Catholic Senators Decisive Factor in Denying Conscience Protection

 This news from The Catholic Key makes my blood boil: 
 

Bottom line: Both conscience protection and a ban of federal funding would have passed but for the Catholic Senators.
 

News came out earlier today, that the Senate Finance Committee led by Senator Max Baucus refused to accept an amendment proposed by Senator Orrin Hatch specifically excluding federal funding of abortion in that committee’s version of health care reform. The vote was 10-13 against the Hatch Amendment. All Democrats on the committee, except Kent Conrad, opposed the amendment. All Republicans, except Olympia Snowe, supported it.

There is nothing surprising about the vote. Far more disturbing was a later vote by the same margin denying conscience protection to doctors, health care facilities and hospitals which refuse to perform abortions. Thirteen Senators, including Catholics John Kerry, Maria Cantwell and Robert Menendez, voted against a second Hatch Amendment which would have protected Catholics and other conscientious objectors to abortion from discrimination by the Federal Government.

Here are the Senators who opposed both amendments (Catholics in red):

MAX BAUCUS
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER
JEFF BINGAMAN
JOHN F. KERRY
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE
RON WYDEN
CHARLES E. SCHUMER
DEBBIE STABENOW
MARIA CANTWELL
BILL NELSON
ROBERT MENENDEZ
THOMAS CARPER

Click here to read the entire story.

Stop Hyding! Abortion and Health Care Reform

Without authentic language to exclude abortion coverage from health care reform, the federal government will be promoting abortion on-demand.

Don't let the pro-abortion politicians get away with claiming the Hyde Amendment prevents this. It's time they Stop Hyding!



Susan B. Anthony List: Hyde Amendment:  Federal taxpayer dollars cannot be used to subsidize abortion on-demand

Hatch amendment fails; abortion funding is in bill

Despite our best efforts, the Senate Finance Committee today voted down the Hatch Amendment which would have prohibited abortion funding in the health care bill.

"This action leaves no doubt that the health care bill that will come to the Senate floor in a few weeks will contain provisions that would result in massive subsidies for abortion coverage," Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee said.

Johnson told LifeNews.com after the vote the battles to stop abortion funding are not over as "the full Senate will have to vote on the pro-abortion subsidies, and other pro-abortion components as well."

We must continue to oppose any version of this bill since innocent lives will be ended with our tax dollars.

Read the entire story at Life News.

Protecting Access for Poor Patients, CMA Physicians Support Conscience Provisions in Alternative Healthcare Bill

The 16,000-member Christian Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org), the nation's largest association of faith-based physicians, today voiced support for the conscience-protecting provisions in the "Empowering Patients First Act," a bill introduced by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA 6th). CMA contended that the protections are needed to avoid a potentially catastrophic loss of faith-based healthcare on which millions of poor patients depend.

In a letter sent to Rep. Price today regarding the bill (HR 3400), CMA CEO Dr. David Stevens noted, "The Christian Medical Association is very concerned that some in Congress and the White House appear to be pursuing a conscience-hostile approach to healthcare legislation, opposing amendment after amendment that would provide solid--not rhetorically deceptive--conscience protections.
"Lawmakers must realize that threatening or minimizing conscience protections holds the potential to create a catastrophic shortage of healthcare access, especially for poor patients. Our national polling (available online at www.Freedom2Care.org) reveals that 95 percent of faith-based physicians are prepared to leave medicine altogether rather than violate their conscientiously held ethical convictions."

Dr. Stevens wrote, "As you know, President Obama has announced plans to rescind the relatively new federal provider conscience regulation, which also provides for such a reporting mechanism. It is imperative, therefore, to enact legislation that protects conscience rights from the whims of any administration that might minimize the opportunity to address civil rights violations related to conscience."
Dr. Stevens thanked Rep. Price for recognizing the need for strong, true and broad conscience protections.

"The bill [Sec. 106 Part (d) of HR 3400] also provides a critical component of conscience protections. Many healthcare professionals encounter pressure to violate ethical codes on many issues besides abortion. HR 3400 addresses this reality by offering appropriately broad conscientious protection 'to accommodate the conscientious objection of a purchaser or an individual or institutional health care provider when a procedure is contrary to the religious beliefs or moral convictions of such purchaser or provider.'"

In his letter, Dr. Stevens also noted the benefit of designating the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a reporting outlet for healthcare professionals experiencing discrimination for their conscientious stance on ethical issues.

"Besides protecting any individual or institutional health care entity from discrimination 'on the basis that the health care entity does not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions,' the bill also provides the crucial implementation avenue needed to make such protection effective."

~ Via Christian Newswire.

Obamacare: The Perfect Way to Promote and Increase Abortion

"President Obama says he wants fewer abortions. Obamacare would lead to more because they would be federally funded. Rather than have the bill do the dirty work, he would have the Secretary in the regulatory process pull the abortion coverage trigger. Different approach, same result."

~ Wesley J. Smith in Obamacare: Federal Money Would Fund Abortion

"Here is where I come down: A healthy pregnancy is not an illness because the baby is unwanted.  Tens of millions of people should not have to help fund an elective medical procedure not related to protecting physical health that they find morally abhorrent. "

~ Wesley J. Smith in Obamacare: Zeal to Cover Abortion Could Kill the Bill 

Obama Czar: The Government Must Fund Abortion

TEL AVIV – The government should be required to fund abortion in cases such as rape or incest, argues President Obama's newly confirmed regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein. 

"I have argued that the Constitution ... forbids government from refusing to pay the expenses of abortion in cases of rape or incest, at least if government pays for childbirth in such cases," Sunstein wrote in his 1993 book "The Partial Constitution."  Read the entire story.

WSJ: Health-Care Overhaul: Abortion, Public Option & Young Adults

Here are a few of the stories on the health-care overhaul that caught our eye this morning:

Abortion continues to play a role in the health care debate, the New York Times reports. The issue is dividing Dems, the article says. Some argue that the current health-care bills already prohibit using federal funds to pay for abortions, while others say more explicit prohibitions are needed for those who would receive government subsidies to purchase health insurance. For more on the subject, see this WSJ story from last month, and this WSJ.com column from Steven Waldman on how to keep the health-care overhaul neutral on abortion.

Read the entire story here.

Obamacare Hits New Lows

Only 41% of Voters Support Obama Socialist Health Care, while Only 16 Percent of Seniors Want Obama's Socialist Health Care.

Obama's Socialist Health Care Creates 8 NEW TAXES!

TAKE ACTION TODAY: STOP OBAMACARE

1) Contact the Senate Finance Committee Members via phone/fax/email. Tell them NO Government-run healthcare! Exert extra pressure on Republican members (especially Senator Snowe) and remind them NO compromise… NO healthcare negotiations… absolutely NO form of government health care!

DEMOCRAT SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE MEMBERS

- Max Baucus (MT-D) http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
- Jay Rockefeller (VA-D) http://rockefeller.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
- Kent Conrad (ND-D) http://conrad.senate.gov/contact/
- Jeff Bingaman (NM-D) http://bingaman.senate.gov/contact/
- John F. Kerry (MA-D) http://kerry.senate.gov/contact/office.cfm
- Blanche Lincoln (AR-D) http://lincoln.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
- Ron Wyden (OR-D) http://wyden.senate.gov/contact/
- Charles E. Schumer (NY-D) http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/contact.cfm
- Debbie Stabenow (MI-D) http://stabenow.senate.gov/contact.htm
- Maria Cantwell (WA-D) http://cantwell.senate.gov/contact/
- Bill Nelson (FL-D) http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
- Robert Menendez (NJ-D) http://menendez.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm
- Tom Carper (DE-D) http://carper.senate.gov/

REPUBLICAN SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE MEMBERS

- Chuck Grassley (IA-R) http://grassley.senate.gov/contact.cfm
- Orrin G. Hatch (UT-R) http://hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Offices.Home
- Olympia Snowe (ME-R) http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorSnowe.DistrictOffices
- Jon Kyl (AZ-R) http://kyl.senate.gov/
- Jim Bunning (KY-R) http://bunning.senate.gov/public/
- Mike Crapo (ID-R) http://crapo.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm
- Pat Roberts (KS-R) http://roberts.senate.gov/public/
- John Ensign (NV-R) http://ensign.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
- Mike Enzi (WY-R) http://enzi.senate.gov/public/
- John Cornyn (TX-R) http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home

2) Next, contact your 2 US Senators with same message. Every Senator needs to hear from America now! Use this website for quick contact information: http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/index.htm

______________________________

ARE YOU USING TWITTER?

Go to Operation Senate Overload on Healthcare and tweet your message to Senators today: http://tinypaste.com/657ac

________________________________________

EXACTLY WHY DO I NEED TO CONTACT SENATORS TODAY? READ ON...

- Senate’s 4-Step plan to ram government health care into our lives "Passing a Shell of A Bill:" http://blog.heritage.org/2009/09/22/passing-a-shell-of-a-bill-how-congress-plans-to-ram-through-health-care-reform/

- Senate Finance Committee Democrats vote against health care legislation transparency: "Read the Bill! What Bill?" http://blog.heritage.org/2009/09/23/read-the-bill-what-bill/

- One year in jail if you fail to meet health care Individual Mandate: "Ensign receives handwritten confirmation" http://www.politico.com/livepulse/0909/Ensign_receives_handwritten_confirmation_.html?showall

- Transparency shenanigans are going on in the House of Representatives as well: "Dem Leadership Tries to Crush Petition on Allowing Americans to Read Bills Before Vote" http://republicanleader.house.gov/blog/?p=628

- Need clarification of health care terms? Read this: "Obamacare Translator Glossary" http://www.freedomworks.org/publications/freedomnotes-obamacare-translator
________________________________________

AND PRAY... 

Prayer for our Nation’s Health Care Reform

Lord Jesus, you are the Divine Physician,
And the source of all life and health.

Guide our nation at this critical moment,
As our government seeks health care reforms.

Give our elected officials the humility to know
That they are servants, not masters.
Give them the wisdom to realize
That every life has equal value.
Give them the strength to resist the idea
That some lives can be sacrificed to save others
Or that killing the unborn is a part of health care.

Give your people the courage to speak up
And to hold public officials accountable for their actions.

Save us, Lord Jesus, from a culture of death,
And let every reform in our public policy
Be based on the reform of our hearts and minds
In the light of your Gospel,
For you are Lord forever and ever. Amen.


~ Via Fr. Frank Pavone at Priests for Life.

The president’s health reform and the life issues

The debate over the future of health care reform in the United States has often focused on two issues surrounding life; the beginning and the end. Both issues, abortion and euthanasia, have implications for religious based hospitals, particularly Catholic ones, and therefore the entire future of health care in the United States. Read the rest here

Letter to the Editor - Waiting to see the Senate health bill

...On June 22, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Democrats defeated a Republican amendment to the health care bill that would have prevented the use of “comparative effectiveness” research methodologies in the denial of benefits to patients, against their will, based on their age, expected length of life, or of the patient’s present or predicted disability or quality of life.

Democrats claimed the amendment was unneeded. The existing language says that comparative effectiveness research “shall not be construed as mandates for payment, coverage, or treatment.” However, nothing in the current bill prevents it being used to deny treatment.


“Comparative effectiveness” refers to the practice of limiting choices in medicines or procedures to a few that government bureaucrats decide are cost-effective. This is the norm in Britain and Canada. Canada sends people to the United States for certain cancer treatments but decides which hospital, often to the detriment of the patient. If you are over 60 in Britain, your health care is limited.

Such rationing discriminates against people with disabilities, older people, and anyone considered having a poor ‘quality of life.’

----------------------------------------------
If our President had read H.R. 3200, he would never have told us that if we like our health insurance, we can keep it.

On page 16, Section 102(a)(1) “Limitation on New Enrollment” forbids new enrollment in private plans. In other words, if you lose your job, change your job, graduate from school and look for a job, you must go into the government plan. If the government insurance is so wonderful, it would not be necessary force people onto it.

On pg. 167, Title IV, Subtitle A, Part 1, any individual “without acceptable health care coverage, defined in subsection d (pg. 171-173) will have to pay a special tax. Pg. 194, Subtitle C allows the “Health Choices Commissioner” to get anyone’s tax returns in order to figure the tax.

The House and Senate bills are full of such mandates that make the word “choice” an empty one unless we are talking about abortion. Oh, yes, the government can define health care services to include abortion. It is revealing that amendments to exclude abortion in these bills have been beaten back by Democrats.

-----------------------------------

If you would like to check the accuracy of my facts, I have the pdf version of HR 3200 that I can send you. (Note: Click here for pdf version of the entire bill.)

I also have facts that refute the contention that no federal funds will be used for abortions and that no illegal aliens will be eligible for the programs. (Illegals get health care now via hospital emergency rooms or by paying up front.). I've given up writing letters to the editor. It takes a lot of time to condense the facts to 170-200 words and they don't print them anyway. What the papers do like to print are name-calling letters. Anything giving "chapter-and-verse" facts are unwelcome as they go against their editorial stands.

An interesting question is what Canadians will do for their health care beyond the basics? Right now, the Canadian govt. sends cancer patients needing chemotherapy to either Buffalo or, I believe, Cleveland. They assign patients to one or the other, regardless of which regimen works better for that type of cancer. Detroit is the center for heart surgery of Canadian patients.

