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More than 150 leaders across a spectrum of conservative Christianity on Friday released a 4,700-word document vowing civil disobedience if they are forced to take part in "anti-life acts" or bless gay marriages. Called the "Manhattan Declaration," the six-page, single-spaced document was drafted by Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson, an evangelical, and Princeton University professor Robert P. George, a Roman Catholic, and included a bevy of Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox bishops, archbishops and cardinals as signatories along with dozens of clergy and laity. Archbishop of Washington Donald W. Wuerl is one of the signatories. "Throughout the centuries, Christianity has taught...

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Unemployment rates in the United States were little changed or higher in October, the Labor Department reported Friday, with some states reporting record levels of jobless. Some 29 states and the District of Columbia had higher rates jobless rates, according to agency data, while rates in 13 states declined. Eight states had no change. Michigan had the highest unemployment rate at 15.1 percent, with Nevada at second place with 13 percent and Rhode Island in third at 13.9 percent.California, Delaware, and Florida had their highest jobless levels, seasonally adjusted, since the department began collecting data in...

GAY ACTIVISTS BULLY D.C. PRIESTS November 20, 2009Catholic League president Bill Donohue addresses a serious issue involving gay activists in the District of Columbia:A new homosexual website, ChurchOuting.org, is intent on publicly disclosing who the gay priests are in the Archdiocese of Washington. The goal of this outing is to intimidate gay priests, as well as heterosexual priests who may be “romantically involved,” into voicing objections to the Catholic Church’s opposition to gay marriage. This initiative is the work of Phil Attey, self-described as “Liberal-Gay-Ardent Obama Supporter”; he was active in the Obama Pride Metro-DC campaign. According to one...

Things seem to be going from bad to worse at the Washington Times. And the continued operation of the newspaper, which is owned by Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, seems to be in serious doubt. There's already been plenty of speculation that the paper might fold or go online-only. Sources at the Times said they fear major changes and that the Moon family feud that's driving the paper's turmoil could lead to the Times shutting down in the coming months -- with some suggesting that Preston Moon, the reverend's son who serves as chairman of News World Communications, the...

DC Activists: Mobilize on Nov. 23! From 12-1pm on Monday November 23, join NOW activists from the mid-Atlantic region as they campaign outside the Senate office buildings against the Stupak Amendment. Nearest metro station is Union Station. We'll be meeting at Constitution Avenue, on the block in front of Russell and the corner of Constitution and Delaware. View map

Sure, the economy sucks. Unemployment is at least 10.2% and, yes, if you include part-time workers who would rather have full-time jobs it may be over 17%. The government is showering our cash on Wall Street and burning through piles of our children and grandchildren’s money “saving” phantom jobs in Congressional Districts that don’t exist. Oh yeah, and Congress is planning for a government take-over of our health care system, legislating higher energy prices and raising taxes. Sheesh, no wonder we’re feeling blue. Well, not to worry, three-term Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) has found a solution: Stop Complaining So Much....

<p>Contact your Senators and let them know what you think!</p> <p>U.S. veterans or subsidies for United Nations (U.N.) bureaucracy.</p>

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics ruled Tuesday that a proposed ballot initiative defining marriage as between a man and a woman cannot go forward, reaffirming an earlier ruling that such a vote would be discriminatory. The board cited the city Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination against gay men and lesbians. The board decision, which will probably be challenged in court, means the D.C. Council can move forward with its plans to vote on a bill next month to legalize same-sex marriage. The council on Tuesday scheduled a vote for Dec. 1. "We have considered all of the...

The two-member elections board said it could not accept the Marriage Initiative of 2009, filed by the Stand4MarriageDC coalition, because it "authorizes discrimination prohibited under the District of Columbia Human Rights Act." "This undemocratic decision is outrageous and a slap in the face of every resident of the District of Columbia," Mr. Jackson said. "To deny the people their fundamental right to vote on such an important issue as the definition of marriage in our society is simply appalling."

Two weeks ago, just after the Maine’s successful reversal of the state legislature’s decision to sanction same-sex marriage, MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer asked me a profound question: “Would Jesus have spent $550,000 to oppose same-sex marriage?” The question was exactly what many secular parties had been asking in Portland, Maine, where she was speaking to me by satellite. My answer was that Jesus would have given the money to oppose same-sex marriage. My reasoning was simple: Jesus would have upheld his own teaching; refusing to be a loving, permanent enabler of a misguided local government. I mentioned in the interview that...

Washington, D.C., had the dubious distinction of beating all 50 states to post the highest rates in the nation for the sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. The District of Columbia had a Chlamydia rate of 1,177 cases per 100,000 people--almost three times the rate of its neighbors, Virginia (405) and Maryland (439). Mississippi was a distant second, at 728 cases per 100,000 people. By comparison, California’s rate was 407 cases per 100,000; New York came in at 458; New Mexico...

U.S. Sen. Max Baucus' approval rating is taking a dip following a high profile push for health care reform. A survey released Monday shows that just 44 percent approve of the job performance ... That is down from two years ago when the same Montana State University-Billings poll showed Baucus with a 64 percent approval rating. The poll also found that a vast majority support the hunting of wolves in the state — and that most oppose any effort to legalize marijuana in the state.

Gay newspapers in several U.S. cities, including the Washington Blade, shut down on Monday, as the company that owned them, Window Media, abruptly went out of business. Window Media had been in serious financial trouble, but employees said they had expected a reorganization or sale, not a liquidation. “We found out when two of the corporate officers were waiting for us when we got to work this morning,” said Kevin Naff, editor of the Blade, a 40-year-old paper that was one of the most important publications written for a gay audience. “It’s not a complete surprise. The abruptness of it...

Washington gay and lesbian newspaper The Washington Blade has ceased publication and is closing Monday, along with its parent company, Atlanta-based Window/Unite Media LLC. Window/Unite published five gay and lesbian publications, including Southern Voice, South Florida Blade, The 411 Magazine and David Atlanta. All will stop publishing, and three of the company's offices will close. The news, first reported by Washington City Paper’s sister paper Creative Loafing Atlanta, was confirmed by a Washington Blade employee. The publication has also stated the news on its Twitter feed: “Washington Blade, like all Window Media publications, is closing today. Thank you for your...

A burial at Arlington National Cemetery Friday had all the trimmings of a proper military funeral except one thing, the soldier’s remains. It's theft in front of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. has left the family distraught. The urn containing the remains of bronze star and two purple hearts winner Army Colonel Norbert Otto Schmidt was taken from his family’s SUV just before the funeral. The thieves also stole a computer and other items from the vehicle. The ceremony had to be moved to a different part of the cemetery but the gravestone will be moved to its proper...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sen. Charles Schumer says a hole in federal gun laws allowed the man charged with a shooting rampage in Fort Hood, Texas to purchase a gun.Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan has been charged with the shooting spree that left 13 dead.Hasan purchased a gun at a store in Texas in August even though the Joint Terrorism Task Force had investigated him for possible terrorist ties.Authorities had taken a look at Hasan after intercepting messages between Hasan and a radical imam overseas. The inquiry was closed sometime in early 2009.Schumer says that should have been enough...

The D.C. Council is considering a law forbidding discrimination against those in gay marriages. The law would apply to all groups that have contracts with the District, including Catholic Charities, one of the city's largest social services providers. The Archdiocese of Washington says that because of the Church's opposition to same-sex marriage, it would have to suspend its social services to the poor, the homeless and others rather than provide employee benefits to same-sex married couples or allow them to adopt.

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Americans received some better than expected news on the unemployment front this week. However, key economic reports provided evidence that burgeoning deficits are only getting bigger for the U.S. economy.Economic data didn't ramp up until later in the week, kicked off by an initial jobless claims number of 502,000 for the week ended November 7. The result was better than expected as estimates called for a much smaller decline to 510,000. Prior week claims were 514,000. Continuing claims also fell more than expected, totaling 5.63 million. Economists were expecting 5.7 million following the 5.77 million reported...

Vice President Biden made a surprise visit to a homeless shelter in Washington DC on Friday to help serve lunch to dozens of homeless men. Biden dropped by the Father McKenna Center, a homeless shelter a few blocks away from the U.S. Capitol building that serves around 100 men during the day. It also offers counseling for substance abuse and an HIV/AIDS initiative. Dressed casually in a black baseball cap, sweater and khakis, Biden put on rubber gloves and an apron to help distribute fish sticks. Biden said he was there because “you've got to remind yourself that but for...

