Much has been written in recent years about Margaret Sanger’s “Negro Project.” The most recent article is a must-read for every pro-lifer. An excerpt of Michelle Malkin’s column:

“If you aren’t creeped out by the No Birth Control Left Behind rhetoric of the White House and Planned Parenthood, you arent listening closely enough. The anesthetic of progressive benevolence always dulls the senses. Wake up.

“When a bunch of wealthy white women and elite Washington bureaucrats defend the trampling of religious liberties in the name of ‘increased access’ to ‘reproductive services’ for ‘poor’ women, the ghost of Margaret Sanger is cackling.

“As she wrote in her autobiography, Sanger founded Planned Parenthood in 1916‘to stop the multiplication of the unfit.’ This, she boasted, would be ‘the most important and greatest step towards race betterment.’ While she oversaw the mass murder of black babies, Sanger cynically recruited minority activists to front her death racket. She conspired with eugenics financier and businessman Clarence Gamble to ‘hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities‘ to sell their genocidal policies as community health and welfare services.

“Outright murder wouldn’t sell. But wrapping it under the egalitarian cloak of ‘womens health’ and adorning it with the moral authority of black churches would. Sanger and Gamble called their deadly campaign‘The Negro Project.’”

Ditto…what she said.

Whether you’re an adult or a teenager who likes to read young adult novels, you might want to check out book reviews at Chuck Colson’s BreakPoint. Editor Gina Dalfonzo created the Youth Reads section to give Christians some guidance on the latest (and popular) young adult novels.

I’ve written a few reviews for the site, and I have an upcoming short feature on sex-selective abortions.

For more information on the topic, see Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men. The author is “pro-choice,” but the book is objective enough, informative, and well researched.

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them. – Luke 2: 1-20

Every day you faced the questions
Torn by the lot you had received
Every tear was a reminder
Of how I was conceived.

But in the middle of the confusion
You found strength to make it through
And now I can love and be loved
All because of you

The Man

Ryan Bomberger tears up when he recites the lyrics to “Meant to Be,” a song he wrote as a tribute to his birth mothera woman he’s never met. The man behind the controversial pro-life billboard campaign, Too Many Aborted, was conceived in rape. His birth mother was white, and the rapist was black. Despite the circumstances of his conception, his mother allowed him to live.

Bomberger was born in Pennsylvania in 1971, two years before the U.S. Supreme Court declared a “right to privacy” to abort in Roe v. Wade. In the late 1960s, however, states began allowing abortions in cases of rape, incest, and health of the mother or fetus. Prior to Roe, some states even allowed abortion on demand, including neighboring state New York. If Bomberger’s birth mother had wanted an abortion, the option was available. But she chose life.

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about how much life is a gift,” Bomberger said in a telephone interview. “I can’t help but think about my biological mother’s decision, the reverberationthat’s like a powerful, resurging thought in my mind every day, and that’s no exaggeration.”

The first child adopted by a white Christian family, Bomberger said he tried to find his birth mother in 2004 just to thank her, but was unable to locate her. “I still believe that some day, some way, she’ll be able to hear those words of gratitude. Her decision put me in a family. It’s a very different kind of family. An amazing, loving family.”

Bomberger called his parents “two of the most remarkable people in the world.” They had a heart for adoption even before they married. His adoptive mother’s parents were divorced, and her father was an alcoholic. “She was placed in an orphanage as a young child, and she made a promise to God at the age of five that she’d be a mommy to kids who didn’t have one.”

Ten adopted and three natural children later, the Bombergers were a multiracial assortment that made the Jolie-Pitt family look like amateurs, with American Indian, Vietnamese, black/white, white, and black children. “People look at us like we’re some kind of freak show,” he said, laughing. “‘What is this?’ This is family. This is what it looks like.”

While the media hype celebrities who adopt transracially, Bomberger said, there’s a different level of sacrifice when you don’t know where the next check or meal is going to come from. But his parents felt they were called to adopt.

“They could have had a life of convenience,” he said. “Our family owns a department store, and they could have had a cushy sort of life, but instead they have thirteen children. There were lots of hand-me-downs, handed down hand-me-downsthey really understood what sacrifice wasthey knew that adoption was a way of unleashing purpose, and our family was transformed by that. It was transformed culturally and in so many other ways, because of the beautiful act of adoption.”

Bomberger and his wife share this calling. He adopted his wife’s daughter, and the couple gave birth to two children, adopted another, and are considering adding a fifth child to the family through adoption.

