What's Going On with the Girl Scouts?

Is there really a connection between the abortion industry and the Girl Scouts? It’s heart-breaking and, for some, despite the mounting evidence, impossible to believe.  After all, who wants to acknowledge that the Girl Scouts, an organization that should stand for all that is good and pure, has succumbed to the infiltration of the abortion rights agenda?  And what a sad testament to the state of our country today, when we can no longer trust the Girl Scouts, an American icon with influence on over 2 million girls in the United States alone.

As a concerned pro-lifer who supported the Girl Scout organization for many years, as a girl member and as a troop leader, it saddens me to share the fall of this once venerable organization that to this day retains the support of so many wonderful women and girls, many of whom are unaware of what they are actually supporting. But families deserve to know the truth.

There are a lot of accusations in the blogosphere about the Girl Scouts. Some are fact, like the Girl Scout organization works alongside abortion providers and funds/promotes abortion rights advocacy groups. And some are sensationalized, like Girl Scout cookie money pays for abortions (although cookies do fund Girl Scouts’ concerning agenda).  So what is the real truth about Girl Scouts? Let’s break it down – below are factual and verifiable pro-life concerns about Girl Scouts that all pro-lifers and families should know…

Read the rest of Christy Volanski’s illuminating article right here.

Abortion Link to Breast Cancer Ignored by Media (Again)

Last Monday I posted here on Vital Signs Blog about the new and massive study recently published in China showing the dramatic connection between abortion and breast cancer. I encourage you to read that if you didn't earlier. But today I drop in remarks by Dr. Michael New of the University of Michigan which show the deliberate refusal (yet again) of the mainstream media to report on this extremely important matter.

For the liberal press, the passion to protect abortion always trumps the responsibility to promote women's health.

Writes Dr. New,

Earlier this month, the academic journal Cancer Causes Control published a meta-study analyzing the link between abortion and breast cancer in China. This meta-study pooled the results of 36 separate academic studies on the subject. Chinese public-health data has the ability to offer some unique and important insights about the link between abortion and the risk of breast cancer. That is because the institution of the one-child-per-family policy in the early 1980s dramatically increased the incidence of abortion in China.

Overall, this meta-study provides very compelling evidence that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. By pooling the 36 studies, it concluded that induced abortion raises the risk of breast cancer by 44 percent. Each of the 36 studies showed a positive correlation between abortion and breast cancer — and for at least 19 of the studies, the correlation reaches conventional standards of statistical significance. Studies with differing methodological approaches arrived at similar results. Also, this combined study provided good evidence that the risk of breast cancer increases as the number of induced abortions increases.

Unsurprisingly, this study has received no attention from the mainstream media. The only outlets that have reported on the study are Christian, conservative, and pro-life media outlets. Of course, the mainstream media lavishes attention on studies which purportedly find that abortion does not pose health risks to women. Twice in late 2010 the Washington Post covered studies which purportedly found that abortion does not increase the risk of mental-health problems. This summer, the New York Times ran an article about the ongoing UCSF abortion turnaway study which wrongly claimed that reputable research does not support the abortion-breast cancer link. 

Once again, instead of thoughtfully engaging public-health debates about the health risks of abortion, the mainstream media is circling the wagons for their allies in the abortion industry.

Obama's Core Conviction?

Barack Obama is a man with only one core conviction.  He has, as the basic foundation of his otherwise disorganized and uncertain belief system, the irrefutable tenet that the United States, because of its European roots, has been the epitome of oppression and arrogance throughout its history.  

Therefore, he is able to rationalize the need to say or do anything as the transformation of American society and the end of the pre-eminent status of the United States are his sole objectives.  

He has, thus, adopted a pre-meditated schizophrenic personality wherein he comports himself as an apologist and appeaser on the international stage and a narcissistic autocrat at home.

Read the rest of  Steve McCann’s article, “The Schizophrenia of Barack Obama,” here at American Thinker.

Today's Posts

A Politician By Any Other Name

Gay Activist (Honored by Obama) Indicted for Sex with a Minor

While China Races to the Moon, U.S. Content with Memories

The Vile Ugliness of Feminism Unleashed

A Politician By Any Other Name

What do you call politicians?

Well, besides using expletives and colorful metaphors, that is?

I prefer the simple word "politician." It is direct, meaningful...and polite.

Neither "public servant" or "civil servant" is quite the right term because, let's face it, so many of them do not actually serve the public. And many aren't very civil in the enactment of their duties. "Public representative" also fails because the majority of these folks strive not to represent the public as much as they do selective lobbying interests, big donors, party chiefs, and their desperate drive to be re-elected.

I also choose not to use the word "leader." This because the evidence clearly shows that political activity in the last several decades has not led society towards progress, improvement, and freedom. It has taken us in the exact opposite direction.

What about the noun, "lawmaker?" On that point, I agree with Mark Larson who plaintively pleads, "Please stop calling them lawmakers. It only encourages them." I reject the similar word, "legislator" for the same reason.

"Officeholder" is generally accurate, especially given the passionate propensity of incumbents to hold onto their office until death do them part. But I avoid that one because I know they consider it somewhat condescending. So too is the case with the word "bureaucrat." That too has negative connotations and so I save that for unelected officials who work for such agencies as the IRS, the TSA or the Department of Motor Vehicles. (They don't like "bureaucrat" either but, hey, you have to call them something besides clerks and gophers.)

Much better, whenever possible, is the use of specific titles -- Senator, Congressman or Congresswoman, Governor, Mayor, City Councilman, County Clerk, Commissioner, Board Member, and so on.

But one needs a general term when describing the whole lot. And so, after dismissing the above terms (along with the usual epithets), I've selected the most useful and unpretentious word, "politician."

Of course, keep in mind that my years have seen a few politicians who truly deserve a more noble distinction, men and women who really were "public servants," even "statesmen" -- Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, Jesse Helms, Bill Armstrong. And I have been blessed to even count a few as friends -- Kay Orr, Ed Zorinsky, Hal Daub, Chip Maxwell, Tony Fulton, Bernice Labedz, and others.

Bless 'em all. The good ones. The bad ones. And the mere officeholders.

By the way, I'm not going to leave you with just these remarks on political vocabulary. I thought I'd also toss in a few of my favorite quotations about politicians. See which ones you like best.

 “One of the reasons people hate politics is that truth is rarely a politician's objective. Election and power are.” (Cal Thomas)

“A politician should have three hats. One for throwing into the ring, one for talking through, and one for pulling rabbits out of if elected.” (Carl Sandburg)

“I rarely meet a politician that I don't like personally. They are generally well endowed with charm. Therein lies the danger.” (P. J. O'Rourke)

“Politics will eventually be replaced by imagery. The politician will be only too happy to abdicate in favor of his image, because the image will be much more powerful than he could ever be.” (Marshall McLuhan)

“A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.” (Winston Churchill)

“A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.” (H. L. Mencken)

“A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.” (James Freeman Clarke)

Gay Activist (Honored by Obama) Indicted for Sex with a Minor

This is a sad, sordid tale in so many respects.

Caleb Laieski, an openly gay teen who was honored last year by President Obama at a White House "gay pride" dinner, has been indicted in Arizona on more than a dozen counts of sexual misconduct with a minor under the age of 15, according to a report published last week on Life Site News. Laieski, 18, was 17 at the time of the alleged abuse.

The report says the alleged victim in the case, who was not identified because he is a minor, was a close friend of Laieski. The two met on TrevorSpace, a social media site for children and young adults aged 13-24 who have an interest in homosexuality. The victim was 14 when the alleged abuse occured. The victim told investigators the sex was consensual, but that he felt “pressured” to participate. Arizona law says no one younger than 15 is capable of giving consent.

Authorities say Laieski is also considered a victim in the case, due to the fact that some of the charges came as a result of a three-way sexual encounter between Laieski, the 14-year-old victim and 43-year-old Chris Wilson. Wilson, an openly homosexual Phoenix police officer, was arrested last year…

Laieski became nationally known after he and a 35-year-old friend, Casey Cameron, sent e-mails to 5,000 Arizona schools in 2011 demanding special protections for gay students and threatening legal action if they failed to bring their policies in line with his demands…

According to the report investigators at first believed Laieski was only a victim in the case, but police records say that Laieski actively pressured the 14-year-old not to tell anyone about the abuse in order to protect his reputation, even after the younger boy became suicidal.

While China Races to the Moon, U.S. Content with Memories

The USA Today story? “China launches its first moon rover mission.”

My, my. 

Communist China is making dramatic progress in weapons development, military training, troop numbers, technology, and now even the space race.

Meanwhile, under the Obama administration, the U.S. is cutting troop numbers, dismantling her military structure, nixing new weapon systems, allowing technology strength to be given (or stolen) away, and reducing NASA to a politically-correct Space Camp.

The American voters wanted change.

They got it.

The Vile Ugliness of Feminism Unleashed

The vile, hateful, and maliciously self-indulgent spirit of feminism can be seen in the video footage captured from San Juan, Argentina a week ago showing a mob of violent pro-abortion women attacking with spray paint a group of Catholic men who were simply praying a rosary in front of a church.

The men were standing in defense of the cathedral in their city, the cathedral that had been marked earlier by feminists as a target of vandalism. The women turned their violent intent on the men instead.

The women, many of them topless, spray-painted the men’s crotches and faces and swastikas on their chests and foreheads, using markers to paint their faces with Hitler-like moustaches. They also performed obscene sexual acts in front of them and pushed their breasts onto their faces, all the while shouting “get your rosaries out of our ovaries.”

According to InfoCatolica, some of the women chanted a song, with the lyrics: "To the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church, who wants to get between our sheets, we say that we want to be whores, travesties and lesbians. Legal abortion in every hospital.”

During the attack some men were visibly weeping. None of them retaliated against the abuses heaped on them...

Inside the cathedral, 700 people were also in prayer accompanied by their bishop Mos. Alfonso Delgado.

After unsuccessfully trying to get into the building, the women burned a human-sized effigy of Pope Francis. “If the pope were a woman, abortion would be legal,” they shouted.

The attack took place on Sunday, November 24th during the National Women’s Encounter, which annually brings together Argentinean feminists who support “women’s rights.”

The police reportedly told the media they were unable to intervene because “they are women."...

The National Women’s Encounter takes place every year in different Argentinean cities, sponsored by the Department of Culture as a “social interest” event.

Today's Posts

Kicking Off Christmas at Boys Town

New Mega-Study Shows (Again) Abortion/Breast Cancer Link

Gender Equality Isn't Gender Sameness

Politically Incorrect Christian B&B Owners Found Guilty, Endure Abuse, Lose Business

Catching Fire? No, Just Catching Up.

Kicking Off Christmas at Boys Town

On December 1, 1917 Father Edward Flanagan opened Boys Town.

On December 1, 2013, Claire and I went over to Boys Town campus to note the event...and to celebrate Christmas.

First of all, we parked the car and listened to the end of the Broncos/Chiefs game on the car radio. Then we went inside the Boys Town Music Hall to watch a charming student production of “The Gift of the Magi.” It was the first time we had been in the Music Hall and we were very impressed. It's a large, comfortable and lovely facility. The place was soon close to full -- mainly students but also staff, families of students, and a few visitors from the general community like us.

The play was a musical version of the venerable O. Henry story and the stage was effectively set. There was one particularly good singer among the group and the other student-actors gave a pretty good performance. Most important, the message of "The Gift of the Magi" (always compelling) was clearly presented. Good job, troupe.
 
After the play, our old friend and pro-life colleague Fr. Val Peter led the packed house in singing Christmas carols. It was, as Boys Town so strives to create, a very warm, family atmosphere.

We then walked to the Village Circle where Santa Claus arrived in dramatic fashion — riding atop the Boys Town fire truck as it sped (with sirens blaring) down Heroes Boulevard! Later, after Santa had done some visiting, Fr. Peter coaxed him into getting with the rest of the program: "C'mon Santa, you're not running for office." Santa then knelt in front of the creche and Fr. Peter led the crowd in a prayer to Jesus. There was then a countdown, the tree was then lit up, the crowd cheered, and we all trekked over to the Great Hall to be served cookies and cocoa. 

It was a very fun and memorable evening, a great kickoff to the Christmas season.

New Mega-Study Shows (Again) Abortion/Breast Cancer Link

In a new American Thinker article — a startling article, by the way, for those whose only knowledge of the subject comes from the mainstream media — Dr. Mary L. Davenport explores the latest mega-study from China that points to a very definite link between abortion and breast cancer.

In the U.S. we are used to abortion advocates claiming that the risk of elective abortion is relatively trivial, and major medical organizations denying any link between abortion and breast cancer. Now a powerful new study from China published last week by Yubei Huang and colleagues suggests otherwise.  The article, a meta-analysis pooling 36 studies from 14 provinces in China, showed that abortion increased the risk of breast cancer by 44% with one abortion, and 76% and 89% with two and three abortions.

This new article is another example of the recent excellent scholarship on abortion in peer-reviewed journals coming out of the People's Republic. There is no bigger data base than China, where there are an average of 8.2 million pregnancy terminations every year, and 40 abortions for every 100 live births. Chinese researchers and physicians are unencumbered by abortion politics, and do not cover up data showing long term effects of induced abortion, as do their U.S. counterparts in governmental, professional and consumer organizations…

This data is quite inflammatory to those politically correct ideologues who fear that abortion might face limitations, criticism or even concern. Women’s health isn’t the real issue for such people — an enthusiasm for abortion (undetered by any evidence of long term health risks) is. In fact, later on in this article you see remarkable examples of this.

Check it out.

Gender Equality Isn't Gender Sameness

…Taking a page from radical feminism, liberal evangelicals areattempting to “liberate” women from their “oppressed” place in society: the home, and church. Citing the sexism that all too often does infiltrate churches, women are being called to abandon their feminine distinctions entirely.

To usher in a “gender equality” movement that misrepresents a traditional Biblical understanding of human sexuality, liberal elites must first break down the authority of Scripture. A dangerous mission, these efforts threaten to strip women of their dignity, integrity, uniqueness and the special responsibilities entrusted to them by God…

Gender roles do not equate to gender discrimination.

When those who should love us, abuse us in the name of Scripture it would become easy to grow bitter towards Christianity. But donning pants-suits and pretending there is no such thing as femaleness and maleness is not the answer…

Now is not the time for evangelical women to abandon our femaleness. Instead, we must rediscover and take back what it means to be women. A true understanding of equality hinges upon women’s responsibility to develop their own unique potential and fulfill the unique purpose for which each of us was created by God. 

The above paragraphs are from “Liberal Evangelicals Are Waging a War on Women – And No One is Noticing” by Chelsen Vicari (shown at right above). Vicari is the Evangelical Program Director at the Institute on Religion and Democracy and she has written an illuminating article about a very timely issue. Check it out in full right here.

Politically Incorrect Christian B&B Owners Found Guilty, Endure Abuse, Lose Business

Hilary White reports on this sad and alarming story for LifeSiteNews:

Peter and Hazelmary Bull, the Christian hoteliers fined for refusing a single room to two homosexual men in September 2008, have lost their appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court, with the court ruling that their company policy was “discriminatory.”

Despite the fact that the couple proved that their policy applied equally to any unmarried couples, and not just homosexuals, all five judges ruled the Bulls’ policy to be a case of illegal discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, and dismissed their appeal. Two of the judges said the discrimination was “indirect,” but unjustified.

The elderly couple said they were “deeply disappointed and saddened” at the decision that has “reinforced the notion that gay rights must trump everything else.”

They have said that they have been the victims of an ongoing hate campaign, including threats and abusive phone calls and emails, vandalism of their home and car. The Christian Institute reports that wheel nuts were removed from the couple’s car “and recently a dead rabbit was nailed to their fence”. The website of the business was recently hacked and replaced with pornography.

Mrs. Bull told the Christian Institute in September that they had no choice but to sell their business, having gone hungry and without heating last winter in their struggle to make mortgage payments.

“We’re just ordinary Christians who believe in the importance of marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” Mrs. Bull said in a statement after the verdict.

“Britain ought to be a country of freedom and tolerance, but it seems religious beliefs must play second fiddle to the new orthodoxy of political correctness,” she added. “Somehow, we have got to find a way of allowing different beliefs to coexist in our society.”

The Supreme Court deputy president, Lady Hale, said the Bulls are free to “manifest their religion” but by refusing to allow homosexual men to share a double bed in their establishment, they were breaking the law.

In what has been called the first national test case of the Equality Act’s Sexual Orientation Regulations (SOR) for Christians who hold traditional sexual moral beliefs, the Bulls have lost in every court, starting with the Bristol Crown Court in January 2011…

The legal action has had a huge impact on the Bulls’ lives. In addition to being fined £3,600 for the “hurt and embarrassment” felt by the complainants, Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy, the Bulls were ordered to pay the latter’s legal expenses…

Hazelmary Bull has described their situation as exemplifying the ongoing marginalization of Christianity in Britain. With these kinds of rulings, she said, it is clear that “some people are more equal than others.”

Catching Fire? No, Just Catching Up.

Okay, we were all busy this last week: Thanksgiving activities, putting up Christmas, dramatic football games, etc. But if you're wondering what important news and commentary from the culture wars you missed in the meantime, let me give you a few links.

* Really? The Nanny State powers have gone to this level? "Child taken from womb by social services. Exclusive: Essex social services have obtained a court order against a woman that allowed her to be forcibly sedated and for her child to be taken from her womb by caesarean section." (Read the story by Colin Freeman at the Telegraph.)

* "Addison grew up fast last month. Not only did she find herself a pregnant college freshman at 17, but she found out behind the name Planned Parenthood were a bunch of folks who only wanted her to plan her parenthood if it meant killing her baby. All the ads about health care for uninsured women went right out the window. 'Choice' to these workers really meant “Choose to abort your baby or choose to stop seeing us for treatment.” (Here’s the whole story: “Planned Parenthood to Pregnant Woman: Can’t Help You w/o Abortion” by Susan Michelle over at LifeNews.com.)

* "ABC Preaches the 'Gospel of Polyamory' and the Saving Power of Threesomes" by Scott Whitlock at NewsBusters.

* A posh promotion by a murder-for hire firm (abortionists) seeking to rake in big bucks from the despicably self-indulgent. That's the all-too-real horror described in this LifeNews story. ("VIP Abortions: Herbal Tea Afterward in Hillary Clinton Room" by Stacy Trasancos.)

* A young Christian woman takes off her purity ring because she’s tired of living a life of waiting. But don’t get the wrong idea. The decision was a God thing. Read “I don’t wait anymore” from the blog Grace for the Road.

* “The Chew Chef Mario Batali Donates $5,000 to Pay for Women’s Abortions.” (Lauren Enriquez, LifeNews.com)

Thanksgiving Quotes

Happy Thanksgiving!

“Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.” (Psalm 100:4)

“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.” (Ambrose of Milan)

"By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name." (Hebrews 13:15)

“The lack of gratitude is the foundation of all sin.” (G.K. Chesterton)

"True thanksgiving means that we need to thank God for what He has done for us, and not to tell Him what we have done for Him." (George R. Hendrick)

"Ingratitude is the worst of vices." (Thomas Fuller)

"Some people complain because God put thorns on roses, while others praise Him for putting roses among thorns." (Anonymous)

“I will give thanks to the LORD because of His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.” (Psalm 7:17)

"How wonderful it would be if we could help our children and grandchildren to learn thanksgiving at an early age. Thanksgiving opens the doors. It changes a child’s personality. Thankful children want to give; they radiate happiness; they draw people." (Sir John Templeton)

“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.” (John Milton)

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. Let Israel say: ‘His love endures forever.’ Let the house of Aaron say: ‘His love endures forever.’ Let those who fear the Lord say: ‘His love endures forever.’…Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter. I will give You thanks, for You answered me; You have become my salvation.” (Psalm 118: 1-4, 19-21)

"Gratitude is born in hearts that take time to count past mercies." (Charles E. Jefferson)

“In that day you will say: "Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done, and proclaim that His name is exalted.” (Isaiah 12:4)

“A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues." (Cicero)

"Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road." (John Henry Jowett)

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

"We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction."  (Harry A. Ironside)

"You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled." (Charles Haddon Spurgeon)

"But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks." (Ephesians 5: 3-4)

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” (G.K. Chesterton)

“In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

“Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.”
(George Herbert)

"From David learn to give thanks for everything. Every furrow in the Book of Psalms is sown with the seeds of thanksgiving." (Jeremy Taylor)

"Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel."  (Unknown)

“Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all.” (Psalm 95:2-3)

"Giving thanks to God for both His temporal and spiritual blessings in our lives is not just a nice thing to do; it is the moral will of God. Failure to give Him the thanks due Him is sin." (Jerry Bridges)

"The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving." (H. U. Westermayer)

"The Christian who walks with the Lord and keeps constant communion with Him will see many reasons for rejoicing and thanksgiving all day long." (Warren Wiersbe)

Speaking of Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul writes, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” (2 Corinthians 9:15)

“How slow we are to thank and swift to grumble." (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

“When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.” (G.K. Chesterton)

“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.

My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song.” (Psalm 28:7)

The Mayflower Compact (In Modern English)

As you remember from your history classes (I hope), the Mayflower Compact represents our nation's earliest and one of its most important documents.  It was drawn up by the party of Pilgrims who had crossed the Atlantic Ocean seeking religious freedom and the opportunity to spread the gospel. The covenant was made while they were still aboard the ship and was signed on November 11, 1620 (Old Style date) in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod.

Having landed at Plymouth (named by Captain John Smith), the Pilgrims realized that they had ended up in a region that wasn't charted by the London Company. They also understood that earlier settlements in the New World had failed because of a lack of proper government. Thus, the Mayflower Compact was a critical social/religious contract in which the settlers consented to follow the rules and regulations of a government that would derive its power from the consent of the governed.

The best reading of the Mayflower Compact includes Governor William Bradford's description of the circumstances just prior to the signing, "This day, before we came to harbour, observing some not well affected to unity and concord, but gave some appearance of faction, it was thought good there should be an association and agreement, that we should combine together in one body, and to submit to such government and governors as we should by common consent agree to make and choose, and set our hands to this that follows, word for word."

And then the compact itself:

In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, 1620.

"Why Is Thankfulness So Important?"

"In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."(1 Thessalonians 5:18)

The Bible is not subtle in its calls for thanksgiving. Repeatedly, urgently, and throughout its many books the reader is urged to "give thanks to the Lord, for He is good," and "in all things give thanks." In both Old and New Testaments, both Gospels and Epistles, we are urged to consider our blessings, and the character of the One from whom they flow, and to offer praise and thanks in response.

Centuries later, Martin Luther described gratitude as "the basic Christian attitude" and the Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards asserted that a spirit of thankfulness to God was an indicator of one's spiritual state.

Why, one might wonder, is thankfulness so important?

The act of thanksgiving requires both memory and humility -- both reflection on the causes and sources of gratitude, and the recognition of the blessing as a grace, rather than an entitlement. As such, a spirit of thanksgiving is incompatible with pride and distracted self-absorption, two of the greatest threats to spiritual life. It is virtually impossible to be thankful when one is distracted or indignant; thankfulness requires a laying aside of slights and irritations to focus on one's unearned blessings and their source…

(From “Thinking About Thanksgiving” by Cherie Harder, President of Trinity Forum.)

What Has Obama Wrought?

Clearly, the political/cultural read of the day is "The Front Man: President Obama is the nominal leader for permanent bureaucracy" written by Kevin D. Williamson and published in National Review.

Below are excerpts:

Barack Obama did not invent managerial liberalism, nor has he contributed any new ideas to it. He is, in fact, a strangely incurious man. Unlike Ronald Reagan, to whom he likes to be compared, President Obama shows no signs of having expended any effort on big thinkers or big ideas. President Reagan’s guiding lights were theorists such as F. A. Hayek and Thomas Paine; Obama’s most important influences have been tacticians such as Abner Mikva, bush-league propagandists like the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and his beloved community organizers. Far from being the intellectual hostage of far-left ideologues, President Obama does not appear to have the intellectual energy even to digest their ideas, much less to implement them…

The result of this is his utterly predictable approach to domestic politics: appoint a panel of credentialed experts. His faith in the powers of pedigreed professionals is apparently absolute…

In total, it amounts to that fundamental transformation of American society that President Obama promised as a candidate: but instead of the new birth of hope and change, it is the transformation of a constitutional republic operating under laws passed by democratically accountable legislators into a servile nation under the management of an unaccountable administrative state. The real import of Barack Obama’s political career will be felt long after he leaves office, in the form of a permanently expanded state that is more assertive of its own interests and more ruthless in punishing its enemies. At times, he has advanced this project abetted by congressional Democrats, as with the health-care law’s investiture of extraordinary powers in the executive bureaucracy, but he also has advanced it without legislative assistance — and, more troubling still, in plain violation of the law. President Obama and his admirers choose to call this “pragmatism,” but what it is is a mild expression of totalitarianism, under which the interests of the country are conflated with those of the president’s administration and his party. Barack Obama is the first president of the democracy that John Adams warned us about.

“Democracy never lasts long,” Adams famously said. “It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy that did not commit suicide.”…

In an important sense, the American people have no political say in the health-care law, for example, because Congress did not pass a law reforming the health-care system; instead, Congress passed a law empowering the Obama administration, through its political appointees and unelected time-servers, to create a new national health-care regime. The general outline of the program is there in the law, but the nuts and bolts of the thing will be created on the fly by President Obama and his many panels of experts…

For all of the power that Congress legally has given the president in this matter, he feels it necessary to take more — illegally. There is no obvious and persuasive legal rationale for the belief that the president can willy-nilly suspend portions of the law or delay their execution…

In a similar vein, President Obama refused to cut off foreign-aid funds to the Egyptian government, though he is required by law to do so in the event of a coup d’état, which is precisely what happened in July in Egypt. It might be embarrassing for the president to punish the Egyptian military and the grand mufti of al-Azhar for their overthrow of the unpopular Mohamed Morsi, but the law does not make exceptions for presidential embarrassment. The president is not legally empowered to assassinate American citizens, but he has done so, after going through the charade of drawing up a legal argument under which he judged himself entitled to do what the Constitution plainly prohibits. The law also prohibits the president and his allies from using the instruments of government to persecute their rivals, but that is precisely what the IRS has been up to for several years, as it turns out…

Congress’s supine ceding of its powers, and the Obama administration’s usurpation of both legal and extralegal powers, is worrisome. But what is particularly disturbing is the quiet, polite, workaday manner with which the administration goes about its business — and with which the American public accepts it…

Barack Obama’s administration is unmoored from the institutions that have long kept the imperial tendencies of the American presidency in check. That is partly the fault of Congress, which has punted too many of its legislative responsibilities to the president’s army of faceless regulators, but it is in no small part the result of an intentional strategy on the part of the administration. He has spent the past five years methodically testing the limits of what he can get away with, like one of those crafty velociraptors testing the electric fence in Jurassic Park…

This is a might-makes-right presidency, and if Barack Obama has been from time to time muddled and contradictory, he has been clear on the point that he has no intention of being limited by something so trivial as the law.

The Iran Deal: The "Worst Since Munich"

This Iran deal? 

Remarkably bad. Daringly duplicitous. And very bad news for the region, for Israel, for the world.

Here's Charles Krauthammer with the details.

Today's Posts

The Napoleons In Retreat

A Satirical Look at Obama's War Room

Colorado's "Fabulous" ObamaCare Signup Is Only 1/2 of Worst-Case Prediction

An ObamaCare Thank You

Obama's Iran Deal: Naive, Deceitful & Dangerous

The Napoleons In Retreat

Last weekend was set apart for the autumn getaway for the Notting Hill Napoleons, our literary society of nearly 25 years. For the last decade or so, this very pleasant retreat has occurred at the beautiful and comfortable Whispering Pines bed & breakfast in Nebraska City. We come down Friday evening and stay through early Sunday morning, then driving back to be in time for our respective church duties.

During our time in Nebraska City, we enjoy conversation, prayers, laughter, reminiscing, meals, occasional games and field trips, the discussion over that year's Charles Dickens novel, the voting over next year's reading list, and more. It has been a truly wonderful experience.

This year, however, had its challenges. For instance, it was our first year without Chet Thomas, our dear brother who passed away last summer. So many scenes at Whispering Pines this time around reminded us of him and that was sometimes difficult. Also tough this year was that Claire wasn't feeling well. She missed Friday night completely but managed to make it for most of Saturday, only to have a relapse which caused us to leave for home about 8 o'clock Saturday night.

She is, by the way, feeling much better now.

But despite even these challenges, the retreat was meaningful and rewarding in many ways. Being at Whispering Pines, even for a few hours, is an oasis in our year. That's a significant blessing. But so too was the discussion of Oliver Twist, the visit to the G.A.R. Museum and the interesting lectures we were given on Saturday morning, the drive through the historic Wyuka cemetery, the delicious soup supper on Friday night, the quiet talk with Quint in the early morning hours of Saturday and then heading in to make a breakfast of eggs, potatoes, sausage and biscuits. These things were really great fun and I'm deeply grateful for all of them. 

I'm grateful, first of all, to God from Whom all blessings flow. And yet I'm also grateful to the members of our book club (John & Barb Malek, Karla Struble, Ruth Denzler, Bill & Karin Coker, Quint & Carol Coppi); the fellows who made our visit to the museum so interesting, and to Whispering Pines' gracious innkeeper, Jeanna Stavas.

A Satirical Look at Obama's War Room

Obama War Room: Mellow Yellow

[Defense Secretary Hagel, agitated, storms into the Oval Office]

HAGEL: Mr. President, we . . .

OBAMA: Stop! This sounds like trouble. I don’t want to hear it. [to Secret Service agent] Get him out of here!

HAGEL: [yelling] It’s North Korea, they’ve . . .

OBAMA: [covers his ears] Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah . . .

HAGEL: [screaming as he’s dragged away] They’ve attacked South Korea!

OBAMA: Damn, I heard that. Let him go. What’s going on, Chuck?

HAGEL: The North invaded the South three days ago, sir. Our troops on the demilitarized zone were overrun, Seoul was bombarded and occupied. In response, I ordered a strike on the North’s nuclear weapons facilities.

OBAMA: Why didn’t you tell me?

HAGEL: Sir, your standing order to the Cabinet: "I wish to remain ignorant of any event that would require me to make a decision."

OBAMA: Oh, right. So, why are you violating that directive?

HAGEL: The Norks got off a missile. It’s heading toward California. ETA, 11 minutes; touchdown, Orange County. We can’t knock it down. I’m telling you because no decision is necessary.

OBAMA: Well, don’t put this on me. I had nothing to do with it. Jay, when it comes up at your briefing later, say, "The president just learned of these events. He is as frustrated as everyone else about the loss of life."

CARNEY: Very good, sir. Network anchors on line 3.

OBAMA: Scott, Brian, Diane, ignore or spin the Korean situation tonight. That’s half a world away. As for Orange County . . . who cares?

WILLIAMS: I'll devote the bulk of our broadcast tonight to the new Smurfs movie, sir.

SAWYER: I’ll lead with a segment implying the North Koreans interpreted the Republican-engineered government shutdown as a sign of weakness.

OBAMA: Make it so. Scott?

PELLEY: We’ll do a story comparing the rise of Ted Cruz to Kim Young-un’s elevation to power.

OBAMA: Perfect.

(This superb satire is the product of Steve Grammatico. More of Steve’s work can be found at his blog, “You Hear Me, Barack?: A repository of conservative satire.”)

Colorado's "Fabulous" ObamaCare Signup Is Only 1/2 of Worst-Case Prediction

I guess all those sophomoric, sleazy ads that Colorado Democrats created to draw the low-info, low-morality young citizens into the health care exchanges isn't working out too well.

The Denver Post reports,

Enrollment in the Affordable Care Act through Colorado's health insurance exchange is barely half the state's worst-case projection, prompting demands from exchange board members for better stewardship of public money.

The shortfall could compromise the exchange's "ability to deliver on promises made to Colorado citizens" and threatens the funding stream for the exchange itself, according to board e-mails obtained by The Denver Post in an open records request.

The exchange, meant for individuals and small groups buying insurance, had projected a lowest-level mid-November enrollment of 11,108, in a presentation to a board finance committee. The exchange announced Nov. 18 that it had signed up 6,001 Coloradans so far…

Colorado is one of 14 states running its own exchange, while the troubled federal healthcare.gov site handles the exchanges for 36 other states.

The exchange has not hit either internal projections or those made earlier by consultants supportive of the Affordable Care Act, said board member Dr. Mike Fallon, a conservative voice on the board who calls the act overly complex and expensive.

"None of this surprises me," Fallon said of the shortfall. "I don't know what we as a board could have done. Health insurance is a difficult product to sell."

Other board members said hitting enrollment marks now is not as important as making sure exchange websites and call centers work smoothly when people are ready to sign up…

"In the midst of this situation, the communication from the (executive director) to the board has been that the launch is successful, even 'fabulous,' with a few glitches," Daehnick wrote fellow board members on Oct. 24. "Available information does not support this assertion."

An ObamaCare Thank You

The good news, Mr. McTavish, is that we finally got you signed up for ObamaCare. But the bad news is that your insurance costs are going up $435 a month. Also, we regret to inform you that your identity was stolen by someone who hacked into our system and ran your credit cards to their limit, sent rude messages to all your Facebook friends, and then emptied out your bank account.

Thank you again for using the ObamaCare website.

Obama's Iran Deal: Naive, Deceitful & Dangerous

Ring the bells in sorrow and alarm. Barack Obama has, once again, been rolled by a Muslim dictator.

Here's a few worried press reactions, including a few from media sources who are usually loyal members of Team Obama.

* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the Iran deal — “What was concluded in Geneva last night is not a historic agreement, it's a historic mistake. It's not made the world a safer place. Like the agreement with North Korea in 2005, this agreement has made the world a much more dangerous place. For years the international community has demanded that Iran cease all uranium enrichment. Now, for the first time, the international community has formally consented that Iran continue its enrichment of uranium." (“Israeli PM Netanyahu: Iran nuclear deal 'historic mistake’” by David Simpson and Josh Levs, CNN)

* The Obama administration has cut an interim nuclear deal with Iran that gravely worries some of America's strongest allies in the Middle East and even gives pause to some of President Barack Obama's allies in the U.S. Senate. It's easy to see what Iran gets out of this: a reprieve from crippling economic sanctions worth some $6 billion to $7 billion in cash. It's more difficult to figure that Iran views this as the first step toward giving up its nuclear ambitions. Iran will stall some of its development efforts, but it will not significantly step back from the timetable it faces to build a nuclear weapon…

The reason for deep concern, though, is that Iran escapes from some of the economic sanctions that forced it to negotiate in the first place. The Obama administration says those sanctions can be reinstated if Iran cheats or negotiations fail. But Iran will reap the benefit of billions of dollars. And it may not be that easy to persuade international businesses to forgo trade with Tehran if trade resumes.

Republicans, as would be expected, sharply criticized the terms of the deal. But Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, was unsparing as well. "In my view, this agreement did not proportionally reduce Iran's nuclear program for the relief it is receiving," he said. He might as well have said hope has triumphed over experience. (The editors of the Chicago Tribune.)

*  Sen. Bob Corker, R- Tenn., the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee...warned that the Iranian regime “has consolidated their gains” and was now “spiking the football in the end zone” and claiming that it has the right to keep enriching uranium.

The accord will unfreeze some of Iran’s overseas assets and ease some trade sanctions in return for the Tehran regime allowing inspections of its nuclear facilities and halting some steps that could lead to a nuclear weapon.

“It looks like we've tacitly agreed that they will be enriching (uranium) for commercial purposes down the road,” Corker said. “So I think you're going to see on Capitol Hill … a bipartisan effort to try to make sure that this is not the final agreement.” Corker added, “this administration is big on announcements, very short on substance. We see that time and time again.”…

Sen. Charles Schumer, D- N.Y., said he was "disappointed" by the interim agreement "because it does not seem proportional. Iran simply freezes its nuclear capabilities while we reduce the sanctions.... This disproportionality...makes it more likely that Democrats and Republicans will join together and pass additional sanctions when we return in December."

But Obama warned Congress in his statement Saturday night to not try to pass any new sanctions, saying “now is not the time to move forward on new sanctions, because doing so would derail this promising first step, alienate us from our allies and risk unraveling the coalition that enabled our sanctions to be enforced in the first place.”

Rep. Elliot Engel, D- N.Y., the senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a strong supporter of Israel which has been sharply critical of the deal, said the accord “makes it very difficult to continue the sanctions” against Iran and indicated that Congress was unlikely to pass new sanctions at this point. He noted that an Iran sanctions bill was passed by The House in July by a vote of 400 to 20, but the New York Democrat said, “It’s difficult for the Senate to do sanctions now” now that the Obama administration has entered into a six-month deal with Iran. “It’s disappointing to me that Iran is still going to be allowed to enrich (uranium) while they’re talking. I would have thought that that should be a prerequisite to any kind of talks,” Engel said. (Tom Curry, National Affairs Writer, NBC News)

* The Obama administration says the agreement will degrade Iran’s nuclear capacity, halt its current progress, and lay the groundwork for a final deal, in exchange for discrete concessions on sanctions. But this “freeze” is incomplete and as reversible as the term suggests, and the effect of the loosening of the sanctions will be far-reaching.

Reminiscent of his claim that a strike on Syria to deter future chemical-weapons use would be “unbelievable small,” Secretary Kerry said that the deal’s concessions translate into “very little sanctions relief.” This is an odd description for measures that take up a full page of the agreement’s four-page outline and extend to suspending sanctions on petroleum and gold, authorizing new shipments of auto and aircraft parts (which are of military and economic use to the Revolutionary Guard), allowing U.S. and EU companies to insure oil shipments, increasing the caps on EU trade in non-sanctioned goods, and more…

The White House estimates the value of these particular adjustments to be about $6 to $7 billion, which is no paltry sum in exchange for so little from Iran. But the real economic value is in perceptions: This deal makes it known that our Western leaders view Iran as a legitimate negotiating partner — in fact, one that they expect will agree to a final deal in six months. Consider the effect that this change will have on the foreign firms that have always remained capable of striking profitable deals with Iran but have held off given the uncertainty and opprobrium surrounding Tehran; now they can strike those deals in the knowledge that the American executive branch is making that easier, not harder.  (The editors of National Review.)

Today's Posts

A Few Thanksgiving Quotes To Pass Around

9 Things About Planned Parenthood Everyone Should Know

Helping ACTION Help the Philippines

George Will on the Senate Democrats Changing the Rules

Contrary to Reports, China Is Not Ending It’s Brutal “One Child Only” Policy

A Few Thanksgiving Quotes To Pass Around

“You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before I open a book, and before sketching, painting, swimming, walking, playing, dancing and before I dip the pen in the ink.” (G. K Chesterton)

“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.” (John Milton)

Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.
(George Herbert)

"Some people complain because God put thorns on roses, while others praise Him for putting roses among thorns." (Anonymous)

“Happiness is gratitude doubled by wonder.” (G.K. Chesterton)

9 Things About Planned Parenthood Everyone Should Know

Joe Carter over at the Gospel Coalition notes "9 Things You Should Know About Planned Parenthood." 

It is an excellent primer to pass around -- excellent too to print off and use as a reference for letters to editors, political officials, business leaders, your pastor, and so on.

1. Planned Parenthood Federation of America has 95 affiliates and 865 health centers, according to its latest annual report, which covers the 2008-09 fiscal year. They require that at least one clinic per affiliate must perform abortions. PP performs over 320,000 abortions a year. [That's surgical abortions alone. The number of preborn kids killed through PP chemicals is incalculable.]

2. The motto for this year's PP gala is "Our past is our prologue." Part of the past the organization will be celebrating includes its founding by the notorious racist and eugenicist Margaret Sanger. Sanger wanted to control the reproduction of immigrants, the poor, certain religious groups, and anyone else she thought was from an "unacceptable" heritage. Sanger referred to such people as reckless breeders who were "unceasingly spawning a class of human beings who never should have been born at all..." 

In 1939 Sanger started the "Negro Project" and attempted to get Christian ministers to aid her effort. As she wrote in a letter to a fellow eugenicist, "we do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."

3. Last year PP reported excess revenue of $87.4 million and $1.2 billion in total assets. Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood's CEO, makes nearly $400,000 a year. [She actually makes over $500,000.)

4. The amount of taxpayer money PP got in 2012 ($542,000,000) equates to $61,836 an hour, 24 hours a day for 365 days.

5. PP has repeatedly and consistently turned a blind eye to reports of statutory rape.

6. PP strongly opposes sex education that focuses on abstinence and has gone so far as to file lawsuits against school districts that have decided to implement abstinence-only programs. The organization claims to offer "value-neutral" sex education. (As an example, on their website aimed at teenagers, they include an article ("All About the Anus") which teaches kids that, "Some straight couples use anal sex as a way to preserve the woman's virginity.")

7. Last month a Planned Parenthood of Florida lobbyist, testifying against Florida's Born Alive Infants Protection Act, told lawmakers that if a baby survives an abortion, it is debatable whether that baby should live or die.

8. Some Planned Parenthood clinics have demonstrated a willingness to partner with pimps and sex traffickers to exploit young women instead of safeguarding their health and safety.

9. While in the Illinois state senate, Obama worked with PP to determine how he should vote on a partial-birth abortion legislation. With Planned Parenthood's blessing, he voted "present" to protect his "100 percent" record on pro-abortion votes.

Helping ACTION Help the Philippines

Last week we suggested that those of you desiring to help with the relief needs in the Philippines might use the Tim Tebow Foundation. Today I want to alert you to another excellent group, one whose focus has long been on the needs (both spiritual and material) of the people there. It is ACTION -- Action International Ministries.

ACTION is particularly well suited for sincere, effective and long-term efforts in that they utilize local churches and Christian volunteers to provide aid. That is a huge help in maintaining integrity and efficiency, targeting the most critical needs, and in developing ongoing connections with caring people.

The needs in the Philippines defy description. Our prayers and help really are quite crucial. So please, check out the ACTION site right here and make a donation.

George Will on the Senate Democrats Changing the Rules

Contrary to Reports, China Is Not Ending It’s Brutal “One Child Only” Policy

Under the misleading headline “China to Ease One-Child Policy,” Xinhua News Agency reported last Friday that China will now lift the ban on a second child, if either parent is an only child. It is already the case that couples can have a second child if both parents are themselves only children. This minor adjustment will not “ease” the one-child policy. It will merely tweak it.

Indeed, in apparent response to quell overly optimistic speculation that this small change represents a major reform, Xinhua ran another report over the weekend: “Birth Policy Changes Are No Big Deal.” In this second article Xinhua states that Wang Pei’an, deputy director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), told Xinhua that “the number of couples covered by the new policy is not very large across the country.”…

He concluded that “the basic state policy of family planning will be adhered to over a long period of time.”

In other words, the minor modification of the policy announced Friday: 1) will not affect a large percentage of couples in China; 2) is not subject to a timetable in which to implement it; 3) retains the dreaded “birth intervals” between children (if a woman gets pregnant before the interval has lapsed, she may be subject to forced abortion); 4) makes no promise to end the coercive enforcement of the policy; and 5) promises to continue the one-child policy “over a long period of time” — which could be decades.

To say that China has “relaxed” or “eased” its one-child policy under these circumstances is entirely unwarranted. Furthermore, all the reasons given for this adjustment are economic or demographic:  China’s dwindling labor force, the country’s growing elderly population, and the severe gender imbalance. The adjustment is a tacit acknowledgement that continuation of the one-child policy will lead to economic and demographic disaster. The policy was originally instituted for economic reasons. It is ironic that through this very policy, China has written its own economic, demographic death sentence.

