How to Talk to Democrats About Abortion: Five Strategies for Making the Pro-Life Case
Published October 31, 2009 | 
Mike Pence: Reading Guide to the Pelosi Health Care Reform Bill
Published October 31, 2009 | 
Page 94—Section 202(c) prohibits the sale of private individual health insurance policies, beginning in 2013, forcing individuals to purchase coverage through the federal government
Page 110—Section 222(e) requires the use of federal dollars to fund abortions through the government-run health plan—and, if the Hyde Amendment were ever not renewed, would require the plan to fund elective abortions
Page 111—Section 223 establishes a new board of federal bureaucrats (the “Health Benefits Advisory Committee”) to dictate the health plans that all individuals must purchase —and would likely require all Americans to subsidize and purchase plans that cover any abortion
Page 211—Section 321 establishes a new government-run health plan that, according to non-partisan actuaries at the Lewin Group, would cause as many as 114 million Americans to lose their existing coverage
Page 225—Section 330 permits—but does not require—Members of Congress to enroll in government-run health care
Page 255—Section 345 includes language requiring verification of income for individuals wishing to receive federal health care subsidies under the bill—while the bill includes a requirement for applicants to verify their citizenship, it does not include a similar requirement to verify applicants’ identity, thus encouraging identity fraud for undocumented immigrants and others wishing to receive taxpayer-subsidized health benefits
Page 297—Section 501 imposes a 2.5 percent tax on all individuals who do not purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health insurance— the tax would apply on individuals with incomes under $250,000, thus breaking a central promise of then-Senator Obama’s presidential campaign
Page 313—Section 512 imposes an 8 percent “tax on jobs” for firms that cannot afford to purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health coverage ; according to an analysis by Harvard Professor Kate Baicker, such a tax would place millions “at substantial risk of unemployment”—with minority workers losing their jobs at twice the rate of their white counterparts
Page 336—Section 551 imposes additional job-killing taxes, in the form of a half-trillion dollar “surcharge,” more than half of which will hit small businesses ; according to a model developed by President Obama’s senior economic advisor, such taxes could cost up to 5.5 million jobs
Page 520—Section 1161 cuts more than $150 billion from Medicare Advantage plans, potentially jeopardizing millions of seniors’ existing coverage
Page 733—Section 1401 establishes a new Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research; the bill includes no provisions preventing the government-run health plan from using such research to deny access to life-saving treatments on cost grounds, similar to Britain’s National Health Service, which denies patient treatments costing more than $35,000
Page 1174—Section 1802(b) includes provisions entitled “TAXES ON CERTAIN INSURANCE POLICIES” to fund comparative effectiveness research, breaking Speaker Pelosi’s promise that “We will not be taxing [health] benefits in any bill that passes the House,” and the President’s promise not to raise taxes on families with incomes under $250,000
If you would like to read the entire 1,990 pages yourself, you can find the legislation here:
http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf
MARK ALEXANDER: Advocates Individual Liberty, Restoring Constitutional Limits on Government . . . . .
Published October 31, 2009 | Statement of Faith: IChThUS Imprimis — Christ First
Resolved by the Board of Directors that we, and the National Advisory Committee, Editors and Staff of PatriotPost.US, willingly and of our own free will, affirm our belief in, reliance upon and commitment to the God of Christendom, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We further Resolve, that the Board of Directors, National Advisory Committee, Editors and Staff of PatriotPost.US, affirm our commitment to advocate the Credo outlined in The Patriot’s statement of First Principles, including the advocacy of standards of righteousness that honor God and His precepts for living, and adherence to a standard of truth, based on God’s Word.
ADOPTED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS ACTING IN THEIR OWN BEHALF, AND ON THAT OF THE NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE, EDITORS AND STAFF OF PATRIOTPOST.US, UPON ITS INCEPTION, AND RENEWED EVERY YEAR THEREAFTER.
Statement of Principles: Principium Imprimis — First Principles
As a leading national advocate for individual liberty, the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and the promotion of free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values, The Patriot Post abides by the following Statement of Principles as our Credo.
We believe that individual liberty and personal responsibility, together with limited government, free enterprise and a stalwart national defense, are essential to sustain the legacy of our national heritage.
Individual liberty rapidly decays into corruption and anarchy without a meaningful commitment to personal responsibility based on our nation’s Christian heritage. Traditional beliefs and values must therefore continue to serve as our touchstone and compass.
The Cycle of Democracy follows this sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty (rule of law);
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage (rule of men).
(Attributed to Frasier Tytler)
Our Founder’s established a Republican form of government in order to enfeeble this cycle, however, the advent of a national means of shaping public opinion (mass media) has, in effect, rendered the protections of Republicanism futile. Politicians, who promise redistribution of wealth, can depend on a majority of their indoctrinated constituencies to vote themselves benefits from the public treasury. Thus, the Republic is at high risk of following the same cycle as democracies, unless there is intervention by Patriot leadership — those committed to a higher calling than their own self interests.
We believe a government that is strong but limited secures liberty best. The letter of the Constitution defines these limitations, and when our government oversteps them, it becomes tyrannical — regardless of the party in power. This notion of limited government — Lex Rex and not Rex Lex — guided our Founders as they composed the Declaration of Independence. This established a nation guided by the rule of law, not the rule of me.
We believe the fundamental duty of the federal government is to secure the rights of its citizens. This is accomplished through a fair and robust justice system, a strong national defense, and a foreign policy that always put America’s interests first.
We believe that the Constitution of the United States is supreme law of the land, and the best instrument yet instituted by man for protecting personal liberty by establishing a very limited and defined role for government. Its genius lies in its clear separation of powers at the federal level and its recognition that other non-enumerated powers reside with the states and their citizens.
We believe that the only economic philosophy congruent with these commitments to individual liberty and limited government is free market capitalism. Individuals contribute to this system through personal industry and initiative; government contributes by confining its regulatory activity within constitutional limits and by employing a system of taxation that is fair and comprehensible for all citizens. Entitlements and welfare schemes destroy not only personal initiative and responsibility, but also liberty and prosperity. Political freedom is inseparable from economic freedom. Thus, when the government stays within its constitutional role, America prospers.
In 1916, a minister and outspoken advocate for liberty, William J. H. Boetcker, published a pamphlet entitled The Ten Cannots:
- You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
- You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
- You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
- You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
- You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence.
- You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
- You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
- You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
- You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
- You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.
Fact is that government cannot give to anybody what it does not first take from somebody else.
However, now the once great Democrat Party is replete with western apologists for socialist political and economic agendas advocating, essentially, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist collectivism – the antithesis of Boetcker’s principles of free enterprise.
Indeed, as George Bernard Shaw wrote, “A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.”
Nineteenth-century historian Alexis de Tocqueville once observed, “Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”
Tocqueville was commenting on liberty and free enterprise, American style, versus socialism as envisioned by emerging protagonists of centralized state governments. And he saw on the horizon a looming threat — a threat that would challenge the freedoms writ in the blood and toil of our nation’s Founders and generations since who have honored their oaths “to support and defend” our Constitution.
Unfortunately, few in the Executive, Legislative or Judicial branches of government abide by their solemn oaths.
The Patriot envisions an America where the primacy of Constitutional authority, especially constraints on the legislature and judiciary, must be restored in order to ensure liberty, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society; where the primacy of traditional families and timeless values are the foundation of culture; where the primacy of religious liberty restores religious expression in the public square; and where we can rest assured that our nation is fully capably of defending our national security and national interests.
Let there be no doubt, then, that The Patriot’s allegiance to our Constitution and the authority of our Declaration of Independence far exceeds loyalty to any individual, organization or political party. Indeed, it is this selfsame allegiance that brought The Patriot Post into being.
To that end, we affirm the verity of these words from Justice Joseph Story (appointed to the Supreme Court by our Constitution’s principal author, James Madison): “The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of the republic; since it offers a strong moral check against usurpation and arbitrary power of the rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.”
IS IT TOO LITTLE TOO LATE FOR THE BISHOPS TO TAKE ACTION?
Published October 31, 2009 | 
Cardinal Francis George and the chairmen of the three major bishops’ committees engaged in health care reform wrote all of the U.S. bishops on Oct. 28 and said, “The debate and decisions on health care reform are reaching decisive moments.” In order to ensure that abortion is not funded with federal dollars, consciences are protected and that health care is affordable for all, the USCCB leaders asked every bishop to personally take action and lend their support. Continue reading
The Sunday Homily – ALL SAINTS DAY
Published October 31, 2009 |
Fr. James Farfaglia, Pastor, St. Helena of the True Cross of Jesus Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, Tx, November 1, 2009
At an important point in the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi, a missionary gave him a book that contained the four Gospels. This of course, was the Indian leader’s first exposure to Christianity. He read the Gospels with great interest, and was convinced that the principles taught by Jesus could resolve all of the political, social and economic problems of his country.
Gandhi had to travel throughout Western Europe in order to muster support for an independent India. Traveling through Christian countries, he was dismayed only to conclude that the Gospels are wonderful indeed, but he did not see anyone living their teaching. For this reason, Gandhi never converted to Christianity.
Today we celebrate All Saints Day. We are all called to be saints. Today’s Gospel passage reminds us of the program.
The Beatitudes contain the essence of the Christian way of life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: The beatitude we are promised confronts us with decisive moral choices. It invites us to purify our hearts of bad instincts and to seek the love of God above all else. It teaches us that true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human achievement – however beneficial it may be – such as science, technology, and art, or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good and of all love” (CCC # 1723).
Fr. James Farfaglia, Pastor, St. Helena of the True Cross of Jesus Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, Tx, November 1, 2009
At an important point in the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi, a missionary gave him a book that contained the four Gospels. This of course, was the Indian leader’s first exposure to Christianity. He read the Gospels with great interest, and was convinced that the principles taught by Jesus could resolve all of the political, social and economic problems of his country.Gandhi had to travel throughout Western Europe in order to muster support for an independent India. Traveling through Christian countries, he was dismayed only to conclude that the Gospels are wonderful indeed, but he did not see anyone living their teaching. For this reason, Gandhi never converted to Christianity.
Today we celebrate All Saints Day. We are all called to be saints. Today’s Gospel passage reminds us of the program.
The Beatitudes contain the essence of the Christian way of life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: The beatitude we are promised confronts us with decisive moral choices. It invites us to purify our hearts of bad instincts and to seek the love of God above all else. It teaches us that true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human achievement – however beneficial it may be – such as science, technology, and art, or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good and of all love” (CCC # 1723).
http://donotbediscouraged.blogspot.com/2009/10/sunday-homily-all-saints-day.html
CCHD “Has Nothing to Do With Catholicism, Except That Catholics Are Asked to Pay For It”?
