BIG BLUE WAVE

UK: Prostitution is Struggling...

2013-05-24T09:38:00.000-04:00

Awwwwww....

I wish I could say it was due to improving morals.

Expert Tells Congress Unborn Babies Can Feel Pain Starting at 8 Weeks

2013-05-23T23:49:00.004-04:00

Maureen Condic quoted in LifeNews:

“The neural circuitry responsible for the most primitive response to pain, the spinal reflex, is in place by 8 weeks of development,” she explained. “This is the earliest point at which the fetus experiences pain in any capacity.”

At that point, the scientist confirmed “a fetus responds just as humans at later stages of development respond; by with withdrawing from the painful stimulus.”

...

To experience pain, a noxious stimulus must be detected. The neural structures necessary to detect noxious stimuli are in place by 8-10 weeks of human development,” the researcher continued. “There is universal agreement that pain is detected by the fetus in the first trimester. The debate concerns how pain is experienced ; i.e., whether a fetus has the same pain experience a newborn or an adult would have. While every individual’s experience of pain is personal, a number of scientific observations address what brain structures are necessary for a mental or psychological experience of pain.”

...

“Imposing pain on any pain-capable living creature is cruelty. And ignoring the pain experienced by another human individual for any reason is barbaric. We don’t need to know if a human fetus is self- reflective or even self- aware to afford it the same consideration we currently afford other pain – capable species. We simply have to decide whether we will choose to ignore the pain of the fetus or not,” she concludes.

You can read her testimony here.

I am not able to evaluate those scientific claims. But the following passage from her testimony corresponds to what I have read on the subject:

First, it is clear that children born without higher brain structures(‘decorticate’patients) are capable of experiencing pain and also other conscious behaviors, including smiling, recognizing and distinguishing between familiar/unfamiliar people and situations, having preferences for particular kinds of music and having averse reactions to pain. This indicates that the long-range connections that develop in the cortex only after 22 weeks (and are absent in these patients) are not obligatory for a psychological perception of pain. Similarly, experimental animals that have had the cortex removed also show a vigorous response to painful stimuli, again indicating that late-developing cortical pathways are not required for pain perception and response.

Rob Ford Scandal: The Person Who Owns the Video is Incommunicado

2013-05-23T22:24:00.000-04:00

Alleged Ford crack video seller not responding to calls

I don't know for certain whether this is true or not.

I tend to be skeptical of the video.

The story never made sense to me.

A basically up-and-up politician smokes crack with Somali dealers and allows himself to be filmed?.

Let's suppose you had a crack habit and your job depended on you keeping it secret. Would you allowed yourself to be filmed?

Now, maybe, he did, uh, crack under the pressure. Wouldn't he show signs of drug addiction? Crack is highly addictive. Crack users are typically thin. Crack users aren't known for holding down a job. Now maybe his entourage is covering for him but... would you cover for a crack user?

The more I hash out this story in my mind, the more it doesn't make sense to me.

It's also plausible, and even likely, that these Somali drug dealers are trying to con people. I remCrack video owners have gone silent... do you think they were bribed, bullied or scared by youknowwho?ember Ezra Levant used a very convincing look-a-like for skit he did with Rob Ford. (Sorry couldn't find video.) So perhaps there was an attempt to fabricate this story.

And then there's this: filmmakers looking for a Ford look-alike.

In any event, the way this story was set up, it's a big fail. Paying off drug dealers? Tipsters going incommunicado?

It looks very shady. It may turn out it was true but... the Toronto Star really had to go into the gutter to get this story. If it is true, you don't need a video. There are almost certainly other people in the know.

UPDATE: The plot thickens. Chief of Staff fired for telling mayor to get help.

UPDATE: Sarah Thomson writes on her facebook: "Crack video owners have gone silent... do you think they were bribed, bullied or scared by youknowwho?"

UPDATE: Mark Hasiuk has also picked up on how shady this all is.

This is a pathetic apology for Ford. It doesn't matter if the mayor is on drugs. What are you on...crack? It's one thing to say the story is fake, quite another to defend the guy if he's getting high, even if he does do it in private. What politicians do in private matters! It shows their character. I will not trust a drug addict. Isn't this common sense?

UPDATE May 24th 9:41 am.

National Post:

The source suspects the problem is alcohol-related. The mayor had denied a report in March that suggested he has a problem with alcohol as an “outright lie.” When asked to comment on the alleged reasons for Mr. Towhey’s departure, George Christopoulos, the mayor’s press secretary, said the office does not comment on personnel matters.

