Mr. and Mrs. Beazly (Math majors, both), call your office. You might be able to pick up some sweet moolah tutoring basic math to
university students in your province.
“We’re expressing concern that 8,300 students are taking preparatory and foundational math in first-year college, but the vast majority cover concepts introduced in Grades 6, 7 and 8,” co-author and York University professor emeritus of math Graham Orpwood told Parent Central.
.
Continued:
Behind Enemy Lines: World War II, Sam Frederiksen, Nazi-Occupied Europe, 1944
by Carol Matas (
) – (
)
series, 1944
Pages: 200
Ages: 10+
Finished: May 8, 2012
First Published:
Feb. 1, 2012
Publisher: Scholastic Canada
Genre: historical fiction, WWII, occupied France, Canadian author, POWs
Rating:
4/5
First sentence: “From my rear turret I got a glimpse of our attacker, a twin-engine Ju88, coming in for the kill.”
Publisher’s Summary:
“Eighteen-year-old Sam Frederiksen has come a long way from the Prairies. Trained
to be a gunner in a Lancaster bomber during WWII, he is shot down over France.
Battered and bruised, he does survive, and joins forces with the French
Resistance… only to be betrayed by one of its members. He and other flyers
from various Allied countries are rounded up by the Gestapo and held in Fresnes
prison just outside of Paris.
Treated as spies, rather — than POWs,
these men are beaten, some tortured — then sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp
in eastern Germany. It is here, in these wretched conditions, that Sam witnesses
the darkest side of humanity — gas chambers, torture and starvation. Yet it is
also here that he comes to understand the true resilience and unfathomable
courage of the victims…”
Acquired: Received a review copy from Scholastic Canada.
Reason for Reading: I’m reading every book in this series, I love WWII historical fiction and I’ve enjoyed other books by the author.
Another fantastic book in this series. Sholastic.ca is keeping this series in top-form by (so far) only using well-known literary award winning writers of children’s literature. By the list of authors included one can tell the quality of writing is going to be top-notch. Carol Matas writes various genres but she is most well known for her Holocaust historical fiction and this book can be added to the list. I thoroughly enjoyed the story.
Though the topic was known to me, this is the story of 168 British Commonwealth Airmen who were captured by the Germans and sent to the death camp Buchenwald Concentration Camp and only days before there scheduled extermination were they taken to a POW camp. This is a powerful story, based on real life true events, though the characters included are fictional Matas holds no punches when describing the pure evilness behind Hitler and his vision and the atrocities carried out by those under his command, especially at the Concentration camps. Graphic to a point but suitable for the mature 10+ age range without venturing into a YA book. Though teens will enjoy the story as well.
I was familiar with this story but this series of books always manages to teach me something new in each and every single book. I hadn’t known about Canada’s refusal to take in Jews during the war, nor about Denmark’s extraordinarily brave response of non-compliance to the German occupier’s. Other smaller pieces of information were like new found trivia for me and I enjoyed the history learnt from this gripping, dark, horrendous story of what people are capable of doing to each other, but also of what people are capable of doing *for* each other and how some can rise to the occasion even under the most severe conditions. A great boy’s book!
Source article:
This desire to hide important information from women is dangerous, and more importantly, demeaning to the dignity of women.
BY Denise J. Hunnell, MD
Editor’s note: The editors of USA Today refused to publish Dr. Hunnell’s response.
May 23, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The USA Today op-ed by Drs. Angell and Greene, Where are the doctors?, is unfortunately very short on facts. It is surprising that two physicians with such prestigious credentials would put forth a call to physicians for civil disobedience while eschewing the latest scientific findings on the subject.
Their first claim that there is a war on reproductive rights because thirty-five states require counseling before proceeding with an abortion is absurd. Such counseling requires that women be given accurate and full information about abortion and pregnancy so that they can give fully informed consent for this serious procedure. The claim promulgated by the abortion industry that the developing embryo is just a “blob of cells” is corrected with an ultrasound. If a woman sees that her unborn child has a beating heart and fully formed fingers and toes and still wants to proceed with the abortion, she is free to do so. But she is doing so with more complete knowledge of the choice at hand.
