Life Imitates Monty Python

The following paragraph from an Associated Press story about problems faced by the committee drafting Iraq's new constitution reminded me of the "Judean People's Front" vs. "People's Front of Judea" argument in "Monty Python's Life of Brian":

Members of the drafting committee had been warning for weeks that although 90 percent of the document was completed, the 71 members could not agree on a handful of key issues, including federalism, the role of Islam, distribution of national wealth and the name of the country.

Heaven, Hell—or Hoboken?

It's not every day that a purported religious-statue miracle happens in my back yard, so I ventured to Jackson Street in Hoboken—which is literally the gateway to the city's housing projects—today to see the statue of Jesus that "opened" one eye (click the images link on that page—see also coverage in the Daily News and the Jersey Journal).

There were about 20 people gathered 'round when I was there, plus cars slowing down to take a look. I wouldn't call it a "carnival" atmosphere, as one newspaper reporter did. There were no hucksters and no call for money, other than the kind of wooden donation box that one sees at garden-variety Nativity scenes or other religious-sculpture displays—which is what this was, until its owner, Julio "Sly" Dones, experienced a "miracle" on or about last Thursday.

Dones is quoted in newspaper articles as saying that he was cleaning the statue he'd found in the trash a year ago of Jesus displaying His Sacred Heart, when it opened its right eye. The news reports also said that people have seen the statue move its head.

I didn't see anything out of the ordinary—but the statue does look eerie.

I prayed silently as I would in a church and tried to discern what, if anything, was going on, beyond people praying—most of them Hispanic women—and Dones standing by exhorting onlookers to prayer. He had made a hand-lettered sign which said something like, "If this gives you hope, pray for the needy and yourself." He also said to anyone who would listen that he was not asking for money, only that people should pray and turn to God.

I didn't feel that anything was terribly wrong—other than the discomfiting sense that Dones's peaceful shrine could easily turn into a carnival if the forces of greed were allowed to take hold. But that was just my fear. The scene itself was prayerful and moving. It was as though the entrance to Hoboken's projects—the dividing line that separates the city's $400,000-plus condominiums from its crime and poverty-ridden ghetto—suddenly had an angel's foot wedged in the door.

I talked with Dones for a moment. He is very thin and appears to be blind in one eye. In fact, his eyes look not unlike those of his winking Jesus—the left one nearly closed, the right open. I thought about how one of the first Lourdes miracles was the healing of a blind man, and about how Jesus said he had come so that the blind may see and so that those who see may be made blind.

Dones pointed out to me (and, again, anyone who would listen) something that he thought was very important, which was missed by all the reporters: the image of a cross on the forehead of the Jesus statue, above the right eye. Dones said he discovered it while cleaning the statue, at the same time as he discovered the open eye.

It's an interesting-looking cross—you can see it in the photos at the first two links above. I looked it up online and it's called by some a Bottony Cross, but it probably goes by other names as well. I'd be interested to know from Catholics whether it is a cross commonly used in the Church. (I do notice from a Web search that it is part of Cardinal McCarrick's coat of arms.)

I left the statue with a feeling of having been graced by something. I think it was Dones' faith. It's possible he might have imagined the "miracle" and that there might be a rational explanation for it, but I don't doubt his sincerity. He's reacting to his experience exactly the way that a person who has had a genuine encounter with the divine would react—by refraining from requesting material rewards and exhorting people to pray. (His reaction also matches the description that I just read in St. Teresa's Interior Castles of how one acts if they have had such an experience.) I'm praying for him, and—while I'm not convinced that the statue merits a cult—I pray that those who do visit it will be drawn closer to the Lord.

UPDATE: Here's the latest. It's funny how the press always acts surprised when the Church awaits further information in advance of a possible investigation. It's like they're expecting an immediate announcement from Rome: "It's a miracle!"

Frist Watch

Joel has another thought-provoking post today on Sen. Bill Frist's stem-cell turnaround, this one in response to a blogger who argues there's no harm in allowing doctors to cut up "excess embryos" obtained through in vitro fertilization when the embryos would just die anyway.

Replace "excess embryos" with "excess toddlers" and you see how sick the stem-cell dialogue has become. And this is only the beginning.

Joel observes:

We have precident in our legal system for protecting humans who are doomed. For example, suppose I decide to pull a Jack Ruby on a murderer on death row, just one day before his execution was to be carried out. I would be arrested, charged and prosecuted for killing a human who was going to die anyway. Or to use a perhaps more appropos example, suppose I started offing the very aged and infirm in some quick, unexpected and painless way? I would be charged with murder, despite the fact that my victims were close to death.

Or to use another example, which I believe was first suggested by a commenter on this blog: Suppose someone came up with a plan to allow doctors to do medical research on Death Row inmates while the inmates were still living. Suppose the inmates were aware that they would be killed during the course of the research, and were drugged so that they would feel no pain while doctors experimented on their vital organs.

Even if the inmates gave their consent, even if they were drugged so that they would feel no pain, wouldn't we find it the least bit...creepy? Wouldn't it raise all sorts of questions about the value of human life, particularly whether it is right to abuse and destroy people's bodies for the sake of "science"? Most importantly, wouldn't it make us the least bit fearful that perhaps tomorrow, or next week, someone might redefine "consent" so that people might be dismembered for "science" without explicitly agreeing to it?

Once we go down that road, decreeing that the weak are mere tools to build up the strong, the end result is the destruction of humanity.

Joel writes:

We enter peril, morally speaking, when we think of people in groups and fail to consider the individual. There is a huge number of embryos destined to be destroyed. But the notion of using "them" for research becomes more palatable when you close your mind to the idea that when a lab assistant punctures an embryo with a needle, he or she is ending one human being's life. If you believe life begins at conception, you have to treat that life as a human life.

The sick irony in Frist's position is that he claims he does believe life begins at conception—not as an article of faith, as John Kerry said he did, but as a scientific fact. So, what Frist is proposing to do, following his own logic, is to spend taxpayer money on a mission of murder—one in which, unlike military missions, the sole aim is to destroy only innocent people.

Read Joel's entire entry.

I wore out about three and a half microns of shoe leather venturing over to this place today—will write a little about it later.

The Dung Patrol

It had to happen.

Charles G. Hill reports on a certain New Jersey company whose name appears to be a slightly retooled version of my New York Post headline that took first place in the 2004 New York State Associated Press Association awards.

Apropos of nothing...

...does anyone out there still use Usenet regularly?

Just wondering.

I remember when Usenet and the AOL bulletin boards used to be the main ways that people met others who shared their interests on the 'Net. Now it seems that function is fulfilled by blog comments and by Web-based bulletin boards.
I hadn't really thought about Usenet for years 'til it crossed my mind tonight.

Joel makes some excellent points about the Senate Majority Leader's opportunistic turnaround—and also has the perfect headline: "Frist, Do No Harm."

'Expert' Advice From Planned Parenthood's Teenwire

Today's "Ask the Experts" column on Planned Parenthood's Teenwire Web site features this question:

Im 14, im a guy. I thought i was bi, but the other day, i let a guy have sex with me, i didnt like it that much, i told him to stop, but he kept doing it, was that rape?

The "Experts"' response boils down to "[w]e all have the right to say no to sex," and it includes links to resources for rape survivors. Noticeably absent, however, is any implication that the experts realize maybe, just maybe, considering he's receiving anal sex at such a young age, something is terribly wrong in the teenager's life. From a purely physical standpoint, it can't be good for him.

Also noticeably absent from Planned Parenthood's sage advice is any concern over whether the boy has allowed himself to be exploited by an older man—in fact, the experts don't even seem to care that he's opened himself up to the possibility of disease. There's so much more than the rape issue here, yet Planned Parenthood's guardians of childhood seem terrified to stray beyond the narrowest interpretation of the child's question, for fear they might make (gasp!) a value judgment.

What Planned Parenthood resolutely ignores, in all its literature online and off, is that defending children's health and well-being cannot possibly be a values-neutral operation.

Yet, the sad truth is that Teenwire really isn't values-neutral. It's got a values system designed to benefit Kinsey-loving adults who believe that encouraging children to pursue sexual freedom is more important than protecting them from predators.

Look at the inquiring 14-year-old's comment, "I thought I was bi." Where did he get the idea that it was safe to take his "thoughts" all the way to home plate at age 14?

It could well have been from the myriad of "LGBTQ" (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or questioning) articles on Teenwire, including "The ABCDs of LGBT Dating." The young rape victim could have even met his partner through taking that article's advice on hooking up through the Internet: "Some LGBTQ teens find each other online, which can be the fastest way to connect with others in your area."

"The ABCDs of LGBT Dating" also includes some safety caveats for meeting sex partners via the 'Net, which would be laughable if they weren't so appalling—e.g., "To be extra safe, bring a friend along." I'm sure online predators just love it when 14-year-old boys bring along their pals.

At some point in the sex-ed debate, you have to ask yourself: What is more loving to a child? To tell the child, "Because I love you, I can't in good conscience allow you to behave in a way that will harm you"? Or to say, "Because I love you and I know I can't stop you, go ahead and have fun—I'll be here to take you to the emergency room"?

It should be obvious enough, from the mere fact that Planned Parenthood murders a quarter-million children a year, that it does not particularly care about them as individuals. Its advice to the 14-year-old rape victim reveals the institutionalized detachment with which it views the children it teaches "comprehensive sexual education"—as cold and clinical as a curettage knife.

To learn more about Teenwire and what Planned Parenthood means by "comprehensive sexual education," read my Touchstone magazine article "The Young and the Hot-Wired.

Tylor's Blading Heart

Yesterday after work, I sat with visiting children's-book author Trevor Romain in the lovely old wood-paneled bar of the Hotel Warwick, where he showed me the manuscript he's written with his 14-year-old friend Tylor Lauck.

Tylor has an aggressive form of cancer that attacks his lymph nodes. He has had about 41 operations. One of his legs has been amputated. He now has a brain tumor the size of a baseball, and his doctors have sent him home to die.

The manuscript Trevor showed me included the entries from his blog that had made me fascinated with Tylor, whose precocious wisdom and absurdist wit often seems to come from another world. Like "The Special One," where Tylor, speaking by phone from his hospital room, tells Trevor what he's been doing between cancer treatments:

"I got busted today for rollerblading down the hallway to the elevator."

"No."

"Yeah. The nurse yelled at me."

"What did she say?"

"She said, 'You can’t be doing that Tylor.'" And I said why not? She said, 'Because you only have one leg.'"

"So what did you say?"

"I said, 'Lady I have got two legs, but only one of them is visible.'"

In another entry, Trevor asks Tylor what advice he has for people who are facing hurdles in their lives:

"Jump."

"What?"

"Jump over the hurdles. Isn’t that what hurdles are there for, to be jumped over?"

"You are one smart cookie Tylor."

"Yeah, I know."

The cynical among us might dismiss some of Tylor's sayings as greeting-card wisdom. But as I get older, I find that some of the deepest truths are to be found in statements that I would have dismissed as banal in years gone by.

When I was 12, my Grandma Jessie pulled just such a sentiment out of her wallet. Someone had said it to her and she wrote it on the only piece of paper she had handy, a blank check. It said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Grandma thought it was profound.

I thought it was vaguely depressing. I was 12. What was life for, if not to be the fruit of my plans, hopes, and dreams?

Several months later, Grandma went to the hospital, where she would eventually die. I didn't know it at the time, but the quote she had admired came from "Beautiful Boy," one of the last songs John Lennon released before he died. And now, a quarter-century later, I start to see that it is not so bad to have life happen to me when I'm busy making other plans. Isn't there some song about how, if it weren't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all? If it weren't for the life I experience while busy making other plans, I'm not sure I'd have any life at all. Perhaps that's how it's supposed to be.

As Trevor showed me his manuscript, my mind raced. I tried hard to think of ways it could be marketed. In my mind, Tylor was a superstar. He's so witty, so brave, so wise and inspirational—how could he not be? But the more I thought about it, the more frustrated I got, because the truth is that popular culture rarely allows disabled, physically ill people like him to become famous.

Walking home, I thought about disabled people who are famous. It struck me that they are nearly all people like Christopher Reeve who were "supermen" before becoming ill or injured. Stephen Hawking, for example, became a star in his field before losing his voice and the use of his arms and legs to ALS.

But Tylor isn't like those celebrities—at the age of 14, he's never had the chance. He sits in his family's trailer home, in a tiny Ohio town, phoning up friends like Trevor to offer advice and support.

The strange thing about Tylor's having lost a leg, I realized, is that, when you think of a person's undergoing such a thing, you imagine it makes them smaller. But in Tylor's case, it's as though the opposite's happened. It's made him bigger. It's as though his personality, his spirit— everything that makes him who he is, except his ego—has gotten outsize.

I imagined the same thing would happen even if Tylor were to lose more limbs—even if, as with the Black Knight in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," his body became only a defiant torso. With every limb lost, Tylor, the essence of Tylor, would become bigger and bigger— as with the invisible leg that he described to the nurse who caught him rollerblading.

I thought about what Trevor had told me about how Tylor will die. Trevor asked a doctor friend about it and the doctor said that Tylor's tumor was putting pressure on his brain, pushing it to one side. As a result, the doctor said, Tylor's death will come quickly and suddenly. He might be having a conversation with his parents one day and start to feel sleepy. Then his head will fall to one side and he'll pass away.

As I entered my apartment, it suddenly struck me—what will really happen to Tylor. One day, he will lose so much of his body that the corresponding gain in his spirit will make him too big for this world. There will be no more space left for him here. He'll have to cross over to another dimension where there is infinite space for him, and the love that is in him, to grow.

I threw myself onto my bed and broke down crying.

"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." — 2 Corinthians 5:1

For updates on Tylor, visit Trevor Romain's blog.

Ave Maria, Gee It's Good to See Ya

As you can see, it's a light blogging day. For those of you kind enough to stop by here anyway, here is something to make you laugh out loud: the Curt Jester's tuned-in and turned-on design for the Ave Maria church.

Random Howls

The People's Cube (an outgrowth of Communists for Kerry) has the last word on the NYPD's search policy: "Random Bag Checks in NY Subway Lead to New Spirit of Municipal Randomness":

Inspired by the success of random bag checks among people entering the New York City subway system, the City has decided to expand the idea of randomness to its other functions. Police Commissioner Kelly, the architect of random policing, spoke of why randomness works so well: "The idea is that no one is any better or any worse than anyone else; if we're all suspects, then no one is a suspect, and no one will feel hurt. As we know, the main function of a police force is to make everyone feel good about themselves."

Read the whole thing—including the comment from one "Randi Weingarten," head of the New York City teachers' union.

Via Alarming News.

Good morning! New post to come later today.

In the meantime, Credibility has the story of "Australian's own Terri Schiavo."

Good morning! I'm happy to report that I wrote the front-page headline on Bloomberg's apology to the tourists who were handcuffed: MAYOR CULPA. (If I'm happy about it, does that make it a felix culpa?)

Planned Parenthood Says Don't You Worry Your Pretty Little Contracepting Head About Cancer

If you live in the United States, over $265 million of your country's tax dollars—most of it from the federal government—last year went to an organization that willfully neglects telling women how they may be at an elevated cancer risk.

That organization is Planned Parenthood. Its leaders are well aware that there is substantial evidence that oral contraceptives raise the risk of certain types of cancer. Yet, Planned Parenthood studiously downplays and even denies such risks in its literature about the Pill.

Below is what the National Cancer Institute has to say about oral contraceptives' cancer risks. For all intents and purposes, it is the official position of the U.S. government:

Another page on the NCI's Web site has additional official information.

It's clear that the NCI is tentative about the conclusions of cancer studies—but it nonetheless considers the risk significant enough that the government has a duty to report it.

A search for the terms "contraception" and "cancer" on the NCI's Web site turns up much more data, including an alarming 2003 study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization: "Effect of Oral Contraceptives on Risk of Cervical Cancer in Women With Human Papillomavirus Infection: The IARC Multicentric Case-Control Study."

The study's abstract states:

The data suggest that long-term use of oral contraceptives in women who test positive for cervical HPV DNA increases the risk of cervical carcinoma 4-fold. In the absence of worldwide information about HPV status, extra effort should be made to include long-term users of oral contraceptives in cervical cancer screening programs.

And now for something completely different: Planned Parenthood's Web site, on a page titled "Seven Myths About the Pill":

Planned Parenthood utterly minimizes the increased cancer risk from oral contraceptives, while placing the Pill's possibility of preventing certain types of cancer at center stage. See how the Pill's possible benefits are in large bold type and its possible risks—at least, those risks that Planned Parenthood will admit—are in the small print. It would be laughable were it not so sad.

I wonder how many studies would have to be done showing an increased risk of liver or cervical cancer among Pill users before Planned Parenthood would remove its dismissive line that such risks "have not been proven."

In this light, the aforementioned IARC study showing a four-fold increased risk of cervical carcinoma among women with HPV is particularly tragic. Planned Parenthood is notorious for telling teens it's "safe" to have sex as long as they use condoms. Yet condoms are woefully inadequate as a defense against HPV. So Planned Parenthood is not only contributing to the spread of HPV through its promotion of condoms and its opposition to abstinence education—it's adding to HPV carriers' cancer risk by neglecting to tell them of the Pill's dangers.

Planned Parenthood presents itself as the premier advocate for women's health. Aren't you glad they use their power for good? I'd hate to think of what they'd do if they were an enemy. They might—oh, I don't know—try to protect child rapists or something.

Thanks to Alicia for the tip.

ACTION TIPS:

• Contact your senators and your representative and tell them you don't want your tax dollars going to an organization that withholds information about cancer risks from women.


• Donate to Priests for Life and Feminists for Life.

FURTHER READING:

Planned Parenthood promotes the Pill to girls as young as 13 on its Teenwire Web site, which I profiled in Touchstone magazine.

God bless Mitt Romney.

The Gospel According to Planned Parenthood

An article in the Alameda Times Star takes the reader inside the wavy-hazy world of a Planned Parenthood chaplain.

Mary Sargent, a Unitarian Universalist seminarian, invokes the "spirit of love," gives out platitudes along with shiny colored rocks, and "washes her hands between patients."

The Lady Macbethian hand-washing, we're told by reporter Jill Tucker, is "a ritual. A cleansing, allowing [Sargent] to move on to the next person."

This blather/rinse/repeat style of abortion-clinic counseling fits the situational ethics of Planned Parenthood's national chaplain, United Methodist minister Ignacio Castuera, who doesn't even pretend to care that abortion takes a human life. When he gives an example of why he believes abortion is necessary, he bypasses the usual mother's-health excuse. Instead, he says simply that unborn children should be killed if their mother can't afford them—and never mind the possibility of adoption.

Here's Castuera's argument, via reporter Tucker:

[F]or abortion-rights advocates, the moral and spiritual questions raised aren’t so clearly defined.

Take a single parent, mother of four with limited means, posed national chaplain Castuera.

Say the pill failed. Or the condom broke.

"Is a fetus valuable? Yes, of course it is," Castuera said. "Is the fetus as valuable as a mother with four children?"

What if she can’t afford another child?

"That’s where everybody earns their stripes, making those tough decisions," Castuera added. "Anybody who paints that as an easy decision has never spent a second with those women struggling with what to do."

Considering Castuera's a pastor, you'd think he'd be more concerned with helping women follow the one who really earned His stripes. But that doesn't mesh with the Planned Parenthood theology—a theology that tells women that they are God. Or so it sounds from the lips of Chaplain Sargent, as Tucker writes:

[Sargent] says she doesn’t believe God and abortion are at odds.

"As a Christian, I believe in a God who loves me unconditionally and who at the same time has expectations of me in the world," Sargent said.

The idea is to tune in to those expectations and stay on that path. Sometimes, that means having a baby, sometimes not.

That's not Christianity, that's Wicca. Or, rather, it's Satanism, as espoused by the Aleister Crowley maxim, "Do what thou wilt."

Look at it this way: If someone says that God "expects" them to take a job or not, or to take a husband or not, we might allow that they're being guided by the Holy Spirit. If someone says that God expects them to kill their child, there's no wiggle room. They're just insane.

Sargent continues:

"God has dreams and visions and hopes for us, much like a parent for a child," she said.

Well, I hope God doesn't have "visions" for us in much the same way as abortive parents do for a child—or we're in big trouble.

[Sargent's] message to patients is simple: "Your life is important to God."

Translation: "Your" life is important to God. Your baby's is not. Here, take a nice, shiny rock.

Help New Jersey Divest From Sudan

The American Anti-Slavery Group's spiffy Web site iAbolish.com currently features a campaign for something I hadn't read about in the local news—to persuade N.J. Gov. Richard Codey to sign legislation already on his desk that would remove the state's investments from Sudan.

Sudan is a state sponsor of terror and, as a recent National Review Online article noted, divestment campaigns can make a difference. The Sudan Activism Blog has more information about the country's atrocities, as well as praise for Condoleezza Rice, who urged Sudan's government last week to put an end to rape in its displaced-persons camps.

I'm going to see if I can go 24 hours without blogging on this, my "Sunday." I wish you a lovely and relaxing day.

Subway Security: It's a Wash

For those who are concerned about the police's random searches in the subways, you will be happy to know that, at least as of 8:26 p.m. this evening on the downtown D train, it is still legal to bring the kitchen sink onto a train.

The Abortion/Breast Cancer Study That the National Cancer Institute Doesn't Want You to See

Annie Banno of After Abortion has an amazing post on her personal blog about an abortion/breast-cancer study funded by the National Cancer Institute that's disappeared from scientific records. She found evidence of it by looking into Google's caches and finding Web pages relating to the study, including a journal abstract, that have been taken offline.

The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer has long accused the NCI of playing "hide the research." The evidence that Banno cites of such apparent subterfuge is chilling. It's a long entry, but well worth reading. At the very least, it raises questions: How could a major U.S.-government-funded study disappear completely from the public record?

Here is Annie's capsule of the study's conclusions—details are in her post:

…it means that as many as 4,262,500 U.S. women (who had 3 or more abortions between 1983 and 2002) likely have increased our risk of postmenopausal breast cancer by about 60 to 70%…

…and of the 6,500,000 U.S. women who’ve had only two abortions in that same twenty-year period, we have either a 60% increased breast cancer risk (if we had our second induced abortion [IA] under the age of 45), or a 70% increased BC risk (if we had the first of two IAs at or above age 35).

…and among the 13,850,000 U.S. women who’ve had only one abortion, of those having that abortion prior to our (last) live birth (FTP), we may have increased our BC risk by 40%. Including me [Annie] personally.

The Real Reason Planned Parenthood Calls Sex 'Sex Play'

A commenter named Josephine, who now calls herself Preggie Jose, posted something in response to my "Diary of an Aspiring Abortionist" post that captures what's wrong with what Planned Parenthood and SIECUS call "comprehensive sexual education." Preggie Jose wrote earlier that she had three unintended pregnancies, all due to contraceptive failures—and all after receiving "comprehensive sexual education" from elementary school through high school. She is responding to a commenter who asked another commenter to prove his claims that sex education led to increases in STDs, abortions, divorces, and child sex abuse:

I would think the point would be not so much that sex ed causes all these things, but that it's supposed to cure it and it's not working. I think education is one thing, attitude is another. I suppose one could argue that farmiliarity breeds contempt. We know how it all works and we know how to break it. Sex and its purpose may have become somewhat like the toy we had when we were five but really dont care about now that we are six. So instead of putting it up on the self and keeping it beautiful and clean we toss it under the bed and offer it to whomever looks like they might want it. Even if they only want it once or for a short period of time.

* * *
If you have had an abortion and need to heal, see the "Resources for Healing" section in the sidebar of After Abortion.

Ba-da Bing!

How thoughtful of the Walter Reade Theater to show some of Mr. Crosby's best films on my "Saturday." It'll be lovely to watch the underrated Marion Davies too.

And now for the good news. No, I didn't just save a lot of money on my car insurance—I don't have a car. But I did write the "wood" again—the front-page headline on Mayor Bloomberg's turning red as Lorraine Bracco kissed him: BLUSH HOUR!

A Thought on Profiling

I just heard that the NYPD is instituting random searches on buses and subways—but promises "no racial profiling."

Practically speaking, this means that if I—a blonde woman who totes a couple of bags—am sitting on one side of you on the subway and a Muslim-looking man with a backpack is sitting on your other side, the cop will make it a point to search only me.

Do you feel safer?

UPDATE: Word is that the searches will be at turnstiles, and will be according to the number of people passing through—e.g. every fifth or tenth or 15th person will be searched, but again, with no attention to their race or other characteristics that might cause police to be accused of discrimination.

Life of Bryan

Wittingshire's Jonathan Witt marks "Eighty Years of Scopes Monkey Business today with a short pop quiz that begins:

History tells us that two great lawyers faced off. On the one side was (A) a progressive and a pacifist, an educated man who rejected the idea of a young earth and worried about efforts to peddle racism and eugenics in the South. On the other side was (B) a master orator who defended some flagrantly racist ideas long since discredited by science.

Interesting stuff, and relevant to contemporary fights over changes in curricula; read the whole thing. I never knew that the book on evolution that William Jennings Bryan fought against was a racist, eugenics-based political screed.

Planned Parenthood: Unsafe at Any Speed

Planned Parenthood's Interim President Karen Pearl (remember, they tossed out their last president on her ear when the millions they spent on Kerry were for naught) is hot and bothered.

She writes in an entry posted Tuesday on her blog of a "thriller." It's "[t]he moment" she's "been waiting for," and it's "rapidly approaching." "After weeks of anticipation," she "may impulsively want this to move forward as quickly as possible." But she "should resist the urge to speed ahead."

Actually, she's not just speaking for herself, but for all her pals—the collective "we." And she's not planning to do anything that might result in a Planned Parenthood "procedure." Writing in advance of John G. Roberts's nomination, she's talking about how to deal with the Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Instead of "speed[ing] ahead," she advises her acolytes to "hold up signs that say 'Go Slow for Roe!'"

Indeed.

All I can think is that it's nice to see Planned Parenthood recommend going slow for something. They certainly don't recommend it to kids often enough—like when they advise 13-year-olds questioning their sexuality to "find each other online, which can be the fastest way to connect with others in your area."

To show your support for Roberts, contact your senators and representative, or sign the petition at the American Center for Law and Justice's Web site.

'I was actually fascinated by it. Until I saw one with a face.'Diary of an Aspiring Abortionist

Gigi describes herself as a 25-year-old "wanna-be doctor" from Houston, Texas: "short, stubborn, and sarcastic as hell." She recently began to learn abortion firsthand at a Houston Planned Parenthood clinic. She wrote on July 7, in a post titled "I Love Uteri,"

Yesterday I was at Planned Parenthood, which I had never been to before.... Part of my morning was spent in a couple of counseling sessions, which all patients receive before an abortion to make sure that this is their decision and that they were not coerced in any way. It's also to make sure that this is what they want and that they know all of their options. I was surprised at the diversity of the patient population. There are women from all walks of life and of all ages. And from all beliefs. One woman had already had three abortions and one child. She quoted an entry from the Bible and thought that having a fourth abortion would kill her. She even asked the doctor when he walked in if she was going to die.

Gigi does not say whether that woman became one of the patients whose abortions she witnessed later that day.

She goes on to tell what she saw. This is not for the faint of heart, or for anyone who does not want to know what a safe-and-legal abortion is really like:

After the counseling sessions, I got to watch my attending do some procedures, or surgical abortions. I wasn't sure how I felt about this at first. But it is fascinating. [Warning: some graphic details to follow. Of course. I love uteri, remember?] Really it's just inserting a vacuum device into the woman's cervix and sucking out all the contents of the uterus. First the cervix is numbed up with some lidocaine and another drug that constricts blood vessels so that there's less bleeding. Then her cervix is dilated (how much depends on how far along she is) with these metal rod-dy things. Then a plastic tube attached to the vacuum device is placed in her uterus, the vacuum is turned on, and then the tube is moved back and forth while rotating it to suck it all out. Then an ultrasound is done through the vagina to make sure the gestational sac is gone. THEN we looked at what was sucked out after they wash out the blood and strain it. The first patient I saw was at 11 weeks and some days. I completely wasn't expecting it, but there were fetal parts. Like hands. And legs. And kidneys. It was pretty shocking. But, of course, after the initial shock, I was fine. I was actually fascinated by it. Until I saw one with a face. Complete with eyeballs. Told you it was graphic. It's amazing to think that all of this can form within only a couple of weeks. You go from someone who's only about 7 weeks along, and you can't make out anything, to someone who's at 9 weeks, and oh, there are some fingers. The human body is amazing. Apparently, at some point this month, I'll be doing the abortions. Still not sure how I feel about it. From the doctor side of it, I'm absolutely thrilled because it's more experience. From the personal side of it, I'm really not sure. It's hard to say because now that I can I have some medical background, I have to assimilate that with how I feel. Will have to think about that some more.

Gigi thought about it some more. The "thrill" won out. She wrote last night that she returned to the clinic a week ago to assist in abortions:

Wednesday I was back at Planned Parenthood. This time, I got to do "procedures." Which means I actually did the abortions. It's so weird. You know what the say about doctors emotionally removing themselves from situations and being all mechanical? It's true. I competely think that's what happens, and I found myself in the same boat. You come in, greet the patient, do your job, (get in, get out kinda thing), then say, Okay, see ya later. Well, I don't say that. The actual doctor does. And he's an extremely sociable and friendly guy, so it's not any kind of personality conflict. Maybe it's because it's such an emotional experience for the patient, and as doctors, we have to be more stoic and pull away from the emotion. You'd think I could apply this in other arenas of my life...I wish it were that simple. Anyway, I ended up doing at least five abortions. And because I still haven't examined my beliefs yet, it's still weird for me. I mean, it would be weird anyway, but it's almost like I had an out-of-body experience while I was doing them, so I can only half-believe that I did them.

All this took place during a pouring rainstorm—one that was so intense that the "procedure room"'s lights flickered. Gigi adds, "It's a good thing we hadn't gotten started because that seriously would have been a catastrophe." On her way home, her car flooded and gave out.

I'd like to think that Someone was trying to send Gigi a message through the storm—trying to tell her that there was something seriously wrong with being so detached during a medical "procedure" that she practically had an "out-of-body experience."

Dr. Robert J. Lifton writes on Page 442 of the online book The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide that the murderous doctors at Auschwitz underwent a form of detachment that sounds chillingly similar:

The Auschwitz self depended upon radically diminished feeling, upon one’s not experiencing psychologically what one was doing. I have called that state "psychic numbing," a general category of diminished capacity or inclination to feel. Psychic numbing involves an interruption in psychic action—in the continuous creation and re-creation of images and forms that constitutes the symbolizing or "formative process" characteristic of human mental life. Psychic numbing varies greatly in degree, from everyday blocking of excessive stimuli to extreme manifestations in response to death-saturated environments. But it is probably impossible to kill another human being without numbing oneself toward that victim.

The Auschwitz self also called upon the related mechanism of “derealization,” of divesting oneself from the actuality of what one is part of not experiencing it as real (That absence of actuality in regard to the killing was not inconsistent with an awareness of the killing policy — that is, of the Final Solution.) Still another pattern is that of disavowal or the rejection of what one actually perceives and of its meaning. Disavowal and derealization overlap and are both aspects of the overall numbing process. The key function of numbing in the Auschwitz self is the avoidance of feelings of guilt when one is involved in killing. The Auschwitz self can then engage in medicalized killing an ultimate form of numbed violence....

In discussing patterns of diminished feeling, Ernst B. told me that it was the "key" to understanding what happened in Auschwitz. In also pointing out that "one could react like a normal human being in Auschwitz only for the first few hours," he was talking about how anyone entering the place was almost immediately enveloped in a blanket of numbing. And there was similar significance to the prisoner doctor Magda V.'s rhetorical question: "I mean, how can you understand the horror of it all?"

How can any of us understand the horror of it all? How can anyone comprehend what legalized abortion has done to the American mind—training people to believe that human life is utterly dispensable? What kind of a world are we creating for our children when an abortion-drug manufacturer, in attempting to repair its image after reports of mounting patient deaths, boasts that its product has killed 460,000 children?

Think about those things while you ponder what's to become of the Supreme Court. Contact your senators and your representative to tell them how you feel. And if you want to join those who support the president's nominee, contact groups such as The American Center for Law and Justice and National Right to Life.

When we create a world where a medical student is as "thrilled" to see a dead child's face as an eighth-grader would be to dissect a frog, something is very, very wrong.

Patterico has invented a new word, in the style of Rich Hall's Sniglets: tancredulous.

I'm happy to report that I wrote the front-page headline about the feds' investigating who funded a Wall Streeter's raunchy bachelor party: STOCKS & BLONDES. I thought of the "LEWD JUDE" headline as well, with help from Rhymezone.

Unraveling 'Mercies'

Guess who wrote the following on the TPM blog, curated by Joshua Micah Marshall:

I am able to believe, about half the time, that Bush and Rove would be capable of orchestrating a second terrorist attack on America, if and when they deem it necessary to instill martial law, which they will.

Hint: You'll find her work in the "Christian Inspiration" section of the bookstore.

Yes, it's true: That paranoid piece of slanderous swill was penned by Anne Lamott of Traveling Mercies fame. National Review Online's Sheri Annis has more.

The San Francisco Chronicle has a fascinating interview with Denise Carigg a New Ager who returned to her Catholic roots. One of her comments made me seek out St. Teresa's Interior Castle.

Mary 1, Shooter 0

A crazed New York City man who hated Christianity took a sword yesterday to a century-old statue of St. Anne, trying to cut off its head.

When that didn't work, the man, Kevin Davy, returned with a shotgun and blew the head off the statue—which depicts Anne with her daughter, the young Virgin Mary. He then directed a hail of bullets at two approaching policemen.

One of the policemen, Officer David Harris—when he was lying on the ground shot in the arm and femur—managed to shoot down Davy, wounding him critically. From the Daily News:

"God was on their side," said a fellow cop who spoke to Harris after the shootout. "The crazy guy was turning his gun back on Harris to kill him when he fell from his own wounds."

There's one miracle. Here's another: Both the cops will survive. Harris lives because a registered nurse, Tyrone Murphy, happened to be driving by and heard his cries. Newsday reports:

Murphy, a registered nurse who walks with crutches because of an old leg injury, was headed down Hollis Avenue to a 24-hour Walgreens drugstore on Francis Lewis Boulevard. He was a half-mile away when he heard Officer David Harris' cries for help. Inching closer, he saw Harris, 40, lying on his back near his patrol car.

"He was hysterically yelling, 'Somebody please help me! I need a tourniquet! Oh, my God. I'm going to bleed to death!'" Murphy said....

About 20 feet away, Murphy saw the suspect...screaming incoherently.

Interesting detail. Harris is crying out to his God—and his prayer is immediately answered. The suspect is screaming like a man possessed.

Even so, somebody heard the madman's incoherent screams. Help reached him in time. There's another lovely detail in the Daily News story:

Davy, who was in critical but stable condition at Mary Immaculate Hospital...

Now,there's proof that you can run, but you can't hide. Lucky for Davy, Our Lady does not hold grudges.

Indian Tsunami Victims Regret Their Sterilization

The Guardian reports today that in the wake of the tsunami, popular demand is forcing India's government to pay to undo sterilizations. Otherwise, parents who lost children in the tsunami would have no hope of having more biological children of their own.

The Guardian previously chronicled the Indian government's history of coercive sterilization. In the new article, reporter Randeep Ramesh writes, "the tsunami has revealed the downside of such progressive policies [as sterilization], leaving many angry at being robbed of the right to have children, albeit in extreme circumstances.

"'I never wanted for my wife to have family planning surgery,' says Laxman Shekar, Vairam's husband. [Vairam lost three children in the tsunami.] 'My wife did it and I was angry. Because of the tsunami we have to have another surgery to undo this. We have been cursed.'"

The sterilization plan's chief champions are the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

American Spectator executive editor George Neumayr has a chilling piece in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on the new eugenics. It ends with a quote from Andrew Imparato, head of the American Association of People with Disabilities: "It is not a progressive value to think that a disabled person is better off dead." (Via Robert N. Going.)

A Confession

Ever since I first heard the "Hallelujah Chorus," to this day, whenever I hear the lyric, "The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ, and of his Christ..." the same thought always crosses my mind: You mean his Christ has a Christ too?

For some reason, it reminds me of that commercial from the 1970s where a split screen depicts an exponentially growing sequence of shampoo users: "And they'll tell their friends, and they'll tell their friends..."

Gobstoppers on 14th Street

Early this morning, while waiting for my photos (including the one above) to emerge from a photo booth at an East 14th Street establishment called Otto's Shrunken Head, I encountered members of Billionaires for Bush (a left-wing satirical organization) all decked out for a "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" party.

I'm not hot on seeing the movie, but I have to hand it to this bunch for doing a great job at the "Rocky Horror" dress-up thing. They were easily recognizable as the characters, and the effort they put into their costumes showed—especially the one dressed as candy.



From left (all but "Veruca" using their Billionaires for Bush names): Meg A. Bucks (candy), Nelia (Veruca Salt), Cher Nothing (Violet), and Rich Mansburden (John Kerry in a spacesuit—I mean, Oompa Loompa).

In case you're wondering, I didn't have the guts to tell them I was a Communist for Kerry.

Quotes of the Day

"In the parade of horribles offered by the advocates of 'choice,' respecting the rights of conscience of health care professionals will result in the unavailability of legal, but morally controversial, medical services.

"But this would happen only if health care providers regarded a service (i.e., euthanasia, late-term abortion) as so odious that virtually none could bring themselves to do it. If that's the case, its unavailability may not be so horrible after all....

"The advocates of choice may want to keep the laws off your body, but they are quite willing to place them directly on your soul."

— Attorney Rick Esenberg, writing about opponents of the proposed "Conscience Protection Act" for health-care workers, in his brilliant Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel op-ed "Their choice vs. that other choice." Read the whole thing.

Frankl & Earnest

I recently read Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning for the first time (having been reminded of it by hearing Fr. George Rutler mention Frankl in a sermon) and I recommend it to everyone. It's right up there with Witness (see upper left) as one of the most inspiring books I've ever read.

Towards the end of the book, Frankl, an Auschwitz survivor, describes how concentration-camp life brought out the worst in some—but yet led others, such as Maximilian Kolbe (whom he mentions by name), to display the nature of saints.

I single out the following quotation to refute relativists who claim that we are wrong to urge others to reach higher, who say that the answer to problems caused by falling moral standards is simply to recalibrate standards to a lower level.

Frankl writes:

You may be prone to blame me for invoking examples that are the exceptions to the rule. "Sed omnia praeclara tam difficilia quam rara sunt" (but everything great is just as difficult as it is rare to find) reads the last sentence of the Ethics of Spinoza. You may of course ask whether we really need to refer to "saints." Wouldn't it suffice just to refer to decent people? It is true that they form a minority. More than that, they always will remain a minority. And yet I see therein the very challenge to join the minority. For the world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best.

Why Do They Hate Us?

Well, for one thing, unlike Islamic dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia, we let women drive.

The Associated Press: 'Rare' and Not Well Done

From today's Associated Press story on Iraq:

Iraqi and U.S. forces announced some rare successes: Capturing one suicide bomber before he could detonate his explosive belt, and arresting a key suspect in the kidnap-slaying of Egypt's top envoy to Iraq.

Excuse me, but "rare successes"? I realize that the terrorists in Iraq continue to shed much blood, but it's terrifically biased, not to mention unfair to our men and women in uniform, to claim that Iraqi and U.S. forces' successes are "rare." This is an example of how even the most mainstream of media outlets insidiously put forth the "quagmire" scenario.

I'm happy to write that I composed another front-page headline, to go with a photo of Bernard Ebbers crying upon being sentenced for stealing from WorldCom investors: BILLION DOLLAR BABY

Precious Medal

Reading The Kolbe Reader recently on my daily commute, I noticed how, over and over, St. Maximilian stressed the importance of the Miraculous Medal. Among other things, he considered it a weapon against heresies—once, in Russia, he even went so far as to secretly bury a number of the "silver bullets" in the gardens outside the Kremlin.

The Kolbe medal that I'd taken to wearing around my neck suddenly made me feel a little embarrassed. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but it struck me that, if I were to meet Kolbe, he'd find it sadly amusing that I was wearing his image rather than Mary's. Kolbe pointed to Mary—it seemed awkward that I should merely point to him.

It reminded me of a joke I'd read as a child about Mickey Mouse wearing a Spiro Agnew watch.*

Last Sunday, I made the trip up to the Church of Notre Dame at Columbia University, a beautiful church with a lovely service. Afterwards, over refreshments, I noticed a parishioner was wearing the Miraculous Medal, and I asked her where I could get one.

A young man who was standing nearby with his wife immediately proffered me a Miraculous Medal he'd apparently been carrying for just such an opportunity.

It took me a moment to process that he was actually giving me the medal. Then I thanked him and took it happily. It was one of those magical moments of serendipity.

Not that there's anything magical about the medal itself, as the Web site for the Association of the Miraculous Medal notes:

There is no superstition, nothing of magic, connected with the Miraculous Medal. The Miraculous Medal is not a “good-luck charm”. Rather, it is a great testimony to faith and the power of trusting prayer. Its greatest miracles are those of patience, forgiveness, repentance, and faith.

One can never have too many of those kinds of miracles. I'm thankful to be able to wear something beautiful that reminds me of them.

FURTHER READING:

• Jan on Mary and Rachel


• An association that offers a free Miraculous Medal


• The story of Alphonse Ratisbonne, whose conversion is a miracle attributed to the medal

*Corrected upon waking from "Richard Nixon watch." I can't believe I remember that. I must have been four years old at the time and reading my sister's copy of Mad magazine.

Unsafe and Legal

Is abortion "safer" than childbirth?

Regardless of whether you believe the serious doubts the American Life League has raised about this standby of the pro-abortion lobby, one thing's for sure:

It's certainly not safe for the baby. The baby's death rate is nearly 100%—and rest assured Planned Parenthood and pals are working on "perfectng" it.

Christine at Real Choice has an excellent post on the subject today, drawing a parallel to the issue of flight safety:

Could you imagine the public outcry if, in the wake of an airline crash, the FAA and the airline industry insisted that there was no need for an investigation and no need to take corrective measures on the grounds that, "Well, flying is still safer than driving!" We'd never stand for it. No matter how much safer airline travel is than driving, we still hold airlines to strict safety standards. No matter how much safer airline travel is than driving, we still investigate crashes. No matter how much safer airline travel is than driving, we still remain ever alert for ways to reduce risks and make it safer.

The comparative safety of an alternative method of transportation simply isn't relevant. We ask the question, "What caused this tragedy? What can we do to prevent this from happening again?" The question of how many of those airline passengers might have died had they driven instead is never asked, because it's not relevant....

If abortion apologists are serious about their often chanted mantra of "safe and legal," they'd do something to address "safe" other than obsessing with "legal." They'd investigate abortion mishaps the way the FAA investigates air travel mishaps. They'd make recommendations about preventing further mishaps. They would, in short, take abortion safety as seriously as they take abortion legality.

All That Chaz

Had a lovely time on Saturday with Dustbury's Charles G. Hill when he came through town during his World Tour '05. I even found some 45s to play him that he'd never heard—including wonderful non-LP sides by the Cowsills ("You in My Mind") and Every Mother's Son ("No One Knows").

Pure pop records are like an esoteric foreign language. It's always a pleasure to be with a fellow speaker—especially one who has a refreshing perspective on life that includes but goes beyond great tunes.
* * *
Another post or three to come later today.

The idea of a one-legged kid rollerblading sounds like the setup for a joke, but when I read about it on Trevor Romain's wonderful blog—specifically, what the kid said when questioned—it made me burst into tears.

Snoopy Comes Home

Daily News readers outside New York City tomorrow will see the headline I wrote for a story about 10 mistreated dogs of a certain breed who were rescued from an abandoned building:

Battered beagles to go

Orthodixie has the best cure for Social Security that I've seen.

When We Was Fab

Last night, I had the opportunity to write a once-in-a-lifetime headline for the Daily News' national edition. It was for a brief item about a move in the city council to protect Brighton Beach bungalows from developers who wanted to destroy them and build condos. I wrote: Brighton Beach pols want bungalow bill

Sorry, the promised Planned Parenthood-related post will have to wait 'til the wee small hours. It's actually more about NARAL, as it's something I discovered via the link that several readers sent me to that group's Washington State branch's "Screw Abstinence" party, which has since been mentioned in several blogs, including National Review Online's The Corner. Thanks very much to Bruce Griffin, Binky the Web Elf, Jarrod Ozenko, and Nathan Smyth for the tip—great to know that people think of this blog when they see something like that.

If you'd like to comment below on the "Screw Abstinence" party, please do—I just ask that, in accordance with the comments rules, you avoid slang stronger than "screw."

The Wages of Sign

Every day when I walk to work, I pass by the headquarters of Planned Parenthood of New York City.

The block is lined with numerous framed advertisements, mostly for movies and TV shows. All of them are changed on a regular basis...except for one. It's the one right outside Planned Parenthood's headquarters, facing the front door. It would be the last sign a woman would see as she approached the building. The movie it advertises came out three years ago.

It reads: "Before you die, you see the ring."

Right now, the movie poster that's next nearest the Planned Parenthood office is appropriate too. It's also to the right of the entrance, just a little farther down the street. The poster, for the film "The Wedding Crashers," reads, "NEVER GIVE YOUR REAL NAME."

Good advice when entering a Planned Parenthood office, I'd say—especially if you're a 21-year-old man procuring an abortion for your 14-year-old girlfriend.

* * *
Another Planned Parenthood-related post to come later today.

My latest "Blog On!" column is on the Daily News' Web site and in the paper today.

Thanks very much to everyone who responded to my request for tips on blog carnivals. I'm still planning to cover them in a future column.

Blair and Balanced

I received an e-mail last night that is remarkable for its high level of understanding and sympathy coming from someone who is a professed liberal and differs from me on hot-button issues. I was touched by it and am sharing it here with the writer's permission.

The writer and I have things in common, though I had never really thought about them until now. The bottom line is that we all deserve a second chance. I'm very thankful that I've gotten one, and I'm glad that the writer's well on his way to getting one as well. He's in my prayers now, and I hope he will be in yours too. The liberal world could use a Chuck Colson.

Dear Dawn,

I just recently heard about your experiences from a friend. Obviously, we did not know each other when I was in New York. A lot has happened in my life since those days. I am surprised, since having left for Virginia, at what New York looks like to the outside world, at times. I know, as New Yorkers, we see ourselves as a beacon of liberal progressive behavior in the darkness of an America that is backwards. Sadly, New York often seems out-of-touch with the real world concerns of the rest of America (i.e., in New York, often, free expression trumps family values, etc.).

Watching what happened to you -- assuming half of what I've read is correct -- seems like a contradictory case of liberal persecution of a person who has values and views that differ from their own. As a liberal (at least on many issues, like law and order, social services, aid to the weakest among us, etc.), I have to apologize on behalf of my brethren.

We as liberals pride ourselves on our intellectual prowess, but, I fear, at times, there is no logic to our arguments. After all, what is more logically and emotionally compassionate than the Catholic seamless garment theory that life is sacred from conception to death? What is more emotive than the power of God -- the precious and beautiful moments when He works mysteriously in our lives?

I don't agree with you on everything. I'm willing to admit that I am a bumbling bundle of contradictions. I believe in the sanctity of life, for example, although I would not like to see Roe v. Wade overturned. I have no doubt that the Bible is clear on homosexuality, but I support same-sex marriages. I'm not going to pretend that there is true logic to some of these theories -- simply a combination of logic and emotion competing with practicalism. I'm actually quite comfortable with these seemingly contradictory positions. Still, though my beliefs are strong, I don't begrudge you yours and admire the courage of convictions.

So, carry on with all of God's blessings.

You shatter a lot of stereotypes about Christians.

Sincerely,

Jayson Blair

'They Don't Want Priests' at London Bomb Site

"The image of emergency services wanting priests at the scene has finished.They don't want priests there."

— Fr. Peter Newby of St. Mary Moorfield Parish, who had hoped to help at a London bombing site.

Not knowing the whole story, I admit it's possible that the emergency-services personnel's decision to bar the priest was based on concerns for his safety. But I don't doubt for a minute that Fr. Newby knew the risk he was taking, just as Fr. Mychal Judge did when he entered the Twin Towers on 9/11—becoming the first recorded fatality of the attacks.

The British well know of Fr. Judge's sacrifice, and of how much it meant to 9/11 victims and emergency-service workers to have Judge and other clergymen on the scene (including the FDNY's Jewish chaplain). It's a shame that the 7/7 workers didn't likewise realize the value—if not, as many would say, the necessity—of having a member of the clergy present.

The Challenges of Choice

Chez Joel is thinking about what kinds of choices are truly available to us:

This universe, and we ourselves are neither completely random, nor are we trivially simple. We and our world are somewhere between the two. And as I contemplated this on my drive home, a Psalm came into my head: "Thou preparest a table for me in the presence of mine enemies." Suddenly the Psalm became a cryptogram unraveling. A table is simple, predictable, safe. Enemies are complex, volitile, dangerous and difficult to predict. God, in preparing an ordered space for us in the midst of chaos, has deftly wrapped these two diametric forces into a single, paradoxical whole: a universe which is not so simple that we do not have room to make choices, nor so complex that we cannot observe it and make some predictions. He provided paths in which we might cross the blind spots of self change, but at the same time made a world in which we might actually observe ourselves and others in order to make informed choices.

Read the whole thing.

Breaking Up Baby

In recent years, there has been a movement to soften abortion's image by offering what are supposed to be comforting rituals to women who seek abortions. This approach appears on the surface to be more compassionate than Planned Parenthood's position that an unborn child is nothing more than a blob of tissue. But look deeper and it's clear that the two views are essentially the same: Even those who encourage women to observe post-abortion rituals insist that it's up to the former mother-to-be to decide if her child was a human life.

That ideology was brought home to me upon reading a pro-abortion Web site's FAQ for women who use medications to induce abortion:

Will I know when I have passed the pregnancy?

You may or may not. For some women, the passage of the tissue is quite obvious, for others it is not. The pregnancy tissue will vary in size, depending on your stage of pregnancy. The sac is pinkish-white in color, and may look somewhat feathery or filmy at the edges. An early pregnancy (5-6 weeks) might be the size of a grape, while a later pregnancy (8-9 weeks) might be the size of a small lime. A few women may be able to see the embryo inside the sac at 8-9 weeks, although it is often too small for the untrained eye to detect.

Some women choose to view the tissue, others are happy not to. It is truly a private moment and women experience a range of emotions and decide to mark the moment in a number of ways. Some choose a ritual or a celebration; others flush the toilet with a sigh of relief! The moment is yours.

"The moment is yours." It sounds like something out of a deodorant commercial: "I'm so happy I switched to new Evacu-Baby! The old Flush-a-Fetus just didn't do the job."

I'm sorry to joke, but I really don't what to say. The writer's chirpy image of flushing a baby down the toilet "with a sigh of relief!" is so absurd, it's too painful to bear.

Abortion advocates typically respond, "But a large number of women do want to 'celebrate' and breathe 'a sigh of relief' after an abortion." The idea is that "if it feels good," it can't be wrong. Well, if I could flush the unwanted people in my life down the toilet and never have to worry about anyone coming after me, I might feel pretty darn good too. But that wouldn't make it right.

At the vanguard of the kill-it-and-mourn-it movement is notorious late-term abortionist George Tiller, who offers clients the opportunity to have their dead babies baptized. Appropriately, the man whom his Web site cites as his clinic's chaplain is long dead.

MORE: Diogenes writes in Catholic World News' Off the Record of the pro-abortion FAQ writer's deliberate terminology: "Note how at each stage the 'pregnancy tissue' is referenced to some non-human, indeed non-animate, object."

Brilliant

Via Patterico's Pontifications, it's Kevin Murphy's Democrat Nomination Translation Table.

Welcome, Gawker Readers

I see that Gawker's cited me a second time in two days. If you'd like to know why Rolling Stone called me "young and sexless," here's a post from last year on "The Innocence Mission" (sorry, music fans—not the band), and here's one about disobeying Hugh Hefner.

Former Ground Zero volunteer Robert N. Going remembers how the British were with us after 9/11.

"It is ludicrous to try and reduce this to Iraq. Europe is steadily becoming a part of the civil war that is roiling the Islamic world, and it will require all our cultural ingenuity to ensure that the criminals who shattered London's peace at rush hour this morning are not the ones who dictate the pace and rhythm of events from now on."

— Christopher Hitchens on the London bombings, via Michelle Malkin

Life After Desk

The item that Gawker published about me yesterday is an excellent example of the double standard that pervades left-wingers' attitudes about journalists: the idea that it is somehow scary for journalists to openly support conservative causes, while perfectly acceptable for them to embrace liberal ones.

The Web site's item derides me for writing "[n]ews headlines today" while "lobbying for pro-life justices by night." "Swell," the writer adds sarcastically. (The item also calls me a "wackjob," but I'll grant that Gawker may mean that affectionately, based on its past coverage depicting me as a quaintly bizarre alien from Planet Christian.)

Would anyone like to bet how newsworthy it would be to Gawker if a New York City newspaper staffer told his or her blog readers to visit Planned Parenthood's Web site and aid their campaign for a pro-abortion judge?

A columnist for a major New York City newspaper's Web site recently told her readers that she does some work for Planned Parenthood. Where's the outrage? Last month, many New York City newspaper employees publicly participated in a charity event benefiting a group of nonprofits that included Dignity/New York—which actively campaigns against the tenets and policies of the Roman Catholic Church. Where's the outrage?

There is no outrage, of course, neither do I believe there should be. Reporters and editors are human beings, and should not be required to give up their beliefs and ideals at the newsroom entrance. In fact, I submit that it is impossible for anyone to be a good reporter or editor without having deep and strongly held views on political and social issues.

The challenge is for journalists to present the news in a manner extending beyond their personal opinions to encompass all the information relevant to the stories at hand. That is the way that great editors and reporters have operated for generations, and that is the ideal—however challenging it may be to achieve—that drives all New York's newspapers. Well, nearly all—I'm not so sure about the Post.

Aw, Gawker, I didn't know you still cared! But what I am I going to do when you find a new "favorite tabloid copy editor-cum-fundamentalist wackjob-cum-blogger"? Or when you find out that this so-called fundamentalist is on the road to Rome? Unless of course, as I suspect, in Gawker's universe, all orthodox Christians are fundamentalists.

And if God knew what He was doing with this one commandment...

...isn't it possible that His many commandments barring nonmarital sex are also for our protection?

"[C]ircumcision reduced the risk of contracting HIV by 70 percent—a level of protection far better than the 30 percent risk reduction set as a target for an AIDS vaccine."—San Francisco Chronicle

'Oh, how clumsy of me — I meant to accuse you'

Caren Lissner remembers "Sound of Music" screenwriter Ernest Lehman.

Rudolph and Sanger: Killers Find Their Nietzsche

So bomber Eric Rudolph, the Atlanta Olympics bomber whose targets also include abortion clinics and a gay nightclub, prefers "God is dead" Nietzsche to the Bible.

Why am I not surprised?

Coincidentally, it was a Unitarian minister's lecture on Nietzsche that inspired Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger to campaign against the "false sentiment" of faith. Her legacy continues to this day. On Planned Parenthood's Teenwire Web site, for example, the organization's "experts" have this answer for a 14-year-old boy who asks if masturbation is "safe and healthy":

While many religious leaders teach that masturbation or any other sexual activity outside of marriage is sinful, it is entirely a matter of personal belief.

In other words, it's not enough for Planned Parenthood's "experts" to say, "Yes, masturbation is physically safe, and we believe it's healthy." They have to reach into the realm of religion and fully dispense with any faith-based qualms a 14-year-old child might have about the activity. Yet, Planned Parenthood is the first to raise church-and-state arguments whenever there are attempts to teach abstinence in public schools.

More insidiously, what is "sinful," according to Planned Parenthood, is "entirely a matter of personal belief." It's a short step from that to Satanist Aleister Crowley's "do what thou wilt."

Planned Parenthood's Web site features a section on "Terrorist and Extremist Organizations"—including such not-exactly-jihadist groups as Feminists for Life. I submit that the real terrorists are people who not only put the word of materialists like Nietzsche over the Bible, but act on their beliefs, to the point of committing and promoting murder. Such killers deserve to be punished with the full force of the law.

It is a great tragedy of our age that the law, as interpreted by our nation's courts, is only applicable against the Eric Rudolphs of this world—and not his ideological compatriots as well.
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Want to do something to encourage the appointment of judges who respect life? The American Center for Law and Justice's Web site has information on how to take action. If prayer's more your thing, Priests for Life has a prayer campaign for our nation's courts and judges.

UPDATE: Welcome, Gawker readers! And welcome again!

Hil-arious

A Slant Point reader has the perfect caption to a photo of Bill and Hil at the Billy Graham crusade, an appearance which I noted earlier.

Quote of the Day

"[R]eal humility doesn't lie in not knowing truth; it lies in believing truth that's not your own. Truth that you didn't invent and that you weren't the first to discover in your little clique -- truth that you can't take credit for. Truth that is God's truth, that belongs to him."

—From "Humility in Truth," by Ed Jordan, on Media Culpa

GOPinion's Page Two asks: Considering that some liberals serve in the military and some donate to help our troops, why don't Democrats online show support for even the mere concept of our armed forces?

The answer is the same one that seems to answer a lot of questions these days—the Democratic party is being commandeered by the far left.

Read the whole thing.

Phelps's Gore Constituency

Alarming News' Karol reveals that the odious Fred Phelps is a Democrat who was buddies with Al Gore during the 1980s and 1990s. (Don't be fooled by her entry's link to the dubious Wikipedia—the Wikipedia entry is backed by information from the pro-Gore Southern Poverty Law Center, among other sources.) Phelps was also a three-time candidate in Kansas's Democratic gubernatorial primary; the last time, in 1998, he won 15 percent of the vote.

Admittedly, there are haters on both sides of the fence—but, like Karol, I'm glad this one isn't a Republican.

Pride for the Perplexed

This afternoon, as Joel and I drove up the Garden State Parkway, we heard a Chicago Public Radio show featuring Dana Villa, author of Socratic Citizenship. Mr. Villa was such a caricature of a relativist academe that the show—which is archived online—afforded us one of those classic conservative "Mystery Science Theater" opportunities to do our own running commnentary.

Although he was by every outward sign a relativist, Villa spoke of how it is possible for the masses to have an opinion that is, well, wrong. (Keep in mind the original air date of the show: November 8, 2004. Left-wingers had a lot of 'splainin' to do.) Villa described how mass opinion "congeals" and becomes "detached from reality." But his best quote—the one that sent me and Joel into paroxysms of laughter—was this:

"Perplexity is the prelude to thoughtfulness."

So that's why Americans support conservative causes! They're not confused enough. If they would only stop making up their minds, we could get some real thinking done.

Perhaps John Edwards was right about there being "two Americas." But I can't see why anyone would want to live in a ball of confusion when they could live in the home of the brave.

Lance Salyers' Story in 'Blog On!'

My Daily News column "Blog On!" this week is about Lance Salyers. (Note that I didn't write the headline, which mistakenly states that Salyers called his boss a coward.) For the latest on the story, read his blog, Ragged Edges.

There Go De Judge

On the day that I watched the "Laugh-In" show where Sammy Davis revived Pigmeat Markham's classic catchphrase, I learned the good news. My friend Dimitri Cavalli puts it best, in a headline he suggested: "Reagan's First Mistake Finally Quits."

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What are you doing here? There's nothing to see. I'm on vacation. The action is on Lance Salyers' blog, starting with his June 28 post "I Hate Cowardice." Have a happy Fourth!