Great Comment

One of the pleasures of reading blogs is finding great commentary from just good, regular guys, and JohnMcG has posted one of the best over at VN on a post about Sarah Palin:

There is symbolism that is hard for pro-lifers to miss.

In the run-up to their Convention, the Democrats expected pro-lifers to be thrilled that they supported the choice to have a child while strongly and unequivocally supporting the Supreme Court decision that makes it impossible to enact restrictions [on abortion]. Then they nominated a Catholic pro-choice candidate, setting the stage for Communion Wars II, which we all enjoyed so much the first time around. They let Bob Casey, Jr. speak, but he rushed through any suggestion that he is pro-life.

The Republicans nominated a younger woman who has always been pro-life, and has demonstrated a commitment to it in her life. They are essentially saying, this is the future of the party. And I must confess I like it.

I like it, and I love it. Obviously there are many reactions to it, heads exploding from the left and the so-called "radicals" like the Vox Nova anti-Republicans. But my guess is that if these folks are truly pro-life then they are in for, in the words of Robert Plant, "a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time" either voting for Obama or sitting this one out.

On another note, I agree with another comment from JohnMcG on the Catholics Against Biden blog that they should probably nix the picture of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist from the mashup at the top. Maybe it could be replaced with a cartoon of Joe Biden shoving his Rosary Beads down Rick Santorum's throat? Just a thought....

"No time for pooing"

Hey, Obama Campaign, Remember a guy named Dan Rather?

Here's a tip for Barack Obama and his campaign: if you are going to smear Sarah Palin as being a supporter of gay rights, hire a third-party net-savvy hitman. Otherwise you'll get busted by LGF.

Suddenly appearing among the Google search results for “sarah palin gay,” a web site titled: Sarah Palin Supports Gay Rights.

Sarah Palin (GOV-Alaska-Republican), supports gay rights, says Anchorage Daily News.

Quote "Gov. Sarah Palin vetoed a bill Thursday that sought to block the state from giving public employee benefits such as health insurance to same-sex couples."
Quote "It is the Governor’s intention to work with the legislature and to give the people of Alaska an opportunity to express their wishes and intentions whether these benefits should continue," the statement from Palin’s administration said.

Coghill said he’s interested in a new plan that would allow state employees to designate one person — maybe a same-sex partner, but also possibly a family member or roommate — who would be eligible for state-paid benefits. But the employee would have to pay to add that person to his or her benefits."

Sarah Palin’s veto gave gays the same rights as married couples in Alaska.

A vote for McCain/Palin is a vote for gay marriage.

Interesting. There’s nothing else on the page. This sure looks like the work of the dastardly right-wing anti-gay attack machine, doesn’t it?

But look who’s really behind this.

In the Linux console, if you enter the following commands, you can learn the secrets of a political dirty trick. First, look up the host of ‘sarahpalingayrights.com’ to get the site’s IP address.

host sarahpalingayrights.com
sarahpalingayrights.com has address 74.208.74.232

Then use the same command to look up the domain name pointer of that IP address.

host 74.208.74.232
232.74.208.74.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer obamadefense.com

Well, well. “Obamadefense.com,” eh?

And what happens if you enter obamadefense.com on your browser’s address line?

Why, you’re redirected to none other than FightTheSmears.com, the official Barack Obama site that’s supposed to be defending him against smears.

Looks like they may have a second purpose: to generate a few smears of their own.

(Hat tip: sk.)

UPDATE at 8/30/08 11:14:12 am:

Here's another site that traces back to obamadefense.com: ObamaTaxCut.com.

Politicians lie, computers don't. So, Democrats who said McCain's pick of Governor Palin showed he was desperate: who's acting desperate here?

H/T: Susan B @ Lilac Rose

The Funniest Thing You Will Read Today

None of my quips during my short time at Contra Crunchy were ever as biting, or as funny I should add, as today's David Brooks op-ed. It is a parody of a Democrat Convention speech and it is a riot. Here are some excerpts:

We must close the book on the bleeding wounds of the old politics of division and sail our ship up a mountain of hope and plant our flag on the sunrise of a thousand tomorrows with an American promise that will never die! For this election isn’t about the past or the present, or even the pluperfect conditional. It’s about the future, and Barack Obama loves the future because that’s where all his accomplishments are.
...
We meet today to heal the divisions that have torn this country. For we are all one country and one American family, whether we are caring and thoughtful Democrats or hate-filled and war-crazed Republicans.
...
As a child, I was abandoned by my parents and lived with a colony of ants. We didn’t have much in the way of material possession, but we did have each other and the ability to carry far more than our own body weights. When I was young, I was temporarily paralyzed in a horrible anteater accident, but I never gave up my dream: the dream of speaking at a national political convention so my speech could be talked over by Wolf Blitzer and a gang of pundits.
...
We heard from Joe Biden, whose 643 years in the Senate make him uniquely qualified to talk to the middle class, whose family has been riding the Acela and before that the Metroliner for generations, who has been given a lifetime ban from the quiet car and who is himself a verbal train wreck waiting to happen.

We got to know Barack and Michelle Obama, two tall, thin, rich, beautiful people who don’t perspire, but who nonetheless feel compassion for their squatter and smellier fellow citizens. We know that Barack could have gone to a prestigious law firm, like his big donors in the luxury boxes, but he chose to put his ego aside to become a professional politician, president of the United States and redeemer of the human race. We heard about his time as a community organizer, the three most fulfilling months of his life.
...
We were inspired by dozens of Democratic senators who declared their lifelong love of John McCain before denouncing him as a reactionary opportunist who would destroy the country.
...
No, this country cannot afford to elect John Bushmccain. Under Republican rule, locusts have stripped the land, adults wear crocs in public and M&M’s have lost their flavor. We must instead ride to the uplands of hope!

LOL, crocs.

McCain Picks Sarah Palin

From The Hill.



Well, I think I'd rather go fishing with Sarah Palin than hunting with Dick Cheney.



But seriously, I have no problem with McCain's choice, and all yous guys out there better not either or ya better go see the eye doctor.

Bishop Aquila takes advantage of the Pelosi teaching moment

Source.

August 26, 2008

Dear Fathers, Deacons, Diocesan Staff, Catholic Charities Staff and Seminarians,

As many of you are aware the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, made comments this past Sunday on "Meet the Press." Her comments on the subject of abortion and Catholic teaching were misinformed. By her statement in a public manner she has created confusion in regard to Catholic teaching. People of good will who have studied the present day Catholic teaching as given in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, John Paul II's Encyclical, The Gospel of Life, and have read the fathers of the Church, can easily recognize the flaws in her remarks on the teaching of the Church concerning when human life begins. The right to life from conception is the pre-eminent social justice and human rights issue of our time. As your bishop, I have the responsibility to present to you the authentic teaching of the Church, to correct the misinformation she has given, and finally to warn you that those who oppose the true teaching are not in good standing with the Church.

Archbishop Chaput, and his auxiliary, Bishop Conley, of Denver, issued a statement yesterday concerning the matter. I fully support their statement. Rather than crafting my own statement when an excellent one exists, I want you to read carefully the attached statement. It speaks the truth about the teaching of the Church on when human life begins. The Christian teaching on abortion throughout history is unchanged. Human life from the moment of conception is to always be respected, treated with dignity, and protected. Catholics who support so called abortion rights support a false right, promote a culture of death, and are guided by the “father of lies” rather than by the light and truth of Jesus Christ. Out of respect for the teaching of Jesus Christ and the Church, any Catholic who supports abortion rights has placed himself or herself outside of visible unity with the Church and thus should refrain from receiving Holy Communion. Catholics have a responsibility to study the teaching of the Church on human life and when life begins. This teaching is affirmed by revelation and is a basic truth of natural reason. I ask all of you in your presentations, teaching, or preaching to state the truth of this teaching in an unequivocal manner.

I pray that each one of us may continue to build a culture of life and that our nation may return to the truth that our forefathers recognized. A truth enshrined in the Declaration of Independence is that there are certain rights which are self-evident, bestowed by the Creator, and are inalienable. Those rights are “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Unless the right to life is guaranteed, the pursuit of liberty and happiness is severely frustrated.

