Digest of Today's Posts (31 March 2011)

Obama Culture of Death Update™: Obama Would Rather Shut Down the Government Than See Planned Parenthood Lose Taxpayer Funding

Ohio General Assembly News

Obama Culture of Death Update™: Obama Would Rather Shut Down the Government Than See Planned Parenthood Lose Taxpayer Funding

LifeNews is reporting that, should Congress pass a budget that does not provide federal taxpayer funds for the world's largest provider of abortions, President Obama will veto the spending bill, thus shutting down the government:

The House approved a long-term bill weeks ago with the Pence Amendment to yank funding for the abortion business, but Senate Democrats rejected it. As negotiations move forward on a continuing resolution to fund the federal government for most of the rest of the year, Planned Parenthood officials are concerned the House and Senate will agree to a measure that revokes its funding.

If that happens, Obama could issue a veto that would force lawmakers back to the drawing board with a bill that could restore Planned Parenthood place at the funding trough.

Obama has already said he would veto the House-approved long-term spending bill because it [de]funds Planned Parenthood, saying House Republicans’ cuts are “unacceptable.” http://www.lifenews.com/2011/03/04/obama-would-veto-spending-bill-de-funding-planned-parenthood/

“Let’s not try to sneak political agendas into a budget debate,” Obama said. [ED.: Great idea!!! So, how about you quit trying to fund your pro-abort buddies with our tax dollars?] “If Republicans are interested in social issues that they want to promote, they should put a bill on the floor of the House and promote it, have an up-or-down vote, send it over to the Senate. But don’t try to use the budget as a way to promote a political or ideological agenda.” [ED.: Seriously? This is the "intelligent" and "thoughtful" president that partisan DemoCath hacks like Mikey Sean Winters are always going on about? Hey, genius, funding Planned Parenthood is a line item in a frickin' budget!!! If that line item is not funded in the next year's budget bill, that is a BUDGETARY act. It was the decision to fund an abortion provider in the first place that was "promot[ing] a political or ideological agenda". Cutting an unpopular item from the budget when the government is running huge deficits is EXACTLY what budget debates like this one are SUPPOSED to be about. Oh, I forgot. Obama's a Democrat. And to Democrats, once an item is on the budget, any attempt to remove it is part of an "extreme partisan agenda". But it's pretty clear who the extremist is here: the guy who would rather shut down the government (or let babies die in a closet) than see his abortion-providing allies suffer a legislative defeat of any kind.]

(emphasis and editorial commentary added)

My Comments:

Nice priorities our president has. Let's see the allegedly "pro-life" Catholic progressives try to justify this one. Of course, they'll find SOME way to defend their Dear Leader and lay the blame at the feet of pro-lifers and/or the GOP. They ALWAYS do.

Who knows? Maybe, while they're at it, they'll be able to throw in a condemnation or two at the "out of touchness" of the "aging and increasingly marginalized white Bishops".

This Obama Culture of Death Update™ has been brought to you by Douglas Kmiec, all the fine folks at Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good / Catholics United / Catholic Democrats, and countless other Catholics for whom "Hope" and "Change" trumped LIFE.

Ohio General Assembly News

Ohio Committee OKs Heartbeat Bill Banning Abortions, Pro-Lifers Split (would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected)

Kasich to Sign Collective-Bargaining Bill Tonight (curbs collective bargaining for public sector unions and makes payment of union dues by public employees optional)

Why is Jon Huntsman Considered a "Moderate"?

Jon Huntsman, former Governor of Utah, and current U.S. Ambassador to China, is leaving his current post in the Obama Administration at the end of next month to consider a run for the Republican presidential nomination. His solidly pro-life record has attracted the interest of Sam Brownback's former chief of staff and 2008 presidential campaign manager:

... Rob Wasinger, who headed the campaign of the former U.S. senator from Kansas who is now the state’s governor, told LifeNews.com he joins other Hunstman supporters in encouraging the man who has served as President Barack Obama’s ambassador to China to seek the Republican nomination. Wasinger says Huntsman’s pro-life position and record attract him to the oft-mentioned potential candidate.

“There are some candidates out there who claim to be pro-life, but as Governor, Jon Huntsman did the hard work of advocating for the cause of life when others would run and hide,” Wasinger said. ” I have found that in my years of public service, it is the people that actually have a record on an issue that are the most reliable. Anyone can rollout talking points; but only a true leader can actually put together a record of service.”

Huntsman signed a trio of pro-life bills in February 2009 that the Utah legislature approved — including legislation to make second-trimester abortions illegal, a measure to allow women to know about the pain their unborn children will feel during an abortion, and a bill that would create a legal defense fund to pay for litigation related to lawsuit abortions advocates file against state legislation. Huntsman has also lived out his pro-life views in that he has seven children, two of whom were from international adoptions. ...

Huntsman is also supportive of 2nd amendment rights, and as Governor of Utah supported school vouchers, market-based approaches to health care reform, and across-the-board tax cuts. So, my question is why do so many on the right, in the middle, on the left, and in the media consider Huntsman to be a "moderate"? Writing at The Corner, Ramesh Ponnuru wondered the same thing a few days ago:

I’ve now read a few articles and blog posts either lauding the Utah governor as a moderate or denouncing him as same. Huntsman has signed pro-life bills, voucher bills, and tax cuts. Yes, he is open to some kind of civil union for gay couples and wants Republicans to make more of an effort on environmental issues. But if that’s all it takes for a Republican politician to get an image both inside and outside the party as a “moderate” these days, that’s a pretty good thing, isn’t it?

Feast of the Annunciation - 25 March

The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary. And she conceived by the Holy Spirit... And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Digest of Today's Posts (17 March 2011)

Hail Glorious St. Patrick

St. Patrick's Breastplate (The Deer's Cry)

Happy Feast Day of St. Patrick - 17 March

Hail Glorious St. Patrick

A hymn to Ireland's patron saint in quite distinctive styles. First, by the Wolfe Tones:



And next, by the Irish Tenors:

St. Patrick's Breastplate (The Deer's Cry)

From "The Pilgrim" composed by Shaun Davey.

This version of "The Deer's Cry" is sung by the artist Angelina and has appeared on EWTN:



I arise today through the strength of heaven
Light of sun, radiance of moon
Splendor of fire, speed of lightning
Swiftness of wind, depth of the sea
Stability of earth, firmness of rock

I arise today through God's strength to pilot me
God's eye to look before me
God's wisdom to guide me
God's way to lie before me
God's shield to protect me

From all who shall wish me ill
Afar and a-near
Alone and in a multitude
Against every cruel, merciless power
That may oppose my body and soul

Christ with me, Christ before me
Christ behind me, Christ in me
Christ beneath me, Christ above me
Christ on my right, Christ on my left
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down
Christ when I arise, Christ to shield me

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me

I arise today
Based on the Lorica of St. Patrick.

Lisa Kelly of Celtic Woman also did a very lovely version of "The Deer's Cry".

Happy Feast Day of St. Patrick - 17 March

[NOTE: This is my annual St. Patrick's Day post, originally posted on St. Patrick's Day 2005]

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!
(Happy St. Patrick's Day!)

As a Roman Catholic of Irish descent, I am, quite predictably, a big fan of St. Patrick. Long before I became Catholic, St. Patrick - with his bishop's mitre and crozier - stood there beckoning me home to the Church of my forebears. Indeed, the first rosary I ever purchased (again, before I ever became Catholic) had a St. Patrick junction and a Celtic Cross Crucifix. St. Patrick's feast day, therefore, is a cause for great celebration in our household.

But just what is it about this British-born saint - who (1) was kidnapped as a boy from his home in Britain by Irish pirates, (2) was sold into slavery in Ireland, (3) escaped from his Irish oppressors, and (4) returned to Ireland to evangelize his former captors (the same Irish who would, a century later, with saints like Columba and Aidan, re-evangelize Britain after the Anglo-Saxon invasions) - that makes his feast day celebrated to a greater extent around the world than most other saints?

Perhaps it is because of the extent of the Irish Diaspora, which stretches from Continental Europe to North America to South America to Australia, and numbers in the tens of millions - making St. Patrick not only the patron saint of Ireland, but of all Irish all over the world. Possibly, it could be St. Patrick's contribution to Celtic Christianity, an influence that can be seen in the Lorica of St. Patrick, which has been attributed to him.

For more on the story behind why St. Patrick is such a significant personage within the Church, especially where the Irish are concerned,

go here: Patron Saints Index - Patrick,

and here: The History of St. Patrick's Day,

and here: Saint Patrick's Day: An Irish Celebration,

and here: The Ultimate St. Patrick.

But unfortunately, I think the real reason this particular feast day has such resonance with so many people has nothing whatsoever to do with its religious significance. St. Patrick's Day, like Christmas, is a religious feast day that has lost much of its meaning due to over-secularization. Rather than a day to celebrate the life of this great British saint who evangelized the Irish, St. Patrick's Day has become just another excuse to get drunk and tell stupid Irish jokes.

Personally, one of the biggest problems I have with the secular celebrations of St. Patrick's Day is the ubiquitous presence of the leprechaun. On and around St. Patrick's Day, this little fairy creature can be seen on the front pages of major newspapers, on greeting cards, and on televisions selling used cars, credit cards, and beer in a cheesy Irish brogue accent.

Given the artistic legacy of beautiful music, poetry, literature, and liturgical art bequeathed to us by the Irish; given the indispensable contributions the Irish have made to Christianity and Western Civilization as documented by Thomas Cahill in his best-selling book How the Irish Saved Civilization; and given the steadfastness of the Irish in overcoming historical persecution - racial, cultural, economic, and religious; I find the use of the leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day as a symbol of the Irish people and their cultural contributions about as appropriate as a lawn jockey on Martin Luther King Day.

Some will think that is not an apt comparison. Sorry, but I think it quite apt. The leprechaun as a symbol of this holy feast day is just plain offensive, and should go the way of the kerchief-headed version of Aunt Jemima.

The Irish - that mystical race of warriors and poets, saints and scholars, who brought us great works of literature like Ulysses and Gulliver's Travels, early medieval illuminated manuscripts like the Books of Kells and Durrow, musicians like Turlough O'Carolan, Altan, U2 and Van Morrison, wordsmiths like W.B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney, kings like Brian Boru and ... (well, Brian's about it as far as great Irish kings go), political heroes like Daniel O'Connell and Michael Collins, and saints like Columcille (a.k.a. Columba), Brendan, Aidan, and Columbanus - deserve better on the feast day of their patron saint than to be represented by a short, ruddy (and might I add, pagan) fairy dressed in a green suit.

The University of Notre Dame is also guilty of this blood libel against the children of Erin. The University does quite a disservice to the true spirit of the "Fighting Irish" by representing that spirit in the form of a leprechaun (of course, some would argue that Notre Dame also does a disservice to Ex Corde Ecclesiae by calling itself "Catholic" while allowing such nonsense as The Vagina Monologues and Fr. Richard McBrien on campus). Bring back the Irish Terrier to represent the Fighting Irish, as it did in the days of Knute Rockne. Just get rid of that damned leprechaun!!! (Oops! Sorry about that. That should be "damned leprechaun".)

Okay. Rant over.

Hopefully, we can try to keep in mind today (1) the spiritual legacy of Ireland's patron saint, and (2) the many cultural contributions of the people he loved so dearly as to bring them the Light of Christ - which are, after all, the primary reasons we celebrate the feast of St. Patrick. Even if the rest of the world is too deep in a drunken stupor to notice.

And so I end with the following blessing:

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!
(St. Patrick's Day Blessing On You!)

Recommended Reading:
Patrick: The Pilgrim Apostle of Ireland by Maire B. de Paor
The Confession of St. Patrick by John Skinner
How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill
Wisdom of the Celtic Saints by Edward C. Sellner
Sun Dancing by Geoffrey Moorhouse




Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
St. Patrick's Breastplate (The Deer's Cry)

Happy Feast Day of St. Patrick - 17 March (2010)

Happy Feast Day of St. Patrick - 17 March (2009)

Happy Feast Day of St. Patrick - 17 March (2008)

What I'm Listening to in Honor of St. Patrick's Day

Don't Drink Green Beer!

St. Pat's Spat Pits Church vs. Cities

Happy Feast Day of St. Patrick - 17 March (2007)

"... The Slur of the Fighting Irish"

Happy Feast Day of St. Patrick - 17 March (2006)

Search Terms: St. Patrick's Day, Lent, Abstinence, Meat - Corned Beef, Dispensation, Indult, Catholic

Happy Feast Day of St. Patrick - 17 March (2005)

Happy 5th Birthday, Mary Virginia !!!

Look how gray my hair has gotten in 5 years! But that's NOT Mary Virginia's fault. No, that honor goes to her baby sister, the inappropriately named Grace.

;-)

Almost Missed It ...

... my "6th Blogiverssary", that is.

Six years ago today - 7 March 2005 - I started Pro Ecclesia * Pro Familia * Pro Civitate with these two posts:

Welcome To My Blog

Roper v. Simmons: Judicial Activism and The Juvenile Death Penalty

Much has happened over the past 6 years, many of my opinions have changed, many readers have come and gone, and a loyal few followers have stuck around. I don't post near as often as I once did, and I can't say that the quality of my postings have improved. In fact, they've probably lost a lot of their thoughtful quality over the years (not that there was much thoughtful content that went into them in the first place).

At any rate, I don't know how much longer I'll be doing this gig, but I hope you'll stick around for what I have left in the tank. Thanks for reading.

Pat Archbold Tells Handwringing, Pharisaical, Armchair Pro-Life Purists to Pound Sand

Yeah, what Pat said:

It should not surprise that I hold in low esteem a particular breed of man who, while claiming the name Catholic, supports openly and actively that wretched party of death. They fret over a folly, which they basely baptize as “social justice”, which inexplicably counsels the right of broadband internet access and condoms for the poor, while innocent life is extinguished by the millions at the cruel hands of the federally subsidized. In so doing, they weave for themselves a seamless garment as a shroud, befitting the whitewashed tombs they gaily inhabit.

Still, another breed of man occupies a rung on my ladder of loathing barely an amoeba’s head above the aforementioned—the armchair pro-life.

[...]

But the moral lethargy of the armchair pro-life does not raise my ire so, rather it’s my conclusion that their disdain for abortion barely eclipses their evident contempt for the activist pro-life.

We find ourselves at the commencement of perhaps the great pro-life battle of this generation, de-funding the racist eugenics organization Planned Parenthood.

Yet, in even the skirmishes leading to the looming battle, the armchair pro-life have attempted to cede the moral high-ground while excitedly preparing their “I told you so” speeches anticipating, perhaps even hoping for, defeat.

[Read the whole thing]

Hear, hear!

(Hat tip: Creative Minority Report)


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Now THAT'S What I'd Call a "Debate Club at Auschwitz"

Deguello de Crockett

Recommended Music:
"The Alamo" Soundtrack by Carter Burwell

Davy Crockett's Fiddle by Dean Shostak

Davy Crockett Plays On: Live in the Alamo (Fathers of Texas Series) by K.R. Woods

Texian Thermopylae: "We Will Sell Our Lives Dearly"

Happy 175th Birthday, Texas

175 years ago today - 2 March 1836, 59 representatives of the various colonies in the Mexican province of Texas, meeting at Washington-on-the-Brazos, signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, declaring Texas to be a free and sovereign Republic.

Although the signers were overwhelmingly of Anglo-American stock (probably Scotch-Irish would be more precise), there were among the founding fathers of Texas participating in the signing such Tejanos as José Antonio Navarro, José Francisco Ruiz, and Lorenzo de Zavala. Also signing the Declaration was General Sam Houston, who would lead the Texas army to victory over Santa Anna a month-and-a-half later at San Jacinto, thus preserving Texas' independence. Houston would later that same year become the first President of the Republic of Texas.

The Republic of Texas they created that March day - though it would be shaken in the coming days by the twin slaughters of the Texan garrisons at the Alamo and Goliad - would be a sovereign nation for almost a decade.




For more information on this topic, I recommend:

Texas Independence, an interactive website that "brings the struggle, compromise and sacrifice of the Convention of 1836 and the men who founded that new nation to a new generation and takes Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site into every classroom in Texas."

The Texas Revolution (Fred H. and Ella Mae Moore Texas History Reprint Series) by William C. Binkley

Lone Star Rising: The Revolutionary Birth of the Texas Republic by William C. Davis

Lone Star Nation: The Epic Story of the Battle for Texas Independence by H.W. Brands

Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution by Stephen L. Hardin and Gary S. Zaboly

The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston by Marquis James

Stephen F. Austin: Empresario of Texas by Gregg Cantrell

Digest of Today's Posts (1 March 2011)

Outside the Asylum: "How the Next Civil War Will Begin"

March is Texas History Month - 175th Anniversay of Texas Independence

Outside the Asylum: "How the Next Civil War Will Begin"

A sobering must-read post.

I've been warning for several years now (see the links below) that THIS will be the issue that eventually drives the Church back into the catacombs. The persecution and/or civil war is coming ... of that you can be assured.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Archbishop Chaput: "Systematic Discrimination Against Church Now Seems Inevitable"

Pope Critical of Labour’s "Unjust" Equality Laws Ahead of UK Visit

Same-Sex "Marriage" and Religious Liberty

Bork Predicts “Terrible Conflict” Will Endanger U.S. Catholics’ Religious Freedom

Same-Sex "Marriage" and the Persecution of Civil Society

InsideCatholic on "The Unintended Consequences of Gay Marriage"

Secularist Attacks on the Catholic Church in Britain

Regular Guy Paul on What's Next for Same-Sex "Marriage"

Catholic Provocation?

Federal Judge: Catholic Church’s Position Against Homosexual Adoptions Justifies Government Hostility Towards Church

San Francisco's Hateful Anti-Catholic Resolution Prompts Lawsuit by Thomas More Center

Catholic League Says Gay Adoption Issue Spurring Anti-Catholic Bigotry

9th Circuit Rules Okay to Censor Terms "Marriage" and "Family Values" as Hate Speech

UK Catholic Schools Endangered by Sexual Orientation Regulations

Official Anti-Catholic Bigotry Returns to British Parliament

"A Charter for Suing Christians"

A Catholic Londoner on "The Last Acceptable Prejudice"

British Bishops: U.K. Sex Equality Law "Threatens Catholic Adoption Agencies"

UK: Churches "Could be Forced to Bless Gay Weddings"

The Coming Persecution of Churches Over "Gay Marriage"

The Coming Conflict Between Same-Sex "Marriage" and Religious Liberty

March is Texas History Month - 175th Anniversay of Texas Independence

March is Texas History Month. And this March, folks in the Lone Star State are commemorating the 175th anniversary of Texas' independence.



Tomorrow, March 2, is Texas Independence Day - the day 59 representatives meeting at Washington-on-the-Brazos signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, declaring Texas to be a free and sovereign Republic. More on that tomorrow.



This coming Sunday, March 6, marks the 175th anniversary of the fall of the Texian garrison at the Alamo. More on that later this week. In a little over 2 weeks, commemorations of the massacre of Goliad will be held. And next month will mark the 175th anniversary of the "Waterloo" of the so-called "Napolean of the West" - the Battle of San Jacinto, where Texas independence was won.



In addition to posts on the topics I've listed above, I plan to commemorate Texas' 175th with some posts on my ancestral ties to the Lone Star State, and the contributions to the heritage of my home state by some of the more prominent members of the Anderson family of East Texas.

We'll begin with a post next week on American Revolutionary War veteran and frontiersman Bailey Anderson (my 6th great-grandfather), who, after the American Revolution, moved his family to Kentucky, then to Indiana, then to Indian Territory (present-day Arkansas), before finally settling in East Texas (before the Spanish had even opened Texas up to Anglo-American immigration, making him an illegal immigrant into Mexico). Additional family portraits of Bailey's descendants will follow.

So bear with me. I know we Texans tend to be insufferable when we go on and on about such things. It's a Texian thang - I hope y'all will understand.