If you have never looked at the statistics on human trafficking then you may not be aware of how prevalent it has become. The stats are shocking and heartbreaking ... but there are people out there trying to make a difference.
For more information, visit www.theA21campaign.org. Please consider joining and downloading their prayer guide.
Abortion.
It makes you want to shudder when you even hear the word. It is ugly and horrific, yet it exists. It is a issue that divides a nation. It is the platform base of the Republican Party ... it is the issue that rallies Conservatives more than any other.
It boggles the mind that we live in a world so advanced that anyone would even consider abortion as an option. No matter how you look at it ... it is the killing of babies. And, it has existed since biblical times. Throughout the ages women have sought to terminate pregnancies that they felt they could not care for, for whatever reason. In their desperation, women have done horrible things to themselves and their unborn children while attempting to end a pregnancy. Women have even died trying to kill their babies.
Now we have Roe vs. Wade and women can end their pregnancies legally and safely. No need for hangers or chemical concoctions or even back-alley butchers. No, they can go to a clinic and have it done rather quickly. They don't need to have been raped, molested by a family member, or even have their own health in danger to do so. They just make an appointment, show up, and pay the fee.
Update: St. Luke’s, in their eagerness to escape continued bad publicity, have offered to pay for Andrea to transfer to a hospital that is willing to take her. Praise God!
Let's call a spade a spade. When an insurance company pressures doctors to remove life support from a patient and those doctors take a meeting and decide that life support will be removed ... against the patient's wishes ... it is murder. When they pull that plug, they will be committing murder ... plain and simple.
This is not a family affair. This is not one side of a family wanting to keep their loved one on life support while the other contests that is not their wish. This is a woman who has made it clear that she does not want to die and wishes to remain on life support and Blue Cross Blue Shield doesn't want to foot the bill. Well, I am sorry, that is what Andrea Clark paid all those premiums for every month ... for them to foot the bill.
I am not going to ask where are all the Pro-Life Republicans. I am not going to ask where are all the Pro-Life Democrats. I am not going to ask where are all the Pro-Choice Republicans and Democrats. I am going to ask where are all the compassionate human beings that inhabit this planet and why aren't they throwing a collective hissy fit!? I am going to ask why isn't the media all over this? I am going to ask why am I not hearing about this all day and night on my TV set?
Other bloggers blogging:
Special thanks to Laura from Pursuing Holiness for bringing this to my attention. Go check out her post that has a lot of contact information on what you can do on behalf of Andrea and her family.
Update 03/22/06 9:44 AM: Glory be to God! ICV has an amazing update titled: BREAKING NEWS: Afghan Christian ‘unfit to stand trial’
The American Family Association is asking for everyone to please email President Bush and ask him to intervene to save the life of Abdul Rahman. If you are not aware of who Abdul Rahman is, he is a Muslim who converted to Christianity sixteen years ago and is now facing death if he does not deny Christ and become Muslim again.
For more information on Abdul Rahman:
Bloggers covering the story:
Please help get others involved in saving the life of this Christian who refuses to deny Christ. For more information on the persecuted church, see The Voice Of The Martyrs.
Update 03/22/06 7:10 AM: More blog coverage added ...
If you have a post on this, trackback and I will get you added. :)
People of Faith Against the Death Penalty is an interfaith membership organization whose mission is to educate and mobilize faith communities to act to abolish the death penalty in the United States. PFADP relies on its members for support. Annual membership rates are: $25/individual, $40/household, and $100/congregation, or whatever amount is affordable. Checks are acceptable or you can donate securely online at www.pfadp.org.
If you are not a member, please consider joining today.
I just got this in email and I wanted to pass it on. I feel very strongly about this issue and have already signed the petition. I hope you do too.
Michael Newdow, who has already filed a suit to take "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance, is now suing to remove our national motto from our currency. He says that "In God We Trust" must go.
Help us secure one million signatures on the petition below to stop Newdow. Remember that only one person--Madelyn Murray O'Hare--was able to get prayer in schools banned. We must not allow one person--Newdow--to get our national motto removed from our currency by our silence.
During the last session of Congress, Representative Chip Pickering introduced a constitutional amendment to guarantee the right to use and recite the motto and the Pledge of Allegiance. Your petition will encourage Rep. Pickering to re-introduce his constitutional amendment in the present session of Congress and send a message to the judges of the 9th U.S. Circuit.
Click here to sign the petition.
I made the call. I hope you do too.
The Death of Compassionate Conservatism
by Jim WallisLast week, I spoke with other religious leaders at a press conference in the U.S. Capitol, urging the House of Representatives to oppose cuts in social services in their budget bill. When it was over, we walked to the rotunda to offer a prayer for our nation and its leaders, that they would do the right thing for people in poverty. Suddenly, we were face to face with Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and took the opportunity to deliver our message directly to him. He listened politely, but offered little response.
The House is scheduled to begin debate tomorrow on its budget bill, which includes $54 billion in cuts. On the table are cuts of $9.5 billion in Medicaid - by requiring co-pays for pregnant women and children for the first time; $8 billion in foster care, child support enforcement, and aid to the disabled; and $844 million in the Food Stamps Program, which would prevent 300,000 people from receiving food stamps. Forty thousand children would be cut from reduced-price school lunches. Lawmakers intend to follow these with a further cut of $70 billion in taxes that will primarily benefit the top 3% of taxpayers. The message from Congress is that in response to Hurricane Katrina, we're going to cut services for the poor, cut taxes for the rich, and increase deficits for our children and grandchildren.
These plans for deep cuts to social supports, paid for by tax cuts for the wealthiest, are contrary to the national priorities we need to protect our most vulnerable citizens. We need strong moral leadership in Congress, especially during this time of war, record deficits, rising poverty and hunger, and natural disasters. Cutting food stamps and health care that meet the basic needs of poor families is an outrage. Cutting social services to pay for further tax cuts for the rich is a moral travesty that violates biblical priorities. The House leadership seems to be saying they literally want to take food from the mouths of children to make rich people richer. If this ideology and politics of rich over poor prevails and our leaders fail to govern from a set of moral values, then the religious community must conclude that compassionate conservatism is dead.
As this battle for the budget unfolds, I am calling on members of Congress, some of whom make much out of their faith, to start Bible studies before they cast votes to cut services that will further harm the weakest in our nation. They should focus on the gospel imperative - what Jesus tells us about our obligations to the "least of these." Some of them have heard the slogan "What would Jesus do?" Now they should ask, "What would Jesus cut?" Budgets are moral documents, and they reflect our national priorities and values. In the name of social conscience, fiscal responsibility, equal opportunity, protecting our communities, and the very idea of a common good, the upcoming budget votes will be closely watched by people of faith.
I urge you to read the alert that follows, pick up your phone, and call your member of Congress. Tell him or her to show political will in standing up for the least of these, as Jesus reminds us.
Call Rep. [Your Rep.] now, toll-free:
(800) 426-8073 (Thank you, American Friends Service Committee).
The House of Representatives will vote on this immoral budget proposal as early as Thursday of this week, and a one-minute call from you and others could mean the difference between a "yea" or a "nay" vote from Rep. [Your Rep.]. Dialing the number above will get you to the Capitol switchboard. When you reach an operator, ask for Rep. [Your Rep.], and when connected, say something like:
"As a person of faith from [Your state], I urge Rep. [Your Rep.] to vote "no" on this immoral budget bill that cuts $54 billion in vital services to vulnerable people, including Medicaid, foster care, food stamps, and child support. These cuts will hurt survivors of Katrina and countless working families. Along with proposed tax cuts for the super-wealthy, these are the wrong priorities at the wrong time."
After you call, click here to tell 10 friends about our call-in day. With your help, we can jam the phone lines for justice in Washington! Spreading the word about this outrage is critical to the success of our campaign.
Via Sojourners.
I just received this in email:
In the week we mourned the death of the 2,000th U.S. soldier in Iraq, I. Lewis Libby, vice presidential chief of staff, was indicted today on five felony charges of perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to the FBI in the grand jury investigation into the leak of the name of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, whose husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had been critical of pre-war intelligence on Iraq. According to news reports, the investigation of White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove will continue.
This case goes well beyond petty intrigue and personal revenge. As people of faith, it is time to raise our voices and demand the truth about actions that - if proven in court - were threads of misinformation and manipulation that pushed our nation into war with Iraq and punished those who discovered credible evidence against it. With the prophet Isaiah we cry out: "No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth" (Isaiah 59:4).
The indictment of Libby raises the possibility that top White House officials deliberately attacked someone who questioned the validity of the intelligence the White House used to claim there were "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq - intelligence that has now been discredited. More importantly, this indictment provokes further questions about whether going to war was simply an honest mistake based on bad intelligence. Are the alleged actions of Libby isolated incidents of revenge, or are they the tip of the iceberg in a conspiracy to mislead the American people into war?
We demand a truly independent commission that will investigate whether the Bush administration deliberately misled our nation into going to war. Although creating an independent commission will not bring back the 2,000 American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis who have died as a result of this war, it will nevertheless be a step toward restoring honesty and integrity to the nation's highest office.
President Bush's administration claimed in the run-up to the war that the primary justification for going to war was the threat of weapons of mass destruction. In March 2005, a commission appointed by President Bush reported that "the intelligence community was dead wrong in almost all of its pre-war judgments about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction."[1] The commission went on to report that these were simply intelligence failures, but found no evidence of any deliberate attempt by intelligence officials to mislead the administration about the war. In short, they concluded that these were honest - yet highly serious mistakes. We need an independent commission that differs from previous investigations in that members not only focus on errors within the intelligence community but at potential errors within the administration.
We want the truth about why we went to war with Iraq. Help us find it:
This is not a matter of partisan politics, nor of political revenge. It is a matter of uncovering the truth about why we went to war. Sojourners has worked for peace with justice for more than 30 years. We have been consistent and vocal opponents of the war in Iraq, and we take it seriously when voices of dissent become targets of intimidation for political gain. We have a long and consistent history of demanding integrity from our national leaders - from Nixon, to Reagan, to Clinton, and now the Bush administration.
As people of faith, we believe that the authority for governance balances on a commitment to truth when leading a nation into war and putting at risk our lives and those of our "enemies." We will not stand by while our nation's elected officials "trust in empty words and speak lies; conceive evil and bring forth iniquity" (Isaiah 59:4).
We need your help to get 25,000 people to sign this petition by Wednesday. After you sign the petition, follow the instructions to forward this message to 10 or more of your friends, family, fellow churchgoers - anyone who believes in our call as people of faith to be prophetic voices of truth and peacemaking.
Blessings,
The staff at Sojourners
[1] From the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, March 31, 2005. http://www.wmd.gov/report/transmittal_letter.html
Via Sojourners.
Liked it and wanted to pass it on ...
The war in Iraq began two years ago on a promise of security -- and a web of deception. Now the mistruths have fallen away -- and we see a presidency, and American prestige, sunk in a quagmire.
The cost: almost 2,000 American lives lost. Over $300 billion spent. A growing tab for our children and grandchildren, in the form of the largest budget deficit in our country's history. And for the Iraqi people, a stable democracy -- and peace -- remain nowhere in sight.
We captured a tyrant, but made no provision for keeping the peace. An insurgency took off. Terrorists moved in. And now, we have a country in the heart of the Middle East breeding extremist violence -- and verging on civil war.
This is unacceptable. We have to address this issue and resolve it. But from Washington, we hear little but presidential excuses and the quiet wringing of hands.
Someone needs to take a stand. Here's the deal: that someone can be you.
Take the pledge to send to Washington only those leaders with the courage to face the Iraq mess head-on. Do it today:
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/iraqpledge
We can shake our heads at Bush and shake our fists at the Congress. In the end, though, we make the Congress. We elect it. It answers to us. And in 2006 and 2008, we can get Congress' attention by telling our elected officials to face the facts -- or go home.
Use your power. As the time draws closer to select candidates for the next United States Congress, pledge the following:
I pledge to only support candidates who:1. Acknowledge that the U.S. was misled into the war in Iraq
2. Advocate for a responsible exit plan with a timeline
3. Support our troops at home and abroadAs we sign the pledge, our names will appear on the Democracy for America pledge map. Let's fill it from coast to coast -- so that candidates and the media can't help but see it.
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/iraqpledge
Why sign the pledge? Because you know America can't afford to take more of this. It's time for the public servants we send to Washington to face the truth.
We expect our leaders to show courage and honor for the sacrifices of our soldiers in Iraq. The best way to do that: face the crisis that has killed thousands, emptied our treasury, and destroyed our credibility.
Now, go sign it. I did.
I just received this in email and wanted to pass it on. Talk about hitting people when they are down. Read on:
I will be swift to bear witness...against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan...and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts (Malachi 3:5).
On Sept. 8, President Bush issued an executive order suspending the application of the Davis-Bacon Act in the hurricane-ravaged areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. This alarming action virtually assures workers hired to rebuild the devastated region will be paid sub-poverty wages.
The law requires federal contractors to pay workers the average or "prevailing" regional wage for public construction projects. In New Orleans, that wage is just over $9 an hour. The act's suspension allows contractors to pay as little as $5.15 an hour - the current federal minimum wage - for these projects.
»Click here and urge Congress to reinstate fair wages for Gulf Coast workers!
Addressing the nation from the French Quarter of New Orleans two weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit, the president vowed, "Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives." The following day at a prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Bush declared, "As we clear away the debris of a hurricane, let us also clear away the legacy of inequality."
Suspending the Davis-Bacon Act does just the opposite; it assures the persistence of the inequality that plagued much of the Gulf Coast long before Katrina. Workers who lost everything in the rising waters cannot be expected to support their families on $5.15 an hour. As these women and men begin to rebuild their lives and their communities, they desperately need a just wage from their government, not a pay cut.
»Click here and urge Congress to reinstate fair wages for Gulf Coast workers!
As people of faith, we believe every person has the right to productive work and to fair compensation for that work. Rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast means more than just clearing away the debris and erecting newer, stronger buildings. It means making budget and policy decisions that offer Gulf Coast workers and their families the best shot at a secure and dignified future. It means defending and upholding - not suspending - laws that were designed to keep hard-working people afloat in the American economy.
Members of Congress agree, and many are taking action to reinstate the wage protections enshrined in the Davis-Bacon Act. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) has introduced the "Fair Wages for Hurricane Victims Act," a bill that would repeal Bush's suspension of Davis-Bacon. This legislation has already garnered the bipartisan support of 199 cosponsors. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has introduced a similar measure, the "Fair Wages for Hurricane Katrina Recovery Act." This bill currently has 29 co-sponsors from across the political spectrum.
These numbers are encouraging, but they are not enough. In the words of Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), "The workers whose wages would be cut are the same women and men struggling to support their families and find new homes to replace the ones they lost in the hurricane. They deserve all the support we can give them, not a cut in pay when they can least afford one." It's time to act. The people of the Gulf coast are counting on us.
»Click here and urge Congress to reinstate fair wages for Gulf Coast workers!
Via Sojourners.
Got this in email ...
I don't know about you, but I'm starting to think the White House has a serious case of science "phobia".
Consider this recent specimen - in June we learned that Phil Cooney, chief of staff of the White House's Council on Environmental Equality, re-wrote government reports in order to significantly downplay the scientific certainty on global warming. But Mr. Cooney is not a scientist - he's a lawyer who used to work as an oil industry lobbyist.
Take action: http://go.care2.com/34858
Not surprisingly, after the New York Times disclosed Cooney's role in doctoring government reports, he left the Bush Administration and took a job with ExxonMobil, the world's largest oil company and chief supporter of "junk science", which aims to create doubt in the minds of the media and general public that global warming is actually occurring.
The blatant manipulation and suppression of science for political purposes has dangerous implications for our health, safety and environment. Fortunately, this fact hasn't gone unnoticed in the scientific community. To date, more than 6,000 scientists, including Nobel Laureates, have signed a letter asserting that the Bush Administration has a pattern of distorting and censoring important scientific work in order to advance their partisan political agenda.
But now we need your help. Please join us in sending our elected officials a message loud and clear: we won't tolerate your manipulation of science for political purposes!
It's undemocratic and betrays our country's long tradition of scientific scholarship and achievement.
Thank you for taking action today!
- Dawn Sanders,
Care2 and ThePetitionSite team
Now go sign it. :)
I recieved this and thought it worth sharing:
The G8 and Global Poverty: God is Acting
by Jim WallisFor the first time the world has the knowledge, information, technology, and resources to end extreme poverty as we know it, but what is still lacking is the moral and political will to do so. We believe that generating such moral will is the vocation of the religious community. And today, we believe that God is acting on the issue of poverty.
First, God is acting among us as religious leaders and faith communities, drawing us together as never before across theological and political boundaries in a moral, spiritual, and biblical convergence. Three weeks ago, many of us joined an amazing procession of religious leaders from almost every major faith tradition in America in a service at the Washington National Cathedral. Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, South Africa, noted the moral convergence of such a wide spectrum of American religious life and pronounced this a "kairos" moment - when regular time ("kronos") gives way to a spirit-filled moment in history and a new sense of time takes over.
God is acting in our culture. Artists and musicians are playing a critical role and a new generation of young people are committing themselves to this cause.
God is acting through new leadership in Africa where democracies are taking responsibility and acting in new ways to end corruption and create more transparent governance that makes effective aid more possible.
God is acting through the leaders of the world's wealthiest nations - the G8. We are here at an historic moment of great opportunity, and the world needs a real breakthrough. The recent agreement to cancel $40 billion in debt for the world's 18 poorest nations is a very important step. We urge our leaders to finish the job by canceling all the debt for all impoverished nations.
We are pleased that wealthy countries in Europe and the U.S. are giving more in aid, and we urge them to increase it further. It is not a time for pilot projects or symbolic gestures. It is time for real substance - and many countries are now doubling aid. We urge the U.S. to provide an additional 1% of its budget - $25 billion over the next five years. It is a small price to pay for what is at stake - our security, our humanity, our faith. We call on the U.S. government to announce a new and dramatic increase in aid to Africa, and we urge President Bush to use his leadership with Congress to secure as much as $2 billion in the fiscal 2006 budget. If we do, it will be the best and most effective money we will spend this year.
At heart, I am a 19th-century evangelical; I was just born in the wrong century. The evangelical Christians of the 19th century combined revivalism with social reform and helped lead campaigns for women's suffrage and child labor laws, and to abolish slavery. One of the most famous revivalists, Charles Finney, developed the idea of the "altar call" in order to make sure he signed up all of his converts for the abolition movement. Today, poverty is the new slavery - imprisoning bodies, minds, and souls, destroying hope and ending the future for a generation.
God is acting, and the new altar call in our time is a call for faith, then a commitment - to Make Poverty History.
I urge you to respond to this altar call by signing a letter to President Bush organized by the ONE Campaign, asking him to lead in making poverty history. We are sponsoring this campaign along with an amazing group of individuals and organizations, including Bread for the World, Bono, Rick Warren, and many others. This is one of the most important things we have asked you to do. President Bush and our nation need to hear from as many people as possible.
Click here to take action.
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