And it’s not the funny-looking plants either. The state seems to have completely fallen off its rocker, as Carl Olson attests:

[I]f someone’s right to gather signatures for a petition is denied because government officials don’t agree with the petition’s aims, what political voice is left to those who cannot rely on the courts or the legislative bodies? When basic political rights are abrogated, nearly anything goes, that is, if the government approves, allows, supports, enforces, upholds, and defines it, and otherwise says, “Yes, little tax-paying, consumerist cog in the mighty wheel of the progressive soft oligarchy, you have our blessing to do our bidding. Take up our cause and walk. Just be sure to pay the appropriate taxes, genuflect in front of the requisite idols, and adhere to this 666-page, politically-correct volume of speech code.”

The only good thing about this story is that it makes my adopted home state of New Hampshire look almost sane by comparison. But in the end, any loss like this is one loss too many. And to think these very same politicians and ones like them were the ones only a few short years ago yelping in their most shrill tones about social conservatives having a “litmus test”. While I normally enjoy good irony, this one is just too painful to even crack a grin over.

Bella is set to open October 26, 2007 and could use all our support. Even more accurately, it would be good for us as well to give it our support. Look here to find a theater near you. Or, in my case, not very near you – the closest theater on the list is in New York. I’ve begun a discussion with some people to try to either adopt-a-theater or find some other way to get it within a reasonable driving distance. This is too important an event to let slide by accident.

Alternately it could be a total disaster. Of course, the latter option would mean that it would attain critical acclaim whereas the former would mean that it would get shuttled down into the deep nether-reaches of recorded matter. Fox News is running a documentary following people who are struggling with the decision of whether to have an abortion. In the best of worlds it opens peoples’ eyes to the fact that abortion isn’t as much of a simple non-event as Planned Parenthood and NARAL would have people believe. In the worst case scenario it transmogrifies abortion into a subject which can no longer be talked about negatively because it would be “insensitive” to the feelings of those who are deliberating the matter. Granted, the latter is patently ridiculous, but that is, simply, where society is today.

The FOX documentary profiles three women to explore the abortion issue by following their agonizing decisions to have their babies or terminate their pregnancies.
…

The FOX News documentary is groundbreaking in that it does not touch at all on the political debate or legal analysis surrounding abortion.

All that is seen and heard during the hour are the women and families as they struggle to choose what to do about their pregnancies.

God deliver us from over-reaching producers and unthinking sycophants. Let us hope this special does some good rather than great harm.

The Cardinal Newman Society is sponsoring a talk on the eve of the Holy Cross event which includes representatives from Planned Parenthood. This is exactly the thing to do, and is very much in line with the way Pope Benedict has been moving the Church to respond to challenges – allow both sides to put forth honest explanations of their positions and arguments. When you have Truth itself on your side that’s not as dangerous a gamble as it might seem on the surface. Even if you can’t go, keep Dawn Eden in your prayers that she may speak the Truth to those present.

Please join The Cardinal Newman Society, in cooperation with St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Worcester Diocese’s Respect Life Office, on the eve before the College of the Holy Cross hosts a conference on teen pregnancy that includes representatives from Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.

Despite a strong and courageous statement from Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus condemning the conference and asking Holy Cross to cancel the event, the college’s President has steadfastly supported it and says he will let it take place.

In her talk, Miss Eden will detail how Church teachings on chastity offer a solution to not only the problem of teen pregnancy but also the wider problems of family breakdown—while abortion, contraception, and other “solutions” offered by Planned Parenthood and their allies exacerbate those problems. She will also place the issue, in accordance with Church teachings, into the context of what steps Catholic colleges can and should take to promote Catholic values on life, love and sexuality.

This event is open to the public and The Cardinal Newman Society encourages a strong showing of support for Bishop McManus’s principled stand.

Tags: Catholic, Pro-Life, Abortion, Planned Parenthood, Holy Cross

O Maine, you of the glistening coast reaching
forward into the sun, how you have fallen.
Your pristine forests defoliated
by the wretchedness in your legislators’ hearts.
Your leaders echoing only “you can’t get theyah from heeyah”
instead of “we must not go there”.
The moose bellow their mournful tone
in witness to your fall, O Maine.

Okay, I admit it, I’m no poet. But this story sure does put a mournful note in your heart. Free birth control for sixth graders with only vague acquiescence of their parents that they can receive generically “treatment” in the nurse’s office? Would that it were a joke but sadly it is not. Wake up Maine! Look into the sun your coast stretches towards and realize your founding in the Son of God. Turn back and let not the beauty God has given you be turned to sulfur and waste by the mesmerizing fire of sin.

From CNA:

Madrid, Sep 11, 2007 / 10:39 am (CNA).- The mother of the first baby in Europe to undergo fetal surgery hopes the successful outcome of her story will lead to fewer abortions and allow other children diagnosed with malformations the chance to live.

Maria Jose (her last name has not been revealed) gave birth a few days ago to her daughter, who underwent surgery in the womb to correct spinal bifida, a deformation that can cause paralysis, neurological damage, mental difficulties and other problems.

The girl is named Maria and was born by caesarean at 33 weeks. On July 31, when she was in her 27th week, she underwent prenatal surgery by Spanish doctors at a hospital in Seville, with guidance from Brazilian and American specialists.

