Lech Walesa is Headlining a Tea Party Rally
Today, in Chicago, anti-Communist hero Lech Walesa is headlining a Tea Party Rally. The Rally is in support of Republican Candidate for Governor Adam Andrzejewski. 20+ years ago an American President helped Lech take back his country. Today Lech returns the favor and helps us take back ours.
Open Invitation to the One Year Anniversary of the Tea Party Movement in Chicago
It all started in Chicago. Rick Santelli’s call to arms was broadcast from Chicago. The first Tea Party was last year on a cold day in February. I heard you. We need a new generation of leaders that will serve the people, not the political class. My campaign for Governor started because I heard you and I still hear you.
The Tea Party movement is now a year old and what better place to celebrate the movement than in Chicago. We will be at the Dierksen Federal Building plaza at 2:30pm having a rally in honor of the movement and to celebrate all that we’ve accomplished.
I’m also bringing in someone who knows a little something about freedom and just a few decades ago he was fighting in Eastern Europe and Ronald Reagan stood at his side. Lech Walesa will be addressing the gathering to tell us about his struggles.
Illinois has been oppressed by one of the worst Governments in the 50 states, and we have the results to prove it. We are nearly last in job creation and we are competing with California and Michigan to see which state can chase productive individuals and businesses out of our state.
This is what happens when a state is in the grip of one-party rule, run by an ideology that the entire nation is now calling the “Chicago Way.”
That’s the bad news. Here is the good news. It’s a new day in Illinois. All across the state, citizens are building the grassroots army that will bring Illinois back from the brink. They are getting activated, informed, and mobilized. I want to help them by offering them a real choice – not an establishment echo – for Governor. That ‘echo’ is exacting what I’m running against.
Adam Andrzejewsk was raised in the close knit, farming community of Herscher, IL, in Kankakee County. He is the oldest of seven children. After college, Adam and his brother started a family publishing business. The Andrzejewski brothers published hometown phonebooks and competed against the perceived “monopoly” of the telephone company’s yellow page directories. After selling his shares he started the government reform group For the Good of Illinois that lead to posting of over $1B in public spending online. He is currently running for the Republican nomination for Governor in Illinois challenging the entrenched Chicago politicians.
‘Why He is a Saint’: Postulator’s Book Reveals Details of Venerable John Paul II
‘Why He Is a Saint: The True John Paul II Explained by the Postulator of the Cause of Beatification’ includes 114 testimonies of the life and holiness of the beloved Pope.
Catholic Online, 1/29/2010
Pope John Paul II was the same in public and in private: ‘transparent, sincere, integral,’ according to the postulator of his canonization cause.
ROME (Zenit.org) – Pope John Paul II was the same in public and in private: “transparent, sincere, integral,” according to the postulator of his canonization cause.
Monsignor Slawomir Oder made this reflection Tuesday when he presented a volume that he has written in collaboration with Saverio Gaeta. It presents more than 100 testimonies related to the Polish Pontiff’s cause for canonization.
“Why He Is a Saint: The True John Paul II Explained by the Postulator of the Cause of Beatification” was presented in Rome with a presentation from the leader of the Vatican’s saint congregation, Cardinal José Saraiva Martins.
The details in the book that grabbed international attention are regarding the Holy Father’s practices of mortification, including flagellation and sleeping on the floor.
Cardinal Saraiva Martins, however, highlighted the depth of the Pontiff’s prayer. He confessed how overwhelmed he was by the profundity of the Pope’s recollection when he invited someone to dine and the visit began with a silent prayer in the private chapel.
“He was as though absorbed in God,” the cardinal said. “He was a man of God and his intense prayer was a true evangelization.”
The prelate also pointed out the Pope’s profound devotion to Mary and mentioned the “joy,” the “happiness” that John Paul II felt in the year 2000, after the beatification of the shepherds of Fatima, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, on May 13.
A witness stated that when asked, “Do you see the Virgin?” the Pope answered, “No, but I hear her.” Another witness, though, said John Paul II confided that he “saw” her.
The book notes that the Holy Father had a sweet tooth and has other insights into the Pope’s personality: He once answered a religious who expressed her “concern” for “Your Holiness”: “I am also concerned about my holiness!”
Monsignor Oder highlighted the Pope’s “humanity” and his ability to perceive in all persons “the imprint of God.”
And Cardinal Saraiva Martins noted that humanity and holiness are one thing: The more holy one is, the more “human” one is.
A cure
Though John Paul II has already been proclaimed venerable — Benedict XVI approved the recognition of his heroic virtues in December — a miracle still needs to be confirmed before his beatification.
That means rumors that the beatification is coming in October are still just that: rumors.
Monsignor Oder explained that a case studied by the Vatican was the now well-known cure of Sister Marie Simon-Pierre. The young French nun of the Little Sisters of Catholic Motherhood suffered Parkinson’s disease (as did John Paul II).
Monsignor Oder said this case was chosen due to, among other things, its “simplicity.”
In the nun’s letter explaining her cure, there was “nothing vain,” the postulator said, whereas in other cases what was pointed out first is the “holiness” of the person cured.
He further noted how the nun suffered from the same illness as the Pope and, finally, how her cure enabled her to take up her activities again at the service of nascent life, a cause that was dear to John Paul II.
What’s new
What the book contributes as a novelty are unpublished documents from 114 testimonies related to the canonization cause.
There are documents from the Polish secret service, mentions of the Italian secret service, a letter of resignation in case of incapacity due to illness (in Italian), an open letter to Ali Agca in Polish (never published) and testimonies on his mystical life.
The book notes how the Polish secret service spied on Karol Wojtyla even before his ordination, then as a priest and bishop. In the 60s, a whole structure was dedicated to his vigilance.
The volume reveals how it was his chauffeur, Jozef Much, who informed Archbishop Wojtyla of the death of John Paul I, which greatly affected him. A strong migraine forced him to cancel an appointment.
Before taking the plane to Rome, his chauffeur expressed the hope that he would return soon. “I don’t know,” the next Pope would answer, “in a serious tone with an air of sadness.”
Suspicions that the Polish prelate would one day be the Bishop of Rome had surfaced as many as two decades before.
When he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Krakow, his bishop, Eugeniusz Baziak, took him by the arm and led him to some priests in the waiting room, saying: “Habemus Papam” (we have a Pope).
Opposition
A witness said the Italian secret services had warned the Vatican, before the attempted assassination in 1981, of a plan by the Red Brigades to kidnap the Pope.
It seems the Holy Father had this in mind when he apparently initially attributed the assassination attempt to the brigade.
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz testified that the Pontiff said in the ambulance, “Just like Bachelet.” Vittorio Bachelet, a Catholic judge, had been killed by the Red Brigades the year before.
Then there is an open letter to Ali Agca from Sept. 11, 1981. In it, the Pope speaks of the power and need for forgiveness. Monsignor Oder speculated that it might never have been published because the investigation into the assassination attempt was still under way.
He prepared this letter for the catechesis of Wednesday, Oct. 21, 1981. The text was found with a big “X” drawn on it.
John Paul II publicly forgave Agca just four days after the shooting. But en route to the hospital, he also expressed his forgiveness. The book explains how the Pope saw that immediate forgiveness as more than just emotion of the moment, but a special gift from God.
Resignation
“Why He Is a Saint” also shows how the Pope considered what to do if illness impeded him from performing the petrine ministry.
Documents from 1989 and 1994 note that the Holy Father did not feel a Pope should resign “the apostolic mandate unless there was an incurable illness or incapacity which would make impossible the exercise of the functions of the Successor of Peter.”
Co-author Saverio Gaeta pointed out that the subtitle of the book (“The True John Paul II Explained by the Postulator of the Cause of Beatification”) does not mean that other biographies are not “true,” but that the John Paul II described in the book is the one known personally by witnesses.
The book was published in Italian by Rizzoli.
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=35324
Crisis of the Government Party
Pat Buchanan, TownHall, January 29, 2010
President Obama is in a dilemma from which there appears to be no easy or early escape.
Democrats are the Party of Government. They feed it, and it feeds them. The larger government grows, the more agencies that are created, the more bureaucrats who are hired, the more people who become beneficiaries, the more deeply entrenched in power the Party of Government becomes.
by Gary Varvel
At the local, state and federal level, there are 19 million to 20 million government employees. And if one takes only Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and earned income tax credits, we are talking of scores of millions who depend on government checks for the necessities of their daily life.
These vast armies of voters — these tens of millions of government employees and scores of millions of government beneficiaries — are the big battalions of the Party of Government. They provide implacable resistance to any party that pledges to cut or curtail government. For they are fighting for their livelihood. And here is where Obama’s dilemma arises.
The progressives thought that with the takeover of both houses of Congress by veto-proof Democratic majorities, and the election of the most progressive of the candidates in the Democratic primaries save Dennis Kucinich, a new Progressive Era was at hand.
Another New Deal, another Great Society. And early passage of a stimulus package of $787 billion, nearly 6 percent of the entire economy packed into a single bill, seemed to confirm that happy days were here again.
But, at the same time, the federal takeover of AIG, General Motors and Chrysler and the bailouts of Fannie, Freddie and the Wall Street banks were igniting a Perot-style prairie fire that manifested itself in Tea Party rallies in the spring and town-hall protests in August.
Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi denounced these folks as “evil-mongers” engaged in the “un-American” activity of shouting down Democrats — though, when college radicals do it to conservatives, it is called “heckling” and the conservatives are instructed that they “just do not understand the First Amendment.”
Came November, Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey showed that the grass-roots rebellion was real and broad-based. This was confirmed by Scott Brown’s astonishing upset in Massachusetts, where a state Obama won by 26 points went Republican by 6 points, with Brown capturing a Senate seat held by the Kennedy brothers since 1952. Talk about a fire bell in the night.
Obama’s dilemma, evident in his State of the Union, is that the progressives, who were indispensable to his victories over Hillary, now feel betrayed, especially with apparent abandonment of health insurance reform, while conservative Democrats and independents, who were indispensable in giving Obama his November victory, are angry and alienated and disposed to vote Republican to stop what they see as America’s plunge into socialism.
The non-negotiable demands of these two essential elements of Obama’s coalition are in irreconcilable conflict. Obama tried to mollify both in his address to Congress by emphasizing aspects of his agenda that appeal to each. Thus the progressives were promised an end to the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military, while Tea Party and town-hall activists got a partial freeze on federal spending and promises of nuclear power, clean coal and offshore drilling.
Obama’s problem: He can end up satisfying no one and angering everyone. John McCain has already denounced Obama’s call for open homosexuality in the military, a position that will resonate with Middle America, while House Democrats are appalled the Pentagon will be exempt from budget caps imposed on social programs.
Arthur Laffer has pointed up the burgeoning crisis Obama and the progressives confront. Today, state, local and federal government spending consumes 38 percent of the gross domestic product. Federal spending alone is 27 percent.
“If you total what the government takes in the income tax, corporate tax, Social Security taxes, capital gains taxes,” says Laffer, “all of that adds up to $2.2 trillion in tax receipts, and they spent $3.5 trillion.”
In 2009, we had a deficit of $1.4 trillion, 10 percent of GDP. The most conservative estimate for this year is a deficit of $1.35 trillion, more than 9 percent of GDP.
Two questions.
With the public debt surging as a share of GDP, and talk of a debt default by the United States, how can Obama create or expand the social programs as progressives demand? And with the deficit running above 9 percent of GDP, how — even if the economy starts to grow — can you close this without raising taxes from 18 percent of GDP to 22 percent or 23 percent? That would be an added tax hike of $560 billion to $700 billion — a year.
That kind of hit on the private sector could kill a recovery, just as Herbert Hoover and FDR did in the early 1930s.
Obama has a problem — and so do we.
Pat Buchanan is a founding editor of The American Conservative magazine, and the author of many books including State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America .
http://townhall.com/columnists/PatBuchanan/2010/01/29/crisis_of_the_government_party
Breaking News: Obama Backing Away From a KSM Trial in New York?
The New York Times reports:
WASHINGTON – Facing mounting pressure from New York politicians concerned about costs and security, the Obama administration on Thursday began considering moving the trial of the chief organizer of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks out of Manhattan, administration officials said…
A decision to move the Sept. 11 trial from Manhattan would be a retreat by the administration from its calculated choice in November to bring the defendants to a courthouse just blocks from where the World Trade Center stood.
The dispute over a trial location, touched off when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York complained of costs and disruption, threatened to reopen the divisive question of how those accused of plotting the murder of more than 3,000 Americans should be brought to justice.
It looks like this administration’s rhetoric on the subject has clearly changed since Meredith Jessup blogged about out this issue early yesterday afternoon….
http://townhall.com/blog/g/748e4632-0e88-4855-9bd7-7414183770f4
Full Speed Ahead; Engarde; Divisiveness
By Steve Kelley
Gays and Abortion 01-26
Poll: Young Americans Losing Confidence in Country’s Moral Direction
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“A year into the Obama administration, we find that Americans – and younger Americans – are having a crisis of confidence,” said Carl Anderson, CEO of the Knights of Columbus, on Thursday.
The poll found that American adults and Millennials (those between 18 and 29) are worried about their careers in this economy, opposed government regulation and business greed, and even felt that the country is headed in the wrong direction morally.
“People are increasingly pessimistic about the government’s ability to handle the economic crisis and a majority believes that increased government regulation will hurt the economy,” said Anderson.
According to the poll, 59 percent of American adults and 55 percent of Millennials doubted the government’s ability to handle the economic crisis. The poll also found that 55 percent of American adults want a free market approach and oppose greater government regulation and 53 percent of Millennials agree.
On the issue of the moral status of the nation, 67 percent of American adults and 60 percent of Millennials believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. Fifty-five percent of both American adults and Millennials also worry that the current economic situation will have a long term impact on their careers.
Anderson also commented on the findings related to ethics, stating, “most Americans are unhappy with the ethical environment in business. They want less greed, and the same core values that govern an executive’s personal life to also govern business decisions. In other words, Americans neither want sleight of hand on Wall Street or a heavy hand from Washington, and these attitudes are shared by America’s young adults.”
The Marist Institute poll was part of the larger Knights of Columbus’ Moral Compass Project which is a series of surveys on the ethical attitudes of Americans.
Founder’s Quote Daily: Good Moral Character
“[A] good moral character is the first essential in a man, and that the habits contracted at your age are generally indelible, and your conduct here may stamp your character through life. It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.”
–George Washington, letter to Steptoe Washington, 1790
TODAY’S GOSPEL
26. And he said: “The kingdom of God is like this: it is as if a man were to cast seed on the land.
27. And he sleeps and he arises, night and day. And the seed germinates and grows, though he does not know it.
28. For the earth bears fruit readily: first the plant, then the ear, next the full grain in the ear.
29. And when the fruit has been produced, immediately he sends out the sickle, because the harvest has arrived.”
30. And he said: “To what should we compare the kingdom of God? Or to what parable should we compare it?
31. It is like a grain of mustard seed which, when it has been sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds which are in the earth.
32. And when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all the plants, and it produces great branches, so much so that the birds of the air are able to live under its shadow.”
33. And with many such parables he spoke the word to them, as much as they were able to hear.
34. But he did not speak to them without a parable. Yet separately, he explained all things to his disciples.
ST. GILDAS THE WISE
He was probably born about 517, provably in the North of England or Wales. His father’s name was Cau (or Nau) and that he came from noble lineage. He probably had several brothers. It is likely that one of these, Cuil (or Hueil), was killed by King Arthur (who died in 537 AD). It also appears that he may have forgiven Arthur for this.
He lived in a time when the glory of Rome was faded from Britain. The permanent legions had been withdrawn by Maximus, who used them to sack Rome itself and make himself Emperor.
He was noted for his piety and well educated, and was not afraid of publicly rebuking contemporary monarchs, at a time when libel was answered by a sword, rather than a Court order.
Gildas lived for many years as a very ascetic hermit on Flatholm Island in the Bristol Channel. Here he established his reputation for that peculiar Celtic sort of holiness that consists of extreme self-denial and isolation. At around this time, according to the Welsh, he also preached to Nemata, the mother of St David, while she was pregnant with the Saint.
In about 547 he wrote a book De Excidio Britanniae (The Destruction of Britain). In this he writes a brief tale of the island from pre-Roman times and criticizes the rulers of the island for their lax morals and blames their sins (and those that follow them) for the destruction of civilization in Britain. The book was avowedly written as a moral tale.
He also wrote a longer work, the Epistle. This is a series of sermons on the moral laxity of rulers and of the clergy. In these Gildas shows that he has a wide reading of the Bible and of some other classical works.
He was also a very influential preacher, visiting Ireland and doing much missionary work. He was responsible for the conversion of much of the island and may be the one who introduced anchorite customs to the monks of that land.
He retired from Llancarfan to Rhuys, in Brittany, where he founded a monastery. Of his work on the running of a monastery (one of the earliest known in the Christian Church), only the so-called Penitential, a guide for Abbots in setting punishment, survives.
He died around 571, at Rhuys. The monastery that he had founded became the center of his cult.
He is regarded as being one of the most influential figures of the early English Church. The influence of his writing was felt until well into the middle ages, particularly in the Celtic Church. He is also important to us today as the first British writer whose works have survived fairly intact.
Cardinal Defends Family as Child’s First Teacher of Love and Life
Lima, Peru, Jan 26, 2010 (CNA).- The Archbishop of Quebec, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, said last week that the family is a child’s first educator in the values of love and life. He noted that it is also primarily responsible for transmitting the faith to children, amidst today’s culture that often seeks to attack the basic unit of society.
In a speech delivered on his behalf by Auxiliary Bishop Cyprien Gérald Lacroix to the attendees of the 2nd International Congress of Families held in Lima on January 22-24, the cardinal explained that traditional marriage is under pressure from “sometimes openly anti-Christian ideologies” that push “states to make laws redefining the meaning of marriage, procreation, parenthood and the family.” He added that these groups fail to consider “the fundamental anthropological realities that make up human relations.”
He then turned to the defense of life and explained why the Catholic Church rejects “artificial means of contraception. The Church’s “refusal to morally ratify the use of (contraception) contrasts with the contemporary mindset that promotes the use of all available techniques to perform the marital act without the ‘risk’ of procreation,” he explained.
“Whereas the wisdom of the Church, founded on revelation, unites love, marriage and life, contemporary culture tends to separate them on behalf of an unabashed assertion of individual freedom.”
According to the cardinal, Bishop Lacroix said, “The first value that we must stress is faith as a personal encounter with Christ, which leads to a covenant that encompasses all dimensions of one’s being, including married love. As this love is elevated to the dignity of a sacrament by an act of theological faith, a serious preparation for marriage through an authentic education in sacramental love is clearly important.”
“It is in this light that the couple can more easily reach the balance between erotic love and generous and fruitful charity,” the bishop continued. “If they are animated by a profound theological life, they will learn to develop the human virtues that are essential for marriage and family life: prudence, self-control, dialogue and mutual forgiveness, patience and conjugal chastity.”
Thus, he continued, “the personal development of these virtues will improve their relationships and will create especially healthy educational environments, colored by authentic love, trust, tenderness, filial piety, respect and openness towards others. All these virtues and attitudes, penetrated by the Spirit of God, become mediations of the gift that Christ makes of Himself to the domestic Church, to make her His faithful and fruitful bride at the service of Love and Life. In essence, the educational atmosphere of a Christian family depends on a vocational culture which has as its declared aim, the perfection of love in all states of life and in all circumstances thanks to the living ideal cultivated by the Holy Family.”
