Free Republic

KENOSHA – Apparently there’s no room for free thought or disagreement within the Wisconsin Education Association Council. We suppose that’s not terribly surprising for a group that has to force its members to join. Still, it’s troubling to hear that Kristi LaCroix, the courageous public school teacher who had the guts to film a television ad supporting Gov. Scott Walker’s reforms, is being harassed by union zealots to the point where she wants to change careers. LaCroix, who teaches at Lakeview Technology Academy in the Kenosha school district, recently posted the following on her Facebook page, according a news story...

I feel the urge to come clean. All these women have inspired me to confess. Yes, I made Herman feel uncomfortable. I couldn't help myself. It was the very first time I had ever seen him speak, and his conservative views, along with that sexy voice was just not fair to a woman like me. I was a single mother, who had not even dated for years. I was politically active. He tempted me! So here is what happened: I was leaving the event where I had heard him speak. On the way out the door, this tall, dark, and...

Increasingly assertive Turkey is setting the scene for clashes in the eastern Mediterranean. Since Thursday, Sept. 29, Turkish warships have been harassing Israeli merchant vessels in waters off Cyprus, DEBKAfile's military sources report. They come close enough to establish wireless communication and caution the Israeli vessels they are in contravention of international law and ordering them to change course. The Israeli crews mostly ignore these "orders", treating them as Ankara's latest bid to assert Turkish naval mastery of the Eastern Mediterranean. But the situation is getting explosive enough to spark a major incident. Over the weekend, Israeli Air Force planes...

After debating in favor of a bill that would require ultrasounds before abortions, Democrat leaders openly harassed, threatened and belittled Democratic Rep. Daphnee Campbell. Freshman State House of Representatives member, Daphne Campbell from Miami was in her first legislative session last week when her own party viciously turned on her after she debated for and voted in favor of the pro-life bill allowing ultrasounds before abortions. Campbell is a wife and mother of five children who works as a nurse. As she rose in passionate support for the pro-life bill, Rep. Scott Randolph a Democrat from Orlando, whose assigned seat...

DALLAS — A 13-year-old hangs himself in a Johnson County, Texas, barn. An 8-year-old jumps out of a two-story school building in Houston. Nine Massachusetts teenagers face jail time after allegedly harassing a girl so mercilessly that she killed herself. These incidents, all of which took place in one week, reframe the age-old phenomenon of the schoolyard bully. Students are turning to suicide, experts say, as an escape from taunts that now continue beyond the school day through cyberspace. Such drastic responses, they say, reveal how an action once considered a rite of passage has turned into a public health...

WASHINGTON, March 9, 2009 – Five Chinese vessels shadowed and aggressively maneuvered close to the USNS Impeccable in the South China Sea yesterday, a senior Pentagon official said today. The U.S. oceanographic ship was 70 miles south of Hainan Island conducting routine operations in international waters when the ships approached, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. “We view these as unprofessional maneuvers by the Chinese vessels and violations under international law to operate with due regard for the rights and safety of other lawful users of the ocean,” Whitman said. A civilian crew mans the ship, which operates under the auspices...

Local Police Attempt to Block Collection of Pro-Marriage Petitions Agape Press - June 7 ,2006 A pro-family group in Florida is outraged over the behavior of some police officers last weekend who tried to stop a petition drive aimed at protecting traditional marriage. Last weekend members of the Florida Family Policy Council were at a Promise Keepers conference in Broward County where they were collecting petitions for the Florida4Marriage campaign, an effort to get onto the November 2008 ballot an amendment protecting traditional marriage. The pro-family group had paid a fee to have a booth at the PK event at...

CARACAS -- A congressional delegation led by Rep. Henry Hyde arrived on Monday in Venezuela, but was not permitted to leave the plane at the country's main airport and left abruptly, a spokesman for the U.S. embassy said. The president of the airport, however, denied the accusation, saying the U.S. ambassador met the plane at the airport, entered it briefly, and then the craft departed. The delegation on the plane had been slated to meet with Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel and other government officials, and waited for roughly one hour before departing, Brian Penn, the embassy spokesman, told...

OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian schools are meant to be magically free of bullying when students go back to class on Wednesday after the summer break. But pupils say the landmark "zero tolerance" campaign for name-calling, hitting, hair-pulling, arm-twisting and other playground nastiness is about as realistic as the plot of a "Harry Potter" novel. Even Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik admits the two-year scheme launched in 2002 is optimistic in its goal of eradicating bullying from the start of the school year Wednesday. "There will be cases of bullying but zero tolerance is our target," he told Reuters of a...

<p>The furor over allegations that Arnold Schwarzenegger mistreated women erupted again Thursday. The governor-elect, through his spokesman, ripped Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer for what Schwarzenegger said was a breach of attorney-client privilege after Lockyer revealed the gist of conversations the two have had about the matter. Schwarzenegger also disclosed that he had decided to hire a private investigative firm to examine the allegations first published in the Los Angeles Times, and he said he had decided to do so even before Lockyer suggested it Thursday. But a spokesman said the governor-elect was now reconsidering an earlier decision to hand the results of the private probe over to Lockyer.</p>

The federal government's do-not-call list has saved millions of Americans from pesky telemarketers, but Tom Mabe had to take it one step further. The comedian and jingle-writer goes on the offensive on "A Wake-Up Call for Telemarketers," his CD being released today. Last year, Mabe traveled to Washington, D.C., for a telemarketers convention and stayed at their hotel. He waited until the wee hours of the morning -- and started dialing. Telemarketer: "Hello. Hello." Mabe: "Hi, this is Tom Mabe. I'm calling on behalf of the Telemarketers With Insomnia Foundation. How are you doing this evening sir?" Telemarketer: "Excuse me?"...