Hahahaha. Brilliant! Only I wish there will be a live shot of Joy Behar being muzzled and given a Valium shot to calm her nerves (and her idiotic non-sensical logic). Sorry, it’s Lent, but I had to,

And Yes I totally agree, “its very good for kids to get caught being Catholic in public”...As long as they don’t trip over their shoelaces…

Great piece Simcha.

Funny, Simcha!  Don’t forget, though - Bill Maher will be sneering at the sidelines, making his non-funny ‘jokes’ about religion in general, and Cat’lics in particular. (He’d love to mock Judaism, but the cultural elite won’t allow that, because it’s ‘cool’ to be against Catholicism, but anti-Semitic to say anything about Jews.)
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With Maher, flunkies from the Obama administration and their cohorts in the MSM,(mainstream media) will buzz around like demented, devoted little honeybees lapping the nectar of Bill’s ribaldry, (which is really venom, but they don’t know it!)  The flunkies, maybe even ‘Flukies’ from Georgetown Law School, need to dog and guard Maher because he gave SO much money to Obama’s PAC, (and that’s how he got on the Piers Morgan show - he bought the opportunity.)

I can’t go to the Rally but I do plan to pray a dedicated prayer for it’s success.

It will not be reported…except for the supporters of the HHS Mandate, who took time out from their important busy schedules to show support. Everyone else, well, they’re just here…they don’t count.

Hi Simcha. Like you, I can’t make it to the rally because of obligations with the kids. That’s the irony: the childless, contracepting, aborting folk are free to attend, while many mothers with kids, or dads whose families depend on their showing up for work, have other commitments. So if more than 4 counterprotesters actually do show up, we know why that is.

Ha ha! Great. But I don’t think it will be reported at all. Unless they are occupying public parks, people with “nutty"opinions don’t make the news.

I am attending in Phoenix where, “We cannot, we will not, comply.”

Our homeschool group has planned its own rally at the local courthouse.  None of the wonderful celebrities or even the local press will probably notice.  It is not on any public lists as no one really even knows where Harford County is BUT it is extra cool because a good number of non-Catholic Christian homeschooling families are joining us as they recognize that this really is about religious freedom!

I will be there with my kids. It will be a sacrifice for me to drive the 30 minutes each way at $4/gal, find a parking spot in an already congested city and walk with a toddler who most definitely will prefer to be elsewhere.  But it is so important. We should all try and be there.

Wish I could, but I have to work. :( I’ll be at the Phoenix rally in spirit!

No ‘public’ rally close to us but we’re planning to fill to over-flowing the adoration chapel (it’s quite large) and pray all four mysteries of the rosary to support the public rallies and ask the Lord for His Mercy on the world!!

I too think the whole thing will be ignored by the msm—which in many ways is better than the story being hijacked.  Let the presence of the protestors affect all who see them and hear them.  Keep on standing up for the truth even if the media ignores it.  It’s still the right thing to do.

We’ll be praying!

Spot-on, Simcha!

I will be at the New York City rally with my 17 year old.  Lucky us…we have just a 30 minute ride on the ferry to reach Federal Hall in lower Manhattan. Father Benedict Groeschel, Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, Sisters of Life, and Alveda King, will be there as well. It is going to be 80 and sunny. We can pray at the Shrine of Elizabeth Seton, eat lunch at Chipoltle Wall Street, and just generally enjoy a pro-life crowd in the midst of the epicenter of Mammon:)

My predictions:  The press will focus on those whose signs and slogans are decidedly right-wing, and ignore all of them that touch the heart of the issue: religious freedom and conscience rights. It will give voice to those who were virulently opposed to the Affordable Care Act in the first place, and make it seem like the Catholic Church is of the same mind. Then, the press will interview someone who has completey mixed up his/her political views with those of the Church, lending support to the false but growing notion that the Catholic Church is synonomous with a political party. The true issue at hand will be obscured.

You are right, Sally. We should pray for this not to happen so that we are not marginalized as nothing more then a front for one political party or another.  I am attending not for an endorsement of any particular candidate but to stand as a witness for freedom of conscience . Let’s see how it is covered on the national news tomorrow night.

You forgot the Trannies dressed as pregnant nuns, waving coat hangers, and the Satanists sporting goat horns and beating drums (that the press will also avoid) Maybe that’s just San Francisco, where the city counsel also made public nudity legal, so long as you bring a towel to sit on in public places)  Uuuuughhhhh.  I need a bigger pep talk to go.

My kids actually BEG to go to the Walk for Life.  Yes, being in solidarity with their Christian peeps makes them happy, but I also think the feeling that they might suffer grave bodily harm at the hands of the screaming wierdos, thrills them in a horror movie kind of way.

@Missy:

Cheer up!  While young mothers like you might be busy, us children of 50 and 60 year old mothers will be happy to represent you in strong numbers.  :)

Probably can’t go unless I take off from work, but I will be fasting and praying in support.

I’m quite fond of Virginia Postrel’s proposed solution: make the Pill available over-the-counter.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-09/take-birth-control-battle-over-the-counter-commentary-by-virginia-postrel.html

This would make it easier to be a Catholic doctor or pharmacist, that’s for sure.

Thanks for sharing the gift of your wit with us.  You did not mention Prayerful but the commenters have.  We must never forget the power of prayer.  Thomas Doran our Bishop (or should I say “our administrator”) as his successor was announced Monday, is holding a mass at 11AM before the Noon Rally in Rockford IL.  I do expect to hear incisive comments from him about those he refers to as “The Captive Media”.  It is sad that the media has become an advocacy organization, while proclaiming itself unbiased.  Covering the outliers and ignoring the middle is not “unbiased.”  But it does continue the narriative that “All options are of equal value.”  We must not forget that advocacy by the media has been a part of the history of this “One Nation under God”.  Search “yellow journalism” for examples.  Thank you for your intent to pray for all who attend these rallies from Sea to Shining Sea.

I agree with John Huntley, anna lisa, Sally, Beth, Rachel W., Gail Finke, Sherry, and Eileen G.; this will be one huge non-event.  The Ministry of Propaganda (a.k.a. Main Stream Media) will absolutely not report our side of this.
Rest assured, the only thing you will see on TV, hear on radio, or read in the “newspaper,” will be some young !@#$% doing the old “keep your rosaries off my ovaries,” and the ever popular, “Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Ancient morals has got to go!”
Unfortunately, if we want to be heard, we have to get rowdy/violent. If you don’t block the road, throw the bricks, slash the tires, burn the buildings, the world will never see you. (can you say, Northern Ireland?)
Ever wonder why no one disses Islam?  That’s because they WILL kill you if you do.
We must also become rather violent (not kill, just burn down buildings) whenever the atheists diss us. Then, and only then, will they listen to us. (It’s Crusades time, once again. If you don’t defend it with the sword, you will not have it.)

One chant at the 2012 March For Life, (which I attended, along with almost thirty students and teachers from my daughter’s Catholic school), was:
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O-Bama, Yo Mama, Chose Life!  (repeat several times - It’s catchy)
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Of course, you didn’t read about this in the NYTimes, because 400,000 peaceful pro-life marchers weren’t deemed part of ‘all the news that’s fit to print’ in the preeminent MSM paper that day. Expect the same treatment tomorrow.

Simcha, You’re snippy dismissal of Rush Limbaugh is because you are ignorant. The !@#$% comment was out of line and he apologized. If you actually could bring yourself to listen to what he has to say you would discover that he’s not the bogeyman you’ve been brainwashed to believe. His commentary is insightful and is a much, much needed counterweight to the baloney that most media are engaged in. Open your eyes girl. I dare you.

Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve. There’s no easy way to say this, but Rush is a pig. Oh, and calling Simcha “girl” certainly does not help dispel the idea ditto heads have a problem with women.

@Steve: No, I’m not ignorant, boy.  I used to listen to Rush Limbaugh faithfully, and it’s taken me many years to un-learn some of his favorite crass, mediocre, vicious ideas.  He served the purpose you describe about twelve years ago.  Now his main function is as a handy straw man for the Left to knock down. Now, thanks to Rush, every time I want to argue a conservative point, I have to spend precious time explaining that no, he doesn’t speak for me.  Your comment very nicely explains what I have against Rush Limbaugh, among other things:  he gives people permission to feel courageous and free-thinking, when all they’re doing is parroting back what Rush says in between commercials for the Sleep Number Bed.  Feh.

Im so jealous of everyone who is going! I sure wish I were going. But I’m just not brave enough to take my 5 children 7 and under on the metro for an event that occurs during two children’s nap times. I think I could do it, were I not pregnant again with the sixth. I guess God is asking me to support with my prayers from home!

One of the many reasons I love Simcha Fisher. She’s the only woman who can write something so funny that I don’t mind laughing so hard I have a coughing fit next to a sleeping friend in her dorm room.

@theLens - you “agree” with all those commenters, but none of them agree with you. You need to work on your skills. The red force is weak in this Moby.

Rush eh?  Heh.

@theLens:  ooh, somehow I missed your comment!  I’m calling b.s., though.  You’re someone who’s pretending to be a Catholic, trying to make us look nuts with the “throw the bricks, slash the tires, burn the buildings” stuff.
  Thanks for playing, though.

EileenG: Your slogan may be catchy, but it’s racist.  I hope no one uses that one tomorrow. Using that slogan, with a little help from the press, would really cast a shadow on the whole thing.

I have an appointment for my Second Son an hour before it begins…we will try to skedaddle over there. 

I would like to take a sign that says, “Keep your ovaries away from my rosary.”

Love it!  LOL!!!

Thank you! I myself could not break into the tightly knit club known as NJ Right to Life to find any answers about the women’s presence at tomorrow’s rally, or whether we will her a reading of the ” women speak for themselves letter”...  I was only afforded a suspicious “who are you?” and a “maybe we can read that letter if we have time but there is no set scheduke yet (2 days ago…).” Apparently a passionate, intelligent female voice with no known association isn’t welcome to ask questions or offer help.
Thus I have resigned myself to humbly standing in a smallish crowd of jumpered homeschooling moms with scrunchies, listening to middle aged men ramble on about the good their respective parties are doing, and how you can help (as long as you join the club…).
But your levity is actually very encouraging because it is a break from the weight of this insanity, and reminds me there are many, many thoughtful peopke behind this effort.

Wow.  I feel like I’ve already been at tomorrow’s rally.  :)  At 40 Days for Life, we’re getting spat on, having all kinds of verbal abuse flung at us, and an old hippie with a sign that says “legize [sic] porn” stands with us.

It’s good to laugh, but does anyone sometimes get tired of feeling like a social leper?  I live in a very liberal part of the country and I’m starting to feel like it’s getting almost impossible to maintain friendships with my non-Christian friends.  I see what they post on FB and I feel like, wow, that’s what you think I think?  And the gulf widens another 5 miles…

I think your predictions are right on!

I once attended a rally with more than 1,000 people. People with thoughtful, homemade signs discussing matters about which they were well-informed and they deeply concerned.  At the fringe of the crowd were 4 or 5 people shouting one word over and over again. A couple had pre-printed campaign signs. From the “news” report, one would easily conclude that both sides were equal in size, focus and importance in the afternoon’s events. Unreal.

A few years ago I attended the largest ever Tea Party gathering in Washington D.C. I rode the Metro in with lots of peaceful, courteous people. I “marched” up the street with ever-streaming thousands of other peacefully engaged people. I had conversations with a few along the way, including an older man who had grown up in a communist country and was extremely concerned for the similarities he was seeing in the direction of our nation. People tended to not rely on slogans but spoke with reason and intelligence.  I spent SIX HOURS there on the Mall, which was packed with people as far as I could see in every direction, moving around through the crowds. In the course of that I read literally thousands of signs, many very thoughtful and clever, and saw people of all stripes. As the event wound down, I saw several people who not only cleaned up after themselves but also brought out trash bags to make sure that the Mall was left as nicely as it had been when the event began.
And then I went home and watched the news. From the crowd “estimates” to the description of the event, even the set-up was horrible. Then the photos of people with horrible, racist signs, run in a loop as representative of the event. In SIX HOURS of moving about the crowds and reading thousands of signs, I saw not one such thing! Where did they even find these people?? And the ignorant-sounding, red-neck looking guy “interviewed” or screaming something about guns. Where did he even come from??  And the carefully sought-out and crafted photos with as homogenous and pale and pathetic a crowd as possible.  The event on TV had literally no resemblance to the one at which I’d spent the entire day!

C’mon, Anna Lisa, tranny nuns are FUN!  Okay, maybe not.  But it’s still worth going out and doing it.  I’ll see you there!  :)

@ Theresa   Don’t be jealous.  Keep up the good work with which our benificent God has blessed you in abundance!  What a special moment in your life!  Enjoy every moment and pray (between diaper changings, etc.) for those standing for you and your little ones this day.  I’ll be attending with one of my four children who has (old words) mental retardation and the quirkie side of Aspergers on the Autism scale.  May God bless this effort and may God Bless America changing hearts/souls one at a time.  It is far too easy to predict what msm and others will do/report about this.  Blessed Mother Teresa would say, “Let us do all we can, then let us let God do all that He will.”  or something along that train…

Sadly, I cannot attend, as I’ll be the lone person holding down the fort at our 40 Days vigil. I’m hoping people stop by afterward, since it’s only a couple of train stops away.

@ Elby: I got spat on for the first time last week. I actually found it encouraging, but I’m not used to the sun this time of year, so maybe it was sunstroke. ;-) But I know exactly what you mean about those facebook posts. It’s so frustrating! I wish you could block certain key words rather than people, so I didn’t have to see them. As it is, I squint my way through my facebook feed, looking for cute baby and pet pictures.

This is a great stream of comments!  Congratulations again, Simcha!
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marian, I agree with you about the way the Tea Party has been castigated by the MSMedia.  Keep saying it!
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Sally, I’m sorry you think our March For Life chant is racist, but it was joyfully and playfully adopted by the girls of color in our group, (and everyone knows Obama’s ‘mama’ was white!)  If that is the perception, maybe it’s good that the NYTimes ignored us.  However, I get your point about the way we are perceived by the liberal-biased MSMedia - if ANY ONE of us dares to be more strident in our tone than Mother Teresa/Mahatma Gandhi, we are all tarred and feathered as rabid, angry freaks.  So be it.

Elby - Great sentiments, mine exactly.  Simcha, can you do some columns on how to evangelize our liberal friends/family without despairing?  I live in liberal Massachusetts, and although I have my ‘peeps’, sometimes (many times) I feel alone in my conservative views, and swimming against a persistent and violent riptide of liberal nihilism/double speak/political correctness.  How is a big mouth to deal with these factors?

Bless you all. Go to the rally, pray at home, take care of your families needs, be with us in spirit, do what you are able to do. This is the presence that will overcome the path that we are on socially.

Thanks for posting this!  It encouraged me to get out there today with my six-month old ... and to put on makeup before leaving the house ;)

Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.
For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts which never nursed.

The Bible not relevant today? Yeah, okay. ;)

@Kaitlin, PERFECT.  Thank you. (at home with three feverish kids, and still a little guilty I didn’t go…)

Your article is even more arrogant and petty than Jennifer’s. You really think everything will be about sex, contraception, abortion and that everybody will be immature 2nd graders to each other? You really have some sick thoughts that I can only conclude come from your Catholic upbringing and environment. If that is your opinion of secularists, humanist, atheists and scientists, you are really f**ked up in the head.

Angela, her observations come from experience, and they mirror my own. It is sad and tragic; I’m glad you recognize that. I hope you’ll share this article with your fellow atheists, etc. and ask them not to act like that at pro-life events.

Sorry, some of my comments are confused with the Reason Rally Jennifer wrote about. I still think you are being hypocritical about the conservative Tea-Party Evangelics there because you agree with them.

Catholic women, occasionally late, but always fashionably. At least, that’s what I was thinking when I showed up after it started. :) I also scored myself a parking ticket—shame on me.
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Boy some of these comments are odd…burn down buildings?  Where does anything say I am called to burn down buildings? 
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Sally, I think “yo mama” has long since moved beyond any racial monopoly anybody once had on it (hence, a bunch of mainly white music geeks giggling about Yo Yo Ma—whom we love, of course).
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Elby, I had someone get in my face and call me a ‘retard’...for exercising my right…to stand in public and hold a sign.  Try to keep a sense of humor about how nutty it is, and realize that when you drive them nuts you are doing it correctly.  Facebook is a minefield but I’m learning where to step, and where not.  Keep being a still, small voice of reason.  Eileen: having even one person who will consistently back you up when it counts makes a huge difference.  See if you can work out a buddy system.

FYI,I just figured it out.  “Angela”, who is all over NCR threads is not the young woman at college she passes herself off to be.  She just doesn’t have a young woman vibe at all.  After reading (her) blasphemy of God the Father, on Jennifer Fulwiler’s Atheist convention thread, and feeling sick in the soul, and recalling how she tried to humiliate the mother of a priest, with perverted language, I realized (she) is not just a soul in pain, but I finally understood where (she) is actually operating from.  I’m a bit thick, it took me forever.  Don’t engage.

Thanks Enness, EileenG, DMJSD.  It’s nice to know others feel that way.  Some days I am ok with feeling a tiny bit of the derision Christ must’ve felt (hey they spat on him too, hey it’s Lent).  Some days at 40DFL, I see some of these people view us like the Occupy protesters (witness the lady who hovered in her car near the three of us as we prayed, yelling that you losers need to get a job)...or that we’re about as bad as those Baptists that demonstrate at funerals…I know we’re right, I know we’re not doing anything wrong, and I know we’re just here to save lives through prayer, and I know if the apocalypse happened I’d be really glad I was standing on THIS side of the street…but psychologically isn’t it sometimes hard to feel like something that keeps making people’s lips curl in disgust?

Then, on the more day to day social arena…or in the FB realm…it’s a constant question: do I post this NCR article as a way to quietly evangelize at least the uninformed Catholics in my feed?  I know the childhood friend who gets all her info from Huff Post or the NYT about how Pennsylvania is considering “forcing women to undergo involuntary vaginal penetration (otherwise called rape)” etc. is going to dismiss it out of hand.  I feel like we can’t talk about anything deeper than, say, cooking or gardening, and I can’t help feeling offended, like we’re not talking about the elephant in the room.  Sometimes I just want to say to her, do you really think I want to “send women back to the dark ages” and that I would support politicians who are “disgusting”?  Is it simply that eventually you just can’t be super close friends with someone who disagrees with you on just about everything important?

I attended in Trenton with my toddler while the older ones were in school.  I should have pulled them out and had them attend in their Catholic school uniforms.  This was my first protest rally and I was afraid, but it was so peaceful and dare I say, almost joy-filled as I rubbed elbows with so many like-minded souls.  It’s lonely sometimes, thinking you’re the only one upset by this.  I didn’t see any counter-protesters; it was a very peaceful, uplifting day.  The cops patrolling the crowds had smiles on their faces and chatted with the protesters as we were leaving.  Now that I know not to fear these rallies, I plan to attend more when they are planned!

I would love to join the March for Life, but have company coming in from across the state. Know that my prayers are always with you and I will be with you in spirit.  God bless you and God bless those who oppose pro-life supporters.  They need our prayers as much as Bill Mayer (a former Catholic) who spends too much of his time tearing down the Catholic church.  My Dad always told us if we couldn’t say anything nice, to not say anything at all because to do so otherwise just meant we had to build ourselves up by tearing someone or something else down and it would always come to no good in the end.  My Dad was a very wonderfully smart man.

I honestly think that Angela’s comments are pretty funny.  I wait with rapt attention for her to finally reveal to us the point in her personal attacks on people. I love watching our community continually shoot down her arguments and ad hominem rankings with extraordinary intelligence, and often love.  I realize that engaging her can be exhausting (something about pearls and swine come to mind) but I am so fascinated to discover why she bothers.  All she accomplishes is strengthening my faith from reading the enlightened responses of our Catholic community.  God bless her!

Not rankings…. “rantings” auto correct and a toddler conquer my prose once again!

I would like to hear more follow-up on how these went around the country.  I have not seen ONE WORD of coverage of Baltimore.  Watching the video that Bad Catholic posted made my jaw drop.  It looks like it was huge!

Simcha- Beautifully written, as always. I especially enjoyed your prognostication of Ms. Beyhar’s coverage. That had me chuckling for a while.

More importantly, I continue to pray for all of the faithful in a pivotal moment in our American History.

God Bless You!

-Kevin

Simcha, I don’t know if you’ve ever listened to Rush, and I don’t ask you to, but I just wanted to say that he is not a redneck who says things like Amurka. All sorts of people are aware of what is happening, how religious liberty in general is at stake and I appreciate all their support. I don’t condone the use of disrespectful terms but it wouldn’t serve to misrepresent a person or group either way.

I know this is a week old but just had to post this from the Get Religion blog:

http://www.getreligion.org/2012/03/what-a-religious-freedom-rally-looks-like/

Yes, you read that right: thorough and fair coverage in a secular newspaper (St. Louis Post Dispatch), complete with full color pix, of the religious freedom rally at the Missouri State Capitol (held on March 27 due to scheduling conflicts, but looks like they had a great turnout despite, or maybe BECAUSE, of the later date.)