extreme Catholic
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2003
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My headline: Heresy ends as heretics exit
(the AP's headline is) Bishop to Lay Ministers: Sign Oath
"I could no longer pretend that I could ascend to some of those articles of faith any more than others can," she said Thursday in a telephone interview.Of course, she means "assent", but that's besides the point.
She was content to be a lay minister but to disregard the teachings of the Church.
ooo... this looks like trouble...
However Tom Dolezal, a Catholic from Bend, said the issue is not about supporting church teachings but blind adherence to dogma."If he (the bishop) is going to exclude anyone who has any doubt about a church teaching, he's going to exclude 100 percent of the membership of the church, including himself. He has to be a human being, the same as me, and I have doubts about some of the church teachings," Dolezal said.
Dolezal, a communion minister and lector, has not resigned from his positions. He plans to confront [Bishop] Vasa and see if the bishop forces him out of his job.
Tom, you're a regular Joan of Arc.
It's called "faith" not "doubt". That's what we share: one faith in one Lord.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:26 PM Permalink
Dafur: A place as close to Hell as you can get on this planet
Reuters: Papal envoy appeals for Darfur refugees
Pope John Paul's special envoy to Sudan on Monday called on the Khartoum government to guarantee security for the more than one million refugees in the Darfur region.Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, head of Cor Unum, the Vatican's charity coordination arm made the appeal at the end of a fact-finding mission to the area on behalf of the Pontiff.
"Sudanese authorities, in collaboration with the international community, must guarantee assistance and the return to their villages of people who have been deprived of everything, who have been forced to flee their homes and live in conditions that are not worthy of humans," he said.
"Unfortunately public opinion has neglected and ignored the war in Sudan for too long," Cordes said.
Militias known as Janjaweed have been fighting rebels in the Darfur region of western Sudan since last year. The Sudanese government has been accused of backing the militias, a charge the government denies.
The United Nations estimates the conflict has killed some 30,000 people and driven more than a million from their homes. The U.S. Congress has said killings, rape and pillage by Arab militia amount to genocide.
Cordes said in a statement that while he was in Sudan he asked authorities repeatedly to give Catholic relief agencies free access to refugee camps.
In his weekly Sunday prayer, the 84-year-old Pope made an appeal for the Darfur refugees, saying the world could not remain indifferent to their plight.
Since most of the Christians in Sudan have been killed or driven out of Sudan, the only people left to persecute are other Muslims who have centuries-deep roots in that faith. The persecuters are Muslims aligned with Arab Muslims and funded and armed by Arab Muslim fascists. It's a real war and the biggest Muslim vs. Muslim war since Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. The utter meaningless of a war over Darfur is staggering - it resembles in some war the cattleman-farmer "wars" in Wild West days.
I track these things pretty carefully. The Pope is not a pacifist but called for "boots on the ground" in Rwanda, South Sudan, Kosovo, and now East Sudan (i.e. Darfur) one of least hospitable places in the world to human life. The answer to the question "what do the Arab invaders of Darfur want" of the Muslim population which has been there for centuries is the same answer as one given by the captured alien in "Independence Day" to the president: "We want you to die". Also discussed in Amy Welborn's blog and John Allen in National Catholic Reporter
The BBC has a good discussion of the military campaign. The name of the enemy is Janjaweed (meaning man with a gun on a horse).
And this rather cynical story in the New York Press
Historical note: for a short time the Christian kingdom of Axum extended as far west as Dafur long before the arrival of Islam.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:32 PM Permalink
AP: Spitzer warns GOP to not use 9-11 for politics
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer had a blunt warning Thursday for Republicans opening their national convention late next month in New York City: Don't politicize the 9/11 terrorist attacks.Continuing his remarks, he immediately poltiticized 9/11:"We're going to hear a lot about Sept. 11," Spitzer said about the upcoming GOP convention. "I say this to the Republican Party: With all respect and all deference, do not dare use 9/11 for political purposes."
The GOP convention comes just before the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan, killing almost 3,000 people. President Bush has invited former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Gov. George Pataki, in large part because of their post 9/11 leadership, to have starring roles at the convention.
"Neither party should use this for politics, so I say to the Republicans, do not go there," Spitzer told cheering New York delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Boston. "It would not be fair or right, and we will not let you do it."
Spitzer, however, did a little of his own Bush-bashing on the subject of terrorism.Citing a pre-Sept. 11 report warning of terrorist threats to the United States, Spitzer told the delegates, "The Bush administration ignored it."
And Spitzer, a potential candidate for governor in 2006, said Bush had initially opposed creation of an independent commission to investigate the 9/11 attacks.
"Finally, the families of the victims made it happen," he said.
Who is Eliot Spitzer to tell the voters what is and isn't part of the political discussion?
With one side of their mouth they say "shove it" and then with the other demand "civility".
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:52 PM Permalink
New York Post: Biker Tragedy
A Queens teen riding a motorcycle without a helmet early yesterday was killed after a slow-speed chase by cops when he hit a pothole and crashed to the pavement.This bike comes with this disclaimer:Donte Pomar was 19 years old. His anguished family doesn't understand why he's dead. But they say the cops are to blame.
"They killed him," said the teen's father, Hector. "That's what happened."
But police insist the youth's death in a Fresh Meadows alley was an accident.
Cops said Donte cut in front of an unmarked cop car just after 3 a.m. yesterday. The officers followed him — with their police lights flashing.
The youth's tiny motorcycle — commonly called a pocket bike — had no license plates, headlights and tail lights, and he wasn't wearing a helmet, said a police source.
"These vehicles are not safe and that's why they're not street-legal," said the source
The buyer acknowledges that riding this scooter is dangerous and that participation in this activity will expose the rider to the risk of serious injury or death. Such serious injury or death may result from mechanical equipment failure, your own actions, the actions, errors, or omissions of others or any combination of these or other factors. The buyer recognizes and acknowledges that they may be injured or killed as a result of their own negligent acts and/or the negligent acts of others, or by an equipment failure of the sort which might permit suit against a manufacturer or supplier on a theory of strict products liability.
There's more detail in the New York Times account.
Here's my take: the cops even before they knew he was in violation of his probation knew that this man was going to be stopped and they would run his id, and confiscate the bike. Pomar knew that he was going to lose the bike, pay a fine and possibly be found to be violation of his probation.
He died because he wanted to evade the police. I hope they investigate the circumstances of his death thoroughly.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:27 PM Permalink
A commandment Team Kerry forgot: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain"
DrudgeReport: Jesus! We need more balloons.
'Go balloons, go balloons! Go balloons! I don't see anything happening. Go balloons! Go balloons! Go balloons! Standby confetti. Keep coming, balloons. More balloons. Bring it- balloons, balloons, balloons! We want balloons, tons of them. Bring them down. Let them all come. No confetti. No confetti yet.'No confetti. All right, go balloons, go balloons. We need more balloons. All balloons! All balloons! Keep going! Come on, guys, lets move it. Jesus! We need more balloons. I want all balloons to go, goddammit. Go confetti. Go confetti. More confetti. I want more balloons. What's happening to the balloons? We need more balloons.
'We need all of them coming down. Go balloons- balloons? What's happening balloons? There's not enough coming down! All balloons, what the hell! There's nothing falling! What the fuck are you guys doing up there? We want more balloons coming down, more balloons. More balloons. More balloons'...
Way to go Matt! He has got the MP3.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 2:33 PM Permalink
re: life begins at conception is not a belief arising from reason and science
The fertilized egg -- living human or dead human or something else?
If dead -- when does it spontaneously come to life? (obviously absurd)
If living -- is it integral to the mother? (no -- because the fertilized egg already has his or her own distinctive human DNA)
If something else -- when does “it” become human? (absurd because nothing is genetically added or removed from the developing unborn child)
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 2:26 PM Permalink
Reuters: Belief in Hell Boosts Growth: Fed Report
Economists searching for reasons why some nations are richer than others have found that those with a wide belief in hell are less corrupt and more prosperous, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.Researchers at the regional Federal Reserve bank acknowledged the importance of productivity and investment in the economic process but looked at some recent unconventional efforts to explain differences in national prosperity.
The St Louis Fed drew on work by outside economists who studied 35 countries, including the United States, European nations, Japan, India and Turkey and found that religion shed some useful light.
"In countries where large percentages of the population believe in hell, there seems to be less corruption and a higher standard of living," the St. Louis Fed said in its July quarterly review.
For instance, 71 percent of the U.S. population believe in hell and the country boasts the world's highest per capita income, according to the 2003 United Nations Human Development Report and 1990-1993 World Values Survey.
Ireland, not far behind the United States in terms of income, likewise has a healthy fear of a nether world with 53 percent of the population acknowledging hell's existence.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:58 PM Permalink
New York Post Ray Kerrison: When Bishops Refuse To Lead (published July 24)
A task force of Catholic bishops, headed by Wash ington, D.C.'s Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, is now engaged in the prickly examination of what to do about Sen. John F. Kerry: Should the presumed presidential nominee, who professes the Catholic faith but publicly and consistently flouts its tenets on abortion, be permitted to receive Holy Communion?It's a nightmare the bishops would prefer to avoid, but Kerry's persistent defiance and the scandal it has triggered among the faithful have left them no choice.
In fact, it's a no-brainer: The church's Code of Canon Law 915 states explicitly that Communion must be denied those who have "obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin." Kerry and a whole herd of so-called Catholic politicians fit the bill.
As I have been writing, we expect politicians to behave this way. It's the bishops who have the obligation to take a stand here and they are not. That's the primary scandal.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:37 PM Permalink
Al Sharpton was wrong
General Sherman unconstitutionally granted up to 40 acres for settlement to displaced freed negro slaves -- but not the mule.
President Johnson reversed this and many other miltary orders concerning private property confiscations.
So as Al said - they rode the donkey as pictured on the left.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:24 PM Permalink
NRO David Frum's Diary: on the speech
John Kerry last night presented himself as the survivor of some kind of freak accident: Like a man waking up from a coma, he doesn’t seem able to remember anything he did between 1969 and September 11, 2001. The last thing he recalls is battling the Viet Cong; then the next he remembers, he’s supporting President Bush’s campaign in Afghanistan. The events in between – his leadership of the anti-Vietnam movement, his support for the nuclear freeze in the 1980s, his certainty that Ronald Reagan was running a vast criminal conspiracy out of the White House, his opposition to the Gulf War, his demands for rapid reductions in military spending in the early 1990s – all of that was excised from the story.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:08 PM Permalink
Question on Kerry's speech
I don't want to claim that God is on our side. As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God's side. And whatever our faith, one belief should bind us all: The measure of our character is our willingness to give of ourselves for others and for our country.
What candidate has ever claimed God is on our side?
The parts of the speech I like have been said before by other people -- and they were Republicans for the most part.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:04 PM Permalink
DMN-Blog: Save the Humans v. Save the Hamster
The Dallas Morning News Blog has an abortion debate starting up because Rod Dreher made a link between Kerry's hamster rescue and his vote not to ban partial birth abortion.
That hamster rescue story is the enduring one from his acceptance speech.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:55 AM Permalink
Parallels of History
At the same moment John Kerry was saving his daughter's hamster from drowning, Teddy Kennedy was abandoning Mary Jo Kopechne to drown in Chappaquidick.
Flash: Rush used this line. I and perhaps thousands mailed it in.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:37 AM Permalink
Another Catholic politician who has crossed the bishops
New York Post: Pataki vetoes minimum wage
Gov. Pataki yesterday vetoed a bill raising the state's minimum wage, saying it would drive jobs from New York.Pataki is Catholic who became pro-choice when he moved from local to state politics.Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver immediately promised to push for a legislative override.
The bill would have raised the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.15 over the next three years.
He was hailed for pro-life positions all through 1990. He did the right thing in my book: opposed state funding for abortion, support parental notification, etc. and was on the losing (but moral) side of all those issues. He gradually became passively pro-choice/anti-life by declaring that he wouldn't support proposals that would be unconstitutional (i.e. use the Supreme Court's Roe decision as cover)
As governor he supported a ban on partial birth abortion and opposed absurd unconstitutional bubble laws for abortion protests. Nothing that would seriously reduce the number of abortions in New York State reached his desk in nine years nor it is likely to in the foreseeable future. He triangulated to become as pro-choice/anti-life as he needed to be to get elected. Who knows what's in his heart?
On the minium wage the United States bishops have spoken
A single earner working full time at the current minimum wage earns only $10,712 per year--nearly $4,000 below the poverty line for a family of three.First, note that the bishops have adopted the new model for a family -- a depopulating non-replacement level of 1 child.
If there are any minimum wage increase proponents using real data and making truthful claims in their positions, I haven't found any. Minimum wage increase politics are always full of disinformation.
Pataki is right. A lot of these jobs will just move to the adjacent states. It's got to be a federal or a regional increase.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:56 AM Permalink
Immediately after Kerry's speech
The anti-Kerry pundits had specific points to make about the speech: too rushed, too Republican, too much against the reality of Kerry's voting record...
The pro-Kerry pundits on the other hand were very, very vague about what they liked about the speech. The talking points were yet to be distributed.
Kerry is going to run against his own record. Bush is going to run against Kerry's record. That makes two.
A bit of candor in the post-speech analysis: Kerry is saying all think with a wink to the hard-core left. They know that he's only saying what they believe he has to say in order to be elected. Let me suggest that this is so obvious it will be the number one theme on Rush Limbaugh's program: Kerry's strange new respect for the mainstream values and his repudiation of the Michael Moore-types who had the balloons dropped on them.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:50 AM Permalink
The Mother of Invention has a use for the condom
BBC: Condoms oil wheels of industry
The Indian city of Varanasi is getting through around 600,000 condoms a day, but this is no population control exercise.blogger credit: National Review OnlineThe weavers of the holy city, home to the world-famous Banarasi saris, have made the contraceptives a vital part of garment production.
The weaver rubs the condom on the loom's shuttle, which is softened by the lubricant thus making the process of weaving faster.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:39 AM Permalink
O'Reilly turns his show over to Barney Frank
I wonder if Bill O'Reilly is going to turn his show over to an advocate of the Federal Marriage Amendment to answer the outrageous lies and distortions made by Barney Frank.
Barney Frank has no problem with Kerry not mentioning gay marriage at all during the campaign.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:31 PM Permalink
My proposal for the Presidential Nominating Process
On first Tuesday of the election year have a lottery.
For each of the 50 states, assign at random 2 states for each week for 25 weeks -- and hold the primary on Tuesday each week starting on the third Tuesday of January.
If and when a candidate has reached a majority, the process ends and the confirmation convention is scheduled. Primaries continue in the states that need them for other elected offices.
If no candidate reaches a majority after the 50 primaries, then a nominating convention is scheduled.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:31 PM Permalink
AP: New York police officer on trial for refusing to arrest homeless man
Police officials put an officer on trial Wednesday for refusing to arrest a homeless man for trespassing in a Manhattan parking garage.Eduardo Delacruz, 39, could be kicked off the police force if an administrative judge finds him guilty of failing to obey a lawful order.
The incident occurred on Nov. 22, 2002, about a month after the police department adopted a zero-tolerance approach to violations by homeless people.
The order was stupid but not unlawful.
I think that there was friction between the sergeant and the officer and the incident was constructed to get Delacruz in trouble.
I think they have to find Delacruz guilty of failing to obey a lawful order but not to impose any penalty. Just having this incident in your file is more than a slap on the wrist.
Also read Newsday columnist Dennis Duggan who is sympathetic to the cop.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:46 AM Permalink
The blog that everyone has been linking to is The Dawn Patrol
A great blog that broke into the mainstream news with connection between the women who selectively murdered her unborn children (which I blogged below) and Planned Parenthood and a commerical venture for a campaign "I had an abortion and I'm not sorry" which might be better described as "I killed an unborn child and I'm proud of it".
The other stuff on her blog is interesting as well.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:33 AM Permalink
Son of "It is as it was".
NCR John Allen in Rome: Abuse scandal in Austrian diocese prompts investigation
Responding to a mounting sex abuse crisis in Austria, the Vatican has named an apostolic investigator to examine revelations that some 40,000 images of child pornography have been discovered in the seminary in the Sankt Pölten diocese, along with pictures of seminarians and priests in sexually explicit poses.Most Austrian observers believe the investigation will end with a recommendation either to remove the bishop of the diocese, or at least to name a coadjutor with power over matters such as seminary formation.
The man at the center of the storm is Sankt Pölten?s Bishop Kurt Krenn, 68, who so far has refused to resign, and has insisted that the pictures of seminarians and priests amount to a “ schoolboy prank ” that “had nothing to do with homosexuality.”
Krenn, who has long had a high media profile in Austria because of his outspoken personal style, is widely seen as perhaps the most conservative bishop in the country.
On July 20, the Vatican announced that Bishop Klaus Küng, 63, of Feldkirch had been appointed to look into the crisis. Küng is a member of Opus Dei, generally seen as on the conservative wing of the Catholic church. Many Austrian observers believe the choice reflects a determination that the results of Küng?s investigation cannot be dismissed as an ideological attempt to discredit Krenn.
One potential complication in removing Krenn may be that he is rumored to be on friendly terms with Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, the private secretary of Pope John Paul II. Given that perception, Vatican sources told NCR July 21, there is special concern in Rome that all the facts of the case be carefully documented.
Whatever support Krenn may have enjoyed inside Austria, however, appears to be eroding quickly. On July 20, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna said on national television that the Austrian bishops had repeatedly warned Krenn that he had to change his style of governing, and specifically that he should not accept candidates for the seminary who had been expelled from seminaries in other dioceses. Schonbörn expressed frustration that the Vatican had not exerted pressure on Krenn in the past.
Küng arrived in Sankt Pölten on the morning of July 21 to begin his inquest. In a brief interview with national television the night before, he said he intended to speak with a wide cross-section of people, and study not just the seminary but the entire situation in the diocese. Küng did not say how long he expected the investigation to take, but some Austrian sources have said they anticipate it will require perhaps three to four weeks.
(1) Such friendly terms should mean that Archbishop Dziwisz should recuse himself from anything to do with the investigation.
(2) How odd that a Cardinal would want the intervention of the Vatican -- I thought they valued collegiality above all.
(3) Serious question -- why does Austria get all the attention -- aren't our scandals bad enough?
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:05 PM Permalink
WNBC.com: Baby Girl's Body Found In Garbage (from Friday, July 23)
Police are looking for the mother of a newborn baby who never had a chance.The infant girl was found by sanitation workers on Putnam Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, with her umbilical cord was still attached.
The driver discovered the abandoned baby when he churned the contents of his truck. Neighborhood residents expressed outrage that a mother could abandon her baby in the trash.
Police say they are not sure where the baby was dumped. The medical examiner is performing an autopsy to determine how she died.
My anonymous contributor was correct. I missed this story over the weekend. Please pray for the mother of this child. We trust in the mercy of God for this child.
The news stories I saw had some street people report that there were pregnant prostitutes in the area and the suspicion is that one of them gave birth and either killed the unborn child or allowed the child to die from neglect.
Also, pray for the santitation workers who found this child discarded as garbage. I can't believe they anticipated encountering this in their line of work.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:19 AM Permalink
New York Post: Rider dies in Queens 'DWI' Crash
A Queens woman who was riding in a car operated by a drunken driver was killed in an early-morning crash on the Grand Central Parkway yesterday, police said.Diana Almonte, 25, of Jackson Heights, was in the back seat of a car driven by Kalepish Shah, 24, as it traveled west at about 4:50 a.m.
Shah lost control of the vehicle near Roosevelt Avenue, hitting a guardrail and a sign.
Almonte was ejected from the car and pronounced dead at the scene.
I've never seen so many people die violently near where I live in such a short period of time
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:30 AM Permalink
New York Post: Fiery Suicide
A Queens cabby yesterday burned himself to death in front of his two terrified young kids after a bitter argument with his wife.Prayers needed.Rishi Ram Sawak, 48, had been drinking when he doused himself with a gallon of gasoline after his wife refused to let him into the family's Richmond Hill home, the wife said.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:27 AM Permalink
NY1: Body of Unidentified Woman Left Behind Gas Station
Police are hoping an autopsy will help them figure out who dumped an unidentified woman behind a gas station in Queens Sunday afternoon.Witnesses say the woman was unconscious when a livery cab dropped her and two men off at 60th Street and 44th Avenues in Woodside. The men left her on the ground and walked away, according to the witnesses.
The police were called, but by the time they arrived, the woman was dead and the men were nowhere to be found.
A short while ago a web site stopped updating called Scary New York This web site described violent deaths and injuries that were happening in New York City.
I walk by there every day.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:17 AM Permalink
Eugene Volokh on Kerry's Abortion position
Do you have the time?Good comment on the pervasive pro-Kerry media spin.When someone asks the author of Slate's Kerryisms "Do you have the time?," does he just say "Yes" and walk on? If someone else says "Yes, it's five thirty," does the author condemn the "it's five thirty" as a "caveat" or "embellishment"?
That's what it looks like if you read the most recent Kerryism. Larry King asked John Kerry, "Is abortion a great moral issue to you?" Do you think that this was a question that called for a literal yes-or-no answer? Or do you think that the way normal people speak, such a question is usually an invitation for the candidate to explain his moral views about abortion? John Kerry apparently chose the latter interpretation:
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:42 PM Permalink
Open Season on Priests? Second assault in a week WCBS Radio: Priest Assaulted Outside Bronx Church
A priest was assaulted by a man outside a South Bronx church, days after a pastor was beaten and robbed by an intruder who climbed through a third-floor rectory window, police said.He came to the rescue of a woman who was being beaten.The priest, identified in news reports as Rev. Francis Gargani, was struck with a blunt object at about 11:40 a.m. Saturday on East 150th Street, police said. He was treated for his injuries at the scene.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:32 AM Permalink
Clash of Civilizations Watch -- Bonus Edition -- New York Times
New York Times Op Ed, David Brooks: War of Ideology
We're not in the middle of a war on terror, [the 911 commissioners] note. We're not facing an axis of evil. Instead, we are in the midst of an ideological conflict.We are facing, the report notes, a loose confederation of people who believe in a perverted stream of Islam that stretches from Ibn Taimaya to Sayyid Qutb. Terrorism is just the means they use to win converts to their cause.
It seems like a small distinction - emphasizing ideology instead of terror - but it makes all the difference, because if you don't define your problem correctly, you can't contemplate a strategy for victory.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:18 PM Permalink
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Boy's Town
This picture won the Oscar for Best actor 1938 for Spencer Tracy and the Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story for Eleanore Griffin and Dore Schary. I'm adding some quotes to IMDB, the Internet Movie Database.
A great movie.
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posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:51 PM Permalink
Letter to the Arts Editor of the New York Times: ABORTION ON TV
Mandatory Guilt To the Editor:Re "Television's Most Persistent Taboo" by Kate Aurthur [July 18]:
If a television character has an unwanted pregnancy, she has two options: she agonizes and then decides to have the baby, or she agonizes, has the abortion and is haunted by guilt and remorse (still considered a daring story choice).
Abortion without guilt is taboo because the girl makes her own decision and refuses the victim's role. Real girls and women have abortions every day without guilt or regret, and move on with their lives.
ELIZABETH DIGGS, Chatham, N.Y.
This is the consequence of denying abortion is murder -- that it is ending an innocent human life. Kerry himself is caught up in this -- Life begins at conception but it's ok to kill that life.
Elizabeth's assertions are wrong. The real taboos that will never go to television is the abortion story with these characters:
The taboo is you are not allowed going to be allowed to see an abortion that would make a person believe that there's such a thing as an immoral abortion.
I think there was a split in among some feminists some years ago on whether each abortion is a tragedy - i.e. the failure of the woman to contracept, the risk to the mother of the abortion compared to not being pregnant in the first place. The other side argued that abortion should be regarded with the same indifference as a leg waxing and the same degree of guilt in the aftermath.
Perhaps there are people who can dull their consciences to the extent it is possible for them to "move on with their lives". Elizabeth admires them. I pity them.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:06 PM Permalink