Lex Luthor wears Eleanor Holmes-Norton pajamas to bed. I say this because poor Lex’s sole ambition in life was to destroy Metropolis. One little fictional city and he couldn’t get it done.
Now compare Lex’s futility with the masterful destruction of Washington D.C. by delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton who is on the brink of effectively destroying our nation’s capitol with a few simple maneuvers.
Seriously, if you were trying to destroy a city you would have to seriously consider the near perfect storm of taxpayer backed debauchery that Norton and her pals in Congress are seeking to enact right now. If Holmes has her way (and it looks like she might), the federal government will be funding abortions in D.C., legalizing marijuana in D.C, and handing out needles to junkies in D.C. All on the taxpayer dime, mind you.
The Washington Post reports:
A House and Senate Appropriations conference committee approved legislation late Tuesday that would allow the District to use local tax dollars to help low-income women pay for abortions, to allow patients to legally use marijuana when it is prescribed by a doctor and to continue to fund needle-exchange programs in a bid to limit the spread of HIV and AIDS.
Could you imagine a worse prescription for what ails Washington D.C.?
Free abortions? Free needles for junkies? Legal marijuana? Holmes-Norton took a break from her victory dance to be quoted in the Post:
“This is a great triumph for the District,” Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said Wednesday. Although two votes remain, Norton said, “we think it’s over.” The financial services legislation that governs District spending is contained in a large package of bills, “and it will be hard to take this one out,” she said. “We’re almost home free.”
Where is Superman when you need him?
When will liberals learn that free does not equal compassion. When someone’s addicted to drugs, compassion doesn’t mean giving them needles. Compassion is helping them kick the habit. When a woman is having a baby, compassion isn’t killing the baby for free it’s helping the mother care for the child. And legalizing drugs doesn’t help anybody.
And as if this all couldn’t get any worse, Washington D.C. city council is effectively forcing the Catholic Church’s social services out of D.C. by enacting a law that would force the Church to offer benefits to same sex couple and provide adoptions for gay couples.
So in short, killing of the unborn for free, free needles for junkies, and legalized marijuana. And no social services from the Catholic Church.
Lex Luthor would be jealous.
December 11, 2009 at 3:04 am
Early Riser, king of charity.
December 11, 2009 at 4:17 am
Early Riser is right about cocaine. It is used as fr sinus and eye surgeries.
December 11, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Early Riser forgot to note that red wine, unlike the other drugs, actually has health BENEFITS when consumed in moderation.
December 11, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Anon (10:16) is correct; studies have shown benefits to other alcoholic beverages as well, when used in moderation. One thing I haven't seen in the thread yet is the Catholic attitude towards alcohol – that it is a gift to us from God that gladdens the heart. Our Lord Himself celebrated with wine, and turned water into wine for the wedding guests at Cana – who were already well into the celebration, since 1. they had run out of what they already had and 2. what He made was of such superior quality that the servers were surprised it had been held back until then.
Many monks, friars, and other religious have followed in His example by brewing, distilling, or otherwise concocting liquor from nearly every kind of herb, spice, fruit, vegetable, and leaf on the planet. I heartily recommend The Bad Catholic's Guide to Wine, Whiskey, and Song (complete with then-Cardinal Ratzinger on the cover, hoisting a full pint!), for a remarkable history of these and other spirits – and a healthy dose of Church history and anecdotes as well.
(disclaimer – I am neither Mr. Zmirak nor Ms. Matychowiak, nor, as far as I know, any relative other than Brother in Christ.)
December 12, 2009 at 1:03 am
Anonymous, you can get the same benefits of drinking red wine by simply eating red grapes. And as I mentioned already, the benefits of marijuana are used for patients in chemo to help digestion and people suffering from glaucoma. You don't need to smoke marijuana do get these benefits as you can take a pill with high concentrations of marinol, just like you don't need to drink a glass of red wine, but can take a resveritrol pill for the same/better results.
Nightfly – I'm not proposing abstinence from alcohol for everyone. But there are certainly people who would live far more productive family and personal lives if they never touched the stuff (again). I'm perfectly aware of the story of the wedding at Cana (one of my favorite, since it shows the role of Our Lady in the life of Our Lord). However I'd like to know where you got that particular phrase that alcohol is "a gift to us from God that gladdens our heart". I have never heard this as church teaching before. Alcohol, like food, sex or any other pleasure in life can lead to excess and a number of deadly sins; something the church has LONG warned about throughout the gospels.
December 12, 2009 at 3:04 am
I love that Early Riser has defended how drugs work so well, and he doesn't even drink.
Paul, I'm guessing you don't go clubbing, because people take bumps in bathrooms as casually as other people sip Miller. Trust me on that.
All right, brace yourselves, for I'm going to row into uncharted waters.
Guys, you're (mostly) arguing about the difference in speed. Why, yes, drinking wine does take quite a bit more time to wreck your system than heroin. But besides the sliding scale, how are they different? They both affect you adversely, people get addicted to them, and too much is obviously harmful. But what else is this true about? Why, every food ever. Drink too much soda, too many potatoes, too much water, too much anything and you harm your body. That's why one of the seven deadly sins is gluttony: consuming more than you should.
So why is heroin bad? The exact same reason the bhut jolokia pepper is bad: it's passed pretty much everyone's "glutton" threshold. Almost anyone can eat a bell pepper and enjoy the “spice,” but one seed from a bhut jolokia can cause you intense pain for 30 minutes. Swallowing one whole… well. I hope you have your week's schedule cleared. Over 1,000,000 on the Scoville scale, if you don’t want to google it.
And spice is a bodily reaction in the exact same way alcohol is: a bit is pleasant, too much and bad things happen. And these things can lead to really bad things.
But these are natural substances. These all come from God. And everything made from God is good.
So no, Early Riser is right, don't defend wine because it's "not a substance," maybe defend it because if we legalized cocaine, even more people would abuse it. I mean, who knows what the cause and effects would be. But, really, just because the glutton threshold for alcohol is so much higher does not mean it isn’t absurdly abused. In case it’s not clear, I’m raising my hand here. I’ve blacked out an entire day of my life from alcohol abuse (holla).
There's always a difference between enjoying a buzz and losing the greatest gift God gave you: control.
Yeah, we crazy hijacked this post, but I think for the most part everyone’s coming from a good place on this one. A blessing, after our over one hundred comments “Horrible, Scandalous,” Nun post.
Anyway, I’m prepared to defend this ridiculously long comment, glass of wine in hand, so comment away.
December 12, 2009 at 3:05 am
Oh yeah, forgot I was doggy beer, I guess it does make sense I'd have this position.
December 13, 2009 at 1:28 am
Early riser,
I'll grant you the use of cocaine in hospitals as a TOPICAL ANESTHETIC, but…
You might want to do your civic duty and alert the Drug Enforcement Administration about all those hospitals you know of that are using heroin for patients. According to the DEA, "Today, heroin is an illicit substance having no medical utility in the United States. It is in Schedule I of the CSA.(4)." Got that? NO MEDICAL UTILITY…ILLICIT SUBSTANCE. http://www.justice.gov/dea/concern/heroin.html#2
December 14, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I think I only skimmed through these comments… but did everyone forget that they're legalizing marijuana for medical use only? So obviously it DOES have medical uses that are pretty widely varied. It's very helpful for people who are in chronic pain especially with chemo and such things, and it helps people with digestive issues and lack of appetite issues as well. I don't really have any stance on the needle thing, and obviously the abortion thing is not even debatable. But insofar as our tax money going toward legalizing marijuana… it will cost less to do that than it does to incarcerate people for smoking it. We spend so much federal money on criminalizing marijuana it's ridiculous, particularly since marijuana is a lot less likely to cause things like car accidents (people drive excessively carefully when they're stoned because they're paranoid, though that can be dangerous as well) or violence (have you ever seen a violent stoner?)
Kind of moot though, since they would only be legalizing it medicinally.