A big thanks to my Uncle in Georgia for pointing this out to me. There is a bill proposed in the Georgia state legislature that declares that “a fetus is a person for all purposes under the laws of this state from the moment of conception” and consequently bans all abortions. HB 1, authored by State Rep. Bobby Franklin is the right stem toward overturning Roe v. Wade, by ending the debate, once and for all, over when life begins. It is purely for the preservation of Roe that human embryos have not yet been legally recognized as persons. Indeed scientists and embryologist acknowledge conception as the beginning of human life. If we can convince our governments to do the same the end of abortion on demand may be an atainable goal.
Updated ‘Boycott’ List
Life Decisions International has updated their list of companies that give money to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. I must admit that I am not very good at keeping up with these things and ‘boycotting’ the appropriate companies and charitable organizations. As a friend of mine pointed out to me, it’s almost impossible to avoid some of these things since ‘everyone’ gives money to Planned Parenthood or some other pro-abortion cause.
Some of the things I have made myself do: Many years ago I heard that the makers of Crest were on the list and I have been buying Colgate or some other brand since then and I have recently stopped buying Girl Scout Cookies. I never buy the pink breast cancer ribbons or any breast cancer awareness items (pink M&Ms, etc…) if I don’t know where the proceeds go and I know for sure that the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation contributes to ‘women’s health’ organizations like PP (this was very hard for me when I discovered and instantly loved Special K cereal, but had to force myself to stop buying it after seeing their special breast cancer awareness boxes with proceeds going to the Susan B. Komen Foundation). It’s a tough thing to do but LDI claims that in 15 years, “at least 137 corporations have stopped funding Planned Parenthood,” costing the organization approx. $35 million.
Some companies on the list include: Tiffany & Company, Nike, Time Warner, Unilever, Bank of America, the Dallas Cowboys, CIGNA, Walt Disney, and Johnson & Johnson.
Charitable Organizations: American Cancer Society, The Dr. Phil Foundation, Girls Inc., Girl Scouts, Human Rights Watch, Kiwanis Clubs, the March of Dimes, Rotary Clubs, The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and the YWCA.
For all you music lovers, Rock for Life keeps a list of pro-abortion bands for their CD Sendback project. Most of them are punk/alternative/rock bands like Pearl Jam, 311, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews Band , Green Day, Blink 182 and Alice in Chains. But the list also includes Bruce Springsteen, John Mellancamp, Madonna, Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Carole King, Christina Aguilera Lyle Lovett, John Fogerty and Jackson Browne.
From LDI President, Douglas R. Scott, Jr: “The Pro-Life Movement will succeed only to the extent that pro-life people are willing to be inconvenienced. The very lives of children are worth that much effort and a whole lot more.”
Some alternatives:
RFL’s pro-life band list
Breast Cancer Prevention Institute
Bob Casey, the “Swing Vote?”
Apparently Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, who defeated my beloved Sen. Rick Santorum last November, is a pro-life Democrat and is, so far, planning to vote against the ESC research funding bill that just passed the House when it gets to the Senate floor. This is great news, however he will most likely be under tremendous pressure from supporters of the bill in Washington as they try their hardest to garner enough votes to override the President’s promised veto. Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, also from PA, has been leading the charge in on Capital Hill to expand federal funding for human ESC research plans to speak with Sen. Casey regarding this very important vote. Specter has been one of the most outspoken proponents of ESC research, swearing that, ”[T]hose who have opposed the research ought to be lobbied, ought to be advocated and ought to be brought to their senses.” While Specter has proven to be one of the more delusional supporters with his recent statement, “It is scandalous that eight years have passed since we have known about stem cell research and the potential to conquer all known maladies, and federal funds have not been available for the research,” (I don’t even need to point out the ridiculousness of that claim) I believe he could also be very persuasive based on his passion and firm belief in the potential of this research.
My point in all of this? Start lobbying Sen. Casey today! Let him know that you support his position and encourage him in his decision to oppose legislation that would expand federal funding for embryo-destructive research.
House Passes Stem Cell Funding Bill
This is old news now, but the House, predictably, passed the bill expanding funding for ESC research 253-174. It falls short of enough votes to override the President’s veto, which is promised to come. Thank goodness for small favors.
