PUBLIC MARKS from jasontromm

Women from around the world are traveling to clinics in various locations that are now offering face lifts and cosmetic surgery using tissue from babies who have been killed by abortions. Pro-life advocates are strongly condemning the practice and saying the taking of human life is never warranted -- especially for such a self-serving purpose. ()() I'm strongly pro-life, but I'm not sure I believe this story. It's just too inhuman to believe.

University of Wisconsin officials are being warned their refusal to recognize Christian student groups is illegal. In recent weeks, the University of Wisconsin-Superior has denied recognition of the school's InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison has derecognized the Knights of Columbus. The officials allege the groups violate school's "anti-discrimination policy" by not allowing non-Christians to serve in leadership positions, according to the Arizona-based public-interest legal group Alliance Defense Fund, which notes non-recognized groups are denied access to campus facilities and student funding.

A Wichita, Kan., building that formerly was used as the headquarters for an abortion business had blood covering its walls "from floor to ceiling," according to a witness.

I'll agree with some of those in the top ten, but Nirvana? How'd they make it into the top ten.

Dr. Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of the National Abortion Rights Action League, admits his group lied about the number of women who died from legal abortions when testifying before the Supreme Court in 1972. "We spoke of 5,000 - 10,000 deaths a year ... I confess that I knew the figures were totally false ... it was a useful figure, widely accepted, so why go out of our way to correct it with honest statistics?"

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is guilty of "judicial blackmail," according to the American Legion, which is pushing for congressional legislation to end one of the ACLU's streams of revenue. Judges would be stripped of the authority to award attorney fees to the ACLU and similar groups in cases involving the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment Establishment Clause, if the American Legion gets its way.

Senate Democrats late Thursday refused to accept a bill raising the nation's minimum wage because the bill also would have eliminated the "death tax" on estates up to $5 million. Republicans needed 60 votes to cut off debate and bring the bill to a vote -- but in the end, they managed to muster only 56 votes. Furious Democrats called it "sham" legislation and they accused Republicans of "trickery."

The Spanish-American War has been over for more than 100 years, and now so is the tax imposed in 1898 to help fund it. As of Tuesday, all phone companies selling long-distance phone service are legally required to eliminate the 3 percent federal excise tax on long-distance service, which had been established in 1898 as a luxury tax on wealthy Americans who owned telephones. Verizon Communications said Tuesday that it has stopped collecting the 3 percent federal excise tax on monthly consumer telephone bills for long-distance and bundled services. ()() This just shows how hard it is for a pork addicted government to repeal any taxes.

The movie ratings board run by Hollywood's six top studios is back-pedaling from a process that reportedly used to target movies for PG ratings if they carried an evangelical Christian message, WorldNetDaily has learned. The move by the Motion Picture Association of America followed controversy over a rating for Sony Provident Films' "Facing the Giants," which was given the PG tag after officials told the movie's makers it was because it was so Christian. "The scene that caught the association's attention was an exchange between a coach and a player," said Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission in an op-ed piece published this week. "The coach assures the player that following Jesus Christ is a decision everyone makes for himself, but, if he accepts Christ, it will change his life."

More than 50,000 South Carolina Medicaid recipients are eligible for colorectal cancer screenings through a program administered by the Health and Human Services Department. ()() This is a waste of taxpayer money. The state medicaid program will only pay $300 -- $400 dollars for this procedure. The procedure typically costs at least 4 times that much. Who's going to pay the rest of the cost? People with private insurance will get charged even more for the same procedure.

The Church and the Culture Wars There they go again. The liberal media, it seems, likes nothing better than to play up what they see (or create) as divisions in the evangelical ranks. This Sunday’s New York Times featured a front-page story about Gregory Boyd, an evangelical pastor in Minnesota who is highly critical of the religious right and refuses to talk about abortion or other cultural war issues from his pulpit.

The nerd has persisted as a consistent character of high school practically since the invention of group education. We see him with frequency in our own lives, and in pop culture, too. The nerd reliably makes an appearance in every teen-targeted blockbuster, novel or comic. But now, the stereotypically male nerd is almost exclusively female. No longer is nerdiness -- diligence and commitment to school -- so derogatory a characteristic. In fact, now, it is socially prized, but just in young women. Male nerds? No more. ()() I'm afraid my daughter might be slipping into this new category of girl geek.

Ya gotta love it! First, Al Gore fans the flames of global warming fears, then he capitalizes on the predicted upcoming planetary catastrophes by cashing in on it and lecturing others on how to make a financial killing! ()() More green hypocrisy. I guess Gore isn't a watermelon after all. He sure knows how to work the capitalist system.

Pfc. John Jodka III, Cpl. Trent D. Thomas, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, Hospitalman 3rd Class Melson Bacos, Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson, Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington and Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr. are all men who volunteered to serve their country in Iraq. Today, and for the last two months, they are in solitary confinement in the brig at Camp Pendleton, shackled during weekend visits with their family members and frequently deprived of their rights as American citizens as they stand charged with pre-meditated murder of an Iraqi last April. The evidence against them is based largely – if not exclusively – on the word of the family of the dead man, 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad in Hamdanya.

While U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been in the Middle East meeting regional alongside Israel's military campaign in Lebanon, media outlets controlled by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party the past few days have been using racist rhetoric in their reports, referring to the American representative as the "black woman," "raven," "colored dark skinned black lady" and "black spinster."

The U.S. interior secretary says he supports building a bridge over the Oregon Inlet parallel to the existing span and deciding the issue of rerouting the connecting highway later. "I believe the best way to proceed would be to separate the replacement of the Bonner Bridge, a project whose delay could constitute a clear and present safety issue for all concerned, from the more difficult and less urgent issue of the realignment of the road," Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne wrote. ()() There are so many things wrong with the logic in this article, I can't even enumerate all of them. Let's start with if the road doesn't connect to the bridge, how are people going to use the bridge? What good does that do?

Recently, the White House announced that this year’s federal budget deficit would be $296 billion. Believe it or not, that was taken as good news: Earlier projections had pegged the deficit as high as $425 billion. Next year, the deficit is predicted to rise to $339 billion. If we continue this way, we will be guilty of, in George Washington’s words, “ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden of which we ourselves ought to bear.”

A judge ruled today a Virginia teen who has refused chemotherapy for his cancer does not have to report to a hospital as previously ordered by a court. Sixteen-year-old Abraham Cherrix, who suffers from Hodgkin's disease, has been seeking an alternative treatment amid threats the government will take him away from his family.

In an age when we continue to debate "a woman's right to choose" when it comes to a girl aborting her baby and we are told that it is the girl's body and no one else should make decisions affecting it, a boy has no such rights. A girl can be given birth control by the school nurse and even abortion information without her parents knowledge or consent, but a boy can be prohibited from making decisions that affect his life and body. At least the courts are consistent. They forbid parental involvement in either case. In some states, though, parents are held responsible for their kids' illegal and anti-social behavior. Why is it that parents supposedly have power to keep their kids from committing crimes, but can be denied power when it comes to their child's health and welfare?

Both of Washington's daily newspapers, the Times and Page 1 of the Post, as well as the top of Page 1 of the Baltimore Sun, reported that midshipmen Lamar Owens, co-captain of Navy's football team, has been found not guilty of raping a female midshipman. But, this quarterback and most valuable player of the Mids' bowl-winning and Commander in Chief's Trophy team could face up to two years in a military prison, as well as dismissal from the Navy for conduct unbecoming an officer. If there is any such punishment of this male midshipman, such decision simply begs the question -- which went unmentioned in all three of these daily newspapers: What about the female fornicator who charged that she was raped -- which the court martial concluded was a false accusation, a lie, an accusation that for months has led this young male midshipman through hell -- with the possibility of life in prison?

The National Center for Education Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Education, has just released a study comparing the performance of fourth- and eighth-graders in public and private schools. As important as this research may sound, I think it is more a symptom of our education problems than a useful tool in solving them. Generally, studies show students in private schools outperforming students in public schools. However, in this research, statistical adjustment was made to account for differences in socioeconomic background. The result: Whereas the raw data shows superior performance in private schools, much of that differential is eradicated after the statistical massaging. Public-school fourth-graders did better; however, the reading advantage at the eighth-grade level remained with the private-school kids. ()() Just as I suspected. The government education monopoly manipulated the numbers ot make themselves look better.

16-year-old Virginian: 'I'm not going to receive chemotherapy no matter what' The father of a Virginia teen seeking an alternative treatment for his cancer says a social worker has threatened to use force to take the boy away from the family for court-ordered chemotherapy. Jay Cherrix of Chincoteague, Va., is concerned there could be an Elian Gonzalez-style showdown over his 16-year-old son, Abraham, who has already undergone chemotherapy for his Hodgkin's disease to no avail. ()() Here's an idea, why doesn't the teen petition the court to become an emancipated minor. Then he can make his own decitions.

Since 1989, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) has examined Congressional roll-call votes to determine which members of Congress are voting in the interest of taxpayers. Our goal is to applaud the members who want to protect our tax dollars and cut spending. At the same time, CAGW wants to alert the taxpaying public to those who prefer big government and using public funds for pet programs and pork-barrel spending. As a result of lobbying, ethics scandals, and increased scrutiny of pork-barrel projects that were slipped into authorization and appropriations bills, it would make sense that the 2005 Congressional Ratings would have shown significant improvement over 2004. Unfortunately for taxpayers, there was minimal progress. Congress, particularly the Senate, turned a tin ear to taxpayers and voted for more wasteful spending. Editor's Note: All three of my representatives got "Taxpayer Hero" ratings although I'm not sure Inglis and Graham deserved it.

Richard Hatch has been sent to a federal prison in Oklahoma as he serves a 51-month sentence for failing to pay taxes on the $1 million he won on the debut season of "Survivor." ()() Guess the FNF is going to have to survive a whole new experience now. I don't think they're going to let Richard wear the same clothes in prison that he wore on the island.

A knife-wielding grocery store employee attacked eight co-workers Friday, seriously injuring four before a witness pulled a gun and stopped him, police said. Elartrice Ingram, 21, was charged with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder, police said. The attack apparently stemmed from a work dispute, investigators said. ()() One more example of why we need to keep the 2nd Amendment and Castle Doctrine laws.