Kevin Sorbo, star of the film “God’s Not Dead,” ranked fifth at the U.S. box office, says he knows he’s on a blacklist in liberal Hollywood for being independent-minded.

When Beliefnet’s John W. Kennedy interviewed Sorbo about his role as an atheist professor in  ”God’s Not Dead,”  the actor opened up about his faith, political views, and career decisions colored by Hollywood’s antipathy toward conservatives.

“They scream for tolerance,” Sorbo said. “They scream for freedom of speech, but it you disagree at all with what they’re saying then they can blacklist you. They have the power to do that.”

These remarks came after Kennedy asked the actor if he’s experienced a backlash in Hollywood for his views and Sorbo responded:

Oh, sure. I mean I’m an independent in Hollywood. I’ve voted Democratic in my life, I’ve voted Republican in my life. I’m one of the few people I think in Hollywood who actually comes out and says, ‘Hey, you know what, I vote for who I think is the best person, period.’  I’m not a party guy. There are people on both sides of the political fence that I don’t agree with. To me, I look to see who I honestly think is going to be the best person. So, that, in itself, is enough to get me blacklisted in Hollywood …”

Sam Sorbo, the actor’s wife, says she experienced a backlash over her political views on education.

In a recent interview with The Blaze’s Dana Loesch, Sam remarked:  “As naive as I was back then, I thought, ‘Well if I write about school, that’s not political!’ But of course school is the most political, because that’s where the progressive agenda is coming out the strongest and the hardest.”

With Kevin Sorbo’s starring role in “God’s Not Dead,” the family appears to have scored points despite the alleged blacklist. The movie took first place at the box office for films that opened in 1,000 or fewer theaters.

By Havilah Steinman

Eleven-year-old Leo Tuttle is in fifth grade at an Indianapolis private school where the demanding curriculum forces him to struggle to keep up.

But it is where Leo’s mother, Erin Tuttle, wants him to be, rather than the public school or even the Catholic school he previously attended.

Mrs. Tuttle moved Leo to the private school when her home state of Indiana, along with 45 other states, agreed to follow the Common Core State Standards Initiative for all its public schools and those which are under the charter school program, such as the Catholic school. The Common Core standards are a set of guidelines for schools, initiated federally, to improve and make consistent education standards in math and English language arts.

The goal of Common Core is to “… articulate what students need to know in grades K-12 in order to be ready for college or a career after they graduate” said Mike Casserly, executive director of the Council of Great City Schools, which supports and promotes the standards.

Many students and teachers saw the standards for the first time this year, as the program was being phased in nationwide. And now that they’ve seen it, many are not happy with it, and they’re joining an ever-increasing group of critics who are lining up against it.

Teachers complain the program was pushed through too fast, that there wasn’t time for schools to make the adjustment, there wasn’t additional funding available for new textbooks, and that they just weren’t included in the process when the Common Core was created.

“You forgot some of the most important people in this whole process, and that was the educator” said Teresa Meredith, president of the Indiana Teacher’s Association.  “The one person who could really help make or break this was the educator and you didn’t include the educator from the very beginning in terms of building an implementation plan” she said.

In addition, a growing number of parents nationwide, including Erin Tuttle, are joining forces to eliminate the Common Core, which they claim “dumbs down” their children’s education by using inferior methods than were used in the past.

Conservatives call it an extreme abuse of federal overreach, that limits the control states and local communities have on their education programs.

Indiana is the first state to pull away from the Common Core. Oklahoma lawmakers have passed a bill repealing that state’s participation in Common Core, and there are now some 300 bills in state legislatures nationwide that would slow down, reduce, or eliminate altogether implementation of the Common Core, according to the National Conference of State Legislators.

That would be a major blow to the program, which was strongly touted by the Obama administration as a way for children in the United States to be globally competitive.

“Education is an important component to the economic wellbeing of any nation” Casserly explains.  “When the united states started to look at these international comparisons and saw that we were beginning to slip behind other countries like Korea and Belgium and Singapore and Malaysia and other entities… the united states really needed to raise its academic performance.” he said.

Michigan’s Gov. Rick Snyder agreed. “Isn’t it important that we’re globally competitive?” he asked. “We were lagging, we were getting behind. And what the common core does, presents a set of standards that will help us get back to that globally competitive place we need to be.”

While education levels in many parts of the country need improvement, critics concede, a one-size-fits-all approach to education is not the solution.

“Settling for a status quo of mediocrity for every state certainly shouldn’t be the answer,” said Tuttle. “We should be striving for something much higher than that, something that is internationally competitive, something that will allow our children to be competitive in a global economy.” But, Tuttle adds, “the common core simply won’t do that”.

Common Core supporters claim all the criticism is based on misinformation, that it’s not federal overreach because the program is voluntary. Indiana was able to back out without any penalty. The standards are more of a concept.

“The Common Core State standards are not a curriculum, they’re not a textbook, they’re not a set of lesson plans,” said Casserly. And they weren’t created in a vacuum, he said. While the standards were being created “some 10,000 comments” were submitted by parents and educators.

Now that Indiana has backed away from Common Core, Erin Tuttle may move her son back to his old school, but first she wants to see how far her state will stray from the federal standards, and whether it will go back to what she claims were the higher standards the state followed before Common Core.

“People across the country will be watching to see what Indiana does next,” she said.

Charles Krauthammer dismissed the 7.1 million number of Obamacare enrollees touted by the Obama administration yesterday as a “so-called” and “phony number.”

“It’s meaningless,” Krauthammer said on “Special Report” on  Fox News, “because … we don’t know how many of them have paid, so it’s an enrollment number that’s not enrollment.”

“The more important [number] is how many were previously uninsured,” he added.

by Katrina Trinko

Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has sworn off running again for elected office, but Americans have certainly heard that one before.

Speculation that Romney might run again has largely been stoked by the reunion he planned to host last month in Park City, Utah, for members of his 2012 campaign and debate teams and a string of recent public appearances.

He has appeared on TV news shows 12 times in the past six months. That’s essentially on pace with Michigan GOP Rep. Mike Rogers, who led all national politicians last year with 26 appearances over 12 months.

Romney has repeatedly said he won’t run again, saying infamously in the Netflix movie “Mitt” about a nominee who loses a White House bid: “They become a loser. It’s over.”

And a few weeks ago, he gave CBS “Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer a flat out “no.”

Still, no potential 2016 presidential candidate has yet to say whether he or she will run, including presumptive Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who up until last year also said she was done with public office.

“He very well could [run again,] but it doesn’t seem likely,” Republican strategist Ron Bonjean said of Romney. “You’ll likely find that he’ll be most effective using his political and business savvy on the outside, rather than the inside.”

One possible exception, Bonjean argues, is Romney getting a Cabinet post should Republicans win the White House in 2016. “He’d be a prime candidate for Treasury secretary,” he said.

Top 2012 Romney advisers Kevin Madden, Eric Fehrnstrom and Stuart Stevens also have stayed mum, not responding earlier this week to requests for comment by FoxNews.com.

Surveys by the group pollingreport.com found Romney’s favorability among Americans has climbed steadily since his November 2012 loss to President Obama, with his February 14 rating at 47 percent.

Beyond just tallying Romney’s increasing public appearances, including one last month at the Conservative Political Action Conference, political observers point out that Republicans have no clear frontrunner, like the Democrats have with Clinton, especially since perhaps their best hope, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, has been hurt by the so-called “Bridgegate scandal.”

Washington Republicans have turned to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, but his measured response has only added to the speculation about Romney.

In addition, observers say Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is certainly talking like somebody mounting a comeback fight.

“There’s no question [about] the president’s naiveté with regards to Russia,” he also told CBS. “And his faulty judgment about Russia’s intentions and objectives has led to a number of foreign policy challenges that we face.”

By Joseph Weber

For those of you who just allowed yet another deadline to pass for signing up for ObamaCare, or who have lost your Health Care Insurance due to ObamaCare, or have suffered an increase in your premiums due to ObamaCare, don’t worry–Obama promises that won’t happen.

The left has made its political career on promising something that sounds great to a majority of the people, only to switch it at delivery time for something that hurts almost everybody. They did it in the Soviet Union, in China, in Cuba, Vietnam, Korea, and on and on.

In case your memory is short, let us share with you a few of Obama’s Greatest Hits:

State elections officials in North Carolina are investigating hundreds of cases of potential voter fraud after identifying thousands of registered voters with personal information matching those of voters who voted in other states in 2012.

Elections Director Kim Strach told state lawmakers at an oversight hearing Wednesday that her staff has identified 765 registered North Carolina voters who appear to have cast ballots in two states during the 2012 presidential election.

Strach said the first names, last names, birthdates and last four digits of their Social Security numbers appear to match information for voters in another state. Each case will now be investigated to determine whether voter fraud occurred.

“Could it be voter fraud? Sure, it could be voter fraud,” Strach said. “Could it be an error on the part of a precinct person choosing the wrong person’s name in the first place? It could be. We’re looking at each of these individual cases.”

WRAL.com reported that 81 residents who died before election day were recorded as casting a ballot. While about 30 of those voters appear to have legally cast ballots before election day, Strach said “there are between 40 and 50 [voters] who had died at a time that that’s not possible.”

“We have the ‘Walking Dead,’ and now we’ve got the ‘Voting Dead,'” said state Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg. “I guess the reason there’s no proof of voter fraud is because we weren’t looking for it.”

Strach cautioned, however, that in several past cases, instances of so-called zombie voters turned out to be the result of clerical errors.

“We’re in the process of looking at each of these to see,” Strach said. “That means either a poll or precinct worker made a mistake and marked the wrong person, or someone voted for them. That’s something we can’t determine until we look into each case.”

A law passed last year by the Republican-dominated state legislature required elections staff to check information for North Carolina’s more than 6.5 million voters against a database containing information for 101 million voters in 28 states.

The cross-check found listings for 35,570 North Carolina voters whose first names, last names and dates of birth match those of voters who voted in other states. However, in those cases middle names and Social Security numbers were not matched.

The analysis also found 155,692 registered North Carolina voters whose information matched voters registered in other states but who most recently registered or voted elsewhere. Strach said those were most likely voters who moved out of state without notifying their local boards of elections.

Republicans leaders immediately touted the preliminary report as evidence they were justified in approving sweeping elections changes last year that include requiring voters to present photo ID at the polls, cutting days from the period for early voting and ending a popular civics program that encouraged high school students to pre-register to vote in advance of their 18th birthdays.

“That is outrageous. That is criminal. That is wrong, and it shouldn’t be allowed to go any further without substantial investigations from our local district attorneys who are the ones charged with enforcing these laws,” state Sen. Thom Goolsby, R-Wilmington, told the Charlotte Observer.

State House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, and Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, issued a joint statement Wednesday on what they termed as the “alarming evidence.”

“While we are alarmed to hear evidence of widespread voter error and fraud, we are encouraged to see the common-sense law passed to ensure voters are who they say they are is working,” said the statement. “These findings should put to rest ill-informed claims that problems don’t exist and help restore the integrity of our elections process.”

However, other states using the cross-check system have yielded relatively few criminal prosecutions for voter fraud once the cases were thoroughly investigated.

Only 11 people were prosecuted on allegations of double-voting as a result of the 15 states that performed similar database checks following the 2010 elections, according to data compiled by elections officials in Kansas, where the cross-check program originated.

Bob Hall, director of the non-profit group Democracy North Carolina, cautioned officials not to jump to conclusions based on the preliminary database check.

“I know there is more than one Bob Hall with my birth date who lives among the 28 states researched,” Hall said. “There may be cases of fraud, but the true scale and conspiracy involved need to be examined more closely before those with political agendas claim they’ve proven guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Voting rights advocate Bob Phillips of Common Cause NC told WRAL.com that while he is concerned about the report, it still doesn’t justify requiring voters to present photo ID at the polls.

“I think a lot of [lawmakers] are saying, ‘Aha, this proves what we did,'” Phillips said. “But if I have an ID, how is that going to stop me from voting in North Carolina if I’ve already voted in Florida?”

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – We have been hearing rumblings for months about the new “Noah” movie, starring Russell Crowe, Emma Watson, Jennifer Connelly and Anthony Hopkins. Some believe it is too religious a movie for Hollywood to make, while others deem the completed project not religious enough—straying radically from the Biblical account in the telling.

In fact, the Bible affords us very little information about the antediluvian world, and nearly 2,000 years of intense human history are summed up in precious few Biblical pages. More detail has come to light in the past 150 years as extra-Biblical histories purporting to tell the stories of the early patriarchs and their families have been discovered and translated. Chief among these is the Book of Enoch—on which “Noah” writers and producers obviously relied heavily for much of their material for the movie.

How reliable are the versions of the Book of Enoch that have been discovered? The short answer: not very. However, much useful information can be garnered from their pages if tempered with substantial quantities of religious and scriptural understanding—neither of which is possessed by those who made this movie.

The extra-Biblical parts of the “Noah” story that are probably correct are 1) the help of the Watchers (although not angels, not all fallen, and not tabernacled in stone), 2) the widespread industrialization of the pre-flood era, 3) the powerful abilities of Methuselah (as all of the Patriarchs), and 4) the ark being built in large part by the Watchers.

So what did they get wrong? Pretty much everything else. What is the biggest problem with “Noah”? It is the misunderstanding of the reason for the flood, God’s part in it, and Noah’s attitude and calling in its regard.

One thing that the ancient Book of Enoch clarifies is that God was not vindictive toward His children on earth, and did not will the flood to occur due to some sense of retribution. In fact, the destruction of the coming flood hung over the head of humanity for hundreds of years by their own device, and the powerful angels asked God how long he would stay their hand from allowing the flood to come in on the rebellious children and destroy the massive wickedness that had infected the earth.

¹ And after that he showed me the angels of punishment who are prepared to come and let loose all the powers of the waters which are beneath in the earth in order to bring judgement and destruction ² on all who [abide and] dwell on the earth. And the Lord of Spirits gave commandment to the angels who were going forth, that they should not cause the waters to rise but should hold them ³ in check; for those angels were over the powers of the waters. [I Enoch, Chapter 66]

This abundance of God’s mercy is lost from the Biblical account—to our collective detriment. Indeed, how often have I heard some rube state, “I can’t believe in a God so vindictive that he would kill everyone in the world with a flood.” In fact, humanity had openly rejected God, and engaged Him in hostility. The earth was a miserable, confused cesspool of humanity, and children born into that depth of corruption had no chance.

As a precautionary word, let me share that the world of today is not that much different from the world of Noah, and the same result will occur if the course is not timely corrected—not because a vindictive God will destroy us, but because an ignored Father will eventually allow us to have things our own way.

The movie’s Noah finds himself lacking because he cannot bring himself to ensure the race’s demise. In fact, the mission of Noah was exactly the opposite. ‘A New Beginning’ was the true message and purpose of the Flood, and the movie eventually meanders back to that concept, following a side trip that derails the story entirely.

I cannot in good conscience recommend “Noah,” because it misses the true points of Noah and the Flood entirely. However, I won’t advise you to avoid seeing it, because although flawed and uninspired in many respects (not unlike the corrupted versions of The Book of Enoch that survived), it does convey the enormity of the problem of humanity’s departure at that day and the finality of the cure if repentance is evaded.

J.L. Thompson is a Christian writer, and holds a Juris Doctor degree. He is Editor-in-Chief of Scottsdale Multimedia, Inc., a leading ghostwriting firm.  Volume One of his new novel series “The Coming Flood” has just been released, titled Enoch in the City of Adam. Visit J.L. Thompson on Facebook

Immigration and Customs Enforcement released 68,000 foreign nationals who had criminal convictions and charges last year instead of pursuing deportation, according to newly uncovered documents — a statistic one senator said represents an enforcement “crisis.”

The internal documents were obtained and published by the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates stricter immigration enforcement. According to the documents and the group’s analysis, ICE agents reported encountering 193,000 “criminal aliens” in 2013, but only targeted 125,000 for deportation.

A total of 67,879 were released.

CIS called it a “large-scale abuse of authority.”

“The Obama administration’s deliberate obstruction of immigration enforcement, in which tens of thousands of criminal aliens are released instead of removed, is threatening the well-being of American communities,” study author Jessica Vaughan said in a statement. “It’s not a matter of if, but how many families will suffer harm as a result.”

The “criminal aliens” category includes both those charged with and convicted of crimes in the U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement accused CIS of distorting the numbers, and claimed that some of them could represent minor offenses. Further, the agency said a total of 216,000 “convicted criminals” were removed in 2013.

“ICE is focused on the removal of criminal aliens,” a spokeswoman said in a statement. “The percentage of criminals removed continues to rise. Nearly 60 percent of ICE’s total removals had been previously convicted of a criminal offense, and that number rises to 82 percent for individuals removed from the interior of the U.S. The removal of criminal individuals is and will remain ICE’s highest priority.”

The ICE documents did not break down the types of criminal activity that those allowed to stay in the country had been convicted of. But a 2012 report by House Republicans tracked 26,000 illegal and criminal immigrants who were re-arrested, and found they were tied to 58,000 crimes and violations — much of them drunken-driving arrests, but also major criminal offenses like murder and rape.

The latest statistics challenge repeated claims by the administration that, when weighing whether to pursue deportation, they are prioritizing cases where the illegal immigrant in question has been convicted of a crime.

Indeed, the documents show that those with a criminal record are far more likely to be targeted for deportation than those without one. But they also show the agency is letting thousands who have a criminal record off the hook.

The CIS report said factors such as “family relationships, political considerations, or attention from advocacy groups” are likely helping to “trump criminal convictions as a factor leading to deportation.”

The report further deepens concerns about the course of an ongoing internal review of the administration’s enforcement and deportation policies. Groups like CIS have warned that this could chip away at an enforcement structure that already has been weakened.

“The preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that immigration enforcement in America has collapsed,” Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said. “Even those with criminal convictions are being released. [The Department of Homeland Security] is a department in crisis.”

Earlier this month, a DHS spokesman said the internal review of immigration enforcement is a process that is “ongoing” and will be done “expeditiously.”

“Since taking office, the secretary has made clear that he shares the president’s commitment of enforcing our immigration laws effectively and sensibly, in line with our values,” the spokesman said. “As part of that effort he has been taking a hard look at these tough issues, meeting with a range of stakeholders and employees and already has been assessing if there are areas where we can further align our enforcement policies with our goal of sound law enforcement practice that prioritizes public safety.”

CIS also reported that in 2013, ICE charged just 195,000 of the 722,000 “potentially deportable aliens” they encountered.

Further, the agency reported more than 870,000 illegal immigrants have been ordered removed but have remained in the country anyway.

By Judson Berger

One month ago, Reid took to the Senate floor and said that all the horror stories being told by Republicans about Obamacare’s impact on the lives of Americans are ‘simply not true’. Reid caught a lot of backlash for making that statement with the news organization Washington Free Beacon producing a video in response. The video was entitled “50 States of Obamacare Victims” and highlighted the plight of the negative impact of Obamacare across the country.

During a discussion on Harry Reid stating this week that he cannot, to the best of his recollection, remember stepping onto the Senate floor and saying anything about Republican stories of Obamacare, Hughes wondered if Reid had a previous career as a boxer that would negatively affect his memory. She also said that Senator Reid must think Americans are dumb.

To that, Payne said called Reid out even further on the insulting statement that he made and the even more pathetic denial of ever making it. He said, “Scottie, you know, I’ve got to tell you something. I think at some point, this goes beyond politics, and I have to really wonder if this man has a real serious personal problem.”

Hughes responded by bringing to question Reid’s allegiance to beltway circles over doing right by his constituents. To these constituents, she also had a message.

Well, I think because he’s been up in Washington, DC, inside the beltway for so long, he has forgotten what the American people, that we actually have brains and we pay attention, and we allowed him to get away with it for so many years, re-electing him, the people in his own state, that he thinks he can say these things and get away with it.

The real issue is it’s not a lie that almost 7 million people have gotten kicked off their insurance because of Obamacare, that’s almost double than the residents that he represents in his own state.

So, if he’s sitting there, he’s going to call the rest of America dumb and liars, that’s his own call. It’s the people in his state that need to hold him accountable and get him out of office.

Payne then brought to question what could motivate the people of Nevada to continuously send Reid back to DC. He asked, “ What about the people that keep sending him back to Washington? And what does it say about us as a nation when, the Senate Majority Leader has to defend a policy so inept, that he’s willing to take these chances, to say things that hurt people’s feelings, call people liars, call people dummies, and then try to retract, take those statements back?”

Hughes shared that Democrats have been allowed to get away with lies in the past, but that is no longer true due to technology that is clear cut evidence as to what was said. She continued pointing out that Democrats are overall running away from the fiasco of Obamacare with Reid and fellow Democrat Nancy Pelosi being the only ones left in Obama’s cheering section.

She reiterated the importance of the people of Nevada getting out the vote to get people like Harry Reid out of office. Payne was in agreement stating that, “Everyone should be held accountable.”

By Jennifer Burke

One of the leading anti-Second Amendment rights crusaders in California, powerful State Senator Leland Yee, has ironically been arrested for (drum roll…) allegations of gun running, along with a host of other corruption charges, including campaign fraud (see video).

Federal agents raided Yee’s home Wednesday while at the same time Yee’s offices were also raided, reports CBS San Francisco. The report states that Lee’s littany of corruption charges involve his current campaign to be California’s next Secretary of State, and that Lee was charged, among other crimes, with a scheme to move guns into U.S. from Russia:

The federal complaint was filed March 24 and unsealed Wednesday alleges Sen. Yee was engaged in soliciting illegal campaign donations in exchange for political favors and was involved in a conspiracy to traffic firearms from Russia.

The complaint also alleges Chow was engaged in money-laundering, conspiracy to transport stolen property and conspiracy to traffic contraband cigarettes.

Leland Yee is the third Democrat from the Democrat-controlled California State Senate to be arrested for criminal charges in the past year, and ironically and hypocritically, was a leading gun control advocate.

Yee attempted to achieve some degree of national notoriety by issuing racism accusations and urging a boycott against popular conservative radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, for a comedy parody Limbaugh did on his show poking fun at the Communist Chinese President in 2011.

Yee, handcuffed and shackled, was released on a $500,000 unsecured bond last night and is scheduled to return to court on Monday.

March 27, 2014 By Matthew Burke

WASHINGTON, D.C.-In a move that was the natural next step in an evolving line of cases that began with Roe v. Wade, the US high court today ruled that “aborting annoying and inconvenient politicians falls within the purview of the Roe line of cases,” finding that “full-term abortions are an acceptable expression of personal sovereignty” under the US Constitution.

In a 5-4 decision penned by Chief Justice Roberts, the court articulated an evolving doctrine of ‘privacy,’ which it ruled, “extends to matters and persons beyond the traditional scope of personal convenience.”

The matter came to controversy when police discovered the bodies of several ‘progressive’ state legislators stacked in the state Capitol building basement in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. During the investigation it was determined that a maintenance worker had been using the bodies of progressive legislators as fuel in the building’s furnace.

Maintenance worker Bernhard Plockhorst was taken into custody and thereafter claimed that his defense in the case was his right to abort anyone who directly inconvenienced him. In fact, Plockhorst’s attorneys produced written and recorded statements from each of the legislative victims wherein they personally supported the practice of aborting the lives of those who were deemed by another to be inconvenient, no matter how far along they were in the developmental process.

Plockhorst claimed that the inconvenience caused him by the state legislators, even though far beyond their second trimester of development, outweighed any right to life or liberty under the Constitution that they might claim, and the high court has agreed.

The State Senate Majority Leader expressed shock and dismay at the court’s ruling today, and said that Plockhorst should at least be prosecuted for burning his victims’ corpses in the capitol furnace. However, a perusal of Pennsylvania law shows no such prohibition.

When asked what he plans to do now that he has been exonerated by the US Supreme Court, Mr. Plockhorst says he isn’t sure, but while held in the county jail he was greatly annoyed by television personality Bill Maher, who appears to be in complete agreement with Plockhorst’s full term abortion philosophy.

PUBLIUS ;-}

Several Democratic senators moved Thursday to “improve” parts of ObamaCare, proposing numerous changes to the law amid concerns that it could cost Democrats House seats and possibly the Senate in November.

The proposals came from a half-dozen senators, some of whom are facing reelection in the fall and most of whom represent moderate-to-conservative states. Since Democrats currently control the Senate, the proposals will put Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in an uncomfortable position — forcing him to decide whether to put the bills to a vote or sideline them, despite the political risks for his party’s incumbents.

“There is more to be done,” the senators wrote in an op-ed in Politico, outlining the proposed changes.

Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va.; Mark Begich, D-Alaska; Mary Landrieu, D-La.; Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.; Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; and Sen. Angus King, I., Maine, are behind the proposals.

Among other ideas, they called for allowing “copper” plans on the government-run health exchanges. The new insurance plans would offer lower premiums and higher out-of-pocket costs than the “bronze,” “silver” and “gold” options currently offered.

