I am with Verity: It's time for political and legal conservatives (i.e., those who support Judge Alito's nomination to the SCOTUS) to stop being disingenuous about our position on Roe v. Wade--a constitutional and moral abomination. I realize Judge Alito can't just come out and say, "Yes, Senator Kennedy, you bet your fat ass I am going to overrule Roe v. Wade if given the chance"; but there's no reason we (as conservatives) shouldn't be saying "Roe must go!" from the rooftops. Roe should be and will be overruled eventually (as should Griswold). It's just a matter of time. And those of you who defend Roe on policy grounds--because it's impossible to defend the decision as a matter of constitutional law with a straight face--will be left to explain to your children how in the world you could possibly justify supporting such an unspeakably barbaric and evil practice.

And, just under the wire, happy St. Andrew's Day!
More here ("The relics of St. Andrew have disappeared. There are two theories of what may have happened to them ... One is that the Culdees, not wanting to have the relics become part of the Roman church, removed them to their monastry of St. Serf on Loch Leven. The other theory is that they were discarded by the iconoclasts of the Reformation.") and here ("Malcolm Chisholm, the communities minister, was at a primary school in Edinburgh, watching children make posters of what they were most proud of in Scotland, including the Highland landscape, mosques and the Scottish football team.").

Anyone see George Allen's name on this list? It's too early to assess a legacy, but not presidential candidates. John Hughes breaks it down:

On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain has been a stalwart supporter of Mr. Bush's hold-the-line-and-don't-quit position on Iraq, even arguing for committing more American troops...

Rudy Giuliani, mayor of New York at the time of the 9/11 attacks, earned the respect of many Americans for his take-charge stance at that time...

One of the most intriguing prospects is Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice...

Nor can we overlook Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts...

Me: "tsk, tsk, tsk." Oh Ye (or, "he," in this case) of little faith.

350 Federalists at Harvard Law School?!! That's according to this heart-warming article in the December 5 issue of the NY Observer. (HT to The Right Coast.)

Just say it! Alito's writings indicate that he believes Roe was wrongly decided and indicate that Roe should be overturned. Stop the hedging, rationalizing, and discounting of everything Alito has said. Just say it: Roe should be overturned. Roe was wrongly decided and for over thirty years it has created havoc by allowing five people to decide a policy question that should be left to the democractic process. Address the merits. Educate the public. And stop hiding behind the "that was 20 years ago, when he was an advocate," panty-waste cop-out.

Anti-Federalist Quote

I'm working on an encyclopedia entry on the U.S. Constitution. The publisher would like a quote from an Anti-Federalist leader that sums up, as best an any single quote can, Anti-Federalist objections to the Constitution. The quote will be set off in a panel. The encyclopedia will be marketed to middle schools, high schools, etc.

I have been going through some material, but have not found the "perfect quote." I would appreciate it if SA readers could help and suggest such a quote (please provide source, page number, etc). Give me your nominations in the comments. Thanks

MOVEON.ORG’S IGNORANCE OF AMERICAN SERVICEMEN EXPOSED IN REPUGNANT POLITICAL AD.

Michelle Malkin has an excellent post about a shameful ad campaign that MoveOn.Org is using to attack President Bush and the war effort in Iraq. The ad proposes to show US troops eating Thanksgiving dinner in Iraq and then cuts to a scene of a weeping family gathered around a Thanksgiving dinner back in the states while the narrator asks why President Bush refuses to bring the troops home. However, in MoveOn.Org’s rush to use the stress and yearning of American military families to further their political propaganda they failed to notice that the troops they pictured in the ad are not even American. If you look at the soldiers pictured in the ad you will see that the camouflage pattern of their uniforms is a British pattern. Furthermore, US troops do not wear long khaki shorts as a uniform item. Apparently the charlatans at MoveOn.Org realized this and tried to doctor the picture.

Hey MoveOn.org, if you can’t even identify an American soldier then at least have the decency to leave us, and our families, out of your propaganda!

Cross posted at Grim's Hall.

As the Supreme Court considers the parental-notification law today, take the chance to read what the real Roe should have said, as Judge Randolph's brilliant speech to the Federalist Society, relays, here.

Deroy Murdock in New Orleans: He's filed two reports, here and here, both including photos. Well worth reading.

A Star Fell on Alabama: No, really. Fifty-one years ago today, Ann Hodges of Sylacauga (birthplace of Gomer Pyle, aka Jim Nabors) was smote by a meteorite while taking a nap.

The room became choked with dust. Hodges’s mother rushed in, thinking the chimney had collapsed. Then both women saw the strange black rock sitting on the floor. It had left Ann Hodges with bruises on her hand and thigh. Had someone thrown it at their house? They called the local police and fire department, who, confronted by the strange stone, eventually brought in a geologist. The rock, it turned out, was not of this earth, and the Hodgeses suddenly were local celebrities. Sylacauga’s mayor visited and had his picture taken among the growing throng of media and onlookers.

Ann’s husband, Eugene, had been out of town on business. He came home to make his way through the crowd. By then the meteorite in the living room had already been taken away by a U.S. Air Force helicopter crew and transported to a military base in Ohio. The Cold War was just starting a space race between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the government was quick to confiscate anything from space that fell on U.S. soil. Eugene Hodges was not pleased. He figured that a space rock must be worth a lot of money—a windfall that was rightfully his family’s. Indeed, representatives of the Smithsonian Institution and other museums came calling, offering thousands of dollars for the rock. The Hodgeses hired a lawyer to help get it back, and the government gladly yielded it when it became clear that the cantaloupe-size missile wasn’t part of a Soviet spacecraft.

Update: My co-blogger Mr. DeBow has graciously pointed out this press release, which includes four pictures.

Point 5 Covenant--Listen. Learn: If you're Catholic, and you're into hip hop, you've got to order P5C's latest CD. It's beyond excellent. You can sample almost all of the songs off the CD here.

My favorite tracks: Swing, Texas, Break Y'all, Sorrowful, and Wake Up. But there's not a bad track on the entire CD. In fact, I suspect any fan of hip hop will appreciate just how good these fellas are.

Here's hoping the P5C boys gets the break they so richly deserve.

Andrew Sullivan is a reprobate, and here's a perfect example of why I believe that to be the case.

What a jerk.

In other news, good riddance. Don't let the door hit your hindquarters on the way out, Mr. Walker. Here's hoping others (who agree with you) follow suit shortly.

A sneak peak at the future of American health care under a more socialized regime (HillaryCare 2009, anyone?) may be had in this NRO column on the implosion of Canada's Liberal Party.

URBAN LEGENDS OF THE IRAQ WAR DEBUNKED!

The American Enterprise Online has a great article exposing the many myths surrounding our involvement in Iraq. Read it here.

Interesting sidenote from an article on the "Buddha Boy" of Nepal

You have probably seen the story on Drudge regarding the 15-year old "Buddha Boy" who has been meditating under a tree in Nepal for a long time now. Drudge has an updated story from Reuters that ends with this quip about Buddha:

Buddha, who founded Buddhism, was born a prince in Lumbini, a dusty village in Nepal's rice growing plains about 350 km (218 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu, over 2,600 years ago. He attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya in the eastern Indian state of Bihar that borders Nepal.

Attained enlightenment? Is that ok to say? Not "Buddhists believe that he attained enlightenment?" What would the editors say if someone were doing a story on Christ ending with "Jesus, who was God in the flesh, was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem. He was later crucified, but was resurrected and ascended into Heaven."

What the homosexual radicals just don't get: Check out this post by Andrew Sullivan:

If the guiding mantra of the last Pope was "Be Not Afraid!", the lodestar of the current one is, arguably, the opposite. Everywhere, there are reasons to be afraid: the great work of celibate, faithful gay priests, the insights of independent lay women, inter-faith communication, theological debate, the new frontiers of science, and on and on. The spirit of a saint like St Francis - so open, so confident, so unafraid - is obviously one that Benedict needs to control and silence, as he must control and silence every other aspect of the Church that does not conform to his views. And so another window closes. Eventually, the darkness will be perfect.

Hey Andrew, if a priest is "celibate" and "faithful" to Church teaching, then he has no need to self-identify as "gay," now does he? Indeed, if a priest identifies himself as "gay," then it seems to me his heart is curved inward toward himself (rather than Christ). Just how "faithful" can such a person be (especially if he rejects the Church's long-standing, explicit stance against engaging in homosexual acts)?

In the end, those inclined toward homosexual behavior must choose between embracing the Catholic Church and its teachings or the homosexual lifestyle. Mr. Sullivan appears to have chosen the latter. I encourage others not to make that same mistake.

Update: For those who are interested in this topic, y'all may want to read this post by Dom and this piece written in 2000 by Fr. Paul Shaughnessy, a Jesuit Marine Corps chaplain, entitled "The Gay Priest Problem."

Reason No. 897.654 why PBXVI rules.

Pope pleads for peace in Darfur: Catholic World News has this report, which includes the following excerpt:

The Holy See has consistently deplored the new conflict in Darfur. In July 2004, Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, the president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, traveled to Darfur as a personal envoy representing Pope John Paul, delivering financial aid to the refugees who had fled their homes to escape marauding militia groups. In March 2005 the Vatican's representative at the UN offices in Geneva, Msgr. Fortunatus Nwachukwu, urged special efforts to protect the refugees leaving Darfur. Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican's permanent observer at UN headquarters in New York, renewed that appeal earlier this month. An estimated 200,000 people from Darfur are now living in refugee camps in neighboring Chad, with at least an equal number struggling to find temporary lodging elsewhere in Sudan.

"Homosexuality destabilizes society: Vatican paper": Reuters has this report.

God forgive us.

This article from the LA Times (reported on Drudge) is just unbelievable, and really shows where we are in our hyper-individualist society. Abortion is truly the slavery of our age; in fact, it is much worse. One day we will look back on this and say: "Can you believe that it was actually legal to kill your children?" A portion of the article:

Dr. William F. Harrison has forgotten how many children the woman had. He remembers she was poor and, most vividly, he remembers her response when a physician diagnosed her distended stomach as pregnancy."Oh, God, doctor," the woman said. "I was hoping it was cancer."

...

Harrison warns every patient he sees that abortion may be illegal one day. He wants to stir them to activism, but most women respond mildly."I can't imagine the country coming to that," says Kim, 35, in for her second abortion in two years. A high school senior says the issue won't weigh heavily when she evaluates candidates. "There's other issues I see as more important," she says, "like whether they'll raise taxes."

Patients asked to be identified only by their first names or, in some cases, by their ages to protect their privacy. Harrison is beyond such concerns. For several years in the 1980s, his clinic was picketed, vandalized and once firebombed. Protesters marched outside his home and death threats became routine. Harrison responded by making his case. He answered every phone call, replied to every letter in the newspaper and appeared at public forums to defend abortion rights. Eventually, the protesters in this college town left him alone. (Arkansas Right to Life focuses instead on educating women about alternatives to abortion, Executive Director Rose Mimms said.)

In the years since, Harrison has become more outspoken. He calls himself an "abortionist" and says, "I am destroying life." But he also feels he's giving life: He calls his patients "born again." "When you end what the woman considers a disastrous pregnancy, she has literally been given her life back," he says.

. . .

An 18-year-old with braces on her teeth is on the operating table, her head on a plaid pillow, her feet up in stirrups, her arms strapped down at her sides. A pink blanket is draped over her stomach. She's 13 weeks pregnant, at the very end of the first trimester. She hasn't told her parents.A nurse has already given her a local anesthetic, Valium and a drug to dilate her cervix; Harrison prepares to inject Versed, a sedative, in her intravenous line. The drug will wipe out her memory of everything that happens during the 20 minutes she's in the operating room. It's so effective that patients who return for a follow-up exam often don't recognize Harrison.

The doctor is wearing a black turtleneck, brown slacks and tennis shoes. He snaps his gum [WHAT??] as he checks the monitors displaying the patient's pulse rate and oxygen count." This is not going to be nearly as hard as you anticipate," he tells her. She smiles wanly. Keeping up a constant patter — he asks about her brothers, her future birth control plans, whether she's good at tongue twisters — Harrison pulls on sterile gloves." How're you doing up there?" he asks. "Doing OK." "Good girl."

Harrison glances at an ultrasound screen frozen with an image of the fetus taken moments before. Against the fuzzy black-and-white screen, he sees the curve of a head, the bend of an elbow, the ball of a fist." You may feel some cramping while we suction everything out," Harrison tells the patient. A moment later, he says: "You're going to hear a sucking sound." The abortion takes two minutes. The patient lies still and quiet, her eyes closed, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. The friend who has accompanied her stands at her side, mutely stroking her arm. When he's done, Harrison performs another ultrasound. The screen this time is blank but for the contours of the uterus. "We've gotten everything out of there," he says.

How can this happen? How are we not like the Nazis, determining who is of value and who is simply a burden, and killing those who are a burden? The human heart is truly capable of unspeakable evil -- and all it takes is the redefining of "child" into "pregnancy," "fetus," "tissue" or some other non-threatening term. God save us.

Mark Steyn takes a stab at explaining Hollywood today. Bruce Willis has had enough, is making plans to defect from the herd.

Let's hear it for Bruce!

And this is not treason because . . . ? The AP reports that "Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who has joined the [Saddam Hussein] defense team as an advisor, said it was 'extremely difficult' to assure fairness in the trial 'because the passions in the country are at a fever pitch.'"

I'm just asking, is all.

Short opinion out of the Eighth Circuit re: partial birth abortion

Findlaw has the opinion here. Panel (with CJ Fagg, Loken and Bye) affirms a summary judgment because of a lack of "evidence showing there has been a change in the medical authority since the Supreme Court's decision in Stenberg...."

WE ARE WINNING!

James Q. Wilson has written the speech he believes President Bush should deliver. The following is a sample:

My fellow Americans: We are winning, and winning decisively, in Iraq and the Middle East. We defeated Saddam Hussein's army in just a few weeks. None of the disasters that many feared would follow our invasion occurred. Our troops did not have to fight door to door to take Baghdad. The Iraqi oil fields were not set on fire. There was no civil war between the Sunnis and the Shiites. There was no grave humanitarian crisis.

Saddam Hussein was captured and is awaiting trial. His two murderous sons are dead. Most of the leading members of Saddam's regime have been captured or killed. After our easy military victory, we found ourselves inadequately prepared to defeat the terrorist insurgents, but now we are prevailing.

Iraq has held free elections in which millions of people voted. A new, democratic constitution has been adopted that contains an extensive bill of rights. Discrimination on the basis of sex, religion or politics is banned. Soon the Iraqis will be electing their first parliament.

An independent judiciary exists, almost all public schools are open, every hospital is functioning, and oil sales have increased sharply. In most parts of the country, people move about freely and safely.

Read the whole thing here. Hat tip to Jonah Goldberg at The Corner.

"Bush was right": Heh.

Moonbat politics makes strange bedfellows: David Duke is in Syria, to demonstrate his solidarity with that Baathist thugocracy, at the same time that (former US Attorney General) Ramsey Clark is in Baghdad, apparently to lend a hand to Saddam's defense team. (Both stories seen on The Corner.)

Advice from Law Review Editors

I've gotten some great comments from editors on my proposed article described in this post. I invite continued thoughts and suggestions. Thanks for the help.

Cool internet find of the week: A draft of Jan Narveson's latest book, You and the State: A Fairly Brief Introduction to Political Philosophy, is available as a PDF file here. Narveson is a philosopher at the University of Waterloo and (I believe) a widely-regarded libertarian thinker. The notice I received of this webbed version of the book asked for reader feedback, so if any of you are so inclined, click on this link for his email address.

Cool blog find of the week: Adam Smith Lives! is "a history of economic thought blog" run by Sandra Peart, of Baldwin-Wallace College. She and co-author David Levy are busily re-writing the history of economics. Their latest book, The "Vanity of the Philosopher": From Equality to Hierarchy in Post-Classical Economics, is just out from the U. of Michigan Press -- details here; draft version available on her website (linked above); related short article here.

Attention SA readers in the Memphis area: Noted historian Wilfred McClay is scheduled to speak at Rhodes College this Thursday, December 1, at 8 p.m., on "The Moral Complexity of Foundings: Israel, Rome, and America." I assume that the event is free and open to the public. For more info, call 901-843-3875.

My vote would be for Rhodes to tape the lecture and make it available on the web!

Now this is pretty funny: I go to the movies for the first time in ages and post an item on SA about it, and my co-blogger Jim Dunn thinks we're on "an art kick" and contributes his own review of a rock concert (see his Saturday post). Hey, this is what passes for high culture here at Southern Appeal! I guess no one will mistake us for Arma Virumque anytime soon, huh?

BTW, Jim's review for the Birmingham News is online here.

Shout-out to fellow Mississippian and co-blogger Patrick Carver: The awful Egg Bowl outcome put me in mind of this Johnny Cash classic --

Well, I left my motel room, down at the Starkville Motel,
The town had gone to sleep and I was feelin' fairly well.
I strolled along the sidewalk 'neath the sweet magnolia trees;

I was whistlin', pickin' flowers, swayin' in the southern breeze.
I found myself surrounded; one policeman said: "That's him.
Come along, wild flower child. Don't you know that it's two a.m."

They're bound to get you.
'Cause they got a curfew.
And you go to the Starkville City jail.

Well, they threw me in the car and started driving into town;
I said: "What the hell did I do?" He said: "Shut up and sit down."

Well, they emptied out my pockets, took my pills and guitar picks.
I said: "Wait, my name is..." "Awe shut up." Well, I sure was in a fix.

The sergeant put me in a cell, then he went home for the night;
I said: "Come back here, you so and so; I ain't bein' treated right."

Well, they're bound to get you, cause they got a curfew,
And you go to the Starkville City Jail.

I started pacin' back and forth, and now and then I'd yell,
And kick my forty dollar shoes against the steel floor of my cell.
I'd walk awhile and kick awhile, and all night nobody came.

Then I sadly remembered that they didn't even take my name.
At 8 a.m. they let me out. I said: "Gimme them things of mine!"
They gave me a sneer and a guitar pick, and a yellow dandelion.

They're bound to get you, 'cause they got a curfew,
And you go to the Starkville City Jail.

Update: My hometown newspaper recently provided this background on the song.

Pic O' The Day:

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan waits for people to show up at her book signing near President Bush's ranch on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2005 in Crawford, Texas.

Me: To be fair, I'm not sure if by "waits" this means that it's 8:30am and the book signing doesn't start until 12pm, or if it means that it's "12:30pm" and Cindy Sheehan is nothing more than a punch line these days...even to her disciples (like Dean and others). I'd wager it's the latter.

Attention Current and Former Law Review Geeks.....

You might have noticed, but my posting in the last few months has fallen off. A major reason for this is that I am completing what is likely my last scholarly work--a law review article on Popular Sovereignty and the Judiciary. With the demands of private practice, I doubt I'll ever be able to attempt this again. At this point, I am proofing and checking citations.

My request for help is this: Advice from current and former law review editors to help me get the thing published. When I was in school, I was a student works editor, and thus have no idea how selections are made for the typical books.

My understanding is that February 2006 is a good time to submit articles. And Plainsman has informed me about the ExpressO service. Currently, my article is 57 single-spaced pages and 500 footnotes, which I have also heard is too long. I've been advised that articles should be kept under 100 double-spaced pages.

Anyway, advice is appreciated. I've been working on this article off and on for at least two years. I'd hate to see nothing come of it.

For those of you curious or needing more information before offering advice, the purpose of my article is to examine the congruence between the doctrines of popular sovereignty and judicial supremacy. Section One traces the defeat of divine right theory in England and the emergence of parliamentary sovereignty. Section Two considers the American colonists' rejection of parliamentary sovereignty and their establishment of popular sovereignty as the cardinal principle of American constitutionalism. Section Three studies English precedent often cited as providing the basis for the American doctrine of judicial review. The final section examines the development of judicial review in American state courts both prior to and after ratification of the United States Constitution. This section also scrutinizes whether original understanding of, and the practice surrounding, judicial review contained the seed from which the judicial supremacy doctrine of Cooper v. Aaron would grow.

Please post or e-mail me with any comments.

Fiesta Bowl, baby!: Go Irish! Bring on Ohio State!

From the Annals of the Modern University: I'm not sure this even needs a comment

Proposals are invited for papers to be included in a projected book: The Costs of Autonomy: Personal Essays on the Morality of Religious Indoctrination, to be edited by Peter Caws (Ph.D., Yale) and Stefani Jones (Ph.D., George Washington). We are looking for contributors who were brought up under more or less strict regimes of religious belief from which their academic work has helped to free them, and who have personal stories as to how this freedom was achieved and at what cost. Papers should assess those regimes as charitably as possible from an insider’s perspective but should also show what it was about them, and what it was about philosophy (or related influences - political, feminist etc.), that made it impossible to remain within the fold. They should reflect on the practice of religious indoctrination and on the moral issues it poses for the development of autonomy, personally and conceptually. (Our title is not meant to prejudge the question as to whether such indoctrination could ever be morally justified in any circumstances - that too might be a topic for reflection). In each case we are looking for a combination of conceptual analysis on the one hand, and an account of individual and professional development on the other - philosophical interest, and human interest.

The editors will provide an introductory essay but they will also be contributors, having grown up under such regimes (one of us [PC] among the Exclusive Brethren in England, the other [SJ] among the Mormons in Utah).

Considerations of length suggest that we should aim in the first instance for one essay covering each of a number of religions or sects, so we invite proposals for contributions dealing with backgrounds in Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, etc., or among the Amish, the Baha’i, the Baptists, the Christian Scientists, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Mennonites, the Methodists, the Seventh Day Adventists, etc. Those who were raised strictly but in less tightly doctrinal beliefs (among Quakers, Unitarians etc.) may also be interested in contributing.

As long as we're on an art kick: To go along with Michael's review of "Walk the Line" below, I'll give a little review of my own. (For the full review, see Sunday's Birmingham News). I reviewed The North Mississippi All-Stars and The Drive-By Truckers last night at the Alabama Theatre in downtown Birmingham. In a nutshell, they kicked truckloads of butt and took gigabytes of names. The tore the roof off the place. They--you get the idea. Between Luther Dickinson of the NMA and Jason Isbell, Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood of DBT, there was more axe-slinging ability onstage than a lumberjack championship.

If you haven't checked out these two bands, do yourself a favor and do so right now. The Truckers are not only Alabama natives (except for drummer Brad Morgan, who's from Greenville, SC), but Patterson Hood's daddy is David Hood, who's a famous session musician in north Alabama. David has played with pretty much everybody. The Truckers write some of the butt-kickingest, most literate, haunting songs ever heard, and it's a dang shame that most radio stations will never, ever play anything by them.

Holiday movie mini-review: I saw Walk the Line tonight and was just knocked out by it. The performances of Phoenix and Witherspoon are as good as the buzz; they more than save the movie from being a two-hour version of "VH-1's Behind the Music." Phoenix IS Cash, and Witherspoon is quite believable, too -- although she strikes me as a bit more glamorous than the real-life Carter. The fact that the two did the musical numbers is almost unbelievable. Go see it!

A Thanks: If you can spare it, take a moment today and say a prayer of thanksgiving for the men and women whose service to our country takes them far away from hearth and home. Too many of them will set aside their cares for but a moment, get in line in some mess hall or tent (or break open an MRE), and share a meal with their fellow soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines. We are a privileged nation to have such as these in our ranks. Thank you.

Thanksgiving Reads: The WSJ, the only paper worth reading, as always had its wonderful, classic, Thanksgiving reads, along with some new ones in yesterday's edition. Today, Opinionjournal.com provides them for the masses.

From "The Desolate Wilderness":
Here beginneth the chronicle of those memorable circumstances of the year 1620, as recorded by Nathaniel Morton, keeper of the records of Plymouth Colony, based on the account of William Bradford, sometime governor thereof:

So they left that goodly and pleasant city of Leyden, which had been their resting-place for above eleven years, but they knew that they were pilgrims and strangers here below, and looked not much on these things, but lifted up their eyes to Heaven, their dearest country, where God hath prepared for them a city (Heb. XI, 16), and therein quieted their spirits.

"And the Fair Land"
Anyone whose labors take him into the far reaches of the country, as ours lately have done, is bound to mark how the years have made the land grow fruitful.

This is indeed a big country, a rich country, in a way no array of figures can measure and so in a way past belief of those who have not seen it. Even those who journey through its Northeastern complex, into the Southern lands, across the central plains and to its Western slopes can only glimpse a measure of the bounty of America.

"The Turkey has Landed"
Concerning Thanksgiving, that most distinctive and unique of all American holidays, there need be no resentment and no recrimination. Likewise, there need be no wearisome present-giving, no order of divine service, and no obligation to the dead. This holiday is like a free gift, or even (profane though the concept may be to some readers) a free lunch--and a very big and handsome one at that. This is the festival on which one hears that distinct and generous American voice: the one that says "why not?" Family values are certainly involved, but even those with no family will still be invited, or will invite. The doors are not exactly left open as for a Passover Seder, yet who would not be ashamed to think of a neighbor who was excluded or forgotten on such a national day?

Immigrants like me tend to mention it as their favorite. And this is paradoxical, perhaps, since it was tentative and yet ambitious immigrants who haltingly began the tradition. But these were immigrants to the Americas, not to the United States.

Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving.

Something to keep in mind : When you hear criticism like this of the Vatican's clarification of the Catholic Church's policy concerning homosexuals and the priesthood:

"This looks like a diversionary tactic to deflect public attention away from the Vatican's real problem which is child sex abuse by clergy," said Peter Tatchell of the British gay pressure group OutRage!

"The Pope should be tackling pedophiles within the Church, not witch-hunting gay people," he told Reuters.

or references by others to the Catholic Church's "pedophilia scandal"

Keep in mind the following:

About 4 percent of U.S. priests ministering from 1950 to 2002 were accused of sex abuse with a minor, according to the first comprehensive national study of the issue.

. . . .

The John Jay study said that pedophilia, an attraction to pre-pubescent children diagnosed as a psychiatric disease, was a smaller part of the sex abuse problem. It said that 22 percent of the victims were under 10. It added that 51 percent were 11 to 14 years old and 27 percent were 15 to 17 years old.

In other words, only twenty-two percent of the sexual abuse alleged to have taken place against minors during the relevant time period can truly be classified as pedophilia (although some might argue that the 11 to 14 category also likely includes abuse that could be classified as pedophilia).

Please understand, I am in no way suggesting that such abuse did not happen. It did, and that sickens me to no end (especially as the father of three young children). The priests who engaged in such evil behavior should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, as should those who covered up (or attempted to cover up) the abuse. And I would also agree with many of you that there is little difference--regardless of what the medical or psychiatric community says--between the abuse of a ten-year-old child and say a twelve-year-old child. Both are equally disgusting in my view, regardless of where one draws the line.

But if the MSM and other anti-Catholics want to use technical terms, then let's be honest about those terms. And the fact remains that the vast majority of abuses that took place in the American Catholic Church over the past 50 or so years were not committed by pedophile priests, but by homosexual priests (see also here, here, and here).

This is the dirty little secret that Andrew Sullivan and his ilk don't want anyone to know about.

So, if you want to hammer the Catholic Church because four percent or less of its priests in the United States abused children in isolated cases over a fifty-year-time period, then have at it. There's certainly no doubt that the American Church deserves a good bit of criticism for the manner in which it handled the abuse scandal. But please understand that this scandal largely came about as a result of rogue homosexual priests. And as such, it seems to me that the Vatican is right to be concerned about allowing homosexuals to enter into the priesthood.

[Ed. post was slightly edited from its original format @ 9:08 p.m. to clarify a point]

The Vatican document on homosexuals and seminaries, translated into English, can be viewed here. I was going to post my thoughts on the document, but after reading Amy Wellborn's thoughtful take on the matter, I realized that there was little left for me to say. I might quibble with her on a point or two, but I especially liked this excerpt:

And this is what I would say to anyone who is a position of authority within the Church, takes money from the Church, depends on the Church for his or livelihood and authority, but who doesn't believe what the Church teaches on these fundamentals. Why are you doing this? This is not the same as being a struggling believer on a journey, attending Mass, perhaps refraining from receiving Communion because of your questions, hesitancy and problems with what the Church teaches, but still attached, still drawn, still convinced that this is home. No, my puzzlement is with leaders and teachers, lay and ordained, who have, not just a few private doubts here and there, but who have public contempt for most of the historical and traditional theological enterprise that is the Roman Catholic Church. Why are you doing this?

Thanksgiving prayer: I heard this prayer today on Imus and thought I would pass it along to SA's readers:

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve,

I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked for health, that I might do greater things,

I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.

I asked for riches, that I might be happy,

I was given poverty, that I might be wise.

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men,

I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,

I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing I asked for --

but everything I had hoped for.

Almost, inspite of myself, my

unspoken prayers were answered.

I am, among all men,

most richly blessed.

--Anonymous Confederate Soldier

Well said.

On this Thanksgiving Holiday, I am thankful that this event occurred: SCALIA GIVES FRANKEN SOME AIR

When Pearlstine opened the floor for Q&A, Franken stood up in the back row and started talking about "judicial demeanor" and asking "hypothetically" about whether a judge should recuse himself if he had gone duck-hunting or flown in a private jet with a party in a case before his court.

Franken was clumsily referring to the fact that Scalia had gone hunting and flying with Dick Cheney before the 2000 election.

First, Scalia lectured Franken, "Demeanor is the wrong word. You mean ethics." Then he explained, "Ethics is governed by tradition. It has never been the case where you recuse because of friendship."

Me: Isn't Scalia's response priceless? I would absolutely love for these two men to go at it in primetime. The world needs to see just how irrational and generally stupid Al Franken is.

Why can't I ever be there to witness such events?!

(Hat tip: Corner)

A crisis pregnancy, and what you can do to help: I received the following email today from Ashli (who blogs here and here):

Hi. A reader who is familiar with your blog (and saw the posts here and here) emailed me your contact information and suggested that I write you and ask you if you would consider posting this need on your blog.

The mother is 16 weeks pregnant now, has pregnancy related issues that are causing her to miss work, is falling way behind on bills, and she thinks abortion could be a better alternative to losing her house, etc. I am trying to assure her that she will not lose her home and constantly trying to scrape together enough donations to back this assurance up.

. . . .

We are all aware of Internet concerns, but this is not a scam. Dr. Beverly McMillan (very famously pro-life) has been working with the mother and can confirm that this is a real crisis pregnancy.

At any rate, please contact me (Ashli, of the SICLE Cell) if you need more information.

If you would like to post this need, please direct donors to this address:

New Philadelphia Presbyterian Church
P.O. Box 344
Quincy, Florida 32351

Have donors clearly mark the funds: Crisis Pregnancy Ministry. All donations are tax deductible and will go from our church directly to the mother's mortgage company.

Thank you so much for considering this.

Ashli

After receiving the email, I called and spoke with the pastor at New Philadelphia Presbyterian Church just to confirm the substance of the email, and this is legitimate ministry (not that I distrust Miss Ashli--I just felt the need to do a certain amount of due diligence).

If you'd like to help this struggling mother and possibly save the life of her precious unborn child, please contact Ashli McCall at thesiclecell@yahoo.com for additional information or send a donation directly to the address noted above.

BTW, I know Dr. McMillan personally. She delivered my son, Jackson, while Krista and I were living in Jackson, Mississippi during my third year in law school. She is a truly wonderful person with a remarkable life story.

High-larious! From Drudge: Pastor Punched in the Eye, Continues Sermon

A pastor was standing in front of a group of people when one man rears back and punches him right in the eye. It happened over the weekend in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Victory Christian Center's Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty continued his sermon with blood coming out of his eye. Church members subdued his attacker.

Me: Not that someone being attacked is a funny thing...but, c'mon, it's kind of a funny thing.

The Mississippi Gulf Coast's recovery from Katrina is the subject of this essay on The American Spectator Online, which helpfully includes a link to the website of Governor Barbour's "Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding, and Renewal." Lots to see there. A story in the Washington Times yesterday painted Gulfport as a frontier town:

"People who work long, hard shifts, they get out, they want to let off a little steam," says Gulfport Police Capt. Pat Pope, who heads the department's narcotics division. "It's the Wild West, Dodge City, Tombstone. The streets are safe, things aren't out of control, but we do have a drug problem."

Money fuels everything. Insurance settlements and cash payments from FEMA and the Red Cross have many locals feeling flush. Workers labor from dawn to dusk six or seven days a week and have money burning their pockets.

First Senator to Support Miers Says Conservatives Taught Him Lesson: Good. Don't let it happen again (see, e.g., Alberto Gonzales).

"I'll get you, my lefty! You and your little blog, too!"

2006 Mississippi 2nd District Election:

Sid Salter writes in the Clarion-Ledger of the upcoming battle in the 2nd Mississippi Congressional District Democratic primary on June 6, 2006, between State Rep. Henry W. "Chuck" Espy III of Clarksdale and incumbent Bennie Thompson.

This is definitely going to be an interesting race to watch.

While they both seem to pretty near the same position on the political spectrum, there appears to be an important difference between the two. Espy sounds like he is interested in being the representative of all the residents of the district, regardless of color. In my years in living in the district, I observed that a good many whites (who are 36% of the population in the district) felt alienated by Thompson, i.e. he was viewed as interested only in those blacks who backed him and wealthy white farmers, but had little time for everybody else.

Given the Democratic tilt of the district, a good many Republican voters (mostly whites) and those Democrats dissatisfied with Thompson but unwilling to vote Republican could go for Espy.

My prediction on the Delay case. I predict that the trial court will dismiss the count charging Delay with conspiring to violate election law because the conspiracy statute did not apply to the election code at the time of Delay's conduct. I further predict that the press will claim that Delay gets off on a technicality. No, if the court dismisses that count it will be because his conduct was not criminal. You get off on a technicality when you commit a crime, but cannot be charged or acquitted for some other reason. After this count is dismissed, I further predict that the money laundering and conspiracy to launder will be dismissed, as the money laundering count relies on the conpsiracy to violate election law claim. Final answer: Indictments against Delay dismissed without trial, or he wins on appeal as a matter of law.

Univ. of Kansas jumps on Intelligent Design (in a "neutral" way, of course)

The AP has this story about the Kansas faculty getting to the Intelligent Design debate:

A course being offered next semester by the university religious studies department is titled "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies."

"The KU faculty has had enough," said Paul Mirecki, department chairman.

"Creationism is mythology," Mirecki said. "Intelligent design is mythology. It's not science. They try to make it sound like science. It clearly is not."

....

John Calvert, an attorney and managing director of the Intelligent Design Network in Johnson County, said Mirecki will go down in history as a laughingstock.

"To equate intelligent design to mythology is really an absurdity, and it's just another example of labeling anybody who proposes (intelligent design) to be simply a religious nut," Calvert said