Cabinet Appointments Designed to Institutionalize the Culture of Death

Barack Obama has nominated Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as secretary of health and human services and David Ogden as Deputy Attorney General. These are two of the worst qualified appointees, in terms of moral qualifications, ever to be appointed to these positions.

Sebelius has been rebuked by three Archbishops in a row for her noterious and extreme pro-abortion activities and has been told by Archbishop Naumann to stay away from communion. After a meeting with her in September 2008 to ensure that she knew the gravity of her consistent pro-abortion support, he publicly asked that she refrain from communion until she makes a worthy confession and publicly repudiates her pro-abortion position. Sebelius is friends with George Tiller, the noterious late abortion doctor who specializes in partial birth abortions. He makes millions from killing babies after viability and he is a visible contributor to Sebellius' election campaigns. Now he will have a chance to purchase influence at an even higher level, if this nomination is confirmed. See the CNA story here: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=15241

It seems obvious from this appointment that Obama, far from trying to be moderate on abortion, wants to rub the noses of social conservatives, Evangelicals and Catholics in the mud. He is deliberately picking a fight and we will look back on this moment as an escalation of the culture wars provoked by a liberal president who thinks he can win on this issue.

Ogden is a lawyer who has chosen to use his background of privilege (Harvard Law, clerked for Justice Blackman, worked in Justice Department under Clinton) to defend the pornography industry of all things. Matthew Schmitz writes:

"Ogden has argued that a law designed to protect children from molestation and rape at the hands of child pornographers would “burden too heavily and infringe too deeply on the right to produce First Amendment protected material.” The law Ogden opposed reasonably asks that those who wish to profit by selling explicit content keep documents verifying that their models are of legal consenting age.

Even those who think that adults have a right to obtain and use pornographic material should recognize that David Ogden’s advocacy for the pornography industry goes much further. His position would allow the purveyors of exploitative images to hide their abuse behind a vanishing paper trail. There is some irony in the fact that while our country employs thousands of inspectors to ensure that meat and poultry are safe, David Ogden opposed even basic steps to ensure that the images consumed by pornography users are not of children. While David Ogden’s stated concern was protecting “free speech”—in his confirmation hearing he said that he is opposed to the exploitation of minors, and presumably he is sincere—it is hard to see any justification for a position that has the effect of abetting abuse."

For more on the Ogden appointment, see Schmitz' article on Public Discourse: http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.02.12.003.pdart

According to Pamela Pauls, writing in her book Pornified: How Pornography is Damaging Our Lives, Our Relationships and Our Families, the porn idustry is a 10-20 billion dollar per year industry in the US. It is hard to pin down the exact size because so much is underground and private companies and "because publicly held companies such as AT&T and Time Warner, which have substantial investments in pornography through their cable businesses, don't break out their adult business figures." (p. 64) Big Porn and its lobby groups represents a major threat to public safety and health, similar to the Mafia or other organized crime groups. Nominating one of their lawyers to the post of Deputy Attorney General is either one of the stupidest moves Obama has yet made - or a very sinister slipping of the "family man" mask.

UPDATE
Here is a story on Gov. Sebellius' pal, "Tiller the Killer," who specializes in late term abortions. It turns out he has been excommunicated from the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and now belongs to the ELCA, which is in communion with The Episcopal Church. Some of the details of his practice are downright creepy - like baptizing the aborted fetuses after they are dead. See:
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=10026

Here is a link to a story on Sebelius from Catholics in the Public Square, which in turn has several links to background stories from several sources. http://thepublicsquare.blogspot.com/2009/03/president-obamas-picks-kathleen.html