Free Republic

Redstate catches an unguarded moment with Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper at a lunch earlier this week where he speaks extemporaneously and gives us a peek into what he believes the proper role of government to be. You might be surprised at just how little responsibility he feels you should take for yourself. Government should do what people individually canÂ’t do, or canÂ’t do well themselves. You know, educating our young people, [emphasis added] making sure our roads are designed and built properly, making sure our communities are safeÂ…that our economic system is robust, but at the same time fairÂ…that every...

PHOENIX (AP) — A Phoenix-area school district will not edit a high school honors biology textbook to remove content to comply with a state law on abortion-related instructional material. The Gilbert Unified School District board agreed during a meeting Tuesday to find an alternative solution that does not involve redacting the textbook, the Arizona Republic reported (http://bit.ly/1z4FP7y ). Superintendent Christina Kishimoto had asked the board to reverse its request, saying editing the copyrighted book could open the district to legal issues. At issue is a chapter in the textbook, "Campbell Biology: Concepts & Connections," that discusses abstinence, birth-control methods, tubal...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two North Kansas City parents are outraged after they say their blind son’s cane was taken away from him at school by a bus driver. Eight-year-old Dakota Nafzinger attends Gracemor Elementary School. Rachel Nafzinger said school staff took away her son’s cane as punishment for bad behavior on the bus and then gave him a swimming pool noodle to use as a substitute. The school wouldn’t go on camera, but North Kansas City School District Spokeswoman Michelle Cronk confirmed taking away Dakota’s cane, calling it school property that was given to him when he enrolled. They...

FULL TITLE: Three school teachers set to be fired after private chat room emails reveal shocking discussion about their 'moron' special needs students Three elementary teachers in a New Jersey school district have been caught having a shocking conversation about some of their special needs students, referring to them as 'morons' and 'short bus kids' - and are now set to be fired as a result. The teachers - Tyler Van Pelt, Maria Weber and Maryellen Lechelt - allegedly engaged in an inappropriate online discussion on October 23 while training in a new technology to be implemented in their school...

FULL TITLE: School 'bribes' kids with bikes and iPods to persuade them eat Michelle Obama's healthy lunches There's only one thing to do when the kids won't eat their vegetables: bribe them. At least that's what some Colorado schools are doing now that Michelle Obama's Healthy and Hunger Free Kids Act has scared students away from their school lunch programs, according to KUSA. Jefferson County Public Schools now has a 'Hungry to Win' raffle program, EagNews reports. Each time a student buys a lunch, they are entered in the raffle for a chance to win prizes such as jump ropes,...

Angry parents of children at a California high school have slammed a sex education class — taught by employees of Planned Parenthood — that they claim encourages young teens to have sex. Parents of 13- and 14-year-olds at Acalanes High School in Lafayette are furious at the methods and materials being used to teach sex-ed without their prior knowledge or consent, FoxNews.com reported. The students are handed worksheets that include a checklist titled, "Sex Check! Are You Ready For Sex?" The document asks the young teens, both girls and boys, if they have water-based lubricants and condoms, and if they...

The Coerced Abortion Epidemic The Un-Choice: 64% involve coercion. Pressure can become violent.(2) 67% not counseled.(1) 65% suffer trauma.(1) Suicide 6-7 times higher.(3) Intense pressure to abort can come from husbands, parents, doctors, partners, counselors, or close friends and family. They may threaten or blackmail a woman into abortion. These are not idle threats. Coercion can escalate to violence. Women who resist abortion have been beaten, tortured and killed. One husband jumped on his wife’s stomach to force an abortion. A mother forced her daughter at gunpoint to go to the abortion clinic. A woman was forcibly injected by the...

FULL TITLE: 'Prisoners eat better food': Students hit back at Michelle Obama's school lunch program with pictures of woeful servings School lunches have never been known for being appetizing — but these ones are particularly disgusting. Students across America are taking it to social media to demonstrate against the school meal rules championed by First Lady Michelle Obama. They're using the sarcastic hashtag 'ThanksMichelleObama' and posting pictures of piles of mushy lunches, unreasonably small portions and the kind of fare that has some students saying even 'prisoners eat better food.' Scroll down for video

"Do you just want your kids to be test machines and cheap workers for corporations?"Lily Tang Williams, a mother of three, testified before the Colorado State Board of Education that Common Core was similar to the education she received growing up in Mao’s Communist China. “Common Core, in my eyes, is the same as the Communist core I once saw in China,” Williams said. “I grew up under Mao’s regime and we had the Communist-dominated education — nationalized testing, nationalized curriculum, and nationalized indoctrination.” In a post at FreedomWorks, Williams wrote about her experience with the Chinese education system: Our...

