Sunday, July 30, 2006

MSNBC.com
Did privacy law figure into newborn’s death?
Report: Girl charged with murder used law to hide pregnancy from parents
The Associated Press

Updated: 7:26 p.m. MT July 28, 2006
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Authorities said a 17-year-old girl facing a murder charge in the death of her newborn told lies and used privacy laws to hide her pregnancy from her parents, even as they tried to get medical attention for her.

Prosecutors said Cheyenne Corbett gave birth to a girl in the shower of her parents' home on Sunday. Police discovered the infant's body wrapped in a towel in her bedroom. An autopsy determined the baby died of asphyxiation.

Corbett's adoptive father had taken her to a physician in Phoenix in July, but she signed a form requesting that no information be given to her parents under the privacy provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, commonly known as HIPAA, The Denver Post reported Friday.

"She had a supportive family. Here they are, trying to do something, and their hands are tied," Deputy District Attorney Tammy Erett told the newspaper. "When they deny that information, what are you going to do?"

Erett did not immediately return an after-hours call on Friday.

Corbett's attorney, Gordon Gallagher, said she concealed her condition because she was frightened.

"Obviously she was trying to hide it from her parents. She was scared and terrified about being pregnant," he told The Associated Press.

Gallagher said he had not yet seen paperwork on any privacy rights Corbett may have invoked.

Erett said Corbett's parents did not know she had delivered a baby until after her mother took her to the hospital for heavy bleeding.

Rules create dilemma
Dr. William Plested, president of the American Medical Association, said medical privacy rules create a dilemma.

"They have given some important protections, but they have brought up a lot of problems," he said. "We're going to continue to see issues like this. It's a combination of medical issues and ethical issues, and we have to decide whose issues are pre-eminent."

Corbett surrendered to police on Tuesday. Prosecutors said she will be charged as an adult with first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death.


Gallagher said he hopes prosecutors take into account Corbett's age, her lack of a criminal record and "the fear and confusion and mental issues that were going on."

"I can't imagine how frightening that was for a 17-year-old girl to go through in the shower," Gallagher said.

He said psychological tests were planned for Corbett but none had been done.

"I think it's a very tragic situation for everybody involved, for the child, for both families, the community and Cheyenne. She's young, fragile and scared," he said.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14082059/

© 2006 MSNBC.com

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Back to Story - Help


American Life League: Planned Parenthood President Drenched in Hypocrisy Throughout 'Vogue' Article
Mon Jul 17, 12:54 PM ET
To: National Desk

Contact: Amber Dolle of American Life League, 540-903-9572 or ADolle@ALL.org

WASHINGTON, July 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- "Despite her attempt to skew the truth in a recent Vogue magazine article, Planned Parenthood's new president, Cecile Richards, cannot hide the fact that she leads a multi-million dollar business that thrives from taking the lives of innocent children through abortion," said Judie Brown, president of American Life League. "No matter how they are twisted, the facts are the facts: Planned Parenthood provides abortions and abortions kill children - period."

An article published in Vogue magazine focuses on Ms. Richards' role as president of Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion chain. The article attempts to portray abortion as an honorable "right" that women should embrace, but Brown believes otherwise. "As a woman and a mother, I am sickened by this perversion of the truth," said Brown. "The vocation of motherhood is an honor that should not be discarded. No matter the circumstances, it is never acceptable for a mother to snuff out the life of the child growing within her."

According to Brown, the main photo that accompanies the article is disturbingly ironic. "Vogue certainly employed a cunning marketing technique by posing Richards with five beautiful young children in her Planned Parenthood office," said Brown. "The horrific truth is that for each one of those children, 50,000 babies are killed annually at Planned Parenthood facilities-a total of 250,000."

After praising Richards' work in the pro-abortion movement, the article goes on to note that Richards has had an abortion herself. "Many women who have had an abortion will be faced with pain at some point in her life," said Brown. "No amount of media savvy or political jargon can change that. The only real choice abortion affords a mother is whether she will be the mother of a living baby or a dead baby. I pray that some day, Ms. Richards will come to terms with this heartbreaking truth."

http://www.usnewswire.com/

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/© 2006 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/

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Thursday, July 20, 2006

IMG_1907 - Pastor Ronnie signs the Emancipation Proclamation for the Pre-born

In the court of God Almighty, the pre-born have been set free
from the death sentence imposed by Roe v Wade!!