“I’ve always been a believer that the law was not perfect, but you should continue to work to improve it,” Begich told The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the proposals. “People are seeing that as it’s implemented, there are tweaks you need to do and there’s just nothing wrong with that.”

The senators, while defending the law itself, proposed numerous other fixes, including restoring startup funds for “consumer-driven health insurance cooperatives” and directing state regulators to look at allowing insurance to be sold across state lines. Plus, they called for sparing employers with fewer than 100 workers from being required to offer health insurance to their staff.

Warner, who faces a formidable midterm challenge from former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, said on Fox News earlier this week that he supports allowing Americans to purchase health insurance across state lines.

Earlier this month, Republican David Jolly defeated Democrat Alex Sink in a Florida special election largely seen as a referendum on ObamaCare. Democrats, however, downplayed the loss in the Republican-leaning congressional district.

Republicans must pick up six seats to win control of the Senate. Conservative groups such as Americans for Prosperity are reportedly pouring million into races in which Democratic incumbents have supported ObamaCare.

House Democrats must gain 17 seats to win a majority next fall. It looms as a very steep challenge in view of the traditional midterm headwinds facing a party in control of the White House and a generally sour public mood, now compounded by controversy surrounding the health care law.

It is unclear if Reid, D., Nev., would bring any of the bills aimed at fixing ObamaCare to the floor. Democratic aides told The Journal that the effort has sparked debate about whether making the changes would return public attention to the health law’s flaws.

Democratic strategist Steve Murphy said the fixes could help vulnerable lawmakers more than changes from the Obama administration that are immediately criticized by Republicans.

“Democrats should fight back hard on what eliminating ObamaCare would mean, and they also should demonstrate a willingness to make ObamaCare better,” Murphy told The Journal.

The Health and Human Services Department announced this week that those who’ve started an enrollment application, but weren’t able to finish before the March 31 open enrollment deadline, would get a limited amount of time to sign up for coverage that would take effect May 1.

Additionally, people with 10 general categories of “special” circumstances would also get extra time to apply — up to 60 days. Categories include natural disasters, system errors related to immigration status, computer error messages due to technical difficulties, family situations involving domestic abuse, and other sorts of problems.

The latest administrative tweaks to health overhaul rules drew immediate scorn from Republicans committed to repealing the law.

“The administration has now handed out so many waivers, special favors and exemptions to help Democrats out politically … it’s basically become the legal equivalent of Swiss cheese,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Some Republicans have expressed reservations about helping Democrats improve a law believed to be central to the GOP’s midterm strategy, The Journal reported.

“These folks have voted for that bad piece of legislation [are] now having remorse,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R., Ga., adding that Democrats “want to try to do something political to a very unpopular piece of legislation.”

Massachusetts Juvenile Court Judge Joseph Johnston injured every parent’s rights Tuesday when he awarded permanent custody of teenager Justina Pelletier to the state.

Now, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) will decide when and whether she is returned home.

Justina has been held captive by Boston’s Children’s Hospital and DCF because they believe that her parents have kindled in her a psychiatric disorder that makes her believe she has physical symptoms, including difficulty walking. They insist no physical condition can explain her symptoms.

However, doctors at New England Medical Center in Boston disagree. They evaluated Justina and concluded she suffers with a rare illness called mitochondrial disease.

Full disclosure:  I am an assistant professor at Tufts Medical School, which is affiliated with New England Medical Center.  But you can be assured I have no bias, because I have gone to the mat debating other issues with New England Medical Center in the past.

There is no way to immediately prove who is right and who is wrong about the diagnosis. But that’s part of the problem with being called mentally ill.  Once someone in authority asserts that you are, and insists on framing your behavior according to that theory, it can be tough to prove you are not.

Russia has been expert at doing that with dissidents, who were left to languish in locked psychiatric facilities for their “delusional” ideas.

So, in Massachusetts, if Boston Children’s Hospital wants to say that your child’s mysterious physical symptoms are ones you are causing by coaxing your child to act sick, then you, too, could lose custody of your child to the state.  And it won’t matter if academic doctors at another hospital disagree and believe that your child is suffering from a genuine bodily illness.

What’s really interesting here is that Children’s Hospital and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are doing precisely to Justina, for sure, what they theorize her parents were doing: They have deprived Justina of her rights. They have made of her a permanent patient.  They have decided that her theoretical psychiatric disorder should change the course of her entire life.  And they have done it, despite other experts telling them they are just plain wrong.

By the way, Children’s Hospital is also home to Norman Spack, the endocrinologist who began his career using hormones to change the gender of tadpoles and went on to use massive doses of hormones to manipulate the gender characteristics of children—sometimes coaxing parents to go forward with the treatment, when they had serious misgivings.

Bottom line:  Unless your child has a simple infection, and there’s absolutely no way anyone could ever argue that you injected your kid with dirt to cause it, keep your parental rights intact and keep driving right past Boston’s Children’s Hospital. Until the hospital examines its desire to make the most dramatic decisions possible for parents, rather than with parents, there are other very good options for your child’s medical care.

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatrist. Dr. Ablow can be reached at info@keithablow.com.

Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Sunday accused President Obama of being “naïve” about Russian President Vladimir Putin agenda and lacking the foresight to have prevented Putin from taking over a Ukraine peninsula.

“There’s no question but that the president’s naiveté with regards to Russia,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “And his faulty judgment about Russia’s intentions and objectives has led to a number of foreign policy challenges that we face.”

During Romney’s 2012 presidential race against Obama, the president criticized him for saying Russia — not Al QED — was America’s “number one geopolitical foe.”

“This is not fantasy land,” Romney, also a former Massachusetts governor, said Sunday. “They are not our enemy but an adversary on the world stage.”

He also said the United States should have worked sooner with allies to make clear the penalties that Russia could have faced if it moved into Ukraine.

The political uprising in Ukraine started about three months ago and included citizens last month ousting their Moscow-backed president.

Russian troops began moving into the neighboring Crimea region of Ukraine about two weeks ago and on Thursday officially annexed Crimea.

“This shouldn’t have been a surprise,” Romney said, referring in part to unmarked Russian troops and military vehicles entering the region days before the takeover. “This had been prepared for some time.”

Romney acknowledged that more pre-emptive action had only the potential to prevent the invasion.

But he also blamed of Secretary of State John Kerry and former secretary Hillary Clinton, suggesting that the Obama administration’s so-called “reset” diplomacy was mistake.

“They thought resetting relations with Russia, handing out gifts to Russia, would somehow make Russia change its objectives.  Well, that certainly wasn’t the case,” Romney said. “Russia is not our friend.”

He also called for tougher sanctions against Russia, no cuts to the U.S. military budget and re-installing missile-defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. He called their removal in 2009 a “gift to Russia.”

FoxNews.com  / The Associated Press contributed to this report.

If you’re a mom of grown children, this is for you.

Did you know that the Obama administration and the state of Rhode Island are counting on you to nag your kids into signing up for Obamacare?

Good old-fashioned guilt and annoyance—that’s the ticket, apparently. But just giving your kids a call or sending them an email isn’t enough.

Rhode Island’s newest strategy is urging mothers to sign up for social networking and even online dating sites to send messages to their children.

The state’s Obamacare exchange has put together the “Nag Toolkit.” The website isn’t subtle. It says, “learn how to be where your kids are. And how to nag them mercilessly.”

If your child is on social networks and apps like Twitter, Snapchat, or Vine, the Nag Toolkit encourages you to get on there, too, and “Tweet ‘get health insurance’ @yourkids.” It sure is a lot of trouble to go to just to say that.

But the site goes even further by recommending that you, their mom—regardless of your own relationship status—create a profile on a dating site like OKCupid or Tinder. And then find your child’s dating profile and send him or her a message about health insurance.

Maybe what Rhode Island really wants is young people’s email addresses, though. Because after the tutorials, this message comes up: “If this all seems too confusing, give us your kid’s email address and we’ll do the nagging.”

If you’re not in Rhode Island, the Obama administration will bring in celebrities’ moms and the First Mom to nag your kids.

“Taking care of yourself so your mothers can sleep and have a nice life after all they’ve done for you is not too much to ask in my opinion,” says one of the moms in the Obamacare video above. It includes the mothers of actor Jonah Hill, singer Alicia Keys, actress/singer Jennifer Lopez, and musician Adam Levine.

Michelle Obama makes an appearance, piling on: “We nag you because we love you.”

Young people are saying this is all kind of creepy. Moms, how do you feel about it? (Dads, are you feeling left out?)

By Amy Payne