Today on Kresta - January 25, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Jan. 25

Live from the Studios of Guadalupe Radio's WMET in Washington, D.C.

4:00 - Abortion as a Tea Party Issue
Has our financial mess brought us to the brink of getting beyond the culture wars? It’s a question that we might see play out on Capitol Hill in the coming months as the new majority seeks to make the late pro-life congressman Henry Hyde proud, by defunding Planned Parenthood and prohibiting taxpayer funding of abortion. Kathryn Jean Lopez says an excellent question for social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, and plain old voters is “Why are U.S. taxpayers borrowing money at a record rate to, in part, provide grants to an organization, Planned Parenthood, which raised $388 million more than it spent from 2002 to 2007?” If it’s the very future of the republic you’re worried about, ask yourself: Unless something has to be paid for by the taxpayers in order to protect or defend the Constitution, why not cut it? Kathryn joins us at the studios of WMET in Washington, D.C.

4:20 – Fighting for Faith, Family and Virtue at the UN
As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal focus of her interventions in the public arena is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person, and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are not negotiable. One of the most important places to defend those principles is at the United Nations. Austin Ruse has been doing it for years, and is here in person to discuss the most pressing issues facing the family at the UN.

4:40 – What to Expect From the State of the Union Address
President Barack Obama will tonight set out ambitious plans for an overall budget freeze as he uses his State of the Union speak to launch his campaign for re-election in 2012. In his annual address to Congress, the President faces the dual task of resuscitating America's flagging economy and reviving his own political fortunes after his party's devastating mid-term election defeat. Against the backdrop of escalating economic gloom, tonight's set-piece speech is likely to provide the toughest test of Mr Obama's presidency. Political scientist Paul Kengor is here to discuss what is predicted to be said and not said.

5:00 – Kresta Comments - Pope sees opportunities, dangers in social networks
Pope Benedict XVI strongly endorsed Christians participation in online social networks, but also strongly cautioned against the dangers of superficial relationships, in his message for the 45th World Day of Social Communications. The Holy Father observed that the new possibilities of electronic communication create extraordinary possibilities for apostolic work. However, the Pope warned users—and especially young people—that social networks suffer from “the limits typical of digital communication: the one-sidedness of the interaction, the tendency to communicate only some parts of one's interior world, the risk of constructing a false image of oneself, which can become a form of self-indulgence.” Al comments on the Pope’s message.

5:20 – The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century: A Comprehensive World History
Although an abundance of literature devoted to the lives and deaths of historical martyrs exists, scant attention has been paid to Catholic martyrs of the twentieth century. Estimating that approximately one million of the faithful have been martyred over the past 100 years, Robert Royal attempts to validate and document these contemporary victims. Citing the antireligious nature of many modern regimes, he traces both the origins and the results of a relatively recent form of brutal, technologically enhanced religious persecution that has culminated in an unprecedented number of mass murders and individual victims. Robert is with us in studio.