Call for the Newsletter
 
        We’re putting together our Fall 2012 8-page paper & web newsletter. Anyone with anything to contribute is welcome, but we’re particularly interested in letters to the editor that help show how to deal with the consistent life ethic during election season. Please send to weekly@consistent-life.org.
 

Abortion History – Eugenics Connection
 
        Long-time British CL supporter Ann Farmer’s book, By Their Fruits: Eugenics, Population Control, and the Abortion Campaign, covers the origins of the campaign to legalize abortion in Great Britain.  From rigorous research, Ann corrects the idea that the campaign was about feminism and backstreet abortion, and argues instead it was the fruit of the eugenics/population control movement. She demonstrates that despite their compassionate rhetoric, female abortion advocates were eugenicists, who were inspired by men, racist, elitist, and obsessed with controlling the quality and quantity of mankind. Abortion advocates worked closely with American and German eugenicists.
 

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Another 25^th Anniversary Video Up
 
        We have added Sunday afternoon's talk at the Conference by Rachel MacNair to our YouTube Channel, called Insights from Psychology. Rachel has a Ph.D. in psychology and has written or edited several peace psychology books and consistent-life books.
        In the first part she covers what is known about the psychological impact of killing on those who do it, from combat veterans to executioners to abortion staff. Then she covers the human mind’s drive for consistency and how the absence of consistency leads to the tension of cognitive dissonance – and how important this is for education on these issues. She explains why when it can honestly be said that certain violent practices are subsiding it’s actually easier to convince people to oppose them, since it becomes psychologically safer to do so. Therefore, including this information could make education efforts more effective. The audience discussion at the end is also included.
 
audience discussion:
back - Patrick O’Neill, 
front - John Whitehead,
Mary Meehan,
Mary Krane Derr 
 







 

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U.S. Political Parties Continue Freeze-outs
 
        We had reported before that the freeze-out of pro-life Democrats may be softening in the U.S. Democratic Party, as its platform committee was willing to consider a plank recognizing them as existing. The freeze-out is not softening; the plank was rejected. As mild as the proposal was, the platform committee couldn’t even accept this much. The tragedy continues.
        Meanwhile, the Republicans have an anti-war advocate in Ron Paul (he also opposes abortion and the death penalty, and we make no comment on his other stands). While they did offer a tribute to him, that didn’t include allowing him to speak, and the tribute certainly didn’t include his forceful statements against military spending and recent aggressive wars.
 

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City Council Votes to Put Local Nuclear Weapons Issue on Ballot
 
        On August 30, the Kansas City Missouri  City Council voted to add an amendment saying they thought it was a bad idea, but nevertheless would put the citizen’s initiative petition on the ballot because legally they had to: “Prevention of the City’s Future Financial Involvement in Nuclear Weapons Components Facilities” – April 2, 2013. See foolish-investment.com for details of this campaign. We can count on hearing more here, since editor Rachel MacNair has been spearheading the campaign.
 

 

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Quotation of the Week
Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA Today, August 20, 2012
 
        “Some Wisconsin Catholics are praying both Catholic vice presidential candidates will have a religious epiphany. They want GOP Rep. Paul Ryan to change his mind and heart about his deep-cuts budget, and Vice President Biden to turn against abortion.”