Oh sweet baby Eliot! So glad to have met you tonight through my tears.(thanks for the kleenex reminder, MK)Such a beloved son!
Eliot,
I hope you are having fun with Jesus, Blessing, Aubrey, Jamie and Lee and all of the angelbabies!!

Excellent idea for the weekend question.

I have so many favorites, so many tear-jerkers and so many posts which gave me a great sense of deep thought. I guess they've all (at least the one's that I've read) been my favorites because they have all collectively done so much to promote life and the discussion of it!

Bethany & mk seem like pros that have been here for ages. I can't believe you guys have only been here a year! I have a question, though..when did Jill start this site?

I think my favorites have been the ones that we end up at a party!

Especially when Cameron married The Queen (or was it A queen?) and we all wore boa's. I did learn a great lesson about bubbly and bubbles being drastically different! *HIC*

Who ended up with Jonny Depp? Did we ever find him? Did you ever get the Lemmons to party with the mullets?

hmmm....?

The most shocking post I think is the one showing an actual abortion done about 20 years ago.

I wish Jill would re-post that one very few months.

It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck and tears roll down my face.

MK:

I don't know if you remember this, but the night before the PBA ban went into affect I had spent the night and early morning before battling about 10 different people. That post got about 700 hits and I understand that Bethany had to shut it down.

Personally, I enjoyed all the conversion stories. I like when we get more in-depth stories about individuals in the pro-life movement. It helps me better understand where they are coming from.

Spirited discussions and a plethera of wisdom.

Excuse the spelling error........I meant to say
plethora not plethera.

I guess the memorable posts have not necessarily been in the posts themselves but in the comments following, that often diverge themselves; I can hardly conjure a favorite!

House was my least favorite since the photo was a fake. Bethany's post was my favorite. I want to see a lot more Bethany on this blog. More Bethany!

Ugh I hated when HisMan was talking about hymen's. He shouldn't be allowed to do that. Hymen's are disgusting and useless.

Jess,

Which pic was fake? House's or the real Samuels.

Because the Samuel picture wasn't a fake. The doctor admits that the incident happened. He just refutes that the baby "reached out" and grabbed his hand. He doesn't dispute that the picture was real.

Even if Samuel didn't "grab" his hand, the picture still remains amazing...don't you think?

And I agree...MORE BETHANY!

Hisman,

I remember it well! Almost put that one up. Here it is...

http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/2007/04/the_new_undergr.html#comments

I want to take a moment to thank those of you who fight so valiantly for life. LIFE! You are an inspiration to me and an incredible source of information! You don't just talk the talk, you walk the walk and I am heartened that God gets the glory for all that He does through His people!
I appreciate this blog for so many reasons, but the biggest for me is that both sides CAN and DO have disagreements. Most folks on here are extremely respectful. You have shown a high degree of honesty and integrity in how you portray life in all of it's stages and asking the tough questions to get people to think! Why is it OK to kill babies??
I wonder how long I(a woman who regrets her abortion)would last on a Pro Choice blog?

Keep the faith. The battle belongs to The Lord.
I lurve you all!!

MORE BETHANY, MORE BETHANY, MORE BETHANY!

Bethany, can you hear the chant?

Valerie,

Oh Yeah...Rock On! *hic*

http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/2007/05/disfunctional_d.html#comments

Bethany's post was my favorite. I want to see a lot more Bethany on this blog. More Bethany!

Wow...thank you, Jess. That was really sweet of you to say. :-)

MORE BETHANY, MORE BETHANY, MORE BETHANY!
Bethany, can you hear the chant?

Heehee now y'all are just being silly. Don't let me stop you though! :D

Hisman,

Here's the abortion video...

http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/audiovideo.html

You need to choose one of the videos from choice blues "1"...

Well now lookee here,

Amsterdam is waking up...maybe they've been reading what we're saying on Jills' site????

The crackdown fits into a nationwide backlash against the excesses of 1960s "happy-clappy" liberalism, as a conservative Dutch member of parliament recently put it. Over the last few years the Netherlands has adopted a stricter policy on selling marijuana, and a ban on hallucinogenic mushrooms is slated to go into effect later this year. "People in Amsterdam and the rest of the country are starting to discern real tolerance from bogus tolerance," says Asscher. "When Rudy Giuliani started to clean up Times Square in the mid-'90s, some people were warning that no one would ever again want to come to New York City. But as far as I know, it has had record tourist numbers each year since." Perhaps Giuliani, who this week dropped out of the U.S. presidential race, should run for office in the Netherlands.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/109373/output/print

So much for Hals' theory that legalizing drugs will make the world a safer place...and Laura's theory that sex ed is the reason the netherlands is such a great place to live! lol.

Seems they've finally figured out that promiscuity, drugs, prostitution are not beneficial to society...waiting to hear how long it takes for them to ban abortions...

I just updated with everyone's favorites. I hope I didn't miss anyone.

Kosters found this studio thanks to an ambitious plan by the Amsterdam city government. Arguing that too many brothels and sex bars are linked to criminality, the authorities plan to all but erase the Red Light District. If the plan goes through, the peep shows, sex shops and prostitute windows that line the small alleys and canals will have to go, giving way to galleries, boutiques and upscale restaurants and bars. Goodbye to the big neon signs advertising every possible form of sexual indulgence.

and Laura's theory that sex ed is the reason the netherlands is such a great place to live! lol.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When did I say that?

Weren't you the one that said we should look at why the Netherlands had so many less teen pregnancies than us? And we should try to figure out why? Claimed it was cuz they had sex ed?

I agree with the above posts!

MORE BETHANY!!!!!

And if I may -

MORE MK!!!!

Let the party begin!

No, I said that European countries had far lower teen pregnancy rates, abortion rates, and STD rates than the US. All true.

Someone then chimed in the Netherlands, all girls who missed a period got an automatic D&C (untrue) and that children were counted in their prgnancy stats (untrue).

You can't trust anyone who gets their stats from "Wing Nuts Daily":
http://atheism.about.com/b/2004/12/27/wing-nut-daily-and-dragons.htm

Someone then chimed in the Netherlands, all girls who missed a period got an automatic D&C (untrue) and that children were counted in their prgnancy stats (untrue).

Oh please. I didn't say that "all girls" who missed their period got an automatic D & C, but that many did, and I had a source cited.

You can't trust anyone who gets their stats from "Wing Nuts Daily":
http://atheism.about.com/b/2004/12/27/wing-nut-daily-and-dragons.htm

Oh but someone who gets their stats from Athiest.about can be trusted that they are posting from an unbiased source. lol

"The most shocking post I think is the one showing an actual abortion done about 20 years ago.

I wish Jill would re-post that one very few months.

It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck and tears roll down my face"

I agree. This is very important. For all of the Catholics here, if you are reading the "Little Black Book" for Lent, there was a reading a few days ago which stated "We all have free will, but our will almost never moves towards evil seen as evil. It moves towards an evil that we convince ourselves is good." The facade of "choice" is the same; it allows people, even people of faith, to convince themselves that this evil is "good." I mean, it seems good; who can argue with it? Of course people should have choice as to what happens to them in their lives. It's easy for well-intentioned, even religious, people in good faith to say "having choice over what happens to one's body is a good thing..." and tacitly support it. I think that showing the evil underneath is an important step toward reaching such well-intentioned people.

S.

"Hymen's are disgusting and useless"

Why? Are they vestigial? Surely if they exist, they must have served some purpose at some time?

And finally, as to the picture next to the PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTION comment in this post, all I can say is "God help us."

S.

mk, 8:26 AM,

The Newsweek story on Amsterdam is amazing news.

"The driving force behind the cleanup is Lodewijk Asscher. A young star of the Dutch Labour Party and deputy mayor of Amsterdam, Asscher believes it's time to deliver his hometown from sleaze...The Amsterdam City Council approved the plan about two weeks ago by an overwhelming 43-2 majority."

"Asscher says most of the prostitutes are part of international human-trafficking networks that draw on women from Eastern Europe, and they will most likely move on to Antwerp, Hamburg and other European cities. For those that remain, the city administration may start certifying pimps and require that prostitutes who work for them to be 21 years old."

"Ruth Hopkins, a Dutch-English investigative journalist who has written extensively on prostitution in Amsterdam, says the city government overstates the extent of involuntary prostitution. "Even though there are gangs of pimps, a lot of women, mostly Africans and Latinos, do their work in complete independence," she says. Hopkins fears that a cleaned-up Amsterdam will be a boring city."

Boring?

The Baby Eliot video was very touching. Babies in Heaven are so precious and such a gift! I have a baby brother in Heaven who was born ten months after I was and he lived for only one day. Ever since I can remember I've looked forward to the day that I can meet him in Heaven. I'm sure he can't wait to meet all of his brothers and sisters. It will be so much fun!

John McDonnell blows me away. I've got many other "favorites" but his is an amazing mind, and his is an amazing story.

And yes, john, you do have some Sean Connery in you.

Doug

"Why? Are they (hymens) vestigial? Surely if they exist, they must have served some purpose at some time?"