Some days the Republican Party seems to be going crazy. Its public image is often shaped by people who appear to have gone into government because they saw it as a steppingstone to talk radio. But deep in the bowels of the G.O.P., there are serious people having quiet conversations. The people holding these conversations created and admired Bob McDonnell’s perfectly executed Virginia gubernatorial campaign. And now as they look to the future of their party, and who might lead it in 2012, the name John Thune keeps popping up. As you may or may not know, Thune is the...

The Archdiocese of Washington said Thursday that it will not extend benefits to same-sex married couples employed in Catholic schools -- a pre-emptive defiance of a bill expected to coast through the D.C. Council by the end of the year. "If this law is passed, we will have to break the law before we give up our religion," said archdiocese spokeswoman Susan Gibbs. A bill pending in the D.C. Council would allow same-sex marriages to be performed in the District. Currently, the District recognizes same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions. The church operates 21 schools in the District, attended by...

The D.C. City Council took one step closer to allowing same sex "marriages" in the District of Columbia on Tuesday when they voted the legislation out of the Committee on Public Safety & Judiciary. The panel refused to include protections for religious organizations--putting at risk the numerous churches in the region that provide goods and services to the needy who would have to decide between their faith or compliance with the city's commands. One of the largest area provider of relief services, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, took a stand yesterday, just as their counterparts in Massachusetts's had done in...

Federal program checks fingerprints of local crime suspects D.C. police will be the next department to take part in a federal program whose ultimate aim is to check the immigration status of every person booked into a local jail, homeland security officials announced Thursday. The program, known as Secure Communities, matches inmates' fingerprints against a federal database so that federal authorities can identify and possibly remove deportable illegal immigrants before they are released from custody. Similar checks are done at all 1,200 federal and state prisons. But authorities have lacked the ability to do them across the nation's 3,100 local...

No Constitution for Deadbeats By Dr. Paul Moreno | Nov 12, 2:00 PM America's foreign creditors are uneasy, fearing that runaway government spending will spark inflation and reduce the value of their U.S. bonds. It has been quite common for governments to resort to inflation to relieve the debts of their own citizens and to reduce their own debts to foreigners. One of the principal goals of the American Constitution was to prevent such mischief. The United States' poor credit in international financial markets was one of the main reasons that the Federalists called for a new constitution. That Constitution...

Fannie Mae has submitted a request to the Treasury Department for an additional $15 billion in aid after the government-sponsored enterprise reported third quarter losses of $19 billion. According to The Washington Post, Fannie’s request for aid comes on top of the $45 billion it already has received and will be necessary for the mortgage giant to stay afloat. Since being taken over by the government in September 2008, Fannie Mae and its counterpart, Freddie Mac, have received nearly $100 billion in taxpayer aid. In total, the government seizure of Fannie and Freddie has cost taxpayers $121 billion. According to...

The D.C. Council introduced a marriage equality bill on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009. Public hearings were held on Oct. 26 and Nov. 2 and supporters of marriage for same-sex couples significantly outnumbered those who testified against it. The full Council is expected to take an initial vote on Dec. 1 with a final vote by the end of the year.

Liberals are fond of calling Republicans “the stupid party.” That might need revision. It appears to me that Democrats have checkmated themselves. Here is the logic: If Obamacare makes it through the Senate, American small businesses will continue to shrink their payrolls to avoid the awful choice of paying higher health care insurance premiums or the 8% added payroll tax. Unemployment is sure to rise. The Dems will face the November 2010 elections with 12% unemployment ... closer to Depression levels of 20% by the so-called broader measures. If Obamacare fails to pass, the left-wing base will be so demoralized...

The DHS's Janet Napolitano will be speaking and taking questions in Washington DC this Friday 11/13. I need others to organize efforts to go ask her this question: "A company in Minneapolis recently fired hundreds of illegal alien janitors, and Americans rushed in to take those jobs [illustrate with hand gesture]. However, DHS didn't try to deport the illegal aliens who'd been fired, and hundreds of them are probably now working at different companies in Minneapolis. My question to you is this: if you had sought to deport those illegal aliens rather than simply letting them back into the labor...

US efforts to revive the Middle East process floundered on Tuesday after President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held closed-door talks amid signs of friction. The two went into talks with the United States having renewed its opposition to Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Netanyahu left the White House after spending an hour and 40 minutes, without making the customary public appearance with the US president. "The president reaffirmed our strong commitment to Israel's security, and discussed security cooperation on a range of issues," the White House said in a brief statement. "The president and prime...

WASHINGTON - D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty's use of government resources to facilitate his recreational activities isn't limited to a police escort while he trains with his bike team. The mayor has used a federal Homeland Security vehicle to transport himself and his bike to at least 14 races in the past two years. The District's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency has two large SUVs, which are detailed to the city from the U.S. Government Services Administration. According to records obtained by WTOP through the Freedom of Information Act, the mayor's Executive Protection Unit has signed out one or both...

JARRATT, Va. -- John Allen Muhammad, the sniper who kept the Washington region paralyzed by fear for three weeks as he and a young accomplice gunned down people at random, was executed Tuesday night by lethal injection.

t - 3 hrs and counting down..

Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) denied clemency for John Allen Muhammad on Tuesday, clearing the way for the sniper to be executed by lethal injection at 9 p.m. and putting an end to one of the most trying local criminal cases in U.S. history. Muhammad, 48, was convicted of capital murder in the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers on Oct. 9, 2002, at a gas station outside of Manassas, part of a spree that left 10 people dead in the Washington area and included shootings in several other states. A jury in Virginia Beach, where the trial was moved...

WASHINGTON - The man at the center of the investigation for the sniper shootings says he won't be at John Allen Muhammad's execution Tuesday night. "I don't think I will be personally interested. I have seen a lot of death and destruction and I don't think I am interested anymore," former Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose tells Channel 5. Moose was the face of law enforcement during those three terrifying weeks in October 2002. Muhammad is scheduled to be executed at 9 p.m. for the killing of Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas gas station. Meyers is one of...

November 11 is Veteran's Day, a day when veterans of the armed forces are honored and remembered for their service and sacrifice. An aging group of veterans from the U.S. state of North Carolina, came to Washington D.C., on a pilgrimage to honor their fallen comrades. The airplane carrying more than 100 World War II Veterans arrived in Washington right on schedule. There was a celebration to honor these men known as the "greatest generation" for their service and sacrifice during World War II. It was an outpouring of admiration and appreciation for these veterans from North Carolina. They came...

Hello, Mike Ruane here to talk about the DC sniper case and answer your questions. _______________________

The big news this morning was about the Fort Hood shooter's disturbing ties to Islamists, including an apparent effort to reach out to al-Qaeda. I'm not quite sure what, precisely, I expect from the Department of Homeland Security at a moment like this... But the idea of an Islamist soldier in the ranks would seem to suggest that there's a threat lurking out there, and that would seem to suggest that DHS should be at least monitoring this, right? Of course, there's more to their home page than the USFA campaign focusing on home smoke alarms and sprinklers; their home-page...

MOUNTAIN HOME, IDAHO -- The setting sun is streaming in the living room window of Marion Lewis's house as he puts aside his cigarette and starts telling the story of the day his daughter was murdered. break He remembers the day, Oct. 3, 2002, when Lori Lewis Rivera was shot to death by the D.C. snipers at a gas station in Kensington. Two thousand miles away, her father was oblivious, out in the wilderness running a giant rock-crushing machine. Lewis stares at the floor as he recalls it, kneading his beefy hands and wiping away tears with his fingers. break...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday declined to block the execution of John A. Muhammad, the sniper who terrorized the Washington area seven years ago. The step cleared the way for Mr. Muhammad to be put to death on Tuesday unless Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia intervenes. The court did not comment in refusing to hear Mr. Muhammad’s appeal, but three justices objected to the relative haste accompanying the execution. Justice John Paul Stevens complained that “under our normal practice,” Mr. Muhammad’s petition for the court to take his case would have been discussed at the justices’ conference scheduled...

Seven years after he and his teenage sidekick terrorised the Washington area with a three-week killing spree using a high-powered rifle, John Allen Muhammad — the “Beltway sniper” — is due to be executed tonight by lethal injection. The execution is reviving memories for the millions of people in Washington, Virginia and Maryland who spent October 2002 crouched in their cars as they pumped petrol, ducking and weaving across open spaces and running into schools with their children, glancing anxiously at nearby woods. Muhammad, a former soldier and 41 at the time, and Lee Boyd Malvo, then 17, triggered the...

