Who's Trampling on Basic Rights?

Okay, altogether now: You cannot have any credibility if you talk about an opponent wanting to curtail basic rights while you are doing it yourself. According to CNSNCalifornia Assembly Passes Bill Discouraging 'Anti-Gay Rhetoric'. That's right, the first ammendment is apparently toilet paper to the California assembly. If signed into law you could not debate the gay marriage question because one side would be prohibited from stating its case. Oh there are no criminal penlaties for not signing the peldge, but not signing it could be used by opponents. Let's face it, most of the electorate votes viscerally these days and are more likely to respond to emotional appeal.

HT:Captain Ed

Captain's Quarters on theJudicial Obstructionism by the Democrats

Slip over toCaptain's Quarters for a fascinating look at the Democrats' obstruction of the appointmant of Janice Rogers Brown to the federal bench. Apparently the Dems take the "no religious test" clause in the constitution to me "no religious belief" What they seem to be forgetting is that requiring no religion is a religious test as well.
I think that is time for some of these senators to remember what they were saying back in the mid to late Nineties when there guy was sending up judicial appointments, I believe they were saying that the nominees deserved an up or down vote. Oh well, what more can one expect from a party who looks with suspicion upon anybody who has a religious faith...Christian in particular.

Exposing George Felos as the Liar he is

Terri's Final Hours: An Eyewitness Account - by Fr. Frank Pavone is a must read for anybody who wonders about the claim that Terri Schiavo's forced starvation by judicial fiat was the "peaceful" and "euphoric" that Felos et al made it out to be. Then Felos had the unmitigated gall to chastize Fr. Pavone for a supposed lack of compassion.
Mr. Felos, it is to his credit that Fr. Pavone did not misdirect compassion toward your client, Michael Schiavo. Rather, his compassion was for Terri, the woman that you subjected to this cruel death . All you did was expose yourself for what you are, a glorified hearse driver.

And That Statement is...

"...We are vandals who don't care if we hurt the people we frofess to be looking out for." Freeze the Media Day is an interesting read. Badly written. Almost amusing actually. You see, some anonymous "genius" wants everybody to stick toothpicks and superglue in the coin slots of newspaper boxes to make a statement. This is supposedly to show solidarity with little guy. I guess the statement is, "Hey, look at all the work we gave you to do" because that is who will be cleaning up this mess.
Now here is the amusing line, "This is a nationwide event, and we're looking for solidarity everywhere to help spread this empowering message." Empowering? How? The only thing being empowered is that inner vandal in all of us.
HT: Michelle Malkin

The Legal Fiction of "Brain Death" A Bit late But as Promised

In The Legal Fiction of "Brain Death" I left the original to be read without any comment from me. The whole organ procurement system has been frought with abuse. Unfortunately I don't know what can be done about. The whole notion of "brain death" was, in my opinion, created to keep viable organs functioning while anything resembling a vital life is gone.
Having said that, I think the phrase is as abused as "persistant vegetative state" (which is misdiagnosed 41% of the time.) I also think there is a danger in assuming that every doctor that uses the terminology is lying. Not all doctors are euthanists, though those who are not are becoming a rarer breed.While it is true we must be wary of the benevolent venirs that the thanatocrats put on things, let us not presume the doctor we may have trusted for most of our adult lives are looking for excuses to off us.

With Apologies to Earnest Lawrence Thayer

Furman at the Scrum

It looked extremely rocky for the Furman fifteen that day
The score stood twelve to nothing with but twenty left to play
When one more minute passed and another did the same
A pallor masked the faces of the patrons of the game

For the Blue Devils from Durham had frustrated the offense
And a third straight title for Furman seemed an idea for the dense.
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Furman getting to do that


Then from eight hundred throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon high,
For Furman, mighty Furman, had scored its first try

. There was ease in Furman's manner as the conversion was well placed;
There was pride in Furman's bearing and a smile lit Furman's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, they went right to their work,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt that Furman would not shirk.

Sixteen hundred eyes looked on as ref called the penalty kick
Eight hundred tongues applauded when they said,"To heck with this";
Then while Duke defense saw the next try on the fround had lit,
Defiance flashed in Furman's eye, a sneer curled Furman's lip.

Now the score is twelve to twelve and time is running down
a smile of Christian charity great Furman's visage shone;
Okay, that's a bit much to believe of this hard fought rugby match
But time was running down and Duke is not a slouch

The sneer is gone from Furman's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate,
He pounds with cruel violence toward the line to seal Duke's fate;
And now the Paladins have the ball, and now they forward go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Furman's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere spirits are high,
But there is no joy in Durham—mighty Furman scored the try.

Congrats to the Paladins on their three-peat!

Cross posted at Cola Towne Rugby

I Guess You can Call This, "Peace at all Costs"...Including Credibility

The Columbia Daily Tribune (Missuouri) tells usPeace activist faces trial after crossing the line of civility . Seems the peace lovers don't like all forms of peace. Apparently they don't care much for civil discourse. Or peacable assembly.
HT:Michelle Malkin

Unintended Consequences

"I'm sorry I even brought it up" may soon be the cry from the Tom DeLay critics who thought they would "get him" over his travel arrangements. At least that is my interpretation of DeLay Woes Prompt Rush to Refile Forms from the Washington Post

Planned Parenthood's Fight Against a New Evil

Planned Parenthood's own blog carriesThis rant about Focus on the Family's spending money to do the unconscienable ...provide $4 million for ultrasound equipment for crisis pregnancy centers. Oh the horror! Private citizens putting up their own money voluntarily to counter the $265.2 million tax dollars that Margaret Sanger's organization has recieved from citizens, many of whom, coerced into paying to benefit an organization they find abominable.
PP, when you stop receiving my money to provide abortions on demand, when you stop protecting statutory rapists, then you can complain about how I choose to donate mine.

HT: The Dawn Patrol

The Legal Fiction of "Brain Death"

Due to time constraints, for now I am going to have to let "Brain Death"--The Hoax That Won't Die speak for itself. I add my thoughts later

This Goes too Far

No one can call me a Jane Fonda fan by any stretch of the imagination. Her conduct in Hanoi in the 60's was nothing short of disgraceful. Having said that the individual in Kansas City who spit tobacco juice on her at a book signing is also disgraceful. If there are Viet Nam vets who want to harbor resentment toward her well that is their perogative. In my opinion, life is too short to nurse grudges.
What truely galls me are those who identify themselves as "Christians" who refuse to forgive. I don't mean just Ms. Fonda but forgive anything. She is a Christian now which makes her my sister. She has asked the forgiveness of those against who she transgressed. God has forgiven her sins as He has any Christian's. That obliges ALL of her brothers and sisters in Christ to do likewise. And don't even think about trying to justify yourselves by saying, "Maybe God can forgive her but I can't" Folks, God does not give us that option. He says, "You shall be holy for I am holy". If you are not striving for perfection, what lesser goal are you striving for?

Hat Tip:Michelle Malkin

A Great Way Read New Stuff

I love to read, but left to my own devices I stay in the S/F and nystery sections.Blog For Books is a great way to get books to review them. I've always wanted to be a book critic and this is a good way to get started.
Just follow the above link and follow the simple instructions. Stacy has a great program and is worth the time.

Reflections of a Catholic Seminarian on Benedict XVI

Since a number of commentators have weighed in on the new Pope (a few of them actually Catholic) I thought I would provide y'all a link to some thoughts by a Catholic seminarian in vita mea: My Classmate on the New Pope. This is a very well thought out piece and makes for good reading.

In Case You have forgotten

According to the counter on the right margin of this blog, it has been 79 days since Senator Nuance promised to sign form 180...to date he has not. Hey, Johnny boy, what are you waiting for?
This is part of the blog burst I read about on My Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy

It Did Not Take Long

While I don't like giving the daily Kos traffic It didn't take the Kos long to reach for new depths in public discourse. Could it be that the Kos embraces and advocates the very things that pre-papal Ratzinger cautioned against?
As usual, what they cannot control themselves, they denigrate with the oh-so-tread worn vulgar parodies of people's names.
And for those of you playing the Nazi card, You might want to read Ratzinger a Nazi? Don't believe it in the Jerusalem Post. Just trying to keep you from looking like a pathetic whiner.

HT:Michelle Malkin

Habemus Papem!

About twenty-four hours after the conclave, the white smoke went up and Cardinal Jospeh Ratzinger was announced as 265th Pope. Ratzinger took on the name Benedict XVI. I am not sure that the news will be welcomed by the "cafeteria Catholics" in the US. As they went into the conclave, Ratzinger used his homily to remind the College of Cardinals of the dangers od Marxism, liberalism, atheism, agnosticism and relativism.
"Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism, Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching,' looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards." he told the Cardinals in Italian.
Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth begin!

RINO's on the Loose

According to Illinois Conservative Politics, Illinois legislator Rosemary Mulligan winning passage of a bill that would prohibit ultrasound testing on pregnant without a doctor's order.
Her reason? "Mulligan said that Planned Parenthood and the Illinois State Medical Society encouraged her to sponsor the legislation because there was a concern about long exposure of fetuses to ultrasound waves." Since when is PP concerned about long-term adverse effects of anything on an unborn child? This is the same bunch that calls driving scisors into the brain stem then suctioning out the rest of the brain, "humane".
Now if you are going to sponsor such legislation, doesn't it make sense to do SOME homework on the matter? The research offered by Mulligan was a vague reference to an FDA warning (note, it was not a study) that "muscle and nerve development could be affected by long exposure."
So, Ms. Mulligan proposed this because the dangers of ultrasound were brought to her attention. No, because Planned Parenthood brought something else to her attention, that women were deciding against abortion after seeing the sonogram of their child.
Her official reason for the legislation? "There's a new little industry that does ultrasound videos on babies before they're born for entertainment purposes.There is concern about the neurological development with long exposure." This is laughably transparent. She votes against a partial-birth abortion ban then stands there with a straight face and expect us to believe this. I do pray the Illinois Senate has better sense than to pass this.

Hat Tip:And Rightly So and The Dawn Patrol

The Nuclear/Constitutional Option Connundrum

Yes the Dems are being obstructionist. Never before has a judicial nomination required a 60% majority (this is effectively what will happen if Dems fillibuster as they have threatened). The fillibuster was meant to be used against legislation, not appointments and its use as here is inappropriate...period.
Having said that I think invoking the "nuclear option" would, in the long run do more harm than good to the country...and to the GOP's future as a majority party. I agree with Beth of MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy in her piece, "Going Nuclear — on the GOP", , let the Dems fillibuster. It really does not help thier image, after all, who outside of SC, GA and WV think highly of Senators Thurmond, Russell and Byrd (respectively)? The Dems and RINOs want to play games, let them. Let them be the ones who do the polarizing

Crystal Clear Half Way Across the Pacific

My good friend, Crystal Clear is preparing for a major relocation...to Hawaii. She will still be with us on the blogosphere, just not on the mainland.
Well Crys, you have a lot of prep to do in a short period of time, so hop to it.

Deep Down You Had to Know this was Coming

Thanks to BlogsforTerri for this heads up of George Felos taking his act on the road. That's right, coming to a lecture hall (or broom closet) near you. For a small fee, Felos will come tell you of his heroic fight for "Terri Schiavo's right to die" Anybody following the case knows what a load of malarky that is. What he fought for was Michael Schiavo's right to kill his wife.
Here is the site for Felos' "talent" agency if you wish to read. You can also do other things, like maybe express your disgust and outrage, in a polite and civil manner, of course.
For me the laughable part is, "Felos’ career of confronting legal and ethical dilemmas gives him license to present the compelling argument that individual rights are constitutionally protected, regardless of social (religious, economic, etc.) implications."
Unless of course you are the one being starved without having asked to be.

There are Reasons New York Times Editors are not Cardinals.

The Dawn Eden shares my distain for the Times insistance on trying to enforcing their will in the election of the next Pope.
Once more, from the top:
The Roman Catholic Church is as the name says, a church.
As a church, it exists on its own terms.
It is not a social club.
It got its charter from God and not from any earthly agency.
It is not subject to the whims of public opinion and changing moral outlooks.

