The purpose of the book is to share her story of how the liberal media persecute people like her: conservatives, essentially.

It amazes me that a few spoken words have taken her so far, as far as having to give up her pageant title and facing severe criticism (ostracism is more like it) from what must have felt like the entire world to this young woman.

I think we should quickly recap on what was said this past spring. Here is the question that was posed, and by flaming Perez Hilton, of all people: “Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?”

(What does this have to do with a beauty pageant, anyway?)

And here was Prejean’s answer: “In my country, in my family, I think that I believe a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anyone out there, but that’s how I was raised.”

What’s so wrong with that? I don’t understand. The girl even said she didn’t mean to offend anyone by her words, words that were carefully chosen and, I think, very well spoken and put together, even for this society with its stuck fixation on political correctness.

Of course Perez Hilton, his reaction, which can be equated to something like taking a precious toy away from an infant child (I’ve never seen such a temper tantrum in my entire life) is the reason this story even got as big as it has. Realistically, it’s Hilton who can be blamed for Prejean’s title loss and now this book deal.

How trivial. How stupid. I just hope Prejean gets some money out of this. She deserves it for what she’s been put through.

The House, by the way, did approve it, and at an easy 410-8 vote.

Now who do you think was most upset by this? Coming in first place (and no surprise): the atheists; closely followed by the agnostics, skeptics and freethinkers, all groups that share one common belief: no God, god, gods, etc.

These groups were so upset by this event that the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc. sued to put a stop to it, as McClatchy reported. Its accused Lungren of “trying to force his religious beliefs on as many as 15 percent of all U.S. adults.”

Unless there was a man with a gun in the Capitol Visitor Center whose main job and purpose was to put that gun to the heads of those walking in and make them repeat the words that have been proposed to be engraved there, then swear to uphold and believe in them, well, I just don’t see how the word “force” finds a place in the argument.

The main argument I can see against this proposal is based on the whole separation of church and state thing, which, I guess, makes some sense. However, weren’t we, as a country, founded on those beliefs? It obviously worked for us back then. We won the Revolutionary War as a bunch of farmers with pitchforks (with a little help from some Frenchmen across the pond). And looking at today, it sure seems things are less agreeable, less sound, less…united.

But, then again, there’s the money, which everything these days seems to go back to. How can our government afford $100,000 right now? We all know it can’t, we can’t as the taxpayers, but what’s $100,000 added to more than $11 trillion?

No matter what, it’s way too much.

It all boils down to what’s more important to you: your beliefs or your pocketbook.

Since World War II, Russia and the United States haven’t been the best of friends, spending several decades in a Cold War until Reagan knocked a brick from a wall and the Soviet Union came crashing down.  Obama has vowed to repair the relationship between the nations, but also looked to promote civil rights and acceptance in a government restricted information country.

Speaking to a crowd of students at the Moscow’s New Economic School, Obama spoke of free speech, free elections, and the government being accountable to the people.  He toed a fine line between insulting and being spineless, maintaining his assertive and thought provoking stance with sheer charisma and historical evidence.  He spoke of governments being “inevitably imperfect” and that a person’s universal values create a tool to be used to correct the wrongs within the government.  

Citing the United States’s history with slavery, segregation and racial divides, Obama demonstrated how throughout the history of this country, minorities rose up under their rights as people, not blacks, to be treated the same as any other person.  

Governments are not perfect, but as people evolve, so do the great nations.  It is through this constant evolution that people are empowered and the government serves to unite those under the values of its citizens.

To what we hold dear, the government is sworn to uphold.

Obama’s Russian school speech was indeed one truly important moment in his young presidency, and while it may go unnoticed with Michael Jackson’s death being all the rage in the media at the time, it will earn him some respect in the minds of those who care about our nation.

After all, Obama spoke the truth and spoke it well.  The United States has evolved.  If it didn’t, he wouldn’t be our president.

