Caroline Kennedy says the Kennedy clan is “at its lowest point ever”

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Photo credit: Rubenstein

Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of JFK, is battling to save her legendary family from being torn apart by in-fighting, tragedy, legal scandals and bitter divorce.

The 54-year-old has allegedly admitted that the dynasty is at its ‘lowest point ever’.

The Kennedys’ latest public scandal was the arrest of Kerry Kennedy, Caroline’s cousin and daughter of assassinated Senator Robert Kennedy, who was suspected of driving under the influence of drugs.

The 52-year-old hit a tractor-trailer in New York and fled the scene last month before officers found her unable to walk, talk or see straight.

Following Kerry Kennedy’s arrest, the clan reportedly acted like a ‘organized-crime family… playing hard ball with bare knuckles’ by trying to influence the police investigation by ordering their own barrage of independent tests to prove Kerry’s innocence.

Read more from this story HERE.

City officials’ threats against Chick-fil-A may backfire

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As we reported several days ago, Chick-fil-A is receiving heavy criticism from liberals and the gay community for its stance on traditional marriage.  Now, local city officials are trying to create economic hardship for the restaurant chain.  Not so fast say legal experts:

On July 20, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino indicated that Chick-fil-A will find it “very difficult” to obtain licenses for a restaurant in his city, but he backed away from that assertion. He later told the Boston Herald, “I can’t do that. That would be interference to his rights to go there.”

Chicago is the latest city to tell Chick-fil-A that it is not welcome. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said July 25 he would support Alderman Proco Moreno’s announcement that he would block construction of the restaurant in his district. Moreno said, “If you are discriminating against a segment of the community, I don’t want you in the First Ward.” Emanuel has articulated similar sentiments. He said, “Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values. They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents.”

But according to legal experts, barring construction of Chick-fil-A because the owners oppose gay marriage is a clear case of discrimination. “The government can regulate discrimination in employment or against customers, but what the government cannot do is to punish someone for their words,” said Adam Schwartz, senior attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. “When an alderman refuses to allow a business to open because its owner has expressed a viewpoint the government disagrees with, the government is practicing viewpoint discrimination.”

Schwartz noted that even the American Civil Liberties Union, which is known for its pro-gay “marriage” position, recognizes that the government cannot exclude a business simply because it has taken a stance against gay “marriage.” Such a policy could be a slippery slope and could then be used against businesses that support gay “marriage.” Though the ACLU supports gay “marriage,” “we also support the First Amendment,” Shwartz said. “We don’t think the government should exclude Chick-fil-A because of the anti-LGBT message. We believe this is clear cut.”

Jonathan Turley, a professor at the George Washington University Law School, said Moreno’s intentions raises “serious” constitutional concerns. “It’s also a very slippery slope,” Turley told FoxNews.com. “If a City Council started to punish companies because of the viewpoints of their chief operating officers, that would become a very long list of banned companies.” Turley said that Moreno’s actions could be “execessive and likely unconstitutional.”

Read more from Raven Clabough’s story HERE.

 

Fall ’40 Days for Life’ kicks off; submit your application now!

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“Ex Planned Parenthood manager — fired after speaking out against a dangerous abortion procedure — conducts 40 Days for Life campaign outside her former workplace, leading to its permanent closure.”

But, as Jesus said in Matthew 19:26, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Watch the 9-minute video above that tells the story of the miracle in Storm Lake, Iowa.

God does work miracles … and He can accomplish many more miracles like this when we are faithful to His call to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.”

If a former Planned Parenthood manager can muster the courage to lead a 40 Days for Life campaign outside of her former workplace, could God be calling YOU to lead a 40 Days for Life campaign in your community?

Read more from this story HERE.

Click HERE for the 40 Days for Life website and application.

Photo credit: afagen

Democrats refuse to take down ad making fun of MS patient Ann Romney

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Last week, LifeNews reported on a Democratic Party ad that essentially made fun of a patient with multiple sclerosis, the wife of presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The Democratic National Committee unveiled a video featuring footage of Ann Romney’s dancing show horse as a way of mocking Mitt Romney for “dancing” around the issue of his taxes and whether he would make public additional tax returns that the IRS has certified are legitimate. The video was meant to be the first in a series of videos on the topic and the first featured the horse, owned jointly by Ann and Mitt Romney.

However, Ann Romney owns the horse in part because she relies on the animal, and other show horses she trains, to help her with therapy for her multiple sclerosis, a debilitating disease. Ann Romney, in an interview with Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America,” took offense to the ad.

That eventually led DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse told ABC News to issue an apology of sorts.

“Our use of the Romneys’ dressage horse was not meant to offend Mrs. Romney in any way, and we regret it if it did,” he said. “We have no plans to invoke the horse any further to avoid misinterpretation.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit: andreavallejos

Huge Win for Life: Appeals Court Upholds South Dakota’s Strict Informed Consent Law

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A federal appeals court has upheld a provision of a South Dakota law requiring the states lone abortion business, operated by Planned Parenthood, that it has to inform women of the validity of the link between abortion and suicide. With women facing a host of mental health issues following an abortion, Planned Parenthood can no longer keep women in the dark about them.

