Attorney Who Aided Terri Schiavo’s Husband Now Advising Barack Obama

Life News ^ | 12/7/08 | Steven Ertelt

[wagglebee]

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- An attorney who won an award for representing Terri Schiavo’s husband Michael in his efforts to kill his disabled wife is now an advisor to the transition team of incoming president Barack Obama.

Thomas Perrelli, who raised over $500,000 for the pro-abortion presidential candidate and is the managing partner of a Washington law firm, Jenner & Block LLP, is helping advise Obama on putting together a Justice Department team.

However, Perrelli provided Michael Schiavo with legal advice during his response to the Congressional bill that President Bush signed allowing the Schindler fail to take their lawsuit seeking to prevent Terri’s euthanasia death from state to federal courts.

Perrelli led the Jenner & Block team that developed the legal briefs opposing appeals for Michael and he ultimately received the Albert E. Jenner, Jr. Pro Bono Award in October 2006 for representing Terri’s former husband at no cost.

On Michael’s legal team, Perrelli worked with infamous pro-euthanasia attorney George Felos as well as lawyers from the Florida chapter of the ACLU.

Obama’s selection of Perrelli to participate on his Justice Department transition team is no surprise given his comments on Terri’s painful 13-day starvation and dehydration death during the presidential campaign.

During his debate with Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary, Obama said his biggest mistake was voting with a unanimous Senate to help save Terri.

In March 2005, just weeks before Terri died, Congress approved legislation allowing her family to take its case from state courts to federal courts in an effort to stop the euthanasia from proceeding.

Terri was not on any artificial breathing apparatus and only required a feeding tube to eat and drink. Her family had filed a lawsuit against her former husband to allow them to care for her and give her proper medical and rehabilitative care.

The Senate unanimously approved a compromise bill, which the House eventually supported on a lopsided bipartisan vote and President Bush signed, to help the disabled woman.

Obama said he should have stood up against the life-saving legislation.

“It wasn't something I was comfortable with, but it was not something that I stood on the floor and stopped,” Obama said.

“And I think that was a mistake, and I think the American people understood that that was a mistake. And as a constitutional law professor, I knew better,” he added.

That wasn't the first time Obama said he regretted supporting the bill to protect the disabled woman.

During an April 2007 debate, Obama said, "I think professionally the biggest mistake that I made was when I first arrived in the Senate. There was a debate about Terri Schiavo, and a lot of us, including me, left the Senate with a bill that allowed Congress to intrude where it shouldn't have.”

"And I think I should have stayed in the Senate and fought more for making sure [Terri's parents couldn't take their case to federal court to save her life]," he explained.

Since Terri’s death, the Schindler family has established a foundation to help disabled and elderly patients obtain proper medical care and legal and other assistance when they are denied it.

Related web sites:
Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation - http://www.terrisfight.org

[wagglebee]

Just as the Nazis sacrificed arming their troops to fund the Death Camps during the Holocaust, Planned Barrenhood will not let a recession stand in the way of killing babies.

Thread by me.

Planned Parenthood Thinks Helping Homeless Means Abortion and Birth Control

Santa Barbara, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Thousands of Americans face the challenge of homelessness every day and, while most of them struggle with finding food, shelter or work, Planned Parenthood believes they need something else. The local affiliate of the nation’s largest abortion business in Santa Barbara, California is offering the homeless birth control and abortion...

[KellyM37]

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[wagglebee]

It is sad that it is even necessary for the Church to define the dignity of a person.

Thread by Salvation.

The Dignity of a Person: Vital Instruction from the Church [Dignitas Personae]

On Friday, December 12, 2008, the Feast of our Lady of Guadalupe, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) released its long-awaited document on bioethics that responds to “new problems regarding procreation” and “new procedures involving the manipulation of embryos and the human genetic patrimony.” (http://www.usccb.org/comm/Dignitaspersonae/Dignitas_Personae.pdf.  Called Dignitas Personae (The Dignity of a Person), the Instruction is seen as the sequel to Donum vitae (The Gift of Life), another document on bioethics published by the CDF over twenty years ago on February 22, 1987. 

Dignitas Personae is divided into three parts flanked by a brief introduction and a conclusion.

In the first part, the CDF summarizes the basic moral principles that have to guide an individual “in light both of reason and of faith” as he faces the moral questions raised by technological advances that impact either the human embryo or human reproduction.  There are two basic moral criteria.  First, we need to respect the intrinsic dignity and inviolability of the human person from the very first moment of his existence (no. 4).  Second, we need to recognize that human procreation, because of the dignity of the human person, should only occur within the context of marriage and only as a result of an act — the conjugal act — that expresses the reciprocal love between a man and a woman (no. 6). 

In the second part, the CDF responds to several moral questions raised by advances in technology that impact human reproduction.  With regard to medical interventions that treat infertility, the CDF embraces techniques that “act as an aid to the conjugal act and its fertility,” especially interventions that seek to remove obstacles to natural fertilization (no. 12).  However, the Congregation also condemns many techniques associated with in-vitro fertilization (IVF) because they substitute for the conjugal act between husband and wife. As Dignitas Personae reiterates, the Catholic Church teaches that it is ethically unacceptable to dissociate procreation from the integrally personal context of the conjugal act.  IVF is especially objectionable because it “very frequently involves the deliberate destruction of embryos” (no. 14).  Dignitas Personae is also critical of cryopreservation, the technology used to freeze human embryos, because it is “incompatible with the respect owed to human embryos; it presupposes their production in vitro; it exposes them to the serious risk of death or physical harm, since a high percentage does not survive the process of freezing and thawing; it deprives them at least temporarily of maternal reception and gestation; it places them in a situation in which they are susceptible to further offense and manipulation” (no. 18).  The final part of this second section, highlights the moral problems raised by drugs and other technical means that seek to prevent a pregnancy by destroying a human embryo either before he implants himself into his mother’s womb (interceptive methods) or after he is implanted (contragestive methods).   Interceptive methods include the intrauterine device (IUD) and certain forms of the “morning after pill,” while contragestive methods include RU-486 and methotrexate (no. 23).

In the third part of Dignitas Personae, the CDF deals with technology that manipulates the human embryo and/or human inheritance.  First, the document distinguishes two forms of gene therapy.  Procedures that genetically alter somatic cells — the cells in the human body other than sperm and eggs — are in principle morally licit as long as they aim to cure genetic disease and they are only performed after the patient has given his informed consent (no. 26).  In contrast, procedures that genetically alter the reproductive cells of a patient are morally problematic because at the present time they would inevitably harm the individual’s children because of technological limitations.  The CDF moves on to deal with human cloning and stem cells.  The Church unequivocally condemns all attempts to create and destroy human embryos even if these efforts are to cures the sick because this would be completely incompatible with human dignity (no. 30).  It “makes the existence of a human being at the embryonic stage nothing more than a means to be used and destroyed.  It is gravely immoral to sacrifice a human life for therapeutic ends” (no. 30).  Techniques that try to create human/animal embryos are morally illicit for the same reason.  Finally, Dignitas Personae teaches that Christians and other individuals of good conscience need to distance themselves from a scientific and a medical culture that use biological material derived from morally illicit origins, including tissues and cells obtained from abortions and the destruction of human embryos (no. 35).  This would avoid any cooperation with evil or scandal.  However, parents may still use vaccines obtained with cells derived from aborted fetuses as long as they make known their moral disagreement and ask that their healthcare system make other vaccines available (no. 35). 

In the conclusion of Dignitas Personae, the CDF reminds Christians and all persons of good conscience that the Church is not anti-science.  Rather the Church seeks to protect the dignity of the human person: “The fulfillment of this duty implies courageous opposition to all those practices which result in grave and unjust discrimination against unborn human beings, who have the dignity of a person, created like others in the image of God.  Behind every ‘no’ in the difficult task of discerning between good and evil, there shines a great ‘yes’ to the recognition of the dignity and inalienable value of every single and unique human being called into existence” (no. 37).

[wagglebee]

The bailout for Big Murder now has a price tag.

Thread by me.

Planned Parenthood Abortion Funding Requests in Obama Memo Top $4.6 Billion

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Planned Parenthood and dozens of other abortion advocacy groups presented their wish list to incoming President Barack Obama in a secret memo last week that wound up published on the transition team web site. In the memo the nation’s largest abortion business requested $4.6 billion in taxpayer funding for abortion and other efforts...

[wagglebee]

Unfortunately, these rules will probably be invalid on January 21st.

Thread by me.

Bush Administration Finalizes Rule Protecting Medical Professionals on Abortion

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Bush administration has finalized the new rules that protect both medical professionals and medical staff who don’t want to be involved in abortions or abortion referrals. The Department of Health and Human Services released the final rule that will go into effect on January 20.

The new regulations are intended to clarify and enforce existing federal laws that protect the choices of health care providers who have moral objections to abortion...

[wagglebee]

Haleigh Poutre Update

This sentence is a travesty!

Stepfather gets 12-15 years

SPRINGFIELD - Jason D. Strickland will spend 12 to 15 years in state prison on charges in the child abuse case that left his stepdaughter Haleigh Poutre with a severe brain injury.

Judge Judd J. Carhart Thursday imposed consecutive prison terms of eight to 10 years and four to five years, saying Strickland's "action, or inaction" had caused substantial harm to the child and that he had violated one of life's most precious gifts - the care of a child.

A jury on Nov. 26 convicted Strickland in Hampden Superior Court of charges he allowed serious injury to be caused to the then 11-year-old Westfield girl in 2005. The defense had argued that Strickland had believed his late wife, Holli A. Strickland, Haleigh's adoptive mother, when she told him the child was self-abusive...

[Salvation]

**We will not back down or be silenced in our fight against this e**

Amen and Amen!

[wagglebee]

We can NEVER give up hope.

Thread by GonzoII.

Pro-Life Hope, 2008

If year 2007 was the year of “pro-life” movies, flawed Hollywood projects that nonetheless showed a main character choosing life, the year 2008 is the year of pro-life new media and youth movements...

[wagglebee]

An amazingly well-balanced editorial from the UK Guardian.

Thread by me.

Parliament needs to address the moral case for assisted suicide (UK)

It is a criminal offence to 'aid, abet, counsel or procure' someone else's suicide. But last week the Director of Public Prosecutions said there would be no charges against the parents of Daniel James, who accompanied their son earlier this year to a clinic in Switzerland where, with assistance, he ended his life...

[wagglebee]

A modern-day Mengele speaks out.

Thread by me.

(Swiss) Assisted suicide activist speaks out on debate

Two high-profile cases of assisted suicide involving people in Britain have once again revived debate over the right to a dignified death.

Swiss surgeon Jérôme Sobel, president of the Swiss assisted suicide organisation Exit, talks to swissinfo about the realities of assisted death in Switzerland and Europe.

Craig Ewert, a 59-year-old motor neurone disease sufferer from Harrogate, Britain, died in Switzerland in 2006, having been helped by the controversial charity Dignitas. Last week television channel Sky News caused controversy when it showed a documentary of the last moments of the computer science professor's life.

The film was shown during the same week that a British coroner ruled that Daniel James, 23, a young rugby player who became paralysed from the neck down, intended to end his own life when he visited an assisted-dying clinic in Switzerland earlier this year.

The British Crown Prosecution Service announced it would take no action against James's parents for helping him. Mark and Julie James faced a maximum sentence of 14 years if they were tried under the Suicide Act.

Direct active euthanasia is taking specific steps to cause the patient's death, such as injecting the patient with drugs. Indirect active euthanasia is giving the patient a palliative that could lead to death.

Assisted suicide is when a doctor provides a patient with the means to end his own life; however, a doctor does not administer it...

"We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will give you no rest."

[wagglebee]

Godspeed to a true conservative giant!

Thread by tcg.

Rest in Peace Fr. Deacon Paul Weyrich

He was Father Deacon Paul Weyrich to me; a Proto- Deacon of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church who served the Holy Altar, for as long as he could stand, with deep piety. A man who bore the dignity of his clerical office, Father Deacon Paul loved the Lord and he loved Christ’s Church. He is now serving the eternal Liturgy in heaven.

...Paul Weyrich was so much more than politics. He was a faithful member of the Order of Deacons, a Catholic Clergyman who knew that some truths revealed by the Natural law (and confirmed in Christian Revelation) like the dignity of every human life from conception to natural death, were not just for “religious people”. Rather they have to be the foundation of every society or that society will never be free. He left a legacy of thought and action which others must now build on...

[little jeremiah]

Thank you for posting all these.

[wagglebee]

It will probably be a slow news week and I will be out of town for most of it, but I want to thank each and every one of you for your dedication to life.

Merry Christmas and God Bless.

[wagglebee]

Our devoted friend Judie Brown has scored another victory in the fight against the culture of death!

Thread by me.

Planned Parenthood Out of Texas Panhandle: STOPP Plan Ousts Abortion Chain from Amarillo

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 /Christian Newswire/ -- American Life League and the Diocese of Amarillo scored a major victory this week as Planned Parenthood prepares to completely withdraw from the Texas Panhandle.

Using American Life League's STOPP project to defeat Planned Parenthood the nation's largest abortion chain has been completely eradicated from the diocese of Amarillo, Texas.

"Once again we see that the STOP Planned Parenthood plan works – even on a grand scale," said Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League and director of the STOPP project. "We have been honored to work closely with Bishop John Yanta, Respect Life Coordinator Rita Diller, and all those in the Amarillo Diocese who, since 1997, have worked towards the day when Planned Parenthood would no longer exist in the Texas Panhandle. Through the grace of God, that day will come next week."

...

[Twink]

Merry Christmas :)

Thanks for all you do.

[BykrBayb]

Merry Christmas! Enjoy your travels.

[Lesforlife]

I know I speak for many when I say how very much I/we
appreciate your efforts to keep our Terri group cohesive
in our battle against the forces of death!!

May our Lord bless you and yours this Christmas!

[Sun]

“Planned Parenthood Out of Texas Panhandle: STOPP Plan Ousts Abortion Chain from Amarillo”

What great news! Goes to show what can happen if we just keep fighting.

[Sun]

Merry Christmas to All!

[wagglebee]

These miscreants are simply devoid of souls.

Thread by narses.

The abortion doctor

Susan Wicklund has received death threats and worn a bulletproof vest to work. But what really scares her, she writes in "This Common Secret," is the war on reproductive rights. By Eryn Loeb

Jan. 22, 2008 | Thirty-five years after Roe v. Wade made abortion legal, it is the most common minor surgery in the United States, yet 87 percent of U.S. counties are without a provider. Because of the shortage of doctors trained in providing abortions, dedicated physicians often split their time among several locations, in some cases regularly traveling hundreds of miles to perform abortions in clinics that are open only one day every other week.

Dr. Susan Wicklund is one of them. She has been providing abortion services for 20 years, first quietly skirting regulations as a general practitioner, then putting in 100-hour weeks as the abortion provider for multiple clinics in the Midwest, and later in her very own clinic in rural Montana. Wicklund's new book, "This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor," weaves her personal story with those of many women she has treated over the years. She deftly turns individual stories into indictments of abortion policies she sees as misleading, condescending and unsafe.

Wicklund describes her work as a privilege and an honor. But it's also a job, often a dangerous one. She has donned disguises to get past the protesters who scream and wave signs outside both her home and her medical office. She's worn a bulletproof vest and carried a gun. In some states, Wicklund is required to read abortion patients misleading, politician-penned scripts that refer to an embryo as an "unborn baby" and warn that the procedure can be fatal (with no mention of the fact that wisdom tooth removal is far riskier).

While young celebrities like Nicole Richie and Jamie Lynn Spears beam and pose through their unplanned pregnancies and movies like "Juno," "Waitress" and "Knocked Up" portray childbirth as clearly the best path, plenty of people are making other choices, ones we don't hear about. Salon spoke with Wicklund recently about the complicated landscape of abortion rights.

How did you come to do this work?

I had been involved in home births, and midwives were being arrested for practicing medicine without a license. It was important to me to learn how to do abortions for my own patients, because as a young woman I'd had an abortion that was not done under very good circumstances. I really felt that care should be much better than the care I'd received. By my own choice, I was trained to do abortions as part of my medical training.

Shortly after that, I got into private practice, and I was told by the practice that I was not allowed to do abortions. I was angry and very frustrated. At the March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C., in 1989, I really felt a personal call to action. I went back to the Midwest where I was practicing, made some phone calls, and ended up meeting with directors from a number of different clinics and going to work in the clinics as an abortion provider. Some of them were rather remote and underserved, and they were having a very difficult time finding doctors.

Abortion is a "common secret" in that 40 percent of American women have an abortion during their childbearing years, but it's rarely spoken about. Why do you think there's such profound discomfort in talking about this?

In other cultures and other countries -- in Europe, for instance -- it isn't such a taboo subject. There's also a much freer atmosphere around recognizing or talking about people's individual sexuality. In this country we have sex all around us, on billboards and in advertising. It's so pervasive, and yet for somebody to have a child out of wedlock, in most communities, is still something that people talk about [negatively]. It's an outward sign that they've had sex. If you've had an abortion, obviously it means you've also had sex. The religious right has told us over and over again that it is wrong, and we continue to buckle under that. I don't understand why...

[wagglebee]

Eluana Update

Eluana is being betrayed just like Terri was.

Thread by me.

Italian pols back off right-to-die dispute

STRASBOURG, France, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Italian officials say they are taking a hands-off approach after a European court rejected efforts to block a father's efforts to let his comatose daughter die.

Italy's ANSA news agency Tuesday said Beppino Englaro has been unable to find a clinic that will facilitate the death of his daughter, Eluana, who has been in a coma for 17 years.

"Personally I hope that the woman continues to live, but I can't interfere with the decisions of her father,'' said Edouard Ballaman, president of the regional council of the Northern League.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg Monday rejected an appeal by pro-life organizations trying to block Englaro's efforts on the grounds that only immediate family could be involved in the decision.

ANSA said Italy's health minister warned clinics last week not to take part in the removal of the woman's feeding tube.

"We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will give you no rest."

[wagglebee]

This is an excellent commentary about the deathbots and the danger that Charles Dickens saw in them.

Thread by me.

Malthus And Scrooge

That phrase--surplus population--is what first tipped me off to Dickens' philosophical agenda. He's taking aim at the father of the zero-growth philosophy, Thomas Malthus. Malthus' ideas were still current in British intellectual life at the time A Christmas Carol was written. Malthus, himself, had joined the surplus generation only nine years before. But his ideas have proved more durable.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[exDemMom]

That doctor is pure evil.

With her medical training, there is no way on earth that she is unaware of the fact that an unborn baby is a living human being, yet she complains of having to inform clients in some states of just that fact.

One must wonder what factors led her to have such profound hatred for the human race that she considers killing the innocent “a privilege and an honor.”

She apparently is completely devoid of any kind of empathy. In most walks of life, people like her are considered psychopaths.

[wagglebee]

A perfect comparison of Herod's slaughter of the Innocents and Big Murder's gift card program.

Thread by lightman.

The perfect present: Abortion gift card

It's long been the case in the U.S. that different groups of people choose to celebrate different aspects of the Christmas story. Merchants, of course, celebrate the giving of gifts by the Magi to the Christ child because the symbolism encourages shoppers to knock themselves out making the cash registers ring.

Secular humanists celebrate the notion of good will toward men, even though they're hard-pressed to articulate a cogent reason why anyone should feel all warm and tingly toward anyone, much less complete strangers, in a godless, empty universe.

Christians celebrate the wonder of the creator of the universe becoming one of us in order to sacrifice himself for us in our lostness.

Yet, until now, there's been one aspect of the Christmas story that never gets celebrated -- the slaughter of the innocents. King Herod, you'll recall, exercised his sovereignty over the children of Bethlehem by having everyone under the age of 2 put to the sword so that he wouldn't have to suffer a competitor to his throne.

Now comes word that in what certainly appears to be a celebration of Herod's exercise of his right as sovereign king to choose the deaths of those children, the Indiana Planned Parenthood affiliates are selling gift certificates this Christmas season which can be used for, inter alia, procuring an abortion.

It happens that lots of people are disgusted by this, but I think it's the perfect gift to celebrate that part of the Christmas narrative, Herod's infanticide, which rarely gets much positive recognition...

"We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will give you no rest."

[wagglebee]

The deathbots are moving forward with their agenda in the UK.

Thread by me.

Legalising euthanasia needs careful thought (UK)

THE debate on euthanasia and assisted suicide is seldom far from the public eye. We have had a controversial documentary, "Right to Die", showing the death at the Dignitas clinic in Zurich, of a patient with motor neurone disease.

More locally, there has been a repeat TV screening of MSP Margo MacDonald's documentary about assisted dying and news coverage of the launch of her consultation paper which she ultimately hopes will lead to legalisation of assisted suicide in Scotland.

Over the years that I have been involved in the debate, I have seldom if ever seen one side convincing the other, so this article probably will not win any converts. The convictions about the rights and wrongs of the issues are deeply held. It does worry me though that these convictions sometimes seem to be founded either on gut feelings about our personal rights, or other gut feelings that it contravenes some sort of basic religious or moral code, rather than being well informed by practical realities.

When it is presented simply in terms of my right to a dignified death, how could anyone disagree? To quote Margo MacDonald: "... all of us have the right to die with dignity and only we ourselves can determine when life is intolerable." Surely any opinion to the contrary must be irrelevant, probably originating from a stuffy, conservative medical profession or from religious dinosaurs, neither being prepared to embrace a progressive concept for modern society. And surely in this day and age we can devise legislation to enable the safe adoption of this ultimate act of compassion into standard medical practice! Assisted suicide? Dying with dignity? Of course! Why on earth not?

I find it disturbing that the word "dignity" in this context has been hijacked so that it is now regarded as synonymous with euthanasia or assisted suicide. The Voluntary Euthanasia Society has been rebranded as Dignity in Dying, and if you go to Zurich to end your life, it is to the Dignitas Clinic. The implication is that medical care which does not include assisted suicide or euthanasia therefore lacks a fundamental component of dignity...

[wagglebee]

Chuck Colson has a wonderful commentary on the Vatican's "Dignitas Personae."

Thread by me.

(Chuck Colson) Human Dignity: What Matters Most, Part 1

Two weeks ago, headlines across the world announced the release of the Vatican’s official position on bioethics. Naturally, the Catholic Church’s stance on the destruction of human embryos, the creation of designer babies, and the like was greeted with scorn by liberal Catholics and by many medical professionals and scientists.

But two things truly fascinate me about the release of this document. The first is its title: “Dignitas Personae”—or, in plain English: “On the Dignity of the Person.”

Now that’s an interesting title for the Catholic Church’s official teaching on bioethics. Actually, it’s the perfect title because the question of human dignity is at the root of virtually every major question facing humans today. Not just bioethics, but also medicine, the economy, and the environment...

[floriduh voter]

Scotland is against euthanasia. Watch Brits move to Scotland when this is enacted. This is what Hitler did and the UK fought against. Up is down and down is up. Evil is good and good is evil. The UK is there.

[Robert Drobot]

You might open a thread I prepared for today's Traditional Roman Catholic Mass wherein I give attention to the Feast of the Holy Innocents :

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2155152/posts

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[wagglebee]

An excellent thread by Ethan Clive Osgoode showing the dangers of eugenics going back a century.

Feeble-mindedness

It is necessary to remember that feeble-mindedness is largely handed on by heredity. It was formerly supposed that idiocy and feeble-mindedness are mainly due to environmental conditions -- to the drink, depravity, general disease, or lack of nutrition of the parents; and a few authorities on the feeble-minded still hold that view. But serious as the results of such bad environmental conditions may be, and frequent as they are in the parentage of the feeble-minded, they do not form the fundamental factor in the production of the feeble-minded, and some scientific authorities even deny that they can produce mental defect in the offspring at all, though that position is doubtless too extreme. Exact investigation is now showing that feeble-mindedness is inherited to an enormous extent. Some years ago Dr. Ashby, speaking from a large experience, estimated that at least 75 per cent, of feeble-minded children are born with an inherited tendency to mental defect. More precise investigation has since shown that this estimate was under the mark.

Not only is feeble-mindedness inherited, and in a much greater degree than has hitherto been suspected even by expert authorities, but the feeble-minded tend to have a much larger number of children than normal people. That, indeed, we might expect, apart altogether from the question of any innate fertility. The feeble-minded have no forethought and no self-restraint. They are not ordinarily capable of resisting their own impulses or the solicitations of others, and they are unable to understand adequately the motives which guide the conduct of ordinary people. The average number of children of feeble-minded people seems to be usually about one-third more than in normal families, and is sometimes very much greater...

[wagglebee]

Like our dear FRiend T'wit, Paul Weyrich was fighting to protect innocent life right until his last breath.

Thread by me.

Abortion, A Doctor's Conscience and Obama's Lack of Campaign Commitment (Weyrich's Final Column)

The President-elect appears to have stepped back from some of his campaign promises. That merely is speculation. We shall see. The President-elect did make a dogmatic statement regarding the so-called "Freedom of Choice" Act (FOCA).

He said he will propose FOCA, which would eliminate all State and Federal restrictions upon abortion. It would purport to force Christian hospitals to perform abortions or close. It would demand that physicians perform abortions or give up their practice.

Whatever happened to freedom of conscience?

A hallmark of professionalism in the United States has been that we never force anyone to violate his or her conscience in the performance of a duty. That is the first line of defense of the pro-life movement...

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Republic]

Obama is putting together the dirtiest, creepiest, nastiest anti-American team of slugs possible. He is already making klinton look like a piker.

It appears Obama has no judgement capacity. He knows words, knows how to string them together and knows how to look pretty. He apparently knows NOTHING about integrity and justice and love.

He must be evil. Must be. He could NEVER invite the filth he is enlisting into his move to DC were he a man of faith and integrity.

[wagglebee]

A glimmer of hope in the UK.

Thread by me.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Confirms Opposition to Assisted Suicide Bill

London, England (LifeNews.com) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown hinted at opposing a bill to legalize assisted suicide in England and, in a Tuesday interview, may that opposition solid. Brown engaged in an interview with Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, a guest host of the Today program on Radio 4.

Brown said he would block and legislation to legalize assisted suicide and he said he believed British law should make “absolutely clear” that it recognizes the value of human life.

"I am totally against laws [allowing assisted suicide or euthanasia]," Brown said. "It is not really for us to create any legislation that would put pressure on people to feel they had to offer themselves because they were causing trouble to a relative or anyone else."

“I think we have got to make it absolutely clear that the importance of human life is recognized," the British governmental leader added...

[wagglebee]

The media NEVER reports the opposition to infanticide.

Thread by GonzoII.

Spain Sees Hundreds of Thousands Rally Against Abortion at Catholic Event

Madrid, Spain (LifeNews.com) -- The Socialist government of Spain wants to expand the nation's abortion laws, which already allow virtual abortion on demand. Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards responded on Sunday at a Catholic rally in the nation's capital with an address by Pope Benedict XVI.

The rally in Madrid saw a massive gathering of people in the event deigned to promote pro-life values in the face of the government's desire to expand abortions.

Pope Benedict XVI talked with the participants via a live video feed from The Vatican and said in his prayer that the residents of Spain shouldn't allow their leaders to distort the sanctity of human life...

[PhilDragoo]

Hear! Hear!

[wagglebee]

This will probably be the most important March ever.

Thread by GonzoII.

Pro-Lifers Prepare for March for Life 2009

"We will ask him (President Obama)'Have you seen an abortion? Have you seen a child who has been subjected to abortion?"

WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) - As pro-life leaders and citizens across America and the world gear up for a historic chapter in Washington's March for Life on January 22nd, founder Nellie Gray gave LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) a preview of the message that the march plans to send to the country - and to Mr. Obama, one of the most virulent abortion advocates in American politics, two days after his inauguration...

[wagglebee]

Steven Ertelt has a story/thread exposing the fact that Obama's proposed replacement in the Senate is as pro-death as he is.

Burris Watered Down Abortion-Infanticide Law Obama Refused to Fix

Roland Burris has been named by embattled pro-abortion Gov. Rod Blagojevich to serve the remainder of Barack Obama's term in the Senate. However, pro-life advocates are not happy with appointment in part because Burris watered down an anti-infanticide law that was contentious in the presidential campaign.

[wagglebee]

It certainly came as a shock to me!

[BykrBayb]

 

 

Sister Abby

By Michelle A., Phoenix, A

Abby is my older sister by a year and seven months. Mom would dress us up like twins when we were babies. In pictures, you’ll often see us wearing matching outfits with our hair in pigtails; we were adorable. Abby was the quiet one, while I was usually ­getting caught in mischief. Abby sat and watched TV while I would filch my sister’s pacifier and replace it with my own. I found this entertaining, and she never argued with me about it.

 

In fact, Abby never complained to me about anything. Every morning when I was in kindergarten, I would sing her a song that I learned at school. She never sang with me, just laughed and smiled. Abby was my buddy, my best friend and sister; I never saw anything different about her, not the fact that she wasn’t audible or sat in a wheelchair, or had tubes and wires always attached to her, or the fact that she was born handicapped.

 

When Abby was born my mother went into labor eight weeks early. Abby was diagnosed with a birth defect called VATER syndrome, which prevents normal development of the fetus. A few of the defects in Abby’s case were that her esophagus did not connect to her stomach, there was a hole between the wall connecting the trachea and esophagus, and her lungs were not developed because she was premature. Doctors put in a feeding tube. In the first couple years of her life, Abby would go through many surgeries, hospital visits, and adjustments.

 

For her first two years, Abby spent the major­ity of her time in the ICU. When I was born she was a year and a half old, and she finally came home when I was six weeks old. Eventually, my sister began to spend more time at home than in the hospital. Many doctors and nurses believed she would not make it past the age of two, but my parents were determined to prove them wrong and ­continued to hope and pray. After much heartache, stress, and medical intervention, Abby would shock everyone.

 

Today, Abby is 18 – happy and healthy. She hasn’t been in the hospital for eight years, which is a miracle. Though she is currently on full life support, ventilator, oxygen, and a feeding tube, it has never stopped her from having fun. Abby has always gone on family vacations – to the beach and the Grand Canyon – and school field trips. While Mom is at work, she has nurses to take care of her. Abby is always surrounded by family and loves to go with us to the movies or shopping. She specially loves when we play ­music, or when I talk to her. Growing up with Abby has taught me much and greatly impacted my life. Because of her, I have a bigger heart for handicapped and physically disabled children.

 

Though I have grown to be taller than she, we still share clothes. She’s always been my big sister whom I can talk to, and even though she doesn’t talk back, she loves it when I tell her about my life and what’s going on. Because of her, I’ve always had a best friend.

 

I’ve learned to get accustomed to the stares we receive when we’re out in public. Though everybody else might see my sister as different, I don’t; I see it as a gift and a blessing to have her in my life. Because of her, I know that good things come to those who wait and to never give up. Abby went through a myriad of challenges and survived them all. My sister is my hero.

 

 

 

 

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[wagglebee]

This is beyond despicable!

Thread by NoGrayZone.

Medics Caught on Tape Allegedly Decided Disabled Man Not Worth Saving

Two EMT workers in Britain were arrested after they were heard allegedly discussing whether they should bother to resuscitate a disabled man who had collapsed at home and subsequently died.

Barry Baker, 59, who lived alone, dialed 911 saying that he thought he was having a heart attack. An ambulance was sent to his house while a controller kept him talking on the line...

[wagglebee]

Unfortunately, threats without subsequent action are meaningless.

Thread by Salvation.

Cardinal George Warns Catholic Members of Congress About FOCA

Cardinal George has warned Catholic members of Congress that voting for the Freedom of Choice Act may result in excommunication.

Francis Cardinal George of Chicago, who is president of the USCCB, did not say politicians supporting FOCA would necessarily result in excommunication -- he said it would depend on whether the cooperation with evil was "material" or "formal."

...

[wagglebee]

Merck is no longer even pretending to respect life.

Thread by Sun.

Merck Focusing on Combination Vaccine (Attn: doctors, parents, no moral alternatives)

Note: Merck's separate dose for rubella, Meruvax, uses aborted fetal cell lines and taints the entire MMR II vaccine. The separate doses of Attenuvax (measles) and Mumpsvax (mumps) use chick embryo. Without these separate doses for measles and mumps, there will be no moral alternative for parents! See contact information for Merck below...

[wagglebee]

What else should we expect from someone who considers a baby to be a "punishment"?

Thread by me.

Safe, Legal and Rare? Abortion Advocates And Obama Want Unsafe and Frequent

The common mantra of pro-choice politicians is that they do not favor abortion. Quite the contrary, they want abortion to be “safe, legal, and rare.” Pro-choicers generally hold to this position; thus, as they are quick to note, they are not “pro-abortion” but “pro-choice.”

I've personally tried to respect that formulation, and typically refrain from referring to pro-choicers as “pro-abortion.” That being the case, the latest actions by the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice are deeply troubling, as are the promises of the incoming president, both of which go hand-in-hand. Let me explain...

[wagglebee]

The culture of death exists to find "reasons" to kill anyone they consider "inferior."

Thread by me.

New Study Further Disproves Freakonomics Abortion-Crime Reduction Theory

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new study offer more reasons for doubting the Freakonomics theory put forward by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt that claims legalizing abortion reduced crime. The study shows a large rise in homicides by black teens in recent years even though black women have the highest abortion rate.

Respected criminologist James Alan Fox of Northeastern University has released a new study showing homicides by blacks between the ages of 14 and 17 have jumped 34 percent from 2000 through 2007...

[wagglebee]

I NEVER imagined the day would come that people would even have to wonder whether their doctors and hospitals wanted them alive or dead.

Thread by me.

Washington Group Building Assisted Suicide Free Zones With Doctors, Hospitals

Olympia, WA (LifeNews.com) -- One of the leading groups that tried to defeat the November ballot proposal voters approved to make the state the second to legalize assisted suicide is no trying to counteract the measure. The Coalition Against Assisted Suicide is working with hospitals and doctors to create assisted suicide free zones.

Katie Martin of CAAS tells LifeNews.com that she is hearing from Washington citizens who want to patronize doctors and medical centers committed to refusing to be involved in assisted suicides.

"We have received calls from across the state from Washington residents concerned about their hospitals, care facilities or doctors participating in assisted suicide," she said.

"Senior citizens, people with disabilities and caregivers have contacted us to ask how to make sure the facilities in their communities remain safe harbors, 'assisted suicide-free zones,'" Martin elaborated...

[Sun]

“Merck is no longer even pretending to respect life.”

For sure. Merck wants to force people to take immoral vaccines. Sounds demonic to me.