The shirt portrays a tremendously controversial topic in America these days, the moral dilemma between pro-life and pro-choice.  It is in the girl’s right to wear the shirt that clearly has political and ethical intent, and she should be applauded for having the courage and understanding to wear the shirt at her age.  The free will we are all gifted with is an important tool that far too many American’s opt not to use, and those that do are subjected to the restraint imposed by the close-minded, more ‘educated’ jokers that are in charge of the system.

These jokers at this girl’s school told the girl she was never allowed to wear the shirt again.  They allegedly forced her out of the cafeteria, threw away her food, dragged her to the administration office and told her she couldn’t wear the shirt again to school.  Not because she was promoting drugs or sex on a shirt, which kids do wear to school these days, but because she was expressing something important, something that the administrators used their heavy handed tactics and deemed it inappropriate. This is all while 10-year-old girls walk around elementary schools with their thongs showing and muffin tops bulging.

If a pro-life shirt is offensive, then crosses, rings, Obama t-shirts, Bibles, long hair, facial hair, and school served swine need to be shown the door as well.

Expect to see crowds of gays lining up for government jobs after this. (What about all the rest not employed by federal means?)

Interesting that this move is coming after intense criticism from several gay rights leaders recently, according to The New York Times, who were upset over the fact that Obama hasn’t moved much on the gay front, as his campaign promises, well, promised.

(When are people going to realize that campaign promises mean little but securing the seat in an election?)

Indeed, this is one of the touchiest subjects in politics, whether the government should provide benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. Obama will announce a list of these benefits, officials said, but don’t expect that list to include broad health insurance coverage, which would mean legislation to change.

And how do the gays feel about this? Interestingly (or not, depending on which side of the fence you choose to sit), it’s a mixed bag.

“Extending benefits to partners of gay federal employees is terrific, but at this point he is under enormous pressure from the gay civil rights community for having promised the moon and done nothing so far,” Richard Socarides, an adviser to the Clinton administration on gay issues, said yesterday. “So more important now is what he says tomorrow about the future for gay people during his presidency.”

We all remember, surely, how Obama pledged to “fight hard” for the rights of gay couples back in his campaign days…so, so long ago.

Guess you’ll just have to make sure to watch the news tonight to find out what happens next. I know I’m on the edge of my seat with this one….

The group in question is the Child-Evangelism Fellowship, which, for several decades has worked with underprivileged children, gone in to speak with prison-inmate’s offspring and worked to teach moral values, quality education and participation in after-school activities.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the group, granting the group access to public facilities like any other citizens’ public interest group would have access to.

Religion falls under a foggy area within the Constitution, granting freedom of religion, but also separation of Church and State. The Supreme Court ruling essentially gives the religious group a means to preach faith in government buildings as long as it is extra-curricular and not a requirement of the school.

Still, a mass of litigation is filed every year over similar issues where people do not wish for religious activities and Bible studies to take place in government buildings on the basis of separating Church and State.

Personally, I feel as long as children have the option of whether or not they want to believe in whatever the faith may be, there shouldn’t be a problem where meetings are held. As long as they can still participate with their peers and gain the benefits of education and social interaction without agreeing to submit to any particular faith, they have every right set by precedent in the Supreme Court ruling.

A woman in Texas was told to remove her American flag from her office because someone, namely another employee who had immigrated from Africa 14 years earlier, found it offensive. Her supervisor even told her she had to remove it, and that the flag outside would have to “suffice.”

The woman is from a very patriotic family, with her husband, both of her sons and her daughter all currently serving in the military. The flag was hung in her office in advance of Memorial Day.

Even with none of that information taken into account, how can you tell someone that an American flag is offensive, in America, and in Texas of all places? You may as well be one of the nameless bad guys in a Rambo movie, with Rambo being Texas.

The nice thing about this story is that when it hit the press and the hospital where all the action went down was put into a negative spotlight, a black light if you will, prompting it to back down mighty fast and sending it into damage control mode.

The power of the press is a force to be reckoned with.

Now, the flag hangs once again in the office, where it should have been all along.