Free Republic

Local Police Attempt to Block Collection of Pro-Marriage Petitions Agape Press - June 7 ,2006 A pro-family group in Florida is outraged over the behavior of some police officers last weekend who tried to stop a petition drive aimed at protecting traditional marriage. Last weekend members of the Florida Family Policy Council were at a Promise Keepers conference in Broward County where they were collecting petitions for the Florida4Marriage campaign, an effort to get onto the November 2008 ballot an amendment protecting traditional marriage. The pro-family group had paid a fee to have a booth at the PK event at...

CARACAS -- A congressional delegation led by Rep. Henry Hyde arrived on Monday in Venezuela, but was not permitted to leave the plane at the country's main airport and left abruptly, a spokesman for the U.S. embassy said. The president of the airport, however, denied the accusation, saying the U.S. ambassador met the plane at the airport, entered it briefly, and then the craft departed. The delegation on the plane had been slated to meet with Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel and other government officials, and waited for roughly one hour before departing, Brian Penn, the embassy spokesman, told...

OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian schools are meant to be magically free of bullying when students go back to class on Wednesday after the summer break. But pupils say the landmark "zero tolerance" campaign for name-calling, hitting, hair-pulling, arm-twisting and other playground nastiness is about as realistic as the plot of a "Harry Potter" novel. Even Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik admits the two-year scheme launched in 2002 is optimistic in its goal of eradicating bullying from the start of the school year Wednesday. "There will be cases of bullying but zero tolerance is our target," he told Reuters of a...

<p>The furor over allegations that Arnold Schwarzenegger mistreated women erupted again Thursday. The governor-elect, through his spokesman, ripped Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer for what Schwarzenegger said was a breach of attorney-client privilege after Lockyer revealed the gist of conversations the two have had about the matter. Schwarzenegger also disclosed that he had decided to hire a private investigative firm to examine the allegations first published in the Los Angeles Times, and he said he had decided to do so even before Lockyer suggested it Thursday. But a spokesman said the governor-elect was now reconsidering an earlier decision to hand the results of the private probe over to Lockyer.</p>

The federal government's do-not-call list has saved millions of Americans from pesky telemarketers, but Tom Mabe had to take it one step further. The comedian and jingle-writer goes on the offensive on "A Wake-Up Call for Telemarketers," his CD being released today. Last year, Mabe traveled to Washington, D.C., for a telemarketers convention and stayed at their hotel. He waited until the wee hours of the morning -- and started dialing. Telemarketer: "Hello. Hello." Mabe: "Hi, this is Tom Mabe. I'm calling on behalf of the Telemarketers With Insomnia Foundation. How are you doing this evening sir?" Telemarketer: "Excuse me?"...