Free Republic

District of Columbia when it became the nation's capital two centuries ago would be granted under legislation the Senate passed Thursday. Congress is "moving to right a centuries-old wrong," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid shortly before the 61-37 vote. The House is expected to pass the measure with a strong majority next week and President Barack Obama, a co-sponsor when the bill failed to clear the Senate two years ago, has promised to sign it. The measure is likely to face a court challenge immediately after becoming law; opponents argue that it is unconstitutional because D.C. is not a...

WASHINGTON — What if we fail to prevent an attack?Assume every line of defense against nuclear terrorism is breached: the efforts to lock up nuclear material abroad, to spy out hidden weapons programs, to deter rogue states and capture terrorists, to detect smuggled bombs at the border or downtown — every preventive measure discussed in the previous five installments of this series. Assume someone, somehow, gets all the way through. It only has to happen once. Assume that this someone puts together a crude atomic bomb, of the “Little Boy” type dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, a heavy and awkward device...

Washington, D.C. homeowners shouldn’t expect to lock and load anytime soon as an effort to repeal a nearly 30-year ban on handgun ownership (search) in the district has hit a snag despite Republican gains in the U.S. Senate that might draw more gun-friendly lawmakers to Capitol Hill. "It still has an improved chance," said Dan Whiting, spokesman for Republican Sen. Larry Craig (search) of Idaho, who had co-sponsored legislation to repeal the gun ban and had hoped to attach the measure to the 2005 D.C appropriations bill. But opponents of the gun ban say D.C. residents are wary of turning...

SPIDER-MAN, DOC, THE DISTRICT, and WE WERE SOLDIERS Are Also Among the Winners at 11th Annual MOVIEGUIDE(R) Faith & Values Awards Gala By Dan Wooding and Tom Snyder BEVERLY HILLS, CA (ANS) - “Good guys finish first and the cream rises to the top,” Dr. Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission(tm) ministry, told a star-studded audience at the 11th Annual MOVIEGUIDE(R) Faith & Values Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry ceremony, held Tuesday evening March 18 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. This was certainly borne out when Pierce Brosnan took home two major...