Yesterday Bill Clinton held a campaign rally for Hillary in Steubenville, Ohio, nearby to Catholic college Franciscan University of Steubenville. Members of the college's Students for Life organization attended the rally. As has become characteristic, Bill Clinton lost his temper with them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XfmJeIJpns
"Tell the truth . . . Tell the truth . . . If you were really pro-life you would want to put every doctor and every mother as an accesory to murder in prison and you won't say you want to do that cause you know you wouldn't have a lick of political support." - Well he's half right. We certainly wouldn't mind seeing every abortion doctor put in prison for murder considering that's usually what you do with murderers. But the mothers are as much victims of the doctors as the children are and we have always treated them that way. What does Clinton think all our pregnancy centers are for? One of the largest groups at the March for Life is always the Silent No More women, the women who have had abortions and regret it. We recognize that the women are victims who have been lied to by people like Bill Clinton.
"You can't name me anybody presently in politics that did more to introduce policies that reduced the number of real abortions" - as opposed to fake abortions. On Bill Clinton's third day in office, January 22, 1993, he signed a series of executive orders undoing the Reagan-Bush "Mexico City Policy". This policy required that any non-governmental agency that was recieving Federal funds could not perform nor promote abortion in other nations as a method of family planning. The rescinding of this policy by Bill Clinton was a total slap-in-the-face to pro-lifers particularly considering that he chose to sign these orders on the 20th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. These orders would certainly have increased the number of "real" abortions. President Clinton also vetoed a bill that would have banned partial-birth abortion - and if partial-birth abortion isn't "real" abortion than I don't know what is.
"This is not your rally" - well it is now.
It looks like Bill Clinton is the one who needs to learn to tell the truth.
Good job Franciscan University!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
So I saw the movie Juno today and there was one scene that particularly struck me. When she first tells her boyfriend that she's pregnant he asks her what she's gonna do. And she says that she's probably gonna get an abortion. The way she says this is almost pleading. The way she looks at him is begging him to tell her not to do that. But he doesn't want to tell her what to do, so he tells her to do whatever she wants.
So many unwed pregnant mothers just want to hear someone say "It'll be alright." Juno looked at her boyfriend and pleaded with him to tell her that he would be a good father, that they could do this, that she didn't have to go through with the abortion. But men have been taught by our society that they should never try to tell a woman what to do. This is a woman's choice and you have no say in it.
All this when what most women need is a man to stand up and take responsibility. How many babies could be saved if men would act like men and take responsibility for their actions.
My teacher once told us that "women don't know how to be women and therefore men don't know how to be men." If the women of this world would act like women with expectations of their men then the men of this world would be far more willing to stand up for the well-being of their woman and child.
However in this culture if a man tells a woman she shouldn't get an abortion he is a sexist and the pro-life movement is once again labeled as "a bunch of men telling women what to do."
So many unwed pregnant mothers just want to hear someone say "It'll be alright." Juno looked at her boyfriend and pleaded with him to tell her that he would be a good father, that they could do this, that she didn't have to go through with the abortion. But men have been taught by our society that they should never try to tell a woman what to do. This is a woman's choice and you have no say in it.
All this when what most women need is a man to stand up and take responsibility. How many babies could be saved if men would act like men and take responsibility for their actions.
My teacher once told us that "women don't know how to be women and therefore men don't know how to be men." If the women of this world would act like women with expectations of their men then the men of this world would be far more willing to stand up for the well-being of their woman and child.
However in this culture if a man tells a woman she shouldn't get an abortion he is a sexist and the pro-life movement is once again labeled as "a bunch of men telling women what to do."
It's Not Sexism - It's Hillaryism
"Americans just aren't ready for a woman president."
Americans don't care that she's a woman what bothers them is that she's Hillary.
We took a poll in my history class today of how many people hate Hillary Clinton. About 75% raised their hands. About half of them were girls.
I'm not a sexist - I'm a Hillaryist.
Americans don't care that she's a woman what bothers them is that she's Hillary.
We took a poll in my history class today of how many people hate Hillary Clinton. About 75% raised their hands. About half of them were girls.
I'm not a sexist - I'm a Hillaryist.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
In Preparation for Lent
Every year for Lent Catholics are expected to make some sort of sacrifice in preparation for the death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the past several decades there has been less of an emphasis on the traditional fasting of Lent and more on "doing something". There is nothing wrong with doing something special for Lent but it seems to have become more of a fad than anything and we have forgotten what the point of this really is.
