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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...

What does a multibillionaire need to do to get some respect? Oprah Winfrey spends $40 million to open a school in South Africa for underprivileged girls and everyone is on her case. Why so much money? Why all the luxury? Did the school really need a yoga room? And, of course, how could Oprah turn her back on her own backyard and spend all that money overseas? I can't say that Oprah and I have similar visions of how the world works. When I was working on welfare reform 10 years ago I did her show, and it was quite...

Paula Zahn devoted two of her hour-long CNN shows this week to the topic "Skin Deep: Racism in America." After taking the time to watch, the question I walked away with was: "What was the point?" In my view, the shows told us little that most of us don't already know – strong racist sentiments exist in the country – and really never asked the deeper and more important questions about what this means and why we should care. According to Zahn, the production was provoked by Michael Richards' now-famous racist rant in an L.A. comedy club. Given the incident,...

Let's take a closer look at so-called comedian Michael Richards' racist outburst that is capturing so much press and airtime. The incident, and what has ensued, tells me more about the overall pathetic moral state of our country than it does about racism. Richards claims he's not a racist, despite attacking a black heckler at a comedy club where he was performing with a string of the most inflammatory, demeaning, and vulgar racial slurs. Is it possible that he's not? Maybe. It's possible that he's just a moron. But check out the deep soul searching that this inane incident has...

There's already plenty of punditry about what went wrong. What did the president and the Republican Party do and when did they do it? Robert Novak summed up the consensus view of the Republican wipeout well, writing that "opposition to the war and the president had produced a virulent anti-Republican mood." My point of departure from most of the analysis that I've read would be to disagree that this election was about any single issue. I think this election was about trust. Trust is the glue that holds relationships together. The war, rather than being THE issue, was more a...

Michigan is a troubled state these days. As the U.S. economy booms, the Michigan economy sputters. Unemployment standing at 7.1 percent is almost double the national rate. The state economy is the main thing on the minds of Michigan's voters. How they size up the way the two candidates for governor _ incumbent Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Republican challenger Dick DeVos _ will handle these economic problems will drive the outcome of the election next month. Of course, when we're talking about the economy of Michigan, we're talking about the automobile indU.S.try. And herein lies the problem. GM and Ford...

GOP needs tough love, not abandonment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Star Parker, World Net Daily, October 14, 2006 A survey just released by the Pew Center shows that 51 percent of Democrats are enthusiastic about voting in 2006 as opposed to 33 percent of Republicans. This is almost a mirror image of what the picture looked like in 1994. A Pew Center poll also shows a precipitous drop in support for Republicans and the Bush administration among white evangelicals. It's now a little over 50 percent, whereas in 2004 it was closer to 75 percent. Given the realities staring us in the...

You would think that even Rosie O'Donnell could grasp that there is indeed a difference between "radical Christianity" and "radical Islam." No doubt conservative Christian evangelicals were who Rosie had in mind as "radical" Christians. Continues... ================================================================= The emperor has clothes! Fourteenth century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." Islamists -- evil and inhuman. Seven centuries before Bush invaded Iraq. Boy, was that a mistake. A prominent imam said...

The left and its media and Hollywood accomplices are using this Katrina anniversary once again to smear President Bush. The lies told by the Associated Press about the levees have been well documented (See “Oops, Bush Didn’t Lie, Sorry About That” on my website, in March, 2006), and as ‘Popular Mechanics’ pointed out, “In fact, the response to Hurricane Katrina was by far the largest--and fastest-rescue effort in U.S. history, with nearly 100,000 emergency personnel arriving on the scene within three days of the storm's landfall.

A report issued recently by the Capital Research Center in Washington punctures illusions that tend to associate big corporations with right-wing or conservative causes. The report depicts a reality that is exactly the opposite. CRC researchers examined contributions made in 2004 by the foundations of the nation's top 100 corporations to nonprofit organizations. The result: Corporate contributions to left-leaning groups totaled $59 million and to right-leaning organizations $4 million. That's about 14.5 corporate dollars going to the left for each dollar going to the right. For purposes of the research, right-leaning organizations were defined as those generally supporting lower taxes,...

Gay Agenda Means Less Freedom For All The latest Gallup polling on attitudes regarding same-sex marriage shows a trend that should concern conservatives as well as all Americans. From the narrow view of just the same-sex marriage issue, although the majority of Americans are still opposed to legalization, they are a lot less opposed than they were a decade ago. From the vantage point of homosexual activists, the trend certainly appears to be their friend. Moreover, given how this debate is formulated and presented, I see a broader message emerging. I get a sense that Americans are increasingly confusing entitlement...

