Republicans' Loss of Pro-Life, Pro-Family Principles Translated into Loss of Power
Catholic Leader States: “The Giuliani-McCain-Romney wing of the Republican Party is responsible for this overwhelming defeat...the GOP...must [now] look to leaders like Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.)—who has never wavered on his principles or his defense of the innocent unborn—as their model.”
FRONT ROYAL, Va., Nov. 8 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, STL, president of Human Life International (HLI)--the world’s largest pro-life, pro-family human rights organization, with over 90 affiliates in 75 countries around the world--has issued the following statement regarding the Republican Party’s loss of power in the U.S. Congress:
“If the Republican Party truly wants to know why they lost, they need only look in the mirror. The most vulnerable seats in both houses were those held by politicians who had abandoned the pro-life and the pro-marriage principles that first brought them to power.
“In many states, voters turned out in large numbers to defend traditional marriage, but voters were not willing to support those who would not support their values. Some so-called conservative senators were all too happy to water down or jettison their ‘unwavering’ defense of the unborn in the name of political expediency and now they have paid the price. Self-described Reagan conservative George Allen bragged about owning stock in Barr Pharmaceuticals--the manufacturer of Plan B--and President Bush’s shameful support of this deadly drug being sold over the counter deflated conservatives’ support of many candidates.
“In Missouri, Sen. Jim Talent fearfully refusal to come out against the state’s cloning initiative not only resulted in its passage, but the loss of his Senate seat. Sen. Rick Santorum’s race in Pennsylvania is also telling. Those who espouse ‘conventional wisdom’ will tell you that issues like abortion never decide a race. That’s a lie, as evidenced by the fact that the Democrats purposely picked a pro-life candidate, recognizing that it would neutralize the greatest advantage Santorum had in his re-election bid.
“The Giuliani-McCain-Romney wing of the Republican Party is responsible for this overwhelming defeat. If the GOP truly wishes to regain the trust of pro-life, pro-family conservatives, then they must look to leaders like Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.)--who has never wavered on his principles or his defense of the innocent unborn--as their model.”
Founded in 1981, Human Life International is the world’s largest pro-life, pro-family organization that is dedicated to defending life, faith and the family, with branches and affiliates around the world.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
WHY SD's REFERRED LAW 6 FAILED
Why did South Dakota’s anti-abortion Referred Law 6 fail? Was it too pro-life? No! It wasn’t pro-life enough. How can I say that when there wasn’t even an exception for rape or incest in the law? The flaw was not in the law but in the marketing. Vote Yes for Life lost when they decided their strategy was to cast the mother as the victim of abortion and not the child. So their misguided efforts could better be described as pro-woman and not pro-life. While women are certainly victims of abortion, the campaign disregarded the true victim of abortion and tried to get sympathy for the lesser victim.
So when they focused on the lesser victim, they had less moral authority. They must have been resigned to the fact that the undecided didn’t care about the baby and we can’t change their mind. There was a time in America when most people didn’t care about the fate of a slave. Yet when people finally realized the humanity and victimization of a whole group of people they did do the right thing. First by rescuing only a few through the Underground Railroad, which is where America is at in the abortion battle. Then next the Emancipation Proclamation granted freedom to all men, which will come for the babies with Roe V Wade's reversal. And today in America slavery is unthinkable, as I pray abortion will someday be.
When Vote Yes for Life cast the mother as the victim to be saved, they had a problem. What about rape and incest? They were teaching the voters to have sympathy for the mother so when these topics came up it would be cruel to their victim to force her to give birth to an unwanted child. How did they work around this problem? The pro-lifers produced a television ad that promoted the use of the plan-B pill and called it “among the best options”. How could a pro-life group get so confused? They promoted the wrong victim. Instead of depicting the mother as the victim they should have educated the public about the humanity and rights of the child, when rape and incest came up, the sympathy would rightly still be on the baby and people could see that violence toward a victim is not the solution to the problem. It is the problem.
So how do we as pro-lifers continue the fight? We must show America the true victim of abortion. Every ultrasound shown to a new mother and father chips away at the lie of abortion. Every 4-D ultrasound shown is like a sledgehammer to the foundation of their evil empire. Every beautiful pre-born picture or grizzly post abortion picture is like a wrecking ball to the lie that this baby is just a blob of tissue. The walls of abortion will not fall tomorrow, but they will fall if we stay focused on the true victim of abortion, the baby.
Fighting for the pre-born,
Jason Troyer
Director, Colorado Right to Life
Why did South Dakota’s anti-abortion Referred Law 6 fail? Was it too pro-life? No! It wasn’t pro-life enough. How can I say that when there wasn’t even an exception for rape or incest in the law? The flaw was not in the law but in the marketing. Vote Yes for Life lost when they decided their strategy was to cast the mother as the victim of abortion and not the child. So their misguided efforts could better be described as pro-woman and not pro-life. While women are certainly victims of abortion, the campaign disregarded the true victim of abortion and tried to get sympathy for the lesser victim.
So when they focused on the lesser victim, they had less moral authority. They must have been resigned to the fact that the undecided didn’t care about the baby and we can’t change their mind. There was a time in America when most people didn’t care about the fate of a slave. Yet when people finally realized the humanity and victimization of a whole group of people they did do the right thing. First by rescuing only a few through the Underground Railroad, which is where America is at in the abortion battle. Then next the Emancipation Proclamation granted freedom to all men, which will come for the babies with Roe V Wade's reversal. And today in America slavery is unthinkable, as I pray abortion will someday be.
When Vote Yes for Life cast the mother as the victim to be saved, they had a problem. What about rape and incest? They were teaching the voters to have sympathy for the mother so when these topics came up it would be cruel to their victim to force her to give birth to an unwanted child. How did they work around this problem? The pro-lifers produced a television ad that promoted the use of the plan-B pill and called it “among the best options”. How could a pro-life group get so confused? They promoted the wrong victim. Instead of depicting the mother as the victim they should have educated the public about the humanity and rights of the child, when rape and incest came up, the sympathy would rightly still be on the baby and people could see that violence toward a victim is not the solution to the problem. It is the problem.
So how do we as pro-lifers continue the fight? We must show America the true victim of abortion. Every ultrasound shown to a new mother and father chips away at the lie of abortion. Every 4-D ultrasound shown is like a sledgehammer to the foundation of their evil empire. Every beautiful pre-born picture or grizzly post abortion picture is like a wrecking ball to the lie that this baby is just a blob of tissue. The walls of abortion will not fall tomorrow, but they will fall if we stay focused on the true victim of abortion, the baby.
Fighting for the pre-born,
Jason Troyer
Director, Colorado Right to Life
Friday, November 03, 2006
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
THE SMILING FACES OF POTENTIAL EMBRYONIC
STEM CELL VICTIMS - DON'T LET MENGELE'S
LEGACY BECOME MISSOURI LAW!
Click on the link to see what won't show here - sorry!
November 01, 2006, 3:09 a.m.
My How Those Embryos Grow
A closer look at who it is some are intent on destroying.
By Deroy Murdock
Just 14 months old, fraternal twins EmmaLyn and Ian Burnett are oblivious to the embryonic stem-cell research (ESCR) controversy dominating their home state of Missouri. It’s too bad they are too young to respond to actor Michael J. Fox’s TV commercials endorsing Democratic Senate candidates Claire McCaskill in the Show-Me State and Ben Cardin in Maryland. If EmmaLyn and Ian could speak, they might help Fox and other Americans understand how ESCR literally kills living human beings just like them.
Just like you, EmmaLyn and Ian began as embryos. On their first day of life, their biological parents froze them for later implantation. EmmaLyn and Ian were suspended in liquid nitrogen for four years.
Facing pregnancy risks after having two kids, EmmaLyn and Ian’s Illinois-based natural parents relinquished their remaining embryos. Rather than toss them in the garbage, they placed them with the Fullerton, California-based Snowflakes Frozen Embryo Adoption Program.
“We pretty much had tried everything,” Anna Burnett, the kids’ 41-year-old mother, tells me from her Kansas City, Missouri, home. The then-public elementary-school music teacher and her network-engineer husband, Robert, had spent some five years trying to conceive a child. They finally turned to Snowflakes, which paired them with EmmaLyn, Ian, and their biological parents’ eight other cryopreserved embryos.
Anna and Robert Burnett of Kansas City, Missouri with their children, Ian and EmmaLyn, who spent four years as frozen embryos
“Snowflakes matched us with 10 embryos from the same family,” says Robert, 43. Of these, four were defrosted in October 2004. The three viable ones were inserted in Anna’s uterus, but did not stick. In January 2005, they tried again. Of the remaining six embryos, four did not survive thawing, but, Robert explains, “they implanted the other two, and both of those took. We used all 10, and out of them, we got our twins.”
“They’re both healthy, well-adjusted kids,” Robert adds. “They both are normal for their age. We’re truly blessed.”
