Free Republic

PARIS, Nov. 17 - In the search for explanations for the riots that have rocked France, some politicians and intellectuals are pointing to a novel one: polygamy. In an interview with RTL radio on Wednesday, Bernard Accoyer, the parliamentary leader of President Jacques Chirac's Gaullist party, the Union for a Popular Movement, called polygamy "certainly one of the causes, though not the only one" for France's worst unrest in four decades. He blamed the former Socialist government of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin for being "strangely lax" in enforcing the ban on polygamy. Pierre Cardo, a deputy in Parliament from Mr....

Betting that larger investment in drug treatment, after-school activities and other programs can reduce incarceration, foster care and remedial education, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is expected to sign an agreement today with business and philanthropic leaders designed to shift millions in state spending in the coming years. The central idea of the More for Maryland program, the first phase of which is scheduled to be agreed to today, is that spending on prevention programs with proven track records not only improves the lives of children but also saves money. In what advocates say could be a national model, the...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - For 10 years, Bryan Nadeu strutted in the Gay Pride parade as part of a marching band, hammering out a beat on a drum while wearing a rainbow-plumed hat. But that was B.F. - Before Fatherhood. Now, with a 14-month-old toddler in tow, he has other things to worry about while preparing for Sunday's San Francisco parade: Baby backpack or stroller? Will there be diaper-changing stations? And how to retreat if his kid melts at the loud music and crowds? "It's like I'm figuring out how I can be a father and still be gay," Nadeu...