For thousands of years before Jesus was born fasting was used as a discipline, to deny the body of food in repentance for sins and to cleanse the soul. The Church has traditionally had fasting during Lent to cleanse our souls in preparation for the Resurrection of Jesus. Previously Catholics were only allowed one meal a day and absolutely no meat during Lent. Now we are only asked to give up one item, not necessarily a food, which we enjoy and to abstain from meat on Fridays, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.
If you don't want to give something up you also have the option to "do something". Most people hear this and are like Oh great I'll just resolve to do all my homework, when everyone knows that you're not actually gonna do that and two days later when it doesn't work you're like "oh well guess that didn't work" and that's the end of it.
There's a couple problems with this. Number 1: When the Church says you can "do something" they mean something spiritual. There's nothing wrong with doing all your homework but it has nothing to do with God. "Doing something" means saying a rosary every day, or spending a half hour in the chapel, or going to Communion before lunch, something that is going to bring you closer to God. This isn't a New Year's Resolution. It's an attempt to prepare yourself for the death and resurrection of Christ.
Number 2: If, for example, you decide to give up cookies for Lent and you accidentally eat a cookie one night, that doesn't mean you should give up and go ahead and eat all the cookies you want since you already messed up. Same for if you decided to say a rosary every day and you forgot. It just means that you have to try a little harder. This is exactly the point of confession: you mess up but that doesn't mean it's over. You confess your sins and try harder. (I don't think you hafta go to confession for accidentally eating a cookie, I'm just making a comparison)
Whatever you decide to do, whether it is give something up or do something spiritual, you should make a conscious effort to do it, and if you mess up you say, I guess I'll just have to work a little harder at this. It's not supposed to be easy guys. This is all about sacrifice whether it's a food or something you like, or if it's your time, and sacrifice is always hard.
I think the Easter Bunny should have a rule, similar to Santa's naughty or nice rule: if you really tried to stick to your sacrifice during Lent and you made a conscious effort to prepare for the death of Our Lord then you get candy. If you gave up after two days then you don't.
In the past several decades there has been less of an emphasis on the traditional fasting of Lent and more on "doing something". There is nothing wrong with doing something special for Lent but it seems to have become more of a fad than anything and we have forgotten what the point of this really is.
For thousands of years before Jesus was born fasting was used as a discipline, to deny the body of food in repentance for sins and to cleanse the soul. The Church has traditionally had fasting during Lent to cleanse our souls in preparation for the Resurrection of Jesus. Previously Catholics were only allowed one meal a day and absolutely no meat during Lent. Now we are only asked to give up one item, not necessarily a food, which we enjoy and to abstain from meat on Fridays, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.
If you don't want to give something up you also have the option to "do something". Most people hear this and are like Oh great I'll just resolve to do all my homework, when everyone knows that you're not actually gonna do that and two days later when it doesn't work you're like "oh well guess that didn't work" and that's the end of it.
There's a couple problems with this. Number 1: When the Church says you can "do something" they mean something spiritual. There's nothing wrong with doing all your homework but it has nothing to do with God. "Doing something" means saying a rosary every day, or spending a half hour in the chapel, or going to Communion before lunch, something that is going to bring you closer to God. This isn't a New Year's Resolution. It's an attempt to prepare yourself for the death and resurrection of Christ.
Number 2: If, for example, you decide to give up cookies for Lent and you accidentally eat a cookie one night, that doesn't mean you should give up and go ahead and eat all the cookies you want since you already messed up. Same for if you decided to say a rosary every day and you forgot. It just means that you have to try a little harder. This is exactly the point of confession: you mess up but that doesn't mean it's over. You confess your sins and try harder. (I don't think you hafta go to confession for accidentally eating a cookie, I'm just making a comparison)
Whatever you decide to do, whether it is give something up or do something spiritual, you should make a conscious effort to do it, and if you mess up you say, I guess I'll just have to work a little harder at this. It's not supposed to be easy guys. This is all about sacrifice whether it's a food or something you like, or if it's your time, and sacrifice is always hard.
I think the Easter Bunny should have a rule, similar to Santa's naughty or nice rule: if you really tried to stick to your sacrifice during Lent and you made a conscious effort to prepare for the death of Our Lord then you get candy. If you gave up after two days then you don't.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
