Dold And Walsh Both Targeted By DCCC

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has identified 19 early "targets" (I thought we weren't using such language anymore? I guess it's still OK for the left to do it) for defeat in the 2012 election cycle (H/T: Cold Fury):

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has pegged its first GOP targets of the 2012 cycle, launching radio and Web ads in the districts of 19 House Republicans this week.

Democrats need to pick up 25 House seats to win back the majority in 2012.

It's the first media salvo of the cycle for the DCCC, predominantly targeting GOP freshmen in Democratic-leaning districts.

The ads hit the new Republican majority in the House for having tunnel vision on spending cuts and backing "a partisan plan that costs jobs." Among the targets is Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-N.Y.), who hails from a district that voted for President Obama in 2008 and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004.

"Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle supports a plan in Congress that would cut education by 40 percent," the ad says. "And her plan would cut science and technology research by 40 percent, too. Research and development is how we get the new products that create new jobs. How does cutting that help us compete with China and India?"

The same spot is running against Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.), and similar spots are up in the districts of GOP Reps. Lou Barletta (Pa.), Charlie Bass (N.H.), Steve Chabot (Ohio), Chip Cravaack (Minn.), Robert Dold (Ill.), Blake Farenthold (Texas), Mike Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Nan Hayworth (N.Y.), Joe Heck (Nev.), Robert Hurt (Va.), Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.), Pat Meehan (Pa.), Dave Reichert (Wash.), David Rivera (Fla.), Jon Runyan (N.J.), Joe Walsh (Ill.) and Allen West (Fla.).

Ten of the districts in which the DCCC is up with early radio and Web ads are among the 14 Republican-held House districts won by both Obama and Kerry. DCCC Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.) told The Hill in an interview last week that those 14 districts will form the core of the party's plan to win back the House majority

So they're taking aim at our new representatives for doing what they said they'd do, and what we elected them to do.

We'll need to be coming to their defense.

Book Review: God's Avenger

God's Avenger
by Daniel John Gura
Pleasant Word, 324 pages, $15.21

We pro-lifers spend a lot of time in prayer. For many of us, prayer is our primary -- even sole -- method of opposing abortion.

Some of us have been privileged to see our prayers answered as babies are saved from abortion when their mothers turn away from the clinic doors, or abortion workers quit their work, or clinics close due to their protests.

But not all the prayers are for conversion of hearts and minds. Some prayers, the "imprecatory prayers" call upon God to visit his justice on those who perform abortions.

When those prayers are answered, what might it look like? That's the question Dan Gura has set out to answer in God's Avenger: Michael, The Imprecatory Angel.

The action begins with the middle-of-the night partial collapse of a Chicago office tower, City Gate Tower 8, home to the national headquarters of the "Council of Women" and their flagship abortion clinic. No one is injured, but some who are close by are preserved from harm only by miraculous means. And when the first building inspectors on the scene catch a glimpse of the Archangel Michael wielding his flaming sword to finish the job, their lives, and thousands of others' are changed forever.

The thing that impressed me most in reading this book was Gura's use of characters, both major and minor, to tell his story. Gura presents us with characters you can identify with, and care about. In a story intended to drive home the point that every life is precious, every character is important. And often in ways that I didn't expect.

I've met Dan Gura on several occasions, most recently at the "Speak Out Illinois" pro-life conference over this past weekend, but more commonly at meetings of the Republican Assembly of Lake County, of which we are both members. This photo was taken this past Saturday of Dan's wife, Dan, and myself.

It's a story about people, and how they become involved in a sequence of events that is really quite fantastic. But ultimately, it's also a story about justice: justice delayed, justice delivered, divine justice. I don't believe that the real world -- or the real God -- operates in quite the way that Gura describes in his novel. But in many ways, it sure would be nice if it -- and He -- did.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone who is pro-life.

(Cross-posted to Lake County Right to Life Blog)

PENCE: I WILL NOT SEEK THE REPUBLICAN NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT IN 2012

I had been one of the many hoping that Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana would run for President. He won't.

From an email from Congressman Mike Pence:

Friends and Supporters,

Over the past few months, my family and I have been grateful for the encouragement we have received to consider other opportunities to serve our state and our nation in the years ahead.

We have been especially humbled by the confidence and support of those who believe we should pursue the presidency, but after much deliberation and prayer, we believe our calling is closer to home.

The highest office I will ever hold is husband and father. As a family, we feel led to devote this time in our lives to continuing to serve the people of Indiana in some way.

In the choice between seeking national office and serving Indiana in some capacity, we choose Indiana. We will not seek the Republican nomination for president in 2012.

In every major decision in my life, I have learned to follow my heart, and my heart is in Indiana. Karen and I love this state: the highways and byways, the small towns and courthouse squares, the big cities and corn fields. We love the strong and good people of this state and feel a debt of gratitude to those who have sustained our work with their steadfast support and prayers.

After years of falling behind, Indiana is on the verge of an era of growth and opportunity like no other time in my life. Those of us who serve Indiana in Congress and in the Statehouse have a unique opportunity to advance the interests of Hoosiers. As Governor Daniels has rightly observed, there is important work to be done in Indianapolis and Washington, and it's time to focus on the task at hand.

In the months ahead, as we attend to our duties in Congress, we will also be traveling across the state to listen and learn about how Hoosiers think we might best contribute in the years ahead. After taking time to listen to Hoosiers, we will make a decision later this year about what role we will seek to play.

Public service requires humility, patience and discipline to pursue what matters most. To save this nation, men and women of integrity and insistent conservative vision must step forward and serve where they can make the most difference. While we may have been able to seek the presidency, we believe our best opportunity to continue to serve the conservative values that brought us to public life is right here in Indiana.

For now, permit us to simply say "thank you." In the wake of such encouragement, we have often thought to ask, "who am I, Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?"

Thanks to all those who took time to offer earnest counsel and advice.
Thanks to all who took time to express encouragement from across the state and across the country. And thank you for the prayers of so many faithful friends.

Indiana can lead the nation back to fiscal responsibility, reform and strong families. As we achieve an even better Indiana for our children and grandchildren, we will continue to be a model for a better and stronger America.


Sincerely,

Mike Pence

Columbus, Indiana

I wish him all the best!

Reagan On Abortion

Twenty-seven years ago, President Ronald Reagan wrote on abortion in terms who eloquence and perception have never been matched:

The 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade is a good time for us to pause and reflect. Our nationwide policy of abortion-on-demand through all nine months of pregnancy was neither voted for by our people nor enacted by our legislators — not a single state had such unrestricted abortion before the Supreme Court decreed it to be national policy in 1973. But the consequences of this judicial decision are now obvious: since 1973, more than 15 million unborn children have had their lives snuffed out by legalized abortions. That is over ten times the number of Americans lost in all our nation's wars.

Make no mistake, abortion-on-demand is not a right granted by the Constitution. No serious scholar, including one disposed to agree with the Court's result, has argued that the framers of the Constitution intended to create such a right. Shortly after the Roe v. Wade decision, Professor John Hart Ely, now Dean of Stanford Law School, wrote that the opinion "is not constitutional law and gives almost no sense of an obligation to try to be." Nowhere do the plain words of the Constitution even hint at a "right" so sweeping as to permit abortion up to the time the child is ready to be born. Yet that is what the Court ruled.

Read the rest at Illinois Review!

Republicans who argue that we should abandon the abortion issue in favor of only fiscal and national security concerns would be well-advised to review what Ronaldus Magnus had to say on the subject.

(Cross-posted to Lake County Right to Life Blog)

Congressman Joe Walsh On The Record with Greta 1/20/2011

If you look at our history of endorsing candidates on this blog, I can't claim any great record of picking winners. I'm very proud of this exception to that rule, my new Congressman, Joe Walsh, whom I endorsed early in the primary process in back in 2009.

What Do They Mean By Choice?

#prochoice @NARAL #BlogforChoiceDay #prolife
Tell someone who identifies as "pro-choice" that they are "pro-abortion. Try it. If you ever have, you know that, without exception, they take great offense.

This is not a new phenomenon. During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Abraham Lincoln referred to Stephen A. Douglas as being pro-slavery. Douglas, who actually owned slaves indirectly through his wife, took great umbrage at the label. Douglas' stated position was that he was not pro-slavery, but rather that he was in favor of allowing each state to decide its own policies regarding slavery. In the parlance of today, Douglas was "pro-choice" on slavery. Of course, he never inquired as to what "choice" the slaves themselves might prefer.

