Free Republic

I guess that you could call this a vanity but it affects everyone in California and beyond! It is CRITICAL that we make our voices heard on this issue! The situation is this: Bill SB 1437, was passed and sent to the governor. It requires all textbooks to be rewritten and reissued at a cost that our school system, not to mention taxpayers, can little afford. They will indoctrinate schoolchildren with a homosexual agenda. The bill requires that all new textbooks (k-12) highlight homosexuals and eliminate all references to mom and dad. The governor is doing a phone poll. Please...

There is, apparently, a resurgence of manliness in America. Superman has returned to the big screen and unshaven, testosterone-charged film stars such as Colin Farrell no longer look socially marginalised. The A To Z Of Manliness, a compendium of tips on such matters as how to punch properly, is number two on the New York Times bestseller list, while a rash of academic books on the importance of real men have added fuel to the fire. The Boston Globe recently summed up the phenomenon: "We're in the middle of a Menaissance." It is the atavistic desire to provide for those...

Groups of youths hit Paris' riot-shaken suburbs with waves of arson attacks, torching hundreds of cars, as unrest entered its second week Friday and spread to other towns in France. In the eastern city of Dijon, teens apparently angered by a police crackdown on drug trafficking in their neighborhood set fire to five cars, said Paul Ronciere, the region's top government official. Overnight in the Paris region, 420 cars were set ablaze, up from previous nights, the Interior Ministry said... The unrest was led by "very numerous small and highly mobile groups," with arson attacks that destroyed 187 vehicles and...

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Parents have no constitutional right to prevent public schools from exposing children to sexual topics, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's decision that found the rights of parents were not violated by a California public school district that allowed a psychological survey of its elementary school children. Among the survey questions asked of the children were 10 with sexual references, such as "Can't stop thinking about sex" and "Not trusting people because they might want sex." A group of parents...

Later this morning I will be leaving California to travel to Mississippi to help with the hurricane relief effort through Samaritan's Purse. Ten people from our church will be going into southern Mississippi to help with cleanup and relief services for the next ten days, but I am a member of the advance team. I will be driving non-stop for the next few days with a friend. We are carrying the tools and supplies needed and will be meeting the rest of the group at the Jackson airport after we arrive. I know that there are many God-fearing Freepers out...

ARLINGTON, Va. — Authorities are avoiding airdropping provisions into New Orleans — the traditional way of supplying disaster victims — out of fear of sparking riots, a state official said. While the military has used helicopters to drop provisions to some stranded in New Orleans, authorities have not launched the massive supply airdrops seen in Afghanistan at the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom. Several C-130 Hercules aircraft are stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base, but authorities have not ordered them to drop supplies to flood victims, Arkansas Air National Guard officials said. Airdropping supplies could actually worsen the situation,...

I am co-owner of a farming and packing company located in Central California. We ship fresh fruit throughout the country and as a result, we have contacts in the New Orleans area. This morning we received a call from Carl, our primary contact in the New Orleans area. To be honest, we were shocked that he'd call us but he was able to get a message out. He primarily wanted to get word to us that he is okay and to give us a heads up about what things are like there. His company was located in New Orleans until...

“Thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from your needy brother; surely open thy hand to him.” Deut. 15:7-8 Is there a short-cut to the spiritual wealth of life? One of the most powerful and immediate ways to connect the circuit of life, and let the blessings flow is Tzedaka.... Tzedaka is really not charity. Charity is doing something you don't have to do because you are being nice. You don't feel an obligation to give, but you want to be nice, so you'll give a few coins. That's what charity is, but that's not really Tzedaka....

Major developments in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: •The relative calm of night was disrupted early Friday with a series of massive explosions on the riverfront a few miles south of the French Quarter. •Congress rushed a $10.5 billion recovery bill to President Bush, who called the relief effort the biggest in U.S. history. •Texas agreed to triple to 75,000 the number of evacuees being taken in from Louisiana. Houston officials temporarily stopped admitting people to the Astrodome late Thursday after accepting 11,325. Others will be housed in the adjacent Reliant Center, where the Houston Texans play football. •President Bush...

