Jackson Tribute Trumps Iranian Protests

Iranian protesters are using the anniversary of the 1999 Tehran University student uprising to resume demonstrations against the outcome of the June 12 presidential election. An estimated 2,000 to 3,000 people crowded the streets and headed toward Tehran University, the site of the 1999 demonstrations. Several protesters were hit on the arms and backs by the Basij, according to video evidence. The militia tried to persuade one man, whose face was bleeding, to get into an ambulance, but he refused. Meanwhile we continue to watch Michael Jackson.

Today on Kresta - July 9, 2009

Talking about the "things that matter most" on July 9

3:00 – Freedom: Twelve Lives Transformed By the Theology of the Body
God has revealed His mystery of love through the Word made flesh Theology of the Body. This phrase is not only the title of a series of talks by the late John Paul II - It represents the very logic of Christianity. The Theology of the Body calls us to encounter the living, Incarnate Christ and to ponder how His body reveals the meaning of our bodies. John Paul II’s teaching appeals to many different kinds of people: married, single, consecrated celibates, professionals, and stay-at-home moms. And it’s not just for Catholics either. We talk to Matt Pinto about Freedom: Twelve Lives Transformed By the Theology of the Body.

3:30 – Real Women, Real Saints: Friends for Your Spiritual Journey
Heaven's doors are wide open and God is doing everything he can to make us all into saints. What would it take for you to become a saint? If you're thinking of quiet cloisters and hours in undisturbed prayer, think again. Real women who became real saints run the gamut from quiet to boisterous, single, married, divorced, post-abortive, social activists, hermits, academics, doctors and more. Among these women there is a friend for you, someone even a bit like you. Sanctity will never fit into a formula, but the women who have become canonized saints have this in common: their deep love for God and the determination to live life in harmony with his will. Gina Loehr is here to help us learn to abandon ourselves to God, and live a rich, full life in return – becoming Saints!

4:00 – What is ‘good’ and ‘evil’? WHO decides?
The laws of morality used to be clearly defined. Then, in the turbulent years of the 1960’s, societal dissent and disruption throughout all walks of life caused confusion and chaos in the moral order. More recently, during the widely reported and televised Mass of the Conclave prior to his election as Pope, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger judiciously directed his homily to an exposition and denunciation of the dictatorship of relativism, which now confronts the world. Unless the concepts of good and evil are clearly defined and the conscience properly formed as a guide--especially among the young generations--relativism will reign supreme and objective morality will lose the right to exist in a society where evil claims right of citizenship. Raymond de Souza's is here tom discuss good and evil in simple yet conclusive terms using Natural Law, the Magisterium of the Church and plain logic in his presentation...Good or Evil: Who Decides.

5:00 – Kresta Comments

5:20 – Faith and Family Connect
More and more, moms are connecting on places like Twitter and Facebook, but communities like Faith & Family provide them with more intimate, meaningful connections and faith support through a gathering of like-minded moms. In a world where it can be difficult, especially for at-home moms raising small children, to find support and encouragement in their backyard as previous generations did, online social networking is filling a real need moms have to connect with others. Like it or not, social networking is here to stay. Places like Faith & Family Connect provide faith-based, family-friendly ways of using new media in support of traditional values. We talk with creator and editor Danielle Bean.

5:40 – Health Care Reform: A Catholic View
Reform of the American health care sector is urgent. The current trend of ever increasing health-care spending, superimposed upon technological advancement and an aging demographic, is unsustainable. Approximately 15 percent of Americans lack health insurance and millions are underinsured or struggling with medical bills. Employer based medical care is disintegrating. Leonard J. Nelson III is here to examine a Catholic approach to health care reform.

Guard Lets Baby Through X-Ray Machine as Investigators Test Security at Federal Buildings

How much have we spent on security since 9/11? How many hours have we waited in secutiry lines? And this investigation was 10 for 10 in carrying bomb parts into federal buildings, assembling them, and carrying the bombs around in high-security areas in briefcases. It truly boggles the mind. Watch and be amazed.

Today on Kresta - July 8, 2009

Talking about the "things that matter most" on July 8

3:00 – Kresta Comments

3:20 – Caritas in Veritate / Barak and Benedict
On June 23, it was announced that Pope Benedict XVI and President Obama will meet this Friday, at the conclusion of the upcoming G8 Summit Meeting in L'Aquila, Italy. John Allen is currently in Rome reporting on this week’s events. We preview the meeting and discuss the initial reaction to Caritas in Veritate.

3:40 – Two Years Since “Sumnorum Pontificum”
Pope Benedict XVI's letter "Summorum Pontificum" was released two years ago yesterday and has sparked an increased interest in the Latin-language liturgy, especially among priests. That according to Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, a former employee of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei and a noted authority on both liturgical translations and the 1962 Missal. He is with us to discuss the document, the response, its implementation interest in the traditional Latin Mass, and various concerns that have been raised regarding “Summorum Pontificum.”

