Still Running Off at the Keyboard

RADICAL PINK

Colors evoke emotions. White brings goodness and purity to mind. Red makes us think of anger. Green puts us immediately into a garden scene. Pink evokes thoughts of femininity, and girl babies. Then there are the pink breast cancer signs, an image I notice more now than I used to. Pink on a man can sometimes signal homosexuality. There are pink flamingoes. In the '50s we called Communists "pinkos".

Pink has a new image these days. Radical politics. I know, I know, the image is at war with itself in my mind, too. Nevertheless there is a group calling itself "Code Pink" that has gotten into the news.

"In These Times" tells us "Code Pink has become a lightning rod for contemporary activism--from both the right and left....At a November press conference at the Heritage Foundation, President Bush singled out Code Pink--along with what he called "MoveOn.org bloggers"--for setting a dangerous, radical agenda for U.S. politics." According to the September 29 article one protester carried a sign reading "Impeach Bush". The article provides a bit of history:

Code Pink has come to be viewed as a gaggle of smart but silly women, an unkempt listserv, and a mismatched array of girly accoutrements, housed on Capitol Hill, in a space known simply as the D.C. House.

In 2002, Medea Benjamin, Jodie Evans, Starhawk and Diane Wilson founded the organization, beginning with a four-month White House vigil and joined by 100 dedicated, brightly clad adherents. The group has become a lightning rod for criticism of the antiwar movement — and of contemporary activism.

Did you get that? Starhawk. She describes herself this way on her website:

"Welcome! I'm Starhawk, author of many works celebrating the Goddess movement and Earth-based, feminist spirituality. I’m a peace, environmental, and global justice activist and trainer, a permaculture designer and teacher, a Pagan and Witch. To see how it all weaves together, follow the many strands of my web."

On October 11 Jonathan Martin reported:

For all the passion and anger on display this week from Republicans at McCain events, the most vitriol demonstrated at his rallies and town halls over the past year has typically come from antiwar protesters, often affiliated with the group Code Pink.

They get around. The Medill Reports tells us:

in recent weeks the organization has expanded its efforts to include the economic crisis.

Singing "no bailout" to the tune of "Amen", and staging a "die-in" on the steps of the Russell building, Code Pink marched to the Senate offices of presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama.

I guess that protest didn't get them very far.

In an old article FrontPageMagazine.com goes into greater depth:

...this group was in fact founded by
four experienced activists and hardcore communists – Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin, Diane Wilson, and a radical Wiccan activist calling herself Starhawk. Code Pink works closely with United For Peace and Justice, whose leader Leslie Cagan is a longtime devotee of Fidel Castro and the Socialist Party USA.

Another Code Pink ally is Medea Benjamin’s group Global Exchange, which has strong ties to the communist Workers World Party. Imbued with a deep hatred for the United States and capitalism in general, Benjamin is a pro-Castro activists who lived in Cuba (and was married to a Cuban) was a principal organizer of the 1999 Seattle riots in which some 50,000 protesters wreaked havoc and tried to shut down the World Trade Organization meetings.

Throughout the 1990s, in fact, many of the Marxists currently working for Code Pink were busy organizing anti-free trade protests – some of them violent – and filing numerous high-profile lawsuits that forced American corporations to spend enormous sums of money to defend themselves. When we examine the backgrounds of Code Pink’s major players, we find that they have very little in common with “average, everyday, concerned” American women or activists just interested in peace.

Jodie Evans, for instance, sits on the board of directors of the Rain Forest Action Network (RAN), a coalition of anti-capitalist, anti-corporate environmentalist groups. RAN’s co-founder Michael Roselle also founded the Earth Liberation Front, which the FBI ranks alongside the Animal Liberation Front as the foremost domestic terrorism threats in the United States. According to the FBI, during the past seven years those two groups have been responsible for more than 600 criminal acts and $43 million in damages. And in 1985, Code Pink spokeswoman Sand Brim, who was then the executive director of Medical Aid, flew an American neurosurgeon to San Salvador to operate on the combat-wounded hand of Marxist Revolutionary Party Commander Nidia Diaz, whose group had recently murdered four American Marines and nine civilians....

Code Pink now consists of more than 90 chapters in numerous American cities and such far-flung nations as Costa Rica, Norway, and India. Mocking the Bush Administration’s color-coded security alerts, the “Code Pink Alert” warns that this administration poses “extreme danger to all the values of nurturing, caring, and compassion that women and loving men have held.” Professing their commitment to “wage peace,” Code Pink members see no justification for war under any circumstances – where the U.S. is concerned.

