Abortion News Blog @newzblogz.com

“Gas $2.40 + per gallon and our federal elected officials are too busy pointing figures at each party and our state officials are too busy trying to apologize for slavery. Chambliss, take the lead do something to earn you payroll would you?

“Yes Sir, only in America can one get in trouble using gas chamber to kill animals, but yet do nothing to dull pain to child during abortion procedures, People, we had better so some serious changing in America quickly.

Your critic

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Columbia, S.C. ?- Women seeking abortions in South Carolina would have to see ultrasound images of their fetuses under a measure that received key approval from lawmakers Wednesday.

The Republican-dominated House passed the proposal 91-23 after a contentious debate that included the defeat of two amendments that would have exempted victims of rape or incest from having to view the images.

"Are you saying God makes mistakes with the lives he creates?" said Rep. Greg Delleney, the bill's chief sponsor.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Over the years Iraq has been the source of thousands of deaths, both American as well as Iraqi. It seems that a majority of the American public wish our troops to leave this war-torn country in hopes of stopping the death toll from rising any higher. I find it quite humorous that when it comes to saving the lives of our troops, we will fight to have our voice heard, and we will jump at the chance to place blame. To this I say: ?If we wish to end deaths in other countries, we must first end deaths within our own.?

As I said earlier, we place the lives of our soldiers in high respect, as it should be. But when it comes down to our children, we treat them as if they are not a living person at all. Mass murders are committed every single day in America.? Today, approximately 3,700 babies will be aborted. The American soldier death toll in Iraq to this date is 3,217. This means that 483 more abortions take place EVERY DAY than all the deaths of our soldiers in Iraq since the beginning of the war. Abortions are at an all time high, and we are just sitting back, watching it happen.

A 1996 poll was taken to discover the amount of abortions that took place within a year; 1.37 million was the finding.?1.37 million women aborted their babies in a single year.?Even more astonishing, is that only one percent of the abortions occurred because of rape; 93 percent of abortions occur because of social reasons. This means that 1,274,100 women are aborting their babies because they feel that their baby is either an inconvenience or unwanted.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

* First-time writer: Respect the president, even if you disagree

* No wonder Alcoa is short on electricians

* Former mayor Gibbs seeks 1st Ward seat

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

COLUMBIA - South Carolina House legislators, after a contentious and emotional debate, gave key approval Wednesday to a bill that requires women seeking abortions in the state to first review ultrasound images of their fetus.

If enacted, it would be the first law of its kind in the nation. Some states make ultrasound images available to women before an abortion, but South Carolina would be alone in mandating that women see the pictures.

The proposal easily passed 91-23 after lawmakers defeated amendments exempting rape or incest.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Two weeks after Kroger Co. said it was clarifying its policy on stocking the so-called "morning after" pill, activists say dozens of stores continue to block sales of the emergency contraceptive.

Representatives of NARAL Pro-Choice America, an abortion-rights group that also works on other reproductive health issues, sent a letter to Kroger officials Wednesday asking them to carry the drug at all of their pharmacies.

Ted Miller, communications director for the group, said members called 231 Kroger-run pharmacies across the country and found that 21 percent of the stores did not make the drug immediately available.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

MEXICO CITY - Religious leaders said Wednesday they have formed a united front against bills to legalize abortion in Mexico, an issue that has divided the nation and drawn in conservative President Felipe Calderon.

Leaders from Roman Catholic, evangelical, Orthodox and Anglican churches said they will call on their followers to march against the proposals that would legalize abortions in the first three months of pregnancy.

The bills have been filed by lawmakers from the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, in both the national Senate and Mexico City legislature.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

COLUMBUS — In a major shift in state policy, Gov. Ted Strickland wants to eliminate state funding for promoting abstinence from sex until marriage — a move that will likely provoke a fight with conservative lawmakers.

Strickland's two-year budget eliminates the usual $500,000 a year in state money for such programs and there are no plans to apply for more federal funds when current abstinence grants run out Sept. 30, his spokesman said.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

A lawsuit filed by The Facts against Danbury ISD seeks to force the school board to void part of its last meeting.

The newspaper sued the school district Wednesday on the grounds the closed-door session trustees conducted Monday with two students regarding their appeals to distribute the December edition of the Danbury High School newspaper was illegal. The newspaper included articles about STDs, consequences of premarital sex, sexual activity among Danbury high schoolers and editorials on both sides of the abortion debate.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday at the Brazoria County Courthouse. After two attempts to explain to the elected officials representing the Danbury school district that the executive session they convened last Monday evening was, without a doubt, in violation of the Open Meetings law of the state of Texas, our reporter was ejected both times, said Bill Cornwell, editor and publisher of The Facts, in a prepared statement. Rounding up a group of hard-working journalism students to privately deliberate their appeal is not only spineless, it is against the law.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

COLUMBIA, S.C. — With calls of emotional blackmail from opponents, a measure requiring women seeking abortions to first review ultrasound images of their fetuses advanced Wednesday in the South Carolina Legislature.

The legislation, supported by Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, passed 91-23 after lawmakers defeated amendments exempting rape or incest. The House must approve the bill again in a routine vote before it goes to the Senate, where its sponsor expects it to pass with those exemptions.

Some states make ultrasound images available to women before an abortion, but South Carolina would be alone in requiring women to view the pictures.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

For years, legislators have debated the best way to discourage abortions in Georgia. They've imposed 24-hour waiting periods on women seeking the procedure and required that they be lectured on the government benefits for prenatal care, childbirth and neonatal care. They've limited public funding for abortions to cases of life endangerment, rape or incest.

Now, lawmakers want pregnant women to be offered the chance to view an ultrasound image of the fetus before an abortion. House Bill 147 mandates that abortion providers list all the facilities that provide free sonograms and make those lists available to patients. Those facilities largely happen to be unregulated, unlicensed and unsupervised "crisis" pregnancy centers that have one mission: to dissuade a woman from having an abortion.

Despite all their discussions, legislators have never tried the surest way to decrease the 30,000 abortions annually in Georgia ?- stop unwanted pregnancies in the first place. The General Assembly has zero interest in making birth control readily available to young women and doesn't give a hoot about the lack of family planning programs in rural Georgia.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

I agree with the writer of the March 14 letter, "There's lots of hypocrisy on both sides in politics." But what's especially troubling is that many Republicans work to translate their strident moralizing into public policy. As a result, Republicans institute harsh drug penalties, for example, but seek mercy or well-paid legal representation when it comes to their own drug addiction or the wayward behavior of their children, and they work to weaken abortion rights or stigmatize gays, but respond differently when their own daughters are gay or pregnant.

Democrats aren't softer on crime or less moral; we're pragmatists instead when it comes to social policy. Republicans have been waving a heavy banner of "family values" because it has largely shielded them from greater scrutiny, allowing them to get away with egregious, long-lasting damage to our prestige abroad, our social safety net, our environment and our Constitution.

I agree with the March 14 letter on another thing, too: It's a wonder Democrats continued to support someone such as Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., who was found to have $90,000 in his freezer. I puzzled over his re-election until I realized that figure is actually slightly less than Gov. Sonny Perdue netted in a tax deal designed just for him by the state legislature.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

(Created: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 9:30 PM CDT)

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

ATLANTA - Two weeks after Kroger Co. said it was clarifying its policy on stocking the so-called "morning after" pill, activists say dozens of stores continue to place barriers on buying the emergency contraceptive.

Representatives of NARAL Pro-Choice America, an abortion-rights group that also works on other reproductive health issues, sent a letter to Kroger officials Wednesday asking them to carry the drug at all of their pharmacies.

Ted Miller, the communications director for the group, said members called 231 Kroger-run pharmacies across the country and found that 21 percent of the stores did not make the drug immediately available.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Re "Crime rate in L.B. falls for the 4th year in a row": "Violent crime" is down, but rape is more common. Is rape not considered a violent crime?

WWII generation

Someone send a copy of "The Greatest Generation" to all the Hollywood Bush-bashers and liberal Democrats so that they may learn how Americans should act in a time of war.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

The headline in Sunday's Oregonian says Governor Kuongoski will "go to the mat on kids health."

