Quick Takes: The Democratic National Convention Edition

I'm getting political today, and yes, I have very strong opinions when it comes to politics. So, if you really dislike me, you may hate me by the end, yikes. You've been warned! ;)

I am replacing the Quick Takes logo today with the logo of the Democratic Abortion Convention Democratic National Convention, to set the tone for today's theme:

Which brings us to our first Take...

1) Why are the Democratic logos so creepy, communist-style, Dear Leader, hero worship, father figure with happy children-citizens, faux egalitarian in their design? Seriously, it looks like it could work in North Korea.


2) One conclusion drawn from the Sandra Fluke speech: She absolutely identifies primarily as a victim of unthinkable oppression. Sheesh lady, cry me a river with your private Georgetown law degree. You are a well-fed, comfortable, spoiled, First World woman of leisure just like the rest of us. Did you not get the memo? No one is silencing your big mouth anymore than they are silencing mine. Gimme a break.

Can someone tell me again why I have to lose my religious freedom for a pack of her easily accessed $9 neutering chemicals? And can someone explain how whimpering and sniveling for free contraception is the very measure of the "empowered" feminist today? Why are modern feminists too weak and dependent to navigate Walgreens?

Sandra, I wish you could meet some of the women I know and get some inspiration! Talk about strong women! They are educated and well-read, they are fabulous wives to their beloved husbands, they manage households and finances, they raise broods of children, educate those children, adopt special needs orphans, have careers, volunteer at church and for the poor, are active in politics and have a roaring good time over a meal and margarita with friends while looking darn cute in those shoes -- and they do not whiiiiiiiine over what they don't geeeeeeet from the government, and they don't scream "I'm a victim!" "I'm oppressed!" "I've been silenced!" in the freest, greatest, most prosperous nation on earth.

If either of my daughters acted like Sandra Fluke, I would have failed as a mother. You think I'm exaggerating? Check it out -- the obvious hero of Democrats and the very poster child for women's oppression. Fair warning: It's painful to watch.





Special note: Within the first 47 seconds, she has told two demonstrable lies, which she herself knows are lies. First, the hearing was on religious liberty, not contraception, and she has no expertise thereof that would qualify her to testify before Congress. Second, there were two women on that panel, not zero. Unless the women were ghosts. Or holograms. Or maybe Ms. Fluke is blind. Or maybe she's just lying. I'll let you decide how she got that so wrong. After the first lies, they just kept coming. Dear God, they never stopped.

Anyway, could I say it any clearer? Ms. Fluke does not speak for me, my daughters, my sister, my mother, my aunts, or my friends. Classical feminists, I am so sorry for what they've done to your feminism. Weep for us.


3) I thought Sandra Fluke was the low point of the Convention, but I was proven wrong on Thursday night. Let me preface by saying that I have heard an endless string of scandalous statements from Catholic Democrats in my day, from Pelosi to Biden to Sebelius and so many more. But Caroline Kennedy took the cake. The venue, the premeditation, the thoughtful design that went into it…. I still can't believe it.

Caroline Kennedy invoked her Catholicism to advocate for unfettered abortion in America. Let me restate: She used the very fact of her Catholicism to champion the cause of abortion on demand. Oh, yes she did. So that those hearing her would think it's okay to be a Catholic and advocate for abortion!

"As a Catholic woman [oh, yes, she placed her religion exactly at this paragraph of the speech, deliberately], I take reproductive health seriously, and today, it is under attack. This year alone, more than a dozen states have passed more than 40 restrictions on women’s access to reproductive health care. That’s not the kind of future I want for my daughters or your daughters. Now isn’t the time to roll back the rights we were winning when my father was president. Now is the time to move this country forward."

It was one of the four of five times in my life that I actually expected lightning to come down. Not kidding, that's what I thought. And though I usually watch the proceedings on MSNBC for so many reasons, the TV happened to be turned to FOXNews. While I was still bellowing (you really should be at my house during political season), I noticed that the shock of what she said was not lost on others. I suddenly heard Bill O'Reilly speak of how utterly stunned he was. He could not believe it either. Could not believe it. I still can't:

Yes, that was the worst of it for me, more insidious than Sandra Fluke, and more show-stopping than the painfully embarrassing attempts to restore "God" and "Jerusalem" to the Democratic Platform after someone had decided to take them out.


4) So, as crazy as I always am during political season, it's even worse in the era of facebook. Some of you were following my facebook play-by-play of the Convention, and when the Caroline Kennedy scandal happened, there was quite a flurry of exchanges! Lots of fly off the handle pissed off hysterical ranting thoughtful musings on Kennedy's words were posted on the open threads. Ultimately, Kara, a firebrand Catholic warrior pensive and soft-spoken convert, penned a simple status update to express her concern:

Catholic my ass.

