Hatch amndment defeated; abortion funding in health care bill

Despite our best efforts, the Senate Finance Committee today voted down the Hatch Amendment which would have prohibited abortion funding in the health care bill.

"This action leaves no doubt that the health care bill that will come to the Senate floor in a few weeks will contain provisions that would result in massive subsidies for abortion coverage," Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee said.

Johnson told LifeNews.com after the vote the battles to stop abortion funding are not over as "the full Senate will have to vote on the pro-abortion subsidies, and other pro-abortion components as well."
We must continue to oppose any version of this bill since innocent lives will be ended with our tax dollars.

Read the entire story at Life News.

Why do swine flu vaccine providers need immunity?

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius has not only given immunity to the makers of Tamiflu and Relenza for injuries stemming from their use against swine flu, she has granted immunity to future swine flu vaccines and “any associated adjuvants”. The last time the government embarked on a major vaccine campaign against a new swine flu, thousands filed claims contending they suffered side effects from the shots. This time around, they will have no recourse. The 2006 Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (the PREP Act) allows the DHHS Secretary to invoke almost complete immunity from liability...
I saw a news broadcast stating that this vaccine has not been fully tested. However, the health cared workers of New York State have no choice. They must have the shot or be fired, according to CBS news.

Planned Parenthood honors abortionist Tiller

You can always judge people by who their heroes are.

"Alexander Sanger, grandson of Margaret Sanger, the woman who founded Planned parenthood and who has come under fire for having racist views for doing so, presented Tiller with the award.

"For 30 years, George Tiller stood up to protests, harassment and assaults, even being wounded some years ago in a shooting," Alexander Sanger said. "He kept his clinic doors open to give a choice to women who never imagined they would ever need it — women with a wanted pregnancy that had gone terribly awry as it progressed."

By going awry, Sanger means a baby with Down syndrome or Spina Bifida. What would we have done without St George to kill our disabled babies and maim their mothers?

Remember, we subsidize this business withour tax dollars. This is likely to increase under the Obama administration.

Read the entire story at Life News.

Urgent call to action; keep abortion out of health care

from Americans United for Life Action
Tomorrow is an important day in health care reform for pro-life America. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee will continue mark up of Sen. Baucus’s health care bill. Currently, Sen. Baucus’s bill allows qualified health plans to provide coverage for all abortions and mandates that at least one plan in each state exchange provide coverage of all abortions. Thankfully, we have another chance to protect and defend life in health care reform.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has filed several amendments that would prevent government funding for abortion and would protect current conscience laws for health workers.
Here are the pro-life amendments being considered for a vote tomorrow (for a more detailed explanation, please go to the AUL blog):
Hatch Amdt. #C14 (355): Prohibits authorized or appropriated federal funds under this bill from being used for elective abortions and plans that cover such abortions.
Hatch Amdt. #C13 (354): Protection for the right of conscience.
Hatch Amdt. #C12 (353): Prohibits federal funds under this bill from being used to pay for assisted suicide and offers conscience protections to providers or plans refusing to offer assisted suicide services.
Please CALL the Finance Committee Senators today and urge them to support Sen. Hatch’s amendments to exclude abortion funding & protect conscience rights for health workers:
MAX BAUCUS, MT (202) 224-2651
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV (202) 224-6472
KENT CONRAD, ND (202) 224-2043
JEFF BINGAMAN, NM (202) 224-5521
JOHN F. KERRY, MA (202) 224-2742
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR (202) 224-4843
RON WYDEN, OR (202) 224-5244
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, NY (202) 224-6542
DEBBIE STABENOW, MI (202) 224-4822
MARIA CANTWELL, WA (202) 224-3441
BILL NELSON, FL (202) 224-5274
ROBERT MENENDEZ, NJ (202) 224-4744
THOMAS CARPER, DE (202) 224-2441
CHUCK GRASSLEY, IA (202) 224-3744
ORRIN G. HATCH, UT (Sponsor of Amendments) (202) 224-5251
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, ME (202) 224-5344
JON KYL, AZ (202) 224-4521
JIM BUNNING, KY (202) 224-4343
MIKE CRAPO, ID (202) 224-6142
PAT ROBERTS, KS (202) 224-4774
JOHN ENSIGN, NV (202) 224-6244
MIKE ENZI, WY (202) 224-3424
JOHN CORNYN, TX (202) 224-2934

The Butterfly Circus wins first prize!

