Update from Yesterday!

So, as I'm sure you all have seen by now all over the news, Obamacare was upheld 5-4 by the Supreme Court. Justice Roberts held the deciding vote, and he voted in favor of Obamacare. The Act was upheld, ruled as constitutional, and will continue to be implemented. This is not good news for the pro-life cause (my main focus for the summer), and in my opinion, it's also not good news for the country on the whole. 


This picture kinda sums up what it looked like outside the Supreme Court yesterday: (but a lot more crowded and crazy)

Pictures speak more than words, so here are some more pictures before I say anything else. 

Obamacare supporters. They came in a few different groups. "Protecting our Care" and "Medicare for All", to the just plain and easy "We Love Obamacare" to women from NARAL, Pro Choice America, and Planned Parenthood Action Fund "Protect Women's Health"/ "Stop the War on Women"

There were some random groups, and this group was near ours. They seemed to be against Obamacare mostly for economic reasons. Another sign read "Obamacare: Anti-life AND Anti-choice" (interesting point)

The Tea Party had a HUGE representation.
"Don't tread on me" "You can't fix unconstitutional"

Students for Life's group of college students and supporters

My head is still kind of spinning from all the input it's had over the past few days, but I want to share what I know. 


-Basically written into Obamacare are lots of provisions that further empower and embolden abortion "rights" in our country. It's very abortion-minded legislation. It's going to make the pro-life fight even harder.
-What was ruled on yesterday was Obamacare as a whole, not the specific HHS mandate, because that is a separate case (really, separate cases) in the Supreme Court (all the lawsuits from Catholic dioceses, etc). However, the mandate is a part of Obamacare, and as it is now, Obamacare is going through as planned.
-To make things clearer: The President made two executive directives pertaining to the carrying out of Obamacare, and these were: 1) the Individual Mandate, requiring that all Americans purchase healthcare, and 2) the HHS mandate, requiring that religious institutions cover contraception, abortifacients, and sterilizations for their employees. (which I've talked about).
-Many believe that Obamacare is unconstitutional based on that 1st directive--that the government can mandate that everyone purchase anything (in this case, healthcare). The way the Supreme Court upheld this in law is by saying that if you don't purchase healthcare, you are not penalized, you are simply taxed. Which is funny, too, because Obama had been previously reiterating that his healthcare plan would not impose any new taxes.
-Really, the whole law is very confusing, as is the 160-page ruling of the Supreme Court.
-Bottom line for Students for Life (and for me right now): Obamacare furthers the abortion agenda. 


Some other thoughts from yesterday: 

• As I said I would, I made my own sign to carry during the demonstrations. I wanted to be able to fully "own" it. My sign read "I am a woman. Obamacare does not liberate me." I made this sign in anticipation of women being present with "Stop the War on Women" signs and the like. I got a lot of press from the sign, and was interviewed 3 times! As shown in the picture above, women were indeed present from NARAL and PP. The "Women are Watching" signs originated from Planned Parenthood. Their tactic is to make this all about women's rights, and to make people afraid to be politically incorrect and say anything that might be construed as anti-woman. The fact of the matter is, opposing this law had nothing to do with waging a "war on women." I wanted to stand up as a woman who was against Obamacare, and say that just because I am a woman, I do not have to support this Act. 
• I know that the Affordable Care Act touches much more than just abortion and pro-life related issues. I know that it expands coverage to millions of Americans, and that healthcare is very important and needs reform. However, I stood outside the Supreme Court yesterday representing the voices of Americans who are against abortion, and who are against legislation that aims to expand abortion's reach in our country. I chose that specific issue to be there for, even though many other conversations could be had about Obamacare. To me, creating a more pro-life America is paramount. Obamacare is a huge step backward in that regard. 
• It's really easy to be a supporter of Obamacare. "Healthcare for all" makes you sound pretty good, right? We staked our place out from 7am, but a huge pro-Obamacare group marched in at 9am with a boombox and cheerful signs with the simple message "We Love Obamacare." Or, my favorite: "Obamacare. Awesome." "Hands off my Obamacare" was a popular chant. I have friends who support Obamacare, and I know many people can make a logical defense for it, but I think a lot of people can also just jump on the bandwagon because it's the trendy thing to do. That's the vibe this group gave off. 

Well, head's still spinning. After 13 hours of sleep, too! (We woke up a little before 5, and when we finally returned home 12 hours later, I went down for a nap which turned into a 13-hour sleep.) I think that's all I'm going to say on the Obamacare decision for a while. I want to think about other things :) I know what I wrote was probably not perfect, but I hope my sincerity and intention to both understand and be understanding comes through. 

Why is the HHS Mandate such a big deal?

So, I’ve done a lot of reading and thinking on this issue lately, and wanted to share with everyone the summary of my conclusions on why the ruling on Obamacare matters so much, and also why I can confidently stand against Obamacare.

