Free Republic

It wasn’t long after President Obama’s statement... When proponents of same-sex marriage offer theoretical arguments in favor of their position, they often rely on a legalistic view: they frame marriage as fundamentally a package of legal rights, benefits and obligations — which include hospital visitation rights and immigration rights for the foreign spouses of citizens, among others. This position insists on a basic condition of justice — legal parity and equality for men and women who choose a long-term partner of the same sex. ... Many opponents of same-sex marriage counter by arguing that this legalistic view omits the most...

DC Comics plans to reintroduce a character as gay in a future issue, it has been revealed. Co-publisher Dan DiDio previously said that the company would not change the sexual orientation of an existing superhero and would bring in a new one altogether. But at Kapow Comic Convention in London on Sunday, he revealed that an existing character - who was previously assumed to be straight - will become ‘one of our most prominent gay characters’, according to comic blog BleedingCool.com. Who is it? An existing DC Comics character - who was previously assumed to be straight - will become...

In order to remain eligible for federal subsidies for school lunches, officials at Davis High School in Salt Lake City, Utah, knew they weren't allowed to have active vending machines selling soda and candy in the school lunchroom during the 47-minute lunch period. But rules designed to keep kids from washing down their lunches with something fizzy can be tricky. That lesson was driven home when the state Office of Education's Child Nutrition Program hit the school with a $15,862 fine—75 cents per violation over the period of many months that it turns out students had been illicitly selling soda...

It has become clear for some time that there is no limit to which a leftist will go in there attempt to control mankind from the cradle to the grave. Even the fear of voter backlash in an election year does not seem to slow them down any longer. Why else would Obama come out of the closet in full support of same sex marriage, at the same time that California Democrats are attempting to criminalize a parent's influence upon their child's sexual orientation. Passing through the California Senate Judiciary committee by a vote of 3-1, SB 1172 is...

New Jersey third-grade public school students were asked to disclose a secret about their lives and discuss why it’s hard to keep. Parents who raised objections over what possible relevance such a question could have for assessing a child’s academic progress were said to be “overreacting” by school authorities. “First of all, the answers to this question aren’t graded, per se,” explained Elinor Schnoop, spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Education. “A student can’t fail the test no matter what answer he or she gives. That’s not the purpose for asking this question.” The purpose is apparently “more socially...

It has become clear for some time that there is no limit to which a leftist will go in there attempt to control mankind from the cradle to the grave. Even the fear of voter backlash in an election year does not seem to slow them down any longer. Why else would Obama come out of the closet in full support of same sex marriage, at the same time that California Democrats are attempting to criminalize a parent's influence upon their child's sexual orientation. Passing through the California Senate Judiciary committee by a vote of 3-1, SB 1172 is...

With all do respect to President Obama, he is wrong on the matter of homosexual marriages. By finally coming to the end of his so-called “evolution” wherein he has discerned that there is room in our society for homosexual marriages, he aligns himself with three significant threats to society as a whole and personhood in general. First, homosexual marriage undermines the timeless and transcultural nature of marriage. When one puts forward the idea that marriage can and should be about more than one man in covenant partnership with one woman, then what is the end? Why not have three making...

Do you know where your children are? Where they are going on school class trips? What they are reading online? From a website called MuslimConverts.com: If you are a Small child you can still become a Muslim without your parents permission If you are a child you do not need your parent’s permission to become a Muslim. If you fear they may harm, you can become Muslim in secret and tell them when you are ready. What if their are no Muslims (or no Mosque or Islamic center) in your town Another common question is that there are no Muslims...

The first shock came when Mordechai Jungreis learned that his mentally disabled teenage son was being molested in a Jewish ritual bathhouse in Brooklyn. The second came after Mr. Jungreis complained, and the man accused of the abuse was arrested. Their communities, headed by dynastic leaders called rebbes, strive to preserve their centuries-old customs by resisting the contaminating influences of the outside world. While some ultra-Orthodox rabbis now argue that a child molester should be reported to the police, others strictly adhere to an ancient prohibition against mesirah, the turning in of a Jew to non-Jewish authorities, and consider publicly...

WND’s Chelsea Schilling is a brave lady. She courageously took an assignment to go undercover on Facebook to expose the darkest, most sickening aspect of that social network: prevalent child rape imagery and video. The result of her gut-twisting investigation is a four-part series being published this week at WND. Part one, titled, “Kids Raped, Sodomized on Facebook Pages,” was published on Sunday. For the many millions of Facebook users, this is new information. As Ms. Schilling reports, not many people are aware that this side of Facebook exists. She is shining the light on this depraved, criminal enterprise, and...