IMG_1950 - To the ash heaps of history!

The Nazi holocaust
Slavery
The abortion holocaust

Two down, one to go!

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

BENHAM BRILLIANCE IN JACKSON:

USA Today reports. "This is a grass-roots battle that will be won with the gospel of Jesus Christ," OSA Director the Rev. Flip Benham said, adding, "Pretty soon abortion is going to become as ugly a word as slavery."

IMG_1946 - Transformed by the blood of the Lamb!

On July 18, 2006 at the Jackson, Mississippi State Capitol, before
Almighty God, Norma Mc Corvey (Jane Roe) joined Pastor Flip Behnam and the children, of those working to close the last abortion clinic in Mississippi, in ripping the heinous Roe v Wade decision to shreds.

May their act of obedience before the Lord lead to the end of
abortion in our land.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

IMG_1785


IMG_1785
Originally uploaded by lesforlife.



WELCOME TO THE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI!

IMG_1794


IMG_1794
Originally uploaded by lesforlife.



Adam Tennant interviewed by OSA reporter Brenda Spurlock.

IMG_1824


IMG_1824
Originally uploaded by lesforlife.



Pastor Flip Benham says, "Just do your job!"

IMG_1796


IMG_1796
Originally uploaded by lesforlife.
Who perpetrates the violence?
MASKED MARAUDERS ASSAULT OPERATION SAVE AMERICA EVANGELISTS


July 16, 2006
Jackson, Mississippi


A team of Operation Save America (OSA) evangelists and pro-life activists attempted to attend the Unitarian Universalist Church of Jackson this morning and were greeted by a phalanx of anarchists obstructing the entrance to the “church.”

Faces covered with scarves seen at WTO meetings, and holding six feet of PVC pipe to
block access to the church drive way, the crowd of protestors with an anti Bush Administration organization “World Can’t Wait” erupted in to a violent attack on Adam Tennant’s Honda. The organization web site www.worldcantwait.net lists, Denver late
term abortionist Warren Hern as well as well known author Gore Vidal as advisory board members.

Adam and his girlfriend Paige, from Kannopolis, North Carolina, had just driven into the church parking lot when the unruly mob piled on the car and began beating it with PVC pipe and bashing the windows with their fists.

Colorado Right to Life VP, Leslie Hanks ran to a squad car parked across the street and asked the individuals inside why they couldn’t do something to stop it. A gentleman who
identified himself as an observer for Hinds County stated that it was private property and
that no one had filed a complaint.

Peter Haik who claimed to be a local member of the church came to the OSA side of the street and stated that although he disagreed with their members, he supported their right to be there. OSA activists requested that he make that statement clear to the Jackson police officers. Mr. Haik told OSA that the anarchist team was not part of the church and that he supported their arrest. Nonetheless, nothing was done to the violent protestors standing with the National Organization of Woman (NOW,) in opposing the OSA presence in Jackson.

OSA street preachers faced clanging pots and pans and shouts of “turn the speakers off, as they tried to share the Word of God with the crowd.

Constitutional rights appeared to be on hold as the Jackson police department stated
that because the anarchists wouldn’t cooperate and give names, nothing could be done
to the individuals who had just perpetrated an assault, resulting in a smashed windshield
and seriously dented car.

Operation Save America’s founder, Flip Benham asked the police to just do their jobs and noted, “We intend to continue storming the gates of hell and praying for the end of the wicked practice of abortion in Jackson until babies are safe in their mother’s wombs.”

To this point, no formal complaint has been filed, although Adam Tennant filled out
a two page chronicle of how his car was attacked and damaged.

Pro-life stalwart, Ken Scott of Denver, requested that a police supervisor be called to weigh in on the matter of whether assaults are allowed on private property in Jackson, Mississippi.

Officer Jenkins stated that a supervisor would be called but none ever showed up to
address the injustice.

The Word of God was preached over loudspeakers to the lost by Pastor James Kitchens, with Jackson’s The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Several post abortive women told their stories but were shouted down and mocked as they tried to share the truth of how abortion hurt them personally.

