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A number of years ago, John McCain did a hilarious segment on "Saturday Night Live" in which he did a spoof commercial for an album called "McCain Sings Streisand." The "commercial" featured a crooning McCain torturing a number of Streisand hits -- "People," "Memories," "The Way We Were." The senator then pitched, "I've been in politics for 20 years, and for 20 years I've had Barbra Streisand trying to do my job. So I decided to try my hand at her job." Pastor Rick Warren's presidential candidate "Civic Forum" at his Saddleback Church brought this SNL highlight to mind. I'm...

The headline on the website of German magazine Der Spiegel about Barack Obama's speech in Berlin: "Huge crowds left with mixed feelings." Obama turned out 200,000 in Berlin. However, CNN's Candy Crowley, reporting from the event, went on in her report to her TV audience about an absence of "euphoria." As Sen. Obama went global with "yes, we can" and "change we can believe in," he left at least some in the huge crowd in Berlin scratching their heads. Perhaps these Germans, out to hear what all the excitement was about regarding this unusual American presidential candidate, were looking for...

The headline on the website of German magazine Der Spiegel about Barack Obama's speech in Berlin: "Huge Crowds Left with Mixed Feelings." Two hundred thousand turned out for the speech, but CNN's Candy Crowley reported an "absence of euphoria" at the event. As Senator Obama went global with "Yes, we can" and "Change we can believe in" he left at least some of the horde in Berlin scratching their heads. Perhaps these Germans, out to hear what all the excitement was about, were looking for leadership and substance rather than kumbaya. What they got was the global version of "There...

For the first time since the "don't ask, don't tell" law was enacted in 1993 by President Clinton, the House Armed Services Committee has scheduled hearings to review it. The law disqualifies gays from serving in the military. Individuals are deemed gay, according to this ruling, if they publicly state so. However, the military is prohibited from asking. Thus, "don't ask, don't tell." Activists are now pushing for change to allow gays to serve openly. We can anticipate a technical discussion. Does the presence of openly gay soldiers undermine cohesiveness of units, morale, and discipline? How would retention rates of...

Are we undergoing some kind of sea change of attitudes in America today? Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne reflects such sentiment -- perhaps I should say wishful thinking -- by those on the left that indeed we are. He says capitalism is having a "reality check." The era of big government is back, according to Dionne. Americans now want to re-regulate, re-tax, redistribute, and re-socially engineer. I don't think so. What we do know is that Americans are unhappy with the state of their country (almost 85 percent say they are dissatisfied) and their political leaders (more than 70 percent...

John McCain is trailing Barack Obama by 30 percentage points in support from Hispanic voters, according to this week's polling from Gallup. Even among Hispanics that self-identify as conservatives, McCain and Obama are even. This is a far cry from 2004 when George W. Bush captured 45 percent of the Hispanic vote. At that time, Republicans were optimistic that Hispanics would become a majority voting bloc for the Republican Party. The McCain campaign has two operative questions: Can ground be picked up among Hispanic voters? And if so, how? I hope that the senator sets his sights on Hispanics. If...

Reagan's courageous act in '87 is worth noting by today's GOP For conservatives and Republicans who are wondering what in the world happened to their party, we should recall June 12, 1987. On that day 21 years ago, President Ronald Reagan stood before the wall dividing East and West Berlin and directed his famous appeal to the leader of the then Soviet Union: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Two and half years later, the wall was down and a new chapter had begun. It's always worth recalling Reagan's courageous act and words of that time. But we particularly should...

Americans are hearing so much these days about how bad we are that we're starting to believe it. In a recent Gallup Poll, 68 percent said they are "dissatisfied with the position of the United States in the world today," and 55 percent said they think that the rest of the world views us unfavorably. However, as I page through a publication called the Index of Global Philanthropy, which is produced annually by the Center for Global Prosperity at the Hudson Institute in Washington, it becomes obvious that these American feelings of self-deprecation are misguided. This is the just released...

