Saturday, May 23, 2009

Defeating the Barbarians.

The reality of war is sinking in to President Obama. During the election - when it was a very effective campaign weapon - it was easy to declare that holding enemies of the country indefinitely to be illegal, immoral, and unnecessary. Now that Mr. Obama is charged with the responsibility to protect the people of the United States, his view of this issue has changed dramatically. We welcome this change in his view. We do not dismiss the concerns of civil libertarians, but conclude that as much consideration and legal discretion that is possible during wartime has been made in the internment of these very, very dangerous enemies.

Now that reasonable minds understand the neccesity of holding these persons, what exactly is the need to close Gitmo? The need for such detentions and such facilities begs a much larger question that has been dodged for years: exactly what will the civilized world do to protect itself from the Barbarians?

Sunday, May 17, 2009

A Sincere Call for Dialogue?

The President attended the commencement ceremonies at Notre Dame University today, and called for "open hearts, open minds, fair-minded words" in a dialogue about abortion.

Such calls in the past appear have served only as props to help to codify even more aggressive abortion "rights". It makes the mind reel to observe the indifference by many so-called advocates of human rights advocates to the current state of affairs: abortion at any stage of pregnancy, even up to the moment of birth. Years ago the public was assured that abortion would be rare, and restricted to the first thirteen weeks of pregancy. The number of abortions per year is now around a million, nearly ten percent of those occur outside of the first trimester. Half of those who receive abortions in the last year have had one before. A "fair-minded" discussion of abortion would address these alarming statistics. Fat chance for that to happen.

The President further said, “Maybe we won’t agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this heart-wrenching decision for any woman is not made casually. It has both moral and spiritual dimension. So let us work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions. Let’s reduce unintended pregnancies. Let’s make adoption more available. Let’s provide care and support for women who do carry their children to term.”

Pondering abortion's "moral and spiritual dimensions"? Where was this talk years ago when abortion became synonymous with women's economic and political liberation?


Auferstehen (Resurrection).

Die shall I in order to live.
Rise again, yes, rise again,
will you, my heart, in an instant!
That for which you suffered,
to God will it lead you! - Gustav Mahler


Music names the unnameable, and communicates the unknowable. - Leonard Bernstein