A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

George Offerman

It is interesting.  As more and more of the lame stream media write about Randall Terry’s candidacy and subsequent purchases of air times before and during the Super Bowl, it draws more attention to the message.  However, too many of the ‘prolife’ groups and  the movement in general are either ignoring the news, or are actually resisting it, and insisting they are doing as much, if not more to draw attention to the pro life issue, and doing it in a way that is not ‘offensive’ to most people’s sensibilities.  Really?  Why haven’t I or anyone else then seen or heard of these wondrous works that is bringing the issue of legalized child killing front and center in this election cycle?

There are some prominent pro lifers out there who are promoting the candidacy of Randall Terry, which ultimately allows for the full and complete exposure of dead babies without any apology or sanitization of the message.  Dr. Monica Migliorino Miller, whose photographs are being utilized for the commercials has stated “What Randall Terry is doing is bold, clever and necessary” in that it is forcing Americans to view the hidden truth of legalized child killing and forcing a crisis of consciousness upon people. 

  Joe Scheidler, acclaimed as the "Godfather of Pro-life activism," says:

 "Randy's campaign will save thousands of babies' lives. Let's help him!"

Jill Stanek, renowned pro-life columnist, says:

"Airing graphic ads during the Super Bowl represent a unique opportunity to show a huge number Americans the truth about abortion during the one time a year they actually look forward to watching commercials rather than ignoring them. Donate to air the ads here. The more money Terry gets, the more times he can run the ad."

It is wonderful to see these three individuals whose leadership is very well known within the prolife movement, as well as a few of the pro life news sites, promote this idea and see the need to show graphic pictures of dead babies, unedited during one of the most premier events of the year.  How unfortunate though, that the majority of the supposed pro life ‘leaders’ are once again MIA from this opportunity, and are pedaling their own efforts as at least as ‘noble and good’ or even superior to showing dead babies unedited during the Super Bowl.  How do I know that?  By the responses given by the leaders who have been approached and were asked to help with this effort.

I would like to throw out a challenge to these leaders (which make up the majority in the pro life movement).  What are you doing to bring attention to ending legalized child killing, and why have we not heard about it?  If all efforts are as ‘noble’ and as ‘good’ and as ‘effective’ where is the press coverage for your efforts?  What about the hate mail and death threats the Terry campaign is receiving?  Are you receiving the same?   What about the resistance one would expect from other ‘pro lifers’ when moving out of the comfort zone and actually confronting this grizzly and evil reality?  Is anyone else, anywhere running or showing unedited graphic ads on television that are getting national and international press and coverage?  I don’t see any and have not heard of any.  But I am still receiving tons of mail and e-mail wanting me to ‘contribute’ to many of these groups that claim to be hot on the trail of ending legalized child killing.  (While never mentioning the words legalized child killing or abortion and not using graphic images).

No, some efforts are superior to others, and efforts that convey half truths, are way more evil than those that present a full frontal assault on truth, as those efforts by the pro deathers do.  If these self-proclaimed leaders want to believe hiding from the truth and placating the enemy is the same morally as fearlessly telling the unvarnished truth, then these self-proclaimed leaders are very delusional, and drinking their own brand of cherry Kool-Aid.  Mediocrity has not been, nor ever will be excellence and no amount of window dressing and flattering language will change this fact.

These so called leaders know who they are, and for them to be so arrogant and self-aggrandizing that they think hiding in their kitchens and behind keyboards while throwing out their messages and organizing virtual protests is the same as taking bullets on the battlefield shows why there is little fear of legalized child killing ever coming to an end on their watch.  These leaders have no idea how to fight and win this war.  If they had any idea, they would gratefully promote and support efforts to get pictures of dead babies into the living rooms of Americans so they would have to look directly upon the ‘choice’ that the evil people have forced down the throats of this once great country.  But no, there is too much fear and too much placation of the enemy and too many ‘reward points’ to be lost if these leaders actually put themselves on the line for the babies.