California's Supreme Court has made its contribution to the ongoing debasement of our law, our language and our culture by legalizing same-sex marriage. California now has law in the tradition of Groucho Marx who said, "Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes." When the court says there is no difference between couples consisting of a man and a woman, a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, and that it's irrelevant that only one combination can produce children, whom are you going to believe? The court or your own eyes? This decision shouldn't...

It appears that Barack Obama has survived a tough couple of weeks. In the words of some, he's shown that "he can take a punch." But, frankly, I think Senator Obama is still getting kid gloves treatment from a press corps that tilts left. Despite the hounding about his "bitterness" remarks, and the ongoing story of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, there's been hardly 10 seconds of attention about his incredible statement that he wouldn't want his daughters "punished with a baby" if they "make a mistake." This in a discussion about HIV/AIDS in which he said that contraception should be...

It appears that Barack Obama has survived a tough couple weeks. In the words of some, he's shown that "he can take a punch." But, frankly, I think Sen. Obama is still getting kid-gloves treatment from a press corps that tilts left. Despite the hounding about his "bitterness" remarks and the ongoing story of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, there's been hardly 10 seconds of attention about his incredible statement that he wouldn't want his daughters "punished with a baby" if they "make a mistake." This in a discussion about HIV/AIDS in which he said that contraception should be included alongside...

A gold star to John McCain for his just-released plan for reforming American health care. Analysts will pick apart details and surely will find shortcomings. But directionally, McCain's approach is on the money. Contrary to the vaporous rhetoric of change offered by the Democrats, he has proposed real structural health care reform. The plan boldly takes on key problems in how we deliver health care that have contributed to out-of-control cost escalation. According to a recent University of Minnesota study, health insurance premiums have increased over recent years 10 times faster than personal incomes, and by 30 percent from 2001-2005....

Star Parker is a bestselling author who travels the country speaking to young audiences about the harmful impact of abortion, especially in minority communities. What better place than the University of St. Thomas -- an urban, Catholic campus -- for this dynamic African-American woman to bring her prolife message? For almost two months, St. Thomas' Students for Human Life organization looked forward to sponsoring Parker's planned appearance on campus April 21. Her fee was to be split by the St. Thomas Standard, a conservative student newspaper, and the Young America's Foundation, a Herndon, Va., group that brings conservative speakers and...

Catholic university to black, pro-life speaker: You’re not Welcomed! …but we’ll make room for Al Franken and transgender speaker. Liberal administrators at the University of St. Thomas, a Catholic university and private college in Minnesota, censored the appearance of prominent pro-life and black speaker Star Parker. On April 21, 2008, Star—the best-selling author of numerous books—was slated to speak on campus about the devastating impact abortion has on minority communities. UST Vice President of Student Affairs Jane Canney nixed the idea entirely, citing “concerns” that the lecture was being underwritten by Young America’s Foundation. Katie Kieffer, a 2005 alumna of...

Hillary Rodham Clinton has reason to be a happy camper. Over recent days, for the first time in months, she has moved significantly ahead of Barack Obama in Gallup's national polling. And, defying Milton Friedman's famous dictum that there is no such thing as a free lunch, she's made these gains at no cost. Clinton has remained quietly on the sidelines, smirking like a Cheshire cat, as Republican commentators have done all her work for her. They've dragged out the tapes of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and have helped sully what everyone thought was Obama's picture-perfect and Teflon-coated image. Why,...

Watching the housing/mortgage/financial crisis unfold, I keep thinking about the joke about the difference between neurotics and psychotics. The former builds castles in the sky and the latter moves into them. Until the bubble burst, a lot of folks were living in these castles in the air, made possible by bountiful and creative mortgage financing. Now, we're being reminded that there is indeed something called reality from which many became detached. Peter Thiel, president of the global hedge fund Clarium Capital Management and co-founder of PayPal, writing about market bubbles in the latest Policy Review journal of the Hoover Institution,...

Unity is one of the big themes of the current election. People get unified in two different ways. Unity comes either from a common threat from the outside, or from leadership emerging from the inside. Who can forget the shock and the surge of patriotism that followed the 9/11 attacks? The political and social divisions that define calmer times disappeared and we all became Americans. We were united behind our president, whose approval ratings went beyond 90 percent. Over the few short years since that shock, circumstances have changed. President Bush, once wildly popular, is now wildly unpopular. Last month,...

Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, in their first one-on-one debate, in Los Angeles, were asked at the outset to distinguish themselves from each other. The question was motivated legitimately by a sense that there is really very little difference between these two liberal Democrats. Both noted a key difference in their approach to health care. Each wants extensive government regulation. But Clinton wants federal government mandates to force individuals to buy her plan and Obama rejects individual mandates. This key departure in health policy hints at a far more fundamental difference in the mindsets of these two candidates....

A broad coalition of black conservatives from across the country are holding a press conference to urge former Governor Mike Huckabee to stay in the presidential race for the Republican nomination until the convention. "Governor Huckabee should not be intimidated to stop his bid for the Republican nomination," states Don Scoggins, veteran GOP activist and ... president of Republicans for Black Empowerment, a DC-based national grassroots organization. The concern of the group is the pressure that is mounting by Republican talking heads to push Governor Huckabee out of the race. The consensus is that Huckabee's campaign was deliberately sabotaged by...

Post-mortems on Fred Thompson's short presidential run focus on how the actor and former senator ran his campaign. Started late, poorly managed, lack of enthusiasm, etc. But these analyses miss the more fundamental, and instructive, problem -- his message. Touted as the only "real conservative," a careful look shows that this label was pretty dubious. His ideas were devoid of the vision and leadership that fueled Republican ascendancy a quarter-century ago and badly needed today. On the social agenda, the difference between Thompson and Mike Huckabee was palpable and significant. Huckabee understands that abortion, like the slavery issue years ago,...

What's the difference between art and politics? The question occurred to me as I left the theater after seeing the surprising new hit film, "Juno." With presidential politics taking an unfortunately predictable turn in the direction of the gutter, I took a break from it all and went to the movies. I don't spend much time going to films, but "Juno" seduced me because of its accolades and because of the subject matter. It's about teen pregnancy, the abortion option considered and rejected and adoption. Most of what appears in our theaters is anything but art, which is one reason...

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has gained the endorsement of a large coalition of black conservative leaders who say he's the candidate who can best "repair" the nation's public school system and "advocate policies conducive to strengthening families." In 2002, when running for reelection, Huckabee garnered 47 percent of the black vote in Arkansas. Now, as he seeks the Republican presidential nomination, it appears he is being rewarded for his track record with the African-American community. A group of more than 50 black conservative leaders, including some veteran Republican Party activists and state lawmakers, has announced its support for Huckabee....

In the midst of year-end craziness - taking care of my organization's year-closing business and doing Christmas shopping -- I didn't anticipate that I'd find time to read a new book. But when I saw Dr. Ben Carson's, "Take the Risk: Learning to Identify, Choose, and Live with Acceptable Risk," I couldn't resist. I spotted the slim volume while gift shopping in a bookstore. But it wasn't the catchy title that caused me to pick it up. It was the author. I already knew Ben Carson's remarkable story. I read his first book "Gifted Hands" 10 years ago. After I...

The honesty and transparency themes are driving much of voter sentiment in this election. It helps explain the surprising success of Republican candidate Mike Huckabee. And we see similar dynamics with the Democratic candidates. Consider a "The Economist/YouGov'' poll out last week. When Democratic voters were asked which phrases they would use to describe their candidates, results included the following: * Honesty: Obama 54 percent, Clinton 35 percent. * Moral: Obama 54 percent, Clinton 34 percent. * Religious: Obama 29 percent, Clinton 19 percent. * Says what he/she believes: Obama 60 percent, Clinton 39 percent. Clinton's growing image of untrustworthiness...

