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The State Department painted it as an elegant way out of a ballooning crisis involving Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng — but by day’s end, it looked like a disgraceful performance by US diplomats. Initial reports had Chen so pleased by the deal that he told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “I want to kiss you.” The agreement Clinton negotiated with Beijing yesterday supposedly allowed Cheng to stay in China and get medical attention, with the authorities guaranteeing his future safety. But things started unraveling just hours after the compromise was inked. First, while State claims Chen never wanted to leave...

Birds of a feather flock together and so when we see Barack Obama stacking his cabinet with radicals, it tells us a lot about his mentality. Of course, the fact that his entire term in office has been nothing but a slow motion evisceration of the American dream should tell you a lot about how he thinks, too -- but a little more evidence is always welcome. Take a look at these quotes from members of Barack Obama's administration and then ask yourself what sort of man WANTS people like this to help him govern the American people? 1) "Somewhat...

Author’s Note: I’ll be speaking at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio tonight! The event will start in Harrison Hall, Room 111, at 6 p.m. The speech is called “Three Liberal Assaults on Free Speech (and Three Conservative Solutions).” Because it is about free speech, the speech is free!In my many years of serving on faculty hiring committees, I have often heard the statement “minorities and women are encouraged to apply.” It usually follows in close proximity to the statement “our institution does not discriminate on the basis of race.” The two statements cannot be reconciled by logic. But, then again,...

Leader of former President Jimmy Carter’s longtime denomination say his calls for the Democratic Party to adopt a less radical pro-choice platform is a political calculation to help the party in the South. “I never have believed that Jesus Christ would approve of abortions,” Carter told talk show host Laura Ingraham, while promoting his new study Bible. “I’ve signed a public letter calling for the Democratic Party at the next convention to espouse my position on abortion which is to minimize the need…and limit it only to women whose life are in danger or who are pregnant as a result...

Dear Mr. Friedman: I am deeply disappointed by your refusal to speak with me personally about some remarks you make to my editors at TownHall.com. I have given you ample time to respond to my phone calls. Now, I’m responding to you in this open letter. I really have no other choice given your unwillingness to speak directly to the people you target with your misguided condescension. I’ll respond to your irresponsible remarks one paragraph at a time. Here goes: Mike Adams is not the first person to draw an analogy between the Holocaust and abortion, but we wish he...

Democratic Lawmaker: Nurses and Midwives to perform Abortions? A Democratic state senator wants to allow Nurses and midwives to perform early abortions. Senator Christine Kehoe says 'non-doctors' should be allowed to perform some abortions in the first trimester. Right now only doctors and surgeons are allowed to carry out the procedure.

How charming. Democrats are attacking the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation because it has declined to give yet another grant to Planned Parenthood. Note that Planned Parenthood itself doesn't even do breast screenings . . . by its own admission, it only "connects" women to entities that do provide cancer screenings and mammograms.  How can one argue that Komen has done something wrong by concluding that its money wasn't best spent handing grants to the nation's best-known abortion provider -- one that provides no direct services pertaining to breast health? And that isn't even the stated basis for the foundation's decision....

International Planned Parenthood Federation, the international affiliate of the nation’s biggest abortion business, has released a new strategic plan for the Africa Region for 2010 to 2015 that calls for an 82 percent increase in the number of abortions. Penny Starr of CNS News reports on the new numbers: That number is in Figure 2, the “performance framework” of the plan (page 7), under “performance milestones/benchmarks” and notes its expectation of an “82 percent increase in abortion services: 212,021 services by 2013, and 273,656 by 2015.” Also, in Table 1 – “Key result areas, outcomes, outputs and selected indicators, IPPFAR...

Now that we've revealed the pace at which the most prolific abortion providers in the United States conduct their business, it's time to consider their primary motivating factor behind achieving such economies of scale: revenue. To do that, we'll need to determine the average amount of money collected for each abortion performed in the United States based upon their annual caseloads. Fortunately, the Guttmacher Institute has once again collected the data we need to construct a model by which we can estimate the average price paid for an abortion in the U.S. depending upon the annual volume of abortions performed...

Planned Parenthood's "Abortions Are Just 3%" Claim is False As we’re all VERY familiar with by now, Planned Parenthood absolutely insists that abortions only comprise 3% of their “services.” Now, even if this were an accurate representation of the truth, it would be abhorrent. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/01/03/planned-parenthoods-abortions-are-just-3-claim-is-false/

New laws toughen rules on abortions, immigrants, votersmsnbc.com staff and news service reports updated 12/31/2011 10:12:54 AM ET About 40,000 state laws taking effect at the start of the new year will change rules about getting abortions in New Hampshire, learning about gays and lesbians in California, getting jobs in Alabama and even driving golf carts in Georgia. Several federal rules change with the new year, too, including a Social Security increase amounting to $450 a year for the average recipients and stiff fines up to $2,700 per offense for truckers and bus drivers caught using hand-held cellphones while driving....

