Obama Surrenders in ObamaCare Battle

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Photo Credit: WNDBy Bob Unruh. The Obama administration has surrendered in a key fight with a Christian publisher over the abortion pill mandate in Obamacare, asking a federal court to dismiss an appeal of a ruling that prevented application of the mandate.

The move was confirmed today by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing Tyndale House Publishers.

Tyndale, of Carol Stream, Ill., went to court because it objects to providing abortifacients, as Obamacare requires of every health coverage plan.

Tyndale, the world’s largest privately held Christian publisher of books, Bibles and digital media, won in a lower court, which ordered that the abortifacient requirement not be applied to the publishing company.

The Obama administration appealed the ruling, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has dismissed the appeal at the request of the famously pro-abortion Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Admin Gives Up Forcing Bible Publisher to Obey HHS Mandate

By Steven Ertelt. In a huge victory for pro-life advocates taking on the controversial HHS mandate, the Obama administration is giving up its effort to force a Bible publisher to obey it.

The mandate has generated massive opposition from pro-life groups because it forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception under threat of heavy penalties.

The Obama administration opposed an order a judge gave temporarily stopping enforcement, arguing that Tyndale House Publishers isn’t religious enough for an exemption from the mandate, a component of ObamaCare that forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception under threat of heavy penalties.

Now, at the Obama administration’s request, a federal appellate court Friday dismissed the Obama administration’s appeal of an order that stopped President Barack Obama from enforcing his abortion pill mandate against a Bible publisher. The administration’s retreat marks the first total appellate victory on a preliminary injunction in any abortion pill mandate case.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Tyndale House Publishers say the administration is apparently nervous about trying to defend its position that a Bible publisher is not religious enough for a religious exemption to the mandate. Read more from this story HERE.

Outrage after Democrats Insult Nikki Haley’s Indian Heritage Saying they’ll Send the Republican Gov. ‘Back to Wherever the Hell She Came From’

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Photo Credit: Getty Images Conservatives are outraged after a Democrat in South Carolina allegedly insulted Republican Gov. Nikki Haley’s Indian heritage at a party gathering in Columbia on Friday.

The state’s Democratic Party Chairman, Dick Harpootlian, is believed to have said the party will take on the Conservative in the next gubernatorial race and send ‘Nikki Haley back to wherever the hell she came from.’
Gov. Haley was born in the U.S. but her parents are from India.

Yahoo political reporter Chris Moody tweeted on Friday that Mr Harpootlian made the comment, in support of Democrat challenger Vince Sheheen, who has declared he will run for governor.

There were no details on the venue or context for the comment but Harpootlian is at the helm the 2013 Dem Weekend in Columbia, South Carolina.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rick Perry to Rally Churches on ‘Stand with Scouts Sunday’

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Photo Credit: WNDAs the Boys Scouts prepare to decide whether or not they will allow open homosexuals in their membership, churches nationwide that support the current policy will host a simulcast featuring Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.

Perkins’ FRC is sponsoring “Stand with Scouts Sunday” this Sunday evening, which aims to show Christians what they can do “to help preserve Scouting.”

The event, which begins at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, can be viewed via the Web as well as at hosting churches.

Perry is an Eagle Scout and author of the 2008 book “On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For.”

In a February speech to a group of Scouts in Texas, Perry, a Republican presidential candidate last year, urged the organization to not change its policy and to follow its “historic position of keeping the Scouts strongly supportive of the values that make scouting this very important and impactful organization.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Jason Collin’s LA High School Has No Tolerance for Religious Views on Homosexuality

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Photo Credit: joshuak8After the first NBA player to “come out of the closet” with respect to his sexuality made the media rounds this week, his old high school near Hollywood weighed in on the controversy.

According to the LA Times, Collin’s former school has zero tolerance for traditional religious views on homosexuality:

One of the school’s most active on-campus groups is its gay-straight alliance, roughly 50 students strong, according to Hudnut. Teachers, administrators and parents regularly speak about gay rights. Religion isn’t discussed much. If anyone were to come to campus expressing the view that homosexuals are sinners, they’d be met by outrage, said the school’s longtime basketball coach, Greg Hilliard.

“We have a lot less tolerance for people who make reactionary statements like Mr. Broussard,” Hilliard said, referring to ESPN television commentator Chris Broussard, who said Monday that, because of his religious beliefs, he did not condone homosexuality.

“If a guy like that came to this campus, that is where I would have to talk to my guys about the importance of tolerance.… They’d have some hard questions for a guy like that,” Hilliard said.

North Korea ‘Scared to Death of Christianity’, Jails Christian American for 15 Years

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Photo Credit: ReutersNorth Korea’s sentencing on Thursday of a US citizen to 15 years of hard labor could be a ploy by leader Kim Jong-un to get a high-profile American visit and burnish his leadership standing

But there may be another explanation for what is the toughest sentence ever handed to an American by a North Korean court, some North Asia analysts say. Kenneth Bae, the Korean-American arrested in November 2012 and accused of attempting to overthrow the government, is a devout Christian.

“The regime is scared to death of Christianity,” says Michael Green, a former senior director for Asia on the National Security Council.

Mr. Bae, a tour operator from Washington state who was living in a Chinese city near North Korea, was charged with carrying out “hostile acts” against the state that included having unspecified materials in his possession that prompted the accusations of planning the overthrow.

