Who's Afraid of a Super Bowl Ad?

It's been widely reported recently that pro-choice groups have worked themselves into a lather over a pro-life ad featuring Tim Tebow and his mother that is set to air during the Super Bowl.

Chief among the handwringers is the National Organization for Women, whose president, Terry O'Neill, noted that she has "respect for the private choices made by women such as Pam Tebow", but has "condemned the planned ad as 'extraordinarily offensive and demeaning.'"

She further commented:

That's not being respectful of other people's lives. It is offensive to hold one way out as being a superior way over everybody else's. [emphasis added]

Yes, because everyone knows it's "offensive" when someone has the audacity to opine that civilization is superior to barbarism. Or that perseverance is superior to sloth. Or that freedom is superior to slavery.

To her credit, O'Neill's comments are nothing if not clarifying, for they make plain the fact that to the pro-choice mind, there is no objective moral distinction between, on the one hand, allowing a baby to be born, and, on the other, aborting her. Indeed, there can't be; otherwise, the pro-choice argument collapses in on itself.

It's because of comments like these that I've often thought that one of the best things that could happen to the pro-life movement is for the pro-abortion choice movement to get its own 24-hour cable channel.

Just give them a camera, give them a microphone, and let them talk. And talk. And talk some more.

The more they seek to rationalize their beliefs, the more self-evidently repulsive their arguments become to The Average Person.

It's no wonder, then, that the number of pro-abortion choice Americans continues to dwindle.

There's a Very Disturbing Pattern Here

I was wrong.

Adrian Peterson rushed for over 100 yards, but it wasn't enough to make up for the damage caused by five (5) turnovers.

For long-suffering Vikings fans, there is a very disturbing pattern here:

22 years ago (the year of the strike, 1987-88), the Vikings lost the NFC Championship Game to Washington. Remember Darrin Nelson's infamous drop—the one that if he had caught, would have sent the game into overtime? (Or would you prefer to forget it?)

11 years after that, the Vikings lost the NFC Championship Game to Atlanta, due to a missed field goal by Gary Anderson—who hadn't missed a single field goal all season.

And now, 11 years later...well, you know.

So fellow Vikings fans, take heed: when the 2020 season rolls around, don't get your hopes up. They'll surely make it to the NFC Championship Game, only to come oh-so-close to winning, but then not.

My Prediction

If Adrian Peterson rushes for 100 yards, the Vikings will win on Sunday.

March for Life

If any of this here weblog's readers will be in Washington, DC for the March for Life on Friday, feel free to stop by and say hi.

I'll be one of the ones holding the Generations for Life banner a block west of 4th St. and Madison Dr. NW, starting at 12:00 noon.

I'm also giddy that I'll get to hear the uber-intelligent Robert George speak at the Rose Dinner Friday night.

The best description of George that I've seen comes from a review of his book The Clash of Orthodoxies: Law, Religion, and Morality in Crisis, in which Daniel Moloney writes:

A few of the essays show secularist professors hopping in the ring with George, only to find that the diminutive professor of political philosophy does a fair impression of Hulk Hogan—he doesn’t just win; he throws the opponent out of the ring and begins to chase after him with a chair, so relentless is he in argument.

George is also a co-author of the Manhattan Declaration, which, if you haven't already signed, you should. (I signed it a few weeks ago.)

Slandering Pope Pius XII

There is perhaps no historical canard for which I have less patience than the charge that Pope Pius XII was a feckless coward who "didn't do enough" to help Jews during the Holocaust.

There is no shortage of well-documented defenses of Pius, and if you've never read anything on this subject before, this article by Professor Ronald Rychlak is surely a good start.

Holy Good Coffee, Batman!

I just realized that I have not yet publicly proclaimed how much I heart my new Chemex Coffee Maker, which may well warrant the title of Best. Christmas present. Ever. (that I've received, at least).

Upon first seeing it, I fancied that it looked rather like a cross between a martini glass and a beaker.

How simple, I thought. That's all there is to it?

Along with a special type of oxygen cleansed filters (which I also got), yes, that's it.

If you check out the reviews, you'll see that they're rave ("Best coffee ever..." "Unquestionably the best..." "For those who really enjoy good coffee..." "I've not found a way to make better coffee...")

And I can assure you: they're all true. As Agent Cooper would say, it makes "damn good coffee".

I can't recommend the Chemex highly enough.

For an explanation of how and why it's so great, watch this:

It's About Time

About.com posts on the Abortion/Breast Cancer link

A Good Day for a Christmas Party

Our staff Christmas Party is tonight.

You might be thinking: Isn't January 6 a little late for a Christmas party?

To which I would reply:

Nonsense.

On the contrary, it's a great day to have a Christmas party, because we are still in the Christmas season. Today, of course, is also the traditional feast of Epiphany, which makes this date doubly worthy of a celebration.

We started the tradition of having our staff Christmas party during the first week of January a few years ago at the suggestion of one of my co-workers, who made the point that it's a bit unsuitable to have a Christmas party before, you know, Christmas. Especially when the "before" time is that of Advent, which is supposed to be a penitential season.

Having our staff Christmas party when we do is also nice for another reason. Inevitably, the month of December — especially the week before Christmas, when many office Christmas parties are held — is crazily hectic, and it's nice to not have to worry about One More Thing during that time, and instead to be able to put it off until the relatively less hectic first week of January.

So tonight, we celebrate.

(And speaking of work, just this week — after a great deal of time and preparation on the part of our webmaster Eric Scheidler — we launched our newly designed website. Check thou it out!)

Christmas Carols

For the past month, Christmas carols have been heard at Haus Jansen seemingly continuously, and none of us has tired of them. Not surprisingly, our kids know more of them (and more verses of them) than Jocelyn or I did when we were their age.

I realized this yesterday at Mass, when our two oldest girls were able to sing along with all the verses of "We Three Kings of Orient Are", including my favorite:

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes of life of gathering gloom
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying
Sealed in the stone-cold tomb

At the beginning of Advent, Jocelyn had the idea to have the four oldest kids practice one carol to sing for family gatherings these past few weeks. She picked "The Friendly Beasts", not only because it's a great song, but also because they could each have their own verse.

Here's their first "performance", at their Tito Joey's house a few weeks ago: