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Wednesday STOPP Report - January 14, 2009
by Jim Sedlak
Released January 14, 2009
In this issue:
- Ringling College and Planned Parenthood
- Contact Feld Entertainment
- Planned Parenthood reduces staff
- Training and Activism Week and Personhood Conference
- Planned Parenthood event moved following complaints
Ringling College and Planned Parenthood
At the beginning of each performance of the Ringling Brothers circus, the ringmaster exclaims, "Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages ..."
But, the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida is near a final decision on a lease with Planned Parenthood in Sarasota that will put artwork from the college’s students directly below a Planned Parenthood abortion facility – where future circus attendees will be killed.
Under the lease, reportedly at $1 a year for 99 years, the school would display student art in a 1,000-square-foot street-level gallery in the new Planned Parenthood building. The gallery would be visible from the sidewalk through a large glass wall. Patrons could go inside to view the art closely and the school reportedly would have at least some of the art for sale.
On the floor just above the proposed gallery is Planned Parenthood's new abortion facility that will commit an estimated 1,000 abortions a year.
In a previous statement, Ringling College president Dr. Larry Thompson said the school would not be supporting Planned Parenthood but its own students. He added: "As an organization, Ringling School does not espouse any views on the activities of Planned Parenthood or any pro-life organization. We are not a part of any of those organizations and do not intend to be."
Can you imagine a college bearing the prestigious Ringling name not caring about the killing of children? Can you imagine students proudly displaying their art while wondering if blood will drip from the ceiling onto their work? Can you imagine how gallery visitors will react when they learn what is occurring over their heads?
The Ringling family has a long and proud relationship with the arts. The Ringling Museum of Art was established 82 years ago by John and Mable Ringling. Their home, Ca d'Zan, is a treasure trove of art, visited by millions from around the world. Sarasota was the home of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for decades and its legacy remains throughout the community. The art museum grounds include a circus museum.
Now, all of this grand history will be tarnished because the Ringling College administration wants a free facility to show the students’ art. With this 99-year lease, the Ringling name will be linked to Planned Parenthood, operator of the nation's largest abortion chain, forever.
Every time the Ringling Brothers' circus arrives in any town in America, people will be reminded of the association between Ringling College and Planned Parenthood.
ACTION ALERT: Now is the time to speak out. To express your views on a student art gallery at Planned Parenthood’s killing center, contact these key people:
Larry Thompson, president
941-359-7601
Christine Meeker Lange, special assistant to the president for media and community relations
941-359-7594
Dr. Tammy Walsh, dean of students
941-359-7509
(50 students are in the Catholic student group FOCUS, which operates under her authority.)
Christine DeGeorge, vice president for human organizational development
941-359-7619
(She is very concerned about Ringling's image and wants to keep everyone happy. Cigarette butts on campus or offensive art displayed there or bad food in the Ringling cafeteria are major concerns to her and she takes action immediately to correct the problem.)
Jim Dean, dean of admissions
941-359-7524
(Each student is worth $140,000 to the college.)
Contact Feld Entertainment
Please read this item carefully as we do not want to give out wrong information.
There is, as far as we can tell, no connection between Ringling College and Feld Entertainment – who owns and operates the Ringling Brothers Circus. However, having the name Ringling connected with Planned Parenthood will certainly hurt the name value of the circus.
We are asking you, then, to please contact Feld Entertainment and explain to them what is about to happen in Sarasota, Florida, and ask them nicely if they would please do whatever they can to influence Ringling College to not lease the space at the Planned Parenthood abortuary.
Again, the circus has no direct influence on the college, but we are hoping that the circus will want to protect the good name of their show.
You can contact Feld Entertainment at:
Worldwide Headquarters:
8607 Westwood Center Drive
Vienna, VA 22182
Phone: (703) 448 - 4000
Fax: (703) 448 - 4100
And their media relations department at:
Media Relations:
8607 Westwood Center Drive
Vienna, VA 22182
Phone: (703) 448-4120
between 9:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Eastern time.
Planned Parenthood reduces staff
Planned Parenthood Federation of America has announced that, due to the economic situation and the failure of one of its major funders, it has laid off 20% of its headquarters staff – about 30 individuals.
The PPFA headquarters has an annual income of $62.5 million. It spends $26.3 million on employee costs. The headquarters operation has been losing money for the last three years and its net assets have fallen from $73.5 million in June of 2003 to $39.9 million in June of 2006 (the last year for which it has released numbers).
We estimate that the current layoffs will save PPFA about $2 million a year in employee expenses.
Clearly, the fact that Planned Parenthood has reduced its headquarters staff is good news for babies in the womb and for teenagers who are the target of PP’s sex indoctrination programs.
Training and Activism Week and Personhood Conference
As part of our ongoing fight against Planned Parenthood and the culture of death, American Life League’s Rock For Life project holds a Training and Activism Week every January in Washington, DC. This year the event will begin on Wednesday, January 21 and continue through a conference on personhood that will be held on Friday, January 23.
Full details on all the activities are outlined below. More information can be found on the Rock For Life web site.
What is Training and Activism Week?
- Marching with hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers at the 36th annual March for Life
- Meeting and networking with young pro-lifers from all over the U.S., Canada, and beyond!
- Attendance at our Personhood Conference on Friday
- Training given by experienced, successful veteran pro-lifers including Lila Rose, Jill Stanek, Kristi Burton, Judie Brown, Alan Keyes, and David Bereit
- Pro-life outreach on the streets of our nation's capital
- Pro-life visibility at Planned Parenthood
- Concert with My Brother's Pony, Andy Zipf, Alakrity, and others
All events take place in or near:
The Liaison Capitol Hill
415 New Jersey Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
Most events are free and open to the public. Donations will be taken at the door to cover costs for the pizza party and concert.
Planned Parenthood event moved following complaints
Regular readers of the Wednesday STOPP Report have read numerous stories on how pro-life activism is an effective way to get our message across and to hurt Planned Parenthood’s agenda.
This week saw a story out of South Bend, Indiana that simply confirms what we already know – activism works. The story recounts how the president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Indiana was the scheduled guest speaker at the League of Women Voters’ “Lunch with the League” event. The event was scheduled to be held at the South Bend Chocolate Cafe last Friday. However, when the event became public knowledge, customers began to call and complain.
Café owner Mark Tarner told local media that calls came largely from women, including people associated with the University of Notre Dame and out-of-town customers. Because of the complaints, the event was moved to another venue.
We congratulate the people in South Bend and encourage all of our readers to object whenever you hear about a Planned Parenthood event in or near your community. Planned Parenthood can be STOPPed.
The preceding email is a product of American Life League's STOPP project. If you would like to know more, please visit http://www.all.org. 2009 American Life League. Copies may be made if attribution is given. Mention of a person or group or a person’s or group’s publication does not constitute an endorsement of all the work, publications and/or information of such person or group. The Wednesday STOPP Report is made possible thanks to the generosity of our donors. Please consider supporting American Life League with a tax-deductible gift. To contribute securely online using your credit card, please visit http://www.stopp.org/support.htm. Of course, you can always mail a contribution to: American Life League, P.O. Box 1350 Stafford, VA 22555. Thank you.
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