I do not understand why the Times, among others, insist on holding up "cafeteria Christians" as some kind of paragons of virtue when, at best, they are vow breakers. As I have said before and will continue to until I draw my last, "If you cannot embrace what is demanded by your vows, then integrity demands you leave and find a something you can embrace."
I am not impressed by people who say "I am (insert name of denomination)" then proceed to reject essential teachings and doctrines. They are being dishonest with themselves, the people they make the representation to, and to God.
But the Times wants people with no integrity to elect the Pope. What else is new, they have a history of endosring those with no integrity.

Hans Bricks Really Needs to Stop Holding Things in

In Hans Bricks � The real reason GM sucks Hans reveals that he is heading stroke if he doesn't start letting us know how he really feels.
All kidding aside, he is right.

The Eric Rudolph Connundrum

This started out as a comment I made in response to La Shawn Barber’s Corner � The Crimes of Eric Rudolph.
I have been pro-death penalty most of my life, however, I have re-examining that. I come from a state where prosecutors seem to think the measure of their worth is the number of death penalty convictions they get. The turning point for me was when the first person to plead "guilty but mentally ill" under a then-new law was sentenced to death. Even more disturbing is the prosecutorial egerness to try 12 year-olds as adults.
Having said that, Eric Rudolph is one of those cases where the death penalty needs to be vigorously persued. Eric Rudolph is no hero. He represents the worst of the excesses of the extremes of the pro-life movement and "Christianity". Why put " Christianity" in quotes? That is easy: there is absolutely nothing Christian about what Rudolph did. When weighed in the balance of scripture in general and the teachings of Christ in particular his actions come up wanting.
I share his distain for abortion on demand, but any agreement Rudolph and I have ends with that. The Christianity Rudolph demands all things to be done "in order", not going off like a loose cannon doing whatever appeals to one at a given time. To commit murder in order to bring about a "culture of life" is nothing more or less than trying to achieve one end by using a mutually exclusive means. An absurdist parody. All he has done is further entrench the current thanatocracy that exists not only here in the US, but the world over.
Furthermore, there are a lot of people in western North Carolina who need to go to prison for a long time for helping Rudolph elude capture. I hope you didn't think I was going to let them off the hook. These people are equally misguided and MORE cowardly (if such were possible) than Rudloph. He committed heinous acts, they applauded him and aided his flight because they regarded him as "one of us".
Having said that, are any of these people beyond redemption? That is not for you and I to say, but it is between them and God.
Does that mean their temporal punishment should be waived? Absolutely not.

We are Supposed to Trust These People, Why?

Ever since the Boston Globe writer won a Pulitzer for a story about a non-existant street kid, then Jayson Blair worked his magic at the Times. Rathergate was next. Now it has come full circle as the Globe has done it again according to this Reuter's story about a fake seal hunt story.
Michelle Malkin has good coverage.

Because Sometimes we Need the Reminder

Cao's Blog carriesACLU's Communist Ties today. Now most of us were already aware of this at some level. It is necessary, however, from time to time so see it in black-and-white. The ACLU's agenda is transparent as glass. Oh, from time to time they will take up the cause of a Klansman or neo-Nazi along the way, but that is just window dressing, pure and simple.
Cao put a lot of hard work on this piece and it should become required reading.

This Keeps Getting More Tangled

Those responsible for Terri Schiavo's death are awfully interconnected to have not been in collusion.The Empire Journal: Florida Sen. King Has Financial Ties to Hospice, Centonze/Schiavo shows a series of relationships so tightly woven to be almost incestuous (figuratively speaking that is). Read this and weep. Read the attitudes of the FL senators who blocked the legislation that could have seved Terri. We've come a long way, baby...in the wrong direction.

Hat Tip: Blogs for Terri

California East

After reading CNN.com - Police:�Woman sold daughter for car - Apr 13, 2005 I have decided to start referring to Florida as "California East". Between a mother pimping her daughter, Judge Vlad Greer and rugby refs who cannot seem to be bothered to learn the laws of the game before hanging a whistle around his neck I have no choice.
Hat Tip to Gonzo's Bar and Go-Go Grill

It was Funny When the 3 Stooges Did it

Pie throwing is a staple of slapstick comedy. I always loved the scene when the pompous windbag got taken down a peg or two by a pie in the kisser. It had its place in such "low comedy". There was never anything particularly witty or clever about it. It was like a fart joke, just a cheap laugh. It was never considered a valid political/philosophical discussion.
Michelle Malkin: WHEN ANGRY LIBERALS ATTACK cites a new Ann Coulter op-ed dealing with the recent rash of pie throwing incidents targeting conservative speakers on college campii across the country. I imagine these little stooges (sorry, but if you are going to resort to 3 Stooges tactics expect to be referred to accordingly) think they are being witty and clever. In this case, however, I believe Cyrano deBergerac said it best, and I am paraphrasing, "If you were witty and a man/woman of letters you might engage in honest debate, however, judging by your lack of any articulate speech I see you are entirely witless and a man/woman of no letters except those that spell the word 'fool."
Cyrano was funny. The 3 Stooges were funny. The Marx Brothers were funny. You collegiate pie throwers are neither funny nor clever. Just thugs.

UPDATE:Red beard, a commenter on LaShawn Barber's Corner makes this astute observation:

When leftists resort to this sort of physical violence, it means one of two things. Either they are watching their relevance dry up and blow away and are lashing out in the only way they know how, or they are on the verge of becoming a very dangerous force.

I hope it’s not the latter, but shadows remain of the last election, with leftist thuggery involving physical intimidation, broken windows, slashed tires, etc.

My thoughts exactly!

The Not-so Peaceful Left

If you have never read Atlas Shrugs you should. Today she has a link toFrontPage magazine.com :: Unholy Alliance: The "Peace Left" and the Islamic Jihad Against America by David Horowitz and John Perazzo. You really should read this. It is the first in a series detailing the common contributors to both the so-called peace movement and a number of terrorist organizations. I know a number of people, a number of whom I count as friends, who are sincerely against the war on moral grounds. They do not support any of the mentioned organizations because they only want people they trust speaking on their behalf. I am hoping the people who contribute to these groups are just dupes. Then again, given the support for Ward Churchill, i doubt it.

Buy That Man a Vowel

I always enjoy LaShawn Barber. I have always liked Pat Sajak, especially since this fall when I learned that he is not only politically savvy but shares many opsitions I do. The linked entry on LaShawn's blog is toa recent Human Events that Pat wrote called "Internet Goons" We all know them. Always popping up with a contrary (and often insulting and inflamatory. All done behind the shield on annonymity.
Now I use screen names. "J Rob" is one of them, but I have never hidden the fact that JRob is short for my real name, Jim Roberts.
When I comment on other blogs, it's always as J Rob.
Some may ask, what is the big deal? In my experience, people who hide behind annonymity are often cowards, afraid of the reaction to their words. Those of us who own our words, regardless of possible reaction generally have the attituse that if your words are not worth affixing your name to, why should we bother with them.
That is the reason I have this line in the warning at the head of my blog, "...annonymous posts will be deleted...without comment". Let people know who you are. And don't give me that stuff about harrassing emails. Folks, we who sign our names and give real email addresses face it too.

And People Ask Me Why I Don't Like Soccer

I find soccer fans annoying. I feel like wretching everytime I see the bumper sticker that says. "Real men play football. thinking men play soccer" Actually real men play rugby, but that opinion shouldn't come as a surprise since I qualify as a neanderthal by most soccer fans. After all, I am an orthodox Christian, Republican and a rugby player. Who could ask for anything more? This story disgusts me for two reasons. The first is that I am proud of my Scottish heritage, second I am tired of soccer fans who act like they are a superior race from people who like American football and/or rugby.
You see, there was a moment of silence in memory of Pope John Paul II. At least there was an attempt at one. It was cut short due to the jeering. I never heard of any such thing at ether a rugby match, or an American football game. Then again I have never heard of a football stadium having to put a barrier between the home and visitors sides. Well, if this is what thinking men do, I'll happily be a barbarian.

Doesn't This Come off as Odd?

The interesting thing about this AP story,Yahoo! News - Democrats Grill U.N. Nominee John Bolton is that has not happened yet. What is this the Psychic News Network?
To me, the telling passage is:
" Committee Democrats also have circulated a portion of a 2-year-old Senate Intelligence Committee report questioning whether Bolton pressured a State Department intelligence analyst who tried to tone down language in a Bolton speech about Cuba's biological weapons capabilities."
Excuse me, shouldn't that be the other way around, that the analyst tried to get Bolton to tone down the speech. It was Bolton's speech and he has the author's right on it. NOt some underling. Then again, Dems tend to get things backward.

This Guy and I Think Alike

I found this via Dawn Eden.vita mea: Fifty Ways to Take Communion looks like something I would have come up with in seminary. It reminds me of a parody of Willie Nelson's "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be Cowboys" that a friend of mine came up with. With their first performance of ""Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be Preachers", The Minor Prophets became instantly famous (or infamous given that many ATS students are notoriously smug and humorless). The refrain went something like this (sorry, this is all I can remember of this) Travis Phillips or Dickie Hoard, if you're reading this please fill in the rest!

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be preachers
Don't let 'em write sermons or exegete Greek
Make 'em go huntin' or fishin' the creek

I Understand This is Old, but...

...it's still hilarious

Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy.

In"Royal Wedding a 'Shambles' ", Richard Edwards, crime reporter for This is London, tells of the problems faced by royal staff at the oft rescheduled wedding between Prince Charles and Camilla. All I can say is, "It couldn't happen to a nicer guy."
I was no big fan of Di. As far as I could see if you scratched the surface with her you only found more surface. But Chas was, as one of my college history professors would say, "A class-1 son of a bitch" the way he rubbed his affair with Cammie in Di's face. I wish them both all the happiness they gave Di.

To Those Who Thought Pandora's Box wasn't Opened with Terri Schiavo

WorldNetDaily: "Granddaughter yanks grandma's feeding tube" is about Mae Magourik, an 81 year old lady whos granddaughter (and sole heir) as put her in a hospice and withholding food and water. She is neither terminally ill, comatose, brain dead nor in PVS. I find this passage very telling...and frightening:
"Ron Panzer, president and founder of Hospice Patients Alliance, a patients' rights advocacy group based in Michigan, told WND that what is happening to Magouirk is not at all unusual.

"This is happening in hospices all over the country," he said. "Patients who are not dying – are not terminal – are admitted [to hospice] and the hospice will say they are terminally ill even if they're not. There are thousands of cases like this. Patients are given morphine and ativan to sedate them. If feeding is withheld, they die within 10 days to two weeks. It's really just a form of euthanasia."

By the way, Magourik did leave advance directive...that food and water were NOT to be withheld.

More MSM Exposing Their Ignorance/Arrogance

Criticizing John Paul II, by Hugh Hewitt chronicles more on the MSM's criticism of that which they do not, nor wish to understand: the church. Not only Roman Catholicism, but the Christian church in general (that last sentence was my own observation, not necessarily Hewitt's). Hewitt, however also points out that the MSM has ignored the fact conservative Catholics were not universally enamored with JPII.

Once Again, With Feeling: Jimmy! Go Away!

The American Spectator has a story about former president Jimmy Carter whining about not being included in the US delegation to the Pope's funeral. Andrea Mitchell, on the Today show lamented that a Nobel Laureate with experience in Latin America. What Ms. Mitchell is forgetting is that Carter was on the other side of the fence from the Vatican with who he was supporting down there.

"... John Paul II devoted a great deal of time in the 1980s stamping out the Marxist "Liberation Theology" movement. At one point in 1979, the Vatican sought assistance from the Carter Administration State Department to limit the travels of U.S. Maryknoll missionaries to Central American countries, where they were teaching and preaching Liberation Theology alongside like-minded Latin American priests." The Carter Administradion did not cooperate.

As far as the Nobel Laureate business,remember hos Carter got that Nobel? "He has traveled around the world bad-mouthing this president and this country's policies. I would be surprised if a single person gave a thought to including him in the delegation."
Jimmy, go away.

Public Opinion and the Papal Election

Dawn Eden's The Dawn Patrol has this quote from an AP poll, "most Americans—Catholics and non-Catholics alike—want the next pope to allow priests to marry and women to join the priesthood."
This is almost amusing. Most of what follows is a comment I made on the thread that this appeared on.
The church exists on its own terms. It was instituted by Christ for the purpose making disciples of all peoples. It therefore requires those involved to DISCIPLINE themselves toward that end.
Since its inception there have always been those who have said to the church, "Hey, get with it!" You can almost hear Henry VIII saying, "Hey Your Holiness, bring the church in to the 16th Century with the rest of us! We need to be able to divorce as many times as we want"
This isn't new and it will never go away. As long as the church defends the faith there will be those who are unhappy about it. One need only look at their conduct to see why.
Resuming the current thread, people need to realize that public opinion is exactly what the church is NOT supposed to follow. We are all quite aware that now, as at all times since its birth, the church is one generation away from dying out. The church's obituary has been written many times in the past, and yet she is still here.
Cross posted on the Lanternwaste

This Aussie Gets It

AgainstEuthanasia is a blog that many would do well to read. I learned about it reading Maggie's comments comments in Crystal Clear and Blogs for Terri. She makes very cogent arguments and is well read on the issues involved in Terri's case and the ongoing fight against euthanasia

Sixty Yards Away and to His Right

"This sense of moral obligation must be reawakened if we are to survive as a civilization" was said on a very warm evening September 11 of 1987 at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina. I was seated on the field about sixty yards away and to the right of His Holiness John-Paul II. I was one of several hundred non-Roman Catholic clergy invited to participate in this very special ecumenical. I was honored by the opportunity.
His passing yesterday set me to remembering that night. Coming out of the north tunnel onto the field to cheering (most who come onto the field from that tunnel get booed). It was all I could do not to cheer as well over what was happening. eighty thousand-plus people, Catholic and protestant, gathered together in the largly anti-Catholic South.
The crowd began gathering in the heat of the day, bear in mind now that September in SC is just as hot as July and August. Our "holding room" was crowded and the air conditioners couldn't keep up, and black polyester robes get hot!
None of us really minded. This was something that was unprecedented here and is unlikely to happen again. As I sat listening to the Pope I was struck by his grasp of the spiritual forces at work in the US at that time...and many of the things he said still hold true.
How many of our spiritual problems are simply "manifestations of the agge-old problem of selfishness" But the one line of the sermon that seered itself into my memory was, "You cannot insist on the right to choose without also insisting on the responsibility to choose good." As we look back on the events of the last couple of weeks, those words echoed louder in my mind than they had since I first heard him say them. As we insist on the right to choose, let us impose on ourselves the responsibility to choose good.

So Low He Could Walk under a Snake's Belly Wearing a Hat

I was reading Michelle Malkin's account of Chris Matthews' boorish comments about Terri Schiavo's father.

"The parents... the father seems to be having, I hate to say this, a good time. I don't know why, maybe it's the focus, maybe he's giddy with sadness of the tragedy that has been going on for so long."

I, like Michelle, an tired of the sanctimony coming from the MSM about the "civility" that Terri's supporters needed to show to Michael and his supporting cast. Look at the pictures and then this one ta ken of one of the counter demonstrators outside the hospice and tell me who looks giddy. Look at the contrast and tell me who were the civil and compassionate one's, Chris.
Chris, you have stooped pretty low in the past. I think after this it can truly be said that you are so low you could walk under a snake's belly while wearing a hat!

I didn't Realize How Close I was to the Truth

Back in February when I labeled Judge Vlad George Greer a thanatocrat it was, in my mind, an opinion based on his conduct in the Schiavo case. As I was re-reading on The Title of Liberty the relationships between the principals who put an innocent woman to death I was struck by the fact that Greer and Felos did have a connection through the hospice where the deed was done.
Greer should have recused himself for that reason alone. I am of the opinion...and that is all it is ...that it was NOT a coincidence that Felos appeared before Greer to argue this case. Nor is it any longer a mystery how Greer could rule in the manner that he did. Given this information, Scooby-Doo and Shaggy could have figured it out on their own. Let us hope a US or a state attorney can do likewise.