John's Right Stuff

We Made It

2011-01-04T14:09:00.000-05:00

To Those of Us Born:
1930 - 1979

At the end of this email is a quote of the month by Jay Leno.. If you don't read anything else, please read what he said. Very well stated, Mr. Leno.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE
1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered
with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps , not helmets on our heads..

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight..
WHY?
Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on..

No one was able to reach us all day.
And, we were OKAY.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill,
only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Play Stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games.
No 150 channels on cable,
no video movies or DVD's,
no surround-sound or CD's,
no cell phones,
no personal computers,
no Internet and no chat rooms...
WE HAD FRIENDS
and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping pong paddles, or just a bare hand and no one would call child services to report abuse.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt,
and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts, and not everyone made the team.
Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.
Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and inventors ever.

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility,
and we learned how to deal with it all.

If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.

While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it ?

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:

'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'

For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us...nothing further can be said.
For the rest of us...may God continue His watch over you.

Never Take the Eucharist for Granted

2010-07-08T20:42:00.000-04:00

BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN

6/24/10

I suppose it’s typical for human beings to sometimes take our finest gifts for granted – our health, our faith, our family and our friends, for example.

And even as Catholics we have the tendency to take for granted one of God’s most precious gifts – the Holy Eucharist, and all that it means for us. Although we typically pay lip service to the importance of the Eucharist, I wonder if we really appreciate its significance in our lives.

As the heart and soul of our Catholic Faith, the Eucharist a gift and mystery that includes several important dimensions. The Eucharist is a sacrifice – the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, made present again in a sacramental way. The Eucharist is a sacrament – the abiding presence of Christ among His people under the external forms of bread and wine. The Eucharist is a meal – established by Jesus at the Last Supper, and in which the action of eating and drinking the Body and Blood of Christ is essential to its meaning. And the Eucharist is a celebration – an affirmation of our faith in sign and symbol.

Each dimension of the Eucharist tells us something important about its meaning and all of them are included whenever we follow the Lord’s command: “Do this in memory of me.”

From the very beginning, even in the Apostolic era, the Church has recognized that reception of the Holy Eucharist demands a certain spiritual disposition. Here it’s helpful to recall that no one has an absolute right to receive the Eucharist, or any other sacrament for that matter. And while we routinely profess that “I am not worthy to receive you,” in recent years the requirements for receiving Holy Communion have become a hot topic, moving beyond the walls of internal Church discipline and crossing over into the political domain, even becoming the fodder of radio talk show debates.

Pope John Paul explained the criteria for receiving Holy Communion in these words: “The celebration of the Eucharist cannot be the starting-point for communion; it presupposes that communion already exists.” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, #35) The Pope goes on to explain that this necessary unity with the Church has both an invisible dimension (the spiritual disposition) and a visible dimension (the structural disposition.) In other, more traditional words, to properly receive Holy Communion, a communicant must be in the state of grace and be a member of the Catholic Church. These requirements apply not only to Catholic politicians – although they have particular obligations because of their role as public officials – but equally to all members of the Church.

There are other important dimensions of the Eucharist we should consider as well. And one is the fact that while the Eucharist effects union with Christ, “body and blood, soul and divinity,” it also has more horizontal, societal implications.

Pope Benedict said this: “The Eucharist brings about a fundamental transformation. God no longer simply stands before us as totally other. He enters into us and then seeks to spread outward to others until He fills the world, so that His love can truly become the dominant measure of the world.” (World Youth Day, Cologne, 2005)

The Eucharist, then, is all about “transformation” the Pope says. It begins with the transformation of the elements of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. (Note this is a very special kind of transformation that Catholics call “transubstantiation,” meaning the very substance of the bread and wine is changed into the very substance of the Body and Blood of Christ.) This transformation continues as the person receiving Holy Communion grows spiritually and is transformed into the image and likeness of Christ in their daily lives. And that transformation reaches its conclusion as the faithful enter into the world and, by living the vision and values of Christ, transform it, the secular world, into the Kingdom of God.

Blessed Mother of Teresa of Calcutta put it this way: “If we truly understand the Eucharist; if we make the Eucharist the central focus of our lives; if we feed our lives with the Eucharist, we will not find it difficult to discover Christ, to love Him, and to serve Him in the poor.”

And finally, in reflecting upon the value of the Eucharist, we should also recall the importance of Eucharistic adoration, a wonderful devotion in the history and spiritual tradition of the Church. Pope John Paul wrote that “it is pleasant to spend time with Him, to lie close to His breast like the beloved disciple, and to feel the infinite love present in His heart.” He also points to the example of many saints, specifically St. Alphonsus Liguori who wrote, “Of all devotions, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us.” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, #25)

So, dear reader, as we consider the Holy Eucharist, let’s try to resist our normal tendency to take our gifts for granted. The Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ; it is the Bread of Life; it is spiritual food for our journey on earth; and it contains all the power we need to transform the world into the Kingdom of God.

The Gathering Storm

2010-03-29T17:49:00.009-04:00

I don't know who came up with the idea for this photo But it is GREAT!!!

your auto industry, your banks, your health care, your taxes
and your personal choice....

Please pray for Archbishop Chaput

2010-03-27T22:16:00.010-04:00

We need to continue our prayers for Archbishop Chaput of Denver who has been a "Light of Christ" for us. May he find the grace and courage to continue to speak the truth.

Denver archbishop criticizes CHA 'counter-witness' against bishops on health care

How we got from good intentions to a flawed bill

If You’re against Obamacare, You’re Probably a Racist - Bill Burck and Dana Perino - The Corner on National Review Online

2010-03-23T08:29:00.000-04:00

If You’re against Obamacare, You’re Probably a Racist - Bill Burck and Dana Perino - The Corner on National Review Online

Today, the New York Times features an article drawing a direct link between the Obamacare debate and the civil-rights struggle over 40 years ago. The title is “Past Strife and Jeers,” and here is the opening paragraph:

WASHINGTON — Forty-five years ago, John Lewis began the third of what became society-shifting civil rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. On Sunday, the anniversary of that famous trek, he joined hands with fellow House Democrats and marched past jeering protesters into the Capitol to remake the nation’s health care system.

We have no tolerance for intolerance and condemn anyone who would resort to racist name-calling. Shame on anyone who did. But shame on the New York Times for comparing those who protested the Democrats’ health-care policy with the virulent southern racists who participated in violent and often deadly protests against civil-rights demonstrators. Give us a break.

The Left’s plan for November is to promote exactly this kind of thinking, shaming opponents into staying at home rather than going to the polls to vote the bums out, while fooling proponents that opposition is nothing more than the most atavistic form of prejudice. With every poll showing that far more voters hate Obamacare than love it (with the balance made up of the lukewarm on both sides of the issue), this is the New York Times’s effort to help shift voter intensity — which spells turnout in November — in favor of Obamacare.

We suspect the electorate won’t prove so gullible. The Old Grey Lady is not as smart as she thinks she is, nor are Americans the ninnies she believes they are.

The Real Meaning of Words

2010-03-22T14:41:00.011-04:00

Loyalty...

Sorrow...

Innocence...

Departure...

Pain...

Respect...

Compassion...

Friendship...

Patience...

Rescued...

Divine...

This year we have truly learned...

"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass.....
It's about learning how to dance in the rain."

Be kinder than necessary,

Because everyone you meet

Is fighting some kind of battle.

So, where are all the cries about Harry Reid being a RACIST? | Political Integrity Now

2010-01-09T23:12:00.002-05:00

Here is the AP article concerning Reid's remarks about Obama. I am forwarding this from Political Integrety Now because I agree with the comments. We all know if this had come from a Republican, that person would be gone by the end of the week. We also know nothing will be done to Reid. The hypocrisy is ridiculous.

Also the AP article could not help but take a shot at Sarah. Heaven forbid that when a liberal screws up, they would have an article without bashing a conservative to make it 'fair and balanced' BTW..what does Sarah have to do with Reid's remarks anyway? Sheeeesh!!!

So, where are all the cries about Harry Reid being a RACIST?

Upcoming PBS board vote could disaffiliate stations with Mass for shut-ins

2009-05-21T13:44:00.000-04:00

from CNA

Arlington, Va., May 21 (CNA).-The network board of PBS in June will vote on whether to pull affiliate status from stations that broadcast "sectarian" programming, a decision which could affect broadcasts of Mass for shut-ins and other religious programming.

Jennifer Lawson, general manager of WHUT, heads the panel that recommended a board vote on religious programming. She told the Washington Post that the intent of the action is to demonstrate editorial independence.

PBS bylaws call for non-commercial, non-partisan, and non-sectarian programming. However, the network's editorial policy also calls for "integrity, quality, diversity and local station autonomy," the Television Broadcast Newsletter reports.

"PBS believes that public broadcasting's greatest potential is realized when it serves the unique needs of the local community, and that there are wide variations in local needs and tastes," the policy reads. "No one is better qualified to determine and respond to those local needs than the public television station licensed to that community."

Many PBS member stations have carried religious services and Mass for shut-ins for years. Denver's KBDI-TV has broadcast Mass for Shut-ins since 1966 every Sunday morning. The Archdiocese of Denver estimates 20,000 households tune in to the Mass each week.
WHUT-TV, the PBS affiliate at Howard University in Washington, D.C., has carried a Mass for 13 years. Losing its PBS affiliation would take away its programming lineup of standard PBS shows. WHUT-TV has already told the Archdiocese of Washington the telecast would be cancelled.

WLAE-TV in New Orleans, partly owned by the local Catholic organization Willwoods Community, has carried a Mass for 25 years without any complaints.

"We've built an identity around this. People know us for this," WLAE vice president and general manager Ron Yager told the Washington Post. "I'm really not totally sure of their reasoning for doing this."

Obama and the ‘Real’ Catholics

2009-05-20T16:58:00.000-04:00

The president inserts himself into a religious debate.

By George Weigel

Passionate debates over doctrine, identity, and the boundaries of “communion” have been a staple of the American religious landscape for centuries: Trinitarians vs. Unitarians in 19th-century New England; Modernists vs. Fundamentalists in early-20th-century Presbyterianism; Missouri Synod Lutherans vs. Wisconsin Synod Lutherans vs. Other Sorts of Lutherans down to today. Yet never in our history has a president of the United States, in the exercise of his public office, intervened in such disputes in order to secure a political advantage.

Until yesterday, at the University of Notre Dame.

The principal themes of President Obama’s Notre Dame commencement address were entirely predictable; indeed, in some offices I know, betting pools were forming last week on how many of the Catholic Left hot buttons Obama would hit. In the event, he hit for the cycle several times over, mentioning “common ground”; tolerance and reconciliation amid diversity; Father Hesburgh; respect for those with whose moral judgments we disagree; problem-solving over ideology; Father Hesburgh; saving God’s creation from climate change; pulling together; Father Hesburgh; open hearts; open minds; fair-minded words; Father Hesburgh. None of this was surprising, and most of it was said with the president’s usual smooth eloquence. (Full story at Narional Review Online)

You Might Be A 'Radicalized Right-Wing Extremist' If...

2009-05-18T17:53:00.000-04:00

I am a little late on this one, but it is still valid. This is so critical in pointing out what we are up against, I have published this article from GOPUSA.com in full. As Michelle says: "WELCOME TO THE CLUB!"

By Michelle Malkin

April 15, 2009

What and who exactly are President Obama's homeland security officials afraid of these days? If you are a member of an active conservative group that opposes abortion, favors strict immigration enforcement, lobbies to protect Second Amendment rights, protests big government, advocates federalism or represents veterans who believe in any of the above, the answer is: You.

Department of Homeland Security Sec. Janet Napolitano has turned her attention away from acts of Islamic jihad on American soil (which she now refers to as "man-caused disasters"). Instead, her department is sounding the alarm over an unquantified "resurgence" in "right-wing extremism activity." On April 7, DHS sent a nine-page warning memo to law enforcement offices across the country titled "Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment."

The report includes a sweeping definition of the threat:

"Right-wing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."

You cannot ignore the context or the timing of this DHS report. It's no small coincidence that Napolitano's agency disseminated the assessment just a week before the nationwide April 15 Tax Day Tea Party protests. The grassroots events organized by fiscal conservatives, independents, Libertarians and, yes, even some Blue Dog Democrats were fueled by the "current economic and political climate" of bipartisan profligate spending and endless taxpayer-funded bailouts. The growing success of the loose-knit movement has invited scorn, ridicule and fear-mongering from Obama's supporters. Liberal bloggers have likened the Tea Party movement to neo-Nazis, militias and even Weather Underground terrorists.

These attempts to demonize the Tea Party movement come on the heels of widespread conservative-bashing over the recent shooting sprees in Pittsburgh and Binghamton, N.Y. Taking Hillary Clinton's advice to "never waste a good crisis," left-wing pundits and analysts have blamed the tragedies on everyone from Rush Limbaugh to Fox News to the NRA.

The DHS spokespeople I talked to on Monday insisted that the report was not a politicized document and that DHS had done similar assessments on "left-wing extremism" in the past. But past domestic terrorism reports have always been very specific in identifying security threats -- such as the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front -- and very specific in identifying their methods and targets, including repeated physical harassment, arson and vandalism against pharmaceutical companies, farms, labs and university researchers.

By contrast, the Obama DHS report is an overarching indictment of conservatives. "Right-wing extremist chatter on the Internet continues to focus on the economy, the perceived loss of U.S. jobs in the manufacturing and construction sectors, and home foreclosures," the assessment warns. When I asked DHS spokeswoman Sara Kuban to explain who was responsible for this "extremist chatter," she could not and would not name names.

Moreover, the report relies on the work of the left-leaning Southern Poverty Law Center to stir anxiety over "disgruntled military veterans" -- a citation that gives us valuable insight into how DHS will define "hate-oriented" groups. The SPLC, you see, has designated the venerable American Legion a "hate group" for its stance on immigration enforcement. The report offers zero data, but states with an almost resentful attitude toward protected free speech: "Debates over appropriate immigration levels and enforcement policy generally fall within the realm of protected political speech under the First Amendment, but in some cases, anti-immigration or strident pro-enforcement fervor has been directed against specific groups and has the potential to turn violent."

"Potential to turn violent"? So did the hysterical fervor whipped up by Capitol Hill over the AIG bonuses, which prompted ugly death threats from across the country. No mention here, though. Not "right wing" enough. Nor will you see Obama DHS warnings to police and sheriff's departments about self-proclaimed bank terrorists such as Bruce Marks of the aggressive Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America or the mob activists of ACORN who have committed burglary, stormed corporate executives' homes and vowed to conduct "civil disobedience" by "any means necessary" in response to the "current economic and political climate."

If you can redefine dissenting opinion as "hate," you can brand your political opponents as "extremists" -- and you can marginalize electoral threats. "Antigovernment"? "Pro-enforcement"? "Disgruntled"? Feeling taxed enough already and "recruiting" and "radicalizing" your friends and neighbors through "chatter on the Internet"?

We are all right-wing extremists now. Welcome to the club.

Biden Reveals Location of Secret 'Undisclosed Location'

2009-05-18T16:00:00.000-04:00

from Newsmax.com

Sunday, May 17, 2009 7:29 PM

Vice President Joe Biden has done it again.

Biden, who has a history of verbal blunders, has revealed the existence of a secret bunker intended to house the vice president in case of a national emergency or attack.

According to Newsweek magazine's Eleanor Clift, Biden let the secret slip at the recent Gridiron Club dinner, and annual event attended by media members and high-power politicians. Clift reports that Biden admitted to those at his table that the bunker is located beneath the vice president's official residence, located at the U.S. Naval Observatory near Washington, D.C.

It is likely that former Vice President Dick Cheney was hidden in the bunker - referred to as an "undisclosed location" - in the confusing aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Newsweek's story asserts that Biden "said a young naval officer giving him a tour of the residence showed him the hideaway, which is behind a massive steel door secured by an elaborate lock with a narrow connecting hallway lined with shelves filled with communications equipment.

"The officer explained that when Cheney was in lock down, this was where his most trusted aides were stationed, an image that Biden conveyed in a way that suggested we shouldn't be surprised that the policies that emerged were off the wall."
This is hardly the first time Biden has raised eyebrows with an off-the-cuff remark. Most recently, he was criticized for encouraging Americans to avoid airline travel during the swine flu scare.

Obama's Words and the Moral Equivalency That Doesn't Exist

2009-05-18T15:34:00.000-04:00

Posted by Bobby Eberle
May 18, 2009 at 7:46 am

When I was deciding on which college to attend to begin my undergraduate education, there were only a few on the radar screen. I was conflicted between wanting to further explore my faith and my desire to stay closer to home. I knew that I would be studying aerospace engineering, and in the end, I eventually chose Texas A&M (with Rice University for graduate school). However, had I not attended Texas A&M, my choice of university was clear: Notre Dame.

So, it was with great interest and dread that I followed the events of this past weekend when Barack Obama gave the commencement speech to graduates at Norte Dame. The fact that Obama was invited in the first place speaks quite lowly of Notre Dame officials. The fact that he was presented with an honorary degree is insulting. But, as usual, it's Obama's words that are the most appalling as he tries to use his teleprompter-aided eloquence to cut down the pro-life movement. (Full story at GOPUSA.com)

Gallup Poll: Majority of Americans Pro-Life on Abortion, Highest Levels in 15 Years

2009-05-18T15:04:00.000-04:00

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 15, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new Gallup poll shows that the majority of Americans self-identify as pro-life on the issue of abortion for the first time in 15 years. The Gallup survey shows the percentage of Americans saying they are pro-life at its highest point since 1995 and those saying they are "pro-choice" at its lowest.
The Gallup survey, conducted May 7-10, finds 51% of Americans calling themselves pro-life and just 42 percent saying they are "pro-choice" and supporting legal abortions.
The poll finds a plurality of women say they are pro-life -- with 49 percent saying so and just 44 percent saying they are "pro-choice." Men favor the pro-life position on a 54 to 39 percent margin. Both numbers are record highs for the pro-life position.
The 9 percent pro-life majority is a stark change from last year, when the Gallup survey showed a 6 percent majority in favor of abortion. Before the current poll Gallup had the pro-life percentage at its highest at 46 percent in both August 2001 and May 2002. (Full story at Lifenews.com)

Democrat Dictionary

2009-05-18T14:45:00.000-04:00

Doublespeak is alive as Democrats pull the strings in the White House and Congress 24 years after 1984. What do they mean when they engage in Democrat-speak?
I know I'm not worthy, but I've got an assignment, so I shall borrow a page from Ambrose Bierce, not with a Devil's Dictionary, but a Democrats' Dictionary. The easy part: There's no dif.
Academic freedom: Full license to espouse liberal thought to unformed minds.
Bailout: Billions upon billions -- trillions really -- of government aid doled out to financial institutions to remind voters of the need for strong regulation.
Biden, Joe: Running-at-the-mouth politician, but, hey, he was elected vice president.
Bipartisanship: 40 Republicans and 60 Democrats.
Bush, George W.: sh, Big-spending, war-waging Republican.
Cheney, Dick: Satan.
Clean coal: What Santa Claus puts in Democrats' stockings so they don't have to admit that their global-warming agenda is anti-coal.
Climate change: Global warming during a blizzard.
CNN: Unbiased news network whose reporters battle "right-wing" media.
Deficits: Overspending before 2009, or spending practices that President Obama inherited. For current usage, see: Investment.
Extremists: Abortion opponents.
Fox News: Unlike CNN, biased news network.
Global warming: An apocalyptic theory that every scientist believes in -- except dissenting scientists who don't count -- best bemoaned
from one's Gulf Stream jet en route to an international conference on the environment.
God: What people in small towns clung to before Obama won the White House. See: guns, anti-immigrant or anti-trade beliefs.
Health care costs: A spiraling chunk of the U.S. economy that can be reduced by providing health care to all Americans. Really.
Homeland security: Gun control.
Iraq: An immoral war, once the focus of numerous anti-war demonstrations, which Democratic leaders vowed to end immediately upon winning the White House -- until Obama won the 2008 election.
Liberal: The L-word, a term unfairly hurled by name-calling right-wing kooks.
Lieberman, Joe: Former Democrat turned Independent senator from Connecticut. Sellout.
McCain, John: Former GOP maverick who -- the nerve -- turned out to actually be a Republican.
Middle class: Families that earn less than $250,000 -- until Washington decides it might be a good idea to pay for all the new Obama-era programs.
Nuance: Homeland Security Janet Napolitano's decision to refer to terrorist attacks as "man-caused disasters." Formerly known as Doublespeak.
Obama, Barack. God, at least in Detroit.
Oil: A crude substance used to fuel other people's cars.
One hundred days: The first in a series of holy days during which dutiful media preside over national thanksgiving.
Palin, Sarah: White-trashy grandmother utterly unqualified and too dim-witted to be vice president.
Pandemic: CNN-speak for flu.
Pelosi, Nancy: Grandmotherly House speaker who could not be expected to understand that when Bushies authorized waterboarding of high-value detainees, it actually might happen.
Progressive: Liberal.
Public transportation: What other people should take to work.
Regulation: The threat of a salary cap for executives with firms receiving federal funds.
Republican Party: The party of the rich -- if the California inland empire and Central Valley are rich, and Beverly Hills, Marin County and Malibu are not.
Sacrifice: Something Bush never asked for during time of war. Now a tax hike for 95 percent of working families while U.S. troops fight in two wars abroad.
Specter, Arlen: Republican turned Democratic senator from Pennsylvania. Free thinker.
Stimulus: A rush in the nether regions at the prospect of spending trillions of dollars you don't have. Not to be confused with: Banking.
Surge: A tactic involving troop increases that could never work in Iraq, but always made sense for Afghanistan.
Tobacco: Toxic substance that should be overtaxed or banned -- unless it is marijuana. Then see: Medicine.
Tolerance: An essential element to civil societies; individuals deemed insufficiently tolerant must be re-educated.
War on terror: The fairness doctrine, the only weapon that can harm America's true enemy, Rush Limbaugh.
Waterboarding: Torture -- unless a plane piloted by terrorists hits a reservoir.

The Dynamics of Celibacy

2009-05-18T08:48:00.000-04:00

May 18th, 2009 by Fr. Thomas Euteneuer

Some recent high-profile priest scandals have put celibacy back in the limelight as a topic for the pagan world to rage about, but rarely will you hear what the Catholic Church actually teaches about it. I hope that the following insights will be a short course in the dynamics of a marvelous life of grace: namely, celibate chastity. The world needs to hear “the other side” of the story.
Number One: Celibacy is a gift to the world, not a rule imposed by the Church on a few seemingly-abnormal men. Celibacy initiates men into a life of spiritual fatherhood in a strikingly positive way for others. We are called “father” for a reason: we bring spiritual life to our people through the sacred mysteries which we handle, and they are drawn into a spiritual family thereby. A truly dedicated priest has thousands of spiritual children who sometimes make immense demands on him — I often wish I had only seven children like my father! In an age where men have massively renounced their sacred duty to generate, protect and nurture families, there are myriads of selfless, celibate men sacrificing themselves in a truly manly way for the sake of God’s family and, indeed, even for the sake of many individual families. The fact that some priests fail at it does not make the gift of celibacy anything less than a true blessing; in fact, its failures force us to reflect more deeply on its quiet successes. It’s hypocritical to think that we should throw away the gift of celibacy (i.e., make it “optional”) based upon a minuscule percentage of failures of its practitioners. We don’t say the same thing about the much higher percentage of failures in marriage. Should we allow polygamy just because some married men can’t stick to one woman? This is the time to reaffirm the genuine beauty and value of celibacy, not change this immense gift to us.

(Full story at Catholic Exchange)

Gorby In, Garbage Out

2009-04-23T13:55:00.000-04:00

If this doesn't open your eyes up to what is going on, Nothing will!!

By JAMES TARANTO on WSJ.com

Mention the name Mikhail Gorbachev to anyone under 35 or so, and you'll likely draw a blank look. Even those old enough to remember Gorbachev may be astonished to learn that he is still alive. Yet although history's second and subsequent drafts have relegated him to a supporting role, the first draft--that is, the journalism of the 1980s--mistook him for the lead character. In 1989 Time magazine named Gorbachev, not Ronald Reagan (or Margaret Thatcher or Lech Walesa or Pope John Paul II), "man of the decade."
But Gorbachev's name came up earlier this week in an odd context, an Associated Press "analysis" by Steven R. Hurst of President Obama's foreign policy:

President Barack Obama has gone abroad and gored an ox--the deeply held belief that the United States does not make mistakes in dealings with either friends or foes.

And in the process, he's taking a huge gamble both at home and abroad, for a payoff that could be a long time coming, if ever. . . .

While historic analogies are never perfect, Obama's stark efforts to change the U.S. image abroad are reminiscent of the stunning realignments sought by former Soviet leader Michael Gorbachev. During his short--by Soviet standards--tenure, he scrambled incessantly to shed the ideological entanglements that were leading the communist empire toward ruin.

There are lots of problems with Hurst's analysis, one of which is that the "belief that the United States does not make mistakes" is not an ox but a straw man, as Hurst himself implicitly acknowledges:

Critics, especially those deeply attached to the foreign policy course of the past 50-plus years, see a president whose lofty ideals expose the country to a dangerous probing of U.S. weakness, of an unseemly readiness to admit past mistakes, of a willingness to talk with unpleasant opponents.

In other words, the people who supposedly believe that the U.S. does not make mistakes are arguing that the U.S., right now, is making a big mistake!

The Obama-Gorbachev comparison is what really got our attention, though. There is a striking parallel between the two men, in that both have drawn adoring coverage from the media. But what makes Gorbachev an interesting figure is also what makes him a relatively minor one: He was consequential because he was passive.

Gorbachev did not succeed in bringing down the Soviet empire. He failed at saving it. History is replete with circumstances in which evil triumphed because well-intentioned statesmen failed to act effectively. In this case, freedom triumphed because an ill-intentioned statesman failed to act effectively.

Gorbachev was a communist who presided over the disintegration of the country he had been chosen to lead. There are those who say the same thing about Obama, but most of them are right-wing nuts.

DHS Chief Napolitano: Illegal Immigration Is Not a Crime

2009-04-23T13:47:00.000-04:00

from Newsmax.com

By: Jim Meyers

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stunned many listeners during an appearance on CNN when she asserted that illegal immigration is really not a crime.

In an interview with CNN’s John King last week, Napolitano discussed Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., a strict enforcer of immigration laws who says he wants illegal aliens to be prosecuted and jailed.

King said: “A lot of Democrats in Congress want you to investigate him. They think he is over the line. He says he is just enforcing the law and the problem is the federal government.”

Napolitano responded: “Sheriff Joe … knows that there aren’t enough law enforcement officers, courtrooms or jail cells in the world to do what he is saying.

“What we have to do is target the real evil-doers in this business, the employers who consistently hire illegal labor, the human traffickers who are exploiting human misery.

“And yes, when we find illegal workers, yes, appropriate action, some of which is criminal, most of that is civil, because crossing the border is not a crime per se. It is civil. But anyway, going after those as well.”

The fact is, crossing the border without authorization is a crime. The statute reads: “Any alien who enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers . . . shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both.”

CIA Confirms: Waterboarding 9/11 Mastermind Led to Info that Aborted 9/11-Style Attack on Los Angeles

2009-04-23T13:39:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
By Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief

(CNSNews.com) - The Central Intelligence Agency told CNSNews.com today that it stands by the assertion made in a May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that the use of “enhanced techniques” of interrogation on al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) -- including the use of waterboarding -- caused KSM to reveal information that allowed the U.S. government to thwart a planned attack on Los Angeles.

Before he was waterboarded, when KSM was asked about planned attacks on the United States, he ominously told his CIA interrogators, “Soon, you will know.”

According to the previously classified May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that was released by President Barack Obama last week, the thwarted attack -- which KSM called the “Second Wave”-- planned “ ‘to use East Asian operatives to crash a hijacked airliner into’ a building in Los Angeles.” (Full Story at CNSNews.com)

No wheeling or dealing when it comes to killing

2009-04-23T12:00:00.000-04:00

Kudos to Carl Olson at Ignatius Insight

The New York Times ponders the fight and focus of the President:

Mr. Obama has not conceded on any major priority. His advisers argue that the concessions to date — on budget items, for instance — are intended to help win the bigger policy fights ahead. But his early willingness to deal or fold has left commentators, and some loyal Democrats, wondering: where’s the fight?

“The thing we still don’t know about him is what he is willing to fight for,” said Leonard Burman, an economist at the Urban Institute and a Treasury Department official in the Clinton administration. “The thing I worry about is that he likes giving good speeches, he likes the adulation and he likes to make people happy.”

So far, he said, “It’s hard to think of a place where he’s taken a really hard position.”

It's not hard at all. Here's a clue: it begins with an "a" and end with murder. It just happens to be the one issue on which Obama has always taken a really hard position. But perhaps that is simply a given for Mr. Burman...

Senate Committee Approves Pro-Abortion Kathleen Sebelius For Health Secretary

2009-04-22T10:57:00.000-04:00

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A Senate panel today approved the nomination of pro-abortion Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to become President Barack Obama's health secretary. The Senate Finance Committee voted 15-8 for her nomination and now it heads to the full Senate for a debate and vote. There is no timetable on when the Senate will vote to confirm Sebelius, but political observers expect the Democratic-controlled chamber to approve her. The vote could take place as early as later today or later this week. Republicans on the committee who voted against Sebelius cited their concerns about her lengthy pro-abortion record. That includes vetoing several pro-life bills and a close relationship with late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to support her political campaigns and those of her close allies. "I don't think we'll ever get a pro-life person appointed to that position with this president, but we want to make sure we don't get somebody that has got radical views on abortion," Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, another GOP member, added that he initially thought Sebelius "seemed to be a qualified candidate for the job." "However, after learning about her inexplicable omission of donations from the late-term abortion doctor George Tiller, I have to reevaluate my support for her nomination," Hatch said. All of the Democrats on the panel backed Sebelius' nomination along with two Republicans, pro-abortion Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, who normally votes pro-life but supported the Obama nominee from home state. Full News Story at LifeNews.com

The Gathering Marriage Storm

2009-04-22T10:54:00.000-04:00

Posted by Tom McFeely

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 8:48 AM

This video is part of the National Organization for Marriage’s new "Gathering Storm" media ad.

It’s especially timely today, as state legislators in Connecticut may vote today on legislation to codify same-sex “marriage” in that state.

Last weekend, as CNS reports here, Connecticut’s bishops used weekend Masses to urge parishioners to fight the proposed legislation.

Pulpit announcements read in churches statewide April 18 and 19 called on Catholics to help defeat a Senate bill that seeks to codify the Connecticut Supreme Court’s ruling last October legalizing same-sex marriage. TheConnecticut bishops warned the bill “fails to protect the First Amendment rights of individuals, religious organizations and related societies,” CNS reported.

(Full story at NCRegister.com)

Obamas Spending vs Obamas Spending Cuts - in Pictures

2009-04-21T18:35:00.000-04:00

from Heritage Foundation:

According to reports, President Barack Obama plans to convene his Cabinet for the first time today, where he will order members to identify a combined $100 million in budget cuts over the next 90 days. Just how laughable is Obama’s latest stunt to try to maintain his “fiscal responsibility” credentials? This graphic from Heritage’s John Fleming might help:

Harvard University economics professor Greg Mankiw’s comments:
To put those numbers in perspective, imagine that the head of a household with annual spending of $100,000 called everyone in the family together to deal with a $34,000 budget shortfall. How much would he or she announce that spending had to be cut? By $3 over the course of the year–approximately the cost of one latte at Starbucks. The other $33,997? We can put that on the family credit card and worry about it next year.”

Bishop R. Walker Nickless 'Sadness at Notre Dame'

2009-04-01T20:14:00.000-04:00

And then there were 9.

Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

This is in violation of the U.S. Bishops teaching that no honors ever be given by our Catholic institutions to those who support and promote the killing of innocent human beings through abortion. This is truly a sad day for the famous university dedicated to our Blessed Mother.

SIOUX CITY, IA (Catholic Online) - As a part of a larger article written for the "Catholic Globe", the Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless added his voice to the growing crescendo of voices opposing the invitation by the University of Notre Dame to President Barack Obama to address their 2009 graduates and receive an honorary Doctor of Law Degree. The Bishop wrote:

SADNESS AT NOTRE DAME

"I know many of you join me in surprise and anger that the University of Notre Dame - which for many is “the” example of a Catholic University - through its president, Father John Jenkins, has invited the most pro-abortion president of the United States not only to give the commencement address this year, but also to receive an Honorary Law Degree.

"This is in violation of the U.S. Bishops teaching that no honors ever be given by our Catholic institutions to those who support and promote the killing of innocent human beings through abortion. This is truly a sad day for the famous university dedicated to our Blessed Mother.

"I encourage those who care to write to Father Jenkins and express their displeasure with this invitation. May Father Jenkins have the courage to rescind this invitation and not be afraid of the possible embarrassment by admitting that he has made a bad decision.

"Catholic institutions of higher learning must always be places where the Catholic values we hold so dearly will always be supported and promoted - not where the culture of death is allowed to be honored or valued. Let us pray for those who work so hard to keep our Catholic institutions truly Catholic in all they do to promote the gospel of life.

"May this Lent bring us to accept the need for a renewal of our entire faith, and the desire to live only in and through our Lord Jesus Christ, in His Church and in all His holy sacraments! Pray for me, and know that I continue daily to pray for all of you.

Your brother in Christ,

Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless, Bishop of Sioux City

Our Problem is Immorality

2009-04-01T17:15:00.000-04:00

Great article by Walter E. Williams.

My friend David has this great commentary about the article an d has graciously allowed me to include it here in my post:

'This is an interesting column. It essentially reflects the "philosophy of the human person" taught by the Catholic Church. Each person is possessed of a dignity endowed by God and thus is sancrosanct; he or she can not be transgressed upon or acted upon without consent or genuine "due process". There is more to this view of the human person, but Dr. Williams is on the right "trajectory". . . and it is indeed the source of our manifold societal and governmental problems.'

by Walter E. Williams

Most of our nation's great problems, including our economic problems, have as their root decaying moral values. Whether we have the stomach to own up to it or not, we have become an immoral people left with little more than the pretense of morality. You say, "That's a pretty heavy charge, Williams. You'd better be prepared to back it up with evidence!" I'll try with a few questions for you to answer.

Do you believe that it is moral and just for one person to be forcibly used to serve the purposes of another? And, if that person does not peaceably submit to being so used, do you believe that there should be the initiation of some kind of force against him? Neither question is complex and can be answered by either a yes or no. For me the answer is no to both questions but I bet that your average college professor, politician or minister would not give a simple yes or no response. They would be evasive and probably say that it all depends. (Full story at Townhall.com)

Sebelius Communion ban to apply in Washington

2009-03-31T16:35:00.001-04:00

Washington D.C., Mar 30, 2009 / 05:26 pm (CNA).- According to the Washington Times, Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington plans to maintain the pastoral request Kathleen Sebelius’ bishop made in 2007 asking her not to receive Communion.
Governor of Kansas Kathleen Sebelius is looking to move to Washington D.C. to become the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Sebelius is President Obama’s second nominee to the post after Tom Daschle withdrew from consideration after it was revealed he failed to pay $140,000 in taxes.
Gov. Sebelius has both political and religious controversy surrounding her, with her local bishop, Archbishop Joseph Naumann asking her to refrain from Holy Communion for her "30-year history of advocating and acting in support of legalized abortion." The archbishop told CNA that he came to the point of asking the governor to refrain from Communion after speaking with her over a two-year period at various levels.

Upon hearing that she was nominated by President Obama, Archbishop Naumann wrote in his weekly column in The Leaven that "her appointment to HHS is particularly troubling."

(Full story at CNA)

Rebellious Australian priest plans to set up new church

2009-03-31T16:28:00.001-04:00

Having finally been forced to relinquish control of St. Mary's parish in South Brisbane, Father Peter Kennedy plans to set up a rival church at a nearby union headquarters. After the parish council negotiated an agreement that the pastor would step down after Easter, Father Kennedy told reporters that he would establish a "Catholic community in exile" at the Trades and Labour Council Building-- which he jokingly referred to as the "Totally Lapsed Catholics Building." Father Kennedy said that he hoped 95% of his regular parishioners would join the new assembly.

Months ago, when the rebel priest first threatened to establish a rival congregation if he was ousted, Archbishop John Bathersby warned that the new group "will not be in communion with the Roman Catholic Church or the Archdiocese of Brisbane." The archbishop had already said that the St. Mary's community was already jeopardizing its connection with the Catholic Church by routinely violating liturgical and doctrinal norms.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

Dogs and Cats Living Together... Mass Hysteria

2009-03-31T16:27:00.001-04:00

Posted by Bobby Eberle

In the classic movie "Ghostbusters" from 1984, Bill Murrary and company warn the mayor that the city is under such chaos and turmoil that the strangest of things will begin to happen. On the economic and political front, we are now living in those times.

It appears that the "good old days" of making fun of countries like France and Germany is over, because they about to be.... how can I say this... They appear to be taking the lead on the global economic debate. That's right. With Obama's America prepared to spend its way to oblivion, France and Germany are starting to say, "Enough is enough." Is this the end of the world as we know it?

It is indeed a strange world we live in when France and Germany take America to task for being too far to the left. It reminds me of Bill Murray's famous rant in "Ghostbusters":

(Full story at GOPUSA)

Patrick J. Buchanan: Is Notre Dame Still Catholic?

2009-03-31T16:16:00.001-04:00

by Patrick J. Buchanan

By inviting Barack Obama to deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary degree at Notre Dame, the Rev. John Jenkins has polarized the Catholic community nationwide -- and raised a question. What does it mean to be a Catholic university in post-Christian America?

Are there truths about faith and morality that are closed to debate at Notre Dame? Or is Notre Dame like London's Hyde Park, where all ideas and all advocates get a hearing?

To Catholics, abortion is the killing of an unborn child, a premeditated breach of God's Commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill." The case is closed for all time. Any who participate in an abortion are excommunicated. Catholic politicians from Nancy Pelosi to Joe Biden who support a "woman's right to choose" have been denounced from pulpits and denied Communion. (Full story at Townhall.com)

Hillary (Hearts) Margaret Sanger

2009-03-30T16:29:00.001-04:00

On Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received Planned Parenthood's highest honor: the Margaret Sanger Award.

She told guests at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America's annual conference in Houston that women's reproductive and health rights is "an important part of U.S. efforts to develop democracy around the world and defeat extremism." And she praised the work of Margaret Sanger:

Now, I have to tell you that it was a great privilege when I was told that I would receive this award. I admire Margaret Sanger enormously, her courage, her tenacity, her vision. Another of my great friends, Ellen Chesler, is here, who wrote a magnificent biography of Margaret Sanger called Woman of Valor. And when I think about what she did all those years ago in Brooklyn, taking on archetypes, taking on attitudes and accusations flowing from all directions, I am really in awe of her.

(Full story at InsideCatholic.com)

Al ‘Bear’s Gore-Spiller’ spurns Earth Hour

2009-03-30T16:26:00.001-04:00

I have another word for AlGore: HYPOCRITE

rom www.redstate.com: Front Page by Moe Lane (Profile)

Via Hot Air, I see that notorious, bloodthirsty polar bear-murderer Al Gore is up to his usual environmental violations - take that any way you like - in the pursuit of his destructive lifestyle:

Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research —the same organization that also found Gore’s home consumes 20 times more electricity than the average household — told Yeas & Nays that Gore’s Belle Meade-section mansion did not go dark during the global campaign’s designated hour between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Johnson did admit that although it wasn’t as bright as can be, Gore did have on “a dozen or so” floodlights on his trees, a light shining on his address number, and a noticeable “bluish glow” from his powered-on televisions and computers coming from inside his house.

That bluish glow was probably actually Cerenkov radiation: Gore’s just the sort of Gaia-denying hypocrite to have a secret nuclear reactor in his basement. After all, a man who’d have a kill rating of four millibears a year from his personal lifestyle alone can’t be trusted at all. Besides, as the photo to the side shows, he’s not even willing to turn off the light that shows his street address. As if any one in the area could miss it, what with the unholy glow of his profligate energy potlach obscuring the clean, night-time Tennessee sky.
Of course, the Gores sent out one of their minions to deny the evidence of Gore’s blatant energy waste, but you can see the picture above for yourself, so ask yourself this: why, oh why, must we be subjected to this man’s abiding contempt for our green, beautiful Earth-parent? What horrible in the past twisted Al Gore, and made him such a ruthless scourge of the gaiasphere? Why does he look upon this beautiful, innocent photo…

…and feel only a black, oily rage?
Why, Al Gore?
Why?
Moe Lane
Crossposted to Moe Lane.

Telling CO2 Lies to Destroy America

2009-03-30T16:25:00.000-04:00

My friend, the internationally famed climatologist Dr. S. Fred Singer, calls them “the CO2 wars.” It is the last ditch attempt by the Greens, under the aegis of the Obama administration, to declare carbon dioxide a pollutant and thus open the door to its regulation.

Singer says such regulation “would be the equivalent of an atomic bomb directed at the U.S. economy—all without any scientific justification.”

I am increasingly of the opinion that the main goal of the Obama administration through CO2 regulation, exploding deficits, punishing taxation, and any other means at their disposal is the destruction of the economy and the complete control of impoverished Americans.

(full story at CNSNews.com)

Acquitting the Killers

2009-03-30T16:23:00.001-04:00

Abortionist George Tiller’s trial is over and the jury has rendered a verdict of “not guilty.”

It’s what we mean by a culture of death…The way we operate, at every level of society, favors death. The poison of abortion permeates the electoral process (resulting in public officials who support the killing); it permeates the educational institutions (who then invite and honor pro-abortion public officials); and the courts (putting people like Pastor Walter Hoye in jail and acquitting killers like George Tiller.)

Tiller belongs in jail. We have to understand once and for all that abortionists care nothing about pesky provisions of the law like Kansas has to introduce some slight measure of restraint (if we can even call it that) into the process of late-term abortion.

After all, if these abortionists can kill late-term babies and throw their bodies in incinerators in the back room after sometimes having the parents take locks of hair from these children after they are dressed up in post-abortion baptismal garments – well, then, their consciences are dead.

In reality, Mr. Tiller, you are not acquitted at all. You’re killing babies, and the verdict of the court of heaven is against you.

Time still permits you to repent. We will work and pray for that, and at the same time we will continue to persuade your “clients” not to let you near their children.

–Fr. Frank

Obama fires Government Motors CEO

2009-03-30T16:10:00.001-04:00

The socialization of our country has begun. I am sure Obama's teleprompter will shortly have a press conference stating we are now the USSA (United Socialist States of America) to more fully align with our agenda

from American Thinker

Rick Moran
The CEO of GM (Government Motors) was fired by the president of the United States. For those old fuddy duddies out there who may think this a danger to free market capitalism, American liberty, and common sense (not to mention those of us who love nice looking automobiles), I say relax and get with the program.

As this report clearly shows, if the government is in for a penny, it is in for a billion - or several billion as this case may be:

The administration's auto team announced the departure of Mr. Wagoner on Sunday. In a summary of its findings, the task force added that it doesn't believe Chrysler is viable as a stand-alone company, and suggested that the best chance for success for both GM and Chrysler "may well require utilizing the bankruptcy code in a quick and surgical way."
The move also indicates that the Treasury Department intends to wade more deeply than most observers expected into the affairs of the country's largest and oldest car company.

After spending billions of dollars to prop up these dying giants, now the government gets ambitious and may seek to assist them through the bankruptcy process. And apparently, the government is going to shower more money on GM and Chrysler to "tide them over:"

The administration said it would provide the company sufficient working capital for 60 more days, during which a revamped GM board and top management has to put forward a much more rigorous restructuring plan than it submitted last month.
"The administration is prepared to stand by GM throughout this process to ensure that GM emerges with a fresh start and a promising future," according to term sheets released by the White House Monday morning.
Administration officials made it clear that an expedited and heavily supervised bankruptcy reorganization was still very much a possibility for both companies. One official, speaking of GM, compared such a proceeding to a "quick rinse" that could rid the company of much of its debt and contractual obligations.

Any bankruptcy proceeding would stick it to debt and bond holders of GM but no word on making the unions pay a price for their part in this debacle. Since the forecast for hell calls for steady temperatures above the boiling point of water, it is not likely a quick freeze will come to the nether regions anytime soon thus making it an impossibility for hell to freeze over before unions get the same treatment as GM bond holders.

Meanwhile, we better get used to Obama being the final arbiter in hiring and firing of CEO's. And this gives me an idea. Since the government needs revenue - a lot of revenue - maybe Obama could set up an employment agency for CEO's at the White House. Sort of like a Monster.com for executives he throws under the bus.

The franchise rights alone could retire the national debt.

Closing Ranks on Canon 915: Bishops Confirm that Sebelius Should Not Receive Communion

2009-03-30T13:04:00.000-04:00

Commentary by Deal W. Hudson

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius received some good news last week when abortionist Dr. George Tiller was found not guilty of breaking state laws regulating late-term abortion. The relationship between Tiller and Sebelius would surely have played a role in her upcoming confirmation hearings had he been found guilty.

But Governor Sebelius got some bad news as well -- something not noticed much in Catholic media or the secular press. The bishops of Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Virginia, confirmed publicly they would uphold the declaration of her ordinary, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, stating that Governor Sebelius should not present herself for communion.

A spokeswoman for the Washington Archdiocese, Susan Gibbs, said Archbishop Donald Wuerl would expect Sebelius to follow Bishop Naumann's request while in Washington. Joelle Santolla, spokeswoman for the Arlington Diocese, announced that Bishop Paul Loverde would expect the same while she was in Northern Virginia.

That Archbishop Wuerl and Bishop Loverde would back up Bishop Naumann in regard to the future Secretary of Health and Human Services is a significant development in the effort of some bishops to enforce Canon 915: "Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to holy communion."

(Full story at LifeSiteNews.com)

Obama: 100 Days of Abortion

2009-03-29T23:39:00.001-04:00

As his April 29 100-day mark nears, the Register is compiling an editorial about president Obama’s abortion record, starting with his days as an Illinois state senator. Let me know if it’s missing anything.

March 28, 2001: Voted “No” to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act in the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee.

March 6, 2002: Voted “No” to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act in the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee.

April 4, 2002: Voted “No” to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act on the Illinois Senate floor.

March 13-14, 2003: Voted “No” to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act in the Illinois Senate after voting for an amendment that made it identical to the federal law of the same name.

2005-2008: 100% pro-abortion record in U.S. Senate.

(Full story at NCRegister.com)

Touchdown Obama

2009-03-29T19:44:00.000-04:00

By George Neumayr on 3.27.09 @ 6:08AM

The Catholic Church in America has bred her own destroyers, graduating from doctrinally corrupt catechetical programs, schools and colleges two generations of pro-abortion politicians. Barack Obama, in his effortless Alinskyite style, has exploited this phenomenon to the hilt, seeking out Catholics such as Joe Biden and Kathleen Sebelius to serve as his agents of destruction.

The controversy this week at Notre Dame is one more snapshot of this self-implosion. Here we have the American bishops' most prominent university planning to confer an honorary degree upon Obama even as he accelerates the destruction of its moral teachings.

Were Saul Alinsky alive today, he would have to smile at the ease of it all. Obama can not only thwart the Church at every crucial turn and still retain the Catholic vote; he can even expect over the next few years prizes and pats on the back from Catholic colleges for doing so. (Full story at American Spectator)

Hillary: 'Who Painted' Guadalupe apparition?

2009-03-29T19:34:00.000-04:00

from American Thinker

Rick Moran
In one respect, Hillary Clinton can be forgiven if she didn't know the story of how the apparition of the Virgin Mary appeared on a peasant's coat back in 1531. It's a "Catholic thing" and most American protestants aren't familiar with Catholic teaching.

The story of how the apparition appeared on the coat can be found here. But it isn't that Hillary Clinton didn't know Catholic myths but rather her total ignorance of Mexican culture that is the problem. John Hinderaker at Powerline explains:

The Catholic News Agency says that after viewing the cloak, Clinton turned to the priest who was showing her the Basilica and asked, "Who painted it?"
This is one of those stories that seem like it can't possibly be true. Could America's Secretary of State really be ignorant of a central cultural symbol of a country next door? It is as though a foreign minister came to Washington, was shown Stuart's portrait of George Washington, and asked, "Who was he?" It is hard to imagine how Clinton's staff could have prepared her for her visit without making sure she knew the story. So for now, I'm reserving judgment. It will be interesting to see whether CNS's story is confirmed and whether the State Department has any comment.

The priest she asked who painted the relic reportedly replied "God!" which may have flustered our "smart" Secretary of State. Indeed, Hillary's entire tenure so far has been marked by one blunder after another.
Ed Morrissey:

Some “smart diplomacy,” huh? First Hillary doesn’t understand multiparty democracy, then she fumbles a snarky “reset button” by mistranslating it and putting it in Latin rather than Cyrillic script. She can’t even get names straight, let alone sound intelligent when visiting national shrines. A few more of these and we may have a new feature here at Hot Air.

(Cartoon) - Notre Dame 2, Alumni vs Students

2009-03-29T19:27:00.002-04:00

from www.redstate.com: Front Page by TobyToons (Profile)

Thanks to RedStater jessejames for pointing out the real disparity is between the alumni and the students on the issue of having “The One” be the speaker at Notre Dame’s graduation cermenoy.
70% of ALUMNI disagree with the university while 73% of STUDENTS agree with the university.
This cartoon better illustrates the situation.

Hillary's Mexico Visit Blunders Ignored by Old Media

2009-03-29T19:22:00.000-04:00

from NewsBusters.org - Exposing Liberal Media Bias by Warner Todd Huston

Thus far, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made two diplomatic blunders during her visit to Mexico that the U.S. Old Media are shockingly uninterested in highlighting. One was a policy blunder and the other a cultural/religious one.

Clinton's first mistake was in imagining she is still a Senator that can make pronouncements on pending laws and policy plans instead of a mere envoy of the president, a mouth piece that hasn't the same freedom to invent policy prescriptions and laws that a Senator does. Last week, Clinton told Mexican officials that "we" -- as in the U.S. government -- are considering re-upping the so-called assault rifle ban because Mexico's drug violence is "our" fault.

When asked on March 27 about plans to return to the 1994 law banning "assault weapons" (a vague and illegitimate term at best), Obama's press secretary replied that he was unaware of "any plans" to reinstitute the ban.

Clinton obviously spoke out of turn making promises to Mexican officials that she was not authorized to make.

"Who painted it?"

The second Clinton gaffe concerned her abstruse question at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Thursday, March 26. Her question showed that Clinton was woefully uninformed about the most important feature of the church, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe enshrined there since 1531.
Catholic tradition holds that the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted by Mary on a cloak belonging to Saint Juan Diego in 1531. As Monsignor Diego Monroy brought Clinton before the shrine, Clinton asked her blundering question.

After observing it for a while, Mrs. Clinton asked “who painted it?” to which Msgr. Monroy responded “God!”

Now, perhaps Clinton being so woefully ignorant of anything religious isn't such a surprise, but for a Secretary of State to be visiting one of the most famous and important churches in the region, one holding a much beloved religious relic, without even finding her staff informing her "who painted" the image reveals a shocking lack by professionalism of both the Secretary of State and her staff.

Add this to the "button gaffe" of March 7 where Clinton's staff failed to find out how to spell a simple word in Russian and we are seeing a Secretary of State failing in the simplest of tasks making a mockery of our "diplomatic" outreach.
Sadly, the Old Media is letting her off the hook with aplomb.

(Photo credit: Estrella/Getty - New York Daily News)

South African bishops: We don’t discourage condoms

2009-03-28T13:27:00.000-04:00

Can you imagine the Pandora's box that would be opened if the Vatican were to follow their suggestion?

From Catholic Culture:

Reacting to Pope Benedict’s March 17 comments on AIDS and condoms, Father Chris Townsend, information officer of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC), told the Johannesburg-based Mail & Guardian that "in South Africa it's our approach that we will teach people about condoms. We don't encourage them but we don't discourage them." Father Townsend added that the bishops’ conference has asked the Vatican to rule on the morality of condom use, “particularly in situations where one person in a marriage is HIV-positive, and the other is HIV-negative.”

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

Catholics, condoms and confusion (Mail & Guardian)

Inactive Catholics flock to Phoenix churches

2009-03-27T16:30:00.001-04:00

from OSV Daily Take by Mary DeTurris Poust

When the Diocese of Phoenix became a test case of sorts for the Catholics Come Home TV ad campaign, no one could have predicted the incredible success that would result in 92,000 inactive Catholics returning to the Church. Quite an impressive number, but if you watch any of the ads, which you can do by going directly to Catholics Come Home, it's easy to see why this campaign had such an impact. The "movie" ad alone is enough to bring even the most hardened fallen away Catholic back to the pews. Take a few minutes now and watch it by clicking HERE.

The ads have been running in the Phoenix Diocese during Lent, and, according to a CNS story, more than 500,000 visitors from 50 states and 80 countries have visited the Catholics Come Home website since the spots began airing. All this just goes to prove that there are thousands upon thousands of Catholics just waiting to be invited back to the Church of their birth. In Phoenix, Mass attendance was up 22 percent at nine sample parishes since the ad campaign began. Do we need more proof than that?

Other dioceses, not surprisingly, want in on this phenomenon. More than a dozen other dioceses in the United States will begin airing the ads later this year, and by Advent of 2010, the campaign will be on the national networks, CNS reported.

Notre Dame student coalition opposes Obama appearance

2009-03-27T16:25:00.000-04:00

Notre Dame Right to Life, Notre Dame College Republicans, and nine other student organizations have created Notre Dame Response, a student coalition that opposes the university’s decision to award President Barack Obama an honorary degree in May. “In defense of the unborn, we wish to express our deepest opposition to Reverend John I. Jenkins, CSC’s invitation of President Barack Obama to be the University of Notre Dame’s principal commencement speaker and the recipient of an honorary degree,” the coalition said in a statement. “Our objection is not a matter of political partisanship, but of President Obama’s hostility to the Catholic Church’s teachings on the sanctity of human life at its earliest stages. His recent dedication of federal funds to overseas abortions and to embryonic stem cell research will directly result in the deaths of thousands of innocent human beings. We cannot sit by idly while the University honors someone who believes that an entire class of human beings is undeserving of the most basic of all legal rights, the right to live.” The coalition’s statement continues:

(Full story at Catholic Culture)

Third Bishop Condemns Notre Dame Scandal: "It is Very Clear ND Does Not Live Up to Catholic Identity"

2009-03-27T16:20:00.001-04:00

By Kathleen Gilbert

AUSTIN, Texas, March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A third bishop has publicly condemned an invitation to President Barack Obama by the Catholic University of Notre Dame to receive an honorary law degree and offer the commencement address on May 17.

In the latest issue of the Austin diocese's "E-pistle," Bishop Gregory Aymond states, regarding the scandal: "I, along with many other Catholics, express great disappointment and sadness that a Catholic university would honor someone who is pro-choice and who holds many values contrary to our Catholic belief.

"In the midst of such a sad situation, as Catholics we must continue to be pro-life and to proclaim with even greater strength the values of Christ and the teachings of the Catholic Church.

"In my opinion, it is very clear that in this case the University of Notre Dame does not live up to its Catholic identity in giving this award and their leadership needs our prayerful support," said Bishop Aymond.

Bishop Aymond's words follow a Wednesday letter by Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix to University president Fr. John Jenkins, in which Olmsted decried the honor as a "public act of disobedience to the Bishops of the United States." Prior to that, Notre Dame's Bishop D'Arcy issued his own criticism of the invitation and stated he would not attend the ceremony.

An online petition launched by the Cardinal Newman Society immediately after the invitation was revealed last Friday has topped 185,000 signatures (to sign the petition, go to: http://www.notredamescandal.com).

Fr. Jenkins and University spokesmen have said they do not plan to rescind the invitation despite the wave of protests.
For a list of contact information regarding the Notre Dame scandal, go to: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09032706.html
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Bishop Olmsted: Notre Dame's Obama Honor "Public Act of Disobedience to U.S. Bishops"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09032605.html

Notre Dame's Bishop Will Not Attend Obama-Honoring Graduation, Criticizes University's Decision
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09032408.html

Petition against Obama's Notre Dame Honor Skyrockets Past 103,000 Signatures in Four Days
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09032410.html

Notre Dame Faces Groundswell of Outrage after Announcing Plan to Honor Obama
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09032312.html

Notre Dame President: School "Honored" by Obama's Acceptance to Speak and Receive Honorary Degree
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09032306.html

Catholic Notre Dame University to Give Obama Honorary Degree on May 17, Against USCCB Policy
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09032005.html

Bishop Olmsted: Notre Dame, 'Public Act of Disobedience to U.S. Bishops'

2009-03-27T16:18:00.001-04:00

By Kathleen Gilbert
3/27/2009

LifeSiteNews (www.lifesitenews.com)

'It is a public act of disobedience to the Bishops of the United States'said the bishop.

Saddened and heavy of heart about your decision to invite President Obama to speak at Notre Dame University and even to receive an honorary degree.

PHOENIX, Arizona (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bishop Thomas Olmsted has written a letter to University of Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins condemning the invitation to President Obama to offer the school's commencement address and receive an honorary law degree on May 17.

Olmsted's letter follows a statement earlier this week by Notre Dame's own Bishop John D'Arcy, in which the bishop criticized the decision and announced his intent to boycott the ceremony.

American Papist blogger Thomas Peters broke the news of the letter from Bishop Olmsted, dated yesterday, in which Olmsted told Jenkins he was "saddened and heavy of heart about your decision to invite President Obama to speak at Notre Dame University and even to receive an honorary degree" (See: http://www.americanpapist.com/blog).

"It is a public act of disobedience to the Bishops of the United States," said the bishop, who cited the U.S. bishops' 2004 directive that pro-abortion politicians "should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

"I pray that you come to see the grave mistake of your decision, and the way that it undercuts the Church's proclamation of the Gospel of Life in our day," Olmsted concluded.

Since news broke of the invitation to Obama late last Friday, Catholic leaders and Notre Dame alumni have unleashed a steady stream of protest and calls to reconsider the move.

A fast-moving online petition launched by the Cardinal Newman Society on a website formed immediately after the Friday announcement (http://www.notredamescandal.com/) has gathered over 165,000 signatures as of early Thursday afternoon.

Fr. Jenkins has said he would not rescind the offer despite protests.

Vatican Offical Says Catholics Who Voted for Obama Cooperated With Evil

2009-03-26T16:29:00.000-04:00

(CNSNews.com) – In an interview in Rome with Catholic activist Randall Terry, Archbishop Raymond Burke said that Catholics who voted for President Barack Obama engaged in “a form of cooperation” with evil because of Obama’s pro-abortion policies.

If a Catholic knew that abortion was gravely sinful and that Obama wanted to make abortion more available and voted for him, that Catholic “cooperated” and bears a responsibility for the consequences, said Burke. (Full story at CNSNews.com)

Sebelius to be barred from Communion in Washington?

2009-03-26T16:24:00.008-04:00

from Catholic Culture

Kathleen Sebelius, the Kansas governor who has been chosen by President Barack Obama to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, may be instructed to refrain from receiving Communion in the nation's capital, the Washington Times reports. Sebelius, a Catholic who has been a staunch supporter of legal abortion, was told by Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City that she should not present herself for Communion. The Times reports that Archbishop Wuerl has conferred with Archbishop Naumann and would "act in accordance with the admonition from Kansas City." It was not clear whether Archbishop Wuerl would instruct his priests to refuse to administer Communion to Sebelius if she challenges the policy.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

La. Gov. Jindal urges GOP to stand up to Obama

2009-03-26T16:21:00.000-04:00

from GOPUSA

By BEN EVANS
Associated Press
March 25, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal again found himself carrying the Republican mantle opposite a primetime appearance from President Barack Obama on Tuesday, saying Republicans must be ready to defy the president when they disagree with his policies. He also joked about his widely panned response to Obama's address to Congress last month.

"We are now in the position of being the loyal opposition," Jindal said at a Republican congressional fundraising dinner that only by coincidence fell on the same night as Obama's news conference. "The right question to ask is not if we want the president to fail or succeed, but whether we want America to succeed."

Saying "the time for talking about the past is over," Jindal said Republicans have begun to find their voice after back-to-back elections losses -- motivated by what he called historic Democratic spending excess.

Jindal is widely considered a potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate, but his televised response to Obama's speech at the Capitol last month was widely panned. Some compared his delivery to the late children's television host Mister Rogers and said the address could hurt Jindal's national potential.

At Tuesday's $2,500-per-plate dinner -- which President George W. Bush headlined last year -- Jindal opened his speech by poking fun of himself. He threatened to deliver a reprise of the earlier performance and then jokingly compared it to torture.

"They're not allowed to show my speech at Gitmo anymore," he said. "They've banned that."

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to get Republicans elected to Congress, said it raised more than $6 million at the event.

The Obama Press Conference... A Cornucopia of !%&&%#*

2009-03-26T16:20:00.000-04:00

Posted by Bobby Eberle

President Obama went before the American people (again) in order to pitch his brand of socialist policies. His budget has come under attack, as I reported yesterday, and on Tuesday night, Obama tried to clarify why massive government spending and saddling America with unprecedented levels of debt are justified.

A number of statements and comments really caught my attention. From Obama saying that his administration needs to make some "tough budgetary choices" to a his comment that there will be "zero growth" if his agenda is not passed, there were plenty of sound bites to make the American people shudder. Please Republicans... step forward and lead... we can't let Obama take us down the path to socialism.

(Full story at GOPUSA)

Vatican Offical Says Catholics Who Voted for Obama Cooperated With Evil

2009-03-26T16:19:00.001-04:00

Bishop D’Arcy will not attend Notre Dame commencement featuring Obama

2009-03-26T16:15:00.001-04:00

Fort Wayne, Ind., Mar 24, 2009 / 12:52 pm (CNA).- Bishop John M. D'Arcy has issued a statement saying that he won't be attending Notre Dame's commencement exercises, which will feature President Obama as the keynote speaker and honor him with a doctor of laws degree.
The Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, said that he was not informed of the decision to allow Obama to speak and be awarded a degree until just before the White House announced the news.

Of particular concern to the bishop is the fact that "President Obama has recently reaffirmed, and has now placed in public policy, his long-stated unwillingness to hold human life as sacred.

"While claiming to separate politics from science," said D'Arcy, "he has in fact separated science from ethics and has brought the American government, for the first time in history, into supporting direct destruction of innocent human life."

Pointing to a 2004 U.S. Bishops' statement that calls on Catholic institutions not to honor those who thwart Church beliefs, Bishop D'Arcy said that "the measure of any Catholic institution is not only what it stands for, but also what it will not stand for."

(Full story at CNA)

Organizing For America…AKA Obama’s Civilian Security Force

2009-03-26T16:11:00.001-04:00

Remember during the Presidential campaign when Barack Obama said that America needs a domestic security force “just as strong and just as well funded as our military?”

For you students of history, does that bring anything from the past to mind?

As much as the implications of that statement chilled me at the time, I was under the belief that such a thing would never come to pass.
Seems like I was wrong about that one.

And for those of who may have missed it, here is what President Obama had to say: (Full story at Freedomedia.com)

Obama's Culture of Death Accomplishments

2009-03-26T08:21:00.000-04:00

from Bioethics Defense Fund

Culture of Death Accomplishments
From attacking conscience protections, to funding abortion and unrestricted human embryo research, the President takes aim at pro-life protections.

March 23, 2009 After only 2 months in office, President Barack Obama is clearly the most pro-culture of death President in history. Here's why:

1. President Obama reversed the Mexico City Policy four days after taking office. Instead of restricting foreign aid to organizations who directly support abortion, American taxpayers will be funding abortions overseas, all while trying to make ends meet in the midst of a recession.

2. The new omnibus budget increases money spent on the abortion industry, including an increase of $7.5 million to $307.5 million for Title X Domestic Family Planning and a 19% increase of $88 million to $545 million for International Family Planning.

3. President Obama signed an executive order forcing American taxpayers to fund unrestricted embryonic stem cell research. As pointed in a column by Charles Krauthammer, President Obama “pointedly left open the creation of cloned -- and noncloned sperm-and-egg-derived -- human embryos solely for the purpose of dismemberment and use for parts.”

4. President Obama has started the proceedings to rescind the “conscience clause” regulations put in place by President Bush, which protects healthcare professionals and medical students who refuse to perform abortions for moral reasons. (To speak out, go to www.Freedom2Care.com)

5. President Obama nominated one of the most pro-abortion governors in the country, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, to be Secretary of HHS, which oversees millions spent on the abortion industry. Sebelius hosted infamous late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller and his staff at the governor's mansion.

6. On March 17, 2009, for the first time in eight years, the Obama State Department released $50 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), an organization linked to China's one-child policy and coerced abortions. Unsatisfied by the $50 million mark, House members, led by pro-abortion Rep. Louise Slaughter, are asking for even more money in the next budget Congress will consider.

7. Under Obama’s proposed healthcare plan, the same advocates that are pushing for taxpayer-funded abortions and wiping out parental consent laws, were front and center at the Healthcare Summit in Washington, DC to present their solutions.

* CLICK HERE to tell Notre Dame what you think of their decision to honor President Obama at the May 17 Commencement*.

Catholic Notre Dame Will Award Pro-Abortion Obama an Honorary Law Degree

2009-03-23T16:28:00.000-04:00

(CNSNews.com) - The University of Notre Dame announced on Friday that it will award President Barack Obama an honorary law degree and that Obama will give the principal address at the university’s May 17th commencement ceremony.

Obama supports abortion on demand, government funding of abortion, government funding of stem cell research that kills human embryos, legally granting same-sex unions all the rights and privileges of marriage, and repealing the federal Defense of Marriage Act that protects states from being forced to recognize same-sex marriages contracted in other states as they otherwise might be compelled to under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution.

The Catholic Church holds that abortion and same-sex unions are immoral and must be opposed.

White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs announced during his regular press briefing on Friday that Obama would be giving commencement addresses at Notre Dame, Arizona State and the U.S. Naval Academy.

“In terms of commencement, excuse me, on May the 13th, the president will give the commencement address at Arizona State University,” said Gibbs. “On May 17th, the president will give the commencement address at Notre Dame. And on May 22nd, he will speak to graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy.”

Also on Friday afternoon, Notre Dame posted a statement on its website announcing that President Obama would be granted an honorary law degree from the school and that he would be the main speaker at the school’s graduation ceremony.

“President Barack Obama will be the principal speaker and the recipient of an honorary doctor of laws degree at the University of Notre Dame’s 164th University Commencement Ceremony at 2 p.m. May 17 (Sunday) in the Joyce Center on campus,” said the statement.

The statement also noted that Obama will become the ninth U.S. president to be awarded an honorary degree from Notre Dame and the sixth to give the commencement address.

The five presidents who have so far delivered commencement addresses at Notre Dame include Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. Kennedy delivered his speech at Notre Dame’s 1950 “winter commencement” when Kennedy was a U.S. senator.

Notre Dame alumnus Joe Scheidler, national director of the Pro-Life Action League, quickly responded to Notre Dame’s announcement that Obama would deliver its commencement speech by issuing a statement calling on Father John Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame, to withdraw the invitation to Obama..

“Over the first two months of his administration, Barack Obama has established himself as the most pro-abortion president in U.S. history,” said Scheidler. “My alma mater should not be providing a platform for this president.”

“Starting from his first week in office, President Obama has enacted a string of executive orders, appointments and policy decisions that contradict Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life--a teaching that Notre Dame is supposed to uphold,” said Scheidler.

“Father Jenkins cannot expect pro-life Catholics to stand back and allow the most pro-abortion president in U.S. history to make a mockery of Notre Dame's Catholic identity,” Scheidler said.

The Destruction of Notre Dame

2009-03-23T16:24:00.001-04:00

By James M. Thunder on 3.23.09 @ 6:08AM

On Friday, March 20, it was announced that President Obama had accepted an invitation by the president of the University of Notre Dame, Father John Jenkins, to give the commencement address on May 19 and receive an honorary degree. What fire could not do, Father Jenkins and his Academic Council may succeed in doing -- destroying a major Catholic institution.

In April 1879, the Main Building of the University was destroyed by fire. It was "the Main Building" because it housed classrooms, student sleeping quarters, kitchen, library, offices. The man who had left France and founded Notre Dame 37 years earlier, in 1842, Father Edward Sorin, was 65 and saw his life's work destroyed. Nonetheless, with fiery determination, he exclaimed: "If it were all gone, I should not give up. Tomorrow, we will build again, and build it bigger." That summer, with help from Chicagoans who had suffered their own fire eight years before, 300 laborers, using mud from the campus lake, made bricks and rebuilt it. It was sufficiently complete for the return of students in September. It is this building that TV viewers see during Notre Dame home football games. (Full story at The American Spectator)

Catholic ‘complacency’ shares blame for country’s failures, Archbishop Chaput says

2009-03-23T16:15:00.000-04:00

Detroit, Mich., Mar 21, 2009 / 12:32 pm (CNA).- Archbishop of Denver Charles J. Chaput delivered a speech on Saturday reflecting on the significance of the November 2008 election. Warning that media “narratives” should not obscure truth, he blamed the indifference and complacency of many U.S. Catholics for the country’s failures on abortion, poverty and immigration issues.

He also advised Catholics to “master the language of popular culture” and to refuse to be afraid, saying “fear is the disease of our age.”
The archbishop’s comments were delivered in his keynote address at the Hands-On Conference Celebrating the Year of St. Paul, which was hosted at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.

Having been asked to examine what November 2008 and its aftermath can teach Catholics about American culture, the state of American Catholicism and the kind of Pauline discipleship necessary today, Archbishop Chaput said:
“November showed us that 40 years of American Catholic complacency and poor formation are bearing exactly the fruit we should have expected. Or to put it more discreetly, the November elections confirmed a trend, rather than created a new moment, in American culture.”

(Full story at CNA)

'Hey, Barack:' The teleprompter's demands are non negotiable

2009-03-23T15:43:00.000-04:00

This is absolutely hysterical !!!!! I apologize for some of TOTUS's language (he does have a mind of his own apparently).

from American Thinker

Rick Moran
Is there anyone funnier than Iowahawk?

First, the TOTUS (Teleprompter of the United States) gets his own clever blog. And now Iowahawk (David Burge) has given the machine life.

This video from Obama's teleprompter needs no introduction and will almost certainly become an instant classic.

Where were these voices before the election?

2009-03-22T18:16:00.000-04:00

Ever since President Obama used his executive power to reverse President George W. Bush's restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research, there has been a flurry of column writing and general tongue clucking from the most unlikely places, places that were silent on the moral problem of embryonic stem cell research when President Obama was campaigning and promising to do exactly what he did this week. Clearly everyone knew this was coming. Certainly the Catholic Church was out there trying to warn people about the inherent moral dilemma that comes with exchanging one life for another. We cannot use a human life -- or create human life -- to save or cure another. A civilized world just doesn't work that way. And yet, Obama's supporters, even many conservatives who are otherwise pro-life, remained silent or split hairs in an effort to have it both ways.

Now, suddenly, some of those people are starting to tell the truth about embryonic stem cell research (ESCR). Unfortunately, it's too late. We needed those voice before the election. Voices like Charles Krauthammer, who was paralyzed during a 1972 diving accident and differed with President Bush on the use of 'leftover' IFV embryos . Today, in a Washington Post column, he asserts that President Obama has "left open the creation of cloned -- and noncloned sperm-and-egg-derived -- human embryos solely for the purpose of dismemberment and use for parts." Saying that he is not religious and does not believe "personhood is conferred at conception," he went on to say, however, that a human embryo is not the equivalent of a "hangnail" and that lines must be drawn -- by the likes of President Obama -- given the "well-recorded human propensity for evil even in the pursuit of good." (Full story at OSV Daily Take)

Renegade Australian priest takes legal action against archdiocese

2009-03-22T18:10:00.000-04:00

from CatholicCulture.org

Father Peter Kennedy is seeking an injunction to prevent the Archdiocese of Brisbane from carrying out its decree removing him as pastor of St. Mary’s Parish. Archdiocesan officials had indicated earlier this week that they planned their own legal action to dislodge the recalcitrant pastor.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

Illegitimacy on the rise: out-of-wedlock births hit 40% in US

2009-03-22T18:07:00.000-04:00

from CatholicCulture.org

The number of illegitimate births in the US continues to rise, with the latest federal statistics showing that 40% of all births in 2007 took place out of wedlock. Figures from the Centers for Disease Control showed that teen pregnancy also increased in 2007-- the last year for which full statistics were available. But teenagers were not responsible for the rise in out-of-wedlock births; more than 75% of the mothers giving birth to illegitimate children were at least 20 years old.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

US births break record; 40 pct. are out-of-wedlock (AP)c

Cardinal George Meets With President, Gives Message on Conscience

2009-03-22T18:02:00.000-04:00

from Catholic Online

o
Zenit News Agency (www.zenit.org)

People understand what really happens in an abortion and in related procedures -- a living member of the human family is killed -- that’s what it’s all about.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Zenit) - The president of the U.S. bishops' conference met with President Barack Obama on Tuesday for a private, half-hour dialogue.

The bishops' conference issued a statement reporting the meeting at the White House in which "Cardinal [Francis] George and President Obama discussed the Catholic Church in the United States and its relation to the new administration."

It noted that at the conclusion of the conversation, "Cardinal George expressed his gratitude for the meeting and his hopes that it will foster fruitful dialogue for the sake of the common good."

The White House also issued a press release stating that the president and the cardinal "discussed a wide range of issues, including important opportunities for the government and the Catholic Church to continue their long-standing partnership to tackle some of the nation's most pressing challenges."

It added, "The president thanked Cardinal George for his leadership and for the contributions of the Catholic Church in America and around the world."

Cardinal's message

Although the discussion between the prelate and the president was private, it took place the day after Cardinal George issued a public message through the Internet urging Catholics to appeal to the Obama administration to retain regulations governing conscience protection for health care workers.

A communiqué from the bishops' conference reported the release of a video on their Web site, as well as on Youtube, in which Cardinal George responds to the government's threat to revoke the regulations that keep health care workers from being forced to provide services that violate their consciences.

Cardinal George explained in his message: "On […] Feb. 27, the Obama administration placed on a federal Web site the news that it intends to remove a conscience protection rule for the Department of Health and Human Services.

"That rule is one part of the range of legal protections for health care workers -- for doctors, nurses and others -- who have objections in conscience to being involved in abortion and other killing procedures that are against how they live their faith in God."

He expressed "deep concern" that this action "on the government’s part would be the first step in moving our country from democracy to despotism."

Religious freedom

He asserted that "respect for personal conscience and freedom of religion as such ensures our basic freedom from government oppression," and "no government should come between an individual person and God."

The cardinal pointed out that citizens are allowed to claim conscientious objection to war or having to administer the death penalty. Why then, he asked, "shouldn’t our government and our legal system permit conscientious objection to a morally bad action, the killing of babies in their mother’s womb?"

He added, "People understand what really happens in an abortion and in related procedures -- a living member of the human family is killed -- that’s what it’s all about -- and no one should be forced by the government to act as though he or she were blind to this reality."

Cardinal George concluded by exhorting the people to inform the government "that you want conscience protections to remain strongly in place," especially for people "who provide the health care services so necessary for a good society."

Bishop Morlino Sacks Dissident Feminist Pastoral Associate, Elicits Rage from Liberal Community

2009-03-22T17:42:00.001-04:00

from LifeSiteNews.com

By Kathleen Gilbert

MADISON, Wisconsin, March 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bishop Morlino, who has come under fire in the past for proclaiming Catholic Church teaching on life and family, is again facing the ire of liberal Catholics. This time, the Madison bishop is facing protests for sacking a pastoral associate who advocates dissident liberation and feminist theology.

Ruth Kolpack, who has served as pastoral associate at St. Thomas parish since 1995, was dismissed by the bishop on Thursday after she refused to recant a 2003 Master's degree thesis extolling the use of female pronouns in describing God, and questioning obedience to Church hierarchy.

"I'm concerned about women, about young girls, who grow up in a patriarchal, male-dominated society. What does it do to their self-esteem?" said Kolpack in defense of her thesis after the firing.

Prior to her dismissal, the bishop told Kolpack she could agree to denounce her thesis, make a profession of faith, and take an oath of loyalty in order to keep her post at St. Thomas. She said she would agree to the last two conditions, but would not denounce the thesis. Call to Action, a dissident Catholic group backing Kolpack, stated in a news release that such a move would be "not true to her work" and "risk her reputation as a scholar and academician."

While unwilling to get into details, the bishop told protesters that the thesis wasn't the only issue, as he had found her overall teaching mentality "troublesome" as well. Kolpack participated in diocesan educational programs.

Brent M. King, director of communications of the Diocese of Madison , explained in response to a National Catholic Reporter query that church personnel "must uphold the faith and morals of the church ... through what they publicly teach and claim to believe, what they associate themselves with, and by their actions."

Call to Action, America's leading dissident Catholic group and famed for its rejection of the Church's teaching on life and family, reportedly urged its constituents to write to the Papal Nuncio to condemn Morlino. On Saturday, a group of about 45 people holding placards in protest of the firing awaited Bishop Morlino, who invited the heckling crowd to discuss the matter later that day.

The latest battle markes a long-standing feud between Bishop Morlino, who has earned a reputation for outspokenness on orthodox Catholic teaching, and a group of liberal Catholic laypeople and clergy in Madison.

For example, in 2006, after becoming aware of certain priests contradicting Church teaching on life and family issues, Morlino instructed all the pastors in the diocese to play a recording of the bishop's message condemning same-sex "marriage," embryonic stem-cell research, and the death penalty in the U.S. The move reportedly had some priests in the diocese "furious at what they see as a threat."

In a 2007 confrontation with the bishop instigated by Call to Action members, prominent Catholic commentator Fr. John Zuhlsdorf noted that the attack was "probably coming mostly from pro-abortion Catholics."

On the recent spat, Thomas Peters of the popular American Papist blog observed that while the bishop expressed a willingness to discuss the matter, "The reaction of these Madison dissenters, however, is to blow up and plan mass protests. ... which makes me think that this is all they really wanted to do in the first place."

America's Faltering Faith

2009-03-22T17:20:00.000-04:00

By Ken Connor
Americans appear to be losing faith in God and in our cultural institutions. Is the loss of confidence in one related to a loss of confidence in the other? The answer is unequivocally yes.

How we view God inevitably determines how we view our fellow man. And how we view our fellow man, in turn, determines how we treat him. Created in God’s image or creature of chance? The answer makes a difference because what we believe determines how we behave.

Historically, most Americans have believed that God exists and that He created mankind in his image. They, therefore, concluded that human beings were endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights and, as the "image bearer of God," people were entitled to be treated with a measure of dignity and respect.

Those shared beliefs produced shared cultural norms which, in turn, contributed to stability and order in our society.

America’s Founders recognized the important role that a shared belief in God contributed to the stability of our society.

(Full story at CNSNews.com)

Who's 'Hitler' now?

2009-03-22T16:59:00.000-04:00

from American Thinker

President Obama's crack about his bowling acumen being worthy of the Special Olympics has raised a few hackles. Normally I'd say "lighten up," but this time some examination is in order.

George W. Bush was called "Hitler" virtually every day, with no real basis for the accusation other than that liberals said so -- and liberals are like, really smart, so it must have been true.

But Obama's comment, for me anyway, means that we're just a few weeks into the new administration and the new president is already more worthy of a Hitler comparison than Bush ever was.

Obama's Special Olympics comment may have been merely a clumsy attempt at self-deprecating humor. But the likelihood exists that it was a sneak peek at the heart and mind of The One who has a philosophy that cannot work unless human beings are gauged based upon their usefulness to the state -- and for any leader attempting to construct those kinds of underpinnings, the helpless and handicapped are as undesirable as governors who won't accept stimulus money.

Obama the politician is smart enough to know he never should have said that, but Obama the Grand Visionary of Exemplary Communities obviously isn't. That Obama is vehemently pro-abortion, even during late term up to and including the moment of natural birth, is Hitleresque in its design as well, and tends to take away any humor of his Special Olympics joke.

The first truly horrific thing Hitler did -- long before the German invasion of Poland -- was to issue orders to "clean up" and purify his society. The handicapped and the helpless were among the first targets, and it all started with a little, perhaps even seemingly innocuous, statement -- except it was in the form of writings in Mein Kampf instead of regrettable wise-cracks on The Tonight Show.

David Nicholls wrote in his book, Adolph Hitler: A Biographical Companion, that Hitler created "Hereditary Health Courts" as well as "A Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring." In other words, Sarah Palin would have been forced to give up her son instead of what ended up happening to her in 21st century America, which was to give birth to the child while getting bashed by some for not killing her own baby in the name of societal perfection. Heaven forbid a "mentally handicapped" person should ever be allowed to grow up and prove that he or she is smarter than a liberal.

The Hitler/Obama similarities cease, however, when we take into account that Hitler, as Nicholls wrote, called for the sterilization of "asocials" in the belief that the state could not afford to have beggars and vagrants reproduce. Obama would never do this -- after all, somebody's got to attend his town hall meetings.

Basing a system of government on an individuals "worth to society" is a most frightening slope to begin to slide down -- be those individuals the innocent unborn or the mentally challenged. "Jokes" about the latter are all the more disturbing coming from this president when we consider his position on abortion. The same mental handicaps Special Olympics competitors have would, only years earlier when these same people were in their mothers' wombs, have been considered legal justification for their slaughter. This is one reason why Obama's joke was anything but funny to so many people, and the real reason it was so offensive to parents of those with special needs.

We must be very careful though, because once that "usefulness to society" ball gets rolling, it's only a matter of time before another leader comes along who deems bad bowlers as unnecessary to the state.

Of course, Obama didn't call for the euthanasia of the disabled and mentally handicapped (once they're already born, that is) -- all he did was make what for now seems to be a clumsy, off-the-cuff crack. But as much as I want to chastise the president's critics in this situation for being too thin-skinned and knocking Obama over the head with the very PC we should loathe, I can't help but ask this question: Are we witnessing Obama not only taking the "Hitler" torch from Bush, but adding a speck of merit to the flame?

If some Special Olympians weren't much better bowlers than Obama, I'd answer "yes" to that.

Doug Powers is a columnist and author from Michigan. He can be reached via his blog at DougPowers.com

Woman Forces Daughter to Have an Abortion, Dumps Body of Baby in the Trash

2009-03-21T17:29:00.000-04:00

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 20, 2009

Ft. Lauderdale, FL (LifeNews.com) -- A Florida woman has been arrested and charged in connection with a case involving her forcing her teenager daughter to have an abortion. Tonuya Rainey, 38, allegedly obtained drugs from an abortion center to make her daughter have an abortion and then threw the body of the unborn child in the trash.

The incident occurred earlier this month and Rainey appeared in court on Friday, where she had her bail raised from $14,000 to almost $200,000.
Rainey faces felony charges including termination of pregnancy, improper disposal of human remains, unlicensed practice of health care and child abuse but does not face any murder charges in connection with the death of the unborn child.

WFOR-Ch. 4 reported that she reportedly did not want her 16-year-old daughter to give birth, so Rainey obtained abortion pills and gave them to her daughter. An assistant state attorney said in a police report that the daughter "said to her mother she wanted to keep the baby."

While spending time at a local nightclub, her daughter gave birth in the bathroom of their home.

A police report, the television station noted, indicated the baby was alive at the time of the birth and was "moving his hands and breathing."

WFOR indicates Rainey told police she "placed the infant in a bag and dumped the infant in the garbage." Although sanitation workers have picked up the garbage, the baby boy's body has not been located.

Rainey was slated to be released on bond form prison when Broward County Judge John Hurley intervened to raise the bail to a higher amount making sure she would remain in jail.

"I believe that what has allegedly occurred is tantamount to murder," Hurley said during the hearing, according to a Sun-Sentinel news report. "So I'm going to set a bond in that regard and consistent with my feelings."

The public defender for Rainey disagreed with the decision, but Judge Hurley said this was a special case that merited the higher amount.

"I've handled murder cases in here. I have handled sex cases. I've handled everything. This is it, this is the pinnacle," Hurley said. "I have never been so disturbed."

President Barack Obama Offends Mentally Disabled With Special Olympics Remark

2009-03-21T17:26:00.000-04:00

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 20, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama has upset the pro-life community with his repeated actions to promote and force funding of abortion and embryonic stem cell research. Now, he has stuck his foot in his mouth with a comment offending the mentally and physically disabled.
Appearing on the Jay Leno program on Thursday evening, President Obama talked about his poor bowling skills and said he recently bowled a 129 game.

"That's very good, Mr. President," Leno responded sarcastically.

It's "like the Special Olympics or something," the president said.

The remark has taken on a life of its own today as pro-life groups and members of the disability community are upset.

The White House has been so overwhelmed with negative comments in response to Obama's comment that administration officials have released a statement saying Obama didn't mean to offend.

"The president made an off-hand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics," White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton said. "He thinks the Special Olympics is a wonderful program that gives an opportunity for people with disabilities from around the world."

Wesley J. Smith, a bioethics attorney who frequently writes about discrimination against the disabled, said Obama's comment revealed much about his character.

"This was gratuitously harmful politically to the president, and it reflects a thoughtlessness, I think, that belies his image as a sensitive egalitarian," Smith said. "If President Bush ever said something like that, the howling about how the remark reflected his inner anti-disability attitudes would never end."
Since the dustup, President Obama has called Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver to apologize.

“He expressed his disappointment and he apologized, in a way that was very moving,” Shriver said on ABC's “Good Morning America.”

“It’s important to see that words hurt, and words do matter. And these words that in some respect can be seen as humiliating or a put-down of people with special needs do cause pain, and they do result in stereotypes," he added.

Obama told Shriver he wants to have some Special Olympians to come to the White House to participate in bowling or basketball.

Obama's comments come on the heels of a presidential campaign that saw Sarah Palin, a candidate for Vice President, give birth to a disabled baby and her making a pledge to serve the disabled community in Washington.

The Pope's worst enemies are Catholics

2009-03-21T16:24:00.000-04:00

My prayers are with the Holy Father every day. Considering the source of these attacks, you know His Holiness is speaking truth to a world that does not want to hear it.

from telegraph.co.uk

It's payback time for Pope Benedict XVI's most dedicated enemies, who are not militant secularists, hate-crazed Muslims, diehard Protestants or the liberal media. The people who most dislike the Pope are Catholics, or people who have the nerve to describe themselves as such.

We learned this morning that "Vatican insiders" consider Benedict XVI "a disaster". It's true. They do think that. He's a disaster for them, and their determination to turn the Catholic Church into a touchy-feely forum in which uncomfortable teachings and traditions are "modernised" to impress non-Catholics. Until the Williamson affair, the media weren't sufficiently interested in attacking Benedict XVI to be useful. But now, after that own goal... YES!!!

Take the furore over condoms. I don't think the Pope should have strayed into the topic of condoms and Aids, but what he said didn't represent a hardening of the Church's line on this subject. Post-Williamson, however, the liberal media have slipped back into anti-papal default mode, which suits certain "Catholics" just fine. Consider this piece by a creep called Robert S McElvaine, Professor of Arts & Letters at Millsaps College. "Impeach the Pope," he screeched in the Washington Post Online.

The Church's opposition to birth control is largely an outgrowth of its all-male composition and those males' attempts to degrade women's physical powers by asserting that women and the intercourse into which they supposedly tempt men are necessary evils ("It is well for a man not to touch a woman," Paul instructed the Christians of Corinth), the only purpose of which is procreation ... Let's start a movement within the Catholic Church to impeach Pope Benedict XVI and remove him from office. While we're at it, let's replace him with a woman.

Rant, rant, rant. But this is the most preposterous bit: "I am a Catholic and the idea that such a man is God's spokesperson [yes, 'spokesperson'] on earth is absurd to me." Actually, Professor, if you're a Catholic you should know that Benedict can be God's spokesman and hold views unaccaptable to the religion page of the Washington Post... but there's no point in arguing.

The point is that Benedict's most relentless critics, the ones who are determined to extract every last ounce of rhetorical advantage from his predicament, are liberal Catholics. These days, for example, I can hardly bear to visit Andrew Sullivan's brilliant website because he has constructed a caricature of a gay-bashing fundamentalist Pope that collapses as soon as you read what Joseph Ratzinger has actually written. And as for the Tablet crowd, they will be just quivering with Schadenfreude right now.

All of which makes it even more urgent that the Vatican press office is completely reconstructed. In allowing a question about condoms to be asked aboard the papal plane, Fr Lombardi screwed up spectacularly. He should go. The Pope needs a far more subtle and ingenious media spokesman - if only to protect him from his fellow Catholics.

Pope proclaims special Year for Priests starting June 19

2009-03-19T21:30:00.000-04:00

from (CatholicCulture.org)

Pope Benedict XVI has called a special Year for Priests, to begin on June 19 and run through the same date in 2010. The special year-- coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the death of St. Jean Marie Vianney, the Curé of Ars-- is designed to strengthen the "missionary identity" of all Catholic priests, the Pope said.

In making his announcement on March 16, in a meeting with members of the Congregation for Clergy, underlined the importance of formation for candidates for the priesthood. The proper training, he said, should encourage "communion with unbroken ecclesial Tradition, without pausing or being tempted by discontinuity." Toward that end, the Pontiff added, seminarians should be schooled in "a correct reading of the texts of Vatican Council II, interpreted in the light of all the Church's doctrinal inheritance."

While he stressed the need to strengthen the missionary identity of the priesthood, Pope Benedict cautioned against pastoral plans that would make it possible "to 'do without' ordained ministry," saying that such plans could "lay the foundations for a further dilution of priestly ministry." Apparently referring to plans for "priestless parishes" in regions where the shortage of priests has become acute, the Pope warned that such efforts to cope with the shortage could actually aggravate the problem.

Shortly after the Pope made his state, the Vatican announced that the Holy Father will open the Year for Priests with a Vespers service in St. Peter's basilica on June 19. Bishop Guy Bagnard of Belley-Ars, France, will bring the relics of St. Jean Vianney to the Vatican basilica for the occasion. During the year the Pope will formally proclaim the Curé of Ars as the patron saint of all the world's priests.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

Condoms cannot solve AIDS, Pope tells press on flight to Africa

2009-03-19T21:27:00.000-04:00

from CatholicCulture.org

Speaking to reporters who accompanied him on the 6-hour flight from Rome to Yaounde, Cameroon, on March 17, Pope Benedict XVI said that the distribution of condoms cannot stop the AIDS epidemic, and "even aggravates the problem." The spread of AIDS, which is rampant in sub-Saharan Africa, will not be halted by money alone, the Holy Father said; it will require changes in behavior, prompted by moral as well as medical principles. The Pope reminded reporters that the Catholic Church has been at the forefront of providing care for AIDS victims, especially in Africa.

The Pope left Rome's Fiumicino airport late on Tuesday morning, and was expected in Cameroon at 4 in the afternoon for an airport arrival ceremony at which he would be greeted by the country's President Paul Biya. After the arrival ceremony-- at which both the Pontiff and the president will deliver speeches-- Pope Benedict will travel to the residence of the apostolic nuncio in Yaounde, where he will spend the night.

[Check later for an updated story on the Pope's arrival in Cameroon.]

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

Pope Benedict XVI: condoms make Aids crisis worse (Daily Telegraph)

Limbaugh, Obama, Stalin and Leadership

2009-03-19T21:24:00.000-04:00

Who is the current leader of the Republican Party? No one. But there certainly is someone who wields the most influence over people who agree with the Republican Party platform, and that is Rush Limbaugh .

How so? Because Limbaugh manages to do the three things any leader must do to be successful with a large group of people: he communicates direction, he earns trust, and he evokes desire in people to go in the direction he communicates. Those are the three fundamentals of leadership. (Full article at TownHall.com)

Obama, Kruschev, and Limbaugh

2009-03-19T21:19:00.000-04:00

When the Democrats took James Carville’s advice to attack Rush Limbaugh, it made perfect sense. Some people thought it was intended to distract us from the fact that Obama was spending money faster than the Monopoly Company could print it. I, on the other hand, believed it was setting us up for the passage of the so-called Fairness Doctrine. But in either case, it was a good strategy because, however you feel about Mr. Limbaugh, he rather closely resembles the way editorial cartoonists used to depict evil, over-fed, cigar-smoking capitalists.

(Full story at Townhall.com)

Five Ways that Insanity Has Become the New Normal in America

2009-03-19T21:13:00.000-04:00

Since Barack Obama has been elected, gun sales and copies of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged have flown off the shelves. Meanwhile, there's a Russian academic all over the news predicting that America will soon collapse, "tea parties" springing up all over the country, and the stock market has been doing a great impression of Michael Richards' career since he left Seinfeld.

Is that because people have gone crazy? No, it's the reaction of sane people to the crazy as a football bat insanity that has begun to pass for conventional wisdom in large swathes of America. Living in this country today is like sitting in the back seat of a car that's hurtling towards the edge of a cliff at a hundred miles an hour while the driver fiddles with the radio and the guy in the passenger seat mocks the very idea of using brakes. (Full story at Townhsll.com)

Obama admin. to end use of term 'enemy combatant'

2009-03-19T20:39:00.000-04:00

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration said Friday that it is abandoning one of President George W. Bush's key phrases in the war on terrorism: enemy combatant. But that won't change much for the detainees at the U.S. naval base in Cuba -- Obama still asserts the military's authority to hold them. Human rights attorneys said they were disappointed that Obama didn't take a new stance.
The Justice Department said in legal filings that it will no longer use the term "enemy combatants' to justify holding prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. (Full story at GOPUSA.com)

Top Vatican Official Slams Choice of Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of Health and Human Services

2009-03-19T19:30:00.000-04:00

SAN DIEGO, CA, March 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The head of the Roman Catholic Church's highest office overseeing Church law has slammed the nomination of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), calling the nomination "the source of greatest embarrassment" to the Catholic Church.

In an interview with Thomas J. McKenna, president of Catholic Action for Faith and Family, Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, strongly supported the means by which the Governor has been disciplined by her bishop because of her public support for abortion. Kansas Archbishop Joseph Naumann has been strongly critical of Sebelius in the past, publicly admonishing her not to receive Communion, and has called Obama's nomination of the governor "offensive."
"Archbishop Naumann acted with exemplary pastoral charity in the matter, protecting the Body and Blood of Christ from unworthy reception, preventing the Governor from the commission of the most serious sin of sacrilege, and ending the great scandal caused by the Governor's unworthy reception of the Body and Blood of Christ" said Archbishop Burke in the interview.

When asked for his opinion on the nomination of Governor Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services he said, "As a Roman Catholic, her appointment is the source of the greatest embarrassment because she has publicly and repeatedly betrayed her Catholic faith." (Full story at LifeSiteNews.com)

Archbishop Burke sees 'embarrassment' in Sebelius nomination

2009-03-19T19:25:00.000-04:00

from Catholic Culture

Archbishop Raymond Burke, the former head of the St. Louis archdiocese who now serves at the Vatican at the Apostolic Signatura, has said that the appointment of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to become US Secretary of Health and Human Services is "the source of the greatest embarrassment because she has publicly and repeatedly betrayed her Catholic faith.” The archbishop referred to the Obama nominee's aggressive support for legal abortion.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

Burke calls Sebelius HHS appointment an “embarrassment” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

JPII Beatification in 2010?

2009-03-19T09:26:00.000-04:00

NCRegister.com

Let us pray God's will be done !!

According to the Italian daily La Stampa, John Paul II will be beatified on April 2, 2010 — the fifth anniversary of his death.
Reporter Giacomo Galeazzi reports that thanks to an acceleration in the beatification process, documents pertaining to John Paul’s cause, called the “positio,” have already been forwarded by a commission of theologians to be examined by cardinals .
“This is very good news,” says Msgr. Tadeusz Pieronek, the Polish priest who has been responsible for the diocesan phase of the beatification process in Krakow, La Stampa reported.

La Stampa adds that in early March, John Paul II’s former secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, said that the beatification process would be “finished in a few months.”

According to Cardinal Dziwisz, Pope Benedict XVI “wants to close the cause as soon as it is practical — the world demands it.”

La Stampa’s Galeazzi reports that in the last ten days the work of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has undergone “a marked acceleration,” and consequently the late Pope will be proclaimed Blessed “earlier than expected.” He writes that only “new and unforeseen elements” could delay it.

The Vatican has neither officially confirmed or denied the news, which originated in the Polish media.

Pope Benedict XVI opened John Paul II’s beatification process soon after becoming Pope, and waived the rule that causes should not be investigated until five years after a candidate’s death. At the end of the diocesan phase, a miracle was discovered of a French nun, allegedly cured of Parkinson’s disease after praying to John Paul II.

However, not everyone at the Vatican is happy that John Paul II’s cause is proceeding so swiftly, mainly because there is still much the Church hasn’t been able to investigate about him. And the critics argue that the Church won’t know these details for some time because certain documents will be kept locked in the Vatican archives for many years to come.

“If the Vatican moves too quickly, it will be in danger of beatifying a personality rather than the person himself,” cautioned one official to the Register.

Still, those who worked with John Paul have little doubt about his sanctity.

“For me, John Paul II is a saint,” the former prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, has said.

— Edward Pentin

Illinois "FOCA" Moves to House Floor - Would Eliminate All Abortion Restrictions in State

2009-03-17T19:10:00.000-04:00

from LifeSiteNews.com Headlines by lsn@LifeSiteNews.com

By Kathleen Gilbert SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, March 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An Illinois bill enshrining abortion as a "right" and introducing explicit sex education was approved by the Illinois House Human Services Committee yesterday in a 5-2 vote. HB 2354, proposed by state House... (Full story at LifeSiteNews.com)

Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele Under Fire for Abortion Comments

2009-03-17T19:07:00.000-04:00

from LifeNews.com Pro-Life Headlines by news@LifeNews.com (Steven Ertelt)

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- New national Republican Party chairman Michael Steele has gotten himself in hot water with pro-life advocates for softening his pro-life views and then issuing a statement saying he hasn't backed down on abortion. The misstep is the latest Steele gaffe that has some calling for his resignation. (Full story at LifeNews.com)

Pope personally explains decision to extend olive branch to SSPX bishops

2009-03-17T18:59:00.000-04:00

Vatican City, Mar 12, 2009 / 10:39 am (CNA).- A letter from Pope Benedict XVI to the bishops of the world, in which he explains the reasons he chose to lift the excommunications of the four bishops illicitly ordained by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, including Bishop Richard Williamson, was officially made public this afternoon in Rome.

Addressing his brother bishops, Pope Benedict’s letter reads remarkably like a personal letter about an issue over which he has suffered greatly. He notes that some prelates and faithful reacted to the lifting of the bishops’ excommunication with an understanding of his desire as the Successor of Peter to achieve unity, but others "accused the Pope of wanting to turn back the clock to before the Council," and protested in a way that wounded the Church even more deeply.

"I therefore feel obliged to offer you, dear brothers, a word of clarification, which ought to help you understand the concerns which led me and the competent offices of the Holy See to take this step. In this way I hope to contribute to peace in the Church," the Pope says. (Full story at CNA)

Obama's Embryonic Stem Cell O.K. Can Kill

2009-03-17T18:55:00.000-04:00

By Michael Reagan March 11, 2009

What President Obama did when he reversed President Bush’s executive order banning embryonic stem cell research was based not on solid science, but his desire to cater to the anti-life, pro-abortion forces and their media allies who helped elect him.

In doing this, he created the potential for an outbreak of potentially fatal cancerous tumors caused by the therapeutic use of embryonic stem cells.

Moreover, he killed another Bush presidential order that funded some of the most promising research on the creation of embryonic-like stem cells from harmless but potent adult stem cells.

What President Obama did when he rescinded President Bush's federal ban on certain lines of embryonic stem cell research ultimately could cost American lives.

Obama and his subservient mainstream media allies ignored science in favor of politics, and the results will prove to be disastrous.

(full article at Reagan.com)

Taxing health benefits on table

2009-03-16T18:50:00.000-04:00

America, you voted for 'Change", well guess what..... Is there NOTHING these people will not tax?

Obama officials signal willingness to accept idea he has criticized

Sunday, March 15, 2009 3:29 AM

By Jackie Calmes and Robert Pear

THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is signaling to Congress that the president could support taxing some employee health benefits, as several influential lawmakers and many economists favor, to help pay for an overhaul of the health-care system. The proposal is politically problematic for President Barack Obama, however, because it is similar to one he denounced in the presidential campaign as "the largest middle-class tax increase in history." Most Americans with insurance get it from their employers, and taxing workers for the benefits is opposed by union leaders and some businesses.

In television advertisements last fall, Obama criticized his Republican rival for the presidency, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, for proposing to tax all employer-provided health benefits. The benefits have long been tax-free, regardless of how generous they are or how much an employee earns. The ads did not note that McCain, in exchange, wanted to give all families a tax credit to subsidize the purchase of coverage.

At the time, even some Obama supporters said privately that he might come to regret his position if he won the election. In effect, they said, he was potentially giving up an important option to help finance his ambitious health-care agenda to reduce medical costs and expand coverage to the 46 million uninsured Americans.

Now that Obama has begun the health debate, several advisers say that although he will not propose changing the tax-free status of employee health benefits, neither will he oppose it if Congress does so.

At a recent congressional hearing, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., whose own health proposal would make benefits taxable, asked Peter Orszag, Obama's budget director, about the issue. Orszag replied that it "most firmly should remain on the table."

Orszag, an economist who previously was director of the Congressional Budget Office, has written favorably of taxing some employer-provided health benefits and using the revenue for other health-related incentives. So has another Obama adviser, Jason Furman, the deputy director of the White House National Economic Council.

They, like other proponents, cite evidence that tax-free benefits encourage what McCain called "gold-plated" policies, inefficient and costly demands for health care as a result, and pressure on employers to hold down workers' pay as insurance expenses rise. And, they say, the policy discriminates against those -- mostly low-income workers -- who do not have employer-provided coverage.

When Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., advocated taxing benefits at a recent hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, which he heads, Timothy Geithner, Obama's treasury secretary, assured him that the administration was open to all ideas from Congress. Geithner did allude, however, to the stand Obama had taken as a candidate.

The administration's receptivity to the idea is partly due to the advocacy of Baucus, whose committee has jurisdiction over tax policy and health programs, and to support from Republicans. There is less enthusiasm among Democrats in the House, although the health debate is at an early stage and no comprehensive plans are on the table.

Also, Obama's own idea for raising revenue for health care -- limiting the income-tax deductions that the most-affluent taxpayers claim -- has run into opposition from Baucus and his counterpart in the House, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who heads the Ways and Means Committee.

Obama's proposed limit on deductions would raise an estimated $318 billion over 10 years, or half of his proposed "health-care reserve fund." That is a fraction of the revenue that could be raised from taxing employer-provided health benefits.

McCain estimated in the campaign that taxing all health benefits would raise $3.6 trillion over a decade -- "a multitrillion-dollar tax hike," one Obama advertisement said.

The Congressional Budget Office says that including health benefits in taxable income could mean $246 billion in additional revenue for a single year. Stopping short of full taxation, as Baucus and others suggest, would of course mean less new revenue.

The latest government figures, for 2007, show that 70 percent of the 253 million people with health insurance -- 177 million people -- got at least some of their coverage through employers. Employment-based insurance covers three-fifths of the population younger than 65.

Young Americans: Luckiest Generation in History

2009-03-16T18:49:00.000-04:00

I heard of this from The Mark Levin Show. A very Eye opening article.

To illustrate how material abundance increases for each generation under free market capitalism, W. Michael Cox, chief economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, has done several studies comparing the purchases that teenagers could make from a summer job at the minimum wage, in various years. Here's a summary of his 2000 article in the IBD.

Here's my own updated version of the Cox analysis. In 1949, the minimum wage was $0.40 per hour, and a full-time summer job (40 hours per week for 12 weeks) would have generated $192 in total summer earnings (ignoring taxes). Using a Sears catalog for retail prices, $192 would have only purchased the following 4 items in 1949: Full story at CARPE DIEM)

Democratic Party Rolls Out Its 'Top Five' Slogans Attacking Radio Broadcaster

2009-03-13T16:48:00.000-04:00

Sure, they're not out to get Rush and then rest of Talk Radio....

(CNSNews.com) – The Democratic National Committee has unveiled its five best slogan ideas--chosen from among thousands of proposed entries--for a billboard attacking radio broadcaster Rush Limbaugh.

The slogan that receives the most votes on the DNC’s Web site will be put on a billboard in Rush's "hometown" of West Palm Beach, Fla.

Announced last Thursday, the DNC’s slogan campaign sought a message of 10 words or less that members would like the DNC to send to Limbaugh. The top five are: (Full story at CNSNews.com)

More Ohioans Say They Have No Religion

2009-03-12T11:22:00.000-04:00

This is a sad reflection on our current culture.

A study on American religious life finds more people in Ohio and across the country say they have no religion at all.

Nationwide, 15 percent of respondents identify themselves that way, an increase from 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

In Ohio, 17 percent now say they have no religion, up from 8 percent in 1990.

Northern New England is the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent.
The survey also finds that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting to the U.S. Southwest.

Their numbers have been growing in California and Texas, but Catholics in Ohio have shrunk to 20 percent, from 1990's 24 percent.
For a complete look at the American Religious Identification Survey, check out this link.

A shake-up coming at the Vatican?

2009-03-11T19:18:00.000-04:00

by Margaret Cabaniss

I haven't seen this report substantiated anywhere else yet, so take it for what it's worth. Still, if true, it could mean big changes ahead at the Vatican:

Pope Benedict XVI is expected to approve a number of administrative changes at the Vatican over the next few weeks after months of internal mismanagement and avoidable controversies have left many Church officials saddened and perplexed.

Newsmax has learned that the personnel changes will affect the “second rung” of officials within the Secretariat of State – essentially the executive branch of the Vatican. Further changes among the top ranks of the Roman Curia are also likely over the next few months, sources said. Full story at InsideCatholic.com

IMAGE: Is this the last photograph of Abraham Lincoln?

2009-03-11T19:10:00.000-04:00

from Inside Catholic

You never know what you'll find in the family photo album. That's doubly true if you happen to be the great-great-grandson of Ulysses S. Grant.

Ulysses S. Grant VI, had seen the picture before, but didn't examine it closely until late January. A tall figure in the distance caught his eye, although the man's facial features are obscured....

Grant carefully removed it and was shocked to see the handwritten inscription on the back: "Lincoln in front of the White House." Grant believes his great-grandfather, Jesse Grant, the general's youngest son, wrote the inscription.

Also included was the date 1865, the seal of photographer Henry F. Warren, and a government tax stamp that was issued for such photos to help the Civil War effort between 1864 and 1866.

[Photography expert Keya] Morgan recalled the well-documented story of Warren's trip to Washington to photograph Lincoln after his second inauguration in March 1865. Lincoln was killed in April, so the photo could be the last one taken of him.

Morgan is so convinced that the photo is authentic, that he purchased it from Grant for $50,000. It may not have been a unwise sale:

Will Stapp, who was the founding curator of the National Portrait Gallery's photographs department and who now appraises fine art and photographs, said he's usually cynical about such claims. But he said he was "very satisfied that it's Lincoln" in the picture.

"It looks to me like Lincoln's physique," he said. "I can see his hairline. I can see the shadow of his beard."

President Obama Names Abortion Backer to New Foreign Women's Issues Post

2009-03-11T18:54:00.000-04:00

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Most of the attention on President Barack Obama recently has focused on his moves to make taxpayers fund embryonic stem cell research, rescind protections for pro-life doctors, and put in an abortion advocate as Health Secretary. Yet, the president has undertaken a second decision to promote abortion abroad.

The Obama administration recently announced the creation of a new foreign policy position to focus on women's issues.
Melanne Verveer, an abortion advocate who served as chief of staff to former First Lady Hillary Clinton, will occupy the new post.

(Full story at LifeNews.c.om)

Study reports ‘stunning’ U.S. Catholic population shift alongside growing secularization

2009-03-11T18:50:00.000-04:00

Hartford, Conn., Mar 10, 2009 / 03:22 am (CNA).- A new study on American religion finds that Catholicism is facing a “stunning” decline in the northeast United States as the population center of U.S. Catholics shifts towards the southwest. Secularism continues to grow in all regions, while mainline Protestant denominations face the most significant population decline.

The study, titled the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), was conducted by the Program on Public Values at Trinity College.

According to the ARIS report, Catholic numbers and percentages rose in many states in the South and West mainly due to immigration.

“Catholics increased their share in California and Texas to about one-third of the adult population and in Florida to over one-fourth. In terms of numbers they gained about 8 million adherents in these three states in the past two decades,” the report says. (Full story at CNA)

Vatican angered by US stem cells decision

2009-03-11T18:29:00.000-04:00

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A top Vatican official for bioethics on Tuesday criticized U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to fund broader research into stem cells.

Monsignor Rino Fisichella said Obama's executive order was a "victory of politics over ethics" and suggested the U.S. administration was looking out for the interests of drug companies.

Fisichella, who heads the Pontifical Academy for Life, was quoted by Italy's ANSA news agency as saying that "probably some drug companies, or some economic interests" influenced the decision to reverse the restrictions on funding imposed by the Bush administration.

Scientists hope to use embryonic stem cells to regenerate diseased cells in those suffering a variety of fatal or debilitating diseases. Former President George W. Bush had limited the use of taxpayer money allowed for the research, saying it required the destruction of embryos and is therefore morally wrong.

On Monday, Obama said he was ending what he believed was "a false choice between sound science and moral values," adding that the research shows great potential and that "with proper guidelines and strict oversight, the perils can be avoided."

The US Bishops' Conference has also criticized the move and the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano newspaper ran an article on Tuesday reiterating the Catholic Church's position, which holds that embryos must be considered human beings.
The article did not directly mention Obama's decision but said that protecting embryos should be "the basis of a real democracy, capable of recognizing the equality of all men and of avoiding any unjust discrimination based on their development or health."

Pope laicizes priest at renegade St. Louis parish

2009-03-11T18:10:00.000-04:00

From CatholicCulture.org

Bishop James V. Johnston of the Missouri Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau announced yesterday that Pope Benedict has laicized Marek Bozek, the Polish-born priest incardinated in the diocese who has ministered without authorization at the suppressed St. Stanislaus Church in St. Louis since 2005. “His actions have caused great harm, scandal and sadness within the Church," Bishop Johnston said. "While Marek Bozek no longer has the status of a priest, I continue to hope for his reconciliation with the Catholic Church, and am committed to working with him so that he might be return to full communion with the Church."

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

Pope Benedict XVI defrocks St. Stanislaus priest Marek Bozek (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Man Driving to Abortion Clinic Runs Over Pro-Lifer, then Persuaded by Victim's Wife Not to Abort

2009-03-11T17:48:00.000-04:00

By Kathleen Gilbert
CHERRY HILL, New Jersey, March 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A lone sidewalk counselor at a Cherry Hill abortion center is suffering from serious injuries after a young man driving his pregnant wife to the abortion facility reportedly struck the counselor and ran him over. But the victim's wife says that the event probably saved a life, as she believes she was able to persuade the man afterwards not to have his unborn child killed.

The incident took place Saturday morning at the South Jersey Women's Center on Haddonfield Road. George Krail was walking toward the clinic's driveway to offer literature as a car approached, when the driver ran into and over Krail, crushing and twisting his leg. The initial impact was so severe it may have broken several of Krail's ribs. (Full story at LifeSiteNews.com)

Guest Opinion: Calling our Shepherds… Are You There?

2009-03-11T17:41:00.000-04:00

By Jennifer Hartline

I would rather be part of the Church our Holy Father has envisioned – smaller in number, but more faithful.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - I hear this cry from so many other faithful souls, growing louder and more urgent with each passing day, and it is time to be heard. I am simply a laywoman, a cradle Catholic now raising her own family in the Church, watching the truths of the faith I love being diluted into unrecognizable, ineffective, politically expedient pep talks, in order that confused or errant Catholics might feel better about their “choices” and still be accepted as loyal members of the Church.

To the Bishops, Priests and Deacons of the United States I respectfully say:

“Gentlemen, please LOOK UP! Your flock is being scattered and devoured by the wolf! We need you to rise up, raise your voice, and start teaching the orthodox truth of the Catholic faith, and to instruct your parishioners that these truths are not optional nor are they negotiable! You are our Shepherds and we are in dire need of strong leadership. I am tired of seeing so-called Catholic politicians and public figures flaunting their Catholic heritage while at the same time supporting and lobbying for the destruction of preborn children, the government sanctioned “right” to kill the child in the womb, or the disabled, the elderly and the sick. (Full story at Catholic Online)

Democrat to Introduce Freedom of Choice Act ‘Sooner Rather Than Later’

2009-03-11T12:41:00.000-04:00

from CNSNews.com

(CNSNews.com) – A spokesman for Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said that while re-introducing the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) during the 111^th Congress isn’t on his “immediate agenda,” the congressman does plan to do so “sooner rather than later.”

“It’s not going to be (re-introduced) years down the road,” Ilan Kayatsky told CNSNews.com.

He said the bill has not been drafted yet, but it most likely would resemble the original bill that Nadler introduced in the 108^th and 110^th Congresses. “(The bill) could be altered in very minor ways,” Kayatsky said. “But overall it would be the same bill.”

FOCA, which was sponsored twice in the Senate by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), would eliminate state and federal restrictions on abortion, including waiting periods, parental consent, and the ban on partial-birth abortion.

President Barack Obama, in a campaign speech to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said signing the bill into law would be “the first thing I’d do as president.”

A struggling economy, increasing unemployment and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq apparently have prevented Obama from acting on his campaign promise to Planned Parenthood so far, but pro-life advocates are bracing themselves for the fight to keep FOCA from becoming law.

“The abortion industry already handsomely rewards its supporters in Congress with millions of dollars in campaign donations,” Tom McClusky, vice president of governmental affairs with the Family Research Council, wrote about FOCA on the FRC’s Web site.

“In return, enactment of the Freedom of Choice Act by a pro-abortion Congress (which we currently have) and a pro-abortion President would lead to the biggest payoff in history for those who profit from abortions.”

McClusky called it ironic that the bill would “remove any concept of ‘choice’” in the abortion debate: Federal and state governments would lose “the power to decide which legislative path they wish to pursue -- one of promoting abortion or promoting life,” McClusky said.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has launched both a postcard campaign and an email campaign, urging members of Congress to maintain pro-life policies and to oppose the federal funding and promotion of abortion.

The e-mails specifically urge senators and representative to "please oppose FOCA or any similar measure" and "retain existing laws against funding and promotion of abortion."

It's Time for a Tea Party!

2009-03-11T12:18:00.000-04:00

Posted by Bobby Eberle
March 9, 2009 at 6:31 am

When the colonists threw boxes of tea into Boston Harbor, their message was clear: no taxation without representation. The frustration had built to the boiling point and action needed to be taken.

A similar movement is building across America. President Obama is moving his socialist agenda through Congress and into American life, and it needs to be stopped. Faster than any president in American history, Obama has just spent over a trillion dollars that America does not have, and now he wants to pay for it by raising taxes. Enough is enough!

Obama has only been in office less than two months and has already signed on for over a trillion dollars in spending. There is the "stimulus" bill, the mortgage bill, and on and on. Every time there is a problem in this country, the Obama administration calls for more spending. Do he and his fellow liberals have so little faith in the American people? Given more of our own money in our pockets, I'm sure the American people could figure out how to get the economy going. We don't need government telling us how our money will be spent, what charities are "worthy," and what projects are more important.

(Full story at GOPUSA)

Obama signs bill to fund Embryonic Stem Cell Research - LifeNews.com

2009-03-11T12:00:00.000-04:00

Pro-Life Groups Blast Obama for Funding Research Destroying Human Life

from LifeNews.com Pro-Life Headlines by news@LifeNews.com (Steven Ertelt)

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Responding to President Barack Obama's decision to force taxpayers to fund research destroying human lives, pro-life groups unanimously condemned his move. They said Obama ignored the ethical considerations as well as adult stem cells and other alternatives that are actually helping patients.

President Barack Obama Makes Taxpayers Fund Embryonic Stem Cell Research

from LifeNews.com Pro-Life Headlines by news@LifeNews.com (Steven Ertelt)

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In the latest move against the pro-life movement and its desire to protect human life before birth, President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Monday forcing taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research.

Snowflake Babies, Pro-Life Congressmen Upset by Obama's Stem Cell Decision

from LifeNews.com Pro-Life Headlines by news@LifeNews.com (Steven Ertelt)

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Several pro-life members of Congress held a press conference on Monday afternoon with "snowflake babies." These are the children who were formerly stored human embryos at fertility clinics who could have been destroyed for scientific research but have since been adopted.

President Barack Obama Deceives Media, Public on Opposition to Human Cloning

from LifeNews.com Pro-Life Headlines by news@LifeNews.com (Steven Ertelt)

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- While most media reports were focused on President Barack Obama's decision to roll back protections limiting taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research, little attention was paid to Obama's ingenuous method of supposedly opposing human cloning.

Obama Takes Next Step to Scrap Protections for Pro-Life Doctors on Abortion

2009-03-11T11:48:00.000-04:00

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama has taken the next step to remove the new protections the Bush administration put in place to protect pro-life medical centers and staff who do not want to do abortions. The protections provided better enforcement for existing conscience laws for medical professionals.

The Bush administration put the protections in place after learning that medical centers and staff were facing increasing pressure to be involved in abortions despite three federal laws prohibiting such discrimination.

Obama officials had told media outlets that the president wanted to merely clarify the existing rules, but, today, the administration published in the Federal Register a proposal to rescind the pro-life protections entirely.

"The Department is proposing to rescind in its entirety the final rule," Obama HHS officials wrote in the proposal.

The Obama administration appears to be relying on the objections pro-abortion groups posed to the abortion conscience clause and it refers to those objections from groups like Planned Parenthood in its proposal. http://www.lifenews.com/nat4893.html

Connecticut Bill Pulled, After a Fashion

2009-03-10T22:15:00.000-04:00

From Inside Catholic

This just in from the Hartford Courant:

A controversial bill that would change the way the Catholic church governs itself has been pulled and a public hearing planned Wednesday on the issue postponed until its constitutionality can be determined.

The bill is off the table for at least the remainder of the current session:

At a press conference this morning at the legislative office building, Tom Gallagher of Greenwich, who has long advocated that lay people be given greater responsibilities within the church, said he has asked Rep. Michael Lawlor and Sen. Andrew McDonald, co-chairmen of the legislature's judiciary committee, to put off the hearing until Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has reviewed the matter.
Lawlor and McDonald agreed. "At the request of the proponents who are advocating this legislation, we have decided to cancel the public hearing for tomorrow [and] table any further consideration of this bill for the duration of this session,'' the lawmakers said in a joint statement.

It's hard for me to see how it could possibly pass a "constitutionality test," so perhaps this issue is behind us already. I'd like to see what Senator McLachlan has to say about this development, though. (Here is a Courant blog post about the cancellation itself that has a few "money" quotes from Lawler and McDonald.)
Many thanks to regular-IC-reader Jen for the heads-up on this one.

Bob Casey, Catholic Democrat, Defends Vote for International Abortion Funding

2009-03-09T17:03:00.002-04:00

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, considered by some to be one of the few pro-life Democrats in Congress, is defending his repeated votes for international abortion funding. He is defending his votes against the Mexico City Policy despite two rebukes from his Catholics bishop.

Bishop Joseph F. Martino of the Diocese of Scranton took Casey to task last month for voting to fund groups that promote and perform abortions overseas.

In a letter to the senator, Bishop Martino accused Casey of “cooperating with … evil” by casting the pro-abortion vote.

In the letter, published in Thursday’s edition of The Catholic Light, the diocesan newspaper, he urges Casey to live up to his Catholic faith by voting to “oppose abortion."

But Casey office continues to claim that his vote for foreign abortion promotion does not violate his pro-life views. (Full story at Lifenews.com)

To 'Encourage and Promote Diversity' in Communications

2009-03-09T16:49:00.002-04:00

Posted by Bobby Eberle

When the Senate voted last week to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from reinstituting the so-called "fairness doctrine," many folks breathed a sigh of relief. There had been much talk about the Democrats and their effort to bring back the measure which would force radio stations and other media outlets to set aside equal time for programs offering opposing viewpoints. In other words, if a conservative talk show was popular on a particular radio station and a liberal talk show wasn't, the radio station would be FORCED to broadcast both.

As it turns out, the celebration of the defeat of the fairness doctrine may be premature. Although the Senate defeated the fairness doctrine amendment, it also approved an amendment which is aimed at "encouraging and promoting diversity in communication media ownership." That's right... the federal government would be in the business of saying who can own what in America. Does that sound like America to you? (Full story at GOPUSA.com)

Speaker Pelosi Backs Senate Amendment to Regulate Talk Radio

2009-03-09T16:44:00.000-04:00

(CNSNews.com) – Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told CNSNews.com on Thursday that she supports an amendment to a Senate bill that would force the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to “take actions to encourage and promote diversity in communication media ownership and to ensure that broadcast station licenses are used in the public interest.”

The amendment’s language is viewed by many media experts as a means to regulate conservative talk radio, particularly popular programs such as the Rush Limbaugh Show and the Sean Hannity Show, among many others. (Full story at CNSNews.com)

Pro-Life Groups: Obama Funding Embryonic Stem Cell Research Ignores Science

2009-03-09T16:40:00.001-04:00

by Steven Ertelt

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama liked to bash President Bush during the presidential election for claiming that he was ignoring science. But pro-life groups say Obama's expected decision on Monday to fund embryonic stem cell research ignores science and they say it has yet to help patients.

As LifeNews.com reported, Obama is expected to sign an executive order on Monday that would overturn the limits President Bush put in place to prevent funding the science because it requires the destruction of human life.

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council tells LifeNews.com the Obama decision ignores that science is moving away from embryonic stem cell research and towards alternatives that are both morally and ethically stronger.

"President Obama's policy change is especially troubling given the significant adult stem cell advances that are being used to treat patients now without harming or destroying human embryos," he said. (Full story at Lifenews.com)

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