Looks like the Oak Ridge (TN) High School superintendent isn’t so keen on the whole Free Speech idea:

Administrators at Oak Ridge High School went into teachers’ classrooms, desks and mailboxes to retrieve all 1,800 copies of the newspaper Tuesday, said teacher Wanda Grooms, who advises the staff, and Brittany Thomas, the student editor.

The Oak Leaf’s birth control article listed success rates for different methods and said contraceptives were available from doctors and the local health department. Superintendent Tom Bailey said the article needed to be edited so it would be acceptable for the entire school.

This is scary, truly scary. Shouldn’t our public schools be teaching children about the Rights its citizens are granted which makes this such a great nation, instead of demonstrating what happens when those rights are trampled on?

As if there aren’t enough reasons to join the ACLU, here’s another:ACLU files suit over 2 ousted from Bush event

The American Civil Liberties Union on Monday sued two volunteers who helped with a March appearance by President Bush, saying they removed two people from the event because of their political views.

Looks like the Government Accountability Office may just right another wrong, this time regarding the FDA’s decision to not make Plan B available without a prescription.

A congressional audit released Monday cited “unusual” steps in the FDA’s initial rejection of over-the-counter emergency contraception, including conflicting accounts of whether top officials made the decision even before scientists finished reviewing the evidence.

The FDA is reconsidering the decision on the pill, sold under the brand Plan B.

The GAO’s report found many interesting details regarding Plan B’s FDA process, including the fact that FDA scientists “overwhelmingly backed over-the-counter sales of the Plan B brand for all ages” and that FDA officials knowingly chose to ignore the scientists’s advice.

Fortunately, the FDA is re-reviewing the decision, and Health & Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt has been petitioned to give a final, unbiased decision. And that decision has got to be straight-forward. Plan B needs to be available without prescription for anyone woman who wants it. Studies have shown that unwanted pregnancies will go down drastically. Women who are raped or the victim of incest, but are too frightened to contact authorities, can use this as a form of emergency contraception. Our society as a whole will benefit from Plan B being available.