Are You A Christian?
Posted by Michelle Moquin on May 15th, 2012
Good morning!
Go grab a cup of coffee, sit down and enjoy…this one’s a long one.
Taxpayer-Funded Crisis Pregnancy Centers Using Religion To Oppose Abortion
WASHINGTON — If you want to help carry out the anti-abortion mission of the taxpayer-funded Care Net Pregnancy Resource Center, you have to be a Christian.
It’s right there on the Rapid City, S.D., center’s volunteer application.
“Do you consider yourself a Christian?” “If yes, how long have you been a Christian?” “As a Christian, what is the basis of your salvation?” “Please provide the following information concerning your local church. Church name … Denomination … Pastor’s name.” “This organization is a Christian pro-life ministry. We believe that our faith in Jesus Christ empowers us, enables us, and motivates us to provide pregnancy services in this community. Please write a brief statement about how your faith would affect your volunteer work at this center.”
But that hasn’t stopped the center from receiving federal funding and other forms of government support.
In 2010, it was awarded a $34,000 “capacity building” grant as part of President Obama’s stimulus bill.
Last year, the nonprofit National Fatherhood Initiative, with “support from the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Family Assistance,” awarded the center $25,000 for capacity building.
And when South Dakota passed a law requiring that women get counseling from a “pregnancy help center” before receiving an abortion, the Rapid City center was quick to sign up — becoming one of three such facilities listed on the state’s official website.
Like other crisis pregnancy centers, the Rapid City Care Net seeks to prevent abortions by offering women a combination of free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, a “24 hour hotline,” and medically dubious ”abortion education” (its website claims that “a number of reliable studies have demonstrated connection between abortion and later development of breast cancer”).
The Rapid City center is not alone. On its website, the facility says it “submits to the affiliation guidelines” of the national Care Net organization, which supports more than 1,100 explicitly Christian crisis pregnancy centers. Care Net requires that at each center, “those who labor as pregnancy center board members, directors, and volunteers are expected to know Christ as their Savior and Lord” and that “all board members, staff, and volunteers of the center agree with the Care Net Statement of Faith.”
And it’s not just Care Net. Across the country, crisis pregnancy centers that refuse to hire non-Christians are receiving taxpayer funding and other forms of government support.
Equal Opportunity Employer?
The Life Center, a crisis pregnancy center in Midland, Texas, is looking for a new receptionist. The receptionist is expected to be bilingual in English and Spanish, proficient in Microsoft Word and Excel, and in agreement with the Life Center’s “Common Christian Beliefs.” Typed on each page of the three-page job application is: “The Life Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer” – even on the page that asks for a church reference.
Applicants for the open executive director position at the LifeTalk Resource Center in Frisco, Texas, have to prove they are “mature Christians.” The Dallas Pregnancy Resource Center is only hiring ”committed Christians.”
Each of these centers appears on a list compiled and publicized by the Texas health department of organizations that offer free sonograms to pregnant women and that do not provide abortion services or referrals. The list was created last year as part of a sweeping anti-abortion law signed by Gov. Rick Perry. Doctors are required to distribute this list to women before performing an abortion.
The Life Center is among 12 centers on the list that also receive state funding through the controversial Alternatives to Abortion Services Program.
In addition to Texas, at least six other states — Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania — currently fund crisis pregnancy centers. Collectively, for the current fiscal year, they are allocating approximately $17 million to these anti-abortion centers.
The centers are generally barred from using state money to promote their faith, but many still use religion to make hiring decisions. True Life Choice in Orlando — one of the 80 or so facilities funded by Florida’s pregnancy center program — is looking for an executive director who is a “committed Christian who demonstrates a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.”
A handful of anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers have also received indirect funding from the federal government during the Obama administration.
The Care Net facility in Rapid City, for example, was awarded a piece of a million-dollar stimulus grant given to South Dakota’s Chiesman Center for Democracy to help nonprofits and faith-based organizations address issues within their local communities that were exacerbated by the global economic crisis. According to areport on this stimulus project, called the Strengthening Communities Fund, applicant organizations were evaluated based on their objectives and need for assistance, their organizational profile, and their approach. The money that each organization got had to be used for capacity-building purposes but not for direct services.
Chiesman’s principal evaluator and researcher, Helen Usera, told TAI in an email that her organization provided capacity-building training and technical assistance to 19 nonprofits, including Black Hills Area Habitat for Humanity, Black Hills State University, and Northern Hills Alcohol and Drug Services.
“Care Net focused on board development which included strategic planning, hiring a consultant to provide facilitation of the strategic planning, and updating bylaws,” Usera said. “In addition, they were able to send staff to various trainings in the areas of fund raising and marketing. Another area they were able to focus on was upgrading technology.”
The center itself did not respond to requests for comment.
Usera said that Chiesman did not select any of the sub-grantees who participated in the project; they were chosen by a team of independent reviewers unaffiliated with the foundation.
Asked about the Care Net grant, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families told TAI: “All grantees and any sub recipients are required to follow the law and provide the services described under the terms and conditions of the grant. We are currently reviewing this particular situation.”
While federal law prohibits employment discrimination based on religious beliefs, there is an exception for religious organizations — a category that seems to include the Rapid City center and other CPCs. And in many cases, it’s perfectly legal for these groups to receive taxpayer funding, even if they practice religious hiring discrimination.
