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If you haven’t reserved your seat for this Friday’s Valley Family Forum “Salute to the Family,” with special guest Bishop E. W. Jackson, time is running out. If you live or work in the Shenandoah Valleyare within driving range, or just want to make a night of it, we hope you will join us at this wonderful event.

The program begins at 6:30 Friday, May 13, at the James Madison University Festival Conference and Student Center in Harrisonburg. This year’s theme is “A Celebration of God and Country.”

Bishop Jackson is founder and Chairman of S.T.A.N.D., a national organization dedicated to restoring America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and to preserving our Christian faith and values, and Exodus Faith Ministries, based in Chesapeake. He is a nationally acclaimed speaker, combining immense intellect and passion, whom no one forgets after hearing. He is an ex-Marine, Harvard Law School educated attorney, and frequent guest on the national media programs, including those on ABC, FOX News and NPR. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post have covered him and he’s even braved the liberals on MSNBC. Bishop Jackson also is the former chaplain at Boston Red Sox Services and for The Family Foundation.

The evening will include special music by The Faithful Men, plus the annual Wilberforce Award presentation. Tickets are $25 per person or $200 for a table of eight. For reservations, e-mail family@valleyfamilyforum.org or call 540-438-8966. The Valley Family Forum is a grassroots chapter of The Family Foundation.

* This event is to benefit The Valley Family Forum and The Family Foundation and is not a campaign fundraiser for Bishop Jackson. Titles, party affiliations and references to elected offices sought are listed for informational purposes only and do not imply endorsement by The Family Foundation.

Here’s another reminder of the Valley Family Forum’s 10th annual Shenandoah Valley “Salute to the Family,” with special guest Bishop E. W. Jackson. If you live in the Valley, or even outside of it, this is a terrific event that has gained a prominent spot on the political calendar each year. So, we hope you can join us in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, on Friday, May 13, at 6:30 p.m. at the outstanding James Madison University Festival Conference and Student Center in Harrisonburg. This year’s theme is “A Celebration of God and Country.”

Bishop Jackson is founder and Chairman of S.T.A.N.D., a national organization dedicated to restoring America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and to preserving our Christian faith and values, and Exodus Faith Ministries, based in Chesapeake. He is an ex-Marine, Harvard Law School graduate, acclaimed speaker, and frequent guest on national television and radio, including ABC, MSNBC, FOX News and NPR. He has been written about in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. Bishop Jackson also is the former chaplain of the Boston Red Sox and for The Family Foundation.

The evening will include special music is by The Faithful Men, plus the annual Wilberforce Award presentation. Tickets are $25 per person, or $200 for a table of eight. For reservations, write to family@valleyfamilyforum.org or call (540) 438-8966. The Valley Family Forum is a grassroots chapter of The Family Foundation.

Note: This event is to benefit The Valley Family Forum and is not a campaign fundraiser for Bishop Jackson. Titles, party affiliations and references to elected offices sought are listed for informational purposes only and do not imply endorsement by The Valley Family Forum or The Family Foundation.

For those who think Fox News is not fair and balanced, we give you this: Tonight, on Special Report with Brett Baier, Washington Post editorial page writer Charles Lane joined the panel discussion. On the subject of Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), the House Budget Committee chairman, running for president, Mr. Lane actually said this:

He has no foreign policy experience, he has no executive experience.

Either he is admitting the Barack Obama is a failure or he truly thinks Paul Ryan is not qualified to be president. Clarifying a moment later, he admitted he meant the latter, not understanding the ironic hypocrisy. Seriously, now, why does anyone (except, of course, themselves) take liberal pundits seriously?

Thought this would be fun to share. Here’s the Fox News crew setting up for Greta Van Susteran’s interview with Governor Bob McDonnell last Monday regarding the federal court decision declaring Obamacare unconstitutional. The interview appeared later that night on Van Susteran’s On The Record show (click here to see the behind the scenes preparations and hear the chatter about the governor’s schedule).

When conservatives, such as Sarah Palin, first brought up the fact that the health care legislation in Congress at the time, and eventually passed, included death panels, the Left threw a hissy fit (see Saul Relative at Yahoo! as an example). Her statement was called, “Lie of the Year,” among many other unflattering things. So, where’s the Left’s outrage at economist Paul Krugman? 

Mr. Krugman is the leading voice in America for government intervention in the economy. Liberals revere him and has won a Nobel Prize for economics. He writes frequently in the New York Times, where he deviates from economics to thrash conservatives, adding to his prominence among the ruling class elites who think they know everything and that they must control your decisions through an increasingly larger government. We he speaks and writes, the Left — activists and those in government — take heed.

Last weekend, on ABC’s This Week, Mr. Krugman went well beyond what Governor Palin said about Obamacare — and it wasn’t the first time either. Not only did he adamantly claim there were death panels, he was proud of it! He said the “death panels” — his term — will save the government money (see FoxNews.com) by denying and choosing which treatments will be funded (not to mention his call for a behemoth new national sales, or ”VAT,” tax). So, the hyper left should be furious at Mr. Krugman. Either he let the cat out of the bag, exposing Obamacare advocates as the real liars, or, if they truly believe there are no death panels, they should impale his intelligence as they did (and still do) to Governor Palin (see Ethel Fenig at American Thinker). 

Hear it all for yourself. The first video is from last weekend. But, remarkably, without much notice, he said the same thing in the spring without much attention paid to it. But don’t believe me: Check the shock on liberal host Christiane Amanpour’s face in the first video. A facial expression is worth more than a 1,000 blog posts.

 Krugman: Endorse the “Death Panels!” Amanpour: Darn it Paul, you’re giving it away!

 Krugman: “Death Panels” will save money and make “binding judgements” on treatment!

A lot has been said and written about the first ever Virginia Tea Party Convention this Friday and Saturday at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. National as well as state media are expected to turn up as the convention’s organizers are billing it as the largest such gathering in the country. So far, 2,300 attendees have registered to hear an assortment of national figures as well as state leaders, such as Governor Bob McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. But the convention will be more than speakers. It is going to have policy round tables and workshops for activists to better prepare for the upcoming and future elections.

Your humble admin will be in attendance along Blogger’s Row. I will post live on our Facebook page (click here to join that page) which also tweets to our Twitter page (click here). Our tweets also pop up in our Twitter box on right margin of this blog. I’m not sure how much live blogging  I will do but I will take it all in and do a wrap up early next week. But I think  convention  settings are tailor made for quicker observations which allow for more audience give and take. I hope you will join me online. 

With our Gala taking shape in the same building hours after the convention ends, it’s going to be an active and hectic weekend. One thing I will look out for: the extent to which “social issues” are discussed. After all, you can’t have liberty without Life, and for all the discussion about how social conservatives and libertarians don’t mix well, most of those I know are firm pro-lifers.

Regardless, please, check in here during the weekend for the latest on what should be one of the most memorable two days of conservative activism in the commonwealth’s history: The Tea Party Convention and The Family Foundation’s 25th Anniversary Gala (which has its own gaggle of state and national media coverage, including Fox News). In fact, more than 1,00o people will gather at the gala to celebrate a quarter century of advocacy of family values in Virginia public policy, and to hear rising conservative leader Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana.

Remember how Al Capone finally was convicted and sent to prison? It wasn’t for the numerous murders and other crimes he committed. Shrewdly able to intimidate witnesses and otherwise cover-up and destroy evidence, he was the Teflon Don 1.0. But he finally went down when the feds stuck him on financial fraud, tax evasion and that sort of thing. Who would’ve thunk it . . . accountants brought down Big Al.

Now, Planned Parenthood in California is under the microscope, not for covering up statutory rape, unsafe abortion center conditions, unethical counseling, skirting parental consent laws and mis-dating the unborn child so as to perform an abortion in its center rather than in a hospital, among other illegal and unethical practices — but, rather, for financial fraud. Two former employees, including the California affiliates’ former chief financial officer, have come forward, alleging millions of dollars of overbilling the California government.

The state government has launched audits of 10 of the California Planned Parenthood affiliates, although only one seems to be cooperating. That one, in San Diego, overbilled state government more than $5.2 million. The former CFO, Victor Gonzalez, claims the other audits were stopped cold when powerful Planned Parenthood lobbyists blocked them. Can’t let but so much of the truth get out, of course.

One example of the malfeasance: Gonzalez says PP paid $225,695.65 for Ortho Tri-Cyclen birth control pills, yet billed the government $918,084 — a profit of $692,388.35.

Mr. Gonzalez says he was fired after he revealed the over billing internally and has taken legal action. Planned Parenthood tried to get the case dismissed, but the nation’s most liberal court of appeal, the Ninth U.S. Circuit, refused to go along. The lawyer for Mr. Gonzalez says the case may take years to unwind and that there is “ACORN-like corruption” and advises federal agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to de-fund Planned Parenthood of any taxpayer money. The most recent figures estimate that Planned Parenthood received $349.6 million dollars in federal government grants and contracts for fiscal year 2008.

But that’s not all. According to Shannon Bream of Fox News:

Government audits of Planned Parenthood affiliates in New Jersey and have uncovered similar billing discrepancies. In addition, a second California whistleblower claim alleging improper ties between Planned Parenthood and its political arm has reportedly launched an investigation by the criminal division of the Internal Revenue Service, according to the New York Times.

We all know what happened to ACORN. It met a Capone-like fate itself. Could this be the first tug of the support beam that holds up Planned Parenthood? Sound impossible? Capone thought he was untouchable, too.

Today, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia lifted a ban on federal taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research pending further review (FoxNews.com). The ban was in effect from an injunction issued a couple of weeks ago by a federal district court judge in advance of his final (official) ruling in the case. However, the Appeals Court prohibited the injunction, saying it must accompany an official ruling. When he issues his ruling, expected in the very near future, and if he decides that funding embryonic stem cell research violates federal law, he then can re-issue the injunction.    

Supporters of this failed research, which destroys human embryos, have been up in arms since the injunction — which blocks the new federal funding approved by the Obama administration — was issued by the judge, U.S. Chief District Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the District of Columbia (Washington Post). Because of the injunction, the National Institutes of Health suspended consideration of new grants for the research.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said Judge Lamberth’s . . .

opinion noted that “ESC research necessarily depends upon the destruction of a human embryo,” and the plain language of the Dickey-Wicker amendment, passed by Congress every year since 1996, says that no federal funds shall be used for “research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed.”

Separately, when ruling on an appeal to stay his injunction (before the appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals), Judge Lamberth correctly noted that his decision was pretty simple to come by, especially since Congress was explicit in passing the law:

In this Court’s view, a stay [of the injunction] would flout the will of Congress, as this Court understands what Congress has enacted in the Dickey-Wicker Amendment. Congress remains perfectly free to amend or revise the statute. This Court is not free to do so. … defendants are incorrect about much of their “parade of horribles” that will supposedly result from this Court’s preliminary injunction.

This new legal battle has ripped open the debate over taxpayer funding of research that is unethical, illegal and a complete failure. Rhetoric from researchers who benefit financially from the grants, as well as the politicians and organizations bent on making sure human embryos are not recognized as having any intrinsic value, continues unchanged. They again claim that the use of embryonic stem cells is the only hope for those who suffer from disease and paint those opposed to embryonic stem cell research as “anti-science.”

The truth is, as usual, much different (see StemCellResearchFacts.org). Those who oppose continued funding of failed ESC research instead point to the multitude of successful treatments and cures from adult stem cell research. Dozens of effective and lifesaving treatments are not simply a pipe dream but a reality with adult stem cells which can be manipulated to act in much the same way as embryonic stem cells. If we want to be pro-science and pro-hope for sufferers of disease, shouldn’t we instead fund and support the science that actually is working and actually produces cures? (Even Dr. Oz agrees!)

That’s the message The Family Foundation takes to the General Assembly every year. If Virginia’s taxpayers are going to be forced to pay for research, it should be research that is not only ethical but also successful. While much of the rest of the world has rejected embryonic stem cell research as a hopeless waste of money, in the United States our politicians continue to try to raid ever diminishing public coffers to prop up failure. It’s another bailout that simply must stop.

What is it with conservative talk show host and Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham and Virginia Republicans? Last fall, she extracted a promise from then-gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell to defund Planned Parenthood and prohibit taxpayer funded abortions. Last night, substituting for Bill O’Reilly on Fox News Channel’s O’Reilly Factor, Ms. Ingraham  had a spirited discussion with Virginia 7th District U.S. Representative Eric Cantor, the House Republican Whip.

At issue was Congressman Cantor’s willingness to go all out to repeal ObamaCare in any and all ways possible, but specifically, to bring a bill to the House floor that would immediately repeal the law if he is the next majority leader (pending the results of November’s mid-term elections). A recent article in Politico brought some of his already suspicious conservative critics to raise their eyebrows yet higher. But Rep. Cantor was unapologetically determined to repeal the government-run health care scheme. Ms. Ingraham pressed and he pressed back, pledging to “defund, delay, repeal, all of the above” to remove the health-rationing law from the books. The video is below.  

As we noted earlier this week, it’s hard to turn on national television these days and not see Virginia politicians. It’s pretty fun stuff, usually, and when they’re on with Laura Ingraham, it’s usually news worthy, too.

Defund. Delay. Repeal. All of the above. Republican Whip (and perhaps soon to be House Majority Leader) Eric Cantor pledges to rid us of ObamaCare.

Rosalind Helderman just reported on The Washington Post Virginia Politics Blog that Virginia Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-35, Springfield) had his American Express Card number stolen and that it was used in California to buy, of all things, $225 worth of medical marijuana! The senator told Helderman it appears as if the number was lifted during a visit to a Northern Virginia restaurant because two unnamed N.Va. legislators also were victimized. 

The identity theft came to Senator Saslaw’s attention in March and he quickly notified the Virginia State Police who, in turn, notified the California Highway Patrol. However, the two suspected thieves are still on the loose, and believed to be in the Sacramento area. Not only did they buy the pot, they’ve actively tried to get new credit cards in the senator’s name. 

The story came to light after Senator Saslaw gave an interview, at the request of California authorities, to a Sacramento radio station yesterday. The rest of the Golden State media picked up on it (ABC News10) and since then the alarms have gone off at national media outlets, including Fox News. Probably not the way the senator wished to gain notoriety, and we sympathize with him and the other two victimized lawmakers. Identity theft not only is an unpleasant experience, it can be ruinous to your life if not detected in time.

While the fact that marijuana was purchased with a high-ranking elected official’s stolen credit card number may sound humorous to some, the suspects probably had a practical purpose in mind. It is California after all. Not only is life a little loose out there, but with its economy in its own depression, perhaps we’ll learn this was just an exercise in creative commerce — rather than medical or even “recreational” use, we suspect the the thieves will try to flip the pot on the street. Criminals need to eat, too, during tough times, and smoking the weed will only make them hungrier.