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News from the Trenches (Editor’s Note: We reprint the item below at the request of Jack Smith, editor of The Catholic Key, official newspaper of the Diocese of Kansas City. In his blog entry below, Mr. Smith points out that a group calling itself “Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good” is really a front organization sponsored by the Democratic National Committee. “This group has been treated as legitimate by CNS and other Catholic news sources,” noted Mr. Smith in an email to California Catholic Daily.) WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2008 Cardinal George Slams 'Common Good' Fraud Catholics in Alliance for...

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The chairmen of the U.S. bishops' pro-life and doctrine committees criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying she "misrepresented the history and nature of the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church on abortion" in a nationally televised interview Aug. 24. Pelosi, D-Calif., who is Catholic, said in an appearance that day on NBC's "Meet the Press" that church leaders for centuries had not been able to agree on when life begins. An Aug. 25 statement by Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia and Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., said the church since the first century "has affirmed...

Brendan Daly, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, issued the following statement yesterday from Denver, where the Democratic National Convention is under way.) “Her views on when life begins were informed by the views of Saint Augustine, who said: ‘... the law does not provide that [abortion] pertains to homicide, for there cannot yet be said to be a live soul in a body that lacks sensation.’” “While Catholic teaching is clear that life begins at conception, many Catholics do not ascribe to that view. The Speaker agrees with the church that we should reduce the number...

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 108th Congress - 1st Session as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate Vote Summary Question: On the Amendment (Harkin Amdt. No. 260 ) Vote Number: 48 Vote Date: March 12, 2003, 04:03 PM Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Amendment Agreed to Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 260 to S. 3 Statement of Purpose: To express the sense of the Senate concerning the decision of the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade. Vote Counts: YEAs 52 NAYs 46 Not Voting 2 ~ snip ~ Hutchison...

Hmmm. You know how everyone's been talking about how Republican presidential nominee-to-be Sen. John McCain was gonna name his vice presidential running mate at a big rally in Dayton, Ohio on Aug. 29, the day after Barack Obama's acceptance speech to 70,000 of his closest friends in that Denver stadium?That still seems likely. But now comes word that McCain advance people have approached a minor league baseball stadium in southwestern Pennsylvania about hosting a rally for the Arizona senator the day after the Ohio rally. That would be the Saturday of Labor Day weekend before the GOP convention opens in...

Under the general category of "What were they thinking?" comes my question of why the leader of some 385,000 Catholics in the Denver area -- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput -- was not invited to deliver the opening prayer for the Democratic National Convention next week. After all, Catholicism is identified as the religious affiliation by a majority of members of the 110th Congress. (www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RS22555.pdf) Great profile, by the way. It includes careers, educational levels, and other interesting demographic data of the 110th Congress. According to this site, there are 130 representatives and 25 senators -- or 29% of the 110th...

Americans have never expected our public servants to be perfect. In fact on many levels it can sometimes be comforting to know they are not. Foibles, mistakes, faux pas all remind us that while they are called upon to lead us through times of tremendous challenge, that at the end of the day they are one of us. They are not from some line of tyrannical despot royalty allowed absolute power. Realizing this however also causes us to understand that while they may make mistakes certain qualities are particularly more helpful, attractive, and necessary when vetting the nation's leadership. Honesty,...

Attention Brody File readers. I was just granted an exclusive one on one interview with Barack Obama here at the Saddleback Civil Forum. CBN News was the only media outlet to go behind the scenes and conduct an interview. It happened literally two minutes after Obama walked off the stage. Video of the interview is now posted above. Read the transcript below. I had five minutes and I asked him about the McCain handshake, his toughest question during the forum and whether the McCain campaign is purposely using imaginary to scare people about him. He got pretty heated when I...

Denver, CO (LifeNews.com) -- During the Democratic convention in Denver where pro-abortion presidential candidate Barack Obama will be coronated as the party's nominee, a leading pro-abortion group will put on a big shindig. Emily's List will unite failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Obama's wife Michelle. That Barack Obama's wife would attend a gala for a pro-abortion group that supports partial-birth abortions and taxpayer-funded abortions is no surprise. Michelle Obama came under fire in May for a letter she wrote defending partial-birth abortions. The 2004 letter, written to help Obama in his campaign for his U.S. Senate seat, opposes the...

Last week's clash between Dr. James Dobson and Barack Obama is but the latest skirmish in a war that dates back to the time of Christ. At issue: What is Christian truth? Does the true Christian put social peace ahead of his duty to make God's Law man's law? In a speech in June 2006, Obama, citing the Book of Leviticus, which declares homosexuality an abomination, noted that Leviticus also says the eating of shellfish is an abomination and condones slavery. Moreover, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is "a passage so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department...

Washington, DC -- Presidential candidate Barack Obama came under fire in May for setting up an outreach group to Catholics led by abortion advocates. Following significant national criticism, it appears the group no longer exists or, at minimum, has been de-emphasized by Obama's campaign.

The Associated Press ran a news story on Tuesday saying Barack Obama has captured enough delegates to become the Democratic presidential nominee. On the heels of the article AP trotted out a comparison piece contrasting Obama and eventual GOP nominee John McCain on top issues. However, the Associated Press piece contains a glaring error. It fails to fully articulate the manner in which Obama has pressed the drumbeat for abortion. Full story at: http://www.LifeNews.com/nat3957.html

There is no political affiliation in history that has been, or is at present, as full of cowardice and fear as the left wing. Being leftist means never wanting to take any kind of responsibility whatsoever. A leftist, typically toting the label of "liberal", will not accept the basic facts of life, and cringes at life. Liberals don't want to pay for their own health care. They want government to do it. Liberals don't want competition to determine who gets a job or a fully funded college education. They want the government to do it. Liberals don't want businesses to...

Washington, DC -- One of the leading pro-abortion groups issued its endorsement on Wednesday for Barack Obama, apparently believing he will represent the Democratic Party against John McCain. NARAL has supported Hillary Clinton throughout her career but Obama appears more likely to win the nomination.

Planned Parenthood of Idaho officials apologized Wednesday for what they called an employee's "serious mistake" in encouraging a donation aimed at aborting black babies. They also criticized The Advocate, a right-to-life student magazine at the University of California-Los Angeles, for trying to discredit Planned Parenthood employees in seven states in a series of tape-recorded phone calls last summer. The call to Idaho came in July to Autumn Kersey, vice president of development and marketing for Planned Parenthood of Idaho. On the recording provided by The Advocate, an actor portraying a donor said he wanted his money used to eliminate black...

On Wednesday a full transcript of Democrat presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama’s July 2007 speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund in which he vigorously defended legalized abortion became available. In the July 17 speech, Obama attacked the Supreme Court decision that upheld the federal partial-birth abortion ban and the nomination of Supreme Court justices who favor overturning Roe v. Wade. In the speech the senator said, "There will always be people, many of goodwill, who do not share my view on the issue of choice. On this fundamental issue, I will not yield and Planned Parenthood will not yield."...

Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in our country, but whether you're pro-life or "pro-choice", there are certain things on which I think most of us can agree. One of these is that children, once born, are entitled to the legal protections of a human being and cannot and should not be killed. Apparently, Senator Barack Obama does not agree. He was one of the driving forces in the state legislature preventing Illinois from adopting the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. This entirely reasonable law would stop hospitals and abortion mills from shelving live aborted babies to die...

The Brazilian city of Recife is to distribute morning-after pills to women during carnival after public prosecutors on Tuesday rejected a Catholic Church lawsuit claiming the initiative promoted sex and provided "abortions." "The pill has no abortive effect, as the archdiocese claims, and its distribution is in no way an incentive to have sex," the prosecutor who made the decision, Ivana Botelho, told AFP. On top of its legal defeat, the church has come under fire from the Brazilian government for attempting to sway public health policy. "The (Recife) mayor's office is right and the church is wrong, again," Health...

