Free Republic

A Michigan elementary school district is doubling down on a lesson for students about using novel gender pronouns, including the phrase “tree,” with the superintendent saying it promoted “inclusivity.” Schavey Road Elementary School, in DeWitt, Mich., sent out a letter on April 11 informing parents of the school’s plans to “help students share and explore pronouns” in a lesson using the book “They She He Me: Free to Be!” by Maya Gonzalez, which includes cartoon pictures of men and women using interchangeable pronouns. The letter also states parents are able to opt their children out of the curriculum. “We would...

On page 103 of Rules for Radicals is this quote from Alinsky, The organizer’s job is to inseminate an invitation for himself, to agitate, introduce ideas, get people pregnant with hope and a desire for change and to identify you as the person most qualified for this purpose. [Emphasis added] Is there anything inherently wrong with wanting people to have hope and to wish for change in their lives? Of course not, but that is not the issue. As is so often the case with Liberals, their original intentions are noble, but the results are often antithetical to those intentions....

President Barack Obama asked lawmakers to “pass this bill” — or made some variation of the phrase — 17 times in his jobs speech before a joint session of Congress on Thursday night. Obama unveiled his $447 billion jobs package, the American Jobs Act, during the speech.

WASHINGTON — President Obama told doctors and insurers on Monday that revamping health care would “lay a new foundation for our economy.” He told graduating college students on Wednesday that “we need to build a new foundation.” He told consumers on Thursday that protecting them was vital “to the new foundation we seek to build.”

June 11, 2006 Save the Sharks By Kathleen Parker The poor shark can get no rest these days. Everyone is jumping him. For those whose shark metaphors stalled on "Jaws," "jumping the shark" refers to the moment when something, usually a dramatic production, runs - or strays from - its course. Coined by Jon Hein (jumptheshark.com), the phrase evolved from the episode of "Happy Days" where the show's writers, apparently out of ideas, had Fonzie literally jump a shark while water skiing. It was so over-the-top that the show was deemed dead by those who monitor such things. People are...

When Illinois Senator Richard Durbin apologized for his characterization of the interrogation methods used at Guantanamo Bay as being akin to those of the Nazis, Pol Pot, and Soviets, he said something that has always struck me as being odd coming from the likes of faux liberals. He said that he thought our troops were the best in the world, which is a variation on what anti-war faux liberals say when cornered with their attitudes about the war: "I support the troops." "I support the troops" is a nice, touchy-feely statement that few people can disagree with, but there is...

"Out of Africa" Phrase in Use Since Ancient Greece Hillary Mayell for National Geographic News February 19, 2003 Out of Africa. The phrase is everywhere; used to title movies, books, magazine articles, art exhibits, conferences, lectures, and travel tours. It's used as shorthand in newspaper headlines and to describe anthropological and medical theories related to Africa. But where did it come from? Somewhat surprisingly, the phrase stems from an ancient Greek proverb. "There is always something new coming out of Africa," wrote Aristotle more than 2,300 years ago in his book on natural history. Writing in The Journal of African...