Obama abruptly walks out of talks
President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of a stormy debt-limit meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday, a dramatic setback to the already shaky negotiations, according to GOP sources. “He shoved back and said ‘I’ll see you tomorrow’ and walked out,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told reporters in the Capitol after the meeting.

Hume: The Obama DOJ reminds me of nothing so much as the Nixon Justice Department
“This Obama Justice Department reminds me of nothing so much as the Nixon Justice Department,” Hume said on Fox News Sunday. “You have the scent of high-level knowledge of serious wrongdoing and you have the smell of cover-up and I think the stench of cover-up on this gun-running operation is very strong indeed.”

Jobs Picture Gets Even Worse as Rate Swells to 9.2%
U.S. employment growth ground to a halt in June, with employers hiring the fewest number of workers in nine months, dousing hopes the economy would regain momentum in the second half of the year. Nonfarm payrolls rose only 18,000, the weakest reading since September, the Labor Department said on Friday, well below economists' expectations for a 90,000 rise. The unemployment rate climbed to a six-month high of 9.2 percent, even as jobseekers left the labor force in droves, from 9.1 percent in May. "The message on the economy is ongoing stagnation," said Pierre Ellis, senior economist at Decision economics in New York. "Income growth is marginal so there's no indication of momentum.

Project Gunrunner was funded by … the stimulus
For an additional amount for ‘‘State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance’’, $40,000,000, for competitive grants to provide assistance and equipment to local law enforcement along the Southern border and in High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas to combat criminal narcotics activity stemming from the Southern border, of which $10,000,000 shall be transferred to ‘‘Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Salaries and Expenses’’ for the ATF Project Gunrunner.

New Information on Operation Gun Runner
Operation Gun Runner has completely gotten out of hand as the current ATF director testifies before Congress that the FBI and DEA were aware of the project. The Justice Department continues to ignore the congressional hearings. Mexico is now considering charges under Mexican law.

Sen. Rubio: "We Don't Need New Taxes, We Need New Taxpayers”
“We don't need new taxes. We need new taxpayers, people that are gainfully employed, making money and paying into the tax system. And then we need a government that has the discipline to take that additional revenue and use it to pay down the debt and never grow it again. And that's what we should be focused on, and that's what we're not focused on.

Fast and Furious Twin – Operation Castaway
Republican lawmakers are alleging that Operation Fast and Furious may have had a twin in Tampa: Operation Castaway. The new revelations have come to light as Florida Republican Rep. Gus Bilrakis fired off a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and acting ATF Director Ken Melson asking them for answers about the newly discovered program.

The solar plant to nowhere
Evergreen Solar stock is plunging this week into a black hole of probable bankruptcy. The losers - aside from shareholders and employees - are the taxpayers from Massachusetts. Their government, just in the last few years, received $58 million in taxpayer subsidies.

Commodifying Compassion
We have seen this kind of commodification at work most recently in debates about the federal budget, where campaigns like “What Would Jesus Cut?” decry proposals to lower government spending on social programs. As Jim Wallis puts it, “the moral test of any society is how it treats its poorest and most vulnerable citizens,” but on this view a particular level of government expenditures is equated with that moral test. This kind of logic is also at work with efforts like The ONE Campaign, which takes its name for the proposed amount that should be devoted by governments to foreign aid programs.

Pittsburgh Paper Editorial: Only on Planet Washington
A president who's exhorting all involved in the protracted debt ceiling/budget/deficit negotiations to compromise and "eat our peas" actually wants America to eat what's left of its seed corn. And there's precious little of it. President Obama long has been the king of false choices. In exchange for incurring more debt to meet the intractable obligations of the United States and spending reductions that, in typical Beltway fashion, still really only cut the rate of spending increases, Mr. Obama wants $1 trillion in tax hikes over the next decade. Senate Democrats want twice that amount.

Why 178 Public Educators in Atlanta should be in prison
Evidently state level investigations into Georgia public schools are nothing new, but the new revelations of the attempt to defraud test score results merely for enhanced funding status from the Federal Government–in my mind–should be a RICO complaint, with secondary charges of theft. The majority of the nation doesn’t know that investigators have turned up a hatched-scheme in which Union bosses coordinated efforts with public education officials. Further that 44 of 56 school districts in the Atlanta Public Schools system strategically convinced Superintendents, Principals and teachers to cheat–primarily by going back and erasing answers on tests and replacing them with correct ones–in order to have a higher means score for the No Child Left Behind funding qualifications. The evidence is overwhelming.

Obama Tells Press Corps: No Shouting at me
A long-running tiff between the White House press corps and the West Wing over presidential access flared anew today when press secretary Jay Carney faced off with reporters over the right to shout questions at the president during debt talks. Obama chafes at the time-honored practice of answering questions shouted at him during pooled, non-press conference events — and his staff has often opted for “stills sprays,” excluding print reporters or TV cameras who might capture Obama in the less than flattering non-act of snubbing a query.

Weinergate 2: Huma mom tied to bombers
The mother of Huma Abedin, Hillary's Clinton's chief of staff, has represented a Saudi-funded Muslim charity accused of terrorism financing and ties to al-Qaida. Huma is the wife of former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York. Huma's mother is Saleha Mahmood Abedin, an associate professor of sociology at Dar Al-Hekma College in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She formerly directed the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs in the U.K.

US too dumb to know O is always right
When President Obama started talking at his news conference Monday, I listened intently for 15 minutes or so. Then I got fidgety as his half-truths about the debt grew into full-blown whoppers. As he droned on, I did something I never did before during an Obama appearance: I turned off the TV. Enough. He is the Man Who Won't Listen to Anybody, so why should anybody listen to him? Tuning out and turning off the president does not fill me with gladness. He cannot be ignored. But for now, I will leave that unhappy duty to others. I am tired of Barack Obama. There's nothing new there. His speeches are like "Groundhog Day."

QRM Regulations Threaten the Housing Market
The housing market is still weak, and federal regulators are considering a regulation that could make matters even worse. Known as the Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) rule, the draft rule could have the effect of requiring many home buyers to have at least a 20 percent down payment in order to qualify for a best interest rate mortgage. In addition to making it harder for qualified consumers to obtain loans, the proposed regulation would preserve the roles of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored finance agencies whose collapse has already cost taxpayers in excess of $150 billion. It would also further concentrate mortgage lending in the largest financial institutions.

Teachers Unions explained
A supporter of the teachers unions is questioned about her belief that the unions need more money and power.

Courageous
Four men, one calling: To serve and protect. As law enforcement officers, they are confident and focused, standing up to the worst the streets can offer. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge they're ill prepared to tackle: fatherhood.

Derek Jeter homers for 3,000th hit
The fairy-tale life of Derek Jeter added a stirring chapter Saturday nobody could have predicted. On a flawless summer day inside a packed Stadium, the perfect Yankee not only reached 3,000 hits with a monster home run in his second at-bat, but he went 5-for-5 with the game-winning hit in a 5-4 victory over the Rays. “If I had tried to written it and given it to someone, I wouldn’t have bought it,’’ Jeter said of scripting the amazing day. “It was one of those special days.’’

Ethical Adult Stem Cells Help Create New Windpipe, Saves Cancer Patient
A cancer patient has received the first synthetic windpipe transplant. The new windpipe was created using the patient’s own adult stem cells which were seeded onto a synthetic scaffold to grow the new tissue. According to his doctors, the patient, a 36-year-old Eritrean man and father of two, no longer has cancer and is expected to have a normal life expectancy.

Sonic, Burger King, Other Fast-Food Chains Adding Alcohol to Menu
The trip to the fast-food joint that was once all about burgers and fries is increasingly about something that could require you to flash your ID: beer and wine. In a tough economy, the move towards alcohol is a way to compete with casual dining — and can help boost typically slow evening business, says Ron Paul, president at Technomic, a restaurant consulting firm.

Michelle Obama Indulges in 1,700-Calorie Fast Food Meal
Some might think it's hypocritical but the "mainstream" media thinks it's "cute" to see the first lady indulge in a 1,700-Calorie fast food meal. Michelle Obama has been a champion at legislating nutrition for our children.