Once again the governor leads from behind. But at least, on this, he's pointed in the right direction.

Before Kulongoski claims too much credit, though, please remember that Senator Ben Westlund of Central Oregon, former Governor John Kitzhaber and the states of Massachusetts, California and others are much farther ahead in formulating viable plans for the uninsured.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

DANBURY, Texas School officials have rejected the appeals of three students after administrators refused to distribute the Danbury High student newspaper.The publication was held up because it was not reviewed beforehand by the principal.The December issue of the D-Town Press had articles written by Danbury High students about the consequences of teenage sexual activity, sexually transmitted diseases and teen parenting.Journalism teacher Kristi Piper also said the paper had editorials making abo...

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

A dying toddler facing removal of his life support system received a reprieve Tuesday when hospital officials agreed to keep his breathing device running until at least April 10.

The decision came hours after attorneys for Emilio Gonzales, a 16-month-old who doctors believe has Leigh's disease, filed a temporary restraining order request to prevent removal of his life support. Gonzales, who has been at Children's Hospital in Austin since December, was scheduled to be taken off life support Friday.

The deadline extension also came hours after Catarina Gonzales, Emilio's mother, appeared at the Capitol with lawmakers who support a bill that would prohibit hospitals from stopping life-sustaining treatment while a family pursues a transfer or other care.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

MEXICO CITY - Senators from Mexico's largest leftist party on Tuesday sent a bill proposing to legalize abortion nationwide, a measure strongly opposed by the nation's conservative and Roman Catholic leaders.

Under the bill filed by the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, the second-largest force in Congress, women would be able to have an abortion within the first three months of pregnancy. The bill also proposes that government health clinics provide women with abortions if they request them.

"We need to stop thousands of women from dying in unsafe operations," said Sen. Carlos Navarrete who heads the PRD in the Senate. "This is a right our laws should guarantee."

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

11 DES MOINES, Iowa ? It's just past 8:30 a.m. on a snowy weekend morning when the unassuming presidential candidate strolls into a hotel conference room.

"Hey, folks. I'm Sam Brownback. Good to meet you," says the Republican senator from Kansas, personally greeting the sparse crowd of some two dozen people munching on pastries and sipping coffee.

Standing at the podium, Brownback eschews talk of his accomplishments and criticism of his better-known rivals. Instead, he explains where he stands on various issues and seeks to define himself for the right-leaning GOP voters who matter in primaries ? "a full-scale, economic and social conservative with a smile."

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Last week, you probably received a hefty Voters' Pamphlet that outlines ten state-wide measures that will appear on the ballot this election cycle. If you managed to wade through the legal text and polarized arguments for and against the various measures, you still missed discussion of the impact that two of these measures - 41 and 48 - would have on our local schools here in Sisters.

The cuts we can expect from Measures 41 and 48 are almost 14 percent of the district's total budget. In rough terms, this reduction is equivalent to what our district currently spends to educate our kindergarten, first and second grade students combined.

Measure 41 essentially allows taxpayers to use the total of their federal tax deduction exemptions on their Oregon tax returns. It may reduce the state tax your household pays; it definitely reduces the state's revenue. Measure 48 doesn't directly reduce anyone's taxes, but it does impose constitutional limits on state spending.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

This letter is in response to the October 25 letter to the editor regarding the sheriff's ballot measures 9-40 and 9-41. The intent of this letter is not to ask for a yes or no vote but to give accurate information as to the quality of service Tollgate has received from the sheriff's department.

Like many communities, we sometimes have a speeding problem. When contacting the sheriff's department, I have never received a "Sorry?private roads?can't help!" What I have received was a personal call from the sheriff, a deputy dispatched with several types of speed monitoring devices (that were allowed to be used for an extended period of time) and increased patrolling by the deputy.