Where do I get these facts? Over 35 years as a reference librarian with a paralegal degree helps finding out these things...

- Carol White of Hawaii Right to Life and used with permission.

Action Alert: Senate Abortion Vote Tuesday - Call Key Senators

Members of the U.S. Senate Financial Services Committee will be voting NEXT TUESDAY on amendments to keep abortion coverage out of Sen. Max Baucus's (D-Mont.) health care bill. Sen. Baucus's health care bill explicitly includes abortion and would subsidize health plans that cover all elective abortions. Such subsidies for abortion goes well beyond the status quo of preventing federal funds either from paying for abortion or subsidizing plans that covers abortion as is prevented under current laws governing Medicaid, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan, and the State Children's Health Insurance Plan.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has introduced several amendments that would prevent government funding for abortion and would protect current conscience laws for health workers. Please call these key Senators today and urge them to support Sen. Hatch's amendments to keep government funded abortions out of the Baucus bill:

• Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.): 202-224-5521
• Sen. Thomas Carper (D-Del.): 202-224-2441
• Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.): 202-224-2043
• Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.): 202-224-4843
• Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.): 202-224-5274
• Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine): 202-224-5344

Say No to B.O. and it's off to jail you go!

A must - read post:  Confirmed! Jail Time for Individuals who refuse Obama Care

Obamacare: What are they hiding?

Democrats REFUSE to Let Americans Read Obama's 'Health Care' Bill Before Vote

Catholic Medical Association evaluates health care reform proposals

Washington D.C., Sep 24, 2009 / 07:12 am (CNA).- The Catholic Medical Association on Monday wrote an open letter to Catholic organizations and individuals to express its views on “key prudential aspects” of health care reform proposals. Some provisions risk violating the patient-doctor relationship and could threaten the dignity of human life, the association says.

The letter, signed by Catholic Medical Association (CMA) president Louis C. Breschi, M.D., expressed a desire to collaborate with others to shape legislation “in harmony with the Catholic faith.” The CMA said its views reflect years of experience in serving patients.

“We believe we are facing a crisis, not only in health-care financing and delivery, but in the health-care reform process itself,” the CMA wrote.

The country has the opportunity and obligation to craft “effective, ethical” responses to the crisis in health care financing and delivery, the organization continued, but it warned there is a danger that “misguided legislation” could worsen the problems.

According to the CMA, problems in health care include a lack of “consistent access” to affordable insurance and to appropriate health care. Services are also “expensive and fragmented.”

These problems, the association claimed, result largely from “misguided” tax, employment and government policy incentives. The organization criticized “increasing third-party payer intrusion” into the patient-physician relationship.

While Catholic ethical and social principles should be the subject of agreement, the CMA said these principles’ application is the main question.

In the association’s view, present reform proposals rely heavily on the federal government to “dictate” solutions and will empower “a small group of unelected government bureaucrats and committees” to determine the composition and cost of health insurance policies, the reimbursement of providers and the approval of treatments.

“We think this government-controlled approach is flawed in principle and ineffective, if not dangerous, in practice,” the CMA wrote, charging that the approach “clearly violates” the principle of subsidiarity and will be ineffective.

According to the CMA, Medicare will be insolvent by 2017. Further, Medicaid costs have run out of control to the point that 40 percent of physicians no longer accept it because of money-losing reimbursement rates.
The current health care reform proposals are also “dangerous” because of the presidential administration’s “repeated failures to accord proper respect for the dignity of human life.” The CMA cited the reversal of the Mexico City Policy and funding for human embryonic stem cell research, claiming that the Obama administration wants to make such policy decisions difficult or impossible to overturn
.
Saying there have been some “misunderstandings” about health care provisions concerning end-of-life consultations, the CMA said “serious concerns” remain about funding the care of the seriously ill and the dying.

“Giving the federal government the power, and primary responsibility, to contain medical expenditures could threaten the provision of medical care to the most vulnerable, the elderly and chronically ill,” the organization said.

Click here to read the entire story.

Bishop Murphy Addresses Health Care Reform

 Bishop William Murphy, chairman of Domestic Justice and Human Development for the U.S. bishops, addresses the need for health care reform that is available to everyone and protects the life and dignity of every person. He mentions that health care be provided for legal immigrants who live here, work here, and pay taxes.

Population Research Institute Releases Humorous Cartoon on Health Care Reform

FRONT ROYAL, VA, Sept. 23 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Population Research Institute, a pro-life research group based in Front Royal, VA, has released the first in a series of humorous cartoons intended to give the facts on President Obama's purported health care reform.

This video is only the first of several slated to come out in the next few weeks, and each is intended to deftly tackle one specific aspect of health care.

"People are having trouble wrapping their minds around the 1,000 page health care bill," says Colin Mason, PRI's Director of Media Production and one of the video's main architects. "Our short videos will give people the facts in a way that they can quickly absorb and communicate to others."

"While the videos are funny, they are also factual," Joseph Powell, the cartoon's primary artist and narrator. "They're little chunks of information that people can pass around, short enough to forward to friends, relatives and co-workers interested in the health care debate."

The first video is available at PRI's YouTube page (www.youtube.com/colinpri1), or by visiting PRI's web site: www.pop.org.

Open Letter to Catholics and Catholic Organizations on Health Care Reform from Catholic Medical Association

The Catholic Medical Association has just released a letter on health care reform.You can read the complete text here.

The Truth About Health Care Bills

The following was written by Michael Connelly, a retired attorney. "...is now a teacher, published author, and freelance writer. As a former Military Intelligence officer in the U.S. Army he is an avid student of American history including all aspects of military history."

Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200: The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected.

Read the rest here

Read more about the proposed Obama Health Reform over at Michael Connelly's blog

Niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wants abortion taken out of health care reform bill

DENVILLE, NJ (September 20, 2009) - On September 18, 2009, Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke on behalf of the pro-life movement at Saint Cecilia's Church, located in Rockaway, NJ. Congressman Chris Smith (R-4th District) of New Jersey, joined Dr. Alveda King in championing the cause for life at the Catholic church with a presentation that included video of the civil rights era and made a comparison to the civil rights of the unborn.

Dr. Alveda King is advocating to prevent abortion from being included in health care reform on a federal level. Dr. Alveda King is also a Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life and Coordinator of the African-American Outreach.

Dr. Alveda King said, “We are living in turbulent times, but in the midst of these times, there is always hope and promise.” Dr. King is encouraged in helping to make a difference with her cause in support of civil rights for the unborn. She believes in working to achieve bipartisan support on the issue.


Prayer to End Abortion

Lord God, I thank you today for the gift of my life,

And for the lives of all my brothers and sisters.

I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion,

Yet I rejoice that you have conquered death by the Resurrection of Your Son.

