New legal ministry lauched to fight for 'life and liberty'

The attorney representing the parents in Terri Schiavo case has launched a legal ministry.
It's called the National Center for Life and Liberty.
To read more

Life ...

A new poll says more than 80 percent of Americans support stricter restrictions on abortion. And nearly 60 percent say they think abortion itself is morally wrong.
You can read more on that here.
 Then you come across a video like this one, and see this love a mom has for her child. Look at how her face lights up during the happy news of having a child. She radiates. How her face grows sad when receiving troubling news or when her child becomes the object of unkind stares and comments.
Ahh, but then watch that radiance return. Her son, named Christian, is a blessing. She recognizes it, and others are too.
This is worth watching to the very end. Amazing, how the power of a story is so much more important that the glitz and glamor of some high tech production. This video is low-tech and it doesn't matter.
I promise it will be worth your time.
Life. Precious. Short. A gift.
It's much more than a cereal, board game or defunct magazine.

No margin for error anymore?

Richard Mourdock said something stupid the other night. 

He knows it. Everyone knows it.

But I also think everyone knows what he meant to say but not many want to give him a little leeway or grace. Even among some evangelicals who preach grace are not offering any here.

Here's what Mourdock said during Tuesday's debate:

 "I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God. And I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."

Some in the pro-life movement are using this as a rallying cry and the abortion supporters also see an opportunity.

We live at a time when there are just a lot of words out there. Sure, Twitter only gives us 140 characters, but nothing's stopping me from filing 7,000 Tweets.

Then posting them on Facebook.

Then commenting on stories on the web and other people's FB postings and re-Tweeting, etc. etc.

Ahh, we love to see people make missteps. It makes us feel a little better about ourselves.

Ha ha. President Obama mistakenly tells a crowd in Colorado that he wants wind turbines to be made in China.

Really?

No. But it's caught on video.

Forever.

And Vice President Joe Biden's latest gaffe is to tell the good people in Ohio about all the negative ads being run "here in Iowa."

So we get former presidential candidate Jon Huntsman telling Romney to ditch his support for Mourdock, calling it a sign that Romney lacks leadership because Romney won't.

Really?

Isn't it leadership to stick with your convictions and provide some grace for a misstep?

Huntsman goes on to say in the Huffington Post: "I cringe -- it's like fingers on a chalkboard every time I hear men talk about women's health issues."
Funny, I cringe every time I see someone take on a superiority pose. [And, yes, this applies to me, too].

But Huntsman's criticism may have been less on Mourdock's misspeak and more on some strange view that only women can speak on women's issues. Men can't talk about women's issues? Blacks can't talk about whites, etc.? Capitalists can't speak about Communists? 
Strange logic. Does Jon have daughters?

Radio commentator Laura Ingraham tweeted a "thanks" to Huntsman. 

Let the pile-on begin. [But don't look for support when you make a misstatement, folks].

But the bigger frustration I have isn't political opportunists looking for an chance to be relevant again but Christians who should know better.

People like Richard Lintz, dean of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts. He told the Christian Science Monitor that Mourdock's comments were offensive

"The clumsiness is [to] so align God with evil that God becomes a horrific figure."

We know that's not what he meant. 

I was reading in the book of James today how "mercy triumphs over judgment" (2:13) and "We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check (3:2)."

We know there ain't such a man walking the planet these days.

Huntsman made a mistake earlier in his losing bid to be the Republican candidate for president when he didn't qualify for the Arizona state primary because of a "paperwork mishap," the Associated Press reported.

And there was the goof on his boast that he spoke fluent Chinese.

I'm not going to throw stones. Remember, mercy triumphs over judgment.

--Word Smith

Texas Appeals Court upholds ‘informed consent law’

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (WordNews.org) Jan. 10, 2012 – A Texas Appeals Court has ruled in favor of a motion that will lead to the immediate enforcement of the state’s “informed consent law.”
The law requires abortion providers to make available to women ultrasound images of their unborn children prior to the women giving consent to an abortion.

The federal Appeals Court for the Fifth Circuit vacated an Aug. 30 preliminary injunction issued by a lower court. Under the law, women seeking abortions have the ability to hear a sonogram of the child’s heartbeat. Women are required to certify they have received the information before an abortion can take place.

"A picture is worth a thousand words, and the abortionists wanted to silence the voice of my baby,"
said Mayela Banks, one of the 317 Texas Women Hurt By Abortion.

To read more

Women hurt by abortions to gather outside Planned Parenthood

 SAN ANTONIO, Texas (WordNews.org) Jan. 2, 2012  -- Women who say they were hurt by abortions plan to gather outside a Planned Parenthood in San Antonio, Texas, and urge abortion providers to show women their sonograms before receiving their informed consent to an abortion.
They are expected to gather outside the 104 Babcock site at 10 a.m.

The women who plan to stand outside the clinic say they were not told about the impact an abortion would have on them. They were not shown sonograms.
"I wish I would have had the opportunity to see an ultrasound, or information about fetal development, before my abortion at age 16. There are no words to describe the amount of pain, guilt, and trauma I experienced when I saw pictures of fetal development two years later," said Lisa Skowron from San Antonio. "I was horrified that the 'products of conception' and 'tissue' I had 'removed from my uterus' had had precious little hands and feet, and a beating heart. I felt like a monster. And I felt betrayed by the medical professionals I had trusted."

Forced abortion opponent reported still alive

LINYI, CHINA (WordNews.org) Dec. 3, 2011 --  Forced abortion opponent Chen Guancheng is still alive, despite previous reports that he had died under house arrest, Women's Rights Without Frontiers said.
"Now his mother is allowed to go outside to buy food although escorted by three guards, and his health also is getting better," a source told Women's Rights Without Frontiers.
The source said Guancheng had been treated better recently.
"Chen's situation was exposed and got huge public attention," the source said. One campaign that brought considerable visibility to Chen's plight was the flow of concerned citizens attempting to visit him for his 40th birthday on Nov. 12. Many of these citizens were beaten and detained, according to Women's Rights Without Frontiers.

 In addition, the "Chen Sunglasses Freedom" campaigns inside and outside of China have raised the visibility of his case. These campaigns post photos of people wearing sunglasses in support of Chen. The source stated, "I think it's great. I think it's very helpful for people all over the world to show they care about Chen through the Sunglasses campaigns. I think it's very important to show support inside and outside the country – we can work together." These campaigns, spearheaded by Women's Rights Without Frontiers and Dark Glasses Portrait, can be found at www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=chen-guangcheng and ichenguangcheng.blogspot.com/.

Click here to read more

MLK's niece to talk about abortion's impact on Civil Rights

WASHINGTON, D.C. (W.) Feb. 28, 2008 -- Dr. Alveda King, pastoral associate of Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is expected to participate today in events celebrating Black History Month and examining the role abortion has played in the African American community.

"As Black History Month comes to a close and we move forward, we cannot forget the devastating impact abortion on demand has had and continues to have on African-Americans," said King. "Abortion has wiped out one out of four blacks in the United States. That's 15 million Americans who have been denied the most fundamental civil right, the right to life."

King will join other leaders for prayer vigils at abortion facilities, a press conference at the Family Research Council, and an afternoon Capitol Hill reception at the Cannon House Office Building.