Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama used the power of her bully pulpit Wednesday to push food companies and television broadcasters to do more to promote healthier foods to children — and to do it faster. Research shows food marketing is a leading cause of childhood obesity because the ads and promotions lead impressionable kids to then pester their parents to eat what they saw on TV, consumer advocates say. The first lady cited a "cultural shift" taking place in America's eating habits, and highlighted as examples salad bars that are now in many school lunchrooms and kids' restaurant menus that...

FLINT, MI – It’s almost hunting season, and Meijer stores across the state are giving youth hunters the opportunity to get licensed for free on Sept. 13 and 14. For the sixth consecutive year, Meijer has teamed up with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to provide hunters ages 16 and under with free small game, mentored youth and combination licenses for the upcoming hunting seasons. “We hope it’s a nice promotion and it’s a great partnership with Meijer,” said Dennis Fox, the chief of staff for the Department of Natural Resources. “We hope that hunters who may be on...

As President Obama heads for a nice vacation at Martha's Vineyard, a place of wealth, I want him to work on a simple math calculation. One of the major themes of the president's administration is that there is a tremendous problem of "income inequality" in this nation that must be addressed. Obama's solution is to redistribute income using seizure tactics. His plan is to have the federal government provide subsidies for those with low incomes by taking money from business and the affluent. The problem is that high taxation restrains economic expansion and inhibits the country from creating new avenues...

President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, known as “Obamacare,” will make it more difficult for parents of special-needs children to pay for tuition at special schools and to purchase medical equipment, according to a new report. More than 30 million Americans place money into a pre-tax Flexible Spending Account (FSA) through their employers to help save emergency funds to pay for their families’ medical costs. Obamacare institutes a brand new $2,500 cap for FSAs, which will make more money taxable and could raise $13 billion in taxes for the federal government over the next decade. “Before Obamacare passed, there was no...

Trey Gowdy reciting archetypal "undocumented" sob story.

A mother demanded answers after a teacher refused to allow students to drink water in order not to offend fasting Muslim classmates. An angry mother accused a primary school of denying water to children on the hottest days of the year for fear of upsetting Muslim students, who observe Ramadan.

Studies of Children With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Find Little Change It's no longer shocking to hear of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder—and others simply facing a big test—taking ADHD medicine to boost their performance in school. But new studies point to a problem: There's little evidence that the drugs actually improve academic outcomes. Stimulants used to treat ADHD like Ritalin and Adderall are sometimes called "cognitive enhancers" because they have been shown in a number of studies to improve attention, concentration and even certain types of memory in the short-term. Similar drugs were given to World War II soldiers to...

Hey, Dad. If you’re going to send your kid to a public school or a state run university, then you’ve got to teach your child not to just sit there in class, like a nice boy, and take whatever propaganda the “progressives” shove down their pie hole. The Conservative/traditionalist is the rebel of our day. “The Man” and “The Machine” on campus to rage against is not stodgy traditionalism, but rank socialism and its moral and political vacuity. Meet the new boss — it’s not the same as the old boss. For Dads who want their kids to make a...

The lower house of Russia’s parliament has overwhelmingly passed a bill that stigmatizes the gay community and bans the distribution of information about homosexuality to children. The State Duma voted 434-0 with one abstention on Tuesday to approve the Kremlin-backed legislation, which imposes hefty fines for holding gay pride rallies or providing information about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to minors. The bill still needs to be approved by the appointed upper house and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, but neither step is in doubt.

So, last Saturday I'm back on the ball field coaching my 9-year-old boy's little league team along with three other fathers. We lose big. Why? Because it was hot. Yes, I know what you're thinking: Wasn't it hot for the other team? Stop with the logic, OK? My team wilted in the fourth inning. In fact, three of the players cried. One missed his mother. I told him the game would be over shortly and she was looking forward to seeing him. He accepted it, but struck out anyway. The right fielder cried when the ball hit his thumb after...

Years ago, Gay Pride Week -- as weird as it was -- was largely only about adults who might dress and act like children. But a disturbing trend in recent years has been to include activities to attract teenagers as young as middle school age. There seems to be a very strong interest by adult activists to get kids involved with the "gay" festivities. For example, last year for the first time, the Boston Pride Committee took over the "Youth Pride" event which was held this year in Boston on May 18 for middle school and high school kids. (We...

The obvious answer here is that the last two decades' school shootings and our civilization's general moral decline have changed the equation. But while this would explain the desire to keep students with real firearms off school grounds, there is no logical reason to apply this to toy guns. Saying otherwise is like claiming that because you wouldn't trust an 11-year-old to drive the family car to school, you won't let him bring toy cars with him, either; or that he won't be allowed to possess toy airplanes because he isn't ready to pilot a 747 for Delta. The same...

Here's a bit of advice real "safety experts" are giving kids — and parents. It's poisonous. But first, the back story: The other day, a blogger named Lisa Flam wrote on a popular parenting website that her seventh-grader came home one day and announced he "didn't do it." Didn't do what? He and his friend were walking home from school (points for that!), when a white-haired lady stood in her doorway and requested the boys' help. "She asked them to move a medium-size package from her front step into her house," Flam wrote. "On the sidewalk, the boys wondered what...

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INVESTIGATE THIS! America's parents and grandparents kick back!

I’m still waiting for the Hitler quote. Or is there a minimum number of people that a dictator has to murder before he gets placement on a part of the Department of Education website devoted to kids. This isn’t a generic quote about education being a good thing. It’s actually a quote about the need for Communist indoctrination among Communist Party members. The full quote that the Department of Education cut down comes at the end of an essay on “The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War” “Whoever refuses to study these problems seriously and carefully...

The puppeteer who gave Sesame Street's Elmo his voice allegedly threw a crystal meth sex party for a teenage boy in 2004, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week. Sheldon Stephens, now 24, is the fourth man to sue Kevin Clash, but he was the first one to publicly claim he had a sexual relationship with him as a teen. Stephens' lawsuit is "meritless and barred by the statute of limitations," Clash lawyer Michael Berger told CNN Tuesday. "Mr. Clash continues to deny any wrongdoing, and we intend to defend this case forcefully." (...) "I am a gay man,"...

She has tried the macrobiotic diet, the kale and lemon cleanse and only eating salad for days on end. But now Gwyneth Paltrow has admitted that she has begun inflicting her obsessions with food on her own children - by starving them of carbohydrates. Miss Paltrow, 40, said that that she avoids feeding pasta, bread or rice to Apple, eight, and Moses, six, because it is bad for them, even though they are left ‘craving’ the food. Her decision was based on the fact that everyone in her house - including husband Chris Martin - is supposedly intolerant of gluten,...

Readers — The story below makes me so sad and so angry, and you will see why. If anyone at Child Protective Services or the police department would pick up a single book written before predator panic swept the country, they’d see that 6-year-olds were always part of the neighborhood scene, scampering, playing, or even — in many eras and areas — working! The idea that a 6-year-old can’t be outside without constant supervision is new and warped. It also seriously underestimates kids. Is there a law requiring parents to stunt their children’s curiosity, competence, maturity and independence? I fear...

In 2006, as a Probate and Family Court judge in Boston, I began hearing a case filed by a self-represented woman who requested an order that a sperm facility disclose the identity of the father of her two young daughters. She gave as her primary reason that the children suffered from health issues and needed a complete medical history from their father. As a secondary ground, she cited the children’s need for financial support. After multiple hearings and several trips between the Probate and Family Court and the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the complaint was dismissed in 2011. (The first decision...