Santorum Leading Romney Nationally by Eight Points

THIS has to be prayer! Wow.

By the way..do you hear the deafening silence from Anne Fox and MCFL?

When a real prolifer is gaining on the candidates who give Mass Citizens for Life money, sit by your computer and wait for MCFL to help the prolifer get elected. When you see bupkis, you'll know it's them.

Their silence is actually an improvement from the passive-aggressive press releases to sabotage prolife candidates. Her usual and customary talking point 'he won't get momentum/can't win' would be limited to people who don't read secular newspapers. So hopefully, she's stumped.

What Will Romney Re-Invent Himself as Post South Carolina?

There's one thing Massachusetts Catholics can say with 100% certainty. Well actually, now that I think about it. Two things.

1. When Romney's convictions have not won over grassroots voters, he will get new ones.

“Republican voters have sent the message that they want to vote for an adulterous scumbag and I have heard them loud and clear,” he said. “I promise that I will engage in a world-class extramarital affair that will make all of us proud again.”

According to one senior advisor, the Romney campaign was already holding focus groups and conducting special polling to determine the best person with whom Mr. Romney should conduct his extracurricular dalliance.

And in a sign that Mr. Romney is taking precipitous action to find an object for his adulterous intentions, today his campaign launched a new dating site, SexyTimeWithMitt.com.

Go ahead and laugh. But I'm telling you, it is not far-fetched!

2. Anne Fox of Mass Citizens for Life will send out a press release with a lot of exclamations points saying "It is PRO-LIFE".

Support Santorum (75% do NOT Support Romney!)

Nobody has a crystal ball in who the nominee will be, but judging from the support on the level of the grassroots voters, I wholeheartedly agree with Gingrich that the Mittens will NOT be the nominee.

When there are legitimate prolifers in a political race and it looks like they could actually win, why, in the Name of Christ, would a group get together to go out of their way to endorse a proabort?

Massachusetts Prolife Advocates say Romney is Prolife

Look, of course they have to 'say' it, because when we all look at Romneys record, it isn't 'prolife' at all. They've got to take the same positions they oppose with Obama and then claim they believe those positions to be 'prolife'.

This is political suicide.

If those positions are 'prolife' when Romney takes them, they are 'prolife' when Obama takes them.

This is the reason why prochoice candidates keep defeating prolifers.

They've taken a couple of things and given them a good spin, but here's everything you need to know about whether Romney is 'prolife'.

1. Romney said that he does not favor a federal constitutional amendment banning abortion, but instead favors each state deciding for itself whether to allow abortion or not. (Suppose Lincoln had taken that approach on the slavery issue. )

2. Gov. Romney signed into law a universal health insurance plan that (a) includes increased state-funded abortions, and (b) names Planned Parenthood in the law as an overseer. Romney never challenged any of that.

3. Romney said he would disagree with governmental intervention in the Terri Schiavo forced starvation case, adding "I think it's probably best to leave these kinds of matters in the hands of the courts."

4. Gov. Romney forced Catholic hospitals in Massachusetts to dispense the "morning after" pill.

5. Romney said he does not object to stem cell research using left over human embryos.

6. Although Romney vetoed pro-abortion legislation after his "conversion", it always appeared to be for political effect. The Legislature always overrode the vetoes. We never saw Romney exert any substantial effort to get his vetoes
sustained

Romney's current view on abortion appears to be based more on a procedural stance than a moral view and is not necessarily a pro-life view.

Instead of focusing on the moral case against abortion, Romney has repeatedly stated he wants the people to vote on this issue, which, in of in itself is not a pro-life position unless you also agree to use your position to pass pro-life legislation. But when pressed on whether he would support a constitutional amendment banning abortion, he refuses to answer this question. The National Journal (February 10, 2007) pressed him on this point:

Question:

You would favor a constitutional amendment banning abortion with exceptions for the life of the mother, rape and incest. Is that correct?

Romney:

What I've indicated is that I am pro-life, and that my hope is that the Supreme Court will give to the states over time or give to the states soon or give to the states their own ability to make their own decision with regard to their abortion law.

Question:

If a state wanted unlimited abortion?

Romney:

The state would fall into restrictions that had been imposed at the federal level, so they couldn't be more expansive in abortion than currently exists under the law, but they could become more restrictive in abortion provisions. So states like Massachusetts could stay like they are if they so desire, and states that have a different view could take that course. And it would be up to the citizens of the individual states. My view is not to impose a single federal rule on the entire nation -- a one-size-fits-all approach -- but instead allow states to make their own decisions in this regard.


On February 28, 2005 - also after his conversion - Romney said:

I am personally pro-life. However, as governor I would not change the laws of the commonwealth relating to abortion.

Anne Fox from 'Mass Citizens for Life' somehow didn't make it on the list of prolife usual suspects who endorse proaborts but, she sent out her own email endorsing the proabortion, author of obamacare and unconstitutional mandates. She's very fond of Santorum, but she wishes Romney would see his failings in prolife positions and doesn't want to fault them:

Last night a good chunk of the country joined us to watch the results of the Iowa caucuses. Of course, pro-lifers are very fond of Rick Santorum!

We in Massachusetts wish Governor Romney would recognize the failings of state-controlled health care and come up with a better way to accomplish his laudable goals but we do not fault his pro-life position.....In the last few days we have had calls at the MCFL office from operatives of other campaigns trying to get us to criticize Romney's positions on life. The governor's positions are pro-life and we feel confident that they will stay that way.

With 'prolife' operatives like this, who needs prochoice operatives?

There's a prolifer gaining momentum but we don't want him to get the nomination so let's issue a press release for the flip-floping proabort whom 75% of Repulican's won't support.

If 75% of the Republicans want anyone but Romney and the Democrats are going to vote Democrat, math and common sense should enlighten your intellect that Romney would be defeated against Obama.

Frankly, if it comes to a race where the prolifers defeat the prolifer by endorsing the proabort while the prolifers were gaining momentum -and we get stuck with Romney, my efforts are going toward getting the grassroots to sit out the election. We've got to stop feeding the beast and we are better off having everyone know Obama is a proabort. Having our own prolifers pretend Romney's position are prolife is catastrophic to our mission in the longterm.

Santorum is a real prolifer and is gaining momentum. This is the time to get behind him and put a sock in initiatives endorsing candidates whose positions are prochoice. (n.b. The hubris that Rick is against gay marriage and therefore is extreme - coming from our own voting block is blockhead. Obama is against gay marriage)

Latest news out of Iowa is saying there was a counting error and Santorum may have actually WON.

I'm praying for Santorum and I'm going to do and say all I can to support his momentum. That is what all of us should be doing until we see how the cards play out.

Veddddy Interesting!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Mass Citizens for Life"
Date: Jul 26, 2011 10:51 PM
Subject: MCFL looking to hire Executive Director
To:



Mass. Citizens is planning to hire an Executive Director. If you are interested,
please check, http://jobview.monster.com/Executive-Director-Job-Boston-MA-US-101205979.aspx


We are very excited about finding just the person. Please feel free to forward this
to anyone you think might be interested. Thanks, Anne

The Pathetica of Anne Fox and MCFL

Every time Scott Brown has been forthright about his support for abortion, his opposition to defunding abortionists, Anne Fox and MCFL recalibrate his messages to explain to the pro-life movement how pro-life he is, and how to thank him.

Last month, when Brown said he supported abortion and gave us the signal that he would vote against defunding abortionists because 'it goes too far', Anne Fox sent out her usual and customary damage control for proabortion politicians, explaining that Brown had promised not to fund abortionists and was "with us".

Yesterday, when Brown voted to support funding abortionists, Anne Fox sent out the following:

The vote to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood failed, 42 - 58. Sen. Brown voted against. Yes it is a disappointment. Does it mean that Sen. Brown went against anything he promised before or after his election? No! He promised to vote against abortion funding in its various guises and against embryonic stem cell research. He did not promise to vote with us on Supreme Court nominees but has so far.

The DC defunding will, literally, save 1000 lives every year.

Since they charge for everything and admit they don't need the government funds, defunding Planned Parenthood would be eminently satisfactory but would not stop one of the abortions they perform.

Does this mean Brown's promise during his campaign not to support funding for abortionists has been broken? Don't be silly! He's still with us, she explains. Defunding Planned Parenthood wasn't important after all.

This apostolate has become and enemy of the unborn and truth.

Another Anne Fox/MCFL Crack The Code for Scott Brown Emails

Anne Fox of Mass Citizens for Life is at it again.

Scott Brown announced earlier this week that he is not against federally funding family planning.

Among other things, here's what Scott Brown said:

"I support family planning and health services for women".

The Scott Brown spinmeister at MCFL sent out a press release to explain how to crack the code on this one -I'll get to that in a minute. Here is the rest of Brown's statement:

Brown, a Bay State Republican, said in a statement. “Given our severe budget problems, I don’t believe any area of the budget is completely immune from cuts. However, the proposal to eliminate all funding for family planning goes too far. As we continue with our budget negotiations, I hope we can find a compromise that is reasonable and appropriate.”…

Here's what I understand Anne Fox believes the prolife position is on giving federal money to abortionists: When politicians oppose eliminating funding to abortionists, they are NOT in favor of funding it.

This of course is patently ridiculous.

If you are not in favor of funding abortionists, your position would be in favor of eliminating their federal funding.

Brown has dug himself into a hole. Anne Fox is in the hole with him because she and MCFL have been lying and covering up Brown's prochoice position to rally up Scottt Brown fans from the prolife trenches.

Let me explain how Brown is putting lipstick on the pig.

Brown is trying to say that he is in favor of giving money to abortionists because they provide other services, like birth control and vaccines to women.

If you remember, Kermit Gosnell had vaccines in his back room along with jars filled with babies feet and other body parts.

Pretending we need abortionists to give out flu shots and birth control is one the ways politicians back door federal funding to abortionists. It is political chicanery.

For the record, Catholics teach other Catholic women the perils of birth control pills and the sole use of the gift of human sexuality as a means of physical pleasure. When we have the opportunity, we explain to non-Catholics how they are robbing themselves of real sexual intimacy, planting seeds for breast cancer and circumventing God's Divine plan for their lives. We are NOT in favor of exploiting women in this way, sexualizing them, making them recepticles for semen in their relationships, but we are not in the habit of public advocacy to outlaw contraception.

Catholics certainly are opposed to using our tax dollars for it because we know the harm it does to women and their relationships and to God. If Brown's intentions were providing "decent quality" healthcare to women, gynecologists give out birth control and primary care physicians give out vaccines. He wouldn't be sending women to back alley abortionists and the Kermit Gosnells of this world. The money provided to abortionists is used for other expenses - electricity, heat, payroll -- which frees up other money to provide abortions on the cheap. Even Anne Fox admits this in her press release.

Here's how the Tea Partisan put it:

If federal money went towards PP’s abortion practice, he’d have to vote no, but since it’s earmarked for contraception and unrelated services (which of course frees up other money at PP to apply towards abortions), well, that’s A-OK. Behold the dilemma of a Massachusetts Republican, forever inching his way along a political tightrope.

By the way, for you prolifers out there who have been taking Anne Fox at her word, Brown has repeatedly made his prochoice position clear. Here is a straightforward statement from the transcript from Barbara Walter's interview with Scott Brown (You can read the transcript in its entirety HERE).:

WALTERS: Let's talk about another rising star in the Republican party -- Sarah Palin. Do you think that Sarah Palin is presidential material?

BROWN: Well -- well, sure. I mean, she's been a mayor, and a governor. And -- and has a lot of -- a national following. But I think the more people in a presidential race, the better. She's never contacted us, and vice-versa.

WALTERS: Let's talk about some of your specific views. You are pro-choice, yes?

BROWN: Yes

(As Charlie Sheen says) 'WINNING!'

Anne Fox's most recent in the series of Scott Brown crack-the-code press releases is below. If you can make heads or tails out of it, please let me know.

Anne has turned MCFL into a puppet for politicians who support abortion. I can't figure out who the puppeteer is - are wealthy Republicans pulling her strings?

Whoever and whatever it is, her leadership and strategies have been catastrophic for the prolife movement in Massachusetts. Mass Citizens for Life has been driven into the ground.

Our efforts to rationally discuss the problem have failed.

It is lousy servitude to the unborn - and more importantly to Christ - for us to be paralyzed because we are afraid to hurt Anne's feelings. Let's blow up the balloons. It's time for the retirement party.

The main stream media "reports" that Sen. Brown has come out in favor of funding Planned Parenthood. That is not actually what he said.

"I support family planning and health services for women. Given our severe budget problems, I don't believe any area of the budget is completely immune from cuts. However, the proposal to eliminate all funding for family planning goes too far. As we continue with our budget negotiations, I hope we can find a compromise that is reasonable and appropriate."

The reporting has confused the provision of H.R. 1 that zeroes out Title X for the rest of the fiscal year (on which MCFL has taken no position), with the Pence Amendment, which does NOT reduce funding for Title X but which denies federal funding, from any program, for PPFA and its affiliates. Brown clearly expressed disagreement with the former provision, but he made no comment on the Pence Amendment.

Brown has pledged to vote against abortion funding. Title X money is not supposed to be used for abortions. Of course you are right - the funds are fungible, Planned Parenthood is doing a lot of murky things, they don't even provide some of the services they are touting, they have said they don't need federal money, a few years ago they could not account for hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funds, etc.

NPR got in trouble for using federal funds to lobby for federal funds. It appears that PP will get away with it. If they have sold their message to Congress better than we have, shame on us.

This means we must redouble the pressure! The vote on the Pence amendment in the Senate has not occurred, so please get back on the phones. Try to bring in some of your friends who haven't called yet.

Please make all the points you want, in any way you want, about the other awful things Planned Parenthood does, since those are the things that the Pence Amendment would defund.

Please call now, (202) 224-4543


If you can visit his office, so much the better

John F. Kennedy Federal Building, Suite 2400
15 New Sudbury Street
Boston, MA 02203, 617-565-3170


Defunding Planned Parenthood has been on our miracle list. Now that it seems in the realm of possibility, we must work harder than ever. Go to it!
Anne

Will the Kerfuffle over Howie Carr be Ann Fox's Waterloo at Mass Citizens for Life?

Catholics involved in pro-life activism in Massachusetts have been challenged by the leadership in the major pro-life political machine, Mass Citizens for Life.   Readers here know all the reasons why, so it isn't necessary to enumerate them except to say they consider support for Roe v. Wade satisfactory enough to be honored with the label 'pro-life', they tweak candidate questionnaires to hide their candidates pro-choice positions and they've been asking grassroots Catholic pro-lifers to work for, support, fund and elect pro-choice candidates now for at least a decade.

Somewhere along the line, it became more important to MCFL to 'win' than to work to elect prolifers and this has created numerous problems on many levels.   Most importantly, it has fractured our troops and castrated our political power at the level of the GOP when they recruit candidates to put their money and power behind.    Prolifers are not part of the discussions because the GOP knows we'll use our political machine to elect prochoice candidates.

There have been many leaders of Mass Citizens for Life in the last decade who have carried this prochoice torch but the tenure of its current president, Anne Fox, has certainly been the most tenuous.  The donnybrooks over the strategies involving deception have laid our political machine to waste.  The pace of the gradual mutiny quickened as the pro-life credentials of their candidates deteriorated and the deceptive practices with their candidate questionnaires became commonplace, starting with Mitt Romney.

The heart and soul of the pro-life political machine here in Massachusetts is Catholic.  Many of us have other shticks.   At every crisis of leadership over the last few years, we've pulled together to brainstorm about what to do with Captain Queeg after reason and right judgment failed to persuade.   Most are now at the point where they believe we should start our own Catholic pro-life political machine here in Massachusetts - Massachusetts Catholics for Life.    Several years ago, a coup de tat of the Board of Directors (who elects officers and votes on policies) was attempted by several well-known, well-respected Massachusetts Catholic prolifers.  All of them have other apostolates, many of them also have full time jobs and the coup fell short.

This latest controversy involving MCFL's invitation to Howie Carr to speak at the Assembly for Life (refresher on the controversy HERE and HERE) has really turned up the heat.    CJ Doyle and Dan Flatley at the Catholic Action League kicked off a campaign that brought a deluge of requests to MCFL to rescind the invitation to Carr because a) Carr supports proabort politicians b) he has no record of being a pro-lifer and c) he has said numerous vulgar anti-Catholic things about Catholic Sacraments, our Saints and our priests.

More importantly, Carr has repeatedly said that poor women should not be allowed to have children because they can't afford them.  This is not the face pro-lifers want as their poster boy.   It should be a no brainer that this doesn't send the right message to pregnant poor women from a pro-life group.

In what I would say is more than a coincidence, the Chairman of MCFL's Board resigned over the past few weeks and many made clear they would be be boycotting and demonstrating outside of the event.

Yet, in yesterday's Pilot was an article with several astounding quotes from Anne Fox.     The article is called "Carr to remain keynote speaker at MCFL Rally".

On Dec. 17, officials of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts wrote an open letter to MCFL president Anne Fox asking her to rescind Carr’s invitation to address the MCFL’s annual Assembly for Life, which will be held Jan. 16 at 2 p.m. at Faneuil Hall.

The letter was signed by Catholic Action League executive director C. J. Doyle and former chairman Daniel Flatley.   

In the letter, Doyle and Flatley cited incidents over the last 12 years in which they contend Carr has demeaned Catholic priests, the Church’s sacramental practices and leadership, children born to unwed mothers, and immigrant groups.

They called the invitation “an affront to the Christian religion and everything the Pro-Life movement professes to uphold,” it also said.

However, in an announcement that will appear in the MCFL January newsletter that Fox provided to The Pilot, she affirmed that Carr’s invitation will not be rescinded.  [<---Hold that thought for a minute...but don't believe everything you read.]

She noted that Carr is being asked to speak as a “respected political observer and commentator.”  He is expected to speak on the power and influence of the pro-life vote in light of Sen. Scott Brown’s election in 2009 and the gains made by pro-life state legislators in 2010.

“It is obvious that people do not recognize the power of the pro-life vote, not pro-lifers ourselves and certainly not the press or the politicians,” she wrote.  “It is important that we continue to run and elect pro-life officials.  It is much easier for a pro-life person to run for office with the assurance that the pro-life vote is there.”

A couple of problems.  One, Scott Brown is prochoice.  Two, all of the pro-life candidates were defeated in Massachusetts because, and here comes the irony, MCFL does not put 'the power of the pro-life vote'  behind actual pro-life candidates.     Their modus operandi is figuring out who can win so they can be on a winning team.   If Anne believed in the power of the pro-life vote, she would be putting that power behind pro-lifers.

Anne is mixing up the words 'pro-life' and 'conservative'.


MCFL has sent out a press release in the last few hours with Howie Carr's name mysteriously replaced with Ray Flynn as the featured speaker.

Most everyone agrees that Howie Carr serves a purpose in the conservative movement and is sorry to see he got sucked into Anne Fox's, God love her, poor judgment.  He is joining a long list.

Pro-lifers are not going to continue operating with a political machine that elects prochoice politicians.  It is a dereliction of duty to the unborn.

We want one in place for the 2012 elections which means the Board of Directors has to persuade Anne Fox, God love her, to be moseying on down the road - or it means Catholic pro-lifers are going to put something together that will publish authentic and honest questionnaires revealing support of Roe v. Wade of candidates MCFL continues to call 'pro-life'.

The Board of Directors is responsible and needs to take responsibility of the poor judgment and strategy,  and do what needs to be done.  There are many, many good people in MCFL but the officers who carry out the day to day decisions have been a disaster.  We're going to spend the next few months lobbying board members and if they can't make a commitment  to fixing the problem - we will have a new Catholic pro-life machine here in Boston before the end of 2011.  This is certainly not something we have wanted to do but we need a pro-life political machine to take advantage of the stampede away from Obamaculture.  We need to be savvy and cast the net... and the timing is now.

Here's CJ Doyle's excellent Press Release:

NEWS RELEASE

SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  C. J. DOYLE

(781) 251-9739

HOWIE CARR WITHDRAWS AS SPEAKER AT ASSEMBLY FOR LIFE

FOLLOWING CAMPAIGN BY CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE

Less than three weeks after the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts began a campaign to disinvite him, WRKO talk show host Howie Carr has withdrawn as the keynote speaker at the Annual Assembly for Life.  Massachusetts Citizens for Life, which sponsors the event — to be held January 16th at Faneuil Hall — told callers to their office yesterday that Carr had withdrawn “for personal reasons.”  Former U. S. Ambassador to the Holy See Ray Flynn has been scheduled to replace Carr.

The Catholic Action League mobilized hundreds of Catholics to contact MCFL and the Archdiocese of Boston (which regularly participates in the event) and demand Carr’s removal.  Carr has a long history of vulgar and malicious attacks on the Catholic religion.  He has mocked the Eucharist, engaged in vile sexual innuendo regarding the Holy Family, and cast relentless aspersions on the Catholic priesthood.  Promoting invidious stereotypes about Hispanics as criminals and illegal aliens, Carr plays Mexican music while reading the names of criminal suspects with Hispanic surnames.  Where the pro-life movement tries to demonstrate compassion for poor women in difficult circumstances, Carr derisively refers to the children born out of wedlock to mothers on public assistance as “little bastards”, and has reportedly argued that women on welfare not be allowed to have children.

The Catholic Action League called Carr’s withdrawal “a victory for outraged and long suffering Catholics sick and tired of Carr’s boorish bigotry.”

Catholic Action League Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: “In a market economy in a secular society, Catholics may not be able to drive bigots like Carr off the airwaves, but we should at least be able to prevent him from being treated as respectable within our own community.  In this case, we succeeded in doing so.  Having Howie Carr as the keynote speaker at the Assembly for Life would have been an insult to Catholics, an affront to Hispanics and immigrants, and an expression of contempt for unwed mothers and their children.”

“MCFL President Anne Fox ought to apologize for the disgraceful decision to invite Carr in the first place.  That decision betrayed an appalling disregard to Carr’s record of blasphemy, sacrilege, nativism and anti-Catholicism.  It was also an act of ingratitude to courageous elected officials who have defended the right to life, who have come to the aid of MCFL in perilous times, and who have been unjustly maligned by Howie Carr.  The leadership of MCFL ought to be ashamed of itself for this unconscionable and embarrassing choice for keynote speaker.”

A Lump of Coal for Mass Citizens for Life Stocking

Anne Fox responded to the Catholic Action League's Press Release.

There's good news and bad news.

I'll give you the bad news first.

Anne says the kind things Howie says about the Montrose School is getting lost in all the hoopla from Catholics offended by Carr's "political acumen" against Our Eucharistic Lord, the Holy Spirit, the Catholic Church and Her Sacraments and the suggestion that St. Joseph sodomized animals.

 After all, MCFL is 'non-sectarian' and "assiduous" people could make a list of positive things he's said about people at his parish.

MCFL may officially be 'non-sectarian', but its membership and supporters are almost exclusively Catholic. Anyway, how does MCFL being 'non-sectarian' abjure Carr's offensive remarks and make him an acceptable cheerleader for the sanctity of life? As CJ reveals below, Carr has actually referred to children born out of wedlock as 'little bastards'.  What kind of a message does that send to single mothers about MCFL?   Doesn't it undermine our entire mission in the pro-life community?

It isn't just that his remarks about Our Lord are vulgar, his remarks persuade his audience against the Church which ultimately keeps people away from the Sacraments and unity with Christ.   I am baffled that the consequences to the salvation of souls from Carr's smearing of the Catholic Church are given license by calling MCFL 'non-sectarian'. 

Fox also is under the impression that Howie Carr is "anti-choice".

 I'm not sure what the word "anti-choice" means, but here's why the wordsymthing is coming across as more of the same intellectual dishonesty we've all grown accustomed to from MCFL: If Carr were 'anti-choice' he wouldn't have the history he has promoting proabortion politicians who then go on to make laws that support abortion rights.  That's what you call counterproductive.

If Carr said he was against antisemetism but he had a long history of promoting antisemitic politicians, this is an indication that he's not committed enough to the cause to lead the annual Jewish anti-defamation assembly.

Carr doesn't have 'pro-life' credentials and his 'political acumen' about the Catholic religion, our Pope, teachings, priests and Sacraments disqualify him to lead an MCFL-sponsored event.

MCFL is creating further divisions in the pro-life community by holding onto her story and invitation to Howie Carr.

The good news is, the Catholic Action League has issued a spectacular response:

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE REJECTS MCFL EXCUSES
FOR INVITATION TO HOWIE CARR

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today rejected excuses offered by Anne Fox, President of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, for that organization's invitation to the anti-Catholic, Hispanic-bashing radio shock jock Howie Carr, to be the featured speaker at MCFL's Annual Assembly for Life on January 16th.

In a late breaking development, the League has learned that the Chairman of the MCFL Board of Directors, long time pro-life activist Henry Luthin, resigned over the weekend.

The following is the reply of Anne Fox to the League's letter of December 17th:

Dear C. J.,

As I prepared to respond to your email, which requested that we withdraw our invitation to Howie Carr to speak at the Massachusetts Citizens for Life Assembly for Life, I realized that you had sent to your entire list what I assumed was a private email. It surprises me greatly that you would do that without contacting me first. If your goal was to have us withdraw our invitation, it would have been prudent to have contacted me...

You cite examples of statements from the last dozen years which are definitely out of order. I had not been aware of them. I have heard Howie praise the people and the school in his parish as well as The Montrose School. If someone as assiduous as you had been monitoring for the same dozen years, I suspect he would also have a dossier of positive statements.

Massachusetts Citizens for Life is nonsectarian. We, of course, join all pro-life people in admiration and gratitude for the leadership of the Catholic Church which has and is working so hard to restore the Culture of Life and would do nothing to embarrass her.

Howie is anti-abortion. He has been very helpful to us in our work over the past year and a half to publicize the anti-life aspects of Obamacare. We have not asked him to speak as an "entertainer". We have asked him to speak, because of his political acumen, about the unacknowledged power of the pro-life vote. The general public, politicians, and our own people need to hear that.

C. J., I trust that you will share this email with the people to whom you sent your original email.

Best,
Anne


The Catholic Action League characterized Fox's remarks as "a bizarre attempt to defend the indefensible."

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: "Evidently, Anne Fox never heard of the old saying that when you are already in a hole, you should stop digging. She actually makes the insipid argument that blasphemy and sacrilege --- insulting the Body of Christ and making obscene references about the Foster Father of Our Lord --- can be overlooked if there are countervailing considerations. The notion that the vile things Howie Carr has said about the Blessed Sacrament and Saint Joseph are somehow counterbalanced by the financial support he has provided to his daughters' parochial school is manifestly absurd and intellectually dishonest, as is the pathetic attempt to hide behind the non-sectarian status of MCFL. Serious organizations do not invoke their non-sectarian character to excuse bigotry and hate speech."

"As for the preposterous assertion that we have somehow neglected to mention the allegedly good things Howie Carr has said about the Church, here, Anne Fox descends from argument to comedy. The only things which we have omitted are the new revelations about Howie Carr which we are learning of every day as more people contact us with evidence of his Catholic bashing. If anyone believes that they can bring success to their organization by showcasing someone who has mocked the Second Person of the Holy Trinity and defamed the Head of the Holy Family, then their thinking is that of an atheist rather than a Christian."

"For the record, Howie Carr supports sterilization and contraception, and has a long history of promoting pro-abortion candidates for public office. Where the pro-life movement demonstrates compassion for women in difficult circumstances, the caustic Howie Carr demeans the children born out of wedlock to mothers on public assistance as 'little bastards'. Do we really wish to project the surly and mean-spirited countenance of Howie Carr as the image of the Massachusetts pro-life movement? Those who rail against immigrants, minorities, and welfare recipients, far from building a culture of life, usually promote sympathy for population control."

