from Tales from the Trail:
Has abortion role been overblown in U.S. healthcare debate?
A new poll by the Pew Research Center and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life suggests that concern about federal funding for abortion is very low on the list of factors driving opposition to President Barack Obama's effort to overhaul America's healthcare system.
The results of the poll, released on Thursday, show that just 3 percent of healthcare opponents cited abortion funding as their main reason for opposing congressional healthcare proposals.
The biggest reasons, cited by 27 percent of respondents to an open-ended question about their opposition, were that the overhaul would be too expensive and lead to higher deficits and taxes. Another 27 percent said they did not want government involvement in healthcare.
The nationwide poll of more than 1,000 Americans was conducted from Nov. 12 to 15.
The poll's publication comes as the U.S. Senate prepares to begin debate on its version of a healthcare bill that does not include language approved earlier this month by the House that would strengthen the existing prohibition on using federal funds for abortion.
Many analysts say the abortion issue -- which has been fanned by conservative evangelicals associated with the Republican Party and Catholic clergy whose flock lean to the Democratic Party -- threatens to unravel Obama's top domestic priority.
Pilgrims snub H1N1 flu and flock to Saudi Arabia
Standing in the middle of a long queue at Jeddah airport, Mahdi Sharif is one of millions of Muslims waiting to enter Saudi Arabia to start the annual haj pilgrimage despite a global outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus.
Little fazed by the spread of the virus, Sharif, who has been waiting for two years to be selected from a raffle of 5,000 Kurdish Iraqis to visit Mecca, wears a protection mask but never thought for a second of delaying his pilgrimage.
“This year I was chosen so I came, I could not say no. The happiness of being chosen is stronger than fear (of illness),” said Sharif in a muffled voice through his medical mask.
In June, the Saudi authorities advised persons over 65 and under 12, as well as people suffering from terminal illness, and pregnant women, to postpone their pilgrimage. Several Muslim countries also imposed similar restrictions on their pilgrims and Tunisia barred its citizens from this year’s ritual.
About 580,000 pilgrims have so far arrived to the Western region of Saudi Arabia, site of the two holy mosques in Mecca and Medina, in preparation for the pilgrimage that will start on November 26.
Obama accuses some healthcare critics of “bearing false witness”
U.S. President Barack Obama enlisted the “Religious Left” on Wednesday to help galvanise public support for his faltering drive for healthcare reform, using the language of faith as he accused some of the critics of his biggest domestic project of “bearing false witness.”
Obama made a brief pitch to a “call in” organised by various liberal and progressive faith groups called “40 minutes for Health Reform.” It is part of a campaign launched last week to counteract a movement to stop “Obamacare” that has been driven in part by conservative Christian activists.
“There has been a lot misinformation in this debate and there are some folks out there who are frankly bearing false witness,” Obama said.
Obama took issue with some of the most emotive allegations that have been raised by social conservative opponents of his vision for overhauling America’s healthcare and health insurance system.
“This notion that somehow we are setting up death panels that would decide on whether elderly people get to live or die … that is just an extraordinary lie.”
“You’ve heard that this is all going to mean government funding of abortions. Not true,” he said.
Why is it the only people complaining about Canadian health care are Americans?
Religious Right TV ad links “Obamacare,” abortion
The Family Research Council, a leading activist group among America’s “Religious Right,” has launched a new TV ad in five key states that claims President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan will lead to publicly funded abortions — a charge disputed by the president’s allies and abortion rights groups.
You can see the new video, Life and Death, below.
FRC President Tony Perkins told reporters in a telephone conference that the ads will run on cable news programs in Arkansas, Nebraska, Louisiana, Alaska and Pennsylvania — five states that have significant numbers of social conservatives but are represented by more moderate lawmakers who can be swayed.
The announcement came just ahead of a “phone in” featuring liberal and left-leaning faith leaders — or the Religious Left – and Obama seeking to galvanize support for the president’s bid to overhaul the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system.
Abortion, which is a hugely polarizing issue in America, has become another flashpoint in the escalating battle over healthcare reform, risking public support for an initiative already under attack on several fronts.
Liberal Democrats are threatening to withhold their support after the White House seemed to waffle on its commitment to a public insurance option that would compete with private insurers and offer more choices for consumers.
The liberal rebellion came three weeks after a group of conservative Democrats blocked consideration of healthcare legislation by a House panel until they won concessions from the administration.
Thank you!!! Family Research Council for getting out the truth about our President’s proposed “Health Care Reform”. We must stand for the sanctity of life at whatever age or we will not be able to stand without blood on our hands before God. Keep us informed.
Liberal U.S. religious groups launch “40 Days of Health Reform”
Liberal U.S. religious groups launched “40 Days of Health Reform” on Monday.
You can see our coverage here and a video of their nationwide TV spot below.
The campaign aims to energize efforts by President Barack Obama and his Democratic Party to overhaul America’s healthcare system.
(PHOTO: U.S. President Barack Obama holds a town hall meeting about healthcare at the Kroger Supermarket in Bristol, Virginia July 29, 2009. REUTERS/Larry Downing)
It’s only 9 months into this Administration and somehow you know completely the mindset of their democratic liberalism, you know for a fact that this administration is socialist, you know for a fact the heart and religious conviction and beliefs of this administration, you know for a fact how John F Kennedy who was killed by a hatred filled brainwashed communist sympathizer, would react by today’s democratic party. You know for a fact that McCain endorsed positively ACORN in 2006.
You know for a fact that Florida and Ohio didn’t commit voter fraud in 2000 and 2004 respectively, each run by the Republican party. You know for a fact that 2010 will be a hard hit for Democrats.
Ahh but one thing you don’t know you don’t know much about the resolve and vision, it’s a strong conviction we democrats have taken to heart to improve the lives of all Americans not the select few.
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Resident FaithWorld Expert
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