Free Republic

It has been thirty five years since that infamous U.S. Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade. With the stroke of a judicial pen, unelected Justices consigned an entire class of persons, children in the first home of the whole human race (their mothers womb), to the status of property. Like millions, I have prayed, marched and worked tirelessly to overturn this horrid decision and end the killing. As a human rights lawyer I went to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend pro-life protestors. I still try to join the thousands annually who travel to Washington, D.C. to pray and...

Thomas Hobson, an English stable owner in the 15th century, offered his customers two unappealing choices: either to take the least desirable horse or none at all. Six centuries later, we still refer to no-win (i.e., lose-lose) options as Hobson’s Choice. Welcome to the Hillary-Obama race! It simply boggles the mind that out of over-300-million American citizens, the best that the Democrat Party can offer its leftist followers is the choice between a pathologically lying socialist and a Marxist in liberal clothing. But looking at this near-empty glass in a rosier light, people who love America can be grateful that...

Emphasizing class size over teacher quality is a poor choice Matthew Ladner, Goldwater Institute Daily Email, April 21, 2008 Indiana Jones returns to the big screen this summer. In Indy's last movie, he was in pursuit of the Holy Grail. The ancient crusader guarding the Grail revealed that one could gain it only by drinking from the correct cup. The villain drank from the most ornate cup and suffered a horrible death. Quoth the crusader, "He chose, poorly." Indiana Jones chose the simplest cup. The knight noted approvingly, "He chose, wisely!" When it comes to education, we have chosen poorly....

I make a modest proposal to my readers. Join me in a new verbal effort in our fundamental human rights struggle. Let's now refer to those who support abortion as the “Wrong Choice Movement”.

‘Republicans for Choice’ Endorses McCain By Penny Starr CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer February 06, 2008 (CNSNews.com) - The Republicans for Choice Political Action Committee has endorsed John McCain (R-Ariz.), saying he is the best candidate now that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is out of the presidential race. The Republicans for Choice PAC supports Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, and also wants the Human Life Amendment removed from the plank of the Republican Party. Republicans for Choice founder and Chairwoman Ann E.W. Stone told Cybercast News Service that McCain's pro-life position wasn't an...

SAN FRANCISCO -- An Arizona anti-abortion group has a constitutional right to obtain specialty license plates with the message "Choose Life," a federal appeals court ruled today. The state's License Plate Commission violated the Arizona Life Coalition's freedom of speech when it turned down the "Choose Life" plates after approving less-controversial specialty plates for other nonprofit organizations, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Those groups included associations of police and firefighters and the Wildlife Conservation Council. The ruling is one of a series of court actions in similar disputes around the nation. Most courts have...

Over the past several days, the only real movement in South Carolina’s Republican Presidential Primary has been a four-point gain for Fred Thompson and a five-point decline for Mike Huckabee. The big winner from that trade-off is John McCain. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows McCain at 28%, Huckabee at 19%, Mitt Romney at 17%, and Fred Thompson at 16%. Rudy Giuliani and Ron Paul are tied with 5% support. Giuliani is betting his entire campaign on a strong showing in Florida, where he is now tied for the lead with three others....

Okay, I know he goes by the stage name, “Fred Thompson,” but don’t tell me that just as “Law and Order” comes back to the airwaves with new episodes, we just happen to see a deep rumbling baritone from a big guy sitting behind a desk, using a combination of homespun aphorisms and legal arguments to put some wet-behind-the-ears young feller in his place. I have to go back and check the transcript, but it appears that he just took Huckabee to school on the legal rules regarding captured al-Qaeda at Guanatanamo Bay. Over in the Corner, Rich described him...

"Will Thompson’s talk move voters in Iowa? Does his campaign have the money to get it on the air? Throughout the state? Or even in a few of the most important markets? Beats me. But we have here a serious man, making a serious case—and doing so in the context of a campaign that has otherwise descended into mere caterwauling. Even at this late hour, I wouldn’t count Fred out."

Key Undecided Iowa Conservatives Start Move Toward Thompson: Fred Thompson Receives the Endorsement of Iowa State Rep. Gary Worthan A late movement by Iowa conservatives toward the Fred Thompson campaign was spotlighted by today’s announcement that noted Iowa conservative leader, State Representative Gary Worthan, had endorsed the former Senator from Tennessee. Many Iowa conservatives have been undecided and Worthan’s endorsement was an important one for the Thompson campaign, which got a late start in the 2008 election process. “Gary Worthan was one of the key Iowa conservatives that had been undecided.” stated Bob Haus, Thompson’s Iowa Executive Director. “Gary’s endorsement...

George Will on Huckabee George Will on Mike Huckabee

It seems that we are still waiting for the central casting candidate. Republicans are unsure and Democrats are beginning to disbelieve the “inevitability” argument around Hillary Clinton. We are a society that loves to build them up to tear them down. First, Fred Thompson was a buzz, and then we were waiting and waiting and waiting for him to get into the race. When he got in, we started thinking that he looked tired or was slow. We said he had a great website, but where was the meat? Now he has put the most detailed and most conservative solutions...

United Families International fully recognizes the value of life during all stages and promotes the protection of human life from conception until natural death. Human life begins at fertilization, when the sperm and ovum meet to form a single cell and begin the human growth process. Reverence for life — including that of the unborn — is an essential part of the basis for peace in the world and goodwill among nations, and is part of the fabric of successful and happy families. Defenseless preborn children are full members of the human family and deserve legal protection. We oppose abortion...

Two cities in California are now considering unprecedented legislation that would ban smoking inside apartments and condos. We're talking private property and the right to legislate what goes on behind closed doors, in your own, private home. The City of Belmont, CA won initial approval last week to ban smoking in your home, if you live in an apartment or condo. The measure could trigger fines and actual eviction. The same measure is being considered in the city of Calabasas. In Bangor, Maine, a city councilman, oops, coulcilperson, Patricia Blanchette has submitted preliminary legislation to make Maine one of the...

All smokers have choices. Some are hard choices, like quitting. Some are no-brainers, like not blowing smoke in the face of a baby, or lighting up at a table where others are eating. As a long-time smoker, I have exercised choice. I have chosen, of my own free will, to allocate a portion of my budget to purchasing cigarettes. And despite increasing social pressure, I feel no guilt for not taking that money and buying instead something more socially acceptable like, say, carbon credits – or using it to contribute to some UN fund to cure poverty. Color me selfish....

About 159 years ago someone named Karl Marx sat down to put his dream to words; his dream of a communist state that was to become a worker's paradise. Somehow it didn't work out all that well, but it certainly wasn't for a lack of effort. Tens of millions of people died in Russia, China and elsewhere to show what an incredibly bad idea Marx had. It's ironic to me that the countries who suffered under the rule of Marx' worker's paradise have largely rejected so many of the tenants set forth in his Communist Manifesto, while the one country...

NARAL Pro-Choice America is starting its 2008 campaign Thursday night with a reception featuring senior officials from almost all of the Democratic presidential campaigns. The group has been preparing for this since the last cycle ended. Partly due to the results of polls conducted in 2006, the pro-abortion rights group is increasing its budget to between $8 million and $10 million from about $3 million and looking to expand the number of districts and races in which it plays next year. A pollster at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, Al Quinlan, said he became a “believer” in the group’s ability to...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently offered a preview of Democrats’ plans for No Child Left Behind reauthorization: “So different will this bill be from the original No Child Left Behind, we’re thinking of changing its name.” The House Education and Labor Committee recently released draft language of a new version of NCLB that begins to make good on the Speaker’s promise. Chairman George Miller’s (D., Calif.) committee draft plan hasn’t changed the law’s name (yet), but it does propose fundamental policy changes. The new plan eases up testing requirements, allows many public schools to escape real school-reform requirements, and further...

Most little girls play with dolls when they're young, miming the age-old role for women: marrying and building a family. And, for some, there is a stigma around women who don't want to have children. Old stories and fairy tales paint single women without children poorly -- as spinsters or witches. It seems odd that these stereotypes would continue to live today, suggests Madelyn Cain, author of "The Childless Revolution: What It Means To Be Childless Today." Making The Decision Despite the potential negative reaction from friends and families, many women, such as teacher Samantha Henderson, make the decision to...

Hey, I'm looking for some help. I'm trying to decide who I want to support this election now that my main guy, John McCain, seems to have little chance in gaining support. I'm stuck between three candidates, Mike Huckabee, Tom Tancredo, or Mitt Romney. I'm just wondering what the users of this great site have to say. I appreciate your time, ideas, comments, and help. Dane So Dak

Dad's Are Responsible to Not Only Provide, but Protect Their Children Contact: Phil Magnan, Director, Biblical Family Advocates, 619-962-0659 SAN DIEGO, August 6 /Christian Newswire/ -- There is little doubt for most that fathers should provide for their own children. But in spite of this common conviction, there is a great lack of fatherly care for the children that are brought into this world. The Holy Scriptures speak of the fact that those Christian men who do not provide for their own families are worse than those who do not know God. It is also commonly expected that men protect...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has put a key banking oversight agency under the stewardship of an administrator who, according to a bipartisan legislative investigation, helped arrange the misuse of millions of dollars of public funds and steered government contracts to friends. Michael A. Kelley, appointed commissioner of the Department of Financial Services by the governor in December, was a central figure in the scandal that ultimately drove former Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush from office in 2000. Kelley, who was Quackenbush's top deputy, was found unanimously by a bipartisan legislative panel to have helped the former insurance commissioner divert public...

The many liberals, Democratic presidential candidates, and African-American leaders assailing last week's Supreme Court decision disallowing the use of race alone to assign students to public schools are missing both the point and a very important public policy implication of the decision. All but the most muddle-headed who consider public schooling issues should realize that diversity, while possibly a worthy goal, must rate a distant second to the goal of actually providing a good education to America's youth...

WASHINGTON, May 31, 2007 – A lifelong love for the sea led Lt. j.g. Katie Hagen to the Navy, and now her service is taking her around the country to share her pride in serving the nation. Hagen is participating in the Defense Department’s “Why We Serve” public outreach program as one of eight servicemembers who travel across the nation to speak to community groups, ranging from veterans organizations to grade schools, about their personal stories of military service. Her success in the Navy seemed preordained. After sailing for nearly half her life, Hagen became a member of the...

If it were up to the children and their parents, there'd be no question that the District's five-year experiment with school vouchers would be renewed for an additional five years or more. That's the most emphatic finding of an independent evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program published last week. "The vast majority of families participating in this study are satisfied with the OSP in general, and their choice of new schools in particular," the report found. "Before . . . his grades were below average, and for the first time he made the honor roll . . . He...

CANCITA, Mexico - Since they joined their deported parents in Mexico, 7-year-old Adriana has stopped screaming "Papa!" in her sleep and 10-year-old Yadira's asthma has eased. Pedro, 15, doesn't break into tears anymore, and Adrian, 12, thinks of his new life as an adventure. For now, these American children are trying to ignore the wrenching decision they have to make by the end of summer: Stay with their parents in this bone-dry village where they bathe in a canal and use an outhouse, or return alone to some of America's best schools in Palo Alto, Calif. Tens of thousands of...

Have we hunted down every last Minnesota smoker? Can we relax our vigilance now that the Legislature has passed, and the governor has signed, a statewide smoking ban? Not yet. After all, those furtive little groups are still huddled outside office buildings, puffing that poison and interfering with our right to inhale unadulterated car fumes. And don't forget the ban's gaping loopholes. You can still smoke indoors in public places if, for example, you're involved in a theatrical production or in a psychiatric facility. But no, technically neither of those categories includes the State Capitol. Don't get me wrong, folks....

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision upholding the ban on partial birth abortion, proponents of abortion have reacted as if the sky were falling. Abortion proponents have grimly announced that a "womans right to choose" is in peril. Of course, they speak about the "right to choose" only in the abstract; they are careful not to identify the choice they have in view. The morality of any "choice" under consideration, however, cannot be divorced from the thing that is being chosen. Choices are not mere abstractions. They are concrete, and they have consequences. Let's not kid ourselves about...

The abortion debate brought home He and his wife have always been pro-choice; recently, they were forced to make the Choice. By Dan Neil May 6, 2007 MY WIFE AND I just had an abortion. Two, actually. We walked into a doctor's office in downtown Los Angeles with four thriving fetuses — two girls and two boys — and walked out an hour later with just the girls, whom we will name, if we're lucky enough to keep them, Rosalind and Vivian. Rosalind is my mother's name. We didn't want to. We didn't mean to. We didn't do anything wrong,...

Four and a half months into her pregnancy, Anna Chernocke could feel the first stirrings of life as she sat in the hospital waiting room. She placed her hand on her belly and started to talk to her baby, although the only thing she could say was "sorry". More.... Minutes away from having the abortion she thought she wanted, each second felt like a second closer to murder rather than the blessed relief she had imagined. Overwhelmed with guilt and fighting back tears, she was led by two nurses into the operating theatre. The doctor, a fatherly-looking man in his...

Judge Throws Out CSPI-Inspired Lawsuit May 4, 2007 On Wednesday the Center for the Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) received yet another legal smackdown from the judicial establishment, as Federal Judge James Robertson dismissed a CSPI-inspired lawsuit against KFC. Last year, CSPI's Dr. Arthur Hoyte sued the popular chicken chain for failing "to disclose the presence of trans fat in its food." Hoyte has feigned shock all along that KFC's deep-fried offerings are prepared in a popular frying oil. Ultimately, though, that stunning lack of common sense didn't figure in Judge Robertson's decision. As the judge sarcatically wrote: [I]t...

Justice Anthony Kennedy has not been a bastion of strict constructivist thinking, nor is has he compiled a pro-life or pro-family record on the court. So it comes as a pleasant surprise to find his name among the five justices who voted to uphold the ban on partial birth abortion. But an even bigger surprise is in store for those who actually read the Gonzales v. Carhart decision handed down on April 18. The opinion for the majority was written by none other than Justice Kennedy, who is by far the weakest link in an otherwise solid chain of pro-life...

Our Mission On 29 January 2007 the Centre for Civil Society launched its School Choice Campaign. It is a one-year campaign with concrete, measurable goals. We have given each child the right to education; we must make it meaningful by taking it a step further: The Right to education of Choice! Each child and the parent must be empowered so that they can truthfully say: My Right, My Choice! This is also your opportunity to join the education revolution. Put in your one year to assure quality education to the poor and secure their and India?s future. Log on to...

BOISE — Pregnant girls under the age of 18 would have to get permission from a parent or guardian to get an abortion in Idaho, under a bill approved by the state House on Friday. The bill provides an alternative for girls who don’t want to tell their parents: A judge could approve the procedure in cases of incest or abuse, a medical emergency or if a minor was mature enough to decide on her own. The measure marks the latest attempt by lawmakers to require parental consent for minors’ abortions, after courts declared previous such laws unconstitutional. It has...

Victory for School Choice! Arizona Court Dismisses Challenge to Corporate Tax Credit Program WEB RELEASE: March 7, 2007 CONTACT: Lisa Knepper: (703) 682-9320 Tim Keller: (480) 557-8300 Phoenix—Just two days after hearing oral arguments, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge today threw out a legal challenge to Arizona’s new corporate tax credit program. The Institute for Justice and its Arizona Chapter defended the program on behalf of families of modest means who are eligible for private school scholarships thanks to the program. “This is a huge victory for Arizona schoolchildren and provides legal momentum for all of the state’s school...

Group has faith in womenÂ’s choice By ANNIE NELSON of the TribuneÂ’s staff Published Saturday, March 3, 2007 Photo courtesy of Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice From left, United Church of Christ ministers Robert Patterson and Janice Edwards Barnes stand next to United Methodist minister Wally Shearburn in front of a St. Louis Planned Parenthood office. Each year on the Saturday closest to the Roe v. Wade Jan. 22 anniversary, clergy from Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice rally in front of the clinic to support its staff, an organizer said. Local and state clergy involved in the Missouri...

BALTIMORE - Kudos to Del. Nancy Stocksdale for standing up for some of the most disadvantaged in the state — foster children. The Republican from Carroll County, a former teacher, recently filed legislation in the General Assembly to make scholarships available for foster children in kindergarten through high school. They deserve them. Everything else in their lives works against them. Shuttled from home to home, the 11,000 foster children in the state — 7,000 in Baltimore City — lack stability in every corner of their lives. Many move into the system from sexually and physically abusive homes where surviving trumps...

"You're evil." I never thought I'd hear these words coming from my daughter's mouth but we were suddenly in a heated discussion. My 13-year-old had to give a persuasive speech in school on a controversial subject. She chose abortion. This wasn't a topic I had planned to talk to my daughter about for many years but she was asking me some very pointed questions that I couldn't avoid. I have always been pro-choice. Though abortions have been legal most of my lifetime, I have heard the horror stories about the drastic measures desperate women would take when abortions were not...

The release of the U.S. Census Bureau's mid-decade look at the population late last year sparked the usual outpouring of misinformed reporting on poverty. The familiar story line charged that our economic system isn't working well. The evidence? The poor are getting poorer, as one headline had it, and poverty rates remained unchanged, as another declared. In an editorial headlined "Downward Mobility," the New York Times explained that the Bush agenda, emphasizing tax cuts and economic growth, wasn't adequate for helping the poor, who need a wide range of government interventions, from a higher minimum wage and a more progressive...

HARRISBURG - For 10 years, Sen. Stewart J. Greenleaf has fought for legislation to make Pennsylvania smoke-free. Yesterday, just two weeks into a new session, his smoking-ban bill vaulted out of committee, carried by a tide of antismoking sentiment. "Public opinion," Greenleaf (R., Montgomery) said when asked what had cleared the way. "Support for it has increased." Add the fact that the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association - which had long objected to smoking bans - signed on last year, saying it was mindful rising health concerns for customers and employees. Greenleaf said support for smoking bans was running between 65 percent...

Utah House passes universal school choice -- Milton Friedman’s vision is one step closer to victory INDIANAPOLIS—Today, the Utah House passed, by a vote of 38 to 37, what could become the nation’s first ever universal school voucher program. The legislation, House Bill 148, would allow every family in the state to have a choice in their child’s education and would become the first program to achieve Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman’s vision for universal school choice. “ Utah is getting to the core of what education is all about — learning should be tailored to each student,” said Elisa...

Coming from Japan, the abundance of choice offered in America has always frustrated me, not because I don’t like having choices, but because many of them are meaningless for me. For instance, a typical diner in New York offers hundreds of items on the menu, but none of them are particularly good. Wouldn’t it make more sense to offer a limited number of items, but make them really well? Unfortunately the answer appears to be no. In this country where the concept of individualism is almost sacred, having choice is unequivocally considered as a good thing. No one even questions...

Make the right choice!

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2006 -- President Bush said today he welcomes closer coordination with Iraq’s regional neighbors to promote peace there, but draws the line when it comes to working with countries like Syria and Iran unless they stop supporting terrorism or defying U.N. resolutions regarding nuclear weapons. Bush, speaking at a White House news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, noted the Iraq Study Group’s assertion that Middle Eastern countries have an important responsibility to help Iraq succeed. The president called the suggestion to broaden the compact beyond economic measures “an interesting idea.” But Bush expressed doubt...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A team of British doctors has released the results of a new study showing that women who have an abortion run a higher risk of having a miscarriage in a subsequent pregnancy. The study also showed that women using in-vitro fertilization have higher miscarriage risks as well. The doctors, affiliated with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the reasons behind the increased miscarriage risk were vague. However, they confirmed that women who had had a previous abortion experienced a 60 percent higher risk of having a miscarriage in another pregnancy. Women using the...

The death last week of Milton Friedman, "the grandmaster of free-market economic theory," as The New York Times accurately labeled him, ended a great life. But there was another Milton Friedman many obituary writers overlooked, or mentioned only in passing, that may offer him an even greater legacy than his economic theories about limited government. In the last 10 years of his 94-year life, Friedman and his wife, Rose, dedicated themselves to school choice. They viewed school choice as a companion to economic freedom. Through the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation they enthusiastically promoted school choice as a means...

Milton Friedman, perhaps the greatest economist of the 20th century, died Thursday at 94. Over his long life, he had the satisfaction of seeing the world turn in his direction. Friedman was born in New York in 1912, at the end of a long period of peace and prosperity. The first half of his life witnessed a series of catastrophic setbacks to that cause: World War I, the Bolshevik coup d'etat in Russia, the rise of fascism and national socialism, World War II, communist domination of half the world. Happily, Friedman's parents had left Eastern Europe, avoiding the cataclysms there....

...American women should be careful what they wish for. Over the next two years, they will witness some of the consequences of having liberals in charge, as Democrats push for bigger government, higher taxes, and more regulation—none of which benefit women. Consider taxes. Democrats have derided the Bush tax cuts as solely rewarding the rich. Yet when the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire, middle class families will learn how much these tax laws have benefited them. In four years, the child tax credits will be cut in half, the marriage penalty will return, and the bottom income tax...

One of the country's leading hospitals is throwing aborted babies into the same incinerator used for rubbish to save only £18.50 each time, it has emerged. Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge, said it was no longer able to afford the dignified disposal at a local crematorium of foetuses from unwanted pregnancies. Instead, they are being burnt in the hospital's main incinerator - which is normally used for rubbish and clinical waste. The revelation sparked anger and distress among church leaders and pro-life groups, as well as women whose pregnancies were terminated at the hospital. Addenbrooke's adopts a different policy for unborn...

State officials have asked a judge to throw out a lawsuit seek ing private school vouchers for families in low-performing school districts, arguing it would be an unconstitutional use of power. ... Led by the Crawford family of three boys who attend Malcolm X. Shabazz High School in Newark, the class-action suit filed in state Superior Court in July claims that an estimated 60,000 students in 96 "failing" schools have seen their constitutional rights violated and are entitled to attend successful schools of their choice, private or public. The suit is backed by the state's leading voucher advocates, including the...