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All Is Not Lost
By Kate Burch
At our house, we joke about morning prayers consisting, at least in
part, of sitting with our coffee and the daily newspapers, saying
repeatedly, “Oh, God!”
Yesterday, especial fervency was provoked by some disheartening news
about Voice of America. Started in 1942 as a means of countering
Nazi propaganda, VOA is a taxpayer-funded broadcasting system that has
as its mission providing news that is “accurate, objective, and
comprehensive.” It broadcasts in English and 41 foreign
languages. During most of its long history, VOA has seen itself
as being a means of getting the truth and the light of hope to closed
societies. It did just that for many under Communist rule during
the Cold War, and for people such as the Chinese dissidents at the time
of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations.
Now, however, the VOA appears to have been turned into yet another
partisan propaganda instrument, along with the mainstream media and the
academic establishment. Sohrab Ahmari wrote for the Wall Street
Journal about the Persian-language broadcasts to Iran concerning the
Obama administration’s nuclear deal. Coverage of the July 23
Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing included almost exclusively
the arguments by John Kerry and other supporters of the deal.
During statements by opponents, the program shifted to a call-in show
on fashion in Iran. English-language coverage has also been
problematic, citing “experts” in support of the deal, but failing to
quote any critics to give the opposing views. Such incomplete and
biased coverage cannot be encouraging to Iranis who oppose the current
regime and yearn for a freer, more Westernized way of life.
Another article by Matt Ridley catalogued some of the costs, economic
as well as in harm to the environment; and morbidity and mortality, of
the scare tactics and heavy-handed proscriptive regulatory measures of
the EPA. In the name of protecting the environment, radical
environmentalists and their servant, the EPA, are causing real and
sometimes disastrous harm.
Then, my eye fell on a lovely piece written by William McGurn, “What
Motivates a Modern Nun?” He described attending and being moved
by the ceremony in which eight young women took their final vows as
sisters in the relatively new Catholic order, the Sisters of
Life. The sisters of this order take a fourth vow, in addition to
the traditional three of poverty, chastity, and obedience: to protect
the sacredness of every human life. They open their convents to
pregnant women who have nowhere else to go, and support and sustain
them during their childbearing experience. These women consecrate
their lives to God and devote themselves to providing loving service to
women who may never have experienced love in their lives. And all
without a dime of taxpayers’ money.
In these days, when the gargantuan state undermines charity,
generosity, and neighborliness and instead incites envy and resentment,
it is wonderful to find evidence of people finding joy and fulfillment
in serving others.
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