March 2006 Archives

Thanks to Dan Lacey.

Although some judge a book by its cover, many look at real-time sales and popularity as an indicator of public support. Consequently, Br. Paul O'Donnell, the Schindler's spiritual advisor, urges Schindler supporters to purchase their book. "It would make a statement that our society is against the killing of the disabled, is against euthanasia, if , by the grace of God, this could be a NY times best seller," he said. "It would make a profound statement."

Last night I had the privilege of speaking with WordNetDaily's Diana Lynne about her book, Terri's Story: The Court-Ordered Death of an American Woman. I have a lot to say about our conversation and the insight Lynne brings to the table but time doesn't permit a full article (today). However, on this anniversary of Terri Schiavo’s death, I would like to provide a brief report to our readers with the hope that they will be motivated to obtain and read Terri's Story.

Lynne's research is exceptional and based upon both hard documentation and extensive interviews with Michael Schiavo, his family members and right-to-die activists as well as interviews with the Schindler family and the legal team that represented them. Lynne is a savvy reporter and an experienced news editor. She knows what questions to ask and presents information factually and in a manner that even her critics will appreciate.

Via Feministe, I've forcibly digested this article by a volunteer of New York City's Haven Coalition. Haven Coalition members house pregnant women who come to New York City seeking late-term abortions. The author, Lynn Harris (a professional writer who is married to a rabbi), convinces me over and over again that certain pro-choice people are simply blind to certain aspects of reality.

Lynn begins by noting,

"When she told me she was stepping out for a smoke, I was briefly, mildly shocked: I mean, this girl is 21 weeks pregnant. But just as quickly, I remembered: After tomorrow, she won't be."

Michael Schiavo has claimed that his wife, Terri, expressed a desire not to be kept alive by artificial means* should she ever be debilitated by an accident or illness. His brother and sister-in-law corroborated that assertion, which Judge George Greer accepted as "clear and convincing evidence" of Terri's wishes.

He continues to represent this assertion to everyone who will listen, claming that Terri wanted her feeding tube removed. But did she? Is there a resonable doubt in his statements?

Terri's biological relatives, co-workers, friends and fellow church members universally dispute the claim, noting that she was extremely upset when the family of Karen Ann Quinlan disconnected the respirator that had been keeping the comatose woman alive, with the help of the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Last year at this time, ABC News reported that Terri Schiavo's death is "likely to be very serene." Michael Schiavo and his attorney George Felos have described it that way as well. However, yesterday, on the Pat Campbell show, Fr. Frank Pavone explained that Terri's time without food and water was anything but peaceful. He witnessed her suffering up until moments before her death. She was unsettled and her eyes darted back and forth he said.

Last year Bobby Schindler spoke passionately and with emotional charge, still carrying the pain and grief that followed the public dehydration of his sister and yet describing his hope and vision for the future:

Part I - Terri Schiavo's Life and Death

Part II - Terri Schiavo and the Culture of Death Movement

Part III - Legalized Killing: The PVS Diagnosis

Part IV - Terri Schiavo: Finding the Answers

Michael Schiavo has publicly stated that his goal in withholding treatment from his wife and removing her feeding tube (leading to death-by-starvation) is in accord with her wishes. He has testified that he loves his wife and is doing what she wanted. However, both legal records and Michael’s actions seem to tell a different story.

This the final post in a four part series containing the full-text of a speech given by Bobby Schindler to an audience in Phoenix, AZ sponsored by Arizona Right to Life. These details and much more can be read by simply ordering a copy A Life that Matters.

Part I - Terri Schiavo's Life and Death

Part II - Terri Schiavo and the Culture of Death Movement

Part III - Legalized Killing: The PVS Diagnosis

Part IV - Terri Schiavo: Finding the Answers

I get asked all the time what has sustained you and our family in all this? Has your faith helped you or been affected with your sisters situation.?

Personally, it wasn’t until the experience of my sister’s situation and what seemed like an endless roller coaster ride of emotions that I realized --- for most of my adult life -- how easily my faith could be shaken, failing to trust in God. Throughout different times in my life my faith was easily tested. As long as things were okay in my life, my relationship with God was okay, but in the time of testing, just as it says in the parable of the Sower, my faith essentially, “fell away”.

And when my sister’s trial began in January 2000, my relationship and faith in God truly was tested, and there is no doubt that my faith was tested and I didn’t respond very well at all. It all began when something happened that no one in family would have ever expected, a Catholic priest testified on behalf on Michael Schiavo stating that the Catholic Church was essentially ‘okay’ with removing my sister’s feeding tube so that she would starve to death.

As my family listened to this priest testify -- it astounded me that he never went to visit Terri nor did he speak to anyone in my family about my sister. I wondered if the priest even knew that Terri was a practicing Catholic who was an advocate for life, and would be completely against starving a human being to death.

Once again from the Kansas City Star so I am surely not expecting a reply, but I had to write them a Clone the Truth letter anyway:

Dear Reader's Representative,

I am writing to inform you of errors in terminology in Kit Wagar's piece "Stem-cell ballot issue challenge is rejected" as seen on www.Kansascity.com dated March 29, 2006.

Wagar writes, "They argued that the summary was deceptive because the initiative would protect laboratory techniques for cloning cells..." Actually the laboratory technique in question is somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) which creates cloned embryos, not just cloned cells. A cloned embryo is a complete organism and a cell is defined as a subunit of an organism. It is from the week-old cloned embryo that the embryonic stem cells are extracted.

Wagar also writes, "Some voters might define a laboratory technique used to copy cells as human cloning." Once again, SCNT does not "copy cells" it creates cloned embryos.

Terri Schindler Schiavo Memorial Illustration, In Progress

Mary and Robert Schindler as well as Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo and Bobby Schindler officially launched the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation on March 30, 2006 at 11:00 am outside of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington DC. Speakers will include the Schindler family, Senator Sam Brownback and others.

The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, Inc., (TSSF) is a non-profit group dedicated to ensuring the rights of disabled, elderly and vulnerable citizens against care rationing, euthanasia and medical killing.

“Throughout the entire struggle to save Terri’s life and to this very day, the Schindler family has been a profound example of Christian familial love,” stated Stephen G. Peroutka, Esq., chairman of the National Pro-Life Action Center (NPLAC)—the uncompromising voice of pro-life America on Capitol Hill. “After the tragic loss of their daughter, no one would have blamed the Schindler family if they had just wanted to quietly recess into the shadows to mourn. Instead, they continue to be an inspiration to the world by continuing their work on behalf of the disabled and the infirmed, and we thank them for that.”

Orlando's best morning radio host is Pat Campbell, who continues to be a leading voice for life on 540WFLA. This morning, Michael Schiavo is scheduled to join Pat for an interview at 8:05am (EST). You can listen live by going to http://540wfla.com/streaming.html. After the show the interview will be available at http://www.540wfla.com/patcampbell.html.

Post your review of the program below.

A medical sting operation is responsible for the first jail sentences in India for doctors performing sexual determination tests on preborn children. The test is extensively used in male-dominated societies to eliminate (by abortion) unwanted girls. And, yes, the doctors who performed the gender tests also did the subsequent abortion.

Here is the story reported, respectively, by the Turkish Press and the India Gazette.

Yesterday, the Schinder family appeared on Scarborough Country to discuss their book, A Life that Matters, and the charitable relief efforts of the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation. As usual, the group was asked to respond to numerous explosive allegations made by Michael Schiavo during his recent media appearances.

Bobby Schindler, Terri Schiavo's brother stated,

"It doesn't matter what Michael says about our family. It doesn't change that fact of justify or rationalize what he did to my sister and I thinks its really just a distraction trying to take the focus [off] what he did to [my] sister which was brutally starving and dehydrating her to death. My sister was only being supported by ordinary food and water.

After discussing Terri's tombstone, which Michael used to memorialize himself with the words, "I kept my promise," Bobby stated,

Anybody who would starve a human being to death, we're really not surprised or shocked at anything he does or has done. This doesn't come as a surprise or shcok to us. And that's why were really just trying to move on. The issue with Michael is over and we're really trying to do what we can to protect those from what happened to Terri and be a voice for the disability community so something like this won't happen to other families.

Source: BlogsforTerri

When the dust settles and the legal battle for the lives of the unborn is won, there will be heroes and there will be villains.

The villains will be those who opposed legislation to save the unborn. They will be the ones who blocked efforts to stop abortion. They will be the ones who sat back & did nothing to stop abortion even though they knew that abortion is wrong and evil.

The heroes will be those who have done more than talk about how bad abortion is. They will be people like Duncan Hunter, sponsor of the "Right To Life" bill HR 552. They will be people like the 36 others who have co-signed this bill.

In 1876, the Oglala Sioux were responsible for massacring Gen. George Custer and his men at Little Bighorn, mutilating and scalping them as they went.

Stupid is...

Continue reading my column today, "Sioux tribe plans to scalp its own," on WorldNetDaily.com.

_______________

Link to article on South Dakota and Native American law: www.lifenews.com/state1532.html

Terri's death was never about Terri's supposed wish. Terri's death and the long struggle over it was about Michael having control, being allowed to "win" and getting what he thought was best. -- JivinJehoshaphat

... because their quality of life is poor. Where have we heard this before (hint)?

A Minnesota Woman's Quality of Life
By Joseph A. D'Agostino

British doctors want to kill children born with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), even against the wishes of the babies' own parents. When these parents sought to obtain health care for their sick children, these doctors instead took them to court. They argue that SMA-afflicted babies have "no quality of life" and should be denied necessary medical care.

A Life that Matters is a must read for anyone who says they are pro-life.

These are the words of Br. Paul O’Donnell, a man who worked closely with the Schindler family during the dark days of their battle for the life of their daughter, Terri Schiavo.

The Schindler’s book has been released today, and according to O’Donnell, provides an inside view of the pain endured by the family as well as surprises and information that will provoke the reader to "cry” and to "hope”.

"It is a great tribute to Terri, her life and death,” O’Donnell revealed. "It is inspirational what the family set out to do and what they are currently doing. But it is heartbreaking. There are things revealed in the book that people simply didn’t know about.”

This the third post in a four part series containing the full-text of a speech given by Bobby Schindler to an audience in Phoenix, AZ sponsored by Arizona Right to Life. These details and much more can be read by simply ordering a copy A Life that Matters.

Part I - Terri Schiavo's Life and Death

Part II - Terri Schiavo and the Culture of Death Movement

Part III - Legalized Killing: The PVS Diagnosis

Part IV - Terri Schiavo: Finding the Answers

What the doctors in the pro-death health care industry needed to do was create a diagnosis that they could use to make it legal to kill patients with profound brain damage that were thought of by doctors to have a quality of life not worth caring for.

As I mentioned along with some evidence of a declaration by the patient, they also must be determined to be in a PVS condition [for their nutrition and hydration to be withheld].

I need to go back for moment to how the euthanasia movement evolved these past twenty years. What the doctors in the pro-death health care industry needed to do was create a diagnosis that they could use to make it legal to kill patients with profound brain damage that were thought of by doctors to have a quality of life not worth caring for. Thus, the PVS diagnosis was created, and because of its inherent subjectivity, it is a very dangerous diagnosis. But this is precisely what they intended in order to make it legal to kill.

I'mNotSorry.net | What to take seriously:

Today I was reading an article by ESPN.com columnist Patrick Hruby, a humorous treaty on what tired topics sports journalists should abandon. I was chuckling until I got to this sentence, concerning one of the topics that should be treated "as if it had been sucked into a black hole and is no longer subject to the standard rules of space and time":

Debate over the BCS (college football's Bowl Championship Series) championship game, which is no more tedious, ossified and less likely to change anyone's mind than debate over Roe v. Wade.

And my first thought was, "Did he honestly compare a freakin' college football game to a woman's right to choose?"

Bob and Mary Schindler appeared on Hannity and Colmes to talk about their fight for their daughter, Terri Schiavo, the book they wrote to honor her life (A Life that Matters) and their work on behalf of others.

The Schindlers answered charges, laid by Michael Schiavo, that their resentment of him and action to protect her life was about the money won in a malpractice lawsuit. Bob Schindler agreed that money was the catalyst that began the controversy. "He had committed to spend that money on her rehabilitation. But rather than do that he put her in a nursing home," he said.

"We lived with [Michael]...He said, 'don't forget mom, when we get the money she's going to Shanz Hospital and she's going to get extensive rehab," stated Mary Schindler.

They explained that the money won in the malpractice lawsuit for Terri's rehabilitation was instead spent on attorneys who ultimately succeeded in obtaining a court order to end Terri's life.

However, the Schindlers state that they are pressing forward. Bob Schindler revealed

After Terri passed away, we tried to move on with our lives and dedicated ourselves to the [Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation] and we feel we could do some good with the foundation. And all this other stuff has been stirred up since then and is perpetuating itself. We're not trying to do that.

We're focusing now on what we can do for other people.

Watch the video: click here

Important: if you haven't done so already, order the Schindler's book, A Life that Matters.

Our Pro-Life Blogger Interview is with Melanie Mills.

Melanie's Pro-Life project is closehopeclinic.com. As she says in her interview, "It has been called worse than Tiller's clinic in Kansas by leaders I know in the Pro-Life movement because of the volume of abortions, the late term abortions that take place there and the fact that after repeated attempts to have authorities investigate the actions there and close them, there has been a non-response."

She also volunteers at a local maturnity home, is an assistant for Stop the ACLU and writes articles for Renew America on Alan Keyes website.

Pro-Life Blogger Interviews is proud to present to you, Ms. Melanie Mills.

Emily & Annie over at the AfterAbortion blog have been following a "reality" TV show that is centered around abortion. Hey, sounds like it should be a lot of laughs, right?

30 Days is a reality TV show that takes someone with strong beliefs or a particular lifestyle, places them in the middle of a situation that conflicts with those beliefs or that lifestyle, and exploits films the ensuing conflicts. Previous episodes have marooned the show's producer out in the heartland trying to support his family on minimum-wage jobs, stuck a youth minister in the middle of SanFran's Castro neighborhood, and placed a Christian family in the midst of a Muslim community. I haven't watched it, but a review of the episode guide makes it seem like "30 Days" (and its producer, Morgan Spurlock) are specializing in edgy situations that confront various conservative beliefs with overblown political correctness the Truth Behind Their Ugly Prejudices.

(I'm eagerly awaiting the episode in which Spurlock arranges for one of the TheocracyWatch paranoids to live with a normal Christian family for thirty days....)

At last, a high government official in Europe got up the nerve to chastise the Dutch government for preparing to legalize infant euthanasia. The Dutch were outraged. Wesley Smith writes

...the prime minister of the Netherlands thinks that killing babies because they are born with terminal or seriously disabling conditions is not a scandal, but daring to point out accurately that German doctors did the same during World War II, is.

(...) German doctors did kill thousands of disabled babies, for which a few such physicians were hanged at Nuremberg. Dutch apologists know this, of course. But they claim that the Netherlands' infant euthanasia program is substantially different: Dutch doctors are motivated by compassion whereas the Germans' were motivated by the bigotry of racial hygiene. Of course it is the act of killing disabled and dying babies that is wrong, not the motivation. But even leaving that aside, the Dutch defense is not as persuasive as Prime Minister Balkenende would like to believe.

The Susan B. Anthony List is asking for help in getting the word out about "Real Women's Voices" - http://www.sba-sist.org/realwomensvoices/ - on April 26, 2006. It is a lobbying day in Washington, DC for pro-life women.

Click here to read more about this effort at ProLifeUnity.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Amber Dolle
March 27, 2006
540-903-9572 / ADolle@ALL.org

Planned Parenthood: Proponent of racism, protector of rapists, promoter of kiddie porn

WASHINGTON, D.C. — "Every day, Planned Parenthood undermines American values, and it does so with our tax money," said American Life League president Judie Brown. "Frankly, we're fed up. That's why we're beginning a new advertising campaign to educate Americans about what this organization does with our hard-earned dollars. When people find out the truth, we're convinced Planned Parenthood's tax funding will quickly dry up."

Disability activists marked the anniversary of Terri Schiavo’s death and vowed to renew their resolve to continue the battle to promote meaningful safeguards for the thousands of disabled Americans who, like Terri Schiavo, have guardians making life-and-death decisions on their behalf. The dangers to people with disabilities did not begin with the publicized tragedy of Terri Schiavo and they did not end with her death.

In fact, there are indications that things have gotten worse during the year since Schiavo’s death. Activists point to the case of Haleigh Poutre, an 11-year-old girl in Massachusetts. After she was allegedly beaten by her adoptive mother and stepfather, the Department of Social Services sued to disconnect young Haleigh from her ventilator and feeding tube. Ironically, she was saved by a court challenge from her stepfather, who would have faced a murder charge had she been disconnected from life support. Within days of a court order “allowing” her to die with “dignity,” DSS reported that Haleigh Poutre showed signs of awareness and the ability to follow simple requests. She is now in a rehabilitation hospital. This case raises questions about doctors’ “rush to judgment” in declaring people with brain injury permanently unconscious, and about the state’s – through the courts and its agencies – eagerness to withhold treatment and end their lives.

Bloggers are invited to submit links to their best writing on Terri Schiavo's case and related issues. Dory has posted this weeks edition here.

LifeNews - The new book about the life and death of Terri Schiavo, written by her parents and brother and sister, hits the bookshelves on Tuesday. With a release date of just three days before Terri's ex-husband starved her to death in a court-approved euthanasia, “A Life That Matters" provides in inside look into the horror of a family watching someone they love slowly die before their eyes.

In an NBC exclusive, Matt Lauer interviewed Michael Schiavo about his upcoming book that Schiavo claims will settle a few scores. Prior to asking Schiavo questions about his wife's 1990 collapse, Lauer laid the following groundwork for the audience:

Terri Schiavo’s heart had stopped, apparently from a potassium imbalance doctors at the time suspected was caused by bulimia.

An emotional Michael Schiavo, appearing on MSNBC's Dateline, described his feelings about his new wife: ... I love her to death.

Ironically, it was his love for his first wife, Terri, that he claims motivated him to remove her feeding tube, ending her life via dehydration...

Through the trackbacks on the "What's Wrong With Infanticide?" post (which I mentioned earlier), I am led to Chez Diva's "Quiet Reflection":

I am afraid that my inner struggle with this issue will continue. I can't say that I want legalized abortion to cease to exist. I do not want other's to make choices for me or to dictate what I can or can not do with my body. Yet I can't quietly stand by and allow Pro-Choice groups to sugar-coat abortion. I see abortion as a necessary evil. I would never expect a child impregnated through an incestuous relationship to have to carry the baby to term. I would be morally conflicted to force a rape victim to carry her baby to term should she choose not to. I would be torn having to choose whether the baby dies or the mother dies in cases where the mother's life is in danger.

Those cases are very real cases in which abortion is an option. It may be a gut-wrenching decision that the mother has to make but she should have that option. She should also have all the facts as painful as those facts are. Planned Parenthood and Pro-Choice groups lie to there members when they say it is simply about choice and a few cells being scraped out of the uterus. It isn't just a few cells, it's a life. The Pro-Choice argument "that it's not a life but a group of cells" boils down to the very last sentence in Ben's post, " The ultimate purpose of personhood analysis is to determine whom we can kill and still get a good night's sleep."

(As an aside, we pro-lifers should also have the courage to face the ugly truths about our position. Banning abortion will not end abortion with the wave of a magic wand, although it is a necessary and moral course of action. Women will still abort. Doctors, and even some misguided feminist fools, will still offer the tragic "kindness" of abortion. How will we respond to them?)

I won't exploit the Diva's introspection for political point-scoring ... but I will exploit a few of her commenters. At the time of this posting, the Diva's "quiet" reflection had 79 comments. Some of those comments are thoughtful & serious, but others are just ... disturbed.

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, and an eyewitness to Terri Schiavo’s final hours, released the following open letter to Michael Schiavo tonight. Fr. Pavone will read it to a worldwide audience on an internationally broadcast religious service on Sunday morning, March 26.

Dear Michael,

A year ago this week, I stood by the bedside of the woman you married and promised to love in good times and bad, in sickness and health. She was enduring a very bad time, because she hadn’t been given food or drink in nearly two weeks. And you were the one insisting that she continue to be deprived of food and water, right up to her death. I watched her face for hours on end, right up to moments before her last breath. Her death was not peaceful, nor was it beautiful. If you saw her too, and noticed what her eyes were doing, you know that to describe her last agony as peaceful is a lie.

Bloggers are invited to submit links to their best writing on Terri Schiavo's case and related issues. Dory has posted this weeks edition here.

As the release of his book approaches, Michel Schiavo and his wife Jodi have given their first network interview with NBC New’s Matt Lauer. Schiavo discusses the hydration/starvation death of his wife, Terri, and why he refused to give her care over to her family, the Schinders:

Schiavo: When you sit in a courtroom and you hear the father say, ‘I’ll cut her arms and lets off just to keep her alive.’ Why would I want ot put their daughter back in their care If he’s going to do that to her?

Lauer: Let’s make sure we understand that statement.

Schiavo: (interrupting)

Lauer: I think the statement was basically was, if she were to develop gangrene, and had to have limbs amputated, he would do that and would ok that in order to still have her alive

Schiavo: Right.

Lauer: That’s a little different than what you said.

Pamela F. Hennessy
First published by the North Country Gazette

Dr. Ronald Cranford is a neurologist and medical ethicist who served for years as the assistant chief of neurology at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Cranford has worked as a faculty associate for the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota. He is also a rather controversial figure.

A profile of Cranford, published by the Center, states he has specialized in the field of clinical ethics since the early 1970s and was the panel member for the Hastings Center who formulated their “Guidelines on Termination of Treatment and Care of the Dying.”

That's what Haleigh Poutre's doctors said after being ordered to re-examine her. They had previously insisted she was virtually brain dead and in a state of permanent vegetation, according to Department of Social Services Commissioner Harry Spence (source: Associated Press). In fact, the article explains that Haleigh was showing "signs of responsiveness", she was getting better, a week before the Supreme Judicial Court of her state granted permission to remove her feeding tube and respirator. At that time, "Haleigh's doctors said her movements were not a sign she would recover."

Haleigh was hospitalized on Sept. 11, 2005, with a damaged brain stem that authorities say resulted from blows inflicted by her adoptive mother and stepfather, who were charged with assault (with a baseball bat). Just eight days later the DSS decided her case was hopeless and sought to end medical treatment.

One of the more provoking aspects of this horrendous ordeal, brought out by the AP's article, is that the DSS, and those who had contact with Haleigh, could tell she was responsive and improving. However, they said nothing because the medical experts insisted treatment was pointless:

"When there was evidence there were signs of improvement, we insisted the doctors re-examine Haleigh and come back to us," Spence said Thursday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "They absolutely affirmed that the chances of her recovery were absolutely zero. There was nothing for us to report to the SJC. There was nothing that had changed."

A typical, but more civil, message from a critic:

[Shouldn't] prolifers be more concerned about the life of the child AFTER birth instead of just worrying about the fetus' 9 month life? does that not make more sense? or is it just your concern that it makes it through the pregnancy and who cares that it enters into an abusive or poor home once it has been born? that's not what i would call prolife!

Federal candidates who make abortion rights an important part of their election platform this year and in 2008 may find themselves swimming against the current of American political thinking, a new Zogby Interactive survey shows.

In a startling revelation, Terri Schaivo's ex-husband Michael admitted in an interview that his new book Terri: The Truth was written to "settle some scores" with Terri's family rather than honor the memory of the woman at the center of a national euthanasia battle. - LifeNews

The MSNBC interview the article is based upon is found here.

I understand why many will see Schiavo's "revelation" as "startling". However, it does seem rather consistent with prior testimony he gave during a 1999 depostion:

New America Foundation fellow Phillip Longman in USA Today on March 13 (synopsized from a longer piece in the March/April issue of Foreign Policy magazine) says basically this: Population equals power; therefore, conservatives/traditionalists have historically and will soon again inherit the earth. Writes Longman:

Childlessness and small families are increasingly the norm today among progressive secularists. As a consequence, an increasing share of all children born into the world are descended from a share of the population whose conservative values have led them to raise large families....

This dynamic helps explain the gradual drift of American culture toward religious fundamentalism and social conservatism.

Juxtapose that to this massive Zogby poll** (30,117 respondents in 48 contiguous states with margin error of +/- 0.6%) conducted March 10-14, and you'll see why the pro-abortion position is a growing loser for Democrats.

*The logo, right, is from the environmentalist website Voluntary Human Extinction Movement. Its motto, "May we live long and die out," could not more aptly demonstrate why liberalism is a dying concept.

**The Zogby poll is detailed in today's LifeNews.com.

by Melanie Mills

"To everything, there is a season and a time to every purpose under Heaven," so goes a verse of Scripture in Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. And also unto everything there is a reason or a method of reasoning.

What I will divulge may shock some conservative thinkers but in my opinion, to accept the abortion holocaust one second longer would be more repugnant even still.

While I was still in nursing school in 1998, I postulated a theory I kept quietly to myself. The other night this idea popped back up and with the advent of time, technology and the Internet, I decided to investigate if my wild idea was possible. To my relief and amazement, I found my theory had been proven true and was in practice. The theory shows abortion is no longer needed or acceptable. Modern medicine and science now CAN avert this tragic "option."

Follow me down the scientific highway into where impossible meets possible. From this day forward, erase "unwanted pregnancy" and such semantics from your vocabulary because I'm here to tell you they no longer exist.

Click here to continue reading this article

Ben Domenech, co-founder of RedState, has launched a new Washington Post sponsored blog called Red America. Leftists are already whining (HT: Michelle Malkin) about the invasion of a conservative into their sacred territory.

You'll want to read Sackcloth and Ashes: What's Wrong With Infanticide?

The number of people with disabilities in North Korea is low, according to Ri Kwang-chol, a defector who fled to the South last year. Here's the ghastly reason:

North Korea has no people with physical disabilities because they are killed almost as soon as they are born, a physician who defected from the communist state said on Wednesday.

Ri Kwang-chol, who fled to the South last year, told a forum of rights activists that the practice of killing newborns was widespread but denied he himself took part in it.

"There are no people with physical defects in North Korea," Ri told members of the New Right Union, which groups local activists and North Korean refugees.

He said babies born with physical disabilities were killed in infancy in hospitals or in homes and were quickly buried.

Update:

LifeNews has published an article.

LifeSiteNews weighs in here.

This post is the second part of several containing the full-text of a speech given by Bobby Schindler to an audience in Phoenix, AZ. Of course, these details and much more can be read by simply ordering a copy A Life that Matters.

Part I - Terri Schiavo's Life and Death

Part II - Terri Schiavo and the Culture of Death Movement

Part III - Legalized Killing: The PVS Diagnosis

Part IV - Terri Schiavo: Finding the Answers

"Inasmuch as you have done it for the least of My brothers, you have done it unto Me."

The media decided what to report, what not to report, what to verify and what not to verify. I?m sure that during this five-year ordeal to save my sister not many of you knew that there were over a dozen local and national disability organizations that were supporting my sister?s right to life. That is because it was rarely, if ever reported. On the other hand, I?ve lost count how many times the press reported the statements of Michael?s attorney, George Felos, when he would complain that my family was backed by anti-abortionist, religious and right wing extremist ? labeling my family as radicals.

The press refused to acknowledge the voice of the disability community because they did not want the public to recognize Terri as a woman with disabilities. However, advocates of the disabled knew the reality of what was happening to my sister, which was the purposeful killing of an innocent disabled woman whose only crime was unable to bring a spoon to her mouth.

Haleigh Poutre was hospitalized on Sept. 11, 2005, with a damaged brain stem that authorities say resulted from blows inflicted by her adoptive mother and stepfather, who were charged with assault (with a baseball bat). The beating came after Department of Social Services received no fewer than 16 abuse or neglect reports.

Doctors gave the little girl a death sentence by characterizing her as "virtually brain dead" and in a "permanent vegetative state". Less than three weeks later, the Massachusetts Department of Social Services pushed to remove Haleigh's feeding tube and respirator and won approval from the State Supreme Court to so.

Well, the young girl fought, and she lived. Today, she is in a rehabilitation facility.

Despite her "hopeless" condition, and her status as "virtually brain dead", she began showing signs of improvement and was weaned off her ventilator. She is now in rehabilitation, able to eat scrambled eggs and cream of wheat, and has tapped out drum rhythms during physical therapy.

Understandably, Gov. Mitt Romney created a commission in January to investigate the state's handling of Haleigh’s case.

Today, the commission released its results. Here are summaries:

Have you noticed the gradual transformation of the Family Research Council's Website? The addition of a cutting edge blog, dynamic content, a daily podcast and occasional video add to an already power packed site.

I suspect there is a lot more in the works because the organization has posted a Web Editor job opening. In another life I'd be moving to DC but this one is pegged for someone else. Perhaps you? (Yes! click here)

Are you Pro-Life? What more can you do to help end abortion and challenge the culture of death?

As usual, on Friday the 7th of April we will have the nationwide Monthly Call for Life at MarchTogether.com.

On Saturday the 8th of April from 10:00 am till noon, we are starting our new effort called The Saturday Call For Life. Every month on the first Saturday we will picket a local abortion mill, or hospital where abortions are performed, from 10:00 am till noon.

Another pro-life Christian blogger has stumbled upon the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), AKA the modern-day priesthood of Molech. I remember the RCRC from the days when they were RCAR, the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights.

(As an aside, what's with pro-choice groups who don't like to use the "a-word"? RCAR became RCRC in 1993, and NARAL officially discarded abortion from their name in 2003. The National Abortion Federation, or NAF for short, is still willing to embrace the "a-word", but they're the only major abortion-rights organization to do so.)

I have blogged about the RCRC before, and my feelings haven't changed. However, Lauren points out something that I had previously missed....

The American Civil Liberties Union has released a statement "hailing" a bill which would increase funding for programs that they claim are aimed at preventing unwanted pregnancies. They do so while adamantly opposing all efforts to teach the one birth control program that is known to work 100% of the time it is tried, abstinence. The ACLU has recently gotten the federal government to pull funding for abstinence only programs but yet hails the use of federal funding for distribution of condoms, instructions on their use, advocates the sale of Plan B over-the-counter for “women” 16 and over, federally funded birth-control, and federally funded abortion.

StoptheACLU has the story

JoinMyFast

It's nice to see that Planned Parenthood has finally decided to stop telling women to take the second drug of the RU-486 cocktail vaginally instead of orally. All it took was for a couple more women to die and their deaths to receive headlines. ...

Several years ago, when The Terri Schiavo Foundation was looking for individuals who had gone through similar experiences as Terri, I wrote to them. In 1996 I suffered a severe asthma attack, lapsed into a coma for three months and was declared to be in a severe vegetative state. I regained consciousness three months later.

My letters of support to Terri's family began a friendship between her siblings and me. Her brother and I used to talk on the phone regularly. He once said, "It's quite ironic that both of you suffered similar ordeals, and you are both named Theresa." Since then, I was active in Terri's Fight.

In late February of [last] year, the Schindler family attorney asked me if I would testify on Terri's behalf should they be granted a hearing. I accepted the challenge without any hesitation. On March 18 , when Terri's feeding tube was removed, I knew that was my call to action.

I will refrain from calling anyone names. ...sort of

Those who love Fidel Castro and have supported communists around the world are responsible for the death of a living, breathing woman named Terri Schindler Schiavo.

...well, marijuana smoke that is, and don't smoke cigarettes anywhere or they'll fine us $500.00!

Why is it that liberals love killing potentially unwanted human beings so much they call it "a woman's right to choose", but when it comes to cigarette smoke they have a fit?

Calabasas, a town in California banned cigarette smoking everywhere in public.

One year ago today, Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed and she began an almost two week journey toward death brought on by dehydration. A year later, we remember her by remembering the issues that her life and death brought to the public light.

Wittenberg Gate has posted a large collection of posts called "Blogger's Best for Terri Schiavo" .... click here.

A year ago today, at 1 p.m. March 18, 2005, the long, painful and barbaric process of the court-ordered execution by starvation of Terri Schindler-Schiavo began when her estranged husband Michael Schiavo removed her feeding tube which provided her nutrition and hydration. - North Country Gazette

Amy Welbourn gets it right:

Today, perhaps we could pray for all of the severly disabled in our midst, and pray for those who care for them. In gratitude for their lives, their strength, and their witness to the sanctity of life. And, if we sense the urgings of the Spirit on this score, pray for the courage ourselves to step in and help - to ease the burdens of those walking this challenging road of fidelity and love.

Related: BlogsforTerri

Notice NOW (National Organization for Women) doesn't have one single mention of the deaths? Their symbol of the coat hanger being used for abortions is used to this day. This symbol of supposed anti-woman's rights tyranny has never been documented to have ever been used for an abortion.

Yet not one mention of the 7 women who have died & the 800 who have been injured by RU486.

Do they mention the after-abortion depression statistics?
How about after-abortion suicide rates?
Do they tell women about the increased cancer rates?
Do they tell women of the increased chance of sterilization?
Are women informed of the guaranteed failure rates of the pill & condoms?
Do they try to defend the 500,000 or so women who die in the womb every year due to abortions?

No to all

Charmaine Yoest from the Family Research Council wrote about the potential problems from RU486 12 years ago. Click here to read her article which was posted in the Wall Street Journal.

Abortion and contraception are sold to women as a package of "empowerment". "Reproductive rights" really means the right to kill female children instead of bringing them to the earth. Promiscuity and "safe sex" are pitched as women's rights, and women are encouraged to live alone, party, have sex and forgo children until they are "ready" for them.

The National Organization for Women is an organization against women.

Concerned Women for America is there FOR women, not against them. I think we need to encourage them to go on campus and tell the truth about abortion and contraception.

We also need to encourage the youth of America to unite against NOW and other anti-family organizations. NOW needs to be challenged. Their blatent opposition to, and support for political candidates should disqualify them for non-taxable status. I propose we form an organization called STOPNOW which would expose their anti-American, anti-family, anti-woman and political actions.

Dear Friends,

One year ago we fought together on behalf of Terri Schiavo at BlogsforTerri as a loose coalition of independent bloggers, commenters and readers. Despite our protests, we watched with sadness and alarm as Terri’s food and water were withheld and her life was ended in a cruel exercise of power.

Through it all, the Schindler family's strength and resolve helped us remember the God given intrinsic dignity of human life and the value of each individual regardless of their capabilities.

 [Bloggers, please join with us over the next 13-days and write about Terri's life and death, honoring her memory by making the argument for why lives like hers should be protected, respected, and loved (more here).]

Warriors for Life will be at Dupont Circle from 3:00 to 5:00 pm. Last week we invaded their utopia while hundreds were out in the sun. Many people flock to the park to hide from reality. Unfortunately for them, we were there with our GAP signs to show them that the reality of abortion kills human beings.

(Photo ProLifeNews.tv - Dupont Circle Washington D.C.)

Do you Defend Life? Blogs are good, talking is good, voting is good, but none of that is enough. Over 3,000 human beings will be killed by abortion today. The unborn need your presence. They have nobody to march for them except for us.

Every day I ask myself, "have I done all I can?".

Peter

DefendLife.org

We know what it does to the unborn - RU-486 also kills women:

The Food and Drug Administration announced Friday that the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug has killed two more women. That brings the total number of women who have died in the United States up to seven and the abortion pill has injured at least 850 more.
"At this time we are investigating all circumstances associated with these cases," an FDA statement said.

In the statement, obtained by LifeNews.com, the FDA said Danco Laboratories, which manufactures the abortion drug, informed the agency of the deaths.

Read the rest

Last year Arizona Right to Life sponsored an evening with Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schiavo, who is now working full-time for the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation. The Phoenix event drew hundreds of people and included an introduction by Fr. Frank Pavone, president of Priests for Life.

The evening was important because it called attention to the secular mindset that led to the acceptance of Terri Schiavo's death and set a vision for reversing laws that devalue the disabled and equate nutrition and hydration to medical treatment.

Bobby Schindler spoke passionately and with emotional charge, still carrying the pain and grief that followed the public dehydration of his sister and yet describing his hope and vision for the future.

This post is the first of several containing the full-text of Bobby Schindler's address. Of course, these details and much more can be read by simply ordering a copy A Life that Matters.

Part I - Terri Schiavo's Life and Death

Part II - Terri Schiavo and the Culture of Death Movement

Part III - Legalized Killing: The PVS Diagnosis

Part IV - Terri Schiavo: Finding the Answers

"Inasmuch as you have done it for the least of My brothers, you have done it unto Me."

Tragically, after an exhausting twelve year struggle to bring Terri home, my sister died on March 31, 2005. A United States Court ordered the removal of her feeding tube that was supplying the most basic necessity, food and water. Please make no mistake, this was a court ordered murder issued by Circuit Court Judge George Greer. Terri's life ended after two weeks of suffering without food or water and without receiving ice chips to help ease some of the pain she was experiencing.

To explain all of the complexities of my sister's case would be impossible in the short time I have here this evening. However I would like to cover several issues involving my family's battle to save Terri, the organization behind this movement, and in particular, how it has now become relatively simple to kill persons with disabilities; those receiving their food and water via a feeding tube.

A year ago the U.S. Senate was in a fit. Some Senators were obstructing the confirmation process for the appointment of federal and appellate judges to the bench. Certain Republican leaders were so outraged that the notion of amending the rules, called at various times the “constitutional option” or the “nuclear option” was an almost foregone conclusion. Then the famous or infamous “Gang of 14” announced a compromise and the “crisis” was averted. Some among the conservatives wanted the vote on the rules change and warned that the Democrats were waiting until they could successfully use the filibuster. A small number of appellate judges were confirmed and then the focus on the Supreme Court vacancies absorbed the attention of almost everyone. In the meantime vacancies have remained and the Senate has failed to take up this very important constitutional function, thus placing these additional pressure on an already burdened federal judiciary.

Columnist Robert Novak spoke to this issue in his March 16, 2006 article, “Not Confirming Judges” and noted that

“On May 9, 2001, President Bush nominated U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle of Edenton, N.C., to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. It took nearly four years for the Judiciary Committee to send his nomination to the Senate floor. It has languished there for more than a year with no prospect for Senate confirmation and no apparent interest by the Republican leadership.”

In preparation for the Terri Schiavo Blogburst, Dory from Wittenberg Gate writes with insight about the anniversary of Terri Schiavo’s death:

This Saturday, March 18th, is the anniversary of the day Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed. She died thirteen days later, on March 31st. The public airing of Terri's situation caused us to consider and debate profound issues of life and death. We asked important questions. What is life? What makes it precious? What makes life, "worth living"? What is the difference between medical intervention and ordinary care, and when, if ever, can they ethically be withdrawn? When, if ever, should the dying be treated differently than the profoundly disabled? At our best, we discussed these things on our blogs thoughtfully and graciously, in spite of the emotionally-charged atmosphere. At our worst, we angrily hurled insults and attacks at the "other side".

One year ago, Dory hosted several Blogger’s Best for Terri Schiavo and now plans three editions to be posted on Saturday, March 18th, Friday, March 24th and Friday March 31st. Follow this link for the details.

Let's honor Terri's memory by making the argument for why lives like hers should be protected, respected, and loved.

Theresa May de Vera entered a hospital "clinically dead" following a severe asthma attack. Despite recommendations by doctors to "pull the plug", her parents didn't give up. She recovered and went on to study Theology in graduate school.

Theresa participated in protests over Terri's starvation and has put together a touching video collage which has been posted here. She writes:

I created that video montage as a tribute to the Schindler Family. My family went through the same anguish and perils (although to different extremes) when I was in a coma.

The anniversary of the murder of Terri Schiavo. It will appear to come into the spotlight and fade away but for many it has never truly gone away and truly never will.

Victor Rosenblum, founder of Americans United for Life (AUL), has died at age 80. Former AUL President Ed Grant said: "Even though he endured decades of pain and then disability, Victor Rosenblum worked tirelessly in defense of the unborn...We have not only lost a legal icon--we have lost a true friend." In 1980, Prof. Rosenblum argued the case of Harris v. McRae before the U.S. Supreme Court. That was the case that upheld the Hyde Amendment restrictions on federal funding of abortion. A professor of law at Northwestern University, Rosenblum maintained that the Constitution required that only monies appropriated by the U.S. Congress could be spent. It's the plain text of the document, but the pro-life side eked out the narrowest of victories, 5-4. Harris v. McRae remains to this day the greatest pro-life victory. We all honor Victor Rosenblum's memory. He was an advocate for justice for all those who are small, weak, and vulnerable.

Source: Family Research Council

From BBC Hat tip evariste at Discarded Lies

The parents of a severely disabled baby boy at the centre of a right-to-life case have thanked the judge for ruling that he should be kept alive.

They were fighting a hospital's bid to turn off the ventilator that keeps the child, known only as Baby MB, alive.

More at Marlowe's Shade

Update: Melissa has taken down her post and has posted this response to some commenters on Dawn's blog.

Dawn Eden has an update on Siobhan O'Connor and her article for Marie Claire on crisis pregnancy centers. Siobhan left a comment in the blog of an abortion provider and e-mailed at least one pro-choice organization looking for women who have been deceived by CPCs. Dawn has found one blogger who was interviewed by Siobhan. The blogger has also had an (language warning) RU-486 abortion and took pictures of the aborted embryo.

She describes seeing her dead embryonic child as, "the single neatest thing I had ever seen," "Holy crap, that's so cool!" and "HOLY CRAP THIS THING IS FREAKING AWESOME." She also called her boyfriend to see their dead child. The boyfriend was less enthusiatic and also "didn't realize it would have fingers and toes and all of that so soon."

On March 31, 2005, Terri Schindler Schiavo died of marked dehydration following more than 13 days without nutrition or hydration under the order of Circuit Court Judge, George W. Greer of the Pinellas-Pasco’s Sixth Judicial Court. Terri was 41.

It was nearly one year ago that Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed for the purpose of ending her life. Nearly one year ago her legal guardian obtained a court order in public view to purposefully bring about her death by withholding the most basic of necessities. Yes, nearly one year ago Terri began 13 days without food or water.

We invite you to join us for a Blogburst in remembrance of Terri Schiavo beginning March 18th (or earlier). Over the 13 days we are asking our friends to write about Terri's life and death, link to her family's foundation (Terrisfight.org) and affirm the intrinsic dignity of human life.

Source: BlogsforTerri.com

I use to have some respect for Bruce Fein and his opinions on Constitutional law and the courts. After all he is a highly respected Washington insider, writes columns for the Washington Times and appears on news programs to discuss current events. But his piece in the March 14, 2006 Washington Times is about the worst form of convoluted reasoning that I have seen in recent years. I would expect this from some apologist for abortion, or from some liberal Ivy League professor who has nursed his students on the legal positivism of Roe and fed them on the meat of substantive due process. But I expect more from those who take the Constitution seriously.

Bob Schindler, father of Terri Schiavo, has joined Kevin Fobbs, President of the National Urban Policy Action Council (NuPac) and host of "The Kevin Fobbs Show" on News Talk 1400 WDTK in Detroit, Michigan, to announce the launch of a national initiative to annually honor the memory of Terri Schiavo. “Terri’s Day” is a celebration of the “Culture of Life” as well as celebrating the woman who sacrificed her life for this cause.

Supporters of "Terri’s Day -- A Celebration of the Culture of Life" will seek to sign up 1 million pledges from all 50 states as well as from international supporters in the hopes of establishing March 31 as a national day of remembrance. The pledge drive will culminate on May 12th with an official ceremony, prayer vigil, and presentation of a ceremonial pledge sheet and check representing funds from supporters from around the globe.

The former volunteer media coordinator, spokesperson and webmistress of the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation has -- along with a number of volunteers -- launched an online effort (forethics.com) intended to provide public education in the matters of patients’ rights.

Pamela Hennessy, who volunteered for the family of Terri Schiavo from November 2002 until February 2006, has formed a grassroots coalition, called the Partnership for Medical Ethics Reform, with the objective of providing a repository of information for those wishing to protect their rights to receive wanted healthcare and medical intervention.

Japanese researchers have found stem cells in menstrual blood. I'm not kidding. The researchers were able to obtain 30 times more stem cells from the blood than from bone marrow and "(w)hen the stem cells were cultured in a way to induce them to become heart cells, after five days about half of the cells contracted "spontaneously, rhythmical and synchronously, suggesting the presence of electrical communication" between the cells, Miyoshi announced. That is to say, they behaved like heart cells."

It is also noted that cells from younger patients have longer life spans than cells from older patients.

Father Thomas Williams on the recent statement by 55 Catholic Democrats regarding abortion. Some excerpts:

Planned Parenthood has launched a new global campaign to counter the Bush administration's shift away from UN-style depopulation programs.

President George W. Bush's pro-life policy prohibiting the taxpayer funding of groups that perform or promote abortions in other nations is under fire again from abortion advocates. Now they have decided to create a new worldwide fund to promote supposedly "safe" abortions in nations where abortion is illegal.

Read the rest at Marlowe's Shade

Various pro-life, pro-choice, political, church-related and other groups and individuals continue to register their comments on the recent ban on abortion in South Dakota. Some say that the timing is not right. Others say that it is a threat to women's health. Still others praise it endlessly knowing that it will eventually end up in the Supreme Court with a chance for the court to revisit and hopefully overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

We cannot forget that much of the reason why the SD ban was such a glowing success was because last year, they conducted a task force study on abortion, which was submitted to the governor and legislature in December 2005. A key group in making this task force happen was South Dakota Right to Life, and you can download the 70+ page report from their site.

With my area of interest being contraception, I was most interested in the last footnote on the last page of the document. It's long winded, but worth quoting in full. They began by making one of the 14 recommendations in order to "lessen the loss of life and harm caused by abortion" a call for sexuality education that "include[s] a definition of sexual abstinence and a statement that abstinence education in South Dakota is to exclude contraceptive-based sexuality education." They call this a part of "character development education" (and rightly so).