You defined as anything in the womb, fertilized egg, embryo, fetus (including those with medical difficulties, leading to non-viability or helath of the mother) as a "baby". Not so.
So, no sex for anyone unless they wish to have a human being? What a ludicrous position to take. I dare say many more men than women would take exception to this antiquarian philosophy, though you'd be hard pressed to find more than 1% of Americans (human beings?) who would agree with you.
Yes, that includes everyone, God's grace is extended to all, regardless of sex, gender, race, gender preference, etc. And it's not a baby until viable outside the womb.
Who decided that a child next to its mother's heart is not a baby. According to the twisted logic of abortion lovers, it's not a baby if you do want it and it's a baby if you do want it.
The 1st lesson in the lectionary a couple of weeks ago was proverbs 8:1-4, where Lady Wisdom (not the gender) is proclaiming wisdom on the street corner. Wisdom should be expectd of everyone, at least as we age, but seems to be lacking in 6 members of SCOTUS
They made their choices. They get to try to justify them, after they die. It might be too late (in a sense) for us, but they might discover it's too late for them;
There's much I can say against the overturn of Roe v Wade but space does not allow. Especially egregious is the stand of Clarnece Thomas on other issues that should be challenged. headline this morning has Samuel L. Jackson asking about Thomas' thinking on interracial marriage, should that be challenged.
You used the plural of decisions. If you're referring to the decision that Maine's policy of not providing tuition to schools
... to private schools of religious backing, the case was wrongly argued (and bought by Roberts in the decision). The students were not denied a public education, thy had other options which tuition would have been funded by taxpayer dollars. If a school wan'[t to be considered "Public" and get public funding, they have to play by public school rules. Both schools in question will not play by the rules, especially by human rights, but yet may further challenge. That's not even Quixotic, it's futile.
Maybe your God. Too bad you had to make one up. I suggest reading your Bible instead of hitting people you deem inferior over the head with it. You may find they're not talking about your God at all.
I don't come here to argue but yes. And I am speaking for myself as your post was offensive in it's self righteous arrogance, presuming to speak for God. Ever wonder why the Catholic Church doesn't do baptisms or funeral services for stillborn children or fetuses? You're clearly confusing trump with God. They are polar opposites.
It's my understanding that the Roman Catholic church does not do baptism for stillborn infants because the sacrament of baptism is for the living. It's the entrance of a person into the faith community of Christians, with the intent of putting that faith into action. The unlimited mercy of God takes care of the rest.
Yes. It says until he "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" according to the Bible. That's why I get flustered at people using the Bible as an "I'm right about everything" card.
Maybe you misunderstood my comment. Even though the Catholics don't baptize stillborns, since the sacraments are for the living, they still consider the unborn children to be made in the image of God and consider abortion murder. I'm Orthodox and feel the same way.
Actually, your statement is only half correct. The Catholic Church does not baptize the dead - as Basil of the high plains points out, it's a sacrament for the living. Apparently, the general feeling is that infants who die before baptism - including miscarried, stillborn, and even aborted babies or fetuses - do not need to be baptized to be accepted into heaven ("Indeed the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved and Jesus’ tenderness toward children which caused him to say: ‘Let them come to me, do not hinder them’ allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without baptism.” (CCC 1261)", from https://www.bostoncatholic.org/pastoral-notes-celebration-liturgical-rites-deceased-infants-and-stillborn-or-miscarried-infants).
However, the Church actually ENCOURAGES funeral services for stillborn children. The same source I cited above has this to say about funeral masses for unbaptized children: "The Church offers the celebration of a Funeral Mass for baptized children but also for children who have died before baptism. In the case of unbaptized children certain ritual elements celebrating baptism, e.g. sprinkling with holy water, the use of the pall and incense are omitted. Special prayers are found in the ritual." Again, the term "unbaptized children" includes children who died before birth.
The Church also seems to be merciful on the subject of abortion. Again, from the same web page: "The words of Pope John Paul II may be a source of solace to mothers feeling guilty over their aborted baby’s eternal fate: “You will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost and you will be able to ask forgiveness from your child who is now living with the Lord” (The Gospel of Life – 99)."
I have no dog in this race: I've been a Roaming Catholic for the last 40-odd years, with no plans to roam back to the Church, though Pope Francis seems to be a pretty decent guy. I just wanted to set the record straight.
I would never consider an abortion for myself (I can't even kill non-human animals, even indirectly by eating meat; though my eggs are well past their expiration date, so it's not really an issue for me), but I do not condemn anyone who feels that they need to abort a pregnancy - the few people I know who've had abortions had very good reasons (e.g., one was only 15 years old). Until there's a 100% foolproof birth control method, and rape and sexual abuse are eliminated, and there's a place where all unwanted children will have a 100% chance of being raised in a loving home despite the lack of their biological parents's input, I feel that abortion needs to remain an option. I fear that forcing women without the resources, ability, or desire to bear and raise children is a recipe for unhappy children who grow up to become unhappy adults, who may go on to repeat the cycle...
I once had the opportunity to participate in a baptism/burial for a stillborn boy. The family and i were members of the Slavic Full Gospel Church (Ukrainian Pentecostal) in upstate New York. When the child lay there in the sunlight, his body was almost translucent! As it happened, because I was the go-to translator for our immigrant church members when they had medical appointments, I had seen this particular boy in the womb, in an X-ray, as well!
With all our advanced medical practices and social adaptations, customs like baptisms and funerals have come a long way in the last century, haven't they? I had a second brother who left the womb in 1953, if I remember correctly. The only way I know that is that one day, while our mother was in the hospital, Dad sat my brother and I on each knee. Sadly, he told us that we almost had a brother, but he died in the womb. "What happened to him? we asked. "Oh. He went out with the "Medical trash." Right now he's probably sitting in a dumpster on the loading dock of the hospital. " Dad said that so cavalierly, it was as if he were a discussing a Thanksgiving turkey that had been left in the oven too long!
I don't know how the sight of that fetus might have affected his dozen or so potential brothers and sisters. I don't recall any other children in attendance at that "baptism." It certainly was an unexpected procedure for me, at least!
My second child died in my womb back in the early eighties. The doctor cavalierly "cleaned things up," leaving his nurse behind to clean up the emotional damage. The "baby" apparently hadn't even made it to the fetal stage - it had died a couple of weeks into the pregnancy, but it took my body a couple of months to figure it out - but for my husband and me, it was a baby, with a name (Christopher or Phoebe); we'd come to love him/her and we mourned the loss. Even though he/she was a "only" a blastocyte at death, it still took me years to come to terms with the loss; I can only imagine the devastation of losing a baby a few months into the pregnancy. What little there was went out in the "medical trash." I would think some sort of service for a stillborn child might go a long way towards helping the parents (and others) grieve.
The Democrats need to take a look at politics and I mean practical street politics which is about winning elections at the state and local level. I remember many Democratic women in 2016 who said that they could see no difference between Ms. Clinton and Donald. Say what?
If you don't like what the politicians in Congress, state legislatures, and the courts are doing, then elect some different people. If you can't do that, then forget about it.
In our recent primary election in Alabama, 23% of registered voters went to the polls statewide. Consider that there are many people who could vote but they are not registered. So as you say a very small percentage of the population decides these issues.
Anyone who is surprised at the recent activities of the Supremes just has not been following what has been going on for the last ten years or so.
In future expect them to do everything that they can to put into effect the religious/republican right wing agenda such as:
-continue to restrict voting and make it harder to vote:
- work against labor;
-work for corporations and the well connected and well off;
-be solicitous of right wing religion organizations;
-support law enforcement and the police regardless of how egregious their conduct is;
-stymie efforts to deal with gerrymanders and unequal representation;
-cripple the administrative state -- that is cripple agencies such as the EPA or the CDC who are working to deal with climate change or the pandemic.
That has been their agenda for the last ten years. Now that they have 5 or 6 sure votes means there is no stopping the Supremes from doing whatever they wish.
Good morning, GK! “Exercise your gifts. Create beautiful things.” Shine light into darkness, temper grace with reason and drive back ignorance and unkindness; no words could be “truer”.
There are a lot of subjects that aren't "Black and White." Abortion is certainly one of them. Years ago (in 2000 to be exact), I was a Census taker, going door-to-door to collect data from folks who hadn't submitted their forms by the due date. At one of the doors I knocked on, a pregnant woman, with five kids hanging onto her legs and such, invited me in to walk her through the paperwork. Every one of those children had a different father. She had never gotten around to even the ring on the finger stage.
Why? She was on Welfare, and "the more, the merrier!" was the theme of their financial aid. She lived in a moderately good apartment building, with ground floor access. Her children were well dressed and fed, from all I could observe. I was under the impression that none of those children had ever met their "birth fathers."
I think the term in use is "Welfare Queen." She made one choice about "Family planning." Sociologically, I hope that her children went to a school where the principal made an effort to put those children in classes with male teachers, whenever possible.
To me, a blank statement "Stop the Killing!" doesn't fit every lifestyle situation. There probably are women who aren't well-fitted, personality-wise, to be properly "maternal." And there are economic situations in which adding more children to stressed families isn't a wise idea, either.
We're living in an over-populated world, stressing our natural resources and the ability of the planet to cope with all of us. China, many years ago, decided that, to curb their population growth, families would be limited to two offspring a piece. It could be that other countries will follow suit. We need to look at "The Whole Picture" on this!
There are no words I needed to hear first thing this Monday morning more than yours.
Thank you for living out loud. Thank you for making this project of living feel like … well, like what?i. I don’t know a good word for this feeling I have other than joy! Joy in the morning! Garrison’s alive and kicking and rhyming and making me smile a thankful smile.
What has happened to the mellowed out old liberal Sage of NMP? Venture to say he’d be better spoken and his revival better received to hearken back and include some of the old Minnesota and Lutheran background to balance his commentary
Not My Problem? Not My President? No Moving Parts? Network Management Protocol? New Millenium Program? Novel Membrane Protein? Not a Member of Parliament? Nucleoside monophosphate? N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone? The magic of Google reveals enough possibilities to goggle the mind! (at least my shaky mind)
Wokeness refers to the invocation of unintuitive and morally burdensome political norms and ideas in a manner which suggests they are self-evident.
This idiom—or perhaps communicative register—replaces the obligation of persuading others to adopt our values with the satisfaction of signaling our allegiance and literacy to those who already agree. In some cases, this means we speak in an insular language that alienates those who haven’t stewed in the same activist cultural milieu. At other times, it means we express fealty to a novel or unintuitive norm, while suggesting that anyone who doesn’t already agree with it is a bad person.
A lot of projection, since much of the rhetoric coming from conservatives and right-wingers not very intuitive and morally bankrupt, definitely invocations since often accompanied by self-righteousness and quasi-religious trappings. Our "stew" is more hearty and well-founded than typical conservative gruel. As for being a bad person, we usually counter or even condemn the rhetoric but hope that the person is not really bad, just in need of guidance, not to be hated but pitied.
You cited serious hating going on in Evanston, name and itemize.
"Woke" has been said by liberals probably four times - but like "fake news", trumpers and their fascist media have seen it as a gift to paint themselves as victims of suppression, and inject it into every sentence at every opportunity, while still seeming to always get their way.
I find conservatives are more likely to sling "hate" than liberals, against anyone or anything at odds with their views, often self-righteous. I do have clues that I'm more correct than not but I'll refrain from calling this response "clueless".
The article is an example of the hate that liberals have for anyone who doesn't agree with them. . I am disgusted by our folksie Garrison hinting that the justices should be subject to humiliation and tampering of their food because they decided to overturn a decision that exceeded the court's constitutional mandate.
No, it is not hate -- more conservative specialty -- but dislike and calling them out for controversial actions that many of us, possibly a majority, do not agree with. Also, the constitutional arguments were strained at a minimum and many of us are also worried about that the decision was based more on religious reasons and we don't want a theocracy
Okay, so now it's up to the states, right? What will your argument be when all 50 states have decided to allow abortion? Will you be on here calling everyone who doesn't agree with you an abortion lover? Do you know how many pregnancies have resulted from rapes in Texas alone since the overturning of Roe vs. Wade? By the way, what's your opinion of Pope Francis? Just out of curiosity.
People have a tendency to hurt each other. Hate is an all too human response to being hurt. I admit that I've hated someone in my past, but later came to forgive him. The problem with hate is that - unless someone is a homicidal psychopath (which I'm not!) - it tends to harm the hater more than the hated. Hate works like a volatile poison in the brain, eventually sapping the joy out of life. Keeping the fires of hate stoked gives the hated person power over the hater's mind. It is better to forgive. I don't intend to see or speak to this person ever again (he will never even know he's been forgiven), but I also don't plan on wasting any more of my life hating him. Eventually the time comes to move along and take control of one's own destiny.
Really? And the women should stay barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen? Norwegian mid-westerners care about this country and our freedoms, and have as much right and obligation as anybody to discuss it. This is no time for your "know your place " crap.
I didn't know that either! I think constitutionalists also don't know what it says in the 2nd amendment either. "Well regulated". Not "deregulated" or "unregulated". It's "regulated" which today would translate to the United States Army.
Perfect - thank you --- exactly my thoughts. All this craziness affects my poetry and art - sometimes not so beautiful - but I'm trying to compass toward the positive.
Thank you for this. I will try to remember to breathe the air and enjoy the smiles of my granddaughter while asking the Good Guy above to watch over us all.
It's sick if revealing that you're exulting in terrorism, proving that we whom you would consider "right wingers" ( I consider myself a Chestertonian Distributist ) are sound in our assertions that violence is far more likely to come from the Left than from the Right.
You point to a slob of an ex - President, and his magical thinking that several hundred loutish dorks who probably couldn't plan a summer vacation would be capable of thwarting the Electoral College, while the rest of us point to the smash, burn, loot and topple summer of two years ago, and now to this classic of yours, as evidence of whom to expect violence from.
I suppose the worst part is your delight in the intimidation which you see coming to the families of the justices, and which you don't abhor! You ought to be ashamed of yourself. The invocation of Mozart and beauty on top of your delight in violence is vomitorious. If you actually had wit, the parallel with Naziism would not have evaded your awareness.
The Left has gone mad, with hatred and with murder. But who should be surprised that murder would lurk in the hearts of those who think it enobles a nation to permit the freewill murder of the unborn?
Evade it as you may, Garrison, that is what abortion is, and everyone knows it. The woman isn't having liposuction, she is having a genetically unique human being, made in the Imago Dei, whom she has been granted the privilege of nurturing in herself, murdered.
Yours is the view of a person who has forgotten God. Sing your songs, talk about the Plymouth Brethren, be America's gentle humorist. It's all crap. You really are a hater.
More proof of the unfairness of life is that you're much better known than the truly amusing and lovely late Canadian monologist, Stuart McLean, whose Vinyl Cafe recordings are available in their near if not total marvelous entirety on YouTube.
Rife with projection, no need to itemize. Right-wingers have gone mad (and have been for some time). You should be ashamed of yourselves. You have forgotten the real aspects of God and Christ. Right-winders have a monopoly on hate, the rest of us have extreme dislike for right-wing opinions and actions. I'm just beginning, no need to waste any more time on this hypocritical rant.
Harry Blackburn once told me how miffed he was that his insurance company refused to pay for reupholstering a chair he'd been sitting in at his home when a sniper fired a shot and blew a hole in the side of it. Harry expected compensation and wrote some judicious letters to the company and they refused. He left the hole in the wall where the bullet wound up. Anyway, I forgive you for the tone of your letter. Have a good day.
"Hang Mike Pence!", the crowd jeered. "Give us Barabbas" another crowd cried.
Crucifixes hang from the necks of many of all persuasions...Woke and those still asleep.
Lead us from the darkness, let the light break through the clouds. Educate us with a laugh and the tragedies repeated throughout history when our constructs no longer are relative.
I'm sure Paul Pelosi, Ruby Freeman, Shaye Moss and many others would disagree with this ridiculous rant. I'm always blown away by those who feel the need to post veiled rants against Black Lives Matter. In any case, intelligence agencies have identified right-wing extremism as the greatest threat to our national security. trump incites political violence and his cult members are totally fine with it. Stuart McLean is also available wherever you get your podcasts, and I'm sure he would have taken issue with just about everything you've written here.
Well, okay.; you’re right. Your admonition to keep on the sunny side of life reminds me to stop thinking that by worrying I can change who is elected president. I shall have to truly live more in my heart if a certain orange man is put in office—again.
I'm a conservative. At the same time, I make it a habitually daily practice to mind my own business. Equally at the same time, I subscribe to the live and let live mentality. You do you and I'll do me. With that I also practice not watching the evening news, watching chit-chat TV programs and late night TV where news and entertainment has taken a very distant back seat to political opinion. "You need to be informed" I am told. Perhaps, but sadly the boob tube has degenerated into a preach-box and I don't like being preached to.
R-V-W and abortion, I have always felt was a personal issue raised, unceremoniously, to a public level. Going back to minding ones own business, it is not for me, or anyone for that matter, to decide what a woman should and shouldn't, can and can't do with her body. As a man, I see a pregnancy as a dangerous thing for a woman. It can kill her if things don't go well and even if things can go well it can still kill her. If a woman is raped, a victim of incest or finds a medical issue that could cause her death, then the abortion should be permitted. Once the realization of pregnancy is confirmed that is when it should be done. Immediately if it is decided so. I recall there was a push by the progressives to allow abortion nearly up to the point of birth. Something to that effect. I feel had that not been pushed by the progressives, we would not be talking about RVW right now.
Sometimes, and this doesn't require a lot of deep thought, ya just gotta know when to keep your big mouth shut. Don't poke the hornets nest, don't hit a sleeping bear with a stick.... just shut up. But noooooo....... "We want the right to terminate the fetus a week after it is born!!!!".... Well, you opened your big mouth and.... ta da.
Yes, November is coming and I expect there will be riots, fires and questionable results to accompany a sweeping change in what suits are sitting in what chairs. And even then, it is likely we will have little say in what happens.
Abortion, contraception, family planning, are all medical issues (which conservative tend to ignore or de-fund) and personal liberty (which they allegedly champion). The effect on pregnancy treatment, especially for miscarriage, will be horrendous.
Now, your saying that the whole thing was caused by progressives wanting to kill week-old babies, or babies about to be born, is where you demonstrate that being informed would indeed be a good thing. So you'd better put the news back on. Churches never used to pay much attention to abortion until certain Evangelicals decided to use abortion to gain political power. Nobody has demanded the right to kill babies. That's an utterly absurd statement to make and a mere political talking point that you must have picked up from something purporting to be news. And you even said all this in conjunction with saying it's important to know when to shut up. It's just astounding. And God only knows how Substack brought me to these very old comments today.
Thank you for your stunning commentary, and the inclusion of the Figaro link. It both soothed my spirit and brought me back to "reality" after last evening's painful Tampa Bay Lightning loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals. ON ALL ACCOUNTS... Stop. Regroup. Press on. 🎶🏒💗
It appears you are opposed to contraception then.
You defined as anything in the womb, fertilized egg, embryo, fetus (including those with medical difficulties, leading to non-viability or helath of the mother) as a "baby". Not so.
So what is your stand on contraception?
So, no sex for anyone unless they wish to have a human being? What a ludicrous position to take. I dare say many more men than women would take exception to this antiquarian philosophy, though you'd be hard pressed to find more than 1% of Americans (human beings?) who would agree with you.
Yes, that includes everyone, God's grace is extended to all, regardless of sex, gender, race, gender preference, etc. And it's not a baby until viable outside the womb.
Who decided that a child next to its mother's heart is not a baby. According to the twisted logic of abortion lovers, it's not a baby if you do want it and it's a baby if you do want it.
Nobody is an abortion "lover" so the rest of the sentence does not make sense.
Great decisions by SCOTUS last week
God is at work in the USA
That would be “false-er”, sweetie.
God has been at work for a long time. It didn't start last week.
I'm not sure how much God has to do with the Six Supremes...
The 1st lesson in the lectionary a couple of weeks ago was proverbs 8:1-4, where Lady Wisdom (not the gender) is proclaiming wisdom on the street corner. Wisdom should be expectd of everyone, at least as we age, but seems to be lacking in 6 members of SCOTUS
They're our punishment for inventing plastic.
They made their choices. They get to try to justify them, after they die. It might be too late (in a sense) for us, but they might discover it's too late for them;
There's much I can say against the overturn of Roe v Wade but space does not allow. Especially egregious is the stand of Clarnece Thomas on other issues that should be challenged. headline this morning has Samuel L. Jackson asking about Thomas' thinking on interracial marriage, should that be challenged.
