Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Reproductive Freedom For All Amendment: Learn the truth about Proposal 3

 
The Reproductive Freedom For All Amendment (RFFA)–the Proposal 3 that will be on this November’s Michigan ballot–is so extreme that if people really knew what it was about, they would absolutely oppose it. Unfortunately, those promoting it are trying to make it sound like it’s about protecting women’s right to healthcare. That is a flat-out lie, one of many lies they are trying to fool Michigan voters with. Learn the facts, and then help prevent this monstrosity of an amendment from being added to Michigan's state Constitution.

The biggest lie they are telling you is that if the RFFA fails to pass, women whose lives are at risk from a pregnancy will not have access to abortion. That is simply not true. Michigan’s current ban on abortion (set in 1931) already states clearly that there is an exception for the life of the mother.

If the RFFA (also known as the “anything goes abortion amendment”) passes:

  • Abortion will be allowed for any reason at any time up until the full 9th month of pregnancy
  • Abortions on minors would be allowed with no parental consent
  • Licensing and health and safety requirements for abortion facilities would be removed
  • Doctors would no longer be the only ones authorized to perform abortions. With RFFA, anyone, including untrained people, can perform an abortion.
  • With doctors now out of the picture, abortion pills that can be bought online would be commonplace, with no medical oversight to screen for ectopic or other high-risk situations, leaving women on their own to take potentially perilous actions with no medical supervision
  • The current ban on Partial-Birth abortion would be nullified
  • The Born-Alive Infant Protection Act (which requires life-saving medical treatment and care for babies who survive an attempted abortion) would be cancelled, meaning those live babies would simply be thrown away and left to die
  • Conscience protection rights for medical professionals would be erased
  • Your tax dollars will directly fund abortions

 If RFFA is defeated:

  • Women will still have access to standard birth control
  • Women will still have access to excellent quality healthcare (even more so, in fact)
  • An exception to save the life of the mother in a high-risk situation will still be made
  • Women will not be prosecuted for having an abortion or a miscarriage, as the RFFA proponents would have you believe they would be
  • Babies will be saved

There is so much more to this radical amendment than proponents would like you to know. For more information, go to www.supportmiwomenandchildren.org

Michigan voters, please help to defeat this awful amendment, and help protect and save the lives of both women and babies. Vote NO on Proposal 3!

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Fr. Frank Pavone to Speak at Focus on Life Event: Pro-life Cause More Important Than Ever


On Thursday, August 16, 2018, at 6 pm, Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life will be the keynote speaker at the 2018 Focus on Life annual benefit dinner at the San Marino Club in Troy, MI.

Fr. Pavone, along with Master of Ceremonies Bob Dutko, host of Detroit’s top Christian talk radio show, know it's important to attend this special dinner event because now, more than ever, supporters of pro-life causes need to remain vigilant. Despite pro-life victories in the White House and US Congress, there are valiant efforts underway to undo the progress made in promoting legal protection of human life from conception to natural death. Being equipped with the right information and guidance is vital.

In hearing one of the most eloquent and influential speakers on pro-life causes, Fr. Pavone will remind us of the challenge at hand, and what all pro-life supporters need to do to keep the positive momentum going, especially with the November elections looming fast.

The cost for individuals is $35 ($45 at the door) and $350 for a table of 10. Tickets may be purchased online at www.rtlmacomb.org or checks may be made out to and mailed to Right to Life Macomb County Northwest, P.O. Box 380402, Clinton Twp., MI 48038. Either form of registration must be received by August 9, 2018.

Register now for an evening of fellowship, good food, and what's sure to be an interesting talk! For more information, contact Gino Vitale at 586-344-1150 or Mary Peleman at 313-296-1770.

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Happy Flag Day 2018!

Clearly, I have fallen off my regular blogging ritual! Where does the time go? The days get more and more crowded all the time, and unfortunately, I have to let some things go by the wayside, like regular updates here.

But I wanted to jump on today to acknowledge a day that is very close to my heart, as long-time readers of this silly little blog may know. It's Flag Day!

Since I was little I have always loved this day (for more reasons than one, as some may know:-) But one of the thrills I remember as a young kid was seeing so many houses in my neighborhood flying Old Glory so majestically on this day. I loved how television stations would announce Flag Day in between commercials. I loved the respect all this showed for our Flag and the meaning behind it, namely freedom, pride, patriotism. It drove home for me from a young age that our country is special, blessed by God, and that we are blessed to live in it.

It has saddened me over the years to see fewer people flying their flags on this day. Maybe they don't own them anymore. Maybe they don't even know it's Flag Day. I certainly rarely hear it announced anywhere anymore. But worse is to see the growing disrespect and disdain for the Flag that is popping up all around. Some universities have even attempted to ban it altogether, while some student governments have ruled that it can be flown on campus as long as it is accompanied by a Gay Pride flag. That's sad, because it clearly means students don't realize the inclusivity for which the U.S. Flag stands. 

There is greater vocalizing these days that the Flag is divisive, representative of oppression and racism and any other ills misanthropes want to throw at it. Now we also have people refusing to stand for it as our National Anthem is sung, which is truly disheartening to see.

But for me, the Flag will always represent what America is, the greatest force for good this world has ever known, and I for one, will always fly my flag proudly. I hope others will too.

                                     Happy Flag Day!!!


                                                               



Monday, May 7, 2018

Michigan House Bill to honor suicide should be rejected

Not that I'm on any kind of suicide kick or anything, but maybe to illuminate the point of my last post, a bill introduced in the Michigan legislature last week actually wants to honor suicide. 

HB 5914, introduced by Rep. Sara Cambensy, D-Marquette,  aims to designate a portion of M-95 as the "Rep. John Kivela Memorial Highway." Kivela, a Marquette Democrat, died last year by committing suicide. 

Understandably, Cambensy, a fellow Marquette resident and colleague of Kivela, would feel a strong sense of wanting to remember him. But we already have a suicide epidemic in America. Look at the number of young people killing themselves as a "solution" to bullying or other challenges that life presents to them. Where are they getting the direction that suicide is never the answer to anything, no matter how intense the problem?

Publicly honoring those who kill themselves would only romanticize and glamorize suicide. Unstable people contemplating such a devastating action may see a highway memorial as encouragement that taking one's own life is not only acceptable, but noble.

Taking it a step further, someone seeking vainglory of any kind may see the naming of a stretch of highway after themselves as pretty appealing. Since they may not achieve that honor through the actual type of accomplishment normally required, why not consider other means of attention, especially the type that would  live on in perpetuity in such a public way? Obviously, were HB 5914 to pass, suicide would be moved to the list of the type of accomplishment that can get one the attention and praise he seeks.

The obvious point, of course, is that suicide is a tragedy, not a heroic action deserving of honor. In no way should the Michigan House even consider passing HB 5914. 

What they could consider passing though is HB 5923, also introduced last week, which asks to designate a portion of I-94 in Jackson County as the "Corrections Officers Jack Budd and Josephine McCallum Memorial Highway" in honor of the two prison guards killed in the line of duty in 1987. 

 

Honoring those who lose their lives against their will while serving others should take precedence over those who choose to take their own lives, no matter how tragic the circumstances that led to that fatal choice. Only by rejecting suicide in all ways can we even hope to restore the full value of life that has been lost in a culture all too eager to embrace death.

HB 5914 needs to be rejected.

Monday, April 9, 2018

Normalizing suicide is nothing to celebrate



The news of multiple deaths and injuries to the youth hockey team in Canada is gut wrenching. These young people and the accompanying adults were on their way to a game this past Friday, probably just enjoying the moment, when the unthinkable happened, snuffing out lives way too early, without any indication of imminent tragedy. My heart breaks for all those in unimaginable grief right now, especially given the shocking nature of the tragedy. 

But the devastating event that happened to the hockey team has me thinking of another tragedy that recently unfolded in Canada. It, too, involves death, but, in this case, takes on a wholly different tone of tragedy because the two people who died purposely set out to end their lives under Canada’s permissive euthanasia law.

In a recent interview with The Globe and Mail, George and Shirley Brickenden reminisced about their first date – a "fairy-tale evening that led Mr. Brickenden to propose marriage six days later". The Brickendens knew that six days after this interview they would be dead. On March 27, George and Shirley died holding hands in their own bed in a Toronto retirement home. Their children watched from the foot of the bed as their parents drew their last breaths at almost the same moment. The couple died by lethal injection administered by a “physician”.

Suicide is terrible in itself. But to aid someone in procuring their own death is profoundly wrong, and yet another sad reminder of the culture of death in which we live. One might use the argument that the couple was in great pain and bedridden, which still wouldn’t justify suicide, but, "two nights before their death,” the Globe and Mail reports, the Brickendens “went out for one last date at Opus, their favourite restaurant in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood. The next night, they bid farewell to more than 20 members of their immediate family at a bon voyage dinner at their daughter Pamela's apartment."

I’ve been to my share of farewell parties. They're usually bittersweet, and can even be painful, especially at the end of the party when it’s time to say goodbye to the guest of honor, who is usually simply just going to another job or moving out of town. It's hard to fathom the type of mindset George and Shirley’s loved ones must have been in when that party came to an end. 

For the media to romanticize and applaud the couple's decision to end their own lives indicates how eroded the sacredness of life has become. We're no longer supposed to celebrate things like large families or patriotism or simple acts of chivalry, but are expected to embrace murder-suicide as something good because it allows us to shirk any amount of suffering - something we're supposed to reject at all costs. It's the quality of life that has become sacred - not life itself.  

And how far have we fallen that the children would not try to talk their parents out of this decision? Well, maybe they did try to no avail, but to then have a party? Talk about throwing in the towel. Even the Dean of Toronto's St. James Cathedral admitted he had "without hesitation" supported the Brickenden’s wish for their funeral to be held at the Anglican church. When a supposed house of God normalizes and embraces the throwing away of life that God creates, we had better take notice and we had better take a stand. 

A similar case took place last year in Oregon when Charlie and Francie Emerick held hands as they died together in their bed after taking lethal doses of medication obtained under the state’s Death with Dignity law (actually over 1,300 similar cases have taken place since Oregon’s law passed). And as happened with the Brickendens, the Emerick’s children treated their parents’ self-imposed death as something noble. Their daughter, Sher Safran, even documented and filmed her parents’ conversations and preparations right up to their deaths. 

As Time reports, “It was supposed to be a remembrance only for the family, but they ultimately decided to have the clips edited into a film that could be shared outside of the immediate family." The result is "Living & Dying: A Love Story," a documentary that details the background of the Emericks’ final decision and their resolve in carrying it out. In other words, a documentary that attempts to put a sparkling spin on darkness.

“I thought it was brave and beautiful,” said Carol Knowles, a member of Francie Emerick’s book club, of the documentary. “You could see the care with which Charlie and Francie had made that decision.” If only Carol could have seen the tragedy unfolding before her very eyes. Maybe she would have been the voice the Emericks needed to hear.

“They had no regrets, no unfinished business,” the Emericks' daughter added. “It felt like their time, and it meant so much to know they were together.”

While the devil works feverishly to convince the world that death is something romantic at best, no big deal at worst, I wonder if, like with post-abortion syndrome, eventually members of these families are going to have significant emotional problems associated with the type of complicated grief that comes with major guilt. Unless they are sociopaths (which I doubt), they will only be able to stay in denial of the wrongfulness of these actions and their complicity in it for so long. At least, not to wish regret on them, I hope they come to that realization of wrongfulness, because that would signify hope that this darkness can eventually be overcome by the light of truth – the truth that life is sacred, and that even the suffering that often accompanies life is something to be valued.

The whole thing is abhorrent, but more than anything, it's just sad. No doubt abortion doctors would disagree. They probably see this rejection of the life that God created for us as an opportunity to expand their business. Now they can get them coming and going. In the meantime, as long as certain clergy, health professionals, and family members would have everyone believe that ending life is a good thing – and unless more of us stand up loudly for God’s truth - things will only get worse. At the very least, celebrating self-imposed death comes off looking like a slap in the face to those who are experiencing grief against their will. 



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Friday, April 6, 2018

Leftist censorship and misogyny alive and well...


Next week, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg will appear before two congressional committees to discuss revelations that Facebook has lost control of the data of millions (or even billions) of users. But there's another scandal going on at Facebook: Conservative speech is being systematically targeted and censored.

It's been happening over many months. Earlier this year, Facebook announced a major change to its algorithm that took conservative posts out of your news feed. Zuckerberg said the change was made to promote "news that is trustworthy, informative, and local."

For many years now, conservative sites have been noting the negative impact of Facebook's algorithm changes, as their pages and posts "coincidentally" reach a smaller and smaller audience. Facebook also allows less and less traffic to move from Facebook to conservative homepages.

Recent evidence of this is revealed by what Facebook did to Breitbart, one of the largest conservative sites in the nation. Facebook is now tagging every post that links to a Breitbart story with an "about this article" info bubble that calls Breitbart a "far-right" website, and then says: "The site has published a number of falsehoods and conspiracy theories, as well as intentionally misleading stories. Its journalists are ideologically driven, and some of its content has been called misogynistic, xenophobic, and racist..."

As an aside, it makes me laugh that Breitbart is called misogynistic by Facebook while it completely ignored Hillary Clinton's recent comments in India where she actually said American women who voted for Trump did so because their husbands and male bosses coerced them into doing so. If that isn't hating on women, I don't know what is. But I guess a "champion" of women like Hillary is allowed such appalling speech as long as she touts the far left agenda every chance she gets.

As for Facebook and the other rulers of Silicon Valley, Congress may need to act to draw lines around what is or is not permissible, including how much of our own data is accessed by and sold to vendors for their own uses. But each of us needs to take a look at what we put out on social media; what we think it means to others; what we think is meant by social media connections with others; how we weigh it, and how much we can be manipulated by it. Above all, we need to be responsible for knowing what we can and should do to limit access to our own data if we don't want this sort of thing happening in the first place. 

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Left's latest lunge at free speech will leave you speechless


Oral arguments took place today in a critical Supreme Court case that will decide whether the government has the power to force citizens and pro-life organizations to promote abortion.

The case involves three pro-life crisis pregnancy centers who are fighting a California law that requires them to promote abortion. In general, California AB 775 requires licensed medical centers that offer free, pro-life help to pregnant women to post a disclosure in printed and digital materials, and at both the entrance to their clinic and a visible location within the waiting area saying that the state of California provides free or low-cost abortion and contraception services.

The disclosure must also include a phone number for a county office that refers women to Planned Parenthood and others in the abortion industry, and forces unlicensed pregnancy centers to disclose they are not recognized by the state of California as an official medical facility. The notice must be in a font size and/or color that draws more attention to the disclosure than to the other words on the page, which obscure and crowd out their pro-life speech. Failure to comply carries civil fines up to $1,000 per violation.

To force crisis pregnancy centers to speak a message that goes directly against their religious beliefs and mission to save lives is a shocking and disturbing violation of the First Amendment’s protection of free speech – both the right to speak and the right to not speak.

The pregnancy centers subjected to this attempt to silence them provide free care and resources to thousands of Californians. Many of these women are alone and desperate for support, and a pro-life pregnancy resource center may be the only non-abortive option available for disadvantaged mothers who wish to choose life.

It's no secret that pro-faith, pro-life, and pro-family citizens and organizations are coming under increasingly hostile attack. It would be a serious blow to both the pro-life movement and free speech overall if the state is allowed to require forced speech from any citizen or organization. The Supreme Court should declare the law unconstitutional so as to block other states from following in California’s steps.

Can you imagine the racket we'd hear if Planned Parenthood were forced to advertise on its website and "clinics" where women can go to save their babies’ lives? I’m sure the noise would be deafening.

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