Free Republic

Two solitudes In Canada, the expression "two solitudes" was traditionally used to describe relations between the English and French, two founding "nations" (in the French sense of the word) "warring within the bosom" of our one "nation" (in the English sense). This has become somewhat dated, for under our official state policy of "multiculturalism," today it would be more accurate to refer to "innumerable solitudes." The idea of "two solitudes" itself we lifted from Benjamin Disraeli (our invisible Father of Confederation, in so many ways), who applied it to the "two nations" he thought had formed within early Victorian Britain,...

"There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women," former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright once remarked. Where, then, are the liberal women when it comes to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin? Palin became the first woman to grace a Republican ticket on Friday, August 29, when Senator John McCain selected her as his running mate. The following day, a diarist at the mainstream left-wing Daily Kos (Barack Obama himself appeared as a Kos diarist back in 2005) suggested without any evidence whatsoever that Sarah Palin's son, Trig, recently born and with Down syndrome, was...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player -- too good, it turns out. The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said. Officials for the three-year-old league, which has eight teams and about 100 players, said they will disband Jericho's team, redistributing its players among other...

To avoid recent rules which insist on better women’s representation on company boards, a number of firms are changing their status from public limited companies (ASA) to ordinary limited companies (AS), which have no such requirements. Recent rules require more women on company boards. Sanctions for not reaching a minimum 40 percent of both sexes, include companies being forced to disband. From 2006 to the present, 199 ASA’s have reregistered as AS-companies. A total of 138 companies have done the opposite, writes daily newspaper Aftenposten. Social scientist Marit Hoel thinks that it is primarily smaller companies which have changed status...

This morning, I read the magazine What Is Enlightenment that Glenn picked up for me from a local health food store because the cover had a number of articles about men including "Constructing the New Man," "19 Powerful Women Tell the Truth about Men," and "A Scandalous Look at Scandinavia: Where women are women and men are too." Uh, okay, I thought, this can't be good, it's a magazine from a crunchy organic healthfood store with what I assumed would be a somewhat biased picture of the male gender complete with articles describing how men should be more like women....

“Comparable Worth” = Government Wage Control! The House of Representatives is gearing up for a vote this week on a bill that would institute the longtime feminist dream of comparable worth. Decades ago, in order to address the so-called gender pay gap in America, the feminists invented the code words “comparable worth,” “pay equity,” and the elusive “glass ceiling.” Contrary to feminist dogma, the gap is not created by a conspiracy of male chauvinists, but by the voluntary division of domestic labor. Clearly, a degree in education or women’s studies simply doesn’t earn the same pay as a degree in...

MADRID (AFP) - Women have historically suffered discrimination in the name of religion, and the world's great faiths must do more to encourage gender equality, theologians told a seminar at a Saudi-organised conference Thursday. "Women have been forgotten and marginalised in religions," Juan Jose Tamayo, director of theology at Madrid's Juan Carlos III university, told a roundtable on the second day of the World Conference of Dialogue in Madrid, aimed at bringing the great monotheistic faiths closer together. "They are organised hierarchically and patriarchically, excluding women in all fields of knowledge and religious matters." Now, at the start of the...

The anthropologist Margaret Mead once observed that in the 1930s, when she was busy remaking the idea of culture, the notion of cultural diversity was to be found only in the 'vocabulary of a small and technical group of professional anthropologists'. Today, everyone and everything seems to have its own culture. From anorexia to zydeco, the American philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah has observed, there is little that we don't talk about as the product of some group's culture. In this age of globalisation many people fret about Western culture taking over the world. But the greatest Western export is not...

Anything in these remarks that does not stray from the truth is indebted to the American Founders, who bequeathed these ideas to us, to Abraham Lincoln, who preserved and ennobled them in the country's greatest crisis, to Harry V. Jaffa, who has done more than anyone since Lincoln to recover them, and to the late Tom Silver, the wisest and best of those who founded the Claremont Institute for the sake of these ideas. American children are not born understanding the principles of their country, and most American college students—if reports can be believed—are still largely unfamiliar with them...

While Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has vowed to make pay equity for women a top priority if elected president, an analysis of his Senate staff shows that women are outnumbered and out-paid by men. That is in contrast to Republican presidential candidate John McCain's Senate office, where women, for the most part, out-rank and are paid more than men. Obama spoke in Albuquerque, N.M. last week about his commitment to the issue and his support of a Senate bill to make it easier to sue an employer for pay discrimination. "Mr. McCain is an honorable man, we respect his...