Published October 31, 2009 | CCHD: Catholic Campaign for Human Development
….Criticisms based upon the CCHD’s questionable funding practices are not new. The late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus claimed last year, in the wake of the ACORN scandal, that the CCHD “has nothing to do with Catholicism, except that Catholics are asked to pay for it.”
He called the organization “misbegotten in concept and corrupt in practice,” and went so far as to urge that it be terminated. “What most Catholics don’t know, and what would likely astonish them,” wrote Fr. Neuhaus, “is that CHD very explicitly does not fund Catholic institutions and apostolates that work with the poor.” Neuhaus suggested that the bishops would do better to spend their money on more Catholic-related projects, such as ”Catholic inner-city schools.”…..
Source: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/sep/09092205.html
Source: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/sep/09092205.html
A New Campaign to Reform the CCHD
Published October 31, 2009 | By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, October 30, 2009
A coalition of Catholic and pro-life groups– including Human Life International, the American Life League, and the new Bellarmine Veritas Ministry– has joined in a call for the American bishops to reform the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD).
The Bellarmine Veritas Ministry burst on the scene this year with a carefully researched critique of the CCHD, showing that the organization supports a number of groups whose purposes are at odds with the teachings of the Catholic Church: groups that support legal abortion and same-sex marriage. Why, the group asked, does an arm of the Catholic bishops’ conference make common cause with such groups?
It’s a good question– but not a new one. Thoughtful Catholics and conservative non-Catholics have been asking that question for at least two decades. In the 1980s I produced my own exposé on the many ties between the CCHD and radical activist groups. The individual groups supported by the CCHD may change, but the fundamental orientation does not.
Recently, however, things have heated up, with the revelation that the CCHD has supplied $7 million in subsidies to ACORN, the group that has been in the headlines so much this year, accused of voter fraud, massive misappropriation of public funds, and such grotesque improprieties as providing consulting help for people who said they wanted to set up a brothel. It’s true that the CCHD cut off funding for ACORN last year, but again the question arises: Why was the bishops’ agency involved with that group in the first place?
The CCHD is dedicated to helping poor people organize self-help efforts. There’s nothing wrong with that goal in itself, but from its early days, the CCHD has been wont to politicize the process, forming alliances with leftist community organizers (such as, years ago, Barack Obama!) and often giving those organizers financial support.
There’s something seriously wrong with this approach, I believe. Each November, as Catholics across the US are asked to contribute to the special collection for the CCHD, the promotional materials portray the CCHD as an anti-poverty program, not specifically as a community-organizing program. That fundraising approach is misleading, I submit, because the CCHD does not provide poor people with food and clothing, but with organizational support– a worthy effort, perhaps, but a different one.
In any case the new “Reform the CCHD” coalition asks the bishops to insist that CCHD support should go only to groups whose purposes are fully compatible with Catholic social teaching. Absent that assurance, the coalition suggests that thoughtful Catholics refuse to contribute to this year’s special collection, which will be taken up on November 22.
Better still, the coalition has prepared a coupon that you can download, print out, and drop into the collection basket, announcing that you have chosen not to support the CCHD, but instead to support a worthy charity whose work is “fully in agreement with Church teaching on social justice and family and life issues.” You might choose an organization that actually supplies food, clothing, or shelter for those in need.
http://www.reformcchdnow.com/coupon/coupon.pdf
GOSPEL & MEDITATION: Friend, Go Up Higher
Published October 31, 2009 | Luke 14:1, 7-11
On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ´Give your place to this man,´ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ´My friend, move up to a higher position.´ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe in you with a faith that never seeks to test you. I trust in you, hoping to learn to accept and follow your will, even when it does not make sense to the way that I see things. May my love for you and those around me be similar to the love you have shown to me.
Petition: Lord, please help me to replace my selfishness with love.
1. I Want to Hear All about Myself Sooner or later we all experience the displeasure of having to be around someone who is always promoting himself. Perhaps we do it ourselves, without realizing how it disgusts the people around us. I remember working with one such fellow myself. He was the nicest guy in the world otherwise, but he consistently and continually talked about himself. He was his own favorite subject. It was his only noticeable flaw, but a fatal one. I’m sure he didn’t realize it. Probably if you asked him if he talked about himself more than other people talk about themselves, he would have answered that he talked about himself about the same amount as others do. He had plenty of other virtues, and I’m sure if he had rid himself of his major flaw he would have been one of the most well-liked people where I worked. But he was always putting himself in first place, and in our hearts we were always putting him in one of the last places.
2. Number One in your Heart On the other hand, you sometimes run into people who don’t wave their own flag. They seem to exist to support and help others. Maybe you don’t always notice when they are around, but you notice the effects. Everyone is happier. There is less stress. People seem less worried. These people grease the wheels. If you need a hand, they’ll give it to you and you don’t even need to ask. Their support and friendship are givens. You know you can count on them. They are assets wherever they work because they know how to make the people around them more effective. Everybody likes them. They may not have the greatest personality or a lot of social skills, but nobody cares because the goodness seems to just ooze out of them. While they seem unassuming and unimportant, everyone who is around them prizes them highly. Without even realizing it, they are at the highest places in everyone’s hearts.
3. Will I Develop my Ambition or my Love? Which kind of person am I? Am I a shameless self-promoter, always focused on getting as much for Number One as possible? This strategy might work well in a company where people are faceless widgets instead of personalities, where the bottom line is the bottom line, but it is never very successful in real life relationships. Perhaps I do what I can to help others whenever I can, to make others feel good. That is the way to real fulfillment. After all, Jesus said that those who wanted to be first must be the last of all and the servant of all. Have I been foolish enough to think that Jesus was saying that the way to achieve my ambitions is to serve? No way. Jesus isn’t concerned with us achieving ambitions, he is telling us how to be first in hearts. If you want to be first in hearts, be a servant of all. If you have the humility to serve others, you will attain to a high place in others’ hearts. When you take a low place, they will always raise you higher.
Conversation with Christ: Dear Jesus, I am always trying to serve myself and my ambitions, and you want me to be concerned with serving others. Help me to be more focused on what really matters – loving – than on what the world prizes – empty, self-serving actions.
Resolution: Today, I will perform some act of service for another person, preferably for someone close to me, preferably without their notice. These are the acts that most deeply express love. Remember, if you expect something in return, even just thanks, it isn’t love, it’s business.
http://www.regnumchristi.org/english/articulos/articulo.phtml?se=363&ca=975&te=735&id=20302
The Eve of All Saints: Thirtieth Week of Ordinary Time
Published October 31, 2009 | All Hallows’ Eve, October 31, 2009
Today we celebrate the eve of All Saints. Pope Sixtus IV in 1484 established November 1, the feast of All Saints, as a holy day of obligation and gave it both a vigil (known today as “All Hallows’ Eve” or “Hallowe’en”) and an eight-day period or octave to celebrate the feast. By 1955, the octave of All Saints was removed.
Halloween
or All Hallows’ Eve is not a liturgical feast on the Catholic calendar, but the celebration has deep ties to the Liturgical Year. These three consecutive days — Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day — illustrate the Communion of Saints.
The Church Militant (those on earth, striving to get to heaven) pray for the Church Suffering (those souls in Purgatory) especially on All Souls Day and the month of November. We also rejoice and honor the Church Triumphant (the saints, canonized and uncanonized) in heaven. We also ask the Saints to intercede for us, and for the souls in Purgatory.
Since Vatican II, some liturgical observances have been altered, one example being “fast before the feast” is no longer required. Originally, the days preceding great solemnities, like Christmas and All Saints Day, had a penitential nature, requiring abstinence from meat and fasting and prayer. Although not required by the Church, it is a good practice to prepare spiritually before great feast days.
In England, saints or holy people are called “hallowed,” hence the name “All Hallow’s Day.” The evening, or “e’en” before the feast became popularly known as “All Hallows’ Eve” or even shorter, “Hallowe’en.”
Since the night before All Saints Day, “All Hallows Eve” (now known as Hallowe’en), was the vigil and required fasting, many recipes and traditions have come down for this evening, such as pancakes, boxty bread and boxty pancakes, barmbrack (Irish fruit bread with hidden charms), colcannon (combination of cabbage and boiled potatoes). This was also known as “Nutcrack Night” in England, where the family gathered around the hearth to enjoy cider and nuts and apples.
Halloween is the preparation and combination of the two upcoming feasts. Although the demonic and witchcraft have no place for a Catholic celebration, some macabre can be incorporated into Halloween. It is good to dwell on our impending death (yes, everyone dies at one point), the Poor Souls in Purgatory, and the Sacrament of the Sick. And tied in with this theme is the saints, canonized and non-canonized. What did they do in their lives that they were able to reach heaven? How can we imitate them? How can we, like these saints, prepare our souls for death at any moment?
For more information see Catholic Culture’s Halloween page.
Also read from Catholic Culture’s library:
- Ideas for Sanctifying Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day by Jennifer Gregory Miller
- Halloween and All Saints Day by Father William Saunders
- Holyween: Reclaim The Celebration Of All Saints by Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.
- Catholics Give the Best Parties by Jeffrey Tucker.
The Immaculate Heart of Mary Our Hope
Published October 30, 2009 | 
*THE STORY OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA By Brother Ernest, C.S.C.
Imprimatur
Most Rev. Leo A. Pursley, D.D.
Bishop of Fort Wayne
1957
http://www.theimmaculateheart.com/
What Do Catholics Believe …The Lord Is The Giver of Life?
Published October 30, 2009 | NICENE CREED (Profession of Faith)
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
Then Cardinal Ratzinger on Marxist Ideology
Published October 30, 2009 | Then-Cardinal Ratzinger offered the ultimate warning against such (Marxist) ideology when he wrote in Truth and Tolerance,
ONE YEAR AGO: The Other Side of Change: Obama and Saul Alinsky
Published October 30, 2009 | 
Male and Female He Made Them: Some Questions and Answers on Marriage and Same-sex Unions, and is a frequent contributor to InsideCatholic.com.
LET’S BE CLEAR! Obama Follows Saul Alinsky’s Teachings Who Acknowledged Lucifer as the First Radical!
Published October 30, 2009 | 
Saint Michael the Archangel Defend Us in This Battle!
Published October 30, 2009 | O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil. Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil. Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven. That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity. These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered. Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.
V: Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.
R: The Lion of the Tribe of Juda has conquered the root of David.
V: Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.
R: As we have hoped in Thee.
V: O Lord hear my prayer.
R: And let my cry come unto Thee.
V: Let us pray. O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as suppliants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin, immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of our souls. Amen.
Krauthammer: The Three Envelopes
Published October 30, 2009 | 
WASHINGTON — Old Soviet joke: Moscow, 1953. Stalin calls in Khrushchev.
“Niki, I’m dying. Don’t have much to leave you. Just three envelopes. Open them, one at a time, when you get into big trouble.”
A few years later, first crisis. Khrushchev opens envelope 1: “Blame everything on me. Uncle Joe.”
