Tuesday, August 24, 2010

No Matter How Small

For someone so young, Lia Mills of Toronto is very wise. Her logic is perfect on the subject of the unborn being a human being.


Only 18 months ago, Lia started speaking out on abortion and made this video:


About 8 months ago, she came back and spoke out against euthanasia and said that we need to learn from the Dutch who have discovered that palliative care is inadequate. But the answer is not death; it is better palliative care. Euthanasia denies basic rights. When will someone else decide that your life is not worth living?


In the end, abortion is not about choice but a personal preference. She has an interesting take on safe, legal and rare. Safe and legal imply choice but rare implies there is something wrong with abortion. Why? Because there IS something wrong when we are "choose" to snuff out the life of an unborn human being.


So what is Lia up to now? She's making a video on the unborn as a human PERSON! I can't wait to see it!

What Next?

No wonder the Muslim world is laughing at the United States.


What is next? I don't want to think about it.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

I Am the Sound of Rain Falling on the Rooftop

This is a funny poem called Litany by former US Poet Laureate, Billy Collins.


More amazing is this little guy! ;)


Can you believe it?

A Special Place in His Heart

On Wednesday, August 18, 2010, former President George W. Bush and the former First Lady, Laura Bush, greeted 145 soldiers at the DFW Airport who were returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan for two weeks of R&R.



Please take a moment to watch this inspirational video, as President George W. Bush welcomes home these military heroes. It will touch your heart, even if you don't like President Bush. The patriotism of the former Commander in Chief is heartwarming. I don't know what he was putting into their hands, but it was obviously some sort of homecoming gift.

Bert Brady, who assists in coordinating the Welcome Home Project, sent the American Family Association this video. Almost every day, some 40 people show up at DFW to welcome home the soldiers. As they depart customs and enter the main terminal, you can hear the applause by retirees and veterans. More than 750,000 service men and women have been greeted in this way as part of the Welcome Home Project. Some of them specifically ask that their return to the U.S. be routed through DFW.

If you live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and you would like to greet soldiers returning home, you can get information about gates and arrival times by calling 972-574-0392.

Also, if you would like to send a "Thank You"! to the former President for his support of our military, go to the AFA website. Over 99,000 have signed up since Wednesday.

As always, please remember to keep our troops and their families in your prayers!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Boycott Letters to Supporters of Planned Parenthood

Write a letter to the corporation that supports Planned Parenthood. Tell them:

Giving money to organizations that promote and provide abortion, even if the money is not used for that purpose, frees up other funds for abortion purposes and gives your stamp of approval to their abortion related activities. By funding Planned Parenthood, you unwittingly support everything they do. You are supporting the work of the abortion industry. Why are you funding Planned Parenthood, allowing them to benefit financially from your patrons who do not believe in what they do?
 
The words Planned Parenthood sound benign, but PP is, in fact, the largest promoter of abortion in the world. Smaller PP clinics that do not provide abortion "services" refer the woman to another abortion provider. PP in the USA gets about $100 million each year in federal funds alone. Our tax money pays for abortion.

Stats from ALL (American Life League):
Updated February 5, 2008

Planned Parenthood’s income break-down for 2006-2007 fiscal year

  • PP clinic income: $356.9 million
  • PP Government grants and contracts: $336.7 million
  • Total profit: $114.8 million
  • Total income: $1.02 billion

2006 Planned Parenthood "service" numbers

  • Number of abortions (medical and surgical): 289,750
  • Total number of abortions per week: 5,572
  • Adoption referrals: 2,410
  • Ratio of adoption referrals to abortions: 1 per 120

2007 Planned Parenthood Annual Survey


  • Total number of PP clinics: 855
  • Total number of non-express clinics: 814
  • Express clinics: 41
  • Total number of PP clinics that perform surgical and/or medical abortions: 287
  • Total number of affiliates: 108
  • Number of clinics that started doing abortions in 2007: 55

According to Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life:


The clock is ticking . . . In the USA alone, 

  • One baby is aborted every 26 seconds
  • 137 babies are aborted every hour
  • 3,304 babies are aborted every day
  • 23,196 babies are aborted every week
  • 100,516 babies are aborted every month

And the statistics could be higher because
all numbers reported are voluntary; there are no laws requiring abortionists to report to any national agency the numbers of abortions they perform. 2005-2008 are estimates of 1,206,200 annually. The statistics are provided by the Alan Guttmacher Institute (a special affiliate to Planned Parenthood), which actively collects the abortion data directly from providers. 