VIDEO: Jesus vs Muhammed by Steven Crowder

2013-05-22T11:01:00.001-04:00

Late-term abortion ban would stigmatize abortionists?

2013-05-21T13:27:00.001-04:00

How in the world could sticking a needle in the heart of a late-term fetus ever be stigmatized at all?

But pro-lifers manage to do it. Pro-lifers manage to make pumping a fetus with potassium chloride something that people should be ashamed of.

It would have never occurred to anyone without them pointing it out.

And how could anyone ever conflate feticide with murder? It boggles the mind!

Legalizing Abortion in Nepal Facilitated Sex-Selection Abortion: Study

2013-05-21T01:00:00.000-04:00

From a study in the British Medical Journal:

Main outcome measure:

Conditional sex ratios (CSRs) were calculated, specifically the CSR for second-born children where the first born was female. This CSR is where evidence of sex- selective abortion will be most visible. CSRs were looked at over time to assess the impact of legalisation as well as for population sub-groups in order to assess trends and identify characteristics of women using sex selection.

Results:

From 2007 to 2010 the CSR for second-order births where the first born was a girl was found to be 742 (95% confidence interval 599 to 913). Before abortion was legalised (1998 to 2000) the same CSR was 1021 (906 to 1150). After legalisation the CSR dropped most amongst educated and richer women, especially in urban areas. Indeed, just 325 girls were born for every 1,000 boys amongst the richest urban women.

Conclusions:

The abrupt fall in CSRs witnessed post legalisation indicates that sex-selective
abortion has become common. This research also indicates that legalising abortion can have a
substantial effect on sex ratios, even if sex-selection is specifically prohibited.

It's funny but feminists will demand sex-based quotas in numerous fields.

But when it comes to the population of a country, well NO we mustn't legislate on that.

And I realize that sex-selection abortion is illegal in Nepal (unlike in Canada).

However, if it were legal, the situation would be even worse.

If You Teach Catholicism is About Being Nice, You'll Lose Them...

2013-05-20T15:41:00.001-04:00

Standing on my head:

We’ve made catechesis nice. It’s all about the sacraments and being nice and the church and being nice and peace and justice and being nice and forgiveness and hugs and being nice. That’s all very nice… but there is another aspect to the gospel which we’ve quietly forgotten. We’ve forgotten that part about, “If anyone would be my disciple he must take up his cross and follow me.” Or that part which says, “The world will hate you as it has hated me.” or “Broad is the way that leads to destruction, but narrow is the gate and few there be that find it.”

So our children aren’t dumb. They grow up and they figure that if it’s all about being nice that you don’t have to go to church to be nice. You can be nice without church. You don’t have to be Catholic to be nice. You can be a nice Methodist if you want. So if they want to be nice they just go along being nice without church, and they believe that because that’s actually what we taught them even when we didn’t know that is what we were teaching them.

Because we never told them it would be difficult and that it would require discipline and that they should have some backbone and determination if they were going to make it in the spiritual life, they learned that lesson, and therefore when it did turn out to require a little bit of grit and determination and difficult things like confession and self discipline and prayer–they went scooting off because they thought it was all about being nice and praise and worship songs that made you feel good and a warm comfy sermon from Father about loving each other more. That’s what they thought it was. That’s what we taught them it was, and when it turned out that being a Catholic required some backbone and self sacrifice and dedication they were disappointed like we are all disappointed when our expectations are shattered. Never mind that they were false expectations to start with.

If you're not talking about the soul, suffering and the afterlife...

You're doing it wrong.

Of course God provides a lot of happiness and solace.

He does it when you understand what the deal really is.

If you understand his love for you, and how you have to take up the cross, that is when you will derive solace.

You don't get it from being nice. Anybody can do that. Jesus said as much.

India probably has better abortion stats than Canada

2013-05-19T23:16:00.000-04:00

There was a 44% increase in the number of reported abortions in Mumbai in 2012.

Why?

Dr Rekha Daver, who heads the gynaecology department of the state government-run JJ Hospital in Byculla, believes computerisation is the main reason. "Most hospitals have to report their numbers online to the government or local municipal corporation website. The 44% increase is most likely due to computerised reporting," said Dr Daver. As per the government rules, the hospitals have to upload their statistics by the fifth of every month.

