From Feminists for Life of America:
This month, Feminists for Life invites you to meet Joyce Ann McCauley-Benner. Joyce was raped while working her way through college, discovered she was pregnant, and chose not to abort, even though she did not know if the father of her unborn son was the rapist or her boyfriend.
Joyce’s story, “Victory Over Violence,” is the second of FFL’s speaker videos, which are being unveiled one by one over the coming school year and posted on FFL’s website and on YouTube.
“I thought: ‘I don’t know how to take care of a baby! I’m not ready to be a mother, I don’t have medical coverage. I can’t do this now!’” Joyce recalls. But on deeper reflection, she realized that “while I did not know who the father of my baby was yet, I did know who his mother was. And that was me.”
Joyce, along with other Feminists for Life speakers, promotes pro-woman solutions especially on college campuses. She explains, “When I chose single motherhood, it was hard. Finding resources and returning to my hometown college were challenging…. I am here to tell you, women deserve better.”
Joyce points out that it is in difficult times that women (including herself) often discover how strong and powerful they really are.
Watch Joyce tell her story:
The social, cultural, spiritual, political, academic, and literary rantings of a slightly strange Catholic English teacher.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
$150? $200? $250? Where's the line, Mr. Obama?
Bait and switch? Maybe. Or maybe the Obama folks haven't quite made up their minds who they think is "rich". For awhile we were hearing that the line was drawn at $250,000 per year.
Here Obama says you'll get a tax cut if you make under $200,000 per year:
Then Senator Biden lowered the number to $150,000
The thing is, back before the primaries, while sitting in a local cafe doing a little work, I heard Barack Obama on the Michael Berry Show on AM 740 KTRH in Houston. In that interview, he stated that he intended to repeal the bush tax cuts for all Americans making over $150 per year.
Again, this was in the months leading up to last summer's primaries. I wish Mr. Berry posted transcripts. If he did, I would link to them so you, dear readers, could see for yourselves.
So, when I heard the Obama campaign placing their cutoff for tax increases at $250,000 per year, I already did not trust their message. Maybe Biden did us all a favor by showing the campaign's true tax colors.
Here Obama says you'll get a tax cut if you make under $200,000 per year:
Then Senator Biden lowered the number to $150,000
The thing is, back before the primaries, while sitting in a local cafe doing a little work, I heard Barack Obama on the Michael Berry Show on AM 740 KTRH in Houston. In that interview, he stated that he intended to repeal the bush tax cuts for all Americans making over $150 per year.
Again, this was in the months leading up to last summer's primaries. I wish Mr. Berry posted transcripts. If he did, I would link to them so you, dear readers, could see for yourselves.
So, when I heard the Obama campaign placing their cutoff for tax increases at $250,000 per year, I already did not trust their message. Maybe Biden did us all a favor by showing the campaign's true tax colors.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Something rotten in Obama/Biden Campaign.
The Obama campaign continues to either avoid or intimidate those who ask tough questions.
After putting Joe Biden in the hot seat over his running mate's comments to Joe the Plumber, WFTV in Orlando received a stern letter from the campaign, cancelling further interviews. From the Orlando Sentinel:
West wondered about Sen. Barack Obama's comment, to Joe the Plumber, about spreading the wealth. She quoted Karl Marx and asked how Obama isn't being a Marxist with the "spreading the wealth" comment.
"Are you joking?" said Biden, who is Obama's running mate. "No," West said.
West later asked Biden about his comments that Obama could be tested early on as president. She wondered if the Delaware senator was saying America's days as the world's leading power were over.
"I don't know who's writing your questions," Biden shot back.
Biden so disliked West's line of questioning that the Obama campaign canceled a WFTV interview with Jill Biden, the candidate's wife.
"This cancellation is non-negotiable, and further opportunities for your station to interview with this campaign are unlikely, at best for the duration of the remaining days until the election," wrote Laura K. McGinnis, Central Florida communications director for the Obama campaign.
Read the entire column here.
Meanwhile, former Marine Jessica Hughes gets harrassed by people claiming to be secret service, after she gives a campaign worker a frank opinion of Obama's politics. From WorldNetDaily:
Jessica Hughes of Lufkin, Texas, former Marine, mother of three, answered her cell phone in the car, coming home from the emergency room. Her 9-year-old had suffered a mild concussion, but was OK.
The caller was a female Obama volunteer who asked if Jessica would support Obama for president.
Jessica replied, "No, I don't support him. Your guy is a socialist who voted four times in the state Senate
to let little babies die in hospital closets; I think you should find something better to do with your time." Then Jessica hung up.
The next day, a man and a woman in suits showed up at the door of her home, identifying themselves as members of the Secret Service.
The Secret Service agents stated that the Obama campaign had complained of a death threat. They had quoted Jessica as saying, "I will never support Obama, and he will wind up dead on a hospital floor."
Jessica's husband had heard Jessica's side of the original phone call and verified the actual quote. To which the female agent replied, "Oh? Well why would she (the Obama volunteer) make that up?"
Jessica replied that the Obama volunteer was probably unhappy about what Jessica had said about her candidate. The female agent then said "That's right, you were rude!"
The male agent then displayed a file with Jessica's full name prominently printed on it and asked her how she felt about Obama. At this point, the former Marine told the agent "in no uncertain terms" (as she later recounted) that this was America and that the last time she checked, she was allowed to think whatever she wanted without being questioned by the Secret Service. And was being "rude" a federal crime now too?
The agents then admitted they had no tape of the conversation, just the quote from the Obama campaign.
Responding to Jessica's questions, the agents would not identify themselves by name, nor reveal the name of the Obama volunteer who had made the complaint. The agents did indicate that Jessica was not in a court of law yet, and that they were trying to not embarrass her "by going to all her family and neighbors."
To these implied threats, Jessica invited the agents to speak to whomever they wanted, and stated she would happily go to court since she had done nothing wrong.
Jessica asked the agents, "Look, someone calls me unsolicited on my cell phone to ask me to support their candidate, and I can't tell them why I don't?"
The Secret Service left Jessica that day, but she could not get the "visit" out of her mind.
Jessica wrote later, "The fact that the volunteer lied, the fact that the Secret Service came to my house to question me about my thoughts and feelings and threaten to embarrass me to my neighbors and go to court if I didn't cooperate is not the tragedy here.
"Because that girl on the phone doesn't have the pull to send the Secret Service to my home. Someone high in the ranks of a campaign working for a man who may be the next President of the United States of America felt comfortable bringing the force of the Federal Government
to bear on a private citizen on nothing but the word of a partisan volunteer."
The fact that these "secret service" agents refused to identify themselves is very fishy to me.
Read the rest of the article here.
And then there is the campaign's response to WGN radio's discussions of Bill Ayers and its tactics when dealing with other outlets for conservative opinions.
Now, I expect politicians on both sides to avoid some questions. But childish pouting is ridiculous, harassing radio stations is silly, and using the secret service (if that's what these besuited individuals really were) to intimidate voters is positively totalitarian.
If the Obama campaign wants us to believe that he is even half the leader they make him out to be, he should be taking on his opponents in open dialogue, instead of shutting them up.
Can you imagine the media frenzy if the McCain campaign engaged in such behavior?
Yes, that's the change we need.
Tips of the schoolmarm ruler to: Christina and "Pertinacious Papist".
After putting Joe Biden in the hot seat over his running mate's comments to Joe the Plumber, WFTV in Orlando received a stern letter from the campaign, cancelling further interviews. From the Orlando Sentinel:
West wondered about Sen. Barack Obama's comment, to Joe the Plumber, about spreading the wealth. She quoted Karl Marx and asked how Obama isn't being a Marxist with the "spreading the wealth" comment.
"Are you joking?" said Biden, who is Obama's running mate. "No," West said.
West later asked Biden about his comments that Obama could be tested early on as president. She wondered if the Delaware senator was saying America's days as the world's leading power were over.
"I don't know who's writing your questions," Biden shot back.
Biden so disliked West's line of questioning that the Obama campaign canceled a WFTV interview with Jill Biden, the candidate's wife.
"This cancellation is non-negotiable, and further opportunities for your station to interview with this campaign are unlikely, at best for the duration of the remaining days until the election," wrote Laura K. McGinnis, Central Florida communications director for the Obama campaign.
Read the entire column here.
Meanwhile, former Marine Jessica Hughes gets harrassed by people claiming to be secret service, after she gives a campaign worker a frank opinion of Obama's politics. From WorldNetDaily:
Jessica Hughes of Lufkin, Texas, former Marine, mother of three, answered her cell phone in the car, coming home from the emergency room. Her 9-year-old had suffered a mild concussion, but was OK.
The caller was a female Obama volunteer who asked if Jessica would support Obama for president.
Jessica replied, "No, I don't support him. Your guy is a socialist who voted four times in the state Senate
to let little babies die in hospital closets; I think you should find something better to do with your time." Then Jessica hung up.
The next day, a man and a woman in suits showed up at the door of her home, identifying themselves as members of the Secret Service.
The Secret Service agents stated that the Obama campaign had complained of a death threat. They had quoted Jessica as saying, "I will never support Obama, and he will wind up dead on a hospital floor."
Jessica's husband had heard Jessica's side of the original phone call and verified the actual quote. To which the female agent replied, "Oh? Well why would she (the Obama volunteer) make that up?"
Jessica replied that the Obama volunteer was probably unhappy about what Jessica had said about her candidate. The female agent then said "That's right, you were rude!"
The male agent then displayed a file with Jessica's full name prominently printed on it and asked her how she felt about Obama. At this point, the former Marine told the agent "in no uncertain terms" (as she later recounted) that this was America and that the last time she checked, she was allowed to think whatever she wanted without being questioned by the Secret Service. And was being "rude" a federal crime now too?
The agents then admitted they had no tape of the conversation, just the quote from the Obama campaign.
Responding to Jessica's questions, the agents would not identify themselves by name, nor reveal the name of the Obama volunteer who had made the complaint. The agents did indicate that Jessica was not in a court of law yet, and that they were trying to not embarrass her "by going to all her family and neighbors."
To these implied threats, Jessica invited the agents to speak to whomever they wanted, and stated she would happily go to court since she had done nothing wrong.
Jessica asked the agents, "Look, someone calls me unsolicited on my cell phone to ask me to support their candidate, and I can't tell them why I don't?"
The Secret Service left Jessica that day, but she could not get the "visit" out of her mind.
Jessica wrote later, "The fact that the volunteer lied, the fact that the Secret Service came to my house to question me about my thoughts and feelings and threaten to embarrass me to my neighbors and go to court if I didn't cooperate is not the tragedy here.
"Because that girl on the phone doesn't have the pull to send the Secret Service to my home. Someone high in the ranks of a campaign working for a man who may be the next President of the United States of America felt comfortable bringing the force of the Federal Government
to bear on a private citizen on nothing but the word of a partisan volunteer."
The fact that these "secret service" agents refused to identify themselves is very fishy to me.
Read the rest of the article here.
And then there is the campaign's response to WGN radio's discussions of Bill Ayers and its tactics when dealing with other outlets for conservative opinions.
Now, I expect politicians on both sides to avoid some questions. But childish pouting is ridiculous, harassing radio stations is silly, and using the secret service (if that's what these besuited individuals really were) to intimidate voters is positively totalitarian.
If the Obama campaign wants us to believe that he is even half the leader they make him out to be, he should be taking on his opponents in open dialogue, instead of shutting them up.
Can you imagine the media frenzy if the McCain campaign engaged in such behavior?
Yes, that's the change we need.
Tips of the schoolmarm ruler to: Christina and "Pertinacious Papist".
Thursday, October 23, 2008
In this week's fashion rant:
Why "new" fashions are marketed to the under 21 crowd:
They can't remember far back enough to know when things are being recycled.
Case in point:
Leg warmers!!!!!!!!!
Now, when things came back in fashion that my mother remembered wearing, I thought, OK. I can deal with that, we're about a generation apart.
But leggings and leg warmers? Hold on a second! My high school aged students, who are nowhere near young enough to be my own kids, are wearing things that I remember wearing as a child. What's odd is these are being recycled at the same time as the things my mother (and her age group) remembers wearing in high school.
It's not that I have a problem with retro. I'll wear tunics. I'll wear flared pants. I'll take almost any dress that might have been worn by Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn before 1975. But there are a few things I definitely do not miss: massive shoulder pads, tapered leg relaxed fit jeans (especially the printed ones), leggings, and **shudder** leg warmers.
At least these aren't hot pink.
Can't we have a few more years before the 80's come back?
They can't remember far back enough to know when things are being recycled.
Case in point:
Leg warmers!!!!!!!!!
(These are sold at Rue 21 stores.)
Now, when things came back in fashion that my mother remembered wearing, I thought, OK. I can deal with that, we're about a generation apart.
But leggings and leg warmers? Hold on a second! My high school aged students, who are nowhere near young enough to be my own kids, are wearing things that I remember wearing as a child. What's odd is these are being recycled at the same time as the things my mother (and her age group) remembers wearing in high school.
It's not that I have a problem with retro. I'll wear tunics. I'll wear flared pants. I'll take almost any dress that might have been worn by Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn before 1975. But there are a few things I definitely do not miss: massive shoulder pads, tapered leg relaxed fit jeans (especially the printed ones), leggings, and **shudder** leg warmers.
At least these aren't hot pink.
Can't we have a few more years before the 80's come back?
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Clueless Obama supporters on Howard Stern
I am not a fan of Howard Stern, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
In this "man on the street" style segment, the interviewer attributes McCain's positions on the war, abortion, and even stem cell research to Obama. They swallow it hook line and sinker.
Stern suggests that these voters are primarily for Obama because of his race. It sounds to me like the force of his personality is more at work here. Either way, it's scary to see that the people interviewed here apparently do not know what is policies actually are, but are voting for him anyway. It should be about policy first.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Tip of the schoolmarm ruler to: Pertinacious Papist
In this "man on the street" style segment, the interviewer attributes McCain's positions on the war, abortion, and even stem cell research to Obama. They swallow it hook line and sinker.
Stern suggests that these voters are primarily for Obama because of his race. It sounds to me like the force of his personality is more at work here. Either way, it's scary to see that the people interviewed here apparently do not know what is policies actually are, but are voting for him anyway. It should be about policy first.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Tip of the schoolmarm ruler to: Pertinacious Papist
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Eduardo Verastegui on Abortion in the Latino/a Community
Hispanics for Life has a video out with Eduardo Verastegui of the film Bella, warning all voters, and Hispanics and other people of color about the particular impact abortion has on those communities. (See the link and warnings below.)
Even the Washington Post, has picked up on the disproportionate number of abortions among people of color. (Tip of the schoolmarm ruler to Christina Dunigan.) Taking their numbers from the Guttmacher Institute, the research tentacle of Planned Parenthood, they note:
Although abortion rates have declined among all racial and ethnic groups, large disparities persist, with Hispanic and black women having the procedure at rates three to five times the rate of white women.
In 2004, there were 10.5 abortions per 1,000 white women ages 15 to 44, compared with 28 per 1,000 Hispanic women of that age and 50 per 1,000 black women. That translates into approximately 1 percent of white women having an abortion in 2004, compared with 3 percent of Hispanic women and 5 percent of black women.
This page at Hispanics for Life states:
Dr. Edward Allred, a wealthy abortionist and owner of Family Planning and Associates, said this in an interview with the San Diego Union in 1980: "Population control is too important to be stopped by some right-wing pro-life type. Take the new influx of Hispanic immigrants. Their lack of respect for democracy and social order is frightening. I hope I can do something to stem that tide; I'd set up a clinic in Mexico for free If I could.
Maybe one in Calexico would help. The survival of our society could be at stake."
"More children from the fit, less for the unfit, is the chief aim of birth control," was the slogan used by Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood. Sanger declared that Hispanics, Blacks and Jews were 'human weeds" whose reproduction would bring "a dead weight of human waste" into the world.
In her book, Women and the New Race, she asserted the "most useful thing a large family can do to one of its infant members is to kill it."
BlackGenocide.org also notes the even greater impact of Planned Parenthood on the African American community:
Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in America. 78% of their clinics are in minority communities. Blacks make up 12% of the population, but 35% of the abortions in America.
Planned Parenthood employees have been caught on tape telling potential donors that their funds can be earmarked to pay for abortions of minority babies.
--------------------------
If you wish to see the Hispanics for Life video, see the link below. Be warned, however that this video contains VERY graphic images of abortion, and the remains of aborted babies. I found it very difficult to watch, as did Annie over at Abortion Pundit. In fact, I had to fast-forward it through most of the abortion images.
Children, post-abortive women who regret their choice, and other sensitive individuals SHOULD NOT watch this video!
Click here to see it:
http://www.durarealidad.com/
--------------------------
Here is a video of Barack Obama speaking before Planned Parenthood (tip of the ruler to Alan)
Obama is so supportive of abortion, that he has even voted against emergency medical care for babies that survive botched abortions.
Even the Washington Post, has picked up on the disproportionate number of abortions among people of color. (Tip of the schoolmarm ruler to Christina Dunigan.) Taking their numbers from the Guttmacher Institute, the research tentacle of Planned Parenthood, they note:
Although abortion rates have declined among all racial and ethnic groups, large disparities persist, with Hispanic and black women having the procedure at rates three to five times the rate of white women.
In 2004, there were 10.5 abortions per 1,000 white women ages 15 to 44, compared with 28 per 1,000 Hispanic women of that age and 50 per 1,000 black women. That translates into approximately 1 percent of white women having an abortion in 2004, compared with 3 percent of Hispanic women and 5 percent of black women.
This page at Hispanics for Life states:
Dr. Edward Allred, a wealthy abortionist and owner of Family Planning and Associates, said this in an interview with the San Diego Union in 1980: "Population control is too important to be stopped by some right-wing pro-life type. Take the new influx of Hispanic immigrants. Their lack of respect for democracy and social order is frightening. I hope I can do something to stem that tide; I'd set up a clinic in Mexico for free If I could.
Maybe one in Calexico would help. The survival of our society could be at stake."
"More children from the fit, less for the unfit, is the chief aim of birth control," was the slogan used by Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood. Sanger declared that Hispanics, Blacks and Jews were 'human weeds" whose reproduction would bring "a dead weight of human waste" into the world.
In her book, Women and the New Race, she asserted the "most useful thing a large family can do to one of its infant members is to kill it."
BlackGenocide.org also notes the even greater impact of Planned Parenthood on the African American community:
Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in America. 78% of their clinics are in minority communities. Blacks make up 12% of the population, but 35% of the abortions in America.
Planned Parenthood employees have been caught on tape telling potential donors that their funds can be earmarked to pay for abortions of minority babies.
--------------------------
If you wish to see the Hispanics for Life video, see the link below. Be warned, however that this video contains VERY graphic images of abortion, and the remains of aborted babies. I found it very difficult to watch, as did Annie over at Abortion Pundit. In fact, I had to fast-forward it through most of the abortion images.
Children, post-abortive women who regret their choice, and other sensitive individuals SHOULD NOT watch this video!
Click here to see it:
http://www.durarealidad.com/
--------------------------
Here is a video of Barack Obama speaking before Planned Parenthood (tip of the ruler to Alan)
Obama is so supportive of abortion, that he has even voted against emergency medical care for babies that survive botched abortions.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
I saw something cool on TV!
Remember this little line from Clarence the angel in It's a Wonderful Life?
"Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"
I saw this on TV tonight, and it put me in mind of that:
Now, I can't claim to have helped anyone as dramatically as a firefighter. Teaching just doesn't require the same kind of heroism. I hope I have been able to have some positive effect in the lives of others. I'm certainly glad I had the opportunity.
I have to say, that I am pleased that they chose a female firefighter as the central character in this ad.
The advertisement is from the Majella Society of Austin and Houston, TX.
"Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"
I saw this on TV tonight, and it put me in mind of that:
Now, I can't claim to have helped anyone as dramatically as a firefighter. Teaching just doesn't require the same kind of heroism. I hope I have been able to have some positive effect in the lives of others. I'm certainly glad I had the opportunity.
I have to say, that I am pleased that they chose a female firefighter as the central character in this ad.
The advertisement is from the Majella Society of Austin and Houston, TX.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Hidden Holocaust.
From www.u-s-history.com:
Current estimates, based on Nazi war records and official government documents from various countries, place the death toll of the Holocaust at anywhere from 10 million (a conservative figure) to 26 million people.
That's pretty horrendous. Unspeakable, really.
Even more frightening is this figure:
Approximately 49,640,776 human beings killed from 1973 to 2008.
Not by war.
Or famine.
Or disease.
By abortion.
Tomorrow is National Pro-Life Memorial Day.
Think about it.
Current estimates, based on Nazi war records and official government documents from various countries, place the death toll of the Holocaust at anywhere from 10 million (a conservative figure) to 26 million people.
That's pretty horrendous. Unspeakable, really.
Even more frightening is this figure:
Approximately 49,640,776 human beings killed from 1973 to 2008.
Not by war.
Or famine.
Or disease.
By abortion.
Tomorrow is National Pro-Life Memorial Day.
Think about it.
October: Right to Life and Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Funny that these two events would coincide, though you'll probably only see one of them on NBC.
This would be a good time to mention (again) that, according to the Mayo clinic and others, there is a link between use of the birth control pill and breast cancer. See this earlier post for more details on that.
Interestingly enough, there is also a link between abortion and breast cancer, in addition to other negative effects abortion can have on the physical and mental health of women, even when it is "safe and legal".
According to The Coalition on Abortion/BreastCancer:
As of 2006, eight medical organizations recognize that abortion raises a woman's risk for breast cancer, independently of the risk of delaying the birth of a first child (a secondary effect that all experts already acknowledge). An additional medical organization, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, issued a statement in 2003 calling on doctors to inform patients about a "highly plausible" relationship between abortion and breast cancer.
The relationship is so plausible, in fact, that:
General counsel for [the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons] wrote an article for its journal warning doctors that three women (two Americans, one Australian) successfully sued their abortion providers for neglecting to disclose the risks of breast cancer and emotional harm, although none of the women had developed the disease.
If you prefer getting information on this issue from books, try Breast Cancer: Its link to Abortion and the Birth Control Pill by Chris Kahlenborn, MD. Published by One More Soul
This would be a good time to mention (again) that, according to the Mayo clinic and others, there is a link between use of the birth control pill and breast cancer. See this earlier post for more details on that.
Interestingly enough, there is also a link between abortion and breast cancer, in addition to other negative effects abortion can have on the physical and mental health of women, even when it is "safe and legal".
According to The Coalition on Abortion/BreastCancer:
As of 2006, eight medical organizations recognize that abortion raises a woman's risk for breast cancer, independently of the risk of delaying the birth of a first child (a secondary effect that all experts already acknowledge). An additional medical organization, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, issued a statement in 2003 calling on doctors to inform patients about a "highly plausible" relationship between abortion and breast cancer.
The relationship is so plausible, in fact, that:
General counsel for [the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons] wrote an article for its journal warning doctors that three women (two Americans, one Australian) successfully sued their abortion providers for neglecting to disclose the risks of breast cancer and emotional harm, although none of the women had developed the disease.
If you prefer getting information on this issue from books, try Breast Cancer: Its link to Abortion and the Birth Control Pill by Chris Kahlenborn, MD. Published by One More Soul
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