... the Army became aware of the Archbishop's letter last Friday (Jan. 27) and was concerned that the letter contained language that might be misunderstood in a military setting. The Army asked that the letter not be read from the pulpit. Instead, the letter would have been referenced in announcements and made available in the back of the chapel for the faithful, if they wished, as they departed after the Mass. The Army greatly appreciates the Archbishop's consideration of the military's perspective and is satisfied with the resolution upon which they agreed.

So, not only is the Obama administration mandating health insurance covering sterilization, abortifacients and contraception - a violation of the freedom of religion recognized by the U.S. Constitution, it's now mandating what can be said from the pulpit!

Since then, author Mark Steyn has inserted some truths in the president's speech and has a reminder for him: His 'brother' is back in Kenya living on $12 a year:

... Obama's comments leave much to be desired, particularly when it comes to the presidents own brother, George Hussein Onyango Obama who lives on $12 a year in Kenya.

"Oh give me a break," Steyn said on Hugh Hewitt's radio show on Thursday night. "For a start, when he says, 'I am my brother's keeper,' his brother is back in Kenya living on $12 a year. That's what he was living on at the time of the 2008 election. So all the president has to do in terms of shared responsibility is put a $10 bill in an envelope and mail it to Nairobi or Mombasa or wherever and he will double his brother's salary."

At issue is the Obama administration's effort to require Catholic institutions to provide contraception. Steyn explained this is part of "big government" trying to supplant the church as a source of "moral authority."

"This version of shared responsibility means the state should be your 'brother's keeper,'" he said. "And this is the point for the Catholic Church. Separation of church and state is one thing, but big government means the state as church, the sole legitimate source of moral authority whether it's on contraception or gay marriage or abortion or any of the rest. And that's what you see in Europe. Big government drives out other sources of moral authority."

Steyn's comments are thought-provoking, as they usually are. His last statement, though, could easily be reversed: The decline of other sources of moral authority enables big government. It's a chicken-egg dilemma: Did we first abandon a belief in the authority of church and family, leaving a hole for government to fill? Or did the government gradually usurp the authority of church and family, leading church and family to abdicate responsibility?

We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives.

The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not.

Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.

Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.

It is our hope and we believe it is time for everyone involved to pause, slow down and reflect on how grants can most effectively and directly be administered without controversies that hurt the cause of women. We urge everyone who has participated in this conversation across the country over the last few days to help us move past this issue. We do not want our mission marred or affected by politics - anyone's politics.

Starting this afternoon, we will have calls with our network and key supporters to refocus our attention on our mission and get back to doing our work. We ask for the public's understanding and patience as we gather our Komen affiliates from around the country to determine how to move forward in the best interests of the women and people we serve.

We extend our deepest thanks for the outpouring of support we have received from so many in the past few days and we sincerely hope that these changes will be welcomed by those who have expressed their concern.

As Mono Charen notes at The Corner today, there is no inconsistency in trying to save the lives of women afflicted with breast cancer and declining to provide funding for an organization that takes the lives of women (albeit unborn ones) every day.

But is it really a surprise, and just how did the unemployment rate really get to 8.3%?

Short answer: It's no surprise at all. Team Obama wants the unemployment rate down by election day and the BLS is cooperating by having the people not in the labor force explode by an unprecedented record 1.2 million in one month!

... No, that's not a typo: 1.2 million people dropped out of the labor force in one month! So as the labor force increased from 153.9 million to 154.4 million, the non institutional population increased by 242.3 million meaning, those not in the labor force surged from 86.7 million to 87.9 million. Which means that the civilian labor force tumbled to a fresh 30 year low of 63.7% as the BLS is seriously planning on eliminating nearly half of the available labor pool from the unemployment calculation. ...

As Jim Geraghty points out, it's as though the Bureau of Labor and Statistics discovered a city of 1.5 million people that it had previously overlooked.

It's the same kind of dodgy data AJ Strata has pointed to for almost a year (see here, here, here and here).

As long as your labor force doesn't grow or or is shrinking, even anemic-to-modest job growth will cause the unemployment rate to drop, and the Obama BLS is clearly using every trick in the book to get the rate down for Barry.

Update: A Washington Times editorial notes:

A year ago, there were 99 million people either officially unemployed or otherwise not working, and the official unemployment rate was 9.1 percent. Now, unemployment reported by the government is down to 8.3 percent, but the number without jobs has topped 100 million. The disconnect between increasing joblessness in America and the rosy White House official statistics should be the subject of a congressional investigation. Something does not add up.

Even Ronaldus Magnus, the last good President left Washington bigger than he found it.

Jimmy Carter not only walked in the Inaugural Parade he walked us into the grip of a Department of Energy that works tirelessly to limit our energy production and a Department of Education that presides over the greatest decline in education in world History. He chastised us in his malaise speech about our crisis of confidence never realizing it was our confidence in him not our country that was hobbling America. And what was his advice? Should we work harder, invent more, or launch out in bold new ways? No he suggested we wear sweaters and turn the heat down. Managing the decline has long been the theme song of those who see America's glory days in the rearview mirror instead of in the headlights as we travel towards the future.

What about Nixon? Forget about it! He gave us price controls, OSHA, and the EPA. He took us off the gold standard and left us at the mercy of the Federal Reserve, all this from the conservative wing of the Dualocracy which is the bi-polar Party of Power.

Lyndon Johnson and his Great Society, Medicare, Medicaid, and Food Stamp revolution created the entitlement monsters which are poised to devour the budget.

Though he cut taxes to spur the economy, Kennedy with his phony missile gap and foreign policy blunders did little besides set the stage for Johnson.

Eisenhower spent eight years guiding the construction of the Military Industrial Complex he warned us about as he left the stage.

The Fair Deal was merely Truman's election driven attempt to increase the size, scope, and power of FDR's New Deal which was a massive and unprecedented intrusion of the central government into the economic and social life of America.

FDR was the 20th century poster boy when it comes to stretching the size of government and putting the stamp of entitlement as the cause on liberty's death certificate.

Hoover, contrary to FDR's story line and the accepted version of America's History, responded to the stock market crash with a massive extension of government and its programs. The Great Engineer, as he was known before his name became a household word for failed presidency, was a champion of government intervention, and though today his devotion to the tenets of laissez-faire are blamed for the depression when it was instead his federal interference that provided a deep recession for FDR to turn into the Great Depression.

Silent Cal Coolidge was America's last limited President. He limited himself and stayed with the confines of the Constitution.

Harding tried but died.

Wilson used the War he bragged of keeping us out of as the excuse to arrest and detain citizens, seize control of the economy, foster segregation and racism, and generally slap the cuffs of a greatly expanded central government on America's wrists.

Taft was Teddy Roosevelt's handpicked successor. And although he continued the Progressive agenda of attacking business and expanding government he didn't do enough. So Roosevelt broke him and his presidency running against him splitting the Republican vote and opening the door for the Progressive Democrat Wilson.

Teddy was the grandfather of them all. His trust busting interventionism was Progressivism personified.

Though this may be the litany of the current gang of statists who are poised to smother freedom, the struggle to keep constitutionally limited government, personal liberty, and economic freedom alive has been one long series of attack defenses declines and rebirths.

The second President, John Adams, was a man who helped write the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He was a man who worked tirelessly for the ratification of the Constitution, and passed and signed the Alien and Sedition Acts under which he arrested people who criticized him, his administration or his policies. From there it goes on and on.

Jefferson compromised his beliefs about the limited power of the central government and purchased Louisiana without Constitutional authority, a good deal but a bad precedent. Monroe committed America to defending the entire Western Hemisphere. Polk sent American troops into territory internationally recognized as part of Mexico and then asked for a declaration of war when Mexican troops fired on those troops. Lincoln suspended the right of habeas corpus whenever he needed to in order to maintain the Union though the Constitution does not grant that power to the Federal Government. The 10th Amendment strictly prohibits the Federal Government from having any powers not expressly delegated to it, and at least one state, Virginia, in their ratification convention expressly considered the Union voluntary and reserved the right to secede.

Today we face the next great challenge. Progressivism, America's current variation on the age-old theme of government knows best is poised to break the bounds of limited government, regiment the people, and smother the economy. After more than one hundred years of incremental growth in just three years the promises of hope and change have broken the bank and mortgaged the future. One more term of this profligate spending and oppressive regulations and they will kill the golden goose.

The forces of freedom cannot afford to lose this next election to the purveyors of class warfare and division. If we do this great experiment in limited government, personal liberty and economic liberty will have progressed from a new country on the margins of civilization to the greatest power the world has ever known, to just another socially engineered centrally planned economically shackled democracy voting itself benefits it can't afford.

