Free Republic

Parents who read their kids stories about happy, human-like animals like Franklin the Turtle or Arthur at bedtime are exposing their kids to racism, materialism, homophobia and patriarchal norms, according to a paper presented at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

One bonus for Republicans in the trifecta of pseudo-scandals ensnaring the Obama White House this month is that it distracted the party from its looming civil war. It’s even possible that the Senate immigration reform got as far as it did partly because wingnut radio talkers and Tea Party xenophobes were consumed by their hatred of Obama, and paying less attention to GOP immigration sellouts. But with the easing of scandal fever on the Potomac, Republicans are back to fighting one another, and the week-long Senate clash between freshman Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. John McCain over the budget is...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that Republicans are using scandals coming out of the White House to undermine President Barack Obama out of "fear," because he is “such a great president.”

Mike Lupica, the ESPN host and regular panelist on the network's Sunday "The Sports Reporters" program, wrote in a column that former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin addressed "mean," "dumb," "angry," and phony patriots at the NRA convention last Friday in Houston, Texas. In a New York Daily News column published late Sunday evening, Lupica also called NRA attendees the "craziest and creepiest gun lovers on the planet" who are also "phonies" who think "they're patriots and brave defenders of the Second Amendment." Outraged that Palin rightfully called out those like Lupica who have shamelessly tried to exploit senseless tragedies like...

A Massachusetts state senator says the federal government should intervene in the quest to find a final resting place for the elder Boston Marathon bomber. State Sen. Harriet L. Chandler, D-Worcester, said Uncle Sam needs to alleviate a Wochester funeral home’s onerous burden of having accepted Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s corpse on Friday after it was released by the state medical examiner.

What a beautiful racket the left has going. Those of us who dare not be liberal are literally paying, through our tax dollars, for NPR to smear us like this: Partial transcript: "The thinking, as we have been reporting, is that this is a domestic, extremist attack and officials are leaning that way largely because of the timing of the attack. April is a big month for anti-government and right-wing individuals. There's the Columbine anniversary, there's Hitler's birthday, there's the Oklahoma City bombing, the assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco."

On CNN, Peter Bergen stated that the terrorist bombings in Boston was "likely right-wing" extremists. Here's the quote: "One of the things that I'd be looking at, once the device, if it is a device, is found, what kind of explosives were used. If it, for instance, if it was hydrogen peroxide, sort of a signature of al Qaeda. If it was more conventional explosives, which are much harder to get hold of now, it might be some other kind of right wing extremists... "We've also seen other extremist groups, right wing groups, attacking, for instance, trying to attack the...

Alternate title: Self-realization can take years in coming. One might have thought Democrats understood this after the 2010 midterms, when Barack Obama could barely be bothered to lend his organizational might to protect the House majority he wound up losing in spectacular fashion. Instead, Democrats now shut out of Obama’s Organizing for America once again feel like Charlie Brown after Lucy yanks away the football, according to McClatchy: President Barack Obama’s decision to launch his own political organization has some Democrats wondering: Is he just in it for himself?Obama’s new group, Organizing for Action, will focus on his policy agenda...

March 20, 2013 New York Governor Favors Easing Newly Passed Gun Law By THOMAS KAPLAN and DANNY HAKIM Excerpt... The gun-control law, approved in January, banned the sale of magazines that hold more than seven rounds of ammunition. But, Mr. Cuomo said Wednesday, seven-round magazines are not widely manufactured. And, although the new gun law provided an exemption for the use of 10-round magazines at firing ranges and competitions, it did not provide a legal way for gun owners to purchase such magazines. As a result, he said, he and legislative leaders were negotiating language that would continue to allow...

As lawmakers cast around for ways to curb gun-related violence, some are hoping the insurance market might offer incentives. A bill filed Friday in Massachusetts would require gun owners to purchase liability insurance in the event that a firearm is used to injure. The insurance policies would give those injured by a weapon a legal recourse, backers of the bill say, but they also would create financial incentives that could reduce accidents and fatalities. Gun owners, for example, might see lower insurance rates if they agreed to take firearms training courses and properly stored their weapons. "Insurance companies were able...

Michael Moore recently said that the only reason white people are buying a bunch of guns in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting is that they’re fearful. Afraid of black people specifically. He said, “Calm down, white people, and put away your guns.” So if we’re all buying guns and ammo out of fear of the black man, what emotion would cause this idiocy: a 6-year-old boy was suspended from school for making his hand in the shape of a gun and pretend shooting it, saying, “Pow,” as it was pointed at a fellow student. Were school officials actually...

Thousands of President Obama supporters turned out in in Madison, Wisc., for a rally following Wednesday night’s debate in Denver. The mood was somber, to say the least, as they waited to enter Bascom Mall at the University of Wisconsin Thursday afternoon. University of Wisconsin students and fellow Wisconsinites had mixed reviews on the president's performance. I talked to supporters of the president who had watched the debate, asking how they thought the president did. One after the other said they were left unimpressed and “not inspired,” seemingly depressed and lethargic in their continuing support of the president. More than...

If ever there were an issue that ought to unite Democrats and Republicans, it should be the nation’s burgeoning student debt crisis. No elected official, regardless of ideology, should be in favor of burdening our young people with crushing debt simply because they followed their dream of attaining a college degree. During a recent conference call between President Obama and higher education officials, students and political leaders, we were struck by the urgency in the president’s voice. He clearly understands that student debt is more than a “manufactured crisis,” as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky described it. It...

War On Words: NYC Dept. Of Education Wants 50 ‘Forbidden’ Words Banned From Standardized Tests 'Dinosaur,' 'Birthday,' 'Halloween,' 'Poverty,' 'Divorce' Among Those Suggested March 26, 2012 7:04 PM The New York City Department of Education is waging a war on words of sorts, and is seeking to have words they deem upsetting removed from standardized tests. Words that suggest wealth are excluded because they could make kids jealous. “Poverty” is also on the forbidden list. That’s something Sy Fliegal with the Center for Educational Innovation calls ridiculous There are banned words currently in school districts nationwide. Walcott said New York...

Massachusetts Principal Takes Aim at Fall Holidays, Says They're Insensitive Published October 15, 2011 | FoxNews.com An elementary school principal in Massachusetts has banned fall holidays, saying they’re insensitive, MyFoxBoston reported Friday. Somerville principal: Fall holidays are insensitive: MyFoxBOSTON.com Anne Foley, the principal at Kennedy School in Somerville, Mass., sent an email to teachers warning them about celebrating Thanksgiving, the Boston Herald reported. "When we were young we might have been able to claim ignorance of the atrocities that Christopher Columbus committed against the indigenous peoples," Kennedy School Principal Anne Foley wrote. "We can no longer do so. For many...

"I understand why extending unemployment insurance provides relief to people who need it, but how does that create jobs," Wall Street Journal's Laura Meckler asked Jay Carney at Wednesday's WH briefing. Carney responded: "Oh, uh, it is by, uh, I would expect a reporter from the Wall Street Journal would know this as part of the entrance exam." "There are few other ways that can directly put money into the economy than applying unemployment insurance," Carney said. Carney answers the question: "It is one of the most direct ways to infuse money directly into the economy because people who are...

Nobody could be more servile to the interests of the wealthy than the Tea Party Republicans who insist they are championing everyday Americans. Vice President Biden was wrong to call them terrorists. They are servants, toadies of the most reckless and grasping of the rich. Even the socially responsible rich think the Tea Party stance is nuts. Mayor Bloomberg has noted that there was simply "no way" to bring the deficit into line without raising revenue. In their blind resistance to simple reality, the nuttier Republicans caused such a mess in Washington that investors the world over felt added cause...

Tea Party’s War on America By JOE NOCERA You know what they say: Never negotiate with terrorists. It only encourages them. These last few months, much of the country has watched in horror as the Tea Party Republicans have waged jihad on the American people. Their intransigent demands for deep spending cuts, coupled with their almost gleeful willingness to destroy one of America’s most invaluable assets, its full faith and credit, were incredibly irresponsible. But they didn’t care. Their goal, they believed, was worth blowing up the country for, if that’s what it took. Like ideologues everywhere, they scorned compromise....

Forget the Grand Old Party. Today's maddening, intransigent GOP is a Gang of Purists This was the week when the grand bargain on the debt ceiling all but died, when Republicans opted to continue impaling themselves on the hook of the Paul Ryan plan — because they really do want to voucherize and destroy Medicare.... Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who may care about the country but surely understands political strategy, then offered another path out of the box canyon into which Republicans have backed themselves — where they face the prospect of being blamed for collapsing the full faith...

San Francisco's big push for low-flow toilets has turned into a multimillion-dollar plumbing stink. Skimping on toilet water has resulted in more sludge backing up inside the sewer pipes, said Tyrone Jue, spokesman for the city Public Utilities Commission. That has created a rotten-egg stench near AT&T Park and elsewhere, especially during the dry summer months. The city has already spent $100 million over the past five years to upgrade its sewer system and sewage plants, in part to combat the odor problem. Now officials are stocking up on a $14 million, three-year supply of highly concentrated sodium hypochlorite -...