Visit The Anchoress’ blog to catch up on Heather, Kim and Little Faith. Then you will comprehend the significance of this excerpt:

I am absolutely astounded, instructed, edified and in all ways humbled in the face of faith this open, courageous and hearty. In a world where society encourages us to avoid the painful realities of life (and all the terrible beauty found therein) to shut ourselves off and remain comfortably anesthetized throughout our lives, these young women and their husbands – with the help of family, friends and faith – say “yes” to the difficult, “yes to the pain, “yes” to what comes their way.

What I see, over and over again in their stories is a peace the world cannot fathom, the “peace beyond all understanding.” As with the Gospels, where a rich young man was attracted to Christ but unwilling to give up his material things, we see here a peace many want, but few have the courage to pursue.

Dean Barnett passed away today. Born in 1967, he was a young 41 years old. What a shame, what a loss for all of us.

I first discovered Dean while he was guest posting at Hugh Hewitt’s blog where his opinions and prose entertained and informed with a sense of glee. I used to send him Photoshops and he used one once, and often commented on others that he liked. When I got an email from him that was special. I loved it when he guest hosted for Hugh on the radio. That voice, that Boston accent, the way he had such fun talking with Glen in Texas.

Dean had cystic fibrosis and had already out survived the odds. He had many close calls before, but a new type of treatment gave him hope, and extra months and years. Dean wrote about CF in a blog 2006 post.

CF is a genetic disease, the number one genetic killer in the country. The average age of death is 36. I’m now 39; when I was born in 1967, the life expectancy for a newborn with CF was 8 years.

Yet, he thought that he was a lucky man.

Until I was a teenager, I was mostly asymptomatic. Even after I was a teenager, I enjoyed what is considered good health in the CF community. I’ve certainly been luckier than most CF patients.

After having a serious setback a few years ago and being placed on the lung transplant list he got a chance at being in a test of a new treatment.

At one point during my interview, the questioner asked me if I expected to see a cure to CF in my lifetime. I answered no, but that it doesn’t really matter. When you see death up close, a couple of things become clear. One is that we all die, and that death is just part of the deal. The other is that life is such a blessing, that’s it just so great, even though you know the inevitable might be near you still want as many bites of the apple as possible.

None of us know what the future of the salt water treatment might be. My health will maintain its current state indefinitely in the truest sense of the term. The good times could continue for years, or it could all crash tomorrow.

That treatment brought him a bit over 18 extra months of the “good times”.

Godspeed Dean. May God’s grace and comfort be with your family and friends.

Others honoring Dean:

Hugh Hewitt

Mitt Romney

Captain Ed

Ace

Wizbang

LGF

Article 6 Blog

Protein Wisdom

The Anchoress

And I’m sure, there will be many, many more . . .

Technorati Tags: Dean Barnett, cystic fibrosis

Those who have read this blog for very long will know that I am a strong Pro-Life blogger, having come to that position from several angles, having been an adopted child from birth for one, and a strict So. Baptist upbringing for another. Unless there is a risk of immediate, fatal harm to the mother, I can’t see a rationale that supports the killing of innocent nascent human life. Not hard to see why Barack Obama leaves me especially cold, as he is one of the most pro-abortion candidates ever on a national ticket. As the ad above shows, Barack Obama voted multiple times against an Illinois law that would mandate that a baby born alive from a botched abortion MUST be taken care of and not be left to die, even if that had been the intent of the mother.

The spokesperson in the ad is one Gianna Jessen, herself the product of just such a botched abortion. I saw her on Hannity and Colmes last night and her story is compelling. When it was Allan Colmes turn to interview her, even he squirmed and looked decidedly uncomfortable as he mouthed the tired old liberal positions about a woman’s right to choose, and as he tried, and in my opinion failed, to defend Obama’s votes on this issue. She even challenged him, asking him to look at her now and tell her to her face that she should have been left to die because it was her mother’s right to choose that she should die.

