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Featured Term (selected at random):JUSTIFYING GRACE The grace by which a person is restored to God's friendship, either for the first time, as in baptism, or after baptism, as in the sacrament of penance. See Also: SUFFICIENT GRACE,See Also: EFFICACIOUS GRACE,See Also: GRACE,See Also: GRATUITOUS GRACE,See Also: HABITUAL GRACE,See Also: SACRAMENTAL GRACE,See Also: SANATING GRACE,See Also: SANCTIFYING GRACE,See Also: ACTUAL GRACE All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration's electric car efforts took another hit on Wednesday after a federal inspection found a South Korean advanced battery maker never scaled up U.S. production despite receiving $142 million in federal grants. A Holland, Mich., factory owned by LG Chem Ltd., part of LG Corp., was half-funded by a government grant and estimated to add some 440 jobs building battery cells for General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt and other vehicles. When demand for the plant's batteries didn't meet expectations, the company filled orders with cells made at a factory in South Korea, leaving the Michigan plant largely idle,...

I'm sure many who see the headline I typed will think I've gone too far. Read on. It's all here. Walter Lippmann, considered by many to be the father of modern journalism, writes in his book "Public Opinion" on page 243: Leaders often pretend that they have merely uncovered a program which existed in the minds of their public. When they believe it, they are usually deceiving themselves. Programs do not invent themselves synchronously in a multitude of minds. That is not because a multitude of minds is necessarily inferior to that of the leaders, but because thought is the...

(CBS News) Just weeks after the 100th anniversary of President Richard Nixon's birth, a new exhibit at his presidential library is raising eyebrows. It contains newly declassified documents that reveal Nixon's correspondence with President Bill Clinton, and a surprisingly warm relationship between the two. The correspondence includes a personal, handwritten letter from Nixon congratulating Clinton on surviving a tough primary and general election to win the White House. That letter was the beginning of an unlikely union between the former Republican president and the newly elected Democratic chief executive.

When Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s controversial gun-control bill came up last week in the state Senate, lawmakers held an open hearing that drew more than 1,000 people and lasted more than eight hours. But so far, members of the House have considered the proposal in secret, with the speaker and other key lawmakers meeting with lobbyists, experts and state officials in a closed-door conference room that has been off-limits to the public. The 16 members of the group — dubbed the House Working Group on Gun Safety — were assembled by House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) to consider...

February 13, 2013 Trent Franks: ‘Astonishing’ that Obama Never Mentions the Muslim Brotherhood Patrick Burke (CNSNews.com) - Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) says “it’s astonishing” that President Obama never mentions the Muslim Brotherhood and its control of the Egyptian government. “He never mentions the Muslim Brotherhood. It’s astonishing. If there’s anything that has been a trend in this administration related to terrorism, it’s their unwillingness to call it for what it is,” Franks told CNSNews.com immediately following Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night. Franks also views the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat not only to the security of Israel...

A liberal critic of my comments on "The O'Reilly Factor" this week tweeted his displeasure with my assertion that factions of the "Left" and "some liberals" sympathized with Chris Dorner and even made him into a folk hero. He asked for examples. Here's one:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO It's hard to imagine how Marc Lamont Hill could have put this more appallingly. One member of the panel starts by rather sensibly bemoaning the waste of life, manpower, and ink in this chase. Hill responds: "There's no waste here, though. I mean, this has been an important public conversation that...

(Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and private equity firm 3G Capital will buy ketchup and baby food maker H.J. Heinz Co for $23.2 billion in cash, a deal that combines 3G's ambitions in the food industry with Buffett's hunt for growth. Including debt assumption, Heinz valued the transaction, which it called the largest in its industry's history, at $28 billion. Berkshire and 3G will pay $72.50 per share, a 19 percent premium to the stock's previous all-time high.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is undergoing "complex" alternative treatments more than two months after having cancer surgery in Cuba, his vice president said on Wednesday. The 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen in public since he went to Havana for the operation on December 11, his fourth surgery for cancer in 18 months. Vice President Nicolas Maduro did not give details of the alternative treatments the president was receiving. Chavez has never said what type of cancer he is suffering from, and critics accuse the government of excessive secrecy over his condition. "Today our commander is...

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So what will this new plan for deficit reduction look like? Ten years of cuts get turned into ten months of tax hikes and cuts in equal measure. The tax hikes in the plan equal that gained by Barack Obama in the January standoff for the rest of this year. The cuts fall mainly in defense spending and agricultural subsidies. Will that fly? Only like the domesticated turkey that it is:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO CBS News has learned that the Senate Democrats’ long-awaited plan to avert the sequester, being announced by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash, Thursday, would replace...

Say thanks to Jeff Poor and the Daily Caller for enduring the Ludovico-ish process needed to tally these numbers. The "200 times" figure comes with an asterisk: Turns out Rachel Maddow alone accounted for more than half the replays by putting the clip of Rubio reaching for the water on a loop, tucked into a corner of the screen, for 13 minutes while she and Steve Kornacki were hashing out the particulars of his speech. (Seeing is believing.) Jon Stewart once chided her and MSNBC for beating the "teabagger" joke into the ground, but in hindsight he should be glad...

My new book, "Dear Father, Dear Son," talks about the No. 1 social problem in America -- children growing up without fathers. In 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote "The Negro Family: A Case for National Action." At the time, 25 percent of blacks were born outside of wedlock, a number that the future Democratic senator from New York said was catastrophic to the black community.

Chuck Hagel blocked: Still short of 60 votes By: Tim Mak and Manu Raju February 14, 2013 10:35 AM EST Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Thursday that Republicans have informed him that they plan to block Chuck Hagel's nomination to be the next secretary of Defense over demands for more information from the White House. Reid suggested that Democrats do not have 60 votes at this time to overcome Republican objections, leaving the nomination in limbo ahead of next week's Senate recess. Complicating the situation still further was Reid’s announcement that the current holder of the job, Leon Panetta,...

If these photos are anything to go by this Valentine's Day then opposites really do attract. From cats cuddling dogs, to bunny hugs between kittens and rabbits - its enough to melt even the coldest of hearts. The heartwarming shots were all taken by animal photographer Mark Taylor.

Obama to push universal preschool proposal By Rachel Rose Hartman, Yahoo! News | The Ticket – 1 hr 28 mins ago Two days after his State of the Union pledge to guarantee high quality preschool for every 4-year-old in the U.S., President Barack Obama takes his pitch on the road on Thursday to an Atlanta suburb where he will deliver a speech on the issue at a local recreation center. Obama cast his preschool plan as a way to bring low-income and minority children up to speed with higher-income children—a move he says would save taxpayer money and give those...

Rep. Steve Cohen repeatedly tweeted, and then deleted, messages to a woman on Twitter who his office is calling “the daughter of a longtime friend” and who has the same name as a Texas State University blonde bombshell featured in a college co-ed calendar. Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/282881-dem-lawmaker-tweets-college-co-ed-then-deletes-messages#ixzz2KtD4dNn3 Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

Sen. Rand Paul told USA Today Wednesday that he is prepared to put a "hold" on John Brennan's nomination to head the CIA and to filibuster it if necessary until the administration responds to his questions about the use of drones in the United States. The Kentucky Republican said he would do "whatever it takes" to block Brennan's confirmation until he directly answers whether American citizens legally can be killed by drone strikes within U.S. borders. ...

Investors are being "forced to get back in" the stock market, former General Electric chief Jack Welch told CNBC on Thursday. "You're sitting there waiting. You're getting no money. Your CDs are doing nothing. Treasurys are doing nothing," Welch said in a "Squawk Box" interview. "What do you do?" "Everyone's decided they can't get yield so they have to go in the risk trades. ... There's no question, you're forced to get back in." He also said this is happening despite a stock market performance that's "clearly ahead" of the "real economy." Welch, founder of the Jack Welch Management Institute,...

Taxes have been in the news of late even more than usual, and not only in America. France's new socialist president has proposed a 75 percent top tax rate, causing the investor class to seek sunnier tax climes than dreary old Gaul. Actor Gerard Depardieu took up residence in Belgium, while former French President Sarkozy plans to move to jolly old England. Citizens of the United States, however, can't just absquatulate to some foreign country to avoid taxes. You see, the U.S. is the only major nation that taxes its non-resident citizens on income they earn abroad (see chart). Consequently,...