Attn: White House Speechwriting Office

"There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being."
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Guess what? Lunatics who believe that a zygote is "an innocent human being," don't own the concept.

Good god. I thought it was a terrific speech. It didn't have to "go anywhere."

And it's the Torah that says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus took it further, "Love your enemies."

Obama's speech at the National Prayer Breakfast yesterday morning struck me as a little meh.
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Maybe he's got stuff on his mind. Maybe he saw Pelosi's Green Line Of Economic Death (see KT's post below) and got bummed out.
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But I am glad that you're glad that he gave a shout-out to the secularists.

"There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being."
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I guess it's all about the interpretation of 'innocent' then isn't it and who gets to make it? It seems to me God himself wasted hundreds of thousands of people, including children, to make room for the Jews. This is just another case of Christians trying to convince the world, against all evidence to the contrary, that Christianity in practice has anything to do w/ love and compassion. Christianity has NOT made the world a better place.
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BTW, you were saying in you other post that it was arguable that Obama has been insufficiently bipartisan. So argue away! Or were you full of sh!t?

Amy – if you're ever elected president you can write your own speech, and make it as non-meh as you like. For the time being, at least, Obama has bigger fish to fry (and loaves to bake).

Amy, what's it like to be a prayer critic? Maybe something like being a frustration critic or an inner-monologue critic?

I'm sure that Obama will take Pastor Amy Pastrami's meh to heart when she writes one of her two pieces on how the Democrats need more of that ole time religion. Of course, we saw how well Michael Gerson dog-whistled in Bush's speeches, though I seem to remember -- albeit not off by heart -- that Jesus wasn't that impressed with the pharisees' orthopraxy.

In the meantime, Tony Blair was as insufferable as he usually is when he's in front-pew convert mode.

Wow, just when you think Amy Sullivan couldn't make herself look more irrelevant.

Congratulations, Amy! You're helping move the dead tree media a step further toward the Abyss.

"There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being."
God, condone, innocent and Human being. Every single one of those words can be interpreted in a multitude of ways depending on the point you are trying to make. Certainly many innocent human beings were killed during the Iraq war, many others by the tsunami. Innocence itself is a as slippery as any human concept. And as was mentioned above, fertility clinic freezers are chock full of human beings - or not!
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Amy's right that it's a sloppy sentence but her understanding of WHY is rather fully determined by her own beliefs.

"I do not lack courage to stand up for the Gospel" (Romans 1:16, New Revised Friar Tuck Translation), but AS is about to get on my last nerve.

I can't believe this person is paid money to write such drivel.
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Amy Sullivan:
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Please help us all out, and explain to us in exact terms why it is that you believe that your opinion of this speech by Barack Obama should be meaningful to anyone at all?
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...the build-up ended almost as soon as it began, and the speech never really went anywhere...?
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...struck me as a little meh...?
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What, pray tell, qualifies you to render this sort of judgment, Amy Sullivan?
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...And why is it important in the slightest that we know just how terrific or not-terrific Obama's speech at the National Prayer Breakfast (of all things) was?
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Why did you post this, Amy Sullivan?
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Why not save yourself a lot of trouble, and just post a transcript of CNN's "Interview with Top Figure Skaters"?
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HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: In the finals for the men's and ladies' singles championship, they're going to be held a little bit later on today, and be sure to join us tomorrow here on "CNN SUNDAY MORNING" for a look at some of the stars in that competition.
But for all of you figure skaters and fans of the sport, it is your lucky day. We are joined now by four of the sport's premier players. Tiffany Scott, Philip Dulebohn, and we also -- Hi, you guys, how are you doing this morning?
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(CROSSTALK)
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COLLINS: Thanks so much for being with us. We sure do appreciate your time.
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And let's go around just so everybody in case people haven't been able to watch some of the competition, and some people who haven't seen it before, let's go around and just introduce ourselves, if we could. Go ahead.
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BEN AGOSTO, 2004 U.S. CHAMPION: I'm Ben Agosto.
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COLLINS: OK. Ben, and you skate with?
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(CROSSTALK)
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COLLINS: Nice to see you.
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PHILIP DULEBOHN, 2004 U.S. BRONZE MEDALIST: I'm Philip Dulebohn, and this is my partner.
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TIFFANY SCOTT, 2004 U.S. BRONZE MEDALIST: Hi, I'm Tiffany Scott.
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COLLINS: Wonderful. Thanks so much for being with us, you guys. I know you had a late night, and a busy night last night.
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Let's begin with you guys. Tell us what you do, again, there may be some people out there who are not so familiar with ice skating, you know, don't really know the difference between ice dancing and pairs. Tell us a little bit about the differences.
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AGOSTO: Well, ice dancing and pairs, we both skate with a partner, but in pairs, he gets to throw her around and lift her over his head, and she's -- I wrap her more around me and..
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it's maybe a little more theatrical, do a lot, obviously, of more dance and artistry. And pair skating maybe focuses a little more on the technical works.
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COLLINS: And we're looking at you guys right now doing that very thing. It's just -- it's so beautiful. And I know that sort of the bottom line between the differences, as you say, no jumps. In fact, there are some very intricate rules about how far apart you can be for how long, right, with ice dancing?
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

