Today’s Washington Post reports that there is a new prenatal testing procedure that will allow doctors to determine in the first trimester whether a baby has down syndrome. The outrage consists in how this knowledge is routinely used. Screening women before the second trimester allows those who might opt to terminate a pregnancy to make that decision when doctors say an abortion is safer and less traumatic (source). Aborting babies who have defects has become a routine occurrence in our society. Yet it is a practice that almost no one wants to talk about. Ironically, the Washington Post ran one of the most compelling essays against this practice just a…
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Texas Passes Ban on Gay “Marriageâ€
The Associated Press reports that early election returns in Texas indicate that the amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman has passed. The good news is that the amendment also outlaws civil unions and any other arrangement that resembles marriage. Here’s how the new amendment reads: (a) Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman. (b) This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage (source). This amendment not only constitutionally prohibits Texas from “marrying†and conferring civil unions on homosexual couples, it also…
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Interview for ABC News Dallas
The interview aired last night on the 10 o’clock news (see previous post). I had been wondering how my comments would come across once they were edited to fit into the report. Having seen it, I have to say that it could have been worse. They have me reading the scripture (1 Corinthians 6:9) to the effect that the “unrighteous†will not inherit the kingdom of God. But they didn’t include the part about the Gospel being for all kinds of sinners. Nevertheless, it’s always a good thing to be able to read scripture, so I can’t complain. If you want to watch the video, click here: Watch Video. If…
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Interview for the Gospel
The reporter who conducted the interview was Gary Reaves (pictured right). I got called on today to represent Criswell College in an interview with a local news program (Channel 8, ABC-Dallas) about the upcoming vote on whether to amend the Texas constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman. I only had about an hour or so to prepare for the interview. So I began reading stories from several different newspapers and news sources and tried to brush up on the state of the political debate. I read websites sponsored by interest groups for the amendment and others that are against the amendment. I was well-prepared to…
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CNN Is ‘Dead Wrong’
I am watching in disbelief as “CNN Presents†narrates a misleading account of how the U.S. entered into the Iraq War. Basically, they are alleging that the President built a case for war based “substantially†on faulty intelligence. President Bush’s case for pre-emptive war against Iraq was based substantially on evidence that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction. But a presidential commission described the pre-war intelligence as “dead wrong.” CNN Presents pieces together the chain of events that led to the faulty intelligence (source).
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Nice Save! Bush Nominates “Scalitoâ€
President Bush nominates Samuel A. Alito to fill Sandra Day O’Connor’s seat on the Supreme Court. Judge Alito has been nicknamed “Scalito†because of the similarity between himself and Antonin Scalia. Nice Save, Mr. President! P.S. “Scalito,†not to be confused with the delicious snack “Doritoâ€!
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Stephen Hayes Is My Homie
Stephen F. Hayes, Senior Writer for The Weekly Standard In a previous post, I argued that the attempt to discredit the Iraq war on the basis of the indictment of Scooter Libby is a “non-sequitor.†Stephen Hayes says essentially the same thing in the most recent issue of The Weekly Standard: In the literal sense, attempts to link the case for war in Iraq to the Fitzgerald investigation are illogical. If a White House official lied to a grand jury in 2004, as Fitzgerald contends, that fact has little bearing on the case made for war in Iraq in 2002 (source). I might have alleged that Hayes has been reading…
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No Indictments for Leaking Identity of Undercover Operative
I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff. Photo Credit: AP Yes, I. Lewis Libby was charged today with perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements (see indictment). No, he was not charged with illegally leaking the identity of an undercover CIA operative. However, the indictment does not charge Libby with the original alleged offense that the grand jury set out to investigate: illegally revealing the identity of a covert agent in violation of a 1982 federal law (Washington Post). As I predicted in my previous post, this has not prevented congressional Democrats from smearing the entire Bush administration and the case that it made for…
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Scooter Libby To Be Indicted; Karl Rove off the Hook (for now)
The New York Times is reporting that the Vice-President’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby, is to be indicted tomorrow for making false statements under oath. Karl Rove will not be indicted but will remain under investigation. Yes, you heard it right. According to the Times’ reporting, there won’t be any indictments for leaking the identity of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame (the original reason for the investigation). But don’t you worry. The opponents of this administration will spin this as if Libby and Rove are being charged with leaking her identity. Mark my words. Tomorrow morning, the hacks will be indicting the whole administration for something that the grand jury…
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A Postmortem on the Miers Nomination
A Triumph of Principle over Politics In church life, it is an accepted axiom that “a mist in the pulpit is a fog in the pew.†In other words, a lack of spiritual substance in the pew is often a symptom of something that’s wrong in the pulpit. In the same way, conservative critics of Harriet Miers saw a nominee whose conservative bona fides could not be verified by her record. In the last several weeks, her misty record has looked more and more like a fog in the nominee. Just this week Miers’s speeches from the 1990’s have revealed a nominee who sounds more like a libertarian than a…