Chief Justice Roberts, Obamacare, and Odd News

Everybody wins--but the conservatives came off the ultimate winners.

Sounds weird?  I thought so too.  That thesis has been popping up all over the internet today.

For example, from the Washington Post:

...It’s as if an umpire tweaked the rules to favor his team in the future, but obscured the changes by calling a particular contest for the other side. ”John Roberts is playing at a different game than the rest of us,” wrote Red State’s Erick Erickson. “We’re on poker. He’s on chess.”

By voting with the liberals to uphold the Affordable Care Act, Roberts has put himself above partisan reproach. No one can accuse Roberts of ruling as a movement conservative. He’s made himself bulletproof against insinuations that he’s animated by party allegiances.

Best Flash Mob Ever

"Surely, the classiest and most elegant flash mob ever. A thing of surprising joy and wonder, too."--Deacon Greg Kandra

"Thomas Aquinas gave a definition of the beautiful that is still helpful and relevant seven centuries later. The beautiful, he said, is “wholeness, harmony, and radiance,” and these define the terrain of the artist.'--Barbara Nicolosi-Harrington

"Beauty will save the world."--Dostoevsky

The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

What the heck is worth celebrating about a woman's heart?

Well, a lot of things.  First of all, Mary was no ordinary woman.  Scripture makes this clear when it recounts for us the words of Elizabeth:

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.  Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”  (Luke 1:41-45)

Mary is uniquely blessed among women. She is one of a kind. No other woman will ever bear in her womb Jesus, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity incarnated as a human being. 

Former Abortionist: Abortion Almost Useless as Medical Intervention

A former abortionist makes an interesting series of statements. There are some harrowing descriptions in there, so be warned, but the following isn't graphic at all.  Excerpts:

...If you refuse to believe that this procedure inflicts severe pain on that unborn child, please think again.

Contraception: Why Not--Organic Living

An interesting article, making a rarely heard argument: there are serious medical and environmental effects from artificial contraceptives.

The good news: organic family planning methods exist and they are effective!

For Ex-Catholics and Post-Christians

A piece for you by Jennifer Fulwiler.  Excerpts:

...Like Quindlen, many people who abandon their Catholic faith still believe in God and still strive to be good, moral people; they choose to leave because they think that they will find these things they desire -- God, freedom, equality -- outside the walls of the Church. Such a move certainly fits in with popular cultural beliefs. Common wisdom states that the Catholic Church is a corrupt organization that places oppressive, unnecessary rules on its members. The way to find freedom, the thinking goes, is to ditch the institution and create a spirituality and moral code that works for you.

To modern ears, this all sounds right. But is it true?