As the Republican Party flails around trying to regain its bearings, party operatives should take a close look at Ken Blackwell, who just won the Republican primary in the governor's race in Ohio. Blackwell decisively defeated Jim Petro, Ohio's attorney general, garnering 56 percent of the vote, and now has a shot at becoming the first black Republican governor in the nation's history. Initial polling shows him trailing his Democratic opponent Congressman Ted Strickland. However, it's early in the game and Blackwell, a former Xavier University football star, is both a competitor and a winner. Blackwell also is a man...

You know we've come a long way when our idea of racism has moved from fire hoses and segregation to a black congresswoman's outrage at not being recognized by a Capitol Hill policeman. Rep. Cynthia McKinney is now sulking in lonely indignity as her latest claims about racial profiling have even embarrassed her colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus. Reports are that caucus members advised her to back off and that even highly respected civil rights veteran Rep. John Lewis, D., Ga., suggested she "lower the temperature and stop holding press conferences." Only a member of Congress as detached from...

A Latest polling from the Pew Research Center shows only 1 in 3 approving of the job that President Bush is doing. The Wall Street Journal notes that its poll, showing the president's approval at 37percent, shows the "longest sustained period below 40 percent of any president since (former President Jimmy) Carter." What particularly caught my attention is the dramatic drop in approval ratings from so-called "values voters" that have provided the president strong and loyal support. Among white Evangelical Christians, approval has dropped from 72 percent in January 2005 to 54 percent today and among those that say they...

This past week my organization, CURE, along with the Alliance for School Choice, filed legal action in California against the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Compton Unified School District demanding compliance with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. Specifically, our complaint demands these two major school districts implement provisions under NCLB requiring them to provide and publicize school transfer options for children in failing schools (those not meeting standards set in their own state for two consecutive years). NCLB's provisions for choice, although limited, are vitally important for the success of the law. How can kids be...

The Supreme Court's unanimous 8-0 decision this week rejecting claims by the National Organization for Women that demonstrations at abortion clinics are extortion and therefore punishable under the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization) Act was an important vote for freedom and free speech. Those who might be doing a double take and wondering how a law – whose intent was to deal with mobsters using threats and violence to extort funds from legitimate businesses – can be relevant to protestors in front of abortions clinics intuitively get the point. The fact that the opinion rejecting the claim that activism...

Mudslinging by leading Democrats, usually taking form these days as trying to brand Republicans as racists, confirms what I have been writing about for a number of years: the Democratic Party is running on an empty tank. Bankrupt of ideas, the only thing they have to offer is slamming the opposition and playing the race card. The latest case in point is Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's Martin Luther King Day pandering to a black audience in Harlem, telling them that Republicans run the House of Representatives "like a plantation and you know what I am talking about." According to Mrs....

Thousands march in SF on eve of Roe v Wade anniversary By Katherine Corcoran San Jose Mercury News Thousands of peaceful demonstrators marched down the Embarcadero to protest abortion Saturday in an event that organizers said put a mainstream face on what's often cast as an extremist position. The rally, the second annual Walk for Life West Coast, is one of many planned nationwide to mark Sunday's 33rd anniversary of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion. The West Coast walk featured speakers from Democrats for Life and Feminists for Life employing such classic liberal watchwords as...

As Americans Honor Martin Luther King, Abortion Destroys Black CommunityWashington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Millions of Americans today will honor the memory of assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King, but, as they do, pro-life leaders within the African American community are concerned about the toll abortion is taking. "Far and away the worse toll is taken in the most vulnerable community, the African American community, where black women are three times more likely to have an abortion than their white counterparts," explains Starr Parker, president of the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education.African American women make up 13.7 percent of...

Ranked by the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute. To purchase the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute's 2006 Great American Conservative Women Calendar. Order today and guarantee delivery by Christmas. 1. Ann Coulter The author of four New York Times best-selling books, a television and radio commentator, attorney, Human Events legal affairs correspondent, nationally syndicated columnist, and the most popular campus speaker in the country.

Words are as fragile and sensitive as the human beings who utter them. They need careful nurturing and appropriate context and presentation for their meaning and intent to be realized. This point was made effectively in a best-selling book on punctuation a few years ago that showed how a sentence pointing out the simple truth that "The panda eats shoots and leaves" takes on a new life and meaning with the addition of a few commas, becoming "The panda eats, shoots, and leaves." So we have it with the recent almost-too-ridiculous-to-discuss incident with Bill Bennett's alleged racist remarks on his...

'Insane' black leaders prove Einstein right Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. More than $7 trillion has been spent on poverty programs since Lyndon Johnson declared his "war on poverty" 40 years ago, with effectively zero impact on overall black poverty. Yet 40 years of failure doesn't seem to be enough to suggest to liberals, black and white, that their approach to poverty might be wrong. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and former Democratic Sen. John Edwards, among others, riding the post-Katrina poverty-in-America theme, are making predictable speeches calling for...