QUESTION OF THE YEAR! When Will (Pelosi’s) Bishop Act to End These Scandals to the Faithful?
Published July 19, 2010 | 
California Catholic, July 19, 2010
‘Rock-star treatment’
‘Ardent Practicing Catholic’ Nancy Pelosi Feted by Planned Parenthood
(Editor’s Note: In addition to the latest news on Speaker Pelosi, this story contains a brief history of Pelosi’s many run-ins with Catholic bishops over the conflict between her self-avowed faith and her political activities. One question left unanswered: When will her bishop act to end these scandals to the faithful?)
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, has been given a “Champion of Women’s Health Award” by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, though she persists to this day in describing herself as a devout Catholic who frequently receives the Blessed Sacrament.
The Capitol Hill news site Politico.com described the July 15 event this way: “At an event hosted by Planned Parenthood on Capitol Hill, Pelosi received rock-star treatment from 300 energetic high-school and college-student volunteers clad in hot-pink T-shirts and flip flops. The students came to Washington from around the country to lobby lawmakers on the implementation of the health-care reform bill.”
According to a Planned Parenthood Federation of America news release issued the day of the award, “As the first female Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi was instrumental in the passage of the historic health care reform legislation. During the health care reform debate she led her female colleagues in Congress as they stood strong against attempts to insert the Stupak abortion ban into the bill. Against tremendous odds, she delivered the necessary 219 votes to send the bill to President Obama’s desk.”
Also honored by Planned Parenthood were U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-CT, and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-MI. “With their steadfast commitment to passing health care reform and making sure that women will be able to get the health care they need, the women leaders we honor today set the course to change the lives of millions of women for generations to come,” said PPFA president Cecile Richards in a prepared statement.
Accepting an award from – and speaking to – a meeting of the nation’s largest abortion provider is just the latest in a long series of actions by Pelosi that puts her at odds with the Church she claims as her own. As recently as April 29, Pelosi “was the star of the show” at an anniversary luncheon celebrating the founding of the pro-abortion political action committee EMILY’s List.
In a Dec. 21, 2009 interview with Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift, Pelosi admitted that she had been personally counseled by San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer about her views on abortion and other moral issues, but said she has no intentions of changing her opinions, regardless of the archbishop’s advice.
“I have some concerns about the church’s position respecting a woman’s right to choose,” Pelosi told Clift in the interview. “I have some concerns about the church’s position on gay rights. I am a practicing Catholic, although they’re probably not too happy about that. But it is my faith. I practically mourn this difference of opinion because I feel what I was raised to believe is consistent with what I profess, and that is that we are all endowed with a free will and a responsibility to answer for our actions. And that women should have that opportunity to exercise their free will.”
Pelosi’s Newsweek interview was more than Archbishop Niederauer could take, prompting him to reply in a column published in the archdiocesan newspaper Catholic San Francisco, and posted to the archdiocesan website. The archbishop characterized Pelosi’s views on “free will and responsibility” as embodying “some fundamental misconceptions about Catholic teaching on human freedom. These misconceptions are widespread both within the Catholic community and beyond. For this reason I believe it is important for me as Archbishop of San Francisco to make clear what the Catholic Church teaches about free will, conscience, and moral choice.” 
After a lengthy explanation of Catholic teaching on free will and individual moral responsibility, Archbishop Niederauer concluded, “While we deeply respect the freedom of our fellow citizens, we nevertheless are profoundly convinced that free will cannot be cited as justification for society to allow moral choices that strike at the most fundamental rights of others. Such a choice is abortion, which constitutes the taking of innocent human life, and cannot be justified by any Catholic notion of freedom.” Continue reading
What about that ‘Executive Order?’ Abortion in Three States with Federal Money?
Published July 19, 2010 | Blood Money Held Hostage by Pro-Life Pressure
Then candidate Barack Obama with Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards. Planned Parenthood was a strong supporter of the candidate and is a strong ally of the President now. Both pro-aborts and pro-lifers have known all along: Obamacare funds abortions and the Executive Order will not prevent it.
