Sebelius Communion ban to apply in Washington

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

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.

• Rebel priest to form 'church in exile' in hall down the road (The Australian)
• Rebel priest Peter Kennedy expects congregation to follow him (Courier Mail)
• Rebel priest to lead Catholic 'community in exile (ABC)

Dogs and Cats Living Together... Mass Hysteria

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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'

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

(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?

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.

• Sebelius in trouble with Catholic Church (Washington Times)
• Kansas City archbishop explains request that Sebelius not receive Communion (CWN, Mar 16)

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

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 !%&&%#*

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

(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)

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

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

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

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

(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

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

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

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?

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

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.

• Rebel priest Peter Kennedy moves to overturn removal by Brisbane archbishop (AAP)
• Australian archdiocese to launch legal proceedings after renegade priest refuses mediation (CWN, Mar 16)

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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.

• Holy Father announces a special year for priests (VIS)
• St. Jean Marie Vianney: patron saint of all priests (VIS)

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

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

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

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

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'

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)