Thanksgiving is a time for families and friends to gather together and express gratitude for all that we have been given, the freedoms we enjoy, and the loved ones who enrich our lives. We recognize that all of these blessings, and life itself, come not from the hand of man but from Almighty God.

Every Thanksgiving, we remember the story of the Pilgrims who came to America in search of religious freedom and a better life. Having arrived in the New World, these early settlers gave thanks to the Author of Life for granting them safe passage to this abundant land and protecting them through a bitter winter. Our Nation’s first President, George Washington, stated in the first Thanksgiving proclamation that “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” While in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln revived the tradition of proclaiming a day of thanksgiving, asking God to heal our wounds and restore our country.

Today, as we look back on the beginnings of our democracy, Americans recall that we live in a land of many blessings where every person has the right to live, work, and worship in freedom.

~ President George W. Bush’s 2008 Thanksgiving Proclamation (written by this proud mom’s daughter Daena)

by LauraLoo

A fascinating video shows a set of newborn twins, just a few days old, locked in a tender embrace with their eyes closed as they are bathed the very first time.

Credit for the upload goes to Paris-based midwife Sonia Rochel, and has since been watched more than 9 million times since its posting on November 8.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/qY-d46-gPMI[/youtube]

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

There may not be a more painful oxymoron than “feminist comedian.” MTV flash-in-the-pan Sarah Silverman and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart co-creator Lizz Winstead teamed up in New York City on Nov. 18 for a telethon to fund abortions in Texas via NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Think Jerry’s Kids – children assisted by the Muscular Dystrophy Association – except instead of saving them, the unborn are eliminated. They call that “reproductive justice.”…

This was not a Mensa meeting. Silverman cracked, “I also, much like much of the pro-lifers, I believe in protecting the child – you know, when she is being forced to have a baby at 14.” Hayes replied, “I think abortion is so taboo, and it seems like that taboo is part of what enforces the very repressive politics on the issue.” Silverman shot back, “Yes. I think vaginas really, really scare people, honestly.” Honestly?

At the telethon, Silverman dragged out her typical shock-jock shtick, offering her own “vaginal napkin” as an auction item. Periodically, a woman dressed in a giant plush vulva costume – “courtesy of the sex-toy store Babeland” – came onstage to announce the money total raised. “We’re actually going to do a live abortion in this show,” Silverman joked. “With a union provider,” Winstead added. Well, slap my knee.

~ L. Brent Bozell, The Patriot Post, November 22

Cortney O’Brien at Townhall.com shares yet another attempt to de-stigmatize child killing with the claim that abortion is no big deal, it’s just another choice:

The Irish Family Planning Association… along with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (surprise), recently released a video called, “Women Have Abortions Every Day: It’s Just One Choice,” suggesting an abortion is as normal as opening a business, going to school, or even getting your tonsils out:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4SSHkgD73E[/youtube]

The video also implies women cannot achieve success unless they abort untimely children.

Do you think the “C’mon, everybody’s doing it” line works?

[HT: Kelli]

by Kelli

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

• Live Action News discusses the Supreme Court’s decision this week to allow a lower court’s ruling to stand, requiring Texas abortionists to have admitting privileges with local hospitals.
• Pro-life Action League has a detailed account of yet another Texas abortion clinic that failed its inspections. Among the violations of NARAL member Alamo Women’s Reproductive Services Clinic were the lack of a medical director and the lack of sterilization of hands and instruments.
• Despite the recent hubbub claiming China was relaxing its One-Child Policy, Reggie Littlejohn at Women’s Rights Without Frontiers points out that even the country’s deputy director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission says the changes are largely insignificant.

• At The Leading Edge, Brendan Malone shares how a new report on child abuse prevention in New Zealand has become a “Trojan horse” in which abortion, contraception, and family planning proposals have been slipped in as recommendations for the country’s children:
  

  Remember, this is a report that, according to the Government press release, was supposed to have a primary focus on preventing child abuse. With this in mind, the one question I have is: how the heck is mandatory sex education, more liberalized NZ abortion laws and more taxpayer funding of contraceptive schemes that have shown to be abject failures going to do anything at all to prevent child abuse in this country?!

• At the FRC Blog, Rob Schwarzwalder discusses the very proudly pro-abortion Gloria Steinem and her recent Medal of Freedom award from the also proudly pro-abortion President Obama.
• Life Training Institute’s Scott Klusendorf has several suggestions for young pro-lifers on how to become more effective in their pro-life efforts.
• Pro-Life Wisconsin says the state assembly has passed a bill establishing a “Choose Life” license plate. Sales will go to pregnancy care centers throughout the state.
• At RealChoice, Christina Dunigan shares several excerpts from New York Magazine’s abortion stories. Far from being the heralders of abortion’s greatness, many of these stories point to serious grief and internal conflict.
• Right to Life of Michigan shares the Heritage Foundation’s information on how abortion will be covered under Obamacare.

• At The Guiding Star Project, Mallory Severson discusses what it means to be pro-life “in the trenches,” as opposed to those who are on the “front lines” of the movement:
  

  Being in trenches isn’t necessarily easier than on the frontlines. These might be women and families in your own community that you live next to, work with, or see at your child’s school. The intimacy can make it more challenging, and can blur the lines of what is appropriately Pro-Life.

  In the trenches, the lines of what is Pro-Life and what is not, is not about what you do, but equally what you don’t do….

  You can be Pro-Life in your community by showing support, love, and encouragement to pregnant women and new mothers in all things. Always.

  And when we do this, when we show women the kindness and respect their bodies, babies, and children deserve, little by little a culture of life can be transformed from the inside out.

by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• “Chicks on the Right” Amy Jo Clark and Miriam Weaver discuss Sarah Silverman’s idiotic idea that pro-lifers are scared of vaginas:
  

  And this begs the question, do liberal women not understand the difference between a living, developing baby and vaginas? Do we need to sit down and have a basic anatomy lesson? There is a big difference between a child growing in your womb and your “ladyparts.”

  Contrary to Silverman’s preposterous claim to Chris Hayes, people are not scared of vaginas. But thinking people are perplexed by the inability of liberals to differentiate between a vagina and a child. Because when a separate and distinct human being enters the picture, the picture is about more than your ladyparts.

• FOX San Antonio did a segment about the illegal sale of abortion drugs in south Texas. Too bad they didn’t include any pro-lifers.

• Marie Stopes International is pushing to get the RU-486 abortion drug to Kenyan women:
  

  Marie Stopes Kenya launched a new product, MedipristTM (Mifepristone), geared towards safe motherhood, with the primary aim of reducing maternal mortality caused by unsafe abortion.

Statistics in Kenya show that unsafe abortion accounts for approximately 35 per cent of maternal deaths.

The launch saw 100 healthcare providers – gynaecologists, medical officers, clinical officers, pharmacists and pharmaceutical technologists- from Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale counties, come together at Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort and Spa to engage in discussions around prevention of maternal mortality and unsafe abortion.

• Melissa Kwoka, a former staff accountant at Planned Parenthood Western New York, stole more than $100K from her former employer. Planned Parenthood hired her despite her history of theft:
  

  Kwoka, 44, of Lockport, has a history of larceny. She has three theft convictions dating back to May 2002, when she admitted stealing $212 from the City of Lockport Building Inspection Department. She worked there as a secretary for a little more than a year.

  While awaiting sentencing in the Planned Parenthood theft, she was accused last month of electronically transferring $520 from a friend’s bank account so she could make a car payment. She had been held on $1,000 bail in the Niagara County Jail on a fourth-degree grand larceny charge in that case.

  Now she heads to the Erie County Correctional Facility to serve a six-month jail term… for second-degree grand larceny in the Planned Parenthood theft.

  WIVB4.com has video:

[Photo by Titus Musau via Coastweek.com]

by Kelli

From TheLifeInstitute.net comes a video urging Irish citizens to resist efforts to allow the large abortion money-making machine Marie Stopes International into Ireland.

The country has been under immense pressure from the United Nations (which is partnering with the U.S.-based Center for Reproductive Rights) to roll back its pro-life laws. Meanwhile, exported abortions aren’t going so well:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/TgvwnW5u8MA[/youtube]

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

Kenneth Copeland says that storms and hurricanes and murders don’t just happen. [David] Barton agrees and adds that since we (meaning the U.S. I suppose) have embraced a wicked policy (legalized abortion), then God will take away his hand of protection. Because of God’s absence, then Barton claims:

Whap! Here comes storms like we’ve never seen before, here comes floods like, and here comes climate stuff that we can’t explain, all the hot times and all the cold times. Too much rain and not enough rain; we’re flooding over here, and we got droughts over here.

And you know back in the early America days, when something like that happened, first thing they did was issue a call for a national day of prayer, repentance, humiliation, fasting and prayer. We have screwed up somewhere. We gotta get God’s help to get blessings back on this nation. And today we’re saying ‘oh no, it’s global warming.” No, we opened a door that lost God’s protection over our environment and that’s our choice.

Even if there was some theological merit to this line of thinking, the facts don’t support the link made by Barton and Copeland, as far I can tell….

Katrina is the only hurricane after Roe v. Wade in the top ten….

The murder rate now is lower than it was in 1961….

[P]rior to the current Colorado floods, the worst flood in history is the 1927 Mississippi River flood, followed by the 1937 Ohio River flood….

While climate change may indeed bring about long term weather changes, including increased flooding, it does not appear that one can accurately associate meaningful weather disasters with the Roe v. Wade decision.

~ Warren Throckmorton, responding to theometeorological theories put forth by televangelist Kenneth Copeland and historian David Barton,  Patheos, November 5