They’re Afraid, They’re Very Afraid

ChelseaCloning, Missouri, PoliticsLeave a Comment

At one point in 2006 the Stowers Institute in KC promised to add hundreds of thousands of square feet to their research facilities if only Amendment 2 would pass and give Missouri researchers a constitutional right to clone and kill human embryos. Now almost two years have gone by, Amendment 2 has passed and two attempts to let voters truly ban this cloning research have been successfully defeated and Stowers have yet to make good on their promised research facility expansion. After the latest appellate court ruling basically in favor of these cloning supporters in our state, Laurie Roberts, a spokeswoman for the institute, said that they are still “not ready to proceed yet.” Why? Because:

“Those who oppose embryonic stem cell research have made it clear they will attempt another ballot initiative in 2010. We have a fiduciary responsibility to be assured that the political environment in Missouri is science-friendly before we invest in a second campus”

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In other words, they’re scared, they know what we are capable of and they know that we will eventually win. They’re so afraid, in fact, that the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures has already spent over $2 million to fight against us – including $1.1 million in the past three months – and the Stowers Institute hired a campaign management firm from Washington, D.C. and is giving its website a $100,000 makeover (source). Remember, these people spent $30 million against us in 2006 only to win a mediocre victory. I have said this before: these people seriously underestimated the power and the passion of the pro-life faithful in this state.

If they were smart they would have let us try to go through with the cloning ban this year instead of trying to stall it in court for the last seven months only to now give us roughly two full years to train, educate and mobilize even more pro-life foot soldiers across the state. It is a fact that during the 2006 campaign the more people heard about the facts of human cloning the more they opposed protecting it as a constitutional right. That is why support for Amendment 2 saw a steady decline in the weeks and months running up to the election and why it only passed by the slimmest margin, despite its cushy 75% lead just months before. Because of this many have speculated that if the election had been held just a month or even a few weeks later Amendment 2 would have been defeated. That’s what happens when to truth is on your side.

Lucky for us the truth is still on our side and while we don’t want to repeal Amendment 2, we do want to truly ban all human cloning (which A2 did not do) in the state of Missouri and we’re as fired up as ever! Not only that but now we have even more time to prepare, strengthen and educate.

“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve”
~Admiral Yamamoto

I’m not sure I would say that Missouri pro-lifers have ever been “sleeping”, but certainly our resolve has been strengthened. And when we’re motivated and faced with a challenge we are a force to be reckoned with.

Previous posts:
More Stem Cell Research Whining in MO
Pro-Life Efforts Paying Off in Missouri
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

Get “Bella” Tomorrow (May 6)!

ChelseaMedia, Pro LifeLeave a Comment

nullYes, Bella will finally be available on DVD tomorrow! Our Gospel of Life committee will be showing it at our parish sometime in the near future. Here is my review from this post:

“Man…cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself” (Gaudium et Spes, 24)

Bella is not just a story about the value of human life, but the value of human love. As I said in my post, Reclaiming the Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality, creating a culture of life involves not just recognizing the dignity of human life, but realizing our human vocation to love as God loves. This is a selfless, life giving love without boundaries – extending to family, friends, neighbors and even a needy stranger. Love is not just about romance; it’s not merely a feeling or emotion; love is a decision to give oneself as a gift to another (seen in the character of “Jose”) and to be open to receiving the gift of another in return (“Nina”). Our young men and women need to see this, if only on film, because far too many grow up without ever knowing this love, from parents, teachers, friends or lovers.

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You gotta love these swell Bella fellas! Because there have been over a dozen confirmed reports that women have chosen to give life to their unborn children (even canceling scheduled abortions) after seeing this movie, Bella producers have launched the Bella 10 campaign, challenging fans to convince 10 people to buy the DVD (or give it away to them) who would then also convince 10 others to do likewise. Are you up to the challenge?

According to Life Site News, Bella star Eduardo Verastegui recorded an appearance with Fox TV’s Neil Cavuto tonight which may be broadcast tomorrow if it wasn’t on tonight already. He will also be on the Today show tomorrow at 10 a.m.

Previous posts:
Congratulations Bella!
The Swell Bella Fellas, on a Mission for God

Update on MO Cloning Ban

ChelseaCloning, MissouriLeave a Comment

The Appeals Court has issued a ruling and it’s pretty bad if you ask me. I don’t have time to go into much detail but here is the story. Basically they changed one word in SOS Carnahan’s disgraceful ballot summary. It doesn’t really matter at this point anyway because it’s too late to try to collect signatures to get it on the ballot this November (we would need to get 150,000 signatures by Sunday). Pretty disappointing, but now we must prepare for 2010! Here is the press release from Cures Without Cloning:

    COURT OF APPEALS RULES CURES WITHOUT CLONING INITIATIVE IS NOT A REPEAL; CAMPAIGN WILL CONTINUE ON TO 2010

JEFFERSON CITY, MO – The Missouri Cures Without Cloning Initiative Campaign (CWC) won a partial legal victory today when the Missouri Court of Appeals ruled that part of Secretary of State Robin Carnahan’s ballot summary was “insufficient and unfair.” In the opinion, Judge Hardwick stated “Upon review of the Plaintiffs’ initiative proposal, we find no language to suggest that it would repeal the ban on human cloning…. The Secretary’s introductory language does not fairly summarize any goal or effect of the initiative proposal and is inadequate to give clear notice of its purpose.”

While this was a big victory for CWC’s efforts to present Missouri voters with a clean vote to ban human cloning in Missouri, we are disappointed the court upheld the unsubstantiated prediction that this amendment would limit patients’ access to stem cell cures and treatments. There is no basis for this assertion. We are evaluating our options regarding appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court and pursuing relief from the Secretary of State for violation of our constitutional rights.

Following is a statement by Lori Buffa, MD, chairwoman of CWC:

“While there is some satisfaction from today’s decision, the deadline to submit the approximately 150,000 signatures necessary to place the measure on the November 2008 ballot is Sunday. Clearly, it has been the intent of Robin Carnahan and those who support human cloning in our state to abuse the initiative process and prohibit us from placing a true ban on human cloning on the ballot. However, justice delayed will not be justice denied. CWC will continue our educational efforts throughout this year and resubmit our initiative in November. Hopefully, by this time next year our vast organization of trained volunteer circulators will be collecting signatures for the 2010 election cycle.

“Missouri Cures Without Cloning is committed to banning human cloning and taxpayer funding of human cloning in Missouri. Our broad coalition continues to build support as we have gained thousands of supporters from all areas of the state. Momentum is on the side of our growing movement as Missourians become aware of the human cloning loophole in our constitution. As we continue to share the truth about human cloning in Missouri, more and more of our fellow citizens will join us in supporting a true ban on human cloning in 2010.”

Missouri Cures Without Cloning (CWC) is leading a broad-based, statewide coalition of grassroots organizations committed to prohibiting the cloning of human beings in Missouri. Interested citizens are invited to visit www.MOcureswithoutcloning.com for more information.

Previous posts:
Cloning Language in Court Today
A Triumph of Truth and Justice!!
MO Cloning Ban Update
More Missouri Manipulation
‘Missouri Manipulation”
Disgraceful Ballot Language Approved

Kansas City Here I Come!

ChelseaCulture of Death, Culture of Life, Sex, SexualityLeave a Comment

I will be heading to Kansas City today for two events featuring Christopher West and Theology of the Body. This has been a very important teaching for me and has helped evolve my thinking about how to build a culture of life. Encouraging respect for the life of the unborn is only part of it. There must also be a new “sexual revolution” which reclaims the truth and meaning of human sexuality and protects the sanctity of the marital embrace which is meant to be both unitive and procreative. It is the prevalence of contraception and the acceptance of casual sex that has lead to many of the problems we associate with the “culture of death” – abortion, HIV/AIDS, pornography, divorce/breakdown of family life etc… That is precisely why JPII said in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae:

It is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not help the young to accept and experience sexuality and love and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection (n. 97)

I just spoke to a group of high school students about TOB last Saturday at a PSR retreat. The retreat leader later told me that the overall reaction from the students was, “WOW.” Wow indeed! That was my reaction when I first heard it! As JPII biographer George Weigel said, TOB reshapes the way we think about our “embodiedness as male and female, our sexuality, our relationships with each other, our relationship with God – even God Himself” (source). This is a message that our youth, and really all of humanity, is hungry for, for it explains nothing less than the deepest longings of the human heart!

Christopher West is probably the most well known expert on JPII’s theology of the body and does an excellent job of explaining it in a way that is non threatening and very easy to understand. I have listened to him quite a bit in the last few years and look forward to seeing him in person! You can read some of West’s articles at the Catholic Education Resource Center. Topics include:

What is the Theology of the Body & Why is it Changing so Many Lives?
God, Sex, & Babies: What the Church Really Teaches about Responsible Parenthood
In-Vitro Fertilization and the Hermeneutic of the Gift
A Basic Theology of Marriage
The Theology of the Body & The New Evangelization
John Paul II’s Theology of the Body: Key to an Authentic Marital & Family Spirituality
Celibacy for the Kingdom & the Fulfillment of Human Sexuality
And an interview with Christopher West

See also JPII’s 129 general audience addresses that make up TOB.

Previous posts:
Reclaiming the Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality
Theology of the Body in KC
JPII and the Culture of Life

Threatening a Woman’s “Right to Choose”

ChelseaAbortion, Women1 Comment

The Missouri bill to criminalize coerced abortions has been moving along in the legislature. It has passed the House and a public hearing was completed in the Senate this Monday. It has also sparked an onslaught of negative editorials and letters to the editor claiming that the bill is disrespectful of a woman’s right to choose. Apparently these people have never actually heard from some abortion minded women who succumb to such a choice, not because they want to, but because of heavy pressure from parents, boyfriends, abortion clinic workers and society. From Operation Rescue:

“The most common statement I have heard in my 24 years of counseling abortion-minded women has been , ‘You don’t understand. I don’t have a choice,’” said Operation Rescue spokesperson Cheryl Sullenger. “There are so many women out there who do not want to abort their babies, but do so because they feel pressured or threatened by people in their lives to the extent that they do not believe they can resist. Abortion mills are all too happy to play on the fears of these vulnerable women because today, due to the shrinking demand for abortion, there is cut-throat competition for each abortion dollar.”

OR also has published stories of women who suffered coerced abortions at George Tiller’s abortion clinic in Wichita KS.

And according to this LifeSiteNews article about former abortion clinic owner Carol Everett:

In order to sell as many abortions as possible the telephone “counselors” at Everett’s clinics were trained to lead distraught women callers to think that there is only one solution to their unwanted pregnancy, and then to assure women that their child is only a “blob of tissue” and that the procedure itself will be basically painless.

This is the real threat to a woman’s “right to choose”. And this is why we must support our crisis pregnancy centers. They provide care and hope where others project only fear and despair and they help these women fulfill their calling to love and maternity – a dirty word in the feminist mindset of today’s society.

Previous post:
Exposing Forced Abortions in Missouri

Viva Italia!

ChelseaAbortionLeave a Comment

nullIt appears that a large majority of gynecologists in Italy really take their role of doctor (“healer”) seriously:

Nearly 70% of Italy’s gynecologists refuse to perform abortions, citing “conscientious objections,” according to a report released on Tuesday by the Italian Health Ministry, AFP/Google.com reports. This is a sizeable increase from 59% in 2003. The percentage of anesthetists who refuse to assist in abortions increased from about 46% to 50% during the same time period.

When a woman is pregnant there are two patients present. Abortion is the direct killing of one patient done, in most cases, solely for the convenience of the other. This is clearly a violation of the doctor’s duty to do what he can to maintain or improve the life and health of his patients.

Not only that, but I imagine it takes a pretty hard heart (and a strong stomach) to perform abortions on a recurring basis. Watch this video from a former abortion provider about what happens to people who continue to perform abortions.

Good for the Italians!

Even More Ethical Life Science News

ChelseaAdult Stem Cell Research, Cloning, Embryonic Stem Cell ResearchLeave a Comment

Here are some more good ethical life science news stories for you:

Heart Derived Stem Cells Develop Into Heart Muscle

Cell-based Therapy Shows Promise In Patients With Parkinson’s Disease

Is it just me, or is the hype surrounding embryonic stem cell research is just starting to sound more and more ridiculous and unnecessary? Clearly there are ethical alternatives to using human embryos for scientific research that are proving to be easier to work with and more effective in both animal and human studies. But then when cloning/ESCR supporters promise nothing less than miracle cures and an all out end to human suffering (yes, that is seriously what they claim, I’ve heard it), I suppose, everyone needs a fantasy.

Previous post: Ethical Life Science News

Ethical Life Science News

ChelseaAdult Stem Cell ResearchLeave a Comment

Here’s a few good ethical life science news stories for you:

Scientists say menstrual blood can repair hearts:

Scientists obtained menstrual blood from nine women and cultivated it for about a month, focusing on a kind of cell that can act like stem cells.

Some 20 percent of the cells began beating spontaneously about three days after being put together in vitro with cells from the hearts of rats. The cells from menstrual blood eventually formed sheet-like heart-muscle tissue.

The success rate is 100 times higher than the 0.2-0.3 percent for stem cells taken from human bone marrow, according to Shunichiro Miyoshi, a cardiologist at Keio University’s school of medicine, who is involved in the research.

Separate in-vivo experiments showed that the condition of rats who had suffered heart attacks improved after they received the cells derived from menstrual blood.

Miyoshi said women may eventually be able to use their own menstrual blood.

“There may be a system in the near future that allows women to use it for their own treatment,” Miyoshi told AFP on Thursday.

