Free Republic

Parents have been banned from supervising their children in public playgrounds, because they have not undergone criminal record checks. Only council-vetted "play rangers" are now allowed to monitor youngsters in two adventure areas in Watford while parents must watch from outside a perimeter fence. The Watford Borough Council policy has been attacked as insulting and a disgrace by furious relatives who say they are being labelled as potential paedophiles.

Minneapolis firefighter and paramedic John Ackerman joins Fightin Words to discuss recent cases where parents faced homicide charges for turning to religion as medicine rather than modern science. What are the proper bounds of parental authority? How much religious freedom is too much? Who gets to decide, and where do they derive their authority? Part one of a two part interview, to be continued next week.

In 1995 MassResistance (then known as Parents Rights Coalition) wrote and successfully lobbied for the Parental Notification Law (Ch. 71 Sec. 32A) which was signed into law by Gov. Bill Weld in 1996. Unfortunately, the law (which is "opt-out" and is aimed at sex education) has serious flaws and loopholes. In 1995 we did not anticipate the aggressive homosexual agenda in the schools. MassResistance has carefully crafted a new bill to address this issue properly, and close those loopholes. It's Bill H406 which we've named the David Parker Parents Rights Bill. It completely re-writes the current Parental Notification Law. It's...

This is not a “slippery slope” argument. This is a “line in the sand” argument. Government must not be allowed to stick its nose in the tent of parental affairs except in cases of extraordinary and demonstrable physical abuse and real neglect (starving or exposure). Erring needs to be on the side of parental and religious rights, because we either have them or we don’t. This case, believed to be the first of its kind in the history of the state, sets the precedent that government decides what medical treatment is appropriate rather than parents. It is a very small...

Planned Parenthood Used Underage Girls in 10 Clinical Trials Pushing Abortion Washington, DC (LifeNews.com)-- A new report from a Planned Parenthood watchdog group finds the abortion business used underage girls in at least 10 clinical trials over the last two decades to push abortion, birth control, and STD testing. The news comes at a time when Planned Parenthood is facing criticism for videos showing it ignoring potential statutory abuse cases. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5548.html

PHOENIX — An Arizona couple accused of sexual abuse after taking bath-time photos of their children and then trying to have them developed at Walmart are suing the state and the retail giant. Lisa and Anthony "A.J." Demaree's three young daughters were taken away by Arizona Child Protective Services last fall when a Walmart employee found partially nude pictures of the girls on a camera memory stick taken to the store for processing, according to the suit. The Peoria couple's attorney said Walmart turned the photos over to police and the Demarees were not allowed to see their children for...

NBC's John Harwood smears parents as stupid, plus a video from the NBC Nightly News going to bat for the Dear Leader on his speech to school children...

Angry parents get schools to shun Obama speech to students Dublin, Hilliard, Olentangy districts decide not to show president's TV address Tuesday Thursday, September 3, 2009 11:22 PM By Bill Bush THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH School districts across central Ohio learned today that the list of things parents want their children protected from -- drugs, predators, violence -- now includes the president of the United States delivering a "stay in school" message. Faced with phone calls from angry parents who don't want their children to view the Tuesday address to the nation's students by President Barack Obama, several districts have decided...

DRUMMONDVILLE, Quebec, September 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Quebec Superior Court has denied a petition from concerned Catholic parents who wanted exemptions for their children from the province's mandatory relativism program, 'Ethics and Religious Culture' (ERC). In making his decision, the judge, Justice Jean-Guy Dubois, relied heavily on two Catholic sources: (1) the testimony of a Catholic theologian who emphasized that the Catholic Church values instruction in other religions, and (2) the position of the Assembly of Quebec Catholic Bishops, who did not support "a priori" exemptions based on religion. Even without the support of his brother bishops, Quebec City...

Amanda Kurowski is a 10-year-old homeschooled girl who performs well academically and is socially well-adjusted. But her strong Christian beliefs were reason enough for a New Hampshire court to order her out of homeschooling and into a public school. The daughter of divorced parents, Amanda has been homeschooled by her mother, Brenda Voydatch since first grade. Her father, Martin Kurowski, is opposed to homeschooling, arguing that it prevents "adequate socialization" for Amanda with other children. He requested that she be placed in a government school. In the process of renegotiating the terms of a parenting plan for the girl, the...