According to Cardinal Ouellet, “notwithstanding current difficulties, the family is the most precious inheritance of the Christian tradition, ‘the true heritage of mankind’, the first school of human and ecclesial communion. However, we must recognize that its educational mission is currently disabled due, for sure, to lack of support in the dominant culture, but also due to a lack of a profound appropriation of its grace and values.”
It is necessary, he said, that the ministry of the Church have “a stronger commitment to the new evangelization of families, but also a new evangelization from families who have found Christ.”
“The family, the domestic church that evangelizes, provides a formation for communion and the apostolate. As for the values of conjugal love and the virtues go with it, they must be rediscovered, because under the pressure of the dominant culture, hedonism and relativism, their source and their moral and spiritual articulation are not recognized. It matters that we redouble efforts to discover and rediscover the intrinsic link between love, life, spiritual fertility and all the virtues that ensure the growth and stability of families against enemy forces.”
Cardinal Ouellet also stressed that “promoting a spirituality proper to marriage and the family, founded upon the ecclesial and social value of the family, should contribute more to forming consciences, to boosting the educational mission of parents and to multiplying apostolic, cultural and political initiatives that defend the rights of the family and protect its acquisitions.”
In conclusion, he said, “Holding high the banner of the family is a sign of the times and is a great need in the world today.
“Enhancing its educational mission at its deepest identity is not only an urgent task in the “aggiornamento” (bringing up to date) of the Church, but also the “sine qua non” (essential condition) for ensuring the fidelity of the Church to its mission and a future for our civilization.”
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=100115
La. Congressman Bill Cassidy Gives Statement On State Of The Union Address
LifeNews.com Headlines: January 28, 2010
PELOSI PROMISES DEMOCRATS WILL PASS HEALTH CARE BILL, PRO-LIFE GROUPS CONCERNED
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) – Leading Democrats said late Tuesday that they are all but putting the brakes on the pro-abortion health care bill because they can’t find the votes to move forward. But a top pro-life group urges the pro-life community to not become complacent because a revised bill could move ahead at any time.
DETAILS EMERGE ON HISPANIC NEW YORK WOMAN KILLED IN BOTCHED LEGAL ABORTION
Queens, NY (LifeNews.com) – More details are emerging on a botched legal abortion that killed a New York Hispanic woman that took place on Monday at an abortion center in Queens. Officials say 37-year-old was killed after a botched abortion claimed her life at the A-1 Women’s Care abortion center located in Jackson Heights.
TIM TEBOW CONFIRMS SUPER BOWL AD ABOUT PRO-LIFE VALUES, DEFENDS SHOWING IT
Mobile, AL (LifeNews.com) – College football superstar Tim Tebow defended a Super Bowl commercial Focus on the Family has filmed that is generating national attention. Tebow confirmed the commercial will focus on pro-life values and tell the story of how his mother decided against an abortion.
PRO-ABORTION HILLARY CLINTON SAYS SECOND TERM AS SECRETARY OF STATE NOT LIKELY
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) – Hillary Clinton says it is not likely that she will serve a second term as Secretary of State should pro-abortion President Barack Obama win re-election to another term. Clinton, an abortion advocate herself, has taken Obama’s mandate to promote abortion across the globe.
BEN NELSON FLIP-FLOPS AGAIN, BACKS RECONCILIATION FOR PRO-ABORTION HEALTH CARE
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) – Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson has flip-flopped again — this time saying that he can back the controversial reconciliation process that the Senate may use to railroad the pro-abortion health care bill through the chamber. Nelson first flip-flopped on abortion funding.
SCIENTISTS’ ADVANCE FURTHER RENDERS EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH OBSOLETE
Palo Alto, CA (LifeNews.com) – Scientists have made a major breakthrough using the process known as direct reprogramming that further renders embryonic stem cell research obsolete. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have succeeded in transforming mouse skin cells directly into functional nerve cells.
PRO-LIFE LEGAL GROUP RELEASES REPORT ON BARACK OABAMA’S PRO-ABORTION NOMINEES
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) – A pro-life legal group has released a new 72-page report detailing the extreme pro-abortion agenda of many of President Barack Obama’s nominees throughout his administration. The Liberty Counsel report highlights the radical views of nominees ranging from the Supreme Court to obscure positions.
CANADIAN JUDGE RULES MEDICAL CARE FOR BABY ISAIAH CAN CONTINUE FOR NOW
Edmonton, Canada (LifeNews.com) – A Canadian judge has ruled that medical care and treatment for Baby Isaiah can continue for now while attorneys re-examine what has turned into a controversial case of potential euthanasia. Baby Isaiah was born in October and suffered severe oxygen deprivation.
SCOTT ROEDER WILL TESTIFY IN HIS OWN DEFENSE ON KILLING ABORTIONIST GEORGE TILLER
Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) – Scott Roeder, the former militia activist who has no ties to the pro-life movement, is expected to take the stand on Thursday in his own defense. Roeder stands accused of killing late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller, and has already admitted doing so.
DEMOCRATS BEGIN DEFECTING FROM RECONCILIATON PUSH FOR PRO-ABORTION HEALTH CARE
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) – Senate Democrats are beginning to defect from the reconciliation idea Speaker Nancy Pelosi and pro-abortion party leaders are pushing to get the pro-abortion health care bill through Congress. Three Democrats have said they oppose the idea or would lean against it.
Don’t Underestimate the Church!
By Mark Shea, Catholic Exchange, January 28th, 2010
Ephesians 1:22-23
He has put all things under His feet and has made Him the head over all things for the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Many people think the Church is a mere human organization. Scripture says the Church is a mystery of God. Many people think the Church is a big mistake. Scripture says the Church was founded by Jesus Christ who cannot err. Many people think the Church is invisible, like the soul. Scripture says it is visible, like a body. Many people think the Church is empty of God. Scripture says the Church is the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Today, thank God, not only for the revelation of His Trinitarian nature as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but for the revelation of the Church which is the fullness of the mystery of Christ, present in the world. Where would we be without it?
Lord, Please Don’t Hear This Prayer — Yet Again
This past Dec. 28, I was jolted out of my morning fog at 8 a.m. Mass when the deacon offered this petition: “For those who are considering abortion: may our prayers and the intercession of the Holy Innocents whom we honor today help them choose life as the best option, let us pray to the Lord.”
I can’t remember whether I blurted “What?” loud enough to be noticed by my faithful companions at daily Mass-many of whom wear hearing aids-but I know I certainly didn’t answer with the prescribed “Lord, hear our prayer.”
The best option? Oh, so the decision whether to carry a child to term is a pragmatic calculation, and we’re to pray that those concerned get the calculation, er, right? How did this morally degrading nonsense get written? How did it get past an editor with any theological grain of sense?
It happened because the parish I was attending, like many others, uses canned general intercessions for weekday Masses, bought from a “liturgical aids” service: the daily intercessions come with a tacky binder in a tear-‘em-out-after-you-use-‘em format, they fit neatly inside the ambo-so why not? Well, Dec. 28 illustrated why not: because more often than we’d like to admit, these intercessions are thoughtlessly written, reflecting the ambient cultural smog rather than the truth of Catholic faith. Moreover, they’re typically organized to suggest that the world of politics is, somehow, the real world: after a brief intercessory nod to the pope, the bishops, or both, we’re immediately invited to pray for sundry social and political causes, never identified as such but wrapped in the gauziness of Feel Good Prayer.
And what gets omitted is often as instructive, and depressing, as what gets addressed. How often last year did you hear a general intercession petition for Christian unity? For the relief of persecuted Christians? For the conversion of non-believers? For victory in the war against terrorism? (Eight years and four months after 9/11, I’m still waiting for that one.) But I’ll bet you heard a dozen or more exhorting you to environmental responsibility.
In parishes that take their liturgy seriously, the canned intercessions usually disappear on Sunday, to be replaced by intercessions composed locally by responsible parties, sometimes with the aid of thoughtful resources like Magnificat. The solution to the weekday problem, I suggest, is to regularize and routinize the petitions at daily Mass, making them serenely formulaic and thus immune from the temptation to political or cultural homiletics.
Here’s one possible scheme for such a “reduction:”
For the holy Church of God throughout the world, let us pray to the Lord.
For Benedict, Bishop of Rome, and the bishops in communion with him, let us pray to the Lord.
For this local Church of [name of diocese], for [name of bishop], its chief shepherd, and for the priests and deacons of [name of diocese], let us pray to the Lord.
For this parish of [patron of other name], its pastors and its people, let us pray to the Lord.
For an abundance of vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life, let us pray to the Lord.
For the unity of all Christians, for the relief of those suffering persecution for their Christian faith, and for the conversion of their persecutors, let us pray to the Lord.
For the civil authorities, that we may be governed in justice and truth, let us pray to the Lord.
For those who are sick, and for all those with special needs, let us pray to the Lord.
For our beloved dead, let us pray to the Lord.
That, I suggest, covers the most important bases. Such a scheme also locates the local parish within the broader Christian community of the diocese, and locates the diocese within the ambit of the universal Church: facts about which Catholics in America often need reminding. And such a formulaic schema avoids politics while making clear that we should pray regularly that the politicos recognize both the responsibilities and limits of their power.
Try it. It is, if you’ll permit me, the best option.
Victims of Obamacare
Religious left support for abortion is imploding.
Mark Tooley, American Spectator, 1.28.10
Religious Left support for abortion funding in Obamacare will maybe be remembered as one of the last, embarrassing gasps of the religious abortion rights movement. Socialized medicine has been almost a messianic dream for liberal religionists across much of the 20th century, while abortion rights emerged about 40 years ago. Focused strategic thinking would have compelled the Religious Left to swallow abortion restrictions in favor of any expansion of government directed health care. But almost until the very end, the Religious Left insisted that abortion coverage was crucial to any health care legislation. They even fired salvos at more traditional religionists who objected to abortion funding.
“Let us admit that in this debate faith leaders of various stripes have placed their ideological and financial agendas ahead of the needs of the American people,” complained United Methodist lobbyist Jim Winkler, without any apparent sense of irony, at a December press conference with Democratic Senators Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) and Ben Cardin (Md.). “These faith leaders have attempted to roll back the rights of women to determine their own reproductive health. This is not acceptable.”
Winkler and other Religious Left lobbyists strongly condemned the Pitts-Stupak language in the U.S. House of Representatives version of Obamacare that prohibited abortion funding. Likewise, they opposed Nebraska Democratic Senator Ben Nelson’s original attempt to replicate that restriction in the Senate version. Of course, Nelson, himself United Methodist, later compromised by supporting the Senate’s final version, which would have permitted indirect funding of abortion.
At a December Obamacare rally on Capitol Hill sponsored by United Methodists, Presbyterians, the United Church of Christ, liberal Roman Catholics, plus Moveon.org, Winkler insisted: “The Senate bill should be abortion-neutral,” by which he meant it should not restrict abortion funding. “American families should have the opportunity to choose health coverage that reflects their own values and medical needs,” he added, “a principle that should not be sacrificed in service of any political agenda.”
Trying to neutralize the influence of United Methodism’s official lobbyist, a caucus of pro-lifers called Task Force for United Methodists on Abortion and Sexuality this month urged Senator Nelson to adhere to his original strong pro-life stance. “The Senate’s health care bill is unacceptable — to us, to many if not most United Methodists, and to the clear majority of Americans — since it would have the effect of facilitating, and thus increasing, the incidence of abortion in our society.” The United Methodist pro-lifers also were “very concerned about the Senate bill’s failure to include the House bill’s conscience protections for health care providers who do not want to be coerced into participation in abortion.” And they noted to Nelson that “you have been the target of lobbying efforts by some United Methodist clergy and laity urging you to support the health care reform bill even if it means compromising your pro-life principles.” They concluded: “Many, if not most, United Methodists in Nebraska and in the United States share our concerns.” And they reminded him of Methodism’s first principle from founder John Wesley: “Do no harm.” (Their letter is here.)
How influenced Nelson was by his church’s official lobbyists is unclear since he would know that the lobby is far to the left of most church members. He may have gotten more encouragement from liberal evangelicals. Shortly before the Senate vote in December, a group of liberal evangelicals compromised traditional evangelical pro-life convictions by backing a compromise on abortion funding from Pennsylvania Democratic Senator Casey. This compromise was quickly denounced by the Catholic bishops and other pro-lifers. But it presaged the ultimate abortion compromise that the Senate approved. The evangelicals who backed it, many of them officers in the National Association of Evangelicals, prioritized government directed health care over protections for the unborn. Their eagerness to create a more progressive image for evangelicals by attaching themselves to Obamacare and indirect abortion funding will likely sideline their influence among most evangelicals.
