Free Republic

A longtime champion of homeschooling rights around the globe, Home School Legal Defense Association Senior Counsel and Director of State and International Relations Christopher J. Klicka was called home by his Lord on October 12, 2009, at age 48, following a 15-year battle with multiple sclerosis. An attorney, spokesman, lobbyist, and homeschooling husband and father, Chris is survived by his wife, Tracy, their seven children (ages 11–21), and his parents, Ardath and George Klicka. “Chris was both a people person and a goal person. He cared deeply about people, but was also driven to always do more!” says HSLDA President...

A pastor at a Berkeley church was sentenced Thursday to three years' probation and fined $1,000 after becoming the first person convicted under an Oakland ordinance barring protesters from coming within 8 feet of anyone entering an abortion clinic. Walter Hoye could have faced up to two years in jail after a jury convicted him last month of two misdemeanor counts of unlawfully approaching patients at the Family Planning Specialists Medical Group at Second and Webster streets. The case was an emotional one, and pro-choice and anti-abortion advocates jammed the Oakland courtroom for the sentencing hearing. Dozens of people unable...

Hollywood's Sundance Kid is hurting poor people. So say some East Coast ministers and conservative activists, who took to the streets in front of a downtown Salt Lake City theater on the eve of Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival to accuse the actor of holding down low-income Americans with his opposition to oil and gas drilling near national parks in Utah. The protesters, led by the Congress of Racial Equality's national spokesman Niger Innis, suggested Redford should "relinquish his wealth" and live like a poor person. They complained that the filmmaker's anti-drilling stance could lead to higher energy prices for...

I have been thinking about how PA will play out in the general election, and have decided to do an HONEST analysis by predicting how the characters on "The Office" will vote (or not vote). "The Office" is located in Scranton, PA. Criticism, agreements, alternate scenarios and comments most welcome. MICHAEL: Michael will vote for Obama. He likes to be part of whatever he sees as the trend, and he sees Obama as the Next Big Thing. Michael: Obama JIM: Jim has never voted and will not vote. He has, however, registered repeatedly. He likes to register with a famous...

You better eat your . . . Frosted Flakes? Olympic legend Michael Phelps will appear on boxes of the Kellogg's brand sugar cereal, drawing sharp criticism from health experts worried about the message he'll be sending to children across America. "I would not consider Frosted Flakes the food of an Olympian," said nutritionist Rebecca Solomon of Mount Sinai Medical Center. "I would rather see him promoting Fiber One. I would rather see him promoting oatmeal. I would even rather see him promoting Cheerios." The announcement yesterday that Phelps, 23, winner of a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics,...

At 15, Lawrence King was small—5 feet 1 inch—but very hard to miss. In January, he started to show up for class at Oxnard, Calif.'s E. O. Green Junior High School decked out in women's accessories. On some days, he would slick up his curly hair in a Prince-like bouffant. Sometimes he'd paint his fingernails hot pink and dab glitter or white foundation on his cheeks. "He wore makeup better than I did," says Marissa Moreno, 13, one of his classmates. He bought a pair of stilettos at Target, and he couldn't have been prouder if he had on a...

Trading Post 13 last Tuesday, a sweltering morning during the 15th Boy Scouts Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill near Fredericksburg, Va. Despite the heat wave, over the next 10 days they would help 32,000 other Scouts burn through 76,000 hamburgers, 479,000 eggs, 10 tons of beef stew--and countless hours energetically addressing a controversy that will not fade. "In the Bible, it's a sin to be gay," said Moran, 15, as the sun glinted off his dyed blue hair. Keep them out of scouting? "Exactly," he declared. Fifteen-year-old Greg Gutta Jr. was sympathetic. "They say everybody should have the right to...

OAKLAND -- The fact that fireworks are illegal and potentially dangerous did not prevent many Oakland residents from setting them off on Friday night. KTVU's Amber Lee found adults and children playing with fireworks on 100th Avenue. "I spent a hundred dollars for my kids, for the Fourth of July", said Vitalino Acabal of Oakland. He insisted it was just part of summer vacation fun. A few blocks away, a four year old girl and her 12 year old brother were setting off bottle rockets. Their 15 year old sister said their parents weren't home, but it's part of her...

I have never posted a vanity, so I hope I did this correctly - I'd like to propost that every year, June 26 be recognized by lovers of freedom everywhere as "Heller Day." We could all gather our loved ones for a day of target practice and have a barbecue or something. Let's all remember the day that the Supreme Court declared the obvious: we have an individual right to bear arms.

She's revered as a trail-blazing feminist and author Alice Walker touched the lives of a generation of women. A champion of women's rights, she has always argued that motherhood is a form of servitude. But one woman didn't buy in to Alice's beliefs - her daughter, Rebecca, 38. Here the writer describes what it was like to grow up as the daughter of a cultural icon, and why she feels so blessed to be the sort of woman 64-year-old Alice despises - a mother.