In addition to scorning America’s military action in Iraq, Code Pink members also condemn the racism, sexism, poverty, corporate corruption, and environmental degradation they claim are rampant in the U.S. In this respect, Code Pink is like other prominent “peace” movements in our country – portraying America as a moral cesspool and an imperialist aggressor, while remaining mute about whatever barbarities occur anywhere else on earth. Not even the pre-war atrocities of Saddam Hussein drew a scintilla of condemnation from Code Pink.

Guess whose campaign Code Pink raised funds to support, and where they've been peddling their influence lately. The answer is reported at Townhall.com. Amanda Carpenter writes:

Jodi Evans, a founder of the radical anti-war group Code Pink and "bundler" for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday....

At the meeting Evans and fellow Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin offered Ahmadinejad a plan to build a “peace park” in Tehran and invest funds in Iranian businesses “that produce green and sustainable products, such as bicycles.”

Evans signed on to become a “bundler” for Obama’s presidential campaign last June. As a bundler, she has pledged to raise at least $50,000 for his campaign.

Birds of a feather flock. Apparently in pink[o] garb.

Thanks to Susanna for the heads up on this one.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

ECONOMIC TERRORISM

Betsy Schiffman at Wired notes Mike Huckabee's claim that large sell-offs at the end of the day causing the market to fall has been the work of economic terrorists.

Nancy Salvato at Canada Free Press notes the Huckabee comments and lays the blame on George Soros.

"PRIEST-M.D. PENS ESSAY ON POLITICS AND THE CHURCH"

In Matt Abbott's column today medical doctor and Eastern Catholic priest, Father Robert Markovitch, unpacks Catholic history and the anti-Catholic sentiment starting with the early Church, touching on the major opposition to Catholicism particularly in America up to the present time when the main focus is on abortion. Abbott has given permission to disseminate the essay. I'm posting only the last part of it which relates directly to the upcoming election. To read the entire essay check out Abbott's column at Renew America.

2008: The Battle Rages On!

Catholics in America have suffered grave wounds to identity and mission over the past two centuries. Yet, the greatest danger is the surrender of our consciences. The biggest issue of conscience is the right to life of the most vulnerable of the human family: the unborn, the handicapped newborns, and the frail elderly. Others argue that the war in Iraq is more important. Catholic teaching offers a way to sort through this dilemma. The war in Iraq, first invasion, then occupation, is viewed by Catholics through the lens of Just War doctrine. The invasion is complete, and the occupation continues with the goal of establishing a better regime in Iraq. As some hierarchs have pointed out, the application of the Catholic teaching on Just War is a prudential matter. In other words, there are times when the application of authentic faithful Catholicism permits differences of perception as to when a war is just. Such cases do, in fact, exist. The decision rests with the government authority, in this case, a non-Catholic, President George W. Bush.

The abortion issue, by way of contrast, is not prudential. Abortion is not a matter of situations, nor is it ever a permitted choice among options. The direct taking of an innocent life is never permitted — no exceptions. It is a matter of universal principle. No government has the right to deprive whole categories of the human family of their right to live; when a government does so, as in Roe vs. Wade in 1973, that government has violated itself. Catholics have a moral duty to violate such laws. The danger to the moral legitimacy of the nation here is obvious. What is more important to Catholics, though, is the moral integrity of the Church. When politicians step forward, claiming to be Catholics while endorsing the American un-Catholic concept of selective killing as a manifestation of liberty, the Catholic faithful are called to defend the Church against such attacks, and with urgency.

This year's election calls forth a faithful response in light of Catholic teaching. There are four candidates spread over two party tickets. They have found their places in the battle between the two shining cities on the hill.

The Republicans have brought forth Sen. John McCain, a non-Catholic Christian in a second marriage, with a history of helping the poor through adoption. His running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin is a Christian, apparently formerly Catholic (as are many Americans), who speaks of the mythic American inheritance as a theological/national shining city on a hill, echoing Pres. Ronald Reagan. Both Republican candidates are very pro-life. The Democrats have brought forth Barack Obama, an American with a background of an immigrant Muslim father and a Christian mother, whose secular community organizing work led him to a racially-focused Protestant community which offers sharp denunciations of America, especially white America. He is, in the view of many, the candidate with the most violently anti-life record nominated by either major party, ever. His running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden, wandered from a Catholic, mainstream, Irish working-class background to endorse the un-Catholic notions of a violent pro-choice position. Violence with a smile and a smooth tone is still violence.

The famous Catholic thinker in 20th Century America, Father John Courtney Murray, was prophetic when he warned that the modern barbarian wears a Brooks Brothers suit. Sen. Biden found a partner in darkness in the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, another Catholic with a faith problem. The slander of Biden and Pelosi against their own Church merits a closer look.

Speaker Pelosi made the first step with false accusations against her own Church. She soiled the reputation of the Catholic Church by portraying herself as an ardent Catholic who had studied the issue, alleging that Catholics don't know when life begins, and dragging St. Augustine into her dark portrait of ignorance. The Catholic Church, whose very mission is to embrace all truth, with an abundant history of loving and promoting learning, and a thousand-year history of founding and supporting universities, eagerly endorses all new learning, including scientific advances. St. Augustine sought the best science of his time, as a good Catholic always will. But in the 1800s, medicine came to a firm knowledge of male and female seed, and fertilization as the beginning of life. These discoveries sparked a physician's crusade against abortion in 1800s America. The refusal of the Catholic Church to allow any direct abortion, is based on the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill."

Abortion is impermissible in the private lives of Catholics and in their public service. This is a matter of integrity. A good Catholic has no cause to resist truth; Speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, is a fugitive on the run from the truth. She should not be permitted to drag the Church's reputation with her.

Sen. Biden says he wants to be a practicing Catholic. Well, his own Catholic bishops have made it easy for him. The Catholic bishops in America have corrected his error in a way that even people who can't understand science can grasp. It's not above his pay grade, not at all. Truth isn't personal or private; it's for everyone. Catholics, by their very name — after all, "Catholic" means "according to the whole" — understand this best of all. A morality so personal we wouldn't impose it on ourselves is no morality at all. We don't check our consciences at the door when we go to work. Sen. Biden's opportunity to be faithful is quite simple, but will he go there? He talks a lot about where he came from — so will he remember where he came from when the chips are down for today's youngsters? And if he forgets where he came from when it comes to the children, should the people who came from where he came from bother to remember him? God bless ya, Sen. Biden! Really.

Today's basic civilization issue of life sets atop a great shifting field of battle. It is worthwhile to understand how so. At first glance, the ideologies of Obama and Palin appear to be polar opposites. A deeper analysis shows, however, that both come from a common root. The Palin ideology finds a place for America in salvation history as a providential good. The theological system of Obama's faith community portrays America a place of substantial evil in the economy of salvation. Both share a common idea — that America has a major place in God's plan for the world. Neither of these views has a place in Catholic revelation. Cities that kill their own children don't belong on a hill — and they don't shine either. For Catholics, there is one shining city on a hill, one New Jerusalem, and she is the Church. And we must defend our Church in our public life, in any election campaign, against all attacks.

These elections present the Church with a challenge: that faithful Catholics maintain their integrity and conscience in the public forum. Those who fail to do so should be corrected publicly, by both Church hierarchs and faithful Catholics. Many Catholic hierarchs have done so over the past months. We should support them by pointing out the betrayal of the Catholic Church that "Catholic" politicians engage in by the violence of their "pro-choice" stands. We should let such politicians know that they have betrayed both God and fellow Catholics. We might thereby bring back an errant brother, and we might also reconvert a governor in the process. The battle is joined — to the barricades! Shine forth in splendor, New Jerusalem!

INCITING A RACE WAR

My husband is convinced that if Obama is elected there will be a race war. Now comes this World Net Daily article describing a race war in Africa in which Obama played a part. Could the same thing happen here? Before you answer no way, consider the events of the spring 1970 riots and the KSU shooting. Yes, we can have guns in the street--government guns turned on American citizens in response to mobs out of control, incited by silver-tongued orators. I saw it happen on the KSU campus. And I think we are vulnerable.

CLOWARD-PIVEN STRATEGY

from the Washington Times:

There is plenty blame to go around for the financial crash. Yet, there is a distinct odor of the shadowy Cloward-Piven strategy as the taproot of abusive practices that triggered the crisis. The strategy's goal is to bring about the fall of capitalism by overloading and undermining government bureaucracy.

Its supporting tactics include flooding government with impossible demands until it slowly cranks to a stop; overloading electoral systems with successive tidal waves of new voters, many of them bogus; shaking down banks, politicians in Congress, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development for affirmative-action borrowing; and, now, pulling down the national financial system by demanding exotic, subprime mortgages for low-income Americans with little hope of repaying their loans. These toxic mortgages are an important source of the foul smell engulfing the entire financial bailout.

Developed in the mid-1960s by two Columbia University sociologists, Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, much of their strategy was drawn from Saul Alinsky, Chicago's notorious revolutionary Marxist community organizer. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) succeeded the National Welfare Rights Organization in the execution of the Cloward-Piven grand tactics of using the poor as cannon fodder to tear down the capitalist system. It was low-income, mostly black and Hispanic people, who were used by ACORN guerrillas to take subprime toxic mortgages....

The socialist test case for using society's poor and disadvantaged people as sacrificial "shock troops," in accordance with the Cloward-Piven strategy, was demonstrated in 1975, when new prospective welfare recipients flooded New York City with payment demands, bankrupting the government. As a consequence, New York state also teetered on the edge of financial collapse when the federal government stepped in with a bailout rescue.

The 2008 financial crisis has all of the earmarks of a Cloward-Piven strategy assault against the capitalist system. Stanley Kurtz of the Ethics and Public Policy Center recently explained that "community organizers" (1) "intimidate banks into making high risk loans to customers with poor credit," (2) "occupy private offices, chant inside bank lobbies, and confront executives at their homes," and, through these thuggish tactics, (3) compel "financial institutions to direct hundreds of millions dollars in mortgages to low-credit customers." "In other words," Mr. Kurtz explained during a presentation at the Hudson Institute's Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal, "community organizers help to undermine America's economy by pushing the banking system into a sink-hole of bad loans."

Interesting link Susanna dug up! It really does look like an element is attempting to take over America.

Then there is the link in one of Moe's comments box which linked Obama and George Soros. I went fishing and came up with this article at the Conservative Edge which states:

Listen to Barak Obama’s supporters long enough, and you would have to conclude that they believe he is brilliant, charismatic, and a first rate orator who will bring change to the American political scene. Listen to his speeches, and you would have to agree that he is a first rate orator. You would also agree that he is an agent of change. There could be some disagreement about whether his policies and thus by default, he himself, is brilliant.

But there is disturbing evidence that Obama is nothing more than the “Talking Head” for the far left fringe movement in American politics. The darling of MoveOn.org may in fact be the Manchurian Candidate of George Soros and his hardcore minions....

Take for instance, the funding of the Obama campaign. Over the past few elections cycles, the Soros’ crowd has demonstrated its political prowess by directing internet fundraising efforts to their chosen candidate. Joe Lieberman lost the Connecticut Senate Democratic primary to the far left fringe candidate when Moveon directed their fundraising efforts to his opponent. That candidate towed the Moveon party line.

Obama is now reaping the benefits of that same fundraising juggernaut. While Hillary mined the traditional fundraising game, Obama reaped tens of millions if not hundreds if millions of dollars more via the internet.

More ominously, Obama insiders reported to a British paper this week, that Obama had already amassed a huge grass roots organization throughout the U.S. that would crush John McCain. That organization could only be the extensive leftwing George Soros Moveon.org organization assembled over the past three to four years. Obama simply could not have put together such a claimed massive group on his own. He hasn’t had the time. It normally takes years to get a grass roots effort going.

The article also contains a number of "off script" gaffes. Among other things it seems that Obama believes America has 57 states plus Alaska and Hawaii. He may be a slick orator, but that is no guarantee that he has his facts in order.

Maybe the element that wants to take over America is George Soros himself? Is it possible to buy a country if you have enough money?

RUNNING SCARED ?

Over at Threshing Grain you can read a portion of a bulletin from St. Joan of Arc parish in Minneapolis-St. Paul in which the pastor, Fr. Jim DeBruycker, complains about the blogs keeping track of what is going on at his parish and publishing the information:

Since I have come to St. Joan’s I have certainly seen the ‘Karl Roving’ of the Church. If you ever want to be disgusted, google St. Joan of Arc, but don’t go to our website, read the blogs about us. Julie Madden (Peace & Justice Ministries-my edit) is the only person I know with the stomach to do it on a regular basis. We are, in the world of ultra-conservative Catholicism, the evil incarnate. If a bad motive can be ascribed to anything we do, it is ascribed to us.

I seem to detect reaction to pressure in this complaint. If they were doing what they are supposed to be doing, they would have nothing to hide and thus nothing to complain about. They would be glad to have any Catholic see what they are up to. Obviously that is not the case, and the blogs are having an impact. Perhaps the new bishop of Minneapolis-St. Paul is as well!

GEORGE WEIGEL ON THE OBAMA VOTE

Washington DC, Oct 16, 2008 / 05:49 am (CNA).- Catholic political commentator George Weigel has criticized pro-life Catholics who support the pro-abortion rights Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. Writing for Newsweek magazine, he criticizes pro-life Obama supporters such as Pepperdine University law professor Doug Kmiec and suggests their emergence may portend a “hardening of the battle lines” within the Catholic Church regardless of who wins the presidency this November....

Weigel calls the pro-Obama Catholics’ arguments “counterintuitive,” claiming that Obama “has an unalloyed record of support for abortion on demand.” In Weigel’s view, Obama thinks the U.S. Supreme Court has defined abortion as “a fundamental liberty right essential for women's equality” which requires government-guaranteed access to abortion and financial assistance.

Citing Obama’s campaign web site, Weigel argues that the candidate’s support for the federal Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) would eliminate “all state and federal regulation of abortion” and also state laws protecting the consciences of pro-life doctors who refuse to assist with abortions. FOCA could even force bills meant to support pregnant women to include support for abortion, he says.

Weigel also charges Obama with supporting federal funding for abortion by opposing the Hyde Amendment that restricts the use of taxpayer monies for abortion. Obama has also pledged to repeal the “Mexico City Policy” which bans foreign aid for organizations that promote abortion. Additionally, he has reportedly opposed continued federal funding for crisis pregnancy centers.

Obama’s repeated opposition to Illinois’ Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which would have protected infants who survive abortions, is also a matter pro-life Obama supporters must address, Weigel says.

Read the whole article...

THE DEBATE

I presume most of you watched it.

When it was over, my husband and I concluded that McCain was the clear winner. We based that conclusion on Obama's facial expressions while McCain was talking, as much as on anything either candidate said. We were watching the split screen version of the debate that CNN provided. I thought McCain took the higher road as reflected in his reactions to Obama's statements. McCain came across as trustworthy. Obama did not.

But the polls, as reported this morning, don't reflect our conclusions. It seems that the news shows have concluded Obama won. Meanwhile I'm flabbergasted that he can even stay in the race after the revelations about his past, and this latest revelation, which is still unconfirmed, as far as I know. How can Americans even consider a candidate with connections to the leaders of the SDS/Weather underground movement of the 1970's? Is it because the majority of polled voters were not aware or even alive back then when our country was in a state of crisis with riots in cities and on campuses? I shudder to think what could happen to America once again if these radicals attain a foothold in Washington.

Look again at that World Net Daily story linked above in which the following quote is attributed to Michelle Obama:

"African Press International is supposed to support Africans and African-American view," she reportedly said. "It is strange that API has chosen to support the racists against my husband. There is no shame in being adopted by a stepfather. All dirt has been thrown onto my husband's face and yet he loves this country. My husband and I know that there is no law that will stop him from becoming the president, just because some American white racists are bringing up the issue of my husband's adoption by his stepfather. The important thing here is where my husband's heart is at the moment. I can tell the American people that my husband loves this country and his adoption never changed his love for this country. He was born in Hawaii, yes, and that gives him all the right to be an American citizen even though he was adopted by a foreigner."

If she really said that, one has to wonder if she is genetically incapable of recognizing her own racism. Does she believe racism can only be engaged in by whites? She is doing in reverse the very thing she condemns whites for. This woman will be the first lady if Obama is elected.

What will happen if Obama is elected and it then turns out that he was not qualified to run because of his citizenship? Where is the birth certificate that proves he is an American citizen? Is dual citizenship legal under American law? Why hasn't he presented a birth certificate to the Republican campaign and settled this question? What if it can't be found?

And what about this charge that he supported Raila Odinga?

To my way of thinking, Obama represents chaos magick--generate enough confusion to make everyone genuinely uneasy and unsure of what they believe, and then tell them what they believe via the evening news.

Americans are known to vote their pocketbook. The question has never been answered as to why this economic crisis that has been festering for years erupted at this particular time when there is a leadership vacuum at the top and an election hanging in the balance.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

THE CATHOLIC VOTE

Randall Terry has written a letter to all of America's bishops creating a scenerio paralleling the killing of unborn children to a hypothetical killing of bishops, in an effort to get the bishop's attention so that they will support a Catholic position in the upcoming election. The letter and related material can be found at humbleplea.com.

Market Watch has picked up the story and preceded it with comments by Bishop Rene Henry Gracida, Corpus Christi, which states:

I have visited the humbleplea.com website and have read the Open Letter to the U.S. Bishops and brochure "Faithful Catholic Citizenship."

You have done an excellent job of presenting the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church and applying it to the candidacy of Barack Hussein Obama.

I encourage you to disseminate the two documents as widely as possible. More and more bishops are speaking up in the way you desire.

Bottom line? "A Catholic Bishop Confirms that a Catholic Cannot Vote for Obama in Good Conscience" as the title of the article states.

ANOTHER YOUTUBE JAW DROPPER

RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT ?

I'd been wondering if he was still running since he isn't making any noise about it.

Well yes, he is. And here is his campaign on a YouTube video. Left me open-mouthed!

"CATHOLIC" ADOPTION AGENCY OPPOSES BISHOP

LANCASTER, October 14, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An adoption agency in Lancaster has decided that there is no need for recourse either to Catholic teaching or to the approval of its bishop to continue calling itself Catholic. Catholic Caring Services of Lancaster has told their bishop that they will go ahead with plans to include homosexual partners as prospective adoptive parents and at the same time continue to retain their "Catholic" character.

Jim Cullen, chief executive of Catholic Caring Services announced that the registered religious charity will consider homosexual partners and at the same time, "will remain a Catholic charity, operating the same services, with the same staff, same values and same ethos."...

Bishop O'Donohue issued an ultimatum to the agency saying it must explore "all possible means" within the law to refuse homosexual adoptions or possibly be ousted from diocesan-owned properties and have its diocesan funding cut off.

In his letter, Bishop O'Donohue wrote, "Catholic Caring Services is a Catholic Charity and was established with Catholic money provided to it in the belief that Catholic Caring Services Trustees would use that money in accordance with Catholic teaching." Bishop O'Donohue also warned the agency that they would come into conflict with the government's Charity Commission if they tried unilaterally to redefine themselves as a secular agency.

Read the whole story...

BISHOP OPPOSING BISHOP

and making a muddle for the Catholic faithful who want to vote with the mind of the Church in the upcoming presidential election is unpacked by Barbara Kralis:

In a recent interview, Bishop Gerald Kicanas of the diocese of Tucson made some interesting comments that deserve public scrutiny. He discussed the upcoming November Presidential election, as well as the upcoming November United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' plenary meeting. It is clear the bishop confuses the already confused Catholic reader.

LifeSite.com recently wrote: "Bishop Gerald Kicanas is among that cadre of US bishops who is himself well liked in Democrat and liberal Catholic communities for his vocal support for left wing and "progressive" peace and justice issues. Bishop Kicanas was praised by the aggressively abortion-supporting Governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano, for his 'softer' approach to pro-abortion politicians using Catholic venues to publicize their positions."

In his interview, Bishop Kicanas speaks of the importance of voters considering the "vast array of issues" in voting. This is not correct. Abortion is the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other human rights.

In refuting the arguments presented by Bishop Kicanas, she quotes Benedict and John Paul II.

The list of 40 bishops who side with the mind of the Church is given by Deal Hudson in his article about this internal division at Angelqueen.

FR. FARROW'S BISHOP HAS LAST WORD

Fresno, Oct 14, 2008 / 08:20 pm (CNA).- Bishop of Fresno John Steinbock has removed and suspended from the priesthood a pastor who told parishioners to oppose Proposition 8 and declared himself to be a homosexual. The bishop’s letter to the priest charged him with contradicting the teaching of the Catholic Church and bringing scandal to the parish and to the whole Church.

Proposition 8 is a ballot measure for California which, if passed, will amend the state Constitution to define marriage as being between a man and a woman. The California Supreme Court had imposed same-sex marriage on the state in a May decision.

On October 5 Father Geoffrey Farrow, who until recently pastored the St. Paul Newman Center in Fresno, told parishioners he opposed the marriage initiative after his homily at the 11 a.m. Mass, the California Catholic Daily reports. In a television interview before the Mass on KFSN-TV in Fresno, the priest admitted his own homosexuality.

When news of Fr. Farrow´s stance reached Bishop Steinbock, he took away the priest’s diocesan salary and health benefits, telling him not to return to the Newman Center or any other parish in the diocese he had previously served.

“Your statement contradicted the teaching of the Catholic Church and has brought scandal to your parish community as well as the whole Church," Bishop Steinbock said in a letter to the priest, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Father Farrow responded in an October 9 post to his blog, saying “In all candor, I had anticipated that response which is why I had removed my personal property from the parish house and offices. I bear no personal antimosity (sic) to the bishop for his decision.”

He continued to oppose Proposition 8, writing: “I am however, making good use of my time. I am speaking with various groups and individuals who are working very hard for the ‘NO on Proposition 8’ campaign. I have to tell you, this is a fight for all of us, not just for people in the state of California.”

Continue reading...

MELDING KABBALAH WITH NEW AGE

Sedona.biz reports that the Jewish Community of Sedona, Arizona, will host two lectures by Kabbalist Rabbi Laibl Wolf:

SEDONA, AZ - Oct 13, 2008 - On Wednesday, November 12, world renown Kabbalist Rabbi Laibl Wolf, one of the foremost authorities in the world on Kabbalah (the "mystical" side of Judaism), will be returning to Sedona. He will present two programs at the Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley....

For the past 35 years Rabbi Laibl Wolf has been a worldwide teacher of the mystical side of Judaism. He is a master of, and draws his teachings from, the 4000-year-old esoteric and encrypted texts of Kabbalah, a guide to the mysteries of cosmic and human consciousness and the source for much of the ‘new age’ wisdom we are familiar with today. While based on the Kabbalah, Rabbi Wolf’s philosophies are modern and progressive, and facilitate the growth of one's inner spirit in a technologically-driven society. Although an Orthodox Hassidic Rabbi, his teachings are universal, open to people of all backgrounds and spiritual orientations....

