Bobby Schindler: The President’s Torturous Dilemma

I spent a lot of time watching news coverage of President Obama’s recent speech at Notre Dame. I couldn’t help but be reminded of my sister Terri’s two-week ordeal that took place at the hospice facility where she was killed in March of 2005.

The was so much that was eerily similar—from the amount of media present and the pro-lifers who were there in prayer, to the dozens of people who were arrested for protesting against what was taking place.

Along with so many other Catholics, I found it profoundly disturbing that President Obama was not only invited to speak at a Catholic university but that he was given an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. It was what Vatican official Archbishop Raymond Burke referred to as the “source of the greatest scandal”.

However, just as disturbing to me was watching the Catholic students, parents and faculty praising President Obama by giving him standing ovations for his “can’t we all just get along about abortion” speech.

They seem to have forgotten the president’s extreme pro-abortion record when he was in the Illinois state senate and his already-lengthy actions in favor of abortion as president. His direct assault on the value and dignity of life and human rights runs completely contrary to Catholic teaching.

But that didn’t seem to diminish the red carpet treatment he received from Notre Dame President John Jenkins who invited Obama to speak. It is shocking and disheartening that a Catholic university would show such adoration for a president who has already been categorized as one of the most pro-death politicians to ever be elected to office.

Of course watching and listening to the media’s fawning coverage was just as difficult as listening to Obama himself. Indeed, the media would repeatedly insist that pro-lifers should try and find common ground with Obama’s position on abortion and embryonic stem cell research. It seems that the mainstream media wants to portray conservatives as a group that needs to adhere to the Obama administration’s policies and his vision of “change” or risk becoming extinct. As is frequently the case, they clearly just don’t get it.

Amidst all this media coverage I also reflected on Obama’s position on euthanasia and his offensive remark about Terri during the campaign. Then candidate Obama claimed his biggest “regret” as a senator was trying to stop Terri’s imposed death. This is especially scary because a growing number of health care experts are already warning us that Obama’s new health care plan could potentially open wide the door to euthanasia in our nation.

Make no mistake: President Obama’s position on how we should treat the most vulnerable members of our society is the same for disabled and medically vulnerable people as it is for innocent unborn children. In short, he seems to believe they fall outside the protection our nation offers. This is especially absurd, given his crusade to protect America’s sworn enemies from methods of “torture” (his word) that fall far short of what happens during an abortion or a euthanasia death by dehydration and starvation.

This same man who advocates unlimited abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy and regrets trying to save the innocent from a horrifying death by dehydration is doing everything is his power to protect the “rights” of the most merciless terrorists in our custody. His administration has even expressed outrage that caterpillars were put in a room with a terrorist as a form of torture. Since the average caterpillar is neither scary nor dangerous, it made me wonder how that would compare to depriving our most vulnerable American citizens—innocent of any crime—of food and water until they dehydrate to death. I find it ironic that he doesn’t seem worried about “regretting” what might happen if any of these terrorists are set free to attack America again.

During all this Notre Dame controversy I also heard more than once from our media that “54 percent of Catholics voted for Obama.” That is a number I never agreed with because I believe that zero percent of true Catholics voted for Obama. If you adhere to the teachings of the Catholic Church, you did not vote for him. “Catholics” who voted for Obama chose the “change” and false “hope” offered by a dynamic candidate over the values of their faith. To my mind, they are not Catholics at all.

It was, however, heartening to read of the hundreds of thousands of Catholics (including nearly 100 cardinals and bishops) who did object to the president speaking at Notre Dame and also to see all of the people who showed up to protest Notre Dame’s decision.

Words have meaning and one can only hope that Obama believes in his own rhetoric about change, because if his position does not change with respect to life—and he remains an advocate for the continued death of our most vulnerable—then Notre Dame will be forever associated with giving such a person not only a platform for his position but a prestigious award for it as well. What a badge of shame for a previously great university.

And I'm sure this one will also say that Zero never even asked about abortion.

Thread by topher.

White House: New Catholic Surgeon General Supports Obama Abortion Agenda

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A White House spokesman appears to have settled confusion on the position of Surgeon General nominee Dr. Regina Benjamin by saying that the doctor, though widely considered a devout Roman Catholic, supports President Obama's agenda on abortion.

White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said in a Miami Herald report yesterday that Benjamin "supports the president's position on reproductive health issues." Earlier this year Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explicitly confirmed that for the Obama administration the term "reproductive health" includes abortion.

Cherlin added that Benjamin also aligns with Obama's position on seeking "common ground" on abortion "to try and reduce the number of unintended pregnancies."

