You've Got. . . To Be Kidding Me 

The Obama Administration is still reeling from criticism over its failure to march in Paris with other world leaders in the aftermath of the jihadist attacks. Today, Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Paris with singer James Taylor in tow. Taylor serenaded his French audience with one of his 1970s hits, "You've Got A Friend." Get it? This is foreign policy in the Obama years.

Carol and I dated to that song, and both of us inevitably think back to those years when we hear its lyrics. "You just call out my name and you know wherever I am, I'll come running to see you again. . . .you've got a friend."

Of course the song doesn't work as a courting vehicle if you don't actually be a friend to whom you are singing. And there's the rub.

In recent years, the promise of friendship has been extended to some folks you don't want to bring home to meet Mom -- the ayatollah of Iran, the communists of Cuba and Putin's Russia. Meanwhile, old friends like Israel, Canada and Great Britain have been stood up. 

Eventually word spreads that you can't be counted on, and you end up singing to yourself on a Saturday night.

Duke Backs Down 

Congratulations, my friends! Duke University backed down late yesterday amid a tremendous backlash to its plans to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer from the university's chapel bell tower. Thank you to everyone who took the time to call and email Duke, and to Reverend Franklin Graham for speaking out so forcefully. 

Of course, as it is with every victory by our side, we can't take anything for granted. Political correctness prevails in our elite institutions, especially in academia, and I fully expect Duke administrators to revisit the issue again.

Sadly, the reactions of some indoctrinated students demonstrate the struggle we are in. One Duke student angry with the reversal told a reporter, "We should have gotten over these things a long time ago. Prejudice and bigotry and Islamophobia should not exist now. . . . People can't separate Islam from terrorism." 

She just doesn't get it. Radical Islamists are still living in the Dark Ages. They have no concept of equality, treat women as cattle and still practice slavery.

Go lecture the Taliban about prejudice. Go to the West Bank and Gaza and preach against bigotry. Tell the jihadists who scream "Allahu Akbar!" as they decapitate journalists, fly planes into buildings and slaughter Christians and Jews to separate Islam from terrorism. 

As one reader emailed me, "When Christians and Jews can work and worship freely in the Mecca, then Duke can broadcast the Muslim call to prayer." 

Graham Gets It 

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham isn't likely to win any popularity contests among conservative activists. But when it comes to radical Islam, he gets it. 

During an interview on Fox News this week, Graham said: 
 

"We are in a religious war with radical Islamists who've embraced a religious doctrine that requires them, compelled by [Allah], to purify their religion, to kill all moderate Muslims or people who don't agree with them within the faith, to destroy every other religion.

"And here are our choices: We can fight them over there, or we can fight them at home. We can fight them by ourselves, or we can fight them with partners. I choose to fight them over there with partners. And when our president doesn't acknowledge that this is a religious-driven war, it's going to be very hard to win it."

A Moment Of Truth 

As we approach the annual March for Life next week, commemorating the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Bill Kristol's The Weekly Standard has discovered that Planned Parenthood, in a rare moment of truth and clarity, is admitting what abortion actually does -- stops a beating heart.

In describing fetal development, Planned Parenthood acknowledges that between weeks five and six of pregnancy "A very basic beating heart and circulatory system develop." (This happens much earlier depending on how you define conception and pregnancy.)

Planned Parenthood is even more direct when discussing late-term abortions, noting, "In later second-trimester procedures, you many also need a shot through your abdomen to make sure that the fetus's heart stops before the procedure begins." 

It is also worth noting here that Planned Parenthood acknowledges that the process requires preparation of a "few hours" or "a day," exposing the oft-repeated lie that such procedures are done only in emergencies. 

Further underscoring the fact that abortion kills an innocent child, The Weekly Standard cites a Florida abortion clinic's explanation for why the heart beat is stopped prior to the procedure: "No additional pain or discomfort to the fetus" and "Generally assures no chance of a live birth." 

Teaching Citizenship 

One of my greatest frustrations with the liberal educational bureaucracy (and there are many!) has been its failure to teach the virtues of American citizenship. It was a cause Bill Bennett and I championed when we led Ronald Reagan's Education Department and one we continue to believe is essential to maintaining the unique character of our great country.

America was founded by people of faith who believed in a very radical idea -- that the right to life and liberty was "unalienable," that our rights come from God not government. They believed government was necessary but that it was also essential to restrain and divide its power in order to maintain liberty. 

Sadly, we don't teach these values any more. If more citizens understood the Constitution and the meaning of American citizenship, I believe the public outrage over Obama's executive amnesty would be much greater. 

So kudos to Arizona for becoming the first state in the nation yesterday to require high school students to pass the U.S. citizenship exam as a requirement for graduation. The Foss Institute is launching a campaign to have all 50 states adopt such a requirement by 2017 -- the 230th anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution. Fourteen additional states are considering similar legislation this year.