Does anyone remember anything Stephen A. Douglas ever did or said on any other topic? Defending slavery was hardly his life's work. As a three-term U.S. Senator, Douglas devoted himself to streamlining the process of bringing new western states into the Union. Douglas' driving passion was the expansion of the United States. But what he is remembered for is having been wrong on slavery.

On this anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, politicians of today should take a lesson from Stephen Douglas. Those on the wrong side of the abortion debate, who finesse their positions by claiming to be "personally opposed, but..." pro-choice civil libertarians -- especially those Democrats who want to regulate every single other aspect of our lives -- are only going to be remembered for their complicity in the murders of over 53,000,000 innocents so far, a holocaust that dwarfs the achievements of Hitler or Stalin.

What do they mean by "choice" anyway? I'll give you a hint: they're not talking about peanut butter.

"Choice" means the right of a woman to choose whether to love her baby, or kill him.

"Choice" means that you have to pay, through your federal, state, and local governments, over $300,000,000 per year to Planned Parenthood alone.

"Choice" means that a baby might be killed by having her arms, legs and head sawed off in the womb, and her trunk divided into sections.

"Choice" means that a baby might be killed by having his body bathed in acid.

"Choice" means that a baby might be killed by having her birth forced prematurely, and be left to gasp out her life in a soiled hospital linen closet, or else have her skull pierced with a pair of scissors.

"Choice' means that a baby's humanity (or lack thereof) will be judged by his health.

"Choice" means that a baby's humanity will be judged not on her health, but on her ability to survive outside the environment that's natural for her state of development.

"Choice" means that his humanity will be judged on his father's criminal conduct.

"Choice" means that a baby has no rights that a born person must respect.

"Choice" means that we have to tolerate 1.5 million abortions per year, including women getting their third and fourth abortions, including abortions as birth control, including partial birth and other late term abortions, including abortions instead of reporting child abuse, including abortions instead of reporting statutory rape, including abortions for minors without their parents' knowledge or consent and including nearly half (or more) of abortions sought because the mother was either coerced or abandoned by someone on whom she should have been able to depend.

If you're pro-choice, this is what you're OK with.

Though how you sleep at night, God only knows.




(Cross-posted to Lake County Right to Life Blog)

Mike Pence For President?

The more I learn about Mike Pence, the more I like him. I'm thinking that this is a good idea:

A group of conservatives led by former Rep. Jim Ryun (R-Kan.) plans to start an independent expenditure campaign aimed at getting Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) to run for president.

America’s President Committee will begin a signature-gathering effort this week to encourage Pence to get into the presidential race. Its website, www.theconservativechampion.org, went live Monday. An open letter to Pence on the site’s home page assures the congressman: "You are uniquely qualified to take America’s helm at this moment of great peril."

Pence has gotten buzz on the right in part because he’s seen as a candidate who could unify the three traditional constituencies within the GOP — social conservatives, economic conservatives and foreign policy conservatives.

Pence is a champion of the healthcare repeal, is leading the charge on alternate GOP healthcare proprosals, and is also the chief sponsor of a bill to deny Title X funding to Planned Parenthood.

There's a lot to like; we should be taking a good look at him. Here's his YouTube Channel.



Here's more from the Wall Street Journal:

Conservative leaders are certainly beating the drum for a Pence run. This week, Mr. Pence will receive a letter of support for a presidential bid from, among others, Dick Armey, a former Republican House majority leader; Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center; and Morton Blackwell, president of the Leadership Institute.

There is also a petition circulating on the Internet to draft Mr. Pence for president. It is being spearheaded by former Rep. Jim Ryan and former Reagan official Ralph Benko, who has close ties to the conservative blogging community and the tea party movement. We're also told that a coalition of conservative state legislators in South Carolina is urging Mr. Pence to run and promising to do all it can to carry the early primary state for the congressman. Mr. Pence also enjoys the support of two former GOP congressmen from Indiana—David McIntosh and Chris Chocola, who now runs the Club for Growth. "Mike has a Reagan quality to him that is lacking in many of the other first tier Republican candidates," said Mr. McIntosh.

