Dozens of new restrictions passed by states this year have chipped away at the right to abortion by requiring women to view ultrasounds, imposing waiting periods or cutting funds for clinics. But a new kind of law has gone beyond such restrictions, striking at the foundation of the abortion rules set out by the Supreme Court over the last four decades.

The nation's abortion wars, simmering but largely quiet in recent years, have begun boiling again.

Nowhere has the battle been more pitched than in Kansas, where the Legislature this session passed four anti-abortion measures and attempted to adopt strict new licensing rules that this week came within hours of closing down the state's last abortion provider.

Mormon officials are telling their top, full-time leaders that they and their spouses should not participate in political campaigns, including making donations or endorsing candidates.

For some relevant reading on this Independence Three-Day Weekend, one can hardly do better than "God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution". At a time when both American history and religion are hotly contested territory -- caught between purported dichotomies of holiness and nihilism, theocracy and secularism, provincialism and pluralism -- a bit of perspective, fact-checking and a brief immersion into the genesis of an independent America is in order.

One commercial accuses the president of worsening the deficit and says, "It's time to take away Obama's blank check." Another attacks Republican tax and Medicare policies, saying, "We can't rebuild America if they tear down the middle class."

A new Gallup Poll out today confirms that President Obama's strong Jewish support has not evaporated following his May 19 speech on the Middle East. In fact, it hasn't moved a bit.

A new invention by Hebrew University scientists could make life easier for millions of visually impaired people around the world. The innovative device is a cane that helps with spatial navigation and orientation.

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