The IL General Assembly destroys audiotapes of its floor debates after transcripts have been written. That is why there is precious little audio, if any, of Barack Obama as state senator making any speeches.

But a pro-life sleuth has found a short audio clip on the Chicago Tribune website of Obama arguing on the IL Senate floor on April 4, 2002, against Senate Bill B1663, a companion bill to the Born Alive Infants Protection Act that would have required an abortionist to call a second physician to assess a baby aborted alive.

Here is the Senate transcript to ensure the comment is heard in context....

Obama opposed SB1663 arguing he had "confidence" that the abortionist - who was invested in attempting to kill the child pre-delivery - would not mind revealing his or her botch by calling a 2nd physician to ensure the child was given proper medical attention and revived if possible.

Obama thought it remarkable to suspect an abortionist of having a subjective medical opinion about his new second patient. It didn't occur to Obama that the abortionist might also be invested in seeing the baby dead to preclude malpractice lawsuits down the road if the baby were found not to have pre-birth diagnosed defects, an overriding reason for these late-term induced labor abortions.

But Obama's most telling statement from the clip was to say this bill "is really designed simply to burden the original decision of the woman and the physician to induce labor and perform an abortion."

In other words, if a baby were to survive his or her abortion, the death plan marked out for this child should be carried out nonetheless.

Guy Benson tracked down the pro-life sleuth, who will be interviewed with me on the Sandy Rios show this afternoon at 3:20p CST.

Michelle Malkin is also covering this story, as is The Weekly Standard blog, and RedState.com.

Hotair.com is asking a great poll question, "Did Barack Obama protect infanticide in Illinois?"

This one can't wait until Sunday, by my favorite political cartoonist Glenn McCoy:

[HT: Troy Newman of Operation Rescue]

Here we see a segue between the abortion and euthanasia mentalities. There is no difference between a 9-month-old preborn and a 9-month, 2-day-old postborn except location and how she breathes, is hydrated, and is nourished.

Nor are the mental capabilities between a disabled person like Terri Schiavo and a newborn any different.

Yet in both cases it is legal to kill the former but illegal to kill the latter. Why? Why was this so bad? From WKBT, July 14:

The two people arrested on... July 11 for their role in the death of a young infant made their first appearance in court on Tuesday.

19-year-old Indra Book and 21-year-old Adam O'Connor have been arrested after an investigation by La Crosse police.

Police say during August of 2007, Book gave birth to an infant in her home in La Crosse. The infant died within a few days. Book and O'Connor allegedly tried to cover up the death....

"She tried to breast feed the child twice, she was unsuccesful," District Attorney Tim Gruenke said.... "(She) then decided not to feed the child knowing the result, put the child in a cooler, and put it in the garbage in the spring."

Book is arrested for a charge of first-degree murder and hiding a corpse. O'Connor is arrested for being party to the crime of hiding a corpse and obstructing an officer. Book is being held on a $50,000 cash bond, while O'Connor was released on a $5,000 cash bond....

Police say their investigation and the arrests are a result of a tip....

TMJ4 added:

The two could've give up the baby anonymously under the state's safe haven laws.

[HT: reader Robert King; photo courtesy of the La Crosse Tribune]

CNN's Carol Costello did a good deal of research and fairly reported Barack Obama's opposition to the IL Born Alive Infants Protection Act when he was state senator.

Bill Bennett added important info in a follow-up debate against James Carville.

Costello's follow-up should be to answer the question she closed with: Did Barack Obama reject the opportunity to vote for a bill identical to the federal bill?

Wrote Mark Finkelstein at Newsbusters.org yesterday:

Who cares if Barack Obama won't protect a child who is born alive after an abortion? Gas is over $4/gallon!

So argued Donna Brazile when Bill Bennett pressed her on the matter today. The issue arose during a post-Obama press conference kibitzing session on CNN's Situation Room. Bennett was making the point that the complaisant media in attendance had failed to press the candidate on tough issues.

Here's the clip. (Thanks to Mark for being so kind as to post it on YouTube.)

Read transcript of Brazile/Bennett exchange on page 2.

Continued Mark...

Bennett was alluding to the fact that, as CNSNews editor Terry Jeffrey has observed:

Barack Obama is the most pro-abortion presidential candidate ever.

He is so pro-abortion that he refused as an IL state senator to support legislation to protect babies who survived late-term abortions because he did not want to concede - as he explained in a cold-blooded speech on the IL Senate floor - that these babies, fully outside their mothers' wombs, with their hearts beating and lungs heaving, were in fact "persons."

The IL bill that Obama refused to support had language identical to the Born Alive Infants Protection Act that passed the U.S. Senate 98-0, with such senators as Barbara Boxer voting in favor.

But who cares about such stuff when gas is over four bucks a gallon? Not Donna Brazile or the MSM, apparently.

Transcript of Bravile/Bennett exchange on CNN, June 25:

WOLF BLITZER: If you had been at that news conference, Bill, and you had a chance to ask one question, today, what would you have asked, if you were a reporter?

BILL BENNETT: I think when he brought up Chicago I would have said "why are you to the left of NARAL, Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein when it comes to abortion? Are you really there?" Not that it's the only issue in the campaign, but I gotta question the guy's moral judgment, who doesn't see a problem with killing a baby after it's been born after eight months.

DONNA BRAZILE: But he's had an opportunity in several debates to talk about his position on abortion --

BENNETT: What is the answer to that question?

BRAZILE: Bill, look --

BENNETT: What is the answer?!

BRAZILE: You want to have a conversation about narrow issues --

BENNETT: That is not: that is fundamental!

BRAZILE: It is a fundamental issue, but the American people want to talk about gas prices --

BENNETT: Fine.

