Sibby Online

The abortion health exception loophole

During the pro-abortion advocate’s campaign to con the people of South Dakota to vote against Referred Law 6, they often pointed to the lack of exception for the health of the mother. In Kansas, we have proof that the health exception is actually a loophole to maintain abortions during the entire nine months of pregnancy. Here is what happened this week in Kansas:

The Kansas Attorney General has filed a motion seeking a review of the abrupt dismissal of a case he's spent several years assembling and that accused late-term abortion specialist George Tiller of 30 criminal violations of the state's abortion restrictions.

It took the district attorney for Sedgwick County, Nola Foulston, only hours yesterday to move that the case be dismissed because she did not approve of the prosecution, and a judge agreed.

Within nine minutes of being notified of that action, Kline told WND, he was trying to reach the Wichita judge to submit his motion for a reconsideration, but he was told the judge already had left the courthouse for the Christmas holiday.

The motion, then, will be waiting on Tuesday when court reopens, said Kline, who clearly was distressed by the dismissal after he had consulted with the local DA, and had had a local judge review and approve the case before it was filed.

Here is what Kline based his charges:

The Kline summary of the case, however, noted the law restricts post viability abortion "unless two doctors find either: a) the mother's life is in jeopardy if the abortion is not performed; or b) 'a continuation of the pregnancy will cause a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman…'"

Those are the requirements that were not met, the complaint alleged.

"Violating any of the provisions of this act is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail, a $2,500 fine or both," the summary said.

And here is the position of Tiller, the accused abortionist:

"They are absolutely desperate, for whatever reason, to terminate the pregnancy," Tiller said in the 2005 interview. "I will never know in my heart and soul what that [feels like]. But I think it must mean as much to a woman to be told she can't have an abortion as it does for a patient with cancer to be told that nothing can be done for him."

This was said in 2005, and note the "for whatever reason". Here is the reason Tiller listed for one abortion:

The counts cite a number of abortions, such as the July 22, 2003, abortion on a 14-year-old child, patient "072203LM," where Tiller "wrongfully relied on a diagnosis of Anxiety Disorder … or Adjustment Disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood to determine that a continuation of the pregnancy will cause a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman when such diagnoses do not establish that a continuation of the pregnancy will cause a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman, in violation of [Kansas law.]" the complaint said.

So we have the abortion industry, with the help of Democrats, use a clearly defined health exception, to perform abortion on demand by simply claiming "Anxiety Disorder".

Here are more details on Foulson, the Democrat district attorney:

Officials with Operation Rescue were horrified to see the developments:

"Foulston has come under criticism by pro-life supporters for refusing to prosecute accusations against Tiller because of her personal friendship with him. It is alleged that she adopted her only son through Tiller, who has stated publicly that he has arranged adoptions in return for political favors," a statement on the Operation Rescue website said.

"This is a classic example of why justice cannot be done in this state because so many officials have ties to George Tiller," said OR President Troy Newman. "Money buys a lot of favors here. This miscarriage of justice must not be allowed to stand. "

Here is how the Democrat handled the issue:

Kline told WND he consulted with Foulston before the filing, but afterwards, this is what she submitted to the court.

"This District Attorney has not invited or requested, consented or acquiesced, or failed to object to the filing of the Complaint. The District Attorney does in fact object to any such filing by the Attorney General as he lacks the legal authority to file such complaint in this jurisdiction," Foulston wrote.

Kline said he even has an e-mail from Foulston acknowledging their discussion about the case."

And now Kline is being threatened by the abortion advocates:

Two lawyers representing Tiller, Lee Thompson and Dan Monnat, held a news conference to confirm the charges, describing them as "technical" violations of Kansas reporting laws. Thompson would not confirm the number of counts, answering only that the case involved a "number of misdemeanors involving a number of patients."

The lawyers also said a summons had been issued to Tiller by a copy being placed in Tiller's door overnight. They said there was no evidence of crimes and promised to hold Kline "personally responsible" for the prosecution.

A short time later, what Kline's office would only describe as a "threat" reached Kline, and, "what we can say is that security has been heightened," a spokesman in his office said.

So clearly the abortion advocates and their Democrat prosecutors consider "technical" violations of law regarding abortion as nothing of concern. And those prosecutors who do decide to enforce the law are personally attacked.

And like South Dakota, the abortion advocates were successfully during the last election cycle (take note of the child rape point that also was used to con South Dakota voters):

Operation Rescue officials said Kline's investigation of abortion clinics for "the concealment of child rape and illegal late-term abortions" was the key to Kline's election defeat in a state with a governor and industry strongly supportive of abortion.

