Free Republic

PHILLIP Island's iconic fairy penguins have been renamed "little penguins" in Queensland to avoid offending the gay community. In an act of political correctness gone overboard, Sea World theme park operators on the Gold Coast changed the name of their star attraction to avoid being "offensive". Rebecca Smith, spokeswoman for Sea World, confirmed: "We didn't want to upset the gay community. "We didn't have any complaints about the name of the penguins, but someone thought it could be seen as offensive so we decided to change it to little penguin instead. "The name is more politically correct. We're not treating...

This column is not about Terri Schiavo and the wrenching spectacle that has surrounded her tragic fate. May she rest in peace. It is about Congressional Democrats and how they once again pathetically misread what moral values mean in a political context. May they miraculously wake from their persistent vegetative state — or it won’t be long before they are receiving their political last rites. Ever since November, Republicans (aided and abetted by a poorly worded exit poll) have not only succeeded in defining the last election as having been about moral values, they’ve succeeded in defining moral values. In...

Hundreds of Michigan residents are getting a big surprise this tax season--hefty tax bills for cigarettes they bought online over the past four years. The state sent the bills to 553 residents last week after subpoenaing 13 online tobacco shops for names of Michigan customers and their order histories, a Michigan Treasury Department spokesman Caleb Buhs said on Friday. The tax bills are based on information from just one store, and the state expects to collect more names from the others. Collectively, the people receiving this first round of bills owe the state $1.4 million, an average of $2,500 per...