Society Loses When Marriage Gets Redefined
Marriage, redefined to include homosexuals, is now open to further redefinition to suit the homosexual lifestyle. Just a week after the New York law passed, the New York Times ran a piece promoting the practice of “flexible” monogamy, or infidelity with permission—a common practice in ‘committed’ homosexual relationships. The thesis? It ‘works’ for the homosexual community, so heterosexuals should try it too. Societies that legitimize substitutes for traditional marriage inevitably witness the decline of authentic marriage. And as marriage declines, family structures weaken, producing cracks in the bedrock of a stable society. The result? Children suffer.

New York Archbishop: ‘Believers Will Soon Be Hauled Into Court’ for Questioning Gay ‘Marriage’
American Christians may one day find themselves facing legal penalties simply for believing marriage can only exist between a man and a woman, a fate already suffered by believers in other countries, said the leader of America’s most influential Catholic pulpit this week. Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York called it “haunting” that the marriage bill became law on the day Catholics celebrate the feast of the Birth of John the Baptist, “whom King Herod would behead because the saint dared to defend the God-given truth about marriage.”

Four Catholic Bishops Missing in China
The whereabouts of four Roman Catholic bishops who were taken away by Chinese police are unknown. They were taken away by police to prepare for the unlawful ordination of Father Huang Bingzhang as bishop, due to take place on July 14th in Shantou. The ordination of Bingzhanau is proof that the government is trying to manipulate and control illicit ordinations. Father Huang Bingzhang was elected at a session controlled and manipulated by the Patriotic Association of China.

Iranian Christian Faces ‘Convert or Die’ Choice
The United States government voiced concern Wednesday about the plight of an Iranian Christian pastor sentenced to death for apostasy. Reports say his appeal to a higher court resulted in a stark choice – disavow the Christian faith or die. Yosef (Youcef) Nadarkhani, a 32 year-old father and evangelical pastor who embraced Christianity at age 19, was arrested in October 2009, reportedly for objecting to the teaching of Islam to Christian children at Iranian schools. The indictment against him accused him of organizing evangelistic meetings, sharing his faith and inviting others to convert, running a house church and “denying Islamic values.”

National Porn Awareness Campaign Begins This Week
Pornography is silently and secretly destroying men, women, and children,” the organizers of the campaign state. “It is a pandemic ruining lives, marriages and families. Our now Pornified society has eroded the cultural norms in America to the point that even a major TV network, using the public airwaves, is planning programming with a known pornographer and exploiter of women. This harm must end.”

New FDA Report: Abortion Drug Kills 14 Women, Injures 2,200
The Food and Drug Administration has quietly released a new report about the deaths of and injuries to women from the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug and the Obama administration has done nothing to make the information available to women. “The bottom line is that abortion drugs are not about improving women’s health but are more accurately about advancing a radical pro-abortion agenda regardless of the impact on women’s health, even when it proves deadly,” concluded Jeanne Monahan of the Family Research Council.

Abortion Activist Hopes to Open Abortion Center in Wichita
A pro-abortion activist in Kansas who is associated with the late late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller says she wants to open a new abortion business in Wichita, Kansas — Tiller’s former stomping grounds that has been abortion free since his death. Julie Burkhart, who ran the political organization Tiller founded to promote pro-abortion political candidates who would oppose laws holding his abortion facility accountable for meeting basic health and safety standards or limiting abortions, is now the executive director of the St. Louis-based Trust Women, a pro-abortion group. Burkhart is reportedly aiming for opening up shop within the next 12 months and is working on recruiting a licensed physician to do abortions there.

Ryder Trucks Ends Contract With Aborted Baby Disposal Service
Ryder System Inc. will no longer be providing trucks to Stericycle Inc., a waste management company that services a reported 586 Planned Parenthood locations and hundreds of other abortion facilities nationwide. Stericycle is the nation’s leading waste management company which depends entirely upon truck leasing companies like Ryder to provide vehicles for its waste collection routes. Using these leased trucks, the company picks up “biohazardous waste” boxes, confirmed to contain the remains of aborted babies, from abortuaries across the country in order to be incinerated.

Israel Opens Jesus’ Baptism Site in West Bank
Israel opened the traditional baptism site of Jesus to daily visits Tuesday, a move that required the cooperation of Israel's military and the removal of nearby mines in the West Bank along the border with Jordan. The location, where many believe John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the waters of the Jordan River, is one of the most important sites in Christianity. Until now, it was only opened several times a year in coordination with the Israeli military.

Israeli Government Considers Adding Sunday as Day of Rest
There is currently a lively debate going on in Israel on the idea of introducing a long weekend in which the Shabbat - which actually starts on Friday afternoon - will be coupled with Sunday, thus uniforming the Sunday habits of Israelis with those of Western societies.

Disappearing Car Prank

KCStar: Immigration question compounds I-435 tragedy
What kind of a reckless fool is hideously drunk and driving at 8:30 a.m.? The kind that drove at least 14 miles the wrong way on Interstates 435 and 70 before a fatal crash that killed a mother and her 11-year-old daughter. But the clincher for many people — the driver is probably an illegal immigrant. Felix Solano-Gallardo is the name charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the case.

Gospel of St Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

As individuals and families around the nation celebrated Independence Day and the blessings of freedom and opportunity as American citizens, families are also celebrating the advance of educational freedom across the country.

As the lead editorial in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal notes, 2011 has been “the year of school choice.” Since January, new school choice programs have been enacted in 13 states, and legislation is pending in 28 more. In May, Indiana implemented the largest school choice program in the nation’s history. Arizona put into place perhaps the most innovative school choice plan to date with education savings accounts, and other states like Colorado now offer private school choice for the first time.

And the victories continue. Within the last few weeks, states have passed legislation to give students in Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio, and North Carolina greater opportunity to choose the schools that best meet their needs.

Florida, a prominent leader in school choice, will now offer an even greater number of options for families. Last Monday, Governor Rick Scott (R) signed five education bills to enhance choice for students in public, charter, and private schools and to expand opportunities for online learning. The new laws allow students to more easily transfer from underperforming public schools, permit top-performing charter schools to expand more readily, broaden the eligibility for special needs students to receive private school scholarships, include provisions to encourage more corporations to contribute to the state’s tax-credit scholarship program, and expand online courses—previously limited to high school students—to elementary school students.

Wisconsin, another bastion of educational choice, currently operates the nation’s longest-running voucher program in the nation: the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP). And last weekend, Governor Scott Walker (R) signed a state budget that included provisions to increase the income eligibility for families of students who can participate in the MPCP and completely lift the cap on the number of children who can receive the scholarships. Furthermore, families in neighboring Racine County will now enjoy a similar school choice program. As a result of the changes, approximately 65 percent of Milwaukee families will be eligible for the MPCP, and within three years, roughly 60 percent of Racine County families will be able to receive private school scholarships.

Similarly, this past Thursday, Ohio Governor John Kasich (R) signed the state’s budget, which included provisions to broaden two of the state’s already-operating school choice programs and create an entirely new program that allows special needs students the opportunity to attend private schools of their choice. The state will now be the only one in the country to offer four private school choice programs, including scholarships for students in failing public schools, scholarships for low-income students, and two programs for students with special needs.

Finally, North Carolina not only completely lifted the cap on the number of charter schools allowed to operate in the state—previously limited to 100—but enacted its very first private school choice program. Parents of students with special needs will now be able to receive a non-refundable tax credit of up to $3,000 per semester ($6,000 per year) “for expenses related to private school tuition and other educational services.” Roughly 10,000 families are estimated to benefit from the program.

Still there are many hurdles to overcome. For example, the Pennsylvania legislature recently failed to pass a bill for a private school choice program, and earlier this year a Georgia court ruling took aims at limiting charter schools. But overall, the scene is promising.

In the Land of the Free, it is encouraging to see states taking steps to ensure that all children have the opportunity to receive the best education possible. Empowering parents with greater freedom to choose the course of their children’s education is crucial not only to give students the hope for a bright future but to secure a strong and prosperous future for America.