A set that clanks.

First to Titus ... we are certainly within the realm of opinion here, but I think you are dead wrong on the "legacy" of GW Bush. Sorry pal, but I find it laughable that in future generations, when "common place" legacy sets in during casual conversation, that cabinet appointments, Rumsfeld et al will be a part of what is mentioned when his name is bandied about. Truman again serves as an example. For all of the problems at the end of his term that made him unpopular, that people of that day would assume would forever be associated with his "legacy", what stuck? "The buck stops here." Dropping the A-bomb and winning in the Pacific. Korea. And if they actually have a head on their shoulders the average "Joe" will note that he relieved MacArthur. With Bush in a generation or two it will be noted, "hey, isn't he the guy that kicked some ass after 9/11?" And if there is functioning democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan, this will be synonymous with his name as well. Now in terms of the future books, for history and policy wonks, yes "no WMD's found" will forever follow the Iraq conversation (less so if those democracies fourish I might add). And guys like us (what are we, in the one half of one percent range in terms of self-fed knowledge?) we will certainly discuss Rummy et al. But the broad strokes of history (what I F. Ryan think of when I hear the term "legacy" especially in terms of the casual conversation of the masses) will paint a picture of him standing on that rubble with the bull horn and cracking some heads after we were attacked, period.

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Jambo - BRAVO! I know you, and you were BEGGING for that cell to chirp. And what's tragic is they had instilled in your little girl's head that she should be hesitant to display a WWII shirt! An unfortunate development I have every faith you immediately corrected with more then the polo over the head. I'll have my guy, the principal who put together the American Memorial (with the German and Japanese Instruments of surrender), give that school a call ... he, he.

And whooooah! This turn of approach to schooling (via the feds that is) is a long cry from the morning I sat on your couch and you described to me how to federalize the whole "shabang" and thus break the back of the teacher's union. You will note I always resisted such a move (even though I drooled over the prospect of ending the teacher's union in its current form). I welcome the change ... although we still need to figure out how to apply the appropriate snap inducing pressure to the vertebrae of that union.

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Now, as to my header ...

Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia, PA. This is important on a couple of fronts. One, I have grown tired of the timidness that much of the traditional Christian leadership in America has become accustomed to in regards to the politics of their faith's positions. It seems to me that "Reverend" Wright can spew his vile hatred from the pulpit without consequence, yet Mormon, Catholic, Baptist preachers all must be careful at the lectern less they either offer "offense" or endanger their tax exempt status. And ALL mainstream Christian Faiths that would be regarded as "traditional" or "on the right" have developed this noticeable timidness, in my opinion. So, that's why I make a point of mentioning one Cardinal Rigali, in Titus's neck of the woods no less. On October 23rd, the Year of Our Lord 2008, he issued the following letter regarding abortion. And I know, I know - Titus and Jambo will be quick to point out that the Church's stance on life has been consistent even in the PC times we live. And they're right. However, rarely, from any traditional Christian quarter, do I hear it articulated with both such eloquence AND brutal candor... for your reading pleasure, the good Cardinal's letter to Pennsylvania Catholics:

The Challenge of Our Own times ...

Our own common sense tells us that not every issue is of the same importance. At various times in history, a people or nation is confronted with an issue that transcends others in importance and that demands a courageous response.

The transcending issue of our day is the intentional destruction of innocent human life, as in abortion. We wish with all our hearts that no candidate and no party were advocating this heinous act against the human person. However, since it is a transcending issue, and even supported in its most extreme and horrific forms, we must proclaim time and time again that no intrinsic evil can ever be supported in any way, most especially when it concerns the gravest of all intrinsic evils: the taking of an innocent life.

We bishops of Pennsylvania quoted from the late Pope John Paul II’s Post Synodal Exhortation on the Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful and I quote him again here: “The inviolability of the person which is a reflection of the absolute inviolability of God, finds its primary and fundamental expression in the inviolability of human life. Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights — for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture — is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination” (Christifideles Laici, 38).

At this moment in our country’s history, defense of innocent human life is a moral responsibility for all of us. The same God who thundered from Mount Sinai: “Thou shalt not kill,” thunders still. When life in the womb is destroyed, God thunders: “This is a child!” When by the most barbaric means, unworthy of any civilized people, the brain of a child is sucked out of his or her head by a vacuum, God thunders: “This is a child!” When a baby is left to die of exposure on a shelf because of a failed abortion, and this is considered a “right” by any leader, God, the Source of all law and authority, thunders: “This is a child!” When we are faced with every modern means of education and communication, in addition to the law placed in our hearts at creation, no one, and most especially, no Catholic, can ever say: “I did not know.”

The human dignity that we proclaim works two ways: it affords us a great privilege but it also demands a responsibility. The feeble defense “I did not know” cannot be used by any responsible person in our time when confronted with the reality of abortion. We do know. We know because we can reason and think and see. Along with this position, which is confirmed by modern science, comes a command: “Thou shalt not kill.” It is not a question of politics but a question of the gravest of intrinsic evils; and just as the reality of what it is cannot be explained away, neither can our responsibility.

Throughout our history, Catholics have earned their right to call themselves patriotic Americans. Faithful citizenship not only includes dying for one’s country or working towards its prosperity, it also includes being faithful to a law which is higher than the expediency of the moment with the same generosity of body and heart, and the same courage that is given on the battlefield and in the workplace. We remind ourselves of this as we continue to be called to faithful citizenship and respect for life in the “earthly city” without forgetting that we are ultimately called to live as citizens of heaven forever.

If you wish you can read his entire letter of 10/23/08, including portions other then abortion HERE.

Now I just wonder to whom he was referring when he mentioned the baby "on the shelf?" Like I said ... a set that clanks.