The Life-Affirming Work

Bomberger and his wife started a non-profit organization called the Radiance Foundation, which he said grew out of their desire to help people embrace their own God-given purpose. It also reflects their desire to help people understand they have an intrinsic value and worth that no one can define or take away.

“The reason why we felt so strongly about that is because both my wife, Bethany, and I had gone through some really radical, personal destructive episodes in our lives. We were basically pulled out of our own self-destruction by God’s love and the hope that can come only by truth.”

Bomberger said he went through periods of self-loathing that nearly took his life. “My radical transformations came by relying on the very, very frayed thread of hope because of the faith my parents instilled in me. If they hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here today.”

A long-time adoption and pro-life advocate, Bomberger wanted to expand his part-time efforts into full time. He said there was something missing in other pro-life campaigns: abortion’s disparate impact on the black community. The former creative director for motion graphics broadcast media parlayed his skills and resources into starting a comprehensive organization that creates campaigns like the billboards. One of his billboards depicts a black child and the words Black Children Are An Endangered Species.

“We had no idea that our first billboard campaign would take hold the way it would and get the kind of media reaction it did,” he said. Some people asked why he focuses on abortion among blacks. “I always compare it to b****t cancer awareness.”

Although men and women get b****t cancer, the disease impacts women the most. Abortion kills unborn babies, regardless of race or sex, but it’s impossible to ignore or to gloss over the fact that black women have abortions at higher rates (between three and five times higher) than women of other races and ethnicities.

Bomberger’s work has attracted support from such pro-life advocates as Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Rev. Walter Hoye, president of the Issues4Life Foundation; Arnold M. Culbreath, urban outreach director of Protecting Black Life; and Day Gardner, president of the National Black Pro-Life Union.

“I didn’t know anybody in the pro-life establishment,” he said. “That was pretty powerful to get that kind of positive feedback and reaction from people who believe not just the messaging but were willing, in what others were calling provocative and controversial…to put their faces and their words behind it to endorse it.”

Bomberger has received thousands of positive e-mail from everyday people of different races thanking him for his work in the pro-life and adoption movements. “We speak to several hundred thousand people a year at various events and conferencesand to get the incredible feedback is very encouraging, knowing that we’re connecting to people, that we’re moving people, that we’re inspiring people. It makes all of our effortsand all the denunciations from liberal groups like the NAACP and ACLUworthwhile.”

Bomberger v. NPR

Bomberger’s billboard campaign led to an NPR “debate” between him and Rev. Carlton Veazey, president and CEO of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, formerly known as the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights. He said he’d approached several key pro-abortion leaders to debate, and they continually turned him down. He didn’t reach out to Veazey, however; NPR approached Bomberger.

After previously interviewing with NPR for thirty minutes to talk about one of his billboards, only to be completely cut out of the three-minute segment that aired, Bomberger was skeptical.

“It wasn’t about me being spotlighted, but how do you cut out the person who created the campaign and explained the reason behind the campaign?” Despite this experience, he agreed to another interview. “I should have known better.”

NPR called Bomberger fifteen times in three minutes about the validity of his conception story. “How do I know that my story is really true? Because according to the enlightened senior producers at NPR, when you’re adopted, the agencies don’t tell the adoptive parents any of those details. They’re all private.” Not true, Bomberger said. “Adoptive parents are given every detail they possibly can be given.”

Bomberger wanted the opportunity to debate Veazey, a man who “apparently loves to use religion to justify killing,” so he agreed to appear. His skepticism was warranted. He said NPR censored his portion of the debate on the broadcast. “Their heavy editing of only The Radiance Foundation’s perspective, while preserving every word spoken by Reverend Carlton Veazey, revealed NPR’s typical liberal bias and uninformed defense of Planned Parenthood,” he wrote on his blog. NPR officially denied favoring the pro-abortion side and so far has refused to release the unedited version of the debate.

Fatherhood and the Future

Bomberger has found his calling, and he’s committed to spreading the message. He and Rev. Walter Hoye of the Issues4Life Foundation launched a bicoastal billboard campaign on fatherhood.

In previous campaigns, they talked to pastors across the country and other leaders about the need to “step up to responsibility and deal with the myriad of issues that are plaguing the inner city.”

Bomberger intends to highlight the hypocrisy among leftists on racial disparities. For example, health care disparities typically are characterized as a negative. “But abortion is the only one that apparently has a positive connotation,” he said. For organizations like the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League and Planned Parenthood, racial disparities in abortion, illegitimacy, and fatherlessness don’t seem to be a pressing concern.

“This is the first time we’re making [fatherhood] the focal pointand it’s crucial for us to awaken men to return to their role as providers and defendersto be the kind of man that steps up to responsibility,” whether married or not.