"Liberal Catholics malign the pro-life movement by unjustly accusing it of being a political front for the Republican Party. In this case, Anne Fox seems determined to vindicate that claim, even if it means embracing enemies of the Faith as repulsive as Howie Carr. From tailoring candidate questionnaires to make pro-abortion Republicans look 100% pro-life, to providing a platform to a Republican attack dog, it appears that Anne Fox is seeking to reduce the once proud Massachusetts Citizens for Life to an auxiliary of the Massachusetts Republican Party. For the credibility of their own organization, the officers, directors and members of MCFL ought to restrain her from doing so."

"Meanwhile, the Catholic Action League will begin to call local and national attention to the scandal of having an anti-Catholic, anti-Hispanic, anti-immigrant, anti-life speaker at a pro-life event."

*********

Please add this to your list of  prayers in your Christmas worship.  It is more than an 'incident'.  The trajectory of Mass Citizens for Life has been sucking the oxygen out of the pro-life community for about ten years.  This event has the potential to bring on a formal divorce which could get very ugly.  We have all been trying to avoid it for the sake of 'peace'.   But like everything else the Hound of Heaven does when we are abdicating our duties, He is making it impossible for us to be at peace with it.

n.b. Please also pray for the Walshes who lost their daughter over the last few months, and a sister in Christ who lost her job and is facing eviction.

Open Letter to Anne Fox and Mass Citizens for Life Asking Them to Withdraw Howie Carr Invitation

-----Original Message-----
From: cmmckinley@aol.com
To: Anne Fox, Officers & Directors of MCFL
Sent: Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:20 am
Subject: Please Withdraw Invitation to Howie Carr


+
IHS

Dear Anne,

I'm writing to request the invitation to Howie Carr as a featured speaker at the Assembly for Life be withdrawn.

Howie Carr is a political media personality that can be entertaining but he is not a pro-lifer. Whatever positions he holds that seem to be common ground are not common ground with a Catholic pro-life organization. His opposition to Obamacare is not grounded in the sanctity of life, it is fiscal and big government related opposition. Though we can chum around with him at the Harvard Club and laugh at his moonbat jokes, he does not belong as the featured speaker at the Assembly of Life.

More importantly, Howie Carr is vulgar and vile critic of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord. The Sacrament and price of our the salvation of our souls is regularly cheapened and spat upon. I was told that as recently as the past few weeks, he proclaimed that "90% of of Catholic priests are pedophiles".

I vehemently object to and am outraged by this invitation and will be taking an active role in lobbying others to request that you withdraw this invitation. If you fail to immediately do so, I will be lobbying our Catholic priests, high-ranking leaders to boycott the event.

The mission of Mass Citizens for Life is a "pro-life" organization whose members and supporters are Catholics who politically organize to have their convictions represented in the various processes of defining civil and constitutional law.

Somewhere along the way, it capitulated to a political organization that identifies with and endorses pro-choice politicians. It tumbled from the primary mission of getting candidates who oppose Roe v. Wade on the ballot and getting out the ground troops to get them elected, to finding common ground with prochoice candidates on ancillary issues and re-characterizing their support of Roe v. Wade as acceptable enough to get a pro-life endorsement from the major Catholic pro-life political machine in Massachusetts.

I am sorry to say, this Howie Carr invitation is adding fuel to the overall impression that MCFL's trajectory is furthering itself as a Catholic political organization and becoming a political shill for fiscal conservatives who wish to use it as a tool.

St. Joseph, chaste guardian of the Virgin, protector of The Holy Church, pray for us.

Carol McKinley



-----Original Message-----
From: calmdoyle@aol.com
Sent: Fri, Dec 17, 2010 2:12 pm
Subject: CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE LETTER TO MCFL




December 17, 2010

Anne Fox, President
Massachusetts Citizens For Life
The Schrafft Center
529 Main Street
Charlestown, MA 02129


Dear Anne,

We were astonished to learn that Howie Carr will be featured at MCFL's Annual Assembly For Life on January 16th. Carr is a notorious Catholic-basher with a long record of vicious and gratuitous attacks on the Catholic Religion.

On April 8, 1998 --- Wednesday in Holy Week --- in response to a decision by the Red Sox to forgo alcohol sales in Fenway Park because Opening Day would fall on Good Friday, Carr hosted a segment on his program in which he invited listeners to comment on selling "Catholic Eucharists for $3.49 a bag" as a substitute for beer. The result was a half hour of offensive slurs profaning the Blessed Sacrament.

In one particularly vile episode later in 1998, in a conversation between Carr and his producer Doug Goudie evidently intended to disparage Arabs, it was asserted that shepherds in the Middle East had unnatural relations with the animals in their flocks. Into this depraved subject the name of Saint Joseph --- the Virgin Spouse of the Virgin Mother of God --- was introduced. Saint Joseph was then misidentified as a shepherd.

In an interview with Malachy McCourt, Carr laughed and snickered over McCourt's assertion that the late Francis Cardinal Spellman was not only a homosexual but a pedophile. Carr went on to recount a story alleging that an episcopal ring was found by police in a homosexual brothel, implying that the ring belonged to Spellman.

In January, 2002, Carr hosted a segment in which he asked his listeners " Are you ashamed to be a Catholic?", during which he boasted that he never went to Mass. All throughout the molestation crisis of 2002, Carr contemptuously referred to the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston as "Bernie Law", and on November 29th of that year the Boston Herald published a column by Carr in which he described the Cardinal as "a Bulger bum kisser."

Hispanic Catholics, with their large families and culture of life, are the future of the Church and the Pro-Life movement in America. Howie Carr however, is not only an anti-Catholic but a crude nativist. One of the recurring themes of his program is the attempt to link illegal immigrants to crime. A particularly offensive gimmick is his habit of playing Mexican music while reading the names of criminal suspects with Hispanic surnames. This hostility to Hispanics and immigrants places Cardinal O'Malley, or whoever represents him from the Archdiocese of Boston, in the embarrassing position of sharing a stage with someone who boorishly castigates some of the neediest members of his flock.

