Pelosi to Bishops: "Shove It!"

Queen Nancy does not like what she's heard from several Bishops and Cardinals (who are, after all, specifically charged with teaching Church doctrine--as opposed to politicians, who are...ahh, nevermind.)

Brendan Daly, a spokesman for Pelosi, said in a statement Tuesday that she ``fully appreciates the sanctity of family'' and based her views on conception on the ``views of Saint Augustine, who said: '... the law does not provide that the act (abortion) pertains to homicide, for there cannot yet be said to be a live soul in a body that lacks sensation ...'''

The statement from Rigali and Lori said ``uninformed and inadequate theories about embryology'' in the Middle Ages led ``some theologians to speculate that specifically human life capable of receiving an immortal soul may not exist until a few weeks into pregnancy. While in canon law these theories led to a distinction in penalties between very early and later abortions, the Church's moral teaching never justified or permitted abortion at any stage of development.''

The operative terminology here is "penalties." Daly is parsing with very poor foundation. The fact that there were across-the-board penalties for abortion is foremost. The degree of penalty is secondary.

It's not all that much different from 'Law and Order,' where the discussion revolves around whether the perp should be tried for 1st-degree or 2nd-degree murder, folks. It's still murder.

Pelosi's stiff-necked resistance to instruction has larger implications.

The Obama campaign has asked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to shut her mouth, but in as nice a way as they possibly can. That isn't to say they aren't mad about her recent activities.

"It's like 'Thanks, madam speaker, you've done quite enough. Please move along,'" says one Obama adviser. "She got us stuck on three different issues that we wanted no part of. She's no master strategist, no matter what she may believe. You may see more of her, but if her mouth is open, what comes out won't be anything that our campaign wants anything to do with."

Queen Nancy thinks that defining "the beginning of life" is within HER paygrade; Obama, a Presidential contender closely associated with Queen Nancy by Party affiliation, does not think it is within HIS paygrade.