I am ready to do my part in ending abortion.

Today I commit myself

Never to be silent,

Never to be passive,

Never to be forgetful of the unborn.

I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement,

And never to stop defending life

Until all my brothers and sisters are protected,

And our nation once again becomes

A nation with liberty and justice

Not just for some, but for all,

Through Christ our Lord.

Amen!

Prayer by Father Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

Another Bishop rejects Obamacare

“May all those engaged in this issue craft a plan that provides universal health care that is affordable to all, distributes costs equitably, and above all, safeguards human life from conception to natural death and the freedom of conscience.”

~ Bishop James V. Johnston of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri, writing on health care reform

Read the full story Health care reform must recognize dignity of every person, Missouri bishop says at CNA.

A Growth Vision for Health Reform

By NEWT GINGRICH

A 3-year-old boy was recently diagnosed with a rare, aggressive, soft-tissue cancer in his bladder. Radiation treatment would have stunted the growth of his pelvic bones, hips and bladder and left him disabled. Radical surgery could remove his bladder, prostate and portions of his rectum. That would have left him impotent, using a colostomy bag, and urinating through another bag in his abdomen.

His parents chose a third option—a new "unproven" therapy where a proton beam precisely targeted the radiation dose so that it didn't cripple their son for life. The boy is now cancer-free and his body functions normally.

This story would seem to be an example of our health-care system at its best. But it is incompatible with the left's vision for overhauling the health-care industry.

Despite all the well-documented problems with our health-care system, the United States is still the world's leading source of medical innovation. Since 1960, the U.S. age-adjusted death rate for heart disease has declined by 54% due to advancing technology and new drugs. Pacemakers have been transformed. They once required a user to wear a backpack to monitor the device's short battery life. Today, pacemaker batteries last more than seven years and are small enough to install in the rib-cage muscle wall.

Premature babies survive in America to live full lives more often than anywhere else in the world. New drugs now arriving on the market cure once-lethal leukemia. On the horizon there are vaccines to prevent other types of cancer. Modern science and technology offer even more exciting treatments in the future for diseases like AIDS, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Standing in opposition to this world of hope is the vision of reform advanced by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats. That vision would destroy the economic incentives that drive health-care innovation because it starts with a fundamental conceit: that government planners can spend health-care dollars better than patients and doctors in the marketplace. This planning is the foundation for the arbitrary insistence that spending 17% of our GDP on health care is "too much."

The new bureaucracies that would be set up to reduce health-care spending by slashing payments to doctors, hospitals, surgeons, specialists, drug companies, high-tech equipment makers and others will kill the innovation that has served us so well. The essential incentives for the huge capital investment necessary to develop breakthrough treatments will be gone. And so too will high-paying jobs that these investments create.
Indeed, the plan released by Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.) last week would impose new taxes on medical device manufacturers of $40 billion over 10 years. That's more than industry venture capital investment.

Click here to read the rest.

URGENT ACTION ALERT: Ask Senators to vote Yes on Hatch Amendment to fund abstinence education

Senator Hatch (R-UT) has introduced an amendment into the Senate health care reform bill to reinstate Title V Abstinence Education funding for FY2010. This amendment will be offered this week in the Senate Finance Committee. (The vote could be as early as Tuesday of this week)

Background

Title V state block grants for abstinence education expired June 30, 2009. Since then, 2 actions in the House have been taken related to this funding:

1. Rep. Lee Terry introduced an amendment in the House to reinstate Title V Abstinence Education Funding. It failed by only 3 votes in anti-abstinence Waxman's Energy & Commerce Committee earlier this year.

2. An amendment was successfully inserted in the House health care reform bill to transfer former Title V funds to "comprehensive" sex education block grants to states.


Recent research analysis demonstrates that school based abstinence education is more successful in positive behavior change than so-called "comprehensive" sex education.


Action Item
•Call your Senators immediately. Ask them to vote "yes" on the Hatch Amendment if they serve on the Finance Committee. Ask them to urge their colleagues to do the same.


• Make a personal call to your friends and colleagues asking them to immediately call their Senators as well if they serve on the Senate Finance Committee

The United States Capitol switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. A switchboard operator will connect you directly to your Senators' Offices.

Continue to encourage unique calls to your Senators until the Senate vote is taken.

What to Say To Your Congressional Member

I am calling to urge Senator [name] to stand with youth in our state by voting "yes" on Senator Hatch's amendment to continue Title V abstinence education funding to states. This amendment will be offered as a part of the Senate health care reform bill. Abstinence alleviates millions of dollars in health care costs related to teen sexual activity. Can we count on Senator [name] support of the Hatch Abstinence Education amendment? Thank you.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee

Democrats
MAX BAUCUS, MT
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV
KENT CONRAD, ND
JEFF BINGAMAN, NM
JOHN F. KERRY, MA
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR
RON WYDEN, OR
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, NY
DEBBIE STABENOW, MI
MARIA CANTWELL, WA
BILL NELSON, FL
ROBERT MENENDEZ, NJ

THOMAS CARPER, DE


Republicans
CHUCK GRASSLEY, IA
ORRIN G. HATCH, UT
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, ME
JON KYL, AZ
JIM BUNNING, KY
MIKE CRAPO, ID
PAT ROBERTS, KS
JOHN ENSIGN, NV
MIKE ENZI, WY
JOHN CORNYN, TX

~ Via Pam Stenzel.

Christian health professionals address 'right of conscience'

The Christian Medical Association has sent a wake-up call to Washington. The communication is the result of a petition signed by over 10,000 individuals.

David Stevens, president of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, explains the objective of the petition.

"Well, we just sent a letter to President Obama as well as to members of Congress expressing concern over right of conscience and the fact that it's not protected in any of the [healthcare reform] legislation that's been proposed," he says. "In fact, there are direct attacks on right of conscience, which would force healthcare providers to participate in abortions as well as other procedures."

Read the rest here.

Is Abortion Health Care, or Is it Not?

The health care debate, the greatest challenge of the Obama presidency, has abortion at its epicenter, and no one realizes this more than the White House. In recent weeks, President Obama, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have all insisted that the health care proposals under consideration would not cover abortion.

Nevertheless, that's not the reality we face on the Hill. Recently, we had a meeting with senior White House officials to focus on our serious opposition to the abortion mandate in health care reform. They reiterated the president's statement from his address before Congress and were noncommittal about specific language that would address the current concerns of pro-life advocates.

The truth is that the health care packages under consideration do include abortion funding. Without a specific statutory amendment that includes an explicit ban on federal funding and coverage, we face health care reform that includes abortion.

Lost in the debate over whether or not abortion is "in there" - whether or not you can flip to a certain page and point to a particular clause related to abortion funding - is an understanding among political elites that this is a watershed battle over definition. It's existential, if you will, and comes down to a very straightforward question: Is abortion health care, or is it not?[reference]

Part of the dishonesty in the debate is to maintain that since the current health care bill does not fund abortion in writing that effectively abortion won't be funded. Well abortion isn't funded in the Medicare law, but it takes the Hyde amendment each year to keep Medicade from in fact paying for abortion. Every amendment to the health care bill to pacifically forbid abortion funding has been struck down. The defenders of the bill just keep going on lying that the bill does not fund abortion. The Presidents reassurances mean nothing considering his track record and that the bill has yet been changed by his party. The trick has always been to leave the bills vague enough so that the courts could step in and define what it means. They let the courts do the dirty work for them.

Charmaine Yoest very good article goes on to how the attempt to define abortion as health care, as just another procedure, is going. If we let the culture of death to define the terms than the world health care will mean nothing. Just as the health of the women was broadened to include mental health so as to allow abortion this new definition will be disastrous.

US News says Catholics can make or break health care reform

When Jean named this blog she certainly knew what she was doing.
The Obama Adminstration knows what we know; in order to pass health care reform, Catholics must be on board.
US News states,
"That antiabortion, pro-universal healthcare stance—and the fact that a full quarter of the U.S. population is Catholic—make the bishops and the wider Catholic community a key swing constituency in the escalating healthcare reform battle. If they can allay Catholic concerns on abortion, Obama and the Democrats stand to enlist the church as a powerful ally in the fight. But if the bishops and other Catholic institutions wind up opposing the Democrats' healthcare plan because of its abortion provisions, they can help bring down the whole effort. Says Doerflinger: "People on both sides of the issue want us to join their coalition."
However, the problem is, there is a divide among Catholics, we are split nearly down the middle, between those who favor the Obama plan and those, like this group, who do not trust Obama to exclude abortion funding and death panels for the disabled and elderly in the legislation.
On Fox News today Fr Jonathan Morris made an important clarification. He corrected the host who said that the USCCB wants universal healthcare. He said the US bishops want universal access to health care, not necessarily this bill. There are many ways to improve access to health care, for example health care savings accounts, tax deductions for premiums, a group plan for the uninsured to buy into, etc.
Fr Morris assured the viewers of Fox News that the bishops are not sold on the current health care plan because of the threat of abortion funding. Obama will be working hard to seal the deal, and courting Catholics in various ways (Kennedy funeral, Notre Dame, Georgetown, visiting the Pope, etc). Don't be used by an administration who is expert at manipulation.
Catholics are a necessary part of Obamacare. Let's remember that and use our power unilaterally instead of cancelling one another's votes!

Read the entire article here.

Vera’s story must be a warning to us all

As doctors fear 'euthanasia by the back door' Felicity Smart describes her chilling experience when a elderly neighbour entered hospital

Hat tip to Father John Boyle

The case for killing granny

You just got to love a post that includes the sentence "nameless Mouth of the Dark Lord of Newsweek" as used by John C. Wright responding to the article by Evan Thomas on the "The Case for Killing Granny".

John C. Wright shows exactly why Mr. Thomas is wrong and is really being dishonest.

Americans are afraid not just of dying, but of talking and thinking about death. Until Americans learn to contemplate death as more than a scientific challenge to be overcome, our health-care system will remain unfixable.

We have often heard to explain things that Americans are afraid of death and in a culture that just about worships the body, or at least young bodies, so there is some truth to this. Though it would not explain why it is that many who are religious and who know we are more than just a body would object to euthanasia and doctor assisted suicide.

It is also rather interesting that he would talk about the need to "contemplate death as more than a scientific challenge." This of course exactly what the Church has done throughout the ages. St. Thomas Aquinas kept a skull on his desk to do just that and it is a good to think about our own mortality. But the contemplation of death unlike what Mr. Thomas asserts does not necessarily lead you to be more accepting of removing healthcare, but of understanding the proper respect for the human person whether they are at the end of life or not.

There are of course the distinctions in Catholic thought between ordinary and extraordinary care. Though often what was once considered extraordinary care can become ordinary care. Mr. Thomas is making no such distinction as the title of his article suggests. The problem with government healthcare is that it also does not make such distinction and will assign the divide between ordinary and extraordinary as to the costs involved.

John C. Wright's critique is much better than mine, just had to add my two cents.

Another Bishop Says ObamaCare Violates Catholic Social Teaching

Another Catholic bishop has stated that too many aspects of President Barack Obama's health care reforms violate basic and necessary Catholic social principles, such as respect for human dignity, safeguarding human life, conscience protection, and the principle of "subsidiarity."

"Health care reform is a very complex issue, with many important peripheral issues, such as cost and how to pay for it, economic impact, the role of the federal government, abortion, euthanasia, tort reform, etc.," writes Bishop James Vann Johnston of Cape-Girardeau and Springfield, Missouri. "But as such, health care reform is particularly important in that, as Catholics, we understand the principles that should be at the very heart of this delicate work."

Johnston says that of all the ways "to skin the health-care cat," President Obama's proposed reform raises serious and troubling questions for Catholics, such that the bishop says he cannot in good conscience support it...

Read the rest here

"DEATH SPIRAL" RATIONING IN BAUCUS BILL GRAVELY ENDANGERS AMERICA'S SENIORS

"DEATH SPIRAL" RATIONING IN BAUCUS BILL GRAVELY ENDANGERS AMERICA'S SENIORS -- Human Life of Washington

"DEATH SPIRAL" RATIONING IN BAUCUS BILL GRAVELY ENDANGERS AMERICA'S SENIORS

Posted By: Human Life of Washington-State Office, Dan Kennedy, CEO
Date: 18 September 2009

WASHINGTON --
The health care bill proposed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus on September 16 contains a dangerous provision that creates a financial incentive for Medicare doctors to deny treatments to seniors.

"This is the cruelest and most effective way to ensure that doctors are forced to ration care for their senior citizen patients. It takes the telltale fingerprints from the government: instead of bureaucrats directly specifying the treatment denials that will mean death and poorer health for older people, it compels individual doctors to do the dirty work. It is an outrageous way to provide coverage for the uninsured - by taking it away from America's senior citizens."


Full article here.

God bless!