Texas’ Alternatives to Abortion Services Program, which annually draws in $4.15 million in taxpayer funding, is managed by the Texas Pregnancy Care Network, a nonprofit headquartered in Austin. Stephanie Goodman, the spokesperson for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which oversees the program, told TAI that the commission does not have a specific policy on Christian groups that discriminate in hiring, but she said the state follows the federal “Charitable Choice” laws and requires the TPCN to do the same.
““Charitable Choice” refers to provisions in federal laws passed beginning in the late 1990s, which apply to various federal grant programs, such as the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program. Generally, the laws specify that faith-based organizations cannot be excluded from competition for federal funds; they may consider their religious beliefs in hiring and firing employees (but they cannot use religion as an excuse not to hire for other things like race or gender); and they cannot use federal funds to support any inherently religious activities, such as worship or religious instruction. President George W. Bush expanded these exceptions, more broadly exempting religious organizations that receive federal contracts from rules that bar religious discrimination in hiring.
‘An Outreach Ministry of Jesus Christ’
The fact that many of the country’s anti-abortion pregnancy centers are Christian organizations is not something that is prominently featured in state literature promoting these groups or even on many of the centers’ websites.
But for many of these places, Jesus Christ is central to their daily activities.
Care Net requires that each of its affiliates pledge to adhere to the network’s “Pregnancy Center Standards of Affiliation,” the first of which reads: “The primary mission of the center is to share the truth and love of Jesus Christ in conjunction with a ministry to those facing pregnancy related issues. The pregnancy center is an outreach ministry of Jesus Christ through His church. Therefore, the pregnancy center, embodied in its volunteers, is committed to presenting the gospel of our Lord to women with crisis pregnancies — both in word and in deed. Commensurate with this purpose, those who labor as pregnancy center board members, directors, and volunteers are expected to know Christ as their savior and Lord.”
Care Net also requires that all board members, staff, and volunteers at each center agree with the “Care Net Statement of Faith.” Adapted from the National Association of Evangelicals’ Statement of Faith, it reads, in part: “We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.”
Care Net member centers must agree to offer all services for free, to never perform or refer for abortions, and to refrain from referring “single women for contraceptives.” However, “married women seeking contraceptive information should be urged to seek counsel, along with their husbands, from their pastor and/or physician.”
A document attributed to Care Net that was given to TAI by the National Abortion Federation (the document is not dated, but NAF communications coordinator Andrea Alford said she believes it is from 1995) includes a section labeled, “Guidelines for Working with the CPC.” Among the “Things to Remember” is this point:
We are worshipping and serving Jesus Christ. We are not in the ministry to serve the people, but to worship and serve Him. In worshiping and serving Him, He will enable us to minister to those who come to the CPC. If this focus shifts, the ministry will be less effective.
Care Net would not respond to questions about the authenticity of the document, but nearly identical language currently appears on the website of a Care Net affiliate in St. Cloud, Minn.
Care Net Chief Operating Officer Larry Breeden told TAI in an email that Care Net did not want to participate in this story, but regarding Care Net’s hiring policies, he said, “Care Net adheres to federal requirements for a faith-based 501(c)3 and adheres to all federal requirements in the hiring process. Care Net is a Christ-centered ministry whose mission is to promote a culture of life within our society in order to serve people facing unplanned pregnancies and related sexual issues.”
Another major anti-abortion pregnancy center network, Heartbeat International, also defines itself as a religious institution.
“We are formed under IRS regulations 501(c)3 as an organization for religious, charitable, and educational purposes,” said Heartbeat International spokesperson Virginia Cline in an email to TAI. “We hire individuals who support our mission, our vision, and our Christian core operational values and beliefs.”
According to its website, “All Heartbeat International polices and materials are consistent with Biblical principles and with orthodox Christian (Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox) ethical principles and teaching on the dignity of the human person and sanctity of human life.”
Cline says that – unlike with Care Net – individual pregnancy centers affiliated with Heartbeat are not obligated to discriminate based on religion. She said the only requirement regarding their hiring practices is that they must comply with state and federal laws. Affiliates also must pledge to uphold Heartbeat International’s “Commitment of Care and Competence.”
But that doesn’t mean Heartbeat opposes employment discrimination. In a posting on Heartbeat’s job registry, for example, PregnancyCare of Cincinnati states that it is looking for a general manager with “mature Christian faith” who will “set a good personal example of Christ-centered servant leadership.”
The third major CPC network in the U.S. is the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, based in Fredericksburg, Va. NIFLA was the first CPC network to promote ultrasounds in crisis pregnancy centers and works in tandem with Focus on the Family to transform CPCs into “medical clinics.” Like Heartbeat, NIFLA maintains anonline registry for available CPC jobs across the country. Many of the centers – some of which are also affiliated with Care Net or Heartbeat International – are only looking for Christians.
Recent open positions have included: a position for an executive director at Compassion Pregnancy Center in Clinton Township, Mich., who is a “dynamic disciple of Christ”; a position for an executive director at Option’s Women’s Clinic in Helena, Mont., who can “exhibit a strong Christian faith life”; and a position for an executive director at Concord, Calif., who “demonstrates a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and has a strong commitment and dedication to the pro-life position, the sanctity of human life, and sexual purity.”
In the abortion wars, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates are often portrayed as being in direct conflict with the major CPC networks. Each side has its own powerful political allies, and each has a stake in public policies that can lead to public funding. But among the many key differences between Planned Parenthood clinics and crisis pregnancy centers is in their hiring policies. According to a spokesperson, Planned Parenthood employers do not ask applicants about their religious beliefs, and the organization’s official hiring policy bars discrimination based on religion.
And while CPC applicants often must pledge to be against abortion, contraception, and, in many cases, premarital sex, Planned Parenthood says its policy is not to ask applicants about their views on such matters.
“People have a range of personal views on certain issues and for most, our views evolve over time,” said Planned Parenthood spokesperson Andrea Hagelgans in an email. “Planned Parenthood hires staff who are qualified, meet high professional standards and are able to promote the mission of the organization.”
‘YOU can be the one to introduce them to Jesus’
Many crisis pregnancy centers, even those that receive state or federal grants, are nonprofits with low budgets that rely on volunteers to help run the centers and counsel women facing crisis pregnancies.
Though they are unpaid, volunteers serve key roles in these organizations.
The state-funded Pregnancy Care Center in Tampa, Fla., has this message for prospective volunteers (emphasis is original):
Our doors are open to women who do not know where else to turn, women searching for answers and help with unexpected pregnancies. Women who need honest information and material items for their baby. Women who need Jesus! YOU can be the one to introduce them to Jesus and help them make life-changing decisions. Becoming a volunteer at the Pregnancy Care Center has great rewards!
Pregnancy Care Center’s website explains that the center opened in 1988 “as an outreach ministry dedicated to presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ both in word and deed. The Center emphasizes the need to minister to both the mother, toward eternal life; and the baby toward a healthy live birth.”
Some CPC volunteer applications can be quite personal and probing.
Heartbeat of Miami, which has two state-funded locations, publishes a six-pagevolunteer packet complete with the Apostle’s Creed and a policy stating that the center does not encourage contraception but does provide “fertility awareness information” for married couples. Volunteer applicants are required to submit a recommendation from their pastor, and they are asked questions about their sex lives (“Are you now living a lifestyle of sexual integrity, abstinent if single or faithful within marriage?”) and their past experience with abortion (“Have you ever had an abortion? … If Yes, have you had the opportunity to go through a post-abortion class on forgiveness and healing?”).
The Pregnancy Help Center of Lufkin, which receives money through Texas’ Alternatives to Abortion program, actually requires volunteers to sign a pledge that they will pray and attend church:
In addition to the above, I hereby pledge that as a volunteer I will: 1. Attend as many volunteer meetings/trainings as possible. 2. Pray regularly for my part in the ministry and for the ministry as a whole. 3. Fellowship with other believers for encouragement and edification (this means being part of a local Christian church).
‘Inspired by God’
South Dakota has taken support for CPCs even further. Rather than provide funding, the state legislature simply mandated that women receive counseling at one of the anti-abortion centers before having an abortion.
Last year, the state passed a law that, among other things, created a 72-hour waiting period between when a woman first sees an abortion provider and when the abortion can be legally performed. During that time, the woman “must have a consultation at a pregnancy help center.” The law specifies that the doctor must provide the woman the contact information of all crisis pregnancy centers registered with the state’s department of health. Religious anti-abortion centers are allowed to participate in the program but are required to obtain written consent from pregnant women before discussing religion with them.
While much of the law is tied up in an ongoing court battle, the health department still maintains a list of three pregnancy centers that “have submitted the necessary affidavits to the department.”
One of them is Care Net Pregnancy Resource Center, the Rapid City facility that received federal stimulus funds and asks volunteers, “As a Christian, what is the basis of your salvation?”
Another facility on the state’s list — the Bella Pregnancy Resource Center in Spearfish — is also a Care Net affiliate and is thus obligated to hire only Christians and to follow Care Net’s Statement of Faith.
That leaves the Alpha Center in Sioux Falls. According to Allen Unruh, who co-founded the organization in 1984 with his wife, Leslee, the “entire Alpha Center story was inspired by God, and the rising up of Godly people with courage to be salt and light; to take action against the most evil act in this generation – the killing of innocent unborn babies and the deliberate deception of millions of women.”
It’s possible that if South Dakota’s anti-abortion law is ever implemented, some secular crisis pregnancy centers will register with the state. But as it stands now, doctors would be required to direct women to a facility whose mission is to prevent abortions while spreading the Gospel.
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Peace & Love. Blog me what you will. The forum is now open.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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May 15th, 2012 at 8:36 am
Spouse in Pain? How to Be Supportive
Chronic pain—whether it occurs in the muscles or joints…in the gut…or anywhere else—can surely be debilitating. If your significant other experiences chronic pain, it can be tough to live with, and over time you may get a little tired of dealing with it.
In fact, you may be inclined to trivialize your partner’s chronic pain, either accidentally or intentionally, by saying things like “Oh, it can’t be that bad,” “It must be all in your head,” “Just don’t think about it—you’re fine,” or even “You’re just trying to get out of doing chores!”
But a new study shows that making unsympathetic comments like that can be very destructive to both the person in pain and to the relationship—especially when the comments are aimed at men with chronic pain.
To find out how both genders—especially women—can be more supportive of spouses who have chronic pain, I called the study’s lead author, Laura Leong, MA, a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit.
CUTTING COMMENTS COUNT
Leong and her colleagues studied 78 couples whose average age was 54.
Either one or both spouses had chronic pain, which was defined as anything “musculoskeletal that occurred almost daily for at least six months.”
Researchers began the study by interviewing each partner individually. If the person had chronic pain, he or she was asked about the severity of the pain.
A few hours later, the couples were brought together and asked to discuss a topic that they frequently disagreed about, such as finances, chores or sexual intimacy, for 15 minutes.
Researchers left them alone during this time, but each couple was told that the discussion would be videotaped.
When researchers later watched the videos, they used a standard psychological tool to measure the words chosen, tone of voice and body language to assess whether or not comments made toward the other person were “validating” (remarks that were accepting, respectful, affectionate) or “invalidating” (remarks that were disrespectful, angry or nonaccepting or that showed contempt or disgust).
An analysis of the interviews showed that the more often a wife invalidated a husband who was in pain, the more likely the husband would respond with an invalidating comment of his own and the more likely he was to have reported a high level of pain.
But surprisingly, the same was not true when husbands belittled their wives who were in pain—in these cases, even when a husband invalidated his wife who was in pain, she was no more likely to respond with an invalidating comment or to have reported a high level of pain.
EASING THE PAIN
Leong isn’t exactly sure why these results occurred, but she does offer one theory—men are more likely to perceive themselves as “providers” in a marriage, so they may put more pressure on themselves to be stereotypically manly, strong and stoic, as old-fashioned gender roles would require.
So when they’re in pain (and already feeling a little vulnerable) and they’re being verbally attacked, they may feel extra vulnerable and more threatened than women would.
This could explain why men felt more severe pain—and it could also explain why they felt the need to “snap back” with invalidating comments of their own.
Now, this study doesn’t prove that the wives’ invalidating comments caused greater pain in their husbands—only an association was found.
In other words, it’s possible, said Leong, that wives are more likely to make invalidating comments when their husbands have severe pain.
Leong added that the results show how important it is to watch what you say when your significant other suffers from pain. She suggests the following…
Make small gestures. If your spouse complains about his (or her) pain, don’t walk away. Instead, stand or sit down next to him and hold his hand or rub his back to show your concern.
Choose your words carefully. Reassure the pain sufferer with statements such as, “I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but it sounds very difficult. I’m here if you need me.”
Try couples therapy. If the two of you are still struggling to deal with the problem and the constant bickering over the pain or other topics won’t stop, look into couples therapy.
Source: Laura Leong, MA, a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit.
May 15th, 2012 at 3:39 pm
Last year, the CDC released its first periodic report addressing health disparities and inequalities in the U.S., which they say highlights the considerable and persistent gaps between the healthiest and the least healthy people in the country. Their research revealed striking differences in the uninsured rates for Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks; research also indicates that black women have the highest rate of death from coronary heart disease of any group, and an infant mortality rate 2.4 times higher than that of non-Hispanic whites
May 15th, 2012 at 5:23 pm
SB, thank you for your birthday wishes.
May 16th, 2012 at 6:03 am
Good Tuesday to you all!
The Debunker: Fuzzy math on energy
Mark LaRochelle’s latest column on the president’s fuzzy math on energy independence is on the site today. “We [Americans] consume about 25 percent of the world’s oil,” says President Barack Obama, but we “only have 2 percent of the reserves.” Obama uses this statistic to argue against increasing U.S. oil production, saying that even if Americans “drilled every drop of oil” we have, “it still wouldn’t be enough to meet our long-term needs.” Instead, he says, “We’ve got to discover and produce cleaner, renewable sources of energy.” That’s bunk.
Nebraska Republican Senate primary up for grabs
A battle between the establishment and tea party is boiling over today as Cornhuskers head to the polls to vote on the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate. As Gizzi says, “In the last week, support for [State Sen. Deb] Fischer has mushroomed. Along with her endorsement from [Sarah] Palin, the lawmaker has benefited from a broadside launched by the new SuperPAC Ending Spending, which attacks Bruning for getting rich while attorney general and suggests shady dealings. The SuperPAC, which has bought $200,000 in TV time over the last few days, is the work of TD Ameritrade founder Joe Rickets.
But, like Bruning, Fischer’s conservative credentials are questioned. As blogosphere political pundit Matt Lewis wrote in the Daily Caller, “I wonder if Palin realizes that in 2008, Fischer voted “yes” on LB 959, which included a $14.5 million appropriation for road-building, funded by gas tax hike. (Gov. Dave Heinemann line-item vetoed the tax hike, and decreased road funding by the $14 million that tax hike would have collected. Fischer then voted to override the veto.” — a move that only delays tax increases.)”
Europe braces for Greek exit
From Hayward’s A.M. piece:
“There are once again fears that the Greek “contagion” will overwhelm the weak financial immune systems of countries like Spain, Italy, and Portugal. Italy’s banks just got hit with another round of credit downgrades, a fate the banks of Spain are scrambling to avoid. Calls to cut Greece loose before the contagion spreads are growing. Spain, in particular, blames Greek political turbulence for roiling its markets.
