PUBLIC MARKS from jasontromm

Parents argue state-mandated screenings violate religious tenants Ray and Louise Spiering wanted to observe a period of silence after their daughter Melynda’s birth, but what they got was an uproar. To the Spierings, Nebraska’s requirement that newborn babies undergo blood screening within 48 hours of birth is an infringement on their religious beliefs and their right to decide what’s best for their four children.

On Tuesday, January 23, President Bush delivered his 2007 State of the Union Address. While there were some things in the speech that were, on the whole, good, on most matters the President continued to show no appreciation for the concept of limited (particularly federal) government, and he continues to conflate the ideas of national defense and security with his stubborn continuation of his Administration’s tragic war of choice in Iraq. On the positive side, the President's health care proposal to allow replace an unlimited employer health care expense deduction with standard deductions for individuals, while not perfect, is a large step in the badly needed direction of breaking the link between employment and health insurance in this nation. It would stop federal tax discrimination against people who are not covered by employer-provided insurance. It would, as the President said, make health care more affordable for more Americans.

A federal judge turned back pro-abortion objections against the Choose Life license plates in Illinois saying motorists have the free speech rights to purchase them and place them on their automobiles. U.S. District Judge David Coar said protests from abortion advocates don't trump the First Amendment. Coar also said the state must issue the specialty license plates as long as the sponsors of it meet normal requirements on the design and number of motorists wanting one. Tom Brejcha, an attorney with the pro-life Thomas More Society law firm that represented the sponsor, hailed the ruling.

It seems that judges are now in the business of attributing rights to animals of the two legged and the four legged variety. They release child rapists on probation and give constitutional rights to terrorists, while meting out prison sentences for animal owners and parents who discipline their children. ()() Yet more judicial insanity! There has to be a way to impeach these judges.

At first, it sounds like a bad joke: What if a woman, a black, and a Mormon ran for president? Yet with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Mitt Romney running for the White House, this welcome burst of diversity in US presidential candidates is no joke. Each of these politicians comes with enough experience, patriotism, and popular support to be taken seriously for the 2008 contest. Yet polls show a number of Americans still hold some prejudice against them simply for their sex, race, or religion. Polls find that, while a strong minority of Americans say the US is "not ready" for a woman or black president, a vast majority of them say they could vote for one. A more worrisome poll finds 37 percent would not vote for a Mormon - a much higher negative response than for an evangelical Christian, a Catholic, or a Jew, although not as high as for a Muslim.

Two years ago, Muslim groups protested when the plot of the hit Fox drama '24' cast Islamic terrorists as the villains who launched a stolen nuclear missile in an attack on America. Being portrayed again as the heartless wrongdoers has drawn renewed protests from Muslim groups, including one that had a meeting with Fox executives two years ago over the issue. "24 is a heightened drama about anti-terrorism," the statement read. "After five seasons, the audience clearly understands this, and realizes that any individual, family, or group (ethnic or otherwise) that engages in violence is not meant to be typical. ()() I think CAIR knows this show hits a little too close to home. How many sleeper cells are actually in this country right now? Nobody knows because the ACLU won't let us monitor their phone calls.

Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a Madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage? This is the question Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s camp is asking about Sen. Barack Obama. An investigation of Mr. Obama by political opponents within the Democratic Party has discovered that Mr. Obama was raised as a Muslim by his stepfather in Indonesia. Sources close to the background check, which has not yet been released, said Mr. Obama, 45, spent at least four years in a so-called Madrassa, or Muslim seminary, in Indonesia.

While Democrats and Republicans on the Hill continue their “Yeah but now I’m against it” routine, Texas Congressman Ron Paul doesn’t have to issue any apologies. He was always against the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and he’s running for president. ()() This time he's running as a Republican.

A man trying to steal a car at gunpoint from a couple ended up being shot himself, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott says. Harold Levar Jeffcoat, 29, was arrested Sunday at the hospital where he was being treated for a gunshot wound to the buttocks, Lott said. Jeffcoat was shot Saturday night after he stuck a gun into the stomach of a man getting into his car at a Wal-Mart in suburban northeast Richland County and demanded his keys, deputies said. A woman in the passenger seat pulled a gun from the glove compartment and fired five shots at Jeffcoat, hitting him once, investigators said. ()() Another citizen saved by the right to keep and bear arms.

A state senator whose first wife suffered a painful death wants the state to legalize medical marijuana use. Sen. Bill Mescher of Pinopolis says the issue has been on his mind for about 20 years. “My first wife died of lung cancer -- a long, agonizing death,” the Republican lawmaker said. A doctor said marijuana might help ease her pain and nausea from chemotherapy, but South Carolina law wouldn’t allow it, Mescher said. People won’t let dogs die with that kind of suffering, he said. “It’s been on my mind ever since.”

Last week it occurred to me that Tigger does more parenting before 9 a.m. than some parents do their entire lives. Tigger? Yes, Tigger -- the happy-go-lucky tiger from the Winnie the Pooh cartoons and lovable costumed character that wanders Disney theme parks. But there's also a darker side to Tigger. You see, Tigger is a rogue thug who sucker punches innocent children. At least, that was the accusation made after a teen, who was posing for a picture with Tigger, yanked on the back of the costume, and Tigger reacted by swinging his left arm across his body, which brushed the kid in the face. This isn't just about the rope-a-dope incident at the Magic Kingdom. It's about a parent who's teaching a child the worst lesson of all: If anything bad happens, even if you precipitated it, lie, say it was unprovoked, and it isn't your fault and the other party should pay. This brand of parenting is raising a generation of sniveling, lying, bullying disrespectful brats simply because a parent or parents wanted to make a few bucks.

