Free Republic

http://www.centraltexasnow.com/ Please Freep this poll. Is the degree of private and public opposition to Ken Starr's appointment justified? Yes No Thank you for participating in our poll. Here are the results so far: Yes66%No 34%

Could high-speed rail service with a stop in the Hillsboro area be a reality by 2020? That is the goal set by the Texas High-Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation (THSRTC) following the final planning and design charrette in Fort Worth. The charrette preceded the 10th annual Transportation Summit held in Irving Tuesday through Friday, August 7-10. THSRTC board members met in Houston in May at the Continental Airlines headquarters for the first of the charrettes. Attending were eight international suppliers of high-speed rail for nine different systems in France, Germany, Korea and Spain. In addition, 14 consulting firms of varying...

Baylor University is the Baptist-affiliated school in Waco, Texas, best known perhaps for its football team. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in Texas and, with some 14,000 students, the largest Baptist university in the world. Of late, however, the school has distinguished itself mainly by its evident disdain for the academic freedom of an eminent scholar and its concomitant promotion of a radical polemicist. Baylor recently decided to deny tenure to Francis Beckwith, a leading bio-ethicist and one of the most accomplished scholars at Baylor. Beckwith had been associate director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State...

The conventional view, embraced by most of his fellow cultural determinists, is that during the Renaissance and Reformation, Europeans shook off the authority of the Catholic Church. When a secular world was created alongside the sacred one, when intellectual freedom replaced obedience to authority, capitalism and scientific advances were the result. That theory, Stark says, doesn't fit the facts. In reality, capitalism developed in the Middle Ages, and the important innovations were made by people in the belly of the faith. Religion didn't stifle economic and scientific ideas -- it nurtured them. Stark is building upon the recent research that...

We owe a great debt to Air Force Academy head football coach Fisher DeBerry. To be sure, the initial knee-jerk reaction to his recent comments about black football players being generally faster than white ones caused him to be treated like a "politically incorrect" piñata (my God, I hope I haven't offended Latinos). Upon reflection, however, his statements were so obviously true that something of an anti-PC backlash has materialized in his defense. To their credit, Sam Adams and Thierry Smith, two African-American Denver sportswriters, both agreed on their KKFN radio talk show that DeBerry's remarks weren't racist and that...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Baylor University’s new interim president, William (Bill) Underwood, stated reasons May 2 why he has been a financial supporter of a Planned Parenthood sexuality program for youth entering the fifth through ninth grade. In an interview requested by Baptist Press, Underwood stated that he and his wife have enrolled their daughter and son in the half-day program in recent years. Planned Parenthood in Waco, Texas, where Baylor is located, and in numerous cities across the country, provides abortion and other sexual-related services and is known as the nation’s largest provider of elective abortions. Controversy over Nobody’s Fool, a...

<p>WACO, Texas — Not far from the ranch where President Bush is spending the holidays, the impact of the war in Iraq is being driven home in this city of 113,000.</p> <p>In the biggest single call-up of the Texas National Guard since World War II, 3,300 citizen-soldiers are preparing to ship out for a year of combat duty in Iraq, the largest contingent to date that the state has sent there.</p>

Baylor paper backs gay unionsStudent publication's editor said editorial was stance on legal issue12:02 AM CST on Saturday, February 28, 2004From Staff Reports The Baylor Lariat, the student newspaper at the world's largest Baptist university, where dancing was banned on campus until 1996, supported legal marriage for gay couples in an editorial Friday. "Taking into account legal protection under the law, gay couples should be granted the same equal rights to legal marriage as heterosexual couples," the editorial said. The Baylor Lariat Editorial: San Francisco should pursue gay marriage suit The Baylor LariatOfficial site: Baylor University Lariat editor Lacy Elwood...

Cosby 'pep rally' aims to boost Baylor spirits09:45 AM CDT on Thursday, September 4, 2003Associated Press Less than a year ago, a sold-out crowd paid as much as $25 each to hear comedian Bill Cosby perform at Baylor University's Ferrell Center – an event that raised money for a new floor in the gold-domed basketball arena. On Thursday, the entertainer will return to the 14,000-student university in Waco. But following heartache and scandal at Baylor, Cosby's mission will be different – and admission will be free. Also Online Video: Melissa Tamplin reports Video: Web exclusive: Watch the full interview...

No skin, but Baylor still suspends frat over Playboy pictures Members clothed for picture; school says publication salacious 08/29/2002 Associated Press WACO - A fraternity has been suspended from Baylor University for a year after a picture of some members, fully clothed, appeared in Playboy magazine. About 50 men and four women, all students, posed on a sand volleyball court, some wearing Sigma Phi Epsilon T-shirts and others waving Baylor pennants. A student who has since graduated posed nude for another photo and used an alias. The pictures are in the October issue featuring the Big 12 conference. Officials...