I’m much more of a fiscon than a socon or a defcon (although I do tend to be rather conservative in all three areas) - and that might help explain why I favored Mitt Romney in the primaries. And now, I’ve got to admit, for possibly the first time in the past two years, I’m almost excited about McCain’s candidacy right now… and because of fiscal and economic issues, no less. Who would have thought? Because in between the times he’s blaming pharmaceutical companies for the health care “crisis” in America and blaming our “recession” on greedy Wall Streeters, he...

PARIS (Reuters) - French former film star Brigitte Bardot went on trial on Tuesday for insulting Muslims, the fifth time she has faced the charge of "inciting racial hatred" over her controversial remarks about Islam and its followers. Prosecutors asked that the Paris court hand the 73-year-old former sex symbol a two-month suspended prison sentence and fine her 15,000 euros ($23,760) for saying the Muslim community was "destroying our country and imposing its acts". Since retiring from the film industry in the 1970s, Bardot has become a prominent animal rights activist but she has also courted controversy by denouncing Muslim...

“The obesity epidemic has absolutely been exaggerated,” said Dr. Vincent Marks. I once ticked off the local franchiser of Weight Watchers by pointing out my weight gain after quitting smoking was no big deal. OK, the column should not have pointed out that the Nazis did not feed people to death in the Holocaust. Did I mention she’s Jewish? Now we have been told to the point of ridiculousness that we face an obesity epidemic — an abuse of a noun that really medical professionals, of all people, should avoid. The definition of overweight and obese were redefined to the...

With all of the primaries going on in the past month, you may have noticed that the presidential candidates are starting to get a little snarky with each other. What you may not know is that mudslinging isn’t exactly a new tactic. And I’m not talking as recent as Nixon and Kennedy… nope, the nasty rumors and talk of mistresses and morals go as far back as George Washington. In case you’re wondering exactly how down-and-dirty these campaigns got, consider the fact that this is the only election in history where a vice president has run against the president he...

A U.S. Coast Guard officer and devout Catholic has filed suit to prevent being forced to receive a vaccination derived from the lung of an aborted child after a higher ranking officer disputed his understanding of Church theology. The Alliance Defense Fund filed a complaint last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of Lt. Cmdr. Joseph Healy, charging the government with using its own arbitrary judgment of what constitutes Catholic theology while permitting religious exemptions to others, effectively discriminating against Healy's sincerely held religious beliefs. Healy's request for religious exemption cited a 2005...

As Feb. 5th approaches, just a note: I saw my first television ad for a presidential primary candidate yesterday and it was. . .for Barack Obama. A couple of months ago, I saw my first bumper sticker for a presidential primary candidate, and it was. . .for Barack Obama. I've seen several more since. Friday, I saw my first window sign and it was. . .for Barack Obama. I haven't seen a Clinton anything, nor a Republican anything. Of course, I live in the SF Bay Area, which is Liberal Central Headquarters. But, I think Obama will win California. Just...

NEW YORK - Just weeks ago, the holiday shopping season seemed headed for disaster. But in the waning hours before Christmas, the nation's retailers got their wish — a last-minute surge of shopping that helped meet their modest sales goals, according to data released late Monday by research firm ShopperTrak RCT Corp. ADVERTISEMENT And with post-Christmas shopping to come, some malls and stores were downright optimistic. While consumers jammed stores at the start of the season in search of discounts and hot items such as Nintendo Co.'s Wii game console, a challenging economy prompted them to hold out until the...

His birth famously prompted her to declare "we have become a grandmother". Mark Thatcher with the ball for his Highland Park high school team Mark Thatcher with the ball for his Highland Park high school team Eighteen years on Margaret Thatcher's grandson is now prompting devotion in fans of American football as he becomes a rising star of the game. Michael Thatcher, whose father Sir Mark Thatcher separated from his mother after being accused of planning a coup in Equatorial Ginuea, has helped carry his high school team to the finals of the state championships with a extraordinary catch during...

For the first time in 35 years, the U.S. fertility rate has climbed high enough to sustain a stable population, solidifying the nation's unique status among industrialized countries. The overall fertility rate increased 2 percent between 2005 and 2006, nudging the average number of babies being born to each woman to 2.1, according to the latest federal statistics. That marks the first time since 1971 that the rate has reached a crucial benchmark of population growth: the ability of each generation to replace itself. "It's been quite a long time since we've had a rate this high," said Stephanie J....

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich questioned President Bush's mental health in light of comments he made about a nuclear Iran precipitating World War III. "I seriously believe we have to start asking questions about his mental health," Kucinich, an Ohio congressman, said in an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer's editorial board on Tuesday. "There's something wrong. He does not seem to understand his words have real impact." Kucinich, known for his liberal views, trails far behind the leading candidates in most Democratic polls. He was in Philadelphia for a debate at Drexel University. Bush made the remarks...