Marcia Pappas will probably consider me a male chauvinist pig for saying this, but her attack on Sen. Edward Kennedy yesterday was idiotic and suggests she is unfit to lead her organization. Pappas, president of the New York State chapter of the National Organization for Women, accused Kennedy of committing the "ultimate betrayal" of women everywhere. And what was his heinous offense, pray tell? Advocating reversal of Roe vs. Wade? Calling for repeal of women's suffrage? Supporting female circumcision? No. Endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for President instead of Sen. Hillary Clinton. "He's joined the list of progressive white men who...

PRESS RELEASES Psychological Gang Bang of Hillary is Proof We Need a Woman President January 11, 2008 by Marcia Pappas, President NOW - New York State We've all witnessed scenarios where, on the playground little girls are being taunted by little boys while both girls and boys stand idle, afraid to speak up or even cheering. Or, in the workplace males tease young and older female co-workers; make obscene gestures, inappropriate comments, laughing and expecting (often correctly) that everyone will join in. Then there was that movie where Jodie Foster portrayed the true story of woman who was ganged raped...

The comment came during an interview with CNN this morning. I’m not going to rant about this. I will point out that Huckabee’s position doesn’t square up well with the Constitution’s amendment process — a process laid out precisely because it ought to be difficult to change the Constitution, but change is sometimes necessary, and it’s necessary because the Constitution isn’t a living, breathing document. If it were, as the proponents of that understanding tend to believe, you can find meanings in the penumbras of what’s actually written, meanings that might in fact be at odds with the plain understanding...

"They said all sorts of ludicrous things [about Romney]... that when he became president he would pass a bill for same-sex marriage." The push-polling has hit other candidates too, but it highlights Mr Romney's particular difficulties in selling his candidacy to the religious right since he is a Mormon. While much attention has focused on the possibility of "firsts" in the Democratic race with a woman in Hillary Clinton or African American in Barack Obama as real shots at the White House, Mr Romney would be the first Mormon president. It's something that's firing up the evangelical community, which is...

MANCHESTER, N.H. – It is the historic mission of the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary to give us the establishment candidate in each party, and then the insurgent candidate. The two pairs then battle it out in South Carolina to give us the probable nominees for November. Year 2008 looks no different, with this exception: The insurgents, Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee, swept the first contests and now have the momentum. And both establishments are reeling. Twenty-four hours before New Hampshire, the GOP establishment has not even settled upon a champion. If Mitt Romney wins the Granite State, he...

Is Mitt Romney Conservative? by Gary Glenn Chairman, Campaign for Michigan Families The Washington, D.C. conservative weekly Human Events last year listed Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in its Top Ten list of RINOs (Republicans in Name Only), ranking him at number 8 in the nation with the following entry: "Has said, ’I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country.’ Supports (homosexual) civil unions and stringent gun laws. After visiting Houston, he criticized the city’s aesthetics, saying, ’This is what happens when you don’t have zoning.’" (Human Events) Romney should have ranked even higher on the list...

His liberal record went right up until his final days in office as governor. Despite what he has said since leaving office, he was always there, ready to help out to keep abortions safe and legal. His new claim is that he would have blocked it if he had the chance. Of course, Mitt. Of course you would have done that. If only the track record didn't get in the way of facts. Why do facts always have to get in the way of a good story? More hypocrisy from Mitt, after the jump. Former governor Mitt Romney's economic development...

Hard to conjure up that image but it's true. Thomspon sends out an e-mail blast taking issue with Romney's statement today on MTP that "every piece of legislation which came to my desk in the coming years as a Governor, I came down on the side of preserving the sanctity of life." The "fact check" includes this: "Romney's health care legislation provides taxpayer-funded abortions for a co-pay of just $50. Romney vetoed EIGHT provisions in his health care bill that he deemed objectionable, including the expansion of dental benefits to Medicaid recipients. He did not veto Planned Parenthoods' guaranteed position...

"The problem in our church [national] is about the lack of respect for the authority of scripture and the nature, character and work of Jesus Christ," said Curran, an Episcopal priest for 15 years. "It's about the failed leadership of The Episcopal Church and whether or not we will continue to be under the authority of a failed leadership. And for many of us, the answer is no."

This is why a lot of people wanted Fred Thompson in the race. Who do you trust? Mitt today or Mitt from...whenever he changed his mind on abortion. What? Three years ago? That doesn't smack of a real change of heart more than a political calculation. If the abortion issue doesn't bother you then listen to Mitt run from the "Reagan-Bush" years.

Many former Iowa caucus-goes may be returning home today to find a new piece of political mail waiting in their mailbox. The first direct mail piece from the Thompson campaign (.pdf format) should be hitting Iowa mailboxes sometime today, and according to one campaign source it is going out to "a wide universe" of people likely to caucus for a Republican in January. The mailer is called "Believe," and it is seen by the campaign as an introduction to Thompson's record. At the top it says "What if…" there was a candidate who had a 100 percent pro-life voting record,...

Fred Thompson's campaign got some good news in the polls this week as a new survey shows him tied with Mitt Romney in the early primary battleground of South Carolina. A new survey released Friday also shows him almost in a tie with pro-abortion New York Sen. Hillary Clinton nationally. The Rasmussen poll, conducted on Tuesday, finds both Thompson and Romney at 21 percent in the southern state among likely primary voters. The bad news for Thompson is the poll shows a decline of four percent and Romney increasing his percentage, but it shows his campaign continuing its strategy of...

The presidential campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney told Cybercast News Service on Wednesday that Romney does not favor punishing women who have abortions but does favor punishing abortionists, perhaps even with incarceration. The description of Romney's abortion policy was made in a statement that Romney Communications Director Matt Rhoades issued to Cybercast News Service after Cybercast News Service asked a Romney spokesman about an answer Romney had given in a Nov. 19 interview with Human Events. "Several of your rivals said they opposed criminalizing abortion, by putting the women or the doctors involved in jail. Do you agree?"...

Presidential candidate Fred Thompson, the former Tennessee Senator and Law & Order actor, slammed Mitt Romney for supporting and signing into law the Massachusetts Health Plan that allows for women to have an abortion with no restrictions for a $50 co-pay. Columnist David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, whose founder Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy Giuliani, a pro-choice candidate, for president, analyzes the contradictions of Romney’s abortion stance. Brody writes that “the problem that Romney continues to have on abortion is that it’s hard for him to criticize Giuliani, Thompson or anybody else on the issue because he has his...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Rudy Giuliani assured a conservative legal group Friday that if elected president he would appoint federal judges who adhere to their principles. He also praised a judge who declared the capital city's gun ban unconstitutional and ridiculed efforts to eliminate the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. In a speech marking the 25th anniversary of the Federalist Society, Giuliani spelled out a conservative legal agenda in which he cited Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts as models for the judges he would appoint to the federal...

Mitt Romney supporter Paul Weyrich, one of the founders of the Moral Majority, is pretty upset that Fred Thompson got the endorsement from the National Right to Life Committee. He's so mad he's made a spurious charge against the Thompson campaign and the NRLC which is bound to hurt Romney: Fred Thompson's campaign lashed out at Mitt Romney Wednesday after one of Romney's key supporters suggested Thompson's recent endorsement by the anti-abortion National Right to Life Committee was traded for cash. In an article in The Washington Times on Wednesday, Paul Weyrich — the socially conservative co-founder of the Moral...

