Free Republic

Because the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) empowers union bosses to represent workers who don’t want a union, Big Labor apologists contend, it must also empower union bosses to force unwilling workers to pay union dues or fees. Otherwise, the workers who wish to remain union-free will get a so-called “free ride.” Ever since the Right to Work challenge to compulsory union membership, dues and fees emerged during the early 1940’s, this thin broth has been the mainstay argument of union officials and other opponents of voluntary unionism. To justify their opposition to Right to Work laws prohibiting the termination...

Pentagon officials want a new security pact with Iraq worked out as soon as possible, in part so they can extend support contracts to ensure U.S. forces remaining in that country have food and supplies. Gen. Raymond Odierno, tapped to be the new Army chief of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee “the sooner, the better” in response to a question about how soon the military would prefer a new “status of forces agreement” be put into place. Under the current agreement, all U.S. forces must be removed from Iraq by Dec. 31. Senior U.S. officials, however, have said...

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LITTLE ROCK - An Arkansas couple had a baby daughter Thursday — their 17th child and seventh girl — and the pair say they're still not ready to give it a rest. Jennifer Danielle was born at 10:01 a.m. at a hospital in Rogers, Arkansas, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar said in an interview. "We'd love to have more," Michelle said, referring to baby girls. "We love the ruffles and lace." Jennifer joins the fast-growing Duggar brood, who live in a 7,000-square-foot (650-square-meter) home in Tontitown. All the children — whose names start with the letter J — are taught...

July 23, 2007 issue - I am at a party chatting with a woman I know slightly. As her young son squirms out of her embrace, she slips her hand under my shirt. She's not getting fresh with me. She's touching my tummy with her cold hand and asking me, in a concerned voice, "Why aren't you pregnant yet?" I smile, break free from her touch, and head to the food table to fill said empty belly with her brat's birthday cake. I love children and definitely plan on having them. Maternal instinct is oozing out of my pores: I've...

(CBS) CHICAGO It's a trend that some fear may have long-term consequences. More unmarried women over the age of 25 are not waiting for Mr. Right. As CBS 2's Alita Guillen reports, these ladies are having children on their own. The fantasy father at their fingertips is a sperm donor with all the right stuff. Katherine Gehl and April Lashbrook had successful careers and dated, but they didn't have husbands. They heard their biological clocks ticking loudly. "It was like a time bomb," April said. "I need to go and have a baby and be a mother, and so I...