2011 Mar 06 - Headline News

By STEPHEN MILLER

Bernard Nathanson estimated he was responsible for 75,000 abortions before he changed his mind and became a leading anti-abortion activist.

He was director and narrator of the 1984 documentary "The Silent Scream" that showed abortion in graphic detail, helping to galvanize abortion opponents. Dr. Nathanson, who died Monday at age 84, was a Manhattan gynecologist. In 1969 he helped found the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, with the aim of making abortion legal.

A onetime self-described militant for abortion rights, Dr. Nathanson in 1969 picketed a New York City hospital and pushed for passage of the New York state act legalizing abortion the following year. He acted as a spokesman for NARAL in its early years, calling for increased access to abortion for the poor, and became director of Manhattan's Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health.

"We're interested in the poor people who have had to use the back-alley butchers in the past," Dr. Nathanson told the Christian Science Monitor in 1970.

Yet within a few years, Dr. Nathanson, at the time a self-professed "Jewish atheist," became convinced by ultrasound and EKG imagery that the fetus was a human life.

"There is no longer serious doubt in my mind that human life exists within the womb from the very onset of pregnancy," he wrote in 1974.

Dr. Nathanson's conversion brought with it a denunciation of his former allies, whom he accused of "moral myopia" in his 1979 book, "Aborting America."

He accused pro-abortion crusaders—including his former self—of outright lies about the number of women killed by illegal abortions, said by supporters of abortion rights to be 5,000 to 10,000 a year. The real number, he wrote, was far lower.

While "Aborting America" was tendentious, it made its points with rational arguments. "The Silent Scream" made its argument in a visceral fashion, showing a series of ultrasonic stills to depict the abortion of a 12-week-old fetus. Dr. Nathanson described the fetus as appearing to cry out in pain.

The film became a favorite in the Right-to-Life movement, much of which had based its arguments on religion. New York Archbishop John J. O'Connor hailed "The Silent Scream," and pointed out that Dr. Nathanson "actually admits that he's an atheist."

Joan Andrews Bell, a Catholic anti-abortion activist who has served time in prison for blocking access to clinics, said, "He knew what the other side was thinking, but he also humanized the other side for us."

A New York City native, Dr. Nathanson was the son of an obstetrician/gynecologist who sent him to Hebrew school, although the family was secular.

He attended McGill University Medical College in Montreal, and became an ob/gyn in the U.S. Air Force. In his
autobiography, "The Hand of God," he wrote of how an early girlfriend underwent an illegal abortion.

Dr. Nathanson retired from Saint Lukes-Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan in 1993, but continued to be active in the anti-abortion movement.

In 1996, he was baptized a Catholic at St. Patrick's Cathedral by Cardinal O'Connor. "I have such heavy moral baggage to drag into the next world," he told the Washington Times that year.

SOURCE:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703610604576158894030077096.html

Issues Divide Republicans' Views of Potential 2012 Contenders

Government, economy most important issues; social issues, national security least

PRINCETON, NJ -- Although Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and Sarah Palin lead
the field of potential Republican presidential candidates among all Republicans nationwide, there are significant differences in candidate preferences when Republicans are divided by the issue they think is most important. Those focused on government spending and power are most likely to favor Huckabee or Romney, while those focused on the economy favor Romney or Palin. Republicans who say social and moral values are most important favor Huckabee or Palin.

CHECK site for charts:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/146336/Issues-Divide-Republicans-Views-Potential-2012-Contenders.aspx

Ohio’s fight over collective bargaining spoiled dinner for a number of Republican state lawmakers Wednesday evening.

Following the state Senate’s vote to limit the bargaining power of public employees, a group of union protesters burst into a local eatery and confronted a small group of GOP senators who were having dinner. The Columbus Dispatch reports:

After the vote on Senate Bill 5, seven Republican senators, including President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, grabbed dinner at the Easy Street Cafe. As the lawmakers neared the end of their meal, a group of five to 10 union supporters angry about the passage of the bill hours before burst into the restaurant and began shouting.

The commotion eventually led to pushing and shoving with the restaurant staff and owner, before police arrived to calm the situation as a police helicopter hovered overhead. No senators were involved in the physical altercations, and no charges have been filed.

“It could have (gotten physical),” said Sen. Frank LaRose, 31, a Fairlawn Republican who served as a Green Beret. “The group was agitated and they were shoving the owner, and he had nothing to do with this.”

LaRose said it didn’t take special intelligence training to notice that while the lawmakers were eating, a woman walked past the window several times, poked her head in the door and got on her cell phone.

“It was planned,” LaRose said. “They gathered as a group and waited until they had about 10 people before they caused a disturbance.” When the group burst into the restaurant, the woman, Monica Moran, deputy director of public affairs for SEIU District 1199, raised her hands in the air, yelled “Can I have your attention?“ and then shouted ”something nasty,” LaRose said. Soon after, the rest of the group of men and women joined in with a chant.

Restaurant owner George Stefanidis says police came after the protesters refused to leave. Witnesses said Stefanidis and his restaurant staff tried to hold the group back from the senators, but the altercation got heated when the agitators began pushing and shoving.

“They stormed through my dining room,” Stefanidis said. “I told them they had to leave, and they wouldn’t. There were about 70 people in the restaurant at the time.

“I understand [the protesters'] argument, but they should do that some other place,” he added. “It just ruined the whole night.”

Moran, however, was unapologetic about the ambush. “The moment of discomfort Senate Republicans may have felt as a result of my expressing my opinion pales in comparison to the extreme discomfort and financial hardships that public employees will endure as a result of SB5.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/seiu-protesters-disrupt-ohio-senators-dinner-accost-restaurant-workers/

Hawaiian Electric Co. used managers and outside contractors to repair storm-damaged power lines yesterday after its unionized work force walked off the job over a contract dispute.

HECO executives said the strike would slow efforts to restore service to about 8,000 Oahu homes and businesses, mostly in the Ewa Beach area, that were without power last night.

"We do have management crews out there to see what we can do about the Ewa Beach situation in particular this evening, and we will do our best to restore as much of that service as possible," said Robbie Alm, HECO executive vice president. "I don't want to guarantee that, obviously, we don't have our normal full crews out there."

About 1,300 HECO workers who are members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1260 went on strike at 3:30 p.m. yesterday and began walking picket lines on Oahu, the Big Island and in Maui County.

The workers rejected last month a tentative contract agreement reached between union leaders and management, setting the stage for the strike.

HECO workers said the two sides disagreed on a management proposal to raise the age of retirement with full benefits to 62 from 60; a proposed reduction in sick leave benefits; and a plan to create a two-tier contract with new hires receiving lower wages and benefits. There also was a dispute over whether negotiated wage increases should begin with ratification of a new contract or expiration of the previous contract last October. Neither company nor union officials would confirm the sticking points in the contract talks.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie urged HECO workers to make restoring power to all customers their priority.

"I have spoken with leaders of Hawaiian Electric Co. and the union. My thought is that they can set aside their respective positions during this emergency situation until the public's safety is taken care of," the governor said. "The most important thing right now is restoring electric services for residents and ensuring their health and security, then resume negotiations."

Alm said the company and union have been holding contract talks since September. After the most recent negotiating session ended yesterday, the union called the strike, he said. Alm said there is no schedule to return to the table, but the company is ready to do so at any time.

Stanford Ito, IBEW strike captain, said workers did not plan to go on strike on such a busy day for the company and its workers. He said the strike came because HECO president and CEO Richard Rosenblum would not meet with their negotiating team.

"It's just circumstance," Ito said. "It wasn't like a strategic plan to say, 'Yeah, we're going to strike now because the power lines are down.'"

Alm said HECO hired contractors locally and from the mainland in anticipation of a strike. In addition, the company's 1,100 non-unionized workers have been assigned shifts to handle the work formerly done by union members.

"We were, as you can probably guess, preparing ourselves for this, so we do have management crews available and contractors who are assisting us," Alm said.

"We will do our best particularly with critical services and outages, but I do want to ask the public for its patience."

Jason Cosma, who works on utility poles for HECO on Oahu, said he was scheduled to work until midnight but walked off the job in support of the union. Cosma, who was on a picket line yesterday, said he was fighting to preserve benefits such as sick leave and retirement that the company wants to take away.

"We're not asking for more money. It's just respecting what we had," Cosma said. He said striking was the last resort after talks were unproductive since the contract ended in October.

"It's the last thing we all wanted," Cosma said. "We tried for a long time to avoid this."

The striking workers do a range of jobs, including power plant operations, line work, meter reading and customer service. The IBEW represents 54 percent of the company's 2,380 workers on three islands.

Kauai is not affected by the strike because the electricity service there is provided by the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative.

Maui County officials said that they had "taken every precaution to prepare for the potential of a MECO strike."

Keith Regan, the county's managing director, has instructed all departments to test their generators and to have all fuel tanks topped off and ready for operation in the unlikely event of a disruption in service, according to a county statement.

Quince Mento, Hawaii County Civil Defense administrator, said Hawaii Electric Light Co. has informed the county that it has more than 100 management personnel to take over operations for striking workers.

"They will do their best to take care of operations," Mento said.

The county's emergency first responders, including police, fire and civil defense, are equipped with backup generators.

The county's Department of Water Supply is also equipped with backup power for its pumps in case of an emergency. Also, most local radio stations also have backup generators, Mento said.

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110305_heco_strike_1300_workers_walk_off_the_job_amid_outages.html

Krauthammer Criticizes Obama For Treating U.S. Troop Shooting In Germany Like 'A Bus Accident'

http://visiontoamerica.org/categories/politics.html