Meanwhile, nearly all the Mainline Protestant denominations, despite their pro-abortion elites, have vigorous pro-life caucuses. The Task Force for United Methodists annually convenes a pro-life service in the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill on the Roe versus Wade anniversary. The nearly 90-year-old headquarters of official United Methodist lobbying is governed by Winkler’s United Methodist Board of Church and Society, whose offices are upstairs from the chapel where the pro-lifers are permitted at least one morning of witness.
Foreshadowing the growing pro-life sentiment even in liberal-governed denominations, the Task Force has in recent years featured several bishops at its pro-life Capitol Hill service. This year, Kansas United Methodist Bishop Scott Jones was the preacher, and he was unequivocal in differing with his church’s official lobby on abortion funding. “We need to recognize that access to an abortion is not a right. While we believe that persons have the right to health care, abortion is not normally a health care issue. Rather it is a sinful behavior.” He added: “Proposals in the recent health-care debate to provide tax funding for abortions are very misguided. What you fund with tax dollars will increase.” (For more on Bishop Jones’ speech, go here).
Neither government-funded abortion, nor 1960s-style Big Government initiatives like Obamacare, are likely to inspire future generations of American church-goers, or even their elites. Obamacare’s seeming collapse may also ultimately foretell the eventual implosion of much of the old Religious Left and the liberal Evangelicals who oddly want to imitate them.
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/01/28/victims-of-obamacare
Text2Chat: State of the Union Edition
Since a dialogue is a conversation between two or more people, Washington Democrats’ refusal to acknowledge the voice of the American people betrays their one-party, monologue approach to governance. Tonight, the National Republican Congressional Committee is working to stop the monologue and create a meaningful dialogue between House Republicans and the American people………
…….2010 is shaping up to be an historic year – a testament to your participation in the political process. Republicans want to engage Americans in a dialogue as we work to solve the many problems facing our great country……
http://biggovernment.com/2010/01/27/text2chat-state-of-the-union-edition/#more-66014
FOUNDER’S QUOTE DAILY
“In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate – look to his character….”
–Noah Webster, Letters to a Young Gentleman Commencing His Education, 1789
Obama’s Chilly 2010 SOTU
Anyone who expected that President Obama would triangulate — to move to the center as Bill Clinton did, capturing Republican ideas and making them his own — was proven wrong last night. In a very long speech reminiscent of his first quasi-State of the Union speech a year ago, Obama reaffirmed his commitment to health care “reform,” the “cap and trade” energy tax and went farther left, proposing repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law that precludes gays from serving openly in the military.
Obama had three goals last night. First, he needed to quell the unrest among his most liberal supporters on Capitol Hill who have spent the first year of his term running amok and are now feeling the heat generated by the Tea Party movement and Americans’ distrust of government. It is the force that culminated in Republican victories in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts. After that speech, many of the Dems will have to choose between meeting his demands and losing in November.
Second, he had to chart a clear course toward economic recovery. About three million Americans lost their jobs since Obama took office. After his team promised that unemployment would crest below 8% last year — and after delivering sustained 10+% unemployment that wasn’t at all alleviated by the failed $1.2 trillion stimulus bill — the president needed to convince Americans that another “stimulus” would create millions of jobs.
And third, he needed to repair the damage his to national security that his specific, premeditated actions have caused. He failed on each count.
Obama did his best to sound as confident and charming as he did in the 2008 campaign. But his tone was combative, the speech internally inconsistent. He claimed that his micro-freeze on federal spending would — with his other ideas — pay for the huge increase in the federal deficit he had created.
By my count, Obama proposed fourteen new programs, most aimed at the economy. Though he proposed new tax incentives for businesses, making hard decisions on offshore drilling and more, it’s clear that his agenda will increase unemployment.
Obama’s agenda is comprised of job killers. The “cap and tax” plan will cause the price of energy to skyrocket and cost millions of jobs. (According to the Heritage Foundation, it could cost over 900,000 jobs.)
The health care reform plan he favors — which is comprehensively unpopular across the nation — will also reduce jobs while ending employers’ ability to provide health insurance for employees. It will cause the cost of healthcare insurance to rise for employers, resulting in more job losses.
Claiming that he would pay for the $1 trillion in new federal debt he’s created, Obama said that beginning in 2011, he would freeze federal spending, though he exempted most of the budget from the freeze.
Going into the speech, Obama’s micro-freeze was already under attack by his most fervent liberal allies. Only a few hours earlier, Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected the limitations Obama placed on the plan, saying that the freeze should extend to defense spending.
Obama’s micro-freeze is anything except significant, and won’t even amount to a drop in the bucket of national debt: it could — at most — reduce the deficit one-tenth of one percent between 2011 and 2020. But any such reduction will be vastly overcome by his continued spending spree.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, Obama’s freeze would save $10-15 billion in 2011. That’s against a deficit for which America will pay over $207 billion in interest on the debt next year, and which will result in interest payments growing to $723 billion per year in 2020.
Obama said he wants a new “stimulus” jobs program of $30 billion to give small businesses relief from capital gains tax and incentives to large and small businesses to invest in new plant and equipment. Another tax credit for small businesses would be aimed at those that hire new workers or raise the pay of current employees.
Last Sunday, three members of Obama’s team gave three different estimates of the jobs “created or saved” by the stimulus bill. White House political advisor David Axelrod said there were 2 million jobs created or saved. Valerie Jarrett — another close advisor and longtime Obama pal — said the stimulus saved “thousands and thousands” of jobs. And Presidential Press Secretary Robert Gibbs put the number at 1.5 million jobs. They are all fictional numbers.
The president adopted the biggest fiction, claiming 2 million jobs were created or saved. But how does that match the fact of sustained 10% unemployment?
Last May, months after the stimulus passed, the president said, “We are out of money.” But in his speech, he demanded that more be spent.
Obama’s commitment to his nationalization of health care is comprehensive. And – as he did in his September healthcare speech, he claimed he is open to better ideas. Obama said, “But if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know. I’m eager to see it.”
But Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, has had a patient-oriented healthcare reform bill since last June. Price has asked to meet with Obama on it about a dozen times, and Obama has declined every time.
Obama said he recognized that there is a huge lack of trust in the government. He said, “We face a deficit of trust — deep and corrosive doubts about how Washington works that have been growing for years. To close that credibility gap we must take action on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to end the outsized influence of lobbyists; to do our work openly; and to give our people the government they deserve.”
He promises — again — openness and transparency. But how does that match up with the backroom dealing on the healthcare reform bill? The fact that Democratic leaders — especially Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — had to bribe his members to vote for the bill makes the president’s words ring hollow.
