Pro-Life Leaders Lament the Violent Death of a Friend and Ally - Jim Pouillon

From LifeSiteNews
By John Jalsevac

This morning at 7:20am James Pouillon, an elderly Michigan-area pro-life activist, was gunned down in front of Owosso High School while protesting abortion with a large sign depicting a baby and the word "Life." A second man was also killed shortly thereafter - Mike Fuoss, the owner of a local gravel pit. It is so far unknown what the motives for the two killings were.

Pro-life leaders, many of whom personally knew Pouillon, have reacted with horror to the senseless killing of the long-time and dedicated activist for the unborn.

"We are stunned by Jim's murder," said Operation Rescue (OR) President Troy Newman. "We extend our condolences to the family and share in their grief over his loss. His life was characterized by his love and concern of the vulnerable, and he will be greatly missed.

"We denounce this senseless act of violence in the strongest terms, and pray that this murderer will be swiftly brought to justice."

Pastor Matt Trewhella of Missionaries of the Preborn said in a press release that Pouillon had joined his group for a few stops of a pro-life tour less than a month ago. "Jim was a selfless, soft-spoken, kind-hearted man. All who knew him, knew this," he said.

Trewhella lamented that, "The press in all its hypocrisy is already painting Jim as a controversial figure. Their hypocrisy is rank. Remember when Tiller was killed how the press painted him as the most saintly man in America, singing his praises? They paint the man who kills the babies as some saint while the man who exposes the babies' suffering is painted as something bad."

"Jim Pouillon is a hero," said Monica Migliorino Miller of South Lyon, the director of Citizens for a Pro-life Society. “Jim died while giving a peaceful witness to the sacredness of human life. He stood outside of the local high school on many occasions holding a sign of a baby to send a message to the students that abortion is the taking of innocent life.

"Now his life has been taken as he stood in witness against the injustice of abortion.

"When violence is aimed at those who provide abortion - pro-life leaders are swift to condemn it. We call on the pro-abortion community to condemn this violence against Jim Pouillon. Many have already blamed Jim for his own death because he dared to stand on the street with a pro-life sign. Such a point of view is atrocious and grossly irresponsible.”

Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) this morning that he hoped to see "a strong expression of indignation from the pro-abortion community, just like there was a strong expression of indignation form the pro-life community at the killing of Dr. Tiller."

Fr. Pavone also called for "a renewal of unity within the pro-life community, coming to one another's assistance supporting one another, and by no means allowing fear or intimidation to have any role in our lives, but rather to move forward in peaceful organized ways to stand against this evil of abortion."

Bradley Mattes, Executive Director of Life Issues Institute, said, "It's hard to imagine the hatred that motivates someone to murder, regardless of which side of the debate they're on. It's all desperately wrong.

"The murder of millions of innocent unborn babies is spilling out onto the streets of America. I pray we can stop the killing on all fronts. Our prayers are with Jim's family."

Lila Rose, the President of Live Action Media also sent out a release, saying, "We are greatly saddened and disturbed by the murder of pro-life activist, Jim Pouillon.

"We condemn the violent act which robbed Jim of his life, and we stand with him in his protest against our nation's violence to the unborn.

"Now is the time for the pro-life community to stand with even more courage and unity against abortion. We will work tirelessly until our nation recognizes the right to life of every human being, even the smallest and weakest."

"American Life League is heartbroken over the loss of a true pro-life hero," said Shaun Kenney, executive director of American Life League, "gunned down on the day Americans across the country mourn the violent deaths of 3,017 people. What a terrible irony that his death, on this day of infamy, brings to mind the 50 million innocent lives lost to abortion.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and community in the wake of this tragedy, and we renew our call for peace and prayer as the only remedies for the culture of violence."

"Since a motive has not yet been determined, speculation is useless, if not harmful," cautioned Kenney. "We commend the Shiawassee County sheriff’s department for its swift apprehension of the suspect, and we pray for God’s justice and mercy."

Heritage Foundation: 'Don't Let 9/11 Become Just Another Earth Day'

Three years ago, Norwell High School social studies teacher Julie Fox commemorated 9/11 by asking her students to write journal entries recounting where they were when the planes hit and how they felt at that moment. But now, Fox tells the Boston Globe, too few students remember the day. So Fox spends class time explaining the basics of what happened on 9/11 and why. “It’s almost like teaching the Civil War,” she said.

