______--------********O********--------______ FAITH & FAMILY
  "There was a time in America, a better time, when:  We openly and proudly expressed our love of God and country; we did not lock our doors; our streets were safe to walk and drive; we honored our heroes; we cherished our founders, their gifts, their sacrifices, their courage, and their love of America; we sang 'The Star-Spangled Banner'; we pledged allegiance to our beloved country; we respected our system of laws and the Constitution; and we worked, raised families and prayed together as one people under one flag.  Is that America gone forever?" --Linda Bowles
  ______--------********O********--------______ OPINION IN BRIEF 
  "WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS"?
  July 4, 1776, fifty-six men pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor as their commitment to a list of principles they believed were absolute truths. At the top of that list was the unalienable right to life. The document is known as the Declaration of Independence.
  January 22, 1973, seven Supreme Court justices legalized the utmost form of discrimination against a certain class of Americans based on their age, location, and desirability to their immediate families. This landmark case, we know as Roe vs. Wade.
  When the guilty receive capital punishment, many term that a barbaric practice. Most imminent executions make the national news. Vigils are held, and TVs light up from coast to coast. But when thousands of innocent, unborn children are put to death, we call it a constitutional right. This barbarism goes unmentioned, except for the celebrated condemnation of those who attempt to stand between innocence and certain death.
  In the time it takes to read this essay, six unborn children will be sacrificed to the whims of convenience, six nameless fellow citizens. In another day, their names might have been Hancock, Chase, Adams, Harrison, Morris -- or Jefferson. 
  Fifty-six men, who believed that the unalienable right to life was God ordained, instituted the foundation of the greatest country in world history.  But today, our elected representatives cannot even find the decency to condemn infanticide.  "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" are the cornerstones of freedom.  The incremental rejection of the sanctity of life will ultimately lead to tyranny.  Indeed -- if the right to life is not universal among all humans, then on what basis can any of us legitimately claim it?
  This next weekend, Independence Day celebrations will fill beaches and parks to capacity. But on Monday, the lives of 4,000 children will end in abortions.  "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Do we?
  COMBINED INDEPENDENCE DAY EDITION
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