Responding to the National Right to Life Committee's endorsement of Fred Thompson, Paul Weyrich suggested that Thompson's backers greased some palms. "I think in all probability the Thompson people were engaged with the National Right to Life people in financial dealing," Weyrich told the Washington Times. That's a pretty tough charge and almost certainly not what Romney's campaign wanted their big social conservative "get" to suggest (at least not publicly). Sensing opportunity to win more points from their own big "get" (the group's nod) Thompson communications director Todd Harris unloaded: "Gov. Romney is new to the pro-life movement and his...

When the National Right to Life Committee endorsed Fred Thompson for president this week, their news conference was less announcement than cri de coeur — not just from this group but from the whole social conservative movement. No one could miss the irony in the choice of Thompson or in the justifications offered for that choice by NRLC executive director David O'Steen. Here was the nation's largest and best known anti-abortion organization embracing a candidate who had just told NBC's Tim Russert that he did not support the Human Life Amendment — the centerpiece of the NRLC legislative agenda for...

By Christopher Cook Let's face it folks, the country is in a weird mood right now. The left's incessant, squalling permatantrumâ„¢ has made people unhappy, jittery, and willing to consider hating whoever and whatever the left hates. That means the GOP. So, how does this anti-GOP mood play out in 2008?It may all depend on one thing: Michael Bloomberg. There were some rumors a while back that he might make a third party run for the presidency, and in my view, that would likely spell doom for the GOP. Here's how:He's an independent, which means he could capitalize on the...

The most cynical group currently operating on the American political stage, the National Right to Life Committee has endorsed the most cynical man to seek the presidency in recent memory, Fred Thompson, for the Republican nomination. It is a perfect match, although not one that can be said to have been "made in Heaven." After all, what brings the National Right to Life Committee and Fred Thompson together is the fact that both the interest group and the candidate have sold their souls to the highest bidder. National Right to Life gave its blessing to Thompson despite the fact that...

Fred Thompson is the Republican most likely to beat abortion-rights supporter Rudy Giuliani, the National Right to Life Committee said Tuesday, announcing its endorsement of the former Tennessee senator for president. "While there are various polls, and some are up-and-down, the overwhelming consensus has been that he is best-positioned to top pro-abortion candidate Rudy Giuliani for the Republican nomination," the group's executive director, David N. O'Steen, said at a news conference. ...By emphasizing Thompson's political potential _ he ranks second behind former New York Mayor Giuliani in national Republican polls _ the anti-abortion group played down its own differences with...

There is an old hymn written by Fanny Crosby, sung at generations of camp meetings, which exclaims: "Crown Him! Crown Him! Prophet, and Priest, and King!" Since the emergence of evangelicalism as a cultural force in the 1950s, three approaches to politics, represented by three personalities, have emerged. They are the prophet, the priest and the kingmaker. The prophet has been psychologist James Dobson, who dispenses child-rearing advice on the radio from his Colorado ministry, Focus on the Family. On family issues, Dobson's counsel is moderate and broadly appealing. On politics, his tone sharpens. He rails against compromise on social-conservative...

...The truth is - significant evangelical voices have spoken with great conviction about the qualifications of one of the leading top tier candidates of recent - and more voices continue to come forward almost weekly. While Mayor Giuliani's faith would on the surface expect to share similar values with evangelical voters, apparently the Mayor himself does not. But Mitt Romney - who has not been ruled out of support from prominent leaders like Dr. James Dobson and Dr. Tony Perkins. Is also enjoying expressed outspoken support from additional prominent conservative evangelical voices like Paul Weyrich, Dr. Wayne Grudem, and perhaps...

We are conservatives who are proud to support Rudy Giuliani for president. We support Rudy because he is a strong leader -- a man of action and a man of his word. And a big part of that is his proven effectiveness -- his record of actually changing things for the better in concrete, measurable ways. A perfect example of his leadership and proven effectiveness is Rudy's record on adoption. Rudy Giuliani dramatically increased the number of adoptions in the New York City system as mayor. Adoptions skyrocketed 133% over his eight year tenure compared to the eight years before...

Most Republican presidential candidates can brag about attracting followers with their valiant stances on important issues. Rudy Giuliani's followers support him because they think he can beat Hillary Clinton. In and by itself, the reasoning of Giuliani's supporters is not illogical. Many people do take into account electability when voting for a primary candidate (although most will not sacrifice their basic principles in the name of an election victory). The problem is, this perceived electability is the only thing going for Giuliani. But here is the real kicker: Giuliani is not electable. In fact, he is far less electable than...

Shortly before a Republican presidential primary debate in Columbia, South Carolina, this last May, several conservative activists in the state received mysterious envelopes in the mail. The letters arrived anonymously, each one containing an eight-page document, a typewritten manifesto with a pseudo-academic title: "Mormons in Contemporary American Society: A Politically Dangerous Religion?" The letters depicted Mormonism as based on "hoaxes" and ridiculed the church's founder, Joseph Smith, as a "gold digger turned prophet." The mailing also provocatively dubbed Smith "the Mohammed of the West." "Like the prophet of Islam," it said, "Smith founded his religion upon prophecies and revelations which...

Jerry Ford wasn't sure Hillary Clinton could be elected President, but he was absolutely certain which Republican had the strongest shot at stopping her: Rudy Giuliani. "That would be a great contest between Hillary and Rudy," the 92-year-old former President told a reporter in May 2006. "I think Giuliani is an electrifying guy," he added. "He's a great speaker. He's had a good record of winning in New York City, and he can be tough." Ford had gotten to know the former mayor at various political and corporate events over the years - both were members of the World Trade...

You wouldn't know it from reading the papers, but the favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination is a confirmed right-winger. On issues such as free speech and religion, secrecy and due process, civil rights and civil liberties, pornography and democracy, this moralist and self-styled lawman has exhibited all the key hallmarks of Bush-era conservatism. That candidate is Rudolph W. Giuliani. As any New Yorker can tell you, the last word anyone in the 1990s would have attached to the brash, furniture- breaking mayor was "liberal" -- and the second-to-last was "moderate." With his take-many-prisoners approach to crime and his...

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his rivals for the Republican nomination will face a tough crowd when they address the religious conservatives at the Values Voter Summit starting Friday. “I think what we can expect is a lot of folks talking about how dissatisfied they are with the choices they have,” former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) said. Giuliani’s positions on abortion and gay rights continue to dog him as he looks for support within the leadership of the religious conservative movement, and those leaders say they want to hear more from the former mayor this weekend than...

It's pretty clear that Mitt Romney made a big mistake over the weekend when he told voters that he speaks for "the Republican wing of the Republican Party." Romney handed rivals Rudy Giuliani and John McCain the opportunity to remind GOP primary voters about the Old Romney, who was pro-abortion rights and courted gay voters when he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate, then successfully for governor of Massachusetts. That's the Romney, who while debating Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1994, proclaimed: "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush." Of course the...

Christian conservatives have thus far failed to rally behind a single candidate, but a prominent conservative leader predicts at least one candidate will emerge from the upcoming Values Voter Summit with major support from social conservatives. Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, recently said he was “very optimistic” with the field of candidates that will attend this week’s Washington Briefing 2007: Values Voter Summit. He believes there will be one to two contenders that will be revealed as the favorite among social conservatives during the three-day gathering. But even if none of the candidates appeal to values voters, it...

The way to avoid a Rudy nomination is to simply bury him in the primaries. Let's examine a few key facts. 1) The current national polls have Rudy at about 30%, Thompson at 21%, McCain at 13%, Romney at 11%, and Huckabee at 6%. The other 19% are either going for a minor candidate or are undecided. 2) Rudy is mostly leading because a) he's the only pro-choice candidate against seven pro-life candidates and b) he's supported by some conservatives because he's seen as the best chance to win. 3) While McCain is listed as third here, it's pretty generally...