“World Can’t Wait” has a Day of Mass Resistance planned for October 5, 2006.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Like Lambs to the Slaughter

Being pro-life activists, we see lambs being lead to the slaughter on a daily basis. In the Colorado pro-life community Lamb can also be spelled Lamm. Unfortunately the second Lamm is the enemy of the first, because it was Dick Lamm the state legislator who, in 1967, authored the first law to legalized abortion for rape and incest. He has gone on to become “Duty to Die” Lamm explaining the elderly should kill themselves, “…and let the other society, our kids, build a reasonable life." Dick Lamm will turn 71 later this year.


Dick Lamm is not the only Lamm who is a danger to the innocent. Dick’s sister-in-law Peggy Lamm has tried and failed several times to pass assisted suicide laws in the Colorado State House and now she is seeking a U.S. house seat. So with a family so obsessed with killing innocent people; who could they invite as a speaker for Peggy Lamm's political fundraiser? Scott Peterson? O.J. Simpson?


The keynote speaker this Thursday in Denver was Michael Schiavo. The most infamous spousal abuser in America.



In front of a group of about fifty supporters Michael talked about “freedom” and what right wing fanatics had done to him. There was also a group outside the home who came to see Michael. Thirty-one pro-life and disability activists were there to warn Michael and Peggy of coming the judgment. Standing at the only entrance to the gated community every political supporter had to drive passed our signs and preaching.


Among our group were two current board members of Colorado Right to Life, the past president of CRTL, six people in wheelchairs, one deaf woman, one blind man, and an unborn baby.



We pray the family of Lamms will turn from there legacy of murder and will no longer be the predators of innocent lambs.


In Christ,

Jason Troyer
WHOSE BRAIN IS ATROPHIED?

To the Ft. Collins Coloradoan:

Editor,

"Wednesday, Michael Schiavo said Musgrave "had no clue" about Terri Schiavo's medical condition, noting that his wife's autopsy showed her brain was half the size of a normal woman her age."

Hmmmm?

Could the 13 day starvation/dehydration regime Terri's husband demanded
have led to her brain's shrinkage?

A recent North Country Gazette article noted that, "Drs. Thogmorton and Nelson claimed Terri's brain weighed
615 grams (about 50% weight.) But Thogmorton also stated this was the worst case of dehydration
he had ever seen. "Her body cavities were completely dry!"

Because the brain is 75% water Terri's brain undoubtedly was diminished by such abuse.

Congresswoman Musgrave's concern for the appalling mistreatment of a completely innocent
woman's torture is to be commended.

Michael's small minded obsession with discarding one wife for another is to be pitied.

For his big money handlers won't be able to shield him from the coming judgment
of the evil he perpetrated.

Leslie Hanks
V.P. Colorado Right to Life
LAMM AND SCHIAVO: Peas in decaying pod!
Sent to the Rocky Mountain News 7-13-06

Editor,

Peggy Lamm's failed efforts to pass her assisted suicide measure in 1996
explain precisely why she would seek Michael Schiavo's assistance
to raise funds for her 7th CD race.

Their mutual affinity for death has a long history.

Michael's squeals about privacy, notwithstanding, murder of
innocent life is never a "private family matter."

Both will eventually realize that even George Soros'
billions won't help them elude the coming judgment
of the evil they perpetrate.

Leslie Hanks
V.P. Colorado Right to Life
"SOMEBODY NEEDS TO LET THIS GUY KNOW HIS 15 MINUTES OF FAME ARE UP!!"
Go Pat Anderson!!

Posted on Wed, Jul. 12, 2006



Terri Schiavo's widower (WHAT?!?!) takes on politicians in privacy campaign

CHASE SQUIRES
Associated Press
DENVER - More than a year after winning a bruising battle to disconnect his brain-damaged wife from a feeding tube, Michael Schiavo brought his campaign against government intrusion to Colorado Wednesday, demanding an apology from a Republican congresswoman he accused of interfering in his family's decision.

Schiavo, whose wife, Terri, died in March 2005 after a seven-year court and political battle that reached Capitol Hill, has formed a political action committee and has targeted races in Colorado, Florida and Texas.

He came to Colorado to support two Democratic candidates for the U.S. House, including Angie Paccione, who is challenging Rep. Marilyn Musgrave. Musgrave spoke last year on the floor of the House against allowing Terri Schiavo's feeding tube to be removed.

