The irony is that, starting with Bart Stupak, all those prolife Dems who ended  up voting for Obamacare seem to be going down to defeat, one by one. It would be nice to see Mr. Donnelly be the next retired. 

UPDATE: Joe Donnelly still won't say whether he supports his alma mater's lawsuit, though he does say religious organizations should be exempt. He says he will continue to "monitor" the situation. I'd say that means Mr. Mourdock has found a nice soft underbelly here.

Regarding Fr. Jenkins, short answer is, "I don't know." Lots of people are unhappy with his statement. My view is that Father has done the right thing here, and deserves credit not carping for it. It really changes the dynamics for the bishops to have Notre Dame on their side. Remember Catholics for Obama in 2008? I'm not sure what Catholic venue (apart from Georgetown, ahem) they might appear at, and wherever they do they will be on the defensive.

All in all, it's a real turnabout from 2008.

If the Obama administration wins in the S.C. on health care, I wonder if they wouldn't seek to accommodate the religious exemption on the contraceptive mandate.

Otherwise, this will only get more messy for them. And I think it means it will be hard, for example, for Joe Biden to show up at Catholic universities and such to defend the administration's mandate. 

If you read the statement, you can see Father Jenkins, as gently as possible, saying what Cardinal Dolan has said: The White House makes promises constantly that they will hammer out a workable accommodation, but never do.

This is not good news in Obamaland, and will only contribute to the narrative, which happens to be true, that the Administration is hostile to religion. 

Malcolm Muggeridge did once cite an Anglican Bishop who once said of the Ten Commandments that they are like an examination paper: only eight are to be attempted. 

Does anyone else find it extraordinary that the leader of the Soviet Union bought hook, line and sinker the liberal American line that the Gipper was just a Grade B movie actor? It helps explain who took whom to the cleaners in that matchup.

Personally, I find Mr. Gorbachev's comment fascinating. It confirms a suspicion that far from being the wise man leading the USSR to a better day, the Soviet leader did not really understand what was happening around him. In the West, liberals like to regard him as the real hero, but my impression was that he was a guy who was led by events rather than leading them.

By contrast, I recall reading in the Bernstein/Politi book on Pope John Paul II about Brezhnev's response when the prime minister of Communist Poland tried to explain to the leader of the Communist U.S.S.R. that, as a fellow Pole, he knew how best to handle this new pope. If the church weren't dealt with, Brezhnev retorted prophetically, "sooner or later it would gag in our throats, it would suffocate us." 

Come on, Mr. Robinson. Your chance to rebut Mr. G.

At first I thought this was a matter of the lads and lasses at the Crimson having an April Fool's joke. It seems to have been published the day after April Fool's, however, once again proving how difficult it is today to satirize higher ed. Of course we can see it all occurs on a podium bearing the Harvard coat of arms which itself bears the Latin word Veritas (truth).

Properly speaking, Veritas isn't even the true motto. The true motto, which I believe remains on the seal on every diploma, is Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae ("Truth for Christ and the church"). 

I think this is a remedial course. Manifestly students arrive at Harvard woefully unprepared here.

My own experience was slightly different. My dad was a Marine who was stationed in Okinawa for a few years while my brother and I lived with our mom at our grandparents. While he was away, they used to ask me -- all of 3 or 4  years old -- where my daddy was. I used to answer, sadly, "Poor daddy 'hour'" [my way of saying Okinawa].

Of course he wasn't fighting in a war. He told me that a few days after he returned and I no longer was top man in the house, I turned to him and said, "Daddy, go back to 'hour.'"

I liked the one where the school arranged a fake spelling bee. The young girl on stage was asked to spell "sergeant." Then she was asked if she knew any sergeants, and her dad appeared. 

Rob, I went to parochial school. There were all sorts of words I was afraid of. Most frightening of all is this: "Sister is coming down the hall!"

Maureen

I would tell my girls to do the same. In Miss Seeberg's case, however, she did not go to the room alone. She went with a girlfriend and another guy -- who bugged out on her. That seemed to have surprised her.

Also, if you go to the National Catholic Reporter comments, interesting comment from someone who seems to know exactly what medications Miss Seeberg was taking. As befits the pattern, he posts anonymously. That too has been a part of this story. All sorts of people opining about a dead girl and her medication -- but without the guts or class to at least put their names to it. 

Just wanted to note Jack Fowler's beautiful tribute to Priscilla here. Jack is publisher of NR, and knew her well. Not only is it a lovely testament to Priscilla, it is a little gem of writing too, one of Jack's best.

That's Priscilla, too, bringing out the best in those closest to her.

Trace, Mea Culpa. I looked down, but not far enough down, before posting. That was my fault, not editor's.

Guruforhire, I think Romney is best candidate. But if someone on my staff implied I could just shift my positions, I'd be anger. I think a flash of anger from Mr. Romney now and again -- not as often as Newt -- might help him. There were many ways to answer this question, but Mr. Fehrnstrom's answer embraced the premise of the CNN interviewer that Mr. Romney is too far to the right.