Free Republic

Majority Democrats in the California Assembly have rejected two amendments that would have allowed schools to fire any employee discovered to be part of an extremist terror network and require users of school facilities to affirm they are not terrorists. A report from Karen England at the Capital Resource Institute said the amendments were submitted by assemblymen Martin Garrick and Chuck DeVore to a plan that also would allow members of the Communist Party to teach in public schools. "I am appalled that Democrat lawmakers will not agree to these commonsense amendments," said England, executive director of CRFI. "My son...

(AP) ROME, Ga. -- The never-ending march of technology now means school children here can pay for their cafeteria sloppy joes with their fingers. Rome City Schools is switching to a scanning system that lets students use their fingerprints to access their accounts. In the past, students had to punch in their pin numbers. "The finger's better because all you've got to do is put your finger in, and you don't have to do the number and get mixed up," said Adrianna Harris, a second grader at Anna K. Davie Elementary School. The new system speeds lunch lines, said city...

Saudi Arabia on Monday rejected linking Muslims with fascism, days after U.S. President George W. Bush spoke of a "war with Islamic fascists". "(Saudi Arabia) warns of accusing Muslims of terrorism and fascism without considering the history of the pure Islamic civilization," the cabinet of the major U.S. ally said in a statement after a meeting chaired by King Abdullah. The Saudi cabinet statement said: "What Islam is being charged with today, such as fascism, is primarily the result of Western cultural heritage. "Terrorism has no religion and no nationality," said the statement, carried by state media. It made no...