The debut of a video on the Internet this week is causing more headaches for potential Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor and recent pro-life convert was forced to defend his newfound beliefs after a 1994 video surfaced showing him defending legalized abortion. Responding to the video, Romney appeared on a radio talk show and said, "I was wrong on some issues back then." "If you want to know where I stand by the way, you don't just have to listen to my words, you can go to look at my record as governor," Romney said during an appearance on the "Glenn and Helen Show," a radio program.

In the wake of New York City's ban on restaurant use of trans fat, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the ban is "not going to take away anybody's ability to go out and have the kind of food they want, in the quantities they want. ... We are just trying to make food safer."

Pizza lovers who don't happen to have American currency on them can still purchase their favorite pies with Mexican pesos, thanks to a Texas-based restaurant chain. Starting this week, Pizza Patrón outlets, which caters heavily to Mexicans, will offer the alternative form of payment. ()() Listen folks, it's a private business they can accept whatever form of payment they want. It's American snobbery to say you have to pay in greenbacks (which aren't even green anymore.) When I was in Portugal in 1984, I paid for items with Portuguese, Spanish and American money. No big deal.

Proposals include income tax cuts, land conservation, more police Gov. Mark Sanford today will unveil his $6.5 billion state spending plan, which if adopted by the Legislature, would cut income taxes, put more officers on the street and set aside money for paying health care costs and preserving land. Sanford has already proposed boosting tourism -- the state’s largest industry -- by increasing money for local tourism and commerce groups to advertise their cities. Sanford has also proposed conserving more land and bringing broadband Internet to rural areas.

The controversial movement to merge the U.S., Mexico and Canada into what critics call a "North American Union" – in the face of what is already a massive, national illegal immigration and border security crisis – tops the list of the 10 most "spiked" or underreported stories of the last year, according to an annual WND survey. At the end of each year, news organizations typically present their retrospective replays of what they consider to have been the top news stories in the previous 12 months. WND's editors, however, have long considered it far more newsworthy to publicize the most important unreported or underreported news events of the year – to highlight perhaps for one last time major news stories that were undeservedly "spiked" by the establishment press.

Don't bother making jokes. This family has heard them all. No, they don't communicate directly with Santa Claus. They don't celebrate the holidays year-round, and they certainly have some not-so-cheerful days. The smirks and the wisecracks are just part of life when your last name is Christmas, and especially so when two of your family members are named no joke Mary.

There's been a huge uproar over the Christmas trees at the Seattle airport being taken down – and then put up again – when a rabbi asked to have a menorah included in the facility's seasonal display. But WND has discovered that neither side had any dispute with the Christmas trees themselves, and the whole disagreement stemmed from the fact the airport considers the trees secular ornaments to the season.

A Border Patrol agent sentenced to prison along with his partner for shooting and wounding a man smuggling drugs into the U.S. will appear with a congressman tomorrow at a rally asking President Bush to offer a pardon. Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, were sentenced to 12 years and 11 years, respectively, in October by U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso, Texas.

A New York mother has written to national advice columnist Harriette Cole saying she wants her pregnant 14 year-old daughter to have an abortion. The letter points to the alarming trend of parents forcing their children to have abortions when they discover their teenage daughters are pregnant.

Perhaps fewer than 10 percent of us are aware that soybeans are a hotly debated topic in medical circles today. Soy products – eaten, drunk and slipped into thousands of commercial products – are rightly being blamed for a horrendous variety of medical conditions, several of them nearing epidemic status and a few of them irreversible. Pediatricians and other doctors are starting to see a growing parade of patients suffering from serious symptoms that were quite rare just a generation ago.

There's a slow poison out there that's severely damaging our children and threatening to tear apart our culture. The ironic part is, it's a "health food," one of our most popular.

The vast majority of Britons oppose moves to secularize Christmas, according to a new poll. The survey found that 80% believe celebrating the birth of Christ remains an important part of the festival. The study follows a string of high-profile media reports of apparent attempts to rebrand Christmas on secular lines as a "winter" celebration.

This year, Beliefnet's Most Inspiring Person award goes to the Amish of Nickel Mines, Pa. This small religious farming community, whose members do without cars and electricity, was invaded by 21st century violence when a gunman took over a one-room schoolhouse and shot 10 young girls, leaving five of them dead. One of the girls who was slain, Marian Fisher, reportedly offered to be killed first to spare the others. Within hours, despite their grief and loss, the Amish had extended forgiveness to the killer and reached out to help his widow and children. Beliefnet members were amazed by this example of radical forgiveness and voted overwhelmingly for the Amish....

A federal court has issued an order that will prevent a New Jersey school from censoring students' Christian musical selections in future talent shows. The Alliance Defense Fund said the order comes down in favor of an elementary school student who, when she was a second-grader in May 2005, had been chosen to participate in the competition, and then picked "Awesome God," made famous by the late singer-songwriter Rich Mullins, to perform. Officials at Frenchtown Elementary School denied her permission, a decision endorsed by the board of education, citing not only the song's religious content but its "proselytizing" nature.