And contrary to the assertions of Drs. Angell and Greene, there are numerous studies that find a link between breast cancer and abortion. A study by researchers Lilit Khachatryan of the American University of Armenia, Robert Scharpf of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and Sarah Kagan of the University of Pennsylvania was published in October, 2011 in the prestigious journal Health Care for Women International. Their work found a three-fold increase in breast cancer among women who had an abortion.
The much-touted 2002 National Cancer Institute (NCI) workshop that is often cited as proof that there is no abortion/breast cancer link was handily refuted in 2009 when the president of the NCI workshop, Dr. Louise Brinton, published an article in the highly regarded journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention. Dr. Brinton’s more recent work found that the risk for a highly aggressive form of breast cancer that strikes women under the age of forty increased by 40% in women with a history of abortion.
CLICK ‘LIKE’ IF YOU ARE PRO-LIFE!
Dr. Angell and Greene make further unsubstantiated allegations that there is an attempt to block access to contraception. Before addressing this charge directly, it must be noted that hormonal contraceptives prevent no diseases. Pregnancy and fertility are normal, healthy physiological conditions. Not a single medical organization recommends the routine use of contraceptives in healthy women for the maintenance or improvement of their health, for the obvious reason that there are significant risks associated with hormonal contraceptives.
The link between hormonal contraceptives and blood clots or strokes is well established and not contested. This risk is so greatly increased in smokers that hormonal contraceptives are not recommended for women who smoke. In addition, the National Cancer Institute and World Health Organization both cite an increased risk of breast, cervical, and liver cancer associated with contraceptive use. More recently, a study by scientists at the University of Washington and published in October, 2011 British medical journal, The Lancet revealed that the use of hormonal contraceptives doubled the transmission rates of HIV.
The use of contraceptives is an elective lifestyle choice for women who have weighed the potential harms and decided their desire to avoid pregnancy while being sexually active is worth the risks.
In spite of Angell and Greene’s wild claims, there is absolutely no attempt by any legislators or religious groups to make contraception unavailable to women. There is, however, an attempt by the federal government to infringe upon religious freedom. Religious entities are responding by asserting their constitutional right to exercise their own religious principles without interference from the federal government.
Women are free to obtain contraception, but they are not free to force religious groups who find contraception morally objectionable to fund their lifestyle choice.
Where are the doctors, indeed. Clearly, attempts to portray oral contraceptives as being necessary for healthy women are scientifically dishonest and do a great disservice to women. If Drs. Angell and Greene believe women are capable of making their own decisions about their reproductive health, they should welcome the opportunity for women to have as much information as possible about medical procedures and medications that affect their health. This desire to hide important information from women is dangerous, and more importantly, demeaning to the dignity of women.
Denise Hunnell, MD, is a Fellow of HLI America, an educational initiative of Human Life International. She writes for HLI America’s Truth and Charity Forum, where this article first appeared.
See original article:
Welcome to Standing on My Head! I’m a former Evangelical, then an Anglican priest, now a Catholic priest. If you want to learn more about me click on the “Bio” tab in the header.The header tabs also contain my archived articles, with my conversion stories and writings on Catholic apologetics. You can have a look at the books I’ve written and purchase them online by using the “Browse Books” tab in the header.You can also use the drop down menu to contact me by email, book me for a speaking engagement, learn about our new Finding Faith Outreach and learn out about the topics I speak on, the retreats I lead.
for more of my archived articles, and learn more about my various outreach projects.My blog is part of my ministry and I have a wife and kids to support as well as run a busy parish. If you would like to help out financially you can make a donation through PayPal by hitting the “Donate” button below.
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Todd and his team have made it their mission to educate church goers that the place where they worship condones this heinous act against God.
Abortion pictures are not pleasant to view, particularly on one’s way to Sunday morning worship service at a pro-choice church.
For the past several weeks Todd Bullis has taken his Church Project to the Custer Road United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas.
Showing the reality of abortion through abortion pictures, Todd and his team have made it their mission to educate church goers that the place where they worship condones this heinous act against God, in whose image we are made.
There is no denying, although some uneducated parishioners tried, that the United Methodist Church supports abortion. From its website:
The United Methodist Church is also affiliated with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
Todd put together a video montage of reactions to his signs from this past Sunday and posted them on YouTube, which YouTube immediately removed.
Thank goodness there is now ProLifeBook.com, where the video now resides. It is amazing. While the various reactions are sad, Todd’s responses are great. Watch til the end to be inspired (and note the slap at :48)…
Reprinted with permission from JillStanek.com
More here:
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| St. Thomas More |
During the last day of hearings, May 22, constitutional lawyer, Albertos Polizogopoulos challenged the legality of Bill 13 in his presentation to the Standing Committee that has the responsibly to hear from the public. The submission was made on behalf of The Coalition of Parental Rights in Education. If you wish, you may read the
and use the information when contacting your MPP, your parish priest and other lay or religious leaders.
According to Mr. Polizogopoulos, here are the six areas on which the proposed
can be challenged on constitutional grounds:
1. The Bill gives preferential treatment to one group, namely the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, transsexual, two-spirited, intersexed, queer and questioning, LGBTTIQ students;
2. The legislation uses the term “homophobia”, a word that has no legal definition and is too general and thus applying it in the law becomes subjective and problematic;
3. The term “bullying” is not clearly defined and as a result too many behaviors fit the proposed wording;
4. Bill 13 legislates an “Equity” policy in all schools and thus will have the force of law to make Catholic schools violate their own teaching;
5. Bill 13 forces any group renting or using schools to adhere to the “provincial code of conduct”. This clause could undo Section 15 of the Charter as it applies to religious freedom and freedom of assembly.
6. The legislation forces all schools to establish gay/straight alliances. This could be a clear violation of denominational rights under the Section 93(1) of the Constitution, as well as Section 257 of the Education Act and possibly section 29 of the Charter.
This submission makes it clear that we have very valid reasons to continue to put pressure on our MPPs and Premier Dalton McGuinty because Bill 13 has many moral, health and legal problems. We must also some other questions. Why hasn’t the Archdiocese of Toronto taken a public stand in support of the faithful and in defence of the faith on this proposed legislation? Do the parish priests know what’s going on in our schools? Have parishes been notified by the Archdiocese? Have school boards been instructed to adopt the
document. Bill 13 is probably the biggest sexual experiment on all children of this province and Catholic leadership has for the most part been silent. We should not have to go down the same secular road we blindly followed in Canada when Pope Paul VI published that prophetic encyclical,
. Isn’t the proposed Bill 13 not part of the moral fall out?
Read the article:
Legal opinion: Bill 13 can be challenged on constitutional grounds
Sixth Anniversary: Juventutemby Paul S on May 23, 2012Thursday, May 24, 2012, is the sixth anniversary of the Fœderatio Internationalis Juventutem, which was founded in Bern, Switzerland on the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, in the Year of Our Lord, 2006.The ecclesiastical assistant of the Federation – Fr.
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They arrived safe and sound. Please wish my daughter’s team luck in the DestiNation Imagination Global Finals. There are about 15000 kids descended upon UT in Knoxville. And UT tweeted that they were having trouble with the wifi. Jeez, how did they not figure that was going to happen. Join me is wishing Arwen and her team lots of luck and lots of fun, DI will be livestreaming tonight
Follow this link:
Well, I mostly agree with Brent Bozell:
Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell [says] The broadcast networks “all but spiked the largest legal action in history to defend our constitutionally protected religious freedom,” [he cited] CBS, ABC and NBC for skimming over news that 43 Catholic dioceses and organizations filed a lawsuit Monday against the Obama administration.
CBS managed to air 19 seconds on the subject. But that was it, between all three networks.
“This is the worst bias by omission I have seen in the quarter-century history of the Media Research Center,” he says, insisting that the networks fear the lawsuit could compromise President Obama’s popularity with voters.
“This is not a mistake, nor is it an editorial oversight by the broadcast networks. This is a deliberate and insidious withholding of national news to protect the ‘chosen one’ who ABC, CBS and NBC have worked so hard to elect.”
Lead stories and in-depth reports are in order, he suggests, following revelations that the Catholic Church unleashed “legal Armageddon” on the White House, promising not to comply with health care reforms that would require religiously affiliated institutions to offer birth control to employees.
“Instead, these networks are sending a clear message to all Americans that the networks will go to any lengths — even censoring from the public an event of this historic magnitude — to prevent the release of any information that will hurt Obama’s chances of re-election,” Mr. Bozell concludes.
Well, that might be the message they are sending. But I think the larger message that perhaps they hadn’t meant to transmit is one of stark terror. Like the kid who hides under the blanket figuring the boogeyman won’t see him, the mainstream media has decided that if they just ignore the 12 lawsuits launched against the Obama administration by 43 Catholic entities, the reality of them will go away; they simply won’t exist, and the Supreme Court won’t see them, either!
Or, you know, they might just be afraid that if people begin to realize that the promised (as in still-not-in-effect) Obama “accommodation” was not the acceptable olive-branched solution they’d pretended it was, they might start wondering what this “constitutional-scholar” of a president is really all about.
Or, they might be afraid that, as Bozell says, news of the suits could negatively impact Obama’s re-election campaign.
Afraid is the operative word, here. What is coming through loud and clear is their fear.
UPDATE: Newsbusters has more and more
View original article:
Surprise! MSM Ignoring Catholic Lawsuits against Government UPDATED
Well, I mostly agree with Brent Bozell:
Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell [says] The broadcast networks “all but spiked the largest legal action in history to defend our constitutionally protected religious freedom,” [he cited] CBS, ABC and NBC for skimming over news that 43 Catholic dioceses and organizations filed a lawsuit Monday against the Obama administration.
CBS managed to air 19 seconds on the subject. But that was it, between all three networks.
“This is the worst bias by omission I have seen in the quarter-century history of the Media Research Center,” he says, insisting that the networks fear the lawsuit could compromise President Obama’s popularity with voters.
“This is not a mistake, nor is it an editorial oversight by the broadcast networks. This is a deliberate and insidious withholding of national news to protect the ‘chosen one’ who ABC, CBS and NBC have worked so hard to elect.”
Lead stories and in-depth reports are in order, he suggests, following revelations that the Catholic Church unleashed “legal Armageddon” on the White House, promising not to comply with health care reforms that would require religiously affiliated institutions to offer birth control to employees.
“Instead, these networks are sending a clear message to all Americans that the networks will go to any lengths — even censoring from the public an event of this historic magnitude — to prevent the release of any information that will hurt Obama’s chances of re-election,” Mr. Bozell concludes.
Well, that might be the message they are sending. But I think the larger message that perhaps they hadn’t meant to transmit is one of stark terror. Like the kid who hides under the blanket figuring the boogeyman won’t see him, the mainstream media has decided that if they just ignore the 12 lawsuits launched against the Obama administration by 43 Catholic entities, the reality of them will go away; they simply won’t exist, and the Supreme Court won’t see them, either!
Or, you know, they might just be afraid that if people begin to realize that the promised (as in still-not-in-effect) Obama “accommodation” was not the acceptable olive-branched solution they’d pretended it was, they might start wondering what this “constitutional-scholar” of a president is really all about.
Or, they might be afraid that, as Bozell says, news of the suits could negatively impact Obama’s re-election campaign.
Afraid is the operative word, here. What is coming through loud and clear is their fear.
Follow this link:
Cheryl Sullenger of Operation Rescue told LifeSiteNews.com that information raises concern Carhart may be violating Nebraska’s ban on late-term abortions.
BELLEVUE, Neb., May 23, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A botched abortion patient can be heard moaning in obvious distress during newly obtained recordings of two 911 calls placed on Saturday, March 31, 2012, from LeRoy Carhart’s Abortion and Contraceptive Clinic of Nebraska, located in Bellevue, a suburb of Omaha.
Cheryl Sullenger of Operation Rescue told LifeSiteNews.com that witnesses at the scene said the woman appeared to be far advanced in her pregnancy, raising concerns that Carhart may be breaking the relatively recent Nebraska ban on late-term abortions after 20 weeks.
The abortion worker who placed the initial call specifically asked that an ambulance be sent with “no lights or sirens.”
The recordings were obtained through an open records request Operation Rescue, which says the recordings show that clinic workers were “uncooperative” and slow to give information about the patient’s condition to the emergency dispatcher.
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The caller, who said she knew nothing of the patient’s condition, questioned the nurse, Lindsey (Alejandro) Creekmore, in the procedure room in an attempt to get information to the dispatcher that was needed in order to get the woman the help she needed.
“What’s going on, Lindsey?” the caller asked. “They want to know. 911 wants to know. They want to know what’s going on. I need an answer.”
A witness that was at the scene when the ambulance arrived stated, “I saw a woman, who looked like she was quite pregnant, clutching her stomach as she was put into the ambulance. She had a drape below her belly.”
Police told witnesses to the indent that the woman was transported to the Bellevue Medical Center where she was treated.
Late-term abortionist Leroy Carhart was present at the time of the medical emergency in March, but did not participate in the 911 calls. He was involved in the 3rd trimester abortion death of a patient in 2005.
“Based on this incident, there is concern that Carhart may be violating the Nebraska ban on late-term abortions after 20 weeks when babies can feel pain,” said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Nation.
“This is particularly troubling since the Nebraska Attorney General’s office is very aware that Carhart may be breaking the law. Operation Rescue has submitted several statements by former Carhart employees and supplied then with information from other confidential informants who have alleged violations ranging from billing fraud to missing drugs to falsifying ultrasound measurements for the purpose of evading the late-term abortion ban.
“Yet, all we have gotten from the supposedly pro-life Attorney General Jon Bruning is the ‘run-around’. The injury of this woman is directly Bruning’s responsibility because he had the opportunity to protect women from Carhart’s dangerous abortion practices, but did nothing.”
Operation Rescue has released a video featuring the 911 recordings and a written transcript of the calls.
Carhart is one of the United States’ most notorious late-term abortionists.
During a preliminary injunction hearing in a US District Court in 1997 on the issue of late-term abortions, Carhart testified that he would sometimes dismember advanced-stage unborn babies during abortions, while the babies were still alive. Carhart described in detail the process of grasping the limb of the baby to be removed, and then twisting it off. When asked if the babies usually die during the process of dismemberment, Carhart responded, “I don’t really know. I know that the fetus is alive during the process most of the time because I can see the fetal heartbeat on the ultrasound.”
Contact:
Attorney General Jon Bruning
Phone: (402) 471-2682
Fax: (402) 471-3297
E-mail: www.ago.ne.gov/contact_form
This article:
911: Moans, screams heard from botched abortion victim at late-term facility
At the Extraordinary Form Mass for Ascension Thursday in a nearby parish church, the Mass was nice, beautiful, fine–but not particularly engaging for me on a personal level. I was on a kind of autopilot at the end of a busy day with a lot going on.
And then, during the first Alleluia, something happened. Perhaps it was a moment when the unison voices found that sweet concordance that makes the overtones really shine, or when the timbres found a cooperative resonance, like the string section of an orchestra, or maybe it was a particular moment of off-rhythm, the 3s among the 2s, or the quilisma among the puncta, that simultaneously caused both frisson and quiet.
It was beauty, pure and simple and clean, so difficult to find in our busy world and so very nourishing. No instruments necessary, just a few dedicated human voices ready to proclaim the goodness of God, docile to the liturgical forms of the day and season.
Originally posted here:
As a preface to my more spiritual account of last week -there’s already a lot happening this week, so I have to get moving on so I can document that as well!- I’d like to give my readers a little context by sharing one characteristic of
my
own Jesuit vocation. I put the emphasis on the my, to remind all who read this page that this is indeed my account of Jesuit vocation, and not what every Jesuit experiences. The struggles I will describe is something many of my brothers will relate to, but others ignore the struggles, or are able to quickly resolve them or move on. The beauty of our vocation, as with anything in our human experience, is its diversity. We all share the same charism, but we all live it with our own brand of uniqueness.Some are ambitious guys that are convinced they can fix all of the world’s problems by being involved with all kinds of projects, and still have time for their community and their own personal spirituality. Others make themselves a priority once in a while and take it a bit more easy. I’m too much of a dreamer for the first lifestyle, so I try to find the middle ground.
But part of being a dreamer is that I ask big questions for which I often don’t have answers. One of those questions for me since I’ve entered the Society was, revolving around the Jesuit passion for justice and freedom for all. We use these words a lot in our language. It ‘makes sense’ but at the same time, it’s sometimes hard to discern what it is that we can do to serve the justice of God in our world. Serving and making food in a soup kitchen? Working on 5 social justice committees? Being missionned to a 3rd world country? Joining the socially conscious young people in their outrage against the world’s complacency?( A quick note here: I’m talking about the Occupy young people and the Indignatos of Spain, not the Quebec students. I don’t think protesting for your right for cheap or free education makes you socially conscious.) To make matters worse, as I’ve expressed in the past, is that I feel that because of my studies, I am very distant from any justice related work that could help me find an answer to what this justice is supposed to be.
Last week, I was finally able to ‘taste’ the beginnings of an answer. I mean metaphorically of course -unless my account was about eating an Arrepa or burrito made from the hands of a poor farmer whose family was starving which could have given me an all to poignant taste of what injustice is!!-. Being in Venezuela has been very helpful in that department. What’s special about being here, is that the Jesuits don’t just talk about justice, or injustice. They live it. Firstly, some of the guys come from poor families, and so they understand the struggles of the poor all too well. Secondly, unlike most Jesuits in the north, they live right in the thick of poverty. I mean, granted, their house is gated, they have internet access, each guy has his own cell phone, and the community employs people to cook, clean and do certain tasks around the house. However, like many Jesuit communities, they need this staff because they give every ounce of themselves to their studies and their ministry, to being close to the poor, understanding their needs, and working with great minds to help heal the injustices in their country. The biggest problem some of them have with Chavez, is that he talks socialism, but doesn’t do much to back his big talk. He speaks about the workers, but the slums of Caracas as still unsanitary, people are still unemployed, families are still broken and the social condition of the poor is not improving.. I don’t know enough about the situation to know what Chavez is or isn’t doing(and furthermore, the country IS divided over him. Many Jesuits support him as well. So maybe it’s not so black and white), but I can get the frustration they’re expressing.
Thankfully, the frustration is not all they’re expressing. All week long, during mass, or in my talks with them, I realized how strong their hope for justice was, how much they believed that the justice of God would find it’s roots in Venezuela and grow. So much so, that it became something for me that was concrete. Not some abstract notion of right and wrong, or some distant fantasy of a world where all are equal, but a healthy, balanced discernment of the problems of our world, and a genuine desire to work to solve these problems, a desire rooted in love of the people and closeness to them.
What I heard in their prayers during the Mass, I would see with my own eyes during the week when we visited their apostolate. We saw 3 organizations: JRS -Jesuit Refugee Services-, Fe y Alegria (faith and joy. A Jesuit school for the poor that has some of the highest standards of education in the country) and el Centro Gumilla, a social analysis center that somewhat resembles the Justice and Faith center I worked with 2 years ago. In all 3 centers, we were given presentations by the directors or volunteers about what kind of work was done, and with all 3 groups, I felt so inspired. All of them work directly with the poor, the marginalized in ways that I can only dream of right now. Even the school inspired me. I say ‘even’ because I wasn’t expecting that. My vocation is not to be a teacher, but an activist for the faith and for the poor. Still, as I heard about how they made education accessible to all the poor with dozens of schools around the world, and how they supported these students through thick and thin, until they found their calling,I remembered why it was I became a Jesuit. We’re not just charity or social workers. we’re not just well intentioned individuals. We get our hands dirty baby…and we don’t shy away from going to the margins, where no one else -whether religious or not- dares to go.
Maybe in the end, this is justice: To ensure that our love for God and God’s people deepens everyday; to give our lives to help others discover that love, and the freedom it offers us; to be present to the broken, and always be there to remind them that they are so loved, and that in the hands of God…they are so free.
See original article -
Pro-lifers were shaken awake by the election of a man who advocated abortion with few restrictions.
May 23, 2012 (Bound4Life.com) – As election talk increases and pro-lifers debate their best strategies, an article this weekend reminds me of an assertion that many may see as controversial but which I think we can reasonably conclude: The election of president Obama was the best thing for the pro-life movement in years.
