Next to the might of God, the serene beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence for good.

~ Evangelist D. L. Moody (1837-1899)

by Hans Johnson

A photo reminiscent of the iconic Boys Town image “He ain’t heavy, Father. He’s my brother” taken on a family visit to Boise, Idaho has gained some fame of its own.

Jesse Cottle, 28, lost both legs when he stepped on an IED in Afghanistan in 2009. Not long after he met Kelly, 24, at a swim meet in San Diego  where he was trying out his prosthetic legs.

She says: “His personality and who he is just outweighs his injuries by so much that you forget about it after a while.”

Jesse explains how this snapshot has struck such a cord for himself as well as so many others in this report for ABC’s Good Morning America:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/RjrN2oL2Wkg[/youtube]

The couple sat down with Gretchen Carlson on FNC’s Fox & Friends and told her what meaning they hope  people will take from the photo.

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: LauraLoo; photo via People]

This kind of change is incredibly dramatic. What we’ve been seeing since 1982 was a slow decline, but this kind of change … [is] so different from what’s happened in the past.

~ Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager at Guttmacher Institute, commenting on a Huffington Post report (“Anti-abortion laws take dramatic toll on clinics nationwide”) that “54 abortion providers across 27 states have shut down or ended their abortion services in the past three years,” August 26.

Click to enlarge…

UPDATE 9/8, 5a: Should’ve thought of this yesterday. Have added a poll asking the weekend question at the bottom of the post.

9/7, 9:20a: Should the United States use force in Syria to stop dictator president Bashar al-Assad from using chemical weapons against his own people, particularly children?

President Obama has made this more than a generalized question on war and death and brought it close to home for anti-abortion Americans by using children as his rationale. Quoting from NBC News:

“I want people to understand that gassing innocent people, delivering chemical weapons against children, is not something we do,” the president said. “It’s prohibited in active wars between countries. We certainly don’t do it against kids.”

The United States says that Assad, more than two years into a civil war, gassed 1,400 people to death, including more than 400 children, in a rebel-controlled neighborhood Aug. 21.

Actually, it is something we do. According to Guttmacher, 17% of the 1.2 million abortions committed in the U.S. every year are chemically induced via mifepristone, i.e., RU-486 (and 32% of  all first trimester abortions committed by U.S.-funded and Obama-beloved Planned Parenthood). And countless preborn lives are lost to the birth control pill and various emergency contraceptives.

It was thirteen months ago that Obama drew a “red line” with Syria on the use of chemical weapons. Comedian Jon Stewart noted one irony:

If memory serves, 100,000 Syrians have already died during the conflict with President Bashar al-Assad – already, with no military intervention from the West. So why now?… See, the ‘red line’! You can’t use chemicals to kill your own people, you have to do it organically. America and the world want to make sure Assad only uses locally-sourced free long-range ordnance.

The other irony, as noted above, is that President Obama promotes both the chemically and organically induced deaths of over one million preborn Americans every year.

But ironies aside, and back to the original question, you think America should bomb Syria to stop the dictator regime from using chemical weapons to murder innocent people, including children?

[The tragic top photo (click to enlarge) via redejovemhits.com]

by Kelli

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

• Americans United for Life shares a press release detailing notable pro-life legislative successes this year.
• At ProWomanProLife, Andrea Mrozek discusses why she believes the Pill is still so popular despite it being “anti-feminist”:
  

  I believe it is because it is very much promoted in med schools which look to pharmaceuticals for solutions. Doctors are schooled first, later wined and dined by pharmaceutical companies. They are not schooled or wined and dined by Creighton practitioners, for example.

• Wesley J. Smith says UK doctors who were caught performing eugenic sex-selection abortions will not be punished. According to The Telegraph, “The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was accused of failing to uphold the law after it ruled that it would not be in the ‘public interest’ to prosecute the two doctors exposed in an undercover Daily Telegraph investigation.”
• Secular Pro-Life writes about abortion advocates’ “long-term strategy of taking abortion out of the moral realm entirely and treating it as a routine medical event.”

• Right to Life of Michigan reports on the closing of Feminine Health Care Clinic in Flint (pictured left), a facility once owned and operated by the notorious abortionist Alberto Hodari.
• Pro-life Action League reminds us that sometimes just faithfully being present can save a life:
  

  This is an e-mail I received recently:

  Hi, my name is Stacy and I wanted to thank your group for saving my baby. I went to that terrible facility [Planned Parenthood in Aurora, Illinois]… and the first thing I saw driving in was the pro-life advocates standing in the lawn at 7am.

  I went in to the clinic, canceled my appointment, and walked out…. My little guy is 16 months old now and a blessing from God. Thank you!

  … Nobody talked to her. Nobody waved signs at her. Pro-life people simply stood in witness to the fact that abortion is evil and that all human life is valuable. Their mere presence was enough to change a heart and save a life.

• Big Blue Wave quotes Virginia physician James C. Anderson, who notes what happens to women when abortionists don’t have admitting privileges at hospitals:
  

  I have worked in local Emergency Rooms… for over thirty years. When women have come to the Emergency Room with complications related to an abortion, never once have I received a phone call initiated by the provider conveying information about the abortion, the young woman’s condition or potential complications…. This definitely created some time delays that were not in the patient’s best interest.

  I have called many abortion clinic physicians but never once has the provider come to the Emergency Room to assume care. I have always had to call a staff physician. This then creates another delay…. These delays can have life-threatening implications when dealing with hemorrhage or infection.

[Photos via RTL MI, chesterfieldfp.com]

by LauraLoo

When a baby is first born it is one of the most touching and special moments of parents’ lives.  This doctor takes the occasion to the next level by singing Happy Birthday to every single newborn.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5-Z2ZUiIbM[/youtube]

What an uplifting and thoughtful sentiment!

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: GodTube]

In September 1988, pro-lifers held a mass funeral in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for 1,200 aborted babies found on a medical laboratory loading dock in Northbrook, Illinois. See photo, right.

To mark the 25th anniversary of this solemn occasion, Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Priests for Life, and the Pro-Life Action League are co-sponsoring a National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children on Saturday, September 14, asking pro-lifers to hold memorial services at 39 grave sites of aborted babies across the country. In addition, services will be held at hundreds of memorial sites dedicated to aborted babies.

Along with Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Siegel of the Diocese of Joliet, I will be speaking at the service for aborted babies Patrick and Sarah at Resurrection Cemetery in Romeoville, Illinois. The photo, left, shows the hands of one of these two precious babies.

Please plan to attend one of these services.

Hosts are still needed for burial sites at:

• Riverside, California
• North Lauderdale, Florida
• East Durham, New York
• Snyder, Pennsylvania

Several of the memorial sites are in need of hosts as well.

Three reasons pro-life advocates should host a memorial service:

• Help make history as part of the inaugural National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children
• Provide solidarity, as your memorial service will be one of dozens taking place simultaneously all over the country to highlight the humanity of these poor preborn babies
• Draw attention and mourn the loss of children in your community and awaken the nation’s conscience to the injustice that has been done to them as well as 55 million preborn babies since abortion was legalized in 1973.

 
If you are not ready to be a father, the following arguments may help you convince a girl to get an abortion. The first two methods I describe below have worked for me in separate instances for the two abortions I have paid for….

How The “Hail Mary” Works

You need to bring up the subject of abortion with every ounce of verbal finesse and situation-appropriate sensitivity. You should sound as sincere as possible and tell her that you want her to be the mother of your children one day, but that now is not the right time to start a family. Explain you want to wait until you are further along in your career/life goals and you can afford to give your future family all the comforts of life you cannot deliver today. Finally, explain if she has the abortion now, you will be able to plan your lives together so that everything is perfect. Then, after she agrees and has the abortion, dump her. It’s called a “hail mary” in part because of its difficulty to execute, so if you stay with her post-abortion and she becomes pregnant again you’re really f***ed….

How The A**hole Method Works

You need to channel your inner cold, unforgiving, unapologetic asshole nature, as nothing less will suffice. You must not ask, but rather tell her to get an abortion because if she refuses this child will be a bastard. Explain to her in no uncertain terms that you will not be a father to this child. I would avoid personal shots of telling her she is unfit to be a mother because this could backfire on you, but make it clear that if she keeps the baby you will be opting out of fatherhood. Explain that while she may end up collecting the minimum in child support that the state can take from you, in no way will you participate in raising this kid or being a father to it. To instill the seriousness of your message, add that you will refuse any efforts in the future to include you in the child’s life….

~ Excerpts from “How to convince a girl to get an abortion,” (Warning: vulgar) by bacon at returnofkings.com, August 28

[Graphic (click to enlarge) via returnofkings.com]