Twelve Things that Caught My Eye Today (Feb. 9, 2015)

1. Gallup: “Fewest Americans Satisfied With Abortion Policies Since 2001. Of the 48 dissatisfied: “24% want stricter laws, while 12% want current abortion laws to be less strict.”

2. Ed Whelan on today’s SCOTUS marriage news.

3. Mary Eberstadt: From Campus Bullies to Empty Churches

4. Wesley Smith: Hospice, Defend Yourself.

5. Cardinal Timothy Dolan tells the Daily News fighting assisted suicide in New York is a high priority:

“The real death with dignity, the real heroes are those who die naturally, who take each day at a time, savoring everything they’ve got. That is death with dignity,” Dolan said in an exclusive interview with the Daily News. …

The state Catholic Conference that is headed by Dolan has created a new website – http://www.catholicendoflife.org – to be unveiled Monday designed to serve as a resource to Catholics in New York and nationally regarding end-of-life decisions.

Though in the works before the right-to-die debate cropped up in New York, Dolan hopes it will shape the conversation by educating people on the options they face in their dying days.

He said the Catholics are not alone in opposing physician assisted suicide. Evangelical Christians, Latter-day Saints, the Greek Orthodox, and Orthodox Jews, also oppose the idea.

“There’s going to be a whole interfaith coalition to help oppose this,” Dolan said.

More local news coverage here.

6. A remarkable video of @Pontifex’s impromptu visit to a Rome shantytown yesterday: http://t.co/WDsM49DJUU (via @JohnThavis)

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7. Terry Teachout on Edward R. Murrow, journalism, and courage.

8. Flemming Rose: “We cannot insist on living by the principle of ‘do not offend’”

9. Practical suggestions from Mark Rodgers hitting on poverty, marriage, prison reform, and foster care (who worked in the Senate for years):

Although President Obama’s State of the Union and subsequent budget were widely panned by Republicans, hope for collaboration remains. In fact, it’s in the best interests of both sides and, more importantly, the American people, to play “small ball” and identify areas where incremental progress can be achieved.

Small ball is the prioritization of targeted, defining legislation rather than a focus on sweeping, ambitious reforms. For instance, President Bill Clinton famously served up school uniforms and V-Chips in his 1996 State of the Union.

But small ball does not mean small ideas. Instead, it can mean pursuing achievable policy goals that will impact the most vulnerable, while framing them in broad vision and deep principles.

Americans are tired of political excuses. The American people gave Republicans control of Congress to do something, and don’t want to hear excuses about the President’s aloofness, arcane Senate rules or Tea Party insurgents who don’t want to compromise. In response to President Obama’s State of the Union and budget, the strategic Republican response should be to counter with rifle shot policies that President Obama is likely to sign, but are within the framework of big ideas that connect to the concerns of struggling families who fear the loss of the American Dream and who are looking for practical solutions rather than ideological infighting.

10. For the record: