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(CNSNews.com) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says it was "wrong" for debate moderator Brian Williams to silence the "free speech" of the debate audience in Tampa. At the start of Monday night's debate, Williams said, "We've asked our invited guests here this evening to withhold their applause, any verbal reactions to what they hear on stage, so as to ensure this is about the four candidates here tonight and what they have to say." Never again, Gingrich told Fox & Friends the morning after: "I wish in retrospect I'd protested when Brian Williams took them (the live audience) out...

New documents obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act request show that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spent over one million taxpayer dollars promoting Obamacare in coordination with the 2010 mid-term elections. The documents include correspondence between HHS officials and representatives from The Ogilvy Group, the public relations firm hired to drive web traffic to an HHS site promoting Obamacare as "the Affordable Care Act." On October 25, 2010, HHS New Media Communications Director Julia Eisman sent an email to Ogilvy Senior Vice President Imani Green, reading, "Given the high performance, we're wondering if...

Nebraska girl born with no arms and legs has blamed unfair scoring after she failed to make her school's cheerleading squad three years in a row. Julia Sullivan, 16, has complained to the school board after she said she was given 'no accommodation for her disability' during try-outs. The wheelchair user did not make the team after she received a low score in the jumps/kicks category of the trials. Miss Sullivan got her highest marks in the communication skills and enthusiasm/spirit categories. The Aurora High School student, who said that she likes to dance, said: 'I just think it would...

Economy: "Welcome to the Recovery," said the headline over an op-ed by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in the New York Times. At first we thought it must be a joke, maybe even a parody. It wasn't. Welcome, indeed. The very same administration that promised unemployment wouldn't rise above 8% if we passed the $862 billion stimulus has dubbed the tepid economic rebound "recovery summer." They seem to think they deserve credit for the mess. "The combined effect of government actions taken over the past two years - the stimulus package, the stress tests and recapitalization of the banks, the restructuring...

A federal judge's ruling that cheerleading is not a sport has taken a longtime debate out of the courtroom and into homes, gyms, schools and colleges nationwide. The never-ending question: Are cheerleaders athletes? U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill ruled Wednesday that Quinnipiac University in New Jersey could not replace its women's volleyball team with a competitive cheering squad, saying cheerleading is "too underdeveloped and disorganized" to be treated as an official collegiate sport.George W. Bush as a cheerleader at Andover Under the nation's Title IX regulations, which require universities receiving federal funds to offer equal athletic opportunities to both...

Federal Judge: Cheerleading Is Not a SportJudge Says Calling Cheerleading a Sport Violates Federal Gender-Equality Rules By RUSSELL GOLDMAN June 21, 2010 A judge in Connecticut has ruled cheerleading is not a sport -- and universities therefore cannot direct money to the activity to meet federal gender-equality regulations. U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill ruled Wednesday that Quinnipiac University violated the law when it pulled funding from its women's volleyball team to support a competitive cheerleading squad. "I conclude as a matter of law that Quinnipiac University discriminated on the basis of sex during the 2009-10 academic years by failing to...

Cheerleading was at the center of Laura Jackson’s life since she began shaking pom-poms for a pee-wee football team in the third grade. At 14, she dreamed of cheering in high school and then, maybe college. But on the day of tryouts for the freshman high school squad in Livonia, Mich., those plans were shattered. That afternoon, as her turn arrived, she got ready to perform a back tuck, a challenging gymnastics move she’d learned just for tryouts. She eyed her spotter, a girl just three years older than herself, and took a running start across the gymnasium floor before...

While Title 9 has increased the participation of young women in high school and college sports, it has done nothing to address the most serious source of catastrophic injuries for young women -- cheerleading. Data from the Consumer Products Safety Commission show that the number of catastrophic injuries -- those involving death or disability caused by head or spine trauma -- have grown from fewer than 5,000 in 1980 to 26,000 to 28,000 per year in the last few years, according to Dr. Amy Miller Bohn, a family medicine specialist at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor....

Cheerleading safety efforts have led to modest reductions in the number of serious injuries in recent years, according to a new report about college and high school sports and cheerleading mishaps. But cheerleading continues to cause more serious and deadly injuries by far than other sports. Researchers have long known how dangerous cheerleading is, but records were poorly kept until recently. An update to the record-keeping system last year found that between 1982 and 2007, there were 103 fatal, disabling or serious injuries recorded among female high school athletes, with the vast majority (67) occurring in cheerleading. The next most...

MADISON, Wis. — High school cheerleading is a contact sport and therefore its participants cannot be sued for accidentally causing injuries, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. In a case closely watched in the cheerleading world, the court ruled that a former high school cheerleader cannot sue a teammate who dropped her while practicing a stunt. The court also said the injured cheerleader cannot sue her school district for the coach's alleged lack of supervision.

GLENDALE, Ky. -- Bobby Thorn wanted to be the only boy on his school's cheerleading squad, but that didn't happen. The 13-year-old attends East Hardin Middle School in Glendale, but the controversial decision to cut him from the team expands beyond the district's boundaries. Bobby's mother filed a discrimination claim with the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights two years ago, and now a settlement has been reached. Bobby works with coach Jen Brewer at a gym called Becca's Fliptown, something he's been doing since he was about 5. He's been successful, too, winning trophies for gymnastics and cheerleading. “Bobby's phenomenal,”...

GLENDALE, Ky. -- Bobby Thorn wanted to be the only boy on his school's cheerleading squad, but that didn't happen. The 13-year-old attends East Hardin Middle School in Glendale, but the controversial decision to cut him from the team expands beyond the district's boundaries, reported Louisville, Ky., TV station WLKY. Bobby's mother filed a discrimination claim with the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights two years ago, and now a settlement has been reached. Bobby works with coach Jen Brewer at a gym called Becca's Fliptown, something he's been doing since he was about 5. He's been successful, too, winning trophies...

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Midriff ban not a goer in NZ 17 April 2006 By JOANNA DAVIS It's an Aussie cover-up that will never "take off" over here – Australian cheerleaders have been banned from exposing their midriffs over fears they could be encouraging anorexia. Gymnastics Australia says revealing costumes make other teenagers feel uncomfortable about their weight and must go by the end of the year. But Christchurch cheerleaders are not having a scrap of it. Crusaders chief executive Hamish Riach, who oversees the well-exposed Paul Kelly Motor Company dancers, said he was not concerned about anorexia or body image and the dancers'...

After an alternately comic and fiery debate - punctuated by several lawmakers waving pompons - the state House on Tuesday approved a bill to restrict "overtly sexually suggestive" cheerleading to more ladylike performances. The bill would give the state education commissioner authority to request that school districts review high school performances. "Girls can get out and do all of these overly sexually performances and we applaud them and that's not right," said Democratic Rep. Al Edwards, who filed the legislation. Edwards argued bawdy performances are a distraction for students resulting in pregnancies, dropouts and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases....

Cheerleading (search) has strayed from the 2-4-6-8 rhymes of yesteryear, and that can leave parochial school cheerleading squads wondering how to craft routines that fit their values without looking downright retro. One answer is Christian cheerleading camp. A growing number of Christian schools, put off by the sometimes-seductive dances and cheers taught at secular camps, are opting instead for faith-based camps and competitions -- places where Bible study meets basket tosses and the music doesn't have to be bleeped out. Jaime Fulton, cheerleading coach at Western Christian High School in Covina, Calif., remembers going to secular cheerleading camps when she...

Friday Night Lights In Texas May Soon Be Free Of Sexy Cheerleaders Schools' Funding Would Be Reduced   POSTED: 7:54 am EST March 18, 2005 AUSTIN, Texas -- One Texas lawmaker wants high school cheerleaders to keep it clean. State Rep. Al Edwards of Houston is proposing a law to ban dirty dancing by cheerleaders. Edwards wants to put an end to "sexually suggestive" performances by cheerleaders at athletic events and other extracurricular competitions. Edwards is outraged by the way cheerleaders are "shaking their behinds and going on, breaking it down." "And then we say to them, 'don't get...

Remember all the media shenaningans in 2000 - calling Gore races right at the hour the polls closed (including Florida while the panhandle polls were still open), waiting far too long to call states for Bush, building up phony momentum for Democrats in hopes it would turn into real momentum, sometimes outright cheerleading for Democrats (using "we" when discussing Dems, etc.)? We know they're not going to sit idly by after a six-month Monica on John Kerry and let the returns speak for themselves. They're going to do their best to make this look like a Kerry victory before you...

The University of Georgia cheerleading coach has been fired after a Jewish cheerleader accused her of discrimination that kept her off the esteemed football cheer squad.Coach Marilou Braswell was fired Monday for "discourteous and disruptive behavior" when she told the cheerleading squad about the discrimination charges, according to Braswell's termination letter.The cheerleader, 22-year-old Jaclyn Steele, claimed her chances of making the football cheerleading team were hurt because she didn't participate in Bible studies and pregame prayers encouraged by Braswell."It created an atmosphere where if you were not Christian or didn't want to participate, you weren't treated as well as the...

August 15, 2004 Cheerleading Demands the Field for ItselfBy ALEX WILLIAMS OME December, judges who consider the cheerleading performance of the Georgia All-Stars at the Battle Under the Big Top competition in Atlanta may face a peculiar challenge. They will have to decide not only whether the squad has the best routine, but whether it really has anything to do with cheerleading."We're doing something new this year," said Jamie Parrish, the team's coach. For no particular reason but to provide visual impact, the 2 1/2-minute performance by his coed "all star" squad will be modeled around a highly conceptual hospital theme....

June 11, 2004, 10:44PM As cheerleading has evolved, so has danger to students Prairie View A&M joins the growing ranks that are keeping teams' feet on the ground By LA MONICA EVERETT-HAYNES Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Six months after a cheerleader broke her neck in a fall, Prairie View A&M University has decided to keep its squad grounded for the rest of the year as administrators weigh the risks of a sport increasingly known for its high-flying acrobatics. Across the country, more colleges and universities are deciding to limit the stunts of their cheerleading teams as the number of injuries...

It's midseason in cheer nation. This winter, thousands of girls will travel on college all-star teams to take part in competitions across the country. Practicing more than 20 hours a week, they will refine a routine of back flips, handsprings, round-offs and splits — all perfectly synchronized and timed to an Olympic second. Their goal: first place. Their game: competitive cheerleading, one of the fastest-growing sports for women in America. Last year, the University of Maryland became the first Division I N.C.A.A. institution to recognize competitive cheerleading as a varsity sport. That means team members are accorded the same benefits...

What a dazzling, dizzying ride it's been. Over the past few years, home values all over the Washington area have shot up, making many people a lot richer than they used to be. Forget stocks and bonds. Most of the wealth Americans accumulate is in the walls around them -- if they own those walls -- and not just because of the recent carnival of climbing prices. For decades, owning property has been the steadiest, most reliable way for Americans to improve their bottom lines, economists say. Homeowners have a much higher net worth than renters, Federal Reserve figures show....