Free Republic

Labor unions, like the United Nations, are all too often judged by what they are envisioned as being — not by what they actually are or what they actually do. Many people, who do not look beyond the vision or the rhetoric to the reality, still think of labor unions as protectors of working people from their employers. And union bosses still employ that kind of rhetoric. However, someone once said, "When I speak I put on a mask, but when I act I must take it off." That mask has been coming off, more and more, especially during...

... There are numerous other factors that affect pay. Most fundamentally, men and women tend to gravitate toward different industries. Feminists may charge that women are socialized into lower-paying sectors of the economy. But women considering the decisions they’ve made likely have a different view. Women tend to seek jobs with regular hours, more comfortable conditions, little travel, and greater personal fulfillment. Often times, women are willing to trade higher pay for jobs with other characteristics that they find attractive. Men, in contrast, often take jobs with less desirable characteristics in pursuit of higher pay. They work long hours and...

One of the most contentious issues in public education in this country, in addition to teachers unions, is school vouchers. But to me, it's pretty straight forward. Vouchers help parents pay for private schools - giving their kids more opportunity, and in some cases, a safer choice - without putting their retirement on the line, and going broke in the process. And I’m not alone in that thinking. Nineteen states and Washington D.C. have a voucher system or similar program, according to the Wall Street Journal Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/willis-report/blog/2012/04/12/give-parents-choice?link=mktw#ixzz1rwHjWA2J

You ever get that feeling that no matter who you vote for, it's not going to matter? That no matter who you vote for, your job won't get any better, gas prices will still go up, and life will still be hard? Is it ever annoying to feel that no matter what grand promises are given by a politician, once in office, he or she may or may not do what they so grandiosely promised the voters? That is partially why I believe voting in Democratic elections is like playing Russian Roulette. But before I give an in depth analysis...

ROCKVILLE, Md. - A flyer sent home with some high school students in Montgomery County, Md., is causing consternation among parents. The flyer is from a group called PFOX, Parents And Friends Of Ex-Gays And Gays. In the one-page message, the group tells teenagers that no one is "born gay", and people can choose their sexual orientation. Karen Yount-Merrell, a licensed, clinical social worker, got one of the flyers when her son came home with his report card from Einstein High School. "I don't like it," Yount-Merrell declared. "Everything in this flyer make its sound like the goal is to...

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation has announced that it will no longer provide funds for breast cancer screenings and prevention to Planned Parenthood. The Foundation has recently been the focus of a campaign by the anti-abortion Life Issues Institute because it also performs abortions and maintains it is one of the largest chain of abortion mills in the US.

Actress Cynthia Nixon refuses to bow to pressure from the gay community to change her opinion that her homosexuality is a “choice,” despite facing criticism for her beliefs. The “Sex and the City” star enjoyed a 15-year romance with her college sweetheart Danny Mozes – the father of her daughter Samantha, 15, and son Charlie, 9 – until their split in 2003. She then fell for Christine Marinoni in 2004, and the couple has been engaged to wed since 2009. Nixon, who also has an 11-month-old son, Max, with Marinoni, is convinced her change in sexual preference was a choice....

On Monday, America officially remembered the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., celebrating the man whose vision of a country in which content of character counts more than skin color marches haltingly forward. And in those remembrances, King's fatal visit to Memphis in April 1968 inevitably comes to mind. King came to Tennessee to support sanitation workers. The workers were on strike, protesting unfair treatment and dangerous work conditions after two black workers had been crushed to death in a trash truck only two months before. The strikers and supporters marched while holding placards that displayed their cry for respect, their...

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,...