May our Lord fill you with His peace.
Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Samuel J. Aquila
Bishop of Fargo, North Dakota

H/T to Thoughts and faith to share

Carter: "Dis Black Boy"

James Earl who?

Obortion

Can Nancy Pelosi Pronounce "Didache"?

The word "Didache" is Greek and it kind of sounds like the word mitigate, as in the sentence "Listening to the Catholic Bishops can help mitigate your ignorance of the Catholic faith regarding issues like, for example, abortion."

The following statement is from Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, in which he references the Didache, or the "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles". (Source)

On Meet the Press this past Sunday, August 23, 2008, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made statements regarding the teaching of the Catholic Church, human life and abortion that were incorrect.

Speaker Pelosi responded to a question on when life begins by mentioning she was Catholic. She went on to say, “And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the Church have not been able to make that definition...” After Mr. Tom Brokaw, the interviewer, pointed out that the Catholic Church feels strongly that life begins at conception, she replied, “I understand. And this is like maybe 50 years or something like that. So again, over the history of the church, this is an issue of controversy.”

We respect the right of elected officials such as Speaker Pelosi to address matters of public policy that are before them, but the interpretation of Catholic faith has rightfully been entrusted to the Catholic bishops. Given this responsibility to teach, it is important to make this correction for the record.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear: the current teaching of the Catholic Church on human life and abortion is the same teaching as it was 2,000 years ago. The Catechism reads:

“Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception…Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.” (Catechism, 2270-2271)

The Catechism goes on to quote the Didache, a treatise that dates to the first century: “’You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.’”

From the beginning, the Catholic Church has respected the dignity of all human life from the moment of conception to natural death.

If I may make one observation as a somewhat educated Catholic lay person, the Twelve Apostles lived well over 50 years ago.

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Fricking Crickets!

Thoughts on Biden and the Rosary

Hat tip to Public Square for this one commenting on the Catholic Senator's promise to commit an act of torture when he stated "the next Republican that tells me I'm not religious I'm going to shove my rosary beads down their throat."

Threatening to shove one's rosary beads down others' throats is not the sort of thing one says when one has the benefit of the many graces that are promised to those who daily pray the rosary. So it makes me wonder. On the off chance that Senator Biden is not keeping up with his daily praying of the rosary, I would encourage him to have an aide get it onto his daily schedule, and never miss it. It will only strengthen him for the many trials that face him each day.

Still, I'll admit that most days I'm carrying three rosaries on my person, and that doesn't in itself make me religious. I'm pretty sure that attacking someone with a rosary wouldn't make me religious either. Still, I'm not too worried, because I honestly don't believe that the Senator carries a rosary with him every day. Not that that in itself makes him irreligious. But it does undercut his threat.

Well said, Mr. Paul the Regular Guy. I don't think Pope Leo XIII had Senator Biden's methods in mind when he described the Rosary "like a most powerful warlike weapon". I myself usually try to carry a "backup piece", one of those ring decade jobbies in addition to a nice 5-decade .32 caliber bead model blessed by Pope Benedict.

The Biden Pick

Must read: Catholics in the Public Square: Joe Biden's "Pro-Choice Catholicism" - A Liability for Obama and a Scandal to the Church.

My reaction to Biden on abortion? He simply has the craziest excuse yet by saying that Roe v. Wade "is as close to we're going to be able to get as a society" to incorporating diverging religious views on the issue. Whaaaaaa? He stated recently that he is a "long-standing supporter of Roe v. Wade and a woman's right to choose," but on the other hand he claims to accept the Catholic Church's view that life begins at conception. These views seem too diverging for one person to hold both, but leave it to a Catholic "souper" politician to figure out how.

And just to set the record straight, a lot of liberal sites are pointing out that NARAL gave Biden a 36% grade in 2003. That's true, but in the next 3 years Biden scored 100% each year. So my guess is that the selectivity is just part of the shell game to get more Catholics to drink the Kmiec Koolaid.