Some Racists Are OK

At least that is the conclusion I and others have reached when things like the quote below are said and the political elite doesn't even deign to notice:

Two kinds of racism:

Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.

Read the whole thing.

(Via SoCon Or Bust.)

Has the Sexual Revolution Been Good for Women?

This is an interesting overview of some of the gender issues in culture and politics:

Of all the political gambits that ought to be torn from the playbook once and for all, the idea that a national “war on women” is afoot has got to top the list. It’s an ideological whopper that demands more scrutiny than it has so far gotten — because underneath it are solid rocks of myth, especially myths about the sexual revolution and its real fallout. Let’s turn over a few of these to see what facts they hide.

(Via SoCon Or Bust.)

Mark Shea Does It Better

Ooh! Ooh! Me! Me! I Know!:

Because we are a Paris Hilton People in an Apocalyptic World?

(Via Catholic and Enjoying It!.)

Truth in the News

I caught a brief news report on CNN about the annual March for Life which happened again today. Three things caught my attention:

The single camera shot was from below and only caught a couple of dozen participants.

The reporter referred to "thousands" attending the March. Yeah, right.

The reporter provided the background information about the original case Roe v. Wade, including the real name of "Roe" in this case: Norma L. McCorvey. Norma's conversion to the pro-life cause, of course, wasn't mentioned.

Lesson learned (again): if you want to know anything more than the most superficial and misleading things about causes that the political elite despises don't rely on the MSM.

Speaking of Nuns

JImmy Akin has some interesting analysis of the apparent turnabout of the Catholic Health Association and Sister Keehan, their spokesnun. I'm intrigued by his concern that a too-detailed analysis of how the Administration can achieve it's immoral aims could be immoral itself (enabling). And the mention that late Friday news is ignored by the MMS, when convenient. Give it a read and see what you think.

A closer look at Sr. Carol Keehan's turnabout...:

The move is momentous because Keehan famously broke with the U.S. bishops to endorse the original passage of the administration's Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") and then broke with them again to endorse the Department of Health and Human Services abortion drug and contraception mandate, providing political cover for the administration. Both acts were widely criticized, and it appeared to many that Sr. Keehan was a willing tool of the administration's "divide and conquer" strategy for dealing with the Catholic community--playing the role of an alternative Catholic authority that could be pitted against and thus neutralize the voice of he bishops.

Read the whole thing.

(Via New Advent.)

In Memoriam

With Mike Wallace's recent passing here is an opportunity for a two-fer: a remembrance of Mike Wallace and of Margaret Sanger:

Mike Wallace's classic interview with Margaret Sanger makes the rounds after Wallace's death...:

Margaret Sanger was many things admirable: a vibrant personality, a brilliant organizer, a canny reader of the temperature of the times, a woman who built powerful institutions in a man’s world. But she was also many things ugly and even despicable: an egotist who frequently clashed with others; a free-love advocate who had a dizzying number of affairs and who hurt many men as a result; and a eugenicist who argued that “birth control is nothing more or less than the facilitation of the process of weeding out the unfit, of preventing the birth of defectives or of those who will become defective.”

Read the whole thing.

(Via New Advent World Watch.)

Speak the Truth

Here's an articulate discussion of the HHS mandate, contraception and gender in the light of the Catholic Faith by (gasp!) a Catholic laywoman:

The HHS Mandate gets Pwned:

Here’s how you fight it:

Don’t just call it an attack on religious liberty: make it clear that contraception is *morally wrong*, and don’t let people think it’s just ritually impure like eating pork.

And do it in the confidence that this is a winning issue for the Church and a losing issue for Obama. Don’t back down. Resist the Tyrant!

Read the whole thing.

(Via Catholic and Enjoying It!.)

Philosophy is Hard

Especially when you have a cold. Nonetheless Professor Beckwith cites four pdf documents of some of his arguments against a Rawlsian view of democracy and law. They are worth reading and pondering, though I did burn out by the last one:

President Obama: Ex-Liberal:

President Barack Obama has abandoned liberalism. What I mean by liberalism is not the political philosophy that we typically associate with left-of-center politicians and candidates. The president, of course, remains unabashedly in that camp. What I am referring to is a particular posture concerning moral questions, which the preside.

Read the whole thing.

(Via New Advent World Watch.)

Using Your Head

is necessary to solve problems. Here is a series of propositions that lead to the solution of whether or not abortion is justified in the case of rape:

Challenging a La Presse journalist on the logic of his pro-abort stance:

1. Every species on Earth can only reproduce after its own kind (for example, rabbits can only give birth to other rabbits, dogs can only give birth to puppies, etc.).


2. Therefore, a fetus is of human nature.


3. The fetus is clearly alive, as witnessed by its continual growth, its need for nutrition and hydration, its beating heart, its brain waves, etc.


4. From 2 and 3, we deduce that the fetus is alive and human.


5. The fetus has a distinct and unique human DNA, different from its mother and from any other human being.


6. The fetus has all the components to develop into a complete and independent human organism.


7. From 4, 5 and 6, we deduce that a fetus is a living human being distinct from its mother.


8. Intentionally ending the life of an innocent living human being is a grave injustice.


9. Abortion ends the life of the fetus.


10. From 8 and 9, we deduce that abortion is a grave injustice.


11. While rape is a grave injustice towards the woman, this tragedy does not alter points 1 through 10.


12. Therefore, we deduce that aborting a fetus conceived through rape remains a grave injustice, as per 10.

Q.E.D

Read the whole thing.

(Via SoCon Or Bust.)

Fraud

from the MSM?

Media Malpractice at March for Life

via Heart, Mind & Strength.

Humour-Challenged

is what I sometimes think people are about some subjects. Read the disclaimer at the bottom of this to get the context:

37th Anniversary of legalized baby killing ...:

... and Robert George says he's "moderately pro-choice"!!:

I am personally opposed to killing abortionists. However, inasmuch as my personal opposition to this practice is rooted in sectarian (Catholic) religious belief in the sanctity of human life, I am unwilling to impose it on others who may, as a matter of conscience, take a different view. Of course, I am entirely in favor of policies aimed at removing the root causes of violence against abortionists. Indeed, I would go as far as supporting mandatory one-week waiting periods, and even non-judgmental counseling, for people who are contemplating the choice of killing an abortionist. I believe in policies that reduce the urgent need some people feel to kill abortionists while, at the same time, respecting the rights of conscience of my fellow citizens who believe that the killing of abortionists is sometimes a tragic necessity--not a good, but a lesser evil. In short, I am moderately "pro-choice."

Read the whole thing.

(Via Musings of a Pertinacious Papist.)

Abortion and Economics

The other night a friend mentioned the Freakonomics hypothesis that Roe v. Wade had led to a decrease in the crime rate. The idea is that crime comes from the poor and abortions tend to reduce the number of the poor, ergo a decrease in the crime rate.

I couldn't remember the details on that one, but I did suggest a counter example: the decrease in the population from abortions may be having a devastating impact on our economy. Lo and behold:

Researcher: Abortion is $38.5 Trillion Drag on the Economy:

In its latest estimate on the economic impact of abortion, the Movement for a Better America is reporting that the abortion toll is projected to climb to a new high of 52,333,000 as of January 22, 2010, the 37th anniversary of Roe V. Wade.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Catholic Exchange.)

Framing the Question

sometimes determines the answer you get. In the abortion debate (to the extent there is one) the philosophical analysis frequently ignores the obvious biological relationship the two parties have: mother and child:

The Right Way to Think About Unborn Children:

I give you a wonderful quote from Francis Canavan's excellent book The Pluralist Game:

If
we take the principles of liberal individualism as axiomatic, we find it
possible to think of the fetus and the woman as the parties of the first and
second part arguing over their respective rights.  We are then able to blind ourselves to the
natural fact that they are related as mother and child and that the child is in
the only natural place for him to be, his mother's womb (italics added).

(Via Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments.)

Less Babies

equals happiness? The dark underside of the environmentalist religion has started showing a little more prominently. Promoting the totalitarian regime in China as a leader in the CACC(GW) movement doesn't inspire confidence. These are the children of Mao and he had millions of deaths on his conscience when he died. The current leadership hasn't renounced a single one.

The One-Child policy continues, albeit slightly less draconian in places, and forced sterilizations and abortions still occur. This kind of madness is only now having deleterious effects that are being recognized by these leaders. This is not the kind of leadership anyone needs. Alas, the Financial Post hasn't caught up with the news. As Mark Shea says: "Just enough of me, too much of you". So the following isn't entirely unexpected:

Carbon Scheme: Offset Your Jet-Set Lifestyle by Eliminating African Babies:

Population control groups have been using the hype surrounding the Copenhagen climate change conference to promote their solution to hypothetical impending environmental catastrophes. Earlier this month, two pieces appearing in the same edition of the Guardian revisited a report by Britain's Optimum Population Trust (OPT) that suggests that people in wealthy first-world countries should "offset" the carbon cost of their jet-setting lifestyles by paying to prevent the births of poor children in the developing world.

Read the whole thing.

(Via LifeSiteNews.)

More LIght, Less Heat Please

The relatively abysmal state of Catholic education and literacy is making for a lot more heat and very little light when Church teaching on moral principles is concerned. For example, the phoney war Rep. Kennedy has been waging on the Catholic Church for his own political advantage has been illustrative of this problem. Bishop Tobin has been exceptional amongst his brother bishops in that he has not let the calculated ignorance of the scion of the Kennedy clan to go unremarked. He has been temperate and reasonable in his dealings with the CINO politiican. The resulting circus of condemnations from the ignoranti who were, no doubt, educated in the "Spirit of Vatican II" and little else, has been proof positive that the revolution in catechesis since the Second Vatican Council has been a spectacular failure. Could this be one of the most illiterate Catholic generations ever?

So here is a little light to dispel the darkness:

Abortion, Capital Punishment, and War — One of These Things is Not Like the Other:

Ed Stoddard of Reuters’ religion blog Faithworld carries a roundup of the skirmish between Congressman Patrick Kennedy, the son of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, has claimed that Rhode Island Bishop Thomas Tobin.

Read the whole thing.

(Via First Thoughts.)

The CCCB and it's Employees

The CCCB is the Employer of record for Development and Peace. Once a year they ask for donations in the parish envelopes from the faithful. What have they been doing with this money?

Well they're not directly supporting abortion-related projects, but that was never the charge. Rather they are supporting a multitude of organizations that themselves promote abortion in varying guises:

“Just the Facts”…from a reader:

Development and Peace- the facts: 

1. Five pro-abortion groups in Mexico received $170,000 in total this year from D&P in Canada.  These five groups are pressuring the government of Mexico to legalize abortion.


2. D&P is also funding at least one pro-abortion group in Bolivia (Center for Promotion and Integral Health- CEPROSI).  This group has been described as “one of the most militant, radical and active pro-abortion organizations in Bolivia.”

Read the whole thing.

(Via SoCon Or Bust.)

Abortafacient Contrceptives?

Following up on the previous post here is some more evidence for that argument:

New Evangelical Documentary Exposes Abortifacient Qualities of the Birth Control Pill, Promotes NFP:

By Alex Bush May 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A documentary called “28 Days on the Pill” has been released that seeks expose the abortifacient properties of the birth control pill.  The documentary explains that many forms of birth control pills contain progesterone,...

Read the whole thing.

(Via LifeSiteNews.com Headlines.)

Don't You Prefer Contraception to Abortion?

This is what an earnest young candidate asked me a few years ago during the RCIA Process. He reasoned, as many do, that it is the lesser of two evils. But I had to answer "no".

You see, it's not really abortion or contraception; the two go hand-in-hand:

"Most abortions are the result of unwanted pregnancies, most unwanted pregnancies are the result of sexual relationships outside of marriage, and most sexual relationships outside of marriage are facilitated by the availability of contraception. To turn this 'progression' around: contraception leads to more extra-marital sexual intercourse, more extra-marital sexual intercourse leads to more unwanted pregnancies; more unwanted pregnancies lead to more abortions."

Janet Smith (via the USCCB Pro-life page.)

The mentality that separates the sex act from procreation doesn't greet pregnancy as a happy accident. If sex is for gratification (mutual or otherwise) then the "burden" of parenthood doesn't exactly signal gratification to the reluctant parent. And that doesn't even address the fact that the contraceptive pill and IUD's are abortifacient by themselves already.

And even the so-called 99% effective method (birth control pills) fails sometimes. Consider that:

"Pro-abortion Alan Guttmacher Institute has repeatedly reported on major surveys that show 56%-58% of all women having abortions were using contraception the month they became pregnant."

(Hat tip to Physicians for Life.)

If President Obama offers contraception to "lessen the need for abortion" he is in fact promoting a mindset and technologies that will increase the actual number of abortions. There's no common ground between the pro-lifer and pro-choice positions in contraception.

For those desperate for common ground they have to consider sterilization. Good luck with that project.

Dialogue: Answer to Example Number One's Question

Lo and behold, Obama does not want to reduce the number of abortions. He just wants to increase the use of contraceptives. Oh yeah, there's a common ground for him to work with the "Spirit of Vatican II" Catholics: they both reject Humanae Vitae. Guess where the rest of us are left?

Key Obama aide: "It is not our goal to reduce the number of abortions.”:

The goal, as reportedly stated by Melody Barnes, who is the President’s Domestic Policy Adviser and the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, is to "reduce the need for abortions."

And what has been Obama's preferred method of "reducing the need for abortions" in the past?


Each of these prominently features the use of contraceptives as an essential means of reducing abortions.

Read the whole thing.

(Via Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog.)

Dialogue, Part Four

Here's a link to some analysis about what dialogue should be:

stages in dialogue:

Father Robert Barron of Word on Fire has written a thoughtful article on dialogue, in wake of the speeches given at Notre Dame's commencement cermonies last Sunday. A snip:

It comes down to that slippery little word “dialogue.” I realize that to say that one is against dialogue is akin to saying that one is impatient with motherhood, patriotism, and sunny days. But the point is this: one should,

Read the whole thing.

(Via The Weight of Glory.)