Free Republic

Dear Faculty, in the interest of learning for life, and to promote a deeper understanding of our own socialization in America, the Multicultural Committee would like to promote an opportunity to grow. All we ask is that you watch a documentary on Netflix called 13th and engage in honest self-reflection. We would also like to offer a chance to talk through the ideas in the film and your work as a person confronting your own socialization and implicit bias. 13th is a powerful film that discusses the criminal system in America and how the prison system has been used to...

snip The court goes to great pains to argue that its ruling in Whatcott does not bar religious persons and groups from expressing their views about sexual morality in the public sphere. That may be true in principle, but in practice, I am not so sure. For many Christians, the fact that a sexual practice is engaged in by members of the same sex is spiritually and morally significant. Requiring them to frame their arguments against certain sexual practices as though the gender of the participants is irrelevant will tend to distort their views. We should not kid ourselves, either,...

I work in HR. We are being told by Blue-cross Blue-shield Insurance that dependents CANNOT be removed from the insured's policy until they turn 26, even if they get married (and have coverage under a spouse), take a job on their own (and have their own coverage), leave home (no longer living in a parent-child relationship), etc. etc. This includes a non-adopted step-child. They are saying it is ILLEGAL under Obamacare to remove that child from the insured's coverage. The parent's coverage would be primary and if they got another policy it would be secondary. Seems this make the parent...

The case centers on Apple's move to change the way that publishers charged for e-books as it prepared to introduce its first iPad in early 2010. Traditionally, publishers sold books to retailers for roughly half of the recommended cover price. Under that "wholesale model," booksellers were then free to offer those books to customers for less than the cover price if they wished. Most physical books are sold using this model. To build its early lead in e-books, Amazon Inc. sold many new best sellers at $9.99 to encourage consumers to buy its Kindle electronic readers. But publishers deeply disliked...

A rider attached by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) to the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510), which proposes banning earmarks for the next three years, could have a devastating effect on educational programs like Reach Out and Read, Reading Is Fundamental, and Teach for America, which would lose their federal funding. The vote on the ban is scheduled to take place on the Monday after Thanksgiving. “The passage of this amendment would be catastrophic for Reach Out and Read and 12 other high quality, evidence-based programs that benefit millions of children and families in our country,” says Reach Out...

Robin Pingeton has yet to so much as run a practice as Missouri’s new women’s basketball coach...Some gay and lesbian advocacy groups have openly criticized Pingeton because of comments she made during her introductory press conference.... Pingeton called herself “a Christian who happens to be a coach” and highlighted the theme of family. “This is something very unique for Division I women’s basketball — a staff where the entire staff is married with kids,” she said. “Family is important to us, and we live it every day.” ....Carroll, sports project director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, told Inside...

Washington (CNN) -- About 1,300 U.S. troops have been stuck at the Manas airfield in Kyrgyzstan because of the civil unrest there.... the troops have been unable to move because of the suspension of U.S. military operations at the airfield...it is not known when the airfield will reopen and it is not yet certain how the troops will be moved out... video at link

Like most bureaucrats, Robert Groves, the director of the U.S. Census Bureau, has cultivated a poker face that works pretty well when he's fending off irksome questions from congressmen about why he spent $2.5 million on a TV ad during the Super Bowl or $3 million training employees who were fired before they worked a single day. But through careful observation of Groves' body language, it's possible for trained observers to interpret his words. When he scratches his right ear, for instance, he's telling the truth. When he cups his chin in his hand or rests a finger on his...

Excerpt Were he alive today, Franklin might have a less flattering saying for the bureaucrats running the 2010 census, which is costing taxpayers $15 billion — and rising. That’s $48 per person counted, compared with $16 in 2000 (about $20 adjusted for inflation) and about a penny in 1790 (or 24 cents after 220 years of inflation)... Chaffetz and others in Congress have suggested that instead of using $1 billion in stimulus money to help hire 700,000 new census takers this year, the Census Bureau could have relied at least, in part, on the 785,000 workers at the Postal Service,...

.......John Edwards was having sex with the daughter of the guy who taught Tommy (the Sandman) Burns how to kill horses by electrocuting them! ......in 1982..James Druck, an Ocala, attorney who represented insurance companies, paid [Burns] to kill the brilliant show-jumper Henry the Hawk, on whose life Druck had taken out a $150,000 life insurance policy. The horse was owned and shown by Druck's daughter, Lisa who had competed on his back in shows all over Florida. Her father, a criminally minded lawyer and conniver started Tommy Burns on his grisly career as a horse killer. --snip-- Henry the Hawk...

snip ...Frodo Baggins hit fence 5, the Flower Basket, at high speed and had a rotational fall. The course was held for an hour and a half while Ashker was stabilized, and she was airlifted to the University of Kentucky Hospital. She has sustained injuries but is conscious and able to move her extremities. She is being cared for by the emergency and trauma services at UK. Vets attended to Frodo Baggins for some time, and he was transported off the course to Hagyard Equine Medical Institute just across Ironworks Pike from the Kentucky Horse Park [later euthanized] snip Heidi...

19 miles SSE of Olney, Illinois (ID 851141) APR 18 2008 04:36:57 CDT 5.4 Woke up to the bed shaking in Columbia, MO

A failed jump by one of the world’s finest riders and a spate of deaths have unnerved the equestrian community....Top competitors and coaches argue that the sport’s growing popularity has attracted inexperienced riders who take too many risks, and amateur riders complain that courses are being designed beyond their skill level in order to challenge elite riders. There is also frustration that the governing bodies for eventing have not mandated the safety improvements they identified after another cluster of deaths nine years ago. A target of criticism is the former husband of England’s Princess Anne, Mark Phillips, who is coach...

Roy and Gretchen Jackson, who campaigned 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, say they are not involved with plans to unveil a statue in New York’s Central Park that memorializes the late classic winner. According to a press release Tuesday from the Leo Kesting Gallery in New York, “The Barbaro Memorial Statue” by controversial sculptor Daniel Edwards will be unveiled April 30, the week leading up to this year’s May 3 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I). The press release states that the statue, courtesy of the Kesting Gallery, will depict Barbaro “in the winner’s circle, on his back,...

Yesterday, August 13, 2007, the USDA blocked FR from government computers. It can't be because of the "hate site" hype because the Daily Kos and Demoratic Underground sites are fully accessible. Because FR publishes articles from news sources all over the world and has a pretty decent search engine, there are often articles that relate to the work we do. No they will be very difficult to find.

Near the end of the x-country phase at Rolex, Amy Tryon's horse Le Samurai took a misstep and came up lame. She pressed on and jumped the last fence and crossed the finish line before attempting to pull the horse up. The horse was later humanely destroyed. He did lose all supporting ligaments. Here it is from FEI Press News: The FEI Tribunal has taken its decision in the case of alleged horse abuse committed by Mrs. Amy Tryon on her horse Le Samurai while participating in the cross-country phase of the 2007 Rolex Lexington Kentucky 4-Star Event on 28...

See video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqUPoQj5hV8 Tryon Under FEI Investigation Following Rolex Kentucky Le Samurai’s injury before the last fence at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event left spectators at the event and around the globe, who were watching on the Internet, shocked and upset. He jumped the last fence almost on three legs, and Amy Tryon, who had been in the lead after dressage, dismounted immediately upon crossing the finish line. Members of the ground jury met later on April 28 to investigate the incident for alleged abuse. They reviewed written statements from the fence judges, watched the videotape and interviewed FEI...

JEFFERSON CITY | Fred Ferrell, director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture, was forced to resign Monday in the face of allegations he sexually harassed a female employee. Gov. Matt Blunt, who previously had disciplined Ferrell for the alleged harassment and gender discrimination, requested Ferrell’s resignation. Democrats charged that the Republican governor only forced out Ferrell after an uproar started to build over the allegations. The resignation came after specific details of the alleged harassment and gender discrimination became public on Friday, when the agriculture department released a Missouri State Highway Patrol investigative report. Heather Elder, the former employee who...

Pic Caption: Tania Minter, at her home near Midway yesterday, believes her civil rights were violated last month when police stopped and searched her car and handcuffed her for allegedly playing her music too loud. Tania Minter is expected to earn a degree in computer science next year, but a recent experience has her considering a career as a civil rights lawyer. The 23-year-old wants to defend blacks who feel profiled and targeted by cops - the way she felt when she was handcuffed after a traffic stop last month. Police took Minter into custody during a surveillance operation Sept....

The Central Kentucky horse industry was reeling Sunday after several prominent members of the equine community and others were among the 49 people killed in the crash of a commuter jet shortly after takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington. With only one of the 50 people aboard surviving, the victims included George Brunacini, who bred 2005 Travers Stakes (gr. I) winner Flower Alley; Central Kentucky horseman Dan Mallory; and trainer Jeff Williams. Also listed among the deceased by the Lexington Herald-Leader was 25-year-old Washington, D.C., resident Marcie Thomason, whose father, Bill Thomason, is financial and administrative manager of Mill...