Here is something I didn’t expect to see in my inbox from the Catholic League:
July 13, 2009
SURGEON GENERAL PICK IS EXCELLENT
Catholic League president Bill Donohue praised President Barack Obama for his selection of Dr. Regina Benjamin as the new Surgeon General:
President Obama picked the right person to be the new Surgeon General.
Dr. Benjamin is a hero to all those victimized by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Her tireless and selfless efforts are a model for all physicians.
Dr. Benjamin is an African-American Catholic public servant who has been recognized by Pope Benedict XVI: the Holy Father awarded her the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal for distinguished service. When the pope celebrated Mass in Washington, D.C. in 2008, Dr. Benjamin was there to receive his blessing. Moreover, she has also received the National Caring Award, an honor which was inspired by Mother Teresa. “Church was always a very important part of my life,” she told Catholic Digest. “I believe I am carrying on the healing ministry of Christ. I feel obligated to help continue his works.”
Kudos to President Obama and congratulations to Dr. Benjamin. She should sail through the Senate.
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Too bad she’s pro-abortion, otherwise she’d be an excellent pick.
http://www.lifenews.com/nat5208.html
Although I am suspicious of Obama and I keep looking for “the reason why” he picked her – I find that Lifenews article even more suspicious. It’s a hack job. I’m very disappointed in Lifenews right now.
Absolutely no real documentation. The quotes are such they could be easily taken out of context. An Ex:
Dr. Benjamin says: “We are adopting a policy that medical school curriculum provide the legal, ethical, and psychological principles associated with abortion so students can learn all the factors involved,”
This is a pro-choice statement? Really? Psychological? “All the factors”….. um… I need to have that statement put in context but unfortunately they don’t tell us where they got it. Simply saying “an interview with the Associated Press” means nothing to me. She has been in the public eye since 1990. How many interviews has she done with the AP? What year was this interview that she said this? What literature was that interview published in? We don’t know because they don’t say.
They also say that in December 1996 (with abosolutley no information as to where, what venue, why, who interviewed, possibly speech?) “Benjamin spoke in favor of a vote by the AMA’s governing body to “urge medical schools to expand their curriculum” to teach “more about abortion.”
Here’s the problem – there have been members of the AMA that have wanted schools to teach more about abortion – as in teaching them the absolute truth – to discourage students from doing them. What vote was she speaking of? The one that discourages abortion or the one that encourages them? We don’t know because they don’t get us any information so we can look it up.
She was in Catholic Digests 12 Catholic Hero’s in 2007.
She received an award inspired by Mother Teresa’s.
She received the Nelson Mandela award.
She received an award from the Pope.
She said: “The most important thing to me is when I walk into a room and tell a mother that her baby’s going to be all right,” she says. “It lets me know that I’m doing the right thing in life.” How is that a pro-choice statement?
Sorry – I’m going to need more than a hack job from Lifenews before I brandish her a pro-choicer. (Although I admit the chance is there – I just can’t take it on the word of a hack job report.)
But that is just my two cents.
I’ve done some research and most people are saying she is “anti-choice”. Also, I don’t think Obama needs to be picky in the Choice, not choice area for this position. The attorney general reports to the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services. Kathleen Sebulius in in charge of the Secretary for Health and Human Services – and we all know where she stands.
Imagine this – Obama nominates someone who is a religious pro-lifer and he gets brownie points from the moderates and the 51% that ID themselves as pro-life. And the reality is, the Attorney General has no control over the legality of abortion, nor the education of abortion.
Plus, she is a supporter of Obama’s health care plan and that is where he needs the talking heads right now……..
I’m still now sure her position. But she is a very active Catholic – Not like that “Kennedy” author I reported on this week that thinks if you just say Catholic your are Catholic. She seems to take her religion seriously.
This is going to be interesting to see what comes of this….
“Plus, she is a supporter of Obama’s health care plan ”
Val,
Obama’s health care has taxpayers paying for abortions..
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jul/09071310.html
Val,
You’re referring to the Surgeon General, not the attorney general, correct?
I’m inclined to agree with Jasper: anyone who is in favor of Obamacare shouldn’t have a problem with federally funded abortions.
If it were me being a catholic doctor who has received so much positive attention from the Church, the last thing I’d want is to be tapped for Surgeon General to be Obama’s fig leaf. I would respectfully decline the invitation. Wouldn’t want Notre Dame 2.0.
Jasper –
Obama care has NOT, and I will repeat, NOT been passed in any legislature right now. It is a huge jump to say that they ARE going to include it when it isn’t even in there right now. I put up a post a couple days ago where Democrats have vowed to stall it if it doesn’t exclude abortion.
Sorry, I don’t believe in scare tactics. It could be in the plan, it may not be. Let’s let this play out before we start disliking someone when we not only don’t have all the facts, we are attempting to look into a crystal ball to see the future. This is why I rarely quote from Lifesitenews or lifenews in my articles….. Sometimes they take liberties with the truth.
The very first word in the lifesitenews artilce is “unless”…….. As in – Unless they don’t do this, this will happen…..but the first “this” hasn’t even happened yet.
Yes – she has been nominated to surgeon general……….
I think when it comes to Dr. Regina Benjamin we need to remember:
Matthew 7:1-5
“Stop judging, that you may not be judged.
For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?
How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye?
You hypocrite, 3 remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.
We are putting our distrust for Obama on Dr. Benjamin. That isn’t fair. Am I suspicious of her that she may be pro-choice? yes. But I’m not willing to place a label on a devout Catholic because of her association with Obama.
I guess it can go both ways: If we should withhold our doubts, then perhaps Donohue should not be so quick to sing her praises.
Just sayin’…
True – But Donohue probably has more information on her than we do…….
I’m not saying “withhold your doubts”, I’m saying don’t judge yet. There is a huge difference. One of the worse insults you can give a Devout Catholic is to say they are pro-abortion. That could ruin their standings in their Church and could cause much problems in her Catholic community. Let’s just make sure she a pro-abort before we judge her as a pro-abort.
Does that make sense?
Yes.
Val,
Huh?
I never said I disliked the women. I never judged the women at all. I think she has done some great things, I like her. I simply reported what lifenews and lifesite news had reported, both do excellent reporting.
Japer –
You went out of your way to provide “proof” that she supports abortion. Your statement said: “Too bad she’s pro-abortion, otherwise she’d be an excellent pick.” Are you trying to say that’s not judging her?
One comment on LifeNews and LifeSite – Can you provide me articles where they document their facts without referring back to one of their own articles? This is why I am careful to document everything – so people can take me seriously. I have found multiple over exaggerations on both sites. I have also found stories on the base of their information, however I had to go searching around for the obscure magazine where they got their information from. When a reporting agency hides their resources its hard to take them seriously.
Here is the truth behind her supposed support of teaching medical students about abortion. Lifenews completely distorted the facts:
Lifenews says this: “In December 1996, Benjamin spoke in favor of a vote by the AMA’s governing body to “urge medical schools to expand their curriculum” to teach “more about abortion.”
She supported teaching doctors to do abortions in an interview with the Associated Press.
“We are adopting a policy that medical school curriculum provide the legal, ethical, and psychological principles associated with abortion so students can learn all the factors involved,” she said.”
Here is the national briefing from the AMA from the 1996 meeting.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/reports/1996/12/a961211.2.html
The American Medical Assn’s governing body voted on 12/11 to
reaffirm the organization’s abortion policy, which states
“termination of pregnancy is a medical matter between the patient
and physician, subject to the physician’s clinical judgment, the
patient’s informed consent and the availability of appropriate
facilities.” …….
ABORTION TRAINING: On 12/10, the conference voted to “urge
medical schools to expand their curriculum” to teach “more about
abortion.” While medical students currently learn about
abortion, the AMA said “budding” doctors should learn “more than
just the ethics of it.” The AMA said other issues are “equally
as important, such as counseling and possible complications.”
Delegate/Dr. Regina Benjamin: “We are adopting a policy that
medical school curriculum provide the legal, ethical, and
psychological principles associated with abortion so students can
learn all the factors involved.” The new policy was voted on by
447 delegates, and is not legally binding (Meyer, AP, 12/10).
We do not know which way she voted…..
She wanted information such as counseling and complications to be taught. Exactly how is this in support of urging students to learn abortions as the Lifenews article suggested?
Here is an excellent article by Paul Schenck, current chair on the national pro-life action center on capital hill.
http://www.paulschenck.com/2009/07/14/jumping-the-gun-on-benjamin/
“But if he’s chosen a pro-life Catholic physician as his advisor, what might come of that?”
I will attempt to answer his final question.
It will come to the MSM proudly stating how inclusive our president is, how he is truly seeking to keep his promise to the pope, isn’t it great we have a catholic who’s not going to let something as trifling as abortion distract her from the real issues, and Obama brilliantly demonstrates he is seeking common ground.
So, IF she is unequivocally pro-life, Obama, true to form, will capitalize on it to his benefit, not the unborn’s.
Read: fig leaf.
Doug Kmiec’s usefulness comes to mind.
I agree with Schenk that the Surgeon General can’t make pro-life policies, but that misses the point. It’s how Obama will use it or abuse it to give the impression that he really does care after all, in spite of his record.
Carder –
I agree…….. No matter how this plays out – he has it all calculated to suit his needs before the countries.
“Are you trying to say that’s not judging her?”
No I didn’t judge her in any way, I’m just stating what has been reported by lifenews (a very good website btw), you report things all the time about people. How would you like if I posted Matthew 7:1-5 every time you ‘judged’ someone? It wouldn’t feel so good, would it.
“I have found multiple over exaggerations on both sites.”
where?
“I have found multiple over exaggerations on both sites.”
where?
Well….look above. I provided proof of the article you posted was a hack job. They misrepresented her past. Even the chair of the pro-life action center said the same thing.
And I asked you to find me an article from either site that actually documents its “facts”, which you didn’t do. I tell you what – you want me to show you where – You can go to their main page, find any article you want, and see if it documents any facts. If it does, send it my way and I’ll let you know if it is a hack job or not. And documenting facts means referrals to outside sources not back to their own articles and their own conclusion.
No I didn’t judge her in any way, I’m just stating what has been reported by lifenews (a very good website btw), you report things all the time about people. How would you like if I posted Matthew 7:1-5 every time you ‘judged’ someone? It wouldn’t feel so good, would it.
You said she was a pro-abort. You said it was “too bad” that she was a pro-abort. That is you judging her as a pro-abort without the facts to back it up. If you want to post Matthew 7:1-5 whenever you feel I judge, that is your choice. How would you like for someone to call you a pro-abort – have it spread all over the internet, have people calling you names and start receiving hate mail? Would you think those people were judging you?
In my 1st article this is what I said about her: “She is more than a doctor – she is a humanitarian, a business woman and she has a lot of spunk. She never took “no” or “that can’t be done” as the final say. ”
When I wrote that I had already read the lifenews article. However, I couldn’t find anything to back up their claims, on the contrary I found the opposite. I didn’t put anything in that article on the life issue because when I wrote it I couldn’t confirm it. Trust me – I was trying to find something on her because of my dislike for Obama – I’m still skeptical……..
“I provided proof of the article you posted was a hack job. They misrepresented her past.”
No you didn’t, LifeNews presented it in a very fair way. I guess you would trust the AP or Rueters better. Both those sites do very good work, the way your trashing them is unfair IMO.
“You said she was a pro-abort. You said it was “too bad” that she was a pro-abort. That is you judging her as a pro-abort without the facts to back it up.”
I did present facts, LifeNews quoted her.
“If you want to post Matthew 7:1-5 whenever you feel I judge, that is your choice. How would you like for someone to call you a pro-abort – have it spread all over the internet, have people calling you names and start receiving hate mail? Would you think those people were judging you?”
So I’m responsible for people sending hate mail?
This is silly conversation, I have better things to do.
Jasper –
You’re right – it is silly.
There were no “facts” in that lifenews article. I provided the real quote from the 1996 minutes which provide the facts (unless you want to say that in 1996 there was this great plan to deceive the American people in 2009 so they fudged them.)
I’ve proved my case.
Did I say you were responsible for sending hate mail? No. Stop putting words in my mouth. I said that the jumping to conclusions about someone can be the beginning of a slippery slope that would most likely lead to hate mail. I was just putting ‘you’ in the scenario to get you to understand what hack job reporting can do to someone’s life. Heck – even Jill knows how bad it can be. She has been bombarded with hack job articles about her lately – and then we see the hate comments on her blog. Look how upset you get when someone mentions her – You want to protect her from all those horrible things that people say. I don’t understand why you can’t feel the same way about Dr. Benjamin until all the real facts have been presented.
I rarely use Lifenews as a source. Even more so with lifesitenews. They have the truth on their side, I don’t know why they have to elaborate and exaggerate as much as they do. If you want to take what they write as the truth – then we will continue to have this discussion no matter how silly you think it is.
“Look how upset you get when someone mentions her – You want to protect her from all those horrible things that people say. I don’t understand why you can’t feel the same way about Dr. Benjamin until all the real facts have been presented.”
Ok, fair enough.. I do like Dr. Benjamin and everything shes done.
Sonya Sotomayor is the one we should worry about.
Agreed! I know of at least one time she’s changed her story and down right lied (I posted the YouTube video when she was nomintated!)