Some of us adopted that as our status as well, and then demanded begged inquired of JoAnna if she would make us a meme to go along with Kara's nuanced sentiment. Within moments, we had this:

Feel free to use and share. :)

Hey, if we can't have a little fun while our nation goes to hell in a handbasket, then what kind of Catholics are we?


5) Now it's time for video comic relief!

Let's go meet some of the Democratic delegates for some "man on the street" style interviews. Keep in mind, these are not folks on the fringe, they are the movers and shakers of the Democratic Party in their home states and local communities.

First, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Hope and Change 2 -- The Party of Inclusion (there's a commercial first, sorry):




 Next, we have a roving reporting asking the Democratic delegates their position on "choice":

In this fun piece, Democratic delegates give their opinions on what to do about corporate profits:

 



And finally, delegates react to the DNC video that creepily described all United States citizens as "belonging to the government":




Guys, if you are as horrified about the thought of a second Obama term as I am, please, I beg you to vote this year, as well as volunteer on phone banks, donate money to Romney-Ryan, put signs in your yard and on your car. This is a crucial election.


6) We will close out the DNC part of this Quick Takes the same way the DNC itself was closed out -- with a benediction from Cardinal Dolan of New York. The Cardinal prayed for unborn children's right to life, for the integrity of marriage, and for the protection of religious liberty, all of which are threatened by the Democrats. Do you think they heard?

Something to chew on, from the great Professor Robert P. George: 

"Since no minimally decent political party would let a bigot or misogynist take the podium at its convention—much less bless the proceedings—accepting the cardinal's offer to appear amounts to an implicit but unmistakable concession that there's no bigotry in opposing the redefinition of civil marriage, nor any misogyny in fighting for the unborn."

Thoughts?



7) In all this mess of politics, I can't forget the orphans. Today I want to introduce you to two precious girls who need families desperately, as they are both in danger of being transferred to adult mental institutions very soon.

First, here is Piper:

I am a happy, friendly girl who needs a mama to love!

Basically, Piper's issue is that she's small. Although she is nearly four years old, she’s roughly the size of a two year old. She is easily the smallest child in her group. There is more to her story and several more photos here on my Orphan Report about her.



And next is sweet Janie:

Beautiful as a porcelain doll!

Janie suffers from CP and FAS, but with proper care and treatment in the States, she could thrive and reach her potential! Please go to my Orphan Report about Janie for more information.

I beg you to pray for these children to find families, and also share their faces and info with everyone you know.



Have a great weekend! And thanks to Jen for hosting Quick Takes!



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Quick Takes, including the jarring picture that went viral

1) She was twenty weeks pregnant with twin girls when her picture was taken outside an abortion clinic last week, just moments before she went in to abort them. She already had daughters and didn't want more:

Wednesday is late term abortion day at Orlando Women’s Center 

Kelly Clinger, the young women who posted the picture and wrote about the reality of late-term abortion in America, got a massive response that she did not expect. Some folks accused her of perpetuating a hoax, others understood that actual babies were being killed and didn't care, but most told her that the picture opened their eyes to the realities of abortion in America:

A picture is worth a million pageviews: the photo that went viral beyond my wildest imagination

Really, there are no words to describe the sorrow that we should feel as a nation when we see this. We allow this.

It's the banality of evil. Lord, have mercy on us.


2) Like so many others, I was distressed when I learned that Cardinal Dolan had invited Obama to the annual Al Smith dinner. I still wish he hadn't. However, the following picture and story, about the Cardinal's poignant 2010 encounter with Helen Gurley Brown (recently deceased) helped remind me of just who the Cardinal is, and where his heart lies.

photo credit: Cardinal Hayes High School

...Ms. Brown tried to walk forward to greet him, but she started tottering. Archbishop Dolan spotted her and jogged up the steps to help. Meanwhile, the school’s marching band burst into the Cardinal Hayes marching song, inspiring the archbishop to take Ms. Brown in his arms and twirl her around. 

The dancing lasted only for a minute or so, Mr. Meenan said, but he will not soon forget the image of the bearlike archbishop squiring Ms. Brown. He wore his black bishop’s garment and a pink cap; she wore a drop-waist dress, black fur and lace-topped stockings. 

“Everybody’s clapping, everybody’s amazed,” he said….

Read it all, here.

