I will be out of town until July 5 and not blogging during this time. I will try to respond to emails at: jillstanek@comcast.net

Thanks,
Jill

The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday on a hearing held June 23 in the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution re: the constitutionality of Roe v. Wade. That these questions are being openly asked and debated in the US Senate is profound....

... [US Senator Sam] Brownback [R-KS] summoned a panel of legal experts - two abortion opponents, two advocates of abortion rights - to discuss his contention that legal scholars are beginning to coalesce around a consensus that the legal underpinning of the Roe vs. Wade decision, the constitutional right to privacy, was flawed.

In the view of conservatives, the Roe decision not only legalized abortion but also infected much of the federal court system with judicial activism.

"Roe is the Dred Scott of our age," said Edward Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a Washington think tank, referring to the Supreme Court decision that upheld slavery and was later discredited. "Like few other Supreme Court cases in our nation's history, Roe is not merely patently wrong but also fundamentally hostile to core precepts of American government."

Arguing that the court had overstepped its bounds and engaged in judicial legislating, Whelan called the case "a lawless power grab by the Supreme Court, an unconstitutional act of aggression."

Judicial activism is likely to be one of the themes of the Senate's consideration of any Supreme Court nomination, and Brownback asked witnesses what they thought would happen if Roe vs. Wade were overturned and the states regulated abortion.

Karen O'Connor, a lawyer and professor of government at American University, expressed concern about the impact on women's health if abortion returned "to the back alleys" and about what kinds of limits states might impose.

Brownback asked the legal experts to address the issue of when life began, in part to explore the possibility that states could outlaw abortion on grounds that it constituted the taking of a life....

Dr. Frank forwarded this column, published in Canada's Western Catholic Reporter, June 20. There is no Internet version available:

Embrace the life God offers

By Mark Pickup

Sitting closer to the end of my life than its beginning, I find myself wishing I'd had more children. Deep into the sorrow and pain of progressive multiple sclerosis, it is only Christ and my family that give me any joy and consolation. Christ and my family are all that gives context to my life and suffering now. I wish I'd been more open to the prospect of new life when I was a young husband....

Run, run, run

As a young man with a career ahead of me, I did not have time for a large family. There were places to go and people to see. I can't remember the places or the people anymore - but they were so very important - I was convinced of it at the time. I needed more money and more status. I can't remember why, or what I needed to buy, and the professional accolades have long since faded away. But my career was calling me to bigger and better things.

The idea of modest homes filled with children was passe: Anybody who was anybody used birth control and limited their families to two kids. They warehoused them in daycare because both parents "had to work" to pay their large mortgages on new big houses in well-tailored cul-de-sacs, in just the right neighborhoods. There were, after all, appearances of success to maintain.

That was my dream too, before disease came to strip away those absurdly extraneous things that seemed so important way back when.

If I could go back and do it again, I think I would have more children-lots of them. Indeed! I would fill the rooms of my little house with the joie de vivre of children's perpetual laughter, and then I'd revel in the offence it caused the population control fanatics! I'd attach a tire-swing to the maple trees in the backyard and have a fire-pit to roast marshmallows on warm summer nights. We would have hours of fun doing nothing in particular.

I wouldn't sandwich "quality time" between board meetings and 'doing lunch' with clients at trendy bistros. Life itself can be quality time and I would let it happen even if I couldn't afford the latest self-help book telling me how to do it.

One sustaining love

But what ifs and wishful thinking aside, God's love shines brightly on my family. For more than thirty years I have been the beneficiary of devoted spousal love: One love for one lifetime. My two adult children live near and visit often. My grandchildren are a constant source of joy.

As the sun was setting last weekend I was surrounded by my family as we had a barbeque in the backyard. My grandchildren were taking turns being pushed in the tree-swing by their dad. "High inna sky!" squealed my wee grand-daughter, her little pigtails blowing in the wind as her daddy pushed her too high for my liking. Wood crackled in the fire-pit. My grandson Carson and I roasted marshmallows.

"How did your trees grow so big, Grandpa?"

"They were here before Grandma and I built our house. They're right where God put them so we didn't cut them down. They've had a long time to grow."

"They're supposed to be here?"

"That's right, Carson, just like you're supposed to be here. You're right where God put you."

"I'm glad God put me here."

"Me too, Carson. Me too."

I sat in my wheelchair with Carson on my lap. We both gazed at the fire as our marshmallows burst into flames (an excellent dietary source of carbon and ash). It didn't matter; it was Carson's turn on the swing.

God put us all here. We are asked to always be open to the prospect of new life, and nurture all humanity that is here. From conception to natural death, and every state and stage along the life spectrum, we are one human family.

Christ spoke of interdependent humanity that reflects his Lordship and love.

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that you joy may be complete. My commandment is this: Love each other as I have loved you." (John 15.9-12)

Can you think of anybody who is outside the love of Christ? That is our example. The entire 15th Chapter of John is an exhortation to love and obedience to God. We are called to love and cherish every human life. Period. And our love begins with wholehearted committed love for God (see Matthew 22.37-40).

Swings and trees, warm fires and conversations encourage relationships. Love for Christ encourages love for people.

The inference in this comment on Rich Miller's blog...

But now Stanek and her allies have given Madigan a reason to strike back at them. If Speaker Madigan makes life miserable for pro-life forces over the next few years (and I suspect he will) they have no one to blame for Madigan's opposition to them but themselves.

... is that the only way IL pro-lifers can expect to get ahead politically is by smiling sweetly and knowing our place, which is in the corner, where we quietly await any crumbs tossed our way. I'd like to see you hand that line to the unions or the Med Society or Planned Parenthood.

Will Mike Madigan lower his hand of blessing toward pro-lifers if we make waves? Get real. He's too politically smart to demonstrate passive aggression in this case.

IL Democrats/liberals do not operate in a void. The conversations being held nationally as to what to do about pro-lifers (who are no longer being ignored or disparaged, take note) are also being held here.

Not only did IL pro-lifers score huge upsets in the last election (Slone, Welch), but pro-lifers made net gains in both the House and the Senate.

Further, pro-life Dem Grunloh was in large part defeated by pro-life GOPer Reis because Madigan held up Grunloh's Born Alive and Marriage Amendment bills, rendering him impotent and vulnerable on the point of legislative ineffectiveness.

Further, downstate Dems are sick to death of the anti-gun, pro-gay, anti-life, pro-tax agenda being forced down their throats by Chicago Dems. If Mike Madigan does not want a coup on his hands (like GA rural Dems forming a bloc against Atlanta Dems), he has to placate them. Hence, the Born Alive bone this session.

Finally, if Madigan is honestly pro-life, will he let aggravating pro-lifers override his concern over the lives of prenatal children by holding up legislation that would save their lives? If so, then he's not really pro-life.

My, my. Rich Miller's blog readers are easily antagonized. For their responses to my post yesterday about Michael Madigan (and my response to theirs), go here.

Interesting read on RedState.org.

Meanwhile, NY Gov. George Pataki, who also has national aspirations, hasn't indicated whether he'll sign a pedophile thrill pill bill into law (making the morning after pill available over-the-counter, even to young girls) that the NY legislature approved earlier this week. Pataki's reportedly feeling the pressure from both sides.

It's interesting that Pataki's signing is even in question, since he and his wife are card-carrying pro-abort members of the misnamed Republican Majority for Choice. If they're really in the majority, why is Pataki even pausing to mull over his thrill pill bill decision? It should be a no-brainer, like pba.

Operation Rescue West reports that not one but two abortion mills owned by Tammy Sobieski are being closed.

Sobieski's WomanCare abortion clinic in West Palm Beach has been evicted, allegedly because she misrepresented her plans for the site to the owner.

Poor Tammy. She must have been preoccupied trying to cover for her lies, because in addition to that it appears she neglected to renew her lease by June 19 at her Cocoa, FL, location and is being tossed from there as well by an owner who doesn't like the business she's in. She has to be out by August 19.

Hat tip: Operation Rescue West

[Photo credit: Operation Rescue West]

Fox News is currently conducting a poll that asks, "What constitutional amendment do we need most?"

Banning abortion is one of the five options and is currently in first place at 36%.

Go here to vote.

Hat tip: Denise at Ohio Right to Life

Britney Spears released a new single June 14, "Someday (I Will Understand)," a song she wrote to her prenatal baby.

Baby upstages Britney in the music video, stealing every scene in which s/he appears inside Mom's beautiful, 5-months-pregnant belly.

Words to song on page 2.

Someday (i Will Understand)
------Britney Spears

Nothing seems to be the way
That it used to
Everything seems shallow
God give me truth
In me
And tell me somebody's watching
Over me
And that is all I'm praying is that

Someday I will understand
In God's whole plan
And what He's done to me
Oh but maybe someday I will breathe
And I'll finally see
I'll see it all in my baby

Don't you run too fast my dear
Why don't you stop?
Just stop and listen to your tears
They're all you've got
It's in you
You see somebody's watching
Over you
And that is all I'm praying is that

Someday you will understand
In God's whole plan
And what He does to you
Oh but maybe someday you will breathe
And you'll finally see
You'll see it all in your baby
You'll see it all in your baby

No moment will be more true
Than the moment I look at you
It's in you
You see somebody's watching
Over you
And that is all i'm praying is that

Someday you will understand
In God's whole plan
And what He does to you
Oh but maybe someday you will breathe
And you'll finally see
You'll see it all in your baby
You'll see it all in your baby
You'll see it all in your baby
You'll see it all in your baby

Reuters reported today:

The most-used Internet site, has shut down all its user-created Internet chat rooms amid concerns that adults were using the sites to try to have sex with minors....

The user-created chat rooms in question, where Internet users converse in real time, had names including "Girls 13 And Under For Older Guys" and "Girls 13 And Up For Much Older Men" and were all listed under "education chat rooms"....

The concern over online safety for children using the Internet has surged with the number of people using the Internet, which allows for anonymous and sometimes hard-to-trace communication and content....

Also surging is the number of men who support minor girls getting contraceptives and abortions without parental consent.

Hat tip: LifeSiteNews.com

This will be interesting only to IL pols:

IL Speaker of the House Michael Madigan was subpoenaed June 17 to give a deposition on what part he played, if any (ha), to stop the Illinois Choose Life license plate legislation last year.

(Side note: Workers at Madigan's law office told the process server he wasn't in. But she smelled a rat and barged into his inner sanctum where - voila! - she spotted him and served him. She said he was unpleasant. Actually, she said he was "arrogant.")

Madigan's daughter, AG Lisa, is fighting the subpoena.

Another legislator who shall remain nameless for the moment is presently dodging and weaving the server.

For backdrop read: "Choose Life, Inc., sues to halt specialty plate distribution," 6-28-04

The cover of the July issue of Good Housekeeping shows former Good Morning America host Joan Lunden showing off her second set of surrogate twins born within two years. At age 54, Lunden was pushing the Brave New World envelope, I thought.

But, instead, pro-lifers should give her kudos. Reported GH....

When Lunden and [husband Jeff] Konigsberg first decided to work with a surrogate, several embryos were created (using Konigsberg's sperm). The embryos that weren't implanted were frozen and placed in storage. But after a while, Lunden says, "the clinic was asking, 'What do you want to do with the stored embryos? Do you want us to keep them frozen or do you want to use them?' Jeff looked at me and said, 'Oh, I think we have another little boy or girl who's very cold right now.' Right then, we decided to do it again."

There is so much to be infuriated about re: yesterday's Associated Press story on the embryo/cloning stem cell conference that opened June 21 in San Francisco. Like men going through mid-life crisis, embryonic stem cell proponents' own own hype has caused panicked insecurity with a public display of impotence and fessing up of the truth. Read for yourself....

SAN FRANCISCO - Despite optimism and enthusiasm, stem cell researchers arriving here Thursday for a conference are rowing hard against strong currents of financial, political and technical turmoil.

There's even talk of trying to temper heightened public expectations that cures for diseases are imminent.

"Many of the technologies we hyped to the general public haven't worked yet," Celgene Corp. president Alan Lewis said Wednesday at a biotechnology trade show in Philadelphia....

Even the most outspoken proponents of the technology concede they are years away from actual drugs based on stem cells....

Recall my posting yesterday of the investment adviser's caution to let taxpayers shoulder the "highly speculative" embryonic stem cell risk as you continue the AP story:

He also noted that venture capitalists "are very cautious" about investing in stem cell companies because of uncertainty over the field's future....

Because President Bush has strictly limited the amount of federal funding for the work, scientists are left to rely on support from a few philanthropic groups and one corporate backer: Geron Corp., the money-losing Menlo Park, Calif., biotechnology company that has poured $100 million into human embryonic stem cell research since 1996 – about twice the amount the U.S. government has committed.

Geron is by far the largest company in the field, and it lost about $80 million last year. Other stem cell companies are struggling to stay afloat.

Advanced Cell Technology, a Worcester, Mass., firm has run into big financial problems. It also can't obtain a steady supply of women's eggs, a necessity and a giant ethical minefield.

This is causing...

... a growing number of liberal groups, such as women's rights organizations and biotechnology foes oppose the work as dehumanizing...

because...

... the egg supply has become a crucial sticking point for cloning supporters, which include California's new $3 billion stem cell agency – the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Also recall when I said cloning is an indispensable component of embryonic stem cell experimentation as the story continues:

Agency President Zach Hall and other scientists say that cloning human embryos to harvest stem cells will be an indispensable way to make tailor-made drugs and develop powerful research tools.

Spread this article far and wide.

Polskie Radio reports today:

14 giant anti-abortion billboards have been put up in the city centre of Lodz in central Poland. All of them abound in drastic scenes, and they are displayed right next to war images [Rwanda, Yugoslavia]. The organizers think it's a good way to appeal to people's conscience.

The audio of the story quotes Marek Chorodniczy of Fronda, a Catholic magazine:

"This exhibition has been prepared in a very clever way. The pictures definitely negate the view of pro-choice circles. They shouldn't be shocked by such pictures. If they treat abortion as a normal thing, I would expect them to look at them as an ornament. However, if it does upset them, they must consider abortion a homicide."

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL, had this to say about legislation introduced June 21 in both the US House and Senate called "The Parents Right to Know Act," which would require clinics receiving Title X federal funds to notify parents of minors seeking contraception at least five days before writing a prescription:

"Anti-birth control zealots behind this bill are determined to impose their values on others, even if it means more unintended pregnancies and an increased need for abortions."

Is that a threat, Nancy, of increased abortions? Why? If abortions are so physically and psychologically beneficial to women and pose no moral dilemma, why would more abortions in America not be better?

[Quote credit: Ms. magazine's feminist wire daily newsbrief, June 22; photo credit: NARAL]

From Citizen Link, today:

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback believes a hearing he's holding Thursday on Capitol Hill could eventually lead to the overturning of the Supreme Court's infamous Roe v. Wade decision.

Brownback, R-Kan., will convene the Senate Judiciary Committee's Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights subcommittee to examine the consequences of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the other 1970s-era Supreme Court decision that helped give America abortion on demand.

"A number of legal scholars both from the left and the right believe that Roe v. Wade is badly decided law, so we're going to start going at the core issue of Roe and this decision," Brownback told CitizenLink. "I believe you'll see Roe v. Wade overturned."

Norma McCorvey (the "Jane Roe" of Roe v. Wade) and Sandra Cano ("Jane Doe" of Doe v. Bolton) are expected to be witnesses at the hearing....

[Photo credit: Reuters]

IL Gov. Rod Blagojevich has Gavin Newsom Syndrome. Newsom is the San Francisco mayor who defied California law and proclaimed gay residents in his city could marry.

Blagojevich, a lawyer who has admitted he surfed during Constitutional Law class, has caught the fiat bug and defied IL law and order twice now.

Last year Blagojevich defied the FDA and set up a plan for IL residents to buy drugs from Canada.

This year Blagojevich defied IL law that clearly states medical professionals are exempted from participating in work they find morally offensive and ordered pharmacists to dispense the morning after pill whether they wanted to or not.

Paul Caprio of FamilyPac has taken the latter issue on, releasing an update yesterday....

Hat tip: Pharmacists for Life

I wanted to try to give everyone a comprehensive update of key developments in the last month of our battle and where we are headed.

1) Whiteside County Suit Against Gov. Filed by AUL
Last week Ed Martin of AUL filed what we think is a very strong lawsuit against the Governor's Emergency order in Whiteside County. The suit is being brought by a pharmacy owner of two pharmacies located in Whiteside County. The suit alleges that the Emergency order denies his right of moral conscience as a Catholic not to sell Plan B as well as his rights as an owner to determine what he sells. I like this lawsuit and Ed Martin has done an excellent job in putting it together. It may wind up before the Illinois Supreme Court

2) Walgreen's Lies
It's bad enough that Walgreen's keeps selling Plan B and even advertising the drug. Now they are telling some of their outraged customers that they completely respect the right of conscience of their pharmacists to refuse to sell the drug. This is not true. We have evidence to show that they are threatening and intimidating pharmacists telling them that they must sell Plan B. We may have to consider a State-wide boycott of Walgreen's in order to make them accurately state their policy to their many customers.

5) JAYCAR Committee Narrowly Approves Emergency Rule
By a 6-5 vote the Illinois JAYCAR Committee narrowly approved, as we expected, Blagojevich's emergency rule. This has no significant affect on the battle or any of our court proceedings. Thank you to Catholic Conference of Illinois for their excellent testimony.

7) This is a complicated and multi-faceted battle that we're in, but I'm more confident than ever that with your prayers and our Lord's blessing, we're going to win it. If we win in Illinois, a very strong message is going to be sent that 1) they cannot destroy people's rights of conscience and 2) they cannot tell small business owners what they have to stock and sell. In Washington they tell me the nation is watching our battle here in Illinois, please pray for us.

Be not afraid.

Paul Caprio

Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor of National Review Online, writes....

Hat tip: Reader Arlene

Related:
"Rapper to premiere pro-life video on MTV," 6-9-05
"Rapper's pro-life video is booming," 6-10-05
"Can I live?", 6-19-05

Rapper and actor Nick Cannon has just completed an interesting hat trick.

He landed a show on MTV this fall, "Nick Cannon Presents Wild 'N Out.'

In the April edition of GQ magazine he told guys "Five Ways to Sex Up Your Style.'

In cyberspace, he's been celebrated on "pro-life' e-mail lists.

That combination doesn't exactly happen every day.

Cannon's new music video "Can I Live?" tells a tale that's very different from the gangsta's paradise of dirty dancing and booty calls. In the song, the hip-hop pop star tells his life story or at least the beginning of it and his mom's close call with an abortion....

"Can I Live?" speaks to something very fundamental (whether intentionally or not). Nick Cannon wanted to send a supportive word out to scared teen mothers, a grateful word to those "strong women' who choose life. He didn't have to start a "Rappers for Life.' He didn't have to be heavy- handed or compose a political rant. He's just offering an honest story, as he does what he does. That's how you send a message people will listen to.

The Chicago Tribune ran a story on June 20 focused on the incredibly important point: How does the morning after pill work, i.e., is it an abortifacient?

The story had many refreshingly correct components, properly laying out the science of the debate. I was particularly pleased when it pointed out that pro-abortion medical organizations like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say pregnancy does not begin until implantation, which completely undermines their assertion that the morning after pill does not kill a baby.

The Trib just couldn't resist advancing its liberal agenda, however, which was to thrust that some scientists believe the morning after pill does not stop a 5-9 day old embryo from implanting in the uterus. This was evidenced by the headlines used. The front page headline was....

Related:
Pharmacists for Life's "Kemical Killing" links to numerous studies of the modes of action of the morning after pill.

"'Morning-after pill' not abortion, scientists say."

Compare that headline to Billings Gazette's, which posted the same story the next day: "'Morning-after pill' debate lies in details." Much fairer.

Further, the subtitle on the Tribune's second page of the story was, "FDA adviser changed mind on 'Plan B'," which completely misrepresented the facts:

Some doctors opposed to Plan B on moral grounds now concede that it appears to work primarily by stopping ovulation.

One of them is Dr. W. David Hager, a Bush appointee to an FDA advisory council who played a role last year in blocking the approval of Plan B for over-the-counter sales.

Hager said his opposition stemmed from concerns about its health effects on young women and girls, not about any potential to harm embryos.

"My feeling is that the principal method of action is to prevent ovulation," said Hager, an abortion foe and professor of gynecology and obstetrics at the University of Kentucky. But Hager said it's still possible that Plan B sometimes prevents an embryo from gaining a foothold.

Dr. Hager "changed his mind"? About what?

Am picking up on this one late: "Culture of Death - Baby Rowan's Story," by Chuck Colson on Breakpoint, June 9, 2005

New York Times, June 15 [see page two for full article, which is no longer available on the Internet without paying for it]:

Studies Rebut Earlier Report on Pledges of Virginity

Challenging earlier findings, two studies from the Heritage Foundation reported yesterday that young people who took virginity pledges had lower rates of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases and engaged in fewer risky sexual behaviors....

Independent experts called the new findings provocative, but criticized the Heritage team's analysis as flawed and lacking the statistical evidence to back its conclusions....

The authors of the new studies... said their findings contradicted those published in March in The Journal of Adolescent Health by Dr. Peter Bearman, the chairman of the sociology department at Columbia University, and Hannah Brückner of Yale University. The earlier study found that a majority of teenagers who took the pledge did not live up to their promises and developed sexually transmitted diseases about the same rate as adolescents who had not made such pledges. It also found that the promise did tend to delay the start of intercourse by 18 months.

Who were the NY Times' "independent" experts?

The team needs to do "a lot of work" on its paper, said David Landry, a senior research associate at the Alan Guttmacher Institute [research arm of Planned Parenthood]....

