Placenta previa
This is what a placenta previa looks like. Notice how the placenta completely covers the cervical os:
Everybody Loves an Intrauterine Device (IUD)
Your Ob/Gyn is probably using an IUD. So, why aren't you? And for all you physicians out there, don't be an IUD nonplacer [my new favorite word].
From a survey of female employees at a Midwestern University, among heterosexually active, premenopausal nonsterilized respondents (n=4764):
-- Ob/Gyns reported greater history of IUD use than all others (34% vs. 12%).
-- Physicians overall reported greater IUD use than nonphysicians (24% vs. 12%).
-- Clinicians who place IUDs reported more personal IUD use than nonplacers (33% vs. 18%).
-- Among women who intend future pregnancy, 26% of Ob/Gyns reported history of IUD use versus 17% of other physicians and 6% of nonclinician Ph.D.s.
-- 17%, 12% and 4% respectively reported current IUD use and future childbearing intention.
When Did You Make Your Sexual Debut?
Photo by eyesplash Mikul
While you reminisce about your sexual debut (don't worry, I'm not taking names or keeping track) here's how others have answered the question.
From a nationally representative survey of students in Grades 9–12 (1999–2007 data):
1. Almost 70% of youth experiencing sexual debut by age 18.
2. By age 16, approximately 30% of females and 34% of males have had sexual intercourse.
3. Approximately 7.1% of American youth report sexual debut prior to 13 (more male than female youth reporting early sexual debut).
4. African-American males experienced sexual debut earlier than all other groups.
5. Asian males and females experienced sexual debut later than all groups.
6 By their 17th birthday, the probability for sexual debut was:
-- greatest for African Americans (74% females, 82% males) and Hispanic males (69%)
-- less than 60% for Caucasians (58% females, 53% males) and Hispanic females (59%)
-- less than 35% for Asians (females 28%, males 33%)
Dr. Tiller's Assassin Pleads Not Guilty
The lawyer for Dr. Tiller's assassin thought it significant to elicit testimony from the eyewitness to the murder that he heard the assassin say something along the line of "Lord, Forgive me."
Since Dr. Tiller's assassin did nothing wrong why would he need to ask for forgiveness?
In any case, I wonder if this is an indication of the strategy the defense might plan to use. Something along the lines of: The Lord told him to do it, so, since he's taking instructions from voices in his head, clearly he's mentally incompetent. We shall see.
Since Dr. Tiller's assassin did nothing wrong why would he need to ask for forgiveness?
In any case, I wonder if this is an indication of the strategy the defense might plan to use. Something along the lines of: The Lord told him to do it, so, since he's taking instructions from voices in his head, clearly he's mentally incompetent. We shall see.
The man accused of killing Kansas late-term abortion provider George Tiller has pleaded not guilty.
Authorities say anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder (ROH'-der) also threatened two ushers who tried to stop him during the May 31 shooting in the doctor's church in Wichita. Roeder is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the slaying.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges on Tuesday after witnesses gave chilling testimony at a preliminary hearing. A judge ordered Roeder held on $20 million bond and set a trial date for Sept. 21.
...
An usher at the church where abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was shot to death testified Tuesday that he and the doctor were chatting when a man walked through the door, put a gun to Tiller's head and shot him.
Gary Hoepner was the first witness called at a preliminary hearing for Scott Roeder, a Kansas City, Mo., man charged with murdering Tiller on May 31 at the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, where Tiller volunteered as an usher.
...
Hoepner, who testified for about 90 minutes, said he wasn't sure if the weapon used to kill Tiller was real until he saw Tiller fall to the ground. He said he followed the shooter, whom he identified as Roeder, out of the church but stopped after Roeder warned him.
"`I've got a gun and I'll shoot you,'" Hoepner recalled the gunman saying. "I believed him and I stopped."
He said he later called police to give them the license plate number on the shooter's car.
Defense attorney Steve Osburn said some of Hoepner's testimony was based on assumptions, including whether the gunman spoke directly to the other usher.
Osburn also asked Hoepner if he told police he heard the gunman say something along the line of "Lord, Forgive me."
Hoepner said he did.
Dr. Tiller's Assassin Says He's an Operation Rescue Financial Supporter
Both Dr. Tiller's and Pvt. Long's accused assassins consider the killings to be justified.
Despite statements by Pvt. Long's assassin that he acted alone, the FBI is investigating his ties with a small mosque in Columbus, Ohio.
When Dr. Tiller's assassin was arrested the phone number to Cheryl Sullenger, Operation Rescue's senior policy adviser, was found inside his car. [Ms. Sullenger served two years in prison after being convicted in 1988 of conspiring to bomb a California abortion clinic.]
According to Troy Newman, Operation Rescue's president, Scott Roeder has never been a member, contributor, or volunteer with Operation Rescue.
Turns out Dr. Tiller's assassin begs to differ:
No word yet if the FBI might possibly be bothered to investigate Dr. Tiller's assassin ties with Operation Rescue.
Also, Troy Newman, if both you and Dr. Tiller's assassin are telling the truth, call your accountant. Despite the fact that you seem to consider a thousand dollars an insignificant sum of money, it looks like financial improprieties are being committed with your organization's funds.
Despite statements by Pvt. Long's assassin that he acted alone, the FBI is investigating his ties with a small mosque in Columbus, Ohio.
When Dr. Tiller's assassin was arrested the phone number to Cheryl Sullenger, Operation Rescue's senior policy adviser, was found inside his car. [Ms. Sullenger served two years in prison after being convicted in 1988 of conspiring to bomb a California abortion clinic.]
According to Troy Newman, Operation Rescue's president, Scott Roeder has never been a member, contributor, or volunteer with Operation Rescue.
Turns out Dr. Tiller's assassin begs to differ:
In a phone interview Friday, Roeder said he was upset at the president of Operation Rescue, Troy Newman, who had condemned the killing and said his organization had nothing to do with Roeder.
“He said that I never was a member and I never contributed any money,” Roeder said. “Well, my gosh, I’ve got probably a thousand dollars worth of receipts, at least, from the money I’ve donated to him.”
Roeder said he wrote Newman a letter from jail.
“I told him, ‘You better get your story straight because my lawyer said it’d be good for me to show that I was supporting a pro-life organization.’ ”
Newman said Friday he didn’t believe Roeder gave money to his group.
“We have a database, but I haven’t been able to find him in the database,” he said. “If he did (donate), we have probably over the past 10 years over 50,000 people who have contributed to us.”
No word yet if the FBI might possibly be bothered to investigate Dr. Tiller's assassin ties with Operation Rescue.
Also, Troy Newman, if both you and Dr. Tiller's assassin are telling the truth, call your accountant. Despite the fact that you seem to consider a thousand dollars an insignificant sum of money, it looks like financial improprieties are being committed with your organization's funds.
Shame-Based Culture, What Is It Good For?
Four Phoenix boys ages 9 to 14 used chewing gum to lure an 8-year-old girl to an empty shed. The boys held the girl down while they took turns assaulting her, police said. All five children are refugees from Liberia.
The girl's parents blamed the girl for bringing shame to the family and her father told the police to take her away because he no longer wanted her.
According to Tony Weedor, a Liberian refugee in Littleton, Colo., co-founder of a foundation which helps Liberians resettle in the U.S.:
What's unclear is why protecting an actual, 8-year-old, member of your family is not important, and why failure to love, comfort, and support your child isn't shameful.
The girl's parents blamed the girl for bringing shame to the family and her father told the police to take her away because he no longer wanted her.
According to Tony Weedor, a Liberian refugee in Littleton, Colo., co-founder of a foundation which helps Liberians resettle in the U.S.:
"It's a shame-based culture, so the crime is not as important as protecting the family name and the name of the community"...."I just feel so sorry for this little girl. Some of these people will not care about the trauma she's going through — they're more concerned about the shame she brought on the family."
What's unclear is why protecting an actual, 8-year-old, member of your family is not important, and why failure to love, comfort, and support your child isn't shameful.
Randall Terry Comes Out With His Eliminationist Healthcare Predictions
Photo by peteSwede
Randall Terry wants to know: If the government orders people to pay for the life of babies' mothers, if congress and the White House want to force Americans to pay for the lives and health of the pregnant woman in their "healthcare" program, if the government puts a gun to taxpayers' heads to pay for the ordinary life of an innocent woman of reproductive age, if there's a government policy decision to force Americans to pay for the lives of their pregnant neighbor, any bets on how long until the next Ob/Gyn is assassinated?
Bill Donahue to the Defense of Sexually Deviant Catholic Priests Everywhere
By talk2action
Has Bill Donahue of the Catholic League ever met a sexually deviant Catholic priest whom he did not support and defend against the tyranny and oppression of sexually abused young boys and their own daughters?
Apparently, not:
ROME — Pope Benedict XVI recently appointed five bishops from as many countries to investigate the Legionaries of Christ, a religious order founded in 1941 by the late Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, a Mexican priest who is accused of sexually abusing young seminarians, and who left a grown daughter who was born out-of-wedlock.
...
Harvard Law professor Mary Ann Glendon, the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican under the last President Bush, scoffed at the abuse allegations Maciel faced before his punishment. So did William Donahue of the Catholic League.
Bill Bennett, the conservative Reagan-era official and CNN contributor, has been a featured speaker at Legion fundraisers. Jeb Bush spoke at a 2007 gathering in Atlanta.
The Legion typically pays its speaker and draws support from commercial sponsors, explained insiders in Rome.
Benedict ordered the new investigation after Legion superiors, hand-picked by Maciel, disclosed to followers in February that he had a daughter. In the Spanish press and on websites she has been identified as 23 and living with her mother in Madrid. The question of financial support for his daughter and her mother and how long Legion officials have known about it is a question of the inquiry.
Baltimore Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, not one of the visitators, banned the Legion and Regnum Christi from his archdiocese, all but calling them a cult.
Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput is the American visitator in the case. Earlier this summer Chaput and four other bishops were given a dossier of findings on Maciel at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Ratzinger as cardinal directed for years.
Starting in 2004, at least 30 witnesses testified to Msgr. Charles Scicluna, the C.D.F. investigator, that Maciel abused them as youths. But the 2006 Vatican order punishing Maciel failed to specify what exactly he had done, nor did it acknowledge the victims.
Pope Benedict XVI's Final Word on the Case of the Nine-Year-Old Rape Victim Who Underwent an Abortion
Photo by roblisameehan
Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church have come out with the definitive pronouncement on the case of the 9-year-old Brazilian girl who was raped by her stepfather and underwent a therapeutic abortion: the Ob/Gyn who performed the abortion and the parent who consented, still totally excommunicated.
Apparently, the Catholic Sky Fairy wanted to make sure you didn't get the wrong impression from the Brazilian bishops who overturned the original excommunication or from Monsignor Rino Fisichella's gentle criticism of insensitivity.
So the Catholic Sky Fairy told the Pope to tell you that a therapeutic abortion constitutes a grave offense that does irreparable harm to the whole of society.
In other words, formal cooperation in emptying the uterus of products of conception constitutes a grave offense punishable by excommunication. On the other hand, allowing a 9-year-old kid to die a slow and painful death constitutes a whimsical gaffe, free of repercussions, one sanctioned by the Catholic Sky Fairy as an invaluable benefit to the whole of society.
No wonder President Obama recently explicitly expressed his commitment to Pope Pope Benedict XVI to reducing the number of abortions and to listen to the Church's concerns on moral issues. Withholding needed medical treatment from little kids and allowing them to drop dead prematurely in droves under the watchful eye of the Catholic church will go a long way towards insuring there will be fewer sexually mature people around capable of becoming pregnant. Brilliant plan if you ask me.
Pet Airways
(AP)
In order to maintain my cool and suave image, the one that creates the illusion that I don't go completely gaga pretty much every time I find myself in the vicinity of a dog or the occasional cat, I usually relegate pet-related posts to Rule of Dog.
I decided, however, to make an exception for news of Pet Airways, the first-ever all-pet airline. How cool, not to mention timely, is that?
Judge Sonia Sotomayor on Abortion
I have no idea how Judge Sotomayor will rule on cases involving abortion but I must say this, from today's hearings, was amusing:
WASHINGTON – Supreme Court aspirant Sonia Sotomayor said Tuesday that she considers the question of abortion rights is settled precedent and says there is a constitutional right to privacy.
...
Answering a question later from Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Sotomayor said that "all precedents of the Supreme Court I consider settled law," subject to the possibility of subsequent reversal, such as when the court last month renounced a previous precedent in a reverse discrimination case.
Ireland's Spanking New Blasphemy Law
So in response to priests [raping] children and then charging the Irish taxpayer to have their identities kept secret and the victims paid off - Ireland just outlawed offending the religious.
Yes, I do believe that is exactly what happened. Offend the religious and it's "Off with your head!".
Gov. Jindal Signs Law Allowing Any Workers to Refuse Medical Services Only to Certain Patients
Photo by The National Guard
Exorcist extraordinaire and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal signs into law a "refusal to provide medical care only to some patients" bill (HB 517). Behold ye of little, or not-sanctioned-by-the-government, faith:
1. Your conscience is only as valid as Louisiana politicians say it is.
According to the new law [a]ny person has the right not to participate in, and no person shall be required to participate in any health care service that violates his conscience.... "Conscience" is defined as a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction.
So far, so bad. The law accommodates all personal belief biases and discriminates equally against all patients, right? Oh, come on, how naïve are you and how come you've never read this blog before?
Unless your sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions have to do with reproductive-age lady bits or some already illegal conduct, no right to refuse to do your job for you. That right is reserved for, you know, the chosen ones with a government-approved conscience:
"Health care service" is limited to abortion, dispensation of abortifacient drugs, human embryonic stem cell research, human embryo cloning, euthanasia, or physician-assisted suicide.
2. Pharmacology is whatever you sincerely believe it to be.
According to the Times-Picayune [t]he drug provision is intended to include the so-called "morning-after pill," but would not extend to routine birth control. Pardon me while I take a moment to have a most dignified chuckle.
Unless the Times-Picayune reporters reveal the ancient secret method they use to divine the intent of this law, I call nonsense on their assertion.
Nothing in HB 517 indicates that magical thinking and personal belief as to a drug's mechanism of action are to be applied only to ECPs but not to other methods of birth control.
And for even more [demented] fun, let me just point out that if a physician or pharmacist has a personal belief that prenatal vitamins (or antibiotics, insulin, asthma meds, anesthetics, antidepressants, etc.) are abortifacient, the law allows him/her to refuse a pregnant patient who intends to carry to term common meds.
3. It takes a lot of people to run a hospital and they all have the right not to do their job.
Physicians and nurses might be the first ones you think of when it comes to medical care, but they're far from the only ones involved in providing care. Good luck with your health needs when the parking lot plow operator employed by the hospital refuses to do his job, or when the unit clerk refuses to process your paper work, or the lab tech refuses to run your bloods, or housekeeping...you get the idea.
4. It's good to be the chosen one, as long as you're not the patient.
If Louisiana politicians decree your conscience to be acceptable and to matter you have no obligations, only rights. No professional responsibility to provide care to (some of your) patients and no consequences for refusing to do your job. [A state monopoly on the practice of medicine and no obligation to provide care. Louisiana here I came!]
On the other hand, if you're a patient your conscience and medical needs are utterly irrelevant. Also health care facilities are obligated to have redundant staff on call to cover for the chosen ones who refuse to do their job.
Bottom line: We must applaud Louisiana politicians and their fearless leader Gov. Bobby Jindal for enacting HB 517 into law, a law that most clearly insures that all Louisiana citizen are treated equally under the law.
(via)
The New York Times Notices TheWellTimedPeriod, Sort Of
(click to enlarge)
My plan for world domination through blogging continues apace as New York Times editors notice and track The Well-Timed Period. Granted, the section the blog is highlighted in is not the best fit but, hey, a future ruler of the world has to start somewhere, no?
President Obama and the Pope Meet, Affirm Mutual Goal to Limit Your Access to Medical Care
(CBS)
President Obama meets with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican for 25 minutes and, amid discussing the encyclical released by the pope earlier this week, the situation in the Middle East, Cuba and Honduras, interfaith dialogue, countering Muslim extremism, immigration and bioethics, Obama makes sure to promise his BFF that he would work to limit how many abortions take place each year in the United States:
"The pontiff told me that President Obama affirmed his personal commitment to try to reduce the number of abortions in the United States," spokesman Federico Lombardi said, according to Agence France-Presse.
...
This was the first meeting between President Obama and Pope Benedict. Mr. Obama sought common ground on abortion and stem cell research during the meeting, McDonough said, despite the differences between Benedict and the pro-choice president.
At the staunchly Catholic University of Notre Dame earlier this year, the president stressed his desire to reduce the number of abortions in America.
"Let’s make adoption more available," he said. "Let’s provide care and support for women who do carry their children to term. Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women."
Sure, there's no sound science showing that the availability of adoption has an impact on the abortion rate, or that women who carry to term aren't provided care and support, or that existing conscious clauses aren't sensible and don't honor the conscience of those who disagree with, you know, the availability of safe and effective medical procedures for pregnant patients. But other than that, let us, indeed, make sure that all our female reproductive health care policies are grounded in science and, equally important, that they accommodate the personal beliefs of this or that religious sect.
God and Fluffy Bunnies Come to the NIH
Photo by TheTim
Oh goody, look who our most science-y President Barack Obama has nominated to head the National Institutes of Health:
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is choosing an influential scientist who helped unravel the human genetic code — and is known for finding common ground between belief in God and science — to head the National Institutes of Health.
Obama called Dr. Francis Collins "one of the top scientists in the world" in announcing his nomination Wednesday.
"His groundbreaking work has changed the very ways we consider our health and examine disease," Obama said.
...
The folksy Collins led the Human Genome Project that, along with a competing private company, mapped the genetic code — or, as he famously called it, "the book of human life."
"It is humbling for me, and awe-inspiring, to realize that we have caught the first glimpse of our own instruction book, previously known only to God," he said at a 2000 White House ceremony marking release of the genome's first draft.
...
NIH is familiar turf: Collins spent 15 years as the NIH's chief of genome research, before stepping down last year to, among other things, work with Obama's campaign. He also helped found the BioLogos Foundation, a Web site formed by a group of scientists who say they want to bridge gaps between science and religion
You know, *that* BioLogos Foundation:
Francis Collins and Karl Giberson, with funding from the Templeton Foundation (who else?), have put together a whole website full of fluffy bunnies and pious weasels to reconcile science and faith.
Sex and Trojans in the City
(click to enlarge)
When Trojan Brand Condoms comes up with a new condom brand, the Trojan Ecstasy, the company releases a sex survey and you get to compare your sexual frequency and satisfaction to that of your fellow Americans.
, the company releases a sex survey and you get to compare your sexual frequency and satisfaction to that of your fellow Americans.First, the Trojan Ecstasy.
Its claim to fame is a groundbreaking new design, a condom shape that's actually bigger at the tip and tappers at the bottom to allow for a more natural fit for him. The condom is also lubricated on both sides for an incredibly natural feel for both partners....
What I want to know is, did the Trojan manufacturer come up with a new design because their researchers read the Male condoms that break in use do so mostly by a "blunt puncture" mechanism Contraception article? [I asked their PR person but he didn't have the info.]
Second, the survey*. Are you having sex on average 101/year (Houston) or more like 60/year (San Francisco)?
Turns out that, on average, Americans have sex
(click to enlarge)
When it comes to sexual satisfaction, people in Atlanta (73%) and the city (71%) top the list, with the most active Houstonians falling to third place (70%).
Overall, Americans rate their sexual satisfaction as only just above average (6.5 out of 10).
(click to enlarge)
Bottom line: 83 percent of Americans believe good sex is an important part of overall health and wellbeing, and 76 percent say they are looking for ways to make their sex lives more exciting. Seventy-five percent believe “sex without an orgasm is like the Fourth of July without fireworks,”....
*Fortunately for us Reuters just reprints the manufacturer's press release so you, too, can have a look at it. [Since you're not special enough to get it in your inbox like Reuters and us, that is.]
**Typo from the PR people.
N.B. Other than the Amazon link, I have no financial interest in/ties with Trojan Brand Condoms.
The Politicosphere Map
My plan of world domination through blogging (category: Feminism, Political, really? Figures, French people and their love of pink.) is proceeding according to plan:
(click to enlarge)
(click to enlarge)
Viva La Theocracy! (The Jerusalem Edition)
Getty Images: Darren Whiteside
Like any respectable religious sect, Orthodox Jews have odd beliefs, wear funny hats, and want to impose their personal beliefs on perfect strangers:
Orthodox Jews are angry at the local council's decision to open a municipal carpark on Saturdays - or Shabbat, the day of rest for Jews.
It's a day when Jews are not supposed to do anything resembling work, which can include something as simple as flicking a switch, turning on a light or driving.
So even opening a simple carpark to accommodate the increasing number of tourists visiting Jerusalem's Old City is highly offensive to Orthodox Jews because it's seen as a desecration of the Shabbat, by encouraging people to drive.
...
They might be supremely religious, but their behaviour - to me - was far from charitable or benevolent.
As the protest became noisier and the crowd began yelling, I took my recorder and microphone out of my bag to record the sound.
Suddenly the crowd turned on me, screaming in my face. Dozens of angry men began spitting on me.
I found myself herded against a brick wall as they kept on spitting - on my face, my hair, my clothes, my arms.
It was like rain, coming at me from all directions - hitting my recorder, my bag, my shoes, even my glasses.
Big gobs of spit landed on me like heavy raindrops. I could even smell it as it fell on my face.
Somewhere behind me - I didn't see him - a man on a stairway either kicked me in the head or knocked something heavy against me.
I wasn't even sure why the mob was angry with me. Was it because I was a journalist? Or a woman? Because I wasn't Jewish in an Orthodox area? Was I not dressed conservatively enough?
In fact, I was later told, it was because using a tape-recorder is itself a desecration of the Shabbat even though I'm not Jewish and don't observe the Sabbath.
(via)
Take a Lesson from Operation Rescue
AP
This action from Operation Rescue of Wichita, Kan. and the statement from Operation Rescue president Troy Newman are absolutely brilliant (and I assure you I say this in all sincerity):
WICHITA, Kan. – An anti-abortion group is asking the U.S. Justice Department to investigate what it says are death threats against abortion opponents after the killing of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas.
Operation Rescue of Wichita, Kan., on Thursday released audio recordings and e-mails containing threats, including one that says it's "time to start killing Bible-thumping morons."
Tiller, an abortion provier, was gunned down May 31 while attending his church in Wichita. Abortion opponent Scott Roeder is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the case.
Operation Rescue president Troy Newman says the Justice Department dispatches federal marshals to protect abortion providers but ignores threats against abortion opponents.
The Justice Department declined comment.
Dr. Tiller's Assassin Advocates for More Killings of Ob/Gyns
Dr. Tiller's accused assassin has been quite the busy bee domestic terrorist since his arrest. He's been mailing pamphlets, from his jail cell, justifying the assassination of physicians who provide needed medical care to pregnant women. The pamphlets advocating the killing of Ob/Gyns as a justifiable act had been sent to Dr. Tiller's assassin by Army of God's Rev. Donald Spitz.
And in a totally surprising development, Dr. Tiller's assassin sent a pamphlet to one of the people he's been corresponding with, Linda Wolfe, an Oregon activist who has been jailed about 50 times for anti-abortion activities and who is close friends with [Rachelle Shelley Shannon,] a woman convicted of shooting Tiller in the arms in 1993. (link mine)
And in a totally surprising development, Dr. Tiller's assassin sent a pamphlet to one of the people he's been corresponding with, Linda Wolfe, an Oregon activist who has been jailed about 50 times for anti-abortion activities and who is close friends with [Rachelle Shelley Shannon,] a woman convicted of shooting Tiller in the arms in 1993. (link mine)
Vatican to Investigate American Nuns
Photo by kevindooley
Looks like American nuns have become a tad uppity so the Vatican is unleashing an "Apostolic Visitation" and a doctrinal assessment on their ecclesiastical work force little heads:
The Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns, a development that has startled and dismayed nuns who fear they are the targets of a doctrinal inquisition.
...
The more extensive of the two investigations is called an “Apostolic Visitation,” and the Vatican has provided only a vague rationale for it: to “look into the quality of the life” of women’s religious institutes. The visitation is being conducted by Mother Mary Clare Millea, an apple-cheeked American with a black habit and smiling eyes, who is the superior general of her order, the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and lives in Rome.
...
Church historians said that the Vatican usually ordered an apostolic visitation when a particular institution had gone seriously astray. In the wake of the priest sexual-abuse scandal, the Vatican ordered a visitation of American seminaries. It is now conducting a visitation of the Legionaries of Christ, a men’s order whose founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, sexually abused young seminarians, fathered a child and was accused of financial improprieties. He died in 2008.
But the investigation of American nuns surprised many because there was no obvious precipitating cause.
And, for pure comic relief:
Besides these two investigations, another decree that affected some nuns was issued in March by the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The bishops said that Catholics should stop practicing Reiki, a healing therapy that is used in some Catholic hospitals and retreat centers, and which was enthusiastically adopted by many nuns. The bishops said Reiki is both unscientific and non-Christian.
'Cause you know how practicing the woo-woo Reiki cuts into the time to be devoted to the scientific study of transubstantiation and virgin birth.
Afghanistan War, YouTube Version
If you want to gain some insight into our foreign military policy, the war in Afghanistan in particular, I strongly recommend you spend some time on YouTube.
Take this clip, for example, Lost in Translation. Is it any wonder that some Afghan people are reluctant to cooperate with our troops?
Given the stunning incompetence of our politicians, it's quite remarkable that the military is able to function at all.
Take this clip, for example, Lost in Translation. Is it any wonder that some Afghan people are reluctant to cooperate with our troops?
Given the stunning incompetence of our politicians, it's quite remarkable that the military is able to function at all.
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