Our adversaries believe they have stacked the deck by taking control of both major political parties which operate as two wings on the same bird of prey. They hope by nominating a Progressive in both parties there will be no way for the forces of freedom to prevail.

Our ranks are filled with those who have been in the trenches for a lifetime and are weary of the fight. They have been joined by the recently awakened who know little of the history and less of the tactics. Our opposition is comprised of the slickest, best funded, and most corrupt professional politicians, labor barons, and crony capitalists the world has ever seen with thousands of Occupy storm troopers thrown in for good measure. The odds are against us. The smart money is betting on the victory of the all-powerful government, lining up to get their deals and haul away the loot.

The odds have always been against us. We fought the greatest empire in the world to gain our freedom. We have persevered and prevailed against plot after plot to extinguish the light of liberty and in this battle too we must remember that the one we should never be forgotten told us long ago, "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Yes, the blood of more than 54,000,000 innocent lives cry out for justice, yes we as a people have legalized what should be unlawful and condoned what should be condemned. Yes, we have fallen from the high road and are weakened by an entitlement mentality and an addiction to entertainment. But we are the American people. We are, "We the People" and if we will but turn and acknowledge the one who has given us everything we have a chance.

The time is now. The place is here. We are the people we have been waiting for. We must rise to the occasion. We must win this battle because if we don't win we lose.

Keep the faith. Keep the peace. We shall overcome.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens' latest book @ YouTube, Robert R. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens.

All that was missing at the National Prayer Breakfast, when he claimed that guidance for what he is doing to the Free World comes from above, were the Gregorian chants.

The Marxist misery he's foisting on the Free World with his job-killing and spirit-killing policies don't come from Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky, because, according to a freshly minted pious Obama, it is all for Him.

Some of the true believers at this morning's prayer breakfast must have all but fallen off their chairs when they heard the new Sermon from the Mount from a politician who has admitted he gets his prayer reminders via his Blackberry.

"And so when I talk about our financial institutions playing by the same rules as folks on Main Street, when I talk bout making sure insurance companies aren't discriminating against those who are already sick, or making sure that unscrupulous lenders aren't taking advantage of the most vulnerable among us, I do so because I genuinely believe it will make the economy stronger for everybody. But I also do it because I know that far too many neighbors in our country have been hurt and treated unfairly over the last few years, and I believe in God's command to 'love thy neighbor as thyself.'" (Buzzfeed, Feb. 2. 2012)

That's the story from Saint Obama The Pious and he's likely sticking to it until at least November 6.

The Golden Rule definition that followed Obama's 'Love thy Neighbor' spiel knocked him down off the sanctimonious Sainthood perch to the dark, dank cellar of unbridled Marxism: "I know the version of that Golden Rule is found in every major religion and every set of beliefs -- from Hinduism to Islam to Judaism to the writings of Plato," Obama added.

(OMG! he must have been reading Mark Levin's runaway bestseller Ameritopia).

As Judi McLeod goes on to aptly note, just seeing Obama at work shows which side he's on. And it's not the Side of the Angels.

Related:
Give Me Your Money in the Name of Jesus
Politico - Obama: Jesus would tax the rich

To have seen them you have to have Brighthouse Networks, and as for what they're about, you might find the answer here.

Then again, maybe not.

Bottom line, rumor has it that it's a Bright House Networks promotion to make the customer feel more like a friend. The gig is likely to be revealed in February.

Coming into a tough February with only one debate scheduled, the last thing that Mitt Romney's competitors needed was a Romney polling surge, but two news organizations bring bad news to the field and good news to Romney. Two days before Nevada's caucuses, a poll conducted by KLAS-TV and UNLV in Las Vegas shows Romney with a 20-point lead over Newt Gingrich, while Ron Paul surprisingly fades into a faraway fourth:

Meanwhile, the WaPo reports that Gingrich's Nevada campaign appears to be in disarray. If Team Gingrich can't organize a successful campaign against Romney, how can they expect to succeed against Team Obama?

Related: The Power of Surrogates

As Ken Green aptly notes, the Obama administration did not let the Gulf oil spill crisis go to waste, it used it to implement another plank in its anti-fossil fuel agenda. And regardless of the Obama administration's claims that they aren't hindering oil exploration and development in the Gulf, a few minutes of looking at their own data tells the real story: they're both cutting it down, and stretching it out.

I would like to compare the amount of attention paid to Governor Romney's verbal flub with the amount of attention given to President Obama's intentional attack on the catholic Church? The former is a gaffe, the latter a decision, but MSM has been transfixed on the story that they think injures the GOP's likely nominee, and has buried a story of immediate consequence and enormous significance to millions and millions of Catholics..

On the other hand, Charles Krauthammer puts Romney's statement in an entirely different perspective.

Well, perhaps to liberals and the Obama administration. As for the rest of us, it's common sense, and what conservatives have been saying all along:

Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf testified today before the House Budget Committee that, "Higher tax rates generally discourage the thing that's being taxed." ... "Higher tax rates on work, on balance, reduce work effort. Higher tax rates on the return to saving, on balance, reduces the among of saving."

Meanwhile, Barack Obama is busy making tax increases on the rich a centerpiece of his reelection campaign.

Last month, Americans for Prosperity exposed the outrageous cronyism and disregard for American taxpayers in the growing Solyndra scandal:

Meanwhile, as Tina Korbe notes at Hot Air, Obama has already proved that he's willing to double down on his belief that government -- especially in the energy sector -- is a better way to coordinate supply and demand than the free market.

His first campaign ad attempted to defend Solyndra -- and, in his State of the Union address, he reiterated his commitment to fostering clean energy companies. (Note that his first concern is not affordability or even energy independence, the achievement of which could arguably be classified as a national security goal. While nobody wants "dirty" energy, most folks don't have the luxury to prioritize environmental concerns over all other concerns when it comes to picking an energy source.)

Related:
More Solyndra-style failure: Obama-tied Amonix Inc lays off most of company
Richard Milhous Obama? Barack McCarthy?

Unfortunately, the election is going to depend on 2012's approval numbers, not 2011's ... and so far, looking at the swing states, it's looking pretty good for Obama. This is amazing to me, especially given that Americans fear Obama's reelection more than Iranian nukes.

Related: Obama money advantage disappearing

Mitch Berg has ten productive suggestions for you, beginning with keep things in perspective.

As for me, I'm an 'Anybody But Obama' Republican. As former Gov. George Pataki aptly puts it, "The worst Republican candidate is a dramatic improvement over this president."

Bottom line, our collective goal has got to be to somehow come together and do our very best to make sure Obama's Marxist butt is kicked out of office in November.

Hurt writes:

GOLAN HEIGHTS -- Surveying the live minefields, cratered roads and mortar-pocked concrete buildings along the border here between Syria and Israel, it is hard not to be reminded of the historic and monumental disappointment President Obama has been.

When he was campaigning to become the most powerful man in the last standing superpower on Earth, he spoke passionately about changing the world, restoring America's greatness and bringing more peace and fairness to everyone.

In both foreign and domestic matters, Mr. Obama had unique credibility to change things as few presidents ever had.

Despite his background as a liberal street organizer, he campaigned on tax cuts and personal responsibility and preached that the government simply cannot be the answer to every problem. Republicans would have no choice but to go along with an agenda to shrink the tax burden and get the federal government out of our everyday lives.

Instead, Mr. Obama has devoted his administration to raising taxes, adding to the byzantine structure of the federal government, and has created a whole new massive bureaucracy he claims really will cure our every little boo-boo.

As for the rest of the world, Mr. Obama promised to devote himself to healing the grave injustices and halting the atrocities that have afflicted the world since the rise of radical, violent jihadism. With his Muslim roots, Mr. Obama was positioned better than any leader on the global stage to speak with authority to radical Islamists and finally bring about permanent peace.

Instead, Mr. Obama chose to unilaterally alienate perhaps our most strategically important ally in the world and do all he can to cozy up to the very people who are dedicated to destroying not only Israel, but America as well.

Leading Democrats have been in the news lately sliming Americans who stick up for Israel as being "Israel Firsters." Well, Mr. Obama has become an "Islamist Firster."

Meanwhile, our 'Islamist Firster' president, who campaigned in 2007 on tax cuts and personal responsibility and preached that the government simply cannot be the answer to every problem ... is now busy campaigning on raising taxes, furthering policies that support personal irresponsibility, and furthering the intrusion of government into every aspect of our lives ... while racking up a completely unsustainable and un-payable $1.4 - $1.5 trillion in debt a year.