MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President of Americans United for Life, is attending the Republican Platform Committee meetings August 26-27, and is available to media for interviews.

Dr. Yoest said, "Survey after survey confirms that Americans are becoming more pro-life each year. It is vital that the political parties understand this and incorporate it into their platforms."

In a Gallup poll from May of this year, 71% of Americans want all abortions to be limited to rare circumstances or to be illegal. An ABC News / Washington Post poll this year indicated the percentage of Americans who identify themselves as "pro-life" has risen to tie a previous peak in the percentage of pro-life Americans. Recent polls by CBS News and by Zogby report substantially the same thing.

Dr. Yoest is available for interviews.

About Americans United for Life

Americans United for Life (AUL) is a nonprofit, public-interest law and policy organization whose vision is a nation in which every human being is welcomed in life and protected in law. The first national pro-life organization in America, AUL has been committed to defending human life through vigorous judicial, legislative, and educational efforts at both the federal and state levels since 1971. The Wall Street Journal has profiled AUL, and PBS's Frontline program chronicled AUL's successful efforts in Mississippi.

Website: http://www.AUL.org

Blog: http://Blog.AUL.org

SOURCE Americans United For Life
Copyright 2008 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved.

Charmaine gets to the 71 percent by adding the percent legal only under certain circumstances (54 percent) and illegal under all circumstances (17 percent).

Our abortion-friendly friends at Pandagon add the numbers a bit differently. They add the middle ground number of 54 percent to the 28 percent legal under all circumstances to arrive at 82%.

Does this mean that America wants abortion on demand throught all nine months and beyond as Pandagon suggests?

Nope. The 54 percent would include, say, my old boss, governor Gilmore of Virginia, who supported abortion only before the 13th week -- but ran on a pro-life platform and promised a pro-life administration and followed through by hiring pro-lifers like Your Business Blogger(R).

This is what that 54 percent number means. Over half of the country wants real restrictions on abortion. People want parental notification when a teenager wants an abortion. Very few support Partial Birth Abortion. Very few women have abortions when they see a sonogram of their baby. People think a 24 hour waiting period is a good idea. Very few support abortion in the third trimester or would permit abortion for sex selection.

No one except for Obama and interesting characters like Professor Singer from Princeton want infanticide by neglect.

Americans want restrictions on abortions.

Posted at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Your Business Blogger(R) once asked writer and reporter Richard Miniter about the sales process. He described sales as The Transference of Emotion.

Nothing was transferred last night.

The political confab is designed to sell both a tangible and an intangible: A Person and his Ideas.

Neither was sold on Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention.

Mary Jo Kopechne, Born: July 26, 1940;
Died: July 18,1969

Charmaine is currently in Minneapolis and I will be joining her soon for a series of meetings.

One of our favorite constant questions is, "Will it sell?"

In any human transaction, someone is selling and someone is buying. The Democrats did not have much of a pitch last night.

The were attempting to sell Michelle Obama. But I kept thinking of another Democratic woman.

The video brought a flood of tears to all eyes who watched it. The Democrats were swooning, estatic, drowning in thier adulation.

But not conservatives. We cried for other reasons.

The Ted Kennedy video was horrifying. The opening scene was of water lapping up on a quiet shore. I kept looking for a half submerged car -- at least there wasn't a bridge in the picture. He kept talking about his connection to the water.

The Democrats have all the resources of the best minds in Hollywood and the mainstream media -- and this is the best they could do? Goodness.

The footage of a smiling Ted Kennedy sailing his 80 foot something sailing yacht made me think of all the maintenance that somebody does to keep that old boat barnacle-free (no, no, not Teddy).

Work not done by the Kennedys. Elitists don't polish brass.

The Democratic marketing machine did not deliver its intended message. This is the party of abortion, of darkness, of death.

The Democrats, as Romesh Punnuru writes, are The Party of Death.

Mary Jo Kapeckne, Requiscat in Pace

###

Thankyou (foot)notes,

Alert Readers wll recall that Your Business Blogger(R) teaches sales training -- but still learned something from the former Wall Street Journal reporter Richard Miniter.

Proving that it is possible to learn something, even from a journalist...

Senior Editor, National Review, Ramesh Ponnuru will be the keynoter at the Americans United for Life gala on October 9th in Chicago. We will celebrate Life.

From NNB,

Near midnight on Chappaquiddick Island, a possibly drunk and definitely married Senator Ted Kennedy takes a right turn instead of a left. His car winds up skidding off Dike Bridge and is quickly submerged upside-down in salty Poucha Pond.
His passenger, RFK office secretary Mary Jo Kopechne, is knocked into the back seat. Kennedy swims to safety, whereupon he fails to rescue his companion or even simply report the incident to authorities until the following morning.
Because no autopsy is ever performed on Kopechne's body (her body had been promptly whisked out of state) it is uncertain how long it took her to drown, if she wasn't killed on impact. Likewise, it is never established whether Kopechne was pregnant or exhibited signs of recent sexual activity.

See Sandler Sales Technique: Selling Tangible and Intangibles.

Posted at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Jesse Brown My friend and mentor, Jesse Brown, passed away some six years ago in August. Your Business Bogger(R) tries to remember him this time of year.

Everyone -- every business should have a blog, if for no other reason, than to remember the friends who have helped along the way.

From 2005, In Memoriam: Jesse Brown

Jesse Brown, 58, passed away some three years ago. He was my friend and business partner. This inaugural post on Labor Day 2005 is to honor his memory and his work.

He was wounded by enemy fire in Vietnam leaving his right arm and hand partially paralyzed. This never slowed him down.

I once asked him when he was at the pinnacle of his career what drove him to work so hard. Money, I thought; status, celebrity? No. "I just want to help my friends," he said.

His passion for service helped him become the Veteran's Affairs Secretary for Bill Clinton.

And yet he helped me, a nobody who worked for a Republican governor.

Jesse is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, not far from my dad. Two warriors to whom I owe so much.

See Reasoned Audacity for more on the ANC.

Thankyou (foot)notes,

See Jesse Brown: Mentor and The Man Who Said No To Bill Clinton

Three Duties of a Mentor

Job Interview: 3 Questions for Your Prospective Boss

Posted at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Alert Readers will recall that Your Business Blogger(R) was raised in the traditions of the Catholic Church.

After some study on issues on the omniscience of the Creator and the authority of tradition equal to scripture I joined a religious tradition rooted in Calivinistic teachings.

I resolved my conflict, I didn't have the political concerns that Biden has.

On the core issue of the Catholic Church's teachings on Life I remain an enthusiastic supporter, even though not Catholic. The Catholic Church gets this right.

VP pick Joe Biden has real differences with his chosen religious tradition, the Catholic Church.

The Church supports the sanctity of LIfe.

Biden supports abortion

Daniel McConchie from Americans United for Life has these Biden quotes,

I strongly support Roe v. Wade. I wouldn't have a specific question but I would make sure that the people I sent to be nominated for the Supreme Court shared my values; and understood that there is a right to privacy in the United States Constitution. That's why I led the fight to defeat Bork, Roberts Alito, and Thomas. Source: 2007 South Carolina Democratic primary debate, on MSNBC Apr 26, 2007

Biden recognizes the disconnect between his faith and reason,

Well, I was 29 years old when I came to the US Senate, and I have learned a lot. Look, I'm a practicing Catholic, and it is the biggest dilemma for me in terms of comporting my religious and cultural views with my political responsibility.

There is a solution to the Senator's dilemma,

Accept science and the teaching of his Church that life begins at conception, or,

Find a church compatible with this core issue, abortion -- what Catholics call a Cardinal sin -- and understand that Life Begins at Conception

Biden should address his inconsistency.

Many people who might attend church regularly complain that the churches are full of hypocrits.

Maybe this is what they are complaining about...

Americans United for LIfe has Biden's Abortion voting record.

See more at Catholic Fire.

Be sure to vote at Jill Stanek.

See Fidelis, Catholic group denounces Obama's pick of Biden for V.P.

Posted at 8:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Your Business Blogger(R) has noted that Obama was a law professor for some 12 years and had published no articles, no record of advancing scholarship in peer review journals.

I was wrong.

B.Obama has indeed published an article on, what else?

Abortion.

LifeNews.com Editor Steven Ertelt writes in Barack Obama's Sole Article in Harvard Law Review Promotes Abortion,

Obama considered a parenthetical abortion issue -- whether unborn children have a legal right to sue their mothers for damage sustained during pregnancy, from such things as alcohol or illegal drugs.

Obama says no and writes supportively of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case and another from the Illinois Supreme Court saying no such right exists.

According to Politico, Obama wrote: "[T]he case raises the broader policy and constitutional considerations that argue against using civil liability to control the behavior of pregnant women."

In a discussion of abortion itself, Obama wrote that government has more important business than "ensuring that any particular fetus is born."

He also decried any limits on abortion, saying the government has an interest in "preventing increasing numbers of children from being born in to lives of pain and despair."

Obama here uses the quality of life argument to end the life of a baby. This is the arrogance of the elite to determine what person might have a life of "pain and despair."

Obama's position reminds us that abortion-friendly politicians can make our society "better" by pre-emptively eliminating any person who might have, or maybe cause, "despair."

Any imperfection can be eliminated. This is why we seldom see a child with Down Syndrome. An ObamaNation would not want to be "burdened" by such citizens.

And we are a poorer nation for it.

For every 14 babies born with Down Syndrome, 146 are aborted. See Down Syndrome. . . and the Value of Life

###

Alert Reader David, sends us The ObamaNation Tour,

Update: My DD, no friend of conservative pro-lifers offers, an insightful review of Barack Obama's votes on infants born alive, On "Live Birth Abortion" The Candidates Differ,
by susanhu, Mon Dec 17, 2007 at 04:48:16 PM EST

Like most Americans and the Democratic presidential candidates, I am pro-choice although I believe the first defense against unwanted pregnancy, and STDs, is prevention. (Today's Washington Post reveals that the "best-kept secret" for AIDS prevention in Africa is birth control, not giving antiretroviral drugs to pregnant women. And, notably, Africa is but one of the continents where First Lady Hillary Clinton worked hard for eight years for women's rights and economic empowerment.)

There is a compelling moral exception: A fetus born alive during an abortion becomes an infant, and shouldn't be left for hours or days to die without medical care, a practice in some U.S. hospitals.

Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama differ markedly in their voting records on the live birth of an aborted infant.

As an Illinois state senator, Obama "joined several other Democrats in voting 'present' in 2001 and 'no' the next year," reports A.P./CBS News in "Obama Record May Be Gold Mine For Critics -- Eight Years As State Senator Were Full Of Controversial Votes, Including Abortion And Gun Control."

During the same two years, as a U.S. Senator, Hillary Clinton joined the 98-0 vote in the U.S. Senate on a 2001 amendment to the Patients Bill of Rights that protected "infants who are born alive."

In 2002, a House bill that protected infants born alive was passed by unanimous consent in the U.S. Senate -- with Sen. Clinton joining the "Yeas" -- and was signed into law.

If you think what Karl Rove did to John McCain in South Carolina's 2000 primary was brutal, just imagine what the GOP will do with Obama's "present" and "no" votes on "live birth abortion."

susanhu gets this right. Obama voted to allow infants born alive to die. McCain wants these babies to live. America deserves a president who will protect the rights of all citizens born in the USA: John McCain.

However, susahu should be reminded that a fetus born alive is called a "baby."

Posted at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Alert Readers will recall that Your Business Blogger(R) served as an Armored Cavalry Officer and trained in our nation's Main Battle Tanks before moving on to the air transportable Sheridan.

The public and the military, voters all, were amused when presidential candidate, Dukakis, the liberal from Mass, donned a CVC helmet and went joy-riding in a tank.

It was incongruent.

It was inauthentic.

It was laughable.

Dukakis was no war-time leader: He is a liberal.

B. Obama is attempting the same military suck-up.

It will not work.

Obama wearing United States Marine Corps apparel is inauthentic.

And is that a woman he's playing with?

If elected, Obama would put her in direct ground combat.

The following comes from John Howland and his readers at USNA-At-Large,

"Now comes BO impersonating a warrior...but the fact is that this incident is characteristic of BO's MO --

USMC? Since When????

Even though this isn't illegal or against military regs, who in the world does this [salty language description] think he is?

You didn't earn it, you don't wear it! I don't care if already thinks he's the commander in chief, this angers me.

Sure I'll let my ... wife wear mine, but she has to sacrifice just as much as I do for my country..."

Obama, the accomplished community organizer, should leave the heavy lifting of leadership to grown more experienced men.

He might also want to protect that basketball -- bring it in a little closer in to his body. Does he think no one will take it from him? Like, maybe, a warrior like John McCain?

Charmaine still wears my old ROTC t-shirt. My kids occasionally wear my old fatigues -- they are cool now-a-days. (I rather like that...) The Penta-posse can pull it off, but not Obama.

Posted at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Your Business Blogger(R) once worked in medical device start-ups teaching new surgical procedures to clinicians.

My physicians were constantly demanding the latest data on patient care and what would work best to improve patient care.

They taught me that they were held to higher standards because the clinical community was the steward of the public's trust.

When a person is hurting, trust is the currency of the care giver.

The patient must believe that the doctor or nurse sincerely believes that the care given is the best -- and that the care giver would not violate the trust of the patient or the care givers' own conscience.
The public well understands that if a doctor will not violate his own conscience, he will not violate the patient.

This conscience clause of the medical community is being attacked by the homosexual activists. Homosexuals are demanding elective procedures -- non-life saving interventions -- medical attention that would violate the conscience of some clinicians.

And this is bad for business. Homosexuals are attempting to equate race with sexual preferences: attempting to make homosexuality a civil right.

The homosexual marketing campaign might be gaining traction in the courts -- but not with voters, not with legislators not with common sense.

An African-American will always be black; he has no choice and cannot stop being black.
A homosexual may return to hertosexuality; he has a choice and can stop being homosexual.

African-Americans are of a particular race from conception. Homosexuals make a decision well after birth. They are not born in that state. There is no homosexual gene in the human DNA. Race is not equal to homosexuality.

Look for more cases like this one in California where the homosexual activists are looking for businesses to take to court. Your business might be next.

Fox Business posted information from Americans United for Life,

California Supreme Court Ruling Threatens Medical Care and Religious FreedomBy Matthew Eppinette | August 18, 2008

Chicago, Illinois -- The California Supreme Court today ruled that patient demand for nonessential, elective care trumps the freedom of conscience of physicians and their ability to practice medicine in accordance with their religious or moral beliefs.

Denise Burke, Vice President & Legal Director of Americans United for Life (AUL), said, "This ruling will deny physicians and other professionals the ability to freely exercise their religious convictions."

Added Burke, "By forcing healthcare professionals to choose between conscience and career, we will lose doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who are already in short supply."

Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D., President and CEO of AUL added, "Medical experts already project that existing shortages of nurses, physicians, and pharmacists will soon worsen, failing to meet future healthcare needs. Legal action to compel healthcare providers to participate in procedures to which they conscientiously object threatens to make the already dangerous situation disastrous."

Mailee Smith, AUL Staff Counsel, said, "It defies common sense that a patient would want a doctor to violate his or her conscience in practicing medicine. A diminished physician population is not good for medical care."

The case -- North Coast Women's Care Medical Group v. Superior Court of San Diego County (Benitez) - involves a situation where artificial insemination was not provided due to the marital status of the patient (Ms. Benitez).

Ms. Benitez filed suit arguing that she was not provided the procedure because she is a lesbian. However, the physicians testified that the real issue was her marital status, and that they would not have provided artificial insemination to any single woman.

Ultimately, Ms. Benitez received the procedure from another physician after receiving a referral from the objecting physicians (who paid the additional costs she incurred).

AUL filed an amicus brief in the California Supreme Court on behalf of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and Physicians for Life, arguing that federal and state law as well as the ethics standards of major medical organizations support the physicians' right to conscientiously object to performing certain nonessential, elective medical procedures that conflict with physicians' religious and moral beliefs.

Media Contact
Matthew Eppinette
202-289-1479Matthew.Eppinette@AUL.org

MEDIA ALERT: Charmaine Soundbite CNN: Homosexual Marriage, The Problem.

