Obama: It Was a Mistake to Help Terri Schiavo

Barack Obama says his biggest mistake was to vote to help Terri Schiavo avoid being starved and dehydrated to death, according to LifeSiteNews.

"It wasn't something I was comfortable with, but it was not something that I stood on the floor and stopped. And I think that was a mistake," Obama said at the debate. "And as a constitutional law professor, I knew better ... and I think that's an example of inaction, and sometimes that can be as costly as action."

Obama was referring to his vote in March 2005, when the Senate passed a bill by unanimous consent that permitted Schiavo's parents and brother to make their case before federal courts to keep their brain-injured daughter alive via feeding tube. Terri Schiavo's husband Michael, who had guardianship over her while engaged in public adultery with a girlfriend, had a state judge remove her feeding tube, dehydrating her to death, because he claimed she never wanted to live in a so-called persistent vegetative state (PVS).

Seems pretty outrageous that anyone, much less a presidential candidate, would say voting to help keep a disabled woman alive, helping her avoid the death by starvation and dehydration her husband (who was living with another woman and fathering children by the other woman) was determined to subject her to.

But then, this is par for the course for a man who vehemently refused to protect the lives of infants born alive after failed attempts to abort them.

It's also in character for a man who has pledged to torpedo the sanctity of marriage and undermine the American family.

And it's also not a surprise from someone who would go on video and pledge to gut the United States military.

How can any sane American even consider voting for Barack Obama?

I'm not big into prophetic predictions of judgment and such, but I don't see how, if the majority of Americans elects Barack Obama to the presidency, this nation can escape judgment on a truly Biblical scale.

Steve Sibson (D-Mitchell)

Looks like my friend Steve Sibson at Sibby Online is thinking of running as a Democrat in District 20.

My first thought was, "No way!"

Then it occurred to me that if Stan Adelstein can run as a Republican, nothing is too outrageous.

And remember that a few months ago, Rush Limbaugh was trying to help Hillary Clinton in her primary bid for the Democrat nomination.

With our world turning upside down these days, maybe it's not so crazy to think of Steve Sibson running as a Democrat.

Maybe you should go for it, Steve!

Politics Are a Part of a Religion

American Minute from William J. Federer

Charles Finney died AUGUST 16, 1875.

An attorney, Finney saw so many Scripture references in Blackstone's Law Commentaries that he bought a Bible and came to faith.

Charles Finney's 1835 Revival Lectures inspired George Williams to found the YMCA-Young Men's Christian Association-in 1844, and William Booth to found The Salvation Army in 1865.

Charles Finney formed the Benevolent Empire, a network of volunteer organizations to aid with social problems which in 1834 had a budget rivaling the Federal Government.

Concerning the Kingdom of God, Charles Finney wrote "Every member must work or quit. No honorary members."

While Charles Finney was president of Oberlin College, 1851-1866, it was a station on the Underground Railroad smuggling slaves to freedom and it granted the first college degree in the United States to a black woman, Mary Jane Patterson.

Charles Finney wrote: "The time has come for Christians to vote for honest men, and take consistent ground in politics or the Lord will curse them...Politics are a part of a religion in such a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to their country as a part of their duty to God."

Charles Finney concluded: "God will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics."

William J. Federer is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and president of Amerisearch, Inc, which is dedicated to researching our American heritage. The American Minute radio feature looks back at events in American history on the dates they occurred, is broadcast daily across the country and read by thousand on the internet.

Those Abortions Changed My Life Forever

*Publisher's note: this personal testimony is being reprinted in light of the upcoming vote in South Dakota on Initiated Measure 11 and the recent statement by the American Psychological Association that abortion does not threaten women's mental health.

By Luana Stoltenberg
Legislative Team Leader
Operation Outcry

My life has been devastated by abortion. I have had three abortions, and I remember them as if they were only yesterday. I lay on the cold table with no anesthetic for the pain, staring at the ceiling, wishing I were someplace else. It seemed to last forever, and the pain was unbearable. No amount of anesthetic could dull the pain in my heart and mind.

The types of abortions I had were the vacuum aspirator method. I could hear — by the increased labor of the suction machine — when a part or limb of my baby was being extracted. Each time I tried to look at the jar with my babies remains they would push me back down. To this day I still hear that haunting suction sound.

Those abortions changed my life forever. When I realized I would never hold or see those three children, I became angry and depressed. I started drinking heavily, doing drugs, and attempted suicide three times.

Years later I found out that those three babies would be the only children I would ever bear.

Why did that abortionist tell me my children were only a blob of tissue, and that it would be safer to abort than to carry them to full-term?

These abortions destroyed my tubes and ovaries and caused me to be infertile. Everyday I live with the reality that the only children I will ever bear I killed.

Today I am still living with the effects of those abortions. A few years ago, I had a hysterectomy because of the severe damage caused from the suction procedure.

The only way I have been able to live through this nightmare is that I have come to know my Lord Jesus Christ. He has forgiven me and set me free. II Corthinthians 5:17 says: “Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things are passed away; behold new things have come.”

There has never been a day that I don’t regret the “choices” I made to have those abortions, or think about those three children and who they would have been. Abortion didn’t solve my problems it only created more. I am still a mother it’s just that my 3 children are dead. I want the world to know the harmful, horrible effects of abortion and how it destroys lives, so I WILL BE SILENT NO MORE.

Luana Stoltenberg and her husband Steve have been married since 1985. They live in Davenport with their son Zachary, who was adopted from India at the age of two. They attend and are in leadership at Calvary Church of the Quad Cities.

Luana has been involved with the pregnancy care centers in the Quad Cities. She has also been a board member, treasurer, and media spokes person for the Life and Family Coalition. She is currently active in Operation Outcry. Luana also does public speaking and shares her testimony.

Luana’s heart is to show others the love and mercy of Christ. She does this by telling people what the Lord has done in her own life. She loves to share how the Lord literally picked her up from a life of drugs, alcohol, and abortions, then placed her on His lap of “Grace”.

Her life can be summed up in II Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold all things are new.”

*Reprinted by permission of Operation Outcry.

Mixing religion and politics is inappropriate

BY STAR PARKER
FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
COALITION ON URBAN RENEWAL & EDUCATION

A number of years ago, John McCain did a hilarious segment on "Saturday Night Live" in which he did a spoof commercial for an album called "McCain Sings Streisand."

The "commercial" featured a crooning McCain torturing a number of Streisand hits -- "People," "Memories," "The Way We Were."

The senator then pitched, "I've been in politics for 20 years, and for 20 years I've had Barbra Streisand trying to do my job. So I decided to try my hand at her job."

Pastor Rick Warren's presidential candidate "Civic Forum" at his Saddleback Church brought this SNL highlight to mind.

I'm picturing a segment with Lou Dobbs or Brit Hume preaching a Sunday sermon in a crowded church and then looking into the camera and saying, "Rick Warren is taking a fling at my job, so I thought I'd try my hand at his."

My apologies to Pastor Warren. Who am I to question a pastor who has sold 35 million books that flick on the light for folks to see that life is more than just about themselves?

God Bless Pastor Warren for this.

But I think his foray into presidential politics carries a lot of baggage and creates problems.

If anything characterizes the problems we're having today it is relativism and ambiguity. A blurring of lines between everything. John McCain's "Saturday Night Live" sketch jokes about one part of this. Our elevation of entertainment and celebrity to the point where movie stars start thinking they should be setting public policy, and the public taking them seriously.

In our materialism, we're losing the distinction between money, power and celebrity as compared with knowledge and wisdom.

Now we're seeing a world in which clarity between good and evil, right and wrong, knowledge and ignorance, men and women is disappearing into a borderless and indistinguishable gray.

For whatever good intentions, Warren may have, by posturing as a neutral broker between different points of view, many of which have profound moral and religious implications, and he contributes to the moral ambiguity which we'd expect a pastor to be combating.