Attuned to the similarities between Eastern spirituality and Kabbalist teachings, Rabbi Wolf has met with many leaders of other spiritual communities including an extensive two-hour private session with the Dalai Lama. Melbourne University has appointed Rabbi Wolf as its founding lecturer in Jewish Mysticism and Spirituality. He is the Founder and Director of the Human Development Institute, a foundation dedicated to the progress of humankind through awareness and personal mastery. He has studied under great Hassidic masters, his foremost mentor being the revered Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson who was known globally for the passionate wisdom he bestowed on humankind. Rabbi Wolf lives in Melbourne, Australia with his wife, Leah, and the youngest two of their seven children....

The two sessions include an afternoon program which explores interpretation of the Torah using Kabbalah, and is limited to 25 participants. The evening program focuses on using Kabbalah to cope with stress.

The afternoon workshop costs $36 and the evening session will depend upon donations of $10-$26.

Sedona, of course, is a prominent community among the New Agers.

THE OBAMA TAX CUTS

The Wall Street Journal unpacks the Obama tax cuts, charging that they are in effect an increase in welfare since many Americans below a certain income level will receive a check from the government even though they have not earned enough income to owe any tax.

THE FAILURE OF THE "GREED GOSPEL"

A New York Times commentary by Peter S. Goodman places the blame for our economic turmoil on the advent of "derivatives" conjured by Alan Greenspan and his trust that bankers would act honorably:

“In a market system based on trust, reputation has a significant economic value,” Mr. Greenspan told the audience. “I am therefore distressed at how far we have let concerns for reputation slip in recent years.”

As the long-serving chairman of the Fed, the nation’s most powerful economic policy maker, Mr. Greenspan preached the transcendent, wealth-creating powers of the market.

A professed libertarian, he counted among his formative influences the novelist Ayn Rand, who portrayed collective power as an evil force set against the enlightened self-interest of individuals. In turn, he showed a resolute faith that those participating in financial markets would act responsibly.

An examination of more than two decades of Mr. Greenspan’s record on financial regulation and derivatives in particular reveals the degree to which he tethered the health of the nation’s economy to that faith.

As the nascent derivatives market took hold in the early 1990s, and in subsequent years, critics denounced an absence of rules forcing institutions to disclose their positions and set aside funds as a reserve against bad bets.

Time and again, Mr. Greenspan — a revered figure affectionately nicknamed the Oracle — proclaimed that risks could be handled by the markets themselves.

“Proposals to bring even minimalist regulation were basically rebuffed by Greenspan and various people in the Treasury,” recalled Alan S. Blinder, a former Federal Reserve board member and an economist at Princeton University. “I think of him as consistently cheerleading on derivatives.”

Arthur Levitt Jr., a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, says Mr. Greenspan opposes regulating derivatives because of a fundamental disdain for government.

Mr. Levitt said that Mr. Greenspan’s authority and grasp of global finance consistently persuaded less financially sophisticated lawmakers to follow his lead.

“I always felt that the titans of our legislature didn’t want to reveal their own inability to understand some of the concepts that Mr. Greenspan was setting forth,” Mr. Levitt said. “I don’t recall anyone ever saying, ‘What do you mean by that, Alan?’ ”

Still, over a long stretch of time, some did pose questions. In 1992, Edward J. Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts who led the House subcommittee on telecommunications and finance, asked what was then the General Accounting Office to study derivatives risks.

Two years later, the office released its report, identifying “significant gaps and weaknesses” in the regulatory oversight of derivatives.

“The sudden failure or abrupt withdrawal from trading of any of these large U.S. dealers could cause liquidity problems in the markets and could also pose risks to others, including federally insured banks and the financial system as a whole,” Charles A. Bowsher, head of the accounting office, said when he testified before Mr. Markey’s committee in 1994. “In some cases intervention has and could result in a financial bailout paid for or guaranteed by taxpayers.”

Read all of it at the website.

Dare we hope that the collapse will signal the end of Austrian economics and its "gospel of greed"?

APPARITION REJECTED

Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, Baltimore, has determined that there is nothing supernatural about the messages and locutions of Gianna Talone-Sullivan.

COOPERATING IN EVIL

From the Dallas Morning News:

Some North Texas Catholics are upset with a letter written to them by their local bishops, saying it amounts to an endorsement of John McCain for president.

"I was personally offended," said Phillip Archer of Dallas. "My bishop basically told me that if I vote for Barack Obama, I will go to hell."

The letter by Bishop Kevin Farrell of the Diocese of Dallas and Bishop Kevin Vann of the Diocese of Fort Worth says in part: "To vote for a candidate who supports the intrinsic evil of abortion or 'abortion rights' when there is a morally acceptable alternative would be to cooperate in the evil – and, therefore, morally impermissible."

Read the rest...

WAS MARTIN LUTHER KING A REPUBLICAN ?

The National Black Republican Association says yes:

It should come as no surprise that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. In that era, almost all black Americans were Republicans. Why? From its founding in 1854 as the anti-slavery party until today, the Republican Party has championed freedom and civil rights for blacks. And as one pundit so succinctly stated, the Democrat Party is as it always has been, the party of the four S's: Slavery, Secession, Segregation and now Socialism.

It was the Democrats who fought to keep blacks in slavery and passed the discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. The Democrats started the Ku Klux Klan to lynch and terrorize blacks. The Democrats fought to prevent the passage of every civil rights law beginning with the civil rights laws of the 1860's, and continuing with the civil rights laws of the 1950's and 1960's....

In order to break the Democrats' stranglehold on the black vote and free black Americans from the Democrat Party's economic plantation, we must shed the light of truth on the Democrats. We must demonstrate that the Democrat Party policies of socialism and dependency on government handouts offer the pathway to poverty, while Republican Party principles of hard work, personal responsibility, getting a good education and ownership of homes and small businesses offer the pathway to prosperity.

FIRST GRADERS AT GAY WEDDING

The St. John Valdosta Blog reports:

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In the same week that the No on 8 campaign launched an ad that labeled as "lies" claims that same-sex marriage would be taught in schools to young children, a first grade class took a school-sponsored trip to a gay wedding. Eighteen first graders traveled to San Francisco City Hall Friday for the wedding of their teacher and her lesbian partner, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. The school sponsored the trip for the students, ages 5 and 6, taking them away from their studies for the same-sex wedding. According to the Yes on 8 campaign, the public school field trip demonstrates that the California Supreme Court's decision to legal same-sex marriage has real consequences....

"It's totally unreasonable that a first grade field trip would be to a same-sex wedding," said Chip White, Press Secretary for Yes on 8. "This is overt indoctrination of children who are too young to understand it." The trip underscores the Yes on 8 campaign's message that unless Prop. 8 passes, children will be taught about same-sex marriage in public schools. "Not only can it happen, it has already happened," White said.

"OIL OF GLADNESS"

A South African charismatic practice of annointing with the "oil of gladness" has been labeled an abuse by Archbishop Malcom Ranjith, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship.

OBAMA IN COURT OVER BIRTH CERTIFICATE

Attorney Philip Berg has sued, claiming Obama cannot produce a birth certificate proving his American citizenship because he doesn't have one. Check out the 11 minute video at American Thinker in which Berg discusses his court case. The Democrats have filed a motion to dismiss, and the case is in the hands of the judge.

YEAH, THIS IS WHAT I'M AFRAID OF

When my friend who works at a local library said someone had picked up 20 voter registration forms, this is the fear that crossed my mind:

CLEVELAND - A man at the center of a voter-registration scandal told The Post yesterday he was given cash and cigarettes by aggressive ACORN activists in exchange for registering an astonishing 72 times, in apparent violation of Ohio laws.

"Sometimes, they come up and bribe me with a cigarette, or they'll give me a dollar to sign up," said Freddie Johnson, 19, who filled out 72 separate voter-registration cards over an 18-month period at the behest of the left-leaning Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

"The ACORN people are everywhere, looking to sign people up. I tell them I am already registered. The girl said, 'You are?' I say, 'Yup,' and then they say, 'Can you just sign up again?' " he said.

Johnson used the same information on all of his registration cards, and officials say they usually catch and toss out duplicate registrations. But the practice sparks fear that some multiple registrants could provide different information and vote more than once by absentee ballot.

ACORN is under investigation in Ohio and at least eight other states - including Missouri, where the FBI said it's planning to look into potential voter fraud - for over-the-top efforts to get as many names as possible on the voter rolls regardless of whether a person is registered or eligible.

It's even under investigation in Bridgeport, Conn., for allegedly registering a 7-year-old girl to vote, according to the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

Read more...

Sort of sheds a whole new light on the fund raising efforts of Africans for Obama, as reported in the Guardian, doesn't it?

A LITTLE MONDAY MORNING HUMOR

Lord knows we need some!

Check out the visual at St. Louis Catholic

WORLD POWER SHIFT ?

David R. Sands at The Washington Times predicts a global power shift resulting from the current economic meltdown. He predicts that China, Russia and India will be the new global leaders.