Crucifixion Legalized By Hamas

By now you have heard about the renewed jihad of Hamas, along with a strong reaction (finally!) from Israel. Much of it has made the news, courtesy of the Main Stream Media. Here are a couple of tidbits that haven't caused waves, but should have:

On Christmas Day the Jerusalem Post published the following by Caroline Glick:

[Both Iran and its Hamas proxy in Gaza have been busy this Christmas week showing Christendom just what they think of it. But no one seems to have noticed.

On Tuesday, Hamas legislators marked the Christmas season by passing a Shari'a criminal code for the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, it legalizes crucifixion.

Hamas's endorsement of nailing enemies of Islam to crosses came at the same time it renewed its jihad. Here, too, Hamas wanted to make sure that Christians didn't feel neglected as its fighters launched missiles at Jewish day care centers and schools. So on Wednesday, Hamas lobbed a mortar shell at the Erez crossing point into Israel just as a group of Gazan Christians were standing on line waiting to travel to Bethlehem for Christmas.]

I wonder why the legalization of crucifixion by Hamas would be ignored by the MSM at Christmas time? Is it simply one more example of the Press taking sides against Israel? Or is the MSM merely afraid of making Hamas angry? Maybe the MSM feels that if the majority of Americans (Christians) got angry enough at Hamas, President Bush's approval ratings might increase as the country unites again. That could spell more trouble for Democrats in 2010...

Yesterday in New York City, Urban Infidel risked her life taking pictures of a demonstration put on by pro-Israel protesters, which also attracted some pro-Hamas protesters, resulting in an, at times, dangerous clash of ideologies. See her photo essay HERE.

(h/t: Brutally Honest, XtnYoda, Urban Infidel)

Happy New Year? Better than '08, We Hope

From Paul.

Feast Day Of Christ The King

Father Brankin of The Shrine (St. Odilo Parish in Berwyn, IL) delivers a stirring homily in which he pulls no punches. While some might find it a dangerous mixture of things which should not be mixed (P+R), I find it to be quite refreshingly honest and overdue at a time in which our culture deems itself too busy and too important for God.

I know the actual feast day was November 23rd, but this homily was too good to pass up.


[Ramblings-- Fr. Brankin Imagine what Europe must have been like after the Fall of the Roman Empire. The barbarians—some of our ancestors—had invaded and destroyed as much as they found. There were no great nations and kingdoms—just areas ruled over by strongmen—chieftains—gang leaders basically.

When you think about it—all the present noble families of all the kingdoms of Europe-- probably most of them were just families who along time ago were able to beat up other families. And that’s how they became rulers and nobles. It was not much more than that.

It took many centuries to sort out how to live peacefully in the aftermath of the Fall of the Roman Empire because there was precious little order or civilization or even government left. But the Church was right there to pick up the pieces.

This is the Era often called the Dark Ages—where the Church was faced with the dual task of preserving and re-civilizing whatever was left from the old days. At the same time she had to replace terrible pagan customs like abortion and exposure, divorce and ritual suicide with something Catholic—something Christian.

The so–called Dark Ages were not as dark as they were the streaks of light in the Dawning of a new day. Christian Civilization was being born.

This was the time—and it took more than a few hundred years—that Christians learned how to live in peace and charity and in the love of Christ. They learned how to pray and how to live as families and members of villages.

They learned how to farm and make all the things we take for granted—like wine and cheese and various kinds of foods and breads.

The monasteries and cathedrals were all being built. Art and music began to flower, and people were learning how to live together in some measure of co-operation. Kings and princes, dukes and thanes, were judged in the glow of Christ’s holy light as taught by the Church.

In those days, if a king was unjust to his people—if the poor citizens chafed under the king’s rules and were burdened by his taxes and harassed by his soldiers— if the king was immoral in the conduct of his life—the Church through the bishops and Pope—would stand in front of that king and tell him “No, you may not do that to the people—it is immoral and unseemly for a Catholic king to legislate and behave in such a way.”

In fact if a king in that era were to be excommunicated by the Church because of his conduct and policies—then all his people were absolved of any allegiance to him. This threat pretty much kept these former barbarian strongmen from hurting the people too much. The Church was not only the teacher of civilization but also the leader of kings.

But she could be so because the kings and leaders and people of that era actually believed in Christ and truly did acknowledge Him as Lord.

And they obeyed when the Pope spoke because they knew that he spoke for Christ—and in their heart of hearts they knew that one day it would be Jesus Himself who would judge whether or not they led their people morally and properly.

This was what we mean by the rule of Christ the King. And His Kingdom has been traditionally been called Christendom—where Christ teaches us a way of life. Christendom is a Christian civilization where families and leaders and laws reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. It means morals and customs life and culture are fashioned and molded by Christ Himself through the Church.

To say that Christ is our King is not to say that the Church should run the government. But it is to say that a government runs best—and helps its people the most if its policies and provisions follow Christ and His Church. Any government that dismisses the Church is not just dismissing the pope and few loud Catholics—it is dismissing Christ and therefore God and places itself on the road to its own self-destruction and the destruction of its people.

And I do not care if the government is the government of the United States—its rules and laws must be Made under God—under Christ the King— whether it acknowledges Him or not. And no politician—even Barack Obama— can deny the Authority of God. That’s why the bishops told Obama recently—“If you sign the Freedom of Choice Act as you have promised and force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions—we will close those hospitals down—and will not resell them to you or anyone else. We will not knuckle under to laws that are anti-life, anti-love, and anti–Christ.

Now we as a country have not bound ourselves or our politicians to Christ the King for many years. This actually is not a Christian country—even though it is loaded with Christians. As Americans we do not follow Christ. Let’s face it. He is not our King. We got rid of George III and Jesus all at the same time. Every time the media prattles on about the separation of church and state—and how the Church should keep out of politics—especially abortion or gays—they are actually saying how we should not follow Christ.

Which is when we have to ask ourselves that same question: Do we follow Christ? Do we listen to His Church? Or is our real allegiance to some petty politician who promises us more money in return for our silence about the immoral things he wants to do.

If the Feast Day of Christ the King is supposed to mean anything more than “blah blah blah—Christ must be the King of our hearts—blah blah blah,” it is supposed to mean that we citizens must pay close personal attention to the teachings of the Church especially when it comes to war or our abortion or pornography or family or immigration policies. What does the Church say? What does Christ say? and then after we have accepted those teachings, then we must do all in our power to get our government to observe those same teachings.

If Christ is to be our King then we owe allegiance to Him and Him alone—and our loyalty to Christ will be proven by our believing and practicing the faith in our own lives and then by voting and campaigning for the public implementation of the moral teachings of His Church in the life of this country. That’s what the Pope meant in 1920 when he began this Feast day of Christ the King.

And when that happens in big enough numbers then we might see the rebirth of Christian civilization once again—where we become a people once again for whom Christ is truly King.]

...And A Happy New Year To Our Soldiers Serving Overseas

From former Senator Fred Thompson.

Holiday Hilarity

From Rick @ Brutally Honest. Very Funny!

Merry Christmas from St. Blogustine

Make the time to attend Mass tonight. Yule be glad you did.
(pic borrowed from Jeff)

'Tis The Season...

From Jill Stanek, who got it from Dana Summers at Townhall.com.

Fr. Brankin's Homily--- Feast Day Of Our Lady Of Guadalupe

[Ramblings - Fr. Brankin

How pleased and proud I was this week to celebrate this wonderful Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Since I was a child—of Irish and Italian parents—born on the South side of Chicago-- I and my brothers and my sister and all our friends—every year—thrilled to hear of the marvels of this Feast Day.

We were amazed at the story—at the miracles—at the love shown by Our Lord and Our Lady first to Juan Diego and to the Mexican people and then to us—her children in the rest of America.

Yes, we heard those stories in school and in church. We thrilled to hear of the Aztec Juan Diego, humble, poor, full of love and faith—making his 14 mile trip to church—to receive God’s Body and Blood at Mass.

We heard how he was stopped in his tracks—transfixed by a flood of light and color from which a beautiful Princess from heaven emerged.

She told Juan Diego that she was the ever-virgin Mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ—that she wished to reveal the True God to the people—because she was their true mother—and the mother of all.

Our hearts melted when we heard her say that. She was just like a mother-- she would hear her children’s crying and know their sadness and relieve all their sufferings and miseries and misfortunes.

And all our lives—we little Irish—Italian children—and Polish and Bohemian and German and whatever---have thrilled to hear this story—because we have known all our lives that she is our mother too, and we all rest in the crossing of her arms and in the folds of her mantle and we all need – desperately--the protection of our heavenly mother.

And why?

Because the Ancient Serpent whose head the Virgin Mary crushes— is still loose in the world. And every generation of every nation is in danger from him at every moment. How carefully we must place our feet lest we step wrong and be bit by this Ancient enemy. And he has grown so much more subtle and deadly and poisonous in our modern era.

He comes to us not as he is—an evil snake—but he comes to us as our friend and our helper; and even though we know there is only one Messiah—he tells us that he is one who will save us.

But he is the Father of Lies—and he tempts us just as he tempted Adam and Eve and hissed in their ears:

“You don’t need God. All you need is yourselves. You can do whatever you want. You can take what you want—because you shall be as gods.”

We don’t even notice it, but he slithers into our homes and begins to live right there in our families. He talks to us every day and every night. He teaches us all we need to know to become just like him; and he does so through the television and radio, in the movies we watch and in the newspapers we read.

You know, he is the one who made those movies and he is the one who has written those newspapers. He sings to the children all the songs they know—the ones they won’t sing for you. He sits behind each laptop and keyboard and helps us type out all the pornography we can use to scar our brains.

He crawls into our minds and hearts and gives us ideas we never had before—to make us do things we never did before. He gives us visions of evil and dreams of death that make us sick and sour. His poison seeps through our veins and into the very lifeblood of our families.

It is the Ancient Serpent who creates all the discord and unhappiness in our modern families. He is the one who has littered our world with so many broken hearts. He is the one who has flooded this world and our lives with so many tears.
He laughs at the notion of family—father and mother and children all in sweet accord. He embarrasses us when we try to turn things around and change things in our homes-- like turning off the tv and eating together.

He makes us doubt ourselves and wonder if family really is a relic of the past.

And then the venom begins to paralyze us—and we begin to feel that we do not have to take care of each other—that we may ignore our grandparents, abuse our children, kill our babies and move on to the next adulterous affair.

We begin to believe the Ancient Serpent’s lies--that this modern life will fulfill us and make us happy.

But in our hearts we know that is a lie—because we know that living with no God—no love—no faithfulness—no sacrifice is the cause of all the sadness and anger and fighting we now see in our own homes. Who these days is untouched by Satan? What modern mothers and fathers and children are immune to the bitterness and resentment he has spread?

Our only hope against the Serpent’s venom of sin and suffering is to flee to the arms of our Mother. Because only Mary and Jesus can crush the head of the Serpent—as it was foretold in the Bible-- to save our families.

One of the other marvelous miracles that took place in connection with the tilma was the time when some anti-god anti- catholic political revolutionaries exploded a bomb in the sanctuary of the basilica. They were going to kill God and Mary His mother.

How stupid! The whole sanctuary was destroyed—all the marble and stone and plaster came crashing down-- but the beautiful Image of the beautiful virgin remained untouched.

That miraculous Image will never be destroyed because God cannot be destroyed. Therefore, when that Image—when that Virgin— is safely within our hearts as in a temple not built by human hands, but by God Himself, then Mary shines forth in the things we do and the things we say.

She and Jesus will live in our homes and in our families and cause all the joy and happiness we can stand. When the Image of Mary is deep within, it shows itself in our hands—on our faces —in our hearts.

And when that Image is imprinted on our hearts—not just on a wall in a building— then we cannot be harmed; for we go out into this world and confront the Ancient Serpent not alone, but protected by Jesus and Mary His Mother—who know exactly where he is and where he has always been. And what’s more, no one will have to go to Mexico City to see the beauty of the Virgin Mary—they will see her image in our faces and in our lives and in our homes. They will see in us—the Virgin of Guadalupe.]

We at St. Blogustine love Father Brankin and his homilies, and will post them from time to time. You can see him every Sunday at Mass at St. Odilo Parish (National Shrine Of The Poor Souls) in Berwyn, IL.

Indiana Planned Parenthood Caught On Tape AGAIN

On December 4th I posted a couple of You Tube videos detailing sting operations on Planned Parenthood's unofficial policy to not only ignore obvious examples of rape and/or sexual abuse of minors, but to encourage the minor to return to the abusive relationship after the abortion is completed. One of the videos was done by Lila Rose and the Mona Lisa Project in which she and an actress went undercover to a Planned Parenthood in Bloomington, IN. See both videos by clicking HERE.

Below is part two of the Mona Lisa Project, in which they drove 90 miles to Indianapolis, IN to another Planned Parenthood abattoir. Again the actress pretended to be a 13 year old girl impregnated by a 31 year old boyfriend, and again the Planned Parenthood reps reacted in the exact same way, as if they were trained to do so. They didn't want to hear how old the boyfriend was, and they "suggested" having the abortion done in a surrounding state in which parental consent is not required.




Lila Rose is a UCLA student who has earned the respect of pro-lifers everywhere with her undercover work with Live Action Films. Read her bio HERE.

Also see the Live Action Film videos censored by You Tube HERE. They include the racist donation investigation videos. Oh, what the heck, see one of the racist ones below.

Pride Goeth Before Destruction...

...and a haughty spirit before a fall, which is the correct quote from Proverbs 16:18 and the best way to start a post about IL Gov. Rod Blagojevich. By now you have read and heard about the arrest of the soon-to-be-impeached governor of Illinois for trying to auction off Obama's former Senate seat. After being distracted by seasonal, health, and employment issues (all of which have been resolved), it is past time for me to weigh in.

