Thomas Sowell is a conservative Black economist whose opinion I respect. He is asking some important questions. Are we this desparate to erase "white guilt?" So desparate that we will elect an unqualified person, even a radical, to be president of the US? Think long and hard before you vote for BHO. America has so far escaped the worst of socialism and the oppression that eventually comes with it, but that doesn't mean it couldn't still happen.

An Old Newness
By Thomas Sowell
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
"No doubt it is only a matter of time before there is a black president, ... The issue is whether we want to reach that landmark so badly that we are willing to overlook how questionably that landmark is reached. ....
Although Senator Obama has presented himself as the candidate of new things -- using the mantra of "change" endlessly -- the cold fact is that virtually everything has says about domestic policy is straight out of the 1960s and virtually everything he says about foreign policy is straight out of the 1930s.
Everything seems new to those too young to remember the old and too ignorant of history to have heard about it."

Be sure to read the second page of this article.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2008/04/29/an_old_newness

What's Wrong with Planned Parenthood?
Planned Parenthood Puts A Hit Out On Black Children
By Harry R. Jackson, Jr.
Monday, April 28, 2008

• A recent Wall Street Journal story cited that Planned Parenthood is contributing an unprecedented 10 million dollars to various political campaigns this election cycle.
• In Kansas the organization is under criminal investigation for falsifying documents and performing late term abortions.
• In Ohio, Planned Parenthood is being sued for failing to report the rape of a 16-year-old by her father.
• Planned Parenthood centers attempt to hide child abuse or statutory rape by encouraging underage mothers to falsify their ages in order to receive an abortion.
• Others believe that the organization, founded by Margaret Sanger, has actually swindled the government out of money.
• ...experts estimate that 75% of Planned Parenthood centers are located in close proximity to minority neighborhoods. Over 1,200 black babies are aborted every day in America which amounts to over 35% of the total number of babies aborted in the nation.
• Planned Parenthood facilities around the country have been accused of accepting contributions from racist donors.

Now is the time for blacks and whites to work together, to strike a blow against the unethical practices of the “death industry” in America. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/HarryRJacksonJr/2008/04/28/planned_parenthood_puts_a_hit_out_on_black_children

A Stark Contrast: Sen. Barack Obama's pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, with Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Ground Zero becomes all the more meaningful when I think of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's blaming Americans for 9/11 attacks and "God Bless America" not "God damn America."

Sen. Barack Obama's pastor says blacks should not sing "God Bless America" but "God damn America."
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright has made a number of controversial statements. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor for the last 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's south side, has a long history of what even Obama's campaign aides concede is "inflammatory rhetoric," including the assertion that the United States brought on the 9/11 attacks with its own "terrorism."
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4443788&
Now look at this article:
Pope Benedict XVI Loves Americans -- and Millions of Americans Love Him
by Newt Gingrich
I witnessed firsthand this week that Pope Benedict loves America and Americans.
The first great moment of connection came at the end of the White House welcoming ceremony when Pope Benedict XVI said simply, "God Bless America."
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=26166

EWTN has transcripts of Benedict XVI's speeches and a video archive.
http://origin.ewtn.com/USPapalVisit08/index.asp

I have been reading these articles because I didn't always have time to watch them when they were first broadcast and sometimes the Pope's accent made it hard for me to hear. Since I don't have cable, I had to listen to Catholic radio, which doesn't always do the occasion justice. This is especially so with the event at the World Trade Center. The video from there says so much more than the words. You will see the pastoral side of Benedict XVI if you watch it. If you are looking for a reason to love this man, this moment is it.

As a sometimes catechist, I loved the speech to the youth. It was inspiring, and totally on the level the audience could understand. I admire a theologian that can distill the truth into easy to understand language, and do it with as much charm as he did. It makes me want to imitate him. Benedict XVI's charisma is very different from John Paul II's, but it is still there.

Here are excerpts ftom one of the best articles I've seen on Benedict XVI's visit to the US.
In a time of healing, let us remember all victims
By Joe Fitzgerald Monday, April 21, 2008 -
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1088501
Three years ago, while multitudes chanted “We have a new pope!” upon seeing white smoke at St. Peter’s Basilica, critics of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger were already predicting gloom and doom....
From the moment he became Pope Benedict XVI, he was on a collision course with local malcontents whose resistance to the teachings of the church added immeasurable ugliness to the scandal that left it reeling.
In their exploitation, they shamelessly created a witch hunt in which basic American tenets, such as the presumption of innocence, were tossed to the wind in reckless pursuit of ideological agendas....
By the time Archbishop Law left in the throes of the scandal, however, that collar had become a scarlet A, thanks to a lynch-mob mentality implying every priest was guilty by association, a slur made unconscionable by the fact it was intentional.
Yes, it was heartwarming to read of the pope’s unprecedented private meeting with local victims of priestly abuse; even his most wild-eyed critics were momentarily mollified.
But, lest it be overlooked, he also had the grace to allude to forgotten victims, too, urging love for those faithful priests who, while remaining true to their vows and callings, were made to pay a price for crimes they did not commit.
No list of victims is complete if it doesn’t include the ones who unfairly bore the brunt of suspicion and loathing, much of it triggered by dissidents hoping to hobble a vulnerable Catholic Church by any means necessary.

Scientists Uncover Potential To Control Adult Stem Cells
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410101159.htm
ScienceDaily (Apr. 12, 2008) — "Research presented at the UK National Stem Cell Network Annual Science Meeting in Edinburgh represents a step towards the use of Adult Stem Cells (ASCs) to repair damaged tissue. Speaking at the conference in Edinburgh, Professor Cay Kielty of the University of Manchester describes how she and her team have uncovered a messaging system that instructs ASCs to contribute to tissue repair in response to chemical signals in the body. This work, funded by the Medical Research Council, holds great hope for the development of techniques by which ASCs could be instructed to repair damaged tissues."

This article shows that research with adult stem cells is still more promising than with embryonic stem cells.

The score is still 73 to zero
http://www.stemcellresearch.org/

Research shows adult stem cells can now cure 73 diseases, while embryonic stem cells can cure zero. If a law were passed to make it illegal to patent embryonic stem cells cures, the research funding would dry up fast, I bet.

Missouri House votes for taxpayer funding human cloning and life-destroying research
http://www.missourilife.org/index.html
On Wednesday March 26, the Missouri House of Representatives voted down an amendment that would have protected taxpayers from funding human cloning and life-destroying research. Rep. Therese Sander (R- 22) offered Amendment 1 to HCS HB 2007 which lined out all funding to the Life Science Research Board, funding that since the passage of Amendment 2, now Art. III, sec. 38 (d) of the Missouri constitution, cannot be restricted from being used for life-destroying research.

Adult Stem Cell Research With Cord Blood Successfully Makes Insulin
http://www.cureswithoutcloning.com/newspage2.html

Yahoooo! Hallelluia!

Cures Without Cloning Statement on Court Ruling Upholding Challenge to Carnahan Ballot Summary

http://www.nocloning.org/

ST. LOUS, MO - Lori Buffa, MD, chairwoman of Cures Without Cloning, released the following statement regarding the ruling of Circuit Judge Patricia S. Joyce upholding the coalition's challenge to the Secretary of State's misleading and inaccurate ballot summary:
"This ruling proves what we've said along: that our clear, concise initiative would prohibit human cloning and the taxpayer funding of human cloning in Missouri."

Because of the additional, drawn-out legal challenges, (http://mocureswithoutcloning.blogspot.com/) it will be impossible now to get this on the November 2008 ballot. We will have to live with Amendment 2 to the Missouri Constitution for a couple more years, it seems. But who knows? By the time the issue gets on the ballot, the advances in adult stem cell research may make this less of an issue. The research community may abandon embryonic stem cell research when they realize it is either a dead end or that patenting these stem cell lines is made illegal. We can only hope. This web site shows what the fight is about. http://mocureswithoutcloning.com/InitiativeComparison.pdf

The lady is delusional!

CBS Exposes Hillary Clinton Bosnia Trip.

I'm surprised how many of my friends haven't heard this story. I guess the Main Stream Media doesn't want this story to be repeated as much as it does the abuse scandal the Catholic Church in the US. This is a dead horse that deserves beating, considering Hillary could become President of the US next year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BfNqhV5hg4

Pope Reaches Out to American Catholics
Benedict XVI to visit Washington, D.C., and New York City in April
By Jay Tolson
This commentary is pretty fair in its assessment of the state of the Catholic Church in the US on the eve of Pope Benedict XVI's visit. Usually, I object to hauling out the abuse scandal AGAIN because it is seven years old. That seems like beating a dead horse. This article does this somewhat, but not bad, considering the context.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2008/03/28/catholics-at-a-crossroads.html?PageNr=1