We have institutions for civic and political forums. The press, universities, town halls, etc. If they're not delivering well, let the marketplace work to improve what we're getting. But this is not the job of pastors or churches. If it is, where do we go to learn about good and evil?

What exactly is going on in America when our obsession is to cleanse every inch of public space from religion, yet somehow we think it is appropriate to bring a presidential political forum into church?

Our kids can't pray in public school. Or read the bible or learn to apply traditional values in managing their lives. The Ten Commandments cannot appear in our courthouses. A creche cannot be displayed in a public space during Christmas season.

Yet somehow we think a church is an appropriate forum for hosting candidates for president?

Our world is turning upside down. Rather than raising our public and private lives to a higher moral standard, we're politicizing religion.

It's actually worse, I think.

The pretense of neutrality is really a left-wing illusion. It's a sleight of hand to buy into relativism and somehow Warren seems to have fallen into the trap.

When a pastor hosts a political candidate that has a 100 percent rating by NARAL Pro-Choice America and a zero percent rating by the National Right to Life Committee, he gives legitimacy to that candidate. When legitimacy is given to a line reasoning that says that poverty and AIDS are symptoms of anything other than moral breakdown, the relativist views of the left are justified.

To a disproportionate measure, when we are talking about poverty and AIDS in America, we are talking about black communities. These communities are in disarray because of moral ambiguity. They not only need moral clarity and leadership, they crave it.

Partisanship is not our problem today. Healthy partisanship is vital to freedom.

Our problem is moral ambiguity. Anyone that thinks this ambiguity is helpful in addressing poverty, crime, and disease is misinformed.

We need political leaders that are more moral, not church leaders that are more political.

Star Parker is president of the Coalition on Urban Renewal & Education and author of the new book White Ghetto: How Middle Class America Reflects Inner City Decay.

Prior to her involvement in social activism, Star Parker was a single welfare mother in Los Angeles, California. After receiving Christ, Star returned to college, received a BS degree in marketing and launched an urban Christian magazine. The 1992 Los Angeles riots destroyed her business, yet served as a springboard for her focus on faith and market-based alternatives to empower the lives of the poor.

My Life Was Never the Same

*Publisher's note: this personal testimony is being reprinted in light of the upcoming vote in South Dakota on Initiated Measure 11 and the recent statement by the American Psychological Association that abortion does not threaten women's mental health.

By Cynthia Collins
International Team Leader
Host Faces of Abortion
Operation Outcry


The counselor from Planned Parenthood sat across from me, a woman who looked to be in her early 50’s, and said, “You can go to Washington, DC and get an abortion – it’s not legal in Pennsylvania. But pretty soon women will not have to go through this. It will be legal to have an abortion.” Where was the inalienable right to life for the women of this generation?

I thought, “How did I get here – I need help. She’s an adult – she must know what she is talking about. I’ve heard of Planned Parenthood – this must be okay…”

The counselor told me that after the abortion, I could get on with my life. I was 19-years-old and a college freshman. Even though my boyfriend was sitting next to me, I felt very afraid and alone. He looked at me and said, “Whatever you want to do.”

I remember that cold day– a Friday in January of 1973. I flew to Washington, DC with my boyfriend. We were picked up at the airport along with other women who were scheduled for abortions that day.

At the abortion facility, I was herded into a room with approximately 40 other women. It was so impersonal. An empty fetal model was held up for us to see. The woman speaking told us the procedure would take about 15 minutes. I was then taken into a room with only the abortionist and another woman. I can remember intense pain as I was crying. I felt as through I was going to get sick. I have never experienced a pain so intense, ever, in my life. I was then taken into another room. I was told to sit and wait. I could leave in an hour. Next to that room were women on cots who were crying. I was told they were having problems.

As I left the abortion facility, I was told, “Everything will be alright. You can go on with your life. Here’s some medication if you run a fever – everything will be alright.” Everything was not alright. My life was never the same.

Within a few weeks, my relationship with my boyfriend ended. He was my “one and only” sexual relationship before the abortion. I immediately went into a deep depression. I began drinking heavily, using drugs, began running from relationship to relationship, and stopped going to many of my college classes. I was trying to kill the pain that started with the abortion. Where was my baby? Where was the inalienable right to life? I just didn’t care any more.

Within a year I was diagnosed with fibrocystitis in the breast. The doctor could not figure out how I had developed these cysts. I quit college and began to live a life self-destruction – increased promiscuity, pain, pregnancy, and continued abortions. During one abortion, part of my baby was left inside. Abortion hadn’t solved my problem; it added to the pain. At the abortion facilities, I was never told that I had other options, that abortion could be damaging my body, that I might not ever have a child, that I was taking another human life, that I might die. My baby, my first child could have saved me, if I would have chosen life.

As a child, I had been sexually abused until the age of six. I believe that abuse led to my loss of worth, value, and a need to be accepted by men by my performance. Since that time, I have come to learn that many post-abortive women have also suffered some form of abuse as a child. Abuse has caused abortion, and abortion has escalated the abuse of women.

Abortion left me with infertility and many years of scars that are now healed through the love of Jesus Christ. I am a mother of 10 children. Seven are in heaven (six through abortion and one miscarried). My three children on earth are a tremendous blessing and have changed my life forever. They bring truth to this generation and this nation that “all life has value and worth and that the women of our nation need healing, real love, and truth – not continued abuse through abortion.”

Cynthia Collins is Louisiana State Leader for Operation Outcry, host of Faces of Abortion, and co-founder of the Crisis Pregnancy Help Center of Slidell, LA, founded in September 1985. CPHC has served over 22,000 women and given life to over 8,500 babies. In 1993 Cynthia also founded Passion4Purity International, an outreach to young adults that brings the message of destiny, purpose, and purity as a lifestyle for this generation. Cynthia is the Executive Director of Generation Outreach, which also includes WGON-FM in Slidell. Cynthia serves as the Station Manager along with production of “Beyond Words” and “Life Stories.”

*Reprinted by permission of Operation Outcry.

Atheists Want to Share Their Faith at Interfaith Event

Atheists reject all religion and faith, right? Oh, so wrong.

I've long contended that atheism (and its cousin evolution) are a religion because of the amount of faith required to believe these things with no proof. Now there is an admission from the atheists.

According to The Gazette, atheist Democrats in the Secular Coalition Group are pushing to get an atheist speaker on the speaker list for an interfaith service on August 24 at the Democrat National Convention in Denver.

They claim it's about unity. But how can someone who doesn't believe in the existence of a divine being be unified in faith with someone who does believe in the existence of a divine being?

They can be "unified" at other parts of the DNC convention, but what kind of moron thinks there should be unity between someone who does believe in the existence of something, and someone who doesn't believe in the existence of something.

Is it just the ugly head of envy rearing itself again? Envy is what fuels and drives the Democrat Party, so it's entirely possible. Liberals envy someone who has more money, more education, a bigger house, a nicer car, prettier clothes, a better job, or pretty much anything you could conceive. If liberals see that anyone has something they don't, then that gets them thinking that it's unfair that they don't have that or get to go there or get to do that--in other words, they get eaten alive by the ole' envy bug. Merit never enters the picture; he has it, I should have it, too.

Now if they're admitting that it takes faith to look at the tremendously complex universe around us, acknowledge that it takes faith to get beyond the fact that there is no reasonable way that the universe could have even begun to look the way it currently does much less actually reach this high state of order and development, that it takes a lot of faith to accept that is ludicrous to believe the massive amounts of DNA information in organic systems practically scream "Creator!"...if they're admitting that it takes faith to believe what they believe, then maybe they have a case for being included in this interfaith event.

Think they'd use their faith as a basis for inclusion in this event? Don't hold your breath.

Following the Truth Where Ever It Leads

We always want to be careful about jumping to conclusions based on anecdotal evidence. A handful of personal stories might not be representative of the bigger picture and have the potential to mislead when not all the facts about these stories are known.

But when trends and patters begin to develop, that tells us there may be something to be learned. When large numbers of the same type of cause and effect start to surface, we would be remiss not to give this evidence serious consideration.

In reality, as evidence mounts, a de facto threshold of credibility begins to form that demands a pretty rigorous and detailed examination of alternate causes before the obvious conclusion can be rejected out of hand.

I don't think the recent statement by the American Psychological Association on the mental health risks of abortion even comes close to meeting that threshold of credibility.

Commenter Diane at Voices Carry points out that Dr. Brenda Major, the lead author on the APA report, has violated APA standards by not sharing her research data. If we don't know how she reached her conclusions and have no opportunity to review the data for either veracity or errors, there is no way to confirm the veracity of the overall conclusions.

Last year, when anti-death penalty researcher H. Naci Mocan found that his conclusions supported the contention that capital punishment has a deterrent effect, he did the intellectually honest thing and reported his findings anyway.

Does Dr. Major lack the same level of integrity as this anti-death penalty researcher?

The Socratic principle to "follow the argument where ever it leads" is tough to follow with our human tendency toward protecting our self interest, but it is one that remains our goal if we genuinely want to know the truth.

I used to support abortion. I thought it was perfectly moral and a useful method of retroactive birth control. I was a pretty adamant supporter of abortion rights.

That is, until a friend prompted me to look beyond the sound bytes on the nightly news and the shallow reporting in the newspapers. In other words, he prompted me to quit relying on the dominant propaganda, do some research for myself...and then follow the truth where ever it led.

I found when I looked in the Bible, it led to a conclusion that unborn children were human life, created in the image of God, that God recognized and valued. Hmmmm. But what about science?

I found that science pointed strongly to the humanity of the unborn child. I had always thought that a "late term" baby shouldn't be aborted, but avoided the question of when to draw that line. Obviously if the late-term baby "looked like a 'real baby,'" then abortion probably wasn't a good idea. But I had thought little about the development of the unborn child at earlier stages. When I actually took the time to look into it, I found that the heart and circulatory system are already forming before the unborn child is a month along; that the child has a heartbeat by Week 5, and arms and legs are starting to form; by Week 6 the brain is growing and the eyes are forming; by Week 7 the fingers, ears, nose and teeth are developing; by Week 8 when most abortions occur in South Dakota, cartilage and bones are growing, the tongue is developing, and fingers and toes have appeared. DNA evidence also tells us that the unborn child has human DNA, and that DNA is separate and distinct from the mother's DNA--making it a separate and unique human being, not a part of the mother's body.

When I sat down and considered this Biblical and scientific evidence, I reached an uncomfortable conclusion: I had been wrong for supporting abortion. It wasn't a morally neutral practice. It wasn't simply a form of retroactive birth control. It wasn't simply a part of the mother's body with which she could do as she pleased. It wasn't simply a choice. It was ending the life of an individual and distinct human being.

To be honest, I got pretty sick at my stomach when I finally realized the truth of what I'd been defending. I trembled when I realized that in years past I had been promiscuous and had relied on abortion as my "escape hatch" if something "went wrong;" thankfully I never had to use it, but I had been fully prepared to kill my own child for my own convenience. I had known women who had considered abortion--and some who actually went through with abortions--and I had said nothing to dissuade them, and in some cases had been supportive of their having an abortion.

When my understanding of the issue went beyond the anecdotal and shallow propaganda sold by the "mainstream" media, I had a decision to make: I could ignore the evidence, refuse to admit I had been wrong and continue as I had been...or I could accept the truth, admit I had been wrong, and start working to dispel the public cloud of ignorance I had been misled by.

I chose the latter.

When thousands of women submit their testimony to the South Dakota Task Force to Study Abortion that abortion caused them untold mental and emotional grief, and Operation Outcry has compiled thousand of testimonies to the same effect, this is obviously more than an anecdotal blip.

Follow the argument where ever it leads? Follow the truth where ever it goes? Follow the facts where ever they lead?

That's not easy for any of us to do. Admitting you've been wrong isn't easy for any human being, especially if there is guilt on our hands.

But it is a responsibility each and every one of us has--to ourselves, to others, and to the truth itself.

A commitment to the truth--where ever it leads--is something we should be able to expect from leaders in the medical, scientific and governmental community.

And it's a commitment which has been sadly lacking for several decades.

The Pain Never Really Goes Away

*Publisher's note: this personal testimony is being reprinted in light of the upcoming vote in South Dakota on Initiated Measure 11 and the recent statement by the American Psychological Association that abortion does not threaten women's mental health.

By Tracy Reynolds
Media Liaison
Operation Outcry

I was born in the Pacific Island of Saipan when my father was with the CIA. While pregnant with me, my mother was exposed to the German measles and was given a vaccination, which caused me to be nearly totally blind at birth. However, I was always treated like the other children. I went to regular school and always believed that I could do everything that everyone else did.

My mother and I had a stormy relationship; and at 16, I moved out to live with a friend. One night my mother called me after she had been drinking. She said that she was very sad for me because she didn’t think that I would ever find love or get married, and that no one would want me. I was very angry with her words, and I became deeply affected and spent a lot of my early years trying to prove her wrong. This led me into self-destructive, impossible relationships.

In 1981, two significant events occurred that changed my life: I became pregnant, and I had an abortion. When I learned that I was pregnant, I had two distinctly different reactions. Initially, I was overjoyed and filled with wonder because I was actually carrying my own child. Then, I felt guilty and ashamed because the child was the result of a brief affair with a married man.

When I told a few people about my pregnancy, I was advised to get an abortion. I felt an obligation to tell the father of the baby – not because I wanted or expected anything from him but because I believed he had the right to know. He was very upset and begged me to terminate the pregnancy. He said that knowing he had a child out there would ruin his life.

In my heart, I deeply wanted to have the child, but I didn’t want to be responsible for someone else’s unhappiness. I decided to go through with the abortion but changed my mind at the abortion facility and walked out. I felt a tremendous sense of relief, but then I had to face the people who encouraged me to have the abortion, including the father of the baby.

Torn by the decision I faced, I saw a psychiatrist/abortionist who also told me that abortion would be the best solution under the circumstances. I finally succumbed to the pressure.
I vividly remember the sounds, the pain, the feeling of having my child ripped from my body, and the immediate emptiness. The biggest regret of my life is that I didn’t follow my heart and have the courage to follow through with my convictions to give birth to my baby.

For years, I tried to repress this memory. I never talked about that "secret" in my past. I had dreams, sometimes nightmares, and sometimes of my baby girl being alive, talking, and quite advanced for her age.

After a few self-destructive relationships with men, I vowed to give up men and went for many years without any close relationships. I always played the role of counselor, helping them with their problems but being very guarded about my own.

I began my healing journey when I heard a friend tell her story of her abortion on an internet radio broadcast. This had a profound effect on me and I subsequently went through an abortion recovery program through Rachel’s Vineyard.

Currently I answer a toll-free national help line for Rachel’s Vineyard on evenings and weekends. I also volunteer for the national help line two days a week. I receive hundreds of phone calls on both of these lines from women and men all over the country who tell their tragic stories of abortion and who are seeking someone to listen, understand and in many cases help with their burden. We refer these women and men to abortion recovery programs to try to ease their burden, but their pain never really goes away. After being in corporate America for many years, I have decided to devote my life to speaking the truth and educating the public that abortion hurts women, men and families.

Tracy Reynolds is Producer of Faces of Abortion and Media Liaison for The Justice Foundation. She also volunteers for a national abortion recovery help line. She has had a distinguished career in Human Resources and has worked as a crisis intervention counselor for non-profit agencies.

*Reprinted by permission of Operation Outcry.

Groups: APA Rebuffed Testimony of Abortion Mental Health Issues

Reprinted by permission of The Christian Post

By Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter
Fri, Aug. 15 2008 10:18 AM EDT

A newly released report by the American Psychological Association is drawing fire from family groups and pro-life advocates who say abortion, even one time, can cause considerable psychological harm to a woman.

"The American Psychological Association's so-called study is nothing more than a conclusion supported by opinions screened to match that predetermined outcome," said Georgette Forney, co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, in a statement Thursday.

Forney's criticism was directed at a draft report by the APA Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion which concluded that women who have a single elective first-trimester abortion do not have a higher risk of mental health problems than those who have their babies.

"There is no credible evidence that a single elective abortion of an unwanted pregnancy in and of itself causes mental health problems for adult women," the report, released Tuesday, stated. Mental health risks associated with multiple abortions is more uncertain, the panel found.

The report was accepted by the APA Council of Representatives at APA's Annual Convention in Boston on Wednesday.

Many weren't surprised by the report.

"This finding was expected given the composition of the APA task force (pro-choice in a pro-choice organization) but provides testimony to the bias of APA in not even meeting with groups who represent women who believe abortion did lead to significant mental health problems," said Dr. Warren Throckmorton, a psychology professor at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. "Several groups sought to meet with APA but were rebuffed."

Over 600 women who had an abortion asked to meet with the APA to discuss their experiences of abortion and depression. They were, however, dismissed.

"The APA brushed them off, just like it dismissed any scientific study that didn't agree with its agenda," said Forney, whose organization raises awareness about the harmful effects of abortion and has had 2,326 women and men share their testimonies around the world.

Forney and other pro-life groups believe the task force's review process of studies published since 1989 was biased and that the APA panel disregarded scientific research that shows the psychological harm an abortion can cause.

There were some studies that indicated experiences of sadness, depression and anxiety following an abortion for some women, the task force reported, but the panel concluded that it found "no evidence sufficient to support the claim that an observed association between abortion history and mental health was caused by the abortion per se, as opposed to other factors," such as poverty or a history of emotional problems.

Many believe otherwise.

"A number of studies have shown abortion in women to be associated with increased risks of major depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and suicidal behaviors," Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, commented Thursday. "The report ... ignores a substantial and growing body of evidence consisting of testimonies based on women's real-life experiences, as cited by the Supreme Court in the Gonzales v. Carhart decision last year which upheld the federal ban on partial-birth abortion."

Brenda Major, chair of the APA task force, said at the release of the report that the conclusions were drawn from "the best scientific evidence published." But at the same time, she and the panel acknowledged that many of the studies published during the period reviewed suffered "serious methodological problems" and called for better-designed research in the future.

With conclusions drawn from such flawed studies and limited evidence, New Zealand researcher David Fergusson believes what the panel “has, in effect, said is that until there is compelling evidence to the contrary, people should act as though abortion has no harmful effects."

"In this respect, the response of the APA committee to this situation appears to follow the type of logic used by the Tobacco industry to defend cigarettes: since, in our opinion, there is no conclusive evidence of harm then the product may be treated as safe," Fergusson told Throckmorton. "A better logic is that used by the critics of the industry: since there is suggestive evidence of harmful effects it behooves us to err on the side of caution and commission more and better research before drawing strong conclusions. History showed which side had the better arguments."

The APA Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion was formed in 2006 and charged with collecting, examining and summarizing the scientific research addressing mental health factors associated with abortion, including the psychological responses following abortion. According to the report, the panel evaluated all of the empirical studies published in English in peer-reviewed journals since 1989 that compared the mental health of women who had an induced abortion to comparison groups of women, or that examined factors that predict mental health among women who have had an elective abortion in the United States.

Copyright 2008 The Christian Post. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Argus: Johnson Absence at Debates Coming to Forefront

The "mainstream" media is starting to acknowledge that Senator Tim Johnson's decision not to attend any debates against Republican challenger Joel Dykstra this campaign season is becoming a very important issue with the voters.

Today the Argus Leader ran an article titled "No debating: Issue Comes to campaign's forefront" which said

"The bottom line is politics is a persuasive business. The demonstration of one's ability to be persuasive is right at the core of effective politics," said John Pohlman, vice president of creative services for the Sioux Falls advertising firm Lawrence & Schiller.

Ads and endorsements are not the sole currency of a campaign. That's why it's important for Johnson to personally connect with voters and dispel doubts about whether he can continue to serve, Pohlman said.

And

Rod Woodruff, founder of the Buffalo Chip Campground in Sturgis and a Belle Fourche lawyer, said it's a tough topic among people he talks with West River.

"The truth of the matter is, everybody sympathizes with Senator Johnson and with his physical condition. Everybody wants to tiptoe around that condition, and they don't want to seem callous and insensitive to it," he said. "But the bottom line is people have got to wonder."

Johnson's decision not to debate may have actually helped Dykstra's exposure:

In doing so, the Johnson campaign attempted to limit his opponent's ability to draw public attention, Dykstra said.

"But I think we've gotten that anyway," he said. "A lot more people have talked to me. They are looking at our Web site. They are researching my positions. There are more editorials, more appearances of my name in print over the last week, and I don't see any evidence of it going away. It clearly has become the issue of the campaign."

The Argus had this video on their website featuring Dykstra and Johnson sharing their ideas on energy.

You Might Be a Liberal...

A few good ones from John Hawkins' "25 Reasons You Might Be a Liberal":

* You think kids in public schools should have to watch Earth in the Balance and read Heather Has Two Mommies, but no piece of literature with the word "Jesus" on it should be allowed within a hundred yards of a school.

* You think Fox News is hopelessly biased to the right, but MSNBC, CNN, NBC, ABC, and CBS call it right down the middle.

* You get more upset about an American soldier accidentally killing a civilian than you do about a terrorist deliberately blowing up a school bus full of kids.

* You have more nice things to say about countries like Cuba and France than you do about your own country.

* You think the case for global warming is proven without a shadow of a doubt, but that we need another century or two worth of evidence to figure out if capitalism and free markets work better than socialism.

* You get infuriated when you hear about the CEO of a Fortune 500 company making tens of millions of dollars, but don't see a problem with an actor, basketball player, or trial lawyer making the same amount.

* You know that 86% of all income taxes are paid by the top 25% of income earners and you still feel that the rich "aren't paying their fair share of the taxes."

Right on!

Read the whole list here.

NewsBusted Conservative Comedy 8/15/2008

Topics in today's show:

--Economists say America's economy would do better under McCain than Obama

--Obama flip-flops on oil reserves

--Liberal blogs 12x more likely to use profanity than conservative blogs

--Jenna Jameson pregnant

--Cheech and Chong reunite

NewsBusted is a comedy webcast about the news of the day, uploaded every Tuesday and every Friday.

CDC Looking at Gardasil-Related Problems

A number of problems with the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination Gardasil have been identified since South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds made it available at taxpayer expense.

In addition to concerns from the American College of Pediatricians, Dr. Diane Harper, a lead researcher for the vaccine, has criticized the aggressive marketing campaign of the drug.

There have been several deaths tied to Gardisil.

LifeSiteNews reports that deaths and side effects from the drug are becoming so commonplace that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is starting an investigation into complaints.

Judicial Watch, a public interest group, has closely monitored Gardasil since it was released by creator Merck in 2006, periodically detailing statistics on the numerous side effects users have experienced. The most recent report alleges that the drug has been responsible for 21 deaths and 9,749 adverse reactions, including 78 outbreaks of genital warts and 10 miscarriages.

As daunting as these current statistics are, it seems that even they may be gravely underestimating the health risks associated with using Gardasil. A study by the New England Journal of Medicine claims that only about 10% of drug induced side effects are reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

If you're considering immunizing your daughter with Gardasil, you might want to think twice.

If Abortion Had Not Been Legal...

*Publisher's note: this personal testimony is being reprinted in light of the upcoming vote in South Dakota on Initiated Measure 11 and the recent statement by the American Psychological Association that abortion does not threaten women's mental health.

By Lisa Dudley

Director of Outreach

Operation Outcry

At 24-years-old, I learned I was pregnant. My boyfriend immediately asked me not to have “it”. All of my friends said I shouldn’t have “it.” Because I was already a single parent of a son with no support from his father, I truly believed I had no options. I felt so much pressure and felt I had no way out.

I had taken others to have abortions in the past, so I didn’t see it as that big a deal. At eight weeks pregnant, my friend, who I had taken for her abortion years before, was now taking me.

I signed in and waited along with five other women. One-by-one, each of us was asked if this is what we wanted. One woman was there for her sixth abortion. I remember thinking, “How could she keep doing this?”

Next, I had a sonogram. When I asked if I could see it, I was told that it wasn’t a good idea. I said it was okay, I just wanted to see. The assistant turned the monitor towards me and showed me a white dot on the screen. I remember thinking that “it” was really nothing, not realizing she wasn’t showing me my baby.

After I was positioned on the table, the abortionist came in. When I looked up, I gasped as I realized I knew him. He was a client of the law firm where I worked. I wanted to die right there. The shame that came over me was unbearable; however, he never looked at me. He never examined me, he never looked at my chart, and he never asked me any questions.

The assistant gave me a mask with medication and whispered that I needed to stay completely still. The abortionist said I was going to feel a little discomfort as he administered the local anesthetic. There was much more pain than a little discomfort.

Then the vacuum machine started. This was the longest time of my entire life. I felt like I was being violently shaken off of the table. The nurse yelled at me to be still.

Tears streamed down my face. I knew then that I was making the biggest mistake of my life, but it was too late. The only compassion I received was from the assistant who patted my head and said for me to go ahead and cry – that it was good to cry. It seemed like an eternity. When was the machine going to stop? I really thought I was going to die.

Following the abortion, I heard the clanking of the metal instruments, the snap of the abortionist’s gloves, he slapped me on the thigh, saying, “Good luck to you” and walked out without ever looking at me. I was relieved because I was ashamed, but now I realize how cold and disrespectful he was and that there was no doctor-patient relationship.

I was taken to a room with recliners where girls were curled up in fetal positions, crying and in pain. When released, I was given a prescription for antibiotics and told I had to return for a follow-up. I remember thinking, “I will never come here again.”

My boyfriend came by “to make sure I was okay.” I was curled up on the couch and couldn’t even look at him. Our relationship ended soon after that.

That night, I began wearing a mask to hide my shame that lasted years. The shame was so bad that I wouldn’t fill the prescription for antibiotics. I didn’t want anyone to know what I had done. The pain I suffered was the worst physical and psychological pain I have ever experienced.

I felt deceived and violated. I had no idea what abortion would do to me. If someone had only warned me, my baby and I may have been spared.

After the abortion I began drinking heavily. I experimented with drugs and spent most of my spare time in night clubs. I was a good mother when I needed to be, and then I had “me” time where I could be as bad as I thought I was. I had no self-worth. All the things I said I would never do I had now done. There were few sins I hadn’t committed, but my family wasn’t aware there was ever a problem.

Following the abortion, I had bouts of uncontrollable crying, sleeping too much, pain in my chest and trouble breathing. My doctor diagnosed panic attacks and depression, for which I had to take medication. I never had these problems before. I never told any doctor about my abortion.

If abortion had not been legal, I would have never been in that abortion facility that day. I would not have had years of pain and anguish over taking the life of my own child. There is nothing that brings more shame and pain to women than abortion. A woman carries it in her heart the rest of her life. Abortion brings only pain, sorrow and regret. Because of the scientific evidence we now have, because of the testimony upon testimony of women about how abortion hurts them, because we now know it is not good for women and that it really isn’t a choice, abortion should no longer be legal.

Lisa Dudley is the Director of Outreach for Operation Outcry and a Paralegal for The Justice Foundation. She shares her story in churches and before legislatures throughout the nation. She has three sons and one daughter.

*Reprinted by permission of Operation Outcry.

Lengthy Phone Polls for Senator Johnson Going Out

A Dakota Voice reader contacted me today and said he received a call from a polling group a couple of nights ago on behalf of Senator Tim Johnson's campaign.

He said it was a pretty long call (about 20 minutes), which would be one of the most extensive polling calls I've ever heard of.

He said some position statements by Senator Johnson and Republican challenger Joel Dykstra were recited first, then there were a bunch of multiple choice questions related to whether the respondent would be more or less likely to vote for Johnson.

The DV reader said about half the call sang the praises of Johnson for bringing home the pork (aka hard-earned taxpayer dollars) to South Dakota.

Who knows how many calls were made that night, and are being made daily, but at 20 minutes a pop, they've got to be running up a pretty good phone bill doing this survey.

Seems to me a debate or a town hall meeting would be a much cheaper and more effective way of finding out whether South Dakotans believe Johnson is up to the demanding job of being our representative in the U.S. Senate.

Have you received a polling call on behalf of Senator Johnson lately? Let me know if you have.

The APA: When Bias Eclipses Science

The American Psychological Association released a one-sided report yesterday which made the incredible claim that abortion is not a detriment to women's mental health.

Politically correct positions are certainly no stranger to the American Psychiatric Association.

In 1973, after protests and harassment from homosexual activists, the APA caved and removed homosexuality from its list of psychiatric disorders.

The APA has proven that it puts more stock in being with the herd and riding the political winds than it does in actual science.

Voices Carry has some information on the biased and one-sided manner in which the APA made the contention that abortion is not a threat to women's mental health.

Today a group of 100 scientists, medical and mental health experts issued a statement disagreeing with the APA's position.

A large number of women also testified to the South Dakota Task Force to Study Abortion that they had most definitely suffered mental distress after having had an abortion.

Pro-abortion liberals are quick to embrace "science" when it appears to support immorality, but dismiss science when it is inconvenient.

They apparently have a love-hate relationship with science. When biased pronouncements like the one from the APA make them feel good about killing innocent human life, science is god. When actual, factual science (such as the fact that unborn children have human DNA, and that DNA is unique from the mother, making the child a unique human being) presents a problem for their "oh, it's just tissue" argument, it gets neatly ignored.

Some express great fear about theoretical changes in global temperature or a tiny increase in the parts-per-million of a chemical in our water, yet express cavalier indifference about a very real and observable health threat.

The scientific reality is that abortion violently ends an innocent and unique human life in the womb. The scientific reality is also that abortion often results in physical and emotional damage to the woman including but not limited to anxiety, depression, substance abuse and suicidal ideation.

What a shame that the APA would put convenience and political correctness ahead of public safety.

Alpha Center Condemns APA Statement on Abortion

PRESS RELEASE
August 14, 2008
Contact: Kimberly Martinez
Phone: 605.361.3500

After two years of “evaluating” other studies, the American Psychological Association (APA) came to the conclusion that a woman who has one abortion does not suffer significant mental-health problems. The report, however, leaves room to conclude that having more than one abortion does have significant mental-health repercussions.

The report was based on other studies that were biased in favor of abortion and did not quantify the number of women likely to be affected by abortion. However, the general consensus among medical science scholars is that a minimum of 10 to 30 percent of women who have elective abortions suffer prolonged, negative psychological consequences including depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse and suicide ideation.

“I challenge any reporter or APA member to sit down with 100 post-abortive women and look into our eyes. Their report is a blatant disregard for women who are in abortion recovery,” said Leslee Unruh, founder of the Alpha Center, a crisis pregnancy center in Sioux Falls, SD.

Sixty percent of elective abortions are either repeat abortions or those in which the women are pressured to have one, reported CitizenLink, an online publication of Focus on the Family.

The APA is ignoring the millions of women whose psychological needs are not being addressed; they are emphasizing what Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers have said all along – it’s no big deal, it’ll only hurt for a moment.

I could endure another rape...but not another abortion!

*Publisher's note: the personal testimony of Geri Riggs is being reprinted in light of the upcoming vote in South Dakota on Initiated Measure 11 and the recent statement by the American Psychological Association that abortion does not threaten women's mental health.

By Geri Riggs
Sturgis, South Dakota

Thirty six years ago, as a young single mother just out of my teens, I was raped and consequently became pregnant. I was so afraid of what people would say that I didn't think I could bear it, so I made the unspeakable decision to end my baby’s life. Not because I wanted to or because I didn’t want the baby, but because of the judgment I perceived by others. At that time, rape was the only exception (in California) for an abortion; that and a threat to the mother’s life.

I was deeply ashamed of what I was doing but I remember moving in great confusion and a fog, and the people from the state welfare office that I talked to were only too happy to help me get an abortion. They just asked me, “Were you raped?” I said yes, and that was that. It was several months after the fact, but that was all they asked. Sadly, they made it very easy.

Almost immediately afterward, I started suffering severe anxiety attacks and ended up a virtual prisoner in my own house, afraid to drive, go shopping or even eat out. I was afraid of everyone and afraid to go anywhere. I became severely depressed and went through years of counseling and some drug therapy. Some of it helped, some made things worse. These nightmare years almost culminated in suicide but my only child walked in at a crucial moment and I resolved to fight to stay around for him.

Before this time, I was in too much pain to think of anyone else. I was being eaten up with shame and guilt and didn't know it.

I had always believed in God and prayed frequently as a young girl, but had turned away as a result of rejection and deep hurt. However, He didn’t turn away from me. Through my child, He started drawing me back. He began a work in me that resulted in a dramatic and supernatural healing of the deep, deep shame I carried for 16 years as a result of abortion. Like a disease, the unhealed pain festered inside me, causing several physical problems. It resulted in deep debt due to medical bills, even in spite of having medical insurance.

Twenty years ago, I gave up on trying to control my life and while praying one day asked God to take charge. He very clearly showed me the truth about the “sin” I had covered up, and like King David’s experience, it was destroying me slowly. After I repented and renounced what I had done, He showed me that He not only forgave me, but He loved me very, very much—and that I was not dirty.

That was the defining moment in my life. I never felt that kind of love before, ever. It was the start of true healing: physically, mentally, and spiritually; not the band-aid treatment that I got from counseling all the years before. My health started dramatically improving and now it has been (by the grace of God) over 6 years since I have been to the doctor and I take no prescriptions or medicine of any kind.

Some have asked me, “How do you know it was the abortion that caused your emotional problems? Would it have been the same if you had been raped and there hadn't been an abortion?”

The answer is an emphatic NO! Because, you see, I had also been raped much earlier as a young teen and I didn't fall completely apart then—not until after the abortion. The rapes where humiliating but I was able to survive them, and could again, if I had to. But I could NEVER, EVER survive another abortion.

All those years of counseling, we talked about the rapes and the abuse, but I never saw the real root of my problem, which was guilt and shame from abortion, because it was so traumatic that I buried it deep, deep inside me and never talked to anyone about it. The idea that I had taken my own child’s life and rejected the most precious gift God can give us was far too painful for me to share with anyone. The only, and I emphasize the ONLY reason I can talk about it now is because of the blood of Christ, which washes away our sins, and because I know I am forgiven. I don’t like to talk about it…but I can now, for the sake of the children.

It also damaged my relationship with my only surviving child. Abortion takes the strongest force on earth—a mother’s love for her child—and short-circuits it. It was like I was left with a hard, crusty, dried-out heart and didn’t have the natural desire to hold my child or nurture him. I didn’t care to play with children or even be around them until Jesus filled me with His love and softened my heart. Now I can love the way I was designed to do!

It saddens and angers me to hear people use the excuse that HB 1215 (Referred Law 6) is too extreme or radical, with negative connotation. Radical means excellence, revolutionary and willing to change the system. It also means to root out disease, as in radical surgery. Just like “the radical truth of repentance and forgiveness through Jesus Christ” and what that truth did for me. The “radical truth” cleansed the root of the disease—depression and anxiety, which was caused by the guilt and shame from abortion. Radical pain takes radical measures.

TRUTH: Being a victim of rape did not exempt me from the devastation of abortion. It added to it.

If I could do one thing over again in my life, it would be to go back and save my child’s life! There is “no excuse” to ever take an innocent life. As one woman asked, “Does a child conceived in rape look any different in ultrasound than a child that is conceived during consensual sex?” How can we say that the innocent have to die for their father’s sins?

To this day I respect all life and have no desire to hurt anyone or any living thing, but to impart life and healing wherever I go.

*Reprinted from Dakota Voice, October 2006.

Democrat Platform Calls for Homosexuals in Military

The choice between the two parties in November just keeps getting clearer and clearer.

From CNS News comes word that the newly adopted Democrat Party platform calls for the repeal of Bill Clinton's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy allowing homosexuals to serve in the military as long as they don't admit their homosexuality.

The platform doesn't call for going back to obeying existing law which declares homosexuality incompatible with military service, however, but allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the U.S. military.

If Obama is elected president, this will go well with his overall pledge to gut the U.S. military.

Obama has made it clear that he intends to do everything he can do undermine our military strength and readiness. This is one more thing that will advance political correctness at the expense of morale, unit cohesion and mission readiness.

Rapid City Deserter Coming Home for Justice

Deserter Jeremy Hinzman is coming home from Canada to face justice for deserting the military, according to the Rapid City Journal.

He must leave Canada by September 23, according to his deportation order.

Hinzman, who is among an estimated 200 resisters in Canada, said he would face a court martial if he returns to the U.S., the likelihood of jail time and a dishonourable discharge from the military, which would show up on his record as a felony conviction.

He said he still believes he and other deserters did the right thing by coming to Canada.

"Iraq was an unjust war based on false pretences, and every soldier who refused to fight probably saved a lot of lives," he said.

I guess that's what you get for drinking the MoveOn.org Koolaid. The Iraq invasion was justified on multiple levels for multiple reasons, and it doesn't take a genius to figure that out; just a mind unclouded by liberal self-loathing.

Those who join the military just for a college education, without regard for what you may be called to do, should take heed. The United States military isn't some cushy government program that exists to fulfill your material and self-actualization needs. It exists to defend this country.

Hinzman is about to come home and learn that the hard way.

Church Declines Tithe from Gambling Winnings

Now this is integrity!

According to First Coast News, Robert Powell won $6 million dollars in a lottery jackpot and planned to tithe $600,000 of it to his church. The tithe was a good thing to do.

Playing the lottery, however, was foolish, and for that reason the church has declined his tithe of lottery money.

The Bible doesn't explicitly condemn gambling in such language as "Thou shalt not gamble," but there there are principles dealing with work and money in the Bible which indicate that many aspects of gambling are things God disapproves of.

For instance, God establishes the work ethic in Genesis 2:15, that human beings are to perform useful work each day and not be idle. The Bible also outlines work as they way we are to obtain our needs: 2 Thessalonians 3:10.

The Bible speaks against idleness in 1 Thessalonians 5:14, 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 2 Thessalonians 3:7, 2 Thessalonians 3:11, and 1 Timothy 5:13.

What is usually at the root of gambling, in addition to an attempt to get around the work ethic, is an inordinate love of money. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:10 that (not money itself, but) the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Hebrews 13:5 also warns us to steer clear of the love of money. Matthew 6:24 also tells us that if the pursuit of money is our overriding goal, it will be our master. Ecclesiastes 5:10 also tells us that it is an unsatisfying master.

Proverbs 13:11 speaks against attempting to "get rich quick."

All this is in addition to the danger of becoming addicted to the thrill of gambling, so that we throw away the money we earn from our honest job in an attempt to win.

This can lead to putting our family in need, leaving our bills unpaid, and needing to borrow from our family and friends.

It can also lead to job loss if we're avoiding work to go gamble, and can break up a family that is neglected in favor of the slot machine or the card table.

Some gamblers write lots of bad checks and may find themselves in trouble with the law.

Gambling addicts may turn to robbery or burglary in order to steal to support their habit.

I recall about 18 years ago, an Air Force sergeant lost a lot of money gambling in Deadwood. He tried to break into the casino late at night after closing in order to steal back his money. Someone happened to be in the building and he ended up murdering that person. Now someone is dead, and this sergeant is rotting in prison.

There are so many moral and practical reasons to oppose gambling, it's no wonder this church declined a tithe from gambling winnings.

Statement of Professionals on Effect of Abortion on Women

*Reprinted from Operation Outcry

The United States Supreme Court stated in Gonzales v. Carhart that “it is unexceptionable that some women will come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained … severe depression and loss of esteem can follow.” Abortion is a difficult and complex decision, because it has deep impact upon the woman, her own mental health and well-being, her physical health and well-being, her relationship with the child in utero, her relationship with her husband and/or relationship with her sexual partner, other family members, as well as society as a whole.

As a scientist, medical professional or mental health professional, I agree with the following conclusions about abortion:

THE FACTS
1) It is common for women to experience feelings of anger, fear, sadness, anxiety, grief, or guilt after abortion. The United States Supreme Court is correct that “some women come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained… Severe depression and loss of esteem can follow.”

2) Women’s reaction to these feelings vary considerably with their emotional coping abilities and pre-existing functioning. It is undeniable that significant numbers of women are injured by abortion and should not be ignored by the medical profession and that significant numbers of women suffer serious physical, mental or psychological trauma as a result of abortion.

3) The conclusion that there is a causal connection between abortion and negative problems is supported by three independent lines of evidence: (a) the self-attribution of women themselves, (b) mental health professionals who have successfully diagnosed and treated postabortion reactions, and (c) statistically validated studies controlling for a large number of confounding factors which have been published in peer reviewed journals.

4) There is a significant body of research which demonstrates that abortion has harmful consequences for women. There is definite scientific evidence that supports this claim. The best scientific evidence to date suggests that a significant number of women who elect to abort suffer serious and enduring symptoms of anxiety, depression, trauma, suicidal behaviors, sleep disorders, and substance abuse disorders. This evidence must not be suppressed for any reason and should be provided to women as part of the abortion informed consent process. Peer reviewed research has shown that abortion is statistically associated with adverse mental health outcomes compared to women who have not elected abortion.

SIGNED BY:

Marcia Albrecht, MA Counseling,

Marcus W. Allen, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Licensed Marriage & Family
Therapist, Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor

Dr. Daniel Amen, Medical Doctor

Constance Austin, Licensed Professional Counselor

Elizabeth Barnett, Licensed Associate Counselor

Kathleen Basehore, Master Arts in Psychology, Licensed Psychologist

Frank Basley, Licensed Associate Professional Counselor

Susan K. Beeney, Registered Nurse and Grief Counselor

Dr. Karl Benzio, Psychiatrist, M.D.

Kay Bleyer, Licensed Mental Health Counselor

Tonya Bonner, Master of Education, Licensed Professional Counselor

Joan M. Bosky, Marriage & Family Therapist

Mark Bowman, Licensed Professional Counselor

Linda P. Bowman, Licensed Graduate Social Worker

Dianna Bradley, Education Masters in Community Counseling

James Scott Branan, Licensed Mental Health Counselor

Robert Broadwell, Master of Arts, Licensed Professional Counselor

Lya Burgess, Licensed Master of Social Work, Independent Clinical Social Worker

Jessica Campbell, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor

Sharon Carl, Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Kay Lyn Carlson, Licensed Master Social Worker

Susan Cerni, Licensed Mental Health Counselor

Billie N. Coey, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, Licensed Marriage & Family
Therapist, Licensed Master of Social Work

Kathy Connolly, Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker

Shelli Cossel, Masters Level Licensed Professional Counselor

Ginean Gianndrea Crawford, Licensed Professional Counselor, Masters in Family Therapy

Robert Crawford, Professional Counselor, National Certified Counselor, Diplomate, American Association of Experts in Traumatic Stress

Marla Delong, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist

Susan Derdarian, M.M.C.C.

Marina Ervin, M.S., Licensed Professional Counselor, National Certified Counselor

Susan Faurce, Licensed Mental Health Counselor

Stephanie Fedler, Licensed Psychologist

Amy Frady, Licensed Professional Counselor, National Certified Counselor

John Charles Franklin, Master of Science in Counseling, Master Level Addictions Professional

Bertine C. Galipeau, Licensed Ed. Psychologist

Allene E. Geary, Registered Nurse, BSN, Master Health Ed.

Kathy Giangrande, Licensed Mental Health Counselor

Eve Marie Gilbert, Master of Arts, Nationally Board Certified Licensed Professional Counselor

Joyce D. Goodwin, Licensed Professional Counselor

Denise L. Greenhalgh, Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Chaua Hall, Bachelor of Science in Nursing

Stephanie Hamand, Master of Arts, Licensed Professional Counselor, National Certified Counselor

Matt Hartell, Licensed Mental Health Counselor

James J. Heid, Medical Doctor

Lisa Hosale, Licensed Master of Social Work

Theresa Huggins, State Licensed Counselor

Joyce N. Inskeep, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Licensed Probation Officer in Indiana

Peggy Jackson, Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Jay Jeffers, Licensed Psychologist

Karen Jones, Alpha Pregnancy Center

Janize King, Licensed Mental Health Counselor

Sidney W. Langston, Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist

Jeff Lee, Licensed Professional Counselor

Gabriel Nicholas Lett, Master of Arts in Professional Counseling, Licensed Professional Counselor
Karen Ludwig, National Certified Counselor, Licensed Professional Counselor

Violet J. McCreary, Registered Nurse

Kay B. McGovern, Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Cindy Meeks, Licensed Clinical Psychologist

Randolph Meralits, Licensed Professional Counselor

Berl Miller, Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Susan Moffitt, Masters of Science in Counseling Psychology

Fran Mora, Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Jerold Nelson, Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker

Jovani O’Grady, Bachelor’s Behavioral Science/Psychology

Brenda R. Ohursted, Licensed Independent Social Worker

Linda P. Orner, Licensed Professional Counselor

Cindy Peterson, B.A. Sociology M.A. Christian Counseling

Glenda Plummer, Provisionally Licensed Professional Counselor

Larry E. Quicksall, Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Donna Rand, Registered Nurse/Mental Health

Gina Roes, Licensed Professional Counselor, Specialty of Women’s Issues

Jeanen Sabo, Registered Nurse, Licensed Professional Counselor

Kathren Salmi, Licensed Professional Counselor, Advanced Addictions Counselor

Jacqueline Smith, Ph. D., Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor

Rick Sonale, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

Cynthia W. Starling, Masters of Social Work, Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Daniel S. Sweeney, Licensed Professional Counselor, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist

Victor Tarassou, Doctorate, Masters

Judith L. Thompson, Family & Marriage Therapist

David V. Tosi, Masters in Theology

Joyce Waite, Licensed Masters Social Worker, American Certified Social Worker

David S. Weiss, Master of Arts, Counseling and Psychology

Dan J. Wilford, Licensed Professional Counselor

Dorothy Wills, Licensed Professional Counselor, Registered Nurse

Tina Yeager, Licensed Mental Health Counselor

Jennifer Robinson, Licensed Psychologist

Lee Brandt, Doctor of Philosophy in Counseling

Russell Suda, Medical Doctor

James J. Heid, Medical Doctor

Bonnie Lee Bryant, Psychologist & Marriage Therapist

Angel Eidschun, Licensed Professional Counselor, Certified Trauma Resolution Therapist

Chauna Hall, Psychiatric Nurse

Jill Pinder, Licensed Social Worker

Jennifer Robinson, Licensed Psychologist

Sonya T. Taylor, Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Gretchen H. Boyd, Licensed Professor Counselor, Licensed Marriage & Family Counselor

James G. Linn, Obstetrician/Gynecologist, Board Certified, Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Larry S. Thornburg, Professional Master of Science

See the statement online here for footnotes.

100 American Scientists, Medical and Mental Health Professionals: Abortion Hurts Women

MEDIA ADVISORY, Aug. 14 /Christian Newswire/ -- Allan Parker, President of The Justice Foundation, announced today that 100 scientists, medical and mental health professionals, based on their training and experience, have released a joint statement today saying abortion hurts women. They agree with the following statements:

"As a scientist, medical or mental health professional, I agree with the following conclusions about abortion:


THE FACTS

1. It is common for women to experience feelings of anger, fear, sadness, anxiety, grief, or guilt after abortion. The United States Supreme Court is correct that "some women come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained... Severe depression and loss of esteem can follow."
Women's reaction to these feelings vary considerably with their emotional coping abilities and pre-existing functioning. It is undeniable that significant numbers of women are injured by abortion and should not be ignored by the medical profession and that significant numbers of women suffer serious physical, mental or psychological trauma as a result of abortion.

2. The conclusion that there is a causal connection between abortion and negative problems is supported by three independent lines of evidence: (a) the self-attribution of women themselves, (b) mental health professionals who have successfully diagnosed and treated post-abortion reactions, and (c) statistically validated studies controlling for a large number of confounding factors which have been published in peer reviewed journals.

3. The Justice Foundation's president, Allan Parker, also stated that the women of Operation Outcry, who have been personally hurt by abortion, also confirm that abortion hurts women. Women themselves offer the best evidence of how abortion affected them. The Justice Foundation has now collected over 3,000 testimonies from women and men hurt by abortion. It is the largest body in the world of legally admissible evidence on the harm of abortion.


Lisa Dudley, Director of Outreach for Operation Outcry said: "It is time for the world to hear the truth about our pain. Abortion hurts women and we will be silent no more."

Women who have been hurt by abortions and some of the professionals are available to discuss the issues. Contact Tracy Reynolds at 210-614-7157 or info@txjf.org.

The testimony of these women has now influenced two major court decisions, the Supreme Court (April 18, 2007 partial birth abortion decision) and the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion (June 27, 2008) upholding the South Dakota law requiring women be informed before abortion that abortion terminates the "life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being" and a "description of all known medical risks of the procedure and statistically significant risk factors to which the pregnant woman would be subjected, including: (i) Depression and related psychological distress; (ii) Increased risk of suicide ideation and suicide."

A full copy of the Statement of Medical and Mental Health Professionals can be read at: www.operationoutcry.org.

In addition, on March 14, 2008, the British Royal Academy of Psychiatrists stated:

"Healthcare professionals who assess or refer women who are requesting an abortion should assess for mental disorder and for risk factors that may be associated with its subsequent development. If a mental disorder or risk factors are identified, there should be a clearly identified care pathway whereby the mental health needs of the woman and her significant others may be met.

"The Royal College of Psychiatrists recognizes that good practice in relation to abortion will include informed consent. Consent cannot be informed without the provision of adequate and appropriate information regarding the possible risks and benefits to physical and mental health."

The full Royal College of Psychiatrists' position statement on women's mental health in relation to induced abortion can be read here.

Clayton Trotter, General Counsel of The Justice Foundation said: "Given that the Supreme Court, the 8th Circuit, the British Royal Academy of Psychiatrists, 100 American Scientists, Medical and Mental Health Professionals and 3000 post-abortive women, and men agree that abortion can potentially severely hurt women we want that truth to be recognized by the American Psychological Association."

Victory Over the Forces of Evil

American Minute from William J. Federer

Emperor Hirohito surrendered AUGUST 14, 1945.

The next day, honoring the Jewish New Year, President Truman stated: "The enemies of civilization who would have destroyed completely all freedom of religion have been defeated. All faiths unite in thanksgiving to Almighty God on our victory over the forces of evil."

In a Day of Prayer, August 16, 1945, Truman proclaimed: "The warlords of Japan...have surrendered unconditionally... This is the end of the...schemes of dictators to enslave the peoples of the world, destroy their civilization, and institute a new era of darkness and degradation."

Truman continued: "Our global victory has come from the courage...of free men and women united in determination to fight. It has come from the massive strength of arms...created by peace-loving peoples who knew that unless they won, decency in the world would end. It has come from millions of peaceful citizens...turned soldiers overnight-who showed a ruthless enemy that they were not afraid to fight."

Harry S Truman concluded: "It has come with the help of God, Who was with us in the early days of adversity and...Who has now brought us to this glorious day of triumph. Let us give thanks to Him and...dedicated ourselves to follow in His ways."

William J. Federer is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and president of Amerisearch, Inc, which is dedicated to researching our American heritage. The American Minute radio feature looks back at events in American history on the dates they occurred, is broadcast daily across the country and read by thousand on the internet.

Which is Really the Party of the Rich?

GUEST COLUMN

BY ANTON KAISER

For some time now, Democrats have perpetuated the myth that Republicans are in the pockets of big business and therefore the party of the rich. It’s a great political tactic because, of course, we are all against the rich; that is, those who pay the majority of our taxes in this country. But what is the truth?

OpenSecrets.org is a bipartisan website specifically designed to track the varied sources of political money and where it goes. Among one of its many useful purposes, it lists the top one hundred individual and organizational donors to national politics. So where does all that political money come from and where does it go?

Not surprising, at least to me, is the fact that the number one political donor organization in America is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, whose primary interest is to keep government jobs out of the private sector. In other words, these are the employees of big government who naturally want to keep their jobs in big government. Not only does this union (whose money comes from employee income derived from our taxes) donate the most political money in America, but it also gives 99% of its donations to the Democrat party. (Which makes me wonder how that influences their federal job performances during Republican administrations.)

By fact, five of the top ten organizational donors to politics in America are unions (their percent contributions to the Democrat party in 2008 are in parenthesis), including: the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (98%); the Laborers Union (92%); the Service Employees International Union (94%), and the Carpenters and Joiners Union (87%). The Teamsters Union ranks 11th (92%). (In fact, five of the second top ten organizational donors are also unions who give 92% to 99% of their donations to Democrats.)

Now consider if it is reasonable to believe that 90+% of union members are democrats.

Others in the top ten are the National Association of Realtors who donate 58% of their money to Democrats, the National Education Association who donate 85% to Democrats, and the American Association for Justice, whose idea of justice is to donate 96% of their money to Democrats.

Only two big businesses are represented in the top ten and they are AT&T and Goldman Sachs, an investment bank. Although AT&T donates 59% to Republicans, Goldman Sachs donates 73% of their money to Democrats.

In summary, the Democrat's allegation that Republicans are in the pockets of big business comes from a single thorn in their side, AT&T, which is the only organization in the top ten who gives more to Republicans than to Democrats and by a significantly smaller margin than the other nine top ten organizational donors who overwhelmingly support the Democrat party.

So who is really the party of the rich? And, if big money runs the country, who really has injected that money into American politics? Seems to me the Democrats are in the pockets of big unions who are clearly the rich in this country where it concerns political donations. Check it out.

Anton Kaiser was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and retired in Rapid City after serving twenty-seven years as a U.S. Army infantry officer. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, West Point, and holds Masters Degrees in Business and in Public Administration from Webster College, St. Louis, MO. He is also a veteran of Vietnam, Berlin, Operation Just Cause (Panama) and an honor graduate of the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS.