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Anti-abortion group says Palin ‘walks her talk’

(CNN) — The question has long been posed to conservative male candidates during presidential campaigns: What would you do if your teen daughter became pregnant? Most dodge the question, saying their family lives are off-limits.

But Sarah Palin’s announcement Monday that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant — and she supports her daughter — shows that the Alaska governor is steadfast in her support of family values, GOP loyalists and anti-abortion groups say.

She walks her talk. She has principles that she espouses, and she does not set herself apart from those principles, said Serrin Foster, the president of Feminists for Life of America.

You oftentimes see people who do not follow their own policies when it comes to themselves. And in this case, fortunately, she does.

Foster’s organization describes itself as a group that promotes women’s rights with a pro-life stance. Palin, Sen. John McCain’s running mate, is a member of Feminists for Life. Watch McCain aide defend Palin

Foster praised Palin for not only coming forward with the information but also for standing by her daughter during such a time.

She’s made some tough and courageous decisions and has not shied away from following her beliefs, she told CNN in a phone interview. It’s plausible a politician in a similar situation could have hidden the pregnancy.

Palin on Monday revealed that her daughter Bristol is pregnant and will marry the baby’s father, adding that she and her husband are proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents.

Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said, Fortunately, Bristol is following her mother and father’s example of choosing life in the midst of a difficult situation.

NARAL Pro-Choice America has blasted Palin as McCain’s vice presidential pick, saying it proves just how rigid and extreme his administration would be when it comes to a woman’s right to choose.

McCain’s pick of anti-choice Sarah Palin is further evidence that his White House will be just another four years of Bush-style policies, NARAL president Nancy Keenan said in a statement Friday.

CNN sought comment from the group Tuesday, but those calls have not been returned.

Palin has long opposed abortion. According to the Anchorage Daily News, Palin told the Alaska Right to Life Board in 2002 that she was as pro-life as any candidate can be and has adamantly supported our cause since I first understood, as a child, the atrocity of abortion.

In 2006, during the race for governor of Alaska, she reiterated that belief in a questionnaire sent to all gubernatorial candidates.

I am pro-life. With the exception of a doctor’s determination that the mother’s life would end if the pregnancy continued. I believe that no matter what mistakes we make as a society, we cannot condone ending an innocent’s life, she said.

In that same questionnaire, she was asked if she supported funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of explicit sex-education programs.

The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support, she said.

It is that response that lit up abortion rights blogs after Monday’s announcement. Others took McCain to task for his vice presidential pick.

Democratic analyst Hilary Rosen said Palin’s stance on abortion could turn off many independent voters, especially women.

The issue is what kinds of decisions they think they have the right to make for other people’s families, Rosen told CNN. And that’s where Sarah Palin and John McCain are going to fall short with independent women and others, because people respect people’s own personal decisions, but they want the government to stay out of their lives.

And Sarah Palin’s position is pretty clear. The government should make the decisions. It should be illegal to make your own personal choices.

Foster with the anti-abortion group Feminists for Life defended Palin, saying teen pregnancy is an issue faced by many Americans from all walks of life.

I know people who have been stay-at-home moms whose teenage daughters have gotten pregnant. I don’t think the issue is to stay at home, she said. The question is once they’re pregnant, then what.

She added, It’s when things aren’t going perfect and planned you see what people are really made of.

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Campaigners urge fake fur for palace guards

LONDON, England (CNN) — Animal rights campaigners were holding a meeting Tuesday with Britain’s Ministry of Defence to argue against the use of bearskin in the iconic furry headgear worn by royal guards at Buckingham Palace.

Robbie LeBlanc, European director for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), was meeting with Ann Taylor, the minister for defense equipment and support, the defense ministry said.

We are hoping that they will switch to a humane synthetic alternative, a PETA spokeswoman said.

PETA has been campaigning for years against the use of bearskin in the headgear, a familiar symbol of London worn by the guards who keep watch over royal buildings like Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. The hats are part of the footguards’ ceremonial dress, along with the bright red jackets.

PETA says the bears used to produce the fur hats are killed cruelly and unnecessarily.

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Google unveils free browser Chrome

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) — Google Inc. is releasing its own Web browser in a long-anticipated move aimed at countering the dominance of Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer and ensuring easy access to its market-leading search engine.

The Mountain View, California-based company took the unusual step of announcing its latest product on the Labor Day holiday after it prematurely sent out a comic book drawn up to herald the new browser’s arrival.

The free browser, called Chrome, is supposed to be available for downloading Tuesday in more than 100 countries for computers running on Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Google said it’s still working on versions compatible with Apple Inc.’s Mac computer and the Linux operating system.

Google’s browser is expected to hit the market a week after Microsoft’s unveiling of a test version of its latest browser update, Internet Explorer 8. The tweaks include more tools for Web surfers to cloak their on-line preferences, creating a shield that could make it more difficult for Google and other marketing networks to figure out which ads are most likely to appeal to which individuals.

Although Google is using a cartoonish approach to promote Chrome, the new browser underscores the gravity of Google’s rivalry with Microsoft, whose Internet Explorer is used by about 75 percent of Web surfers.

Google’s lead in the lucrative Internet search market is nearly as commanding, with its engine processing nearly two-thirds of the Web’s queries.

For the past few years, Google has been trying to take advantage of its search engine’s popularity to loosen Microsoft’s grip on how most people interact with personal computers.

The assault so far has been focused on a bundle of computer programs, including word processing and spreadsheet applications, that Google offers as an alternative to one of Microsoft’s biggest money makers, its Office suite of products.

Google has tried to make its alternatives more appealing and accessible by hosting them for free over Internet connections instead of requiring users to pay a licensing fee to install them on individual computers, as Microsoft typically does.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has tried to thwart Google by investing billions in the development of its own search engine and making an unsuccessful attempt to buy Yahoo Inc. for $47.5 billion.

The tensions between Microsoft and Google now seem likely to escalate with Google’s foray into Web browsing.

Until now, Google had been trying to undermine Internet Explorer by supporting Firefox, a Web browser developed by the open-source Mozilla Foundation. Bolstered by an advertising partnership with Google’s search engine, Firefox ranks as the second most popular browser, with a market share of more than 10 percent. Google recently extended its advertising alliance with Firefox through 2011.

Bearing the stamp of Google’s renowned brand, Chrome could be an even more formidable rival to Explorer.

Still, Google’s name is no guarantee of success. For instance, Google’s instant messaging service has not come close to catching up to the market-leading products made by Yahoo, Microsoft and Time Warner Inc.’s AOL.

In a blog post Monday, Google touted Chrome as a more sophisticated Web browser better suited for displaying the dynamic and interactive content blossoming on the Web as people migrate from television, radio and newspapers.

The Web gets better with more options and innovation, Sundar Pichai, Google’s vice president of product management, and Linus Upson, Google’s engineering director, wrote in the posting. Google Chrome is another option, and we hope it contributes to making the Web even better.

Microsoft brushed aside the threat posed by Google in a statement Monday from Dean Hachamovitch, Internet Explorer’s general manager.

The browser landscape is highly competitive, but people will choose Internet Explorer 8 for the way it puts the services they want right at their fingertips … and, more than any other browsing technology, puts them in control of their personal data on-line, Hachamovitch said.

Even as it has backed Firefox, Google has openly fretted about the possible ramifications of Microsoft’s huge lead in Web browsing.

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Thai PM declares state of emergency in capital

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) — Thailand’s Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has declared a state of emergency in Bangkok in the wake of brutal anti-government protests, state television said Tuesday.

Demonstrations to oust the prime minister have erupted in recent weeks, prompting Sundaravej to call Sunday for an emergency parliamentary session.

The terms of the state of emergency were read over state television. The government mandate overrides the country’s constitution and allows the army to be in charge of enforcing laws.

Among other things, the emergency order forbids public gatherings of more than five people and bans the media from publishing or broadcasting images that would panic the public.

Led by the People’s Alliance for Democracy, the demonstrators claim that Samak’s administration is a proxy for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in 2006.

The alliance contends Samak is trying to amend the constitution so Thaksin does not have to face charges. Thaksin returned to England this month, just as he was to appear in court in a corruption case. Watch striking anti-government workers halt Bangkok transport

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Concerns about New Orleans-area levee ease

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) — Efforts to bolster a private New Orleans-area levee that had been in danger of failing because of Hurricane Gustav appeared to be working Monday night, the president of a parish said.

We have stopped the bleeding and I am very encouraged by what we are seeing, said Plaquemines Parish President Bill Nungesser.

While water came over the top of other levees along the Mississippi River, the barriers were holding against the battering waves that Gustav brought to southeastern Louisiana.

The private levee near Braithwaite, about 20 miles down the Mississippi from New Orleans, was the focus of concern after several small cracks were reported. Water also had been coming over the top of the barrier.

Sheriff’s deputies, firefighters, jail inmates and parish crews, backed up by a front-end loader, spent much of Monday afternoon piling dirt and sandbags in front of a bright blue floodgate that was leaking water.

By Monday night, water levels had fallen some but crews continued the sandbagging effort, Nungesser said.

The structure runs along the Caernarvon Diversion, separating it from communities such as Braithwaite and Scarsdale.

About 300 to 400 homes are in the area, on the east bank of the Mississippi near the St. Bernard Parish line. Nungesser said he did not know how many people remained there despite warnings to leave. iReport.com: Gustav pounds Gulf Coast far and wide

The low-lying parish near the mouth of the Mississippi was heavily damaged during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Parish officials have tried to get the federal government to take the private levee into their system for several years, Nungesser said. In the meantime, he said, the parish raised the levee 2 feet and planted grass on top of it to prevent erosion.

Obviously, 2 feet was not enough, but that’s as high as we were able to raise it, he said.

Gustav made landfall about 10:30 a.m. Monday near the coastal town of Cocodrie, Louisiana, roughly 80 miles southwest of New Orleans.

In New Orleans, Gustav drove sheets of water over the protective levees around New Orleans’ Industrial Canal early Monday afternoon, but the walls appeared to have held as the winds faded. See where the water was coming over levees Up to 6 feet of water spilled into an industrial park in the Upper 9th Ward of New Orleans at one point late Monday morning, pouring through small gaps in the concrete flood walls before receding in the afternoon.

Wind-whipped whitecaps curled over the top of the flood walls near the Claiborne Avenue railroad bridge while others poured across the levee in the Gentilly neighborhood, north of downtown.

As the storm eased, inspectors from the Army Corps of Engineers and parish levee boards went out to check on the earthen walls and have found nothing to raise alarms, said Col. Greg Gunter, a Corps of Engineers spokesman.

The levees all held up, said New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. I was hoping that this would happen — that we would be able to stand before America and before everyone and say we had some success with the levee system.

But Nagin noted that the results only show the city’s ability to withstand a Category 2 storm. He urged the federal and state governments to commit to completing the levee system’s improvements as soon as possible.

The Industrial Canal levee failed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, devastating the Lower 9th Ward and neighboring St. Bernard Parish. The storm breached three levees and left more than three quarters of the city under water.

A levee re-engineering and rebuilding project began after Katrina, but it is not scheduled to be complete until 2011.

Among the improvements are concrete splash pads on the protected sides, meant to prevent the earthen levee from eroding around the base of the concrete flood walls that sit atop them. During Katrina, water pouring over the tops of some of the flood walls ate away at the levee beneath, causing the structures to fail.

We’re confident of those structures, although it’s still very dangerous any time you’re getting wave overwash like that, and wind and wave continue to press against those walls, said Maj. Gen. Don Riley, director of civil works for the Army Corps of Engineers. I think we’re confident in resilience of these new flood walls.

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