National Right to Life
compares AGI stats to indicates that the real figures could be worse than AGI reports since they are an affiliate of Planned Parenthood.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Boycotting Planned Parenthood Supporters

Planned Parenthood considers itself the nation's leading sexual and reproductive health care provider. But, in fact, Planned Parenthood counts on failed birth control to support its ever growing abortion industry.

Over the last 18 years, boycotting its supporters has cost Planned Parenthood about $40,000,000. Life Decisions International has just released its new list of corporations that support Planned Parenthood.

New boycott targets include:
  • AOL
  • Darden Restaurants (Bahama Breeze, The Capital Grille, LongHorn Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Season 52)
  • Franchise Services (PIP, Signal Graphics, Sir Speedy)
  • Hilton Worldwide (Conrad Hotels, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inns/Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Hotels, Homewood Suites)
  • Ignite Restaurants (Brickhouse Tavern+Tap, Joe's Crab Shack)
  • ING (financial services)
  • Kohl's (department stores)
  • Mrs. Fields (cookies)
  • Staples (office/school supplies)
  • Toys "R" Us
  • Trader Joe's (markets/supermarkets)

Corporations continuing as boycott targets:

  • AlphaGraphics
  • Wells Fargo (including Wachovia)
  • Nike
  • Time Warner
  • Bank of America
  • Walt Disney
  • Johnson & Johnson
  • Lost Arrow (Patagonia, etc.)
  • Chevron
  • Nationwide Insurance

Among the charitable groups associated with Planned Parenthood and/or its agenda:

  • Lions Clubs
  • American Cancer Society
  • Easter Seals
  • Boys & Girls Clubs
  • Ronald McDonald House Charities
  • Camp Fire Girls Inc.
  • Girl Scouts
  • Kiwanis Clubs
  • March of Dimes 
  • Muscular Dystrophy Association
  • Rotary Clubs
  • Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
  • Salvation Army 
  • YWCA
  • YMCA
  • America Gives Back (formerly [American] Idol Gives Back)

To get a comprehensive list, go to the Life Decisions International website.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Ella Is Here!


Let me introduce you to Ella, the newest abortion drug the FDA is referring to as "emergency contraception"! 

On Friday, August 13, the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug that supporters call a better morning after pill. Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. will begin selling the abortion drug in the USA under the name "ella" starting in October of this year. I find it ironic that a drug called ella (in Spanish, "she"), which causes an abortion, is supposed to benefit women.
Ulipristal can be used after sexual intercourse at a time later than the traditional Plan B drug, which almost always causes an abortion because it begins working days after conception. Ella is a prescription-only drug. Taken orally within 120 hours (or five days) after intercourse, it is used to prevent a pregnancy following contraceptive failure or unprotected sex. Pro-life groups emphasize that ella will, in fact, cause very early abortions because the beginning of human life is at conception, when egg and sperm unite.

Not only is the ella (ulipristal) untested, but women are being misinformed about how it works. Known as a selective progesterone receptor modulator (SPRM for short), it is the first "emergency contraceptive" that blocks progesterone. 

In a woman whose reproductive system is healthy, the level of progesterone naturally increases after each ovulation. Levels of progesterone remain heightened, if a woman conceives, until the placenta takes over supplying this hormone at around 12 weeks gestation. When conception occurs, the increased progesterone levels prevent the lining of the uterus from shedding and create a healthy environment for implantation and the baby receives the nutrition needed to grow.

By blocking progesterone, ella (ulipristal)  acts as an abortion drug by one of two methods. Either the fertilized egg cannot implant in the uterus because the lack of progesterone makes it a hostile environment or once implanted, this new human being is starved of the nutrients needed to survive. A study in England CONFIRMED that ulipristal acts as an abortifacient, but the FDA ignored this information provided by Americans United for Life, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists, and other Pro-Life groups.

President of Concerned Women for America, Wendy Wright, says that the FDA is misleading women. She believes that approval of the drug was driven by politics and was deliberately released late on a Friday when people are focusing on the weekend when they are paying less attention. She says, "The meager trials done on ella indicate it may cause miscarriages and birth defects. Yet the FDA allowed the HRA Pharma to avoid fully testing the drug so women will be kept in the dark on what kind of serious complications it may cause to her and her baby." 

This isn't medicine. It is politics. Worse yet, it is playing Russian Roulette with a woman's life and targets the life of a new and unique human being!

Just as with the ill-advised approval of the dangerous abortion drug RU 486, the FDA is approving ulipristal with little testing. According to FDA reports, RU 486 has killed at least 13 women and injured more than 1,100 in the United States alone. Although is is considered an "emergency contraceptive", ulipristal basically operates the same way as RU 486.
What effect will ulipristal have on babies who survive the drug? The answer to that is unknown. There is concern for a high rate of potential birth defects for those babies born after failure of the ella pill. Clinical trials concerning potential birth defects were not conducted before the FDA advisory committee issued its recommendation. Despite evidence that ella may cause birth defects in babies that survive, members of an FDA Advisory Committee recommended against long-term studies to determine if it does.

This kind of policy keeps women AND the medical community in the dark about the risks of ulipristal! But that's their point, isn't it? They don't consider that information necessary if a woman desires not to be pregnant. They figure women will accept a drug with a low risk over being pregnant. This thinking is pushed by politics and the American dollar!
Politicians and money makers ignore the real points, however - that a woman cannot make good choices without proper information and that low risk isn't good enough! Women deserve better!

FDA testing standards for reproductive drugs for women are lower than for any other drugs. This is unacceptable. Again, women fall victim to yet another abortion drug approved by the FDA. Don't women deserve better than to be mislead by labeling that indicates the drug is a contraceptive and not an abortion pill? Doesn't approving the drug before adequate testing to determine possible serious complications to women and their babies put abortion politics above women's health? 

Women should be up in arms about this! Why are we sitting here letting this happen?

Friday, August 13, 2010

40 Days

Count down, America! Only 39 more days until the beginning of our 40 day vigil for life. 40 Days for Life Austin will hold vigil outside of 3 clinics. Be vigilant. We know neither the day nor the hour of our Lord's return. Stand vigil with us. Soon there will be sign-ups on the website. Commit to one hour a week - or more.


If you've been sitting on the fence, it's time to choose the Truth. It will set you free. The Master WILL come when we least expect it. What will you be doing when He comes? "Maranatha, Lord Jesus! Maranatha!"

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Keeping Christ at the Center

The AT&T Center in San Antonio was filled with 10,250 people on Saturday. Father John Corapi, with his shaved head and black eyebrows and goatee, got down to the business at hand. His booming voice resounded through the convention center.
“Let me just take the gloves off. I’m too old and too tired and I don’t care anymore about playing silly games. We’re witnessing before our very eyes, the destruction of Western civilization — by our own hand.”

Fr. Corapi covered multiple no-nonsense topics included gay marriage, abortion, politics and the perils of socialism. The 63-year-old priest also addressed the spread of watered-down Catholicism. No topic was off limits. He delivered his four talks without apology and his fervor for conservative social values resonated with the audience. People from as far as California and Canada were there to hear him speak.

A member of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, Fr. Corapi lives in Montana, the base of his ministry which has touched people all over the world. He is in the difficult process of writing his autobiography, painfully reliving his sinful days as a playboy and real estate tycoon in Hollywood, the loss of his fortune to a cocaine addiction, and homelessness on the streets of LA. It will include, of course, his dramatic conversion that led him to the priesthood in 1991.


Saturday's event was a fundraiser for Alexander House, a San Antonio-based ministry that promotes traditional marriage. Corapi's four lectures at the AT&T Center spoke of the need for deep renewal in this country. He encouraged the audience to take steps to change the Culture of Death predicting the loss of many souls if we choose to ignore it. “What are you willing to do to save a soul?” he  asked. “Sacrificial love is what separates the men from the boys. You love to the degree you’re willing to sacrifice.”  His call was for us to fight the good fight and to "offer it up" in order to impact the culture - to make a difference.

Fr. Corapi wanted all to see that our country has left its moral foundation. His talks were also a call to keep Christ at the center of our lives. What a breath of fresh air in this polluted, pornographic culture!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Fearfully, Wonderfully Made

The bible tells us that we are fearfully, wonderfully made in Psalm 139. God is our incredible Creator! Do we really believe this? I found this on a blog via Facebook and was blown away by what I found.
How big is our God? He spoke the universe into being. He arranged the stars in the heavens. He knitted our bodies together with complexity and wonder. Such order does not come about by chance. A God Who has created all things also has the power to hold things together even when they seem to be falling apart. Our loving Creator also sustains us.

This is what I find so amazing. There are proteins in the human body called laminins. They are, according to Wikipedia, "an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue." Laminins LITERALLY hold us together. They are molecules that hold the cells of the body together. Without them, we would absolutely fall apart. But what is so amazing is what they look like!

The "glue" that holds each of us together is in the shape of a cross. Long before laminins were ever discovered, St. Paul penned these words, 
He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ~ Colossians 1:15-17
Very LITERALLY, we are held together - one cell to another - by the cross. How much more convincing could the mark of our Creator be? God knew the structure of the "glue" that would hold us together long before He breathed life into Adam and longer still before His Only Son would suffer and die on a cross.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Wake Up! Midnight Is Fast Approaching!!!

What is our country coming to? Is it too late for the Culture as Michael Vorst seems to think? Acceptance of sexual perversion was the downfall of Sodom and Gomorrah. What makes us think that this culture - filled with death and sexual perversion - would, unlike Sodom and Gomorrah, be exempt from Divine Justice?

We must be prepared to stand strong and bear whatever it takes to witness to the Truth. Last Sunday's Gospel prophetically says that we must be prepared for the Master's return.

. . . Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be . . . Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master's return . . . Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival . . . You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come . . .Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute (the) food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so . . . But if that servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant's master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful . . . Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more. ~ Luke 12:32-48 (NAB)

Much of this Real Catholic TV video re-iterates what Fr. John Corapi said this last Saturday at the conference in San Antonio. Fr. Corapi spoke emphatically on the need to stand against the culture's approval of evil and the need for us to evangelize. He reminded us that when God's people were unfaithful, they were sent into exile. We must be good stewards of the Faith. Know the Truths of the Faith. Build it up in those whose faith is weak by speaking the Truth. Fight against the present evils of this world. Do not hoard the Faith, thinking you are secure in your salvation, by burying the talents given to you until the Master's return. Be the good and faithful servant by witnessing to the Faith and you will multiply with His Grace the talents He has entrusted to you. 
"Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more." (Luke 12:48)

What are you doing to prepare for the Master's return? Wake up! Midnight is fast approaching. Steal yourselves against the present evils by immersing yourself in the Faith - both spiritually and intellectually - completely. Fortify your intellect and will with Grace and Knowledge of the Faith to stand strong as a witness (martyr). The time will come. As Michael Vorst says,
"The clock is running out. A great awakening is needed . . . We cannot lose the war for our souls. Get to your loved ones. Invigorate the strong, strengthen the weak, and shore up the lapsed. This must become the primary focus of our conversations in our homes. . . . What is going on is a marshaling of the church - a concentrating - a process by which those who adhere to the faith are being more densely packed - more solid - so that they will be able to resist . . . Be living Catholics. Pray for courage - superhuman courage.  . . .This is your chance - the moment planned and prepared for you from all eternity - to shine brighter than the stars of heaven. With what love will your heavenly Father behold your light in the darkness of so much evil!"

A Prophet for Our Time

This last weekend, I went to San Antonio with a friend to hear Fr. John Corapi speak. We left for San Antonio on Friday morning and made it to the book signing at the Sheraton Gunter Hotel downtown. My friend and I actually sneaked through the line a second time so she could get Fr. Corapi to sign her bible as well.
In this photo, he has just finished signing her bible and is getting ready to sign the insert for a CD series of his on the Holy Spirit.

