Another Aurora Miracle: Brain Defect Saves Violinist Who was Shot in the Head

If you haven’t heard, there are a number of miraculous stories emerging from the slaughter in Aurora, Colorado.  One involves a beautiful young lady named Petra Anderson who was shot four times.  Three shots hit her in the arm and a a single bullet hit her in the head.  She didn’t die due to small birth defect that no one knew about.  Here is the fascinating story, as told by her pastor:

It seems as if the bullet traveled through Petra’s brain without hitting any significant brain areas. The doctor explains that Petra’s brain has had from birth a small “defect” in it. It is a tiny channel of fluid running through her skull, like a tiny vein through marble, or a small hole in an oak board, winding from front to rear. Only a CAT scan would catch it, and Petra would have never noticed it.

But in Petra’s case, the shotgun buck shot, maybe even the size used for deer hunting, enters her brain from the exact point of this defect. Like a marble through a small tube, the defect channels the bullet from Petra’s nose through her brain. It turns slightly several times, and comes to rest at the rear of her brain. And in the process, the bullet misses all the vital areas of the brain. In many ways, it almost misses the brain itself. Like a giant BB though a straw created in Petra’s brain before she was born, it follows the route of the defect. It is channeled in the least harmful way. A millimeter in any direction and the channel is missed. The brain is destroyed. Evil wins a round.

As he shares, the doctor seems taken aback. It is an odd thing to have a surgeon show a bit of wonder. Professionally, these guys own the universe, it seems, and take everything in stride. He is obviously gifted as a surgeon, and is kind in his manner. “It couldn’t have gone better. If it were my daughter,” he says quietly, glancing around to see if any of his colleagues might be watching him, “I’d be ecstatic. I’d be dancing a jig.” He smiles. I can’t keep my smile back, or the tears of joy. In Christianity we call it prevenient grace: God working ahead of time for a particular event in the future. It’s just like the God I follow to plan the route of a bullet through a brain long before Batman ever rises. Twenty-two years before.

While we’re talking, Petra awakes. She opens her eyes, and sits up, “Mom.” Movie-star doctor spins to grab her, to protect her from falling. The nurse assures him she’s been doing this for a while. He talks to her, and she talks back. He asks questions, and Petra has the right answers. “Where do you hurt, Petra?” “All over.” Amazed, but professional, he smiles and leaves the set shaking his head. I am so thankful for this man.

Petra is groggy and beat up, but she is herself. Honestly, I look worse before my morning coffee. “I’m thirsty,” she proclaims.

“You want an ice cube, honey?” Kim replies.

“Please.” Wow. She lays down, back to sleep, a living miracle who doesn’t even know it yet. Good flowering out of the refuse pile of a truly dark night. “Thank you, Jesus,” I whisper.

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit:  Brad Strait

Democrats refuse to take down ad making fun of MS patient Ann Romney

Last week, LifeNews reported on a Democratic Party ad that essentially made fun of a patient with multiple sclerosis, the wife of presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The Democratic National Committee unveiled a video featuring footage of Ann Romney’s dancing show horse as a way of mocking Mitt Romney for “dancing” around the issue of his taxes and whether he would make public additional tax returns that the IRS has certified are legitimate. The video was meant to be the first in a series of videos on the topic and the first featured the horse, owned jointly by Ann and Mitt Romney.

However, Ann Romney owns the horse in part because she relies on the animal, and other show horses she trains, to help her with therapy for her multiple sclerosis, a debilitating disease. Ann Romney, in an interview with Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America,” took offense to the ad.

That eventually led DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse told ABC News to issue an apology of sorts.

“Our use of the Romneys’ dressage horse was not meant to offend Mrs. Romney in any way, and we regret it if it did,” he said. “We have no plans to invoke the horse any further to avoid misinterpretation.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit: andreavallejos

Huge Win for Life: Appeals Court Upholds South Dakota’s Strict Informed Consent Law

A federal appeals court has upheld a provision of a South Dakota law requiring the states lone abortion business, operated by Planned Parenthood, that it has to inform women of the validity of the link between abortion and suicide. With women facing a host of mental health issues following an abortion, Planned Parenthood can no longer keep women in the dark about them.

An en banc panel of the court declared that South Dakota’s statute that requires abortion doctors to disclose to pregnant mothers that an abortion places the mother at increased risk for suicide ideation and suicide constitutional because the disclosure is truthful, non-misleading, and relevant to the pregnant mother’s decision of whether or not to consent to an abortion.

Harold J. Cassidy, a pro-life attorney who represented Leslee Unruh, president of the Alpha Center of Sioux Falls, and Stacy Wollman, president of Care Net of Rapid City — two pregnancy centers that provide abortion alternatives — sent LifeNews details about the decision.

He called the decision “a fabulous victory for the women of the State of South Dakota.”

“The Court ruled that the women will now be given additional important information before they consent to an abortion: that the abortion places a woman at increased risk of suicide ideation and suicide,” he said. “This victory represents the fourth separate decision of the Eighth Circuit reversing the District Court in this one case, two decisions issued by en banc Courts four years apart – a rare occurrence that underscores the importance of the issues presented by the case.”

Read more from this story HERE, detailing the requirements of the upheld South Dakota law including informing mothers:

(1) that “an abortion terminates the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being;”
(2) that the mother’s “relationship with that second human being enjoys protection under the Constitution of the United States and the Laws of South Dakota;”
(3) that relationship and all rights attached to it will be terminated; and
(4) the abortion places the mother “at increased risk for suicide ideation and suicide.”

Photo credit: BrianSwant

Proof: Establishment Media Controlled by Government

There was a rather low-key confession made in the New York Times last week that deserves to be blared throughout this country so that every American understands what they are reading in the establishment’s ultra-controlled, government-managed “press” – and I use that last word loosely indeed.

The admission came in the form of a story by Jeremy Peters on the politics page of the Times July 16. I’ve been waiting for others to point it out, discuss it, debate it, express shock and exasperation over it. But I’ve waited for naught.

What this shocking story reveals is that even I – one of the kingpins of the new media and a refugee from the state-controlled spin machine – underestimated the utter and total corruption of the euphemistically called “mainstream press.”

It shows that most – not some – members of the print media establishment with access to the White House submit their copy to government officials for review, “correction” and approval before it reaches the American people!

Here are some key excerpts from the piece, if you think I’m exaggerating:

  • “The quotations come back redacted, stripped of colorful metaphors, colloquial language and anything even mildly provocative.”
  • “They are sent by e-mail from the Obama headquarters in Chicago to reporters who have interviewed campaign officials under one major condition: the press office has veto power over what statements can be quoted and attributed by name.”
  • “Most reporters, desperate to pick the brains of the president’s top strategists, grudgingly agree. After the interviews, they review their notes, check their tape recorders and send in the juiciest sound bites for review. The verdict from the campaign – an operation that prides itself on staying consistently on script – is often no, Barack Obama does not approve this message.”
  • “Now, with a millisecond Twitter news cycle and an unforgiving, gaffe-obsessed media culture, politicians and their advisers are routinely demanding that reporters allow them final editing power over any published quotations.”
  • “Quote approval is standard practice for the Obama campaign, used by many top strategists and almost all mid-level aides in Chicago and at the White House – almost anyone other than spokesmen who are paid to be quoted. (And sometimes it applies even to them.) It is also commonplace throughout Washington and on the campaign trail.”
  • “Many journalists spoke about the editing only if granted anonymity, an irony that did not escape them.”
  • “From Capitol Hill to the Treasury Department, interviews granted only with quote approval have become the default position. Those officials who dare to speak out of school, but fearful of making the slightest off-message remark, shroud even the most innocuous and anodyne quotations in anonymity by insisting they be referred to as a ‘top Democrat’ or a ‘Republican strategist.’”
  • “Those [reporters] who did speak on the record said the restrictions seem only to be growing. ‘It’s not something I’m particularly proud of because there’s a part of me that says, Don’t do it, don’t agree to their terms,’ said Major Garrett, a correspondent for The National Journal.”
  • “It was difficult to find a news outlet that had not agreed to quote approval, albeit reluctantly. Organizations like Bloomberg, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, Reuters and The New York Times have all consented to interviews under such terms.”

Read more from this story HERE.

The Right To Shoot Back: Another “Gun-Free-Zone” Fail

Colorado is a concealed-carry state, as a noted film critic points out, but so was Virginia when a college campus there was racked by violence. Like the school, the theater chain was also “gun-free.”

In December 2007, two church members were shot to death and three others injured after a gunman opened fire outside the New Life Church in Colorado Springs as Sunday services were wrapping up.

That tragedy could have been much worse, but the gunman was shot by a church security officer and was found dead when police arrived at the scene.

On April 22 of this year a just-released felon went to the New Destiny Christian Church in Aurora, Colo., and killed the mother of Pastor Delano Strahan before being killed himself by a congregant carrying a gun.

Unlike the tragedies at Columbine High School and the movie theatre in Aurora, there was someone at these venues willing and able to shoot back.

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit: Miserlou Behind The Aperture

Video: Miracle in Gaza – story of a soldier’s improbable survival

After my three week trip to Israel – including the West Bank and Gaza – this past fall, the attached video has special meaning.  I saw firsthand the results of indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli towns outside of Gaza. This inspiring 10 minute+ video, narrated by a former IDF soldier, discusses the miraculous preservation of his unit during the war in Gaza and includes some great pictures of the Holy Land.

 

 

Photo credit: Joe Miller, All Rights Reserved.

Mother who escaped deadly Aurora shooting gives birth; her husband remains in critical condition

The Colorado theater shooter may have taken a dozen lives and injured dozens more in his rampage but he wasn’t able to claim the life of one person — an unborn child just days away from birth. However, the father is in serious medical condition and needs support.

According to an AP report, a pregnant woman who escaped the deadly shooting uninjured delivered her baby today as her wounded husband remains in critical condition in the hospital. Today, 21-year-old Katie Medley gave birth but her husband, 23-year-old Caleb Medley, was shot in the head and remains hospitalized.

The father, David Sanchez, attended the court hearing today — the first of many as the case against the shooter unfolds.

“While his daughter was in labor, the angry Sanchez waited outside the courthouse where shooting suspect James Holmes made his first court appearance. He said his daughter escaped death by mere seconds,” AP reported. “Sanchez said his daughter and son-in-law have been waiting for a year to watch the premiere of the Batman movie.”

The Denver Post has more on the story:

Sanchez, 53, traveled to the Arapahoe County Justice Center outside of Centennial in hopes of getting a glimpse of the man who authorities say put his 23-year-old son-in-law, Caleb Medley, in a coma with a gunshot wound to the right side of his head.

“He is in stable but critical condition and they are monitoring his condition,” Sanchez said outside the courthouse to a large scrum of reporters who were seizing on anything to report after the 12-minute court hearing.

Sanchez said he had come to the courthouse as a representative for Caleb and Katie.

“It is important to support my daughter and her husband and their newborn baby,” he said.

His daughter has been avoiding any media after the shooting, concentrating on her pending birth of their son that they have already named “Hugo,” and her husband’s state.

Read more from this story HERE.

“Grindr,” GPS-based gay hook-up app crashed in London due to massive influx of gay Olympic athletes trying to use service

If you were one of London’s estimated 350,000 Grindr users trying to log into the GPS-based gay dating App last week, you may have encountered some difficulty, due, according to some, to the influx of Olympic athletes trying to use the service.

In a July 19th post on the Grindr blog, App founder Joel Simkhai issued an apology to users who had experienced “service disruptions,” and explains, “when we discovered that [Grindr wasn’t working], we immediately set to work fixing the screw-up. The service disruption was a challenging thing to address, but our tech team worked around the clock to solve the problems and to whip Grindr back into shape.”

Simkhai doesn’t address the cause of the disruptions, but London tabloid “The People,” attributes it to the influx of Olympic Athletes in London. The publication reports:

A gay dating website crashed within minutes of the first Olympic athletes arriving in London — due to the volume of demand, say experts… Technicians believe the arrival of Olympic teams on Monday sparked a flood of new customers — and loss of the service in East London.

One Londoner told The People, “It happened almost as soon as the teams got here. Either loads of athletes were logging on to meet fellow Olympians or were looking to bag a local.”

Read more from the Huffington Post HERE (although we don’t recommend it).

Publisher’s note: GrindR subsequently denied that the influx of Olympians caused the collapse of its app, but provided no specific reason for the system’s collapse.

Syria promises to use WMD if attacked

The Syrian regime acknowledged for the first time Monday that it possessed stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and said it will only use them in case of a foreign attack and never internally against its own citizens .

Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said the stockpiles are secure, in an apparent response to widespread international concerns that they could fall into the hands of the disparate bands of rebel forces fighting the government.

“No chemical or biological weapons will ever be used, and I repeat, will never be used, during the crisis in Syria no matter what the developments inside Syria,” he said in conference broadcast on state TV. “All of these types of weapons are in storage and under security and the direct supervision of the Syrian armed forces and will never be used unless Syria is exposed to external aggression.”

Syria is believed to have nerve agents as well as mustard gas, Scud missiles capable of delivering these lethal chemicals and a variety of advanced conventional arms, including anti-tank rockets and late-model portable anti-aircraft missiles.

Israel has said it fears that chaos following Assad’s fall could allow the Jewish state’s enemies, to access Syria’s chemical weapons and has not ruled out military intervention to prevent this from happening.

Read more from this story HERE.

Pro-Family, Anti-Gay Marriage? Chick-fil-A President: “Guilty as Charged,” Huckabee incensed

By Tiffany Hsu.  Chick-fil-A is “very much supportive of the family,” according to Dan Cathy, president of the popular fast food chain. That is, “the biblical definition of the family unit,” he said.

And that doesn’t include Adam and Steve, suggests Cathy, whose father S. Truett Cathy founded the Atlanta-based company.

In a new interview with Baptist Press, Cathy puts on the record what critics say his company’s actions have indicated for years. “Well, guilty as charged,” he said in the interview when asked about Chick-fil-A’s backing of families led by a man and a woman.

“We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives,” Cathy said.

The chain, according to the report, has 1,608 restaurants, sales of more than $4 billion and employees who are trained “to focus on values rooted in the Bible.” Chick-fil-A’s across the country shut down on Sundays.

Read more from this story HERE.

Chick-fil-A’s stance has spawned an onslaught of media and celebrity attacks.  As a result of this, Mike Huckabee posted the following on his Facebook:

I have been incensed at the vitriolic assaults on the Chick Fil-A company because the CEO, Dan Cathy, made comments recently in which he affirmed his view that the Biblical view of marriage should be upheld. The Cathy family, let by Chick Fil-A founder Truett Cathy, are a wonderful Christian family who are committed to operating the company with Biblical principles and whose story is the true American success story. Starting at age 46 Truett Cathy built Chick Fil-A into a $4 billion a year enterprise with over 1600 stores. At 91, he is still active in the company, but his son Dan runs it day to day as CEO. It’s a great American story that is being smeared by vicious hate speech and intolerant bigotry from the left.

The Chick Fil-A company refuses to open on Sundays so that their employees can go to church if they wish. Despite the pressure from malls, airports, and the business world to open on Sundays, they still don’t. They treat customers and employees with respect and dignity.

I ask you to join me in speaking out on Wednesday, August 1 “Chick Fil-A Appreciation Day.” No one is being asked to make signs, speeches, or openly demonstrate. The goal is simple: Let’s affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values we espouse by simply showing up and eating at Chick Fil-A on Wednesday, August 1. Too often, those on the left make corporate statements to show support for same sex marriage, abortion, or profanity, but if Christians affirm traditional values, we’re considered homophobic, fundamentalists, hate-mongers, and intolerant. This effort is not being launched by the Chick Fil-A company and no one from the company or family is involved in proposing or promoting it.

There’s no need for anyone to be angry or engage in a verbal battle. Simply affirm appreciation for a company run by Christian principles by showing up on Wednesday, August 1 or by participating online – tweeting your support or sending a message on Facebook.

Publisher’s note:  Boston’s Mayor just announced that he was blocking a new Chick-Fil-A franchise in his city because of Chick-Fil-A’s “homophobic” attitude.