Is Michael Jackson’s Life Indicative of a Culture Gone Awry?
Published June 30, 2009 | 
A WORLD OF SADNESS
…Americans fawn over the death of a man whose real importance is negligible. Yep, the King of Pop is dead, but so are we, if Americans don’t to wake-up, refocus and genuinely pay attention…
Real vs. An Authentic World
Published June 30, 2009 | …When did we become a nation of habitual voyeurs, panting with anticipation awaiting the next social or cultural train wreck? The King of Pop is dead – so what? . . . This week, our national authenticity has once again been skewered by the media who continually hold us hostage to their reality…
When did we become a nation of habitual voyeurs, panting with anticipation awaiting the next social or cultural train wreck? When did we loose our common sense, politeness and quiet strength? When did our values degrade to follow that jagged fork, on the low path to nowhere? This week, our national authenticity has once again been skewered by the media who continually hold us hostage to their reality.
The King of Pop is dead – so what?
Michael Jackson gave us some great music, albeit “spiced” with his iconic lewdness. His ever changing facial mask left us puzzled, wondering what beef he had against his natural good looks. Antics with his own and other people’s children left us wondering at his sanity. While the world registered shock and surprise, no one ever asked why, but instead, justified and forgave. Not so long ago, he would have been put aside as strangely eccentric, lacking morals or maybe even criminal. The story would have been quietly discussed and forgotten – rather than the deafening public roar we now hear in our ears.
Authentic news has been pre-empted on every channel, local and national, while grimy details of Jackson’s death held sway on the air waves twenty-four hours a day. So called “journalists” clamored and shoved to report “blow by blow” details. All the networks surrendered their news programs to cover the last, strange chapter of Michael Jackson. Never mind the bloody revolution taking place in Iran.
So Jackson has once again topped the charts. Media hustlers and the paparazzi parade have gone over the top with the zombie circus. Trot out the smoke and mirrors. Long live the King of Pop! For Pete’s sake, give it a rest. Let’s talk about something important.
As Americans, our former life is quietly slipping away, while the media egregiously diverts our attention. Meanwhile in back room deals, politicians furiously slip in another earmark here, add a trillion there and ignore the obvious seriousness of North Korea’s Kim Jong Il, who could ram one up our tail pipe at any moment.
What else are they not reporting? The cap and trade bill will not be read and analyzed by the Senate, just like TARP, but by golly, they will stiff taxpayers for the cost and hide the details. Next up, health care reform; the media/government doesn’t care how it’s done, just as long as they get their way and the ignorant public, forever deaf, dumb and blind, agrees to it all.
Meanwhile, Americans fawn over the death of a man whose real importance is negligible. Yep, the King of Pop is dead, but so are we, if Americans don’t to wake-up, refocus and genuinely pay attention. Will it take another 9-11 or Pearl Harbor to shake authenticity back into our reality? Even then will it remain?
SOURCE: http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/06/real_vs_an_authentic_world.html
Alice in Medical Care
Published June 30, 2009 | 
Most political and media discussions of medical care have an air of unreality reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland. There is an abundance of catch-phrases but remarkably few coherent arguments.
Let’s start at square one. Why is there alarm about American medical care? The most usual reason given is because its cost is high and rising.
That is certainly true. We were not spending nearly as much on high-tech medical procedures in the past because there were not nearly as many of them, and we were not spending anything at all on some of the new pharmaceutical drugs because they didn’t exist.
This general pattern is not peculiar to medical care. Cars didn’t cost nearly as much in the past, when they didn’t have air-conditioning, power steering and high-tech safety features. Homes were cheaper when they were smaller, had fewer bathrooms and lacked such conveniences as built-in microwave ovens.
We would like to have all these things without the rising costs that come with them. But only with medical care is such wishful thinking taken seriously, with government regarded as a sort of fairy godmother who will give us the benefits without the costs.
A cynic is said to be someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. If so, then it is political cynicism to point to other countries that spend less on medical care, including some countries where there is “universal health care” provided “free” by their governments.
Just as medical care, houses and cars were all cheaper when they lacked things that they have today, so medical care in other countries is cheaper when they lack many things that are more readily available in the United States.
There are more than four times as many Magnetic Resonance Imaging units (MRIs) per capita in the United States as in Britain or Canada, where there are government-run medical systems. There are more than twice as many CT scanners per capita in the United States as in Canada and more than four times as many per capita as in Britain.
Is it surprising that such things cost money?
The cost of developing a new pharmaceutical drug is now about a billion dollars. Neither political rhetoric nor government bureaucracies will make those costs go away.
We can, of course, refuse to pay these and other medical costs, just as we can refuse to buy air-conditioned homes with built-in microwave ovens. But that just means we pay attention only to prices and not to the value of what we get for those prices.
We can even refuse to pay for so many doctors. But that just means that we will have to wait longer to see a doctor– as people do in countries with government-run medical systems.
In Canada, 27 percent of the people who have surgery wait four months or more. In Britain, 38 percent wait that long. But only 5 percent of Americans wait that long for surgery.
Surgery may well cost less in countries with government-run medical systems– if you count only the money cost, and not the time the patients have to endure the ailments that require surgery, or the fact that some conditions become worse, or even fatal, while waiting.
A recent report from the Fraser Institute in Canada shows that patients there wait an average of ten weeks to get an MRI, just to find out what is wrong with them. A lot of bad things can happen in 10 weeks, ranging from suffering to death.
Politicians may talk about “bringing down the cost of medical care,” but they seldom even attempt to bring down the costs. What they bring down is the price– which is to say, they refuse to pay the costs.
Anybody can refuse to pay any cost. But don’t be surprised if you get less when you pay less. None of this is rocket science. But it does require us to stop and think before jumping on a bandwagon.
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and author of The Housing Boom and Bust.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) is a novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.[1] It tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit-hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar and anthropomorphic creatures.
The tale is filled with allusions to Dodgson’s friends. The tale plays with logic in ways that have given the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children. It is considered to be one of the most characteristic examples of the genre of literary nonsense, and its narrative course and structure has been enormously influential, mainly in the fantasy genre…. continued…. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice’s_Adventures_in_Wonderland
“Birds of a Feather” . . . . Scolding Lady Justice
Published June 30, 2009 | By Michael Ramirez
STUNNING! U.S. Catholic Hierarchy Shows Support for Legislation Requiring Massive Tax Hike
Published June 30, 2009 | Catholic World News Brief, (EWTN), June 26, 2009
The US bishops have given their enthusiastic support to the Waxman-Markey bill, a piece of legislation designed to address climate change, which Republican opponents have characterized as entailing “the largest tax increase in American history.”
The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 proposes a complicated series of schemes known as “cap and trade,” ultimately imposing taxes on the carbon-dioxide emissions that are cited as a major factor in global warming. Even before the 1,200-page legislation was made available to Congress, the members of the House of Representatives received a letter from two leading representatives of the American Church, giving their strong endorsement for the bill.
Bishop Howard Hubbard, who chairs the US bishops’ committee on international justice and peace; and Ken Hackett, the president of Catholic Relief Services, welcomed the introduction of the Waxman-Markey bill. They criticized the legislation only because, in their view, it did not include adequate funding to protect the poor– in the US and abroad– from the bill’s economic impact. Bishop Hubbard and Hackett argued that “the funding resources committed to international adaptation fall fundamentally short of what is needed.” Their letter also suggested measures to protect churches and non-profit agencies from the adverse economic effects.
By pointing to the ways in which the legislation could harm the economic interests of the poor and the non-profit sector, Bishop Hubbard and Ken Hackett demonstrated that they were aware of the bill’s economic costs. But their letter to Congressmen betrayed no concern at all about how the bill would affect ordinary American families above the poverty level.
The Congressional Budget Office, in its analysis of the legislation, concluded that the Waxman-Markey bill would entail new costs of $770 a year for the average American family. A separate analysis by the Heritage Foundation suggested that this figure was grossly understated, and the actual costs would be closer to $3,000 per year for a typical family of four– rising steadily up to $4,600 by the year 2035. The Heritage analysis added that the bill would increase gasoline prices by 58%, home heating oil by 56%, and electric rates by 90%.
The total drag on the economy would likely result in a loss of over 1 million jobs, Heritage concluded. In spite of this enormous cost, the (Heritage) Foundation argued, the Waxman-Markey bill would produce only a miniscule effect on the process of climate change, producing a drop in world temperatures of “only hundredths of a degree Celsius” in the next 40 years.
SUPREME JUSTICE! Reversing Discrimination
Published June 30, 2009 | ….The Ricci case shows what the politically connected can do to abuse anti-discrimination laws….But the Frank Riccis of the world can’t count on the courts alone. The Ricci case exposed the extent to which anti-discrimination laws, intended to protect all Americans regardless of color or creed, can be used by the politically connected to discriminate. Lawmakers should take notice…..
By W. James Antle, III, American Spectator, June 20, 2009
Five of the Supreme Court justices appointed by Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and George W. Bush had empathy for Frank Ricci. Ricci is a veteran firefighter who battled dyslexia to try and rise through the ranks of the New Haven, Connecticut department he served for over a decade. When the time came to take the promotion test and compete for eight open lieutenant slots, Ricci quit his second job, bought $1,000 worth of textbooks, and had a friend tape-record the contents to get past his learning disability.
Ricci studied hard. And it looked like his hard work was going to pay off: he came in sixth, qualifying for a promotion. But Frank Ricci didn’t have the right color skin. Because almost all of firefighters who made the cut were white, the city of New Haven threw out the test results. There was to be no “disparate impact” or “adverse result”; there was to be no promotion for Ricci.
The liberal bloc of the Supreme Court had empathy for New Haven and others who discriminate in pursuit of diversity. In her dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg displayed what legal writer Walter Olson described as “touching concern” for employers who “can anticipate costly disparate treatment litigation” thanks to the firefighters’ victory.
Empathy, of course, has little to do with the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday in Ricci v. DeStefano. What was at stake was color-blind justice under the law and the Constitution. More than that, the case exposed the often pernicious effects of well-intentioned affirmative action programs under Title VII.
New Haven paid an outside consultant to design the written portion of the promotion exams for lieutenant and captain so that the questions would be job-related and race-neutral. Forty percent of the exam was oral — the fact that 60 percent of it was written is the result of collective bargaining agreements with the firefighters’ union — judged by scoring panels on which minorities were well represented.
In 1999, two blacks scored well enough to qualify for promotions and there was no controversy. In 2003, no African Americans and only two Hispanics scored high enough to qualify. Writes Steve Sailer, “The difference in whether 2 blacks passed in 1999 or 0 in 2003 is just a matter of small sample sizes.”
City officials nevertheless feared New Haven would be sued if the test results were allowed to stand. The city’s white mayor, John DeStefano, also heard protests from the minister who helps him get out the vote within New Haven’s black community. So the verdict was: Sorry, Frank.
But the Supreme Court reached a different conclusion. “Fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer’s reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions,” wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy in his opinion for the court.
Justice Samuel Alito, in a concurring opinion joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, went even further:
As initially described by the dissent … the process by which the City reached the decision not to accept the test results was open, honest, serious, and deliberative. But even the District Court admitted that “a jury could rationally infer that city officials worked behind the scenes to sabotage the promotional examinations because they knew that, were the exams certified, the Mayor would incur the wrath of [Rev. Boise] Kimber and other influential leaders of New Haven’s African-American community.” …
This admission finds ample support in the record. Reverend Boise Kimber, to whom the District Court referred, is a politically powerful New Haven pastor and a self-professed ‘kingmaker’ … On one occasion, “[i]n front of TV cameras, he threatened a race riot during the murder trial of the black man arrested for killing white Yalie Christian Prince. He continues to call whites racist if they question his actions.” …
Reverend Kimber’s personal ties with seven-term New Haven Mayor John DeStefano (Mayor) stretch back more than a decade. In 1996, for example, Mayor DeStefano testified for Rev. Kimber as a character witness when Rev. Kimber — then the manager of a funeral home — was prosecuted and convicted for stealing prepaid funeral expenses from an elderly woman and then lying about the matter under oath. … “Reverend Kimber has played a leadership role in all of Mayor DeStefano’s political campaigns, [and] is considered a valuable political supporter and vote-getter.” … According to the Mayor’s former campaign manager (who is currently his executive assistant), Rev. Kimber is an invaluable political asset because “[h]e’s very good at organizing people and putting together field operations, as a result of his ties to labor, his prominence in the religious community and his long-standing commitment to roots.”…
In other words, the plaintiffs in this case were victims of politics and preferential 
policies. A bare majority of the Supreme Court sided with them over New Haven’s political class, the Obama administration, and Obama high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
But the Frank Riccis of the world can’t count on the courts alone. The Ricci case exposed the extent to which anti-discrimination laws, intended to protect all Americans regardless of color or creed, can be used by the politically connected to discriminate. Lawmakers should take notice.
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/06/30/reversing-discrimination
THE ANTI-FAMILY BILL! Money for D.C. Abortions; Legalization of Marijuana; No Money for School Vouchers
Published June 30, 2009 | House Committee Ventures Capitol on Social Issues
Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, June 29, 2009
If you’re looking for a bill that sums up this administration’s anti-family views, the House Financial Services Subcommittee has produced the perfect candidate.
In its appropriations debate, abortion, marijuana, domestic partnerships, and school vouchers are all topics of consideration. As it currently stands, the bill submitted by the Financial Services panel (which oversees the District of Columbia) took a giant step toward funding a culture of death in the nation’s capital.
To the dismay of pro-lifers, liberals on the committee heeded the President’s request to overturn the Dornan Amendment, which has banned taxpayer-funded abortions in D.C. for years. As FRC has argued, subsiding abortion will only increase it–a result at odds with the President’s supposed promise to “reduce abortions.”
Unfortunately, the bill only gets worse from there. On school choice, the draft provides just enough funding–$12 million in fiscal 2010–for students who are already enrolled in the program, effectively shutting out any new applicants.
Adding to the outcry, the panel also paved the way for legalized marijuana in D.C., stripping language from the bill that would outlaw it. If the provision passes, it would be up to the District to decide whether or not it allows residents to possess or distribute the drug.
The bill’s next stop is the House Appropriations Committee, where members expect to debate it on July 7. At the moment, no bill number has been assigned. Stay tuned for more details and information that will help you contact your representatives.
The Washington Examiner: House subcommittee OKs pot on D.C. ballot
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU09F20&f=PG07J01
New Orleans’ New Archbishop is Blessed by Pope
Published June 30, 2009 | By Ramon Antonio Vargas, The Times-Picayune, June 29, 2009
Pope Benedict XVI greets U.S. Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans after presenting a pallium to him during a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican June 29. During the Mass, 34 archbishops from 20 countries knelt before the pope and received a pallium, a woolen band worn around their shoulders as a sign of their authority and their responsibility as shepherds.
ROME – The first native-son Catholic archbishop in New Orleans history knelt before Pope Benedict XVI in Rome on Monday and received an important symbol of pastoral duty.
Archbishop Gregory Aymond received the pallium at St. Peter’s Basilica as the Vatican celebrated the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, the day of the year when the Roman Catholic Church vests all its newly appointed archbishops with the symbol of their authority.
Aymond described the moment when the pope placed the woolen band over his shoulders as a “powerful and touching event, ” according to a statement issued by the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Aymond told a reporter with the Catholic News Service that wearing a pallium similar to the pope’s while he “pledged his obedience and respect to him as the vicar of Christ” moved him and made him feel connected to the pope.
The pallium dates to the 4th century, according to the Catholic Church. Modern pallia are 2 inch-wide circular bands worn around the neck, chest and shoulders. Two pendants about 2 inches wide and 12 inches long hang from the bands, one in front and one in back.
The bands are made from blessed lamb wool, to symbolize the archbishop’s role as a shepherd, according to the Catholic Church.
Only the pope and metropolitan archbishops may wear a pallium. Aymond will wear his only on specified Catholic feast days such as Christmas.
Aymond, a graduate of Notre Dame Seminary, was named to replace Archbishop Alfred Hughes on June 12. He became the 17th spiritual leader of the Catholic community around New Orleans and its 14th archbishop.
Hughes retains the title archbishop and is the archdiocese’s apostolic administrator until Aug. 20, when Aymond’s installation Mass will take place at St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter.
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/new_orleans_
new_archbishop_is.html
IS OBAMA ‘FAST TRACKING’ THE LGBT AGENDA?
Published June 30, 2009 | The President’s Rainbow Connection
“Gay Pride Month” may be coming to an end, but we cannot say the same for the President’s pandering.
Today, the administration commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion with a special LGBT reception in the East Room of the White House.
Several activists say they will use the occasion to push for faster progress on their agenda. Meanwhile, FRC is overwhelmed by the concessions this President has already made, including changes to partner benefit, passport, and Census policies.
Adding to our outrage is the elevation of Kevin Jennings, founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), to head the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools at the Department of Education. To fuel the fire against his appointment, FRC published an ad in the Washington Examiner, which highlights his hatred of religion and his history of drug abuse.
In conjunction with the campaign, Human Events published my op-ed, “Kevin Jennings–Unsafe for America’s Schools” in today’s edition. To see our ad or read my column, visit www.frc.org. Also, stop by FRC’s brand new site, www.stopjennings.org to learn more about him or to contact your leaders.
Sign the Jennings Petition today!
Human Events: Kevin Jennings — Unsafe for America’s Schools
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU09F20&f=PG07J01
No Room for Pedophiles in Priestly Ministry, Says Cardinal Hummes
Published June 30, 2009 | Catholic News Agency, June 29, 2009
- The prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, said last week pedophilia is a “terrible crime” that affects only a small percentage of priests, adding that “there is no room in the priestly ministry for people who have committed these crimes.”
In an interview in Rome with the magazine “Vida Nueva,” the cardinal pointed out that the Church “cannot close her eyes” to these problems, but at the same time he emphasized, “There is no room in the priestly ministry for people who have committed these crimes.”
“The Church cannot accept cases of pedophilia. Those guilty must be punished both through civil and canon law,” he said, clarifying however that most of the clergy “have nothing to do with these problems.”
The Church “must react and not accept” that priests have this image, he continued, which is created “with a very strong, negative preconception that humiliates and wounds the vast majority of priests.”
In addition, Cardinal Hummes also addressed the question of celibacy, which a certain percentage of priests “do not respect.” He stressed that the majority of priests are “dignified and honorable men” who “fight for human dignity, human rights, social justice and solidarity with the poor.”
Year for Priests
Regarding the Year for Priests decreed by Benedict XVI, Cardinal Hummes said it “has come at an appropriate moment.” The cardinal called on priests to live their mission and vocation “in the prevailing culture of the West, which is against religion and believes it should be relegated to the person’s private sphere.”
In any case, he added, “We ought not to demonize today’s culture and form ghettos,” but rather, ever greater efforts should be made to evangelize society, “as is the case with any other culture.”
“We must confront it with joy, determination, conviction and enthusiasm. Even the post-modern man and woman, estranged from religion, can embrace Jesus Christ,” he said.
Cardinal Hummes said he hopes the Year for Priests will help increase the number of vocations. “If we are able to offer priests better conditions so that they can be happier, young people who feel the call to the priesthood will be more decisive,” he said.
Founder’s Quote Daily
Published June 30, 2009 | 
“Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.”
Patriot Post
OBAMA’S “COMMON GROUND”! Obama’s New Budget for D.C. Allows Taxpayer Funding for Abortions
Published June 30, 2009 | Catholic News Agency, June 30, 2009
Washington D.C. – President Obama has issued a budget recommendation for the 2010 fiscal year that would ease the restrictions on taxpayer funds for abortions in Washington D.C., a change that has drawn criticism from pro-life organizations across the nation.
Unlike other U.S. states and territories, the budget for the District of Columbia is reviewed and modified by Congress and the President before it is approved.
In its submission for the fiscal year 2010, the Obama administration has reversed the “Dornan Amendment,” introduced in 1988 to prevent both federal and local tax dollars from funding abortions in the District of Columbia, except in cases of rape or “where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term.”
Under the Obama administration’s alterations, the prohibition will only apply to federal tax money, and the exemptions would be expanded to include any case “where a woman suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness,” including those physical conditions that endanger the life of the mother.
The recommended change has raised strong concerns among pro-life groups.
“The Dornan Amendment is commonsense policy that should be retained by Congress,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the Susan B. Anthony List, a network dedicated to supporting pro-life women in the political process.
Dannenfelser joined the House Pro-Life Women’s Caucus in speaking out against the change at a news conference last week. “Women facing unplanned pregnancies deserve woman-centered solutions to help both mother and child, not abortion on-demand, which pits mother against child in the most tragic of circumstances,” she said.
“We won’t find reductions in abortion as long as we continue to subsidize and promote it at taxpayers’ expense,” she continued. “The Obama administration’s promise to find ways to reduce abortion numbers rings hollow in such an environment.”
The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the nation’s largest pro-life organization, issued a statement calling the move a “political scam.”
“President Obama is pursuing a step-by-step strategy to expand access to abortion, and today’s step is to urge Congress to authorize the funding of abortion on demand in the nation’s capital, with funds appropriated by Congress,” said Doug Johnson, legislative director for the NRLC.
“If Congress goes along with the Obama proposal, the predictable result will be tax funding of several thousand elective abortions annually, including roughly 1,000 abortions annually that would not otherwise occur,” Johnson explained, pointing to studies showing that policies barring tax-funded abortions actually prevent at least one-third of the abortions that would otherwise occur among given populations.
CNA attempted to obtain comment from the Archdiocese of Washington but did not receive a response.
Although Obama has spoken of looking for “common ground” on the issue of abortion, pro-life groups are concerned that adding a broader non-life-threatening “health” exception to provide more funding for abortion may provide a slippery slope in the opposite direction.
In past abortion cases, exceptions for the “health” of the mother have been interpreted by the Supreme Court to include “physical, emotional, psychological [and] familial” factors.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16413
Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
Published June 30, 2009 | By John-Henry Westen, June 29, 2009, LifeSiteNews.com
ROME - Closing the Year of St. Paul yesterday evening, Pope Benedict XVI reflected on the writings of the famed convert to Christianity. With reference to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (4:14), the Pope explained what Paul meant by his statement that Christians should not remain “children at the mercy of the waves, transported here and there by every wind of doctrine.”
“Paul wants the Christian faith have a ‘responsible’, an ‘adult faith,” said the Holy Father. “The word ‘adult faith’ has in recent decades become a popular slogan. It is often used to refer to the attitude of those who no longer adhere to the Church and her pastors, but choose for themselves what they want to believe and not believe – a kind of do-it-yourself faith.”
Benedict XVI continued: “Speaking against the Magisterium of the Church is presented as courageous. In reality, however, it does not take courage for this, since you can always be sure of audience applause.”
“Rather it takes courage to adhere to the faith of the Church, even if it contradicts the ‘scheme’ of the contemporary world,” said the Pope. “It is this non-conformism of the faith that Paul calls an ‘adult faith.’”
The Holy Father gave two examples of an ‘adult faith’.
First, “to commit to the inviolability of human life from the very beginning, thus radically opposing the principle of violence, in defense of the most defenseless humans.”
And second, “to recognize marriage between a man and a woman for life as a law of the Creator, restored again by Christ.”
For Paul, said Benedict XVI, “following the prevailing winds and currents of the day is childish.”
See the full homily in Italian here:
http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/24071.php?index=24071&po_date=28.06.2009&lang=en
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jun/09062901.html
GOSPEL & MEDITATION: Letting Jesus Sleep
Published June 30, 2009 | Father Jeffery Bowker, LC
Matthew 8:23-27
As Jesus got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I come to you in this meditation ready to do whatever it is you ask. Left to myself I often take the easy and convenient path, yet I know the way of a Christian is through the narrow gate. In you I find the reason to abandon the easy path for a more perfect mission of love. I’m ready to learn the meaning of your command: “Follow me.”
Petition: Lord, grant me the grace of a mature faith.
1. God’s Silence, Man’s Faith We can imagine ourselves in the place of the apostles, in this poor boat tossed by the turbulent waves. The situation instantly speaks to our worst of fears; yet Jesus sleeps. Our temptation is to wake him…and too many souls do so through complaining incessantly, despairing attitudes, withdrawing from prayer, or unloading anger on others. When in a moment of trial we find life is no longer under our complete control, the option of meltdown is always at hand. But we mustn’t take that route; instead we must contemplate the power that emanates from the sleeping Christ. Trials are intended by God to draw us closer to him and increase our dependence on him. We have to live from faith; otherwise all that reigns is fear, insecurity and bitterness. The “Silence of Christ” is powerful. To pass over its meaning lightly is to abandon some of the deepest lessons of Christ’s heart. The “Silence of Christ” must teach us.
2. The “Silence of Christ” Speaks to Our Faith What is Christ’s sleep like? As a young mother, Mary watched Jesus sleep many times. Archbishop Martinez writes:
“Jesus was exceedingly beautiful when he spoke the words of eternal life, accomplished wonders, looked with love, pardoned with mercy and caressed with tenderness. But I would like to have seen him while he was sleeping because I could have contemplated him to my heart’s content, without the fascination of his gaze distracting me, without the perfection of his beauty and the glory of his splendor dazzling my eyes and enrapturing my soul. The beauty of Jesus awake is far too great for my smallness. Who could support it? I felt it more suited to me veiled by sleep, as the glory of the sun is more adapted to my eyes when I look at it through a translucent lens” (When Jesus Sleeps, p.15).
May I trust the power of Christ just as much when he chooses not to act as when he does.
3. God’s Eternal Pedagogy Water, a boat, the apostles and Christ… this scene repeats itself over and over again in the Gospel. Water is a symbol of the experiences of life taken on a human level; the boat is the experience of faith on a supernatural level — it is our life with Christ. Christ’s message is that we can never let our experiences of life overwhelm our experience of faith. We have to live not from the surface level of impressions of the moment, but from the deep channel of faith that reveals the action of God, the wisdom of his Providence and the ultimate destiny of eternity. Faith is what reveals Christ’s presence in our boat; faith is what makes us believe that every wave and wind gust are blessed invitations to confide in the One who rules all. Faith is what permits God to console our hearts, calm our fears and preserve our joy in the midst of problems and difficulties that may take months or years to run their course.
Conversation with Christ: Lord, I know belief makes me vulnerable. But I know that I will not know your love if I do not believe that you can make me happier than I can be by myself. If I do not face the enemies of my soul and my mission and abandon myself to your grace, I will not know your victory.
Resolution: Today I will take a problem and, with complete trust and confidence in him, leave it totally in God’s hands.
http://www.regnumchristi.org/english/articulos/articulo.phtml?se=363&ca=975&te=735&id=20302
SAINT OF THE DAY: THE FIRST HOLY MARTYRS OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH
Published June 30, 2009 | Nero was widely believed to have caused the fire that burned down much of Rome in the same year. He blamed the fire on the Christians and put them to death, many by crucifixion, by feeding to the wild animals in the circus, or by being tied to posts and lit up as human torches.
These martyrs were called the “Disciples of the Apostles” and their firmness in the face of their gruesome deaths were a powerful testimony that led to many conversions in the early Roman Church.
The Feast of St. Peter and Paul – On this Rock
Published June 29, 2009 | Monday,
June 29, 2009
Todays’ solemnity directs our gaze to Rome, the center of Catholicism. As Catholics, our identity, meaning, and direction only have fulfillment in so far as we are united to the Vicar of Christ, the visible head of the Church. The challenging times that we live in provides countless opportunities to be heroically faithful to the Magisterium of the Church.
In order to continue his work on earth and lead all peoples to eternal salvation, Jesus established one visible and hierarchical Church. It is very clear from the continual preparation of the Jewish people in the Old Testament and then with the precise act of Jesus in Cesarea Philippi, that God willed to found one Church as a visible, hierarchical, living, and continuing authority, to teach, govern, and sanctify in his name. It is no less clear that Jesus appointed the Apostle Simon the fisherman as the visible head of his Church. Even as he conferred the authority, Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter; i.e. rock. The name Peter had never existed prior to this divine event in Cesarea Philippi.
“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”. (Matthew 16: 17-19).
Throughout biblical history, when God called someone for a particular mission, he usually changed the name of the person called. The changed name denoted the mission of the particular individual and a change in that person’s destiny.
Abram was given the name Abraham, a name that denotes the father of many nations (Genesis 17: 5). John the Baptist was not named Zechariah, but rather John, meaning Yahweh is gracious (Luke 1: 13). The angel Gabriel told Mary that she was to name her son Jesus signifying Savior (Luke 1: 32). Jesus gave Peter a new name. That name was Peter. The name Peter had never existed before Jesus gave him this new name. Peter means rock. When Jesus said, “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church,” the words this rock refer to Peter.
Many people argue that the use of the word rock does not refer to Peter at all. They point out that in the Greek text Petros (Peter) is a masculine noun and that petra (rock) is a feminine noun. Therefore the two rocks do not match up.
The original Gospel of Matthew was written in Aramaic, a language that does not make a distinction between petros and petra. In Aramaic, the word for rock is kepha. In the original Aramaic kepha is used the same way twice. Your are Kepha and on this kepha I will build my Church. Since the Greek word for rock, petra, is feminine, it would have been inappropriate for the Greek translator of the Aramaic text to give Peter, Petros, a feminine name. Thus the distinction between Petros and petra.
When studying Scripture it is also important to consider the writings of the Fathers of the early Church. Not one, including those who spoke Greek, ever had a problem with this understanding of Peter as the head of the Church.
Trials and tribulations will always be a part of the Church because it is not merely a human entity. The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, and Satan will continue to attack it until the Second Coming. Perhaps history will judge our age as presenting the most formidable challenges the Catholic Church has had to face, although it is true that there have been other dramatic moments in the history of the Church.
The Catholic Church is the only institution in human history that has continually survived its own problems and failures. As G.K. Chesterton once said, this is true, “because it has a God who knew his way out of the grave”. Jesus assures us of his continual presence and protection: “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16: 18).
Rather than becoming discouraged, angry, or even rebellious during a difficult time of trial, we must stand fast through prayer and fidelity. We must always pray for our Church, and always trust that God will deliver us from all evil. The words that Thomas Paine wrote in 1776 are equally true today as they were then: “These are times that try men’s souls”.
The reality of division within the Catholic Church in this country is very real. Just after the death of Pope John Paul the Great, CNN/USA TODAY/GALLUP Poll found that seventy-nine per cent of the Catholics polled said that the a new Pope should change the Church’s teaching on birth control. Sixty-three percent said that priests should be able to marry. Fifty-nine per cent want a change on the Church’s ban on embryonic stem-cell research. Fifty-five per cent said that women should be able to be ordained as priests. Thirty-seven per cent want a change on the Church’s stand against abortion. In addition, forty-nine per cent believe the Church should change her teachings on divorce.
Unity in the Catholic Church is damaged when Catholics, be they clergy or lay people, deviate from the deposit of faith, either through an unhealthy attachment to the past or a detrimental deviation, in the name of progress, from authentic Church teaching and discipline. Both postures tear away at the garment of unity.
Every member of the Church is obligated to obey every teaching of the Church. Matters regarding faith, morals and discipline are not subject to personal interpretation. Even Canon Law and liturgical norms are not guidelines. The Church is very clear that no one has the authority to deviate from Church teaching and discipline, nor does anyone have individual authority to introduce novelties for the sake of novelty into the liturgy. (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, chapter #’s 24-25). Continue reading
How Much Longer Will America Be the Abiding Alternative to Tyranny?
Published June 29, 2009 | THE GIPPER–Patriot Post, Monday Brief – Vol. 09 No. 26
“The Founding Fathers established a system which meant a radical break from that which preceded it. A written constitution would provide a permanent form of government, limited in scope, but effective in providing both liberty and order. Government was not to be a matter of self-appointed rulers, governing by whim or harsh ideology. It was not to be government by the strongest or for the few. Our principles were revolutionary. We began as a small, weak republic. But we survived. Our example inspired others, imperfectly at times, but it inspired them nevertheless. This constitutional republic, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, prospered and grew strong. To this day, America is still the abiding alternative to tyranny. That is our purpose in the world — nothing more and nothing less.” –Ronald Reagan
~ Patriot Post
“I will tell you, whenever men become so corrupt and wicked as to relinquish the path of equity and to abandon themselves to all kinds of excesses, then the Providence never fails to raise up a scourge like me to chastise a race so depraved; When the tyrants oppress their subjects to the limit, then God sends men like me
on this earth to mete out his punishment to them.” ~ Banda Singh Bahadur
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artofpunjab/2151777525/
FOR THE RECORD
Published June 29, 2009 | 
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, we don’t have 47 million folks who are truly uninsured. When you take out college kids plus those earning $75,000 or more who choose not to sign up for a health-care plan, roughly 20 million people are removed from the list of uninsured. After that, you can remove the 10 million who are not U.S. citizens and the 11 million who are eligible for SCHIP and Medicaid but for some reason have not signed up for those programs.
So that leaves only 10 million to 15 million people among the long-term uninsured. Yes, they need help. And yes, they should get it. But not with mandatory universal coverage, or new government-backed insurance plans, or massive tax increases. And certainly not with the Canadian-European-style nationalization that has always been the true goal of the Obama administration and congressional Democrats. Instead, we can give the truly uninsured vouchers or debit cards that will allow for choice and coverage, and even health savings accounts for retirement wealth….
Knocking down profits and telling people what to do because government planners know best, right? Wrong. Absolutely wrong.”
-economist Lawrence Kudlow
HAVE YOU HEARD THIS ONE? A Doctor Helps With a Womans “Problem”
Published June 29, 2009 | A Totally Different Look at Abortion
Doubt we have ever thought of it exactly this way. . . . A worried woman went to her gynecologist and said: Doctor, I have a serious problem and desperately need your help! My baby is not even 1 yr. old and I’m pregnant again. I don’t want kids so close together. So the doctor said: ‘OK and what do you want me to do?’ She said: ‘I want you to end my pregnancy, and I’m counting on your help with this.’ The doctor thought for a little, and after some silence he said to the lady: ‘I think I have a better solution for your problem. It’s less dangerous for you too.’ She smiled, thinking that the doctor was going to accept her request. Then he continued: ‘You see, in order for you not to have to take care of 2 babies at the same time, let’s kill the one in your arms. This way, you could rest some before the other one is born. If we’re going to kill one of them, it doesn’t matter which one it is. There would be no risk for your body if you chose the one in your arms.
The lady was horrified and said: “No doctor! How terrible! It’s a crime to kill a child!” ’I agree’, the doctor replied. ‘But you seemed to be ok with it, so I thought maybe that was the best solution. The doctor smiled. realizing that he had made his point. He convinced the mom that there is no difference in killing a child that’s already been born and one that’s still in the womb.
The crime is the same! – Anonymous
QUOTE ON “REAL COMMON SENSE”
Published June 29, 2009 | 
…“It shouldn’t be odd. I think all 12-year-olds should be interested in politics. It directly affects every aspect of your lives. If you sit back and let other people handle that stuff, then you’re going to suffer the consequences.”…
- Nicholas Moore, 12, began reading at age 3 and has been homeschooled since he could begin school; has conservative website
SOURCE: By Jared Fields, Abilene Reporter News, June 22, 2009
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2009/jun/22/youth-develops-political-web-site/
INSIGHT
Published June 29, 2009 | Patriot Post, Monday Brief – Vol. 09 No. 26
“Men have been taught that the highest virtue is not to achieve, but to give. Yet one cannot give that which has not been created. Creation comes before distribution — or there will be nothing to distribute. The need of the creator comes before the need of any possible beneficiary. Yet we are taught to admire the second-hander who dispenses gifts he has not produced above the man who made the gifts possible. We praise an act of charity. We shrug at an act of achievement.” –novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand (1905-1982)
Speaking of Climate Change
Published June 29, 2009 | 
The only emissions problem is on Capitol Hill
The Eight Republican Cap and Traitors
Published June 29, 2009 | 
This bill has been touted by the Democrat leadership as a jobs bill, yet they neglected to note that the jobs being created will all be in China and India.
The eight Republican Cap and Traitors who put the bill over the top and allowed eight so-called conservative Democrats political cover to vote against:
Mary Bono Mack (Calif.)
Michael Castle (Del.)
Mark Kirk (Ill.)
Leonard Lance (N.J.)
Frank LoBiondo (N.J.)
John McHugh (N.Y.)
Dave Reichert (Wash.)
Chris Smith (N.J.)
For the full vote results
here.The Senate is expected to take up the bill upon its return from 4th of July break next week.
SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE! Obama Breaks Promise, Embraces Middle-Class Healthcare Tax
Published June 29, 2009 |
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….Candidate Barack Obama promised he’d never raise taxes on the middle class to pay for his trillion-dollar healthcare plan. But this week President Barack Obama is moving to do just that: create a new tax on healthcare benefits that will raise costs while reducing medical choice, critics say . . .“I pledge that under my plan, no one making less than $250,000 a year will see any type of tax increase,” Obama told a crowd in Dover, N.H., last year. “Not income tax, not capital gains taxes, not any kind of tax.”….
NewsMax.com, Sunday, June 28, 2009
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WASHINGTON – The Obama White House left open the possibility Sunday that the president would break a campaign promise and raise taxes on people earning less than $250,000 to support his health care overhaul agenda.
White House adviser David Axelrod said the administration wouldn’t rule out taxing some employees’ benefits to fund a health care agenda that has yet to take final form. The move would be a compromise with fellow Democrats, who are pushing the proposal as a way to pay for the massive undertaking without ballooning the federal deficit.
“There are a number of formulations and we’ll wait and see. The important thing at this point is to keep the process moving, to keep people at the table, to the keep the discussions going,” Axelrod said. “We’ve gotten a long way down the road and we want to finish that journey.”
But if President Barack Obama compromises on that point, it would reverse a campaign tax promise.
“I pledge that under my plan, no one making less than $250,000 a year will see any type of tax increase,” Obama told a crowd in Dover, N.H., last year. “Not income tax, not capital gains taxes, not any kind of tax.”….continued…http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/obama_healthcare_tax/2009
/06/28/229497.html
Sarah Palin Leads Republicans in Ratings as Obama Keeps Promoting Abortion
Published June 29, 2009 | By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com Editor, June 26, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — With President Barack Obama aggressively promoting abortion, pro-life voters long for 2012 and the opportunity to replace him with a pro-life president. A new Pew poll finds Sarah Paling leading four Republicans who could be seen as presidential candidate, though not all potential candidates are included.
The Pew poll finds Americans have positive rating of Paling, the Alaska governor, for the first time since the presidential elections.
Palin continues to be a controversial figure among the general public, with about as many saying they have a favorable impression (45 percent) as saying they have an unfavorable one (44 percent) of her.
However, that rating is an improvement on her 42-48 percent negative rating she held in the Pew poll in late October, just before the presidential election…..read more….. http://www.lifenews.com/nat5171.html
New Forms of Slavery: More Attention Turns to Sexual Trafficking Victims
Published June 29, 2009 | By Father John Flynn, LCROME, JUNE 28, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican and groups of women religious have long been actively working to stop the trafficking of persons, and a recent message of support sent by Benedict XVI to a meeting on the issue held in Rome this month reiterated that this is a Church priority.
The Pontiff said it is important to bring about “a renewed awareness of the inestimable value of life and an ever more courageous commitment to the defense of human rights and the overcoming of every type of abuse.”
The issue is also being debated in England. A June briefing published by the Christian Institute explained that the government’s Policing and Crime Bill includes significant changes to the law regarding prostitution in England and Wales. The changes are designed to deal particularly with the problem of sex trafficking.
The proposals, still to be voted on by Parliament, contemplate that a purchaser of sexual services would be committing an offence if sex was purchased from a prostitute who had been subjected to force, deception or threats, according to the briefing.
The concept of force would include coercion by psychological means, including exploiting someone’s vulnerability. The Christian Institute said that this would be a strict liability offence, meaning that the buyer could be guilty regardless of whether they knew the prostitute was subjected to force or whether they made attempts to find out……continued……… http://www.zenit.org/article-26316?l=english
Italian Newspaper Reveals Key Paragraphs from Pope’s Upcoming Social Encyclical
Published June 29, 2009 | 
- The upcoming social encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI “Caritas in veritate” – Charity in truth – will bear the date of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 29, but will likely become public on July 6 or 7, the Italian daily Corriere della Sera said on Saturday.
An article by Gian Guido Vecchi quotes what he claims are several original paragraphs of the Pope’s third encyclical.
“Without truth, without trust and love for what is truthful, there is no conscience or social responsibility, and the social action falls under the control of private interests or logics of power, with destructive effect on society, even more on a society in way to globalization, in difficult moments like the current ones,” the Pope will say in “Caritas in veritate,” according to Vecchi.
Corriere della Sera says the Pope highlights in the upcoming document that globalization is not an evil in itself, but it cannot be left to self-regulation.
“In the midst of the new international economic, commercial and financial context,” the Pope will suggest an international agreement to lead the process of globalization: “an authority that should be regulated by law, should stick coherently to the principles of subsidiarity ad solidarity, should be aimed at achieving the common good and committed in fostering an authentic integral human development, inspired in the values of charity and truth.”
In what Vecchi describes as “a very theological and theoretical” document, Pope Benedict will highlight from the beginning that “the charity of truth, which Jesus Christ has shown to us along all his earthly life and, above all, with His death and resurrection, is the main resource at the service of the true development of each individual human being and humanity as a whole.”
According to the Pope, the current crisis has been sparked by “a deficit of ethics in the economic structures.” A reform of the current system, therefore, will require “a common code” based on “the truth from both faith and reason,” capable of providing “the light through which the human intelligence arrives to natural and supernatural truth of charity.”
Vecchi claims that the Pope will recall the “social responsibility of private companies,” but will underscore that “true development is impossible without honest men, without financial operators and politicians who strongly feel in their own consciences the call for the common good.”
The encyclical will also pay attention to the “ecologic health of the planet,” but will remind that “the duties we have to the environment are connected to the duties we have toward the human person”, because “the first capital to be protected and cherished is the human person in its integrity.”
According to Vecchi, the encyclical will hardly be “good news to the liberals and bad news to the conservatives,” as claimed by some analysts who have not seen the text of the document.
“The Pope quotes Paul VI’s Populorum progressio, which in 1967 denounced the gap between rich and poor countries, but the encyclical also takes from Humanae vitae in criticizing abortion and contraception,” Vecchi writes.
The encyclical, in fact, is likely to say that “openness to life is at the core of every true development,” and regarding the ambiguous policies aimed at “reducing the need for abortion” by means of other social policies, the Pope warns that “if personal and social sensibility toward the welcoming of a new life is lost, even other forms of welcoming (life) useful to social life become fruitless.”
The encyclical will also tackle global injustice, especially world hunger.
“Charity in truth requires an urgent reform to confront courageously and without hesitation the great problems of injustice in the development of the nations,” the encyclical will say.
The document will also say that “food and water are universal rights,” and will remind that the Greek word Oikonomia – from which the word “economy” comes - means the rule or management of the oikos, the home: “the development of all nations depends above all in recognizing that we are one single family.”
ARE YOU BREATHING FIRE YET? ACES Up Her Sleeve! Pelosi’s Corrupt Way Of Doing the ‘People’s Business’
Published June 29, 2009 | 
In 2006, the incoming Speaker pledged that hers would be the
“most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history.”
At the time, we were skeptical — to say the least. Our refusal to accept her rhetoric was roundly vindicated last week. That was when Madam-Speaker used every dirty trick at her disposal to coldly ram a 1,500 page global warming bill through the House of Representatives.
The Speaker chose to stifle the usual observances of deliberative democracy because open, honest debate would have attracted unwelcome scrutiny to her massive new energy tax.
Pelosi’s legislation, the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act, would raise the price of hydrocarbon energy sources like coal and oil thought to cause global warming, but which power 85 percent — 85 percent! – of the economic production in America.
A large energy tax during a deep recession is a political cyanide pill that 44 of Pelosi’s Democratic colleagues refused to swallow. That almost doomed the bill and in fact would have killed it outright Friday night if eight Republicans hadn’t voted with the majority of Democrats. (The final vote was 219 to 212.)
Likely there would have been many more Democratic “no” votes if Madame-Speaker and Energy & Commerce chairman Henry Waxman didn’t find creative ways to shorten or skip every step of that “How a Bill Becomes a Law” song.
When fighting between the Energy & Commerce and Agriculture committees over the bill grew too intense, the farm lobby was bought off as were a lot of other Democrats. In exchange for votes, Pelosi and Waxman wrote countless paybacks, favors, and concessions into the legislation — all without serious debate.
Indeed, House leadership crafted much of the ACES Act in secret behind closed doors. In the week before the final vote, it grew by a whopping 600 pages. Even that figure doesn’t stress the urgent, secretive nature of the process. At 3:09 Friday morning, Waxman et al. introduced a 309-page “manager’s amendment” to the legislation that was set for a vote later in the day.
Representatives would have had all of nine hours to study the text, assuming they went without sleep. The manager’s amendment made even that impossible, because you had roughly 1,200 pages of text — containing, at last count, 397 new government regulations and 1,090 new economic mandates — followed by over 300 pages of text with no index that amended the previous legislation on paragraph by paragraph basis.
It would take a team of lawyers several days to sort out a mess like that.
We have to hand it to Oregon Republican Greg Waldren for his superb sense of understatement when he said he couldn’t “imagine that anyone on this floor has read every word” of the ACES Act. That was the whole point of introducing the legislation under an extremely limited rule and only allowing three hours for debate on something that may take a good bite out of every American’s pocketbook.
Pelosi and company had complained, rightly, that Republicans rushed some legislation through Congress. But her approach has been even less open to any kind of dissent than former Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
The “open” Congress that Pelosi promised back in 2006 would have allowed members of the House to voice their ideas about how to improve legislation. Fat chance. House leadership discarded all but one — that’s right, one – of the 220 amendments submitted by House Republicans on the ACES Act, and allowed next to no time for debate. Georgia’s Phil Gingrey complained on the House floor, “The Speaker and the Rules Committee have silenced the opposition.”
They certainly tried to. If there’s any silver lining to this, it’s that congressional Republicans were incensed and unlikely to forget, or shut up about it. John Boehner used his privilege as Minority Leader to insist, over the befuddled objection of Waxman, on going past normal debate time limits and reading large chunks of the 11th hour amendment on the House floor.
And afterward, when Waxman requested unanimous consent to say a few celebratory words about his historic bill’s passage, some Republican uttered those two magical words: “I object.”
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/06/29/aces-up-her-sleeve
SAYING GRACE