DISSING THE VICTIMS AND HEROES OF 9/11:
When NetLoons Have Waaaaaay Too Much Time on Their Hands

Unfortunately, horrible tragedies like 9/11 seem to draw all sorts of kooks and nincumpoops out of the woodwork.

Such is the case with a truly weird web site, apparently authored by someone trying to pull our collective cyberlegs in order to push some lunatic-fringe political agenda. The theme of this site is that the "official story" (whatever that means) of what happened on 9/11 is a "hoax." (You know, just like the Holocaust, heliocentricity, evolution, and those manned landings on the moon.)

For a more detailed look at, and debunking of, this strange "theory" see our commentary at our Bullies 'N' Bozos web log.

MORE 9/11 RECOLLECTIONS AND REFLECTIONS:
At the Catholic Web Log Heart, Mind, and Strength

Many thanks to HMS blogger Kevin Miller at that site for posting these accounts by his readers of their experiences on that awful day:

Among these are the following powerful and poignant accounts written by one of his readers, a New York City resident, during the first three days after that tragedy:

From Day Two, 9/12/01:
Yesterday
and
Overcoming Evil with Good

From Day Four, 9/14/01:
Life Goes On

Several more moving recollections and thoughtful reflections, including by Mr. Miller, can be read starting HERE

"WHERE WERE YOU
When the World Stopped Turning on that September Day?"

Country Music singer-songwriter Alan Jackson's reflections on 9/11

Listen to the song and read the lyrics HERE

A profoundly moving piece, whether you're a Country-Western Music fan or not.

"LEST WE FORGET: REFLECTIONS ON 9/11"
by Megan, a Catholic College Student in Chicago, Illinois

On the Eve of September 11, 2003: Lest We Forget

At the end of August, I was at the site of another memorial of another national tragedy. As I looked down into the crystal clear waters of Pearl Harbor at the remnants of the USS Arizona, I couldn't help but think of 9/11. And as I watched the images of the Japanese fighter planes bombing the naval base and the battleships, I could not help but remember 9/11. I was not alive during Pearl Harbor--so 9/11 is like my generation's Pearl Harbor. And ironically it happened during the 60th anniversary year of that day.

I think about my generation. We're starved for lack of heroes. Our teenagers look to Madonna, Eminem, and Britney Spears as role models. Let us take this time to remember and honor real heroes, the firemen and other workers that gave their lives to help their fellow men in trouble. Let us remember them and the ultimate sacrifice they paid. Lest we forget.

I'm proud to be an American. I know that America has her faults and her sins. But I also see alot of good in the USA and that good was shown in the heroic examples of her citizens who showed remarkable unselfishness and courage in the face of danger. Let us not forget the sacrifice they paid. Let us pray for their souls, for all of the souls of the dead that day. Let us remember the courage that led the over 300 firemen to their deaths that day. God bless them. They are true heroes. They deserve to be honored and remembered. God have mercy on their souls and God have mercy on our land.

And, once, again, in my mind I go back to the crystal blue waters of Pearl Harbor and lay a flower on the waters of the tomb of those men who fell, remembering at the same time my generation's Pearl Harbor. Aloha and God be with you.

"THE HOLE IN THE SKYLINE"
National Review Writer Rod Dreher's Reflections on 9/11

In his column at NROnline Dreher notes, in part:

It is, I think, good to be reminded of the tragic sense of life — good, because it reflects the truth, and having that front and center, day and night, helps one guard against blithe optimism, our American temptation. Forewarned is forearmed. Before September 11, I used to marvel at the Twin Towers and the lower Manhattan skyline. The morning sun glinted off the towers, twin diamonds in a crowning achievement of mankind: New York City, the breathtaking palace atop that shining city on the hill that is America. At night, the lights of the towers glittered against the scrim of night, a constellation of our own making. You cannot see the stars at night from New York City, but you didn't have to if you had the Twin Towers.

The last time I saw the towers as they were was one year ago tonight, I had a drink with a friend in the neighborhood, and said goodbye to him at my doorstep, watching him walk away with the towers over his shoulder. I next saw them on fire, and within two hours, saw nothing.

They were there and now they are not: that simple brute fact I still have trouble accepting. Video of the plane crashes and the two collapses doesn't bother me; rather, what I can't take are pre-9/11 images of the World Trade Center. Not long ago, my little niece showed me video of her visit to New York three years ago. At one point, there is a shot with the Twin Towers in the distance. As soon as I saw them there, my chest tightened, tears leapt to my eyes, and I had to leave the room. That video clip was a snapshot from a time and place when we could take things for granted, from a day when the mighty towers were mere background scenery. Of course, we never could, not really; but it was easy in our peace and prosperity, to forget that.

How true, and how very well said.

THE PRIESTS OF 9/11:
More Little-Noticed and Unsung Heroism on That Awful Day

Most of us know of the incredible acts of courage on the part of the hundreds of New York City firefighters and police officers who put their lives on the line on Sept. 11, 2001 helping those caught in the burning WTC twin towers to escape, often at the cost of their own lives.

We know also of the hundreds of rescue workers who, painfully and out of compassion as well as a sense of duty, risked their own lives searching for victims and survivors among the ruins of that calamity.

We know also of the ultimate sacrifice paid by Fr. Mychal Judge, the courageous Catholic chaplain with the NYC fire department who lost his life ministering to his FDNY colleagues as they lay injured or dying from the continually falling debri.

But most of us don't know about the dozens of Catholic priests who, alongside dozens of their colleagues of other faiths, went into that Hell on Earth to help others instead of run for their lives. After the dust and debris at Ground Zero settled, dozens more mobilized to help and comfort those hundreds of firefighters, police, rescue workers, survivors, and victims' family members who needed them.

This, and not the unfortunate sex abuse scandals on which the media seem so fixated, is what being a Catholic priest or any other cleric in any other religion is really all about, or at least should be all about.

9/11 TWO YEARS LATER:
And the Nation Remembers Its Fallen Loved Ones and Fellow Citizens

But while we in the USA still live relatively free of terrorism since that awful day, terrorism continues in Israel, Iraq, and the rest of the world.

God help those for whom terrorism is a daily reality, and God bless and comfort those who have lost their friends and family members to terrorism.

ANOTHER O'HAIR-BRAINED ANTIC:
The American Atheists Want the Ground Zero Cross Removed

Shortly after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, while Ground Zero was being cleared of debris, a segment of three joined steel girders was found which uncannily resembled a perfectly symmetrical Christian cross. At the urging of the men and women who spent weeks searching for survivors and body parts, the NYC committee in charge of establishing a memorial at the site may include that 20-foot tall artifact in its memorial plans.

But not if the perennially cranky American Atheist organization has its way, as we take a look at this silly outfit and it's equally silly complaint at our Bullies 'N' Bozos web log.

FROM THE SO-WHAT-ELSE-IS-NEW? DEPARTMENT:
The Church of $cientology Is at It Again --TWICE!

According to an on-line report by NBC News, members of the Church of Scientology, including celebrities like Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Juliette Lewis, who want to move up into the upper ranks in their religion are now required to sign a contract which relinquishes to their "church" some key rights, "including a right to psychiatric care and the right to see their families."

Apparently this new requirement came about in the wake of a successful malpractive suit brought against the "church" by the family of a mentally ill member who died from dehydration and starvation while under the "care" of her colleagues.

And the Catholic Church's critics think we're the bad guys???

For a more in-depth look at this story, see our commentary at our Bullies 'N' Bozos web log.

GETTING BOOTED BY THE POPE?
Gay Porn Priest May Get Fired by the Vatican

Sounds like a good beginning. All we need now is for the U.S. Bishops to start cleaning house, as they promised to do over a year ago.

PAUL HILL'S UPCOMING BIG SURPRISE:
When "Christians" Borrow a Page from Al-Queda

Ten years ago, a former Presbyterian minister turned psychopath with a Messiah Complex deliberately and premeditatedly gunned down an abortionist and his bodyguard in the name of life and the God of life.

Today he sits on death row awaiting his execution in Florida. less than an hour from now.

Any sane person in the same situation who also professed Christ as his Lord and Savior would have long ago repented of his sin and expressed contrition and grief for committing such a heinous act. But not Paul Hill, who remains convinced that his cold-blooded murders of Dr. John Britton and his bodyguard were not only "moral" but even earned him Brownie Points with the Almighty: Said Hill, smiling, "I expect a great reward in heaven" and "I am looking forward to glory.'' He added, "More people should act as I have acted."

Apparently, Mr. Hill had forgotten what he learned in his Presbyterian seminary regarding the rule of law and the fact that the private individual has no biblical or other religious warrant for taking the law, including God's law, into his or her own hands. He had also forgotten, it seems, the Presbyterian doctrine of interposition first codified by John Calvin, i.e., that, except in self-defense, no Christian is permitted under God's law to take up arms against another, no even a tyrant, unless so directed by the magistrates ruling over him. Neither the Bible nor Christian Tradition knows or condones anarchy, least of all murderous anarchy, no matter the "reason."

We suspect that like the Al-Queda terrorists who crashed into the Pentagon and World Trade Center two years ago expecting to be greeted in Paradise by Allah and thousands of beautfiul young virgins for their act of "martyrdom," Mr. Hill will have a big surprise awaiting him on the other side of this life. And we seriously doubt that it'll involve either Heaven or glory.

KIND OF REMINDS US OF ITALIAN POLITICS
California's Recall Governor's Race Gets Whackier and Whackier

First, it was the recall movement engineered by God-only-knows-who. The Democrats claim it has been the Republicans, which may very well be true since a wealthy Republican politico first got that ball rolling. But the polls have been showing that the recall movement has been a grassroots effort crossing all political lines.

Next, just about everyone began announcing his or her candicacy for Gray Davis' seat, from Davis' own Lieutenant Governor to a pink-and-blonde porn "actress" (euphemistically referred to as a "model" by the mainstream media) to porn kingpin Larry Flynt. Now action film star Arnold Schwarzenneger has declared his own intentions to Terminate the current Governor.

Of course, entertainers running for public office in California is nothing new. Witness Pat Brown and Ronald Reagan. But the last time a porn star ran a high-profile campaign for public office was back in 1990 when Italian porn queen Ilona Staller was elected to the Italian Parliament, where she later flashed her breasts to her colleagues and voted for things like sex for prisoners, sex education for young kids and sexual liberation for everyone. And just before the first Gulf war, she publicly offered to have sex with both George Bush, Sr. and Saddam Hussein in order to avert the coming war. (How that would've worked she never said.)

So there is a precedent established for porn stars running for public offices and actually serving in them, and California seems the most likely place to continue that tradition. After all, as in Italian politics, California politics seems run more and more by weirdos.

IS THE POPE ”PETRIFIED BY SEX”???
What Happens When Non-Liberals Join the New Know-Nothing Party

On August 3, in the New York Daily News, self-styled "middle-of-the-road" columnist Mike Barnicle joined ranks with his colleagues in the liberal news media to bash the Pope for having the temerity to issue a document on July 31 which did nothing more than defend the universal, timeless and time-honored institution of marriage against those attempting to both weaken and radically ("at the root") redefine it by rushing gay “marriage” legislation into the nation’s law-books.

A central theme of the Vatican's document, aptly titled Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons, is that what has always constituted and defined marriage was, and continues to be, determined by logic, natural law, and gender rather than the wishful thinking of a noisy special interest group.

In short: It's the biology, stupid.

On a sociological and psychological level, Considerations also points out, it has long been established that children grow and develop best under male and female parents. However, it remains to be seen that, on the whole, children --most of whom (if not all) are born heterosexual-- can do so (or worse, grow and develop adversely) under parents of the same gender; hence the Vatican's opposition as well to adoption by gay couples whether they are "married" or not. After all, it's one thing for two consenting adults to tinker with their own lives, and quite another for them to tinker with the lives of innocent children who have no say in the matter.

Moreover, as Considerations also points out, the institutions of marriage and the family, as the most fundamental building block of any civilization, predates both church and state by at least several millenia; hence, neither church nor state has the right or authority to reinvent it from the ground up by including same-sex "unions." Why, one may as well extend the definition of "marriage" to same-person unions (see our July 9 blog, Next Up In Canada: Same-Person Marriage, below).

Yet Barnicle doesn't even address any of the aforegoing concerns, nor does he address any of the other arguments against gay "marriage" raised by Considerations. It's as if the man never came across the term "philosophy," much less ever studied the subject. Instead, Barnicle opened his column with the following preposterous statement, which was quickly followed by other equally preposterous statments (emphasis via bold text and underlines added):

If you're Catholic, you really have to have faith to keep the faith these days. One day, a new archbishop is installed in Boston and instantly adds a breath of fresh air to a church that has been battered by the behavior of liars, hypocrites and obstructors of justice in Roman collars. Then, just when you think it's safe to relax, the Pope and the isolated crew around him issue their latest assault against homosexuals. That was predictable because the Vatican --hey, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church-- is petrified by sex.

Of course, the irony of the above statement is that the "liars, hypocrites, and obstructors of justice in Roman collars" to whom Barnicle refers are the very same homosexual priests who committed the crimes in question, along with the look-the-other-way bishops who protected them. After all, well over 90% of the clerical sexual abuse cases in the American Catholic Church are male-on-male, not male-on-female --a very relevant fact barely mentioned in the secular media and apparently ignored by Barnicle. In fact, had "the Pope and the isolated crew around him" staged a wholesale purge and defrocking of these clerics at least ten years ago --as they should have done-- Barnicle most likely would've waxed indignant about "their latest assault against homosexuals." Logic would suggest that if the Pope should favor gays taking marriage vows (as Barnicle apparently believes), the Pope should likewise favor gays taking priestly vows.

Nevertheless, in the remainder of his diatribe Barnicle showed nary the slightest indication of informed familiarity with the Catholic Church’s teachings in the areas of marriage (regarded as a sacrament by the Church!), sexuality, and sexual ethics. Nor did he present a shred of evidence to support his claim that Pope John Paul II & co. are "petrified by sex."

Instead of doing his homework in order to address these issues with something resembling coherence and intelligence, he apparently decided instead to create a straw-man which he then proceeded to dismantle. But such intellectual laziness seems typical of Barnicle, who according to the news media was once booted from The Boston Globe for repeatedly plagiarizing other writers' work.

On August 4, we sent the following response to Barnicle's column via e-mail to the editors of the Daily News. To date, our letter seems not to have seen the light of day there, much less any space in the Daily News' Letters section --even in a much shorter and heavily edited form. Nor have we yet to receive a reply:


Letters to the Editor
New York Daily News
August 4, 2003

Mike Barnicle's attempt on August 3 to "critique" the Vatican's rejection of gay marriage has got to be most clueless piece of balderdash on things Catholic I've come across since the last time I read a Jack Chick tract.

Barnicle claims, with zero evidence to back up his assertion, that Pope John Paul II, among other Church leaders at the Vatican, is "petrified by sex."

REALLY????

Obviously, Mr. Barnicle has never come across the vast corpus on marital relationships, sexuality, and sexual ethics --collectively known as "theology of the body"-- written by the Pope which proves the exact opposite.

Consider, for example, the following excerpts from the Pope's book Love and Responsibility, first published over 40 years ago in his native Poland:

"Sexologists state that the curve of arousal in woman is different from that in man--it rises more slowly and falls more slowly... The man must take this difference between male and female reactions into account, not for hedonistic, but for altruistic reasons. There exists a rhythm dictated by nature itself which both spouses must discover so that climax may be reached both by the man and by the woman, and as far as possible occur in both simultaneously...

"Non-observance of these teachings of sexology in the marital relationship is contrary to the good of the other partner to the marriage and the durability and cohesion of the marriage itself. It must be taken into account that it is naturally difficult for the woman to adapt herself to the man in the sexual relationship, that there is a natural unevenness of physical and psychological rhythms, so that there is a need for harmonization, which is impossible without good will, especially on the part of the man, who must carefully observe the reactions of the woman. If a woman does not obtain natural gratification from the sexual act there is a danger that her experience of it will be qualitatively inferior, will not involve her fully as a person…

"In the woman this produces an aversion to intercourse, and a disgust with sex which is just as difficult or even more difficult to control than the sexual urge. It can also cause neuroses and sometimes organic disorders (which come from the fact that the engorgement of the genital organs at the time of sexual arousal results in inflammation in the region of the so-called little pelvis, if sexual arousal is not terminated by detumescence, which in the woman is closely connected with orgasm). Psychologically, such a situation causes not just indifference but outright hostility. A woman finds it very difficult to forgive a man if she derives no satisfaction from intercourse…."

Does any of the above sound like something written by a man "petrified by sex"???

But perhaps Barnicle was merely trying to make a clever Peter-as-the-Rock pun based on Matthew 16: 18 ("And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church"): The word "petrified" and the name "Peter" --another name by which all Popes are known-- have the same root, the Greek word petros, "rock." However, we doubt that Barnicle is that original: Just ask The Boston Globe. And by all indications, he's not a New Testament scholar either.

As we've pointed out before, whether it comes from intellectually challenged secular pundits or backwoods semi-literate John Calvins, anti-Catholic nincumpoopery is still alive and well on planet Earth.

THE NEW KNOW-NOTHINGS vs. "THE PASSION":
A Catholic Writer Critiques Mel Gibson's Critics

On his web log, Catholic blogger Jim Cork makes some excellent points about those in the media and in the liberal Establishment who have been going out of their way nowadays trying to portray Mel Gibson's upcoming movie "The Passion" --which none of them have ever seen!-- as "anti-semitic," a cinematic equivalent of the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.

According to Cork, it seems their chief reason for this shameless propaganda campaign is nothing less (or more) than that Gibson is a traditionalist Catholic. This means, in the view of the ADL's Abraham Foxman (whose long track record for knee-jerk overreaction suggests he's never to have met a Christian he hasn't disliked), that "Mr. Gibson ...is supportive of views of church policy that question or reject the many 20th-century changes, including the revolution in attitudes toward Jews beginning with [Second Vatican Council document] Nostra Aetate in 1965." Therefore, in the half-baked minds of Gibson's critics, both Gibson's motives and his attitudes toward Jews must be automatically suspect.

Cork does a fine job not only of debunking their baseless assertions, but also of turning the tables on them to show what's really beneath and behind their vacuous caterwauling --namely, an unabashed anti-Catholicism worthy of the Know-Nothing Party of the late 1880s.

Jim Cork on Mel Gibson's Clueless Critics

”JUDGES NEEDED; CATHOLICS NEED NOT APPLY”:
The U. S. Senate’s New Know-Nothings Institute a Religious Test

"No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." -- Article VI, Constitution of the United States

Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s –the “good ol’ days” of open hostility and discrimination against Catholic immigrants by Protestant political activists known collectively as the Know-Nothing Party-- signs bearing messages such as “Workers Needed; Irish Need Not Apply” were commonplace. Thankfully, most Americans eventually came to their senses and public sentiment went against the bigots.

However, it seems you can’t keep anti-Catholic bigotry down for very long:

Enter U. S. Senators Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein, as well as Ted Kennedy, Richard Durbin, Tom Daschle, and Patrick Leahy (nominal cafeteria Catholics who have repeatedly sided with the abortion lobby) –all Democrats and most of them on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Enter also, before that Committee, Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, a devout Catholic who opposes abortion and is a nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Consider also the fact that, by all media accounts, during his tenure as Alabama’s Attorney General Pryor strictly abided by all Supreme Court precedents and decisions vis the abortion issue despite his pro-life commitment and his dedication to Catholic teaching in general.

But this was not good enough for the New Know-Nothing Party composed of Schumer, Feinstein, Kennedy, and Leahy. For them, the fact that Pryor is a committed orthodox Catholic and past president of one of his state’s pro-life organizations alone disqualified him for a seat in the U. S. Court of Appeals.

For example, Schumer announced that Pryor “feels so deeply, so passionately about Roe v. Wade that we can't believe he'll be objective.”

And Feinstein, in a response to Pryor, noted that "Virtually in every area you have extraordinarily strong views which continue to come out in a number of different ways.” [Pryor had referred to the Roe vs. Wade decision as "the worst abomination in the history of constitutional law".] “Your comments about Roe make one believe, could he really, suddenly, move away from those comments and be a judge?"

Lest some dismiss this as a fluke or just a case of Democrats being merely anti-Republican rather than anti-Catholic, all recent judiciary nominees who also “just happen” to be devout, practicing Catholics received the same treatment by the Committee’s Democratic members and other liberal Democrats in the Senate. Among these rejected Catholic candidates were Leon Holmes (in the eastern district of Arkansas), Carolyn Kuhl (in the Ninth Circuit), Bob Conrad (eastern district of North Carolina) and three of the four other stalled nominees from Michigan (Sixth Circuit).

The Holmes case is especially repugnant: During his hearing before the Committee, Feinstein ripped out of context statements Holmes had written in religious (not legal) articles he wrote for Catholic theological (not law) publications and spun these as "evidences" of his alleged unfitness for office as a judge.

As William Donohoe, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, put it so succinctly regarding the Pryor nomination, "[I]t is precisely Pryor's religious convictions that are being scrutinized. Given the cast of mind of some of his critics, it makes it virtually impossible for practicing Catholics to ascend to the federal bench." Similar objections to the Democratic Senators’ approach have also been voiced by leading Protestants such as Chuck Colson.

But Catholics and other Christians are not the only ones horrified by the Senate Democrats’ conduct vis Pryor and other Catholic nominees. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America wrote this regarding Pryor: "We are profoundly troubled by the manner in which this opposition has been framed. . . . We are deeply troubled by those who have implied that a person of faith cannot serve in a high-level government post that may raise issues at odds with his or her personal beliefs."

So the real test for "Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States" in the minds the New Know-Nothings is not Mr. Pryor’s record but rather Pryor’s, and therefore any Catholic’s, ”deeply held beliefs;” specifically, his deeply held Catholic beliefs. It is, at the bottom line, a religious test, a test specifically prohibited by Article IV of the U. S. Constitution, the same document the New Know-Nothings repeatedly claim to revere.

A MUSLIM WOODY ALLEN?
The Comedic Aspirations of a Canadian Filmmaker

Contrary to the impression most of we non-Muslim Westerners have about Muslims, at least some of them have a sense of humor.

See, for example, this story in The Washington Post about the satirical films created by Canadian filmmaker Zarqa Nawaz, a Muslim woman.

Nawaz apparently follows her religion faithfully yet with her tongue firmly planted in cheek when it comes to Muslim manners, attitudes and culture as well as Western perceptions of and attitudes toward Muslims.

NOW THAT'S ALCOHOL ABUSE!
Jim Beam Loses 1,000,000 Gallons of Good Hootch...

...in a fire this week, according to this article.

THIS IS A SCREAM:
Check Out Oliphant's Vatican vs. Gay "Marriage" Cartoon

Syndicated editorial cartoonist Pat Oliphant may not be very kind to the Catholic Church in this one, but his lampooning of the gays and gay "marriage" is priceless. Note the purse carried by one of the guys, and the high heels on the other, and the "His" and "His" shirts. Too much!

Note also the veiled reference to current goings-on within the Episcopal Church by the tiny bird character Oliphant uses in all his cartoons.

Oliphant's Gay "Marriage" Cartoon

No doubt Oliphant's very politically incorrect portrayal of his two gay characters will earn his syndicate far more angry letters than will his poke at the Vatican.

A "GLOBAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST GAYS"???
The Chicago Sin-Times Lies About the Vatican's "Considerations" Document

In the wake of Pope John Paul II's July 31 document opposing the current growing trend towards legalizing gay unions and redefining marriage by lifting civil bans against gay "marriage," the liberal pro-homosexual Chicago Sun-Times lost no time spinning this modest and very reasonable response by the Vatican to a legitimate moral issue into some kind of imaginary pogrom against gays themselves.

In response, Chicago's Cardinal George sent an open letter of apology to the Pope on behalf of the people of Chicago and lambasted the Sun-Times from his pulpit. The Catholic News Service reports on this as follows:

Headline saying pope attacks gays draws ire of Chicago cardinal

By Catholic News Service

CHICAGO (CNS) -- Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago used an Aug. 3 homily to defend Pope John Paul II against a newspaper headline that charged the pope with launching a campaign against homosexuals.

Cardinal George said an Aug. 1 headline in the daily Chicago Sun-Times that read "Pope launches global campaign against gays" was a "false accusation" he felt compelled to defend.

The headline on the front-page article appeared a day after the Vatican released a 12-page document that called on lawmakers to offer "clear and emphatic opposition" to same-sex marriages, which it said were contrary to human nature and ultimately harmful to society.

In releasing the document, the pope was re-affirming the "nature of marriage," the cardinal said.

"Marriage is a lifelong union of a man and a woman who enter into a total sharing of themselves for the sake of family," he said.

The cardinal said the nature of marriage was decided by biology, predates the church and that neither government nor the church had the authority to change it.

"What the Holy Father concluded from the fact that there is neither biological nor moral equivalence between heterosexual marriage and homosexual unions is that there should be no legal equivalence either in a well-ordered and wholesome society," the cardinal said.

Cardinal George said the drive to legalize same-sex unions was because of "morality based upon desires" supplanting a "morality based upon the truth of things," and that those who oppose the unions are denounced as "homophobic."

"Because of a concerted effort in movies and TV shows in recent years to shape public imagination and opinion into accepting same-sex relations as normal and morally unexceptional, obvious truths now are considered evidence of homophobia," he said.

The cardinal said he wrote a letter to Pope John Paul apologizing for the headline, and that he hesitated before signing his title to the letter.

"I'm ashamed that this false accusation against the pope was made in our city. At the very least it is unfair, and we pride ourselves on fairness," he said.

Cardinal George said many who attacked the pope were anti-Catholic, but stopped short levying that charge against the Chicago Sun-Times.

"What I must say today is that a line has been crossed, and Chicago Catholics cannot ignore what has happened," he said.

The Sun-Times defended its headline, saying that when read in its entirety it "accurately reflects the church's view on same-sex marriage and the role the church requires Catholic politicians to play in this issue."

The paper said that the full headline read, "Pope Launches Global Campaign Vs. Gays," followed by the subhead, "Vatican: Catholic pols have 'moral duty' to oppose homesexual (sic) rights."

END

In our view, it's time for all rational and fairminded people to start flooding the offices of the Chicago Sun-Times with letters of protest.

A LEGEND TAKES HIS FINAL BOW:
Bob Hope Leaves Us at Age 100

World renown comedian Bob Hope passed away over the weekend, less than two months after the USA and the rest of the world celebrated his 100th birthday.

Unlike way too many modern-day comedians, Mr. Hope's comedy was both very clean and very, very funny. He kept whole families, from the kids to their grandparents, in stitches for over 60 years, beginning in 1938 with his first movie, "The Big Broadcast of 1938" and his radio shows for NBC in the early 1940s.

In addition to the scores of movies and hundreds of radio and t.v. shows which made him a household name, Mr. Hope has been especially well known for donating his talent, time and energy to entertaining US troops overseas through the USO from World War II to the 1991 Persian Gulf War. As honory President of USO, Mr. Hope both inspired and personally pursuaded countless other entertainers to "go forth and do likewise" ever since he began doing his own USO tours in 1941.

In 1997, the U. S. Congress bestowed an honor on Mr. Hope which has never been given to anyone before or since: He was named as an honorary U.S. veteran because of his decades of support to the American military men and women living far away from home. Mr. Hope was deeply touched: "I've been given many awards in my lifetime," he replied, "but to be numbered among the men and women I admire the most is the greatest honor I have ever received."

Bob Hope was a gem, and he will be sorely missed.