4:00 – Kresta Comments

4:20 – Pope and President Meet
On June 23, it was announced that Pope Benedict XVI and President Obama will meet this Friday, at the conclusion of the upcoming G8 Summit Meeting in L'Aquila, Italy. Deal Hudson is here to discuss the impact of this meeting, what will likely be discussed, and how this will be used by the Obama administration.

4:40 – “Tiger’s Hope”
Tiger Norwell has everything going for her: beauty, talent, notoriety, a good husband, and a quick temper. But the one thing she wants most, she can't have -- a baby. “Tiger’s Hope” is a dramatic made-for-TV-movie intended to become the centerpiece of a global campaign that will raise the awareness of the health and moral dangers of in vitro fertilization (IVF), and the great benefits of natural procreative technology (NPT) which can remove the obstacles that cause infertility. It's the story of how a successful entertainer, unable to conceive, trades desperation for hope, and embarks on an emotional journey that tests her faith. We talk with executive producers Stan Williams and Rory Hoipkemier.

5:00 – Kresta Comments

5:20 – Caritatis in Veritate
The Vatican has released the text of Caritatis in Veritate, the long-awaited social encyclical in which Pope Benedict XVI calls for "a profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise" and a global economic system that values the common good above private profits. Explaining the title of the encyclical, Pope Benedict writes that the social teachings of the Catholic Church offer a means of appraising the secular world, judging social and economic systems against a clear moral standard. The guiding principle of Catholic social teaching is charity, he says. The 144-page document, was released yesterday, just as leaders of the G8 industrial nations gather in Italy for their discussions of the global economy, defies easy categorization. A story in the National Catholic Reporter carried an accurate descriptive subhead, noting that the encyclical "offers something for both the political left and right to cheer… and something to be grumpy about." We talk with Sam Gregg in studio.

Pro-Lifers and the First Amendment

A California mother is filing a lawsuit against her daughter's school district alleging that officials made her remove the pro-life t-shirt she wore. Anna Amador says her daughter wore the shirt on National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day in April 2008 but officials at McSwain Elementary School prohibited her from doing so.

Amador says the school violated her daughter's First Amendment rights, and so she is headed to court to defend the seventh-grader.

The shirt displays the word abortion with two images of a developing unborn child and a black box. It says, "Abortion: Growing, Growing, Gone." (see right)

In the complaint, according to a Fox News story, Amador says school principal Terrie Rohrer office clerk Martha Hernandez mistreated her daughter and ordered her to leave the cafeteria, where they found her wearing the shirt.

"Upon arriving at the main office, Defendant Hernandez, intentionally and without Plaintiff's consent, grabbed Plaintiff's arm and forcibly escorted her toward Smith's office, at all times maintaining a vice-like grip on Plaintiff's arm," the complaint alleges. "Hernandez only released Plaintiff's arm after physically locating her in front of Smith and Defendant Rohrer."

"Smith and Rohrer ordered Plaintiff to remove her pro-life T-shirt and instructed Plaintiff to never wear her pro-life T-shirt at McSwain Elementary School ever again," it says.

The suit says the young girl was "completely humiliated and held out for ridicule" and that school officials would not let have her shirt back until the end of the day.

Anthony N. DeMaria, attorney for the McSwain Union Elementary School District, told Fox News the school disputes the lawsuit's account of the events.

"I think the school district has a very strong defense," DeMaria said. "The complaint does not properly characterize the events that happened. Certainly we dispute some of the events."

The school district tried to get a judge to throw the case out, but the U.S. Eastern District Court judge allowed all but one of Amador's claims to proceed.

Fox News indicates school officials claimed abortion constituted "inappropriate subject matter" and that the shirt violated the school's dress code.

Breakthrough: Lab Made Sperm

Women who say they don't need a man may well be right – after human sperm was created in the lab. A team of British scientists claimed Wednesday to have created human sperm using embryonic stem cells, in a medical first that they say will lead to a better understanding of fertility. The breakthrough could give hope to infertile couples and men left unable to have children after having cancer treatment. But don't worry guys, the scientists who created the sperm using stem cells don't plan to take you out of the baby-making process just yet. Why am I not feeling confident that these scientists have ethical considerations at the top of their list?

Read more here from the London Metro.

Or here from the American Foreign Press.

Or here from the London Independent.

George Washington, dignity and abortion.

"When George Washington was a young man, he copied out a list of 110 “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” Some of the rules in his list dealt with the niceties of going to a dinner party or meeting somebody on the street. “Lean not upon anyone,” was one of the rules.
“Read no letter, books or papers in company,” was another.
“If any one come to speak to you while you are sitting, stand up,” was a third.

"But, as the biographer Richard Brookhiser has noted, these rules, which Washington derived from a 16th-century guidebook, were not just etiquette tips. They were designed to improve inner morals by shaping the outward man. Washington took them very seriously. He worked hard to follow them. Throughout his life, he remained acutely conscious of his own rectitude.

David Brooks in the New York Times makes the point that the days of the 'dignity code' among today's public officials are history."
The rules that guided Washington and generations of people after him are simply gone.

"We can all list the causes of its demise.

"First, there is capitalism. We are all encouraged to become managers of our own brand, to do self-promoting end zone dances to broadcast our own talents.

"Second, there is the cult of naturalism. We are all encouraged to discard artifice and repression and to instead liberate our own feelings.

"Third, there is charismatic evangelism with its penchant for public confession.

"Fourth, there is radical egalitarianism and its hostility to aristocratic manners."

Mark Sanford's rambling and lack of reticence even in the glare of his infidelities, Sarah Palin's apparent inconstancy and erratic ambitions, Michael Jackson's inability to mature and adopt the rhythms of adulthood are listed as evidence in Brooks argument that modern leaders reflect our popular culture's rejection of restraint.

But then he finds himself face to face with Obama.: "Whatever policy differences people may have with him, we can all agree that he exemplifies reticence, dispassion and the other traits associated with dignity. The cultural effects of his presidency are not yet clear, but they may surpass his policy impact. He may revitalize the concept of dignity for a new generation and embody a new set of rules for self-mastery."

Uh-huh. Yes, he seems like a good husband and father and I'll take whatever positive cultural benefits I can get from a Democrat president who thankfully understands the role of interns differently than his party predecessor. But there is a public matter in which an enviable personal style and private morality cannot replace public respect for human dignity. Yes, it is the little and largely invisible problem of abortion and infanticide. For Brooks and Obama and Fr. Jenkins, it's probably those of us who keep rubbing the public's nose in the abortionist's dumpster who are lacking in restraint. We are extremists and zealots.

Paul told Timothy to preach in season and out of season. In other words, tell the truth even when you think others are sick of hearing it.

So here goes: Social conventions of restraint, reticence, and respect are grounded in the created dignity of the human person. If they are not rooted in the divine, then they are mere manners and etiquette, a product of society.

When our culture applauds a right for mothers to kill their offspring, when we segment off a portion of the human race and declare its members non-persons, when we merely slap the wrists of abortionists like Alberto Hodari when their negligence leads to the death of not just the unborn but their mothers as well, then we should recognize that we will be governed and entertained with a capriciousness that Washington abhorred.

C.S. Lewis wrote in Weight of Glory a passage that I've never heard applied to the abortion problem:

"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities[indeed one or the other is an eventuality], it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another… all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.

"There are no ordinary people.

"You have never talked to a mere mortal.

"Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors."

The Curse of the Mad Scientists

Great piece on the papal encyclical by Dr. Harry Veryser of UD Mercy.

"Those who study Catholic Church Social Teaching invariably use simple phrases to describe the essence of the encyclical letters issued by popes regarding economic crises of their day.

Pope Leo XIII was the first pope to write on economics, when he issued Rerum Novarum (Of New Things), which was concerned with the dehumanizing effects on workers of the new Industrial Age. His letter is often summarized as “defending workers’ rights.” Likewise Paul VI’s 1967 letter, Populorum Progresso (On the Development of Peoples) is often summarized as “addressing de-colonization.”

Today Pope Benedict released Caritas in Veritate, an expansive overview of the causes and proposed cures for our current crisis. A summary might be that we are reeling from the “Curse of Mad Scientists” who have overly influenced the fields of finance, biology and much more."

Read more...

Here is the video from the Kresta in the Afternoon interview with Dr. Harry Veryser talking about Caritas in Veritate.

Watch live video from Kresta In The Afternoon's channel on Justin.tvHere is the link to part 2 of this interview.

Vatican Rejects Kmiec???

Ave Maria Radio has not confirmed this story, but here is what "Malta Today" is reporting:

The newly appointed American ambassador to Malta was first touted as “the perfect candidate” for US ambassador to the Holy See, but was then reportedly refused by the Vatican due to his stance on life issues.

Catholic Republican Douglas W. Kmiec created a stir last year when he endorsed Barack Obama in the US presidential elections. This week, US chargé d’affaires Jason Davis announced Kmiec had been appointed ambassador to Malta.

Kmiec’s candidacy for the Holy See was quashed last April when the Obama administration presented him as one of three candidates.

The candidatures sank due to their views on abortion. A Vatican source told the Catholic News Agency Kmiec would not become the ambassador due to his stance on life issues.

Read more...

"Epidemic": Rx Drug Abuse Ravages Youth

With all of the attention that is being paid to Michael Jackson's prescription drug addiction, possibly some good may come out of this and we may finally take seriously the epidemic of teen precription drug abuse.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Today on Kresta - July 7, 2009

Talking about the "things that matter most" on July 7

3:00 – Kresta Comments

3:20 – Faith and Family Connect
More and more, moms are connecting on places like Twitter and Facebook, but communities like Faith & Family provide them with more intimate, meaningful connections and faith support through a gathering of like-minded moms. In a world where it can be difficult, especially for at-home moms raising small children, to find support and encouragement in their backyard as previous generations did, online social networking is filling a real need moms have to connect with others. Like it or not, social networking is here to stay. Places like Faith & Family Connect provide faith-based, family-friendly ways of using new media in support of traditional values. We talk with creator and editor Danielle Bean.

3:40 – Health Care Reform: A Catholic View
Reform of the American health care sector is urgent. The current trend of ever increasing health-care spending, superimposed upon technological advancement and an aging demographic, is unsustainable. Approximately 15 percent of Americans lack health insurance and millions are underinsured or struggling with medical bills. Employer based medical care is disintegrating. Leonard J. Nelson III is here to examine a Catholic approach to health care reform.

4:00 – Kresta Comments

4:20 – Caritatis in Veritate
The Vatican has released the text of Caritatis in Veritate, the long-awaited social encyclical in which Pope Benedict XVI calls for "a profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise" and a global economic system that values the common good above private profits. Explaining the title of the encyclical, Pope Benedict writes that the social teachings of the Catholic Church offer a means of appraising the secular world, judging social and economic systems against a clear moral standard. The guiding principle of Catholic social teaching is charity, he says. The 144-page document, released on July 7 just as leaders of the G8 industrial nations gather in Italy for their discussions of the global economy, defies easy categorization. A story in the National Catholic Reporter carried an accurate descriptive subhead, noting that the encyclical "offers something for both the political left and right to cheer… and something to be grumpy about." We talk with Kishore Jayabalan of the Acton Institute.

4:40 – Boys Should Be Boys: 7 Secrets to Raising Healthy Sons
Boyhood used to be a time of freedom and fun--of catching bullfrogs, playing tackle football, and roaming the woods--but not anymore. Rambunctious, high-spirited boys--healthy boys--nowadays face an increasingly hostile world that doesn't value the unique gifts of boys, that discounts their masculine virtues, and that undermines what boys need to become mature, confident, and thoughtful men. Pediatrician Meg Meeker unlocks the secrets of what parents can do to restore some of the magic of boyhood and help their son become the man they want him to be.

5:00 – Caritatis in Veritate
The first round of stories on the Holy Father’s 3rd encyclical, Caritatis in Veritate, have sometimes oversimplified the Pope's message. A Reuters report, for example, conveys the impression that the encyclical calls for a centralized authority to govern the world economy. It is true that the Pope calls for reform of the UN to create "a true world political authority… with real teeth." But he does not suggest central economic planning, and in fact he devotes considerable stress to the importance of the subsidiarity principle, which he says is "the most effective antidote against any form of all-encompassing welfare state." We examine the encyclical with Kevin Schmeising of the Acton Institute and Dr. Harry Veryser of University of Detroit Mercy.

Ringling Brothers elephants sharing venue with Jackson Funeral

I couldn't have asked for a more serendipitous commentary on Michael Jackson's longstanding drive to become the "greatest show on earth." Now Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey elephants will walk from the train station into the Staples Center arena in the predawn hours before Jackson's memorial service takes place at the Staples Center." Associated Press quote below.

"In New York, Republican Rep. Peter King released a YouTube video calling Jackson, who was acquitted of child molestation charges, a "pervert" and a "low-life."

"But the memories of Jackson's problems were far from the minds of fans preparing to say goodbye.

"It's the passing of a great soul," said Matt Tyson, 31, of Ojai, Calif. "He brought people together, helped express something that's in us all."

"In a convergence of events that many people found delightfully symbolic, the circus is also coming to town. Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey starts a run at Staples Center on Wednesday. In the predawn hours before Jackson's memorial, the elephants will walk from the train station into the arena." For full story.

He denied trying to buy the bones of Robert Merrick, the 'Elephant Man' but now "can these bones live?" With apologies to Ezekiel.

Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth)

The long-awaited social encyclical from Pope Benedict XVI's has been released. This advanced copy that Ave Maria Radio received yesterday was discussed on Kresta in the Afternoon yesterday with Fr. Robert Sirico, will be discussed today with Kishore Jayabalan, Kevin Schmeising, and Harry Veryser, and tomorrow with Frank Hanna and Sam Gregg.

Now that the embargo is lifted - enjoy Caritas in Veritate, the third encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI.

ENCYCLICAL LETTER
CARITAS IN VERITATE
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
BENEDICT XVI
TO THE BISHOPS
PRIESTS AND DEACONS
MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS
THE LAY FAITHFUL
AND ALL PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL
ON INTEGRAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
IN CHARITY AND TRUTH

LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA
VATICAN CITY

INTRODUCTION1. Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person

(click here for the entire document)

Today on Kresta - July 6, 2009

Talking about the "things that matter most" on July 6

3:00 – Why Catholic Bibles Are Bigger
No book is more important than the Bible, and no question is more important than what writings belong in the Bible. Controversy has raged since Martin Luther challenged the content of Scriptures. Gary Michuta puts the controversy to rest and provides an simple yet scholarly explanation and defense of the Catholic Bible. Why Catholic Bibles Are Bigger: The Untold Story of the Lost Books of the Protestant Bible.

4:00 – Health Care Reform and the Concerns of Right to Life
The National Right to Life Committee has long argued that the cost of health care does not require rationing life-saving treatment. With so much momentum building for enactment of some sort of measure to provide coverage for the uninsured, it is not enough for NRLC simply to oppose ways of doing so that entail health care rationing. It is necessary to demonstrate that it is in fact possible to achieve this goal without having to accept rationing as a tradeoff. Since its inception, the pro-life movement has been as concerned with protecting older people and people with disabilities from euthanasia as with protecting unborn children from abortion. It has recognized that denial of lifesaving medical treatment, food and fluids against the will of a patient is a form of involuntary euthanasia. When the government prohibits Americans from obtaining health care necessary to preserve their lives, or limits their ability to obtain it, this health care rationing is a form of such involuntary euthanasia. We talk with Burke Balch of the National Right to Life Committee.

4:20 – Movies: The Good, the Bad, and the Really, Really Bad
Movies, like parables, can teach and uplift as well as entertain. Sad to say, that doesn't seem to be the goal of major film studios. So, should we even go to movies? Is a job as a film reviewer even valid? But movies are here to stay, and Christians are going to them - just like everybody else. So, how do Christians make peace with Hollywood? Or should they? And can a movie critic light the way? Phil Boatwright is here to point out Hollywood agendas, explore ways we can resist the secular world's tug of war against God's directives, and take a lighter look at the positives of motion pictures, including examples of men and women who are using the movie medium to amuse man and glorify God. Also, we'll showcase some films (both old and new) that entertain, enrich, enlighten and edify. With any luck, we'll experience a couple of chuckles along the way.

5:00 – Papal Social Encyclical Released Tomorrow
The public release of Caritatis in Veritate has been anticipated for more than a year. By the time we wake up tomorrow morning, it will have been released in a press conference at the Vatican. The encyclical has been repeatedly delayed-- most recently by a desire to amend the text in order to respond to questions raised by the current worldwide economic crisis. Reports say the text will be a theoretical reflection on the global economy, invoking traditional Catholic principles such as subsidiarity and solidarity. While the text will be critical of market failures, some who have read it say that it would be wrong to characterize the encyclical as "good news for liberals and bad news for conservatives;" both sides of the political spectrum will be challenged. We talk to Fr. Robert Sirico of the Acton Institute about the forthcoming document.

5:35 – Abortionist Fined $10,000 For Killing Woman
MI abortionist Alberto Hodari has been fined $10,000 by the State of Michigan for the 2003 abortion death of Regina Johnson. Now we know what a woman’s life is worth in the State of Michigan once she walks into an abortion clinic. In exchange for the fine, counts of negligence and incompetence against Hodari were dismissed, leaving only the charge that his conduct constituted a “lack of good moral character.” Yet another slap on the wrist for this abortionist who has been in trouble many times before. We talk with Monica Miller of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society who, last year, found aborted babies and medical records in Hodari’s dumpster.

Vanity Fair: Palin is a narcissistic religious nutcase but still fertile.

Sarah Palin doesn't deserve the vicious hatchet job she just received at the cutting edge of August's Vanity Fair. Coincidentally, the article was written and published just before Palin's Friday resignation as governor of Alaska and it most definitely reads like a pre-emptive strike on her future political ambitions.

Vanity Fair national editor Todd Purdum drips with sarcasm, innuendo and irony. The piece is full of special pleading and zealous, even gleeful, use of fruitless speculation. (His tone is heightened in the column of Maureen Dowd over at the NYT).

This doesn't mean there is nothing a rational person can learn from the piece but be warned: if Sarah Palin is your great white hope for a pro-life, small government conservative movement, then steel yourself for a full-face spray of acidic disdain.

There are two spatters in particular that hit me as I read and did a little background reading myself.

First, Purdum eliminates positive quotes from Palin former co-workers. Almost all the evaluative remarks in the article are negative. He did interview key figures close to Palin, McCain and the 2008 campaign but, according to the interviewees themselves, he refused to include evaluations that would shine a softer light on her shortcomings.

Second, he employs a tactic commonly used by writers like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris. It works this way:
Locate an odd, controversial or eccentric behavior, mannerism, conversation, decision in a right wing political figure.
Link it to some psychological weakness or character flaw. Then
Lash it to the person's faith or religious practice. Suggest that religion may be the cause for her oddity and worry that she may be a loopy religious nutterbutter and therefore unsafe for major office. If you can make it sound as though the person has a divine pipeline to God and actually believes that prayer works, you've done well. Imply the question: Are they delusional about their importance to God? Do they take direct orders from Yahweh? Are they Christian jihadists?

The Theoparanoids used this with great effect against George W. Bush.

Carl Bernstein tried to portray Bush as dangerous because he hadn't consulted his father George H.W. Bush before the war in Iraq. Rather, Bush, said, he had consulted others including his heavenly Father. Of course, in context, Bush was simply playing off Bernstein's introduction of Daddy Bush into the conversation. No, he was saying, I haven't talked to my dad about this but I have prayed about it with my other Father. Bernstein made George W. Bush appear as though he was a shaky decisionmaker trusting more in a pipeline to God than to sober consultation with competent and experienced elders.

Vanity Fair's Purdum plays right along with his sabotaging of Palin (who often doesn't need help undermining the confidence of even her friends). He writes: "More than once in my travels in Alaska, people brought up, without prompting, the question of Palin’s extravagant self-regard. Several told me, independently of one another, that they had consulted the definition of “narcissistic personality disorder” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—“a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy”—and thought it fit her perfectly. When Trig was born, Palin wrote an e-mail letter to friends and relatives, describing the belated news of her pregnancy and detailing Trig’s condition; she wrote the e-mail not in her own name but in God’s, and signed it “Trig’s Creator, Your Heavenly Father.”

Notice the implausibility of the first claim in the paragraph: unprompted, several people independently consulted the definition of "narcissistic personality disorder" in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Is Pudrum spending an excessive amount of time developing relationships with Alaskan psychiatrists? Good heavens, have you ever seen a copy of the DSM IV? It costs $90, runs a thousand pages and is organized multiaxially with Axes 1-5 to assist you in your diagnosis from five dimensions. It is the standard professional diagnostic volume for clinicians, psychologists and psychiatrists. Most of us just don't happen to have one hanging around the house.

So can you imagine several people telling Pudrum that noting excessive self regard in Sarah they were driven to locate the nearest DSM and access it. Now to do so, they would have to join the APA and purchase one, or break into a clinician's office and pull it off the shelf, or call up a shrink friend and say, "Uhh, I've just got this feeling that Sarah Palin might have "narcissistic personality disorder." Would you read me the multidimensional data you've got sitting there in your trusty old DSM IV.

Most people don't even know of the DSM's existence never mind consider consulting it.

To get some further idea of how implausible are Purdum's unprompted survey results derived from DSM confirmations, think of it like this. Several motorists while driving over the Mackinac Bridge think that the bridge looks a bit shaky. What do they do? They immediately go home and consult Ryall's Manual of Bridge Engineering under the specifications for suspension bridge wind stressors and weight-bearing loads. Nonsense.

He then takes it to the next expected level. Link her narcissitic self regard with some presumption to divine favor. Purdum then writes: "When Trig was born, Palin wrote an e-mail letter to friends and relatices, describing the belated news of her pregnancy and detailing Trig's condition (Down's Syndrome). She wrote the email not in her own name but in God's and signed it 'Trig's Creator, Your Heavenly Father.'

This is another instance of how far apart prestige journalists are from mainstream churchgoing Americans. Any practicing Christian would likely immediately recognize Palin's writing in the divine name as a literary device. Go to any Christian bookstore and you will find a half a dozen daily devotional volumes that are formatted in the "words" of God speaking directly to us about life's situations.

Christians of a certain bent of spirituality commonly write letters in times of trial or blessing expressing their understanding of God's love and purpose. These pieces almost always include exhortations like, "My child, I've given you Trig to bring blessing to your family, provision to him and glory to My Son, etc., etc., etc.

It's not queer, psycho, dangerous. It's a standard literary and devotional device. People, especially those from Pentecostal backgrounds, write in the divine first person not because they imagine themselves to be divinity but because they are trying to understand the mind of God on a topic.

This attempt to portray men and woman of faith as psychologically defective is championed by Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett. Sam Harris questions whether Christians should be allowed to parent children. With a few of these writers, religious education, Sunday school, First Communion catechesis is a form of child abuse. So Purdum is playing according to a script which I think is being circulated among those determined to marginalize Christians and set them back on the sidelines of the culture war debate. More on this in the near future.

Kresta Commentary - Michael Jackson: In whose image?

Michael Jackson: In whose image?
July 3, 2009
Al Kresta

Somewhere in his unusual and brief life, Michael Jackson, a man made in the image and likeness of God, determined he would become a commodity: The Man Who Wasn’t There according to the New Republic's John McWhorter. John’s column wasn’t harsh. It was, rather, an exercise in respectful perplexity. McWhorter was simply recognizing the product Jackson’s parents intended him to be rather than the person God created Michael to be.

Lest any doubt remain about Michael’s status as a commercial property, let his father lay claim. When a CNN reporter asked his father, Joe, shortly after Michael’s death, “How are you doing sir, how’s the family holding up?” Joe Jackson replied, “I’m great. My family’s doing pretty good. It has been really tough. Remember we just lost the biggest star, the biggest superstar in the world.” Most fathers would have simply said they had lost a son.

Undeterred, the CNN reporter asked if he’d like to share anything about his son and his legacy. Joe Jackson throttled the tender moment and immediately squeezed in a promotional spot for his new production company proving that even the sudden, shocking death of his son couldn’t soften the stage parent from hell. Michael Jackson had been parented to be sold. (see video below this commentary - 3:15 in)

And Joe Jackson got what he wanted. Michael Jackson may be the greatest entertainer of western pop music history. Thirteen Grammies, 13 #1 singles as a solo artist, 800 million record sales worldwide making him the greatest selling male solo artist. His influence is almost unrivalled. Without Michael Jackson there’d be no Brittany Spears or Justin Timberlake. What Elvis had been to the 50’s, the Beatles to the 60’s, disco to the 70’s, Michael Jackson was to the 80’s.

At the time of his death he was just two weeks from beginning 50 concerts in London intended to be his “curtain call”, his “This is It” performance. He needed something “bad.” The self declared King of Pop’s reputation, always “off the wall”, had declined since his 2005 acquittal on child molestation charges to the point where his name was most commonly used as a punch line. Could he once again be a “thriller?”

Years earlier, after getting enthused by a biography of P.T. Barnum, Jackson handed a copy of the book to his staff proclaiming that he would not produce but rather become the “greatest show on earth.” He, his image, now needed refurbishing. He was also in profound debt. He needed to show the world that he was still “invincible” and “dangerous.”

For decades it had no longer been about the dancing, the music or the lyrics. It wasn’t about CDs or concerts. His life had become the performance. More marketable than any intellectual property he could produce or talent he could muster, he had become the item for public consumption.

As Daniel Boorstin has written, well-crafted images whether in politics, advertising or entertainment always bear an ambiguous relationship to reality. Was Michael Jackson- the product- young or old, black or white, male or female, man or child, pedophile or philanthropist, straight or gay? Was he clean and sober or addled by drug and drink, a robust athletic dancer or a frail waif, a Peter Pan innocent or a shrewd impresario?

Like Boorstin’s “image”, Jackson’s relationship to reality was ambiguous, unclear, outside our normal categories. In 1995, a biographer pressed him for details about his background. “Just tell people, I’m an alien from Mars,” he teased. He was a master of imagery who seemed to dissolve tragically into a comic icon of his own device. His trademark blend of the bizarre and the familiar became, paradoxically, as easily recognized, digitized and branded as Mickey Mouse: The man reduced to cartoon.

Show business is of course about fantasy, escape, diversion and other entertainers often confuse persona and person. Kirk Douglas accused John Wayne of forgetting he wasn’t a gunslinger or military hero but only played one. Other performers have changed identities at different times in their careers. David Bowie (itself an alias) became Ziggy Stardust and then the Thin White Duke. But these were obvious disguises of make-up and costume. For Jackson each identity change came at the tip of the surgeon’s knife. The Ziggy Stardust persona could be shed and David Bowie return. But Michael Jackson had become a synthetic fabrication.

He had become the act. He hung onto his wispy falsetto voice in regular conversation long after his voice should have matured. He created Neverland, his make-believe world that was a theme park rather than a home. His first marriage strategically united the self-declared King of Pop with the daughter of the King of Rock and Roll Even his “friendships” with Elizabeth Taylor and Diana Ross seemed to conceal rather than reveal who he was. For awhile his closest “friend” was Bubbles, the diapered chimp who slept in a crib in Michael’s bedroom. At least they spoke regularly.

Michael Jackson wasn’t just a player within, but a product of, our illusion generating industries. Daniel Boorstin’s 1961 book, The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America exposed our arts of self-deception, how we hide reality from ourselves.

We create an electronic cocoon of images, a thicket of unreality to stand between us and the hard facts of life. We comfort ourselves by stroking this skin of fantasy because we suffer from “extravagant expectations” of:
1) what the world holds (how much news and novelty exists, how many heroes there are, how exotic the nearby can be, how familiar the exotic can become and
2) of our power to shape the world (of our ability to create events when there are none, to make heroes when they don’t exist, to be somewhere else when we haven’t left home, to turn a symphony into mood music, a novel into a movie, to invent our standards and then pretend to respect them as if they had been revealed or discovered.)

Michael was aware that celebrities are created to please, comfort, fascinate, and flatter us. That they are dispensable products that can be produced and displaced in rapid succession. Just look at the Billboard charts and find this season’s angry white chick or the wholesome scrubbed-face boy band du jour. He had had it all and long ago he wanted more. He wanted to live forever as the greatest show on earth and we paid him handsomely to try. But he was made to image God who was to be his final audience. Only God knows, but Michael Jackson seems to have fabricated himself as an image for a purely mundane audience. He kicked against the goads of created reality and drove himself until his body just couldn’t take it any longer, crushed in the misdirected quest for immortality.

In contrast, Christians are supposed to seek immortality in imaging the God who created them. The Hebrew psalmist had ironic words for the imagemakers of his day and ours. The idols only promise futility. “They have eyes but see not. They have throats but speak not. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” The idol, said James Russell Lowell, takes the measure of the worshipper. We become like the images we create and worship.
Christians believe that human beings are created in the image and likeness of God in order to do just that: image God, reflect His character. This is the imaging in which we can find satisfaction, fulfilling our nature and purpose. Michael had written that he often felt God’s presence in the dance. I believe him. But I suspect that presence left when he ceased the dance and merely adopted the pose. When we posture as false images we displace God and deny the purpose for which we were created, to be the only legitimate idol, the image, God’s image.

How do we image God? In many ways, but Dick Keyes tells a story that takes on particular poignancy when applied to Jackson’s death. His “four year old son announced, ‘Daddy, I am like God.’ I said, ‘Hmmm..really? In what way?’ while at the same time my mind was racing, wondering where in the world this idea had come from, and where it might be headed. He blindsided me with his response, ‘Yes, it’s because I love you even when you’re bad!’”

Keyes goes on: “It may that in the love of a child we get one of our best images of the wholehearted, unconditional love of God. In the love of a child we can sometimes see love’s uncomplicated, uncalculating, and passionate expression. Adult love is often so intertwined with the personal agenda of the one doing the loving that one longs for the unsophistication of the child’s love.”

As one London commentator asked: “Who stole the soul of the boy from Indiana?” Who was Michael Jackson, made in the image and likeness of God? When women sell their bodies we call them prostitutes. Those who traffic in human flesh are pimps. What do we call those who sell their souls or those who make merchandise of human selves? Whatever we call them, may God have mercy on their souls and upon all of us who create the commercial environment in which they thrive to our mutual destruction.

“(Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation;  for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.  For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,  and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross”
- Paul to the church at Colossae, chapter one, verse 15ff.

Banning the Burqa?

The French parliament has set up a commission to decide whether the burqa should be outlawed. It follows President Nicolas Sarkozy's speech saying the head-to-toe Islamic garment turns women into prisoners. The French National Assembly announced Tuesday the creation of an inquiry into whether women in France should be allowed to wear the burka, one day after President Nicolas Sarkozy controversially told lawmakers that the traditional Muslim garment was "not welcome" in France.

A cross-party panel of 32 lawmakers will investigate whether the traditional Muslim garment poses a threat to the secular nature of the French constitution. They are due to report back with their recommendations in six months.

In 2004, the French parliament passed legislation banning Muslim girls from wearing headscarves in state schools, prompting widespread Muslim protests. The law also banned other conspicuous religious symbols including Sikh turbans, large Christian crucifixes and Jewish skull caps.

Miracle Worthy of Sainthood? Catholic Church Investigates MD Woman’s Cancer Cure

Visitation of the Legion to Commence Soon

After the announcement on March 31 that Pope Benedict XVI had ordered an Apostolic Visitation of the Legionaries of Christ, many wondered when it would begin. Vatican watcher Sandro Magister has answered the question by reporting it will begin on July 15 and that five bishops have been charged with the task.

Magister states that those men will be Bishop Ricardo Watti Urquidi of Tepic, Mexico; Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, Colorado; Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati Andrello of Concepcion, Chile; Bishop Giuseppe Versaldi of Alejandria, Italy; and Bishop Ricardo Blazquez Perez of Bilbao, Spain.

Magister said the five bishops were chosen because of their experience and dedication and will be tasked with getting to know the life and apostolate of the congregation.

They will present a report to the Holy See at the conclusion of the Visitation. The five bishops met with Cardinals Tarcisio Bertone, William Levada, Franc Rode and Stanislaw Rylko last Saturday at the Vatican.

Archbishop Chaput will be in charge of the visitaion in the United States and Canada.

We anxiously await the results.

Today on Kresta - July 2, 2009

Talking about the "things that matter most" on July 2

3:00 – Kresta Comments

3:20 – Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design
Just a few months before the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s Origin of Species, a Zogby poll reveals that most Americans support the theory of Intelligent Design. Dr. Stephen Meyer, a scientist and director of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, says the increase in support for ID is related to new discoveries of complexities in the cell. As scientists learn more about the DNA digital code, it’s hard to deny the existence of intelligence behind the origin of life. Dr. Meyer is here to explain why neo-Darwinism cannot survive recent biological discoveries. Meyer’s comprehensive, ground-breaking argument turns the materialists’ claim that “science has disproved God” on its head.

4:00 – Kresta Comments

4:20 – The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith
Mark Noll is back with us to revisit the history of the American church in the context of world events. He makes the compelling case that how Americans have come to practice the Christian faith is just as globally important as what the American church has done in the world. He backs up this substantial claim with the scholarly attentiveness we've come to expect from him, lucidly explaining the relationship between the development of Christianity in North America and the development of Christianity in the rest of the world, with attention to recent transfigurations in world Christianity. In this interview, we will challenge your assumptions about the nature of the relationship between the American church and the global church in the past and predict what world Christianity may look like in the future.

5:00 – EWTN Family Celebration
Back by popular demand! It’s EWTN’s Family Celebration at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex. Don’t miss another chance to celebrate with all of your EWTN Family including the Franciscan Friars. The event will feature talks by Marcus Grodi, Barbara McGuigan, Raymond Arroyo & more. You’ll have the opportunity to be a part of a special “Crossing the Goal” Live Show audience with hosts Danny Abramowicz, Brian Patrick, Peter Herbeck and Curtis Martin, attend Mass and meet some of your favorite EWTN hosts. There will also be a special area just for kids where they can visit and enjoy EWTN’s “Faith Factory” with special performances by “The Donut Man”. It’s a weekend you will never forget and best of all, it’s FREE –no tickets required. Colin Donovan of EWTN is here to explain.

5:10 – Direct to My Desk