April 27, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - When it comes to startling statistics, the hidden world of pornography consumption has them in spades. For example, every second, $3,075.64 is being spent on porn, while 28,258 Internet users are viewing it. As of 2006 Big Porn was more lucrative than Google, Apple, Amazon, Ebay, Yahoo!, and Netflix combined. But perhaps the most startling of all is the age demographic: the largest group of Internet pornography consumers is between 17 and 12 years old. Therapists now say we’re only beginning to scratch the surface of the havoc wreaked on this “Generation XXX” as it...

For more than 40 years, Mona McNee has been fighting the good fight on behalf of intelligent reading instruction. She is the author of "Step By Step" (a phonics program) and "The Great Reading Disaster" (with Alice Coleman, 2007, 335 pages), which chronicles the incompetence of the UK's Education Establishment. I always think of Mona McNee as the Patron Saint of Reading.Mona has recently prepared a booklet called "Why Billy can't read," which sums up her message in 30 pages. You can find a pdf of this booklet, and as well her free phonics program, on phonics4free.org (link below). Mona...

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) – The Transportation Security Administration is once again the subject of national scrutiny, this time after aggressively screening a 7-year-old female passenger with cerebral palsy which caused her family to miss their flight....“They make our lives completely difficult,” her father, Dr. Joshua Frank, a Long Island pediatrician, told The Daily. “She’s not a threat to national security.” Frank taped the encounter, which ended when a supervisor inspected her crutches and let them pass. But agents followed up and insisted upon doing a full inspection of Dina. Ultimately, the family missed their flight.

The seven-year-old retired pageant contestant from Arkansas is the star of Logo’s forthcoming series Eden’s World, which premieres on the cable network on April 16.

This list of half-truths, sleight-of-hands, and outright lies are a good reason why Obama doesn't deserve a title more ennobling than huckster-in-chief. 1. Unprecedented shorthand After the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on ObamaCare, the President came forth with his thoroughly discredited analysis that it would be “unprecedented” for the high court to overturn a congressional action, perhaps thinking we all forgot about Marbury v. Madison (1803). After the nation's laughter subsided, White House spokesman Jay Carney explained away the fumble, saying “the President was not clearly understood by some people because he is a law professor, he spoke in...

One by one, they swore to tell the truth. One by one, they sat in a witness chair and told a similar tale of suggestion, persuasion and pressure. During the first day Friday of what is expected to be a two-day tribunal, former and current teachers at Atlanta's Usher Elementary School pointed a collective finger of blame at Donald Bullock Friday as the mastermind behind test cheating at that school. Bullock's attorney, Daniel Digby, said his client did nothing wrong. Atlanta Public Schools, however, laid out a 16-point letter of charges against Bullock, who served as testing coordinator at Usher...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: From TheHill.com: "Two weeks after fighting for the survival of its signature healthcare reform law before the Supreme Court, the Obama administration will be back in court Tuesday to defend another part of the president's agenda to make Americans healthier." Do you love the way that's written at TheHill.com? Let me read this to you again. The headline: "Another Health Law Faces Court Challenge." But TheHill.com, total slaves to the Obama administration: "Two weeks after fighting for the survival of its signature healthcare reform law before the Supreme Court, the Obama administration will be back in court...

Protect future generations from our debt - require that all federal debt be paid (not rolled over) by the current generation. Future generations should not be burdened with our debt. They did not agree to the obligation...

Making houses and cars smokefree is the only way to protect children from second-hand smoke, according to a new government campaign in England. The TV and radio adverts show how pervasive invisible second-hand smoke can be. Breathing it in can damage lungs and cause cancers, research has shown. Snip The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said it wanted to see smoking in cars made illegal, when children are present. "I have no doubt an outright ban on smoking in cars would have the same positive results [as banning drink-driving]” - Prof Terence Stephenson Royal College of Paediatrics &...

'Relocating' children March 29, 2012 It's 11AM. Do you know where your children are? Hundreds of Oklahoma kids carted away from school grounds without parental consent or knowledge. Jason McNew Recently, there has been a disturbing nation-wide trend of parental rights being trampled upon by public school officials, from bag-lunch inspections to electronic bracelets being used to spy on overweight kids. This week brings another example of complete disregard for parental rights, this time from Grove High School in Delaware County, Oklahoma. Grove High School transported 699 kids away from school property without first notifying parents of their intent to...

The co-owner of a Palm Springs nudist resort today defended the facility's policy banning children, saying it is not discriminatory -- despite claims to the contrary by an anonymous group of detractors. Desert Sun Resort owners John and Elizabeth Young, who live in Orange County, filed a lawsuit March 16 in Orange County Superior Court against 500 unnamed defendants, asking a judge to rule that the clothing-optional resort's policy against children does not violate state law. According to Elizabeth Young, the lawsuit was filed in response to a letter she received Feb. 17 from Palm Springs attorney David Baron. The...

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond. Washington D.C., Mar 27, 2012 / 06:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. bishops are encouraging parishes to incorporate into their communities a new blessing for a child in the womb, which the Vatican approved on March 25. “I'm impressed with the beauty of this blessing for human life in the womb,” said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities. “I can think of no better day to announce this news than on the feast of the Annunciation, when we remember Mary’s ‘yes’ to God and the incarnation of...

2012-03-25 Vatican Radio Whenever and wherever Pope Benedict XVI meets children, there is always cause for joy and celebration. Yesterday evening in Mexico was no exception, as our correspondent with the Pope, Philippa Hitchen, reports.How do you capture in a few words the excitement and enthusiasm of several thousand Mexican school kids who’ve been waiting impatiently all day for their first sight of the Pope? How do you describe the electric atmosphere of the crowds crammed into the appropriately named Peace Square, with bands playing their favourite folk songs and the great bells of the 17th century neo-classical Basilica ringing...

Based on information unearthed in a search of Los Angeles Unified's personnel files, the state teacher credentialing agency has opened investigations into 130 educators and the district has reported some past allegations of misconduct to law enforcement, officials said Friday. The California Teacher Credentialing Commission has been flooded with misconduct reports in the month since LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy ordered principals at nearly 900 campuses to scour personnel files for evidence of possible wrongdoing. Deasy said Friday the review had turned up "some cases that we believe warrant police investigation," and that "some" teachers had been removed from classrooms while...

Taking Mercy, an edition of the Global TV program “16x9” in Canada, concerns a mother, Annette Corriveau, who wants her children with disabilities to be killed by euthanasia. The show also features Robert Latimer, the man who killed his daughter Tracy in 1993. Tracy had Cerebral Palsy. The show speaks to pro-euthanasia ethicist Arthur Schaefer who suggests that Robert Latimer should have been given “mercy.” Schaefer also suggests that Corriveau should simply stop feeding her children, but Corriveau says she does not wish to starve her children to death. This is a dangerously one-sided show. Taking Mercy represents the first...

Child endangerment charges have been filed against an Uptown couple accused of flying to Las Vegas and leave their two children, 12 and 9, home alone for nearly two days, police said. The couple took the trip last month, but the charges were not filed until this week, according to police. Shanpreta Howard, 34, and Antowain Johnson, 36, of the 4800 block of North Winthrop Avenue, are both charged with two misdemeanor counts of endangering the health and life of a child.

Remember when you were a kid and your evenings and weekends were spent doing chores like drying the dishes, cleaning your room, raking the leaves, scrubbing the toilet and whatever else your parents could think of having you do the second you opened your mouth and said, “I’m bored”? According to some anthropologists, those days are over. Kids in middle-class American families have become complacent; they expect their parents to do everything for them. And why do they expect their parents to do everything for them? Well, because their parents do everything for them!

Two women were charged with child endangerment in the case of a 3-month-old baby who died after being found unconscious in a daycare center in Bristow Thursday afternoon.Prince William County Police charged daycare providers Yolanda Gracelia Larin, 50, of Manassas and Mirna Mendez-Vasquez, 42, of Woodbridge on Thursday following the death reported in the daycare in Bristow. Both women are charged with five counts of child endangerment. The child, now identified as Teagan Sample, was found unconscious in the daycare and then later died in the hospital. An autopsy revealed no signs of foul play, officials said. Officials from Immigration...

