Kermit Gosnell may change national conversation on abortion

Personhood/Wikimedia

The trial of Kermit Gosnell may represent a turning point in the American discussion ofabortion. The story is not merely the heinous crimes committed by Gosnell and his staff; the other half of the story is the left’s almost total lack of outrage. As James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal wrote in his excellent summary of the case, the mainstream media almost totally ignored the entire case and trial until an outpouring of interest on the internet all but forced coverage of the trial onto television and into newspapers.

Bill Clinton made famous the line that abortion should be “safe, legal and rare.” Under modern Democrats, the attempt to make abortion rare, if there ever was a real attempt, has fallen by the wayside. Obamacare’s contraception mandate also forces insurance companies to include coverage for abortifacient drugs and President Obama’s budget increased federal funding for mega-provider of abortion Planned Parenthood. While Gosnell was on trial, President Obama became the first president to speak to Planned Parenthood, telling the group “as long as we’ve got to fight to protect a woman’s right to make her own choices about her own health, I want you to know that you’ve also got a President who’s going to be right there with you fighting every step of the way” and “God bless you” according to Politico.

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http://www.examiner.com/article/kermit-gosnell-case-may-break-deadlock-on-abortion-1

Democrats desert Obama

Gov. Tomblin (Foo Conner/Wikimedia)

In what may be the first of many similar stories this election year, a Democratic governor and U.S. senator have announced that they will not endorse President Barack Obama for re-election.  In an Associated Press report this week, West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and Senator Joe Manchin both decline to support the president due to his energy policies.  Manchin announced his decision not to endorse Obama last month.

Tomblin told the AP, “President Obama has apparently made it his mission to drive the backbone of West Virginia’s economy, coal and the energy industry, out of business.  That will not only hurt thousands of West Virginia families, it will destroy the economic fabric of our state.”

Read this article on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/article/democratic-governor-and-senator-refuse-to-endorse-obama

Questions for Ron Paul

(Bbsrock/Wikimedia)

Last year, the Atlanta Conservative Examiner published an article that asked several questions of supporters of Barack Obama.  While well-intentioned and honestly seeking the liberal perspective on a number of issues, the response was underwhelming.  Perhaps this was because there are no good answers to the questions asked.

In a similar vein, here are several questions for Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul and his supporters.  Judging from the large response that typically comes from any article mentioning Ron Paul (especially when it mentions him critically), the Paul supporters are likely to have more to say in his defense than the Obama supporters did.

Read the rest of this article on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/questions-for-ron-paul

The Iraq War is not ending

Iraqi SWAT police. Their war is far from over.

Contrary to most news accounts, the Iraq War is not ending.  It is presumptuous and a bit America-centric to believe that the war will end just because U.S. troops are being withdrawn.  There are other warring parties who will in all likelihood continue to fight for long after the last American soldier has left the country.  There are only two ways to end a war:  One side can be effectively beaten or the warring factions can negotiate a peace.  Neither has happened in Iraq.

The situation bears an eerie resemblance to the end of the Vietnam War.  By the early 1970s, using General Creighton Abrams’ “clear and hold” strategy, U.S. and ARVN troops had pacified much of South Vietnam and broke the back of the Viet Cong insurgency.  The situation allowed President Richard Nixon to negotiate “peace with honor” in the Treaty of Paris with North Vietnam.  The Vietnam War officially ended on January 27, 1973 and U.S. combat troops were withdrawn in March of that year.

Continue reading on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/the-iraq-war-is-not-ending

 

Iraq after the Americans:

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/iraq-after-the-americans

9/11: The good, the bad and the evil

(Mark D. Phillips/Stellar Images/ Fair Use)

September 11 marks the dividing line between the carefree prosperity of the ‘90s and the 2000’s, a decade plagued by war, fear, and financial hardship.  While the date, September 11, 2001, will be remembered as a day of infamy, there were many aspects and reactions to the attacks.

 

When most Americans think of the good of 9/11, they think of the courageous police and firefighters and their self sacrifice.  In all, 343 firefighters and 72 police officers from across New York died in the World Trade Center collapse.  Many of them were helping injured and frightened people escape the towers and died when the towers collapsed around them.  One of the first casualties of the attack was FDNY Chaplain Mychal Judge.  Father Mike was hit by falling debris and killed while administering last rites to victim.  The picture of four firefighters carrying Father Mike’s body is an iconic image of 9/11.  John wrote in the Bible, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13).

 

Read the rest of this article on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/9-11-the-good-the-bad-and-the-evil

WTC Cross (Ben Franske/Wikimedia)

Ten years after 9/11, US is winning war on terror

(USMC/Wikimedia)

Ten years after the September 11 attacks, the U.S. is winning the war on terror.  In the fevered days after the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, most Americans were holding their breath, waiting for the next explosions.  They never came.

 

It was not because al Qaeda did not try.  Al Qaeda was successful in launching attacks in other countries.  The 2002 bombing of a nightclub in Bali killed 180 people.  In 2003, al Qaeda bombs killed 58 and wounded 750 in Istanbul.  In 2004, a series of bombs on commuter trains in Madrid killed 190 and wounded 2,000.  The 2005 attack on the London subway killed 56.

 

Read the rest of this article on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/ten-years-after-9-11-us-is-winning-war-on-terror

Meet the candidates: Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum is a native of Virginia, who grew up in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.  In school, he was nicknamed “Rooster” because of his hair’s tendency to stick up and the fact that he did not back down.  After his parents, who worked for the VA hospital system, were transferred to Illinois, Santorum graduated from high school there.  His father was an Italian immigrant and his mother was half Italian, half Irish.

 

After high school, Santorum returned to Pennsylvania to attend Penn State.  He graduated with a degree in Political Science and then went to the University of Pittsburgh for an MBA.  Santorum then returned to Penn State to attend the Dickinson School of Law.  He graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1986.

 

Read the rest of this article on Examiner.com

http://www.examiner.com/elections-2012-in-atlanta/meet-the-candidates-rick-santorum

Russia beams propaganda to US hotel rooms

RT.com logo (Fair Use)

Before the breakup of the Soviet Union, Pravda was synonymous with laughable propaganda and cover-ups. The Communist Party newspaper was akin to “Baghdad Bob,” the Iraqi Information Minister who denied that Saddam’s regime was collapsing even as American tanks rolled through the streets of Baghdad. Soviet-era Russian journalism is perhaps best exemplified by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in which the Soviet regime delayed the announcement of the accident for two days while radiation spread around the world.

Today, rather than being confined to Eastern European tabloids, Russian propaganda is beamed directly into American homes via the cable news channel, RT. RT was previously known as Russia Today and was started in 2005. The channel broadcasts in English, Arabic, Spanish, and, of course, Russian. RT is available around the world in over 100 countries, including the United States. RT America has bureaus in Washington, New York, Miami and Los Angeles.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Russia beams propaganda to US hotel rooms – Atlanta Conservative | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/russia-beams-propaganda-to-us-hotel-rooms#ixzz1McxObEzf

The meaning of Bin Laden’s death

In a long awaited moment, President Obama announced Sunday night that Osama bin Laden had been killed in a predawn raid on Abbottabad, a suburb of Islamabad, Pakistan. US Navy SEALs attacking from helicopters stormed bin Laden’s fortified compound and overwhelmed the defenders. Bin Laden was reportedly shot in the head and his body taken by the SEALs. The body was buried at sea within twenty-four hours to keep with Muslim tradition, but not before bin Laden’s identity was confirmed through DNA testing.

Bin Laden’s death is a major milestone, but it also has many different consequences for different people and organizations.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: What Osama bin Laden’s death means – Atlanta Conservative | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/what-osama-bin-laden-s-death-means#ixzz1LDvpG9Qe

Whatever happened to Saddam’s WMD?

It has been almost eight years since The US-led Coalition invaded Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. There were several reasons presented to the American public to justify the war. There was the Iraqi regime’s support for terrorism, its violations of human rights against Iraqi citizens, and, last but not least, Saddam Hussein’s efforts to amass an arsenal of Weapons of Mass Destruction which, it was argued, might one day be turned over to terrorist groups.

Since the antebellum political discussions much has happened. Saddam’s terror ties are confirmed and were thoroughly documented in a 2008 report, Saddam and Terrorism: Emerging Insights from Captured Iraqi Documents. Likewise, Saddam’s record of torture and mass murder is now a matter of historical record. These facts have been overshadowed by the failure of Coalition forces to find the expected stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, as well as indications of Saddam’s nuclear weapons program. This, in turn, has led to charges that the Bush Administration lied about the WMD in order to sell the war to Congress and public.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Whatever happened to Saddam’s WMD? – Atlanta Conservative | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/whatever-happened-to-saddam-s-wmd#ixzz1EA72OhMe