Obama Made in USA

So, Obama was "Made in USA". The new t-shirt says so (it must be true).

I would rather change it to "Created in USA". Would that change his mind on abortion, ESCR, the Declaration of Independence, etc?

Maybe Obama thinks it should read, "Born in USA"?

Hmmmm....

Review of Defending Life by F. J. Beckwith

Someone liked my review below at Goodreads, so I thought I would share on my blog.
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Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice by Francis J. Beckwith

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book summarizes all the most and best arguments against abortion choice. It can be a good book to bring to an abortion/ESCR/cloning debate since the section headings are a good guide. Although, the headings could have been outlined in the table of contents for quick reference.


This book does outline the non-religious grounds against abortion choice, but I still feel that the argument ultimately depends on the axiom that all humans (where a human if and only if a person) have inherent worth. This axiom is mostly found in faith traditions. If one does not have a faith tradition or other reason to uphold the axiom, the reasoning behind this book (and really all arguments for any protection for anyone) falls apart.

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Antidote to the Best Pro-Abortion Choice Argument

There is, by far, a best pro-abortion choice argument out there: while acknowledging the personhood of the preborn human, a pregnant mother still has the right to kill/unhook her preborn child. Many know this argument from the famous violinist scenario by Judith Jarvis Thomson; many introduction to ethics courses use her argument for abortion debates in class (mine did).

Well, the video series below from Life Report answers the argument to an extremely high degree. (I have an article I'm working on that goes beyond the ideas in this video, but I'll disclose that later.)

Please take the time to listen to the videos in their entirety.

Prolifers Across the Parking Lot from Carhart

(Dr) Leroy Carhart, the infamous late term abortionist now has his serial murdering business in Maryland (perhaps the most liberal state in the US). MD Coalition for Life is moving in across the parking lot from Carhart tomorrow at 2:30.

May God help us and convert Carhart's heart to see his victims as precious images of God. It can take only one Big Fish to start many more on the conversion path away from abortion killing.

Prolife Coexist Bumper Sticker MD Coexist I Stickervoice.com

I like this sticker that was at the MD March for Life last week. It's about time there was a coexist bumper sticker that has a pregnant woman with a preborn child (yes that's redundant).

They're at Stickervoice.com






 (click on the images below for larger versions)

UPDATE 7/29/2011:
I have a Pro-life Coexist T-shirt. I'll have to take a picture of it soon. Below is a picture from the website:
(Click here for a PDF of the Pro-life Coexist T-shirt.)

Archbishop Dolan on 60 Minutes

I watched the (Roman Catholic) Archbishop of N.Y. Dolan on 60 Minutes last night. Of course, a great deal of the interview was about the sex abuse scandals. Another focus in the interview was about the image that the Church was a stern, old fashioned relic of the puritan past. It's all about world views as AB Dolan said:

I'm in one world. You're in the other. I'm glad you're visitin'.

This last focus reminded me of an interview of AB Dolan on wordonfire2 on Youtube.

He said in 1:41 to the end above, "The Catholic Church is all about one big ringing yes! It's an affirmation of all that is beautiful and noble and uplifting and exiting and liberating in the human drama."

This is opposed to the "double no" that he talks about later in the video above. When the world puts forth a no to the dignity of the human person, the Church says no, which tries to ultimately make the world better.

May God bless AB Dolan and my AB O'Brien. Two Irish AB's leading the Church at a tumultuous time in the US.

Orthodoxy Review

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The argumentation in many sections of this book seems to come out of right field (yes, that's right), but it oh so nicely lands on target on his point.

The references to Quakerism (The Inner Light) and Buddhism were very apropos as well as his pity of the moderns. To him, pre-modern civilization is justifiably seen as the reincarnation of pre-"Christendom" (he doesn't use "pre-modern", only "modern").

His treatise on original sin is more expounded upon than in his St. Francis of Assisi that digs out and deepens my understanding of the doctrine.

He really does lay down the case that Christian orthodoxy is more liberating than the modern notion of freedom.

As I have said before with Chesterton's St. Francis of Assisi, Chesterton is supposedly hard to read, but I found that this is not the case with this book either. It's too bad that people don't read Chesterton as much as CS Lewis (as I have seen) since Chesterton really hits his points with real panache.



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Maryland SB 119 Reflection I

I thought it prudent that my reflections of MD SB 119, "Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act" should be broken up so that each post was short and focused on one or a few connected points. These reflections are points that came and still come to mind as I listened to and reflect(ed) on most of the oral testimony for and against the bill.

To start it off, it was interesting how the different religious people gave their points for or against the bill. The Unitarian gave valentines to the Committee Senators. The Black Protestant Ministers for and against sounded like Dr. King in how they started low and calm while ending up loud and energetic, while the Catholic Religious and Ordained were calm and collected.

The one thing that really bothered me was when a Catholic Sister in habit came up and defended the bill. The Religious read a statement from a Priest that couldn't make it. After looking around the internet, I wonder if it was Sister Jeannine Gramick, SSND of New Ways Ministries (based in Mount Rainier, Maryland) of which I spoke before. She said that there was "debate" within the Catholic Lay Community about what to do regarding bills like this one.

I understand that there can be debate within the Catholic Community. It has been said that young people "'believe that doctrines such as the Trinity, the Incarnation, Mary as the mother of God, Christ's real presence in the Eucharist and the need to be concerned about the poor are more important than teachings such as the need to limit the priesthood to men, the need for priestly celibacy, the church's opposition to artificial birth control and its opposition to the death penalty.'" However, instead of it being either/or, why can't it be both/and (please, please have a listen here; a good doctor reveals both good and bad). Catholicism is a big YES! about freedom unless it is to say "no" to "another 'no' that negates the dignity of the human person" (see after 1:53 here).

Further, I know that we moderns hate more than anything else the concept of authority, including many if not the majority of Catholics (unfortunately). However, Catholic Tradition, Scripture, and Vatican II assert that the Catholic Faithful are to be in unity with the local Bishop. In Maryland, as far as I understand it, the Archbishop of Baltimore is for upholding the real meaning of marriage in law. However, groups like New Ways Ministries have confused the faithful and divided us away from our Shepherd Archbishop.

Those in power know groups like New Ways Ministries can scatter the Catholic Flock, the Body of Christ. If they can get the Catholic Church to be divided, they can get what they want (Sor*os, Gat*es, Roc*kefeller, For*d, etc.); they pour in money to "Catholic" organizations (and politicians/political parties).

For those in power, the only morals are those that make it possible to get what they want (read Saul Alinsky). However, I believe that the Catholic Church reveals the truth that is given by the Holy Spirit. The Bishop should unite all the faithful together for all that is right. The wolves come to destroy that unity.

May we pray, worship, and publicly act as Jesus has called us to do through the one True Gospel. Amen.