BRAZILE: They want to talk about the economy.

BENNETT: Fine.

BRAZILE: They want to talk about housing [inaudible] --

BENNETT: I want to talk about all of that. Wolf asked me if there were one, if there were one [question I could ask.]

BRAZILE: So if you want to go back to talking about same-sex marriages and abortions --

BENNETT: I didn't say anything about same-sex marriage. I asked about that [Obama's abortion position].

BRAZILE: Again, Bill, Senator Obama, perhaps you missed all of the Democratic debates--I didn't--Senator Obama has talked about all these issues.

BENNETT: He hasn't answered the question.

Read entire transcript here.

According to the Washington Times today, religious and pro-life Brits are furious with Parliament's May 19 decision to allow creations of human-animal hybrids as well as "savior siblings". Both are perfectly legal in the US, btw:

Religious leaders and pro-life campaigners have angrily attacked the British government for its refusal to ban the creation of animal-human embryos and so-called "savior siblings" - research described by one Roman Catholic cardinal as a form of "Frankenstein" science....

By a vote of 342-163, Parliament crushed one key amendment to Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Human Embryology and Fertilization Bill that was aimed at stopping the use of "hybrid" human-animal embryos in stem-cell research.

The Brown administration has accepted claims by many leading scientists that such "human admixed embryos" are vital to the quest for cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, which the prime minister considers a key element of his embryo legislation....

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics, denounced Mr. Brown's stance with fury....

Cardinal O'Brien and other British religious stalwarts and pro-lifers also were dismayed that Parliament defeated, also by a 342-163 vote, an amendment to the embryology bill that aimed to ban "savior siblings" - children created as close genetic matches that could be used to treat an ailing sister or brother.

This hasn't been a good week on the UK's pro-life front. Parliament also rejected an attempt to lower the legal gestational age a baby could be aborted: According to Reuters:

Parliament voted on Tuesday to keep the upper legal limit on abortion at 24 weeks, disappointing campaigners who argue survival rates have improved.

The vote blocked attempts to lower the legal limit to 22, 20, 16 or 12 weeks in parliament's first look at abortion laws in almost two decades.

The upper limit was reduced from 28 weeks to 24 weeks in 1990. Britain legalised abortion in 1968.

LifeSiteNews.com is reporting pro-life gaffes may have contributed to this defeat.

Current UK law is still superior to US law, which allows abortion throughout all 40 weeks of pregnancy.

[Photo of embryo courtesy of the New York Times; photo of protester courtesy of Reuters]

I received a heads up on the following video from CreativeMinority, its maker. He selected the perfect name for himself. His work is excellent... literally gave me chills.

In only 1:50 mins CM nailed Obama's depth of depravity in opposing the Born Alive Infant Protection Act along with providing tiny heartbreaking reminders of who Obama would let die for the sake of Roe v. Wade.

by Glenn McCoy, Townhall.com...

By Mary Kay Hastings

Star Tribune, April 12, 2007:

"A 17-year-old Oakdale girl told police she gave birth on the laundry room floor early Monday, then panicked and stabbed the baby girl after seeing her move a finger.
The baby, found by investigators in a bloody garbage bag outside the teen's home, had 135 stab wounds, many in her tiny chest. The Ramsey County medical examiner's office said the baby was born alive and bled to death.
Nicole M. Beecroft was charged with first-degree premeditated murder Thursday in Washington County District Court.
County Attorney Douglas Johnson noted that state law allows mothers to leave infants at any hospital within 72 hours of birth with no legal consequences. "She could have walked away and the baby would have been adopted by a family that wanted it," he said. "Instead she destroys two lives: her own and the baby's."We don't know what motivated her," Johnson said."

I just don't see it. Does one tiny breath really make all that much difference?

Maybe we should be able to kill our children up until the time they get their drivers licenses. Or can drink their first beer. I mean after that first "legal" sip of alcohol, they are truly adults, right.

And God knows, I've wanted to "kill" mine a few times around that age...

Someone tell me. Please. Why is Ms Beecroft a criminal, and George Tiller a hero? Cuz I just don't get it...

This is horrible. I KNOW this stuff goes on every day in abortion mills. Finally, corroboration.

Dead Baby Found In Hialeah Abortion Clinic
Clinic Has Been Closed

Dave Malkoff

Jul 28, 2006, 11:06 p.m. EST

(CBS4 News) HIALEAH Hialeah Police Homicide Detectives are investigating the gruesome discovery of a dead baby’s body inside of an abortion clinic but conflicting stories may prove there's more to the discovery than meets the eye.

The body was found at “A Gynecologists Diagnostic Center,” 3671 West 16th Avenue in Hialeah [FL, near Miami].

Witnesses tell police that a young woman, whose identity has not been released, arrived at the clinic last Thursday at roughly 22 weeks pregnant for an abortion procedure.

Police say the woman arrived the next day after the procedure complaining of severe pain. Workers at the clinic explained to her that the doctor was not available and she'd have to wait.

The woman was taken into a recovery room and according to witnessess, gave birth in the clinic. An anonymous caller, who police believe to be a clinic worker, alerted officials that the baby was born alive and possibly killed. When officials arrived, however, there was no body to be found.

CBS4's Dave Malkoff reported that when police were called to the scene a second time Friday night, they found the body of a dead baby in a biohazard bag.

Detectives believe the abortion clinic tampered with the evidence. The fetus was reportedly 12 inches long and weighed 2-3 pounds.

Hialeah Police PIO, Frank Gonzalez, believe the baby was born premature and is unsure how the baby died.

The clinic's doors have been closed while the investigation continues.

Officials are awaiting the autopsy, scheduled for Saturday, to determine the exact cause of death.

No word yet if charges will be filed.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)