Gene therapy improves sight in near-blind patients

LOS ANGELES/LONDON (Reuters) – Gene therapy for a rare type of inherited blindness has improved the vision of four patients who tried it, boosting hopes for the troubled field of gene repair technology, scientists said on Sunday.

Two separate teams of doctors reported successes in using gene therapy to treat Leber congenital amaurosis, or LCA.

LCA damages light receptors in the retina. It usually begins affecting sight in early childhood and causes total blindness by the time a patient is 30. There is no treatment.

Both teams used a common cold virus to deliver a normal version of one damaged gene that causes the disease, called RPE65, directly into the eyes of patients.

Although both trials were only testing for safety, patients reported they could see a little better afterwards, the researchers told a meeting of eye specialists in Florida and also reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Stem cell hope for fixing injured knees (h/t: Vital Signs):

Up to 60 Victorians are to trial a simple injection scientists believe could replace drugs – and even surgery – in treating debilitating osteoarthritis.

It could also prolong the careers of athletes, including AFL players, regularly sidelined by common cartilage tears.

Melbourne-based biotechnology company Mesoblast recently completed successful animal trials of the hi-tech procedure and believe there is a “billion-dollar market” for their technique.

The Australian trials found the injection of adult stem cells – taken from human donors’ bone marrow, abdominal fat, hip, skin or teeth – protected damaged knee cartilage for up to nine months.

Professor Silviu Itescu, Mesoblast’s director and chief scientific adviser, said the injected stem cells bound themselves to the cartilage, halting its degeneration.

Planned Parenthood is Guilty of “GENERATION”cide

ChelseaAbortion, Planned Parenthood, Pro LifeLeave a Comment

Recently UCLA students ran a gotcha undercover investigation which exposed several idiot PP employees happily accepting donations to be specially earmarked for the abortion of a black child. Today Fox News reports that a group of black pastors held a vigil and a press conference in front of PP in D.C., accusing PP of “genocide on the black community.”

Clearly the racist undertones present at the founding of PP still exist today, but let’s not forget that PP is an equal opportunity destroyer. Just as the holocaust of Nazi Germany wasn’t just about exterminating Jews, though they did make up the largest number of deaths, for the founder of PP, the promotion of abortion and contraception was not just about race. It was about the “fit” vs. the “unfit”. It was about eliminating a number of “undesirables” that they deemed were not fit to live or breed. In fact, for Margaret Sanger, it had more to do with class, health and intelligence than anything else. While I certainly sympathize with those in the black community and I’m glad to see them recognizing the disproportionately large number of abortions among black women, this is not an ethnic issue, this is a human issue that transcends ethnicity.

Almost 50 MILLION children have been aborted since 1973. Today we continue to abort almost 4,000 babies every day. These children are black, white, hispanic, indian, chinese, boys, girls, disabled… PP and the abortion industry is not merely guilty of the “genocide” of the black community, but has been systematically responsible for killing roughly one fourth to one third of our entire generation.

American Life League has the best motto:

ABORTION IS HOMICIDE:

You will not silence my message
You will not mock my God
You will stop killing my generation

Vocation to Marriage

ChelseaCulture of Life, Marriage, VocationLeave a Comment

Thanks to Paul at Alive and Young for linking to this great video by the Knights of Columbus about the vocation to Marriage. I had seen it on EWTN several months ago and it was apparently shown at the papal youth rally in Yonkers last weekend.

In his address to the Bishops in Washington D.C. last week, Pope Benedict expressed deep concern for the state of the family within society:

How can we not be dismayed as we observe the sharp decline of the family as a basic element of Church and society? Divorce and infidelity have increased, and many young men and women are choosing to postpone marriage or to forego it altogether.

He specifically noted the increase in cohabitation, in which the

Christ-like mutual self-giving of spouses, sealed by a public promise to live out the demands of an indissoluble lifelong commitment, is simply absent.

Such a breakdown of the family denies society the “stable building blocks” necessary to maintain its moral focus. In this year’s World Day of Peace Message, Pope Benedict says that he

spoke of the essential contribution that healthy family life makes to peace within and between nations. In the family home we experience “some of the fundamental elements of peace: justice and love between brothers and sisters, the role of authority expressed by parents, loving concern for the members who are weaker because of youth, sickness or old age, mutual help in the necessities of life, readiness to accept others and, if necessary, to forgive them” (no. 3).

A culture of life must honor the vocation of matrimony and the dignity of family life as it is an

unconditional and unreserved “yes” to life, a “yes” to love, and a “yes” to the aspirations at the heart of our common humanity, as we strive to fulfill our deep yearning for intimacy with others and with the Lord.

On Path to Holiness you can see more of my reflections on some of the things the Holy Father touched on during his visit.