Penny Starr's blog

According to its latest annual report, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) received $487.4 million in tax dollars over a twelve-month period and performed 329,455 abortions.

The latest annual report covers the period from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010, the PPFA’s fiscal year. The report states that the organization received “government health services grants and reimbursements” totaling $487.4 million.

Although an Occupy Wall Street protest group in Pasadena, Calif., tried to get a slot to march in the Rose Parade on Jan. 2, officials with the parade said no. The group now plans to march down the street behind a group of police cars that mark the end of the parade.

In November, the Occupy group announced its plans to “occupy” the parade, but the Pasadena Tournament of Roses provided a statement on Wednesday to CNSNews.com saying that protesters would “not be taking part in the Rose Parade” because only official entries, approved by the tournament well in advance of the event, can take part in the event.

Planned Parenthood’s New York City affiliate has posted an article telling visitors to its Web site how to successfully discuss abortion around the “holiday table.”

The article, “Talking Turkey: 8 Easy Steps for Discussing Reproductive Health and Justice at the Holiday Table,” also includes a quiz to help people prepare for “touchy questions about your politics over the dinner table.”

The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn told officials at the Brooklyn Museum that a video depicting Jesus Christ on a cross with ants crawling over him is “disrespectful” to Christians and requested that it be removed, but Bishop Nicholas DeMarzio is not making public the correspondence between him and the museum.

The video, “A Fire in My Belly” by the late gay activist David Wojnarowicz, was pulled from a “gay erotic” exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. last year after CNSNews.com reported on it and Catholic groups and some members of Congress complained that the exhibit should be closed and that the video was offensive to Christians.

Ryan Scott Bomberger is not just passionate about the preciousness and potential of every human being from the moment of conception - he is alive today because of what his birth-mother decided after she was raped – gave birth to him and put him up for adoption.

In a video detailing what he calls her “courageous decision,” Bomberger details his love-filled life with his adoptive mother and father and his 12 siblings, 10 of whom, like him, were adopted.

Speaking at the liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) on Friday, former Obama administration green jobs czar and political activist Van Jones praised the Arab Spring movement in the Middle East as “people powered” and “non-violent” and called for the United States to follow suit.

“They had the Arab spring, which was a people-powered, non-violent opportunity to change the conversation in those countries,” Jones said. “We should have an American Autumn--people-powered, non-violent.”

House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last week that Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.)--who was censured by Congress in December for multiple ethics violations--has often told his congressional colleagues: “The Gospel of Matthew made me do it.”

Pelosi made the remarks at a Capitol Hill reception for the unveiling of an oil painting of Rangel that will hang in the hearing room of the House Ways and Means Committee, where Rangel formerly served as chairman.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is offering advice to parents and teens about sex education, including assurances that teens may “experiment” with homosexuality as part of  “exploring their own sexuality,” and that masturbation should be of concern only “if a child seems preoccupied with it to the exclusion of other activities.”

The information, located on a “Questions and Answers About Sex” link on the “Quick Guide to Healthy Living” portion of the HHS Web site, also describes children and infants as “sexual beings.”

An analysis based on U.S. Census Bureau data by the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) shows that the average unemployment rate for teens ages 16 to 19 in the District of Columbia was 50.1 percent as of June 2011. This corresponds with data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showing that for D.C. the annual average unemployment rate for teens in 2010 was 49.8 percent.

Michael Saltsman, research fellow at EPI, provided the 50.1 percent figure to CNSNews.com as an update of  an analysis he compiled based on the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey.

At a hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security today about the radicalization of young Somali American Muslims by the al-Shabaab terrorist group, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said the committee should hold a hearing on “right-wing extremists” in the United States.

Jackson Lee used much of her allotted five minutes to question panelists with expertise on radicalization about the alleged hacking into telephones of 9-11 victims by the now-closed News of the World tabloid in England.

At a press conference, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) characterized the DREAM Act as his contribution to – and a stepping stone towards – “comprehensive immigration reform.”

The DREAM Act would grant legal status to aliens whose parents brought them into the country illegally as minors, if the individual is “of good moral character” and is pursuing a higher education or serving in the military.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan issued a “Dear Colleagues” letter on June 14 advising federally funded schools about establishing clubs on campuses, specifically Gay-Straight Alliance clubs for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.

The letter was issued from the department’s Office of Civil Rights for elementary and secondary schools and was sent to all school districts in the United States, according to Jo Ann Webb, spokesperson for the Department of Education (DOE).

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday that the State Department played an instrumental role in “sealing the deal” for pop-rock star Lady Gaga to perform at a gay pride rally in Rome, Italy.

Clinton specifically pointed to a letter that David Thorne, the U.S. ambassador to Italy, sent to Lady Gaga urging her to participate in the event.

Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu said the Obama administration’s decision to extend the deployment of 1,200 U.S. National Guard troops along the U.S. border with Mexico until Sept. 30 is “pandering” and that those numbers “fall far short” of what military power is needed to keep the country safe.

The 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act will save the United States $2 trillion by 2020, says Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson – citing figures from an EPA report which one expert has faulted for “widely exaggerated claims.”

Next year on Earth Day, the Obama administration plans to announce which U.S. schools have been selected as “Green Ribbon Schools,” a designation that will “honor” schools for “creating healthy and sustainable learning environments” and for “teaching environmental literacy.”

The Green Ribbon Schools program was announced in late April, but details on how schools will be picked or what the honor entails have not been released.

The federally funded National Portrait Gallery, one of the museums of the Smithsonian Institution, is currently showing an exhibition that features images of an ant-covered Jesus, male genitals, naked brothers kissing, men in chains, Ellen DeGeneres grabbing her breasts, and a painting the Smithsonian itself describes in the show's catalog as "homoerotic."

The exhibit, “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture,” opened on Oct. 30 and will run throughout the Christmas Season, closing on Feb. 13.