Obortion

(from the curt Jester)

Olbermann Cryin' Us To Sleep

NewsBusters:

..After showing some of the hysterical jibes made at the charity event by McCain and Barack Obama, the "Countdown" host on Friday picked up a microphone, and while doing an astoundingly poor impersonation of a nightclub comic, launched into a tremendously unfunny attack on both members of the Republican presidential ticket...Of course, likely knowing how bad his material was, Olbermann and his crew added a laugh track. By contrast, the folks in attendance at Thursday's Dinner were indeed laughing at the jokes McCain made at Olbermann's expense.

As many of the guests were media members, it is clear that even people in his own industry view Olbermann as the biggest joke on television today.

He can dish it, but he can't take it. Boo Hoo.

.

Taking License

Southern Appeal:
"Senator Obama’s supporters are making a big deal of the fact that Joe the Plumber is unlicensed. It’s now time to play the Messiah card:

Jesus was an unlicensed carpenter, and Brutus was a senator."

(h/t Creative Minority)

The Repressive Regime Of Quebec

Lifesite News :

The new mandatory Ethics and Religious Culture program that was introduced this fall in Quebec schools has parents fuming, with many complaining that the program effectively removes their right to choose the kind of religious education their children receive. To show their displeasure a group of Quebec parents has organized a protest march for tomorrow, Saturday, October 18.

Three years ago, the clause in the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms that guaranteed freedom of religious instruction and parental rights (parents have "the right to require that, in the public educational establishments, their children receive a religious or moral instruction in conformity with their convictions") was changed without any public consultation. The amended clause read that parents have the "right to give their children a religious and moral education in keeping with their convictions and with proper regard for their children's rights and interests."

Removal of the phrase "in the public educational establishments" meant that parents no longer had any say in what type of religious instruction is given in the schools.

The new compulsory religion course, from which children cannot be exempted, replaces three options that had been available to Quebec students - a generic course in moral education or two other courses that were either Catholic or Protestant in nature.

The Canadian Press reports that lawyer Jean-Yves Cote, representing a couple in Drummondville that has started legal action against the their local school board and the government, says the number of angry parents is likely in the thousands and is growing.

The suit filed by Cote seeks the right for parents to exempt their children from the course.

A request for exemption from the Ethics and Religious Culture program by Loyola High School, a private Catholic boys' school in Montreal, on the grounds that the course conflicted with the school's Catholic character, was refused by Education Minister Michelle Courchesne, which prompted the school administration also to take the issue to court...

**A Note To Those Who Thought Charest Was A Conservative - He Isn't!!**

Can The Republic Withstand A "Liberal Supermajority"?

Wall Street Journal:

If the current polls hold, Barack Obama will win the White House on November 4 and Democrats will consolidate their Congressional majorities, probably with a filibuster-proof Senate or very close to it. Without the ability to filibuster, the Senate would become like the House, able to pass whatever the majority wants.

Though we doubt most Americans realize it, this would be one of the most profound political and ideological shifts in U.S. history. Liberals would dominate the entire government in a way they haven't since 1965, or 1933. In other words, the election would mark the restoration of the activist government that fell out of public favor in the 1970s. If the U.S. really is entering a period of unchecked left-wing ascendancy, Americans at least ought to understand what they will be getting, especially with the media cheering it all on...

(medicare for all)

..The commitments would start slow, so as not to cause immediate alarm. But as U.S. health-care spending flowed into the default government options, taxes would have to rise or services would be rationed, or both. Single payer is the inevitable next step, as Mr. Obama has already said is his ultimate ideal..

(business climate)

..The danger is that Democrats could cause the economic downturn to last longer than it otherwise will by enacting regulatory overkill like Sarbanes-Oxley. Something more punitive is likely as well, for instance a windfall profits tax on oil, and maybe other industries..

(taxes)

..Taxes will rise substantially, the only question being how high. Mr. Obama would raise the top income, dividend and capital-gains rates for "the rich," substantially increasing the cost of new investment in the U.S. More radically, he wants to lift or eliminate the cap on income subject to payroll taxes that fund Medicare and Social Security. This would convert what was meant to be a pension insurance program into an overt income redistribution program. It would also impose a probably unrepealable increase in marginal tax rates, and a permanent shift upward in the federal tax share of GDP...

(free speech and voting rights)

..A liberal supermajority would move quickly to impose procedural advantages that could cement Democratic rule for years to come. One early effort would be national, election-day voter registration. This is a long-time goal of Acorn and others on the "community organizer" left and would make it far easier to stack the voter rolls. The District of Columbia would also get votes in Congress -- Democratic, naturally.

Felons may also get the right to vote nationwide, while the Fairness Doctrine is likely to be reimposed either by Congress or the Obama FCC. A major goal of the supermajority left would be to shut down talk radio and other voices of political opposition...

...It's always possible that events -- such as a recession -- would temper some of these ambitions. Republicans also feared the worst in 1993 when Democrats ran the entire government, but it didn't turn out that way. On the other hand, Bob Dole then had 43 GOP Senators to support a filibuster, and the entire Democratic Party has since moved sharply to the left. Mr. Obama's agenda is far more liberal than Bill Clinton's was in 1992, and the Southern Democrats who killed Al Gore's BTU tax and modified liberal ambitions are long gone.

In both 1933 and 1965, liberal majorities imposed vast expansions of government that have never been repealed, and the current financial panic may give today's left another pretext to return to those heydays of welfare-state liberalism. Americans voting for "change" should know they may get far more than they ever imagined.

Day 25

Intention:

We pray for the conversion of all those who refuse to acknowledge that human life belongs only to God.

Scripture:

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

-- Jeremiah 1:4-5

Reflection:

To be or not to be? There is no question!

The question of "being" is something philosophers have long pondered. What is the meaning of being and what is the source? In the passage before us, we have our answer. We have being because we are known by God.

For God to declare that he knows and sets apart the prophet Jeremiah even before he is conceived indicates that our being rests in God's own being. Because He is and because He wills we, therefore, are and do. The Apostle Paul says as much when he declares before the philosophers of his day, "In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

One of the tragedies of the abortion culture is that life in the womb has been so heartbreakingly devalued. To embrace the arguments of the "pro-choice" crowd one must conclude that the child in the womb doesn't exist, isn't there, has no being. But nothing could be further from the truth. That child is known by God and, as such, has being.

Prayer:

Lord God, we confess that in You we live and move and have our being. Because You are, we are. May we find grace from You to affirm the being of every human and may we labor to make this truth known to the world around us. Amen.

Rev. J. Kirk van der Swaagh

40 Days For Life
Pastor, Conservative Congregational Christian Conference

Assisted Suicide Campaign - Oregon and Beyond

First Things:

In the coming days, the people of Washington State will be voting on Initiative 1000, the Washington Death with Dignity Act. Essentially equivalent to Oregon’s assisted-suicide law, this proposal is the result of concentrated funding and advocacy for assisted suicide from Compassion & Choices, a revamped but no less deadly version of the Hemlock Society. Determined to spread euthanasia “rights” throughout the country, the group initially targeted multiple states with no success. Now, the plan has changed—“Oregon Plus One” is the motto, with the anticipation that once the euthanasia campaign can gain a double footing, it will lose its stigma and push easily across the rest of America.

Following are some of the key facts, from the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide:

• The Assisted Suicide Initiative does not require that family members be notified when a doctor is going to help a loved one commit suicide.

• The Assisted Suicide Initiative has no safeguards for the patient after the prescription is written.

• The Assisted Suicide Initiative does not insure that abuse or the number of deaths from assisted suicide would ever be known.

• Of the over $3 million donated to the Assisted Suicide Initiative campaign, $2 million has been given by assisted-suicide advocacy groups, and campaign spokesperson former Governor Booth Gardner and his family.

• The Assisted Suicide Initiative would give government health programs, managed care programs and HMOs the opportunity to approve prescriptions for suicide to cut costs.

• The Assisted Suicide Initiative could victimize minorities, people with disabilities and poor people...

Bishop Sends Steinbock Packing

California Catholic:

Bishop John Steinbock has removed a priest who told parishioners to vote against Proposition 8 and confessed on a television newscast to being a homosexual from his post as pastor of the St. Paul Newman Center in Fresno.

The bishop also took away Fr. Geoffrey Farrow’s diocesan salary and health benefits, and told him not to return to the Newman Center or any other parish in the diocese he had served at previously.

The Los Angeles Times quoted Bishop Steinbock as saying in a letter to Fr. Farrow, “Your statement contradicted the teaching of the Catholic Church and has brought scandal to your parish community as well as the whole Church."...

UK Deputy Pushing Abortion

Daily Mail:

A rift has opened up between Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman over plans to relax abortion laws.

...The Premier halted moves by the deputy Labour leader to allow time next week for a range of pro-abortion measures to be pushed through under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

Mr Brown over-ruled her by allocating no more than three hours for abortion to be debated when the Bill reaches its Report Stage on Wednesday.

Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman have clashed over plans to relax abortion laws

A source close to the Government said: 'There have been arguments at the most senior levels of the Labour Party.

'Harriet Harman has been reassuring pro-abortion activists that the amendments would be slipped into the Bill at the very last stage.

'But this can't be done in the timetable that the Government has provided. It must be sticking in her craw.'..

I suppose Brown's real concern is that by allowing Harman's abortion issues to be added to the embryology bill, he would be putting the whole bill at risk. He's certainly not concerned about the morality of abortion or embryology (or same sex marriage, or gay adoption, or preemptive deaths of organ donors etc.etc...)

HALFWAY - 268 SAVED!!

LIFESITE NEWS:

This week, the 40 Days for Life fall campaign reached its halfway point. "By our best estimates, tens of thousands of pro-life people in more than 175 communities in 47 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa and two Canadian provinces are participating," said Shawn Carney, national outreach director of 40 Days for Life. "Local campaign coordinators report that thus far, at least 268 mothers have left abortion facilities without having abortions."

In addition, pro-life pregnancy resource centers are reporting a significant increase in their client numbers, and more mothers are choosing life for their babies. A number of local 40 Days for Life coordinators report a decline in the number of abortion customers - a decline of up to 30 or even 50 percent in some cases. Abortuaries are closing early - or not opening at all...

40 Days For Life

"Father Elijah" - Prophetic?

If you've read Michael O'Brien's novel "Father Elijah", the next article will give you 'shivers up your leg'. Not good ones.

American Thinker contributor Philip Bom proposes that an Obama win will certainly herald change. Global change that might shock Americans:

...Traditional bipartisan US foreign policy has been one of collective international security of independent nation states. In other words, nations cooperate together as independent countries to maintain international peace. This is in direct contrast to the world-order concept of "common security."

Candidate Obama heralds change and hope, but his ideological message reads like a "copy and paste" from documents written by socialists of the past century. He presents himself as a new politician but has adopted an old "world order" agenda. Obama's policies will certainly produce change -- but a fundamental change that will shock most Americans.

The Democratic Party's platform (authored by Senator Obama's policy director) reads like a planetary manifesto for a new global order...

"Father Elijah", a story about 'good vs evil', has as its greatest villain a president with global ambitions who is eloquent, well versed in social graces, charismatic and ruthless - seems to be begging for a 'Hollywood' debut. I happen to know there's a screen play ready to go...

Catholic Carnival #194

Musings From A Catholic Bookstore is hosting.

Day 24

Intention:

Pray that God will continue to bless the efforts that have gone into the 40 Days for Life campaign, as we trust Him for the results.

Scripture:

Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name.

-- Nehemiah 1:10-11

Reflection:

Nehemiah provides an awesome blueprint for volunteers in God's service, particularly those responding to the devastation abortion has caused our nation.

Nehemiah grieved for God's reputation as he witnessed the condition of the city walls of Jerusalem. The walls were broken down which was seen by neighboring people as a sign of weakness on the part of Jerusalem's God. No wall meant no security for the city and its people.

We learn from his story that he covered every detail in prayer; inspired others to join the cause; organized others to help do the work; confronted opposition directly and turned to God when discouraged; and finally celebrated what was accomplished and gave God all the glory!

Like Nehemiah, we must acknowledge God's sovereignty as we serve Him before a mocking world. We too need to be reminded that we are "fighting" for our families. We too must have an attitude of confession and repentance before a Holy God. We must pray for strength, refute slander, and not be diverted from our work.

Like Nehemiah, we will draw attention from the enemy when we are seeking to protect the well-being of God's people. We too must stand firm and seek God's help to persevere until the task is done. We too will be victorious.

Prayer:

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in heaven and in the earth is Yours. We pray for your continued guidance and protection throughout the remainder of this 40 day campaign. May we be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in Your work, knowing that our labor will not be in vain. We pray in the name of Jesus, amen.

Carmen Pate
Co-host, "Point of View" Talk Show

40 Days For Life

Loud Confused Catholics

Deal Hudson:

When is the last time a bishop's statement on abortion resulted in several days of protest from pro-abortion Catholics? The joint statement issued last Friday by Bishop Kevin Vann of Fort Worth and Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas has done just that. No doubt the forceful clarity of the bishops' message elicited the outcry.

The protests began on Sunday when the statement was read from the pulpit by Rev. Tony Ruiz, pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in downtown Dallas. Some two-dozen parishioners walked out and went to the local media to lodge their complaints about "political endorsements."

The next day, the Dallas Morning News carried the story on the front page of its Metro section. "The silver lining was that the article contained a link to the bishops' statement," said Karen Garnett, executive director of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee, Respect Life Ministry of the Diocese of Dallas.

Garnett told me that the subsequent protest on Wednesday afternoon in front of the diocesan chancery attracted the same number of people who had walked out of the Mass at Holy Trinity. Bishop Farrell, who was out of town on Wednesday, has offered to meet with the protesters.

"Too many parishes do seminars on 'Faithful Citizenship' that don't put the life issues first. We've been dealing with that problem for 35 years," added Garnett.

Olivia Franklin, a member of Holy Trinity for 15 years, heard Father Ruiz read the statement. "I'm thrilled that he read it, and I hurried out the door to tell him thank you. This is the truth, and we need to hear the truth."

Franklin had recently attended four seminars at Holy Trinity on "Faithful Citizenship." At these sessions she was told "one could in fact vote for a pro-abortion candidate if one was not voting for them for that reason." She raised objections to what was being taught, only to be told it was just her opinion.

