Hot Topic

Did you hear about the baby botched abortion of a 23 week old fetus? The autopsy revealed that the baby's lungs had filled with air, proof of a live birth. The umbilical cord was cut, and the live baby was tossed into a bio hazard waste receptacle. No, not in Mexico or China. No, not pre-Roe v Wade. This happened in Florida in 2006. Read about it here.

As a general rule, I tend to keep quiet on the abortion issue on here. But the revelation of this baby killed and tossed in a garbage can to die, coupled with President Obama lifting the ban on federal funding for international groups that promote or perform abortions as a method of family planning in other nations, have riled me enough to speak out on the topic.

Abortion has long been hailed by liberals as a legitimate form of family planning. Pro-choice, they call it, the choice of a woman to be pregnant or not. Well, I am absolutely, 100% pro-choice in this arena. Of course a woman can chose to not be pregnant! All she has to do to make this choice a reality is to not have sex. "But that's unrealistic!" the liberals tell me. I'm pretty sure that God gave us free will, reason, and (even if sometimes limited) intelligence to make the best decisions we can. If a woman so desperately doesn't want to become pregnant, to the point that she would pay someone to suck her unborn baby out of her womb with a vacuum, then I respectfully suggest she keep her legs shut, as abstinence is the only 100% effective form of birth control.

The botched abortion baby caused tears to roll down my cheeks, in sadness at that little life ended. Who knows who that little could have grown up to be? Who knows the impact that little girl might have had on the world? And then I became indignant. Why was it perfectly legal and acceptable to kill that helpless little girl only moments prior to when it become a crime scene? Why was that baby denied the right to life simply because she still lived in her mother's body? What magical thing happened the moment her skin hit the air for the first time? How did every cell in her being cease to be part of her mother's body and transform into a separate person? I'm afraid the science of that eludes me.

It's so tempting to be persuaded by the argument that it's just part of a woman's body, and we should all have control over own bodies, but that's not what abortion is about. Legalized abortion puts the power to end another being's life without just cause into the hands of every pregnant woman.

We are living in an era of bailouts. Is anybody responsible for the decisions they make anymore? Every time a decision is made, there are consequences to that decision. Eating too much ice cream will cause you to gain weight, making risky business decisions might cause you to go bankrupt, and having sex (even with protection) might cause a pregnancy. Today we have liposuction, government bailouts, and abortion, all which take away the decision maker's responsibility for living with the consequences of their decisions and actions. How can anyone be held accountable, or taught to learn from their mistakes when they are never forced to face any consequences?

I do not believe abortion falls under the umbrella of women's rights, and I certainly don't see any discrimination in taking away a woman's right to chose whether or not she wants to end the life of her progeny for no good reason. Abortion isn't about women's rights, even though it's touted as the pinnacle of it. Women's rights are suffrage, right to contraceptives, equal opportunity, equal pay, right to own property, right to an education, right to enter into legal contracts, or any other thing that a man has a right to. A man does not have the right to chose whether or not to end his unborn child's life, so why should a woman?"

Every time I hear of abortion, my heart cries out for the victims. For the babies that never got to take a breath of air, for the mothers that have been lied to about the development of their baby in utero or unduly pressured by others, for the fathers that were told it was none of their business, and for countless others that have been hurt and are still suffering from abortion. And it makes me absolutely ill that my tax dollars are now being used to fund abortions overseas.

Let's put an end to fetuscide, shall we?

Nancy Pelosi

Nancy claims that we lose 500 million American jobs each month we don’t pass her $1 trillion pork barrel spending boondoggle. That's pretty hard to do in a country with just over 300 million men, women, and children.

Update

Even though the Stimulus passed the House yesterday, we still have something to celebrate. Every House Republican voted NO to the stimulus, and we got 11 Democrats as well!

Way to grow some, GOP! Let's keep it up.

Melt the Phones

We still have time to call our Reps and let them know how we feel about the bogus stimulus package! Click Me

Even if you're sure your Representative opposes it, call anyway and show your support so that they may stand strong and not be swayed by the Chicken Littles insisting that they *reach across the aisle*. The sky is not falling, and this package is certainly not an umbrella.

Last Fall, Citigroup received $45 billion of the tax-payer funded bailout. Since being bailed out, Citigroup has laid off 75,000 workers, but they have managed to plunk down $50 million for a new FRENCH made luxury private jet. Your tax dollars at work, ladies and gentlemen. Keep it from happening again; this stimulus has no more oversight than the last one.


Call right now, it takes less than 3 minutes!

What's the best way to stimulate the economy? Infuse it with much-needed new cash by providing across-the-board tax cuts for ALL taxpayers, reducing the corporate tax rate of 35 percent, the second highest in the world, to 25 percent or less, and keeping or reducing the capital gains tax rate of 15 percent. After all who do you trust to spend your tax money…politicians and bureaucrats or you? -Libby Wright (http://swineline.org/2009/01/27/melt-the-phones/)

So Much For...

Transparency-

Mr Obama has pledged to end the culture wars on social issues that have riven American politics for a generation and did not allow television cameras to film him signing the executive order reversing the Bush abortion funding ban on aid agencies abroad, in order not to provoke pro-life groups.

Bipartisanship-

He faces mounting criticism over his $825 billion economic stimulus plan, from Republican leaders who say the legislation has been drawn up without the input which Mr Obama had promised to allow them.

The president responded with a clear signal that he is prepared to ram the bill through without the bipartisan consensus he promised to construct, telling Republican leaders from the House of Representatives: "I won. I'm the president."

National Security-

Republicans are also criticizing Mr Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp with no plan for the detainees still incarcerated there and for forcing the CIA to follow stricter rules on interrogations. The revelation last week that 60 former inmates have returned to terrorism - and that one is now deputy leader of al Qaeda's Yemeni branch - was unfortunate timing for the President.

Ethics-

Having announced new ethics rules banning lobbyists serving in his administration, the president was immediately forced to make an exception for his deputy defense secretary William Lynn, who has lobbied for the defense industry giant Raytheon.

So, is he going to break all of his campaign promises? Or is he going to keep the ones that will cause irreparable harm to our way of life? I have a feeling it's going to be a rough four years.

Changing His Tune

Last June, then Senator Obama gave a moving speech as he accepted the bid for the Democratic Presidential Nominee. In that speech, he gave hope to millions by saying, "Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that, generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless...this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal...this was the moment when we ended a war, and secured our nation, and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth."

Throughout his campaign, Obama drew massive crowds of people hungering for change, moved Oprah to tears, and sent tingles down Chris Matthew's leg. He eloquently read the teleprompter, promising a better way of life for America. A life with free health care, low unemployment, clean green energy, an end to the war in Iraq, affordable housing and higher education, and lower taxes for 95% of Americans, just to name a few. No wonder so many people voted for him! I would've too, if I had taken him at his word and not questioned his success rate in his career so far, studied how he planned to implement those goals, or looked at history to see if such implementation had been successful in the past. The only thing Obama has been successful in is getting elected. He planned to improve American life by expanding government involvement and spending, and taxing the rich to pay the poor. FDR's New Deal, which was a tremendous expansion in government, has now been proven to have prolonged the Great Depression by as much as 10 years.

I don't blame those who fell for Obama's seductive promises. My great grandmother used to say alluring lies fall sweetly on the ears. Everyone wants to live in an ideal society. I consider myself a pragmatist in knowing that an ideal society is not possible on this Earth; that utopia is reserved for Heaven. During his two year campaign for President, Barack Obama promised that utopia could be here and now.

Today, Senator Obama is now President Obama, elected by American people like Peggy the Moocher, who famously declared, "I never thought this day would ever happen. I won’t have to worry about putting gas in my car. I won’t have to worry about paying my mortgage. You know. If I help [Obama], he’s gonna help me.”

Now is the time for Obama to make good on his promises, to keep his word to America, to restore our image as the "last, best hope on Earth." To bring our troops home, to end our dependence on foreign oil, to provide jobs with decent wages, free health care and respectable retirements to all Americans...and to get a puppy for his daughters.

Since his monumental election November 4th, Obama has, in almost every public appearance, felt the need to remind his adoring public of the difficult times we are facing as a nation, and of the long, hard journey that lies ahead of us. It is a very different tune from the one he sang when he was courting the public for their votes, when he was full of hopeful and beautiful rhetoric about the change he was going to bring about in the country.

In his inaugural speech this morning, Obama again reminded us that, "we are in the midst of crisis," and that "our economy is badly weakened." And then he broke his campaign promise of growing a government that would assume responsibility for the health and welfare of its citizens, and laid that responsibility upon the people. He stated, "For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task."

Interesting. He almost sounds like a conservative with that attitude of encouraging citizens to help one another rather than relying on government assistance. I for one am happy that he seems to be breaking his pie-in-the-sky promises of a government that can do everything short of wiping tushies for Mr. and Mrs. America, but I wonder how his scores of admirers feel about his new song.

Well, at least one promise will be kept. The First Family is now accepting applications for First Dog. Ok, not really. But it would be funny if they were.

CA Tax Refunds to be Delayed...

My husband and I have never relied on tax refunds. I know many people that get so excited each year when they open that big refund check from the government. I have gotten blue in the face trying to explain to them that it is not a "check from the government", but rather the government paying them back the money that they themselves loaned Uncle Sam.

If you get a tax refund check, it means that you had too much money withheld from your paychecks throughout the previous year. That's money that you earned, the government borrowed, and then gave back to you, without the benefit of even the slightest bit of interest. Tell me, have you ever borrowed money from someone without having to pay it back with interest? Ok, maybe your parents...

California has been spending taxpayer money like it's controlled by zealous liberals (oh wait, it is!) for years, and now we can no longer borrow the money from special funds or Wall Street investors due to the current credit crunch. State Controller John Chiang has decided that the best way to make up some of the $41.6 billion deficit is to deny repayment of the interest-free loans that California citizens so generously, or unwittingly, provided.

It's a good thing that I wasn't looking forward to that repayment check! I urge everyone that got a large refund on their taxes last year to take a look at their withholding status, and make sure that they are getting paid the money that they earned and are owed with each paycheck.