What's going on with Mike Huckabee? With few resources, and with a GOP presidential candidacy hovering in obscurity through the summer, the former Arkansas governor is now running in a dead heat with Mitt Romney in the lead in Iowa. The former Massachusetts governor's spending in Iowa has been 10 times greater than Huckabee's and, until last week, Huckabee had not run a single ad (versus Romney, whose ads have already run over 5,000 times). The Washington Post's David Broder provides one hint about the fuel that might be propelling Huckabee. He says that, according to veteran Democratic pollster Peter...

Star Parker The Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007 has passed out of Chairman Barney Frank's House Financial Services Committee. It's now headed to the full House for a vote. In the name of protecting the poor from market predators it will in actuality protect the poor from wealth. This is yet a new chapter in the grand liberal tradition that advances the illusion that government micromanagement of private lives and markets will make us better off. We already have laws against fraud and theft. But for liberals, government isn't there to enforce the law. It's there...

The U.S Comptroller General and head of the GAO, or Government Accountability Office, has described the entitlements crisis facing this country as a "tsunami" that approaches while we continue to party on the beach. What GAO head David Walker is talking about are the massive upcoming obligations under Social Security and Medicare that we have no funds to meet. Tens of trillions of dollars of supposed commitments, promises made to us by our government, that today we have no clue how we'll pay. In those rare moments when our political "leaders" screw up sufficient courage to acknowledge this dark and...

The House Democratic leadership delayed a planned vote this past week on ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007. The bill, introduced by gay Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, makes employment discrimination against homosexuals and bisexuals illegal. One reason that momentum on moving the legislation has stalled is because lesbian Rep. Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin wants a provision covering transsexuals and transgenders, originally in, then removed, put back in. President Bush has indicated that, if passed, he will veto this legislation. And he should. There are a good number of reasons offered by the administration, and by others, why this...

At this point, there seems little doubt about the ugliness that has simmered, and then boiled, in a little town in Louisiana called Jena. There is a lot that has already been said, and done, about the latent racism in the town that led to the display of nooses on a tree. Racism that led, in reaction, to six black youths brutally beating a young white man, and then the subsequent disproportionate sentencing, in which those black youths could have served prison time for trumped-up murder charges. Action has been taken, and will be taken, so that those charges, and...

At this point, there seems little doubt about the ugliness that has simmered, and then boiled, in a little town in Louisiana called Jena. There is a lot that has already been said, and done, about the latent racism in the town that led to the display of nooses on a tree. Racism that led, in reaction, to six black youths brutally beating a young white man, and then the subsequent disproportionate sentencing, in which those black youths could have served prison time for trumped-up murder charges. Action has been taken, and will be taken, so that those charges and...

Tavis Smiley, black journalist and TV host, is hosting a debate, and the leading Republican candidates aren't coming. The top four Republican candidates have announced they won't make it to his PBS-sponsored debate at Morgan State University Sept. 27. Now Smiley is using the occasion to assert that Republicans feel it's OK to "ignore people of color" and to call out black Republicans as disingenuous in claiming that their party can really be a home for blacks. To those black Republicans, Smiley says: "I don't wanna hear it anymore. If you want black folks to take your party seriously, then...

Conservative Activist Blames Poverty on LiberalismBy Monisha Bansal CNSNews.com Staff Writer September 17, 2007 (CNSNews.com) - Blaming poverty on liberalism and the federal government, a conservative activist on Friday said: "It is very sad what the liberals have done with their war on the poor in this country." "After 40 years of failure, they still insist that they want to expand this war, that they think they should pour more money into this war," said Star Parker, president of the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education. "Already, over $3 trillion has been spent on the war on poverty, and so...

Democratic politicians are either far more insightful than your average Republican, or, uniformly more political. I'd opt for the latter conclusion. How to explain that there is not one Democratic leader that sees any merit in our struggle in Iraq? There is no such uniformity among Republicans, and, after all, the commander-in-chief, who is leading this effort, is from their own party. We've got a Republican candidate for president, Ron Paul, who self identifies as the "anti-war candidate." And we've got highly credible and outspoken Republican doubters who have no political calculations to make. I'm talking about guys like Chuck...