Was Bae carrying a Bible when he was arrested? The North Korean regime is particularly harsh with anyone found with a Bible, says Mr. Green, now the senior vice president for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Read more from this story HERE.

Greg Laurie to Homosexual Activists: ‘I Won’t Back Down’

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Photo Credit: Harvest MinistriesA California megachurch pastor involved in the National Day of Prayer who has recently come under fire for his views on homosexuality has declared that he will not be intimidated.

At a prayer event held Wednesday morning at the Washington, D.C., office of the Family Research Council, Pastor Greg Laurie told those gathered, “I won’t back down.”

“They do not want me to pray. They describe me as ‘homophobic’ and so forth. How can you deal with such a situation? We’re in a time in our country now where I’m attacked because I believe what the Bible teaches,” said Laurie, ahead of Thursday’s National Day of Prayer.

“If people want to make it all about that I’m not going to back down. In the immortal words of the great theologian Tom Petty, ‘I won’t back down,’ I won’t. I’m not going to apologize.”

Laurie paralleled the efforts of gay rights activists to that of the palace officials who sought to stop Daniel (in the Old Testament) from praying and passed a law that resulted in him being thrown into the Lion’s Den.

Read more from this story HERE.

Feminism May be Dead: 72 Percent of Americans say They’re not ‘Feminists’

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Photo Credit: The Washington TimesIt is likely disappointing news for old school bra-burners and Gloria Steinham-inspired activists.

“Has feminist become a dirty word?”demands a new Economist/YouGov Poll released Wednesday.

“Feminism is a mixed bag in the eyes of most Americans. Overall, 28 percent consider themselves to be feminists, 72 percent do not,” the findings report.

Among women, 38 percent consider themselves feminists. And men do not appear to be very liberated these days either: 18 percent “accept the label” for themselves, the poll reports.

“Democratic and Republicans women see the word differently: 48 percent of Democratic women but just 14 percent of Republican women would label themselves feminist,” the survey says.

Read more from this story HERE.

How Did Society Get to Where We Flush Babies Down the Toilet?

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Photo Credit: LifeNewsThe title of this article actually comes from a quote from an abortion facility employee in Bronx, New York. The live report came out thanks to the heroic efforts of the LIVE ACTION team of undercover investigators.

Such reports prove again that surgical abortion is a direct act that employs the use of tools used by the abortion practitioner to end the life of an individual prior to his birth, or as the Gosnell case illustrates, at times just after the baby’s birth. This act is clearly the employment of force designed to render the victim dead.

To my mind, such acts are forms of domestic terrorism, pure and simple.

There are those who will quibble with this comparison. They will argue that abortion is protected by the man-made laws of our nation. My response to that is simple. Abortion is absolutely unlawful according to the natural law and therefore we are well within our rights to use the characterization in this instance.

Further, each of the victims of abortion should be defined as an individual citizen and, in fact, would be if the seven Supreme Court judges who decriminalized abortion had been honest about the actual and scientifically provable humanity of the preborn child. Since these political lapdogs were dishonest in their ruling, the violence of abortion moves forward with nary a gasp from most of us.

Read more from this story HERE.

Kermit Gosnell Murder Trial Jury Reaches No Verdict Again After Two Days

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Photo Credit: LifeNewsThe jury in the Kermit Gosnell murder trial deliberated for a second day today and ended the day with no verdict. However, member of the jury actively informed themselves of laws that are applicable to the case and asked for information and assistance from the judge.

If sentenced for the convictions, Gosnell could face the death penalty following the convictions by the jury in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia.

Under Pennsylvania law, all 12 of the jurors must reach a unanimous verdict on any of the murder counts Gosnell faces for him to be convicted on any of them. Each of the elements of a charged crime must be proven to each juror beyond reasonable doubt for that juror to vote to convict on that count and one reluctant juror could lead to a mistrial on any of the first-degree murder charges.

Since prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty in the case, the jury will only be deciding whether Gosnell is guilty related to the charges. If convicted, a second jury will be impaneled to determine sentencing under the penalty phase of the trial. During this phase, the judge has already instructed jurors to only consider guilt or innocence.

Given the number of charges Gosnell faces, and the fact that Gosnell has a co-defendant the jury is considering for conviction as well, the jury make take a longer period of time to arrive at a verdict on each of the 250-plus charges.

Read more from this story HERE.

FDA Lowers Age for Buyers of Plan B Pill to 15

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Photo Credit: APIn a surprise twist to the decade-plus effort to ease access to morning-after pills, the government is lowering the age limit to 15 for one brand – Plan B One-Step – and will let it be sold over the counter.

Today, Plan B and its generic competition are sold behind pharmacy counters, and people must prove they’re 17 or older to buy the emergency contraception without a prescription. A federal judge had ordered an end to those sales restrictions by next Monday.

But Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration approved a different approach: Plan B could sit on drugstore shelves next to condoms, spermicides or other women’s health products – but to make the purchase, buyers must prove they’re 15 or older at the cash register.

Manufacturer Teva Women’s Health, which had applied for the compromise path, said it planned to make the switch in a few months.

The question is whether Tuesday’s action settles the larger court fight. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of New York blasted the Obama administration for imposing the age-17 limit, saying it had let election-year politics trump science and were making it hard for women of any age to obtain emergency contraception in time for it to work.

Read more from this story HERE.