The story of Star Parker is a stunning chronicle of how she left the seductive life of drugs, crime, abortions and welfare abuse through the power of the Gospel to become a leading advocate for the family. She is at the forefront of the Christian conservative movement to motivate and lead others away from the lies of the culture to a life full of grace and truth. Star Parker is the founder and president of CURE, the Coalition on Urban Renewal & Education, a 501c3 non-profit think tank that provides a national voice of reason on issues of race and poverty - in the media, inner city neighborhoods, and public policy. In addition to heading CURE, and its network of inner city clergy nationwide, Star is a syndicated columnist for Scripps Howard News Service, offering weekly op-eds to more than 400 newspapers worldwide. As a social policy consultant, Star Parker gives regular testimony before the United States Congress, and is a national expert on major television and radio shows across the country. Currently, Star is a regular commentator on C-Span, MSNBC, and FOX News. She has debated Jesse Jackson on BET; fought for school choice on Larry King Live; and defended welfare reform on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Star Parker's personal transformation from welfare fraud to conservative crusader has been chronicled by ABC's 20/20; Rush Limbaugh; Readers Digest; Dr. James Dobson; The 700 Club; Dr. George Grant; the Washington Times; Christianity Today; Charisma, and World Magazine. Articles and quotes by Star have appeared in major publications including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and The New York Times. Recently she co-hosted an episode of The View with Barbara Walters, and her testimony went around the world on the television show of the Reverend Billy Graham. Star has written three books, "Pimps, Whores, and Welfare Brats" (1996), "Uncle Sam's Plantation" (2003), and "White Ghetto" (2006), works in Washington, DC, resides in Southern California and has a beautiful two year old grandson, Mr. James. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker http://media.townhall.com/TownHall/icons/TH-feed-icon-128x128.gif http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker TownHall.com, Where your opinion counts. 128 Copyright (c) 2009 Townhall.com, A Salem Communications Web. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED jim.dearras@townhall.com (Jim De Arras) Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:00:09 GMT Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:00:09 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ President Barack Obama has signed into law the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Actually, he signed into law the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act tacked onto which was the hate crimes legislation. Sen. Harry Reid,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/11/02/new_hate_crimes_law_is_a_mistake caa02499-4a77-49ee-a703-e5a2fd4983ba Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:00:09 GMT Nobel prize winning economist F.A.Hayek called socialism "the fatal conceit." Why conceit? Because socialism's basic premise, according to Hayek, is that "man is able to shape the world around him according to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/10/26/the_health_care_fatal_conceit 2ce83763-5179-4c0c-b51e-727e6708b134 Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:32:42 GMT DeMaurice Smith, NFL Players Association chief, urged the league to nix Rush Limbaugh's participation in a consortium to buy the St Louis Rams. Buying Al Sharpton's hype that Limbaugh is a racist, Smith whined that... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/10/19/al_sharpton,_todays_orval_faubus 4390b0a6-7e3b-4dad-8555-6e665232dac2 Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:00:10 GMT The latest installment of "change we can believe in" is sweeping reform of the financial services industry. Central to proposed Democrat reforms is the establishment of a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. This... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/10/12/consumers_need_protection_--_from_government 84a9528d-028d-49ab-a374-5ca57252f48d Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:01:00 GMT The ACORN scandal shows that if Congress wants to act, it can. Within weeks of Fox airing videos of a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute being advised by ACORN "community organizers" on how to evade taxes and... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/10/05/outrage_over_acorn,_but_not_abortion d7c0b21c-a7a3-4c34-9695-c6acf8d7508f Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:22:49 GMT In an interview with Newsmax, former president Bill Clinton offered good advice to Republicans. He said Republicans need to shake off the "party of no" image and get positive. Clinton raised the Republican's 1994... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/09/28/huckabee_shows_republicans_the_way bfec7cc8-e246-4188-82d9-ffed6667bb72 Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:00:53 GMT The Democrats have lost the health care debate. For months now, polls have been showing that Americans don't want the massive new government controls, regulations, taxes, and spending that Democrats are... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/09/21/why_were_talking_about_race_-_again 65fc846e-3e27-4d1a-8983-1c06a3eceef7 Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:00:22 GMT Americans of all political persuasions agree that the nation has problems. Big problems. And here's where we all part company. The political left, who now control our government, thinks we need more government -- a... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/09/14/some_blacks_now_have_doubts_about_obama b9006d8b-36b1-45c0-8fd0-e2b0e37a78a6 Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:01:00 GMT An essay that appeared in Science magazine back in the 1960's explains clearly and concisely the self-destructive path we're on in our country today. The essay, "The Tragedy of the Commons", showed how individuals,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/09/07/our_tragedy_of_the_commons dcdf2897-55a1-4fd7-a86d-44423bb12a67 Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:01:00 GMT Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin missed a great opportunity to personally kick off an issue of enormous importance to her state and to the nation. She was scheduled to appear with me at an Alaska Family Council event... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/08/31/a_time_for_truth_on_abortion b29a57f2-b656-464a-9c8d-3211039760ed Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:00:09 GMT President Obama took his case for what he now calls "health insurance reform" to the faith community. He made his pitch in a phone call, also broadcast over the Internet, to clergy who called in and logged on from... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/08/24/health_care_struggle_is_about_freedom 090b2a7c-d60a-45cc-a801-3312c41ae044 Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:01:00 GMT Barack Obama won the presidency under the persona of healer. He promised to unify a divided nation and said how he would do this. He'd put ideology aside and solve problems. And he'd bring new open, bipartisan... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/08/17/democrats_bait_and_switch 13fd44d5-1938-4358-bce4-b69bc18898ca Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:00:14 GMT President Obama is a clever and ambitious man. And he has surrounded himself with a clever and ambitious staff. This bright crew understood from the outset that time would determine if they would succeed with their... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/08/09/obamacare_meets_twitter c9655ccc-2d69-46cf-9853-4e74e3644191 Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:57:50 GMT Barack Obama billed his White House beer summit Thursday to discuss the altercation between the black Harvard professor and the white policeman as a "teachable moment." But, unfortunately, I'd doubt that the real... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/08/02/beer_summit_should_have_been_about_freedom 1df89ce2-123b-4a91-8f9b-e9be4fc730f3 Sun, 02 Aug 2009 21:46:57 GMT "America, America, God shed His grace on thee." Many demoralized souls felt over recent months that this famous appeal in "America the Beautiful" had been falling on deaf ears. But we've had a miracle. The... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/07/27/abortion_is_not_health_care d2294b4e-2ec0-4726-b0ea-afcf7fafd4a5 Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:00:01 GMT What is now being billed as health care reform is but the latest chapter in a process I described in an earlier column as "Back on Uncle Sam's Plantation." Rather than moving dysfunctional America off the welfare... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/07/20/government_health_care_plantation_looms b3e23069-7500-4211-b232-f70de11f2236 Mon, 20 Jul 2009 04:00:05 GMT I don't know if Sarah Palin intends to run for president in 2012. Certainly, resigning her job as Alaska's governor is a politically unconventional way of doing it. But whereas pundits have now almost uniformly... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/07/13/palins_audacity_of_the_unconventional b1c4f5ca-37db-4f1b-b30e-32027561484c Mon, 13 Jul 2009 04:00:02 GMT President Obama hosted a reception at the White House celebrating LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Pride month. Black Christians should take note and learn a few things about our black President. As they... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/07/06/when_color_trumps_christianity fb5c165e-565c-47fc-bd2f-fd99b0492676 Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:00:59 GMT When I've been asked whom I thought could be the individual to lead the Republican Party out of the wilderness, my answer has always been Mark Sanford. His vision for his party and his country -- traditional values and... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/06/29/is_this_the_end_for_mark_sanford e6b9c971-2523-48fa-babd-86c6ecb39d39 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:00:59 GMT The Democrats' health care initiative reminds me of the joke about the Boy Scout fighting on a street corner with an old lady. When a passerby asked what was going on, the scout said, "I'm trying to help her across the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/06/22/the_uninsured_a_bogus_excuse_for_trillions_in_new_welfare_spending 5d732785-1d25-4f82-aeb1-58fa953049ed Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:00:13 GMT President Obama wants health care reform this year. He said at a town hall meeting the other day that he won't tolerate "endless delay" and that we probably won't reform health care if we don't do it this... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/06/15/obama_fast_tracking_the_nanny_state 006eafe4-05df-4778-b097-ee3014dc7c1f Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:00:23 GMT An incensed Andrew Sullivan -- homosexual journalist and activist -- told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper the other night that Barack Obama is ducking the "core civil rights challenge of his time." For once, I find... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/06/08/the_civil_rights_challenge_of_our_time 6ec6244a-bdb0-4b92-8d16-bdf98e7f3b20 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:00:38 GMT Want to know what troubles our American health care system? Consider the thoughts of psychiatrist and Nazi death camp survivor Viktor Frankl. After spending time in our country as a visiting professor, he saw the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/06/01/rights,_responsibilites_and_health_care 3b5badc0-a8dc-476a-b817-d145cea32070 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 04:00:37 GMT Four Republicans -- Senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Richard Burr of North Carolina along with Congressmen Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Devin Nunes of California -- have fired the first salvo in the great health care... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/05/24/no_thanks_to_government_health_care_plantation 99749f95-6a84-4ebb-9881-53ab9898c24a Sun, 24 May 2009 23:48:28 GMT In a letter to the 2009 graduating class of Notre Dame, Father John Jenkins, the university's president, explains why he is "proud" to have President Barack Obama speak and be honored at his university. Let's put... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/05/17/moral_relativism_and_obama_at_notre_dame e313b615-28c8-4d4b-bd0b-f3bea35ab91a Sun, 17 May 2009 16:00:29 GMT The columns are all over the place, and all the analyses seem to be the same. The Republican Party is supposedly deader than a doornail. Except in a handful of states in mid-America and in the South, Americans,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/05/11/republicans_need_washingtons,_not_specters 4aa7090d-dc60-4276-b5c5-09bc722a61c2 Mon, 11 May 2009 04:00:38 GMT Listening to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, we get a sense of the "new capitalism" that our new Democratic leadership tells us America needs. Frank recently praised... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/05/04/welcome_to_the_new_capitalism 95e2284e-6113-4448-a695-946966ffff8c Mon, 04 May 2009 04:00:44 GMT Barack Obama's obvious comfort level with leaders of un-free countries shouldn't surprise anyone. He is not only our first black president. He is also our first president who doesn't like the free country he was elected... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/04/27/obama_middle_east_policy_shows_change_in_values 74079fb8-4af0-46c8-89af-4e069ca0f087 Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:00:23 GMT There are some today who suggest that Christian conservatism as a political force is over. Those who make this claim point to the fact that liberal Democrats now control the White House and both houses of congress,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/04/13/christian_conservatism_just_getting_started 2af09281-8d4b-43ac-9105-19bc1d5912fc Mon, 13 Apr 2009 04:00:41 GMT The Congressional Budget Office, the economic forecasting arm of the Congress, now reports that the Social Security trust fund is almost in the red. They project that the fund's surplus next year will be a scant $3... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/04/06/embracing_our_future_by_ignoring_our_past d9c51213-875c-45d8-8543-a8e2ef4ac056 Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:00:21 GMT The National Urban League has just issued its annual State of Black America report. It provides a troubling statistical snapshot of where blacks stand today in our country. Like Marc Morial, president of the National... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/03/30/gospel_of_dependence_from_national_urban_league 0b45b05e-77ed-45a0-93f7-7a03ff37a057 Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:00:26 GMT It says something about the dismal state of affairs in our country today by what outrages folks. Sure, if we want to portray business as the root of our economic ills, outrage about executives getting bonuses at a... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/03/23/weve_legalized_theft_in_america 46e03851-9fba-42be-9fdc-b6f09ecf66f2 Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:00:56 GMT From what I see, the Republican National Committee representatives who picked Michael Steele as their new chairman made a mistake. I think Steele ought to step aside. It pains me to say it. But it pains me more to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/03/16/time_for_steele_to_go_as_rnc_chair 53cccba7-c134-4539-ba86-23aeaa713e6a Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:00:46 GMT Blacks are not given enough credit for being trendsetters in America. Blacks started playing the blues, jazz, and R&B, then the rest of America started playing them. Blacks discovered the politics of victimhood, then... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/03/09/inner_cities_a_snapshot_of_americas_future 1f1b0afd-a030-48fe-b879-c54d28bcbd18 Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:07:40 GMT I share President Obama's concerns about education. We certainly need to do a better job, particularly in our low-income communities. But, from what I see so far, we're on very different pages regarding how to think... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/03/02/obama_on_education_right_talk,_wrong_walk daaca8e2-49f2-4607-93fc-d5a056b58ddd Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:00:10 GMT As our new political leadership leads us into the fiscal twilight zone, is it too much to ask for a little honesty as they do it? The day after President Obama unveiled his plan to bail out distressed mortgage... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/02/23/the_end_of_the_american_dream 6fc49b2c-43b2-4409-8e3a-90198370701f Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:00:54 GMT A travesty of justice has occurred in Oakland, California. But realities surrounding this local issue point to how the economic crisis in our nation is symptomatic of and flows from a deeper fundamental moral... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/02/16/root_of_nations_economic_crisis_is_moral_crisis cf4b3ad0-16c9-4dbe-ab6d-ec079aad63b8 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 05:00:46 GMT Six years ago I wrote a book called "Uncle Sam's Plantation." I wrote the book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the welfare state and my own transformation out of it. I said in that book that indeed... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/02/09/back_on_uncle_sams_plantation 82184c26-9cd8-4983-bdf8-69d019df2036 Mon, 09 Feb 2009 05:00:52 GMT The Obama administration, completing its first full week, wasted no time getting priorities in order. First, issue formal apologies to the world, and then begin advancing massive, intrusive government at home. The... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/02/02/government_takes_over,_obama_apologizes 5deb6e49-e5f0-4199-bca4-0f250d4fa436 Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:00:49 GMT In these uncertain times, some things remain constant. One is the arrival each January 22 of tens of thousands of pro-life Americans to Washington, DC to note the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision and to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/01/26/culture_of_responsibility_is_culture_of_life e27d6374-ac8a-494e-8c30-cf22ae7ea912 Mon, 26 Jan 2009 05:00:51 GMT It's ironic that Barack Obama chooses to infuse these opening days of his presidency with the imagery of Abraham Lincoln. I don't think there could be two more different men. Understanding why may help us think about... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/01/19/obama_has_little_in_common_with_lincoln 8663d6a7-fe11-47dd-9c3a-ee61278a4be2 Mon, 19 Jan 2009 05:00:34 GMT The first Gallup poll out on President-elect Barack Obama's stimulus plan shows a divided country, with Republicans in a distinct minority and in opposition. Democrats support the $750-billion plan (67 percent to 19... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/01/12/republicans_need_shareholder_revolt bbe3227c-ad44-477a-bc2a-1410e93555d9 Mon, 12 Jan 2009 05:00:13 GMT Last August I wrote a column critical of Rick Warren's decision to host a presidential candidate forum at his Saddleback Church. My reasoning then was that America's crisis is moral ambiguity. I argued that Pastor... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/01/05/rick_warren_is_no_billy_graham d9eead03-7094-4c20-8dcb-520008d76b67 Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:00:52 GMT What does Caroline Kennedy have in common with black America? If your answer is not much, I'd tend to agree with you. When I think of Caroline, I think of Manhattan and Park Avenue, not the Bronx and Brooklyn. I... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2008/12/29/the_awkward_co-dependence_of_blacks_and_liberal_democrats 07a6394f-19f5-4c92-9ff1-5d51048e8244 Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:00:18 GMT "Tis the season to be jolly." But this year it's going to be a challenge for many Americans. A Washington Post survey this week reported two thirds saying they were being impacted by the current recession. In... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2008/12/22/this_christmas,_lets_remember_who_we_are 90cdabc5-6b7b-4089-911b-2a705a264cc0 Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:00:37 GMT There are now nine capable candidates vying for the chairman's job at the Republican National Committee. The day of reckoning will be Jan. 29, when 168 committee members from around the country will vote their... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2008/12/15/republicans_need_to_get_back_to_business 4c78653e-6a10-4f47-add3-64be1d4ba168 Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:00:16 GMT Wonder why, in a survey reported by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, only 28 percent said they "believed all or most" of what they see on CNN? CNN's Campbell Brown took three minutes of prime evening news http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2008/12/08/cnns_brown_on_rendell_recalls_napolitano,_anita_hill,_and_clarence_thomas 4d147bc3-3599-4e91-afe5-10934e7b0389 Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:00:29 GMT Now that Democrats have won the White House and have widened their margin of control in Congress, does this signify that American voters have moved to the left? Many Republicans question this claim. And a new report... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2008/12/01/formula_for_gop_recovery_traditional_values_plus_limited_government 7ccc6740-8d3b-4011-823a-6d59d232bace Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:00:24 GMT How can you not feel that emptiness in the pit of your stomach as you watch our financial markets spin downward? The broad stock market indices are down well over 40 percent since the beginning of the year. Losses are... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2008/11/24/we_fail_to_learn_from_history 9d74e2c1-0110-48e6-8a43-6591017672cc Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:00:04 GMT I retrieve and open a large envelope from today's pile of mail. Inside is a press release announcing "Chick-fil-A Founder to Receive 2008 William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership." I discover that... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2008/11/17/who_will_define_america f28ac3e5-8f2b-4c61-8135-4e92ff187fc4 Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:00:26 GMT