There is no question that most of these leaders cannot be trusted to forward the naked truth of legalized child killing because they are too scared to do so.  When there are very lame ‘justifications’ such as claiming all efforts are morally ‘equal’, clearly these people have disqualified themselves as being true agents of change.  These so called leaders obviously do not see an unprecedented opportunity and are too busy worrying about how insignificant they will look in comparison to the mediocre efforts put forth on their watch to understand they could be part of a force that becomes unstoppable.  But most likely, one more time, this effort will be wasted, and the majority in this ‘movement’ will ignore this effort, while the lame stream media, one more time, CLEANS UP ON THEM.

Please, for the sake of the babies, contribute to the Randall Terry for president campaign, and truly make a difference for the babies.  To contribute, go to:

www.terryforpresident.com     

NOTRE DAME, PART 2

George Offerman

Why me Lord? Pick on someone else.

My wife had been back and forth from South Bend, assisting the Insurrecta Nex team and was in charge of media relations while I was back in Virginia holding down the fort. Randall called me shortly after his arrest and informed me that things were beginning to heat up at Notre Dame, and he and the team came up with another strategy to put more pressure on Fr. Jenkins, Obama, and Notre Dame to rescind the invitation to speak. It appeared with the initial arrests, that Fr. Jenkins was making a very clear statement that he intended to make this even happen; despite the fact it violated clear tenets of the Catholic faith, as well as the fact that Bishop D’Arcy had asked Notre Dame to rescind the invitation. If Fr. Jenkins was going to dig in his heels, so would we.

Randall Terry’s strategy was to send waves of people onto the campus with nothing other than rosaries to pray, and with very clear instructions to be peaceful and nonviolent. Because this strategy had not been used before, Randall was unsure whether arrests would happen, but one would have to be prepared to be arrested and to possibly sit in jail for at least a weekend. Since Randall knew I was coming back with my wife to south Bend for the weekend, he had asked me if I would be willing to be arrested. I told him I would think about it, but inside I dismissed this as foolishness and at that moment, had absolutely no intention of doing nothing other than protesting outside the gates. What I did not understand at the time was that someone with greater authority than me, had other plans.

The servant is no greater than the master.

God speaks to us in our own unique ways. God speaks to me in two ways I have readily identified: quietly when I am willing to listen, and with a 2 x 4 when I’m not. This was one of those 2 x 4 ‘moments’ and I have to admit that I put up a real good fight. The conviction came over me in such a way that the best I can say is that “I can’t not do it”. I could find no valid reason to not proceed on, and kept running into scripture verses that mandated me to act on what I knew was the truth. If Jesus found it good enough to get arrested under false charges, who am I to make any statement about how ‘unfair’ it is?

This process took several days, and my mind was not at peace until I made the decision to proceed onto south Bend, and participate in this protest to its fullest extent. However, I did not inform Randall of my decision, thinking he would encourage me to stay in jail for the weekend, if being arrested was the final outcome. It was then decided we would set out for South Bend on May 13 and I would be joining the first wave of prayer warriors to enter the campus on May 15th. Prior to going to our lodging, I asked my wife to drive by St. Joseph’s county jail to see what my possible ‘weekend home’ looked like. Even at this time, I was still hoping we would be left alone to pray and would not end up in jail, but also remembering rather clearly that I was willing to do the Lord’s bidding on this matter.

Arrested for praying.

That morning, there was a large gathering at the Francis Street house which served as the residential headquarters for this event. There were about 30 + people willing to enter the campus and risking arrests. The previous Friday, Dr. Alan Keyes and 17 others had entered the campus pushing baby carriages with dolls, and were arrested fairly quickly, and it was likely our fate would be the same. After getting into formation, we walked the 3 blocks to one of the main entrances to the campus, and could see the campus police waiting for us. There were also a myriad of pro Obama protestors waiting as well. After a quick prayer in front of the gate we proceeded in. We did not get much further than about 50 yards in when the police confronted us and ordered us to leave. (However, the pro Obama counter protestors were left alone) Dr. Keyes was the first arrested then the rest of us were eventually taken into custody. Fr. Norman Weslin was one of the last to be arrested on that day, and decided to go limp. It took 5 officers to get him to a separate van, and once they had Fr. Weslin squared away, we were off to St. Joseph’s county jail. In all, 22 of us were arrested that Friday, and 10 of us stayed in Jail overnight.

There were two other waves of arrests that weekend, 19 on Saturday which included Norma McCorvey and Fr Weslin again, and 27 arrests on Sunday, the day of the commencement speech. In total, 94 people had been arrested over the course of 3 weekends with the bulk being the weekend of the speech. The international media was all over the arrests, and many of the people arrested were approached by all sorts of media wanting to know their stories. The arrests and tactics used by the Insurrecta Nex team, coupled with the support of Dr. Monica Miller and CPLS and others made this event an international news item.

There is no question president Obama had to address the issue of abortion, knowing multiple numbers of Americans were getting arrested for speaking up for the life issue. There was no doubt that we were making a difference, despite the fact our first objective failed, in getting Obama cancelled. It raised the bar for the dialogue that Fr. Jenkins claimed to want to do by inviting Obama in the first place. Without the arrests, this event would have been lightly protested and there would have been minimal coverage of this event, as it is the case for the majority of presidential commencement speeches. However, we did not get the support of most of the pro-life movement, and many of the accusations by these groups were just starting.


To be continued

NOTRE DAME, PART 1

George Offerman

It has been nearly two years since the now infamous “ND 88” was arrested and had trespassing charges pending over our heads for that duration. Since this was an ongoing case, we had been advised by our attorney Thomas Dixon, to refrain from making direct statements or comments that may have jeopardized our case. Because this particular event and circumstances took on a life of its own and grew larger than any of us ever expected, others picked up the mantle and ran with it, and in the process, discovered more information that was very embarrassing for ND. It is in this way that many in the pro-life movement has shown support for our cause and without pressure from the various groups and influential individuals, we may have been looking at a very different outcome. As far as I am concerned, this is a very large victory for our side and it exposed the weaknesses of the Church and confronted them on their weaknesses and hypocrisy. This is my story of the events that transpired over the two months leading up to the Obama speech and honorary doctorate at Notre Dame.

It’s not my issue.

Nine of us from the Insurrecta Nex team had just returned from a very successful trip to Rome, in which we were able to meet with nine prelates and four representatives to present them with compiled information Oves Sine Pastore (sheep without a shepherd). It became apparent after this trip that we could not depend upon the American Church or most of the Bishops within the body of the USCCB to be overtly supportive of the pro-life movement (although many individual Bishops have been bold in their statements and support). Randall Terry had made suggestions while in Rome, that we ‘need a fallback position’ and it seemed at the time the soon to commence Sotomayor hearings and nomination to the Supreme Court would be this position.

Upon returning to the states, we learned that Notre Dame announced it had invited Obama to speak at it's 2009 commencements, and he had accepted. Notre Dame was also going to honor Obama with an honorary degree, and the school spun this as ‘opening dialogue’ concerning many of his ‘social issues’. Despite the fact it disgusted us, no one other than my wife Kathy thought much about doing anything other than writing letters of protest, and allowing for the local pro-life groups in the Midwest to do something about it. After all, we were focused on Sotomayor and getting the word out about her pro death positions to the country. It was not something we thought we should invest in, and it was seen as a ‘distraction’ from the stated purpose of moving forward in the soon to be supreme court hearings.

It was a couple of days later that Randall Terry had an ‘epiphany’ that it was Obama’s position, coupled with the Catholic Churches complicity in allowing this atrocity to occur that needed more urgent attention than even the Sotomayor hearings. So we gathered as a team, and it was decided that Randall and his family would re locate to South Bend for the next two months and begin a ‘boots on the ground’ campaign to have Obama cancelled from Notre Dame.

At that time, there was little commentary written about this atrocity, and no other groups were present at South Bend, and no other groups demonstrated any interest in pursuing this as an issue equiring their persence there. With a donated office, and two homes rented, the Terry’s and several members of the Insurrecta Nex made South Bend their home. And for the next two months, these vigilant warriors made noise that began to attract a great deal of media, both positive as well as negative. Many groups in the pro-life movement were negative about this effort, and were highly critical of tactics used and were convinced this was the wrong move to make. (Many of these groups ultimately showed up on the weekend of the 17th, and have been taking credit for the publicity and exposure to the media of these efforts).

As the efforts at South Bend began to bear fruits, it began to attract the attention of a much wider swath of the pro-life movement, and people of stature began to commit to this effort. Joan Andrews Bell, a well-known warrior from days gone by committed to the cause. Norma McCorvey, of Jane Doe fame, Fr. Norman Weslin, founder of the Lambs of Christ, Dr. Monica Miller of the Citizens for a Pro Life Society, Jack Ames of Defend Life, Missy Smith of WAKEUP, and eventually Alan Keyes joined in on the efforts.

The arrests start

Randall Terry, along with other protestors, entered the Notre Dame campus on Friday, May 1st with baby carriages filled with bloody plastic fetuses. While Randall was arrested fairly quickly, Diane Roccogrande nearly made it to the administrative building that houses Fr. Jenkins’s office. These arrests lead to a step up in tactics and ultimately set the stage for confrontation with Notre Dame. Had Fr. Jenkins let this effort play itself out instead of ordering the arrests, it may have been likely that little attention would have been paid, and this occasion very well may have generated little interest in the media. Since Fr. Jenkins decided to use the tactic of arrests, it ultimately brought about the ‘media circus’ he was hoping to avoid, and drew attention to his very un Catholic stance by inviting the most pro-death president in the history of the United States to speak at this prestigious university.

Once it was apparent that the tactic to be used by Notre Dame would take in the future for protests would be arrests, the nature of the tactics used by the Insurrecta NEX team also changed. It became apparent that in order to make the point we were attempting to make would require significant sacrifice on the part of all those who planned on going onto the campus. The team also decided to abandon the bloody babies, and simply challenge the school by coming onto campus and praying the rosary. The team thought that Fr. Jenkins would not be so bold as to arrest peaceful prayer warriors praying the rosary on a so called Catholic Campus. But to our chagrin, we were wrong in this assertion and it thus changed the whole strategy of what we wanted to do.

To be continued.

ROEDER'S TRIAL: THINGS TO COME FOR US?

George Offerman


As I mentioned in an earlier post, no matter which way one holds Roeder and what he did, the fact that his defense was not allowed for whatever reason, does not bode well for those who fall outside the purview of political correctness, and may soon be used against us. I am attaching a very well written piece by Dr. Monica Miller, Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan.

Dr. Miller, one of the ND 88, writes one of the best pieces on the need to have a fair trial and the need to consider motive, despite the fact it is extremely unpopular and very few on the pro life side want to contemplate. It is a must read, and I am posting the forward to the piece, that addresses the Roeder trial, and encouraging everyone to go to the link posted below to see Dr. Miller’s paper in progress concerning the moral use of force and her conclusions.




From Monica Migliorino Miller, Ph.D. Director of CPLS
see www.prolifesociety.com
for Roeder conviction another way to access this paper.

In light of the January 29, 2010 Scott Roeder conviction, this working paper (Scroll down) on the ethics of using force in defense of the unborn, is offered for your consideration. My conclusion is that lethal force cannot be justified-- though it is not intrinsically immoral. The point of this paper is to examine this issue with a critical mind.

Here are some thoughts re the Roeder case:
1) According to principles articulated in my paper-- Roeder's killing of abortionist George Tiller, was an illicit use of force--even though his motive was licit.

2) Roeder is not morally guilty of murder. Murder is the morally unjustified taking of innocent human life. Roeder is not guilty of that. He is guilty of an unjustified use of force against an unjust aggressor and so the judge, in the Roeder's case, should have permitted the jury to consider the lesser charge of manslaughter and he did not.

3) The Roeder trial was not a fair trial as long as the victims of abortion were dismissed as non-persons and Tiller's killing of the innocent was never a consideration. And unfortunately since, legally-speaking, no injury is cause to the unborn in abortion--Roeder's defense was, from the start, restricted, unfair and unbalanced.

Monica Migliorino Miller, Ph.D.


Link to Working Paper on the Ethics of Force in Defense of Unborn Human Life

http://www.prolifesociety.com/pages/ArticlesAndPublications/EthicsOnUseOfForce.pdf




As one can see, Dr. Miller attempts to work through some difficult moral, ethical and Theological issues pertaining to force, and how our faith should guide our actions. The forward also points out how the denial of due process by the courts is also not moral, and may be used sometime in the future to deal with any other issue that the developing god/state will determine appropriate for their desired ends.

Again, the denial of due process is not a good outcome in this case despite the fact Roeder Killed Tiller. In essence, he was tried and convicted before this even took place and it is an ugly, but not unpredictable event that will definitely have bad outcomes for believers in the near future. Look out.

RIGHT TO LIFE MARCH, FR. JENKINS AND THE ND 88

George Offerman

It seems that Fr. Jenkins is going to go through with his ‘schizophrenic’ plan to simultaneously show his ‘pro life’ side by showing up at the Right to Life march, and continue to press charges against the ND 88 for the crime of… praying the Rosary on a Catholic campus. Here are some plans of people who happen to agree that Fr. Jenkins is demonstrating some cognitive dissonance in his rather interesting behaviors.

First, Lifesitenews.com (not to be confused with life news and Steven Ertelt) has co-sponsored a petition to free the ND 88 along with Human Life International (HLI) and the Thomas More Society, which is helping to fund the defense lead by Mr. Thomas Dixon. Press release follows:







January 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Wednesday, a petition to "Free the Notre Dame 88" was launched. The petition is co-sponsored by Human Life International (HLI), the Thomas More Society and LifeSiteNews.com. It is addressed to University of Notre Dame President Fr. John Jenkins, and urges him publicly to ask that the charges against the 88 pro-lifers who were arrested on the Notre Dame campus in May of last year be dropped.

"During the Obama scandal controversy, Fr. Jenkins repeatedly assured us that he and Notre Dame are 100% pro-life. Yet, now he is refusing even this tiniest of olive branches to these 88 pro-lifers," said HLI President and Notre Dame Alumnus Fr. Thomas Euteneuer. "Asking that the charges be dropped will cost Fr. Jenkins absolutely nothing, but it could save the ND88 from a protracted trial process, and possible jail time. As long as this situation persists with Notre Dame’s cooperation, how can Fr. Jenkins possibly expect us to take him seriously?"

Members of the ND88 traveled to South Bend in May to protest the university's honoring of Obama (whom pro-lifers have called "the most pro-abortion President in U.S. history") at its commencement. In many cases their "protest" took the form of walking onto campus and praying and/or carrying pro-life signs. For this "crime" they were handcuffed, arrested, and thrown in prison.

At the same time, witnesses report that pro-Obama demonstrators were allowed to roam free throughout the campus.

Now the ND88 are facing charges of trespassing, with a maximum sentence of up to a year in prison and/or a $5,000 fine.

"Notre Dame seriously tarnished its image as a pro-life institution when it honored President Obama earlier this year," said Tom Brejcha, Chief Counsel for the Thomas More Society, which is representing the ND88. "However, it is not too late for the university to restore its pro-life reputation. The first step in that direction would be to stop the persecution of these pro-life heroes by asking that the charges be dropped."

While Fr. Jenkins has responded to concerned pro-lifers by claiming that Notre Dame does not have the power to ask that the charges be dropped, Brejcha called such claims "flatly wrong."

"They always have the power to ask," he said, adding that Notre Dame's asking, "would have great weight with the prosecutor."

Brejcha said, however, that despite repeated requests Fr. Jenkins has continued to refuse to do so.

"It is important for pro-lifers to let Fr. Jenkins know that we have not forgotten what happened on his campus last May," said Brejcha. "We have not forgotten, and we will not forget as long as the ND88 are being forced to pay such a steep price simply for being pro-life."

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10011304.html



Dr Monica Miller, one of the ND 88, has sent out a request for those who would like to show visual support for the ND 88 when Fr. Jenkins shows up. She also gives an update on the situation of the judge who had conflicts of interest in this case, in which the judge recused herself. Good news.


From Monica Migliorino Miller, Ph.D. Director of CPLS
www.prolifesociety.com

A Strategy and a Victory

FIRST THE STRATEGY: Free the ND 88!
Signs and Banners in support of the ND 88
Need to be visible at the March for Life!

Let's not forget that 88 pro-lifers, including your CPLS director, Norma McCorvey, Alan Keyes, Randall Terry, Jack Ames, Fr. Norm Weslin, Joan Andrews Bell and Sister Lois Marie-- with dozens of other wonderful, beautiful committed pro-lifers and lovers of God's truth were arrested on the campus of the University of Notre Dame last year, protesting the abomination of pro-abortion President Obama's commencement speech at a Catholic University.

Fr. Jenkins, President of ND-- WHO ALLOWED THIS SCANDAL TO OCCUR-- WILL BE AT THIS YEAR'S MARCH FOR LIFE!

PLEASE CARRY A SIGN, CARRY A BANNER THAT SAYS: "FREE THE ND 88"

WE INTEND TO HAVE PROFESSIONAL SIGNS MADE AND DISTRIBUTED AT THE MARCH-- BUT YOU COULD JUST AS EASILY MAKE A SIGN OF YOUR OWN! MARCH NEAR THE NOTRE DAME CONTINGENT AND LET THEM SEE IT!

Will you carry such a sign and show your solidarity with those who very well may go to trial in 2010 and even go to jail for their witness to the truth? Please pass this memo on to other groups. Pass this memo on to other pro-lifers. LET'S MAKE THIS A SERIOUS SHOW OF SUPPORT!

AND NOW THE VICTORY:
On December 3, 2009, attorneys for the ND 88, Tom Dixon and Tom Brejcha, of the Thomas More Law Society, had hearings before Judge Manier. Many weeks ago our attorneys asked this judge, assigned to our case, to recuse herself, and she repeatedly refused to do so.

The pro-life attorneys were permitted to take their pleadings to the Appellate Court. We wanted this judge removed from our case because her rulings from an earlier case in St. Joseph County, that dealt with free speech rights at the abortuary in South Bend, were so afoul of the appropriate legal standards as to create evidence of her bias in the current cases. Also Judge Manier has ties to Notre Dame-- as her husband is on staff at the university-- which certainly should be seen as a conflict of interest.

On January 6th-- Feast of the Epiphany-- Judge Manier finally and unilaterally--without the Appellate Court having to force her--decided to recuse herself! So she's off the ND 88 case.

This is a great victory for the ND 88! We've started out the New Year with a great blessing. Much thanks goes to the hard-working and dedicated attorneys who have taken up the cause of the ND 88!

Now we must pray very hard that the case will go to a judge who will understand what we did, make fair rulings and DISMISS the charges against us.

SEE YOU AT THE MARCH!


Show support for the ND 88 by going to the lifesitenews site and signing the petition to free the ND 88. Also contact Dr. Miller for further instructions, and getting signs protesting Fr. Jenkin’s appearance at the march.