The new campaign also will touch on child abuse, which occurs more frequently in female-headed homes with live-in boyfriends. “Where are the protectors?” Bomberger said. “It’s hard to address the issue of abortion and not talk about the other half of the equation.”

With many irons in the proverbial fire, Bomberger will contend with accusations that pro-lifers don’t care about children once they’re born. He’s living proof to the contrary. A strong advocate for transracial adoption, Bomberger is frustrated by blacks who oppose it, even as black children languish in the system. He could have languished as well, but Christians rescued him. His adoptive mother’s father threatened to disown her, but she’d made her decision.

“Losing a father to gain a son. I’m glad she went with the right one.”

(Photos courtesy of Ryan Bomberger)

I hear the zombie show on AMC, “The Walking Dead,” is getting hot. The second season premiere broke records. Good for them. Zombies are underrated, don’t you think?

In 2008, I interviewed the actor Jon Bernthal, who plays Shane Walsh. I’d reviewed an independent film called Day Zero for Blog Critics and wanted to talk to one of the actors. From the available actors I chose Bernthal.

Day Zero is set in the near future, and America is going to war. Three friends receive draft notices and have 30 days to report for duty. Bernthal played a cab driver, and his character’s love interest was played by Elisabeth Moss, who portrays Peggy Olson on AMC’s “Mad Men.” Small world.

Since I’m getting a number of hits for “jon bernthal,” I thought I’d reprint the telephone interview originally published at Blog Critics in 2008:

Raised in Washington, D.C., country music-loving actor Jon Bernthal went to Russia to study acting and ended up playing professional baseball.He’s no longer playing ball, but his acting career is on the upswing. In the independent film Day Zero (read the review), Bernthal plays a street-wise cab driver named James Dixon who, along with two friends (played by Elijah Wood and Chris Klein), receives a draft notice and has 30 days to report for duty. The story follows the trio as theystruggle with political and personal convictions,fear,and leaving behind loved ones.

I asked Bernthal about his character, his patriotism, and his upcoming projects.

What was your first reaction after reading the script?

My first reaction was I had to do this movie. I just read a character description on Dixon, and I called my agents and asked for a script. As soon as I put it downI was a man on a mission. I wrote to the producers, I wrote to the writer, and I saidyou’ve got to let me audition for this, you’ve got tosee me. I know I’m meant to play this role. You know that the business of Hollywood is difficult. These guys, they really took a risk on me. They need big stars to get these movies made, and there’s a lot of interest in this. I wasn’t able to get in the room because nobody knew who I was and it was a challenge. I knew I had to play this role, and I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

Your character, ready-to-fight tough guy James Dixon, seems to have nothing to lose. Then he falls in love. How did that affect the character’s strong convictions?

He’s a guy who lives by a code and being there for his friends, the few people he’s been able to make connections with in his life. I think this code he lives by and these convictions he’s lived his life by wound up getting him in a lot of trouble. That being said, he would never change who he is. It makes him the guy that he is. Finally, somebody shows him what he’s shown to other people. I think that it’s totally revolutionary for him, and I think that he has to stay, he has to be with her. It made everything kind of haywire, and he’s got to prioritize for the first time.

Which character in Day Zero do you most identify with?

Dixon.

Meaning you’re that patriotic?

You know, patriotic is a weird word. There’s many kinds of patriotism. It doesn’t mean that you have to be a hawk, you know? That you have to be pro-war. I think that Dixon isn’t necessarily pro-war. I think he’s pro-responsibility, pro-duty. He thinks, as I do, that this country affords many people a lifestyle that other places and other people in the world could only dream of. Unfortunately, there’s not much that this country asks of us, and I think wesometimes get caught up with being as comfortable as possible and don’t think about any sort of the responsibilities we have to the environment or to our neighbors around the world. I think [Dixon's] conviction is something that I aspire toward.

What was it like working with Elijah Wood [Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings]?

Oh man, it was terrific. Elijah’s the most professional person I’ve ever come around. He works incredibly hard. He’s incredibly positive. I’m kind of a slob. I just could not believe the way he took care of his costume. He was just such a consummate professional. He was such a joy to have on set. In the beginning of that process, he was really the heart and soul of everything. He just kind of inspired everyone to work the longer hours.

We had no money, so we were up all night, you know, out in the cold and the rain a lot of the time. I know it’s “boo-hoo,” these actors, right? I know it’s all ridiculous, but at the end of the day it was so great to see a bona fide movie star so incredibly down to earthalways has time for a guy on the street, you know? And just never a bit of negativity from him. He was an inspiration.