Dr. Bearman [author of study being critiqued!] said: "... The use of self-report data for S.T.D.'s is therefore extremely problematic."

Hat tip: Reader Kevin

New York Times
June 15, 2005
Studies Rebut Earlier Report on Pledges of Virginity
By Lawrence K. Altman

Challenging earlier findings, two studies from the Heritage Foundation reported yesterday that young people who took virginity pledges had lower rates of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases and engaged in fewer risky sexual behaviors.

The new findings were based on the same national survey used by earlier studies and conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services. But the authors of the new study used different methods of statistical analysis from those in an earlier one that was widely publicized, making direct comparisons difficult.

Independent experts called the new findings provocative, but criticized the Heritage team's analysis as flawed and lacking the statistical evidence to back its conclusions. The new findings have not been submitted to a journal for publication, an author said. The independent experts who reviewed the study said the findings were unlikely to be published in their present form.

The authors of the new studies, Dr. Robert Rector, a senior research fellow in policy studies at the foundation, and Dr. Kirk A. Johnson, a senior policy analyst there, said their findings contradicted those published in March in The Journal of Adolescent Health by Dr. Peter Bearman, the chairman of the sociology department at Columbia University, and Hannah Brückner of Yale University. The earlier study found that a majority of teenagers who took the pledge did not live up to their promises and developed sexually transmitted diseases about the same rate as adolescents who had not made such pledges. It also found that the promise did tend to delay the start of intercourse by 18 months.

The new study, reported at a meeting in Arlington, Va., sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services, found that over all, adolescents who made virginity pledges were less likely to engage in any form of sexual activity. If those who made promises did become sexually active, their array of sexual behaviors was likely to be more restricted than those of adolescents who did not make a pledge, Dr. Rector's team said.

Those who made pledges were less likely to engage in vaginal intercourse, oral sex, anal sex and sex with a prostitute, and they were less likely to become prostitutes than were adolescents who did not take such a pledge, the Heritage team said.

The team needs to do "a lot of work" on its paper, said David Landry, a senior research associate at the Alan Guttmacher Institute in New York. He said in an interview that it was "a glaring error" to use the result of a statistical test at a 0.10 level of significance when journals generally use a lower and more rigorous level of 0.05.

Dr. Johnson, a co-author, defended the team's methods and said many journal articles used the higher level and let readers decide the merits of the findings.

Mr. Landry also criticized the Heritage team's reliance on self-reports of sexually transmitted diseases among those who took the pledge, saying that group would be less likely to report them. "The underreporting problem is so severe that it makes that data highly questionable," Mr. Landry said.

Dr. Bearman said: "Our analyses showed that pledgers are less likely to get tested for S.T.D.'s, be diagnosed as having an S.T.D. and to see a doctor because they are worried about having an S.T.D. Most S.T.D. infections are asymptomatic, and therefore, people don't know that they have an S.T.D. unless they get tested. The use of self-report data for S.T.D.'s is therefore extremely problematic."

Mr. Landry and Dr. Freya Sonenstein, who directs the center for adolescent health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, urged the Heritage team to try to publish its findings.

"It's healthy to have a good dialogue" on issues like virginity pledges, Mr. Landry said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which helped pay for the study, declined through a spokeswoman to comment on the new study. The centers did not analyze the data from the earlier study and did not plan to analyze the new Heritage findings, the spokeswoman said.

In an unusual feature of a scientific report, the Heritage team said that Dr. Bearman's team "deliberately misled the press and the public" about some of its findings.

"That is an offensive statement," Dr. Bearman said.

END

From yesterday's Herald-Mail Online in Maryland:

When Hagerstown mom Angelique Bowman first spotted the posters of bloody aborted fetuses Monday afternoon as she strolled down West Washington Street holding the hands of her sons Dushion, 2, and Thavies, 5, she was shocked.

"I got a little annoyed because they are so graphic," said Bowman, 28. "I had my kids with me and I didn't expect to see that."

But a few blocks, some conversations with the protesters and a pamphlet later, Bowman said she was convinced that the images were "what it takes" to convey what the protesters call "the truth" about abortion.

"I never realized that this is what it looks like, that it takes so much mutilation," Bowman said.

Reactions such as Bowman's were what members of the Baltimore-based anti-abortion group Defend Life were after when they set up their posters... on either side of the Hagerstown Reproductive Health Services clinic....

Yesterday, The Motley Fool reported:

... But when it comes to [private] investing, it's best to view the subject [of embryonic stem cell research] with as much detachment as possible....

Sure, federal support may increase the chances that embryonic stem cells will yield novel treatments. But the path to success is still likely to be peppered with setbacks and failures over a period of years and at a cost of millions, if not billions, of dollars. Federal investment is not a magic wand that will produce cures overnight.

Further, even if national legislation does fail, as seems likely, public investment in embryonic stem cell research will increase substantially anyway. California voters approved a referendum that will allocate $3 billion in state funding over 10 years to the field, and New Jersey is considering spending hundreds of millions on stem cell research and a research center at Rutgers University.

Despite the promise suggested by early studies, embryonic stem cell research remains highly speculative. More concrete results, not the amount of cash being poured into research, are the best basis for investing decisions.

PalmBeachPost.com reports today:

Randall Terry, the anti-abortion activist who was a prominent voice in the losing battle to keep Terri Schiavo alive, said Tuesday he's going ahead with a Republican primary challenge of state Sen. Jim King in northeast Florida.

King drew the ire of social conservatives this year when he and eight other Republican senators blocked legislation that aimed to reconnect Schiavo's feeding tube....

Terry founded the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue in the 1980s but has since parted ways with the organization. He has lived in Ponte Vedra Beach since 2003.

[Photo, courtesy of ChristianWireService.com, is of Terry, Bob Schindler, and Bobby Schindler.]

KaiserNetwork.org reports today that the pro-abortion American Medical Association passed a resolution yesterday at its annual meeting "saying pharmacists should be required to fill all valid prescriptions or refer patients to another pharmacy or pharmacist immediately."

So much for choice.

LifeSiteNews.com says the AMA action is "target[ing] Catholic and pro-life pharmacists for extinction."

Reuters reported, "[T]he AMA included in its resolution a statement that it may seek to gain permission for doctors to dispense medications to their own patients if there is no other pharmacist within a 30-mile radius willing to fill their prescription."

The "may" is critical, meaning this likely won't pan out. There has been no long term testing conducted on the impact of these mega-doses of hormones on underage girls and women, and the AMA knows it. Is "willfully ignorant dispensing of medications" sueable for malpractice? We'll likely someday see.

Stem cells are the future of medicine, so private investers will indeed sink money into stem cell research they believe will pay off. Witness a report in the June 27 issue of Business Week :

Doctors, patients, and quite a few investors are counting on ViaCell to unlock the therapeutic promise of umbilical cord stem cells. These have been used, on a small scale, to treat more than 30 different diseases. Now ViaCell would like to make such cells available on a much larger scale. Backed by a $20 million partnership with biotech giant Amgen Inc., it has launched clinical trials to test whether doctors could use its specially-prepared cells in transplant procedures, instead of bone marrow. And a big boost could come from Washington, which is weighing laws to fund a national storage system for cord blood, currently in short supply.

