timeimmortal

And we have the HRCs to thank for it.

…Bradley Watson, professor of American and Western political thought at Pennsylvania’s St. Vincent College, said he will present a petition calling for the American Political Science Association (APSA) to re-evaluate its selection of Toronto for its 2009 conference at this year’s annual meeting, taking place over the Labour Day weekend in Boston.

His protest has garnered support from dozens of professors across the United States, including prominent scholars such as Princeton University legal philosopher Robert P. George and Harvard University’s Harvey Mansfield.

…Mr. Watson said that professors signing the petition are concerned that recent human rights commission investigations into Maclean’s and Western Standard magazines over articles concerning Islam, and the conviction of pastor Stephen Boisson, who was ordered by Alberta’s human rights tribunal in May to cease publicizing criticisms of homosexuality, suggest that professors risk being chilled from discussing important academic subjects, or ending up in legal trouble. Mr. Watson said he plans to distribute hundreds of buttons to attendees at the Boston conference reading “Toronto 2009, Non!”

What a right mess, yet no more than Canada deserves for allowing the travesty of the HRCs to continue, unimpeded, within its borders.

It should be noted, too, that these professors are not exactly likely to be raving right-wing nutbags; most are very notable for their left-wing views. But that’s how absurd the situation here has really become: American liberals, even the very liberal sorts who teach in places like Harvard and Princeton, want nothing at all to do with Canada because of our lack of respect for the concept of freedom of expression.

God help us, eh?

In most of the United States, there about 24 abortions performed for every 100 live births that take place. In New York, the ratio rises to 72:100.

This suggests — strongly suggests — that New York women are making use of abortion as their main form of birth control (this comes as no real surprise).

The proposed solution: even more and better access to contraception.

The main concern of the pro-choice advocates? That by using abortion as a primary method of birth control, women may not be using other forms of contraception to full effect, especially condoms…thus leaving themselves potentially more vulnerable to contracting STDs. The over 250 infants butchered daily does not seem to register as a concern.

But strangely, the potentially harmful side effects of procuring an abortion — especially surgical complications — do cause concern. We don’t often see mention of those showing up in print, despite the fact that abortion does pose some very real risks to the health of women, some of which can be catastrophic and fatal in their aftermath.

What the contraception advocates seem to miss is that more and more people don’t seem to care about things like STDs and “protection”. In like manner to how something like obesity (an almost wholly preventable condition) is becoming more and more common (and more of a strain on health care resources), it would seem to be the case that fewer and fewer people are genuinely concerned about things which might pose real and tangible risks to their health. Indeed, the case of obesity is telling, as it is demonstrative of how people will prefer convenience over health — it’s not hard to shed pounds by doing as little as giving up fast food and soda pop.

So too where sex is concerned. I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that women in New York, living a fast-paced urban lifestyle in one of the biggest, busiest cities in the world, want convenience everywhere they can get it, including in their birth control. And while the contraception advocates rightly point out that birth control pills are much cheaper than abortion as a method of contraception, those same pills are also more convenient. Even the pill regimens that allow you to miss a day here and there are just not as convenient as an occasional, one-time appointment at a “day surgery” clinic. Ditto condoms…and I’d also be willing to bet that the partners these women take are just as glad that they don’t have to worry about using a condom.

Convenience trumps good sense almost every time, and that’s what we’re seeing in New York, methinks.

And really, as the Curt Jester points out, why are pro-choice advocates actually calling attention to this issue? Why, for them, is it an issue? If it is not considered immoral to obtain an abortion, then is a ratio of 72:100 really any worse than a ratio of 24:100? Is it any better than a ratio of 110:100? Who cares if people are using abortion in a contraceptive capacity, if we’re not supposed to care that people are able to obtain abortions at all?

I don’t know why this is cool to me, but there it is: someone from Wichita, Kansas, has visited the blog.

VISITOR ANALYSIS
Referring Link: http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/
Host Name: ip68-102-116-201.ks.ok.cox.net
IP Address: 68.102.116.201 [Label IP Address]
Country: United States
Region: Kansas
City: Wichita
ISP: Cox Communications Inc

VISITOR SYSTEM SPECS
Browser: Firefox 2.0.0
Operating System:
Resolution: 1280×1024
Javascript: Enabled

Also, to the person from Carbondale, Illinois who arrived here after doing a Google search for “Miley Cyrus completle [sic] nude”: you sick puppy. Get help.

From the text of a speech Pope Benedict XVI delivered at Nationals Park Stadium:

In today’s Gospel, the Risen Lord bestows the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and grants them the authority to forgive sins. Through the surpassing power of Christ’s grace, entrusted to frail human ministers, the Church is constantly reborn and each of us is given the hope of a new beginning.

Let us trust in the Spirit’s power to inspire conversion, to heal every wound, to overcome every division, and to inspire new life and freedom.

How much we need these gifts! And how close at hand they are, particularly in the Sacrament of Penance!

The liberating power of this Sacrament, in which our honest Confession of sin is met by God’s merciful word of pardon and peace, needs to be rediscovered and reappropriated by every Catholic. To a great extent, the renewal of the Church in America and throughout the world depends on the renewal of the practice of Penance and the growth in holiness which that Sacrament both inspires and accomplishes.

“In hope we were saved!” (Rom 8: 24). As the Church in the United States gives thanks for the blessings of the past 200 years, I invite you, your families, and every parish and religious community, to trust in the power of grace to create a future of promise for God’s people in this Country.

I ask you, in the Lord Jesus, to set aside all division and to work with joy to prepare a way for him, in fidelity to his word and in constant conversion to his will.

Above all, I urge you to continue to be a leaven of evangelical hope in American society, striving to bring the light and truth of the Gospel to the task of building an ever more just and free world for generations yet to come.

Those who have hope must live different lives! (cf. Spe Salvi, n. 2). By your prayers, by the witness of your faith, by the fruitfulness of your charity, may you point the way towards that vast horizon of hope which God is even now opening up to his Church, and indeed, to all humanity: the vision of a world reconciled and renewed in Christ Jesus, our Savior. To him be all honor and glory, now and forever. Amen!

Just so. One consistent theme in Benedict’s papacy has been the ideal of hope — not the vacuous, vain “hope” that Barrack Hussein Obama seems to be promising in his campaigning in the presidential primary, but real hope that not only desires an end which is good, but also looks to an end that will be fulfilled and realized.

How consistently impressive this Pope is, and how often he says exactly what needs to be said at exactly the right time! What a magnificent blessing upon the Church.