The New York Times also recently reported that an associate of Benjamin's said the Catholic doctor regularly distributes contraception, despite the Catholic Church's teaching against contraception.

Benjamin's reputation for being a devout Catholic stems in part from the fact that she is a past recipient of the "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice" award from Pope Benedict XVI for her humanitarian work. She has also received the National Caring Award, an honor which was inspired by Mother Teresa. When Benjamin's nomination was announced, Catholic League president Bill Donohue welcomed the doctor as an "excellent choice" for surgeon general. Donohue has not yet commented since the White House commented on Benjamin's position on abortion.

Of course Zero lied.

Thread by me.

Did President Obama Mislead Pope Benedict?

July 16, 2009 (InsideCatholic.com) - In the late afternoon of July 10, President Obama met privately with Pope Benedict XVI for just over 30 minutes. According to official Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi, S.J., "The president explicitly expressed his commitment to reducing the numbers of abortions and to listen to the church's concern on moral issues."

On July 13 in a Senate committee hearing, Sen. Barbara Mikulski was forced to admit under persistent questioning by Sen. Orrin Hatch that the new health-care bill includes abortion coverage. Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute estimates government funding of abortion increases abortion by 20 to 35 percent.

There were 1,206,200 abortions in 2006, according to National Right Life (the last annual results available). The math is easy: If the heath-care package currently being pushed by Obama is passed, the result will be 240,000 to 420,000 more abortions in the first year alone.

Did President Obama know these abortion provisions were in the Senate health-care bill when he met with the Holy Father? There is no reason to think he didn't. He certainly knew he had gone on the record supporting federal funding for abortion in the District of Columbia.

If President Obama is honest with himself, he must admit to misleading Benedict at their meeting. . .

It's official, Zero's socialized medicine program will push euthanasia.

Thread by Jim Robinson.

Obama Health Bill: Those on Social Security - Mandatory Counseling on Asst. Suicide

On Page 425 of Obama’s health care bill, the Federal Government will require EVERYONE who is on Social Security to undergo a counseling session every 5 years with the objective being that they will explain to them just how to end their own life earlier. Yes...They are going to push SUICIDE to cut medicare spending!!! And no, I am NOT SH—ing YOU! So those of you who voted for Obama have now put your own parents in dire straights...Congratulations!

Also, planned denial of medical care for seniors.

ANYONE who thinks that abortion is "health care" needs to explain why 50 MILLION Americans never had the chance to draw as single breath.

Thread by Salvation.

ABORTION IS NOT HEALTH CARE (Oregon Action Alert)

On July 15, 2009, H. R. 3200 passed a Senate Committee and is being rushed through the U.S. House and Senate to install a nationalized health plan. This bill would repeal the ban on using federal funds for abortion and would instead require abortion to be part of any national health plan.

This bill would:

Require all insurance plans to include abortion with no exceptions
Mandate health networks establish new abortion providers in order to provide local access to abortion throughout the United States.
Invalidate many state laws which protect women and unborn babies as they relate to abortion (parental notice, 24-hour waiting periods, etc)

It is IMPORTANT that you call your Congressman and Senators to tell them that abortion is not health care.

Ask them to vote NO on any health plan that does not specifically exclude abortion from being covered as “health care”.

It's looking more and more like Nazi Germany every day.

Thread by Sub-Driver.

Obama's Science Czar Considered Forced Abortions, Sterilization as Population Growth Solutions

Obama's Science Czar Considered Forced Abortions, Sterilization as Population Growth Solutions John Holdren, director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, considered compulsory abortions and other Draconian measures to shrink the human population in a 1977 science textbook.

President Obama's "science czar," Paul Holdren, once floated the idea of forced abortions, "compulsory sterilization," and the creation of a "Planetary Regime" that would oversee human population levels and control all natural resources as a means of protecting the planet -- controversial ideas his critics say should have been brought up in his Senate confirmation hearings.

Holdren, who has degrees from MIT and Stanford and headed a science policy program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government for the past 13 years, won the unanimous approval of the Senate as the president's chief science adviser. . .

Lest there be any doubt about how big a leftist Cronkite was.

Thread by me.

Walter Cronkite's Push for Abortion and Homosexuality, 1965-2003

July 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Famed CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite has been lauded in the media since his death on Friday, at the age of 92, with tributes paid not only from secular media, but even Vatican Radio and other Christian news sources.

But while remembered by many as "the most trusted man in America," many of Cronkite's more radical, but lesser known views, would be considered repugnant even to many of his greatest fans.