Before you stone me for defending the most pro-abortion president United States history, consider the complacency that prevailed when we had political leaders who were seemingly more pro-life. It was easier to sit back and just say “abortion is bad. Don’t have one.” But we went on about our days. Little vision drove us; little reality sunk in.
When the 2008 elections rolled around and we were faced with President Obama, pro-lifers began to examine his voting records and views on abortion. His alignment with Planned Parenthood was alarming. And his prompt appointments of pro-abortion judges on the Supreme Court told us that we were looking at a lifetime of his legacy. We got scared.
Many positive things happened. Pro-lifers got loud, politicians ran on pro-life platforms in the mid-term elections. And the face of abortion in the nation, while sharply divided, also began to change for the positive.
The Tennessean reports:
In 2011, states passed a record number of abortion restrictions, with 92 new laws taking effect in 24 states.
Momentum has continued in 2012 in what has become a two-year major overhaul in many of the states’ abortion laws.
The laws range from imposing new penalties on doctors to requiring women to undergo more medical procedures, but they all serve to make it more difficult for a woman to legally end a pregnancy.
Of course there’s no scientific correlation between Obama’s election and an overhaul of abortion laws. We, theoretically, could have seen the same thing if McCain had been elected, but even pro-abortion experts agree, it’s a backlash from Obama’s election:
Both sides in the abortion debate say the flurry of lawmaking is a legacy of the 2010 elections, which ushered conservative lawmakers and governors into office around the country. Nineteen statehouses changed from Democratic majorities to more conservative Republican majorities, and others, already Republican, saw more Republicans elected on socially conservative platforms.
“This year, we’re seeing more action than what you’d expect for an election year,” said Elizabeth Nash, the Washington, D.C.-based state issues manager at Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion and reproductive health policy.
“We’re still seeing effects of the election of 2010, when very conservative legislatures and governors were elected, and they are continuing on a path of social issues, and that strategy includes abortion,” Nash said.
A simple law of physics says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. What happened in the United States is that pro-lifers were shaken awake by the election of a man who advocated abortion with few restrictions, who walked into the Oval Office and started signing documents to increase abortion funding (reversing the Mexico City Policy, for example, in his first week in office) and who then pushed through a health care plan that would expand abortion more than any other time in US history, and includes an abortion “premium” all Americans must pay.
And pro-lifers said “No more!” And we roused a bit from our slumber and peeked out from under our rock.
A bit.
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Part of me wonders what would happen if we elected a relatively pro-life president again. The fact is, while the president is vitally important because of the Supreme Court appointments he makes which last a lifetime, there is much more that needs to happen than blaming all our woes on one leader.
We have focused on “getting that man out” because of his abortion stance. But what we should be doing is focusing on getting light in. Of course we advocate voting for people who support LIFE, but we have to do more than leave our nation to a lone politician. The best thing that ever happened to the pro-life movement in recent history was the election of President Obama because it roused us a bit. We need to take this momentum and use it to thrust us forward even more, no matter who is in the White House or how pro-life our state may seem. We need to consider that our slumber is partially responsible for the death of babies and rise up.
The article this weekend is an encouraging reminder of what a unified people can do for a purpose. No election on earth should be determining our unification or lack of it. Only our heavenly election should determine anything, and in that comes a call to stop the shedding of innocent blood. So let’s be encouraged by this article and the many new pro-life laws, but let’s not be complacent no matter what happens. The nation isn’t governed from Washington DC, but from the throne room of Heaven (Psalm 2).
Reprinted with permission from Bound4Life.com
Source:
President Obama: The best thing to happen to the pro-life movement in years?
While praying earnestly for the reconciliation of the SSPX, let us also not forget the
Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer
on Papa Stronsay, who, reconciled quite a while ago, are still awaiting a regularization of their situation. Their patience in adversity has been edifying.
Link:
You may have heard about Bill 13, the controversial legislation which has sparked parental protests across Ontario and accusations that the Bill conceals a sexual agenda which attacks parental rights and religious freedom.
We’re pleased to share with you a submission that was made Tuesday morning to the legislative committee charged with hearing public input before it proceeds to third and final reading. That final vote is expected at the end of May or early June. (more…)
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