Doug Kmiec, Jill Stanek, Barack Obama, Infanticide, and "Common Ground"

In response to Doug Kmiec's June 1 National Catholic Reporter column, in which he writes:

I don't see how keeping the outrageous claim alive today that President Obama’s contrary view somehow supports “infanticide” leads toward common ground.

...our friend Jill Stanek writes today on her blog: "I can now irrefutably state Doug Kmiec is a disingenuous person."

It is indeed not a little troubling that Kmiec continues to obdurately deny that Barack Obama voted to support legalized infanticide.

Kmiec also writes in his column:

A good beginning would be to heed President Obama’s call to reduce the need for abortion, through education, contraception, improved adoption services, and support for a woman to carry her pregnancy to term. [emphasis added]

One of these things — guess which one — is not like the others.

It's scandalous that Kmiec would expect his fellow Catholics to even consider for a second that the Bullwinkle Approach might be a good idea.

Aside from being, um, seriously wrong, it also doesn't work.

Some People Aren't Too Happy

Not surprisingly, we've seen a big spike in incoming e-mails at work the past few days. Many have been supportive; others...well, not so much.

A little while ago, one such message came in — anonymously, natch, as per usual with hate mail — that said the following, in all caps, bold, and 36-point typeface:

From: <_______________@aol.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 11:07 AM
Subject: Notre Dame
To: info@prolifeaction.org


GO AFTER THE PRIESTS AND NUNS WHO ARE STILL F***ING YOUNG BOYS AND GIRLS BEFORE YOU GO AFTER PRESIDENT OBAMA. CLEAN YOUR OWN HOUSE FIRST

My first thought upon seeing this was how astonishingly fast our unnamed correspondent managed to prove Anderson’s Corollary to Godwin’s Law (also known as the reductio ad pedophilium):

“It would go something like this: ‘As a debate involving the Catholic Church (either a discussion about the Church specifically, or a discussion in which the Church is taking a position) grows longer, the probability of someone mentioning the sex scandal approaches one.’

“And then there’s its corollary: ‘Once such reference to the Scandal is made, whoever mentioned the Scandal has automatically “lost” whatever debate was in progress…’”

I also pointed out to this person that if he has knowledge of any child rapists currently being protected by a church, he'd better call the police immediately and report it.

Obama at Notre Dame

Thursday last I set out early in the morning for Michigan to give a talk to Homeschoolers 4 Life club in Lansing and to meet with the officers of the Pro-Life Club at Garden City High School in Garden City before heading to a Catholic grade school in Ypsilanti to give a chastity talk to a group of eighth graders that evening.

Both talks were very well received, I'm happy to say, and I was thrilled at all the good things the newly formed club at Garden City has done this past year.

Getting back Friday afternoon, I had opted to work from home the rest of the day instead of coming into the office.

Thus, I was the last Pro-Life Action League staff member to find out that President Obama had been invited to give the commencement address at Notre Dame.

Upon learning this via an e-mail that had come earlier in the day from one of our supporters, I momentarily wondered if it might be worth contacting my co-workers in the unlikely event they hadn't heard.

Moments later, though, I realized this wasn't necessary, as when I checked my e-mail again, I saw that my boss, Joe Scheidler, had just issued a press release.

And here's the article posted Friday on the PLAL homepage that accompanied it.

Obama, Camille Paglia, and Groupthink

My fellow Catholic Dads blogger Nod has a great post regarding some comments made recently by Camille Paglia about the Obama administration.

I would have loved to have written more in the comments section thereof, but hadn't the time, so I focused very briefly on one question he raised, which, it seems to me, is a terribly important one:

Why do so many fall into the trap of groupthink and blithe rationalizations?

To which I wrote:

The short answer, it seems to me, is:

Because it's easy. Resisting groupthink, on the other hand, is hard.

And most of us are lazy.

Throwing Good Money After Bad and Failing to Avoid "Ethical Drawbacks"

I just did a tag-team interview (along with my boss, Joe Scheidler) with a reporter from FOX 32 News for a story on Obama's decision to lift restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research throw good money after bad — which, incidentally, will result in the killings of yet more tiny human beings.

I'm told the story will air during their 9:00 pm news tonight.

Speaking of which, I couldn't help but notice this sentence in an article in Friday's Chicago Tribune about the latest advance in adult stem cell research (induced pluripotent stem cell — iPS cell — research, to be precise):

The [iPS] cells offer the benefits of embryonic stem cells without the ethical drawbacks.

So not killing human beings is seen merely as avoiding an "ethical drawback"?

Mmm-kay.

Don't Be a Chumbolone

John Kass, writing in yesterday's Chicago Tribune:

The Tribune has commissioned a new poll asking taxpayers whether they support Mayor Richard Daley's 2016 Olympic dream.

But the pollsters didn't call me, so I conducted my own poll on the cheap, while shaving.

Just look at yourself in the mirror, while trying to shave that stubborn stubble from under your nose, and ponder whether it's smart to give the Daley gang billions of dollars to run the Olympics. There's only one question in the Kass poll. Just ask yourself:

"Does wanting the Olympics in Chicago make me a big chumbolone?"

"Chumbolone" is the immortal term uttered by corrupt Chicago cop Anthony Doyle, convicted of being a messenger boy for imprisoned Chicago mob bosses in the Family Secrets trial. In those prison visits, he insisted he didn't hear anything. All he did was nod when the boss was talking, over and over, nodding like some Chinatown-crew bobblehead doll.

"I didn't know what he was talking about," Doyle explained from the witness stand. "I don't wanna look like a chumbolone, an idiot, stupid."

And there you have it.

We want the glitzy Olympic party. But we think we won't have to pay for it. And when Mayor Fredo talks about his Olympic dream, we nod like chumbolones.

For almost two decades now, Daley has run the city and Cook County. His administration is an encyclopedia of corruption and insider deals for friends and family.

He'd drink with white guys with Outfit connections every Christmas Eve, guys who received $100 million in affirmative-action contracts from his administration, and he didn't know how it happened.

As of Sunday, it has been 1,615 days since the mayor promised he'd find out who promoted ex-gangbanger Angelo Torres to run his scandal-plagued Hired Truck program that cost taxpayers at least $40 million. We're still waiting.

There are so many such deals that counting them would be like trying to count the flies on a chunk of liver sausage in an alley in July. All this on his watch. Just imagine what he'll do with all that Olympic gold.

These days, corruption is important again, since the former governor, Mr. Dead Meat, got busted for trying to sell President Obama's Senate seat. But when will we realize that the governor of Illinois—no matter who sits in the chair—is just a measly nose hair compared to the boss of Chicago?

Read the whole thing. And don't be a chumbolone.

I Wonder Which Is Greater

The brilliance behind this ad:



Or the stupidity of NBC's explanation as to why they're refusing to show it during the Super Bowl:

NBC Sacks Pro-Life Super Bowl Ad

Network Nixes Commercial Celebrating Potential of Life

CHICAGO, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NBC has rejected an uplifting and positive pro-life ad submitted for its Super Bowl broadcast this Sunday. After several days of negotiations, an NBC representative in Chicago told CatholicVote.org today that NBC and the NFL are not interested in advertisements involving "political advocacy or issues."

Brian Burch, President of CatholicVote.org reacted: "There is nothing objectionable in this positive, life-affirming advertisement. We show a beautiful ultrasound, something NBC's parent company GE has done for years. We congratulate Barack Obama on becoming the first African-American President. And we simply ask people to imagine the potential of every human life."

"NBC told CatholicVote.org that they do not allow political or issue advocacy advertisements. But that's not what they told PETA," said Burch. "There's no doubt that PETA is an advocacy group. NBC rejected PETA's ad for another reason altogether."

According to an email posted on PETA.org, Victoria Morgan, Vice President of Advertising Standards for Universal, said: "The PETA spot submitted to Advertising Standards depicts a level of sexuality exceeding our standards." Morgan even detailed "edits that need to be made" in order for the spot to run during the Super Bowl.

"NBC claims it doesn't allow advocacy ads, but that's not true. They were willing to air an ad by PETA if they would simply tone down the sexual suggestiveness. Our ad is far less provocative, and hardly controversial by comparison," said Burch.

"The purpose of our new ad is to spread a message of hope about the potential of every human life, including the life of Barack Obama," said Burch. "We are now looking at alternative venues to run the ad over the next several weeks."

The ad aired on BET in Chicago on Inauguration Day. It has become an Internet hit with over 700,000 views in seven days. The ad was in the top 10 "most viewed" category on YouTube on Inauguration Day last week.

The ad reads: "This child's future is a broken home. He will be abandoned by his father. His single mother will struggle to raise him. Despite the hardships he will endure...this child...will become...the 1st African-American President." The ad concludes with the tagline, "Life: Imagine the Potential." The ad is the first of several ads in new campaign launched by CatholicVote.org.

The ad can be viewed at www.CatholicVote.org -- a project of the Fidelis Center for Law and Policy.

We Get the Elected Officials We Deserve

Given the events of today, I find it fitting, given the uber-corrupt nature of politics in our state, that Barack Obama's Senate replacement will be named by a man who's now in federal custody.

Just a few minutes ago, I happened to recall a related post I originally put up on the Generations for Life blog on 10/30/06 under the title "Shameless".

Said post follows:


A couple weeks ago, my wife and I received some mail from:

The Executive Mansion
410 E Jackson
Springfield, IL 62701-1719

It was addressed "To the Parents of Maria Jansen."

"What could this be?" we both thought.

Upon opening it, we found a card saying "Welcome, Little One" with a collection of stuffed animals looking out the window at an approaching stork carrying a bundle in its beak.


Opening it up, the right flap said, "The world is one baby sweeter now."

The main part of the card reads:

Congratulations on the birth of your new baby! Childbirth is an exciting event for every family, and we are proud to share in your joy.

A healthy child is a happy child. Therefore, it is important that your baby receive proper immunizations by two months of age. It will help to ensure protection against future illnesses.

Best wishes to your whole family on this very special occasion.

Rod Blagojevich

At this point, we had to chuckle. Honestly, we don't know which of our girls' births this card was intended to recognize, as all three of our daughters are named Maria. (We call each of them by their middle names).

Presumably, it was sent in response to the birth of our youngest daughter, Maria Lucia, who was born in September 2005. Which means the card is at least a year late (“…it is important that your baby receive proper immunizations by two months of age”).

I guess when your office is as scandal-plagued as Governor Blagojevich's is, these sorts of things get put on the back burner.

Mass in Honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Next Friday, at the twelfth hour of the twelfth day of the twelfth month, the Pro-Life Action League will be co-sponsoring a solemn Mass at Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago in honor of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

This Mass, the first ever in Federal Plaza, is a significant exercise of our religious freedom, right on federal property—directly in front of the building where Barack Obama has his transition team office!

The Mass will be offered by Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller (who, I might add, is an amazingly gifted preacher).

One might say it shows more guts than brains to schedule an outdoor Mass in Chicago in December. (Indeed, it's already snowed twice this week, and the forecast high for today is a mere 24°.)

This is all the more reason why we're asking anyone and everyone—no matter where they hang their hat—to beseech God to grant Chicago good weather on December 12.

And, if you live close by, join us! There's more information here.

Federal Plaza is located at 50 W. Adams St. in Chicago.

Heh

Uh Oh

I wonder what Obama's election does for Chicago's chances to host the 2016 Olympics.

Now What?

We now have a president-elect who said he doesn't know when human beings should be given human rights, who promised to sign the Freedom of Choice Act—which would have a devastating effect on existing pro-life laws—and who voted to support legalized infanticide.

South Dakota's effort to ban most abortions failed.

California's effort to pass a commonsense parental notification law for minor girls seeking abortions failed.

Michigan voters approved a state constititutional amendment to permit stem cell research embryonic stem cell research (read: killing little people for the putative benefit of bigger people).

And Washington state became the second state to legalized doctor-assisted suicide.

(On the bright side, though, Proposition 8 appears to have passed in California.)

Details on all these state ballot measures are available here.

So, what do we do now? Wail and gnash our teeth? Beat our breasts and don sackcloth and ashes?

To be sure, there is a time for penance, and a time for mourning. (Along these lines, do read these three sobering posts on Christina Dunigan's RealChoice blog.)

After such time, we need to get active. And if we're already active, we need to get more active.

I've often told people who contact us looking to get involved in pro-life activities that just as all politics is local, so too is all pro-life activism.

David Bereit, national director of 40 Days for Life — whose most recent campaign saved the lives of over 520 babies — made this same point in a press release today, headlining it simply:

Pro-lifers must look beyond elections
and focus on making local impact

Exactly.

Who knows what new pro-abortion legislation will passed in the next four years, or who will be appointed to the Supreme Court?

Nobody does. And that's why we can't sit around and do nothing and wait for Someone Else To Do Something.

There is no better time than now to get involved in pro-life activism.

Now is not the time to hang our heads or wring our hands. Now is the time to put our pro-life beliefs into action in our own communities.

As for our attitude, we would do well to heed the counsel from a long-time pro-life activist who e-mailed this morning with some advice to keep in mind these next four years (and, for that matter, always):

Remember to be positive and joyful! Don't give in to negativity. St. Paul who was no stranger to difficulties told us, "with all our affliction, I am overjoyed" (2 Cor. 7:4). He exhorted his fellow Christians to be joyful: "Rejoice always" (1 Thess. 5:16); "rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice" (Phil. 4:4). We need to be cheerful and confident in our defense of Christ and life. "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7). We will not win the world with a sour face but with the love, truth, and the joy of Jesus Christ. St. Peter tells us when we live and even suffer joyfully we can, "Rejoice in so far as you share Christ's suffering, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is reveled." (1 Peter 4:13).

And, as my boss, the redoubtable Joe Scheidler, reminded me this morning, at Mass we pray to Our Heavenly Father, "In your mercy keep us free from sin . . . as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ."

This was the Church's prayer yesterday. It is the Church's prayer today. And it will be the Church's prayer until the end of time.

Politicians and their unfulfillable promises of "hope and change" will come and go; but real, authentic "joyful hope"—along with faith, and above all, charity—these endure, and they sustain us.

I'm Voting for Obama

Because, you know, the Illinois junior senator himself said:

So I am going to try to be so persuasive in the 20 minutes or so that I speak that by the time this is over, a light will shine down from somewhere.

It will light upon you. You will experience an epiphany. And you will say to yourself, I have to vote for Barack. I have to do it.

So I guess I have no choice.

Related

• Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Leader



• Other previous related posts here

This Video Won't Last Long on YouTube...

Whenever a video of undercover footage exposing what really happens inside an abortion clinic is posted on YouTube, it's usually yanked soon after for no reason.

So I'm sure this video, just released by Students for Life of America, won't last long either:



(If it's no longer available on YouTube, you can also see it here on Eyeblast.)

Trying to Fool Enough of the People All of the Time

With respect to his voting record on the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act, the junior senator from our fair corrupt state thinks he can fool enough of the people all of the time.

And, in one of those Sad To Say But Sometimes People Just Aren't Paying Close Enough Attention To What's Really Going On Here kind of moments, our good friend Jill Stanek points out that his strategy just might work.

Because, you know, no one really believes that Barack "But if [my daughters] make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby" Obama would vote to support legalized infanticide, do they?

Because that's, like, unbelievable, isn't it?

Gianna Jessen, an Abortion Survivor, Tells Her Story

In response to this ad:



...ABC News reporter Jake Tapper a person who claims to be a man, and who claims to be named Jake Tapper, and who claims to be a reporter for ABC News (which claims to be a news outlet), said earlier this week that Jessen "claims" to be an abortion survivor.

While it's entirely correct to say Jessen "claims" to be an abortion survivor, it's also an entirely stupid thing to say, as a little fact-checking verifies that not only does Jessen claim to be an abortion survivor, but that she actually is an abortion survivor.

Now, to be fair, the reporter who claims to be Jake Tapper has since posted an update indicating that Jessen's medical records "support her story". How nice of him to point that out. Indeed, they do support her story, because it happens to be a true story.

Yesterday, Barack "But if [my daughters] make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby" Obama has responded to the Gianna Jessen ad:



But as Jill Stanek has shown through extensive documentation, the Obama camp's argument that the Illinois BAIPA was superfluous falls flat.

I ♥ The Onion

'Time' Publishes Definitive Obama Puff Piece

According to the Time reporter, work on the profile was often harder than he had anticipated, with Obama at times dodging questions about whether or not he played a musical instrument, and about what Monopoly piece he thought best represented his candidacy and why.

Read the whole thing.

Margaret Sanger, Mike Wallace, and Birth Control (and Philip Morris)

Check out this eye-opening interview of Planned Parenthood founder (and Barack Obama's heroine) Margaret Sanger conducted by Mike Wallace in 1957.

Here's an excerpt:

WALLACE: What are your religious beliefs, Mrs. Sanger? Do you believe in God in the sense of a Divine Being -- who rewards or punishes people after death?

SANGER: Well, I have a different attitude about--the divine--I feel that we have divinity within us, and the more we express the good part of our lives, the more the divine within us expresses itself.I suppose I would call myself an Episcopalian by religion and there's a--many other, if you travel around the world you get quite a bit of the feeling of all--all religions--have so much alike in the divine part of our own being. And I suppose you just couldn't just put that into a book or you couldn't put it to a phrase or a sentence.

WALLACE: Do you believe in sin -- When I say believe I don't mean believe in committing sin do you believe there is such a thing as a sin?

SANGER: I think the greatest sin in the world is bringing children into the world--that have disease from their parents, that have no chance in the world to be a human being practically. Delinquents, prisoners, all sorts of things just marked when they're born. That to me is the greatest sin -- that people can -- can commit..

WALLACE: But sin in the ordinary sense that we regard it -- do you believe or do you not believe.

SANGER: What-what would they be?

WALLACE: Do you believe infidelity is a sin?

SANGER: Well, I'm not going to specify what I think is a sin. I stated what I think is the worst sin.

WALLACE: Yes, but then you asked me to say what--and I said what and ah--you refuse to answer me?

SANGER: I don't know about infidelity, that has many personalities to it--and what a person's own belief is--you can't, I couldn't generalize on any of those things as being sins.

WALLACE: Murder is a sin...

SANGER: Well, I naturally think murder, whether it's a sin or not, is a terrible act.

Watch it here. Read the full transcript here.

[HT: Mark Shea via Dawn Eden via Kathy Schmugge]

John Kass on Obama

His latest column begins thusly:

Will Barack Obama's presidential candidacy serve his state and city by finally drawing national attention to the sleazy and corrupt politics of Illinois and Chicago?

It is all about context. The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate's politics were born in Chicago. Yet he is presented to the nation as not truly being of this place, as if he floats just above the political corruption here, uninfected, untouched by the stain of it or by any sin of commission or omission. It is all so very mystical.

Perhaps viewing Obama as a Chicago political creature would conflict with the established national media narrative of Obama as a reformer. Actually, there's no "perhaps" about it.

"I think I have done a good job in rising politically in this environment without being entangled in some of the traditional problems of Chicago politics," Obama told reporters and editors at a Tribune editorial board meeting several weeks ago.

Yes, an excellent job. Except for his dalliance with his indicted real estate fairy, Tony Rezko, a relationship Obama considers a mistake, the senator has not played the fly to Mayor Richard Daley's spider. Almost, but not quite.

"I know there are those like John Kass who would like me to decry Chicago politics more frequently, and I'll leave that to his editorial commentary," Obama said.

Not the politics, just the corruption, I said then, wishing silently that he had decried it all, that he'd stood up years ago and pointed to the list of sleazy deals, pointed an angry finger at the Duffs, the white, Outfit-connected drinking buddies of Daley who received $100 million in affirmative action contracts through City Hall.

Read the whole thing.

Piffle

It's really not a hard question:



The mind reels at the pathetic verbal gymnastics required to try to get around the bleeding obvious fact that abortion takes a life — something even intellectually honest abortion advocates acknowledge.