Current Articles of Interest

Monday, February 16, 2009

Pro-Life Pharmacist Explains Decision Not to Sell Birth Control-Pills: Cites Abortion Link, Catholic Doctrine



From CatholicCourier.com:
HILTON — Catholic pharmacist Mike Koelzer said he arrived at a moral crossroads in the late 1990s, after a friend informed him of the connection between birth-control pills and abortion. 

“She said, ‘Mike, are you aware that birth-control pills can cause abortion?’ I thought she was crazy,” Koelzer recalled.

Instead, confirmation was spelled out in the package inserts of all birth-control pills he dispensed at his pharmacy. In addition to preventing eggs from being released and decreasing sperm mobility, the pills and some other forms of birth control may make the lining of the uterus inhospitable to fertilized eggs, preventing them from becoming implanted, Koelzer said.

During a presentation Nov. 22 at St. Leo Parish, Koelzer recounted that it took four or five years before his father agreed to stop selling artificial birth control at Kay Pharmacy, the Grand Rapids, Mich., business they ran together. Koelzer, who has been featured on “ABC News” and in The Washington Post, also was scheduled to speak to pharmacy students at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, but his appearance there was canceled due to inclement weather.

Koelzer told the St. Leo group that after speaking to his friend, he began to study the Catholic Church’s teaching that it is immoral to use artificial means to prevent conception or to prevent implantation of a fertilized egg because doing so ends a human life at the first phase of its existence.


Several noted church documents have spelled out this position.

“Direct interruption of the generative process already begun, and, above all, directly willed and procured abortion, even if for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as licit means of regulating birth,” states Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical on married love and procreation, Humane Vitae.

“Dignitas Personae: On Certain Bioethical Questions,” an instruction issued Dec. 12, 2008, by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, reiterates previous church teachings that birth control pills, intrauterine devices and other methods that can prevent implantation of an embryo are abortifacients, which interrupt the life of a newly created individual. 

The instruction notes that it is not known exactly how certain drugs or devices operate. However, the instruction notes, scientific studies have shown that the effect of inhibiting implantation is present in these artificial birth-control methods, even if the methods do not always cause an abortion.

“Anyone who seeks to prevent the implantation of an embryo which may possibly have been conceived and who therefore either requests or prescribes such a pharmaceutical, generally intends abortion,” the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith document said.

Jann Armantrout, diocesan life-issues coordinator, said the church recognizes that hormones dispensed in birth-control pills may be of medical benefit for a particular patient, as in the case of those who have endometriosis.

“However, the medical condition that is being treated must be of enough significance to justify the unintended consequence of interrupted contraception or possible abortifacient results,” Armantrout said. 

In his talk in Hilton, Koelzer recounted how he presented church teachings to his father, along with a proposal to stop selling artificial birth control, which provided about 4 percent of the small pharmacy’s daily business. Three weeks later, his father left a letter for him outlining dozens of reasons why Kay Pharmacy would continue selling artificial birth control.

Koelzer recalled being devastated that he had not received his father’s approval.

“For me, my hero was my dad. That’s who I wanted to be like,” he said. 

Each day after that confrontation, Koelzer continued asking God whether he should stop selling artificial birth control. No answer came until about four or five years later, when Koelzer felt himself being compelled to find a way to stop selling artificial birth control. The timing couldn’t have been worse: Koelzer had a new baby in his home and he was overseeing construction on a new house for his family.

Koelzer said he believes that new home provided the impetus to speak to his father again.

“We can’t use evil to bring about good,” Koelzer said. “I wish that answer would not have come at that point. It would have been so easy to use evil a little bit longer to bring about good.”

When he again broached the subject with his father, his father suggested that they go out to lunch to discuss it.

“He said, ‘Mike, I don’t agree with you, but I support you,’” Koelzer said.

With that support, Koelzer sent a letter to the pharmacy’s customers announcing that as of Feb. 1, 2002, artificial birth control would no longer be sold, and he apologized for any inconvenience. Most of those customers stopped using his pharmacy, he noted.

“Our business kept improving, but it was pretty much what I had predicted,” Koelzer said.

Two days before the store’s employees began pulling artificial birth control off the shelves, Koelzer’s father lost his memory due to cancer and was never able to work at the pharmacy again.

“My dad never had to face his fears about pulling these pills from the shelf,” Koelzer said. “I think God challenged him so heavily that all he had to do was say, ‘Yes.’”

Koelzer said he finally knew why he had felt compelled to act: Had he waited even two more months later to speak with his father, he would never learned of his father’s change of heart.

As for customer reaction, he said he has received irate mail about his decision from people saying they demand that their choice be heard.

“My reply is simply that I get a choice,” Koelzer said. “This is my pharmacy.”

Michigan does not have a conscience clause to protect pharmacists or pharmacy workers if they refuse to sell particular items, Koelzer said. If the state were to enact a mandate forcing pharmacists to sell artificial birth control, Koelzer said he would opt to close his doors.

He pointed out that conscience clauses are complicated moral issues, citing the possibility that pharmacists, for religious reasons, might object to dispensing antidepressants or to filling prescriptions for assisted-suicide medications in Oregon and Washington.

Koelzer’s presentation also featured a talk by Bill Claydon, an Albany-area Catholic who creates pro-life videos, including one that features an interview with a survivor of a saline abortion who is now active in the pro-life movement. Claydon began protesting outside an abortion mill in Wichita, Kan., in October 2005 and subsequently began making videos about abortionist George Tiller’s activities at the facility.

In September 2008, Claydon posted on You Tube a video that he produced for Kansas Coalition for Life about then-presidential candidate Barack Obama’s voting record on abortion. The video, “Obama: Wrong Change for Children,” features a photo of an aborted baby. The video attracted national attention when You Tube removed it without giving a detailed explanation as to why, other than to say the video was in violation of the site’s community guidelines.
 
Claydon contends, however, that the video was similar to other pro-life videos on You Tube that show photos of aborted children.

“You Tube has lots of videos like that,” Claydon remarked.

Following news stories about You Tube’s removal of the video, it was posted at a competing Web site at www.viddler.com/explore/kcfl/videos/4. 

“Thanks to You Tube’s actions, it was viewed 10,000 times in its entirety,” said Claydon, who is planning to start a business and is continuing to produce pro-life videos.

Claydon said he believes pro-lifers should take a page from Obama’s playbook and use social networks to recruit others to the pro-life movement.

“Outside of politics, we’ve got to work on changing hearts and minds,” Claydon said. “In the meantime, every single day, there are abortions occurring.”

Brian Birdnow: It's All About The "O": The Arrogance of Barack Obama

by Brian Birdnow
 
Much has been written in recent weeks concerning the Obama Administration’s early struggles and stumbles, particularly in matters such as properly vetting prospective cabinet nominees, differentiating between campaigning and governing, and staying on message during a rambling press conference. Some commentators have tried to downplay or dismiss these difficulties, while others have chalked them up as the inevitable errors of an amateur who has been pushed too far, too fast. What many of the pundits tend to overlook in their analyses of President Obama’s first weeks is that these early misadventures illustrate the petulance and arrogance that stand as the defining elements of the man’s essential character.

(Full story at TownHall)

Abstinence Advocates Meet to Re-Energize After Election of Abortion Advocates

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Leading abstinence educators associated with the National Abstinence Education Association met in the nation's capital last week to re-energize after the election of abortion advocates. With President Barack Obama in the White House and a pro-abortion Congress, federal funding for abstinence will likely be cut.

Acting FCC Chair Sees Government Role in Pushing ‘Media Diversity’

This should scare the living daylights out of you.


(CNSNews.com) – Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Copps says he doesn’t support bringing back the controversial Fairness Doctrine, but he does think government has a role in enforcing media “diversity.”

That role includes re-examining licensing and other regulations for radio stations -- including AM stations dominated by talk radio -- to make them “more reflective” of public interests. (Full story at CNSNews)

Obama Stimulates Fear, Doom & Gloom

By Mark Davis

I can't speak for everyone, but the honeymoon ended for me the day President Barack Obama handed terrorists a victory with his reckless plan to close Guantánamo Bay and his foolish public promise of friendlier interrogations.

Not one month earlier, I sat in the Oval Office speaking to a president whose days began and ended with one question: Have I done all I can to keep America safe today?

God only knows what complex checklist fills the mind of our new president, but it certainly does not involve maintaining the policies that have fended off repeats of 9/11.

Nor does it involve letting our suffering economy recover the way it always has, by relying on the engine of free markets.

(Full story at RealClearPolitics)

Kerry reveals his contempt for the American people

From American Thinker

Ethel C. Fenig
Senator John Kerry (D-MA), the man who only marries wealthy women, the man who thinks so little of the fine people in the American military that he referred to them as losers and oh yes, the man who tried and failed to become president, reveals his contempt, once again, for the American people:



"You can't be trusted to invest your own money."

So give it to the government to spend it for you, you dumb serf.

hat tip: Mark Hemingway, The Corner

Senator Stabenow Exudes Hypocrisy Of 'Fairness Doctrine'

By Christopher G. Adamo
February 12, 2009

Throughout history, every successful despotic regime has understood the critical importance of establishing and maintaining a monopoly of information. A governing body that intends to rule with absolute authority and impunity simply cannot afford to have its inevitable mistakes and failures highlighted in front of the general public, whose unquestioning loyalty and devotion it needs in order to survive.

It is becoming grimly obvious that the Obama Administration and Democrat dominated Congress, being of the same mindset, are determined to establish just such a control of the airwaves. This goal is a cornerstone of their effort to stifle all critical analyses of the platitudes and excuses they offer as justification for their relentless assault on the foundation of these once-great United States of America. (Full story at GOP.com)

The Fairness Doctrine choo-choo has left the station

from American Thinker

Rick Moran
After assuring Republicans all last year that there would be no return to the Fairness Doctrine, it appears that Democrats lied through their teeth. The issue is beginning to pick up steam among Democrats and it will only be a matter of time before the left tries to make it a reality and muzzle all dissent:


More and more Democrats in Congress are calling for action that Republicans warn could muzzle right-wing talk radio.
Representative Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat from New York is the latest to say he wants to bring back the "Fairness Doctrine," a federal regulation scrapped in 1987 that would require broadcasters to present opposing views on public issues.
"I think the Fairness Doctrine should be reinstated," Hinchey told CNNRadio. Hinchey says he could make it part of a bill he plans to introduce later this year overhauling radio and t-v ownership laws.
Democratic Senators Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Tom Harkin of Iowa added their voices recently to those calling for a return of the regulation.
This is one issue guaranteed to light a fire under the GOP and conservatives. It will be a huge campaign issue if it is passed and a good one for Republicans; overwhelming majorities of Americans oppose the Fairness Doctrine.
I would urge everybody to join an anti-Fairness Doctrine group either on Facebook, Myspace, or Yahoo and become active in what promises to be a real Pier Six brawl over the future of freedom in America.


Obama Is Here to Teach Us

By Jay D. Homnick on 2.10.09 @ 6:06AM

Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. And what they teach is what they can't do any more, because either the body or spirit or both have lost their singleness of purpose; because they have seen too much and suppressed too much and compromised too much, and in the end tasted too little. So they take to rekindling their old dreams in new minds, and warming themselves against the fires of the young.
-- The Secret Pilgrim, John le Carré

It has been a long time since a teacher has become President in this country. Professor Woodrow Wilson of Princeton came to the post with ideals too lofty for prime time, and arguably did some real damage. Indeed Winston Churchill implied that Wilson's approach unwittingly laid the groundwork for World War II. Sunday School teacher Jimmy Carter came with a crabby disposition, a cranky rhetorical style and a creepy disdain for other opinions. His tenure brought the Republic to its knees, on the verge of losing its status as a great power.  (Full story at American Spectator)

Reaganomics vs. Obamanomics

In his inaugural address, President Barack Obama said, "The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified." Or as administration spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said in January, the touchstone is, "What will have the biggest and most immediate impact on creating private sector jobs and strengthening the middle class? We're guided by what works, not by any ideology or special interests."
[Commentary] Corbis
Ronald Reagan and Paul Volcker, July 1981.
Unfortunately, this rhetoric is not true. Mr. Obama's economic policy is following not what has been proven to work but liberal ideology.
The best way to understand this is to compare what's being proposed now with what Ronald Reagan accomplished. In 1980, amid a seriously dysfunctional economy, Reagan campaigned for president on an economic recovery program with four specific components.