The warm compassion and agape love expressed in the Cardinal's actions -- for a woman who was so misguided, so lost, in so many ways an enemy of the Church, a peddler of so much evil during her own life -- speaks straight to my soul. It reminds me of Jesus' breathtaking encounter with the woman at the well (John 4:7-42; check the seventh recommendation, here), and that the Lord's mercy is without limit.

We don't know Ms. Brown's ultimate fate, nor if she repented before her last breath, but there is something so comforting about Cardinal Dolan's tender outreach to a woman who was known as one of the Architects of the Culture of Death…. It gives me hope for my own wretched soul.

Thank you, Cardinal Dolan.


3) Speaking of "enemies of the Church", I know I am not alone in my mix of emotions about Barack Obama, who is the most aggressively anti-Catholic president we've ever had, his policies endangering our charities, our private businesses, our freedoms, and our souls. It's hard to know what to do and what to think, as it's all come about so quickly. We want to fight his policies (and we must!) but we want to follow the Lord's command to love our enemies, as well. If you are looking for guidance in how to reconcile those tensions, please read this:

On Enemies of the Church

It helped me immeasurably.


4) Speaking of the all-important "fighting his policies", my husband and I are eager to see the movie, 2016 -- Obama's America, tonight:



I hope you all would consider seeing it as well, and make it a great opening weekend.


5) Two of the best memes I've seen this week:

I use this to justify my big fat mouth. And, I adore strong women like St. Catherine.

Jesus is the Bridegroom, the Church is His bride. We are the Church. I could drown in this picture. 

6) How's this for a brain twister? All of these guys below are ardently pro-"choice", but there's something basic and objective that they can't seem to reconcile amongst themselves.

First, we have Canadian medical professionals (yes, doctors, who presumably took biology classes!) who put ideology ahead of elementary scientific facts by declaring that babies are not human beings until after birth! Yes, I'm not kidding! How embarrassing! They are men of science and medicine and they are lying about basic biology in order to push abortion rights? Oy, vey, seriously, how are they not humiliated? Where is their integrity? Look for yourselves:

Canadian Medical Association: Babies not human until after birth

And then we have the world's premiere bioethicist Peter Singer who, although cool with infanticide and bestiality, at least seems to remember Biology 101, unlike the Canadian doctors:

‘Just being human doesn’t give you a right to live’: Peter Singer sums up pro-abortion philosophy

Singer still approves the killing of the unborn, of course, but to his credit he doesn't deny the obvious: that the unborn are, objectively and without scientific dispute, human beings.

How do pro-"choicers" reading this reconcile the two contradictory views? And how can anyone with a basic science background not be embarrassed for the Canadian doctors?


7) Without exception, every human being's life is inviolable and precious, these orphans included…

Ivan, sweet Ivan:

Ivan is a bright child, with a favorable prognosis if he gets his surgery in time!

He is a bright-eyed three-year-old boy who is running out of time to get life-saving surgery on his skull. In America, he would have had the surgery long ago and been out of danger. But unless he gets a family soon, his condition will become dire.

Check out how adorable Ivan is in this video (that's him at around 38 seconds, and there's a little longer clip just after the two minute mark):

For my full Orphan Report blog post on Ivan, please go here.

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And then there is sweet Marla, who has been overlooked her whole life, for the crime of having cerebral palsy:

Five years old and soon to be transferred to an adult mental institution. :(

Marla is a loving little girl who needs a family to help her blossom! Please read my full Orphan Report on Marla, here, to learn more about her, including ways to help this precious child of God.

Please, please, spread the word to others. I see it all the time: It only takes one person to see one photo, and just like that a life is saved.

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I am so thrilled to announce that the facebook auction for Andrew (my Achilles' Heel) is on!! His new family has begun the expensive process to get to him, and our own Brenda has put the entire auction together for them! There are over 134 items so far, and it runs for a week; click here to see all the goods!

Here's just a teeny sampling of the treasures you'll find there:

Made to order! You decide the color and number of eggs in the nest!

Personalized pregnancy loss/infant loss/pro-life rosary. The beads are soft pink (dyed stone) with Swarovski pearl accents. Your choice of other designs if you prefer a different theme.

Beautiful, 3-D wooden Noah's Ark puzzle, made in Morocco!

Swarovski Crystal Covenant Cube Rainbow Bracelet

Plus, gift cards, children's clothing, crafts, home decorations, lip balms and lotions -- and a zillion other things! Go look, now!!



Well, that's all for this Quick Takes! I hope you all have a great weekend! I know I will, as my husband and I are going to a concert, courtesy of our children who got us the most awesome anniversary gift (although I think I am more excited than my hubby):

Yes, Air Supply!! Oh c'mon you ladies of a certain age! You know you're jealous!

Thanks to Jen for hosting!

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