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Seriously, I'm really struggling not to hurl all sorts of invective your way --invective that involves words like "banal" and "inane"-- and its quite difficult, given the severity of our country's situation right now.
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Is there some reasoning that you can point to that would help me understand what your intentions were with this piece --intentions that at least go beyond name-dropping, story-telling and cluck-clucking, Amy Sullivan?
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Honestly, why are we supposed to be reading this today...now?

Bravo, stuart, that was comprehensive! Thanks.

Friar Tuck:
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Somebody's got to tell her...

Attn: Ms. Sullivan, would you care to document the quote that you say isn't in the Torah? As Ronald Reagan said, trust but verify.
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On the 'innocent lives' line of thought, what do you think should happen to the 500,000 frozen embryos referenced in this article? Are the embryos 'innocent lives' up until the moment they are improperly thawed?
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Perhaps you could solicit the Family Research Council for their opinion. Apparently they have opinions and are quick to share.

I've tried, but it's like throwing peas against a wall.

...I mean somebody's got to tell her that we're not all happening upon her posts whilst waiting in a dentist's office (in case that wasn't clear).

No, an anti-abortion statement would have been "There is no God who condones taking the life of a foetus." Duh.
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If the Red Cross condemns air strikes against civilians, is that an
"anti-abortion" statement? Is the Innocence Project an anti-abortion group?
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*sigh*

...I mean somebody's got to tell her that we're not all happening upon her posts whilst waiting in a dentist's office (in case that wasn't clear).

No we are just killing time while at work.

"But the build-up ended almost as soon as it began, and the speech never really went anywhere."

Are we talking about the Obama legacy, or the Clinton legacy?

Oh, right.

Both.

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Wow. First Andy Card plays "Mr. Blackwell, White House fashionista", and now Amy Sullivan decides she's a speech critic.
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AS: ...the speech never really went anywhere.
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And where was it supposed to go, O Great Religion-Addled Scribe?

As I said on AS's other "banal" post today: "I've still not seen Amy once engage with the rabble. How 'bout this as an idea? No one comment on her posts, period."

Obama: ""There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being."

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Unless, you are the mother of a child who survives an abortion, and in that case, Obama prefers that the so-called "mother" kill her infant because prohibiting her from killing her child would place a "burden" (Obama's word) on the mother. That's one sick dude. No wonder he's adored by his media arm (i.e., the Washington press corps).

Links and quotes, textee, links and quotes.

"There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being."
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Anti abortion language?
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I don't care who may have repeated this language, there is nothing in this statement that speaks to abortion that I can find. And to those like yourself who say it does I ask...
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How the hell do you know this, you ever sat down to have lunch with God and he personally told you that this was about abortion?