Free Republic

The women’s liberation movement of the 1960s and ’70s reached its peak when women won the right to choose an abortion and the Supreme Court legalized the procedure in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case. Women made the right to abortion a central demand of their movement because they understood that women could never be equal with men without control over their reproductive lives. The right to abortion is especially necessary in a society that ultimately expects women to bear the financial and emotional responsibilities of raising children, but pays women much lower wages than men. The decision to carry...

Over 2000 years ago the Athenians condemned and executed the philosopher Socrates and the Romans tortured and murdered Jesus Christ. We tend to dismiss the mindless cruelty and barbarity of these acts, this snuffing-out of the lives of two of the greatest benefactors of mankind, as quite understandable, even if lamentable, given the assumption that ancient societies were unfamiliar with the refinements of modern liberal democracy, limited representative government, checks and balances, minority rights and the like. Such travesties of justice could never occur in our modern, highly evolved age--certainly not in America. Cold-blooded court-sanctioned murder of innocents, not to...

These last few weeks watching the Terri Schiavo story unfold have been very difficult for me, because every time I see a picture of Terri I am reminded of my brother. Like Terri, my brother could not feed or take care of himself in any way. Like Terri, there were moments when he could react to someone's voice or presence. Like Terri, my brother did not have a living will. Like Terri, my family had to face the questions and even accusations that my brother's life was not worth the effort and expense. The real question the accusers wanted to...

A federally funded watchdog group is investigating the recent deaths of four disabled Floridians amid an aggressive campaign by the state to cut millions of dollars from programs that provide medical care for disabled people in community settings. Saturday, March 26, 2005 (Herald.com)

Rep. Tom Delay’s efforts Saturday to have the House and Senate enact special legislation to stop the forced starving of Terri Schiavo and the President’s willingness to return to D.C. over the weekend to sign the emergency law represents a proud moment for all who still maintain that the Judeo-Christian ethic undergirds who we are and what we deem worth fighting for. Long ago Jewish law made a distinction between withholding medication and special treatments from a patient as opposed to withholding food and water. Whereas there comes a time when we are no longer required to proactively employ “heroic”...

BTK Suspect Charged With 10 Murder Counts By DAVID TWIDDY, Associated Press Writer WICHITA, Kan. - Dennis Rader, the churchgoing family man and Cub Scout leader accused of leading a double life as the BTK serial killer, was charged Tuesday with 10 counts of first-degree murder. Rader made his first court appearance since his Friday arrest by videoconference from his cell at the Sedgwick County detention center. During the brief hearing, Rader sat with his hands folded behind a small desk. The BTK killer, whose nickname stands for "Bind, Torture, Kill," was suspected of eight deaths beginning in 1974, but...

WICHITA, Kan. -- For about 15 years, it was the job of the man police have accused of being the BTK serial killer to help keep people safe. Before he started as a city code enforcer in suburban Park City, Dennis L. Rader was an employee at an ADT Security Services branch office in Wichita, holding several positions that allowed him access to customers' homes. He worked for the home security company between 1974 and 1988 -- the same time as a majority of the killings. Police have not disclosed any evidence suggesting Rader worked at the homes of the...

Norfolk officials seize dog wanted in Delaware attack Sire, an 80-pound dog suspected of attacking a child in Delaware, was discovered in Norfolk with freshly stitched wounds, apparently from a bullet. A trooper at the attack scene had shot at the dogs responsible. STEPHEN M. KATZ/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT By MATTHEW ROY, The Virginian-Pilot © February 26, 2005 NORFOLK — A dog suspected in a gruesome attack in Delaware that tore up a 6-year-old boy’s face and ripped his ear off has been seized here, authorities said. Authorities said they believe the animal was brought to Norfolk so that he would not...

A FL newspaper online polls asks: Should Terri Schiavo's husband be allowed to have the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube disconnected? http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-fschiavo25feb25,0,1047791.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

DETROIT -- A stray dog was found with a human leg in its mouth on Detroit's east side Tuesday afternoon. The remains may belong to Jalona Stafford, 19, whose body was found burned and dismembered inside an abandoned pickle factory last week, WDIV-TV reported. Neighbors said the dog was carrying a leg with the thigh attached to it, the station reported. "A dog was carrying the leg. He had to be chased," said Thelma Davis, who witnessed the animal coming from the building. Stafford was last seen by her family on the morning of Feb. 13 as she prepared to...

“I see a flash of colors and the vague outlines of faces. I hear the voices of Mom and Dad as they talk to me, trying to get me to respond. Oh, God, I’m trying so hard to respond. I feel like I’m floating in a murky bubble with no control over my body and no ability to communicate my feelings. I hear my parents talking about my husband’s efforts to let me die, and I can’t state my objection. "I’ve listened to him talk to people about a statement I made many years ago when we were watching a...