Racial-Preference Ballots Go National Initiatives in four states could shape the presidential election. 16 April 2008 With race looming as a key issue in the fall elections—perhaps a pivotal one, assuming that Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee—diehard defenders of the racial status quo are going to unprecedented lengths to prevent voters from having their say on government-sponsored racial preferences. Leftist activists are lining up to fight four state ballot initiatives that, if passed on November 4, will outlaw preferential treatment based on race, gender, and national origin in public university admissions as well as government hiring and contracting. Knowing...

The eruption of outrage, shock and fear that is flowing over Barack Obama’s campaign like hot lava because his pastor has preached some strident sermons tells us one thing for certain: Many white people don’t know black people at all. If they did, they would know that Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Chicago is hardly the only black minister who uses the pulpit to rant against racial duplicity and injustice. The black church has always been the place for letting our hair down and speaking our peace -- a safe haven from the criminations outside. It’s how and why the black...

Iran dissident defies jail fighting for equality By Kay Biouki in Tehran, and Gethin Chamberlain Last Updated: 12:31am GMT 02/03/2008 A woman facing jail in Iran for speaking out against the regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has denounced the country's Islamic revolution for "destroying a generation" of Iranians. Parvin Ardalan: 'Resistance has become a way of life for us' Parvin Ardalan, 41, said women and religious and cultural minorities faced discrimination under the hard-line policies adopted by Tehran after the mullahs seized power in 1979. Miss Ardalan is due to fly to Stockholm this week to receive the Olof Palme...

Some liberals ask “if Obama loses is it because he’s black?” But I think the better question should be “if Obama wins was it because he’s black?” If Obama and his followers want equality then there is no such thing as going too hard against him. he should be criticized like all the others who have gone before him, Republican and Democrat. He should be scrutinized like all the others before him, Republican and Democrat. He should be treated like anyone else. But if the MSM is pulling punches on Obama its because THEY are the ones who are acting...

The question I’d like to pose this Martin Luther King Day weekend is: Are we likely to witness the end of racial preferences soon — not just in our lifetimes, not just within the 25 years that Justice O’Connor “expected” in 2003, but in the next, say, 5 to 10 years? I think there is a good chance that we will. But I’m a non-determinist, so nothing is inevitable. In other words, I think we’ll win, but I know that we can still lose. There are different ways to think about this question, and different factors to consider. Demographics, Law,...

"All’s fair in love, war, and paternity cases. When child support is sought, there is scarcely any deceit that courts won’t push aside under the “best interests of the child” test."Courts have ruled that boys who were statutorily raped by older women must pay child support. Courts have ruled that when a woman has taken the semen from a condom a man used for sex with a different woman and has inserted it in herself, the man must still pay child support. Courts have ruled that when a woman has concealed her pregnancy (denying the man the right to be...

Appeals Court Rejects Michigan Man's Abortion-Child Support Case Email this article Printer friendly page by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Editor November 6, 2007 Lansing, MI (LifeNews.com) -- A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court's decision making a Michigan man pay child support for his ex-girlfriend's baby. Matthew Dubay, a 26 year-old computer programmer, says men should have the same rights as women do under Roe v. Wade to exempt themselves from responsibilities for a child they don't want. The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued its decision on Tuesday and sided with U.S. District Judge David Lawson, who...

It already appears, that there must be in every society of men superiors and inferiors, because God has laid in the constitution and course of nature the foundations of the distinction. -- John Adams (Thoughts on Government, 1776). Reference: The Works of John Adams, Charles Adams, ed., 427.

Socialism kills By Dennis Prager - September 2, 2003 -© 2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc. Europe has given the world Marxism, communism, fascism, Nazism, racism and socialism, all rotten ideas that have caused immeasurable human suffering. But for Europeans and their ideological twins on the American left and at universities, ideas are not judged by their ability to ameliorate human suffering or reduce evil, but by their complexity and apparent profundity. An idea is not good because it produces good – that's unromantic American pragmatism – it is good because it sounds good. First, the socialist mind loathes work. Second, socialism...

Attacking "God" has become a lucrative book business. But there's not much substance behind the latest atheist tracts. There is nothing new under the sun," proclaims the Book of Ecclesiastes. The rise of the new new atheism confirms this ancient biblical wisdom. Of course the famous words of Ecclesiastes should not be taken in a slavishly literal sense, a technique that is all-too-common among those who think they can refute belief in God by showing that the Bible abounds in demonstrably false and self-contradictory statements.

