Bonnie Erbe of U.S. News and Report praised Kathleen Kennedy Townsend’s efforts to change the Catholic Church’s perennial teaching against abortion in a December 23, 2009 blog entry, calling her a “modern-day Crusader of sorts” and outlandishly predicted that the Church would eventually “recognize the wisdom of...[her] approach.” Erbe would even go so far as to liken Townsend to St. Joan of Arc.

The left-wing contributing editor to U.S. News began her editorial with the “Crusader” label for the former Democratic lieutenant governor of Maryland, even going so far as to quote from the early 20th century Catholic Encyclopedia: “Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is a modern-day Crusader of sorts. As defined by the Catholic Encyclopedia, crusade means, ‘all wars undertaken in pursuance of a vow, and directed against infidels.’ I use the term Crusader figuratively, not literally, as she’s speaking out publicly, she’s not leading a war. She’s trying to change the minds of her own church leaders—she’s not directing her rhetoric toward infidels. Nonetheless she’s leading a crusade for her church that many clergymen see as blasphemous.”

What's $100 million of taxpayer money between a few U.S. Senators?

After reports surfaced of $100 million for Louisiana was added to the Senate's health care reform legislation, originally from ABC News, and subsequently commented upon by prominent lefties, like U.S. News and World Report's Bonnie Erbe as my colleague Noel Sheppard pointed out, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., took the Senate floor on Nov. 21 to announce she would vote in favor to proceed forward with the Senate Democratic leadership's bill.

She also responded to allegations that $100 million earmarked for the Louisiana was added to that legislation to sway her vote. She referred to the likes of ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl and Erbe as "very partisan Republican bloggers."

"I know that might time is up, but I would like to ask personal privilege for just one more minute to address an issue that has come up unfortunately in the last 24 hours by some very partisan Republican bloggers so I need to respond I think and will do so now," Landrieu said. "One of the provisions in the framework of this bill that I've just decided to move on to debate has to do with fixing a very difficult situation that Louisiana is facing and any other state that might have a catastrophic disaster - let's hope they don't - like we did in 2005."

U.S. News and World Report's Bonnie Erbe claimed in her latest blog post that the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which bans federal funding of elective abortion in the recently passed House health care reform bill, is "a privacy invasion of massive proportions" because it "would allow government policy to intervene in the most private of medical decisions made by women and their private insurance companies."

Apparently Erbe is not concerned that federal funding of elective abortions would also prove to be a "privacy invasion of massive proportions" for people who do not want to pay for the taking of innocent human life.

CNN released a poll yesterday that found 61 percent of Americans do not want their tax dollars used to pay for the abortions of women who otherwise could not afford to pay for them. Over half, 51 percent, believe women who have abortions should pay for the procedure out of their own pockets, even if they have private health insurance.

<p>If Democrats get a spanking at the polls today, it's not because American voters are trending conservative or are frustrated with the direction liberal Democrats are leading the country, but because the electorate's disdain for the former Bush administration has abated.</p><p>That according to liberal PBS &quot;To the Contrary&quot; host and U.S. News contributing editor Bonnie Erbe.</p><p>From her <a href="http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2009/11/02/waning-anti-bush-sentiment-f... target="_blank">November 2 blog post</a> (emphasis mine):</p><blockquote>

<p><img src="http://blog.beliefnet.com/foundingfaith/imgs/stevewaldman.jpg" align="right" border="0" height="171" hspace="3" vspace="3" width="125" />Steve Waldman, the &quot;founding soul of Beliefnet&quot; and a former Newsweek reporter and US News &amp; World Report editor is now spinning through the revolving door into the Obama FCC, reports <a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2009/10/beliefnet-... target="_blank">Cathy Lynn Grossman of USA Today</a>:</p><blockquote><p>Steven Waldman, founder, editor and leading political blogger of Beliefnet.com, the nation's top Internet spirituality site, is leaving for a post in the Obama administration.</p><p>He's posted a farewell letter on his blog calling this &quot;the most difficult (and surreal) post I've had to write&quot; as he departs to become senior adviser to new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski.</p></blockquote><p>Grossman's brief October 28 Faith &amp; Reason blog post failed to mention Waldman's stint in the Clinton administration, but then again Waldman's <a href="http://www.beliefnet.com/News/Blog-Story-Pages/About-Steven-Waldman.aspx" target="_blank">Beliefnet blogger bio page </a>also leaves out his work <a href="http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=1448&amp;kaid=115&amp;subid=145" target="_blank">as senior advisor to the CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service</a> -- the bureaucracy that runs AmeriCorps -- during the Clinton administration.</p>