Free Republic

An illegal immigrant applying for a law license in California should be allowed to receive it, the State Bar of California argues in a filing to the state Supreme Court. Sergio Garcia, 35, of Chico, Calif., has met the rules for admission, including passing the bar exam and the moral character review, and his lack of legal status in the United States should not automatically disqualify him, the Committee of Bar Examiners said Monday. “ … Mr. Garcia’s status in the United States, should not, ipso facto, be grounds for excluding him from law licensure. He has met all of...

The Boy Scouts of America is considering a resolution that calls for ending a 102-year-old policy they’ve grappled with in recent years: banning gay scouts and scout leaders, gay advocates told msnbc.com on Wednesday. Though the organization said it would review the proposal, a spokesman insisted there were no plans to change the policy. The new policy would throw out the national ban and allow local chartering organizations to decide whether or not they would accept gay youth and leaders, said Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout who has advocated for the change, citing unidentified people who attended the group's national...

The airlines are making it much more difficult for families with children to travel these days. In recent developments: United Airlines joined US Airways and American Airlines in no longer offering preboarding for families with kids flying in coach. Families are having more difficulty getting adjoining seats. That's because airlines are reserving more seats for frequent fliers and those willing to pay, usually $50 round trip, for the most desirable seats in coach -- window and aisle, and closest to the front of the plane.

Geologists say Jesus, as described in the New Testament, was most likely crucified on Friday, April 3, in the year 33. The latest investigation, reported in International Geology Review, focused on earthquake activity at the Dead Sea, located 13 miles from Jerusalem. The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 27, mentions that an earthquake coincided with the crucifixion: “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open.”

Vatican City, May 23, 2012 / 11:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Dads who are absent from their family make it more difficult for their children to understand God as a loving father, Pope Benedict XVI said on May 23. “Perhaps modern man does not perceive the beauty, grandeur and profound consolation contained in the word ‘father’ with which we can turn to God in prayer, because the father figure is often not sufficiently present in today’s world, and is often not a sufficiently positive presence in everyday life,” the Pope said in his weekly general audience address. He underscored that the...

At least four key witnesses have changed their stories about what they saw the night George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., the Orlando Sentinel reported Tuesday. The report comes after state prosecutors released about half the evidence they have in their second-degree murder case against Zimmerman. The witnesses, known publicly only by numbers, first talked to Sanford police and later to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and state prosecutors Witness 2: A young woman from the Retreat at Twin Lakes community, where Martin, 17, was shot Feb. 26, first told investigators she saw two men running...

CHICAGO (AP) — Three activists who travelled to Chicago for a NATO summit were accused Saturday of manufacturing Molotov cocktails in a plot to attack President Barack Obama's campaign headquarters, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's home and other targets. But defense lawyers shot back that Chicago police had trumped up the charges to frighten peaceful protesters away, telling a judge it was undercover officers known by the activists as "Mo" and "Gloves" who brought the firebombs to a South Side apartment where the men were arrested. "This is just propaganda to create a climate of fear," Michael Duetsch said. "My clients came...

May 17, 2012 (Zenit.org) – In 1960, the combined oral contraceptive pill was first approved for use in the United States. Seven years later, “the Pill” was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, illustrating its enormous societal impact[1]. Roughly two generations later, statistics from the United Nations show that, within more developed nations worldwide, just under 16% of “partnered” women use contraceptive pills, a number which does not include usage among single women[2]. However, even as the popularity of oral contraceptives remains high, the drugs themselves have been evolving in response to further discoveries about the human reproductive system,...

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, May 15, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – The nation’s largest Catholic university will feature a commencement speaker who believes “the rest of life would benefit enormously” from the extinction of mankind, considers Christianity “the most dangerous of devotions,” and boasted about weakening the “dissolutive, oppressive institutions of organized religion.” Population guru E.O. Wilson will address a combined ceremony of DePaul University‘s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and its College of Science and Health on June 10. The date is his 83rd birthday.

Charleston, W.Va., Apr 19, 2012 / 11:20 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of Wheeling-Charelston, W.Va. denied allegations of sex abuse against him during April 18 court proceedings in the criminal trial against a Pennsylvania priest. “To now be unfairly included in that group and to hear the horrific allegations that are being made of me is unbelievable and shocking,” Bishop Bransfield said in an April 19 statement. A witness in the trial against Monsignor William Lynn – who is accused of covering up sex abuse accusations within the Philadelphia Archdiocese – told the court that he was sexually...

TORONTO, Ontario, March 22, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Ontario Court of Justice judge erupted in a lengthy, angry tirade against pro-life activist Mary Wagner – and ejected a spectator from the public gallery – in a downtown Toronto courtroom Wednesday. The judge then sent Wagner to jail for an additional 92 days, added to 88 days already served prior to trial, after finding her guilty of mischief and two counts of failing to comply with probation orders. The charges related to Wagner’s November 8 arrest at the site of the Bloor West Village “Women’s Clinic.” Wagner has been arrested on...

LONDON -- St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, may well have been a tax collector for the Romans who fled to Ireland where he could have traded slaves to pay his way, according to new research by a University of Cambridge academic published on Saturday. The generally accepted account of the saint's life, albeit based on scant evidence, says Patrick was abducted from western Britain as a teenager and forced into slavery in Ireland for six years during which time he developed a strong Christian faith. Afterwards, the account continues, he escaped his captors and went back to Britain before...

Lifetime's Dance Moms has hit new lows by asking its child contestants - the youngest of whom is just eight-years-old - to dress in nude bikinis and perform a burlesque routine on stage. The raunchy dance moves are usually the domain of striptease experts, the X-rated acts brimming with nudity, nipple tassels and sexually explicit poses. But a clip from this week's show sees dance teacher Abby Lee Miller dressing the children in tan bikinis to give the audience the impression of full nudity, before asking them to act as if a man 'cant' afford' them.

Among the food-related bogeymen that activists blame for America’s bulging waistlines is the so-called “food desert,” an urban or rural area that has a shortage of supermarkets. At first blush, it might seem like living in one of these “deserts” would to reduce a person’s access to fresh fruits and vegetables. However, there’s little evidence that these conditions are actually preventing people from finding nutritious foods if they want them. Regardless, activists ask for “supermarket subsidies” and restaurant zoning prohibitions. But there’s now more evidence that “food deserts” aren’t causing America’s kids to get fat. Researchers from the RAND Corporation...

Could an ingredient found in the dye that provides cola with its traditional brown shade cause cancer? A controversial report released by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) says yes. According to CBS News, the consumer interest group, CSPI, published a report, which linked Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Pepsi, and Diet Pepsi, as well as some other brown-hued sodas to a cancer-causing chemical. The chemical, 4-methylimidazole, more commonly referred to as 4-MI or 4-MEI, has been proven to cause cancer in lab rats and mice. The CSPI has petitioned the FDA to enforce a labeling system that would...

New York, January 27 (C-FAM) Hungarian leaders have passed a law protecting the traditional family, defying ongoing criticism that their new constitution would curtail abortion and homosexuality. The new law says the family, based upon marriage of a man and a woman whose mission is fulfilled by raising children, is an "autonomous community...established before the emergence of law and the State" and that the State must respect it as a matter of national survival. It says "Embryonic and foetal life shall be entitled to protection and respect from the moment of conception," and the state should encourage "homely circumstances" for...

Police have charged a Landstown High School math teacher with abduction and sexual abuse after a student reported being hit several times with a belt after school. Police in a news release said the female student stayed after school Wednesday for a tutoring session and had failed to complete an assignment. She accused the teacher of hitting her across the buttocks as punishment. The girl reported that to a school nurse, and the nurse called police and Child Protective Services. Police charged Michael David Shanklin Jr., 37, of the 2500 block of Hunters Run Trail. He was jailed without bond....

In one of the first endorsements for former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum following this weekend’s meeting of evangelical and social conservative leaders that had them supporting his campaign, the head of a pro-life women’s group has backed the GOP presidential hopeful. Penny Nance, President and CEO of Concerned Women for America, issued an endorsement for Santorum in her personal capacity, not speaking on behalf of the organization that represents hundreds of thousands of pro-life women.

As GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum appeared as a guest on Thursday’s Today show on NBC, substitute co-host Savannah Guthrie focused the interview on the former Pennsylvania Senator’s views on abortion and contraception, and whether he would be acceptable to “middle of the road voters.” (Video below) After her first question dealt with whether Santorum would just be the latest candidate to surge and then fade, the remaining three questions she asked focused on whether his social conservatism would appeal to mainstream voters.

As GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum appeared as a guest on Thursday’s Today show on NBC, substitute co-host Savannah Guthrie focused the interview on the former Pennsylvania Senator’s views on abortion and contraception, and whether he would be acceptable to “middle of the road voters.” (Video below) After her first question dealt with whether Santorum would just be the latest candidate to surge and then fade, the remaining three questions she asked focused on whether his social conservatism would appeal to mainstream voters.