An en banc panel of the court declared that South Dakota’s statute that requires abortion doctors to disclose to pregnant mothers that an abortion places the mother at increased risk for suicide ideation and suicide constitutional because the disclosure is truthful, non-misleading, and relevant to the pregnant mother’s decision of whether or not to consent to an abortion.

Harold J. Cassidy, a pro-life attorney who represented Leslee Unruh, president of the Alpha Center of Sioux Falls, and Stacy Wollman, president of Care Net of Rapid City — two pregnancy centers that provide abortion alternatives — sent LifeNews details about the decision.

He called the decision “a fabulous victory for the women of the State of South Dakota.”

“The Court ruled that the women will now be given additional important information before they consent to an abortion: that the abortion places a woman at increased risk of suicide ideation and suicide,” he said. “This victory represents the fourth separate decision of the Eighth Circuit reversing the District Court in this one case, two decisions issued by en banc Courts four years apart – a rare occurrence that underscores the importance of the issues presented by the case.”

Read more from this story HERE, detailing the requirements of the upheld South Dakota law including informing mothers:

(1) that “an abortion terminates the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being;”
(2) that the mother’s “relationship with that second human being enjoys protection under the Constitution of the United States and the Laws of South Dakota;”
(3) that relationship and all rights attached to it will be terminated; and
(4) the abortion places the mother “at increased risk for suicide ideation and suicide.”

Photo credit: BrianSwant

Mother who escaped deadly Aurora shooting gives birth; her husband remains in critical condition

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The Colorado theater shooter may have taken a dozen lives and injured dozens more in his rampage but he wasn’t able to claim the life of one person — an unborn child just days away from birth. However, the father is in serious medical condition and needs support.

According to an AP report, a pregnant woman who escaped the deadly shooting uninjured delivered her baby today as her wounded husband remains in critical condition in the hospital. Today, 21-year-old Katie Medley gave birth but her husband, 23-year-old Caleb Medley, was shot in the head and remains hospitalized.

The father, David Sanchez, attended the court hearing today — the first of many as the case against the shooter unfolds.

“While his daughter was in labor, the angry Sanchez waited outside the courthouse where shooting suspect James Holmes made his first court appearance. He said his daughter escaped death by mere seconds,” AP reported. “Sanchez said his daughter and son-in-law have been waiting for a year to watch the premiere of the Batman movie.”

The Denver Post has more on the story:

Sanchez, 53, traveled to the Arapahoe County Justice Center outside of Centennial in hopes of getting a glimpse of the man who authorities say put his 23-year-old son-in-law, Caleb Medley, in a coma with a gunshot wound to the right side of his head.

“He is in stable but critical condition and they are monitoring his condition,” Sanchez said outside the courthouse to a large scrum of reporters who were seizing on anything to report after the 12-minute court hearing.

Sanchez said he had come to the courthouse as a representative for Caleb and Katie.

“It is important to support my daughter and her husband and their newborn baby,” he said.

His daughter has been avoiding any media after the shooting, concentrating on her pending birth of their son that they have already named “Hugo,” and her husband’s state.

Read more from this story HERE.

Some Good News: US Youth Increasingly Pro-Life

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This June, Students for Life of America released the results of a nationwide study, in which we surveyed 805 18-24 year-olds about the upcoming 2012 election, unconstitutional HHS Mandate, and abortion. We knew that a lot of folks tend to try to put young people in a neat little box when it comes to the issue of abortion, but, with this rising generation, we knew we had to shed some light into how they are really thinking and the changing of this debate.

The Good News… Their whole lives this generation has been told that identifying themselves as “pro-life” is judgmental, extremist, and wrong. Yet, when asked questions about their beliefs on the legality of abortion: 44% were pro-life and 45% pro-choice, and they were more likely to view abortion as a “bad thing” (31%) rather than a “good thing” (17%). In the addition, the plurality, 27%, selected “abortion should only be legal in the cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother” as the position most similar to own position on abortion. This generation is not radical in their support of abortion and takes much more of a common sense approach to the issue than President Obama and Planned Parenthood with an overwhelming majority favoring common sense abortion regulations:

  • 89% favored requiring abortionists to follow the same medical and safety protocols as other surgical clinics
  • 84% favored requiring abortion facilities to warn women of seeking abortions of potential health risks
  • 76% favored allowing pregnant women to view sonograms before undergoing an abortion
  • 74% support making sex-selection abortions illegal in United States
  • 70% agreed with offering a woman the opportunity to anesthetize her child before the abortion procedure

We are winning the HHS Mandate issue. When young Americans were asked whether the federal government should force institutions to pay for procedures that offend their religious beliefs, the plurality (44%) disagreed with the Obama’s administration’s move.

