Q: Anchoress, I notice you\u2019re writing a lot about Advent<\/a> and nothing about politics. <\/strong><\/p>\n A: Well, you\u2019re very observant! I decided after the election \u2013 actually a few weeks before the election, but by then I was in the circuit and had to see it through, so to speak \u2013 that I would write about politics only where it intersects with religion. I didn\u2019t like myself writing about politics and I frankly didn\u2019t like the tones being sounded from the right in my email. Also, Advent is just always super-appealing to me; nothing rings my bell like \u201cScary John the Baptist\u201d<\/a> sounding the call, and shepherds and kings drawn to a food bin occupied \u2013 Eucharistically speaking \u2013 with a very different sort of food.<\/p>\n Q: You\u2019ve lost the *&% election and you\u2019re licking your *&%$ wounds so go on leaning on the *&^% crutch of organized &*%$ religion, you phony wannabee nun!<\/strong><\/p>\n A: I\u2019m not \u201cdown\u201d about the election. I am absolutely fascinated by how brilliantly and unusually Obama is using new media and technology<\/a>, I am somewhat amused by the hope many seem to hold<\/a> that Obama has always been a \u201csecret centrist.\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n And I\u2019m simply backing up so I can take it all in. I like long views.<\/p>\n I think Obama is a work in progress and as much of a mystery to himself as to everyone else (\u201cthe self is more distant than any star\u2026\u201d<\/a>). He is still the Rorschach test he ever was<\/a>. He wants to succeed as the American President and so we\u2019ll see where that leads. Because I love my country (still<\/em> and not \u201conly when my side wins\u201d) I hope \u2013 as Dennis Miller said \u2013 \u201cthat he succeeds so well that I\u2019m salivating to vote for him in \u201912.\u201d<\/p>\n Until Obama can somehow demonstrate \u2013 reassuringly \u2013 that he will not be stomping on free speech, my reservations about him still stand. That hasn\u2019t happened yet. The health of \u201cfree speech\u201d in America will determine her health as a whole.<\/p>\n And I\u2019m not a \u201cphony wannabe nun.\u201d I\u2019m a wannabee phony nun.<\/p>\n Q: Aren\u2019t you &^$# (same email) embarrassed to have stood up for and defended that &*^% moron Bush all this time now that you see what a *&$% loser he is?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: Nope<\/a>. I. Love. Boosh<\/em>. Deal with it. I think we\u2019ll miss him, in many ways, when he departs and even you folks on the left should be somewhat impressed (if you can be at all generous<\/em>) at the predictably classy, gentlemanly way he is having his administration assist in the transition to Obama. Quite different from the way he was treated by the outgoing Clintons.<\/p>\n The events in Mumbai remind us<\/a> that \u2013 after 9\/11 \u2013 we all believed there would be additional successful attacks on the US. Thanks to Bush\u2019s policies \u2013 to protect America, face down terrorism and, if possible, bring liberty to oppressed people<\/a> \u2013 those successful attacks did not happen, which, with the robust economy we enjoyed<\/a> until recently<\/a>, made it all pretty easy to forget<\/a>. Suddenly his policies \u2013 which for the last 8 years have been derided as stupid, ignoble, unconstitutional, greedy, terroristic and so forth \u2013 are seeming palatable, just, sensible and sadly necessary to the left and the incoming administration. They\u2019re not admitting that, of course; they\u2019ll find other excuses (besides the obvious \u201cBush was right\u201d ones) to explain why all of the things Obama said he was going to undo he is \u2013 for now \u2013 planning to leave untouched.<\/p>\n Except, of course, the life-issues. Bush\u2019s pro-life moves will be undone before the wind has carried the oath of office from Obama\u2019s lips, and the Culture of Death will have its day. What I am wondering about is this: since there has been so much incredible success using adult stem cell therapy in so many applications<\/a>, why does the Culture of Death (and Obama) insist that government funding for EMBRYONIC stem cell research must immediately be put into place<\/a> when \u2013 as we have seen \u2013 EMBRYONIC stem cell research has yielded nothing usable, and more than a few nightmares<\/a> \u2013 largely because EMBRYONIC stem cells are too powerful to be controlled or predicted.<\/p>\n If EMBRYONIC stem cells were showing real promise, the research would be funded with tons of private capital. That\u2019s not happening. If you\u2019re unconcerned about the ethics of using human embryos for research, you should at least be concerned with the incredible waste of taxpayer money.<\/p>\n I suspect the Culture of Death wants to experiment on embryos because embryos are as close as they can get to the Mystery of God-and-creation \u2013 to the moment of conception, when power and innocence in their rawest, most pure form, meet, when the spiritual and the corporeal collide. They want to screw around with embryos because they want to be as gods, and they want that secret. They\u2019ll lose, by the way, and destroy themselves as they busily try to undo that big bang.<\/p>\n There. You can *&% chew on that!<\/p>\n Q: I know you *&*^% hate Obama\u2026<\/strong> Q: I hate your *&%^ guts.<\/strong> Q: Anchoress, why aren\u2019t you writing about this offensive video<\/a>?<\/strong> Also, I\u2019m not commenting on it because I\u2019ve already said \u2013 several times \u2013 where I stand on this issue of Christians feeling hurt and insulted: on this issue of Christians feeling all hurt and insulted<\/a>:<\/p>\n The job of the Christian is to hold fast in the face of chaos and recall that Christ is more powerful than any man or media, and that darkness does not overcome light. To be honest, all the fretting from us Christians is a bit unseemly. If we are secure in what we believe, a cartoon does not take us down, no matter how perverse and offensive, because Christ is alive, and Grace abounds, and because just as an Abbess or Abbot is entitled to use whatever resources his or her community contains to advance the stability of the abbey, the Holy Spirit has a way of confounding us by using what is out there in the world \u2013 sometimes very surprising things and people \u2013 to do the will of the One.<\/p>\n Pray for those who hate us. There is power there. And don\u2019t be afraid of a \u201cwhat if.\u201d Bad times might come. So, what? \u201cIf in all things thou seeketh Jesus, doubtless thou shall find him.\u201d (St. Theresa of Avila) and \u201cAll things are alive in the sight of their King\u201d (Avila, again). Christians are joint-heirs with the Chosen people \u2013 it makes perfect sense that we might taste some of the sting and poison the world keeps offering His people, Israel. There is nothing to fear, here. Changing situations in the world are nothing in the face of the Unchanging.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n 21st Century Christians have to go buck it up; the Christians of the 1st through 4th century wouldn\u2019t be terribly impressed to see how thin their skins have grown.<\/p>\n Q: Anchoress, why aren\u2019t you writing about Obama\u2019s Birth Certificate?<\/a> Better Americans than you have been doing yoeman\u2019s work exposing the fact that Obama was probably born in Kenya! (These emails go on for a long, long time)\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n A: I\u2019ll take a line from Ed Morrissey here: None of it \u2014 absolutely none \u2014 has any real, solid evidence showing that Obama was born anywhere else than Hawaii apart from sheer speculation and hearsay\u2026It\u2019s a conspiracy theory spun by conspiracy theorists (Philip Berg is a 9\/11 truther) who use their normal thresholds of evidence for this meme.<\/em><\/p>\n I think it\u2019s remarkable that Berg and these Birth Certificate folks are teaming up. As ever, politics makes strange bedfellows. I don\u2019t disagree with Ace \u2013 people have a right to ask the question<\/a> \u2013 but I get the feeling that if they don\u2019t like the answer they\u2019d be content to bring genuine havoc and chaos to the nation after a very hot election. I think it\u2019s nsufficient evidence, brought way too late. Put down the electoral college fantasies, back away from the notion that Barack Obama will not be sworn in on January 20th, and try to put some faith in the long view, would you? Things happen for reasons. They happen so that other things can happen, so that other things can happen, and sometimes it takes a really long time to see how good triumphs. But it always does. \n An old Arab, whose tent was pitched next to a company of whirling dervishes was asked, \u201cDon\u2019t they bother you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you do about them?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI let \u2018em whirl!\u201d Q: Anchoress, I notice you\u2019re writing a lot about Advent and nothing about politics. A: Well, you\u2019re very observant! I decided after the election \u2013 actually a few weeks before the election, but by then I was in the circuit and had to see it through, so to speak \u2013 that I would write about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,12,13,19,22,39,62,73,87,92,96,112,175,242,253,264,272,275],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent-2008","category-alternative-media","category-america","category-answers-questions","category-barack-obama","category-bush-good","category-culture-of-lifedeath","category-dumb-gop-moves","category-embryonic-stem-cell-research","category-eucharist","category-faith","category-free-speech","category-monasticism","category-stem-cells","category-the-perpetual-adolescents","category-us-military","category-war-on-terror","category-why-cant-weeee-be"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nA: \u201cHate<\/em>\u201d is a strong word thrown around way too easily, these days \u2013 usually by people who are projecting their own feelings onto someone else. I don\u2019t hate<\/em> President-elect Obama. I don\u2019t love him as I do Dubya, but he\u2019s going to be my president. I just don\u2019t trust him, yet, but I\u2019m watching. I pray for him, too, everyday. I say a nice rosary for President Obama, every day. I know a lot of my readers do, too. Because we\u2019re such haters.<\/p>\n
\nA: Happily, my guts are not here for you to love.<\/p>\n
\nA: Because it\u2019s boring<\/em>. And because if I did write about it, it would not be to condemn the silly \u201clock-stepping originalists\u201d Hollywood, but to warn the Christians not to fall into the trap of getting all hysterical with rage about the \u201cunfairness\u201d of their targeting \u201conly\u201d Christians when the African American and Hispanic communities voted enthusiastically for Proposition 8<\/a>. I\u2019d say, \u201cSo what? You think carrying on will change any of that?\u201d And that would just piss off the \u201cperpetually loud-and-insulted\u201d sector of Christianity and then I\u2019d have to deal with them, again, telling me to shut up because I\u2019m not a \u201creal\u201d Christian<\/a>. They are of a piece with the conservatives who routinely denounce me as \u201cno true conservative.\u201d As though I care whether or not identity-obsessed folk want me in their club. Endearing, though, ain\u2019t they?<\/p>\n
\n
\nQ: What a smug *&^% knowitall you are! (Back to the other email\u2026)<\/strong>
\nA: Actually\u2026you\u2019ll be surprised and maybe pleased to hear that one thing this election has taught is this\u2026I\u2019ve realized that I don\u2019t know much of anything at all, and I\u2019m rather glad to admit it. The things I know, I know well<\/a>. And the rest:<\/a><\/p>\n
\n \u2013 Acceptance<\/em>, by Vincent P. Collins<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"