The good news yesterday--and it was good news---is that the Bush Administration announced its "conscience protection" rule for the healthcare industry. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt put it simply and accurately: "This rule protects the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord with their conscience." It was published in the Federal Register today.

In a preamble to the rule, Leavitt expressed his concern about "an environment in sectors of the healthcare field that is intolerant of individual objections to abortion or individual religious beliefs or moral convictions."

The rule affirms "the right of federally funded health care providers to decline to participate in services to which they object, such as abortion," a press release from HHS made clear.

The bad news yesterday--and it was very bad--is the passing of Paul Weyrich. Anyone who has been in Washington the past three decades knew Weyrich or at least knew of him. In any biography, at the top of his accomplishments is the founding of the Heritage Foundation in 1973 and later the Free Congress Foundation. Both provided intellectual resources of the first order.

Paul Weyrich

Weyrich, a passionate, fiery pro-lifer, had been in ill-health for a number of years. He was only 66.

Although I only met him a handful of times, I must have heard his name a million times. He was the ultimate "networker." Virtually everyone I know in Washington, DC, has attended one or another of his many forums.

Weyrich was, shall we say, blunt. But his intensity was matched by the loyalty that he inspired, even among those who were on the receiving end of his impassioned critiques.

Oddly enough, one of the most telling tributes came at the conclusion of a piece that appears today in the Washington Post, not exactly a big fan of Weyrich's.

"Although in constant pain, Weyrich remained actively committed to his cause through his last days, speaking on a panel before new members of Congress last week and writing letters of encouragement to fellow conservatives adrift in the political wilderness after the election of President-elect Barack Obama," wrote Elaine Woo. "If he felt lost, it did not show. He continued to write a column on the website of the Free Congress Foundation: His latest piece, published Thursday, the day of his death, was titled 'The Next Conservatism.'"

Our prayers go out to Joyce, his wife of 45 years, their five children, and 13 grandchildren.

Part Two -- Give a NRL News Gift Subscriptions