Free Republic

For a number of years now, a great deal of discussion has taken place among scientists and in the popular media about the genetic engineering of children. Will it soon be possible, for prices widely affordable at least to the upper-middle class, to guarantee that children have a high IQ, or excellent athletic ability, or be over 6 feet tall, or have blond hair and blue eyes? Is it right to commodify children in this way, and have parents choosing options as they do with cars? And wouldn’t it be boring to live in a world someday where almost everyone...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's only liberal arts university for the deaf could lose its accreditation unless it addresses concerns about weak academic standards, ineffective governance and a lack of tolerance for diverse views, an education oversight group warned. Gallaudet University was rocked by student demonstrations last fall that shut down the university for several days and forced the board to revoke the appointment of a new president. Afterward, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education said it was delaying a decision on whether to renew the school's accreditation because of concerns raised during the protests and because of a...

CBS/AP) EAST MEADOW, N.Y. It has taken a week, but the East Meadow School District is now telling its side of the controversy involving a deaf boy who wants to bring a service dog to class. East Meadow has prevented 14-year-old John Cave from bringing his dog Simba to the W. Tresper Clarke High School. The family has the state's Human Rights Commission looking into the case. East Meadow Superintendent Robert Dillon says the boy's parents have "repeatedly rejected" efforts to discuss the boy's wish to bring his service dog to school. In a statement released late Tuesday, Dillon says...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Gallaudet University has turned to former student with national credentials to lead the school until a permanent president can be selected. The school's board of trustees has announced that Robert Davila will serve as interim president beginning Jan. 2, when Irving King Jordan steps down after 19 years. Davila, who graduated from Gallaudet in 1953, says he worried about getting into Gallaudet while attending the California School for the Deaf as a 12-year-old boy. He taught at Galluadet for 17 years beginning in 1972. He also served as vice president of the National Technical Institute for the...

At least 16 Ramsey County deputies and correctional officers are being investigated for allegedly keeping a jailed deaf man incommunicado by denying him an interpreter or communication device, Sheriff Bob Fletcher said Friday. The 16 are still on duty, but Fletcher said he is looking into how they dealt with Douglas Bahl, an internationally known deaf advocate who was arrested Nov. 17 in St. Paul for running a red light. "We are taking this very seriously," said Fletcher. "Mr. Bahl seems very credible. If one or more of our employees have failed to act in the appropriate way, we will...

One of my dance students sent me this last week and I was in tears watching it. It's beautiful on its own, but what makes it so heart wrenching is all the dancers are deaf-mutes. And no, there are no special effects, those are real arms.

PHOENIX -- The state Attorney General's Office is suing Pima Community College, charging it didn't provide the help a hearing impaired student said she needed. Legal papers filed in Maricopa County Superior Court say that the college did provide sign language interpreters so that Stacey Duvall could understand what her instructors in the pharmacy technology program were saying. But Assistant Attorney General Sandra Kane said that in at least two of the cases, Duvall could not understand the interpreters. Kane said, though, that the college insisted the two were qualified and refused to replace them. At one point there was...

Well. It's confirmed. Senator McCain resigned his honorary position from the Board of Trustees at Gallaudet University. Like one commenter said, "McCain can take a LOT of flak- Gee, Deafies ran off the guy who stood up to the North VN Communists! ACK!" Indeed. McCain was a POW in North Vietnam. He's now an ex-honorary member of Gallaudet's Board of Trustees....

WASHINGTON — The board of trustees of the nation's premier school for the deaf voted Sunday to terminate the appointment of the incoming president, who had been the subject of protests, the board announced. The vote at Gallaudet University came after a daylong closed-door meeting that followed a month of protests by students and faculty members. Jane Fernandes, the school's former provost, had been selected in May to take office in January.

Breaking News Gallaudet Board Votes Out Jane Fernandes Washington Post sources confirm that controversial president-elect's appointment has been rescinded.

And then you have a recent assault against Dr. Jane K. Fernades (first deaf woman to become the 9th president of Gallaudet University) where some idiot threatened her with a gun. She explained to reporters when they asked her whether she has been threatened with assault. She said, "Yes, with a gun." Check out NBC4 video during her press conference when she said that at 23 seconds left into the video. The incoming president said that in the midst of the the conflict she has recieved death threats and other personal attacks.....

The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act reflected a generous national impulse to provide the most opportunity... But the law has also sometimes led to overzealous interpretations ...that can defy common sense -- and endanger the broader public. A case in point is last week's ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that United Parcel Service has violated federal law by banning drivers who are deaf. While acknowledging that federal law requires drivers of trucks heavier than 10,000 pounds to be able to hear, a three-judge panel of the ...court ruled that UPS was obliged to prove that allowing the...

Gallaudet University students blocked access to campus for a second day Thursday, escalating their protest against an incoming president they say lacks the skills to lead the nation's only liberal arts university for the deaf and hearing impaired. "We're in the middle of a crisis here," said LaToya Plummer, 25, a junior from Suitland, Md., who was among the protesters. The blockade started around 3 a.m. Wednesday and forced the university to cancel classes for a second day Thursday as about 100 students protested at the front gate. Students sitting in 11 chairs blocked the main campus road at the...

UPDATE: Professor Ammons is not arrested. Miscommunication. However, 107 deaf protesters are arrested at Gallaudet University so far. More vans are brought in by DC police. Cold temperature is taking a toll on some protesters. Hyperthermia? Ambulance on scene. Many Deaf students, faculty members, staff and alumni throws fit over 1st deaf woman to become the 9th president at Gallaudet University by mostly deaf Board of Trustees early this May. Protest has been simmering since May and exploded last week almost 9 days ago. And..

San Francisco -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that UPS Inc. violated anti-discrimination laws by automatically barring the deaf and hearing-impaired from driving parcel delivery trucks. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson's 2004 ruling that the Atlanta-based company's practices breach the Americans with Disabilities Act. Henderson, in a class-action case representing as many as 1,000 would-be drivers, ruled that the hearing impaired should "be given the same opportunities that a hearing applicant would be given to show that they can perform the job of package-car driver...

A police officer described yesterday how he pulled over a motorist who was veering across the road and found that he had no eyes. Omed Aziz, who lost both his eyes in a bomb blast and is also deaf, was caught behind the wheel with a friend sitting in the passenger seat giving him instructions on when to steer and brake, and how quickly to drive. Omed Aziz Bomb victim Omed Aziz Aziz, who also suffers from leg tremors, claimed he was perfectly safe and denied a charge of dangerous driving before being convicted.....

"We are not the problem, we are the solution," says Fr Thomas Coughlin, a deaf Honolulu priest who has founded the Dominican Missionaries for the Deaf Apostolate with five other deaf men. Deaf since birth, it was Fr Coughlin's lifelong dream to start a religious community where sign language is the primary means of expression at both the eucharistic table and the dinner table, according to the Catholic News Service. Fr Coughlin was one of five men who made their first profession of vows as Dominican Missionaries for the Deaf Apostolate last week at St Albert's Priory in Oakland, California....

Official announcement directly from Matt Hamill to Kokonut Pundits about his new and exciting website. -See Matt challenges Mike Bisping on his website!-

Emory Dively is seeking to be the Republican Endorsed Candidate for the House of Representatives for District 64B. He is the Pastor of Twin Cities Deaf Assemblies of God and serves on numerous organizations throughout the country. Emory has a unique background. He was born Deaf in Flint, Michigan and attended the state school for the deaf. Following the state school for the Deaf, Emory went to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (a part of R.I.T.) in New York where he earned his Bachelor's Degree in Social Working. He went on to graduate with a Master's Degree from...

Check out Greg Gunderson's latest ranking update in the "Racin for a Livin" vote poll. Greg is currently at #4 !! Two days ago Greg was at