Free Republic

No Name Calling Week?     1/12/2005By Warren Throckmorton, Ph.D.Yes, name-calling is wrong. But this event’s sponsors reveal the agenda behind banning it. “There is a special place in hell for people like you!” These words were directed at me by a teacher during this past summer’s National Education Association (NEA) convention in Washington, D.C. This delegate to the NEA convention made his prediction in response to my presence at the NEA’s Ex-Gay Educators’ Caucus booth in the convention exhibit hall. His cheery salutation caught me off-guard given the message of tolerance and acceptance I had been hearing around the exhibit hall....

When Ohio University officials announced last month that the university will begin offering "domestic-partner" benefits to employees with same-sex partners, they didn't mention an interesting twist to the new policy. While gay and lesbian employees at OU can now add their eligible same-sex partners to their health-insurance/benefits plan, the same option is not available to heterosexual couples who don't choose to be married. A source in OU's Human Resources Department confirmed this week that the new domestic-partner benefit policy applies only to same-sex couples. One OU employee suggested Wednesday that the policy could expose the university to litigation by straight...

Recently, a friend of mine returned from a tour of duty in Iraq; and I was later informed that he had made 16 registered kills. A 20 year-old man with 16 Registered kills? From my friend? The very same person that I got into a fight with after baseball practice in eight grade? Am I supposed to be happy about that? Should I go and pat him on the back and congratulate him for what he has done? In all reality I will tell him that I am proud of him and support him, but I should not have to...

Progressives recognize that it's time for America to resume its glorious journey. Time to look out upon the world for friends, not enemies. Time to tell the world that we wish to be their partner in peace, not their leader in war. Time to recognize that winning hearts and minds comes from dialogue and mutual respect--not from a gun. Time for the greatest military power in the history of this world to act with humility and restraint--not to arrogantly and illegally impose its system and values upon others. Time to recognize that war must truly be the last desperate measure...

"After less than a year of campaigning, John Kerry has already given the American public a chilling preview of the misguided choices he would make in the unlikely event he is elected president."...."Two of the four planes that attacked our nation on September 11 took off from Logan Airport and 80 of Kerry’s constituents died. Yet Kerry, who held evidence in his hands of Logan’s vulnerabilities, has yet to explain his failure to take meaningful action – action that well may have prevented the horrors of that fateful day.".......... This one really is a follow-up on Joan Swirsky's investigative report...

Code: ZE04072401 Date: 2004-07-24 90 Million Missing Females, and a $45 Trillion Gap The Fruits of Misguided Family Planning NEW YORK, JULY 24, 2004 (Zenit.org).- While the United Nations and family planning groups continue in their efforts to lower birthrates, several recent books have drawn attention to the severe economic and social problems linked to having too few children. One book, "Bare Branches: The Security Implications of Asia's Surplus Male Population," takes a look at the consequences of an overabundance of young adult males, called "bare branches" in Chinese. Valerie Hudson and Andrea den Boer observe that China and...

Am I A Republican? Only When its Necessary: Andrew Sullivan has this to say: THE LOOMING REPUBLICAN WAR: The current tussle in the Congress over the budget is just a precursor to what I think will be outright Republican civil war after this election. If Bush wins, it will cripple his ability to get anything done. If he loses, the recriminations will get vicious. The fiscal conservatives will be fighting the "deficits-don't-matter" crowd. The realists will be out to topple the neocons. The Santorum-Ashcroft axis will continue to wage war on any Republicans not interested in legislating either the Old...

Education Insider Special Edition - May 6, 2003 May 8, 2003 -- Education Day Educate Congress on Tax Cuts vs. America's Public Schools! Across the nation, schools are suffering. Tens of thousands of education employees have received pink slips and looming state budget deficits promise more to come. Yet Congress seems oblivious to the unfunded mandates it is imposing on our schools, to crowded classrooms, to course offerings cut, to schools in need of repair and renovation, to parents facing increased fees, and more. The proposed tax cuts jeopardize not only critical federally-funded education programs, but also state revenue. Advocacy...

To puke was the only proper reaction to the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch, of the US Army's 50th Maintenance Company, as April Fools' Day dawned in Iraq last week. "To puke" has just the right abrupt, dismissive note to it - "to vomit" and "to regurgitate" both have too much Latin gravity at their roots, "to heave" and "to retch" the false gentility of euphemism, but plain puke, good enough for Shakespeare, is onomatopoeic to perfection. Say "puke" and relish the sound. It is not that I have any ill-will towards the girl - I have none for any...

<p>February 23, 2003 -- Americans held hostage in Iraq in the months before the Gulf War have an urgent message for a group of peace activists in Baghdad offering themselves as human shields: Get out while you can.</p> <p>As the countdown to war shifts from weeks to days, Americans who were kidnapped and used to protect Iraqi targets from attack are appealing to the peaceniks to leave the volatile country before their protest backfires.</p>

ICONOCLAST DAILY NOTEBOOK.... Taming The World's Tyrants: Therapy for Saddam and Islamo-Fascists?.... January 04, 2002: When I began my psychiatric residency training, I was assigned a patient who was supposed to be in the grip of violent, paranoid psychotic delusions. Yet when I met him, he spoke quite rationally and intelligently about his life. He explained in a quite logical way how, through a series of misunderstandings, he landed in a psychiatric ward. He seemed quite friendly and I quickly dismissed from my mind his potential for psychotic rage. He even offered to discuss with me his theory that the...