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WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is marking the 38th anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark decision on abortion by calling the procedure a constitutional right he's committed to protecting.

HONOLULU (AP) -- Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie will end his quest to prove President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii because it's against state law to release private documents, his office said Friday.

Via Philip Klein, I can’t decide whether she’s serious or whether this is part of the Democrats’ new kitchen-sink approach to “messaging” about ObamaCare. She might be calculating that even an argument as inane as this one is worth making in order to counter the GOP’s claims that O-Care is unconstitutional. If you’re battling over public opinion, why not frame the other side’s actions as being as illegitimate as your own? So on the one hand, maybe she doesn’t really buy this and is simply engaged in a shrewd bit of PR. On the other hand — dude. Thus do...

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Today is a day to reflect on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King dedicated himself to justice and the struggles of an imperfect world. In the face of fierce opposition, he stood up for the oppressed, and he ultimately sacrificed all for equality and freedom. His was a remarkable life of love and service for all mankind. His work must continue. With Dr. King’s faith in God and his unwavering hope in a brighter, stronger...

It was a nice story, and I hope it has a happy ending. But the tale of Homeless Man with the Golden Voice has already lost its fairy-tale patina. Ted Williams is headed to rehab, after a whirlwind swing through Hollywood. And those legions of fans seduced by his story are probably feeling rather foolish right now... It took an alcohol-fueled family brawl in a luxury Hollywood hotel to bring that image back into focus and turn a man hailed as inspiration into — as Dr. Phil proclaimed on his Thursday show — just another "lying crackhead." ...

(snip) A conflict that has been going on between local Arizona Republicans came to an end in the wake of the shooting in Tucson on Saturday when Arizona's Republican District 20 Chairman Anthony Miller and several others chose to resign. The Arizona Republic reports that Miller, 43, a former campaign worker for Sen. John McCain who was re-elected to a second one-year term last month, has been concerned for his family's safety by constant verbal attacks and blog posts from some local committee members with tea party movement ties. (snip) Miller, the first and only African-American to hold the party's...

Police outside Detroit say a suspect on the run called 9-1-1 and asked the dispatcher for a cab.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jim Clyburn on Sunday said Sharron Angle's endorsement of "Second Amendment remedies" in her losing Nevada campaign against Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid contributed to the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Clyburn, the House assistant Democratic leader, said of Giffords' alleged assailant, Jared Lee Loughner: "It seems like this gentleman was not satisfied with the way the election came out. "There's no way you cannot make that connection (with Angle's rhetoric) unless you want to be stupid."

A viral video vaulted Ted Williams and his golden voice to fame, but the real hero of this story is the woman he left behind. Patricia Kirtley raised four daughters alone after Williams split 23 years ago and dove down the rabbit hole of drugs. Not only that, Kirtley took in the baby boy the radioman had with another woman and raised him as her own. Oh, and by the way, she's partially blind.

What Bill Daley has in common with Rahm Emanuel is that they're both legendary background sources to reporters. He was, in particular, a great source to the late Robert Novak, who outed Daley in his memoir (page 451) as the anonymous Midwestern Democratic source of an incendiary remark on Michael Dukakis's failed attempt to keep Jesse Jackson's profile low at the 1988 Democratic convention. "For those of us who watched television, what they saw looked like a black party," Daley told Novak. "William Daley was no racist," Novak assured his readers, but the comment is at least a reminder that his...

The parents of a Yelm soldier killed in Afghanistan earlier this month have received cards from friends and strangers expressing condolences, and they’re grateful for the support. “As a father of someone killed, it is overwhelming,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Collins (Ret.). His son, Sgt. Sean Collins, was buried Wednesday at the Tahoma National Cemetery. Among that outpouring of empathy, two politicians inadvertently stung the family. One slight came in a letter of condolences the family received from the office of Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. “Again, please accept my warmest condolences. May your memories of Bryn and the knowledge that...

COLLEGE FOOTBALL • Pittsburgh fired new football coach Mike Haywood on Saturday, a day after he was arrested at his home Friday on a domestic violence charge. Haywood was released Saturday from St. Joseph County Jail on $1,000 cash bond after the charge was upgraded from a misdemeanor to felony domestic battery in the presence of a minor. Within hours of his release, Pittsburgh put out a statement from Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg saying Haywood had been dismissed, “effective immediately.” Pittsburgh hired Haywood away from Miami (Ohio) on Dec. 16 to replace Dave Wannstedt, who resigned under pressure. Before his...

I’m going to take the death panel end-of-life planning conundrum down one point at a time to make this very clear for Americans to understand what the Pelosi-led Democrats have done to your healthcare and their attempt to take cover under a Bush-era law–the Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. The Hill reported that the Obama White House attempted to calm Americans’ fears of the dreaded death panels: The Medicare policy will pay doctors for holding end-of-life-care discussions with patients, according to the Times. A similar provision was dropped from the new healthcare reform law after Republicans...

Obama Admin Regulations Put Death Panels Back in Health Care Washington, DC -- New regulations the Obama administration will put in place starting January 1 essentially put the controversial death panels back in the much-maligned ObamaCare law. http://LifeNews.com/bio-3235

A northeast Dallas man said a robber's coin toss may have saved him from being shot this morning. Area where robbery reported According a police report, Victor Nowzari, 22, was walking his dog around 3:30 a.m. today behind the Oak Meadow apartment complex, in the 11000 block of Woodmeadow Parkway, when he was approached by a man who asked to use his phone. Nowzari agreed, and the two walked back toward his apartment, the report said. As Nowzari unlocked his apartment door, another man darted up, yanked Nowarzi's arm behind his back, and pressed a gun to the back of...

The head of Haiti’s voodoo religion has called on authorities to act after dozens of priest lynchings. At least 45 male and female voodoo priests have been murdered in recent weeks after being blamed for causing the Caribbean country’s deadly Cholera outbreak. Most of the killings have taken place in the coastal town of Jeremie with victims often being hacked to death with machetes. Max Beauvoir, the supreme leader of Haitian voodoo, who has criticised police for not doing enough to stop the killings, said:’‘We saw what happened in Jeremie. Certainly, immediately, everyone witnessed some holding machetes, cutting. About 45...

Michael Vick(notes) wants another dog. He told this to NBC News in an interview set to air Wednesday: "I would love to get another dog in the future. I think it would be a big step for me in the rehabilitation process. "I think just to have a pet in my household and to show people that I genuinely care, and my love and my passion for animals; I think it would be outstanding. If I ever have the opportunity again I will never take it for granted. I miss having a dog right now. I wish I could. My...

WASHINGTON - Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for president on Sunday, criticizing his own Republican Party for what he called its narrow focus on irrelevant personal attacks over a serious approach to challenges he called unprecedented. Powell, who for many years was considered the most likely candidate to become the first African-American president, said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he was not supporting Obama because of his race. He said he had watched both Obama and his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, for many months and thought “either...

Here are more signs Sarah Palin could face an uphill battle with PBS host Gwen Ifill. Professor Sherrilyn Ifill of the University of Maryland Law School, whom Gwen Ifill has lauded as "my brilliant baby cousin," has written that black women are not buying Sarah Palin’s "false claims to feminism" and is portrayed as too perfect: "when women who are privileged present as though they have it all together, it’s offensive to black women." (Photo from Soros.com) The Community Times, a suburban Maryland newspaper, found Professor Ifill was ardently opposed to the Alaska governor when they did an e-mail interview:...