So Far, So Good!

Just an update on the sugery. Things went well. Had the stitches out today, but will be off work until at least the 13th of March when I see the doctor. I'll get details then on what all occurred. In the meantime, I am able to get arround with crutches. & I have to do exercises 3 times a day. I was finally able to go out on Ash Wednesday for the 1st time.

My biggest fustration was not having access to a computer with the news about Santorum talking about Obama's phony theology. May still do something yet. But posting will still be sporadic for a few days.

I Cannot Tell A Lie, My Grandfather Was George Washington

& today is his birthday.

Yup, my grandfather, George Washington Troup was born on this day in 1864 in Maryland.

& no, I didn't mispell his last name. The e was added to my dad's name when he was in school at Sacred Heart in Oelwein. Family legend is that he went to talk to the nun who added it to the names of those going to Sacred Heart. He was told that it was him, not the nun mispelling the name. Don't know if that is true, but it does make for a good story.

PP-Heartland's Jill June - Using Smoke & Mirrors to Divert People From the Truth

As if any regular reader of this blog will be surprized by that fact. Planned Parenthood is doing what it can to make themselves look like they care about women's health. Thank God that the truth is getting out that they are about abortion, promoting Margaret Sanger's racist, eugenic agenda & making big bucks while doing so.

That is why they have to use diversionary tactics like this. They know that if they don't then many of the people that are on the fence & leaning towards supporting them will no longer support them if they find out the truth. So they throw mud to distract, to blind & to mislead. These are NOT the acts of an organization that can stand on its record. If they could then June would NEVER have to resort to the rhethoric that actually describes what Planned Parenthood is doing, not those opposing PP.
& with what I reported about how more & more fraud is being uncovered at Planned Parenthood, you can be sure this is only the beginning of their attempts to distract people. I am willing to bet Jill June would NOT welcome an impartial audit because it would uncover similar evidence that has been found elsewhere.

Who Started the War on Women? Planned Parenthood’s Slick Campaign to Avoid the Issues

Jill June, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland CEO, is on the warpath – in an imaginary war created by the organization that butters her bread, Planned Parenthood.

According to June’s war rhetoric in her January 20, 2012, Des Moines Register letter to the editor (“Here’s another reason women leave the GOP”), Republicans “vilify,” “rampage,” “attack,” “threaten” and “beat the drums,” in their “hostility towards women’s health needs.”

This is nothing more than an inflamed marketing campaign. Planned Parenthood’s fictional “War on Women” was declared by PPFA President Cecile Richards in an interview with NPR’s Democracy Now on February 16, 2011, in response to the House’s initiative to defund Planned Parenthood. Nine days later, the war propaganda was parroted by The New York Times, then picked up by an old soldier in Planned Parenthood’s army, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Here’s the problem. In the House of Representatives last year, 16 Democrats voted for the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” and 10 Democrats voted to cut off federal funding from Planned Parenthood.

The war is a diversionary tactic to avoid the issues, much like Planned Parenthood uses invented euphemisms like “pro-choice” and “reproductive health” to avoid the “a-word.” The real issue is that people on both sides of the aisle want Planned Parenthood de-funded, because of its abortion business model and addiction to profits at the expense of women’s health.

Former Storm Lake Planned Parenthood Manager, Sue Thayer, revealed that Planned Parenthood in Iowa required non-medical personnel to do vaginal ultrasounds. Thayer was told by her superior “that it helps if you have played a video game because it’s a lot like running a joystick.” Former employees, women who truly care about women’s health, like Thayer, Abby Johnson and Catherine Adair (who will be a featured speaker at Iowa Right to Life’s Spring Fling on April 28) are bravely speaking out about how Planned Parenthood endangers women.

Planned Parenthood pioneered the use of webcam RU-486 chemical abortions in Iowa, which are more dangerous, more bloody and protracted than surgical abortions. Why? Because they are more profitable for Planned Parenthood. When Planned Parenthood was using Iowa women as guinea pigs to test RU-486 back in 1994 and 1995, at least one woman almost bled to death. Despite this, Jill June crowed there were no complications in the trials. If bleeding to death isn’t a complication, I don’t know what is.

On December 20, 2011, people engaged in a peaceful prayer vigil outside Planned Parenthood in Sioux City, a location that does abortions, witnessed an ambulance pull up and take someone away. Is this what Jill June calls “safe and legal?” It seems casualties of the War on Women are caused by Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood is circling the wagons for their biggest battle: self-preservation for profit. No wonder. Jill June has had a healthy 45 percent salary increase over the last two years, bringing her annual salary to $265,389. And over the last decade, the organization has expanded its profitable abortion locations and numbers.

Planned Parenthood in Iowa gets over $5 million in tax funding annually — it’s a wealthy organization that hurts women and doesn’t deserve our tax dollars. These are the issues. June apparently can’t hear them over the beating of the war drums in her head.

Related articles

•Planned Parenthood Supporter Plans To Get a Mammogram From Them! (liveaction.org)

•Planned Parenthood Bullies Food Pantry Group to Support It (lifenews.com)

•‘Hooking Kids on Sex’: Graphic New Vid Report Shows How Planned Parenthood Is Creating ‘Future Customers’ (theblaze.com)

•Report Cites 20% of Planned Parenthood Affiliates for Financial Irregularities (liveaction.org)

Planned Parenthood - More Evidence of Fraud

Once again, the truth is coming out about how Planned Parenthood really operates. While the fraud found so far involves only 20% of PP's national affiliates, you can be sure this is only the tip of the iceberg & that as more affiliates are audited even more fraud will be found.

With all this coming out you can see why PP wants to have groups like Komen or food banks to hide behind. They provide the needed cover, like honest business are used by the Mafia to provide cover for their criminal activities. I said the other day when the news about how Komen was attacked by PP came out & I repeat it here, will someone PLEASE open up a RICO investigation of PP!!!!! They are worse than the Mafia, & I don't say that lightly. Even at it's worst, Murder Inc never killed as many people as PP has. Add all the fraud that has been documented, their strongarm tactics etc & you have a huge criminal organization. Cecille Richards is the group's "godmother" doing her best inpromoting the "culture of death".

As for the main stream media, they need to be charged with aiding & abetting PP in their criminal activities. The MSM should be all over this & they aren't. Instead they are too busy helping Obama to bash faithful Catholics who are fighting for their 1st amendment rights. Or should I say Obama & his administration is doing all they can to promote Planned parenthood's agenda & the media is doing their part as well?

In the movie & book versions of  "The Godfather"  the Corleone family had judges, politicians & newspaper reporters in their pockets, just like PP with Obama, Sibelius & the MSM. Like I said, Planned Parenthood is worse than the Mafia. 

Planned Parenthood guilty of tens of millions of dollars in fraud charge: whistleblower report

LUFKIN, TEXAS, February 15, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Congressional investigation into Planned Parenthood that touched off the controversy over Susan G. Komen’s funding of the abortion giant may soon expand into a series of national hearings in the nation’s capital and court cases around the country that could expose hundreds of millions of dollars of financial impropriety, critics say.

