ENEA, the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, has recently published a report on five years of experiments conducted in the ENEA center of Frascati on the “shroud-like coloring of linen fabrics by far ultraviolet radiation”

I have written before about the Shroud of Turin which I believe to be the actual cloth that covered the body of Jesus in the grave. The face of Jesus as shown on the shroud is the only representation of Jesus that I like. I am pleased with the conclusions reached by this latest study.

One of the assumptions related to the formation of the image was that regarding some form of electromagnetic energy (such as a flash of light at short wavelength), which could fit the requirements for reproducing the main features of the Shroud image, such as superficiality of color, color gradient, the image also in areas of the body not in contact with the cloth and the absence of pigment on the sheet. The first attempts made to reproduce the face on the Shroud by radiation, used a CO2 laser which produced an image on a linen fabric that is similar at a macroscopic level. However, microscopic analysis showed a coloring that is too deep and many charred linen threads, features that are incompatible with the Shroud image. Instead, the results of ENEA “show that a short and intense burst of VUV directional radiation can color a linen cloth so as to reproduce many of the peculiar characteristics of the body image on the Shroud of Turin, including shades of color, the surface color of the fibrils of the outer linen fabric, and the absence of fluorescence”.

“However, Enea scientists warn, “it should be noted that the total power of VUV radiations required to instantly color the surface of linen that corresponds to a human of average height, body surface area equal to = 2000 MW/cm2 17000 cm2 = 34 thousand billion watts makes it impractical today to reproduce the entire Shroud image using a single laser excimer, since this power cannot be produced by any VUV light source built to date (the most powerful available on the market come to several billion watts )”.

However the Shroud image “has some features that we are not yet able to reproduce – they admit – for example, the gradient of the image caused by a different concentration of yellow colored fibrils that alternate with unstained fibrils”. And they warn: “We are not at the conclusion, we are composing pieces of a fascinating and complex scientific puzzle”. The enigma of the image of the Shroud of Turin is still “a challenge for intelligence”, as John Paul II said. (Read more).

Seven former Planned Parenthood employes have signed a letter to Congressman Fred Upton and Henry Waxman in order to begin legislation to defund PP.

December 7, 2011

The Honorable Fred Upton
2183 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Henry Waxman
2204 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairman Upton and Congressman Waxman:

As former officers and or employees of affiliates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), we support the decision by your Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations to investigate various aspects of the operations of the organization of which we were once a part. This examination, and the request for comprehensive documentation with which it is beginning, represent not only an appropriate exercise of government responsibility with respect to the use of tax dollars but also a clear duty to serve the best interest of women in the United States.

It is a matter of public record that the affiliates of PPFA and its national headquarters receive roughly $1 million per day in federal-state support, for a total of $1 billion or more in any three-year period. This alone would merit close government attention as to whether or not these funds are being spent appropriately and, specifically, in keeping with the federal law which stipulates that none of these funds should be made available to a program in which abortion is used as a means of family planning. We can state categorically, from personal experience, that abortion is indeed deployed as a means of family planning according to the mission of the organization for which we once worked.

Moreover, one or more of us have personally witnessed and can testify to the validity of specific concerns raised by subcommittee chairman Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) in his letter on September 15 to PPFA president Cecile Richards. We have written, spoken about and/or are prepared to testify to incidents we have witnessed in which an employee or affiliate of PPFA failed to:

Properly account for and maintain separation between government funds prohibited from use for elective abortions and those funds derived from other sources that are not subject to such limitations;

Notify parents when a vulnerable girl is seeking an abortion, including instances when the minor girl is the victim of an act of statutory rape under applicable state law;

Provide a woman undergoing an abortion with accurate and relevant information regarding the stage of her pregnancy, including the opportunity to view ultrasound imagery that may have made a profound impact on her decision to undergo an abortion;

Detect and act upon instances where a girl or woman was brought to the clinic under some degree of coercion, up to and including instances where the girl or woman was subjected to human trafficking and was a victim of crime;

Engage in appropriate financial controls and billing practices to ensure compliance with applicable state and federal laws.

While each has an individual and personal story regarding our decisions to leave the employment of Planned Parenthood and to alert the public to our concerns, we are of one mind that the extent of these problems with the organization is not fully understood by the American people, who are underwriting the growth of Planned Parenthood and its potent outreach to the young and the poor. The decision by the Energy and Commerce Committee to delve into the extent of these issues is long overdue, and it will provide an appropriate check and balance on an entity that, as we can personally attest, has operated as a law unto itself, gladly accepting tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer support while using the rubric of “reproductive rights” to claim exemption from the normal standards of accountability that every other recipient of public funds is expected to meet.

We are confident that Chairman Stearns and the rest of his subcommittee can fully and fairly evaluate the PPFA and produce a report that serves the public interest and promotes women’s health. We stand ready at any time to assist the subcommittee’s examination of this major organization – please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

Catherine Adair
Former Clinic Employee
Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts
Boston, MA

Dr. Patti Giebink
Former Abortion Doctor
Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota
Sioux Falls, SD

Abby Johnson
Former Clinic Director
Planned Parenthood Center for Choice
Bryan, TX

Luis Maldonado
Former Clinic Assistant
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte
San Jose, CA

Sue Thayer
Former Clinic Manager
Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa / Planned Parenthood of the Heartland
Storm Lake, IA

Ramona Trevino
Former Clinic Manager
Planned Parenthood of North Texas
Sherman, TX

Patricia Sandoval
Former Clinic Employee
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte
Sacramento, CA