Noticeably absent from the Chinese Communist party’s announcement is any mention of human rights. Even though it will now allow some couples to have a second child, China has not promised to end forced abortion, forced sterilization, or forced contraception. The coercive enforcement of China’s one-child policy is its core…

…Last Friday the mainstream media ran such headlines as “China Reforms: One-child policy to be relaxed” and “China to ease One Child Policy.” Such headlines are detrimental to sincere efforts to stop forced abortion in China, because they imply that the one-child policy is no longer a problem. In a world laden with compassion fatigue, people are relieved to cross China’s one-child policy off of their list of things to worry about.

But we cannot do that. Let us not abandon the women of China, who continue to face forced abortion up to the ninth month of pregnancy. The one-child policy does not need to be adjusted. It needs to be abolished.

(From “China Hasn’t ‘Eased’ Its One-Child Policy” by Reggie Littlejohn, NRO)

Today's Posts

Back Alley Abortion Clinics? Oh, They Exist. (And They're Protected by Pro-Choice Leaders.)

The Punch List

A New Profession in the Culture of Death?

The Real JFK

About Obama's Excuse for Omitting "Under God" in Gettysburg Address

Back Alley Abortion Clinics? Oh, They Exist. (And They're Protected by Pro-Choice Leaders.)

In response to a series of new abortion restrictions enacted in Texas, abortionist Sarah McNeil wrote recently in USA Today: "I and my physician colleagues across the country continually seek out and welcome measures that improve patient safety, but absurd laws such as this one only hurt women and families by decreasing access to essential reproductive health care services."

It’s no surprise, of course, that the abortion industry and its allies are wailing and gnashing their teeth and bandying about phrases like “absurd laws” in reference to Texas’ new abortion restrictions.

But what’s really absurd is the implication behind their bellyaching: namely, the idea that abortion clinics can be trusted to police themselves.

As evidence of the need for Texas’ new abortion restrictions — which call for, among other things, more rigorous inspections — last month Texas Alliance for Life released a review of recent inspection records indicating that many of the state’s abortion facilities are falling drastically short of meeting even the safety standards that are currently on the books...

Read the rest of this illuminating article, “Inspections Find Texas Abortion Clinics Filthy, Run by Untrained Staff” written up by the Pro-Life Action League and published by LifeNews.com.

The Punch List

Have you noticed that Team Obama has already started dropping hints that the end of November may not bring the promised fixes of that ObamaCare website, after all?

Yesterday, for example, Kathleen Sebelius told an AP reporter, “The 30th of November is not a magic go, no-go date. It is a work of constant improvement…We have some very specific things we know we need to complete by the 30th and that punch list is getting knocked out every week."

Of course, the only things we can truly depend on being punched out by this administration is our economy, our formerly excellent health care system, and our freedom from the Nanny State.

Ouch.

A New Profession in the Culture of Death?

What do you want to be when you grow up, Johnny? I want to get a license to help people kill themselves, Mommy!

Ethicist Wesley J. Smith looks at SP 40, a new “assisted suicide” legalization bill from Scotland that, among other outrageous provisions, creates a brand new health care profession — the “licensed suicide facilitator.”

I’m not making this up.

Says the bill itself,

Licensing of facilitators:
(1) The Scottish Ministers may, by order, appoint—
a) a person or a body, association or group of persons to be the licensing authority,  or
(b) persons or bodies, associations or groups of persons to be licensing authorities, for facilitators.

And, as Smith points out, these facilitators can be as young as 16, providing they have a “terminal or life-shortening illness.”

The exact duties of a “licensed suicide facilitator?”

Again, from the bill itself,

19 General functions of licensed facilitators A licensed facilitator is to use best endeavours—
(a) to provide, before, during and after the act of suicide (or attempted suicide) by the person for whom the facilitator is acting, such practical assistance as the person reasonably requests,
(b) to provide the person with comfort and reassurance,
(c) to be with the person when any drug or other substance or means dispensed or otherwise supplied for the suicide of the person is taken or used by the person,
(d) as soon as practicable after the expiry of the period of 14 days referred to in section 17(2), to remove from the person any such drug or other substance or means still in the person’s possession.

Madness? Of course. But a distinctly malevolent madness, this -- an inarguable illustration of the spiritual war between the forces of Christian civilization and a demonic culture of death.

The Real JFK

The editors of National Review take a quick peek behind all the hype, hoopla, and hagiography that surrounds the myth of John F. Kennedy.

And, no. He's wasn't at all what you've been led to believe.

Read the editorial, "A Beautiful Mediocrity," right here.

About Obama's Excuse for Omitting "Under God" in Gettysburg Address

Regarding President’s Obama much-noticed omission of the words “under God” in his recitation yesterday of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Ed Whelan writes:

…President Obama recited a draft version of the Gettysburg address that doesn’t include the phrase “under God.” Filmmaker Ken Burns says that he asked Obama to recite that draft version. But even if that’s a full and true account (I have to wonder whether the White House asked Burns to ask Obama to read that version), why would Obama agree to do so?

As Princeton professor Robert P. George discussed in this First Things essay, the pamphlet Constitution distributed by the American Constitution Society also uses a godless draft version of the Gettysburg address. What possible justification is there for using that draft version? As Professor George points out:

“Three entirely independent reporters, including a reporter for the Associated Press, telegraphed their transcriptions of Lincoln’s remarks to their editors immediately after the president spoke. All three transcriptions include the words ‘under God,’ and no contemporaneous report omits them. There isn’t really room for equivocation or evasion: Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address — one of the founding texts of the American republic — expressly characterizes the United States as a nation under God.”

The American Constitution Society used a godless draft version, Professor George reasonably surmises, because “the Great Emancipator’s characterization of the United States as a nation under God appears to undermine the strict separationism that the American Constitution Society wishes to promote.” Whether he affirmatively invited the godless draft or simply acquiesced in its selection, it’s difficult to resist the conclusion that Obama finds that version more congenial to his secularist ideology.

 (“Gettysburg and a Nation “Under God” by Ed Whelan, NRO.)

(By the way, the photo above is not a meme. It's not photo-shopped. It's a real picture then Senator Obama had taken to publicize his opposition to "puppy mills." That's right; the politician who is more extreme than any other in promoting the barbaric violence against human boys and girls en utero wanted to make clear he supports a quality upbringing for dogs. Good grief.)