Reconciliation 101: A -- Nuclear -- Abuse of Power

Reconciliation 101: A " Nuclear" Abuse of Power The Foundry

Author: Rory Cooper

Important! Especially this section--

The Consequences of Reconciliation: Stopping the Debate

• Bipartisan Prejudice: 59 Senators currently caucus with the majority. If reconciliation were to be used to pass health care legislation, it would disenfranchise senators and those they represent on a crippling partisan basis.
• Setting Precedent: By bypassing Senate rules to pass a piece of policy legislation that overhauls one-sixth of our economy, the Senate would be setting a precedent for future partisan majorities to eliminate thoughtful debate and pass reckless and partisan legislation “by any means necessary.” Reconciliation bills are limited to 20 hours of debate and are difficult to amend.
• Who Is Alan Frumin? The reconciliation process leaves incredible policy issues at the hands of the Senate parliamentarian, Alan Frumin. The non-elected Frumin would be responsible for deciding what could and could not be included in the final health care bill, making him the first of many faceless bureaucrats in Washington who could make important decisions that affect your health care.
• Checks and Balances: Our founders designed the U.S. Senate as the “balanced wheel” to offset the passions presumed to dominate the House of Representatives. This course of action would turn the Senate into a replica of the House, jettisoning the supermajority requirement and thereby losing a constitutionally vital check and balance.

Please read the rest of the article, as well, for a better understanding of what Reconciliation in the Senate means.

God bless! .

New poll shows 45% of doctors might quit if Obamacare passes

Click to Enlarge.

~ Via Illinois Review.

Catholic parents join Healthcare for Gunner press conference in DC yesterday

I was part of this group who spoke out about fears that our disabled children will be denied health care when resources dwindle, as they have in Canada. At 6:30 that morning the Catholic parents attended Mass in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Obama's denials of abortion coverage 'laughable'

A leading pro-life activist in Washington says President Obama is not telling the whole truth when he promises taxpayers they will not be forced to fund abortions under his healthcare plan.

On Sunday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on ABC's This Week program that President Obama will go beyond language in the House healthcare bill to make sure no public money goes to pay for abortions under healthcare reform.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, says Americans should be skeptical of Sebelius' claim, especially given the President's 2007 promise to Planned Parenthood that his healthcare plan would provide "reproductive care."

"It's almost gotten to the point of laughable if the consequences weren't so dire -- the president repeating over and over that there is no abortion coverage in healthcare reform currently.  I mean, it's simply a lie. It is simply not true," she contends. "I simply don't believe that he is that ignorant of what the plans are out there. I think what he knows is that Americans have rejected the idea. Our poll showed last week that it rejects the idea."

In order for President Obama to be considered the next convert to the pro-life cause, Dannenfelser says he needs to push for an amendment specifically excluding abortion coverage from the healthcare plans, an amendment that has been narrowly defeated in the House more than once already.

~ Via OneNewsNow.Com 

Opposing Obamacare Not a Tough Choice for Catholics

by Cathy Ruse

The New York Times reports that President Obama's health plans have caused a "struggle" within the Catholic Church over "how heavily to weigh opposition to abortion against  oncerns about social justice."

There are two problems here.  First is the suggestion that there is a collision of competing priorities at play, the social justice imperative of achieving health care for the poor and the pro-life imperative of battling abortion, with which Notre Dame law professor Cathleen Kaveny agrees.  She tells the Times, "It is the great tension in Catholic thought right now."

Surely there are bureaucratic squabbles between parish or diocesan offices, but this idea that there is some dichotomy in "Catholic thought" is utter fiction.  Social justice is concerned with the dignity of the human person, and there is no greater indignity than the taking of innocent human life in the womb; it champions the rights of the poor, and there is no one poorer than the child marked for abortion.

In fact, not only does the Church teach that abortion is a social justice concern, successive popes have called it the preeminent social justice issue of our time, which highlights the second problem in the New York Times report.  The competing imperatives are not of equal weight.  Teaching documents at all levels of the Church demonstrate that concern for the right to life takes pride of place because it is the foundation for all other rights.  Pope John Paul II wrote in Christifidelis Laici that, "the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights -- for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture - is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination."

The Catholic Church doesn't see abortion as an issue that can be given more weight in some circumstances and less in others; it is always and everywhere an attack on innocent human life and gravely immoral. The Church will never embrace "a little abortion" in exchange for achieving another desired goal.

The Catholic bishops have worked for decades to achieve access to quality health care for all, especially the poor, in furtherance of their belief that health care is a basic right belonging to all human beings.  But the Church has never taught that this obligation must be met by a government-run health system and certainly not a government system which sponsors the killing of children before birth.  Indeed, for the Church, the fundamental requirement of any health care system is that it respects human life.  The Church has been extraordinarily consistent throughout the debate on health care:  any system that authorizes or subsidizes the killing of unborn children is unacceptable.

Click here to read the rest.

URGENT Petition to Notre Dame: Please drop the charges

Alan Keyes being arrested at Notre Dame while peacefully praying the rosary. He now faces up to one year in jail.
The 88 outspoken pro-lifers peacefully walked onto Notre Dame’s campus in May to be the voice of the unborn – when pro-abortion president Obama was honored there – and were arrested for trespassing. 
Among those arrested were Fr. Norman Weslin, several Catholic nuns, Norma McCorvey, the “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade, and Ambassador Alan Keyes.
Sign the “Drop the Charges” petition

Lifesitenews.com reports:

“While witnesses say pro-Obama protesters were allowed to roam free, the arrested individuals were singled out for displaying any pro-life message -- including slogans on the sanctity of life, photographs of aborted children, a large wooden cross, and images of Mary.”

The double standard is rather shocking, isn’t it?
The University of Notre Dame, as the original complainant, has the choice to drop the charges pending against the 88 pro-lifers.
Therefore, your signature is very important right now because, according to reports, the president of Notre Dame “has repeatedly refused to seek such leniency or even answer the pro-lifers' requests for dialogue.”  (Lifesitenews.com: 09-04-09)
Join this urgent petition.  Pass it along.  Post it on Facebook, on blogs, and get the word out.

Kindly ask Fr. Jenkins to drop the charges
Respectfully contact Fr. John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame:
Office of the President
400 Main Building
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Phone: 574-631-3903
Email: president@nd.edu

Bishop Doran Weighs in Against Obama Health Care Overhaul

 By Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Another U.S. Catholic bishop has joined in criticizing President Obama's health care overhaul, insisting that any such legislation must avoid promoting abortion and urging against the unwarranted expansion of government into the private sphere.

Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford, Illinois wrote in the diocesan newspaper The Observer last month that the principles of subsidiarity, solidarity, and interest in the common good are indispensable to positive health care reform. Doran advised that health care be treated as "more of a market than a system," and warned against the pitfalls of a government takeover.

"Our federal bureaucracy is a vast wasteland strewn with the carcasses of absurd federal programs which proved infinitely worse than the problems they were established to correct," wrote Doran.

Doran's remarks reflect the widespread unrest among conservative Americans that led to a massive grassroots rally on Saturday against the Obama administration's health care initiative and government expansion. Estimates for the number of attendees at the "tea party" protest on Capitol Hill spanned from "tens of thousands" to well over a million.

The bishop also wrote that, "whatever we do," respect for "all human life from conception to natural death" is the first principle that must be respected in any such bill.

Read the rest here.

Obamacare: Ending the Elderly

American Life League exposes the euthanasia agenda of the sponsors of HR 3200. Henry Waxman and co-sponsors John Dingell, George Miller, Peter Stark, and Frank Pallone all voted against a federal ban on use of drugs for physician assisted suicide. Not only that, Barack Obama equates physician assisted suicide with "end of life issues" and "the elderly."

Obamacare: It's As Bad (Or Worse) As You Imagined

By Thomas DiLorenzo

The Obammunistic health care proposals, that is. A friend sent me this blog by Michael Connelly, a lawyer who has read every word of the proposed legislation. Rationing, free health care for illegals, government-funded abortion, the abolition of medical privacy, and much worse is all in there, he says, contrary to what the lying media are telling you.

Click Here For The Full Story

The USCCB Gambit on Health Care

Last week, in response to President Obama's speech on health-care reform, Richard Doerflinger-- a veteran staff member for the US bishops' pro-life committee-- said:

We especially welcome the President’s commitment to exclude federal funding of abortion, and to maintain existing federal laws protecting conscience rights in health care.

But if you read the President's speech carefully, you'll notice that the relevant section did not make any commitment. On the contrary, Obama was addressing what he described as misconceptions about the legislation that's now being considered:

One more misunderstanding I want to clear up - under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.

In context, then, President Obama didn't seem to be promising to exclude abortion funding from his health-care package; he seemed to be claiming that it was already excluded-- which, in fact, it isn't.

Click here to read the rest.

Sebelius Says Obama Will Change Bill to Ban Abortion Funding, Pro-Lifers Doubtful

In a weekend interview, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said President Barack Obama wants a change in the language of the main House health care "reform" bill to ensure it doesn't allow taxpayer-funded abortions. However, a pro-life group that has exposed the abortion funding is doubtful that will happen.

 

At issue is HR 3200, the government-run health care plan that includes the Capps Amendment that would open the door for massive abortion funding in both the public option and the tax subsidies for people to purchase health  insurance.

Click here to read the rest.

I'm certainly am not going to hold my breath. There's two things that both Sebelius and Obama have in common -- they both lie frequently and they are both gung-ho culture of death advocates.

Feast of the Sorrowful Mother

Today is the feast of the Sorrowful Mother. Tonight, over dinner in Washington DC, I listened with moist eyes to the stories of ten mothers of special needs children describe their experiences. Children undergoing dozens of surgeries, on ventilators, and suffering pain. A mother feels all the pain the child feels and more, she feels the pain of not being able to remove her child's suffering.
But there is something ever more painful; when your child suffers neglect and even abuse at the hands of those whom you trusted; medical professionals who believe your child should die,that her life is not worth living, and hasten her death.
Our Lady was in that same situation, watching her Son die at the hands of the Romans with His own people laughing at His suffering. She would have died of the pain if God had not sustained her. She walks with these mothers, and we should as well. We are a group called "Healthcare for Gunner" and we will be sharing our stories tomorrow at 10AM on major news outlets.
We have seen our children suffer and yet we have been blessed by their lives, and want to continue to help them live. But we fear for them at the hands of government panels.
We hear the stories of mothers whose children are denied care in Canada, the UK and Australia. And we are speaking out tomorrow.
Pray for us, stand at the cross with us, as we fight for our children and millions of others.
Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.
Read more about Healthcare for Gunner here. http://web.me.com/kristanhawkins/www.healthcareforgunner.com/Other_Rationing_Stories.htmlner

U.S. bishops' gamble on abortion/health care

From Russell Shaw

Does the bishops' conference know something about health care and abortion that the rest of us don't? Otherwise it's difficult to say what to make of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' response to President Obama's speech to Congress last week. Even as the rest of the prolife community was continuing its criticism of abortion coverage in the plan, USCCB issued a news release welcoming Obama's claim that publicly funded abortion won't be part of it.

Particularly interesting from this point of view were remarks by Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the bishops' prolife office. Doerflinger, an old hand on these things, said: "We especially welcome the president's commitment to exclude federal funding of abortion, and to maintain existing federal laws protecting conscience rights in health care. ... We will work with Congress and the administration to ensure that these protections are clearly reflected in the new legislation, so no one is required to pay for or take part in abortion as a result of health care reform."

It's hard to say exactly what that means, but it could mean the bishops won't fight very hard to keep abortion out of the health care plan provided it includes some sort of conscience clause they can live with. It may also mean that the bishops have received private assurances from the White House that if they play ball on health care, that's what they'll get. If this is what's going on, however, it's a risky game at best.

Significantly, USCCB didn't roll out any bishops to react to Obama's remarks. Instead that job was given to staff — Doerflinger and Kathy Saile, director of the conference's domestic social development office. This suggests the organization is hopeful of getting what it considers a satisfactory deal on abortion from the White House but isn’t really sure. With good reason perhaps.

Doctors Against Obamacare Rally in D.C.

On September 10, 2009, doctors, nurses and other medical professionals came to Washington, D.C. from across the country to show their opposition to Obamacare.

This rally exploded the government-created myth that there is unanimity amongst health care professionals for Democrat plans to take over health care.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons came to D.C. to present a petition from doctors to lawmakers.

The AAPS has been a voice for private physicians since 1943.

Their motto is omnia pro aegroto, “all for the patient”.

The doctors met with the representatives from their respective states and argued for a platform that avoids unnecessary  bureaucratic intervention in health care.


Read the entire story here.

Prayer for our Nation's Health Care Reform

Lord Jesus, you are the Divine Physician,
And the source of all life and health.

Guide our nation at this critical moment,
As our government seeks health care reforms.

Give our elected officials the humility to know
That they are servants, not masters.
Give them the wisdom to realize
That every life has equal value.
Give them the strength to resist the idea
That some lives can be sacrificed to save others
Or that killing the unborn is a part of health care.

Give your people the courage to speak up
And to hold public officials accountable for their actions.

Save us, Lord Jesus, from a culture of death,
And let every reform in our public policy
Be based on the reform of our hearts and minds
In the light of your Gospel,
For you are Lord forever and ever. Amen. 

~ Via Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life

OBAMA DENIES HEALTH PLAN COVERS ABORTION

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on President Obama’s speech last night on health care reform:

Yesterday, I said the president would not mention abortion in his speech. I was wrong about that. But I was right to say, “The rational thing to do would be to drop abortion from the health care bills and support conscience rights for health care workers.” Obama did nothing of the sort. Indeed, his one sentence denial that his health care proposals would result in federal funding of abortion is simply not true.

Even the New York Times, which issued a strong editorial endorsing his speech, said in a news analysis that his claim that there is no federal funding for abortion “is not so clear-cut.” In practice, the Times said, “the public and private money would all go into the same pot, and the source of money for any single procedure is largely a technicality.”

More pointedly, if there is no federal funding for abortion in these plans, then why have there been several attempts to bar such funding? Tell that to Rep. Bart Stupak, Rep. Joe Pitts, Rep. Eric Cantor, Rep. Sam Johnson, Sen. Orrin Hatch and Sen. Mike Enzi. Why would they seek to ban something that doesn’t exist? Just as revealing, why did Obama’s friends defeat every one of these amendments?

President Obama is playing a shell game. He defended the public option plan last night, and under that plan, the person in charge of deciding whether abortion coverage will be mandated is his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius. This is the same woman who befriended George Tiller, the infamous abortionist who specialized in killing babies 80-percent born. Is there anyone who doubts what her decision will be? If President Bush appointed a secretary of education who was pro-school vouchers, and an education plan allowed the secretary to decide whether to fund them, would anyone conclude that federal dollars for vouchers were not in the plan?

Being wrong is one thing. Being deceitful is quite another.

Source

Catholic Health Association officer welcomes Obama speech, gave $10,000 to Democratic senators

The president and CEO of one of the nation’s largest Catholic hospital chains welcomed President Barack Obama’s speech on health care reform.

“At CHW, we live everyday with the challenges President Obama outlined in his speech tonight-- we see the real life effects of our broken health care system,” said Lloyd Dean, president and CEO of Catholic Healthcare West. Dean, who is also one of four officers of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, added, “The President has redefined the debate in a way that we can now bring a conclusion to this process. America needs a reform plan that controls costs and provides basic health care for the people in the country who don’t have it. Most importantly, we fervently agree that doing nothing is not an option.”

The remarks came in a press release made public at 9:00-- three minutes before the conclusion of the president’s address.

Read the rest here

Palin Responds to Obama Speech

Sarah Palin's response to Obama's speech on health care reform last night.

Obama Care is not the Answer

My humble opinion

In Britain, one million patients who have received medical care from the government have received 'cruel and neglectful' care.

If you think that this couldn't happen in our country -- think again. Whenever you have government controlled health care - it follows that there will be health care rationing and the way in which medical professionals will care for patients and the type of treatment they provide will be dictated by the government.  Secular values will be imposed on both the patient and the health care providers and any deviation from them will result in fines and / or imprisonment.

The Obama administration is committed to upholding culture of death values -- abortion is equated with having a tonsillectomy, the disabled and the elderly are viewed as unnecessary drains on the system, and both are seen as candidates for assisted suicide or euthanasia. There is a total absence of the value that we hold sacred -- the sanctity of human life.

How can this be? 

Cost-cutting is the bottom line.  Money, instead of compassionate health care for those who are in need, is the focus of this administration's government run health care program.

There is no magic cure for what ails the health care problem in this country, but Obama Care is not the answer.

I invite each one of you to join us in a day of prayer and fasting on September 11 in an effort to stop this evil bill from becoming law.

As Catholics, we know that prayer is powerful and that the combination of prayer and fasting can result in miracles. The health care reform bill mandates abortion, rations health care, violates the conscience rights of health care professionals, and supports assisted suicide as well as euthanasia. It is an evil bill that must be defeated. I believe that our day of prayer and fasting will help to accomplish that goal.

~ Jean M. Heimann

Killing the Unborn at the Expense of the Infirm and Elderly

Shortly after posting this cartoon, a pro-life associate asked why I had placed the traditional icon of the Democratic Party behind the desk rather than Barack Obama. After all, he reasoned, this sweeping socialization of medicine was created in the president's image.

I explained that I had thought and re-thought this out...

Even though there have been as many as three dozen Democrats in the House who object to the anti-life provisions of the current proposals, the party as a whole remains steadfastly, resolutely, adamantly anti-life. But more to the point, every amendment to current health care proposals prohibiting federal funding of abortion has been quashed by the Democrat majority. Sadly, the Democrats remain America's party of death.

If it weren't for the vast majority of elected Democrats who are anti-life, the proposed health care "reform" would not be what it so clearly is: state-sponsored terrorism in the guise of compassion.

You Could See It Coming a Mile Away

From my post of February 8, before Obama and his anti-life legislators began shoving their "health care" travesty down America's throat...

In one of his first acts as US president, Barack Obama authorized spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to stifle foreign populations. US House majority leader Nancy Pelosi, convinced children are bad for the economy, wants to spend even more to stamp out childbirth at home. This, even while scraping the barrel to fund astronomical bailouts.

Who do they think will fund their programs as barren taxpayers age and retire?

The answer is clear: no one. Rather than increase revenues, they'll decrease expenditures. For Pelosi, Obama and their fellow utilitarians, killing is once again the answer. Just like they sold abortion to a generation indoctrinated in women's rights, they'll sell euthanasia to a shrinking electorate saddled with trillions in debt and a graying generation of unproductive consumers.

The complete post, It's Not as if We Weren't Warned, is available at http://veritatisthecartoon.blogspot.com/2009/02/its-not-like-we-werent-warned.html

OBAMA PERPETUATES ABORTION FUNDING MYTH IN JOINT SESSION ADDRESS

WASHINGTON – In his address to a joint session of Congress tonight, President Obama said, "One more misunderstanding I want to clear up -- under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions."

Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, commented: "Barack Obama needs to learn that the mere repetition of a verbal formula does not change reality.  The reality is that the Obama-backed House bill would explicitly authorize the federal government insurance plan to pay for elective abortions and would explicitly authorize subsidies for private abortion insurance -- and all with federal dollars, which are the only kind of dollars that the federal government can spend."

The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) last week released definitive memoranda that demonstrate that (1) the "Hyde Amendment" would not apply to the new programs that would be created by the Obama-backed health bill, H.R. 3200, and (2) that all of the funds that would be spent on elective abortions under the bill, and all of the funds that would be spent to subsidize private insurance plans that cover abortion, would be "federal funds" in both the legal sense and in the sense in which those terms are used throughout the government.  

"The claim that a federal agency would be spending private funds on abortion, not federal funds, is absurd on its face, a political hoax," Johnson said.

To read a September 8 NRLC media advisory that summarizes these issues, click here.  The advisory contains links to the detailed memoranda that disprove the "Hyde Amendment myth" and the "government will spend private funds on abortions myth."

~ Via http://www.nrlc.org/. 

My Comments: I can't stomach watching B.O. lie through his teeth anymore. It literally sickens me. I am able to pray for the man's conversion at Mass or during Adoration, but to watch him on TV is a little too much for me. He is so transparent -- he must think we are total idiots to believe him. Did anyone watch him?  What are your thoughts about his "performance"?