Pro-Choice is No Choice

1. The Senate yesterday defeated (39 yea, 55 nay) an effort to retain the Kemp/Kasten Amendment in the appropriations bills, which would prohibit giving taxpayer money to international organizations that support coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization (e.g., the one-child program of the Chinese government). I would break the count down to see how the Catholic Senators voted, but I expect that you could guess yourselves, since it was pretty much a straight party line vote. I should note that Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) voted "yes", although our new senator, Kristen Gillibrand, sullied her record immediately with a "no" vote. Just so it's clear what this vote means. US tax dollars will now go to organizations that participate in conduct that was among the charges of "crimes against humanity" at the Nuremburg Trials. How is this a "pro-choice" position, exactly?

2. An excellent overview of the Sebellius situation. It is worth remembering that the Church's teaching on human life is not the only doctrine that is at stake here. Also in play is the Church's teaching on the obligations of lay Catholics to bring the Gospel to all areas of life (see, e.g., Lumen Gentium 36), and the obligation of public officials to oppose violations of human rights (see Lumen Gentium and the CDF document on Catholics in public life). We cannot accept a strict division between the City of God and the City of Men -- we are citizens of both.

3. The California Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in the challenge to Prop 8, which preserved the traditional definition of marriage. It's hard to read the tea leaves of oral arguments, but if the LA Times (a/k/a the Ministry of Propaganda for the "gay rights" movement) thinks the court is leaning towards preserving Prop 8, that's good news.

4. A Catholic college in Massachusetts has taken steps to stop a student from distributing condoms on campus. That's a good start. I hope they're also doing something to encourage the students to live chastely in general.

5. Some events have just so many layers of tragedy that they are virtually incomprehensible without an understanding of the effects of evil and sin on the human condition. A 9-year-old girl in Brazil, pregnant with twins as the result of being raped by her stepfather, underwent an abortion. Please pray for her and all those involved in this abominable situation (even the stepfather, who is obviously in the grips of grave evil).

6. I missed this, but Wedneday was the 30th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis. The first sentence said it all -- "The redeemer of man, Jesus Christ, is the center of the universe and of history."

7. Continuing our history lesson, today is the anniversary of the Dred Scott decision. I imagine that Justice Taney thought he was "settling" the issue of slavery, just as our modern Supreme Court justices think they have settled the abortion question (as they famously claimed in the Casey decision). He was catastrophically wrong, and so are they.

8. So, the Great Orator can't or won't speak in public without a teleprompter. No comment until I see the remarks prepared by my staff.