Free Republic

If you were to look under the roofs of American homes at random, it wouldn’t take long to find someone who lives alone. By the Census Bureau’s latest count, there are about 36 million solo dwellers, and together they make up 28 percent of U.S. households. Even though this percentage has been climbing steadily for decades, these people are still living in a society that is tilted against them. In the domains of work, housing, shopping, and health care, much of American life is a little—and in some cases, a lot—easier if you have a partner or live with family...

Most of the liberals across the country – particularly in the media – are all in favor of “punishing” Republicans in public office. But they tend to limit their ambitions in these areas to the idea of voting them out of office. Or, in the case of the President, removing him sooner via impeachment. This is seen in some quarters as accountability. Today, however, I’m looking over a more unique suggestion, brought to us by Matthew Sears at the Washington Post. Sure, it’s all well and good to talk about holding elected officials accountable. But what about the voters who...

“Why would a person choose a life where they will be hated, judged, and rejected by society?” This was one of the first arguments I learned to defend myself against in arguments about my sexuality. In the late 1990s, it was perceived as a powerful call to the humanity of those who opposed gay rights under the notion that it was merely a lifestyle choice. The idea was that if we could appeal to others’ sense of compassion for our social plight, perhaps they could understand the effects of their intolerance. I often fantasized about breaking through the walls of...

The plane landed safely at San Jose Mineta International Airport, about 50 miles south of San Francisco. The airline says the passenger accused of smoking was turned over to law enforcement. The remaining 32 passengers were placed on other aircraft to continue their trips. Passengers reported smelling smoke, and one said he smelled marijuana. “It looked like that someone needed to smoke a joint on a plane, and he went into the bathroom, smoked his blunt, and set off the fire alarm,” passenger Jonathan Burkes said.

Killing a baby in the womb is a good parenting decision. It's a blessing. It's normal. It's a family value. These essentially are the messages of a new billboard campaign by Ohio's largest abortion business, Preterm. The ads celebrate and normalize abortion, leaving out the part about the baby's death. The AP reports Preterm recently paid for 16 billboards in the Cleveland area that display the words "Abortion is ..." followed by different phrases, such as "a parenting decision," "a blessing," "liberty" and "your right." Other phrases include "life-saving," "necessary" and "a second chance." None of the billboards explain what...

Halloween is a spooky night, but there's nothing scary about this sad pit bull dressed up for the occasion. William, an 18 year old from Massachusetts, posted a heartbreaking to Twitter of his dog Dublin on Halloween. He was apparently sad that no trick-or-treaters wanted to pet the dog while his mother handed out candy. William is away from home at college, but called his mom on Halloween night to catch up. That's when she told him the heartbreaking news. "She was passing out candy and said that my dog was crying because people wouldn't pet him. That broke my...

“You have cancer.” Fear and dread pulse upon hearing those words.  The stigma of cancer—the chemotherapy, the endless tests, the knowledge that death is growing inside—is not joyful.  But the disease and the stigma can be overcome. “You’re pregnant.” Depending on circumstances, this is can be the biggest news in the world, or the worst possible thing. There are only two ways a pregnancy can end: a birth or a death.  There’s no stigma in having a baby, but the stigma never goes away when a pregnancy ends without one.  No matter how much some people want to hush over...

Melissa Mark-Viverito, 45, shared her diagnosis on Twitter on Sunday She learned she had the infection after her first appointment with a gynecologist in two years - and encouraged women to get checked HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection and can lead to cervical cancer, as well as other cancers New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito has revealed she has 'high risk HPV', a sexually-transmitted disease that can cause cancer. She made the announcement on Twitter on Sunday, explaining that she learned about her human papillomavirus diagnosis on Friday following a long overdue gynecologist's appointment. [Snip]...

Image credit: Jimmy Demello Artworks[/caption] The last time I was in Houston, I had to change the fuse in my paradox meter after meeting a self-described pro-choice Republican woman, who was also a lawyer.  I told her at least she was better than Wendy Davis, to which no response was offered.  I said it a second time, and with a puff of white smoke, the paradox-meter died. Dang, the fuse just blew again, reading Time’s August 4 issue, Religion section article “Atheist “Churches” Gain Popularity—Even in the Bible Belt” (behind a paywall).  Yup, the “Atheist Church” they wrote about...

There's a real stigma associated with people who have been out of work for more than six months or those who are prone to job hopping. To find out how hiring managers view these candidates, economist Rand Ghayad conducted an experiment where he sent out 4,800 fictitious résumés for 600 job openings. Ghayad found that managers would rather hire people with no relevant job experience than someone who's been unemployed for a long time or has had several jobs in a short period of time. The resumes sent out described candidates looking work for different reasons across several industries, but...

NEW YORK, April 5 (C-FAM) Frustrated by the persistence of shame attached to abortion, international abortion activists are employing stealth methods to recruit and train abortionists while scholars are attempting to stigmatize healthcare providers’ right to object on grounds of conscience. “Abortion stigma is affected both by legislative initiatives that establish fetal personhood and gestational age limits and by discourses that influence cultural values,” write Dr. Allison Norris and her colleagues in a Women’s Health Issues article. “By constructing the fetus as a person and abortion as murder, anti-abortion forces argue that women or providers - or both - should...

President Obama promised “meaningful action” to prevent gun violence, but he didn’t explain exactly what that meant. Although a push for some kind of gun control legislation seems likely, there’s also the possibility of an anti-gun “informational campaign” as described in 1995 by then-U.S. Attorney Eric Holder. Holder, now Obama’s attorney general, proposed using various levers of media and pop culture to attach a social stigma to guns, just as smoking has been stigmatized in recent decades. “One thing that I think is clear with young people and with adults as well, is that we just have to be repetitive...

Mexico says it's singled out in flu fear Published: May 5, 2009 at 8:13 AM MEXICO CITY, May 5 (UPI) -- Countermeasures some countries use to mitigate the outbreak of H1N1 flu prompted Mexican officials to say their citizens are typecast as virus-carriers. Officials consider Mexico the epicenter for the H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak that has spread to at least 20 countries. Scientists haven't pinpointed the origin of the virus, but the earliest cases were found in the southwestern United States and Mexico, The New York Times reported. However, the United States Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said the...

Google crosses line with controversial old Tokyo maps By JAY ALABASTER The Associated Press When Google Earth added historical maps of Japan to its online collection last year, the search giant didn't expect a backlash. The finely detailed woodblock prints have been around for centuries, they were already posted on another Web site, and a historical map of Tokyo put up in 2006 hadn't caused any problems.

JEDDAH – No job is demeaning and all professions, however considered lowly, must be respected. This was the message Minister of Labor, Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, delivered when he donned the uniform of a waiter and carried out orders from the catering department’s head. He also kissed the head of a Saudi waiter at one of Jeddah’s restaurants in an expression of admiration for the man who caters to the food needs of many customers on a daily basis oblivious of the stigma and the negativity attached to the profession. The minister was patronizing the first Saudi Hospitality Day organized by...

Stigma can be a powerful force in changing behavior. Just ask smokers, whose once accepted habit is now so marginalized that the prevalence of smoking has dropped to about 19 percent of U.S. adults from nearly 24 percent just a decade ago. A lot of factors figured into the decline since smoking's mid-20th-century peak, but the sense that smoking is disgusting as well as unhealthful and socially costly has certainly contributed to many people's decision to quit. Now that smokers have been taken care of, the obese are the new scapegoats for a lot of our ills. Last week, a...

LANCASTER, Ohio: The long campaign has taken some of the fight out of the Big Dog. The growling and snapping Bill Clinton that the country saw before the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries has been muzzled and leashed. He is being kept as far from the media as possible to prevent any more of the red-faced, finger-wagging tirades and freelance political commentary that polls say cost Hillary Clinton a lot of support, particularly among black voters. In the Lancaster High School gymnasium Monday night, Bill Clinton spoke for a full hour to about 2,000 people. The room could have...

Americans are obsessed with fat because fatness has become a symbol for poverty, downward mobility, nonwhiteness and socially marginal status in general. Fear and hatred of fat has very little to do with the health risks associated with being "overweight" and "obese" (which are wholly imaginary and highly exaggerated

HEADQUARTERS MARINE CORPS, Washington (Aug. 18, 2006) -- Richard Litto does not like the term “weekend warrior.” In fact, he despises it, and the mere mention of the phrase triggers a standoffish response in a thick, South Boston accent. “I don’t like it,” said Litto, a reserve Marine on active duty at Westover Air Reserve Base, Mass. “We’re all Marines regardless of what status we’re in.” And Litto is a true Marine. The 46-year-old sergeant currently serves with Marine Air Support Squadron 6; however, when called up for active duty from the reserves, he wanted to be with the action....

Clueless on Cable“Rampage Killers,” “American Justice Series,” A&E Network, hosted by Bill Kurtis (1 hour) In 1991, Wayne Lo, a male student at Shining Rock College in Massachusetts, started harassing a female student for a date. When, after several months, she still refused to date him and in fact had to climb out windows to avoid him, he bought a rifle and ammo and went on a shooting rampage on campus, shooting at random six people (including the campus gate guard), leaving two dead. When he got bored, Lo then sat down and dialed 9-1-1. The college prohibited campus police...