May 4

Radio Archive #10: P90X and Obama’s First 100 Days

Radio Archive

11  comments

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In this episode: Talking about the P90X exercise program and President Obama’s First 100 Days in Office.

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About the author 

Greg

Greg is married to Jennifer. They've got five kids.

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  • Hello Greg and Jennifer,

    I just listened to part of this episode and had to stop. This is only the second episode I’ve listened to in this Catholics Next Door series. The other episode was Greg stirring up controversy about Obama going to Notre Dame.

    I understand controversy is a good thing in radio but teaching a five year old to say the President is slaughtering babies doesn’t bode well for the long term future of your radio series or the future of your five year old son.

    Greg, if only it was as easy as legislating against evil and the problems would be solved. How simple it would be if we could just legislate against evil. But is that realistic.

    How about a law against stealing? (Oh yah, we got one.) How about a law against murder? (oh yah, we got one.) How about laws against pedophile priests? (oh yah, we got one of those too).

    In this case legislating against abortion and other evils won’t eliminate them. It will push it underground. Kids and criminals don’t care about laws and legislation. Laws and legislation will not stop promiscuous activities and immoral activities. Jesus teaches us that with the new covenant.

    The focus on laws to control human behavior was tried in the old testament and was tried before with abortions in the U.S. In the 1950s, 16 year old girls from the suburbs and rural parts of the U.S. would head to urban areas to seek back alley abortions because they felt they had no other options.

    I’ll suggest more of the anti-abortion energy should be directed toward telling girls about their other options to facilitate adoptions for children that were born to young single mothers that are not prepared for the responsibility of parenthood.

    We should also put more of the anti-abortion energy into teaching adolescents the risks involved in sexual activity…pregnancy is only one of risks. Pam Stenzel could make periodic visits to your show. (Or maybe she already has been on your show?)

    As far as the comment what has Obama done in 100 days…the reports I heard is he is moving too fast and trying to do too much.

    I am very pleased with what I have seen from Obama so far in his first 100 days. He is a vast improvement over the Cheney and Bush years. He is also among the brightest (graduate from Harvard law school with honors) to ever serve at the high levels of politics. Much better than the C- student “W” and McCain that graduated second from the bottom in his class.

    In a very positive way, Obama stands with Christian values that are in stark contrast to Rush Limbaugh and other radical right wing extremists. What a refreshing change Obama brings from Rush Limbaughs approach that the government and non-profit groups should do nothing to help people. Limbaugh is all about “individualism”. According to Limbaugh and other right wing extremists, if you run into trouble, you should be on your own. Last week I tuned in to Rush Limbaugh’s show on Wednesday or Thursday and heard him say the government has no business helping sick people and the “people that work at non-profits (including non-profit hospitals that try to fill in and help others) are a bunch of blood suckers.” THis is not a very inspiring Christian message from Rush Limbaugh. And it doesn’t match the ideals many Catholic have for helping others. I’m pretty sure the radical right wing extremist positions are not where Jesus would want us to be aiming for.

    Best regards from your a friend in Central Ohio that is anti-abortion and still likes what he sees from Obama. Obama can stay in office and we can still take other steps to eliminate abortions in more realistic ways than just Washington D.C. legislation. In other words, the abortion solution will not come from Washington or the state capitals. It will come from the grass roots families, friends, and households that help girls that get pregnant so they can process through the adoption or single parent options.

    Jim In Columbus, Ohio.

  • Hi Jim,

    Thanks for the note.

    A couple of things. Obviously, the statement about our son was obviously a joke. I think I made that fairly clear.

    As far as bringing up Limbaugh and the like, I’m not really sure where you’re going with that since I don’t think he was even mentioned in the podcast, so I don’t follow the logic there.

    And as far as legislating against abortion, I just totally disagree with you there. 1.4 million unborn babies would probably also disagree with you. That’s how many babies are aborted in the U.S. each year. How many of the back-alley abortions happened versus the 50 million babies killed since 1973? I doubt the numbers even come close.

    Sorry you haven’t been enjoying the podcast. Some of the shows are serious, some are more light-hearted. Sounds like you picked the two most serious ones we’ve done so far.

  • Thank you for bringing Tony Horton on, all of his programs (beginner, kids, senior, all the way to extreme) are great. He’s a wonderful motivator and friend.

  • So your son didn’t comment about Obama slaughtering babies?

    I missed it if you said that was a joke.

    My thoughts about legislation include all the laws in place that are not followed by too many people.

    I stand by my comment that the solution to eliminate the abortion problem will come from the grass roots and the young girls that choose to have abortions. Not the legislators.

    My biblical studies indicate the laws in the Old Testament did not overcome people from making bad choices. That is why Jesus and the new covenant came forth with a new approach to not write the laws on stone, but to write the laws in our hearts.

    I believe the answer to eliminate the abortions comes from eliminating the demand for abortions. That comes from the young girls knowing more about three options.

    1. Avoid promiscuity.
    2. Consider carrying the child to term and become the parent with support from the family, father, and community.
    3. Consider carrying the child to term and graciously give the child to someone else in the community that wants to raise the child and is better prepared to raise the child.

  • Jim in Columbus – You make complete sense. Until we change the hearts and minds of people, you can pass all the laws you want and it will make no difference.

    We have had many many years of so called Pro-Life presidents and leaders and nothing has ever been done to overturn Roe v. Wade.

    Guess what? Nothing ever will be done either. That is why we have to convince people to change their hearts. It will probably take a lifetime.

  • Michael,

    I’m hesitant to respond (you’ll notice I didn’t bother responding to Jim’s last comment) because I feel like you’re just baiting me and I’ve learned from experience that it’s usually pointless to have online discussions about topics like this with people who share viewpoints. If you don’t think anything will ever be done to protect the unborn by law, then I doubt I’ll be able to change your mind. So respond to this if you’d like, but I’ll most likely just ignore it. I don’t care to have long conversations about this online. But I do have a few things to say.

    First off, sometimes I seriously wonder if you and “Jim in Columbus” are the same person. What you both say is almost identical, and I can’t remember a single time either of you commented something that was complementary, either on our site, at Rosary Army, or at SQPN. Everytime I see either of your names responding to anything at any of those sites, I’m 99% sure it’s because you disagreed with something before I even read it.

    But what I have to say is that I am so tired of people saying that the previous pro-life presidents didn’t do anything about Roe vs. Wade. What about appointing justices to the Supreme Court that would most likely rule on the side of life? What about putting into place the Mexico City Policy? What about limiting the ridiculous amount of funding that gets funneled to pro-choice organizations like Planned Parenthood? What do you expect a pro-life president to do if not follow the law in regards to overturning a poor law like Roe vs. Wade?

    And the argument that until people change hearts that it won’t make a difference if laws are passed is just naive. Do you mean to tell me that, given that there are 1.4 million abortions in the U.S. each year, that if laws are passed, you expect there would STILL be 1.4 million abortions in the U.S. each year? How do you figure that?

    While I agree wholeheartedly that we need to develop a culture of love and respect not only for the unborn, but for pregnant mothers and the underprivileged, I think it is just ignorant to throw our hands in the air and say the legal system is useless in regards to protecting life. What a sad frame of mind to have.

  • Greg… I am not trying to bait you and I am NOT the same person as Jim in Columbus.

    Let me say a few things and then I won’t bother you anymore. Thanks for the opportunity to state my case here.

    First, you remind me of people like Rush Limbaugh in that you “demonize” anyone who disagrees with you. You tell me I am naive and that I have a sad frame of mind. You ALWAYS say you are “tired” of responding to people like me, as though you are the Magisterium. You aren’t! This has been part of the problem with having folks like yourself on a semi-official service like the Catholic Channel. How about I demonize you and say that I still don’t get the idea of a Catholic reality show? Anything you have ever done has been “all about Greg”. You are wrapped up in the white middle class Catholicism that never sees anything beyond your I-Phone and your gated communities. How’s that?

    What I said was that you can pass all the laws you want and you can overturn Roe v. Wade, which will never happen in this country because the pro-abortion (so-called pro-choice) folks are wrapped up in themselves when it comes to abortion and never see anything outside of themselves as counting for anything.

    Because I think President Obama’s approach makes more sense does not make me any less pro-life than you are. Just passing a law will (I say it again) not work to end abortion. Even extreme right wing folks like the Rev. Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party will tell you how so many so-called pro-life politicians have done next to nothing. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95822850)

    Archbishop Sheehan in New Mexico was criticized recently for going to Rome with Gov. Bill Richardson who ended the death penalty in his state. When asked how he could support, or at least be seen with a pro-abortion politician, and why didn’t he challenge Richardson on this, Sheehan said, “One thing at a time”. Archbishop Wuerl of Washington is taking a similar approach. It took over 70 years of prayers for Russia to bring some change there.

    Abortion is entrenched in this country and until we change hearts, nothing will change.

    I ran across this thread while on SQPN and in a way I’m sorry that I did. I don’t listen to your show or your podcast. You overrate yourself and you continue to show an arrogance against anyone who disagrees with you. That’s why you never heard me compliment you. Your PDS “joke” on the RA podcast still comes to mind. Your excuse that the nurse said it doesn’t excuse you from using it.

    Okay, I guess I got it all off my chest. I wish you well and I hope that one day you will see yourself as you are seen by some, albeit not all. These are MY opinions and my observations and although they don’t agree with yours, they are no less valid and no less authentic.

    I will pray for you.

  • The reason there is a need to change laws regarding abortion is justice. To have unjust laws is to have a unjust society. Our current laws allowing abortion are inherently unjust because the allow the taking of human life.

    I agree that passing laws does not necessarily change people’s behavior, although some will change. However, as I said, there is the issue of justice.

  • It’s an old cop-out to say that passing laws doesn’t solve anything. If that were true, then we’d never have passed the Civil Rights Act in the 60s. Instead, we still be trying to convert the hearts and minds of all those racists. We’d never have passed the 13th Amendment to outlaw slavery. We’d still be trying to convince slaveowners that blacks are people too.

    One thing that passing a law against abortion would do is to stop the slaughter of 4,000 babies a day. Once we’ve done that, maybe then we can start converting hearts and minds.

    When the house is burning you put out the fire first and then you talk to your kids about fire safety, not vice versa.

    Greg: I can sympathize. People read my blog and think they can diagnose me from the DSM-IV; they demonize me and then they accuse me of same; they don’t actually read what I’ve written but write the “definitive” response. You’re not alone, brother, and we’re out here supporting you.

  • Thanks for the backup, Brian and Domenico.

    I told Jennifer about this discussion this morning. She doesn’t read the comments people leave on our website because so often they end up just frustrating us.

    After I told her about some of the negative attacks people were leaving (and I’ve deleted a couple of personal attacks that are not appearing), she made the comment that it is like we are inviting people into our home to attack us in our own kitchen.

    I don’t like hearing my wife say those kinds of things.

    When we set up this website, it was for two primary purposes:

    1) To keep our family and close friends up to date with family news and photos
    2) To provide listeners to our program with extra links and information about topics we discussed on the show

    What I never set out for was another website I have to babysit to make sure that people aren’t attacking each other. For some people, they feel they have every right to express their opinions, but apparently when I express mine they call me an immature Rush Limbaugh demonizer. What really kills me is that some of the people saying these things admit they don’t even listen to the show. So what they’re basing their comments on I have no idea (nor do I really care at this point).

    We don’t have the time or energy to deal with these kinds of petty attacks.

    And given that it is impossible to please everyone, and not everyone is going to agree with every single statement we make during the course of 3 hours a day on the radio, I’m certainly not going to take time away from my family so that I can defend myself from unwarranted attacks simply because people don’t agree with me or don’t like me. Disagreements happen, but I don’t have the time to sit here and have pointless online discussions. The only thing that does is make people angry and depressed.

    So I’m locking this topic. If you have a problem with something we say, feel free to call into our radio show so we can talk about it. Or, if you REALLY feel the need to have your say and want to lob a cheap attack then send me an email. I wish the guy who just posted and called me immature and insensitive for a throwaway comment I made would have done that rather than publicly insulting me. Sometimes when you’re talking non-stop, you say stupid things. It happens to everyone. Get over it. For us, it just happens to get broadcast and recorded. I’ll read every email and comment we get, even the negative ones, but the negative ones I’m not responding to. I think God would prefer I didn’t spend so much time dealing with flame-wars. So from here on out, when people post nasty things via the comments on the website or via email, I’ll read it, but I’m going to think about Jennifer and just delete it. If she doesn’t want it in our kitchen, neither do I.

    This is a family-based website and my kids read this site. It’s supposed to be fun. I don’t want my kids reading some of the nasty things that people feel they have to say because they’re angry I disagree with them.

    To those of you who have always been so supportive of our family’s various apostolates, even when you disagree with us, we thank you. And for those of you who just don’t like us for one reason or another, that’s cool, too. But I’m walking away from these silly arguments. As I tell our kids, if you’re going to fight, go somewhere else and do it.

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