A few years later, a really big crisis. Opens envelope 2: “Blame everything on me. Again. Good luck, Uncle Joe.”
Third crisis. Opens envelope 3: “Prepare three envelopes.”
In the Barack Obama version, there are 50 or so such blame-Bush free passes before the gig is up. By my calculation, Obama has already burned through a good 49. Is there anything he hasn’t blamed George W. Bush for? The economy, global warming, the credit crisis, Middle East stalemate, the deficit, anti-Americanism abroad — everything but swine flu.
It’s as if Obama’s presidency hasn’t really started. He’s still taking inventory of the Bush years. Just this Monday, he referred to “long years of drift” in Afghanistan in order to, I suppose, explain away his own, well, yearlong drift on Afghanistan.
This compulsion to attack his predecessor is as stale as it is unseemly. Obama was elected a year ago. He became commander in chief two months later. He then solemnly announced his own “comprehensive new strategy” for Afghanistan seven months ago. And it was not an off-the-cuff decision. “My administration has heard from our military commanders, as well as our diplomats,” the president assured us. “We’ve consulted with the Afghan and Pakistani governments, with our partners and our NATO allies, and with other donors and international organizations” and “with members of Congress. ”
Obama is obviously unhappy with the path he himself chose in March. Fine. He has every right — indeed duty — to reconsider. But what Obama is reacting to is the failure of his own strategy.
There is nothing new here. The history of both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars is a considered readjustment of policies that have failed. In each war, quick initial low-casualty campaigns toppled enemy governments. In the subsequent occupation stage, two policy choices presented themselves: the light or heavy “footprint.” Continue reading
MADNESS! 2,000 Pages of Mandates, Taxes, and Bureaucracy
Published October 30, 2009 | 
This morning, House Democrats held a press conference to unveil their health care reform bill, which they claim will expand coverage for all and decrease costs. Sounds good, but once you peel away the “feel good” rhetoric, there’s nothing to be excited about. This 2,000-page bill includes a job-killing employer mandate, an individual mandate that requires Washington bureaucrats to define what kind of coverage is acceptable, burdensome tax increases, Medicare cuts, and a huge expansion of Medicaid that will break already strained state budgets.
Social Security is broke, Medicare is broke, Medicaid is broke – and all of them were created with the best intentions.But we have to face reality. Our deficit is at an all-time high. Our debt is nearing $12 TRILLION with no signs of slowing. We’re on a crash course for financial ruin. This isn’t conjecture, it’s basic economics.
Republicans have put forth alternative after alternative taking a patient-centered approach — not focused on government, focused on you — that will keep costs down, but each and every one of them has fallen on deaf ears. They weren’t even considered by Democrat leadership. Yesterday’s Chicago Tribune did a great job highlighting several of these Republican alternatives that won’t break the bank (a bank that’s already bankrupt).
As
“Let insurers sell policies across state lines. That would loosen the strangling state-by-state regulations and unleash competition to drive premium prices down.”
“Give people who buy insurance in the private market the same tax breaks as those who get it through employers. Now, employers that offer coverage get a tax break on the premiums they pay for employees. And employees don’t pay taxes on the value of the coverage they receive. People who want to buy insurance in the individual market should get the same tax breaks. That would help millions of people acquire coverage.” (That’s what my Health Care Freedom of Choice Act does!)
“Expand the ability of small businesses, trade associations and other groups to set up insurance pools to offer coverage at more attractive rates.”
“Control health costs in part by reining in the medical malpractice system that raises insurance premiums and forces doctors to order tests to protect themselves from lawsuits. Limiting certain kinds of damage awards would reduce spending on health care by about $11 billion in 2009, or about one-half of 1 percent, the Congressional Budget Office estimates. Think about that in human terms: Reform would save millions of patients the expense and trauma of unnecessary tests and procedures.”
As this health care debate plays out, please don’t fall for the rhetoric and take a closer look at what the Democrats’ bill really means. If you do, you’ll realize that it’s a prescription for economic disaster.
Dismantling America: Part II
Published October 30, 2009 | 
Gardasil Researcher Admits Vaccine May Be More Dangerous than the Disease
Published October 30, 2009 | By Thaddeus M. Baklinski, October 28, 2009, LifeSiteNews.com
A researcher with Merck Pharmaceutical who helped develop the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, has revealed that the controversial drugs will do little to reduce cervical cancer rates and may cause more illness than the disease they are intended to prevent.
Dr. Diane Harper, director of the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at the University of Missouri, and lead researcher in the development of the two vaccines, made these remarks during an address at the 4th International Public Conference on Vaccination in Reston, Virginia on Oct. 2-4.
Dr. Harper has on several occasions warned that the vaccines were being “over-marketed” and the research on their potential side effects not properly carried out.
Dr. Harper told CBS News on August 19, 2009 that “young girls and their parents should receive more complete warnings before receiving the vaccine” and that a girl is more likely to die from an adverse reaction to Gardasil than from cervical cancer.
A report by Steven W. Mosher and Joan Robinson of the Population Research Institute (PRI), who attended Dr. Harper’s presentation at the Conference on Vaccination, states that although her talk was intended to promote the vaccine, it left many of the health professionals wondering if the drug should be given at all, considering its “poor promise of efficacy as a vaccine married to a high risk of life-threatening side effects.”
Gardasil, Dr. Harper explained, is promoted by Merck, the pharmaceutical manufacturer, as a “safe and effective” prevention measure against cervical cancer. The theory behind the vaccine is that, as HPV may cause cervical cancer, conferring a greater immunity of some strains of HPV might reduce the incidence of this form of cancer. In pursuit of this goal, tens of millions of American girls have been vaccinated to date.
However, “I came away from the talk with the perception that the risk of adverse side effects is so much greater than the risk of cervical cancer, I couldn’t help but question why we need the vaccine at all,” said Joan Robinson, Assistant Editor at the Population Research Institute.
Robinson added that she “did not wish to give the impression that Dr. Harper presented, even inadvertently, a consistently negative view of her own vaccine. She did tout certain ‘real benefits,’ chief among them that ‘the vaccine will reduce the number of follow-up tests after abnormal PAP smears,’ and thereby reduce the ‘relationship tension,’ ‘stress and anxiety’ of abnormal or false HPV positive results.
Dr. Harper also explained, however, that 70% of HPV infections resolve themselves without treatment in one year. After two years, this rate climbs to 90%. Of the remaining 10% of HPV infections, only half coincide with the development of cervical cancer. Continue reading
Founder’s Quote Daily
Published October 30, 2009 | 
–James Wilson, Of the Natural Rights of Individuals, 1792
GOSPEL & MEDITATION: You Are Being Watched
Published October 30, 2009 | Father Patrick Langan, LC
Luke 14: 1-6
On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?” But they kept silent; so he took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him. Then he said to them, “Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?” But they were unable to answer his question.
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe in you with a faith that never seeks to test you. I trust in you, hoping to learn to accept and follow your will, even when it does not make sense to the way that I see things. May my love for you and those around me be similar to the love you have shown to me.
Petition: Lord, may I be a witness to you in the face of a world that often does not care.
1. And They Watched Him The Lord knows the thoughts of these men. With his question, he makes public their foolishness: God blesses on the seventh day, while they prevent good works on that day. It would seem that a day that does not allow the doing of good works is accursed. Let us be sure always to seek the will of God in our lives, so that we might use every minute of every day for the glory of God.
2. They Kept Silent The man with dropsy does not ask to be healed, perhaps out of fear of the watching Pharisees, yet Christ knows what he desires in his heart. Jesus is not concerned that this good work might scandalize the Pharisees; he is concerned about doing good. The Pharisees keep silent because they know that Jesus will give this man something they don’t have – their hearts have become closed to the man. We need to desire good for everyone. A sign that our hearts are becoming hardened to Our Lord, perhaps like the Pharisees, is when we begrudge the good that befalls others or even wish others harm. When we are mindful that we are beggars before God, it’s much easier to be merciful with others.
3. Keep Your Eyes on Christ In this Gospel passage, both the Pharisees and the man suffering from dropsy are looking at Christ. The Pharisees look at Christ with skepticism that will not be overcome by any miracle; the suffering man looks at Christ with the eyes of his heart. This man desires something that only Christ can give him, and Christ will not be outdone in generosity. We don’t know what becomes of this man. We can only imagine the great testimony he gives to all about Christ and how he cured him, even under the scrutiny of the Pharisees. As Pope John Paul II told us so many times, “Do not be afraid!”
Conversation with Christ: Lord, help me to see with the eyes of faith all that you do in my life, especially when I don’t understand why you are doing it. Help me to witness to others all that you have done for me and my family. May I never take for granted the graces that you give me.
Resolution: I will say a prayer today for someone I know who has not opened his heart to Christ because of lack of faith or skepticism. Through my prayers and example, may I once again try to bring Christ into that person’s heart.
http://www.regnumchristi.org/english/articulos/articulo.phtml?se=363&ca=975&te=735&id=20302
ST. ALONSO RODRIGUEZ
Published October 30, 2009 | 
His journey toward consecrated life was not a simple one. He began his studies with the Jesuits at age 14. Not much later, his father died So Alonso returned home to learn and manage the family business. At age 26, he married Mary Suarez. Together they had three children though two of them died in infancy. His wife rapidly followed their two children to the grave. By his early 30s, Alonso was a widower. He sold his business, which had suffered much, and moved in with his sisters, who helped him raise his son.
Not long after that, his son died as well. It was then that he decided to follow his call to the religious life. He was initially refused by the Jesuits because he lacked the education they required, but was later allowed to enter as a Jesuit lay brother in Valencia in 1571. He became a Jesuit lay brother at the age of 39, taking final vows at the age of 54.
Alonzo served as a porter at the Jesuit college in Majorca for 46 years. People sought his spiritual advice and he influenced many over the years at his post. He was the friend and roommate of St. Peter Claver and advised him to request missionary work in South America. He was also said to heal the sick by fervent prayer.
He underwent extreme self-imposed austerities, which nearly destroyed his health. Finally, at age 60 he was ordered to begin sleeping in a bed.
He died in 1617 of natural causes.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=640
Members of Congress Have Infringed Upon the Freedom of the Individual…..Stand Up and Say “Enough is Enough!”
Published October 29, 2009 | The “Tea Party Express” Tour
FIND OUT WHEN & WHERE!
GO TO…..
http://www.teapartyexpress.org/
About
The Tea Party Express national bus tour will host a series of tea party rallies all across the nation from coast-to-coast and border-to-border. The effort will begin in San Diego, California on October 25th and travel eastward, building momentum as the tour reaches its final destination: a giant rally in Orlando, Florida on November 12th.
The tour comes exactly one-year before the November 2010 elections – and this will serve as a “Countdown to Judgment Day” for our elected officials. Those who are not serving in the nation’s best interest will be put on notice: we’re going to hand you a pink slip!