After the book signing, we checked into the Drury Plaza Hotel a few blocks away. It was right on the River Walk so we made our way down and joined all the other sweaty people. It was so hot and there isn't much of a breeze along the river. At least there was shade - the much coveted shade that drops the temp just a few degrees. We made our way to the shopping mall and we each had an extra large Strawberry Lemonade Julius to help cool us down.

Then we were off to happy hour and dinner back at the hotel. We took much needed showers, we got a good night of sleep to get up early for breakfast.

Soon we were headed to the AT&T center - home of the San Antonio Spurs. We made it to our seats just before Fr. Corapi was introduced. This man is a much needed prophet for our times. The topic of his addresses was "Life, Love and the Purpose of Our Existence." The event was sponsored by Alexander House, and supported by Guadalupe Radio.

Fr. Corapi gave 4 talks in all - material for another post.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Abortion Is Worse Than Rape

Three fallacies about women who conceived a child in rape:
  1. Most women would want an abortion in case of rape
  2. Women who are raped would be better off getting an abortion
  3. The child isn't worth having
"Every person has value, identity and purpose. An infinite price was payed for each of us," says Rebecca Kiessling, pro-life speaker who was conceived in rape. About women who conceived a child in rape, Rebecca says,
"The ones who have the child express that there is something very healing about having something beautiful come out of something really awful. The ones who abort say it was far more difficult to overcome the abortion than it was the rape."
Married and mother of 5 (2 adopted), Rebecca Kiessling travels all over the world to speak on behalf of the unborn, especially those conceived in rape. 
Interview with Rebecca Kiessling on August 3, 2010
Catholic TV

"Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice." All the people shall say, "Amen!"  ~ Deuteronomy 27:19 (NRSV)
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, . . . Deuteronomy 30:19 (NRSV)
Psalm 139
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"
even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.  ~ Psalm 139 (NRSV)

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Liberty or License

It's not about YOU! It has never been about YOU! It will never be about YOU unless you lose your focus on God. What is "it"? It is the meaning of life. The meaning of life can only be found in the One Who gives life - the One Who is Life itself. In Him alone we live and move and have our very being. Since He is the Author of Life, we are ultimately directed toward Him. To be directed toward ourselves is, in fact, self-destruction. The ultimate sin against God is to destroy life because all life, all freedom, and all happiness comes from Him

Our inalienable or God-given rights are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Even the founding fathers of our nation knew that. Abortion, infanticide and euthanasia are against our God-given right to life. The willing destruction of life, no matter how you try to justify it, is license to kill, not liberty to choose. This so-called "freedom of choice" actually robs us of our liberty because we become enslaved to self. If the law says we can kill, what is there to keep us from doing anything else we simply want? That is not liberty. It is nothing but self-idolatry.

If it is only about ME, how can there be happiness? The human person is made to love - and to love unselfishly. The choice to do simply what I want only enslaves me to myself. And slavery can only bring me unhappiness. Ultimately life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness depend on our choice to love in a way that goes beyond self - to another. To love beyond oneself is to choose the cross. That is what it means to be truly free. It is only through the cross that we find the Resurrection.

To claim the right to abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia, and to recognize that right in law, means to attribute to human freedom a perverse and evil significance: that of an absolute power over others and against others. This is the death of true freedom. ~ John Paul II, The Gospel of Life

Friday, August 6, 2010

Elena Kagan's Confirmation Appalling

Fr. Frank Pavone, the National Director of Priests for Life, issued a statement yesterday regarding the Senate vote to confirm Elena Kagan as the new Supreme Court Justice.

“The confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice who will not uphold the right to life of the unborn is an opportunity to repeat a simple truth: Any court decision, like Roe vs. Wade and others that affirm it, which say we have a right to do wrong, lack all juridical validity.  They are null and void in principle, because they call violence a right.  We have no obligation to obey them, and in fact, must resist them by conscientious objection.”

The pitiful vote was 63 to 37. The Culture of Death continues to dominate. Shame on the few Republicans who voted for her.



Some great statements about Elena Kagan by Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas.