Planned Parenthood has worked tirelessly to ensure the long term viability of abortion-on-demand in America. With a mantra of “between a woman and her doctor” they have earned the title of America’s largest abortion mill. Perhaps now they will also become America’s largest infanticide provider as well. Some are calling this “post-birth abortion,” but that is erroneous. It is infanticide just as surely as practiced by the worshipers of Moloch in ancient history.
A botched abortion survivor can be a perfectly healthy newborn. Botched abortions do not feature dismembered torsos; those are successful abortions. The result of a botched abortion is a patient rather than a victim.
What is Planned Parenthood’s response? The life or death of a survivor should be determined by the birth mother, her doctor and her family. “We believe that any decision that’s made should be up to the family…the woman, her family and the physician,” said Snow. She was not speaking for herself, but for Planned Parenthood. (It is up to interpretation for her, as a spokesperson for PP, to say “I am not an abortion provider.” She may not personally do abortions, but she is a de facto provider via her company.)
What is Planned Parenthood’s reasoning? A trauma center might be too far away to help the child.
So, to wrap this up, Planned Parenthood’s official stance is if a child survives the first attempt to kill it, the mother, her family and her doctor should decide whether to kill if for good. If they decide to let it live but the logistics of getting the baby to a trauma center are too inconvenient, well, it’s into the bucket for the baby.
According to Planned Parenthood a child’s desirability determines if he or she should live or die, but, essentially, its desirability determines its very humanity.
So, kudos to Planned Parenthood for their logical consistency in defending infanticide. Those who support the right of children to be born have long argued that if life is not from conception (or at the very, very least implantation) assignment of “living” is arbitrary. Planned Parenthood understands this and is merely being consistent in their view. If a child can be killed in the womb, there are no convincing arguments, either logical or a moral, as to why a child cannot be killed on the table, abandoned in the trash, burned alive in an incinerator or poisoned in the nursery.
“With their soulful four-part harmonies, poetic lyrics and indelible melodies, it’s easy to see why the Atlanta Journal Constitution would hail von Grey as “nothing short of stunning.” They sound like they were born to play together – and, in fact, they were. The four sisters have been playing music nearly their entire lives. Classically trained from an early age, the Atlanta-based quartet – Kathryn, Annika, Fiona and Petra von Grey – have built on that foundation by performing upwards of 200 shows in the past two years, from recurring residency tours at intimate venues throughout the southeastern U.S. to supporting gigs with such artists as Sarah McLachlan.” –from the von Grey website
Petra, Fiona, Annika and Kathryn von Grey [Image credit]
Each of the four is a classically trained strings player (search YouTube for “von Grey Water Music” for a sample) and a multi-instrumentalist. Middle sisters Annika and Fiona are the primary songwriters and vocalists, with youngest sister Petra occasionally backing though she needs to be included more often in my opinion.
I just discovered these girls yesterday afternoon, but they are already in my music rotation. They are really, really good. Fans of The Civil Wars should give them a listen, but von Grey has a much more full sound, think Mumford or Avett. von Grey has already been featured on Letterman and this month at SXSW. Regarding von Grey it seems safe to say, “Stay tuned.”
(Would not be surprised if “Shane” becomes very popular.)
You can get von Grey’s EP below. Currently only $4.95.
Like most people raised in the suburbs of a metropolitan area, nearly all of our food growing up was a product of the industrialized food system. Neither my family’s nor my wife’s meals were dominated by McDonald’s or Burger King. But that really does not matter since most food in grocery stores is processed by the same companies in the same way.
Documentaries like Fresh and books by Joel Salatin convinced me we needed to begin the shift to organic food (although we still currently enjoy lots of processed sweets and desserts).
I’m using the word “organic” not in the same way the USDA uses it, which can be sketchy. In my use consider locally grown, as little chemical fertilizer as possible, as little insecticide as possible, as little transport as possible, as little processing as possible. Give me eggs from chickens walking around the pasture, beef from grass-fed cows rather than corn and carrion fed cows, pork from oinkers in the field rather than from a cage shot-up with anti-biotics from birth.
The first time we had organic chicken from a local butcher, Sonya had prepared a dish we had frequently eaten. After one bite of the chicken we are all looking at each other asking, “If this is chicken, what in the world have we been eating?”
It is the same with farm direct, organic eggs. First you notice how much harder the shell is than a store-bought, industrialized egg. Then a bright orange yolk is staring up at you instead of a pale-yellow something and you wonder, “If this is a real egg, what are those other things and what has been laying them?” You may not want to know.
So we are shifting toward organic. Here are three reasons to consider it.
(Compare the above “free range sow” to the sow in the video below.)