Coverage by the mainstream media of the Larry Craig scandal confirms again that liberals love the sin and hate the sinner. They've got both the Idaho senator and the conservative values that he has supported in their crosshairs. Perhaps it's relevant to take a moment and recall that the need for biblical guidance comes from the proclivity to sin. You don't need a map if you're hardwired to know where you're going. But, for those on the left, a map isn't necessary because it doesn't matter where we are going. For them, a man going astray is proof that having...

The Michael Vick dogfighting scandal is morphing into a broader NFL dogfighting scandal, as other NFL players also appear to be involved in this very weird pastime. But as animal-rights groups get more aggressive in their accusations and demands, the whole scene is getting stranger and stranger. And the closer you look, the more you see the deep conflicts in core values that fracture our society. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) wants the NFL to "add cruelty to animals -- in all its forms -- to its personal conduct policy." What, for PETA, is "cruelty to animals...

Please mark the date and make reservations now!  NJRTL will hold their Annual Banquet Dinner on Friday, April 20, 2007 from 6:00 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Sheraton at Woodridge Place, Islin, NJ, 732-634-3600, located about 1 mile from the Garden State Parkway. They are very pleased to announce that their featured speakers for this year's Banquet are: Ann Coulter, Chris Godfrey, Star Parker, Sen. Sam Brownback and Rep. Chris Smith.   Please call their office to reserve tickets now and consider hosting a table for family and friends. Student rates are available. VIP Packages are also available which will include a photo...

It's said that in life, timing is everything. And it could be that former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson's entry into the 2008 presidential race, expected in early September, will prove to be timed perfectly. According to a just released poll from the Pew Research Center, 52 percent of Americans have a negative reaction to the presidential campaign thus far and only 19 percent have anything positive to say. And the main complaint of the disgruntled 52 percent is that the campaign simply started too early. This could be Thompson's "rope-a-dope." Recall this maneuver of Muhammad Ali's in his famous "rumble...

It's said that in life, timing is everything. And it could be that former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson's entry into the 2008 presidential race, expected in early September, will prove to be timed perfectly. According to a just released poll from the Pew Research Center, 52 percent of Americans have a negative reaction to the presidential campaign thus far and only 19 percent have anything positive to say. And the main complaint of the disgruntled 52 percent is that the campaign simply started too early. This could be Thompson's "rope-a-dope." Recall this maneuver of Muhammad Ali's in his famous "rumble...

The conversation now about revival of the Fairness Doctrine, buried by the Federal Communications Commission 20 years ago, shows no idea ever dies. Even the worst ones. The Fairness Doctrine's original logic was that broadcast media were transmitted over limited public airwaves. Therefore, the federal government had an obligation to ensure that competing views were aired. The FCC reasoned in 1987, when it closed the book on this doctrine, that emergence of cable to compete with broadcast had made media markets competitive enough to preclude government policing. If true 20 years ago, how much more so now. The Pew Research...

"Are We Rome?" asks a new book authored by an editor at Vanity Fair magazine. The subtitle is "The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America." It seems, given the dour mood of the country, that this would be a good time to market such a book. And, indeed, as I check its sales clip on Amazon, it seems to be moving at a brisk pace that must please both author and publisher. So, is America creaking and crumbling like a latter-day Rome? If it is, the word hasn't gotten to our financial markets. Stocks are booming, interest...

Watching the recent PBS-hosted Democratic presidential debate at Howard University, I was impressed with the uniformity of the messages communicated to the mostly black audience. I felt like each candidate was reading from one script, making a nuanced change here and there so there'd be some differences between them. Every problem – black unemployment, education, crime and incarceration, AIDS – had one answer. More government programs and spending. There is simply nothing you could have asked any of these Democrats that would not have gotten this same answer. It's like blacks do not exist as individuals. According to this Democratic...

