Free Republic

Admittedly, the Egyptian uprising, the nullification of Obamacare and the ongoing ramifications of "Snowpocolypse 2011" could render the controversy about an MTV original program insignificant by comparison. After all, MTV is only out to destroy an entire generation. No big deal. Every adult - not just parents - should take the time to learn about the MTV show "Skins," a new "teen drama" that the Parents Television Council (PTC) has deemed "the most dangerous show on TV." Be careful when you go hunting for information about "Skins" lest your spouse conclude you've developed an interest in child pornography. The publicity...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The government is officially announcing on Friday an expanded program that should provide 140,000 to 150,000 children from low income families with supper meals, a senior Agriculture Department official said. A federal program aiding such children, many with parents away from home until late in the evening, has been in operation in 13 states and the District of Columbia, but USDA Under Secretary Kevin Concannon told Reuters in an interview that "this afternoon the official announcement goes out that the program will be available in all 50 states." The expansion, authorized in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act...

PROVIDENCE — Dominic Johnson, a 10-year-old fourth-grader with a fledgling Mohawk, brandished his black, long-nosed toy gun and caressed the muzzle appreciatively. “It’s like a shotgun mixed with a rifle,’’ he said, as his mother, April, told him to stop pointing it at nearby children. Soon it would be junk. Dominic joined dozens of children yesterday at the annual Toy Gun Bash in the gymnasium of Pleasant View Elementary School. There, they lined up to toss their toy guns, from dainty purple water guns to camouflage-painted pistols, inside the Bash-O-Matic, a large black, foam creature with churning metal teeth and...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) – More than half of the 1.4 million homeowners who enrolled in the Obama administration's flagship foreclosure-prevention program have fallen out.</p> <p>A separate report Thursday showed that the number of Americans at risk of foreclosure improved slightly over the summer. The Mortgage Bankers Association said that about 9.1 percent of homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment in the July-September quarter. That was down from 9.9 percen6t in the April-June quarter and compared to a record high of more than 10 percent in the January-March quarter.</p>

Privacy advocates fear massive fed health database U.S. Office of Personnel Management wants to collect data from three health programs Several privacy groups have raised alarms over plans by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to build a database that would contain information about the healthcare claims of millions of Americans. The concerns have surfaced because the OPM has provided few details about the new database and because the data collected will be shared with law enforcement, third-party researchers and others. In a letter to OPM Director John Berry, the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) and 15 other...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - When St. Paul students return to school Sept. 7, they'll find another dozen schools offering the district's unusual breakfast-to-go program. It's called Breakfast 2 Go, or B2G, a national nutrition program that distributes takeout breakfasts that students can eat in classrooms. The St. Paul district is 1 of the first in the state to offer it. In addition to B2G, the school has earned accolades for its ethnically diverse menu and emphasis on serving locally grown foods. The 12 new schools offering free breakfast...

BRADFORD – Readers at UnionLeader.com expressed outrage yesterday that the federal government had rounded up and euthanized 21 Canada geese on Lake Todd on June 23, in a response to at least two property owners' concerns. For seven years, the geese -- considered the largest, most common water birds -- have been fouling lawns and beaches along the 50-acre pond, which straddles the Bradford and Newbury town line. Federal officials said two property owners paid for the round up, gassing and killing of the now-flightless geese and their goslings. Their bodies were frozen and will be chopped up and fed...

Why is it one question keeps recurring whenever EPA announces a decision: What is wrong with these people? The latest such example concerns the agency's rejection of a Texas air quality program that slashed emissions in the Lone Star state while encouraging increased workplace productivity. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality had requested EPA permission to proceed with a flexible permits program covering 122 petroleum processing facilities that had been covered under a trial effort. Air quality in Texas has dramatically improved under TCEQ leadership and EPA approval of its application would have extended the successful program permanently.

(CNSNews.com) – The Department of State (DOS) may be hindering the placement of Visa Security Programs at U.S. consulates the government deems to be at high risk for providing U.S. visas to terrorists, according to government reports. The Visa Security Program (VSP), established by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, puts Department of Homeland Security officials in the field at U.S. consulates to vet the backgrounds of people applying for U.S. visas. This is important at high-risk consulates because the DHS uses a broader range of databases than the State Department to review the backgrounds of visa applicants, and many...

A defense lawyer is calling for calm after death threats have been made against teenagers charged in the death of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince, who committed suicide after she was allegedly bullied by schoolmates. "Not to minimize what happened to Phoebe Prince in any way, but translating this into death threats and public harassment has got to stop," says Colin Keefe, who represents Sharon Chanon Velazquez, accused of tormenting Prince, who hanged herself on Jan. 14. "It's gotten way out of control," adds Keefe, who says Velazquez has been driven temporarily from her home.

