(Photo: WBSTV)

(The Blaze/AP)  As many as 200 middle school students were on their way to Six Flags Saturday when a chain collision stopped six school buses and a car east of Atlanta.

One driver, identified as Angela Anthony, 44, of Midville, Ga, was seriously injured and had to be flown to Grady Memorial hospital, but miraculously, everyone else only suffered cuts and bruises.

“It was scary,” a student on the bus commented. “No one knew what was going on. Some kids were hurt.”

The students were reportedly told to evacuate through the back of the bus, and then wait in a ditch until the injured bus driver could be safely airlifted out.

The accident happened on Interstate 20 when traffic on the highway slowed approaching Covington because of a closed lane, according to a spokesman for the Georgia State Patrol, which is investigating the accident.

(Photo: WBSTV)

As the buses reduced speed, one bus was struck from behind by another, setting off a chain reaction that soon affected six buses and a car.  The accident temporarily shut down westbound traffic on the major highway.

Two other people suffered injuries, police said.

One mother received a frantic call from her daughter after the accident.

“I didn’t know where they were,” she said. “I [had] been getting updates from Facebook. The school should have told us something.”

While a school spokeswoman maintain they were available all day for questions, parents reportedly only received an automated message saying the children could be picked up at a certain time, but no associated details.

About 50 others were examined at regional hospitals for possible injuries after the wreck. Aside from the bus driver, school officials said none of the injuries appeared serious.

“Just a few bruises, scrapes,” the school spokeswoman said. “Nothing bad happened to any of our children.”

(Photo: Facebook)

(The Blaze/AP) — Mark Zuckerberg has updated his Facebook status to “married,” literally.

The 28-year-old Facebook founder and CEO has wed longtime girlfriend, 27-year-old Priscilla Chan, capping a busy week for the couple. His Facebook profile page showed the two married Saturday and included a photo of the newlyweds.

(Photo: Facebook)

Zuckerberg took his company public in one of the most anticipated moves in Wall Street history Friday, and Chan graduated from medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, on Monday – the same day Zuckerberg turned 28.

Even after the IPO, Zuckerberg remains Facebook’s single largest shareholder with 503.6 million shares, and he controls the company with 56 percent of its voting stock.

The ceremony took place in Zuckerberg’s backyard before fewer than 100 guests, who all thought they were there to celebrate Chan’s graduation.

(Photo: AP)

While details of the event are scarce, a company spokeswoman said Zuckerberg designed the ring himself to feature “a very simple ruby.”

The move already has more than 200,000 “likes” on Facebook.

Police heard three explosions, before the fire spread rapidly (Photo: CBC News)

Canadians are baffled after a woman from Kamloops, British Columbia was held hostage Thursday night by an apparently obsessed co-worker, who had rigged his body to explode with a makeshift suicide vest.

The woman was returning home with her boyfriend, her four children, and his two children, when they saw the still unnamed bomber.  According to the woman’s boyfriend, who asked only to be identified as David, the co-worker approached them calmly, but they all knew something was “off.”

“At the time I knew just from glancing at him that we were in trouble,” David said. “He had a long box in his hand and his hand was inside, while his other hand was preoccupied with something underneath his coat.” 

After the co-worker tried to talk to David’s girlfriend, she asked the man to leave and the he became very aggressive.

“At that point I’m still pulling my four-year-old daughter out of the car,” David explained, but it was also at that point that he noticed that the crazed co-worker had a gun. 

The eventual explosion (Photo: CFJC TV7)

They tried to hurry everyone into the house and shut the door, but the man with a gun was too quick, inserting the gun between the frame.  He fired a shot and missed everyone, but deafened David, who was holding the door.

“The only thing I knew at that point was that we were going to die if something drastically didn’t happen,” he said. 

Knowing that they couldn’t shut the door without getting in the line of fire, they all made a break for it amid the confusion.  David grabbed his youngest, a three-year old, and raised the alarm with the neighbors as the woman’s eldest, a 13-year old, helped get the rest out the window. 

Only the mother didn’t make it out in time, but thanks to a skilled negotiator, she did make it out eventually. 

(Photo: CFJC TV7)

“[The negotiator] phoned [the bomber] and he started stroking his ego, saying how smart he was,” David explained, while the police quickly evacuated the neighbors.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant Grant Learned explained what exactly the police were dealing with: “The suspect, who is an electrician by trade, provided specific details to the negotiator regarding how the explosives were wired and how he would be able to detonate the devices remotely.”

Apparently, the man had an improvised explosive on his body and a remote with which he could also detonate a nearby van.

(Photo: CBC News)

After nearly seven hours of negotiating, the co-worker let the woman go and cut off communications with the outside world.  Roughly ten minutes later, he blew up the entire house.

Authorities were forced to put out the fire from a distance until a bomb squad arrived, concerned that the van would also blow.  Thankfully, bomb squad crews were able to reach it in time, and they found in it a five gallon can of gas, a 20 pound propane cylinder, and two improvised metal pipe bombs (one was on the console, the other was hidden underneath the vehicle).

“Police are still on the scene and have cordoned off the area around the house which is now being treated as a crime scene,” Learned said.  “Investigators will start the arduous task of sifting through the rubble looking for the remains of the suspect and other evidence related to the explosions from within the house.”

While some reports are saying that the bomber was actually an ex-boyfriend, David told CFJC-TV that his girlfriend only knew the suspect through work.

Branded a “suburban suicide bomber” by the Daily Mail, one neighbor just commented: “Shocking, shocking, shocking.  That’s what it is.”

I'll Have Another, ridden by Mario Gutierrez, races against Bodemeister, ridden by Mike Smith (Photo: AP)

(The Blaze/AP) —The horse called “I’ll Have Another” won the Preakness Stakes on Saturday to give him victories in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, after he won the Kentucky Derby.  If he wins the next race at the Belmont Stakes on June 9, he’ll be the first horse since “Affirmed” to win the coveted title.

With a breathtaking closing rush, the smooth-striding colt won the Preakness Stakes by a neck at Pimlico Race Course on a sunny Saturday, a nail-biter of a finish that topped his win two weeks ago in the Kentucky Derby.

The race unfolded the same way as the Derby, with the speedy Bodemeister moving to the lead under Mike Smith, with I’ll Have Another hanging back in fourth in the 11-horse field. The early fractions were slower than the Derby, but when it came time for Bodemeister to hang on, I‘ll Have Another found another gear under young jockey Mario Gutierrez and ran down trainer Bob Baffert’s horse in the shadow of the wire.