Karen Reynolds, a decade-long employee of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (PPGC) in Texas, has filed a lawsuit claiming 12 Planned Parenthood mills in Texas and Louisiana bilked the government by billing medical agencies for services that were unnecessary or that were never actually provided. “Fraud is fraud,” said Reynolds’ attorney, Mike Love.

Her allegations are part of a cascade of negative publicity drawing attention to the dubious or possibly illegal accounting practices of roughly 20 percent of Planned Parenthood’s national affiliates.

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards

Responding to the new allegations of wrongdoing, Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn has written a letter to House Speaker John Boehner calling for a “full-scale series of congressional hearings to expose the damage Planned Parenthood has caused to our nation.”

The Tennessee Republican cited a recent 23-page report issued by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) that found upwards of $99 million in waste or possible fraud, including the illegal taxpayer funding of abortion and abortion-related procedures.

“There have been 38 federal HHS Office of Inspector General audits of state family planning programs, of which Planned Parenthood gets the lion’s share, between 1995 and 2009,” Steven Aden, vice president for human life issues and senior council at ADF told LifeSiteNews.com on a conference call last week. “These have discovered between $88-99 million in waste, abuse, and potential waste and fraud.”

“Two of those federal audits, in New York and New Jersey, specifically identified Planned Parenthood and only Planned Parenthood as a source of overbilling in the family planning program,” he said.

Only seven of the nation’s 79 Planned Parenthood affiliates had been officially investigated, as far as the ADF knows, he said. The 10 known audits took place in California, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Washington state – mostly Democratic states that favor legalized abortion.

Yet those investigations uncovered numerous instances of financially questionable practices including wrongly billing Medicaid for medications provided as part of an abortion in violation of the Hyde Amendment, overbilling for prescription drugs, dispensing prescription drugs – including oral contraceptives – without a prescription, double-billing, charging for medically unnecessary services, falsely claiming some services were provided for family planning, and several instances of unsigned or missing documentation. The ADF report identifies 12 types of potential fraud, in all.

A common practice was “unbundling,” in which services provided as part of an abortion procedure were billed separately, as though they were unrelated services.

“In New York alone during one four year period,” the report states, “it appeared that hundreds of thousands of abortion-related claims were billed illegally to Medicaid.” (Emphasis in original.)

A 2008 New York audit found 102 of 119 sample cases improperly received such reimbursement – including funds that paid for 27 abortions. An audit the previous year found nearly half of New York’s 100 sampled cases involved a laboratory being reimbursed for abortion-related services, for which it should not have received any money.

A June 2008 audit in New Jersey found several clinics, “especially Planned Parenthood providers,” billed all their services as family planning, allowing 90 percent of their costs to be reimbursed by the federal government.

“Thus, Planned Parenthood’s primary motivation appears not to be to provide quality healthcare to patients who seek family planning services, but rather to enhance its profits,” ADF reports.

Two federal whistleblower lawsuits in California and Texas charge even more affiliates with Medicaid fraud in the tens of millions of dollars.

Karen Reynolds of Lufkin, Texas, worked more than 10 years at Planned Parenthood. In her court complaint, she charges PPGC with “billing for medical services not rendered, billing for for unwarranted medical services, billing for services not covered by Medicaid, and creating false information in medical records which was material to billing for medical services.”

Reynolds quotes a PPGC memo that stated, “If the client [getting an abortion] is getting on birth control make this the focus of the visit and put a note in the chief complaints that the client had a surgical or medical abortion ‘x’ weeks ago.”

Another former Planned Parenthood employee, P. Victor Gonzalez, who was chief financial officer for Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles, claimed in a 2010 lawsuit that PPLA paid “$225,695.65 for Ortho Tri-Cyclen birth control pills, yet billed the government $918,084 – for a profit of $692,388.35.” These and other actions, which he said deliberately violated the False Claims Act (FCA), amounted to $100 million in financial impropriety.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, told LifeSiteNews.com the audits coupled with the whistleblowers’ inside accounts “reveal a pattern of gross financial mismanagement” at the nation’s largest abortion provider. Yet “after 40 years of receiving taxpayer funds, not one oversight hearing of Planned Parenthood has occurred,” she said. “Now is the time for such scrutiny on behalf of its most important benefactors, the American taxpayers, and on behalf of the young women that it claims to serve.”

Instead of submitting itself to an inspection, she said Planned Parenthood had struck a “posture of entitlement” and waged “campaigns to destroy those who ask questions.”

Aden said, “Americans deserve to know if their hard-earned tax money is being funneled to groups that are misusing it.”

“Planned Parenthood has to play by the same rules as everyone else,” he said. “It is not entitled to a dime of taxpayer funds, especially if it is committing Medicaid fraud.”

“This is part of ADF and our allied organizations…effort to encourage the House Oversight Committee to hold public hearings hearings, to have Planned Parenthood’s national officers testify and be held accountable for the financial mismanagement that one-in-five of their affiliates has been implicated in.”

Thus far, less than ten percent of Planned Parenthood’s 79 national affiliates had been audited; eight other affiliates are implicated in ongoing lawsuits that allege financial malfeasance.

When asked whether a similar pattern would be found if the remaining 90 percent of affiliates were audited, Dannenfelser told LifeSiteNews.com, “It’s the responsibility of the Oversight Committee to do just that, to find the audits – and if they’re not available, to do the audits.”

14th Annual Virtual St. Joseph's Altar

For centuries there has been a wonderful tradition of honoring San Giuseppe with an altar. The altar originated in Sicily. In the Middle Ages a terrible famine struck Sicily as a result of a drought. The people of Sicily pleaded to San Giuseppe, their patron saint, for relief. San Giuseppe answered their prayers, the needed rains came & the famine ended. In gratitude, they prepared a table with foods they had harvested.  After paying homage to St. Joseph, they distributed the food to the less fortunate.

The altar is made in 3 tiers to honor the 3 Persons in the Holy Trinity.  On the top tier a statue of San ,Giuseppe is placed. It is surrounded by greenery, flowers & fruit. The altar is ladden with a variety of foods, the only exception is no meat as San Giuseppe's feast falls during Lent. What is there includes limes, candles, wine & fava beans. There are also specially prepared cakes, breads, & cookies baked in symbolic Christian shapes  such as monstrances, chalices, crosses, doves, lambs, fish, bibles, hearts, wreaths & palms. Additionally  many of the symbols of San Giuseppe, lilies, staffs, sandals, ladders, saws, hammers & nails, are also placed on the altar. Bread crumbs are also found there as a symbol of the sawdust in San Giuseppe's workshop.

Additionally, petitions are written on pieces of paper & placed in baskets on the Altar. Photos of deceased relatives & friends are also often found there as San Giuseppe is the patron of a happy death.

Some years ago I 1st discovered this site with a virtual St. Joseph Altar. Each year since then I have returned to it to add my offerings & petitions. The 2012 altar is scheduled to open today, 1 month before the feast of San Giuseppe.  Please stop by & check it out. & don't forget to make an offering to honor the Foster Father of Jesus & ask his powerful intecession for any needs you may have as well as for your deceased relatives & friends.

_______________

NOTE: The opening date is based on what I have seen on the website. I am going on the assumption that, as has been in the past, it will open on this day since I have written this before my time off for surgery.

When Gunnery Sgt. Ermey Speaks, Everybody Better Listen

A look at the lighter sider of  former U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant R. Lee Ermey.



http://www.triggerthevote.org/

H/T: Patrick Button (R. Lee Ermey Gets Out the Vote)

We Interupt This Blog For An Important Announcement

I will be having arthroscopic surgery on my left knee tomorrow. So for the next few days I will not be putting up any posts except for a few I have prescheduled.

But I will be back ASAP!!!!!

PS: Thank God I am having the surgery now before Obama takes over complete control of the health industry. (Which, God willing, will never happen.) I am sure that if he ever does, since I am defined by his administration as one of those pro-life, pro-gun ownership pro-tea party terrorists, i wouldn't be elligible for any health care, just a slow miserable death as 1 of those arrested & detained indefinitely in 1 of his prison camps.

Sad, But Unfortunately, Way Too True

The 98% Catholic Women Use Birth Control Claim Is A Lie

Which should come as a surprize to no one who knows how Planned Parenthood operated. & when you toss in their PR arm, The Guttmacher Institute, you can be doubly sure that there is plenty of obfuscation, smoke & mirrors & lies. 

Figure That 98% of Catholic Women Use Birth Control Debunked

Abortion advocates and the White House are using a misleading figure to defend the new mandate the Obama administration put in place that requires insurance companies to offer birth control drugs that may cause abortions at no cost.

Both Obama administration officials and pro-abortion advocates like Planned Parenthood and NARAL are telling their members that 98% of Catholic women use contraception, a myth based on a misreading of a study published by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, a former Planned Parenthood affiliate.

Lydia McGrew has published a lengthy refutation of the figure that is drawing praise for its insight and accuracy.

“The survey was limited to women between 15-44. Ah, well, that explains how we weren’t including the elderly, but it also means that the silly “percent of all Catholic women” thing should be chucked out right from the beginning,” she notes.

McGrew indicates the Guttmacher study also “excluded any women who were a) not sexually active, where that is defined as having had sexual intercourse in the past three months (there go all the nuns), b) postpartum, c) pregnant, or d) trying to get pregnant. In other words, the study was specifically designed (as the prose discussion on p. 8 makes explicit, in bold print) to include only women for whom a pregnancy would be unintended and who are “at risk” of becoming pregnant.”

She continues: “Whether or not it included women who considered themselves neither trying nor not trying to get pregnant (there are some such women in the world) is unclear. It’s also unclear whether it included women who have had their reproductive organs removed because of some medical problem. Presumably the study was intended to exclude women in both of these categories, as neither would count as a woman “at risk of an unintended pregnancy.”

McGrew writes: “Now, consider what all of this means as far as the representativeness of the sample for Catholic women. Surely there are a fair number of Catholic women between 15-44 who are not “at risk of an unintended pregnancy” for various reasons. It is plausible that this number is higher among Catholics than among non-Catholics. For one thing, a faithful Catholic woman in this age category who is not married is supposed to be remaining celibate. Hence she won’t fall into the “at-risk” category, and by the same token she won’t have any use for the “services” that the Obama administration is mandating be provided. Similarly, married Catholic women are probably more likely not to be attempting to avoid pregnancy, even using Natural Family Planning, than non-Catholic women. One would think they are also more likely to be pregnant or postpartum. And so on and so forth. In short, the deliberate design of the study to cover only women who, at the time of the study, were having sexual intercourse while regarding a pregnancy as unintended would be likely to make it unrepresentative of Catholics and particularly unrepresentative of devout Catholics. Yet the study is now being cited to show the percentage of Catholic women generally who are not following the teaching of the Catholic Church in this area! What is wrong with this picture?”

Tom Hoopes of CatholicVote reviewed both McGrew’s numbers and the initial study Guttmacher conducted.

“The results are even more skewed if you ask people at the top of a survey what religion they are. People who have never darkened the door of a Catholic Church will happily mark “Catholic” on such a survey. The behavior they report will count for or against Catholics the same regardless of their actual contact with Catholicism,” he writes. “This particular survey even admits that less than a third of its “Catholic” respondents even go to Mass once a week.”

“So, what do we know from the start: We aren’t dealing with practicing Catholics. In fact, a two-thirds majority of the Catholics in the survey are not eligible to receive communion, according to the U.S. bishops (see page 9), since they skip their Sunday obligation,” Hoopes continues.

“The most shocking news, though, is that the White House is spreading false information about Catholicism in order to provide cover as it removes religious liberties for Catholic organizations,” he concludes. “White House: Retract this statement and correct the record. Stop misinforming the public about my religion for your purposes.”

Why Rape & Incest Are NOT a Justification for Abortion

This story is a powerful reminder that the oft used argument for allowing abortion in the case of rape & incest is fallacious. We are talking about a human being who has every right to life.  

At 30, I learned that my mother was raped by her father…and I was that child

 by Kristi Hofferber

In May of 1978, God put forth the plans for my life. I was given up for adoption when I was only three days young. My adoptive parents were unable to have any children of their own, and were ecstatic that their dream of raising a child was about to come true. God placed me in the arms of two very loving people who took me in and provided me with unconditional love, support and opportunities that shaped the foundation of the person that I am today.

I was raised in a Christian home, and attended a Christian school up to the fourth grade, which set the foundation of my faith. Although I remained active in the youth group at church, I still struggled through school, both socially and emotionally. I was not the social butterfly, and often enjoyed my time to myself. I did not make friends easily. This pattern would continue through high school and even into college. I had a few close friends, but that too was difficult. If I began to feel like I was being left out, as I often did, it would put me into a state of depression and panic. I knew deep down what the real issue was, but I did not want to admit it, even to myself. I did not know how to handle the fact that I was adopted. I did not know anyone else who was adopted who I could turn to for advice, and going to the psychologist for my behavioral outbursts with my family did not seem to be much help either. I could not open up to anyone, let alone find someone who understood my frustrations.

For as long as I can remember, my parents have been open with me about being adopted. It was not something that I needed to be ashamed of, but in a way, I was. I was not ashamed of being adopted, I was ashamed of the way it made me feel. I was always angry. I felt like I did not belong in this world. As a matter of fact, I would often ask God “Why am I here?” and “Why did I have to feel like this?” My high school years were the toughest years of my life. I would cry myself to sleep almost every night, praying to God to take away the pain in my heart. Thank God that I had my faith to turn to, because I felt that I had nothing else. It was only when I was at church that I felt any semblance of peace. Something told me that I belonged there.

One particular person at church made an impression on me that will last throughout my life. She is someone I will always look up to. She was my first grade teacher, and she was the one person in this world that I wanted to ask for help and guidance. If only I had had the confidence. Ironically, I now interact with her often.

My husband is a minister, and is called to the same church where I grew up. God is a marvelous God! I know for a fact that God placed certain people in my life for his purpose, including my first grade teacher. I feel the same way about my husband. He and I have been married almost 10 years, and have one son. As a family, the three of us share something very special, we were all adopted. We are a family stitched together with God’s love and that was God’s plan from the very beginning. God has provided our family with unending blessings, even through the difficult times.

I had a low self worth, and would often question my very existence. I cannot pinpoint exactly what brought a change to that view. I believe it was a gradual change, beginning with a speaker that I saw while attending a youth gathering in 2004. Her story moved me to the point that I felt something telling me that we had something in common, I just had no idea what it was. She was survivor of an attempted late-term abortion who fought for her life, and now brings awareness of the effects of such procedures. No, I was not an abortion survivor, or an attempted abortion. However, as I would find later, I do indeed have a story to tell!

Read the rest of the story here.

Planned Pornography Hoods

CAUTION: This video  exposes Planned Parenthood's sex programs using images from Planned Parenthood's own websites and events. When I watched it, there were several parts that just turned my stomach. Yes, it is important that children receive appropriate sex ed, but what Planned Parenthood is pushing is anything but. What Planned Parenthood is doing is pushing a lifestyle that they can prey off of to make money, at the emotional, psychological & spiritual expense of those kids it claims it is trying to help.
This video raises an excellent question: “If a dirty old man showed this book to kids in a park, he’d be arrested. Why does Planned Parenthood, a taxpayer-funded organization, get to distribute these books to our children and get more government money?" We all know the answer to that. This is just 1 more reminder of what the corrupt bargain between the Democratic Party, the Obama administration & Planned Parenthood reults in.
Remember, never take PP's claims about their motives at face value. They don't really care about kids any more than they really care about women. They are a part of the "culture of death" & that means their goal isn't to promote or protect life in any way, shape or form.

For more: How Planned Parenthood hooks kids on sex (WARNING: graphic material)

Bishop Jenky to Polosi & Sibelius - Remember You Will Face A Final Judgment From God

Bishop Daniel Jenky is the Bishop of the Peoria, IL diocese. He is currently in Rome for his ad limina visit with Papa Benedetto. He was interviewed by the Catholic News Agency & asked about the recent actions of Kathleen Sibelius & Nancy Pelosi who both claim to be good Catholics. he issued a warning to them that someday they will have to face judgment for what they have done. He reminded them that their choosing political power & popular acclaim over Jesus will result in their being denied by Christ. He also reminded them it is not too late to repent. He didn't limit this warning to them, but to all "Catholic" politicians who act in similar ways.

He had some strong words to say about the Obama administration & his friends in the press as well. & they weren't complimentary. He compared what is going on in the USA with past assaults on the Catholic Church. He said that they would win Stalin approbation. He also issued a warning that we could be facing martyrdom if things keep going the way they are. he calls us to be ready.

Spmething tells me that Archbishop Sheen has got to be smiling in Heaven right now for the actions of this courageous leader of his home diocese. He has had to courage to say to Pelosi what her Bishop hasn't said. Sibelius's Bishop in Kansas did stand up to her publicly. But as he pointed out in an interview last week on The World Over, she is in DC & he is not sure where she is claiming residence. So he may no longer have any spiritual authority over her. Bishop Jenky is right to warn us of what lies ahead as well. In these actions he is truly being the shepherd he should be.

Catholic politicians who attack Church should remember God’s judgment

Rome, Italy, Feb 11, 2012 / 01:46 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Politicians who consider themselves Catholic but collaborate in “the assault against their faith” should remember they will one day have to give account for their acts before God, Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Illinois said Feb 10.

“There is a last judgment. There is a particular judgment. May they change their minds and may God have mercy on them,” he told CNA during his visit to Rome.

When asked specifically about recent actions of Democratic Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius Kathleen Sebelius and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Bishop Jenky replied “I am utterly scandalized.”

“The Lord once said ‘if you deny me at the end, I will deny you,’ this from our most merciful, good Savior. And so if it is a choice between Jesus Christ and political power or getting favorable editorials in leftist papers, well, that’s simply not a choice.”

Both Sebelius and Rep. Pelosi have been at the forefront of attempts to force Catholic institutions to cover contraception, sterilizations and abortifacients as part of their staff’s health insurance plans.

Bishop Jenky said there are too many Catholic politicians in the U.S. who “like to wear green sweaters on St. Patrick’s Day and march” or “have their pictures taken with the hierarchy” or “have conspicuous crosses on their forehead with ashes” but who then “not only do not live their faith they collaborate in the assault against their faith.”

The 64-year-old Chicago native is currently making his “ad limina” visit to Rome to discuss the state of his diocese with the Pope and the Vatican. He is part of a larger episcopal delegation from the states of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Bishop Jenky said the issue of religious freedom in the United States has featured in all their meetings so far, including their audience with Pope Benedict XVI Feb. 9.

“Determined secularists see the Catholic Church as the largest institutional block to a completely secularized society and not for the first, and probably not for the last time, we’re under assault,” he said drawing parallels with the anti-Catholic “Kulturkampf” in late 19th century Germany or the anti-clerical laws in France in the early 20th century.

“I am a Holy Cross religious and my own community had six colleges in France and they turned our mother house chapel into a stable,” he said. As for the United States in 2012, “it is always difficult to predict the future but the intensity of hatred against Catholic Christianity in elements of our culture is just astounding.”

He believes the present White House administration is also motivated by a “determined secularism,” while Communist dictator Joseph Stalin would “admire the uniformity of the American press, with some exceptions.”

In 2010 the Illinois legislature voted to legalize same-sex civil unions, a move which led to the closure of Catholic foster care services. This, said the bishop, took the Church “entirely out of the work that we started when the State of Illinois could not have cared less about beggar kids running up and down the streets.”

Bishop Jenky is very conscious of this patrimony of Catholic schools, hospitals and other social services “built by the sacrifice of Catholic believers” in previous generations of Illinois Catholics. “There weren’t a lot of multi-millionaires who built the churches, opened those orphanages or built those schools,” he said.

The bishop fears that socially liberal elites ultimately want to secularize such institutions by stealth. “I assume that is the underlying goal,” he suggested, “so that is robbing Christ but it is also robbing the heritage of generations of believers. So we would try to resist this in every way possible. It would be an incredible injustice.”

In conversation, he quoted the stark 2010 prediction of Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, “I will die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.” So is Bishop Jenky prepared for prison or worse?

“I hope I would always prefer Christ to anything so, if it came to it, yes but I would be one of the trembling martyrs.”

He recalled how in ancient Rome some Christians would run towards their martyrdom. He, on the other hand, would “probably be walking down the Forum with eyes downcast a little.”

“I think most of the bishops of our Church, though, would be faithful to Christ above anything, including our own personal freedom.”

Happy Birthday Benjamin Kubelsky!!!!!

 For those of you who are unsure about who Benjamin Kubelsky is, then you clearly are not a fan of his. You may know him by his stage name, Jack Benny. He was born on this day in 1984. He grew up in Waukegan IL. He changed his name to Jack Benny while in vaudeville after being threatened by a couple of lawsuits by actors with similar names. Another little known fact is that his wife, Mary Livingstone (nee Sadie Marks) was a cousin of the Marx Brothers.  You can read his whole story here.

 I have been a fan of Jack Benny for as far back as I can remember.  He had perfect timing & he created a character that was the perfect foil. He presented himself as vain, cheap & petty. In reality he was just the opposite, especially when it came to getting laughs. He didn't care if they came at his expense, he cared about the audience getting a show that was funny & entertaining. The fact that he surrounded himself by so many talented people is proof of that.

& he seldom failed to deliver what he promised.

I 1st became a fan watching his TV show in the early 60s. It wasn't until much later that I began hearing his early radio shows.

 1 of my favorite bits that he brought back again & again involved Mel Blanc.  1 of the characters Blanc created was Sy. While most of the time Sy was Mexican, Blanc also played him as French. By today's standards what he did would be politically incorrect, something that Jack Benny would argue. He was 1 of the 1st entertainers to work to eliminate stereotypical presentations. Sy was usually monosyllabic. & this led to some very funny reactions by Benny.

Another running gag was how cheap Benny was.  There was 1 bit, originally done on radio in March of 1948 that, more than anything else, solidified this image:

Another of Mel Blanc's recurring characters was that of Jack's longsuffering music teacher, Professor LeBlanc. While Jack Benny was quite accomplished as a violinist, he intentionally played bad for the comedic effect. 

Love in Bloomioso was a joke about his theme song, Love In Bloom.



His appearance on The Lucy Show ties in all the jokes about his personality.

Jack Benny died on 26 December 1974. I was home from college. I had been downtown shopping in Oelwein. We had just got home & pulled into the driveway when the news came over the radio.

How Planned Parenthood Pads Its Numbers to get the 3% Abortion Number

Over & over again Planned Parenthood has tried to present abortions as only 3% of their business. Never mind that those same abortions provide a much, much larger part of their income,over 51% by some estimates, they make it sound like it is only a wee part of their business, not the heart & soul.

Many of us have often said that PP pads their numbers by playing games with the stats, counting the same person as a seperate individual for each individual service.

Another lie they foist off is that federal money only goes to non-abortion activities like lights, heat, rent, etc. They do that by playing a little bookkeeping trip & ignore how money is fungible.  

Randall K. O’Bannon, National Right to Life-ETF Director of Education & Research wrote a piece recently that looks at those claims by Planned Parenthood. He did so in response to how they were once again being trotted out by Planned Parenthood & their media allies. So the next time you are talking to a PP supporter making these claims  you can answer back with the facts. Don't be surprized if the person isn't happy when you do however. PP isn't about the truth, it is about lies & obfuscation & the light of truth doesn't have a place at their table.

Note: Mr. O'Bannon's percentage of income from abortions is based on the 2009-10 fiscal year report. He came up with 46.4% but admits that may be conservative & that it is probably higher. But 46.4% or 51% it is clear that abortion is a far cry from the small part of their business that Planned Parenthood claims it is.

Answering Deceptive Arguments Made by Planned Parenthood

In the midst of this kerfuffle over the Komen Foundation’s funding of Planned Parenthood, you may run into two old tired arguments that are often trotted out by Planned Parenthood and its witting and unwitting allies in the media.

The first–that federal money supposedly only goes to non-abortion activities–tries to reassure taxpayers that none of the millions they give to Planned Parenthood goes for abortion. The second–that abortion is such a small portion of Planned Parenthood’s services—attempts to convince the unwary public that abortion is really not a significant part of the organization’s business.

Both try to spin away the incontrovertible facts that Planned Parenthood remains the nation’s largest abortion performer and that our tax dollars help keep clinic doors open.

Here’s the truth.

While the Hyde amendment prohibits federal funding from paying for abortions that do not involve rape, incest, or a threat to the mother’s life or health, the $487.4 million that Planned Parenthood received from local, state, and federal sources–nearly half (46%) of its 2010 revenues–can help pay for salaries, rent, equipment, etc., thus helping to keep these abortion clinics humming.

It’s simple enough. If you have just $50 for the week for groceries, you will carefully plan and skimp and economize to get the essential staples for your family’s table. If someone at the store offers you an additional $50 for groceries as long as you don’t spend any of their money on cakes or candy, you will honor that request. But no one should be surprised if you spend some of your original money, now extra cash in your budget, on treats for the kids. And the cashier won’t know the difference between your $50 bill and the one you got from the stranger.

If I know going in that I’m going to be able to double my budget with federal dollars, I’ll plan and spend accordingly. Even if there are conditions with the dollars from the government, I’ll just make sure the books show their money going to those elements of my budget they find acceptable.

But because that money is there, covering some of the services I would have tried to provide otherwise, I can take the money of my own that was allotted for those activities and put more funding in place for the things the government does not support. So, in the end, more government money gives Planned Parenthood the opportunity to spend more of the money it raises on the promotion and performance of abortion, rather than other services.

Never forget that however the bookkeeping is done, money is fungible, that is, if I get an extra dollar here, I can spend another dollar there.

Then there is PPFA’s unceasingly mythology that abortion is a tiny portion of its business. Planned Parenthood does this because it knows that a lot of people aren’t fans of their abortion business. Thus the creation of the story that abortion represents only 3% of it services.

Before I get into an explanation, let’s not miss the key element: A 2009 Planned Parenthood factsheet confirmed that 12% of Planned Parenthood’s clients – nearly one out of every eight women – was an abortion patient.

Having made that crucial point, how does PPFA come up with the highly misleading 3% figure? By counting every pregnancy test, every box of condoms, every packet of birth control pills, as well as every abortion, as a separate service, even when these may be sold with the abortion, and even when abortion may cost twenty or thirty times what these other services cost.

Add a pregnancy test, a test for STDs, a packet of birth control pills to the abortion visit and all of a sudden, 3% becomes 12%. And, to repeat, nearly one out of every eight PPFA clients was an abortion patient. And that doesn’t even count those who were considering abortion but only ended up not getting one because their pregnancy test came back negative. How many “services” did Planned Parenthood sell those young women?

Of course, the attempt to treat all services equally obscures the huge cost differential between the different services and thus the critical role abortion plays to Planned Parenthood’s bottom line. Even if Planned Parenthood sells four pregnancy tests, or eight “reversible contraception” kits for every abortion they perform, the $451 they receive from that one abortion1. easily dwarfs the perhaps $60 or so they would have taken in for the pregnancy tests or the maybe $160-$200 they would have gotten for the birth control pills.

Again, at going rates, the 329,445 abortions done at Planned Parenthood clinics would have represented at least $148.6 million in income, at least 46.4% of the $320.1 million Planned Parenthood received in “Non-Government Health Services Revenue” for its most recently reported fiscal year ending June 30, 2010.

That’s a far cry from 3%, and obviously represents a much, MUCH bigger part of Planned Parenthood’s mission and bottom line.

And we are being conservative. The real number may be even higher than 46%. Planned Parenthood clinics advertise and perform more expensive RU486 chemical abortions and later surgical abortions (which, according to Guttmacher, average $1500 at 20 weeks).

Whether the percentage is 46%, 12%, 3%, or some other percentage altogether, the very fact that Planned Parenthood, without shame or sorrow, makes the performance of abortion, the destruction of innocent human life, a part of its standard business model, is fundamentally offensive to people, and they want absolutely nothing to do with them. The absolutely do not want to validate that organization by sending them one dime, much less millions of dollars, out of their own pockets to keep the clinic doors open and the abortion mills humming.

Only “3% of services”? No federal funds aiding to abortion? Don’t fall for that sleight of hand.

Footnotes:
1. According to Guttmacher, the average fee paid for a standard first trimester non-hospital abortion with local anesthesia in the U.S. in 2009)

Planned Parenthood Trying To Use Food Bank As Cover

Over at Jill Stanek's blog there is a story about how Planned Parenthood attempted to use a Catholic food pantry  as a cover for their murdering of unborn babies. Paul’s Pantry, a a ministry of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, was contacted by Planned Parenthood to pick up a donation. Naturally they refused to send a truck to do so. They knew how PP operates & that PP would milk it for all it was worth as a cover for the evil they do.

1st of all, I have to wonder if  Planned Parenthood ever had any food to donate in the 1st place. From what I have been able to find out, they did collect food. So, I have to believe it was collected with the intent purpose of using it to promote their agenda, not out of pure concern, or any concern for that matter, for the poor. Notice how they used this to promote their  "We provide essential health care" lie. & of course anyone who opposes them is labelled as an extremist. Additionally, PP lies about how Paul's Pantry handled things. Then they naturally fail to mention the harrassing calls the arranged to have their supporters make to Paul's Pantry when they refused to play along.

Once again we are seeing the strong arm mafia style racketerring methods used by Planned Parenthood to destroy those who refuse to play along. This was never about feeding the poor, this was about using the food pantry like they used Susan G Koman. & when Paul's Pantry refused to be reeled in then PP played their "health care" card. Sadly, they have plenty of people who will gladly aid & abet PP in their racketeering.

I do have 1 question about PP's claim they donated to another food pantry, which one???? Why didn't they applaud that one for its courage & encourage people to support it. So, I went over to their page of Facebook & asked them. But before I put up my comment I read the others. For the most part it was open season on the Catholic Church through Paul's Pantry as well as the usual lies about pro-lifers not caring about women's health etc. Here is what I wrote: "I see that this attempted "donation" is being used to spread all the lies & hate towards God & the Catholic Church just as I suspected. 1st of all, if the food was given to another pantry, then why wasn't it named & applauded for receiving it. 2nd half of what was said about Paul's Pantry dealing with PP was an out & out lie. To Rachel Ford, remember the rason Jesus ate with sinners, to call them to repentance of their sins, including sex outside of marriage. Jesus never condoned their actions, nor would he condone what Planned Parenthood stands for. Let's also be honest, more than half of Planned parenthood's income comes from abortions. You can manipulate the other numbers to downplay the fact, but abortion is the reason behind everything Planned Parenthood does." It will be interesting to see what happens. 
   

Stanek weekend question: Would you accept food donations from Planned Parenthood?

The pro-abortion side of this weekend’s question is above.

But a few days ago I spoke to Craig Robbins, the director of Paul’s Pantry, and got the other side of the story.

Paul’s Pantry is a a ministry of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, a lay Catholic organization. It is the largest free food pantry in Wisconsin, located in Green Bay. (Click all photos to enlarge.)

Craig told me Planned Parenthood of Green Bay called the pantry and asked it to send a truck to pick up food it had collected in a drive. Craig told the lady calling the pantry was unable to send a truck. He gave PP no reason why but did not want to co-mingle with PP, nor did he want to give PP a photo op. He gave the caller names of other food pantries in the area.

“Within 20 minutes I was getting phone calls and emails calling us pieces of sh**,” Paul told me. “The calls that day came from the Milwaukee area, where Planned Parenthood is headquartered. We have caller ID.”

Craig said he did tell one of the callers they could simply drop off their donation, “which happens about 100 times a day – in that case we don’t know where the food comes from.”

But if an organization wants a receipt, Paul’s Pantry has a gift acceptance policy. “If the donation is going to hurt us, we don’t accept it,” explained Craig.

Craig said it never got to that point with Planned Parenthood, though. PP invented the rest of the story. “What was their purpose?” asked Paul. “If they really intended to feed the poor they should have just dropped the food off and left it at that. But was it for their own self-promotion?”

It appears so. Liberal website Daily Kos was apparently alerted about the commotion and suggested its readers harass Paul’s Pantry, which they did. Then Breitbart’s Big Journalism wrote about the fracas, at which time “I got so many emails in support,” Craig said, “and contributions from all over the United States.”

Craig said he received counsel from a pastor at their cathedral, who said they did “absolutely the right thing.” The pastor explained Paul’s Pantry could no more knowingly take food from Planned Parenthood than it could the mafia or al-Qaeda. Planned Parenthood is a murderer of even greater infamy.

Craig said he based his decision on two guiding Bible verses:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness. ~ II Coringhtians 6:14

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. ~ Ephesians 5:11

Your thoughts?

The Roots of Obama's "No Birth Control Left Behind" Agenda

Michelle Malkin wrote an excellent piece this week on the history of Planned Parenthood & how the Obama administration's actions are Sanger's dream come true. She points out that the Obama administration is crawling with the modern-day heirs of the eugenics movement, from "Planned Parenthood golden girl Kathleen Sebelius at the Department of Health and Human Services to the president’s prestigious science czar John Holdren — an outspoken proponent of forced abortions and mass sterilizations." 

She remind us that Planned Parenthood's mantra of "women's health" can trace its roots to Sanger's “The Negro Project.”. & Obama's HHS mandate forcing Catholic organizations to pay for birth control was also promoted by Sanger.

Obama & his gang are working to bring Sanger's agenda to reality. For those of you who want to know what America will look at if they do we have an example that we can readily look to, Nazi Germany. Sanger's supporters try to downplay this by twisting what those who make the comparison actually say. But the fact is simple, both were proposing a master race.  While they may have approached it from different directions, the goal was still the same.  & that goal is anything but pretty. It is the "culture of death" at its worst.

‘To Stop the Multiplication of the Unfit’



If you aren’t creeped out by the No Birth Control Left Behind rhetoric of the White House and Planned Parenthood, you aren’t listening closely enough. The anesthetic of progressive benevolence always dulls the senses. Wake up.

When a bunch of wealthy white women and elite Washington bureaucrats defend the trampling of religious liberties in the name of “increased access” to “reproductive services” for “poor” women, the ghost of Margaret Sanger is cackling.

As she wrote in her autobiography, Sanger founded Planned Parenthood in 1916 “to stop the multiplication of the unfit.” This, she boasted, would be “the most important and greatest step towards race betterment.” While she oversaw the mass murder of black babies, Sanger cynically recruited minority activists to front her death racket. She conspired with eugenics financier and businessman Clarence Gamble to “hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities” to sell their genocidal policies as community health and welfare services.

Read the rest of the article here.

Planned Parenthood's 3% Lie

Question??????

But before I ask it here is a part of the Declaration of Independence I want you to read:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

I know I haven't commented lately on the whole HHS mandate forcing Catholics & others to violate their consciences making them cover all forms of contraception, including abortifacients like Ella & the IUD, as part of their health care plans.

But I have been keeping an eye on all the developments. We have seen the US Bishops speak up loud & clear (finally). We are seeing Catholics & none Catholics alike speaking up against it. We are seeing lawsuits instituted by Catholic Colleges, EWTN & Priests for Life as well as others. People are signing petetions in huge numbers protesting these unprecedented attacks on their freedom by the American government. We have even seen an attempt to silence the free speech rights of Timothy Broglio (left), Archbishop for the Military Services, U.S.A, by the U.S. Army’s Office of the Chief of Chaplains.

Despite this we are seeing Obama & his supporters digging their heels in for now.  It seems they are hell bent on destroying the God given rights of Christians & Catholics in particular. This is even more evident when you add in the recent law signed last Christmastime aloowing him to indefinitely detain domestic terrorists which his administration has made clear includes pro-lifers.

I look at the attacks on our freedom, I look at the response by those of us attacked & I look at the response by those attacking those freedeoms. While not perfectly identical, I see some huge similarities to what happenned back in pre-Revolutionary War America. Instead of protecting our God given, unalienable rights to life & liberty the Obama "Form of Government" has become "destructive of these ends".

Which leads to my question, "Are we approaching the time when we will have to take a lead from our Founding Fathers & take up arms against what is fast becoming absolute despotism?"

No, I don't think we are there yet. & hopefully we will be able to throw Obama out of office in November & peacefully elect "new Guards".

But I do see us reaching a point if we don't change course where the government will begin treating Christians the way the Roman government did in the 1st 4 Centuries AD. This mandate is the equivalent of their requirement to offer incense in worship of Caesar. When the early Catholic Church said NO! the Roman government began arresting Christians & even killing them for their refusal. How far away are we from seeing those of us speaking up for the rights of the unborn as well as our rights being arrested & jailed. & maybe even killed?

For now we MUST keep speaking out. But we must also continue to pray "for all that are in high station: that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all piety and chastity." (1 Timothy 2:2) We MUST takes up the arms of spritual warfare & battle NOW in hopes that we won't have to take up physical arms later.

Obama' Assault On Lady Liberty

Eugenics, Then & Now

1st of all, I found it interesting that this story refered to eugenics as a pseudo-science. I say that because is is still refered to as an applied science. The basic philosophy behind it is still arround today. Only it goes under different guises. 1  of those is Planned Parenthood. We need to remember that what happenned to this woman is exactly what Margaret Sanger was pushing back when she founded Planned Parenthood's forerunner. & it is what the organization is still pushing today.

Another guise that is closely related is found in those doctors who push abortions for women who have prenatal testing that shows the child may have Down syndrome or other genetic problems. The solution is to kill the unborn baby. (NOTE: This is totally different from working to prevent birth defects by moral means. There are things that can be done in research that have nothing to do with any form of eugenics. & some things, like not drinking during pregnancy, are just common sense things.)

Eugenics was seen for what it really is under Hitler. Now it is trying to rehabilitate its image. What happenned to this woman & countless other men & women should serve to remind us that no matter the guise, it is still a part of the "culture of death". 

Super Nuns Battle Super Bowl Sex Trafficking

Not everyone was focused on who was winning the Super Bowl game Sunday night. Some people were focused on making money off of those who attending the game. While most of them were hawking souvenirs & memorabilia, often pure kitsch, some teen-aged women were being forced into selling something else, their bodies. 1 of the sad facts of life is that there are people out there who are  trafficking in human sex slaves. & that there are certain organizations that either willingly abet this horrendous practice* or look the other way rather than do something. 

Fortunately, not everyone feels that way. There are some people out there who are doing what they can to battle this evil. 1 of the leaders in that area of battling sex traffic is the Catholic Church#. In the Indianapolis area, 11 congregations of Catholic Nuns said they weren't going to let this happen during the Super Bowl festivities this last week if they had anything to do with it.

Msgr. Charles Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington had the following to say in his blog on the Archdiocesan website:

Catholic Nuns to Battle Sex Trafficking at Super Bowl

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Here is a story that makes me glad and very sad at the same time. Religious sisters of various congregations are joining together to fight the horrific practice of human trafficking in underage “sex slaves.” One of the dirty secrets of large sports events is that not only is prostitution common, but that tragically, many underage girls are also being prostituted, most of them against their will, as sex slaves.

It is a shocking thing to think that slavery of any sort exists in this land. While some argue that the problem is exaggerated, I would like to ask them how many young slave girls they are willing to tolerate until we no longer “exaggerate” the problem. Many of the victims of this wretched trade come from the far east, places such as Singapore, and Indonesia in general. But some are kidnapped right here. Most of them are vulnerable because they are poor, or have broken homes, some are also runaways. In effect they are captured by the sex traders and their lives are threatened if they try to leave or to report the evil pimps and slave traders.

Aware of this dreadful problem, Religious Sisters have come together, and trained to both identify and work with police to make arrests, and also to prevent human trafficking altogether at this week’s Super Bowl. They will also put pressure on local hotels to be serious in their awareness and noncooperation in this problem. One of the sisters is quoted as saying, “We want the traffickers to know that we will be watching.”

Good for you Sisters. Anything we can do to make life difficult and risky for sex traffickers (especially those who exploit minors), is welcome and appreciated. Pray God they will be able to rescue some of the girls. Thanks for your courage, Sisters.

* We saw last year how Planned Parenthood is abetting this sex slavery thanks to an investigation by Live Action. Another reminder that they are not concerned about woman like they try & paint themselves.

# Lest we forget, Planned Parenthood's buddies in the Obama administration cut off funds for the Catholic Church's highly successful efforts in this battle beacuse they didn't offer referrals for “the full range of legally permissible gynecological and obstetric care”—including referrals for abortion. More evidence that this isn't about women but about promoting abortion. If it was, these same hypocrites that were so outraged about Koman taking away $700,000 from Planned Parenthood  would have been screaming just as loud or not louder.

Obama, Sibelius @ the HHS & Planned Parenthood care nothing about women who are really in need, whether it is young girls trapped as sex slaves, or older women who may be battling breast cancer, all they care about is pushing abortion & the "culture of death". & if  Planned Parenthood makes huge profits doing so, all the better.   

Source: While you were watching the game last night...

The Dickens You Say

200 years ago today at Landport, in Portsea (Portsmouth) England the 2nd of 8 children was born to John & Elizabeth Dickens. Charles John Huffam Dickens went on to be 1 of the most influencial authors of the 19th Century. & in many ways that is still so today.
Some lines from his books automaticly connect us with the book without even mentioning the title. If you hear "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," you autiomaticly think of "A Tale of Two Cities."  "Please, sir, I want some more." takes us to Oliver Twist.
Other times it is specific characters that have come to be symbols. Scrooge has come to symbolize everything miserly. Uriah Heep stands for obsequiousness & insincerity that hides treachery. Little Nell symbolizes unselfishness & sweetness.
His Christmas stories have influenced the way we celebrate Christmas.
His books have been adopted into plays, musicals & movies. Some actors seemed like they were born simply to play a specific Dickens characeter. Alistair Sim is the standard by which all other Scrooges are measured. WC Fields perfectly embodied Wilkins Micawber.
One of Dickens greatest fans was GK Chesterton (an understatement). He was asked to write the entry on Dickens for one edition of The Encyclopædia Britannica. In 1906 Chesterton wrote , Charles Dickens: A Critical Study. One line from Chapter 1 makes it clear what Chetserton thought about Dickens: "Whatever the word "great" means, Dickens was what it means."
To that I will add nothing else.

1 Less Abortion Mill In Iowa

This is quite a story you are about to read. While the closing of any abortion mill is good news, this has special meaning for me for several reasons. 1st of all, it is 1 less stain on the great state of Iowa. 2ndly, it means that Planned Parenthood of the Heartland has failed in one of its attempts to spread telemed abortions across the state. Finally, it is an encouraging reminder to keep praying that the same thing will happen here in DBQ. As you may remember, I put up some posts about the new location including 1 about how it looks like the new site will be a telemed abortion mill.

The new site in DBQ is about 1-1/2 blocks from where I live. Every time I drive by the place I pray. I regularly ask St. Joseph's intercession to drive Planned Parenthood out of DBQ. So far, I have yet to see any sign that they are working on the place to get it open.
I won't go into details now, but I know that at least 2 priests have already been out there with others praying & using other spiritual weapons given to us by God through the Catholic Church to battle what Satan wants to do there.
Additionally, I know of others who have stopped there as well to pray that it won't open.
If you add all these prayers together then it is only a matter of time until they are driven out. Not because of me alone, or because of any one of us alone, but because we are in agreement in our asking God for this to come about. Matthew 18:19 is our assurance that if we remain faithful in our prayers we will see it Planned Parenthood driven out as it has happenned elsewhere.  Including Storm Lake.
It has now been over 5 months since PPH announced their big move. But so far, except for a couple ads mentioning the new location (with no address), there has been no sign that anything is going on at the new site. They claimed back then to be "renovating the new space to the specific needs of our patients and staff."  If they were, then you would think by now that some sign of that going on would be seen.
Additionally, the old site has been changing its hours arround & arround over the past few months. After 3-1/2 years you would think they would know what is best. But when they openned they claimed there was a need for them to be open 40 hrs which proved wrong as well.
Now there are several possibilities for the delay. They just opened a new site in Lincoln that took the place of 2 others in the area. They could have been focusing their efforts there, but that isn't likely. Their "Breaking New Ground" capital campaign could be faltering. They claimed last Suumer to already have raised $8.5 million of the $11.5 million goal. But how much of that was actual cash, & how much was pledges? & if it was, as is usually the case, mostly pledges, then how well are people fulfilling them?
They could be having troupble finding local people willing to do the work. That is a strong possibility given that I know of several businesses that they would need to contract with for renovations are openly pro-life.
Whatever the problems, God is working behind the scenes. Some people I know feel that they may not even open because of all the prayers. We shall see. it could very well be.

But none of this going on in DBQ is the reason this is quite a story.
What makes this quite a story has to do with the history of the place. This PPH abortion mill is located in Storm Lake. Last August, Bishop Nickless of the Sioux City Diocese led a Eucharistic procession that stopped in front of the site to pray. It was the site of a 40 Days for Life Campaign last Fall. Obviously this is a story of the power of prayer. It is a story of how God is powerfully using the 40 Days for Life to battle abortion.It is a story of how God works through His shepherds when they are willing to lead as the should in the battle against the "culture of death". But there is still 1 more thing that makes this story unique, something that has never happenned before in the history of the 40 Days for Life campaigns. But rather than give away the surprize I will let you read it for yourself below:

BREAKING: Planned Parenthood abortion center closing!

Sue Thayer did something that no other local 40 Days for Life leader had ever done before. She led the fall 2011 campaign outside the Planned Parenthood abortion center in Storm Lake, Iowa …

… a facility she used to manage!

More on Sue’s story in just a bit. She just e-mailed me with exciting news.

The local newspaper is reporting that the Planned Parenthood facility in Storm Lake …

… the one Sue used to manage …

… the one where Sue led the 40 Days for Life vigil …

… is CLOSING its doors for good on March 1!

That’s right. This location is GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!

This is the 21st abortion center where a 40 Days for Life vigil has been conducted that will be closing its doors forever.

“Wow!” Sue said in her e-mail. “Of course the clinic is closing! God hears our prayers and He answers! No more telemed abortions on Erie Street! Yay God!!”

If you haven’t heard of telemed abortions, it’s one of Planned Parenthood’s tactics for spreading abortion to rural areas to increase abortion numbers and revenues.

The abortions happen when an abortionist speaks to a woman via webcam over the Internet. They’re each at computer terminals, miles apart, and the “doctor” never physically examines or cares for his “patient.”

After a video interview, the abortionist pushes a button at his location. That opens a locked drawer next to the computer where the woman is watching … a drawer containing the dangerous RU-486 abortion pill.

The woman then takes the pill to begin what Planned Parenthood calls a “medication abortion.”

Sue Thayer had managed the Planned Parenthood office in Storm Lake. She used to think that Planned Parenthood provided valuable services for women and that the organization truly wanted to prevent abortions (the Storm Lake location did not previously do abortions).

That all changed when Planned Parenthood mandated telemed abortions for her facility. Sue expressed her concern — and the abortion chain promptly fired her.

After a time of healing, prayer and discernment, Sue signed up to lead the 40 Days for Life campaign outside her former workplace this past fall.

Sue was just profiled this past weekend in an article in the Des Moines Register. You can read the story at:

http://tinyurl.com/7auvonf

Just days after that article appeared — and less than three months after Sue finished leading the 40 Days for Life campaign outside the Storm Lake Planned Parenthood — the closure was announced.

“Let’s all take some time to thank God for His unending love and faithfulness,” Sue said. “40 Days For Life was a blessing to each and every person who prayed. Now the Lord has answered with a resounding YES to our petition to end abortion in Storm Lake. Praise the Lord!”

AMEN, Sue!

In just three weeks, the next 40 Days for Life campaign begins. Watch VERY SOON for the list of communities that will be taking part …

… and maybe — through your prayers and participation — YOUR community will be the next one praising God for the closure of the local abortion center.

I can’t wait to see what God has in store for this next campaign!

For Life,

Shawn Carney
Campaign Director
40 Days for Life