Created Equal has identified nine election year battleground states and plans, in conjunction with Operation Rescue, to launch a voter education Truth Truck tour utilizing huge mobile billboards showing images of aborted babies in at least seven of those states: Florida, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Colorado and Nevada will be added as funding permits.

(Interestingly, Politico listed the underlined states in its piece today, “Obama’s seven states of gay marriage grief.”)

Created Equal’s 2012 “Vote Pro-Life” mobile billboard project will launch this month and run through Election Day:

• Phase One: Ohio and Florida (includes GOP convention in Tampa)
• Phase Two: North Carolina and Virginia (includes Democrat convention in Charlotte)
• Phase Three: Pennsylvania
• Phase Four: Missouri and Iowa

Again, additional state destinations will be added as funding permits. Donate to the endeavor here. I’m tentatively planning to meet up with the group at the DNC.

These will be on the truck sideboards. Click to enlarge…

And this will be on the back…

How America could be more horrified by graphic footage of pigs than babies, I’ll never understand. The goal of these graphic image campaigns is to force people to face the reality of “choice,” which they may never have.

From Created Equal’s press release on the campaign:

Despite the enormous impact of the billboard trucks by themselves, one of the project’s main goals is to secure free media coverage in each state and city we visit. This greatly increases our exposure and reduces the number of road hours required to have the desired impact on voters. This keeps the project very affordable. Dollar for dollar this campaign will deliver a strong pro-life message at a fraction of the cost of traditional voter education efforts….

It is close to impossible for any organization to wage an effective, affordable 50 state battle over abortion. On the other hand, statewide educational campaigns are most effective and completely doable in key battleground states. This strategy pays long-term dividends by having an effect on state abortion laws and helps elect pro-life federal, state and local representatives. Our objectives are clear. Our goals are defined.

by LauraLoo

While these routines are definitely not for me, I support whatever works for an individual to lose or maintain a healthy weight.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhs0yqnVVDk[/youtube]

For some people, it’s a lifelong challenge to be a disciplined eater and exerciser.  I walk with one girlfriend 1-2 times a week and every day (at least 90 minutes by myself) before going in to work and on the weekends.  My areas of improvement include more healthy food choices throughout the week and weight (strength) training to boost metabolism.

Any tips or words of encouragement for those who need to lose weight – or for those who need to keep persevering to lose weight?

Email LauraLoo with your Lunch Break suggestions.

If the legal definition of when one becomes a human being were to be adjusted so that a fetus is declared to be a legal person at some earlier stage of gestation, then the homicide laws would apply.

No one is forcing those who oppose abortion to have one.

~ Canadian Government Whip Gordon O’Connor, arguing against M-312, “a motion that calls for the formation of a special committee of Parliament to review whether the definition of a ‘human being’ as described in the Canadian criminal code can be extended to unborn fetuses,” as quoted by Daily Kos, May 9

[Photo of 18 week fetus via biotechnology-genetic-humancells.blogspot.com]

by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• Mercatornet has an interview with Dr. Elard S. Koch who published a study which found that Chile’s restrictive abortion laws didn’t increase maternal morbidity:
  

  In this sense, it is a unique natural experiment conducted in a developing country. Thus, a first difference between the data from Chile and data from Poland, Malta and Ireland is that, in the case of Chile, there is a rigorous analysis controlled by multiple confounders. It is not a matter of circumstantial or anecdotal evidence, but a matter of scientific data representing real, vital events whose methodology has been published for the first time in a peer-reviewed scientific journal….

  As discussed in our article, according to the most recent report published by Chilean National Institute of Statistics, the maternal mortality ratio for 2009 was 16.9 per 100,000 live births (43 deaths) and the figures for indirect causes (codes O99, O98), gestational hypertension and eclampsia (codes O14, O15), abortion (code O06), and other direct obstetric causes were 18 (41.9%), 11 (25.6%), 1 (2.3%) and 13 (30.2%) respectively.

• The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has a story about Australian doctor Foteini Hassiotou (pictured left) who discovered breast milk contains stem cells which have a level of pluripotency to them:
  

  “We’ve just started transplantation experiments and we’ve shown that they can differentiate into many different cell types outside the mammary lineage … we’ve turned them into bone cells, brain, liver, and pancreatic cells that produce insulin.

  “I guess the next step would be to see how that would work in vivo, to see how these cells behave when they were injected into the animals.”…

  One more radical idea emerges from this work: a new insight into the ‘breast is best’ debate.

  “Since these stem cells are in the milk, and nothing exists without a purpose, I believe that they have a role for the baby. Since these cells can differentiate into all the different cell types, my hypothesis is that they may contribute to the baby’s development early on, not only its immunity but also the development of the different tissues and organs.”

• The Toronto Star has an article on the youthfulness of Canada’s pro-life movement:
  

  No longer just grey-haired activists holding signs outside abortion clinics, the pro-life movement has undergone a savvy, youthful makeover. Viral video contests, slick marketing campaigns, podcasts and Facebook groups fly in the face of assumptions that all young people lean left and that opposing abortion is antiquated.

  “The young people seem to be taking over all the older groups and it’s hugely re-energizing,” said 23-year-old Jonathon Van Maren, communications director with the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform. “And I think that the older generation is recognizing that new tactics, new ideas, new blood in the movement is really what’s going to change it.”

UPDATE 5/21, 9:40a: Pro-life activist John Barros (via Jay Rogers on Facebook) is reporting Scott Spagnolo-Hye has not been seen at the abortion mill since Barros videotaped him announcing he was leaving the industry as of June 2. Barros reported a worker has told him Spagnolo-Hye has quit, and “they are now having to shuffle schedules and will not be open on Sundays for the foreseeable future.” Those praying for Spagnolo-Hye’s immediate departure from the abortion industry may have had their prayers answered.

5/9, 2:29p: Pro-lifers have interesting relationships with abortionists and abortion mill staff.

On one hand pro-lifers must condemn their work and use all legal tools necessary – such as picketing homes, as in the picture, right – to try to persuade not only a change of occupation but also a change of heart, for the sake of their souls.

On the other hand pro-lifers try to reach out to abortion workers on a personal level to let them know they are there for them should they decide to leave the trade, and are praying for them as well.

So, while relationships between the two sides may be understandably strained, I just as often hear almost unimaginable stories, except by the grace of God, of relationships built – of the pro-lifer going for coffee with the abortionist, etc.

Abby Johnson is an example of an abortion clinic worker whose first thought was to go to the very people who had been picketing her Planned Parenthood for years when she decided to make her escape. And during this spring’s 40 Days for Life prayer campaign, eight workers quit, for a total of 69 over the last 10 campaigns since 2007.

This brings us to yesterday, when Florida abortionist Scott Spagnolo-Hye announced on camera to the pro-life world that as of June 2 he is quitting the baby-killing business…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzTW2CpF0WU[/youtube]

Spagnolo-Hye aborts at four clinics. Pro-lifers have picketed his home on more than one occasion, for instance, in July 2011…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT8OCiHiAQ8[/youtube]

Because of all this you’d think Spagnolo-Hye would hate pro-lifers. But he doesn’t. The ecstatic pro-lifer who filmed Scott’s announcement wrote on YouTube:

I have been speaking to Scott for about two years… I have prayed with him shared God’s word with him, stood in front of his house and have continued to pray for and talk to him… He said he hated this but after so long you just wonder… Well he has Quit and is going to meet with me to discuss where he stands with God and Repentance….

It’s a strange world Christians must navigate, isn’t it? Let’s all pray for Spagnolo-Hye, that he indeed leaves the terrible world he’s a part of and turns to God. He certainly seemed happy in the video with his decision.

Huffington Post has posted an absolutely horrifying undercover video exposing abuse of the pigs and piglets at a Wyoming pig breeding farm. WARNING: Graphic and disturbing…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNY4Fjsdft4[/youtube]

The response by the National Pork Producers Council may sound familiar:

[Read the rest of this entry…]

by LauraLoo

On April 7th an Oklahoma City apartment fire prompted a local news channel to cover a story. Their newscast featured Sweet Brown, an excited apartment resident, who was forced to relocate after the apartment fire (which she mistook for BBQing), broke out.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC9LWM5-VvY[/youtube]

She recounts the events: “Well, I woke up to go get me a cold pop. And then I thought somebody was BBQ’ing. I said, ‘Oh, Lord Jesus, it’s a fire!’ Then I ran out. I didn’t grab no shoes or nothin’, Jesus. I ran for my life. And then the smoke got me. I got bronchitis! Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

And the rest is history.  Sweet Brown’s gone viral in just a few weeks, thanks to some creative folks setting her words to a video montage and music.  (Note:  As a Christian, a few parts of the montage is offensive, but it is what it is.)

[Read the rest of this entry…]

Click to enlarge…

Jack Yoest tweeted a link to this photo a couple days go, and it has stayed with me. Upon viewing it mamlovescoffee tweeted, “That has to be one of the saddest, loneliest images of all time.”

I agree.