I'll Have Another ridden by Mario Gutierrez, and Bodemeister ridden by Mike Smith, are alone at the front (Photo: AP)

“We’re thinking Triple Crown, baby,” an elated trainer Doug O’Neill said. “He’s a special horse. We’ll see how he comes out of it, and if he comes out of it in good shape, we’re heading to New York, baby.”

It’s been 34 years since Affirmed swept the Derby, Preakness and Belmont and became the 11th and most recent Triple Crown champion. Since then, 11 horses have won the first two legs only to come up short in the Belmont. The most recent try came in 2008, when Big Brown was pulled up around the turn for home and did not finish. Before that, Smarty Jones was run down in the final 70 yards by Birdstone in the 2004 Belmont.

With the two victories thrusting the colorful and controversial O’Neill squarely into the limelight, scrutiny is sure to intensify about his violations for giving his horses improper drugs. He was fined $1,000 and suspended 15 days in one incident. He is contesting another.

I'll Have Another (9), ridden by Mario Gutierrez, beats Bodemeister, ridden by Mike Smith, to the finish line (Photo: AP)

“We know we play by the rules,” O’Neill said. “It’s all about the horse, and we’re just going to focus on the horse.”

If margins are an indication, perhaps I’ll Have Another has a Triple Crown in his future. Affirmed won the Derby by the identical 1½ lengths over Alydar, and then beat his rival by the same neck margin in the Preakness.

“I didn’t feel confident we were going to get there until 10 yards from the wire,” owner J. Paul Reddam said.

I’ll Have Another, sent off as the second choice at 3-1 over 8-5 favorite Bodemeister, covered the 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.94. The winner returned $8.40, $3.80 and $2.80. Bodemeister returned $3.20 and $2.80, and Creative Cause paid $3.60 to show.

Creative Cause was third, 8¾ lengths behind hard-luck runner-up Bodemeister, followed by Zetterholm, Teeth of the Dog, Optimizer, Cozzetti, Tiger Walk, Daddy Nose Best, Went the Day Well and Pretension.

Baffert, a five-time Preakness winner, thought his colt — named for his 7-year-old son, Bode — could pull off the win.

“I felt really good about where he was,” Baffert said. “I really thought he was going to do it. The winner is a good horse. He should get the respect now that he deserves.”

The chestnut colt has never been favored in any of his seven races, but won five of them along with $2,693,600 after he was purchased by Reddam for $35,000 on the advice of O‘Neill’s brother, Dennis.

Mario Gutierrez, left, on I'll Have Another, reacts after crossing the finish line in front of Bodemeister, right, ridden by Mike E. Smith (Photo: AP)

“He showed he’s the real deal. He’s a real race horse. He gutted it out,” Reddam said. “The other horse was not stopping. He ran a bang-up race, to come and catch him, how can you criticize that? For those who have followed the horse and bet on him, that’s been pretty rewarding. I don’t know if that will be the case next time, though.

Gutierrez, who was riding at Hastings Park in Western Canada until showing up in California last winter, displayed the calm and cunning of a veteran.

“It’s not me, it’s him. It’s all about the horse,” the humble 25-year-old jockey from Mexico said. “He just keeps proving people wrong. I‘m so happy for him because he’s such a great horse. He has a tremendous kick in the end.”

(Photo: AP)

(The Blaze/AP) — The NAACP, an African-American civil rights organization, passed a resolution on Saturday endorsing same-sex marriage as a civil right and opposing any efforts “to codify discrimination or hatred into the law.”

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s board voted at a leadership retreat in Miami to back a resolution supporting marriage equality, calling the position consistent with the equal protection provision of the U.S. Constitution.

(Related: Obama: Same-Sex Marriage Should Be Legal)

“The mission of the NAACP has always been to ensure political, social and economic equality of all people,” Board Chairwoman Roslyn M. Brock said in a statement. “We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law.”

Same-sex marriage is legal in six states and the District of Columbia, but 31 states have passed amendments to ban it.

“Civil marriage is a civil right and a matter of civil law. The NAACP’s support for marriage equality is deeply rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and equal protection of all people” said NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous, a strong backer of gay rights.

Gay marriage has divided the black community, with many religious leaders opposing it. In California, exit polls showed about 70 percent of blacks opposed same-sex marriage in 2008. In Maryland, black religious leaders helped derail a gay marriage bill last year. But state lawmakers passed a gay marriage bill this year.

NAACP Officer Maxim Thorne tweeted the news to his followers (Photo: Twitter)

Pew Research Center polls have found that African Americans have become more supportive of same-sex marriage in recent years, but remain less supportive than other groups. A poll conducted in April showed 39 percent of African-Americans favor gay marriage, compared with 47 percent of whites. The poll showed 49 percent of blacks and 43 percent of whites are opposed.

The Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights advocacy group, applauded the step by the Baltimore-based civil rights organization.

“We could not be more pleased with the NAACP’s history-making vote today — which is yet another example of the traction marriage equality continues to gain in every community,” HRC President Joe Solmonese said in a statement.

What does this all mean politically?  According to the New York Times, the move could bolster support for the president with a key constituency: black Democratic voters who remain skeptical of same-sex marriage.

(Photo: Irshad Manji)

Though one of her books is already banned in the country, a Canadian gay rights activist launched her new book on liberal Islam in Malaysia on Saturday, despite apparent government attempts to stop her.

The man in charge of Islamic affairs in the country, Jamil Khir Baharom, said that Islamic officials and the Home Ministry would not allow the author’s “roadshow” in the country following complaints, since both the book and Manji’s openly gay lifestyle are offensive to Muslims.

Urging Malaysian Muslims to be constantly on guard so as not to be influenced by her ideologies, he reiterated that all state religious departments had been instructed not to allow her to spread her worldview.

However, despite all that went wrong, the author seemingly pulled it off in good spirits.  After two venues canceled on her, Irshad Manji wrote on Twitter: “Fantastic event in [Kuala Lumpur]! Great energy — except 4 cops who told latecomers that event is banned. Didn’t stop us. Congrats 2 all.”

According to her website, this is what the cover of the book looks like in Malaysia:

(Photo: Irshad Manji)

The book, titled “Allah, Liberty, and Love” in English, is explained on her website: “[It] shows all of us how to reconcile faith and freedom in a world seething with repressive dogmas… This book is the ultimate guide to becoming a gutsy global citizen”.

