I have often raised my hand in the silence of the night and in my solitary cell, blessing you all and presenting you to Jesus and to our father, St. Francis of Assisi.

— St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“Pray, pray to the Lord with me, because the whole world needs prayer. And every day, when your heart especially feels the loneliness of life, pray. Pray to the Lord, because even God needs our prayers.”

The latest White House gambit is a bill that is being touted as “much smaller.”

Daniel Foster, Human Events, March 01, 2010

According to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the White House will release a new health-care bill on Wednesday that will be “much smaller” than either the House or Senate versions, according to news reports.

The White House said that the new proposal will “borrow” ideas from last Thursday’s health-care summit and will be designed to garner bipartisan support.

A senior administration official told Fox Obama’s proposal will be introduced Wednesday.

“In a matter of days, we will have a proposal,” Pelosi said, pointing to Obama’s forthcoming bill. “It will be a much smaller proposal than we had in the House bill, because that’s where we can gain consensus. But it will be big enough to put us on a path of affordable, quality health care for all Americans that holds insurance companies accountable.”

Melody Barnes, a top Obama domestic policy adviser, did not dispute Pelosi’s characterization of the new plan as smaller in scope – and quite possibly in cost – than either the House or Senate health care bills.

“It’s going to be matter of drawing on these different ideas and coming up with the right proposal,” Barnes said in an exclusive interview with Fox. “That’s what my colleagues are working on. That’s what they’re talking with Congress about. We’ll see what it looks like when the proposal is sent forward.”

Asked how White House staff is putting the new proposal together, Barnes said they are “borrowing” from conversations at Thursday’s health care summit.

“We’re going to be borrowing from those conversations…to come up with a bill that we hope can receive bipartisan support,” Barnes said.

The White House indicated that two GOP ideas — malpractice reform and insurance purchasing across state lines — would be worked into the new proposal.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjE2MjBiYjVjZmQ1NDI5MTNiNGQ5ZjFjMmZhNmUwMGI=

By Charles Colson, Catholic Exchange, March 2nd, 2010

Head of ‘Climategate’ research unit admits he hid data – because it was ‘standard practice’…

Head of ‘Climategate’ research unit admits sending ‘pretty awful emails’ to hide data

By David Derbyshire, The Daily Mail, 2nd March 2010

Scientists at the heart of the Climategate row were yesterday accused by a leading academic body of undermining science’s credibility.

The Institute of Physics said ‘worrying implications’ had been raised after it was revealed the University of East Anglia had manipulated data on global warming.

The rebuke – the strongest yet from the scientific community – came as Professor Phil Jones, the researcher at the heart of the scandal, told MPs he had written ‘some pretty awful emails’ – but denied trying to suppress data. 

On the spot: Professor Phil Jones being grilled by the Science and Technology committee in the Commons yesterday

The Climategate row, which was first revealed by the Daily Mail in November, was triggered when a hacker stole hundreds of emails sent from East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit.

They revealed scientists plotting how to avoid responding to Freedom of Information requests from climate change sceptics.

Some even appeared to show the researchers discussing how to manipulate raw data from tree rings about historical temperatures.

In one, Professor Jones talks about using a ‘trick’ to massage figures and ‘hide the decline’……………..
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254660/Climategate-professor-Phil-Jones-admits-sending-pretty-awful-emails.html

Patriot Post, Brief, Monday, March 1, 2010

“One of the major differences between the right and the left concerns the question of authority: To whom do we owe obedience and who is the ultimate moral authority? For the right, the primary moral authority is God (or, for secular conservatives, Judeo-Christian values), followed by parents. Of course, government must also play a role, but it is ultimately accountable to God and it should do nothing to undermine parental authority. For the left, the state and its government are the supreme authorities, while parental and divine authority are seen as impediments to state authority. … In a nutshell, the left wants to have ever-expanding authority over people’s lives through ever-expanding governmental powers. It does so because it regards itself as more enlightened than others. Others are either enemies (the right) or unenlightened masses. It is elected by demonizing its enemies and doling out money and jobs to the masses.”

–radio talk-show host Dennis Prager

http://patriotpost.us/edition/2010/03/01/brief/

SOURCE: http://www.catholic.org/video/?v=3114

Gibbs Not Ready to Deny White House Offered Sestak Job …On the Spot

White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs is not ready to deny White House offered Rep. Joe Sestak a tax-funded job not to run against Sen. Arlen Specter.

Watch Video

“It is very imprudent to deprive America of any of her privileges. If her commerce and friendship are of any importance to you, they are to be had on no other terms than leaving her in the full enjoyment of her rights.”

–Benjamin Franklin, Political Observances

PELOSI, DEMOCRATS TWISTING ARMS FOR PRO-ABORTION HEALTH CARE “SUICIDE MISSION”  - Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Democrats are now in the process of trying to twist enough arms in the House and Senate to railroad the pro-abortion health care bill through Congress. The vote-gathering process is derided by some Republicans as a mission of political suicide because it is so unpopular.

VIDEO OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD HIDING SEXUAL ABUSE SENT TO WISCONSIN OFFICIALS - Milwaukee, WI (LifeNews.com) — The organization responsible for an undercover investigative video showing Wisconsin Planned Parenthood officials hiding a case of sexual abuse and urging violation of the state’s parental consent law has sent the full tape to state and local authorities.

40 DAYS FOR LIFE CAMPAIGN SEES 107 UNBORN BABIES SAVED FROM ABORTIONS - Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Whenever national 40 Days for Life director David Bereit talks about the number of unborn babies saved from abortions because of the campaign, he always adds, “that we know of.” That gives Bereit particular pleasure to announced that the latest campaign has spared 107 babies from abortion.

PRACTITIONER DENIES HE BOTCHED LEGAL ABORTION THAT KILLED HISPANIC WOMAN - Queens, NY (LifeNews.com) — A New Your City abortion practitioner is denying he did the botched abortion that killed a local Hispanic woman last month. The abortion was done at the A-1 Women’s Care abortion center located in Jackson Heights and, although abortion practitioner Salomon Epstein does abortions there he denies he did it.

BLACK PRO-LIFE LEADER DEFENDS CONGRESSMAN TRENT FRANKS ON ABORTION-SLAVERY REMARKS  - Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A prominent black pro-life leader is coming to the defense of Congressman Trent Franks of Arizona, who has been slammed over the last few days in the mainstream media and on Internet blogs for his comments saying that abortion has been worse for the African-American community than slavery.

CATHOLIC BISHOPS URGED TO TAKE COLLECTION FOR PRO-LIFE ABORTION AFTER ABORTION DUSTUP - Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — After a months-long dustup involving Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) grants to pro-abortion organizations, a pro-life group is urging the nations Catholic bishops to consider putting together a national day in January to take a collection at churches for pro-life activities.

CLOSURE OF PENNSYLVANIA CLINIC SHOWS NEED TO HOLD ABORTION CENTERS ACCOUNTABLE - by Denise M. Burke
These were the promises. But has it proven to be the reality? Has 37 years of legalized abortion eliminated these problems from our national consciousness? No, it has not and a case out of Pennsylvania last week aptly demonstrates that abortion clinics across the nation have become the true “back-alleys” of abortion mythology.

LET’S APPLAUD WHEN CATHOLIC BISHOPS DO THE RIGHT THING FOR PRO-LIFE VALUES - by Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer
Ought we rejoice in Lent? Well, Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon, has given us the absolute best reason to rejoice in a penitential season: he yanked the title “Catholic” from a hospital in his diocese that refuses actually to be Catholic. What a refreshing development in episcopal leadership.

….Obama must be restrained, or the beleaguered Constitution will be reduced to mere tissue paper….

By John Griffing, American Thinker, March 02, 2010

Many members of the GOP missed the bigger significance of last week’s Obama health care summit. In a manner unique in American history, a president claimed the authority to chair Congress, dictating items of legislation and belittling the democratic opposition. America separated from that system over two hundred years ago as tea plunged into Boston harbor. That’s not the way things are done in America. President Obama must be restrained, or the beleaguered Constitution will be reduced to mere tissue paper.

President Obama exceeds his constitutional authority on a near-weekly basis. Just two weeks ago, President Obama made the chilling declaration that if Congress refuses to act, he will simply rule by executive decree.

President Obama is given no authority under Article II of the U.S. Constitution to participate in legislation — only the power to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” The President holds the power to sign or to veto, and there ends his capacity for legislative input.

The practice of executive fiat, called the “unitary executive” during the Bush years,

In INS v. Chadha, the SCOTUS ruled that presidents of the United States may bypass Congress. This ruling necessarily ignores the clear and transparent language of Article I of the U.S. Constitution, which declares that “[a]ll legislative power herein granted shall be vested in a Congress.” This phrasing doesn’t rule out the possibility of delegation, but the provision in question leaves no room for the executive branch as co-legislator. Even so, presidents over the last ten to fifteen years have relied heavily on INS v. Chahda to justify a greater role for the presidency in making public policy

   By Walter E. Williams, , March 02, 2010

Bill Gates is the world’s richest person, but what kind of power does he have over you? Can he force your kid to go to a school you do not want him to attend? Can he deny you the right to braid hair in your home for a living? It turns out that a local politician, who might deny us the right to earn a living and dictates which school our kid attends, has far greater power over our lives than any rich person. Rich people can gain power over us, but to do so, they must get permission from our elected representatives at the federal, state or local levels. For example, I might wish to purchase sugar from a Caribbean producer, but America’s sugar lobby pays congressmen hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to impose sugar import tariffs and quotas, forcing me and every other American to purchase their more expensive sugar.

Politicians love pitting us against the rich. All by themselves, the rich have absolutely no power over us. To rip us off, they need the might of Congress to rig the economic game. It’s a slick political sleight-of-hand where politicians and their allies amongst the intellectuals, talking heads and the news media get us caught up in the politics of envy as part of their agenda for greater control over our lives.

The sugar lobby is just one example among thousands. Just ask yourself: Who were the major recipients of the billions of taxpayer bailout dollars, the so-called Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)? The top recipients of TARP handouts included companies such as Citibank, AIG, Goldman Sachs and General Motors. Their top management are paid tens of millions dollars to run companies that were on the verge of bankruptcy, were it not for billions of dollars in taxpayer money. Politicians preach the politics of envy whilst reaching into the ordinary man’s pockets, through the IRS, and handing it over to their favorite rich people and others who make large contributions to their election efforts.

The bottom line is that it is politicians first and their supporters amongst intellectuals who pose the greatest threat to liberty. Dr. Thomas Sowell amply demonstrates this in his brand-new book, “Intellectuals and Society,” in which he points out that: “Scarcely a mass-murdering dictator of the twentieth century was without his intellectual supporters, not simply in his own country, but also in foreign democracies … Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Hitler all had their admirers, defenders and apologists among the intelligentsia in Western democratic nations, despite the fact that these dictators each ended up killing people of their own country on a scale unprecedented even by despotic regimes that preceded them.”

While American politicians and intellectuals have not reached the depths of tyrants such as Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Hitler, they share a common vision. Tyrants denounce free markets and voluntary exchange. They are the chief supporters of reduced private property rights, reduced rights to profits, and they are anti-competition and pro-monopoly. They are pro-control and coercion, by the state. These Americans who run Washington, and their intellectual supporters, believe they have superior wisdom and greater intelligence than the masses. They believe they have been ordained to forcibly impose that wisdom on the rest of us. Like any other tyrant, they have what they consider good reasons for restricting the freedom of others. A tyrant’s primary agenda calls for the elimination or attenuation of the market. Why? Markets imply voluntary exchange and tyrants do trust that people behaving voluntarily will do what the tyrant thinks they should do. Therefore, they seek to replace the market with economic planning and regulation, which is little more than the forcible superseding of other people’s plans by the powerful elite.

We Americans have forgotten founder Thomas Paine’s warning that “Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.”

http://townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2010/
03/02/who_poses_the_greater_threat

     Dennis Prager, TownHall, March 02, 2010

There was something particularly annoying — even harmful to society — during the health care summit held last week between President Obama and leading members of the House and Senate.

It was the president’s calling all the congressmen and senators by their first names.

It is easy to appreciate just how demeaning this was of each House member and senator: Just imagine if any of them had called President Obama “Barack.”

However negative any conservatives deem this presidency, we would consider it scandalous if anyone publicly referred to this or any president by his first name. For America’s sake, I do not want the office of president or the president himself demeaned.

Likewise, for America’s sake, I do not want the office of representative or senator demeaned.

Yet that is exactly what Obama did. At perhaps one of the most widely watched dialogue between members of the United States Congress and a president in American history, Obama lowered the dignity of the men and women who serve in those capacities.

That this has largely gone unnoted — and, I presume, will be widely dismissed as trivial — is more a statement about the culture of our times than it is of the unwillingness of mainstream media to criticize this president.

Other presidents and members of Congress have on occasion publ Continue reading →

Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, March 01, 2010

Pelosi Makes Her Bed–and Lies in It

Doctors announced that President Obama passed his annual check-up–but the most important one may come in November. Whether voters still think he and his party are “fit for duty” on Election Day may depend on what happens in the next few weeks. Despite last week’s high stakes talk, the President is tossing aside the same bipartisanship he promoted on television to force his reforms through a reluctant Congress. According to White House advisors, all signs point to the reconciliation process, which would protect the bill from Republican opposition by calling for a simple majority vote.

 Right now, however, it’s unclear whether Democrats even have enough of their own party on board to succeed. A handful of key “ayes” have already promised to peel off the House majority if Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) moves forward with legislation that removes Rep. Bart Stupak’s (D-Mich.) outright ban on taxpayer-funded abortion. Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) told Congressional Quarterly on Thursday, “I will not vote for a health care bill that doesn’t have the House abortion language in it.” His Mississippi colleague, Rep. Gene Taylor (D), agreed. “It’s a fairly safe bet that if they include the Senate language on abortion, the legislation would go down.”

 Of course, Speaker Pelosi would have us believe that the President’s plan (a mildly modified version of the Senate bill) does erect a wall between taxpayers and the bloody business of abortion. During Friday’s press conference, there weren’t enough lie detectors in the greater metropolitan area to process all the whoppers. (PELOSI) “Let me say it this way, there’s three, three, I don’t want to say principles, but three standards that we are using as we go forward, and I talked to the Catholic Bishops about this and people on all sides of the choice issue… Federal law prevents federal funding of abortion. There is no federal funding of abortion in this bill. There’ll be no expansion or diminution of a woman’s right to choose… This bill that passed the Senate does not have federal funding of abortion.”

Not surprisingly, the Catholic Bishops have a different take on the conversation. In a counter-statement, the USCCB was flabbergasted. “We do not know how anyone who has spoken to the bishops could conclude that the Senate health care bill does not fund abortions. As bishops have said in their letters to Congress, abortion problems in the Senate bill are so serious that, despite our strong support for expanding access to health care, we will have to oppose the bill unless they are resolved.”

The Ends Justify the Ways and Means?

When she isn’t keeping the AP Fact Checkers busy, the Speaker of the House is trying to cover for her party’s ethical deficiencies. One day after the House ethics panel “admonished” Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) for taking vacations on the corporate dime, Pelosi defended him in the press. While other Democrats called for him to step down from his powerful post as the head of the Ways and Means Committee, Pelosi said the twenty-term congressman should stay put. For a woman so bent on taking out then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) for similar deeds, her tune has radically changed in six years. This weekend, she shrugged off the charges, telling ABC, “It was not something that jeopardized our country in any way.”

 It may not have jeopardized the country, but it would be naive to think it hasn’t jeopardized her party. Tagged with an unpopular health care bill and now a culture of corruption, the Speaker would have been wise to heed at least one campaign promise–to lead “the most ethical Congress in history.” Among other things, the House is investigating Rep. Rangel’s improper leasing of four rent-controlled apartments, his failure to report rental income from a vacation property, and the decision to redirect contributions to a personal project. In 2006, Nancy Pelosi said she would “drain the swamp” of Washington corruption, but so far the only thing her party has drained is American confidence in the legislative system. Please sign our petition to Speaker Pelosi asking for Rep. Rangel to step down from his powerful chairmanship.

http://www.frc.org/ 

“We now have a new metric.”

Father Andrew Mulcahey, LC - Matthew 23: 1-12

Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses´ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father– the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Introductory Prayer: Lord, though I cannot see you with my eyes, I believe you are present to me now, in my innermost being, and that you know me far better than I know myself. I also know that you love me much more than I love my own self. Thank you for loving and watching over me, though I don’t deserve your love. In return, I offer you my sorrow for my sins and my hopes to love you more each day.

Petition: Lord, help me to be humble like you.

1. Disinterested Charity How do we know that we are truly working for God? When we are willing to work for him for nothing. God calls some missionaries to work with the poor, who can repay their benefactors with nothing more than smiles and gratitude. Other missionaries work with the humanly and spiritually poor, who neither recognize their neediness nor value the work of Christian evangelization. Parents put in long, hidden hours of service to sustain their families, often without receiving a simple “thank you.” Christ shunned human recognition not just with his words: when the people wanted to make him king, he hurried off to proclaim the Good News somewhere else. Do I value my charity towards others more than I value any position of authority? Do I seek the praise of others for the good deeds I do?

2. Little Misunderstandings Christian authority comes not from titles or positions, but from our faithful adherence to Christ’s commandment of charity and service. We should welcome misunderstanding in the face of our doing good. It means that God is inviting us to attain a higher level in our charity and Christian leadership. With his fidelity, Christ shows us that we have every reason to believe in the fulfillment of God’s promise. The book of Wisdom shows us that misunderstanding is part of God’s plan: “He calls blest the destiny of the just and boasts that God is his Father. Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him. For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes. With revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience. Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him” (Wisdom 2: 16-20).

3. The Cross is Our Claim to Glory “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself” (John 12:32). Christ did not lift himself up for others to notice; he refused to exalt himself. He refused the places of honor at banquets (he sat with the tax collectors), seats of honor in synagogues (they threw him out), and special greetings in marketplaces (“Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone” (Mark 10:18)). His silence infuriated Pilate: “Do you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you?” (John 19:10). They asked Christ to exalt himself by coming down from the cross, and he refused. This is the real test of our trust and love: trusting that God really cares for us when he allows us to be crucified for being faithful, and loving that crucifixion by embracing it willingly for the good of souls.

Conversation with Christ: Dear Jesus, I know I will never be able to be as humble as you, but I want to desire and work for the greatest degree of humility possible for me. I want to leave behind the pride that has damaged so many areas of my life. I want to have your example always fresh in my mind so that I can keep advancing—not in order to glory in my own perfection, but in order to please you and do your will.

Resolution: I will think of the relationship in my life where my pride is most destructive. I will take concrete steps to deal with that person more positively and humbly. http://meditation.regnumchristi.org/