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Compiled by Steve Jalsevac
LIFE ISSUES
The Basement of the Culture of Death by Deal W. Hudson
With a pro-abortion president in the White House, new sub-groups in the broader "culture of death" are coming into view. Anyone who describes herself as pro-choice but has any impulse to protect the unborn is "anti-choice." Thus is revealed the darkest recesses in the "culture of death," when all compassion for the unborn child is reviled in the name of freedom.
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6212&Itemid=48
The Abortion Movement's best-kept secret
Abortion advocates use skewed statistics and false reporting to give the impresion that pro-lifers are violent. The truth is hard for them to accept.
http://www.speroforum.com/a/19647/The-Abortion-Movements-bestkept-secret
Amnesty Int'l reveals an Achilles' heel of the anti-life lobby
http://spuc-director.blogspot.com/2009/06/amnesty-intl-reveals-achilles-heel-of.html
Scourging at the Tiller By George Neumayr
The fashionable left presides over a culture of death, using man-made legal parchments to mop up its encircling pools of blood. But the blood never comes out; the stain remains and grows more obvious with time.
As Abraham Lincoln said of legal slavery and the inexorable patterns of history that ripple from injustice, "every drop of blood drawn with the [slaveholder's] lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword." Do we really think that every drop of blood drawn with the abortionist's scalpel is exempt from the invisible laws of justice? The longer we permit this scourge to continue the more horrible America's fate will be.
The culture of death which they excuse and extend is essentially Hitlerite: the "final solution" to an inconvenient pregnancy is abortion; the "final solution" to soaring health care costs is euthanasia; the "final solution" to disease is experimenting on embryos; the "final solution" to disability is prenatal screening, etc., etc.
"Every child a wanted child" is a slogan Hitler himself could have devised. Instead, pro-abortion liberals did, and they have been killing "unwanted" children ever since. They are in no position to lecture "the right" on America's violence.
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/06/12/scourging-at-the-tiller
Missing from Tiller's eulogy: The A-word - Jill Stanek
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=100680
"Destruction of 50 million students"
Pro-life groups call for pickets at National Education Association's convention in San Diego next month
http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=e419ff2b-c5c8-4e92-8c65-0cb2db8c93b
Political party in Mexico airs pro-abortion campaign ads, says Church should keep its nose out of politics
http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=979c3c59-6b38-45b8-a089-b2bfe1916926
Ulster sextuplet couple 'rejected advice to abort several foetuses'
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/ulster-sextuplet-couple-lsquorejected-advice-to-abort-several-foetusesrsquo-14338729.html
IVF treats embryos as expendable, bioethicist says, reacting to British story
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16307
Paying Women to Risk Their Lives To Help Scientists Clone - Wesley J. Smith
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/06/18/paying-women-to-risk-their-lives-to-help-scientists-clone/
It's Raining Stem Cells - Wesley J. Smith
Discarded fallopian tubes from hysterectomies could be a good source of donor stem cells, say researchers.
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/06/17/its-raining-stem-cells/
Biological Colonialism Continues to Increase - Wesley J. Smith
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/06/13/biological-colonialism-continues-to-increase/
Death As Social Responsibility?
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog&Itemid=127
Montana Doctors Refusing to be Complicit in Assisted Suicide - Wesley J. Smith
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/06/17/montana-doctors-refusing-to-be-complicit-in-assisted-suicide/
Cristina Alarcon: Right to die? How about right to live
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/holy-post/archive/2009/06/10/c.aspx
Assisting Suicide is not "Free Speech" - Wesley J. Smith
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/06/14/assisting-suicide-is-not-free-speech/
Family Research Council Hosts Premiere of 'The Demographic Bomb: Demography is Destiny'—Demographic Winter, Part II
http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/1441010656.html
RELIGION
The Good News about Our Bishops by Deal W. Hudson
For those who may be lamenting the seeming resurgence of the Catholic Left in the Age of Obama, I would like to point out some good news: This year's spate of bishops' assignments have been quite heartening. Since the beginning of 2009, there have been ten appointments announced by the Vatican. All of them should be encouraging to those who grumble about the "bishops this" and the "bishops that."
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6309&Itemid=48
The Douglas Kmiec Straw Man Factory Isn't in Recession
Kmiec makes key assumptions that simply don't hold up to any sort of scrutiny. Why is it contrary to the nature of a healthy and honest discussion to say, "I believe you are wrong about this or that, and I'm going to set out to show you why"? Would it be proper to avoid such an approach if the issue were slavery or racism? Kmiec insists it "is necessarily to acknowledge the good faith of the other," but in his recent public discussion with Robert George at the National Press Club, he did not extend that good faith to those bishops (among them Archbishops Chaput and Burke) who believe that Holy Communion should be withheld from pro-abortion politicians, authoritatively declaring, "No prelate should indulge the contrary view, especially since the bishops who have done so seem more aligned with partisan, than salvific, interests." Kmiec continually extends good faith to those publicly contradicting the Faith, while denouncing as partisan agents those Shepherds who (gasp!) think public actions and the Faith cannot be conveniently divorced from one another.
http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2009/06/the-douglas-kmiec-straw-man-factory-isnt-in-recession.html
The Meaning and Future of the Catholic Church - Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
In effect, the structures of today's diocesan life sometimes work to block the very thing they were meant to help: a bishop's direct contact with his people. ...it is easy today for a bishop to delegate his missionary zeal to others, to become a captive of his own administrative machinery. This runs exactly counter to the example of Jesus and the first apostles.
In fact, many of the key problems bishops face as shepherds are not programmatic or resource-driven. They are problems of faith. Too often, those of us in the Church—and sometimes even those of us who are bishops—simply do not believe deeply and zealously enough.
...We bishops have plans and committees and projects and staffs. All these things are important in their proper place. But at the end of the day, are we apostles, or are we executives? And what do our people really need: managers or pastors?
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6215&Itemid=48
Bishops fear new Bill could force schools to take down crucifixes
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/articles/a0000563.shtml
O'Reilly Highlights Far-Left Threats Against Church
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2009/06/16/oreilly-highlights-far-left-threats-against-church
Vatican Newspaper Editor Digs Deeper Hole by Deal W. Hudson
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6256&Itemid=48
Vermont Catholic school cancels anti-racism event over affiliate's abortion, gay marriage stance
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=3196
Pope deplores priests' infidelities to their vows
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g5ME9gcm5DDGEKMAwJI0aWgE0H1gD98T325G0
Irish archbishop reveals anger, disgust on reading abuse report
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=3233
Evangelical Editor Picks a Quarrel With his Cohorts
Argues that many, if not most, evangelical churches have lost their way. Instead of sticking with core biblical principles, rich traditions and church-as-community, he says, they promote feel-goodism, technological fads and church-as-entertainment.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/faith/story/765051.html
In England, family size averages 1.8 children per couple. Compare that to 8.1 children per couple for Muslim immigrant families. The cultural transformation of Europe is driven entirely by Western society abandoning its biblical mandate to "be fruitful and multiply!"
Population experts say the trend is irreversible.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=564868
Austria and China. The Bishops with the Lowest Grades
http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1338939?eng=y
for two days in a row the Austrian bishops faced severe criticism.
http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1338939?eng=y
Vatican: Report raises questions about internal debate
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Religion/?id=3.0.3468546829
The First Apostolic Visitation of the Legionaries of Christ: 1956-1959
He uses "lies, distortions, exaggerations" and acts as if "the ends justify the means." He lacks the spirit of religious poverty, travels first class, eats luxurious food rather than that prepared for the community, spends more time in the houses of women donors than in his own religious houses. He considers his desire for sexual gratification to be a urological problem.
http://cassandrajonesing.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-apostolic-visitation-of_23.html
Nepal: Hindus Say Christians Must Leave
Hindu extremists are demanding that the 1 million Christians of Nepal should leave the country. This comes a week after a bombing at the Catholic cathedral in Kathmandu.
http://www.speroforum.com/a/19553/Nepal-Hindus-say-Christians-must-leave
Secret Chinese Document to Suppress Christians
A secret Communist Party document from Hubei indicates a nationwide campaign to 'normalize'- suppress underground Christian churches.
http://www.speroforum.com/a/19582/Secret-Chinese-document-to-suppress-Christians
On the Trail of the Ark of the Covenant
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6314&Itemid=48
Mir-Hossein Mousavi has become the repository for the Iranian people's hopes. What seemed impossible last week seems very possible today. But we don't know yet what he believes or intends.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZGZhZDVjMDU3NjZlNTJlMzdjOGEyY2M1NDg0YjdmNTM=
NOTRE DAME
Taking the bishops' temperature on Obama-Notre Dame
The Notre Dame-Obama controversy was talked about everywhere
http://ncronline.org/news/taking-bishops-temperature-obama-notre-dame
Key US bishops: No ecclesiastical sanctions against Notre Dame
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=3255
At the Gates of Notre Dame by Joseph Bottum
We all knew this fight was coming. The Catholic Church and the Catholic colleges have been heading toward a crash since at least 1990. It is a horrifying fact, in many ways, that Roe v. Wade has done more to provide Catholic identity than any other event of the last fifty years. What the bishops should do now is not clear. They lack much of a weapon beyond the pinprick of a sharp letter and the atomic explosions of declaring that an institution is no longer Catholic and, I suppose, issuing an interdict that bans the sacraments on campus. The likelihood of interdiction at Notre Dame this spring is vanishingly small—but the bishops might remember that weapons remain valuable only if they get brandished every once in a while.
They might remember, as well, that the day is coming when they will have to take on a major Catholic university, and it won't be because they much want to. It will be because the ordinary sense of ordinary Catholics compels them to it.
http://www.firstthings.com/article/2009/05/at-the-gates-of-notre-dame-1243346487
Not to Notre Madame
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6232&Itemid=48
HOMOSEXUALITY, Etc.
