Raw Story: Obama is appointing an extreme anti-abortion advocate to Faith-Based

[JDPriestly]

whatever it is.

Here is the article on Raw Story:

President Barack Obama has tapped an anti-abortion activist to a senior Health and Human Services "faith-based" position just a week after the murder of prominent abortion doctor George Tiller.

Alexia Kelley is executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG), and will head the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Health and Human Services.

According to The American Prospect, a liberal magazine, "Kelley is a leading proponent of 'common ground' abortion reduction -- only CACG's common ground is at odds with that of Obama. While the administration favors reducing the need for abortion by reducing unintended pregnancies, Kelley has made clear that she seeks instead to reduce access to abortion."

http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/06/obama-taps-anti-abortion-activist/

I'm a Democrat. I like some of what Obama is doing, but I cannot support the appointment of Ms. Kelley to any post in Obama's government. There are lots of liberals who need jobs, are more competent than this woman could ever be and can do this job. Another very bad day for Obama.

[leftstreet]

1. But, see, they'll work hard to reduce the NEED for abortions...uh, and stuff

K&R

[hamsterjill]

22. Yeah, abstinence works, right?

Just ask Bristol Palin!!!

[Mythsaje]

2. More good news.

:banghead:

Is this what bipartisanship means? If so, I think I like it even less than I thought I would when it first came up during the campaign.

[LisaM]

3. GET RID OF FAITH-BASED INITIATIVES NOW

Along with charter schools.

Seriously, did Obama just run on the Democratic ticket as a convenience?

[Mike 03]

8. Even though I love Obama, you are dead right about "Faith Based Initiatives."

It makes no sense in a country that claims to value separation of church and state.

Time to get rid of them.

[MadMaddie]

12. Agreed!

[rhett o rick]

25. Agree, his bipartisanship has gone way overboard. nm

[Karenina]

27. Maybe he's just planted a land mine!

;-) :rofl:

[Olney Blue]

31. Agree- the existence of this department in government is wrong.

[Solly Mack]

4. My...Isn't that special

Solly says in her southern accent

[KamaAina]

15. Well, bless his li'l ole heart!

:P

[Solly Mack]

17. lol

[T Wolf]

5. BUt he is so much smarter than us. He must have a master plan to bring us all

together.

Some people might get upset that their little issue is not solved right now - they just have to give our brilliant President a little time.

Don't rain on our parade, you poutagers.

[rhett o rick]

23. Aren't you required to use the sarcasm thingy when you do that? nm

[noiretextatique]

29. you mean

i don't get my pony x(

[LWolf]

33. Perhaps there's a wolf or two

who could demonstrate how to rain on parades. :evilgrin:

[LisaM]

6. I'm posting again because I am that angry

Roseanne said today on Stephanie Miller that Obama and Bush were alike. I wouldn't go that far, but this shit needs to stop now. I'm really sick of the demonization of abortion. I am tired of seeing teenagers drag around babies. It's insane. Legal abortion is the law of the land - and I'm not afraid to say that I think abortion is okay. I don't consider it murder.

[get the red out]

7. I am livid also

I have supported President Obama since he began running in the primary, now I wonder for the first time if my support was misplaced. This appointment is beyond belief. This is a slap in the face from the President to every secular woman in the country.

I am terribly upset by his appointment of this right-wing tool. He might as well have appointed Sarah Palin.

[LisaM]

16. Stuff like this is why I DIDN'T support Obama in the primary

I did not feel that he was as strong as Hillary on women's issues and I still don't think so. Add to that, she is just enough older than he that she realizes what it was like pre Roe v. Wade. I think there are a lot of people who just have no idea.

[get the red out]

19. It won't help

But I emailed through the whitehouse.gov site.

Why does he kiss up to people that were at the Palin rallys shouting for the worst to be done? These people will never be bi-partisan, they will smile at what they are given then take more by force. These kinds of people are monsters that will lie to your face and knife you when you turn around. Bin Laden has nothing on these creeps.

[theHandpuppet]

21. Make that two of us

And so far President Obama has been living down to my expectations.

[LWolf]

32. Well put. nt

[hamsterjill]

26. Well put!

To me, abortion is between a woman and her health care provider and whomever else she chooses to involve in her decision making process.

No woman who decides to have an abortion should be denied the availability of a safe, legal medical procedure. Period.

Likewise, any woman who decides to carry a pregnancy to term should have access to proper medical care, etc. in order that she might make that choice as well.

But we need to get the "religion" aspect out of the right to choose. The anti-choice people have no right to impose their religious beliefs on anyone but themselves. They can exercise their own beliefs by not engaging in behavior that they find intolerable (i.e., they should not have abortions).

But they cannot be allowed to make that choice for those women who desire otherwise.

This appointment has the potential to take us back to the coat hanger days.

[wryter2000]

9. Awesome

No, unfund the office. Two birds dealth with...

[wryter2000]

10. Great

Now, defund the office. Two birds dealth with...

[LoZoccolo]

11. So? n/t

[Occulus]

20. You've *got* to be kidding.

"So?"

That's your response?

"So?"

[Mark Twain Girl]

13. Why does Health and Human Services have a "faith based" senior position?

Or, a position at all?

Edited to add:

Kelley's appointment appears yet more salient in lieu of the fact that President Obama has expanded the faith-based project of the executive branch to include public policy -- with an eye toward reducing the need for abortions.

and to say:

what the hell?

[progressoid]

18. Sadly, you'll find faith based initiatives infecting all branches of the government..

Although they are now called the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.


They are in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
http://www.hhs.gov/fbci /

And the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
http://www.hud.gov/offices/fbci /

And the U.S. Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov/about/inits/list/fbci/index.html

And the Department of Labor
http://www.dol.gov/cfbci /

And the Department of Agriculture
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_CJ?na...

And the Department of Veterans Affairs
http://www1.va.gov/fbci /

The Justice Department
http://www.usdoj.gov/fbci /

The Small Business Administration
http://www.sba.gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/faithbased/FBCI...

USAID
http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_partnerships/fbci/...

Let's not forget Homeland Security!
http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/editorial_0829.shtm

[Karmadillo]

37. Embrassez l'infâme?

nt

[bigwillq]

14. Puke

:puke: That's all I want to say on this subject.

[rhett o rick]

24. Good enough for me. nm

[earth mom]

28. In the first place-the mere existance of a faith based office is in violation of the Constitution.

So I'm not surprised by this turn of events, not at all.

Disgusted, but not surprised. :puke:

[dreamnightwind]

30. Yikes! Whaddabout Sotomayor?

Anyone know where she stands on choice? I heard her position is less than clear, though I don't know more than that.

[boston bean]

34. Read this and hope your head doesn't explode...

« THE CONTROL-F THEORY OF JOURNALISM. | Main | SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE? »
ABORTION FOE TO LEAD HHS FAITH-BASED OFFICE.

President Obama has appointed Alexia Kelley, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG), to head the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Health and Human Services. Kelley is a leading proponent of "common ground" abortion reduction -- only CACG's common ground is at odds with that of Obama. While the administration favors reducing the need for abortion by reducing unintended pregnancies, Kelley has made clear that she seeks instead to reduce access to abortion. That is an extremely disturbing development, especially coming this week in the wake of George Tiller's assassination.

Under George W. Bush, the faith-based centers didn't play a policy role. But Obama has expanded the faith-based project to include a policy side, and one of its chief goals is to reduce the need for abortion. I have opposed this, because reproductive health is a public health, not a religious issue. Also problematic: It is counterproductive for Obama to appoint someone who disagrees with the administration's stance. Obama finds himself now in the difficult position of having elevated the importance of religion to making policy, and having appointed a religious figure whose opinions on policy conflict with his.

Kelley and CACG have made clear they are committed to Catholic doctrine on abortion and birth control. CACG has supported the Pregnant Women's Support Act, aimed at stigmatizing abortion and making it less accessible. In discussing legislation on reducing the need for abortion, Kelley has written that various pieces of legislation concerned with women's health "are not all perfect; some include contraception -- which the Church opposes." Never mind that more than 90 percent of American Catholics use it anyway.

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=06&year=2009&base_name=abortion_foe_to_lead_hhs_faith

[QC]

35. Picture thread! Stat! n/t

[quiller4]

36. There is nothing extreme about Alexia Kelley. She does not

favor repealing Roe V Wade. She has never advocated for legislation limiting abortion. She has been outspoken in favor of social programs that ease the financial burdens on young mothers such as fully funding WIC. Kelley has never demonstrated against abortion though she has participated in many anti-death penalty actions.

Many Catholics for Choice are members of CACG which has been criticized by a number of bishops for not taking a hard anti-abortion stand.

[boston bean]

38. AHEM!

Kelley and CACG have made clear they are committed to Catholic doctrine on abortion and birth control. CACG has supported the Pregnant Women's Support Act, aimed at stigmatizing abortion and making it less accessible. In discussing legislation on reducing the need for abortion, Kelley has written that various pieces of legislation concerned with women's health "are not all perfect; some include contraception -- which the Church opposes." Never mind that more than 90 percent of American Catholics use it anyway.

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month...