Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - July 18, 2012

Talking about the "things that matter most" on July 18

4:00 – Why We Should Say “No” to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is urging the Senate not to ratify the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). President Barack Obama signed the treaty in 2009, and a Senate vote on ratification is expected this month. HSLDA Chairman Michael Farris said that “Article 7 gives government the ability to override every decision of a parent of disabled children if the government thinks that its views are in ‘the best interest of the child.” In 2006, the Holy See announced that it would not sign the CPRD. Mike Farris joins us.

4:20 – If Not Us, Who?: William Rusher, National Review, and the Conservative Movement
Best known as the longtime publisher of National Review, William Rusher (1923–2011) was more than just a crucial figure in the history of the Right’s leading magazine. He was a political intellectual, tactician, and strategist who helped shape the historic rise of conservatism. Largely unexamined until now, Rusher’s career opens a new window onto the history of the conservative movement, its successes and failures. Biographer David Frisk joins us.

5:00 – “Catholic” Melinda Gates on a Mission to Provide the “Pill” to Every Woman on Earth
Melinda Gates, the Catholic wife of software czar Bill Gates and co-chair of his charitable foundation, has taken a public stand against the Church’s teaching on contraception. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is spearheading a drive to distribute contraceptives in impoverished countries, and Melinda Gates—who is described in news stories as a “practicing Catholic”—insists that the initiative “makes sense” to most people. Brushing aside the Church’s condemnation of artificial contraceptives, Gates said that her Catholic-school education taught here to “question received teachings.” Claiming that birth control has not increased the level of promiscuity in society, Gates argues that there should be no longer be a debate about the value of contraceptives. “I think we made birth control and contraceptives way too political in the United States,” she said. Moral theologian Dr. Janet Smith is here to respond.

5:40 – Kresta Comments