"Kansas has opted to continue the practice of looking the other way when innocent young girls are taken to abortion clinics by their rapists, who are looking to destroy the evidence of their crimes," said Newman after the election. "It has also voted to ignore violations of Kansas law that bans post viability abortions."

Kline also had raised the issue of state statistics from 2003, when there were 78 abortions on girls under the age of 15. In a state where the legal age of consent is 16, how could 78 girls become pregnant and obtain abortions without a single report of sexual assault, or rape, on a child, he wondered.

Kline earlier had confirmed, in an interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, that the medical records indicate late-term abortions that were done for reasons that Kansas law doesn't allow.

But Morrison said during his campaign he would start a domestic violence unit, without any additional expense to the state. "Some of the money that's been used on misplaced priorities could easily fund" the plans, he had told the Lawrence Journal-World.

He cited Kline's investigation of the abortion businesses run by Tiller in Wichita and Planned Parenthood as an example of those "misplaced priorities."

Morrison also got a huge boost in his campaign when a non-profit organization that the newspaper linked to Tiller mailed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of mailings critical of Kline.

The mailings called Kline "Snoop Dog" and were mailed by Kansans for Consumer Privacy Protection, said the newspaper, which noted that group had the same office address as ProKanDo, a political action committee Tiller started and is funding to elect pro-abortion candidates.

A district court judge who ordered the records given to Kline had noted he couldn't realistically be expected to investigate allegations of crime without access to the records that could prove it.

I wonder how well the Kansas media covered those campaign finance issues? For more see this LifeNews report.

More teacher/student sex

From WorldNetDaily:

A 24-year-old first-year female teacher has been arrested on charges of molestation and indecent behavior with a 12-year-old male student – and police say they have a videotape to prove it.

Stephanie Giambelluca, 24, a former teacher at J.D. Meisler Middle School in Metairie, La., was taken into custody on Wednesday along with Ryan Mapes, 18.

According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, police say that Mapes allowed the teacher to come to the home where he was babysitting the boy. She, allegedly, wanted to have sex with the student.

Prior to her arrival, Mapes set up a video camera in the living room. When she came to the boy's home, she and the student went into another room. No information has been released about any activities that occured there.

Afterwards, Giambelluca brought the boy back to the living room where Mapes gave him a Xanax tablet he had taken from the woman's purse. She disrobed to her underwear, performed a suggestive dance for the boy and performed oral sex on Mapes in front of him.

South Dakota secularists and Hillary Care

WorldNetDaily has a report titled, "Hillary Care coming to a state near you!" that points to a different approach to implementing socialized medicine. Here is the introduction:

Mandatory universal health insurance, which was killed by Congress a decade ago when it was known as Hillary Care, is returning to a state near you, officials have confirmed. Only this time instead of a nationwide program instituted by Congress, state legislatures are setting up the requirements.

And in South Dakota the forces that are aligned to implement Hillary Care are the secularist wing of the Republican Party that are joining in with the Democrats. Here is an Ed Olson quote:

With new-found weight fueled by the November voting successes, Olson talks about objectives.

"Let's see if we can solve school funding, straighten out property tax with the 150 percent thing, see what we can do for health care," he says.

And here is what Scott Heidepriem said:

"Democrats campaigned on a return to Common Ground issues. Part of the plan is an effort to reach out to Republicans who share our desire to see a better South Dakota," said newly elected Senate Democratic Leader Scott Heidepriem. "We must work together if we’re going to address our education, health care, and economic development challenges."

And here is Dave Knudson’s crusade:

Knudson serves on the judiciary and state affairs committees, good matches for his background as a lawyer. He wants to improve the state's business climate, health care system and educational funding formula.

Yes, the current secular faction of South Dakota Republican and Democrat leaders seem to be pointing to some kind of Hillary-like socilized medicine plan for South Dakota. Here is what WorldNetDaily warned:

But concerns being raised involve the size of such programs, their funding and enforcement, and their complicated structure, just like those raised over Hillary Care.

And especially concerning to others is that in Massachusetts – viewed right now as the model for other states – there's no option for people who wish to manage their own health care and expenses, according to experts who assist consumers with just that type of accountability.

And some have been trying to wrongly put possible Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney in the conservative camp. This should say otherwise:

However, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney just a few months ago signed into law the proposal from that state's Legislature launching a new mandatory universal health insurance program.

That specific program requires all uninsured adults to buy that insurance by July 1, 2007 – and prove it on their income tax returns – or face fines that could range into the thousands of dollars.

