www.time.com

Some years ago, when FIRST THINGS was new, I met Diane, a young Episcopalian woman affiliated with the Institute on Religion and Democracy. We got to talking about FIRST THINGS, our favorite monthly magazine.

Diane was in the habit of reading the longer articles first, then rewarding herself with Fr. Richard John Neuhaus’ various commentaries in his While We’re At It section.

I jumped immediately to Fr. Neuhaus’ pages. It was like sitting down with an old friend.  He saw right through sham and he consistently skewered woolly-headed thinking with wit and grace.

AP reporter Rachel Zoll, writing for The New York Times tries to get it right today by describing Fr. Neuhaus’ life as moving from left to right:

A native of Canada and the son of a Lutheran pastor, Neuhaus began his own work as a Lutheran minister at St. John the Evangelist Lutheran Church in a predominantly African-American Brooklyn neighborhood. He was active in…

Boston Legal, courtesy of ABC.

Given my crushing pessimism about how the topic of abortion is handled in public discourse, one of the last places I have ever considered looking for ambiguity and complexity turned out to be a surprising source of both: a network TV drama. Boston Legal to be exact. I recently watched an episode that ran two weeks ago (on Nov. 10); it focused on issues surrounding abortion, including parental notification laws and loopholes, how we talk about abortion in public and think about it in private, and even what a turnoff the subject matter was likely to be to viewers. I was impressed.

If you’re not a fan of this very quirky show, I’m not necessarily suggesting you rush to the ABC website and watch it. But if you happened to miss it, and you like your TV dramedy with a certain Hollywood-style social conscience and a dash of…

Ever since 1973, the year of Roe v. Wade, I’ve followed the histrionic ravings of NARAL, NOW and other professional abortion supporters. as they attempt to frighten enlighten the public.

I’ve read their websites, watched their vulgar marches, perused their op/eds and letters-to-the editor, all the while shaking my head.  Why do these people go about pleading their cause in such self-defeating ways?

As a matter of fact, four years ago I wrote an op/ed published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Tips for Pro-Choice Advocates. Yes, I was so annoyed by their ineptitude, I wrote an article giving them advice.

(If you’re interested in background to that article, and curious to see whether or not my tactic was risky, go to the Issues, Etc. archive for an audio  interview.)

I mention this because a very recent, brief Barack Obama abortion ad  Barack Obama abortion ad is in the works. After a “nurse-practitioner” intro, an announcer concludes, “As president, John McCain will…

This week the Democratic party made clear its total support of abortion on demand.

Gone is the “safe, legal and rare” rhetoric of the past few years and in is this:

“The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”

The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, clearly ultra liberal on the abortion issue — look at his Senate record — is surely pleased.

Less clear is whether the conflicted electorate will be.

And now, as of three days ago, we have new charges from the National Right to Life organization about candidate Obama’s  abortion obfuscation as well as his well known abortion extremism.

NRL accuses Barack Obama of being a whole lot less than truthful when he defends his opposition — three times as an Illinois state senator — to…

(1)  CWNews: The new English Translation of the Order of Mass for the United States was approved by the Vatican July 28:

The United States Bishops Conference announced that it received the go ahead from the Holy See’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments to the first section of the translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal.

It includes most of the texts used in every celebration of the Mass, and involves new translations of the penitential rite, Gloria, creed, Eucharistic prayers, Eucharistic acclamations and Our Father.

Amanda Shaw, blogging at FIRST THINGS, is enthusiastic about the changes, to put it mildly:

Some of the oddities and abominations of the English translation of the liturgy are about to go extinct, reported the Congregation for Divine Worship last week……

Go here to see  some of the changes.

(2) The Knights of Peter Claver, a black Catholic fraternal organization, held its 93rd convention in Florida,…