Free Republic

The Vermont Workers Center lost a $30,000 grant from a Catholic group because it would not take a stance against abortion and assisted suicide as part of its "Healthcare is a Human Right" campaign. "It's a major challenge for us, $30,000, we make it go a long way," Vermont Workers Center Director James Haslam said. The money represents a quarter of the group's total budget. The center has received the grant in years past, but it must be approved by the Catholic Diocese of Burlington every year. The Vermont Workers Center planned on using the grant to help fund the...

The three federally funded agencies most responsible for turning Canada from a stolid conservative backwater into a raving feminist-gay backwater were cut off at the knees this week in a budget brought down by the Harper government. Reducing federal spending for the first time in nine years, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty also reported a $13-billion surplus in last year's operations. The surplus, he said, would be directed to debt reduction. Liberal governments had been increasing spending by an average 8.2 percent annually, peaking in their final year with a whopping 14.4-percent increase. That had been done in a desperate attempt...