U.S. Abortion Rate Plunges

Here is some truly good news.

Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. abortion rate fell to its lowest level in more than 30 years as the number of doctors who provide the operations continued to decline, a study found.

There were 1.2 million abortions, or 19.4 for every 1,000 women of reproductive age, in 2005, according to research by the Guttmacher Institute in New York, a New York-based non-profit group focused on reproductive health. Those numbers compare with a peak of 1.6 million abortions, or 27.4 per 1,000 women, in 1990, the researchers wrote. [more]

The Guttmacher Institute is an offshoot of Planned Parenthood, so no one can say this is right-wing propaganda. The article goes on to speculate that the drop is a result of either decreased availability (thanks to all you nasty demonstrators and theocratic politicians), or possibly caused by more widespread use of contraceptives. I would like to think it is a sign that the prayers of the pro-life movement are being answered.

Whatever the reason, this report is cause for joy. It is not victory, though. 1.2 million is still a staggering number. We're losing the equivalent of a large city's population every single year. If terrorists did this to us everyone would be outraged. Instead, most people don't care. We have a long way to go.

To all those fighting for life in so many ways, congratulations. Your efforts are being rewarded. Be not afraid.

Pentagon Prepares For Hillary Takeover

The Race is Over

I haven’t posted much on the presidential horse-race because it has, quite frankly, become boring to me. I still intend to vote for Ron Paul in the Texas GOP primary, but I’m under no illusions he will win the nomination. Nor would I really want him to be president. What I want to do is send a message to the party establishment that I’m unhappy with all their so-called “mainstream” candidates.

Having said that, who would I like to see on the ballot in November? Frankly, there are no good choices in either party. At this point the winds are blowing in a Democratic direction, so there is a good chance either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will be our next president. I know this is a depressing thought, but I suggest you start getting used to the idea. I think either of them can beat whoever the Republicans nominate. Hillary may be slightly less threatening than Obama, whose rhetorical skills might enable him to actually get large parts of the liberal agenda passed into law.

The Republican race is more wide-open. Excepting Ron Paul, my next choice would have to be Huckabee. I think he is more reliably pro-life, but I fear he will be little different from George W. Bush in most other respects. McCain and Giuliani scare the daylights out of me with their eagerness to bomb and/or torture everyone in sight. (McCain, to his credit, is against torture.) As for Romney, I can’t believe a word the man says. Fred Thompson puts me to sleep, which wouldn’t be all bad in a president but I also don’t believe he is really pro-life.

My guess is the GOP race will come down to McCain vs. Romney. After his distant third-place showing in Michigan, Huckabee is probably past his peak. This is sad in a way because I think Huckabee is probably the only one with a fighting chance to beat Hillary or Obama. The GOP power brokers would apparently rather lose the election than get behind one of those wacky Christians.

Rod Dreher has an interesting scenario: McCain gets the nomination, makes Huckabee his running mate and they then lose in November. This would set up Huckabee to be the GOP presumptive nominee in 2012, by which time the Democrats may have screwed up enough to make a GOP victory more realistic. We'll see.

In any case, for me this election cycle is probably over. There is no chance of a good outcome, from my perspective, so the best I can do is pick the lesser evil. Since the lesser evil is still evil, I can't get excited about it any more.

Why Vote Pro-Life?

I wish I had written this. From Red Cardigan of And Sometimes Tea:

No issue that America faces can possibly be as grave as the hideous injustice that is abortion. No clearer sign of the degradation of our culture exists than the ease and almost-indifference with which the innocent unborn are killed, four thousand of them every day. The other issues that plague us, serious though they may be, do not contain within them the moral imperative demanding their resolution that abortion does; the innocent voices cry out to Heaven for vengeance, and God Who hears these cries will not long spare our nation from the consequences of these decades of hideous depravity, where the death of the child in the womb is seen as of no more moral weight than the removal of a tooth or the choice of a haircut. We ignore this issue at our peril....

For those whose chief objection to my position here is to say that we will never overturn Roe v. Wade, or that we will never completely outlaw abortion, I can only point to our ancestors who kept working to end slavery even when decisions like the Dred Scott decision seemed to settle the question on the pro-slave side, once and for all. I know one thing: America can endure as a nation, or abortion can endure as the public policy of this land. Both will not endure. Either abortion will one day be viewed with as much horror as we now view slavery, or America as a country will cease to be. If we cannot bring the justice of men to end this barbaric practice on our native soil, God's justice will prevail.

Well said. Read the rest.

Rebuilding Gomorrah on Reality TV

I have created a new tag on this blog called Rebuilding Gomorrah. Many people, I think, don't quite comprehend the depths of depravity our society has reached, and how near it is to all of us. Click the link to see what I mean.

Today's example comes from the Czech Republic but will soon be on a screen near you...

Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- If you want to watch Nick having sex with a prostitute, he's happy to let you.

The 36-year-old bank-security technician drove eight hours from his home in Metz, France, to Big Sister, a Prague brothel where customers peruse a touch-screen menu of blondes, brunettes and redheads available for free. The catch is clients have to let their exploits be filmed and posted on the Internet.

``Sex is no taboo,'' Nick says, though he asked that his last name not be used. ``You have to free your mind.''

Big Sister is marrying 21st-century technology with the world's oldest profession to profit from the public's appetite for ever-more graphic reality TV. Since 2005, more than 15,000 men have taken up the offer of free sex in return for 15 minutes, or less, of fame, according to the brothel. Big Sister is now expanding into the U.S. with a local version of its Web site.

Visitors to the virtual brothel pay 29.95 euros ($43.88) for a one-month subscription to a smorgasbord of sex listed by position, preference and number of people. Big Sister also produces cable TV shows that air on Sky Italia and the U.K.'s Television X, as well as DVDs such as ``Sex Hyenas'' and ``Voyeur's Eye.''

``Our goal is to attract as many people as possible to catch the first reality sex TV,'' says marketing manager Carl Borowitz, who goes by the name Carlos. ``This is National Geographic for adults. Everyone's curious to watch their neighbor.'' [more]

(How, you might ask, did I happen to find this story? It was at the top of the Bloomberg "Most Read" list today. It's happened before.)

I'm not sure who is more depraved: the people who manage this enterprise, or its customers. A liberal-minded person might argue that it's all voluntary and no one is harmed. I beg to differ.

Consider poor Nick, who is quoted above (something tells me that Nick isn't exactly a Don Juan back home in France.) This 36-year-old, unmarried "bank security technician" isn't doing himself any favors with this activity, especially if he has any visions of ever settling down with a woman. And there is probably a woman in France who would like to settle down with a guy like Nick - but she won't get to do so because he has taught himself that women are nothing but sex objects. She's a victim, too.

Then there are the prostitutes. They may be well-paid, but at what cost to their dignity, their health, and their self-image? Finally there are the thousands of people, mainly men, who view this material and become addicted. Many marriages are destroyed in this way, leaving wives and children shattered into pieces. From there the trail of destruction expands geometrically.

Yes, pornography has been around for a long time. The difference is that now it travels at the speed of light. It's a big problem in society, in our churches, and in many families. There are some good resources here and here for people who are touched by this evil. And make no mistake - it is evil.

Rudy's Answer To Everything

Positioning yourself as The President of 9/11 appears not to be the best strategy, at least in Iowa and New Hampshire. It will take a miracle to get him back in the race now. This video says it all.



Hat tip: Elizabeth Andrew