A person's a person no matter how small

Stem cell breakthrough could make ethical debate moot

Baptist Press
Monday, March 02, 2009

WASHINGTON (BP)--A bill that would drastically expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research has been re-introduced in the Senate, but British and Canadian researchers announced a scientific breakthrough March 2 that could change the course of stem cell research and eventually make the ethical debate moot.
As detailed in the research journal Nature, the researchers found a safer way to reprogram ordinary human skin cells into embryonic-like stem cells. While a 2007 study by Japanese and American researchers did something very similar, the British and Canadian researchers did it without the use of a virus, which the '07 teams had used to complete the process. Researchers feared the use of viruses to turn the skin cells into the stem cells could cause cancer in patients.

Stem cells are the body's master cells that can develop into other cells and tissues, and they have the potential for leading to cures for diseases and other ailments.

"It is a step towards the practical use of reprogrammed cells in medicine, perhaps even eliminating the need for human embryos as a source of stem cells," one of the researchers, Keisuke Kaji of the University of Edinburgh, told the Guardian newspaper. "This new method will advance the field of regenerative medicine and should help understand diseases and test new drugs."

More . . .

First Foray

MY PRECIOUS TUESDAY

Twins forever; one dearly departed
Uplifting spirits all over the world
Everyone loves your impish smile, each embrace
Silly sisters, singing songs
Dancer divine
Always on my mind
Yearning to hold you; yaahh

PALIN PICK FORMER EVIL PLANNED PARENTHOOD BOARD MEMBER

Palin bucks pressure in Supreme Court appointment
SCRUTINY: Selection went against push from Alaska Family Council.

By LISA DEMER
ldemer@adn.com

(03/04/09 22:10:15)
Gov. Sarah Palin on Wednesday picked an Anchorage judge to fill the latest vacancy on the Alaska Supreme Court despite efforts by a conservative Christian group to convince her to do otherwise.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Morgan Christen, on the bench since 2002, will be just the second woman named to the high court in the 50 years since statehood.

"Alaska's Supreme Court bears the awesome responsibility of ensuring that our court system administers justice in firm accordance with the principles laid down in our state Constitution," Palin said in a written statement. "I have every confidence that Judge Christen has the experience, intellect, wisdom and character to be an outstanding Supreme Court justice."

Under the state Constitution, Palin had to select from among the nominees sent to her by the seven-member Alaska Judicial Council, made up of lawyers, public members appointed by governors and the Supreme Court chief justice, currently Dana Fabe.

Last week, without explaining why, Palin took the unusual step of asking the Judicial Council to send her all information it had on the two finalists, Christen and Palmer Superior Court Judge Eric Smith.

The council nominated them from a slate of six applicants. It takes four council votes for a candidate to be sent to the governor. None of the other candidates received any votes.

The head of the Alaska Family Council -- a Christian pro-family, anti-abortion group -- on Wednesday sent an e-mail to thousands of people asking them to urge Palin to pick Smith, not Christen.

The governor's office received about 100 letters, e-mails and faxes from the public about the Supreme Court appointment, including some from the family council, Palin's spokeswoman, Sharon Leighow, said in an e-mail. That was not an unusual number, Leighow said.

The family council plea, from group president Jim Minnery, said Smith was "more conservative" and that Christen would be "another activist on the Court." In an interview, Minnery said that was the "general consensus" but he had no specifics.

More

PRO-DEATH PEAS IN A POD!

Abortion Bill Causes National Stir

Feb 24 2009 7:38PM

KXMCTV Minot

As state legislators prepare to get back to work tomorrow...one bill that will receive some attention in the Senate could put North Dakota in the national spotlight once again.

The bill sponsored by Minot Representative Dan Ruby that has passed in the House defines when life begins.

It says that happens at conception...thus offering constitutional rights to an unborn baby.

It would be a challenge to Roe vs Wade and because of that, it has put North Dakota...and the Republican Ruby in the spotlight...

(Rep. Dan Ruby - (R) Minot) "It has been overwhelmingly in support although I have gotten opposition and people expressing their anger and disappointment. But most have been in support mainly because it is basic science of when life begins and when a human being can be determined genetically and with DNA from its mother."

Ruby says he has been surprised how much attention the bill has received since it has only passed the House and is still a long way from becoming law.

He says he's been busy doing interviews with numerous national radio shows on the bill.

Belated Valentine to my family!

Although I sent Valentines to all my children and grand children
this year, none can compare to the one's I found at the Sanibel
Island, Bailey Matthews Shell Museum, last week.



As my heart and mind have struggled with "God where are you"? in our loss
of our beloved twin granddaughter, His fingerprints were everywhere I looked
on our trip to find some peace in the midst of devastation.

Thank you, Lord, for revealing yourself to us in our hour of need.