But Manji wasn’t only having problems in Malaysia.  According to AFP, the author also faced problems while touring Indonesia before she arrived.  The Islamic Defenders Front group held such violent protests condemning her views on Islam and her homosexuality that the police ended up shutting down several of her events.

Protesters reportedly smashed windows, crockery, and computers while tearing up copies of her book and screaming “Where is Manji.”  Her supporters shielded her, and she mercifully escaped with nothing more than a bruised wrist.

The co-founder of the Moral Courage Project at New York University, Manji says her mission is to teach students to “challenge political correctness, intellectual conformity and self-censorship — within their families, communities and organizations.”

(Photo: AP)

(The Blaze/AP) — President Barack Obama and the leaders of other wealthy nations underscored an increasing consensus that their countries need to adopt growth measures and relentless budget cutbacks in order to resolve their debt troubles during the G-8 Summit, and underscored their desire to keep Greece on the Euro, even as the country battles financial crisis.

It‘s a juggle that’s much harder in real life than it is on paper.

Their eight-paragraph statement from the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md., on Saturday bridged both sides of the austerity versus growth debate and let each decide exactly what the new growth emphasis is going to mean, though it said little about where the money for more spending might come from.

Their agreement – reached quickly after a morning’s discussion at Camp David – bridged disagreement by not rejecting one approach in favor of the other, but rather by combining them.  Balance budgets, yes, but find ways to spend, or rather “invest,” on things like education and public works, too.

French President Francois Hollande, left, listens to Barack Obama at the G8 Summit

The statement clearly reflected Obama’s wish for Europeans to go beyond the austerity approach championed by Germany.  Obama’s stance appears to show concern that a deep European recession or financial implosion from Greece leaving the euro could hurt the U.S. economy and complicate his already difficult re-election bid.

According to the Guardian: “After three years of facing European leaders committed to deficit reduction, Obama has a new ally in Hollande. Speaking at Camp David, Hollande said European leaders were trying to balance the competing aims of reining in their budgets while stimulating their economies: ‘As President Obama noted, we need to pursue these two goals simultaneously: budgetary solvency and maximum growth.’”

In particular, the G-8 statement blesses some things that eurozone leaders are likely already doing, such as letting some indebted countries like Spain and Italy move a bit more slowly to close their large budget deficits. Countries need “sustainable” efforts to fix their finances, meaning they can “take into account countries’ evolving economic conditions.”

That could mean slower cuts.  Spain, a recent focus of the crisis along with Greece, has sunk into recession and seen unemployment jump to 24 percent, 51 percent for people under 25.  Spain is supposed to cut its deficit to the 3 percent EU limit next year, even though the European Commission itself predicts the deficit will come in at twice that.  Economists predict that the EU may give them and others more time.

Yet Europe’s chief apostle of austerity, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, gave up very little.  She said that she was open to investment in things that would boost growth over the long term, but made it clear that didn’t mean “stimulus,” a word that, like “spending” does not appear in the document.

President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrive at the G8 Summit (Photo: AP)

“This is not about stimulus programs in the usual sense, the way we applied them after the crisis,” she said. “What’s needed much more than that are investments in research and infrastructure, for instance in Europe in digital networks.”

She conceded she was “open” to more use of Europe’s EIB development bank and unspent EU infrastructure funds to help tiny, bankrupt Greece, now in the fifth year of a profound recession, but insisted Greece’s promises to cut back in return for bailout loans must be strictly observed. The country has no elected government right now and faces new elections June 17; an indecisive election May 6 showed a majority against the austerity measures demanded under the bailouts. Greek rejection of those terms could lead already exasperated eurozone leaders to cut off more bailout payments. That would leave the country unable to pay its bills, a step that could mean an even more savage recession and reintroduction of a devalued drachma in an effort to gain international competitiveness.

Money for investment could come from “a range of mechanisms,” it said, without specifics.

The ugly truth is that there isn’t a lot of money available to spend in many countries. Failure to keep reducing deficits could mean Spain and Italy would be viewed as bad risks and could no longer borrow affordably, leading to defaults that would dwarf Greece’s troubles.

(Photo: Facebook)

Back in October, a lesbian couple in Colorado called the police after they allegedly found the words “Kill the Gay” scrawled in red across their garage, and a noose hanging from their front door.

When asked, the couple told officers they believed that the hateful acts were retaliation from their neighbors and the homeowner’s association, who were allegedly upset that the couple did not pick up after their dogs.

However, they refused to “submit to hate” and posted these signs on their garage in defiance:

(Photo: Fox 31)

Perhaps the women didn’t anticipate how seriously the issue would be treated, because nearly eight months later, with the full force of the FBI involved, authorities are saying the women themselves may have been responsible for the acts. They have been charged with both criminal mischief and false reporting, and one of the women, Aimee Whitchurch, faces an additional charge of forgery.

Fox 31 reported on the matter, saying the couple declined to take a lie detector test, but maintain their innocence.

“It’s a betrayal.  This is a government that’s supposed to protect us.  People came out and pretended they were interested in what’s going on,” Whitchurch declared.  “This is a fight I’m right on…I have every right to live where I want to live.”

Watch Fox 31′s full report, below:

(H/T: Gateway Pundit)

Photo: Marc and Beverly Ostrofsky

Marc and Beverly Ostrofsky of Houston, Texas have five daughters.

When the time came, each one of them opted for pricey, out of state universities, and while the parents are proud, they‘re also stunned at the price of today’s undergraduate education.

After tuition, housing, food, and spending money, Ostrofsky estimates, he and his wife are easily spending $60,000-$70,000 a year on each girl, per year– and that’s a “really conservative” estimate.

This means, then, that the family will have spent nearly $1.5 million on their daughters’ college careers, after taxes, when all is said and done.

It‘s unclear whether they’ll also foot the bill for graduate school, but one of the girls is already talking about getting her PhD., according to reports.

“We’re fortunate that we can take care of it,” Beverly said, according to ABC. “We decided a long time ago we didn’t want the girls to take out college loans, so that was our commitment to them.”

Two of the girls are graduating from Washington University in St. Louis and Duke University, respectively, this year, while the eldest graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2011.  Another is still enrolled at the University of Denver, while the youngest will head to Boston University in the fall.

ABC elaborates:

Though the greatest expense is room and board, the family also picks up the tab for many other miscellaneous expenses such as food, clothing and three of the girls have cars.

“I’ve got five daughters so let’s put a separate line item for shoes,” Marc said. “At one point we had four different colleges going at the same time. It’s a little bit hectic.” Marc added he also picks up the cost of other activities such as sorority participation and athletics such as snowboarding.

With the last child leaving home for college, Marc says he and Beverly are going to “take a breather.”

“It’s like wipe the sweat off the brow now—it’s time think about what can mom and dad do,” he said.

But what about all of the families who could never afford such an expense, and the students who balk at such debt hanging over their heads?

“I think in the future it’s going to be different. I don’t think a lot of people are going to play that game,” Ostrofsky speculated. Rather, he thinks, a combination of online and traditional classes will emerge.

The best-selling author of “Get Rich Click,” Ostrofsky warns families about encouraging their kids to stay in school.

“Be careful what you wish for!”

WASHINGTON (AP/The Blaze) — Are Republican lawmakers deliberately stalling the economic recovery to hurt President Barack Obama’s re-election chances? Some top Democrats say yes, pointing to GOP stances on the debt limit and other issues that they claim are causing unnecessary economic anxiety and retarding growth.

The latest Democratic complaint came after House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday that when Congress raises the nation’s borrowing cap in early 2013, he will again insist on big spending cuts to offset the increase. Boehner, R-Ohio, continues to reject higher tax rates, which Democrats demand from the wealthy.

That led Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to say Boehner is virtually assuring another debt-ceiling crisis as bad or worse than the one that shook financial markets nine months ago.

“The last thing the country needs is a rerun of last summer’s debacle that nearly brought down our economy,” Schumer said in a statement. In an interview, Schumer added: “I hope that the speaker is not doing this because he doesn’t want to see the economy improve, because what he said will certainly rattle the markets.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Boehner responded in a statement: “Republicans have passed nearly 30 bills that would help small businesses create jobs and we are waiting on Senate Democrats to vote on these common-sense measures. The failure to act on these jobs bills, as well as our crushing debt burden, is undermining economic growth and job creation.”

Democrats say Republicans loaded their jobs bills with provisions certain to doom them in the Senate, such as restrictions on unions and on regulatory agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency.

Regardless of whether Schumer’s suspicions are correct, there’s evidence that unceasing partisan gridlock and the prospect of big tax increases and spending cuts in January are causing some companies to postpone expansions. Even small economic slowdowns are bad news for Obama, who is seeking re-election amid high unemployment.

The Washington Post this past week compiled a list of military contractors, hospitals and universities that are delaying hires and bracing for cuts, partly because of fears that Washington’s partisan divisions will not abate.

The most obvious showdown will happen soon after the Nov. 6 election. Unless a lame-duck Congress can make deals, the economy will suffer a double whammy of large tax increases and spending cuts, starting Jan. 1. The tax increases would hit virtually every working American and the spending cuts would affect military and domestic programs.

Economists say that what Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke calls a “fiscal cliff” could possibly lead to another severe recession.

On top of that, perhaps by late January or so, Congress and the president — be it Obama or Republican Mitt Romney — will again confront the need to raise the country’s borrowing limit or else trigger a first-ever government failure to pay its debts. A partisan showdown over this issue last summer led to a downgrade in the nation’s credit worthiness and a sharp stock market drop.

These crucial decisions will occur after the presidential election. But investors, planners and business owners make decisions about hiring, expansion and investments months in advance. The more they worry about a serious economic downturn in nine months or so, the more reluctant they are to expand operations and hire workers now.

“All that uncertainty has us cautious, and we’re scaling back our hiring expectations,” said Eric Remington, vice president of Kaman Corp., which recently canceled plans to hire 200 new workers at a defense aerospace plant in Jacksonville, Fla.

Schumer and other top Democrats have said for months that GOP lawmakers may be trying to strangle the economic recovery for political reasons.

“Their strategy is to suffocate the economy for the sake of what they think will be a political victory,” Obama’s campaign manager, Jim Messina, wrote in an email to supporters last October, when Congress was debating a jobs bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said his Republican counterpart was not cooperating on that legislation “in hopes that he can get my job, perhaps.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, told The Associated Press last year that some GOP lawmakers, “through their intransigence, cleverly set up a situation for America’s economy to fail, either by needlessly driving us to default, or needlessly driving us into massive public-sector layoffs.”

Federal, state and local government layoffs have been under way for months. They may be necessary to reduce deficits and survive recessions. But they increase unemployment, a problem for any president seeking a second term.

Since February 2010, when the Labor Department started reporting a steady decline in unemployment, the private sector has gained 4.2 million positions. But federal, state and local governments during that time have cut more than 500,000 jobs – and those are just job cuts in the public sector.

What about the number of people who have dropped out of the workforce?

“In April the number of people not in the labor force rose by a whopping 522,000 from 87,897,000 to 88,419,000 [emphasis added],” Zero Hedge reports.

Bottom line: the economy created only 115,000 jobs in April, 522,000 people left the labor force, the “official” unemployment rate is 8.1 percent, and total employment for the month actually fell 169,000, according to CNBC.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California did not ascribe partisan motives to Boehner’s latest warnings about the next debt ceiling showdown. But she said he may be unnecessarily hurting the economy. “It already can be damaging, just the fact that it’s brought up,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Republicans say it’s absurd to make such an accusation. They point to bipartisan efforts to pass jobs-creation bills, trade pacts and, after some arguments, an extension of the payroll tax cut that Obama originally had proposed for only one year.

GOP lawmakers want Congress to act this year to ensure that none of the Bush-era income tax cuts will expire, as scheduled, on Jan. 1. Such assurance, they say, could lead investors and business owners to start expanding and hiring now.

Democrats say the move, by itself, would increase the deficit dramatically. They want to end the tax cuts for the wealthiest and they note that the economy boomed during Bill Clinton’s presidency, before the big tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 were enacted.

Boehner’s aides say the speaker supports tax law changes, including eliminating some loopholes and exemptions, that could result in greater revenue even if rates remain the same or are reduced.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

As for the debt limit, “allowing America to default would be irresponsible,” Boehner said Tuesday at an economic forum. “But it would be more irresponsible to raise the debt ceiling without taking dramatic steps to reduce spending and reform the budget process.”

Democrats say that’s precisely the type of economic saber-rattling that can frighten investors and employers, and damage Obama’s re-election hopes. Boehner disagrees.

“I said that we should not wait until the 11th hour to address these issues,” Boehner told reporters Thursday. “The only ones who are talking about drama or brinksmanship are my Democrat colleagues.”

The danger of another credit-rating downgrade “comes from continued inaction on the deficit, and our piling debt,” he said, not from “calls for action.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.                

Talk about altitude training. An Australian runner recently completed a half marathon in a hot air balloon.

The Daily Telegraph reports Rob Ginnivan completed the 13.1 mile run while high in the sky on a treadmill that was powered by a generator. Check out his run:

In the video, Ginnivan says that he didn‘t account for the fact that the weight in the balloon’s basket would cause him to tip back a bit, meaning he was essentially running uphill the whole time. Not only that, but the basket also swayed from left to right. Even with these hardships though, Ginnivan points out it is a “fantastic” view.

Why did he do it? It wasn’t for altitude training but to raise funds for charity. Ginnivan hopes to raise $100,000 for the Heart Foundation not only running in the air, according to the Telegraph, but also on land and at sea.

[H/T Gizmodo]

This week, author Ed Klein’s book, “The Amateur,” has been the focus of a great deal of media scrutiny and coverage. While there is certainly some compelling content in the author’s three-hour interview with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, ideological inconsistencies and contradictory statements create some journalistic questions worth pondering.

Initially, The Blaze received edited clips that were extracted from Klein’s overall interview. After we shared these with the general public, we secured the recording in its entirety. Upon examining its content and then hearing Klein speak to media about his book, we noticed some noteworthy inconsistency. The questions and wording that Klein used to extract answers from Wright, when compared to the media statements he has made surrounding the book, didn’t quite mesh.

(Related: Hannity Confronts Obama Book Author Over Calling Him, Beck & O‘Reilly ’Right Wing Crazies’ in Audio Interview With Rev. Wright)

At various points, it seemed as though the author purposefully appealed to Wright by making comments and proclamations that indicated that he agreed with the controversial preacher’s worldview. If these views on the part of Klein were genuine, one would resign to the fact that the author was merely sharing his own perspective. But after Klein’s discussions about the interview with both Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, this doesn’t seem to be the case.

As The Blaze noted earlier, Klein lambasted Hannity, Beck and Bill O’Reilly during his discussion with Wright, calling them “right wing crazies.” After learning about this less-than-flattering title and contending that Klein seemed to be working diligently to appease Wright during the interview, Hannity confronted the author in his television program last night.

“To get from the Rev. Wright what I needed to give to him, I felt I needed to win over his confidence,” Klein told Hannity, going on to apologize for his appeasement and harsh critique. “And in doing so, I think I went too far, quite frankly.”

When Beck brought up the same issues on his radio program this morning, Klein offered a similar answer, admitting that he was essentially attempting to break the ice so that he would be able to extract viable data from Barack Obama’s former spiritual leader.

“When I sat down with him and we went into deep discussions about various things and he was a little reluctant at first. I went a bit overboard to put it mildly in trying to make him feel comfortable with me,” the author explained to Beck. “And when I made these comments about you and Hannity and O’Reilly and so forth — it wasn’t something that I normally do, but I was trying to get him to come out of his cocoon or shell.”

Listen to Klein‘s appearance on Glenn Beck’s radio show this morning:

What both of these statements divulge, on the surface, may seem acceptable to some. But considering journalistic ethics and the need to be forthcoming, one wonders if Klein sacrificed his professional values in an effort to convince Wright to come clean with some noteworthy information. On one hand, using such a tactic on a heavily-guarded individual like Wright makes sense; on the other, it calls into question the tactics as potentially outside of an ethical periphery.

As Wright sat and spoke with Klein, based on the author’s friendly commentary, the preacher likely assumed it was a safe space to share personal stories and issues that he had faced during and in the wake of the 2008 campaign. Yet following the book’s publication, Klein is making media appearances during which he openly proclaims his qualms about the faith leader’s character.

While speaking with Beck about getting his Nov. 2011 interview setup with Wright, Klein said that numerous individuals, who had at one time supported Obama, urged him to meet with Wright. However, the author said that he had some serious reservations about the pastor — reservations that he clearly hid while meeting with Wright.

“You know, quite frankly, I’m not exactly fond of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, because I’m Jewish,” Klein said, recalling his initial reaction to the suggestion that he meet with the faith leader. “I think he’s anti-Semitic. He says these awful things about America.”

While these emotions are perfectly fine if they’re legitimate, the comments he made during the actual exchange reflect opposing views. After telling Wright that the aforementioned conservative commentators are “crazies,” Klein spoke for an elongated amount of time, using the opportunity to further appeal to Wright.

Next, he highlighted the fact that many right-leaning commentators accuse Wright of being anti-American, anti-Semitic and anti-white. Klein was careful to say that he was merely using others’ words. In fact, he even tells Wright, “I’m quoting now — because I don’t believe this.” But this morning, Klein admitted on air that he does, indeed, believe that Wright is an anti-Semite.

Then, Klein went on to discuss “the ignorance of white people as far as the black church is concerned.” According to the author, most white people lack adequate knowledge about the black church in America. In the audio, Klein can be heard saying that, because whites generally haven’t been to African American churches, they don’t necessarily understand how they operate. Here is a portion of the transcript from his words:

“You in particular, bring an Afro-centric point of view to your ministry. In doing so, what I don’t think most people understand, most white people don’t understand, is that this is not anti-white. This is black, this is black theology and that it isn’t pointed at them as … you know, that’s not the point of the whole thing. But this has been something that’s been carried on now since 2008, since this debacle if you could call it — and it was a debacle — and nobody, nobody has stood up — either black or white — and made change [to] that narrative about how this somehow casts a bad light on Barack Obama because he was a member of your church.”

Listen to this part of the interview, below:

Following this sympathetic statement, Klein told Wright that he needs his help, as he is writing a book and he wants “to be honest,“ ”truthful“ and ”fair.” He even claims that if a vote were held today, he would vote for Barack Obama again (Klein told Beck on the air this morning that he regretted voting for Obama in 2008 and that it was a mistake in judgement).

“I’d certainly vote for him against any of these clowns who are running on the Republican side. I mean, no question,” Klein told Wright in Nov. 2011., when he conducted the interview. “And I think he’s done a lot of pretty good things.”

In the past, The Blaze has discussed the importance of truth in investigative journalism. Weighing the ends versus means can often times be a difficult task for reporters – specifically when they are in a situation in which they want to expose the truth, while keeping their intentions under wraps. However, where does one draw the line?

As we previously reported, journalistic ethics expert Robert Steele of the Poynter Institute has created a set of six rules to help journalists make that morally convincing case. If the journalist fulfills each and every rule, then he is in morally safe waters. The full rules appear here, but they include: “the information obtained [must be] of profound importance,“ and undercover reporting is permissible only when ”all other alternatives for obtaining the same information have been exhausted.”

Steele’s view, of course, is only one of many on this complicated matter, however seeing some of the criteria can’t help one to wonder, especially after examining the aforementioned information, if Klein’s tactics qualified. And considering that the author told Wright he wanted to be fair and truthful, how he rectifies such a notion with some of his subsequent comments that seem less-than-corroboratory is an important factor.

While Klein claims that he was merely attempting to make Wright comfortable, there were likely other mechanisms and wordings that would have brought the same truths to the forefront. This piece is certainly no effort to lambaste the author or to disparage his work, however if the truth truly has no agenda, it‘s essential that we continuously explore individuals’ journalistic tactics on all ends of the spectrum.

Is it okay to lie to get someone to tell the truth?

Facebook banned Tennessee mother Heather Walker after she posted photos of her son born with a severe birth defect. (Image source: The Daily Mail)

A Tennessee mother is furious after Facebook banned photos of her son born with a severe birth defect.

Grayson James Walker lived just eight hours after he was born on Feb. 15. He had anencephaly, a fatal condition in which a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull.

Heather Walker recently posted photos of Grayson without his hat on, igniting an apparent firestorm by doing so.

“Not long after, Facebook deleted them because of the content,” she told WMC-TV.  “They allow people to post almost nude pictures of themselves, profanity, and so many other things but I‘m not allowed to share a picture of God’s beautiful creation.”

To protest Facebook’s actions, Walker and her friends re-posted the photos — earning Walker a 24-hour ban from the site.

Among Facebook’s “community standards” are bans on content that is violent, threatening or depicts self-harm, but Walker said there’s nothing that prohibit the photos she posted.

Walker learned of her baby’s fatal birth defect 16 weeks into her pregnancy. Though doctors said she could choose to abort, she decided to carry her son to term, turning to her faith to help with the months ahead.

“My husband and I, we started prayer and we knew that God knew since the beginning of time that he had us for this,” she told WMC in February.

The day she delivered, a professional photographer from the non-profit organization Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep was on hand to capture the family’s short time with their third child.

“If you’re my friend and you want to see the picture then look at it, but if you don’t, just like any TV show or anything else you watch, if you don‘t want to see it you don’t have to,” she told the station.  “But I want to share this with people just like any other person wants to share their baby or their child.”

See a slideshow of the photos Facebook banned here.

Protesters block traffic on Michigan Ave., as they march through the city during a demonstration Friday, May 18, 2012, ahead of this weekends' NATO summit in Chicago. Thousands of nurses and other protesters gathered for the noisy but largely peaceful demonstration with a broad spectrum of causes, from anti-war activists to Occupy protesters to a Chicago Women’s AIDS project. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

CHICAGO (The Blaze/AP) — Three men arrested earlier this week when police raided a Chicago apartment were being held on terrorism conspiracy charges Saturday stemming from allegations that they tried to make Molotov cocktails ahead of the NATO summit, but the first major dress rehearsal of this weekend’s large-scale protests was relatively peaceful.

Chicago police Lt. Kenneth Stoppa said the men face a bond hearing later Saturday on charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism, possession of an explosive or incendiary device and providing material support. Stoppa identified the men being held as Brian Church, 20, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Jared Chase, 24, of Keene, N.H.; and Brent Vincent Betterly, 24, of Oakland Park, Mass.

Their attorney, Sarah Gelsomino, told The Associated Press the men are “absolutely in shock and have no idea where these charges are coming from.”

Gelsomino — part of the National Lawyers Guild — told the Chicago Tribunethe men were simply NATO protesters who had beer-making equipment. She called the charges “an attempt to continue this intimidation campaign on activists. Charging these people who are here to peacefully protest against NATO for terrorism, when in reality the police have been terrorizing activists in Chicago, is absolutely outrageous.”

Six others also arrested Wednesday in the raid of the South Side apartment where they were staying were released Friday without charges being filed.

One of those protesters, Occupy activist Darrin Annussek of Philadelphia, denied there were Molotov cocktails in the apartment or that raw materials had been compiled to make them.

“No way,” Annussek said. “If I had seen anything that even resembled (a Molotov cocktail), I would have left.”

He claims that during 18 hours in custody, police never told him why he was arrested, read him his rights or allowed him to make a phone call. He said he remained handcuffed to a bench, even after asking to use a restroom.

“There were guards walking by making statements into the door along the lines of `hippie,’ `communist,” `pinko,’” a tired-looking Annussek told reporters just after his release.

Stoppa declined to elaborate on the case beyond confirming the charges.

Security has been high throughout the city in preparation for the summit, where delegations from about 60 countries, including 50 heads of state, will discuss the war in Afghanistan and European missile defense.

Among the pre-NATO protests planned for Saturday was a march on the home of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The big show will be on Sunday, the start of the two-day NATO summit, when thousands of protesters are expected to march 2 1/2 miles from a band shell on Lake Michigan to the McCormick Place convention center, where delegates will be meeting.

An unidentified Chicago police officer removes himself from marching protesters on Michigan Ave., during a demonstration Friday, May 18 2012, ahead of this weekends' NATO summit in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

On Friday, Chicago police on bicycles and foot tailed activists through the streets of the city, but ignored taunts and went out of their way to make as few arrests as possible. Protesters made a lot of noise and tried to evade police, but otherwise were relatively uneventful.

In all, police said there was a single arrest on a charge of aggravated battery of a police officer. Another man was briefly taken into custody, but he was released a short time later after being questioned by police, a department spokesman said.

Also, officers were seen trying to arrest a man who scaled a bridge tower and pulled down part of a NATO banner. Earlier, police handcuffed a man at the end of a noisy but largely peaceful rally organized by the nation’s largest nurses union.

From the police side of the protest line, it went largely how Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy envisioned it earlier this month when he said, “We’re not going to lock somebody up for dropping a banana peel.”

Michael Olstewski, 22, a recent music school graduate who came to Chicago from Atlanta, one of hundreds of protesters who took to the streets on Friday for a spontaneous march, said protesters may be waiting to make a big statement. He said he didn’t do anything to get arrested Friday, “but later in the week … If I feel it’s strategic and a powerful statement” he would provoke police into arresting him.

Nor were some protesters particularly surprised that police exhibited restraint even when they acted in ways that might have gotten them arrested – like the dozens of protesters who sat in the street for a short time before they got up and left after one of them, Micah Philbrook, grabbed a bullhorn and told them to leave.

In fact, at one point, on the bridge at Michigan Avenue, the gateway to the city’s famed shopping district, the Magnificent Mile, the number of officers swelled and officers appeared to be poised to forcibly remove the protesters from the area. Instead, they simply waited while the protesters left on their own.

Observers said that police showed restraint during the day that included the sight of hundreds of protesters breaking away from a large rally, march through the streets and taunt police as well as shouting about everything from bank bailouts to nuclear power.

“I think the police are handling themselves very well,” said Jennifer Lacy, a freelance videographer and editor from Chicago who took pictures of the spectacle with her cell phone. “It seems like they have it all organized, and it doesn’t seem their tempers are going to be easily flared. I think they‘re mindful we’re going to be on the world stage.”

But Ben Meyer, a Chicago lawyer who was observing the protest for the National Lawyers’ Guild, denounced what he called an excessive police presence at Friday’s rally, which included dozens of officers milling through the crowd and lining the perimeter, some of whom were videotaping the rally.

“It‘s frustrating the state needs to come out and show this much force for a nurses’ rally,” he said. “They have everyone from the superintendent on down here. It’s just ridiculous.”

Members of National Nurses United were joined by members of the Occupy movement, unions and veterans at the rally, where they demanded a “Robin Hood” tax on banks’ financial transactions. The event drew several thousand people and featured a performance by former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, an activist who has played at many Occupy events.

Deb Holmes, a nurse at a hospital in Worcester, Mass., said she was advocating for the tax but also protesting proposals to cut back nurses’ pensions.

“We‘ve worked 30 years for them and don’t want to get rid of them,” she said.

Republican strategist Karl Rove said Friday he believes North Carolina and Indiana are “gone” for President Barack Obama in November and that Wisconsin has become a “battleground” state.

“I think North Carolina is gone just like Indiana is gone. Obama has no chance to win them,” Rove told Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. “I think Ohio and Florida are leaning today towards Romney. I think places like Iowa and Colorado are in danger of floating into the Republican column. And states like Nevada and Pennsylvania are moving from lean Democrat into toss-up category. And on June 5th, mark my words, we will have more poll data than we got today that is going to show that Wisconsin’s a battleground state.”

Rove debuted an electoral map last month that predicted Obama would win in an Election Day match-up with presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

The current map, set to be updated every few weeks, shows Romney has since made some electoral gains but has not been updated with Rove’s latest calls.

Karl Rove's electoral college prediction map as of May 10, 2012. (Image source: rove.com)

(h/t Gateway Pundit)

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng left China for the U.S. on Saturday, nearly a month after he escaped from house arrest and triggered a strain on U.S.-China relations. (AP)

BEIJING (AP) — A blind Chinese activist was hurriedly taken from a hospital Saturday and boarded a plane that took off for the United States, closing a nearly month-long diplomatic tussle that had tested U.S.-China relations.

Chen Guangcheng, his wife and their two children were on United Airlines Flight 88, which took off late Saturday afternoon from the Beijing airport. The flight was scheduled to arrive in Newark, N.J., Saturday evening.

Earlier Saturday, Chen spoke to The Associated Press by phone from the airport, saying that he had left the hospital where he’d been staying and expected to leave for Newark, outside New York City.

“Thousands of thoughts are surging to my mind,” Chen said, sounding hurried but calm. To his supporters and others in the activist community, Chen expressed gratitude and indicated that he hoped to return.

“I am requesting a leave of absence, and I hope that they will understand,” he said.

Chen and his family were driven up to the plane in a vehicle resembling a minibus, and Chen could be seen being pushed in a wheelchair on the tarmac and then onto an elevator that took them up to a sky bridge that was connected to the plane.

Chen and his family’s departure to the United States marks the conclusion of nearly a month of uncertainty and years of mistreatment by local authorities for the self-taught legal activist who made a daring escape from abusive house arrest in his village last month.

His supporters welcomed his departure. “I think this is great progress. We are happy about it,” said U.S.-based rights activist Bob Fu. “It’s a victory for freedom fighters.”

Chen sought the protection of U.S. diplomats at the American Embassy in Beijing, triggering a diplomatic standoff days ahead of unrelated high-level talks on global hotspots and economic imbalances led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. After days of negotiations, the sides announced an agreement in which he and his family would be allowed to travel to the United States for him to study.

The departure of Chen, his wife and two children seemed hastily arranged and entirely orchestrated by Chinese and American officials with no apparent input from the activist.

Chen said he was informed at the hospital just before noon Saturday to pack his bags and get ready to leave. Officials did not give him and his family passports or inform them of their flight details until after they got to the airport.

Seeming ambivalent, Chen said that he was “not happy” about leaving and that he had a lot on his mind, including worries about retaliation against his extended family back home.

“I hope that the government will fulfill the promises it made to me, all of its promises,” Chen said. Such promises included launching an investigation into abuses against him and his family in Shandong province, he said before the phone call was cut off.

Chen and other activists fear authorities in Shandong province will punish Chen’s extended family for his audacious escape. Chen’s nephew, Chen Kegui, is accused of attempted murder after he allegedly used a kitchen knife to attack officials who stormed his house after discovering Chen Guangcheng was missing.

Chen Guangcheng had been awaiting permission to travel to the U.S. to take up an invitation to study law at New York University after he left the embassy on May 2 and was hospitalized for treatment of injuries sustained during his escape.

The State Department has said that U.S. visas for Chen, his wife and children were ready for them to travel to America. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Saturday that it had no comment on Chen’s planned departure.

The 40-year-old Chen is emblematic of a new breed of activists that the Communist Party finds threatening. Often from rural and working-class families, these “rights defenders,” as they are called, are unlike the students and intellectuals from the elite academies and major cities who led the Tiananmen Square democracy movement.

A self-taught legal activist, Chen gained recognition for crusading for the disabled and fighting against forced abortions in his rural community. But he angered local officials and was convicted in 2006 on what his supporters say were fabricated charges. After serving four years in prison, he then faced an abusive and illegal house arrest.

