Jan 31, 2009

NBC rejects Super Bowl ad because it contains pro-life message

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30-second ad features ultrasound pictures from a baby in its mother’s womb

NBC television has rejected a pro-life advertisement which
Catholicvote.org bought for a slot in the Super Bowl because the ad contains a pro-life message. The 30-second ad features ultrasound pictures from a baby in its mother’s womb. There is nothing either graphic or political and the word abortion is not even used. In fact, no words are spoken, only graphics that appear on-screen. Yet, the message is extremely powerful. You can view the ad here.

TAKE ACTION:Please ask NBC to welcome life-affirming advertising. You can find contact information through our
Action Center.

Action Alert: Labor Committee Will Hear Pro-Life Bills Next Week

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The House Labor Committee will hold a hearing next Wednesday on two pro-life bills related to abortion. The bills require allowing a pregnant woman to see an ultrasound of her unborn baby prior to an abortion and require the state health department to keep better records of the abortions done in Wyoming.

HB 151 - Ultrasound Requirement for Abortions, Rep. Bob Brechtel
This is an informed consent bill that requires an abortion practitioner to show a woman considering an abortion a photo of the ultrasound and describe it to her when he does so. When used in pregnancy centers, ultrasounds convince about 85 percent of women to keep their baby and not have an abortion. The bill does NOT require women to hear or see the ultrasound but merely gives them the option. Research shows about 99 percent of abortion practitioners do use ultrasound to determine the age of the unborn child at the time of the abortion.

HB 154 - Abortion Reporting Requirements, Rep Bob Brechtel
Wyoming is one of the few states in the nation to not compile abortion statistics annually and provide a compendium of the facts and figures to the legislature or the public. While other states make the information available and easy to see the latest trends and how we as a society can reduce abortions, we don’t have that benefit here. This bill does NOT require any personal identifying information be made public.

ACTION: Please immediately email the following members of the committee and urge them to support these pro-life bills (see below for more details). Email the legislators or call them at 307-777-7852 to leave a message and ask them to support the bill. ALL members of the committee need to hear from you before Wednesday!

Rep. Jack Landon (Sheridan) -
jlandon@wyoming.com
Rep. Dave Bonner (Powell) -
dbonner@wyoming.com
Rep. Ken Esquibel (Cheyenne) -
kesquibel@wyoming.com
Rep. Elaine Harvey (Lovell) -
harvey00@tctwest.net
Rep. Lisa Shepperson (Casper) -
lshepperson@wyoming.com
Rep. Timothy Hallinan (Gillette) -
tphallinan@bresnan.net
Rep. Patrick Goggles (Ethete) -
pgoggles@wyoming.com
Rep. Lori Millin (Cheyenne) -
lorimillin@bresnan.net
Rep. Kathy Davison (Kemmerer) -
kdavison@wyoming.com

* Please forward this urgent pro-life legislative alert to every pro-life Wyoming person you know and ask them to help!

GOP Loses Standoff, Wins Respect

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President Obama came to the Republican mountain, but he didn't manage to move it. In his much-anticipated meeting with the House minority, the new leader tried to soften opposition to the $1.1. trillion stimulus package. President Obama did concede on one of the Republicans' largest complaints, the hundreds of millions of dollars in contraception. He stripped that provision, along with a beautification project for the National Mall, but neither compromise did much to ease Republicans' minds. They see the "recovery package" not as stimulus but as a major pork-and-payoff bill that quietly authorizes the most controversial pieces of Obama's social agenda.

Although the legislation passed Wednesday evening 244-188, the GOP did set in motion a new era of opposition, voting unanimously against a bill that would take government into the final frontiers of universal health care and federalized education. In the face of the most popular incoming President since JFK, Republicans stood together in statement of solidarity. They should be congratulated for showing real backbone against unprecedented government expansion.

As the veil begins to drop from the shady elements of the stimulus, more people are beginning to understand what's at stake. Wednesday's New York Times reads, "Stimulus Offers Road to Retooling Social Policy" with "little notice and no public hearings." The 1,588 page H.R. 1 has plenty of waste. Obama offers: $600 million to buy "green" cars for government workers; $400 million to help NASA conduct climate change research (which ranks dead last on Americans' priorities, according to a new Pew poll); $4.1 billion for "neighborhood stabilization activities," for which ACORN (the Democrats' get-out-the-vote machinery) would be eligible; and even $227 million to oversee the pork spending in the stimulus (Page 11). Medicaid would expand for the poor, the uninsured, and the unemployed, opening the doors to universal health care. And the bill would more than double the Department of Education's current budget.

Swimming against the liberal tide isn't easy, and House Republicans need your encouragement to stay motivated for the work ahead. Please contact Cynthia Lummis today and thank her for refusing to back down on H.R. 1.

Americans Support Strict Interpretation of Constitution

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There is speculation that President Obama may be faced with his first Supreme Court Justice appointment as early as this summer.

The findings of a recent survey performed by Rasmussen Reports declared;
“Nearly two-thirds of U.S. voters (64%) say U.S. Supreme Court decisions should
be based on what is written in the Constitution, but only 35% think President
Obama agrees with them.”
In general the majority of voters polled have a different perspective than President Obama regarding the importance of the Constitution in a Supreme Court Justices’ decision. Barack Obama has said that he would appoint judges who would empathize with the plaintiff. While this is indeed an admirable – politically correct – quality it should hardly be the basis in which to ground legal decisions. Fortunately it seems the majority of voters disagree with President Obama. Unfortunately Supreme Court Justices are appointed by the president after Senate approval of his nomination.

Obama, good news – bad news

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As Christians, we should be among the first to applaud our leadership and representatives when we see them doing what is right for all citizens. Just hours into office President Obama enacted a new ethics code which will prohibit anyone who leaves his administration from lobbying the executive branch for the duration of President Obama’s term. According to the Washington Post; “rules also bar registered lobbyists from working in the administration on areas in which they have lobbied”. This is great news, it’s ethics reform which is long overdue.

I’m also encouraged to hear that President Obama has promised that his administration will be more transparent and willing to disclose details on issues that are relevant to citizens. Again, great news because all branches of our government should be open to those they serve as long as our national security is not jeopardized.

Unfortunately, President Obama overturned the Mexico City policy, meaning that hundreds of millions of your tax dollars will go to groups that aggressively promote and perform abortions. In his inaugural address, the President said that he would free science from its restraints and restore it to its rightful place. That translates to mean that taxpayers are going to be funding embryo-destructive research (despite the fact that all the successes in such research have come about using adult stem cells).

With the current economic challenges looming over our country and the world we must ask;
  • where is the wisdom in sending hundreds of millions of dollars to other countries for the sole purpose of performing abortions?
  • where is the wisdom in government subsidizing embryonic stem cell research with hundreds of millinos of tax payer dollars and other costly resources?

It is obvious that the question of life and how we view it, which is central to everything, is an important and central issue. As Christians we must be compelled to defend the sanctity of life at every stage, from conception to natural death; it’s integral to the Gospel.

As we watch the plans and policies of new administration unfold, we must be in constant prayer for our new leader, as the Bible commands. The survival of our way of life is at stake. So we must pray without ceasing that President Obama and his administration will listen to wise counselors and then have the courage to do the right thing.

California official retaliates against Prop. 8 supporters

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A California tax assessor wants to tax the Catholic Church after Proposition 8 was passed by voters.

LifeSiteNews.com reports Phil Ting, who supports same sex marriage and fought against Prop. 8, is calling for a $15 million tax after the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco restructured its leadership and consolidated its property nearly seven months ago.

Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment declaring marriage to be a union between one man and one woman, passed last November on California's ballot. It was heavily supported by the Catholic Church as well as the Mormon Church.

The archdiocese responded by filing legal action against Ting, and many traditional marriage supporters are questioning his motives. Randy Thomasson is founder of and president of Campaign for Children and Families.

"Why do we have a First Amendment?" he asks. "Why do we have freedom of religion in the U.S. Constitution and the California state constitution?"

Ting's approach, according to Thomasson, is rife with ulterior motives. "If it's not an evil thing that's being done, it's an incompetenence issue thing," he contends. "Well now that same sex marriage has been stopped at the ballot, it looks like Phil Ting knows who he can get to satisfy his lust to destroy marriage."

Thomasson hopes a higher court will give the case a just analysis.

U.S. economy predicted to collapse under socialism

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A U.K. official says his predictions of economic collapse are coming to pass.

The Telegraph is reporting that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy. Christopher Monckton, the Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, agrees. He says the Labor Party's continual borrowing for social programs is to blame.

"Every Labor government there has ever been from 1926 to the present day has always ended in exactly the same way because they essentially try to run a communist financial system," he contends, "and it doesn't work any better here than it worked in the Soviet Union."

Read the full story:

Obama condemned for expanding taxpayer funded abortions

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Matthew Lee and Liz Sidoti - Associated Press Writers - 1/24/2009 6:50:00 AM
WASHINGTON - As he promised during the election campaign, Barack Obama on Friday struck down a ban against taxpayer funded abortions abroad.

Obama's move was warmly welcomed by liberal groups and denounced by defenders of unborn children.

The ban has been a political football between Democratic and Republican administrations since GOP President Ronald Reagan first adopted it 1984. Democrat Bill Clinton ended the ban in 1993, but Republican George W. Bush re-instituted it in 2001 as one of his first acts in office.

"For too long, international family planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back and forth debate that has served only to divide us," Obama said in a statement released by the White House. "I have no desire to continue this stale and fruitless debate."

"In the coming weeks, my administration will initiate a fresh conversation on family planning, working to find areas of common ground to best meet the needs of women and families at home and around the world," the president said.

Obama issued the presidential memorandum rescinding the Bush policy without coverage by the media, late Friday afternoon.

The abortion measure is a highly emotional one for many people, and the quiet signing was in contrast to the televised coverage of Obama's announcement Wednesday on ethics rules and Thursday's signing of orders on closing the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and banning torture in the questioning of
terror suspects.

His action came one day after the 36th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion.

The Bush policy had banned U.S. taxpayer money, usually
in the form of Agency for International Development funds, from going to
international family planning groups that either offer abortions or provide
information, counseling or referrals about abortion as a family planning method.

The ban has been known as the "Mexico City policy" for the city a U.S. delegation first announced it at a U.N. International Conference on Population.

Pro-life groups and lawmakers condemned Obama's decision.

"I have long supported the Mexico City Policy and believe this administration's decision to be counter to our nation's interests," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

"Coming just one day after the 36th anniversary of the tragic Roe v. Wade decision, this presidential directive forces taxpayers to subsidize abortions overseas -
something no American should be required by government to do," said House
Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Obama - Unlimited Opportunity

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Over the last two months, I have noticed that many conservative are in deep despair over the election of Barack Obama to the highest seat in our nation and possibly the world. I understand the feeling. The President-elect, along with his newly strengthened allies in Congress, opposes almost every pro-life and pro-family position conservative Evangelicals and conservative Catholics have fought for so hard. His newly appointed cabinet is also a reflection of his views which will have an impact on policy, much of which will go unnoticed by most as daily business is conducted.

I would like to encourage the handwringers by saying we must never despair. It is a sin to deny the sovereignty of God. Barack Obama is the right person at this time. We just have to learn how to live differently while continuing to work through the established procedures our great nation allows. This election was indeed a historical event that this nation should celebrate. Let us begin today.

First, this is the new President’s hour. And we should be praying for him. Major decisions which affect the welfare of us all are in his hands.

Second, we ought to take pleasure in the joy expressed by African Americans over President Obama’s election. They have fought hard for civil rights, and now one of their own is President. This can be a good thing for the United States of America.

We should also be pleased at the jubilation around the world at the election of America’s first black president, which has smashed the stereotype of America as an oppressive white superpower throwing its weight around. This could build unprecedented good will for us among many other nations, nations with whom we must cooperate on many important issues.

Third, this may be a teachable moment for all of us. Ever since the 1960s, liberal political leaders have built their power bases by telling minorities that they are the exploited victims of racism.

Tragically, many African-Americans feel, rightly or wrongly, that there is nothing they can do to help themselves except to elect politicians who promise to pour money into their communities. All these politicians have done is feed the grievance mentality and stay in power; the poor remain as poor as ever.

Obama’s election shatters that delusion. How could any young African-American any longer believe that he is destined to a life of crime and poverty simply because he was born black? Obama’s election demonstrates that America truly is the land of opportunity for every citizen regardless of the color of his skin, the status of his birth, or the community from which he comes. If this new attitude takes hold, I could see us rebuilding the pits of despair and depression that many inner cities neighborhoods have become.

Having said that, I have my differences with President Obama and the majorities in Congress, but I, for one, will continue to fight hard for the unborn and for traditional marriage, among other issues.

So I urge readers, don’t give up, or retreat into your sanctuaries, as some are suggesting. Remember to follow the Biblical directive to pray for our leaders and play an active role in our government, it is our responsibility as citizens.

Cultural Issues and Worldview

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When you hear people discussing ethical issues today, do you get the sense they're talking on different levels? I don't mean different intellectual levels; I mean talking as though they are on different planes, in different worlds, even. When we discuss ethical differences, we often find we're so at odds that the discussion quickly grinds to a halt . . . or degenerates into name-calling.

Much of the difference is due to the worldview a person holds. Understanding these differences and learning what shapes a persons worldview is helpful in keeping discussions from disintegrating and confirming the view of the challenger.

What are some of the primary components that shape a persons’ worldview?
 

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