For instance, up until his death Cronkite served as honorary chair of the Interfaith Alliance, an organization dedicated to countering the influence of conservative Christianity on federal politics. In 2007, the Alliance initiated a campaign to force Christianity out of the public sphere by promoting policies that would silence the Christian voice. They recommended that churches be prohibited from endorsing political candidates, that research and health policies should not be based on "religious doctrine," and that faith-based schools should be banned, among other things.

Part and parcel with Cronkite's campaign against religion in public life was his outspoken vocal support of abortion and same-sex marriage. In 2003-2004, for example, Cronkite wrote a column for King Features Syndicate, which was published in about 180 newspapers throughout the U.S. In the column he discussed 'Marriage and Abortion', expressing disregard for "conservatives" who oppose abortion and same-sex "marriage."

"It certainly is the right of the anti-abortionists and those who oppose gay marriages to defend, express and even propagandize their beliefs," he says, "but is it their right to impose their definition of morality on those who hold opposing views? The answer is a resounding 'no'. ... This columnist believes that among conservatives and liberals alike there is a majority who would put the sanctity of individual rights even above the sanctity with which some would endow the banning of abortion and gay marriage."

Cronkite served as anchor of CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981, a time of great change in America. His tenure included the JFK assassination, the moon landing, the Vietnam War, and he helped to shape American sentiment on these landmark events. But his time as anchor also included the most devastating of landmarks in American history, as many American pro-life activists would see it - the legalization of abortion. . .

So much for "common ground."

Thread by kellynla.

NY Nurse Threatened, Forced to Assist in Late-Term Abortion

NEW YORK — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Mount Sinai Hospital on behalf of a Catholic nurse who was forced to participate in a late-term abortion under the threat of disciplinary action, including possible termination and loss of her license. The hospital has known of her religious objections to abortion since 2004.

Hospital administrators told the nurse that the scheduled abortion was an "emergency," though evidence shows otherwise, and insisted moments before the procedure that she assist doctors despite her repeated objections to the procedure, which dismembered a preborn child in the 22nd week of gestation. By federal law, hospitals that receive federal funds cannot force employees to participate in abortion procedures under any circumstances.

"Pro-life nurses shouldn’t be forced to assist in abortions against their beliefs," said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. "Requiring a devout, Catholic nurse to participate in a late-term abortion in order to remain employed is illegal, unethical, and violates her rights of conscience. Federal law requires that employers who receive funding from tax dollars must not compel employees to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs, but this nurse’s objections fell on deaf ears."

"Chasing away workers from the health care field is disastrous health care policy," said Bowman. "An individual’s conscience is likely what brought them to the health care field. Denying or coercing their conscience will likely drive them right out."

Administrators at Mount Sinai Hospital threatened senior nurse Cathy Cenzon-DeCarlo with disciplinary measures if she did not honor a last-minute summons to assist in a scheduled late-term abortion. Despite the fact that the patient was not in crisis at the time of the surgery, the hospital insisted on her participation in the procedure on the grounds that it was an "emergency" even though the procedure was not classified as such. . .

Dr. Alveda King nails it here!

Thread by me.

Abortion and Racism "Evil Twins," Martin Luther King Jr's. Niece Says

Let me begin by telling you that two of 50 million children taken away by abortionists since 1973 were mine. I can still see them in my mind's eye.

Like many black women, I once believed the doctor who told me my babies were no more than "a blob of tissue." I wanted to believe it. Eventually, I realized I was wrong, that I was a secondary victim of abortion. I repented and found healing through God. Today, I work in the civil rights movement of our century -- the right of every one of every race to live.

I am asking you to join me. Let me tell you why. Abortion and racism are evil twins, born of the same lie. Where racism now hides its face in public, abortion is accomplishing the goals of which racism only once dreamed. Together, abortionists are destroying humanity at large and the black community in particular.

Abortion has taken a gruesome toll on the black community, killing more than AIDS and crime combined. Some 14 million black babies have been aborted since the 1973 US Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in all stages in all 50 states. That's equal to one-third of the number of blacks living today. . .

YouTube is proving just how pro-death they are.

Two thread by me.

YouTube Bans Another Video of Planned Parenthood Hiding Sexual Abuse, Abortion

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The popular video sharing web site YouTube has again censored a video exposing Planned Parenthood hiding a potential case of sexual abuse of a teenager. The video also shows the Planned Parenthood employee telling a woman posing as a teenager how she can evade the state's parental consent abortion law.

The undercover video, taken by Lila Rose of Live Action, shows a staffer at a Birmingham, Alabama Planned Parenthood abortion center telling a woman who appears to be a victim of statutory rape that "we bend the rules."

The video has triggered an investigation by the state Attorney General's Office into the nation's largest abortion business.

Rose tells LifeNews.com that YouTube is engaging in censorship that "appears politically motivated."

She indicated YouTube offered no prior warning or specific explanation for removing the video, which she says contains no apparent violations of YouTube's "community guidelines."

After remaining up for ten days, the video had several thousand views and had been linked to by many news organizations, including LifeNews.com.

YouTube has previously censored Live Action videos, and the latest removal casts further doubt on the video-sharing site's professed regard for free speech and political neutrality," Rose said. . .

______________________________________________________________

Jill Stanek: YouTube serially aborts pro-life videos

By now you're likely one of 1.5 million people who have seen the graphic video of Neda Soltan dying after being shot in the chest on June 20, 2009, during protests in Iran following the presidential election.

The video shows Neda collapsing into the arms of two men, who try to stop her bleeding with their bare hands. Suddenly, Neda's eyes roll up and to the right, almost as if they are looking at the cell phone video camera chronicling her death. Blood begins pouring from her mouth and nose, into one eye and down her face. Cries erupt from the crowd, and you know Neda is dead.

I don't know how the tragic video of Neda's death is any less graphic than a video by the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform showing the tragic, graphic deaths of children by abortion, but it is according to YouTube, which removed this video.

There's something about showing abortion that sets it apart from all other videos in the Big Brother eyes of YouTube.

YouTube allows almost any surgery video imaginable, like gastric bypass, gallbladder removal, toe amputation, appendectomy and brain tumor removal, and gross-out body parts videos like a buttock fecal fistula or peritoneal cancer – but not abortion.

Neither does YouTube have a problem with videos pertaining to the female anatomy like mastectomies, breast augmentations, hysterectomies or even baby deliveries – but not abortion, unless it is in the form of bloodless illustrations.

YouTube also seems to go out of its way to protect the abortion industry, particularly Planned Parenthood. . .

God Bless this lovely family!

Thread by NYer.

Mother chooses life of child over cancer treatment (tissue alert!)

Ricardo and Mayra Sadoval with Fr. John Gregory

Denver, Colo., Jul 24, 2009 / 03:19 pm (CNA).- Though Mayra Sandoval died of cancer on July 8, her son Samuel is alive and healthy thanks to her insistence on choosing life, against the advice of doctors who urged her to abort. Now, Mayra’s husband and friends remember her as a powerful witness to the immeasurable value of life.

In an interview with the Denver Catholic Register, Mayra’s husband, Ricardo Flores, recalled the battle of faith and trust that the couple underwent in the months leading up to her death.

Both Ricardo and Mayra were born in Mexico. They moved to U.S., where they met three years ago, began to date, and eventually moved in together. At the time, neither had a strong faith, but they were nevertheless overjoyed when, in October 2008, Mayra became pregnant.

Months later, doctors detected a cancerous tumor in Mayra’s lungs that was already in an advanced stage and was still continuing to grow. Mayra was advised to abort the baby on the spot, so that she could start a treatment to halt the cancer growth.

But Ricardo and Mayra chose life. Although it was difficult, Ricardo said he never had any second thoughts in the decision to choose life. When the option of abortion was presented, "We always said ‘no.’ We couldn’t do that," he explained. "God gave life and God takes it away."

"And we can trust in God and let His will be done," he continued, explaining the peace that the couple found in abandoning themselves to the Lord’s will. "We can accept whatever God sends us, good or bad." . . .

At least Congress is beginning to admit their plans to kill the elderly and disabled.

Thread by NYer.

Lawmakers Confirm House Health Care Bill Promotes Euthanasia Among Elderly

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Two Republican leaders in the House of Representatives are confirming reports that the health care restructuring bill the House is currently considering promotes euthanasia. A leading patients rights advocate is worried about the effects of the legislation.

Betsy McCaughey, the former New York lieutenant government who is now a patient's rights advocate, notes that the government-run health care plan would require "end of life" counseling for seniors.

The counseling, she says, would be focused on telling seniors how to end their lives sooner.

In a statement sent to LifeNews.com House Republican Leader John Boehner Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter confirm those fears.

"Section 1233 of the House-drafted legislation encourages health care providers to provide their Medicare patients with counseling on ‘the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration’ and other end of life treatments,'" the pair say.

That section "may place seniors in situations where they feel pressured to sign end of life directives they would not otherwise sign."

"This provision may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia if enacted into law. At a minimum this legislative language deserves a full and open public debate – the sort of debate that is impossible to have under the politically-driven deadlines Democratic leaders have arbitrarily set for enactment of a health care bill," they state. . .

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