Free Republic

Admittedly, the Egyptian uprising, the nullification of Obamacare and the ongoing ramifications of "Snowpocolypse 2011" could render the controversy about an MTV original program insignificant by comparison. After all, MTV is only out to destroy an entire generation. No big deal. Every adult - not just parents - should take the time to learn about the MTV show "Skins," a new "teen drama" that the Parents Television Council (PTC) has deemed "the most dangerous show on TV." Be careful when you go hunting for information about "Skins" lest your spouse conclude you've developed an interest in child pornography. The publicity...

Hamilton, NY -- A new national poll finds high school seniors take a pro-life position on abortion saying it's morally wrong and supporting legislative proposals that would limit abortions and help women find alternatives. The poll also found 72 percent of females in the class of 2006 would not consider an abortion if they became pregnant. The Hamilton College poll found a majority of high school seniors do not believe abortions should be allowed for sociological reasons such as when women are too poor to afford another child or unable to have a baby at the time. Studies from the...

If you’ve ever seen Teen Mom, you know that it in no way glorifies teen parenthood. Those young moms and dads are struggling, and despite the rumors that MTV pays them around $60,000 a season, (which MTV refuses to comment on) many of them are shown relying on government assistance to get by. The young women on the show, as much as their lives are put under the microscope, do get famous in their way.

Sluthood wasn't always considered a virtue. Most normal, rational people look at sleeping around as something sad and wrong. It's not healthy, physically or mentally, it can be damaging to a young girl's reputation, and it can also be incredibly dangerous. Women that sleep around oftentimes end up feeling used and regret their choices when they get older and decide to settle down. Other women end up contracting STDs, which may or may not be treatable. For these reasons and more, being a slut is understandably looked down upon -- it can be genuinely harmful. Today's pseudo-feminists, however, have...

On Friday and Saturday nights, at an increasing number of malls across the country, teenagers are being forced to bring along the one person they'd most likely rather leave behind: a parent. Dozens of malls now have what they call a "parental escort policy," meaning teens under the age of 18 have to be with a parent or guardian who is 21 or over to enter. Most shopping centers have these restrictions only on weekend evenings, but some keep them in place seven days a week. The Mid Rivers Mall in St. Louis, Mo., started sending away teens at the...

Two more teenagers were charged today with the murder of a township man who was beaten to death outside of his home last Friday night. Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said the two boys, one 17 and the other 16, join three other 17-year-olds who were charged with murder Monday after Divyendu Sinha died from the head injuries he received in the beating. The five, none of whom was identified because of their ages, may also face bias charges, the prosecutor said. In addition to the charges arising from Sinha’s fatal beating, the five juveniles, all Old Bridge residents, were...

I was out running errands the other day and there was a weird picture laying on the printer when I got back. Can a virus do this or do I have a teenager who's possibly up to no good?

(CNSNews.com) – At an event celebrating Gay Pride Month on Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged State Department employees to let teenagers know homosexuality is okay. “We’ve come such a far distance in our own country, but there are still so many who need the outreach, need the mentoring, need the support to stand up and be who they are and then think about people in so many countries where it just seems impossible,” Clinton said. “So I think that each and everyone of you, not only professionally, particularly from State and USAID and every bureau and every embassy...

Ultra-fundamentalist militia claims UNRWA-run camp immoral. Masked gunmen from an Islamist group torched a UN-run summer camp for children and teens in Gaza on Sunday, Army Radio reported, the top UN aid official in Gaza said. John Ging says the assailants tied up the guard early Sunday, burned tents and vandalized bathrooms. UN officials say the attackers left behind three bullets and a note threatening to kill Ging and others unless the UN cancels its activities for some 250,000 Gaza children. Two days before the incident, the previously unknown "The Free of the Homeland" group issued a statement criticizing the...

A defense lawyer is calling for calm after death threats have been made against teenagers charged in the death of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince, who committed suicide after she was allegedly bullied by schoolmates. "Not to minimize what happened to Phoebe Prince in any way, but translating this into death threats and public harassment has got to stop," says Colin Keefe, who represents Sharon Chanon Velazquez, accused of tormenting Prince, who hanged herself on Jan. 14. "It's gotten way out of control," adds Keefe, who says Velazquez has been driven temporarily from her home.

These haunting pictures show the extent to which a man with learning difficulties suffered 17 years of torment at the hands of youths, before he collapsed and died in his garden. A film captured on a mobile phone shows how David Askew's agitators would stand inches from his garden fence and hurl abuse at him. On Wednesday the 64-year-old could take no more and, as he tried to protect his property, he suffered a suspected heart attack and died on the spot.

Here's Barack and Michelle Obama with Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and his family. The State Department uploaded it to Flickr. (What an unlikely sentence!) Whoops—no one in Spain has ever seen Zapatero's Goth daughters before! According to Zapatero, Spanish law allows him to prevent the Spanish media from running any photographs of his 16 and 13-year-old daughters Laura and Alba. For their privacy, see. And because maybe it would be considered weird for the PM to have goth daughters, but it totally shouldn't be. It is a natural part of life, becoming a teenaged goth. Click to...

THE kids weren’t all right. They lived in the same comfortable Long Island town and were barely in their teens when they took their first hit of marijuana or sip of alcohol, propelling them on dark journeys they couldn’t seem to escape. Within a couple of years, they were in heroin’s grip. “My parents had no idea,” said one of them, a 17-year-old girl who, like other formerly addicted youths interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of her past drug use. “My mom thought I was smoking a lot of weed and taking diet pills, because who would’ve...

Fifty percent of Gaza residents are under 18 and Hamas is training many of them to lie on beds of nails to grow up to be tough terrorists. "No one will be able to mess with us after we become kung fu masters. Everyone will be afraid of us," one nine-year-old said.

AUGUST 10, 2009 Unemployment Among Teenagers Remains Stubbornly High ERICA ALINI Economists don't see much relief for unemployed teenagers in a recession that has trimmed hires and pulled many adults into the scramble for jobs typically held by teens. Unemployment of people ages 16 to 19 was a seasonally adjusted 23.8% in July after hitting a quarter-century high of 24% in June, the government said last week. That compared with last year's summer peak of 20.5%. Caleb Cross, 16 years old, waits to apply for a summer job funded by stimulus money in Fort Worth, Texas, in June. Traditional teenage...

A program operating on the University of North Carolina at Greensboro campus pays young girls not to get pregnant. Participants in the College Bound Sisters program earn $7 a week to stay baby-free. For 90 minutes a week, the girls learn about abstinence and the use of contraceptives while exploring the benefits of staying in school. The money earned is deposited into a fund and may be retrieved once the girl has enrolled in college. The program, funded by a grant from the state's Department of Health and Human Services, costs about $75,000 a year to operate. A total of...

The following is a copy of a report written by Matthew Robson, a 15-year old schoolboy, for Morgan Stanley on how he and his friends consume media. ... Internet Every teenager has some access to the internet, be it at school or home. Home use is mainly used for fun (such as social networking) whilst school (or library) use is for work. Most teenagers are heavily active on a combination of social networking sites. Facebook is the most common, with nearly everyone with an internet connection registered and visiting >4 times a week. Facebook is popular as one can interact...

GREENSBORO -- A buck-a-day -- that's the incentive being offered to young girls to keep them from getting pregnant, WXII-TV reported. The group College-Bound Sisters was founded at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro by Hazel Brown, a maternity nurse who thought too many teens were having babies. Brown said she hopes the program, which pays $1 each day to 12-to-18-year-old girls, will keep them from getting pregnant. In addition to remaining pregnancy-free, the girls must also attend weekly meetings. The program is funded by a four-year grant from the state. "Our three goals are that they avoid pregnancy,...

Two thirds of teenagers don't believe in God Nearly two thirds of teenagers don't believe in God, according to a study by Penguin books. Teenagers even say family, friends, money, music and even reality television are more important than religion. It also emerged six out of ten 10 children (59 per cent) believe that religion "has a negative influence on the world". The survey also shows that half of teenagers have never prayed and 16 per cent have never been to church. The study of 1,000 teenagers aged 13 to 18 was carried out by Penguin to mark this week's...

Teenagers, Gratitude, and a Culture of Affluence Holland, MI. Like many readers, or perhaps more accurately, like many readers with children, I read with great interest Mark Mitchell’s piece on “Cultivating Gratitude [1].” As the father of three children I have long made such cultivation a central concern, but must confess only middling success in the endeavor. One of the central difficulties we face as parents is the paucity of tools we bring to the task. One of our main tools is the use of rhetoric, but at a certain point – oh, let’s say the teenage years – parental...