A couple of weird and disparate stories from this weekend.

Instead of rolling in the Scion as usual, we took the CR-V to Stockton so I could pick up the elliptical I bought at Christmas vaca. The CR-V has no iPod capabilities (the FM transmitter broke), so my wife was fiddling with radio stations. One of the stations played Digable Planets. I haven't heard Rebirth of Slick in years. Great, right?

It was the oldies station. That song came out when I was in high school!

Went to mass Sunday morning. They got to the part where they offer prayers, and it played out mostly as usual. There was a prayer to respect the right to life, which is pretty standard nowadays. A little later, the last prayer was for (and I paraphrase): that our leaders, especially President Obama, govern in a matter to respect the rights of the unborn. Lord hear our prayers.

At which point I leaned over to my wife and said, "That's it?!?"

When did it come to this? Why is the intersection of politics and religion so narrow that there is only room for one issue? At a time when I'm not really getting along with my church, this ain't exactly smoothing things over.

(I don't want to start an abortion debate. Personally, I'm not down with it, but I'm not rabid about my position. I feel like I don't want other people shoving their religions down my throat, so who am I to do the same? An abortion is a personal choice and it's between you and your God, whoever He is. The key word there being "choice". I don't think victims of rape or incest should be required to have a baby. There are a lot of people who think that makes me a lousy Christian and that I will burn in hell, but I say this is between me and MY God.)

My point, of course, is: what about the rights of the *born*? Is abortion really that much bigger a sin than war? Torture? Suppression of civil liberties? Discrimination based on ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or sexual preference? What about capital punishment? I don't understand people who are against abortion but in favor of the death penalty. What is it with you people, timing?

I guess I should just shut up now before I make anyone else angry.