So, what are you cutting in your household budget to pay for Obama's abortions?

Pelosi's making us all pay an "abortion premium" in Obamacare. See John Boehner's blog here.

This must be either prevented or overturned immediately. God help us.

TheSeriousBlog and StBlogustine

The resolution of a few short conferences with Matt Cassens is that St. Blogustine is officially our team blog. Over there, I'll post issues related pieces that are national in scope, and here I'll keep everything else, the lighter and more personal stuff. St. B has a larger, established readership that's come to expect a National Review Online lite, and thus much of what I find amusing to post wouldn't have a happy home life there. The Serious Blog will stick around for the less serious stuff.

On St. Blogustine, we discuss how the USCCB is playing post-election catch-up ball. The bishops are defunding ACORN, now that they've done so much damage over these many years, funded in part by Catholic money.

The conference failed to unify against Obama before the election, and consequently now risk shutting down the nation's Catholic hospitals because of Obama's support for FOCA. There's a little you can do yet to fight FOCA.

If Only He Were President

Friday was the parent-teacher conference at the school and, per laws of physics, the chain of parents ahead of me extended over their alloted face time with the teacher; thus, arriving at the appointed time entailed a wait out in the hall. In anticipation of parental wait times, the teacher hung up essays written by the entire first grade class out in the hall, entitled If I Were President.

With one exception, every child's essay's points were confined to the following:

• I would stop the war in Iraq.
• I would bring all the soldiers home.
• I would give the poor people money.
• I would give the poor people food.
• I would move into the White House.

Two of the boys added "I would play" as the final point.

My son reports that the entire first grade class except himself voted for Obama in the mock election. Were they under the misimpression that we don't give money and food to the poor people now, and that Obama's the only candidate who would do it? Who guided them to think that the only policies worthy of the President are of pacifism and redistributive socialism?

As I said, there was one single exception to the above manifesto; I'm proud to report that my son singly strayed from the lockstep with this opening sentence of his essay:

First, I would stop uborshin.

You done your daddy proud, son!

The Democrats Want to Confiscate Your Retirement Portfolio

Got money in an IRA, 401k, or pension plan? Now that the election is over, the Democrats have wasted no time to remove the boxing gloves, and hatch plans to reach their bare fingers into your savings - and move all of it to the Social Security Administration fund.

Read my post on St. Blogustine for more.

Now that you Obama voters drunk yourselves blind on Obamania and did something stupid on election day, how come I have wake up with him in the morning?

Show Your Patriotism For President Obama!

Obama's got me feeling pretty patriotic these days. I was feeling so patriotic I designed my own bumper sticker, and here it is!



Liberals thought they were pret-ty clever by driving around with this slogan stuck on the rears of their cars during the Bush years. Now let's see how they like this updated, patriotic-for-real, NObama version!

While you're at it, show how much smarter you are than they were by not conspicuously displaying their popular misattribution of this quote to Thomas Jefferson.

That it's done up in a Revolutionary War era font adds an extra helping of patriotism with a classic touch. Go on, click the bumper sticker. You know you want one.

Please Don't Call Him 'Obamarx'

The results of our pre-election poll are in. Thanks to my 6 readers who responded with me!

Election Day in Cook County

I just voted while my two preschoolers were fawned on and given slices of poundcake by the pollworkers. My four year old son gazed all around the place hoping to spot McCain and Obama somewhere in the room, greeting all the voters.

Here in Obama's home state of Illinois, the political winds are blowing in such a way that voting for McCain has about all the effect of voting against Castro. From my small sample of mass going Catholics I've spoken with, I think if McCain wins it'll be by the grace of God that resides in the Protestants. Or maybe that's just the Chicago regional Robocratic hue that stains the Catholics of the Chicago Archdiocese.

In the conversation I had last night with our friend, a practicing Catholic mother of four whose husband is trying to nose into Obama's victory bash in Grant Park without a pass, I brought up the subject of Obama's stance on the Born Alive Infant Protection Act and the promise to sign the Freedom of Choice Act.

1.1 million babies are aborted each year here, and this election is a pivotal moment to change that direction. She replied, "I'm not a one-issue voter," which translates to "I don't give a crap about the 1.1 million babies."

God help us. If He is, I haven't been shown it in my parish.

Update:
When I went to pick up my kids at the parish school this afternoon, an announcement came over the PA with the final count in the mock election, which no doubt correlates with how the children's parents will have voted.

The score: McCain 55, Obama 149. A loud cheer erupted throughout the school. Catholic kids in their uniforms scurried and whooped about the parking lot, cheering and giving each other high fives. I seethed. My two fine sons, raised right, voted for McCain. They know enough about abortion to be against it. The oldest felt sensitive about the defeat on the ride home.

The "Catholic" vote in my home parish is an abrogation of moral responsibility, an abuse of citizenship. God save our country!

The Christian Case Against Obama

To see the Christian case against voting for Obama, go here. Click the full page spandex thingie in the upper right of the page viewer. It fits on a single printable page, and holds links to supporting evidence on each point made for those who are interested.

The guide comes from CatholicVote.com, but no Christian can afford to draw divisive sectarian lines at a time like this. Heck, I'd say run with it if it were from JehovahsWitnessesVote.com. (Now that, ah say, that's a joke, son!)

Obama on Infants Born Alive: Let 'em Die

Jill Stanek is a controversial figure. Her detractors (and they are legion) on Internet forums and elsewhere say she's a loon, that Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, fired her as a labor and delivery nurse on grounds of incompetence.

And then there's her side, the one everybody else believes: that Stanek was fired by Christ Hospital because she discovered they were leaving unwanted newborn babies to starve to death in a dark closet with the dirty linens. Stanek went on to testify before the Illinois Senate, where then-State Senator Obama killed the state version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act.

This video is simply one of the most stirring productions I've ever seen. Watch it and decide for yourself who's the loon, and who's doing God's work. Don't worry. Despite the appearance of the video still, there's no graphic gore or violence. Oh, and please pardon the odd leader and trailer.



More on Jill Stanek: Her home on the Web, syndicated column, and YouTube channel. Mrs. Stanek also heads BornAliveTruth.org, together with the charismatic abortion survivor Gianna Jesson.

Jill's termination by, if you'll excuse my momentary dyslexia, Antichrist Hospital, is a win for the Pro-Life movement and the babies of the world Jill now serves in her greater capacity as a public figure.

Prolifers for Obama? Yeah, right!

Yes, there really is a group called "Prolifers for Obama." Liars. If you like that, here's another one for ya!

Mentioned in the site:

• Welcome from Doug Kmiec, a former Reagan administration official with expired prolife credentials. Oh, yes, and a link to buy his Probama book.
• BO's plans to expand government social spending. Now that's prolife, tell ya what!

Glaringly omitted:

• Obama's pledges to Planned Parenthood to have a pro-Roe litmus test for Supreme Court nominees, and to make the first thing he does as President to sign the Freedom Of Choice Act into law.

I'm reminded about something a lady I knew told me from her early childhood. While playing outside, she and her friend shaped poop into small servings and arranged them on supple leaves. Despite their best efforts to pass them off as cake, however, they couldn't fool a single kid into taking a bite. Even though they were very interested in what was being offered, they could tell right away it was really only a bunch of crap.

Vote The Common Good: the Other "Catholics for Obama"

Out of nowhere last week, I got a visit from a comment poster self-identified as "SisterSharon" from VoteTheCommonGood.com. The comment looked just like this posting on the Blogspot blog she created, and it was peppered on three Obama and abortion related posts here as well as on a few other spots around the Net. SisterSharon's been back to visit this comment thread a couple times.

This video is the centerpiece of the presentation on their web site, and as of now it's got 2,500 views. Compare that to 1.2 million views of RosaryFilms Catholic Vote 2008 I embedded here. The soundtrack is John Lennon's Imagine. The chanters managed to musically moan and sigh through the inconvenient lyrics that go "imagine there's no heaven, no religion too."



"Uhh-hhh! Uhhh-hhhh! Imagine all the people..."

What is The Common Good, and how do we vote for it, you ask? Why, the Common Good is liberal things, of course! Their whole platform is here, and the broadstrokes are to give amnesty to the illegals, get more people in unions, cut and run in Iraq, and end capital punishment. They're also against racism, classism, and sexism. Trade agreements "have to serve the common good," which by definition means we need to sign treaties to trade liberal things.

Fair enough. While I wouldn't agree with these people that there's a religious imperative to vote for liberal things, there's nothing there to stop you from voting for them either. The Church is pro-choice in that regard, with one glaring exception. The Big A, dripping, in brilliant crimson. These guys are totally "Catholic" on abortion, right?

Um, not completely. Their platform statement on abortion, start to finish, reads:

Promote policies that prevent and reduce abortions by supporting women and families. Ensure robust alternatives to abortion, including adoption.

Hasn't it occurred to these people to abolish abortions? You know, "abolish", as in "Abolish capital punishment," which I seem to recall reading just recently. Just under the abortion statement in their very platform, actually.

It wasn't phrased as such either because their hearts really aren't in the Right to Life cause with gusto (being liberals and all), or because such a statement would be incompatible with electing their favorite candidate ever, Obama, and they're not gonna let a little thing like the Freedom of Choice Act stand in the way of electing Obama (being liberals and all) because of all the other Common Good he'll usher in with the tide.

On the tangential issue of health insurance, SisterSharon sent me an article here ("as a point of reference", she says). It's from the National Catholic Reporter (also known as the National Reporter to us orthodoxish Catholics), whose premise is that Obama's health insurance policy is in line with the teaching of the American Bishops. Actually, it compares Obama's and McCain's proposals. Guess which one is described with the words "common good" in the article?

I don't see this as a black/white issue between these two candidates; it's not as if McCain's policy is to "let 'em die and rot," and that we don't have Medicaid already. But let's just say Obama's health insurance is what the bishops want, and McCain's health insurance policy is unacceptable to them.

That still doesn't outweigh the fact that Obama is for keeping abortion legal at every stage and against every restriction on it. 1.1 million dead babies each year, and keeping 'em comin'. Who says the Big A outweighs the other Common Good issues at election time?

The Pope does, that's who! When keeping or ending abortion is at stake, everything else takes the back seat, which is what I've been saying all along.

Pope takes bishop. Checkmate.

Obama's Coming Test?

As the numbers bleakly continue to point to an Obama victory this election, a historical opportunity is repeated as St. Blogustine draws a convincing comparison of Barack with the most sympathetic character in the historic Nuremberg trials HERE. I don't hold high hopes for him to do anything but stay the course he's navigated his entire political career, during which, from a legal standpoint, Obama has proven never to have met the abortion he didn't like.

The Parable of the Talents comes to mind for me, which ends with an ominous warning I frequently have to remind myself to live up to:

For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

How much graver the implications for such a man so rich with God-given talents, holding the nation's highest office, with a moment presented him where he can choose to save or end millions of innocent lives with the stroke of a pen, literally.

Barack Obama's Promise: No Abortion Left Behind

Let there be no doubt that Obama pledges to do everything in his power not only to keep abortion the law of the land as it stands, but to remove every restriction on it, great and small, at the national level and in every state.



"Now the first thing I'd do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act."

For health care providers, the Freedom of Choice Act is anything but. If made law, it would strip out every single restriction on abortion at all levels of government, including conscience clauses for both individuals and institutions.

It is clear that FOCA would immediately make null and void every current restriction on abortion in all jurisdictions. According to a recent article by Tom McCloskey, "FOCA Would Harm Women and Remove Freedoms," and reported by the Family Research Council, if FOCA was passed it would automatically overturn:

• State abortion reporting requirements in all 50 states
• Forty-four states' laws concerning parental involvement
• Forty states' laws on restricting later-term abortions
• Forty-six states' conscience protection laws for individual health care providers
• Twenty-seven states' conscience protection laws for institutions
• Thirty-eight states' bans on partial-birth abortions
• Thirty-three states' laws on requiring counseling before an abortion
• Sixteen states' laws concerning ultrasounds before an abortion
  

More on the Freedom of Choice Act is here. It's nothing short of monstrous on the faults of its brutal inhumanity to the unborn alone, not to mention how the elimination of the conscience clause would deal the nation's health care system a severe body blow when all the birthing centers in the religiously affiliated hospitals go offline and every obstetric doctor and nurse of good will quits the practice.

Here's more complete footage of Obama's speech to Planned Barrenhood:



God help us. We need McCain.

Joyful American Children Singing Happiness to Dear Leader for Glorious Change

Update: I replaced the original nauseating Obamaprop with this great parody from Reason.tv. In fact, Drew Carey stole my wind as I was trying to cobble together a collaborative parody with my more talented brother Brendan doing the heavy lifting.

Hey, Drew Carey is funny AND smart. Chicks dig that.

My Letter to Roman Catholics for Obama

Your support for the most pro-abortion presidential candidate in US history leaves me very skeptical that your front group consists of believing, practicing Catholics at all.

I'd go on, but I have to write a similar complaint to Marxists for McCain while the night is still young.


Kevin Gleeson

What Barack Should Say (Maybe)

Frankly, for the last twenty years or so, when we're in Hyde Park, we all sleep in on Sundays, so I have no idea what this crazy guy has been shouting from the pulpit. But he was nice when he married Michelle and me, and baptized our kids, and served on my African-American Outreach campaign committee (until recently), and when I consulted him for spiritual (not political or racial) guidance before running for U.S. Senator and President, and when (I now hear) he's boosted my various candidacies from the pulpit, but now I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, to hear some of the racist, anti-American statements he's allegedly made in his services.

When I gave his church over $20,000 last year, I had no idea that it had honored Minister Louis Farrakhan, despite the fact that my daughters are members of the editorial board of the church paper, The Trumpet, that bestowed that honor. (I don't get a chance to talk to them much, either.)

Meanwhile, one of my favorite songs remains, Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud, by James Brown, but that's not one of my campaign platforms, because I have the audacity to hope for change and unity and to bring us all together, which makes Kumbaya one of my other favorite songs.

While I have personally assured Dr. Wright and Minister Farrakhan that one of my first acts as President will be to have them visit the White House for a prayer breakfast, I will also invite the top Jew and the top Catholic here to also attend (once I find out who they are). Good luck trying to figure out that menu (lol)!

If I am fortunate enough to have that happen, I can assure you that Michelle will be proud of the United States for the second time in her adult life.

Be Afraid of Obama

Oh sure, a President Obama would waste no time going about emasculating our military, cutting and running in Iraq, and making our country the world's doormat. And since he never met the abortion he didn't like, he'd draft and sign executive orders to oil the gears of death on day one, and make baby killing a litmus test for every judicial appointment that crosses his desk. But let's put all that aside for a moment.

Yesterday in Real Clear Politics, Lawrence Kudlow outlines how Obama's costly new plans to bloat government handouts will raise taxes to the rates of today's highest bracket - on the middle class. If Obama's audacity blooms beyond the hope stage, I hope he gives me a little time to bid a final farewell to my meager savings before it gets assimilated into the collective.