At each stop the tour will highlight some of the worst offenders in Congress who have voted for higher spending, higher taxes, and government intervention in the lives of American families and businesses. These Members of Congress have infringed upon the freedom of the individual in this great nation, and its time for us to say: “Enough is Enough!”
The “Tea Party Express” tour will feature leaders in the anti-tax, conservative, tea party movement along with musical performances of “American Tea Party Anthem” and “A Bailout Song” at each tea party event.
Join us from October 25th to November 12th, 2009
as we tell Congress and the White House: “Enough!”
We’re back and determined to take our country back!
http://www.teapartyexpress.org/
Sarah Palin Is a Unifier for the Republican Party
Published October 29, 2009 | ….She’s the woman next door, the one you meet at the grocery counter, an outgoing friendly neighbor whose head is screwed on straight and who views the world around her much in the way we ordinary folks do. It’s called common sense, unfortunately uncommon in the public square….
Philip V. Brennan, Newsmax.com, October 27, 2009
When it comes to writing about Sarah Palin, the media seems compelled to focus on 2012 and her prospects of being the Republican presidential candidate despite the fact that it is a couple of years out.
It’s something like putting her into a box that’s not to be opened for another 2 ½ years. In addition to marginalizing her, it ignores the key role she’s going to play in the crucial congressional elections next year when all 435 House seats and a third of the Senate seats are up for grabs.
Unlike her media critics, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin fully grasps the significance of the outcome of those elections next year. Should the GOP capture control of the House in the 2010 elections, the threat to our nation’s future posed by Barack Obama will be eliminated. He’ll be a lame duck for two long years.
In 1994 Newt Gingrich nationalized the congressional elections which in the past had always been seen as local affairs. Voters were given to understand that their choices in the congressional contests had national implications and they acted accordingly, handing control of the Congress to the GOP.
We have a similar situation now. The outcome of the 2010 congressional contests will decide if the nation is ready to embrace Obama’s Marxist solutions to our multiple problems.
Voters will be confronted with a choice between unlimited government power and individual liberty. If the GOP wants to regain control of the Congress it must characterize the 2010 elections in those terms.
In 1994 Newt Gingrich rallied the voters around the Republican Party by presenting the voters with a GOP program he called the Contract with America which all GOP House candidates embraced as their own. Voters were thus confronted with a unified ticket of candidates who pledged to support fulfillment of that contract.
It’s apparent to me that Sarah Palin understands the pressing need for a unifying factor that will rally the voters around the Republican banner rather than around individual candidates. And I further believe that she recognizes that she herself is that unifying factor.
After all, it’s not her personal charm or her beauty, or her outspokenness that attracts large numbers of Americans. It is instead that the American people recognize her as unashamedly one of their number.
She’s the woman next door, the one you meet at the grocery counter, an outgoing friendly neighbor whose head is screwed on straight and who views the world around her much in the way we ordinary folks do. It’s called common sense, unfortunately uncommon in the public square.
That, however, is not how the almost universally liberal media sees her.
To them she is a threat that must be faced and eliminated. She has a target on her back and their arrows are pointed at its center. She must be destroyed, her potential as a successful GOP presidential candidate utterly eliminated. Her candidacy must be strangled in the crib.
To the horror of her legion of leftist detractors, the more they attack her, the stronger she gets. She has a unique talent of recognizing opportunities to get her points across coupled with the knowledge of when and how to strike and when and how to retreat temporarily and tantalizingly from public view.
Take the case of her forthcoming book. It has yet to be released; nobody has the vaguest idea of what it is about; and sight unseen, it is already a runaway best-seller.
If she can market a book in this manner, marketing herself and her political philosophy will be a cinch.
Keep your eyes on her role in the 2010 elections. It will be a portent of things to come.
Phil Brennan writes for Newsmax.com. He is editor and publisher of Wednesday on the Web (http://www.pvbr.com) and was Washington columnist (Cato) for National Review magazine in the 1960s. He is a trustee of the Lincoln Heritage Institute and a member of the Association For Intelligence Officers. He can be reached at pvb@pvbr.com.
http://www.newsmax.com/brennan/sarah_palin/2009/10/27/277731.html
CLARITY AMIDST CONFUSION: Looking at Health Care Reform Through the Light of the Catholic Faith
Published October 29, 2009 | “Goal Posts of Acceptable Health Care Reform“
Fr. Roger J. Landry, The Anchor, Editorial, September 25, 2009
The debate about health care reform continues to occupy much of the nation’s attention, as well it should, considering the gravity of the need for reform and the magnitude of the proposed changes presently being proposed by members of Congress.
It is obviously important for Catholics to look at the proposed reforms through the light of the Catholic faith. We continue today a series of editorials in which we will try to provide that light.
We give the floor today to the thoughts of Bishop R. Walker Nickless of the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa. On August 17, he wrote an article — quoted and referenced by many other bishops in their own comments on the matter — in which he described four “goal-posts” to mark out what is acceptable and unacceptable reform. Bishop Nickless admits at the outset that not only is there much confusion about what is in the various interminable bills put forth in the House and Senate, but that there’s been a befuddling imprecision on the perspective of the Catholic Church with regard to various parts of health care reform. He wrote to clarify what the Church teaches and doesn’t teach with respect to health care reform.
The first goal-post he described is the one that has gotten most attention because Bishop Nickless says it is the “most important”: “The Church will not accept any legislation that mandates coverage, public or private, for abortion, euthanasia, or embryonic stem-cell research.” We refuse to be made complicit in these evils, which frankly contradict what ‘health care’ should mean. We refuse to allow our own parish, school, and diocesan health insurance plans to be forced to include these evils. As a corollary of this, we insist equally on adequate protection of individual rights of conscience for patients and health care providers not to be made complicit in these evils. A so-called reform that imposes these evils on us would be far worse than keeping the health care system we now have.”
This first goal-post is what Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia has stressed on several occasions in his statements on behalf of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference. It’s also what our August 7 and 28 editorials emphasized. President Obama’s September 9 declaration in his address to Congress that “under our plan no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions and federal conscience laws will remain in place” seemed to be a sign that he has clearly heard what Cardinal Rigali has written and Cardinal Sean O’Malley said to him in private at Senator Edward Kennedy’s August 29 funeral: that if the President wishes to have the support of the Catholic Church for his health care reforms, abortions must not be funded and the rights of consciences must be protected.
There are still serious concerns about whether the President will make good on these promises. Bishop Nickless says, in words that are still valid after the President’s address: “The current House reform bill, HR 3200, does not meet the first … standard. As Cardinal Justin Rigali has written for the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-life Activities, this bill circumvents the Hyde amendment (which prohibits federal funds from being used to pay for abortions) by drawing funding from new sources not covered by the Hyde amendment, and by creatively manipulating how federal funds covered by the Hyde amendment are accounted.” We will leave more in-depth analysis of this point to a later editorial.
It bears stating, though, that for months various political strategists have been alleging that the administration’s health care game-plan has been to get pro-lifers, Catholics, and other conservatives so focused on abortion, conscience protections, public options and the like that, when the administration pulls these unpopular political cyanide pills from the eventual bill, their main opponents will be mollified enough to claim victory and accept various other radical reforms that change the whole culture of health care. Whether or not that accusation is true, Bishop Nickless’s analysis of the health care reform proposals does not stop with only the first goal-post.
His second point of clarification focuses on the “right” to health care. In various places, both secular and Catholic, the stipulation has been made, without any reference to magisterial documents, that the Church believes everyone has an absolute right to health care.
Bishop Nickless makes clear that this is a misunderstanding and misstatement of Church teaching. “The Catholic Church does not teach,” he stresses, “that ‘health care’ as such, without distinction, is a natural right. The ‘natural right’ of health care is the divine bounty of food, water, and air without which all of us quickly die. This bounty comes from God directly. None of us owns it, and none of us can morally withhold it from others. The remainder of health care is a political, not a natural, right, because it comes from our human efforts, creativity, and compassion. As a political right, health care should be apportioned according to need, not ability to pay or to benefit from the care. We reject the rationing of care. Those who are sickest should get the most care, regardless of age, status, or wealth. But how to do this is not self-evident. The decisions that we must collectively make about how to administer health care therefore fall under ‘prudential judgment.’”
That leads directly to the third goal-post or clarification. When some hear certain Church members speaking about a putative “right” to health care, they conclude that the Church teaches that the government has the duty to provide it. But the Church does not prejudice the “prudential judgment” in that way. “The Catholic Church does not teach,” Bishop Nickless underlines, “that government should directly provide health care.” Then he provides a prudential analysis of his own:
“Unlike a prudential concern like national defense, for which government monopolization is objectively good – it both limits violence overall and prevents the obvious abuses to which private armies are susceptible – health care should not be subject to federal monopolization.The fourth and final goal-post concerns the personal duty each one has to stay healthy. Members in society are not (under) obligation to cover for others’ own preventable unhealthy choices, the Sioux city prelate implies, and before one looks to government for entitlements one must fulfill his own responsibilities to God and others. “Preventative care,” Bishop Nickless says, “is a moral obligation of the individual to God and to his or her family and loved ones, not a right to be demanded from society. The gift of life comes only from God; to spurn that gift by seriously mistreating our own health is morally wrong. The most effective preventative care for most people is essentially free – good diet, moderate exercise, and sufficient sleep.” We need to be stewards of our own health and many Americans are not as responsible as they ought to be.
Preserving patient choice (through a flourishing private sector) is the only way to prevent a health care monopoly from denying care arbitrarily, as we learned from HMOs in the recent past. While a government monopoly would not be motivated by profit, it would be motivated by such bureaucratic standards as quotas and defined ‘best procedures,’ which are equally beyond the influence of most citizens. The proper role of the government is to regulate the private sector, in order to foster healthy competition and to curtail abuses. Therefore any legislation that undermines the viability of the private sector is suspect. Private, religious hospitals and nursing homes, in particular, should be protected, because these are the ones most vigorously offering actual health care to the poorest of the poor.”
Bishop Nickless concludes his letter by encouraging all Catholic citizens “to make your voice heard to our representatives in Congress. Tell them what they need to hear from us: no health care reform is better than the wrong sort of health care reform. Insist that they not permit themselves to be railroaded into the current too-costly and pro-abortion health care proposals. Insist on their support for proposals that respect the life and dignity of every human person, especially the unborn. And above all, pray for them, and for our country.”
We will continue next week with other thoughts from leading bishops.
Father Roger J. Landry was ordained a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts by Bishop Sean O’Malley, OFM Cap. on June 26, 1999.
http://www.catholicpreaching.com/index.php?content=articles&articles=20090925anchor
The Foundation
“Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread.”
–Thomas Jefferson
Digest, Patriot Post, Friday, October 30, 2009
http://patriotpost.us/edition/2009/10/30/digest/