“It’s like a miracle,” says Anna, now a full-time mom. “After waiting so long and finally getting what you dreamed about, it’s great…They are very curious. They are real live, little people. And I want to see other embryos have that same chance.”
Stem-cell research advocates overlook stories like EmmaLyn and Ian’s. Michael J. Fox’s ads caricature ESCR critics as heartless Luddites who supposedly oppose all stem-cell research. This claim is as broad, unfair, and inaccurate as saying that anti-vivisectionists want to end all medical research.
Republicans Jim Talent of Missouri and Michael Steele of Maryland oppose ESCR in which living, albeit frozen, human embryos, like EmmaLyn and Ian, would be killed to extract their stem cells for research.
If these embryos were mere medical waste, opposing their use to cure serious diseases would be cruel and stupid. However, Fox and his allies don’t tell Americans that frozen embryos are being thawed, implanted, and delivered as boys and girls.
To date, Snowflakes has placed 2,013 embryos, of which 1,419 have been thawed; 762 were viable, 222 were transplanted, and 116 were born alive. Another 25 babies are gestating. Expanded embryo adoption would help more of these souls on ice graduate from frozen orphanages into the warm, loving arms of mothers and fathers.
ESRC boosters eagerly point to the 400,000 embryos frozen in America’s fertility clinics. However, the RAND Corporation reports that parents are using 88 percent of these embryos for impregnation. So only 48,000 are “surplus” — not 400,000. If the Burnetts’ 20-percent success rate applied to this population, it could yield perhaps 9,600 little boys and girls.
The Burnetts, Snowflakes, Talent, Steele, and virtually everyone else support research on adult- and umbilical-cord stem cells, which is no more ethically problematic than research on barbershop hair clippings. According to the Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics, adult- and cord-blood research already has created 72 treatments for diabetes, leukemia, and other ailments. In contrast, embryocidal inquiries, ballyhooed from Hollywood to Broadway, have not generated even one therapy. It remains the most immoral and least productive stem-cell laboratory technique.
One need not be religious or crazy about kids to recoil at the horror of fatally dissecting microscopic human beings for medical experiments.
Anna with her EmmaLyn and Ian
While footage of Michael J. Fox suffering Parkinson’s disease saddens TV viewers, his pain and that of other disease victims should be treated through adult- and umbilical cord-stem-cell research, not by grinding up future EmmaLyns and Ians into pills and powders.
— Deroy Murdock is a New York-based columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
National Review Online - http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OGI4NDRkMWQyYjlhMmY2ZDQ0MDVmNDlmZDFhMDAxN2I=
STEM CELL VICTIMS - DON'T LET MENGELE'S
LEGACY BECOME MISSOURI LAW!
Click on the link to see what won't show here - sorry!
November 01, 2006, 3:09 a.m.
My How Those Embryos Grow
A closer look at who it is some are intent on destroying.
By Deroy Murdock
Just 14 months old, fraternal twins EmmaLyn and Ian Burnett are oblivious to the embryonic stem-cell research (ESCR) controversy dominating their home state of Missouri. It’s too bad they are too young to respond to actor Michael J. Fox’s TV commercials endorsing Democratic Senate candidates Claire McCaskill in the Show-Me State and Ben Cardin in Maryland. If EmmaLyn and Ian could speak, they might help Fox and other Americans understand how ESCR literally kills living human beings just like them.
Just like you, EmmaLyn and Ian began as embryos. On their first day of life, their biological parents froze them for later implantation. EmmaLyn and Ian were suspended in liquid nitrogen for four years.
Facing pregnancy risks after having two kids, EmmaLyn and Ian’s Illinois-based natural parents relinquished their remaining embryos. Rather than toss them in the garbage, they placed them with the Fullerton, California-based Snowflakes Frozen Embryo Adoption Program.
“We pretty much had tried everything,” Anna Burnett, the kids’ 41-year-old mother, tells me from her Kansas City, Missouri, home. The then-public elementary-school music teacher and her network-engineer husband, Robert, had spent some five years trying to conceive a child. They finally turned to Snowflakes, which paired them with EmmaLyn, Ian, and their biological parents’ eight other cryopreserved embryos.
Anna and Robert Burnett of Kansas City, Missouri with their children, Ian and EmmaLyn, who spent four years as frozen embryos
“Snowflakes matched us with 10 embryos from the same family,” says Robert, 43. Of these, four were defrosted in October 2004. The three viable ones were inserted in Anna’s uterus, but did not stick. In January 2005, they tried again. Of the remaining six embryos, four did not survive thawing, but, Robert explains, “they implanted the other two, and both of those took. We used all 10, and out of them, we got our twins.”
“They’re both healthy, well-adjusted kids,” Robert adds. “They both are normal for their age. We’re truly blessed.”
“It’s like a miracle,” says Anna, now a full-time mom. “After waiting so long and finally getting what you dreamed about, it’s great…They are very curious. They are real live, little people. And I want to see other embryos have that same chance.”
Stem-cell research advocates overlook stories like EmmaLyn and Ian’s. Michael J. Fox’s ads caricature ESCR critics as heartless Luddites who supposedly oppose all stem-cell research. This claim is as broad, unfair, and inaccurate as saying that anti-vivisectionists want to end all medical research.
Republicans Jim Talent of Missouri and Michael Steele of Maryland oppose ESCR in which living, albeit frozen, human embryos, like EmmaLyn and Ian, would be killed to extract their stem cells for research.
If these embryos were mere medical waste, opposing their use to cure serious diseases would be cruel and stupid. However, Fox and his allies don’t tell Americans that frozen embryos are being thawed, implanted, and delivered as boys and girls.
To date, Snowflakes has placed 2,013 embryos, of which 1,419 have been thawed; 762 were viable, 222 were transplanted, and 116 were born alive. Another 25 babies are gestating. Expanded embryo adoption would help more of these souls on ice graduate from frozen orphanages into the warm, loving arms of mothers and fathers.
ESRC boosters eagerly point to the 400,000 embryos frozen in America’s fertility clinics. However, the RAND Corporation reports that parents are using 88 percent of these embryos for impregnation. So only 48,000 are “surplus” — not 400,000. If the Burnetts’ 20-percent success rate applied to this population, it could yield perhaps 9,600 little boys and girls.
The Burnetts, Snowflakes, Talent, Steele, and virtually everyone else support research on adult- and umbilical-cord stem cells, which is no more ethically problematic than research on barbershop hair clippings. According to the Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics, adult- and cord-blood research already has created 72 treatments for diabetes, leukemia, and other ailments. In contrast, embryocidal inquiries, ballyhooed from Hollywood to Broadway, have not generated even one therapy. It remains the most immoral and least productive stem-cell laboratory technique.
One need not be religious or crazy about kids to recoil at the horror of fatally dissecting microscopic human beings for medical experiments.
Anna with her EmmaLyn and Ian
While footage of Michael J. Fox suffering Parkinson’s disease saddens TV viewers, his pain and that of other disease victims should be treated through adult- and umbilical cord-stem-cell research, not by grinding up future EmmaLyns and Ians into pills and powders.
— Deroy Murdock is a New York-based columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
National Review Online - http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OGI4NDRkMWQyYjlhMmY2ZDQ0MDVmNDlmZDFhMDAxN2I=
Thursday, October 26, 2006
DAY GARDNER SPEAKS TRUTH TO MICHAEL J FOX
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 /Christian Newswire/ -- The National Black Pro-Life Union’s director, Day Gardner, issues the following response to the advertisements featuring Michael J. Fox:
“Michael J. Fox is just another person with an 'everyman for himself mentality.' What makes his life so much more important that the life of a child? We need to remember that there are two different forms of stem cell research. Adult stem cells are available, Mr. Fox knows that. But even in light of that fact, he is still supporting the killing of children and then harvesting their little bodies for their stem cells.
“It is unfortunate that he and so many people suffer with debilitating diseases. We all have lost loved ones to horrible ailments and illnesses--and we all want and pray for good health. But, we should never deny the reality of the living unborn child in order to save our own skins. No human being has a right to do this at the expense of another’s life.”
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 /Christian Newswire/ -- The National Black Pro-Life Union’s director, Day Gardner, issues the following response to the advertisements featuring Michael J. Fox:
“Michael J. Fox is just another person with an 'everyman for himself mentality.' What makes his life so much more important that the life of a child? We need to remember that there are two different forms of stem cell research. Adult stem cells are available, Mr. Fox knows that. But even in light of that fact, he is still supporting the killing of children and then harvesting their little bodies for their stem cells.
“It is unfortunate that he and so many people suffer with debilitating diseases. We all have lost loved ones to horrible ailments and illnesses--and we all want and pray for good health. But, we should never deny the reality of the living unborn child in order to save our own skins. No human being has a right to do this at the expense of another’s life.”
COLORADO GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE
COVERED UP STATUTORY RAPE!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Leslie Hanks
October 24, 2006 720-394-8946
During his tenure as Denver District Attorney, Bill Ritter was given information about
a Life Dynamics sting, which found Planned Parenthood covering up the
statutory rape of under-age girls by adult males.
