Free Republic

Doctors are warning parents against reviving “measles parties” intended to expose children to the disease at a gathering with at least one infected person. The parties ostensibly help children build immunity against the disease and are used instead of vaccinating or leaving exposure up to chance. Such practices have been discouraged despite similar events such as “pox parties” which expose children to chickenpox for the purpose of building immunity. “CDPH strongly recommends against the intentional exposure of children to measles as it unnecessarily places the exposed children at potentially grave risk and could contribute to further spread of the outbreak,”...

Parents: 4th-Grade Girl To Become Boy Mom Says Youngster Has Male Brain METHUEN, Mass. -- A fourth-grader who was attending a Methuen elementary school as a girl before February vacation has returned to school as a boy. The parents of the 9-year-old child said the youngster was born with the body of a girl, but the brain of a boy. They have asked that he be referred to and treated as a boy by teachers and other students, and school officials are accommodating the request. The parents have even changed the child's name. The child's mother told The Eagle-Tribune that...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Majority Leader Bill Frist refused on Sunday to criticize Vice President Dick Cheney for cursing on the floor of the Senate in a confrontation with a Democratic senator. The Tennessee Republican indicated that Cheney's outburst at Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., can be attributed to political passions aroused by the election year. As vice president, Cheney acts as president of the Senate, although the majority leader has more authority over the body's operations. On Tuesday, as Cheney and the senators gathered in the chamber for a photograph, Leahy struck up a conversation. Cheney challenged the senator about his...