There have been over 40 statements to date issued by bishops this election season. Some responded to comments made by Sen. Barack Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, about the beginning of human life. Others responded to Speaker Nancy Pelosi's appearance on Meet the Press when she, too, misrepresented the Church's teaching on abortion...

(Hopefully those people will be advised as to appropriate steps to take before receiving communion..)

Barack The Plumber

(h/t socialist squirrel)

Find Of The Day - A Premonition of 'Change'

Letters From Camp:April 22, 2009

(Note: Around here, we are not permitted to say “2009;” we must say, “0001, in the Year of The One”)

Dear Friends,

I’ve been here for about a week now. Communication of any type with the outside is forbidden, but I managed to give this note to a sympathetic produce delivery man. I didn’t think I could print so small.

Here’s the story.

When I heard the knock on the door, I peeked through the window and saw the same two young, twenty-somethings outside my door. They call themselves “The Messiah’s Witnesses.” They had been coming to my house about every two weeks since the election last year and even more often since January, each time wanting to discuss my “aberrant” politics and to explain to me the wisdom of The Change.

The first few times they showed up I politely told them I was not interested in talking with them, but more recently, I had become more adamant in my refusal. Since their most recent visit, I had resolved that the next time they came knocking, I was going to tell them for once and for all to stay the hell off my property.

I opened the door, prepared to tell them to get lost, but before I could say a word, two men, each the size of an NFL lineman, leaped from the bushes on either side of the door, pinning my arms behind me and placing me in handcuffs. Once I was cuffed, another man, well-dressed and appearing to be in his forties, appeared from behind one of the bushes.

“Who the hell are you, and what the hell is going on here?” I screamed.

“My name is not important. My purpose is to advise you that, by order of Secretary of Education, William Ayers, effective immediately, you are directed to report to the Education Center in your Sector. We are here to transport you there.”...

If Obama's little rant about FOX NEWS is any indication of his tolerance for truth and personal freedoms, America might get more change than they bargained (cheaply) for.

Finally!

As Prowoman Prolife points out, IF ONLY IN CANADA EH?





Obama lies as easily as he breathes, or as McCain put it, he has 'eloquence'. Is 'eloquence' enough of a credential to be President? Are we willing to accept a reeking package so long as its wrapped in glossy paper? Really!?


RETURN TO SENDER!!

.

Markets Nervous About Obama

New York Post:

... Most investors know the devil is in the details - and the details of Obama's economic plans are anything but reassuring.

Of course, the market turmoil is first a reflection of grim reality - the bursting of the housing bubble and the billions upon billions in writedowns and losses that have forced upon the hugely leveraged financial firms companies that had cranked big profits during the bubble years.

The resulting credit crunch is hitting Main Street harder than ever before. The country is headed for recession; the only question is: Just how low can the markets and economy go?

It could be a lot lower - it all depends on the policies of the next president.

And, as it looks increasingly likely that Obama will be that man, the markets are casting a vote of "no confidence." ...

No matter how you look at him, Obama's no saviour!

Herod For President

BISHOP FINN:

..If the candidate has addressed their legislative assembly, urging opposition to the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, then it must be concluded that this candidate wishes Catholic voters to be complicit in infanticide. Rejection of this Act, which would require that a baby who survived an unsuccessful abortion attempt be cared for and not laid aside to die with no medical assistance, is a convincing example of the numbing of our moral sensibility. The candidate who supports this fatal neglect of life and asks our vote, asks too much of any fellow human being.

Our country is at the edge of the precipice concerning the protection of the life and dignity of the human person. A significant new attack on innocent human life will likely send us into a moral freefall that would rival any financial decline. The price for such a “walk over the cliff” is millions more human lives for many more years to come.

A candidate who asks us to add our weight to such a destructive momentum in our society, asks us to be participants in their own gravely immoral act. This is something which, in good conscience, we can never justify. Despite hardship, beyond partisanship, for the sake of our eternal salvation: This we should never do...

(h/t american papist)

Which politician is asking Americans to participate in his GRAVELY IMMORAL ACTS in exchange for supposed money in their pockets?

Which politician is asking Americans to be bought and paid for by Herod?

The Root Cause

American Catholic:

While sitting down with a group of friends for an afternoon of games, the issue of pregnancy came up. My friends, which are of a liberal bent, had the following things to say about pregnancy: “the most contracted STD”, supporting a “parasite”, like “having cancer”, and a few other clever remarks we’ve all heard hundreds of times over. When the issue of abortion came up, you can bet they were all in support of a woman’s right to “choose”...

...What type of reason could one ever have to called pregnancy an STD? What type of world view does it take to call an unborn child a parasite? Now, I love my friends and they are dear to me, but there’s a grossly mistaken notion about those very people that we should value the most.

An STD. A disease. Something unwanted, something to “cure”. A parasite. Something unwanted, something that feeds off the host without providing anything in return. If the hint isn’t clear enough, the following passage should reveal everything:

Thirteen Reasons for Abortion (in one paragraph)

A most enlightening article by Amy Barrett on why another aborted two of her children.

"My immediate response was, I cannot have triplets. I was not married; I lived in a five-story walk-up in the East Village; I worked freelance; and I would have to go on bed rest in March. I lecture at colleges, and my biggest months are March and April. I would have to give up my main income for the rest of the year. There was a part of me that was sure I could work around that. But it was a matter of, Do I want to.

The motive of self-interest is taken to the extreme and becomes murderous when a life is sacrificed for ME,I and MINE."

This is the issue. Me. Me above all else. Abortion is such a grave ill because fundamentally it is the willingness to destroy another person for direct personal gain...

Day 23

Intention:

We pray for the strength to love those who do not love us.

Scripture:

But the Lord said "You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in the night and perished in the night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left, and much livestock? Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

-- Jonah 4:10-11

Reflection:

God doesn't value people and things like we do. Jonah loved a shade tree more than an entire city of sinful people. We love our dogs more than a terrorist. We love our cars more than a beggar on the side of the road. And sometimes, we love our money more than a child growing in a desperate teenager's womb.

But God isn't like us. Genesis 1 tells us that humans were the capstone of God's creation. We were created on the sixth day after God had completed the land, the stars, the plants and the animals. Therefore, His love for us is greater than His love for a plant, an animal, or any other created thing. And the book of Jonah tells us that He loves even the most sinful people and seeks to bring them into His merciful arms. And it's a love that seeks to touch all of his created children: that desperate teenager, the baby growing in her womb, even tyrants and terrorists. So it's up to us to imitate God's merciful love by helping and praying for those who persecute us, and those who don't love us back.

Prayer:

Gracious God, loving our enemies seems like one of most difficult things you could ask of us. Please remind us that this is how you love and that if you ask it of us then you will give us the grace to do it. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Dennis DiMauro
Lutherans for Life representative to the National Pro-life Religious Council

40Days For Life

Extremist Catholic Yahoos

Robert George on dissident Catholic voters for Obama:

Barack Obama is the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of President of the United States. He is the most extreme pro-abortion member of the United States Senate. Indeed, he is the most extreme pro-abortion legislator ever to serve in either house of the United States Congress.
Yet there are Catholics and Evangelicals-even self-identified pro-life Catholics and Evangelicals - who aggressively promote Obama's candidacy and even declare him the preferred candidate from the pro-life point of view.

What is going on here?...

(Excellent article pointed to by proecclesia)

Ayers Endorsement?

FOX:

The Chicago Tribune caught up with Willaim Ayers, the former Weather Underground radical militant, who has been called a “domestic terrorist”, and who now serves as a professor in Chicago. When asked about the controversy over his past interaction with Sen. Obama early in his political ascent that became a consistent target for the McCain campaign recently, Ayers responded simply:

“What could I possibly add?” he asked from the door to his office. “Life happens.”

The Chigaco Tribune necessarily presents Ayers as the best of a bad lot for refusing to contribute to the "unpleasant conversation". Afterall, they can't be dissing any homeboys now, can they?

"Poll: Most Americans Want Abortion Restrictions"

ZENIT:

A U.S. nationwide poll shows that almost all Americans thing abortion should be restricted.

The poll was conducted for the Knights of Columbus by the Marist College Institute of Public Opinion between Sept. 24 and Oct. 3. It aimed to enable comparisons of the views of Catholic voters with those of the general electorate.

The poll asked respondents to state which of six statements came closest to describing their opinion on abortion.

Only 8% of U.S. residents chose the statement saying abortion should be available to a woman any time she wants during her entire pregnancy...

Who Didn't Vote?

Tom McFeely at NCR:

...Harper has shunted aside both abortion and the definition of marriage as political issues since becoming prime minister, fearing that his party might lose votes from the left side of the political spectrum if it allows the Conservatives’ pro-life and pro-family supporters free rein to raise those issues in Parliament and on the campaign trail.

And only two weeks ago, he declared publicly that “I simply have no intention of ever making the abortion question a focus of my political career.”

Following that announcement, Father Alphonse de Valk, editor of Catholic Insight magazine, called for Harper’s removal as Conservative leader.

Was this alienation of “so-con” voters decisive in denying the Conservatives a majority? No one knows for sure, as there’s no hard data available to quantify the “dog-that-didn’t-bark” phenomenon of stay-at-home voters.

But one thing is clear: The Conservative Party’s base of morally motivated Canadian voters is going to become even more restive in future elections, if Harper continues to squelch political debate on life and family issues.

It's possible that Harper may learn to love babies too...

jesterlicious

Jeff Miller reviewing the priestly ambitions of women...

"The Imprimatur of Happiness"

A review of Joseph Murphy's "Christ Our Joy:The Theological Vision of Pope Benedict XVI"at Christianity Today:

Consider Benedict's diagnosis of our existential plight. As he sees it, modern man is, above all else, unhappy. Modern anxieties, Murphy notes, produce "boredom, spiritual lethargy, and a sense of meaningless" that make life almost insufferable. The American phenomenon of the "man-child" — the 20-year-old professional who works by day and parties by night with no plans to settle down — and Europe's plummeting birthrates and low religious practice support Benedict's claim. Searching for joy yet blind to the point of living, we retreat from reality.

Murphy pays particular attention to Nietzsche, to whom Benedict returns repeatedly. In his first encyclical letter as pope, Benedict summarized the Nietzschean mindset: "Doesn't the church, with all her commandments and prohibitions, turn to bitterness the most precious thing in life? Doesn't she blow the whistle just when the joy which is the Creator's gift offers us a happiness which is itself a certain foretaste of the divine?"

Nietzsche's attack on Christianity's "slave morality" paved the way for modern rejection of objective standards of goodness, truth, and beauty. But by making ourselves the measure of everything, we have lost a shared measure of anything. Having shrugged off Christ's yoke and with it our moorings to God's truth and goodness, we know of no excellence for which to strive, only arbitrary tastes and their pointless pursuit: the "escapist pleasure of the consumer economy" and the "exploitation that increasingly marks human relationships." What was to be our liberation has become our enslavement.

But we need not remain slaves forever. As Benedict sees it, we can regain joy by participating in love—both giving and receiving. Thus, Benedict invites modern man to rediscover his lofty vocation as a beloved child of God, for "one cannot become wholly man in any other way than by being loved, by letting oneself be loved." This divine love cannot be a noble fiction meant to keep us from despair; as Benedict writes, "Only when love and truth are in harmony can man know joy." The question, then, is whether the gospel is true.

From here Benedict launches his fight against the "dictatorship of relativism."...

(h/t first things)

Singer Protege Even More Disgusting

Catholic Physicians posts:
"If you thought Peter Singer, now a professor at Princeton University, was Australia’s gift to world bioethics, then I have news for you. One of his PhD students, now a professor at Oxford, Julian Savulescu, is leaving him in the dust..."

Coast To Coast Election Wrap-Up

St. John's 'The Telegram':

...In this province, it’s a bit like the little dog chasing the electoral bus: now that we’ve caught that big old bus, what the heck do we expect to do with it?
Premier Danny Williams got his wish with the defeat of all Conservative candidates running in the province: the problem with that is just exactly what we expect to achieve with the result.
Quebec is also somewhat isolated.
As for the rest of the country, there’s certainly the argument to be made that the electorate has liked what the Tories have done in government, at least enough to give them a new and stronger mandate...

Charlottetown 'The Guardian':

Gail Shea made history in Prince Edward Island Tuesday by ending the Liberal party’s nearly three-decade-long hold on the riding of Egmont...

Fredricton 'The Daily Gleaner':

...The immediate task is to get over that fact and resist the urge to punish those provinces, like Newfoundland, and those ridings, like Moncton, that rejected you. You have been elected to represent all of us equally, and no good can come from dwelling on the numbers and holding grudges.

What you can do for us here in Atlantic Canada is everything possible to convince us that we matter. We are, frankly, tired of being dumped on by you. And don't think you can show up the day before the election and assume all is forgotten...

Halifax ' The Chronicle Herald':

BILL CASEY walked victorious into his Truro campaign office Tuesday night to shouts of "Bill, Bill, Bill."

The thunder of supporters’ voices echoed through the office, reflecting an electoral storm that wreaked havoc on his competitors and delivered a stinging rebuke to Stephen Harper. The prime minister kicked the respected MP out of the Conservative party last year for voting against the budget in a dispute over the Atlantic accord.

Mr. Casey, now an Independent MP, blushed, waved to the crowd and said meekly: "Hi, everybody."

His words were drowned out.

Later, when the room quieted down, he said the campaign, his seventh, was a wonderful experience because of the backing he received from his constituents in Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley.

"People who were never involved in politics came out to support me," he said. "That is what was meaningful to me. My win is a credit to all those people...

Montreal 'The Gazette':

Harper might have failed to win a majority, but he did make significant gains, winning more than 140 seats in the Commons and making some important breakthroughs in the Toronto area. That should give him the strength he needs to make Parliament work, and that's what he must do. If there's one thing the country can't afford right now, it's another bout of expensive rancour...

...In one of his last campaign speeches, the prime minister hit precisely the right note when he told voters in Prince Edward Island that "the No. 1 job of the next prime minister of Canada is to protect this country's economy, our earnings, our savings and jobs, at a time of global uncertainty." The overwhelming majority of Canadians would no doubt agree with that assessment. But for better or worse, they've decided that although they're happy to let Harper lead the effort they don't trust him enough to let him do it alone.

That means Harper must find a way co-operate with a group of opposition leaders who have far more in common with each other than they do with him...