The decision by the Supreme Court tomorrow will decide whether or not Obamacare is Constitutional. They can either 1) reject the entirety of the Act, 2) uphold the entirety of it, or 3) reject pieces of it, and give the rest back to Congress to fix. There is definitely a question as to whether or not it is Constitutional to "mandate" that most Americans purchase healthcare (aka, can the government really force us to buy anything?). No one's really certain what the Supreme Court will decide. However, the BIG DEAL we've been hearing about from Catholic leadesr is about a specific part of Obamacare, which is popularly referred to as the HHS mandate and which forces religious institutions to violate their consciences (aka, that's definitely unconstitutional). 

Here’s a summary of what you should know about the HHS mandate, taken from standupforreligiousfreedom.com:

“In January, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a mandate under the Affordable Care Act (also known as “Obamacare”) that requires all employer health plans to provide free contraceptives, sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs, regardless of any moral or religious objections—or face crippling fines.

The ministries of institutions like Catholic schools, hospitals and charities—educating the young, caring for the sick, feeding the hungry—are not considered sufficiently religious to qualify for the Mandate’s narrow ‘religious exemption.’

Not only will such institutions be forced to provide services that directly contradict the teachings of their faith, but—more alarmingly—the federal government is claiming the right to decide for religious institutions what constitutes their ministry.”

SO, here are 8 reasons why I am going to be in front of the Supreme Court tomorrow morning:

1. Because the HHS mandate is unconstitutional. The mandate described above and which is integral to Obamacare as a whole is literally unconstitutional because it violates the principle of religious freedom—the government cannot force a religious institution to violate its conscience. The “exception” it provides is no exception at all.
2. Because it’s not about contraception. This is not about access to contraception. Women can still get contraception and no one is trying to “take away” contraception from women—Catholics just shouldn’t be forced to fund it, that’s it. . “Your pills, your bills.” I’m sure tomorrow we are going to see a lot of pro-choice protesters trying to insist that to oppose this mandate is to wage “a war on women” (I’ve already heard this, as I’m sure you have), but the fact of the matter is this is not about women’s access to contraception; it’s about a religious person’s freedom to practice their religion
3. Because I’m Catholic, and this is an attack on religious freedom. Enough said here I think.
4. Because I’m an American, and this is an attack on freedom of conscience. This is a big deal even if you are not Catholic, because this has become an attack on freedom itself. The government is telling us how much of our faith we can and cannot practice in the public sphere. And it just isn’t allowed to do that… If they rule this Constitutional, they could later on force you to do something against your own conscience, even if funding contraception isn’t.
5. Because I’d really like to actually be able to talk about healthcare.  If it weren’t for the provisions that forced everyone to fund contraception and abortion-causing drugs, the provisions that make this an attack on religious freedom, then maybe we could actually be focusing on healthcare. We could discuss pros and cons of Obamacare, and talk about what the best way is to increase coverage and drive down costs for more Americans. I might still be against Obamacare because I don’t think it is very smart even economically, but, at least it’d be a more worthwhile conversation to have! Because right now all we can focus on is the fact that the government is literally pushing the envelope with religious freedom. If it weren't for the absolutely ridiculous mandate, we could actually have a decent debate about whether or not it is Constitutional to require Americans to purchase healthcare. But then on the other hand, if it weren't for the mandate, Obamacare probably would look completely different. Because as it is now, Obamacare cannot stand on its own without the mandate requiring coverage of contraception, sterilization, and abortion-causing drugs. So that's a bummer. 
6. Because this is history in the making! I mean holy cow, folks, this decision is a big deal! The Catholic Church is all up in arms fighting a battle that was imposed upon them, and the Supreme Court is deliberating on not only the constitutionality of the HHS mandate, but also if it is Constitutional to mandate healthcare coverage. The effects of Obama’s healthcare plan would change so many things about the way our country functions. I know life is going on like normal right now, but really, this is a big deal.
7. To represent young Americans also opposed. At first I was uncomfortable kneeling in front of the Supreme Court building, because I didn’t have a voice to defend my actions, and I knew that people passing by might just think I’m crazy. My presence was all that I could offer. But, then I remembered that I have good reason to be against this. I can defend this stance. So I will stand (or kneel) against the Mandate and be proud to represent the thousands of Americans who understand what a big deal this is.
8. To stand behind Kristan Hawkins holding a bullhorn. Students for Life is taking a stance against Obamacare, even as a secular organization, because it understands the gravity of this decision, and its potential effects both on personal freedom, and also on the future of pro-life work. If the government can force us to pay for contraception and abortion-causing drugs, when will they start forcing that we all fund abortions? Really, everyone should be upset about this. The reason pro-choice organizations aren’t is because it furthers their agenda. 

See you on TV! (It’s a possibility…)

Hope this helped to understand a bit more the gravity of the historic decision by the Supreme Court that will be released tomorrow. 

New blog post & Supreme Court protest

Well, I've got another abolishabortion.com blog post to share with y'all (the southern interns are having an influence over me!): http://studentsforlife.org/2012/06/26/on-keeping-it-simple/

Let me know in the comments section what you think about it! I love comments :) It makes me believe someone is out there, reading my words! haha.

