Continuation of Reports on Montgomery Council Hearing Regarding CPC Sabatogue Attempt

I hope that everyone has had a happy new year celebration.  With that, it's time to turn our attention to pro-life battles that face us, particularly in Montgomery County.  I've written before on the open County Council hearing that occurred on December 1st.  By no means did I have time to report and comment on all the proceedings.  However, the votes on the Obama Hell Bill occupied our attention. 

Now we must refocus on the protection of Maryland pregnancy centers.  The Health and Human Services Committee, chaired by George Leventhal (D-at large) is scheduled to revisit the matter on January 25th.  We need to make the council aware of our displeasure at this bill, and remind them all that their jobs are vulnerable in the upcoming 2010 elections this autumn.

The Dec 1st hearing was quite lengthy, so much so that my camcorder could not hold all of it.  When the disk filled up, I resorted to my digital voice recorder and my cell phone camera.  From these I'll be presenting clips, and not necessarily in chronological order.  In fact, what I present now is the very last testimony, and some rather troubling behavior by the chair of the HHS committee, George Leventhal.  The lady whom you'll hear first is Ms Linn (not sure of the spelling), a peer counselor at the Rockville Pregnancy Center.  She relates how her clients told her of being exploited at Planned Parenthood.  One woman told Ms Linn that PP staff held her down and forced her to abort.  Leventhal questioned her - no, not questioned her.  He tried to twist the counselor's words around to make it seem that Ms Linn was telling the client that Planned Parenthood would abuse her.  As you listen to the testimony (and I'd advise you to play it as many times as you need), you'll hear that Ms Linn is simply relating what she heard from her client, not what she told her client.  Leventhal tries to twist it to make it appear that Ms Linn told this to the client.  (Does a member of the Montgomery County Council not know the difference between "heard" and "told"?)  Also notice that Leventhal doesn't direct this challenge directly to Ms Linn; he directs his question to the pro-life attorney (Ann O'Connor) who testified immediately before Ms Linn; he wouldn't even let Ms Linn speak for herself.  I regret that when they both did eventually reply, that their replies were way too reticent and demure.  (Also Ms O'Connor was barely audible)  They should have directly challenged Leventhal on what could charitably be called his "selective listening" problem.

And now, please click on THIS to hear the exchange.

Do you notice how Leventhal kept repeating that he was "sincerely trying to get an answer"?   I've learned over the years to assume that when someone protests how "sincere" they are, that I should take such assertions with copious grains of salt.  By the way - I've pointed out in earlier postings that most of the Montgomery County Council members were listed as sponsors on NARAL's "Evening of Chocolate" fundraiser program.  Notice that Leventhal is a "Partner of Choice".  That brings up another point.  Did you notice how in the beginning of his tirade, Leventhal said he wouldn't bother to visit a crisis pregnancy center because he didn't trust that he would get a truthful sense of their actual operations?  With all that's been revealed, I think we can most likely say that even if Leventhal did visit a pregnancy center, that perhaps his report would be negatively biased, since he clearly demonstrated his refusal to even echo back properly and truthfully what all plainly heard.  Perhaps Mr Leventhal is too much a "Partner of Choice".

Montgomery County Official Colluding With NARAL To Facilitate Murder Of Babies

Today LifeSiteNews revealed that they obtained proof that Maryland NARAL colluded with George Leventhal, Montgomery County Council president, in the County's legislative effort to cripple pro-life pregnancy centers.  The article links to a series of emails between Leventhal and Jodi Finkelstein, Maryland NARAL president.  I'd encourage you (particularly Montgomery County citizens) not only to read the emails but to download the pdf onto your own computers.

While the news is disgraceful, it is not at all surprising.  In December 2009 I recorded much of the hearing regarding the bill.  If you go to my archives  of that time period you'll see a whole collection of video.  One of those posts discusses the obvious bias of George Leventhal and his arrogance towards pro-life citizens who testified against the legislation.  Of course NARAL has endorsed him during election times, no doubt giving him lots of award and motivation for facilitating baby-murder.

