OUR COLUMNISTS Arlen Specter -- Poster Child Commentary by Matt Friedeman Senator Specter apparently wants a place on your wall. Here's why he shouldn't get the chance. The Power of a Good Mind Commentary by Jane Jimenez What can fighter pilots teach us about teaching? The power of a good mind ... and vision. Victorious Losers Commentary by Brad Locke There are a lot of "winners" in hell, and the line to get in is snaking out the back door and down the block. Many a man has sealed his eternal fate the moment he wrapped his arms around a realized ambition. The pursuit of selfish ends leads to an awfully lonely place. Amnesia Commentary by David Sisler What would it be like to wake up and not remember the evil that you had done, the people you had hurt, the sins you had committed? What would you pay for a little selective amnesia? 'Let us Vote! Let Us Vote! Let Us Vote!' Commentary by Mark Creech That was the cry heard outside the North Carolina State Legislature recently during a rally in favor of a State Constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in the Tar Heel State.

..."What are we willing to die for?" At a Memorial Day ceremony attended by President Bush, a Navy chaplain said only God can help us answer that question. Captain George Ridgeway said Jesus "taught us that greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Ridgeway said Jesus' self-sacrifice is reflected at Arlington National Cemetery, where Americans who died for their friends and countrymen are buried. President Bush said, "We pray that they have found peace with their creator, and we resolve that their sacrifice will always be remembered by a grateful nation." [AP]

...Pro-lifers are hailing action by the United Nations, claiming "something good" has finally come from the scandal-plagued organization. In March, the U.N. passed a resolution that calls on governments to ban all forms of human cloning that are "incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life." Some countries, such as Britain, Belgium, and China, support "therapeutic cloning" and have stated they do not plan to honor the proclamation, which is not legally binding. Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America says getting the ban was not an easy road. "[It] was a huge struggle," she says, "because there are many people throughout the world -- scientists and governments -- that want to clone human beings." Those nations fought hard to get some forms of human cloning approved; but in the end, Wright notes, they failed. "This is a tremendous victory to have now an international, moral statement within this declaration passed by the U.N.," she says. "And as one delegate at the U.N. stated, 'We can now say that one good thing has come out of the United Nations' -- and that's a ban on all forms of human cloning." The CWA spokeswoman points out it took three-and-a-half years to get the resolution passed. [Bill Fancher]

...The American Diabetes Association is hailing the U.S. House of Representatives for passing a bill relaxing restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research. But the executive director of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations says the ADA is choosing to ignore important research recently done. Dr. David Stevens says a Harvard researcher has made some great strides against diabetes. In animal studies, he says, the woman has shown adult stem cells to actually cure diabetes. "She's now applied [for] -- and the National Institutes of Health has granted -- permission to go ahead and start Phase One, human trials, to see if the concept is safe," Stevens says. "The path to curing diabetes is not through embryonic stem-cell research." The CMDA official says the stem cells will actually come from the patients themselves. He says stem-cell therapy produces cures much more quickly and without the ethical baggage of destroying human beings. [Mary Rettig]

...Where have all the children gone? That question is getting a lot of attention these days in San Francisco. The "City by the Bay" has become notorious as a place where homosexuals have been successful in using political pressure to force acceptance of their lifestyle. But it is also gaining a reputation on another front. According to Associated Press, it now has the lowest percentage of children of any major city in the United States. While skyrocketing housing prices are said to be a key reason for the trend, the AP report also notes that homosexuals now represent 20 percent of San Francisco's population. Mayor Gavin Newsom, who last year defied state law and ordered "marriage" licenses handed out to thousands of homosexual couples, is reportedly very concerned about the childless crisis. The report says that among other things, he has appointed a 27-member policy council to develop plans for keeping families in the city. [Fred Jackson]

...The State of Ohio is receiving help from a Christian law firm over a legal challenge to a vanity license plate which helps support crisis pregnancy centers. Recently NARAL Pro-Choice America (formerly the National Abortion Rights Action League) initiated a lawsuit in federal court aimed at stopping Ohio from issuing specialty license plates inscribed with the phrase "Choose Life." Although a federal judge denied NARAL's request, Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver says the battle is far from over. He claims that abortion groups have never applied for their own specialty plate -- "they simply object to the 'Choose Life' license plate," he says. "Well, that doesn't give them the right to walk into court and demand that the specialty plate stop." Staver says his firm plans to fight back. "We're going to be filing briefs in the next few weeks, asking for this case to be dismissed -- and it's my opinion that NARAL's case will ultimately be tossed from court," the attorney says. Ohio has already started issuing the "Choose Life" license plates. [Allie Martin]

...The Air Force is telling its top commands worldwide to make sure officers don't use their positions of authority to advance their religious beliefs. This follows allegations of religious intolerance at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. An Air Force task force spent several days at the Academy two weeks ago, looking into allegations that Jews and others were harassed by evangelical Christians. Associated Press obtained a copy of a new "values statement," which notes that subordinates can view public expressions of the belief systems of their leaders as coercive. A chaplain at the Academy says she was fired for criticizing the power of evangelicals there. She says the new values statement shows the Air Force is beginning to recognize "they have a problem" and that "there needs to be some clarity." [AP]

...There are new warnings about the growing threat of Middle East terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking to the national conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), said establishing peace in the Middle East will not be an easy task -- and Israel can attest to that fact. "[Israel] still has committed enemies, particularly the government of Iran, which is the world's leading sponsor of terrorism," Rice stated. "The world must not tolerate any Iranian attempt to develop a nuclear weapon." Jack Wheeler of the publication To the Point echoes Secretary Rice's conclusion. "Iran's nuclear facilities have to be destroyed through military attack or preferably through sabotage," Wheeler says. "But one way or another, the milocracy [sic] of Iran cannot be allowed to possess nuclear weapons." In the past, Israel has taken out Iran's nuclear facilities with air strikes. [Bill Fancher]

...While America took time over the weekend to honor those who have given their all to protect the nation's freedoms, word of a new internal threat has surfaced. Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy says a new threat is facing the nation and must be acknowledged. He says it is linked to the war on terror. "Radical ideology that is masquerading as a religion in the Muslim faith ... is taking hold not only in parts of the world that we're familiar with, like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Bosnia, and Indonesia, but also here in the United States," he says. Gaffney labels that ideology as "'Islamofacism" -- and he says it has infiltrated America's prisons, military, colleges, and even its political system. If it is not dealt with, he says it will be to the nation's moral peril. [Bill Fancher]

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