The girl’s mother knows her case is “very important” for families with similar problems and could help other children to have a chance to live. “May parents never chose to abort,” she said, noting that her husband never considered making such a choice.

Doctors say little Maria is in “very good” condition and showing no signs of paralysis.

Her case was the first of its kind in Europe. Guillermo Antinolo, director of the genetics and reproduction unit and head of gynecology and obstetrics, praised the “courage and bravery” of the 36 year-old woman, who with her daughter, “is in great shape.”

I only wish this story were getting more coverage than it is. We don’t, after all, perform surgery on lumps of tissue, we perform surgery on people. I echo her words – “may parents never chose to abort”. If only one person reads this and changes their mind about abortion, it will be a far greater saving act than we can possibly comprehend.

I’ve had this thought gnawing at me for a long time and I’m apparently now in a sufficiently cantankerous mood to pull together a post on it. Of course, blogging when cranky is always a dangerous proposition, but we’ll see where this goes.

One day some time last year (see, I told you it was a long time) I was standing outside my kids’ school waiting for the bell. As per the norm at a Catholic school there were a few groups of parents, mostly moms, waiting and chatting with each other. Some were chatting about kids’ TV shows, some about a recent party or sporting event – the usual not-entirely-inane banter that goes on between parents of young kids. Before I go on I should remind you, kind reader, that this is a Catholic school which requires its students to be Catholics or minimally baptized Christians and which sits within shouting distance of a rectory, church and Jesus Himself in the Holy Eucharist in that church. This is a place where holiness, sanctity and purity should be oozing out of every opening. Should being the operative word.

There was one other group of mothers who were wrapped up in quite a different conversation. They weren’t talking about the Wiggles, Thomas the Tank Engine or Saturday’s soccer game. They were comparing the relative benefits of the shot, the patch and the implant. Not the ones to help you quit smoking, no. The ones to help you commit potentially mortal sin any time, for any reason, with any one without any potentially messy consequences. One then chirped in delight at the thought that “they’re coming out with one that makes you only have a period once a year!” I’m sure the Virgin, whose statue looked out the window, was most excited to hear about that little development. After all, why let nature interfere with some good clean hedonism?

I’ll admit – I froze there, partly in shock at what I was hearing. At least, I’d like to think it was more shock than my unwillingness to grasp the opportunity God was placing before me. To this day I still wrestle with that situation – what would have been the right thing to do? Direct confrontation? Silent prayer? Somewhere in between? Feel free to unload in the combox what you would like to think you’d do.

If nothing else, for me this whole situation was and is a reminder of how far we still have to go as a Church and each of us individually to bring the light of the twin pillars of the Culture of Life, Humanae Vitae and Evangelium Vitae, to the very people to whom they were written. It also reminded me that we cannot be a lampshade to the light of that truth – we are called to reflect that light, not stand in its way. I pray the hearts of those ladies are opened to the truth, the gift, that is Life and that they may receive it as a gift and not discard it as a toy they’ve already played with too much. And I pray that I may some day do better than to impersonate a human fly catcher with my mouth hanging agape in stone silence.

Leticia relays information that Sitemeter is alleged to have donated $200,000 to Planned Parenthood. Has anyone else heard of this? If it is so, I can only begin to imagine the uproar in St. Blog’s as many of us have used their service. If you know of anything, leave it in the combox.

Update: Leticia tells me in the combox that she has received a denial from Sitemeter. As I therein also suggested, proving non-existence is impossible, so for now I’ll leave it with a presumption of innocence. But not without a more wary eye.

Thirty nine years ago today Pope Paul VI promulgated Humanae Vitae, one of the most prophetic magisterial documents in recent history. In terms of impact on my life, it is second only to John Paul IIs Evangelium Vitae, although some of that may have more to do with which one I read first.

Priests for Life has announced a year of preparation for the fortieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae. They intend to “call attention to this special anniversary, and to the wisdom and insight of this important document.” May all our pastors, deacons and all who work in the House of the Lord use the resources provided to strengthen the Culture of Life.

Let us never forget “how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards (#17)” and “that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection. (#17)” We bear the marks of these wounds in our persons and our society even to this very day.

What. The. Heck. Were. They. Thinking?!?! Oh, that’s right, Planned Parenthood is a counseling service. Yeah, that’s it. So let’s take a group of at-risk kids and send them on a “field trip” to Planned Parenthood. Because, you know, they’ll get good unbiased information there. Like how to lie on a form so they don’t have to report statutory rape.

You know your city and state has gone to the dogs of Moloch when the local YMCA (yeah, that C – yeah, it’s supposed to stand for Christian, doncha know?) thinks of sending kids to a Planned Parenthood as a field trip. How about while they’re at it, sending them to a local landfill and having them look for the body parts of aborted babies? Ah, that might be stressful, never mind. Because, you know, I’m sure the folks at Planned Parenthood just showed them how to put a condom on a banana.

One can tell a great deal more about a community, nee a civilization, by the things it doesn’t believe even warrant concern than by those it vigorously debates. Someone, somewhere thought this was a perfectly fine idea no one but those troglodyte theocon far-right-wingers would even worry about, but they’re moonbatty anyway so they can be ignored. It is indeed a sign that we have not done our job when people don’t even think something might be questionable. It is time to redouble, and redouble again, our efforts.

Lest we forget: