Free Talk Live

Dictionaries have been removed from classrooms in southern California schools after a parent complained about a child reading the definition for "oral sex".

I want to be very clear what I mean when I say the word slavery. If you look it up in Webster's dictionary, the first definition is "drudgery or toil." It's become a metaphor for undue hardship, because we assume that once you legally abolish something, it no longer exists. But as a matter of reality for up to 27 million people in the world, slaves are those forced to work, held through fraud, under threat of violence, for no pay beyond subsistence. It's a very spare definition.

kid·nap   
[kid-nap] Show IPA
–verb (used with object), -napped or -naped, -nap·ping or -nap·ing.
to steal, carry off, or abduct by force or fraud, esp. for use as a hostage or to extract ransom.
Origin:
1675–85; kid1 + nap, var. of nab

—Related forms
kid·nap·pee, kid·nap·ee, noun
kid·nap·per, kid·nap·er, noun
un·kid·naped, adjective
un·kid·napped, adjective

—Can be confused:  hijack, kidnap, shanghai, skyjack.

—Synonyms
seize, bear off, bear away.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2011.

"That's not what we want to see in a front yard," said Oak Park City Planner Kevin Rulkowski.

Why? The city is pointing to a code that says a front yard has to have suitable, live, plant material. The big question is what's "suitable?"

"If you look at the definition of what suitable is in Webster's dictionary, it will say common. So, if you look around and you look in any other community, what's common to a front yard is a nice, grass yard with beautiful trees and bushes and flowers," the city bureaucrat said.

How would you describe a perennial presidential candidate who insists in a televised debate that government has no more right to interfere with prostitution or heroin than it does to limit people’s right to “practice their religion and say their prayers”?
The phrase “crackpot” comes immediately to mind—and in any contemporary political dictionary that term would appear alongside a photograph of Congressman Ron Paul....

BOLDFACE CENSORSHIP:After the suspension of the Tucson Unified School District's Mexican American studies department, TUSD has confiscated and continues to confiscate MAS teaching materials. Besides artwork and posters etc, that includes books, many written by American born latino writers...

Biological Weapons-[Banned 1975], Chemical Weapons-[Banned 1997], Land Mines- [Banned 1999], Cluster Bombs-[Banned 2010], Nuclear Weapons-[Still Legal Since 1945]

Among the several changes that are currently taking place in Egypt after the January 25 revolution and the subsequent ouster of the regime is the release of several books previously banned during the rule of former President Hosni Mubarak. Thousands of books that were banned during the time of Mubarak for their criticism of the regime are currently available, said Essam, a bookstore owner.

The LA school system has banned flavored milk because it leads to obesity when consumed in large quantities (and without proper exercise). Of course, LA school system's 'food police' have already taken action against other foods it deems inappropriate and recently banned 'junk food' from any LA school campus.

Is this an attack on liberty or simply protecting our children as the Superintendent claims? Does a public school system have the right to regulate what your child eats or drinks while they're on school property; property funded with your tax dollars?