"I want to ask Marilyn Musgrave who gave her the right to speak about Terri," Schiavo said. "Who gave her the authority to bring Congress into my family decisions?"

He said most Americans disagree with what Musgrave did and believe politicians should stay out of family decisions.

"I think Marilyn Musgrave should apologize, not just to me but to the people who voted for her, people who sent her to congress to run the country, not our personal lives," he said.

He also delivered a letter to her field office in Loveland.

Musgrave, who represents Colorado's fourth district, spanning eastern and northeastern areas of the state, issued a written statement saying, "I have only compassion for Michael and Terri's family, and all those who have lost a loved one."

Pat Anderson, a Florida attorney who represented Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, for three years and remains in regular contact with them said she found Michael Schiavo's political campaigning offensive.

"Somebody needs to tell this guy his 15 minutes of fame are up," she said.

Colorado GOP chairman Bob Martinez criticized Schiavo's involvement in Colorado, especially his planned fundraiser Thursday for Peggy Lamm, a Democrat seeking a seat from the 7th Congressional District.

"I can't help but believe that the majority of Coloradans were appalled to learn that Michael Schiavo is helping political candidates profit off his wife's death," Martinez said in a news release.

Lamm issued a statement Wednesday saying she was proud of Schiavo's support.

"He wouldn't even be here if it weren't for the shameful way the Schiavos were treated by the Bush Administration and the Republicans in Congress," she said.

Paccione welcomed Schiavo's support and vowed to fight government involvement in private lives.

"The government has really overstepped its bounds in invading our privacy, in our bedrooms, in our medical decisions, on our phone lines, and it's time for the government to stop doing that," she said. "Michael puts a human face on this congressional invasion of privacy."

Terri Schiavo, who was raised in the Philadelphia suburb of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., collapsed in 1990, her heart stopped and she suffered what doctors said was irreversible brain damage that left her in a permanent vegetative state.

Michael Schiavo said his wife told him she wouldn't want to be kept alive artificially, and in 1998 he asked a court to allow her feeding tube to be removed. Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, fought the request through a series of courts. Michael Schiavo won final approval to remove the tube in 2005.

At 43, Schiavo has remarried and continues to work as a nurse at a Florida jail. He co-authored a book, "Terri: The Truth" and said he is determined to develop his political career.

He also formed a PAC that has raised about $25,000 and contributed to candidates in seven races. Lamm's campaign received a $1,000 donation and PAC director Derek Newton said while the PAC and Schiavo endorse Paccione, a donation has not yet been delivered to the campaign.

He said he may also get involved in races in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Missouri and he vowed Wednesday to be involved in the 2008 presidential race.

Working 12-hour nursing shifts and maintaining a home life while traveling has been difficult, Schiavo said. But he said he is motivated.

"I'm not a political person, but I will stand behind anybody who believes that government should not be in our personal business, be it Republican, be it Democrat," he said. "I will do it because I am angry. Those people drug my name through the mud."




© 2006 AP Wire and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.centredaily.com

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

SCHIAVO FUNDRAISING FOR DEATH IN COLORADO!!!
America's first abortion law author's sister in law

"Last year despite overwhelming public opinion against their actions, politicians in Washington,
D.C. turned Michael and Terri Schiavo's private family tragedy into a national spectacle for their own political gain."



Paula Herzmark & Dick VandenBergh
with
Dick & Dottie Lamm

Invite you to a reception with special guest

Michael Schiavo


In support of

Peggy Lamm

Candidate for Colorado's 7th Congressional District


Thursday, July 13, 2006
5:30-7pm

8 Polo Club Drive
Denver, CO 80209
DICK LAMM'S "I HAVE A PLAN TO DESTROY THE NATION"
ON WORLDNETDAILY.COM

Dick (Duty to die) Lamm crafted the nation's first abortion law
and went on to call for seniors to step aside and allow
the medical $$ to go to the young.

His abortion policies created the current shortage of workers,
which has led to our immigration debacle.

He has, single handedly, done more to destroy our nation
than anyone realizes.

Hence the title is, ironically, apropos!

Leslie Hanks
V.P. Colorado Right to Life

Monday, July 10, 2006

PRAY FOR THE DEGETTE STEM CELL VETO!!
President Bush's First



national politics
Rove: Bush to veto DeGette bill

By John Aloysius Farrell
Post Washington Bureau Chief
DenverPost.com

President Bush will likely cast the first veto of his presidency if the Senate, as expected, passes legislation to expand federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research, White House aide Karl Rove said today.

"The president is emphatic about this," Rove - Bush's top political advisor and architect of his 2000 and 2004 campaigns - said in a meeting with the editorial board of The Denver Post.

The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed the legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, and Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del. If the Senate approves the bill it would go to the president's desk.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who backs the bill, has said he will try to bring it up for a Senate vote soon.

"It is something we would, frankly, like to avoid," Rove said when asked if the White House would welcome, or dread, vetoing legislation passed by a Republican Congress, especially on so emotional an issue as embryonic stem cell research.

But Rove said that he believes the legislation will pass the Senate with more than 60 votes this month, "and as a result the president would, as he has previously said emphatically, veto the Castle bill."

"I'm appalled that Bush would use the first veto of his presidency to veto a bill that could help 110 million people and their families," DeGette said today after being informed of Rove's remarks.

On another volatile issue - congressional attempts to reform the nation's immigration system - Rove said that immigration legislation had to be "comprehensive" to win Bush's support, but that more controversial proposals like a temporary-worker program might be phased in as the U.S. improves its border security.

Rove said that the behind-the-scene talks between House and Senate negotiators were making "good" progress toward an immigration compromise and that there is still a chance that a bill could be passed before the November election.

In a wide-ranging, 90-minute interview, Rove also defended the Bush administration's policy in Iraq and predicted that Republicans would maintain control of both the House and the Senate in the November election.

The Bush administration's stem cell policy, adopted in 2001, has been to allow federal research funding only for existing lines of embryonic stem cells.

Researchers and patients groups have complained that the policy hinders vital research into treatments for diabetes, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses.

The stem cell legislation is not likely to become law, Rove said, because backers lack the votes needed - two-thirds of each house of Congress - to override a veto.

"We were all an embryo at one point, and we ought to as a society be very careful about being callous about the wanton destruction of embryos, of life," Rove said. Recent research, he said, shows that researchers "have far more promise from adult stem cells than from embryonic stem cells."

If Bush vetoes the stem cell bill, "we will try to override it," DeGette said, adding that support among lawmakers is growing.

Castle and DeGette have requested a meeting with Bush to present their case. "I still hold out hope that the president would give us that courtesy for a meeting," she said.

Rove was in Colorado to speak Sunday at an Aspen Institute forum and to attend several political events, including a Republican gathering tonight in Parker.

Addressing immigration at the editorial board meeting, Rove was receptive to proposals by some congressional Republicans to establish checkpoints at ports of entry to the United States, where existing illegal immigrants would have to go to register, pay a penalty and show proof of employment.

He said that such checkpoints didn't necessarily have to be on the border, but could be located at airports in Denver or Los Angeles, for example, or at ports of entry like New Orleans.

Comprehensive reform is needed because illegal immigrants will inevitably find ways to enter the United States, so long as wages are so high here when compared to other countries.

"You cannot control the border. ... We don't have enough resources," he said. "You've got to do it all together."

Rove said that he advises GOP candidates to back the president's comprehensive approach, despite the fierce opposition of hard-liners within the Republican Party such as Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Littleton.

"I cannot see a single district in which a Republican is going to be advantaged by opposing a comprehensive solution," said Rove.

When asked about the November election, Rove expressed confidence that the Republicans will weather the recent dip in public opinion.

"They are not going to be able to run the table," Rove said, when asked about Democratic hopes to seize the Senate. He predicted that that the GOP would pull off some "surprise" upsets of its own.

And though the public is sour on the ongoing costs of the war, the new Iraqi government "looks like (it will be) able to get this job done," Rove said. As long as there are signs of progress, "at the end of the day, ... the American people do not want the U.S. to be defeated."

Christa Marshall of The Denver Post contributed to this story.
DISABILICIDE?


As you proceed through the conference over the next few days, you may
> notice
> me
> and some of my peers on the autism spectrum, and some of our non-autistic
> allies, wearing pink ribbons. The ribbons are in memory of Katie
> McCarron,
> the
> 3-year-old autistic girl who was killed this past Mother's Day weekend --
> and
> the ribbons are also in sympathy with her father and grandparents, who
> loved
> her very much. You may have heard or read news accounts of the tragedy.
>
> Mike McCarron, Katie's grandfather, wrote about Katie, on the Autism-Hub,
> a
> consortium of blogs, or Internet journals, coordinated by a father of
> another
> little autistic girl, in England, whose family has become close to the
> McCarrons in the time since the tragedy.
>
> Mr. McCarron wrote as follows:
>
> "I would like to say something about Katie. Some newspapers have reported
> that
> this was done to end Katie's pain; let me assure you that Katie was not in
> pain. She was a beautiful, precious and happy little girl. Each day she
> was
> showered with love and returned that love with hugs, kisses and
> laughter...
>
> "She enjoyed having her grandmother dress her in new little outfits and
> dresses,
> and I think this is important:
>
> "We have four grand-daughters; my wife loves to buy them frilly little
> dresses.
> When my wife went into a store she would never ask for three normal
> dresses
> and
> one autistic dress.
>
> "I think we need to be very sensitive to the special needs of these
> children
> but
> at the same time not be oblivious to the numerous typical traits that are
> also
> developing. Katie was first and foremost a little girl...
>
> "Katie loved the park, the swings, the slides and being outside. She
> played
> with
> her dolls and toys; she loved "teletubbies" and brought joy to all
of
> those
> that
> had actual contact with her. Yes, she was autistic. Developmentally she
> was
> behind other children. But her small victories would create unbelievable
> joy
> for those who loved her. I can not describe the ecstasy of having her
> little
> arms around my neck or of watching her and my son roll around on the floor
> playing in sheer happiness."
>
> Mr. McCarron sent the writers of the Autism-Hub blogs some beautiful
> pictures of
> Katie. He asked that the pictures, and Katie's memory, not be used in any
> way
> to lament the "lack of services" that some people incorrectly blame
for
> her
> death. Lack of services was apparently not an issue for her or her
> family.
> And he asked that they not be used to call her a burden or paint her death
> as
> "understandable" or anything remotely close to that. Rather, that
Katie
> be
> remembered for how much she was loved, and how much love she gave.
>
> If you would like to join us in wearing a pink ribbon in Katie's memory,
> look
> for those of us throughout the conference carrying rolls of ribbon, boxes
> of
> safety pins, and kindergarten scissors, and just ask. The McCarrons have
> a
> roll of ribbon too, and are wearing it.
>
> ===========================================================
>
> We are hoping that this small gesture will help spur constructive change
> in
> the
> tragic and desperate ways autism and parenting autistic kids are all too
> often
> characterized, by the media, by the general public, and by autism
> organizations, including our own.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

RACE FOR THE CURE FUNDS ABORTION DESPITE THE ABC Link
www.abortionbreastcancer.com

Join pro-life Coloradans at the 2006 Light on Life Banquet, September 30. Featured speaker Eve Sanchez Silver will share the truth about the abortion/breast cancer connection and expose how "The Race for the Cure" provides funds to Planned Parenthood.




Friday, July 07, 2006

LIVE & LEARN
A tale of two (Terri Schiavo & Terry Wallis)

Friday, July 7, 2006


Live and learn
Posted: July 7, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern


By Joseph Farah
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

During the Terri Schiavo debate, there were some cynics, including her estranged husband, who proclaimed the brain-injured woman had no chance to recover or even improve her condition.

It would take a miracle, they said. And they didn't believe in miracles.

Now a university study of a man who recovered after spending 19 years in a minimally conscious state is suggesting such miracles do happen.

In 1984, 19-year-old Terry Wallis was thrown from his pick-up truck near his Massachusetts home. He was not found until about 24 hours later in a coma with massive brain injuries.

Within a few weeks, he had stabilized in what was termed a minimally conscious state. Doctors predicted it would last indefinitely. And it did – for 19 years. Then, in 2003, he started to speak.


Over a three-day period, Wallis regained the ability to move and communicate, and started getting to know his daughter – 1 year old at the time of the accident and then 20 when he awoke. Wallis thought he was still 19 years old. He thought Ronald Reagan was still president.

Even while the Terri Schiavo case raged, Wallis' case was termed a miracle by doctors and family members.

The study of the case by Nicholas Schiff of Weill Medical College of Cornell University suggests the human brain has far greater potential for recovery and regeneration then ever suspected. It also suggests gross inadequacies in the system for diagnosing and caring for patients in vegetative or minimally conscious states.

Schiff and his colleagues used a new brain imaging technique called diffusion tensor imaging. The system tracks water molecules and reveals the brain's white matter tracts – akin to a wiring diagram. They combined this with more traditional PET scanning to show which brain areas were active.

The study found Wallis' brain had, very gradually, developed new pathways and novel anatomical structures to re-establish functional connections, compensating for the brain pathways lost in the accident.

They found that new axons – the branches that connect neurons together – seemed to have grown, establishing new working brain circuits.

Like Terri Schiavo, Wallis was frequently classified as being in a permanent vegetative state. Though his family fought for a re-evaluation after seeing many promising signs that he was trying to communicate, their requests were turned down.

Wallis, now 42, still needs help eating and cannot walk, but his speech continues to improve, and he can count to 25 without interruption.

No doubt some cynics would say his quality of life is not much better than when he was in a coma. And that's the trouble with the quality-of-life arguments made in cases like Wallis' and Schiavo's.

Terry Wallis – like Terri Schiavo – should remind us that there is something meaningful and wonderful and miraculous about life itself. Those who would cut off water and food to people in such circumstances should remember that's the way it began in Nazi Germany. The arguments then were all about "quality of life" rather than sanctity of life.

America seems awfully eager to forget about Terri Schiavo – to put the whole sordid episode behind us. But the problem with that kind of denial is that the lives of others in her circumstances are being snuffed out every day because of the precedent set in that national debate by secular high priests in black robes who insisted on imposing their morality on the rest of us.

Their worldview doesn't allow for miracles – like the kind of miracle that took place in the life of Terry Wallis. It defied all the medical literature. It defied the "wisdom" of the judicial activists. It defied all the talk about "permanent vegetative states."

And now that miracle has been documented clinically by top medical researchers.

Is it time to rethink the way we kill brain-injured and handicapped people?

Related special offer:

Get the definitive book on Schiavo's life and death, "Terri's Story"

Joseph Farah is founder, editor and CEO of WND and a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate. His latest book is "Taking America Back." He also edits the weekly online intelligence newsletter Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, in which he utilizes his sources developed over 30 years in the news business.
GENDERCIDE

Friday, July 7, 2006
GENDERCIDE
10 million females illegally aborted in India
Parents desperate to bear son changing nation's demographics
Posted: July 7, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern



© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com


(LifeNews.com)
By conservative estimates, sex-selective abortion in India accounts for the termination of about 10 million females over the past 20 years.

"This is the world's biggest genocide ever," Chetan Sharma, a campaigner against female feticide, told the Daily Mail of London.

Chetan is founder of the Delhi-based group Datamation.

India's 2001 census shows a drop in the number of girls 6-years-old and under per 1,000 boys, to 927, compared to 962 in 1981.

"The future is frightening. Over the next five years we could see more than a million fetuses eliminated every year," said researcher Sabu George."At this pace we'll soon have no girls born in the country. We don't know where it will stop."

The problem of undervaluing women is an old one. In the 19th century, British leaders tried to eradicate female infanticide. Female feticide, however, is a new phenomenon brought about by advances in technology along with liberal attitudes toward abortion, which was legalized in India in 1971.

Kalpana Sharma, a columnist in The Hindu newspaper, says "anyone can walk into a government hospital and ask for an immediate abortion up to the 20th week of pregnancy, free, merely by saying there has been a failure of contraception."

India has a law barring medical personnel from from using prenatal diagnostic techniques to determine the sex of an unborn child. But the law is widely ignored because local officials are reluctant to fight the will of the people, the Daily Mail said.

Generally, in Indian society, woman who produce only daughters are pitied, in some cases abused and in many cases regarded as betrayers.

A woman who had nine abortions of females said it's important to have a son because of the family's big business.

"I want what my husband has built from scratch to go to his own blood," she said.

It's not just the assets of having a son that motivate feticide – carrying on the family name or business and taking care of elderly parents. The practice of providing a dowry to the grooms' family creates an enormous financial burden on parents who have a daughter.

