This morning, I considered working from home, as I heard downtown was going to be such a mess because of the pro-abortion and anti-globalization people. I was expecting to see hairy-armpitted feminists and mangy college kids swirling around the streets of downtown D.C., but so far I’m disappointed.
After going to confession on K Street, I celebrated my infusion of grace by strolling around and smoking a Backwoods cigar. I wandered by the World Bank on 17th, and nobody was there. In Lafayette Square, across the street from of the White House, there were a handful of older white people standing on the curb with anti-war signs. They were vastly outnumbered by tourists gawking or arguing with them. (“You’re full of s—, sir,” said one tourist to a protestor as he walked away shaking his head.)
I want to see angry people marching. I want to smell a whiff of tear gas. I want to hear badly-rhymed slogans. I demand my freakshow!
Author: Eric Johnson
“Cardinal: No Communion for Pro-Abortion Politicians”
Reuters reports that Cardinal Arinze thinks pro-abortion politicians should not receive the Eucharist. Reuters is, in my opinion, the worst of the international news services (note that they spell the cardinal’s name “Arnize” in the third paragraph, at least as of the 10:09am version of the story). However, they use the more honest term “pro-abortion.”
Cardinal Arinze deserves a lifetime Catholic Light Total Badass Award for resisting the culture of death.
Football player dies for his country
Pat Tillman, a football player who gave up a $9 million contract to join the Army Rangers, was killed by thugs in Afghanistan. Instead of living the self-indulgent, pampered life of a sports star, he chose to risk death thousands of miles from home. I stand in awe of him.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
(John 15:13)
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord;
and let light perpetual shine upon them.
(Mass for the Dead)
Cardinal takes another one in the teeth for the sake of getting along
In this article, I don’t agree with Neumayr’s assertion that Catholic bishops are Democrats first and foremost. That’s completely unfair. He is entitled to his frustration with the bishops’ collective squeamishness about the issue of pro-abortion Catholic politicians.
Last week Kerry arranged a meeting with Cardinal McCarrick [of Washington] — a meeting Kerry had the chutzpah to arrange at his home (that plan was scotched after word of it leaked out, forcing the locale to be changed for face-saving reasons). Kerry called for the meeting to ensure that the pliant cardinal would keep the lid on the boiling pot of lay Catholic outrage. Unknown at the time, there was an added element of chutzpah to the meeting: At the very moment Kerry was chatting with the cardinal, his campaign team was preparing to roll out a pro-abortion advertising blitz. It appeared on television stations nationwide this week.
“The Supreme Court is just one vote away from outlawing a woman’s right to choose. George Bush will appoint anti-choice, anti-privacy justices. But you can stop him. Help elect John Kerry and join the fight to protect our right to choice. Contribute now at JohnKerry.com. Call or log on now,” says the ad, Kerry’s can-rattling pitch to the deep-pocketed abortion lobby.
When someone kicks you in the teeth and mocks you — and you’re one of the princes of the Church — isn’t it appropriate to get a little angry on behalf of the Church? Not to mention the one whose body the Church is? When are the successors of the apostles realize that when you bend over backwards to accomodate them, your enemies despise you for your spinelessness. If they won’t condemn men like Senator Kerry of behalf of their own office, won’t they at least stand up for the honor of God?
Every war a Vietnam, every day dedicated to the “Spirit of Vatican II”
From Charles Krauthammer’s column today:
The first George Bush once said he thought the Persian Gulf War would cure America of the Vietnam syndrome. He was wrong. There is no cure for the Vietnam syndrome. It will go away only when the baby boom generation does, dying off like the Israelites in the desert, allowing a new generation, cleansed of the memories and the guilt, to look at the world clearly once again.
Replace “Vietnam” with “Vatican II” and you have a succinct reason why the Church will not fully recover its voice until the final shovelful of dirt is deposited on the last of the Least Generation.
Standard disclaimer: I’m talking about the ersatz “Spirit of Vatican II,” not the actual council with its documents and suchlike.