Quotes of the Day

Actually, they’ve both been hanging around my tab bar for a couple of days, and they’re both brought to my attention thanks to Deacon Greg Kandra. And they’re both Must Reads:

1) “The news media, despite their claims of impartiality, and despite the good work they often do accomplish, are just as prone to prejudice, ignorance, bad craftsmanship and tribalism as any other profession. But unlike other professions, the press has constitutional protections. It also has real power in shaping how we think, what we think about and what we like, dislike and ignore. America’s media, including its news media, are the greatest catechetical syndicate in history. And if that kind of power doesn’t make us uneasy, it should at least make us alert.”
— Archbishop Charles Chaput, offering what may be the best and most thoughtful analysis of the American media yet penned by a Catholic bishop…or anyone else, for that matter. Must read.

And some more Catholic commentary on media

2) “We now record fetal heartbeats at 14 days post-conception. We record fetal brainwaves at 39 days post-conception. And I don’t expect you to answer this, but I do expect you to pay attention to it as you contemplate these big issues. We have this schizophrenic rule of the law where we have defined death as the absence of those, but we refuse to define life as the presence of those.”
— — Sen.Tom Coburn, speaking to Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor at confirmation hearing, July 15, 2009.

I confess, I have never thought of Coburn’s argument. He’s quite right.