Free Republic

Children should be exposed to fewer television ads for anti-impotence drugs and more for birth control, and need to be shielded from an advertising onslaught in general, the leading U.S. pediatricians' group said on Monday. The American Academy of Pediatrics, in a new policy statement, urged doctors, parents, legislators and regulators to limit children's viewing of television and access to the Internet, move some TV ads to later hours after bedtime, and restrict how alcoholic beverage makers promote their products. "If we taught kids media literacy, you can essentially immunize kids against advertising," said statement author Dr. Victor Strasburger, a...

A father embroiled in a custody dispute posted a phony ad on the Internet offering to give away his five-year-old boy to make his wife look bad, investigators said Wednesday. The ad, written as if it were placed by the mother, listed the boy as "free to a good home" on the popular Craigslist.org website. "I've had him now for five years. I've somewhat abused him, but I cannot control myself or him," the ad read. "I have mental problems. DCF (The Department of Children & Families) won't remove him. His father lives in California and has no contact with...

After a five-year Republican lock on power, the quagmire in Iraq handed US President George W. Bush a Democrat-controlled Congress in late 2006, which is likely to make his last two years in the White House tough ones. Democrats rode public perceptions of Bush's mishandling of the fight in Iraq to take control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives for the first time in 12 years in November 7 elections. Since Bush came into office in January 2001, Democrats have had little impact on his policies, only able to raise questions of his policies in limited hearings...

2004 wasn’t Howard Dean’s year: he failed to become president of the United States. But 2006 looks more like a Dean year. Dean, now chairman of the Democratic National Committee, met in Washington over the weekend with members of the party’s executive committee, to celebrate the Democrats’ success in last month’s elections. During that meeting, something Dean said three years ago as a presidential contender came to mind. “We have got to stop having the campaigns run in this country based on abortion, guns, God, and gays….” Dean spoke for Democrats frustrated by the Republicans’ skill at motivating voters on...

Former President Clinton was swarmed for autographs, handshakes and photographs on the streets of Hanoi Wednesday by throngs of admirers whose warm welcome contrasted sharply with the restrained reception given President Bush last month. ADVERTISEMENT Clinton, in town to sign an agreement between his foundation and the Vietnamese to get more AIDS drugs to children, left the Hilton Hotel in the center of Hanoi, crossed an intersection buzzing with motorbikes, and strolled toward Hoan Kiem Lake, the spiritual heart of the city. The United States normalized relations with its former foe under Clinton, who was greeted by adoring crowds when...

Canada is scrapping a pilot program that provided tattoos for prisoners in an effort to stop the spread of diseases such as hepatitis and AIDS, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Monday. ADVERTISEMENT The program, set up by the previous Liberal government, offered free tattoos to prisoners in six of Canada's 58 federal prisons. The Liberals lost in January to the right-wing Conservatives, who promised to crack down on crime. "Our government will not spend taxpayers' money on providing tattoos for convicted criminals," Day said in a statement. "Our priority is to have an effective federal corrections system that protects...

Ten years ago yesterday, Alan Greenspan made what was to become the most famous speech in his 18-year tenure as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Against a backdrop of a strong economy and soaring stock market, Mr. Greenspan said: "How do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values? . . . We should not underestimate . . . the interactions of asset markets and the economy. Asset prices, particularly, must be an integral part of the development of monetary policy." Stocks indeed were surging when Mr. Greenspan spoke at the annual dinner of the American Enterprise Institute...

Popular consensus has it that we are losing the war in Iraq. Robert Gates, the White House nominee to replace Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, stated on Tuesday that the United States was categorically not winning in Iraq. "What we are now doing is not satisfactory," Gates said. Popular consensus also has it that we are losing the war in Afghanistan. "[B]ecause of the Bush administration's inattention and mismanagement," wrote The New York Times editorial board on Tuesday, "even the good war is going wrong." America has not "won" a major "hot" war since World War II. The Gulf...

In Sunday's Washington Post, a group of historians tried to predict what history will ultimately say about George W. Bush's presidency. One said that he is the worst president, ever; a second agreed that he was pretty bad, but still might redeem himself in his last two years; and another said that only time will tell, noting that our views of presidents often change with the perspective of time. Historians have been playing this game for many years. It makes them feel relevant. However, the methodology of such efforts never gets above that of a simple popularity poll. A historian...

Mostafa Bakry has a knack for reinventing himself. He is an old-school Arab nationalist, newspaper editor and parliamentarian, and has managed to keep himself in the middle of the Egyptian political scene for almost two decades. He rails against decadence, against corruption — anything that can get the otherwise sleepy Egyptian public excited. This past July, he took on the issue of homosexuality, introducing a motion in Parliament calling for censorship of several scenes in a popular new film, “The Yacoubian Building,” and denouncing the racier parts of the movie as “spreading obscenity and debauchery.” One of the central characters...

THE debate about New York's energy future just got more interesting. Entergy, the owner of the Indian Point Energy Center in upper Westchester County, recently announced its intent to seek renewal of its license to operate two of the state's six nuclear-power plants. This provides an excellent chance for policymakers and business and political leaders to examine the best route for building New York's economy, improving our environment and our quality of life in the future. New York faces a major challenge: Our demand for electric power rises every year. But, with some aging plants scheduled to go offline, our...