Nanjing activist blogger He Peirong, who was instrumental in helping Chen escape from house arrest, said she was “very happy” to hear that Chen and his family were on their way to the United States.

“I hope that this will be a good beginning,” said He, who was detained for several days by police for helping Chen. “I hope that they will all be well and safe.”

Former Obama administration green jobs adviser Van Jones criticized Attorney General Eric Holder's handling of the Operation Fast and Furious fallout during an interview this week. (AP Photos)

Attorney General Eric Holder got some perhaps unexpected criticism of his handling of Operation Fast and Furious from none other than former Obama administration green jobs adviser Van Jones.

Jones told a conservative online radio program this week that while he is “not as well versed on” the situation, his heart “does break for what’s happening to the people in Mexico.”

“I believe that if this was happening across our other border in Canada, we’d probably take it a little bit more seriously,” Jones said. “I worry sometimes that we just don’t value all life the same.”

Under Fast and Furious — currently at the center of an ongoing congressional probe — weapons that were part of a tracking program flowed unchecked across the U.S-Mexico border and into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. They began turning up at violent crime scenes and are thought to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Mexican civilians, as well as that of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

“I think there has been too much silence about it,” Jones said. “I don’t know the details of the program or what Attorney General Eric Holder has done or not done. I do know that we need to declare some kind of an emergency and look at the situation down there and figure out what is going on down there and do better.”

Jones said he’s never “bit [his] tongue” in terms of his frustration with Holder, citing his “failure to prosecute any cases with the Wall Street debacle.”

On Fast and Furious, Jones said he does “know enough to know that something terrible is going on down there.”

“If the Tea Party is going to lead the way to try and shed some light on it, I’ll be right behind the Tea Party on it. I just don’t know enough about it right now.”

Listen to the full interview here; Fast and Furious comments begin around the 57:00 mark.

(h/t Daily Caller)

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. This picture of veteran Seattle TV Host Nancy Guppy arriving to cover the red carpet at the 38th Seattle Film Festival stuffed into an undersized dog kennel on the roof of a car is worth at least that many. It is unclear what prompted Guppy to enact this obviously insulting homage to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his controversial handling of his dog, Seamus. It is just as unclear why anyone would think this was a good idea.

H/T: Huffington Post

Will Smith received a rather unpleasant surprise today while on the Red Carpet at the Moscow Premiere of “Men in Black 3.” Apparently, press customs in Eastern Europe are different, and one male Ukrainian reporter whose shtick it is to kiss celebrities thought it would be a good idea to try to lay one on Smith. Conflict ensued:

As you can plainly see, the Ukrainian got off light. Smith says near the end, “He‘s lucky I didn’t sucker punch him.”

TMZ gives this post-script to the bizarre incident:

We’re told the dude who kissed Will is a television reporter who often kisses celebrities — it’s his schtick.

For the record, Will just came out in support of gay marriage.

A source on scene tells TMZ, the reporter‘s mouth brushed up against Will’s and that’s why the actor reacted so violently. Despite the incident, Will stayed positive … and happily continued to sign autographs for fans and do red carpet interviews.

H/T: TheRightScoop

William Peter Blatty (AP)

First, Georgetown University brought us Sandra Fluke. Now, the higher educational facility, which has been catching flack of late for perceived anti-Catholic bias (which is ironic, because it’s a Catholic university), may be at the center of an epic “legal” battle. In an intriguing set of circumstances, William Peter Blatty, the Academy Award Winner and author of “The Exorcist,” is leading the charge against the institution.

(Related: ‘Scandalous & Outrageous’: Catholics Angry Over HHS Sec. Sebelius’ Georgetown Commencement Invite)

Blatty, who graduated from the university in 1950, is angry over Georgetown’s refusal to comply with Catholic teaching. The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) provides more information on the potential canon lawsuit that seems to be gaining steam:

Georgetown University alumni, students and others are preparing a canon law suit to be filed with the Archdiocese of Washington and the Vatican, seeking remedies “up to and including the possible removal or suspension of top-ranked Georgetown’s right to call itself Catholic or Jesuit in its fundraising and representations to applicants.”

The effort is being led by the distinguished Georgetown alumnus William Peter Blatty, who won an Academy Award for his screenplay and book The Exorcist and has been honored by Georgetown with its John Carroll Medal for alumni achievement.

Blatty is urging Georgetown alumni, students, parents, faculty and anyone associated with Georgetown to join the lawsuit at www.gupetition.org.  The website includes an inspiring letter by Blatty and a description of Georgetown’s historical ties to the Jesuits, the Washington Archdiocese and the Vatican.

In a letter posted on the petition’s web site, Blatty makes the reasons for his opposition to Georgetown’s Catholic title known. The famed writer claims that the university has refused to align itself with John Paul II’s Ex corde Ecclesiaie (a Catholic Constitution for universities) and, thus, canon law.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (AP)

Considering the school’s many purportedly anti-Catholic scandals, including its recent commencement invite to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Blatty is taking a firm stance. In his note, he asks others to join him in making Georgetown “honest, Catholic and better.” He writes:

In the months to come, The Father King Society will ask Georgetown and the Church for explanations and decisions. In 1991, in an effort led by courageous Georgetown students, my dearly missed classmate, GU Law Center Prof. Richard Alan Gordon, took the awesome step of submitting a canon law petition asking the Church to remove Georgetown’s right to call itself Catholic. Then Dean of Students John J. DeGioia had authorized the funding of a pro-abortion student advocacy group. A contemporaneous secret memorandum from the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities to the presidents of all Jesuit institutions showed us that Dr. DeGioia’s decision was part of a larger scheme: GU was to be the dissident leader for others to follow. Dean Gordon’s effort was provocative and drastic, but within months of the filing, Rome required Georgetown to reverse itself, and Georgetown did. [...]

We may choose to file a canon action again, one much larger in scale and seeking alternative forms of relief that will include, among others, that Georgetown’s right to call itself Catholic and Jesuit be revoked or suspended for a time. We will ask for lesser relief as well. Of course, what we truly seek is for Georgetown to have the vision and courage to be Catholic but clearly the slow pastoral approach has not worked.

“This is simply the last straw,” Blatty has proclaimed.  “The scandals that Georgetown has given to the faithful are too many to count, and too many to ignore any longer.”

The announcement, not coincidentally, comes on the same day that Sebelius addressed the policy institute’s graduating class.

(H/T: Cardinal Newman Society)