Obama couldn’t even drag himself to vote to protect babies born alive after botched abortions - contrast his cynical cowardice with Sarah Palin’s bold statement for life:
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.
As for our beautiful baby boy, for Todd and me, he is only more precious because he is vulnerable. In some ways, I think we stand to learn more from him than he does from us. When we hold Trig and care for him, we don’t feel scared anymore. We feel blessed.
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.
Senator Obama has voted against bills to end partial-birth abortion. In the Illinois Senate, a bipartisan majority passed legislation against that practice. Senator Obama opposed that bill. He voted against it in committee, and voted “present” on the Senate floor. In that legislature, “present” is how you vote when you’re against something, but don’t want to be held to account.
As I’ve said before, even if we lose on November 4th, we win. We’ve got Sarah Palin and coming up fast behind her is Bobby Jindal…and, additionally, even a defeated John McCain will be in the Senate to carry on the fight for life. You people on the left don’t realize your peril or how badly you’ve screwed up…and all you ever had to do to get it right was to come to the common sense and utterly human understanding that life is good, and worthy of our best protections. But, of course, I don’t think we’re going to lose - is a coward like Obama going to defeat a hero like John McCain? Is the culture of death really going to triumph over the Culture of Life? I don’t think so; I pray for McCain, for Palin and for Life - and, indeed, I pray for Barack Obama, that he will soon see how badly wrong he’s been and how easily he can repair the damage…life trumps all, even - believe it or not - the level of taxation and whether or not Iraq was a good idea.
Life and hope will always win - even if they suffer a temporary setback.
Mighty nice of them - and, perhaps, a reflection on the way that the defense of marriage amendment is gaining strength amongst the California electorate as November approaches:
The California Department of Public Health, which provides marriage-license forms to counties across the state, will again allow couples who contract a marriage to again identify themselves as “bride” and “groom” on their marriage licenses starting in November.
According to the California Catholic Daily, following the California Supreme Court decision imposing same-sex marriages in the state, the vital statistics section of the state health department created new marriage license forms allowing couples only to identify themselves as “Party A” and “Party B.”
The change was strongly protested. Rachel Bird and Gideon Codding of Roseville, California last week sued the state over the elimination of the traditional description.
However, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health told the Sacramento Bee the new forms were not a response to the lawsuit
“Many Californians have asked to have the option to identify as ‘bride’ and ‘groom’ on their marriage license form,” says an announcement on the Public Health Department’s web site. “The California Department of Public Health has been reviewing how we can provide those options in a way that is consistent with court rulings on marriage. The state will begin using new forms effective November 17th that will include boxes for ‘bride’ or ‘groom.’ Identifying as a ‘bride’ or a ‘groom’ is optional, not mandatory.”
Under the new marriage-license rules, couples may choose “bride” and “groom,” “bride” and “bride,” “groom” and “groom” or leave the section blank, the California Catholic Daily reports.
Party A and Party B? If there was ever a doubt that the ultimate purpose of gay marriage is to tear down marriage it is in this sort of Orwellian nomenclature. “Will the party of the first part, known henceforward as ‘Party A’, pledge to be nice to, respect and confer regularly with the party of the second part, known henceforward as ‘Party B’. I now pronounce you mutually supportive, you may co-join your lips”. Marriage is not just a thing to do, but a sacred - and very public - trust; the means by which we create and rear the next generation. To insert same-sex marriage into the mix is to walk down a path to the dissolution of the very concept of marriage, as well as the end to the desire to have children at all.
Fortunately, it does start to look like the gay marriage proponents have over-reached and are about to be smacked down - but it is also getting to be high time to end this debate for good and all by passing a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one man and one woman.
Obama has pledged to sign this misbegotten, anti-human legislation (out of a desire to bring us together for some hopeful change, of course):
Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, writing in his diocesan newspaper, has discussed the proposed Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), which he said would overturn all existing federal regulations on abortion. Claiming the passage of the act would lead to an increase in abortions, he also questioned whether pro-life supporters of pro-choice politicians have their priorities “backwards.”
Writing in his latest column for The Catholic Key, Bishop Finn said “It is clear that FOCA would immediately make null and void every current restriction on abortion in all jurisdictions.”
Though Bishop Finn did not mention any presidential candidates by name, Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama has pledged to pass FOCA as his first act as president.
The legislation, which was first proposed in 1989, was reproduced in its current form by Bishop Finn in his October 1 column:
“A government may not (1) deny or interfere with a woman’s right to choose – (A) to bear a child; (B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or (C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman; or (2) discriminate against the exercise of the rights set forth in paragraph (1) in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information.”
According to Bishop Finn, the bill would overturn many state laws, such as abortion reporting requirements in all 50 states. It would additionally overturn states’ laws concerning parental involvement, restrictions on later-term abortions, conscience protection laws for individual health care providers, bans on partial-birth abortions, conscience protection laws for institutions, requirements for counseling before an abortion, and laws providing ultrasounds to distressed women before an abortion.
We can also expect that a law which prohibits government from denying the alleged “right” to an abortion will be turned around in an Obama Supreme Court to mean that the government must fund abortions - the whole law is designed to make the United States of America the leader in the world-wide Culture of Death…someone may correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think any nation in the world has abortion laws as permissive as the legislation proposed here. This would be the left’s Final Solution to the abortion question.
We daren’t let it happen - not for any reason whatsoever.
And we hope that Joe Biden (who talks as if Scranton were the center of his universe) will pay attention, especially as he claims adherence to the Catholic faith…it would also be good for Senator Obama to lend an ear:
…The American Catholic bishops initiated Respect Life Sunday in 1972, the year before the Supreme Court legalized abortion in the United States. Since that time, Catholics across the country observe the month of October with devotions and pro-life activities in order to advance the culture of life. This October, our efforts have more significance than ever. Never have we seen such abusive criticism directed toward those who believe that life begins at conception and ends at natural death.As Catholics, we should not be surprised by these developments. Forty years ago, Pope Paul VI predicted that widespread use of artificial contraceptives would lead to increased marital infidelity, lessened regard for women, and a general lowering of moral standards especially among the young. Forty years later, social scientists, not necessarily Catholics, attest to the accuracy of his predictions. As if following some bizarre script, the sexual revolution has produced widespread marital breakdown, weakened family ties, legalized abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, pornography, same-sex unions, euthanasia, destruction of human embryos for research purposes and a host of other ills.
It is impossible for me to answer all of the objections to the Church’s teaching on life that we hear every day in the media. Nevertheless, let me address a few. To begin, laws that protect abortion constitute injustice of the worst kind. They rest on several false claims including that there is no certainty regarding when life begins, that there is no certainty about when a fetus becomes a person, and that some human beings may be killed to advance the interests or convenience of others. With regard to the first, reason and science have answered the question. The life of a human being begins at conception. The Church has long taught this simple truth, and science confirms it. Biologists can now show you the delicate and beautiful development of the human embryo in its first days of existence. This is simply a fact that reasonable people accept. Regarding the second, the embryo and the fetus have the potential to do all that an adult person does. Finally, the claim that the human fetus may be sacrificed to the interests or convenience of his mother or someone else is grievously wrong. All three claims have the same result: the weakest and most vulnerable are denied, because of their age, the most basic protection that we demand for ourselves. This is discrimination at its worst, and no person of conscience should support it.
Another argument goes like this: “As wrong as abortion is, I don’t think it is the only relevant ‘life’ issue that should be considered when deciding for whom to vote.” This reasoning is sound only if other issues carry the same moral weight as abortion does, such as in the case of euthanasia and destruction of embryos for research purposes. Health care, education, economic security, immigration, and taxes are very important concerns. Neglect of any one of them has dire consequences as the recent financial crisis demonstrates. However, the solutions to problems in these areas do not usually involve a rejection of the sanctity of human life in the way that abortion does. Being “right” on taxes, education, health care, immigration, and the economy fails to make up for the error of disregarding the value of a human life. Consider this: the finest health and education systems, the fairest immigration laws, and the soundest economy do nothing for the child who never sees the light of day. It is a tragic irony that “pro-choice” candidates have come to support homicide – the gravest injustice a society can tolerate – in the name of “social justice.”…
…My dear friends, I beg you not to be misled by confusion and lies. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, does not ask us to follow him to Calvary only for us to be afraid of contradicting a few bystanders along the way. He does not ask us to take up his Cross only to have us leave it at the voting booth door. Recently, Pope Benedict XVI said that “God is so humble that he uses us to spread his Word.” The gospel of life, which we have the privilege of proclaiming, resonates in the heart of every person – believer and non-believer – because it fulfills the heart’s most profound desire. Let us with one voice continue to speak the language of love and affirm the right of every human being to have the value of his or her life, from conception to natural death, respected to the highest degree…
We can’t do anything for the dead - this is rather common sense, but it escapes the notice of liberals, especially liberals who are running for President and are desperate to pry away some Catholic votes from the Republican candidate. It does astound, at times, to think that there are people who think that abortion can be a morally good choice - one wonders how a person comes to the conclusion that a permanent solution is needed for a temporary condition…that immediate death can be the proper response to new life.
I included that last bit of the Bishop’s letter because I think it important - even if you’re not Christian or, indeed, even a believer. It is wisdom of the highest kind to instruct a person to adhere to truth no matter what people demand. It is also such wisdom to insist on taking all of one’s self into the voting booth. And we also must keep in mind the humility needed for the ultimate triumph of the Culture of Life - in a sense, we who can barely be trusted to do the right thing from minute to minute are the people who must convince a fallen and depraved modern world that life is a beautiful thing and it is to be held precious from the first to the last moment.
As the poison in American politics in the 1850’s could be traced to slavery, so the poison in American politics in the first decade of the 21st century can be traced to abortion. Not, of course, that abortion is the source of all ills, but because the defense of abortion - the defense, that is, of something even more abominable than slavery - leads people, step by step, into lies and hatred. Slaveholders in the South started talking themselves into believing their slaves were happy to be slaves; abortion proponents have talked themselves into believing that death is the best thing for the unborn child and, indeed, that child would thank us - if he could - for killing him and thus sparing him the burden of life. We can do much, short of an abortion ban, to lessen the evils in our political life and heal the wounds inflicted on us by the Culture of Death but, in the end, we won’t exorcise this demon until abortion is gone and viewed, as slavery is today, as some primitive aberration no decent person would contemplate.
As it relates to 2008, the good Bishop can’t say it - and even if there wasn’t a federal issue involved with men of the cloth entering deeply into politics, the Bishop would still refrain from saying, “vote for So and So”. But it is clear from his teaching - and the teaching of so many other Bishops, priests and pastors - that anyone who takes the name of “Christian” cannot, if properly informed of Christian teaching, vote for Obama. Heck, if Obama fully understood his own Christian faith, he’d vote against himself - and so would Biden. This is not to condemn those who are Christian and yet manage to find justification for supporting a pro-abortion candidate or party - but it is to point out that only ignorance or willful blindness can explain a Christian being in favor of continued legal elective abortion.
Those of us who place life at the forefront of our concerns know that in the choice of 2008, there is no choice - Only Senator McCain and Governor Palin understand that the belief in the sanctity of human life brings with it the requirement to support some actions, and oppose others. For the Culture of Life, McCain and Palin represent victory - Obama and Biden represent defeat.
The 40 Days for Life Campaign launched its 179-city fall program on Wednesday in South Bend, Indiana. The community-based campaign will last until November 2, focusing upon prayer and fasting, educational outreach, and round-the-clock peaceful vigils outside abortion clinics or Planned Parenthood centers.
Local versions of the campaign are taking place in 47 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, and two Canadian provinces, a campaign press release reports.
“During an election season in which abortion has emerged as a critical – and potentially decisive – issue, people across the nation need to be made aware of the reality of what abortion does to women, men, children, communities and our nation,” said David Bereit, national campaign director of 40 Days for Life.
Bereit said the campaign could have a “profound effect” on the country.
“With abortion in the forefront of the national debate during this heated political season, people of faith and conscience are coming out to 40 Days for Life kick-off events and getting involved in local campaigns in record numbers,” he commented. “I am seeing a greater sense of urgency to end abortion in America right now than I have seen in the last decade.”
This is, of course, all above Obama’s pay grade - and that is a pity, because if he’d think the matter through he might be able to apply some wisdom to our debate rather than just being a shill for the abortion industry. We must have patience with the poor man, though, as we must have patience with all of those on the Culture of Death side of the argument. Much poison has been injected into our society over the past few decades and this has caused a great deal of moral confusion. It will take some time to undo the damage done, but with 40 Days for Life we’re getting closer and closer to that critical mass of people who will, then, rise up and first overturn Roe, and then - eventually - end the hideous practice of elective abortion one and for all.
n the Holy See Press Office this morning, the presentation took place of an upcoming international conference entitled: “Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories. A Critical Appraisal 150 years after ‘The Origin of Species’”. The conference is due to be held in Rome from 3 to 7 March 2009.
The congress has been jointly organised by the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, U.S.A., under the patronage of the Pontifical Council for Culture and as part of the STOQ Project (Science, Theology and the Ontological Quest).
Byron York over at NRO gives a great run-down on the whole issue of the “sex ed” bill and Obama’s claims that it was merely about preventing sexual abuse of children. The whole thing is a must read, but this part here - in and of itself - demonstrates that McCain is telling the truth, and Obama is incorrect about what was in the bill:
The second purpose was to increase the number of children receiving sex education. Illinois’ existing law required the teaching of sex education and AIDS prevention in grades six through twelve. The old law read:
Each class or course in comprehensive sex education offered in any of grades 6 through 12 shall include instruction on the prevention, transmission and spread of AIDS.
Senate Bill 99 struck out grade six, changing it to kindergarten, in addition to making a few other changes in wording. It read:
Each class or course in comprehensive sex education in any of grades K through 12 shall include instruction on the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, including the prevention, transmission and spread of HIV. (emphasis added)
On can try to spin this as much as one likes, but the bill clearly provided for sex education for kindergarten - including instruction in how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. You can’t have even the most basic instruction on how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases unless you familiarize your audience with the varied sex acts. Period. End of story.
Now, as to why I say McCain is telling the truth while Obama is mistaken - I’m giving Obama the benefit of the doubt. My bet is that Obama didn’t even read the bill - it was backed by various leftwing groups with a lead role for Planned Parenthood and one thing we know about Planned Parenthood is that when it says “jump”, liberal Democrats say “how high?”. Liberals, you see, genuinely believe that Planned Parenthood is a good organization - that it was founded by a racist eugenicist and is America’s largest abortion provider (and thus has a vested interest in as much sexual activity as possible) is not something that they think unimportant but is, instead, very likely something they don’t know - and are uninterested in knowing.
For all I know, Obama really believes that the bill he supported was about preventing child abuse - it might be what Planned Parenthood told him in order to get him to sign on to the bill. Given Obama’s well known wariness about putting his name on anything controversial, the best way to get him to back such a bill was to tell him it was about something as non-controversial as preventing child abuse - had the bill’s sponsors told him it was about extending sex ed to kindergarten, Obama would have likely voted “present”, as he did when so many other controversial bills came up for a vote.
The end result of all this is yet another reason to keep Obama out of the White House - it is clear that he’s not interested in being well informed on what is going on and, furthermore, this is a strong indicator that any liberal group which comes along will be able to get him to sign off on just about anything, no matter how absurd and/or destructive.
One does wonder how one becomes this nasty and dishonest - Senator Claire McCaskill on This Week:
MCCASKILL: But women of America are going to kick the tires the next 55 days, George, and they’re going to going to find out that this is a ticket that wants to put women in prison for having an abortion after they have been raped.
Sad to say that this poor woman is a fellow Catholic - and clearly a woman who needs our prayers for wisdom and love of neighbor to become more important in her life. Fortunately, she didn’t have the stage all too herself:
FIORINA: Those are ridiculous charges, point one. But I think the important point here is that this is what the Democratic Party has done for years. It has tried to hold women hostage by frightening them on issues such as reproductive rights, Rove v. Wade.
American women in this country will not be held hostage by the politics of fear on Roe v. Wade anymore.
Ms. Fiorina did miss one very important point in her riposte: its not just fear tactics, its also the lies. Senator McCaskill lies when she claims that Senator McCain, Governor Palin or, indeed, that the GOP advocates jailing women for having an abortion. Allow me to make one thing completely clear - we of the pro-life movement want the killing of unborn children to stop, for the sake of the children, their mothers and the moral health of the United States of America. We seek no vengeance, we want no one - not even the abortionists - to be punished. We just want it to stop. Murdering innocent, unborn children is not the right thing to do and no one who actually applies reason to the issue can come to any other conclusion than that abortion is wrong.
I think that in later years we’ll think back on this time and realize that the vital thing about the McCain/Palin ticket was the way it forced the left and the Democratic party out into the open - they are no longer able to hide behind a friendly media because that media, itself, has been unhinged by the McCain/Palin ticket, and now MSM and Democratic Party/Political Left are driving together off a cliff as the American people finally get an unmistakable example of just how dishonest and nasty the MSM and Democratic party have become.
U.S. vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s loving and highly-publicized acceptance of her Down’s syndrome child Trig has some Canadian doctors worried that her example may lead to mothers shunning abortion after diagnosis of Down’s syndrome.
According to the Globe and Mail, Dr. Andre Lalonde, executive vice-president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC), is worried that Palin’s decision to give birth to Trig, despite knowing about his condition, could influence other women in similar situations, but who lack the financial and emotional support that Palin had access to.
“The worry is that this will have an implication for abortion issues in Canada,” he said.
Citing his concern for women’s “freedom to choose”, Lalonde said that popular examples about women like Palin, who choose not to kill their unborn children, could have negative effects on women and their families, reported the Globe.
However, Lalonde said that doctors in Canada give balanced information about the consequences of the condition to pregnant women with a Down’s child, and that women are not necessarily encouraged to abort. “We offer the woman the choice. We try to be as unbiased as possible,” Lalonde said. “We’re coming down to a moral decision and we all know moral decisions are personal decisions.”
Krista Flint, executive director of the Canadian Down Syndrome Society, however, disagreed with Lalonde’s claim that pregnant women are given balanced information about the condition: “Many of the country’s medical professionals only give messages of fear to parents who learn their baby will be born with the genetic condition.”
Only in the sick, twisted world of the culture of death could there be a concern that having a Down’s Syndrome baby - as opposed to killing it - might provide a “bad example”.
I really don’t know what to say here - I don’t know, at this moment, how I am to love those in the culture of death who would think such things…it is, some times, very hard to do so, though I must do it. Why on Earth would anyone want to be a person who is worried that a woman might not choose to abort? How do you get like that? On second thought, I don’t even want to know….
Bishop of Madison Robert C. Morlino and Archbishop of Denver Charles J. Chaput have responded to Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen. Joseph Biden’s characterization that the point when life begins is a religious belief, criticizing him for “flawed moral reasoning,” confusing the Catholic faithful and confusing the differences between faith and natural law.
In a Sunday interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Sen. Biden had said that he is “prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception” but would not impose that belief on anyone through law. He claimed that to do so would be “inappropriate in a pluralistic society.”
Bishop Morlino made impromptu remarks in his Sunday homily, saying he had thrown away his prepared homily “for other considerations.”
Explaining that his point was not “to speak against Democrats,” but to address people who “claim to be Catholic,” he discussed Sen. Joseph Biden and Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s remarks about abortion.
“They are roughly my age… so that means that Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Biden were educated just about the same time I was,” he noted.
Stating he could not speak to the exact details of Pelosi’s Catholic education, Bishop Morlino said “I have to believe that she was taught that abortion was always wrong.”…
…Turning his remarks to Sen. Biden, Bishop Morlino said he and the senator shared as their hometown Scranton, Pennsylvania.
“I am positive of what Sen. Biden was taught in Scranton. And it’s the same thing that I was taught,” he declared.
…Sen. Biden doesn’t understand the difference between “religious faith and natural law.”
“Any human being — regardless of his faith, his religious practice or having no faith — any human being can reason to the fact that human life from conception unto natural death is sacred,” he argued. “Biology — not faith, not philosophy, not any kind of theology — Biology tells us, science [says], that at the moment of conception there exists a unique individual of the human species.”
“It’s not a matter of what I might believe. What my faith might teach me,” he said.
“Sen. Biden has an obligation to know that. And he doesn’t know it.”…
…Again insisting he wasn’t speaking about Democrats or even pro-life issues, he said his focus was upon the “awareness of faith, the catechesis that every Catholic should have.” He asked his listeners to make sure they themselves really understand what the Catholic faith teaches, through the Pope and the bishops.
“Prominent Catholics should not be violating the separation of church and state” by “teaching the wrong thing.” Rep. Pelosi and Sen. Biden, he said, are “doing precisely that.”
“If Republican candidates were doing precisely that, I would speak out with exactly the same determination,” he countered.
The Bishop’s rebuke to Biden (and Pelosi) is necessary as the program of the Democrats is to muddy the issue of Catholic teaching on life issues in order to be able to make a credible bid for Catholic votes, and most especially the votes of Catholics who regularly attend Mass, and may end up deciding the election this year. Democrats have to muddy the waters because a clear and concise statement of Democratic beliefs - ie, support for federally funded abortion on demand - would immediately be identified by devout Catholics as wrong (and you think that everyone already knows this? No, they don’t - go poll your friends and find out how many of them know that prior to the partial-birth ban an abortion could legally be performed right up to the moment of birth…quite a lot of people believe that an abortion is only legal in the first trimester…the Culture of Death is deft with its propaganda and the MSM is not about to really tell the tale of abortion). So, out go Biden and Pelosi to absurdly claim that there is dispute about what pro-life means for Catholics and that belief in life begins at conception is a theological assertion rather than a biological fact.
The Bishop is also correct that this is a massive violation of the separation of Church and State - with two elected officials high up in the United States government presuming to speak authoritatively on Catholic teaching. It is not for elected officials to proclaim Catholic dogma, but for the Bishops of the Church in union with the Bishop of Rome. Everyone should be just as outraged by this as they would be if the Pope were to, say, try to tell us what level of taxation we should impose in the United States. Of course liberals won’t get this at all because the believe that the issue of separation of Church and State is summed up in a ban on the mention of religion in the public square - but take this as a teaching moment, liberals, and understand what is really going on here.
Brought front and center into the public square by Governor Palin, this is an issue I’ve long cared about:
Concerned Women of America (CWA) of New York has launched a new international project that aims to reduce the abortion rate for babies diagnosed with Down syndrome, which reportedly stands at 90 percent. The project was developed in consultation with major Down syndrome groups in the United States.
According to a CWA of New York press release, the project makes available a free informational brochure titled “When you’ve learned that your baby may have Down syndrome … There is help and hope!”
The brochure offers reassurance to families facing a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis and informs them of resources and support groups to help them and their baby. It features the photographs of children and young adults with Down syndrome along with their family members.
“The brochure features the faces of a number of children and adults with Down syndrome,” Anne F. Downey, Esq., State Director for CWA of New York, said in a press release. “Each of the persons featured in the brochure came to me in a special way and has his or her own wonderful story to tell. In the photos you can see the joy that these young people and their family members have. Just looking at them, you can see that there truly is help and hope.”
The organization says the brochure helps OB/GYN doctors and others to provide expectant mothers with clear information, as recommended by a December 2007 bulletin from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
This issue means a lot to me because I have a close family member who is autistic - the sort of person once upon a time shoved into a lunatic asylum, and these days aborted. But a person, indeed - and someone who loves, and strives and who had hopes and dreams. The Culture of Death has tens of millions of victims, but none strike the heart as much as the “defective” children killed simply because they don’t meet an idealized conception of what a human being should be. We are tasked to rejoice in all things - and while someone may look at a Down’s Syndrome baby and wonder what there is to rejoice about, I have learned recently that there really is a joy to be found in all things, including the hardest trials of life.
The worst aspect of the Culture of Death is the way it kills joy and hope - the Culture of Death takes a baby and calls it a problem, something - according to Barack Obama - we don’t want to “punish” young girls with. A baby, however, is a joyful thing, and all life comes with great hope. Governor Palin and her husband (and, apparantly, her whole family) understand this and thus have welcomed their Down’s Syndrome child…and he’ll grow up and have the life he’ll have and when his mortal span is done, he’ll go home and live eternally in happiness. Happy child, rendered nearly incapable of the ability to sin while he lives! But not at all incapable of love! Rejoice - his inheritance will be cured at the cross, his future is assured; or so the Palin’s (and I, as it turns out) believe. Where, then, is there to turn for sadness in the child? At the fact that he’ll take some extra care and devotion from his family? Rejoice - there is a chance for all to serve, and to live out the gospel.
The point here is that negativity doesn’t really get one anywhere. To sign on to despair and death as the supposedly easier alternative is to actually take the harder road, and the road with no happiness at the end of it, and no recompense for the trials one suffers - and even in killing the unborn child, all one has done is exchanged one burden for another, without the benefit of doing the right thing and at least feeling secure in the knowledge of having done right, when it was seemingly easier to do wrong. The people of Concerned Women aren’t hoping for more Down’s Syndrome babies - but they understand that to kill the problem doesn’t solve the problem, and doesn’t help those who are doing the killing. We need a rebirth of a spirit of love, joy and sacrifice in this world - and a fine place to start will be with the most helpless among us.
The smear and fear tactics from the Democratic National Committee have reared their ugly head in Pennsylvania. Here is a postcard the DNC is using to flame the culture wars and wrongly characterizing John McCain arriving in Pennsylvania mailboxes (and maybe others) today:
Frontside:
Backside:
McCain has them scared and they are going ugly early in Pennsylvania.
Scott Ott of Scrappleface nails the contrast between the pro-life side and the pro-abortion side:
Obama Begs Palin: Don’t Punish Bristol with a Baby
As news broke of the pregnancy of Sarah Palin’s eldest daughter, Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama pleaded with the GOP vice presidential candidate not to be too harsh with her daughter, who plans to marry the father of the child.
“Gov. Palin,” said Sen. Obama addressing himself to her personally, “you tried to teach your daughter about morals and values, but she made a mistake, and she shouldn’t be punished with a baby.”
As a goodwill gesture, Sen. Obama offered to pay for Bristol Palin’s abortion “at any time between now and the scheduled moment of birth.”
The fundamental divide is over the issue of life…in the end, there’s no other conflict in the United States.
Some would have McCain use the issues of gay marriage and gays in the military. But, as I said in this post that would be a bad idea. It might galvanize social conservatives but would do so “at the expense of independent voters” while antagonizing many rank-and-file Republicans.
The issue, as I’ve said then and repeated ad nauseum since I first founded a Log Cabin chapter in the late 1990s, is that most Americans are neither pro-gay nor anti-gay, but they are by and large, anti-anti-gay. They may not like what we do in the bedroom, may find it “icky,” may even disapprove of my public smooch this afternoon, but they pretty much want to leave people like us alone. And would wonder at politicians who dwell on the issue.
I’m delighted that my notion of most voters being anti-anti-gay is getting some attention. It earned me a reference last month in the Washington Times‘ blogotics column.
But, I hope it’s not just conservative columnists who are paying attention to this notion. GOP Convention planners would also do well to take heed. Should they dwell on gay issues in St. Paul, they’ll drown out the reform message which resonates with the Republican base as well as independent voters.
Sage advice to the GOP. The United States is, by and large, a live and let live nation. As long as you’re not doing it in the streets and/or dragging down property values, the attitude is “whatever floats your boat”. The problem as regards homosexuality in this nation is that some gay rights activists are attempting an end-run around the constitution by getting activist judges to enforce their particular ideas about how open homosexuality shall be treated in the public square. A gay man knocking on my door and asking me to sign a petition to put gay marriage on the ballot would receive a friendly reception, a signature and, ultimately, a “no” vote on election day. A few judges telling me and the rest of my fellow Nevadans that our votes don’t count and we’ve got gay marriage whether we will or no, that is an outrageous usurpation of the rights of the people.
Now, there are some people in the United States who have been convinced - or convinced themselves - that being gay is in and of itself a bad thing and should be actively supressed and, meanwhile, that the GOP should wage unremitting war not just on judicial usurpation but on the very concept that gay people should be tolerated. To those people, I say that they are in error and as they invariably claim to be fellow Christians, I direct them to scripture and pray they’ll listen to the Word of God on the subject of sin, forgiveness, mercy and whom is allowed to cast the first stone. I will have nothing to do with any effort I perceive as being a direct affront to the basic human rights that all gay people share with all people - the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness being foremost in this concern. With this all said, I will lay out some things I won’t retreat on:
1. Marriage must be defined in law as being for one man and one woman.
2. State-supported schools must provide no instruction which tends to hold that homosexual acts are morally equal to heterosexu