The disgraceful autobiography of Rembert Weakland By George Neumayr
It sounds like an over-the-top Tom Wolfe novel: a successor to the apostles conducts an affair with a male graduate student, is accused of "date rape" and emotional harm by said student, and raids the collection basket of the faithful to hush the student up, then, as the bishop settles into a cushy retirement, he pens a "coming out" memoir in praise of homosexual behavior, all the while retaining the canonical rights and privileges of a retired archbishop and receiving pats on the back from fellow clergy.
http://www.catholicworldreport.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=117:pilgrims-regress&catid=36:cwr2009&Itemid=53
Traditional Marriage Rallies Ignored by Media
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/warner-todd-huston/2009/06/15/traditional-marriage-rallies-ignored-media
Cher's daughter Chastity Bono is changing gender from female to male
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/06/11/2009-06-11_chastity_bono_is_changing_gender_from_female_to_male.html#ixzz0IB8QLDf3&D
State-supported "Transgender Prom" for kids ("22 or younger") in Boston City Hall: Your worst nightmare
http://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen/09b/youth_pride/tranny_prom.html
Conscience Protections Sought for Nebraska Psychologistsis
Responding to concerns that psychologists might be required to counsel homosexual couples about strengthening their relationship, Catholic leaders in Nebraska are asking for conscience protections for psychologists who refuse to treat or refer clients because of religious or moral convictions.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16301
Guess who fired Miss California
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=101470
CLIMATE CHANGE, ETC.
The founder of The Weather Channel who wants to sue Al Gore for Global Warming fraud.
It is "an inconvenient truth" for Al Gore that the world is currently experiencing some of the coldest weather in decades.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2009/06/15/will-widespread-global-cooling-reports-freeze-al-gore-media-credibilit
"Man is Not a Cancer On the Planet" - Wesley J. Smith
It isn't "bad tactics" that is the problem with the radicalization of naturalism: It is the movement's fundamental and fervent rejection of human exceptionalism. Once you depose us as the unique and special species, it inevitably unleashes a drive to turn people into mere fauna , which leads directly to the self destructive nihilism against which Ball reacts.
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/06/13/man-is-not-a-cancer-on-the-planet/
Global warming? Temps on an 8-year decline
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=567880
Commandeered by Climate Alarmists
Did the chief executives of a few Western states hijack the staff and resources of their regional coalition, against the will of most of their fellow governors, all to promote their vision for a regional cap-and-trade agreement? It sure looks that way.
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/06/19/commandeered-by-climate-alarmi
State Department Says China to Get U.S. Aid under New Climate Deal
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=49542
MISCELLANEOUS
Rape is No Joke
Imagine turning on the television to your favorite talk show, and watching the host crack jokes about President Obama's daughters being raped and impregnated at a baseball game during the seventh-inning stretch. Can you even begin to fathom the legitimate outrage that President Obama and his family would feel, or how the liberals would prepare for the inevitable war against the host and conservatives in general?
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/17136/BLI/reports/index.htm
Dear David Letterman By Michelle Malkin
You called the married 45-year-old mother, grandmother and Alaska governor a "slutty flight attendant" on your national TV talk show because she happens to be a tall, beautiful and dynamic public figure who doesn't look, walk or talk the way you think she should.
http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/mmalkin/2009/mm_06121.shtml
Thousands of young women have been enslaved in Europe and the US because of permissive Western attitudes.
http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/the_unfinished_emancipation/
Calvin Klein is under fire for a sexually explicit new billboard that's caught the eyes —and turned the stomachs —of many people who have seen it in New York.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526491,00.html
Philippe Dufresne, CHRC and Ezra Levant on Canadian Human Rights Commissions. 12 minute video of excellent program!
http://watch.ctv.ca/news/power-play/friday-june-12/#clip182575
Human Rights Commission says it should probe online hate messages
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/06/11/internet-hate011.html
Conservatives Almost Double Liberals in U.S.
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000010247.cfm
Gallup: Conservatives are largest ideological group in America
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog&Itemid=127
Painting the Right as an undifferentiated blob of evil - By Jonah Goldberg
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YmM1MWY2NTljNWQwNjUzYzFjMGI3YTIwNTE0NDc1ODE=
Republicans are losing the demographic war.
Republican strategist Mike Murphy says the GOP is in for an electoral Ice Age.
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=Republicans-are-losing-the-demographic-war..html&Itemid=127
Time for 'new world order': Brazilian President
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.db1c3a82d0827b5cdf05eea3ba146af8.511&show_article=1
A reality check about teens and virtual reality
The virtual worlds teens enter when they're texting under the table (or blogging, posting pictures online, leaving comments on people's Web pages, etc.) is harming them as much as, if not more than, it's helping them. Teens' "totally connected life" is shortening their attention spans, narrowing their worldview, damaging their ability to communicate, and leading some down a very dangerous path.
http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2009/06/a-reality-check-about-teens-and-virtual-reality.html