What? You hadn't heard about a federal funding proposal that would aid umbilical cord stem cell research? All you've heard is that evil extremists are basically sentencing diabetic children and Michael Fox to death by banning embryonic stem cell research? Read on:

On May 24, the House of Representatives passed a bill that proposes a federally funded system for storing umbilical cord blood. The bill got little attention because on the same day, the House also passed legislation that aims to free up federal funds for embryonic stem-cell research -- touching off a storm of controversy and a veto threat from President Bush. Amid the din, [ViaCell CEO Marc] Beer was quietly cheering the umbilical cord bill. "It's a great validation," the CEO says. "It's a shame no one heard about it." If positive news on cord stem cells continues, doctors, patients, and investors will be all ears.

... although I expect MSM will cover theirs.

Hat tip: Reader MQuinn

From today's Electric New Paper, Singapore:

Australian movie stars, sportsmen and entrepreneurs alike are shelling out A$40,000 ($52,000) a pop for stem-cell treatment in China.

The controversial process is illegal Down Under, so they are queuing up for this 'fountain-of-youth' treatment overseas....

The radical procedure that uses fertilised eggs harvested from genetically-perfect female Chinese donors is said to wind back the clock on a range of diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, arthritis and chronic fatigue [emphasis mine].

How quickly the embryonic stem cell industry is morphing women into human hens. Where are the feminists?

11:55 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:

... And for the good of our legal system, I will also continue to nominate federal judges who faithfully interpret the law and do not legislate from the bench. Every judicial nominee deserves an up or down vote on the floor of the United States Senate, and I thank you for your strong support of the fair-minded jurists I have named to the federal courts.

Building a more compassionate society also depends on building a culture of life. A compassionate society protects and defends its most vulnerable members at every stage of life. A compassionate society supports the principles of ethical science. When we seek to improve human life, we must always preserve human dignity, so that's why we stand against cloning. A compassionate society rejects partial-birth abortion. And I signed a law to end that brutal practice and my administration will continue working to defend that law. To advance a culture of life, I was proud to sign the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act and the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.

A compassionate society will not sanction the creation of life only to destroy it. At the White House I recently met with 21 remarkable families, each of whom either adopted or gave up for adoption frozen embryos that remained after fertility treatments. The children I met confirm our shared belief that America can pursue the tremendous possibilities of science and at the same time remain an ethical and compassionate society. With your continued dedication and work, we will continue building a culture of life in America, and America will be better off for it.

The photo, left, is of a reporter holding a dead puppy and was posted in the June 18 Roanoke-Chowan News Herald, accompanying an expose that two PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) workers who were caught killing dogs and cats and throwing them in dumpsters.

Why do you think the newspaper posted a photo of a dead animal pulled from a dumpster?

When viewing the photo, were you disgusted by the vicious act committed against helpless animals, and their gross disposal, or were you disgusted by the photographer?

What about an analagous photo of a baby killed by abortion?

In its report, Pilot 13 News wouldn't show video of the dead animals, but it did show the dumpsters and the animals' remains in garbage bags. Would that Pilot 13 News cared as much about the disposal of dead aborted babies.

Hat tip: www.PETAkillsanimals.com

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin began her June 17 screed against pro-lifers by quoting from Jesus' "judge not lest ye be judged" speech in Matthew 7:1-5.

Marin was ticked that the American Life League publicly called Catholic Church leadership into account for handing pseudo-Catholic US Sen. Dick Durbin his communion wafer on Sunday after he voted against the partial birth abortion ban the Friday before... and the Unborn Victims of Violence Act the Friday before that... etc., etc., etc. ALL took out a full-page ad in the June 16 Sun-Times.

Fellow CWA-er Mary Lynn Ferkaluk has submitted a great rebuttal to Marin's piece, which follows.

Related:
"How the most misquoted Bible verse is destroying America," 6-20-05

[Photo is of Carol Marin from the Chicago Sun-Times website.]

Letter to Carol Marin of the Chicago Sun-Times
by Mary Lynn Ferkaluk
Hickory Hills, IL

In "Abortion foes should look within," you criticized the American Life League's ad in the June 16 Sun-Times, which states: "Senator Durbin, you CAN'T be Catholic and pro-abortion."

You responded, "I don't know anyone, not anyone, who is PRO-abortion. Abortion is always a tragedy. But then, so are rape and incest."

Carol, you can't be that naive. Dozens of national and global organizations exist solely - and profit from - ensuring that abortion remains legal and available 24/7/365.

Rape and incest are tragedies, but because one's father is a sex offender is no reason to kill him or her.

You continued, "But worse than the liberty taken with the language is the willingness on the part of the American Life League to take it upon themselves to decide if Durbin is, in fact, 'Catholic' or entitled to receive communion." And, "Exactly what kind of true believers are so bereft of humility, charity or self-doubt that they can presume to look into someone else's soul?"

If I were to take a journalist's position at the Sun-Times under false pretenses, and were eventually caught for lying about my education and published works, would Marin consider the newspaper "bereft of humility, charity or self-doubt" for calling me into account? Of course not. In fact, Sun-Times reporters and columnists alike publicly condemned one Jayson Blair.

This is righteous judgment. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ was speaking against unrighteous, hypocritical judgment.

The Bible states one can and must judge other Christians by their actions, behavior and what comes out of their mouths in order to correct them and return them to fellowship. Our justice system is based on this principle.

Of course "true believers" cannot and do not judge another's soul, but are called to judge another's actions. Durbin's pro-abortion votes are public actions that require public correction. A person who legalizes, accommodates and simplifies the murder of the innocent is subject to be judged by others who truly know The Lord, and we can say with confidence that abortion/murder is the eclipsing line that God Himself drew thousands of years ago in the book of Genesis when He instituted the death penalty.

Later, you stated, "For some reason, abortion has become the defining issue of American politics, eclipsing many other wrenching issues that speak to the human condition. Senator Durbin said Thursday from Washington, "'It is interesting where they draw the line. Some who are so certain about abortion have nothing to say on the issue of the death penalty or helping the poor. They think those votes don't count. They think there is only one issue that drives Catholics.'"

Murder is and should be the primary issue that drives not only Catholics, but non-Catholic Christians, "Jews, Muslims, atheists and agnostics among us" as well. Anyone who condones the murder of the innocent is not likely to care much about "other wrenching issues that speak to the human condition." A survey of history reveals the millions slaughtered by Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and others. Pol Pot did not help the poor left after millions of their countrymen were murdered. Stalin did not hesitate imposing the death penalty on enemies of the state.

Durbin said "...Some who are so certain about abortion have nothing to say on the issue of the death penalty or helping the poor..." He is wrong. Anybody against abortion would have plenty to argue on those other issues.

Studying the whole Bible (not cherry picking the verses that tickle the ears) shows that God loves justice, and He himself handed down the responsibility of capital punishment to the government, which, by the way, was never rescinded by Christ nor any of the Apostles in the New Testament Church.

There is a difference between the capital killing of convicted murderers and the murder of innocent babies through abortion. The original Hebrew uses two different words to describe two different ways to end a life.

In response to your and Dick Durbin's misunderstanding of God, God's character, and the Bible, I would say that people who are not followers of Christ, (as their actions, behavior and rhetoric show) who quote scripture and attempt to apply it inappropriately to retrofit their non-Biblical positions are offensive to God. "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" does not just apply to pairing the name of God with a four-letter word, but also to call on Him or invoke scripture unrighteously when you aren't reconciled to Him by Christ's death and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

True Christians can tell the difference between a real believer and a pretender. Is that a splinter in your eye? Hold still while I remove it.