And here is why social conservatives should be concerned about these universal health insurance programs:

The Christian groups also note that when Christians purchase group health insurance from a secular company, their premiums also are paying for abortions and other medical procedures that would violate their religious beliefs. In the Christian payment-sharing plans, abortions simply are not a covered procedure.

Christians are hoping that their will be more coverage of their alternative to socialized medicine:

"Not one dollar of anyone's monthly gift goes to abortion," Lansberry told WND. "It's just practicing our religious convictions to take care of one another in a way that is consistent with the Bible."

"We believe Jesus Christ is the Ultimate Provider for all of life's needs. Individuals and families have the primary responsibility for their own health and decisions related to seeking health care. When they have burdens that are greater than they can bear, we firmly believe that the body of Christ, at the local church level first, and then in a broad corporate sense, should bear one another's burdens to fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2)," its website said.

Two other groups with similar services, and similar concerns, are Christian Care, of Florida, and Christian Brotherhood, of Ohio.

Howard Russell, of Christian Brotherhood, told WND his challenge now is to make sure lawmakers in every state know of his group, and the customers he has. "The challenge of alerting lawmakers is one of the big tasks that we have," he said.

Robert Baldwin, of Christian Care, said he was a little surprised, because he was expecting a return to national health care advocacy to be at the national level, when it arrived.

"We were kind of caught short, in that the state-by-state approach is much harder for us to stay on top of," he said.

I doubt the Argus Leader would consider giving the conservative side of the health care story. The Christian conservatives must find a way to get their message out to the masses.

Sandy Berger

My previous post pointed out how the Democrats seem to care more about their power than people’s lives. Here is another report that shows how far the Democrats will got to save their own skins:

President Clinton's national security advisor removed classified documents from the National Archives, hid them under a construction trailer and later returned to retrieve them, the agency's internal watchdog said Wednesday.

The report was issued more than a year after Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger pleaded guilty and received a criminal sentence for removing the documents.

Berger took the documents in the fall of 2003 while working to prepare himself and Clinton administration witnesses for testimony to the Sept. 11 commission.

Berger was authorized as the Clinton administration's representative to make sure the commission got the correct classified materials.

Berger's lawyer, Lanny Breuer, said in a statement that the contents of all the documents exist today and were made available to the commission.

But Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), outgoing chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, said he's not convinced that the Archives can account for all the documents taken by Berger.

Davis said working papers of National Security Council staff members are not inventoried by the Archives.

"There is absolutely no way to determine if Berger swiped any of these original documents. Consequently, there is no way to ever know if the 9/11 commission received all required materials," Davis said.

Berger pleaded guilty to unlawfully removing and retaining classified documents. He was fined $50,000, ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and was barred from access to classified material for three years.

Inspector General Paul Brachfeld reported that National Archives employees spotted Berger bending down and fiddling with something white around his ankles.

The employees did not feel at the time there was enough information to confront someone of Berger's stature, the report said.

Later, when Berger was confronted by Archives officials about the missing documents, he lied by saying he did not take them, the report said.

Brachfeld's report included an investigator's notes, taken during an interview with Berger.

The notes said Berger had not been aware that Archives staff had been tracking the documents he was provided because of earlier suspicions from previous visits that he was removing materials. Also, the employees had made copies of some documents.

In October 2003, the report said, an Archives official called Berger to discuss missing documents from his visit two days earlier. The investigator's notes said, "Mr. Berger panicked because he realized he was caught."

Thune shows support for Johnson

From KELOTV:

Even though they sit on opposite sides of the aisle, Senator John Thune is very much in Senator Tim Johnson's corner.

Thune was in Iraq on a fact finding mission when he heard the news concerning Johnson's health. Thune returned home from Iraq this week. He immediately paid a visit to Senator Johnson's wife, Barbara to find out how his colleague is doing.

Republican Thune doesn't always agree with Democrat Johnson on issues, but is angry that some people are more worried about the balance of power in Washington than Johnson's health.

"I'm very troubled by the way this has been covered by the national press, it really is almost beneath the level of professionalism you'd expect," said Thune.

Thune met with Senator Johnson's wife, Barb as soon as he returned home from Iraq.

"They had a very good day yesterday, she was upbeat, family is in good spirits and everybody is hopeful, prayerful of support and I think they are very encouraged by his progress and we all want to see him make a complete full and speedy recovery," said Thune.

Thune says any talk of replacing Johnson should stop.

"All this is speculation and hype that the national media has applied to the situation it's very disturbing in my opinion," said Thune.

Thune says he, Johnson and congresswoman Stephanie Herseth have always had a good working relationship and he doesn't see that changing because of Johnson's health.