Mr. Pence won the straw poll at a gathering of more than 1,000 social conservatives [the Values Voter Summit] in Washington, D.C., over the summer—besting Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, and presumptive front-runner Mitt Romney. One concern is what Sarah Palin's intentions are, since she would have a huge funding base if she runs. But the pro-Pence movement fears that she is highly polarizing and someone who would have a difficult time beating President Obama in the general election [This is my sole concern about Palin, but it's a big one.]...

One reservation about a presidential bid that Mr. Pence has expressed in private meetings is whether he can raise the money to compete with the well-funded Mitt Romney. But Mr. Benko said that shouldn't be a hindrance. "If Mike runs, the money will follow in a big way," he said. Mr. Pence has told friends that he will make a decision by the end of the month. (Emphasis added.)

Here's Politico on Pence's speech to the Values Voter Summit:

Pence, echoing a popular sentiment at the event, touched on one of the most vexing issues facing House Republicans: the inclusion of social issues in a governing agenda meant to propel the party into power. Some Republican leaders say their 2010 agenda should avoid culture war issues because they would distract from promoting job-creating measures. Pence fired back, saying Republicans can “can create jobs while protecting innocent human life.”

“We must not remain silent while great moral values are being waged,” he said.

Pence believes that faith in God and freedom will lead Republicans back to power...

Pence — who often says he’s a Christian first, then a conservative and then a Republican — is largely seen as having ambitions beyond the House...

“Those who would have us ignore the battle being fought over life, marriage and religious liberty have forgotten the lessons of history," Pence said. "As in the days of a house divided, America’s darkest moments have come when economic arguments trumped moral principles.” [Emphasis added.]

A New Syllabus of Errors?

I'll Be There

All the staff, cast and crew of Thoughts of a Regular Guy will be participating in Jill Stanek's "Ask Them What They Mean When They Say 'Choice'" Blog Day tomorrow, Friday, January 21st.

Basically, the pro-aborts are going to be out in force celebrating the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the advent of the "right to choose." You can help, too. Wherever you are, on-line or in person, on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, or anywhere you see or hear anyone celebrating "choice", make sure that you challenge them, asking, "what do you mean by 'choice'?" What "choice" are they talking about? The "choice" they have in China to only have one baby per family? The "choice" of women everywhere who are coerced into having abortions? Or is it simply the "choice" to take an innocent human life, for any reason or no reason, and by the cruelest means imaginable?

Join us.

And if you have your own blog and want to participate, contact Jill, and she'll add you to the list.

Andrew Klavan: The History of Western Culture in 2 1/2 Minutes

Here with a new look for the new year:

Book Review: West Oversea

West Oversea
by Lars Walker
Noble Novels, 277 pages, $11.01

When reviewing a book, it's important to have a clear idea of what my expectations are, relative to the intentions of the books author.

I'm over a year and a half overdue in writing this review of Lars Walker's novel, West Oversea, because I realized that what I expected the book to be was markedly different from what Walker intended.

Walker and I have a mutual friend, one of the regular commenters on this blog, who suggested I read and review his book here over a year and a half ago. He sent me the book, kindly autographed for my small collection of autographed books, and I set out to read it. But the last year and a half has been a busy time for me, what with running for office and all, and the book wasn't what I expected.

I was looking for historical fiction, with a leavening of Catholicism. This is the story of a Catholic priest, Father Aillil, in the time of the "Vikings," as we think of them, who takes ship for Greenland in search of his sister taken by raiders many years before.

But there was more to the book than I expected. It also has a strain of fantasy interwoven, as Father Aillil undergoes a series of supernatural experiences, which he interprets as coming from the Devil, while his pagan companions believe he is encountering their Norse gods.

Father Aillil and his companions, many of whom are actual, well-documented historical figures, travel westward across the Atlantic, making landfall in North America, and meeting Leif Ericsson in Greenland. As an account of what such a journey in the 10th century might have been like, it's engaging by itself. As a story of magic and pagan gods, and their interaction with a Christian priest, it works on that level as well. As a testament to Christian faith overcoming obstacles, it's inspiring.

But Walker has set himself the challenging of weaving all these threads together in one fabric. Does it work? I can't say whether it will work for you, but as for me, once I got over my preconceptions, I found it highly entertaining, and I quite recommend it.

And Lars, I sincerely apologize that it's taken so long to get this written!

