Peggy Noonan over at the Wall Street Journal (subscribers only; HT to Kevin Clarke at America) warns that the Obama's administration's contraception mandate has awoken a "sleeping giant": "The church is split on many things. But do Catholics in the pews want the government telling their church to contravene its beliefs?

Crete is thirty miles south of Chicago. I used to pass through it on the way to the Claretian’s high school seminary. It is a small, rather rural community, intent on maintaining its small town character as the Chicago megalopolis creeps south. Already it is joined into a congressional district represented by Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. of Chicago.

"At a time when it’s easy to lose ourselves in the rush and clamor of our own lives, or get caught up in the noise and rancor that too often passes as politics today, these moments of prayer slow us down. These moments of prayer slow us down. They humble us.

As we kick off February, the big news story now making the rounds this afternoon is the announcement of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta that the U.S. combat role in Afghanistan will end as early as the middle of next year.Another big story that broke late in the day yesterday is the announcement that Susan G. Komen for the Cure will no longer fund Planned Parenthood's breast cancer screenings.