In his piece yesterday, "Will The Real Mitt Romney Please Stand Up (For Something)?", op ed writer Doug Wrenn called MA governor and potential '08 presidential candidate Mitt Romney into account for waffling on the pro-life issue.

I'm not ready to discard Romney, because he recently took a strong and unpopular stand against embryonic stem cell research. He may be honestly transitioning from "privately pro-life" politician to one who is publicly pro-life, and if so, he needs pro-life support and encouragement.

But if the aforementioned is true, Romney needs to grow cahones, and quickly. Gullible pro-lifers are entities of the past. We will no longer accept crumbs and placations.

Wrenn stated:

[A] former Connecticut Republican state representative once told me that even pro-life Republicans soon become 'pro-choice,' or at least, very silent, because that is the only way that they can supposedly get elected and continue to get elected in Connecticut. This person told me that the pressure from so called 'pro-choice' groups in the state's capitol in Hartford creates a stifling pressure and that the pro-life groups supposedly do not give enough support to elected officials who agree with their cause, so the pro-life politicians soon quietly capitulate to the perceived pro-choice majority [emphasis mine].

Three points: 1) pro-aborts are and will always be loud bullies; 2) just because pro-aborts are loud does not mean they are in the majority - they are not; and 3) some of the blame for political wimps and capitulators rests on pro-life shoulders for not giving proper support.

A June 17 Associated Press story - about a bill making its way through the WI Assembly that would ban University of WI health clinics from dispensing or advertising the morning after pill - stated this:

The morning-after pill, a heavy dosage of hormonal birth control, can work to prevent a pregnancy up to five days after unprotected sex by preventing ovulation or fertilization.

Since the reason pro-lifers oppose MAP is because it may cause early abortions, you'd think the AP would get that critical point right. But investigative reporting is reserved only for those times it might work against conservatives.

If the AP spent five minutes looking into this, it would discover that although MAP makers deny the MAP aborts, they confess:

From Plan B MAP website: "Plan B is believed to act as an emergency contraceptive principally by preventing ovulation or fertilization (by altering tubal transport of sperm and/or ova). In addition, it may inhibit implantation by altering the endometrium" [emphasis mine].

Implantation of what? The embryo. Into what? The uterus.

It takes 5-9 days after fertilization for an embryo to implant in the uterus. Since the 1970s, the pro-abort American Medical Association and Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists both state pregnancy does not begin until implantation, which is how pro-aborts deceive mothers to think they are not killing their babies when using birth control pills or the morning after pill.

Semantics aside, the embryo is living inside his or her mother during the 5-9 days before s/he implants in the uterus - whether or not pro-aborts say she is pregnant. (See Nova Online 6-minute video, "The first two weeks" to view the miracle of the implantation process. Note the "nonpregnant" woman is called a mother.)

FYI, AP, MAPs may cause week-old embryos to die.

Our DC source reminds us that the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is on Capitol Hill this week using children to try to "guilt" funding for human embryonic stem cell experimentation.

We in IL observed one such lobby day this year when parents of diabetic children shamelessly checked their blood sugar in the hall outside legislative chambers to garner sympathy.

We now learn that all JDRF children lobbyists and/or guardians must sign a loyalty oath before being allowed to lobby. It is posted on their website and states:

By signing below, I also indicate my understanding that... if there is discussion of such controversial topics as embryonic stem cell research, I will either embrace the JDRF legislative position on such topics or will not work against the JDRF position

Our source translates to legislators: "This pledge means that all the children with diabetes who also have moral problems with killing human embryos for research are screened out by JDRF before they come to meet with your offices. So please keep in mind when meeting with them that JDRF has selected these children and their families based on their loyalty to promoting embryo-destructive research."

Ohio's Advertiser-Tribune.com editorial board draws stem cell ethics into its well-written opposition of public-funded ESCR today. Read the entirety for yourself, but here's the open and close:

Politicians often prefer to delve into an issue that pulls heartstrings rather than engage in the often harder, much less glamorous work of doing things like building fiscally responsible budgets. So now we have congressional Republicans, who seem to have forgotten that voters put them in the majority to get busy on issues such as tax and entitlement reform, wandering into a needless confrontation with their own president over federal subsidies for morally perilous stem cell research.

A casual observer could be forgiven for believing that the future of such research hinges on federal funding, or for believing that the debate is between "scientific progress" and flat-earthers. For that is how the issue is cast by the Beltway media hoard. The stem cell research lobby is more than happy to capitalize on well-intentioned emotional pleas for research funding, for the focus on the emotive handily distracts from what is really a classic effort to extract subsidies from taxpayers for things the private sector can do itself. It would be wrong to ignore the moral peril involved in stem-cell research....

Meanwhile, private industry, which stands to reap huge financial rewards if stem cell research results in the development of new treatments for particularly dreaded diseases, has invested millions in research and is doing just fine without help from the government. That research will continue, with or without the fat subsidies proposed on Capitol Hill.

In 2005, Kansas pro-abort Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a bill that would regulate abortion mills, saying that all doctor offices should be regulated.

But Kathy Ostrowski of Kansans for Life wonders if anyone has had the following experiences in other doctors' offices?

• Have you ever called for a doctor appointment and were told certain days were "sale days"?

• Have you ever made a doctor appointment and were told to bring a friend along with you to your appointment to monitor your surgery recovery instead of any medical staff?

• Have you ever entered a doctor's office that didn't have any identifying sign and the front door deceitfully bore the name of a construction business?

• Have you ever entered a medical facility and a handwritten note was posted telling you to guard your valuables?

• Have you ever entered a medical facility with a dead rodent on the floor in plain view?

• Have you ever entered a surgical suite that had equipment set up on the floor instead of a counter?

• Have you ever entered a surgical suite where picnic tablecloths covered equipment and there was no disposable covering on the exam bed?

• Have you ever entered a surgical suite that was carpeted?

• Have you ever been in a medical facility where there the staff had no medical training and hadn't undergone criminal background checks?

• Have you ever been injected by a physician or (nonmedically trained) attendant who used a pre-filled, unlabeled syringe instead of filling the syringe in front of you?

• Have you gone to the bathroom at a doctor's office and the toilet was stained with blood?

• Have you ever seen a specialist who had never studied the medical specialty he was performing?

• Have you ever been treated by a physician who kept emergency equipment locked in a closet and was not certified to give advanced CPR?

• Have you begun a gynecological procedure by pulling your pants down instead of removing your clothes and donning a gown?

• Have you ever spent your recovery time on a dirty couch without medical staff or monitoring machines?

• Have you ever been sent home from the doctor's office with verbal instructions to take unidentified pills in an unmarked envelope?

No, Kansas does not need abortion clinic regulations.

[All of the above outrages were experienced at Krishna Rajanna's abortion mill. Documentation for these conditions is available through KFL/Topeka office, www.topeka@kfl.org, phone 785-234-2998.]

The opening paragraph of June 18's Flint Journal story breathlessly reported: "The reaction didn't get violent as it did last year, but emotions clearly were running high as people viewed graphic photos of aborted fetuses exhibited by an anti-abortion group at several local stops Friday."

Then quoted were a "sobbing" woman and a woman who had miscarried, both distraught by the photos.

It wasn't until paragraph 5 did the reporter reveal that last year's "violence" was at the hand of an angry, white pro-abort woman who "was so incensed by the posters that she drove her car over a curb and wrestled the group's leader, the Rev. Matt Trewhella, to the sidewalk.... Amanda Crim of Davison later pleaded guilty to assault and battery in Flint District Court."

[Photo credit of car over curve, August 2004: Missionaries to the Preborn]

WorldNetDaily.com ran another headline story today on the alleged fetus-eating abortionist in Kansas.

It turns out it that fetal cannibalism is legal in Kansas, drawing attention to the need to outlaw it, perhaps also in other states. There is more than just the obvious reason to consider such a law. It would also:

1) add to the stigma against abortion/abortionists (since the example would be the alleged cannibalistic act by an abortionist)

2) further humanize embryos/fetuses to the American mind.

3) add one more law that equates preborn humans with postborn humans - toward the eventual collapse of Roe v. Wade

I can't believe this is a topic we have to cover, but yet I can believe it.

Related:
"Fetus eater loses medical license," 6-12-05
"New WND.com column, 'Fetus eater loses medical license," 6-15-05
"More on cannibal abortionist and KS health board that enabled him," 6-15-05
"More photos from fetus-eating Rajanna's abortion mill," 6-17-05
"'Dirty,' 'unkempt,' 'dangerous,' alleged 'cannibal' abortionist to appeal license revocation," 6-18-05

Rapper Nick Cannon is offering t-shirts just like he and the kids wore in the video for his pro-life hit, "Can I live?"

Hat tip: Caron Strong of Operation Outcry

Related:
"Rapper to premiere pro-life video on MTV," 6-9-05
"Rapper's pro-life video is booming," 6-10-05

Thursday, the University of Western Ontario gave an honorary degree to 82-year-old abortionist Henry Morgentaler, owner of eight abortion mills, despite a petition drive that collected 12,000 names in protest (plus 10,000 in support) and a withdrawal of at least $2 million in bequests.

A pro-abort defender of Mongentaler's receipt of the honor noted "the largest ever turnout of faculty for a Convocation event."

Apparently some faculty won't give up personal time to honor graduating students but will to honor an abortionist. Neither could faculty on the honorary awards committee find any more deserving a recipient.

BTW, Morgentaler is a Nazi death camp survivor... turned proprietor.

The Discovery Health Channel will air "14 children and pregnant again!" tonight for the last time in June.

Incredibly, the channel promo reads:

The Duggars are letting God dictate how many children they have and, with nine boys, five girls, and one on the way, Jim Bob and Michelle feel blessed many times over! Find out how the Duggars coordinate a household that would challenge any manager.

Reports Right.Girl, who saw the show last night:

It was a GREAT hour. It covered all of the supposed problems with raising a large family. They answered every issue one by one and proved each issue on film. Absolutely AMAZING this family is - the way they budget, the way they shop, they way they practice the "buddy system" - each older child has a "little buddy" under their care that they are responsible to dress, watch, etc. - awesome, they way they show the utmost respect for each other and their parents, and so much more. I was amazed at these kids. They are all perfect little ladies and gentlemen. You have GOT to see this show. I am just amazed!

Hat tip: Dr. Frank

A source tells me radio's Rusty Humphries said on the air Thursday night that he spoke with someone at the Kansas City district attorney's office and asked why wasn't the cannibal abortionist arrested for eating aborted fetuses?

The response: It's not illegal.

The Associated Press and Kansas City Star report that abortionist Krishna Rajanna plans to appeal the Kansas Board of Healing Arts unanimouos decision to yank his medical license after determining he was a "danger."

Note that KCS reporter Dawn Bormann spent one short paragraph capsulizing the reason for Rajanna's license revocation ("dead mouse in the clinic hallway, filled syringes in an unlocked refrigerator, carpet in a surgical area and a facility that was generally unkempt" - um, Dawn, what about fetuses in the freezer?) but TEN paragraphs trying to exonerate Rajanna of the most heinous accusation - of eating aborted fetuses - that she mentioned "resurfaced in Internet news reports" (here, here, and here).

George Neumayr of The American Spectator began his commentary today on Durbin, the Democrats, Schiavo, and Guantanamo with this:

If Terri Schiavo had been dehydrated to death at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, Dick Durbin would be reading her autopsy report from the Senate floor. It would be an occasion for great moral anguish. How did the U.S. sink so low as to adopt such Nazi-like callousness toward disabled prisoners of war? one could imagine him saying. Instead, Democrats -- even as they spent part of the week crassly celebrating, with news of Schiavo's autopsy report in hand, the human rights abuse of euthanasia against the disabled -- are in a moral lather over the paucity of proper air conditioning terrorists receive at Guantanamo Bay.

Hat tip: Matt Abbott

Click here to see the full-page ad American Life League took out in yesterday's Chicago Sun-Times, in conjunction with the first day of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops' spring meeting being held in Chicago.

The ad drew the ire of liberal Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin who - surprise! - also doesn't think Durbin should apologize for his "American-soldiers-are-comparable-to-Nazis" remark earlier this week.

Well, this is honest art work, accompanying yesterday's cover story in Pitch.com, "Mm, Mm Good: Startling allegations against an abortion doctor have been the centerpiece of two years of legislative warfare in Kansas." Maybe it will give fence-sitting "pro-choicers" pause to rethink.

The news org is left-wing, but the piece is mostly accurate, says Kathy Ostrowski, Legislative Research Director of Kansans for Life.

Kathy Ostrowski from Kansans for Life has provided more photos, below, taken by an informant in August 2003 inside abortionist Krishna Rajanna's mill.

Incredibly, the Kansas Board of Healing Arts had these photos in their possession for a year before taking action against Rajanna. See yesterday's WorldNetDaily.com headline story, "Regulators dragged feet on 'cannibal abortionist': Activist group first provided grisly photos of clinic nearly 2 years ago."

Rajanna's "recovery room"

Why was a food processor in Rajanna's utility room?

Fetuses in the Freezer

Rajanna shopped at Price Chopper. How appropriate.

World Magazine's June 18 issue contains an incredible expose by Lynn Vincent entitled, "Death by drowning," adding one more woe to abortionist George Tiller's growing list of killer legal headaches.

Vincent brings forth evidence that Tiller may be covering up live birth abortions at his mill - i.e., snuffing babies - in violation of the federal Born Alive Infants Protection Act.

Tiller is already being investigated for allegedly not reporting suspected sexual abuse of underage girls who abort at his Women's Healthcare Services in Wichita, KS. And he's being investigated for potentially illegally aborting late term neonatal babies.

Now add postborn baby murder to the list.

Related articles:

"Rowan's story: Mother tells how clinic workers left her born-alive infant to die," World Magazine, 5-7-05

"Labor and delivery: A gruesome Florida abortion saga reveals sordid—and possibly illegal—practices in late-term procedures," World Magazine, 5-28-05

From DC source:

A short while ago Dr. Weldon offered an amendment to cut off National Institutes of Health funds to any entity involved in human cloning, and the amendment failed by a vote of 29-36.

If the researchers who are tirelessly working in the US right now to clone humans are somehow successful in the next few months or year, these are the names you need to remember. Those who voted against the Weldon Amendment are responsible.

Dr. Weldon and his staff are heroes for leading the charge. They have been working tirelessly for weeks on this and have endured incredible attacks and pressure. Even with all the attacks and threats of future penalties, Dr. Weldon was willing to do this for the cause, and for that he deserves a huge amount of credit. Reps. Wicker and Wamp also gave outstanding speeches in favor of the Weldon Amendment.

Votes follow....

36 voted for human cloning - the creation of human embryos for research - (against the Weldon Amendment):

Jerry Lewis, CA (R - Chairman) (worked very hard against the Weldon Amendment)

Ralph Regula, OH (R - Vice Chair) (worked very hard against the Weldon Amendment)

Jim Kolbe, AZ (R)

James Walsh, NY (R)

David L. Hobson, OH (R)

Joe Knollenberg, MI (R)

Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, NJ (R)

Kay Granger, TX (R)

John Sweeney, NY (R)

Mark Steven Kirk, IL (R)

David R. Obey, WI (D - Ranking Member)

John P. Murtha, PA (D) (spoke against the Weldon Amendment)

Norman D. Dicks, WA (D)

Martin Olav Sabo, MN (D)

Steny H. Hoyer, MD (D)

Marcy Kaptur, OH (D)

Peter J. Visclosky, IN (D)

Nita M. Lowey, NY (D)

Jose E. Serrano, NY (D)

James P. Moran, VA (D)

Rosa L. DeLauro, CT (D)

Ed Pastor, AZ (D)

David E. Price, NC (D)

Chet Edwards, TX (D)

Patrick J. Kennedy, RI (D)

James E. Clyburn, SC (D)

Maurice D. Hinchey, NY (D)

Allen Boyd, FL (D)

Lucille Roybal-Allard, CA (D)

Sam Farr, CA (D)

Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., IL (D)

Carolyn C. Kilpatrick, MI (D)

Chaka Fattah, PA (D)

Steven R. Rothman, NJ (D)

Sanford D. Bishop, Jr., GA (D)

John W. Olver, MA (D)

-------------------------------------------

29 voted against human cloning (for the Weldon Amendment):

Alan B. Mollohan, WV (D)

Marion Berry, AR (D)

Robert E. "Bud" Cramer, Jr., AL (D)

Harold Rogers, KY (R)

Frank R. Wolf, VA (R)

Charles H. Taylor, NC (R)

Ernest J. Istook, Jr., OK (R)

Henry Bonilla, TX (R)

Roger F. Wicker, MS (R)

Jo Ann Emerson, MO (R)

Anne Northup, KY (R)

Randy "Duke" Cunningham, CA (R)

Todd Tiahrt, KS (R)

Zach Wamp, TN (R)

Tom Latham, IA (R)

John E. Peterson, PA (R)

Robert Aderholt, AL (R)

Virgil Goode, VA (R)

John Doolittle, CA (R)

Don Sherwood, PA (R)

Dave Weldon, FL (R)

Michael K. Simpson, ID (R)

John Abney Culberson, TX (R)

Ander Crenshaw, FL (R)

Dennis R. Rehberg, MT (R)

John Carter, TX (R)

Rodney Alexander, LA (R)

Jack Kingston, GA (R)

Ray LaHood, IL (R)

---------------------------------------------

1 did not vote

C. W. Bill Young, FL (R) (didn't vote)

FYI, I'll be on the Blanquita Cullom radio show this afternoon at 1:20p CST to discuss my "Fetus eater" column. The show can be heard live on the Internet.

Later I'll be visiting with Al Kresta of Ave Maria Radio in person at the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops conference in Chicago. I'll be on at 4:30p CST going over the Christ Hospital story. The show can be heard live on the Internet.

Here's a bite from President Bush's speech at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast this morning, with Congressmen Nancy Pelosi (pro-abort Democrat), Chris Cannon (pro-life Republican), Hilda Solis (pro-abort Democrat), Rahm Emanuel (pro-abort Democrat), and Luis Fortuno (pro-life Republican) also in attendance:

For Hispanic Americans, a love of neighbor is more than a gospel command -- it's a way of life. We see the love of neighbor in the strong commitment of Hispanic Americans to family and the culture of life. For Hispanic Americans, families are a source of joy and the foundation of a hopeful society. We're working to support and defend the sanctity of marriage and to ensure that the most vulnerable Americans are welcomed in life and protected in love. (Applause.)....

Many in the Hispanic community understand that by serving the least of -- nuestros hermanos y hermanas -- that we're serving a cause greater than ourselves.

By my count, this makes the third lawsuit filed by pro-family groups against the CA embryonic stem cell initiative.

Kaiser Network reported yesterday that the National Association for the Advancement of Preborn Children has filed suit against the new law saying it violates an embryo's constitutional rights and freedom from slavery.

Although naysayers indicate the lawsuit has little chance, the Chicken Little San Francisco Examiner warns a successful lawsuit "could end the whole practice of in vitro fertilization because of the liabilities surrounding 'murdering' an embryo or violating its rights," and "granting independent personhood to an embryo could nullify Roe v. Wade.

We can only hope.

Hat tip: IFRL News

Related:
"CA embryonic stem cell initiative: dying in the petri dish," 6-7-05

New Hampshire is a small red jewel in a bauble of eastern liberal blues. If pro-abort Republican Senate prez Tom Eaton and "pro-choice champion" Republican House conferee Rep. Liz Hager want to keep it that way, they had better resist their losing political leanings and battle off the abortion industry mob, which is "up in arms" to restore $550,000 (31% cut) state legislators cut from the budget for "family planning clinics."

According to The New Hampshire Union Leader , Planned Parenthood is threatening that this action could close "at least" one clinic. Is that really a threat?

A Stanford University press release today, advertising an upcoming "first time ever"(!) "advanced"(!) training program on creating and maintaining embryonic stem cell lines, used the seldom used "prospects grim" sales approach:

[I]t isn't as simple as just buying the [embryonic stem] cells and launching a new research program. The cells are in limited supply and are notoriously difficult to maintain in a lab. They can't be frozen easily, they are sickly, they quickly form new cell types rather than remaining as stem cells and the cell population changes over time.

Elsewhere the release calls embryonic cells "persnickety," making them sound like rambunctious little children. Wait, they are.

So what's the obsessive attraction to ESCs? It can only be Stem Cell Delirium in conjunction with Mad Hype Disease.

JivinJehoshaphat cuts to the chase of Terri Schiavo's 39-page autopsy report and posts what we care about: whether she was in a persistent vegetative state (supposedly), if she felt pain (supposedly not), and how she died (duh).

A Socialist Work Online column defending Gerardo Flores' right to stomp his prenatal babies to death closes with this double-wincer:

Now, two teenagers' lives are destroyed--because Texas politicians wanted to score another hit against a woman's right to control her own body.

Related:
"Abortionist convicted of murder - why?"
"They named their twins - after killing them"

Kansans for Life was instrumental in bringing abortionist Krishna Rajanna to his too slow justice, and KFL has provided additional inside info. (See WorldNetDaily.com news article "Abortionist accused
of eating fetuses - Kansas City clinic closed as grisly house of horrors" and my column, "'Fetus eater' loses medical license" for backdrop.)

Reports KFL:

KFL is responsible for shining the light on the state's coddling of abortionist Krishna Rajanna. We alerted the public (and physicians) to the shameful way the Kansas Board of Healing Arts does not aggressively protect women in abortion clinics.

Legislative Research Director Kathy Ostrowski first met with the informant in August 2003, interviewed her, and gave her contact information. We assumed state agencies were conducting investigations.

When preparing testimony for the abortion clinic licensure bill in February 2004, Kathy was shocked to find out...