A 10-year-old homeschool girl described as "well liked, social and interactive with her peers, academically promising and intellectually at or superior to grade level" has been told by a New Hampshire court official to attend a government school because she was too "vigorous" in defense of her Christian faith. The decision from Marital Master Michael Garner reasoned that the girl's "vigorous defense of her religious beliefs to [her] counselor suggests strongly that she has not had the opportunity to seriously consider any other point of view."

If they can do it to Mr. Bary, they can do it to youORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - The fate of a 17-year-old girl who ran away from her Ohio home because she says she feared punishment for converting from Islam to Christianity could be decided in an Orlando courtroom Friday. The teenager disappeared last month and police used phone and computer records to track her to the Rev. Blake Lorenz, pastor of Orlando, Fla.-based Global Revolution Church, who she had met through an online Facebook prayer group. My first thought was, this one's easy. Send her back to her family...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- A man was arrested and charged with attacking his own daughter with a piece of pizza. Deputies say the 38-year-old father got into an argument with his daughter in Gainesville Friday. The man had asked his daughter to get off her computer. When she would not, he began verbally attacking her, according to deputies. The daughter called 911 when her father threw a piece of pizza that hit her in the back of the neck. The suspect was arrested and charged with felony child abuse. Deputies are not releasing the girl's age or the names of either...

Dirty secret No. 1 in Obamacare is about the government's coming into homes and usurping parental rights over child care and development. It's outlined in sections 440 and 1904 of the House bill (Page 838), under the heading "home visitation programs for families with young children and families expecting children." The programs (provided via grants to states) would educate parents on child behavior and parenting skills. The bill says that the government agents, "well-trained and competent staff," would "provide parents with knowledge of age-appropriate child development in cognitive, language, social, emotional, and motor domains ... modeling, consulting, and coaching on...

In the “Dating, Family & Friends” section of the Teen Talk web site promoted on Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s home page, a teenage girl asks, “My boyfriend and I have decided that before we have sex [I] should be on the pill or some kind of birth control, but still use a condom. I asked my mom about putting me on Birth control, and [I] even researched it but she said no...what do [I] do now?” PP answers, “It's good that you and your boyfriend have discussed using birth control. In general, parental permission is not needed for prescription...

Members of the activist homosexual community have decided to advance their cultural revolution, in spite of the rights of parents, by using children and the willing administration in some school systems. The Pacific Justice Institute is representing the parents in that area, free of charge. Rather than deal with the specific incident, I want to address the broader problem, the growing failure in some public school districts to respect parental rights. I also want to affirm the Catholic teaching on the primary role of parents in the lives of their children and in education. The Church is in favor of...

AUSAU, Wis. — A Wisconsin man accused of killing his daughter by praying instead of seeking lifesaving medical help considered her illness "a test of his faith," a prosecutor told jurors Saturday. Dale Neumann, 47, is a "full-Gospel Christian," who did not know his 11-year-old daughter had diabetes, his defense attorney said. There's also not "a shred of evidence" Neumann knew his prayers would fail to help his daughter or cause her death, the lawyer said. Neumann is charged with second-degree reckless homicide in the 2008 death of his daughter Madeline Neumann, called Kara by her parents. His wife, Leilani,...

UK, July 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The sex education lobby in the UK is putting pressure on the government to ban parents' rights to withdraw their children from the controversial new sex education program that is slated to become a compulsory part of the National Curriculum from September 2011.Parents currently have the right to withdraw their children from sex education under the 1996 Education Act.In response to the Department for Children, Schools and Families' request for public input on the sex education program that would see comprehensive sex-ed begin in Grade 1, "health education" groups such as the Brook Advisory...

On Friday, I spotlighted the devastating reporting on Obama “science czar” John Holdren posted at zombietime and featured it as the lead story all weekend. Refresher on Holdren’s eco-zealous views: • Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not; • The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation’s drinking water or in food; • Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise; • People who “contribute to social deterioration” (i.e. undesirables) “can...

(CNSNews.com) - A Zogby poll commissioned by the Seattle-based Discovery Institute says more than three-quarters of Americans would like teachers to have the freedom to discuss both the strengths and weaknesses of Darwinian evolution, with an even higher number reported among Democrats...

The NHS is telling pupils they have a 'right' to an enjoyable sex life in a leaflet being sent to schools. It encourages them to consider an 'orgasm a day' as a way reduce the risk of heart attacks and stroke.And if they can't get sex, the leaflet says children should consider masturbation.  The advice appears in guidance circulated to parents, teachers and youth workers. It says experts have for too long concentrated on the need for 'safe sex' and loving relationships - while ignoring the main reason people have sex, for enjoyment.But family groups condemned the guidance last...

CNSNews.com) – Former Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders got a standing ovation after speaking at the annual summit of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice where she advocated health clinics offering contraceptives on public school campuses and comprehensive sex education in the schools starting in kindergarten.

I would welcome fellow Freeper input on an exchange I had with the police last night. First a little background. I've got 20 years in the military, started out my life giving police officers a great deal of respect and knee jerking to their defense. Over the course of years, however, I've lost a lot of respect for the police via watching continual police traffic violations, watching unprofessional behavior and seeing shows of petty tyranny over their fellow citizens. Although I'd still like to be wholeheartedly pro-law and think the way to get respectable enforcement officers is to demand professionalism,...

Karen England Sacramento, Calif., Jun 27, 2009 / 08:04 am (CNA).- The Modesto City School Board on Monday voted to allow junior high and high school students to leave campus during the school day for “confidential medical services,” such as abortions, without the consent or knowledge of their parents. The school board adopted the new policy in a preliminary vote of 4-3, the California Catholic Daily says. The board members will take another vote on the issue on July 13.Karen England, executive director of the pro-family lobbying group Capitol Resource Institute, attended the meeting and reported that four people...

Dear Friend of Parental Rights, Monday in a Harlem middle school, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told a group of 120 students that administration officials are actively discussing “when and how it might be possible to join” (that is, ratify) the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). As before, she also communicated what a disgrace it is that the U.S. would stand with only Somalia against such a widely-accepted treaty. This is the first direct public statement by the Obama administration that it will seek ratification of the UN CRC. In my 30 years...

June 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Kevin Jennings, who was appointed by Obama to be the assistant deputy secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools inside the Department of Education, has always been interested in promoting the homosexualist agenda to schoolchildren. Jennings, cofounder and executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), told attendees at a GLSEN conference over a decade ago that he looked forward to the day when promoting homosexuality in schools will be seen in a positive light.

"The spread of small arms creates a serious global problem and requires an equally urgent response because the lives and futures of children are at stake. These weapons have extinguished more young lives than they have protected." – Carol Bellamy, Executive Director, UNICEF The vast majority of Americans, regardless of their opinions on the increasing scope of international law, agree with the proposition that children should not be used as soldiers. Accordingly, much of the UN literature that addresses children and guns deals with this military-related issue. However, a second theme is quickly found in virtually all UN pronouncements about...

“The spread of small arms creates a serious global problem and requires an equally urgent response because the lives and futures of children are at stake. These weapons have extinguished more young lives than they have protected.” – Carol Bellamy, Executive Director, UNICEF The vast majority of Americans, regardless of their opinions on the increasing scope of international law, agree with the proposition that children should not be used as soldiers. Accordingly, much of the UN literature that addresses children and guns deals with this military-related issue. However, a second theme is quickly found in virtually all UN pronouncements about...

The Alameda, Calif., public schools are adopting a curriculum that will require first graders to read literature that equates same-sex unions with a family made up of a mother, father and child. Parents will not be allowed to opt their first graders out of the curriculum. Members of the Alameda United School District (AUSD) school board voted 3 to 2 last week to implement the “Safe Schools” curriculum, which supporters say is aimed at stopping anti-homosexual bullying in schools. The program includes a between one and four lessons each year between grades 1 and 5 to introduce students to “LGBT”...

After one week on the lam, Colleen Hauser and her son, 13-year-old Daniel, returned home on Monday, May 25, 2009. They had fled the family's Minnesota farm when a judge ordered Daniel to undergo chemotherapy.  Because Colleen Hauser returned voluntarily, she was not arrested.  Brown County Family Services wanted Daniel to stay in the county's custody.  But, the young boy was left in the care of his parents.  This emotionally charged incident, reported widely by the media, raises a very important issue.  Who determines what is best for children?  The State was concerned about the boy’s health and life.  So...

The Unified School District in Alameda California has passed a curriculum by a 3-2 vote that includes includes a compulsory 45-minute Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) lesson for kindergarten through fifth grade. The kindergarten lesson will study sexual orientation stereotypes with childrens books like "And Tango Makes Three" a story about two gay male penguins. School Officials say they will not allow parents to opt their kids out of the program because it falls under "anti-discrimination provisions of California law.Here is a video of the School Board Meeting. 3:03 Same Sex Lessons for Kindergartners! Gay penguins?Here are the Members...

ALAMEDA — School district leaders have approved lesson plans for kindergartners through fifth graders that aim to curb anti-gay bullying. Trustees voted 3-2 on Tuesday to adopt the Safe Schools curriculum, which supporters say will help children of gay parents feel welcome at school and help end anti-gay teasing and bullying on the playground. The lessons also aim to provide a safe environment for children to learn, as well as to offer a framework for teachers to break down stereotypes and teach kids about different types of families. "The need for this is real," said Beth Kromer, a fourth-grade teacher...

Authorities sought to arrest the mother of a 13-year-old boy with cancer who refuses chemotherapy after she fled with her son and missed a court hearing Tuesday on his welfare. A judge issued an arrest warrant and ordered that Daniel Hauser be placed in a foster home and be sent for an immediate examination by a pediatric oncologist so he can get treated for Hodgkins lymphoma.

A controversial member of President Barack Obama’s faith-based council said that part of the administration’s role in promoting responsible fatherhood should include moving beyond America’s “heteronormative view of fatherhood.” Harry Knox, appointed last month to the 25-member President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, has drawn fire for inflammatory comments about the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict XVI. Knox talked about fatherhood and other issues the council would work on in a May 11 PBS interview, which aired two days before a May 13 letter – signed by nearly two dozen prominent Catholics, including House Minority Leader John Boehner...

Any parent would be appaled to learn their child was taken out of the classroom for a mandatory mental health evaluation without their knowledge or consent. But such is the case in Florida where more than 3 out or every 1000 children, on average will be involuntarily committed for psychiatric examination. 3,365 separate involuntary commitments were performed, in 2007 directly from school grounds. Over 3000 separate incidences of children being escorted, mandatory, from school to a psychiatric receiving facility and held in a secured ward, separate from their parents, and without their parents consent in one year.

I'm willing to countenance the possibility that Barack Obama genuinely believes that the DC voucher program is not helping the students who participate. Here's what I don't understand though: how come the Obama girls benefit from leaving the DC public school system? Surely, if it doesn't make any difference, the Obama girls would do just as well in ordinary, democratic, thoroughly American public schools as in an elitist Quaker institution. Wouldn't it bring wonderful diversity to both the school, and the Obama daughters, to have the children of the president rubbing shoulders with the children of the district's more ordinary...

In their efforts to improve the situation of women around the globe, a handful in the international community believe there should be no honoring of motherhood in public policy since motherhood "traps" women in lowly domestic endeavors instead of using their talents in the workforce.

A 13-year-old boy from Sleepy Eye and his parents are ignoring the advice of cancer specialists that the teenager undergo chemotherapy and radiation. Daniel Hauser has Hodgkin's lymphoma, considered by doctors to be one of the most curable forms of cancer. Danny, as he is known, and his parents have turned to natural therapies, such as herbs and vitamins, instead. They're scheduled to be in court Friday to defend their decision. Brown County Attorney James Olson has filed a petition accusing Daniel's parents, Colleen and Anthony Hauser, of child neglect and endangerment. Olson is asking a judge to order the...

Larry Armstrong has been volunteering with his local Boy Scout branch for years, chaperoning trips, serving on the council committee, even becoming certified in archery instruction for a day camp. But Armstrong, at 6-foot, 2-inches tall and about 370 pounds, may no longer qualify for some scout outings because he's overweight, part of a new push by the national organization to ensure the scouts and their volunteers are healthy. A new mandatory weight requirement by the national Boy Scouts of America that will take effect next January has some longtime volunteers concerned they will be left out of trips they've...

Our Congress with the help of Republicans is squeezing out private charity with paid "volunteers." They are paid - AmericaCorps - but called volunteers; it sound so good. What do they work on? What the politicians want; you have no say. And they tripled its funding. But what if there aren't enough volunteers for paid "volunteer" service. Force! It might be unconstitutional under the 13th Amendment's ban on involuntary servitude. But Jim McDermott (D, Washington) wants your children to serve his favorite causes. Robert Knight at Townhall ... Mandatory national service has reemerged in HR 1442, the "Congressional Commission on...

Gov. Sarah Palin is backing a ballot measure to bypass the Legislature and make it illegal for teenagers to get an abortion without telling their parents.

Supporters of a plan to amend the U.S. Constitution to include parental rights are warning moms and dads across the United States they already are losing their rights to make decisions regarding their children's health, education, welfare, finances, sex education, access to abortion and even leisure time. "The erosion is upon us," said Michael Farris, founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association, a college and a church and now a dedicated leader in the effort to change the U.S. Constitution through the amendment process to restore and protect parental rights. Eighty years ago, the amendment website notes, "the Supreme...

The girl’s voice in the videotape is tiny and tentative. She is talking to a nursing aide in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Bloomington, Ind. The girl wants an abortion. The aide explains that the girl will need a parent’s consent because she is only 13. The girl balks; she does not want to name the father. “Cause, I mean, he would be in really big trouble,” says the girl. Her boyfriend, she explains, is 31. The aide drops her head into her hands. “In the state of Indiana,” says the aide, “when anyone has had intercourse and they are...

Memphis, TN -- A new undercover videotape shows staff at a Tennessee Planned Parenthood abortion clinic urging a client to lie about her potential sexual abuse so she could get an abortion. A girl who said she is 14 and sexually abused by a 31-year-old man was told to hide the information from a judge. The staff members at the nation's largest abortion business told the young woman to conceal the information so a judge would approve her request for an abortion without parental involvement, which is require by state law except in emergency cases. "Don't mention it. Just say...

Obama backs the U.N. and their agenda and guidelines on dictating to all children's rights and how to raise our children. Click Here

This afternoon at 3:00 (EDT), Representative Pete Hoekstra (MI) and Senator Jim DeMint (SC) will hold a joint press conference at Upper Senate Park, next to the Russell Office Building in Washington, D.C., to announce the introduction of the Parental Rights Amendment in both houses of Congress. Perhaps you will be able to catch a glimpse of it this evening on the national news! Introducing the Amendment, of course, is only the beginning – and now the clock is ticking. Today’s announcement will no doubt get the attention of opponents to the Amendment, and we will have to stay ahead...

Though efforts to pass a constitutional amendment protecting parental rights have failed in the past, two U.S. legislators are preparing to reintroduce the idea this week; and this time, they say, the effort is backed by more than 60 congressional members. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., who introduced a parental rights amendment by himself last year, told the Agence France-Presse that he will be joined by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., on Tuesday as they renew the fight. According to a statement released to AFP by Hoekstra's office, the amendment "would clearly outline in the U.S. Constitution that parents, not government or...

Orange (WTNH) - Some school kids in Orange are learning about the world we live in and how they can ensure it will be "green" as they get older. The Goddard School cares for children from 6-weeks old to 6-years old. Some of the little kids in the mobile infant room at the school used paint to make their hand prints on the world. The green paint symbolizes their carbon footprint on the environment. In the room next door smaller children use blue paint. The school is doing all the activities as part of the World Wildlife Fund's 2009 Earth...

U.S. court tells FDA to rethink Plan B contraceptive Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:06pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. court on Monday ordered the Food and Drug Administration to reconsider its decisions on the sale of the Plan B emergency contraceptive and ordered its producer to make the pills available to 17-year-olds without a prescription. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, in a 52-page ruling, said its order to make Plan B available to 17-year-olds under the same conditions it is currently available to older women must be complied with within 30 days....

RALEIGH -- Home-school groups and conservatives across the country are infuriated by a Wake County judge's declaration that he will make a North Raleigh mother stop teaching her children at home and send them to public schools. As part of a continuing divorce case, Wake District Court Judge Ned Mangum said last Friday that it would be in the "best interests" of Venessa Mills' three children to go to public school this fall. Mangum said at the hearing that while the children are "thriving," they need to be exposed to the "real world." "It will do them a great benefit...