Happy Memorial Day weekend! How fitting that the Veterans Administration scandal should break as we honor those who have fallen for our country, not just in war, as it turns out, but in waiting lines for healthcare at the VA.

It seemed to me as many, if not more, liberal comics piled on this week as conservatives, leaving many zingers to choose from. I’ve split them into two posts, six each. View Part II here. Please be sure to vote for your fav in the poll at the bottom of each post.

by Signe Wilkinson at GoComics.com…

 by Mike Luckovich at GoComics.com…

 by Tony Auth at GoComics.com…

 a twofer by Gary Varvel at GoComics.com…

 by Glenn McCoy at GoComics.com…

Staring out into the Atlantic Ocean earlier today, I cleared my mind out a bit and mulled over the vast expanse of water in front of me. “What does it mean?” – and then it hit me. The ocean is huge. No man, not even the mightiest army could stand before it and prevail.

When I consider the strength of the abortion industry, I sometimes feel like we’re sailing into a headwind. The media loves them, our culture turns a blind eye to them – and Warren Buffett just gave them $1.2 billion.

But today as I looked out into the ocean I was reminded of just how weak man and his works are. As a ship stays afloat at the mercy of the treacherous sea, so the abortion industry is only able to continue its barbarity at the whim of the Creator. King David’s psalm came to mind:

“Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision.”

So take heart fellow abolitionists and culture warriors. The forces of evil are not as strong as they – or we – think they are.

~ Pro-lifer Andy Moore on Facebook, May 23; quote is Psalm 21-4, New King James Version

[Photo of Andy and son Levi (Jill’s eighth grandson… :)]

by Hans Johnson

Parker Mantell gave the commencement address at Indiana University  two weeks ago. The political science major believes he is far from the best orator because of his stuttering disability, but we know from Biblical history that one great leader had a speech impediment and was not limited by it.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/iICFjbIAs7Y[/youtube]

See his interview with Steve Doocy on Fox & Friends here.

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: TheBlaze]

Columnist Eva Wiseman wrote at The Guardian wrote:

Pro-choicers are facing some uncomfortable truths….

When, at the end of April, escort, aspiring glamour model and mother-of-two Josie Cunningham [pictured top right] told the Sunday Mirror she was planning an abortion to ensure her place on Big Brother, there was mild uproar. The earliest response was from Mirror readers, 93% of whom said they’d boycott Big Brother if she appeared on the show… These alongside disgusted tweets from high-profile doctors and liberal commentators….

A week or so later, a YouTube video of an abortion went viral. The clip, by 25-year-old abortion counsellor Emily Letts [pictured bottom right], focuses on her face as she breathes, calmly, through the short procedure. At the end she says: “I feel good.”…

Again, the reaction has been fierce – both from anti-abortion protestors… and from those who are passionately pro-choice….

For me? The reactions have illustrated a widening gap between the theory of being pro-choice and the real, day-to-day “Oh sh**… oh well” of abortion….

These two cases have brought uncomfortable truths about many pro-choicers’ feelings to the surface. They’ve shown that many believe that not only are there right and wrong reasons to get an abortion but that women’s (legal, considered) decisions are up for examination….

There is no right or wrong reason for a woman to get an abortion, and there is no right or wrong way for her to feel about it. For pro-choicers, there should be no confusion.

Similarly, columnist Jessica Valenti wrote at The Guardian:

I think abortion should be legal without any restrictions - no parental consent laws, no mandated ultrasounds, no waiting periods, no bans on late term abortions and no bans on federal funding for abortion….

If that were the law of the land, it would also mean an end to rape and incest exceptions - because we wouldn’t need them. Women wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) have to prove that their abortion is of the “acceptable” variety. We wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) have to pretend that women who are forced into sex are somehow more deserving of medical care than women who chose to have sex. We could rid ourselves of the hierarchy of “good” and “bad” abortions.

I particularly found Valenti’s thoughts on the rape/incest exception quite interesting.

It’s true that to decry abortion in any way is to cast judgment on the act itself.

Is it possible to expect people who consider themselves “pro-choice” to reach this level of acceptance? Or is pushing this level of acceptance working in favor of the pro-life position?

Like this story? Think it advances your knowledge, the pro-life cause? Your $10 donation helps support our reporting and analysis.

Toni Braxton’s new memoir, Unbreak My Heart, reveals many unknown details about her personal life, including the revelation that she once had an abortion.

“In my heart, I believed I had taken a life - an action that I thought God might one day punish me for,” she wrote in her book, which released Tuesday.

The 46-year-old singer and author recently discussed the matter with ET’s Nancy O’Dell.

“I never thought I would have to do that,” she said when recalling her abortion.

Braxton was on the acne drug Accutane - which has serious side effects for fetuses - at the time, but she said other factors affected her decision.

“I felt selfish because I was thinking, ‘I’m going through bankruptcy - there’s things going on with my life and I can’t give this kid any future.’ I was feeling hopeless for no reason, when I look at it now for no reason, what was I thinking?” she said.

“I am not really embarrassed about it; I am more ashamed of myself for doing that because I could’ve figured something out financially - that was just an excuse I was making for myself,” she said.

The chart-topping songstress filed for bankruptcy in 1998. She married her ex-husband, Keri Lewis, in 2001, and the couple has two children together.

When asked if she still feels the guilt of her decision, Braxton said she feels like she has three kids and oftentimes has to remind herself she only has two.

“In my head I feel like I have three kids,” she explained.

Braxton also talked about learning that her youngest son, Diezel, has autism. She said she used to believe the diagnosis was a punishment for her abortion.

“I thought it was because of the abortion, God was punishing me,” she recalled. “And it took a long time for me to get past that.”

She wrote in her book, “I have sometimes wondered whether God was punishing me for the abortion I had years ago by allowing my son to have autism. Or by giving me so many health issues.”

~ Charisma News, May 21

[Photo via bellyitchblog.com]

Great news as we enter the Memorial Day weekend! From the Associated Press, this afternoon:

Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri announced Friday it plans to close its Hays health center to save its larger Wichita clinic in the wake of an appeals court ruling that let Kansas strip its federal family planning funding.

The organization also said it would no longer be able to provide free contraceptives and other no-cost medical services to low-income patients in Wichita without the federal money, but community donations will allow it to still offer affordable health care.

Court documents show the two nonprofit clinics were operating at a loss even before losing the $330,000 annual influx of funds from Title X, a federally financed family planning program….

Planned Parenthood’s move comes after a sharply divided panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March overturned a federal judge’s ruling that had temporarily kept Planned Parenthood’s funding intact while the organization challenged a Kansas law. That law required the state to first allocate Title X money to public health departments and hospitals, leaving no funds for specialty family planning clinics like Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood subsequently dropped its legal challenge to the state law.

“Community donations” is as it should be. Planned Parenthood should keep itself solvent through donations from like-minded supporters, not pro-life taxpayers.

More from LifeNews.com:

The 2009 Kinzer-Huelskamp budget amendment directed the state health department to award Title X money to full-service medical clinics and hospitals best serving the indigent. That prioritization was approved consistently  by the Kansas legislature but vetoed by former Governors Sebelius and Parkinson. However, it has been approved in every budget under current Gov. Sam Brownback.

While PPKMM’s Hays and Wichita “feeder” clinics did not perform abortions, they referred for them….

PPKMM sued, and won mandatory funding from 2011-2014, ordered by Wichita federal judge Thomas Marten….

The Tenth Circuit Court of appeals overturned Judge Marten in March, ruling that PPKMM lacked standing to pursue its claims in federal court, and that its claim of a First Amendment violation lacked merit - about as resounding a defeat as you could get.

[Photo and caption via Operation Rescue]

by Kelli

We welcome your suggestions for additions to our Top Blogs (see tab on right side of home page)! Email Susie@jillstanek.com.

• At National Review, Michael J. New addresses Politico’s recent poll, the results of which were used to try and make Democrats’ views on abortion appear mainstream, when they aren’t. The Democratic Party supports abortion on demand, not abortion with restrictions.
• At Priests for Life, Fr. Frank Pavone also responds to the results of both the Politico and Gallup polls:
  

  “When 80 percent of voters in highly contested states and Congressional districts say they want babies protected from late-term abortions, if not most or all abortions, it’s pretty clear who the extremists are – those who support abortion on demand.”…

  Father Pavone noted that both polls showed a minority of Americans – 28 percent in the Gallup poll and 19 percent in Politico survey — favoring legal abortion at any time and for any reason.

  “These findings are consistent with what we have seen for many years,” Father Pavone said. “Most Americans reject most abortions. It is simply false to say that most Americans support Roe v. Wade, because that decision brought us the extreme policy of abortion on demand, which most of the public rejects.”

• ProLifeNZ says the social media push to #BringBackOurGirls – referring to the 300 school girls who were kidnapped by Muslim extremists in Nigeria – is leaving out some important missing girls:
  

  … [R]aising awareness of the plight of the girls is reflective, no doubt, of the admirable sentiment, a sense that there is a need to do something about it.

  In many countries in the world girls are aborted or killed after birth simply because they are girls…. The extreme sexism that is sex-selective abortion should be prompting all of us to cry #bringbackourunborngirls and taking active steps in our community to stop such a thing occurring. We can do more than a hashtag to help our girls in our nation.

  If you believe that the unborn is a human person, and I am speaking to those of you who do, you should carry the cry relentlessly. A hashtag cannot save those girls in Nigeria, but there are practical ways that we can make a difference in the lives of the people around us.

  Where are those 200 million missing girls? Where is our generation? Where is the social media outcry about them?

• At ProWomanProLife, Andrea Mrozek points out that discussing the personhood of the preborn might not be the most effective crisis counseling method. Women in crisis are thinking mainly about themselves at that point:
  

  But pro-life counseling in the midst of crisis cannot focus on personhood, because that is not the predominant issue for women in crisis.

  It is truly any number of the following issues: My life will change too much, I can’t envision this going well, I need to keep training for my Olympic bid, I don’t have the money, my husband is against me, my boyfriend will leave me, etc….

• Wesley J. Smith deconstructs the junk science of Amanda Marcotte and PZ Myers (pictured right), who have pathetically attempted to redefine “human life” and “conception”, turning their supposed “science” into nothing more than philosophical mumbo-jumbo:
  

  A sperm is a cell, it is alive but it isn’t a living organism. Ditto an egg. When they join, they cease and a new, distinct human organism – complete with its own genetic makeup different from his or her parents – has come into being, e.g. a new human life.

  But apparently because life evolved from the primordial soup there never is a new life [which is Myers’ assertion]….

  Whether there is or is not “meaning” to the distinction between previous life and new life, isn’t a scientific assertion. It is a philosophical belief.

• At Secular Pro-Life, Kris Skul lists five secular arguments against abortion that pro-lifers would do best to avoid.
• At Stand True, Bryan Kemper shares the story of former pro-life missionary/sidewalk counselor, Ashley Baldwin, who convinced a mother to choose life for her baby – only later to be asked by that mother to adopt her baby. You can contribute to the family’s adoption fund here.
• At Reproductive Research Audit, Dr. Jacqueline Harvey writes that after the failure of New York’s Reproductive Health Act, the Women’s Equality Act is the latest “back door” attempt to lift all restrictions on abortion in the state:
  

  This larger bill attempts to include the abortion aspects of the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) among nine other issues including domestic violence and equal pay for women. While the bill does not include the contraception aspects of RHA, it does contain, quite concisely the most contentious aspects of RHA that include late-term abortion on demand for virtually any reason and the legalization of non-physician abortions.

  Those that would seek to have abortion-on-demand and lower the standard of care for abortion have found a way, with fewer words, to achieve the same ends without the explicit changes that ultimately defeated RHA, namely by repealing aspects of abortion law.

  Does the state of New York believe women are not inherently equal to men without abortion?

[Photos via mj-upbeat.com, skepticon.org, centerforinquiry.net]

 
You won’t hear me say this often, but the pro-abortion website RH Reality Check has posted a well done article today, “Buyer Beware: Can we trust cheap Plan B One-Step on Amazon,com?”

This week some on the Left have heralded the discovery that one can purchase Plan B, the name brand for the morning-after pill, on Amazon for a much cheaper price than one can buy it at a pharmacy or clinic.

For whatever reason, RHRC took a second look at something that would seem almost too good to be true.

Plan B has been spotted on Amazon as low as $16.90, although the cheapest I could find it today was $19.99.

But according to americansocietyforec.org, Plan B sells for about $32.50 wholesale and $39-50 retail.

So there’s something very wrong with the pricing at Amazon.

RH Reality Check reported that Reproductive Health Technologies Project asked vendors offering Plan B on Amazon where they got their product. While some didn’t respond, here’s what some who did said:

When RHTP inquired with the seller tarzon about how it was able to sell the product at such a low price and whether it was safe, the seller replied:

I get this at a very discounted rate and the markup in your local pharmacy is a small fortune but due to pricing on amazon we sell it at a lower price.

The seller SuNNy Side UP replied with similar comments, but stated that its product came from “a clinic.” When asked follow-up questions about its suppliers or the clinic it works with, the seller did not respond to RHTP’s emails.

Some clinics may receive Plan B One-Step at a lower cost through the federal government’s340B Drug Pricing Program to ensure low-income patients have access to various pharmaceutical drugs, but entities that receive drugs under this program “must not resell or otherwise transfer 340B drugs to ineligible patients.” To do so would be considered fraud and a federal crime, and would also limit access to those who need it at low or no cost.

Another vendor, who operates under the name Pharmacy Consultants and sells Plan B One-Step for $16.90, replied to RHTP’s requests stating that he was a licensed pharmacist and was able to sell the product at a deep discount because of a wholesale supplier, although this information is not available on the seller page. When asked about his credentials, the vendor replied that he was a licensed pharmacist in Ohio. He was clear to note that his product “is not from [a] family planning clinic or shop lifted medication.”

One review noted that the product’s box arrived opened, the foil encasing the pill was ripped, and the pill was cut in half. After the reviewer notified the seller, he sent her a new package immediately. Another reviewer noted that the product they received was close to being expired….

It is important to share the information that people seeking EC can obtain Plan B at no cost thanks to the ACA….

I want to back up and relay testimony given by Planned Parenthood Southeast’s President Staci Fox on May 21 during the trial in Alabama regarding the constitutionality of that state’s law requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at local hospitals.

I wrote on May 16 it has come out that PPSE’s Birmingham clinic was closed in December 2013 not for “remodeling” but because an employee was caught selling prescription drugs in the parking lot.

Fox enlightened the court about that incident. She testified it was an RN who was selling “abortion inducing drugs” in the parking lot, which she got from the clinic. So s/he was selling either RU-486, or Misoprostol, or both. Fox claimed that while PPSE has policies to guard against such illegal behavior, PPSE ended up firing all employees except the abortionist, because “none of the staff could be trusted to apply them.”

So when I read in the RHRC article that Amazon seller “SuNNy Side UP” got his or her Plan B from “a clinic,” I immediately thought of Planned Parenthood, although employees from any family planning clinic that sells Plan B could be culprits.

RHRC, perhaps unintentionally, gave clues to other culprits: Someone getting Plan B cheap through the government’s 340B Drug Pricing Program, or someone getting Plan B free through Obamacare.

All three scenarios are possible and probable. Another possibility would that a fake Plan B company, say out of China, is selling fake or inferior pills. To that end one Amazon reviewer wrote:

Plan B refused to verify lot numbers for products that are bought via amazon.

I called their support online number to verify the lot number of the product.

They said as they do not have a relationship with amazon, they refuse to verify the lot number.

Use at your own risk I guess….

These would all constitute fraud and federal crimes, as noted by RHRC.

Illegalities aside, there is no warning on Amazon that Plan B doesn’t work if a woman weights 176 pounds and begins to lose effective beyond 165 pounds.

Amazon may be (is likely?) participating in black market and unsafe sales of high powered hormonal steroids and should investigate.