Care Net Helps the unborn?

Care Net is a crises Pregnancy Center. The following is my letter to the editor of Care Net's Report, the current issue can be found here:

http://www.care-net.org/publications/documents/CNRJanFeb07.pdf


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Sir,

I read the two movie reviews you posted in the January/February issue of The Care Net Report (Movie Report, War and Peace: Why We Fight and The Fog of War). Simply said, this kind of writing does not belong in Care Net's publication.

Quite frankly, I am stunned that an organization that fights for the life of the unborn, which is your primary mission, would devote even a moment to discussing issues related to warfare and the politics that surround them.
Is our battle won against Abortion? Have all the hearts been changed that need to be changed? Are all the women in crises pregnancies no longer in need of our help?

Why then spend the time (and my money as a donor) printing a thinly veiled diatribe against the US and its war efforts? I'm sure you can argue in a hundred different ways that your intentions are noble, but let's face it: This is an editorial hack job pushing the following themes:

1. America is "Constantly at War" and "engaged in foreign entanglements"
2. The US is in the grip of Eisenhower's "military industrial complex" and the "the U.S. is a war machine and operates largely as a war based economy".
3. The above somehow pushes the U.S into engagement after engagement, to "dispense our military force" and "fight as a nation because we perceive it is our interest to fight and then mention words like 'freedom' and nice common values that - who can be against freedom?".
4. America is "drifting dangerously far from her founding principles toward a more imperial and uncertain future".
5. Christians should not participate in warfare nor swear allegiance to a secular state.

How this relates to Care Net's mission is unclear to me. Your entire article seems disingenuous in both its construction and omissions. You attempt to pre-emptively deflect criticism by using extensive quotes of others to make your case, including various conservatives, and by stating "it is not the position of Care Net to declare any war just or unjust", but your perspective shines through clearly and you infer that all recent U.S wars are in fact unjust through your choice of commentary.

Were I to take the time to clearly refute your points with easily found hard data, we would find that:

- suggesting the U.S is a "war-based economy" or in the grip of a "military industrial complex" is laughable simply based on the numbers and percentages of GDP involved. - Wilton Sekzer is a PROUD Vietnam veteran who felt justified in asking the Dept. of Defense to put his son's name on a bomb to help avenge his son's death in the World Trade Center on 9/11.
- LTC Karen Kwiatkowski is a highly partisan anti-war commentator who makes a living through her criticism of the administration. In addition to running for the Libertarian party Vice Presidential nomination, she has been publicly discredited by the bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for her accusations against the government. Further, she could and should have been prosecuted for numerous breeches of UCMJ by releasing extensive amounts of confidential and potentially classified information to the media while still an active duty officer in a sensitive position. She's not just some concerned mother who is also a military veteran.

Why would you neglect to balance your commentary with information such as this?

I am a Christian...and a military veteran.... with combat experience.... who agonized over the weighty questions you mention. I have a son who serves and while I am concerned for his safety, I believe it is a necessary effort for he and so many others to make. Unlike Mr. Setzer and LTC Kwiatkowski, I can easily see the importance of both our current conflict as well as the others we have fought in the past.
I have been a regular and generous contributor to Care Net for quite some time. I believe wholeheartedly in it's mission and in taking whatever steps we can prevent abortions and protect the Unborn. I would like to think this is your mission as well. Your article tells me that perhaps you have other objectives in mind in your role as editor.

I will be publishing this letter on numerous blogs as well as contacting Care Net's Office of the President. I want to know if Care Net's focus has changed and whether I should redirect my contributions to another crises pregnancy organization who will focus on saving the unborn.

Pflugerville, TX

She was a good dog

We had to put down our old dog Strider today. She apparently slipped on the ice from this weather and damaged her spine, maybe slipped a disc, who knows. All we know is that over a period of about 5 days, she went from being able to walk/trot, to barely walking, to unable to stand, to unable to sit up.

Sadly, we made the decision this morning to have her put to sleep. She's a pretty heavy dog and although we could drag her outside to go pee and poop, her clock and ours were out of synch. This led to more pee and poop inside the house than out as those functions continued to work just fine...

We bundled her up and took her to the vet (which was always the only way we could guarantee she would pee!) and they fianlly had a room ready.

It was strange, I'd never seen a dog put down before. We were petting her and calming her and the doctor gave her the injection. Within 3 seconds, she put her head down, coughed once very softly and stopped moving. The Vet pulled out a Stethoscope, listened for her heart and said "her heart has stopped".

From injection to his verdict was no more than 20 seconds.

It is truly amazing how fragile life can be and in witnessing her dying, I gained more appreciation for how much a miracle living actually is.

Thanks sweet Strider for being a great dog and teaching me about living, loyalty and forgiveness. You were great dog.

This is Real Leadership

I get so tired of hearing the Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons of the world tell (both the Black Community and the White Community) that the reason for all the problems in Black America is because of discrimination by whites.

Quite frankly, I see their pandering as a major part of the reason we still have so many problems today.

I was heartened a few months ago to hear Bill Cosby turn the finger around and point at Black America.

Now we have Alphonso Jackson, Secretary of HUD, not only saying the same thing, but also pointing directly at the so-called Black leadership and calling them a big part of the problem.

Maybe we're turning the corner. I sure hope so.

Here's the Newsmax article in its entirety:

HUD Secretary Attacks Black Victimhood

By Ronald Kessler

Alphonso Jackson, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, says that black leaders like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Julian Bond are doing a disservice to blacks by perpetuating an ideology of victimhood.

“They [black leaders] have created an industry,” Jackson, who is black, told NewsMax. “If we don’t become victims, they have no income. They have no podium.”

Rather than confronting real issues that face blacks, African-American leaders suggest that “it’s racism that’s stopping everything that we’re doing,” Jackson said.

“They are in the business of making excuses,” he said. “White folks have nothing to do with the fact that seven out of every 10 black children born in this country are born out of wedlock,” Jackson said. Nor do they have anything to do “with that fact that we have more black males in prison than we do in college.”

While racism still exists, “Young black kids are getting every opportunity that they need, just like every other kid,” Jackson said. “I think in 2006 to say that everything is the fault of our brothers and sisters of the lighter hue is ridiculous.”

Until blacks “begin to focus in on the serious problems that we have in our communities, and begin to try to solve those problems in the most positive manner that we can, we’re not helping ourselves,” Jackson said.

Welfare ‘Close to Stealing’

Jackson said he was reared in a segregated environment in Dallas. As a college freshman, he participated in a civil rights march in Selma, Ala., on March 7, 1965. As he stepped onto the Edmund Pettus Bridge, state troopers blocked his way and unleashed tear gas and dogs on the marchers.

But Jackson’s father Arthur Jackson told his son that everyone can succeed in America regardless of skin color. Even though he had been diagnosed with cancer and had virtually no income, his father refused to go on welfare or take food stamps. When necessary, his church helped out.

“Never take anything that you didn’t earn,” his father told Alphonso. “That’s close to stealing.”

“I never went to school with my brothers and sisters of the lighter hue until I got off to college,” Jackson, a lawyer, said. “But I’m sitting here,” he said, referring to his cabinet position, which controls a budget of $32 billion a year. “And I’m sitting here because I believe that the American system might not be the panacea, but it’s the best system that I’ve ever been able to live in.”

Black Leaders Making Problems Worse

By characterizing blacks as victims, making excuses for them, and suggesting that they cannot advance themselves without reliance on the government, black leaders exacerbate the problems that blacks face and give them the tools to become “losers,” Jackson said.

“I am not going to let the black leadership — the so-called leadership — of this country tell me that I am a victim,” he said. “I believe that if you work hard, strive to do the very best, things will work out for you. [That] doesn’t mean you won’t have obstacles — you will. But we can’t keep living in an era that is bygone,” Jackson said. “We need to begin today to teach blacks that they can look in the mirror — and that they have the ability, once they look in that mirror, to achieve.”

In his book “Enough,” Fox News TV commentator Juan Williams pointed out that blacks who emigrate to America from Africa and the Caribbean are more successful than blacks born in the United States. As outlined in an Oct. 20 NewsMax article, “Juan Williams Called Black Ann Coulter,” Williams attributed that to a self-defeating black culture of victimhood, one that says doing well in school is a cop-out and that the way to be successful is to come off as threatening.

Agreeing with Williams, Jackson said, “All you have to do is look at Miami’s Little Haiti. The average income of a Haitian in Miami is the same as his white counterpart. They work very hard. But they have not been conditioned that the government owes them something.”

Jackson said Africans from such countries as Ghana, Nigeria, Gabon, and Senegal come to the United States. with “one attitude: that they’re going to get the very best education and make as much money as they can.”

Inclusive Administration

When George Bush became president, he named Jackson deputy secretary and then secretary of HUD. Bush and his wife Laura got to know Jackson and his wife Marcia, a former teacher, when Jackson headed the Dallas Housing Authority. The two couples began to socialize, and their kids would go to the movies together. Laura Bush invited Marcia to join her on the board of Child Protective Services Community Partners, which supports social workers.

“She stood out as a person who wanted to bring a diverse face to Dallas,” Marcia Jackson told me for my book “Laura Bush: An Intimate Portrait of the First Lady.”

“There are many whites who interact with blacks at work, but in their private lives, they don’t,” Marcia Jackson told me. “I think that says a lot about them as people.”

Alphonso Jackson said Bush has demonstrated the same inclusiveness in his administration, appointing, for example, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell secretary of state. The response of black leaders has been to say that Bush made the appointments to garner votes. That “does nothing to support the progress of black Americans, or to recognize how far we have come,” Jackson said.

Denying rumors that he is leaving HUD, Jackson said he is working with congressional leaders on legislation to simplify procedures so potential homeowners with poor credit records can more easily obtain mortgages insured by HUD’s Federal Housing Authority (FHA).

Minority Housing Initiatives

“One of the things we have found, especially when it comes to blacks and Hispanics, is that if we can get them in the home, they can sustain the monthly house note,” Jackson said. “The biggest problem has been getting them in there, because they have bad credit records. Also, many can’t make the down payment and closing costs.”

Jackson said he is encouraging those who build public housing to create complexes of low density townhouses rather than single buildings.

“That’s why I like to use the housing authority in Atlanta as a model, just as in Dallas,” Jackson said. “They have 13 public housing complexes. They’ve created low density townhouses, and if you go to Dallas or Atlanta, you’ll see that the crime is down, education is up, people are working.”

Jackson is also working on changing rules under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) so settlement costs will be more understandable and estimates of costs given before closing are the actual prices charged.

RESPA was passed in response to disclosures in a 1972 Washington Post series of kickbacks among real estate brokers, lenders, builders, title attorneys, and title insurance companies. Many of those practices have continued, often disguised. A builder, for example, may force a buyer to use a high-priced lending company owned by the builder. Jackson did not address whether rules will be tightened to try to eliminate these practices.

Besides helping new homeowners through the FHA program, HUD counsels people on how to buy their first home. Through the American Dream initiative, HUD even provides assistance in making a downpayment and paying closing costs to those who meet eligibility requirements. These programs and the improving economy have meant that 70 percent of Americans now own homes, Jackson said.

“For the first time, we have closed the gap that exists among white, black, and Hispanic Americans,” Jackson said. “Over 50 percent of black and Hispanic Americans own their own homes for the first time in this country. Some of the people who never thought that they could own a home, they’re owning a home.”

As an example, Jackson cited Donna Davis, who was able to buy her first home in New Orleans, and Essie Jackson, a maintenance person in HUD’s headquarters. Davis told Jackson, “You know, Mr. Secretary, I have a yard. And I have the thrill of measuring and shopping for curtains in my new home.”

More than two years ago, Essie Jackson asked the HUD secretary if he could help her buy a home. He got her enrolled in a counseling program.

“She thought she would never be a homeowner,” Jackson said. “Today she is. She has a two-bedroom, 2 ½ bath condominium, and she’s planting flowers in her window. And she came and told us the story.”

Rick Santorum

Great Speech by Rick Santorum. If you are able to help this man both financial and in getting out the vote, please do so.

Ah, Sugar, Sugar..Vote Republican!

Truly a neat little video. Thanks Redstate for the link

Why GOP voters will (should?) stay home - my response

Ross,

I am optimistic that both houses will stay in Republican hands.