"My expectation is Senator Johnson will be back in the saddle, on the job so to speak, soon, but clearly our state will be well represented as a delegation we work very well together he's got a very capable staff, they work closely with my staff and we'll continue to do that, it's worked well in the past and it'll work well in the future."

I certainly agree with Senator Thune. And since he was in Iraq when this came down, he may not know that it was more than just the "National" media that immediately gbegan seculating about the balance of power in the US Seante. Todd Epp posted an Argus Leader we site report dated 12/13/2006 3:05PM that had this excerpt:

South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson said that under state law, the governor would be responsible for filling a U.S. Senate vacancy.

"If there is a vacancy in that office, the governor appoints a replacement who serves until the next general election," Nelson said.

Nelson said state law is silent on the issue of whether an office holder is incapacitated. The law only has a stipulation for a "vacancy."

Todd responded with this:

Um, let’s wait and see before we pull the sheet over our senior Senator. In the meantime, let’s drop our partisanship for a day or two (which I am going to do) and hope and pray for Sen. Johnson’s recovery and for his family. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious.

But then a couple of hours later (5:50PM), Epp succumbed to the media, broke his promise, and posted the legal details regarding vacancies. Here is his introduction to post titled, "Breaking: What Happens if Sen. Johnson Can't Serve" :

Since I’ve been asked this question by members of the media and others, here’s how vacancies for U.S. House and U.S. Senate are filled under S.D. law. There are different processes for each.

So it was not just the National Media, but also the pro-Democrat Argus Leader and Democrat activist Todd Epp who also jumped on the speculation band wagon regarding the balance of power.

I posted a WorldNetDaily report that contained this reaction by Tom DeLay when he was asked to speculate:

"Let's just keep him in our prayers and hope that he's going to be all right," former House Speaker Tom DeLay told host Neal Cavuto on the Fox News Channel.

Asked about why a senator's health is getting the scrutiny it does, DeLay said: "Because this town is so eat-up with power. That's all they think about. It doesn't matter [the subject]. You go and ask somebody for a cup of coffee, they question why you asked. There must be an ulterior motive to you asking somebody for a cup of coffee in this town. It's a pretty mean town."

I guess this helps demonstrate the moral values of conservatives versus the lust for power of the far-left proponents of secular humanism. The humanists are not always humane, which is also obvious from the their pro-abortion position.

Home school, effective and inexpensive

Bob Ellis of Dakota Voice has a column in the Rapid City Journal that tells us about his experience with home schooling:

My family homeschools, and we spend far less than the public school system's $4,163 per student. Our "education budget" comes right out of our pockets after we've already paid our taxes for public schools. Despite this spending disparity, last spring my daughter tested several grade levels above her age in every area. If spending determined achievement, she should be several grade levels behind.

I know homeschooling isn't attractive to everyone. My point is that we should be working smarter with what we have, especially when spending other people's money. If we concentrated more on how to properly educate and less on how much we're spending on education, maybe we could end soaring property taxes and the mantra of "More! More! More!" from the education establishment.

Educating children is not nearly as expensive as the cost to propagandize them with the government’s religion of secular humanism. And the additional funding demanded by the education establishment is not aimed at better education for children, but instead more programs of secular humanist indoctrination, and also increases the number of teachers to help the NEA to increase its power base. This helps explain that point:

The NEA’s militantly humanist, aggressively globalist agenda is difficult to reconcile with the warm fuzzy image of a beloved local teacher who happens to be a dues-paying member. But remember the NEA is a multi-level organization. Teachers at local schools may have neither the time nor the inclination to follow what the state and national levels of the union are doing with the money the teachers pay every year. And, even if they are aware of the issues, they may feel powerless. Many states require teachers to join the NEA, and teachers who refuse to join the NEA are often marginalized.

Americans need to better understand the political influence of the education establishment. Spending some time in Pierre during the legislative sessions makes that obvious.

Todd Epp stands with Frank Kloucek

[UPDATE: Here is a link to the Mitchell Daily Republic report.]

South Dakota War College first pointed out last week a Frank Kloucek email, and now the South Dakota media has picked up on it (except for the pro-Democrat Argus Leader). And South Dakota War College has also reported on the South Dakota Farmers Union removing Kloucek from its ranks. The Mitchell Daily Republic has a report (not online yet) on that this morning which says Kloucek’s attorney is Todd Epp:

Kloucek’s attouney, Todd Epp of Harrisburg, said the Farmers Union is in the wrong.

"This is not exactly a picture of due process", he said.

Epp said Kloucek’s first e-mail was intended to be a private communication between a lawmaker and the appointed leader. "If he can’t speak candidly to the minority leader, that’s a problem," Epp said.

The second e-mail was Kloucek’s attempt to get to the bottom of what he considers an issue important to the Farmers Union, Epp said.

"Frank knew that could cause problems, but he also felt it was his responsibility to try to get answers," Epp said.

Epp questions what Kloucek said was privileged information. He also challenged the Farmers Union to show policies or bylaws Kloucek had broken. As for the talk that Kloucek could face censure in the legislature, Epp said he cannot find any current rules that Kloucek violated.

Since South Dakota War College first posted some of what Epp calls "privileged information", I wonder if Epp is going to pursue legal action against SDWC? Todd Epp has a habit of using legal threats to shut up bloggers. But now that the media is also on it, I wonder if he thinks the press is also wrong...legally.

The anti-American Americans

From Michael Ackley:

Remember the good old days, when anti-American Americans criticized their country for failing to foster democracy in the Middle East?

"All the United States cares about is OIL!" they would say. "We just prop up corrupt dictatorships – the royal family of Saudi Arabia in particular. We never do anything to promote democracy in the region."

Then along came George W. Bush, fostering democracy in Iraq, and anti-American Americans had to change their tune. Suddenly, the United States was indulging in cultural imperialism, forcing its values on an unwilling populace. U.S. insistence on a constitutional democracy in Iraq became "condescending."

Our "condescension" must play well among the millions of Iraqis who plunged their index fingers into purple ink, in both fear and joy, to participate in the democracy the United States fostered.

Anyway, the anti-American Americans' new approach fits well with the current, rampant, values-free academic diversity mongering, and never mind that it's a total contradiction of the old "we never promote democracy" complaint.

The outburst here is occasioned by an article in my alma mater's alumni magazine, wherein a couple of political scientists opine that "making democracy promotion a core foreign policy doctrine ..." is a mistake.

Such a policy, they say "... is a systematic claim by the United States that we get a massive say in the domestic political arrangements other states create for themselves."

One must surmise that these scholars take a dim view of the "democracy promotion" that occurred in Europe and Japan following World War II. I believe the United States had a rather "massive say" in the affairs of the Axis nations following that conflict.

Randell Beck and the law

I can’t find Randell Beck’s front-page column from yesterday’s Argus Leader [I did find the link], but it leads off with this:

You should know this first: I own handguns.

Now in this Argus Leader report, it lists two Argus Leader employees who have a concealed cvarry permit, but not Randell Beck. Is he following the concealed carry laws?

Knudson’s hypocrisy on privacy

So why would Dave Knudson, the leader of the South Dakota Senate Republicans support abortion due to privacy concerns, but reject the right to privacy of those who choose to use the Second Amendment and carry a concealed weapon? The Argus Leader has this in their anti-gun report:

If there is anything South Dakotans value as much as gun rights, it's privacy.

So when the state Legislature combined the two issues early this year - in a bill keeping the names of pistol permit holders private - only five of the 100 legislators opposed it.

Rep. Maggie Gillespie, D-Hudson, said she pushed the change because of a conversation with a constituent.

"They were frustrated that the permits were being published, and why that was necessary," she said recently. "They haven't done anything wrong. The reason to carry a concealed permit is really defeated if the person's name who is carrying the permit is going to be published."

Other supporters of the new law say publishing the names could lead to more thefts of firearms, the total loss of which surpassed $43,000 in 2004.

But advocates of open records - including the Argus Leader editorial board - say there are clear benefits to public scrutiny of pistol permits.

Funny how a Democrat would support the privacy of gun owners, but not Dave Knudson:

Sen. Dave Knudson, R-Sioux Falls, was one of the other handful of "no" votes.

"It might be important for a potentially abused spouse to know that their spouse - or former partner, what have you - obtained a pistol permit," he said.

Or would it more likely be the benefit of the abuser to know that the victim obtained a pistol permit? Knudson doesn’t understand that criminals could care less about law including the concealed carry laws that require a permit. With Republicans like Knudson, we certainly don’t need any communists. Like me, Knudson used to be a Democrat. But unlike me, I think in his heart he is still one. Is that typical of most Janklow Republicans?

There is some gun owners who argue that they have a constitutional right to carry a concealed weapon without paying for a pistol permit. Perhaps this controversy can be solved by removing the requirement of a concealed carry permit. Instead, maybe the government should keep a database of the criminals, and leave us law-abiding citizens alone.

Apparently this controversy is not just a South Dakota issue.