In a repudiation of the Bush administration's now-defunct terrorist surveillance effort, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that government investigators illegally wiretapped the phone conversations of an Islamic charity and two American lawyers without a search warrant. U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker said the plaintiffs provided enough evidence to show "they were subjected to warrantless electronic surveillance" by the National Security Agency. The judge's 45-page ruling focused narrowly on the case involving the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, touching vaguely on the larger question of the program's legality. Nonetheless, Al-Haramain lawyer Jon Eisenberg said the ruling had larger implications.

Must society borrow money today for current social programs (e.g. Social Security, Dept. Education, Medicare/Medicaid, Welfare, War on Poverty, et al) that will leave a legacy of debt for our kids to repay? Or is there another option? Of course, the obvious, idealistic answer is that the scope of government must be cut. I agree. That doesn't seem realistic anytime soon, however. *So, can we please spare this thread from a series of posts along that line? Surely there are enough threads on cutting spending, already. What about in the meantime? Elected officials are about to vote in a $3.8...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, Dec. 30, 2009 – Soldiers in Iraq fly dozens of donated U.S. flags each day outside of Multinational Division South’s headquarters here as part of the “Fly the Flag” program. Multinational Division South’s commander, Army Maj. Gen. Rick Nash, Command Sgt. Maj. Doug Julin, and members of “Serving our Troops” observe Army 2nd Lt. Kenneth Toole flying the 3,000th flag over Contingency Operating Base Basra, Iraq, as part of the “Fly the Flag” program Dec. 18, 2009.  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “When I took on this program, I never thought it would be...

With H1N1 poised to enter history as the least deadly of four global flu pandemics, some experts are calling for an end to Canada's mass vaccination program. Nature is already achieving what we would hope to achieve by vaccinating, they say. ~snip~ Fisman can't understand the rational for continuing mass vaccinations. He said that for a virus as contagious as H1N1, less than 30 per cent of the population needed vaccination to reach a critical level of immunity. ~snip~ Despite that view, Canada's top doctor this week pleaded with Canadians to get vaccinated if they have not already done so....

WASHINGTON – House health care legislation expected within days is likely to include a new long-term care insurance program to help seniors and disabled people stay out of nursing homes, senior Democrats say. The voluntary program would begin to close a gap in the social safety net overlooked in the broader health care debate, but it must overcome objections from insurance companies that sell long-term care coverage and from fiscal conservatives.

After the bombing of Samarra's famed Shiite Askariya shrine in February 2006, a spate of sectarian-based attacks claimed the lives of many Iraqis. The victims were mostly male, leading to a surge in the number of widows in the country. Indeed, more than 1 million Iraqi women have become widows in the past three years, according to Samira Al Musawi, the head of the Women and Child Committee in the Iraqi parliament. So, in 2006, Iraq's Al Ethar NGO, a nonprofit organization that provides women and their children with money and free health care, began a controversial new program to...

While the Obama administration and its Democratic allies in Congress press to allow private-sector workers to unionize by signing authorization cards instead of voting by secret ballot, the government's legal-aid program for the poor has declared the so-called "card check" strategy "unreliable" and rejected an effort by some of its own workers to organize that way. The Legal Services Corp., a congressionally chartered, taxpayer-funded entity, even hired a law firm to rebuff the efforts of workers in its oversight offices to gain union representation by the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), forcing the workers to conduct a...

Hailed as a jump-start for the U.S. economy, the federal government's "cash for clunkers" gave the biggest boost to foreign automakers. Overall, auto sales in August were the highest in more than a year, according to industry figures released Tuesday. Carmakers sold more than 1.2 million cars and trucks, up 1% from the same month last year and the first year-over-year sales gain since August 2007. Much of that was a result of the clunkers program, which ran July 24 to Aug. 24 and provided hefty government rebates to consumers who traded in gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient new vehicles....

Although it has yet to see air combat in, the F-22 Raptor air superiority fighter is the object of an intense dogfight on Capitol Hill. The debate has made for some strange bedfellows. On one side, there are the antis - the Pentagon, Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin and Sen. John McCain among them - who want to shut down the production line. One the other, the pros - Sen. Saxby Chambliss, Sen. Chris Dodd and the Air Force Association - who want to see more of the advanced fighters built. The Raptor is beyond impressive: The F-22, which...

NORFOLK Police have recovered more than 2,000 government checks totaling $103,000 and arrested three men after a hotel mix-up led to what police on Wednesday called a quickly formed conspiracy and theft. Police said a contractor with the U.S. Department of Transportation checked into the Doubletree Hotel Norfolk Airport at 880 N. Military Hwy. on Monday and went out. Meanwhile, the hotel mistakenly checked a second guest into the same room. Acquaintances of the second guest went through the contractor’s luggage, police said, and found and took a laptop and the checks. The checks, in various amounts, were to be...