Free Republic

The American Revolutionary War began in Massachusetts with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, on April 19th, 1775. Following what Emerson referred to as the “Shot heard ‘round the world”, a small fledgling colony stood up against the tyranny of the greatest military force on earth… And won. Great men and women stood up in perilous times and prevailed against what appeared to be unconquerable odds. Some have referred to the present day as perilous times, and once again the people of Massachusetts have an opportunity to set into motion a political revolution. On January 19th, a special election will...

Can Scott Brown actually win this thing? On paper, the special US Senate election next month should be another walkover for the Democrats. Yet the race for the seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy will play out not on paper, but in a noxious political environment, providing a rare glint of hope for the state’s undermanned Republicans. Brown, a Republican state senator from Wrentham, is considered a long shot, but he is the GOP’s most attractive Senate candidate since Mitt Romney lost to Kennedy 15 years ago. His positions on most issues are diametrically opposed to those of the...

On Dec. 2, an 8-year-old boy in Taunton, MA was sent home and ordered by school officials to undergo a psychological evaluation after he drew a cross with a stick figure, which appeared to be a depiction of Jesus Christ. The boy sketched the crucifix after his teacher asked the class for a drawing of something that reminded them of the holidays. School administrators said they were concerned that he drew the figure with what appeared to be Xs over the eyes. They also claim that under questioning, the little boy said the figure was himself. The child was allowed...

The first flare-up in the general election U.S. Senate race happened just hours into the six-week contest as Republican Scott Brown challenged Democrat Martha Coakley to sign a no-tax pledge and she promptly slapped down the move as a “gimmick.” “I don’t get involved with campaign gimmicks,” Coakley said. “I’m just not going to respond to that.” Brown, a Wrentham state senator, said of Coakley’s dismissal: “I find that disturbing,” adding, “I think I’m more in line with what people are feeling - the burdens of family issues.”

When House Democrats gathered on Friday for their end-of-the week caucus meeting in the basement of the Capitol, caucus chairman John Larson (D-Conn.) told the group he wanted them to hear first from Rep. Michael Capuano, who'd just returned from a primary campaign for the Senate seat in Massachusetts vacated by the death of Ted Kennedy. Larson asked Capuano, who finished in second place, to share the wisdom that he learned on the campaign trail. Capuano took to the microphone, looked out at his colleagues and condensed what he'd learned into two words. "You're screwed," he told his friends in...

Mayor: School boss should apologize to boy who drew cross By Laura Crimaldi and Laurel J. Sweet | Tuesday, December 15, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage Photo by Taunton Gazette Taunton Mayor Charles Crowley called School Superintendent Julie Hackett from his vacation today and asked her to apologize both privately and publicly to the family of an 8-year-old special needs student sent home from school and ordered to undergo psychological testing after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ nailed to the cross. “Mayor Crowley’s sentiments were that he would hope Dr. Hackett would meet with the family today,...

An 8-year-old special-needs child was suspended from school and forced to undergo psychiatric counseling over a picture he drew of Jesus Christ dead on the cross for a Christmas assignment. School officials in Taunton, Mass., said the picture "violated the code of violence in the school handbook," said Toni Saunders, an educational consultant on special-needs children with the Associated Advocacy Center who is working with the boy's family. "I couldn't believe what they were telling me," the boy's father, Chester Johnson, who also works for the school system as a substitute custodian, told The Washington Times on Tuesday. "I asked...

TAUNTON, Mass. (AP) - An 8-year-old boy was sent home from school and ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation after he was asked to make a Christmas drawing and came up with what appeared to be a stick figure of Jesus on a cross, the child's father said Tuesday. Chester Johnson told WBZ-TV that his son made the drawing on Dec. 2 after his second-grade teacher asked children to sketch something that reminded them of the holiday. Johnson said the teacher became upset when his son said he drew himself on the cross. Johnson, who is black, told WBZ he...

A Taunton father is furious his eight-year-old son was sent home from school and required to undergo a psychological evaluation after he drew a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ on the cross. The father, who wants his name withheld to protect his son, told the Taunton Gazette he got a call earlier this month from the Maxham Elementary School. They told him his son, a second-grader with special needs, had created a violent drawing. It started when his teacher asked the class to sketch something that reminded them of Christmas. The boy drew a crucified Jesus with X's covering his...

A Taunton father is outraged after his 8-year-old son was sent home from school and required to undergo a psychological evaluation after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ on the cross. The father said he got a call earlier this month from Maxham Elementary School informing him that his son, a second-grade student, had created a violent drawing. The image in question depicted a crucified Jesus with Xs covering his eyes to signify that he had died on the cross. The boy wrote his name above the cross. “As far as I’m concerned, they’re violating his religion,” the incredulous...

BOSTON – A state senator's victory in the Republican primary for the special election to fill the late Edward M. Kennedy's Senate seat gives the Massachusetts GOP something it's sorely missed: a place in the political spotlight. Since Mitt Romney left the Statehouse to pursue his 2008 presidential campaign, and his one-time running mate Kerry Healey failed to hold the governor's office after 16 years of GOP control, the Massachusetts Republican Party has further atrophied. Now its most immediate hope for revival in one of the nation's bluest Democratic states is state Sen. Scott Brown, one of just five Republicans...

MassResistance's work is payng off -- fueling another heated national controversy that will likely lead to action. The outrage over Kevin Jennings, the hard-core homosexual activist who is Obama's "safe schools" czar, has erupted again as more MassResistance material is suddenly being used by the national media and major blogs. Earlier this year, when Jennings was appointed, it bubbled up but then simmered down. It was jump-started late a little over a week ago as Breitbart and Gateway Pundit posted a new study of R- and X-rated books on the GLSEN reading list - for children. Suddenly there was new...

As most of you know, Tuesday's primary election to fill Ted Kennedy's US Senate seat wasn't much of a stunner. Both frontrunners won. In the Democratic primary Attorney General Martha Coakley beat out three other candidates with 47%, and State Senator Scott Brown got 89% against Jack E. Robinson. Coakley and Brown will face each other in the general election January 19. This race has huge implications, both locally and nationally. The kind of representation we get in the US Senate could hardly be different.Coakley is even more radically left-wing across the board than Ted Kennedy, if that's possible. Her...

On the Next Right blog serial poster Ironman calls for Republicans to seriously contest the January 19 special election to fill Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat in Massachusetts. I’ve argued that this is a long shot, and Ironman doesn’t persuade me that it isn’t. But he does make one good statistical point. While Barack Obama’s 62%-36% margin in Massachusetts makes it seem out of reach for a Republican, Republican Chris Christie did win the gubernatorial race in New Jersey which Obama carried 57%-42%

Lawrence bigwigs call on mayor to quit state rep job By Edward Mason and O’Ryan Johnson Thursday, December 10, 2009 - Updated 4h ago EmailE-mail PrintablePrint Comments(97) Comments LargerSmallerText size Bookmark and Share Share Buzz up! Newly elected Lawrence mayor William Lantigua swears he’s the man for the job - two jobs, in fact - after he vowed yesterday to keep his State House seat while running the hardscrabble Merrimack Valley city. “I’m not Superman,” said Lantigua, who’s also served as the city’s state representative since 2002. “If I can’t do it, I’ll raise the white flag and let someone...

Friend,   Yesterday we were able to win with 89% of the vote and I'm so proud of you and the support you have given this campaign.  The Brown Brigade has grown to over 1,875 activists with 176 local Brigades organized to help us Get Out The Vote on January 19.   I started the day yesterday like any other day by taking out the garbage and doing some chores around the house.          However, I ended the day with you and other energized supporters that want to stop the 'bailout culture' and clean up Washington from...

A Boston man was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole, hours after a jury found him guilty of beating his 70-year-old father to death, then using a power saw to cut up the body before scattering the remains throughout the neighborhood. Brian Lee showed no outward emotion when the jury returned a verdict of guilty on a charge of first-degree murder for the October 2006 slaying of Edward Lee at the victim’s home in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood, prosecutors said. He declined to make a statement at his sentencing Wednesday afternoon, Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office...

In Tuesday's primary election, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley swept the 4-person Democratic primary with 47% and State Senator Scott Brown swept the Republican primary with 89%. It attracted very low turnout -- less than 20% state-wide. The general election is in six weeks, on January 19. Herald Columnist Howie Carr gave probably the most interesting analysis of the campaign. There could not be more of a difference between these two candidates. Martha Coakley has a long record of extreme, aggressive left-wing anti-family crusading, and general lap-dog water-carrying for the Democratic establishment. Scott Brown is a fiscal and (reasonably) social...

Attorney General Martha Coakley has defeated three other candidates to win the Democratic nomination in the race to succeed the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. On the Republican side, State Sen. Scott Brown defeated attorney Jack E. Robinson. Jim Gomes, director of the Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise, a policy research group at Clark University, Worcester, Mass., said public interest in filling the seat with someone like Mr. Kennedy, who died Aug. 25 after a bout with brain cancer, faded after the senator's wife and other family members declined to enter the race. "I have not sensed the voters of Massachusetts...

With the clock ticking down towards the close of the polls at 8 p.m., some communities reported low voter turnout in the special primary elections for US Senate. People breezed past community centers, gymnasiums, town halls, and other polling places without a second thought, the majority paying no mind to the race to fill the office left vacant by the late Edward M. Kennedy. Four Democrats and two Republicans ....

BOSTON – Massachusetts had a light turnout for party primaries Tuesday as voters took the first step to fill the U.S. Senate seat held for nearly a half century by Edward M. Kennedy.Four Democrats, from political insiders to newcomers, and two Republicans were competing for their respective party nomination in the quick campaign to succeed Kennedy. He died of brain cancer in late August at age 77 after holding his seat since 1962. The primary winners will face off in a general election on Jan. 19.Kennedy's widow, Vicki, called each of the Democrats early Tuesday to wish them well, an...

Currently, the only people left defending the Massachusetts health care reform are liberals who want to see Obamacare passed ... and Mitt Romney. On Sunday, while the Senate debated a bill to have the government takeover the health care system, Romney went on CNN and argued that his state takeover of health care worked out quite well for Massachusetts. Asked by John King to respond to criticism offered by his likely 2012 presidential rival Tim Pawlenty about how spending exploded in Massachusetts after the implementation of RomneyCare, Romney responded...

Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts refused to appear at the Clover Club, an Irish American group of businessmen and community leaders in Boston over the weekend because it is a men-only club. Deval was dead wrong. I hope he will similarly cancel visits to the National Organization of Women for the same reason.

Tuesday, Dec 8, is the primary election for the US Senate seat, formerly held by Ted Kennedy. There are contested elections for both the Democrat and Republican candidates. The general election will be on January 19. The seat is currently held by Kennedy's former aide, Paul Kirk, who was appointed by the governor after well-publicized (and pretty sleazy) vote by the Legislature to have an interim appointee because of their fear that a vote on the Obama health care package might come up before a special election could be held. We were going to wait until the general election in...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Sunday that Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has his facts wrong in criticizing the health care plan Romney instituted in his state. Pawlenty has repeatedly pointed to the Massachusetts plan of his potential rival for the 2012 Republican nomination as the perfect example of how not to do health care reform. The Minnesota governor has made that case in numerous interviews, speeches and op-eds that, while not focused on the Massachusetts program, make his criticism of it clear. Presented with a clip of Pawlenty arguing that the Massachusetts plan did not come close to meeting...

CNSNews.com) - Lawyers from a homosexual advocacy group took depositions from a Massachusetts parent this week, almost three years after he first exposed "Fistgate," a state-sponsored workshop in which educators instructed teens in graphic homosexual sex. The deposition of Brian Camenker, taken Tuesday by lawyers for the Boston-based Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, is an effort to put parents under financial strain and to discourage others around the country from bringing similar workshops to light, Camenker charged. "If they are able to be able to beat us in Massachusetts, they can continue to hound any parent who gets...

SNIPPET: "A team of researchers convened by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began a series of tests today at 20 MBTA stations to determine how airborne contaminants would spread in a terrorist attack on Boston's subway system." SNIPPET: "The findings will help guide the design of future detection systems and help strengthen evacuation, ventilation, and other emergency response plans on mass transit across the country. "We hope to use the data from the two to come up with a model to predict the behavior (of chemicals) in other subway systems," Lustig said."

Six Candidates Seek Ted Kennedy’s SeatBy JIM HICKEY Islanders go the polls in the state primary on Tuesday to cast votes that will help choose Democratic and Republican candidates to run for the Massachusetts seat in the U.S. Senate left vacant in August when longtime Sen. Edward M. Kennedy — who held the seat for 46 years — died after a 14-month battle with brain cancer. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in every town. The four Democratic candidates are Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, Stephen Pagliuca, a managing partner of the Boston Celtics, U.S. Rep. Mike...

The Chemsford, Massachusetts schools have been in the news lately, especially on O'Reilly because of the "holiday" festival controversy. As you recall, the Chelmsford school system went out of their way to remove anything vaguely reminiscent of Christmas so as not to "offend" anyone. Well back in 1992 the Chelmsford school system was not so sensitive to people's feelings when they put on a lewd, pornographic sex ed production during school hours at the high school auditorium. Some parents ended up sueing the schools. Here are some court documents pertaining to the lawsuit. http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/getopn.pl?OPINION=95-1275.01A

A judge has attacked parents, suggesting they are bigots for seeking to opt-out their elementary-age children from a mandatory controversial pro-homosexual curriculum, according to a non-profit law firm.

Sen. Lindsey Graham may be under fire from conservatives back home in South Carolina. But the Republican got a personal assurance from President Obama yesterday that the White House is supporting his efforts to craft a sweeping Senate energy and global warming bill. “The president told me personally he was very open, that nuclear power would be part of the mix, that clean coal would be part of the mix, that he’s for offshore drilling in a responsible way,” Graham said today in describing his Oval Office meeting with Obama. “But we have to have a price on carbon,...

Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) is expected to endorse Joe "In The Navy" Sestak, Monday, in his bid to unseat fellow Democrat Arlen Specter as senator from Pennsylvania, according to The Hill.

The nation’s richest senator - the Bay State’s own John Forbes Kerry - has been knocked down a few notches after seeing his fortune sliced by one-third by the fiscal meltdown that ripped down Wall Street. Kerry’s personal net worth plunged from an estimated $336 million in 2007 to $208 million in 2008, according to a study by the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics. The Boston Democrat’s staggering losses dropped him from first to third among the wealthiest senators, trailing Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) “So does this mean Senator Kerry is now arriving in Nantucket by ferry...

Dec 3, 2009 — In the previous entry, Darwin inspired some geologists, even though he was wrong. Here are some news stories showing nature inspiring engineers with wonders right under their noses...

NJ Democratic legislators are busying themselves this holiday season with a last minute attempt to tie the hands of incoming Republican governor Chris Christie. From the moment the votes were counted on Election Day, these folks have been foaming at the mouth about how “important” and “urgent” it was that this bill get passed before Jon “Speedy” Corzine leaves office. At issue is the way in which the NJ governor deals with a potential U.S. senate vacancy. Under the current system, the governor can appoint a replacement for the open seat or call a special election. Or both. The new...

PORTLAND, Maine – A storm packing blustery winds and driving rain knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses in the Northeast on Thursday before giving way to sunny skies and record high temperatures — all in the same morning.

A controversial Merry Christmas sign has returned to its traditional spot outside the Main Street fire station, after the town reversed an earlier decision to take it down. The decision to put the homemade sign back on display was made this afternoon, after residents protested its removal this morning outside Town Hall. "The townspeople have spoken," Selectman Richard Nardella said. Firefighters put the sign back up around 4 p.m.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two senators on Tuesday gave a boost to next week's global environmental summit in Copenhagen, with a senior Democrat advocating more U.S. funding of climate change efforts by poor nations and a key Republican calling for quick action on a U.S. climate bill. Democratic Senator John Kerry, a leading advocate of climate control legislation in Congress, recommended that the Obama administration include $3 billion in next year's budget to help fund efforts to address global warming. This year's funding is about one third that amount. Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the few Republicans willing to negotiate with...

NORTH ANDOVER — An annual "Merry Christmas" sign on a North Andover fire station has been ordered removed. Town officials told firefighters last week to take down the homemade sign after they said people complained. Fire Chief William Martineau said Monday that the sign was made by firefighters about 50 years ago and never had been an issue before.

A new concept making its way through the scientific community holds that just a few key changes in the right genes will result in a whole new life form as different from its progenitor as a bird is from a lizard![1] This idea is being applied to a number of key problems in the evolutionary model, one of which is the lack of transitional forms in both the fossil record and the living (extant) record. The new concept supposedly adds support to the "punctuated equilibrium" model proposed by the late Harvard paleontologist Stephen J. Gould. Dr. Gould derived his ideas...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rep. Patrick Kennedy says all people deserve health care because they are "children of God" in his first public appearance since escalating a public feud with Rhode Island's Roman Catholic bishop over abortion and health care. The Democratic lawmaker spoke Monday at a panel discussion at Brown University.

Americans remain inclined against the health care overhaul in Congress as debate begins on the Senate floor today. The USA Today/Gallup poll released today found 49 percent saying they would tell their representative to vote against the bill and 44 percent saying they would urge a yes vote. That's about the same split as in the survey earlier this month, but a change from 51 percent support and 41 percent disapproval in October. Gallup says: "Republicans are overwhelmingly opposed to new healthcare legislation -- 86% would advise their member of Congress to vote against it, while 12% would want their...

Five years after same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts, the local Episcopal bishop yesterday gave permission for priests in Eastern Massachusetts to officiate at same-sex weddings. The decision by Bishop M. Thomas Shaw III was immediately welcomed by advocates of gay rights in the Episcopal Church, who have chafed at local rules that allowed priests to bless same-sex couples, but not sign the documents that would solemnize their marriages. The decision is likely to exacerbate tensions in the Episcopal Church and the global denomination to which it belongs, the Anglican Communion, which has faced significant division in the wake of...

BOSTON—Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley opposes sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. Coakley issued a statement Sunday saying, "I believe we should begin the process of bringing our troops home."

Asked during last night’s Republican debate about whether his campaign was downplaying his health care plan, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney replied, “I love it.” While praising the plan as a model of bipartisanship — and citing support for it from both Ted Kennedy and the Heritage Foundation — Romney failed to tell viewers what was in the plan. It’s worth reminding people, therefore, that the plan Romney loves: Imposes an unprecedented individual mandate, requiring everyone in Massachusetts to purchase a government-designated insurance product or face thousands of dollars in tax penalties. Significantly increased Medicaid eligibility and provided taxpayer-funded subsidies...

Congress is debating legislation that would do essentially what Mitt Romney did in Massachusetts: impose a health insurance mandate, create a network of subsidies, and micro-manage health insurance policies. Before legislators take us down the same road, they should consider the Massachusetts experience. Citizens there are not impressed with RomneyCare.

Next time you run into a group of Democrats, offer to splash water on their faces. They've spent 2009 in a dream state, and it's time they wake up. They're convinced that they can subsidize health insurance for millions of people while also "bending the cost curve" of health care spending. They want to sign us up for the political equivalent of one of those three-step "eat more to lose weight" diets. Step one: Pile on the expenditures, regulations, taxes, and fees. Step two: Close your eyes. Step three: Pray it all works out in the end. Sorry, it won't....

"Millions of families have seen jobs and careers vanish in the midst of this recession," House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana says in the weekly GOP radio-Internet address, timed this time for Thanksgiving. After trashing Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus package, which he said has failed utterly given the national unemployment rate has risen to a "heartbreaking" 10.2 percent, he ridicules the president's plans for a jobs summit next Thursday. And he says the proposed health care overhaul -- especially a government-run public insurance option -- would make the situation worse. Pence, however, does not offer any specific...

The widow of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy told Oprah Winfrey in an interview broadcast Wednesday that even as her husband knew he was dying of brain cancer he had been "in training" to make sure he had enough strength to attend President Barack Obama's inauguration. In the most extensive interview since her husband's death in August, Vicki Kennedy said she wouldn't try to run for her husband's former U.S. Senate seat and described how he battled brain cancer — but she would not talk about the last thing he said to her before dying. "I think I'll just keep...