(Full story at WSJ Online)

Pope reiterates Church's commitment to rejecting all anti-Semitism

Vatican City, Feb 12, 2009 / 11:36 am (CNA).- The Church is “profoundly and irrevocably committed” to rejecting “all anti-Semitism” and to building better relations with the Jews, Pope Benedict insisted on Thursday as he spoke to a delegation from the  Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

Given the deluge of negative reactions after he removed the excommunication of four Pius X Society bishops, one of whom denies the extent of the Holocaust, Pope Benedict used today’s meeting as an opportunity to once again reaffirm the Church’s commitment to Jewish relations.

The Pope began his address to the Jewish leaders by recalling his first visit to a synagogue, in the German city of Cologne in August 2005. Also on his mind was a trip he made to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in May of 2006.

"As I walked through the entrance to that place of horror, the scene of such untold suffering," he said, "I meditated on the countless number of prisoners, so many of them Jews, who had trodden that same path into captivity at Auschwitz and in all the other prison camps."

(Full story at CNA)

Holocaust Denial is Intolerable and Unacceptable

VATICAN CITY, 12 FEB 2009 (VIS) - At midday today, the Holy Father received members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations.
  Speaking English, the Pope began his remarks by recalling his first visit to a synagogue, in the German city of Cologne in August 2005. He then mentioned his trip, in May of the following year, to the extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. "As I walked through the entrance to that place of horror, the scene of such untold suffering", he said, "I meditated on the countless number of prisoners, so many of them Jews, who had trodden that same path into captivity at Auschwitz and in all the other prison camps".
  "How can we begin to grasp the enormity of what took place in those infamous prisons? The entire human race feels deep shame at the savage brutality shown to your people at that time", he said.
  The Pope then noted how today's visit "occurs in the context of your visit to Italy in conjunction with your annual Leadership Mission to Israel. I too am preparing to visit Israel, a land which is holy for Christians as well as Jews, since the roots of our faith are to be found there".
  "The Church is profoundly and irrevocably committed to reject all anti-Semitism and to continue to build good and lasting relations between our two communities. If there is one particular image which encapsulates this commitment, it is the moment when my beloved predecessor Pope John Paul II stood at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, pleading for God's forgiveness after all the injustice that the Jewish people have had to suffer"
  "The hatred and contempt for men, women and children that was manifested in the Shoah was a crime against God and against humanity. ... It is beyond question that any denial or minimisation of this terrible crime is intolerable and altogether unacceptable".
  "This terrible chapter in our history must never be forgotten. Remembrance - it is rightly said - is 'memoria futuri', a warning to us for the future, and a summons to strive for reconciliation. To remember is to do everything in our power to prevent any recurrence of such a catastrophe within the human family by building bridges of lasting friendship.
  "It is my fervent prayer that the memory of this appalling crime will strengthen our determination to heal the wounds that for too long have sullied relations between Christians and Jews", Benedict XVI concluded. "It is my heartfelt desire that the friendship we now enjoy will grow ever stronger, so that the Church's irrevocable commitment to respectful and harmonious relations with the people of the Covenant will bear fruit in abundance".

Obama's Legislative Victory Comes at High Cost

Congressional Republicans lack President Barack Obama's bully pulpit and do not have the majorities that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid enjoy. But they are playing their hand extraordinarily well.

Over the past month, House Republicans have used the stimulus bill to redefine their party, present ideas on how to revive the economy, and force congressional Democrats and the president to take ownership of the spending programs soon to be signed into law.