Kalpana Sharma said the dowry demands today are nothing short of extortion. Many families sell off land and are forced into debt they can never pay off.

The affluent also are choosing feticide, as evidenced by the fact that states with the lowest ratios of girls to boys also are the most prosperous, such as Punjab, Gujarat and Haryana.

Affluent women, the analysts say, believe they will have a better standard of living if they have only sons.

Land inheritance also is an issue, as daughters now are entitled legally to an equal share of land when their parents die.

Many unqualified technicians are operating ultrasound machines throughout the country, finding it relatively easy to get a license. While there are 25,770 officially registered pre-natal units in India, one doctor estimates as many as 70,000 ultrasound machines are in operation.

Long-term consequences of the gender imbalance include the rise of prostitution and sex trafficking and the danger to women's emotional and physical health from repeated abortions.

The Indian government is taking steps to impose regulations on the registered ultrasound clinics throughout the country, but Chetan Sharma, of Datamation, says that local officials are guilty of corruption and will simply continue to turn a blind eye.

As WorldNetDaily reported in 2004, the Bush administration withheld a $34 million payment from the United Nations Population Fund to China over the issue of forced abortions.

The communist government of China maintains, at least in some areas of the country, a one-child policy sometimes enforced through a policy of forced abortions. It is believed China performs some 10 million involuntary abortions a year. The abortions disproportionately affect female babies.

Facing a critical shortage of women that could leave millions of men without wives, China is trying to convince its populace of the value of girls, who have been systematically killed during birth or after as a result of the one-child limit on most families.

Beijing has developed a five-year plan to correct the alarming disparity in the numbers of males and females in the country.

First exposed by WND in 1997, what has come to be known as "gendercide" in China has resulted in the deaths of at least 50 million girls.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Column raises a concern


My mailbox is overflowing with letters of support and concern regarding my last column on disabledocide.

Tragically, another girl, age 4, with cerebral palsy named Lexus Fuller is in OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria battling for her life.

Her mother, Kellie Waremburg, allegedly overdosed the child so she would go to sleep and never wake up.

Dixie Belcher is fighting to save the life of her son, Daniel Cullen, who is just 11 months old. Daniel accidentally pulled out the tube to his trach, which was helping him to breathe. Dallas Children's Hospital has decided to end this child's life despite brain activity.

The ethics committee has given Daniel's mom two weeks to find a facility willing to take her child.

Lesley Hanks, vice president of Colorado's Right to Life, e-mailed me about 4-year-old Dylan Walborn. His parents opted to starve this little boy with cerebral palsy in December 2005. It took the little guy 24 days to die.

Every facet of his death was meticulously chronicled by The Denver Post. It was called a mercy killing.

After reading about the death of Katie McCarron, the 3-year-old with autism from Morton. I have perused many blogs on autism. I was greatly disturbed to read an e-mail from grandparents who are concerned that their daughter might be planning to kill their granddaughter with autism.

The media has hammered the horror of raising a child with a disability way too much, which puts kids with disabilities at risk.

Today in an e-mail, a loving parent sent me a photo of their son Stephen. He has the happiest grin. This son with autism is well loved, as are most kids with disabilities.

On a happier note, it is my anniversary. I have been writing this column for two years. I recently received these comments in an e-mail:

Think about this: if your parents would have killed you, then I and many others would not be reading your articles. Who would be the voice, conscience for our society? You have shared your thoughts and expertise regarding people with disabilities. Your powers and influence are far-reaching. You never know whose eyes you might be opening each and every time one of your articles is published. This would never happen if someone had decided to kill you because you had disabilities. Keep up your excellent work, Kathy.

I am truly amazed at the far-reaching realms of my columns. They are picked up and shared, even debated, on numerous sites. I am truly grateful to The Herald News for the opportunity to help thousands of people with disabilities near and far who contact me.

I want to thank Rose Panieri and Jan Larsen for believing in me. Jan is without a doubt the best editor I have ever worked for.

And, a big thank you to my loyal readers. I am glad that I have touched your hearts. You have certainly touched mine.


- Valerie Brew-Parrish is an advocate, educator, and lecturer. Contact her at Val4info@comcast.net