Although polls suggest the majority of Greeks want to remain in the European Union, their electoral chaos is widely seen as an attempt to “call the EU’s bluff” on its refusal to extend more bailouts. This obliges the EU to talk even tougher, including open preparations for the departure of Greece from the Euro, in order to convince Greek voters they are not bluffing. Greek voters respond with greater anger and resentment towards Brussels (and, since they know who’s calling the shots on those austerity rules, Berlin.) Knuckles are turning white on the edges of the negotiation tables.”
Also — the latest video from Project Veritas, the James O’Keefe-led outfit has been released. O’Keefe and his activists uncover the glaring voter fraud going on in North Carolina. Thanks to James and his recent videos, the calls for voter ID need to get louder and louder. It’s getting embarrassing.
-Adam
May 16th, 2012 at 6:13 am
Hafa adai
Those of you in Guam who have been used to the easy island life may find it over with a serious loss if you don’t start behaving like a big city person when it comes to home security.
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Guam- Residents from Agana Heights and Sinajana are reporting a large number of break-ins in their villages for over a week now.
Vice Mayor Robert Hofmann says at least 1 to 2 homes a day are broken into on a daily basis, while cars are being stolen or broken into as well.
He says they have noticed a pattern because it is also happening to Agana Heights residents. Hofmann mentions he already wrote a letter to the Chief of Police over the weekend on their concerns.
“They’re not doing this when people are not home” said Hofmann. “They’re doing this while people are there. So really for the safety of our Man’amko and residents, we’re just telling everybody make sure you lock your doors and valuables.
Take your things down, even if it’s only going to be for a short time that you’re stopping by home to drop something. The thieves are doing smash and grab jobs.”
However, Agana Heights Mayor Paul McDonald says he is upset with the police because officers didn’t respond to one of the break-ins that was called in last night until the following morning. He notes in one night, they had a total of 12 break-ins.
“We were kind of upset because during the time of the break-ins, one of our residents called the Guam police and they never responded until the following day” said McDonald. “We could have avoided some of those break-ins if they were to respond.”
McDonald adds through the efforts of their neighborhood watch program, two videos were recorded and another resident took pictures of 6 to 7 individuals involved with the break-ins.
However, none are being released today [Wednesday] because of the police investigation. The mayors are asking if anyone has information on these crimes to call Guam Crime Stoppers at (671) 477-HELP .
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It would help of course if our lazy ass police department would get involved with something other than lining up to get their checks or fighting among themselves for the right to commit crimes.
I would also suggest for those of you who can afford it to get hidden cameras and place them around your home. These crooks are so bold because they don’t expect the police to come that they aren’t hiding their faces.
Let’s catch these bastards and lock them up.
Peter
May 16th, 2012 at 6:25 am
Most of you on this blog love that idiot Obama, especially you Michelle. I hope you all watched him on the VIEW. Hasselbeck’s questions showed him to be the idiot he is.
Obama will do anything to try to get re-elected. He never answered Hasselbecks’s question. We must not re-elected this idiot. He is bankrupting our great country.
May 16th, 2012 at 6:33 am
The Right is at it again. Trying to slander the president with snide insinuations that he is gay.
Okay so because the President supports gay marriage he is gay? Well i guess i’m gay as well.
May 16th, 2012 at 6:37 am
Morgan, what have you been reading? Last I checked this was President Obama’s position.
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So our President repealed don’t ask don’t tell, has chosen not to defend/enforce DOMA, has said he’s against a constitutional amendment that ban’s gay marriage.
He’s always supported equal rights for gays and believed in Civil Unions. His one change is that of the definition of “marriage” – so I can see how Hasselbeck thinks the President held the same exact view as Romney until 5 days ago.
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The woman is an idiot.
Rebecca
May 16th, 2012 at 6:39 am
Morgan, did you or Hasselbeck really think she could win that exchange? Republicans get lost in thought because it’s unfamiliar territory.
Hana
May 16th, 2012 at 6:43 am
Morgan when people like you demean the President’s intelligence, it is obvious that you dislike his color because the man has an amazing mind.
He can school a whole room of republicans in one sitting…so badly they thought they were set up.
So what he did to nimrod, hasselmouth, was a piece of cake.
Brenda
May 16th, 2012 at 6:46 am
Morgan:
Too bad she can’t think for herself.
I think she must have called Rush just before the show aired to seek his brilliance as to what question she should ask the President.
That’s what she gets for asking canned Republican questions from talking points ghat someone handed her before the show. They want to stump or embarrass the President, and it won’t work.
She flopped like a fish out of water.
She flopped like a fish out of water.
May 16th, 2012 at 6:56 am
For those of you who have been asking me to put the story of “The legend of the two lovers of Tumon Bay” on Michelle’s blog so you can send it to your relatives and friends off the island, here is one I like.
Since many visitors to our island line up for hours to visit the famous spot I picked this one.
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A leap of love in Guam
“Halt!” the captain yelled, but the couple only ran faster, away from the pursuing Spanish soldiers and the enraged officer. In bare feet, they scaled the jagged limestone and hauled each other up the steep slopes and through the thick undergrowth until they reached the top.
They stood for a moment, chests heaving, appealing to each other with long, yearning stares. At first their eyes were wide with panic.
Then, as their breath returned and with their gaze still locked on each other, their fear subsided. As if lifted by unseen angels, the terror of the chase vanished and they held each other in a long embrace.
A gust of sea air rushed up the cliff, caught her long hair and swirled it around like a silken banner.
“Stop! I have orders to shoot,” the captain shouted again, infuriated by their defiance and the exhausting climb to the top of the cliff.
But the young fugitive reached behind his companion and his thickly muscled and tattooed arm gently gathered up her hair and tied it in a knot to his own. They whispered something, held each other even tighter … and leapt.
The legend of the two lovers of Tumon Bay is an enduring Guamanian folk tale with several versions, but each rendering ends with the couple sealing their fate on the rocks below.
A concrete lookout and statue commemorate their final act of devotion and bus-loads of tourists visit Two Lovers Point every day.
Thousands of multicoloured luggage tags are affixed to a mesh screen, each declaring someone’s perpetual love for another, and a nearby outdoor chapel is well used by the many Japanese newlyweds who make up most of the visitors.
Guam, part of the Marianas, is the largest and most populous island in Micronesia. About a third of its 180,000 residents call themselves Chamorro (indigenous Guamanian).
The remainder are Filipino (25 per cent), other Pacific Islander (11 per cent), Asian and Caucasian.
Politically, Guam is an unincorporated organised territory of the United States – a status it shares with Puerto Rico. The island is strategically important, and the US maintains large naval and air-force bases there.
Although it takes a mere four and a half hours to fly due north from Cairns to Guam on regular 737 flights, the island is in something of a tourism blind spot for most Australians.
In March, United Airlines took over the previous Continental route to A.B. Won Pat International Airport (GUM) in a much-anticipated merger.
Guam serves as a hub for the wider region and flights leave every day to the other Micronesian islands of Saipan, Rota, Yap, Palau, Truk, Pohnpei, Kwajalein, Kosrae and Majuro. United’s hub also provides connections to Hawaii, Hong Kong and Manila.
Japanese forces occupied Guam for two years during World War II and the Japanese connection with the island remains strong.
Guam has 1.2 million tourists a year and more than 70 per cent of them are Japanese. (Koreans make up 13 per cent of visitors, followed by Americans,
Taiwanese and the rest, including the 4000-odd Australians who visited in 2011.) The Hyatt, Hilton, Sheraton, Nikko and Pacific Island Club are all majority Japanese-owned.
A remnant World War II Japanese soldier was found in 1972, still refusing to surrender. Sgt Shoichi Yokoi was the last survivor of a group of 10 “holdouts” who had taken to the jungle after the Allied invasion in 1944. A replica of his cave has been built on the original site at Talofofo Falls Resort Park.
Most Australian leisure travellers transit through Guam en route to Micronesia’s many scuba-diving destinations such as Palau, Yap, Truk and Kosrae.
The marine biodiversity and abundance of unplundered WWII shipwrecks make the entire region a magnet for serious divers from all over the world.
The Chamorro (or Chamoru) people of Guam, who settled in the Marianas about 4000 years ago from South-East Asia, share ethnic roots with other Austronesians such as Filipinos, Indonesians and Malaysians.
Their language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian family that includes the vast majority of Pacific Islander dialects. “Hafa Adai!” is a common, if peculiar-sounding greeting that you will hear all over Guam.
The Lina’la’ Cultural Park, opened this year at Gun Beach at the northernmost point of Tumon Bay, recreates a pre-contact Chamorro village, giving visitors an idea of how the Chamorro people would have lived and worked when Ferdinand Magellan found them in 1521.
Excavation and building work at the site was interrupted when archaeologists were called in to identify and catalogue the growing number of artefacts that kept turning up. Today these finds are displayed in the small museum on site.
Chief Ben Lam Lam San Nicolas greets guests wearing little more than his forebears would have worn 500 years ago. “Hafa Adai!” he bellows, before going on to teach visitors a little about local traditions, handicrafts, history and culture.
The handful of thatched-roof structures are built on the latte stone foundations which are common throughout the island and now serve as a national symbol.
There’s a guma’ uritao (men’s house) and a central cooking house containing a chahan, or pit, where root vegetables and fish were covered with leaves and cooked atop fiery rocks.
Then, as now, coconuts (niyok) were abundant on the island, and guests can try their hand at grating them the traditional way, using a sharp clam shell.
Ben is no actor or choreographed tour guide. He is the real deal and takes his cultural duties seriously.
“We learn from the past to live in the present to build a future for all generations,” he says earnestly to a few guests who have stayed back after the crowd has left.
Five centuries have seen his people transformed from a simple and sustainable island existence to a westernised, Christian population irretrievably altered by exposure to the world’s influences.
Soon after the arrival of the Spanish missionaries and military in 1668, the predictable onset of diseases occurred, ravaging the population.
Zealous Catholic clergy stifled the Chamorro culture and publicly punished those caught practising their old pagan ways.
Perhaps the modern adaptation of the ancient Two Lovers tale, in which an enraged Spanish officer pursues the couple to their defiant death, symbolises the Chamorros’ steadfast will and adherence to tradition.
On the beach below those frightening cliffs is a cave where two giant sandstone monoliths recline as if in repose, together forever in the land they love.
IF YOU GO:
GETTING THERE: United Airlines flies weekly to Guam from Cairns, with daily connections to Palau and onward to Manila. More: http://www.united.com.
STAYING THERE: Pacific Island Club Guam is a 777-room resort with a large waterpark, spa, a range of activities and nightly cultural spectacular. It’s great for families. Prices start from $US155 ($A156) per couple per night. More: http://www.picresorts.com/guam
MORE INFORMATION: http://www.visitguam.org
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I hope this helps you and our visitors to our island.
Hafa Adai
Anna
May 16th, 2012 at 7:03 am
The Nutrient That Beats Pneumonia
Pneumonia is the sixth-leading cause of death in the US. Sadly, antibiotics alone often aren’t enough to save the lives of pneumonia patients when their immune systems are so weak.
The good news is that adding a nutrient “booster” to the antibiotics has been shown to prevent more pneumonia deaths, according to a new study.
The best part is that this nutrient is both cheap and easy to find.
ONE MIGHTY MINERAL
The study took place in a developing country, Uganda, and it looked only at kids under five years old, but the researchers told me that its findings apply to people of all ages all over the world—even those in developed countries.
Researchers looked at 352 male and female children between six months old and five years old who were suffering from severe pneumonia.
In addition to getting the prescribed antibiotics, half of the children received a daily supplement pill that contained the current Ugandan Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of zinc (10 milligrams per day for children under one year old and 20 milligrams per day for older children) and the other half received a daily placebo pill. (The US RDA is slightly lower.)
Before starting treatment, the average level of zinc in the blood of all the children was measured and found to be below the normal range.
Findings:
Children receiving zinc supplements were much less likely to die from the pneumonia.
Within seven days, about 4% of the children receiving zinc died, while 12% of the children receiving the placebo died. (Remember, all received the same antibiotic treatment.)
Researchers followed the children for only seven days, because due to past research they suspected that a child who survived pneumonia would likely have recovered by the seventh day of treatment. But they did not track how many (if any) children died after seven days.
According to one of the study authors, James Tumwine, MBChB, MMed, PhD, a professor of pediatrics and child health at the School of Medicine at Makerere University in Uganda, zinc increased survival because the children were deficient in zinc and the added zinc may have helped boost their immune systems.
For example, zinc increases the function of T-cells (types of white blood cells), as well as the hormone thymulin, both of which help increase immunity.
CHEAP & EASY TO FIND
If you think that the only people who are deficient in zinc are those in developing countries or are young children, think again.
For example, the ongoing National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey has found that about 35% to 45% of Americans age 60 or older aren’t getting as much zinc as they should.
And vegetarians also are at risk for zinc deficiency—not only because they do not consume the foods that are high in zinc (such as oysters and meat), but also because two staples of their diets, legumes and whole grains, contain phytates which inhibit zinc absorption.
Many people do not know whether they’re zinc deficient.
And you can have a healthy level for years and then it can suddenly drop once an infection such as pneumonia develops, said Dr. Tumwine, so asking a doctor to check your level at your annual checkup doesn’t necessarily do any good.
If you get pneumonia, ask your doctor whether taking a daily zinc supplement or getting more of it through foods including red meat, poultry, oysters, nuts and zinc-fortified cereals may boost recovery.
The RDA for zinc in the US for adults is 11 milligrams (mg) per day for men over age 19 and 8 mg per day for women over age 19.
For kids, it varies:
7 months to 3 years old: 3 mg
4 to 8 years old: 5 mg
9 to 13 years old: 8 mg
14 to 18 years old: males, 11 mg; females, 9 mg
19 and older: males, 11 mg; females, 8 mg
Fortunately, zinc is a mineral that’s cheap and widely available. The cost of a zinc supplement is just pennies per tablet, and you can find zinc wherever nutritional supplements are sold.
Source: James Tumwine MBChB, M.Med, PhD, professor of pediatrics and child health, School of Medicine, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, whose study was published in BMC Medicine.
May 16th, 2012 at 7:20 am
When I read the comments of some liberals on this blog I feel like I have stepped into an insane asylum.
May 16th, 2012 at 7:27 am
I believe that who we pick as the next president is important but also who we send to both houses to support his is just as important.
If we are to help President Obama to reduce the national debt and he will need like minds in both Houses.
Reducing the national debt, but more importantly HOW that debt reduction will be accomplished is THE No.1 issue ALL voters must understand this.
Will we allow the most fortunate among us to continue to enjoy obnoxiously low tax rates; continue our reckless expansion of the military, while making devastating cuts to social programs? Or will we make the right choices?
That is the program the present republican members of both houses have in mind. So if we elect President Obama for a second term, then we need to also concentrate on sending him the help he will need in both Houses of Congress to get the job done.
Alycedale
May 16th, 2012 at 7:33 am
Open Letter to the Right:
You can dress up your lies about this country’s state of affairs in fancy terms. You can hate Obama with a passion to rival our collective hatred of al-Qaeda, Taliban, and Arabs in general.
You can smile with pleasure at Mitt’s chances. But you will never make the stench of the Republican platform go away.
Tell us how the corporate take over of the American government is good for us. Tell us how keeping women barefoot, pregnant, and subservient is where we want to go.
Tell us how tax breaks and subsidies will create just one new job. Tell us how your caucus, which ran on a jobs, jobs, jobs ticket in 2010, and then gave us redundant abortion and “personhood” bills.
You tell us that will deliver us from the evil that is the Democratic Party. What we need is a serious effort to help the Middle Class and the poor to gain a fair footing with the Super rich.
David
May 16th, 2012 at 7:35 am
Regardless of what “facts” either party comes forward with, most Americans are going to vote with what they are comfortable with.
It’s sad to admit that, even though we constantly shout to the world “We are a democracy, We are free”, we truly aren’t. Most Americans can’t handle the thought of change.
They refuse to think for themselves. Like sheep, they tend to go along with what their friends, community leader, pastor or favorite news channel feeds them.
The Democratic Party and the Republican party are two sides of a coin and often found in bed together, behind the scenes. We have no real choice to choose from.
The system is not built for true democracy and it never will be. Politicians will always be there for their loyal backers, no matter the side you choose.
It comes down to picking the “lesser of two evils” and hope that some good comes out of it. I’m not saying that’s good or bad~ that’s just the way it is.
May 16th, 2012 at 7:36 am
And Romney? He’ll probably continue to campaign on his record of proven economic growth, bipartisanship in passing legislation during his tenure as Governor of Massachusetts, his savvy in business ethics, his ability to create jobs by protecting capital, etc, etc.
He’ll get nasty and negative when Obama starts throwing the mud, but give it a few weeks of these two debating each other before the rest of the Pres.’s dwindling fan base starts to see him as nothing more than a negative, ineffective national leader whose own policies have protracted an otherwise manageable economic recession.
May 16th, 2012 at 11:41 pm
I love you so very much. Yet, I am here alone. I miss you.
I am told that because of who I am I must know at all times what it is I am representing.
Yet, I sit here loving you with fantasies that will have to do since I can not have you. And I know not what that represents.
Unless, it’s just the start of a need for you that I can not fill because I am all alone and you can not come to me.
Yet, I feel it with absolute reality, it is not a fantasy.
When I first had you, you offering your perfectly cheeked ass to me and me eager to take you from behind, I entered and experienced that kind of pleasure for the first time.
Although it was far from your first, it was mine made so much more miraculous because we came at the same time.
When our convulsions subsided and you rolled over to kiss me, your essence swallowed me up and I knew I would never be free of you again.
I found prayer and prayed to I know not who. The prayer though silent was the loudest request I have ever made.
It was – “Love me a little bit, I will belong to you forever”-
I have sworn not to fall in love with you. It was easy then, like the other dozen or so vows I have made to them.
Now whenever I see a reflection of my image, my first thought is “Whatever you do, you are forsaking one vow for the other.”
May 17th, 2012 at 5:57 am
Sacrificial scams
by Ann Coulter
The real class warfare in this country isn’t rich vs. poor, it’s government employees vs. we, the taxpayers, who pay their salaries.
Working for the government is supposed to be a trade-off: You can’t be fired and don’t have to exert yourself, but you will receive smaller remuneration than in the private sector, where layoffs are common (especially in the Obama economy!). Instead, government jobs are safe, secure, pressure-free — and now, amazingly lucrative!
Whether it’s in Wisconsin, Illinois, California or the nation’s capital, today’s public sector workers expect to do little or no work (I’m not counting partying in Las Vegas as “work”), and then be lavishly compensated. Often, the only heavy lifting they do all week is picking up their paychecks.
When government employees mobbed the state capitol in Wisconsin last year, the upside was: They got to bully people. The downside: Voters finally found out what these public servants were being paid.
May 17th, 2012 at 6:06 am
The crooks in the Senate are at it big time. Many have taken bribes from military contractors to secure contracts from the military for them in exchange for their vote to allocate funds for the transfer of marines in the Okinawa Prefecture.
In view of Washington’s agreement with Tokyo in April to transfer 9,000 marines to Guam and other locations such as Hawaii, the panel has demanded that the Defense Department draw up new, comprehensive plans for U.S. military deployment in the Asia-Pacific.
The sleaze bags see an opportunity to fill their pockets with bribe money and they are pigging out like hogs at a trough.
Mike
May 17th, 2012 at 6:10 am
Sincere Professional Apologies
Sincere professional apologies can go a long way toward fence-mending in business. An apology must be separated from an explanation or any attempt to share blame.
What to do:
Apologize directly. Once the other person has accepted your apology, you can try to explain or excuse yourself.
Offer to discuss the problem further, but do not insist on it.
Make the apology face-to-face if possible or at least on Skype or by phone—do not use e-mail unless there is no alternative.
Offer options to make things right, but do not assume that you know the best way to do so. Close by focusing on next steps.
If the other person brings the matter up again, say that you consider it closed because you have offered an apology and he/she has accepted it.
Source: Tom Searcy, founder and CEO of Hunt Big Sales, consultancy firm, Fishers, Indiana. http://www.HuntBigSales.com