And for the most part that is exactly what the Islamic abduction, exploitation, and abuse of children is in the mainstream media,--invisible!Recently a video entitled "Kony 2012" has gone viral on youtube and been given much attention by major media. Your regular nightly-news programs have no doubt shown some small clips of the video.The video is about Joeseph Kony the evil leader of a guerrilla terrorist group deceptively called the LRA [Lords Resistance Army], and it's horrible practice of using abducted-exploited children as child-soldiers. While the makers of the video correctly state that Kony is not currently supported by anyone [government] ,they omitted the fact that up until 2000 Kony and the LRA were...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Parents of children who work on the family farm or are in agriculture education programs should thoroughly review proposed changes to child labor laws so they fully understand how the new rules could affect them, a Purdue farm safety specialist advises. "Because the proposed rule changes are 51 pages long, I don't know that many people understand exactly what's being presented," Bill Field said. "The changes not only hold the potential for positive but also significant negative effects to youth less than 16 years old who seek employment or are currently employed in agriculture."

A babysitter who sheriff's deputies say was supposed to pick up two boys from school but instead was found passed out on a couch was arrested Tuesday. He was accused of lying to law enforcement and prompting an all-out search for the boys. Philip Kenneth Landino, 48, was charged with providing false information to a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest without violence, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office. Deputies Matthew L. Hooper and John Lightle had gone to the 20100 block of Southwest 59th Lane after receiving a report that two boys, ages 6 and 8, were missing...

As children grow up and venture out into the world, the transition from a bustling household to an empty one can be difficult -- so why not skip it all together? That's what millions of families are doing, not just in the United States, but in many other developed countries as well. In Italy, the culture of "mammismo" or mamas' boys, is widely accepted: Today, 37% of men age 30 or younger have never lived away from home. In Japan, "parasite singles" are chastised in the media for depending on Mom and Dad, but having few other options, they do...

GENEVA — A bus smashed into a tunnel wall in the Swiss Alps, killing 22 Belgian 12-year-olds returning from a ski vacation and the six adults who were accompanying them, police said Wednesday. Another 24 students were hospitalized with injuries, Valais cantonal (state) police spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet told The Associated Press. The bus carrying 52 people, including young students from two different Belgian schools, hit the tunnel wall shortly after 9 p.m. local time Tuesday on the A9 highway near Sierre, Switzerland, in the southern Swiss canton of Valais, an area of popular ski resorts. Authorities were still identifying all...

The video featured above captures one of those rare, “out of the mouths of babes” moments. In an interview released Monday, an 11-year-old reporter named Topanga Sena challenged the first lady Let’s Move! anti-obesity program. Michelle Obama was asked to respond to critics of the program who say the government has no business telling people how to eat. Miss Topanga is certainly showing promise as a reporter and, according to the Free Beacon, is currently reporting for Scholastic News Kids Press Corps in Florida. Below is a transcript provided by the Beacon: TOPANGA SENA: How do you respond to critics...

In a new interview made available Monday, first lady Michelle Obama defended her “Let’s Move!” anti-obesity program against critics who call it a government intrusion. “‘Let’s Move!’ is not about having government tell people what to do, because government doesn't have all the answers,” Mrs. Obama said in an interview with Topanga Sena, age 11, a reporter for Scholastic News in Florida. “A problem that's this big and affects so many people requires everyone to step up. So we're asking everyone to step up.” Obama has toured the country for the second anniversary of her anti-obesity initiative, leading school groups...

The company that sells ground beef treated with ammonia proclaims their meat mixture is good for America's schoolchildren, even though parents across the country are seriously questioning the safety of what has been dubbed "pink slime." Beef Products Inc. (BPI) made the declaration about its "lean finely textured beef" or LFTB over the weekend to The Daily, which broke the news that the federal government plans to buy ground beef that contains 7 million pounds of the product in the coming year. After the report, "pink slime" became the most searched topic on the internet. "Including LFTB in the national...

Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.(Luke 17:1-2)There are times when, although you already know about a bad societal trend, an event occurs which crystallizes all that you sense was wrong about it. I had one of those moments when I opened a Saturday edition of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, our local newspaper, and read an...

A North Carolina teacher has now been suspended indefinitely for her involvement in a food-police incident in which a preschooler’s lunch was “supplemented” with chicken nuggets, sparking national outrage last month. The Carolina Journal reports parents of students in the pre-kindergarten program at West Hoke Elementary School in Raeford, N.C., received a letter from an assistant superintendent last week saying a substitute teacher would take over the preschool class until the “issue” is resolved. Ads by Google Online Police TrainingEarn Your Degree Online and Start a Career in Police/Law Enforcement. HerzingOnline.edu/Criminal-Justice Teacher Online DegreeTeacher Degrees 100% Online. You May Qualify...

Last night I watched "The Pursuit of Happyness". It was an adorable movie about dedication and perseverance to a dream, overcoming the odds to become successful. This dad loses everything and ends up sleeping in a bathroom in a subway station with his five-year-old boy, but they struggle through and end up multi-millionaires. The story is cute and inspiring, but what really stuck with me about this movie was the mother’s story. She hates her life. She is tired of struggling, wondering if they can catch up on the back rent and the IRS payments, working double shifts and trying...

"An adoptive father in western Ohio has been accused of raping three children and allowing other men to have sex with one of them."

President and Mrs. Obama seem to be terrific parents and should be commended for the steps they have taken to improve the health and well-being of America's kids. Back in December 2010, President Obama signed the "Healthy, Hunger Free Children Act" into law, and in January 2012, the First Lady, in partnership with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack, unveiled a set of new school meal standards, they claim "will improve the health and well-being of 32 million kids nationwide." As I understand it, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food consumption guidelines are based on net daily...

(ATTALLA, Ala.) — Roger Simpson said he looked down the road and saw a little girl running outside her home but didn't give it another thought. Police, however, said the man witnessed a murder in progress. Authorities say 9-year-old Savannah Hardin died after being forced to run for three hours as punishment for having lied to her grandmother about eating candy bars. Severely dehydrated, the girl had a seizure and died days later. Now, her grandmother and stepmother who police say meted out the punishment were taken to jail Wednesday and face murder charges.

excerpt- For several years, scientists have tried and failed to determine the cause of the illness, which locals say has killed hundreds of youngsters. What they do know is that the disease affects only children and gradually devastates its victims through debilitating seizures, stunted growth, wasted limbs, mental disabilities and sometimes starvation.

Watch live all weekend at this link. It will all come to an incredible crescendo on Sunday when the tough keep going and the kids get some smiles. If you haven't seen it before, watch it - even for a few minutes. The Penn State students are the absolute best. Search youtube for "thon" videos and try to bring back a dry eye. I love you Penn State.

I am an adopted son. I am a very lucky adopted son. And as an adopted son I want all adoptees like me to have the same wonderful adoptive parents I was lucky enough to have. My biological mother was an unmarried young woman from Ohio who had an affair with a married man. It was 1945 -- my biological father was in the Army and was shipped off to France to fight in the war while my mother went to California to give birth to me. My mother made the painful decision to put me up for adoption. Thankfully,...

In my column for The Fiscal Times today, I remind readers that budgets are statements of priorities. Barack Obama’s budget shows his priorities on many levels, both at the macro and micro level. Given the large amount of new spending and higher taxes, it’s very easy to conclude at the macro level that Obama doesn’t think that spending reductions are a priority at all. How about on the micro level? Changes to three different programs give an even clearer indication of Obama’s priorities: "One is to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program that helps poor children opt out of failing public...

A mother in Hoke County complains her daughter was forced to eat a school lunch because a government inspector determined her home-made lunch did not meet nutrition requirements. In fact, all of the students in the NC Pre-K program classroom at West Hoke Elementary School in Raeford had to accept a school lunch in addition to their lunches brought from home. NC Pre-K (before this year known as More at Four) is a state-funded education program designed to “enhance school readiness” for four year-olds. The mother, who doesn’t wish to be identified at this time, says she made her daughter...

There are times when children are the most sensitive creatures to spiritual thinking. I'm sure we all have a tale or two about ways in which children express the sacred. I had one such story happen to me in the wee hours of the morning.

Third through fifth graders at an elementary school in the Walled Lake Consolidated School District were assigned by at least one teacher this week to write letters to Gov. Rick Snyder saying how unhappy they were with his budget cuts, the school district confirmed Thursday. The students were told the best letters would be forwarded to the governor. One parent said the teachers prepped the students with what the budget cuts entailed because some weren’t aware. Students also were asked to speak in front of their classmates about why they didn’t like the budget cuts. Walled Lake parent Ernie Hughes...

President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are entering negotiations over — or seeking ratification of — five treaties that could radically limit our national sovereignty and the reach of our democratic institutions. Particularly scary is that the treaties, once signed and ratified, have the same status as constitutional law and cannot be altered or eclipsed by Congress or state legislatures. And their provisions must be enforced by U.S. courts. Those who wish to preserve our sovereignty and democratic control over our future must rally to block these treaties, either by pressing Obama and