I used to think that Cindy Sheehan used to deserve the benefit of the doubt because she lost a son in Iraq, and has been obviously manipulated by the paranoic fringe of the Left. Today, we can accurately call her a media whore with no fear of slandering her. Unfair? Look at her expression as she is arrested in front of the White House for obstructing the sidewalk:
Does it look like she's "grieving"? Can we all stop pretending she's motivated by moral indignation?
Cindy Sheehan will spend the evening in jail, then perhaps she will be charged with a misdemeanor, pay a small fine, and that's it. For that, she is called a "hero" and lionized in the media. But her son does not get one-hundredth of the attention of his camera-loving mother, and that is a crime, too. Casey Sheehan not only did his duty, he went above and beyond it — and died a glorious death. He died after volunteering for rescue mission to save the lives of his fellow soldiers. He was under no obligation to go on that mission; indeed, he was on his second enlistment, so he didn't have to be a soldier in the first place.
Casey represents what is best about America, and indeed humanity itself: the willingness to risk one's life for others. There is no better kind of death, except dying for the Cross. By contrast, his mother represents self-absorbtion, emotion posing as moral analysis, and dialogue by shrieking — the very things that threaten our foundation as a democracy. For if we can't discuss anything rationally, and constantly excoriate our country and its institutions, how can we possibly continue?
In other words...she's a complete phony. Well-said.
Even if I tried, I could not have said it better myself. Her 15 minutes are way beyond up.
Actually, she had only gotten to Minute 11 and then yielded the floor to Katrina and Rita for their 15 minutes and is now appealing to the MSM for the Right Honorable Gentleladies to yield back the balance of her time. Back to filibustering the War Against Islamofascism.
Wow-what harsh words from this group of Vatican II followers who are supposed to be full of Love for all faith and non judgemental!
I see more Love and understanding for a mother who lost her son in Traditional circles, who are accused of being judgemental of others, but I must say conversing on some of these Novus ordo blogs I find such nastiness and outright contempt for all who do no subscribe to the preconceived notion of what a Vatican II church is supposed to be.
I can personally sympathize with a parent who has lost a child. I cannot sympathize with someone who says America isn't worth dying for, and whose rhetoric can only encourage the thugs who killed her son. That Cindy Sheehan seems to enjoy the whole experience is just icing on the cake.
And Jack: there's a more correct term you should use for "Vatican II followers." It's "Roman Catholics."
Well I have my doubts of late as to whether the Church after Vatican II is Roman Catholic, it seems to innovate something new each week, which as we know defies the 4 marks of the church being One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. If you deny tradition as handed down, then you are no longer Apostolic. If you are different and allow the mass to be said different in each part of the world, like litugical dance (which is why the Traditional Latin Mass was so blessed), then you are no longer ONE
So, the jury is out as to whether the changes are catholic or not, but as Our Lord said in the book of Matthew, a good tree can only bring forth good fruit and a bad tree can only bring forth bad fruit and I have seen a lot of bad fruit these past 40 years!
God bless
Jack, the Mass was said "different" almost from the beginning. Priests used to ad lib the Eucharistic Prayer in the very old days, and it only became standardized in order to guard against heresy. What makes it Mass isn't the externals, but the Eucharist, to which all the words and actions lead. I am not diminishing the other parts of the Mass, but they cannot affect its essential nature.
But this isn't really the thread to discuss Vatican II, is it?
With the small caveat that a momentary smile caught in a still pic can completely distort the emotion of the moment, I nonetheless do agree with you that Cindy Sheehan has descended into the bottomless abyss of media whoredom.
This is what the pro-war camp has been reduced to? Smearing as a "whore" a woman who lost her son to increasingly scary and unpopulary war? Couldn't you have at least called her a "woman of ill repute"?
I, on the other hand, think "descended into the bottomless abyss of media whoredom" aptly describes Cindy Sheehan. As Jonah Goldberg points out over in The Corner today, Sheehan has been given a lot of slack. But it’s well past time to reign in the slack. Regardless of her loss, she’s an awful person who hates this country.
"Priests used to ad lib the Eucharistic Prayer in the very old days..."
How old are we talking about here? There's enough Scriptural and non-Scriptural references from Apostolic times to suggest there was some sort of guidance to follow. Certainly by the second century, we can be sure of it.
Thank you David-I have a hard time comprehending a word or two added over a few hundred centuries to what we have today. When I go to mass it is like a circus, with lay woman doing all of the readings, some lady singing, kids laughing dressed in shorts and woman in jeans, and the priest who gets up for a quick consecration facing the laity, never once genuflecting. The church is bare and austere. Leaves you basically empty.
But to get back to the thread, to call this woman a whore is despicable, and though I am a Bush supporter, he should have met with her. Shame on him. And if she is a catholic, which she seems to be, why is not her Bishop or Priest offering her some solace as they used to do when someone you loved passed? Now these "ministries" after V2 are passed on to some "layperson" or a nun dressed up in slacks and a blazer like your Aunt Sally!
David: I meant that the Eucharistic prayers weren't standardized before the Edict of Milan, so yes, I do mean in the first couple of centuries. I'm not saying we should return to that practice, just indicating that the words of the Mass (except the institution of the Eucharist itself) are not essential. Important, yes, but essential, no.
Jack: Bush did meet with Cindy Sheehan once, and she said some very nice things afterwards. Why does she deserve to meet him again? And the phrase was "media whore," i.e., someone who is willing to sacrifice her integrity in order to get attention from the press. I don't think she is a prostitute.
When a serviceman dies, the standard practice is to have a clergyman and another officer meet with the bereaved to announce the news. You have absolutely no idea whether a priest met with the Sheehans after Casey's death, unless you know for a fact that they didn't. Please refrain from slandering the clergy on Catholic Light -- that's one of the few things for which you can be declared persona non grata.
You know I once dabbled in pacifism myself. Not in Iraq, of course.
Eric
I do apologize, but as we all know, it is our duty and responsibility to need be blind sheep and follow "men" blindly. Our Lord and savior himself chastised the leaders of his day for not properly worshipping his father. As two doctors of the church have commanded of us:
Where there is a proximate danger to the Faith, prelates must be rebuked,even publicly, by their subjects. Thus St. Paul, who was subject to St. Peter, rebuked him publicly. --St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians 2:14
When the Supreme Pontiff pronounces a sentence of excommunication which is unjust or null, it must not be accepted, without, however, straying from the respect due to the Holy See. --St. Robert Bellarmine
I don't think Cindy Sheehan hates America. I just think she's being used by some unsavory people, and basking in the attention, like the 9/11 widow Lisa Beemer did to the point of annoyance.
God bless.
P.S.
Eric,
This is bowling, not Iraq. There are RULES.