pro-life

Just Once

Calvin Freiburger 2008, blogosphere, Chuck Currie, debate, Democrats, dishonesty, evil, feldstein, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, infanticide, Obama, pro-life
Just once in life, I’d like to see a liberal admit he’s wrong when he loses an argument—especially on an issue on which the truth and the humane position are not ambiguous.
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Although, I suppose it’s not as atrocious as ignoring the issue altogether.
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UPDATE: Yup, if you’re looking for integrity from Scott, you’ve come to the wrong place. He’ll preen all day long demanding others distance themselves from their candidate’s lies. His guy? Not so much. Just another day in the life of a cheap shill, I guess.

Pro-Life Alert: Media Blackout on Mass Arrest of Pro-Lifers

Calvin Freiburger abortion, ALL, all.org, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, police, pro-life, scandal
From ALL Communications Director Katie Walker:
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MEDIA BLACKOUT OF PRO-LIFE MASS ARREST, FIRST AMENDMENT VIOLATIONS
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Washington, DC (20 August 2008) On Aug. 1, 18 pro-lifers were falsely, brutally arrested on bogus charges by Maryland state police officers. Most were scared, crying teenage kids. They weren’t told the charges for which they were being arrested and they weren’t read their Miranda Rights. The girls were humiliatingly searched, and all were locked up. Most weren’t allowed to see their lawyers and were denied their phone calls.
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This is one of the largest mass arrests of pro-lifers since the days of the clinic rescue movement which ended in the early 1990s. It’s a clear violation of First and Fourth Amendment rights.
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It’s being ignored in a massive media blackout.
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“This type of harassment has been used against peaceful protestors in the past and never have these tyrannical methods been acceptable,” said Jen Catelli, director of media relations at American Life League. “The pro-life community needs to stand up and demand media attention for these heinous abuses.”
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Defend Life’s Maryland Face the Truth Tour had one final stop to make in Hagerstown, Maryland. They peacefully set up their signs along a stretch of highway and began to pray. State police officers soon showed up and demanded they take down their signs. The pro-lifers complied and moved to a different area.
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State police followed and began making arrests.
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“They violated all our rights,” said Jack Ames, president and founder of Defend Life. Ames spent the night locked in a cell with the other pro-lifers. Ames and his fellow pro-lifers spent the night praying and singing the Lord’s Prayer, the Ave Maria and Tantum Ergo. The next morning officials released the pro-lifers. Charges have since been dropped.
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“American Life League is committed to making sure these people get the attention they deserve,” Catelli said. “This kind of blatant disregard for pro-lifers’ rights on the part of Governor Martin O’Malley’s state police won’t be tolerated. If these pro-lifers were pro-abortion activists or PETA protesters, this would have been on the front page of every newspaper on the East Coast.”
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“As more information surfaces about this mass arrest, ALL will ensure that everyone in the pro-life movement hears about these heroes,” Catelli continued.
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American Life League was cofounded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
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Covenant News: 18 Pro-Lifers Arrested in Maryland (4 August 208)
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LifeSiteNews.com: Victory for 18 Arrested Pro-Life Demonstrators (15 August 2008)

Catholics & Abortion? – UPDATED

Calvin Freiburger abortion, all.org, Catholicism, evil, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, murder, pro-life, religion
UPDATE: Good news—St. Thomas has backtracked, and Star Parker is set to speak there after all.
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Two extremely disturbing stories regarding American Catholics. First, the University of St. Thomas shunned a planned pro-life speech by Star Parker. Ed Morrissey has the details. Second, the following is a column I just received via email from ALL’s Judie Brown:

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Just when I thought there might not be anything worthy of a blog post, two news items came to my attention within the short span of five hours; In each case I was appalled at what the facts exposed.
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Let me begin in San Francisco, which is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is also one of the most salacious. It wasn’t too long ago, last October to be exact, that we read about Archbishop George Niederauer giving the body and blood of Christ in Holy Eucharist to two members of the ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.’ After several Catholics expressed outrage, the Archbishop claimed he didn’t notice the garb these two men were wearing when they approached him for the sacrament during the Mass. While his apology was certainly appropriate, his original action boggles my simple little mind.
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I almost believed that he had honestly not noticed the outrageous face makeup and costuming worn by the two gay “nuns.” But that was then and this is now.
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Just yesterday I learned that when Catholic Charities hosted its annual banquet this past Friday, the Archbishop was scheduled to present an award to George Marcus, a real estate investment mogul who is a large supporter of Planned Parenthood.
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In selecting George Marcus as a 2008 honoree, Archbishop Niederauer stated, “Through his passion for philanthropy, interfaith collaboration and insistence on making life more beautiful for all people, George M. Marcus is an example of how a single individual can positively impact the lives of many.”
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Are we to suspect that the Archbishop simply didn’t know about Marcus’ involvement with the world’s leading promoter of abortion? I think not.
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As if this April 11th news was not enough, I also learned that a coalition of Catholics described as liberals are mobilizing behind the scenes to provide Barack Obama with support for his campaign. As soon as Deal Hudson revealed this story to the media, Alexis Kelley and Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, of Catholics in Alliance responded that Mr. Hudson was mistaken. They wrote that the organization they represent is a “non-partisan, nonprofit organization that promotes the fullness of Catholic social teaching.”
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But I would suggest to you that these ladies are protesting too much, and that it is quite certain that Hudson is not far off the mark with his comments.
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Now why would I say this? Because these women represent the same organization that issued a call for “civility in politics” last November. While they have subsequently removed the document from their website, due in large part to our exposing the effort for what it truly was—a statement lacking all respect for the sacrament of Holy Eucharist—the fact remains that the group did issue it and that is a recorded fact.
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I welcome you to read my commentary on this ridiculous statement and our call for the signers to remove their names. As I wrote in this column:
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The first point in their series of bulleted statements reads, “As Catholics we should not enlist the Church’s moral endorsement of our political preferences. We should do this out of respect for our fellow Catholics of equally good will but differing political convictions and our interest in protecting the clergy from being drawn into partisan political to the detriment of the Church’s integrity and objectivity.”
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This is the most inane representation of alleged acts of civility that I have ever seen; in fact I dare say it is purely evil in its intent. American Life League has repeatedly called for bishops, priests, deacons and Eucharistic ministers to protect Christ from sacrilege by denying the sacrament to public figures who claim to be Catholic while also supporting abortion. The group’s statement characterizes our actions as somehow exhibiting disrespect for our Church leaders who have been ordained to serve Christ. It is completely irrational to propose that out of respect for those who favor child killing, or as this group puts it, “Catholics of equally good will but differing political convictions,” we would withdraw our campaign to make sure that Christ, truly present in the sacrament of Holy Eucharist, is protected from sacrilege.
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In light of these facts I believe that Hudson is right and the women are simply attempting to back down from what in my humble opinion is their political agenda at the current moment.
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How can Catholics do such things? Why are such actions tolerated? Well, don’t ask Archbishop Niederauer.
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I suppose you may be scratching your head and wondering what in the world is going on with “Catholics” these days? I must tell you that if I knew, perhaps I could sleep better at night. Sadly, it would appear these examples represent a trend that has no end in sight, at least for the foreseeable future. Moral relativism has crept into the statements and actions of even those called to lead Catholics and teach them. Such a situation should sadden each of us beyond description.
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The antidote is, of course, total faith in Christ and resolve to defend the Catholic Church and her teaching regardless of the scandalous comments and behavior we see around us. And we should recall those ageless comments of Pope Benedict XVI, who said:
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The human race—every one of us—is the sheep lost in the desert which no longer knows the way. The Son of God will not let this happen; he cannot abandon humanity in so wretched a condition. He leaps to his feet and abandons the glory of Heaven, in order to go in search of the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the Cross. He takes it upon his shoulders and carries our humanity; he carries us all—he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. Inauguration as Pope, April 2005
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Let us pray for the Holy Father and be confident that in God’s time all of the chaos within the Church will be exposed, and souls will be healed and brought into full union with Christ, our Shepherd.

Standing for Life: If Not Now, When?

Calvin Freiburger abortion, all.org, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, pro-life
ALL’s Michael Hichborn issues the following challenge to his fellow pro-lifers via email:
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The ongoing effort to save preborn babies from the culture of death is akin to the epic battle between David and Goliath. While the pro-life movement struggles just to maintain its grassroots support base, the massive and powerful culture of death has access to all of the money, political power and propaganda it could ever want.
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At least David had the nerve to show up for the fight. Right now, in Colorado, a 20-year-old law student has taken up David’s sling and is prepared to throw the deadly stone while some self-professed pro-life leaders, politicians and clergymen cower because they believe that “now is not the right time.”
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In November 2007, Kristi Burton, founder of Colorado for Equal Rights, won an important victory in the state supreme court allowing her to move forward with Proposed Initiative 36. The initiative simply states that “the terms ‘person’ or ‘persons’ shall include any human being from the moment of fertilization.” This initiative is the lynchpin for restoring the right to life for all preborn babies, because in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, Justice Harry Blackmun wrote, “If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant’s case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment.”
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Over the past 35 years, nearly 50,000,000 preborn babies have been legally butchered in their own mothers’ wombs. The most we have to show for our effort to stop this carnage is an alleged ban on the heinous practice of partially delivering a baby, stabbing him or her in the back of the head and then sucking his or her brains out. Hailed by some as a pro-life victory, the so-called ban on partial-birth abortion isn’t truly a ban because the Supreme Court decision itself included instructions permitting doctors to circumvent the ban by injecting the baby with poison before completing the grisly procedure. What is so completely baffling, however, is that organizations like the National Right to Life Committee will pop a champagne cork for a ruling that won’t stop a single abortion, but will not support or will even directly oppose the personhood initiative – which would directly end all abortions – because they claim that “now is not the right time.”
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Some may ask, “If now is not the right time to save babies, when is?” But it’s more appropriate to ask, “Why not now?’ What do pro-life leaders, politicians and clergymen have to lose by acting now instead of waiting for “the right time”? If the initiative fails, do we admit defeat, tell the babies we’re sorry we couldn’t do better, pack up and go home? How many amendments and legislative measures are voted upon only once before being passed? The answer is less than one percent! If the initiative fails, you start over and try again and you keep trying until it works. It is hard, tedious and frustrating work, but when compared with the suffering of innocent preborn children who face dismemberment and death, the decision is an easy one. Only those locked in their lofty ivory towers, comfortable with merely drawing a salary to do “pro-life” work, remain silent or oppose real pro-life measures while they wait for “the right time.”
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There is no “right time.” David went into battle against Goliath without military or combat training and without a sword, shield or helmet. He carried only a sling and some rocks. He was a mere boy and the timing was as much against him as his size and strength. But his courage and faith in God led to victory. In truth, the victory over the culture of death will not be ours to claim, just as the timing is not ours to decide. Kristi Burton heard the call from God to defend human life and answered it without question, without waiting for “the right time” and without compromise. Her leadership brings to mind the words of a shepherd who slew a giant:
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“You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have insulted. Today the LORD shall deliver you into my hand; I will strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will leave your corpse and the corpses of the Philistine army for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field; thus the whole land shall learn that Israel has a God. All this multitude, too, shall learn that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves. For the battle is the LORD’S, and He shall deliver you into our hands.” (1 Samuel 17: 45-47)
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When doing the work of God and calling on people to support the defense of babies, can timing really be an issue? While pro-life leaders, politicians and clergymen stand idly by, waiting for “the right time,” Kristi Burton puts it all in God’s hands, stands in the arena, takes careful aim and throws.
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(Hmm, where have I heard this line of complaint before?)

News Around the Web

Calvin Freiburger Andy McCarthy, crime, Hillary, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Islam, JB Van Hollen, Larry Craig, law, McCain, military, national security, Obama, pro-life, Robert Spencer, scandal, Texas, treason, Wisconsin
Valentine’s Day and Islam: not exactly the best combination.
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More excellence from Wisconsin’s disappointing Attorney General.
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The Texas criminal appellate court has upheld the recognition of the killing of preborn twins as double homicide.
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Andy McCarthy notices an area where John McCain can genuinely distinguish himself from Clinton and Obama. McCain doesn’t.
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Remember Larry Craig? Yesterday the Senate Ethics Committee lowered the hammer on him.
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More liberals “supporting” the troops. Just don’t question their patriotism.
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Oh, and Indiana Jones is back.

Crunch Time for the Future of Conservatism

Calvin Freiburger 2008, Bork, conservatism, Coulter, GOP, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, McCain, National Review, national security, pro-life, Reagan, RINOs, romney, Tancredo, War on Terror
John McCain, conservative standard-bearer? Ronald Reagan would have a thing or two to say about that.
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Today President Reagan’s son Michael writes about McCain’s utter contempt for conservatives, and here’s Hugh Hewitt making the case for rallying around Mitt Romney, just as such serious, responsible, and distinguished conservatives as Mark Levin, Judge Robert Bork, Dr. John Willke, Ann Coulter, Tom Tancredo, National Review, and Walid Phares have done.
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And for those Fredheads still unwilling to let go, here’s one of your own making the case for doing the right thing. I understand many of you dislike Romney. He’s not a perfect candidate. But for God’s sake, the difference between him and McCain is night and day.

What Madness Is This?!

Calvin Freiburger 2008, abortion, conservatism, GOP, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Mike Huckabee, moonbats, Norma McCorvey, pro-life, RINOs, Ron Paul, stupidity, War on Terror
“Am I hallucinating?” Allahpundit asks, and if so, then so am I. Y’see, Duncan Hunter has thrown his support behind Mike Huckabee, specifically citing the border fence, national security, and character. Yes, we have just crossed over into the Twilight Zone. So much for Hunter’s much-touted conservative judgment (which I admit, I believed in as much as anyone).
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Unfortunately, he’s not the only one. Norma “Jane Roe” McCorvey is endorsing Ron Paul. I understand that Paul is ostensibly pro-life, but that doesn’t change the fact that A.) he’s a senile crank who doesn’t understand that America has enemies, and B.) he’s not going to be the president, and everybody knows it. McCorvey is a major figure in the right to life, with a compelling story, but I hate to see her call her judgment into question and marginalize herself like this.

35 Years of Roe

Calvin Freiburger abortion, Church of Liberalism, conservatism, Duncan Hunter, evil, feminism, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, judicial activism, March for Life, pro-life
Today, March for Life 2008 remembers legal abortion’s nearly fifty-million victims, and rallies the abolitionists of today to stand against the premier human rights failure of our day. Mario Diaz of Concerned Women for America marks the occasion by dissecting the constitutional blunder that is Roe v. Wade, while Congressman Duncan Hunter calls on the United States to remember the victims—and to do something about it.

Open Letter to the National Right to Life Committee RE: Fred Thompson

Calvin Freiburger 2008, abortion, conservatism, Fred Thompson, GOP, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, pro-life
Please forward & distribute the following message to every pro-life minded voter you can. The right to life and the presidency are too important for us to stand idle while our leaders make such a colossal mistake.
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To the Leadership of the National Right to Life Committee,
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As a longtime pro-life activist, I read with great concern reports that the National Right to Life Committee intends to endorse Sen. Fred Thompson for the Republican presidential nomination (PDF link). With all due respect, this decision is utterly maddening.
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As a lobbyist, Thompson lobbied on behalf of Planned Parenthood, and his campaign denied it until faced with the proof. He was a major proponent of so-called campaign finance reform, which has been a major impediment to the pro-life movement. He has suggested that he would not vote to ban abortion at the state level (indeed, on the campaign trail he says state authorities “can do whatever they want” about abortionists, distancing himself from the debate—and in both of these stories, he raises the specter of pregnant women thrown in jail, a common pro-abortion scare tactic). Most recently, he told Tim Russert that he opposes the Federal Human Life Amendment, because “people ought to be free at state and local levels to make decisions that even Fred Thompson disagrees with. That’s what freedom is all about.”
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Clearly, when Thompson says he will use “the Presidency to encourage policies that promote a culture of life,” he doesn’t have any sort of meaningful legal protection for the unborn in mind. One has to wonder, then, why the NRLC would throw its support behind a man whose rhetoric doesn’t match his promises.
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Is it because he opposes Roe v. Wade, and promises to appoint judicial originalists to the Supreme Court? So do Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain. Is it because of doubts about Romney’s sincerity? It can’t be—Thompson was once pro-choice as well, and it isn’t clear that his current position is significantly different. Or is it because simply, as their endorsement says, they think Thompson “can win”? If such a (premature) calculation is their reason, then it’s truly depressing to see the NRLC put politics over principle.
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There is a reasonable pro-life case to be made for Thompson, should he be our sole alternative to Sen. Hillary Clinton. But we are in the primary, not the general election, and the pro-life goal should be the candidate who will be the best advocate for unborn rights. As NRLC co-founder Dr. John Willke has recognized, that someone is Mitt Romney, who, in addition to pro-life stances on Roe, judges, taxpayer funding, and partial-birth abortion, also expresses support for nationwide legal protection for the unborn—including the Human Life Amendment.
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The NRLC’s own “Open Petition to the Republican Party” (PDF file), which demands a pro-life presidential candidate, cites the GOP platform’s declaration that “Our purpose is to have legislative and judicial protection of that right against those who perform abortions.” Based on his own words, Fred Thompson is not an advocate of legislative protection for the right to life, and therefore fails your own standard. Why are you settling for the lesser of America’s pro-life options, and why are you doing so at this stage in the race?
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In endorsing Thompson, you are setting a precedent that actually threatens the future success of the pro-life movement. If you decide Thompson’s weak stand on abortion is now enough to make someone our movement’s standard-bearer—especially when there is still a stronger viable alternative—you are, in effect, saying that pro-life doesn’t mean as much as it once did. You are defining the term down. Out with “certain unalienable rights” and in with the right to decide in favor of abortion as “what freedom is all about.”
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For the sake of the one million unborn babies per year who will be murdered by abortion, I beg you to reconsider this endorsement. If you do not, however, you can be sure that many pro-lifers like me will remember this incident, and find other organizations and paths with which to defend life—if need be, even from actions of the NRLC.
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Calvin Freiburger
http://rightcal.blogspot.com

Who Will Brownback Endorse?

Calvin Freiburger 2008, abortion, Brownback, dishonesty, Giuliani, GOP, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, hypocrisy, pro-life
Failed presidential hopeful and supposed socon standard bearer Sam Brownback is considering endorsing one of the remaining GOP candidates. Is it Mitt Romney or Fred Thompson, whose conservative credentials have come under fire yet aggressively claim the mantle of life? John McCain? Mike Huckabee?
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Nope. Try Rudy Giuliani.
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That’s right—during the primary Brownback may throw his support behind the single greatest foe of his supposedly defining cause. Why?
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“I’m going to meet with him and I’m going to talk to him and hear what he is specifically saying now because he’s changed on a number of the abortion issues,” Brownback said in an interview. “He’s changed on partial-birth [abortion] and he … has said he would appoint strict constructionists.”…When asked about Giuliani’s position on allowing women the right to late-term abortions, also known as partial-birth abortions, Brownback said: “He is opposed to it. That’s what I’ve been told indirectly. I want to hear it from him.”
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Bulls***. Giuliani’s abortion position is no secret. It’s all come out during this campaign, and there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Brownback doesn’t know exactly where Giuliani stands. Are you telling me Mr. Pro-Life never campaigned on the GOP frontrunner’s publicized deficiencies on abortion? No way. My guess is that ol’ Sam is gonna ask Rudy, “If I endorse you, maybe giving your campaign some nice social-conservative window dressing, what’s in it for me?”
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Jim Geraghty guesses Brownback is just being polite, but I’m not convinced:
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“While he didn’t endorse the ex-mayor, he praised him as an “excellent leader” and said he was “much more comfortable” with Giuliani’s views on abortion and gay rights issues after the meeting,” according to the Washington Post. Asked by reporters in a brief press conference after the meeting with Giuliani if he could support a “pro-choice” nominee, Brownback said “I don’t know that he described himself…as a pro-choice candidate” and then said he wanted to let Giuliani explains his own view.
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Spoken like a true pro-lifer…not. If Scam Brownback ends up endorsing Giuliani in the primary, it means he didn’t really mean it when he talked up the life plank’s centrality is to the Republican platform. He just figured the unborn were a good gimmick.
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Another possibility: the Hill quotes a Brownback source as saying “We’ve done some internal polling to see where [Brownback supporters] are going to make sure they’re not flocking to someone we’re not going to endorse.” So you mean to tell me Brownback is going to end up telling his fans who to choose as America’s leader not based on his convictions or his honest assessment, but based on a poll?! If this quote is accurate, then it’s obvious Brownback is a phony.
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Pro-lifers should have known this man (who, let’s face it, was never going to be president anyway) was a fraud the minute he changed his vote on the amnesty bill within the space of eleven minutes after sticking his finger in the political wind. Fortunately, now that he’s out of the picture, the social-conservative choice for the presidency is becoming increasingly clear, and hopefully will become more so the more people learn about Thompson and Huckabee. It’s time to follow the lead of National Right to Life Committee co-founder Dr. John Willke and unite behind Mitt Romney.