quotes from stuff I'm reading

Our nation, a great stage for the acting out of great thoughts, presents the classic confrontation between Locke's views of the state of nature and Rousseau's criticism of them. On the one hand you have the farmer who never looked at America's trees, fields, and streams with a romantic eye. The trees are to be felled, to make clearings, build houses and heat them; the fields are to be tilled to produce more food, or mined for whatever is necessary to make machines run; the streams are there to be used as waterways for transporting food, or as sources of power. On the other hand there is the Sierra Club, which is dedicated to preventing such violations of nature from going any further, and certainly seems to regret what was already done. More interesting is the coexistence of these opposing sentiments in the most advanced minds of our day. Nature is raw material, worthless without the mixture of human labor; yet nature is also the highest and most sacred thing. The same people who struggle to save the snail-darter bless the pill, worry about hunting deer and defend abortion. Reverence for nature, mastery of nature - whichever is convenient. The principle of contradiction has been repealed.

Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind

Stolen from Betty Duffy, Who Stole It From Pentimento

The pain of her choice -- a choice that was clearly coerced every step of the way, as so very many abortions are -- is only underscored by the fact that, in her circles, there are few, if any, socially-sanctioned ways to speak about the suffering and regret of abortion without facing scorn.

 This is a sad, beautiful post about the gilded idea of "choice" and how it is, in actuality, anything but.

How infinitely tragic that the word choice task force has so neutered these empowered women that they lack the language to articulate the deepest of feminine pains: the loss of one's child.

Not that many people actually read this blog, but to those of you who check in occasionally, sorry I have been MIA! Apparently raising a child actually takes a lot of work. Who knew? Even though he has been sleeping better, and is currently napping in his swing, I have no brain power to write anything of value. (Note how I can't even produce a title for this entry.) So here's an interesting tidbit about where your money is going, written by someone else.

FYI, Congressman Stupak

As Richard Doerflinger notes over at The Catholic Thing, an executive order from President Obama is not enough to ensure that the health care bill doesn't use federal funds for abortions:

"According to [decades of federal appellate rulings], such health legislation creates a statutory requirement for abortion funding, unless Congress clearly forbids such funding. That is why the Hyde amendment was needed in 1976, to stop Medicaid from funding 300,000 abortions a year. The statutory mandate construed by the courts would override any executive order or regulation ... Only a change in the law enacted by Congress, not an executive order, can begin to address this very serious problem in the legislation."

Wow. No one saw that coming. Except maybe Mr. Stupak...?


Also:

• William Saunders asks why we need an executive order when the Dems and the President told us the bill excludes federal funding for abortion... 

From:	Brian Burch - CatholicVoteAction
Date sent	03/09/2010 09:03:38 am
Subject:	Are You Ready to Pay?
Dear CatholicVote Member, See the picture to the right? That building is Planned Parenthood’s newest abortion “super center” opened last month in Houston, Texas, and is the largest abortion facility in the western hemisphere. The massive 78,000 square foot facility also includes a surgical wing to provide late-term abortions. Why is this significant? Because if President Obama’s healthcare bill passes, your tax dollars could help fund this “community health center” and others like it. President Obama has set March 18 as the date for a final House vote on the Senate pro-abortion healthcare bill. Speaker Pelosi is giving pro-life Democrats and Republicans no chance to amend the pro-abortion Senate healthcare plan. It’s take it or leave it. In addition to other loopholes, their plan includes as much as $11 billion over 5 years for “community health centers” including Planned Parenthood clinics like the one in Houston.  Enter the Stupak 12 Rep. Bart Stupak and a coalition of pro-life Democrats are now standing in the way. These courageous representatives have vowed to vote against any legislation that does not explicitly exclude taxpayer funding for abortion providers, or insurance companies that provide abortion. Without these votes, the healthcare “reform” legislation might not pass. CatholicVote is working feverishly to stop this legislation from going forward. We were told yesterday that the pressure being placed on these pro-life representatives is overwhelming. They are hearing from their pro-abortion colleagues and pro-abortion groups that stand to profit from this legislation. But have they heard from you? Can you place at least 2 calls to any of the representatives listed below? Tell them that millions of people are counting on them to do the right thing. Tell them to stand strong. And tell them you will support them in any way you can. Finally, tell them you are praying for them. Let's make sure they hear from the Catholic vote. Sincerely, Brian Burch, President CatholicVoteAction.org There are no restrictions in the Senate bill on how the money for Community Health Centers can be spent. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius would be empowered to funnel cash to organizations like Planned Parenthood. Is this the kind of healthcare reform that you want? Here is a partial list of those who need to hear from you: Jerry Costello (IL) (618) 233-8026 (202) 225-5661 Kathy Dahlkemper (PA) (814) 456-2038 (202) 225-5406 Joe Donnelly (IN) (574) 288-2780 (202) 225-3915 Steve Driehaus (OH) (513) 684-2723 (202) 225-2216 Brad Ellsworth (IN) (812) 465-6484 (202) 225-4636 Marcy Kaptur (OH) (419) 259-7500 (202) 225-4146 Dale Kildee (MI) (810) 239-1437 (202) 225-3611 Jim Oberstar (MN) (218) 727-7474 (202) 225-6211 Charlie Wilson (OH) (740) 376-0868 (202) 225-5705