Obama At Notre Dame

Obama Legitimizes Killing of Unborn Babies in Speech at Notre Dame's Graduation

Monday, May 18, 2009
By Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief
CNSNews.com



(CNSNews.com) - After receiving an honorary doctorate in law at the University of Notre Dame’s graduation ceremony yesterday, President Barack Obama delivered a speech to the school's graduating seniors that sought to legitimize his position in favor of the legal killing of unborn children.

Obama told the graduates of the nation’s most well-known Catholic university that abortion “has both moral and spiritual dimensions”--although he did not explain why he had made this conclusion—and made it quite clear that, even so, he has no intention of moving from his position that it ought to be legal for a pregnant mother to have a doctor kill her unborn child for literally any reason at any stage of pregnancy.

The president also did not take back his declaration made in 2007 to Planned Parenthood that he would sign the Freedom of Choice Act, a bill that would eliminate all the state and federal limitations on abortion that have been achieved by the pro-life movement in the 26 years since the Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

Nor did Obama rescind his vow to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act that currently protects states that do not recognize same-sex marriages from being compelled by the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution to recognize same-sex marriages contracted in other states.

Nor did he reverse his executive order allowing federal tax dollars to be used for research that kills human embryos in order to extract their stem cells.

Nor did he reverse his order to allow U.S. foreign aid dollars to be used to perform and promote abortion in foreign countries.

But he did lecture the Notre Dame graduates that the “two camps are irreconcilable” on the question of whether unborn life ought to be protected in law or left vulnerable to abortion, making it clear that he falls on the pro-abortion side of this unbridgeable divide.

Much of his speech exalted the idea that for pro-lifers to work together with people who favor the legal killing of unborn children is a more civilized and noble cause than the cause of protecting innocent life itself.

“The gay activist and the evangelical pastor may both deplore the ravages of HIV/AIDS, but find themselves unable to bridge the cultural divide that might unite their efforts,” Obama said. “Those who speak out against stem cell research may be rooted in an admirable conviction about the sacredness of life, but so are the parents of a child with juvenile diabetes who are convinced that their son's or daughter's hardships can be relieved.”

“The question then,” said Obama, “is how do we work through these conflicts? Is it possible for us to join hands in common effort? As citizens of a vibrant and varied democracy, how do we engage in vigorous debate? How does each of us remain firm in our principles, and fight for what we consider right, without, as [Notre Dame President] Father John [Jenkins] said, demonizing those with just as strongly held convictions on the other side? And of course, nowhere do these questions come up more powerfully than on the issue of abortion.”

“That's when we begin to say, ‘Maybe we won't agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this heart-wrenching decision for any woman is not made casually, it has both moral and spiritual dimensions,” said Obama.

“So let us work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions, let's reduce unintended pregnancies,” said Obama. “Let's make adoption more available. Let's provide care and support for women who do carry their children to term. Let's honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women. Those are things we can do.”

“Now, understand, Class of 2009, I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away. Because no matter how much we may want to fudge it--indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory--the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable,” said Obama. “Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature. Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words. It's a way of life that has always been the Notre Dame tradition.”

Other related posts from CNSNews.com:

• Cardinal George: ‘Notre Dame Didn't Understand What It Means to Be Catholic’ When They Invited Obama
• Two More Catholic Bishops Speak Out against Notre Dame Honoring Pro-Abortion Obama
• Phoenix Bishop Blasts Notre Dame’s President for ‘Public Act of Disobedience to the Bishops of the United States’
• Catholic Notre Dame Will Award Pro-Abortion Obama an Honorary Law Degree
• At Notre Dame, Pro-Abortion Obama Wears Prayer Symbolizing Dedication of all Notre Dame's Activities to Virgin Mary
• Top Vatican Official: Notre Dame’s Honoring ‘Anti-Life and Anti-Family’ Obama ‘Is a Source of the Gravest Scandal’
• Obamamania Infects Notre Dame
• After Notre Dame Speech, Obama Attends Two Fundraisers

Another Sad Day For America!

Obama Allows Embyronic Stem Cell Research

March 9, 2009 Dear Pastor and Mrs Ed, Today marks another sad day in the history of our country. A few hours ago President Obama signed an executive order that will allow your tax dollars to fund human embryonic stem cell research. This decision comes on the heels of several executive decisions to fund the destruction of human life at taxpayers’ expense. President Obama’s executive order rolls back an executive order that President Bush signed on August 9, 2001 that banned the use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research with the exception of existing stem cell lines. In other words, no new embryos could be created for destruction. President Obama has now opened the door for scientists to create embryos for the sole purpose of destroying them to conduct research using your tax dollars. President Obama promised to bring hope to our political process, but today’s decision does not bring hope to the most vulnerable among us. Today’s decision doesn’t even bring concrete hope for medical cures, as President Obama himself admitted today, “the full promise of stem cell research remains unknown, and it should not be overstated.” What is hopeful are the amazing medical results that have been achieved through adult stem cell research, a process that does not involve the destruction of human life. True scientific integrity is advancing successful science that respects moral standards and the inherent value of human life at all stages. Compassion can never be built upon callous disregard for human life. Today’s decision is just the latest attack on Life from President Obama. Already he has directed American tax dollars toward international abortion providers by overturning the pro-life Mexico City Policy. His decision to fund the United Nations Population Fund will subsidize the destruction of unborn children around the world. Add these decisions to his expected rollback of conscience protections for pro-life medical professionals and we find an alarming trend: respect for human life, and the consciences of American taxpayers are casually dismissed in favor of an abortion industry bailout and the funding of immoral science that has yet to yield a single success. Despite these challenges, we must keep up our fight to defend innocent human life! We can stop the anti-Life assault. By taking our fight to the Senate, we can reach the 41 Senators we need to block President Obama's anti-Life demands. We can end the use of more of your tax dollars for the destruction of innocent human life. Please join me in fighting President Obama’s agenda in the Senate by giving a gift today! Thank you for your commitment to protecting human life. For Life, Marjorie Dannenfelser Susan B. Anthony List President 703-875-3370 www.sba-list.org Check out the SBA blog: www.suzyb.org P.S. Thank you for caring enough to get involved. Would you please consider giving a small gift to the Susan B. Anthony List to support our Stop the Abortion Bailout campaign? With your help, we can make a difference for Life! P.P.S. Don't miss a thing -- add information@sba-list.org to your safe senders list.

Pastor Killed During Sunday Services

Baptist pastor murdered during Sunday morning service

MARYVILLE, Ill. - A gunman walked down the aisle of an Illinois church during a Sunday service and killed the pastor, then stabbed himself and slashed two other people as congregants wrestled him to the ground, authorities said.

The man walked into the sprawling red brick First Baptist Church shortly after 8 a.m. and briefly spoke with The Rev. Fred Winters before pulling out a .45-caliber handgun and shooting Winters once in the chest, said Illinois State Police Master Trooper Ralph Timmins.

The gun jammed before the man could fire again, Timmins said. The attacker then pulled out a knife and injured himself before churchgoers subdued him. Two parishioners involved in the struggle also suffered knife wounds, Timmins said.

Timmins said officials don't know whether Winters, a married father of two who had led the church for nearly 22 years, and the gunman knew each other.

Officials did not know the suspect's name.

"We don't know the relationship (between the gunman and pastor), why he's here or what the circumstances came about that caused him in the first place to be here," Timmins said.

The Rev. Mark Jones, another pastor at First Baptist, said he did not recognize the gunman, who he saw briefly before the man pulled out his weapon. Jones went into an adjacent room and did not see the shooting, though he heard a sound like miniature fire crackers.

"We have no idea what this guy's motives were," Jones said outside the church. "We don't know if we'll ever know that."

Winters was pronounced dead at Anderson Hospital, spokeswoman Natalie Head said. Two people who were injured at the church were flown to another hospital, Head said.

The gunman and one victim, 39-year-old Terry Bullard, were being treated at St. Louis University Hospital, spokeswoman Laura Keller said. Bullard underwent surgery for stab wounds and was in serious condition, she said.

Keller said the gunman underwent surgery Sunday afternoon but could not provide his name, condition or type of injuries.

The other victim, Keith Melton, was treated and released from Gateway Regional Medical Center, spokeswoman Kate Allaria said. A man who answered the phone at a listing for Keith Melton in Troy identified himself as Melton's stepson and said Melton had been stabbed but was going to be fine.

First Baptist had an average attendance of 32 people when Winters became senior pastor in 1987; it now has about 1,200 members, according to the church's Web site. Winters also was former president of the Illinois Baptist State Association and an adjunct professor for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, according to the site.

"Our great God is not surprised by this, or anything," Nate Adams, executive director of the Illinois Baptist State Association, said in a statement. "That He allows evil and free will to have their way in tragedies like this is a mystery in many ways."

The church sits along a busy two-lane highway on the east side of Maryville, a fast-growing village of more than 7,000 people about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis. A farm sits directly across from church, but subdivisions of newer homes can been seen from every side.

"Things like this just don't happen in Maryville," Mayor Larry Gulledge said. "We've lost one of the pillars of our community, one of our leaders."

Congregant Sharla Dryden pulled into the church parking lot for a 9:30 a.m. service in time to see "just a lot of chaos, lot of police, fire, and people just devastated."

"They just said there had been a shooting," said Dryden, 62. "I would have been devastated if anyone had been shot, but to hear it was the pastor was terrible. You just never expect this to happen at a church."

But Jeffrey Hawkins, executive director of the Christian Security Network - a national organization that deals with security, safety and emergency planning for churches, schools and ministries - noted in a statement that while the shooting is a tragedy, it is "one that has been witnessed many times over the years."

Last month, a man shot and killed himself in front of a cross inside televangelist Robert H. Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif. In November, a gunman killed his estranged wife in a New Jersey church vestibule as Sunday services let out.

This Is Horrible! Graphic Details of a Botched Abortion

Mother Files Suit After 'Born Alive' Abortion

By Cicely Gosier
CBNNews.com
February 6, 2009

CBNNews.com - On July 20, 2006, Sycloria Williams gave birth to a baby girl she once thought would never be born.

The then 18-year-old had paid $1,200 to terminate her 23-week pregnancy. The abortion doctor, Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique, was to perform the procedure at the GYN Diagnostic Center in Hialeah, Fla., just outside Miami.

But Williams went into labor early and delivered a live birth, according to her and the Florida Department of Health. After seeing the baby, she had a change of heart.

To her shock, however, instead of putting the baby into a care unit, one of the clinic's owners cut the child's umbilical cord, placed her in a biohazard bag, and threw her away, lawyers representing Williams say.

Now, she is suing 13 medical workers, including the clinic owner Belkis Gonzalez and Dr. Renelique for "unlicensed and unauthorized medical practices, botched abortions, evasive tactics, false medical records and the killing, hiding and disposing" of the baby.

"The baby was just treated as a piece of garbage," said Tom Brejcha, president of The Thomas More Society, which is overseeing Williams' case. They argue that the doctors' performance constitutes murder.

Renelique's attorney, Joseph Harrison, told The Associated Press he thought the allegations were "misguided and incomplete."

An Ongoing Act?

Police found the remains of Williams' daughter about a week after the botched abortion. An autopsy confirmed that her baby's lungs had filled with air before she was put in the bag, meaning she was born alive, the Department of Health said.

Jill Stanek, executive director of BornAliveTruth.org, told CBN News cases like Williams' sadly happen more often than reported.

"This is going on rampantly around the country," she charged.

Stanek co-sponsored the release of 22 Weeks, a short film based on the case of another Florida woman whose baby was born alive at an abortion clinic. That baby then died after doctors
refused to care for the child.

She believes that it's not unusual for doctors to have charts and medical records changed to show babies as "still-born" when they are really "born alive."

Hope for Justice

Stanek said Florida authorities have been "squeamish" about handling any case involving the possible murder of a child. She has discussed Williams' situation and others on her WorldNetDaily column.

"I have spoken with the police who are a part of the investigation and they are very upset," she claimed. "They've been trying to get prosecutors to work on this case for a long time."

In order to prosecute on murder charges, authorities have to prove Williams' baby was indeed born alive.Meanwhile, the Department of Health has called for the Florida Board of Medicine to strip Renelique of his license. The group will hold a hearing Friday to decide whether the doctor can continue his practice.

Records show Renelique received his medical training at the State University of Haiti and completed his residency in 1991 at Interfaith Medical Center in New York.

Reports in that state also reveal Renelique has made at least five medical malpractice payments in the last 10 years, though details behind the cases are unclear.

Sources: CBN News, The Associated Press, LifeSiteNews