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...