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The second myth has to do with abortion—and it’s a fallacy that I see as a huge problem in the conservative community. This is the bottom line: if you believe an unborn baby is a human being, you cannot, in intellectual honesty, allow an abortion exception for rape or incest.

Republicans do this all the time, and it drives me nuts. They deserve to be called out on it, as Sean Hannity was by a Democrat guest on his program not long ago.

Here’s the thing: rape and incest are horrible, horrible crimes. I can’t even begin to put into words how horrible. To be pregnant not by choice and in horrible circumstances is a scary thing. It’s unfair.

But can you really say, “Well, this life is less deserving of a chance because it came into being through something unjust?” The last thing you do to fix injustice is cause more injustice. The justice should be enacted on the person who committed the crime. No one should be killed or have less of a chance of life based on how they came into this world. It’s horribly unfair to say anyone doesn’t deserve to live because of how they came to be. That’s putting preconditions on someone. It’s so judgmental that a liberal shouldn’t be able to handle it.

And a conservative shouldn’t, either.

Excerpted from Townhall Magazine's June Editor's Desk column. To read more, subscribe to Townhall Magazine today.

Obama seems poised to make green agenda a top priority his second term. How far will his likely Cabinet go to make that happen? Joel Gehrke reports.

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President Obama swept into office promising to turn back the oceans and heal the planet with his climate change policy, so his first term proved disappointing to environmental activists.

“I thought that he really did understand ‘the urgency of now’ on climate change,” Democratic mega-donor Susie Tompkins Buell told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2012 to explain why she wasn’t fundraising for Obama. “He has not been vocal enough ... and I want to encourage him to lead me.”

Obama hardly ignored the environmentalists, but he didn’t make their issue his top priority. Instead, he spent the Democratic Party’s political capital on health care legislation in the first part of his term, which allowed a cap-and-trade bill sponsored by Democrat Sen. Barbara Boxer of California to languish. In 2010, with the tea party backlash against ObamaCare underway, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada killed an updated version of the legislation in order to protect his rank-and-file members from another damaging vote.”

As a consolation prize, the green activists received an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) very friendly to their cause that produced an aggressive array of regulations designed to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Even that effort fell prey to political pressure; for instance, Obama refused to allow then-EPA administrator Lisa Jackson to unveil new National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), or the smog rule—a move The New York Times hinted came because the economic damage caused by the rule would in part undermine the president’s re-election campaign.

Last but not least, the Solyndra bankruptcy embarrassed the Obama team’s green subsidy programs, emerging as an icon of a green industry not ready for the free market.

With the election behind him, the president has more flexibility on green issues and a renewed emphasis on “the urgency of now” that Buell expected four years ago.

“We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations,” Obama said during his second (Reuters/Larry Downing) inaugural address. “Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms.” He suggested that the government must stimulate the growth of the renewable industry in order “to maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure—our forests and waterways, our crop lands and snow-capped peaks.”

The theme reappeared in his State of the Union speech not long after. He renewed his call for Congress to pass cap-and-trade legislation, but he’s not exactly desperate for legislative approval of his green policy.

“If Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will,” Obama said during the address. “I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.”

Republican Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, expects Obama to pursue a two-pronged “anti-traditional energy strategy” of increasing regulations on carbon-based energies while subsidizing his preferred energy sectors.

“I think clearly the 2010 election in the House shut down the Obama legislative agenda, but they just reacted by turning to their administrative agenda,” Vitter told Townhall. “I think you see that now that he’s passed his re-election. You see that in terms of climate change [and] greenhouse gases really getting a dominant push, all on the regulatory side.”

The Departments of Energy, Interior, Defense and State will play an especially important role in this effort—together with the EPA, they can shape energy policy at home and abroad, even without new congressional authorization.

