Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

[Earned Media]

On Wednesday, August 27, police officers brutally arrested two teenage girls, ages 15 and 17, near Senator Obama’s Denver hotel. The young women, Julia Giacopuzzi and Jayne White, were writing messages in sidewalk chalk on the public sidewalk when the police officers rushed in and violently arrested the girls without warning or provocation. 

The girls are members of the pro-life youth organization Survivors, and were in Denver during the Democratic National Convention to call attention to Senator Barack Obama’s pro-abortion position as part of A Prayer for Change. 

Throughout the DNC, the youth of Survivors were using sidewalk chalk throughout the city of Denver with the permission of City Attorney David Fine and Denver Deputy Chief of Police John Lamb. It was understood by the young women that sidewalk chalk was an accepted medium, and they were given no warning by the police before being cuffed and dragged away.

Jayne White, age 17, was rushed from behind by a police officer and pushed face-down on the ground. He slammed his knee into the back of the young woman’s neck as she lay on the concrete without resisting. The officer forcefully pulled her arms behind her back and cuffed her. 

Miss White states, “I was peacefully sidewalk chalking when I was forcefully pushed to ground by a police officer from behind. As I was being cuffed on the ground, the police officer pushed his knee into the back of my neck. I was pulled roughly off the ground and taken away. I was given no warning to stop and was completely shocked when I was arrested. My back was throbbing from his knee.”

Julia Giacopuzzi, age 15, was surprised by a police officer twisting her arms behind her back and using them to lift her off the ground to be handcuffed.

Miss Giacopuzzi comments, “As I was sidewalk chalking, I was rushed by a police officer without warning and lifted up off the ground and was cuffed. I was then dragged by the police into the Westin Hotel.”

Read more here.

[From me]

I’m very pro-life but I’ve been critical of many of the protests I’ve seen.  But I don’t get how you can be arrested when you got permission for writing on a sidewalk with chalk.  My daughter writes on our driveway all of the time.  When you have wackos out to assassinate Obama, why are the police concerned about a couple of girls writing in chalk?  They look like real threats to national safety.

Also, why hasn’t the national media picked up on this?  Where is the ACLU?

What do you think?

[Christian Post]

Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest provider of surgical abortions, won’t be hosting an advertising event this week that would have promoted its services among youth outside a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Washington State, thanks to the prompt reaction and grassroots efforts of pro-life groups.

According to the American Life League (ALL), a large Richland Wal-Mart Supercenter dropped its association with the pro-choice group after a statement sent out by ALL called on pro-life advocates to bombard the retailer with hundreds of protesting e-mails and phone calls.

“They’re pushing pornography and contraception onto young children – beginning in kindergarten. Now parents aren’t even safe to go shopping without worrying Planned Parenthood will pressure their kids into promiscuous lifestyles that will increase their bloated birth control and abortion profits,” said Marie Hahnenberg, a researcher for American Life League, in the statement.

“Planned Parenthood is now in such desperate need of customers it’s willing to do anything – even stand outside shopping centers to lure young people into its clinics,” she added.

While claiming victory against the pro-choice organization, Hahnenberg stressed that pro-life groups would do good in continuing to oppose efforts by the organization in promoting its harmful agenda.

“It’s hard enough for parents to safeguard their children from Planned Parenthood’s pervasive sexualized propaganda,” she said.

“They shouldn’t have to worry about exposing their kids to Planned Parenthood’s aggressive agenda even in Wal-Mart’s parking lot,” she added.

Pro-life groups say that the recent move by Planned Parenthood is proof of its new desperation that has emerged after the organization has been increasingly challenged in lawsuits regarding its use of taxpayer funding in promoting its “comprehensive” sex education programs.

According to a report released by Planned Parenthood this year, the organization recorded record profits and the highest number of abortions on record. During the 2006-2007 period, the group performed 289,570 abortions and registered over $1 billion in profits.

Read more here.

[From me]

First, I don’t like any group hitting me up when I shop at Wal-Mart.  2nd, Why is un-Planned Parenthood resorting to marketing at Wal-Mart in the first place? I don’t want my children exposed to their propaganda when I shop for groceries and stuff.  Why do they need to advertise anyway–they are tax payer supported.  I can’t believe Wal-Mart would have even considered this.  I’m glad they changed their mind.

What do you think?

[Christian Post]

The nation’s largest Christian ministry dedicated to housing the poor has drawn criticism from pro-life groups recently over its joint partnership with the nation’s largest provider of surgical abortions.

In an agreement with Planned Parenthood, Habitat for Humanity is allowing the group to bypass zoning regulations in Sarasota, Fla., that restrict the opening of abortion facilities “without the presence of a multifamily liner building.”

According to a statement released earlier this month by the Sarasota City Commission, Habitat for Humanity will reportedly facilitate the opening of Planned Parenthood in the area through a $10 real estate purchase from the group.

“We are excited to have Habitat be a part of the Planned Parenthood team,” a Planned Parenthood representative reportedly said after the agreement.

Jim Sedlak, vice-president of the American Life League, in response, blasted the move by Habitat for Humanity.

“Habitat for Humanity, which claims to be a Christian ministry, says that this was only a real estate transaction. However, Planned Parenthood could not open its abortion facility without Habitat’s help,” he explained in a statement.

Read more here.

Read the minutes from the City Council here. (it is on page 10 #120

[From me]

$10?  It is bad enough that a “Christian” organization would sell to a baby killing organization like PP, but for $10?  Don’t tell me it was a business transaction. If I had land and PP offered me 10X the amount I wouldn’t sell just because I wouldn’t want to sell to an organization that is in the baby killing business!  I’ve always admired Habitat for Humanity but this is sad and disappointing.

What do you think?

[Christian Post]

Christians and proponents of federal abstinence programs cried foul over what they claimed was a biased attempt to write off federal abstinence until marriage programs as ineffective and damaging to the health of youth.

Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council (FRC), was among those who criticized Democratic Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, “known for his support of radical causes such as abortion on demand and for so-called ‘comprehensive’ sex education,” of “stacking” the panel against federal abstinence programs during a House Committee meeting on Wednesday.

Among the seven “experts” that spoke at the panel, all but one used the opportunity to thrash federal abstinence programs, claiming that they had contributed nothing to reduce rates of teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases or lower ages and incidences of sexual activity.

“Ninety-five percent of Americans have intercourse prior to marriage,” testified Columbia University medical department chair John Santelli, while referring to a two-year-old study by Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest provider of surgical abortions, according to Baptist Press.

“Abstinence-only-until-marriage as a program goal is out of touch with broad demographic trends toward both an earlier age at first sex and a later age at marriage,” Santelli said, recommending that Congress permanently cut federal abstinence programs in favor of sex education programs.

Read about it here.

[From Planned Parenthood]

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) applauds the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for examining the $1.5 billion failure of government-funded abstinence-only programs at a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill today.  Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-CA-30) called on public health experts and young people whose lives have been deeply affected by the ineffective programs to urge lawmakers to reconsider the abysmally poor use of taxpayer dollars.

“The weight of the evidence cannot be ignored, and now — under the glare of a congressional inquiry — policymakers will have to answer tough questions about why we continue to waste millions of dollars a year on a policy that has failed to keep teens healthy and safe,” said PPFA President Cecile Richards.

During the hearing, two young adults told the congressional panel about their experiences with abstinence-only programs. Max Siegel, who now works with the AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth, and Families, testified that the “abstinence-only message did not prepare me for life, and I contracted HIV from the first person with whom I consented to having unprotected sex. I was still in high school.”

Read more here. 

[From me]

So we are going to take only the research of an organization that provides more abortions than any other group?   The reason the gentleman above wasn’t prepared for life had nothing to do with the abstinence program.  Had he not had sex he wouldn’t have gotten AIDS.   I’m amazed at how intelligent adults discount students and young people.  We have become a negative society that just gives up on people.  Not everyone had sex before marriage and not everyone will in the future.

We need to quit lowering the bar and raise it.  I work with the next generation and they want to be part of something bigger than themselves.  They want to change the world.  And why can’t they?  Well, if we keep lowering the bar and say “they are going to do it anyway” we aren’t giving them enough credit.

What do you think?