Anyways, this week's been good so far. Yesterday was a unique day because we met outside the Supreme Court Building to protest the Affordable Care Act, as certain parts of it (aka the "HHS mandate") force religious institutions, particularly Catholic, to violate their consciences in providing policies for all their employees that cover contraception and abortifacients (abortion-inducing drugs like the morning-after pill). We will be outside the Supreme Court again on Thursday with our homemade signs ("Your pills, your bills", "Where's The Freedom?", etc). Look for me on C-Span! If you don't know much about Obama's Affordable Care Act (which was passed in 2010 and the Constitutionality of which is now being decided by the Supreme Court), then learn! Here's an awesome website: http://standupforreligiousfreedom.com/mandate/

This picture circulated a lot around facebook yesterday:

Arriving in DC and walking straight up to the SFLA crew that was already stationed in front of the steps kneeling and praying was really intense. As you can kinda see in this picture, there was lots of media right in our faces, and I wasn't sure whether to look at the camera and smile, or keep a solemn look on my face as if the government was about to force Catholics to pay for contraception (oh, wait...). But really, it was such a humbling experience to publicly send a message without even saying a word. It was a little scary, and made me a little nervous, because I'm so eager to explain to people why I'm doing what I'm doing, and my defense for why it's logical and compassionate. It makes me uncomfortable to think that people are judging my beliefs without even hearing my defense. But that was what made it humbling--I had to let go of that desire to always please others, and instead simply stand (or kneel) for what I believe in and let the rest go.

On Thursday we will find out what the Supreme Court decided. They can either 1. strike down the entire Affordable Care Act, and Congress will start anew, 2. strike down the individual mandate, and be left with a messy healthcare act that doesn't make sense without that center piece, or 3. uphold the entire Act as constitutional. This decision matters, because it's going to have an impact on all of us, in many ways it already has. For the record, even without the religious freedom conflict, I am not much of a supporter of Obamacare. From the many articles I've read in the past few weeks, I don't think it makes sense economically, and I really don't think that this new system of healthcare is going to be any better for Americans than where we were before. I think that consumers need more choice, not more government-control.

And here's an amazing video from CatholicVote in response to the HHS Mandate: http://www.catholicvote.org/index.php?/site/eu_roadblock/

More pictures from my recent adventures to come soon!

Update: We finally got Chick-Fil-A, and all is well!

It's been a busy week with not a lot of free time to blog, but I'm excited to update you all on some of my most recent adventures tomorrow when I have the time in between loads of laundry, phone calls, and hopefully seeing my friend Melaine who's also interning in DC.

From our trip to Annapolis, Maryland, our self-guided tour of the Capitol (rotunda and all), and the Library of Congress... to the AMAZING forum we went to on "The Real War on Women"... and our unexpected adventure last night (which started when we missed our bus, again, although this time it wasn't our fault--the darn thing must've left 5 minutes early!), I have lots to tell!

This is how our night ended. Chick-Fil-A dinner at 10pm!

Our rotation with Congressman Andy Harris is officially over, and we begin at the Manassas, VA, office of Students for Life of America this coming week.

I had to surrender this badge. 

Right now I'm headed out to Arlington, VA, to see For Greater Glory, (I'm linking the trailer here and I haven't even watched it yet myself, but we're going with the other Missionaries and I've heard it's reaally good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DcPXrpGCCw )

Then this evening Leslie and I are staying in Arlington for dinner with one of Andy Harris's staffers and his wife, who's apparently very pro-life and excited to meet us! Can't wait.

Have a wonderful Saturday and more to come soon!

Late nights after long days

Lately Ive oft-daydreamed of this magical moment when my head hits the pillow to sleep. Really, I have. Getting off early tomoro to visit Annapolis, MD! night!

"On Being Told I Don't Stand for Women's Freedom"

Go to www.abolishabortion.com and then "blogs" under the Learn tab to see my latest blog post!!

My title was changed, but original title that I put with the post is "On Being Told I Don't Stand for Women's Freedom."

Please let me know what you think! Looking forward to my weeks at SFLA to devote more time to reading and writing about pro-life issues. Right now it's difficult with the few spare hours we have each evening.

T.G.I.F. (& Saturday & Sunday!)

This blog post dedicated to my dad. Happy Father's Day! I couldn't ask for a 

better father. Thanks for all that you've done for me, and for always believing in me. 

I also owe it to you that I've learned that it's okay to be wordy (baha, see below post). 

So, this weekend was pretty spectacular. Time in DC, cultural/local events, nature, naps, good food. It had it all!

It started when I got off work Friday and Leslie, Chris, Lindsey and I all met up outside the Capitol to go to Jazz in the Garden at the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden. We walked quite a ways, and on the way I ran into a teacher I had at Cor Jesu at a random stoplight!! (Ms. Ahrens, for all the CJ girls). We were on the lookout for food, and she directed us to burger place across from her hotel. This was just the first of a few chance encounters this weekend. 

Never thought I'd see this so close up in real life. 

The second chance encounter on our way to Jazz was with a family of ducklings. Haha, for real though. It was possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen. The mother duck and her 8 or so ducklings were just walking around the streets of DC, catching the eye and camera of many a passer-by. The real entertainment began when the mother hopped up a few steps, and her baby ducks tried to follow. A crowd gathered around and watched, cheering the ducklings on, especially the last two who were frantically running back and forth trying to find another way up because each time they tried they just flopped over on their sides. They finally made it up and we erupted into applause! 