Stem Cell Idealogues vs. the Facts
This article by Yuval Levin on NRO articulates the “sorry state of the embryonic stem cell debate” in American society. Because of people like Michael J. Fox and the late Christopher Reeve showing the world the effects of their disability and disease in order to promote the misguided hope of human ESC research, I think many Americans are afraid to face the real facts in the stem cell debate and admit where the real hope lies. ALL of the success in stem cell research has come from non embryonic stem cell sources. And yet the media and our politicians continue to regurgitate the same tired old arguments that have largely been disproven over time. They refuse to face the scientific facts that prove that ASCs (including cells from umbilical cord blood, the placenta and amniotic fluid) are more effective and more promising than their embryonic counterparts. Why, in light of the amazing advancements in non embryonic stem cell research, must we continue to insist on research that requires the destruction of nascent human life? I am afraid that our society has been so crippled by the devastating effects of abortion on demand and our inability to recognize the dignity of human life from its very beginning that this is just an extension of that devaluation of human life mentality.
To My Fellow Catholics
Almost one-third of the new congress is Catholic. This includes pro-abortion/ESC research Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. In light of the House vote tomorrow we would do well to remind our brothers and sisters in the House of their duty as Catholics to uphold the sanctity and dignity of human life and urge them to exercise this duty by opposing H.R. 3.
“The direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral…and can never be licit either as an end in itself or as a means to a good end…The use of human embryos or fetuses as an object of experimentation constitutes a crime against their dignity as human beings who have the right to the same respect owed to a child once born, just as to every person.”
~Evangelium Vitae 57, 63
Catholics in the House:
Roman Catholic
Rep. Altmire, Jason (DEM-PA-4th)
Rep. Arcuri, Michael (DEM-NY-24th)
Rep. Baca, Joe (DEM-CA-43rd)
Rep. Becerra, Xavier (DEM-CA-31st)
Rep. Bilbray, Brian (REP-CA-50th)
Rep. Bishop, Tim (DEM-NY-1st)
Rep. Boehner, John (REP-OH-8th)
Del. Bordallo, Madeleine (DEM-GU-AL)
Rep. Brady, Kevin (REP-TX-8th)
Rep. Brady, Robert (DEM-PA-1st)
Rep. Brown-Waite, Ginny (REP-FL-5th)
Rep. Camp, Dave (REP-MI-4th)
Rep. Capuano, Michael (DEM-MA-8th)
Rep. Cardoza, Dennis (DEM-CA-18th)
Rep. Carney, Christopher (DEM-PA-10th)
Rep. Castle, Michael (REP-DE-AL)
Rep. Chabot, Steve (REP-OH-1st)
Rep. Clay, Wm. Lacy (DEM-MO-1st)
Rep. Costa, Jim (DEM-CA-20th)
Rep. Costello, Jerry (DEM-IL-12th)
Rep. Courtney, Joseph (DEM-CT-2nd)
Rep. Crowley, Joseph (DEM-NY-7th)
Rep. Cuellar, Henry (DEM-TX-28th)
Rep. DeFazio, Peter (DEM-OR-4th)
Rep. DeLauro, Rosa (DEM-CT-3rd)
Rep. Delahunt, William (DEM-MA-10th)
Rep. Diaz-Balart, Lincoln (REP-FL-21st)
Rep. Diaz-Balart, Mario (REP-FL-25th)
Rep. Dingell, John (DEM-MI-15th)
Rep. Donnelly, Joe (DEM-IN-2nd)
Rep. Doyle, Mike (DEM-PA-14th)
Rep. Ellsworth, Brad (DEM-IN-8th)
Rep. English, Philip (REP-PA-3rd)
Rep. Eshoo, Anna (DEM-CA-14th)
Rep. Ferguson, Michael (REP-NJ-7th)
