The Oscars
See our review of Oppenheimer, a portrayal of the creation of the atomic bomb, which won Best Picture. Accepting Best Actor for Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy dedicated his award "to the peacemakers everywhere."
Accepting Best International Feature for The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer (who is Jewish) drew a parallel between acceptance of the atrocities of the Holocaust, as the film depicts, and acceptance of present-day atrocities in Gaza.
The best short animated film had a clear anti-war theme: War is Over (here’s the trailer)
Movie: Cabrini (in theaters now)
Set in the late 1800s in New York City, at a time when bigotry against Italian Americans was intense, this movie shows examples of how racism and living-in-the-sewer-level poverty can be lethal.
But what it’s about is a woman determined to help solve those problems. Mother Cabrini is a nun who sets up an orphanage and a higher-quality hospital, against great odds. But she isn’t merely doing charity – she knows she has to work on social justice and social institutions as well. She has courage, sound strategic thinking, powerful compassion, and an ability to reach people’s consciences.
Consistent Life Action Foundation
We have two new grant recipients:
Leaves in Time - a perinatal hospice nonprofit in Pagosa Springs, Colorado for its support services for pregnant women and their families who know they will lose their baby before or shortly after birth due to a disorder. These services include memory-making items, grief-support books and journals, coordination of referrals and care, and follow-up for a year.
Education and Life Foundation - for food assistance to pregnant mothers in Pakistan so that their children can be born healthy. With our grant funds, this foundation will be able to provide ten pregnant females with monthly food packages for 10 months. Each package contains not only salt, sugar, tea, flour, rice, black chickpeas, and cooking oil but also detergent and soap to prevent disease. The cost is only $19.80/package.
We are very pleased to be able to help with such worthwhile projects.
Finally, a Referendum Against Euthanasia
Our project website, Peace and Life Referendums, has run since 2020 without any referendums on “assisted suicide” or other euphemisms. We were glad, because such referendums are normally efforts to legalize it where it’s not legal already. We’d rather not have that have a chance of happening.
Now, however, the West Virginia legislature has put on the ballot for its state constitution: Amendment 1, Protection of Persons against Medically Assisted Suicide. The amendment changes no laws, but it does assert this protection as a right, and frames the issue properly.
Our Latest Blog Post
As anticipated, Kate Cox was a guest at Biden’s State of the Union address, as someone who traveled out of state for an abortion. Cox said part of her motivation was she didn’t want her daughter to suffer. Yet the ”pregnancy termination” euphemism is astonishingly blind to the suffering caused to the child by the abortion itself. Sarah Terzo covers this in Kate Cox and D&E Abortion.
This was Part 2 of 2. Part 1 looked at the condition her daughter had: Kate Cox and Stories of Trisomy 18.
Quotation of the Week
Sidney Callahan
University of St. Thomas Law Journal, Spring 2005, p. 289
Violence may be deplored, but is accepted as necessary to counter enemies and terrorists. Many such justifications are described as tragic choices or the inevitable “realism” necessary in the face of dangers. Tragic choice rhetoric, which is also used in abortion debates, often cuts off creative thinking about nonviolent alternatives.