And off they go, one big happy duck family!

The actual Jazz in the Garden event was amazing. There were people EVERYWHERE. Everywhere. It was insane. These pictures might illustrate a bit, but really it was just incredible. The jazz was really good and it was a beautiful night. We also met Anne, another SFLA intern and her intern friends from the Susan B. Anthony List there (she has her 1st rotation there). 

Starting at the right and clockwise: Me, Lindsey, Anne, Chris, and the 3 SBA interns, Santina, Austin, and Garrett!

Saturday brought more adventures. We woke up early (which was a challenge, but was worth it!), and met Tina, the SFLA intern director, for the "Become a Pilot for the Day!" Family Fun Day at the Air and Space Museum's location in Chantilly, VA. My dad, being the Boeing dork that he is (love you dad!), had briefed me on which planes to look out for. It was pretty neat, to be sure. They had an F-14, which was made by the Navy, and I when I got home I dutifully fulfilled my dad's request to tell Dan that I liked the F-14 (Dan served in the Navy) but the F-15 is still better (my dad worked for years on the F-15). He got a kick out of that. This day at the museum was really aimed at kids, and Tina's 4 kids loved it. 

SR-71, super impressive

Me, Tina, Lindsey (from Louisiana) and Leslie (+the top of Esther, Tina's 5 year old)

Lindsey, Leslie and I with Tina's kids! This plane had a stuffed
animal dog on top so we had to get a picture with it!

 After the Air and Space Museum, we metro-ed into DC, changing into professional clothes at a gas station on the way, to go to the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference held at the Renaissance, where some of the other interns had found the opportunity to help "run" Mitt Romney's campaign table there. We got there late enough in the afternoon that it had pretty much died down, but we got to walk around and meet other organizations, and then attend a panel for "Young Activists and Collegians." While standing in line to get in, and because I was asking if anyone knew where a drinking fountain was, we by chance happened to meet Rushad Thomas, one of the SFLA Missionary interns from last year!! It was neat to hear from him about his experience last summer, and where he's at now (getting his Master's in Government from Regent U). 

After the panel ended, we strolled around Chinatown looking for a place to eat. We noticed a Smithsonian across the street, and then I realized it was the National Portrait Gallery (which had come highly recommended from my cousin Matt) and we all decided to step in for a bit. A bit ended up being almost 2 hours, as the place was so intriguing. It's connected also to the general National Gallery of Art, so there was lots to see. 

We finally ended the night with dinner at a Chinese place (imagine, Chinese in Chinatown!) 

Leslie with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a true femenist
who stood against abortion!

This, was CRAZY. The United States through TV! Missouri's TVs were playing Meet Me In St. Louis :)  

Ruben, Leslie and Lindsey

Annddd Sunday's theme was "Relaxin' with the Whalens". We went to 10:30 mass with them at Our Lady of Hope, and then, Dan and Maureen took us to O'Faolain's Irish Pub for breakfast/lunch. Then we took a walk with Nola and Maureen at a nearby park. And we napped until dinner, which we had at Wegmann's the grocery store palace previously mentioned.

It was a glorious weekend and I hope yours was as well! I've missed updating you all and apologize for the immense volume of posts! This is a record for me as much as it is an update for you :) Love you all!

What do I mean when I say it was a "normal" day?

Right now there are a few other interns in the office: Ross, Josh (pictured with Leslie above 2 posts below), Carlye, and Matt. They’re all nice Maryland-ers :) Here are some of the things we do in the office as interns.

-enter survey data from mail surveys that come back from constituents

-answer phones and re-direct calls among all the staffers

-scan things, fold letters, work fancy machines

-make deliveries to the flag office or errands to the office supply store

-go on searches for things for staff members

-get to sit in on interesting meetings and/or hearings

-opening mail and figuring out what to do with it within the office

We get to take about an hour lunch break at around noon. Leslie and I have been bringing frozen meals that we warm up, or leftovers. We sometimes eat with the other interns in the cafeteria as well. 

We have one more week left at Capitol Hill before we start our "rotations" in Manassas, VA. I'm sure we'll miss many things about the experience, except maybe the commute! Although we're becoming quite accustomed to it. We can even pass for regulars (we got asked for directions yesterday!) It'll be really exciting to move on, though, because we'll have the chance to do a lot more work specific to the pro-life movement, instead of just brushing up on our politics (speaking of which, I recently acquired a free pocket Constitution!)

Tuesday-Thursday

Here's what was supposed to post on Thursday night when I couldn't get the internet to work: 

Hello faithful readers! (Are you out there?? ha) It’s been a few days since I’ve posted—sorry about that—sleep had to take priority. Here’s a (long) update.

Tuesday:

The Odd Life of Timothy Greene. This was an exciting day because it was the first time we DROVE instead of BUSSED closer to DC. My cousin lives near the East Falls metro station, so he let us park in his neighborhood (Thanks, Matt!), so that we could stay in DC past the time the last bus for Leesburg would be leaving (6:55, lame). The reason we wanted to stay was after work that evening Leslie and I met up with 3 of the other missionaries to see a free preview screening of a new Disney movie (people though, not cartoons). The movie was supposed to be supportive of adoption, which, of course, is a beautiful alternative to abortion, and is called “The Odd Life of Timothy Green.” Well, it was a lot of fun seeing a movie with the other interns, and most of the other people there to see the screening were from adoption groups, so it was neat, but I have to be honest: 1) the movie had very little to do with adoption in my opinion, and in some ways could even be construed as pro-in vitro fertilization, and 2) just as a basic movie, it wasn’t very good. However, I’m sure many of the theatergoers that night would disagree! Leslie and Lindsey even cried! which sorta made me feel like a heartless woman for not having deep enough emotions, ha. But really, I guess I just have too critical of an eye for movies. This one didn’t impress me at all, but I’m glad it’s out there making an impression on others!

Wednesday:

We parked at East Falls (by my cousin’s house) again on Wednesday, but for a different reason: we missed our bus. By like 30 seconds! It pulled away as we were walking up. Alas, good thing we had another option.

My first constituent letter! I got to draft a response letter to a piece of constituent mail, on the topic of contraception, so that was really interesting. It was about the proposed bill, H.R. 2659. The bill really wasn’t controversial, it just says that pharmacy employers must dispense a contraceptive immediately if in stock, or place an order immediately, and that they cannot harass or intimidate women seeking contraception. Even as a pro-life legislator, Andy Harris couldn’t disagree with that. The highschooler who wrote in had misread the bill, though, and thought that it also provided that pharmacies cannot refuse the contraception to a woman who cannot pay for it. In fact, the bill stated that the pharmacy could refuse to dispense the contraceptive if it couldn’t be paid for, or if it were unlawful to dispense without a prescription.

Lovin’ the home life. Wednesday evening we enjoyed tilapia for dinner (Maureen is a GREAT cook, and very generous—she cooks for us nearly every night!). Maureen and Dan are also big fans of ice cream, and we’ve shared a bowl or two on a regular basis over the past (almost) two weeks. The relationship between those two is just beautiful. We watched a little CSI last night. Often talk about the news together. Dan obsesses over Nola (we found out recently Nola is actually considered “Dan’s dog,” even though Maureen is the only one who walks her). Whenever Nola walks up to Dan he always fawns over her, usually starting with “Hellooo Nola!” It is SO nice to come home to a warm home like this every night. And doubly nice to share this home and internship experience with Leslie. She is becoming a great friend! We get along very well and have a lot of fun together.

Thursday, today!:

Intranet Quorom! This week Congress is not “in session,” so that explains why it’s so slow and there is less to do. We did spend 2 hours in “IQ” (intranet quorum) training, basically to learn the software that the majority of the House uses to keep their offices organized. It’s actually amazing software, and I’m not even a computer geek! It’s very user-friendly and intuitive, with a screen that is not overwhelmingly cluttered—yet it records immense amounts of data and information. It’s really impressive.

Debates. Fun times. We went to a debate this evening put on by the Heritage Foundation between a liberal and a conservative on the topic of a Liberal Bias on College Campuses. It came with free pizza! The liberal speaker was much more dynamic than the conservative, but they both had good points. It was less of a debate and more of them taking turns to talk for 15 minutes. Basically the conclusion was that yes, academia and higher education is predominantly full of liberal professors. BUT, to what extent is this a problem was the source of disagreement. The liberal sees bias as something inevitable—we all have bias, he says, and that is good. If everyone at a University thought the same way we wouldn’t really be learning. There seemed to be a discrepancy in the debate to me because the liberal really did hit the nail on the head with his stance (it’s only a problem when freedoms are not being protected, i.e. when conservatives are treated unfairly), but he definitely doesn’t represent the majority of liberal professors out there.

Perhaps more to come on all these thoughts later. I’m getting a little wordy here. To sum up, it’s been a good week so far!

Love y’all!

Cathy

Bahhh

Quick blog post from work where I actually have internet! :o
Here are a few pictures from the past few days:


Leslie and Josh

Andy Harris's office--the door's always open!



Pretty sunset one evening near Union Station

The internet at our house isn't working and I'm not sure how soon we'll get it up, but I've got a blog post ready! Tonight we are going to "Jazz in the Garden" http://www.nga.gov/programs/jazz/ at the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden. And Saturday we are heading to the Air and Space Museum's Family Fun Day at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA. This is the one day a year that they open up the air field and let people walk outside the building to see air crafts and vintage vehicles from WW2. Sounds fun! It's been a good week. More to come later, hope you're all well!

No Internet!

Well, I typed out a long update and then the internet wont connect! oh well. Rest assured I am alive happy and well. Night y'all and t.g.i.f.!

Aannd

Aaand after late nights all week, Im gonna take this chance to get a good night's sleep. promise Ill update soon!

[Insert blog post here, tomorrow]

Too exhausted tonight. Hope you can stand the suspense ;) Check out the blogs on abolishabortion.com to read my recent post!

Not Just an Ordinary Day! (But really...just an ordinary day)

Back to the Office today! Congress is not in session, so it was a lot less busy this morning getting in to work, and most of the offices dress casually when not in session. Leslie and I didn't quite get that memo, but luckily hadn't dressed to the nines anyways. Today we learned how to enter constituent survey responses into the IQ system, and basically did that all day. Woo! Great fun. 

Because it was a fairly slow day, pictures to illustrate my daily commute: 

Drive 5 minutes, get on a bus, take bus for 30 minutes to here: 

The crazy large bus-station at West Falls. This is where we
get off the bus every morning and walk inside to get on the Metro! See how
 we might've gotten on the wrong bus?? There's tons!
(I took this pic from inside through glass windows)

Take crowded Metro for 45 minutes to here: Work for 8 hours. 

Cannon House Office Building 

Walk down escalator and get on Metro, to take to bus, and then finally home at 8pm. 

heckaz long escalator (left side-walking; right side-standing)

We had a nice lunch break, however, in which we went to a speaker/free lunch for interns ('cept they ran out of lunches so that was a bummer), about International Human Rights. We went for 3 reasons: 1. to get free lunch, 2. to hear about international human rights issues, and 3. to listen for any mention of abortion or lack thereof. Lack thereof was what we expected, and if we had stayed the whole time, what I assume we would have heard. It's so ironic and disheartening that social justice-minded individuals can struggle so much with abortion. This is really a topic for a whole separate blog post, but in my understanding, those so passionate about social justice have misplaced compassion when it comes to abortion. They see the women as the minority in need, not the babies inside the womb. Interestingly, the definition of "human rights," according to the speaker today, is that "every person has certain rights by virtue of being a human being." Hmm...personhood, human being, rights. Sounds familiar!

Me and Cory posing by the model Capitol. Cory's another intern we met while
in line for our Staff badges--she's the one who told us about the free lunch!

Anyways, dinner with the Whalens tonight was perhaps the most delicious yet. Salad (I'm getting lots of greens here!), spaghetti with divine meat sauce and a perfectly satisfying slice of Texas Toast (courtesy of Leslie and my trip to Wegmann's this weekend). I worked on a blog post tonight that I will be posting son on AbolishAbortion.com. And that's about it, folks! Goodnight!

Harper's Ferry

Today the 6 interns and Kristan Hawkins, SFLA Executive Director, took an outing to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. Harper's Ferry is a historic Civil War town that's not been made famous by just one event or historic figure but by many figures over time, including: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, John Brown, Stonewall Jackson, and Mark Twain. 

It was much hotter today than it's been all of this past week, and the town is very hilly, so by the end of the day we were exhausted. We got to see the Potomac, where WV, Virginia, and Maryland all intersect (see picture), and the old Catholic Church at the top of the hill, along with browsing cute little shops and enjoying lunch together. Kristan's husband came along, and the two of them are an adorable couple. Kristan's hilarious, too. We had a fun time and after we came home Leslie and I shared a DiGiorno pizza with "grandpa" Dan!

I'll keep this post short, for once! Enjoy the following pictures:

The Potomac. We're standing in WV, to the left is Maryland and to the right--Virginia!

The town. 

You can see the Church steeple here...

Ruben, Anne, Lindsey, and Dominic (Dominic's a
Med-Students for Life extern, who's in DC just for a few days)

Tally Ho! It's Saturday!

Sleep, glorious sleep! Today I slept in till 11, and cooked eggs while Leslie made pancakes. I then enjoyed those with some Canadian bacon and the wonderful company of Dan, who had just woken up late as well, and Maureen, who was working on mailings endorsing Bob Marshall for the Virginia Senate that she wanted to send out (she's always plugged into her politics, I'm telling ya).

I also concluded today that Nola is very much like my dog Bella, in more ways than one. Their dog personalities are strikingly similar. I showed everyone the pictures I brought with me of Bella and they fawned :)  Not surprising. I just want you to know Bella, that even though I adore Nola, no dog will ever take your place in my life.

I've been trying to get a good picture but my phone camera's cheap and
she's always moving. The cutest thing she does, probably, is when we
come home she's super excited to see us, and not just her tail,
but her whole body wags!

UPDATE: Here's a better picture!

Anyways, the day's activities included a driving tour of Leesburg with Maureen, grocery shopping at Wegmann's (a grocery store palace), napping (yes, I did sleep in till 11 and then nap later in the afternoon), and a delicious dinner with the Whalen's.

Then Leslie and I met up with Chris in "downtown" Leesburg (maybe somewhat comparable to downtown Kirkwood, except much more historic. We saw a place that had been there since 1760. Before the Declaration of Independence!) We went to "Acoustic on the Green," which was a free outdoor concert. The whole place was super quaint and had a great ambiance. Chris remarked that it was "grossly adorable," which is pretty accurate.

So we didn't actually find the concert where we thought it'd be. When it wasn't there, we looked up movie theaters on Leslie's GPS reasoning that we could just see a movie instead. The first one that popped up was "Tally Ho Theater", which we thought was too intriguing to not check out. Turns out the Tally Ho is located right NEXT to where the concert was taking place! So we ended up at the concert anyways!! And then of course had to take a picture. 

A little blurry, but here's what the crowd at the concert looked like.
That building straight past the trees is Town Hall. 

We found a spot about halfway up towards the stage. 

We rounded out the night with a trip to good 'ol Baskin Robbins, where we decided that the phrase that contains the highest number of unappealing words is "a vat of moist cheese curds".

All in all, a productive day! Mass tomorrow at 10am and then the other interns and I will all be heading north a bit to visit Harper's Ferry with Kristan Hawkins (E.D. of SFLA), and perhaps a few other staff. This will be my second time in Harper's Ferry, VA, surprisingly--because when I hiked part of the Appalachaian Trail with my dad in 8th grade, we ended our hiking trip in that town!! Goodnight everyone!

Friday means I get to sleep in tomorrow!

Today was an exhausting day, but still great. Leslie and I thought we were done with our bus mishaps, but after staying around in DC to get dinner with the other SFLA interns, we found out the bus we needed lied in its schedule. Well, maybe that's a little extreme, but they definitely had a 7:25 departure time, and that bus apparently only *drops* people off, doesn't pick more up. Soo long story short, after about an hour of making scrambling phone calls, another intern Chris just made a long drive to come get us and drive us to our family's house (Maureen and Dan were both out for the night!)

This place came recommended from one of Harris' staff.
From left to right: Chris, Leslie, Ruben, Lindsey

The Rally for Religious Freedom was today outside of the Russell Senate Building and it was really interesting. There were lots of speakers, and some I really loved whereas others spoke in such a way that I could just imagine citizens from the middle ground shutting down after hearing. The thing is, you don't have to bring Jesus, doom and gloom, or heated propaganda-like language into the discussion to logically show that the HHS mandate is unconstitutional. Something I've found myself grappling with here on the Hill is both trying to be understanding of the "other side", and standing up apologetically for what I believe. The speakers today were definitely unapologetic about where they stood. I admire their courage, and want to be able to proudly state where I stand, but I find myself being very conscious of how the "other side" is perceiving my words. It's not that I don't want to offend (because I know that's no way to live), I just want to promote dialogue and not just turn people away with extremism. Anyways, more to come on those thoughts later.

Left to right: Leslie, Chris, Lindsey, Me, Ruben (2 interns not pictured)

Besides the Rally and bus troubles, I spent much of today operating a fancy-schmancy folding/enveloping/sealing machine. Congressman Harris's office had to get 2,700 constituent letters prepared to send out--all constituents who wrote him concerned about medicare and healthcare. For such a complicated machine (it folds 2 pages of a letter, stuffs it into the envelope, seals it, and spits it out in 5 seconds), the manual part is amazingly simple. You just have to feed it an envelope every 5 seconds. So I did that for a few hours :) After a while I thought I might even be able to do it with my eyes closed... so I did!! Success.

Quote of the Day: [as we were walking back from the Rally to the House buildings and huge crowds of Girl Scouts were crossing near/with us (hundreds of Girl Scouts are having some kind of gathering here this weekend)] "It smells like tourism." --Chris 

And here Leslie and I take our first
"touristy" photo since being here!

A few more random things.

TUNNELS. Here's a picture of the underground tunnels that connect all the buildings! I spend a lot of time walking between buildings on errands for Charlotte, our Office Assistant (and my boss), or walking to meetings.

 See why it gets depressing? So dark. Leslie and I soak up the sun any chance we get.  

RALLY. Tomorrow there is a Rally for Religious Freedom outside the Senate at noon. Leslie and I will be there if we can be! It is, of course, pertaining to the HHS mandate from the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare).


[Just in case you're living under a rock (hey, we're all there sometimes), this mandate from the Health and Human Services Department would force employers and religious institutions to pay for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization procedures, free contraceptives, and other services that are objectionable to Christians and employers of conscience. Basically, it literally violates religious freedom. The government can't tell the Catholic Church to do something that violation of conscience, even if it disagrees.]


The list of speakers at the rally is awesome! For those familiar with big-time pro-lifers: 
-Lila Rose, Live Action
-David Bereit, 40 Days for Life 
-Kristan Hawkins, Students for Life of America
-Alan Keyes, Author and former Presidential Candidate AND
-U.S. Congressman Andy Harrris (THAT'S MY CONGRESSMAN! He's a really amazing Representative.)

From the 1st Rally for Religious Freedom held March 2012

ST. PETER'S CATHOLIC CHURCH AT THE CAPITOL. Get this. 12:10p.m. Mass! Leslie and I made the 3-minute walk today, but when we entered we were handed a program for a Funeral Mass that had started at noon! We stayed through the homily (not enough time for longer), which was about how baseball relates to life because Bill loved baseball, and cut out to meet a few other interns for lunch. 

..from when we checked it out yesterday

VIRTUAL SHOUT-OUT. I want to make a shout out to my sisters, Mary who just started her Master's in Education program at Providence College and will be teaching for 2 years while earning her degree (East Coast, represent!), and Julie who is teaching Totus Tuus, a Catholic youth program in Salina, Kansas (met someone from Kansas that was touring the Capitol the other day). Also to little CC, who starts horse riding lessons soon! And Robert Jennie dad and mom, I guess you're alright too :) 


Love to you all!

Why Am I Here, Anyways?

Let's face it, folks. None of you know me as a particularly politically-minded person. And in reality, I never have been. I appreciate my freedoms, love my country, and try to stay fairly informed on what's going on, but I'm no politics buff, and as one friend put it, I'm spending these 3 weeks in Andy Harris's office in a PolySci major's Disneyland.

Andy Harris doesn't look like Mickey Mouse, though. 

Well, suffice it to say that I am getting a crash course right here and right now. I've got over an hour of public transit commute time, and spend a decent amount reading papers. Then I spend 8 hours in a House of Representative's office, which I get to leave pretty often to attend Committee Hearings or Intern Forums... more metro reading on the commute back to Leesburg, then come home to an older couple that chats over the News channel after dinner. Maureen and Dan are constantly tuned in to what's going on in Washington and Maureen has often excitedly told Leslie and I some piece of recent news.

I am literally sitting in the spots the people at the bottom of this
picture are when I attend Committee hearings!

And, you know, after a few days of this, I kinda like it. I'm learning SO much and feel much more confident about my political grasp, though I probably won't soon and never have claimed to know anywhere near everything. I'm very transparent about my ignorance when I don't know something. But look out--when I return from this summer I might actually speak up a little more during political debates!!

Really though, me spending the summer here is to work for the pro-life cause, and in this case politics is something necessary to learn in order to have a clearer and more comprehensive picture of how to end abortion in our country.

I truly believe that abortion is a huge injustice, a social justice issue, that needs to be urgently addressed. I completely understand the importance of policies on all other sorts of issues, and that an informed citizen should be well-rounded in their concerns, BUT, the fact that it is currently legal in our country to kill a child in the womb, and the fact that 3,000 (a rough number) abortions occur every day, seems kinda urgent to me. What in the WORLD is going on??

The pro-life movement is a social movement. It is like other social movements before it, and like other social movements before it, it has to fight the mainstream. It's not cool to be pro-life. It's cool to be pro-environment, or pro-woman, or pro-hunger relief, but it is not cool to stand up in front of a bunch of politically minded individuals and tell them that what you really want to see is a respect for life.

I overheard a guy in the Longworth Cafeteria say today: "...and all this guy cares about is pro-life stuff, and I'm like 'Shut up! We're trying to focus on jobs'..." His attitude, unfortunately, is like the attitudes of a lot of people in our country right now. 3,000 lives take the back-burner each day so that we can focus on 'more important' issues.

I am here this summer to do my part to help end abortion, and to end the need for abortion in our country. Women deserve better than abortion. And the solution does not end with the ending of abortion; that is where it begins. Politics in DC, campus organizing with SFLA, and then direct service with CareNet (pregnancy resource center)--this internship rocks.

Feel free to comment on any of my posts, friends!!

Record timing!

Took the right bus and home by 7:45, that's a record! 3rd time's a charm for figuring out how the buses system :) I swear, you'd have been confused too.

Alternate Universe

DC is kinda like an alternate universe. So many things are unique to the way this City operates, and it's so neat to begin to figure it all out. Had a good second day at the House. We got to go to a hearing of the sub-committee of Energy and Environment, talking about EPA regulations.

This is mostly what I look at all day:

Except this is really pretty easy once you get it down. We take the orange line from West Falls to Capitol South, and then back. Today we found St. Peter's Catholic Church just a 3-minute walk from our office building--we're going to try to make it to 12:10pm mass tomorrow! :) 

I work with Congressman Andy Harris in building 8, the Cannon House Office Building. And this isn't quite the map I like at all day, because what I look at all day is the underground version of this. 

Tunnels. Lots of them. Underneath and connecting the Capitol, the House buildings and the Senate buildings. It is SUPER cool. And public knowledge, though very little people seem to have known about it before they came and saw it. So now you know!! It's very organized, but still veery complex.

We had another bus mix-up today, but are hoping to get it right tomorrow. We ate dinner with our host parents Dan and Maureen, and then Maureen took us and the pup on a power walk through a park, just right by their neighborhood. And I mean POWER walk. This woman is so impressive in so many ways! She knows a lot and Leslie and I are in awe of how active she still is.

If you're curious for more, check out: http://www.aoc.gov/cc/index.cfm

P.S. Anybody can just walk into the House buildings (if they pass security), find their Congressman's office on the directory, and walk right in (though the Congressman is likely to be out)! And they do so! From there you can get hooked up with a tour guide. If anyone's interested, maybe I can give you the tour ;) We get trained sometime soon.

P.P.S. I'm really excited about the fact that this "part" of my internship comes first, the highly political part that is. This is giving me a good taste of how government really functions at the heart of this country, and I think it'll give me good background when I move on to work in the Students for Life office and do work more directly related with pro-life.