I wouldn’t bet on it. The blood of Numenor is spent. Since the Communist Party has successfully convinced even the most educated Chinese that the T’ian-an-men Massacre of 1989 never happened, they probably need not be as worried as they appear to be.

If Pope John Paul II’s notes do indeed survive, they will certainly be a treasure for future generations. That being said, I am not certain it is morally appropriate to refuse a man’s dying wish, no matter what the loss may be.

Even on specific issues where conservatives have “won the battle of ideas”, we continue to face tremendous setbacks to our agenda, especially from the courts. Example: Virginia’s ban on partial-birth abortion has been overturned by a panel of the 4th Circuit Court. As the Washington Post notes, the ban in Virginia was essentially identical to the federal ban signed by President Bush, so it makes sense that it was overturned on terms of “precedent”. I suppose it is ridiculous to be surprised, or even upset really. We should have seen this coming. Judges will continue to act with impunity, protecting as theirs alone the ability to create any of the laws that even matter.

The article itself is a perfect test case for how the MSM, populated almost exclusively by members of the lifestyle left, covers issues related to human life. Oddly enough, it seems like they have changed their “go-to” sneer quote. Remains is the apparently “which opponents call” prefix, which could just as well be “which human beings call”, now followed by “partial birth infanticide”. Have we, as opponents, actually started calling partial-birth abortion that, or is the Washington Post simply trying to paint pro-lifers as entirely overblown. The fact is, of course, that the “procedure” is literally infanticide, so it should not matter either way. The report also leaves the sanest comments until the end, from the dissenting Judge Paul V. Niemeyer: “(The majority’s decision) amounts to a momentous step in disconnecting our law from accepted moral norms.” The majority essentially stated that moral reasoning, apparently only to be found in the Supreme Court and nowhere else, could have no bearing on their decision making. One can almost hear them asking, as it was long ago, “What is truth?”

It should finally be noted that Gov. Mark Warner had opposed the ban in the first place, and must therefore be disqualified from seeking conservative support when he runs for President in 2008.