Free Republic

The press is pawing over Mitt Romney’s religion, and the candidate may just welcome this scrutiny. It...diverts attention from...Mitt Romney, flip-flopper. Critics point shrilly to well over a dozen strong positions he has conveniently changed...Romney’s concessions...are not uncharacteristic of the church to which he belongs. Mormonism has its own history of political accommodation. SNIP Both the official church and Mormons...backed away from certain beliefs they had gone into the wilderness to secure: ...theocracy of melding secular government with religious hierarchy, a communal living order very like socialism and...plural marriage. These were bedrock doctrines, touchstones of Mormon orthodoxy that could not...be...

Students face a £50,000 bill for a three-year degree from next year because of increased tuition fees and the rising cost of living. Current undergraduates pay £31,373 at an elite Russell Group university, which will increase by 55 per cent to an average £48,503 in 2012. The most expensive courses – because of costly university accommodation – are those in London.

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – Some public school parents in Edgewater, Florida, want a first-grade girl with life-threatening peanut allergies removed from the classroom and home-schooled, rather than deal with special rules to protect her health, a school official said. "That was one of the suggestions that kept coming forward from parents, to have her home-schooled. But we're required by federal law to provide accommodations. That's just not even an option for us," said Nancy Wait, spokeswoman for the Volusia County School District. Wait said the 6-year-old's peanut allergy is so severe it is considered a disability under the Americans with...

Muslim workers have not agreed to proposed change to meal schedule during month-long fast ST. PAUL, Minn., July 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) today called on Swedish appliance manufacturer Electrolux to clarify a statement claiming that it will now offer legally-mandated religious accommodation to Muslim employees at its St. Cloud, Minn., plant during the upcoming Ramadan fast. Earlier this week, CAIR-MN requested accommodation because of a new policy that prohibits all food on the production floor, except for food required by those with medical conditions such as diabetes. Since that policy was...

Living conditions for the armed forces will remain substandard for 20 years unless improvement work is given a higher priority, MPs have said. The Commons public accounts committee said half of the Ministry of Defence's housing for single soldiers was poor, as well as 40% of its family homes. Committee chairman Edward Leigh said the government should "get its priorities straight". But Defence minister Derek Twigg said improvement work was "making progress". 'Tennis courts' The committee noted that the MoD had cut £15m from its estates management budget in 2006/07 after "unforeseen rises in the cost of fuel and other...

LONDON (Reuters) - Six years after the September 11 attacks, a few cautious voices are beginning to suggest the unthinkable -- maybe it is time to consider talking to al Qaeda. The idea will revolt some people and raises obvious questions -- through what channels could such a dialogue take place and what would there be to negotiate? But proponents say al Qaeda has established itself as a de facto power, whether the West likes it or not, and history shows militant movements are best neutralized by negotiation, not war. "No insurgency or terrorism has been defeated by warfare or...

(AgapePress) - A conservative military watchdog says she intends to question West Point Military Academy officials about why a former cadet was given an award for a thesis objecting to the U.S. military's ban on homosexuals serving in the armed forces. Second Lieutenant Alexander Raggio describes himself as the straightest guy imaginable; but in his senior thesis at West Point Academy, he argued that the military's policy banning homosexuals from service is not only wrong but harmful to America's armed services. For his controversial paper, the then-senior cadet received an award from the Academy's English Department. This incident has led...

Terror Sanitized After the terror attacks in London, a few TV commentators said they would go after those in the media who want to sanitize terrorism. Such bravado may be admirable, but it is a bravado that does not recognize how terrorism has already been sanitized. The leaders of Western democracies have sanitized terrorism because they cannot publicly admit they are helpless to prevent more attacks. Most analysts who study the so-called war on terror could have told you a year ago that there would be a terrorist attack targeting the London subway. Likewise, there are those who will tell...

<p>Speaking in London on Wednesday, President Bush said, "Israel should freeze settlement construction, dismantle unauthorized outposts, end the daily humiliation of the Palestinian people, and not prejudice final negotiations with the placement of walls and fences."</p> <p>Happy Thanksgiving! It's time to carve up the turkey. It is, however, customary to kill the bird and drain its lifeblood before serving it. I find it strangely coincidental that every time Tony Blair is in trouble over the Iraq war, Bush runs to the rescue by donating Israel's lifeblood!</p>