Court: New Jersey Nurses Don't Have to Assist in Abortions Newark, NJ -- A federal court late Thursday gave pro-life advocates a huge victory in the case of 12 nurses being forced to assist with abortions at a New Jersey hospital. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/12/23/court-new-jersey-nurses-dont-have-to-assist-in-abortions/

YEREVAN, ARMENIA, December 20, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The practice of sex-selective abortion has become so deeply ingrained in the former Soviet republic of Armenia - where the median number of abortions obtained by women over 40 is a staggering eight - that the nation will soon face “a deficit of women,” according to a United Nations health official. A new report produced by the United Nations Population Fund, the Armenian ministry of health, and the Institute of Perinatology found that 7,000 Armenian women - or 0.8 percent of all Armenian women of child-bearing age - had elected to have sex-selective...

2 Very Disturbing Examples Of Radical Social Engineering By The U.S. Government The control freaks that run the U.S. government are busy imposing their values on all the rest of us, and most Americans have absolutely no idea what is happening. The Obama administration and members of Congress are engaged in radical social engineering, and they are trying to reshape America so that it conforms to their own twisted vision of "morality". Instead of focusing on fixing the economy and administering the government, these sick control freaks actually want to fundamentally alter what Americans believe to be right and wrong....

The Washington Post reports that, under President Obama and his Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the Food and Drug Administration is considering letting “anyone of any age buy the controversial morning-after pill Plan B directly off drugstore and supermarket shelves without a prescription

Confronting elements of President Obama’s healthcare legislation that are so fundamentally restrictive of religious freedom that Jesus “would not qualify as ‘religious,’” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has been engaged in a protracted struggle to defend the integrity of Roman Catholic doctors in the face of a federal government seemingly bent on requiring them to act against their consciences. As a reward for their labors, House Minority Leader — and self-proclaimed “devout Catholic” — Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has belittled the bishops as nothing more than “lobbyists in Washington, D.C.” As reported in late September for The New American,...

A man and a woman have been arrested after one-month-old baby was allegedly raped and battered. The tiny child had a heart attack brought on by his injuries and is fighting for his life. He was rushed to Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent, on Thursday at 7am, but was transferred to London's King's College Hospital after having a cardiac arrest there.

November 29, 2011 (LiveAction.org) - Ann Furedi, chief executive of the abortion chain British Pregnancy Advisory Service recently engaged with Will Saletan in a debate over the issue of late-term abortion. During her opening statements, Ann made some comments that caught my attention. She admitted that a late-term fetus connects with people because “it looks like a baby.” Of course though to Ann, it isn’t a baby nor worth of legal protection. She further states that “there is no evidence to suggest that we need to restrict later abortions in any way.” What sort of evidence is she looking for?...

Question: “When abortion becomes illegal again, are we going to start throwing all the women who have abortions into jail?” Answer: No. The people who should go to jail in that case are the abortionists. This particular question will be raised more and more as we to come closer to restoring protection to the unborn. The question is actually part of the well-planned public relations attack that abortion advocates always try to make on us in the pro-life movement. We are anti-woman, after all. Isn’t that the only logical reason why we would oppose abortion in the first place? That’s...

There he goes again. Embattled Catholic law professor and former Obama ambassador to Malta, Douglas Kmiec, is back defending the pro-abortion president to Catholics, this time over conscience issues. Writing in the National Catholic Reporter today, Kmiec essentially tells Catholics to get over the fact that the Obama administration is dangerously close to adopting new Obamacare rules that will require insurance companies and religious organizations to pay for insurance that will cover birth control, contraception, and drugs that can sometimes cause abortions. Without saying so directly, Kmiec essentially takes on the Catholic bishops and their argument that the Obama administration...

According to its website, "for more than 90 years, Planned Parenthood has promoted a commonsense approach to women's health and well-being, based on respect for each individual's right to make informed, independent decisions about health, sex, and family planning." There is in this glowing self-endorsement a subtle tribute to Planned Parenthood's founder Margaret Sanger. An unabashed eugenicist, Ms. Sanger's "commonsense" approach to unwanted pregnancies and undesirable demographic groups, such as minorities and the handicapped, was clear and unambiguous. She maintained that "the most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it," and...

JERUSALEM, November 10, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - “Wrongful life” lawsuits, in which doctors are held liable for not discovering fetal abnormalities that might have prompted parents to abort their child, have become so common in Israel that the government has set up a committee to investigate the issue, New Scientist reports. According to magazine, wrongful life claims are more prevalent in Israel where a higher rate of genetic disorders caused by consanguineous (connected by kinship) marriages has fueled a “pro-genetic testing culture.” The county has seen an estimated 600 wrongful cases since the first in 1987. While similar lawsuits in the...

A pro-family advocate finds it odd that a group of homosexual activists has admitted to working to help defeat Mississippi's personhood amendment on Tuesday. In an announcement released the day after the vote, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund admits to sending activists to Jackson, Mississippi, to help with a phone bank and "stand in solidarity" with Planned Parenthood Federation of America and other abortion proponents. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) thinks it was a peculiar alliance, since homosexuals cannot procreate. "This is a group that works hand-in-hand with so-called 'sexual freedom advocates,'...

A well-backed Democrat candidate who ran for a position on the board of a top beltway-area school system has been found guilty of assault for ramming a pro-lifer with her car during this year’s national March for Life on January 24, LifeSiteNews has learned. Charisse Espy Glassman, the niece of former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, withdrew her candidacy for the Fairfax County Public School board after the charges were revealed by the Washington Post this summer. Glassman was convicted of one charge of simple assault, and found not guilty of a second charge of possession of a prohibited weapon....

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Mississippi voters shot down a referendum Tuesday that would have effectively banned abortions in the state, rejecting an initiative that said life begins at conception. The so-called personhood initiative was rejected by more than 55 percent of voters. If it had passed, it was virtually assured of drawing legal challenges because it conflicts with the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a legal right to abortion.

A mother and her two daughters, all former Girl Scouts who say they are disillusioned with the organization’s connection to less-than family values, claim the U.S. group’s 52nd National Convention next week in Houston is a farce. Christy Volanski and her daughters, Sydney and Tess, formed a sort of watchdog group earlier this year with their online site, “Speak Now: Girl Scouts,” as their platform in attempt to expose the group’s pro-abortion stance. Volanski, who also served as a Girl Scout leader in the last three years of her daughters’ eight year membership, told The Christian Post that Girl Scouts...

A National Association of Evangelicals board member is calling on African-Americans to vote for their conservative convictions in the 2012 election, describing President Barack Obama as a theologically liberal candidate. Bishop Harry R. Jackson. Jr., senior pastor of Hope Christian Church outside of Washington, D.C., asked blacks to re-evaluate their tendency to “flock the polls” in support of Democratic leaders in an opinion piece published Friday in The Wall Street Journal. Blacks, he noted, espouse traditional, conservative beliefs on social issues rooted in their faith. Yet, they often vote for Democratic leaders with liberal leanings. “Most blacks have looked the...

President Obama’s re-election campaign has been hammering Mitt Romney from many angles in recent weeks. And now Democrats are beginning a new push against him, this time using the issue of reproductive rights in a bid to raise doubts about Mr. Romney among women. The Democratic National Committee has scheduled a conference call for Thursday with Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, the party chairwoman, who, according to the committee’s press release, will “slam G.O.P. presidential candidate Mitt Romney for voicing support for such efforts which could endanger women’s lives.” The Democratic offensive is built around Mr. Romney’s statements on...

It’s one of the most notorious unsolved mysteries in history: who was Jack the Ripper, the Victorian serial killer who surgically disemboweled five prostitutes in the fall of 1888? According to claims that are currently getting a great deal of media attention in Britain, he may be none other than prominent surgeon Sir John Williams – who, in addition to serving as Queen Victoria’s surgeon in London, was also a well-known abortionist. In a new book, Sir John’s great-great-great-great nephew, Tony Williams, presents evidence for Sir John’s guilt, including his discovery of a six-inch surgical knife among his ancestor’s possessions...

Illinois' six Catholic bishops have deplored Catholic governor Pat Quinn's role as the presenter of a “Pro-Choice Leadership Award” at an abortion advocacy group's upcoming ceremony. “We deeply regret the governor's decision to present this award, which so closely associates him with a political action group whose purpose is contrary to the common good,” the six bishops said in a Nov. 2 statement released by the Catholic Conference of Illinois. “With this action, Governor Quinn has gone beyond a political alignment with those supporting the legal right to kill children in their mother's wombs, to rewarding those deemed most successful...

