Free Republic

Kids have a basic right to eat. No one can force someone else to eat, or to eat what certain segments of society have deemed “healthy.” Your body is your own. It doesn't belong to parents, politicians or the church. You don't leave the right to control your body at the schoolhouse door. It is your constitutional right to eat and to choose what you will put into your own body. No one can legitimately make that choice for you. We at Determined Digestion, a pro-eating advocacy organization, decry attempts to snatch food choices from individuals, no matter how cleverly...

This is very funny. You may have seen it but I just had to share.

I would like to reinforce the disaster [Romney] was for our state, said Walsh. There were 40,000 fewer people working in Massachusetts when he left than when he arrived. That is because we actually had a loss in population for two consecutive years under his stewardship. That is why Mitt Romney was so unpopular when he left. Forty-one percent of Massachusetts voters would be less likely to vote for John McCain if Mitt Romney were on the ticket. // For more information go to www.TheNextCheney.com

During the primaries, McCain considered Romney an opportunist who would say or do anything to get elected. Of Romney he said, "Never get into a wrestling match with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it." Will McCain flip for a flip-flopper? Romney is a fabled flip-flopper, changing from mild-mannered moderate to indignant conservative. McCain sarcastically told Romney, "You are the candidate of change." If McCain picked Romney he'd seem like a flip-flopper himself. And Romney, as the loyal running mate, would have to flip back to positions he had flopped from before. His rhetorical contortions would...

The Real Romney? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9IJUkYUbvIRomney on Abortion - 2002 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_w9pquznG4&feature=related

In some of his most expansive comments on selecting a running mate, John McCain told the Weekly Standard's Steve Hayes in an interview today that he was open to the prospect of a vice presidential candidate who supports abortion rights, specifically mentioning former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge. "I think that the pro-life position is one of the important aspects or fundamentals of the Republican Party," McCain said. "And I also feel that — and I'm not trying to equivocate here — that Americans want us to work together. You know, Tom Ridge is one of the great leaders and he...

When the Rev. John Haney came to St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin in 1983, the church elementary school charged a $50 book fee for each parish child to attend. Get rid of it, Haney said. Providing a free Catholic education to parishioners is vital. Flash forward 25 years. The Whitehall school remains free, and it's the only Catholic school in the state without tuition. Staying free matters, according to Haney, school officials and parish members, because of the pride, sense of community and passion it creates. They have done it for one another and God through tithing, said parishioner...

The expression “back to school” is a bit of a misnomer when we understand the teaching of the Catholic Church on the nature and vocation of the Christian family. The family is the first school and the home is the first school house. Parents are the first teachers of their children. Also, a polestar of Western educational law for centuries was that teachers acted “in loco parentis”, in the place of the parents, meaning at their direction. When Christian parents send their children “back to school”, they are really extending their educational mission to teachers and entrusting their treasured children...

It’s not just about the filioque or the Immaculate Conception, folks. Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have encouraged Catholics to reach out to Orthodox Christians, to respect them and learn their traditions. Catholics by and large have accepted that the Orthodox really are very close to Catholicism in many areas. But many would be surprised to learn that some Orthodox hierarchs (and Oriental Orthodox hierarchs) are soft, even permissive on the issue of abortion–soft like Anglicans.His Holiness, Patriarch Karekin I of Etchmiadzin of Armenia (Oriental Orthodox) who came on a pastoral visit to the US had this...

The profound failure of inner-city public schools to teach children may be the nation's greatest scandal. The differences between the two Presidential candidates on this could hardly be more stark. John McCain is calling for alternatives to the system; Barack Obama wants the kids to stay within that system. We think the facts support Senator McCain. "Parents ask only for schools that are safe, teachers who are competent and diplomas that open doors of opportunity," said Mr. McCain in remarks recently to the NAACP. "When a public system fails, repeatedly, to meet these minimal objectives, parents ask only for a...

A just philosophy of government is predicated upon the understanding that the family is the first government and that all other government must first be at its service. In his marvelous apostolic exhortation on the family ("The Role of the Christian family in the Modern World") the Servant of God Pope John Paul II affirmed the social and political role of the family and called for the development of a “family politics”. Catholics, other Christians, other people of faith and all people of good will should embrace this challenge to develop just such a "family politics". It is time to...

Education is slipping in priority among many voters but not among Hispanics, many of whom see school choice as a deciding factor in whom to vote for this fall. This has implications for the presidential election. A new poll shows that 82% of Hispanics consider education as one of three most important issues facing this country. The survey also shows that, even while Hispanics trust Democrats over Republicans on education by more than a two-to-one margin, that ratio could change if Republicans heavily promote school choice while Democrats oppose it. The poll was conducted last year among more than 800...

It has been thirty five years since that infamous U.S. Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade. With the stroke of a judicial pen, unelected Justices consigned an entire class of persons, children in the first home of the whole human race (their mothers womb), to the status of property. Like millions, I have prayed, marched and worked tirelessly to overturn this horrid decision and end the killing. As a human rights lawyer I went to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend pro-life protestors. I still try to join the thousands annually who travel to Washington, D.C. to pray and...

Emphasizing class size over teacher quality is a poor choice Matthew Ladner, Goldwater Institute Daily Email, April 21, 2008 Indiana Jones returns to the big screen this summer. In Indy's last movie, he was in pursuit of the Holy Grail. The ancient crusader guarding the Grail revealed that one could gain it only by drinking from the correct cup. The villain drank from the most ornate cup and suffered a horrible death. Quoth the crusader, "He chose, poorly." Indiana Jones chose the simplest cup. The knight noted approvingly, "He chose, wisely!" When it comes to education, we have chosen poorly....

I make a modest proposal to my readers. Join me in a new verbal effort in our fundamental human rights struggle. Let's now refer to those who support abortion as the “Wrong Choice Movement”.

‘Republicans for Choice’ Endorses McCain By Penny Starr CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer February 06, 2008 (CNSNews.com) - The Republicans for Choice Political Action Committee has endorsed John McCain (R-Ariz.), saying he is the best candidate now that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is out of the presidential race. The Republicans for Choice PAC supports Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, and also wants the Human Life Amendment removed from the plank of the Republican Party. Republicans for Choice founder and Chairwoman Ann E.W. Stone told Cybercast News Service that McCain's pro-life position wasn't an...

SAN FRANCISCO -- An Arizona anti-abortion group has a constitutional right to obtain specialty license plates with the message "Choose Life," a federal appeals court ruled today. The state's License Plate Commission violated the Arizona Life Coalition's freedom of speech when it turned down the "Choose Life" plates after approving less-controversial specialty plates for other nonprofit organizations, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Those groups included associations of police and firefighters and the Wildlife Conservation Council. The ruling is one of a series of court actions in similar disputes around the nation. Most courts have...

Over the past several days, the only real movement in South Carolina’s Republican Presidential Primary has been a four-point gain for Fred Thompson and a five-point decline for Mike Huckabee. The big winner from that trade-off is John McCain. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows McCain at 28%, Huckabee at 19%, Mitt Romney at 17%, and Fred Thompson at 16%. Rudy Giuliani and Ron Paul are tied with 5% support. Giuliani is betting his entire campaign on a strong showing in Florida, where he is now tied for the lead with three others....

Okay, I know he goes by the stage name, “Fred Thompson,” but don’t tell me that just as “Law and Order” comes back to the airwaves with new episodes, we just happen to see a deep rumbling baritone from a big guy sitting behind a desk, using a combination of homespun aphorisms and legal arguments to put some wet-behind-the-ears young feller in his place. I have to go back and check the transcript, but it appears that he just took Huckabee to school on the legal rules regarding captured al-Qaeda at Guanatanamo Bay. Over in the Corner, Rich described him...

"Will Thompson’s talk move voters in Iowa? Does his campaign have the money to get it on the air? Throughout the state? Or even in a few of the most important markets? Beats me. But we have here a serious man, making a serious case—and doing so in the context of a campaign that has otherwise descended into mere caterwauling. Even at this late hour, I wouldn’t count Fred out."