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco just announced in a press conference that no less than 40,000 troops will be pouring into Louisina for support and to restore order. Re-inforcements of police and soldiers are coming into New Orleans as well from other parts of Louisiana and around the country. Troopers from Texas, Arkansas, Michigan, and Kentucky are arriving and have been deputized with arrest powers from the State of Louisiana. An additional 250 police officers are currently moving into New Orleans this afternoon to add to the 1,100 New Orleans officers currently on duty. They have received "tons" of reports of...

Major developments in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: • The first of nearly 25,000 refugees being sheltered at the Superdome in New Orleans arrive at Houston's Astrodome, where they will stay until floodwaters recede. • Officials start evacuating 10,000 people -- patients, staff and refugees -- out of nine hospitals in the New Orleans area without power, using generators that are running low on fuel, or battling floodwaters. • Tenet Healthcare Corp. asks Louisiana State Police and the U.S. Coast Guard to help evacuate one of its fully functioning hospitals after a supply truck carrying food, water, medical supplies was...

Just announced on WWLTV. The Mayor of New Orleans has just declared martial law to deal with the looters. No Miranda Rights, etc.

Sad yet riveting, like a wreck by the side of the road, Cindy Sheehan, a plaything of her own sincerities and other people's opportunisms, has already been largely erased from the national memory by new waves of media fickleness in the service of the public's summer ennui. But before she becomes fully relegated to the role of opening act for more durable luminaries at antiwar rallies, prudent Democrats should consider the possibility that, although she was a burr under the president's saddle for several weeks, she is symptomatic of something that in 2008 could cause the Democratic Party a sixth...

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then--to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone--"to relax," I told myself--but I knew it wasn't true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's. I began to think...

California's Department of Homeland Security is warning hospitals in Los Angeles and San Diego of a possible terrorist attack. The department says it received "uncorroborated information" in early July that Al Qaeda has planned attacks in Los Angeles and San Diego. It quotes a U.S. government source saying eight trained pilots are already in the U.S., and nearly a dozen Al Qaeda members in California are helping them plan attacks using planes hijacked from Mexico or India. Their top targets are said to include a nuclear facility, a military or civilian airport, or a major hospital. The attacks are said...

WASHINGTON -- Surging revenues and a steady economy have led the White House to project that this year's federal budget deficit will drop to $333 billion, nearly $100 billion below earlier estimates. "We're ahead of projections now," President Bush said Wednesday. Bush said the improving deficit picture vindicated his stewardship of the economy and budget. "These numbers indicate that we're going to cut the deficit in half faster than the year 2009 _ so long as Congress holds the line on spending," Bush said following a Cabinet meeting. On the economy, the White House foresees a 3.6 percent real growth...

The four young men who carried out the London terror attacks were British-born suicide bombers, police sources have told Sky News. At a minimum, it is "highly likely" one of the Tube attackers died in the strikes on the Underground network. Police have stopped short of saying publicly Britain had suffered its first suicide strike, but Sky News correspondent Martin Brunt said senior anti-terror police were working on the assumption the men were British-born suicide bombers and had died in the blasts. The four travelled by car from West Yorkshire to Luton and then by train to Kings Cross station...

All four suspected bombers died during the London terror attacks, according to police sources. Sky News crime correspondent Martin Brunt said three bombers died in separate Tube attacks and one was killed in the No 30 bus blast. Detectives believe all four were British citizens, Brunt said. It was still not clear if the attackers were all suicide bombers. This follows witness reports of a man on the bus in an agitated state constantly looking into his bag before the blast in Tavistock Square. Brunt said police had made a number of arrests in Leeds today in relation to last...

WASHINGTON - The Democratic National Committee has raised more than $28 million through the first half of 2005, boosted by online donations, the party said Monday. Online donations have brought in five times as much money as the party raised online in 2003 — the last time the party was raising money in a non-election year. Under new chairman Howard Dean, the Democrats have raised more than $1 million a week from about 600,000 donations. The Democrats' online effort included a monthly giving program called "Democracy Bonds" with about 15,000 donors signed up. The DNC has about $9 million in...

PARIS - World leaders condemned the deadly attacks in London Thursday and quickly ordered security stepped up in their own countries, vowing to cooperate to track down the attackers in a globe-spanning pledge of solidarity. Spain, bitterly familiar with terror after train bombings in Madrid killed 191 people last year, put its security forces on maximum alert, posting army and police units to watch over airports, train stations and shopping centers. The government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero offered its "unconditional help to chase the criminals who perpetrated such a repugnant attack." A similar response came from France,...