High School students are not the only ones for whom 9/11 is becoming a distant memory. According to the Washington Post, 70% of Democrats say the war in Afghanistan has not been worth its costs (compared to 70% of Republicans who say the war is still worth fighting). Council on Foreign Relations Fellow Stephen Biddle explains: “Surely a big piece of the declining poll numbers for support for Afghanistan is that the public does not yet see the connection between Afghanistan and al-Qaida today.”

Responding to their leftist base, opposition to the effort in Afghanistan is growing. among liberals in Congress. Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), co-chair of the 82-member Congressional Progressive Caucus, said her group is unified in wanting to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters yesterday: “I don’t think there’s a great deal of support for sending more troops to Afghanistan in the country or the Congress.”

One would think that President Obama would take the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks as an opportunity to educate Americans about the link between the fight in Afghanistan and the still very real threat posed by al-Qaida today. No such luck. Instead, President Obama has chosen to use 9/11 to promote his own domestic policy agenda. In a letter celebrating 9/11 as a “National Day of Service and Rememberance” President Obama writes:

We are building a new foundation for growth and prosperity, but we cannot succeed without your help. We can rebuild our schools, but we need mentors and tutors to guide our students. We can modernize our health system, but we need volunteers to care for the sick and assist others in leading healthier lives. We can invest in clean energy, but we need people to maintain energy efficiency in their homes and help create a green economy.

School construction? Health care reform? Green jobs? These are all important areas of public policy debate, but what do they have to do with keeping us safe from those who wish to inflict a second 9/11 on the American people? Debra Burlingame, whose brother was the pilot of the American Airlines jet that crashed into the Pentagon told the Associated Press: “When I first heard about it, I was concerned. I fear, I greatly fear, at some point we’ll transition to turning it into Earth Day where we go and plant trees and the remembrance part will become smaller and smaller and smaller.”

Thanks to President Obama’s www.serve.gov, that is exactly what is happening. In Oklahoma students will pull weeds, plant flowers, paint benches, and plant a tree. In Minnesota, 100 volunteers will assemble Energy Efficiency Outreach Bags. And in South Carolina AmeriCorps members will serve in a variety of projects, including garden beautification, food and clothing collections, and working with homeless and hungry people.

True volunteerism strengthens our civil society. But federal government involvement undermines, not strengthens, true public service. Instead of coordinating garden beautifications, the federal governemnt should honor the memory of the tragedy of 9/11 by focusing on policies that will make sure it never happens again.

BREAKING: Pro-Life Activist Shot and Killed in Michigan

From LifeSiteNews
By Kathleen Gilbert

A pro-life activist was shot multiple times and killed this morning in front of Owosso High School in Michigan, according to local police cited in the Flint Journal newspaper.

Locals say that the victim, James Pouillon of Owosso, was well-known in the area for his pro-life activities. Local columnist Doug Powers wrote on his blog that Pouillon, known as “the abortion sign guy," was known for standing on street corners holding up signs with pictures of aborted children.

A second individual was shot and killed in a different area of the city shortly afterward, and the two shootings are believed to be related, according to Shiawassee County sheriff George Braidwood. Police confirmed that a suspect was taken into custody at the suspect's home shortly after the 7:30 a.m. shooting.

A black car was parked near the scene of the shooting, where a portable oxygen tank lay in a front yard next to a large sign with the word "Life" and an image of a baby.

In the wake of the tragedy, Fr. Pavone of Priests for Life told LifeSiteNews.com that he hoped to see "a strong expression of indignation from the pro-abortion community, just like there was a strong expression of indignation form the pro-life community at the killing of Dr. Tiller."

Secondly, Fr. Pavone called for "a renewal of unity within the pro-life community, coming to one another's assistance supporting one another, and by no means allowing fear or intimidation to have any role in our lives, but rather to move forward in peaceful organized ways to stand against this evil of abortion."

Developing...

Politico Asks 'What's the Matter with South Carolina?'

The Politico has a column today on South Carolina's "history of stridency in national politics," and traces the tradition to legendary figures like John C. Calhoun and Strom Thurmond.

From Politico
By Alexander Burns

With two shouted words during the president's speech to Congress Wednesday night, Congressman Joe Wilson cemented South Carolina’s status as the geographic center of opposition to the Obama White House.

Just under nine months into the president's term, the state has emerged as a beachhead for the president's most aggressive conservative critics, a secure launching point for some of the harshest attacks on the administration’s policy initiatives.

Its governor, Mark Sanford, led the charge of Republican governors against the Obama economic stimulus plan and made national headlines by arguing that the administration’s excessive spending could lead to an economic collapse on the scale of Weimar Germany. Sanford, in fact, persisted in rejecting Recovery Act funding until a court ordered him to back down.

When Obama turned his attention to health care, South Carolina’s junior senator, Jim DeMint, touched off a firestorm of criticism by urging conservatives to "break " the new president by defeating reform legislation.

"If we're able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo," DeMint predicted, drawing an acid response from the White House.

Wilson’s notorious “You lie!” outburst in front of a joint session of Congress, was just the latest in the series of salvos, this one coming as Obama claimed his health care reform plan wouldn't offer free care to illegal immigrants.

And there may be more to come: Some South Carolina Republicans say Wilson's remark isn’t exactly out of step with public sentiment in the conservative state.

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Governor Perry Sends Texas Rangers to US-Mexico Border to Do Job Feds Refuse to Do

From Fox2Now
By Michael Graczyk

Special teams of Texas Rangers will be deployed to the Texas-Mexico border to deal with increasing violence because the federal government has failed to address growing problems there, Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday. "It is an expansive effort with the Rangers playing a more high-profile role than they've ever played before," Perry said of the Department of Public Safety's elite investigative unit.

The forces, dubbed "Ranger recon" teams, are the latest effort "to fill the gap that's been left by the federal government's ongoing failure to adequately secure our international border with Mexico," he said.

Read the rest of this entry >>

In Memory of All the Victims of September 11, 2001

London's Proms season for 2001 finished as it usually does in September. But that year there was a very different mood following the 9/11 terrorist strikes in New York and Washington, D.C. This performance, dedicated to all those who died, is Samuel Barber's evocative Adagio for Strings, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and presided over by the American conductor, Leonard Slatkin.

Tens of Thousands to Protest Obamacare in Washington This Weekend

27 Hour Prayer Vigil Begins on Sunday

From LifeSiteNews
By Peter J. Smith

Americans converging on Washington for protests and rallies against President Obama's health-care reforms this weekend intend to fight like it all depends on them, and pray like it all depends on God.

Buses packed with protestors from around the nation, including those on the famous "Tea Party Express," are set to converge on Washington and march upon the nation's Capitol to express their collective dissent with Congressional plans to radically reform the health-care system in the United States. Estimates for the numbers of protestors expected to arrive number anywhere between 50,000 to 100,000.

But after this weekend's marching and meeting with public representatives in Washington is done, a group of pro-life, Christian, and other leaders will initiate a public vigil to pray that taxpayer funding of abortion will not end up the final version of the current congressional health care plans under consideration in Congress.

Twenty-seven hours of prayer will begin on Sunday, September 13 at 7:00 P.M. and will conclude on Monday, September 14 at 10:00 P.M.

"Our nation is in more than an economic crisis or a crisis over health care. We are in a spiritual crisis and the best way to address it, in fact the only way to address it is through prayer," said Rev. Rob Schenck, President of Faith and Action.

"Every American, no matter how young or old, can and must pray."

The current version of the Obama health-care plan in the House of Representatives includes a so-called "compromise" measure on abortion called the Capps Amendment, which pro-life advocates say does not eliminate public subsidies for abortion and is no compromise. Instead, they point out that, thanks to this amendment, H.R. 3200 now mandates that at least one insurance plan provide coverage for abortion in every area in the United States. The bill also creates new streams of revenue not restricted by current federal laws such as the Hyde Amendement, which can be used to subsidize abortions under the public option and go to subsidize insurance companies that cover abortions in the form of "affordability credits."

"In times of great challenge and crisis, Americans have always turned to God in prayer. We have set these 27 hours apart to seek God for his wisdom, direction and counsel for our nation. This is especially true concerning the national debate on health care," said Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition.

Mahoney said that the faith leaders will gather on the West Lawn of the United States Capitol to pray to God that public money is not used to subsidize abortion and that any health reform coming out of Congress will genuinely embrace "social justice and human rights." "We will be a bold public and prophetic witness that abortion is not health care and that health care reform should bring healing and compassion, not violence and brokenness. As people of faith, we do not have to sit on the sidelines and watch as events unfold on the world state," continued Mahoney. "Rather, through prayer, fasting and repentance we can help shape history."