On Moments:

This is worth a closer look:

In my experience, just as in movies, life's greatest moments are just that... moments! They usually exist within a particular experience or chapter of life. When we are asked to define ourselves or our strengths and experiences in resumes and interviews, we tend toward the big accomplishments and list our work experience and education in outline form. In essence, we condense the big chapters of our lives into bullet points. Instead, we should remember that life is better defined by those, often unexpected little happenings that beg to be expounded upon.

It was 2:00 on a January morning a number of years ago. It hadn't snowed here in the Chicago area yet that season. I was leaving the next day... I wouldn't be coming back. I was moving to Phoenix. I have always loved when it snows. My sister knew that. I was asleep. Did I mention I was going to be driving a bit the next day? From within a dream, I heard my sister calling my name. Once I was fully awake, I realized she was standing outside the door, not inexplicably and suddenly part of an already incoherent story that I couldn't remember much less explain.

Read the whole thing!

The Vortex: Mixed Bag

Michael Voris calls for bold clarity from Church leaders in expressing Church teaching:



I had the pleasure of meeting Voris, chatting briefly with him, and hearing him speak during his visit to Chicago last month to speak to Catholic Citizens of Illinois.



(Yes, I know, it's a poor cell phone image.)

New York's Outrageous Abortion Rate

A recently released study (pdf) from the New York Department of Health revealed that 41% of all pregnancies in New York City are terminated by abortion.

41% of all pregnancies.

In the black community, the number approaches 2/3 of all pregnancies.

Clearly this is a Bad Thing. How bad? It's so bad, that even pro-choice people agree it's bad (H/T: FRCBlog):

A group of clergy, including staunch abortion opponent Archbishop Timothy Dolan, last week cast a spotlight on the phenomenon. Dolan called the abortion count "chilling." One need not agree with his position to find the description apt.

The rate reflects an epidemic of irresponsible sexual behavior that has serious social and economic impacts. ...

When you consider that nationwide, about a quarter of pregnancies end in abortion, it's clear that New York City has too many men and too many women who are engaging in sex without thinking through the consequences.

... there must also be a revolution in personal responsibility. A culture in which sex just happens and pregnancies end as casually as they begin is not healthy.

What I find to be missing from this opinion piece is just why the author believes that so many abortions are such a bad thing.

I know why I think so: abortion is the intentional taking of an innocent human life, and that's always a bad thing. Not only is it cruel and unjust to the child being killed, but it's also harmful and dangerous to the mother, cruel to the father, and serves to generally devalue human life in society at large.

But when pro-choicers start wringing their hands about the abortion rate, one must question their commitment to "choice". If it's just "choice" they're in favor of, why should the result of that choice be alarming?

Unless, of course, not all options to be chosen among are equal.

(Cross-posted to Lake County Right to Life Blog)

The Price Of Abortion

Sometime in the next few days, the Illinois General Assembly will pass, and the governor will sign, a bundle of tax hikes that includes a 75% increase in the personal income tax rate, a 100% increase in the corporate tax rate, an increase in cigarette taxes, and virtually no authentic limits on state spending.

If you are pro-choice, and unhappy about this situation, please understand that this is the fault of the pro-abortion forces in (and around) the Democratic Party.

Terry Cosgrove of the pro-abortion Personal PAC very credibly claims a lion's share of the credit for the re-election of Gov. Quinn, who has championed these tax increases. Too, Cosgrove's assistance (or at least his methods) was extensively used by Speaker Madigan to fight to elect Democrats like Carol Sente, Karen May, and Daniel Biss.

In all of these races, and many more, voters were warned that voting for a Republican meant that their daughters would be cruelly forced to bear rapists' children, that Republicans would take away a woman's right to kill her baby for any reason or no reason, and that parents might -- heaven forfend! -- actually be entitled to be consulted before their minor children sought abortions.

You opposed all that. And now you have to pay the bill. And so do I. And so do we all. The bill for abortion will come in the form of far higher taxes, still more state spending, and reliably fewer jobs due to the savings that businesses will realize from moving out of Illinois into nearby states with more reasonable restrictions on abortion, but far lower burdens on small businesses.

So, just how many partial birth abortions are you planning to have to make this worthwhile?

(Crossposted from Lake County Right to Life Blog)