The Globe and Mail':

Doug McArthur, Jodi White and John Manley, join the Globe and Mail's Edward Greenspon dissect Tuesday's federal election in his weekly political podcast...

'The National Post':

...It is the least surprising of the possible outcomes contemplated at the beginning of the campaign, and in many ways the one that suits the national mood and the times best. Mr. Harper is the most trusted and respected of the political party leaders, and his politics are well within the Canadian mainstream. But his united Conservative movement, which required a strong hand to stitch together a rowdy regional protest faction and the corpse of a dead national party, has not yet proven capable of producing a front-rank team that Canadians are ready to trust with unfettered majority power. It is usually regarded as a weakness of the Liberals that there are always three or four credible successors loitering around the prime minister with hidden daggers, and the perception that Stephane Dion was campaigning with a noose around his neck certainly didn't help his cause in this election, but we rarely consider how long it takes a party to mature to the point at which it can count on having a class of credible leaders-in-waiting on hand...

Winnipeg 'Free Press':

When you are down to your last Manitoba seat, it's pretty hard to sugar-coat the ballot-box drubbing voters handed to the Liberals Tuesday night...

...Indeed. The only Liberal left standing is Anita Neville who held off Tory Trevor Kennerd in Winnipeg South Centre...

...The upsets leave Manitoba with nine Tories, four New Democrats, and one Liberal...

...One Liberal insider with a long history of running campaigns said the party’s fortunes were hurt in Manitoba by both an ineffectual leader as well as the vote-split on the Left.

"Let's be honest, the leader did not resonate here or anywhere," he said.

The Grit source noted the crowding of parties on the Left -- Liberals, NDP and Greens -- isn't making it any easier to hold seats.

"What we are facing now is exactly what the Conservatives suffered from 15 years ago which was a fragmented right," he said.

Raymond Hebert, a political scientist at St. Boniface College, said Liberal fortunes in Manitoba mirror that of Grits across the country.

"There's been a blue wind blowing from Alberta and it was just a matter of time before Manitoba got engulfed in that wave," Hebert said...

Regina 'Leader-Post':

Stephen Harper's Conservatives returned to power with a stronger, broadly based minority, facing a weakened opposition leader and ready to pursue an agenda that is likely to be aimed first and foremost at addressing the fallout in Canada from the economic storm sweeping the globe.

The results of Tuesday's election deprived Harper of the majority he so desperately wanted when he killed his own minority government on Sept. 7 and showed Canadian voters he wanted to keep the Conservatives on a leash during what the Tory leader acknowledged would be uncertain economic times ahead...

Calgary 'Herald':

So near, yet so far. It was not the majority Prime Minister Stephen Harper wanted, but he should still take Tuesday's much strengthened minority as a healthy mandate to govern.

For this election was, at its root, a referendum on leadership. By a convincing margin, Canadians have decided he is better able to lead Canada through difficult economic times than Liberal Leader Stephane Dion...

Vancouver 'Sun':

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will have more cheerleaders in Parliament when it next sits, but he failed to get the majority government he sought when he called the election six weeks ago.

Liberal leader Stephane Dion also came up short in his quest to persuade Canadians that the Liberals are ready to lead the country again.

In fact, of the five party leaders who faced each other around the table in the televised debates, only the three who had no hope of forming the next government -- the NDP's Jack Layton, Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe and the Green party's Elizabeth May -- could have been satisfied with the judgment of the voters...

2004 Participate in LIFE Tele-Rally and Webcast!

A few hours ago, a record 2,004 people from coast-to-coast participated in the 40 Days for Life “Midpoint” Tele-Rally and Webcast...

...Our twelve dynamic presenters — national and local leaders — poured out an hour and 25 minutes of hope-filled success reports from across North America…

…and we shared the breaking news about the number of confirmed lives saved during the first half of this fall’s 40 Days for Life campaign:

268!!

This call contained such vital information for this crucial moment in history — that we quickly worked to post the entire recording online, and it’s now ready for you!

You, your friends, and family members can listen via streaming web audio or download the MP3 file to your iPod or computer (even if you only have a dial-up Internet connection). Just go to:

http://www.instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=4586745

If you are sick of hearing all the negative news every time you turn on the radio or television and want to get a renewed sense of HOPE — then you need to listen to the recording of this call in the next 24 hours...

Good works by good people, praying, sacrificing and working to save our future!

Good-Bye Bishop Quinn

The Diocese of Winona, Minnesota:

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, has named Bishop John Michael Quinn, former Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit, as Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Winona. The announcement was made October 15 by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, papal nuncio to the United States.

Bishop Quinn will serve with and then succeed Bishop Bernard Harrington, who, upon reaching the age of 75 in September, submitted his request for retirement to the Vatican. When Bishop Harrington’s retirement is accepted, Bishop Quinn will relinquish the title of Coadjutor and become Bishop of the Diocese of Winona.

Bishop John Quinn has been a real inspiration and help to our parish of St. Ignatius, Cayman Islands. We will miss his yearly visits and his outreach to our youth. God Bless him on his new mission. Winona is truly blessed to receive Bishop Quinn as their (co) shepherd!
(h/t american papist)

Day 22

Intention:

May those who hold life as trivial realize that we live because God wills it so.

Scripture:

Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, in His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.

-- Job 12:9-10

Reflection:

Job was a man acquainted with grief, trials and tribulation. He had everything taken from him, including his family. He endured sickness, ridicule and judgment from his friends. Everyone gave him advice about his situation, questioning his spirituality and his God. Job's circumstances were bad but he never loses faith. Why? Because "the hand of the Lord has made all life." Created by God, he knows his life has meaning and purpose, regardless of the circumstances.

In our present culture, we've lost that basic truth; every life is made and allowed to live by God's sovereign authority. As people who pride ourselves on our independence, we have a hard time acknowledging our dependence on God. From our creation, when we were knit together in our mother's womb to our last breath, God's word is clear that "in His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind."

It's time for us as individuals, and as a society, to recognize that we exist by God's grace and turn back to Him, honoring His word and His teachings. Why? Because our world is full of Jobs, people who are dealing with trials and tribulations and hurting desperately. Job's response should be ours as well. Regardless of what we face (even an unplanned pregnancy) God in His wisdom and mercy will redeem it. How do I know? Job's friends who doubted God's sovereignty cry out to God asking for help, God instructs Job to pray for his friends and after he does, God restores all that Job had lost. In other words, because Job never lost faith and knew and trusted His Creator, the Lord blessed Job.

Prayer:

Thank you Father God for being the Creator of my life and every life. Please give me, and the society in which I live, an appreciation for your gift of life. Please help us set aside our pride and acknowledge that we need you. Show me how I can honor you today in response to all the blessings you bestow so freely. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Georgette Forney
President, Anglicans for Life

40 Days For Life

Canada loses...

It was predictable, since none of the parties has any idea about what makes a worthwhile issue (ARTS!!?). Harper is in as PM. WHOOEE! Nothing will change in my area of interest, since it is profoundly NOT his area of interest, being annoyingly about politically incendiary things like freedom and the value of a human life. But then, how could one expect a quintessentially CANADIAN PM to be a deep thinker on matters of life and death? Canadians are secular to the core. Its all about surviving for another day, what's good in my life, and patting myself on the back for sending smiley face messages on facebook, liking artists and paying taxes like a good citizen who doesn't want to think about LIFE AND DEATH!(I like artists too- just not more than LIFE itself!)

Meanwhile, back in the trenches, the 'annoying' people out there who have faithfully voted conservatively to protect their families from a degenerating society, are spending their time ACTUALLY fighting for freedom, and for HUMAN LIFE. And having copious numbers of children. Sooner or later the numbers will be in our favour. People who talk about LIFE AND DEATH with their kids, end up with 33(and counting) grandchildren (like my parents). These future Canadians, if not jailed and persecuted by gov't agencies or force fed filth in public schools (although an impressive number of them homeschool...) these people WILL change Canada in a way HArper can't even conceive (pun). They will win the battle to FREE CANADA and PROTECT HUMAN LIFE. Canada will be finally a great and wonderful country, instead of a 'Euro' wanna-be.

I'm looking forward to that day. I'm taking care of my health in anticipation. I know MY grandchildren will care whether I LIVE OR DIE. (I know I will have copious numbers of them...) and I know something a great many Canadians don't- God loves kids, and He has already won!

Free Canada!

Kathy Shaidle is calling for a 'free Canada' blogburst. Election day seems an appropriate enough time to remind each other how Canadians USED to think. In the words of John Diefenbaker:

"I am a Canadian,
a free Canadian,
free to speak without fear,
free to worship God in my own way,
free to stand for what I think right,
free to oppose what I believe wrong,
free to choose those who shall govern my country.
This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold
for myself and for all mankind."

When voting ask yourself "What does this person believe about freedom. For all? For those he agrees with? When convenient? " "What has this person done to help FREE CANADA??"

If you find a politician who has done SOMETHING to help free Canada, let me know. I like to keep the good guys in my prayers.

Obama's Priorities - NOT PRESIDENTIAL

Obama's priorities seem a little more like those of a lobbyist for radical left ideology than like those of a president...



(h/t proecclesia)
.

Women's Health - public service announcement

J&J Paid $68 Million to Settle Birth-Control Cases (Update3)
By David Voreacos

Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) --

Johnson & Johnson has spent at least $68.7 million to settle hundreds of lawsuits filed by women who suffered blood clots, heart attacks or strokes after using the company's Ortho Evra birth-control patch, court records show.

J&J, the world's largest maker of health-care products, avoided trials through the confidential settlements and hasn't released the financial details to investors.

Of 562 complaints reviewed by Bloomberg News, the vast majority of users alleged the patch caused deep-vein thrombosis, or blood clots in the legs, and pulmonary embolisms, or blood clots in the lungs. Some blamed it for heart attacks or strokes. The complaints blamed Ortho Evra for the deaths of 20 women.

One settled case involved Ashley Lewis, a 17-year-old high school junior from St. Louis who died in 2003. She developed a blood clot in her lung after wearing the patch for six months, according to Roger Denton, an attorney for Lewis's family, including her son, who was a one-year-old when she died.

``It's a very tragic case,'' Denton said. Her parents ``were completely unaware that there was any significant risk to her by using the birth-control patch,'' Denton said.

Complaints filed on behalf of 4,000 women in state and federal courts claim the company hid or altered data about the risks of high levels of estrogen released by Ortho Evra. More than 5 million women have used the patch since sales began in 2002. The New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company voluntarily strengthened the warning label in 2005, 2006 and 2008 with the approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Benefit Fund

The $68.7 million estimate of J&J's payments is based on the size of a so-called common benefit fund that finances a group of lawyers who gather evidence available for use by all attorneys who sued the company.

Participants pay 3 percent of their settlements to the fund, which had $2.06 million as of March 31, according to a filing by Janet Abaray, an attorney. She is helping to lead litigation before U.S. District Judge David Katz in Toledo, Ohio, where 1,330 patch cases were consolidated.

``Several hundred individual cases'' had been settled by March 31, Abaray said in an April 17 court document. ``There have been a significant number that have settled since then,'' she said in an interview. Court papers don't indicate how much J&J paid in each case.

`Safe and Effective'

``Ortho Evra provides a needed birth-control option for women and physicians,'' said Gloria Vanderham, a spokeswoman for Ortho Women's Health & Urology unit, a division of J&J subsidiary Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical. ``When used according to the FDA- approved label, Ortho Evra is a safe and effective method of hormonal birth control.''

Vanderham declined to comment on any settlements or the company's disclosure practices. In its only public statement about settlements, a company spokesman said in April 2007 that J&J was settling cases, declining to be more specific.

She said the company ``recommended to the FDA that there should be label changes and then worked with the agency to determine what the actual changes would be.''

Johnson & Johnson also ``regularly and properly disclosed data to the FDA, the medical community and the public in a timely manner,'' Vanderham said.

The company's current label warns that Ortho Evra exposes women to 60 percent more estrogen than the typical birth-control pill and that higher estrogen increases side effects. Studies show Ortho Evra can double the risk of serious blood clots compared with the pill, according to the label.

Liability Insurance

In its last annual report on Feb. 26, the company reported no reserves for Ortho Evra cases and said any liability from them ``will be substantially covered by existing amounts accrued in the company's balance sheet and, where available, by third-party product liability insurance.''

J&J, which makes diaphragms and birth-control pills, developed the patch as an alternative method of hormonal birth control for women who might forget to take their pills daily.

The company reports sales of the Ortho Evra patch with those of its birth-control pills, folding both into overall sales of hormonal contraceptives. J&J reported 2007 sales of $900 million for that category, a decrease of 9 percent. The company's total revenue was $61.1 billion.

J&J's annual report cited ``a significant decline'' in Ortho Evra sales because of ``labeling changes and negative media coverage concerning product safety.''

J&J fell $1.73 to $55.85 or 3 percent in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Shares reached a 52-week low of $52.06, a loss of 9.6 percent, just minutes after trading began.

`Unpredictability'

Drugmakers settle cases to achieve certainty about their liabilities in mass-tort cases, said Stanford University law professor Robert L. Rabin. Finding an upper limit on damages ``diminishes that sense of unpredictability that is anathema to drug companies,'' Rabin said. At a trial, serious injuries may sway juries, he said.

The pace of J&J settlements has increased as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments this fall on the legal doctrine of pre-emption, said plaintiffs' lawyer Andy Alonso. The Supreme Court could rule that pre-emption bars consumers from relying on state law, as Ortho Evra users did, to sue for damages linked to products approved by federal regulators.

J&J argued in court papers filed in federal court in Toledo on Feb. 22 that state jurors can't conclude that a drug is unreasonably unsafe if the FDA's experts say it is safe and effective and the warning label is adequate.

Public Citizen's Health Research Group, a Washington-based advocacy organization, petitioned the FDA in May to ban the patch within six months, even after the three label changes.

`Dangerously High'

``It still has dangerously high levels of estrogen,'' said Sidney Wolfe, director of the group. ``There are no unique benefits. If there is a drug with no unique benefits, and it has unique risks, and there are alternatives, why should anyone use it? What is the purpose of the FDA if not to regulate products like that?''

FDA spokeswoman Rita Chappelle said: ``Because we do have a citizen's petition in house, as a matter of policy we would not make any comment while we are reviewing the petition. We are in the process now of addressing the petition.''

The FDA's Web site includes a question-and-answer page posted after the last label change in January, noting results of three epidemiology studies. Two studies showed a doubling of the risk of serious blood clots compared with typical birth-control pills. The results ``support FDA's concerns regarding the potential for use of Ortho Evra to increase the risk of blood clots in some women,'' according to the Web site.

The risk of women dying while pregnant is higher than that for women using the patch, and the risk of patch users developing blood clots is small, J&J said in the Feb. 22 court filing.

Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood Federation of America offers the patch at more than 880 U.S. health-care centers and considers it safe and effective for eligible women, according to Dr. Vanessa Cullins, vice president for medical affairs.

Cullins, a former assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Medical School, said Planned Parenthood has studied all medical data on the patch and advises women on the risks.

``We make Ortho Evra available without reservation for healthy women who are candidates for combined hormonal contraceptive methods such as the patch, the pill, and vaginal contraceptive rings,'' Cullins said. ``We're not making distinctions among this class of contraceptive methods.''

The patch is designed to release continuous levels of progestin and estrogen through the skin and into the bloodstream for seven-day periods. Plaintiffs claim in court filings that J&J ignored warning signs of patch risks as early as 1998.

Volleyball Coach

One case set for trial involves Stephanie Rosfeld, a 25- year-old assistant volleyball coach at the University of Cincinnati who died of a heart attack in 2004 after using the patch for less than a month.

``We think the evidence is strong that she died of a blood clot caused by Ortho Evra that caused her heart attack,'' said attorney Abaray, who represents Rosfeld's husband. ``Our experts have eliminated other causes of death.''

Last year, J&J agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle a lawsuit over the death of Alycia Brown, a 14-year-old girl from La Crosse, Wisconsin, who had two blood clots in her lungs after using the patch, according to a document left in a court file and reviewed by Bloomberg News.

In the document, dated April 21, 2007, the company denies that Brown's use of Ortho Evra ``in any way caused or contributed to any such injuries, losses or damages.'' J&J said it was ``mindful of the uncertainties engendered by the possibility of litigation and are desirous of settling.'' It bars disclosure of the terms to the media or anyone else except as required by law.

College Student

The Brown settlement document was in the file of a lawsuit filed by the family of Zakiya Kennedy, an 18-year-old college student from New York who died after using the patch. Her case was settled in state court in Manhattan last year.

A document filed in state court in Los Angeles on March 3 by attorney Thomas Schultz said his firm, Lopez, Restaino, Milman & Skikos, had settled on behalf of 194 claimants. Another 37 plaintiffs settled, according to an April 16 filing in state court in Los Angeles by the Newport Beach, California, firm of Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson.

Bloomberg News reviewed 361 cases dismissed ``with prejudice'' in federal court in Ohio, 152 in state court in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and 47 in state court in Los Angeles. Dismissing cases with prejudice means they can't be filed again. Available court documents don't indicate whether Johnson & Johnson settled those cases.

Confidentiality Agreements

Most cases dismissed with prejudice were settled, said several lawyers involved in the litigation, who declined to speak publicly because they signed confidentiality agreements.

Lawyers familiar with the Ortho Evra litigation who requested anonymity said J&J typically settles death cases for more than $1 million, deep-vein thrombosis cases for $125,000 to $175,000, and pulmonary embolisms for $140,000 to $300,000. Those amounts can vary depending on a woman's circumstances, the lawyers said.

The Ortho Evra settlements fall short of those involving Merck & Co.'s Vioxx painkiller. Whitehouse Station, New Jersey- based Merck has agreed to pay $4.85 billion to settle claims that Vioxx caused heart attacks, strokes and sudden death.

Unlike Merck, which reached a global settlement after trying 16 cases, J&J has never gone to trial over Ortho Evra.

Former users of the Ortho Evra patch live in ``constant fear'' of incurring a pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis, according to plaintiffs' attorney Debra Brewer Hayes in Houston, who said she has settled about two dozen cases.

Mother of Two

Monica Johnson was a 41-year-old mother of two from Willingboro, New Jersey, who used the patch for less than a year when she suffered a pulmonary embolism and died in 2005, according to attorney Russell Rein in Pensacola, Florida. The company settled her case, Rein said in an interview.

``Their exposure was pretty high, so they were willing to talk turkey about settling,'' Rein said. `` They have been settling out quite a few cases where the damages are significant and the causation is clear.''

Lakesha Smith, 26, began wearing the Ortho Evra patch after she prematurely delivered a six-month-old baby who died within two hours, according to a complaint filed in state court in New Brunswick. After three weeks on the patch, Smith had seizures and a stroke, leaving her with ``serious and permanent injuries'' not specified in the complaint.

In the pre-emption case, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in November on whether Wyeth must pay $6 million to a musician, Diana Levine, who was injected with the company's anti- nausea treatment Phenergan. She developed gangrene, and her arm was amputated.

``It's pushing everyone to the table to try and settle cases,'' said plaintiffs' attorney Alonso in Great Neck, New York. ``I don't think anyone can honestly say what impact a decision in Levine will have in this litigation.''

Plaintiffs' lawyers are concerned that the Levine case will strengthen J&J's bargaining power, attorney Hayes said.

``If they were to win on pre-emption, the settlement values would drop to zero,'' Hayes said. ``My sense is they want to resolve this, put it behind them and move on.''

To contact the reporter on this story: David Voreacos in Newark, New Jersey, at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net.

autumn beauty

What I really miss about Canada...

bring me your grumpy, your betrayed and your disillusioned...

The Jack of Hearts has the 'alternative vote' deck stacked with choice poker hands...

one for the ex-pats...

Live- blogging of the Canadian election over at SURLY BEAVER . Only NOT in Canada, eh?

Day 21

Intention:

Pray that we each will daily put on the full armor of God, so that we are strong in the Lord and the power of His might.

Scripture:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, to stand.

- Ephesians 6:12-13

Reflection:

I am confounded to see how the battle over the issue of life is perceived more often in churches today as political rather than spiritual. Ironically, the enemy has used this twisted perception to silence many in the body of Christ. We must see the battle for what it is and if we are to be prepared to face the spiritual enemy on the issue of abortion, we must daily "put on" the armor God has given us:

* Gird your waist with Truth (vs. 14) - Commit your emotions to believe truth and to speak truth, regardless of the repercussions.
* Put on the breastplate of Righteousness (vs. 14) -It will protect our hearts - the innermost springs of our beings - from all unrighteousness so evident in this fallen world.
* Shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace. (vs. 15) -Preparation is vital if we are to be effective in God's work.
* Taking the shield of faith (vs.16) - The Accuser will instill doubt, fear, and guilt. Faith acts as an invisible shield that deflects such false accusations.
* Taking the Helmet of salvation (vs.17) - A helmet protects the head, the brain and in turn our mind and thoughts. Satan hopes we will set aside divine revelation for human reasoning.
* Taking the sword of the Spirit (vs.17) - The Word of God, the only offensive weapon in this armor, was used by the Lord Jesus against Satan. The living Word is powerful and effective.

Our armor is complete. We are ready to wage war, and the next verse tells us how, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit." (vs.18)

Prayer:

Dear Lord, as you lead us into the spiritual battle of abortion may we be reminded that the battle is truly Yours. We thank you for equipping us with Your armor. Lead us daily to put it on! Thank you for allowing us to serve under your command, and for hearing our requests for direction and protection. Thank you for the victory that is ours because of Your Son Jesus, amen.