Actually it is only hope. Optimism says that we will actually increase our majorities when the votes are counted!

Seriously though, I have a hard time accepting that the voters who were intelligent enough to choose Bush over Kerry/Gore are not intelligent enough to understand the threat incurred by handing control to the Democrats.

Media Bias and pandering on behalf of liberal issues is nothing new. Over weighted polls and un-scientific sampling to shape voter opinions are nothing new.

Republican/Conservative voters have been well aware of this and sidestepped it in every election since 2000. Are they suddenly going to cave just because its become even more intense and obvious? 'Wow, the media really are on the side of the Liberals - I guess they deserve to win!'

Yes the majorities took advantage of the trust handed to them and shamefully spent the country into deeper debt. That has really pissed me off.

I was angry to find that Bush was not truly a Conservative.

I'm angry over the lack of any true immigration progress.

In my wildest dreams, however, I cannot conceive that I might sit out this election - or any election- where the outcomes are so important.

Is the overspending really enough of a reason to throw in the towel? At least I have low taxes and greater wealth while it's happening. Will this continue under Democrats?

Will Democrats be any tougher on immigration reform? (Ha!).

Is removing all pressure from Iran by pulling out of Iraq and 'talking' really the smartest thing to do?

I am not happy at how we've run the war. In 14 months, my son, an Army Officer, heads to Iraq with his unit. Do you think I am pleased at this? Of course not, but I am convinced it has to be done.

If Republicans truly do stay away from the polls and the balance of power shifts to the left, it will greatly sadden me.

Not because the majority was lost, but because the will to do right was overridden by the will to give up and hide from reality; overridden by the political equivalent of a kid taking his football and going home when the game doesn't go exactly his way.

Are we really that immature as a party?

If so, every Republican who stays home or votes against the majority will have placed themselves on par with the legislators who couldn't say no when it came to earmarks.

Both knew what was moral and right and both failed to do it for selfish reasons. I think the Republican/Conservative voters are better than that.

So, yes, I am optimistic (or hopeful). I don't have anything to really support this, I just expect it as I expect the sun to rise tomorrow.

In my narrow view, no other outcome makes sense and the opposite result is a reality check I'm not currently willing to deposit.

New Top Ten Site

I've added a new top ten website to this Blog: RedState .

I've been reading this for a while now and after several weeks of spot-on commentary and analysis, I decided that it was time to add a link- I was spending a lot of time there anyway, I figured an easy link was a good idea.

Why did CNN air the insurgent sniper videos?

CNN is taking a lot of heat over their decision to show Iraqi guerillas sniping American soldiers. They opened a comments page after their explanation. Since I assume my comments will not get published, I published them here as well:

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Rather than debate whether you should have shown the video, I would rather see CNN directly approach the topic of whether there is merit in fighting this war.

The unstated position of CNN seems to be that either that the US is in the wrong or that both sides have equal weight in the morality of their positions and so it musn't take sides.

Show what you will, it's your network and that of your stockholders.

However, if my opinion counts, I ask that if you believe the former (that the US is wrong) then state this clearly. State also that CNN has chosen sides and that you intend to do what you can to bring about the defeat of the US.

However, if you believe that neither side has moral justification, then please do the following: Show everything, on both sides. Show the victims in the Israeli cafes, and Iraqi schools as well as the dead children forced to provide cover for Hezbollah and Hamas. Show the beheadings and bodies splattering as they hit the concrete after jumping from the Towers.

Show the tragedy on both sides and why both sides are fighting and what they expect the end state to look like if they win.

Explain the historical context.

If you are going to claim to be objective, then be objective. Do not pick and choose in such a way that gives comfort to any one side. At least in that sense, you can actually report the news instead of shaping it. I guarantee you many on both the left and right will be angry - and respect you - all at once.

I think your shareholders will also be happy in this case.

This is how you change attitudes

In a society where so much of what passes for discourse involves some form of shouting and an automatic assumption of idiocy (on the part of those who disagree with you), these folks have earned my respect.

I think people are tired of getting hammered on what they are 'supposed' to believe. Those who offer them a chance to think for themselves are almost assured to make a substantial impact on the attitudes of others.

Well done.