Lorna Jose Mendoza has been given a choice. She can either assist in an abortion this week at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, or she could refuse and risk losing her job. Mendoza is one of a dozen nurses who filed suit today against the hospital – accusing them of violating federal and state law by forcing them to assist in abortions against their religious and moral objections. “The hospital told the nurses they have no regard for their religious beliefs,” said Matthew Bowman, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund. “They were going to be assigned...

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the publication of Betty Friedan’s feminist magnum opus, The Feminine Mystique, we can have a perspective on feminism that was largely unavailable heretofore. And that perspective doesn’t make feminism look good. Yes, women have more opportunities to achieve career success; they are now members of most Jewish and Christian clergy; women’s college sports teams are given huge amounts of money; and there are far more women in political positions of power. But the prices paid for these changes — four in particular — have been great, and outweigh the gains for women, let...

WASHINGTON — In an escalation of the U.S. bishops’ campaign against “grave threats to religious liberty,” Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., endorsed three bills designed to strengthen First Amendment rights. The bishop, who heads the newly established Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops testified before Congress yesterday, Oct. 26. “I am here today to call to your attention grave threats to religious liberty that have emerged even since June — grim validations of the bishops’ recognition of the need for urgent and concerted action in this area,” said the bishop. “I focus...

Two former employees of late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell have pled guilty to 3rd degree murder charges for their roles in the deaths of an abortion patient and one baby born alive during a failed late-term abortion. This is reportedly the first time that an abortion worker has been found guilty of murder for killing a baby. ..Gosnell, who ran an abortion facility in Philadelphia that has been dubbed a “House of Horrors,” has been charged with eight counts of murder, including of seven newborn babies and one client, and is awaiting trial. Moton and West may testify against his as...

Almost 100 ELCA pastors and leaders have endorsed a declaration entitled, “Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing.” In this document, the ELCA leaders call for marriage equality for homosexuals, and they voice their commitment to abortion, among other things. Concerning marriage equality and abortion, the declaration says, “We call for:” - “Full inclusion of women and LGBT persons in congregational life, including their ordination and marriage equality.” - “A faith-based commitment to sexual and reproductive rights, including access to voluntary contraception, abortion, and HIV/STI prevention and treatment.” (read here) Here is the list of ELCA pastors and leaders...

First Lady Michelle Obama told two audiences at Democratic fundraising events on Tuesday that the justices her husband appointed to the Supreme Court will protect the right to “love whomever we choose.” She also said these justices would protect “privacy”—presumably a reference to the “right to privacy” the court invoked in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in the United States. “Let’s not forget what it meant when my husband appointed those two brilliant Supreme Court justices,

Russia’s national parliament, the Federal Assembly, has voted to restrict abortion for the first time in decades, in the face of a demographic decline that has reduced the population by 2.9% since 1992. The new law, which is expected to be signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, prohibits abortions beyond the 12th week of pregnancy, and imposes a mandatory waiting period of between two and seven days. Exceptions are permitted for economic hardship, which allows abortions up to the point 22 weeks of gestation. Join a Facebook page to end abortion here. Legislators discarded proposals by the Orthodox Church to...

Today the former House Speaker gave a press conference and annouced that republicans who voted for the Protect Life Act, a bill that strips the funding of abortion out of ObamaCare, want women to "die on the floor." Not quite Pelosi, republicans simply believe helpless babies shouldn't be killed in the womb. Pelosi: Republicans Want Women To "Die On The Floor!"LifeNews has more on the legislation: The House approved a bill, the Protect Life Act, to stop abortion funding in Obamacare. Senate Democrats are not expected to approve the bill and, pro-abortion President Barack Obama is expected to veto the...

The principal at a Catholic elementary school in Winnipeg faces possible dismissal after he allowed students to count the 40 Days for Life vigil towards community service hours. Principal David Hood of Christ the King School advertised the local 40 Days campaign in a recent newsletter and then allowed students who approached him to join the vigil to satisfy part of the 10 hours of community service required of grade 7 and 8 students. The move led to a media firestorm this week with calls for the school, which is independent and under the auspices of the Archdiocese, but receives...

This is my favorite story of the day because on the one hand it's wonderfully pro-life and Catholic but on the other hand it annoys the heck out of all the right people and that always gives me such tingly good feelings. Is that bad? A small Catholic elementary school in Canada has announced that students who take part in anti-abortion vigils outside abortion clinics will receive community service credit. How awesome is that? I literally think I just heard heads exploding up in Canada. It's a brilliant and wonderful way to exhibit the school's Catholic identity. What is more...

ROME, October 10, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – There is no such thing as a “right” to abortion, Lord Nicholas Windsor has said in this weekend’s Daily Telegraph. Lord Windsor, the youngest son of the Duke of Kent and the first cousin once removed to Queen Elizabeth II, is becoming noted not only as among the rare members of Britain’s Royal Family to convert to Catholicism, but more recently for his outspoken opposition to legalized abortion, which he compares with eugenics. The cost of abortion, Lord Windsor said, “is too high because the cost is paid in innocent life.” In a statement,...

The villages and farming communities that surround Uganda's capital, Kampala, are gripped by fear. School children are closely watched by teachers and parents as they make their way home from school. In playgrounds and on the roadside are posters warning of the danger of abduction by witch doctors for the purpose of child sacrifice. The ritual, which some believe brings wealth and good health, was almost unheard of in the country until around three years ago, but it has re-emerged, seemingly alongside a boom in the country's economy. [Picture] Stephen's decapitated body was found in a field ... Many believe...

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (Pic by US Mission Geneva, via Flickr) At a luncheon hosted by NARAL Pro-Choice America yesterday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius criticized the recent pushback from anti-abortion advocates against a recent decision requiring insurance plans to cover birth control without co-pays.Sebelius has been a key player in the recent decision by the Obama administration to make it easier for women to afford birth control. The new requirement would be implemented through the Affordable Care Act. Sebelius asked that birth control be included in a list of preventative care services to be...

There was a time when having sex with a woman meant a wedding ring, a court ship or at the very least, dinner. But social psychologists say those days are quickly coming to an end as women become more promiscuous, Yahoo Shine reports. -snip- Other things that are said to have contributed to these changes include gender equality, birth control and internet porn.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- President Barack Obama's health care overhaul should be changed so that religious schools such as the University of Notre Dame aren't required to go against their beliefs and provide birth control to students and employees, the school president says. The Rev. John Jenkins wrote a letter Wednesday to Kathleen Sebelius asking the Obama administration to broaden the definition of religious employer currently under consideration to ensure the school can continue its provide health care without going against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. He said the change in definition of religious employer is far narrower...

September 27, 2011 (HLIWorldWatch.org) - Senator Barbara Boxer is in a tough situation: she thinks there are too many children in the developing world, she thinks abortion and contraception are the answer to this problem, and she has to try to convince the majority of Americans who are deeply offended by her views that she actually wants something good and just. So what’s a busy, far-left California Democrat supposed to do? It’s not as if she can just come out and say that the mothers of Asia, Africa and Latin America are having more children then she would prefer. There...

The Kiplinger Letter for Sept. 16, 2011, states: GDP is likely to grow no more than 2 percent. ... Such weakness usually spells recession ahead. ... But that pattern may not apply this time. Slowing growth may instead spell stagnation, a time more akin to Japan's 20 years of weak GDP gains. .... There has been no real bounce-back from the 2007-2008 slump. Twenty years of stagnation? So let me ask you all this: What is it that this economy has in common with Japan? What is it that this economy has in common with the last stagnation of the...

I was wondering something tonight in light of the news that Congress will be investigating Planned Parenthood. Are there really Catholics who are personally pro-life and publicly pro-choice? Is that an honest opinion? The answer, if you can call it that, came to me in the form of a question. Have I ever seen or heard of personally pro-life Catholics praying in front of abortion clinics? Nope. Have I seen personally pro-life Catholics pushing to hold Planned Parenthood or other abortionists to higher safety standards? Nope. But the truth is that to be pro-anything it can not be a passive...

ORETTO, PA, September 26, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Catholic University in Pennsylvania has cancelled a scheduled appearance by prominent feminist journalist Ellen Goodman after the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) drew attention to the conflict between Goodman’s work and Catholic Church teaching on key issues. The Catholic watchdog group reported in a blog entry that Goodman was scheduled to speak October 12th at St. Francis University in Loretto on the topic of civility in public discourse. The lecture was part of the school’s annual Furlong Lecture Series. The blog entry detailed the history of Goodman’s outspoken support for abortion, including opposing...

An elderly priest on the Acadian Peninsula has been barred from performing church services in the Bathurst diocese after he made remarks about homosexuals and women who have had an abortion. Rev. Donat Gionet, 85, gave the sermon at the Roman Catholic church in Saint-Léolin while replacing the regular parish priest late last month. He stands by the comments he made in Saint-Léolin, a village of about 730 people located about 50 kilometres east of Bathurst. Reached in Caraquet on Wednesday, Gionet declined an interview but did provide a written statement. In a letter written in French that he provided...