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Last spring, President Obama managed to corral the votes of a half dozen formerly pro-life Democrats in the House of Representatives for his takeover of health care.  Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) had been a staunch supporter of pro-life initiatives for nearly twenty years in Congress. Tragically for him, and even more tragically for the country, Stupak fell in line behind the White House.  For months he had held out, bravely. Then, at the eleventh hour, hecaved in.More...

Obama's Double-Cross

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Robin Sax's troubling story on HuffPost, "The Battle for Baby Vanessa" (July 7) highlights one of the many challenges facing our Congress and this nation. Together, we must find new ways to strengthen families by ensuring that children have permanent and loving families by promoting responsible adoption policies.As an adoptive mother of two and Co-Chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, I am disturbed by the story of baby Vanessa and the battle that has ensued between her adoptive mother, Stacey Doss, and biological father, Benjamin Mills.More...

Legislation to Prevent More Heartbreaking Stories Like Baby Vanessa

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In a visit with William Turner at his eponymous gallery at Santa Monica's Bergamot Station compound we sat around sharing reaction to the gallery's current Greg Miller exhibition. Our conversation lead to other topics, in particular the recently launched campaign to re-inflate the California Art Council's operating budget with, of all things, auto license plates. Turner sits on the eleven-member Council, a group of volunteers appointed mostly by the Governor that works to line up support for the agency, mainly in the face of public indifference. He genuinely lit up over the rectangular image designed by Wayne Thiebaud that sports the candy ass appellation "ART LVR" that is the standard arts plate. The passion for a car license plate that will set you back around a hundred bucks (about forty ends up in the CAC's operating budget) will never make the gallery one penny more profitable. I like this guy's heart.The California Arts Council enjoys the laughable distinction, in the Union's most populous state (which also may or may not still be the world's seventh largest economy), of being fiftieth and last in terms of the size of its allocated arts budget. This distinction, ironically, dates back to former Governor Gray Davis (look up "Enron, energy scandal"), who responded to a then seemingly thunderous budget shortfall of nearly $10 billion by all but eliminating the CAC. Thus saving California about, um, $25 million.More...

License Plates as Art

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BigChampagne Media Measurement has launched the Ultimate Chart (http://www.ultimatechart.com) - an unprecedented single source for music charts of the week's most popular artists and songs, which will be published in the coming weeks by The Comet (http://www.TheComet.com) among other media publishers. Chart categories include song and album sales, radio airplay, online audio and video plays, and fan/friends/followers. The Ultimate Chart is the first and only chart that looks at all of the ways in which music is popular, online and off. The first published chart, the Ultimate 100, is available now.Data partners and sources include Yahoo! Music, Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, VEVO, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, MTV, ClearChannel, MediaBase, AOL, Napster, Microsoft Zune, We Are Hunted, LastFM and many more.More...

There's A New Music Chart Sheriff In Town

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Firefighters in north suburban Skokie were forced to cut through the roof of a home Monday night to remove the body of a 79-year-old woman who was apparently a hoarder.The Chicago Tribune reports that Marie Davis was found under a pile of debris in her home in the 5400 block of Foster Street Monday night:More...

Skokie Woman Found Dead In Garbage-Filled Home: Firefighters Forced To Cut Through Roof To Remove Body (VIDEO)

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Some of my happiest moments -- as well as my most enriching and enlightening moments -- have come through travel.  Which is why I'm delighted to announce the launch of our newest section, HuffPost Travel.I still remember the excitement of my first trip out of Athens, when I was 11. My sister and I traveled to Paris for a week with my father. I still have the touristy picture of the three of us in front of the Eiffel Tower. But more than that, I have an indelible memory of my first taste of the world outside my homeland -- and of a special time with my Dad (who had already separated from my mother after he answered her complaints about his philandering by telling her that "she should not interfere in his private life").More...

Wheels Up: Announcing the Launch of HuffPost Travel

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I didn't finish college the first time around. Perhaps it was a lack of vision. Perhaps it was a lack of a dream. I don't know. Regardless, I almost completed my first two years at a local junior college before abandoning my education for the banality of full-time employment.After a decade-long career in the transportation industry left me feeling listless and dissatisfied, I seriously contemplated a return to college. Living in Chicago at the time, I ventured to the University of Illinois-Chicago and enrolled without much of a plan, yet with the intent to do something. Anything. But as often happens, my family and I relocated to Florida for my wife's new job before I had a chance to select my first class, much less a major.More...

Unemployed Since 2004

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The Statue of Liberty was evacuated on Wednesday afternoon as a precaution due to smoke near the elevator, according to the New York Fire Department."We have a smoke condition around the elevator and the statue's been evacuated and we are on scene," a fire department spokesman told Reuters shortly after 2 p.m. EST.More...

Statue Of Liberty Evacuated After Smoke Detected

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Joseph W. McQuaid, publisher of the New Hampshire Union Leader, is going to follow his state's motto and "live free or die," even if it means telling former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to stay out of Granite State politics.Apparently irritated with Sarah Palin's recent decision to wade into a packed Republican U.S. Senate primary with her endorsement of former New Hampshire attorney general Kelly Ayotte, McQuaid took to a front-page, above-the-fold editorial Tuesday, to tell New Hampshire voters not to listen.More...

New Hampshire Newspaper To Palin: Don't Tell Us How To Vote

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By Daniel BurkeReligion News ServiceMore...

Gay Debate Mirrors 19th-Century Church Dispute On Slavery