For The Children

European Union ministers back ban on menthol cigarettes

"European Union health ministers on Friday approved plans to ban menthol and other flavoured cigarettes as part of a crackdown on youth smoking. The proposed legislation must now be voted on by the European parliament. Irish Health Minister James Reilly, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said it was a 'a huge step forward in the fight against tobacco use'. EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg, himself a former smoker, said he believed the ban could be in place within three years. They also agreed to force tobacco companies to cover 65 percent of cigarette packets with health warnings and gruesome pictures." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEuropean Union ministers back ban on menthol cigarettes

Homicide convictions upheld for faith-healer parents whose daughter died

"Wisconsin and more than a dozen other states have protections in place to keep parents who choose prayer over medical attention from being charged with child abuse. The Neumanns’ attorneys maintain that the law protects parents up through the creation of a potentially lethal situation, making the line where faith-healer parents cross over into criminal liability a blurry one. An Neumann family attorney told the AP that the couple is 'devastated' by the decision. 'They’re still mourning the loss of this child,' said Dale Neumann’s defense lawyer Steven L. Miller. 'From their perspective they felt they were acting in a legal manner.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHomicide convictions upheld for faith-healer parents whose daughter died

NJ Supreme Court Rules State Can Seek Custody Of Child Without Evidence Of Abuse

"The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled this week that authorities can seek custody of a child, even where there’s no evidence of abuse or neglect. The case involved a divorced Camden County mother of 9-year-old twin girls. In 2007, she asked New Jersey’s Division of Child Protection and Permanency for help, claiming she was unable to care for the girls who had psychological and developmental disabilities and needed to be placed in residential care. 'You can turn to the Division for help, but it may come with a cost,' says Diana Autin, executive director of Statewide Parent Advocacy Network of New Jersey." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNJ Supreme Court Rules State Can Seek Custody Of Child Without Evidence Of Abuse

Teen Jailed For Facebook Comment Beaten Up Behind Bars

"The family of Justin Carter, the 19-year-old Texas gamer who made offensive Facebook comments that landed him in jail, is working with new urgency to get his $500,000 bail reduced because they say he's getting beat up behind bars. 'Without getting into the really nasty details, he's had concussions, black eyes, moved four times from base for his own protection,' says Carter's father, Jack. 'He's been put in solitary confinement, nude, for days on end because he's depressed. All of this is extremely traumatic to this kid. This is a horrible experience.' Carter has been in jail since his arrest in February." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTeen Jailed For Facebook Comment Beaten Up Behind Bars

The Great Obamacare Intergenerational Swindle

"Will we be able to talk healthy young Americans into buying medical insurance that costs seven times what it would in a free market in order to subsidize our increasingly expensive health care? Or will we have to sic IRS enforcers on them for selfishly taking advantage of the law’s pre-existing condition protections to get care at someone else’s expense in case of serious illness? It’s a tough sell, but take heart, fellow Boomers. We’ve been preparing our children for community servitude for years. Why else did we feed them a steady diet of social consciousness, while preaching that it takes a village from the day we dumped them in daycare? Now, it’s time for them to pay up." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Great Obamacare Intergenerational Swindle

Mom settles for $143,000 after infant taken away over faulty drug test

"A Pennsylvania woman whose infant daughter was taken away from her by state authorities when she was just three days old, all due to a false positive on a drug test, won a $143,500 settlement Tuesday. The lawsuit alleged that a drug test she and her child were unknowingly subjected came back positive for opiates because she ate an 'Everything' bagel hours before giving birth. That carb-heavy treat turned into a genuine nightmare for Elizabeth Mort, who had her infant daughter Isabella literally taken out of her arms at her home days after returning from the hospital, all authorized by an emergency protective custody order." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMom settles for $143,000 after infant taken away over faulty drug test

19-Year-Old Commits Suicide After Sheriff Posts Bullying Facebook Message

"The Latah County Sheriff's Office in Idaho had posted a photo of 19-year-old Pullman, Wash., resident Andrew Cain alongside a message saying, 'We have decided that Andrew Cain is no longer the Wanted Person of the Week… he is the Wanted Person of the Month of June. Congratulations!.' A few days later, Cain took his own life. Whitman County Coroner Pete Martin said that Cain had suffered from depression 'and a number of problems.' The Latah County Sheriff's Office told HuffPost there were three warrants out for Cain: one for driving without privileges and one for possession of a controlled substance, while unable to say what the third warrant was for." Continue reading →

Continue Reading19-Year-Old Commits Suicide After Sheriff Posts Bullying Facebook Message

Government’s Spirit-Crushing Hatred Of Lemonade

"Traditional civil liberties such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion ultimately rest on an individual's ability to exercise the right of economic ownership over his or her own body. To attack economic rights is to attack civil liberties. And it is not funny when police with guns close down a 4-year-old's lemonade stand. It is damned frightening." Continue reading →

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The Latest Suburban Crime Wave

"One mother is hauled off to the police station. Another is clapped in handcuffs. The mothers' offenses? They let their kids wait in the car while they ran a quick errand. The laws differ in their particulars, but basically they state that a child under age 6, 7 or, in Utah, 9, cannot be left alone in the car for more than five or 10 minutes. In Nebraska, having your 6-year-old wait in the car is an offense in the same category as allowing the child to be 'deprived of necessary food' or 'sexually exploited.' In Louisiana, a second kid-in-car infraction carries a sentence of not less than one year in prison, 'with or without hard labor.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Latest Suburban Crime Wave

Teens urged to promote ObamaCare to parents under California grant

"The Los Angeles school system reportedly plans to use a state grant to promote ObamaCare, in part by teaching students to become 'messengers' for the law. The Heartland Institute first reported on the grant, one of $37 million in state grants announced in May by Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange. Of that, $990,000 was awarded to The Los Angeles Unified School District. A brief synopsis of the grant says it would be used for 'outreach calls' to families and 'adult-student class presentations.' But it also states as an objective: 'Teens trained to be messengers to family members.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTeens urged to promote ObamaCare to parents under California grant