The hymen has no function. It's just there. When all the reproductive organs are forming, there's a bit of leftover tissue that is covering the entrance to the vagina and that is the hymen. Later, it forms a hole/crescent-shape so that menstrual fluids can get out.

The only function it has (if you can even call it that)is to be used by people to determine if a girl is virtuous or not depending on if it's intact (something which is open to interpretation anyway).

"Why? Are they (hymens) vestigial? Surely if they exist, they must have served some purpose at some time?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Actually, most mammals have them in one form or another to maintain a semen pool near the cervix. In virtually all other animals the hymen flexes - it remains after sex and birth to do it's duty.

wow, that 99 balloons video..just wow. I can hardly see the screen I am crying so hard. So beautiful.

Hymen's are disgusting and useless.

Posted by: Jess at February 9, 2008 3:35 AM

misogyny alert.

Female anatomy is not disgusting and useless.

It is just as nature intended.

Ask yourself honestly if thousands of years of evolution results in useless body parts. Or if you prefer, does God's handiwork produces useless anatomy?

Maybe we just don't understand everything yet which is why we invest billions annually into research.

Anyway, the goal of science is to understand and appreciate the natural world.

Let's not insult women because of cultural prejudice.

No, I said that European countries had far lower teen pregnancy rates, abortion rates, and STD rates than the US. All true.

Posted by: FetusFascist at February 9, 2008 10:05 AM

Teen pregnancy rates and abortion rates rose in Europe after the introduction of emergency contraceptives (morning after pill) also true.

Europe has a higher abstinence rate than the US.

American teens:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/15/AR2006051500826.html

Jess,

female anatomy is beautiful. Did you know our society is one of the few that has so many derogatory names for vagina? We have a lot, and yet others have names that regard respect. For example, ancient asian tradition has called it the "lotus flower of her pleasure."

Actually at a party, we made a list of all of the nicknames for vagina and penis. Obviously vaginas won. I looked through and on the girls side were the most derogatory terms.

I guess I just look at things differently. A lot of people who see a birthing process think of it as "gross" but I think it is quite beautiful. After hard work, sweat, sometimes tears, sometimes surgery, comes pure love. Can't deny that.

Laura,

To me this says it all...

From your Washington Post article:

Outside the classroom, U.S. teens face a barrage of provocation. A study last month in the journal Pediatrics found that the higher the exposure to sexual content in movies, TV, music and magazines, the more likely teens were to have intercourse. The study found "frequent and compelling portraits of sex as fun and risk-free."

Angela Griffiths, executive director of an abstinence-based sex education program in California called Await & Find, said she sees an attitude among some California educators that teen sex is inevitable. Her program focuses on how condoms and birth control sometimes fail to prevent pregnancy and disease, and on the benefits of postponing sex. She said many educators are unwilling to combat what she called the prevailing media attitude that sex is fine for teens.

Too many teachers "are accepting that this is part of youth," she said.

Jonathan Klein, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Adolescents, says there is a risk that children's best interests are getting lost in the debate over teen sexuality.

I understand that the article also said many things that back up your position, but my point is that in the US sex is worshiped as if it was a god. EVERYTHING from cheeseburgers to cars is sexualized. We've taken sex out of perspective. No matter how many condoms you pass out, and no matter how many sex ed classes a kid takes, until sex is put in it's proper place, and take down off of it's almighty pedestal, you're going to have unhealthy attitudes towards it.

Sex is good, yes. But for heavens' sake, when everything you look at is put into a sexual context, you get a very warped view of it. You might say that we don't recognize it's importance (of course you'd be wrong, but you might say it) but I say, that society has an over inflated view of it, putting all the emphasis on the wrong parts.

Sex is serious business and it's been turned into the teen equivalent of Chucky Cheese!

Agreed MK! My parents were of the mind that "Well, the kids are going to drink, smoke and have sex. Nothing we can do about it." That worked out so well for me.
Promiscuity is big business.

Teen pregnancy rates and abortion rates rose in Europe after the introduction of emergency contraceptives (morning after pill) also true.

Europe has a higher abstinence rate than the US.
-------------------------------------------
Anonymous at February 9, 2008 11:51 PM

LoLcakes. WE do not have a higher abstience rate than the US. WE start to have sex at a much earlier age and because our schools teach us comphrehensive sex education we use contraception more readily and sucessfully. (except in England. England is just retarded when it comes to anything sex-related.)

On to topic at hand. I like the posts where both sides can agree on a topic. The rest is BS.

mk,

"Chuck E'Cheese for teens", that's good! Many parents concede too easily that popular culture is the "be-all end-all." That includes tv, movies, technology, the internet, etc...

There are parents of 8-10 year olds who let their children have their own cell phones for instant messaging. Kids get into all kinds of mischief very quickly. If you don't want your 12 year old daughter calling boys on the home phone (or vice-versa), you don't want to give them a cell phone where they can do it 24 hours a day, without out your knowledge.

Parents are teaching their kids patience and humility by refraining from giving them cell phones. They learn to wait 5-10 minutes for Mom to pick them up, and they learn that the world does not revolve around them. They don't realize that some day they will relish an afternoon without a phone ringing.

It's important to remember that, as parents, doing what is easiest and most convenient for ourselves is not always what is best for our children. Let's take charge of our parenting and not let our children grow up too fast. There are a lot of lessons they need to learn before they become adults themselves.

Wikipedia says: "Hymen" was the Greek God of marriage and later the Greek God of membranes. Way back then, they equated sex with marriage. I wonder where they got that crazy idea?

Janet: 8:59 a.m.

you rock. great post!

There are parents of 8-10 year olds who let their children have their own cell phones for instant messaging. Kids get into all kinds of mischief very quickly. If you don't want your 12 year old daughter calling boys on the home phone (or vice-versa), you don't want to give them a cell phone where they can do it 24 hours a day, without out your knowledge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All of my nieces and nephews have cellphones/blackberries.
Not only do they have very strict rules about use - what hours, what friends, etc... - but all the devices have "tattletale teen Lojack." Those GPS devices not only tell Mom where you are, but you had also better answer the phone so you can't cheat.
I think its brilliant.
It's the electronic version of the toddler harness and leash, and it comes in VERY handy if your kid is abducted.

Posted by: FetusFetish at February 10, 2008 10:47 AM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's supposed to be "Fetus Fascist."
"Can 'ya tell I worked an overnight?)

way freudian slip, laura

way freudian slip, laura

Posted by: Jill Stanek at February 10, 2008 11:28 AM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why, because I refer to pro-lifers as "fetus fetishists?"

FF:

I guess I see things a little differently. I want my daughter to learn independence and let her figure things out for herself when I'm not around. I want her to know that I expect her actions and choices to be trustworthy.

Our expectations as parents have a lot to do with how our children will behave. For example, if you say "they're gonna do it anyway", they will. You might as well send them an invitation.

FF:

"Why, because I refer to pro-lifers as "fetus fetishists?"

So, you've switched over???

Thanks, Elizabeth (10:13 AM), You too!

Well, I'm still kinda new here....haven't seen any of the original postings, but I did go read the one by Hisman. I thought that was an amazing bit of articulation. I really enjoyed the article, and forwarded it to a few friends too. I am curious why it was "shut down" for having so many comments posted? Isn't that kind of the point of putting up an article??

Anonymous, it was because of the content of the posts. They were getting out of hand. There was no discussion going on, only an insult fest, so I felt like it was time to shut it down. If you'll go to the link, you'll see what I'm talking about. lol

(except in England. England is just retarded when it comes to anything sex-related.)

Posted by: Obnoxious at February 10, 2008 7:41 AM

Are you disparaging Brits because their teens start to have sex at later ages?

About hymens...
I love the female form, I think our bodies are beautiful and strong but I think a hymen is like an appendix. Why have it? It's just going to tear and hurt and bleed and in some cultures if you lose it before marriage it could mean death, despite the fact you can lose it doing just about anything. Why is it there?

wow, that 99 balloons video..just wow. I can hardly see the screen I am crying so hard. So beautiful.

Elizabeth, I agree. It was very well done, and if that was Eliot's dad's voice throughout, that too was perfect.

Doug

really enjoyed the article, and forwarded it to a few friends too. I am curious why it was "shut down" for having so

I agree. Good grief,,,,,

"(except in England. England is just retarded when it comes to anything sex-related.)

Posted by: Obnoxious at February 10, 2008 7:41 AM"

I think it stems from the Victorian notion that women aren't supposed to enjoy sex. Proper women were taught to only had sex to have children. Many men visited brothels during this time as to not "defile" their wives by having sex with them. British women have less orgasms then Russian and American women (I'll try to find the survey).

Close your eyes and think of England...

Oh how much fun Cam's wedding to the Queen was!!
**gigglefit**

My favorite was the birthday party that everyone threw for me last year... It was Sept. 25th, but I cant find the link for my party....

Here it is, Ashley! :) That was a great post, and I'll add it tomorrow morning to the topic above :)

http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/2007/09/celebrate.html

Man
Do we know how to throw a party or what?????

Thanks Bethany!

MK, I almost forgot that we didnt get along at first ::blushes::

Sorry, I was kind of mean to you then...