Thank You, Camille

Finally one of them has admitted it. At last an abortion supporter acknowledges reality: “’I have always frankly admitted that abortion is murder, the extermination of the powerless by the powerful.’” http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/sep/08091204.html Wow! Camille Paglia’s confession in a recent Salon.com column must have set the ears of our nation’s pro-abortion lobby ringing.

Imagine one of the most-respected and most-popular liberal feminist academics admitting, in the words of lifesitenews.com author Tim Waggoner, “that in order to rationalize and accept abortion, one would have to not only accept, but logically condone other atrocities against life - that is, one would have to accept murder for the sake of protecting a particular, more important ‘right’, as she does.” Unbelievable. Excuse me if I sound giddy, but the image of abortion supporters trying to weasel their way around Paglia’s comments is amusing.

Paglia admits that in her view a woman’s right to choose supersedes a baby’s right to life. “’As an atheist and libertarian, I believe that government must stay completely out of the sphere of personal choice. Every individual has an absolute right to control his or her body.’" Unlike most abortion supporters who throw red herrings by questioning when life begins in the womb, Paglia unflinchingly faces the ethical ramifications of her belief: “’Liberals for the most part have shrunk from facing the ethical consequences of their embrace of abortion, which results in the annihilation of concrete individuals and not just clumps of insensate tissue.’”

In a final slap at her fellow-abortion supporters, Paglia criticized those who support abortion but reject the death-penalty: “’I have never understood the standard Democratic combo of support for abortion and yet opposition to the death penalty. Surely it is the guilty rather than the innocent who deserve execution?’”

As aptly pointed out by Waggoner, Paglia’s testimony exposes the utilitarianism that is increasingly infecting our culture. He also points out two other examples of it:

• The medical community recently acknowledged that “brain death” may not be an accurate way to determine if a person has died. In response, instead of questioning the concept of “vital organ donation”, Waggoner says a recent New England Journal of Medicine article argued that “the piece instead suggest[ed] that the criteria for dead donors should be eradicated altogether - thus sanctioning killing a potential organ donor in order to harvest his/her organs.”

• A report published in early 2008 in the highly-acclaimed bioethics journal The Hastings Center Report addressed infanticide. According to Waggoner “the authors advocate infanticide for those new born babies who may face a life of what medical personnel deem to be ‘unbearable’ suffering.” He adds that “under what is known as the Groningen Protocol, infanticide is already taking place on a regular basis in the Netherlands with government support.”

Individuals who recognize the evil of utilitarianism must stay alert because our society is clearly gravitating toward using the philosophical method as the barometer for gauging a decision’s morality.

Donald Tremblay

Obama’s Hardly “Catholic Advisory Council”

This presidential campaign’s award for “Oxymoronic Term” goes to Barack Obama. Obama’s “Catholic Advisory Council” is Catholic in name only, which is fitting since Catholic ideals are as essential to Obama’s political platform as the appendix is to the proper functioning of the human body. Sure Obama may agree with the Church on issues such as the Iraq War or Immigration, but when it comes to the issues regarding life and its beginnings (abortion and embryonic stem cell research) his views could not be more anti-Catholic. For ex., in a Catholic News Agency column analyzing the members of Obama’s pseudo Catholic council, Deal W. Hudson states, “five senators and 13 House members have earned 100 percent pro-abortion ratings from NARAL” (http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column.php?n=216)

If you want to know where Obama really stands concerning Catholic teachings, just review his voting record.

· From 2005-2007 the NARAL Pro Choice America has given Obama a 100% for his Congressional Record on Choice. Here is a quote from a speech given by Obama celebrating the 35-year anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. It is posted on the NARAL website at http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/elections/statements/obama.html: “Throughout my career, I've been a consistent and strong supporter of reproductive justice, and have consistently had a 100% pro-choice rating with Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America”.

· As reported by the website www.HumanEvents.com, Obama voted against bill SB 1661 (2002), listed as a part of the Born Alive Infant Protection Package that “would create a cause of action of a child is born alive after an abortion and the child is then neglected through failure to provide medical care after birth”.

· A press release posted on Obama’s senatorial website (http://obama.senate.gov/press/070411-obama_renews_su/) expresses his support for embryonic stem cell research. The headline of the Wednesday, April 11, 2007 release reads, Obama Renews Support for Embryonic Stem Cell Research. Obama is then quoted saying, “I stand in full support of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act as I did when this bill was introduced and sent to the President’s desk in the 109th Congress. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this bill.” He also makes it clear that he understands little as to why opponents disagree, “I am frustrated by the opposition this bill has generated and saddened that we are preventing the advancement of important science that could potentially impact millions of suffering Americans.”

Forget Obama’s eloquence, his engaging smile, and his appeals to moderation. This is a candidate whose views are as antagonistic to Church teachings as any presidential nominee in American history.

Donald Tremblay