The Bad News… We need to educate this generation more on what conscience protections are and who is permitted to have them. The youth surveyed were split on whether medical students should be permitted to object to procedures or drugs for conscience reasons, although this age group was 8 points more likely to agree (44%) than disagree (36%). What they don’t know is literally killing this generation as 58% admitted that they didn’t know where resources were in their community or campus to support a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy who didn’t want to undergo an abortion.

Planned Parenthood still has the upper-hand when it comes to targeting and deceiving this generation. Our study found that young people supported Planned Parenthood by a ratio of six to one (66% “favorable” vs. 11% “unfavorable”), with two in five (40%) calling themselves “strongly favorable.” The plurality of even those who identify as Conservative (44%) and Pro-Life (46%) were even “favorable” towards Planned Parenthood. Even more shocking for those of in the pro-life movement is that fact that 48% said they did not know whether or not Planned Parenthood offered abortions.

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo Credit:  TFP Student Action

Another botched abortion death prompts calls for Congressional investigation of Planned Parenthood

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Leading pro-life advocates are calling on Congress to investigate Planned Parenthood following another death of a woman from a legal abortion at one of its clinics — this time in Chicago, Illinois.

In response to news that a young woman, Tonya Reaves, died after a botched [second-trimester] abortion at Planned Parenthood, the Susan B. Anthony List renewed the call for a congressional investigation into the abortion provider.

“Congress has an obligation to exercise clear and regular oversight of businesses like Planned Parenthood that receive hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding and have such dramatic impact on the lives of women and unborn children. This tragic incident reminds us once again that an industry that relies on practitioners like Kermit Gosnell, that has shown willingness to aid alleged human traffickers, and that turns a blind eye to sex-selective abortion must be thoroughly and immediately investigated by Congress,” said Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser.

Dannenfelser added, “We must not allow Tonya Reaves to have died in vain, but rather heed this warning and call on Congress to exercise its full capacity to investigate Planned Parenthood. As the nation’s largest abortion provider, in 2010 alone Planned Parenthood ended the lives of 324,008 unborn children and ill-served their mothers.”

“Left unregulated, the abortion industry clearly cannot be trusted to look out for the true interests of women,” continued Dannenfelser. “Earlier this year, Congressman Cliff Stearns launched an investigation of Planned Parenthood which raised a list of questions and issues concerning safety and oversight of Planned Parenthood. The American people need to know the answers to those questions about internal operations so that Americans can be assured women’s interests are protected.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Christian Bale on Colorado shooting: ‘Words cannot express the horror I feel’

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Christian Bale, who stars in “The Dark Knight Rises” as Bruce Wayne / Batman, released a statement on Saturday, July 21, about the shooting at a midnight screening of the film in Aurora, Colorado, where a gunman killed at least 12 people and left 59 people injured.

The 38-year-old actor said in his statement obtained by OnTheRedCarpet.com, “Words cannot express the horror that I feel. I cannot begin to truly understand the pain and grief of the victims and their loved ones, but my heart goes out to them.”

Christopher Nolan, the director of “The Dark Knight Rises,” released a statement on July 20 and called the shooting “devastating.”

“The movie theatre is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me,” part of Nolan’s statement said. “Nothing any of us can say could ever adequately express our feelings for the innocent victims of this appalling crime, but our thoughts are with them and their families.”

James Eagan Holmes, a 24-year-old University of Colorado medical school student, was arrested for the shootings.

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit: Thorsten Becker

Teenager rescues single mom and children after boyfriend runs out of theater in Aurora shooting

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A 19-year-old man stepped up when he saw a young mother and her children in danger the night of the Batman premier theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado. Jarell Brooks is by all accounts a hero, but he doesn’t want you to think of him that way. However, he very possibly saved three lives early Friday morning, and for that, he deserves the highest praise one can get.

Brooks and Patricia Legarreta, the woman whose life he saved, reunited on Good Morning America yesterday to talk about their experiences. Legarreta said she doesn’t remember everything that happened but is aware that without Brooks, she and her children would not be alive today.

Brooks said that he didn’t know that James Eagan Holmes had entered the theater until he saw and heard the gunshots because he was just six rows from back of the theater. He obviously didn’t realize that Legarreta’s boyfriend (now fiancé), Jamie Rohrs, had run out after leaving four-month-old Ethan on the floor after panicking. All he saw during the chaos and the smoke was a woman struggling to get her scared children out of harm’s way.

Legarreta’s four-year-old daughter, Azeria, was asleep when the shooting began, so when she woke up, she was disoriented. She fell in the process of trying to escape because of that, and Legarreta described tearfully how she did what she could to get her out. “Just blocking her, shoving her, just making sure she’s not getting hurt,” she said, obviously distraught and shaken at the thought of how close she came to losing her children that night.

Brooks was on his way out the door and was at the end of the aisle when he saw her. “My kids!” she yelled, and the teenager knew what he had to do. “My goal was to get this family out, without getting hit myself. I managed to do one.” Both he and Legarreta were hit by the gunman’s bullets.

Read more from this story HERE.