I got a fetus, and I know how to use it

"Texas Lawmakers want to pay women $500 to choose adoption over abortion"
(see news story below or at link at top)

I have a problem with this on so many different levels. I appreciate the "good intentions" behind it... but I think this is a long wrong road they are trying to travel.

Ignoring the feminist rants against this, my reasons for not liking it include:
1. The lawmaker cited "We want that lady to have an incentive that makes her stop and think about having an abortion..." How about the incentive of sparing a life... if she is going to think nothing of killing her own child, she should think nothing of giving it away to someone who will take care of it.
2. Many poor women do not have to pay for having a baby due to medicaid, and they get WIC as they get close to term... $500 might seem tempting. I don't like the idea of creating a baby market... that's why there are laws against selling babies for adoption.
3. It will be $500 today, and then (as time curries favor) the price will begin to rise... as "$500 will not be enough for what the poor mother has to endure to bring that child to the world". The coercive ultimatum will be "raise the amount, or they'll abort".

...can I get a receipt for that?

From: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,260741,00.html

Texas State Lawmaker Wants to Pay Women $500 to Choose Adoption Over Abortion

Friday, March 23, 2007

AUSTIN, Texas — A proposal by state Sen. Dan Patrick would pay pregnant women $500 for choosing adoption over abortion.

The anti-abortion Houston Republican said Senate Bill 1567 would provide an incentive to forgo abortion, but critics questioned whether such payments would be viewed as baby selling or coercion.

"We want that lady to have an incentive that makes her stop and think about having an abortion and that gives her a reason to put her baby up for adoption," Patrick said. "My goal is to save as many babies as we possibly can."

Critics of the bill, which has not yet been scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, said the idea of paying women to choose adoption oversimplifies the decision they face.

"This is insulting to women and also insulting to all the great charitable organizations out there that do wonderful work finding adoptive parents and taking care of the birth mother," said Fran Hagerty of the Women's Health and Family Planning Association of Texas.

Joe Pojman of the anti-abortion group Texas Alliance for Life also expressed caution.

"We just need to make sure there isn't even the perception of baby buying going on," Pojman said.

It's against Texas law to offer to give a thing of value to another for acquiring a child for purposes of adoption.

Patrick disputed any portrayal of the bill as baby selling.

"We're just giving someone an incentive to put your baby up for adoption," he said. "Then the baby goes through the normal adoptive process."

Adam Pertman, head of the adoption-policy group Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, said women facing adoption need to be able to weigh all options equally.

"You let women respectfully make the best decision they can at an excruciatingly difficult time. Introducing money into the mix can be coercive," Pertman said.

William "April" Ellison

William “April” Ellison was born in 1790. At age 10 he was apprenticed and trained as a cotton gin builder and repairer; furthermore, he spent six years training as a blacksmith and carpenter. During his apprenticeship, William was also taught how to read, write, cipher, and do bookkeeping.

By the time William was in his late twenties, he went into business for himself as a master cotton gin builder/repairer; and by 1860 William owned, not only his gin shop, but a large cotton plantation and as many as 60 slaves. William Ellison had managed to climb from abject poverty to being one of the top 10% wealthiest people in all of South Carolina, was in the top 5% of land ownership, and was the third largest slave owner.

When war broke out in 1861, William was one of the staunchest supporters of the Confederacy. His grandson joined a Confederate Artillery Unit, and William turned his plantation over from being a cotton cash crop to farming foodstuff for the Confederacy.

Ellison died in December of 1861 at the age of 71, and per his wishes, his family actively supported the Confederacy throughout the war. Aside from producing foodstuff for the Confederate Army, they contributed vast amounts of money, paid $5000 in taxes, and invested a good portion of their fortune into Confederate Bonds.

After the war, the Ellison family fortune dried up and the family returned to the impoverishment the Ellison patriarch knew in his youth.

The story, in-and-of itself is not all that remarkable… save for one fact. William “April” Ellison was a black man, born in slavery. He was born “April” Ellison; acquired his freedom at the age of 26; and took the first name of his former master “William”.

Something the modern history books seem to leave out is the following facts (as of 1860):

1. Roughly 6% of the total population in the South owned slaves (some census reports show 4% to 5%).
2. Roughly 1.6% of the free black population in the South owned slaves.
3. Of the 4.5 million blacks living in the entire US, roughly 4 million lived in the South. 261,988 of these Blacks were free (6.5%).
4. 10,689 free blacks lived in New Orleans, and of those, over 3,000 owned slaves (that’s 28% of the black population of New Orleans).
5. Most slave owners owned from 1 to 5 slaves.
6. Most southern slave owners worked the field beside their slaves.
7. Only the top 1% of slave owners had 50+ slaves. These are called “Slave Magnets”.
8. There were 6 black “Slave Magnets” in New Orleans alone… one owned at least 152 Slaves.
9. The average wealth of a southern white man was $3,978 dollars (this would be total worth). The average wealth of free blacks was $500.
10. In South Carolina 125 blacks owned slaves, with 6 owning 10 or more.
11. In North Carolina 69 blacks owned slaves.
12. Slavery was still practiced in the North until the ratification of the 13th amendment to the Constitution.
13. There were over 200 slaves in the North.

A few more interesting facts:

1. Ulysses S. Grant, Commanding General of the Union army owned slaves until the 13th amendment forced him to free them.
2. Robert E. Lee, Commanding General of the Confederate army did not own slaves.
3. Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy had a black foster son that he raised as his own until Union soldiers seized the child… the Davis family tried desperately to see him returned but the Union refused to allow it. He died never knowing the fate of his foster son.

The point of all of this is simple… Slavery was not a white problem; it was not a southern problem; it was an AMERICAN problem.

The Great Global Warming Swindle

This movie is a nice answer to Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" ("Convenient Lie" would be a better title).

Sit back , relax, and remember... it's not your fault.

Great Global Warming Swindle

What Are You Prepared To Do?

In the not-so-distant past, Men would rise up to answer the call to fight for what they believe in. They would risk capture, torture, and death to fight for a noble cause. These Men would march underpaid, underfed, with no shoes on their feet to secure the freedoms we take for granted.

Our forefathers left behind their homes and families; their jobs and hobbies; their comfort and happiness because they had a higher calling.

Family homes were burned, lives were crushed, the seeds of sorrow were planted, but our heroes remained stern in the face of adversity.

Today, we are faced with no less a threat than they… however, we have grown complacent. We have our jobs, and our homes, and football practice. We schedule hunting trips, and doctor’s appointments.

Between catching “American Idol” on TV, spending time with the kids, dropping the dog off at the vet, and trying to have a quiet cup of coffee with our wife, our time is spent.

We have so much on our plate; it is hard to fit in that epic struggle to secure our liberties. We vote, and we give grand speeches, and we send emails, and we poke holes in the air with our fingers when we get excited… but we really don’t have the time necessary to fight the struggle proper; we’ll get to it eventually—besides, we have a lawn to mow.

Is this how we want to be remembered? Do we want our grandchildren living in a Marxist’s Hell looking back and asking “Why? Why didn’t they have the time?”

If we are truly committed to find liberation, then we have to ask ourselves… “What are we prepared to do?” Are we prepared to be inconvenienced? Are we prepared to sacrifice our homes, our jobs, and our financial security? Are we willing to fight and die to secure liberty for the ones we love? Are we ready to honor our forefathers by rising up and doing ALL we can do to secure the blessings given us by Almighty God?

Each and every one of us needs to look in the mirror and ask ourselves these questions. If we cannot make our struggle to free our country from the bonds of the Beast our top priority, then can we really call ourselves Confederates?

If I were arrested tomorrow and my home burned to the ground; would you rally to fight, or would you simply send an angry email to your friends? What did we do when women and children were burned to death in Waco? What did we do when a wife and child was killed in Ruby Ridge? What will we do tomorrow?

We were given the cause. We were given the means. We were given the knowledge. What are we prepared to do with it?

Either we stand as one to do ALL we can to succeed, or we get in the corral with the rest of the sheep. Stand or be sheared.