Unilateral Power

President Obama sometimes used creative means to advance his preferred environmental agenda in the first term. For instance, the Transportation Department (DOT) cut the amount of time certain truck drivers are allowed to work in a single shift, a policy change that slows the delivery of water and sand needed for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of natural gas wells. Similarly, an agency in the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is using its jurisdiction over workplace safety to regulate fracking by lowering the amount of silica dust (a respiratory hazard) that natural gas wells may emit.

In his latest State of the Union address, Obama called for Congress to pass cap-and-trade legislation, adding that he would take executive action to lower carbon emissions if the lawmakers did not.

Accordingly, the White House Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ) may soon reinterpret the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), a law signed by Richard Nixon, in a way that requires the executive branch to withhold permits for projects on federal land pending a study of how the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the project might affect the environment.

This policy change would incorporate every department into the administration’s green team, because it directs each agency to use a greenhouse gas emissions test when considering a project. Before building a highway, for instance, the government would have to evaluate the greenhouse gas emissions caused not only by construction and use of the highway, but also those emissions caused by the use of products that travel along the highway.

So, coal exports, drilling, the Keystone XL pipeline—these can be blocked within the departments by that greenhouse gas test. Those projects that garner approval face further delay by environmentalists who can ask judges to revoke the permits for authorized projects on the argument that this greenhouse gas analysis was not properly applied.

“For an agency to have to consider all the greenhouse gas emissions could really stifle a lot of these projects or unnecessarily hold them up in years of regulatory delay or litigation,” The Heritage Foundation’s Nick Loris said in an interview with Townhall. “Stopping these projects is going to stop a lot of jobs from being created, but it’s not going significantly reduce global emissions.”

Excerpted from Townhall Magazine's June feature, "Watch Out for the Green Team," by Joel Gehrke. To read more of Gehrke's report, subscribe to Townhall Magazine today.

Does concealed carry belong in churches and schools? A trainer, a schoolteacher and security experts help provide answers to one of America’s hottest debates in the June issue of Townhall Magazine. Mark Kakkuri reports.

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"Suzanne,” a K-12 teacher in Detroit, Mich., entered the classroom. Students filed in and took their seats. In minutes the lecture would start, followed by a written exam and then a practical exam. Today, however, was a Saturday, and Suzanne was not the teacher, but the student. And this wasn’t her classroom, but that of Rick Ector, a certified instructor for those wishing to obtain a concealed pistol license in Michigan.

As Ector introduced himself and the topic of concealed carry, the discussion naturally turned to recent school shootings. Suzanne raised her hand, and Ector motioned for her to speak. She told the class she was a teacher and shared her concerns over security at her job.

“The school where I teach has almost identical safety measures that were in place at the Sandy Hook Elementary School,” she said. “Paltry measures, such as simply locking the front door, are inadequate because if a bad guy just bursts the door free or if an authorized visitor, such as parent, opens the door— the bad guy still has access.”

While Michigan does not allow concealed carry on school grounds— GOP Gov. Rick Snyder recently vetoed legislation that would have made this permissible—Suzanne said that if she were authorized, she would be willing to carry a handgun on the job.

She’s likely not alone.

In 2012, the FBI reported 19,592,303 National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) “checks,” a procedure that occurs every time a firearms dealer sells a firearm to make sure the buyer is not a felon and therefore ineligible to purchase a firearm. As of March 2013, the FBI reported 7,014,240 NICS checks, which puts 2013 on pace to surpass 2012’s total by more than 10 million. By comparison, the FBI in 2005 reported 8,952,945 checks. Although the NICS system cannot account for every firearm sale, it is often a key measure of such sales in the U.S.

Not only have firearms sales been increasing year after year, but also the number of those carrying concealed handguns has grown as well. Forty-nine of 50 states allow for some form of concealed carry—only Illinois does not— and a 2012 Government Accountability Office report says that as of Dec. 31, 2011, there were about 8 million active permits in the U.S. Prior to the GAO study, previous estimates put the number at around 7 million.

With gun ownership seemingly at historic levels as well as an unprecedented interest in concealed carry, “pro-gun” and “gun control” rhetoric has risen as well. Moreover, as the country acclimates to the nuances of increases in concealed carry—specifically, where guns may be legally carried concealed and where they may not—incidents of violence have drawn some of the debate to the concealed carry status for two key places: churches and schools.

Carrying concealed weapons in churches or schools demands careful consideration of multiple factors.

Brian Gallagher, founder of securityatchurch.com, an online portal devoted to providing church security tips and resources, says the most important issue related to individuals carrying guns at schools or places of worship is training.

“Just because a person is legally authorized to carry a weapon does not mean they have the proper training and judgment to use it during a emergency or crisis,” he says.

Excerpted from Townhall Magazine's June feature, "Does Concealed Carry Belong in Churches and Schools?," by Mark Kakkuri. To read more of Kakkuri's analysis, subscribe to Townhall Magazine today.

Hot questions, timely topics, timeless principles. Welcome to Townhall Magazine’s June 2013 issue! Check out an exclusive sneak peek of a few stories that made our pages, including part of our conversation with Thomas Sowell.

Order Townhall Magazine today for these can't-miss articles:

--*Cover Story*: In an exclusive interview with Townhall Assistant Editor Kate Hicks, Dr. Thomas Sowell breaks down one of the nation's most sensitive topics--race--and his latest new on the issue, titled "Intellectuals and Race." *Scroll down for an exclusive excerpt of the article!*

--“Does Concealed Carry Belong in Churches and Schools?”: A trainer, a schoolteacher and security experts help break down the issue. 

--"Watch Out for the Green Team": Obama seems poised to make his green agenda a top priority in this term. How far will his likely Cabinet go to make that happen?

--"Who's Afraid of Adoption?": Why hasn't adoption been elevated in the national pro-life vs. pro-abortion discussion?Townhall investigates the challenges of talking about adoption to women in crisis pregnancies—and how the pro-life community should be handling it.

--"Have You Met ... ”: Meet a representative who traded in a military uniform and FBI undercover work on Wall Street to serve in Congress.

Remember, our print features are generally 100 percent exclusive ... most won't run in full online!

Excerpted from Townhall Magazine's June cover story, "A Mind for All Seasons," by Kate Hicks:

In "Intellectuals and Race," Sowell defines “intellectuals” as “people whose work begins and ends with ideas.”

Yet he’s quick to point out that this is not a compliment: “[Intellectual] is an occupational designation, rather than an honorific title, and it implies nothing about the mental level of those in the occupation.” Indeed, the intellectuals in question throughout the book have propagated harebrained “theories” about race, ranging from eugenics in the 1930s to today’s affirmative action proponents.

“Intellectuals and Race” traces the history of those ideas, revealing the intelligentsia’s sordid affairs with entirely unscientific—yet eminently racist—concepts. Using actual data, Sowell then refutes the claims these intellectuals have made to justify their repugnant worldviews.

Despite the fact that Sowell’s personal experiences were not the driving force behind his exploration of how intellectuals have engaged race, his own story provides some anecdotal evidence to support his argument that multiculturalism has done more harm than good. Indeed, he is a veritable case study of the phenomena he discusses.

On its face, the world-renowned economist and author’s early life belies the incredible difference in circumstances he faced compared to today’s black youth. Born in North Carolina and raised in Harlem during the 1940s and 1950s, he tells Townhall the Harlem where he grew up looks very little like the Harlem of today.

“At one time years ago, people said that I was urging other blacks to follow in my footsteps, which was utter nonsense, because the things that were available to me are not available to them. In fact, that’s one of the problems,” he says. “I doubt very seriously whether a kid growing up in Harlem in the same place where I grew up will have half the opportunities to get ahead that I had. Just the pure deterioration of the public school system deprives him of that.”

It is partly due to the education system in place in his time that Sowell was able to succeed in ways unimaginable today, despite the fact that he dropped out of high school at 17. As he chronicles in his autobiography, “A Personal Odyssey,” he joined the Marine Corps, serving as a photographer in the Korean War, and eventually made his way to the hallowed Ivy League, graduating magna cum laude from Harvard in 1958. Master’s and doctorate degrees in economics from Columbia University and University of Chicago, respectively, followed.

Yet while Sowell pursued higher degrees and launched his storied career, multiculturalism was taking hold in his old neighborhood and black neighborhoods nationwide. Sowell points out that the trend did away with ability groupings in school and did more to foster a sense of anger toward any disadvantages kids may have, rather than cultivate the desire to overcome them. As Sowell himself studied for his doctorate, race riots were erupting in the streets. Sowell recounted to Townhall how his brother was present for an episode in Detroit.

“My older brother happened to be out there in those riots in, I think it was, 1968, … I heard he was out there asking the rioters, ‘Where are you going to shop after you burn down this man’s store?’ There’s no sense of what is politick in our family. It must be genetic,” he says.

....

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Some aren’t old enough to drive a car, or vote, or have even reached the designation of teenager. One survivor told of how girls were shown a horrific act perpetuated on one victim who tried to escape.

Yet it’s likely less than 1 percent of an estimated almost 21 million human trafficking victims worldwide are identified, according to Capitol Hill testimony given Tuesday by Bradley Myles, executive director and CEO of Polaris Project, a non-profit that combats human trafficking.

That was just one of several shocking statistics that came up in the hearing held by the Committee on Foreign Affairs, which focused on local and private sector initiatives to combat human trafficking.

Chairman Ed Royce said in his opening statement that some estimates put the number of American citizen children who are such victims within U.S. borders at 100,000. 

“These are not just faraway problems affecting the developing world,” Royce said.

Another witness at the hearing was Don Knabe, who is the Los Angeles County Supervisor for the Fourth District and has worked extensively on this issue. He talked about the average age of prostitution being between 12-13. He told the story of a probation officer who received word that a 10-year-old girl was taken into custody at 6 pm on a Tuesday for prostitution.

For gangs, explained Knabe, human trafficking ends up being more lucrative than the trafficking of drugs or guns, and safer—for the criminals.

The real-life horrors of forced human labor take many forms—from forced conscription of child soldiers to sexual servitude, as Royce discussed in his opening statement.

Fixing the problem requires overcoming multiple challenges in all facets of the process:

--One pressing difficulty is housing the victims. According to Knabe, the pimp is often waiting for a trafficked child, usually faced with a misdemeanor, outside the court after the minor is released. Finding safe housing for these children, however, is difficult. Sometimes the children end up in the juvenile hall, where another victim who still wants to be involved in the prostitution ring may snitch on their location. Poe mentioned a statistic from Myles’ organization which said last year there were only 1644 beds for trafficking victims in the U.S.

--Legislative hurdles: A key component revolves around treating children who have been trafficked as victims, rather than criminals because of the acts committed.  Myles said certain states are looking at changing laws to do just that, but he believes something such as a Sense of the Congress resolution would help the situation. Another legal hang-up is that prosecutors have to prove the sex trafficker knew the victim was a child.

--Public awareness: People have not yet comprehend such things are happening in their own communities.  While Knabe mentioned Los Angeles’ two major ports, airport, and proximity to the border, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois mentioned St. Louis and Chicago. Myles said communities need to be saturated with awareness of what trafficking is, how to spot it, and what to do when it’s discovered. Sometimes, law enforcement members are no more aware of this issue than the public.

--Federal problem: According to Royce and Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, there is also a struggle with the State Department to get them to accurately label some countries where trafficking may be a major issue.  “In the past 13 years, international peer pressure and the potential threat of U.S. sanctions have pushed many nations to try to avoid the stain of a ‘Tier 3’ designation in the State Department’s annual report, and more than 130 countries have enacted anti-trafficking laws,” Royce said. “The struggle that Chairman Chris Smith and I have had over the last few years is with the State Department and their lack of willingness – their lack of honesty in naming names and in putting on the Tier 3 list those countries that are involved.”

As the spotlight intensifies on these problems, however, there is also good work being done to combat the evils of human trafficking:

--One focus of Myles’ group has been anti-trafficking hotlines. One which they operate, the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline, has “fielded over 75,000 calls and played a role in identifying nearly 9,000 survivors of trafficking to date.”  Myles explained making sure people know about the anti-trafficking hotlines are a good way to reach victims (number available here).  One such hotline, a local one, was used by two Midwest girls who were conned to D.C. and forced into sex trafficking.  A police officer saw them, thought something was amiss, and gave them the hotline number the girls then used when the pimp was asleep.  Law enforcement was able to extract the girls from the situation, and they’re now doing well, according to Myles.

--There have also been successful collaborations with private enterprises.  Knabe mentioned how Clear Channel and Lamar Advertising gave over 100 billboards and 50 digital displays as part of a campaign in Los Angeles to raise awareness of sex trafficking.

--Another creation Knube detailed was the Collaborative Court: “Through the Court, we are able to provide the young girls with a victim-centered response team to help them with their physical and mental health issues, and to support them with housing, education and training services.” This was done through a federal grant.

Over time, the relationship between the establishment GOP and grassroots members has wilted more than a bouquet of roses after Valentine’s Day. November’s election results meant the return of a question that’s haunted American politics for several years: is a third party the way to go for those unhappy within the GOP? Or will such a split ensure the very causes these voters are fighting to promote will never become policy in D.C.? Two Townhall staffers, Guy Benson and Heather Ginsberg, step up to offer their personal cases for and against such a third party.

To read, subscribe to Townhall Magazine today.

In July 2012, Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, landed himself in hot water for uncharacteristically politically incorrect remarks. At a fundraiser in Jerusalem, Romney pointed out the economic disparity between Israel and the Palestinians. Geography could not explain it, but something else could; paraphrasing the economist David Landes, author of the influential “The Wealth and Poverty of Nations,” Romney said, “Culture makes all the difference.”

What happened next was about as inevitable as death and taxes. Romney was called a racist by the Palestinians and their supporters. Bizarre stories in The New York Times and Washington Post designed to make Romney look foolish had the reverse effect: the articles were so riddled with bias and ignorance about the Middle East it was hard to believe the reporters were willing to put their names on them. And Romney’s comments were without question correct: he simply repeated not only what economists and historians have concluded but what Arab intellectuals and educators have themselves said for decades.

The debate that raged on in the wake of his comments focused, perhaps understandably, on only the Palestinian side of the equation. That’s too bad, because just as the Jewish people believe they have a responsibility to be a “light among the nations” by keeping to exemplary moral and ethical behavior, so too does Israel have something to say on economic policy, having weathered the recent global financial crisis better than her Western colleagues and counterparts.

The debate that raged on in the wake of his comments focused, perhaps understandably, on only the Palestinian side of the equation. That’s too bad, because just as the Jewish people believe they have a responsibility to be a “light among the nations” by keeping to exemplary moral and ethical behavior, so too does Israel have something to say on economic policy, having weathered the recent global financial crisis better than her Western colleagues and counterparts.

This was illustrated perfectly in a February Washington Post profile of Stanley Fischer, who announced he will step down this year as the governor of Israel’s central bank. Fischer has attained heroic status in Israel, and the piece’s author, Dylan Matthews, was no less subtle, headlining his profile: “Stan Fischer saved Israel’s economy. Can he save America’s?” Fischer’s record withstands the scrutiny such claims draw: he by and large has earned his plaudits. And, in the end, it has been this mix of economic policy and culture that allowed Israel to flourish in a way somewhat foreign to its neighbors.

...

The stabilization program revolved around a successful plan to immediately and dramatically reduce the government deficit, rein in union wages and cut inflation. It worked and completely restructured the Israeli government’s approach to the economy by easing the regulatory state and giving the private sector much of the economic space previously clogged by the government. Because it decreased government expenditure, it also reduced the state’s dependence on foreign aid and other external sources of income. In the following years, other steps were taken to put the private sector on more equal footing with the government in regard to tax and investment rules.

The timing of the stabilization program was crucial—not only because the Israeli economy was spiraling fast but also because the fall of the Soviet Union would bring an influx of an enormous number of immigrants who could only be absorbed effectively by a healthy job market. As Ben-Bassat notes, between 1989— just before the mass immigration began—and 1996, Israel’s unemployment rate actually dropped 2.6 percentage points, an almost unbelievable statistic. (Ben-Bassat adds that the absorption of the immigrants was so successful it actually lowered unemployment among non-immigrants as well.)

The other element integral to the success of Israel’s economy is the high-tech sector. This is the core of the start-up nation, as evidenced by the book that coined the term, written by Dan Senor and Saul Singer in 2009. And this can be boiled down to the intersection of two factors: first, the risk-taking culture appropriately praised by Senor and Singer; and second, a pitch-perfect example of how necessity can be the mother of invention. It is Israel’s geopolitical predicament, for example, that convinced tech maven Shai Agassi of the need to develop electric cars as a feasible alternative that could make Israel energy independent and which led to the founding of the electric transport company Better Place in 2007. And learning how to recognize the web fingerprints of a potential terrorist while serving in the Israel Defense Forces enabled Shvat Shaked, founder of Fraud Sciences, to create pathbreaking e-commerce security software for PayPal. According to Rivlin, between 1995 and 2008 Israel’s high technology output increased 183.5 percent.

In 2010, Israel’s status as an elite, free market economy was confirmed with an invitation to join the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). While this puts the Jewish state in the top tier of world economies, the contrast with Israel’s immediate neighbors is especially striking. The World Economic Forum ranks Israel 26th in global competitiveness; Egypt comes in at 107, Jordan at 64, Lebanon at 91, and Syria—now disintegrating into violent collapse—isn’t included in the ranking at all. Israel’s bureaucracy may still be daunting, but Transparency International puts Israel in 39th place in its global corruption perceptions index; Egypt lands at number 118, Jordan at 58, Lebanon at 128, and Syria at 144. The International Monetary Fund puts Israel’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita at around $33,000 for 2012, Egypt’s around $3,000, Lebanon’s at a little over $11,000, and Jordan’s at slightly under $5,000.

Even among Israel’s OECD peers, her economic strength is apparent. Among Israeli adults aged 25-64, 80 percent have the equivalent of a high school degree—higher than the OECD average of 74 percent. Average personal financial wealth in Israel is at $47,750, well above the OECD average of $36,238. Life expectancy at birth in Israel is approximately 82, which is two years more than the OECD average. Given these numbers, it shouldn’t be too surprising that Israelis work more and longer hours than the OECD average. The willingness to work those long hours may have something to do with the fact that Israel—a country with a population of under 8 million—has more companies listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange than every country except the U.S. and China.

There is one more piece to the story of Israel’s “economic miracle,” as Senor and Singer term it. In between the grand 1985 economic stabilization plan and Fischer’s deft monetary policy that shielded Israel from the worst of the global downturn in 2008, there was a major economic achievement led by Benjamin Netanyahu in 2003....

Excerpted from Townhall Magazine's May feature, "Israel: Beating the Economic Odds," by Seth Mandel. To read more of Mandel's analysis, subscribe to Townhall Magazine today.

A collection of officials including the colonel superidendent of the Massachusetts state police, Gov. Deval Patrick, and Mayor Thomas Menino just gave a brief press conference with relatively few updates on the current situation regarding the Boston marathon suspect #2. They took no questions.

The stay in doors request for the public continues unchanged for the time being.

The colonel superidentent of the Massachusetts state police said they were progressing through the neighborhood door-to-door, street-to-street. Sixty to 70 percent of what they wanted to cover had been covered at the time of the press conference.

They also said more leads have just developed, and there will be a briefing hopefully again later today.

They also announced that, this afternoon, there will be a controlled explosion over in Cambridge, done out of abundance of caution and for safety of law enforcement officials there who need to search.

Information coming out of Boston has been fast, furious, and often incorrect. Here's what we know:

--The FBI began releasing photos of two suspects (this was yesterday). (Townhall)

--Two suspects in the Boston marathon bombing have been identified "by law enforcement officials and family members" as Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. (AP)

--The first suspect has died. That is confirmed, but the details still need clarification. This ABC story says he was killed after "exchanging gunfire" with police: "Officials at Beth Israel Hospital reported they received one patient who later died, but would not confirm it was the first suspect. That patient came in under guard and had suffered blast, shrapnel and so many gunshot wounds that caregivers were 'unable to count' them." (ABC)

--Unfortunately, an MIT police officer, Sean Collier, has also died because of the suspects. (ABC)

As far as additional information, that's where it gets sticky. This story, for example, paints an odd picture of the older brother, whose uncle said he called the uncle on Thursday to ask for forgiveness. He also reportedly complimented the uncle for "keeping up with his Muslim prayers." But apparently, the uncle had to get the full story from the news:

Alvi Tsarnaev only learned that his nephew was a suspect, shot dead, in the news Friday morning.

"Killing innocent people, I cannot forgive that," he said. "It's crazy. I don't believe it now even. How can I forgive this?"

There's also reports that Suspect 1 assaulted his girfriend. (Foreign Policy)

--Another uncle, clearly irate, gave a press conferece calling for the second suspect to turn himself in (note: story has been updated to clarify that there were two uncles--initially I thought they were the same).

Hot questions, timely topics, timeless principles. Welcome to Townhall Magazine’s May 2013 issue! Check out an exclusive sneak peek of a few stories that made our pages by scrolling down below.

Order Townhall Magazine today for these additional can't-miss topics:

--“A Force for Good: Guns and the Economy”: What effect does the gun industry have on both the U.S. economy and economies worldwide? Will D.C. sabotage this relationship? Katie Pavlich investigates.

--"Is There Room for a Third Party?": Would a third party help on the Right in American politics?  Two Townhall staffers debate and offer the cases for and against.

--"Israel: Beating the Economic Odds": Israel’s economic prowess currently stands in stark contrast to its neighbors. How did a country now labeled an ‘economic miracle’ manage to beat the odds?  

--10 Game Show Titles That Fit the Obama Administration”: From “The Weakest Link” to “Let’s Make a Deal,” the past four years have made this list an easy sell.

--*Cover Story*: Conservatives empower women to choose the toughest job of all, and so we’ve set out to accomplish what so few people are willing to do these days: defend mom.  The nine women we profile in “Defending Mom” have been world-class ambassadors for all facets of motherhood and show espousing conservative ideals doesn’t put limits on what women can accomplish.

Remember, our print features are generally 100 percent exclusive ... most won't run in full online!

Excerpted from Townhall Magazine's May cover story, "Defending Mom," by the Townhall staff:

As conservatives, we know these women as leaders in our communities, heroines in our culture, and most likely veterans of epic battles on topics ranging from curfews to cash. But we’re here to recognize their most important job of all—one that’s so obviously important it shouldn’t require a defense, yet needs one against the constant barrage of attacks from cultural and political spheres: motherhood. Not only have the women we’ve profiled below been world-class ambassadors for all facets of motherhood, they show espousing conservative ideals doesn’t put limits on what women can accomplish. You see, conservatives believe motherhood is as empowering as any top job at a Fortune 500 company. So as we prepare to celebrate Mother’s Day, this is our thanks to the women who have unapologetically taken on the toughest job in the world: being a mom.

Nikki Haley-"Military Moms"

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, is a rising star in the Republican Party and cognizant of the path that’s led her there.

“Almost 45 years after my parents fi rst became Americans,” she declared at the 2012 Republican National Convention, “I stand before you and them tonight as the proud governor of South Carolina.”

But public service isn’t the only way the Haley family is giving back to the country they love. In January, the Palmetto State governor said goodbye to her husband, Michael—a captain in the South Carolina National Guard—as he departed for the first stage of a year-long deployment that will eventually take him to Afghanistan.

“We are a proud military family who understands the sacrifi ces any family goes through when a loved one is serving his or her country,” she wrote on her Facebook page that day. “This is what our men and women in uniform sign up for, and although Michael, like his brothers and sisters, is looking forward to his mission, we will miss him while he’s away.”

Haley and her husband have two young children: son Nalin and daughter Rena, ages 10 and 14, respectively. One can only imagine how difficult it must be both running a state government and raising two kids alone while a spouse is serving overseas. In doing so, Haley embodies that longstanding American tradition that public service and motherhood need not be mutually exclusive, and that tremendous accomplishments are still possible through hard work and sacrifice.

....

Rachel Campos-Duffy— “Moms as Culture Warriors”

Rachel Campos-Duffy—mother, wife of a sitting congressman, author and former reality-TV star—has made the transition from entertainment to family life look desirable. She and husband Sean have six children, one of whom was born during the middle of Sean’s congressional campaign.

At-home motherhood was something Rachel says she fell into, thinking she was merely between gigs. When she lost out to Elisabeth Hasselbeck in the finals of “The View” co-host auditions, however, she found herself oddly elated. She still finds time to take on various projects, including occasional appearances on “The Today Show” and her current role with the Libre Initiative, an organization that promotes economic empowerment and opportunity for Hispanics. And while there aren’t many women who would choose to stand up to Beyonce and Michelle Obama in the same breath, Rachel wasn’t scared to write an article recently criticizing the first lady’s praise of Beyonce for her Super Bowl halftime performance, which was the opposite of family-friendly.

Despite what outsiders may say looking at her resume, Rachel adheres to the belief that women can’t have it all.

“It just doesn’t do women a service to pretend like you can,” she said. “I think that there are choices that we make, and that we’re really fortunate to live in a time when we’re able to make those choices, whatever they are.”

While she encourages young women to “passionately pursue” education, dreams, and all opportunities, she also tells them not to be afraid of keeping their focus on things that last.

“When your heart calls you to tend to those things that make life worth living— love, a good marriage, happy children— don’t be afraid to slow down or jump off the train,” Rachel said. “Ignore the scolds who say you can’t jump back on. You can. And you’ll be better for it.”

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Leigh Anne Tuohy--"Adoption Advocates"

In “The Blind Side,” Sandra Bullock portrayed her in an Oscarwinning role on the big screen. Four years later, she watched her son become a real-life Super Bowl champion with the Baltimore Ravens. And her story all started with a simple act of generosity that brought a stranger into her home.

Leigh Anne Tuohy is a confident and successful woman whose choice to adopt and support a shy homeless teenager eventually made her an unexpected celebrity and a fierce public advocate for adoption.

Leigh Anne overcame negative feedback from observers to help raise Michael Oher, a homeless African-American student. When the mother of two met Oher, he didn’t have a place to call home. He didn’t really have much of anything, actually. He was, according to the Telegraph website, “one of 13 children of a crack-addict mother” who “never had a book read to him” and “had never celebrated his birthday.” But Leigh Anne and her husband Sean invited Oher into their home and changed his life.

Now that Oher has become a professional football star, Leigh Anne and Sean have used their time in the spotlight to promote adoption and caring for the less fortunate. In 2010, according to Tuohy’s website, the couple released a book called “In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving.” They also founded The Making it Happen Foundation, “which promotes awareness, provides hope and improves standards of living for all the children fighting to survive in the invisible cracks in society.”

Although Leigh Anne didn’t plan this life, she knew that God had pointed her in the right direction. In an interview with HLN, she noted, “[W]e didn’t have an agenda to drive down the street and fi nd a young man to adopt. It was God-given, but we don’t think it was by accident.” She added that she was “working on a new TV show that looks at the foster care and adoption world.”

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