Commentary

 The story of Martin Pistorious is not particularly miraculous, but it carries profound warnings for a society moving so quickly to dispatch people at the first signs of serious trouble. As a young boy, Martin suffered from an attack of meningitis. Doctors declared that he had become a “vegetable” based upon his inability to speak, make eye contact or otherwise move. He slipped into a coma. They sent him home to die. 

But for 12 years, he refused to die.

His parents cared for him, despite the apparent lack of progress. His father would bathe him and bring him to a care center during the day while he worked. The nurses at the facility would sit him in front of a VCR to watch an endless loop of Barney episodes.

The problem was that Martin was totally aware of his surroundings – but unable to do anything about it.

“After two years, I began to wake up. I was aware of everything, just like any normal person. Everyone was so used to me not being there that they didn’t notice when I began to be present again. The stark reality hit me that I was going to spend the rest of my life like that – totally alone.”

Martin is now 39 years old and married. 

What if some compassionate person had decided to simply starve this poor young boy to death? Can you imagine how miserable and painful that would have been? Could it be denied that, if things had taken such a course, young Martin would have been miserably murdered?

Nor is Martin’s case singular.

Kate Allat, a young mother of 39, suffered a stroke and fell into a coma. For ten days she was unable to communicate, move or even breathe on her own. But she was aware. Painfully aware that she would be unable to defend herself should some Samaritan decide to “relieve her suffering” by taking her off life support systems.

Such stories ought to inspire us all – particularly those in the medical professions and positions of power – to a place of humility. It is strikingly obvious that there is much we don’t understand about the human brain, about life itself. From a place of humility and respect for life, we should turn away from the drive to so casually discard people who need care.

The plight of modern Japan is a very sad spectacle. Each year the country gentrifies as it blindly pursues a path of rampant materialism. While their historical values are not Christian, they are venerable. Those values produced one of the greatest civilizations in history, being built around family. Today, those values have largely been abandoned as the nation continues to destroy its own future through abortion.

Japan was the first nation on earth to have more citizens over the age of 65 than under 15. And that was a quarter of a century ago. Data suggests that Japanese people are not only avoiding children through rampant abortion rates, they are now avoiding marriage as well.

In recent days, stories have appeared regarding strategies of major firms in Japan seeking to build a robotic society which helps compensate for the workers which have been destroyed in the womb. Stories abound of women and the elderly seeking emotional comfort from inanimate dolls, pets and computers.  (Sound at all familiar?) 

This week a story appeared in the Washington Post (of all papers), suggesting the possibility that Japan may consider a national ban on abortion as a strategy for obtaining a viable future. In fact, a Japanese legislator suggested this obvious notion two years ago, with little response. According to a report on Breitbart, there is virtually no pro-Life movement in the nation.

While there seems small reason for predicting a spiritual awakening in Japan, perhaps the sheer weight of a dismal economic future may lead that nation to re-evaluate the value of human life.

The picture of a noble society destroying itself is not pretty. But it should stand as a warning to other peoples around the world – particularly America. We are, after all, not far behind them on the death spiral.

Former Democratic governor Mario Cuomo passed away yesterday to meet the Great Theologian. Cuomo’s vaunted rhetorical skills probably won’t do him much good as he sits for a heavenly discussion over his role in legitimizing the slaughter of the innocents.

Undoubtedly his most significant historical and spiritual contribution to American culture, Gov. Cuomo launched a full-throated defense of a new theology in his 1984 address to students and faculty at Notre Dame University. In his Democrat Encyclical on Abortion, Cuomo laid claim to being a faithful Catholic while simultaneously being at war with Christianity over the matter of killing preborn children. He asserted for himself a moral ground in which he could personally be uncomfortable with abortion, while using his public power to defend the “right” of women to kill their own children in the womb.

His was a spellbinding speech that provided lesser Democrat politicians with the rhetoric necessary to support abortion rights while purporting to be decent, moral persons. It was a watershed moment for the Democrat Party and the nation. No longer did the likes of Ted Kennedy have to squirm around the need to maintain ties with progressives while claiming to be Christian.

He provided the intellectual framework which allowed the Democrat Party to become the pro-abortion institution it is today.

At the time, his challenge to the orthodoxy of Christian faith produced loud rumblings of disagreement from Catholic leadership. Cardinal John O’Connor reportedly considered ex-communicating the politician for his bold leadership in legitimizing abortion. But the decision was made to accommodate Cuomo and others like him – a political decision by the Catholic Church which is broadly applied to renegade public figures to this day.

Thinking about the death of Mario Cuomo, one wonders where the course of his own life – both here and eternally – and America’s embrace of abortion may have gone if Cardinal O’Connor and the Catholic Church had responded to Cuomo differently.

Christmas is a time of miracles. It is a time for celebrating God’s merciful intervention on behalf of men. No mortal could envision the impact this tiny baby would have upon the future of mankind when a sojourning couple sought shelter in a barn. Yet this vulnerable new life would grow to become the Captain of the Heavenly Host, the enduring Hope of mankind. 

How magically appropriate that the true hope of the pro-Life movement should come in the form of a humble newborn wrapped in swaddling clothes. Through the power of that love the pro-Life movement will persevere. And what is more, the pro-Life movement will prevail.

May the Lord richly bless your family with His presence as you celebrate the Miracle of Christ.  And let us all take a moment to pray for the smaller miracles of Heaven, huddling against the cold in a mother’s womb, hoping for their chance at life against the pervasive threat of abortion.  May the Lord touch their mothers’ heart to say YES, as Mary did many generations ago.

75 members of Congress issued a letter to the Obama Administration this week, urging the Department of Health & Human Services to quit playing games with consumers and taxpayers over abortion coverage in ObamaCare policies.

Led by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), members of the U.S. House urged Secretary Sylvia Burwell to rewrite her proposed rule on “Benefit & Payment Parameters for 2016”. He was joined by Congressman Trent Franks of Arizona, our guest speaker at this year’s Christmas Dinner.

In a press release, Rep. Smith said,

“The Obama Administration’s cover up of abortion insurance plans on the exchange is unnecessary, unacceptable and absolutely unconscionable….President Obama’s solemn promise to not fund abortion continues to be broken with impunity. For 2014, the GAO found that over 1000 ObamaCare plans included coverage for abortion on demand. Research by ObamaCareAbortion.com has found that for 2015, abortion coverage continues, and once again, health consumers are left almost clueless as to which plans fund abortion on demand and which do not.”

Readers will quickly recognize that this is not the only example of Obama’s cavalier attitude toward the law; but it is among the most egregious. His stubborn actions compromise the moral integrity of millions of American taxpayers by implicating us in the slaughter of the innocent. And it is particularly outrageous given the many promises he made back in 2010 to get his scandalous overhaul of America’s health care system through the Democrat Congress.

Perhaps the new Congress will find the strategy to force Obama into complying with well-established restrictions on taxpayer-funded abortion.

Idaho’s two congressmen were not signatories to the letter.

Many conservatives across the nation are angry that the GOP leadership seems to have no plan for responding to Obama’s immigration reform stunt. Some have been hoping that the House would use its budgetary authority to block the president’s unconstitutional amendment of federal statute. Information released by the Washington Post yesterday suggests that we will be frustrated.

However, the same analysis found some encouragement for pro-Life advocates.

Buried in the leadership’s spending bill are various pro-Life provisions. Republicans will once again block the use of federal funds to pay for most abortions, including the District of Columbia. This restriction will now apply to federal prison inmates.

This last is very important because of trends in various county jails where apparently taxpayers are being billed for abortions on a regular basis. This is a potential scandal which requires our future attention.

In addition, the GOP spending plan puts now requirements on the Department of Health & Human Services to make it clear to citizens shopping for health care insurance on various ObamaCare websites whether the plans they are considering cover elective abortion services.

And, lastly, the proposed spending bill cuts enforcement funding for the IRS, and includes a ban on the agency using its police powers to target tax-exempt groups for harassment based upon the group’s political beliefs.

Our annual Christmas Dinner & Auction was held on Friday night in Eagle. Once again, we are encouraged by the tremendous support of Idahoans as we prepare for the upcoming legislative session. We were blessed with much generosity, the practical kind of love which allows Idaho Chooses Life to continue our battle for preborn children.

This night was special for another reason. Arizona Congressman Trent Franks came to town as our guest speaker. He has forged a reputation in Congress as a tireless advocate for preborn children. His passion and humanity were on full display Friday evening. He gave one of most moving and powerful pro-Life talks we have heard.

But more than his talk, we were moved by his character and humility. He is simply a very fine man and the nation is blessed to have him in a position of leadership in Washington. Trent Franks went to an awful lot of trouble to get out here while the Congress is fooling around with the Lame Duck Session. Major problems face the nation and he is directly engaged in many of them.

Yet he would not be hindered in responding to an invitation to help strengthen and nurture the pro-Life movement – even in Idaho.

We are honored and energized by his commitment. May the Lord continue to watch over him and his family as he fights to breathe life into the Constitution. Without men like him, the guiding document of the United States is merely dried ink on parchment.

As we gather in our homes with friends and family on this day of remembrance – we ask the Lord’s blessing on your family, our state and nation.

This is a day to bring to mind all the blessings God has bestowed upon us as individuals and as a nation. While the present political leadership offers near constant reason for anxiety – we do well this day to look over America’s long history, to days when our leaders humbly recognized the necessity of God’s intervention on our behalf. On this day, we ask you join with us in asking Almighty God to raise up such leaders once more.

Here are a few excerpts from Thanksgiving Proclamations issued by statesmen in nobler times:

“[It is] our duty as people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God and to implore Him to continue and confirm the blessings we experience.”

–          President George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1795
“I have thought fit, according to the ancient and laudable practice of our renowned ancestors, to appoint a day of Public Thanksgiving to God, for the great benefits which He has been pleased to bestow upon us, in the year past.”

–          Governor Samuel Adams, 1795

“No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy….I do, therefore, invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States … to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer to our beneficent Father, who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that … [they] fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and union.”

–          President Abraham Lincoln, 1863

“May we on that [Day of Thanksgiving] in our churches and in our homes give humble thanks for the blessings bestowed upon us during the year past by Almighty God.”

–          President Franklin Roosevelt, 1933

One of the most important races on the Tuesday ballot is the state Treasurer’s office.

Almost no attention has been paid to the background of the Democrat candidate, Deborah Silver. While she is being packaged as a quiet housewife/accountant from Twin Falls, the truth is she is a dedicated champion of abortion.

Ms. Silver serves on the Board of Planned Parenthood of the Greater Northwest. This regional board runs the abortion industry in Idaho, Alaska and eastern Washington. It has a massive budget to effect legislative and legal agendas in the three states – an annual operating budget in excess of $40 million.  Over the past ten years, some 286,000 preborn children have lost their lives in the three states managed by Ms. Silver. Those destroyed lives can be laid directly at the feet of the Democrat nominee.

As if that wasn’t enough evil for an organization to foist upon the world – Silver’s outfit spends a considerable amount of money exporting abortion into Africa and Central America.

The state’s media has failed to report on any of this. They have focused their attention on the dispute incumbent Ron Crane has had with several RINO legislators over how he has responded to the last cycle of economic decline, never giving him credit for the assets he has protected in the storm.

More important to us, however, is Ron Crane’s pro-family/ pro-Life character. When he was in the Legislature, he helped push passage of a ban on partial birth abortions.

Help us spread the word: Ms. Silver is a dangerous operative for Planned Parenthood – America’s largest abortion chain. She simply cannot gain a statewide platform for Planned Parenthood’s agenda.