Free Republic

Once the child’s hand hit his crotch, a moral, sexually healthy adult man would have leaped backward as if a hot wire had touched him and hollered for the child’s parents to take her away. This guy giggled and demonstrated with his own hand that she should keep doing it. I felt sullied watching that innocent little girl being used sexually. And of course, one of the “performers” inevitably rolled around on the floor making sure all and sundry saw his crotch. This is wrong, and it bespeaks a deep societal sickness that adult sexual jokes and parodies, without any...

Joe Paterno sat in a wheelchair at the family kitchen table where he has eaten, prayed and argued for more than a half-century. All around him family members were shouting at each other, yet he was whispering. His voice sounded like wind blowing across a field of winter stalks, rattling the husks. Lung cancer has robbed him of the breath to say all that he wants to about the scandal he still struggles to comprehend, and which ended his career as head football coach at Penn State University. The words come like gusts. "I wanted to build up, not break...

The President has not yet certified the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and it will not go into effect until 60 days after that. But during a teleconference from Afghanistan to Camp Pendleton, Major General Richard Mills said training packages to prepare for the repeal have already arrived in Helmand Province. Mills described the training as "quite extensive,” with a series of classes, including scenarios and discussion groups. He said the trainers are being trained, and Marines based at Camp Leatherneck will start going through the program as soon as the directive comes down from headquarters. “It’s a little...

Corporate America backs gay rights Plugged In: Gay rights are good business, no matter the politics. NEW YORK (FORTUNE) - This spring, shareholders at such big companies as ExxonMobil , Ford and American Express are voting on whether gay and lesbian people deserve protection against discrimination in the workplace. But even as battles over gay rights flare up in the corporate world, there's no doubt about who's winning the war. More than 80 percent of companies in the Fortune 500 now ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Some 249 of the Fortune 500 offer health and other benefits...