General ramblings of an easily amused mind.
I am at the first day of the 2009 Values Voter Summit sponsored by FRC Action and co-sponsored by the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, Focus on the Family Action, and American Values.
I’ll be posting some notable comments and snippets of information shortly. Meanwhile, if you’re in the Washington DC area, it’s not too late to participate in second day this great conference. Click here for more information about the conference.
The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Life and Health Ministries just posted a new web page that addresses some concerns regarding the so-called health care reform that Congress will continue to consider when they reconvene next week.
Click here to go to the LCMS web page and see why we should be concerned with three specific areas of the legislation: abortion, end-of-life, and conscience protection.
Additionally, I was made aware of a blog by Jackie Durkee called Faithful in Prayer for America. Since early July, Jackie has been reading H.R. 3200 (yes, all 1017 pages of it!) and has been summarizing each section. If you really want to know what’s in the legislation, make sure you visit her blog.
Finally, if you want your own copy of H.R. 3200, it’s available from the General Printing Office by clicking here.
It’s not too late to let your elected officials know that you are concerned about where this bill may lead us. Click here for the National Right to Life Committee’s easy-to-use form for writing your congressional members.
Apparently, public opinion still matters to the current presidential administration. Yesterday (August 16), Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that a government-run health plan is not an “essential element” of the so-called health care reform bill. This reversal comes in the face of boisterous objections to HR 3200 at town hall meetings nationwide as members of Congress have been confronted with questions and outrage. Click here to read a full article about the reversal on a government-run health plan.
But don’t let the this action lure you into complacency. Your voice still needs to be heard. In case you’re still not sure if government-run health care is a good idea or not, I want to bring your attention to the story of Betty Figg in England where nearly all health care is provided by the National Health Service. Long-term care under the NHS also includes social services and oversight of whether a person is in a nursing home (or care home in British parlance).
In 2008, after injuring herself in falls while in the hospital, Mrs. Figg was admitted into a nursing home due to dementia. Betty’s daughter, Rosalind, noticed that her mother’s care was lacking (click here to see article about Betty’s abduction by the authorities). Rosalind and her partner made renovations to their home in order to adequately care for her mother.
The application to bring Mrs. Figg home was denied in November 2008. In April 2009, Rosalind decided to remove her mother from the nursing home. She brought Mrs. Figg home to care for her. Shortly thereafter, in a scene reminiscent of a raid on a drug den, police arrived to forcibly remove Mrs. Figg from her daughter’s home, and return her to the nursing home.
More details about the event which led up to the police action can be found in a follow-up article by clicking here. Additional stories about how English nursing homes are caring for their patients can be found by clicking here.
The story of Betty Figg has a happy ending as she was allowed in June by social services to go home with her daughter Rosalind after Rosalind met the requirements set forth by social services. Mrs. Figg was welcomed home by family members and she is enjoying life in the comfort of her own home once again. Click here to read how this story ended.
Maybe it’s just me, but…now is not the time to breathe a sigh of relief…now is the time to continue to share the truth about the so-called health care reform with our friends and families. People need to hear the truth about real people like Betty and Rosalind. Do you want the state to decide whether or not you can take care of your own mother? Are you ready for rationing of health care services based on, for example, how many hip replacements have already been performed in a given year? Or based on some arbitrary mathematical formula that determines just how valuable your life supposedly is worth? (I’ll address this in a future blog.)
Click on these resources to get more information: AUL Action, Stop the Abortion Mandate, FRC Action, The Heritage Foundation here and here, and National Right to Life.
Get the facts…then get involved.
Jill Stanek posted more information about the Family Guy episode on abortion. You can read her entire post by clicking here.
If you don’t already read Jill Stanek’s blog, make sure you click here to read an interesting post regarding an episode of the animated series Family Guy about abortion that FOX-TV as decided not to air.
She has some interesting quotes by pro-abortion folks including the following. From jezebel.com:
Surely the episode will fit right into the other hilarious takes on women that Family Guy is so fond of, like, say, rape jokes, or shooting prostitutes as a form of “community service,” or punching them in the face as they cry, “I don’t understand! What did I do wrong?” You know, really hilarious stuff.
And from RHrealitycheck.org [regarding the episode not being aired]:
I’d hope the episode would be an opening salvo for more comics, artists and others to talk about this reality in women’s lives that, like all realities, has to contain fodder for humor.
Jill’s concludes by saying:
The interesting phenomenon is that the longer legalized abortion is with us, the more unfunny and tabooed it becomes. This indicates an increasing unease by everyone – even liberal Hollywood – with abortion. Ultrasounds show abortion kills children. Post-abortion mothers say abortion leaves deep scars. And how many silent post-abortive fathers – including writers, producers, and directors – know that to be true as well.
Maybe it’s just me, but…shouldn’t we wonder what has happened to our world when people who are pro-abortion, and purportedly advocates for all women, rather than decrying the callousness of shows that find humor in rape and shooting prostitutes, actually want another assault against women (in this case abortion) to be the subject of crude and obscene jokes?
Speaking 4 Life 