politicians are subject to the same vicious, slimy, partisan mauling as other candidates,...

Random tax audtis are coming back. Beginning this fall, the IRS plans to revive a once controversial practice of randomly targeting thousands of taxpayers for audits, even when the agency has no reason to suspect them of wrong doing. IRS officials expect the tax probes to provide fresh data to update the top sccret formulas the agency uses to help select which returns to audit and thus enable it to do a better job. The first wave of random audits will start in October and target about 13,000 income tax returns for the 2006 tax year, selected from various income...

A female worker's immigration status doesn't bar her from a filing a sexual harassment lawsuit, a federal judge in Minneapolis has ruled. Maria Torres, a cook at the Perkins Restaurant and Bakery in St. Paul's Midway neighborhood, accused her boss of making sexually suggestive remarks, touching her and showing up unannounced at her house. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Torres filed a harassment and retaliation lawsuit, alleging Perkins started investigating her immigration status only after she complained. Attorneys for Perkins tried to have the case dismissed, arguing her suspected status as an undocumented worker barred her and the...

A gay pub in the city of Melbourne has won the right to ban heterosexuals - the first time such legislation has been passed in Australia. The Victorian state civil and administrative tribunal ruled the Peel Hotel could ban patrons based on their sexual orientation. The pub's management said the move would stop groups of heterosexual men and women abusing gay people. Civil liberties groups have supported the decision. 'SAFE BALANCE' The tribunal's president said groups of straight women found homosexual men entertaining but that such attention was dehumanising, the BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney says. Managers complained raucous hen...

WHEN the first flames flared around the theatre’s stage, many of the excited Chinese children watching must have thought it was all part of the show. Within minutes 288 of them were dead, a tragedy that has haunted their parents for more than a decade but was forgotten by many as China began its headlong rush to prosperity. It is not forgotten any more, thanks to a band of internet campaigners who have exposed the shameful truth: the schoolchildren perished because they were ordered to sit down in their theatre seats so that Communist party officials could leave first. The...

The lawyer for a "government witness" in the federal prosecution of Jeane Palfrey, the accused D.C. Madam, is demanding his client's name not be broadcast by ABC News. In a letter to ABC News, Steven Salky of Zuckerman Spaeder in Washington, D.C., said he has "reason to believe" that his client might be named in this Friday's "20/20" report about the alleged prostitution ring. But Salky did not identify who his client is. ABC News has made contact with an extensive list of men traced to phone records of Palfrey's escort service business. In his letter to ABC News, Salky...

The Thought Police By Chuck Colson 5/1/2007 What the Hate Crimes Law Would Do In George Orwell’s classic novel 1984, the government Thought Police constantly spies on citizens to make sure they are not thinking rebellious thoughts. Thought crimes are severely punished by Big Brother. 1984 was intended as a warning against totalitarian governments that enslave and control their citizens. Never have we needed this warning more urgently than now, because America’s Thought Police are knocking on your door. Last week the House Judiciary Committee, egged on by radical homosexual groups, passed what can only be called a Thought Crimes...

After a demoralized Rosie O’Donnell stated the previous day that she gave up on gun control, Barbara Walters, on the April 18 edition of "The View," expressed disappointment in Rosie’s surrender. Rosie, again expressed her frustration with not accomplishing anything in the eight years since the Columbine massacre. Perhaps disarming her bodyguards would be a start. BARBARA WALTERS: When I'm not on, I watch the program. And, I mean this tragedy that has happened is so terrible, but you Rosie are always so passionate. Right or wrong, you're passionate. You care. And you're one of the people who talked about...

GORE REFUSES TO TAKE PERSONAL ENERGY ETHICS PLEDGE WASHINGTON, DC ? Former Vice President Al Gore refused to take a ?Personal Energy Ethics Pledge? today to consume no more energy than the average American household. The pledge was presented to Gore by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, during today?s global warming hearing. Senator Inhofe showed Gore a film frame from ?An Inconvenient Truth? where it asks viewers: ?Are you ready to change the way you live?? Gore has been criticized for excessive home energy usage at his residence in Tennessee. His electricity...