Carmen Pate
Co-host, "Point of View" talk show

40Days For Life

NARAL Seeks to Limit Help For Women in Crisis

NCR :

..(Pregnancy Crisis)Centers in Maryland recently defeated a legislative bill, Senate Bill 690, backed by NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League) Pro-Choice Maryland, that would have forced them to tell clients that they were not required to provide factually accurate information.

A similar bill was defeated in Oregon in 2007, and legislation has been introduced in Texas, Ohio, West Virginia and New Jersey. Care Net, a network of more than 1,100 pregnancy centers, has been following the bills and monitoring activities on NARAL websites, where members are being encouraged to investigate, complain and harass pregnancy-resource centers, said Kristin Hansen, vice president of communications.

“We’ve definitely seen an uptick in activity, starting in 2000 when NARAL put out a handbook that gave members a step-by-step guide to disparage and seek to shut down pregnancy centers,” said Hansen. “The areas they hone in on are the abortion-risk information. They say we’re lying about the potential risks and that we’re tricking people into coming in by posing as an abortion clinic. When push comes to shove, NARAL and other groups can’t point to examples where our advertising is misleading.”

Tom Glessner, president of the National Institute for Family & Life Advocates, who provided legal testimony in the Maryland and Oregon hearings, said a smear campaign against the centers has been going on for 26 years — and more can be expected.

“There is so much hatred out there towards pro-life pregnancy centers; they want to destroy them,” he said. “Abortion is a multimillion dollar industry and women who go to a pregnancy-resource center and choose life is lost income to the abortion industry.”

The Maryland bill was clearly unconstitutional, said Nancy Paltell, associate director for the Maryland Catholic Conference Respect for Life office, who worked with Maryland Right to Life on the bill. “Can you imagine the chilling effect it would have on a scared pregnant woman looking for help: to be told on the phone that we’re not required to tell you the truth? This is government-mandated speech.”

Testimony by NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland was based on its own investigative report, “The Truth Revealed.” The report claimed that the centers provided false medical information designed to mislead women, such as the risk of breast cancer from abortion, the possibility of post-abortion trauma, and infection from an incomplete abortion. Calls to NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland were not returned.

Lucy Sneeringer, director of the Cecil County Pregnancy Center in Elkton, Md., affiliated with Care Net, testified that all staff are trained to follow specific standards based on a commitment of care, and all medical information provided in brochures and in counseling sessions is cited in scientific journals and studies that anyone can look up and read themselves.

Many women served by the pregnancy-resource centers testified to the support and help that they received, and Sneeringer pointed out that clients are routinely referred to them by organizations such as the Cecil County Department of Social Services, the Cecil County Health Department, Elkton’s Union Hospital and local obstetrics-gynecology offices.

“Interestingly enough, one of their biggest complaints is that we mislead people into thinking we’re medical facilities,” she said. “We don’t even call ourselves clinics. Our pregnancy-resource center, or any with a national affiliation, has a very explicit disclaimer on its “Request for Services” form. At the bottom is a box that specifically claims who we are and who we are not.”..

For NARAL, its all about POWER. Women pay the price.

.

LIFE - Palin, DEATH - Obama

Sarah Palin speaks in Johnstown, Pennsylvania :

..In this same spirit, as defenders of the culture of life, John McCain and I believe in the goodness and potential of every innocent life. I believe the truest measure of any society is how it treats those who are least able to defend and speak for themselves. And who is more vulnerable, or more innocent, than a child?

When I learned that my son Trig would have special needs, I had to prepare my heart for the challenges to come. At first I was scared, and Todd and I had to ask for strength and understanding. But I can tell you a few things I’ve learned already.

Yes, every innocent life matters. Everyone belongs in the circle of protection. Every child has something to contribute to the world, if we give them that chance. There are the world’s standards of perfection … and then there are God’s, and these are the final measure. Every child is beautiful before God, and dear to Him for their own sake...

...It’s hard to think of many issues that could possibly be more important than who is protected in law and who isn’t – who is granted life and who is denied it. So when our opponent, Senator Obama, speaks about questions of life, I listen very carefully.

I listened when he defended his unconditional support for unlimited abortions. He said that a woman shouldn’t have to be – quote – “punished with a baby.” He said that right here in Johnstown –“punished with a baby” – and it’s about time we called him on it. The more I hear from Senator Obama, the more I understand why he is so vague and evasive on the subject. Americans need to see his record for what it is. It’s not negative or mean-spirited to talk to about his record. Whatever party you belong to, there are facts you need to know...

continue reading...

Who Looks Better In Lipstick?

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"Dangling Conversations"

Posing the moral questions facing the next American president.
By George Weigel

Between "gotcha" questions and the ubiquitous gaffe-watch, there hasn't been much serious moral debate in the endgame of this presidential campaign. In fact, there hasn't been a serious exploration of the moral kernel of so many of today's contested issues since the forum at Saddleback Church in August. In the hope that it's not too late to raise the level of a public discussion too often conducted in sound bites, here are some urgent moral questions to be pressed on those who would lead us...


( George Weigel Is Distinguished Senior Fellow Of Washington’s Ethics And Public Policy Center )

F.O.C.A. Exposed - Bishop Serratelli

Bishop Serratelli Speaks Out:

...On April 18, 2007, in Gonzales v. Carhart, The Supreme Court upheldthe Partial-Birth Abortion Ban. The very next day prominent Democratic members of Congress reintroduced the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). The bill is misleadingly packaged as a freedom bill. It is not! It is a clear act of unreasoned bias to end abruptly and brutally the debate on the pressing and fundamental moral issue of the right to life.

For thirty-five years, Americans have been wrestling with The Supreme Court’s decision legalizing abortion in Roe v. Wade. Most Americans now favor some kind of a ban on abortion. Most who allow abortion would do so only in very rare cases. In fact, in January, 2008, the Guttmacher Institute published its 14th census of abortion providers in the country. Its statistics showed that the abortion rate continues to decline. Abortions have reached their lowest level since 1974. There is truly a deep sensitivity to life in the soul of America.

The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) would mortally wound this sensitivity. In effect, it would dismantle the freedom of choice to do all that is necessary to respect and protect human life at its most vulnerable stage. FOCA goes far beyond guaranteeing the right to an abortion throughout the nine months of pregnancy. It arrogantly prohibits any law or policy interfering with that right. While advocates trumpet this law as the triumph of the freedom of choice, they hide the dark reality that the law would actually inhibit choice.

Laws protecting the rights of nurses, doctors and hospitals with moral objections to abortion would no longer stand. Health and safety regulations for abortion clinics would also vanish. Gone the freedom of health care professionals to be faithful to the Hippocratic Oath “to prescribe regimens for the good of …patients…and never do harm to anyone, to please no one [by prescribing] a deadly drug nor [by giving] advice which may cause his death.” Gone the freedom of conscience so essential for a civil society!

If a minority of avid abortionists succeed to impose this law because of the ignorance or apathy of the majority, the law would force taxpayers to fund abortions. Gone the freedom of taxation with representation!...

American Catholics can be proud of their shepherds!


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