Jordanian Warrant Officer Emad instructs trainees from the second class of female Iraqi Army soldiers on proper breathing techniques while firing an AK-47, part of their basic training at the Jordanian Royal Military College in Jordan. Defense Depart. photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Ashley Brokop Iraqi Women 'Move History Forward' Iraqi lawyer's speech highlights women?s history celebration. By Spc. Carl N. Hudson Combined Press Information Center CAMP TAJI, Iraq, March 26, 2007 -- The 615th ?Cold Steel? Aviation Support Battalion hosted a Women?s History Month celebration here March 19. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Holly Cook, 1st Cavalry...

The day When the media will not be anti Israel biased1) When there is an account of every single Arab Muslim terrorism.2) When Israeli victims of terror will turn to human from being "tanks" in media's dehumanization.3) When the (BBC, NPR, etc.) reporter will finally visit an Israeli hospital for a change.4) When a rare (if/when) abuse by an Israeli soldier won't be overblown any more than that of any other westerner's case.5) When those drama words, bigoted slurs (like: "apartheid", "racism") invented by Arabism, Palestinianism upon Israel's war on fascists' terror won't be used.6) When it will remember to...

High school cheerleaders must now cheer for girls' teams as often as for boys' teams thanks to federal education officials' interpretations of Title IX, the civil rights law that mandates equal playing fields for both sexes. According to The New York Times, almost no one directly involved wants this -- not the cheerleaders, not the fans, not the boys' teams, and not even the girls' teams. But it doesn't matter: The law coerces cheerleaders to cheer at girls' games. Of all the myths that surround Left-Right differences, one of the greatest is that the Left values liberty more than the...

'This has given Israeli Arabs a sense of belonging' http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467834590&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull When Avraham Burg retired from the Knesset, he left behind the dubious honor of receiving the top slot in the Labor list twice, but never receiving a cabinet appointment. On Sunday, Burg's replacement in the Labor Party, MK Ghaleb Majadle, proved that the third time could be the charm when he was approved as the country's first Arab minister.

Liberals worry about equality of outcome. They don’t worry about whether equality of outcome is merited; they just worry about equality of outcome. One of the worst things about the midterm election of 2006 could be the fact that liberals like Barney Frank of Massachusetts are now in a powerful position to inflict equality of outcome on the American People. The concept of equal outcomes seduces the vapid mind with a sinister charm. On the surface, it eliminates jealousy, envy and insecurity, and engineers peace among mankind. On the surface, so should Marxism and Fascism. In truth, equality of outcome...

Ideas can be dangerous. I have learnt that the hard way. But I know that when it comes to freedom and human rights these precious ideas, so valued in the West, are worth fighting for. As a young Muslim woman, born in Somalia, I abandoned my family to avoid an arranged marriage to a distant cousin and fled to Holland. I was just 23 and I had no idea back then that my refusal to submit to a traditional Muslim woman’s life would come to dominate my whole career. So for me, the debate that is raging about the veil,...

Unveiled women who get raped deserve it. That’s the pedagogy preached by the Mufti of Australia, Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hilali, who recently sparked an international stir by pronouncing that women who do not veil themselves, and allow themselves to be “uncovered meat”, are at fault if they are raped. This is nothing new, of course, and it is somewhat mysterious why the Sheikh’s comments have caused any shock at all, since his view is legitimized by various Islamic texts and numerous social and legal Islamic structures. And that is why back in September 2004 in Denmark, al-Hilali’s Australian counterpart, the...

Equality California (EQCA) released its 2005-2006 Legislative Scorecard today, ranking 120 legislators and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on their support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality. Lawmakers passed a record-breaking 15 pieces of EQCA-sponsored legislation during the session, including 14 bills and one resolution. A total of 66 members of the California Senate and Assembly voted in support of EQCA-sponsored legislation 90 percent of the time, or more. Those lawmakers represent more than half of the state's entire legislative body. In addition, 51 legislators stood up for every EQCA-sponsored measure that came up for a vote. The Legislature continues...

HARRISONBURG, Va., Oct. 5 — The James Madison University men’s and women’s cross-country teams had run especially well against an elite field during a competition late last month in eastern Pennsylvania. Afterward, Coach Dave Rinker gathered a giddy, excited group of athletes with tears in his eyes. Rinker’s runners noticed he was not smiling. In the middle of the meet, back here on the James Madison campus, the university had announced it was eliminating men’s cross country and track, along with eight other, mostly men’s, sports to comply with Title IX, the federal gender-equity law. “Title IX was created in...

