Cal Thomas - My Brother's Valuable Life

Sometimes well-known figures give us a glimpse into their personal lives revealing things we wouldn't otherwise have known.  Conservative commentator Cal Thomas, is known for his involvement with the religious right and also a re-thinking of that perspective.  Few know anything of his personal life or of his growing up years.  Here is a glimpse into a man and his family that is worth pondering.

My brother's valuable life

By Cal Thomas

How does one measure whether a life was a success, or a failure? Some would measure it by recognition, that is, how many knew the person's name. For others, the measure of a successful life would be the amount of wealth accumulated, or possessions held. Still others would say a life was successful if the person made a major contribution to society -- in medicine, sports, politics, or the arts.

By that standard my brother, Marshall Stephen Thomas, who died January 5, was a failure. If, however, your standard for a successful life is how that life positively touched others, then my brother's life was a resounding success.

Shortly after he was born in 1950, Marshall was diagnosed with Down syndrome. Some in the medical community referred to the intellectually disabled as "retarded" back then, long before the word became a common schoolyard epithet. His doctors told our parents he would never amount to anything and advised them to place him in an institution. Back then, this was advice too often taken by parents who were so embarrassed about having a disabled child that they often refused to take them out in public.

Our parents wanted none of that. In the '50s, many institutions were snake pits where inhumanities were often tolerated and people were warehoused until they died, often in deplorable conditions. While they weren't wealthy, they were committed to seeing that Marshall had the best possible care, no matter how long he lived. 

Read the rest of the story here.

Abortion Clinics: What Goes on Behind Closed Doors

Warning: the following story is not for the faint of heart. 

A few days ago I read a story about a former abortion clinic worker who has also had an abortion.  She has left that line of work and is now a pro-life activist.  She recounts in vivid detail some of the morbid and macabre gallows humor among the staff of that clinic. 

I'm not a particularly squeamish person though the 'humor' expressed in this article left me speechless.  

Here

HT: The Pearcey Report

Breitbart.tv » Planned Parenthood Leader Resigns

Saw this story and it warmed my heart.

Breitbart.tv » Planned Parenthood Leader Resigns After Watching Ultrasound of Abortion Procedure

Let us not grow weary.

So Three Cows Walk into Court . . .

Here is an interesting piece about animal rights and the attempt of some to give them practically the same status as people. Far-fetched? Not really given the judicial activism of our day.


"Imagine you are a cattle rancher looking for liability insurance. You meet with your broker, who, as expected, asks a series of questions to gauge your suitability for coverage:

Have you ever been sued by your cattle?

If the answer is yes, what was the outcome of that suit?

Have you received any correspondence or other communication from your herd's legal representatives threatening suit or seeking to redress any legal grievance?

If you think that's a ridiculous scenario, that animals suing their owners could never happen, think again. For years, the animal rights movement has quietly agitated to enact laws, convince the government to promulgate regulations, or obtain a court ruling granting animals the 'legal standing' to drag their owners (and others) into court."


Click on the link to read the entire article as posted in The Weekly Standard. So Three Cows Walk into Court .  .  .:

To put this into perspective, at this moment, unborn human beings are being aborted on demand. It would be nice to see some logical consistency on the part of those pushing for animal rights.

Stunning video

While the economy occupied most people's minds this last week it does look disaster has been averted. Once the dust settles perhaps people will do more than vote their pocketbook.

Please watch this short video. It pretty much sums up what is at stake in our upcoming presidential election.

Some might be put off by the producers of this video (CatholicVote.com). However I would remind readers of Francis Schaeffer's point that we can be 'co-belligents' with lot's of other people without compromising our theological beliefs.

The Sixth Commandment - You Shall Not Murder

Yesterday in my sermon on the sixth commandment "You Shall Not Murder" I made reference to euthanasia as one of the issues that flows naturally from that command. Dr. Albert Mohler has raised some good questions about the use of living wills and how they might open the door to 'mercy killings.' Click on this link for more information:

Sign Your Way to a "Good Death?" -- The Soft Slide to Euthanasia

Related to this issue is what to do when someone suffers a major brain injury or has a profound cognitive disability. Research is showing that sometimes people thought to be in a vegetative state are fully aware of their surroundings yet unable to respond. I mentioned the case of a person thought to be brain dead yet an EEG revealed brain activity in response to the command to imagine themselves playing tennis. To read more click on the link below:

Amazing Awakenings -- Will the Nation's Conscience be Awakened Too?

This topic strikes close to home for me -- three years ago my father was in the hospital recovering from a stroke following open-heart surgery. Initially my mother was told that he suffered a major stroke and might never recover consciousness. While he was in a cardiac rehab unit he began to show signs of recovery -- occasionally moving a hand or a finger, turning toward our voice, etc. One day my mother and I showed up at the hospital only to see my dad carrying on a conversation in his mind -- we knew he was trying to speak because his lips were forming syllables and words! He couldn't speak due to a tracheotomy in his throat but we were certain that he was trying to speak. Outwardly things did not look good but we did not give up hope. Three months after surgery he came home from the hospital.

In Vitro Fertilization - We Should've Seen This Coming

Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Theology Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky brings to light a horrible consequence of IVF: the destruction of over a million human embryos in Great Britain. Similar things are happening in the US.

In IVF often times more embryos are created in the lab than are actually implanted. The extras are stored in liquid nitrogen and can stay in that state of suspended animation for as long as seven years. Perhaps you have heard of the "snowflake babies" - the term comes from couples who choose to rescue these embryos by having them implanted and bringing them to term.

You can read about it here:

http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=1079