Rep. Fortenberry, Jeff (REP-NE-1st)
Res. Com. Fortuno, Luis (REP-PR-AL)
Rep. Fossella, Vito (REP-NY-13th)
Rep. Foxx, Virginia (REP-NC-5th)
Rep. Gillibrand, Kirsten (DEM-NY-20th)
Rep. Gingrey, Phil (REP-GA-11th)
Rep. Gonzalez, Charles (DEM-TX-20th)
Rep. Grijalva, Raul (DEM-AZ-7th)
Rep. Gutierrez, Luis (DEM-IL-4th)
Rep. Hall, John (DEM-NY-19th)
Rep. Hare, Phil (DEM-IL-17th)
Rep. Hastings, Doc (REP-WA-4th)
Rep. Higgins, Brian (DEM-NY-27th)
Rep. Hinchey, Maurice (DEM-NY-22nd)
Rep. Hinojosa, Ruben (DEM-TX-15th)
Rep. Holden, Tim (DEM-PA-17th)
Rep. Hulshof, Kenny (REP-MO-9th)
Rep. Jindal, Bobby (REP-LA-1st)
Rep. Jones, Walter (REP-NC-3rd)
Rep. Kanjorski, Paul (DEM-PA-11th)
Rep. Kaptur, Marcy (DEM-OH-9th)
Rep. Kennedy, Patrick (DEM-RI-1st)
Rep. Kildee, Dale (DEM-MI-5th)
Rep. King, Peter (REP-NY-3rd)
Rep. King, Steve (REP-IA-5th)
Rep. Knollenberg, Joseph (REP-MI-9th)
Rep. Kucinich, Dennis (DEM-OH-10th)
Rep. LaHood, Ray (REP-IL-18th)
Rep. Lampson, Nicholas (DEM-TX-22nd)
Rep. Langevin, James (DEM-RI-2nd)
Rep. Larson, John (DEM-CT-1st)
Rep. Lipinski, Dan (DEM-IL-3rd)
Rep. LoBiondo, Frank (REP-NJ-2nd)
Rep. Lungren, Dan (REP-CA-3rd)
Rep. Lynch, Stephen (DEM-MA-9th)
Rep. Mack, Connie (REP-FL-14th)
Rep. Markey, Edward (DEM-MA-7th)
Rep. Marshall, Jim (DEM-GA-8th)
Rep. McCarthy, Carolyn (DEM-NY-4th)
Rep. McCaul, Michael (REP-TX-10th)
Rep. McCollum, Betty (DEM-MN-4th)
Rep. McCotter, Thaddeus (REP-MI-11th)
Rep. McGovern, James (DEM-MA-3rd)
Rep. McHenry, Patrick (REP-NC-10th)
Rep. McHugh, John (REP-NY-23rd)
Rep. McNerney, Gerald (DEM-CA-11th)
Rep. McNulty, Michael (DEM-NY-21st)
Rep. Meehan, Marty (DEM-MA-5th)
Rep. Melancon, Charlie (DEM-LA-3rd)
Rep. Michaud, Michael (DEM-ME-2nd)
Rep. Miller, George (DEM-CA-7th)
Rep. Mitchell, Harry (DEM-AZ-5th)
Rep. Moran, James (DEM-VA-8th)
Rep. Murphy, Patrick (DEM-PA-8th)
Rep. Murphy, Timothy (REP-PA-18th)
Rep. Murtha, John (DEM-PA-12th)
Rep. Napolitano, Grace (DEM-CA-38th)
Rep. Neal, Richard (DEM-MA-2nd)
Rep. Nunes, Devin (REP-CA-21st)
Rep. Oberstar, James (DEM-MN-8th)
Rep. Obey, David (DEM-WI-7th)
Rep. Pallone, Frank (DEM-NJ-6th)
Rep. Pascrell, Bill (DEM-NJ-8th)
Rep. Pastor, Ed (DEM-AZ-4th)
Rep. Pelosi, Nancy (DEM-CA-8th)
Rep. Porter, Jon (REP-NV-3rd)
Rep. Radanovich, George (REP-CA-19th)
Rep. Rangel, Charles (DEM-NY-15th)
Rep. Renzi, Rick (REP-AZ-1st)
Rep. Reyes, Silvestre (DEM-TX-16th)
Rep. Rodriguez, Ciro (DEM-TX-23rd)
Rep. Roybal-Allard, Lucille (DEM-CA-34th)
Rep. Royce, Ed (REP-CA-40th)
Rep. Ryan, Paul (REP-WI-1st)
Rep. Ryan, Tim (DEM-OH-17th)
Rep. Salazar, John (DEM-CO-3rd)
Rep. Sanchez, Linda (DEM-CA-39th)
Rep. Sanchez, Loretta (DEM-CA-47th)
Rep. Schmidt, Jean (REP-OH-2nd)
Rep. Serrano, Jose (DEM-NY-16th)
Rep. Sestak, Joe (DEM-PA-7th)
Rep. Shea-Porter, Carol (DEM-NH-1st)
Rep. Sires, Albio (DEM-NJ-13th)
Rep. Smith, Christopher (REP-NJ-4th)
Rep. Solis, Hilda (DEM-CA-32nd)
Rep. Stupak, Bart (DEM-MI-1st)
Rep. Sullivan, John (REP-OK-1st)
Rep. Tauscher, Ellen (DEM-CA-10th)
Rep. Taylor, Gene (DEM-MS-4th)
Rep. Thompson, Mike (DEM-CA-1st)
Rep. Tiberi, Patrick (REP-OH-12th)
Rep. Velazquez, Nydia (DEM-NY-12th)
Rep. Visclosky, Peter (DEM-IN-1st)
Rep. Walsh, James (REP-NY-25th)
Rep. Watson, Diane (DEM-CA-33rd)
Rep. Welch, Peter (DEM-VT-AL)
Rep. Wilson, Charlie (DEM-OH-6th)
Eastern Orthodox
Rep. Bean, Melissa (DEM-IL-8th) Serbian Orth.
