Free Republic

The taxpayer funded abortion factory Planned Parenthood making millions in profits by preying on women, specifically minorities and teenagers, seems to think a woman seeing her baby before making the ultimate decision to end her pregnancy is an "abhorrent" standard. The classification comes after a federal appeals court upheld a law that requires doctors to give women considering an abortion an ultrasound and full information before performing the procedure. Writing for the court, Chief Judge Edith Jones was frank about the other side’s failure “to demonstrate constitutional flaws with the law,” which requires women to have a sonogram 24 hours...

We have heard of the horrors imposed on the people of China—women who have been forced to have abortions due to China’s demented and barbaric “one-child policy.” Due to that sick mandate, enacted in the late 1970s, a disproportionately large male population has resulted, because Chinese parents have selectively aborted baby girls in the hopes of having a son instead. Back in 2004, China banned sex-selection abortions, and according to current legislation pending in the U.S. House of Representatives, China is enforcing the ban. India and the United Kingdom have also banned sex and race-based abortions, and the United Nations...

Since this is Respect Life Sunday, and the beginning of Respect Life month, I wanted to talk about one woman who did respect life – and her choice has made a difference in the life of virtually every person in this church. Her name is Joanne Schiebel. In 1954, she was a young unmarried college student who discovered that she was pregnant. In the 1950s, her options were limited. She could have had an abortion – but the procedure was both dangerous and illegal. She could have gotten married, but she wasn’t ready and didn’t want to interrupt her education....

According to news reports, a group of public school superintendents from Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties calling themselves the Tri-County Alliance for Public Education have sent a letter to Gov. Rick Snyder in which they claim: “No quantitative data exists that shows parental choice improves student learning.” This came as a response to proposed legislation that would remove a 1996 cap of 150 on the number of charter public schools that can be authorized by state universities. School employee unions and other conventional public school special interests have made similar claims, all of which have one thing in common: They...

Before the creation of charter public schools in 1994, mere geography determined the education of Michigan’s public school pupils. Much like buying boots in the old Soviet Empire, parental choice was limited to accepting what the bureaucrats in the local education monopoly offered, or fleeing with the family across the border to another district (if you could afford it). Even today, a majority of charters have a wait list, and some must conduct lotteries to determine which parents get a choice over who teaches their kids. For last school year, one such lottery was used because a district had just...

In an astonishing column published in the winger-left publication, "The Atlantic," openly "queer woman" (her words) Lindsay Miller says flatly, "In direct opposition to both the mainstream gay movement and Lady Gaga, I would like to state for the record that I was not born this way." Tellingly, she argues that saying people are "born this way" is a form of condescension, and she resents it mightily. "I get frustrated with the veiled condescension of straight people who believe that queers 'can't help it,' and thus should be treated with tolerance and pity." I've got news for Ms. Miller —...

A man is suing a hospital trust over his claims doctors put "do not resuscitate" orders on his wife's medical notes without her consent. [snip] A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "Decisions on Do Not Attempt Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation must be clinically appropriate for the individual involved, weighing up the possible benefits of CPR against any burdens or risks associated with the treatment."

As if the new York Times couldn’t sink any further down the hole of warped and twisted pro-abortion activism, the Gray Lady is out with yet another “news” piece that moves the newspaper further beyond the pale.Ruth Pawder is out today with a new story titled “The Two-Minus-One Pregnancy,” that focuses on “selective reduction” – the euphemistic phrase given to name the destruction of one or more unborn children in a multiple pregnancy situation where a mother has more than one baby resulting from an IVF pregnancy involving the implantation of multiple human embryos.The Times never makes it past the...

In what critics call a classic case of the government working at cross purposes, Washington is forcing residents across the country to install mercury lighting inside their homes while phasing out mercury lighting outside homes to protect the environment. Yes, you read that right. In 2005, Congress passed a law banning mercury vapor streetlights – two years before it banned incandescent light bulbs in favor of mercury vapor compact florescent bulbs. Under the Energy Policy Act, signed by President Bush in August 2005, manufacturers cannot make or import ballasts for mercury vapor lights after Jan. 1, 2008. According to the...

Conservatives have been talking about this particular choice for decades, and the future is now. This isn't hypotheticals wrapped in high-minded rhetoric. California is now forcing online businesses that have any physical presence in the state to collect sales tax from business it does there. Here's why... The legislation was intended to eliminate a perceived business impediment for brick-and-mortar retailers in the state, according to California Democratic Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, who helped develop the bill. State and local sales taxes can total 10 percent in some California cities, and big-box retailers like Wal-Mart complained that tax-free sales on Amazon were...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker today signed into law the largest expansion to the state’s school choice programs in history. The expansion will benefit thousands of children from the state’s low- and middle-income families and sends a strong signal to the nation that educational equality is possible with strong leadership from state legislators and executives. The American Federation for Children, which—along with School Choice Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Council of Religious & Independent Schools, Hispanics for School Choice, and Democrats for Education Reform—has invested significantly in outreach and advocacy efforts designed to expand school choice in the Badger State,...

With a stroke of a pen, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker today signed a 2011-2012 state budget that dramatically expands the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program to include tens of thousands of working class and middle income families. His signature also means that a brand new school choice program will be established in Racine County. The budget had previously passed the Senate and House on June 17 by votes of 19-14 and 60-38, respectively. "This is incredible news that I know would make Milton and Rose Friedman smile," said Robert C. Enlow, President and CEO of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice,...

School Choice Wisconsin fired back against charges the Milwaukee school voucher program discriminates against students with disabilities as alleged in a federal complaint filed yesterday by the American Civil Liberties Union and Disability Rights Wisconsin. In a press release, School Choice Wisconsin argued ACLU and DRW misappropriated public information about student disability enrollment: • Understates dramatically the number of special needs students served by private schools in the [Milwaukee Parental Choice Program]. • Fails to note the disparity in taxpayer support for MPCP pupils and pupils in private schools. • Fails to note that Disability Rights Wisconsin opposed a bill...

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain told Hotsheet Wednesday that homosexuality is a sin and a choice. "I believe homosexuality is a sin because I'm a Bible-believing Christian, I believe it's a sin," he said. "But I know that some people make that choice. That's their choice." Cain was asked: "So you believe it's a choice?" "I believe it is a choice," he responded. CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW

President Barack Obama has chosen Army Gen. Martin Dempsey as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to AP sources. Dempsey is a surprising choice because he began a four-year term as Army chief of staff just last month. Service chiefs have rarely, if ever, been promoted to JCS chairman so quickly. Marine Gen. James Cartwright, an Obama favorite, had long been considered the frontrunner for the JCS post. Gen. Cartwright was passed over, government officials said Tuesday, due to an inquiry into anonymous accusations that the general had a relationship with

Sen. Paul Smackdown at meeting of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee this April.

The Democratic mayor of Washington, D.C., Vincent Gray, distinguished himself last week by getting arrested in an act of "civil disobedience" reminiscent of the '60s. The mayor, six council members and more than 40 other protesters were detained by Capitol police for blocking the street to oppose the congressional budget deal that deprived D.C. of federal funds for abortions. They were also protesting a mandate under the same agreement that revives a popular school choice program, the "Opportunity Scholarship Program," which allows poor children in failing schools an opportunity to attend schools they and their parents believe will give them...

“To choose or not to choose” – That is the choice. How many decisions does a person make each day consciously and unconsciously? Wake or snooze? Oatmeal or cereal? Hat or no hat? Bus or car? Cranky or smiley? Pay bills or wait? Aaarrghgh! So many decisions are processed. In the grand scheme of things, most decisions are relatively simple; however, there are big hairy decisions that are always lurking. From the beginning it has been this way. How long did Adam and Eve go before they ate the fruit? What went through their minds before the decision was made?...

CENTRALIA, Wash. (AP) -- A 25-year-old woman has been arrested for investigation of first-degree murder in the death of a baby boy born prematurely and found decapitated, Centralia police say. Laura Lynn Hickey was arrested Wednesday after a weeklong investigation, which included a post-mortem examination of the baby by a forensic pathologist.

The Great School Choice Debate, hosted by The Independence Hall Tea Party Association on March 6, was a passionate discussion of Senate Bill 1, the school choice bill currently in the state senate. At issue was whether SB 1, a limited-scope bill granting a voucher to low-income families (in which the state subsidy would follow the child, not the school), is the only legislation achievable at this time, or whether a broader, more comprehensive bill can be passed. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the healthy debate that it should have been because Senator Anthony Williams, one of the bill’s prime sponsors and...