You used the plural of decisions. If you're referring to the decision that Maine's policy of not providing tuition to schools
... to private schools of religious backing, the case was wrongly argued (and bought by Roberts in the decision). The students were not denied a public education, thy had other options which tuition would have been funded by taxpayer dollars. If a school wan'[t to be considered "Public" and get public funding, they have to play by public school rules. Both schools in question will not play by the rules, especially by human rights, but yet may further challenge. That's not even Quixotic, it's futile.
Maybe your God. Too bad you had to make one up. I suggest reading your Bible instead of hitting people you deem inferior over the head with it. You may find they're not talking about your God at all.
Mr Allen
Not sure if this was directed at my comment
He should speak for himself but I think it was directed at your comment.
I don't come here to argue but yes. And I am speaking for myself as your post was offensive in it's self righteous arrogance, presuming to speak for God. Ever wonder why the Catholic Church doesn't do baptisms or funeral services for stillborn children or fetuses? You're clearly confusing trump with God. They are polar opposites.
It's my understanding that the Roman Catholic church does not do baptism for stillborn infants because the sacrament of baptism is for the living. It's the entrance of a person into the faith community of Christians, with the intent of putting that faith into action. The unlimited mercy of God takes care of the rest.
Yes. It says until he "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" according to the Bible. That's why I get flustered at people using the Bible as an "I'm right about everything" card.
Maybe you misunderstood my comment. Even though the Catholics don't baptize stillborns, since the sacraments are for the living, they still consider the unborn children to be made in the image of God and consider abortion murder. I'm Orthodox and feel the same way.
Apparently the Catholic Chruch doesn't consider a fetus a child or baby until it's born live, unlike many conservatives.
Yes. And they have the same Bible.
Actually, your statement is only half correct. The Catholic Church does not baptize the dead - as Basil of the high plains points out, it's a sacrament for the living. Apparently, the general feeling is that infants who die before baptism - including miscarried, stillborn, and even aborted babies or fetuses - do not need to be baptized to be accepted into heaven ("Indeed the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved and Jesus’ tenderness toward children which caused him to say: ‘Let them come to me, do not hinder them’ allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without baptism.” (CCC 1261)", from https://www.bostoncatholic.org/pastoral-notes-celebration-liturgical-rites-deceased-infants-and-stillborn-or-miscarried-infants).
However, the Church actually ENCOURAGES funeral services for stillborn children. The same source I cited above has this to say about funeral masses for unbaptized children: "The Church offers the celebration of a Funeral Mass for baptized children but also for children who have died before baptism. In the case of unbaptized children certain ritual elements celebrating baptism, e.g. sprinkling with holy water, the use of the pall and incense are omitted. Special prayers are found in the ritual." Again, the term "unbaptized children" includes children who died before birth.
The Church also seems to be merciful on the subject of abortion. Again, from the same web page: "The words of Pope John Paul II may be a source of solace to mothers feeling guilty over their aborted baby’s eternal fate: “You will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost and you will be able to ask forgiveness from your child who is now living with the Lord” (The Gospel of Life – 99)."
I have no dog in this race: I've been a Roaming Catholic for the last 40-odd years, with no plans to roam back to the Church, though Pope Francis seems to be a pretty decent guy. I just wanted to set the record straight.
I would never consider an abortion for myself (I can't even kill non-human animals, even indirectly by eating meat; though my eggs are well past their expiration date, so it's not really an issue for me), but I do not condemn anyone who feels that they need to abort a pregnancy - the few people I know who've had abortions had very good reasons (e.g., one was only 15 years old). Until there's a 100% foolproof birth control method, and rape and sexual abuse are eliminated, and there's a place where all unwanted children will have a 100% chance of being raised in a loving home despite the lack of their biological parents's input, I feel that abortion needs to remain an option. I fear that forcing women without the resources, ability, or desire to bear and raise children is a recipe for unhappy children who grow up to become unhappy adults, who may go on to repeat the cycle...
I once had the opportunity to participate in a baptism/burial for a stillborn boy. The family and i were members of the Slavic Full Gospel Church (Ukrainian Pentecostal) in upstate New York. When the child lay there in the sunlight, his body was almost translucent! As it happened, because I was the go-to translator for our immigrant church members when they had medical appointments, I had seen this particular boy in the womb, in an X-ray, as well!
With all our advanced medical practices and social adaptations, customs like baptisms and funerals have come a long way in the last century, haven't they? I had a second brother who left the womb in 1953, if I remember correctly. The only way I know that is that one day, while our mother was in the hospital, Dad sat my brother and I on each knee. Sadly, he told us that we almost had a brother, but he died in the womb. "What happened to him? we asked. "Oh. He went out with the "Medical trash." Right now he's probably sitting in a dumpster on the loading dock of the hospital. " Dad said that so cavalierly, it was as if he were a discussing a Thanksgiving turkey that had been left in the oven too long!
I don't know how the sight of that fetus might have affected his dozen or so potential brothers and sisters. I don't recall any other children in attendance at that "baptism." It certainly was an unexpected procedure for me, at least!
My second child died in my womb back in the early eighties. The doctor cavalierly "cleaned things up," leaving his nurse behind to clean up the emotional damage. The "baby" apparently hadn't even made it to the fetal stage - it had died a couple of weeks into the pregnancy, but it took my body a couple of months to figure it out - but for my husband and me, it was a baby, with a name (Christopher or Phoebe); we'd come to love him/her and we mourned the loss. Even though he/she was a "only" a blastocyte at death, it still took me years to come to terms with the loss; I can only imagine the devastation of losing a baby a few months into the pregnancy. What little there was went out in the "medical trash." I would think some sort of service for a stillborn child might go a long way towards helping the parents (and others) grieve.
Catholics only baptize the living.
MY imaginary friend, Mr Beelzy, disagrees.
So you're against abortion, eh Henry? My advice: Don't have one.
not suggesting anything about why you are here
thats nice
Good comments, Garrison.
The Democrats need to take a look at politics and I mean practical street politics which is about winning elections at the state and local level. I remember many Democratic women in 2016 who said that they could see no difference between Ms. Clinton and Donald. Say what?
If you don't like what the politicians in Congress, state legislatures, and the courts are doing, then elect some different people. If you can't do that, then forget about it.
In our recent primary election in Alabama, 23% of registered voters went to the polls statewide. Consider that there are many people who could vote but they are not registered. So as you say a very small percentage of the population decides these issues.
Best wishes to one and all.
Anyone who is surprised at the recent activities of the Supremes just has not been following what has been going on for the last ten years or so.
In future expect them to do everything that they can to put into effect the religious/republican right wing agenda such as:
-continue to restrict voting and make it harder to vote:
- work against labor;
-work for corporations and the well connected and well off;
-be solicitous of right wing religion organizations;
-support law enforcement and the police regardless of how egregious their conduct is;
-stymie efforts to deal with gerrymanders and unequal representation;
-cripple the administrative state -- that is cripple agencies such as the EPA or the CDC who are working to deal with climate change or the pandemic.
That has been their agenda for the last ten years. Now that they have 5 or 6 sure votes means there is no stopping the Supremes from doing whatever they wish.
"Depressed" isn't quite the word, Garrison. "Dumfounded", "enraged", "bewildered"...I can't quite get the right one.
When words fail, however, humor and and a little history always helps. Thanks for providing that respite for me.
Good morning, GK! “Exercise your gifts. Create beautiful things.” Shine light into darkness, temper grace with reason and drive back ignorance and unkindness; no words could be “truer”.
Yes, keeping the killing going in the abortuaries is a beautiful thing.
There are a lot of subjects that aren't "Black and White." Abortion is certainly one of them. Years ago (in 2000 to be exact), I was a Census taker, going door-to-door to collect data from folks who hadn't submitted their forms by the due date. At one of the doors I knocked on, a pregnant woman, with five kids hanging onto her legs and such, invited me in to walk her through the paperwork. Every one of those children had a different father. She had never gotten around to even the ring on the finger stage.
Why? She was on Welfare, and "the more, the merrier!" was the theme of their financial aid. She lived in a moderately good apartment building, with ground floor access. Her children were well dressed and fed, from all I could observe. I was under the impression that none of those children had ever met their "birth fathers."
I think the term in use is "Welfare Queen." She made one choice about "Family planning." Sociologically, I hope that her children went to a school where the principal made an effort to put those children in classes with male teachers, whenever possible.
To me, a blank statement "Stop the Killing!" doesn't fit every lifestyle situation. There probably are women who aren't well-fitted, personality-wise, to be properly "maternal." And there are economic situations in which adding more children to stressed families isn't a wise idea, either.
We're living in an over-populated world, stressing our natural resources and the ability of the planet to cope with all of us. China, many years ago, decided that, to curb their population growth, families would be limited to two offspring a piece. It could be that other countries will follow suit. We need to look at "The Whole Picture" on this!
Bravo
There are no words I needed to hear first thing this Monday morning more than yours.
Thank you for living out loud. Thank you for making this project of living feel like … well, like what?i. I don’t know a good word for this feeling I have other than joy! Joy in the morning! Garrison’s alive and kicking and rhyming and making me smile a thankful smile.
Thank you, dear, treasured man.
Thank you.
What has happened to the mellowed out old liberal Sage of NMP? Venture to say he’d be better spoken and his revival better received to hearken back and include some of the old Minnesota and Lutheran background to balance his commentary
Huh? Who? Me? What is NMP?
Not My Problem? Not My President? No Moving Parts? Network Management Protocol? New Millenium Program? Novel Membrane Protein? Not a Member of Parliament? Nucleoside monophosphate? N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone? The magic of Google reveals enough possibilities to goggle the mind! (at least my shaky mind)
😂
How Substack brought me here today to relive this lively "debate" I have no idea! I think there's a bug somewhere.
Oh! I was wondering why you were reading this again. It was fun, though. 😁
"Not My Problem"
Thanks.
Yes....I read your recent book! Your recent commentary is far different.
He's too sick with hatred to hack it at this point.
Hate is a monopoly of conservatives. Try extreme dislike of wrong conservative opinions and actions.
Not so fast... I live dead center in Wokeville, USA...Evanston, IL. There's some serious hating going on in my town.
Name it. Including define "woke".
Wokeness refers to the invocation of unintuitive and morally burdensome political norms and ideas in a manner which suggests they are self-evident.
This idiom—or perhaps communicative register—replaces the obligation of persuading others to adopt our values with the satisfaction of signaling our allegiance and literacy to those who already agree. In some cases, this means we speak in an insular language that alienates those who haven’t stewed in the same activist cultural milieu. At other times, it means we express fealty to a novel or unintuitive norm, while suggesting that anyone who doesn’t already agree with it is a bad person.
And....name what?
A lot of projection, since much of the rhetoric coming from conservatives and right-wingers not very intuitive and morally bankrupt, definitely invocations since often accompanied by self-righteousness and quasi-religious trappings. Our "stew" is more hearty and well-founded than typical conservative gruel. As for being a bad person, we usually counter or even condemn the rhetoric but hope that the person is not really bad, just in need of guidance, not to be hated but pitied.
You cited serious hating going on in Evanston, name and itemize.
"Woke" has been said by liberals probably four times - but like "fake news", trumpers and their fascist media have seen it as a gift to paint themselves as victims of suppression, and inject it into every sentence at every opportunity, while still seeming to always get their way.
The fact you think it’s a monopoly is the first clue you’re wrong. Lol.
I find conservatives are more likely to sling "hate" than liberals, against anyone or anything at odds with their views, often self-righteous. I do have clues that I'm more correct than not but I'll refrain from calling this response "clueless".
What you’re seeing is the courtesy of conservatives to at least hate you to your face.
The left prefers a quieter approach. Usually involving a knife and your back.
The article is an example of the hate that liberals have for anyone who doesn't agree with them. . I am disgusted by our folksie Garrison hinting that the justices should be subject to humiliation and tampering of their food because they decided to overturn a decision that exceeded the court's constitutional mandate.
No, it is not hate -- more conservative specialty -- but dislike and calling them out for controversial actions that many of us, possibly a majority, do not agree with. Also, the constitutional arguments were strained at a minimum and many of us are also worried about that the decision was based more on religious reasons and we don't want a theocracy
Okay, so now it's up to the states, right? What will your argument be when all 50 states have decided to allow abortion? Will you be on here calling everyone who doesn't agree with you an abortion lover? Do you know how many pregnancies have resulted from rapes in Texas alone since the overturning of Roe vs. Wade? By the way, what's your opinion of Pope Francis? Just out of curiosity.
I'm pretty sure that the capacity to hate has little to do with where one is aligned on the conservative -- liberal spectrum.
I'd like to think that liberals have less of a tendency to hate, but I could be wromg.
Is the blood in their veins red?
Yes?
Then they tendency to hate is the same.
Over extended metaphor, true premise but false conclusion.
Oh but they have a greater tendency to stab in the back, according to you. The hypocrisy is stunning.
People have a tendency to hurt each other. Hate is an all too human response to being hurt. I admit that I've hated someone in my past, but later came to forgive him. The problem with hate is that - unless someone is a homicidal psychopath (which I'm not!) - it tends to harm the hater more than the hated. Hate works like a volatile poison in the brain, eventually sapping the joy out of life. Keeping the fires of hate stoked gives the hated person power over the hater's mind. It is better to forgive. I don't intend to see or speak to this person ever again (he will never even know he's been forgiven), but I also don't plan on wasting any more of my life hating him. Eventually the time comes to move along and take control of one's own destiny.
Thanks for this excellent sermonette on forgiveness, my Pastor and I appreciate it.
Hatred of whom? The only "person" he ever calls out—and not hatefully, I might add—is Republican Jesus.
Really? And the women should stay barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen? Norwegian mid-westerners care about this country and our freedoms, and have as much right and obligation as anybody to discuss it. This is no time for your "know your place " crap.
It's been pointed out that Constitutionalists fail to observe that in 1787 (and for some time after) women were considered property.
I didn't know that either! I think constitutionalists also don't know what it says in the 2nd amendment either. "Well regulated". Not "deregulated" or "unregulated". It's "regulated" which today would translate to the United States Army.
Eminently worthy of sharing . . . so I did.
Me too.
Garrison: your essay is a masterpiece. Thank you for your thoughts.
Perfect - thank you --- exactly my thoughts. All this craziness affects my poetry and art - sometimes not so beautiful - but I'm trying to compass toward the positive.
Thank you for this. I will try to remember to breathe the air and enjoy the smiles of my granddaughter while asking the Good Guy above to watch over us all.
It's sick if revealing that you're exulting in terrorism, proving that we whom you would consider "right wingers" ( I consider myself a Chestertonian Distributist ) are sound in our assertions that violence is far more likely to come from the Left than from the Right.
You point to a slob of an ex - President, and his magical thinking that several hundred loutish dorks who probably couldn't plan a summer vacation would be capable of thwarting the Electoral College, while the rest of us point to the smash, burn, loot and topple summer of two years ago, and now to this classic of yours, as evidence of whom to expect violence from.
I suppose the worst part is your delight in the intimidation which you see coming to the families of the justices, and which you don't abhor! You ought to be ashamed of yourself. The invocation of Mozart and beauty on top of your delight in violence is vomitorious. If you actually had wit, the parallel with Naziism would not have evaded your awareness.
The Left has gone mad, with hatred and with murder. But who should be surprised that murder would lurk in the hearts of those who think it enobles a nation to permit the freewill murder of the unborn?
Evade it as you may, Garrison, that is what abortion is, and everyone knows it. The woman isn't having liposuction, she is having a genetically unique human being, made in the Imago Dei, whom she has been granted the privilege of nurturing in herself, murdered.
Yours is the view of a person who has forgotten God. Sing your songs, talk about the Plymouth Brethren, be America's gentle humorist. It's all crap. You really are a hater.
More proof of the unfairness of life is that you're much better known than the truly amusing and lovely late Canadian monologist, Stuart McLean, whose Vinyl Cafe recordings are available in their near if not total marvelous entirety on YouTube.
Right on, Garrison! That's being Christian.
As the kids say”OMG”.
Rife with projection, no need to itemize. Right-wingers have gone mad (and have been for some time). You should be ashamed of yourselves. You have forgotten the real aspects of God and Christ. Right-winders have a monopoly on hate, the rest of us have extreme dislike for right-wing opinions and actions. I'm just beginning, no need to waste any more time on this hypocritical rant.
Harry Blackburn once told me how miffed he was that his insurance company refused to pay for reupholstering a chair he'd been sitting in at his home when a sniper fired a shot and blew a hole in the side of it. Harry expected compensation and wrote some judicious letters to the company and they refused. He left the hole in the wall where the bullet wound up. Anyway, I forgive you for the tone of your letter. Have a good day.
Unlike the commenter, that's being Christian, Garrison, thanks.
"Hang Mike Pence!", the crowd jeered. "Give us Barabbas" another crowd cried.
Crucifixes hang from the necks of many of all persuasions...Woke and those still asleep.
Lead us from the darkness, let the light break through the clouds. Educate us with a laugh and the tragedies repeated throughout history when our constructs no longer are relative.
Thank you, Garrison, for doing what you do.
I'm sure Paul Pelosi, Ruby Freeman, Shaye Moss and many others would disagree with this ridiculous rant. I'm always blown away by those who feel the need to post veiled rants against Black Lives Matter. In any case, intelligence agencies have identified right-wing extremism as the greatest threat to our national security. trump incites political violence and his cult members are totally fine with it. Stuart McLean is also available wherever you get your podcasts, and I'm sure he would have taken issue with just about everything you've written here.
Well, okay.; you’re right. Your admonition to keep on the sunny side of life reminds me to stop thinking that by worrying I can change who is elected president. I shall have to truly live more in my heart if a certain orange man is put in office—again.
Let's not let that happen. Vote, and not for any Republican who buys into that load of manure.
I'm a conservative. At the same time, I make it a habitually daily practice to mind my own business. Equally at the same time, I subscribe to the live and let live mentality. You do you and I'll do me. With that I also practice not watching the evening news, watching chit-chat TV programs and late night TV where news and entertainment has taken a very distant back seat to political opinion. "You need to be informed" I am told. Perhaps, but sadly the boob tube has degenerated into a preach-box and I don't like being preached to.
R-V-W and abortion, I have always felt was a personal issue raised, unceremoniously, to a public level. Going back to minding ones own business, it is not for me, or anyone for that matter, to decide what a woman should and shouldn't, can and can't do with her body. As a man, I see a pregnancy as a dangerous thing for a woman. It can kill her if things don't go well and even if things can go well it can still kill her. If a woman is raped, a victim of incest or finds a medical issue that could cause her death, then the abortion should be permitted. Once the realization of pregnancy is confirmed that is when it should be done. Immediately if it is decided so. I recall there was a push by the progressives to allow abortion nearly up to the point of birth. Something to that effect. I feel had that not been pushed by the progressives, we would not be talking about RVW right now.
Sometimes, and this doesn't require a lot of deep thought, ya just gotta know when to keep your big mouth shut. Don't poke the hornets nest, don't hit a sleeping bear with a stick.... just shut up. But noooooo....... "We want the right to terminate the fetus a week after it is born!!!!".... Well, you opened your big mouth and.... ta da.
Yes, November is coming and I expect there will be riots, fires and questionable results to accompany a sweeping change in what suits are sitting in what chairs. And even then, it is likely we will have little say in what happens.
Turn off your TV.
Abortion, contraception, family planning, are all medical issues (which conservative tend to ignore or de-fund) and personal liberty (which they allegedly champion). The effect on pregnancy treatment, especially for miscarriage, will be horrendous.
Now, your saying that the whole thing was caused by progressives wanting to kill week-old babies, or babies about to be born, is where you demonstrate that being informed would indeed be a good thing. So you'd better put the news back on. Churches never used to pay much attention to abortion until certain Evangelicals decided to use abortion to gain political power. Nobody has demanded the right to kill babies. That's an utterly absurd statement to make and a mere political talking point that you must have picked up from something purporting to be news. And you even said all this in conjunction with saying it's important to know when to shut up. It's just astounding. And God only knows how Substack brought me to these very old comments today.
Thank you for your stunning commentary, and the inclusion of the Figaro link. It both soothed my spirit and brought me back to "reality" after last evening's painful Tampa Bay Lightning loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals. ON ALL ACCOUNTS... Stop. Regroup. Press on. 🎶🏒💗
I like the Mozart cure but as a Bruins fan, I don't like any other team in the NHL East (especially TB) so I'm very happy with the Avs win.
💗