Chicago Daily Observer

Big Media want the presidential campaign to focus on “the issues” by which they mean the mesh of confusing statistics on the economy, tax cuts, energy and health care by which Obama…twisting and turning…endeavors to make himself invisible to hair-splitting evaluation. On the economy he is a master at changing direction to obfuscate the fact that he is a redistributionist. On foreign policy he is a veritable chameleon hiding the fact that in debate with Hillary Clinton he advocated negotiation with Iran with no preconditions. On energy he tongues-in-cheek a mention of drilling and says as an aside “yes, nuclear” but is the same-old, same-old. In issue debates, frankly, the truth isn’t in him. As he never has recognized absolutes of any kind, he is at a distinct advantage. He is a giant squid, inking the water with deception and the establishment media cheer him on-warning McCain that the worst ... Read More...

The church does not endorse candidates for office,” said Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George in a letter read at all masses last Sunday.

Yes, it does.

Not directly but, yes, it does.

Though John F. Kennedy, our first and only Catholic president, promised in 1960 to not impose his faith on public policy, George has said directly that Kennedy was “wrong.”

Bravo for a new Illinois law that protects you from discrimination by employers and insurers for illness and defects that genetic testing might turn up.

If, for example, sophisticated genetic testing shows that you are a likely candidate for a heart attack or breast cancer, you can’t be denied health insurance or have your premiums raised.

These protections join the many anti-discrimination laws and regulations, some warranted, others not. But this is certainly a worthy one. In this, I’m with so-called progressives, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, that support the protections.

But I wonder if progressives are with me when it comes to protecting people whose genetic diseases are turned up by sophisticated testing before they are born. Especially against discrimination of the ultimate kind by the parents, who don’t want to put up with having a “special needs child,” such as one with Down syndrome. About 90 ... Read More...

I’ll credit Rick Warren with asking both John McCain and Barack Obama about abortion. I skipped the Saddleback Church non-debate, but Jim at Gateway Pundit captured what has to be the quote of the election. When asked the point when a human embryo achieves personhood, Obama said that the question is “above my pay grade”:

First, the entire issue of abortion involves determining when a baby becomes a person. If Obama thinks this is above his pay grade, then he probably shouldn’t be running for political office.

In our first thread, we learned that Barack Obama is pro-choice but anti-abortion, pro-military but anti-war, opposed to evil, against torture (especially evil torture), against Clarence Thomas, against prostitution and human trafficking, against designing embryos for stem cell research and human cloning, pro-international community but in favor of the Bosnia intervention. Very, very pro-empathy, over all.

He’s even against children becoming orphans.

The other night on Bruce DuMont, I said that I’m not dismayed at Barack Obama’s changing his mind on some issues…because he is a very inexperienced candidate for president-even wobbly-and if he feels better about changing his mind…especially on instant meetings with the president of Iran without advance staff preparation…it’s better he changes. For that, I was ribbed by my fellow panelist Chris Robling as being wobbly…but actually for a politician who is very likely to be elected president to change if he sees the need is good. Besides, as one who has been a conservative since the days of Robert A. Taft I don’t need instruction from Mr. Roblling on when to be accommodating and when not to be.

It was about that time in the conversation that Cliff Kelley, an old friend, a talk show host on WVON, said that it was clear to him that abortion ... Read More...

I noticed two discordant events during Thursday’s pro-life demonstrations by black activists on Capitol Hill.

One was the lack of TV cameras. They said a Fox crew showed up early, then left on another assignment way before the demonstration began. But here you had folks wearing T-shirts with sayings on them like “black genocide” and carrying signs saying “Abortion is not a family value” and traipsing down SE Capitol Street in steamy weather between the Democratic National Committee HQ and the Republican National Committee building.

Yesterday Douglas Kmiec, a onetime friend of mine, formerly known as the possessor of an enviable conservative record in the law…dean of the Pepperdine Law School…former law professor at Catholic U…former director of the…get this…Thomas More Law Center-Tommy More-at Notre Dame…an assistant attorney general under Ronald Reagan…definer of constitutional law in support of pro-life…yes, THAT DOUG KMIEC…had an Op Ed in the “Tribune” extolling Barack Obama.

As all the political world knows, Doug, having supported the presidential candidate of Mitt Romney and having defended his overnight conversion from pro-abort to pro-life, was dismayed because Romney was defeated. And there went all of Doug’s hopes for a Supreme Court justiceship which by intellect he truly deserves. He deserved to get named to the high court by George W. Bush but for the fact that Doug’s paper trail in behalf of pro-life was so extensive that nobody thought they ... Read More...