Diana Schaub is professor of political science at Loyola University
Maryland and a member of the Hoover Institution's Task Force on the
Virtues of a Free Society. She posts an article in the Baltimore Sun that is sure to cause some stir with its frankness. The article points out the "decline in population for six straight decades that has reduced the population by a third." Now the mayor of Baltimore wants to start a program to increase the population by 22,000 in 10 years. The article makes some stark observations, but the people have to stop burying their head in the sand first.
"The decline of marriage, particularly among African-Americans, is all
too familiar. Not as well-known is that Maryland has a very high abortion
rate (third highest among the states in 2005, the year that the
Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene stopped collecting
abortion statistics). The breakdown by jurisdiction reveals that
Baltimore City is driving those deadly numbers, and also that the
abortion rate among African-American women is at least triple the white
rate."
The fact filled but hard hitting article ends with a quote from a famous work of art.....
"For a model of commitment to life, we might start with the great speech given by Mama to her feckless son in Lorraine Hansberry's
1959 play "A Raisin in the Sun": "I'm waiting to hear how you be your
father's son. Be the man he was. ... Your wife say she going to destroy
your child. And I'm waiting to hear you talk like him and say we a
people who give children life, not who destroys them."
Wow, way to tell it!!
HT: Patty Ann
In Baltimore a fall festival called Hampdenfest banned the Respect Life booth from participating even though they had a history of having a booth in the past years.
Appearing before the Hampden Community Council, Marty Taylor, a
member of the Respect Life Committee at St. Thomas Aquinas, read a
letter arguing that the group had had a pro-life booth at Hampdenfest
for several years and that "we had pictures and models of normal baby
development before birth."
The booth also had information about
local pregnancy centers and about post-abortion counseling, Taylor said.
She told the Messenger the pro-life group is supported by the Catholic
Archdiocese of Baltimore.
"Our experience at the booth over the
years has been that many people are interested in our models and
literature, and many people express approval of our point of view and
the services we provide for women and their families," Taylor's letter
states. "We also experience a few people who express disapproval of our
point of view."
But an unnamed vendor who had a booth next to them last year complained to the organizers and that was all it took. Planned Parenthood had a booth as well but since no one complained about them they were allowed to participate. The organizers got around this by banning all faith based booths at the festival.
Well if this isn't discrimination against religion I don't know what is. What are the citizens of hampden going to do about this?