Michelle Malkin is a syndicated columnist and author of two books, of which her latest is In Defense of Internment (New York: Regnery Publishing, 2004). In it, she provides a defense of "threat profiling" already taken or contemplated since September 11. Ms. Malkin's earlier book was Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores (New York: Regnery Publishing, 2002). Her syndicated column appears in nearly 200 papers nationwide. Ms. Malkin addressed the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia, on December 2, 2004. Millions of American schoolchildren have been taught that there was no evidence...

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) - Malaria could kill up to 100,000 people in coming months across Indian Ocean communities devastated by the Dec. 26 tsunami if authorities do not quickly move to kill mosquitoes, a health expert warned Thursday. Health agencies were planning to launch a massive spraying campaign in Indonesia - the hardest-hit country - on Friday to kill mosquitoes that carry the disease, said Richard Allan, director of the Mentor Initiative, the aid group leading the malaria campaign in Indonesia. "The 150,000 extra deaths from disease that the WHO predicts could occur ... is very plausible," Allan said,...

San Jose's ethics task force Wednesday voted unanimously to ban council members' so-called special events accounts, which gained notoriety last year when Councilman Terry Gregory was accused by a former aide of pressuring Wal-Mart and other business leaders to contribute thousands of dollars to one of the little-known funds. The task force's decision puts the fate of the controversial accounts before the full council later this month. Seven of 10 city council members have used special events accounts in recent years to raise tens of thousands of dollars, but a majority Thursday said they were leaning toward eliminating them. The...

One person died and at least 15 others were seriously injured Saturday when a pickup truck loaded with illegal entrants crashed while trying to evade police on U.S. 191 south of Willcox. About 6 p.m., a Department of Public Safety officer on patrol saw the Ford F250 northbound on the highway near Sunsites, about 25 miles south of Willcox. The officer checked the vehicle's license plate, which confirmed the truck was stolen, said Officer Frank Valenzuela, a DPS spokesman in Phoenix. The officer tried stopping the truck, which then fled. About the same time the officer called in a pursuit...

(New York, January 6, 2005) -- After testifying to a presidential commission about their torture during detention, a group of Iranian journalists have received death threats from judicial officials under Tehran chief prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch is extremely concerned about the safety of the journalists, whose testimony to a presidential commission, tasked with investigating mistreatment of detainees, provided detailed information on their torture and mistreatment while they were detained, without being charged, by secret squads operating under the authority of the judiciary. “We want the Iranian government to know that the world is...

Tourists run for their lives as the first of six tsunamis starts to roll towards Hat Rai Lay Beach, near Krabi in southern Thailand. One woman runs towards the waves. Photo: AFP The woman continues to run as the wave advances.Photo: AFP With the waves engulfing boats, the woman makes contact with her group. It is not known if they survived.Photo: AFP

Dec 29, 2004 8:23 am US/Central WINDBER, Pa. (AP) Somerset County authorities say a stopped up toilet led to a man’s death, when he unwisely mixed two common chemicals trying to unclog it. Sixty-eight-year-old James Battiste of Windber died Monday. Tuesday, County Coroner Wallace Miller announced Battiste’s cause of death: chlorine gas poisoning. Authorities say Battiste mixed Liquid-Plumr and another over the counter product, The Works, into the toilet bowl. The intense fumes resulted causing the man to call nine-one-one, but he apparently lost consciousness before he could tell dispatchers what was wrong. Police responded quickly and say they were...

Local health officials hope to soon receive the results of a rabies test on a dog killed by police after it bit a 4-year-old girl in Fairmont on Christmas Day. The girl and her family, who live in Florida, were attempting to visit friends at a home on Washington Street at about 10 a.m. when she was bitten, Fairmont police Chief Steve Cain said. "The dog got loose from its owners and went out in the road and bit the little girl as they were trying to go inside the residence," Cain said. The child was taken to a Morgantown...

Iraq Car Bombings Kill 60 and Injure 120 9 minutes ago By ABDUL HUSSEIN AL-OBEIDI, Associated Press Writer NAJAF, Iraq - Car bombs tore through a Najaf funeral procession and Karbala's main bus station Sunday, killing at least 60 people and wounding more than 120 in the two Shiite holy cities. In Baghdad, gunmen launched a bold ambush, executing three election officials, in their campaign to disrupt next month's parliamentary ballot. The deadly strikes highlighted the apparent ability of the insurgents to launch attacks almost at will, despite confident assessments by U.S. military commanders that they had regained the initiative...