When my mother became unable to handle her mail, it was sent to my house; she died six years ago, but I receive quite a lot of her junk mail. Today she was invited to attend a Foundation for Life benefit at The Pinnacle on November 14. She will not be able to attend.
The keynote speaker for the event will be recently-defeated Senator Rick Santorum. Says the flier, "In the Senate this prolife champion spearheaded the passage of key legislation to ban partial-birth abortion, the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act."
My mother could check one of several boxes for her donation: Advocate for life @ $250 or Leader for life @ $500. But wait, there is Champion for Life @ $1,000 and Defender of Life @ $2,500. Still better @ $5,000 she could become Guardian of Life.
Thus, depending on the donation, one could rise from a mere 'advocate' through 'champion' all the way to the top as 'guardian.' Reminds me of the Bush/Cheney 'pioneers' and 'rangers.'
So Rick Santorum is 'a prolife champion.' Pro-life is an interesting phrase as I noted in previous posts. This morning, before my mail delivery, I wondered if pro-lifers ended their 'concern' for life after the 9th month in the womb. Let's see how concerned Senator Santorum is with 'life.' I searched [Google] santorum senate record and found these results:
• Santorum voted for unfair trade deals like CAFTA that send our jobs overseas.
• He tried to eliminate the 40-hour work week and cut our overtime pay, and opposed creating new jobs protected by prevailing wages.
• Santorum supported $14 billion in cuts to Medicaid and voted against the Family and Medical Leave Act as well as the Patients’ Bill of Rights.
• Santorum co-sponsored a bill to create private accounts and voted against protecting Social Security benefits.
• Voted NO on $100M to reduce teen pregnancy by education & contraceptives.
• Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage.
• Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes.
• Voted NO on setting aside 10% of highway funds for minorities & women.
• Voted NO on banning affirmative action hiring with federal funds.
• Voted NO on repealing tax subsidy for companies which move US jobs offshore.
• Voted YES on restricting rules on personal bankruptcy.
• Voted YES on limiting death penalty appeals.
• Voted NO on replacing death penalty with life imprisonment.
• Voted NO on shifting $11B from corporate tax loopholes to education.
• Voted NO on spending $448B of tax cut on education & debt reduction.
• Voted YES on giving federal aid only to schools allowing voluntary prayer.
• Voted YES on defunding renewable and solar energy.
• Voted NO on reducing oil usage by 40% by 2025 (instead of 5%).
• Voted YES on terminating CAFE standards within 15 months.
• Voted NO on including oil & gas smokestacks in mercury regulations.
• Voted YES on permanent normal trade relations with China.
• Voted YES on permanent normal trade relations with China.
• Voted NO on establishing the Senate Office of Public Integrity.
• Voted NO on favoring 1997 McCain-Feingold overhaul of campaign finance.
• Voted YES on prohibiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers.
• Voted NO on background checks at gun shows.
• Voted YES on maintaining current law: guns sold without trigger locks.
• Voted NO on increasing Medicaid rebate for producing generics.
• Voted NO on negotiating bulk purchases for Medicare prescription drug.
• Voted NO on including prescription drugs under Medicare.
• Voted NO on allowing patients to sue HMOs & collect punitive damages.
• Voted NO on increasing tobacco restrictions.
• Voted YES on building a fence along the Mexican border.
• Voted YES on allowing more foreign workers into the US for farm work.
• Voted NO on giving Guest Workers a path to citizenship.
• Voted NO on raising the minimum wage to $7.25 rather than $6.25.
• Voted YES on repealing Clinton's ergonomic rules on repetitive stress.
• Voted NO on increasing tax deductions for college tuition.
• Voted NO on redeploying troops out of Iraq by July 2007.
• Voted NO on redeploying troops out of Iraq by July 2007.
• Voted YES on welfare overhaul.
Seems to me that Senator Santorum's definition of 'pro-life' is quite narrow and, in fact, seems limited to those 9 months in the womb. After that, too bad kid!