The first smart move House Republicans made was to raise objections to specific parts of the House stimulus bill. Pointing out that there is money in the bill for condoms, livestock insurance, refurbishing the National Mall, and other outlandish things revealed that it is a massive spending spree, not an economic stimulus.  (Full story at WSJ Online)

Extreme Compromise

That you Fr. Frank for reminding all there can be no compromise when it come to Life issues.

by

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director of Priests for Life

Newly-elected abortion advocates often try to paint their support for Roe vs. Wade and its companion case Doe vs. Bolton as mainstream. Some even think that the decisions constitute a “compromise” position on the divisive issue of abortion. After all, they say, our current national policy on abortion allows a woman to have a child if she wants, and to abort the child if she wants.

But Roe and Doe are about as far away from a “compromise” as you can find. The decisions allow for abortion throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy, and do not recognize any right of the unborn child to be spared death by abortion. With a nation divided about abortion, one might think that under a “compromise” solution one could find some reason to protect at least some unborn children. But in Roe and Doe, one searches in vain for any situation in which an unborn child is protected. As the University of Detroit Law Review pointed out, “The Supreme Court’s decisions…allowed abortion on demand throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy” (Paul B. Linton, Enforcement of State Abortion Statutes after Roe: A State-by-State Analysis, Vol. 67, Issue 2, Winter 1990).
In this framework, every unborn baby is disposable. Every. That’s hardly a “compromise” position.

“Leave it up to the woman to decide” sounds to many like a fair compromise. But this position completely destroys equality before the law, because it constitutes a complete removal of protection from the child. The lives of unborn children who are wanted and carried to term do not have any more protection from the law than the lives of unborn children who are unwanted and carried to the abortionist. The lives of the wanted are protected only by their “wantedness,” which, of course, can be subject to change at any time. As far as the law is concerned, they are all non-persons, regardless of circumstance. That’s hardly a “compromise.”

A “compromise” usually, and by definition, allows some accommodation to both sides in the dispute. But current abortion policy allows no accommodation to the claims that innocent human life makes upon us.

The more you know about the Roe and Doe decisions, the clearer this becomes. In fact, the Gallup polling company, in an extensive analysis of the opinions of Americans on abortion, admits that the level of support in surveys for Roe vs. Wade is lower if more information about the decision itself is offered in the question, and higher if less information is offered. (See www.gallup.com/poll/specialReports/pollSummaries/sr020122iii.asp )

These are important points to bring up in communicating with pro-abortion elected officials.
In Judgment at Nuremberg, one of those responsible for the Holocaust says that he “never thought it would go that far,” and was told that it “went that far” as soon as a single innocent life was taken. There is no room for “compromising” about human life. Permitting one life to be destroyed is already extreme. Unless we’re all protected, we’re all in danger.

(Fr Frank Pavone's Blog) 

Robert George launches website to test pro-life argument for Obama

Princeton, N.J., Feb 13, 2009 / 05:17 pm (CNA).- Some Catholics and Evangelicals in the pro-life community made a significant wager based on Barack Obama’s promise to reduce abortions during the last election, a bet that Princeton philosophy of law professor Robert George is convinced was “foolish.” In order to document the outcome of this gamble, regardless of the results, George and some of his colleagues have launched Moralaccountability.com.

Professor George took time earlier this week to explain to CNA what led him to create the website, and he began by recalling the debate surrounding the election.

“In the run-up to the presidential election of November 2008, a small number of outspoken Catholic and Evangelical intellectuals and activists were pushing the idea that it was legitimate to vote for Barack Obama and other pro-abortion liberal candidates, not despite the likely impact of their policies on abortion, but because of the likely impact of their policies on abortion.” (Full story at CNA)

Was Jefferson a Prophet?

Here is some interesting information ..... WAKE UP, people!









"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we
shall become as corrupt as Europe."
Thomas Jefferson

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are
 willing to work and give to those who would not."
                      
 Thomas Jefferson

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A
 principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."

 Thomas Jefferson                                                       

 "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the       
 government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of
 taking care of them."
                                                  
 Thomas Jefferson                                                       

 "My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from
 too much government."
                                                  
 Thomas Jefferson                                                       

 "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."                    
 Thomas Jefferson                                                       

 "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear
 arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in    
 government".
                                                           
 Thomas Jefferson                                                       

 "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of
 patriots and tyrants."
                                                 
 Thomas Jefferson                                                       
 
"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas   
 which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
             
 Thomas Jefferson                                                       
                                             

 In light of the present financial crisis, it's  interesting to read what
 Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:                                         

 "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties
 than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to
 control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by       
 deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks
 will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up   
 homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
        

The Gipper vs. Obama

Please check out the cool  YouTube "debate" between The Gipper and Obama at the bottom of the article.


By Roger Kimball

In the immediate aftermath of November's election, conservatives were called upon to change the way they did business. They lost decisively, therefore (so ran the argument) they must have been going about the business of politics the wrong way. One thing you often heard (you still hear it) is that conservatives-or at least Republicans (they are not, alas, the same thing)-should abandon their hero worship of Ronald Reagan. Reagan, we heard, was yesterday's man. Republicans needed tomorrow's leader.

Maybe there is something to that. But I confess that the argument often struck me as harboring a plea for conservatives to become more like "liberals," i.e., more like people who want to curtail freedom in order to "spread the wealth around" and promote socialistic programs like nationalized health care.  (Full story at RealClearPolitics)

Vatican confirms that Pelosi will have audience with the Pope

I can still DREAM their meeting would take place in THE BOX! (I know, I know.. we all need THE BOX)

.- On Monday at noon in Rome, the Vatican’s Press Office confirmed to CNA that Pope Benedict will be receiving U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in an audience at noon on Wednesday.

Pelosi, a self-proclaimed "ardent Catholic" who has sparked significant criticism from fellow Catholics in the U.S. for her pro-abortion views, arrived in Italy on Sunday for an eight-day official visit. (Full story at CNA)

The Bushes

(January 20, 2009)
1. Outgoing President George W. Bush quietly boards
his helicopter and leaves for Texas, commenting only:
"Today is not about me. Today is a historical day for
our nation and people."



Eight years ago yesterday:

1. Outgoing President Bill Clinton schedules two
separate radio addresses to the nation, and organizes a
public farewell speech/ rally in downtown Washington D.C.
scheduled to directly conflict with incoming President
Bush's inauguration ceremony.

Yesterday:
2. President Bush leaves office without issuing a
single Presidential pardon, only granting a commutation of
sentence to two former border patrol agents convicted of
shooting a convicted drug smuggler. He does not grant any
type of clemency to Scooter Libby or any other former
political aide, ally, or business partner.

Eight years ago yesterday:

2. President Clinton issues 140 pardons and several
commutations of sentence on his final day in office.
Included in these are: billionaire financier, convicted tax
evader, and leading Democratic campaign contributor Marc
Rich; Whitewater scandal figure Susan McDougal;
Congressional Post Office Scandal
figure and former
Democratic Congressman Dan Rostenkowski; convicted bank
fraud, sexual assault and child porn perpetrator and former
Democratic Congressman Melvin Reynolds; and convicted drug
felon Roger Clinton, the President's half-brother.

Yesterday:
3. The Bush daughters leave gift baskets in the White
House bedrooms for the Obama daughters, containing flowers,
candy, stuffed animals, DVD's and CD's, and
heartfelt notes of encouragement and advice for the young
girls on how to prepare for their new lives in the White
House.

Eight years ago Yesterday:
3. Clinton and Gore staffers rip computer wires and
electrical outlets from the White House walls, stuff piles
of notebook papers into the White House toilets,
systematically remove the letter "W" from every
computer key-pad in the entire White House, and damage
several thousand dollars worth of furniture in the White
House master bedroom.

Headlines On This Date 4 Years Ago:
"Republicans spending $42 million on inauguration
while troops Die in unarmored Humvees"
"Bush extravagance exceeds any reason during
tough economic times"
"Fat cats get their $42 million inauguration
party, Ordinary Americans get the shaft"

Headlines Today:
"Historic Obama Inauguration will cost only $170
million"
"Obama Spends $170 million on inauguration;
America Needs A Big Party"
"Everyman Obama shows America how to
celebrate"
"Citibank executives contribute $8 million to
Obama Inauguration"

--And we're still dealing with the Clintons!!!

Know what a class act looks is.