God's handiwork revealed at Sanibel Island

For I know that if He can paint a sunset and put the stars in place . . .

Rohrbough Rejects All Laws As Evil And Wicked Which Allow “And Then You Can Kill The Baby”


In his “Institute On The Constitution” January “First Friday” address, Brian Rohrbough, President of the Colorado-based “American Right To Life,” told an attentive packed house about the important differences between those who see the pro-life cause as a business and those who see the pro-life cause as a Godly calling. Emphatically rejecting the regulation of murder-by-abortion, he characterized as evil and wicked any law which says, in effect, after being complied with - “and then you can kill the baby” - a phrase first used by Bob Enyart, pastor of the Denver Bible Church.

To order a DVD of this important talk, please contact “Institution On The Constitution” at 1-866-730-9796.

Brian became active in the pro-life movement after his son Daniel was murdered at Columbine High School. Through his unrelenting years of investigation, he found an undeniable link between Columbine and our “culture of death” - a culture which has its roots in the secular humanist teachings of Darwinism promoted by our Godless, government-run education system. When “survival of the fittest” and “natural selection” became the official policy of our government, Brian says, the legalized murder of innocent children through abortion became acceptable in the eyes of man.

More . . .

“American Right to Life” is a no-compromise, no-exceptions organization dedicated to ending abortion by recognizing the God given right to life and establishing the personhood of every human being beginning at the very moment that biological life begins. “A.R.L.” opposes every “pro-life” initiative or legislation that compromises God’s enduring command “Do Not Murder”.

LIBERAL TOLERANCE?

Wednesday February 11, 2009

Abortion Supporters Pelt Pro-Lifers with Stones in France
By John-Henry Westen

GRENOBLE, France, February 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pro-life demonstrators outside a hospital in Grenoble France were violently attacked Sunday by abortion supporters. NOVOpress, a French-language news agency, reports that 70 pro-life picketers outside the 'Couple-Child' Hospital were violently attacked by a pro-abortion mob of some 260 individuals.

A pro-life demonstration was scheduled for the early afternoon, but prior to the arrival of the pro-life demonstrators, a rowdy crowd of abortion supporters took up the designated area. NOVOpress reports that when the pro-lifers arrived they were verbally and physically accosted.

Police intervened and remained on the scene until the pro-life demonstrators left an hour later. Two pro-abortion activists were arrested for throwing stones.

Later, 15 of the pro-lifers were confronted in a parking lot by 90 of the pro-abortion mob. NOVOpress reports that the pro-lifers were barraged with stones and even threatened with knives. They took shelter in a supermarket, but that did not stop the attack, which resulted in the smashing of the window of the supermarket.

Police in riot gear arrived on the scene and the abortion supporters fled. Police arrested but later released over a dozen of the abortion supporters, charging two with causing damages.

See the NOVOpress report (in French):
http://fr.novopress.info/?p=15496

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021109.html

Monday, February 9, 2009

Eluana Englaro has died

Eluana Englaro, the woman at the center of the euthanasia debate in Italy, has several days after having her fluids and food withheld from her care. It is very sad that society may find it acceptable to kill someone by intentional dehydration.

To intentionally dehydrate someone to death, who is not otherwise dying, is euthanasia. The intention of the omission is to cause death and the death results from dehydration.

It is interesting that she died of dehydration so quickly. Usually it takes 10 - 14 days to die from dehydration. The question is, what did she actually die from?

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition urges the Italian Senate to continue drafting a bill to prevent further intentional deaths by dehydration.

More . . .

FROM ONE LOVING DAD TO ANOTHER
Terri Schiavo's Father Pleads With Eluana Englaro's Father to Spare Her Life

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 9, 2009



Rome, Italy (LifeNews.com) -- Bob Schindler understands the pain of a father who saw his daughter change from a woman full of life to a seemingly lifeless person plagued by the effects of a severe medical condition. Although it may seem hopeless, Schindler urged the father of Eluana Englaro not to give up on his daughter's recovery.

The plea came in the form of a letter Schindler has written to Beppino Englaro, that LifeNews.com obtained, asking him to not subject his daughter to the same kind of death Terri faced.

"Although we come from two different continents with different cultures, we do have many things in common. We both are fathers and we both have been gifted by the same God with children," Schindler writes Mr. Englaro.

"We both have a child that suffered severe brain injuries. I know very well the profound effect this type of injury can have on our loved one and their families. We both have experienced the same misfortune and hardships," he added.

Like Englaro, Terri Schiavo was unable to make her own medical decisions.

Unlike the Italian woman who is at the center of the latest euthanasia debate, Terri's family wanted to provide her the best care possible and fought her former husband's decision to kill her by depriving her of food and water.

"We do differ," Schindler explained. "Your daughter is alive and mine is not. You have control of Eluana’s future. I did not have any input regarding Terri."

More . . .

FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2009

Tuesday Fiona Whitt
October 11, 2006 - January 30, 2009

My precious Tuesday's battle with pediatric cancer ended this past Friday. Our hearts are broken, but we rejoice that she is no longer in pain and is with Jesus.

LEADING ATHEIST GETS IT!!

"Hitchens then explained that he finds it “extraordinarily objectionable” to exclude the “occupant of the womb” from the human family."

Thousands attend Boulder debate on atheism and religion

CatholicNewsAgency ^ | Boulder, CO, Jan 28, 2009
Posted on January 29, 2009 8:35:29 AM MST by GonzoII

Boulder, CO, Jan 28, 2009 / 12:05 am (CNA).- Writers Dinesh D’Souza and Christopher Hitchens brought their polemics on religion and atheism to a debate Monday evening at the University of Colorado at Boulder before a sold-out crowd of 2,050 in the campus’ Macky Auditorium.

D’Souza, a Catholic and author of the book “What’s So Great about Christianity,” argued that Christianity is the foundation for many common values such as scientific inquiry and respect for the individual. Additionally, he asserted that Christianity proposes the best answer for bridging the chasm between man and God.

(Excerpt) Read more at catholicnewsagency.com

At Capitol, abortion likened to slavery

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published January 23, 2009 at 12:05 a.m.


Photo by Barry Gutierrez / The Rocky

Mariette McGrath joins others in prayer Thursday on the west steps of the state Capitol, where 400 abortion foes turned out for the annual Colorado Right to Life rally.

Abortion is the slavery issue of our time, author Eric Metaxas told about 400 people at the annual Colorado Right to Life rally Thursday on the steps of the Capitol.

"God is the one who calls you to the battle," Metaxas said to the crowd, an eclectic mix that included families with baby strollers and protesters waving signs and abortion- photo posters.

They came to mourn the 36th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision, which legalized abortion, and to be inspired to fight for the idea that the unborn are persons with an inalienable right to life.

Like slavery, the abortion fight may not end quickly, but it will be stopped - ultimately by educating one's opponents, not demonizing them, said Metaxas.

He wrote Amazing Grace, which explores how British abolitionist William Wilberforce - known as a "crazy fanatic" in his time - painstakingly overcame his 18th-century culture's entrenched acceptance of slavery.

Education was what got Shari Hutchings involved, said the 44-year-old mother of four, who took part in a march down the 16th Street Mall after the rally.

"In college we were never educated, we never learned the horror of abortion," Hutchings said. When two of her children were born prematurely, "I learned that babies were being aborted at the same age as my children - these precious babies. Now I have a passion about life," Hutchings said.

OUCH!!!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Remember when being a 'Christian' meant something?

Exclusive: Mark Crutcher cites 'porn king' as example of church's worldview perversion

Posted: January 22, 2009
1:00 am Eastern

When Bill Clinton was elected president, I made the argument that the problem wasn't Bill Clinton but the millions of people who voted for him. And the same thing is true about Barack Obama. I can assure you that there have always been people who wanted to be president whose morals were no better than those of Clinton or Obama. The difference was that, back when America was still a Christian nation, the voters had better morals than to knowingly elect these kind of people to public office. That's because we were able to assume that there was a connection between what people claimed to believe and how they conducted themselves. For example, in those days, when someone said they were a Christian, that meant something.

Unfortunately, that is no longer the case, and the abortion issue provides a perfect example of this phenomenon.

All across America, there are those who claim that it is possible for them to be pro-choice – or vote for a supporter of legalized abortion – without abandoning their Christian principles. They get away with this despite the fact that, from a theological standpoint, what they are saying is clearly demonstrable hogwash.

Two fundamental doctrines of Christianity are that God is the author of life and that He is incapable of making mistakes. Obviously, the only logical conclusion that can be drawn from those concepts is that when life exists in the womb it is God's will that it be there. Since the obvious goal of abortion is to deny that will, support for its legality is, by definition, incompatible with Christianity.

(Column continues below)

UNITED STATES OF DISINFORMATION!!

HE REALLY THINKS HE'S LINCOLN?

Study up, President Elect!

Roe v Wade - 7 to 2
Dred Scott v Sanford - 7 to 2

America's two greatest SCOTUS travesties.

SO WE NEED A NEW DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE?

According to Fox News, president elect Obama (unless the Supreme Court does its job) has proclaimed the need for a new
Declaration of Independence.

"What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives -- from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry -- an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels," he said to a cheering crowd at 30th Street train station.



Do you suppose the words of the founders who wrote, "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. " which clearly uphold the right to life of the pre-born are just a bit too forthright for our "Dear Leader"?

COLORADO PERSONHOOD COORDINATOR TAKES
MESSAGE TO DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Dominican Republic Gets Help From Pro-Life Advocates to Keep Abortion Ban

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 15, 2009


Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (LifeNews.com) -- The Dominican Republic, a Caribbean island nation, is getting help from three American pro-life groups in defending its abortion ban. The nation is facing an outpouring of resources from U.S.-based pro-abortion groups who are helping local abortion advocates topple the ban.

The abortion debate follows a move by President Leonel Antonio Fernández to introduce a new Constitution for the nation. The document includes an Amendment to protect all human life from conception.

In an ironic move, the Dominican Republic's Legislative Committee assigned to oversee the new Constitution will meet on January 22, the day Americans mourn the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision.

The panel will meet to discuss this new Constitution and potentially approve it.

The pro-life advocates will help local pro-life groups lobby members of the panel to keep the pro-life Amendment in place and approve the Constitution with it. They will also undertake public education programs by distributing materials with a message of life.

The abortion advocates want to remove the pro-life Amendment from the document and allow for abortions in cases of rape or incest as a first step towards eventually legalizing abortions entirely.

Keith Mason, of Personhood USA, talked with LifeNews.com about the efforts.

"As American citizens, we have seen the danger of legalizing abortion for just cases of rape," he said. "Decriminalizing any abortion is a slippery slope, and every child is precious and has a right to live, regardless of who his father is or what he has done."

"We have witnessed firsthand the grievous slaughter of innocent children in America, and we are committed to helping our friends in the Dominican Republic to avoid the same mistakes," he said.

The coalition will hold a press conference on January 22nd to raise awareness in the Dominican Republic of the 54 million abortions that have taken place in the United States.

The group includes members of Faithful Soldier School of Evangelism, Live Action Films, and Personhood USA.

They have already scheduled many appointments with the local media as well as educational outreaches and meetings with local pastors and officials.
Buzz up!


Printed from: http://www.lifenews.com/int1050.html

Copyright © 2003-2006 LifeNews.com. All rights reserved. For free daily/weekly pro-life news, email us at news@LifeNews.com.

Forced abortions - America's secret epidemic

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/11/2009 4:00:00 AM

The Elliot Institute has released a report that exposes America's forced abortion epidemic.

Elliot Institute spokesperson Amy Solby tells OneNewsNow that one study found 64 percent of women who had abortions reported they felt pressured to abort by others. "Something like 80 percent of them said that they didn't get the counseling they needed to make a good decision, that often they were not given counseling at all, or that the counseling they had was inadequate," she explains.

Solby also mentions forced abortions, which are not widely discussed in the U.S. An article released from the Institute cites two cases in 2006 in which teenage girls were violently persuaded to have abortions. In Maine, a couple abducted their 19-year-old daughter, bound and gagged her, and drove her to New York for an abortion. However, she escaped from her parents in the parking lot of a store and called police from her cell phone.

That same year, a Georgia mother forced her pregnant 16-year-old daughter to drink turpentine in hopes of aborting her baby. She was later arrested for criminal abortion after her daughter told the school counselor about the incident. The Institute has studied other cases where women are commonly threatened, pressured, or subjected to violence for refusing to abort.

"There's not any necessarily real hard numbers on violent [coercion] but, if you consider that homicide is the leading killer of pregnant women according to several studies, and then the fact that a large number of them have to do with the fact that the woman was killed or assaulted...because she refused to have an abortion or in an attempt to force her to abort," Solby concludes.

The Elliot Institute is trying to convince states to pass laws forcing abortion facilities to screen women for coercion and not to do an abortion where coercion is involved. Solby believes women then could be helped with whatever situation they are facing.

COLORADO'S JANUARY 22, 2009 MARCH FOR LIFE
STATE CAPITOL 12:00 p.m.

Come hear Tony Funderburk sing his wonderful
song about Personhood and listen to Eric Metaxas,
author of Amazing Grace, explain the parallels between abolishing slavery and abortion!!

PERSONHOOD

You should thank your Mom cause she thought of you as a person. From the very start she was calling you her daughter or her son. And though life isn’t easy; our Moms still believed we would make it. Now some call life a choice, but it’s still a precious life. 
We can’t take it.

We can’t forsake it!

Give an unborn baby personhood
There’s nothing more important we can do!
Give an unborn baby personhood.
50 Million persons beg us to...they beg us to!

We can read all the judgements, and continue to build our big plans.
But there are lives in the balance, and the choice is right in our hands.
So do we sit idle? Or is there a way we can stand tall?
Can’t we stand for life? Or do we really stand for nothing at all?
And let the innocent fall?

~ Chorus ~

If human life is just sown by chance, then
Nothing we know could be bad or be good.
If we’re just embryonic particulate matter,
Then we could know there is no personhood...
But we hope and we pray
And we live for the day,
When our love becomes broad
In the image of God...

~ Chorus ~

© Copyright Tony Funderburk 2007