vanishing walnut creek?

What Does Community Health Mean?

By Camille Giglio, Director California Right To Life Committee

Recently I participated in a panel discussion on Prop 73 with two other pro-life people and three pro-abort women – a young woman was from Planned Parenthood, a much older woman speaking for N.O.W. and a third, young, eager, aggressive woman represented an organization called Bay Area Community Health Education [BACHE].

Afterwards, I couldn’t get the title “community health” out of my mind.

What is the meaning of the term “community health,” is it different than individual health?

I looked up BACHE online and discovered that they were sponsored by the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and Clergy for Responsible Choice. They apparently have no web page but can be reached at the email address, bachemtdiablo@comcast.net.

Their mission, as stated in a flyer is to “promote teaching of comprehensive, medically accurate, age appropriate, bias free, sex education in the Public Schools.”

In other words they seem to function as an extension of PP, but are they something more than that?

As usual they have distorted and twisted the meaning of words such as “bias free” and “medically accurate” to suit their agenda. As I was sitting there on the panel listening to them expressing their beliefs - accurate or not - it occurred to me that these people are so confident in themselves, their message and that it will be accepted without question, that they feel unconstrained, saying whatever they want, true, accurate or otherwise.

The pro-abortionists can rely on a certain percentage in these audiences who will uncritically accept their claims. These folks basically want to be deceived and not have their belief structure challenged.

We on pro-life side can put forth what we feel is an overwhelmingly convincing argument and the opposition are not going to hear us. Bluntly, they appear to have been brainwashed and are extremely difficult to reason with.

Understanding their mindset however can be a big advantage to accessing Planned Parenthood’s audience.

In the past I have written of the need to be alert to the word “comprehensive” as it applies to legislation, especially legislation centering on sex education in which case it translates into the full Planned Parenthood array of liberal sexual indoctrination.

Now I suggest that another word to be aware of is the word “community,” as in “community health.”

People who form into groups such as this local version of the ACLU - BACHE - are on a mission to stake out a certain segment of the community, be it local, national or international, and drag those people into conformity with their vision of social, human or civil rights justice - never mind the US Constitution. They will form whatever partnerships they have to to achieve their vision be it governmental or faith-based.

That which in their minds, meets the needs of the group rather than the individual is paramount. The health and needs of the individual are of little concern to these people. These elitists perceive that the needs of the individual are at odds with the needs of the community thereby creating an unhealthy environment– as they define it – and as a result, the community comes first. In their view individuals who believe otherwise are merely confused, misinformed and selfish.

If you can’t be convinced then you will be silenced through public humiliation and intimidation.

So if a woman is poorly educated, a member of a minority racial group, without a job and is pregnant the elitists maintain that it is in the best interests of the community to abort her baby.

Her child is really viewed as the enemy - human pollution. But, it goes beyond that. These people have assigned themselves the right to direct others social, economic and educational options in order to create their idealized healthy community.

In that regard non-profit and religious groups have formed partnerships with governmental agencies, skillfully bypassing the Brown Act which requires open government meetings. They work in secret, drafting master plans which will radically change communities and the lives of the individuals within them, all to meet the leftist’s utopian motif.

Community Health and Smart Growth

In doing further research online using the term “community health” I came up with the following groups - ”Center for Civic Partnerships,” “California Healthy Cities” and ”Communities Network.” They also have an international connection.

Last April this group hosted a conference in Berkeley entitled – “Healthy Cities and Smart Growth.” Berkeley’s mayor, Tom Bates [formerly a state Senator] acted as MC. California State Senator Tom Torlakson [D, 7th District] was one of the speakers. His mini-bio reads:

“Senator Torlakson represents the 7th Senate District, which includes most of Contra Costa County. He is Chair of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee and Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Bay Area Infrastructure. His legislative achievements include improving the transportation system, preventing drunken driving, strongly supporting public education, promoting consumer protection and safety, improving fitness and nutrition, and protecting the environment.”

Well, I guess everybody else in Sacramento can go home since Tom appears to be doing it all. He is a good example of the bureaucrat using partnerships, legislation and the public trust to push through his version of the vision.

Since 1973 many leaders in the pro life community in Washington and in Sacrmento have insisted that education is the main route to returning our country to a position of respect for life.. I believe that they have tragically misjudged our opponents and misled our people into wasting decades of time on legislators and groups who are blinded to wisdom and compassion regarding the value of human life.
We decry the moral corruption and wonder why it is happening, yet, we turn around and elect the very same people who have given us all this moral corruption and human destruction.

The one instrument that will both educate and instruct the people is the Bill of Rights, the right to vote, the freedom of speech and the will to exercise those Rights. We can wait no longer to educate those who will not be educated to respect and accept the worth of the individual human. We must vote them out of office and defund those groups who would use our tax dollars to work in secret to defeat our Constitiution and our God given right to life.

Another group, the Community Development Foundation [online they refer to themselves as the FDC] promotes “public/private partnerships.” Their mission statement clearly speaks of their visionary goals:

“The FDC's partners are those with whom the organization, because it shares a common vision, interests and aspirations, can undertake together or through them, programmers, projects or other development initiatives to the benefit of the neediest communities. In establishing partnerships and, consequently, in all FDC interventions, one of the fundamental principles is the creation of autonomy and self-confidence among the communities and groups with whom we work”.

Residents of a community must be made to feel that they are the “stakeholders” in changing their community. This is usually done through small group meetings. By the way “stakeholders” is another red flag word.

The mission statement continues:

“This necessarily involves strengthening the communities' internal social networks, and increasing local capacity to intervene in the environment where people live and to participate actively in defining their future, and in undertaking the changes necessary to improve their living conditions.” – FDC Website

“Intervene where people live,” “defining their environment” “defining their future and undertake changes to improve living conditions. This is the central, defining core of the visionary’s goal in life. These people are more salesmen than city planners.

According to Thomas Sowell, these people are the epitome of the Visionaries he writes about so eloquently in “Conflict of Visions,” “The Vision of the Anointed” and “The Quest for Cosmic Justice.” These are elitists who believe so profoundly in what they preach that truth means nothing more than an a trifling interference with their quest for fulfillment.

The next topic will discuss a Contra Costa County, California, public/private partnership entitled “contra Costa For Every Generation.” This is a project underway for two years in the county to obtain the consent of the residents to be manipulated into changing their lives and style of living to conform to the bureaucrats plan for Smart Growth.

posted by Diane Lily @ 3:38 PM