LT COL ALLEN WEST, CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=VP2p91dvm6M
This video is a breath of fresh air. It seems like he truly loves America and gives great hope as a strategist and tactician. In God We Trust when times are near that try men's souls!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Anti-Catholicism
October 29th, 2009
The following article was submitted in a slightly shorter form to the New York Times as an op-ed article. The Times declined to publish it. I thought you might be interested in reading it.
FOUL BALL!
By Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York
October is the month we relish the highpoint of our national pastime, especially when one of our own New York teams is in the World Series!
Sadly, America has another national pastime, this one not pleasant at all: anti-catholicism.
It is not hyperbole to call prejudice against the Catholic Church a national pastime. Scholars such as Arthur Schlesinger Sr. referred to it as “the deepest bias in the history of the American people,” while John Higham described it as “the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history.” “The anti-semitism of the left,” is how Paul Viereck reads it, and Professor Philip Jenkins sub-titles his book on the topic “the last acceptable prejudice.”
If you want recent evidence of this unfairness against the Catholic Church, look no further than a few of these following examples of occurrences over the last couple weeks:
On October 14, in the pages of the New York Times, reporter Paul Vitello exposed the sad extent of child sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community. According to the article, there were forty cases of such abuse in this tiny community last year alone. Yet the Times did not demand what it has called for incessantly when addressing the same kind of abuse by a tiny minority of priests: release of names of abusers, rollback of statute of limitations, external investigations, release of all records, and total transparency. Instead, an attorney is quoted urging law enforcement officials to recognize “religious sensitivities,” and no criticism was offered of the DA’s office for allowing Orthodox rabbis to settle these cases “internally.” Given the Catholic Church’s own recent horrible experience, I am hardly in any position to criticize our Orthodox Jewish neighbors, and have no wish to do so . . . but I can criticize this kind of “selective outrage.”
Of course, this selective outrage probably should not surprise us at all, as we have seen many other examples of the phenomenon in recent years when it comes to the issue of sexual abuse. To cite but two: In 2004, Professor Carol Shakeshaft documented the wide-spread problem of sexual abuse of minors in our nation’s public schools (the study can be found here). In 2007, the Associated Press issued a series of investigative reports that also showed the numerous examples of sexual abuse by educators against public school students. Both the Shakeshaft study and the AP reports were essentially ignored, as papers such as the New York Times only seem to have priests in their crosshairs.
On October 16, Laurie Goodstein of the Times offered a front page, above-the-fold story on the sad episode of a Franciscan priest who had fathered a child. Even taking into account that the relationship with the mother was consensual and between two adults, and that the Franciscans have attempted to deal justly with the errant priest’s responsibilities to his son, this action is still sinful, scandalous, and indefensible. However, one still has to wonder why a quarter-century old story of a sin by a priest is now suddenly more pressing and newsworthy than the war in Afghanistan, health care, and starvation–genocide in Sudan. No other cleric from religions other than Catholic ever seems to merit such attention.
Five days later, October 21, the Times gave its major headline to the decision by the Vatican to welcome Anglicans who had requested union with Rome. Fair enough. Unfair, though, was the article’s observation that the Holy See lured and bid for the Anglicans. Of course, the reality is simply that for years thousands of Anglicans have been asking Rome to be accepted into the Catholic Church with a special sensitivity for their own tradition. As Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican’s chief ecumenist, observed, “We are not fishing in the Anglican pond.” Not enough for the Times; for them, this was another case of the conniving Vatican luring and bidding unsuspecting, good people, greedily capitalizing on the current internal tensions in Anglicanism.
Finally, the most combustible example of all came Sunday with an intemperate and scurrilous piece by Maureen Dowd on the opinion pages of the Times. In a diatribe that rightly never would have passed muster with the editors had it so criticized an Islamic, Jewish, or African-American religious issue, she digs deep into the nativist handbook to use every anti-Catholic caricature possible, from the Inquisition to the Holocaust, condoms, obsession with sex, pedophile priests, and oppression of women, all the while slashing Pope Benedict XVI for his shoes, his forced conscription — along with every other German teenage boy — into the German army, his outreach to former Catholics, and his recent welcome to Anglicans.
True enough, the matter that triggered her spasm — the current visitation of women religious by Vatican representatives — is well-worth discussing, and hardly exempt from legitimate questioning. But her prejudice, while maybe appropriate for the Know-Nothing newspaper of the 1850’s, the Menace, has no place in a major publication today.
I do not mean to suggest that anti-catholicism is confined to the pages New York Times. Unfortunately, abundant examples can be found in many different venues. I will not even begin to try and list the many cases of anti-catholicism in the so-called entertainment media, as they are so prevalent they sometimes seem almost routine and obligatory. Elsewhere, last week, Representative Patrick Kennedy made some incredibly inaccurate and uncalled-for remarks concerning the Catholic bishops, as mentioned in this blog on Monday. Also, the New York State Legislature has levied a special payroll tax to help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority fund its deficit. This legislation calls for the public schools to be reimbursed the cost of the tax; Catholic schools, and other private schools, will not receive the reimbursement, costing each of the schools thousands – in some cases tens of thousands – of dollars, money that the parents and schools can hardly afford. (Nor can the archdiocese, which already underwrites the schools by $30 million annually.) Is it not an issue of basic fairness for ALL school-children and their parents to be treated equally?
The Catholic Church is not above criticism. We Catholics do a fair amount of it ourselves. We welcome and expect it. All we ask is that such critique be fair, rational, and accurate, what we would expect for anybody. The suspicion and bias against the Church is a national pastime that should be “rained out” for good.
I guess my own background in American history should caution me not to hold my breath.
Then again, yesterday was the Feast of Saint Jude, the patron saint of impossible causes.
The following article was submitted in a slightly shorter form to the New York Times as an op-ed article. The Times declined to publish it. I thought you might be interested in reading it.
FOUL BALL!
By Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York
October is the month we relish the highpoint of our national pastime, especially when one of our own New York teams is in the World Series!
Sadly, America has another national pastime, this one not pleasant at all: anti-catholicism.
It is not hyperbole to call prejudice against the Catholic Church a national pastime. Scholars such as Arthur Schlesinger Sr. referred to it as “the deepest bias in the history of the American people,” while John Higham described it as “the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history.” “The anti-semitism of the left,” is how Paul Viereck reads it, and Professor Philip Jenkins sub-titles his book on the topic “the last acceptable prejudice.”
If you want recent evidence of this unfairness against the Catholic Church, look no further than a few of these following examples of occurrences over the last couple weeks:
On October 14, in the pages of the New York Times, reporter Paul Vitello exposed the sad extent of child sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community. According to the article, there were forty cases of such abuse in this tiny community last year alone. Yet the Times did not demand what it has called for incessantly when addressing the same kind of abuse by a tiny minority of priests: release of names of abusers, rollback of statute of limitations, external investigations, release of all records, and total transparency. Instead, an attorney is quoted urging law enforcement officials to recognize “religious sensitivities,” and no criticism was offered of the DA’s office for allowing Orthodox rabbis to settle these cases “internally.” Given the Catholic Church’s own recent horrible experience, I am hardly in any position to criticize our Orthodox Jewish neighbors, and have no wish to do so . . . but I can criticize this kind of “selective outrage.”
Of course, this selective outrage probably should not surprise us at all, as we have seen many other examples of the phenomenon in recent years when it comes to the issue of sexual abuse. To cite but two: In 2004, Professor Carol Shakeshaft documented the wide-spread problem of sexual abuse of minors in our nation’s public schools (the study can be found here). In 2007, the Associated Press issued a series of investigative reports that also showed the numerous examples of sexual abuse by educators against public school students. Both the Shakeshaft study and the AP reports were essentially ignored, as papers such as the New York Times only seem to have priests in their crosshairs.
On October 16, Laurie Goodstein of the Times offered a front page, above-the-fold story on the sad episode of a Franciscan priest who had fathered a child. Even taking into account that the relationship with the mother was consensual and between two adults, and that the Franciscans have attempted to deal justly with the errant priest’s responsibilities to his son, this action is still sinful, scandalous, and indefensible. However, one still has to wonder why a quarter-century old story of a sin by a priest is now suddenly more pressing and newsworthy than the war in Afghanistan, health care, and starvation–genocide in Sudan. No other cleric from religions other than Catholic ever seems to merit such attention.
Five days later, October 21, the Times gave its major headline to the decision by the Vatican to welcome Anglicans who had requested union with Rome. Fair enough. Unfair, though, was the article’s observation that the Holy See lured and bid for the Anglicans. Of course, the reality is simply that for years thousands of Anglicans have been asking Rome to be accepted into the Catholic Church with a special sensitivity for their own tradition. As Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican’s chief ecumenist, observed, “We are not fishing in the Anglican pond.” Not enough for the Times; for them, this was another case of the conniving Vatican luring and bidding unsuspecting, good people, greedily capitalizing on the current internal tensions in Anglicanism.
Finally, the most combustible example of all came Sunday with an intemperate and scurrilous piece by Maureen Dowd on the opinion pages of the Times. In a diatribe that rightly never would have passed muster with the editors had it so criticized an Islamic, Jewish, or African-American religious issue, she digs deep into the nativist handbook to use every anti-Catholic caricature possible, from the Inquisition to the Holocaust, condoms, obsession with sex, pedophile priests, and oppression of women, all the while slashing Pope Benedict XVI for his shoes, his forced conscription — along with every other German teenage boy — into the German army, his outreach to former Catholics, and his recent welcome to Anglicans.
True enough, the matter that triggered her spasm — the current visitation of women religious by Vatican representatives — is well-worth discussing, and hardly exempt from legitimate questioning. But her prejudice, while maybe appropriate for the Know-Nothing newspaper of the 1850’s, the Menace, has no place in a major publication today.
I do not mean to suggest that anti-catholicism is confined to the pages New York Times. Unfortunately, abundant examples can be found in many different venues. I will not even begin to try and list the many cases of anti-catholicism in the so-called entertainment media, as they are so prevalent they sometimes seem almost routine and obligatory. Elsewhere, last week, Representative Patrick Kennedy made some incredibly inaccurate and uncalled-for remarks concerning the Catholic bishops, as mentioned in this blog on Monday. Also, the New York State Legislature has levied a special payroll tax to help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority fund its deficit. This legislation calls for the public schools to be reimbursed the cost of the tax; Catholic schools, and other private schools, will not receive the reimbursement, costing each of the schools thousands – in some cases tens of thousands – of dollars, money that the parents and schools can hardly afford. (Nor can the archdiocese, which already underwrites the schools by $30 million annually.) Is it not an issue of basic fairness for ALL school-children and their parents to be treated equally?
The Catholic Church is not above criticism. We Catholics do a fair amount of it ourselves. We welcome and expect it. All we ask is that such critique be fair, rational, and accurate, what we would expect for anybody. The suspicion and bias against the Church is a national pastime that should be “rained out” for good.
I guess my own background in American history should caution me not to hold my breath.
Then again, yesterday was the Feast of Saint Jude, the patron saint of impossible causes.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
What America needs for a successful Revolution.
If you compare the generations of our country’s past to the generation of today and those of the future, you start to long for a chance to go back in time. One longs to know how life was and how people acted. You could learn what it was that made them so successful at creating our new, free country that has since become the most powerful in the world. We look at those men and women responsible for what we have today, and the sacrifice and sense of duty those people possessed, and wonder what has happened to today’s generations. I wonder why people don’t act that way any more. What happened to Patriotism, Purity, and Loyalty? It all seems to have totally disappeared from minds of the American people. It gives a feeling of despair and leads to a more important issue: How do we defeat this glooming monster that is digesting the country we all cherish?
Chuck Norris came out with an article recently that is titled “The Secret Weapon in American’s Revolution.” This article gave me a bittersweet feeling of both hope and anxiety at the same time. His secret weapon is the youth of our country. My father always told me that it will be my generation that saves or destroys the United States of America. I was young and didn’t quite understand what he meant at the time, but now that I have grown older, I have begun to understand. It is the apathy of the previous generations that formed the ignorance of my generation. Going back to Chuck Norris’s article, he is exactly right. The youth in the United States are the ones who will undoubtedly bring America back her core values and beliefs that she was built on. But in order to instill those values in our children, we need their parents to start educating their children and beginning to diverge from the beliefs and thoughts of generations past. We need to stop worrying about what movie star slept with who, or what stupid new stunts the guys from Jackass are pulling. We need to start emphasizing to today’s children that God and country over self is not just a good way to live, it’s the only way to live. If we can do that, and divert ourselves off of our current course of a continuous digression of family, social and religious morals, we may just give tomorrow’s generations a chance to once again hold their heads high and be proud that they are citizens of a truly great, and truly free United States of America.
1 Timothy 4:12 (New International Version)
12Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
Chuck Norris came out with an article recently that is titled “The Secret Weapon in American’s Revolution.” This article gave me a bittersweet feeling of both hope and anxiety at the same time. His secret weapon is the youth of our country. My father always told me that it will be my generation that saves or destroys the United States of America. I was young and didn’t quite understand what he meant at the time, but now that I have grown older, I have begun to understand. It is the apathy of the previous generations that formed the ignorance of my generation. Going back to Chuck Norris’s article, he is exactly right. The youth in the United States are the ones who will undoubtedly bring America back her core values and beliefs that she was built on. But in order to instill those values in our children, we need their parents to start educating their children and beginning to diverge from the beliefs and thoughts of generations past. We need to stop worrying about what movie star slept with who, or what stupid new stunts the guys from Jackass are pulling. We need to start emphasizing to today’s children that God and country over self is not just a good way to live, it’s the only way to live. If we can do that, and divert ourselves off of our current course of a continuous digression of family, social and religious morals, we may just give tomorrow’s generations a chance to once again hold their heads high and be proud that they are citizens of a truly great, and truly free United States of America.
1 Timothy 4:12 (New International Version)
12Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Government Surveillance
Big Brother is everywhere these days. The corners of buildings, traffic lights, cell phones, Computers and Newspapers just to name a few. Now Big Brother is talking about being in your car as well. It all starts with the excuse that money flowing into government is waning because citizens are buying less gas than normal. The upcoming cap-and-trade bill is suggesting “an extra tax for the privilege of emitting additional carbon dioxide” and taxing the extra mileage that we drive past the government’s proposed mileage limit. Henry Lamb from St. Louis Metro Voice says,” Why not assign a weekly or monthly cap on auto emissions and shut down the vehicle when that limit is reached? New Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) devices would have that capability…Every American ought to be outraged that such a system is even contemplated.” Lamb goes on to say, “The proposed GPS road tax system could easily be programmed to listen to and record conversations inside any vehicle…Stop a vehicle, lock the vehicle, and notify the ‘jack boots’ that the occupants were en route to a Tea Party.” [Paranoia that gripped Nazi Germany]
The Forth Amendment states that individuals are secure from government intrusion without probable cause and due process. This proposed bill is an outright assault on the rights of American citizens all in the name of environmental extremity. Driving on public roads might be a privilege, but owning and operating a car is an individual right that should not be infringed upon based on environmental propaganda.
The Forth Amendment states that individuals are secure from government intrusion without probable cause and due process. This proposed bill is an outright assault on the rights of American citizens all in the name of environmental extremity. Driving on public roads might be a privilege, but owning and operating a car is an individual right that should not be infringed upon based on environmental propaganda.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
"Tea Party"
This April 15th, the day most Americans spend getting their last minute tax forms filled out and sent in, saw an enormous gathering of concerned patriots around the country. The tax day tea parties of 2009 was one of the most powerful demonstrations seen in this country for quite some time, but many felt that these rallies would remain a one day protest. However, I believe that these meetings helped create enough momentum to set in motion a new grass roots movement aimed at fighting to take back an America that has been tainted with greed and corrupted by politicians who have confused their responsibility of representing the people with representing their own careers and interests.
This past Saturday 24th, I attended a Tea Party in Alton, Illinois . The Alton Tea party was a great example of this new grassroots movement, with over 600 residents of the city of Alton joining together to rally against the irresponsible spending and ethically backwards legislation of our federal, as well as local governments. It was a welcome indication of the growing amount of concerned citizens who are realizing the advantages and intelligence of being fiscally and socially conservative.
As Americans, we should all be desperately trying to preserve the Republic on which our founding fathers fought so hard for. It is crucial for those of us who have awoken to see how bad things have gotten to help wake up those citizens around us who are still asleep. It is the traditional conservative way to avoid conflict and remain a silent majority. However, where there is silence there is apathy, and this apathy allows the Democrats to continue to destroy the way of life and freedoms of America. Remaining dormant is just as bad as actively helping this rampant destruction take place.
Once people realize that it is time to take a stand and get involved, there are many ways to do so. To begin with, many tea parties in many parts of the country have websites that give information such as dates and times of more rallies and events. The St. Louis Tea Party website (http://stlouisteaparty.com/)gives information on upcoming events, as well as allows you to register your own tea party, volunteer, or check on past events such as a rally allowing citizens to speak directly to Representative Claire McCaskill.
Another great group to look into is http://www.getamericaback.com/ The founder of this group spoke at the Alton Tea Party and his website is a great tool to find information about all things patriotic. It lets you know what is happening, who to contact (elected officials), where everything is taking place, etc.
As Glenn Beck so aptly puts it “If your up [for re election], your out!”
-Kay
“Government does not give us rights, God gives us rights.”
This past Saturday 24th, I attended a Tea Party in Alton, Illinois . The Alton Tea party was a great example of this new grassroots movement, with over 600 residents of the city of Alton joining together to rally against the irresponsible spending and ethically backwards legislation of our federal, as well as local governments. It was a welcome indication of the growing amount of concerned citizens who are realizing the advantages and intelligence of being fiscally and socially conservative.
As Americans, we should all be desperately trying to preserve the Republic on which our founding fathers fought so hard for. It is crucial for those of us who have awoken to see how bad things have gotten to help wake up those citizens around us who are still asleep. It is the traditional conservative way to avoid conflict and remain a silent majority. However, where there is silence there is apathy, and this apathy allows the Democrats to continue to destroy the way of life and freedoms of America. Remaining dormant is just as bad as actively helping this rampant destruction take place.
Once people realize that it is time to take a stand and get involved, there are many ways to do so. To begin with, many tea parties in many parts of the country have websites that give information such as dates and times of more rallies and events. The St. Louis Tea Party website (http://stlouisteaparty.com/)gives information on upcoming events, as well as allows you to register your own tea party, volunteer, or check on past events such as a rally allowing citizens to speak directly to Representative Claire McCaskill.
Another great group to look into is http://www.getamericaback.com/ The founder of this group spoke at the Alton Tea Party and his website is a great tool to find information about all things patriotic. It lets you know what is happening, who to contact (elected officials), where everything is taking place, etc.
As Glenn Beck so aptly puts it “If your up [for re election], your out!”
-Kay
“Government does not give us rights, God gives us rights.”
Friday, July 24, 2009
"Public Option"
The new proposed health care plan, “Public Option,” presented by President Obama, will RAISE our CURRENT TAXES to $1.5 Trillion dollars per year. This failing economy will have no chance of recovery if our government keeps burdening the small businesses, corporations, and upper middle class with more taxes to make up the steep deficit that is now accumulating with the democratic spending machine currently in power.
This plan is just another example of the government creating a dependency on welfare and social programs that is found within all the failed authoritarian societies in history, most notably present day Russia. When our government decides to ignore and disrespect the very foundation it was built upon, namely independence, freedom and the right to a free economy absent from overpowering government control and influence, the citizens of our country have no other choice but to rely on the government for the means to survive, thus in essence selling their freedoms and rights to a government that was created to protect them, aka: Obama, Clinton, Pelosi, Bidon, and in general, The Bureaucracy.
This is a trend that is quickly becoming a problem in the United States of America. To maintain the freedoms and rights granted to us by our founding fathers, every citizen of the United States who wants to maintain their quality of life needs to be educated and realize the repercussions that we as Americans will have to face if we continue to allow President Obama to spend our country into debt and pass laws that will keep us there. Obama’s plans on reforming society including Amnesty, Health-care, the stimulus package, the Fairness Doctrine, etc. are all steps toward an eventual failed socialist state.
Before we realize, our simple freedoms, such as smoking a cigarette or driving any car we want, will no longer be allowed through Federal rulings. It is happening right now in the United States, but people don’t see it, and we are all just sitting by and watching as the land of the free is destroyed. When we get to that point, we will have no one else to blame but ourselves.
“Even worse than the cost is the fact that the government couldsoon be running our nation's health care system. Do the wordsAmtrak and U.S. Postal Service ring a bell?”
Pleas Join : http://www.grassfire.net/ to start involving yourself and educating yourself.
-Kay
“A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.”
-Thomas Jefferson
This plan is just another example of the government creating a dependency on welfare and social programs that is found within all the failed authoritarian societies in history, most notably present day Russia. When our government decides to ignore and disrespect the very foundation it was built upon, namely independence, freedom and the right to a free economy absent from overpowering government control and influence, the citizens of our country have no other choice but to rely on the government for the means to survive, thus in essence selling their freedoms and rights to a government that was created to protect them, aka: Obama, Clinton, Pelosi, Bidon, and in general, The Bureaucracy.
This is a trend that is quickly becoming a problem in the United States of America. To maintain the freedoms and rights granted to us by our founding fathers, every citizen of the United States who wants to maintain their quality of life needs to be educated and realize the repercussions that we as Americans will have to face if we continue to allow President Obama to spend our country into debt and pass laws that will keep us there. Obama’s plans on reforming society including Amnesty, Health-care, the stimulus package, the Fairness Doctrine, etc. are all steps toward an eventual failed socialist state.
Before we realize, our simple freedoms, such as smoking a cigarette or driving any car we want, will no longer be allowed through Federal rulings. It is happening right now in the United States, but people don’t see it, and we are all just sitting by and watching as the land of the free is destroyed. When we get to that point, we will have no one else to blame but ourselves.
“Even worse than the cost is the fact that the government couldsoon be running our nation's health care system. Do the wordsAmtrak and U.S. Postal Service ring a bell?”
Pleas Join : http://www.grassfire.net/ to start involving yourself and educating yourself.
-Kay
“A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.”
-Thomas Jefferson
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