The Anchoress breaks it down like this:

The way I understand it, the Infants Born Alive Bill was introduced to the IL Senate and Obama voted against it because he wanted it to have the same language as the Federal Born Alive Bill. When the bill was re-presented containing that clause, Obama voted against it again. So, given the chance, twice, to vote against infanticide, Obama voted for.

He also lied about all of this earlier in the campaign, before admitting that he was lying.

Obama has the most liberal voting record you can have on the issue of abortion. He does not, like Joe Biden, draw the line at the savagery of partial-birth abortion – he sides with the scissor, the vacuum and the death. He does not draw the line (as Nancy Pelosi and even Hillary Clinton do) at infanticide. His votes say, “that baby was supposed to be dead; let it die.”

Gianna Jessen was once such a baby — her 17-year old mother wanted her to just die already!

Here is Gianna’s story:

Gianna Jessen does not quit. Giving up is not an option to her. Gianna has what she refers to as the “gift” of Cerebral Palsy. She weighed a mere 2 lbs at birth and the doctors said she would never be able to hold up her head, sit up, crawl or walk. She began to walk by the age of three years old with the help of leg braces and a walker.

Gianna doesn’t believe that her Cerebral Palsy takes away her life, but, rather, enriches it. . . she walks with a slight limp today and runs marathons. On April 30, 2005 she completed her first 26.2 mile marathon after running just over 7 hours and was presented with the coveted blank blank award! On April 23, 2006 she completed the London Marathon as well. She is now determined to run marathons all over the place, because she was never supposed to even walk!

Gianna understands the plight of orphans, being one herself. She was placed into the foster care system early on in life, eventually being taken into the loving home of a woman named Penny. Penny has been a mother to 56 foster children in her life. Gianna was later adopted by Penny’s daughter, making Penny Gianna’s grandmother. According to Gianna, Penny saved her life.

Gianna is a Christian. Her life was given to her by the grace of God. She shouldn’t be walking, but more miraculous still; she should not even be alive. Gianna’s biological mother was 17 when she had a saline abortion in her third trimester. Many Americans don’t realize it is legal to have an abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. After being burned alive for approximately 18 hours in the womb from the saline solution, Gianna was delivered alive in a Los Angeles County abortion clinic. Her medical records state, “born during saline abortion”…this is what caused her Cerebral Palsy.

I’m certain beyond any shadow of a doubt that if Roe v. Wade had been the law of the land in 1952 that this ol’ Okie would have been nothing more than a forgotten spatter of discarded tissue in some abortion mill in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Instead, I got to experience being raised by two of the most amazing people I can imagine ever having lived on this Earth. I’m not delusional, I know that is not everyone’s story, adopted or not. However, if you are never allowed to live, just because it might be an inconvenience, just because that might be the repercussions of a bad decision, just because you can’t afford the cost of having a child — then how can you ever know? Pretty lame excuses for killing something human. If we were talking about puppies or kittens, there wouldn’t be any discussion at all, as the Pro-Choice folks would walk through fire to save them.

Especially if it involves a child, born yet or not — If in doubt, choosing “life” is the only moral option.

Technorati Tags: Pro-Life, Barack Obama, Gianna Jessen, Allan Colmes

I didn’t get to watch Meet the Press on Sunday, but if I had I’d have been riled up enough to get this out soonest. You see, when the Democrats try to show how religious they are, they usually stick both feet in their mouth. Now, I’m sure there are a lot of God-fearing, church-going Dems out there, it’s just hard to figure them out when their current supreme leader, Nancy Pelosi (R – Cal) shoots off her mouth. In response to Tom Brokaw’s question as to what she would advise Barack Obama on the beginnings of life, since good ol’ Barack says that question is “above his pay grade”, she said:

I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. And Senator–St. Augustine said at three months. We don’t know. The point is, is that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose. Roe v. Wade talks about very clear definitions of when the child–first trimester, certain considerations; second trimester; not so third trimester. There’s very clear distinctions. This isn’t about abortion on demand, it’s about a careful, careful consideration of all factors and–to–that a woman has to make with her doctor and her god. And so I don’t think anybody can tell you when life begins, human life begins. As I say, the Catholic Church for centuries has been discussing this, and there are those who’ve decided…

Brokaw reminds her that the Church states that life begins at the moment of conception, to which she replies

I understand. And this is like maybe 50 years or something like that. So again, over the history of the church, this is an issue of controversy.

I’m not a Catholic, the last church I was a member of was a Southern Baptist church, but even I know that the Catholic Church has never sanctioned abortion. Nancy Pelosi just went on national TV and told a whopper! And, at the same time, maligned an entire organized religion to boot. Way to go miss representative from San Francisco.

Now, it didn’t take very long for some high-ranking members of the Catholic Church to take note and decide that Nanny Nancy needed a bit of remedial-catechism. From Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl:

We respect the right of elected officials such as Speaker Pelosi to address matters of public policy that are before them, but the interpretation of Catholic faith has rightfully been entrusted to the Catholic bishops. Given this responsibility to teach, it is important to make this correction for the record.

Wuerl pointed out that the Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear, and has been clear for 2,000 years. He cited Catechism language that reads, “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception … Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.

On the 25th, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver addressed Pelosi’s lies about the Church and its stance on abortion:

Since Speaker Pelosi has, in her words, studied the issue “for a long time,” she must know very well one of the premier works on the subject, Jesuit John Connery’s Abortion: The Development of the Roman Catholic Perspective (Loyola, 1977). Here’s how Connery concludes his study:

“The Christian tradition from the earliest days reveals a firm antiabortion attitude . . . The condemna-tion of abortion did not depend on and was not limited in any way by theories regarding the time of fetal animation. Even during the many centuries when Church penal and penitential practice was based on the theory of delayed animation, the condemnation of abortion was never affected by it. Whatever one would want to hold about the time of animation, or when the fetus became a human being in the strict sense of the term, abortion from the time of conception was considered wrong, and the time of animation was never looked on as a moral dividing line between permissible and impermissible abortion.”

Or to put it in the blunter words of the great Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

“Destruction of the embryo in the mother’s womb is a violation of the right to live which God has bestowed on this nascent life. To raise the question whether we are here concerned already with a human being or not is merely to confuse the issue. The simple fact is that God certainly intended to create a human being and that this nascent human being has been deliberately deprived of his life. And that is nothing but murder.”

Furthering the re-education of the Dem wits on Catholic theology regarding abortion, the Archbishop had this to say to Obama’s VP pick, Joe Biden (D-Del), self-professed Catholic and huge abortion supporter:

I certainly presume his good will and integrity,” said the archbishop, “and I presume that his integrity will lead him to refrain from presenting himself for Communion if he supports a false ‘right’ to abortion.

The Anchoress, to whom I will defer all things Catholic, writes this:

[I]f Pelosi wants to quote Augustine’s saying “three months,” as somehow authoritative – even if the church does not – how does she reconcile that with her abortion voting record, which upholds later term abortions, partial birth abortions, embryonic experimentation, etc, etc. She says “I personally think the answer is 16 weeks,”, but that’s just an opinion, like anyone else’s opinion, even mine – and if she believes the answer is 16 weeks, how can she possible vote in favor of, say, partial birth abortion?
{…}
I mean, I’m not expert, and I’m far from brilliant. But one does not have to be brilliant to figure that out. Err on the side of life, not death. It might be a legislative conundrum, and a sickle into the side of free will and free conscience, but in simple terms of life and death, the moral calculus is not really that difficult.

Hey lady, you are brilliant! And, you’re dead-on correct on this one.

Hey folks, it’s a right to life issue. Abortion is a right to end life, not save it, or make someone else’s life easier or more convenient. Barack Obama is the most abortion-supporting candidate ever to be at the top of a US national ticket for President. But, at least he isn’t out there miss-stating lying about Catholic Church doctrine. Naw, he’ll leave that one up to Slow Joe . . .

Technorati Tags: Nancy Pelosi On Abortion, Nancy Pelosi, Roe v. Wade, Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, Archbishop Charles Chaput

Randy Pausch, Carnegie Mellon professor and deliverer of the above “The Last Lecture” has lost his battle with pancreatic cancer and died. He gave the touching and uplifting presentation last September at CMU. If you haven’t yet watched it, please do so now, and then say prayers for his family and friends.

Technorati Tags: Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

A bit over three weeks ago, as I sat bedside with my mother-in-law who was battling her end days with cancer, emphysema and heart failure, I was asking these questions:

It’s in times like these that one’s beliefs are challenged. Why must she suffer so? Why does God allow this to happen? Why not allow assisted suicide to folks that have no hope of survival, not much time left, and are in agony? Good questions all, and I am at a loss for any good answers, except for the belief that our Lord has a purpose for his children, and that there are lessons for us to learn[.]

I can hear that heavenly reprimand echoing in my mind, “Oh ye of little faith,” especially after reading through Elizabeth Scalia’s A Tsunami Cannot Be Drawn in Pastels: On Dignity and Suffering posted at InsideCatholic.com. I had read her posts in real time that first half year of my blogging, as she and her family watched and dealt with the loss of her dear brother to cancer. I thought that I was moved at the time, having lost my own mother just two years before, however nothing I felt then prepared me for what I encountered during this reading, having lost my wife’s mother just a few short weeks ago.

She harpoons my question, “Why does God allow this to happen?”, by explaining that without sorrow there is no joy, without loss, there is no appreciation, without extreme hardship, there is no personal growth — it is as it ever was. How foolish the collective “we” have all become; “We” only want to live our lives from cradle to grave with as little challenge and impediments as possible, constantly in a state of middling euphoria, with never a pain or a loss seemingly too great to bear — can’t have ourselves being put to that test, mind you . . .

It would do no justice to excerpt this important read, so just go and read it all. If you would like to read more from her, then do so here.

The Okie’s wife’s mother passed away this am just before 8 o’clock. It’s been a hectic day. I was with her a good bit of the day yesterday and it was time amazingly well spent, time that I wish I had been able to have spent with my own dear mother a little over four years ago — no, make that five years ago! It was in ‘03 . . . I’m so bad with dates.

I will have a proper remembrance for my mother-in-law by, over the weekend. It’s off to bed, long day tomorrow — much to arrange.

Thank you dear Lord for sparing her any further suffering. Only you truly know how hard she worked to stay with us until after the 15th!

I’ll explain later.

BTW — thanks for all the kind thoughts and especially the prayers . . .

Life sometimes rears up and says, “Hey Okie, whatever you have planned, you’re gonna do this for a while instead!” Life’s been real intrusive lately.

The wife’s mother is in the hospital, had to be taken to the ER by paramedics last Friday after several falls the night before. She’s a dear lady, 86 years old, with emphysema, congestive heart failure, and newly diagnosed late-stage breast cancer that has spread to her lungs — can you imagine a more devastating diagnosis? I can’t. Only so much pain relief can be administered without resulting in respiratory failure, so pain management is definitely an issue.

It’s in times like these that one’s beliefs are challenged. Why must she suffer so? Why does God allow this to happen? Why not allow assisted suicide to folks that have no hope of survival, not much time left, and are in agony? Good questions all, and I am at a loss for any good answers, except for the belief that our Lord has a purpose for his children, and that there are lessons for us to learn, especially for us that bare witness to this dear woman’s plight.

I remember sleeping across two chairs at the foot of my mother’s hospital bed on the night of the day after Christmas four years ago, listening to her pray to her Lord to take her home — her heart was a mess and she had decided to refuse any more treatment or meds. Sixteen days later her wish was granted. That was a long sixteen days for her.

“Lord, please take thy daughter in Christ home, gather her unto your bosom and give her the peace of eternity in your presence, grant unto her the eternal sleep we all must face, let her congregate among all those who have gone before and are waiting for her. Release her into your eternal comfort .

Amen.”

If only it was that simple . . .

Randy Pausch reprises his “Last Lecture” on Oprah.

It’s 11 minutes and 32 seconds of your life –

that just might change your life . . .

[H/t: The Anchoress]

[I wrote this post I think on Wednesday and thought that it had been posted -- Doah!]

What a great announcement coming just before Thanksgiving — that scientists have successfully transformed human subsurface skin cells into stem cells that behave like embryonic stem cells, all without having to destroy a living human embryo! This came out of research announced last summer that had done the same thing with mice cells, with human cell success projected to be years away. My, how time compresses in today’s modern world. From the LA Times article of today:

Researchers from Japan and Wisconsin reported Tuesday that they had reprogrammed mature human cells to behave almost exactly like embryonic stem cells, a biological breakthrough that instantly recasts the field’s ethical, scientific and economic landscape.

By activating a handful of dormant genes, the researchers were able to coax the cells back in time to a point in embryonic development before they had committed to becoming a particular type of tissue.

The rejuvenated cells were able to grow into all the main tissue types in the body, including muscle, gut, cartilage, neurons and heart cells.
{…}
For scientists, the method offers a straightforward alternative to the tricky and still unsuccessful cloning process in which a patient’s DNA is inserted into a human egg to create a cloned embryo whose stem cells theoretically could be harvested.

The technique also bypasses the thorny debate over the morality of destroying embryos in the cause of alleviating human suffering.

As I was reading this I was also wondering what the rationale was going to be for scientists to keep on killing human embryos to harvest embryonic stem cells for research, because I just knew they would. The secular researchers see little to no value in human embryos, they’re just more tissue masses to them, more tools to play with. Well, another article in the LA Times provides that info too.

The political controversy over restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research is unlikely to end with Tuesday’s news that mature human cells can be made to acquire the powers of embryonic stem cells, because scientists say research on both types of cells is closely related and is needed to inspire and cross-check each other.
{…}
“I must say, this is a very exciting breakthrough, and it shows great promise, but it’s still in its very early stages,” said Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), a leading supporter of loosening federal restrictions on human embryonic research. “People like me feel we have to encourage all forms of the research, because you never know where the cure is going to come from.”

Amy Comstock Rick, chief executive of the Parkinson’s Action Network, said research on embryonic stem cells was much more advanced. “Unless something has been shown to fail, it should not be taken off the table, and embryonic stem cell research has shown great promise,” she said.

The two kinds of scientific research will probably move in tandem for some time.

I’m sure they will. Gotta look on the bright side, Okie. And, without President Bush’s insistence on restricting federal funds for embryonic stem cell research to the existing lines, these new breakthroughs might just not have happened at all.

As the LA Times columnist Jonah Goldberg wrote last month in Why be pro-life?:

I don’t know if life begins at conception. I don’t really know what “life” means. Consciousness? Possessing a soul? Well, if consciousness defines the issue, then life surely does not begin at conception. Not even the most adamant pro-lifer claims otherwise.

As for souls, I believe we have them, but I don’t know how they work. Indeed, ensoulment — the process by which God puts a soul in our bodies — is a controversial topic among religious scholars, people who know a lot more about such things than I do. And I’m not sure any of them are right anyway.
{…}
[U]nless you are 100% sure that babies only become human beings after the umbilical cord is cut. I don’t see how you can be that sure, which is why I’m pro-life — not because I’m certain, but because I’m not.

No one really knows, and if you are not religious, why would you have a tendency to be certain one way or the other? Therefore, if you can’t be certain, why not always err on the side of life?