But George Leventhal and his pro-abortion cronies aren't the only ones who are helping NARAL spill more babies' blood.  In one of her emails to Leventhal, Finkelstein outlined some strategies.  At least some of them were taken from a NARAL publication entitled "Choice Action Kit - Unmasking Fake Clinics - A Step By Step Guide".  It's a 56-page tome and I happen to have a copy.  On page 2 of this publication are some acknowledgements; one of those acknowledged is the Midwest Academy.  A woman named Helen Booth started it and is an unabashed leftist.  As I said in this post three years ago, her husband addressed a USCCB conference.  Consider: they aided and abetted NARAL in their misdeeds.  Why would the USCCB invite her or her husband to address Catholics?

We can also ask this question: why did the Catholic Campaign for Human Development ever deem the Midwest Academy worthy of a grant?  Here, courtesy of Michael Voris and company, is an expose of CCHD's underhanded practices.  In a nutshell, what all this means is that Catholic donors unwittingly funded pro-abortion attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers.

I would hope voters would remember this collusion during the 2018 elections.  However, Montgomery County is infested with progressive lemmings so I don't hold much hope.  Sadly I don't hold much more hope for the USCCB and its CCHD.  They both should be dismantled before they continue to sabotage the Church further.

Montgomery County Council Puts Lipstick on a Rattlesnake

In the January 27th issue of the Gazette (page B-1 of the Gaithersburg edition and linked here), we read that Leventhal et al "amended" their "gag the pro-life centers" bill.  But.. did they really??

The very first sentence of this article is most revelatory of the Council's dubious motives.  It reads and I quote, "Anti-abortion pregnancy centers no longer are singled out under a bill being considered by the Montgomery County Council that requires pregnancy centers to warn women if they are not being advised by medical professionals."  Note that it says that the pregnancy centers "no longer are singled out."   That adverbial phrase "no longer" makes quite plain that at one time, they most certainly were singled out, and intentionally so.  I believe they still are, knowing this cabal.  Also note the use of this word "warn".  When I think of that word, I think of danger.  There's no danger posed by the pro-life centers.  All women who've walkded into the pregnancy centers in this county have walked out by their own power.  The same cannot be said for this county's abortion centers.  I of course speak of the Potomac Family Planning Center where Jennifer Hallner died as a result of the lack of proper medical equipment to revive her.  Dr. Earl McLeod was disciplined.  I wonder if part of the discipline required that he post a sign warning women of his chequered track record.  I suspect not.

Now here's a curious paragraph.  "Montgomery County has four anti-abortion pregnancy centers that originally were targeted by the bill, including the Rockville Pregnancy Center, which is a licensed medical clinic. The Rockville center would be excluded from both versions of the bill."  Besides the clear admission that the pro-life centers were targeted, the two sentences contradict each other.  The first sentence says that Rockville Pregnancy Center was in the Council's cross-hairs.  The second says that it wasn't.  During the hearings, there was considerable squirming about that question, particularly on the part of Trachtenberg.  You can hear some of that on previous posting of this blog.

So why does the Council want to pass this bill at all?  Jackie Stippich, director of Shady Grove Pregnancy Center, correctly states that no complaint has ever been lodged by a client - a real client that is, and not just some NARAL volunteer who obviously has her own bias.  Speaking of bias, plenty of it has been demonstrated on this blog.  Leventhal's statement regarding objections to this bill is a dismissive and condescending "They resent it."  Well, let's take a look at Leventhal's behavior during the December 1st hearings.  Please go to http://restore-dc-catholicism.blogspot.com/2010/01/continuation-of-reports-on-montgomery.html and see how he blatantly attempts to twist the testimony of a pregnancy center volunteer.  Earlier in the evening he pooh-poohed the idea of touring a pro-life center, stating that he wouldn't be presented with a fair picture of how one operates.  In other words, he called these good people liars.  But perhaps it is he who is not being up front about his own arguable conflicts of interests.  Quite frankly, the Gazette article is curiously silent about that matter as well.  However, let me elaborate below.

The Maryland NARAL puts on a fundraising gala every October, usually in Rockville.  Their lists of sponsors is online here.  There are lots of familiar names, including those of George Leventhal and Duchy Tractenberg.  Moreover, Tractenberg, who originally introduced the bill, is a past president of Maryland NOW.  Ladies and gentlemen, can we say "conflict of interest big time"?  I daresay we can.

This so-called "amended" bill is scheduled for a vote.  Please continue to contact the council here and tell them "NO".

MD Elections - Ballot Question 5

The Democrats, who have for many decades controlled the Maryland legislatures, have no qualms whatsoever about doing what it takes to advance the Party of Death on both the state levels and federal levels.  That includes gerrymandering the legislative district boundaries.  My first recollection of that was in 1994, when they had split MD district 15 into two districts: 15 & 39.  One of the not-so-secret reasons was to give MD representative Gene Counihan his chance to be a state senator without displacing Larry Leventhal.  Well, that was 1994, when the GOP had a massive nationwide victory, owing to Clinton's abject failures.  The MD plan backfired and both Counihan and Leventhal lost to Republicans.  I had been in district 15 until I was "remapped" into 39.

For many decades I was also in Maryland's Congressional District 8, misrepresented by pro-abortion Connie Morella.  Indeed, she had voted like a Democrat more than a Republican; she was officially Republican.  The MD Democrats remapped the Congressional lines, essentially stabbing their ally in the back; the lines were redrawn to limit District 8 to areas of large Democratic registration; areas of less Democrat populations were plopped either in District 6 or 4.  I found myself in District 4; that stretched from Montgomery Village south into Oxon Hill.  On a map it looked like an earthworm.  This time their plan worked; Morella lost that election to Chris Van Hollen.  Morella was such a pro-abortion RINO that I didn't shed too many tears over that election outcome.

But now the federal boundaries have been redrawn again.  Let's face it; they're now targeting Roscoe Bartlett, the long-time real Republican who has been representing western Maryland quite well for some time now.  The courts have upheld the maps, so we petitioned the scheme to the ballot.

To understand what I'm talking about, you'll have to see it for yourself - so here it is from the MD Dept of Planning site.  Isn't it a mess?  I'll point out some of the more ludicrous highlights.  The lavender thing is District 8.  It is literally running from the DC border to the PA border.  They've taken most of Frederic County and some of Carroll County, both conservative areas from Bartlett and coupled them with the southern half of Montgomery County, a very populated and uber-liberal area of the state.  That southern area is joined to the northern area by a strip that can't be more than a few miles wide.  To complete the effect of removing conservative voters from District 6, they extended it down to the western part of Montgomery County to diffuse the conservative votes that remain to Bartlett.  So once again I've been remapped to another district.  The bright side is that for once I don't have to be ashamed of my Congressional representative, but I digress.

Looking at Prince George's and Anne Arundel Counties we see stranger configurations.  That pink are is District 5.  The northern part of that district is surrounded by District 4 which is depicted in blue.  Now look in the Baltimore area.  See how four districts twist and wind and interweave with each other.  I fail to discern any rhyme or reason there; not being up on Baltimore-area politics, I don't know what the goal of that is.  The light green area is District 3.  It starts in eastern Montgomery County and contorts its way to southern Harford County.  That is beyond weird.

Important caveat: What you thought your district was may no longer be the case.  Use the "find district by address" feature in the MD Planning website to ascertain your Congressional district.

We will get rid of this convoluted mess only by voting against Question 5.  We need districts drawn using sane geographical boundaries, regardless of the political party registration of the residents of the various districts.

CPC Attack Bill On January 25th Agenda

The Health and Human Services Committee of the Montgomery County Council is scheduled to revisit their attempt to strangle the four pro-life pregnancy centers in the county.  The Council held a public hearing on the matter on Dec 1st.  I attended it and recorded it.  Between then and now I've been posting snippets of my recordings on this blog, as well as some analysis.  These can be found by putting "Montgomery County Council" in the search box.

The Catholic Standard online edition has two posts that are worthy of study.  One gives the text of the Maryland bishops' statement called "Set Out in Haste".  Ladies and gentlemen, I knew Maryland's abortion rate was higher than the national rate, but I didn't realize it was 38% higher.  We Marylanders should be ashamed.

The second highlights Birthright of Wheaton, directed by Carol Buchanan.  At the bottom, she notes that George Leventhal, chair of that HHS committee, cynically refused to visit a pregnancy center, stating that he would not get a candid view.  What Mr Leventhal failed to divulge is that he is a public supporter of NARAL.  That was brought out by one of my postings on this topic.

Please contact the Montgomery County Council and demand that they kill this bill.  Thank you.

Catholic Charities Hosts Democrat Dog And Pony Show At St Jude's In Rockville MD

In 2018 all levels of Maryland public officials are up for elections: from the governor down to the local registrar of wills.  That of course means all the county councils and county executives are up.  This past Thursday evening on May 3rd, I attended a debate of candidates for the Montgomery County Executive position held at St. Jude's in Rockville.

I must remind one and all that Montgomery County Maryland is a liberal loony bin.  The lunacy was on display tonight in all its macabre glory.  First the debate was co-hosted by both Catholic Charities and the Justice and Advocacy Council.  I knew that when I got the notice and realized it was a harbinger of things to come.

The moderator of this debate was none other than Msgr John Enzler, who has been known to cozy up to pro-aborts and even to donate to their political campaigns.  There were seven candidates who were debating.  Six of them were Democrats; Robin Ficker was the lone Republican.  Three of those Democrats are current members of the County Council; they are George Leventhal, Roger Berliner, and Mark Elrich.  They were also on the council in early 2010 when the council passed its measure to hog-tie pro-life pregnancy centers in the County.  If you go back to my archives from that time, you can see video that I took of the hearings in Rockville.  Leventhal was particularly contemptuous of the pro-life people who testified against the bill.  It did pass, but went down in flames in court.  Mind you, all three of the current county executive candidates voted for it, although it was obviously unconstitutional.  You'll see later on how they hold the US Constitution in cheap regard.

The first part of the debate focused on "immigration": that is, when the Democrats weren't busy bashing President Trump.  Each of the Democrats loudly proclaimed that if they were elected, they would protect the border-crashers and that they'd direct the County police not to cooperate with ICE in any attempt to enforce immigration laws.  Let that sink in.  The President of the United States is constitutionally charged with ensuring national security; part and parcel of that task is the securing of the nation's borders.  We all listened to Democrats vowing to undermine the President as he carries out his constitutional responsibilities.  Whoever is elected to the executive position in November will take his or her own oath of office.  That oath includes the upholding of the Constitution.  But in loudly proclaiming that they would undermine the president, they just admitted that they would disregard their own oaths of office.  Moreover, in stating that they'd direct the county police to take a hostile stance towards ICE, they'd be directing those same officers to disregard their own oaths that they swore as police officers.  Isn't that, well, special??

Now of course Enzler was just beaming with joy upon hearing such talk.  Recall that Catholic Charities, along with other branches of the US church hierarchy, receive billions in federal dollars to "resettle immigrants".  Since that amount is predicated on headcounts "served", we can see how they'd be anxious to keep them crashing our national borders.

They moved beyond the Trump-bashing and shilling for border-crashers onto other favorite progressive topics.  As I said, there was one lone Republican - Robin Ficker.  When the candidates were asked about bringing jobs to Montgomery County, Ficker said he would brook no tax increases on his watch.  The others clearly didn't like that and used their time slots to take umbrage at that suggestion.  They also lauded the hike in the minimum wage.  Clearly we saw a shining example of how progressives simply aren't in touch with the real world.  Hikes in minimum wages - hikes in taxes - universal health care - these are all arbitrary costs that make Montgomery County unfriendly to employers - especially to those that are small businesses.  Anyone with a scintilla of common sense knows that, but liberals are devoid of even that.

Education was a hot button topic too.  The favored solution for the Democrats seemed to be expanding pre-k programs.  That's right.  They actually want to take the three-year-olds and start the brain-washing early.  Perhaps if schools concentrated on the basics instead of allowing and even mandating that the students "walk out" for some gun-control parade, the students might actually learn some useful skills.  Perhaps if little children weren't suspended because they pointed their fingers and made gun sounds, they might feel safe enough to learn.

Not every topic was covered.  They didn't touch their draconian attempt to gag crisis pregnancy centers by a long shot.  There was also no provision for the audience to ask questions.  Oh, we could write them down on cards and submit them, but they were screened.  Be certain that Catholic Charities would never allow their sugar-daddy puppet-masters to be embarrassed.

Below is a recording of the debate - unedited so that you can hear the socialistic prattle in all its ugliness.  Forgive the comments from me and my companions; I trust they don't muffle the nonsense from the stage.

Yoo Hoo! Montgomery County Council! Wakey-Wakey!

To the Montgomery County Council.  In December 2009, you passed your version of the Pro-Life Pregnancy Center Strangulation Bill.  Although you are undoubtedly playing cool and coy, you have been served notice of what the pro-life lawyers had tried to tell you during the hearings - that the measure is patently unconstitutional, a blatant violation of the First Amendment.

A few days ago, Judge Marvin Garbis threw Baltimore's regulations into the legislative dung heap for that very reason.  With the kind permission of Mr. John Naughton, I'm going to reproduce his letter to you below.  As the letter and my following commentary are lengthy, I'll put the break now.

Montgomery County Council Votes to Stifle Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers

Today the County Council issued a press release announcing that it voted to pass the superficially-amended assault on the county's four pro-life pregnancy centers.  Seven of the nine council members voted for it; Phil Andrews and Mike Knapp opposed it.  (Please thank them)

To be honest, I knew this would probably happen since most of the council openly supports MD NARAL and lent their names to the NARAL program.  Oh, by the way!  In earlier posts, I provided a link to the MD Democrat site that had posted that program so you could see it for yourselves.  Well, by golly, it has...disappeared!!!   Aren't these strange and mysterious times in which we live?   My, my!  Fortunately a columnist at Newsbusters, Ken Shepherd, listed them: Trachtenberg, Berliner, Navarro, Ervin and Leventhal are the 5 councilmembers who sponsored NARAL.  Since County Executive Ike Leggett also sponsored NARAL, he most certainly will affix his signature.

Folks, November 2010 will soon be here!

Late-Term Abortionist LeRoy Carhart To Kill Babies In Germantown MD

Numerous sources, including this Baltimore Sun article, confirm that LeRoy Carhart, notorious late-term abortionist, will join Germantown Reproductive Health Services Inc at 13233 Executive Park Terrace (off Wisteria Drive).  He is scheduled to begin December 6th.

Now why is he coming here all the way from Nebraska?  Because Nebraska has a new law that forbids abortions after 20 weeks.  Maryland, on the other hand, is one of the most abortion-friendly states in the nation.  Moreover, Montgomery County is one of the most left-wing areas of Maryland.  A "case-in-point" can be found in its law to basically gag pro-life pregnancy centers in the county.  I blogged extensively on that last December.  Go to those archives and watch some of the clips.  Some of the Council members (George Leventhal in particular) behaved downright arrogantly towards the pro-lifers who testified.

By the way - Carhart is doing late-term abortions, but he has no hospital privileges!  Can we see the increased dangers to women here, not to mention the babies?

More Political Campaign Trash From Montgomery County MD

And the comedy routines continue! Eight years ago, George Leventhal was one of the most rude council members to address pro-lifers when they were trying to ram through the pregnancy center gag bill. It got shot down in court for its blatant unconstitutional treatment of pro-lifers. There you have prima facie evidence of his disregard for the US Constitution, rule of law and the babies. But hey - this ad did proclaim his NARAL endorsement. He certainly does act like he's in their back pockets, doesn't he?

I remember a time when candidates of all persuasions assumed that their constituents were intelligent adults and designed their outreaches accordingly.  Their ads detailed their positions on the issues of the day and they conducted themselves like dignified, mature adults.  No more - at least from the Democrat side.  Has there been similar nonsense on the GOP side?  I'd suspect that there would be next to none.  Maybe the Democrats are putting out this infantile nonsense because that is the constituency to which they really must appeal if they hope to garner votes.  Sadly Montgomery County MD is rather full of such people.