Punditry

Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Due, right, a U.S. Army recruiter, is surrounded by protesters at Seattle Central Community College, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005, in Seattle. After about a 10-minute standoff during which protesters tore up U.S Army literature, the protesters were successful in getting Due and another recruiter to leave their table under escort by campus security officers. Several hundred students walked out of classes at several Seattle colleges and universities to protest the inauguration of President Bush.
[Source]
[Via The Meadering Mind of a Seminarian]

This type of conduct is just revolting and just shows that many in the left has not learned anything from their despicable treatment of Vietnam vets. If you firmly believe that the Iraq War is wrong then make your arguments for the case and get involved in peaceful demonstrations. But to go after military recruiters as your protest against the war is just plain wrong. I spent some time as a military recruiter in Puyallup, Wa and I am familiar with anti-military sentiment in Washington state. I had the tires of my government vehicle slashed while I was inside a high school. Dealing with school officials and counselors was extremely difficult since many didn’t want you to be their on the campus in the first place. This manifested itself in stall tactics from receiving school rosters to scheduling time to meetings kids at the school. It was hard not to mistake the hostile glares we received while wearing our uniforms in the schools. Our recruiting station was in a small office building and the contract stipulated that we could not advertise the presence of the Army/Navy recruiting office on the main sign next to the road. The left is often bringing up the Vietnam comparison and they are exactly right in that again those who serve our country are being treated with disrespect.

My favorite story of military protest occurred while my ship was making a port visit in Vancouver, British Columbia. We had Green Peace protesting the presence of the U.S. Military. I was waiting in the liberty line to go ashore and we watched the Green Peace protesters in their rubber rafts trying to approach the ship. The seas were fairly rough and it tossed about their boat. I watched as first one protester got sea sick and start to vomit to seeing a chain reaction of vomiting Green Peacers. We were laughing and cheering this display on the ship. We had some teams with fire hoses ready to use them to repel them if they attempted to approach the ship. I think they needed us to fire off those hoses to clean them up.

Newt Gingrich’s scheduled speech at Catholic University next week is prompting
criticism from students who contend that the appearance would violate the school’s
policy barring speakers who have espoused positions contrary to Vatican teachings.

Frank Lankey Jr., 20, political director for the College Democrats, said that
Gingrich’s support for the death penalty and his extramarital affair in the
1990s contradict church teachings and should prohibit him from appearing.

It sounds like some people who are upset at the prevention of
pro-abortion speakers are trying a little turnabout.

In remarks yesterday, Nakas said
that Gingrich’s support for the death penalty does not put him in conflict
with church teachings because "there’s
no absolute prohibition. There’s nothing that says that capital punishment
is necessarily forbidden."

As for Gingrich’s personal relationships — he divorced
in 1999 after having an affair with a congressional aide — Nakas said: "He’s
not a public advocate for adultery. That’s the distinction." [Source]

As a political theorist there is a lot I agree with ole Newt
about but I pretty much lost any personal respect for him when he left
his sick wife and the scummy way he acted in regards to this. I also think
it is ridiculous though to bring up someone’s past affair to block a speech.
We can not know if this sin has repented of. I don’t know the
details as to whether Newt received an annulment before being remarried in a Catholic Church as it does not appear to be public knowlege, so I can’t see how the director for the College Democrats can validly use his affair in this manner.

I guess Joe Biden might. Today in questioning Dr. Rice to be Secretary of State he said in reference to a conversation he had with Qaddafi about why he canned his nuke program. [Via Hugh Hewitt]

"He’s the most candid guy I ever spoke with."

He really needs to get out an meet some people other than his fellow senators. Just possibly relative to those he works with he could be telling the truth.

Of course Qaddafi is also the same guy that ordered the bombing of a West Berlin disco frequented by U.S. Military. The attack killed three soldiers and wounded 229 others. I don’t remember Qaddafi’s candor in admitting this. I don’t remember his candor in connection with the bomb that brought down Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 259 people. I guess we should have just sent Joe Biden over to Libya and good ole Muammar would have told all.

I was in Norfolk, Va on the U.S.S. America (CV-66) at the time the disco was bombed and we were set to go on deployment two weeks later. Instead we left very soon after the bombing and participated in the bombing raid on Tripoli and Benghazi on 14 Apr, 1986. I guess the State Department must have warned the Russian what was about to happen since they flew their planes out of Tripoli ahead of the event. The aftermath was that we missed Qaddafi but put a scare into him and his laughable threats about crossing the "line of death" (Gulf of Sidra) and other threats towards the U.S. ended. Of course our actions were soon denounced by Jimmy Carter and his daughter Amy. There is another funny Carter connection to Libya. His brother Billy was investigated for being part of a delegation to Libya in 1998. When asked why he was involved he said.:

“The only thing I can say is there is a hell of a lot more Arabians than there is Jews." He also argued that the "Jewish media [tore] up the Arab countries full-time," and defended Libya against charges of state-sponsored terrorism by saying that a "heap of governments support terrorists and [Libya] at least admitted it."

Libya admitted to being a terrorist state? I guess Qaddafi is candid after all.

The first time the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell took the stage at the close of a presidential inauguration, his prayer caused more of a stir than he intended.

That was 2001 and the official start of President Bush’s first term. Caldwell called on a God of "peace, prudent policy and nonpartisanship," and asked for an end to inequities of wealth and education.

He offered his "humble prayer in the name that’s above all other names, Jesus the Christ."

And he ended by saying:

"Let all who agree say, Amen."

For some, that was the rub.

What about those who don’t consider Jesus as the name above all others, the critics asked?

"I did take some flak for that and, quite frankly, rightfully so," said Caldwell, senior pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church. "It was never my intention to exclude or insult anyone. I chalk it up to public prayer naiveté."

I would have thought that using "Let all who agree say, Amen" to be a fairly good compromise in public prayer. This just goes to show that some critics of public prayer can just never be satisfied.

For Charlotte Coffelt, vice president of the Houston Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the key to civic prayer is to remember that the inauguration is a secular event.

…However, Coffelt does feel that it is appropriate to call for blessings on the people of the country as long as it is done with an understanding that many of those people are not Christian, but Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist and Jewish, too.

How exclusive of her to leave out agnostics and atheists who could be offended by even a blessing. You can not really write a prayer or a blessing that will include everyone since either invokes a belief in God or some deity.

We [call upon] / [deny the existence] of [God] / [Gods] / [blind chance] to confer upon our country a [blessing] / [more randomness] one nation under [God] / [Gods] / [blind chance]. Can I hear an [Amen] / [Acceptance of our earthly existence]

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope John Paul has received a flame red Ferrari from the Italian world championship racing team — a model of one, that is — for having what they said was the inside track on the roads of humanity.

Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher and the rest of the Ferrari team met the Pope in the Vatican’s frescoed Clementina Hall on Monday to give him the 1:5 scale model of the car that won both the championship and constructor titles in 2004.

Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo told the Pope Ferrari drivers, mechanics and management wanted to honour him because his courage and defence of human rights had put him "for the past 26 years in the pole position of the roads of humanity".

Pole position refers to the most favourable position at the start of a race, given to the fastest car.

"It is the first time that one of our cars — even though it is a model — has entered the Vatican," Montezemolo told the Pope. "We consider this the most prestigious finishing line for us. We feel like you are one of us and we thank you for the example you have given."

There was a poignant contrast between the speed represented by the model car whose real version can reach 350 kph (218 mph) and the slow movement of the 84-year-old Pope, who no longer walks and was wheeled into the room on a special chair.

But an emotional Schumacher later told reporters he found inspiration from being close to the Pope and from seeing how he copes with the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s disease and severe arthritis. [Source]

A poignant contrast between the speed represented by the model car … and the slow movement of the 84-year-old Pope? Whenever reading articles about the Pope from the secular press you always wonder just how long it will take them to take a crack at the Pope’s health. I think there is a poignant contrast between the shining intellect of the Holy Father and the intellects of many reporters reporting on him.

Previously there were many news stories on an al ledged Vatican document during WWII saying that Jewish children that were baptized were not to be returned to their parents. The document under question in fact turns out that the document had the seal of the the apostolic nunciature of France and was written three days later than what was stated in the article At this time the apostolic nuncio was Angelo Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII.

The original document contradicts Melloni’s version. It states, in fact, that the children should be returned to their original Jewish families.

also

Pius XII took to heart the fate of these Jewish children and, in that same month of March, asked the Holy Office to study the case.

The Holy Office, after hearing from several consultors, prepared a document in response to the Pope’s request.

In August 1946, some French bishops and, specifically, Coadjutor Archbishop Emile Guerry of Cambrai and Cardinal Pierre Gerlier of Lyon, asked nuncio Roncalli for pointers as to how to resolve the situation of Jewish children saved from Nazi persecution.

Angelo Roncalli gathered all this material and, at the end of September, sent a letter to the Vatican Secretariat of State requesting instructions.

Roncalli was answered by Monsignor Tardini, secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, not in the way quoted by the article in Il Corriere, but rather in the way mentioned above. [Source]

I did not post anything about the initial story because I have developed a procedure in the case negative outcries against Vatican documents that has held up well. I simply wait a week or two to find out if once again it was much to do about nothing. In almost every case the facts are seriously misrepresented and simply passed on as true from one newspaper to another country by country. Previously there was an al ledged smoking gun proving that the Vatican ordered secrecy in all cases of abuse. This turned out to be absolutely false but even after it was debunked in some media outlets I saw the same story appearing months later in other news sources. Sometimes this is a result just as a simple mistake in translation, but more often it is agenda journalist looking for any rock to throw at the Church.

Two Minneapolis priests who have led parishes sympathetic to gay and lesbian rights have announced their resignations.

The Rev. George Wertin, senior priest of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, which has clashed with its archdiocese and some orthodox Catholics in the Twin Cities, announced his retirement Sunday effective July 1. And the Rev. Stephen O’Gara, pastor at the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, said last week he’s leaving March 1.

Both said the timing of their announcements was coincidental, and they assured parishioners that they weren’t pressured by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to leave. [Source]

I wonder if they were actually pressured to retire by the the diocese? I guess we will know when they announce the replacements and whether the new pastors will be more of the same or a true improvement. If an orthodox priest is assigned to St. Joan of Arc’s he will have a tough road ahead of him. It will be quite a challenge to accurately bring the faith back there when the priest and the congregation have virtually been in schism for some time. It would probably be a good idea to start a chapter of Courage there so that those who were attracted to St. Joan’s might find that the Church’s true position on homosexuality is not about prejudice or hatred but a call to be chaste, just as all of us are.

After Abortion and Dawn Eden have both been following the story of Consumer Reports recent move towards abortion and contraception advocacy. That their latest report on contraception and abortion product has been released online for free even though they always charged people for online articles.

This WorldNetDaily article addresses the fact that Consumer Reports CEO had worked for Planned Parenthood. Beyond just the CEO the article also mentions the background of several staffers coming from left-leaning organizations which pushed various liberal causes. Consumer Reports denies that there is any connection, but also does not mention why the new article is available freely online. Consumer Reports in the past has worked hard to maintain their image of neutrality by not accepting ads or anything that might defer a conflict of interest. Yet now their CEO is a walking advertisement for the culture of death. Their objectivity on this question is not only called into question, but has moved directly into the area of advocacy.

Previously also reported on the Consumer Report article was the fact that Planned Parenthood’s condoms had the lowest rating. Recently in Crisis Magazine H. W. Crocker III wrote an article available online called "Making Babies: A Very Different Look at Natural Family Planning." In it he proposes a rallying cry for the use of NFP saying “Use NFP: It Doesn’t Work!” and then goes on to promote having babies.

Planned Parenthood has actually come out and developed a more moral condom. Still not moral, but it is less evil to use half the time because thatits failure rate. Use Planned Parenthood condoms because they don’t work could be their new jingle. Maybe those couples trying to kick the habit of contraception could take a nicotine patch approach. That they start of with condoms rated higher by Consumer Reports and then move towards the last stage where couples use Planned Parenthoods condoms and then finally condom-free. This will enable them to prepare for being contraception-free in easy stages!

Now obviously I am joking here and the reason PP has such poor condoms is that when they do fail they provide the fallback contraception called abortion. This is like an emergency room designing seatbelts and airbags that don’t always work knowing that ER profitability will increase with increased injuries. Contraception for PP is like a drug dealer handing out free samples knowing that sooner or later they will come back for more expensive items. The report should had triggered a media outcry for this tie-in with their main business of providing abortion. Negative findings on contraception and abortion is the third rail of reportage for the main stream media.

PEOPLE are to be tortured in laboratories at Oxford University in a United States-funded experiment to determine whether belief in God is effective in relieving pain.

Top neurologists, pharmacologists, anatomists, ethicists and theologians are to examine the scientific basis of religious belief and whether it is anything more than a placebo.

Headed by Baroness Greenfield, the leading neurologist, the new Centre for the Science of the Mind is to use imaging systems to find out how religious, spiritual and other belief systems, such as an illogical belief in the innate superiority of men, influence consciousness.

A central aspect of the two-year study, which has $2 million (£1.06 million) funding from the John Templeton Foundation, the US philanthropic body, will involve dozens of people being subjected to painful experiments in laboratory conditions.

While enduring the agony, they will be exposed to religious symbols such as images of the Virgin Mary or a crucifix. Their neurological responses will be measured to determine the efficacy of their faith in helping them to cope.

The aim is to develop new and practical approaches “for promoting wellbeing and ultimately maximising individual human potential”.

…He said that the experiments would involve non-invasive simulation of burns and will be conducted according to strict ethical rules. As they suffer, the human guinea pigs will be asked to access a belief system, whether religious or otherwise. [Source]

Access a belief system? This almost sounds as if faith is being viewed like a file on a hard drive. Please wait – accessing belief system. For atheists it must be "file not found." For syncretist you would then proceed to select from a menu of choices. For Sunday Christians the file is archived during the week. When losing your faith maybe you should first check the Recycle Bin before panicking.

Reading science stories like this really makes you feel that we have come a long way. That we are truly enlightened now. Pick up your cross daily while we calibrate the potentiometer of pain and measure your belief response. No pain no scientific gain. What that hurts? Then look at this religious symbol and see if that helps your neurological response.

Now a non-invasive simulation of burns sounds like something out of the Dune series. In Dune a Gom Jabber (needle with lethal poison) was held to the neck of Paul Atreides while he placed his had in a box that simulated burning pain to determine if he was a "true human." If he removed his hand to soon the Reverend Mother would poke him with the Gom Jabber.

After reading the Independent Review Panel report via the PDF document I was wondering if whoever issued the document might have a sense of humor. Since the report mentions typefaces and fontstyles I wonder if they might have used the same font used in those infamous forged memos. Sure enough after comparing a section to the same text in Microsoft word using Times New Roman, I find an exact match. The font used is indeed Times New Roman.

I wonder if Mary Mapes will claim that this report was also written by Lt. Col Killian? And speaking of this fired producer, she said on Monday.

"If there was a journalistic crime committed here, it was not by me," a bitter-sounding Mapes said in a statement last night. "I am concerned that [the actions of CBS network chief Les Moonves] are motivated by corporate and political considerations – ratings rather than journalism."

This is pretty funny coming from someone who took documents from a source she labeled in an email as “our bitter little buddy.” She was of course referring to Bill Burkett. Her view of journalism of not being motivated by political considerations must be different from mine. Mapes also testified to the panel that at the end of her conversation with Joe Lockhart that she ended the conversation by saying that she could “not wait to do a tough story on your guy,” referring to Sen. Kerry. This is laughable in the extreme that she actually said such a thing. Waiting for Mary Mapes to do a tough story on John Kerry provides a good parallel for a reflection on meaning of eternity.