In a Catholic community which has a significant number of Eastern Rite Catholics of Lebanese and Syrian descent (the Melkite Cathedral is in West Roxbury) it is unimaginable that MCFL would actually provide a platform to a rabble rousing shock jock who has described Arabs in the past as "towelheads".

Inviting Howie Carr to address the Assembly for Life is an act of monumental ingratitude to elected officials who defended the right to life and came to the aid of MCFL in difficult times. Men such as William Bulger, Ray Flynn, Thomas Finneran, and the late Jim Craven have been the victims of vulgar insults, venomous denunciations, and malevolent diatribes by this spiteful demagogue.

A larger issue here is why an organization with a predominantly Christian membership would want to showcase a public figure whose life and career embody such a cynical negation of Christian values. Howie Carr is infamous for his uncharitableness of speech, his lack of compassion, and his sneering contempt for the objects of his scorn. He preys upon the vulnerable, exploits the misfortunes of others, incites rancor and envy, and has grown rich by his indifference to the Eighth Commandment. He mocks the Church, derides the poor, maligns men who have more integrity than he does, and has ridiculed the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Inviting such a miserable creature to address an organization dedicated to the sanctity and dignity of human life is an affront to the Christian religion and everything the Pro-Life movement professes to uphold.

We urge you to reconsider this improvident decision and cancel the invitation to this inappropriate choice for a speaker.

Sincerely,

Daniel T. Flatley C. J. Doyle
Chairman Emeritus Executive Director

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts

MCFL Hijacks the Word Prolife Again-- It is Time for The Change We Can Believe In

 As everyone knows, Jeff Perry is battling Joe Malone in the 10th Congressional district for the Republican nomination - Bill Delahunt's seat.


Bill Dellahunt was a trainwreck on all of our issues.  Prolifers are not sorry he is handing over his seat.  


I'm here to remind you that MCFL's 20 year strategy of advancing the political careers of proaborts included advising prolifers to vote for Bill Dellahunt.    


Like Martha Coakley, Joe Malone is a bad egg.    Jeff Perry is the better candidate for prolifers who feel called to continue to go to the polls and continue to feed the country the best proabort.     I am done with voting for proaborts.  They are anathema to me but I truly feel that people voting for the best proabort is a legitimate calling. I affirm it.  


This is not about Jeff Perry.


It is about MCFL's  strategy for the last 20 years, its honesty.   And, it is about what it means to be a 'prolife' candidate in the future.  


MCFL is once again not being honest about Jeff Perry.  Jeff Perry does not oppose abortion.


Here's what MCFL said about Perry:

According to Jack Rowe, Chairman of the Fed PAC,  "As a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Jeff Perry has been a strong advocate for life.  He even voted against state funding of embryonic stem cell research."

 Rowe further stated, "Perry opposes tax funding of abortion and takes a pro-life position on all important issues.

No.  He doesn't.


You remember the important issue of abortion?


Here are the positions of Joe Malone and Jeff Perry - see if you can pick out the one MCFL claims has "a prolife position on the issue" of *abortion*.   

1.   Abortion - I hope we can agree that there are too many abortions in America.  I support efforts to provide women considering abortion with resources and education to enable and empower them to choose life, including pregnancy care centers and programs which can increase adoptions.   I support parental consent and notification requirements and I oppose partial birth abortion.  I also believe there are people of good will on both sides of the issue and we ought to work together to support and promote adoption as an alternative to abortion.

2.  ABORTION
I support a woman’s right to choose under the guidelines set by the United States Supreme Court.  Certainly, many people disagree with this position and I respect their views.  I do oppose partial birth abortion and federal funding of abortions. I support parental consent requirements for minors and counseling to encourage adoption and would work to increase the number of adoptions.

You tell me - which one has a prolife position on the issue of abortion?


The entire purpose of our mission.  Abortion.  


Not to be a broken record, but let's go over again where has MCFL's strategy gotten us in the last 20 years:


Here in Massachusetts, we now have zero votes in the Senate and a bakers dozen in the legislature. Now that we are down to nothing, how many lives are being saved by this strategy?


When we want to advance life issues, we have zero people in the Senate.


People keep blaming this situation on the voters.   Here is the reality check:


We don't have a political machine that proactively seeks out prolifers, grooms them, endorses them and gets out the vote for them.   There is a way to be politically savvy and market our people proactively and win the vote.  Even, right here in Massachusetts.   


We have plenty of honorable people who want life defended from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death who will honorably represent our position on abortion while also taking other positions the American people are upset about.  


A political machine picks out charismatic, articulate people and puts a marketing package together that will resonate with things lots of voters are concerned about.   Running a campaign to win means putting your finger in the air and feeling the direction of the wind.  Finding things everyone can agree on and riding the wave.


In spite of the press, liberals are upset about Obamacare and illegal immigration.  They're tired of the political cronyism.  They're tired of having things shoved down their throat the overwhelming majority of Americans don't support.  We don't like the situation either.   


If ever there was a time when we had consensus with American people, the post-Obama world can be played to our advantage with some smart, savvy political strategy.    


This is what every political machine does that has a mission.  They package their candidates to create the soundbytes that gets THEIR OWN candidates elected.  They get out the vote for THEIR OWN CANDIDATES.


We do not have that political machine in MCFL.    There is no wisdom or political savvy.   Because they don't have the savvy and know how, it is a machine that has churned out proaborts for 20 years.  


Instead of grooming prolife candidates and packaging them, supporting them and getting out the vote for our own candidates, they are doing something else.  They are changing the 'word' "prolife" to mean you can be an outstanding prolifer but still support Roe v. Wade.


This is an outstanding prolife position to MCFL.    A warrior for the unborn can support Roe v. Wade.


We have a duty to protect what the word 'prolife' means for the next generation who will be victimized by it.  


Let's also be clear about what MCFL does when a prolifer approaches them for support in a race:    


They tell them they can't win and they will not lend their support.  They then go out and endorse a proabort and as the race picks up, MCFL throws the prolifer under the bus.  They will actually look past the candidates position that they believe in the sanctity of life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death to find something to nitpick and circulate something saying they are not 'prolife'.   Or, they ignore the race all together as they are doing with Ed Sholley and Barney Frank.

There are national consequences to changing what the word "prolife" mean by MCFL and the strategy is being watched and covered in national prolife political circles.

After the dustup in the wake of its endorsement of independent gubernatorial candidate Tim Cahill, Massachusetts Citizens for Life has released a further statement helping pro-life voters understand its decision-making.....

MCFL says Cahill "made it clear" in two different meeting with officials of the pro-life group that, while he believes Roe v. Wade is "settled law,"...

After issuing an endorsement last week, MCFL came under fire from some pro-life advocates and Cahill and his staff responded in the press that he officially supports legalized abortions -- albeit with numerous pro-life limits...

The strategy of endorsing candidates who say killing the unborn is settled law and finding something we can bond with him on is legitimate political strategy for us, is it?

Settled law my eye.   Slavery was settled law.    The entire purpose of the prolife political movement is to overturn law that allows people to rip the limbs off of children until they bleed to death.    


There are liberties people take that victimize other people.  When a country settles its law to grant those people license to victimize other people, righteous people stand up and overturn those laws.  

It is sound political strategy to dance around the proabortion elephant in the room to find something else we agree with proaborts about?

How does this differ from Catholics United?

Why do the same prolifers who gripe about Catholics United turn around and defend this strategy when MCFL executes it?


It is intellectual dishonesty.  

I have plenty of gripes about the Republicans but imagine if they sat back for 20 years as a political machine endorsing and getting out the vote for the best of all the proaborts?

It is bad strategy.  I don't know anyone rational who would run a political machine this way.  It is indefensible. 

We are stuck with MCFL's harvest - zero votes in the Senate and a dozen in the legislature.

It is time for the change we can believe in.  

MCFL Clarifies the Tim Cahill "Confusion" (It's as clear as mud)

MCFL has clarified their endorsement of Tim Cahill.

It got a little closer to the truth - but no cigar. And, it is too little, too late.

In yesterday's Globe, Madeline McCormish revealed that she 'interviewed' Tim Cahill on his positions on the sanctity of life and the question on whether he supports life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death, never came up.

You'll remember that MCFL took their doctored-up questionnaire, painted Cahill as 'an outstanding advocate of the unborn' and a candidate who holds prolife positions in every aspect of our mission.  

You'll remember that MCFL tried to claim their PAC was not MCFL - which they continue to do today:

The State PAC has asked us to share with you this statement of theirs

"There has been some confusion regarding the endorsement of Tim Cahill by the MCFL State PAC. The PAC endorsed the Cahill-Loscocco ticket because the ticket is the best choice to advance the pro-life cause.

Tim Cahill made clear in two different meetings with the PAC that, while he believes that Roe is settled law," 

This puts to rest any of Madeline McCormish's pretense that it was news to her that Cahill is supports Roe v. Wade and a woman's "right" to kill an unborn child.


MCFL goes on to say, that when it comes to legislation that is not in play in Massachusetts, Other than sucking the limbs off of babies unto death, which he firmly believes in,  should pigs fly and the Massachusetts legislature ever turn prolife and roll laws across his desk, he will get right on it.  


In a call yesterday with a Massachusetts prolife leader, we chatted about MCFL's history for the last couple of decades.   MCFL has been going the route of supporting proabortion politicians by spinning and covering up their proabortion convictions and telling us they are making incremental advances.


Will somebody please take an inventory of what we have up at the State House and tell me show me the gains we have made?


This tack has done nothing but turn over the unborn to the culture of death, incrementally.


Within two minutes on the call with this Mass prolife leader we came up with a list of politicians MCFL helped elect who then made laws and policies that turned Massachusetts into what it is as we speak.


Bob Ambler, Bill Delahunt, Joe Malone, Ed Markey, Dan Daley, Marian Walsh, Tom Finneran, Joe Moakley, Steve Lynch, Mitt Romney, Scott Brown.  Though Ray Flynn never repudiated our mission, he did work for and with proaborts who advanced the culture of death.


All of these politicians, whom MCFL supported and helped elect by claiming they were 'prolife' eventually turned around and screwed us because they were never prolife to begin with.


If there is any prolifer who can look around in Massachusetts and convince themselves pretending proabortion politicians will be outstanding advocates for the unborn and getting out the vote for them has made Massachusetts a more friendly place for the unborn in the last twenty years, you are swimming in a river of denial and I cannot help you.


In Massachusetts, the race for governor is anathema.  The State House is fill to the rafters with proabortion politicians MCFL helped elect.  Legislation will never reach his desk.  It is not and should never have been anything more than a recommendation based upon who is the better of the proaborts.   


No pride should ever be involved in endorsing a proabort.


For those of us who recognize there has to be a new game in town, new leadership in MCFL, new vision and a new determination to 'get out 100,000 people' for prolife candidates (and there are some in the race for November), this clarification of the dishonesty is meaningless.  

In case I have not been clear,Carol has asked me to share this statement of hers.

Here is how to 'incrementally' start to dig ourselves out of this hole in Massachusetts and help the unborn: 


We need leaders who reserve the use of our political power, resources and ground troops to elect "prolifers".     And, when the word "prolifer" is used, it is to be reserved for candidates who believe that life is sanctified from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.   There needs to be no more compromise and no more lying and no more getting out the vote or using an ounce of energy for anyone who does not meet this litmus test.