Our roads are private; therefore speeding citations can not be issued, but citations for careless and reckless driving can and have been issued. Throughout my 20 years in Tollgate, whenever I have called the sheriff for assistance, I have received an efficient response.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

So far theyve given us stolen elections, the Iraq War, incompetence, scandals, record budget and trade deficits, a variety of illegal activities and political nepotism that put many incompetent and unqualified political buddies into positions that resulted in things like Abu Ghraib, the Katrina disaster and now the Walter Reed scandal. They have given us five felons, crooks and creeps: Bob Ney, Tom DeLay, Jack Abramhoff, Mark Foley and now Scooter Libby. Meanwhile, Cheney, Rove and Armitage are ...

They have taken a budget surplus and turned it into a deficit that our own grandchildren will have to pay for. Theyve doubled the size of the federal government (conservatives no more), cut taxes for the rich at the expense of the poor, given the store away to big oil and big business, letting them write bills... Their current presidential forerunner for 2008 is in favor of abortion and gun control, which effectively makes the far-right kooks political positions mute. Even the National Firemans Association and Union will not support Rudolph Giuliani in 2008.

Now they have given us an attorney general who served the pleasure of the president, instead of serving at his pleasure, by firing eight Republican federal judges because they did not go after Democrats. With this act, they also cede any and all moral ground, which theyve claimed so dearly for the past ten years.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

MEXICO CITY – Senators from Mexico's largest leftist party on Tuesday sent a bill proposing to legalize abortion across the entire country, a measure that is stridently opposed by the nation's conservative and Roman Catholic leaders.

Under the bill filed by the Democratic Revolution Party or PRD, the second largest force in Congress, women would be able to have an abortion within the first three months of pregnancy. The bill also proposes that government health clinics provide women with the abortions if they require them.

“We need to stop thousands of women from dying in unsafe operations,” said Sen. Carlos Navarette who heads the PRD in the upper house. “This is a right our laws should guarantee.”

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Conservative icon Newt Gingrich has wiped away whatever doubts I had that he might be planning to run for president.

The former House speaker has revealed on national television that he conducted an affair with a young staffer, who is now his wife, while seeking President Bill Clinton?s impeachment in connection with, of all things, an affair with a young intern. Gingrich admitted in an interview with James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group, that he had ?fallen short of my own standards. There?s certainly times when I?ve fallen short of God?s standards.?

I leaped to one conclusion: Oh, yeah, Newt?s running.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

I write this from experience, having met him in 1982 when he dropped by the Sun-Sentinel for a meeting with one of my Editorial Board colleagues and me.

Back then, Giuliani was associate attorney general, the third-highest member of the Reagan Justice Department, behind the attorney general and the solicitor general.

He left no doubt about his rank, since the literature he passed out had at the top in bold type:

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Governor: No endorsement. Governor Ted Kulongoski has not been a leader, and he does not deserve to keep the job. Ron Saxton's demagogic slide to the right makes us distrust the direction of his leadership.

Oregon needs a real change of leadership, which is why we supported the campaign of Ben Westlund. We hope we have that opportunity again.

State Representative, District 53: Bill A. Smith (see The Nugget, October 25).

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

DANBURY, Texas (AP) - School officials have rejected the appeals of three students after administrators refused to distribute the Danbury High student newspaper.

The publication was held up because it was not reviewed beforehand by the principal.

The December issue of the D-Town Press had articles written by Danbury High students about the consequences of teenage sexual activity, sexually transmitted diseases and teen parenting.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

      WASHINGTON — From his outspoken defense of President Bush on interrogating terrorism suspects to an appeal to Christian conservatives here Friday, Gov. Mitt Romney is increasingly trying to position himself as the leading conservative alternative to Sen. John S. McCain, R-Ariz., in the 2008 presidential race.

Brendan Smialowski, Getty ImagesGov. Mitt Romney has been positioning himself as the more-conservative alternative to Sen. John McCain.

      Romney, elected just four years ago as a moderate Republican, is seizing on the opening created by an unexpectedly tough re-election campaign this year for Sen. George F. Allen of Virginia, the prospective presidential candidate who had been widely seen as the standard-bearer for the GOP's conservative wing.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

AUSTIN – None of the GOP presidential front-runners has generated much support among Republican Party loyalists in Texas, whose early favorite to head the ticket in 2008 hasn't even announced – Newt Gingrich.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney have few enthusiastic backers on the State Republican Executive Committee.

Support for Arizona Sen. John McCain in the party's governing body appears near zero, according to The Dallas Morning News canvass of committee members.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

DANBURY Danbury ISD trustees on Monday unanimously rejected the appeals of three Danbury High School students who objected to school officials blocking distribution of the school newspaper late last year.

Trustees also voted unanimously that the district policy regarding student publications was not followed with the D-Town Press December issue, which included articles about sexually transmitted diseases, sexual activity among Danbury High students and the consequences of premarital sex, as well as editorials on both sides of the abortion debate.

Junior class president Ryan Davenport and D-Town Press staff writer Katie Stephens spoke with the school board in closed-door executive session Monday night about the districts decision to not distribute the newspapers December edition. Danbury High School Principal Christopher Kocurek and the districts director of curriculum, Greg Anderson, also entered the closed-door meeting while the students were speaking to the board.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

March 19: The Supreme Court took up the issue of whether a high school student had the right to display a message related to drug use at an activity related to school. NBC's Jennifer Johnson has the details.NBC News Channel

WASHINGTON - A high school senior's 14-foot banner proclaiming "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" gave the Supreme Court a provocative prop for a lively argument Monday about the extent of schools' control over student speech.

If the justices conclude Joseph Frederick's homemade sign was a pro-drug message, they are likely to side with principal Deborah Morse. She suspended Frederick in 2002 when he unfurled the banner across the street from the school in Juneau, Alaska.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

      An abortion ban headed for debate on the House floor has the backing of GOP leaders in the Senate, who said Wednesday money should be set aside to fight the legal battle all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

      HB235, sponsored by Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, would ban abortions except in cases of rape, incest or medical necessity for the mother. It is intended to pose a challenge to Roe v. Wade, in which the court in 1973 recognized a woman's right to have an abortion.

      "We definitely will have to fund the defense of the bill because, on its face, it's unconstitutional," Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said. "But there are a lot of issues that are ripe for a decision by the Supreme Court."

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Regarding “What others are saying” (3/16, Opinion): 30 years ago Washington outlawed the handgun rights of its lawful citizens. Predictably, the criminals continued their handgun violence. Oddly, that criminal violence is offered as reasoning why lawful citizens shouldn’t own handguns. Such odd liberal logic.

Larry McMeins

Give it a rest, Phill Kline (316, Local, “Kline, pastors talk abortion”). Stop obsessing over this witch hunt for George Tiller. You are no longer Kansas attorney general. I’m sure there is enough for you to do as Johnson County’s new district attorney, at a handsome salary I might add, to keep you from telling the Kansas Legislature and Paul Morrison how to do their jobs.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

      Hurt: Deer and elk, which will now have even more rifles pointed at them during the hunting season after the age limit for a big game license was lowered to 12 years.

      Helped: Farmers selling produce at farmer's markets will no longer be required to have a food handler's permit.

      Hurt: One note critics of the Republican-dominated Legislature who will, at least temporarily, find something besides education funding to denigrate them.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

      BOSTON — As a clean-living, church-going father and grandfather, Gov. Mitt Romney has a natural appeal among conservative Christians.

Mitt Romney

      The Massachusetts Republican, though, faces a delicate dilemma: How does a devout Mormon woo religious activists critical to winning the GOP presidential nomination when many of those same activists are openly hostile to a faith they consider no more than a cult?

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

      • John McCain. To many, the senator from Arizona's candidacy is a foregone conclusion, and his recent buddying up to Bush loyalists and other old adversaries suggests he's serious. He's a genuine hero with terror-fighting credentials and know-how in handling the media. Allies say he's the answer to the GOP independent-voter problem that exploded last week.

      • Rudolph "Rudy" Giuliani. He continually scores well in national polls, and GOP candidates across the land flew in the former mayor of New York as an anti-terror symbol. But he's given no indication thus far of wanting to run, and skeptics wonder how far his distinctly moderate Republicanism would play among hard-core GOP conservatives.

      • Mitt Romney. Perhaps no one benefited more from the collapsing political career of Virginia Sen. George Allen, which opened up a space in the party's conservative wing. Romney's ability to become governor of Massachusetts shows electability. His name and good looks are assets. Some wonder if his Mormon faith will play in places like South Carolina.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, a moderate who has often clashed with the Bush administration and his fellow GOP lawmakers, said Monday he plans to seek a sixth term in 2010. "There are a lot of important things to be done and finally after being here to acquire some seniority, I'm in a position to do that," said Specter, 77. "I'm full of energy and my wife doesn't want me home for breakfast, lunch and dinner."

Specter said he has fundraisers planned, including a large one April 4 in Philadelphia.

"It's an enormous task, and that's why I'm starting early," said Specter, noting that he spent $23 million in his 2004 race.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

      The day after the midterm elections, Gov. Mitt Romney, reflecting on the GOP's punishing losses, issued a clarion call to conservatives: "We must return to the common-sense Reagan Republican ideals."

Chitose Suzuki, Associated PressMassachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has repeatedly referenced Ronald Reagan in speeches over the past two weeks.

      Three days later, at a State House Veterans Day ceremony, Romney invoked the former president again, saying, "As Ronald Reagan once said, 'I have seen four wars during my lifetime and none of them began because America was too strong."'

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

As they court the evangelicals who have become so crucial to their party, Republican presidential candidates are stepping into the middle of a family fight.

Christian conservative activists are more split than ever over whether to keep the movement's focus on abortion, marriage and sexual chastity - or scrap that approach as too narrow.

The founders of the religious right, now in the twilight of their leadership, see even the suggestion of expanding the agenda as a dangerous distraction. In public, and sometimes in personal ways, they are trying to beat back the challenge.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

WASHINGTON - Forget the presidential election in 2008 - Sen. Arlen Specter has his sights on 2010.

The Pennsylvania Republican, dismissing the possibility he'll retire at the end of his term, says he will seek a sixth term and already is raising cash for a re-election run.

"There are a lot of important things to be done," Specter said Monday. "Finally after being here to acquire some seniority, I'm in a position to do them."

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

INDIANAPOLIS- Governor Mitch Daniels and state health officials today released the first preliminary report of the Medical Error Reporting System (MERS), designed to provide reliable data on medical errors and improve patient safety. According to preliminary data, 77 medical errors were reported for 2006. Seventy-two events happened at hospitals, and five events occurred at ambulatory surgery centers.

Indiana joins Minnesota as the only other state with a medical error reporting system based on the National Quality Forum serious adverse reportable events.  MERS requires hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, abortion clinics, and birthing centers to report to the Indiana State Department of Health any of 27 serious reportable events in these categories: surgical, products or devices, patient protection, care management, environmental and criminal. 

"Any avoidable death or injury is a tragedy, and we want Hoosiers to be the safest citizens in America. Many mistakes are simple to prevent. The data we get from this report will help reduce the frequency of medical errors by revealing causes and identifying statewide trends," said Governor Mitch Daniels.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

WASHINGTON - With the presidential election less than two years away, a handful of California lawmakers are already rallying around former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the Republican nomination.

Among them: conservative Rep. Jerry Lewis of Redlands and moderate Rep. Mary Bono of Palm Springs.

Giuliani, whose stance on abortion, gay rights, gun-control and immigration puts him at odds with the party's conservative base, has also won the support of key California conservatives in recent days.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Every weekday, a "301" ceremony is held at Willamette National Cemetery. It is called that because it is held at 3:01 p.m. It is the military honors ceremony to which every veteran is entitled, and it is short but moving, taking maybe five minutes. It is given for the remains of veterans that have been delivered to the cemetery for burial after a memorial service at a distant location.

Recently, my wife and I had the honor of delivering the urn containing the remains of a friend and former fellow soldier. At the ceremony were four empty chairs. If not for the two of us, the only others present to pay respects would be the military honor guard performing the ceremony and the representative from the cemetery.

So today at 3:01 p.m. and every weekday hereafter, stop to think about those veterans being honored and thank them for their sacrifices to give you the freedoms you enjoy each day. Better yet, go to the cemetery so those four chairs do not sit empty.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

WASHINGTON - We live in a news-you-can-use world where history lessons can get buried in information avalanches of empty fascination over Anna Nicole Smith and the risque shots of American Idol contestants. The latter can't be called escapist journalism because there is no escaping it.

Indeed, modern lives can be microbursts of activity not given to long reflection. In the time it takes you to read this column, you probably could prepare brunch and pay your bills online. Some of you might be reading this on the Internet, toggling between Web sites or instant messaging friends as you do. Trust me, folks in my profession are very aware of the competition for your time and the infinite ways you can spend it.

With that trepidation in mind, I would still like to offer a tiny history lesson as a way of providing context to the emerging soap opera of our long and winding 2008 presidential campaign. Hopefully, the instant coffee won't go cold before you finish.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wrote memos condoning torture, said the United States doesn't have to abide by the Geneva Convention's restrictions on questioning terror suspects, authorized domestic wiretaps without court warrants and says he is responsible for mistakes made in firing a raft of U.S. attorneys on his watch, although he didn't know what was going on.

He is also deeply loyal to President Bush, and Bush reciprocates. They have a long, warm friendship forged through their Texas roots. And there is absolutely no evidence that Gonzales did anything - anything - that was not sanctioned by the White House.

Will he stay in office? Should he stay in office?

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

NEW YORK - The same Beltway experts who declared Sen. John McCain of Arizona the GOP front-runner, even as he under-polled fellow presidential contender Rudolph Giuliani, now parrot equally dodgy concepts. When Republicans meet "the real Rudy," they will abandon New York's former mayor like cattle fleeing a burning barn. Then, the wobbly Washington wisdom continues, Giuliani's three marriages, and his less-than-solidly-right-wing views on gays, guns and gametes will torpedo his buoyant presidential hopes.

These seers now detect unhappiness with the GOP aspirants. They cite a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll in which 26 percent of Republican primary voters were dissatisfied with Giuliani, McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, among others. However, 56 percent called these choices satisfactory. This mirrors the 57 percent of conservative Republicans who preferred Giuliani, versus 31 percent for McCain. More broadly, Republicans backed Giuliani by 38 percent to McCain's 24, forme...

But what if voters like Giuliani better upon understanding his pre-9/11 performance? Educating Republicans on his complete mayoral record - and soon - may be Giuliani's best bet for extinguishing the lingering grumbling about his candidacy.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

FORT MILL, S.C. ? A hotel that once was the centerpiece of Jim Bakker's PTL ministries has been reclaimed and is once again being used to host Christian conferences and gatherings.

Trevor Tiessen, conference administrator for MorningStar Fellowship, said the old Heritage Grand Hotel was dilapidated and smelled rotten just two years ago. That was before more than 300 volunteers cleaned and renovated it in just a few months.

The Christian-themed resort's old Main Street USA has a bookstore, an art gallery and schools for students from kindergarten to college.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

WASHINGTON - Evangelical Protestantism in the United States is going through a New Reformation that is disentangling a great religious movement from a partisan political machine. This historic change will require liberals and conservatives alike to abandon their sometimes narrow views of who evangelicals are.

The reformers won an important victory this month when the board of the National Association of Evangelicals faced down right-wing partisans and reaffirmed their view that healing global warming was an important moral cause. In so doing, they also expressed confidence in the Rev. Rich Cizik, the NAE's vice president for governmental affairs.

Cizik, who combines opposition to abortion with a firm commitment to human rights, the poor and the environment, came under attack from a gang of ideologues who would freeze evangelicals on a political course set more than a quarter-century ago.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Former U.S. Sen. Edward W. Brooke appreciates how Miami has turned into an international city where he can enjoy his beloved opera, watch world-class tennis matches, take in art shows and draw a rainbow of people when he discusses his new book.

''It offers so many things now,'' he says.

So Brooke, the first popularly elected black U.S. senator, two years ago left his Virginia farmhouse and moved with his wife Anne to a 31st-floor condo near Brickell. There, he can watch the boats chug from the bay into the mouth of the Miami River. He and Anne can walk along the bayfront, spotting manatees and dolphins.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit