Mexican president attacks Arizona
Obama dumped on the law this morning too, of course, in between lying about his Senate record on immigration and uttering greeting-card sentiments about how it’s not our borders but our bonds that define us. And yet, and yet, I guarantee that The One listened to this bit from Calderon through gritted teeth. Voters don’t like when a foreign leader criticizes Americans; they like it even less when that leader is here as a guest, using the White House as a soapbox for his criticism; and they like it less still when it comes from a hypocrite whose own country is not only causing the problem Arizona’s trying to deal with but whose immigration laws are even more draconian than America’s are.

Conservatives fire back at Gov Over Tax increases
Kansas House leadership today responded to claims made by Gov. Mark Parkinson that the one-cent sales tax increase would in fact grow the economy by producing jobs. Speaker of the House Rep. Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, pointed out that the tax increase would pad the government sector while robbing the private sector of employment. Yesterday Parkinson issued a statement to put a positive spin on the tax increase by stating that the budget and tax package passed by the Legislature will allow Kansas “the ability to come out of the economic recession stronger than ever.” House Majority Leader Rep. Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, said increasing the sales tax was “irresponsible and pointless.”

Pakistani officer arrested in connection to Shahzad
The case of the “lone wolf” bombing attempt in Times Square became even more complicated yesterday with the arrest of a Pakistani Army officer. An army major apparently helped Faisal Shahzad get to and from a terrorist training camp in Pakistan. The connection offers a troubling look at the complicated relationship between the Pakistani Taliban and the security forces of the Muslim nation.

Congress to limit political speech of bloggers
Last week, a congressional hearing exposed an effort to give another agency—the Federal Election Commission—unprecedented power to regulate political speech online. At a House Administration Committee hearing last Tuesday, Patton Boggs attorney William McGinley explained that the sloppy statutory language in the “DISCLOSE Act” would extend the FEC’s control over broadcast communications to all “covered communications,” including the blogosphere.

Former Thatcher adviser documents fraud by UN
Lord Christopher Monckton, a former science adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, called for the abolishment of the United Nations climate committee and the indictment of the U.N.'s chief climate scientist for financial fraud.

Allegations Dropped Against Former Kline Assistant
At the hearing the Disciplinary Administrator dropped allegations of dishonesty, fraud, and misrepresentation against Rucker in a stipulation that was agreed to in late March. This stipulation validated much of Rucker’s motion and Rucker’s claims the Disciplinary Administrator had introduced politics into the attorney ethics case. Much of the Disciplinary Administrator’s original complaint against Rucker for dishonesty collapsed.

Tax stats show huge '09 drop in Kansas incomes
Based on the tax checks Kansas taxpayers wrote last month, taxable incomes across the state dropped about 20 percent in 2009, a new, lower calculation of state revenues indicated Wednesday. In its latest monthly tally of state revenues, the Kansas Legislative Research Department reported that Kansas' tax receipts, fee income and other miscellaneous income came in at $595.2 million during April, which is more than 9 percent below both earlier projections for the month and actual state income in April 2009.

Tax package means go-head for Kansas freight hub
Legislation approving Kansas' recently voted 1-cent sales tax increase will trigger construction this year of a Johnson County intermodal rail freight hub, the Kansas Department of Transportation said. KDOT and developers of the long-planned 1,000 acre rail-truck shipping center and logistic park complex along Interstate 35 in Edgerton said they reached an agreement in which the state will provide a $35 million grant to BNSF Railway in exchange for a pledge to begin work on the project this year.

Missing the Boat on the Tea Parties
There has been good deal of ink, digital or otherwise, spilled over the Tea Party movement in the last few months, and there’s little sign of abatement anytime soon. As was seen in yesterday’s primaries across the country, the Tea Party phenomenon has tangible political impact. But even so, part of the reason so much continues to be written and said about the movement is that it is still so little understood, both by its critics as well as those who are more sympathetic.

The most depressing commencement address ever!
After you watch, you’ll be so bummed that not even an Ingmar Bergman marathon on TCM could make a dent. Al Gore at his worst. Imagine a graduate setting through this diatribe!

Tiahrt Congratulates Rand Paul on Tea Party Victory
Tiahrt and Paul were featured in a Wall Street Journal article Monday, May 17th discussing how conservative candidates were the beneficiary of conservative and Tea Party activists moving the Republican Party to the right. Both Tiahrt and Paul have been endorsed by the Tea Party Express and other high profile conservative groups. Tiahrt is the leading conservative running to replace Sam Brownback in the United States Senate. He is consistently rated as the most conservative member of the Kansas delegation and holds the highest lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union and the National Taxpayers Union. He is the only candidate for the Senate who has never voted for a tax increase, and he has been recognized throughout his career for fighting for lower taxes, traditional values and limited government.

Head Start Rife with Enrollment Fraud
An undercover investigation into the federal government's Head Start program has found enough enrollment abuses to generate a report to President Obama and a major damage-control effort by the agency that runs the program. At a hearing Tuesday, members of the House Education and Labor Committee heard dramatic audio clips of fraud being taken by Government Accountability Office (GAO) agents.

Progressive Senator Fined for ethics violation
A Kansas City, Kan., state senator on Tuesday was fined $5,000 by the state ethics commission for misuse of his campaign fund. Sen. Chris Steineger, a Democratic candidate for secretary of state this year, violated campaign finance law by using his Senate account to pay for two polls, the commission ruled unanimously.

Liberal AG Chastised for Lying about Service Record
Mr. Shays said he grew uncomfortable only last month, when he and Mr. Blumenthal attended a memorial for survivors of a building collapse in Bridgeport in 1987, and Mr. Blumenthal again brought up the Vietnam War. “He didn’t say he was there; he said, ‘when we came home’ and talked about soldiers being spat upon,” Mr. Shays said. “The inference was that he was in Vietnam.”

Photos reveal inside look Austin tunnel home
The City of Austin Tuesday released photos of the web of tunnels a man dug underneath his East Austin home. Under the yellow home are three stories of tunnels. For at least two years, neighbors suspected owner Jose Del Rio was up to something strange, but had no idea just how busy he'd been. According to a search warrant executed on May 8th, officers found 19 guns down there, ammunition, batteries and chemicals.

St. Agnes Golf Classic
Drumm Farm Golf Club’s Championship Course is built over approximately 280 acres of preserved farmland located in the heart of Independence, Missouri. The 7121 yard, par 72 Championship course is designed around meandering creeks and rolling fairways. The layout is designed by renowned architect Dr. Michael Hurdzan and is proud to provide zoysia fairways, and well-manicured bent grass greens, and five sets of tees to make the course enjoyable for golfers of all skill levels. Playing Drumm Farm in the 2010 St. Agnes Golf Classic offers the perfect blend of fellowship, competition, camaraderie and philanthropy.

The Pill's Promises and Redistribution
Mother's Day was chosen to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of 'The Pill'. Promoters of ‘The Pill’ promised more freedom and happiness, the end to poverty, curing divorce, eliminating unwed pregnancies and reducing abortions.

Study Links Contraceptive Use with HIV/AIDS
A medical trial published in the journal AIDS in 2009—monitoring HIV progression by the need for antiretroviral drugs (ART)—saw the risk of becoming eligible for ART was almost 70% higher in women taking “the pill” and more than 50% higher in women using DMPA [Depo-Provera].

Male Fish Become Female
Some people flush unneeded medications down toilets; other medications get into the water supply after people take them, absorb some, and pass the rest. Although studies are not conclusive, such chemicals could be linked with the phenomena such as declining sperm count in the adult male, testicular cancer, breast cancer, age at puberty, etc.

How to Properly Dispose of Medications
A few small steps can make an important difference in safeguarding lives and protecting the environment.

The Dreaded M-Word
Modesty, in its true definition, is to display one’s true worth in speech, dress and behavior. It is not reserve or simplicity as some of the definitions claim, but this is what the younger generations believe the definition to be.

Virgin: It's Not a Dirty Word
This is the paradox which was so well expressed by a young girl on the subway; "Why didn't they tell us that when we were 15?" She had experienced the empty pleasures the world offers and was candid enough to raise a very prickly question; "Why wasn't I offered another option?" Hidden inside this question is a desire for something else and an affirmation that, if offered another option, "I might have taken it!"

Teen Celebrates the Meaning of the Quinceanera
The Quinceanera celebration is intended to reaffirm the young girl's religious faith, good morals and the virtues of traditional family values. Other than her wedding day, there may not be a more important day in a Hispanic girl's life.

TLC Singer Chilli Describes Abortion Grief
Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas, better known as a member of the successful 1990s hip-hop trio TLC, has joined a growing number of women and men who have come forward with horrendous stories of post-abortion grief. In a recent interview, the singer revealed that an abortion that she got when she was 20 years old “broke my spirit,” and robbed her of her "strong self."

Understanding the Harm from Pornography
This site is dedicated to providing the most accurate peer-reviewed research on the harm from pornography, along with relevant news and opinion.

The Moral Life of Babies
A growing body of evidence, according to a Yale study, suggests that humans have a rudimentary moral sense from the very start of life. Which is not to say that parents are wrong to concern themselves with moral development or that their interactions with their children are a waste of time. Socialization is critically important.

You might have a big family if....
We get some funny questions about our five children which range from age 21 to age 4 like... ”Are they all from the same father?“

target="_blank">Planned Parenthood Visits the Kansas Governor
Holly Weatherford, program director for the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri, helps deliver petitions asking that Gov. Mark Parkinson veto a provision in the state budget bill that would divert federal family planning funds from Planned Parenthood. Abortion rights advocates held a short rally in the Capitol.

Gospel of St. John 17:11b-19

11b Father most holy, preserve them in your name, those whom you have given to me, so that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I preserved them in your name. I have guarded those whom you have given to me, and not one of them is lost, except the son of perdition, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled. 13 And now I am coming to you. But I am speaking these things in the world, so that they may have the fullness of my joy within themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them. For they are not of the world, just as I, too, am not of the world. 15 I am not praying that you would take them out of the world, but that you would preserve them from evil. 16 They are not of the world, just as I also am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in truth. Your word is truth. 18 Just as you have sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And it is for them that I sanctify myself, so that they, too, may be sanctified in truth.

Instead of trimming state spending to match predicted revenue, Kansas legislators dodged the hard choices and passed the highest state sales tax in the region.

Led by a coalition of Democrats and so-called moderate Republicans, the Legislature passed a 1-cent sales tax in the final days of the session. It will cost the average Kansas family more than $260 annually.

There were alternatives, like trimming state programs and services or eliminating some of the scores of tax exemptions that cost the state millions.

Unlike what the state of Kansas did, individuals struggling to balance their budgets cannot just reach into the pockets of others.

But opponents of this tax increase may get the last laugh to the detriment of Kansas businesses. With such a large portion of the population living near state borders, many Kansas consumers may elect to do their shopping elsewhere.