Free Republic

MONTERREY, Mexico – The director of this country’s largest immigrant shelter worked himself into a peak of outrage recalling the largesse of a United Nations program that, unknown to most Americans, has been showering millions of dollars in cash to help foreign nationals on their way to cross the U.S. southern border. Casa INDI shelter director Jose Jaime Salina Flores was recounting the recent case of an immigrant mother staying with three daughters at his facility who demanded that Flores help arrange a UN raise above the 6,000 pesos a month the UN already gave her on a debit card...

ARLINGTON, VA, May 28, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- Six years of undercover videos and phone calls show that Planned Parenthood engages in illegal and unethical behavior, according to the pro-life group Live Action's newest video and website project. Launched earlier today, Live Action's "Planned Parenthood EXPOSED" project calls upon Congress to stop taxpayer funding of the abortion giant. The organization has penned a letter to all members of Congress insisting that Planned Parenthood "should not receive even a cent of American taxpayers' income."

The financial stranglehold on Pacifica is taking down Free Speech Radio News, a progressive news show that relied on the five-station network for the bulk of its operating costs. The show, airing weekdays on 100 stations, will close production Sept. 27 and lay off its staff, a core of part-timers and an international network of nearly 100 stringers. Owed nearly $200,000 in back payments by the California-based Pacifica Foundation, FSRN’s board of directors decided Sept. 13 to shutter the program, holding out hope that FSRN could be revived under a different production model. “Our fortunes have always been closely linked...

Part of Gov. Chris Christie’s belt-tightening plan for New Jersey was the termination of $7.5 million in public funding for Planned Parenthood clinics in the state, a decision Democrats in the legislature countermanded with a bill that cleared the Senate with a 30-10 vote — sufficient to override a veto. But when that veto came and the Democrats scheduled an override vote, Republicans in the legislature backed down, and the measure failed 23-17.

... Human embryonic stem cell research is the $10,000 toilet seat of the 21st century. Years ago, science created a cell that appears to be, in the words of an MIT study published last month, "virtually identical" to an embryonic stem cell but is cheaper, promises better compatibility to patients and kills no embryos. These new induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) "do all the things embryonic stem cells do," explains the father of human embryonic stem cells James Thomson. Harvard's David Scadden agrees that iPSC technology "is absolutely changing the field." IPSCs "perhaps even eliminate the need for human embryos...

The economic stimulus package Congress passed last month includes $50 million in emergency funding for the National Endowment for the Arts — money some legislators didn't think belonged in the bill. Doubters and supporters both, though, should find food for thought in a timely new show at the Smithsonian American Art Museum called "1934: A New Deal For Artists." The show looks at the first time American artists — thousands of them — got direct government support. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, like today's lawmakers, caught some flak for wanting to include artists in his relief program. He justified his decision,...

Not profitable radioBy J.J. Jacksonweb posted January 19, 2009So it finally has come down to the brass tacks; the government asking itself for a bailout.  There is nowhere else to run.  There is nowhere else to hide.  We are stuck staring the truth straight in the face as the news is that National Public Radio, a government sponsored entity which does not make enough money to stay afloat without millions of tax payer dollars, is asking for a bailout (i.e. more taxpayer money) in order to fund all sorts of pet projects and big dreams.  PBS is also sticking their...

It’s a familiar dance: for eight straight years, the Bush administration has proposed deep cuts in federal funds for public broadcasting, and seven times so far, Congress has restored them. But the magnitude of the proposed cuts put forth this week — Patricia Harrison, president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, called them “draconian” — still sent public broadcasters scrambling. click link for full story

Whither Mother Corp? Lorne Gunter, National Post Published: Friday, February 16, 2007 There are probably more Canadians who complain about CBC television than actually watch it. The public network, which was already in ratings free fall before its month-long 2005 staff lockout, has seen its viewership numbers drop even faster since. On a typical evening, under 700,000 Canadians tune into the Ceeb for any part of prime time, down from about 900,000 prelockout and over 1.5 million a decade ago. Ratings both for original CBC programming and programs bought from abroad are pathetic. In 2005, when the network's mini-series...

A group of union advocates and employees had a message Wednesday for (the Tucson) City Council: "buddy-punching" of timecards is OK, and city employees recently disciplined for it were wronged.

For some time now I have wanted to tell you about James Stengel. And now I will since he has just been named Managing Editor of “Time” magazine. I interviewed Stengel when he was still the boss at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Here’s a slightly edited version of that interview: JL: Why don’t you begin by telling us a little bit about yourself. RS: Well, I am now president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, this fabulous institution on Independence Mall in Philadelphia. I came directly here from TIME magazine, where I was the national editor in...

Mary Cheney was just on NPR's Diane Rehm Show, promoting her new book "Now It's My Turn". She spanked Diane and the standard lib callers pretty darned good. Sounded like they just can't possibly fathom a conservative Republican gay person. She set them straight about her parent's investments going into a nonrevocable trust that goes to charity, about the 2004 election being about trust and national security and not about Republican misrepresentation, about her being a person speaking her own mind and not a glbt shrill, and other good stuff. She told a number of callers they were just wrong...

Guilt by Association: The NPR-FOX Connection NPR.org, May 15, 2006 · Nothing riles some public-radio listeners like NPR journalists appearing on FOX News television programs. Two prominent NPR correspondents, Mara Liasson and Juan Williams are regular panelists on FOX. What bothers those NPR listeners who complain to me is that the cable television network openly espouses conservative opinions as expressed by outspoken hosts. The FOX slogan, "fair and balanced" is deemed by many of the complainants as ironic, to say the least. That's because NPR makes every effort to remain nonpartisan, and FOX, it appears, does not. (no bias here,...

As Congress finishes work on the federal budget for the 2006 fiscal year, attempts to hold down spending on programs dealing with sexual health have drawn criticism from both sides of the political aisle. But while activists are complaining that their programs will not receive sufficient money for the coming year, funding for "comprehensive sex education" supported by liberals still outpaces "abstinence education" backed by conservatives by a margin of 12 to 1.

Virginia Politicians and Highway Porkby Jacob G. Hornberger, August 17, 2005 For a good example of the moral perversity of the budget-busting, pork-barrel highway bill, consider what recently happened in Bristol, Virginia. While on his annual statewide “listening tour” across the state, Republican Sen. George Allen proudly told Bristol voters that their local officials were going to receive even more money from Congress than they had requested for the renovation of the local train station. Rep. Rick Boucher, a Democrat, had requested only $400,000 for the project. Not to be outdone, Sen. John Warner, a Republican, had requested $1 million...

"Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?" asked Joseph Welch in his famous confrontation with the pathologically cruel Joe McCarthy. "Have you left no sense of decency?" More than a half-century later, I would ask the same question of Florida's governor, Jeb Bush. In an abuse of power that has been widely denounced, and has even appalled many of his own supporters in the Republican Party, Governor Bush has tried to keep the Terri Schiavo circus alive by sending state prosecutors on a witch hunt against her husband, Michael. The state attorney who has been pushed by...

It's late morning on a brisk day in downtown Boston, and Angelo R. Buonopane, the state's director of the Department of Labor, steps out of his office building. He looks right, he looks left, in front of him, and behind him. Then Buonopane starts strolling up Washington Street, returning to work 40 minutes later with a shopping bag from one of his favorite haunts, Filene's Basement. An hour later, Buonopane emerges from his office again, and this time heads for a two- hour, 12-minute lunch at his North End home. Buonopane returns to the office, for 37 minutes, then heads...

Confessions of a public radio free rider By FERGUS CULLEN IT’S PLEDGE week on New Hampshire Public Radio — sort of like sweeps week on the networks, but showing less leg — and I have two confessions to make. I’m a conservative who listens to public radio. That’s bad enough. Second, I’m what economists call a free rider, someone who enjoys the benefits of a good without paying for it. That makes me a horrible person. I feel guilty about this, but I’m not alone. According to Mark Handley, NHPR’s president and general manager, about 150,000 Granite Staters listen to...

A Thank You to Public Radio Engineers by Paul McLaneEditorRadio World Huzzah, public radio engineers. Let's take a moment to acknowledge something that has, in fact, been true for some time: Technical innovation in U.S. radio broadcasting is being led by public radio. Need proof? Tomorrow Radio - While commercial radio at large was still trying to get up the nerve to stick its toe in the digital waters, public radio was investing in research aimed at exploiting that technology beyond discussions of improved audio quality. NPR announced its Tomorrow Radio initiative more than two years ago, in partnership with...

An open letter to Jeff Devorkian: In you 3/1/05 ombudsman column about Romania and NPR you said…  NPR, on the other hand is a private, not-for-profit corporation. It receives some money indirectly, from the U.S. Congress through federally funded agencies such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In total, that amounts to about 1 percent of its annual budget. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?columnId=2781901 Say what? Are you suggesting NPR only gets a pittance of tax dollars? Perhaps it’s an example of the "'Innumerates' Among Us". May I suggest you are being disingenuous. As the "listener’s representative" you could do a much better job...