Free Republic

The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round, just like the endless cycles of big, bad government programs to federalize preschool and daycare. On Wednesday, the White House Summit on Early Education will unveil nearly $1 billion in new "investments" to "expand access to high-quality early childhood education to every child in America" from "birth and continuing to age 5." It's a retread of President Obama's 2013 State of the Union school-spending plan, which was a repackaging of his 2011 Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge program. Those Obama initiatives are knockoffs of moldy-old Democratic policy chestnuts, such...

Psych tests ordered for homeschooling parent "A German appeals court has not only affirmed a lower court's decision that ripped a 15-year-old homeschooler from her family and subjected her to a forced stay in a psychiatric hospital because she is homeschooled, but also ordered her parents to be given psychiatric evaluations, an international rights organization says." Here is the psychological evaluation and the reason Melissa Busekros was forcibly taken from here home in Germany. I. FINDINGS: (according to the international classification system ICD 10 of the WHO) Cause for presentation: Melissa B. had been officially deregistered by the school administration...

OLYMPIA - The Washington State Supreme Court on Thursday struck down Pierce County's smoking ban. The ban was the strictest in the state, covering bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, casinos, hotels, private clubs and most other nontribal businesses. The Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health imposed the ban in January of last year, but three weeks later it was overturned by Pierce County Superior Court Judge Ronald E. Culpepper, who said the agency lacked the authority to enact it. The state Supreme Court agreed, saying the health board's smoking ban conflicted with the state law. The state's less restrictive Clean Indoor Air...

CHANGING OF THE GUARD Skeletons rattling in Frist's closet? Ethics expert says ties to hospital chain potential conflict of interest for Lott heir Posted: December 21, 2002 6:30 p.m. Eastern © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist will almost certainly be elected majority leader when the senate votes on a successor to Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott next month. The choice is a happy one for President George W. Bush, who views Frist as an effective ally; Frist has even been discussed as a possible replacement for Vice President Dick Cheney on the ticket in 2004. The heart surgeon’s quick rise...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- A national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today expressed outrage at a Doug Marlette syndicated editorial cartoon, headlined "What Would Mohammed Drive?" showing the Prophet Muhammad driving a nuclear bomb-laden truck similar to that used by Timothy McVeigh in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.SEE: http://www.cair-net.org/images/mohammeddrive.gifThe Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called for an apology from Marlette's syndicator, Tribune Media Services, and from his employer, the Tallahassee Democrat.The cartoon is apparently a play on a recent light-hearted public debate over what kind of car Jesus would drive. Its publication comes following worldwide outrage over...