NODAWAY COUNTY, Mo. – A homeschooling family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit after they say their home was illegally searched by the sheriff’s department. The Home School Legal Defense Association is aiding Laura and Jason Hagan. Their house was raided by Nodaway County Sheriff Darren White and Chief Sheriff’s Deputy David Glidden.

Parents at a Near West Side school say they are "shocked" and "horrified" after viewing a new sex education curriculum intended for fifth-graders, saying the way the information is presented is over the top and not age-appropriate. SNIP But some of the information disturbed parents at the meeting, leading one to snap photos of five pages in the binder that included a lesson plan for fifth-graders. One of the pages, titled "Feel Good Reasons to Use FCs [Female Condoms]," included how to make sexual intercourse last longer and read: "Once you pop, you don't have to stop!" The page included...

Naysayers take note: Common Core has had at least one unanticipated positive outcome. “Home schooling has steadily risen in North Carolina since it was legalized in 1985 by the state Supreme Court,” T. Keung Hui reported on News Observer.com on August 13, 2014. “Twenty-five years ago, there were about 2,300 home-schooled students in North Carolina.” “But concerns about school violence, lack of a religious focus and the large size of public schools have helped fuel home-school growth.” “And home-school growth in North Carolina has surged the past two school years. There was a net gain of 7,603 home schools in...

FULL TITLE: ‘Planned Parenthood is a business that sells sex’: San Fran parents outraged that abortion giant taught sex ed to kids A group of high school parents in the East Bay area of San Francisco were surprised and upset when they learned Planned Parenthood was teaching sex education to their children in the district’s schools. “Planned Parenthood is a business. It’s a business that sells sex,” Acalanes Union High School District resident Camille Giglio told the local CBS affiliate KPIX. “It’s a way to get clientele and to sexualize young people and turn them into lifelong clients.” Giglio is...

(CNSNews.com) - Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says government funded universal preschool is a “social movement” and compared it to civil rights and gay marriage during a speech in Los Angeles last month. “At the end of the day for me this is really a social movement,” Duncan said when discussing federally subsidized preschool at the LA Universal Preschool (LAUP) forum on Oct. 21. “If you look at social movements, we all celebrate what happened in the 1960’s. The civil rights movement was extraordinarily powerful, life transforming, earth shattering. But the question I have is, why didn’t the civil rights...

FULL TITLE: Two boys, 13 and 14, 'raped two sixth-grade girls for hours in the auditorium of their Bronx middle school' A 13-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy have been arrested for raping two sixth-grade girls for nearly two hours in the auditorium of their middle school, police have said. The two young girls, who are just 12 and 13, were lured into the area at the Urban Science Academy in the Bronx on October 16 and attacked for at least two class periods, officials said. Although the students were missing from class for hours, no teacher or security officer...

Parents in Massachusetts were upset when they found out Islam is being taught as part of the school curriculum. But what was most upsetting to one parent is that it included a declaration that Allah is the only god:

TULSA, Oklahoma - Some Oklahoma parents are concerned about how little their kids are getting to eat at school. The portions were small but based on federal guidelines. Those guidelines are based on First Lady Michelle Obama's initiative to tackle childhood obesity. “Chicken nuggets, with broccoli, beans and milk,” said student, Promise Fleming. “It was awful.” Student, A'mika Ware said, “It's not fully cooked and it makes my stomach hurt.” Their complaints are being heard loud and clear nationwide. TPS's nutrition director said the meals teach kids how to eat well. "They can tell their parents ‘hey, I need to...

The lawsuits surrounding Risperdal allege inappropriate marketing as well as failure to warn issues. While Johnson & Johnson alleges Risperdal helps countless people throughout the world who suffer from debilitating mental illnesses, it also has caused embarrassing side effects further contributing to the problems it claims to address. In September of 2012, Johnson & Johnson settled one such lawsuit with a 21 year old who had taken Risperdal and grown breasts which had to be surgically removed. The settlement was allegedly agreed to by Johnson & Johnson in order to avoid having the Judge in the trial order Chief Executive...

An openly transgender Georgia teen was elected to her high school's homecoming court in an election believed to be the first of its kind in the state. Sage Lovell, 16, of Marietta, was elected to Walton High School's homecoming court among four other women chosen out of 50 nominees at the school. 'I couldn't stop smiling,' said Lovell told CBS 46, who said she heard word of her victory while in her homeroom class. 'My entire homeroom erupted in very loud cheering. Apparently it was able to be heard from across the school.' On Friday night, the Walton High School...

RANDLE, Wash. — When administrators at White Pass Jr. Sr. High School asked students to dress up as their favorite celebrities for Spirit Week, Mason Mudge and Chandler Krueger did just that. Mudge came as Miss America. And Krueger dressed up as Nicki Minaj.