Free Republic

RUSH: This is from Rayford, North Carolina. Carolina Journal. I'm gonna read it to you exactly as it printed out here: "A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because a state employee told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious. The girl’s turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips and apple juice did not meet US Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the interpretation of the agent who was inspecting all lunch boxes in her More at Four classroom that day." Again, let me read this to you again: "The...

WASHINGTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Blount Fine Foods is recalling some of its Rip Roarin' Crab Soup sold in 16-ounce cups because it contains undeclared milk, wheat and crab, the company said. The back label of the crab soup incorrectly identifies the product as Manhattan Clam Chowder, the company said in a statement on the Food and Drug Administration website. The ingredient statement also fails to declare the milk, wheat or crab, which can cause serious or life-threatening reactions to people with allergies.

The Texas Republican Party gives a whole new meaning to the word conservative. The GOP there has voted on a platform that would ban oral and anal sex. It also would give jail sentences to anyone who issues a marriage license to a same-sex couple (even though such licenses are already invalid in the state). “We oppose the legalization of sodomy,” the platform says. “We demand that Congress exercise its authority granted by the U.S. Constitution to withhold jurisdiction from the federal courts from cases involving sodomy.” [Snip] In addition, the platform says that homosexuality “tears at the fabric...

Increasingly, our government reminds me of a certain old Star Trek episode.  It was titled "I, Mudd," and in it, the Enterprise explorers find themselves in the grip of seemingly perfect androids determined to serve man.  The automatons informed the crew that humans are "self-destructive," need the androids' "help," and can't be trusted with freedom.  One of the mechanical masters concludes by telling Captain Kirk, "we shall serve them [humans], and you will be happy...and controlled." I don't know if the episode was meant as big-government allegory, but it could serve as such.  And there's no shortage of nanny-state intrusion...

With Congress saying “get the lead out,” local retailers and librarians are wondering if common sense gets chucked along with it. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which goes into effect Feb. 10, is meant to protect children from lead-laden products. But when the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission gave libraries two options, get rid of all your children’s books or ban anyone under 12 from entering the library, librarians across the country waited for the punch line. But it never came. “I was speechless,” said Mary Beth Revels, director of the St. Joseph Public Library. “To know it wasn’t...

Lincoln, NE (AHN) - Nebraska Sen. Tony Fulton filed the Ultrasound Bill which seeks to require a pregnant woman contemplating abortion to undergo an ultrasound and see her fetus before she undergoes the procedure.Fulton explained that the aim of the legislation is to have an informed consent, especially for young women who are on the verge of making grave choices prior to an abortion. Nebraska is just one of 11 states contemplating on a mandated ultrasound. The other states include Indiana and Texas. Earlier, Wyoming legislators attempted to pass a similar law, but were defeated on the state House committee...

Evans/Associated Press PROTEST Hundreds objected to the mandated flu vaccinations. THE state’s new law requiring young children attending licensed pre-school and child care centers to get flu vaccinations will be tested this week when thousands of children return to classrooms and playrooms after the long holiday break. New Jersey, the first state in the nation to require flu shots for young schoolchildren, set a Dec. 31 deadline for parents to obtain flu vaccinations for their children. It was part of a new policy requiring a total of four additional immunizations for schoolchildren over the objections of some parents who...

December 15, 2008, 4:00 a.m. He’s No RudyBloomberg busies himself with meddlesome gestures while ignoring his core responsibilities. By Deroy Murdock The winner of the 2008 Nero’s Fiddle Award is New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. The richest guy in Gotham recently visited the Eugene O’Neill Theater on West 49th Street to promote an initiative called Broadway Goes Green. The Great White Way’s marquees soon will feature 30,000 more compact-fluorescent light bulbs, the mayor marveled. Playbills and sets will be recycled. Also, costumes will be washed in cold water, not hot. “That is going to have an impact that...

"Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee for Health Protection, Nikolai Gerasimenko, suggested the introduction of childlessness tax to improve the demographic situation in Russia. “It is about time we should think about childlessness tax. If you do not want to think about your social duty for your fatherland than you will have to pay for it,” Gerasimenko said. The official added that State Duma deputies were currently considering the issue about the introduction of such a tax in Russia. As soon as deputies think the idea through, the law-makers will develop an adequate document on the matter. "

WASHINGTON -- Quietly leaving his post as surgeon general, Dr. Richard Carmona said he would judge himself successful if he had persuaded one student to make good health choices or one mother to stop smoking. Carmona's report condemning secondhand smoke was a hallmark of his tenure as the nation's 17th surgeon general.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Retired slugger Mark McGwire Thursday told a congressional panel investigating drugs in baseball that he would not "participate in naming names" of players who used steroids. McGwire did not say in his opening statement to the House Government Reform Committee whether he used steroids. Two current players, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro, said they never used steroids. That duo and McGwire were accused of using performance-enhancing drugs by Jose Canseco in a best-selling book that helped prompt the hearing. In a tense scene, Canseco sat at the same table as the other players as he told the...

AUSTIN - A state senator who wants to eliminate from the market drugs that contain mainly pseudoephedrine has introduced a series of four bills for returning lawmakers. Under the legislation by Sen. Craig Estes, no one would be able to buy drugs like Sudafed in Texas. But he said consumers could still buy other congestion remedies containing the decongestant, as long as it is mixed into capsules and cough syrups. "We hope the general public will realize that a little inconvenience will go a long way," Estes, R-Wichita Falls, told the Scripps Howard Austin bureau in Monday's editions of the...