The Anchoress

A word about my blogroll...

2005-04-08T22:39:00.000-04:00

Everything there is good and worth reading. The blogs on my blogroll are varied. Some are right-wing, some left, some centrist. Some don't concern themselves overmuch with politics or religion and just want to have fun and play around. I have a few other blogs that I am going to blogroll when my new site is up and running (I am so scared...blogger is so easy to use, and I love my template...) but by and large, you can't go wrong by clicking on any of the folks in my blog-roll.

I say this because I don't always link to them as much as I would like to - for various reasons, the main one being - you know - the rude intrusion of real life on my time!

So, if you are looking to do some reading and you're tired of the same-old, same-old, take a look in my blogroll. Close your eyes and hit a random one.

If they were not good reads, I wouldn't link to them! :-)

NEW Web Address, Starving Granny, ID and other links

2005-04-08T20:41:00.000-04:00

PLEASE NOTE: THE ANCHORESS IS MOVING OFF OF BLOGSPOT EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. I DIDN'T WANNA GO - I LOVE HOW EASY BLOGGER IS TO USE...but...well, you know...

Please read me at my new (as yet still undesigned and rather plain) site www.theanchoressonline.com and PRAY for me that I can figure out what the heck I am doing! Thank you!

OH! And please adjust your links to me accordingly! THANKS!

A little tired from what seems like weeks on incessant blogging, and we may be gearing up for another big week if this story continues to develop. Should be interesting. Terri Schiavo was allowed to be dehydrated and starved to death because her husband remembered, 6 or 7 years on that, "oh, yeah...she didn't want to live like this." Now, an elderly lady with a living will , and who is apparently not comatose, vegetative or dying may be suffering the same fate. Keep your eyes on it. Surely, if this quote is accurate, we are standing upon a terrible precipice:

"Grandmama is old and I think it is time she went home to Jesus," Gaddy told Magouirk's brother and nephew, McLeod and Ken Mullinax. "She has glaucoma and now this heart problem, and who would want to live with disabilities like these?"

Doug at Bogus Gold has an update from the local paper.

Philosodude has some NaNaBooBoos for the AP and for Bill Clinton, for that matter. Go, read.

I wanted to link to Wittingshire, who have a link and excerpt regarding Intelligent Design that I thought was pretty interesting. I confess I don't know enough about it. Anyone who reads me knows I am no scholar...but it's still pre-tty compelling stuff. :-)

I kinda liked this young man's experience at St. Peter's.

And with a tip of the hat to Beth at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, take a look at this post, "Confessions of a Politically Correct Professor." Seems this European professor has found the liberalism of American academia to be a little...ahem...extreme.

The publication ban in Canada has been lifted. All props must begin by acknowledging Ed Morrissey as the force behind this good news.

DO go read Bernard Higgins's A Certain Slant of Light. Just keep scrolling; it's all good.

Finally, I must send out public thanks to three bloggers who came to understand that I was in serious "blogger-distress" last night and who were extremely generous in their help, Dirty Harry at Jackson's Junction, Matt at Cartago Delenda Est and most especially, Sigmund, Carl and Alfred who did the work of three men in one! Thank you, guys, for your thoughtful kindness; I hope I can someday repay the favor.

Why wasn't JPII put into the ground in a simple shroud

2005-04-08T19:05:00.000-04:00

An email from a reader:

I'm asking this because I think you will answer me respectfully. The service today was beautiful but wasn't it too much? Jesus was buried in a simple shroud, and he was God. What we saw today bordered on idolatry. I have no problems with Catholics, I do believe you are Christians, but I think you are misguided on this.

Sigh. Really, I am NOT an apologist. I have no energy for it, and don't feel called to it as others do.

But...thank you for your question. And...thank you...for believing that Catholics are Christians. We've come a long way, baby.

Look, I don't know your background, or what your denomination is, but I'm assuming it's "bible-based" and big on singing and short on liturgy. If I am wrong, please let me know.

I'm at a loss to understand precisely what was offensive. Was it all the scripture contained in the readings and responses, throughout the mass, from Lord, have mercy... to Holy, Holy, Holy... to Lord, I am not worthy...?

I can't imagine that is what is troubling you. If what bothered you was the size and scope of the mass, well...it's a global age. In Jesus' time he managed to draw crowds numbering in the tens of thousands, but everyone was traveling by foot or camel. I think the crowd you saw today was proportionate to the means of travel and the avaliability of communications technology. So, again, I don't understand what is troubling you.

I gather, since you mention the burial of Christ, it is perhaps the burial of the pope, and the pomp preceeding it, which troubled you.

A few points: Jesus was buried in the manner of a wealthy man of his time - in a private cave hewn for the purpose and originally purchased by Joseph of Arimathea, so it could be argued that outside of pyramids and King's tombs, Jesus' burial was not quite "humble" for the time, but rather the arrangements (though rushed for Passover) could be construed as slightly better than average. He was wrapped in a shroud because that's what was done, and is still done in that part of the world.

You could argue that the average American citizen who has a wake, then a funeral service, flowers, an expensive casket, pall bearers with dignified bearing, readings, grieving and a supper to follow, celebrating that person's life, had a much more elaborate burial than Jesus, who was (IS) God. So what? Times and customs and cultures do have an effect on things. If a beloved family member of yours dies, are you going to limit his or her burial to a shroud and a howdy do, because that's all Jesus got?

And remember, too...when Jesus was buried, they DIDN'T KNOW HE WAS GOD. They thought he was a prophet. They'd thought maybe he was the messiah, but then, you know...he didn't come through with the liberation, etc, and he was tortured and killed and his followers went into hiding. They didn't KNOW what they had, among them, until later. Had they known, well...who knows? :-)

The liturgy - that whole mass you saw today, beautifully sung, beautifully carried out...was not for John Paul, per se. Yes, it commended him to God and it celebrated his faithful service, but the liturgy was meant - as it is ALWAYS meant - for US. We are humans, and when something important happens, as the loss of a loved one, our hearts hunger for beauty as well as meaning, for beauty is another transcendent means to God. And so millions came to Rome to see off a servant of Christ, and for their efforts, they saw beauty, they heard and felt beauty, had the opportunity to pay their own tribute ("Sancto!") and most importantly they got to to Commune with the Lord Jesus Christ in Holy Communion.

You'll notice that the people kneeling in St. Peters, on the cobblestone, were not kneeling for JPII...they were kneeling while Communing with the Lord.

Liturgy does not only teach, it also entertains. That sounds wrong, but I mean it in a good way - it lifts our hearts, minds and spirits. If you belong to an Evangelical church, you probably have musicians and singers at your service, and that music they provide is uplifting, it brings another dimension to worship. Just so with the liturgy, and with all of that "pomp." It is for us. JPII doesn't care, he's already in heaven! :-)

So he is remembered with love. He is dressed in fine robes (when we buried Grandma we put her in her best dress - what else?). His casket is incensed, because incense has been part of our worship left over from our Judaic roots. The angel in revelation disperses incense in an incensor, so I don't think God has a problem with it. Then...after the mass, the Rite of Christian burial, his body was solemnly processed and lain to rest.

It is all we would do for any of our loved ones...just on a scale calculated to uplift not just thirty or forty, but a couple billion.

Is it the three caskets that is bothering you?

Well, there are reasons for that. The first is that there have been times in the history of Christendom when bodies of priests and popes and saints have been disrespected by those who hate, and perhaps TOO venerated by those who love. Three caskets does sort of put the damper on that possibility! :-). But there are other reasons, as well. The humble cypress casket is a symbol of humanity and humility. (So, what's wrong with symbols?) the leaden casket helps to slow the deterioration of the body.

Why is this important? I dunno. Maybe some Italian Mama along the way - a precurser to the sort of Italian Mama who puts plastic on the sofa - gave people the heebiejeebies about the body getting damp! :-) But the thing is, if and when a man or woman is being seriously considered for sainthood, their body is disinterred, and investigated. For a couple reasons - but mostly because there has been a curious phenomenon over the years, attending to these people, in that their bodies tend not to corrupt, at least not at the rate, or in the manner, of the rest of us. And it's not true of ALL saints...but its been true of enough of them (some of whom were buried in pine boxes and mud, some of whom had floods in their graves) that you know...put him in a lead box, and we'll see what we get in twenty years. And the last box, simple oak, simply contains his name and the dates of his pontificate. I don't think ANY of this is a big deal. When Grandpa died, he was buried. His grave had a cement liner. It's pretty much the same idea. Maybe it's the culture - we're all sticklers for tying things up neatly - but I don't see the idolatry you're talking about.

And if you mean the crowds chanting "Sancto! Sancto!" Well...at my son's high school, one of the athletes just died, tragically, of cancer. The funeral convoy drove past the school, and all of the students had assembled outside. They stood solemnly and then applauded and waved to the hearse and to his parents, shouting his name, his hockey number, and saying, "We'll miss you! Your son was great!" and other such things. Was that idolatry, or a simple, heartfelt last opportunity to praise a much-loved student?

Can I just say...if Billy Graham were a Catholic, they'd prolly do the same for him, when he died. It's just a tribute. No one left St. Peter's today having WORSHIPPED Karol Wojtyla, and no one left there unsure of who is the Savior of the world.

But...they did leave St. Peter's with full hearts, having had a chance to do what my son's classmates did for their fallen friend...to remember and pay a little tribute...and they got to do it surrounded by visual and aural beauty...so that all of their senses participated in the Worship of God. Again, I just don't see the problem. But I'm glad you wrote to me about your concerns, and I hope I helped put them to rest. If I haven't all I can say is...I'm not that smart. Someone else may do much better! :-)

Don't be so afraid of a little liturgy. :-) BE NOT AFRAID! :-)

PS...speaking only for myself, that funeral today made me long to hear more (or, ANY) Gregorian Chant at mass. I really hunger for it. Enough of the feel-good campfire-type songs, please! :-)

Let me just translate Hillary for you, here.

2005-04-08T14:05:00.000-04:00

The story in the Washington Times says that Hillary Clinton - moving ever toward the center, at least in word, has said this:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday that protecting the freedom to practice religion throughout the world is one of the most important missions of U.S. foreign and domestic policy. But the New York Democrat, in a speech last night on religious liberty and church-state relations, said that goal must include trying to "create a space for nonbelievers" as well.

Translation: I am saying NOTHING. I am embracing the status quo. People shoule be allowed to pray and atheists and others should not have to look at nativity sets, got that? I am saying NOTHING but I'm making it SOUND like I'm saying something, and it's something no reason person could disagree with! I never actually say ANYTHING but I use the right words to make it sound like I am saying precisely the thing that needs to be said. This makes me SOUND more moderate, but in fact, it MEANS nothing, and does not commit me to any sort of genuine movement in my thinking. In fact, it's not thinking at all. It is neither thinking or speaking. It means as much as my remarks on finding "common ground" with pro-lifers meant, which was nothing, because there cannot be "common ground" on that issue, and I'm plenty smart enough to know that, but I don't believe that YOU are!!!! And the truth is, I have been a Yankess Fan ALL MY LIFE!

I told ya'll months ago that Hillary was going to go all-religion-all-the-time. Everytime Bill Clinton ran for office we'd have to read about the Christian tracts Hillary kept into her purse. Right next to her "Abortion on Demand Throughtout Pregnancy" button from Planned Parenthood.

Final thoughts

2005-04-08T12:39:00.000-04:00

At first I thought I would have loved to have live-blogged the funeral of Pope John Paul the Great, but it wasn't necessary, was it? The images, the spontaneous outbursts of applause and cheering - it was most eloquent.

But I did have a few thoughts:

Today, an event occured which was witnessed by the whole world. A million people knelt in prayer on the cobblestone of St. Peter's. Hundreds of thousands of people publicly received communion in this, the year of the Eucharist. Leaders from all over the world gave a "sign of peace."

Something will come of it. MUCH, I think, will come of it.

Mr Wong has a nice Java Applet in requiem for JPII.

I liked this very telling blurb over at NRO's The Corner

YOU KNOW, SOME OF THOSE YOUNG PEOPLE ACTUALLY AGREED WITH HIM! A Gen-Xer in Rome tells me:
In line one of us talked to an 'embedded' NBC reporter who said, as if it were a reportorial observation rather than a fixed dogma of his mind, how extraordinary it was that so many people should turn out to see a man they didn't agree with on key issues. The one from our group said that everyone in our group of 9 professionals from NYC agreed with every teaching on personal morality ever taught by JP2, in many cases because of the arguments he made and because of him. 'would you like to speak with any of them?'. Not at all. And the reporter headed off to re-embed himself where there was better shelter from the facts.

Yes...the press has a framework and a meme. The framework is, "Yes, they come for him but they don't listen to him, the church demands that it bow to the times..." And the meme is: Mixed Legacy. We saw Clinton helpfully push it along, and Bush say "nonsense."

Speaking of which, President Bush seemed to go out of his way to minimize himself at this event - to make sure that nothing overshadowed the pope's final tribute. He made himself unavailable for photos and photo-ops. As did his father. Former President Clinton however made himself as available as possible - allowing himself to be taped walking thoughtfully through a garden, being interviewed by Brian Williams.

That's our Bill. The bride at every wedding, the corpse at every funeral. He'll never change; it is who he is. But I sure am sick of watching the press gleefully enable his narcissism and feed it.

Funny things go through your head sometimes. When the crowd began to chant SANTO, I wondered if Clinton thought, "hell, I shoulda been pope! Now THERE is a legacy for ya!" :-)

Ah, and a last thing. National Review Online was nice enough to invite me to scribble some of my poor thoughts for this symposium on John Paul II. I am quite, quite humbled to see the company I am in, there, and thank NRO for the invite.

Live-blogging the funeral if blogger will allow it

2005-04-08T04:39:00.000-04:00

5:20 AM I am so glad that CNN has John Allen. He really is excellent. And how reverent, now is this Liturgy of the Eucharist.

5:00 AM Not a bad homily from Ratzinger. I DO love all the chanting - particularly the chanting of the Gospel in Latin, and I thought the priest chanted it very well. I recall once visiting an Orthodox church, Latin rite, and pretty much the whole Mass was chanted. Between the icons, the chanting...for an hour it felt like we'd left earth and gone to heaven.

4:45 AM In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
So very beautiful.

All of this applause reminds me of the time John Paul came to New York and spoke to young people who kept interrupting him with applause and chants of devotion.

He smiled and said, "The pope has much to say to you, and if you keep that up we will be here all night."

They applauded some more.

Please tell me that this is not another Schiavo case

2005-04-07T15:42:00.000-04:00

I literally tried to post this from 4:10 yesterday afternoon, but blogger was not letting me in. Since writing it, many other sites have picked up the story, but much is still unclear. See links at the bottom.

I post this with the warning that this information comes in the form of a PRESS RELEASE, and that I have not been able to find a single news item to which to link. I have not yet done any research into this story. In fact, until I can say more with any certainty,I won't even link to the website which is carrying the press release.

That said, the conventional wisdom following the death of Terri Schiavo was: "The next one will be easier," and with that in mind, I simply want to put a name and a bare outline of the situation into your awareness, and then we'll see if anything develops down the road.

The press release is difficult to read - the website carrying it is bright pink andthere are all sorts of type enlargements and exclamation points - for a dyslexic like me, the site is a nightmare. But what I am gleaning here is that in La Grange, Georgia, an 81 year old elderly lady named Mae Magouirk was admitted two weeks ago to hospital for an aortic dissection, and is now in a hospice being denied food or water due to the demands of a granddaughter. This woman, Mae Magouirk,apparently does have a living will which stipulates that unless she is comatose or vegatative, she IS to be given nourishment and hydration. She is not now, comatose, nor vegatative. Nor, it appears, is she terminally ill.

Apparently, the hospice feels the hospital did not give due diligence in ascertaining exactly who had authority to consent to or deny treatment for Mae. It initially reattached Mae's hydration, until a probate judge ordered differently. While the family goes back and forth, and apparently a probate judge sides with the grandaughter, this lady has received no nourishment since March 28.

The blogger carrying the story is unknown to me. To his or her credit, the blogger has corresponded by e-mail wth a nephew of the woman and he had suggests that a busy granddaughter who has been running errands for Mae, and has become estranged, is the engine behind this situation.

I hope this is just an ugly familysquabble involving avarice, and that all of this information is untrue.But, if this lady has a living will inplace, and if she is neither comatose, vegatative nor dying, then it needsto be addressed.TheCorner and Fr.Rob Johansen are wondering about it all, too. Ms. Lopez helpfully reminds me that it was, in fact, NRO, which warned, "Next time will be easier." Because of problems with Blogger, I may be behind the story a little, and there may be more to read. Musing Minds is following, as is an angry Dirty Harry.

The real-life story of The Exorcist

2005-04-07T14:50:00.000-04:00

An excellent article in NRO by Carol Iannone, which details a film I have GOT to see, and talks about the sorts of priests we need, too./

Doh! Forgot about Noonan

2005-04-07T14:31:00.000-04:00

You have probably read it already, but if you haven't go read her assessment on JPII's part in bringing down communism.

Then, I have linked to this already, back when I was live-blogging last weekend, but if you missed it you really MUST read it. Noonan's very moving and exceedingly well-written piece on a a papal audience she attended 'way back in 2002. It's an absolute gem.

And this is NOT by Noonan, but by Susan Vigilante, and it's a small, charming piece of a work in progress a book I must get when it is published. I like this part:

The pope reappeared. We stood in a line to take our turns kissing his ring and being introduced. After hugging the boys and greeting their parents, the pope made a beeline for Sister Louise. “And here is Sheila!” He took her face in his hands and gave her a kiss. “Sister Sheila! Or, no. Sister Louise.”

Sheila beamed. “Holy Father — “ She appeared to be about to start chatting with him about who knows what — she was a notorious chatterbox — but she caught herself and remembered she had official business. “Um, Holy Father? This is my superior, Mother Gabriel. And this is Sister Martine. And over here, this is Sister — Sister — “

A look of horror crossed Sheila’s face as she realized in all the excitement she was blanking on the woman’s name. Then suddenly she burst out, “John Paul! John Paul.”

The pope looked at her carefully and lowered his voice. “Sheila,” he stage whispered, “I’m John Paul.”

“No, no, no! This is Sister John Paul! That’s, that’s her name, too.”

[...]

[The Pope] asked how their brand new order was going. “Wonderful, Holy Father,” bubbled a dark-haired Italian looking one. “It’s growing like crazy. We have five novices.”

"What! Five thousand novices, already! Magnificent.” Big broad papal smile, as if to say, I got you.

Many giggles in reply. But the dark one was undeterred. “Yes, Holy Father. In fact we think it must be a great time of grace and a great work of the Holy Spirit that there are so many new vocations in America.”

The Holy Father paused thoughtfully and looked over the nuns in their newly designed and approved but not terribly attractive habits. He nodded gravely. “Yes. Yes. It must be the work of the Holy Spirit, if it has gotten Sheila to wear that.”

JPII, you old charmer, you.

Whistlin' and eatin' ice cream! From Captain Ed to Simone Ledeen!

2005-04-07T13:32:00.000-04:00

I don't know what's going on with me today, but I just can't seem to get myself worked up too much about anything. I'm whistling and eating ice cream in the middle of the day, and pretty much enjoying a nice, sun-shiney morning, and I think everyone else should, too.

Perhaps it is the recent intensity of blogging and news - first there was the Schiavo matter, then the Pope's passing. Maybe a day of carefree goofiness is in order. In any case, I have never been able to sustain intensity about anything. I'm an Attention Deficit Disorderly typa girl, from way back.

So, here are some links - here are some news stories about which one should try to stay reasonably well-informed, and the columns and blog entries of opinionators to whom one should pay respectful heed.

My, I'm so cute today! I spun out a sentence worthy of Churchill! :-) Don't you just want to puke?

Anyway, here we go, off to land o' links:

Weekly Standard wonders about the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in The Crime of the Century?, which looks a good read. It's pretty troubling to read that both the CIA and the NY Times seemed to be of like minds that "it couldn't have been the Soviets," when we now know that yes, acting ouf ot Bulgaria, it was -indeed- the Soviets.

Victor Davis Hanson - one of my heroes and I don't link to him enough, wonders if it isn't time to move the UN?

As promised below, I'm linking to Ed Morrissey's outstanding (really, he should win an award for what he is doing, and I am not an "award-minded" sort of person) blog posts on what is happening in Canada - a freedom of speech issue which should be of concern to everyone. Eddie is helping the cause of freedom for our neighbors to the north, and even the NY Times is noticing. As Ed notes here, other members of the MSM are waking up to the story, too.

As Phil Rizzuto would say, "Holy COW!" that's some impressive list of dignitaries and such in attendence at the Pope's funeral! Such a "target rich" environment leads me to think only of prayer.

But where is Bono? Why isn't he on that list?? The pope wore his shades! He called JPII "the best frontman the Catholic Church ever had!" Seems to me if Bill Clinton (of whom the pope once complained, "he was the only world leader I could not talk to," and Bonnie Prince Charlie (poor guy, once again being an official man interferes with his lifelong desire to be Camilla's feminine protection product - hey, don't look at me, HE is the one who said it) are in attendence, then I think we should see Bono there, with his wrap-around shades and his cowboy boots! :-)

Oh...and a new Iraqi leader has taken his oath of office. Just in case anyone is missing another historical moment in this week of them.

Polipundit notes that it is now 67 days since John Kerry, under pressure from Tim Russert, said, "yes, yes, I will sign the SF180! Yes, I'll sign it. I promise. Yes."

The thing remains unsigned and Poli is asking folks to comment on why they think that might be.

Over at NRO, an argument is being made that perhaps it's time for the MSM to give our troops a little of the good press they deserve and have thus far not really received. This opined by Owen and Bing West,and I concur.

You just know that if Michael Kelly and David Bloom had survived covering the invasion into Iraq, they'd have done it. NRO is also featuring some archived pieces on the troops that are worth re-visiting, especially this from Simone Ledeen who writes - movingly - of spending time with our wounded at Walter Reed Hospital.

That's it, that's enough, I'm done. I need to go look at the sprouting daffodils. It's a big 'net. Surf it! Yer on your own, unless something else piques my interest! :-)

Not what Usama bin Laden had in mind, exactly

2005-04-07T12:26:00.000-04:00

Got an email from Philosodude who is tracking down and trying to credit the story of John Paul I's "prophetic dream" which had been included in Dwight's email to Hugh Hewitt, which I linked to here.

It's a great story, and I hope it bears up, but the dude says he can so far find only one source, and he is not sure how credible it is.

However, that is not the point of this post. The point is to draw your attention to Philosodude's rather interesting post which suggests that while capturing bin Laden would have been a very good thing, bin Laden's constricted freedom may not be all the had hoped and anticipated.

Meanwhile...and this has nothing to do with anything...I have SUCH a craving for ice cream, right now. How odd.

"Blood-feasting" in the Bay Area?

2005-04-07T12:13:00.000-04:00

Thomas Lifson at The American Thinker serves up a very troubling story complete with links for further reading.

On March 18th, a shocking crime took place in Berkeley, California, at a spot famous for sweeping Bay views, distinguished architecture, and the genteel atmosphere that wealthy “progressives” create for themselves. An elderly woman, walking home with her husband from an extension class at the University of California, was grabbed from behind by a young woman who had just walked past her on the sidewalk. In a flash, her throat was slit to the bone.

As she spurted blood, the suspect drove off with her companion, another young woman, in a light blue BMW M3 convertible, a car which carries a suggested retail price of 55 thousand dollars.

Fortunately, the 75 year-old victim did survive the attack, but there is much in this story that is troubling, particularly the fact that the driver of the Beemer is a rather prominent citizen...and more...You'll want to read it all, and wonder why the MSM has shown no interest in any of this. As Lifson writes:

Aside from the spunky Oakland Trib, Bay Area news media have been extremely reticent about revealing any details related to the role of Kianfar in the hideous crime. One would think that the combination of the brutality of the attack, a wealthy and prominent accomplice, the curious manner of police, prosecutorial and judicial handling of the accomplice, and the lurid detail of blood-feasting would lead to an avalanche of coverage.

Rather there has been almost no coverage. Read up on the Sufi. This is one to keep an eye on.

H/T Lucianne.com.

Good Riddance to a fool

2005-04-07T10:43:00.000-04:00

I never say this about anyone, but I have to say it here: What an asshat! Not only did Sen. Mel Martinez' counsel admit to penning the shameful "Talking Points Memo" (I can no longer refer to it as a "Document of Dubious Origin," -sigh) full of misspellings and cynical, opportunist ideas, but then he cowered and hid and allowed mistrust between people to foment, rather than admitting his actions.

What a fool.

Well...this time, it was not a Dem-orchestrated Rathergate but a stupid GOP bit of foolishness, and we'll have to buck up and take our licks.

Can't you just imagine what Maureen Dowd is going to write this Sunday? She'll start off, naturally, with a cutesy pop-reference title and devolve from there. And we'll have to let her, this time. She'll have to be allowed her fun and glory.

Ah, well. We sadly live in an era wherein lines are drawn and sides are most emphatically and necessarily being taken, and there are enough stupid people to go around that both sides have their share. I don't feel TOO badly for having believed the document might have been a "democrat dirty trick," if only because I thought the GOP wouldn't misspell Terri Schiavo's name!

We swallow our bitter with our sweet, and we keep moving. After all, we've learned from the masters all about "moving on," haven't we? :-)

And in the end, don't allow the much more important story to be forgotten. Beyond the over-enthusiastic and blatant stupidity of this memo...Terri Schiavo, who lived, lives no more, and the means and manners by which her death was effected must be addressed, so that it does not happen again.

Jim Geraghty has a good take on it all.

Micky Kaus has more. Ed Morrissey, up to his eyeballs in his astoundingly good Adscam coverage (more on that later) is a good captain who notes that the sloppy presentation of the memo, alone, should have been enough to keep that swabby off the deck. He, along with the others, still wonders if the WaPo will address the poor reporting on the memo's origins, which seemed to so many to suggest that the press, unsure if the document originated from the left or right, had its own worries that it might have originated from the left.Powerline comments here and here. Michelle Malkin has, I think, the best commentary on it and thinks Martinez' office may have more 'splainin' to do and she quotes a few of her less-refined "tolerant, compassionate" liberal readers on the subject while she is at it. Very lame, some people are. LaShawn Barber is also dealing with chuckleheaded snots and re-stating her own positions for good measure.

Luckily for me, I have only Dingo's nanabooboo and Joe Marshall's rather satisfied glow to contend with! :-)

"Dwight" puts it all together, in a very cool way

2005-04-06T13:18:00.000-04:00

This was just too good to pass up; I'm talking about Hugh Hewitt's post today. He starts off bang outta the box wondering who might be the patron saint of blogging (my suggestion: St. Paul or Thomas Aquinas, both prolific writers, I lean toward Paul.)

Then he gives us a bunch of excellent links, and ends with this email from a reader named "Dwight." Who kind of puts things all together in a kind of cool way. I cannot resist but excerpt it here:

I am curious as to whether, if at all, protestant evangelicals are hospitable to such things. But since you posted
on the Blessed Faustina, Fatima, etc., here are a few John Paul mystical factoids for future reference.

* John Paul died Saturday at the conclusion of the mass of the Divine Mercy, which was being said in his presence on Saturday evening. This is a feast day instituted by the Pope following his canonization of Faustina. It also signals the conclusion of "Bright week", as the Church celebrates Easter as as week, not simply a day.

* When Padre Pio, the great Capuchin mystic and stigmatist (also canonized by John Paul)was nearing death in 1968, it was decided that the hundreds of thousands of letters he had received over the years from people around the world asking for healings, and which were stored at his monestary, should be destroyed, since much of what was written was subject to penitent-priest confidentiality. Before they were destroyed, Padre Pio went to the storeroom, plucked two letters out of the pile, handed them to a brother monk and said "save these two, they will be important someday." Both letters were written in the 1950s by an obscure Polish priest named Carol Wotyla, asking Padre Pio to pray for parishioners who were terminally ill. In both cases, it turned out,the person for whom intervention was sought experienced immediate, miraculous recoveries.

* John Paul was shot by Mehmet Ali Aga on May 13th, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. In 1984 John Paul fulfilled the Fatima request that the Holy Father, in concert with all the bishops of the world, simultaneously consecrate Russia to Mary. This had been attempted, in marginal and incomplete ways, by earlier popes in the century. After the consecration, the Vatican heard from Sister Lucia, the surviving Fatima visionary, that the consecration had been accepted. Shortly thereafter, Andropov (or whichever geriatric Stalinist was then in charge, I forget) dropped dead and
Gorbachev assumed power.Two years ago, you may recall, the Church, with Lucia's permission, revealed the third and final secret of Fatima. It was a vision of the assasination attempt on the Pope, together with the martydom of other religious during the 20th century.

* Last but not least (for those who doubt that the Holy Spirit can be pretty proactive when necessary) shortly after his ascension to the papacy in 1978, Pope John Paul I startled his staff at breakfast one morning when he informed them that "he would not be Pope for very long." His explanation: he had had a prophetic dream the night before informing him that the conclave had disregarded the the will of the Holy Spirit, and matters needed to be corrected. Specifically, John Paul I told his confidants, the cardinals were supposed to have elected the cardinal who had been sitting behind him during the consistory. The cardinal who had sat behind him was Carol Wotyla.

And that concludes this week's edition of inside baseball ...

Like you, I am truly fascinated by the (non old-line denomination) protestant reaction to John Paul, as well as the reaction by non-christian people of faith around the world. Something historic is afoot here, and bears close watching. Glad to have you doing the observing.

Dwight"

Thanks Dwight - and I my thanks to his toward Mr. Hewitt for posting so well on things JPII, and for the H/T earlier today! :-)

Doubts on Document of Dubious Origin re Schiavo

2005-04-06T09:16:00.000-04:00

Well, now, here is the big question of the day: Was the Schiavo Memo a fake?.

It's only taken how many weeks to find a MSM outlet that would even ask the question?

All 55 Republican senators say they have never seen the Terri Schiavo political talking-points memo that Democrats say was circulated among Republicans during the floor debate over whether the federal government should intervene to prolong her life.

The Times surveyed all 44 Democrats and the chamber's one independent, and only one of them, Sen. Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, said through a spokeswoman that he saw it circulated on the Senate floor.
"He said that the memo was being circulated by Republican members on Thursday before we went out of session, and that is when he saw it," said his spokeswoman, Allison Dobson.

Two Democratic offices refused to respond -- Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat -- the latter even as he continued to accuse Republicans of being behind it.

"We will not participate in the survey. News outlets have investigated and authenticated the memo was real and came from Republican sources. We have no further comment," said spokeswoman Tessa Hafen. "If you want more information on the memo, you should work on finding the Republican who wrote it."

What a little snot! :-)

She did not respond to a request to name the newspaper or network that had "authenticated" the memorandum.

No, of course...she wouldn't.

But I can't WAIT to see what Michelle Malkin has to say about it today. Meanwhile you can read Hindrocket's take, here and Greyhawk's over here.

Influx of pilgrims putting strain on Italy

2005-04-06T09:13:00.000-04:00

I think the best, most amusing part of this storyis the line by Archbishop Piero Marini

In a departure from ancient ritual, the announcement of a new pope - traditionally signaled by white smoke - would be driven home by the ringing of bells. In the past, a muddled color of smoke had caused confusion.

"This way even journalists will know," said Archbishop Piero Marini, the master of papal liturgical ceremonies.

Heh.

The Polish Seminarian and the Jewish Girl he Saved

2005-04-06T08:56:00.000-04:00

I'd heard this story but never heard it told before by a member of Edith Zierer's family. It is the very touching account of what happened when a young Jewish girl, released from Nazi prison and cold, hungry, too ill to walk, encountered a Polish Catholic named Karol Wojtyla, a year before his ordination.

In January 1945, at 13, she emerged from a Nazi labor camp in Czestochowa, Poland, a waif on the verge of death. Separated from her family, unaware that her mother had been killed by the Germans, she could scarcely walk.

Death was approaching, but a young man approached first, "very good looking," as she recalled, and vigorous. He wore a long robe and appeared to the girl to be a priest. "Why are you here?" he asked. "What are you doing?" Edith said she was trying to get to Krakow to find her parents.

The man disappeared. He came back with a cup of tea. Edith drank. He said he could help her get to Krakow. Again, the mysterious benefactor went away, returning with bread and cheese.

"Try to stand," the man said. Edith tried - and failed. The man carried her to another village, where he put her in the cattle car of a train bound for Krakow. Another family was there. The man got in beside Edith, covered her with his cloak, and set about making a small fire.

His name, he told Edith, was Karol Wojtyla.

You'll want to read the whole thing. Read also The Jew's Pope, by Micah Halpern.

Hugh Hewitt's spirited take on the media and JPII

2005-04-06T03:22:00.000-04:00

This is a short but sweet article wherein Hugh Hewitt hits one nail after another, BANG ON THE HEAD!

But there's a second journalistic sin at work in the agenda-driven commentary about the Pope's "failure" to modernize the Church on issues of celibacy, contraception, and the ordination of women. Simply put, most of the American media is simply ignorant of the Pope's critics on the right. There is a valid case to be made that whatever disenchantment existed with John Paul II came more from those Catholics still unreconciled to Vatican II, and deeply distressed about John Paul II's refusal to steer back into the pre-1960 Church.

[...]

But if the job of a journalist is to educate his or her audience on the drama unfolding within the coming conclave, perhaps they ought to google "Lefebvre" and "Tridentine Mass." I can assure you that there are far more Catholics worldwide pushing for the return of the latter than there are for a Vatican endorsement of abortion rights.

You'll want to read it all. When you are done, you'll want to read THIS piece by one Hunter Baker, who suggests that John Paul II was running (gasp!) A church, not a focus group....

Pinkerton, disingenuous on ESC research, but not alone

2005-04-05T22:59:00.000-04:00

I meant to write about this a week ago, when this piece was published, but I got distracted. Then I saw it again at Jackson Junction and got mad all over again.

Here's the deal: Jim Pinkerton wrote the following:

The religious right, for example, insists on using a certain level of technology to preserve life, such as feeding tubes and antibiotics. But the religious right also insists, at the same time, that not too much technology be used. The most obvious example is stem-cell research.

What would happen, for instance, if scientists announced that they could grow a new brain from stem cells for Terri Schiavo? That is, the wizardry of medical technology would allow the unfortunate woman to regain her mental faculties. Such an announcement, admittedly hypothetical at present, would put the "right to life" supporters of Schiavo in an awkward position. On the one hand, they would support her continued existence in a "vegetative" state. But on the other, they would oppose stem-cell-based intervention that would lead to her genuine physical recovery. Which is to say, conservatives might be happy to see Schiavo's near-comatose state forever, but others of different beliefs might demand the true rehabilitation of their loved one.

Okay.

Now...if the pro-lifers were (as consistently and INCORRECTLY portrayed by Pinkerton, Richard Cohen, E.J. Dionne and pretty much every MSM pundit I can think of) "against stem cell research" then this would be a VERY intriguing, interesting and fair question.

However...since pro-lifers DO support stem cell research, and object only to EMBRYONIC stem cell research, the question is completely disingenuous, as well as condescending, sneaky, specious and FALSE.

Let's do this once more, for the sake of clarity:

Pro-lifers do not object to stem cell research. We applaud the exciting gains being made in the realm of adult-stem cell research. Adult stem cells, which are being harvested from nasal cells, placentas and umbilical cords, fat, hair, skin, etc have already demonstrated remarkable usefulness. I read a story just recently (wish I'd saved it) wherein two women who had been left paralysed via accidents were now walking thanks to stem cells taken from their own nasal cavities. Remarkable and miraculous stuff.

Pro-lifers DO object to EMBRYONIC stem cell research. Believing that an embryo, for all of its potential and fragility, is still a HUMAN being (certainly a being - certainly not vegetable, not wolvine...what shall we call it but HUMAN) we believe that once an embryo has been created it is to be treated with the utmost respect, and not exploited for medical research.

From what I have read, embryonic stem cells seem to be problematic, anyway. It appears they are uncontrollable; they have been called too "malleable" or "plastic" and difficult to manage. I've read that experiments done on Parkinson's patients, using embryonic stem cells have proved so disasterous (as in terrible things have happened) that the research on Parkinson's patients has been discontinued. Not "postponed," not "delayed," but d-i-s-c-o-n-t-i-n-u-e-d. That doesn't happen without good reason.

I have a theory about it. I'm not a scientist of a scholar, so dismiss it all you want, I make no claims to expertise...it's just my theory.

My theory is that embryonic stem cells are mysterious, difficult to work with, and will ultimately be considered unusable because they are simply too PURE. By that, I mean they are created creatures in their rawest, purest state - in their most immediately God-begotten state, if you will. Close to God. Within that purity is a power which is unimagined and unmanagable...there must be, because that tiny embryo develops into something quite remarkable. It takes power to do that.

Use Heroin as a sort of analogy. Heroin cannot be used in its purest form. You try to use it, you'll die. You can't control it by simply using a tiny amount...it MUST be cut with something else, in order to dilute its strength, otherwise it is simply too pure.

I think embryonic stem cells are simply too pure, also. Unfathomably. Those who support ESC research don't want to hear it...it comes too close to God-talk...but there you go.

The point MUST be made, though, that while pro-lifers abhor the idea of ESC research, and President Bush has limited it to those lines begun before August 2001, the PRIVATE SECTOR is quite free to invest all the time and money it wants to, for just such research. If that is not happening, that is - in and of itself - quite telling.

So, let's be clear, let's be truthful, Mr. Pinkerton & Pals, let's not set up pro-lifers with falsely framed questions that make them look like inconsistent hypocrites.

To answer the question: If Terri Schiavo's brain could have been healed with adult stem cells, pro-lifers would have been giddy over it.

If it could only be healed with embryonic stem cells, we'd say "no, thanks..."

Because, you see...we ALREADY VALUED Terri, with or without a perfect brain. It would be quite, quite wrong to DE-value another human being in order to enhance her existance.

Sometimes...and this is a really hard concept for the Culture of Death to wrap its head around, but that doesn't mean it's not true...sometimes, you look at your life and you say, "THIS is my life, THIS is the life I have, and it is the life I am MEANT to have. I have no business destroying another life, interrupting the life he or she is supposed to have, simply to make mine better. There is something I am meant to do, or learn, or understand, with this life as I HAVE it."
Christopher Reeve, God rest his soul, seemed not to understand that. Nor, it seems, does Michael J. Fox.

I have nothing but compassion for both of those men, I am not dissing them. But I am suggesting that there is a hard truth contained in all of our lives. We get dealt a hand, and we're supposed to play it, and we're not supposed to kill anyone else, if we can help it, as we do. Police Officer Steven MacDonald, injured in precisely the same way Reeve was, understands this. Pope John Paul the Great, ill with the same disease afflicting Fox, understood it, as well. Neither would want another human being sacrificed for their sake.

And here are a few more who understand it. Gabriele Helms of Canada and Dr. Gianna Beretta Molla.

It takes, I think, heroic, or perhaps merely grace-filled love, to believe as these people do, Gabriele, Gianna, Steven and John Paul. I DO believe it. I understand it. I pray that were I to face their challenges, I'd have the fortitude to follow their example.

There are gifts and value in suffering. I know, I know...in the 21st century, suffering is not supposed to have value or to bear gifts. But every holy person, including those championed by the left like Ghandi and MLK, would concur that suffering, is very often, a means to greatness. What is true is true, no matter which century you happen to be in.

By all means, let us bring an end to infirmity where it may be ended, in as many cases as we possibly can. But...let's not kill other human beings to do it.

I hope someday, Pinkerton, Cohen, Dionne and others can understand the concept, really "get" it. Right now, I believe that they truly believe their position supporting ESC research is a compassionate one. But it is narrow; it is not transcendent. In seeking to give potential, it interrupts both the physical/intellectual potential of the person within the embryo, and the spiritual/intellectual potential of the person who is suffering-in-body, and perhaps in spirit. It ignores the value of suffering and what gifts it can, paradoxically bring.

Meanwhile, until they DO understand it, it really shouldn't be too much to ask for them to state the position of the other side accurate and fairly.

Solar Eclipse on Friday. More things in heaven and on earth...

2005-04-05T16:02:00.000-04:00

This is sort of weird...

Friday, the pope's funeral will be celebrated, and he will be interred.

Friday, there will be a solar eclipse.

Now...I DO NOT ordinarily put much stock in The Prophecy of St. Malachy, but when I read about the eclipse, I had to go back and check because I thought I had remembered reading that Karol Wojtyla was born during a solar eclipse. Seems he was.

In Malachy's "prophechies," what is believed to be his reference to JPII reads:

De labore Solis (of the eclipse of the sun, or from the labour of the sun)

Hist.:Karol Wojtyla was born on May 18, 1920 during a solar eclipse. He also comes from behind the former Iron Curtain. He might also be seen to be the fruit of the intercession of the Woman Clothed with the Sun labouring in Revelation 12 (because of his devotion to the Virgin Mary).

I dunnnoooooo. Seems strange.

There are, indeed, more things in heaven and on earth than are dreamt of in our philosophies. Weird.

JP the Great, Meadowlands 1995 & Hugh Hewitt

2005-04-05T15:30:00.000-04:00

To a great extent, the story of America has been the story of long and difficult struggles to overcome the prejudices which excluded certain categories of people from a full share in the country's life: first, the struggle against religious intolerance, then the struggle against racial discrimination and in favor of civil rights for everyone. Sadly, today a new class of people is being excluded. When the unborn child, the "stranger in the womb," is declared to be beyond the protection of society, not only are America's deepest traditions radically undermined and endangered, but a moral blight is brought upon society.

I am also thinking of threats to the elderly, the severely handicapped and all those who do not seem to have any social usefulness. When innocent human beings are declared inconvenient or burdensome, and thus unworthy of legal and social protection, grievous damage is done to the moral foundations of the democratic community. The right to life is the first of all rights. It is the foundation of democratic liberties and the keystone of the edifice of civil society.

Keep that statement in mind and then re-read this post by Hugh Hewitt; I must concur with Mr. Hewitt. It is no accident that after 16 years, Terri Schiavo's death preceded this pope's death in the very public manner it did. Plans within plans, indeed.

John Paul the Great Wallpaper

2005-04-05T14:03:00.000-04:00

It's actually beautiful, much nicer than it sounds, created by Mecandes of Mere Catholics. Download it here. H/T Rebecca at Doxology.

This is other wallpaper - a little kitschy - or a lot...but I think closer to the truth of the feelings behind the statement. As I said when I was live-blogging, I had my doubts that John Paul the Great was talking about "the youth" when he reported repeated that statement over and over on his deathbed.

Perhaps that is how he meant it. But having been beside my brother as he entered into something completely mystical and supernatural in his own last days, I can't help but think that JP's words were being spoken to someone else...to Christ, to Mary...I can't see it being "to the youth."

But I guess we won't know. The Vatican is so knee-jerkily defensive of being accused of being medievel, to works overtime, sometimes, to explain away supernatural things that are, in fact...perfectly natural.

A roundup of link-y goodness

2005-04-05T10:14:00.000-04:00

An aside: I DO try to answer all of my email, but my email box is sort of overflowing right now, so if I have not yet responded to an email, please forgive. I WILL try to wade through it all over the next few days.

There is so much good writing on the blogs and so many good articles all over the place, that I'm going to have to do a round-up of link-y goodness to get it all in.

The invaluable John Allen, who really is just a great writer who totally KNOWS his stuff, tells us the two things everyone is wondering about, Who's who among the "frontrunners" to be the next pope and how a pope is elected.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin has a lovely and moving tribute.

Not surprisingly, Mark Steyn has the definative piece on why Westerners never quite understood JPII.

The boys over at Stones Cry Out have a really lovely, well-done tribute to John Paul the Great.

Contra the Catholic Church (and of course evangelical churches). The Catholic Church's position on both continents has been enhanced during the last few decades. On matters of cultural importance, the Catholic Church wields a wide and growing influence. The Catholic Church is growing in numbers and it is intellectually vibrant. The Catholic Church remained focused on the truth and has kept its cultural influence. Because of John Paul's leadership, the Catholic Church is more important today, and more vibrant, than it was when he began his mission. He would rightly say, of course, that it was Christ that did the work. That is true. However, much like Mary, whom John Paul revered, John Paul was a willing vessel through whom Christ worked. He is to be commended for his faith and obedience.

On a different topic, The Cassandra Page has a staggering collection (suitable for saving in a hard drive) of examples of media bias which, taken together, are pretty damning. H/T Lucianne.com.

Dirty Harry, btw, is fed up to the gills!. You'll want to read why.

Sigmund, Carl and Alfred are rounding up Dating Stories from Hell. I have nothing to contribute, myself, didn't date much before I married my One True Love, but this story from Betsy at My Whim is Law will make you think again about becoming an Anchoress, like me! :-)

Rand Simberg has a nice little tribute to JPII. Thanks to reader Dr. Bill.

Professor Elizabeth Fox-Genovese is calling JPII a pro-woman pope. Imagine that! :-)

George Weigel writes on Why the next pope matters to all of us.

Hugh Hewitt says: "This post is guaranteed to make zero sense to the non-believers. In fact, it will amuse them." He then goes on to share some compelling ideas I wish I'd written, but he does it better! :-) He makes that in the face of the Schiavo case, the euthanasia being embraced in Europe, and so forth, the cardinals may be less inclined than they were even a year ago to seek out an interim, caretaker pope. I thought he might be on to something. It certainly seems, even to my more liberal friends, like the timing of all of this is God saying, "pay attention..."

Since Hugh is already on that track, I might as well link to something on the same topic I'd written previously.

A rumination on The Execution of Terri Schiavo

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) is suggesting to the Democrats that they look beyond Hillary for 2008. Hmmm.

Jimmie at Sundries Shack has a few things to say to Hanna Rosin over that the Wapo.

Winfield Myers has a terrific piece discussing both JPII and St Thomas More which you will want to read.

The man who attempted to assassinate JPII, and who was forgiven by him, wants to attend the funeral. I bet JPII would like that. Reminds me of the story of St. Maria Goretti, whose murderer attended her canonization in 1950.

Here's a big surprise: TV has discovered that there is money in broadcasting "religious" stuff, so they're gonna.

Meanwhile, Jaymarie has some breast-and-penis issues that probably every woman can identify with. She writes it well. H/T CUANAS.

Michelle Malkin isshowcasing the questions being raised about a few of the Pulitzer Prizes. And Captain Ed is staying hard on the Canadian publication ban story, which deserves not to be lost in all the pope coverage.

I kinda like this piece on how the viewing is going.

I'm aggravated that I didn't get to see this movie, MILLIONS! which has gotten great reviews and which my brother Thom said was terrific. Nice review. Maybe we'll get a chance to see it, soon.

He left a Mystery Document???. I hope they release it. The Vat never did release the message Sr. Lucia said was supposed to be released in 1960 or '63 or whenever. :-) I bet it is the name revealing his in pectore Cardinal.

Peter Jennings has Lung Cancer. He begins chemo treatment next week. As with Tony Snow, I wish Jennings all good things in this battle.

A Zogby poll that might have been helpful a week ago

2005-04-03T21:24:00.000-04:00

Recall that the ABC and CBS polls were showing that 68% of Americans were "in favor of letting Terri Schiavo die..." Other polls also reflected a general acquiesence on the part of most Americans as to whether Terri should "be allowed to die" or not.

Recall that the questions they asked asked the question in a very specific way,which I am tired so I'm just going to paraphrase for now: "Terri Schiavo is in a persistent vegatative state, and has been for 15 years, she is in a coma and will never recover, should she be taken off life support?"

Well...sure...you ask a question like that...you'll get a number like 68% saying, "yes, let the poor woman die..."

Then Zogby asks the question a different way:

"If a disabled person is not terminally ill, not in a coma, and not being kept alive on life support, and they have no written directive, should or should they not be denied food and water," the poll asked.

A whopping 79 percent said the patient should not have food and water taken away while just 9 percent said yes.

We all knew it, didn't we? We knew that if how a question is phrased has everything to do with how it is answered.

David Limbaugh writes: There was NEVER any doubt in my mind that if the public knew even a fraction of the facts in the Schiavo case, including that we were talking about removing a feeding tube, not a respirator, from a person who is not terminally ill, they would not say they favored killing her. I said as much on a radio interview yesterday. Rush has been saying it non-stop. The poll questions have been skewed. Well, now Zogby releases a poll, after Terri's death, after having asked the right questions and determined that 79% of the respondents said Terri should not have her food and water taken away and only 9% said she should. This is staggering, but unresponsive.

The press ran with those first polls - they were reported everywhere. "This is what America thinks should happen!" We heard. "President Bush, Governor Bush and the congress are way outside the mainstream!"

I haven't seen these Zogby poll results anywhere but at Lifenews and on the blogs. If anyone else has seen 'em on tv, let me know, ok? I'd like to give what my son Buster calls "mad props" to the MSM outlet that actually reports on this poll.

Michelle Malkin has great links, including one to an angry Pat Caddell, spitting fury at what he considered to be essentially push-polls.

Keep this in mind the next time the media offer up a poll - any poll - as evidence of anything, anything at all. Then think for yourself.

Baseball begins...welcome back Tino Martinez!

2005-04-03T21:22:00.000-04:00

We Yankee fans all knew that Steinbrenner should never, never have let Constantino Martinez go in favor of Jason Giambi.

Martinez is restored.

The world feels better, already.

John Paul II and Women

2005-04-03T19:09:00.000-04:00

It's funny, but Dr. Charles Krauthammer, a Democrat and secular Jewish fellow who says he is "not much of a believer" seems to "get" John Paul II so very well.

We'll be seeing and reading a lot about how "Catholic women are dissatistfied" with the church, and that JPII did not do enough.

Please keep in mind that the folks making these claims are not speaking for all Catholic women.

There is authentic and thoughtful teaching behind all of the issues which critics say the church "MUST bring into the 21st century." I heard someone on tv - I think it was MSNBC - declare with utmost certainty that in order for the Catholic church to survive it must get "up to date with abortion, female ordination, divorce and gay rights..."

Because, you know...the ECUSA has done so well for itself and its people by embracing the modern on just those issues. The Church of England - up to date as all get out - is imploding.

MInistry is open to women within the church. Ministry has ALWAYS been open to women in the church. It was open to women in the church when the secular world had nothing at all to offer women beyond marriage and children.
But too many modern women think that ordination is the be-all-and-end-all of ministry. Perhaps they are thinking in terms of power, not service...I don't know.

I do know a woman who is angry - eternally angry - at the church for its "oppression of women," and she is unable to see the value of a crucifix because "it is an image of torture."

Actually, it is an image of suffering and sacrifice and an affirmation and reminder that there is nothing we humans can endure on earth which God has not also experienced - pain, humiliation, thirst, mockery, helplessness, victimization, injustice...it's all there.

Call me old-fashioned, but I a priest who cannot see that is of no help to me, and so this woman, who says, "I'd make a GREAT priest," would be, I think...not so great.

Take everything you are going to hear about JPII and women with a grain of salt.

Rather than listen to people with agendas, check out his own writings:

Society and Church Need Genius of Woman

Dignity and Vocation of Women

The Genius of the Feminine

I linked to this terrific, comprehensive article by John Allen the other day, and he has these little pearls regarding John Paul and women.

Wojtyla was the only speaker at the council to address the basilica “Venerable Fathers, Brothers and Sisters,” recognizing the women auditors.

One running clash between John Paul and the West was on women. The pope championed an anthropological concept called “complementarity.” The idea is that bodily differences give men and women different, but equally important, roles that “complete” one another. The concept was employed to support the ban on the ordination of women to the priesthood, and hence was rejected by Western progressives who saw it as a smokescreen for patriarchy. Yet some observers believe that “complementarity” offers untapped resources for justifying a greater role for women in all areas of church life, if the female perspective really is essential to “complete” the masculine. Some futurists even predict that if the Catholic church does one day ordain women, John Paul will be the pope who created the intellectual basis for doing so.

If so, it would not be what he had in mind. In 1994, in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, he wanted to close the theological debate over women priests. Gauged by the volume of ongoing debate (there is even a Web site, www.womenpriests.org, devoted to the cause), this was perhaps the least effective ambition of his reign. In 1979, an American woman religious, Mercy Sr. Teresa Kane, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, in a welcoming address, urged the pope to include “half of humankind” in “all the ministries of the church.” John Paul’s stony silence in response became a defining moment for many Catholic women. Kane herself was frozen out of future prominent roles in the church.

In 1999, during a lunch in the papal apartments, John Paul asked another American sister to carry his regards to Teresa Kane. No public rehabilitation, however, was forthcoming.

It should be noted that John Paul’s immovability on the ordination question did not translate into a generalized ambivalence about women. In Toronto in 2002, for example, during World Youth Day, papal minions tried to scuttle a planned meeting between the pope and the women’s religious order that had hosted him, fearing another Kane incident. When the organizer of the event asked John Paul if he wanted to meet the sisters, however, his unhesitating reply was “of course,” and the meeting went ahead.

A personal resolve to try to be more balanced

2005-04-03T18:09:00.000-04:00

Trey at Jackson's Junction caught a very good blip, and it's really a keeper, from a compilation by MSNBC.

After signing off, last night, I spent a lot of time thinking about the lessons of this pope, and where I fall short in them. Basically, I fall short all over the place.

JPII managed to see people - first and foremost - as human beings, as imperfect created creatures, loved into being and called by their birth to vocations which are - ultimately - meant to love and serve the Creator and each other. He did his work without ever wallowing in a mentality of "us vs them." Except, of course, when he talked of "them" as an entrenched establishment needing reform or correction...or conversion.

But even then, John Paul understood that the establishment was still made up of imperfect created creatures, loved into being and called. He taught that and lived it as example for the rest of us.

I think it is very easy - incredibly easy - for those of us who have been raised in an era wherein everything is reduced to the political, and wherein the scorched earth mentality of the last 12 years (or perhaps longer, but I have only been really paying attention for that long) has been burned into our consciousness and our reflexes by incessant media exposure, to stop thinking of those who reason differently as fellow created creatures, and to see them more as merely, "the bad guys." And that is to our detriment, both as a society and in our personal lives.

I have written about this before - just recently, in fact - and have admitted that I too am guilty of it, of reducing an opposing voice to a caricature, and reflexively dismissing it. I fear it is something we all do, to a ridiculous extreme. I can read Joe Marshall's liberal rants and want to answer them...but often as I move to do so, I'll realize that in answering his rant I am instead repeating it back to him, but from the other direction. I have had people come here and accuse me of demonizing Michael Schiavo, only to have them defend to me their own demonization of President Bush, and thus we fight on in an endless and pointless circle. "We YOU do this and say THIS!" "Well, YOU say this and do THAT!" "Well, MY demonization is based on FACT, but YOUR demonization is based on FEELINGS!"

Thus the sandbox battle goes on, and I have to think Satan enjoys it very much, because it is so wasteful and it stuffs our pride so chock-full of vainglory and a gluttony of ego.

The other guy is bad. The other guy is an idiot. The other guy is EVIL.

What was it St. Paul said..."all that I hate, I am become..."

This is not to say that nothing should be commented on, that nothing warrants criticism, particularly if it is well-thought out and rendered without prejudice. But that's not what we're doing, most of us. We're mostly not doing it on the blogs, and they're mostly not doing it on the cable networks or at the NY Times. Rather, too much thought, too much criticism is rendered with extreme prejudice and - in too many cases - a genuine desire to push the other side off of a proverbial cliff.

What cartoons we have become. Left and Right are becoming and endless loop of Roadrunner/Coyote, Bug/Daffy confrontations, with each side switching roles at a breakneck pace. "You're detttthpicable!" is the shared line we lisp back and forth.

If John Paul the Great has taught me nothing else (and I warrant that before I die, I will come to realize he has taught me - and all of us - quite a lot) I hope that - beginning with a long night of soul-searching last night - he has taught and will continue to teach me about seeing the decency and humanity in another person, even if that person is so far removed from my own understanding and reason that my instinct is to get a rhetorical shotgun and announce the start of "Wabbit season!"

This is not going to be easy. Every time I read Maureen Dowd in full Yosemite Sam mode ("Ahhhhhhhh hates that varmi't Bush!") I know I'm going to want to respond in kind. I'm Irish - some of this cannot be helped! :-)

But I am going to try to learn. I'm going to try to discern when there is just cause for going in with both barrels loaded, and when, perhaps, there is a better argument to be made without succumbing to the "us" vs "them" rhetoric.

"We" need it, I think.

UPDATE: Sincere condolences to Eleanor Clift on the loss of her husband Tom Brazaitis. May angels lead him into paradise and bring comfort to her in her sorrow.

Just how vehemently DID John Paul oppose the Iraq war?

2005-04-03T16:37:00.000-04:00

Are the media presenting this issue fairly or accurately?

It's a good question. Last night we heard CNN's Christiane Amanpour, among others, say approximately 7,392 times that Pope John Paul II "deeply opposed President Bush's Iraq war..."

Sometimes we got the addendum, "...although he was supportive of Americas Just War in the Balkans, under President Clinton."

I don't know about that second part - this article seems to suggest otherwise.

Pope John Paul II, in the midst of a talk on the newly beatified Padre Pio, turned his thoughts to Kosovo. "I raise my voice again to implore, in the name of God," said the Holy Father, "that this attack by man against man come to an end, that the instruments of destruction and death be stopped, that all channels of aid be activated to help those who are obliged to leave their land in the midst of unspeakable atrocities. That dialogue be renewed, with the intelligence and creativity that God has given man to resolve tensions and conflicts, to build a society based on the respect due to every human person."

But staying focused on Iraq, just how "deeply" did JPII oppose the war? (And while we're at it, just how "conservative" was he? As conservative as those pesky, never-silent cable-news channels suggest? :-)

There is an excellent commentary from America Magazine re the Legacy of JPII, which quite rightly declares that the man was owned neither by right nor left. You'll want to read the whole thing, but here is an excerpt:

John Paul was often mislabeled as a conservative. True, he stressed traditional church teaching. He also allowed his subordinates to silence and remove theologians from teaching positions. But anyone who listened to him carefully realized that he did not fit into the normal liberal-conservative boxes of American politics and culture. True he opposed abortion, the use of condoms, gay marriage, women priests and a married clergy. But he was to the left of liberal Democrats when it came to opposing capital punishment and the war in Iraq and supporting foreign aid and the United Nations. And while he opposed women's ordination, he also opened practically every other church position to women, from altar servers to diocesan chancellors.

John Paul will also be remembered for his incredibly successful pastoral visits to every corner of the world. People by the millions came out to pray with him and hear him preach. "What did they come out to see? A reed shaken by the wind?" They came to see a holy man, a man of conviction and principle, a man who cared about them and a man who had changed the course of history. In this day of world leaders who tell us what their handlers think we want to hear, who don't open their mouths without checking the polls and focus groups, John Paul was clearly different. He spoke with conviction, he was principled, he challenged us and said hard things. Even those who disagreed with him admired his honesty and conviction. He will be sorely missed; he will be a hard act to follow. May he rest in Peace.

That's awfully good. My one question is whether or not America is right in asserting with such certainty that the Pope did, in fact, oppose the Iraq war.

As near as I can find, and I have only looked for a short time, while members of the Vatican - who are (let us be clear) NOT the pope - did make very public negative remarks about the war and even about the capture of Saddam Hussein, the pope himself said very little in public, making only one remark which could be arguably be called an outright complaint:

"When war, as in these days in Iraq, threatens the fate of humanity, it is ever more urgent to proclaim, with a strong and decisive voice, that only peace is the road to follow to construct a more just and united society," John Paul said. "Violence and arms can never resolve the problems of man."

John Paul II "implored for the world's deliverance from the peril of the tragic clash between cultures and religions." The Pope also sent his message to terrorists: "Let there be an end to the chain of hatred and terrorism which threatens the orderly development of the human family."

My source here is The Catholic Worker, so it's pretty heavily left-centered; it is a frequent critic of JPII for what they take to be his inflexible conservatism on matters birth-control, women's rights, etc, but when he suits their politics, they don't mind holding him up! (I am certain they would say the same about folks like me who appreciate the pope's stance on those issues...) But in reading these responses one sees that JPII could just as easily be talking of all war, using "Iraq" as an example.

The pope would have been derelict in his duties, I think, had he NOT preferred and recommended peace over war. Contrary to the charges of some, no one likes war or wants it; some simply see it as necessary where others do not and - given the intelligence available - intelligence which even Bill and Hillary Clinton and Al Gore have stated they emphatically believed, this war was thought to be necessary.

The Worker, frustrated in not finding more anti-war quotes from the pope, makes the rather stunning charge that the media were somehow not publishing the pope's emphatic opposition - seemingly because the press...supported Bush...or something. For those of us who have observed the international media's relentless anti-war coverage, that is a little strange to read, and difficult to accept. While this particular article suggests that JPII's message to President Bush was "God is not on your side if you invade Iraq," the fact is, we have no record of those words coming from the pope's mouth.

We do, however, see the fruits of the Iraq war: people voting for a democratic government, other countries - having witnessed that vote - fighting to obtain their freedom. We don't know how all of that will end, yet - there are long, long rows to hoe before what has been begun in that region can be defined as successful or unsuccessful, but one may consider (or presume) that perhaps JPII saw all of that and remembered the words, "by their fruits you shall know them..."

National Review Online's weblog, The Corner had a lengthy debate on this issue some time ago, and it is worth reading. Some excerpts:

RE: THE PONTIFF AND THE WAR [Peter Robinson]
Recap: In an article about Italy last week, Ian Fisher of the New York Times claimed the Pope has displayed “outspoken opposition to the war in Iraq.” I asked if readers of this happy Corner could provide me with as much as a single instance in which the Pontiff has denounced the war. Sean Gleeson linked to my post, issuing the same challenge to readers of his website.

Results: One reader--count ‘em, one--met the challenge, referring Sean and me to a piece that William McGurn published in the Wall Street Journal on March 14, 2003: “If there were any doubts left about where Pope John Paul II stands on war with Iraq, they ought to have been answered by his characterization of any military effort against Saddam as a ‘crime against humanity.’”

Before Sean and I award this reader the Sean Gleeson Researcher of the Century Award, however, we note one problem. The Pope never said any such thing.

“I got the quote from the Telegraph [a British newspaper],” Bill McGurn told me when I called him, “and as soon as my piece came out Father Neuhaus [editor of First Things] got in touch to tell me it was wrong. I asked the guys at the Telegraph. They admitted they’d gotten it wrong. They were garbling a different statement.”

On March 28, 2003, Bill published a correction, combining it with a pointed meditation on the Pope and just war doctrine.

Which takes Sean and me back where we started. The New York Times may have convinced itself that John Paul II is “outspoken [in] opposition to the war in Iraq,” but neither that newspaper’s fine reporters nor anyone else can quote the Pontiff condemning the war, because no such quotation exists.

NRO appears to be correct, that no such direct condemnation exists.

I expect this question will be debated at length, and by much better minds than mine, and that is perhaps a good and necessary back-and-forth to have. But it would be nice if, while the question is so clearly under debate, the folks as the various news and cable outlets and papers would perhaps refrain from repeating - ad nauseum - "the pope deeply opposed the war in Iraq." Christiane Amanpour, Chris Matthews...yeah, I'm talking to you! :-)

JPII on Christ's love - Youth Day, 2000

2005-04-02T22:34:00.000-05:00

A friend, Theresa, a Benedictine nun, had put together a prayer vigil service for her community which contained excerpts from some of JPII's speeches. She writes this to me:

One section John Paul wrote on Eucharist was so beautiful-it was to the young people at World Youth Day in 2000. JP writes: "The Eucharist is the presence of Christ who gives himself to us because he loves us. He loves each of us in a unique way in our practical daily lives: in our families, among our friends, at study and work, in rest and relaxation. He loves us when he fills our days with freshness and also when, in times of suffering, he allows trials to weigh upon us: even in the most severe trails, he lets us hear his voice. Yes dear friends he loves us, and he loves us forever!...When you go home....live the Eucharist by testifying to God's love for every person..." Wow. No wonder the young people love him so.

Cleaning up a few loose ends:

I meant to link to Professor Bainbridge earlier - he had an interesting post asking and answering the question, Did John Paul "cling" to life?

I also meant to link to this excellent bit of musing by Chrenkoff, and Vanderleun's repost of The Passion of the Pope.

The Vatican's own website is pretty nice - a good way to review a long pontificate.

We had a big storm tonight - as I went to pick the kids up from bowling, there was a lightening strike, taking out many traffic lights. The kids piled into the car and it went like this:

C: Man, this wind is ridiculous!

M: My mother says Mary comes on the wind!

Buster: And I think I see four horsemen!

:-)

It's been a long two days. What a wonderful, sad, beautiful, terrible two days. I have already asked John Paul the Great to pray for my sons! May I extend my heartfelt thanks to all the bloggers who sent folks my way today, particularly The Corner, Instapundit, Captain Ed, Polipundit, Michelle Malkin, and so many others. Please forgive me if I've left anyone out. Thanks, too, to the many, many folks of all creeds - and some of NO creed - who sent lovely messages of condolence on the loss of our good Pope. God bless all. Goodnight!

THE comprehensive JPII read, by the great John Allen

2005-04-02T21:46:00.000-05:00

This is a keeper. It's got everything and John Allen is probably the most reliable American reporter to write about the Vatican in an unstinting but fair manner. Thanks to my brother, Thom.

Live blogging the Lion's last breath...

2005-04-01T15:05:00.000-05:00

"I have looked for you, now, you come to me." (John Paul II, April 2, 2005 in extremis)

I love that. It is rich, packed with meaning. I love this picture, too.

Much of the coverage we are seeing on the cable networks has been wonderful, and much of it is very good, still. But we are seeing, now, little things, like Chris Matthews screaming at a young priest that celibacy is (basically) stupid (how come Buddhists never have to deal with that crap? Everyone calls them enlightened! )

As I said, most of the coverage is really good. But...if you're watching closely, you can see that some reporters are getting antsy...they're chomping at the bit and getting snarky here and there, pushing the "there is so much that has to be done to save the Church" meme. So...

Here is a question we must perhaps ask ourselves, we who loved Pope John Paul II or admired him: What shall we do in the coming weeks, as we watch some members of the press - who cannot help themselves - sneer and snarl? Michelle Malkin posts a series of depressing links, showcasing some of the mean-spirited stuff that has been out there for the past few weeks, and which is "newly" apparent with JPII's demise. How are we going to deal with Jesuits who are already gassing away on the cable channels that "the next pope has to be a radical who is more broad-minded and tolerant and bring the church into the 21st century; it's what the Catholic church needs! Catholics are going to DEMAND it!" (Thank you, what an original idea - to live the age throughout the faith, rather than living the faith throughout the age! No one has ever suggested THAT before!)

How are we going to endure it? Speaking only for myself, I'm already at the point where I am turning off the television, because I just can't listen to another "knowitall" tell the world what the Catholic church has to do to win their approval and become respectable in the eyes of the world...or at least in the eyes of the worldly.

What shall we do? How shall we endure it, because it is very clear - mere hours after the Pope's death - that the "progressive" elitists are going to shout long and loud in an effort to convince the world - and Catholics - that Wojtya was (like Ronald Reagan) "a nice man with high morals who just didn't quite GET it..." and that no good can come to the world or the Church unless the next pope is the equivalent of...oh...say...Kofi Annan.

You know. RESPECTABLE, like that.

Well...we can all turn to EWTN and live inside the comforting bubble of "nice" broadcasting that allows us to look back with gladness and look ahead with hope. Nothing wrong with that, for a little while - tonight, for instance. Or, we can force ourselves to engage with the loud, angry folks who are not grieving - or reminiscing or contemplating - and who thus have enormous energy to bring to their effort.

It was naive to think they'd allow a decent time to elapse before starting in.

DO NOT BE AFRAID. Keep to prayer, and argue knowledgably, faithfully and with generosity and humor. Keep to what is true, from age to age. This age, full of rationalization and relativity, will pass - eventually. The truth must not.

I think I'm done live-blogging. Thanks all for reading! Please come back to visit, sometime! :-)

9:00PM Speaking of Rev. Graham, just rec'd this lovely email from an Evangelical Christian named Barbara, and post with her permission:

I also want to express how much I am moved by the brave and gracious way John Paul II is embracing his suffering and teaching us all how to die. In the wake of that tragic miscarriage of justice earlier this week in Florida, God is using John Paul II to teach us all to "Be Not Afraid". As an evangelical whose theological view is much closer to Rev. Graham's than yours and the Pope's, I still can see how much John Paul II did in advancing the Kingdom of Our Lord and resisting evil in this fallen world. I have been crying continuously since Thursday night and I am frankly surprised by how much I will miss this great servant of God. He is on that great list of people I hope to meet in Heaven someday. God Bless him....

9:05PM Rev. Billy Graham, bless him - I call him a holy Man of God - is telling Larry King that he feels like he has lost a brother in losing JPII. How odd that both of these men were given the gift/burden of Parkinson's Disease. A common burden to perhaps emphasize all the commonality between Christians. "He taught us how to suffer, and he taught us how to die," says Rev. Graham. "He was a strong believer." Sadly, Rev. Billy will not be well enough to attend the funeral (the Vatican invited him 6-7 months ago). His loss will be a heavy one, as well.

Meanwhile MSNBC seems to be having a cathartic release: after two days of unrelentingly "nice" words about the Pope, they are yakking on and on about all the problems he did not address, how the church is all but crumbling around us - you can almost sense their relief that they can get back to pushing their agendas. Abortion! Divoce! Yadda, yadda, snore.

9:00PM Christiane Amanpour just said...I'm gagging...she just said for about the hundreth time that the Pope "disapproved" of the Iraq war, but "supported the JUST war in the Balkans..."

Do I really have to get into it - again - that President Clinton did not have sacred UN approval before he commited troops (they'd be home by that Christmas, remember? Oh, they're still there!) to that effort? Argh! I can't watch CNN anymore, tonight.

8:55 PM Ramesh Ponnuru writes that he is struck by all of the Evangelical Congressmen who are praising the pope. I keep getting press releases over email from evangelical congressmen mourning the death of John Paul II. Their praise is not just a tribute to the way he, to borrow the unfortunate phrase I've heard twice now on tv, "transcended his religion." It is evidence of how the political struggle over abortion has reconfigured American religion, making possible first joint political action and then joint theological reflection that would have been unimaginable before.

I too think "transcended his religion" is an unfortunate phrase - it's right up there with, "Condi is a credit to her race!" Clearly, there is still more work to be done to promote understanding between Christians. :-)

8:45 PM Eavsedropping while driving teenagers to bowling: How standard-issue 15 year olds see the death of a great pope, circa 2005:

C: So, like, my mother has been in front of the television for like, two days, and now she's crying, and my father's grumbling that there's nothing to eat.

Driver: Well, a lot of people are very emotional about the pope dying.

Buster: At least your mother is just in front of the tv; my mother won't get off the internet!

Driver: Would that be the mother driving you and your friends right now, or some other mother?

J: I watched some of it. I thought it was cool, to hear about how he brought down the communists. Is there like a Vice-Pope, who just steps into the job, now?

Buster: No, man, they have an election, and the cardinals all get locked up until they name someone new.

M: What's a cardinal, is that higher than a Bishop? Wait. I thought the Pope was a bishop!

Buster: No, anyone can be a Cardinal, but only a priest can be a bishop. The Cardinal is like, sideways to the Bishop!
J: My mother says this is the next pope is gonna be a weird one and then only one more and then the world ends.

Driver: That's a silly old prophecy that most people think is a forgery!

M: Hey, what's prophecy, anyway?

Sigh. All of these kids are Catholic. We have to improve Religious Education. Perhaps we can start here, by explaining to our kids what happens now.

7:30PM Charlotte Allen at the Independent Women's Forum has a nicely done piece which highlights some of JPII's writings on women - it's good to read, if only to counter the silly, braying "he didn't do enough for women," that we're already hearing on the cable channels:

"...In fact, woman has a genius all her own, which is vitally essential to both society and the Church. It is certainly not a question of comparing woman to man, since it is obvious that they have fundamental dimensions and values in common. However, in man and in woman these acquire different strengths, interests and emphases and it is this very diversity which becomes a source of enrichment.

Sigh. I wonder if, with the passing of JPII, we have seen the last leader on the global stage who will dare to speak his part so unambiguously, clearly and forthrightly. In an age of spin and euphemistims, I fear not. Charlotte has more excerpts, so you'll want to go read her

7:20PM I linked to this article earlier but hadn't had a chance to read it fully. My brother Thom pointed out this interesting tidbit:

Stories circulated after he became pope suggesting that Wojtyla was married during World War II to a woman who was killed by a Nazi. The Vatican denied the reports.

The pope himself made a teasing reference to the rumors during his 1979 visit to Poland. He abruptly curtailed a reminiscence of his family by saying: "Well, that's enough of the past. I'm not going into details. There are a lot of reporters around, ready to investigate. Matters of the heart and youth should be left to God, who calls human beings at different stages of their lives."

John Paul has rarely discussed his vocation. In a visit to his birthplace in 1991, he recalled "that mystery I was taught by my mother who - joining a small child's hands in prayer - showed me how to make a sign of the cross." His father, he said, was also deeply religious.

As my son, Buster said upon reading it: "So he mighta been married! So, what? Just makes him that much more tragic, heroic, iconic and cool. And if he wanted to hold that private in his heart, it's no one's business! Whyda they hafta gossip?"

That's my boy! :-)

7:10PM Poor Kathryn Jean Lopez wants so much to be able to watch the coverage of the passing of this great man, but she is getting very frustrated at things like this:

SAY IT AIN'T SO: Chris Matthews is in Rome. He just argued with a young theology-professor priest about clerical celibacy. I can only imagine what will come. I'll try to avoid it.

LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP: Though he was "Kennedy" like in his ability to energize, this pope ticked American Catholics off because of he was so "conservative and inflexible," according to the NYTimes.

I REALLY NEED TO TURN IT OFF: It was just pointed out to me that the aforementioned Christiane earlier said that John Paul II was "the first non-Catholic" to be selected pope. Then Shep Smith on Fox referred to St. Matthew's Cathedral (in D.C.) as St. Patrick's. Another reporter on CNN earlier called the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington as Washington’s National Cathedral (the latter isn’t Catholic). Paula Zahn a few minutes ago called President Bush the “pope.” The list could go on. Cardinal McCarrick was called Fr. McCormick on CNN, also.

IT HASN'T BEEN AN HOUR: And CNN (Christiane Amanpour) is already talking about the pope's backward views on condoms and celibacy.

Sigh. You mean reporters are supposed to do, like, RESEARCH and like...not bring their biases into things? I completely sympathize with Ms. Lopez. I want very much to watch the goings on, too, but I really don't want to have to watch those-people-on-tv! But you know what? All these people are doing is further displaying their tastelessness and revealing themselves to be rather soul-less and single-minded prudes, as well.

Perhaps after a Guinness or an Irish Coffee I'll be able to stand some tv!

More excellent reads, both blogs and articles: Beth, Cathouse Chat (I am loving all these non-Catholics who are saying such gracious things about Il Papa!) NY Times get's two pluses for these pieces - a gorgeous turn by Robert D. McFadden, All-Embracing Man of Action for a New Era of Papacy and by Laurie Goodstein in her excellent, Catholics in America, a Restive People. However, the Times gets a stupendously HUGE minus for not taking the time to line up a few positive comments to go along with their collection of negatives, as Powerline displays. Right up there with CBS running the Schiavo obit two days early. Egad! NRO also has the whole Summary from the Vatican.

4:45PM President Bush pays JPII particular homage, and orders the flags lowered. NRO has the president's remarks, and Mrs. Thatcher's stirring remembrance as well.

There is some very fine reading (with great links) all over the internet. Malkin, Singleton, The Corner (keep scrolling), The President's remarks, Ed Morrissey, Baldilocks, Mr. Wong has a sunny new Java Applet for JPII, Jackson's Junction has videotape. Hugh has great links, as does Paragraph Farmer. A great bio, here. More as I find it. And yes, as ever, here is some cool gear.

If you are tired of the incessant chatter from the talking heads, and you have EWTN available to you, try heading over there. They're showing St. Peter's and more without talking over it. I must say CNN seems to be refraining immediately jumping into "second guessing" mode. They are staying with St. Peter's and waiting for shutters and doors. MSNBC and FOX are in media madness, all talking over themselves. I was pleased to see Msgr. James Lisante correct someone of FOX who suggested that the Pope had distanced himself from the documents of the Second Vatican Council. Lisante rightly informed him that JPII had helped to WRITE those documents. Is the revisionist history already beginning? Dang!

I cannot believe I am already getting "anti-pope" and "Democratize the Church" crap in my email! Have you people NO respect, NO sensibilities outside your own tiresome political furies and agendas? Whatever you had to say, no matter how well you might have said it, it got trashed.

3:50PM Expect great things. I can't help but believe that great things are going to accompany this death. The unprecedented, global, worldwide coverage will perhaps precipitate an unprecedented, global, worldwide waking up from our sleep of materialism and preening self-interest.

2:55PM Shep Smith is announcing on FOX that the AP is reporting the Pope has died. Godspeed, Papa.

Somehow, I knew that when the crowd heard it in St. Peters, they would applaud, as they did. Well done, good and faithful servant. God bless you, John Paul the Great. The Lion in Winter.

Meanwhile, I have moved to CNN, because FOX does not know how to just be quite, sometimes.

2:45PM At least 20 US soldiers wounded in an attack at Abu Ghraib.

2:30PM Found a coupla neat nun blogs, both by Daughters of St. Paul, who I've always admired...although I do wish they'd kept their nifty blue dresses! :-) (Like I'm sure they care what I think of their habits!) Anyway, I did appreciate this remark from one of the sisters: I really didn't need to hear Joan Chittister this morning informing us that the Holy Father represents the theology of the 13th century... (And she represents...?) I like a lot of Chittister's reflective work, but I can really do without the snideness.

Yes, Sister, thank you and I agree. The pope's "theology of the 13th century" is actually the theology of Christ, which is timeless...but moreover, I wish folks could have seen Keith Olberman last night. Someone read to him a passage from JPII's masterwork on the Theology of the Body, in which he writes about the importance of sexual fulfillment, and Olberman was both blushing and confounded. "There is no area he hasn't touched on, seemingly," he marvelled.

"Theology of the 13th century." How tiresome. How 21st century. How beholden to a passing age.

2:25PM What nonsense! Professor Frank Flynn is speaking on FOX NEWS right now, but he's claiming that JPII "backed off from Vatican II" in the latter part of his papacy. What an absurdity! He can't intelligently back it up, either, he's floundering on trying to explain it. That's because he's full of it. The problem is, people who thought "Vatican II" meant "anything goes, yeah baby, we're gonna live the AGE instead of the faith" became disappointed because the pope made it clear that he was going to help impliment what was contained within the DOCUMENTS of Vatican II, that he was not simply going to endorse the travesties which progressive Catholics were trying to pass off as changes, "in the SPIRIT of Vatican II." What is contained within the documents of the Second Vatican Council is much more traditional and straightforward than these folks would have you believe, and it has frustrated them beyond words that JPII didn't let them get away with interpreting VCII to their whims. "The church cannot be an association of freethinkers," John Paul said. .

2:20PM The scene at St. Peter's Basilica is gorgeous. The lights on the buildings, the orderly crowd, praying below his window. I hope he can hear it. Earlier, we heard that in Krakow, the young people used to stand out the window of Karol Woytjla's Bishop's residence and call out, "Uncle! Uncle! Come speak with us!" And he would come out to the balcony and talk to them, casually. A good priest. A good father and shepherd. My son Buster, hearing the story, said, "it would be cool to stand below his window now and call up, 'Papa, papa! We'll speak to you!'"

Nice thought.

1:55PM The babes on FOX news just cracked me up, but also forced me to change channels to MSNBC. They were talking about the "fine line" JPII walks with women, how "he won't allow them to be priests, but it's not because he doesn't like them..."

Indeed. The pope has taught about The genius of the feminine it's simply that his instruction is deep, and distinctive and nuanced, and it does not fit the secular model of feminism. But it's brilliant and it has helped many women embrace their gender in all its wonder and intent, as feminism never could. The pope dares to suggest that gender is not a mere accident of birth but a calling of life. You have a computer. You can google. As they say in Brooklyn, "you could look it up!" :-)

1:40PM The brilliant historian Michael Ledeen has posted this over at NRO's The Corner:

We were in Rome when John Paul II was elected Pope, and, like most people, I didn't know much about him. Most of the commentary at that time described the Conclave's decision in political terms, and Karol Wojtyla was said to be a "detente Pope," a gesture of peace toward the Soviets. I went over to Communist Party headquarters in Via delle Botteghe Oscure to ask them what they thought of it, and one of the real hardline Stalinists put it nicely: "well," he said, "at least our Polish comrades won't have him around to (and here he used a colorful Roman phrase that roughly means 'give them a hard time.'). The Communist knew what he was talking about, and the scribblers and kibbitzers didn't. For Catholics, John Paul II will obviously be an inspiration for generations, and even those of us who do not share his faith have been ennobled and inspired by much of what he said and did.

He writes more and it is all lovely and gracious. I am struck by just how many non-Catholics have managed to convey such a broad appreciation of the Holy Father. I have received many emails from Evangelicals, Jews and even agnostics, who are following the final journey of this pilgrim Pope, and who are finding themselves tremendously, surprisingly moved.

Perhaps this is one last gift from a shepherd who loves us: a gift of TIME, to say good-bye, to ruminate and really allow ourselves to FEEL our feelings, and to understand them. When my brother was dying, the time we shared with him as he died was precious and instructive because nothing else could demonstrate to us just HOW DEEPLY we loved him...or express to him how important he was to us. His dying and death were instructive. John Paul's dying and death are instructive, too.

The pope's death and dying is also a most eloquent statement against euthanasia, for when you "hurry death along" in order to "be compassionate" and "end suffering," what you have really done is interrupted a great and necessary LESSON OF LOVE. More on that theme here.

Folks who read me regularly know I say this all the time - it was the great thing my brother taught me. The pope now instructs the world, and I pray the world pays attention and comprehends. It is how the Culture of Death might be defeated.

1:20PM I had to take Buster to work, so of course, the radio was on. We tuned into an all-news station, and I realized, once again, how completely out-of-touch too many (not all, but too many) members aof the press are with ordinary people. The woman broadcasting said, "in Rome, everyone is talking about John Paul II, even at the airport, even Fulbright scholars!"

I know she probably didn't mean, "even SMART people are paying attention to the dying of JPII..." At least I hope she didn't mean that. But if these folks are trained broadcasters who are supposed to be so much smarter than the rest of us, you'd think they'd not come off so stupidly, or that they'd be aware of how incredibly elitist they sound.

On the other hand, Bernard Higgins at A Certain Slant of Light has some very smart thoughts. Because he is, in fact, much smarter than most.

It's approaching 4:00 pm in Rome and, remarkably, Pope John Paul II remains alive. I thought when I arose this day that he would be gone from us. The man is remarkable. The man is strong as a bull and as courageous. The assassin met his match in this man, as did the Nazis and a string of illnesses. He has overcome so much in his life -- the tryanny of men and their malevolent philosophies, the tyranny of disease and its life-sapping grip. He has stood tall before God and before men, and his humanity and mercy have gently left their ineffable mark on this world. Another like him will be long coming.

He seems like King Lear, shouting back at the tempest that is death's approach:

Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow! You cataracts and hurricanes, sprout, Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks! You sulphurous and thought- executing fires, Vaunt - couriers to oak - clearing thunderbolts, singe my white beard!"

But, perhaps not. We mere mortals rage against death. But this good, saintly man accepts it now, choosing his own bed in his living quarters at the Vatican in which to greet it. He awaits the next passage in his life, this time to enter the Kingdom of God and to know His love through all of eternity.

You'll want to read all of Bernard's remarks.

11:50AM Ed Morrissey points out that even as the pope lay dying, China is harrassing Catholics in that country.

The Vatican said Saturday that Chinese authorities have carried out a new series of arrests of officials from that country's non-government controlled Catholic Church. The most recent arrest occurred Wednesday, when a priest was picked up in Hebei, the same diocese whose bishop was arrested Jan. 3.The statement said security forces also detained the 86-year-old bishop of Wenzhou, Monsignor James Lin Xili, on March 20 and two days later a lay official of the diocese.

China refuses to allow Catholics, and Christians of other denominations, to practice their faith unless they do so in the state-approved manner.

Ed suggests that we remember the Christians in China who are struggling to practice their faith. Good idea.

11:40 AM Just saw Chris Matthews on MSBNC - bawling again. Is there a reporter on television who cries as much as Chris? He's such a sloppy, sentimental Irishman! :-) I can say that, being a sloppy, sentimental Irish woman! He actually said some very good things - talked about how JPII, in his dying of Parkinson's is "showing us how to do it, how to handle illness with grace and dignity, how to die." He mentioned that Michael J. Fox also suffers from Parkinson's, but did not mention that Rev. Billy Graham is also dealing with the same illness.

I think it might have been worthwhile to mention that Pope JPII, dealing with Parkinson's never went on Larry King to argue that embryonic stem cells should be used to help find a cure for who suffer from illness.

9:15AM Jackson's Junction has some good tape from the latest Vatican statement and from Scarborough Country. You'll like. I was moved to hear that the pope said this: "I have looked for you, now, you come to me."

When my brother was dying, he would sometimes say such things...and he never seemed to be saying it to us, his family, who were nearby, but to someone unseen.

2:30AM A really good Timeline, complete with document links.

2:20AM Was it just me? I don't know. Possibly I'm tired, but it seemed to me that Keith Olberman found himself somewhat confounded, then impressed and finally rather awestruck as he reported on JPII, as he spoke to people who knew him or met him and related stories, as he learned about the very difficult and fraught-with-danger life the Pope has lived, since he was 10 years old and the Nazi's strafed his street. Or, since he was 10 years old and (as related by a Jewish childhood friend) found himself moved to defend his Jewish friend from anti-semitism in the neighborhood. Olberman seemed amazed. He kept going back, over and over again, to this bit of news, that JPII, with the help of his sec'y last night wrote the following note to those surrounding him: "I am happy, and you should be as well, let us pray together with joy." Olberman must have read it, asked about it and talked about it 50 times last night. Keith Olberman. Confounded. Sweet! :-)

Saturday 1:44AM Baldilocks has a really, really GOOD retrospective of JPII and his effect on communism - she points to his first return to Poland in 1979 as a significant turning point, and I don't disagree. This linke to a PBS documentary on JP and the fall of Communism is also outstanding.

11:00PM Time for sleep. Okay, okay, so even the dying pontiff has more stamina than I! But I'm going to leave you with a great article from last year, printed in the Israel National News

"I can tell you something that the rabbi of Warsaw told me just this week - something very wondrous that resulted from this meeting. He said that after we met, he received dozens of calls from Poles who wished to confess their role in killing Jews during the Holocaust. The rabbi rebuffed them, though, saying he wasn't a priest for confession. But one man insisted and said he couldn't sleep at night, and told him that that at age 11, his uncle came from the front wearing an army uniform and wanted to show him how to shoot. So just for fun, he [the uncle] took 50 Jews and shot them on the spot. He, the 11-year-old, threw the bodies into some kind of hollow in the ground and covered them. For 62 years, he told no one, figuring that the Jews are not important. But when he saw on television how the Pope received the Chief Rabbis with such honor, calling them 'my older brothers' in front of the whole world, he said he realized that he did a great sin, and he therefore called the rabbi and said he wants to show him the 'burial' spot, and that he wants to atone by helping bring them to proper Jewish burial. This is something that came directly out of our meeting."

"There are certainly plenty of tensions in Church-Jewish relations from what has happened over the years," Rabbi Metzger said, "but the current Pope is the best one in history, in terms of the Jews."

I was raised by people who taught me to honor my Judaic roots and heritage, and was never aware of tensions between Catholics and Jews. It is unimaginable to me. Thanks to mrp in a thread at polipundit for the link.

10:52PM Mr. Wong has a Java Applet up for the pontiff.

10:50PM Someguy at Mystery Achievement has some thoughts: on JPII and suffering:

The Christ of the Gospels reaches out and embraces suffering as His destiny, His vocation - and is vindicated in that self-sacrifice at Easter. That is what John Paul II has been doing this past month: bearing witness to the truth that suffering embraced in obedience and love can be redemptive.

10:40PM There is someone named Fr. Vincent O'Keefe gassing with whoever it is on FOX news right now, and he sounds EXACTLY like a Kennedy! At first I thought it was Ted! I didn't know that Boston Irishers still sounded like that! :-) They mention that the pope was only 58 years old when he was elected. The same age Bill Clinton and President Bush are, now.

10:27PM Don Singleton has some gorgeous photos of JPII over here. And Hugh Hewitt (third time I've linked to him today) has a lovely email from a young woman who explains why the pope has so resonated with the young people. (Scroll down for it).

I learned through him about how the culture of death had hurt me, and how God wanted me to be not afraid.

I understand what Mort Kondracke does not: it is because the Pope held strong against contraception, against women in the church, against married priests, etc. that the young have thrived under his spiritual guidance. He has taught us that the modern world (and socialism/communism in particular) has so elevated human power that most modern cultures now do not have any appreciation for the ordinary miracles around us. They have inverted all of the values of life. He knew that the young inherently understood that, were victims of it, and he told us that our faith would change that culture back to one of life. - "Allison."

Well said, kid.

10:06PM these women and these women and these are all feeling a mixture of sadness, gratitude, joy and loss. These whacky men and women are, too. I am, too, of course, I just felt like linking to 'em.

9:50PM James Lileks is getting offended on behalf of Catholics, "and I'm not even a Catholic!" he exclaims:

Right or wrong, well-reasoned or poorly I’m tired of reading blogs and bulletin boards and noting that it’s OK to joke about one dead person, perfectly fine to kick the Pope when he’s about to give up the ghost, but a breach of human decency to be less than reverential about the passing of a comic who specialized in dope humor. That sort of thing is expected on the internet, but what makes me weary is the blogligation to have an opinion about it and bang it out so the whole world knows I stand four-square against bashing near-dead Popes.

[...]

I was at Barnes and Noble today, and there was Lewis Black’s new book: “Nothing’s Sacred.” Lewis is cradled in the arms of Michelangelo’s Pieta:

Oh, you brave fellow, you. Okay, Lewis; nothing’s sacred. I expect you to dress up as Mohammed on your next book, grabbing your crotch with one hand and making heavy-metal horns with the other. Nothing’s sacred? If you say so...Get out of Mary’s lap, you foolish man.

I edited a great deal. You'll want to go read it. He's SUCH a great writer!

9:40PM Rebecca at Doxology has some personal thoughts that you might appreciate.

9:35PM Matt from Stones Cry Out has a nice quote from Rev. John Mark Reynolds, re JPII:

"I am no Roman and never shall be. However, this gallant knight, this friend of Reagan and the unborn, has been one of the greatest men to ever sit in Peter's chair.

God be with you brave defender of the right. Soon God will vouch safe to give you a vision of Himself unmediated by pain in that Undiscovered Country from which no man must return."

8:15PM I never link enough to Doug over at Bogus Gold. I like what he's written here, because I think it is true for many of us. It is certainly true for me.

This pope is the one who taught me to recognize human life - and human dignity - even among those the rest of my society tells me I need not do that for. He's the one that opened my eyes to the glory of God, and the essential and unsullied human dignity present in those others describe as "non-persons."

8:05 PM Hugh Hewitt - bless him, the man never seems to rest - links to a site I never knew existed, but I wish I'd known it - it's dedicated to what many refer to as John Paul's as yet under-appreciated masterwork on the Theology of the Body. It looks to be very good and helpful.

7:35PM if you're just coming in from work and wondering what you've missed on television coverage, well, you missed a beautiful mass and rosary, but Political Teen has lots of video grabs of the rest of it. He also shows The Pope Blog which I'd never seen before but looks good!

7:15 PM A good time to re-read what I think is one of the all-time-great bits of writing on JPII, by Peggy Noonan, who recounts her meeting (along with other pilgrims) with John Paul the Great. Some of her best and most affecting writing.

7:05 PM Katie Rowland recalls a nice moment in LA, when JPII went over and embraced guitarist Tony Melendez after Tony, who was born without hands, had played guitar for the Pope...with his feet. Tony, of course, were he born today in Holland, would be treated to Infant Euthanasia...assuming he hadn't been aborted from a sonargram.

6:50PM A four year-old Christian kid wants to tell heaven to get ready for JPII! Very cute:

I told her what I was watching is here The Pope lives, that they will close those windows (was showing her the lit up windows on the TV) and that tells people he has Gone with God. Her response was....well hold on...and she grabbed our phone....she says we need to call him. I tried to tell her we can't call him, I don't know his phone number, plus when people are sick they don't like to normally talk on the phone. She then said...well we need to call the people that are there with him and tell them to give him some medicine so he can be healthy again. So we went on to talk about how sometimes you can't get medicine to make you healthy, that sometimes you are sick because your body wants to allow you to go to heaven. So then she said, well we should pray that God is ready for him, because if the Pope is going to heaven then they better be ready for him.

6:10PM I have to go take Buster to work. Will be back asap. :-)

6:06PM Ed Morrissey has a very lovely Godspeed and Farewell for JPII:

When John Paul II took over the Papacy in 1978, the first non-Italian Pope in more than four centuries, he came from a land that had suffered under the domination of two different kinds of tyrannies for over 40 years. The Communist oppression under which the new Pope had lived created a love of liberty and justice in the amazingly vital John Paul. He survived an assassin's bullet in what seemed to be a season of miracles; Ronald Reagan had barely survived a similar attack just weeks earlier. Both men would emerge as strong as ever, and together they would apply the pressures needed to destroy the communist nightmare of Eastern Europe and free millions who lived behind the Iron Curtain.

John Paul II commanded no armies and had no weapons on hand except for his love of God and compassion for humanity. Many disagree with the Pope's positions on the issues of the day, but no one can deny the essential goodness and humility that he exemplified. He did not distance himself from his flock, even when he became so ill and so disabled that we wondered if his calling would end his life. He loved his Church so much that he could not keep himself from celebrating Mass on his regular schedule until finally his health simply would not permit it.

Just lovely. You'll want to read it all. Please don't forget to offer up a prayer for the First Mate, tonight.

5:55 PM Was just thinking about Rev. Billy Graham, whom I admire very much as a great Man of God. He too is suffering with exactly this disease, Parkinson's, though not so publicly, as JPII. How odd that both of these extraordinary men would be given the same burden, the same cross to bear. Perhaps it is a symbol of the growing commonality the Catholics and Evangelicals are finding among each other. It was Rev. Billy, I think, who said, "how you discuss another's creed says everything about your own..." he, like John Paull II, wanted to see the Christians come together, not tear each other apart.

5:43PM: Hugh Hewitt has a very helpful and comprehensive link to America Magazine, which features everything you could want to know about papal transitioning. Thanks for the link, Hugh.

5:15 Buster is amused to hear CNN remark that the Pope wanted to be an actor, and that the world stage suited him. Buster is a ham. He is intrigued. "Hmmmmm...maybe instead of running for president, I will be Pope."

I told him he hasn't got even the smallest GLIMMER of a chance to be pope. I don't need the Holy Spirit to tell me that! :-)

5:10PM Cory at Insane Troll Logic writes a beautiful and moving personal account The Man that Saved My Life.... H/T Bernard Higgins.

4:55 PM Vanderleun has AN EXCERPT FROM 1995's EVANGELIUM VITAE (The Gospel of Life). Worth reading.

4:20PM Michelle Malkin has a good post which discusses who are the "frontrunners" to succeed JPII, including links. Remember the old saying, though, "The Cardinal who enters the conclave a Pope usually comes out a Cardinal..." JPII, himself, was not considered a "frontrunner." The Holy Spirit has a habit of confounding expectations. Michelle also links to a beautiful photoessay by FOX.

Michelle also includes this quote: We are coming to the end of a century which began with confidence in humanity's prospects of almost unlimited progress, but which is now ending in widespread fear and moral confusion. If we want a springtime of the human spirit, we must rediscover the foundations of hope. Above all, society must learn to embrace one more the great gift of life, to cherish it, to protect it, and to defend it against the culture of death, itself an expression of the great fear that stalks our times.
- Pope John Paul II, Oct. 2, 1998, "Ad Limina" address to the Bishops of California, Nevada, and Hawaii

4:10PM FOX News:"The pope was a genuine threat to the Soviet Empire," well, yes. I'm flipping between FOX and CNN. I give CNN the edge.

4:05 PM Buster just reminded me of a news story he'd read while he was doing his paper. When JPII was arriving at Mile High Stadium for the International Youth Day, the crowd in the Stadium were hollaring and chanting, "JPII, we love you..." and the pilot reported later that the energy below them was so intense, huge and palpable, that it struck his chopper and made it difficult to land. Cool story. Rockstar Pope.

3:50PM Hugh Hewitt is blogging the Pope's death and doing it splendidly. He has excellent remarks of his own, and he links to some splendid writing (not shopping venues, like me!). Check out this: No Man Lived More Fully from Red State. Hugh also points out John Allen who I agree with Hugh, is maybe the best, most reliable American journalist on anything to do with the Vatican.

A commentor named Cryingshame, on Democratic Underground gives an esoteric explanation of the meaning of the Bronze Doors, which close upon the death of the Pope. It's pretty interesting.

3:42PM I am impressed, I must say, to hear Shep Smith encouraging someone to quote and explain one of JPII's poems: "Sliding into death, I keep my eyes fixed on one death, one resurrection, you alone O Lord, can retrieve my body from the earth..."

3:40 PM My brother Thom just sent this link to me - way cool tee shirts and posters of JPII in shades, and a tee shirt that says "Be not afraid..." Buster is shopping.

3:35:PM As a Catholic, I must say how grateful I am to read (via email and so many Evangelical blogs) such wonderful and moving tributes to the Holy Father from Christian and non-Christian friends. I think you would be very surprised to know how very much it means to Catholics to know that so many non-Catholics appreciate this great man, and that your generosity in your appreciation. Truly. I am so happy - as I have said before - to see Evangelicals and Catholics find so many means by which they are joined by commonality, these days.

3:25PM: Archbishop Foley is mentioning how the Pope so often would tell the world: DO NOT BE AFRAID. He says that while the Pope watched the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, he held and embraced a crucifix to himself. We live in an age where the concept of suffering having value is being lost. The pope has taught us much in this regard. Cardinal Mohoney (not my favorite) is recounting how whenever you met him or he began a meeting, JPII would say - in the local language of wherever he was - "Praised be the name of Jesus Christ!"

3:15 PM I was just reading someone's child's comment that "The Pope was cool!" Indeed he was. I always loved the cover of this book, showing the young Bishop Wojtyla in shades, with a beret and black overcoat. First time I saw it I thought: What is Bono doing on the cover of a book about the Pope? Yes. JPII, very kewl.

2: 25 PM My son Buster just noticed a dove flying about St. Peters. We will not see his like again.

2:15 PM Here’s a nice little bit of trivia: When JPII dies, according to tradition, the carmelengo will take a small silver hammer and lightly tap his head and say, “Karol Wotyja are you there?”

Then he will tap him again and say, “Lolek, are you there?”

“Lolek” is the nickname his mother had given him. When a man is named pope, one of the first things he is asked is by what nickname his mother called him. He is asked this because in old days, when it was not always possible to tell if one was dead or deeply comatose, it was believed that if one was called by the sweet name of one’s babyhood, one might respond to it.

It is an old idea, of course, and it might be “silly” today - clearly, we will KNOW when the pope dies…and yet, I think it is sweet and lovely, that at the moment of the man’s death, he will be called by the name his loving mother gave him. This article says the pope will not be hammered according to the new, streamlined plans...but who knows...it's still kind of lovely.

2:00 PM: The Litany of Mary is a meditation by which we ask Mary to pray for us, and we call her by all the various names she is known: Mystical Rose...Ark of the New Covenant...it's lovely, but it also contains some serious Theology/Mariology.

"Do Not Be Afraid," John Paul called out to the world.

2005-04-01T13:33:00.000-05:00

Last night, I was driving my son, Buster to his job and we had the radio on and tuned to talk radio. Buster was a little annoyed that I wasn't allowing him to listen to a CD, but I told him - "You can listen to ELO anytime you want, right now the Pope is dying..." Buster has a vague appreciation of John Paul II. A few years ago he had to write a report on a global figure and he skimmed through enough of George Weigel's excellent biography Witness to Hope to have respect for the man's story, and he watched parts of the Pope's last Youth Day - in Toronto in 2002 - and was touched by him...but Buster is 15 years old and a zoot-suit wearing walking hormone. He doesn't quite get it.

I heard Mark Levin read a statement about the pope's condition and then exclaim to his audience: "This is a great man. You young people don't really understand it."

I tried to explain to Buster what it was like to see this vibrant, healthy, handsome and athletic Pole after years of dying Italians. He was hopeful, energetic, devout and unmovable. He wrote prolifically - it's probably going to take decades to really go through all of his writings and bring them up from their depths.

But what I told Buster was this:

He told us many great things, and he teaches us, even now - voiceless, in his suffering...but there are two great messages which always resonate in my mind. John Paul II told us that we must be always aware of the Culture of Death that is encroaching upon us and - more importantly - he told us, endlessly, endlessly, DO NOT BE AFRAID.

I can hear him, saying it in his big, deep voice, booming out among the hundreds of thousands of people: DO NOT BE AFRAID.

He said it everywhere he went, over and over again, and whenever he said it, he was quoting the Angels: DO NOT BE AFRAID.

We live in strange and unsettling times. As a nation we face unprecedented challenges at home and abroad, in our policies and in our private lives. The message needs to be taken in and internalized: DO NOT BE AFRAID.

JPII was never afraid. He trusted in the Lord and went about doing His work. It is a great lesson for all of us.
He was not afraid to go back out after an assassin's bullet laid him low.

He was not afraid to travel the world and show us the face of suffering and infirmity, demonstrating - over and over again - that age and infirmity and a compromised physicality does NOTHING to devalue the worth of the human person.

God bless and keep him. Godspeed, John Paul the Great. Flights of Angels lead thee to thy rest. It will be good to have you in heaven, available to us in the Communion of Saints.

We will remember. We will not be afraid.

I wrote this a few weeks ago re John Paul II:

A boy is born in the humbled and humiliated country of Poland. He is Wojtyla. His mother dies when he is very small. His father is a working man, and he raises his son in the faith before he too dies at a young age. The son is very bright, very capable - a scholar and an artist! But while still very young he is put under a jackboot. He is made a slave of brutal killers - dark, dark proponents of a Culture of Death that is ever-growing. When his enslavement ends, he is put under another jackboot, this time of Communism - the other side of the same, massive Culture of Death. Feeling called to serve, he attends seminary underground. Elevated to an extraordinary global position, he is laid low when an assassin attacks, on the 13th, on an important anniversary for Lucia. On his watch, with the influence of two others, the world begins to change in dramatic ways. Wojtyla and Lucia meet. Several times. He gets old, and his aging is ungraceful and hard to watch, "we turned our faces away," and yet he keeps going. It is almost as if he, too, is waiting for something to happen before he can die.

[...]

The man named Wojtyla, whose own voice has been nearly silenced, nevertheless calls out to the world, and what he says is this: BEHOLD! With my body crooked and failing, with my voice nearly silenced, with my face frozen and expressionless, in all of my weariness, I LIVE. My body is no longer obedient, and you would not want it, and yet, I LIVE. LEARN THIS LESSON, before it is too late, before you enter into a heart of darkness, into the abyss of the Culture of Death, from which I, myself was delivered, of which I have been warning for all these years. It is a hungry culture, the Culture of Death, and you must STOP FEEDING IT! Hear, O my people, hear the lesson. It is: I LIVE! It is not the life you would want, but it is the life I HAVE, and I will live it!

Never afraid.

Charlotte Allen is on a roll

2005-04-01T13:07:00.000-05:00

You all remember Charlotte Allen - she is the conservative writer who Michael Kinsley published in the LA Times on a story featuring several female writers, and setting Susan Estrich on her latest-and-continuing-unhinging. Estrich declared, "Charlotte Allen...a feminist-hater I have never heard of, nor probably have you, by the name of Charlotte Allen... her only book was about Jesus and religion written eight years ago, and as far as I can tell what she does is to edit a blog for the Independent Womens Forum which is a group of right wing women who exist to get on tv and get in newspapers attacking the likes of us."

I have loved Charlotte ever since I read that remark - even before I'd read her. I knew that anyone who could get Estrich to foam so fully at the mouth was my kinda girl, and I immediately put her blogsite on my roll! :-)

And of course, I then read her and discovered, she's a doggone good and insightful writer, too (as is her bud, Cathy Seipp) who can curl your hair with a biting phrase or curl your toes with a comfy one.

Right now, Charlotte's on a roll that demands reading: She makes a tremendous point about the complete and total silence of the feminists and absence of support (on their part) for Terri Schiavo.

All this reminds me of the very bad old days--the kind you read about in 19th-century novels--when wives could end up as literal prisoners of brutal and dissolute husbands. The bad old days that the feminist movement to this day takes pride in having helped abolish. Reforming oppressive marriage laws that made wives their husband’s property and denied them the right to escape even the most abusive of relationships was an accomplishment of which feminists can be justly proud. That is why the IWF, which believes in a reasonable feminism, has taken a stand protesting Michael Schiavo’s continued guardianship of Terri. And it’s why--as I’ve said before in this blog--I find it astonishing that the entire feminist establishment, from the National Organization for Women to you name it, has been absolutely silent on the matter of Terri’s exceedingly slow death by a form of torture that our liberal elite would be protesting to high heaven if it were visited on a Guantanamo prisoner.

Well, actually, I’m not astonished at all--because the feminist establishment has always been highly selective about the women’s rights it chooses to champion. Still, for a group of people who regard marriage itself as a form of patriarchal oppression, the silence of the militant feminists on the subject of Terri Schiavo is deafeningly hypocritical.

InDEED!

She has more on Schiavo, and on the growing meme (discussed below, as well) that the supporters of Schiavo are mad assassins on the loose, even as the left proves themselves adept at approaching and attacking conservative speakers:

Yesterday, Dan Kennedy of the Boston Phoenix nimbly reached for the meme-baton of assassination that Krugman had passed on. He wrote a screed blaming a doctor who had examined Terri and pronounced her not so bad off for the fact that a couple of nut-cases are currently calling for the murder of Terri’s husband, Michael.

[...]

Yup, you read that right. If some psycho bumps off Michael Schiavo, or George Greer, the Florida judge who ordered Terri’s death, it will all be the fault of neurologist William Hammesfahr, who told radio talk-host Sean Hannity that Terri, when he examined her, seemed to be able to communicate despite her severe brain impairment. [...]

Wow--that’s taking the concept of medical malpractice a bit far, n’est-ce pas? And I love "Dr." Dan’s overriding the assessment of a trained neurologist who had actually examined Terri.

For about a decade the left-of-center bunch, which believes in free speech for me but not for thee, has been trying to curb the First Amendment rights of anti-abortion groups, claiming that condemning abortion inspires people to bomb abortion clinics--so the anti-abortion people should shut up or face criminal penalties. But this is the first time I’ve read that a physician shouldn’t be allowed to give out a politically incorrect medical diagnosis.

Time was when the watchword of liberals was: "I don’t agree with what you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it." Now it’s: "I don’t agree with what you say, and I’ll do everything I can not to allow you to say it." Witness the latest left-activist college fad: throwing food at campus speakers with whom you disagree. A couple of days ago William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard and former adviser to Vice President Dan Quayle, got bashed with a chocolate cream pie while delivering a speech at Earlham College in Richmond, Ind. (Columnist Ann Coulter managed to dodge a pie thrown at her last year during a campus speech.) Pat Buchanan got doused with salad dressing this week as he was speaking at Western Michigan University.

You'll want to read ALL of that essay, too.

Finally, Charlotte addresses the ongoing issue (instigated by Estrich, remember) of whether there is parity between the sexes on the op-ed pages and...in the blogs!

But just to show that I love diversity too, I’m going to follow Levy’s directive and link herewith to 10 female bloggers whom I regularly read and relish. Furthermore, some of these gals are "two-fers" with certified ethnic-minority credentials...

You'll want to follow the link, of course, to see which women Charlotte suggests are bloggers worth mentioning. (wink, wink, ahem!)

Thanks, Charlotte! :-)

When will the pies and salad dressing become knives?

2005-04-01T12:53:00.000-05:00

Michelle Malkin says it better than I ever could and also has tons of links you should visit here.

Suffice to say, as Michelle does: "before Pim Fortuyn, the outspoken Dutch critic of uncontrolled immigration, was assassinated, he was pied."

I think it's pretty interesting that the other day Paul Krugman wrote his paranoid screed in the NY Times, suggesting that the Christian Right was about to go off on a binge of assassination...meanwhile, we see the left getting closer and closer to becoming completely unhinged. Egged on, it seems by "I hate Republicans" leaders like Howard Dean.

But then again, the left is all about projection. Always has been.

Just go read Michelle - she's got it all.

The Sandy Berger issue leaves one disgusted

2005-04-01T10:48:00.000-05:00

Look, I am very appreciative - to a point - of the fact that President Bush has strong feelings about protecting the office of the presidency from the taint of scandal, yadda yadda, all very good.

But this situation with Sandy Berger just stinks to high heaven, and I'm disgusted that case begun under the Ashcroft Justice Department and culminating on the watch of Alberto Gonzales has given Berger such a slap on the wrist for stealing and destroying top secret documents from the National Archives.

Again. The man STOLE Top Secret Documents, which purportedly were critical of the Clinton Administration's handling of terrorism, from the National Archives. And ummm...he DESTROYED them.

And for this, he gets a measly $10,000 fine, and oh, yeah, he has to ADMIT he took them and perhaps go to a federal prison for a year.

He doesn't even lose his security clearances, just has them Suspended for three years.

Hell, he'll be back on his feet and ready to go in time for President Hillary.

I don't get it.

Supposedly the docs he took and destroyed were after-action reports written by Richard Clarke, re millenium security and the capture of a hellbent terrorist at LAX, and supposedly, they were critical of lapses made in alerting airport and other port authorities on what to look for. The documents Berger destroyed contained critical margin scrawlings by who knows whom.

My guess: Hillary had scrawled into a margin, "Bill, you dumb bastard, I TOLD you this needed to be attended to, but you were too busy having a party in your pants!"

Or something.

But really...we're watching the press do the whole hand-wringing thing, seriously admonishing President Bush (as usual and endlessly) for having faulty intel on which to move re Saddam and WMD (never mentioning the Clinton Administrations banishing of "hard" sources for 8 years previous) but they have nothing at all to say about Berger's theft or what who and what he was trying to keep from our eyes.

Seems strange, doesn't it?

The press is all about "gathering and reporting" information, but they display a consistent and rather staggering lack of curiosity about exactly what the previous administration did or did not do regarding terrorism, intelligence, national security....or for that matter about much smaller matters like, who wrote the Document of Dubious Origin they have had such a delightful fortnight referring to as "The GOP Talking Points Memo on Terri Schiavo." (Which, btw Michelle Malkin is still asking about...because she is curious.)

They're terribly, terribly curious about the military service of George W. Bush - so curious they go talk to a dentist who cleaned his teeth thirty years ago, but completely incurious as to John Kerry's unwillingness to sign a standard form 180 to release HIS medical records, even after people who served with him - even on his very swiftboat - raise substantial questions.

Ah, well...it seems the press is not terribly interested in finding out anything about you if your name is Berger or Clinton, or Kerry, or Clinton, or McCain, or Kennedy or Daschle.

But...if your name is Bush...why...they get curiouser and curiouser.

Ed Morrissey has more here, wondering:

They were not exact copies; each memo started off as a copy of an original draft by Richard Clarke, but the memos had handwritten notes from each recipient as comments, requests for revision, and suggestions for possible action. Each document was unique, and their destruction by Mr. Scissors means that we will never know what some did with Clarke's information. All we know is that it must have reflected badly on Berger, Clinton, or both. Otherwise, why would Berger destroy them?

And Jim Geraghty asks the good question: "Do any Democrats want to confront the unpleasant truths of how the Clinton White House handled terrorism? Because there were some facts out there that were so damning, Sandy Berger was willing to break the law to make sure the public never saw them."

Michelle: asks:Why would Berger destroy documents if they were merely copies of originals retained by Archives? For that matter, how did he gain access to copies? (I'm assuming he was not given access to a copy machine.) Did the files he was looking at contain multiple identical copies of each document?

Powerline ain't happy. Ain't nobody happy about this outcome except, presumably, Sandy Berger and whomever he was protecting.

LaShawn has the helpful round up and tells us that even liberal blogger Kevin Drum is confounded.

Repost by demand: Can bloggers save a woman's life?

2005-03-31T14:34:00.000-05:00

Reposted this date due to numerous requests:

Suppose you are alive, but paralysed. Your mind seems to be in working order, but you can't say much. You're happy to see your family who come to visit you all the time, and you do make every effort you can to respond to your surroundings. You enjoy the sunshine in the morning, when your nurses open the curtains, and you like the sound of rain falling upon the window, and at night, you can see the moon travel across the sky, as you watch and wonder. You like to blow kisses and receive them.

Some would say you don't have much of a life. Others would say, well, maybe not...but it is the life you HAVE, and it is your own, and the YOU that exists within that limited life is still the essential YOU, the absolute YOU...the YOU that God loved into being. You're still there. You're just not quite able to come out, all the way.

Now... suppose your husband, who once vowed to be faithful through good times and bad, in sickness and in health, has decided it's all too much for him - that he wants a life outside of what he can have with you. Hey, he's only human, who could gainsay it? He's now got a live-in lover and a couple of kids.

And he has decided that even though he now has the life he wanted, it would be wrong to simply divorce you and go on with his new life. No...he thinks that even though you are not actually dying...you probably should die. Your death, you see, would be a better and more compassionate thing than your being allowed to continue living...even though your family is more than willing to see you through to the end of your life.

Since you are not on a respirator that could simply be removed, and you do not have a fatal disease that will eventually take your life, since, as I say, you are not actually dying...a decision has to be made as to just how your life may be effectively ended.

So, your husband is working to have your feeding stopped, so that you can starve to death. You can lie in your bed and feel increasingly hungry and thirsty and weak. You can feel abandoned. You can feel the utter cruelty of unnecessary, willfull deprivation, for it is not as if you are on a deserted island somewhere, utterly alone and without aid or companionship, where your paralysis assists in your natural demise...no, you're in a civilized country in which the means to help you stay alive are quite available...only withheld. Because your life isn't meaningful enough.

You are not regarded, by many, as a creature capable of comprehension and understanding. However, in your agony of starvation, you will be be permitted to understand that your life is unimportant. You'll be allowed to understand that your death is desirable.

But since you won't be able to express yourself, or rail against those feelings, or beg for mercy...you will have to simply endure the helpless stares of your family and friends, as they watch you hunger and thirst, unable - by law - to respond to your dire circumstances.

Imagine your name is Terri Schiavo. And this is your life. And you may begin to die on February 22, 2005.

The bloggers, we are told, are mouth-breathing, unethical, mob-ruled, bible-thumping cretins. They are cold, swarming, scheming, unsophisticated and incapable of really understanding the proper use and function of modern informational tools, which they are using to tear down lives and wreck havoc on all of the enlightened thinking of the last 40 years.

And right now, they are working together to try to save the life of Terri Schiavo and - in doing so - perhaps save the life of your husband or wife, or daughter or son, should they ever be in a situation where they're-not-dying-but-others-sure-wish-they-would. Greg, at What Attitude Problem has testimonial excerpts from Fr. Frank Pavone, has visited Terri. The indefagitable LaShawn Barber says: "Bloggers caused enough ruckus to topple someone in Big Media, so let’s see what we can do to save a life."

If you have a blog, write about Terri Schavo, and direct people here. And urge action. Urge your readers to call their local media, their congressional rep, their senators. Write to editors of newspapers demanding another look into this issue. If enough people make noise, Terri's feeding will not be allowed to quiety be discontinued.

Remember what Schindler's assistant told him as he was compiling lists of Jews to save from the trains heading into Auschwitz: Who saves a life, saves the world, entire. And saving Terri's life may keep our nation and our culture from slip-sliding into a dark and irredeemable place.

UPDATE: For a better understand of what Terri's physical state is, please go here. Dory at Wittenberg Gate has more.

Lest I be accused again of "playing the heartstrings", let me say that having had a family member, severely brain-damaged after a stroke, who nevertheless defied many "experts" predictions, the one think I do know is that we don't know everything, particularly when it's about the inner workings of the human mind and soul. As quoted in the above-referenced site: "Terri's behavior does not meet the medical or statutory definition of persistent vegetative state. Terri responds to stimuli, tries to communicate verbally, follows limited commands, laughs or cries in interaction with loved ones, physically distances herself from irritating or painful stimulation and watches loved ones as they move around her. None of these behaviors are simple reflexes and are, instead, voluntary and cognitive. Though Terri has limitations, she does interact purposefully with her environment."

It seems to me this woman would understand that she was in fact, starving and thirsting to her death. And to me that seems unspeakably cruel.

Theresa Marie Schindler Schiavo - RIP

2005-03-31T10:36:00.000-05:00

I am so sorry that when you died, your parents and siblings were not permitted to be with you.

...the parents and their two other children "were denied access at the moment of her death. They've been requesting, as you know, for the last hour to try to be in there and they were denied access by Michael Schiavo. They are in there now, praying at her bedside."

It is completely and utterly heartbreaking to read this.

Be at peace, in glory and wholeness. And flights of angels lead you to your rest.

It is not all finished down here. Not by a long shot. But you rest, now.

Let us mourn, but not be discouraged. Let us forgive those who have acted wrongly in our name, even as we beg forgiveness from the Author of Life for whatever failures and delinquencies on our own parts have contributed to the culture of death. We are all sinners, and have fallen short; and the wages of sin truly are death. Let us resolve that Terri's death shall not have been in vain. In her name, let reform and renewal be our undoubted mission. Let us now, even in the depths of sorrow, rededicate ourselves to our ancient creed, affirming that every human being, as a creature fashioned in the divine image, possesses a profound, inherent, and equal worth and dignity--a worth and dignity that it is the high duty of the officers and institutions of constitutional republican government to respect and defend. Robert P. George.

LaShawn has the round-up of obits and eulogies.

Delivering a message to my Military readers...

2005-03-31T10:10:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to say something to you folks for a couple of weeks. I get some emails from guys in the military, and I often peek and find them reading the blog, particularly in the wee small hours - I'm always especially humbled to see whoever it is that's reading me out of Baghdad - to think that someone whose courage and sacrifice and commitment I so admire is actually reading little old me. I thank you, and yes, it's humbling.

I have something to pass on to you - a message. It is a story about something that happened to my son, Buster, a year ago, but I didn't have a blog a year ago, and so I haven't told it. It is meant for you.

You see, last year, Buster visited Washington D.C. with his Boy Scout Troop. Buster is a big kid - over 6 feet tall, and built like a giant Scots warrior - and his scout uniform has a fair amount of decoration on it.

As he was leaving the Lincoln Memorial, he was stopped by an elderly gentleman who pulled himself fully erect and gave my son a grave and solemn salute. “Grazie,” he said, “grazie, Joe” followed by some more rapid-fire Italian.

Buster, who speaks a little bit of Italian, tried to explain that he was not a soldier, only a Boy Scout. “Grazie, but no...Boy Scout.”

The man said, “Ah, Boy Scout! Bene! Americani GI Joe, molto bene!”

Buster thanked him for appreciating our troops.

When he came home, he couldn’t wait to tell me this story; he said, “Ma, he looked like he was 80-90 years old do you think he was around when we liberated Europe, and that’s what he was thanking me for?”

I suggested that perhaps he was thankful that Americani GI Joe, molto bene, is still on the job.

I cannot express to you, how proud and moved my son was to receive the salute of this aged gentleman on behalf of you folks. It moves him still to remember it, and to know that he - however unjustly - was witness to and recipient of the sort of gratitude and regard that our American troops have always deserved, and which they’ve always earned, regardless of those sentiments to the contrary which we hear from some quarters.

This kid now knows firsthand, and in his gut, what so few understand; that the American military - for all of its errors (a fully human enterprise will always have some errors) has been, and continues to be, a force for GOOD in the world.

Buster had the honor of receiving a salute on behalf of our fighting men and women. It is my honor to pass it on to you.

God bless our troops and their Commander-in-Chief.

Oh, WaaaPooo! You have some 'splainin' to do!

2005-03-31T10:01:00.000-05:00

Michelle Malkin is this tiny, delicate flower to look at, and yet she's as forthright, determined, tenacious and un-BS-able as pretty much any marine I've ever met. And her BS detector is still running on the WaPo and their story about the Document of Dubious Origin (Note, I do NOT call it the "GOP talking points memo" because that just helps along the meme...) and she has made the sort of discovery one makes when one chooses to actually investigate a story...you know, something the MSM has chosen NOT TO DO in this matter.

And what did Michelle find? Well, as I sort of suspected, it looks like Mike Allen at the WaPo was quite right when he claimed he never wrote that the Document of Dubiousu Origin was "distributed by GOP leaders..." His orignially published article did not say it. (I believed Allen, btw, or wanted to, because I've always thought he was a pretty responsible, straight-up reporter who has tried to avoid partisanship. I've always felt his byline was pretty trustworthy.)

HOWEVER...here is what Michelle found: If Allen didn't write that damning line, SOMEONE at the WaPo did, because it seems that's how it went out over the wires, under Allen's byline. Everywhere. Check it all out here at Michelle's site. Then, of course, scroll up and down because you want to be sure not to miss anything good, and she always has something good.

Terri RESPONDING to her father

2005-03-31T01:34:00.000-05:00

Dirty Harry is posting a tape of Terri Schiavo responding to her father, a tape made just two years ago. Listen to it here.

Terri is clearly hearing and responding to her father. This is heartbreaking.

While you're at it, if you can bear it, after listening to Terri and understanding once again that she is being made to die, for NO GOOD REASON, listen to Bill O' Reilly's rant against the ACLU. I don't usually watch him, but I'm glad I watched it. I'd been ignoring the ACLU for a while, but clearly it's time to pay attention to them, again.

You might want to just hang at Jackson's Junction for a while. They've got interesting stuff there.

This is certainly worth thinking about...

2005-03-30T21:08:00.000-05:00

" Between September 1939 and April 1945 the defendants . . . willfully,and knowingly committed war crimes, as defined by Article II of ControlCouncil Law No. 10, in that they were principals in, accessories to,ordered, abetted, took a consenting part in, and were connected withplans and enterprises involving the execution of the so-called"euthanasia" program of the German Reich in the course of which thedefendants herein murdered hundreds of thousands of human beings,including nationals of German-occupied countries.

"This program involved the systematic and secret execution of the aged,insane, incurably ill, of deformed children, and other persons, by gas,lethal injections, and diverse other means in nursing homes, hospitals,and asylums. Such persons were regarded as "useless eaters" and a burdento the German war machine. The relatives of these victims were informedthat they died from natural causes, such as heart failure. Germandoctors involved in the "euthanasia" program were also sent to Easternoccupied countries to assist in the mass extermination of Jews."

(Count 2, section 9, of the indictment in "the Doctor's Trial" at theNuremberg war crimes trial;United States Holocaust Memorial Museum )

You can read it all here.

Thanks to reader, azbookrat

Lest we forget, we are still in Easter...

2005-03-30T20:47:00.000-05:00

I thought this was a pretty good read. Found it at the Catholic Carnival.

Merely knowing about the resurrection of Jesus pales into dusty insignificance compared to the everlasting comfort and ecstasy of actually knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord: having him in one’s heart, walking through life with him at one’s side, luxuriating in the many graces he showers on his faithful ones in the Sacraments and so many other ways.Yes, it’s real. Christ is risen. Jesus lives eternally and he is always holding us in his loving embrace.

When you are having a cruddy day, as I am...it's a good thing to remember. We shouldn't be having such cruddy days so close to Easter Sunday, though...with all that is going on around us, with news of the Culture of Death encroaching from what seems like every side...we need to hang on to Easter.

The arrogant bunker mentality of an entrenched judiciary

2005-03-30T20:14:00.000-05:00

Ed Morrissey serves up a furious helping of completely correct and justified righteous indignation at the arrogant and condescending tone of the final opinion rendered by the Eleventh Circuit.

Sez the court:

"In resolving the Schiavo controversy, it is my judgment that, despite sincere and altruistic motivation, the legislative and executive branches of our government have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people our Constitution [sic]."

Sez Ed:

Talk about judicial arrogance! Not only did the Eleventh Circuit openly disregard the law written by Congress, this justice arrogantly tells the other equal branches that the only branch guaranteeing a free people is the one not accountable to the will of the electorate. Bear in mind that none of the courts that reviewed this case after the passage of the emergency legislation found it unconstitutional; that at least would have put the court on record. Instead, the judiciary simply and contemptuously disregarded a law which to this moment remains legal and valid.

But don't read me, on this. Read Ed and then read other folks who are much smarter and better educated than I. Start with Musing Minds, over here - I'm frankly not smart enough to comment on this ruling except to say that it seemed incredibly, unspeakably cruel for the Circuit to even agree to hear this last appeal and give Terri Schiavo's family any sort of hope. I mean...show of hands, please, who among us did not know last night what today's ruling would be? Almost seems like the court was toying with the Schindlers, simply because they could.

Sigmund Carl and Alfred scoop everyone!

2005-03-30T20:11:00.000-05:00

Holy Moley! Bush and Cheney are all but caught red-handed, and yet they say they will not resign! Read it all here

Then read here

Pretty shrewd, those shrinks, eh?

LaShawn quotes Anchoress on TV! World Shrugs!

2005-03-30T18:22:00.000-05:00

But I didn't shrug!

I thought it was actually WAY kewl of LaShawn Barber (who looks great in green, btw) to highlight my humble thoughts on the Document of Dubious Origin on MSNBC's Coast-to-Coast.

You can check it out here, thanks to Ian at Political Teen. What a great kid!

I was having a sort of yucky day, so that was a neat surprise. I think LaShawn is a natural, on TV, don't you? She seems very comfortable.

Trey and Dirty Harry have more tape, here.

Yep the KGB tried to kill JPII

2005-03-30T15:18:00.000-05:00

It's not a surprise, but good to finally have it confirmed.

The world will not see his like again.

Code Blue Blog issues challenge to neurologists

2005-03-30T14:27:00.000-05:00

I've linked to Dr. Boyle a few times already. He's been getting increasingly antsy and angry over the Schiavo case and now he has thrown down a gauntlet.

I have seen several neurologists -- in the printed media and on television -- put up a Representative CT of the brain of a normal 25 year old female and contrast this with Terri Schiavo's CT. This is a totally spurious comparison. No one is disputing that Terri Schiavo does not have the CT of a 25 year old female.

What I'm saying is that Terri Schiavo's CT could be the brain of an eighty or ninety year old person who is not in a vegetative state. THOSE are the CT scans we should be showing next to Schiavo's, because in THAT case you would see similar atrophy and a brain much closer to Schiavo's.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

To prove my point I am offering $100,000 on a $25,000 wager for ANY neurologist (and $125,000 for any neurologist/bioethicist) involved in Terri Schiavo's case--including all the neurologists reviewed on television and in the newspapers who can accurately single out PVS patients from functioning patients with better than 60% accuracy on CT scans.

I will provide 100 single cuts from 100 different patient's brain CT's. All the neurologist has to do is say which ones represent patients with PVS and which do not.

If the neurologist can be right 6 out of 10 times he wins the $100,000.

Pretty interesting...

Meanwhile Matteo over at Cartago Delenda Est is angry, too - the angriest I've ever read him.

...the news is the news, and that's what this blog is about. When I saw last night that the 11th Circuit (for whatever reason) was going to, you know, at some point, maybe get around to hearing arguments about whether or not to consider the future option of allowing the possibility of legalizing the potential reinsertion of the tube, I have to be honest. The gorge started to rise in my throat. Why'd they change their mind? Was it seeing some far left icons like Jackson, Nader, and Hentoff going against them? Was it because they've finally started to realize that in addition to Terri, they are euthanizing the legitimacy and prestige of the Judiciary? Was it because they are starting to see that this case is an unmitigated disaster for the left?

So now they make some noises about doing the right thing almost two weeks into the execution. After they've probably immensely added to the damage to this poor woman. After they've turned her into beef jerky.

This is equivalent to commuting a death sentence *after* the smoke and sizzle has already started in the electric chair.

Robed Masters, if you are going to save this woman, do it now, and quit dithering around. This has become a revolting, inhuman farce. If you have no intention of saving her, then quit trying to cover your own asses and have the courage of your convictions.

A situation of perhaps honest confusion is starting to become downright Satanic.

I'm a pretty level-headed guy, but I'm starting to feel the urge to puke.

I can't tell you how unusual it is for Matteo to write something like that penultimate line.

Kurtz covers the Document of Dubious Origin. Not well.

2005-03-30T13:00:00.000-05:00

Michelle Malkin, Powerline, Captain Ed and others have been following the Case of the Document of Dubious Origin for several weeks now, hoping to perhaps awaken the mainstream media to the fact that they have either been completely derelict in their duties to investigation and confirmation within the craft of journalism, or that they're simply so biased that it oozes out of them like muck from the subconscious.

Either way, the MSM is contributing gleefully, shamefully, to a meme that is profoundly unfair, and a meme that would never have gotten started had an unsigned, unletterheaded, misspelled, misnumbered, sloppily put together "memo" been "attributed" to the Democrats.

No one will say where this thing originated. That's kind of BASIC information you'd think a journalist would want before they'd run a story, don't you think? "Where did this come from?" sounds like a very fundamental question that should deliver some sort of credible name.

But the MSM doesn't have a name. It has "anonymous sources" who will not be named and who will not name others, but who confirm that "someone" handed this piece of paper, which could have been put together by "anyone" out to Republican Senators on the floor of the US Senate. And that another "someone," an unnamed Republican US Senator, supposedly handed it to a Democrat, who leaked it.

Riiiiiight.

This ugly memo, which could only damage Republicans, was handed by a Republican to a Democrat...so...that the Republicans could be damaged?

Was John McCain even on the floor that night?

Alright, I'm just joking about McCain. Mostly. But this is troubling, isn't it? Major news organizations have attributed a document they cannot trace...to the GOP.

Oh, I'm sorry. I am forgetting about NUANCE. Check this quote from Howard Kurtz:

...a Post article by Mike Allen and Manuel Roig-Franzia said: "An unsigned one-page memo, distributed to Republican senators, said the debate over Schiavo would appeal to the party's base, or core, supporters."

Neither report said Republicans had written the memo, although they may have left that impression, and they included no comment on the memo from party leaders. ABC's Web site went further than Douglass's on-air report with the headline: "GOP Talking Points on Terri Schiavo."

Got that? "Yeah, we mighta left that impression, that the GOP was at fault, but you know...since we didn't MEAN to leave that impression (cough, cough) why, there is no reason at all for us to try to CORRECT it. After all, we can't help the sorts of impressions people take..."

Good old Nuance, it works everytime!

Of course, as Michelle points out, this particular report is completely lacking nuance and specifically states that the thing was distributed to Republican senators by party leaders.

Yeah. You can do a lot with a little nuance and a lot of determination to create a meme. I weep for the state of journalism in this country. I really do.

Meanwhile,the Republicans are, typically, mealy-mouthed instead of highly cheesed off. Seems to me, this memo's origins need to be factually determined, and whoever wrote up the thing, no matter WHICH party that person belongs to, should face censure at the very least. Not even for the content as much as the damn sloppiness and the cowardly way it was put out there.

I suggested yesterday, and still believe, that this memo was created by some Democrat looking to help his party with a difficult issue. I suggested that it was literally never meant to be seen, only "created" so that it could then be reported on. It was certainly never meant to get out into the blogosphere like those troubling CBS fake documents.

Someone KNOWS where this thing came from. It's time to find out, once and for all.

Jay Nordlinger has the days' MUST READ

2005-03-30T12:34:00.000-05:00

Scroll down a bit and check out some of the mail he has been receiving. Some of it is incredibly moving, and some of it chilling as all get-out. I won't excerpt any of it because you'll want to read it all.

Waiting for the Believers...

2005-03-30T11:03:00.000-05:00

I've had my eye on this print by Allan Bruce Zee for a while. Today I just happened to stumble on his own thoughts re the photo and thought it was all worth sharing. I don't know how to post pictures, of course, but the link is a beauty.

What can we say about Terri and Felos? And the pope?

2005-03-30T10:42:00.000-05:00

I'm sure I'm not the first person to say this - I haven't looked around the blogosphere yet, but I'm quite certain that someone has beaten me to it.

Nevertheless...

He is not swallowing well.

He is not talking.

He is not walking.

Whew, I am SO GLAD he's the pope and is at least being treated respectfully, that he is not some poor woman in Florida with a lawyer going in and out of the room giving reports about her "serene and beautiful death," complete with details of urine output and morphine suppositories.

And I am so incredibly angry and unhappy that I had to just write that line as a truth of what is happening to Terri Schiavo. "Death with Dignity," my ass. Last year, when Mel Gibson released The Passion of the Christ, Andrew Sullivan - among others - called it "pornography."

Everytime I see Felos give one of his jaunty, upbeat interviews which leave out no detail to guard this woman's dignity, I think: Pornography.

And now for something completely different...

2005-03-30T01:05:00.000-05:00

And I mean completely different.

Just because sometimes it's fun to look at something that is otherwise so completely foreign to one's experience.

There is an organization called The Laboure Foundation which was formed to help out young men and women who are feeling called to the religious life, but are in debt due to college loans, etc. I happen to know of a young man who is in contact with them right now, hoping they can help him erase the last of his debt so he may become a monk.

Anyway, I checked out the site, and found this testimonial. Since I'd never heard of the order she writes of joining, I checked them out, too and was surprised to see how numerous they are and how many young women are seeking them out. But most surprising - in a good way - was happening upon a slide show which shows the very same young woman who had written the testimonial, now several years into her journey, and making her first vows. Kinda neat - the girl is just beaming. For the slide show you have to scroll down to "First profession, February 6, 2005."

I TOLD you it would be different! :-)

Decent people may disagree and still be decent people

2005-03-29T19:20:00.000-05:00

I heard Peggy Noonan speak that line on a discussion panel some years ago, during the Clinton Administration, when "scorched earth" was the policy and when suddenly, it wasn't enough to disagree with someone - you had to hate them, too.

Decent people may disagree and still be decent people.

I'm wondering if maybe that's not a bumpersticker we need to see made.

I wonder if we've had enough scorched earth, yet.

I'm not talking about making nice-nice and smoothing over disagreements, pretending they aren't there. I'm not even talking about allowing a writer to get away with foolishness when he or she is being plain foolish.
Heck, if we had to do that I could never write about Maureen Dowd again. And some lefty bloggers could never write about me, either! :-)

I admit, on this blog I have had some tart-ish times. And a time or two, in the throes of excitable passion, I have overdone it. I a hothead, and sometimes I just get rambunctious with the verbal slice-and-dice. :-)

But I happened to be driving my son somewhere tonight and when he took his CD out of the car, Mark Levin popped up on the radio, announcing the death of Johnny Cochran. And he was respectful and gentlemanly about it - saying that although he and Cochran were certainly in disagreement about many things, Cochran was a gentleman, himself, and a thoroughly decent human being whom he respected and liked personally.

My son said, "that was a classy thing for Levin to say. Do you suppose if President Bush were to die tomorrow, Imus or Stern would manage it?"

I don't know. I don't think the two deaths would be comparable, to begin with. I also don't know if that question even matters. There is another question that does.

Why do we have to wait for someone to die before we can admit to their basic decency as a human being?

I remember reading lefty folks who hated Reagan (back after I moved right and stopped hating him, myself, finally coming - too late - to appreciate him) who said they kept champagne in their fridge waiting for the happy day when RWR would die. Even in death, many in the press couldn't move beyond acknowledging that Reagan "was cheerful and optimistic" as president...and not much else.

Decent people may disagree and still be decent people.

We've really gotten away from that - I have too, I admit it. But it doesn't behoove us to do so. It coarsens discourse. It inflates common differences of opinion into matters of urgent emotion when opinions are simply that: opinions.

Both sides do it. I have done it. You may or may not have done it. Maybe we should stop it, finally. I am going to try to scale back, myself, and try to separate the person I am writing about from their opinion. I do try to do that now, but I will try harder to do so.

Although their actions are something else again. Goofy actions are goofy actions. Crybaby whining is crybaby whining. Paranoic writing is paranoic. It's fair game.

But opinions are something else, again. Mere opinions, given freely, the simple exchange of ideas, shouldn't result in people consigning the other side to hell.

Purgatory, maybe. ;-)

Hentoff, Vanderleun, Malkin, JPII Read.

2005-03-29T19:03:00.000-05:00

Blogger is so unusable today that I'm trying to squeeze in as many important reads as I can in one post.

Hentoff: He has never wavered from his position or his principles.

...we have watched as this woman, whose only crime is that she is disabled, is tortured to death by judges, all the way to the Supreme Court. And keep in mind from the Ralph Nader-Wesley Smith report: "

The courts . . . have [also] ordered that no attempts be made to provide her water or food by mouth. Terri swallows her own saliva. Spoon feeding is not medical treatment. This outrageous order proves that the courts are not merely permitting medical treatment to be withheld, they have ordered her to be made dead."

In this country, even condemned serial killers are not executed in this way.

Yes! Yes! Meanwhile:

Vanderleun is wrathful mood as well:

Then, just as I wondered how, in the face of the court order prohibiting all food and fluids, Mrs. Schiavo could have received the morphine, the reporter -- a professional without a hint of shame in her voice or on her face -- filled myself and the nation in. It would seem that the 'nurses' at her 'caring hospice' had gotten around the letter of the court order by giving Mrs. Schiavo a morphine suppository.

It was at that moment that I felt a wave of revulsion suffuse me. It was soon replaced by disgust directed at the reporter for reporting it, myself for listening to it, and the entire country for having let itself and its institutions slide into a slime-pit where that sort of detail was communicated without hesitation or shame to any and all who would listen. It was, after all, only our vaunted "right to know" that was being honored above all our other readily-assumed "rights" this vile example of the "rule of law" had brought to the fore.

Reflecting on this today I found myself thinking that the famous question asked by Joseph Welch of Senator Joseph McCarthy should now be modified and addressed to all of us as: "Let us not assassinate this woman further. We've done enough. Have we no sense of decency? At long last, have we left no sense of decency?"

The cold and true answer is, "No, we have no sense of decency left in us." Our media is our mirror and, regardless of which way it is slanted, the reflection we see is still ourselves; and in this instance we see our entire nation as a kind of super-modern high-tech picture of Dorian Gray. It is little wonder we do not want to turn from the mirror and look at our image directly.

Meanwhile, back in Rome, the Pope may need a feeding tube?

(Lord, what ARE you up to? Pope on a feeding tube? Falwell on a respirator?)

Finally, Michelle Malkin links to something I wish none of us ever had to know about. Horrific.

Must Read Choices for the day

2005-03-29T14:13:00.000-05:00

Start here with NRO's piece by Wesley J. Smith interviewing bioethicist Bill Allen, who - no surprise - claims Terri Schiavo is a non-person.

Then check out this young man from Harvard - he has Cerebral Palsey and knows whereof he speaks as he discusses societys discomfort with the burdensome. Quite a writer.

Then check out John Podhoretz who isn't sure how all of this case will play politically but that the fallout could be bad for everyone.

Roger L. Simon has the second part of his investigative report on the UN Oil-for-Food scandal, and it's a must read.

Feel like you're drowing in news and material, sometimes? I do! Get a little relief by checking out Dirty Harry's turn on Jackson's Junction. He is boycotting Ben Hur. Yes. You read that right.

Paul Krugman takes a gift and runs with it

2005-03-29T10:21:00.000-05:00

So, here we are...this strange story takes yet another turn. Terri Schiavo has now officially lived long enough without her feeding tube for some of her supporters - the more emotional ones - to give the press and the left a gift. And I am afraid it's going to be one of those gifts that keeps on giving.

And whenever the left and the press feels it has the moral highground and unerring righteousness, they send Sir Barks-a-lot out to comment on it. "Bark!" Says Paul Krugman, wagging his tail. "Bark! I was wrong about Bush's economy, but I'm still happy because now I can bark that Right Wing Christians are out to destroy America! Bark!"

Actually, I'm not laughing at Paul Krugman, because I am so angry to see the Terri Schiavo tragedy devolve into a circus complete with that freaking political opportunist Randall Terry in center ring, giving the left all the taped ammunition it will need to create a strong, vibrant meme and helping them construct one hell of a portrait of "rabid Christianity" in time for 2006 and 2008 elections.

And I frankly resent having to mention the Terri Schiavo tragedy and "elections" in the same story...but it has to be done. Politics and political posturing and considerations are swirling all around Schiavo, now, and it cannot be ignored.

I wasn't going to discuss the Krugman piece, which is a pulling -all-the-alarms-and-throwing-the-dress-over-the-face-aria "...dangerous extremists belong to the majority religion and the majority ethnic group, and wield great political influence." It's one of Krugman's standard scripts: the danger of the evangelical right in America.

But I'm so angry that some Christians are playing into this script that that I have to comment.

Yes, Christians are playing to the script. They're playing to every nasty stereotype of them that the left has ever constructed. We have that media-hog and rabble-rouser Randall Terry getting WAY too much air and mic time. I began to really worry the moment I saw him being interviewed as a family spokesperson. Fortunately, they've given him the boot, but too late. In the short time he had the cameras trained on him, Terry has done what he always does when he gets before the cameras; scared the hell out of non-believers and made moderate Christians rush to reassure their secularist friends, "I am NOT like that! That is NOT my idea of Christianity."

Meanwhile, other Christians are calling the President Bush and Governor Bush - the two politicians most sympathetic to their cause - all sorts of names. "Pilate", and "wimp" and "traitor." Their rhetoric has been so remarkably inflamed, that the president and the governor are very likely loathe to make moves they might have made otherwise, for fear of it being interpreted by the media as pandering to these extreme people, and for the even greater fear of their moves being interpreted by these angry Christians as a victory, and a validation of their tactics.

Randall Terry and his zealots full of certainty and moral superiority are now coming off like their unbearable counterparts on the left. Their rhetoric is becoming the equivalent of "America is a horrible country because Bushitler is killing people in Iraq!"

Balance. Things are out of balance. But imbalance by the left is shrugged off in the press and never used against the democrats. Imbalance on the right, that's another story. It is, as I said, the story that is gift, and it's going to keep on giving.

The 2004 elections and the "morality" meme that followed them served to tempt some Christians - a distinct minority - to the sin of Pride. It was heady to look at the red/blue map and realize that the democrats only successes were in the monied, cosmopolitan areas on either coast. "God has brought victory to the lowly," one Christian wrote to me, crowing. It was tempting to believe, I admit it.

Pride. It goeth before a fall.

Paul Krugman's article is as bogus a piece of trash as any he has ever barked. In it he mentions those dubious but constantly flouted "polls" conducted by CBS and ABC - the polls that ask the questions they need to get the answers they want, and were rightly debunked bere by Fred Barnes, but not before the meme got the full force of big-three network coverage..."ohhhhh polls say 82% of America think Terri should be allowed to die..."

Yes, it's frustrating and maddening to know that all the "facts" within those poll questions were misrepresentations or outright fiction. It's maddening to see the press get away - once again - with passing off a document of dubious origin, insisting that it came from the GOP without having to establish the truth of that claim. The tasteless memo -which discussed the political ramifications of the Schiavo case - had no letterhead, no name attached to it. It featured the wrong legislative bill number. It contained various typos, it misspelled Terri Schiavo's name and part of it was lifted from a conservative website that anyone could have visited, but what does it matter? It doesn't! The document was never meant to be SEEN...just CREATED so that it could be reported on, blamed on the GOP and massaged into the whole meme-of-political-posturing the press was beginning to frame. It is disgusting to watch Norah O' Donnell sneer that Tom Delay is essentially a hypocrite because his dying father was not left on life support (here is a hint Norah - Delay's father was DYING of fatal illness, Terri was NOT!)

I'll stipulate. It is frustrating and maddening and disgusting to watch what the press and the left does when it wants to frame a story in a particular way.

It's even more frustrating when I watch people on the right do everything but spin on their heads and foam at the mouth to give them more food for their memes.

I think the left sees this event - the Schiavo tragedy - as a means of beating back Bush for his unforgivable sin of succeeding in Iraq and creating the Arab Springtime. They had no more weapons; they had shot their wad. Then this issue came up, and they said...ah...something we can play with. Let's create a bogus poll...let's look into the painful past histories of politicians and see if any of their families were ever on life support! Then they were handed a gift in Randall Terry and the extreme folks at the Terri vigils! Ready made fire-breathing extremist whack jobs to give us all the tape we want to show America that what we've been warning about the religious right is true! They're going to imprison us all!

I'm going to take a lot of heat for this, I know. Possibly I will lose some readers and blogging friends, but it has to be said: It is more than past time for some - not all, but definately some - on the right to get a hold on themselves, and realize that while their passion concerning Terri Shiavo is not wrong, the way they are expressing that passion is detrimental to Terri's cause and to their own purposes. It's one thing to pray in public. It's another to start challenging the Governor to "be a man!" It makes you look thuggish and irreverent toward the law. While in this case perhaps "the law is a ass," it is still the law, and the bible says "fear God and honor the King..." or to put it another way, "love and obey God's laws and honor the laws of your nation as well."

Just watch what the left does to President Bush's judicial nominees, when the press reports on them while tapes of ranting Christians play in the background. This is not helping. Some on the right think Bush's nominees will be helped by the Schiavo tragedy, that the judge's unwillingness to review her case "from scratch" will alert Americans of the need to appoint constitutionalist judges. I believe just the opposite will occur. Everyone Bush nominates to the bench now will have to endure Chuck Schumer preening before the cameras telling America that everything Bush does is a pander to the far-right-extremist-Christians who will work to create a Theocracy, and so none of his nominees will do. This is NOT helping.

Yesterday someone sent me this article on Reverend Jim Wallis I'd never heard of the man before, but in reading the article my thought was, "John McCain in a pulpit - a man who wants to play to both sides and seem like the pure and noble sensible man." This is exactly the sort of man who can exploit the goings on of the last few weeks, who can appeal to Christian moderates who are now shaking their heads at the far right and wondering if they will have to vote Democrat next time, simply to distance themselves from the rabble. He is exactly the sort of man who someone who is running for the White House and trying to establish moderate religious credibility will invite onto her advisory team.

He is precisely the sort of man who can help to "divide and conquer" what was - until very recently - an ever-increasing solidarity between Catholics and Evangelicals and Moderates.

Take a long hard look. Understand that all of this righteous anger and hysteria, no matter how deeply it is rooted in wanting justice for Terri Schiavo, is going to play right into the hands of people from the left who have internalized the message from 2004 - that they need to talk about God and pay lip service to moral values - but who know they will never get the far-right vote.

The far-right is HANDING them the moderate right on a platter. And a smidgen of moderate right is all they need to win. You think Paul Krugman and the NY Times do not know that?

I know, I know. It's wrong and unseemly to discuss politics right now, while Terri Schiavo is dying of thirst. I know it it's wrong. But while you're telling me how wrong it is, the other side, which doesn't give a damn about any of this is watching and filing things away, and constructing a plan.

Although perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps these people now DO care whether Terri lives or dies. Perhaps now, they would prefer that she live a while longer, thus allowing the religious right to keep overdoing it, to their own detriment.

Pray for Terri Schiavo. But then display the faith you so loudly proclaim by trying to comprehend that more is at work here than mere earthly machinations which are being played to. Attach yourself to the things of the spirit and leave aside things of the world, or the world will entangle you and distort your message.

WELCOME Instapundit readers. Please look around or dive into the archives while you're here! :-)

UPDATE: Jimmie at Sundries Shack has further thoughts.

Andrew Sullivan's terrific Easter piece

2005-03-29T01:42:00.000-05:00

I'm late to it, but happened to see it linked at Hugh Hewitt's. It's awfully good.

She was tied in a bath-tub, clinging to the wreckage of a life that was barely afloat. One was a monster; the other a woman unable to care for her own five-year-old, looking for cigarettes in the dark. And out of that came something beautiful. He saw his own purpose: to serve God in prison, to turn his life around, even as it was saturated in the blood and pain of others. She saw hers: to make that happen. These people weren't saints. Grace arrives, unannounced, in lives that least expect or deserve it.

I say this as a believer. The crimes of Nichols are inexcusable. The serenity of Smith is close to inexplicable. But the message of the Gospels is that God works with the crooked timber of human failure. This was an exceptional moment of redemption. But every day, we have smaller, calmer chances to turn another's life around, to serve, to listen. How often do we simply not see what is in front of us? How often do we believe that the world's evils - from terrorism to crime to emotional cruelty - are beyond our capacity to change? Or that there is no one in front of us whom we can serve? Smith and Nichols' story is a chastening reminder that we may be wrong.

Perfect. Just so.

At the Core of Reality is Joy

2005-03-29T01:16:00.000-05:00

This is a stunner of a piece by Mark Shea, who thinks Hell is shivering in fear right now.

For three decades, Hell's Ministry for the Promotion of the Culture of Death has been issuing confident press releases that the prolife forces are in abeyance and We've Moved On, only to find that, in the last election, abortion was still a huge issue and Hillary Clinton was compelled to blink and start making pro-life bleats. Worse than that, the principal arm of Hell's work in attacking human life--the Judiciary of the United States--has been able to do that while keeping fairly low profile as far as the average American was concerned. This story widely exposed our Robed Masters more than ever as the ruthless enemies of democracy and common sense that they are. It began to occur to more ordinary people than ever that it is not necessary to simply let the Judiciary go on doing whatever insane thing it wanted. The thought, "Resist!" began to occur to a significant number of people. And not just the thought, the act.

That makes Hell nervous.

But most of all, and by far most frightening to Hell, was the broadening dawn of realization that what faces us is fundamentally a spiritual war, not a political or cultural one. Terri Schiavo has inspired prayer like nothing since 9/11. Indeed, I would argue that this is our *domestic* 9/11.

[...]

So I'm hopeful. And the oddity is that this too is offensive to some Christians. Just as the defenders of Terri are counter-cultural, so Easter is even more counter cultural. God seems to checkmate us at every turn. The world tells us to be buoyant with bubbly and perky pseudo-fun when we should be wearing sackcloth and ashes. It chatters on about how Terri is "full of peace and euphoria" when it knows that a damned dirty and protracted murder full of torture is being done.

But there is another reality as well: God commands us to enter into the Joy when we are tempted to despair. Angry Conservative Catholicism is particularly prone to ignoring this command by labeling every command to be joyful as "kumbayah Catholicism". It's not. Joy is, as C.S. Lewis say, the serious business of Heaven. There is such a thing as the sinful will to resist Joy. It the sort of will that says, "How can you be joyful when Robert Lynch is bishop of St. Petersburg?" The answer is, "I can be joyful because Jesus Christ is the Risen Lord of Universe." We are called to be angry, yet sin not. It is perfectly right to be angry at this murder, at the abandonment of Terri by people who should have undertaken her care, at the cruelty, spite, and gloating of the enemies of Life.

Read the whole thing.

On a different topic, but I have to squeeze this in here because blogger is tempermental: Check out Musing Minds excellent topic on the MSM's bender and where Jeff and Kim think it will take them.

3 Stories of Faith with a Mark Steyn chaser

2005-03-29T00:44:00.000-05:00

All day I have wanted to share these stories with you, but blogger has had problems.

This first one is not surprising to me. I know several Catholics who - after being widowed, choose to live out the remainder of their lives as religious men or women. And it is not even unusual to read of someone who so obviously loved "the world" to close herself away from it. It's just unusual to read such a mostly fair article about it. I suspect that those who believe this woman is "trapped" don't quite understand. This is one tough old bird. She's clearly doing what she wants.

I like this entry by Barbara Nicolosi over at Church of the Masses. It's a short, good read.

This is the story of a man after my own heart - who left CBS and secular work to use his skills to serve others. His experience here is much like mine:

With introductions from a U.S. Franciscan pastor, Straub got a room in Rome at the Collegio Sant' Isidoro, a Franciscan friary that contains the world's largest English-language library of literature on St. Francis. Only the housekeeper was present when he arrived, so he went into the 17th-century church on the friary grounds to think. Prayer was not an option since he had long ago embraced atheism.

"Without warning, I felt the overwhelming presence of God," said Straub. "I didn't see any images or hear any words. I knew experientially that God was real, that God loved me. In that moment of revelation, I was transformed from an atheist into a pilgrim."

He felt so moved that he got up and bowed before the altar. "I'm still living off that one moment," declared Straub.

I can identify.

Finally, if you have not read Mark Steyn today, please do. He writes that there is No compelling reason to kill Terri. And of course, he is correct.

Terri is still living. People who "want to die" don't fight like this.

Please read Maxed Out Mama when you have a sec

2005-03-29T00:37:00.000-05:00

Because her post is so moving and well done and insightful. H/T Sigmund.

And then go read this exceedingly well done piece by a Harvard-educated man w/ Cerebral Palsy, who has something to say to the issue of Terri Schiavo.

Blogger has been incredibly problematic today and continues to be so. Blogging will be light. I'll be moving soon, I think.

I am Edna!

2005-03-28T20:02:00.000-05:00

Fabulous, Dahling, Fabulous!

Which Incredibles Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

The Schiavo/Judiciary Circus

2005-03-28T17:00:00.000-05:00

Matteo from Cartago Delenda Est has a good essay posted, This Circus, Summarized.

We acknowledge that the Executive can fail and that there are quick remedies by way of the Legislative or Judiciary. We acknowledge that the Legislative can fail and there are quick remedies by way of the Executive or Judiciary. Are we really to believe that the Judiciary can fail, and that the only available remedy is to say, "Oh well, maybe with a decade or so of Herculean effort, we can get better judges or pass an amendment?" When the Legislative does something blatantly unconstitutional, does the Judiciary say, "Oh well, maybe some day people will vote for better legislators?"

People have argued that Congressional or Presidential action would have precipitated a Constitutional crisis. This is wrong. The crisis is already upon us, and has been precipitated by the Judiciary.

It's a good point.

That said, I am a little surprised at the "BOTH BUSH BROTHERS ARE MURDERING BASTARDS" sort of rhetoric I am hearing from some of the Christian folk. I'm seeing it in my email, too. Matteo DID manage to refrain from calling the Brothers Bush "the center-ring clowns in this circus" I imagine, knowing me, that if I had written his essay, I would not have been able to resist. But I am not quite so quick to jump on the Jeb-is-Pilate train, partially because I do not know enough about law and whether he truly does have his hands tied.

Those of us who have been Bush supporters do realize that what W and Jeb do - over and over again - is think not only about how something will affect people's lives during THEIR administrations but in the future as well. It's easy for us to sit here and say, "screw the law, take action, circumvent the law, be a cowboy and RESCUE TERRI..." it is quite another thing to be the president or governor who faces choices upon which there are NO good outcomes, and nothing but slippery slopes. Rescue Terri? Okay - one or both (depending on which brother does it) will very likely face impeachment and charges. No big whoop, right, to be impeached for a rescue, but the impeachment merely reinforces the power of the judiciary and the inability of the executive branch to act against it. Also, the court would very likely UNDO the rescue, so you'd have Terri still dead, and Jeb or W out of office, and no real resolution to any of the problems we face, here.

DON'T rescue Terri, and you have everything we're already looking at.

And then, there is always the third possibility. You rescue Terri, you DON'T get impeached...but you've created a terrifying precedent should we ever look at a President with less-than-pure interests at heart. "Bush circumvented the law, so I can, too..."

There are NO good alternatives for the Brothers Bush. (And how funny that its these two men who routinely have these enormous situations occuring on their watch...) They are both standing on an icy mountain of a "slippery slope" and if they make a mistake, they make it for ALL of us.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. There is no such thing as rescuing Terri without some fallout from the rescue biting us all in the ass, later. And there is no NOT rescuing Terri without the same.

Nothing is as easy as we think, and in the end, I still say more is at work here, than any of us know.

Pontius Pilate had his role to play in the Passion narrative. Had he not played it, someone else would have had to, or there would have been no death, and no resurrection.

As ever, I look at this situation, in all of its emotion and its politics, its pain and its ridiculousness and I think...we are smack dab in the middle of a holy mystery. I don't know what it means. I just know there is nothing EASY here.

Michelle Malkin offers much to read and ponder

2005-03-28T10:38:00.000-05:00

I suspect most folks who read here already stop at Michelle Malkin's every day, probably well before they hit The Anchoress, but if you haven't had a chance, make sure you read her today. Of particular interest: She is forming a team-effort offshoot blog dealing strictly with immigration.

Also, Michelle wonders at the MSM's complete reluctance to point their cameras at the families of disabled people who are keeping public vigil for Terri Schiavo. She links to some poignant photos. John Leo, btw, has also noticed that the press has no interest in that side of the story, and he says:

Disability-rights activists are an important constituency defending Schiavo's right to live, but since journalists cannot afford to depict them as unbalanced or foolish, they have been rendered almost invisible.

[...]

The Schiavo case is a breakthrough for persuading the public to lower the bar on moral constraints. Once we had a bright line between pulling the plug on patients kept alive by life-support systems and killing people like Terri Schiavo who are not on life support but merely being fed through a tube. Requiring clear evidence of consent is no longer required. In the Schiavo case, we have vaguely remembered consent from a party with a vested interest (the husband) some eight years after the patient was stricken. And though the medical and media people seem to agree that Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state, there is some doubt that this is so. She has never been given a PET scan, one of the most sophisticated tests used to diagnose PVS, apparently because her husband refused to allow it. The killing of Schiavo is a scandal successfully redefined as unexceptional and therefore moral.

But don't let me distract you from Michelle. Just keep on scrolling down, with her. Then, of course, refresh the page, because while you've been reading, she's probably been adding more to the top! :-)

Jeff Jacoby, Terri, my living will, and a terrible eclipse

2005-03-27T02:01:00.000-05:00

Jeff Jacoby spells it out for many at this point, I think. Although I would add to his column that for many of us some of the passion we feel in the matter of Terri Schiavo is simply the sense that she was not treated fairly, or well. I wish he'd added that. Nevertheless, his column here is very much worth reading.

I am resigned, as I guess most are, that Terri will die, and very soon.

Cooking and housework are good things to do. They get a bad rap, most of the time - we hear that all of that "woman's work" is mindless and backbreaking and often (if not mostly) unappreciated.

It CAN be backbreaking and unappreciated, but I have never found it to be mindless. On the contrary, housecooking and cleaning are, profoundly contemplative activities. Cleaning the house, especially if you resist the temptation to turn on a radio or stereo, becomes thinking time. I found my mind, all day, being drawn back to matters in the news, or the meaning of the Easter season. Sometimes I was inspired to pray. Sometimes I was inspired to yell at my family for not doing things that should have been done all week so that I didn't have to do them. But I'd think about that, too, then I'd humbly thank God that I have this wonderful family, when so many are lonely, and when so many families are broken.

I prayed for Terri a lot. Not that she would be rescued. At this point I am convinced that all of this is so big and so convoluted that it has to be serving a purpose we cannot understand. I don't know. I know that, absenting a miracle, Terri will die, and her family will grieve, and mythologies will be born, spun and fleshed out in time for the next election cycle, which is not how it should be, but that seems to be par for the course in 21st Century America.

No...when I prayed for Terri, I thought of the three hours or so that Christ endured, hanging from the cross - his terrible thirst - "I thirst!"

His gaze falling upon John and his Mother, the two of them standing there, horrified at what they beheld. Hating it, hating every moment of it. Wanting none of it to be true. Wanting it to STOP happening. And wanting, at the same time, for his terrible suffering to end.Jesus was suffering, of that there can be no doubt.

Terri? Well, that's problematic. We've read over and over that Terri was brain dead - that she was not aware of anything, was flat, and because she was so unaware, she also was not suffering.

Which, I guess, begs the question...if she wasn't suffering, why did she need to be put out of her misery? Her wishes? Maybe. There is reason to believe her wishes were not as clear as is being touted.

Some say she is still not suffering - that she looks "beautiful" and "serene."

I hope so. I really, really hope so. I hope Terri is as brain dead and unaware as they've always told us. Because if they're wrong...well, wouldn't that be unthinkably cruel, sinful and monstrous? Wouldn't it be as monstrous as hanging from a cross?

Last year, Mel Gibson took a lot of crap for daring to show what happened - actually happened, when a person was scourged and crucified. It was so ugly, so unjust, so difficult to watch that some called it "pornography." They called Gibson "ghoulish."

And now, we read that Terri is "beautiful." That might be the same sort of "pornography." That might be "ghoulish."

Right now, Terri is dehydrated. I remember, when my brother, getting moody, insisted that he didn't want the IV fluids, anymore, because the line was annoying him. He was in hospice. Part of hospice is giving the patient choices, letting him or her feel like they still have some power over things. The IV was removed. He became dehydrated. His tongue swelled and his mouth filled with a terrible foam. His eyes began to sink. Ice chips weren't doing it, nothing helped. One brother called us in the early hours saying, "please come, I think this is it..." In the middle of all this, the doctor (a great woman who S loved) yelled at S, "this is ridiculous, this is no way to die, S!"

She restarted hydration and he pulled back, and he was on the IV until the day he died, because he had hated becoming dehydrated more than he hated the line. "Bad decision," he'd whispered to me. "I didn't think the IV was that important."

When S finally died, it was because he could no longer live. His body could no longer his sustain life. It wasn't because he had made a dumb decision.

And he lived for 6 weeks more. Every single week was precious and gift. Full of terrible pain - my husband and I began at that point to make the funeral arrangements and such. Also full of poignant moments and - believe it or not - belly laughs. It was life, in all its messy reality. S fought to live it while he could.

I've written many times about what it was like for us while S was in hospice, and certainly anyone can look in the October thru December and early January archives and read my thoughts. Bottom line: If someone had told us that we could have the situation with S - difficult as it was - for another few decades, we all would have jumped at it, including, I am positive, S. My brother fought like hell for his life. I used to tease him that he completely destroyed the myth of the pansy-assed gay man, for I'd never seen anyone so tough, so willing to keep up the fight.

And it wasn't a lack of faith on his part, S often told me he was "ready" in one sense, to go. He was ready to "go be happy with Jesus." But on the other hand, he simply couldn't bear to leave us. And the reason he could not bear to leave was because of all the love. He knew he was surrounded by people who loved him. He made a point of letting us know how much he loved us, even when blowing a kiss took every ounce of energy he had, and we tried to let him know we loved him, even when he would lapse into moments of AIDS dementia and wasn't making a whole lot of sense.

We wanted him with us. A world with S, in any sort of condition, was so much better than the world without him. And every day since his death in January has been a hard day, in many ways. We still haven't been able to fully clean out his house. A whole family cannot get the job done, and we pay every month, out of his estate, to simply keep the place, uninhabited, because it's just so hard to put S away. It's stupid. It's foolish. But that's just the way it is. Everyone handles grief differently. We're handling it gingerly, and very slowly. And I can't find any fault in that.

Jacoby has a good column. I agree with most of it, and yes, my husband and I talked about writing up our wishes, and getting them on paper. But I must say, my wishes are changed, and that is due to both Terri and my brother, S.

Before S, I would have said, "just let me go - no life support of any kind - "

Now, I am not so certain. Now, I think...why deprive my family of the opportunity to love? Why deprive myself of the chance to be loved and to love them back? I am too grateful for those extra weeks with S, that no one, not the doctors, not the nurses, not the chaplains believed we would have. Those weeks were so precious, and I learned so much - so very much - about love, and about how as long as love exists, as long as someone is being loved and trying to love back, no matter how feebly...you are in the midst of a Holy Mystery.

If God is love, and that love is alive - in life, no matter how compromised...then it seems to reason that if life is destroyed, or ended too soon, then it is a kind of eclipse of love, an eclipse of God. I look at Terri Schiavo and I see S. I see Christ. I see the brain-injured people I used to work with, and I see Christ. I see something "there." If I am wrong, I am wrong. But I might be right.

Terri's parents might be deluded and wrong.

But they might be right.

And if they are, and she has her life shortened like this, and in this awful manner, then this is a terrible eclipse.

Elk are starving, and they are put down because they are suffering. A farmer is taken into custody for starving his cattle, which is cruel. Death row inmates are given every opportunity to appeal, and in the end a Governor may commute his or her sentence if they really believe the inmate might - on the slenderest shadow, the merest whisp of a doubt - be innocent. And if the Governor does not think he is innocent, he still has a responsibility to the inmate, and to the public, to make sure that the criminal is put down in the most compassionate manner possible.

It is THAT inconsistancy that is so troubling.

Some people are so very CERTAIN that Terri is dead, not there, a shell of a body, housing nothing. And some are so certain that Terri is terribly compromised, but there.

Who saves a life, saves the world entire. Who breaks a life, breaks the world, entire.

Jesus said, "it is finished."

That meant different things to different people. Some who heard those words, like the Pharisees, or Pilate's guards, might have heard it and thought. "Yep, that's the end of that. Another pest put down, another day over."

But, as I have said before, endings are often illusory. They are often the start of things. Perhaps Mary and John heard, "it is finished" and recieved it with a mixture of heavy grief and bitter relief. The former would always and forever surpass the latter.

Perhaps if Terri could talk, she would - at this point - be past saying, "I thirst." Perhaps she would be saying, "it is finished."

I can't help it. I cannot. I sat by my brother's bed for months and talked and laughed and cried with him, and in his last week, when he went completely silent, and began to sleep so deeply, I would lean in, very close, and sing his favorite songs into his ear, and he would squeeze my hand and sigh.

As a family, we've discussed it - how in an odd way, S seemed more fully "alive" to us for those last few months than in years previous.

S is there. S is not there. S is here.

I walk into a church, and it is empty, but there is a tabernacle, with a red candle burning nearby, and a palpable presence. No one is here. I AM is here.

Terri is there. Terri is not there. Terri is here.

I cannot help it. From the bottom of my heart, with every ounce of sincerity I possess, I must proclaim it: Doctors are not always right. Judges are not always right. There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of...When I sign my living will I will write in my own hand: if you are to err, err on the side of my life.

Guestblogging by Buster

2005-03-26T16:51:00.000-05:00

The Anchoress is busy cooking and stuff and carrying on about everything that's annoying her today, including like...my room and the state of the world in general. I think she's not happy with the brother, either. Anyway she has not time for blogging so I'm taking her place. For now.First I gotta shout out to Joe Marshall who got into a thing on education a few weeks ago and asked me what I thought about it, and he was cool with my answers. Then he was nice enough over on his blog to post some advice about how to learn and I just have to say this but with respect - DUDE! I'm 15 years old and I go to a public high school! I feel really bad because I think you were probably sharing some great advice with me but, maybe I need to be 16 to get all of it down. Although I liked the zoot suit question a lot and I might answer it when I get a chance to. Also, the woman says she liked the levitation thing you wrote. I think thats what she said.

I am a Border Collie. Cool. We were in Ireland a few years ago and had to stop in a road while a shepherd was gathering up his sheep for the night. The border collie was rounding them up and it was so cool to watch this dog with this like whole smart-but-benevolent thing going on. Like he was saying to the sheep , "man, I am so far superior to you we're not even on the same planet...but I'll let you live." When he was done he ran over to the farmer and just sat there like a sargent reporting to the captain that the troops were all assembled. I do not mind being a Border Collie.

In Ireland you can turn any corner and run into a cow. Seriously. I'm not talking about the women, they're mostly ok looking. I mean real live cows. We had to stop traffic for them. You can open the window and touch them as you drive by. There is no light in the eye, though, an expression like no one is home. Cows have this vacant look, like Gwyneth Paltrow.

I have a great story about Ireland and cows, and it's true. We were stuck in a town called Adare and - and (allow me to demonstrate a little blarney-speak) to be stuck in Adare is to not be stuck at all because it's like, almost offensively twee and Irish and pretty with real thatched cottages and roses and my mother didn't want to leave.

We were stuck in Adare because the minivan we'd rented kept blowing tires. Blew a tire in Galway and then we went to visit a cool place called 'O Dae in the middle of nowhere. It's like an 8th century abbey ruin and a tower that was partially destroyed by Cromwell, but now they've restored it and you can buy coffee and scones and postcards in the lobby. We left there and we're driving on a dirt road only as wide as the van when another tire goes down. My father takes a look, and there is this sharp tip of a rock in the middle of the road, which got the tire. Even better, when we replaced the first tire, the dude at the tire place in Galway forgot to put the jack back in the truck, so we're screwed. Middle of nowhere. Nothing around for miles and it's Saturday and night is coming and in Ireland everyone eats early so if you come late to supper your SOL, and they don't open for business on Sunday.
My mother tells my father that she thought she saw a cottage a mile or so back, and maybe they have a jack? So he and I start to walk back and suddenly this red car comes up and the guy hears what happens and says, "ah, yes, I know that rock well, have lost many a tire to it."

My dad just stared at the guy, like...did you ever think of just grinding it down or digging it up so it doesn't blow the tires? But my mother says the Irish don't think that way, and I guess she'd know.

He has a jack, we put the spare on, but it's really late and we have trouble finding a place to stay, but we get lucky in Adare, and we have to stay there for the weekend, because there 's no tire repair on Sunday. I'm getting to the part about the cow.

So, we get up to go to mass on Sunday. The church in Adare is old and really beautiful. My parents have to do something so they tell us to go in and find a place to sit. We walk into the church and there's a coffin in the middle of it.

My brother figures, okay, we've missed mass, and this is a funeral, so we head out, but priest stops us and asks if we're looking for mass. "This is mass," he says. "We're just sending off old Tom while we're at it."

Alrighty, then.

The church fills up and I've never seen anything like it. As soon as the priests walk in the whole church falls to its knees like its been felled with a single bullet. Boom. Then the mass goes on as usual. No one else seems surprised to see a coffin in the middle of the aisle, and up until the homily the pirests have ignored it, too. Now, the priest stands there and says, "and today we're going to say goodbye to oldTom, over there who you know died on Thursday last."

"Over there." I loved that. As though he wanted to be sure which old Tom needed saying goodbye to. The old Tom in the coffin as opposed to the old Tom sitting in the back.

"As you all know, Tom was 87 years young, and every Thursday he would ride his tractor into the village for his humble groceries, and indeed, he was driving it again this Thursday when things went wrong. It's too bad about the cow, too."

I thought my brother was going to choke to death or shove his whole fist into his mouth to keep from laughing. I can't help thinking this must happen pretty often in Ireland, because they were so matter-of-fact about it. Or maybe it just happens a lot in Adare.

After the mass, some men carry Old Tom out one door while a bunch of families and babies come in through another, for baptisms.

"They comes and they goes," the pastor told my father, "but mostly these days, they goes. At least when we do this on a Sunday the whole community can pay respects."

I could write a book about a weekend in Adare.

One last thing - in one of the comments, I noticed that someone accused my mother of saying "God Bless you" as a sarcasm. I gotta testify! I be a witness for the defense! She's a pain in the neck in a lot of ways, and she's got as many faults as anyone else in the world, including whoever you are, but when she's being sarcastic, she's being sarcastic, and you'll know it and when she's blessing you, she's blessing you, and you'll know that, too. One thing she does not do is take the name of the Lord in vain, and she doesn't stand for anyone around her doing it either. I got whacked upside the head at dinner for doing it about a month ago. Blessing someone while being sarcastic would be taking the Lord's name in vain to her. So don' t bust her chops. Anyone who can give Michael Schiavo the benefit of a doubt should be able to give her one, too.

That's it. I. Am. Outta. Here.

Schiavo attorney contributed to judge?

2005-03-25T23:04:00.000-05:00

Michael Schiavo lawyer gave to judge's campaign

George Felos made contribution to Greer day after key ruling by court in Terri's casePosted: March 25, 20051:46 p.m. Eastern© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

The judge who tried the Terri Schiavo case and most recently rejected Gov. Jeb Bush's request to intervene, received a campaign contribution from the lawyer pressing for the brain-injured woman's death, raising questions of a conflict of interest.

According to Florida's Department of State, Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge George W. Greer received a contribution of $250 for his 2004 re-election campaign from Felos & Felos, the law firm of George Felos. Felos, known as a "right-to-die" advocate, represents Terri Schiavo's estranged husband, Michael Schiavo, who won a court order from Greer to have the woman's life-sustaining feeding tube removed one week ago. The contribution's apparent conflict of interest was raised by an Internet site investigating the Schiavo case, the Empire Journal, and by Rev. D. James Kennedy's group Center for Reclaiming America.

The contribution from Felos came May 7, 2004, one day after Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge Douglas Baird ruled "Terri's Law" unconstitutional. The Florida Legislature's measure was designed to enable Gov. Bush to intervene in the previous instance in which Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed. The contribution from Felos was the only one made that day, indicating it was not part of a fund-raising effort. The Empire Journal also reported contributions to Greer were made by three other lawyers who represented Michael Schiavo at various stages in the case. Deborah Bushnell, Gwyneth Stanley and Stephen G. Nilsson each contributed at least $250 to Greer's re-election campaign, as did court-appointed attorneys representing the husband's interest, Pacarek & Herman and Richard Pearse.

WND attempted to reach the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission, the independent body that investigates complaints against state judges, but there was no response. Felos' office in Dunedin, Fla., also could not be reached.

The Empire Journal notes that in Florida, a judge is not required to recuse himself if he receives a contribution from an attorney in a case over which he presides. Nevertheless, a contribution can establish the appearance of impropriety, and the state's code of judicial conduct requires a judge to remove himself in such a case.

Ronald D. Rotunda, professor of law at George Mason University, told the Empire Journal he sees such contributions as problematic. He cites a 2002 poll of the American Bar Association concluding 84 percent of all Americans are concerned that the impartiality of judges is compromised by their need to raise campaign contributions. Rotunda said judicial campaign contributions constitute or appear to constitute a tacit quid pro quo in which the judge favors or tilts towards the contributor-litigant.

For background on the 15-year saga, read "The whole Terri Schiavo story."

It shouldn't be like this

2005-03-25T22:48:00.000-05:00

This is unnecessary and uncalled for. It is brutish, callous and based on nothing but hate.

Very sad. Some people have to turn everything into a political-rage-event.

And the people who love Terri have to walk past that sign?

What a kind, compassionate, tolerant sort of man he is.

Au sujet de Terri

2005-03-25T21:53:00.000-05:00

A reader from France emailed her thoughts re the Terri Schaivo matter. I share them with you, in her own charming voice.

From afar (or viewed from France):

M. Schiavo seems to be a liar. See the videos without the soundtrack –this is something I learned being with a deaf mother: see without the soundtrack; observe with the utmost attention what is seen.

The Judge Greer : what does he have to gain? Has someone investigated his bank accounts? His attitude is obscene.

The different sides seem to play a weird game and have forgotten that a human’s life is at stake. En particulier, the supporters of starvation for Terri do not care about her: they want to spit on President Bush. It is not Terri (Terri who?) that they would like to see dead: it is George Bush.

I do not understand why those people keep on talking about freedom. Whose freedom? And free to do what? To be free, you must first be alive. The whole case makes me want to throw up.

If the USA approve of the murder of an innocent, then they walk in the shadow of the Moloch of national socialist (nazi) and it is a horrible step for everyone, because it is a powerful nation.
M. and Mme Schindler and their children are living a real “semaine sainte”. These poor people are at the Calvary.

This afternoon, at the “chemin de croix”, we prayed for Terri. I wrote to our TV (France2 and France 3) to protest against their presentation (Terri was “deeply comatose”, sic) and asking them to do their job properly. They have stopped saying “deeply comatose”. I do not pretend it is because of my e mails, but who knows; we were perhaps dozens to write them.

If I remember well, some years ago, a little Russian boy (2 or 3 years old) was left all alone. A she-dog adopted him. She gave him shelter, she made him warm during the cold winter nights and days; she searched food for him; she chewed what was too tough for him; she protected him. Finally, two years later, people discovered the little boy who was in good health, all things considered. “I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me water”. Well, I know, Jesus was not talking about dogs, or was he? As for human beings we know how it is: “I was hungry and you refused me food. I was thirsty and you did not gave me water”
Marianne

Amen, Marianne, and thank you for writing to me. I found your letter to be a bit of fresh air, and encouraging evidence that - contrary to what we are constantly being told - "the whole world" does NOT hate us "because of George Bush and the Christians." I hope you will keep in touch!

Jeff and Kim have the stuff at Musing MInds

2005-03-25T21:43:00.000-05:00

Some very interesting stuff.

Sez Jeff: In determining what weight to give the irreparable harm that will come to Terri in the latest stay application to keep her alive (at the heart of an injunction proceeding the court must weigh the irreparable harm versus, among other things, the strength of the potential case) guess what type of case the court principally considered. An accused on death row? A terrorist about to be deported to a state where he'll be put to death?Nope. The court in Schiavo relied on a case about a gas dealer regarding the sale of below cost gasoline. That's right folks. In seeking guidance regarding the ending of a human life, the court looked to how another court weighed the harm that would result from the improper sale of a petroleum product. Here is the PDF copy of the latest Federal Court decision which cites the Home Oil case also in PDF.I've said below here and here how the courts are utilizing the wrong standards in the Schiavo case. Seeing Terri's life compared to gasoline, can there be any doubt about this?

Jeff is also in respectful disagreement with Glenn Reynolds and Ann Althouse.

Ann Althouse and Glenn Reynolds are surprised that conservative bloggers believe the Federal Court in Florida flouted the Schiavo statute passed by Congress. I’m included in that group, and frankly, I’m surprised that they are surprised. While I have great respect for both, they are wrong.

You'll want to read it all and keep scrolling. This is why I love the internet.

"Long live Death" (?) Troubling. Polipundit roundup

2005-03-25T14:23:00.000-05:00

Lorie Byrd at Polipundit has a good roundup here. She links to an angry Ben Stein, and I was especially interested in the blurb from Musing Minds.

Michael Schiavo's attorney George Felos took his case and then filed the petition to introduce HB 2131 in 1999.

Then the law in Tallahassee gets changed.

Then the Schiavo case gets heard.

In that order.In April 1999 - House Bill 2131 was introduced in the Florida legislature by the Florida Elder Affairs & Long-Term Care Committee to amend Section 765 (Civil Rights) of the Florida Statutes. The amendments to Section 765.101 were the legal definition of "life prolonging procedures" to add: "INCLUDING ARTIFICIALLY PROVIDED SUSTENENCE AND HYDRATION, WHICH SUSTAINS, RESTORES, OR SUPPLANTS A SPONTANEOUS VITAL FUNCTION".

It becomes law on October 1, 1999.

Go read the rest.

Need someone dead? Get a law passed that will assist you in your endeavor.

And, if you need a laugh, Lorie provides this.

That's it. I'm done. Finis. Unless something happens and I can't hold back, I'm shutting up, now.

I just realized...

2005-03-25T13:31:00.000-05:00

I am in a REALLY bad mood today. I dont' know why. But I know I'm not right, I'm lacking in charity. I'm a very short, lighted fuse, today.

I already don't like my own tone, so I am not going to respond to anyone else, and if my comments today are already biting a bit too hard, please forgive me.

I don't think anything I've said is incorrect, but I'm quite certain I've failed in the way I've said it.

So...today is a good day for me to shut up, and be a monk, and I think that's what I will do.

And this is a kewl test, if you want to find out what breed of dog you are. I am a French Bulldog.

Even that ticked me off. I wanted to be a Golden Lab or a Border Collie.

So, as I said...my mood is just too foul, today. Posting will be light to completely non-existant.

But I have no problem with you folks posting what sort of breed you are. Might lift the mood.

Good Friday prayer thread

2005-03-25T12:46:00.000-05:00

Blogging will be light until Monday, and I won't be looking at emails or doing much correspondence at all for the next few days.

I thought this would be a good opportunity to give some space over to prayer. There is much to pray for, not just as regards Terri Schiavo, but within our personal lives and throughout the world. If you care to leave prayers of praise, intercession, thanksgiving, remembrence, etc here, you are welcome to do so.

The Anchoress

PS: Let's keep this a PR AYER thread, btw, and not comment on each other's prayers and get into debates? Save the thought for another time! :-)

Rabbi Marc Gellman makes the salient point

2005-03-25T05:00:00.000-05:00

I love this site, A Bird's Eye View because the host is such a good writer and thinker...and I've had the pleasure of meeting Rabbi Gellman several times, and he's always great. Here the Bird quotes him, and the Rabbi nails it so sensibly I can't understand how anyone can read him and not "get" it.

Sez Bird:

Gellman sees a very simple truth at the heart of the issue, the woman is not dying (at least not dying naturally.) There is a word of difference between allowing someone who is dying to do so unimpeded, and taking the life of someone who is otherwise not at risk of death.

Sez Rabbi Gellman: It is one thing to let a person die in peace who is already dying. It is one thing to remove an obstacle to death. It is quite another to cause death. When you add in her parents' willingness to assume the financial and emotional burden of her care, the insistence of her husband that he be given the right to starve his wife to death just seems insanely ghoulish to many people who are otherwise in favor of a person's right to die. Death, they argue-and I agree-is not always an insult or a betrayal. Death can be a natural and welcome release from pain and suffering. We now face the frightening possibility of modern medicine, motivated more by a defensive fear of lawsuits than the Hippocratic oath of “first do no harm,” stopping us from crossing over when it is our time. But this obviously is not Terri Schiavo's time. She is alive, innocent and mute. She is not at death's door. All this sound and fury is about cruelly bringing the door to her.

INDEED, Rabbi, INDEED. For so many of us this is the crux of the issue. Bird also links to a Robert George piece that is worth reading as well - again - a sensible piece:

I don't see that any just authority of the state of Florida is being displaced by the effort of Congress to ensure that Terri's right to life is honored and that civil rights claims on her behalf are given a hearing in the federal courts. By "just authority of the state of Florida," I mean the authority of the people of Florida to make laws through their elected representatives, subject to the provisions of the state constitution and the Constitution of the United States. I am not impressed by appeals to "federalism" to protect the decisions of state court judges who usurp the authority of democratically constituted state legislative bodies by interpreting statutes beyond recognition or by invalidating state laws or the actions of state officials in the absence of any remotely plausible argument rooted in the text, logic, structure, or historical understanding of the state or federal constitution. The fact is that, under color of law, Michael Schiavo is seeking to deprive Terri of sustenance because of her disability. Under federal civil-rights statutes, this raises a substantial issue. It cannot be waved away by invoking states' rights.

Bird sez: I keep trying to put the Schiavo case behind me, but I'm stuck. I just cannot get my head wrapped around the reality of what is happening in Florida. I honestly felt sure that it would never come to this point, that Terri's parent would be given a chance to try treatment and test her for brain function, if only to provide them some comfort in knowing the right way to go, but there is this strange drive to kill her.

Yes. Read them both, all the way through. H/T Sigmund.

Finally, William Kristol, who sometimes drives me wild with frustration also completely nails things, and he does it in a biting, BITING manner. It's all so good I can't decide what excerpt to show you, but this is one good one:

Last month the Supreme Court saved Simmons's life. The citizens, legislators, and governor of Missouri (and those of 19 other states) had, it turned out, fallen grievously and unconstitutionally behind "the evolving standards of decency that mark a maturing society." Five justices decided that the Constitution prevented anyone under the age of 18 from being sentenced to death. So Christopher Simmons will live.

It appears, at this writing, that Terri Schiavo will not. In a series of decisions in Florida state courts, Circuit Judge George Greer and his colleagues have chosen to credit the claim of Michael Schiavo that his wife long ago expressed a well-considered wish to be killed if she found herself in a disabled state. Of course, there is no reason to believe she ever seriously considered she might find herself in such a state. They have chosen to deny efforts by Terri Schiavo's mother and father to assume responsibility for their daughter's care. They have chosen to strike down legislation passed by the Florida legislature, and signed by the governor, to permit the governor to allow water and nutrition to be given to patients who leave no written directive, and to allow some recourse for family members who wish to challenge the withholding of nutrition and hydration.

Last week, federal judges chose to dismiss, out of hand, extraordinary legislation passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by the president, which asked the federal courts to take a fresh look at the case. The federal judges chose not to explain why "evolving standards of decency" might not allow Terri Schiavo to be kept alive until the case was argued in federal court. The judges assumed nothing new or meaningful would be learned from such an argument, or that the federal legislation might be found unconstitutional. The federal judges chose not to bother to explain why either might be the case.

So our judges deserve some criticism. But we should not be too harsh. For example, it would be wrong to suggest, as some conservatives have, that our judicial elite is systematically biased against "life." After all, they have saved the life of Christopher Simmons...

Indeed.

It sounds like John Paull II is going to die very soon

2005-03-25T01:07:00.000-05:00

I have a feeling it's going to be a heck of an Easter Triduum. This sounds remarkably like a heads up and a "Thank you, good and faithful servant."

Pope is ‘serenely giving himself to the will of God’

By Ruth Gledhill Religion Correspondent

THE POPE is “serenely abandoning” himself to God’s will, according to a senior Vatican cardinal. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the head of the Congregation of Bishops, made his comments during a sermon at a Maundy Thursday Chrism Mass at St Peter’s, in Rome, where he was standing in for the ailing Pope John Paul II.

Senior Roman Catholic sources in London emphasised last night that the comments referred to the Pope’s spiritual rather than physical health, but acknowledged that his health was deteriorating.

The Cardinal’s comments came at the end of a week where the Pope’s health has worsened further, with reports by Italian news agencies that he has been vomiting, suffering strong headaches and not responding to medication.

However, the doctors treating him said that there were no immediate plans for the Pope to return to hospital, although just one public engagement, an Easter Sunday blessing, is scheduled for him this weekend, making this the first year in his papacy that he has missed the traditional Holy Week services.

The 84-year-old Pope, whose health remains troubled since he underwent throat surgery at the Gemelli Hospital, in Rome, last month, watched yesterday morning’s service on television from his Vatican apartments.

Cardinal Re said: “We want to thank him for the witness he continues to give us even through his example of serene abandonment to God, which he links to the mystery of the Cross.”

At the start of the Mass, the Cardinal read a message from the Pope. It said: “I am united ideally with all of you who are gathered in the Vatican basilica. Via television from my apartment, my dearest ones, I am spiritually with you.”
Maundy Thursday is the day that Catholics commemorate the founding of the priesthood. On this day priests renew the vows they first took when they were ordained.

The Pope underwent a tracheotomy to relieve severe breathing problems on February 24. He has spent a total of 28 days in two stints at the Gemelli Hospital. Since he left hospital on March 13 the Pope, who also suffers from Parkinson’s Disease and arthritis, has made four brief appearances but has not spoken in public.

On Wednesday this week, the day he normally holds his general audience, the Pope made a 65-second appearance from his window overlooking St Peter’s Square. According to Reuters, he looked gaunt, pale and pained.

Godspeed, Terri. Godspeed, John Paul. We know we are enveloped in a Great Mystery, seeing through a glass darkly. You finally see clearly. Pray for us.

O Irony! FL rancher charged with starving cattle

2005-03-25T00:45:00.000-05:00

What was that line about tragedy and farce being separated by a fine, thin line?

Rancher accused of starving cattle

Rancher Michael Lee Swails of Immokalee is being held in Collier County Jail on 120 felony counts of animal cruelty that accuse him of starving his herd of cattle."It is a really horrific case. The fact that such a large number of animals was involved makes this case particularly bad," said Margot Castorena, director of Collier County Domestic Animal Services.

Swails, 47, is accused of letting his cattle starve in a pasture that was devoid of forage.He was arrested Thursday and is being held in jail on $100,000 bail. Each of his 120 charges carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

By the time animal-services agents and sheriff's deputies investigated reports of the starving herd in March 2004, they said they found at least 23 dead cows.

The officers said they also saw turkey vultures feeding on the bodies of two live cows that were too weak to move.

Those cows were put to death by veterinarians.

Necropsies on some of the carcasses determined that the cows were starved to death, sheriff's Sgt. David Estes said in a sworn statement.The animal services officers took custody of the remaining cows.

A total of 107 cows survived and were sold at auction last July, Castorena said.The next court hearing in the case is scheduled for April 11, at which time a trial date may be set for Swails.

Hmmm...so...why did they arrest him? After all...the cows died gently - very likely in a state of grand euphoria!

I wonder if the Schindlers have heard about it.

Anchoress on the couch and not too impressive!

2005-03-25T00:10:00.000-05:00

Sigmund, Carl and Alfred asked if they could put me on the couch, and I said, sure, why not?

Why doesn't anyone ever ask me easy questions (and I haven't forgotten YOURS, Joe - I'm just not yet in the mood...)

For the record, in case anyone ever wants to interview me again, easy questions are as follows:

What toothpaste do you like the best?
Arm and Hammer baking soda peroxide whatever.

Do you really have a fascination with Derek Jeter's physique?
Well, yes...but I think he's a great player, too, with heart, heart, heart, which counts more than stats. But yes, "fascination" would be an accurate term.

Yes.

Most definately...

Derek Sanderson Jeter.

Sigh.

Why do you love Diet Pepsi so much?
It's really fizzy and it tastes crisp and fresh, but - and this is most important - I ONLY like it in cans. In plastic I find it as foul and detestible a brew as any beer that isn't Guinness.

Is there really an "Agnes" somewhere in your name?
(narrowing eyes) You want to make something of it? I LIKE St. Agnes!

Anyway...you can read the interview here. I think I'll turn off comments for this particular post. :-)

Ralph Nader says Terri is being "made to be dead"

2005-03-24T22:42:00.000-05:00

Surprising. But glad to read it.

WARNING:Rachel Lucas does it again;I'm posting it

2005-03-24T22:31:00.000-05:00

So, if you can't take the profane language and the fact that she does take the name of the Lord in vain, please scroll by.

And Rachel, I'm sorry, I know you don't want anyone posting to you and you don't want to be bothered...but I have to post this...because if nothing else, your rage is cathartic for some.

Dear Terri Schiavo,

Die already, vegetable.

Love,The Supreme Court of the United States

Meanwhile, the young woman's skin is cracking, her lips are peeling away, her nose is bleeding, her eyes are sunken in. Her brother says she looks like a concentration camp prisoner.

Because apparently we live in a GODDAMNED BARBARIC society that allows innocent people to be starved to death - because the machines say there is no brain activity - although at the same time, because we are demonstrably batshit insane, we would collectively freak out if it were announced that from now on, death row inmates were to be killed in a way that caused any pain whatsoever beyond the prick of an IV needle.
Because that would be "cruel".

It is absolutely fucking confounding.

You know, I would not want to live in a vegetative state like Terri has for the last 15 years. Yep, that would suck and if I were given a choice, I would rather be dead.

But as I have now repeatedly and loudly told my husband (and have written down): for the love of anything that ever was good or decent on this planet, DON'T FREAKIN' STARVE ME TO DEATH. Mmkay? How about a nice big syringe full of morphine and then something to make my heart stop. Thanks, that'd be super. Even if I look like a giant blue-eyed slab of vegetable matter, am drooling, and the scans show that all I have is a brain stem while the rest of my gray matter has evaporated. I'm not afraid of dying, just don't kill me slow.

Not too much to ask.

Meanwhile, I'll try to go about my life with the knowledge that at least half of my fellow Americans are barbaric, heartless, selfish assholes who couldn't care less about a woman starving slowly to death in a hospice bed in Florida. The fact that she is dying is really not the problem - she "died" long ago, according to pretty much everybody. Who has custody of her is not the problem - I read the Wolfson report and it turns out her parents are kinda nuts and Michael is not necessarily an evil asshole.

The problem, and it is a very very big fucking problem, is that no one seems to give a rat's ass that it is acceptable to kill a human being, one who just might have some shred of conscious awareness, by withholding water and food.

It's absolutely disgusting. It's like she's a forsaken fern or something - just stop watering her until she dies. Sure, it'll look ugly for a while but it's just a fern/brain-dead woman. It can't feel anything. Dry up and die.
God bless America, the most civilized and humane society ever to exist. Shit.

Anchoress here: I have to just add this. I almost NEVER turn the TV on but I happened to turn on Greta on FOX, and she has some neurologist on...before she introduced him, she said, "here is a picture of TERRI's brain scan, and here is a HUMAN brain scan."

Maybe she meant to say NORMAL brain? (shaking my head) Then I flipped to Scarborough and he's interviewing Michael Schiavo's brother who says, "Michael wants to give her the dignity she deserves..."

What about the THERAPY she deserves? What about the RE-EVALUATION she deserves? What about the SACRAMENTS she deserves?

Jeb's Getting Frustrated, Doug's got good posts

2005-03-24T21:34:00.000-05:00

Jeb's running out of options beyond prayer.

And I have been rather negligent. I keep meaning to link to Doug at Bogus Gold and forgetting. I'm remembering, now. He has lots of sensible and right, charitable thinking that we should all read. Me, too. I admit, I've been unusually edgy today, and a tad uncharitable. Doug (and Anniebird) have helpful and healthy perspectives.

Meanwhile, Wittingshire gives us a harrowing description of what it's like to die of thirst. When people hear "I thirst" this weekend at various services...it's going to resonate, I think.

Finding Terri? Burdensome, indeed.

2005-03-24T19:44:00.000-05:00

Maxed out Mama has a really great dose of reality re Terri. Go read it. H/T Sigmund Carl and Alfred.

Her comments, briefly:

What haunts me most is that this woman who many believe to be aware has, for over 10 years, not been given the benefit of a serious attempt to enable her to communicate her wishes. You may say that this woman does not exist, but who has tried to find her? Not you, not once you decided your Terri was dead. And you have controlled her medical care.

Dr. Cheshire concludes his affidavit with the following paragraph:
How medicine and society choose to think about Terri Schiavo will influence what kind of people we will be as we evaluate and respond to the needs of the most vulnerable people among us. When serious doubts exist as to whether a cognitively impaired person is or not consciously aware, even if these doubts cannot be conclusively resolved, it is better to err on the side of protecting vulnerable life.

Burdensome, indeed.

My mother...my daughter, on feeding tubes

2005-03-24T16:17:00.000-05:00

Doubtless some will read this woman's moving account of her 18 years with a daughter in what seems like much worse shape than Terri, and a mother on a tube, too, and they'll dismiss her thoughts as "deluded" or "a mind game to survive..."

But I think a woman whose mother and daughter are both neurologically impaired, and who has seen it all up close and personal has more to say than any of us on this issue.

The life that exists in these struggling frames has had the judicial imprimatur of "So not worth it" placed upon it and the plug (tube) pulled. Yet the life that resides in these bodies so ravaged by immobility scares the livin' daylights out of me. If you already believe in a g-d, these souls will confirm your faith. If you don't believe, well, I have seen atheists and agnostics humbled, silenced, and in tears as they stumbled upon a spiritual experience that caught them unawares. These are the very elect of beings. Those who allow these lives to be taken, especially in reliance upon clinical reports, engage in the sentencing of innocents. Leo the Dog, hurled to his death in a California road rage case, engendered more outrage and due process.

At this point...I have come to believe Terri Schiavo will not be allowed to live, will not be rescued, and that her death is going to shake this country up enormously.And perhaps that is what is meant to happen. We don't know. But I still say there are no accidents, and for those of us who are Christian and are watching the whole terrible drama of the Passion and Death of Jesus the Christ play out in our churches, we find that this year, we are standing among those in the crowd saying "Crucify him," we are seeing the courts going through motions and shrugging off witnesses.

We've seen people on the sidelines try to bring water to a suffering servant and be arrested. We've even seen a Governor, who went through channels, waiting to see if Herod would do something before making a move of his own. I admire and respect Jeb Bush enormously, and I know he is no Pontius Pilate...but I do believe that like Pilate he is involved in something a whole lot bigger than him, and which has been ordained and cannot be stopped, although he has tried.

Tonight is the Mass of the Last Supper. Tomorrow is Good Friday. Godspeed, Terri. May angels lead you into paradise.

Another nation to blame on Bush

2005-03-24T12:53:00.000-05:00

Kyrgyzstan wants to be free. Gatewaypundit has the best updates.

Neal Boortz thinks Terri's 'earned the right to die.'

2005-03-24T10:39:00.000-05:00

His commentary is well-written and a challenge to the "religious right." If we believe that there is life after death, why the fight to keep Terri alive?

I left a comment at his place, but I'm aggravated that I didn't copy it first and just throw it here. Now I have to write it again.

Boortz repeats the specious claim that Terri is not being killed, that she's merely being allowed to die.

No. If you are taken off a respirator and you breath a few breaths (or don't) and then die, THEN you are being "allowed" to die.

If you are alive and merely incapable of feeding yourself, and someone insists that no one feed you...you are being killed. I don't understand why people have trouble comprehending that distinction.

What I said to Mr. Boortz is what I find myself saying to a lot of people, lately, that this fight to keep Terri alive is not some extremist position by people who are knee-jerking it. For many of us, this is all about having an sense that the woman has been short-changed. That she has been short-changed diagnostically, therapeutically and now judicially. The courts have routinely made decisions re Terri based on one doctor's 45 minute examination. That the doctor wrote, in 1982, in the Journal of Medicine and Law that severely brain injured patients have lost there personhood and were not entitled to rights seems not to bother them. No neurological re-evaluations have been ordered, even with nurses reporting that she is awake and aware.

When my brother was dying a few months ago, we would have done anything - anything - to keep him with us because even having him in terrible condition, incapacitated, was still better than NOT having him. Until his final few days, we'd managed, still to talk, to convey our love for each other, and every day of that was incredibly precious. It seems to me that Terri - from what I have read and seen on the tapes - has the capacity to understand that someone LOVES her...and has a minimal capacity to express that love in return. As long as that exists, why steal from her family the opportunity to express that love. Why steal from Terri the chance to have her dignity and worth affirmed? When my brother couldn't live anymore, he died. And we were crushed and remain crushed. But I wouldn't trade the time in hospice for anything, and if you told me we'd have had that for the next 30 years, we'd have taken it. I believe my brother would have, too. The love, the humor, the terrible sadness...it was all LIFE. It was a celebration of the life he, at that point, still had.

I think many of us, had we this sense that Terri had been treated right, and given every possible chance, that her situation was truly one of PVS, with NO hope, would be much less passionate about this, but as it stands, with this sense of injustice all about her...it's impossible not to worry.

I can't help but feel - really feel - that in some way, in some sick, subconscious way, for many who think Terri "should be allowed to die" this all boils down to an opportunity to "win" something - to "defeat George Bush" which is how several callers to Rush Limbaugh's show and those dickheads (yep, I said it) with the signs outside Terri's hospice ("payback, George") are framing their glee. It doesn't matter that the woman will die, and that her death is forever, as long as something George Bush wants is denied him. Some liberals should ask themselves if that isn't what they're feeling. If they can't win in the ballot box, they'll win, here.

Now...the rest of us can worry that if we are incapacitated, and NOT Christopher Reeve, our lives may be ended as soon as we become difficult and inconvenient...and that no matter how poorly we've been treated, the courts simply will not care.

Carnival of the Vanities is up

2005-03-24T05:00:00.000-05:00

I always seem to miss them, either to submit, or just to read - but a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to catch it and was introduced to one of my new favorite blogs, which I've linked to several times, Code Blue. When I threw in a submission he was nice enough to include it (Thanks, doc!) but it is the least in the Carnival.

I've only been able to read a few pieces so far - my early favorites are from The Smarter Cop who makes some very sensible comments about Terri Schiavo and Christopher Reeve and others, and Effect Measure, who brings us a pretty serious warning about a bird flu pandemic. It needs to be read.

I'm sure everything in the COTV is as good and useful as these two pieces, so if you're having a snowy spring day, like me, take a cup of tea or coffee and settle in!

If you are what you should be...

2005-03-24T03:50:00.000-05:00

you will set the world on fire.
- St. Catherine of Siena

Take your heart medicine before you look...

2005-03-24T03:20:00.000-05:00

Michelle Malkin has a little collection of quotes from the writings and rantings of the terribly troubled Jeff Weise - the Minnesota boy who gunned down his classmates. She links to his drawings and a few other things. Most troubling is the photo she displays - a photoshopped self-portrait that is chilling and awfully sad. A Deatheater aspirant. God help us.

Michelle also writes of the NYC Cop-beater who got off scot free. Outrageous. And bad for New York.

These Deatheaters and the Year of the Eucharist

2005-03-24T00:10:00.000-05:00

Beth over at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has posted a picture of The Three "Death-a-teers."

More than "Death-a-teers" I think what we are looking at right now are DEATHEATERS.

If you are at all familiar with the flawed but still useful, entertaining and surprisingly Christian Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, you know that Deatheaters are the minions of Lord Voldemort (whose name means, literally, "world death.")

When Voldemort was in power he and his Death Eaters were voracious and indiscriminate in their appetites - they were, like the Nazis and the Communists, interested in killing - they craved death, and in the end it didn't matter who they killed. Voldemort, himself killed Harry Potter's parents, and had no compunction about attempting to kill the infant Harry, either.

Unfortunately for Voldermort, his attack on Harry backfired. Harry is protected by the sacramental grace of his mother's love. Voldemort's attack scars Harry - he must live with a mindfulness of his contact and escape from evil, every day - but the protection of this love deflects Voldemort's curse. Voldemort is struck with the full power of his own evil, and he is severely wounded, barely alive, needing to rely on a willing servant and the pure and powerful blood of the unicorn (an old, old symbol of Christ) in order to maintain his life on a meagre level. There must always be, for Voldemort, an exploitation and misuse of the power of GOOD in order for him to have any power at all.

In the fourth book in the series, Voldemort returns. In a terrible, violent scene that contains elements of sacramentals being misused in a kind of black mass, Voldermort is restored to power. He has, of course, once again misused and exploited the pure power of GOOD - it is the only way for him to exist - and as soon as his power is restored his minions, his DEATHEATERS receive a symbol understood only by them...and they immediately flock to his side, ready and eager to pick up where they have left off, to begin, once again...to destroy life...to revel in, to cover themselves in, to EAT death.

I have been writing for several weeks now that I cannot shake a feeling, a sense, that it is no accident that Terri Schiavo's life is literally under the gun right now - this week, during Holy Week.

But I realized, tonight, that it's not just a matter of THIS WEEK.

Terri (and JPII, for that matter) are fighting to stay alive in the year 2005 - the year which JPII designated THE YEAR OF THE EUCHARIST.

What is the Holy Eucharist?

Put simply, we Catholics believe that the Holy Eucharist is literally the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, who instructed us to eat his Flesh and drink his Blood.

I understand that my non-Catholic friends might find that hard to take, and I am by no means suggesting that anyone else has to believe what we believe. I'm simply explaining this, so that I can later explain my thinking.

Like the innocent blood of the unicorn in Rowlings book, we believe - I believe - the Holy Eucharist contains power - real power. It is literally, THE BREAD OF LIFE. It is the part of the sustaining promise of Christ to be with us always, to the end of the world.

Non-Catholics are understandibly skeptical on this point, and the whole debate about transubstantiation has been going on for a long, long time, and likely will go on forever. But I'm not here to debate it, and I'm not trying to insert myself into that back-and-forth, because I'm frankly not smart enough or educated enough to get into it. I'm just, as I said, discussing our - my - belief.

When I say that the Eucharist has power, I say this not because my church preaches it, or because those who dabble in evil arts often try to get their hands on Consecrated Hosts (the Body) or Consecrated Wine (the Precious Blood) to use in their terrible rituals, in order to disrespect or "destroy" Christ and (like Voldemort) in order to misuse and exploit that power.

As I have said elsewhere, these folks never settle on grape juice and Wonder bread. They want the Consecrated Bread and Wine of the Catholic church.

I have felt that power in my life, have been consoled by it, even when I didn't want to be, when I'd more or less left the faith. I recall one day, when I had become very lukewarm - I believed in Christ but had lost sight of the sacraments - I was driving by a church which rang the Angelus every day at noon. My car windows were open and I heard the bells - a call to prayer - and, having time on my hands, I thought I would go in and sit in the back of the church, and simply take the opportunity to be in the quiet for a while. I knew the church - it was a parish steeped in prayer - they had, and have, morning and evening prayer, daily rosaries, daily confessions, the Angelus and the place had always felt palpably Holy...you entered and you could "feel" the prayer, the holiness.

I didn't know that this parish also had weekly Adoration. It was something I had seen perhaps once in my post-Vatican II childhood and I had no real understanding of it. I didn't think ANY churches did it, anymore.

Anyway...I opened the door to the church, and on the altar, in a monstrance, with candles on either side, was the Holy Eucharist. Physically, I felt punched to the solar plexus, and I really didn't understand why. Without thinking, without even finding a pew so I could kneel comfortably, I hit my knees, mesmerized...and I stayed that way. Rising, I thought perhaps I had been on the floor for five minutes. It had been over an hour. I understood. I got it. I can't tell it, because I haven't words. Sweetness. A waterfall of Love. Enormous consolation. Mercy. Embrace. I cannot explain it. I only know that finally - I understood what I beheld - and I have never been able to look away. I was...saved.

I am not sharing that to try to convince anyone...only to explain.

In the 1980's ACT-UP invaded St. Patrick's Cathedral during Sunday mass, distrupting the mass during Communion. Some of the "activists" managed to receive Communion before the disruption began, and they gleefully ran to the cheering crowds outside, and, holding up the Host for all to see, tore it into small piece and stomped on it. One man chewed the Host and then spit it from his mouth.

This is evil. This is a Deatheater, demonstrating its "power" over what is Holy.

When we Catholics consume the Holy Eucharist - when we "take and eat" - we are consuming LIFE. We are eating LIFE. For a little while, we are wholly and physically united with Christ - his divinity flows through our veins, and we are helped. Too many Catholics don't understand it or appreciate it (the church will have a lot to answer for, for 30 years of terrible catechetics, but that is finally changing) but that doesn't negate any of it.

Perhaps it is because the Catholic church is so completely devoted to this Eucharistic LIFE that it understands the holiness of human life, and fights so hard to defend it. For all of its faults, it has that issue right. And if the clerics are not always up to the task, the laity are...they are LIFE EATERS and they understand, every time they consume Life, the value of it.

This is the Year of the Eucharist. You might call it the year of Life. You might call it the year of the Body of Christ. Both would be accurate and both would have more than one meaning, as the Body of Christ is both the church (little c) and the Eucharist, and "Life" is both what Christ is, and what we fight for.

One of the old funeral liturgies we would sing, "in the midst of death we are in life..."

The Deatheaters have been having a hell of a party for quite a while. Millions killed in the 20th century. Scores of millions. Perhaps over a hundred million, old people, young people, incapacitated people, unborn people. The Death Eaters have eaten and eaten and eaten, and still they are ravenous. They will never be satisfied.

This is the year of the Eucharist. The year of the LIFE EATERS. I wrote before that angels are doing battle.

The Deatheaters will lose. If Terri Schiavo dies, I believe it will be the slow but inexorable end to them, as well.

I believe it.

FEED MY SHEEP: I am ashamed of the bishops

2005-03-23T23:14:00.000-05:00

The Florida Bishops have been completely AWOL as regards Terri Schiavo. They put out one mealy-mouthed, useless "statement" over a week ago, and they've been quiet, ever since. Keeler joined them, so that is "okay" but only "okay." The US conference of bishops - a bunch of over-diplomatically-trained paper tigers, also put out an unimpressive statement before going silent.

In Holy Week, a lamb is being stolen away and sacrificed, and these "shepherds" are performing dismally. A press release cannot be a subsitute for their physical presence at this hospice, even if they can't get thru the doors.

Where are all those activist nuns who so enjoy being arrested for the camera when it comes to war? Not one of them is interested in doing a perp walk for the cameras when it comes to Terri? Oh, I forgot, they're all "peacable liberals" who think the pro-lifers are "extreme." They'd never have truck with them. What disgraces!

I see a few humble priests who have involved themselves in the case, but no bishops. Where is Flynn? Where is Theodore McCarrick on this issue? I know he's the Cardinal in DC, but he has no voice? BALONEY - he is one of the most powerful Cardinals in the world!

Where is Egan on this? (Why do I even bother asking - he's probably off having a few more silk shirts made in Italy!) I have seen statements by Archbishop Chaput (who was unstinting and insistent that Terri and people in her condition MUST BE FED) in support of Terri and her family, but it is her LOCAL bishop who should be speaking out.

I'll tell you what, if this was happening in NY, a few years ago, and the mighty John O' Connor was still alive, he'd be in full regalia, at the doors of Terri's hospice, DARING Michael Shiavo to prevent him from giving her Last Rites, and he'd be jawboning with the press, too! How I miss him! John Paul II has been forceful as ever, but he's in no shape to take action! Come on, SHEPHERDS! FEED YOUR SHEEP!

The "Talking Points Memo" story gets stinkier

2005-03-23T22:57:00.000-05:00

It looks increasingly like Democrat dirty tricks. ABC is starting to back off the story, saying they never meant to imply that the memo was of GOP origination - snort. I know we bloggers are very distracted by Terri Schiavo's situation, but this needs to be kept on top of. It looks to me like the mainstream press, in their gleeful eagerness to always - always and in every way - paint Bushies or Republicans with the worst possible colors, have been hoaxed. I think they swallowed the hoax because they WANT it to be true. Just like Dan Rather and his fake papers.

I think we have found one interesting thing about Lanny Davis, though. Now we knows where his ethical line is drawn. He will participate in a bit of Dem dirty tricks and MEME spreading but he apparently will not jump on board the "let Terri be starved train. I'd like it better if he did neither, but one out of two ain't bad. He's batting 50%.

UPDATE: ABC is slowly but surely backing away from the "Talking points" memo. But of course, the meme is still out there. This stinks to high heaven.

Even Mickey Kaus and Lanny Davis are disgusted

2005-03-23T22:43:00.000-05:00

Kaus is disgusted with ABC's overt and shameless misrepresentations and push-polling and Davis told O'Reilly tonight that he believed Michael Schiavo should step aside and allow Terri's parents to care for her. That's pretty stunning.

Could things be turning? Not, it seems, fast enough. Does anyone know what is going on and why Jeb hasn't yet taken custody of Terri? Time is running out.

And I know that Rachel Lucas would rather no one read her or linked to her, but I'm linking to her again, because she has another exquisite and RIGHT rant going.

Eric at Christifideles is posting stories of people who have recovered from PVS. Keep scrolling.

My Last Visit with Terri Schiavo

2005-03-23T22:33:00.000-05:00

This is really good.

A nun friend of mine wrote me wondering how George and Barbara Bush sleep at night with all their sons have to face and deal with.

It does seem awfully ODD, doesn't it, that everything seems to happen in Florida, where Jeb is Governor, and that both Bush boys seem to always in the position to deal with these huge moral and ethical issues.

No accidents.

Matt at Cartago Delenda has a very good question.

Hey, I'm alive in here! I'm responsive! Hello!!!

2005-03-23T19:15:00.000-05:00

This is troubling from NRO's The Corner.

READ IT AND WEEP [K. J. Lopez]
This neurologist who Jeb Bush mentioned in his press conference earlier today, William Cheshire, says outright that he believes that "it can be ethically permissible to discontinue artificially provided nutrition and hydration for parsons in a permanent vegetative state." But having "met and observed Ms. Schiavo in person" he doesn't believe this should be happening to Terri Schiavo.

He states that "There remain, in fact, huge uncertainties in regard to Terri's true neurological status." She hasn't been fully evaluated by a neurologist for three years, he says, has not had an MRI or a PET. And some of the technology to determine if a patient is in a minimally conscious state has only emerged in the last few years. "New facts have come to light in the last few years that should be weighed in the neurological assessment of Terri Schiavo."

He writes that Terri Schiavo “demonstrates a number of behaviors that I believe cast a reasonable doubt on the prior diagnosis of PVS.” Among these observations, he pinpoints: “Her behavior is frequently context-specific. For example, her facial expression brightens and she smiles in response to the voice of familiar persons such as her parents or her nurses…Several times I witness Terri briefly, albeit inconsistently, laugh in response to a humoroius comment someone in the room had made. I did not see her laugh in the absence of someone else’s laughter.”..

I know Gov. Bush is probably making sure he has all of his legal i's dotted and t's crossed, but come ON, Governor! Times-a-wasting!

Captain Ed wants feedback on his editorial policy

2005-03-23T11:31:00.000-05:00

The captain has someone threatening to remove him from bookmark and no longer reading, etc, etc, if he doesn't stop writing about Terri Schiavo and take a "more balanced view" of the thing.

Captain Ed is an incredible gentleman, and so he is actually taking this reader seriously, and he is asking his readers to comment on his editorial decisions.

So here is mine: Captain, it's YOUR freaking blog - we who read you just come along for the ride. If something that interests you doesn't interest me (a rare event) I simply keep scrolling. YOU decide what you will write about. My experience, in reading you for over a year, is that you routinely find the most compelling and urgent stories (often before anyone else) and then you write about them, and you deliver to us well-reasoned prose with a chewy moral center. In otherwords, you give us something to THINK about.

I've been removed from a few blogrolls because of my writing about Terri Schiavo and people who think I'm preaching too much. You know what my feeling is? There's a million blogs out there, baby, if mine doesn't suit, then farewell and Godspeed! I take my readers very seriously, but the blog is mine, and I'll write what matters to ME.

As for me and my house...we likes ya, Captain, exactly the way you are!

Megan's BRILLIANT call to action! Send food to Terri!

2005-03-23T11:09:00.000-05:00

I love this idea, Megan is brilliant!

I would like to suggest an extension of our voices in opposition to the crimes being committed against Terri. I say we make a strong and symbolic stand. I think we should send food and water BY THE BOXFULLS to the Hospice Center. Keep sending and encouraging people to send until they decide to stop this murder and feed Terri.

We can make arrangements for the food to subsequently be given to a local shelter, but in the mean time, we make a symbolic statment that we do not accept anyone being starved to death on our watch!

Hospice House - Woodside
6770 102nd Ave
Pinellas Park, FL 33782

Please let me know how you feel and if you would be willing to get involved in this. You can reply here or email me. I will gauge what actions I take to prepare based on the support the idea receives. I will start promoting the campaign immediately and would appreciate any support. Our politics are nothing compared to our Humanity.

Yes! Yes! I LOVE this!

Some of you might have seen this elsewhere - I am late to it, just saw it thanks to Someguya at Mystery Achievement - but I wholly support it and will be calling in food the second I am finished here - I hope some of my readers will do the same - I'm going to call around Pinellas Park for a nice Jewish Deli and ask them to send corned beef on rye!. Beth at is also supporting this effort, as are many others! I hope Megan will be posting an update, soon!

About that "talking points memo" supposedly by the GOP

2005-03-22T17:51:00.000-05:00

Powerlineblog has an update:

We have received the following message from a reader regarding the purported talking points memo distributed to Republican senators that was reported yesterday by the Washington Post and ABC:

I worked on the Hill for some time and now work for the State Department. The SOP for moving memos around is that you have a cover sheet that has a "distribution" list on it. Also on the cover sheet is a "Drafter" space where you enter the person's name who drafted the Memo. You cannot just walk around distributing memos to people on the hill. There is a strict protocol on how staffers/interns deliver memos to another congressman's office.

This appears to be an anomaly. I cant say that it is fake. But it most certainly does not mesh with the SOP of moving memos around. I would love to see the actual memo.

I have a pal in the MSM, no lover of the GOP is he, and he says he has some serious doubts that the memo originated with the Republicans. He's troubled that it was so sloppily done - that Terri's name was mispelled, that the thing was cast about so overtly. He just doesn't believe the GOP would be that sloppy. I agree. It reads like a liberal congressional aide's dream of how the GOP would speak. It seems off.

I'm not saying there are no rotten conservatives, or slimey folk. Clearly, there are. If this "memo" is real, it's deplorable. But I suspect a game. It's strange that no one in the blogosphere has been able to get their mitts on a copy, yet.

The Pope sounds pretty ill...

2005-03-22T17:43:00.000-05:00

Report: Pope Not Doing Well on Medication.

Pope John Paul II is vomiting, suffering strong headaches and not responding well to his medications, an Italian news agency reported Tuesday, but the pontiff's chief doctor dismissed speculation the pope will be hospitalized again.

The Apcom news agency, quoting unnamed sources, also reported that John Paul was suffering from overall weakness as he recovered from surgery to ease a breathing crisis.

But the head of the pope's medical team, Dr. Rodolfo Proietti, ruled out media speculation that the pope's health had deteriorated suddenly and might require a return to the hospital he was discharged from 10 days ago.

"No hospitalization of John Paul II is planned," the ANSA news agency quoted Proietti as saying.

The Vatican confirmed Tuesday that John Paul will not hold his traditional audience Wednesday, although it was not known if he would greet pilgrims from his apartment window - a decision the pope would make at the last minute.

John Paul has scaled back his appearances since his back-to-back hospitalizations and has designated cardinals to take his place during this week's busy Holy Week ceremonies. The Vatican only has confirmed one appointment for the pontiff - an Easter Sunday blessing.

The pope did not name a stand-in, however, for a Way of the Cross procession at the Colosseum on Good Friday evening, raising the possibility he would participate in some fashion, although it appeared doubtful he would go to the site.

Screwtape, Updated for 21st Century disregard for Life

2005-03-22T16:21:00.000-05:00

This is brilliant, by Meghan Cox Gurdon at National Review.

"Yes. My achievement, the reason for this — " Screwtape gestures largely about the handsome apartment — "is that I have managed, by appealing to man's love of self, his vanity, to convince millions that it is not cannibalism, but progress, to turn tiny human infants into medicine. The strong picking the weak apart, cell by cell, to be consumed by the strong? Brilliant!"

The uncle pours another red gout of Pharisee into each glass, and leans forward. "There are some envious others — " he continues softly, glancing around as if to suggest malevolent eavesdroppers," — who begrudge my rise. To them I say," and here Screwtape raises his voice, "Vanity is a rusty key that was left lying about, and it was I alone who saw what it could unlock at this point in human history."

"It is true," Screwtape continues with a shrug, "that much of the groundwork was already laid. We had already convinced people of the rightness of destroying inconvenient life. Now they talk quite coolly of "blastocysts," and "clumps of cells" and "surplus embryos." My genius was to recognize that they needed just a little push to be convinced, with their mania for recycling, that by harvesting something that would otherwise be chucked out, they are doing a positive good! Think of it: They believe they occupy "the moral high ground." Oh, the profits for us — "

"But Uncle," Mildew interjects, very respectfully, "there is one point I do not understand. Humans have shown great resistance to the genetic modification of fruits and vegetables — "

Screwtape sees where this is going, and gives what might almost be called a tender smile, were not so many sharply-pointed teeth involved.

"All of Europe was up in arms over plans to make a more tender ear of corn, Uncle, do you remember? Frankenfood, they called it. Gigantic monster tomatoes were inflated and displayed for countryfolk. I do not mean to contradict you, Uncle, but if people fear an altered cob, surely they will not accept a genetically modified human being? After all, that's what this cell-picking is about, isn't it?"

"Do you think," says the uncle witheringly, "that people who believe that life on earth is the only one they have, that once they die there is nothing, that there are no consequences to their choices — one of Our Father Below's most successful slogans, by the way, choice — do you think, my boy, that they will hesitate if we give them the chance to cut and sew their medical destinies for the mere price of another's life? As Our Father pointed out to the Enemy during that unfortunate incident involving the man Job, "A person will give up everything in order to stay alive."

Mildew tries to hold his uncle's eye, but cannot. He looks down and fiddles awkwardly with his tie.

"No, my boy," Screwtape continues in kinder tones. "We are on the brink of wondrous things. This is better than the 18th century, when we convinced whole societies that black-skinned persons were things rather than people — "

"Bought and sold and damnation aplenty," Mildew nods, impressed, "but it didn't last."

"No thanks to Him," Screwtape snaps. "But we are winning now, I can feel it, Mildew. Think of this: In some rich societies, people are not just destroying blastocysts, not merely dismantling children in the womb, they are euthanizing newborn babies!" Screwtape pats the place where his heart would be, were he to have one. "That's one of my father's, you know. Euthanize. So clean, so modern-sounding. He got a bonus for that one. But not wormwood."

"The one I love," Mildew interjects enthusiastically, "is The Right to Die. It's so devilishly clever."

Screwtape looks thoughtfully into his empty glass. "It has potential, once we get the strong to use it regularly against the weak in the guise of being humane." The uncle frowns. "Unfortunately we're running into some difficulties with that slogan. This Florida case is not going as hoped. Right to Die tests well in some markets but the Enemy, blast Him, will keep enlisting these poisonous little brutes with their claptrap about the Culture of Life and whatnot. Things may improve when we are rid of that turbulent chief priest of His. It can't be long now."

Read it all. I wish I'd written it.

Meanwhile, this woman was arrested for trying to bring Terri water. I wish I'd done that, too.