Tired of Fox News

Apparently this is the week for TV anchor people to make idiots of themselves. First we had ESPN's Dana Jacobson with her drunken tirade against Notre Dame. Now John Gibson of Fox News is dancing on Heath Ledger's grave. Check this out. (via Mark Shea)

I don't have any particular affinity for Heath Ledger. I didn't see Brokeback Mountain, but I liked him in The Patriot and A Knight's Tale. Whatever kind of person he was, he's dead now and his family and friends are grieving. Making his death the butt of jokes is a low-class thing to do. I expect such things from shock jocks, not the author of The War on Christmas who is a popular figure on the "conservative" news network. At least Jacobson had the excuse of being drunk; Gibson was sober when he said these things, and probably even wrote the lines in advance.

I used to be quite a Fox News junkie. Over the last year I've grown tired of their fixation on celebrity gossip and grisly crime stories. The political coverage is still good but I've lost interest in that, too. Guys like Gibson and Sean Hannity now strike me as little more than blowhard shills for the Rubber Hose Right. I don't miss them at all.

Maybe I should start a support group for ex-Fox News addicts. Anyone else out there feel the same?

Wait Just A Doggone Minute

Pro-abortion folks constantly accuse us of imposing our religious beliefs on them. "Keep your rosaries off our ovaries," they say, among other clever things. So this story (via Mark Shea) confuses me.

SCHENECTADY -- To commemorate Tuesday's 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that affirmed a woman's right to an abortion, clergy blessed this city's new Planned Parenthood clinic in a ceremony dubbed "On Sacred Ground."

"Today is more than about the building and about bricks and mortar," Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Linda Scharf said. "It's a blessing to demonstrate the support of the clergy."

...the blessing occurred at the newly constructed 18,000-square-foot building at 1040 State St. that opened in September to replace a facility on Union Street.

"Clergy have long supported Planned Parenthood's mission and believe women are moral decision-makers, and they trust their right to make a personal decision based on their moral beliefs and whether ... we concur ... we still need to respect that decision," Scharf said.

"The clergy were instrumental in getting abortion services legalized in the United States and right here in Schenectady," she added. "I know a member of the clergy who was part of an underground who directed young women to safe abortions before Roe v. Wade."

Apparently, it is OK to bring religion into the abortion issue, as long as the religion is used to celebrate the Glory and Goodness of this Sacred Sacrament. I'm not kidding. Read on:

At Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson, an affiliate of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Rev. Larry Phillips of Schenectady's Emmanuel-Friedens Church declared the ground "sacred and holy ... where women's voices and stories are welcomed, valued and affirmed; sacred ground where women are treated with dignity, supported in their role as moral decision-makers ... sacred ground where the violent voices of hatred and oppression are quelled."

The minister has been affiliated with Planned Parenthood going back more than 30 years, Scharf said. About three dozen people gathered at the facility, known as the Evelyn & David Sencer Center, to offer prayers during the half-hour ceremony.

The Rev. Abby Norton-Levering led the group in prayers for the center's doctors and staff. "We pray that you will make this a place of safety and give a sense of sanctuary," she said.

Rabbi Matt Cutler of Temple Gates of Heaven blew the shofar as "a renewal of commitment to keep reproductive rights in the hands of women."

The Rev. Bill Levering, senior pastor of First Reformed Church of Schenectady, said the right to privacy is endowed by God.

"There are some decisions that are left to the individual. Even God respects the right of privacy. We make women into children when we say they cannot control their own bodies," Levering said.

Phillips led everyone outside where they laid their hands on the brick and limestone as the minister declared, "This is sacred ground."

Just reading this makes me gag. "Sacred ground," according to Reverend Phillips. "A place of safety," Reverendette Norton-Levering calls it. Egads.

Here's the truth: this place is perfectly safe for everyone except the young humans who will be shredded, scalded, and incinerated on so-called sacred ground. What God do these "clergy" think they represent?

March For Life Touches Young and Old

As is usually the case, the 225,000 people at the March for Life in Washington DC got only minimal coverage in the mainstream media. One blogger who was there has an interesting story about her interview with a Japanese TV crew. The Washington Post surprisingly printed a nice article.

In many ways, the march resembled a gigantic pep rally, with smiling teenagers in matching scarves or sweat shirts holding school banners high as they moved along Constitution Avenue NW toward the Supreme Court. But the individual signs they clutched told of their commitment to a cause: "Give Life, Don't Take It" and "Your Mother Was Pro-Life."

"It's illegal to kill someone walking down the street, so it should be illegal to kill someone in the womb," said Topher Boehm, 17, a member of the Pro-Life Club at the Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas. "This is the social justice issue of our era, and I want to do something about it."

Kelsey Wilson, 16, and Michelle Caulder, 17, along with their group from a Catholic church in Indianapolis, waved "Defend Life" signs as they maneuvered through the crush of people. This was their third Washington march, and they plan to keep coming, they said, until abortions are outlawed.

Things like this are the true value of such events. The Supreme Court does not (and arguably should not) base its decisions on the number of protesters outside its doors. Yet the March For Life is still worthwhile because of the impact it has on young people. The kids quoted above will grow up, marry, have families, and move on with their lives. Like most of us, they may not be able to leave their other responsibilities to go to these things. But they will always remember the experience - and they'll tell others about it.

Young people aren't the only ones marching, of course.

"We make the journey every year -- this is a very important part of our commitment to saving lives," said Mike Conroy, 67, a retired pilot from Wexford, Pa., who was attending his ninth March for Life with a Knights of Columbus group. Attached to his baseball cap was a tiny pair of gold feet, three-eighths of an inch long, that he said was the size of an unborn child's feet at 10 weeks.

Thomas Peters has some great photos and videos of the march on his blog. Chelsea has a great reflection on why so many young people were attracted: they survived. If you are reading this and were born in the U.S. after 1973, count yourself fortunate: 50 million of your peers never had a chance to live.

Boorish Anchorwoman Begs For Lightning

This sounds like a delightful woman. I'd like to meet her someday.

[from AFA] ESPN and its parent company, ABC, have refused to take any action against ESPN anchorwoman Dana Jacobson for her hateful, slurring remarks against Jesus, saying "F-- -- Jesus."

On January 11, Jacobson was speaking at a celebrity roast in Atlantic City, N.J., when she unleashed a profane tirade, saying, "F--- Notre Dame," "F--- Touchdown Jesus" and finally "F--- Jesus."

"Touchdown Jesus" is the popular moniker for a statue of Jesus raising his arms, located on the Notre Dame campus.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue spoke with ESPN about the attack and received an e-mail from Jacobson which basically treated the incident as a non-event. The statement said, in part, "I respect all religions and did not mean anything derogatory by my poorly chosen words."

Jacobson's comments were at a public event where she was representing ESPN.

The fact that neither ESPN nor ABC has taken any action against Jacobson indicates they have a bias against Christians. Donohue said that Jacobson should be fired.

This anti-Christian bias of the networks is becoming commonplace. Actress Kathy Griffin used her appearance on the Emmy Awards program to tell Jesus to "suck it," responding to athletes who thank Jesus when they achieve certain levels. No action was taken against Griffin.

Bill Donoghue's latest post reports that ESPN has suspended Jacobson for a week, but he appears to have initially thought her insult was directed only at Notre Dame - not Jesus Himself. Apparently there is a video of the event that ESPN refuses to release. Donoghue wants the video made public so we can all know exactly what was said. Newsbusters has more details. Here is what ESPN has to say.

As usual, Notre Dame responded with class.

Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown said, "While we in no way condone Ms. Jacobson's comments, we're aware of the circumstances in which they occurred, and in the interest of forgiveness, trust that she and ESPN will address the matter in an appropriate way."

I am not in the least surprised that an ESPN anchor would say such things. This is the network that glorifies the vile exploits of athletically-talented gangsters who in a more civilized society would be placed behind bars where they cannot serve as objects of adulation for impressionable teenagers. That we live in such a society is only partially the fault of ESPN, of course. TV networks air the things they think we want to see. Ms. Jacobson is simply a reflection of our neo-pagan culture. Nonetheless, there is no reason for Christians to patronize a network whose stars feel free to fling curses at our God and institutions like Notre Dame that are dedicated to His service. There are better things to do with our time anyway.

Ms. Jacobson is also a coward. If she really wanted to stir up trouble she would have directed her insults at Mohammad. She did not - and if she had, ESPN would not need to be pressured into taking action. Jacobson would have been fired within microseconds and told to leave the building quickly before the car bombs could get there. This double standard says all we need to know.

UPDATE: David Kuo - and apparently most of his readers - think Christians are just whining about this incident. Why are these people even reading a site called "beliefnet?"

Also, I forgot to mention that ESPN is owned by Disney. I'm sure Uncle Walt would be proud.

UPDATE 2: Bill Donohue now says after further discussions with ESPN he now feels the network has taken appropriate action, and he considers the matter closed. Sister Mary Martha has a few words.

Respect For Life Begins At Home

Lam Luong, a native of Vietnam now living in Alabama, stands accused of killing his four young children by throwing them off a bridge into the Gulf of Mexico. He appears to have done this in reaction to an argument with his wife, and is now being held in jail pending murder charges. [News coverage]

Clearly this is a despicable crime, and a horrible situation for the family. What strikes me as odd, however, is that Mr. Luong would be a free man today had he helped his wife exercise her "choice" to get rid of the children prior to birth. Indeed, he would be honored by some people for doing his part to reduce the impact of humanity on our fragile planet.

Plenty of men do exactly this: impregnate women then take them (willingly or not) to have abortions when an inconvenient baby has the nerve to implant itself in the woman's womb. For whatever reason, Mr. Luong waited too long. Maybe he just wanted to give his children a merciful death. A plunge into icy waters is probably less painful than being chopped into pieces, burned alive with saline, or having your brains sucked out with a vacuum cleaner - all without the benefit of anesthetic.

Such things were made possible in this country exactly 35 years ago. It was January 22, 1973 that the Supreme Court discovered, in Roe v. Wade, that the Constitution grants women the right to kill their unborn babies. States have henceforth been prohibited from stopping this ghastly practice. Tens of millions of babies died as a result.

Tomorrow the pro-life movement gathers in Washington for the annual March for Life. It will be an amazing event - far larger than most mass protests in this country - but chances are you will see nothing about it in the media. It's just not newsworthy, you see.

I'm totally in favor of all political efforts to reduce abortion. At the same time, I think we have to acknowledge that the real battle is in the culture. If Roe v. Wade is reversed, the only result is that states will regain the right to regulate abortion as they see fit. Most will doubtless continue permitting abortion in some fashion. I don't like it either, but that is the political reality in 2008.

What we really need to do is change the culture. We need to regain a respect for humanity and human life, from its natural beginning to its natural end. We need to teach young men and women to respect themselves and respect the natural connection between sexuality and procreation. We need to once again make parenthood a noble and honorable vocation that people want to experience, instead of a chore to be dreaded and postponed.

It's a long way from where we are now to a real Culture of Life - yet every journey begins with a single step. For Evangelical and Catholic Christians, a great place to start is with ourselves. Are we respecting life and helping our children grow up to do the same? Are we teaching the sanctity of life in our churches? Are our actions consistent with the values we claim to hold? Until we do those things, our success in reforming the rest of the culture will be limited. Respect for life begins at home.

Man Survives 47-Story Fall

This is amazing.

Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Alcides Moreno sat upright, barely conscious, amid the tangle of cables and twisted aluminum of his window-washing platform, a few feet from his brother's corpse. The pair had plunged 47 stories down the smoked-glass side of a Manhattan apartment tower, and one of them was alive -- for now.

His brain swelled against his skull, building pressure that could kill him. Blood gushed from rips in his internal organs, filling his chest. The temperature hovered around freezing, and hypothermia was setting in as New York City paramedics arrived.

The physics of a perfect fall, slowed by the platform's wind resistance, may have been the only reason Moreno survived, scientists say. Next it would take a flawless medical rescue to keep him alive.

"If you are a believer of miracles, this would be one,'' said Philip Barie, chief of critical care at New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, four blocks from the alley where the brothers landed. [more]

Yes, indeed. Mr. Moreno was saved by "physics" and "a flawless medical rescue." It couldn't possibly be a "miracle" unless you are one of those superstitious "believer" folks, says the doctor who works at a Presbyterian Hospital, which just happened to be four blocks away from the scene.

It is, of course, legitimate to ask what kind of miracle saves one man while letting his brother die. We cannot know the answer to that question. Maybe the laws of nature combined in such a way that Mr. Moreno survived without supernatural intervention. Yet to think that the laws of physics work in such perfect harmony by random chance is insane.

The universe itself is a miracle - so it's not hard to believe this was one, too.