Can you explain why you’re pro-life in a 30-second sound bite?Here’s how pro-life educator Josh Brahm does it.
Friday, December 06, 2013
A Pro-Life Apologetic: In 30 Seconds
Can you explain why you’re pro-life in a 30-second sound bite?Here’s how pro-life educator Josh Brahm does it.
Patients Dying of Dehydration in Britain...By the Hundreds
Yesterday I posted links to two recent stories from the Daily Telegraph dealing with the acceptance by key political and “health” leaders in Great Britain accepting sex selection abortion.
And here today is one from Ben Riley-Smith in the same newspaper dealing with the horrible trend in British hospitals and “care facilities” of letting patients die of dehydration — more than a thousand patients in the last decade!
More than 1,000 care home residents have died of thirst or while suffering severe dehydration over the past decade, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
Elderly and vulnerable patients were left without enough water despite being under the supervision of trained staff in homes in England and Wales.
The Coalition has failed to improve the situation, with more people dying while dehydrated last year than when David Cameron took office, although the total was lower than the 2006 peak.
Charities called for an urgent overhaul in social care, saying that the general public would be outraged if animals were treated in the same way.
“How can we call ourselves civilised when people are left to starve or die of thirst? … It is an utter disgrace that they are ever left without the most basic care,” said Dr Alison Cook, a director at the Alzheimer’s Society.
Figures obtained by this newspaper under freedom of information laws found that 1,158 care home residents suffered dehydration-related deaths between 2003 and 2012. Dehydration was named as either the underlying cause of death or a contributory factor, according to analysis of death certificates by the Office of National Statistics.
Some 318 care home residents were found to have died from starvation or when severely malnourished, while 2,815 deaths were linked to bed sores.
The real figures are likely to be far higher because residents who died while in hospital were not included.
Campaigners said the disclosures raised serious concerns about the way vulnerable elderly people were treated and why the Government had failed to decrease the numbers dying of thirst after more than three years in office…
Young Adults Are Rejecting the Gamble of ObamaCare
From "A Roll of the Dice" by John Fund, national-affairs columnist for National Review Online.President Obama is back selling his health-care law with the manic intensity of a late-night-infomercial pitchman who knows that if he doesn’t move the product, it could be discontinued.
Here’s Obama aiming his comments at young people this Wednesday: “The product is good. It’s affordable. This is a big deal, to quote Joe Biden. And if you’re a student-body president, set up a conference on campus. If you’re a bartender, have a happy hour.”
But it’s the president who may need a drink after viewing the latest poll numbers on young people’s attitudes towards Obamacare…
Only 29 percent of uninsured young people say they will definitely (13 percent) or likely (16 percent) enroll in new plans via the exchanges. Despite an avalanche of public-service ads, thousands of “navigators” — glorified sales reps — recruited from Obama-friendly nonprofits, and numerous celebrity endorsements, the product isn’t moving.
The Harvard study found that the president’s job approval among young people is down to 41 percent. A full 57 percent of young people now oppose Obamacare, with those believing it will lower the quality of health care outnumbering those who think it will improve the quality by more than two to one…
In fact, there is some evidence that young people may be more willing to gamble with their future than to buy Obamacare. I live in New Jersey, where Internet gambling has just been legalized… And indeed, fifty thousand people signed up online for New Jersey’s gambling sites in the first week. That compares with 741 who signed up for Obamacare during all of October. Yes, the Obamacare website has been plagued with problems, but the disparity between the two programs is still eye-popping.
Thursday, December 05, 2013
How Can My Friends and I Serve Seniors?
Dear _________,Thanks for your interest. Claire and I would certainly find time to talk to your friends about ministries to seniors if you'd like. But let me start by listing a few of the basic possibilities.
1) Visitation and friendship development.
One of the best ways to begin this kind of ministry is to start with a relative or maybe someone from your church who resides in a nursing home or senior living facility. Just go visit. Talk. Share. Pray together. Listen to the stories of their lives. Read the Bible or the newspaper to them, maybe poetry. And then naturally branch out to that resident's roommate and other friends.
Another option is to contact the pastor of your church and ask him if he'd like some company when he visits the senior care facility (if he does.) You can meet people that way. And too, you can always contact the activities director of the facility and ask about specific people who most need a little diversion, a little encouragement, a little stimulation.
2) Helping out
Just about any nursing home or other senior facility needs help in carrying out its programs. And volunteers willing to help are a great treasure. Examples? Transporting wheelchair-bound residents to events. Meals. Providing company while the resident goes through therapy. Helping with parties, meals, bingo games, playing cards, worship services, special holiday events, shopping excursions, etc.
3) Entertainment
Singing and/or helping with sing along events. Playing an instrument. Dancing. Short skits. Reading aloud. Sharing hobbies. All kinds of things.
4) Seniors outside of "the system."
Be sure not to overlook the possibility of making friends and helping out with the elderly (or others with special needs like the physically or mentally challenged) who still live on their own. There's probably a lot of grandparents among your circle of friends who would love to have a visit and make some young friends. The same with other seniors from your various church congregations.
And finally, if you'd like to join Claire and I at one of our "When Swing Was King" programs, you'll find the December schedule at the link below.
We will say a prayer for you and your friends, asking our Lord to carefully guide and bless your decisions. And again, thanks so much for your note.
Denny
This month's "When Swing Was King" schedule.
Sex Selection Abortion in Britain Gets a Pass
Check out the following stories from the Telegraph:
* Gender abortions: criminal charges not in 'public interest' says CPS — Doctors who agreed to arrange illegal abortions based on the sex of an unborn baby have been told they will not face criminal charges, despite prosecutors admitting that there is enough evidence to take them to court, it emerged on Wednesday night.
* Women are legally free to abort a baby because of its sex, says abortion charity head — The chief executive of Britain's biggest abortion charity has said women are legally free to arrange an abortion because they are unhappy with the sex of their unborn baby.
* 'No need to change the law to stop women aborting babies on sex grounds.'
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)
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.
About That Branson Vacation (And Other Vital Signs Matters)
Oops.
It is now.
November's letter, by the way, describes highlights of our Branson getaway as well as November's full slate of ministry activities. Interesting reading. Go on over and check it out.
Tuesday, December 03, 2013
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.
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
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.
Monday, December 02, 2013
Kicking Off Christmas at 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 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.”
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