The Supreme Court Monday denied John Allen Muhammad's request to stay his execution, clearing the way for Virginia to put to death the man who terrorized the Washington region as the Beltway Sniper. Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor objected to the court's haste, saying it "highlights once again the perversity of executing inmates before their appeals process have been fully concluded." Stevens, writing for the three, said Virginia had short-circuited the process by scheduling Muhammad's execution for Tuesday night, earlier than the court would normally have reviewed his petition for the court to take his...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to block Tuesday's scheduled execution of sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad. The Court did not comment Monday on why it refused to consider his appeal. Muhammad is scheduled to die by injection at a Virginia prison for the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a gas station during a three-week spree in October 2002 across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Not long ago, inside the quiet library of the Muslim Community Center here in Silver Spring, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., Golam Akhter, a local Bangladeshi-American civil engineer, 67, got into a fierce debate with a young Muslim doctor over how to interpret the concept of “jihad” within Islam. Akhter argued, “Jihad means an inner struggle, fighting against corruption and injustice.” The young doctor responded. “That’s not a correct interpretation. Jihad means holy war. When your religion isn’t safe, you have to fight for it. If someone attacks you, you must fight them. That is jihad. You can kill...

Convicted Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad is filing last-minute appeals, trying to avoid a Tuesday appointment in Virginia's death chamber. The legal scramble is reviving memories for countless in the D.C. region who lived through the three weeks in October 2002 when Muhammad and his ward, Lee Boyd Malvo, went on a rampage that terrorized the capital region. Picking out strangers at random, they opened fire from a hole cut in an old car, leaving notes behind to taunt police and to celebrate the carnage they inflicted. By the time the pair was finished, 10 were dead, three were wounded...

The National Republican Congressional Committee just released a new Web ad, "Which is it, Hoffman?" that spotlights Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman's alleged dithering about his positions on certain issues.Here's the transcript:"Doug Hoffman is running for Congress. He is opposed to civil unions. Actually...Oh. Well, he is against big government bailouts. Not before! Geez! Well Doug Hoffman lives in the 23rd...uh...this guy doesn't even live here? Why are we...? Doug Hoffman is running...from himself."Mr. Hoffman, according to a recent Siena poll, is unknown by almost three-quarters of voters in the 23rd Congressional District. The NRCC is likely using this ad to...

Gov. Still Plans To Run Despite President's Request He Not Brings President Clinton's Former Deputy Chief Of Staff On BoardEmbattled Gov. David Paterson is pulling out all the stops to save his job. He plans to mount a major ad blitz to tell New Yorkers about all the good things he's done for the Empire State. The election may be over, but the political ads aren't. The governor is now taking to the air waves to convince New Yorkers he deserves to stay in office. "What it's geared to do is talk about his very good record over the last...

It is protest day, for the Left and the Right, on Capitol Hill. First out of the gate - 9 Protesters backing a universal health care system briefly occupied Sen. Joe Lieberman's office this morning. Protesters were arrested, one by one, and dragged out of his office amid chants of "Everyone in and noone out, universal healthcare now!" and "Represent Connecticut, not AETNA!"

The military psychiatrist accused of gunning down 12 people in Texas lived most of his life in the D.C. area where he was considered a caring Muslim by friends -- but he had recently made disturbing statements about suicide attacks. U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, earned a degree from Virginia Tech, completed a residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and attended prayer services nearly every day in Silver Spring for several years. He was described as a caring person by a local Muslim leader, but those who got to know him after he was transferred to Fort...

Thousands Rally To Protest Health Care Bill Obama praises AARP, AMA support; Hoyer predicts bill's passage Saturday WASHINGTON - Chanting "Kill the bill," thousands of conservatives rallied at the Capitol on Thursday against the Democrats' health care overhaul plan. The campaign-style event kicked off a daylong, Republican protest against the legislation. "This bill is the greatest threat to freedom that I have seen," House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio told the crowd gathered on the lawn near the West Front of the Capitol. Said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa: "We're not going to leave this Hill until we kill this...

With the help of Steve McGough's mother, Carol, who was in D.C. today to give a report to Jim Vicevich. Taped report on the blog. We’ll try to get some pictures posted in the next two days, but for now you can find images over at Gateway Pundit. I’ve also got the audio posted below from Carol’s (mom’s) live report from the capital steps this morning minutes before the health care rally got started. If you’ve got links to more information and photos, post them in the comments section to share with everyone.