Posted at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Obama is the smartest man in the room. I know this is true because his campaign staff told me so.

During the Iowa Caucuses, Your Business Blogger(R), Charmaine and Penta-Posse stayed at the same hotel as many of the other presidential candidate staffers.

We all often talked in the elevators or at the coffee bar. The Obama staff would remind us that Obama, the smart academic law professor (for 12 years!) was brilliant and well briefed...of course.

This made Obama's statement at Saddleback all the more interesting. He said that abortions have not gone down in the last eight years.

Abortions, in fact have declined over the last eight years.

Did Obama, the smartest man in the room, not know this simple fact? Was he poorly briefed?

Or did Obama, with the best staff money can buy, know the truth and say otherwise?

Was Obama being duplicitous a politician from Chicago, or perhaps he cannot remember a simple fact that he volunteered?

Charmaine was at Rick Warren's Saddleback church for the civil questioning and examines Obama's contradiction in an article up on National Review Online.

She reviews Obama's new marketing and messaging campaign.

Absolute Reduction
Barack Obama and abortion.

By Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D.

Milling around the media room after the Saddleback Forum, I learned that while John McCain was onstage talking with Rick Warren, Barack Obama was sitting down backstage to an interview with David Brody of CBN News. Brody took the opportunity to press Obama on the issue of his record of opposition to legally protecting babies who are born alive after an abortion.

Obama became visibly irritated and replied to Brody: "I hate to say that people are lying, but here's a situation where folks are lying."

Read the rest here.

Charmaine Yoest is president and CEO of Americans United for Life. She served as compaign adviser to the Mike Huckabee presidential campaign.

See Charmaine's previous article in NRO: Huckabee and McCain -- The Enthusiasm Gap

Posted at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Your Business Blogger(R) sat in a meeting with Pastor Rick Warren in Your Nation's Capital a few months ago. The guy knows his politics and the machinery and machinations of the sausage making of grinding out law.

So we all were a bit surprised when Warren was planning to give B. Hussein Obama a forum to talk about his political strengths: solving social problems with taxpayer dollars.

John McCain will also be in attendance. But in any debate about 'caring' and spending programs to prove one's compassion, the Dems will always win.

Rick Warren does bill the event as a chance for the candidates to talk about their leadership styles, track records, character and compassion.

But there must be no mistaking Rick Warren's mission: He wants more government money to spend on AIDS and poverty. Warren is not merely pro-life but much, much more -- he is, he says, "Whole Life."

And Warren will accomplish this even if it takes your "Whole Paycheck."

Rick Warren sat at the feet of the great management consultant, teacher and writer Peter Drucker for 20 years. Drucker was a devout believer in Jesus Christ and ran a regular bible study and advised pastors on church management.

Drucker was convinced that the private sector -- the non-profits -- were the best vehicle to solve social ills. Government does a poor job of caring for the poor.

I think Drucker would be disappointed in his student, Rick Warren, even with his 23,000 member church.

Charmaine will be in Warren's Church for the debate and will work to keep abortion and infanticide in the conversation as one of the clear differences between McCain and Obama.

If you are in LA and might be at the debate, please give Charmaine a call.

The press release,

AUL President Dr. Charmaine Yoest to Attend Saddleback Civil Forum, Will be Available for Interviews

Last update: 5:55 p.m. EDT Aug. 15, 2008
LOS ANGELES, Aug 15, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ --

Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President of Americans United for Life, will attend the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency, Saturday, August 16, 2008, in Lake Forest, California. This will be the first public forum between the two candidates.

In the discussions leading up to the event, one topic has been consistently minimized: abortion.

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, has said he will be more interested in "uniting" questions, and has suggested he will stick to topics such as poverty, HIV/AIDS, climate change, and human rights.

However, recent reports that the Democratic Party has modified its platform language regarding abortion make the issue particularly relevant and timely. The conversation is certain to continue with the addition of a statement supporting both Roe v. Wade and "a woman's decision to have a child."

Dr. Yoest said, "to try to establish a moral equivalency between motherhood and abortion is offensive to millions of voters."

"Abortion remains a key issue for millions of American voters. I hope the candidates will engage this important issue at the forum," added Yoest.

Dr. Yoest will be available for interviews immediately following the event.

See Peter Drucker's Writing Secret

Continue Reading »

Posted at 11:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government. Thomas Jefferson

Do voters know that Obama would allow babies born alive to die? Infanticide by neglect?

Not even our friends at the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) would allow a baby born alive to die.

Is this what the abortion-friendly Democratic party has become?

Alert Readers will recall that Charmaine studied and taught on Grounds -- the Academical Village -- at Mr. Jefferson's University at Virginia.

Obama is no Jefferson.

To inform voters, Americans United for Life will help fund voter guides.

See Americans United for Life Increases Funding for Voter Guides

Contact: Matthew Eppinette, 202-289-1479; Daniel McConchie, 312-568-4700, daniel.mcconchie@aul.org; both with Americans United for Life

CHICAGO, August 12 /Standard Newswire/ -- Americans United for Life today announces the availability of $500,000 for 501(c)(3) organizations who wish to create and distribute non-partisan educational voter guides for the upcoming elections.

AUL President Dr. Charmaine Yoest said, "Voter guides are a way to empower voters to make well-informed choices on election day. Pro-life Americans want to get beyond the spin and know the truth, based on the record, about where the candidates stand."

Daniel McConchie, AUL Vice President & Executive Director, added, "Pro-life voters are a key constituency that both Democrats and Republicans ignore at their peril. Americans United for Life is looking forward to helping pro-life Americans across the country vote their values in this election."

AUL spent $215,000 on creation and distribution of more than 2.8 million voter guides in 2006. With the additional investment this year, AUL plans to distribute more than 6 million voter guides nationwide.

Organizations interested in applying for voter-guide funds should contact Daniel McConchie by September 12.

For more information or to apply, contact:

Daniel McConchie

Americans United for Life

310 S. Peoria St.

Ste. 500

Chicago, IL 60607

312-568-4700

daniel.mcconchie@aul.org

About Americans United for Life

Americans United for Life (AUL) is a nonprofit, public-interest law and policy organization whose vision is a nation in which every human being is welcomed in life and protected in law. The first national pro-life organization in America, AUL has been committed to defending human life through vigorous judicial, legislative, and educational efforts at both the federal and state levels since 1971. The Wall Street Journal has profiled AUL, and PBS's Frontline program chronicled AUL's successful efforts in Mississippi.

Website: www.AUL.org

Blog: Blog.AUL.org

See Charmaine's new bio and the Democratic Party Platform position on abortion at the jump.

Charmaine will be speaking at the University of Virginia. Come visit: Save the Date: September 27, 2008; Women in Leadership

The 'Making Abortion Rare' Hoax

Continue Reading »

Posted at 9:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friday was Charmaine's last day at FRC. They gave her a nice send off. It was less like a funeral and more like a celebration -- a celebration like many funerals should be: She's going to a better place, but we wish she were here.

Later, Your Business Blogger(R) returned with the Penta-Posse to her office to gather up the pictures and files and stuff and stuffed all into the monster-SUV. We left no action, email, paper, or child behind.

It took 'til 9pm to clear out. This is how job changing is different from death:

Crossing over to eternity: Your inbox will be full.
Crossing over to another job: Your inbox will be empty.

The only thing she took with her were the memories and the comfort that she would be seeing all of her old friends again somewhere, sometime again.

Some things don't die...

Friendships endure: Relationships in the Body are eternal.

Then again, maybe job-changing and death are exactly alike.

From the Family Research Council,

Our Loss is AUL's Gain

It is with mixed emotions that we announce that Dr. Charmaine Yoest, VP for Communications, has accepted the presidency of Americans United for Life.

While this is great news for Charmaine and even better news for AUL, it is a deep loss for us.

During Charmaine's time at FRC, we have gained a whole new level of visibility in the national media, developed an excellent new web site, built out the first video studio in FRC history, overhauled our media center to make it state-of-the-art, obtained record op ed placements, and maintained quality radio programs heard on hundreds of stations nationwide.

Charmaine and her entire team can be justly proud of these accomplishments. It's good to know that her gifts will now be deployed at the helm of one of best-known and most successful pro-life groups in the country.

We wish her and her family well in the weeks and years to come, and we're confident our paths will cross many times as we work to protect innocent human life.

Posted at 8:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Matthew Eppinette
Matthew.Eppinette@AUL.org
312.568.4701

Chicago, Illinois -- Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D., a well-known pro-family leader, author, and media commentator, takes the helm of Americans United for Life (AUL) as president and chief executive officer on August 11, 2008.

Robert Harvey, Chairman of the AUL Board of Directors said, "Dr. Yoest's experience in pro-life issues, in political strategy, and in organizational communications make her the ideal person to lead the team at AUL in taking on challenges and capitalizing on opportunities in the present legal and political climate."

The U.S. Supreme Court's 2007 Gonzales decision upholding the Federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act marked the beginning of a new era in the battle over life issues. In short, the decision dramatically opened up new doors for protecting life through the law.

In striking contrast, the U.S. Congress and five states this year considered Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) legislation, which would wipe away virtually every law on abortion nationwide, allowing abortion-on-demand in all nine months of pregnancy for any reason, without any restrictions.

"It is a great honor to join AUL, an organization with a remarkable reputation for excellence and achievement," said Yoest. "AUL has been involved in every pro-life case before the U.S. Supreme Court since Roe v. Wade, and AUL-authored legislation is in place all around the country, saving lives every day."

Yoest added, "I look forward to exciting days ahead, building on this rich legacy and working to increase the legal protection of human lives."

Most recently, Yoest served as vice-president of communications at the Family Research Council, one of the largest pro-family public policy organizations in the country.

Her political experience spans working in the Reagan White House to serving as a Senior Advisor to the 2008 Huckabee for President Campaign.

A regular political commentator, Dr. Yoest has appeared on all of the major networks and cable outlets. In print, she is quoted regularly and has been published widely. She is also the author of Mother in the Middle (HarperCollins), an examination of work/family and childcare policy.

Yoest holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. She lives with her husband, Jack, and their five children in the Washington, D.C. area.

Dr. Yoest succeeds Clarke D. Forsythe, Esq., a 22-year AUL veteran who served as interim president and who will continue in senior leadership of the organization.

About Americans United for Life

Americans United for Life (AUL) is a nonprofit, public-interest law and policy organization whose vision is a nation in which every human being is welcomed in life and protected in law. The first national pro-life organization in America, AUL has been committed to defending human life through vigorous judicial, legislative, and educational efforts at both the federal and state levels since 1971. The Wall Street Journal has profiled AUL, and PBS's Frontline program chronicled AUL's successful efforts in Mississippi.

Website: http://www.AUL.org

Blog: http://Blog.AUL.org

Media Contact:

Matthew Eppinette

Matthew.Eppinette@AUL.org

312.568.4701

Posted at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

The best indication of future performance is past performance.

If we drill for oil and explore for energy on the north shore of Alaska, will the wildlife in the tundra be threatened?

Not if the current pipeline is an example. The 800 mile pipeline has won safety and environmental performance awards.

Alert Readers know that Your Business Blogger(R) is a biased supporter of big oil exploration -- and the safety of drilling, especially from the north shore of Alaska. My dad said so.

After a career in the Navy, Dad taught school, but soon went back to the sea. He crewed the first ship loaded with crude down from the Alaskan pipeline in August 1977.

The plaque reads
For your part in the successful
delivery of the first
North Slope crude
to the Benicia Refinery...
token sample 4 August 1977

The wildlife and oil field and the pipeline have been safe since.

The pipeline has been a success for a third of a century. If the caribou like the pipeline, one would think the liberals would like it too.

But no. No oil, no nukes, no exploration, no civilization. Obama wants ten years to think of something. Like, maybe, inflate our tires to 32 psi. (Has that girlie-man ever, ever held a tire gauge in his life? Changed a tire? Changed his oil? And Obama's mantra is: Change...?)

Caribou and wildlife love the pipeline.

Liberal critics are not worried about higher gas prices now and indeed welcome higher energy prices. Barack Hussein Obama wants "increases" in fuel costs.

Most Americans do not want to pay more for energy.

The Barack Hussein Obama energy policy will drive America into a depression, reports Dick Morris, who knows these liberals better anyone.

Drill Now, Drill Here in America and Pay Less for gas: Vote For McCain.

It is the safe thing to do.

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Thank you (foot)notes:

Sign the Drill Now, Drill Here, Pay Less petition. Your Business Blogger(R) signed on. Run by American Solutions, Newt Gingrich's group,

American Solutions for Winning the Future is a new, non-partisan organization built around three goals: to defend America and our allies abroad and defeat our enemies, to strengthen and revitalize America's core values, and to move government into the 21st Century. The General Chairman is former Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Our mission is to become the leading grassroots movement to recruit, educate, and empower citizen activists and elected officials to develop solutions to transform all levels of government.

See Your Business Blogger(R)'s interview on big oil at Exxon and Global Warming and Capitalism

Alyeska Pipeline Wins API Safety, Environmental Performance Awards,

API awarded its 2005 Distinguished Award for Outstanding Safety and Environmental Performance to Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. Jeff Wiese, Program Development Director for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, assisted Richard Bird, Group Vice President, Enbridge Inc., in presenting the award at API's 57th annual pipeline conference in Fort Worth, Texas on April 25, 2006.

Alyeska operates the 800-mile-long Trans Alaska Pipeline System, which is one of the largest pipeline systems in the world, stretching from Prudhoe Bay on Alaska's North Slope to Valdez in the southern part of the state. Alyeska won the award based on its release performance per mile of pipeline operated as reported to the Pipeline Performance Tracking System, its low rate of safety incidents, and its community outreach program, which was widely praised as standard-setting for the pipeline industry as a whole.

For the fourth year in a row, Alyeska Pipeline Service Company won the separate environmental performance award for large operators (reporting no releases for the past two years).

Posted at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The little guy was going to be born with complications -- Hydrocephalus, "water on the brain." The doctor recommended ending the life of the baby: An Abortion. "We should terminate the pregnancy," said the physician, forgetting the original Hippocratic Oath.

"Quality of life would be poor," the doc continued. "Unending challenges, facing constant failure..."

The father interrupts, "Let's give the baby a chance."

"The baby?" the doctor is surprised. "I'm talking about you."

Cole, now age three.

Abortion providers will speak in code to describe the surgical procedure and its justification. "Quality of Life" is used in speaking about the child who will be born with challenges. The doctor and the parents will nod knowingly about the difficulties the child will have in making his way in the world.

But what they are really thinking about is how the challenged-child will crimp the lifestyle of the parents and grandparents. No room in the Beemer for a wheelchair.

"Uh, yes," the parents mutter, "Yes, terminating the pregnancy is best for the fetus."

A mercy killing.

On September 7th, Michael Illions is helping to host a HydroWALK in Edison, New Jersey to raise money and awareness for Hydrocephalus. In 2007, they raised over $55,000 and hope to exceed that total this year.

The New Jersey State Legislature has designated September 2008 "Hydrocephalus Awareness Month" in the State of NJ and former Governor Christie Todd-Whitman will be the Honorary Chairperson for this year's event.

Alert Readers will recall that Governor Todd-Whitman is abortion-friendly and is in favor of Partial Birth Abortion. Her support is nevertheless welcomed.

Please sponsor Michael and his son Cole in his fund-raising work. Donate here. Your Business Blogger(R) did.

It is not known how Barack Hussein Obama reacts when such little ones are born. He actively rejected and campaigned against the Infant Born Alive legislation. He is in favor of some babies that are born alive, to die.

John McCain is Pro-Life. See the Obama vs McCain Live-Birth Abortion Matrix

The Hydrocephalus Association is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization providing support, education and advocacy to individuals, families and medical professionals dealing with the complex issues of hydrocephalus (HC).

100% of the proceeds from this event will supports the HA and their commitment to driving research on the diagnosis and treatment of HC, and to bringing this condition to the forefront of public attention.Your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. Our federal tax ID number is 94-3000301. For more information visit www.hydroassoc.org

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Posted at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)