Sunday, July 24, 2005

Embryonic vs Adult Stem Cell Benefits: The Latest Scorecard

Uh; guess what, guys? The MSM is not going to get the word out about the relative values of embryonic stem cell research and that research in which nobody has to die. Therefore, it is up to us. This compilation from Do No Harm is terrific for use in educating others about the "dead end" of ESCR and the ever-lengthening list of medical applications already being used because of adult stem cell use.

This list would make a nice flyer to send around to friends, a great little poster in your church foyer...hey; you come up with your own ideas. Just spread the word!

Seen Any Good Movies Lately?

Unless you're an aficionado of old films, the answer to the above question is probably, "No." But Debbie Schlussel has a recommendation for you -- a new movie that she is very high on.

Says Debbie, The Great Raid --a must see for all Americans. Screened it, today. EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT! Cannot say enough good things about it. It's about the rescue of U.S. POWs in Cabanatuan, Philippines, tortured by the Japanese, during World War II.

Click on the title of this post to read more of her interesting comments about The Great Raid.

Resisting United Nations Abortion Pressure

This excerpt from Catholic World News should prompt you to read the whole story...

However, in an unusual twist, Krisztina Morvai of Hungary [a member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women], seemed to express dissatisfaction with the committee's relentless focus on widening the availability of abortion. Speaking soon after Pimentel, Morvai said, "One thing that is invisible and lost in the debate is that abortion is bad for women."

Morvai then added, "No woman actually wants to have an abortion. We have this illusion that women have free choices. But abortion is a terribly damaging thing psychologically, spiritually, and physically." She said that she hopes one day that "abortion will be the past," and that it will be considered "like torture in the field of human rights."

Friday, July 22, 2005

Not Every Conservative Is Pleased With John Roberts

Ann Coulter makes some important points in this piece, especially her observations on the administration's (and the Republican Party's) laziness, lack of imagination and sheer cowardice in avoiding what is a very winnable fight.

And Ann isn't the only conservative who has some heavy doubts about Robert's impact on, say, Roe v Wade. Take a careful look at the Town Hall columns of Charles Krauthammer and Ben Shapiro as well as the Weekly Standard piece by Fred Barnes.

Novak Names Names

Bob Novak's enlightening commentary on the liberals' desperate fight to keep the (misnamed) Public Broadcasting Corporation from long overdue reform.

But to be frank; reform isn't really what is needed here. Just shut down the bloated beast altogether.

In this day of media overkill and out of control government spending, doing away with PBS should be a very easy choice to make.

Yet Another Abortionist Scandal

From the regular reports of LifeNews.com comes this story...

Two owners of an abortion business in Miami have been arrested on charges that they were using two people without a medical license to perform abortions at their facility. Police arrested Jose Rodriguez, 52, and Magaly Gil, 56, both of Miami. They were released on $5,000 bond, according to a Miami Herald report.

Officials say the pair knew Kieron Nisbet, who performed abortions at their facility, was not licensed to practice medicine in Florida. According to the report, Nisbet performed abortions in November at their Best Care Women's Center abortion business. Nisbet also performed abortions at a Hialeah, Florida abortion facility, A Women's Care II, during the same time.

Police have tried to apprehend Nisbet, but the Herald reports he has fled to his homeland of Trinidad, an island in the Southeast Caribbean. Police put out a warrant for his arrest in April. State officials are trying to revoke the license for the A Women's Care II abortion business, but it is fighting the action and has taken their case before an administrative judge. However, the owners surrendered the license voluntarily on Monday after the Miami-Dade Police Department and the Florida Department of Health began a joint investigation.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez and Gill have gone to extraordinary lengths to cover up their use of unlicensed people to perform abortions. A former employee of the Best Care Women's Center abortion facility told police that the two ordered her to tell officials that Nisbet was not involved in the abortion facility. The owners also brought the employee to the Hialeah abortion facility to ''for the purpose of showing her a licensed doctor by the name of David Brown," the Herald reported. They told the employee to tell police that Brown had performed the abortions at both facilities.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Whose Who In "War of the Worlds"?

John Leo tracks down the comments of David Koepp, writer of the film's screenplay, given to a weird and little-read Canadian horror magazine. Koepp explains that the Martian attackers in the film represent the American military, while the Americans being slaughtered at random represent Iraqi civilians. Hmmm...one less reason to see this Hollywood drivel.

More on John Roberts

The news on this guy's pro-life credentials just gets more exciting. An adoptive parent of two and his wife Jane serving as a past vice-president of Feminists for Life! Oh, the left will go crazy.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Who Is John Roberts?

Wow. A friend of pro-life activism and clergy-led prayer at government school graduations nominated for the Supreme Court?

It certainly looks like W. held firm and gave the country a man who seems to be the real deal. Way to go, Mr. President! Now, true conservatives can finally take a breath again...and then begin to fight the full court press the Democrats and their media buddies will certainly launch against Judge Roberts.

Besides this brief ABC story, here's a few other takes:

Concerned Women of America's story on Roberts...

Power Line's invigorating comments are here...

Want Hugh Hewitt's opinion? Sure, you do. Go here...

The AP on Roberts' conservative stripes...

And finally, here's Michelle Malkin with her view (and a lot of links to others). Check it out...

Nursing Home Residents Way Over Drugged

Our suspicions were correct.

We had seen, in the last several years of our visiting residents in nursing homes, that the people seemed to be less responsive, less alert and sleeping much more than in the eighties when we first started the visits. Off the record admissions from medical workers confirmed the reason for this was the residents were more heavily drugged. A key reason behind this was the lack of staff to take care of the residents. That's right; it was easier to have them sleep than to try and keep them occupied.

However, a second reason was the lowering of quality of staff hires. For instance, in order to get nurses to work at nursing home pay levels, the institution was accepting people whose heart wasn't devoted to quality care. The residents were merely burdensome "bed numbers" to many of this new generation of staffers and, when there was a conflict over the staff's comfort vs. the resident's best care, the residents lost the contest.

This story from Health Sentinel will open some eyes as to the tragic mismanagement of our society's elderly and infirm.

Working Women More Likely To Divorce

In today's "Sociologists Discover The Obvious" category comes this story from the (U.K.) Telegraph.

RU-486: A Gotta' Have Drug

From LifeSiteNews comes this report...

The British Medical Journal reported Saturday that the World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the RU-486 chemical abortifacient as an "essential" medicine for inclusion in a list of medicines required to be available to physicians working in developing countries.


Arguing that the combination of mifepristone followed later by misoprostol is a safe alternative to surgical abortion in countries where abortion is often illegal, the WHO authorized inclusion of the drug as essential to combat what it terms back-alley "unsafe abortions."


WHO director of medicines policy and standards and secretary of its essential medicines committee Hans Hogerzeil criticized the US, opposition to the inclusion of RU-486 as an "essential" medicine. The US did achieve one goal - the inclusion of a phrase in the essential drug list that reads, "Where permitted under national law and where culturally acceptable."

The UK's Society for the Protection of Unborn Children said it "hoped enough cultures rejected the drugs ... as they would bring innocent life to an end," as reported by the BMJ.

After news of the RU-486 inclusion by WHO, Planned Parenthood wrote to congratulate its members, saying, "More than 5,000 FreeChoiceSavesLives.org activists like you took action to protect these women by emailing Dr. Lee Jong-Wook at the World Health Organization (WHO)." Planned Parenthood congratulated its members for putting pressure on Jong-Wook to include RU-486. "Your emails urging him not to cave in to the inappropriate, ideologically-driven pressure it was receiving from the Bush administration's Department of Health and Human Services seem to have given the WHO the encouragement it needed to stop dragging its feet."


Concerned Women for America (CWA) posted on its Web site in January public documents revealing approximately 600 serious complications suffered by women who used the abortion drug RU-486 in the US.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Silent No More: The Media Outreach

If you haven't seen or heard the Silent No More radio and TV spots promoting the pro-life cause, click on over and check them out. They are very good -- thoughtful, compassionate, and provocative in the best direction.

And yes; they need prayers and financial help to get the widest broadcast of these excellent spots.

You Could See It Coming

Cal Thomas is at his usual top form in discussing the London bombs.

The Obvious Ignored

Hollywood's box office woes continue (despite a brief respite provided by the new Fantastic Four flick) but the most obvious reasons for the decline in movie-goers are routinely ignored. Writing in the LA Times web site, Govindini Murty gives industry powers a heads-up.

By the way, the gal most definitely has a handle on what's happening. Govindini Murty is an accomplished insider -- an actress, screenwriter, co-director of the Liberty Film Festival, a film columnist for Newsmax.com, editor of Libertas, a leading blog for conservative discussion...and a quite witty writer. Check out her fine article.

Leftists Working Hard to Discourage Military Enlistments

The latest attack on the U.S. by its Fifth Column enemies is aimed at stopping the Armed Forces from enlisting new recruits. Faced with a flagging anti-war movement, leftist agitators have shifted gears and are now subverting the War on Islamist Terror by trying to destroy America’s ability to maintain a fighting force. Though so far limited in success, this counter-recruitment movement is growing quickly and threatens to wreck America’s ability to defend itself from its enemies...

Read the rest of this sobering article from Rocco DiPoppo over at FrontPageMag.

Old Guard Media Won't Give Bush A Break

Yawn. So who's surprised by this news? Still, the Washington Times story detailing a new study by the D.C.-based Center for Media and Public Affairs is a very revealing one and a good read. Like always, guys...it's up to us to get the truth out.

In a similar vein, check out how the liberal media rate in their coverage of Ed Klein's negative book on Hillary Clinton (almost non-existant) and Kitty Kelley's negative book on George W, (deep and wide).

Africa's Real Need? Freedom.

Paul Jacob cuts through the Live8 racket and gives out with the facts.

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Who Cares If It's a Child? 3D Ultrasound Not Enough to Change British Medicos

In the beginning of the pro-life movement, there was a slogan so popular that it almost became a mantra: "If wombs had windows, there would be no abortions."

But users of that slogan did not realize the extreme selfishness of the sexual revolution. As any sidewalk counselor or CPC worker can tell you, the "windows to the womb" which a gracious God has given us through modern technology are routinely closed by men and women who clearly see the truth of a child's humanity but then wickedly reject that child's right to life.

Here's a chilling story about how Dr. Stuart Campbell's pioneer work in 3D ultrasound technology was callously ignored by most of the members of the once-prestigious British Medical Association.

Embryonic Stem Cell Cures... And Other Fairy Tales

A guest column in the Town Hall lineup today focuses on the concentrated campaign of lies, distortions and false hopes which embryonic stem cell profiteers are waging against the sanctity of life. The columnist is Jean Swenson, a well-informed, compassionate advocate of adult stem cell science -- the one that's already working to help people.

By the way, Jean Swenson is not an indifferent spectator of the issue. She is a quadriplegic who very much desires cures for illnesses, diseases and injuries (like the one to her spinal cord). However, she insists that the best chances for such cures lie in the direction of morally-acceptable medical research.

This is a very good piece and one which you'd do well to pass around.

Friday, July 08, 2005

The War Within

With the increased viciousness of Islamic attacks against the West, even formerly ambivalent "moderate" Muslims are beginning to speak out against movements like Al-Qaeda. Here's a noteworthy article from Joyce Davis for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Holding Vipers to Your Bosom Is Dangerous

When it comes to telling the truth about Islam-inspired terror, Debbie Schlussel is one of the best and boldest around.

Here's her latest on how England has (at the cost of many pounds...and now perhaps, many lives) coddled Muslims who openly celebrate and advocate mass murder.

Note especially Debbie's links within her brief article, like the one connecting readers to a January UPI story about British Muslims joining together to declare a jihad against the U.K.

In the Aftermath of London

The Washington Times editors make some very important points in their lead piece today. Here's a sample...

...Yet while we mourn, we must also hope that July 7, 2005, will live in the hearts of Britons as September 11 has lived in the hearts of Americans: A moment of calling. Currently, Western resolve against terror has experienced a period of complacency. While G-8 leaders debate global warming in Gleneagles, Scotland, they forget that which truly threatens the civilized world -- Islamofascism, the one thing not even on the G-8 agenda.


Indeed, the Western world's capacity for denial continues to impress as much as confound. Even when we are debating terrorism here in the United States, the argument in recent months has not focused on how to wage a better war on terror. Instead, we dither over proper handling of the Koran; whether terrorists should be treated like normal criminals; or if Iraq is a central front. Responsible Americans must wonder now if the present debate is moving us farther away from security...

A Liberal Rant Against Oil

You think radical Islam is behind the London terror attacks?

Well, Froma Harrop has that peculiar insight that only high-minded leftists have and she oh-so-bravely shares it with us on the editorial page of the Seattle Times. You see, the real evil is that wicked, smelly black stuff we use in our cars and machinery... aided, of course, by a Republican administration that cares more about rich oil barons than the other folks of the world.

Reading this editorial is an enlightening experience, to be sure; but not in the way Ms. Harrop desires. Rather, it reveals how obscurantist and illogical liberals are willing to be (in public, no less!) in mouthing the same old platitudes.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

London Mayor Once Defended "Theologian of Terror"

London Mayor Ken Livingstone's previous support of a Muslim cleric who advocates suicide bombings may cause him some embarrassment as he now must speak for the city in the wake of Thursday's terrorist bombings.

Despite Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi's support of suicide bombings and the targeting of American allies, Livingstone dubbed him a "man of peace" and a "moderate..."

The London Bombings: An Important Sidebar

Debbie Schlussel notes the ADC's less-than-forthright posture even in the wake of the London terror.

Tyrants in Tandem

Writing for The American Thinker, Frederick W. Stakelbeck, Jr. 's probing piece on the emerging partnership between Communist China and Communist Belarus is a chilling one.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Weekend Wrap

After taking the weekend off from blogging (Matt & Laura Troutman's wedding, the Fourth of July, and a birthday), I'm back with a wrap-up of some of the most important of the weekend's reports. Here they are:

1) Kathleen Parker's incisive look at the destruction of America's families...

2) Wes Pruden on despotism, the greatest reason of all (but certainly the most neglected by the press) for African poverty...

3) Powerline's publication of Major E.'s letter telling about Independence Day in Iraq...

4) Yet more reasons to get the U.S. out of the U.N. as described by CWA's Lindsey Douthit...

and finally,

5) A telling report from the Family Research Institute on how homosexual practice creates health expenses that are many more times that of smoking...

Friday, July 01, 2005

The Pro-Life Indispensables

A veteran of 25 years of effective pro-life activism, Denny Hartford is Director of Vital Signs Ministries. He believes the pro-lifers who stay in the battle are the ones that are alert, committed and thoroughly equipped. All of these characteristics, he insists, are greatly helped by carefully reading (and heeding) the best pro-life authors. Here’s his list of indispensable reading. We’ll look forward to your ideas about others who need to be added to this list!

1. Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments by Randy Alcorn. There is a reason this one’s at the top of the list. It is an insightful, very readable pro-life primer which I would love to see in every Christian’s library. Check it out.

2. Abortion: Questions and Answers by Dr. Jack Willke. This was long the standard text on the issue and through recent revisions; it remains a tremendous and up-to-date source.

3. Whatever Happened to the Human Race? by Francis Schaeffer and C. Everett Koop. This is the hard-hitting book dealing with all of the primary life issues that helped bring evangelicals into pro-life ministry. It combines exhaustive knowledge, creative presentation, and keen challenges to response.

4. The Least of These by Curt Young. Published in 1983, this book was a major foundation for the emerging pro-life movement. Strong on the Bible, church history, the centrality of pregnancy center ministry, etc., Curt’s book remains a treasure.

5. Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation by Ronald Reagan. A President writing a book while in office? This remarkable event was totally ignored by the liberal media, but that doesn’t mean you have to accept their verdict! A compelling, common sense pro-life must.

6. Who Broke the Baby? by Jean Garton. One of the first breakthrough pro-life titles, it remains a classic, especially in its exploration of the critical shifts in language which were necessary to win the day for abortionists and their pals.

7. Blood Money: Getting Rich Off a Woman’s Right to Choose by Carol Everett. (Originally published as The Scarlet Lady.) Carol takes you behind the closed doors of the abortion industry as only an insider can. She also shows you the power and awesome love God has for repentant sinners.

8. Grand Illusions: The Legacy of Planned Parenthood by George Grant. Think you know the origins, strategies and goals of Planned Parenthood? Think again and carefully read Dr. Grant’s expose`.

9. Aborting America by Dr. Bernard Nathanson. Once upon a time, he was one of America’s leading abortionists, but Dr. Nathanson left the grisly business after a crisis of conscience. That crisis led to this shocking, tell-all book; then to its sequel, The Abortion Papers: Inside the Abortion Mentality; and finally to salvation from sin as he surrendered to the cause of Jesus Christ. That story (The Hand of God) also makes powerful reading.

10. In this number ten slot, let me list several other titles. They too represent books that could easily make the list of most important reading for pro-life Christians so consider number 10 an extended bibliography of sorts.

Closed: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion by Joe Scheidler;

Without Moral Limits by Debra Evans;

Abortion: A Rational Look at an Emotional Issue by R.C. Sproul;

Gianna by Gianna Jesson;

Christian Manifesto by Francis Schaeffer;

Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions? by Randy Alcorn;

Abortion Rites: A Social History of Abortion in America by Marvin Olasky;

The Silent Holocaust by Fr. John Powell;

Humanae Vitae by Pope John Paul II;

The War Against Population by Jackie Kasun;

Forced Exit by Wesley Smith; and

When Is It Right to Die: Suicide, Euthanasia, Suffering, Mercy by Joni Eareckson Tada

You’ll learn much you can use in the service of “the least of these” from any of these excellent titles. Good reading.