Rep. Bilirakis, Gus (REP-FL-9th) Greek Orth.
Rep. Sarbanes, John (DEM-MD-3rd) Greek Orth.
Rep. Space, Zack (DEM-OH-18th) Greek Orth.
The Catholic Knight has a full list of Catholics in both the House and Senate.
Call You Congressmen
The United States House of Representatives is scheduled to vote for more federal funding of embryonic stem cell research tomorrow. Now is a good time to get a hold of your representatives and urge them to oppose the DeGette/Castle Bill, H.R. 3. This bill, like the one President Bush vetoed last year, will ease restrictions placed on federal funding of ESC research, even though the federal government spent $50 million on human ESC research using the lines that Bush approved in 2001. Meanwhile this research has been plagued with set backs, most notably rapid tumor growth in mouse subjects, not to mention the fact that it requires the destruction of innocent human life. The American taxpayer should not be forced to pay for unethical and unproven scientific research any more than they are already (which is too much). Be sure to point out that there is no ban on human ESC research and nothing preventing private investors from funding the research. As one astute Secondhand Smoke reader pointed out: “Explain to me why US federal funds, as opposed to private funds or foreign government funds, are required to make a scientific breakthrough.” The short answer? They’re not.
You can call any member at 1-202-224-3121 or look up your representative online at www.house.gov
How Sweet It Is!
How ’bout them Gators?! So I have to take a little personal blog time here to mention the FL Gator’s National Championship win last night. If I didn’t mention it on my info page, I am a huge Florida fan. Both of my parents graduated from the University of Florida and I’ve been watching Florida football for as long as I can remember. So last nights victory was exciting for me. Now we’ve got the reigning college football and basketball champions – the first time in history. Go Gators!
Excellence in Broadcasting
Rush Limbaugh had some great commentary today on the politics of embryonic stem cell research. He spoke specifically about the left who support ESC research and their unwillingness to accept research that does not require the killing of innocent human life. As expected they are blowing off the recent report of amniotic fluid stem cells as irrelevant to the ESC research debate (they are supposed to vote on the ESC research funding bill this Thurs.). But it is entirely relevant when you consider that these amniotic fluid cells could possibly replace the need to create and destroy human embryos for research. Rush accurately points out the absurdity of their position as they claim to give hope to millions of Americans by backing unethical and unproven ESC research while they ignore the obvious advancements in adult, cord blood, and now amniotic fluid stem cell research.
Read or listen to Rush’s commentary here, here and here
“The real answer to the question is: Iif they give up, if the Democrats, the liberals ever give up on their push for embryonic stem cell research, what happens? By definition, it weakens their case for abortion, because to give in to the less wretched alternatives, such as adult stem cells or amniotic fluid stem cells, the Democrats are, in an implied way, conceding that we ought to try to limit the death option, and they thereby imply there’s something morally wrong with that kind of research — and they can’t do that. They cannot ever admit there’s anything morally wrong with embryonic stem cell research because in a then says there’s something morally wrong with abortion, and they will never, ever do that, and they will fight having to do that, regardless what research comes along.”
NY Times Update
Last week I told you about the hit piece the NY Times did on the abortion laws in El Salvador and the fact that the entire article was based on false information. The article claimed that Carmen Climaco was sentenced to 30 years for having an illegal abortion when she was actually convicted of strangling her newborn infant. Well, this week the Times has issued a correction, admitting that there were multiple court documents, one of which concluded that her child was carried to term and died after birth. This was the document that ultimately lead to her conviction. The magazine’s editor confessed that, “The Times should have obtained the text of the ruling of the three-judge panel before the article was published, but did not vigorously pursue the document until details of the ruling were brought to the attention of editors in late November.” My guess is that this “vigorous pursuit” did not take place primarily because the MSM will jump at any chance to attack the pro-life mentality to advance the culture of death in our society, and this story of a poor woman, victimized by a country’s “anti-abortion” policy, was just too good to pass up.