Growing income disparity doesn’t presage a new labor movement at home — but it may signal more terrorism for us abroad. In 1914, Henry Ford paid his factory workers $5 a day, twice the going rate, with the aim of creating a broad middle class able to buy the cars they were building. Today, that project isn’t faring so well: The Economist reports that in the U.S. “the gap between rich and poor is bigger than in any other advanced country.” And it’s growing. According to the Congressional Budget Office, from 1979 to 2001, the after-tax income of the...

The NCAA has appointed yet another female athletic director to help oversee the implementation of Title IX of the Education Amendments to the federal Civil Rights Act. Title IX, in order to create more opportunities for female athletes, simply choked off such chances for male athletes, as wrestlers, for example. Karen Morrison, who will serve as the NCAA director of gender initiatives and student-athlete well-being, comes to the job fresh from a posting as associate athletic director of the University of Colorado at Boulder, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. “I was one of those ‘Title IX babies’ who...

FREE TO CHOOSE: Created Equal Friedman: From the Victorian novelists to modern reformers, a favorite device to stir our emotions is to contrast extremes of wealth and of poverty. We are expected to conclude that the rich are responsible for the deprivations of the poor __ that they are rich at the expense of the poor. Whether it is in the slums of New Delhi or in the affluence of Las Vegas, it simply isn't fair that there should be any losers. Life is unfair __ there is nothing fair about one man being born blind and another man being...

by Edward Hudgins, The Atlas Society & Objectivist Center On July 4 we celebrate the creation of the United States of America. Our birth certificate, the Declaration of Independence, reads, "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal." It states that we're each endowed with "certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." It concludes that "to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed." Most Americans give lip service to these sentiments. But how many of us understand...

Is Zionism, Racist? Filed under: Front Page, Opinion, Israel By Ted Belman I recently wrote an article in which I tried to deal with the implications of the recent SC decision in Israel on education budgets or “priority areas”. Bill Narvey commented on it (below) and here is my response. Thanks for this. Most of it I agree in the main. 1. I think we both recognize the tension between democracy and equality. If democracy means majority rule, when and to what extent do minority rights trump democracy? 2. We also recognize that in all democracies, governments reduce equality to...

Ithaca College Feminists will observe National Condom Week by providing programs and information about health risks in sexual relationships from Tuesday to Feb. 21. “Sexual health is an important part of being in charge and in control of one’s own body,” said Laura McKenna, president of the Ithaca College Feminists. National Condom Week dates back to 1978, when students at the University of California-Berkeley wanted to educate others about the risks inherent in sexual intercourse including AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. McKenna said ICFeminists will promote National Condom Week through tabling in the Campus Center lobby until...

Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006 1:15 p.m. EST CORE Blasts King Funeral 'Outrage' The head of one of the nation's oldest civil rights organizations is blasting former President Jimmy Carter and Rev. Joseph Lowery for politicizing the funeral of Coretta Scott King. In a press release Thursday, Roy Innis, chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality, called comments by Carter and Lowery attacking President Bush "crass" and "disrespectful." "It was an outrage for such behavior to be exhibited in the presence of the President of the United States, and it was particularly outrageous for it to occur at a funeral for...

At the current pace, European women are not expected to reach parity with men in academic science positions until 2050. —Gerlind Wallon [1] Some have a dream that, one fine day, there will be equal numbers of men and women in all jobs, including those in scientific research. But I think this dream is Utopian; it assumes that if all doors were opened and all discrimination ended, the different sexes would be professionally indistinguishable. The dream is sustained by a cult of political correctness that ignores the facts of life—and thrives only because the human mind likes to bury experience...

To understand any political ideology, one must understand what most animates it. For the Left, it is hatred of inequality. As noted in a previous column, the Left hates inequality even more than it hates evil. Or perhaps more accurately, for the Left, inequality is the ultimate evil. If ever there were a smoking gun as to what animates most leftists, the many expressions of the need for judges to favor "the little guy" in their courtroom constitute that smoking gun. The prime Democratic objection to confirming Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court was that he does not rule...

We demand the extension of the community of equals to include all great apes: human beings, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orang-utans. The community of equals is the moral community within which we accept certain basic moral principles or rights as governing our relations with each other and enforceable at law. Among these principles or rights are the following: 1. The Right to Life The lives of members of the community of equals are to be protected. Members of the community of equals may not be killed except in very strictly defined circumstances, for example, self-defense. 2. The Protection of Individual...

WARROAD, Minn. - The Warroad High School boys' team squeaked out a 2-1 victory over the U.S. Olympic women's hockey team Wednesday. Allen McBride's goal with 3:52 remaining - a backhander past Team USA goalie Chanda Gunn - proved to be the game-winner. "They were nice to put a team up against us that was spirited and you could tell by the reactions that it meant as much to those kids as it does to us,'' Team USA coach Ben Smith said. "Hockey is hockey. I think the people liked it. It seemed like a nice crowd and just a...

Golf clubs with one set of rules for men and another for women will fall foul of EU law from December 2007 onward, the European Commission has confirmed. The legal opinion issued Wednesday (4 December) implies that mixed clubs will have to put an end to male-only bars and time-limits on how long female members can play. But Irish and UK press say a loophole will allow people to run male only clubs under a "freedom of association" clause. "There might be some reactionary, neanderthal men who may form more such [single-sex] clubs, but if they do, I think they'll...

Survey shows Americans’ personal misery has increased since early 1990s Discussion at PhysOrgForum General Science : December 29, 2005 As Americans pause to reflect on time gone by on the threshold of a new year, many will have reason to think that their lives have not gotten better, according to a new study by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. In the decade-and-a-half since NORC first surveyed people’s negative life events, researchers have found that the number of troubles people report has increased. Chief among those problems are more incidents of illness, inability to afford medical...

THE ugly are seeking refuge from a hostile world in a German club specially founded to cater for their needs and allay their anxieties. Hamburg's Ugly Club requires of its members only that they identify the one thing about themselves that they are most unhappy about. Stomachs are at the top of the list, followed by noses and hips. Harald Gasper, a creative director in an advertising agency with a jowly face and a big nose, established the club with his wife Regina, a tall journalist with big feet. "We're tired of the idea that you have to be beautiful...

[...] Today, Souvaine chairs the Tufts University computer science department, which has more female professors than male. But few younger women have followed in her generation's footsteps. Next spring, when 22 computer science graduates accept their Tufts diplomas, only four will be women. Born in contemporary times, free of the male-dominated legacy common to other sciences and engineering, computer science could have become a model for gender equality. [...] When Tara Espiritu arrived at Tufts, she was the rare young woman planning to become a computer scientist.[...]The same men always spoke up, often to raise some technical point that meant...

Fifteen percent of all workers say they have been discriminated against in their workplace during the past year, according to a new Gallup Organization poll. The survey was conducted to discover workers' perceptions of discrimination in their workplaces during a year that marks the 40th anniversary of the formation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC's chairwoman, Cari M. Dominguez, said the information will help the agency compare employee perceptions of discrimination with complaints actually filed with the agency. For example, 31 percent of Asians surveyed reported incidents of...

In his welcome Washington Post "Outlook" piece, “Disappearing Act: Where Have the Men Gone? No Place Good,” Michael Gurian reports that colleges and universities across the country are “grappling with the case of the mysteriously vanishing male.” The author of books on the compelling brain research that reveals significant sex differences in learning styles notes that men make up only 43 percent of college students. Gurian laments that we have failed to react to a “significant crisis” that damages the life prospects of millions of young men. He marshals the evidence of boys in trouble and effectively demands attention...

Dennis Prager recently argued that the Left values equality more than it hates evil. He is absolutely right. But I can go Dennis Prager one better: the Left hates sex. Not sexual activity, mind you. No, the Left is hyper-active sexually. I mean something much deeper: the Left is war with the fact that we are sexual beings. Let me explain. The Left can not accept that we are born as either male or female. You might expect me to say that the Left hates gender. But to say that is to accept their terms for the debate. Gender is...

In a town full of dirty little secrets, the composition of writers in Hollywood rises to the level of scandal. Though Tinsel Town pays lip service to liberalism and equality, women and minority film and television writers get work and get paid with a disparity that is striking.

Raising Boys Without Men by Peggy Drexler, Ph.D. Benefit to society or slap in the face to fathers? If you're a single or lesbian mom who is raising a boy without his father and you want assurance that you can raise him to be a decent man, “Raising Boys Without Men” is the book for you. Peggy Drexler takes us on a feel-good journey through the lives of several boys being raised by single moms and lesbian couples. What she found was these boys were essentially the same as the boys being raised in heterosexual families. She states, “I came...

In my run for Congress (California's 48th District U.S. House Representative), I wish to support a women's right to "equal pay for equal work." This right was put into law with the "Equal Pay Act of 1963." Most women will tell you that they do not possess significant equality of equal pay compared to men doing the same job. I'd like to see the many corporate businesses of the 48th District set an example of gender equity for women.