Three Links Wednesday (vol. X)

My God, accept my heart this day/And make it always thine
That I from thee no more may stray/No more from thee decline....
Let ev'ry thought, and work and word/To thee be ever giv'n;
Then life shall be thy service, Lord,/And death the gate of heav'n. Amen.
(Matthew Bridges)

--I--

First up, three from National Review concerning President Obama's tyrannical HHS mandate, each from a slightly different angle. The inimitable Mr Mark Steyn hits it from the moral question of, so when do people in our society ever grow up? Meanwhile, Mr Charles Cooke considers the ridiculous "war on women" rhetoric employed by supporters of the tyrannical mandate, and asks just who this is supposed to help. Finally, Mr George Weigel notes that this tyrannical mandate not only goes against justice, it also goes against social justice:

"Who is being “strident” here? Who is coercing whom? Who has declared a culture war on whom? Only those lost in the intellectual fog of their own partisanship can fail to see that the bishops have in fact been that “leaven in society” that the brave Father Unnamed wants them to be — and they have done so precisely by leading a public reflection on the meaning of religious freedom in full, at a moment when that first of American liberties is being whittled down by the present administration to a private right of worship.

One of the most maddening aspects of this otherwise bracing debate has been the refusal of those who support either the HHS mandate or the bogus administration accommodation to debate honestly, in terms of the facts, and fairly, in terms of the rhetoric. This leads one to the suspicion that the administration’s defenders know that they have a losing case. The administration will likely continue its intransigence, for it cannot meet the bishops’ full concerns without enraging some of its (most well-heeled) allies."

All of which makes me a bit sad that I won't be able to attend the benefit gala in Austin at which Dr Weigel is speaking next month. The good news is that we may be winning in the public opinion battle; but public opinion is often tenuous at best.

Update: It turns out that Miss Sandra Fluke--the liberal darling who complained that she spent $1000/year on birth control--takes vacations to Spain and Italy with her rich boyfriend.  Tip of the cap to Fr Philip Neri Powell OP.

--II--

Speaking of unfair (and logic-bending) rhetoric, what is with the idiotic claim that ultrasound laws are akin to legalized rape? It's not like the woman withholds her consent, or for that matter that the abortionist inserts nothing else aside from the ultrasound wand into her. Since "reproductive health professionals" fail to do any actual autopsies, it is left to Dr Stacy Trasancos to do a more rhetorical autopsy:

How many times have you heard a pro-choice person argue that abortion is legal, and therefore, a right? Those same people rarely think beyond their words though, and fail to grasp that what they are really saying – if they maintain logical consistency – is that if abortion were illegal, the so-called right they’ve conjured up in their minds because legislators and judges granted it to them would suddenly cease to exist. And they’d have to accept that....

Wait. People are willing to tolerate abuses because they don’t see them? OK, then why not promote that women see their own children before agreeing to have them killed? Yes, that makes perfect sense in a logical world where words have consistent meaning to describe reality. Either we dehumanize or not. Either rights come from God or they don’t. Either consent is rape or it is not. Either free speech is censorship or it isn’t.

Actually, the attempts to define rape down have been ongoing within feminist circles. The result is that eventually, the term itself will lose not only its deserved visceral force, but it very meaning.

--III--

I'd like to echo my friend Mr Colin Gormley in saying that Mr Patrick Archibold has done a nice job of capturing this moment of history for Catholics (and others of good faith) in America (or indeed, in what remains of Christendom):

"I am tired of having to make the case, in polite terms lest I be accused of inflammatory or insulting language, that I shouldn’t have to subsidize your sin.  I feel like an idiot having to explain such basic things.  This is not what I signed up for....

I signed up for this.  I signed up for the ridicule.  I signed up for the persecution.  I signed up for the disappointment and I signed up for the relentless prayer in the face of all odds.  I signed up for defeat so that victory could be had.

I signed up to lose, so Christ could win.  I signed up for humiliation, so Christ could triumph.  I signed up for loss and defeat, so that Christ could have the victory.

When I agreed to be a Christian, I took up my cross.  This is what I signed up for."

Or, as Matthew Bridges put it, "Before the cross of him who died/ Behold I prostrate fall;/That ev'rysin be crucified,/ And Christ be all in all."
 

--Bonus--

Vox Christi looks to be a promising publication put together by future priests.Check 'em out.