Free Republic

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has issued a directive blocking persons from donating food to the homeless in his city. “It's not that we question the generous intent of these donations,” Bloomberg reassured. “It's just that we have no way of guaranteeing the quality of the donated food. The risk is that donor ignorance could result in excessive amounts of salt and fat in the diets of these unfortunates.” If those operating homeless shelters or the homeless themselves do not turn away food donations, NYC police are authorized to seize food items before they can be consumed. While there...

The Texas Republican Party gives a whole new meaning to the word conservative. The GOP there has voted on a platform that would ban oral and anal sex. It also would give jail sentences to anyone who issues a marriage license to a same-sex couple (even though such licenses are already invalid in the state). “We oppose the legalization of sodomy,” the platform says. “We demand that Congress exercise its authority granted by the U.S. Constitution to withhold jurisdiction from the federal courts from cases involving sodomy.” [Snip] In addition, the platform says that homosexuality “tears at the fabric...

With the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), two points immediately come to mind. First is the endless, generally uncritical encomia that journalists and other public commenters immediately generate whenever any major figure, especially a controversial one, dies. Here's a writer for what was effectively Kennedy's hometown paper, The Boston Globe: "I think they're gonna say he is one of the greatest legislators, or most effective legislators—if not the most effective legislator—the Senate has ever seen," Boston Globe reporter and author Susan Milligan said. "And I don't think you could find a sitting senator right now, Democrat or Republican, who...

ECONOMISTS have long recognised the arguments for imposing special taxes on goods and services whose prices do not reflect the true social cost of their consumption. Such taxes are known as “Pigouvian” after Arthur Pigou, a 20th-century English economist. Environmental taxes are an obvious example. There is also a Pigouvian case for duties on cigarettes, alcohol and gambling. Smoking increases the risk of cancer for those in the vicinity of the smoker; alcohol abuse and gambling are strongly associated with violence and family breakdown. Moreover, all three habits lead to higher medical costs. In theory governments can make up these...

EAT your vegetables. Avoid sweets and fats. Never smoke. And do your calis thenics. Or be ready to pay a hefty tax. Ridiculous? Sure. But under ObamaCare, Americans may well find themselves moving quickly toward a world of just those kind of mandates. Here's why. As taxpayers start paying an ever-larger share of the nation's health bill (as they clearly will under the Dems' health reforms), pressure will mount for Uncle Sam to see that folks live healthy lives. There'll be two key rationales for broader sin taxes and other ways to control lifestyles: * They promote "wellness." * They...

Melissa Boulch of Bremerton has been perusing the racks of consignment shops more these days to outfit her daughters, 3-year-old Audrey and 9-month-old Brianna. Along with getting some good deals, she earns a little money by selling clothes her daughters no longer wear. But just as Boulch and others turn increasingly to consignment and thrift shops to get more for their dollar, a new law is forcing the industry to become more vigilant about the items it accepts. A new federal product safety law that goes into effect on Feb. 10 requires manufacturers of new children's products to meet tighter...

Bill Will Also Allow Schools To Discipline Students For Conduct (CBS) PLAINFIELD, IL -- With more teenagers and young adults posting profiles on MySpace.com, state lawmakers are looking for a way to make it safer. CBS 2's Rafael Romo reports a new bill in Springfield would give authorities more power to crack down on sexual predators. As a frequent user of social networking Web sites such as MySpace.com and Facebook, Adam Lawler says nothing surprises him anymore. "You get people that are a little too old talking to people that are a little too young. I've heard some bad...

Washington, D.C. — Concerned Women for America (CWA) expressed its strong dismay at the multibillion-dollar broadcast industry’s latest attempt to abuse the public airwaves. After repeatedly offending the public with indecent broadcasts, four major broadcasters filed what CWA believes are frivolous lawsuits challenging the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) recent rulings. A license to broadcast doesn’t give anyone – not even super-rich Big-Media conglomerates – the right to broadcast indecent language between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. The four major broadcasters want the courts to approve the indiscriminate use of words for excretory and explicit sexual conduct. “All four broadcast networks...

Like football and hockey players, soccer players would have to don helmets on the field to protect their heads, under a new legislative proposal. The measure, scheduled for a hearing today on Beacon Hill, would cover peewee leagues to college teams.

Backed by gruesome shots of computerised cannibalism, police beatings and violence, campaigners warned parents that their children were increasingly at risk from "sadistic" video games. Senator Hillary Clinton and former vice presidential nominee Joseph Lieberman meanwhile launched new legislation intended to protect kids from graphic, violent and sexual material on their game consoles. The National Institute on Media and the Family said in its annual report that video game retailors had failed to honor promises to safeguard children from violent and sexual content in new generation video games. "There has been significant industry progress and reforms over the last decade,...

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- A proposal to impose a special tax on sexually oriented businesses is creating a dilemma for some legislators. They're socially conservative and would like to combat pornography and discourage the opening of new shops that sell X-rated videos and magazines and other products, such as sex toys. But some also have signed a pledge not to raise taxes. That has a few talking about tying the proposed porn tax to proposals to cut taxes elsewhere. Among them is Sen. Kay O'Connor, R-Olathe, who told the Lawrence Journal-World she would like to support a tax on sexually...

Polls keep showing that American Indians aren’t really offended by college team nicknames such as warriors, braves, Indians, Seminoles, and Fighting Illini. But many sportswriters, campus “diversity” officials, and now the National Collegiate Athletic Association think they ought to be. So the NCAA says it will ban from championship play all college teams with “hostile or abusive” nicknames and mascots. It apparently took this action without consulting tribal leaders. “It’s like history-they left the natives out,” said Max Osceola, a member of the tribal council of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which approves the use of the Seminole mascot and...

Smoking bill now law in Delaware By Joe Rogalsky, Staff writer WILMINGTON - Gov. Ruth Ann Minner signed Senate Bill 99 - perhaps the country's most stringent antismoking legislation - into law Friday. The measure, which takes effect Nov. 27, prohibits smoking in virtually every public place. Fire halls and fraternal organizations are exempted while holding fund-raisers. "Cigarettes are legal, and we are not abridging the rights of people to smoke," said Gov. Minner, who backed the ban during her State of the State address in January. "What we are doing is limiting the effect smoking will have on those...

<p>Sacramento -- Arnold Schwarzenegger turned in 750,000 signatures yesterday to qualify a ballot initiative promoting after-school care for the November ballot.</p> <p>The Republican movie star turned in almost twice as many signatures as necessary to win a spot on the fall ballot.</p>