Obama — in perhaps his most unpresidential moment — chastised the members of the Supreme Court for the decision last week tossing out a large part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill, obviously attempting to intimidate them. Justice Alito could be seen mouthing the words “not true” when Obama was mischaracterizing the decision.
Any pretense of moderation was abandoned. Obama promised to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on gays in the military. He said, “This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. It’s the right thing to do.”
And he added that immigration law reform — read amnesty for illegal aliens — was high on his priority list. “And we should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system — to secure our borders, enforce our laws, and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nations.” After the shellacking they took over the McCain-Kennedy bill in 2007, most Democrats can’t be eager to start that fight again.
Obama gave short shrift to national security. And what he did say is reason for unease. He gave lip service to improving protections against terrorist attack, saying that improvements are being made immediately, including in intelligence. But his administration — and Speaker Pelosi — are still at war with the intelligence community. They face a special prosecutor who may yet indict CIA interrogators for “torture.”
Obama made no mention of closing the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba or moving terrorists to the US for trial or long-term detention. His major national security initiative is to enter another comprehensive arms control agreement with Russia: “I have embraced the vision of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan through a strategy that reverses the spread of these weapons, and seeks a world without them. To reduce our stockpiles and launchers, while ensuring our deterrent, the United States and Russia are completing negotiations on the farthest-reaching arms control treaty in nearly two decades.”
Only a naïve utopian can dream of a world without nuclear weapons. Especially as Iran closes on its goal of nuclear weapons. Iran? Obama would only say that they will face consequences. Who can believe him? Certainly not the mullahs in Tehran.
Obama mentioned his plan to address the Republican Conference retreat in Baltimore on Friday. It will be interesting to see if any hint of openness to Republican ideas comes out of that meeting. After the State of the Union speech, there’s little reason to believe that will be the result.
Mr. Babbin is the editor of Human Events and HumanEvents.com. He served as a deputy undersecretary of defense in President George H.W. Bush’s administration. He is the author of “In the Words of our Enemies“(Regnery,2007) and (with Edward Timperlake) of “Showdown: Why China Wants War with the United States” (Regnery, 2006) and “Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe are Worse than You Think” (Regnery, 2004). E-mail him at jbabbin@eaglepub.com.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=35369
Denver Archbishop Urges Catholics to Fight Satan
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver followed his keynote address to the Emmanuel Community of Rome’s conference on “Priests and Laity in the Mission” with a short reflection on the “disappointing times” he is experiencing. He also elaborated on a major theme of his talk—the reality of Satan and the importance of “spiritual combat.”
Just before launching into a question and answer session, Archbishop Chaput gave a reflection on his years as a bishop to stimulate discussion, saying, “I thought that after 20 years more of my life things would change and things would be a lot better but I don’t think they are.
“I think we live in disappointing times, in times of confusion, and in some ways that is the result of our failure to understand that we have an enemy in the Devil, but also we have enemies in the world around us.”
He pointed to a “great talk” from an American Protestant pastor he once heard which was titled “We preach as though we don’t have enemies,” and reflected that this sentiment “is true in the United States… .”
“I think it’s important to understand the we are in a battle, we really do live in a time of spiritual combat and I think we’ve lost that sense of the Church,” Archbishop Chaput stated.
He continued with a comparison of the temptation we face to be like “everyone else” like the Israelites from the Old Testament wishing for a king like the other nations. They wanted a king … they got Saul and he was a good man, and then he became a politician and he lost his faith. We’re just like that.”
“In America, we don’t want to be different than our Protestant brothers and sisters, or the secular forces around us. And, I think that’s the great danger of our time, we don’t love God enough and we don’t enter into combat with the enemy enough and we need to recommit ourselves to doing that,” the Archbishop of Denver urged.
During his keynote address, Archbishop Chaput had also referred to the importance of recognizing that evil exists and that “Satan is real.”
Responding to a question from CNA about where he sees the Devil’s presence in society, the archbishop said, “Well, one of the most obvious things in the United States is internet pornography which is pervasive, and subtle, and attractive and totally destructive of peoples’ lives and there’s very little talk about fighting it.
“If you talk about fighting pornography in the media you’re somehow seen as anti-American, anti-freedom of speech. … things that are so obviously destructive to society…” he said.
The archbishop also named divorce and the changing definition of marriage as places where Satan is holding sway.
“All of the statistical studies show us that a stable relationship between a man and a wife for the sake of children is what produces good, healthy human beings and you can’t say that today without being branded as somehow on the opposite side of freedom and truth,” Archbishop Chaput explained.
“So, those kind of basic human values, the value of chastity and the value of family life are popularly seen as ‘old fashioned’ because of the lies, because of the deceptions of the Evil One. Even Catholics are afraid of standing up for the truth because we’re afraid of being branded ‘old-fashioned.’”
When asked whether there are any successes in the fight today, the archbishop responded, “I think we’re doing a lot of very good things and doing well in terms of fighting but in terms of winning the battles, we’re not winning many of those cultural battles in terms of the formal direction of society.
“But,” he added, “every time an individual is converted the battle has been won in a huge kind of way, because we’re not saved as a group. We’re saved as individuals and what pleases the enemy of God, Satan, is that individuals are not being faithful to their identity as children of God.
“So, I think every time there’s a conversion, every time one of us turns from our sins there is a victory in the battle,” he remarked.
Archbishop Chaput concluded, “There are lots of victories, so I don’t think we measure our success in terms of swaying whole segments of society, but it’s convincing individuals to give themselves faithfully to the call of God in their lives.”
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/denver_archbishop_urges_catholic_to_engage_in_spiritual_combat_against_satan/
‘It Stinks to High Heaven’: MA Democrat Rips Secretary Geithner
“It makes me doubt your commitment to the American people.”
TODAY’S GOSPEL
21. And he said to them: “Would someone enter with a lamp in order to place it under a basket or under a bed? Would it not be placed upon a lampstand?
22. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. Neither was anything done in secret, except that it may be made public.
23. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
24. And he said to them: “Consider what you hear. With whatever measure you have measured out, it shall be measured back to you, and more shall be added to you.
25. For whoever has, to him it shall be given. And whoever has not, from him even what he has shall be taken away.”
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/reading.php?n=6404
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY, JANUARY 28, 2010
Philosopher, theologian, doctor of the Church (Angelicus Doctor or the Angelic Doctor), patron of Catholic universities, colleges, and schools.
Born at Rocca Secca in the Kingdom of Naples, 1225 or 1227; died at Fossa Nuova, March 7, 1274.
Landulph, his father, was Count of Aquino; Theodora, his mother, Countess of Teano. Diligent in study, he was thus early noted as being meditative and devoted to prayer, and his preceptor was surprised at hearing the child ask frequently: “What is God?”
About the year 1236 he was sent to the University of Naples.
Some time between 1240 and August 1243, he received the habit of the Order of St. Dominic, being attracted and directed by John of St. Julian, a noted preacher of the convent of Naples. The city wondered that such a noble young man should don the garb of poor friar. His mother, with mingled feelings of joy and sorrow, hastened to Naples to see her son. The Dominicans, fearing she would take him away, sent him to Rome, his ultimate destination being Paris or Cologne. At the instance of Theodora, Thomas’s brothers, who were soldiers under the Emperor Frederick, captured the novice near the town of Aquapendente and confined him in the fortress of San Giovanni at Rocca Secca. Here he was detained nearly two years, his parents, brothers, and sisters endeavoring by various means to destroy his vocation. The brothers even laid snares for his virtue, but the pure-minded novice drove the temptress from his room with a brand which he snatched from the fire. Towards the end of his life, St. Thomas confided to his faithful friend and companion, Reginald of Piperno, the secret of a remarkable favor received at this time. When the temptress had been driven from his chamber, he knelt and most earnestly implored God to grant him integrity of mind and body. He fell into a gentle sleep, and, as he slept, two angels appeared to assure him that his prayer had been heard. They then girded him about with a white girdle, saying: “We gird thee with the girdle of perpetual virginity.” And from that day forward he never experienced the slightest motions of concupiscence.
Thomas pronounced his vows, and was placed under Albertus Magnus, the most renowned professor of the order. In 1245 Albert was sent to Paris, and Thomas accompanied him as a student. In 1248 both returned to Cologne. Albert had been appointed regent of the new studium generale, erected that year by the general chapter of the order, and Thomas was to teach under him as Bachelor. During his stay in Cologne, probably in 1250, he was raised to the priesthood by Conrad of Hochstaden, archbishop of that city.
St. Thomas was admitted to the degree of Doctor in Theology in October 23, 1257. His theme was “The Majesty of Christ”.
From this time St. Thomas’s life may be summed up in a few words: praying, preaching, teaching, writing, journeying. Men were more anxious to hear him than they had been to hear Albert, whom St. Thomas surpassed in accuracy, lucidity, brevity, and power of exposition, if not in universality of knowledge. Paris claimed him as her own; the popes wished to have him near them; the studia of the order were eager to enjoy the benefit of his teaching; hence we find him successively at Anagni, Rome, Bologna, Orvieto, Viterbo, Perugia, in Paris again, and finally in Naples, always teaching and writing, living on earth with one passion, an ardent zeal for the explanation and defense of Christian truth. So devoted was he to his sacred task that with tears he begged to be excused from accepting the Archbishopric of Naples, to which he was appointed by Clement IV in 1265. Had this appointment been accepted, most probably the Summa Theologica would not have been written.
On December 6, 1273, he laid aside his pen and would write no more. That day he experienced an unusually long ecstasy during Mass. Thomas began his immediate preparation for death. Gregory X, having convoked a general council, to open at Lyons on May 1, 1274, invited St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure to take part in the deliberations, commanding the former to bring to the council his treatise Contra Errores Graecorum (Against the Errors of the Greeks). He tried to obey, setting out on foot in January 1274, but strength failed him; he fell to the ground near Terracina, whence he was conducted to the Castle of Maienza, the home of his niece the Countess Francesca Ceccano. The Cistercian monks of Fossa Nuova pressed him to accept their hospitality, and he was conveyed to their monastery, on entering which he whispered to his companion: “This is my rest for ever and ever: here will I dwell, for I have chosen it” (Psalm 131:14).
The end was near; extreme unction was administered. When the Sacred Viaticum was brought into the room he pronounced a moving act of faith.
He died on March 7, 1274. Numerous miracles attested his sanctity, and he was canonized by John XXII, July 18, 1323.
Although St. Thomas lived less than fifty years, he composed more than sixty works, some of them brief, some very lengthy. This does not necessarily mean that every word in the authentic works was written by his hand; he was assisted by secretaries, and biographers assure us that he could dictate to several scribes at the same time. The organization of the theological thinking in his Summa Theologica is, without doubt among his greatest intellectual achievements.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=130
GOVERNMENT GONE WILD! President Obama Is Right, We Have A Spending Problem!
By Conn Carroll, Heritage Foundation, January 27, 2010
Tonight in his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama is expected to propose a “freeze” [1] on government spending. Obama’s spending “freeze” will only last three years, will not start until 2011, will only apply to a $447 billion slice of the federal government’s $3.5 trillion budget, and will not apply to any of the unspent $862 billion stimulus plan, his health care plan or the House of Representatives’ additional $156 billion stimulus plan. Despite all the loopholes, time limits and procrastination, the President should still be commended for beginning to acknowledge reality. And as a new report [2] issued yesterday by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) shows, the reality is this: the U.S. government has an insatiable spending problem.
The CBO’s summary of the report [2] is bad enough: “Under current law, the federal fiscal outlook beyond this year is daunting … accumulating deficits will push federal debt held by the public to significantly higher levels. At the end of 2009, debt held by the public was $7.5 trillion, or 54% of GDP; by the end of 2020, debt is projected to climb to $15 trillion, or 67% of GDP.” But as bad as those numbers are, our fiscal health is actually worse. The CBO is forced by Congress to make a number of unrealistic assumptions about future revenue and spending changes. But their report makes up for this by including alternative projections that make more realistic assumptions. Heritage fellow Brian Riedl crunched those numbers [3]and found: Continue reading
Why Is (Mass.) Sen. Kirk Still Voting on Legislation?
The Senate has voted on three pieces of legislation today that required 60 votes–to raise the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion, to reduce the deficit by establishing five-year discretionary spending caps, and Ben Bernanke’s confirmation–all of which interim Senator Paul Kirk (D-MA) has voted on. In addition, there have been other Senate votes since Scott Brown was elected as Massachusetts senator that Kirk cast a vote.
The main question here is: why is
formerSenator Kirk still voting on these legislative pieces? According to Senate rules and precedent, Kirk’s term expired last Tuesday upon the election of Scott Brown. Furthermore, Massachusetts law can be interpreted, according to GOP lawyers, as:Additionally, as reported in the Weekly Standard and investigated and confirmed by GOP lawyers:
(more…)