Seeing the Pro-Life Generation in Austin

Last week I went to Austin with Students for Life of America.  SFLA spans more than 750 pro-life groups on high school and university campuses across the country. These students are the pro-life generation. They are more pro-life than any other generation, their parents or grandparents, because they've seen the reality of abortion, whether it be the humanity of the pre-born in the womb via ultrasound, or the bloody pictures of aborted babies, or friends and family who have been harmed by abortion.

But in Austin I saw an even younger pro-life generation. Children, no more than 10 years old, were there smiling and holding pro-life signs full of hope as an abortion battle raged on over a pro-life bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks and increase safety standards for abortions.

It was hard to see these kids amidst the the hatred and vulgarity of the pro-abortion mob. But it was also inspiring to have them there as a reminder of what we are fighting for.  We are fighting for a culture of life for these children. We can still change things for these little ones when they become teenagers and young adults, so that they aren't faced with the same destructive lies about abortion being a quick and easy fix that we dealt with.

That little girl I saw in the line to the gallery clutching her baby doll with an "Abortion Hurts" sticker – I don't ever want her to feel the pain and victimization of abortion. I don't want her think that's her only choice and all she deserves. I want her to love herself and see that there's so much more to her than just her reproductive organs, as the pro-"choice" women reduced themselves to in the Texas Capitol Building.  I want her to respect herself and demand the respect from men that she deserves.  And if she finds herself in an unplanned or troubled pregnancy, I want abortion to be unthinkable because she has all the support and resources she needs to proudly bring life into this world.

That little boy I saw in the rotunda with the red LIFE tape over his mouth – I don't ever want him to become "bro-choice" - supporting abortion for his own selfish sexual desires. I don't want him taking advantage of women and pushing them to get abortions. I want him to grow up loving, supporting, and respecting women.  And if he ever faces a crisis pregnancy, I want him to stand up and do whatever it takes to support and love his child for the rest of his life.

How sad is it that my dreams and wishes for these children will be scoffed at by some and treated as draconian by others.  But standing in the Capitol in Austin last week, I saw that future and the future we are fighting for: A true pro-life generation that abolishes abortion and replaces it with a culture of Life.  I saw the future in Austin. That future starts now.

Back from the Post-Election Apocalypse

Wow. I can't believe I haven't blogged since October. This blog has been frozen in time. Frozen in a much happier time, when we didn't know the election results yet and there was still hope and excitement for a Romney-Ryan win.

Take a look at my election countdown on the top right column: "Time Left to Save the Country: 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes" - couldn't be more true. November 6th was our last chance. And we blew it.

That election hit me like a ton of bricks. I've been like a zombie walking through a post-election apocalypse. I'm still not recovered. Will I (and the country) ever recover? Too soon to tell.

When Rush said the other day this sequester business was the first time in his life he's been ashamed of his country, I was shocked. I've been ashamed of my country since Obama was elected in 2008. 2012 went beyond even that. I don't know that I can ever forgive the American electorate and its idiot (excuse me, "low, low information") voters for betraying me for a second time.

I've been meaning to blog the last couple months, but I've just been so bitter, cynical, and jaded. I haven't even wanted to think about politics lately, it just brings up feelings of pain and hopelessness.

I have several partially written posts, including one titled "Blame Blaming Bush" about how we as conservatives should have defended Bush's economic policies more instead of running away from him. We let our concession that Obama inherited a terrible economy turn into the idea that all 8 years of Bush were terrible economic times, instead of the just last two when Democrats controlled Congress (another point we should have hammered home) to the extent that an exit poll said 53% of voters blamed Bush for the bad economy while only 38% blamed Obama. That whole "It took Bush 8 years to ruin the economy, it's going to take more than 4 for Obama to bring it back" really sunk in and we shouldn't have let that happen.

But I haven't had the time or the energy to sit down and write about politics. And as the months passed, I felt like I needed to come up with some really grand comeback post and the pressure held me back from blogging. But really I just needed to break the ice.

So now I'm breaking it. And I'm back. For better or for worse.

Developing ...

Not Optimal

Source

Paul Ryan VP Debate Bingo Cards!

Featuring the many expressive faces of Paul Ryan!

Print them out and play with your friends - mark off each time Paul Ryan makes one of these faces during the Vice Presidential Debate!

And Ryan was his name-O!

STFU and Let's Get This Done!

UPDATE: 9/27 Special bonus uncensored 40 days until the election audio version of this piece! Thanks to Thomas LaDuke and others at FTR Radio for helping me do this:


or MP3 link

I've gotta get blatantly partisan and maybe ruffle a few feathers, but hopefully wake some people up.  We are 48 days away from the election.  This is do or die, the fate of our country is at stake.  The infighting is over, the circular fire-squad must end, the criticisms of our candidate must be held until after the election, the Reagan 11th commandment must be adhered to - this may be controversial to say, but it must be said and must be done if we are to win. 

President Obama has been an utter failure and the focus right now should be on the Middle East which is on fire - and a US ambassador was ASSASSINATED!!!! for the first time since the Iran hostage crisis - plus the economy is in the toilet.  If you have concerns about the optics of things Romney says - his press conference on Egypt was too early, it shouldn't have blamed Obama, the 47% quote is bad - even if you truly believe this stuff, even if you think these issues are of Romney's own making and he is a bad candidate, I must say to you right now: STFU!!!!! 

You are being a useful idiot by providing cover for the left and MSM to make this into a huge story instead of the actual things going on in the world that matter you are giving Obama further campaign ads - "Romney sucks - even X conservative says so!"  The fact that you have qualms about Romney "gaffes" ONLY hurt us, there is no possible positive outcome for you saying it.  Don't give me the "I'm just being objective, I'm maintaining my independence and integrity," etc. I don't care about your self-centered righteous indignation - forget you and your personal vanity - this isn't about YOU, we have a country to save.  So, STFU!!!!! 

You can easily find things in what Romney has said to agree with - if you can't get over the 47% number of people who don't pay income taxes, then turn the discussion into a broader point of big government dependence vs. individual independence and the American creed - what kind of country do we really want to be?  Or focus on his truth on Israel and the Palestinians not wanting peace from that same donor video.  Or attack Obama and his administration for ignoring warnings about the September 11th embassy attacks. Or the fact that Brownshirts took in a film maker in the middle of the night because he exercised his free speech rights to criticize a religion.

There is so much material, you should not be wasting one second going after Romney for supposed "gaffes."

Get in line, defend Romney, or at the very least focus every breath on attacking Obama as if your life depended on it - because it does, if not literally, then at least the quality of your life and all future generations.  This is desperation time, do or die, leave it all on the field.

"Let's get this done. We can do this." - Paul Ryan.  WE MUST DO THIS!

Thank you.

Signed,

A die-hard conservative who cannot live under another 4 years of Obama and will do ANYTHING to win in November
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The Obama Presidency In One Photo

Empty suit.
Empty chair.
Empty podium.

Previous:

The Obama Presidency in One Picture

This Looks Familiar

U.S. Embassy in Cairo, 2012

U.S. Embassy in Tehran, 1979

UPDATE:  I will not juxtapose images of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens' body being dragged through the streets in Libya, but this reminds of another foreign policy disaster - Black Hawk Down.  When American bodies were dragged through the streets in Mogadishu.  In response, Clinton pulled our troops out of Somalia.  This cowardice led Osama bin Laden to declare the U.S. a "paper tiger."  This MUST NOT HAPPEN AGAIN!!!

Also,"Stevens, 52, was the first U.S. ambassador to be killed in the line of duty since 1979."
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Remembering Mildred Rose Naiman from AA Flight 11 on the 11th Anniversary of 9/11

Every year since 2007, I have posted this Project 2,996* September 11th tribute to Mildred Rose Naiman. Gives me chills rereading every year.  The following is the text from my original 2007 post on the sixth anniversary of 9/11:

My September 11th tribute as part of Project 2,996 is to Mildred Rose Naiman, 81, from Andover, MA, the town next to my hometown. According to WBZ Boston, over 200 people with ties to Massachusetts died on 9-11-01.

"Millie," as she was known to her loved ones, was on her way to California to visit her 2 sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren when she was killed. She was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to be hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center.

Born on March 24, 1920, Mildred Naiman worked at Western Electric Co. as a tester. In her later years, she lived in a self-proclaimed "bachelorette pad" - her apartment in a retirement community - where she was active in planning and organizing events with her friends.

In a profile published on January 6, 2002, her daughter-in-law, Carol Naiman, told the New York Times, "She had a little bit of a lead foot. She had been stopped for speeding and was totally insulted the officer would give an old woman a ticket."

Although the feisty great-grandmother had had several knee replacement surgeries, cataracts, and other health problems, she still loved to travel. Her son Russ said, "If something was wrong with her, she'd go to the doctor and say, 'Fix me up; I've got a lot of traveling to do.' "

While she needed the help of a wheelchair at the airport, she still managed to visit her family twice a year. The Sunday before her fatal flight, a family member had asked if she was afraid of flying; her granddaughter, Hope, remembers her reply: "No, I've gone everywhere already--to Germany, the Bahamas. I'm not afraid to fly."

Incredibly, on July 24, 2004, the New York Post reported that the medical examiner's office had identified her remains. Many 9-11 victims are still unaccounted for. I hope her family gained some sense of closure with this discovery and was able to finally put her body to rest.

Today, on the sixth anniversary of her death, we celebrate the life of Mildred Rose Naiman.

May she, and the other 2,995 tragically murdered on that day, rest in peace.


9-11: NEVER FORGIVE, NEVER FORGET


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*Project 2,996 is an important online initiative to keep the memory of those who died on 9/11 alive and to honor them each through individual memorials.  For those of us who were fortunate to not have lost anyone on that day, it really personalizes and brings home each loss.  Their individual lives can get lost in the intolerable and overwhelming number killed on 9/11, so we owe it to each of them to make them more than just one of 3,000.  Because links have gotten old and broken, there are thousands of 9/11 victims who no longer have a memorial blog post - please go to Project 2,996 to learn more and participate on your own blog.

Holy Grail Found: Paul Ryan Shirtless Pic!

MOST IMPORTANT UPDATE IN THE HISTORY OF THIS WEBSITE: PAUL RYAN SHIRTLESS PIC FOUND:

As you may recall, Paul Ryan was in my July 2012 post Top 10 Hottest Conservative Congressmen,
here are the images I used back then:

Since then, I've submitted some pretty great pics to the Hey Girl, It's Paul Ryan Tumblr:

See the rest of the hot congressmen here:

Top 10 Hottest Conservative Congressmen

(A lot of this is tongue-in-cheek, Paul Ryan is an awesome conservative intellectual, too.  It's all in good fun!)
 P.S. Welcome, Ace fans!

UPDATE 1:30PM - And then there's THIS
I can't even!

Also, this is pretty great.
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A New Low: Shameful Smear Ad Blames Romney for Woman's Death

So Obama’s former staffer Bill Burton’s Super PAC Priorities USA has a disgusting attack ad out today that pretty much accuses Mitt Romney of killing a woman.  They imply that after a man loses his job, he lost his health insurance, and shortly after his wife got sick and died.  Alas, the timeline doesn’t add up: Romney left Bain in 1999, the man lost his job in 2001, and his wife died in 2006. 

But pretty much, using this twisted logic, if any family member has died of the millions of people who’ve lost their jobs and thus health insurance in the last 3 ½ years under the Obama economy and 8.3% unemployment it’s Obama’s fault.  (And who can forget that it is his fault that Brian Terry, U.S. Border Patrol Agent, died because of his administration’s “Fast and Furious” gun running scheme.)

To defend his indefensible ad, Burton told Politico,

“We’re illustrating how long it took for communities and individuals to recover from the closing of these businesses. Families and individuals had to find new jobs, new sources of health insurance and a way to make up for the pensions they lost. Mitt Romney has had an enduring impact on the lives of thousands of men and women and for many of them, that impact has been devastating.”

Well, Bill Burton, how long will it take “for communities and individuals to recover from” the devastating policies of the Obama administration?  Just like you accuse Romney, “families and individuals have had to find new jobs, new sources of health insurance and a way to make up for the pensions they lost” because of Obamanomics.  It is obvious that Obama has “had an enduring impact on the lives of thousands of men and women and for many of them, that impact has been devastating.”

This is a shameful, despicable smear ad that makes me sick to my stomach.  

Between Dirty Harry Reid smearing Romney with lies saying he didn't pay taxes for 10 years and that his dead father should be ashamed of him, as well as attacks on Ann Romney, the Obama campaign's scorched earth politics of personal destruction has begun.  We are only at the beginning of August, is there nothing Obama and his allies won't do? Any despicable attack or vicious lie they won't spread? How much longer can we bare to live in Obama's sick, twisted, disgusting, unconscionable, heinous, political world? November can't come soon enough!

P.S.  Don’t forget - Romney has literally saved lives.

UPDATE: RedState's Erick Erickson has additional details on just how spurious the claims of the ad are (emphasis my own):

Mitt Romney and Bain Capital bought GST Steel at some point. Romney left day to day operations of Bain in 1999. Thereafter, Bain offered Joe Soptic a buy out and he refused. Eventually the steel plant went out of business and Joe went on the unemployment line. That happened in 2001.

In 2002 or 2003, Mrs. Soptic injured her rotator cuff and left her job. She lost her insurance. In 2006, she was diagnosed with cancer and died a few days later. It is a terrible tragedy that Mitt Romney had nothing to do with.

It seems Mr. Soptic chose poorly on the buy out offer, lost his job, and would prefer to blame Mitt Romney than anyone else. Priorities USA has set a new standard — Mitt Romney killed a woman, despite being removed from both time of death and decision making.

UPDATE II: Politico catches Team Obama lying about their knowledge of the man in the disgusting ad:

When President Obama’s aides said they weren’t familiar with former Missouri steelworker Joe Soptic’s life story, all they had to do was check their own campaign archives.

Soptic, laid off from Bain Capital-owned GST Steel, stars in a Priorities USA Action spot this week in which he tells of how his wife died without health insurance after he lost his job. Soptic also appeared, wearing what appears to be an identical shirt, in a May television ad for the Obama campaign.

Asked about the Priorities spot on MSNBC Wednesday morning, Robert Gibbs said he doesn’t “know the specifics” while Stephanie Cutter said on CNN: “I don’t know the facts about when Mr. Soptic’s wife got sick or the facts about his health insurance.”

And Jen Psaki told reporters on Air Force One that “we don't' have any knowledge of the story of the family,” according to Yahoo! News.

But Cutter hosted an Obama campaign conference call in May in which Soptic told reporters the very story featured in the Priorities spot.

So, is this a new new low?

UPDATE III: Obama Team admits knowing the story.  Gotta love the opening sentence:

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki acknowledged Thursday that the campaign was no longer pleading ignorance about the story of a man who has appeared in both a super PAC ad and a campaign ad.

"No one is denying he was in one of our campaign ads. He was on a conference call telling his story," Psaki told reporters on Air Force One.

...yesterday on Air Force One, Psaki said, "we don’t have any knowledge of the story of the family."

Pure, sweet schadenfreude!
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