Sidewalk counsellor, Jo Scott, gave the audio tape to Sergeant Batista, asking him to share it
with Mr. Ritter. The tape of Planned Parenthood telling girls to call back and not mention the age of their baby's father
is a shocking revelation of a criminal cover-up of ongoing exploitation of children.
Regrettably, the Sergeant reported back to Jo Scott that Mr. Ritter had
no intention of prosecuting these statutory rapists.
According to Brian Rohrbough, President of Colorado Right to Life, "This dereliction of duty is consistent with other claims about Mr. Ritter allowing the guilty to avoid prosecution."
Rohrbough further noted, "Covering up for crimes of rape and incest is a horrific abuse of young girls and the public trust."
"Abortion clinics murder unborn children. And abortion is always wrong. In this instance, our love and concern for violated young teenagers who get brought to an abortion clinic, often by the very adult who raped them, parallels our effort to save the life of each and every unborn child, and to expose the wickedness of the abortion industry."
COVERED UP STATUTORY RAPE!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Leslie Hanks
October 24, 2006 720-394-8946
During his tenure as Denver District Attorney, Bill Ritter was given information about
a Life Dynamics sting, which found Planned Parenthood covering up the
statutory rape of under-age girls by adult males.
Sidewalk counsellor, Jo Scott, gave the audio tape to Sergeant Batista, asking him to share it
with Mr. Ritter. The tape of Planned Parenthood telling girls to call back and not mention the age of their baby's father
is a shocking revelation of a criminal cover-up of ongoing exploitation of children.
Regrettably, the Sergeant reported back to Jo Scott that Mr. Ritter had
no intention of prosecuting these statutory rapists.
According to Brian Rohrbough, President of Colorado Right to Life, "This dereliction of duty is consistent with other claims about Mr. Ritter allowing the guilty to avoid prosecution."
Rohrbough further noted, "Covering up for crimes of rape and incest is a horrific abuse of young girls and the public trust."
"Abortion clinics murder unborn children. And abortion is always wrong. In this instance, our love and concern for violated young teenagers who get brought to an abortion clinic, often by the very adult who raped them, parallels our effort to save the life of each and every unborn child, and to expose the wickedness of the abortion industry."
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Monday, October 16, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Leslie Hanks
October 14, 2006 720-394-8946
COLORADO RIGHT TO LIFE BOLDLY ELECTS COLUMBINE
DAD AS PRESIDENT
Brian Rohrbough, who last week spoke on CBS News’ “Free Speech Minute” and explained his view about the spate of school shootings in the years since Columbine, was elected today as President of Colorado Right to Life.
The father of Danny Rohrbough, who lost his life at Columbine, stated on Katie Couric’s CBS Evening News that taking God out of our schools and allowing abortion on demand has made our children ever more vulnerable to school violence.
Rohrbough, stated properly that “We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion. Abortion has diminished the value of children. “
With Rohrbough at the helm, Colorado Right to Life expects to lead the nation in an unrelenting effort to restore legal protection to all innocent human life, from fertilization through natural death, and to challenge the lies of Planned Parenthood.
Rohrbough’s intends for CRL to always uphold God’s law, prohibiting murder, as primary focus
in every battle, without compromise.
Colorado Right to Life is one of the nation’s oldest pro-life organizations, with a consistent and ongoing voice, for those who have no voice, since the1967 passage of the nation’s first abortion law in Colorado. This April 25, 2007 will mark the 40th anniversary of the nation’s deadly killing spree on innocent pre-born lives.
October 14, 2006 720-394-8946
COLORADO RIGHT TO LIFE BOLDLY ELECTS COLUMBINE
DAD AS PRESIDENT
Brian Rohrbough, who last week spoke on CBS News’ “Free Speech Minute” and explained his view about the spate of school shootings in the years since Columbine, was elected today as President of Colorado Right to Life.
The father of Danny Rohrbough, who lost his life at Columbine, stated on Katie Couric’s CBS Evening News that taking God out of our schools and allowing abortion on demand has made our children ever more vulnerable to school violence.
Rohrbough, stated properly that “We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion. Abortion has diminished the value of children. “
With Rohrbough at the helm, Colorado Right to Life expects to lead the nation in an unrelenting effort to restore legal protection to all innocent human life, from fertilization through natural death, and to challenge the lies of Planned Parenthood.
Rohrbough’s intends for CRL to always uphold God’s law, prohibiting murder, as primary focus
in every battle, without compromise.
Colorado Right to Life is one of the nation’s oldest pro-life organizations, with a consistent and ongoing voice, for those who have no voice, since the1967 passage of the nation’s first abortion law in Colorado. This April 25, 2007 will mark the 40th anniversary of the nation’s deadly killing spree on innocent pre-born lives.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Columbine Dad Cites Abortion and Evolution in School Shootings
On CBS, Columbine Dad Blames Violence on Secularism
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 4, 2006; C08
The emotions surrounding the murder of five girls at an Amish school in Pennsylvania were still raw Monday when the "CBS Evening News" put on a commentator who blamed such violence on abortion and "expelling God from the school."
Brian Rohrbough, who lost his son in the 1999 Columbine school massacre in Colorado, made the remarks on the "Free Speech" segment, which for the past month has provided a 90-second platform for pundits, politicians and ordinary people to sound off.
The decision to approach Rohrbough and air his views prompted a storm of criticism, some of it within the ranks of CBS News. Anchor Katie Couric responded on her network blog, saying: "We knew when we decided to put on this segment that a lot of people would disagree with it. We also knew some might even find it repugnant.
"But that is the very essence of what we're try to do with the 'Free Speech' segment. This is a platform for our viewers to hear from a wide range of people -- those who may share your views, and those who don't."
Rohrbough, who addressed the Colorado Right to Life march in January, has blamed the Columbine attack on abortion in a number of local interviews. He filed a lawsuit alleging that a Denver police officer shot his 15-year-old son in the confusion of the Columbine attack. Rohrbough apologized to the officer in a Rocky Mountain News interview after an independent investigation concluded the officer had not yet arrived at the school when Rohrbough's son was shot.
Rohrbough also sued the school district over its refusal to allow him to include religious references in two four-inch tiles that are part of a Columbine memorial.
In his CBS commentary, Rohrbough said: "This country is in a moral free fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value. We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion. Abortion has diminished the value of children."
Rome Hartman, the newscast's executive director, said he was "surprised" by Rohrbough's remarks and "of course I knew that his remarks would be controversial, perhaps even offensive to some. I also knew that some people in our audience would agree with him. I also thought to myself, 'This is "Free Speech." We don't tell people what to say or what to think.' . . . I decided to run the segment."
Some online critics denounced CBS. A blogger at Dymaxion World wrote: "Grief makes people do, and say, stupid . . . things. But CBS is not grieving for anyone. What made them put this man on national television?"
Many detractors wrote to CBS's Web site. One called Rohrbough's remarks "the biggest load of hogwash I have ever witnessed. How could you use an unspeakable tragedy to give a rightwing flat earth nut job a podium?"
But a mother of three wrote to praise CBS's "courage," saying: "I'm sure that you will receive many e-mails denouncing your segment, but I appreciate hearing a 'conservative' view in what can be a very liberal media."
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
On CBS, Columbine Dad Blames Violence on Secularism
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 4, 2006; C08
The emotions surrounding the murder of five girls at an Amish school in Pennsylvania were still raw Monday when the "CBS Evening News" put on a commentator who blamed such violence on abortion and "expelling God from the school."
Brian Rohrbough, who lost his son in the 1999 Columbine school massacre in Colorado, made the remarks on the "Free Speech" segment, which for the past month has provided a 90-second platform for pundits, politicians and ordinary people to sound off.
The decision to approach Rohrbough and air his views prompted a storm of criticism, some of it within the ranks of CBS News. Anchor Katie Couric responded on her network blog, saying: "We knew when we decided to put on this segment that a lot of people would disagree with it. We also knew some might even find it repugnant.
"But that is the very essence of what we're try to do with the 'Free Speech' segment. This is a platform for our viewers to hear from a wide range of people -- those who may share your views, and those who don't."
Rohrbough, who addressed the Colorado Right to Life march in January, has blamed the Columbine attack on abortion in a number of local interviews. He filed a lawsuit alleging that a Denver police officer shot his 15-year-old son in the confusion of the Columbine attack. Rohrbough apologized to the officer in a Rocky Mountain News interview after an independent investigation concluded the officer had not yet arrived at the school when Rohrbough's son was shot.
Rohrbough also sued the school district over its refusal to allow him to include religious references in two four-inch tiles that are part of a Columbine memorial.
In his CBS commentary, Rohrbough said: "This country is in a moral free fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value. We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion. Abortion has diminished the value of children."
Rome Hartman, the newscast's executive director, said he was "surprised" by Rohrbough's remarks and "of course I knew that his remarks would be controversial, perhaps even offensive to some. I also knew that some people in our audience would agree with him. I also thought to myself, 'This is "Free Speech." We don't tell people what to say or what to think.' . . . I decided to run the segment."
