By Dave Andrusko

Please send your comments, which are very important, to daveandrusko@gmail.com.

"TWS [The Weekly Standard]: When do you believe life begins?
REP. RYAN: That answer's above my pay grade. That's for God to determine.
TWS: So you're not saying first trimester, second trimester, conception?
REP. RYAN: I don't know. I mean, that's God. God knows when it begins, and when it ends, and all that other stuff."
     From, "A Pro-Lie Democrat? Ohio congressman Tim Ryan is accused of masquerading as a pro-life Democrat," by John McCormack. This article appeared on the blog of The Weekly Standard, August 4. http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/813zbloy.asp

"Tell me what company you keep and I'll tell you what you are."
     Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote.

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If you ever doubted that a pictures is worth a thousand words, check this one out from the July 27 issue of "The Hill" (the Newspaper of Capitol Hill). Pro-abortion Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) is showing hugging Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) at a news conference. Besides DeLauro, Ryan, who insists he is pro-life but who last cast a pro-life vote in 2006, is joined by pro-abortion Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fl.), who has never cast a pro-life vote, Nancy Keenan, President of NARAL, and Laurie Rubiner of Planned Parenthood. What a rouges' gallery this is!

Of course Ryan argues this just goes to show how "both sides" can, in a hands across the water gesture, come together on the abortion issue. If you remember that Ryan has gone so far as to support legislation even some pro-abortionists balk at (using tax dollars to pay for abortions in the nation's capital), it's hard not to believe he's changed jerseys.

The news conference was staged to insist that "pro-lifers" and "pro-choicers" had found "common ground." Well, come to think of it, this one lapsed pro-lifer has found something he and unapologetically pro-abortionist congressmen and congresswomen could agree on: they want gigantic federal subsidies for plans that will fund elective abortion.

There are enough metaphors to choke a horse on this one. Ryan as stalking horse, as someone flying under false colors, or employing a smokescreen. The common denominator is that it is a ploy to mislead your opponent by disguising your real intention. Often times this involves using something or someone they trust.

Examples of bogus compromises and assurances are cropping up like flies. What we must keep on alert for over the next couple of months is that pro-abortionists may well be willing to temporarily put part of their agenda on hold as they reach for the prize: an open-door invitation into the federal treasury. If you aren't careful, you can be deked into believing it was just a summer fling--they really aren't wedded to diverting unlimited amounts of money into the coffers of groups such as Planned Parenthood.

NRLC has written frequently about this in the context of "health care reform." One tipoff will be that every pro-life amendment gets defeated.

Take the "Capps" amendment. Pro-abortion Rep. Lois Capps (who has a zero percent career pro-life voting record) offered an amendment in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The phony "compromise" would result in elective abortions being covered under the government-operated "public plan" the bill would create, and would allow federal subsidies to flow to private insurance plans that cover elective abortions. The following day the committee voted down an NRLC-backed amendment offered by Reps. Bart Stupak and Joe Pitts to prevent federal subsidies from going to plans that cover elective abortion.

NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson without exaggeration says, "This is Condition Red for the pro-life movement." He added,"Every pro-life American should communicate, loudly and clearly, his or her opposition to this Obama-backed bill, before it comes to the House floor in September."

Keep reading TN&V each and every day and be sure to read the latest on what you can do at www.nrlactioncenter.com.