Free Republic

“Membership of the species Homo sapiens is not enough to confer a right to life.” To the ears of us ordinary people, it sounds like the ravings of some fringe group of European neo-fascists or Communists, but the man who made that statement in a Scottish newspaper today is perhaps the most acclaimed and respected ethical philosopher alive, toasted by liberal academic and political elites around the world. Philosopher and Bioethicist Peter Singer defended abortion in an op-ed in the Scotsman today. “Opponents will respond that abortion is, by its very nature, unsafe – for the fetus,” he wrote. “They...

Rep. Kerry Gauthier, D-Duluth, won't face charges for having oral sex with a minor at the Thompson Hill rest stop near Duluth, but at the least he's revealed himself to be a dishonest person, lying to the 17-year-old about his age and to police about what exactly happened in the woods that night. . . Gauthier, 56, was then a bit more forthcoming, telling the officer that he met the boy through an ad he posted on Craigslist. In the ad, Gauthier characterized himself as a 43-year-old looking for man-on-man sex with "no strings attached." His ad received a...

security guard at the Family Research Council's headquarters in Washington, D.C. is being hailed as a hero after he stopped a gunman posing as an intern, taking a bullet in the arm before wrestling the suspect to the ground. The gunman entered the lobby of the organization's Chinatown headquarters around 10:45 and expressed disagreement with the conservative group's policy positions, Fox News has learned. When the guard, who was not identified, asked him where he was going, he opened fire, according to police.

Chick-fil-A reported record sales last Wednesday as thousands showed support for owner Dan Cathy and his stance on Biblical marriage. However, while individual believers stood in long lines to publicly endorse God’s plan for the family and vent their frustration at the media’s criticism of Dan Cathy’s Biblical stance, a number of churches seemed to opt out of the conflict. While the mayors of three large cities and a few University administrators were publicly threatening to ban Chick-fil-A, and while the discussion was the hot news topic of the week, there were many ministers who said little or nothing at...

There is little doubt that a kind of cultural war is being waged on many different fronts: abortion, euthanasia, the family, marriage, rampant divorce, cohabitation & fornication, homosexual activity, gay “marriage,” militant secularism and atheism, religious liberty, and so on.While some may not like the image of war, the conflicts are so deep and intense, the tensions so live and the sides so clearly marked that we can little avoid the term.In the midst of such a war however, we Christians and cultural warriors can too easily acquire an acerbic, hostile and cynical attitude, even with each other. We become...

Since when does serving up junk food give someone a license to preach? Politics and all things fried, fatty and fast are becoming intertwined to the point of absurdity. We’ve got the Papa John’s pizza guys weighing in on the health-care debate, while the burger slingers out west at In-N-Out can’t serve up a cheeseburger without a Bible verse. The craziness of fast-food commentary on social issues became obvious to me when I stumbled into a totally earnest discussion at a party last week by a bunch of Washingtonians who personally support the right to same-sex marriage, but are also...

WASHINGTON — An Army officer being promoted to brigadier general openly acknowledged her homosexuality on Friday by having her wife pin her star to her uniform, thus becoming the first openly gay officer of flag rank in the United States military. The officer, Brig. Gen. Tammy S. Smith, 49, a 26-year veteran of the Army, was promoted in a ceremony at the women’s memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. The star was affixed by Tracey Hepner, who was a co-founder last year of the Military Partners and Families Coalition, which “provides support, resources, education and advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual and...

The radical anti-American Code Pink group is encouraging their members to send snapshots of their vaginas to the RNC Convention in Tampa, Florida. LifeNews reported: Taking the silly “War on Women” rhetoric to another disgusting level, the pro-abortion feminists at CodePink have come up with a new campaign: Send your vaginas to the Republican convention. Upset that Republicans and presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney support religious freedom for groups opposing the Obama HHS mandate and wants to end taxpayer funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business, CodePink thinks it has a great idea on how to respond. The “women’s group”...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- In a sign that the debate over Chick-fil-A is not going away, traditional groups in the four states voting on gay marriage this fall apparently are set to make the pushback against the restaurant an issue, arguing that the intimidation and name-calling aimed at Chick-fil-A were only a preview of what will happen to traditionalists if marriage is redefined. In recent days pro-traditional marriage groups in Maine and Washington state have sent emails to supporters referencing the Chick-fil-A controversy, with one of them warning "there will be profound consequences" if gay marriage is legalized. The National...

J.C. Penney Co. is reporting a bigger-than-expected loss and plummeting sales, as its customers continue to be turned off by a new pricing plan that gets rid of hundreds of sales in favor of every day lower prices. It also withdrew its profit guidance for the year. The department store, based in Plano, Texas, says that it lost $147 million, or 67 cents per share, in the quarter ended July 28. That compares with a profit of 14 million, or 7 cents per share. snip

(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama, who is moving ahead with a regulation that forces observant American Catholics to act against their consciences and the teachings of their faith, will be one of the keynote speakers at an Oct. 18 white-tie fundraiser hosted by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The fundraiser—the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner--will benefit the foundation, which Cardinal Dolan serves as board president. The foundation's website says it provides funding “for healthcare causes.” Al Smith, a three-term governor of New York, became the first...

Omaha high school students this fall will do something the school board has not allowed them to do since the mid-1990s: answer questions about sexual behavior on a federal survey. Omaha Public Schools board members had previously worried about how the data would be used and noted that students from private high schools were not asked to participate in the survey. Monday night, however, they unanimously dismissed those concerns in favor of letting organizations and the community learn more about students' behaviors. “We want the information, even if it is misused,” said board member Sandra Jensen

Quite simply, growing up with gay parents was very difficult, and not because of prejudice from neighbors. People in our community didn’t really know what was going on in the house. To most outside observers, I was a well-raised, high-achieving child, finishing high school with straight A’s. Inside, however, I was confused. When your home life is so drastically different from everyone around you, in a fundamental way striking at basic physical relations, you grow up weird. I have no mental health disorders or biological conditions. I just grew up in a house so unusual that I was destined to...

Pro 'gay marriage' / 'gay family' show on the way. http://www.nbc.com/the-new-normal/

...feeling the pressure to conform, Kristen gave in to her 16-year-old boyfriend Carl’s continual pestering for sex when her parents were out at work one day. She... anticipated a romantic encounter. But the harsh reality was that losing her virginity so early turned out to be one of the worst experiences of Kristen’s life. It has also had lasting repercussions, since she is convinced that having sex at such a young age made her far more promiscuous in later years than she otherwise might have been. ‘We had sex on the bathroom floor because it was the only room with...

NASHUA, NH (CBS) – A Nashua Chick-Fil-A restaurant will be sponsoring New Hampshire Pride Fest. Ryan Manseau, the senior director of Pride Fest, told WBZ-TV he was handing out fliers at the Pheasant Lane Mall recently to promote his event and noticed a man who appeared to be a Chick-Fil-A manager holding one. . . Manseau said he approached the man, bracing for a verbal confrontation. He turned out to be the franchise operator, Anthony Piccola, who agreed to help sponsor the event and to serve Chick-Fil-A sandwiches there.

Child human trafficking victims in the U.S. who have been used as sex slaves, but are now under U.S. protection as witnesses, take a back seat to other important expenditures. I'm guessing feeding America's slackers is the problem - those in the SNAP program, through Electronic Benefit Cards (EBT) - translation: food stamps, those who feed off of taxpayers and needn't prove they are worthy. Since there is no money to feed the "witnesses," the human traffickers often go free. This isn't only about children smuggled across our borders. Some are Americans. Think about that. Children...needed to witness against those...

When the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) passed in Congress in 1996, the vote was bi-partisan and overwhelming. In the House, the tally was 342-67. Only the farthest left of Democrats and a handful of Republicans voted against it. A majority of Democrats supported marriage. In the Senate, the vote was even more lopsided and bi-partisan, 85-14. Again, most Democrats backed marriage. In both houses of Congress, the DOMA passed with such strong margins that President Clinton could clearly see the measure had better than "veto strength." That is, if he had vetoed the Defense of Marriage Act, Congress could...

Democrats are poised to add gay marriage to the party's platform for this year's election, and a new poll shows the timing may be perfect. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats -- 65% -- now support gay marriage, a 15% increase from this time in 2008, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center. The partisan divide on gay marriage is also increasing substantially. Though Republicans supporting same-sex marriage increased from 19% in 2008 to 24% in 2012, the gap between Dems and Republicans jumped from 23% in 2004 to 31% in 2008 and is now at 41% in this...

Boomer demographics and postponement of marriage on account of student debt and poor finances are two of the key reasons that I long-ago stated the housing recovery would be slow for a decade. Declining birthrates now show that is indeed what is happening. First, please consider a short snip from my July 25 post "Actual" New Home Sales First 6 Months of 2012 vs. Prior Years; Reflections on the Housing Recovery Reflections on the Housing Recovery Even with today's reported decline, new home sales have likely bottomed on an annual, cumulative-total basis. However, don't expect much in terms of recovery.Debt...