1. Organic food tastes better and is better for you.
Undertand the process of industrializing the food chain requires many rounds of anti-biotics to prevent diseases in the confined spaces. The medicine, stress, and often toxic-environment all contribute to the shrink-wrapped package cooly displayed at the local grocery store.
There are reasons E-coli originates in the industrial food system.
Then there is the taste. Unless your taste buds are on a permanent vacation the taste difference will be immediate. It will also be for the better.
2. Buying local supports local, small farms.
If the food tasted exactly the same–and it does not–buying local is still a better option, when the option exists. CSAs and farmer’s markets remain great locations to get locally grown produce and meat. It also allows you to meet the local farmer and possibly even visit the farm.
The industrialized food system has no interest at all in your health, unless your loss of it can be directly attributable to their product. As with all things capitalist the bottom line is the bottom line. Profit margins will trump health concerns every time. Agribusiness needs my dollars a lot less than Shady Farms.
3. Choosing organic is a means of honoring God’s covenant with the earth.
After the flood of Noah God promised never to destroy the earth and its inhabitants by water. Often overlooked is that God’s covenant is not only with humanity, but with the animals as well.
Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, “Understand that I am confirming My covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you–birds, livestock and all the wildlife of the earth that are with you–all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark. (Genesis 9:8-10, HCSB)
The verses immediately preceding affirm these animals are provided for food.
Proverbs says “The righteous care for the needs of their animals” (12:10, NIV). This does not only refer to dogs and cats (ie, pets) since pets were not the order of the Old Testament day. The reference is to productive animals like animals used in farming. If a mistreated dog is offensive to you, then mistreated pigs, chickens and cows should be offensive as well. Compassion should exist even if the heart strings are not strummed in the same way.
The following video shows the industrial food system as it works in one Asian country eventually reaching the fast food chains. The sublimity of the soundtrack is a vivid contrast to the processing taking place on screen.
Foodies, share and share some more through my social media buttons! (HT: Kottke)
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Jimmy Kimmel has a segment on his show called “Lie Witness News.” It is similar to other person-on-the-street interviews with this caveat: the interviewer is asking completely bogus questions. Nothing about the questions is true because nothing about them can be true. “What did you think about the debate?” when the debate has not taken place. “Who are you voting for?” when no such office exists.
Image credit: Disney
As Kimmel wryly notes, “We found people who had strong opinions about these imaginary events.”
One thing this demonstrates is people will lie and sometimes continuously if it makes them looks smart. Or if they think it makes them look smart. While this is likely true everywhere, it is doubtless true on Hollywood Boulevard.
“Did you vote in today’s vice-presidential election?”
And then there is this one where one of the liars shows up on the studio audience. He does not escape Kimmel’s attention.
I have never been much of a Ray Comfort fan. Perhaps it has to do with that sad, sad “disproving evolution with a banana” video, or perhaps it was a sad, sad debate performance I witnessed a few years back. Either way there was not much of a compelling reason to keep up with his stuff.
A screen grab from “180.”
A couple of weeks ago, my youngest daughter told me about a short documentary she had just seen, titled “180.” As I had just written on the Holocaust (here and here) she thought I would be interested. The movie, she said, featured this guy just talking to people on the street about the Holocaust and abortion. It was very persuasive, she said. I should watch it, she said.
Then she sent the link.
When I saw Ray Comfort at the very beginning I winced. But, since I promised to watch it and she was so adamant it was good, I let it roll.
And I was pleasantly surprised.
Filling the full breadth of his person-on-the-street interview style, Comfort takes his microphone to an area resembling Venice Beach. The subject is the Holocaust. Questions focus on personal responsibility and reasoning. Would you have followed orders? How far? Where would you draw the line? Why?
He then turns to abortion as the person-on-the-street realizes, slowly at times, the distinct and unarguable parallels.
A couple of times I thought Comfort was veering into politics, but he did not. He does during a section squeeze in his “Way of the Master” style of street evangelism. Like that part or loathe it, I will say the man is bold.
This is about half-an-hour. It is worth the time if for no other reason to be reminded of the inconsistencies we all face if we think incompletely about issues.
Captain Katie Petronio is a Marine Corps officer with years of experience including tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. She is against women serving in infantry positions in the Marines, saying, “As a combat-experienced Marine officer, and a female, I am here to tell you that we are not all created equal, and attempting to place females in the infantry will not improve the Marine Corps as the Nation’s force-in-readiness or improve our national security.” [Emphasis added.]
Writing in the Marine Corps Gazette (the Professional Journal of the U.S. Marines) Petronio questions the source of this call to equality since, “I am not personally hearing female Marines, enlisted or officer, pounding on the doors of Congress claiming that their inability to serve in the infantry violates their right to equality.”
She provides some perspective:
Shockingly, this isn’t even a congressional agenda. This issue is being pushed by several groups, one of which is a small committee of civilians appointed by the Secretary of Defense called the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Service (DACOWITS). Their mission is to advise the Department of Defense (DoD) on recommendations, as well as matters of policy, pertaining to the well-being of women in the Armed Services from recruiting to employment. Members are selected based on their prior military experience or experience with women’s workforce issues. I certainly applaud and appreciate DACOWITS’ mission; however, as it pertains to the issue of women in the infantry, it’s very surprising to see that none of the committee members are on active duty or have any recent combat or relevant operational experience relating to the issue they are attempting to change. I say this because, at the end of the day, it’s the active duty servicemember who will ultimately deal with the results of their initiatives, not those on the outside looking in. [Emphasis added.]
In other words, this is a political agenda having neither the best interests of women, the Marine Corps or the country in view.
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is lifting the military’s ban on women in combat, which will open up hundreds of thousands of additional front-line jobs to them, senior defense officials said on Wednesday.
The groundbreaking decision overturns a 1994 Pentagon rule that restricts women from artillery, armor, infantry and other such combat roles, even though in reality women have found themselves in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, where more than 20,000 have served. As of last year, more than 800 women had been wounded in the two wars and more than 130 had died.
How long and how would a 125 lb. woman would last with such a load? [Image Credit]
equality and for recognizing the role women have, and will continue to play, in the defense of our nation,” said Democratic Senator Patty Murray from Washington, the outgoing head of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
I am sorry. The purpose of the military is to demonstrate equality? I thought it is to provide for the national defense.
Susan Farrell, who served on a Department of Defense advisory committee that recommended that more jobs be opened to women, lauded the decision as representing “a chance for women to sink or swim on their own merits. That’s all women have ever asked for: a chance to be as patriotic, as giving of themselves, as the men are.”
It sounds like Susan is ready for more women to die.
Twenty years ago, Congress lifted the ban on women flying in attack aircraft, and now the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force all have women pilots—although women don’t serve as special-operations pilots.
Female officers now serve on large submarines, and the Navy has plans to add female enlisted personnel on those vessels. The Navy also will allow women to serve on smaller classes of submarines.
I am not of the opinion women cannot serve or serve with distinction in the military. It is clear they have and can.
I do, however, question the wisdom of putting females, who are, in almost all cases physically weaker than men, in hand-to-hand combat situations. One struggles to fathom repeated instances in which a platoon of females, each carrying 40 pounds of equipment and facing an equal number of enemy males in close combat, emerging victorious time and again.
Certainly my egalitarian friends may cry foul; some may even call me “sexist” or “chauvinistic.” That is fine. I, however, do not consider it a remnant of faltering patriarchy that I am moved, even called, to protect my family, especially my wife and daughters. If we meet a gun or knife wielding mugger on the street I will put myself between them and the attacker until my lifeless body is prone on the sidewalk.
Contrariwise, if I happen to be walking down the sidewalk with a female who, owing to a need to demonstrate equality, inserts herself between the mugger and me, I might consider myself freed and run to live another day. Hey, equality is equality is it not? If she wants to be dead is that not “giving of herself”? Should I also be lifeless so “equality” is clearly demonstrated?
Yes, I delve into hyperbole. A little. Perhaps the logical, non-exaggerated conclusion should, in the end, be considered by those who want to be “equal.” Equal must be equal in the glory and the blood, in the show and the shame.
As the military considers sweeping changes for women in combat, the ongoing epidemic of rape in all branches of the service continues almost unabated. Repeated promises of “zero tolerance” are decreasingly believable with each new scandal. Reports the L.A. Times:
As of this week, 32 basic training instructors at Lackland are under investigation stemming from sexual misconduct allegations and 59 alleged victims have been identified by the base.
Maybe some of those idiots should be in her sights.
A report in mid-November found that a fractured command culture and “leadership gap” at Lackland helped fuel the scandal. Six basic training instructors at the base have been convicted of sexual misconduct dating to 2008 and nine trials are scheduled. Staff Sgt. Eddy C. Soto faces a possible life sentence at trial next week for the alleged rape of a female trainee.
Gen. Mark Welsh III, the Air Force chief of staff, told the House Armed Services Committee, Obscene images, songs and stories “will not be accepted as part of our culture.” Uh, huh. Tell us more, General.
The truth is only by devious intent or a full scale ground war could more women die in combat than currently are raped in the United States military. Estimates place the total number of female rape victims from all branches of the military at half-a-million. As in civilian life, many rapes are not reported and many that are reported are not prosecuted. Until early last year a significant number of victims had to report their attack to the very person who had raped them. That is not so much like civilian life. (Oh, and by the way, what better way to get rid of a potential witness to rape than to re-assign her to the front lines. Bible students might remember a guy named Uriah.)
Although some men are raped as well–usually by heterosexuals–women bear the brunt. If you have not yet seen The Invisible War you simply must take the time to watch it. There are several places to rent or buy it online. It may be available on Netflix now. The trailer is below.
Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice,
members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:
Each time we gather to inaugurate a President we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy. We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional — what makes us American — is our allegiance to an idea articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago:
President Obama takes the oath of office.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Today we continue a never-ending journey to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they’ve never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. (Applause.) The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.
And for more than two hundred years, we have.
Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.
Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce, schools and colleges to train our workers.
Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.
Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.
Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise, our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, these are constants in our character.
But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation and one people. (Applause.)
This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. (Applause.) An economic recovery has begun. (Applause.) America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it — so long as we seize it together. (Applause.)
For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. (Applause.) We believe that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class. We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labor liberate families from the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American; she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own. (Applause.)
We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time. So we must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, reach higher. But while the means will change, our purpose endures: a nation that rewards the effort and determination of every single American. That is what this moment requires. That is what will give real meaning to our creed.
We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. (Applause.) For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn.
We do not believe that in this country freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us at any time may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us. (Applause.) They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great. (Applause.)
We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. (Applause.) Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms.
The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition, we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries, we must claim its promise. That’s how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure — our forests and waterways, our crop lands and snow-capped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.
We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war. (Applause.) Our brave men and women in uniform, tempered by the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage. (Applause.) Our citizens, seared by the memory of those we have lost, know too well the price that is paid for liberty. The knowledge of their sacrifice will keep us forever vigilant against those who would do us harm. But we are also heirs to those who won the peace and not just the war; who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends — and we must carry those lessons into this time as well.
We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of arms and rule of law. We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully –- not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear. (Applause.)
America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe. And we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation. We will support democracy from Asia to Africa, from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom. And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice –- not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity, human dignity and justice.
We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths –- that all of us are created equal –- is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth. (Applause.)
It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law –- (applause) — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity — (applause) — until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia, to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm.
That is our generation’s task — to make these words, these rights, these values of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American. Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life. It does not mean we all define liberty in exactly the same way or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to act in our time. (Applause.)
For now decisions are upon us and we cannot afford delay. We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate. (Applause.) We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect. We must act, knowing that today’s victories will be only partial and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years and 40 years and 400 years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall.
My fellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you today, like the one recited by others who serve in this Capitol, was an oath to God and country, not party or faction. And we must faithfully execute that pledge during the duration of our service. But the words I spoke today are not so different from the oath that is taken each time a soldier signs up for duty or an immigrant realizes her dream. My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride.
They are the words of citizens and they represent our greatest hope. You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course. You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time — not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals. (Applause.)
Let us, each of us, now embrace with solemn duty and awesome joy what is our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.
Thank you. God bless you, and may He forever bless these United States of America. (Applause.)
Remember the recent dust-up over the news outlet posting gun-owner names and addresses online? They took the map offline. Here’s a summary from Reuters:
A New York newspaper pulled the names and addresses of thousands of gun permit holders from its website on Friday, ending a fierce battle over the data published after the Connecticut elementary school massacre.
The Journal News, which serves suburbs just north of New York City in Westchester and Rockland counties, cited in part New York’s new gun control law, which allows permit holders to request confidentiality, for its decision to take the data down.
The newspaper, owned by the Gannett Co, published a map with the names and addresses of permit holders in the areas it serves last month in the aftermath of the massacre of 20 children and six adults at the school in Newtown, Connecticut.
The publication created an uproar among gun enthusiasts, and the Journal News felt threatened enough by the outcry over the map to hire a private security company to protect its employees. State gun-owner groups had called for an advertising boycott until the newspaper removed the information from its website. [Emphasis mine.]
This week the organization Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership reported on a Project Veritas. Members took to the streets–literally–to demonstrate the depths of media hypocrisy on this issue.
Acting under the organizational name Citizens Against Senseless Violence, they contacted select media members and politicians (including Attorney General Eric Holder) offering free yard signs. The signs (pictured) read “This Home Is Proudly Gun Free.”
If this is legit, and it appears to be, you will see on this video as clear an example of duplicitous behavior as you are ever likely to witness. Worth all of your 10 or so minutes.