It's really sad that a developing country does better at reporting abortion stats than we do in Canada.

And yes I realize these may be incomplete data due to underground abortions. Still, India does better than Canada in reporting its legal abortions.

When is it no longer a woman’s right to choose?

2013-05-19T23:00:00.001-04:00

It’s important to note, though, that analyzing the morality associated with late-term abortion isn’t predicated upon finding dirty and murderous clinics that put women’s lives at risk. While these rogue institutions should be located and shuttered and their leaders prosecuted, there are deeper and more profound issues that deserve discussion and scrutiny.[That pro-choice groups won't address!]

Obviously, most rational human beings would admit that snipping the spines of babies born alive during abortions is a horrific and murderous action. This is what many pro-choice advocates and groups have, themselves, admitted in the wake of Gosnell’s guilty verdict.

Yet these same leaders and institutions virtually never speak out about viable babies that are terminated in utero – children that are, with the help of medical advances, able to live on their own outside of the mother’s body, if afforded the chance. In fact, some of these groups give the impression that they want unfettered access to abortion, regardless of the time-frame.

...

I left the courtroom that day considering the cognitive dissonance that some in the pro-choice lobby regularly tout and that our society willingly tolerates. Consider that it’s difficult to condemn, on moral grounds, terminating a viable baby outside of the mother’s womb if one supports the right to do so in utero. This is more rooted in logic than it is opinion.

After all, the difference between the two is merely the tactic used to ensure death, isn’t it?

See, feminists would be totally offended at the fact the man raised the question.

Because they would sarcastically say well there's only the mere little fact that women actually carry the baby. Like that is of no consequence.

That fact is what they use to justify killing unborn children.

But here's the deal.

The suffering that women go through from pregnancy or from having the baby is not a greater evil than killing the baby.

Repeat: women's suffering is not worth a baby's death.

A human life is worth more than human suffering.

It's not a question o the baby being worth more than the mom.

It's a question of human life being worth more than human suffering. It doesn't whose life it is or whose suffering it is.

To average people, this is common sense.

To average people, killing human beings is wrong.

Abortion was legalized based on the premise that the fetus was not a real human being. And the truth is becoming more clear every day: fetuses are human beings.

What I find dumb is that feminists have to advance the notion that they have the right to do what they want with their bodies.

Virtually nobody disputes that, in general.

What they don't come out and say is that even if the fetus is a human being, women still have the right to have him killed.

Few feminists regularly come out and say that out in the open.

Because if they did, it would unmask how cruel their ideology is.

I keep saying it: their attitude is: if a baby has to suffer and die in the name of choice, so what? That is their attitude down to the last one.

When is it no longer a woman's right to choose? When the choice is death.

Quebec Priest Contests Church Teaching on Homosexuality in Fight Against Homophobia

2013-05-17T23:08:00.001-04:00

May 17th is the International Day to Fight Homophobia.

Gerard Marier, of the Montfortain Fathers, wrote a letter to homosexuals in which he criticized the Church on its stance on homosexuality. It was published in La Presse. He works in the Diocese of Nicolet. Here's my translation:

TITLE: The Surprising Confusion of the Church

In the last few years, timidly, you have come out of the closet. Now, it is in light of day, in the public square, that we see you more and more without any complex. You have acquired the right to exist and even the right of being considered full-fledged citizens.

But you owe nothing of it to the Church. On the contrary, its leaders have done everything to block the recognition of your sexual orientation. Though they have great respect for your person, though they have always defended your dignity as children or God, her has, not without the same constance, condemned homosexuality, the exercise of which, according to her, is intrinsically wrong, because it is a perversion of nature. One of the consequences of this doctrine is the exclusion of homosexual couples from the Eucharistic table.

This stance presupposes that homosexuality is not an innate orientation, but an acquired one. Which Scientists oppose. For them, homosexuality is innate. That's what Jacques Balthazar, for example, wishes to demonstrate in his book Biology of Sexuality, which relies on research done at the University of Liège in Belgium.

Let's go further. In the hypothesis that homosexuality is acquired, we can think of several factors that explain it: absence of the father, same-sex siblings, domination of the mother, a disturbed childhood, and what else? But in no case is it a choice that you have made. Because, marked with an iron brand as it was by public opinion, homosexuality could not be a desirable orientation for you.

When the Church censures homosexuals in response to the homosexual attraction that they have for one another, she does not take into account that the attraction is not voluntary. She judges her choice to live as a couple as if their particular attraction was also a choice. This confusion is surprising among a hierarchy made up of wise and cultivated men.

On this day devoted to the fight against homophobia, I exhort my brother priests to support the spiritual combat of prayer for you, wishing that it be done at the doors of the chanceries.

A good and fruitful day to you.

Here's where the good Father is confused.

It makes absolutely no difference to Catholic morality whether a feeling that spurs an action is voluntary or involuntary.

If an act is intrinsically disordered, then it's intrinsically disordered. It does not matter what the intentions are, what the feelings are, what the circumstances are, what the object or ends are, the act is always wrong.

He should know that.

And oh, by the way, The people who run the Diocese of Nicolet facebook page used an editorial mistake (the article said the priest was from "Saint Nicolet") in order to publish the link to the article.

Bad enough they published the link, they have to be two-faced about it and make like this innocent mistake was the reason they posted it.

When will somebody raise the issue and say: the emperor has no clothes? When will bishops acknowledge their own renegade priests and say something to the faithful about it? And more importantly do something about it?

Mom Enters Unborn Baby in Beauty Pageant

2013-05-16T14:36:00.002-04:00

I was really disappointed in this story.

I thought there was a beauty pageant for fetuses.

Alas, no. There will be no judging of cute yawns and thumb-sucking.

A British mum decided it was a good idea to sign up her baby for a beauty pageant before she was born.

I'm being facetious, by the way.

Slightly. :)

Gosnell Thinks He's Innocent: Defense Attorney

2013-05-15T15:17:00.000-04:00

Gosnell's defense attorney, Jack McMahon, told reporters assembled outside the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center that his client “truly believes in himself” and remains convinced that “he never killed a live baby."

In a somewhat grammatically challenged statement, McMahon said, “Dr. Gosnell, he believes that what he did was not commit homicide.”

Instead, McMahon implied Gosnell should have been released and given an opportunity to ply his trade again.

"Nobody gave him a second chance," McMahon said. "Dr. Gosnell is far from a monster, and this was not a house of horrors."

Another Gosnell-Like Abortionist from Texas

2013-05-15T13:19:00.002-04:00

Douglas Karpen. Remember that name. And to add warning to their warning: the pics in the report are absolutely vile. I only looked at them by squinting.

She described how some babies would emerge too soon and would be alive, moving, and breathing. She also told of how Karpen would sometimes deliver the babies feet first with the toes wiggling until he stabbed them with a surgical implement. At the moment the toes would suddenly splay out before going limp. Sometimes he would kill the babies by “twisting the head off the neck,” according to Edge.

...

The following month, Deborah Edge contacted Operation Rescue with her first-hand account Karpen’s practices after she had smuggled one of Operation Rescue’s Whistleblower flyers out of his clinic, knowing that she needed to call.

In addition to the accounts of the illegal late-term abortions, other abuses Edge witnessed included:

Falsification of ultrasounds to produce younger fetal ages of babies over the legal limit or older fetal ages to extract more money out of women.

Fraudulent billing practices.

Surgical equipment not properly sterilized.

Reuse of disposable instruments.

Unqualified workers drawing and administering drugs.

Late-term abortions done at 28 weeks and later. (Texas law permits only to 24 weeks.)

Lack of adequate nursing staff.

Concealing poorly kept logs from inspectors to prevent deficiency citations.

Hiring nurses through a temp agency to work only on days when inspections are scheduled.

Mistreating heavy women and inappropriately touching attractive women while under sedation.
Sexual harassment.

....

The additional information gathered from Edge and the other women was quickly added to the original Texas Medical Board complaint filed earlier. Sullenger discussed the new information with TMB Inspector, Leslie Coe, who seemed to be conducting an investigation. As the other Karpen employees came forward with similar stories, their affidavits were submitted to Coe along with the video of violations taken inside the clinic and the photos of the huge babies Karpen had aborted.

...

But then something changed.

“It was like someone turned the spigot off. Ms. Coe stopped returning my calls and did not acknowledge my e-mails. I could not account for the change in attitude,” said Sullenger. “Then I got the letter dismissing the case and was completely stunned by it.”

The letter, dated February 8, 2013, stated:

The investigation referenced above has been dismissed because the Board determined there was insufficient evidence to prove that a violation of the Medical Practices Act occurred. Specifically, this investigation determined that Dr. Karpen did not violate the laws connected with the practice of medicine and there is no evidence of inappropriate behavior, therefore no further action will be taken.

“I couldn’t believe what I was reading,” said Sullenger. “How could anyone look at those pictures of the two babies and still say ‘there is no evidence of inappropriate behavior’? No one even bothered to sign the letter.”

You'd think after the Kermit Gosnell case, they would have learned their lesson.

Gosnell was only caught because he ran a pill-mill. Nobody took the complaints about the abortion business seriously.

British Study Concludes that Fetuses Do Yawn

2013-05-15T12:35:00.001-04:00

This was published in November 2012 in an open access journal. The text is free.

It doesn't mean it's invalid, I'm just adding that caveat.

It's also a small study.

But still, very interesting.

And it has some neat pics.

BACKGROUND:

Although some research suggests that fetuses yawn, others disagree arguing that is it simple mouth opening. Furthermore there is no developmental account of fetal yawning compared with simple mouth opening. The aim of the present study was to establish in a repeated measures design the development of fetal yawning compared with simple mouth opening.

METHODOLOGY/FINDINGS:

Video recordings were made of the fetal face and upper torso visualized by means of 4D full frontal or facial profile ultrasound recordings. Fifteen healthy fetuses were scanned four times at 24, 28, 32 and 36 weeks gestation. Yawning was distinguished from non-yawning in terms of the length of time it took to reach the apex of the mouth stretch, with yawns being defined as more than 50% of the total time observed. To assess changes in frequency, a Poisson mixed effects model was fitted to the count of number of yawn and simple mouth opening events with age and gender as fixed effects, and person as a random effect. For both yawns and simple mouth openings a smooth varying age effect was significant. The number of yawns observed declined with age from 28 weeks gestation, whereas simple mouth openings were less frequent and the decline was observed from 24 weeks. Gender was not significant either for yawn and simple mouth openings.

CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:

Yawning can be reliably distinguished from other forms of mouth opening with the potential of using yawning as an index of fetal healthy development.

In Canada, you can't inform people of an abortion bubble zone in an abortion bubble zone

2013-05-15T12:17:00.000-04:00

Even if you're not actually protesting the zone:

Dear Americans: Cherish your First Amendment. We are sorely lacking it in here in Canada.

H/T: Kathy Shaidle

A Canadian Late-Term Abortionist Comments on the Kermit Gosnell Case

2013-05-15T01:20:00.000-04:00

Late-term abortionist Jean Guimond was recently interviewed on Montreal radio to get his reaction to the Kermit Gosnell case. (Paul Arcand 98.5FM). Campaigne Québec-Vie made a transcript of the interview, and this is my translation:

HOST: So we can say that Gosnell is a marginal case?

ABORTIONIST: I don't feel like calling him a doctor, not even a man. It's really a bunch of horror stories; and he's above all a doctor who's lost his right to practice-- in many states in the United States. It's not even a marginal practice, it's charlatanism.

HOST: Just to give the people a frame of reference, from what period can abortion normally be practiced, and up to how many weeks can it be done?

ABORTIONIST: We have to make a distinction between the United States and Canada.

HOST: Okay.

ABORTIONIST: In Canada, there is no maximum limit to do an abortion. That's a function of the Charter of Rights and Liberties, and all the judgements [he really means "cases"] of the Supreme Courts that wanted to limit access to abortion.

We hold therefore to the definition of a fetus that is considered part of a pregnant woman's body. Its status changes beginning the moment that it is born live. Born alive means breathing and having a beating heart. Therefore, technically, theoretically, abortion can be obtained up to the end of the 40 weeks of pregnancy. But practically, that's not something that's done....easily, and that it's mostly done with therapeutic indications [read: eugenics].

HOST: That means that in general, it can go up to 18 weeks, 24 weeks, after that it's much more complicated.

ABORTIONIST: Exactly. Forget about the number of weeks-- that is-- viability is not a factor in evaluationg whether or not to obtain an abortion because viability, let us remember, is not an objective criterion, depending on the regions where one lives [i.e. viability depends on where one lives]. So, if there is a medical centre with the best neonatologists, it will tell you that viability is 21-22 weeks. However, if you live in the Far North, viability is not 22 weeks.

HOST: In Gosnell's case, are we talking about butchery?

ABORTIONIST: Listen, yes, because-- in seeing all this-- I followed it all in the New York Times-- and the descriptions that were given-- it's not so much the abortion technique, as the entourage, the staff with him, the non-respect of basic rules of preventing infections. The premises were ghastly, and listen, what this tells me is that if a woman wants an abortion there, she is ready to risk her integrity, her health and even her life.

So, Gosnell what he simply did is profit from that situation to offer abortions that shouldn't be performed that way.

HOST: Thank you very much Dr. Guimond.

ABORTIONIST: You're welcome.

---

So you see, boys and girls, the problem wasn't that those babies died.

It was that he killed them the wrong way.

The butchery was not in snipping the necks.

It was in the awful care he provided to women.

And he followed it all in the New York Times. So that means he's really well-informed.

Gay to Straight, Straight to Gay

2013-05-15T00:10:00.003-04:00

New York Daily News:

De Blasio’s wife Chirlane McCray - who formerly identified as a lesbian and recently opened up about her sexuality in an interview with Essence Magazine - also featured at the glittery event, which was attended by about 300 supporters.. De Blasio wasn't shy about celebrating her lesbian past, praising her courage.

"Sometimes you're gay your whole life," Nixon said in introducing McCray, who has sent out a string of fundraising emails for her husband in recent days. "Then you wake up one day and you're straight."

Nixon herself was straight until her late 30s, when she met Christine Marinoni, an education activist who is now her wife.

That's amazing! They didn't undergo therapy or anything! Wow!

I know what the cynics are saying: well they're really just bisexual.

Uh-huh. Did they suddenly discover that sexual orientation?

The notion that sexual orientation is always fixed is crap. Experience proves it.

H/T: PFOX

Praise the Lord: Kermit Gosnell Spared the Death Penalty

2013-05-14T19:49:00.002-04:00

Refuses appeal process in a bid to be spared the death penalty.

I am genuinely relieved.

For Planned Parenthood, if a baby has to die, who cares?

2013-05-14T10:58:00.000-04:00

“The jury has rightly convicted Gosnell for his appalling crimes ensuring no woman is victimized by him ever again,” the organization said in a statement released on Twitter.

Yeah, it only matters that women will never be victimized again, not babies.

Not one pro-choice organization so far has commented on the killing of the babies.

They make it about "standard care" not "respect for human life."

Could somebody please ask Planned Parenthood the uncomfortable questions here?

NAF Has the Gall to React to Gosnell, Too

2013-05-14T01:01:00.001-04:00

And not say a damned word about the babies.

It's all about the women!

Even when it's not!

But additional regulations are not necessary—abortion was already highly regulated in Pennsylvania, and no level of restrictions would have stopped Gosnell, as he blatantly chose to operate outside of established standards of care and the law.

But those restrictions and regulations helped nail the bastard.

Laws don't stop every criminal, but they impose consequences when they do commit crime.

As if Gosnell shouldn't go to jail for killing a baby in the womb over 24 weeks!

NAF members must complete a rigorous application process, including a site visit, and must comply with our Clinical Policy Guidelines, which set the standards for quality abortion care in North America. Women can be assured of receiving high-quality care at NAF member facilities.

But if the applicant fails the inspection badly, you won't report him to the police.

Look pro-choice, either swallow your pride and condemn the killing of three babies, or just go slink into a corner and shut up. Have a heart for the real victims or just say nothing at all.

NARAL Blasts Pro-Lifers After Gosnell Verdict

2013-05-13T17:02:00.001-04:00

“Kermit Gosnell has been found guilty and will get what he deserves. Now, let’s make sure these women are vindicated by delivering what all women deserve: access to the full range of health services including safe, high-quality and legal abortion care,” said Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL.

But she went further in her statement and blasted pro-lifers and their efforts to limit abortions and put restrictions on late-term abortions in place. She also placed the blame for the Gosnell horrors on pro-life advocates.

“Anti-choice politicians, and their unrelenting efforts to deny women access to safe and legal abortion care, will only drive more women to back-alley butchers like Kermit Gosnell,” she said.

NARAL, how about you have a big cup of STFU?

YOU who KNEW about this guy, who saw the conditions and who didn't report him (through NAF)...

YOU have the nerve to cast aspersions on pro-lifers...

YOU who would kill babies the same age as Gosnell killed, but inside the womb...

YOU who opposes born alive laws to save babies born alive after your attempted butchery...

HOW DARE YOU!!!

You should be slinking into a corner, head bowed in humiliation, dumb with shame.

You promote the types of things he did.

You hypocrites!

Oh, you just want to do it cleaner-- without the bags of fetuses in the basement eaten up by rats. That's the only thing you want to change. The hygiene. Not the actual deaths of babies
.

Just shut up, NARAL.

You are part of the problem. You made what he did acceptable.

GOSNELL GUILTY!

2013-05-13T16:19:00.002-04:00

For murdering three babies and in the involuntary manslaughter of Karnamaya Mongar.

Now I'm only sorry he's probably going to death row.

The March for Life Re-Visited

2013-05-13T10:05:00.001-04:00

Diary of a Pro-Life Girl enumerates some things that could be improved at the Ottawa March for Life:

1. The focus on Christianity. How many atheist or agnostic pro-lifers didn't attend, or left early, because they didn't feel welcome? That isn't to say that there shouldn't be a religious presence - there absolutely SHOULD - but I don't think there should have been a mass after the March, on Parliament Hill. The masses should occur in the churches, and be specifically for the Christian pro-lifers. If we want other people to attend the March, we shouldn't force church on them! There was also too many speakers who said they were against abortion because God is. This does not help our cause. It just makes us sound like crazy religious people.

Well, maybe the problem is not that we sound like "crazy religious people." Maybe the problem is they think we're crazy religious people.

Religious people can't be secular in secular people's stead. Our opposition to abortion is inspired and nourished by our faith. You can't get 20 000+ Christians on the Hill and then ask them to pretend Jesus is irrelevant.

God will be the one who will win this victory for us. He is what has gotten us this far. If it weren't for faith, there is no way the pro-life movement would exist today.

That being said, if seculars want to have a secular-only rally, more power to them. It would show that being pro-life is for everyone.

3. The lack of homemade signs. Homemade signs show you care about the cause, they show that you are willing to put time into spreading your beliefs! I hope more people are inspired to make their own signs next year.

I agree!

I'd like to suggest that maybe one reason-- among many-- pro-lifers don't get the media coverage that we so crave is that our rallies are visually boring. The most interesting thing-- visually-- at the March for Life were the Pro-Life Avengers.Our rallies consist mostly of people just walking with identical signs everywhere.

If we want media coverage, we got to give the media the visuals to make it worth their while to publish our stories.

I've always wished we could do a little bit of street theatre.

I realize that it's a bit tough to lug homemade signs when you're on a bus with 30 other people for six hours.

But maybe the youth could have a sign-making party before the March? Maybe a paper maché workshop for those street theatre puppets?

Just a thought.

4. The fact that so many people left right away. It gives the impression that you really don't care that much about the pro-life cause. Though there was still a very sizable crowd several hours after the March (much larger, I am sure, than any other crowd that comes to Parliament), if the attendance could have stayed as high as it had been during the March, that would have made a wonderful witness!

There are many reasons for this.

I left early because it was hot as hell and I was dehydrated and I just couldn`t take it anymore.

Some people leave because they have a bus to catch.

Some people leave because they want to shower before the Rose Dinner.

Some people leave because they have to go pick up their kids from school.

Usually a political rally is about 1-2 hours long. A three-hour rally (and more!) is very extraordinary. It's hard to keep up the stamina.

Vatican II is an exercise of the Magisterium: Prefect of the CDF

2013-05-13T01:45:00.001-04:00

Thank you Archbishop Muller!

A “Council presided over by the successor of Peter as head of the visible Church” is the “highest expression” of the Magisterium, he said, to be regarded as part of “an indissoluble whole”, along with Scripture and 2,000 years of tradition.

I am absolutely sick to death of the bullcrap spewed about Vatican II.

The trads (and some otherwise orthodox Catholics) would have us believe that documents like Lumen Gentium-- termed a "dogmatic constitution"-- are supposed to only be "pastoral" i.e. non-binding in nature.

Yeah, they just made up this dogmatic constitution to be a mere re-statement of Catholic belief-- not anything that Catholcis are really supposed to adhere to.

Give me a freakin' break.

Look, if all the bishops of the world gather with the pope's approval and they effectively say "this is the faith of the Church", it does not matter what they call it: It's a binding exercise of the Magisterium. Call it an ecumenical council, call it a pastoral council, call it a hootenanny, when the bishops of the world teach this is the faith, that's the faith.

Let's stop second-guessing Vatican II.

Pope surprises, delights 40,000 Italian pro-lifers, joins March for Life

2013-05-12T21:38:00.000-04:00

I love this pope.