Why do I have to vote a certain way?

Santorum is right, pre-natal testing encourages eugenic abortions

The Tampa Bay Times Pollitifact Truth-o-meter  conducted incomplete and shoddy research when it negated Rick Santorum's statement that pre-natal testing increases abortion of babies with conditions like Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) or other, less common disorders, like Trisomy 18 (which his daughter Bella has).

Santorum told Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer that it’s used to "recommend abortion."
"Amniocentesis does, in fact, result more often than not in this country in abortion," he explained during the CBS News interview on Feb. 19, 2012.

Rick is right, the current statistic for parents who abort after a diagnosis of Down syndrome is 90% according on the source used by Pulitzer Prize winning series of articles, "The DNA Age: New Prenatal Test Puts Down Syndrome in Hard Focus" by Amy Harmon of the New York Times. Somehow the Tampa Bay Times didn't find this source, readily available by a simple Google search on pre-natal testing. It seems Senator Santorum has a better command of the facts, and an interest in telling the truth. The Tampa Bay Times states;

Separately, we checked Santorum’s statement from the same interview that "90 percent of Down syndrome children in America are aborted." (We found that Half True — some regional studies bear him out, but the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says it’s difficult to generalize for the entire nation.)

The source quoted by the New York Times is NCBI a publication of the National Institutes of Health, not "some regional study". It is echoed by a recent article in the Daily Telegraph from the UK.

Prof Joan Morris, professor of medical statistics who carried out the research at Queen Mary, University of London, said: "We are getting more pregnancies with Down's syndrome because women are having their babies older and because we are screening more accurately and screening more women, there are more terminations.

More testing equals more diagnoses, which leads to more terminations. Why is this too hard for the Tampa Bay Times to follow? One suspects there is an agenda present. The same agenda Rick Santorum alluded to when he said that women are pressured to abort babies with pre-natal dianoses like Down syndrome. The same agenda Down syndrome advocates fear when they make statements like this in the Telegraph article.

Carol Boys, Chief Executive, Down's Syndrome Association said: "We realise that tests will continue to become more accurate at increasingly earlier stages of pregnancy.
"It is therefore even more important that families undergoing the screening process are given non-directive counselling and accurate, up-to-date information about Down's syndrome."

Sounds to me like there are many people out there who are concerned about the pressure to abort unborn babies with Down syndrome. Would that be because its a well known fact? Rick thinks so; he went on to state in his interview with Bob Schieffer that physicians often pressure women to have an abortion. He speaks from personal experience which is inarguable.

 I have collected dozens of testimonies in the past six years which prove him right. Here are three, a medical student, and two expectant mothers:
 One medical student who asked not to be named remembered this from his class on prenatal testing. The professor stated that it was standard practice to counsel a woman whose prenatal diagnostic test came back positive for Down syndrome to abort. I asked "what if she says she wants to carry her baby to term?" to which my professor responded, "then you tell her, that from the day that child is born, her life is over."

Read a passage from my book, "A Special Mother is Born" where a mother describes her doctor's reaction to her daughter's pre-natal diagnosis.

     The doctor came in and told me the baby had excessive water in her brain and a large hole in her heart. He concluded that the baby had some sort of a chromosomal abnormality, possibly Down syndrome. I felt as if I was in a daze. “What can I do to help her?” I asked, trying to keep my heart from racing. He told me it was too late. At first I didn’t understand what he meant. Then it hit me that he meant an abortion would have taken care of everything. Anger crept in and I answered back, “She’s my daughter. God gave her to me.” The doctor just stared at me, turned around and began writing a prescription for an amniocentesis. I refused since this carried an increased risk of miscarriage. It was clear to me that the future trips I had to take to this doctor’s office would be awkward, since he was clearly upset with my decision to keep my baby. 

No the doctor did not say anything but this mother felt the hostility and dreaded her future pre-natal visits.
Pressure.  But she had a supportive husband and faith community behind her.
 Another mother I counseled was not so lucky; an unmarried Latina immigrant whom I'll call Maria chose to abort at 20 weeks because her doctors told her that her son "couldn't do anything". He could never learn to read, tie his shoes,  or go fishing with his father. She felt overwhelmed and was bullied into a late term abortion, causing her much emotional stress.
 This is not choice, this is eugenics, which states that some humans have more of a right to life than others, recalling the T4 Program of the Nazis where the disabled were put to death even before the extermination of the Jews. It seemed that no one cared to speak up for them but a few bishops. They needed a politician like Rick Santorum in Nazi Germany. We need one like him in the US where Obamacare is starting to resemble a socialistic state with each new revelation of what it contains.

Rick Santorum's Op Ed in the Wall Street Journal

SANTORUM OP-ED IN WALL STREET JOURNAL OUTLINES BOLD ECONOMIC FREEDOM AGENDA

My Economic Freedom Agenda We need bold tax reform, but Mitt Romney wants to tinker at the margins. By RICK SANTORUM, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL America's budget process is broken. Our economy and American families are struggling, and the country needs bold reforms and major restructuring, not tinkering at the margins. Obamanomics has left one in six Americans in poverty, and one in four children on food stamps. Millions seek jobs and others have given up. Meanwhile, my opponent in the Republican primaries, Mitt Romney, had a last-minute conversion. Attempting to distract from his record of tax and fee increases as governor of Massachusetts, poor job creation, and aggressive pursuit of earmarks, he now says he wants to follow my lead and lower individual as well as corporate marginal tax rates. It's a good start. But it doesn't go nearly far enough. He says his proposed tax cuts would be revenue neutral and, borrowing the language of Occupy Wall Street, promises the top 1% will pay for the cuts. No pro-growth tax policy there, just more Obama-style class warfare. By contrast, in my first 100 days as president, I'll submit to Congress and work to pass a comprehensive pro-growth and pro-family Economic Freedom Agenda. Here are 10 of its main initiatives: * Unleash America's energy. I'll approve the Keystone Pipeline for jobs and energy security, and sign an order on day one unleashing America's domestic energy production, allowing states to choose where they want to explore for oil and natural gas and to set their own regulations for hydrofracking. * Stop job-killing regulation. All Obama administration regulations that have an economic burden over $100 million will be repealed, including the Environmental Protection Agency rule on CO2 emissions that's already shut down six power plants. I'll review all regulations, making sure they use sound science and cost benefit analysis. * A pro-growth, pro-family tax policy. I'll submit to Congress comprehensive tax policies to strengthen opportunity in our country, with only two income tax rates of 10% and 28%. To help families, I'll triple the personal deduction for children and eliminate the marriage tax penalty. * Restore America's competitiveness. The corporate tax rate should be halved, to a flat rate of 17.5%. Corporations should be allowed to expense all business equipment and investment. Taxes on corporate earnings repatriated from overseas should be eliminated to bring home manufacturing. I'll take the lead on tort reform to lower costs to consumers. * Rein in spending. I'll propose spending cuts of $5 trillion over five years, including cuts for the remainder of fiscal year 2013. I'll propose budgets that spend less money each year than prior years, and I'll reduce the nondefense-related federal work force by at least 10%, without replacing them with private contractors. * Repeal and replace ObamaCare. I'll submit legislation to repeal ObamaCare, and on day one issue an executive order ending related regulatory obligations on the states. I'll work with Congress to replace ObamaCare with competitive insurance choices to improve quality and limit the costs of health care, while protecting those with uninsurable health conditions. In contrast, Gov. Romney signed into law RomneyCare, which provided the model for ObamaCare. Its best-known feature is its overreaching individual health-care mandate. But it shares over a dozen other similarities with ObamaCare and has given Massachusetts the highest health-care premiums in the nation, and longer waits for health care. * Balance the budget. I'll submit to Congress a budget that will balance within four years and call on Congress to pass a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution which limits federal spending to 18% of GDP. * Negotiate and submit free trade agreements. Because many Americans work for companies which export, I'll initiate negotiations in the first 100 days and submit to Congress five free trade agreements during my first year in office to increase exports. * Reform entitlements. I'll cut means-tested entitlement programs by 10% across the board, freeze them for four years, and block grant them to states-as I did as the author of welfare reform in 1996. I'll reform Medicare and Social Security so they are fiscally sustainable for seniors and young people. * Revive housing. I'll submit plans to Congress to phase out within several years Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's federal housing role, reform and make transparent the Federal Reserve, and allow families whose mortgages are "underwater" to deduct losses from the sale of their home in order to get a fresh start in difficult economic times. I'll work with Congress and the American people to once again create an economic environment where hard work is rewarded, equal opportunity exists for all, and families providing for their children can once again be optimistic about their future.

Abortion of babies with Down syndrome is chromosomal racism

I am humbled to see that I did not invent the notion of genetic diversity, I borrowed it unwittingly from my greatest hero; Dr Jerome Lejeune. See his quote below. I must have read it and internalized the message. That is a good thing; internalizing the ethos of future saints (see the excellent article about the process of his canonization here) however I must be sure to give the Good Doctor credit.

“Chromosomal racism is brandished like a flag of freedom. … That this negation of medicine, of all the biological brotherhood that links mankind, is the sole practical application of the knowledge of Trisomy 21 more than breaks my heart … Protecting the abandoned-what a reactionary, retrograde, fundamentalist, inhuman idea!” 

Dr Jerome Lejeune

These words were entered into his private diary when he realized how his seminal discovery of Trisomy 21, the cause of Down syndrome, was co-opted by the March of Dimes to conduct the search-and-destroy missions of amnio centesis. He devoted the rest of his life to researching a cure for the disorder so that the horrific 92% rate of abortion would be eliminated. . I consider it an honor to continue his quest to eliminate abortion of  those with Down syndrome in my blogs, in KIDS and with my book "A Special Mother is Born". 

Today on retreat at St Edmund's in Mystic, CT, I offered up my apostolate to Dr Lejeune and prayed for his intercession. 

Your Side

Gingrich brings up Obama's support for infanticide

I wish Rick Santorum had scored this hit this last night, but it was his turn on the hot seat and it was very hard to avoid being in defense mode last night. Someone brought up a good point on Twitter, that Gingrich has the best debates when he is down in the polls. He certainly did a good job reminding us that President Obama is the most pro-abortion politician in American history.

 Who is social issues the fanatic here?

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

In last night’s GOP debate, Newt Gingrich charged that in the last presidential campaign the elite media never asked “why Barack Obama voted in favor of legalizing infanticide.” Gingrich wasn’t off by much—Obama was rarely asked about it, and never was he pressed on this issue. Even now, the media cover-up that Gingrich alleges is patently true.

From a Lexis-Nexis search linking “Obama” and “infanticide,” scouring all U.S. Newspapers today, we learn that only four papers, and one wire service, reported on Gingrich’s remark. As I will explain, actually there were five newspapers that made mention of this.

The Chicago Tribune, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Washington Times all gave accurate accounts. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was factually wrong when it said that “Gingrich was referring to Obama’s opposition to…partial-birth abortions.” No, Gingrich was referring to Obama’s opposition in the Illinois state senate to bills in 2001, 2002 and 2003 that would have mandated that a child born alive as a result of a botched abortion be given medical care.

AP mentions what Gingrich said but does so by citing Obama’s support for “infanticide.” Why the quote marks? Intentionally letting an infant die who is completely born is nothing less than infanticide.

The top prize for deceit goes to the New York Times. In the paper’s early edition, the story by Jeff Zeleny and Jim Rutenberg offers the Gingrich quote but then adds a curious parenthetical: “(It was a reference to Mr. Obama’s opposition to bills in Illinois that would have provided legal protection to aborted fetuses showing signs of life; Mr. Obama said he had seen the measures as attacks on women’s reproductive rights.)” This attempt to bail out Obama, as bad as it is, was stricken altogether from later editions—there is no mention of the infanticide issue—and does not appear in a Lexis-Nexis search. By the way, in 2008 Rutenberg wrote that accusations surfaced “accusing Mr. Obama of supporting ‘infanticide’ (he does not).” The bias can’t be more blatant.

Pro-family Santorum supporters tour Michigan

Santorum may not have big money, but he has supporters! Here's a press release from the Susan B Anthony List a grassroots pro-life group.

Social Conservatives to Kick-Off Michigan Bus Tour SupportingRick Santorum for President
Susan B. Anthony List Leads Effort to Elect Proven Leader

WASHINGTON, DC ─ On Thursday, February 23, 2012 the Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) will launch a six-day bus tour and pro-life grassroots mobilization effort across the state of Michigan to support Rick Santorum’s presidential candidacy leading up to the Tuesday primary. Joining the Susan B. Anthony List will be representatives from the Culture War Victory Fund, Catholic Vote, Campaign for Working Families and Let Freedom Ring, as well as local leaders from each city. Tour stops and information is available at: http://www.sba-list.org/rickbus.
“Among the field of strong pro-life candidates in the GOP primary, Rick Santorum stands out as a proven leader. None of the candidates have the record of consistent leadership that Rick Santorum has demonstrated on these key issues,” said Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, Project Director at SBA List.


WHO: Marilyn Musgrave, Vice President of Government Affairs at SBA List and former Member of Congress from Colorado
Maggie Gallagher, Director of Culture War Victory Fund and co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage
Brian Burch, Founder of Catholic Vote
Gary Bauer, President of Campaign for Working Families
Colin Hanna, Let Freedom Ring
Local Michigan leaders

WHAT: Michigan social conservatives press tour and mobilization campaign
TOUR SCHEDULE (all times EST)

Thursday, February 23
Grand Rapids, 10:00am ET; Holiday Inn, 310 Pearl St. NW

Muskegon, 12:15pm ET; Convention & Visitors Bureau, 610 Western Ave.

Holland, 2:30pm ET; Centennial Park. 10th Street side near Gazebo

St. Joseph/Benton Harbor, 4:45pm ET; Lake Bluff Park, Intersection of Lake Blvd. & Market St.

Friday, February 24

Kalamazoo, 10:00am ET; TownePlace Suites, 5683 S. 9th St

Battle Creek, 12:00pm ET; Bob Evans, 5421 North Beckley Rd.

Lansing, 2:30pm ET; Outside State Capitol, Capitol Ave. and Michigan Ave.

Saturday, February 25

Jackson, 10:00am ET; Holiday Inn, 2696 Bob McClain Dr.

Hillsdale, 12:30pm ET; Hillsdale College (In front of Student Union)

Detroit, 6:00pm ET; TBD

Sunday, February 26

Flint, 4:00pm ET, Applebee’s; G-3129 Miller Road

Monday, February 27

Saginaw, 10:00am ET; Fairfield Inn, 5200 Fashion Square Boulevard

Midland, 12:00pm ET; Bob Evans, 7000 Eastman Ave.

Traverse City, 3:45pm ET; Holiday Inn, 615 East Front St.

Tuesday, February 28

Mount Pleasant, 1:00pm ET; Ponderosa Steakhouse, 1301 E. Pickard Rd.

Santorum stands against Eugenic abortion of disabled babies

There has been no outcry by the Mainstream Media on this one.Funny.
 Rick Santorum mentioned in an interview with Bob Schiffer that prenatal testing leads to abortion almost 100% of the time. Santorum then explained that the Obama Administration wants to mandate prenatal testing for all women, at the taxpayer's expense. Its merely a way to cut costs, force moms to know that their babies have a disability and she'll be pressured into an abortion. It has been told to me by nearly all the contributors to my book "A Special Mother is Born" how, when they either refused testing or expressed their wish to give birth to a disabled baby, that the doctors put tremendous pressure on them. Here we see no respect for women's informed consent, or her choice. Or the babies themselves. I thought we respected diversity in America, but if you have an extra chromosome, you are deemed unfit to live..
Santorum knows this and though he doesn't oppose prenatal testing, he knows what's behind the Obama mandate of pre-natal testing; A plan to cut costs by killing babies with disabilities. Its cheaper to perform "search-and-destroy" missions on babies prenatally than pay for special education afterwards.  Money over precious babies. That's how he's going to pay for those free contraception, the other cost cutting measure.

“The bottom line is that a lot of prenatal tests are done to identify deformities in utero and the customary procedure is to encourage abortion,” he said. Santorum said he is concerned because “because free prenatal testing ends up in more abortions and therefore less care that has to be done because we cull the ranks of the disabled in our society.”
“That, too, is part of Obamacare, another hidden message as to what President Obama thinks of those who are less able than the elites who want to govern our country,” Santorum said.

 No one in the media touched this except Chris Matthews who talked about it in one sentence, but quickly left the topic, saying that pre-natal testing was 'controversial'. Yes it is, and he knows that Santorum's comments could potentially raise alarm bells if too many people were to find out he's defending unborn babies from abortion for their disabilities. That might put Santorum in the position of being a hero. too late Chris, we already see him that way! Here's why;

Santorum faced another crisis when his daughter, Bella, was diagnosed with Trisomy 18, a chromosomal condition which results in stillbirth 50 percent of the time. At first, Santorum was emotionally detached from his disabled daughter but, when she faced her own battle for life, he suddenly realized, “This child…can do nothing but love me.”
Santorum observed, “That’s me with the (Heavenly) Father—I am so profoundly disabled in His eyes.”

He may be disabled in god's eyes, but far more disabled is Obama who will push eugenic abortion if re-elected. His soul is damaged beyond words to support eugenic abortions.

Read more of Santorum's interview on Life News. 

Santorum: thank you for the contraception conversation

If a year ago, you told me that Americans would be discussing the pros and cons of  the use of contraception in every major news outlet, I would have questioned your sanity. Before I was old enough to vote, a series of Supreme Court decisions had legalized contraception, and during my single years, contraception became the easiest and cheapest medication available.It was pushed at me from every angle, whether I wanted it or not.  It was considered a must for healthy living, as necessary as your toothpaste or vitamins. The debate was declared officially over.
Now, thanks to Rick Santorum's bold comments in 2006

“I don’t think it works, I think it’s harmful to women, I think it’s harmful to our society, to have a society that says that sex outside of marriage is something that should be encouraged or tolerated, particularly among the young, and I think we’ve seen very, very harmful long term consequences to society,” said Santorum in a 2006 interview

 Santorum did the unthinkable;  he dared to call into question the accepted wisdom of society on contraception, all hell has broken loose. Look at the culture of death, its beside itself with rage over this issue!

 And we are all talking about contraception.On TV, on the radio, in the papers, on the web, and over the back fence.  And, contrary to conventional wisdom, that convention is a gotcha issue, toxic to a presidential campaign, its become a powerful unifying force according to Kathleen Gilbert at Life Site News;

The controversy could be seen as pumping renewed energy into America’s conservative religious identity, and by extension, its most religiously conservative candidate. The latest Pew Research Center poll found Santorum ahead of Romney nationally by two points, 30-28%.
The events are a felicitous twist for the senator who entered the race with a plan to enter territory few politicians are wont to go. Even before the mandate became front-and-center news last month, Santorum had already signaled that he was planning on bringing his views about contraception to the surface.
“One of the things I will talk about that no president has talked about before is I think the dangers of contraception in this country, the whole sexual libertine idea,” he said in an October interview.
As Rubin noted in her recent column, Santorum’s heretofore obscure effort has wound up radically successful. “Santorum’s beliefs about contraception have injected Catholic theology into a presidential campaign season that was supposed to be all about the economy,” she wrote.

I  believe that because forty years of contraception on demand has so negatively affected women's health (read Dr Gerard Nadal on how the WHO considers the pill a Class 1 carcinogen) and relationships (the steep decline of marriage and the objectification of women  is directly related to removing procreation from sexual relations) that we as a society are beginning to realize that the Catholic Church was right when she alone remained the only Church to maintain the ban on contraception.Before the Lambeth Conference of 1930 ALL major religious groups banned contraception. And,  disobedient Catholics, as well as our non-Catholic bretheren may be rethinking the wisdom of Humanae Vitae, thanks be to God.
We can thank Obama for the resplendent display of ecumenical unity against the HHS mandate, with the "We are all Catholic" now movement, but without those courageous comments by Santorum setting off a firestorm once they surfaced in an attempt to discredit him as a viable candidate, I doubt this conversation would be taking place.
Catholics, make good use of this evangelical opportunity of a lifetime. Remember it was the Church's stand on contraception which brought us outstanding converts like Dr Scott and Kimberly Hahn. When the Church shows her wisdom boldly,   it is irresistible. People who at first rant and rave, are really listening. And hearts will change if we continue to proclaim the truth that contraception is wrong with clarity and without shame.

Read the entire Life Site Article here. 

Just don't buy her a turkey sandwich!!

As an inner city high school teacher in the minority community, I saw it every week. A teacher taking a student for an abortion.They were lauded as heroes in Long Island high schools. Twice, I was asked  to translate Planned Parenthood's lies into Spanish to help ruin my students' lives or risk losing my job (both times I prayed and was spared this choice, a story for another post)
 Planned Parenthood recruited the best and the brightest of my students to be 'peer counselors' or more plainly, marketers for abortions in the Latina community.The bilingual history teacher had a huge poster of his hero, Margaret Sanger on his classroom wall. I spoke  with the students about the ramifications of abortion and was rewarded with unemployment. Such is the state of affairs in your local public high school. But times are changing, thanks to our Presidents's fatal blunder on the HHS Mandate, these evil deeds are up for discussion again. He thinks we are OK with contraception for minors and contraception paid for by the Catholic Church. He is about to get the shock of his life!

Here's an unsurprising article about a teacher obtaining a Plan B chemical abortion pill for a student. Abortions obtained without the underage girls' parents' knowledge is old news. She is the victim of sexual abuse, Planned Parenthood helps her lie and cover up for her abuser, and its old news. But now, thanks to the HHS mandate controversy, a new audience has arisen to listen to the litany of abuses perpetrated by the merchants of death upon young women.
You are getting a new opportunity to show you care that the pill is defined by the World Health Organization as a carcigogen. That the pill is a leading cause, along with abortion, of the scourge of breast cancer, and organizations like Susan B Komen have NO BUSINESS funding it if they truly care about women's health. Don't believe me, read my microbiologist friend, Dr Gerard Nadal. 
Catholics and their supporters against the HHS Mandate have a teachable moment in that the American public has been lied to since the Pill came out in the sixities. Now the nation is talking about the forbidden subject, and its time to get the facts out there. Learn the facts, speak out boldly America!

Women deserve better than the pill.

What's with the focus on contraception?

Martin Bashir on MSNBC was postulating that Santorum SuperPac funder Foster Friess' reference to contraception means the end of Santorum's campaign. At least his liberal panel, who were salivating at the prospect of taking out Santorum, agreed. Jonathan Alter said, in effect, just give it time, we will make contraception an election-winning issue. These pundits are jumping ahead of the game, according to Ann Coulter who has made the argument that making social issues like contraception prevalent, is Obama's way of giving Santorum the nomination, since he will be easier to beat than Romney in the general election.

I disagree in my piece over at Catholic Lane. 

Only 63% of Catholics approve contraception mandate

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:
Survey research was pioneered by Columbia University sociologists during World War II. By the time I was studying for my doctorate in sociology at New York University in the 1970s, the scientific nature of survey research had made great strides. But much depends on the methodology, as well as the questions asked.
The New York Times is reporting today that a majority of Catholics (it does not cite the percentage, either in the article or on the New York Times/CBS Poll website) “are at odds with the [Catholic] church’s official stance.”
A survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life reports that 55 percent of all Catholics, and 63 percent of those who attend church weekly, are opposed to the Obama mandate.
A Rasmussen survey found that 77 percent of Catholics oppose the Obama mandate.
What’s going on? The Times asked respondents, “Do you support or oppose a recent federal requirement that private health insurance plans cover the full cost of birth control for their female patients?” Notice there was no mention of the religious liberty implications, nor of the issue of exemptions. It’s just about free services for women.
Pew asked whether there should be an exemption for religiously affiliated institutions that object. Similarly, Rasmussen asked whether “individuals should have the right to choose between different types of health insurance plans.”
In short, how the question is framed affects the answer. I will leave it to the reader to decide whether the Times asked about the real issue.

Be careful whose statistics you believe  on this. There is dissent on the Church teaching on contraception, but I have seen numbers as high as 98% of Catholics approving of the Obama mandate. That is utter nonsense!

Obama and Ann Coulter think they have the election figured out

Ann Coulter on The Sean Hannity Show with guest host Mark Simone. She bragged about Romney, her candidate winning the CPAC Straw Poll, and how she swayed the crowd. She pointed out the weaknesses of Rick Santorum in a recent interview with Mike Wallace. He always gets nervous about providing a sound bite that can be used against him with social issues(can you blame him?) and awkwardly tried to squirm away from a quote from his book, "It Takes a Family" saying that the feminist movement demeans the role of stay at home moms. Ann was right, that is a wonderful book and there is nothing to be ashamed of in that sound quote, so Rick blew it when he said Karen wrote that chapter, even though her name is not listed as co-author of the book. Who knows how she helped him word that as we worked on it so as not to offend women. 

But to use that minor mishap as a reason for Rick being unelectable is on its face, ridiculous. Its awkward but not as bad as Romney saying "I like to fire people" or "I don't care about the very poor". Those are election losing quotes. Remember when George HW Bush had never before seen a scanner at the supermarket, or McCain couldn't tell a reporter how many houses he owns? Those were election killers.Rick's dodge may not be smooth, but it hardly reveals unsavory things about his character or kills his chances at being elected.

Ann Coulter went on to assert that the Obama Administration is releasing a moral outrage a week(Susan B Komen, Proposition 8, HHS mandate) in order to keep the social conservatives riled up and keep Santorum winning elections because they are so sure that they can beat him. I suppose Ann hasn't seen the poll where Santorum beats Obama in a one on one match-up. And she didn't hear the pundits on MSNBC bemoaning the fact that Obama (who is living like a billionaire with his golf outings, multiple luxury vacations and wife's expensive wardrobe) is alienating 66% of swing voters. Maybe they'll prefer the son of an Italian immigrant, grandson of a coal miner, from a steel town in Western PA. David Brooks seems to think so in his piece, "Workers of the World, Unite!"

This year, Romney is trying to establish some emotional bond with the working class by waging a hyperpatriotic campaign: I may be the son of a millionaire with a religion that makes you uncomfortable, but I love this country just like you. The strategy appears to be only a partial success.
Enter Rick Santorum.
Santorum is the grandson of a coal miner and the son of an Italian immigrant. For years, he represented the steel towns of western Pennsylvania. He has spent the last year scorned by the news media — working relentlessly, riding around in a pickup truck to more than 370 towns. He tells that story of hard work and elite disrespect with great fervor at his meetings.
His worldview is not individualistic. His book, “It Takes a Family,” was infused with the conservative wing of Catholic social teaching. It was a broadside against Barry Goldwater-style conservatism in favor of one that emphasized family and social solidarity. While in Congress, he was a leader in nearly every serious piece of antipoverty legislation. On the stump, he cries, “The left has a religion, too. It’s just not based on the Bible. It’s based on the religion of self.”

He is not a representative of the corporate or financial wing of the party. Santorum certainly wants to reduce government spending (faster even than Representative Paul Ryan). He certainly wants tax reform. But he goes out of his way in his speeches to pick fights with the “supply-siders.” He scorns the Wall Street bailouts. His economic arguments are couched as values arguments: If you want to enhance long-term competitiveness, you need to strengthen families. If companies want productive workers, they need to be embedded in wholesome communities.

David Brooks, a moderate Republican thinks that Santorum's populism may resonate with Reagan Democrats, who are more socially conservative than most pundits give them credit for. They are in dire straits financially, since many of them are in the manufacturing sector, and normally consider the GOP too full of fat cats to be responsive to their needs.  These voters reject  candidates like Dole, George HW Bush,  McCain and Romney. Perhaps that is why they also are giving Obama abysmal poll numbers. They want a regular guy candidate in a sweater vest. So if Obama chases the electorate into Santorum's camp, they may never leave. 

How do I know this?

I, a lifelong pro-lifer, come from a long line of Catholic Democrats. My Grandma from Ireland signed unto the Democratic Party somewhere on Ellis Island. My Italian grandparents were Democratic committeemen, but in the 1976 GOP Convention, my Grandma who was a huge Kennedy fan, began to notice another Irishman in the crowd, by the name of Ronnie Reagan. She noticed a Republican because of his principled stand on abortion, one which the Democrats were leaving behind. And in 1980, she nearly cast her first vote for a Republican, by voting for Ronald Reagan for President. But an accident landed her in the hospital with a broken hip. "See", she told me ruefully, "God didn't want me to vote for a Republican!"

I didn't have the heart to tell her that I voted that year, for the very first time at 18, for Reagan. 

Grandma always told me, "the Republicans are for the rich, Democrats are for the little guy". That used to be the case, and if we put up Romney as our candidate, it will continue to be. She is not alone. 

Brooks says, 

If you took a working-class candidate from the right, like Santorum, and a working-class candidate from the left, like Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and you found a few islands of common ground, you could win this election by a landslide. The country doesn’t want an election that is Harvard Law versus Harvard Law.

 Obama is distant, elitist, and has let the economy slip further downhill,  and Romney is big money. Only Santorum appeals  to the regular guy look in his nerdy sweater vest. He has a Made in America plan to revive ailing manufacturers and entice those offshore to return to the USA by eliminating their corporate taxes.The Wall Street Journal did not like his favoring the manufacturing sector of the economy.

But, the swing voters, the ones who decide elections  just might.

Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. Thank you, Blessed Mother for loving us and for teaching us how to pray.

COLLECT for Today’s Mass

GRANT US, O MERCIFUL GOD, protection in our weakness,
that we who keep the Memorial of the Immaculate Mother of God, may, with the help of her intercession,
rise up from our iniquities.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes

O IMMACULATE Virgin Mary, you are the refuge of sinners, the health of the sick, and the comfort of the afflicted. By your appearances at the Grotto of Lourdes, you made it a privileged sanctuary where your favors are given to people streaming to it from all over the world. Over the years, countless sufferers have obtained the cure of their infirmities—whether of soul, mind, or body. Therefore, I come with limitless confidence to implore your motherly intercession.

Obtain, O loving Mother, the grant of my requests.
Through gratitude for your favors,
I will endeavor to imitate your virtues,
that I may one day share your glory.

 Amen.

Birth control is NOT the issue in HHS mandate

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the way the media are casting the controversy over the Obama healthcare plan:

In a name association game, when most people hear the words “birth control,” they think of the pill. Most Americans, including Catholics, treat the pill as something altogether different from abortion. So when pollsters ask about the Obama healthcare plan, framing the issue as one about birth control, it is not going to set off the alarms: mention abortion and everything changes. Now consider the evidence.

In a Lexis-Nexis search today, I linked the words “Catholic” “Obama” and “birth control,” and found that in the last week, there were 345 stories (there is always some repetition, particularly with wire services). Within this same grouping, when the words “morning-after pill” were included, the number dropped to 62; when “abortifacients” was linked to the initial three terms, there were 31 stories; and when the term “abortion-inducing drugs” was included, the number dropped to 20.

In other words, the media are framing the issue in terms of the least offensive issue. Add to this the fact that so many Americans just take a glimpse at the headline, which uniformly cites birth control, and the result is a massive distortion.

Why does the Obama plan include abortion-inducing drugs? Because that’s where he wants to go—he would like nothing better than to force all religious institutions to provide abortion coverage—and this is his way of prying the door open.

This issue is, first and foremost, about the First Amendment right to religious liberty. Secondly, it is about abortion. The lust for abortion that this administration has is unparalleled, and its unrelenting drive to shove its radical secular agenda down the throats of the faithful is equally unprecedented.


Contact our director of communications about Donohue’s remarks:
Jeff Field
Phone: 212-371-3191
E-mail: cl@catholicleague.org

Congresman Joe Courtney responds to my HHS madate qurey

Dear Ms. Velasquez,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the issue of health insurance plan coverage of contraceptive services. 

As you know, in August 2011 the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a set of interim rules that would require most health insurance plans to cover preventative health services for women, including access to contraceptive services without a co-pay, co-insurance or a deductible. Included in this new rule was an exception for non-profit religious employers such as houses of worship and other institutions whose primary purpose is to spread their faith. For most employers covered under the rule, the new coverage requirements would go into effect on August 1, 2012. However, on January 20, 2012, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the deadline for implementation for church-affiliated institutions such as schools, hospitals, and other organizations would be delayed until August 1, 2013.

The decision by HHS to exempt church health plans, but not church-affiliated institutions such as colleges and hospitals, has generated strong debate on both sides of the issue. The Department maintains that its rule follows the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine – a non-governmental body of physicians and health experts – to include birth control coverage, which the vast majority of American families have utilized for decades. However, this rule has run into resistance from leaders of many faiths who object to a regulation to require the purchase of birth control coverage that runs counter to religious belief. While HHS believes that such objections were addressed through the exemption for houses of worship and a one year delay in implementation for church-affiliated institutions, critics of the rule believe that these steps do not go far enough in addressing their concerns.

It is important to note that this rule would not go into effect for church-affiliated institutions until August 2013, providing significant time for this issue to continue to be reviewed and for alternatives to be proposed to address the concerns of religious institutions. In light of the concerns raised by this rule, I am pleased that the White House has indicated that it would consider alternative methods to provide access to contraceptive services without forcing religious institutions to pay for such coverage. I strongly support this approach, and am hopeful that such a resolution, using existing models from states around the country, can be found. Another possible alternative would be to "grandfather" existing health plans that do not currently include contraceptive coverage and allow such plans to continue to be offered. 

Please be assured that I understand and appreciate your views and concerns about this issue, and will keep them in mind as this rule continues to be reviewed by Congress and the White House. It is worth noting that the willingness of the White House to reconsider alternatives is a direct result of the input of individuals like you. 

Again, thank you for sharing your views on this issue with me. Should you have any additional comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me in the future. For more information on my work in Congress, please visit my website at courtney.house.govand sign up for my e-newsletter at  courtney.house.gov/forms/ emailsignup . You can also connect with me at facebook.com/joecourtney or receive updates from twitter.com/ repjoecourtney .

 

Sincerely, JOE COURTNEY Member of Congress

Why Rick Santorum can win the election

According to David Brooks in his article in the New York Times, "Workers of the World Unite" 
 Rick is exactly what Reagan Democrats and working class Republicans are looking for and not finding in the rich 'front-runners' of either party.
Brooks explains:

It’s a diverse group, obviously, but its members generally share certain beliefs and experiences. The economy has been moving away from them. The ethnic makeup of the country is shifting away from them. They sense that the nation has gone astray: marriage is in crisis; the work ethic is eroding; living standards are in danger; the elites have failed; the news media sends out messages that make it harder to raise decent kids. They face greater challenges, and they’re on their own.
The Republicans harvest their votes but have done a poor job responding to their needs. The leading lights of the party tend to be former College Republicans who have a more individualistic and even Randian worldview than most members of the working class. Most Republican presidential candidates, from George H.W. Bush to John McCain to Mitt Romney, emerge from an entirely different set of experiences.

 Rick is man of the people who understands the real suffering this economy is inflicting on those of us who wonder if we can afford to buy gas if it goes up to $5/gallon. Do you think Romney ever pumped his own gas? He can't even wear a pair of Levis convincingly.
Rick's Made in America plan to revive the manufacturing sector is based on his experience in rust belt. His down to earth style and honesty are winning hearts and votes, in the Heartland. Pittsburgh whose empty factories experienced a renewal through the medical technology industry.

Here's how Brooks sees him;

Santorum is the grandson of a coal miner and the son of an Italian immigrant. For years, he represented the steel towns of western Pennsylvania. He has spent the last year scorned by the news media — working relentlessly, riding around in a pickup truck to more than 370 towns. He tells that story of hard work and elite disrespect with great fervor at his meetings.
His worldview is not individualistic. His book, “It Takes a Family,” was infused with the conservative wing of Catholic social teaching. It was a broadside against Barry Goldwater-style conservatism in favor of one that emphasized family and social solidarity. While in Congress, he was a leader in nearly every serious piece of antipoverty legislation. On the stump, he cries, “The left has a religion, too. It’s just not based on the Bible. It’s based on the religion of self.”

Rick is a Catholic first and a Republican second. Of course pundits and GOP leadership are not comfortable with that. I think I actually saw Sean Hannity trying not to wince as he announced Santorum's victories. But that non-conformity with the elites in each party may the the reason he resonates so well in the Heartland.

"We are all Catholics now"

Remember hearing about John F Kennedy's famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate; "Ich bin en Berliner"?( I am a Berliner) He indicated that he was one in solidarity with Berliners whose city was divided by the Iron Curtain for nearly half of the Twentieth Century. It is an example which many are following today by Tweeting. "We are all Catholics now".
 I was in Europe in the late 1980's and crossed the Iron Curtain in Hungary, Yugoslavia and Poland. It struck me how the police on the train would always check for stowaways on the way OUT of the Communist countries. No one wanted to get in.
 Poland was in the midst of the uprising of Solidarity when I visited in December of 1988, and, on the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, Catholic Churches were full to overflowing, attendees kneeling on frozen cobblestones of two hours, the Mass was followed by rosary and hymns. The Churches were festooned with gold and white bunting  the Vatican colors, crowned by Blessed John Paul II's Papal Coat of Arms.  There was a feeling of freedom I hadn't seen in Hungary and Bosnia. Freedom to express your faith. That freedom led to the overturning of the Communist empire of forty years without a shot being fired. Solidarity had won out over oppression. Becasue these people had realized that the most precious freedom, freedom of religion, is the bedrock upon which all other freedoms are built.
That is an important lesson for Americans in the light of the HHS mandate that Catholic institutions cover contraception in their employee health plans. If non-Catholics can say, "We are all Catholics now" as JFK said, "I am a Berliner" and the Poles expressed Solidarity, then the evil plans of the Obama Administiration will be overcome. They want to divide and conquer people of faith, one group at a time, till they own our very souls.
They are dong more than looking out for women's health. (As if carcinogenic birth control pills were part of health care!)  They are pushing against the moral authority of the Catholic Church in American society. Every oppressive regime  has to oppress the Church to gain complete control over the populace. That is why the Obama Administration is citing polls which prove that Catholics are divided on the issue of birth control. It is a sad fact, that there is dissention among the faithful on contraception, however, we can take this opportunity to unite against an enemy who wants to destroy the moral fiber of this nation, by diminishing the power of the Catholic Church. If all people of faith stand united against the the thin edge of the wedge, the HHS mandate, then the Adminstration will not succeed in mandating abortion coverage, which is the real agenda.
Don't be fooled by any compromises offered to the Church. Remember the compromise which Catholic Congressman Bart Stupak accepted. It was a ruse, Obama knew it and so did we. We will not be fooled into accepting a compromise this time.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on how President Obama’s spokesmen are defending his healthcare plan mandating that Catholic institutions provide for services they deem immoral:
David Axelrod of the Obama campaign said yesterday that “We certainly don’t want to abridge anyone’s religious freedom, so we’re going to look for a way to move forward that both provides women with the preventative care that they need and respects the prerogatives of religious institutions.” Similarly, White House press secretary Jay Carney said yesterday that “the president is very interested in finding the appropriate balance between religious beliefs and convictions.”
Both men are insincere. We know that there was division in the Obama administration when the Obama edict was being contemplated, and that the president sided with extremists like Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (anyone who raises money for a man dedicated to performing partial-birth abortions is obviously an extremist; she did so for Dr. George Tiller). So they had plenty of time to figure out a way not to punish Catholics, and they still decided to drop the hammer.
White House supporters of Obama’s edict are pointing to a poll that shows a slight majority of Catholics supporting Obama’s plan. But the poll is flawed. As always, the question affects the outcome. The poll never mentioned that the federal government would place sanctions on Catholic institutions if they did not comply, and that ultimately it could lead to pulling federal funds to Catholic hospitals, effectively shutting them down. Nor did the poll mention that the Obama plan mandates that Catholic entities provide abortion-inducing drugs. In short, the question was dishonest. Just wait until all Catholics find out what’s really at stake.
What Obama is doing is just an opening for mandating abortion coverage in every healthcare plan.

We can stand as one people of faith, Jews, Muslims, Christians, who say to the Administration. "We are all Catholics now" and you will NOT divide us to weaken our resolve to stand up for our rights under the First Amendment. You will be overcome at the ballot box in November.
Mr Obama, you are being put on notice; this will not stand in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave.You will be a one term president.

Rick sweeps Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado!

 Santorum is the superior candidate in policy and in his ability to articulate a conservative agenda to heal the economy and society, but so often Americans listen to the media when they annoint someone (Romney) or fall for the catchy soundbites of a candidate with no stability (Newt), that I had trouble keeping the faith that the stellar qualities of Rick Santorum would have a chance in the spotlight. Especially since he was cheated out of his Iowa bounce and is too easily written off by the media. Charles Krauthammer led the Fox Allstars in a group mea culpa last night which was very gratifying!
Let me be clear; Santorum is THE best chance we have to beat Obama.
I watch MSNBC and CNN to see what the enemy is thinking and the left has been lamenting lately that Obama has lost 2/3 of the Reagan Democrats. THEY ARE THE SWING VOTERS ON WHOM THIS ELECTION DEPENDS. And they are up for grabs. Rick can win them. Here's how.
They are conservative, midwest high school graduates, blue collar workers who are afraid of the direction in which this nation is heading. They don't like snobs like McCain who doesn't remember how many houses he owns, Obama with his fancy Hawaiian vacations, or Romney who doesn't worry about the poor. They want a man from steel country whose grandfather was a coal miner, and who helped downtrodden Pittsburgh rise from the ashes. Rick's populist message resonates with them and they agree with his solid economic policy and family values. AND they know that with Rick, what you see is what you get. He is the real deal.

Here is his victory speech. I love how God, Karen and the kids get first mention! He sounds presidential, doesn't he?

"He Was There" by Jack Bond

Karen Handle resigns from Susan B Komen Foundation

Karen Handle calmly took Meghan Kelly's questions in the first interview since she resigned from Susan B Komen Foundation this morning. No, she didn't take full credit for Komen's decision to defund Planned Parenthood, although it was a position she took as a gubernatorial candidate in Georgia last year. It was in the works for a long time  before she joined Komen last year. Handel resigned because she has become too much of a lightening rod, distracting from the wonderful mission of Komen. Handel refused the offered severance package and refused to divulge any inner workings of Komen vis a vis Planned Parenthood beyond stating her disapproval of their strong arm tactics after the announcement that they were defunded. Handel expressed her opinion that an organization has a right to decide whom to fund.
I was disappointed that Handel did not mention the fact that Planned Parenthood was funded for breast cancer screenings but they do not do mammograms, and in fact promote carcinogenic birth control and abortions. She praised Komen to the skies and was very down on Planned Parenthood but did not say anything beyond that their strong arm tactics were called for.

It will be very interesting to see what is next for Karen Handel, she denies having heard from pro-life groups but they are certainly pleased with her and may make her the next Abby Johnson. Stay tuned. I think she might even run again for political office, now that she is famous.

Watch the interview on Fox News here.

Occupy thugs repay Bishop Tobin's charity with violence against chidlren

On January 25, Thomas Tobin, the Bishop of Providence, decided to reach out to “Occupy Providence” by allowing the homeless to seek shelter in Catholic churches; the city had turned down a request by the group to set up daytime shelters. The next day, “Occupy Providence” activists showed their gratitude by crashing a pro-life rally, shouting down a speaker, stopping a priest from offering a closing prayer, and throwing condoms at Catholic schoolgirls. In short, these left-wing activists have turned into urban bullies who need to be stopped.

To say that Catholic bashing is in vogue is an understatement. From President Obama who is seeking to intimidate Catholic institutions by forcing them to prostitute their moral convictions, to “Occupy” maniacs who respond to goodwill by engaging in thuggery, it is open season on Catholics. We will do what we can to constructively channel the anger, which is palpable.

Contact “Occupy Providence” official Susan Beaty: beaty.susan@gmail.com

Obama finally crosses the line with HHS contraception mandate

I felt a curious sense of elation while reading the outpouring of outrage over the HHS mandate that Catholic institutions have one year to offer contraceptive coverage to employees and patients. I was pleasantly surprised to note that outrage has come not only from the expected sources like USCCB Head Cardinal Designate Timothy Dolan    but even some surprising quarters like Cardinal Roger Mahony and EJDionne. who said,

Speaking as a Catholic, I wish the Church would be more open on the contraception question. But speaking as an American liberal who believes that religious pluralism imposes certain obligations on government, I think the Church’s leaders had a right to ask for broader relief from a contraception mandate that would require it to act against its own teachings. The administration should have done more to balance the competing liberty interests here.

One of my favorite quotes on this situation is "Obama has done what the Pope has failed to do, unite US Bishops". Reading this I began to understand my positive feelings toward what is clearly a threat to the First Amendment rights of Catholics. I am pleased to see Catholics of all stripes actually care about the fact that our institutions will be forced to provide contraception/abortifacients for our patients and employees. Read a roundup of reactions to the mandate at MercatorNet article here. 

Like most orthodox Catholics I have become a bit cynical over thedecades of Catholic indifference on the contraception issue. You don't have to go any further than TV/radio host Sean Hannity to see a Catholic passionately justify his flouting of Church teaching.  Here are some of my experiences of how casually the Church's ban on contraception has disregarded.

Twenty years ago, a Catholic nun was running a health fair in my parish on Long Island. I suggested that a couple who teach Natural Family Planning run a booth helping young couples like my new husband and I plan our families with respect for Church teaching. She gave me a disdainful look and reminded me that the parish allowed her to work as a social worker for federal funds, and that precluded her from doing anything "Catholic" like NFP.

I was not stunned, I had seen the same phenomenon as a social worker at Catholic Charities in the eighties. When a church or social service agency accepts government funds it accepts government control. The difference is, up until now the encroachments have been gradual and voluntarily accepted by the faithful themselves. After all, how many Catholics entered that health fair seeking Natural Family Planning?

When my husband and I took the diocesan course in preparation for marriage, half the couples were using NFP because too many years of contraceptives had left them sterile. Few were doing it in obedience to Humanae Vitae. In fact, NFP training should have been part of our Pre-Cana program, but the couple running the program admitted they used the pill and it "worked for them".I didn't bother reporting this to the pastor of the parish, I knew I would be met with a shrug.

A great majority of Catholics have disregarded Church teaching on contraception, in fact the Sisters of Mercy who taught me at the all girls high school I attended, instructed us on how to use it and where to obtain it, warning us not to let our parents see our notebooks. My mother did, and was horrified.

Contraception has been widely accepted in the Catholic community for nearly half a century. So why the fuss over the HHS mandate that Catholic institutions provide contraception for its employees?  Perhaps we as a Church thought it was our dirty little secret. We convinced ourselves that no one outside knew how few Catholics actually obeyed this Church teaching to have the marital act be perpetually open to life. Except the research arm of Planned Parenthood, the Guttmacher Institute who reported last spring in the Huffington Post that 98% of Catholic women have used contraceptives. They have been dispensing contraceptives to Catholics for decades.Shame on us! So now we are outraged to be forced to do what we have been volunteering to do for half a century.

Elizabeth Scalia explains.

With the administration’s decision, the covert culture of death has finally made a truly overt move against the culture of life. 

PP Director Cecile Richards with Obama

 Obama just had the arrogance to think we wouldn't care if he was open about it. After all, when Rick Santorum explained how contraception led us to the legalization of abortion, Catholics yawned while the media attacked him. So Obama assumed, carefully advised by liberal Catholics friendly to his administration who helped him get Obamacare approved, that just one more push and he'd have Catholics on the ropes. No one cares about contraception, then we can use this mandate to force abortion down the line.

After all, it worked for Bill Baird an abortion clinic owner whose case in the Supreme Court made it legal for unmarried couples to obtain contraception, creating a gold mine for abortionists like himself.
Here's a little history of Bill Baird's activism from the website "The Pro-Choice League". Note how birth control leads to abortion.

Some facts about Pro Choice League's founder Bill Baird:March 22 is the anniversary of Baird v. Eisenstadt, his 1972 U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized birth control for all Americans (replacing the 1965 decision for married couples only).  Baird v. Eisenstadt was a landmark case that became the bedrock of countless privacy cases such as Roe v. Wade and the gay rights victory Lawrence v. Texas (2003).  1964  - Baird established the nation's first aboveground abortion referral and birth control clinic (Well before abortion was legal facing a potential 10-year jail term). 1965 - Baird led the first demonstration ever outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral against the Church's stance against birth control for all citizens not only Catholics. 1965 - Established the nation's first birth control and abortion club on a college campus (Hofstra University - NY) 1965 & 1966 Challenged anti-birth control statutes in New York and then New Jersey for which he was arrested and jailed. 1967 - established the nation's first "abortion slush fund" to help students pay for illegal abortions. 1967 Baird led another march against the Catholic Church saying "... no religion has a right to impose its dogma on others."

Note how his activism lead to the legalization of all kinds of perversion from abortion to homosexuality. When Catholics disregarded Humanae Vitae in the sixties, they gave Bill Baird, Planned Parenthood, their ally,  Barack Obama the abortion president, the opening they needed to slowly and covertly undermine the Church's influence on the culture.
 Until Humanae Vitae in 1967, Catholics were holding the line on morality, keeping sexuality largely inside marriage, but our hedonism and love of government money provided the opening for the intolerable situation we find ourselves in today, where our Catholic institutions will have to pay for contraceptives and abortificients. Its time to shut the barn door, but the horse has already escaped.

Senator Marco Rubio

Rick and Bella Santorum

I am grateful for the opportunity to see my Church unite behind this issue and hope it becomes a teachable moment on how our own sinfulness created this weakness which Obama so wickedly exploited. I bet he and his staff are shocked at the amount of outrage they created, and are hoping it dies down in time for the election.

Thanks to Senator Marco Rubio, son of Cuban refugees and no stranger to creeping religious oppression, for introducing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012. 
Rick Santorum and Marco Rubio have shown the moral courage which the Kennedys  and the Cuomos lacked when abortion was overtaking our formerly moral culture. They along with bishops like Robert Tobin of Rhode Island, Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia,  and Fabian Bruskewitz of Nebraska have long held such Catholic politicians' feet to the fire on life issues. Now the Johnnny-come-latelies are at long last realizing where ignoring the Church's teaching on contraception has led. May this moment be one of conversion of all hearts on this issue, and bond us together into a force for authentic moral reform in this nation. This is what can save America from total implosion.