Some online critics denounced CBS. A blogger at Dymaxion World wrote: "Grief makes people do, and say, stupid . . . things. But CBS is not grieving for anyone. What made them put this man on national television?"
Many detractors wrote to CBS's Web site. One called Rohrbough's remarks "the biggest load of hogwash I have ever witnessed. How could you use an unspeakable tragedy to give a rightwing flat earth nut job a podium?"
But a mother of three wrote to praise CBS's "courage," saying: "I'm sure that you will receive many e-mails denouncing your segment, but I appreciate hearing a 'conservative' view in what can be a very liberal media."
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
Colorado Right to Life
Accepts Planned Parenthood's Invitation to Fight
The Rocky Mountain News (Oct. 5, 2006, p. 10D) quoted Cecile Richards, national president of Planned Parenthood, saying, "I've never backed down from a fight, and I'll be damned if Bush, Alito, and Colorado Right to Life are going to take away a woman's right to choose."
"We accept the fight," said Columbine dad Brian Rohrbough who was elected to the board of Colorado Right to Life in September. "A web search shows that Richards, the president of the largest child-killing business in America, commonly uses the phrase, 'I'll be damned,' and unless she repents, she’s right on that."
"Abortion is always wrong," added Rohrbough, "and Colorado Right to Life is not out for waiting periods, or parental consent, we’re out to stop the killing of unborn children."
Contact: Leslie Hanks, Vice President, Colorado Right to Life, 303 753-9394
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Leslie Hanks
October 4, 2006 720-394-8946
SUSAN G. KOMEN FOUNDATION SEEKS DIALOGUE WITH
COLORADO RIGHT TO LIFE
One week before the Denver Race for the Cure, Susan G. Komen Foundation race officials met with several directors of Colorado Right to Life
on September 29, 2006.
Colorado Right to Life officials agreed to the unexpected invitation scheduled the day before their annual Light on Life Banquet, featuring Medical Research Analyst
Eve Sanchez Silver.
Ms Silver is Executive Director of Clear Research and a former charter member of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation’s National Hispanic Latina Advisory Council. Ms Silver resigned from Susan G. Komen after learning that the Komen Foundation has a record of funding Planned Parenthood. Ms Sanchez-Silver noted in her presentation that Planned Parenthood targets people of color by placing their abortion clinics in minority neighborhoods.
Komen race officials met with Ms Sanchez Silver, Dr. Joel Brind, PhD of Baruch College, NY, via conference call, Leslie Hanks, V.P Colorado Right to Life,
Colorado Right to Life director, Phillip Hendrix and Jo Scott.
Dr. Brind is President of the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute: www.bcpinstitute.org. and is considered the world’s foremost expert on the abortion breast cancer link. Dr. Brind decried the notion of funding Planned Parenthood, because abortion and dispensing steroidal agents for birth control are the two greatest contributors to the breast cancer epidemic, which has risen 40% since the Roe v Wade decision. Dr. Brind has stated that Planned Parenthood operates the “largest chain of human slaughterhouses in the nation.”
"SGK officials did not appear to have knowledge of simple breast facts and were more concerned about assisting women after they had contracted breast cancer, than informing them to avoid breast cancer risk by avoiding abortions and having early, full term pregnancy with breast feeding. This is an appalling lack of concern for the women The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is supposed to be helping," said Silver.
Colorado Right to Life was grateful for the opportunity for “dialogue,” and to discuss information regarding the physiological pathway of breast cancer with SGK officials. Eve Silver explained that the breast is an organ that is not mature at birth. SGK appeared to be surprised to learn that the breast does not become fully mature until after 32 weeks of pregnancy, so that interruption of pregnancy before 32 weeks, leaves breast cells exposed to estrogen, which is highly carcinogenic. (http://stopabortionbreastcancer.org).
It is the fervent hope of Colorado Right to Life that the Susan G. Komen Foundation will take the information that Eve Silver, Dr. Brind and CRL shared, to the women who need to know. Women must be told the truth about the abc link, in order to protect themselves from this deadly disease. www.abortionbreastcancer.com
Race for the Cure funds abortion service
By Mary Shepherd, Davenport
My mother, a Rock Island native, died of breast cancer June 10, 1977. She was 42, the age I am now. I intended to sign up for the Quad-Cities Race for the Cure in her memory, which falls on the 29th anniversary of her death. Then I discovered its link to Planned Parenthood.
In honor of Mom, I am writing this letter. Mom was very vocal about her beliefs. She would call radio talk shows and write her Congressmen. She was critical of charities that abused money entrusted to them and would be appalled that the Susan G. Komen Foundation provides grants locally and nationally to Planned Parenthood.
Locally, money from the Race was given to Planned Parenthood in 2004 for Muscatine residents. For 2005 and 2006, they played a shell game. Planned Parenthood wrote grant requests for Louisa County Health, which then passed the funds to Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood makes money by persuading people to kill their unborn children. It does not educate their victims on the lifelong physical and emotional repercussions of their decision.
The Susan G. Komen Foundation alleges funds are to be used for screening, not abortion services (another shell game), and it tries to discredit studies that show a link between abortion and breast cancer.
If you have any doubt about the relationship between the foundation and Planned Parenthood, I encourage you to research it on the Web.
Mary Shepherd
Davenport
By Mary Shepherd, Davenport
My mother, a Rock Island native, died of breast cancer June 10, 1977. She was 42, the age I am now. I intended to sign up for the Quad-Cities Race for the Cure in her memory, which falls on the 29th anniversary of her death. Then I discovered its link to Planned Parenthood.
In honor of Mom, I am writing this letter. Mom was very vocal about her beliefs. She would call radio talk shows and write her Congressmen. She was critical of charities that abused money entrusted to them and would be appalled that the Susan G. Komen Foundation provides grants locally and nationally to Planned Parenthood.
Locally, money from the Race was given to Planned Parenthood in 2004 for Muscatine residents. For 2005 and 2006, they played a shell game. Planned Parenthood wrote grant requests for Louisa County Health, which then passed the funds to Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood makes money by persuading people to kill their unborn children. It does not educate their victims on the lifelong physical and emotional repercussions of their decision.
The Susan G. Komen Foundation alleges funds are to be used for screening, not abortion services (another shell game), and it tries to discredit studies that show a link between abortion and breast cancer.
If you have any doubt about the relationship between the foundation and Planned Parenthood, I encourage you to research it on the Web.
Mary Shepherd
Davenport
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
HELP SAVE EMMIE-ROSE!! Futile Care Alert Michigan
***This is a story about a baby born at 23 weeks***
Today Emmie-Rose’s Hospital has hit a major blow against us.
I believe some of the staff believe we are not providing the correct care for her and had us meet with the “Ethics” committee.
At most hospitals the Ethics committee is usually made up of staff, social workers, clergy, and parents of other children.
We had a room full of the staff, 1 surgeon, 2 social workers, and Stephanie and I. Let’s just stack all the cards against us. After wasting 2 hours going over the issues, it is their Ethical recommendation to not continue life saving treatments to our baby! This includes vent support which she has been on since day one. Why don’t you just turn the knife back and fourth after you stick it in our hearts! According to the committee we as parents of our child can not tell the U of M Doctors how to provide care to our child. They reserve the right to discontiune support when they feel like it.
They have not fed Emmie-Rose since 9/3/2006!
She had physical therapy this morning with NO problems. They moved her all over, pulled her legs in and out… no changes in facial expressions, no changes in heart rate etc. SHE WAS FINE!
I spoke with some other doctors tonight at some different hospitals that seem more willing to be able to work with her condition but they want to wait until Monday to see how she is doing before agreeing to a transfer.
I probably can not get a restraining order until Monday as well to keep the U from pulling the plug on her without our consent and give her food.
(Excerpt) Read more at 23weeks.blogspot.com ...
***This is a story about a baby born at 23 weeks***
Today Emmie-Rose’s Hospital has hit a major blow against us.
I believe some of the staff believe we are not providing the correct care for her and had us meet with the “Ethics” committee.
At most hospitals the Ethics committee is usually made up of staff, social workers, clergy, and parents of other children.
We had a room full of the staff, 1 surgeon, 2 social workers, and Stephanie and I. Let’s just stack all the cards against us. After wasting 2 hours going over the issues, it is their Ethical recommendation to not continue life saving treatments to our baby! This includes vent support which she has been on since day one. Why don’t you just turn the knife back and fourth after you stick it in our hearts! According to the committee we as parents of our child can not tell the U of M Doctors how to provide care to our child. They reserve the right to discontiune support when they feel like it.
They have not fed Emmie-Rose since 9/3/2006!
She had physical therapy this morning with NO problems. They moved her all over, pulled her legs in and out… no changes in facial expressions, no changes in heart rate etc. SHE WAS FINE!
I spoke with some other doctors tonight at some different hospitals that seem more willing to be able to work with her condition but they want to wait until Monday to see how she is doing before agreeing to a transfer.
I probably can not get a restraining order until Monday as well to keep the U from pulling the plug on her without our consent and give her food.
(Excerpt) Read more at 23weeks.blogspot.com ...
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
DIFFERING POINTS OF VIEW?
Should we expect SILENT NO MORE
to be regular guests?
Greenstone launches all-women radio talk network
Tue Sep 12, 2006 6:00 PM ET
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Greenstone Media, a radio company whose founders include social activist Gloria Steinem and actress Jane Fonda, has launched an all-women, all-talk network across the United States.
Steinem said the network, which is run by women, aims to provide an alternative to current radio talk, which she describes as "very argumentative, quite hostile, and very much male-dominated."
This network "has a different spirit. It has more community. It's more about information, about humor, about respect for different points of view and not constant arguing," Steinem told Reuters in an interview.
But Greenstone also hopes to attract male listeners.
"We do have male voices on the network. It's much better to have a mixture of voices," said Susan Ness, chief executive officer of Greenstone, which got its name from a children's book by Alice Walker, author of "The Color Purple".
The network's broadcasts have aired since July in selected stations, such as on WIIN in Jackson, Mississippi, WXCT in Hartford, Connecticut, a station in Flint, Michigan, and is launching a broadcast in Albany, New York. It is trying to partner with some satellite radio outfits.
"We expect that people will be able to also get us on mobile phones, cable radio, I-pods and every distribution vehicle," said Ness.
Steinem pointed out that the idea of an all-women network stemmed from a company survey showing an 18 percent decrease in female listeners over the past seven years.
"Women are really fleeing from AM talk radio and now FM music because people get their music in different ways. So there's an enormous window of opportunity, and we're diving in," she said.
Currently, the network does nine hours of programming daily, which should increase shortly to 12.
© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Close This Window
Should we expect SILENT NO MORE
to be regular guests?
Greenstone launches all-women radio talk network
Tue Sep 12, 2006 6:00 PM ET
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Greenstone Media, a radio company whose founders include social activist Gloria Steinem and actress Jane Fonda, has launched an all-women, all-talk network across the United States.
Steinem said the network, which is run by women, aims to provide an alternative to current radio talk, which she describes as "very argumentative, quite hostile, and very much male-dominated."
This network "has a different spirit. It has more community. It's more about information, about humor, about respect for different points of view and not constant arguing," Steinem told Reuters in an interview.
But Greenstone also hopes to attract male listeners.
"We do have male voices on the network. It's much better to have a mixture of voices," said Susan Ness, chief executive officer of Greenstone, which got its name from a children's book by Alice Walker, author of "The Color Purple".
The network's broadcasts have aired since July in selected stations, such as on WIIN in Jackson, Mississippi, WXCT in Hartford, Connecticut, a station in Flint, Michigan, and is launching a broadcast in Albany, New York. It is trying to partner with some satellite radio outfits.
"We expect that people will be able to also get us on mobile phones, cable radio, I-pods and every distribution vehicle," said Ness.
Steinem pointed out that the idea of an all-women network stemmed from a company survey showing an 18 percent decrease in female listeners over the past seven years.
"Women are really fleeing from AM talk radio and now FM music because people get their music in different ways. So there's an enormous window of opportunity, and we're diving in," she said.
Currently, the network does nine hours of programming daily, which should increase shortly to 12.
© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Close This Window
TRULY TWISTED LOGIC!
Cervical Cancer Shot May Be Standard In 6th Grade
POSTED: 5:20 pm EDT September 12, 2006
A bipartisan group of Michigan lawmakers wants all sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated against cervical cancer.
A Republican state senator who is the lead sponsor said it's the first legislation of its kind in the U.S.
The vaccine was approved by federal regulators this summer and hailed as a breakthrough in cancer prevention. The shots prevent infections from strains of a sexually transmitted virus -- human papilloma virus, or HPV -- that can cause cervical cancer and genital warts.
At the time, conservatives expressed concern that schools would require the vaccine for enrollment. They argue that such mandates infringe on parents' rights and send a message that underage sex is OK.
If approved, the measure would go into effect for the next school year.
The vaccine was approved for females between ages 9 and 26. In studies, it was credited with preventing disease from the two types of HPV that are responsible for approximately 70 percent of all cervical cancers, according to Detroit television station WDIV.
The legislator who proposed the requirement noted that, as with all other school-required vaccines, parents may opt out of this requirement for medical, religious or philosophical reasons.
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
TheIndyChannel.com
Cervical Cancer Shot May Be Standard In 6th Grade
POSTED: 5:20 pm EDT September 12, 2006
A bipartisan group of Michigan lawmakers wants all sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated against cervical cancer.
A Republican state senator who is the lead sponsor said it's the first legislation of its kind in the U.S.
The vaccine was approved by federal regulators this summer and hailed as a breakthrough in cancer prevention. The shots prevent infections from strains of a sexually transmitted virus -- human papilloma virus, or HPV -- that can cause cervical cancer and genital warts.
At the time, conservatives expressed concern that schools would require the vaccine for enrollment. They argue that such mandates infringe on parents' rights and send a message that underage sex is OK.
If approved, the measure would go into effect for the next school year.
The vaccine was approved for females between ages 9 and 26. In studies, it was credited with preventing disease from the two types of HPV that are responsible for approximately 70 percent of all cervical cancers, according to Detroit television station WDIV.
The legislator who proposed the requirement noted that, as with all other school-required vaccines, parents may opt out of this requirement for medical, religious or philosophical reasons.
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
TheIndyChannel.com
Thursday, August 31, 2006
BEAUPREZ' BOLD STROKE
Exposing Planned Parenthood's
Dirty Little Secret!
Exposing Planned Parenthood's
Dirty Little Secret!
Editor,
Bob Beauprez' apology for claiming that 70% of black babies
are victims of abortion is tragic. His bold claim seemed unbelievable and
yes he was off by about 10%. Nonetheless, he courageously brought public
attention to the dirty little secret that has for far too long been below the radar.
According to blackgenocide.org, while, regrettably, there were
3,446 blacks lynched between 1882 and 1968, that
staggering figure is repeated every 3 days in our nation by abortion.
Blacks make up 12% of the population but have 35% of the abortions.
3 of every 5 or 1,452 black babies die each day in America in accord with
the plans of Planned Parenthood's founder, Margaret Sanger. In her "Negro
Project" Sanger wrote, "We do not want the word to go out that we want to
exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can
straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious
members."
Since 1973, more than 13 million innocent black babies have been
destroyed and their mothers victimized by the abortion industry,
which makes millions killing pre-born babies.
Congressman Beauprez ought to be praised by the
African American community in Colorado for raising
an issue worthy of alarm. Rather than chastising him, Rep. Marshall ought
to encourage her constituents to vote for him.
His genuine concern for all pre-born infants, regardless of color,
is praiseworthy in a candidate running for Governor of Colorado.
Leslie Hanks
V.P. Colorado Right to Life
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
IN DEFENSE OF CONGRESSWOMAN MARILYN MUSGRAVE
To the Greeley Tribune
Re: Musgrave is shameful
by lesforlife on Tuesday, August 22 @ 06:29:38 PDT
Murdering innocent life is never a "private family matter,"
in the court of Almighty God.
Congresswoman Musgrave, properly understands Thomas Jefferson's imprecation, "The care of human life, and happiness and not their destruction is the chief and only object of good government."
What is dignified about being starved to the point of
looking like a holocaust victim prior to expiring from forced dehydration?
Marilyn Musgrave's constituents should be proud of her defense of Terri Schindler. The disabled in the 4th congressional district have a friend and champion in Washington, D.C..
Leslie Hanks
V.P. Colorado Right to Life
To the Greeley Tribune
Re: Musgrave is shameful
by lesforlife on Tuesday, August 22 @ 06:29:38 PDT
Murdering innocent life is never a "private family matter,"
in the court of Almighty God.
Congresswoman Musgrave, properly understands Thomas Jefferson's imprecation, "The care of human life, and happiness and not their destruction is the chief and only object of good government."
What is dignified about being starved to the point of
looking like a holocaust victim prior to expiring from forced dehydration?
Marilyn Musgrave's constituents should be proud of her defense of Terri Schindler. The disabled in the 4th congressional district have a friend and champion in Washington, D.C..
Leslie Hanks
V.P. Colorado Right to Life
Sunday, August 13, 2006
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD
Nice contrast with Dylan's story
To have and to hold
By Mary Delach Leonard
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Saturday, Aug. 12 2006
Jeremiah Brower Cross will be held today — all day and all night — just as he
is every day and every night.
He will be pampered and patted and kissed.
"Isn’t he handsome?" his mom, Suzan Cross, will ask, as she runs her fingers
through the thick, dark curls atop his misshapen little head.
Jeremiah’s brain is severely damaged. He can’t see or talk, sit, walk or hold
his head up. He has cerebral palsy and seizures. And, though he will soon be 6
years old, he is the size of a toddler — just 3 feet in length and 31 pounds.
When Jeremiah was unhooked from life support machines six weeks after his
birth, doctors at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center feared that he would soon
die.
But Suzan and Sandy Cross, who would later serve as Jeremiah’s foster parents,
were not swayed.
"We told the hospital, ‘Let us take him home, and we will hold him until he
passes,’ " Sandy Cross says.
"And we’ve been holding him for five years."
‘Everyone deserves a good life’
Jeremiah Brower Cross has lived his life in his family’s arms.
No matter the hour. No matter what else is going on in their lives, or outside
their red brick house in the city’s Gravois Park neighborhood. Someone will be
holding Jeremiah. Supporting his head so he can breathe. Feeding him
strawberry-flavored milk. Changing his diaper.
Suzan and Sandy Cross’ children are grown now, but they have always helped
their parents care for Jeremiah. April, 21, has a knack for feeding him, her
mother says, while Melissa, 19, can coax him to sleep and Greg, 18, and
Matthew, 23, will play with him.
During the daylight hours, Suzan Cross, 45, is his primary caregiver, and she
sleeps just a few hours each night. She is also Jeremiah’s most vocal
advocate.
"I’ve been in this house for 5 1/2 years; I have issues," she will say, with a
laugh. But the tone in her voice isn’t kidding.
Jeremiah is not on life support, and he takes no medicine regularly. He gets
breathing treatments twice a day, and physical and occupational therapy once a
week.
Jeremiah’s heart is weak, and his health always critical. If he catches a cold,
for example, his fever can easily spike to 105 degrees and beyond, and then it’
s off to the emergency room — again.
Even on his best day, Jeremiah requires constant care. He whimpers when he is
uncomfortable, and will cry if he is in pain. He also coos and opens his mouth
for kisses. He likes big, loud smackers right on his mouth — the kind his mom
gives him all day long.
"I love him so much," Suzan Cross will say, and Jeremiah gets another kiss, as
she cradles him on her lap.
Jeremiah sucks his tongue when he sleeps, and he sticks it out when he is
hungry, his mother says. She flavors his PediaSure with Nesquik and feeds him
with a baby bottle. He can suck but he can’t swallow, so she pats his back to
help the formula get down to his stomach. She also pats him to keep his heart
going. And to fend off pneumonia. Cross is convinced that her patting helps
keep Jeremiah alive.
"Everyone deserves a good life," she will say.
That is why she warms Jeremiah’s baby wipes in the microwave and wraps him in
soft-to-the-touch blankets. She also buys toys that make noise because she is
convinced that he can hear.
At times, she looks deep into his clear, blue eyes, fringed with thick lashes —
"angel eyes," his father calls them — and wonders about his profoundly damaged
brain.
"There has to be something there because he knows who we are," she insists.
In the morning, she shoos everyone away while she cuddles with Jeremiah during
"The Jerry Springer Show." It is their special time together, she says, because
that is his favorite TV program.
Sometimes, Jeremiah will nap in the arms of one of his sisters or get a gentle
tossing from one of his big brothers.
When Sandy Cross comes home from work, Jeremiah is all his.
He cradles Jeremiah in his arm and sings a made-up song that drives everyone
else in the house a little nuts: "Booster, baker, candlestick maker ...
Booster, booster, booster ..."
Jeremiah takes his baths with his daddy, who turns them into play and therapy
sessions in the tub.
"Booster, baker, candlestick maker ... Booster, booster, booster ..."
Cross, 51, is a postal carrier. He has a walking route in St. Ann, and it is a
physically exhausting job, particularly when the weather is extremely hot or
cold. But no matter how tired he is, the first thing he does when he gets home
is scoop Jeremiah into his arms.
"I just come home from work and hold him and look at his face," Cross says.
When Cross retires, he has a plan: All he wants to do is hold Jeremiah.
‘I don’t know why’
No one really understands what happened to Jeremiah’s brain on Aug. 27, 2000,
the day he was born, the Crosses say.
Doctors say he has a functioning brain stem, which controls his breathing and
heart, but the rest of the brain isn’t there.
Jeremiah’s birth mother, Nina Brower, was 18, single and not prepared to care
for a critically ill baby. She says she was frightened to see his tiny body
amid all the machines supporting his fragile life.
"It’s hard enough to be pregnant at 17," Brower said. "I didn’t know how to
change a diaper, much less how to feed him through a feeding tube."
Brower is not related to the Crosses. They knew her because she once worked at
the same skating rink as their son Matthew. Suzan Cross took Nina under her
wing when she became pregnant, and when the Crosses saw Jeremiah, it was love
at first sight.
"I just loved him," Suzan says. "I don’t know why."
The Crosses were determined to help Jeremiah have the best life he could. They
helped Nina obtain his release from the hospital, and they offered to help care
for the critically ill child who was so tiny they bought his clothes at the
Build-A-Bear Workshop store.
For a while, Brower lived with the Crosses. She eventually decided to give her
parental rights to the couple.
Brower, now 24, has a 4-year-old son who was born healthy and normal. She says
she is grateful for all that the Crosses have done for Jeremiah.
"I love Jeremiah, but I don’t feel like I’m his mother. It feels more like I’m
his sister," she says. "They love him just like their own."
Suzan Cross says this about Nina’s decision: "She loved Jeremiah enough to give
him to us."
‘We love him enough to let him go’
Sometimes, Jeremiah’s health-care providers use the word "miracle" when they
talk about him. The miracle is not that he can be cured, they say, but that he
has lived as long as he has.
Yvonne Meyer, a pediatric nurse who was Jeremiah’s first home health nurse,
says that her job initially was to help prepare the family for the infant’s
death, shortly after the Crosses took him home in 2000.
"Basically, he wasn’t supposed to live until Christmas," Meyer said. "And now
he’s going to be 6 in a few weeks."
She admires the Crosses for how well they have cared for Jeremiah.
"His skin has been baby soft since the day he was born," Meyer said. "They went
with their instincts, and they went with their common sense. He was pretty much
held 24-7, and he is still held 24-7."
Jessi Behrends, an occupational therapist with Good Shepherd Pediatric Therapy
Services, makes home visits to work with Jeremiah once a week, and she has
gotten to know the family well.
"The family loves him so much. I know he’s alive because of them," Behrends
said.
She has had Jeremiah as a patient since he was 3, and his condition is not
easily explained, she said.
Jeremiah’s doctors at St. John’s declined to be interviewed for this story.
According to the medical records provided to Jeremiah’s therapists, his doctors
have diagnosed Jeremiah with microcephaly, a condition that results in a small
circumference of the head, either because his brain stopped growing or because
it didn’t develop in utero.
Technically, Jeremiah has only a brain stem. He also has cerebral palsy, which
permanently impairs his movement and posture. He has been diagnosed with a
seizure disorder. He is legally blind. And he has no sleep-wake cycle, which
explains why someone is always awake in the Cross household.
"His condition is so rare," Behrends says. "He has lived so long without a
brain. He doesn’t have the neurological functions to live, and yet he’s
living."
Behrends says that science can’t always explain what she observes when she is
working with Jeremiah, such as the change in his demeanor when he doesn’t want
his legs stretched, or the lightening of his mood when she hands him back to
his mother.
The Crosses have been told repeatedly that Jeremiah could die any day.
For that reason, Sandy and Suzan never leave him with anyone, not even their
children, for long periods of time.
Should Jeremiah die today, they want him to die in their arms, Suzan says. That
way, no one will feel as though they did something wrong.
While the Crosses insist on doing everything they can to make Jeremiah’s life
comfortable, they say they will draw the line at life-support machines.
"When the time comes, we are just going to hold him and let him go," Suzan
Cross says. "We love him enough to let him go."
Goodbye for now
Every time Jeremiah undergoes a medical procedure, the family gathers to say
their final goodbyes.
Such was the case May 23, when Jeremiah had surgery at St. John’s to implant a
feeding tube in his stomach. Though Suzan Cross had misgivings about the tube —
she insists on feeding him by bottle — she acknowledged that the tube will make
it easier to give Jeremiah medication when he needs it.
The surgery required Jeremiah to be put under anesthesia, and the Crosses were
fearful because his heart is so weak.
Dr. Niyati Winn, the anesthesiologist, talked to the Crosses just before
surgery, emphasizing that this was a dangerous procedure and that Jeremiah
could die.
When it was time to take him to the operating room, Winn did the kindest thing
any doctor could have done for the Crosses at that moment: She gently picked up
Jeremiah and carried him down the hallway in her arms.
mleonard@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8260
Nice contrast with Dylan's story
To have and to hold
By Mary Delach Leonard
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Saturday, Aug. 12 2006
Jeremiah Brower Cross will be held today — all day and all night — just as he
is every day and every night.
He will be pampered and patted and kissed.
"Isn’t he handsome?" his mom, Suzan Cross, will ask, as she runs her fingers
through the thick, dark curls atop his misshapen little head.
Jeremiah’s brain is severely damaged. He can’t see or talk, sit, walk or hold
his head up. He has cerebral palsy and seizures. And, though he will soon be 6
years old, he is the size of a toddler — just 3 feet in length and 31 pounds.
When Jeremiah was unhooked from life support machines six weeks after his
birth, doctors at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center feared that he would soon
die.
But Suzan and Sandy Cross, who would later serve as Jeremiah’s foster parents,
were not swayed.
"We told the hospital, ‘Let us take him home, and we will hold him until he
passes,’ " Sandy Cross says.
"And we’ve been holding him for five years."
‘Everyone deserves a good life’
Jeremiah Brower Cross has lived his life in his family’s arms.
No matter the hour. No matter what else is going on in their lives, or outside
their red brick house in the city’s Gravois Park neighborhood. Someone will be
holding Jeremiah. Supporting his head so he can breathe. Feeding him
strawberry-flavored milk. Changing his diaper.
Suzan and Sandy Cross’ children are grown now, but they have always helped
their parents care for Jeremiah. April, 21, has a knack for feeding him, her
mother says, while Melissa, 19, can coax him to sleep and Greg, 18, and
Matthew, 23, will play with him.
During the daylight hours, Suzan Cross, 45, is his primary caregiver, and she
sleeps just a few hours each night. She is also Jeremiah’s most vocal
advocate.
"I’ve been in this house for 5 1/2 years; I have issues," she will say, with a
laugh. But the tone in her voice isn’t kidding.
Jeremiah is not on life support, and he takes no medicine regularly. He gets
breathing treatments twice a day, and physical and occupational therapy once a
week.
Jeremiah’s heart is weak, and his health always critical. If he catches a cold,
for example, his fever can easily spike to 105 degrees and beyond, and then it’
s off to the emergency room — again.
Even on his best day, Jeremiah requires constant care. He whimpers when he is
uncomfortable, and will cry if he is in pain. He also coos and opens his mouth
for kisses. He likes big, loud smackers right on his mouth — the kind his mom
gives him all day long.
"I love him so much," Suzan Cross will say, and Jeremiah gets another kiss, as
she cradles him on her lap.
Jeremiah sucks his tongue when he sleeps, and he sticks it out when he is
hungry, his mother says. She flavors his PediaSure with Nesquik and feeds him
with a baby bottle. He can suck but he can’t swallow, so she pats his back to
help the formula get down to his stomach. She also pats him to keep his heart
going. And to fend off pneumonia. Cross is convinced that her patting helps
keep Jeremiah alive.
"Everyone deserves a good life," she will say.
That is why she warms Jeremiah’s baby wipes in the microwave and wraps him in
soft-to-the-touch blankets. She also buys toys that make noise because she is
convinced that he can hear.
At times, she looks deep into his clear, blue eyes, fringed with thick lashes —
"angel eyes," his father calls them — and wonders about his profoundly damaged
brain.
"There has to be something there because he knows who we are," she insists.
In the morning, she shoos everyone away while she cuddles with Jeremiah during
"The Jerry Springer Show." It is their special time together, she says, because
that is his favorite TV program.
Sometimes, Jeremiah will nap in the arms of one of his sisters or get a gentle
tossing from one of his big brothers.
When Sandy Cross comes home from work, Jeremiah is all his.
He cradles Jeremiah in his arm and sings a made-up song that drives everyone
else in the house a little nuts: "Booster, baker, candlestick maker ...
Booster, booster, booster ..."
Jeremiah takes his baths with his daddy, who turns them into play and therapy
sessions in the tub.
"Booster, baker, candlestick maker ... Booster, booster, booster ..."
Cross, 51, is a postal carrier. He has a walking route in St. Ann, and it is a
physically exhausting job, particularly when the weather is extremely hot or
cold. But no matter how tired he is, the first thing he does when he gets home
is scoop Jeremiah into his arms.
"I just come home from work and hold him and look at his face," Cross says.
When Cross retires, he has a plan: All he wants to do is hold Jeremiah.
‘I don’t know why’
No one really understands what happened to Jeremiah’s brain on Aug. 27, 2000,
the day he was born, the Crosses say.
Doctors say he has a functioning brain stem, which controls his breathing and
heart, but the rest of the brain isn’t there.
Jeremiah’s birth mother, Nina Brower, was 18, single and not prepared to care
for a critically ill baby. She says she was frightened to see his tiny body
amid all the machines supporting his fragile life.
"It’s hard enough to be pregnant at 17," Brower said. "I didn’t know how to
change a diaper, much less how to feed him through a feeding tube."
Brower is not related to the Crosses. They knew her because she once worked at
the same skating rink as their son Matthew. Suzan Cross took Nina under her
wing when she became pregnant, and when the Crosses saw Jeremiah, it was love
at first sight.
"I just loved him," Suzan says. "I don’t know why."
The Crosses were determined to help Jeremiah have the best life he could. They
helped Nina obtain his release from the hospital, and they offered to help care
for the critically ill child who was so tiny they bought his clothes at the
Build-A-Bear Workshop store.
For a while, Brower lived with the Crosses. She eventually decided to give her
parental rights to the couple.
Brower, now 24, has a 4-year-old son who was born healthy and normal. She says
she is grateful for all that the Crosses have done for Jeremiah.
"I love Jeremiah, but I don’t feel like I’m his mother. It feels more like I’m
his sister," she says. "They love him just like their own."
Suzan Cross says this about Nina’s decision: "She loved Jeremiah enough to give
him to us."
‘We love him enough to let him go’
Sometimes, Jeremiah’s health-care providers use the word "miracle" when they
talk about him. The miracle is not that he can be cured, they say, but that he
has lived as long as he has.
Yvonne Meyer, a pediatric nurse who was Jeremiah’s first home health nurse,
says that her job initially was to help prepare the family for the infant’s
death, shortly after the Crosses took him home in 2000.
"Basically, he wasn’t supposed to live until Christmas," Meyer said. "And now
he’s going to be 6 in a few weeks."
She admires the Crosses for how well they have cared for Jeremiah.
"His skin has been baby soft since the day he was born," Meyer said. "They went
with their instincts, and they went with their common sense. He was pretty much
held 24-7, and he is still held 24-7."
Jessi Behrends, an occupational therapist with Good Shepherd Pediatric Therapy
Services, makes home visits to work with Jeremiah once a week, and she has
gotten to know the family well.
"The family loves him so much. I know he’s alive because of them," Behrends
said.
She has had Jeremiah as a patient since he was 3, and his condition is not
easily explained, she said.
Jeremiah’s doctors at St. John’s declined to be interviewed for this story.
According to the medical records provided to Jeremiah’s therapists, his doctors
have diagnosed Jeremiah with microcephaly, a condition that results in a small
circumference of the head, either because his brain stopped growing or because
it didn’t develop in utero.
Technically, Jeremiah has only a brain stem. He also has cerebral palsy, which
permanently impairs his movement and posture. He has been diagnosed with a
seizure disorder. He is legally blind. And he has no sleep-wake cycle, which
explains why someone is always awake in the Cross household.
"His condition is so rare," Behrends says. "He has lived so long without a
brain. He doesn’t have the neurological functions to live, and yet he’s
living."
Behrends says that science can’t always explain what she observes when she is
working with Jeremiah, such as the change in his demeanor when he doesn’t want
his legs stretched, or the lightening of his mood when she hands him back to
his mother.
The Crosses have been told repeatedly that Jeremiah could die any day.
For that reason, Sandy and Suzan never leave him with anyone, not even their
children, for long periods of time.
Should Jeremiah die today, they want him to die in their arms, Suzan says. That
way, no one will feel as though they did something wrong.
While the Crosses insist on doing everything they can to make Jeremiah’s life
comfortable, they say they will draw the line at life-support machines.
"When the time comes, we are just going to hold him and let him go," Suzan
Cross says. "We love him enough to let him go."
Goodbye for now
Every time Jeremiah undergoes a medical procedure, the family gathers to say
their final goodbyes.
Such was the case May 23, when Jeremiah had surgery at St. John’s to implant a
feeding tube in his stomach. Though Suzan Cross had misgivings about the tube —
she insists on feeding him by bottle — she acknowledged that the tube will make
it easier to give Jeremiah medication when he needs it.
The surgery required Jeremiah to be put under anesthesia, and the Crosses were
fearful because his heart is so weak.
Dr. Niyati Winn, the anesthesiologist, talked to the Crosses just before
surgery, emphasizing that this was a dangerous procedure and that Jeremiah
could die.
When it was time to take him to the operating room, Winn did the kindest thing
any doctor could have done for the Crosses at that moment: She gently picked up
Jeremiah and carried him down the hallway in her arms.
mleonard@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8260
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
ANOTHER DEHYDRATED TO DEATH!!
LifeSiteNews.com
Tuesday August 8, 2006
Doctors Dehydrated My Husband To Death: U.K. Widow
By John Jalsevac
NORFOLK, U.K., August 8, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – At the same time that the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is being investigated for allegedly starving and dehydrating a woman to death in 2003, the wife of a former patient treated on the same ward is calling for another investigation into the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of her husband.
Kate Speed claims that although her husband’s death certificate states that he died from pneumonia, that in fact he died because of a hospital-ordered dehydration, an ultimately fatal measure that neither she nor her husband approved.
“The whole of my husband’s stay in hospital was a nightmare,” Kate Speed said, according to the Times Online. “They put bronchopneumonia on the death certificate, but I believe his death was from the effects of dehydration.”
The hospital’s Kimberly ward is already under investigation by Norwich coroner William Armstrong after the death a Mrs. Olive Nockels who died at the hospital in 2003 and whose family alleges that she was dehydrated to death. According to the Times Online, physician David Maisley testified last month at the inquest into Mrs. Nockel’s death that he witnessed people die of dehydration at the hospital “all the time—two or three times a week.”
Olive Nockel’s grandson, Chris West, testified at the inquest that, “I said I wouldn’t treat my dog like that and [Dr Maisey] said it was easier for vets because they had alternative means and can ‘put animals to sleep’.”
Harold Speed, a grandfather of four and former music teacher, was admitted to the hospital in October of 2004 after suffering a heart attack. Shortly thereafter a “nil by mouth” order was instituted. This order was lifted once, after complaints by Mrs. Speed, only to be reversed once again at a later date.
Speed’s wife relates: “I saw my husband deteriorate and I have no understanding of how this was allowed to happen. I questioned hospital staff but they told me an intravenous drip would have been too painful,” she said.
“I saw my husband the day before he died. He had not been physically examined that day; his records showed he was last seen 24 hours before he died.
“My husband had been in the hospital many times before and I have nothing but praise for staff there, but the ethos in Kimberly ward is terrible and I do not believe he died of natural causes.”
Mrs. Speed says that leading up to his death Harold Speed demonstrated all the classic signs of dehydration. "His eyes were dry, sore, flat and sunken. I tried to moisten his mouth...The doctor said he was very dry and picked up the flesh from his neck. It was like picking up a sheet. His veins were flat and there was an absence of mucous.”
“We trusted, and he trusted,” says Mrs. Speed, “that the hospital would treat him well, instead of which there was a catalogue of error and apathy that led to his death, unless of course, there had been a decision, which I had no share in, that his life should no longer be preserved.”
So far hospital officials and physicians have denied that Speed died on account of dehydration. Dr Iain Brooksby, medical director, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital denied Kate Speed’s accusations saying, “Clinical examination at the time and the objective evidence of blood tests demonstrated that the late Mr Speed was definitely not dehydrated at the time of his death in November 2004,” according to the Norwich Evening News 24.
“He was satisfactorily hydrated and was receiving fluids and antibiotics for a chest infection when he died. We have explained to Mrs Speed that there was no evidence that dehydration contributed to his death and he died of bronchopneumonia and vascular disease."
Mrs. Speed, however, has been offered fiscal compensation for her husband’s death, compensation which she declined fearing that if she accepted the money the hospital would use it as leverage to brush the issue aside. “They asked me for a figure but I was afraid it was tactical and that they would then not have to answer questions. Just pay, and I would never know the truth of what happened,” she said.
Cases similar to Harold Speed’s are cropping up with increasing frequency. Last week LifeSiteNews.com reported on the case of the father of Wall Street journalist Pamela Winnick. Winnick related that doctors continually pestered her and her family into quietly “letting” her father go. Her father recovered shortly thereafter.
Along the same lines, in June of this year a prominent British bioethicist was quoted as saying that it is time to “regulate” the already existing practice of “involuntary euthanasia”. Pro-life advocates have pointed out from the beginning that the term “involuntary euthanasia” is simply a medical euphemism for murder.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Doctors Kept Asking To "Let" My Father Die: Wall Street Journalist
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06072607.html
Non-Voluntary Euthanasia – Next Logical Step for Britain says Prominent Ethicist
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/06060905.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(c) Copyright: LifeSiteNews.com is a production of Interim Publishing. Permission to republish is granted (with limitation*) but acknowledgement of source is *REQUIRED* (use LifeSiteNews.com).
NEWS TIPS to lsn@lifesitenews.com or call 1-866-787-9947 or (416) 204-1687 ext. 444
Donate to LifeSiteNews.com at http://www.lifesite.net/contribute/
LifeSiteNews.com
Tuesday August 8, 2006
Doctors Dehydrated My Husband To Death: U.K. Widow
By John Jalsevac
NORFOLK, U.K., August 8, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – At the same time that the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is being investigated for allegedly starving and dehydrating a woman to death in 2003, the wife of a former patient treated on the same ward is calling for another investigation into the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of her husband.
Kate Speed claims that although her husband’s death certificate states that he died from pneumonia, that in fact he died because of a hospital-ordered dehydration, an ultimately fatal measure that neither she nor her husband approved.
“The whole of my husband’s stay in hospital was a nightmare,” Kate Speed said, according to the Times Online. “They put bronchopneumonia on the death certificate, but I believe his death was from the effects of dehydration.”
The hospital’s Kimberly ward is already under investigation by Norwich coroner William Armstrong after the death a Mrs. Olive Nockels who died at the hospital in 2003 and whose family alleges that she was dehydrated to death. According to the Times Online, physician David Maisley testified last month at the inquest into Mrs. Nockel’s death that he witnessed people die of dehydration at the hospital “all the time—two or three times a week.”
Olive Nockel’s grandson, Chris West, testified at the inquest that, “I said I wouldn’t treat my dog like that and [Dr Maisey] said it was easier for vets because they had alternative means and can ‘put animals to sleep’.”
Harold Speed, a grandfather of four and former music teacher, was admitted to the hospital in October of 2004 after suffering a heart attack. Shortly thereafter a “nil by mouth” order was instituted. This order was lifted once, after complaints by Mrs. Speed, only to be reversed once again at a later date.
Speed’s wife relates: “I saw my husband deteriorate and I have no understanding of how this was allowed to happen. I questioned hospital staff but they told me an intravenous drip would have been too painful,” she said.
“I saw my husband the day before he died. He had not been physically examined that day; his records showed he was last seen 24 hours before he died.
“My husband had been in the hospital many times before and I have nothing but praise for staff there, but the ethos in Kimberly ward is terrible and I do not believe he died of natural causes.”
Mrs. Speed says that leading up to his death Harold Speed demonstrated all the classic signs of dehydration. "His eyes were dry, sore, flat and sunken. I tried to moisten his mouth...The doctor said he was very dry and picked up the flesh from his neck. It was like picking up a sheet. His veins were flat and there was an absence of mucous.”
“We trusted, and he trusted,” says Mrs. Speed, “that the hospital would treat him well, instead of which there was a catalogue of error and apathy that led to his death, unless of course, there had been a decision, which I had no share in, that his life should no longer be preserved.”
So far hospital officials and physicians have denied that Speed died on account of dehydration. Dr Iain Brooksby, medical director, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital denied Kate Speed’s accusations saying, “Clinical examination at the time and the objective evidence of blood tests demonstrated that the late Mr Speed was definitely not dehydrated at the time of his death in November 2004,” according to the Norwich Evening News 24.
“He was satisfactorily hydrated and was receiving fluids and antibiotics for a chest infection when he died. We have explained to Mrs Speed that there was no evidence that dehydration contributed to his death and he died of bronchopneumonia and vascular disease."
Mrs. Speed, however, has been offered fiscal compensation for her husband’s death, compensation which she declined fearing that if she accepted the money the hospital would use it as leverage to brush the issue aside. “They asked me for a figure but I was afraid it was tactical and that they would then not have to answer questions. Just pay, and I would never know the truth of what happened,” she said.
Cases similar to Harold Speed’s are cropping up with increasing frequency. Last week LifeSiteNews.com reported on the case of the father of Wall Street journalist Pamela Winnick. Winnick related that doctors continually pestered her and her family into quietly “letting” her father go. Her father recovered shortly thereafter.
Along the same lines, in June of this year a prominent British bioethicist was quoted as saying that it is time to “regulate” the already existing practice of “involuntary euthanasia”. Pro-life advocates have pointed out from the beginning that the term “involuntary euthanasia” is simply a medical euphemism for murder.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Doctors Kept Asking To "Let" My Father Die: Wall Street Journalist
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06072607.html
Non-Voluntary Euthanasia – Next Logical Step for Britain says Prominent Ethicist
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/06060905.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(c) Copyright: LifeSiteNews.com is a production of Interim Publishing. Permission to republish is granted (with limitation*) but acknowledgement of source is *REQUIRED* (use LifeSiteNews.com).
NEWS TIPS to lsn@lifesitenews.com or call 1-866-787-9947 or (416) 204-1687 ext. 444
Donate to LifeSiteNews.com at http://www.lifesite.net/contribute/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