Congratulations to The Butterfly Circus for winning the grand prize in the Doorpost Film Project contest!
Read the entire post at Reflections of a Paralytic who helped publicize the outstanding 20 minute film about the intrinsic value of every human being.

Thank you Eduardo Verastegui for telling us about this amazing film in July. Congratulations on your moving and powerful performance.

"Abortion is NOT health care" protest on Martha's Vineyard

Isabella and I went to Martha's Vineyard while President Obama was there on vacation. We were there to protest the inclusion of abortion in the health care bill. Although the island was overrun with inside the beltway types, we protesters were surprised to have more thumbs up from passersby than thumbs down. Wonder if Cindy Sheehan across the street had the same reaction!
See interviews with Rev Pat Mahoney and Chris Slattery on their pro-life activism, courtesy of Fra Roderick, the Roving Reporter.
See the video at AirMaria.com

Universities must reflect the Truth

Read the entire story on CNS.

40 Days for Life is saving lives one at at time

These stories from David Bereit made my day;
While Jackie was praying at the 40 Days for Life vigil in GREENLAND, NEW HAMPSHIRE, a car slowly pulled up in front of the clinic. The driver rolled down the window and said, "I don't know what you're doing here; but whatever it is, it's working!" The driver went on to say the abortion center had let employees go because business was off. All Jackie could say was, "Praise God for victories!"
The staff at yet another abortion center has shrunk by at least one. But this wasn't a layoff. This was a clinic nurse who walked out and quit! Angela of the 40 Days for Life team in GRANITE CITY,ILLINOIS said the abortion facility nurse came outand hugged her. "Thank you for praying for me," shetold Angela. "Your witness has been powerful to me. This is my last day! I'm going off to do what real nurses should be doing." With that, she walked to her car and drove away.This is the SECOND abortion worker to quit duringthis 40 Days for Life campaign!

And yes, there are amazing stories to share about babies saved from abortion as well.
Thus far in this fall 40 Days for Life campaign,we've received reports of 38 mothers who changed their minds and chose life. And of course, those are just the ones we know of!
Here are just a few of those stories:
In HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, Al reported that while people were praying at the 40 Days for Life vigil across from the abortion center, a man came over with a simple message: "Thank you!" His niece had been scheduled for an abortion. But after seeing the group praying, she simply could not go through with it.
In WASHINGTON, DC, Dick tells of a young couple who walked into the Planned Parenthood abortion facility.Volunteers at the 40 Days for Life vigil didn't have much time to talk with them on their way in. But after an hour or so, they came back out. "They said they changed their minds about having an abortion."
In PENSACOLA, FLORIDA, there was another situation in which just the sight of people praying outside made a profound impact. Ernie said an SUV had pulled up tothe clinic entrance, where the 40 Days for Life vigil was in progress. The couple inside just stopped, took another look, and drove away without ever going in.
The 40 Days for Life team in EL PASO, TEXAS receiveda special blessing. Sandra said a woman drove up tothe vigil and wanted to talk about the day she decided not to have an abortion. At the time, she saw her pregnancy as something that would just get in the way of her promising career. But the day of her appointment, people had been praying outside the clinic. When she saw that, she stopped and asked herself, "What am I doing here? This is not right!"As she continued her story, the young woman rolled down her car window, pointed to the child in the car seat and began to cry. "Thanks to you all," she said,"I have this beautiful son!"
"You could imagine the feeling," Sandra said. "I believe at that moment everybody was crying with her." The group prayed for the mother, her child and for all her family. "We ask God to continue blessing them and thank Him for this wonderful gift of life."
Prayer DOES work. And sometimes, you don't have to say a word.
Let's keep it up!
I'll be joining this movement at 12 Case Street, Norwich, CT.

New York nurses refuse swine flu vaccine; will be fired

Notre Dame finds its pro-life voice; better late than never?

John Francis Borra quoted Law Professor Dr Charles Rice, a lifetime pro-lifer's letter to President Jenkins who suddenly feels the urge to attend the March for Life after 36 years, as charges are still pending against pro-lifers who protested the abortionist in chief's triumphant ride into Notre Dame where he received ovations and honors.


This is not an ordinary case of trespass to land such as would occur if a commuter walks across your lawn and flower bed as a short-cut to the train station. Notre Dame is ordinarily an open campus. Those 88 persons, 82 of whom are represented by Tom Dixon, ND ’84, ND Law School ’93, were arrested not because they were there, but because of who they were, why they were there and what they were saying. Other persons with pro-Obama signs were there but were not arrested and not disturbed. Serious legal and constitutional questions are involved, arising especially from the symbiotic relationship between the Notre Dame Security Police, who made the arrests, and the County Police.
This letter is not a legal brief. Rather I merely note that it is disingenuous for Notre Dame to pretend that this is merely a routine trespass case.Elsewhere in his letter, Dr. Rice alludes to Jenkins' pride, hypocrisy and contempt for the faithful:Please permit me to speak bluntly about your announced purpose to participate in the March for Life and to “invite other members of the Notre Dame Family to join me.” Notre Dame should have had an official presence at every March for Life since 1973. But until now it never has.
Notre Dame students, with the encouragement of Campus Ministry, participate in the March but the University, as such, has not done so. To put it candidly, it would be a mockery for you to present yourself now at the March, even at the invitation of Notre Dame students, as a pro-life advocate while, in practical effect, you continue to be the jailer, as common criminals, of those persons who were authentic pro-life witnesses at Notre Dame. When the pictures of Fr. Weslin’s humiliation and arrest by your campus police was flashed around the world it did an incalculable damage to Notre Dame that can be partially undone only by your public and insistent request, as President of Notre Dame, that the charges be dropped. In my opinion your attachment to the March for Life, including your offering of a Mass for Life, could give scandal in the absence, at least, of such an insistent request to dismiss those charges. Your decision to present an official Notre Dame presence at the March could be beneficial, but not in the context of an unrelenting criminalization by Notre Dame of sincere and peaceful friends of Notre Dame whose offense was their desire to pray, on the campus, for the University and all concerned including yourself. If you appear at the March as the continuing criminalizer of those pro-life witnesses, you predictably will earn not approbation but scorn—a scorn which will surely be directed toward Notre Dame as well.
As long as you pursue the criminalization of those pro-life witnesses, your newest pro-life statements will be regarded reasonably as a cosmetic covering of the institutional anatomy in the wake of the continuing backlash arising from your conferral of Notre Dame’s highest honor on the most relentlessly pro-abortion public official in the world.It goes without saying that Jenkins has effectively abandoned his vocation, forfeiting any moral authority he might once have possessed. The proof is in the pudding: When a lone pro-lifer called out to Barack Obama, "Stop killing our children," Jenkins' graduates shouted him down with "Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can..."The full text of Dr. Rice's letter is a must-read for anyone concerned with anti-Catholic, anti-life dissent within the Church. It's available at http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2009/09/open-letter-from-dr-charles-e-rice-to-fr-john-i-jenkins.html


Read the entire story at Veritatis.

Baucus bill funds abortion; Obama broke promise

from the Family Research Council
Debate over health care reform and funding abortion continues, and today we expected votes on amendments in the Financial Services Committee to keep abortion coverage out of Senator Max Baucus' (D-Mont.) health care bill, but the vote was delayed until next week. While the President said that under his plan the government would not fund abortions, the Baucus bill explicitly includes abortion and would subsidize health plans that cover all elective abortions. Such subsidies for plans covering abortion goes well beyond the status quo of preventing federal funds either from paying for abortion or subsidizing plans that cover abortion, as under current laws governing Medicaid, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan and the State Children's Health Insurance Plan. The Capps amendment inserted government funding of abortion into the House bill, and now the Baucus bill would add abortion as well.

If government-subsidized abortion is to be excluded, and conscience protections for health providers who object to abortion are to be maintained, then Senators on the Finance Committee should simply adopt Senator Orrin Hatch's (R-Utah) amendments. His amendments would prevent funding for abortion consistent with the Hyde Amendment without precluding women from purchasing abortion policies that are separate from any government subsidized plan. Women wanting abortion insurance coverage would have a choice to purchase it, a choice supposedly essential for all women.

We oppose abortion, but in this health care debate, this amendment would ensure that the government, as under current law, does not endorse abortion. Senator Hatch's other amendment would simply protect current conscience laws when it comes to preventing the government from discriminating against health plans and providers who object to abortion.
If President Obama does not intend for his proposed health care reform to expand government-funded abortion then he should get on the phone with Sen. Baucus and Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and make sure they support these Hatch amendments unequivocally. Senator Orrin Hatch is calling their bluff.

That is if he intends to keep his word to Catholics that his health care plan does not include abortions.
Don't stay awake waiting.

Abortionist's true nature revealed in video

Safe Schools Czar chooses gay lifestyle and bigotry over God

This is Obama's idea of a 'Safe Schools Czar'; Kevin Jennings, director of GLSEN who dreams of spreading homosexual propaganda to public school children. Here is an article which describes the moment he chose sexual perversion and anti-Christian bigotry over his relationship with God.
Is there any doubt that Obama is an atheistic radical?
Can we trust any of his appointees not to destroy the morals of this nation?
"Before, I was the one who was failing God; now I decided He was the one who had failed me," wrote Jennings. "I decided I had done nothing wrong: He had, by promising to 'set you free' and never delivering on His promise. What had He done for me, other than make me feel shame and guilt? Squat. Screw you, buddy - I don't need you around anymore, I decided."
Jennings concludes by saying that for years afterwards he "reacted violently to anyone who professed any kind of religion" and it would be decades later before he opened a Bible again.
But Jennings still retains contempt for observant believers on what he calls "the religious right." In fact, Jennings told a gathering of fellow activists in 2000 that conservative-minded Christians were "hard-core bigots" who should "drop dead." But the GLSEN founder had the group laughing by telling them he really wanted to just say to them: "f*** you!"

Read the entire story on Life Site News.com

Recourse to Mary

Thank you to all my friends and family who are embracing us with love and prayer during the wake of my mother. The large crowd who attended last night's wake was truly touching. We will begin tonight's viewing at 7:15 by reciting the Luminous Mysteries of the holy rosary.

Her funeral is tomorrow at 10AM in St Philip Neri Church 344 Main Street, Northport, NY 11768.

If you can't come, please pray for us as we walk through a valley of tears.

St. Alphonsus di Liguori
"This world being a place of merit, it is rightly called a valley of tears; for we are all placed in it to suffer, that we may, by patience, gain our own souls unto life eternal. When our crosses weigh heavily upon us, let us have recourse to Mary, who is called by the Church the Comfortress of the afflicted; and by Saint John Damascene, the Remedy for all sorrows of the heart.

Ah, my most sweet Lady, thou who wast innocent didst suffer with so much patience; and shall I, who deserve hell, refuse to suffer? My Mother, I now ask thee this favour—not, indeed, to be delivered from crosses, but to bear them with patience."

Glories of Mary, (Tan Books: 1978), 497-8.

HT Mary Vitamin

The hidden legacy of 'choice' haunts American women

So many women in America suffer from the shame and grief of abortion, and cannot find relief as society denies their pain in the name of choice. Forty percent of American women suffer from Post-Abortion Syndrome, and their symptoms include bulimia, anorexia, substance abuse, suicide, and abusive relationships. Not to mention premature births, infertility and an increased risk of breast cancer.
"About half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended, and 40 percent of these are terminated by abortion -- 854,122 in 2002, the latest year for which data is available, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
An estimated 50 percent of women who seek one abortion, will have a repeat one, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which promotes sexual and reproductive health. About 10 percent of those women will have three or more.
Its 2006 report found that most of these women were over age 30 and using contraception at the time of conception.
Little is known about these women, although they may be "perceived as having difficulty practicing contraception," or using abortion as a method of family planning, according to the report. "

We will never know the damage done to society by abortion, yet the denial continues to block the healing these women need so desperately.
This woman's fear of persecution from pro-lifers is unfounded, it was pro-lifers who founded Rachel's Vineyard, Silent No More and Lumina, all post abortion healing ministries.
Read the entire story on ABC news.
HT Theresa Bonopartis, of Lumina

Abortion raises risk of premature births

An obvious way to save on health care costs in Obamacare would be to eliminate the hidden abortion funding that we know is in the plan, but this would save money in more than one way. According to a Canadian study abortion raises the risk of premature birth. Medical costs for preemies is astronomical, and my lead to lifetime of disabilities.
"Women who had undergone more than one abortion had a 72 per cent increased risk of having low birthweight children and a 93 per cent increased risk of having a premature baby. The study also found that women who had an abortion in the first or second trimester had a 35 per cent increased risk of giving birth to a low-weight baby and a 36 per cent increased risk of having a premature baby."

Premature births. Low birthweight babies, disproportionately among minority women who have double to triple the number of abortioins, thanks the the eugenic practices of Planned Parenthood whose clinics are in poor neighborhoods by design.
Where are the false feminists who claim to defend women's health? Their cover is slipping.. .
they want abortion for abortion's sake.
They don't care about women.


Read the entire story here.

Obama needs Catholics on board with health care plan

The Obama Adminstration knows what we know; in order to pass health care reform, Catholics must be on board.US News states,
"That antiabortion, pro-universal healthcare stance—and the fact that a full quarter of the U.S. population is Catholic—make the bishops and the wider Catholic community a key swing constituency in the escalating healthcare reform battle. If they can allay Catholic concerns on abortion, Obama and the Democrats stand to enlist the church as a powerful ally in the fight. But if the bishops and other Catholic institutions wind up opposing the Democrats' healthcare plan because of its abortion provisions, they can help bring down the whole effort. Says Doerflinger: "People on both sides of the issue want us to join their coalition."However, the problem is, there is a divide among Catholics, we are split nearly down the middle, between those who favor the Obama plan and those, like this group, who do not trust Obama to exclude abortion funding and death panels for the disabled and elderly in the legislation."

On Fox News today Fr Jonathan Morris made an important clarification. He corrected the host who said that the USCCB wants universal healthcare. He said the US bishops want universal access to health care, not necessarily this bill. There are many ways to improve access to health care, for example health care savings accounts, tax deductions for premiums, a group plan for the uninsured to buy into, etc.
Fr Morris assured the viewers of Fox News that the bishops are not sold on the current health care plan because of the threat of abortion funding. Obama will be working hard to seal the deal, and courting Catholics in various ways (Kennedy funeral, Notre Dame, Georgetown, visiting the Pope, etc). Don't be used by an administration who is expert at manipulation.Catholics are a necessary part of Obamacare. Let's remember that and use our power unilaterally instead of cancelling one another's votes!

Into the Mercy

Just fifteen minutes before the hour of mercy, 3PM, my mother, Eleanor Bonk Crafa, left this vale of tears to fly into the loving merciful arms of Jesus.

She was surrounded by her family and we prayed a Chaplet of Divine Mercy to send her off. She had been given an Apostolic Blessing, and received holy communion this morning.

It was a happy death.

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon her.May her soul and the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Amen

Will Obama keep his promise to keep abortion funding out of health care?

Catholic League president Bill Donohue offered the following remarks today on the health care bill:

Last week, President Obama said he would not support any health care bill that provided for federal funding of abortion. On Sunday, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius underscored his pledge. Now an amendment that would bar abortion funding from H.R. 3200 has been drafted by Congressmen Bart Stupak and Joe Pitts. On September 10, they sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, Chairwoman of the Rules Committee, asking that they allow all members of the U.S. House of Representatives “the right to vote their conscience” on this amendment.

President Obama did not mince words on this subject, and neither did Secretary Sebelius. Accordingly, we look for the president to publicly endorse this amendment, urging Congresswomen Pelosi and Slaughter to facilitate a House vote. This is a critical juncture—the time for the president to deliver on what he pledged is now. The Catholic community, in particular, anxiously awaits his next move.

Health care for Gunner slideshow on Flickr

Click here to view slideshow.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kjgrabosky/3923567324/in/set-72157622378320804/

Rep McMorris Rogers supports Health Care for Gunner

Rep Cathy McMorris Rogers is a champion for disabled children, as well as the proud mother of Cole, her son with Down syndrome. Here is a link to the YouTube video of her remarks at Healthcare for Gunner press conference yesterday.

Healthcare for Gunner speaks out for their disabled children

I was part of this group who spoke out about fears that our disabled children will be denied health care when resources dwindle, as they have in Canada.

Catholics against Obamacare on Renew America

Jean Heimann and I were featured in an article about Catholics Against Obamacare at Renew America.
Read the entire article on Renew America.

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/valois/090911

Rick Santorum is running for president

It was an interview I'll never forget; I drove down to DC to interview former Senator Rick Santorum for a piece on Catholic politicians for Canticle magazine.
It was an honor I'll never forget, spending an hour reliving his historic speech describing partial birth abortion on the Senate floor. He and his wife Karen were in the midst of mourning the loss of their pre-born son Gabriel, when he was called to speak on behalf of babies at the very same stage of gestation. He was thrust into the spotlight and rose to the occasion, voice pitching higher with the emotion, Santorum insisted that what was at stake was not a 'termination' but a baby. A BABY!
Just then, as the reverberations of his words were ringing in the chamber, the clear cry of an infant could be heard. Senators were silent, absorbing the providential timing of the cry. Was it the voice of Gabriel from heaven, reinforcing his father's pleading? Some think so.
Some of us think that a man like that should be in the White House. Read about a roomful of Catholics who agree.
Read the entire story on Life Site News. http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/sep/09091202.html

Watch me on the "Healthcare for Gunner" press conference 9/15

I will be part of Students for Life program "Healthcare for Gunner" press conference on Tuesday, Sept 15 at 10AM on the major cable news outlets. I will be representing International Down Syndrome Coalition for Life, and showing Christina's photo. It is the feast of the Sorrowful Mother, may she intercede for our success to convince Congress to ditch the health care plan 3200 until it protects the lives of the vulnerable and the unborn.

More on Rep Courtney's Town Hall

Fellow blogger over at Exultet, who goes by Mike in CT has written a more detailed post than mine on the Town Hall Meeting of our Congressman Joe Courtney on September 2.
Go on over and get a different yet fair take on what he calls the shell game the Dems are playing with the health care plan.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Celebration with the Knights of Columbus

Three of the Friars of the Immaculate and I drove to New Haven to St Mary's Church for the Guadalupe Celebration. Supreme Knight Carl Andersen and Monsignor Eduardo Chavez, the postulator for the Cause for Beatification for St Juan Diego and rector of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City were celebrating the launch of their new book, "Our Lady of Guadalupe" which is already on the bestseller lists.

The evening began with Holy Mass at St Mary's the Church where Fr Michael McGivney began the Knights, over a hundred years ago. The crowd overflowed to the basement where we watched on TV monitors as Msgr Chavez gave a talk after Mass. He explained the origin of the relic, a 1/2 inch sqare of the 500 year old cactus fiber cloth (such cloth normally dissolves after 15 years, but the tilma has survived bomb and acid attacks and the handling of the faithful for half a millenium. The relic was given to the bishop of Los Angeles by the rector of the Basilica for his support of the Mexican Church during the Mexican government's persecution of Catholics in the 1920's. Many Knights of Columbus gave their lives for the Faith in those dark days, offering themselves up to the firing squads with their arms in the form of the Cross, crying, "Que Vivo Cristo Rey" (Long life Christ the King) For this they were named "Cristeros".

The crowd, a multi-cultural mixture of old and young Catholics, then processed through the campus of Yale University, and the streets of New Haven to the Knights of Columbus Museum. Led by the statue with a small square of the actual tilma of St Juan Diego, the procession was enlivened by a mariachi band and dozens of Latin Americans in their brilliantly colored folk dance costumes, followed by young families with strollers, religious in long habits, and stately greying businessmen with their Knights lapel pins on their blue jackets. They were met with curious gaze of college professors and students, who asked us "What is this?". When we answered "a procession" one young scholar looking confused asked, "What's a procession?" Sometimes the simple confound the wise!
A true cross section of the Church arrived at the museum to a fiesta with free Mexican food and entertainment. Upstairs, a velvet rope guided rosary-praying pilgrims to a dark panelled room where they knelt to reverence the relic of Our Lady. In the lobby of the museum, Msgr Chavez and Carl Andersen were busy signing copies of their book. Of course, when I have read the book, I'll be reviewing it here.

Read the entire story on the Knights of Columbus website.

Bill Donohue says Obama is deceitful about abortion in health care plan

From the Catholic League
OBAMA DENIES HEALTH PLAN COVERS ABORTION

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on President Obama’s speech last night on health care reform:

Yesterday, I said the president would not mention abortion in his speech. I was wrong about that. But I was right to say, “The rational thing to do would be to drop abortion from the health care bills and support conscience rights for health care workers.” Obama did nothing of the sort. Indeed, his one sentence denial that his health care proposals would result in federal funding of abortion is simply not true.

Even the New York Times, which issued a strong editorial endorsing his speech, said in a news analysis that his claim that there is no federal funding for abortion “is not so clear-cut.” In practice, the Times said, “the public and private money would all go into the same pot, and the source of money for any single procedure is largely a technicality.”

More pointedly, if there is no federal funding for abortion in these plans, then why have there been several attempts to bar such funding? Tell that to Rep. Bart Stupak, Rep. Joe Pitts, Rep. Eric Cantor, Rep. Sam Johnson, Sen. Orrin Hatch and Sen. Mike Enzi. Why would they seek to ban something that doesn’t exist? Just as revealing, why did Obama’s friends defeat every one of these amendments?

President Obama is playing a shell game. He defended the public option plan last night, and under that plan, the person in charge of deciding whether abortion coverage will be mandated is his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius. This is the same woman who befriended George Tiller, the infamous abortionist who specialized in killing babies 80-percent born. Is there anyone who doubts what her decision will be? If President Bush appointed a secretary of education who was pro-school vouchers, and an education plan allowed the secretary to decide whether to fund them, would anyone conclude that federal dollars for vouchers were not in the plan?

Being wrong is one thing. Being deceitful is quite another.

Denying health care to the disabled

Sarah Palin has made her fears known about whether Obamacare will cover her son Trig in her Wall Street Journal piece. Deacon Fournier has a piece in Catholic Online about another Sarah whose child was denied health care and died under the British Health System.
"She is not the only woman named Sarah whose words fed my serious reservations today. The other woman is named Sarah Capewell. Her tragic story of the loss of her little son made me even more cautious over where some of the alleged “Health Care Reform” plans may be headed. I read an article in the “UK Daily Mail”, entitled 'Doctors told me it was against the rules to save my premature baby'. It was written by Vanessa Allen and Andrew Levy. It detailed the horrific failed plight of Sarah Capewell to save her own child from Government Health care rationing in the U.K. She lost her son Jayden due to the decision of the NHS, the Health Care System in Great Britain - a system similar to what some have proposed for the United States of America - to let him die, for economic reasons. They had also refused to treat her in her efforts, while she was pregnant, to prolong his time in her womb and slow an early birth. Over economic concerns and alleged efficiency they refused any attempts to save Jaydon. "
Read the entire story at Catholic Online.

Protesting Obamacare on Martha's Vineyard

On August 27, I was honored to joing prolife heroes Chris Slattery of Expectant Mother Care and Rev. Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition on a trip to Martha's Vineyard to raise awareness about the dangers of Obamacare. Especially if you are elderly, disabled, or unborn.

Not only was it a beautiful day, but well over half the passersby gave us enthusiastic thumbs up. We were down the road from Blue Heron Farm where the President was staying and the Cindy Sheehan folks were set up.

See the video at AirMaria.com here and here.

Sarah Palin refuses to drop 'death panels' term

And why should she? Given the track record of Ezekiel Emmanuel, the president's advisor on health care, who favors euthanasia, she better keep that term fresh in our memories. Look at the euthanasia already taking place in the UK, and you are viewing the future of Obamacare.
Wesley Smith has a piece in First Things explaining the origin of the death panels provision in Obamacare. Sarah explains where they are in the bill.
"Now look at one way Mr. Obama wants to eliminate inefficiency and waste: He's asked Congress to create an Independent Medicare Advisory Council—an unelected, largely unaccountable group of experts charged with containing Medicare costs. In an interview with the New York Times in April, the president suggested that such a group, working outside of "normal political channels," should guide decisions regarding that "huge driver of cost . . . the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives . . . ."
Given such statements, is it any wonder that many of the sick and elderly are concerned that the Democrats' proposals will ultimately lead to rationing of their health care by—dare I say it—death panels? Establishment voices dismissed that phrase, but it rang true for many Americans. Working through "normal political channels," they made themselves heard, and as a result Congress will likely reject a wrong-headed proposal to authorize end-of-life counseling in this cost-cutting context. But the fact remains that the Democrats' proposals would still empower unelected bureaucrats to make decisions affecting life or death health-care matters. Such government overreaching is what we've come to expect from this administration. "
Read the entire story in the Wall Street Journal.

Catholics Against Obama Care set September 11 as Day of Prayer and Fasting for defeat of Health Care Reform

Catholics Against Obama Care is calling Catholics as well as those of other denominations to participate in a day of prayer and fasting on September 11, 2009, for the special intention that Obama health care reform be defeated.

Catholics Against Obama Care acknowledges that Catholic Church has always advocated health care reform; but Obamacare, as delineated in the HR-3200 Bill, is not health care -- it is death care. Mandated abortion, health care rationing, and euthanasia are not health care. Obamacare is government control over people's lives and, as Jon Voight points out the removal of a person's free will. Voight said in an interview on Fox News with Mike Huckabee, "They're taking away God's first gift to man -- our free will and no man no matter what his title, even if he's president of the United States, has the consent of God to decide he's God."

Jean M. Heimann, the founder of Catholics Against Obama Care, is a Catholic freelance writer and also the author and administrator of the award-winning weblog Catholic Fire. Catholics Against Obama Care, a grassroots movement, which began on August 22, the feast day of the Queenship of Mary, has selected the Mother of God to be the group’s special intercessor in their efforts to defeat this anti-Catholic, anti-life bill.

Heimann explains how Catholics Against Obama Care began:

“I had been praying for Obama's conversion at daily Mass and for the truth to be revealed about this administration's deceptive health care reform bill. One day, I felt that I needed to do more than just sign petitions and contact my congressmen. I felt that God was calling me to do something more to stop this evil bill which mandates abortion, rations health care to the disabled and the seriously ill, and encourages euthanasia for the elderly.So, I selected several talented pro-life Catholic writers/bloggers from different areas of the country -- CT, Idaho, Hawaii, Florida, Wisconsin, and Kansas -- who agreed to use their gifts to share the truth with others about this so-called health reform bill.In addition to educating and enlightening others about what the bill is really all about, we also want to encourage other Catholics to become pro-active by praying and fasting that this bill does not become law.”

For more information, contact Jean M. Heimann at jean.heimann@gmail.com

Catholics Against Obama Weblog Site: http://catholicsagainstobamacare.blogspot.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/NOBOCare

Catholic Fire Weblog Site: http://catholicfire.blogspot.com/

President Obama's speech to schoolchildren

Here is the link to the white house webpage containing the President's speech to schoolchildren today.
Here's a part of the speech which I like. Except that when you refer to government responsiblity for schools, I wish he meant the local school board, and I'm pretty sure he means the NEA. My comments as always, are in red.
"I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.
But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.
Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper(or a blog critiquing the President's speech!) – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team."
I like the way he takes away the excuse many poor children have who are minorities and come from broken homes.

"But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you.
Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. "
Funny, he never said this during the campaign, his supporters were actually waiting for checks to arrive after the election. He implied that he was going to send them all money.
What I do resent is that, taking a page from the Bill Ayer's manual, Obama circumvented the family and spoke directly to students. That's not unusual, I see liberals doing that all the time.
But, where is this going?
What's in the next speech?
What's in the lesson plans?
Never trust a man who lets babies die in abortion. He has no morals.

I'm on Catholic Radio International

I was recently interviewed on Catholic Radio International about my fears about Obamacare. Listen here.

Follow my column as the Harford Catholic Examiner

Click here to read my first story on the famous 1971 letter to a prolife constituent to see how far Teddy Kennnedy strayed from his Catholic roots.

Interview with a Catholic movie star: "Bella" star Eduardo Verastegui

Here is the video link of the August 11, 2009 press interview with Eduardo Verastegui and yours truly.I was impressed by his humble demeanor, he went round the room in the beginning, shaking hands and hearing introductions, and when he sat down, right in front of me, he looked a little nervous. Eduardo has just been to China, Italy and Africa advancing the cause of needy pregnant poor women, raising money for a hospital for the poor in LA, and he is nervous in a provincial college in front of mostly Catholic press. It shows that his focus in not on his impressive accomplishments. When asked if he fears being pigeonholed as a 'Catholic' actor, he looked steadily into the questioner's eyes, and replied, "there is only one thing I am afraid of; not serving God".Courtesy of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate from www.airmaria.com
Photos courtesy of my daughter Gabriela in the photo.