You Don't See That Every Day

Since last spring, when gas prices started getting uber-outrageous, I've been riding my bike to work not infrequently—on average, 2-3 times a week.

Yesterday was my last day doing so, what with daylight savings time ending this weekend, lacking a headlight, and fear of getting doored in the dark on the ride home.

Anywho, on the ride home yesterday afternoon, I nearly hit an 8-point buck. This is in the city of Chicago, mind you.

That's not something you see every day.

I wonder if, on the drive home today, I'll see a cougar?

This Video Won't Last Long on YouTube...

Whenever a video of undercover footage exposing what really happens inside an abortion clinic is posted on YouTube, it's usually yanked soon after for no reason.

So I'm sure this video, just released by Students for Life of America, won't last long either:



(If it's no longer available on YouTube, you can also see it here on Eyeblast.)

Election Day Is One Week Hence

And I note without comment that today is the feast of St. Jude.

Pornography Awareness Week

Today marks the start of Pornography Awareness Week.

Therefore, men, beware! And resolve to use every means at your disposal (chief among them frequent Confession and Holy Communion) to resist its gravitational-like pull.

Along these lines, I'd encourage any and all of this here weblog's readers to sign this pledge to live chastely (which I found out about via the Catholic Dads blog).

I signed it. Will you?

I'm also reposting herein some self-explanatory test I originally borrowed stole from The Dutchman last year:

Nine Myths about Pornography

(by one angry girl designs)

Myth 1: Women who become strippers and hookers choose these careers, so who are we to judge them?

Myth 2: Strippers and porn stars lead glamorous lives, and men have nothing but respect for them.

Myth 3: Porn is an outlet or safety valve for men who might otherwise do Bad Things.

Myth 4: Men like variety in women so porn use helps a man stay faithful to his woman.

Myth 5: Porn is harmless and has no effect on the person using it.

Myth 6: Women who work in porn are empowered, because they get to call the shots.

Myth 7: Porn is for men who sincerely appreciate the beauty of the female body.

Myth 8: Everyone knows porn is just a fantasy, so no one would try to apply it to real life.

Myth 9: Porn enhances relationships.

No Question Left Behind

I just posted this on the Catholic Dads blog:

Some of you fellow inhabitants of Catholic Dads-Land may be familiar with Maureen Wittmann, who is well known in the Catholic homeschooling world for her contributions as an author, blogger, and speaker.

I first got to know Maureen via e-mail after the 2007 March for Life, when she contacted Generations for Life, the pro-life youth outreach I work for, and we helped her and a group of teens start a new pro-life club in Lansing, MI.

She wrote us recently to tell us about a great new blog — written by teens, for teens — called No Question Left Behind.

Originally, No Question Left Behind was supposed to be a book, but those plans fell through. So now, it's a blog.

In the introduction, Maureen (who edited it) writes:

It is my hope that the No Question Left Behind blog is a help to the many teens whose hearts are filled with questions about themselves, their friends, the world, and the Church.

For those of you who have teenage kids, or for those of you (like me) who work with teens, I think you'll find NQLB to be a great resource.

What makes it unique is that teens themselves not only wrote the questions, but also answers to those questions. Those who contributed are a mix of Catholic high school, public high school, and homeschooled students.

There are some great questions, including:

• I don’t see any reason for life. Why should I, or anyone else, go on? What is the meaning of life and why am I on this earth?


• Why would God make some people gay and then tell them that they aren’t allowed to have an intimate relationship or marry? Isn’t that unfair?


• My friend is pregnant and wants to have an abortion. If she has the baby, her whole life will be ruined. She won’t be able to go to college or get a good job. I would never have an abortion, but I don’t see how I can tell my friend that she can’t do whatever she wants to do with her own body.

A post with a new Q & A — there are over 200 in all — appears every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so visit and visit often.

The Jolly Fat Man Must Be Turning Over in His Grave

Joe Biden can't let it go. In a recent interview, he said:

It's very difficult. I was raised as a Catholic, I'm a practicing Catholic, and I'm totally at home with the Catholicism that I was raised in and this whole culture of social responsibility, reaction to abuse of power, the whole notion that there is collective civic responsibility. It's the Catholic consciousness that I'm totally comfortable with.

The part that gets hard is that I'm of the view that I have trouble viewing termination of pregnancy in terms of choice. Choice makes it sound like, uh, 'I choose today to go to the market.' 'I choose today to terminate my pregnancy.'" It is not choice. It's always a very, very, very difficult, difficult decision. I know that, my church has wrestled with this for 2,000 years. ... To sum it up, as a Catholic, I'm a John XXIII guy, I'm not a Pope John Paul guy.

Mark Shea — who is most emphatically not in the tank for John McCain — comments:

The trick here (and it's one that works with both the dissenting Progressive and the dissenting Reactionary) is to posit that there are really two Churches, one old and one new. Biden's narrative is a slight departure from the norm since normally the Old Church is the one just before John XXIII, but it's the same basic idea. There was this mythical Pope, you see, named John XXIII and he basically taught that if the Democrats said it was socially responsible, then you could do it even if it disagreed with that musty old Church teaching. But then Mean Pope John Paul tried to stop all that because he hated sex and everything. And of course, mean Pope Benedict is also a control freak like JPII. But good Catholic Democrats know that John XXIII said it was okay to do whatever you wanted, especially if it meant votes for Democrats.

All this, the MSM sums up with the headline: "Biden balances his faith with social responsibility". Cuz, you know, the faith is like totally the opposite of social responsibility, dude.

I've long since grown tired of hearing politicians — or, for that matter, anyone else — blather about how the Catholic Church's teaching on the sinfulness of abortion was at some point(s) in history less than clear, and hearing this canard now causes me to want to do this.

Deo gratias, not a few American bishops have been particularly forceful in their condemnations of this vile lie, and the larger issue of the role of abortion in deciding how a Catholic should vote [pdf].

Archbishop Charles Chaput's address given last week was especially noteworthy, and called to mind this comment I came across a few years ago on Amy Welborn's blog, which was in reference to — appropriately enough — another statement by another bishop (Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford, IL), also pertaining to politics:

Holy Deus Lo Volt, Batman!

Usually I need coffee reading a bishop's column. This is like eating the beans straight from the bag.

Then there's the bluntness of Scranton's Bishop Martino:

The Bishop stepped up to the microphone. He told those present: “No social issue has caused the death of 50 million people”. ... Then he spoke those four words, “This is Madness People.”

Yeah, I'd say so.

All New Homestar Runner Halloween Costumes

Check 'em out!

Huzzah!

The attempt to force abortion on Northern Ireland has failed.

Two of my co-workers spoke at a Rally for Life in Belfast on Saturday calling on the Westminster Parliament not to impose abortion on the province, and we — and indeed all pro-lifers on both sides of the Atlantic — are thrilled at this news.

Doh!

I've been outed.

If I ever encounter an overzealous neo-HUAC enthusiast who will stop at nothing to get an answer to, "Are you now, or have you ever been in conversation with a former member of the Communist Party?" I'll know who to blame.

Trying to Fool Enough of the People All of the Time

With respect to his voting record on the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act, the junior senator from our fair corrupt state thinks he can fool enough of the people all of the time.

And, in one of those Sad To Say But Sometimes People Just Aren't Paying Close Enough Attention To What's Really Going On Here kind of moments, our good friend Jill Stanek points out that his strategy just might work.

Because, you know, no one really believes that Barack "But if [my daughters] make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby" Obama would vote to support legalized infanticide, do they?

Because that's, like, unbelievable, isn't it?

I'm a Sucker for Satire

Although I'm increasingly skeptical that the mass-exodus prompting event mentioned herein will actually come to pass, the lampooning of a certain subset of the American population is brilliant:

[HT: Mark Shea]

In Esteemed Company (Part 2)

The conference in Nebraska went very well. This was the first time I'd given a talk of any significant duration to a (mostly) adult audience, and I was pleased with it. And, talking with folks afterward, it seemed to be well received.

And there was much rejoicing...

The teen conference we ran earlier in the day also went very well. The organizers were hoping for at least 100 students; some 150 attended!

We also got a lot of great feedback on the conference evaluation forms. Here are some of the comments we received:


"I learned a lot being here. It changed my thinking on what abortion really is and it made me think of how I can help others to see what we see."

"I am glad I came. I think the pro-life message is important for today's young people to support because we are the future and change will only occur if we are willing to stand up for what we believe."

"The conference was inspirational and motivational! It made me want to go out and make a difference!"

"Very informative and motivating! I love babies!"

"I thought it was really good. I didn't know what to expect, but it was really well done, appealing, and getting to the point."

"You guys are awesome and I'm glad there's people who are trying to help every teen out in the fight for life."

"I thought it was very informative and inspired me to get more involved."

"Very good! Thank you so much! I've been very pro-life my entire life but I learned so much about WHY I am today."

"It was really informative, a great way to meet kids with the same values."

"I learned a lot and enjoyed seeing my peers believe in the same things."

"I thought it was good to learn how I can defend what I believe. It also really stuck out to me when the video said we need to educate ourselves -- showed me how much more responsible I need to become."

I particularly liked this one:

"I loved it soooo much and am going to argue with my pro-choice teacher about everything."

Heh.

***

On a completely different note: Gas is A LOT CHEAPER in Nebraska than what we're used to paying in Cook Crook County.

In Esteemed Company

This Saturday, the speakers at the Nebraska Catholic Conference's "Celebrating 40 Years of Humanae Vitae" conference will be:

• Dr. Janet Smith, Chair of Life Ethics, Professor of Moral Theology, Sacred Heart Major Seminary


• Sr. Renee Mirkes, Director, Center for NaPro Ethics, Pope Paul VI Institute


• Susan Wills, Esq., Director of Education, Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops


• Me

To say that I'm flattered at this privilege would be a colossal understatement.

The talk I'll be giving is titled "A Springtime in the Church: Forming and Activating the Next Generation".

Earlier in the day, my co-worker Annie Casselman and I will be running the teen segment of the conference, the theme for which is "Reclaiming Our Generation for Life".

That said, I'll have my hands full with preparations these next few days, so I likely shan't be blogging again till next week.

In the meantime, prayers would be sincerely appreciated.

This Video Won't Last Long on YouTube

I just got an email from Students for Life of America about their latest investigative video.

Watch it now—I'm sure it will be yanked soon:



Here's SFLA's press release:

Video Catches Planned Parenthood Covering Up Statutory Rape



ARLINGTON, VA - Students for Life of America (SFLA) has released a video exposing two Planned Parenthood clinics in Winston-Salem and Charlotte, North Carolina covering up statutory rape of young girls. To view the video, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkakpcWSyWY

In June of 2008, two college women volunteering for Students for Life of America entered two clinics in North Carolina posing as underage girls, 15 and 14, who just had unprotected sex with their mother's live-in boyfriend who was in his 30s; each girl told the clinic workers that he suggested she come get the morning the Morning After Pill. According to N.C. Gen. Statue 7B-301 and 7B-101, this information was enough to trigger North Carolina statutory rape reporting laws, obligating any person who learned of this story to report the crime to authorities.

In both visits, Planned Parenthood staffers acknowledged that what was happening to the girls was statutory rape and even admitted that they were required to report the incident.

However, after the visits, Students for Life of America filed North Carolina Public Records Requests to find out if the Planned Parenthood locations had reported the crimes. SFLA has obtained and posted documents, which show that the crimes were not reported to authorities in either Charlotte or Winston-Salem. To view the reports from police department authorities, go here: http://www.studentsforlife.org/index.php/plannedparenthoodinvestigation/

In addition to covering up the statutory rape of these young girls by failing to report, both Planned Parenthoods were willing to help them get on birth control without their parents' knowledge, which would prolong the abuse while covering evidence. One staffer in Charlotte even said to the girl, "You can do it now," and set an appointment for the minor to obtain birth control the following week.

Further, both clinics told the girls that anyone over the age of 18 could simply go to a drug store and buy the Morning After Pill for them, giving the girls' rapists a tool to further cover their crime of rape.

SFLA's Executive Director, Kristan Hawkins commented on the videos today saying, "These videos are simply shocking. That Planned Parenthood staffers acknowledged the girls were being raped and then did not report the crime is horrific. They allowed these girls to go home to their rapists and even confirmed that their rapists could get the Morning After Pill for them to cover their crimes."

Tom McClusky, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Family Research Council, responded to the investigation, "As long as Planned Parenthood puts their fealty to abortion on demand above protecting young girls from statutory rapists then investigations such as the ones done by SFL will be needed."

To view the video, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkakpcWSyWY

Methinks He Doth Exaggerate

Matt Damon needs to know whether Sarah Palin believes dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago, “because she’s gonna have the nuclear codes”.

Well enough. It's his right to so inquire.

But my question is:

Does anyone actually believe Joe Biden spends "a lot of time" at Home Depot?

Remember Tony Alamo

Recently, on one of the rare days when I went to catch the bus (and train, and another train, and another bus) to get to work, I saw something tucked into the windshield wiper of our motorcar on the street in front of Haus Jansen.

So before walking the block to the bus stop, and wanting to assure myself it wasn't a ticket, I went to see what it was.

It was a booklet, on the cover of which was a picture of a fellow who looked not entirely unlike Elvis Presley.

At the top, the masthead read, "Tony Alamo Ministries", so I assumed the fellow who looked somewhat like Elvis was one Tony Alamo, and that same runs some sort of Protestant ministry.

As it turns out, of course, it was, and he does.

I'd not theretofore heard of Tony Alamo, and glancing quickly at the other motorcars parked on our street, I was curious why ours appeared to be the only one on which some Tony Alamo devotee in our neighborhood had seen fit to place one of his publications.

So I took it with me to browse on the bus ride, and I soon realized why our vehicle was singled out: we have a Rosary hanging from our rear-view mirror. (And, as The Dutchman has pointed out, the Rosary has a habit of offending the right people.)

Tony Alamo, you see, is quite the anti-Catholic. Much of his long, rambling publication seemed to warn of either the Vatican's or the U.S. government's (or both) intent to tunnel under your house or something.

This article from a 1990 issue of This Rock offers a glimpse into Alamo's rather shady history. A few years later, he was arrested and convicted on tax-related charges.

And, just a few weeks ago, his Arkansas compound was raided by FBI agents and state police as part of a child pornography investigation.

Not the kind of the guy I'd want to want to place my trust in.