The most succinct observation I've come across about the failure of comprehensive immigration reform is that of pollster Scott Rasmussen. The American public simply didn't want the bill. Rasmussen's polling indicated the immigration legislation being pushed had the support of just 22 percent of the American public. Rasmussen goes on further to point out just how far detached from the sentiment of the voting public those pushing the bill were. Not only didn't the American public want the bill, but the focus of the immigration debate in the Senate was the opposite of the public's highest concern. According to Rasmussen,...

Star Parker guest co-hosts On Tuesday, June 19, Star Parker will guest co-host "The View" Friday, June 15, 2007by Angel Nenninger   Star Parker, President of CURE and conservative icon will appear on ABC’s “The View” as a guest co-host with Barbara Walters on Tuesday, 19 June 2007. One of the guests will be Michael Moore who is promoting his new film “Sicko,” which promotes government run health care.  “I certainly do not agree with Mr. Moore regarding health care reform,” said Ms. Parker, “however, I look forward to a lively discussion.” Prior to her involvement in social activism, Star Parker was...

I assume Sen. Clinton's campaign hopes most folks will not read "Her Way," by New York Times reporters Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr., or the New York Times Magazine article adapted from the book, "Hillary's War." Anyone who does will appreciate the transparently false picture the senator is transmitting about why she voted in 2002 to authorize going to war in Iraq. Clinton's vote has become a point of discussion because of her reluctance to clearly explain her thinking then. Unlike Sen. Edwards, she refuses to simply say she was wrong and express regret. On the other hand,...

A wave of new books about Hillary Clinton casts tinder into the ongoing flames of discomfort with the New York senator and Democratic presidential candidate. You might suspect damaging books about Hillary, right when the presidential campaign is getting under way, might be politically inspired. But Bay Buchanan's is the only one by a conservative author. Of the other two freshly out, one is by two New York Times reporters, and the other by Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame. According to the reviews, we have here material to confirm a sense of this woman that already turns so many off....

One thing we can generally predict about human behavior is that when people are unhappy, they go on the hunt for someone to blame. Taking a lot of heat for today's discontents is the so-called "religious right." Just consider books, some hot sellers, of recent years: Jim Wallis' "God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It"; "How the Republicans Stole Religion: Why the Religious Right is Wrong About Faith & Politics and What We Can Do to Make It Right" by Bill Press; and, more recently, Victor Gold's "Invasion of the Party Snatchers: How...

The Rev. Jerry Falwell's passing seems to have traumatized the mainstream liberal press. Absent in its coverage of the event is even the normal pretense of objectivity. Take your choice. According to Newsweek, Falwell's "influence on American politics has been vastly overstated." His role, the article concludes, in the rise of the Christian right was not "significant." And according to Time, evangelical Christians are now moving into a big non-ideological tent, where all points of view are welcomed, and the evangelical movement has "left Falwell behind." I think a brief visitation with facts and reality might be in order here....

The $64,000 political question is what, if anything, will energize the Republican Party? An undercurrent attitude is taking hold that it's inevitable that the White House in 2008 will follow the Congress and fall into the hands of the Democratic Party. Republicans, already in a funk, get deeper into it as they contemplate this prospect, and are radiating a sense of impotence about what to do. The existing field of presidential candidates is not inspiring confidence and the question seems to be who will be the sacrificial lamb rather than who will be the contender. Dollars are flowing in record...

The New Jersey Right to Life Banquet was a treat for the eyes, ears and pallet. Absolutely inspirational! It was great seeing Freepers present.

In a Newsweek column titled "How Dems can win White House," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., opines about the difficulties that the Democratic Party has had in defining itself. The senator wonders, enviously, how Republicans have been able to "identify issues that connected to their deeply held values," reduce them to a few words – eight according to Schumer – and communicate to the American people. "What are our eight words?" the senator asks. But Democrats have a very clear picture of who they are. And newly elected Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who his party picked to give their...