CL: Judge OKs Mississippi anti-abortion initiative for '11 ballots

Hinds County judge has ruled in favor of allowing an anti-abortion initiative on Mississippi’s 2011 ballot.

“(The initiative) has received more than the required amount of signatures to be placed on the ballot and the Constitution recognizes the right of citizens to amend their Constitution,” Judge Malcolm Harrison ruled in an order signed today.

The ballot initiative would allow voters to decide whether Mississippi’s Constitution should be amended to define life as beginning at conception.

Supporters of the “personhood” amendment gathered more than 106,000 signatures to get it on the ballot in 2011.

The lawsuit, filed by two Oxford women, had argued that the initiative process cannot be used to rewrite the state Bill of Rights — which they said the personhood amendment would do.

The case is expected to be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

CL

Clones are people, too?

It appears that the drive to place an abortion ban on the 2011 ballot in Mississippi has been successful. I don't believe in abortion, personally. And I may come around to participating in the discussion, yet again. But at present this one is getting filed under "Here We Go Again". Don't we know the ultimate ending to this already?

I have to admit I was taken aback by one part of the proposal.

Under the proposal, a person would be defined "to include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the equivalent thereof."

So, now we are protecting clones too? That one made me giggle a little. First we don't want science to create life, because that's God's job. But, if they do, then we'll love them just the same.


Abortion opponents in Miss. clear petition bar

Abortion opponents have enough signatures to put an anti-abortion proposal on next year's ballot, making Mississippi the second state in the nation where the initiative has reached that point.

In 2011, voters will be asked to support a ballot initiative that would give unborn fetuses human rights in the state constitution. A similar proposal goes before Colorado voters this fall.

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said Thursday the petitioners got more than the minimum 89,285 signatures required to get the initiative before voters.

The grassroots effort had the support of Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, who recorded a telephone message that was sent to thousands of Mississippians urging them to sign the petition.

Under the proposal, a person would be defined "to include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the equivalent thereof."

Keith Mason, co-founder of Personhood USA, a group formed to support similar initiatives across the country, said Mississippi was chosen because "it's the most pro-life state in America."

Mississippi has one of the nation's toughest abortion laws, requiring the consent of both parents for minors and a 24-hour waiting period and counseling before all abortions.

Michele Colon, a social justice activist and a former National Organization for Women board member, said a campaign to oppose the measure would be launched. Colon said she will work with a coalition of groups on community outreach.

"It's unconstitutional. It's harmful legislation against the women of Mississippi regarding their reproductive health care," Colon said.

Read the rest at The Sun Herald

Want to be a Congressman? Stupak and others targeted and threatened (Listen)

Bart Stupak Left Threatening Messages for Health Care Vote

In the wake of his vote in favor of health care reform legislation, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), a strong opponent of abortion rights, has been on the receiving end of a string of extremely hostile and threatening messages, including death threats.

Stupak's office released some of those messages to CBS News, and you can listen to them here.

"Congressman Stupak, you baby-killing mother f***er... I hope you bleed out your a**, got cancer and die, you mother f***er," one man says in a message to Stupak.

"There are millions of people across the country who wish you ill," a woman says in a voicemail, "and all of those thoughts that are projected on you will materialize into something that's not very good for you."

CBS News also obtained copies of faxes sent to Stupak, which include racial epithets used in reference to President Obama and show pictures of nooses with Stupak's name.

Read the rest of the article at CBS News

Prior to the vote, Stupak also received threatening messages from supporters of the Health Insurance Legislation.

The Catholic Failure

From March 22nd post on The New Ledger Blog:

The roster of names is so long that its recitation would be a total rebuke to the authority of any American Catholic bishop now living and many dead. Kennedy, Leahy, Kucinich, Drinan, Durbin, Pelosi, Casey (Jr.), Mitchell, Sebelius, Cuomo, I could go on. These are men and women who have made it the goal of their careers to advocate the abortion license, to preserve it and expand it. The leaders in the fight to keep public funding of abortion were overwhelmingly self-professed Catholics. Last night, they succeeded.


They teach by word and act that abortion is, at worst, an unfortunately necessary convenience, and is more often a good. They create scandal. They do so as Catholics.

Who among them has been publicly remonstrated by his bishop? Who among them has had to stand in public and choose between an honest recitation of the Nicene Creed and Planned Parenthood v. Casey? Who among them has been reminded of Christ’s injunction about scandal and millstones where their audiences and constituencies can hear?

Why would anyone expect Bart Stupak — otherwise a consummate Democrat — to hold up a health care reform bill against his Party and his Party’s President when even the men who are supposed to stand against evil every waking moment of their lives appear more concerned about the environment, about immigrant rights, about the death penalty? What Catholic sitting in the pews or watching on TV would think there’s anything wrong with abortion when Mario Cuomo’s dishonest justification has stood without censure or excommunication for over a quarter of a century?

The blood of millions will now be shed by the public coffers. That blood lies on the hands of the men with mitres.

Read the entire post at The New Ledger

Out of the frying pan and into the fire!

With Health Care on the brink of passage, Dems will quickly turn to Immigration to take advantage of the momentum.

Reuter's is reporting that anti-abortion Democrats have reached a deal with the White House meaning it is highly likely that they now have the votes needed to pass Health Care legislation.

The White House said on Sunday President Barack Obama would issue an order reaffirming a ban on using federal funds for abortion in a deal with holdout Democrats that could clear the way for passage of a healthcare overhaul.

"We have an agreement," said Representative Bart Stupak, who has led the group of a handful of holdout Democrats. His support could give House of Representative Democrats the 216 votes they need to pass the bill.

Thursday statements by the President indicated Democrat leaders will now shift quickly to another liberal plank and try to use the momentum to pass immigration "reform." The timing comes as 50,000 supporters plan a march on DC Sunday in support of amnesty. DC has been the scene of some ugly protesting over Health Care. Add thousands of immigration amnesty supporters to that mix and it's a recipe for disaster. Legislators may decide to rethink recent funding cuts to Capitol Police after today.

Washington Times report said:

President Obama gave a thumbs up Thursday to the outline of a plan to legalize illegal immigrants and create a flow of low-skilled foreign workers for the future, saying the immigration bill being worked on by a Republican and a Democrat is "promising."

In their broad blueprint, Sens. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, and Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, call for illegal immigrants to be put on a path to citizenship, offer green cards to keep high-skilled foreign university graduates and would create a temporary program for low-skilled workers, with some also getting the chance to become citizens.

The senators also proposed to turn all Social Security cards into tamper-proof IDs to be checked by employers when they are about to hire a worker. The cards would include biometric information designed to prevent counterfeiting -- but the senators said the information would not be stored in a government database.

"I congratulate Senators Schumer and Graham for their leadership, and pledge to do everything in my power to forge a bipartisan consensus this year on this important issue so we can continue to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform," Mr. Obama said in a statement soon after the two senators published their blueprint in a column submitted to The Washington Post.

The carefully orchestrated rollout came just three days before immigrant-rights advocates expect at least 50,000 supporters to rally and march in Washington, D.C., calling for Congress to act. The organizers of the rally had met with Mr. Obama last week and told him he needed to embrace a bill or else the thousands of marchers would be told that he had failed to live up to his promises on this issue.

"Whip it good!" and a chance to toot my own horn.

Analysts and political pundits are in a frenzy trying to read the current efforts of Democrats and Republicans to whip up votes on Health Care legislation. And, the prevailing sentiment is that it is a toss up.

I said in 2009 it would hinge on abortion. I so seldom get a chance to say "I told you so," so I'll take this opportunity while I have it. It looks like it still comes down to Michigan Representative Stupak and his band of pro-lifers.

House GOP whip Rep. Eric Cantor reports in his latest memo that Republicans need to find six other Democrats to vote no in order to defeat the bill. Cantor points to one original yes vote that has switched to no -- Arcuri -- and suggests there might be five others who could switch: Berry, Costa, Giffords, Lynch, and Space.

That leaves the much-discussed Stupak Group. The pro-life Democrat originally said he had 12 colleagues who originally voted yes but would now vote no. Stupak has lost some of those, but it is not clear how many.
Cantor suggests that in combining those two categories -- the yeses who have become no plus the Stupak group -- there might be another 12 votes against the bill. "If we add 12 to 32, we get 44 -- which leaves Speaker Pelosi seven votes short," Cantor concludes.

The Washington Examiner's Byron York writes:

Who is correct? It's clear the Democrats are working around the clock to create a sense of momentum and inevitability about the vote. But the fact is, there are still enough unknowns to say the outcome is entirely in doubt.

But, his colleague and online opinion editor for the same publication David Freddoso writes that Rep. Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind. is taking alot of heat at home for announcing he would vote "Yes". Even adding that a vote for Health Reform makes his announced run for Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh's seat "futile."

If Ellsworth is being pushed into voting for this, you can bet that Speaker Pelosi has no votes to spare. But by the same token, you wouldn't be hearing him commit in public if she didn't have the votes.

Votes are scheduled for Sunday afternoon. It will go down to the wire.

Governor Barbour releases video urging "NO" vote on Health Care Bill

HARPER CALLS RECONCILIATION USE “TRICKERY”

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Gregg Harper (R–Miss.) delivered the following remarks today on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in opposition to a Democratic health care plan that the majority plans to advance through vague procedural tactics.




“Late last night the House Budget Committee approved the reconciliation shell bill with two Democratic Members joining all Republicans in opposing this enormous entitlement expansion – and we still do not know what changes the Speaker will bring forward.

“The President has asked Congress to hold an up-or-down vote on the Senate’s so-called health care reform proposal. Let’s have that vote! The President has argued that Democrats ‘need courage’ to pass his one-size-fits-all government takeover of health care. But where’s the courage in hiding behind procedural chaos like the ‘Slaughter Solution?’

“No matter what anyone says a yes vote on the reconciliation bill is a vote for the Senate’s flawed trillion dollar bill containing kickbacks like the ‘Cornhusker Kickback’ and the ‘Louisiana Purchase’ and allows for federal funding of abortion.

“The bottom line is this health care bill is so bad that the Democrats have to resort to trickery. I will not support a bill that will increase family’s insurance premiums and force hundreds of millions of dollars in unfunded mandates to my home State of Mississippi.”

CQ Political News: House Faces Pivotal Votes on Health Care

Democrats are entering a critical week in the health care debate, as party leaders close in on the 216-vote threshold they need for the House to clear a Senate-passed overhaul bill.

But they still are trying to resolve at least two important issues: making Medicaid funding equitable to all states and addressing Hispanic lawmakers’ concerns about immigration. A third issue, abortion, has been set aside, Democrats say.

Despite holdouts in different quarters of her caucus, Speaker Nancy Pelosi sounded confident on March 12 that she would have the votes to finish the health care overhaul.

“We stand ready to stay as long as it takes to pass the bill,” Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters. “I think members are eager to pass the bill. . . . It won’t be long before we’ll be making a real difference in the lives of the American people.”

Democrats will use an elaborate series of parliamentary procedures to try to accomplish the task. House Democratic leaders are preparing to clear the Senate-passed bill by the end of the week or soon thereafter. It will be considered with a companion bill, to be sent to the Senate, that would amend the Senate measure with changes demanded by House Democrats.

The companion bill will probably be combined with a student loan proposal that some Democrats believe could attract additional votes in the House. The proposal would make the federal government the sole originator of the student loans, which Democrats contend is less costly to taxpayers than subsidizing banks to loan money to students.

The House passed such legislation last year, but proponents say it would be easier to pass the bill in the Senate using expedited reconciliation rules to avoid a Republican filibuster.

The House Budget Committee is scheduled to start the process Monday by marking up a reconciliation bill containing proposals previously submitted by three panels with jurisdiction over health care issues — Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Education and Labor. The bill will also contain the student loan measure.

Later in the week, the House Rules Committee is expected to replace the health care language in the reconciliation bill with the bill the House wants to use to amend the Senate-passed health care bill. The Rules Committee is scheduled to meet March 17.

Congressional Quarterly

Scrambling for votes, Dems face uphill climb to pass health reform

By Bob Cusack

House Democratic leaders don’t have the votes to pass healthcare reform. At least not yet.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has expressed confidence that when push comes to shove, healthcare reform will pass Congress. But there will be plenty of pushing in the days ahead.

Pelosi is clearly down in the vote count. Thirty-four House Democrats are either firm no votes or leaning no, according to The Hill’s whip list. Dozens more are undecided.

The list of Democratic members who haven't committed ranges widely, from liberal Reps. Michael Capuano (Mass.) and Anthony Weiner (N.Y.) to centrist Reps. Jason Altmire (Pa.) and Chris Carney (Pa.).

Two committee chairmen -- Reps. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) -- say they are firm nos and three others, Reps. John Spratt (D-S.C.), Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), are undecided.

If every House member votes and all Republicans reject the bill as expected, Pelosi can only afford 37 Democratic defections. That breakdown of the votes would lead to a 216-215 tally.

Of the 34 no votes/leaning no votes, eight of them backed the House-backed bill in November. Meanwhile, nine Democrats who voted no last fall are publicly on the fence.

Friday’s decision by Democratic leaders to forge ahead without the backing of anti-abortion rights Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) has dealt a blow to the chances the lower chamber can pass a health bill.

Lacking votes last November, Pelosi struck a deal with Stupak and the House measure subsequently passed, 220-215.

On Tuesday, Stupak told the Associated Press that he was “more optimistic” that a deal on the health bill’s provisions on abortion would be reached.

But after days of discussions, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said on Friday such a compromise is unlikely.

Like Pelosi, Hoyer expressed confidence that the votes will be there when the bill hits the floor, which could be within a week.

Stupak has long said he and 11 other members who voted yes the first time will reject the final bill if it does not include strong anti-abortion language.

The Hill

Abortion is bill's remaining hurdle

It’s taken Democrats a year to finalize their health care bill, so it should come as no surprise that they’re now fighting about the endgame — including an increasingly public spat about when a final push for passage should take place.

The White House has been extraordinarily patient with Congress all year — much to the consternation of many Democrats, who wanted the president and his team to be more assertive. But that patience is clearly wearing thin at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue as lawmakers careen toward an Easter deadline that many Democrats consider their last chance for health care reform — a point not lost on Republicans.

“If the members of Congress go home for two weeks, they’ll hear from the American people what they really think about the bill,” GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander said Tuesday. “They’ll be less likely to vote for it when we come back.”

At this late stage, a fight over abortion seems to be the biggest single hurdle between President Barack Obama and a historic win. But other, smaller issues are sure to creep up.

Hoyer said Tuesday that the abortion fight “has to be resolved.”

The majority leader expressed confidence that the issue would get wrapped up, but he also cautioned reporters that he had not had any formal negotiations with Rep. Bart Stupak, the Michigan Democrat who authored the House abortion restrictions.

Politico

Abortion coverage dispute divides House Democrats

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR (AP)

WASHINGTON — On the other side of the obstacle course that President Barack Obama must clear to get his health care overhaul, a final trapdoor is lurking: the divisive politics of abortion.

The issue pits House Democrats against each other just when Obama is calling on them to unite for one last push on health care in a perilous election year. The fate of the sweeping legislation to expand coverage and revamp the health insurance market hangs in the balance.

House Democrats opposed to abortion, as well as their counterparts who support abortion rights, are resisting funding restrictions on the procedure spelled out in the Senate health care overhaul bill. But the plan Democratic leaders have worked out for the health care endgame calls for House Democrats to pass that same Senate bill, with little prospect of changing the abortion language.

Although each chamber is also supposed to pass a companion package of agreed-upon changes, abortion funding is not among them. It doesn't appear likely to be included.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi vented her frustration Thursday, telling reporters she will not stand for health care legislation getting dragged down in a battle over abortion. "This is not about abortion," said Pelosi, D-Calif. "This is a bill about providing quality affordable health care for all Americans."

She may not have a choice, says a leading abortion foe.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., says he and a dozen fellow Democrats who supported the House bill will vote against it this time unless the Senate language is replaced with stiffer restrictions previously adopted by the House. The House health care bill passed by 220-215 last November, only after Pelosi was forced to give Stupak a floor vote that incorporated his strict abortion funding provision in the measure.

Nothing has changed, says Stupak. "I don't think they have the votes to pass it," he said.

Associated Press