Physicians say Planned Parenthood misled women with absurd and scientifically erroneous information

In a new sting, Planned Parenthood workers are caught redhanded lying to women about the dangers of pregnancy and the safety of abortion. Read the full article. Watch the video below. Or watch it at LiveActionFilms on YouTube.

URGENT Webcast on Dec 15 about Senate crisis

I received the following Action Alert in my email a few minutes ago. Due to its staggering importance, I’m posting it here in full. As the original message requested, please forward this URGENT message to your friends, family members, co-workers, and fellow believers, and I am asking that you send it to every person of good will you happen to know too! Thank you for reading and for responding to this crisis. (The information below is quoted from StopTheAbortionMandate.com)

Trying on a new look for the Advent season

I really just wanted a theme with a main column and two sidebars, and with the free blog, the pickin’s are pretty slim. I like the themes by Andreas Viklund, though most of my favorite ones by him are not offered here. Argh. So I’m trying this one for now, for the layout and for the Advent/Christmas colors it provides. I’m using purple right now since it’s the liturgical color of Advent for weeks 1, 2, and 4, pink or rose being used for week 3. (Some communities use blue instead of purple since purple is also the color used in Lent.) I’m trying the snow effect too. For now. It may prove too annoying to keep it for long. Let me know if it bugs you. I don’t mind turning it off.

See the video that YouTube censored, Planned Parenthood in Birmingham AL

Regular readers of Catholic Heart and Mind will remember that I took part in our local 40 Days for Life prayer vigil outside Planned Parenthood in Birmingham. While there I learned that the facility was under investigation and I heard that they had been filmed by Lila Rose as part of an undercover operation, but I’m told they were already in trouble before that. Tonight I found the video about that same Planned Parenthood facility! I’m watching it now. Wow.

Rules for radical revolutionaries, oh, excuse me, I meant community organizers

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been reading Rules for Radicals by the late Saul Alinsky. Below are quotes from Rules and some comments. This is the first in a continuing series of posts on the book, the ideology, the movement, and the state of things in the country now. Please keep all this in mind as you listen to or read the news. And please share this with friends and family. We need to stand together and we need to know what we’re up against.

Bioethicists lodge complaint about Obama’s policies and get fired next day

Human Life International’s Fr. Tom Euteneuer calls on the pro-life majority of Americans to keep an eye on the new Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues created by President Barack Obama. “We saw what the president thinks of bioethicists who disagree with him when he fired the previous presidential bioethics commission the day after they lodged a complaint about his policies.”

Christmas cards for the ACLU, something we all can do

(Update at end of article) I just received an email from a friend. Now ordinarily I don’t do the whole forwarded email thing. I tend to delete them without looking at them. At least, I used to. But lately I’ve gotten many good ones that grabbed my eye and my attention and moved me to share them with others. The one I’m going to write about here is a case in point. You probably know that the ACLU has been working hard to remove Christianity from our public square, our public schools, and from our public lives in general. One of the ways they have tried to accomplish this is by having any reference to Christmas expunged

My birthday present to me, new electric guitar and multi effects pedal

Happy birthday to me, spending much too freely

Yep, I finally did it. After wanting one for years and drooling over the ones at our local big chain guitar store, I finally forked out the bucks and got an electric guitar. Now to be honest, it’s not my first. I had one many many years ago. I had a cheap no-name guitar that I got for $35 and that included the case, the Fretslinger strap and the tiny and awful amp that I used until I also acquired a wonderful little Fender Champ amp. Oh, the good times I had with that guitar, complete with whammy bar. Oy ve. The poor neighbors.

NEA recommends Saul Alinsky’s worse than left wing radical books

I am not kidding you, though I wish I were. I’ve read more than sixty pages of Rules for Radicals, despite its being pretty hard to stomach. I was searching for the answer to a question just now when I stumbled upon this from the National Education Association’s website:

An inspiration to anyone contemplating action in their community! And to every organizer! —From the NEA post, Recommended Reading: Saul Alinsky, The American Organizer (See also their related post, Organization Is…)

Happy birthday to me, reading Saul Alinsky

Yes, it’s my mumblemumble-th birthday and I’m celebrating by drinking coffee in my NaNoWriMo Author cup (see photo below) and writing about a book I’m reading for my next novel. I’m reading several books for my next novel; Rules for Radicals, by the late Saul Alinsky, is only one of them. Why am I reading it? Am I a radical, a revolutionary? No. I even felt compelled to say as much to the clerk at the counter when I purchased my copy.

LA Times says Christian leaders going too far, civil disobedience is dangerous

I had to read these lines twice. And then I had to read them again. The L.A. Times thinks this is, yes, that’s the word they used, “dangerous”. Dangerous, as in, scary dangerous? As in, pull out the big guns to protect us from them, dangerous?

The signers of the new Manhattan Declaration put pen to paper to articulate their concerns about conscience issues for medical professionals. What they regard as a right — making sure doctors and nurses aren’t forced to participate in abortions — the Los Angeles Times is calling “dangerous.”

Chris Matthews attacks Bishop Tobin like a rabid dog

Chris Matthews attacked Bishop Tobin a couple of days ago (video below, links at end of article). Bishop Tobin asked Patrick Kennedy years ago in a private letter not to present himself for communion until he changed his views and public statements in support of abortion. Kennedy recently revealed this, but left out the part about how long ago the request was made. Matthews disagrees with the Bishop’s action. Loudly. Watch the video and see for yourself. Matthews has the audacity to call himself a Catholic. He’s a good example of a bad example (to borrow a phrase from Wesley J. Smith). I don’t think he should call himself a Catholic at all. And he certainly shouldn’t present himself for communion at his parish.

Woohoo! 50K in less than 30 days!

Whew! I’m glad that’s over! Now I can slow down, take a deep breath, and figure out what my novel is really about. I was writing so fast (and I got so many story ideas in just the last few days alone), it’ll take a while to sort it all out. But that’s what Re-write Month is for, eh? And now that I know how to use yWriter for structure, I may actually end up with a story that I can let somebody read. Someday. Maybe. :)

Now I’m going to finish my tenth cup of coffee and treat myself to a great big cinnamon roll to celebrate. WOOHOO! Bring on the goodies! :)

Pray for the change of heart of abortionists and their collaborators

In 2003 Pope John Paul II gave a special papal blessing to the Eucharistic Apostles of Mercy and all the faithful of the world who would pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy for an end to abortion and the culture of death. But most Catholics with whom I’ve spoken know nothing of this blessing, the five intentions suggested by the Pope, or the explicit connection with abortion to be found in the diary of St. Faustina herself, which makes the praying of this devotion more important than ever at this time in our country’s political situation.

Netherlands and bioethics, or lack thereof

I was told recently that the Netherlands could actually be used as a model for healthcare in this country. Obama suggested the Netherlands as a model for the U.S. to emulate a few months ago in Colorado. People who knew something of the true state of healthcare and bioethics (or lack thereof) in that country were appalled. Want to know why? Read these articles: Killing Babies Compassionately: The Netherlands Follow In Germany’s Footsteps (from 2006; yes, it’s been going on that long, and longer), and The Netherlands?! A Good Bad Example (from this past August 2009), written by Wesley J. Smith. Smith is a bioethics attorney, author and speaker, writer of the blog Secondhand Smoke at First Things, and writer/speaker of the podcast What It Means To Be Human, and a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute.

Manhattan Declaration and Birmingham connection

I was reading the Manhattan Declaration all the way through and looking at the list of original signers again and I just noticed this: one of the three members of the drafting committee is Timothy George, Dean and Professor of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School*, Samford 
University. That’s right here in Birmingham! (I suppose it would actually be in Homewood, which is right outside of but not part of Birmingham properly speaking.) How about that? Made me smile when I saw it. Oh, here’s another local signer: Dr. David Platt, Pastor, Church at Brook Hills. Well, well, whaddaya know? Other names of note (that I noted because I recognize them) are listed below. 

The Manhattan Declaration, A Call of Christian Conscience

I just signed a very important and historic document. I hope you will read on and that you will add your name, whether you are Christian or not, to the growing list of Evangelical, Orthodox and Catholic Christians and other citizens who are uniting “to protect the intrinsic dignity of the human person and to stand for the common good.” In signing this document, I consider myself to be in excellent company. Here is the Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience, with the original signers listed at the end it.

Chinese officials arrest human rights lawyer and beat his wife

Forced abortions and sterilization continue to be part of China’s “family planning policy”. Hmmm, where have I heard that phrase before? Oh, I remember: Margaret Sanger and her oh-so innocently named “Planned Parenthood”. Doesn’t that sound nice, planned parenthood? Planned, huh? Whose plan is it? Margaret Sanger could not have cared less about the plans of the people she duped, and China has been doing ol’ Maggie proud for many years now. Below is an excerpt from the story of the human rights lawyer arrested after Obama exited the scene. The lawyer “had requested a meeting with President Obama…but was turned down.” What a surprise.

Please take action to stop Reidcare now

I received action alert notices today in my email. I’d like to share a couple of links with you, quote some words from one of the emails, then add some words of my own in closing. Thank you for taking the time to read this. And thank you for taking action after reading. There are lives to be saved. This is urgent. Please read. Please act. Now.

Embryos breathe according to Biology of Prenatal Development, distributed by NatGeo

I read in a comment recently that the preborn do not breathe. Well, here is the refutation of that in the DVD, Biology of Prenatal Development (available from National Geographic, thanks for pointing that out, Jesurgislac), quoted below