The liturgical tradition has many advantages, but only if people actually follow the liturgy. I can appreciate many forms of non-liturgical worship. Bending the liturgy to a narrow political purpose, however, is not one of them, and trotting out children to lead this call and response is exploitative. Are there no priests in the Catholic Church to offer firm counsel against this?
As the Obamacare debate heats up, one has to wonder what happened to the mantra that the government should have no say in abortion. This argument is almost always coupled with the rationale that abortion is an issue of health care and should remain a private matter between a woman and her physician.
Has the pro-choice lobby thought about what will happen when a Republican, pro-life administration assumes power? Or do they assume that the Republicans have been permanently swept into the dustbin of history?
One might think the pro-choice crowd would see the train wreck coming. Because it seems to me the left is setting up a system in which some future pro-life administration would not have to fight the abortion battle head-on. It could instead simply focus its healthcare priorities elsewhere and relegate elective abortions to the back burner — where waiting periods could grow to 9 months.
The left found one righteous CIA agent in Valerie Plame and wrung its hands for years over the disclosure of her identity. But everyone else in the CIA can go hang. Michele Malkin points out that principles only go so far – or rather, not far at all.
Last week, The Washington Post reported on a new Justice Department inquiry into photographs of undercover CIA officials and other intelligence personnel taken by ACLU-sponsored researchers assisting the defense team of Guantanamo Bay detainees. According to the report, the pictures of covert American CIA officers — “in some cases surreptitiously taken outside their homes” — were shown to jihadi suspects tied to the 9/11 attacks in order to identify the interrogators. . . .
Where is the concern for the safety of these American officers and their families? Where’s the outrage from all the indignant supporters of former CIA agent Valerie Plame, whose name was leaked by Bush State Department official Richard Armitage to the late Robert Novak? Lefties swung their nooses for years over the disclosure, citing federal laws prohibiting the sharing of classified information and proscribing anyone from unauthorized exposure of undercover intelligence agents.
The outrage can be found in the same place as the left’s outrage over the war. You might think all the troops had come home, but the build up in Afghanistan continues. The anti-war protesters have gone home instead, leaving Cindy Sheehan as the lone remnant. The media found her message compelling when it was delivered in Crawford, Texas, but it doesn’t seem to play well in Martha’s Vineyard.
So expect poor Valerie to disappear from public view as the arguments supporting her cause no longer apply.
Here’s the change: our national security now is based primarily on hope and little else. Dick Cheney offers a few words on the subject:
The documents released Monday clearly demonstrate that the individuals subjected to Enhanced Interrogation Techniques provided the bulk of intelligence we gained about al Qaeda. This intelligence saved lives and prevented terrorist attacks. These detainees also, according to the documents, played a role in nearly every capture of al Qaeda members and associates since 2002. The activities of the CIA in carrying out the policies of the Bush Administration were directly responsible for defeating all efforts by al Qaeda to launch further mass casualty attacks against the United States. The people involved deserve our gratitude. They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions. President Obama’s decision to allow the Justice Department to investigate and possibly prosecute CIA personnel, and his decision to remove authority for interrogation from the CIA to the White House, serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this Administration’s ability to be responsible for our nation’s security.
On this 64th anniversary of dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, it seems appropriate to remember the facts surrounding Truman’s decision to employ that weapon.
A little while back, alleged comedian Jon Stewart labeled Truman a war criminal and went on to suggest some militarily and morally facile alternatives. Jeff Whittle provided a blistering response, which is worth a few minutes of your time.
I could add some comments, but Whittle really says it all.
For sheer asininity, it’s hard to top Juan Cole’s column comparing Sarah Palin to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Cole has to stretch to find any notable differences. After all, both are charismatic populists grounding their appeal in religion and, at times, bucking their own party elders.
His larger point, if it can be called that, is that conservative leaders have cultivated a following of people who think their religious and cultural values are threatened. The kind of person who supports Palin closely resembles the kind of person who is enthralled by Ahmadinejad: ignorant, intolerant, and clearly dangerous.
Right-wing populism is centered on a theory of media conspiracy, a “my country right or wrong” chauvinism, a fascination with an armed citizenry, an intolerance of dissent and a willingness to declare political opponents mere terrorists. It is cavalier in its disregard of elementary facts and arrogant about the self-evident rightness of its religious and political doctrines. It therefore holds dangers both for the country in which it grows up and for the international community.
Unfortunately, we have people like Cole teaching in our major universities. They have a significant following of people who can’t distinguish Palin from Ahmadinejad or Bush from Hitler and who find these glib comparisons enlightening and sufficient. Their viewpoint could only result from a cavalier disregard of elementary facts and arrogance about the self-evident rightness of their anti-religious and undemocratic doctrines.
Cole’s facile reasoning passes for serious thought in certain circles. Fortunately, most relatively unschooled gun-toting conservative boobs can see through the argument, even if your average left-wing Ph.D. can’t.
Professor Carol now offers a complete self-study course covering 300 years of music.
This romp through music history (and many other historical topics) combines 13 hours of DVD video with a 3-disc listening set from Naxos and a 236-page course book.
From the birth of opera to the Leipzig coffeehouses frequented by Bach and Schumann, from the Orthodox cathedrals of Moscow to Tin Pan Alley, from scientific discoveries to bloody revolutions, spooky dramas and shoe styles, Carol chronicles it all with her unique commentary.
