Free Republic

Bodyguards, not altar boys, flank pro-marriage cleric Archbishop receives death threats, bullet in mail from 'Red Brigade' for opposing same-sex unions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: May 6, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2007 WorldNetDaily.com Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco no longer celebrates Mass in the cathedral of Genoa, Italy, with assistance from altar boys or deacons – not since the death threats began after he spoke out against government plans to legalize same-sex unions. Bagnasco, recently appointed head of Italy's Conference of Bishops, stirred controversy last month when the group issued a statement directed at Catholic lawmakers, reminding them of their moral obligation to...

"I am speaking the Truth to break the silence. Silence isn't freedom. It's a constraint. Truth tolerates open discussion, because the Truth emerges when healthy discourse is allowed. By proclaiming the Truth in love, hurts will be halted, hearts will be healed, and lives will be saved." "Christian students should be allowed to express their viewpoint just like any other student," said Mike Johnson, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund. "The Day of Truth provides an opportunity for Christian students to respectfully present a different viewpoint than students participating in the Day of Silence. Allowing the communication of...

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday he considers homosexuality to be immoral and the military should not condone it by allowing gay personnel to serve openly, the Chicago Tribune reported. Marine Gen. Peter Pace likened homosexuality to adultery, which he said was also immoral, the newspaper reported on its Web site. "I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way," Pace told the newspaper in a wide-ranging interview. Pace, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and a 1967 graduate of...

-27-2007 Former ACLU Official Charged With Child-Porn Possession The former president of the Virginia American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography, ABC News reported. A criminal complaint against Charles Rust-Tierney said federal investigators found evidence of multiple subscriptions to child-porn sites on his computer. In addition, court papers noted that confiscated CD-ROMs contained graphic images of rape against prepubescent girls. Rust-Tierney opposed restrictions on Internet access in Virginia public libraries, arguing that people should be trusted to act responsibly. "The default should be maximum, unrestricted access to the valuable resources of the...

"The Sunday after General Convention I returned to my home parish for Gay Pride Sunday and participated in a Disco Mass for which gays and lesbians turned out in force. The opening hymn was a beautiful jazz rendition of 'Over the Rainbow.' Musical offerings came from gay men in sequined tank tops and from the Director of Music who was ushered into the service singing a disco number complete with go-go girls. The queen of St. Mark’s appeared in full drag to deliver the homily and the closing hymn was, Sister Sledge’s 'We Are Family.'" - Nell Braxton Gibson, Coordinator...

Civil Unions Not Enough for New Jersey Gays by Pete Winn, associate editor Activists call for marriage. On the day New Jersey made civil unions legal, homosexual activists made clear what they really want is nothing short of "marriage." Garden State Equality Chairman Steven Goldstein announced a campaign to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples within two years. "Civil unions are not marriage," he told the New York Daily News. "Marriage is the only currency of commitment the world understands." Len Deo, president of the New Jersey Family Policy Council, said gay activists are not satisfied with "just getting benefits."...

Last week I focused on how high school students are being radicalized against "hate" and in favor of "diversity." This radicalism ends up on college campuses like the one I attended nearly 30 years ago. Angry students, often led by the African Studies Department, would allege racism. People, who would have done well wearing brownshirts in Germany around 1930, would harangue about injustices, real or in most cases, very much imagined. I remember my "Religion and Politics" class being invaded by African Studies students in who were supposedly opposing the insult of Egyptians (an African people by the way) by...

The Junior Scholastic "news magazine" that is written for elementary students and used in thousands of public schools across the United States has published an article promoting "madrassa" school life for American children who are Muslims, much to the outrage of some parents. "Remember way back in grade school and getting Junior Scholastic magazine in school? Well here is an example of what JS has devolved into. Force-feeding the barbaric propaganda of Islamic madrassas down the throats of my 7th and 4th graders. Disgusting," a father wrote WND about the issue, published in November. Scholastic spokeswoman Jennifer Slackman told WND...

It started out as a who's who of Twin Cities law firms joining forces to lure minority attorneys to Minnesota. But the Twin Cities Diversity in Practice group set off a tempest when it excluded a firm that handled a pair of landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases challenging affirmative action. The group's leaders said letting the Minneapolis law firm of Maslon, Edelman, Borman & Brand join the effort would hamper its mission: to make the bar more racially diverse. "Would this law firm participating in our effort help or hinder us to do what we are trying to do?" said...

<p>FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ON NOT CAPTURING BIN LADEN: 'At least I tried. That's the difference between me and some, including all the right wingers. They ridicule me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed'...</p>

Animal bordellos draw Norwegians Denmark's animal bordellos reportedly draw Norwegian clients, but both countries have loopholes that make such establishments legal. Here a Danish animal owner offers his horse to a Danish journalist claiming to be interested in animal sex. Related stories: Former cop busted in pig pen - Neither Denmark nor Norway has a prohibition on sex with animals, as long as the animals do not suffer. On the Internet Danish animal owners advertise openly that they offer sex with animals, without intervention from police or other authorities, Danish newspaper 24timer reports. In correspondence with the animal owners, the...

James Surowiecki's excellent book The Wisdom of Crowds explores, among other things, the value of cognitive diversity. A team will benefit from having people who think differently, have different backgrounds an opinions. While this is obvious, the extent to which it is so is perhaps not. Groups of people who are similar will reinforce each other and produce extreme, and badly wrong, ideas. Groups of people who are different can often be better than even the best individuals within them. For example, if you ask a group of people to estimate the weight of a cow or the number of...

Abstinence should definitely be encouraged in the Wisconsin Legislature. All of us would be better off if state politicians abstained from passing laws about things they know nothing about. Republican legislators are about to pass a law requiring schools in the state to teach teenagers that sexual abstinence until marriage is the "preferred" behavior in Wisconsin. Legislators actually believe they have a right to declare certain sexual activities - or, in this case, no sexual activity - the official behavior of our state much the same way they designate various species of wildlife the official state bird or the official...

In city halls and public parks across the country, stories-high evergreens are being erected and decked with glowing lights and sparkling ornaments. They look - and smell - like Christmas trees. But not so fast. In places as varied as Chicago, Reno and Prairie Village, Kan., they're "holiday" trees. In other spots, such as Atlanta, they have no name at all. This year, the tree-name game has sparked a backlash, with some Americans crying humbug and Christian groups threatening lawsuits over what they say is religious discrimination. Perhaps the most heated debate is brewing in Boston. The city's Parks and...

On Sunday morning, approximately 70 people met in Elmwood Park to be part of the first gay pride march in Roanoke. By Courtney Cutright 981-3340 The Roanoke Times In 1990, Sam Garrison, a Roanoke lawyer and gay rights activist, helped organize the first Pride in the Park event, a picnic coordinated by about a dozen people, a low-key event. Now 16 years later, the colorful gay and lesbian festival has grown to attract a crowd of approximately 2,500 people, event director Charles Richards said. On Sunday, men and women of all ages, families, children and dogs congregated in Elmwood Park...

Yes, it's their 16th annual "festival," but "SWEET SIXTEEN Cruisin' for a Kiss" (see the website) is just a little too obvious of an in-your-face double entendre. May I point out that in Virginia, sixteen year olds are minors, i.e., contributing to the delinquency of a minor, statutory rape, etc. That's nothing to be proud about! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ September means Pride! RoanokePride, Inc. is the guiding force behind the month-long series of activities known collectively as Pride. The centerpiece of our Pride celebration is the Pride-in-the-Park festival. Since it's inception in 1989, this gathering is the largest annual gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender event in...

PARK CITY, Utah An 11-year-old boy spreads his semen over school lockers and repeats his father's filthy epithets when he blows a shot at tennis; a 16-year-old girl hangs her blood-stained sheet on the clothes line to let her father know she's lost her virginity; a 6- or 7-year-old boy proposes an exchange of bodily fluids in an Internet dialogue that might have given the characters in "Closer" pause; a 15-year-old stud becomes the heartthrob of a community's older women; a 14-year-old girl drugs and binds a man twice her age with the intention of castrating him. These are just...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

To hear homosexual agitators tell it, same-sex "marriage" is no threat to the institution that civilized humans have reserved for one man and one woman for thousands of years. They scoff at the notion that vaporizing traditional marriage will break down barriers prohibiting unions involving multiple partners, close relatives or other species. But the facts say otherwise. More than a decade ago, homosexual marriage was legalized in Scandinavia and now dogs are routinely sodomized in Sweden to the point where they need medical treatment. Now the same court that conjured up a same-sex marriage right in Massachusetts has ruled that...

Many University of Nebraska-Lincoln English students got a break from Shakespeare, Faulkner and Sandoz Thursday. Instead, they filed in and out of the day's special classroom, Andrews Hall's second-floor library, which was festooned with rainbow-colored streamers and a gay pride flag. Their instructors included the Nebraska American Civil Liberties Union, a campus gay-rights group and various UNLprofessors. The assignment was simple:Think about gay rights on UNL's campus. The GLBT Teach-In is designed to educate students and professors about hate crime legislation, same-sex marriage, gay adoption and discrimination by sexual orientation, said Joy Arbor, an English teaching assistant and Teach-In organizer....