Both Kevin and I grew up in Illinois (Kevin still lives there) and know full well that pay-to-play is nothing new. Many state jobs must be bid upon (literally by donating to campaigns and the like), and Blago is not the first IL governor to get in trouble. Assuming Blagojevich goes to prison (quite likely since it was all caught on tape), he would be the fourth of the most recent six governors of IL to be sent there for various reasons. Govs. Kerner, Walker and Ryan all went to jail, while Ogilvie, Thompson, and Edgar did not. In fact it was Thompson who put Kerner in jail. But I digress...

The reaction of the media is interesting in that it surprises me they devote so much time to this story. I would expect 24/7 coverage on this only if it were a Republican who had ties to Bush. But it isn't surprising the press is not pressing Obama more, considering that he came up through the same corrupt political cesspool from which Blago oozed.

The reaction of fellow Democrats is not surprising. Everyone wants to distance themselves from Blago as if they barely knew him, though several campaigned for him in return for his campaigning for them, or vice versa. The most interesting is from IL State Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, who is trying to get the courts to declare Blago "unfit to serve" as governor, as if Blago had suddenly acquired a mental disorder or had become demon possessed, rather than being corrupt from the get-go. The Democrats would never admit to having a "culture of corruption" of their own. It brings to mind Hitler and the other Nazis declaring Rudolph Hess "crazy" after the attempt by Hess to negotiate a separate peace with Churchill was deemed unsuccessful, except that, unlike Blago, Hess actually thought he was doing the right thing for his country.

Obama calling for Blago's resignation also has a hollow ring to it. As mentioned earlier, Obama rose up through the same system Blagojevich did, but Obama raised much more money for his presidential campaign. How much of the half billion did Blago help Obama get? And how much of it did Blago take home with him? One can only hope that an overly ambitious prosecutor like Patrick Fitzgerald, who went after Lewis Libby when he knew darned well it was Armitage all along, will not stop rounding them all up until he is sitting in the governor's mansion himself, and then fighting his own urge to be corrupt. Chicago Ray appears to be on top of each new development as it happens.

(pic h/t: American Power)

$677 MILLION In One Year! Illegal Alien Health Care Costs In TX

With hospital closings out in California and health insurance costs on the rise (along with my annual deductible), Texas has announced that illegal aliens cost that state $677 million in fiscal year 2006. And Harris County, by itself, provided $203.5 million in uncompensated care to illegals, most of whom were pregnant women (anchor babies anyone?). Read the whole article HERE in the Houston Chronicle.

When Your Kid Thinks He's Got a Religious Vocation, What's a Parent to do?

Sadly, as many vocations directors would attest, many parents try to shoot it down. (Since my life has been blessed from youth with a bounty of indicators that I don't have a highly desirable genetic arrangement, vanity won't impede me from nourishing a vocation in any or all of my children. But I digress).

Our friend, Lisa Graas, has put a lot of work into an online vocations guide for American Catholics, with its particular focus on parents.

Says Lisa, "Jesus is calling LOUDLY through His Church. The Church is really doing Her part. We parents are the ones who have to step up to the plate."

You can see just how much work the Church has done toward welcoming those answering the Call online by checking out their vocations inquiry sites, some of which are very professionally done. The guide has a portal that lists vocation offices by clicking the states on a graphical map.

Ms. Graas was motivated to complete this project after reading the blog of a Passionist nun in Whitesville. "It was said by one of them that it is very common for parents to stand in the way of a child's vocation. I hope to be able to help dispel any misgivings among parents about religious life."

The site has sections on religious statistics, accounts from lives of the saints, good orders to check out, and lots of Church documents. Perhaps of greatest interest to both parents and exploring candidates alike are the personal vocation stories from nuns who, alas, weren't born in the convent. (In fact, one of the stories she links to was the prom queen.)

CatholicCulture.org (a project of Trinity Communications) issued Lisa's vocations guide a Fidelity Award for its reliably faithful Catholic content.

Nor has the site gone unrecognized by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Father David L. Toups, an Associate Director at the Secretariate of Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations surprised Lisa with an unsolicited word of thanks that ends with some sound advice for parents:

The line for parents to learn is to be able to say, "I see in you (ICNU) the qualities that would make for a good priest or religious" - never pushing but only eliciting the good that is already there and leaving God to be the primary Inviter. Then we pray.

Far be it for us parents to stand afoul of the plans the Almighty has in mind for our children, who after all are more His than ours. Most assuredly, parents not only wouldn't impede but would nurture vocations in their children if only they adopt a perspective largely lost in our times that earthly acquisitions and marks of prestige amount to nothing in the next world, and thus living by God's will is more important than our own.

Then again, our kids could always pick a good order and elope.

Gay Bible Parody Tentatively Named After Princess Diana

Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto has a running feature he calls "Life Imitates The Onion," comparing actual news headlines side by side with "fake news" headlines that have run in the parody newspaper. This story feels like an Onion retread.

There's this film producer in New Mexico, see, and he's writing a sci-fi comedy, in which the whole world turns gay and the religious people burn all the King James Bibles. (If you need a moment to reattach your hind quarters after laughing at those burning bibles, go right ahead before reading on.)

Inspired by his own comic inspiration, writer Max Mitchell decided to retranslate the Bible itself into gay. From Genesis, we have the story of Aida and Eve (and you were expecting Adam and Steve):

"And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Aida, and she slept:
and he took one of her ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from woman, made he another woman, and brought her unto the first. And Aida said, 'This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of me. Therefore shall a woman leave her mother, and shall cleave unto her wife: and they shall be one flesh.' And they were both naked, the woman and her wife, and were not ashamed."

While I'm not sure whether he's thought out how to resolve all that early business in Genesis of begetting, I am sure I don't want to know. Even more problematic with Christians is the planned gay New Testament, where things will surely progress from mere sacrilege to outright blasphemy, making us long for the good old days when the big outrage was a certain movie depicting Christ with Mary Magdalene.

Says Mitchell, "There are 116 versions of the Bible, why is any of them better than ours?" The glaring answer, of course, is that Mitchell's rewrite is neither a modern translation or revision of the text but a complete lampoon of what's in the Bible, which is not going to give any comfort to those gays and lesbians searching it for real answers.

Mitchell is calling his book the Princess Diana Bible, ostensibly because of "her many good works", but more likely to cash in on the capital of her good name for free at the sales counter. It remains to be seen how that will play out with the Royal Family and the princess's estate.


More on the "Princess Diana Bible":

• Story in the Guardian
  
  
• Princess Diana Bible site
  

Santa's Little Abattoir???

Planned Parenthood...again...just cannot avoid controversy. And that is good. The more people learn about this multi-million dollar behemoth the better. Now they're giving out Christmas gift certificates for their "services," which include...you guessed it, ABORTION.

In a shocking display of integrity, ABC News and Charles Gibson reported on this yesterday. We have yet to hear from them about the continued act of covering up underage rape. From Jill Stanek's blog, courtesy of Stand True, we have the new Get Out Of Jail Free card that Planned Parenthood may also wish to offer. Very clever!

Planned Parenthood Still Breaking The Law -- Not Reporting Child Abuse Or Rape

The above video is the latest example of Planned Parenthood's continued illegal activity, this time in Indiana, in which a 13 year old girl reports being impregnated by her 31 year old boyfriend to the Planned Parenthood nurse, who tells her to keep quiet about it or lie about his age. Apparently, killing her child in her womb is more imperative than prosecuting the 31 year old boyfriend for statutory rape and/or child abuse. Also, there is more money in it, too.

Officially, Planned Parenthood denies it is their policy to ask young girls to lie, in spite of numerous examples detailed in the year-and-a-half-old, local Dallas, TX TV news report shown below. Two Congressmen, one pro-life Republican and one pro-choice Democrat, are interviewed after being shown similar video, and both are appalled. But has anything been done? Apparently not. Have the big three networks picked up on it? Obviously not. And why not? If you don't know by now, you probably never will. If you haven't seen the video below, it is a MUST SEE.

(h/t: Laura Ingraham)

Arlington Bishop on FOCA: ‘Arrest Me, Go Ahead’

Had the Catholic Church not already defined cloning as immoral per se, Bishop Paul Loverde of Arlington would be a living argument in favor of its practice. We love this guy!

From Life Site News:

Bishop Paul Loverde of the diocese of Arlington weighed in on the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) last week, saying that if he oversaw a Catholic hospital he would neither close the facility nor allow it to perform abortions if FOCA were to become law.

Though there are currently no Catholic hospitals in the Arlington diocese, the bishop spoke defiantly against FOCA, which would force all health care providers to procure abortions at any stage of development, regardless of their moral or religious objection.

“I would say, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to close the hospital, you’re going to arrest me, go right ahead," Bishop Loverde told a group of mostly young adults at a diocesan event, according to a CNS report.

“‘You’ll have to drag me out, go right ahead. I’m not closing this hospital, we will not perform abortions, and you can go take a flying leap.’”

The full story is here on LifeSiteNews.com.

Only if the entire body of bishops should rise up as one do they have a fighting chance of defeating FOCA. In that event, President (ugh) Obama and his Congressional Democrats would need to want their precious abortions enough to build a concentration camp for these prisoners of conscience, or stand down - which we think isn't the Change Obama had in mind (during his first year, anyway). But only if the bishops (and pro-lifers) stand united in their resolve will they be able to force the Dems to delete the conscience clause nullification from FOCA.

(Hat tip: Lisa Graas)

Stop Amnesty By Supporting NumbersUSA

In an interview with the Detroit Free Press published Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) stated that there would be very little opposition to a new Immigration Bill once it's brought before the next Congress. He went on to say that President-elect Obama and Senator McCain have reached an agreement on the issue. Just to be fair I should let Sen. Reid's own words be known:

Q: Will there be as much of a fight on immigration as last time?

A: We've got McCain and we've got a few others. I don't expect much of a fight at all. Now health care is going to be difficult. That's a very complicated issue. We debated at great length immigration. People understand the issues very well. We have not debated health care, so that's going to take a lot more time to do.

What's that? "We've got McCain.."??? That certainly implies that McCain has gone over to their camp, at least in the view of Harry Reid. But last I heard, McCain changed his immigration view somewhat from a pro-open-border view to one in which he believes the borders should be sealed first, and then those illegals remaining would be dealt with humanely. The latter view is one with which I have no problem.

It has been my own contention (not certain of Kev's complete view on this issue) that the border should be sealed tightly for national security. But I do not subscribe to any draconian view saying that those already here should all be deported immediately. Some certainly should, of course. But those who have long established ties, who have been productive contributors to our society should, IMHO, be allowed some sort of fast track to citizenship. And while that might not seem fair to those who've waited in line for years, it is certianly not fair, in my humble opinion, to toss all illegals over the fence when they were, for many years, beckoned to come here by our businesses and politicians, both of whom made it all too easy and tempting while looking the other way. I have sympathy for those poor neighbors south of our borders looking for a better life for themselves and their families, but I also have plenty of loathing for irresponsible authorities who allowed our sovereignty to dissolve over these many years by inviting desperate people to trash our borders. The punishment should go to the politicians.

If you harbor the same suspicions I have regarding the coming Amnesty Bill, that the fence will not be completed or that Democrats will simply allow anyone into the country who promises to vote Democrat, there are things you can do.

• First, contact NumbersUSA by clicking HERE and registering with them. They are a one-stop-shop for keeping up to date on all border related issues, keeping track of all Congressional voting on immigration matters, and sending faxes and emails to your Congressmen (they will do both, you simply click on the letter you want faxed --- It's really easy!) I have sent faxes to mine, and I actually heard back from one of them. So I know that no one is faking the faxing.
  

• Second, send a fax! But register HERE first. Then a couple of clicks later your Congressman's (or woman's) ears will turn crimson while reading your objection to the proposed irresponsible immigration plan hatched by Democrats. It is, at the very least, a fun way to let off steam.

• Third, if you have a blog or website on which you can post a banner or two, then by all means post a banner or two. Here is one that I just added to our left column:
  

• Fourth, sign the petition to President-elect Obama asking him NOT to support general amnesty.
  

Getting involved in issues like these gives one the feeling of empowerment that has eluded those of us on the Right lately... And even though they might pass Amnesty anyway with their huge Congressional majorities, why should we go whimpering into the night? If they fully intend to do it "easily" then let us at least make them sweat a little.

Reader Contest: Name that Tune

Happy day after Thanksgiving, the kickoff for the month-long shop fest punctuated at the end with what most of us still regard as a blessed holiday. My kids' behavior during the TV commercials is, well, exactly what my own was at their age. That's what the TV guys want them to do.

It inspired me to parody a certain overplayed Christmas song with this little ditty I composed. I'll send one of our stickers to the first correct guesser with the title of the original song:

Puh-leeze Mom and Dad
Puh-leeze Mom and Dad
Come here quickly, look at the TV
Can we get that?

I want a whole lot of toys for Christmas!
I want a whole lot of toys for Christmas!
I want a whole lot of toys for Christmas,
like they're showing in the ads!

(Repeat a zillion times for the next month).

Place your entries in the comments if you sign in with a Blogger account or URL traceable to a site with your email contact info. Otherwise, email me your entry at blogpoon(a)gmail(dot)com.

Ties will be determined by timestamp.

Update: I've altered a word in the first two lines to make it a closer match to the original. Is it a giveaway?

20,000 Muslims Attack a Church in Cairo

This in from the Assyrian International News Agency, who at this writing have either scooped this story before American news outfits have gotten to it, or the Americans have wind of it but spiked it.

One thousand Christians were today trapped inside the Coptic Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary in West Ain Shams, Cairo, after more than twenty thousand Muslims attacked them with stones and butane gas cylinders. The Church's priest Father Antonious said that the situation is extremely dangerous.

The Muslim mob that attacked the church blocked both sides of the street and encircled the church building, broke its doors and demolished its entire first floor. The mob were chanting Jihad verses as well as slogans saying "we will demolish the church" and "We sacrifice our blood and souls, we sacrifice ourselves for you, Islam", while the entrapped Christians chanted "Lord have mercy".

The incident started on the occasion of the inauguration of the Church today, when the Muslims hastily established a Mosque in the early hours of this morning, by taking over the first floor of a newly-built building facing the Church and started praying there.

When the security forces tried to disperse the mob, they went to nearby homes and shops owned by Christians, and were armed with sticks, butane, knives and other sharp objects. Witnesses said the mob included children from as young as 8-years old to men of over 50-years old, in addition to women.

The Church building was originally a factory that was adapted into its present state, the matter which took over five years to complete and to get the necessary permissions from the authorities to have a Church established.

Human rights organizations and lawyers were refused entry into the besieged Church.

Meanwhile, in other news from India's financial capital of Mumbai, Muslim terrorists have waged holy war on infidel tourists, civilians, and railway commuters stationed at restaurants, hotels, two hospitals, a railway station, and a Jewish center.

Brave Indian police paid the ultimate price in the rescue efforts that followed.

Perhaps these stories bring something to mind immediately for which to be thankful today.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kevin and I have been very busy lately with our respective obligations outside of the bloggosphere, and have been unable to do any serious research or commentary. This will change when things settle down. In the meantime I'd like to go off-format for one post and relate a true turkey story from my preschool days in Sterling, IL. That would be 1968, for those of you keeping score. The thing that reminded me of it was the recent flap over Alaska Governor Sarah Palin pardoning a turkey while standing within view of a turkey processor in use.

In the fall of 1968 when I attended secular nursery school (4 years old) at the local Presbyterian church building, one of the teachers, who happened to have her own 4 year old daughter enrolled, decided it would be fun and educational to take all 25 (or so) of us on a field trip to the nearby Gaulrapp Turkey Farm in Sterling, IL to see turkeys in all of their splendor. After all, since Thanksgiving was right around the corner this visit would be quite timely. The kids would see where Thanksgiving dinner comes from.

So on a cold but sunny November day we all put on our winter coats and mittens and piled onto the school bus, which took us straight to the farm. When we got out of the bus we immediately heard gobbling coming from a fenced in area, which sounded very festive and wonderful to our little ears. So much so that we didn't notice the smell of turkey droppings or pay attention (at first) to the turkey dander floating through the air. No, we simply ran up to the fence and beckoned those odd looking birds to come over and be petted, just like at the zoo.

The birds seemed gentle and even somewhat tame, as a couple of them allowed us to stroke the feathers on their backs with no complaints or pecking. And every so often a large man in heavy clothing with white cover-alls would come out into the yard and grab one of the turkeys and take them inside. Once when the door behind the man didn't quite close it appeared as though he was holding the bird by the neck and twirling him around. Not realizing the turkey was having its neck broken before being stripped, I followed the other children into the building through a door outside the fence.

Through this door we walked along a wall to our left while seeing some amazing views on our right. First the feathers were stripped from the bird. I seem to have a vague recollection of this being done by hand. But next was the part I will never forget. The tool looked kind of like an old fashioned ice cream scooper with a double handle, like pruning sheers, but with a guillotine at the end. Sort of like a much larger version of nail clippers used on cats and dogs, except the large metal loop was put over the head, and when the handle was squeezed the head would pop off, rather suddenly, and surprisingly bloodless. But it was so shocking to me that I had to watch it a second time just to know I wasn't dreaming. Of course there were several "eeewwws," "oh Gods," and "yyuuuucks" coming from the other children, and most likely me, too, as we passed through. Then the bodies were hung upside down on hooks to allow the blood to drain out. I don't recall seeing the birds gutted. I may have blocked that out from my memory. After the second door leading out was breached very little was said by anyone as we were ushered back onto the bus. No doubt our teacher was rather surprised that we were allowed to see the "whole tour."

When we returned to school there was a brief discussion about what was "witnessed" so that we little ones could make sense of the process. It was just all part of life's rich, bloody pageant. When I returned home I related the details, as I remembered them, to my Mother who stood there with her jaw dropping. In fact, her voice became so tense and angry each time she interrupted my story that I began to wonder if I had done something seriously wrong. I found out years later that several of the mothers were very outraged about the graphic nature of the tour for such young children. But in 2nd grade (at a different school) I returned to the same farm on a different field trip that did not include the abattoir.

eHarmony Settlement Opens The Flood Gates For Trouble

By now you may have heard the flap over eHarmony's settlement in New Jersey with a disgruntled homosexual named Eric McKinley, who sued Neil Clark Warren, a Focus On The Family author, and his couples matching business. In spite of the fact that Warren's business broke no laws nor refused to do business with McKinley (eHarmony wasn't set up to match homosexual couples due to Warren's lack of knowledge about such relationships) eHarmony caved and settled the suit. The lawyer for the defense attributed the settlement to the fear of unpredictability of such lawsuits. Other reasons are most assuredly related to the anti-Prop-8 mob mentality spreading like wildfire in California and elsewhere. Michelle Malkin has many of the details and links to the rest.

That rumbling sound you hear are the flood gates preparing to burst forth and cause all manner of mayhem. First of all eHarmony is now the subject of a brand new class-action lawsuit certified by a California Superior Court judge, claiming that eHarmony discriminates against gays and lesbians in California, even though the new settlement between eHarmony and McKinley forces the couples matching company to create a new separate website devoted to matching gays and lesbians.

Apparently many militant gays will not be happy unless eHarmony goes out of business, or the gay-alternative-lifestyle-agenda gets imposed on every man, woman, and child in this country regardless of their sensibilities. And if they are not in the oppressed minority, then who cares, right? Don't expect militant heterosexual groups to successfully sue gay and lesbian matching sites for not catering to the needs of "straight" people. I also wouldn't hold my breath waiting for gays and lesbians to sue Muslim matching sites, either. These lawsuits are not about the lack of opportunities for gays and lesbians to hook up as there are several sites on the web catered to them alone. And what of this atheist dating site? Are they not denying me my freedom of religion?

The lawsuits are totally about forcing Christians to knuckle under to the pressure put forth by the gay and lesbian agenda to "water down" our faith until it is acceptable to them. It is an attack on Christianity that will never stop until The Holy Bible, itself, is either banned outright or rewritten to a degree that is palatable to their sensibilities. It would be a book that is not only tolerant of gays and lesbians, but one that would promote their lifestyle as that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And that is unacceptable to us.

Now I am not writing this to bash gays and lesbians, nor do I even wish to deny them the opportunity to live in sin...if that is what they wish to do. God gives all of us free will, and gives us a choice to follow Him and obey His commandments or choose the other side. The choice is one that each of us must make freely without the sword, government edict, or judicial fiat. And those of us who choose Christ must not be coerced into sinning, either. And this is what they attempt to force upon Neil Clark Warren. Frankly, at this point it might be better for all if he closed up shop and pursued other endeavors, IMHO. What say you?

Bush Administration Abortion Conscience Clause Ruling Causes 'Torrent of Objections'

Conscience clause, hello and goodbye.

According to the International Herald Tribune,

A last-minute Bush administration plan to grant sweeping new protections to health care providers who oppose abortion and other procedures on religious or moral grounds has provoked a torrent of objections, including a strenuous protest from the government agency that enforces job-discrimination laws.

The proposed rule would prohibit recipients of federal money from discriminating against doctors, nurses and other health care workers who refuse to perform or to assist in the performance of abortions or sterilization procedures because of their "religious beliefs or moral convictions."

It would also prevent hospitals, clinics, doctors' offices and drugstores from requiring employees with religious or moral objections to "assist in the performance of any part of a health service program or research activity" financed by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The policy invoked objections from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's two, yes, Democrats, who in an Orwellian turn of phrase "said the proposal would overturn 40 years of civil rights law prohibiting job discrimination based on religion."

President-Elect Abort Orama can't wait to overturn the ruling. Obama has said the proposal will raise new hurdles to women seeking reproductive health services, like abortion and some contraceptives. Right to choose is a one-way street for health care workers and religious hospitals opposed to bloodying their hands with the grisly business of killing babies, who are in for a short reprieve until the Obamessiah of Unity takes office.

Calls for a response to Probama groups were deferred, as the spokesmen for Prolifers for Obama, Roman Catholics for Obama, and Catholics United still in bed with Planned Parenthood and the DNC since the election were sleeping in and did not wish to be disturbed with trifling inconveniences.


Hat tip: Drudge Report

Surprise! Surprise!...Obama Voters Are Ill-Informed.

Rather than do this before the election by asking people who INTEND to vote Obama some questions about their candidate, Zogby International waited until after it was too late to matter. Kinda of like saying, "better luck next time."

What they did was conduct a survey of 512 people who voted for Barack Obama, and ask them some questions to see how informed they were about the candidates on both sides. Some of the results surprised even me. Please keep in mind that only 2% of Obama voters aced the test. the survey was commissioned by John Zigler, author of The Death Of Free Speech: How Our Broken National Dialogue Has Killed The Truth And Divided America, and producer of the upcoming documentary film, Media Malpractice...How Obama Got Elected. Here is part of the article from Zogby:

["After I interviewed Obama voters on Election Day for my documentary, I had a pretty low opinion of what most of them had picked up from the media coverage of the campaign, but this poll really proves beyond any doubt the stunning level of malpractice on the part of the media in not educating the Obama portion of the voting populace," said Ziegler.

Ninety-four percent of Obama voters correctly identified Palin as the candidate with a pregnant teenage daughter, 86% correctly identified Palin as the candidate associated with a $150,000 wardrobe purchased by her political party, and 81% chose McCain as the candidate who was unable to identify the number of houses he owned. When asked which candidate said they could "see Russia from their house," 87% chose Palin, although the quote actually is attributed to Saturday Night Live's Tina Fey during her portrayal of Palin during the campaign. An answer of "none" or "Palin" was counted as a correct answer on the test, given that the statement was associated with a characterization of Palin.

Obama voters did not fare nearly as well overall when asked to answer questions about statements or stories associated with Obama or Biden -- 83% failed to correctly answer that Obama had won his first election by getting all of his opponents removed from the ballot, and 88% did not correctly associate Obama with his statement that his energy policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry. Most (56%) were also not able to correctly answer that Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground.

Nearly three quarters (72%) of Obama voters did not correctly identify Biden as the candidate who had to quit a previous campaign for President because he was found to have plagiarized a speech, and nearly half (47%) did not know that Biden was the one who predicted Obama would be tested by a generated international crisis during his first six months as President.

In addition to questions regarding statements and scandals associated with the campaigns, the 12-question, multiple-choice survey also included a question asking which political party controlled both houses of Congress leading up to the election -- 57% of Obama voters were unable to correctly answer that Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate.]


The part that surprised me most about the results was that only 57% didn't realize that Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. I assumed that figure was much higher, considering the record setting, all-time-low approval ratings.. But it should be clear to all now that the media did, in fact, flex their muscle and show their power as King Makers, or in this case, despots.

Father Brankin's Homily --What Every Priest Should Say

On November 16, 2008, Father Brankin delivered this homily to his parishioners at St. Odilo Church, the National Shrine of the Poor Souls, in Berwyn, IL. It is an homily well worth posting for all to read. Click HERE for the entire bulletin.

[Ramblings - Fr. Brankin

Sunday, Nov 9th - Feast of St. John Lateran

Today is the Feast of the Dedication of a beautiful old Roman Church, St. John Lateran—one that sits in the middle of one of the most amazing cities in the world. Part of the universal fascination with Rome is that it is old—so much so that even by the time of Christ it was considered an Ancient city.

And here we are two thousand years later still talking about Rome, wishing we could see it or regretting that we never got there—what an incredible place.

Did you know that it is against the law in the city of Rome to dig in your basement or backyard—at least any deeper than for a tomato plant? The reason is that the present city of Rome is built on the foundations and remains of the ancient city; and if you were to dig too deeply—which is not deep at all— you might come upon all kinds of ancient Roman artifacts and relics. Understandably enough, modern day Romans do not want their patrimony disturbed and destroyed.

There is a big old palace there, the Casa Santa Maria, which was built five hundred years ago as a large convent for sisters. Eventually it became a residence for American priests. But when you go to the basement—say to do your laundry, you can see along the walls of the basement, a series of windows with iron grates opening up into a lower basement.

Peer into those openings and you see into large rooms half-filled with earth and rubble; It is then that you realize that you are looking at a whole lower level of building beneath, complete with walls and windows and floors. You are looking at the basement of the original Roman building from two thousand years before! They told us it may have actually been a fire-house for that district of Rome. You get new respect for those old Romans.

Well, today is the Feast of the dedication of St. John Lateran Church. The land and original buildings had been given to the pope by the wife of the Emperor Constantine in the three hundreds. It was her family’s palace and quite a gift it was.

It has been rebuilt a couple of times since. But St John Lateran is more than just a church—it is the cathedral of the Pope. If the Pope is a pastor—St. John’s is his parish—not St. Peter’s. And when the Pope teaches as the Shepherd of Souls—as the Fisher of men, as the successor of St. Peter—it is from the Chair—at St. John Lateran. That’s how important that church is.

Now, thinking about the relationship between a church building and its meaning we need to remember that all the bricks and stones—all the marble and glass—and the gold and bronze, the pillars and porticos are more than just decoration and symbolism. Every element of every church, including St. Odilo, contains in some mystical way the souls of all those who built that church and who worship there, and who maintain it.

And above all the church building contains Our Lord—as His House. In fact its very appearance on the street shows forth His presence in the world. And when the Pope utters teachings and declarations from St. John Lateran Church—he is doing so with the Authority of Almighty God.

If the Catholic Church is the Body of Christ, then a Catholic church building –like St John Lateran – is the visible expression of Christ. Therefore when the Pope proclaims something that we as Catholics must believe or do to be saved—he does so in the person of Christ who is the first pastor, the Eternal Pastor. That is why it is so important to celebrate feasts like these—feasts about churches—because they remind us so powerfully and beautifully and concretely that when we see a church—it is a sign of the Church-- the very Body of Christ, teaching whatever must be taught to the world.

Now sometimes the Church—like Jesus— has to say things that the world does not want to hear, but she has to say them anyway otherwise the Church is just a bunch of go-along get-along guys—“Hey! Everything is beautiful in its own way.”

But sometimes things aren’t beautiful—sometimes they are ugly. And even though our recent election indicates that so many more Americans now accept these ugly things as part of our moral landscape—like abortion or contraception or gay marriage or assisted suicide, or war, our Church, which consists of the Pope and the priests and the people must stand as one and stare down these forces of evil and say boldly, “These things are still wrong and deeply so and cannot and will not be swept under the rug”.

People can feel morally superior by responding to the Church when she teaches these things “The Church and the priests should be quiet! There are many issues!” or “It’s the economy stupid!”

But there is only one issue and it is not the economy. It is Life. Do we foster it or kill it? And that then leads us to issues about love and family. If we cannot lovingly take care of little babies and their mothers—then we cannot take care of anyone!

And that is what the Pope, the pre-eminent Shepherd of souls, preaches from his pulpit at St. John Lateran: “We will not stop talking about the sacredness of family and the inviolability of all human life—from the moment of conception to a natural death—because if we surrender to them about any of it — then we lose all of it.”

The next few years may be difficult for Catholics and other Christians who still hold to traditional understandings of family, life and love. Oh no—I don’t think they will arrest us—I don’t think there will be the knock on the door in the middle of the night as they come for those who dare criticize The One.

More effectively for their purposes, the mavens of this culture of death will just marginalize us, ignore us, laugh at us, put us on the fringes of society and ask every so often, “Are you people still here? Are you still talking about all that stuff?

Well, we will not go away, and we will not be silenced.

Remember Rome? It is still there—foundations and all—after 2700 years.

And perhaps in another thousand years the Pope may be preaching from another building—but it will probably still be in Rome and on the site of St. John Lateran, and it will certainly still be part of the Body of Christ; and the Pope will still be preaching the same Gospel—that our God wants us to have Life and life to the full—and nothing less will do.

Over the next few years, we may lose many battles in regards to life and love and family. We will lose many more children and many senior citizens as well. They will eventually start going after the handicapped and the ill. This is how blood-thirsty they are; but it is certain we will win the war—because the Lord of Life is also the Lord of Hosts. And even The One must answer to Him.]

Wonderful sermon! I would love to hear that kind of message every Sunday, if only I lived near Berwyn or in Ilinois. But I wonder if Father Brankin has too much faith in the reasonableness of Obama followers. After hearing about the possible Citizen Homeland Security Forces, I have to wonder if they will simply ignore us, like Father Brankin suggests, or throw us in jail for the audacity of intolerance ---> standing up for morality.

Safe Haven Laws Encourage Child Abandonment

I had heard of Safe Haven laws, but assumed they only applied to illegal aliens ducking the long arm of the law. Now I see there are Safe Haven laws in several states, which were written with the best of intentions, to protect unwanted newborn babies from being dumped just anywhere and left to die. Instead, designated hospitals have been certified safe havens where children, in some cases up to 17 years, can be legally abandoned. There are to be no questions asked and no repercussions for the abandonment, unless physical abuse is apparent.

The reality of the situation in Nebraska, the last state to adopt such a law, is that children between the ages of 10-17 make up the bulk of the abandonments for reasons not limited to incurable disease, mental retardation, or unruly misbehavior. And it's all done with impunity. How surprising that only three dozen children have been abandoned...so far. The Nebraska legislature met Friday to repair the law---one bill limits the age for dumping at safe haven hospitals at three days old while the other bill sets the age cut off at 15 years. The final bill could be ready for the governor to sign as early as November 21st. The law would go into effect immediately, but until then some are even crossing state lines into Nebraska to take advantage of the old law before the changes take effect. A sharp increase in abandonments is expected before passage of the bill into law.

Some sort of safe haven law for unwanted newborns is probably a good idea,...sometimes. You don't want to read about newborn babies abandoned in dumpsters, certainly. But then you also don't want to have laws that encourage reneging responsibility of parenting by making abandonment so temptingly easy, either.

The fact that parents are dumping their teenagers would suggest that for one reason, or perhaps several reasons, parents are giving up on raising them merely out of frustration. And the frustration is no secret to anyone who has recently spent any amount of time with parents of teenagers. Parents are simply not allowed to discipline their children anymore. The government has gradually encroached upon how our children are raised for several years. First they made it a crime for teachers to spank children, and then later it was outlawed for parents to do the same. In most states a parent who takes a screaming child out of Walmart into the parking lot to apply a little corporal punishment can be and have been hauled into court for child abuse. As a result, most parents of children under 10 or so take the kids home and apply such attitude-adjustment methods behind closed doors. But when the children get older they learn that they have the power to misbehave without consequences, and that the government will protect them from receiving anything worse than a grounding without car privileges. As a result, teenagers run wild and get involved with gangs, drugs, and in the case of girls, prostitution. Any legal consequences ($$$$) the children find themselves facing for such behavior is then leveled at the parents, who sometimes wind up facing civil lawsuits or even criminal charges. Sometimes I wonder why tens of thousands of parents aren't dumping their kids at safe havens.

Of course the best way to avoid many of those problems is to attend church regularly and take (or drag if necessary) your kids with you. Although not every church-going family is immune from strife, keeping God in the works goes a long way toward harmony and stability during those nasty, awful teenage years. A family that prays together, stays together... as it has been said many times.

Saints Alive! Did St. Thomas Aquinas's Intercession Convert Serbia's 'Champion of Abortion'?

The Spanish daily “La Razon” has published an article on the pro-life conversion of a former “champion of abortion.” Stojan Adasevic, who performed 48,000 abortions, sometimes up to 35 per day, is now the most important pro-life leader in Serbia, after 26 years as the most renowned abortion doctor in the country.

“The medical textbooks of the Communist regime said abortion was simply the removal of a blob of tissue,” the newspaper reported. “Ultrasounds allowing the fetus to be seen did not arrive until the 80s, but they did not change his opinion. Nevertheless, he began to have nightmares.”

In describing his conversion, Adasevic “dreamed about a beautiful field full of children and young people who were playing and laughing, from 4 to 24 years of age, but who ran away from him in fear. A man dressed in a black and white habit stared at him in silence. The dream was repeated each night and he would wake up in a cold sweat. One night he asked the man in black and white who he was. ‘My name is Thomas Aquinas,’ the man in his dream responded. Adasevic, educated in communist schools, had never heard of the Dominican genius saint. He didn’t recognize the name”

“Why don’t you ask me who these children are?” St. Thomas asked Adasevic in his dream.

Catholic News Agency has the full story and video here.

No one is beyond hope. Pray for Obama's conversion.

Can FOCA Be Stopped?

Obama promised Planned Parenthood that as President, the first thing he'd do is sign the Freedom of Choice Act, but can he be stopped now that he's elected?

Imagine if you were back in the time of the Holocaust, and you added your signature to over 100,000 (maybe even a million) to a petition to free the Jews, and that petition were presented to Adolf Hitler. How do you think he'd respond?

Yeah, me too. But click if you want to sign a Fight FOCA petition to Obama and the Democrats in Congress anyway. (What can they do to you, ignore you to death?)

Petitioning for some help from above would be more effective. How about joining millions of Catholics in making a pledge to pray rosaries for the intention of strengthening the Culture of Life? Pledge them here, and pray 'em.

US Conference Of Bishops Cease Funding ACORN...Finally!

From The Boston Globe as reported on November 12:

[BALTIMORE - The US Conference of Catholic Bishops is permanently cutting off all funding for ACORN in the wake of an embezzlement scandal and allegations of voter registration fraud and political partisanship.

The national nonprofit, with more than 1,200 local affiliates, attempts to organize low-income people to advocate for improvement in their communities.

Bishop Roger P. Morin of New Orleans said yesterday that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, an antipoverty program run by the bishops' conference, decided that it could no longer be certain of ACORN's integrity or accountability. The bishops had been giving $1.1 million a year to 41 ACORN affiliates.

"We simply had too many continuing questions and concerns about these serious matters to permit any further funding of ACORN groups," Morin said.

Steve Kest, the executive director of ACORN, said last night that he would wait until he hears from the bishops before making any comment.

Morin said the bishops are also conducting an audit to determine whether any of the Catholic funds were misused by ACORN. So far, he said, there is no evidence that Catholic funds were embezzled.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is financed largely through a collection in most dioceses the weekend before Thanksgiving. Morin said the funds will now be disbursed to other groups that use community organizing to combat poverty.

MICHAEL PAULSON]

The italicised type was my own addition to draw attention to the $1.1 million the Bishops have been donating to elect Democrats hell-bent on providing abortion-on-demand for any and all females in "trouble." Actually I am sure the Bishops didn't have abortion in mind at all when making such an annual donation. It must have had more to do with empowering people living in economically poor conditions. Or so they assumed.

The Bishops are shutting the barn door after the horses ran out and stole an election. But I suppose it's better late than never. I just hope they do more research on whom they donate to in the future, rather than throw money at what looks good on the surface.

Read Bishop Roger Morin's full report HERE for more in depth information.

Death After Dishonor - The Catholic Bishops Inaction

We've heard it before under Clinton, who promised to make abortion "safe, legal, and rare". Back then, Democrat Catholics (which is to say those voters whose allegiance to the Democratic Party takes precedence over their loyalty to the Catholic Church) latched onto the last word. ("See, he said rare!") During the election, nominally pro-life Obamabots parroted the campaign propaganda point that Obama is pro-life since his policies would motivate people to have fewer abortions, at the same time he erases all legal restrictions on doing so. But as things already stand, any mother in need can now get all the aid she wants to raise a kid, and McCain wasn't going to eliminate it.

The sad truth behind these Catholics and others who claim the pro-life label for themselves is that they're insincere. They must be since they latch onto Obama's empty promises of lessening the abortion rate while simultaneously removing every extant vestige of legal protection for the unborn. If they cared a whit about protecting the unborn, they wouldn't settle for empty rhetoric and opposite actions. It would seem that this self-defeating stance is relegated to the pro-life cause and no other. No sincere pro-gun advocacy group is touting Obama as the pro-gun candidate since, though he would ban many types of guns now commonly owned and in use, he is going to send out checks to every American after tax time which, if you want, can be used to buy a new gun before the ban goes into effect. Gun-totin' yokels are neither as apathetic nor as easily duped about the Second Amendment as the American Catholic left are about abortion.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops must share the blame for the looming threat of the FOCA (Freedom Of Choice Act) to close hospitals. The members of the conference are of two minds. Conference president Cardinal Francis George is exemplary of the first, that which opposed electing a pro-abortion President from the outset (see interview below), while vice president Bishop Gerald Kicanas is of the second, to be complicit in Obama's being elected President (see interview below the first). The sharp division in the conference led to the issuance of a directive before the election to voting Catholics that was so weak and vague as to be non-committal.

In an October interview after the synod, Cardinal George of Chicago indicated that abortion correctly took precedence in importance over all other issues in play:

Q: Therefore, while you would presumably support better health care and anti-poverty measures, in your mind that’s not an alternative to efforts to outlaw abortion?

A: Absolutely right.

In his interview, Bishop Kicanas expressed quite the opposite stance:

Q: If I’m hearing you correctly, you’re saying that for a Catholic who
wants to approach his or her vote in three weeks with the mind of the church,
it’s not a slam-dunk which way that vote should go. Is that right?

A: Yes, and I think that’s what “Faithful Citizenship” is saying. As a disciple, as a citizen, you have to weigh issues, you have to consider the character of candidates, what you think they will be able to do in terms of affecting the society and the culture in which we live. Clearly, the document is saying that to vote for someone who is proposing actions that are intrinsically evil, because of their position on those intrinsically evil acts, is certainly problematic for someone who is a believer in Christ. You don’t believe in Christ and then vote for a person simply, or primarily, because they hold a position that’s contrary to the church. You have to take those positions into consideration, and then make a choice. These are never easy choices.

Sez him. The choice is clear and easy for every voter who cares about ending the intrinsic evil of abortion.

Only God knows whether the bishops' inaction delivered enough critical votes to Obama for him to win the election. Now that abortion extremist Obama won the election, it's come to this:

Along with their theological opposition to the procedure, church leaders say they worry that any expansion in abortion rights could require Catholic hospitals to perform abortions or lose federal funding. Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Chicago said the hospitals would close rather than comply.

Now that the time to put the weight and muscle of the Catholic vote behind defeating Abort-O-rama in the election is lost, the weapons available to the American bishops are issuing statements, pleas, requests, and recommendations, but the real power now resides with Barack Obama and both houses of Congress heavily in control of the Democrats. The bishops conference passed at the first call, and they've raised this round by betting the pot: our hospitals, irreplacable, built with centuries of work and sacrifice. We'll see whether they win, lose, or bluff. But they should not have waited this late to begin to push back.