November 07, 2008

Wow. I am stunned. The enemy moves swiftly. The groundwork is being prepared for a more massive assault against marriage, family and life.

Let us get down on our knees and implore God's divine mercy. Let us prepare ourselves for a bloody fight (Emanuel sticking his knife into us!), and be ready to make whatever sacrifices are needed. "In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood." (Heb 12:4). The only way to victory is the way of the cross of Christ. Let us be ready to deny ourselves and embrace our cross in order to truly follow Jesus.

Remember: "where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more" (Rom 5:20b). As evil deepens, we can look to greater grace and empowerment from the Lord. Let us purify ourselves and walk in holiness, so that grace may indeed come into our beings. And let us truly commit ourselves and our resources to the fight for family and life.

Never lose heart. To Jesus belongs the victory. When he hung on the cross, it seemed as if the devil had won. But he rose from the dead, and defeated darkness and evil. Today, it seems as if the deck is very much stacked against pro-lifers. But our cause is just, and God is merciful. At His appointed time, we will prevail. In the meantime, we just need to endure, and do our utmost to advance God's cause.

God bless you all.

frank

By Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 6, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Social conservatives expecting centrist policies in the Obama administration after repeated promises of “reaching across the aisle” may be taken aback now that President-Elect Obama has chosen Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., as his future Chief of Staff. Emanuel, a former Clinton advisor famous for his tenacious and sometimes rabid demeanor, sports an overwhelmingly liberal and 100% pro-abortion voting record.

According to an AP report, House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio called Emanuel "an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil, and govern from the center."

Like President-Elect Obama, Emanuel has earned a 100% pro-abortion rating from NARAL - an early indication that Obama plans to stock his administration with figures as hostile to pro-life efforts as himself. Emanuel, a formidable man known for his almost coercive tactics as a fundraiser and whom the LA Times called a "political assassin,” will present Obama's opposition with a force to be reckoned with.

As an Illinois Congressman, Emanuel has voted against abortion restrictions with the same gusto as Obama, including a vote to strike down the 2003 federal partial-birth abortion ban. That year, he also voted against prohibiting U.S. tax dollars from subsidizing abortions. In 2004, he voted against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which nonetheless passed.

Another similarity between Obama and Emanuel lies in their support for homosexuality: in both 2004 and 2006 Emanuel voted against the Marriage Protection Amendment. Obama also refused to protect true marriage in his years as a legislator.

In 2005, Emanuel voted against parental notification and consent laws regarding abortions for minors. He then voted to protect federal funding of Planned Parenthood in 2007.

Throughout his congressional career, Emanuel consistently supported embryonic stem cell research and human cloning.

Emanuel first made waves as a Clinton campaign fundraiser, from where he eventually ascended to Director of Finance in the Clinton White House.

Emanuel's fiery temper and drive to succeed have become almost legendary. As reported by the Telegraph, Emanuel's associates recall that, as a Clinton advisor, Emanuel once grew so enraged during a discussion of the president's political opponents that he grabbed a steak knife, stood up and began reciting a list of the opponents' names, shouting "Dead! Dead! Dead!" after each, accompanied by a thrust of the knife into the table.

In 2005, Emanuel became the "golden boy" of the Democratic Party when as Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee he helped launch the Democratic Party into a majority in the House in 2006.

Having accepted a position of power in the U.S. government frequently equal to or greater than that of the vice presidency, few doubt that Emanuel will make his presence known.

"Congressional Republicans respect what he has been able to do," John Feehery, a former employee for several congressmen including House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, told the L.A. Times. "They think he's a formidable opponent. ... They won't particularly love him, but if he's smart, they will respect him."
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Payback Time: What Planned Parenthood Expects from Barack Obama

Commentary by Steven W. Mosher and Colin Mason

November 6, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The decades-long love affair between Barack Obama and Planned Parenthood has reached its political fruition. Obama will soon be ensconced in the Oval Office, with all the people who helped put him there lined up outside for goodies. At the head of the line will be Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. What will they ask for?

The three things that they want from a President Obama are more money for their contraception and sterilization programs, an end to any and all restrictions on abortions, and taxpayer funding, including funding for abortion itself.

Judging by what Obama has said over the course of the campaign, he will be happy to grant their wishes.

First of all, Barack Obama has pledged to pay for abortions with our tax dollars. According to his own web site, he is an original co-sponsor of the "Prevention First Act," which will "increase funding for family planning and comprehensive sex education that teaches both abstinence and safe sex methods. The Act will also end insurance discrimination against contraception, improve awareness about emergency contraception, and provide compassionate assistance to rape victims."

What this reasonable-sounding languages disguises, of course, is the ugly reality that the Prevention First Act would actually force insurance companies to fund, doctors to prescribe, and pharmacies to dispense, abortifacient contraceptives. "Providing compassionate assistance to rape victims," when translated into plain English, means forcing you and I to pay for morning after pills and abortions.

Second, Obama has also promised - in the strongest possible terms - to sign the radical Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), which would prohibit the states from "interference with a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability or ... after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman." It would also prohibit so-called "discrimination ... in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information." If passed, the Freedom of Choic Act would nullify any and all restrictions on abortion, from parental consent laws, to waiting periods, to informed consent provisions, and the like. All of the hard work of pro-lifers over the past three decades would be swept away.

Third, and potentially most damaging in the long run, Obama has pledged to appoint Supreme Court justices based on their friendliness to his agenda, and not their qualifications as impartial arbiters of the law. In Obama's own words, he will surely appoint people of like mind, assuring us that he wants to put "people on the bench who have enough empathy, enough feeling for what ordinary people are going through." So much for the Constitution.

As it stands now, the Supreme Court is effectively deadlocked on the Life issues, with Roberts, Alito, Scalia, and Thomas as reliable pro-life votes, and Breyer, Ginsburg, Stevens and Souter equally reliably pro-abortion. With at least two justices getting on in years and another reportedly expressing interest in retiring, the next president may have ample opportunity to appoint more than one judge to the land's highest court.

In the face of Obama's expected onslaught against Life what can we do?

Those with pro-life convictions must continue to act on those convictions. We must continue to be a presence outside of abortion centers in order to let women know that there is a "choice" beyond abortion. We must continue to help women who come to our crises pregnancy centers with counseling and baby cribs. We must let our remaining friends in the House and Senate know that we expect them, although outnumbered, to stand and fight for Life. Unless the Party of Abortion can muster 60 votes in the Senate, the Freedom of Choice Act will be a dead letter.

Finally, we must redouble our efforts to expose the abortion movement for what it is: An anti-child, anti-woman movement that has cost America 50 million lives and counting.

(Note: This article first appeared in the Population Research Institute’s newsletter - http://www.pop.org)