It’s been quite a week for the abortion industry. First Pennsylvania, then New Mexico and Maryland; all three states released the details of their high-risk insurance pool, aka Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) - and lo and behold, these federally-funded PCIP’s were all found to cover abortions. Did vigilant Pro-Life Citizens prevent further advance of the Culture of death?WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) – It’s been quite a week for the abortion industry and their chosen President.
First Pennsylvania, then New Mexico and Maryland; all three states released the details of their high-risk insurance pool, aka Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) - and lo and behold, these federally-funded PCIP’s were all found to cover abortions.
Under Obama’s health care plan, each state will have its own PCIP to give temporary health coverage to those who can’t presently get health insurance because of a pre-existing condition. The states can either create their own PCIP or allow the Department of Health and Human Services to run their program directly. Kathleen Sebelius has emphasized that each state’s program will be “funded entirely by the federal government.” $5 billion dollars is marked for this purpose.
Pennsylvania is one of 29 states who decided to write their own PCIP. DHHS approved PA’s plan and the state is set to receive $160 million dollars. Once the details of the plan were examined, however, it quickly became clear that PA’s program would include abortion coverage for any reason except sex-selection.
But weren’t we assured repeatedly by Obama and Pelosi and Reid and Biden and Stupak that something like this couldn’t and wouldn’t happen? What about the Executive Order that promised not one dime of taxpayer dollars would be spent on abortion coverage?
As it turns out, the Executive Order only mentions restricting the use of federal dollars for abortion in health insurance exchanges and community health centers; it says nothing about PCIP’s. The abortion lobby was well aware of this hidden loophole in the health care bill, which is why they so aggressively opposed the Stupak Amendment, because it would have plugged the hole by specifically preventing funds from covering abortion in any plans created by the bill, including the high-risk pool.
Remember, after President Obama signed his worthless Executive Order, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards herself called the order merely a “symbolic gesture” and praised the bill for providing women the “reproductive care” they need. She wasn’t worried about getting her funds because she knew the money was coming, no matter what assurances were made to the pro-life community.
Well, once the
National Right to Life Committee discovered the “loophole” in the law and exposed PA’s abortion coverage and the Obama administration’s duplicity, things got hairy. DHHS quickly backpedaled and issued a revised statement regarding the rules for the PCIP’s in every state, saying that they will actually be required to follow all federal laws. It was a tacit admission of the reality every pro-life group as well as the Catholic bishops have been saying all along: Obamacare funds abortion.The proof is in the
reaction of the pro-aborts – they’re boiling mad and feeling betrayed. Cecile Richards expressed her deep disappointment at the administration’s decision to “unnecessarily and voluntarily” impose limits on abortion funding. NARAL sent out an email saying they are “outraged that such a decision could come from a pro-choice president we helped elect,” and asking people to contact the White House and “tell President Obama that this new policy is unacceptable…” and to ask him to “remove the abortion-coverage ban immediately.” (So, wait… you mean there really wasn’t an abortion-coverage ban to begin with?!)The National Women’s Law Center sent a similar message to its email list, saying the Administration has in effect applied the Stupak Amendment to the PCIP’s and now “vulnerable women” will not get the abortion coverage they need. They vowed they “will not rest until the restrictions on abortion coverage are fixed.” NARAL, Planned Parenthood, the NWLC, and every pro-abort in the country knew that the promise of no abortion coverage in the health care bill was a lie. They knew the Executive Order wouldn’t really stop the money from flowing into their bloody coffers. They were satisfied and content – until this week.
Now the gig is up. Now this back door is being closed.
But it wasn’t just Pennsylvania. New Mexico and Maryland were also found to have PCIP’s that would cover abortions. Now all three states have had to revise their plans and cancel their abortion coverage since the cat’s been dragged out of the bag. How many other states have similar PCIP’s? Each state’s plan will have to be carefully examined for these kinds of hidden loopholes that will allow federally-funded abortions unless exposed and corrected.
Sadly, the outrage over this revelation that federal funds were indeed going to be used for abortions has been one-sided.
Democrats for Life and Bart Stupak both came out and said the ruckus was just more mischaracterization on the part of Republicans and other pro-life groups. Stupak once again accused some right-to-life groups of politicizing the life issue in order to undermine health care reform. Kristen Day from Democrats for Life defended the Obama Administration, basically saying they fixed the loophole problem once they became aware of it, and now everything should be just fine.Stupak and Democrats for Life stubbornly continue to deny what both the pro-aborts and every pro-life warrior in the country has understood all along: under Obamacare, federal funds
will find their way to abortionists all over the country and the Executive Order does not prevent it. The Stupak Amendment would have. If only…But now that the bloody truth is out, President Obama will have no choice but to either make sure a Hyde-like policy is applied to each state’s PCIP and every other program that comes along in the future, or go back on his word and shred his own Executive Order and just admit he wants all of us to pay for nationwide baby-killing.
So if the blood money is being held hostage, will he – can he – get re-elected without the abortion lobby’s help? Will he – can he – get re-elected if he ignores his own EO and shows himself to be a liar? Guess we’re gonna find out.
—–
Jennifer Hartline is a grateful Catholic, a proud Army wife and mother of four precious children (one in Heaven). She is a contributing writer for Catholic Online. She is also a serious chocoholic. Visit her at
My Chocolate Heart.
http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=37423
Matthew Spalding–Reclaiming America: Why We Honor the Tea Party Movement
Published July 19, 2010 | ….“Well, what was it then that made you go out and fight the British?” the historian asked. “Young man, what we meant in going after those Redcoats was simple. You see, we had always governed ourselves, we always intended to govern ourselves, and they didn’t mean that we should.”….
By Matthew Spalding, Ph.D., Heritage Foundation, July 15, 2010
The period of history we know as the American Founding, stretching from 1763 to 1776 to 1787, is made up of a series of turning points, crucial moments like Lexington and Concord. After 1763, you recall, the British looked to the American colonies as sources of revenue and began taxing them, claiming that they had the authority to rule them in “all cases whatsoever.” And these colonists were forced to think through things they hadn’t thought about for some time, much as we are today.
At first reluctantly, and then increasingly with fervor and determination, they began to object and to resist. In hopes of pacifying the colonists, the British actually got rid of most of the taxes, except for one: a tax on tea. For those colonists, though, it wasn’t the amount that was the issue; it was the principle, because it violated the right not to be taxed without representation.
In the fall of 1773, seven ships had been sent to the colonies loaded with tea, and they showed up at four port cities. We always think of one Boston Tea Party, but tea ships showed up at New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston as well as Boston. In every case, there was protest and resistance. On December 16, the first Tea Party rally in American history, seven thousand people showed up at the Old South Meeting House, and that night some hundred or so individuals—not very well disguised as Indians—boarded three ships in Boston Harbor and threw 342 crates of tea overboard. John Adams called it “the grandest event which has ever yet happened since the controversy with Britain opened.”
For 200 years or so, America’s principles of liberty and equality, of consent, of religious liberty and private property, of the rule of law and constitutionalism have been under attack in the name of history and science and relativism, in favor of evolving truths, living constitutions, and bureaucratic government, through the Progressive Movement and the New Deal, the Great Society, and now into the age of Obama. Everyone in this room stands against that transformation. Many have fought for the truths of the American Founding for some time, following in the footsteps of statesmen and conservative heroes.
There have been many victories, defeats, successes, and setbacks. The left has always maintained that this progressive state they’ve created is inevitable and permanent. Many reveled in that fact. Unfortunately, many also accepted that argument.
But a funny thing has happened on the road to the latest iteration of progressive liberalism. An over-promising campaign gave rise to an overreaching agenda, and American citizens—many never before engaged in politics—began to protest and challenge elected officials, attending town hall meetings and then rallies, armed only with handmade signs, pocket Constitutions, and Gadsden flags.
Is it possible that the American people are waking up to the progressive assault on their liberty? Perhaps the question of modern ever-expanding government, and its permanent inevitability, has not yet been settled—at least not in the minds of the American people?
The debate between America’s Founders and the modern progressive paradigm of government, a debate that usually occurs only here and there in academic conferences and think tanks, has now been engaged in the public square, perhaps as never before in our lifetimes.
The Salvatori Prize for American Citizenship is given annually to American citizens who uphold America’s principles, embody the virtues of character and mind that animated America’s Founders, and emphasize the spirit of independence and entrepreneurial citizenship in the U.S.
In just over one year, the growing nationwide effort of American citizens called the Tea Party Movement has changed the landscape of American politics. In its civil protests and spirited opposition to the direction of American politics, these citizen patriots—many of whom were never before involved in political activity—reflect the civic virtues of popular participation, public discourse, and open dissent that are the very hallmarks of American self-government.
Behind their activities and motivating their efforts is not a single issue or partisan agenda but a deepening commitment and advocacy of the truths of the Declaration of Independence and the basic principles of the United States Constitution. Because of the significance of this effort, bringing America’s first principles to the fore of the public debate, motivating millions of their fellow Americans to get involved in the effort to revive those principles and to reorient our politics toward them, the 2010 Henry Salvatori Prize for American Citizenship is awarded to the Tea Party Movement and thereby honors all those American citizens nationwide who are now newly committed to renewing American liberty.
After the first Tea Party in 1773, the British Parliament passed what were called the Intolerable Acts to force submission to their rule. One year later, after the first Tea Party, came Lexington and Concord. The intolerable act today is called Obamacare—a massive bureaucratic expansion of government over one-sixth of the American economy and many aspects of our lives and medical decisions. But there is a key difference that I would like to emphasize: Those early patriots had to establish their independence and to start anew. Our task is different. It is not about fixed bayonets but fixed principles; not about bullets but ballots. Our task is not to overthrow; it is not revolution; it is renewal and restoration of those self-evident truths of constitutional government at the heart of America.
This is a teaching moment, and we must all redouble our efforts in this cause, deepening the sentiments of the day to be a truly constitutional moment. This is why the Salvatori Prize of $25,000 will be used to meet the tremendous demand for educational materials we continue to receive from the Tea Party organizations nationwide, funding the expanded distribution of pocket Constitutions and other materials, and providing First Principles kits of monographs and books like The Heritage Guide to the Constitution to Tea Party leaders across the country.
Let me close with a story, one that I discovered in writing my new book. It is about Levi Preston, who was a young man who fought at the Battle of Concord. He was asked years later by a historian why he went out to fight that day against the best-trained and best-armed military force in the world. Was it the intolerable oppressions of the British? The Stamp Act? “No.” What about the tax on tea? “I didn’t drink tea,” he said. “The boys threw it overboard.” It must have been all your reading of all those books like Herrington and Sidney and Locke. “Never heard of them,” he said. “I only read the Bible, the catechism, and the Almanac.”
“Well, what was it then that made you go out and fight the British?” the historian asked. “Young man, what we meant in going after those Redcoats was simple. You see, we had always governed ourselves, we always intended to govern ourselves, and they didn’t mean that we should.”
I believe that we are at a turning point in our history. It is not clear what will happen. We will either go the way of every other republic in world history, or we will regain our footing and reset our compass.
Because of the strength of our movement and because of the stirring of America’s citizens and the unending call of liberty, I am confident that we are going to make the right choice. Someday in the future, some historian will ask some individual, perhaps one of you, “Why did you get involved in the Tea Parties? Was it the spending? Was it the bailouts? Was it health care? “No,” they will answer. It was very simple. We had always governed ourselves, we always intended to govern ourselves, and those liberals didn’t think that we should.”
Matthew Spalding, Ph.D., is Director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation and the author of We Still Hold These Truths: Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future. He delivered these remarks at a meeting of The Heritage Foundation Resource Bank on April 22, 2010.
Mothers Against The Madness
Published July 19, 2010 | 
AMERICA OFF BALANCE! Reality Gap: U.S. Struggles, D.C. Booms
Published July 19, 2010 | America is struggling with a sputtering economy and high unemployment — but times are booming for Washington’s governing class.
The massive expansion of government under President Barack Obama has basically guaranteed a robust job market for policy professionals, regulators and contractors for years to come. The housing market, boosted by the large number of high-income earners in the area, many working in politics and government, is easily outpacing the markets in most of the country. And there are few signs of economic distress in hotels, restaurants or stores in the D.C. metro area.
As a result, there is a yawning gap between the American people and D.C.’s powerful when it comes to their economic reality — and their economic perceptions……..
Thank You, President Obama
Published July 19, 2010 | “Barack Obama is the best community organizer of conservatives since Ronald Reagan.”
By Brian Darling, Human Events, July 18, 2010
Thank You, President Obama (Part II)
On September 21 of last year, in an article titled “Thank You, President Obama,” I wrote: “I love President Barack Obama. No kidding. I love the guy. Barack Obama is the best community organizer of conservatives since Ronald Reagan.”
It’s time to amplify that point. In 2010 President Obama has done even more to unify Democrats, Republicans and Independents into a coalition against his policies. The Tea Party movement should thank you, Mr. President and all the rest of us conservatives, thank you for your excellent work. We could not have done this without you.
Dr. Donald Berwick
Obama has doubled down on his unpopular Obamacare. The President ducked Senate confirmation and instead used a recess appointment to make Dr. Donald Berwick administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Berwick will be responsible for implementing portions of Obamacare. CMS has an annual budget of some $800 billion and is responsible for the heathcare of 100 million Americans.
Conservatives are angry that the President used his extraordinary power to avoid a public hearing, which would have generated testimony from Dr. Berwick and may have exposed him as being too extreme to run CMS.
Berwick’s public statements often raise eyebrows. Regarding end-of-life care, he told the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2002 that “most people who have serious pain do not need advanced methods, they just need the morphine and counseling that have been available for centuries.” This troubling statement doesn’t give much confidence to seniors that, as a bureaucrat, Berwick will care about costly end-of-life treatment when rationing Obamacare’s “benefits.”
The doctor also professed his love for Britain’s Socialist healthcare system and favors a single-payer government-run system for Americans. He wrote in 1996 that “I admit to my own devotion to a single-payer mechanism as the only sensible approach to healthcare finance that I can think of.” President Obama avoided a public hearing for Dr. Berwick when he used the special appointment power used by President Bush and objected to by Senate Democrats at the time.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was so outraged that he objected to the consideration of two judicial appointments and announced on the Senate floor last week:
“This position was vacant for the first 16 months of the Obama Administration and hasn’t had a confirmed administrator since 2006 since my friends on the other side of the aisle were blocking the Bush Administration nominee. Democrats didn’t schedule so much as a committee hearing for Donald Berwick. The mere possibility of allowing the American people the opportunity to hear what he intends to do with their healthcare was evidently reason enough for this administration to sneak him through without public scrutiny.”
Conservatives are outraged and want to see Dr. Berwick come to the Senate to explain his views before he commences work at the CMS.
Racist Bill for Native Hawaiians
Sen. Daniel Inouye (D.-Hawaii) is working feverishly to pass a bill, sponsored by Sen. Daniel Akaka (D.-Hawaii) that would set up a race-based government for Native Hawaiians. The legislation, (S. 1011), has passed the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and is sitting on the Senate calendar. This bill would set up a separate government entity to govern the “indigenous, native people of Hawaii.” Prior attempts by the proponents of a race-based government for Native Hawaiians have been struck down by the Supreme Court and many conservatives believe that this bill is yet another unconstitutional separation of races in the United States.
Hill sources tell HUMAN EVENTS that Sen. Daniel Inouye is actively courting the four women Republican senators to get their support for the highly controversial, race-based, Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2009 (a.k.a. the “Akaka Bill”). For Inouye and Akaka, it’s ‘do or die’ time. They have to pass this bill before the August recess, or it really dies and becomes their albatross. Conservatives worry that Inouye will use his power as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee to hide this bill in one of the appropriations measures scheduled for approval this fall.
The President’s actions in pushing an extremist to run Obamacare and letting his congressional allies press to create race-based government for native Hawaiians is further evidence that President Obama does not get it. This President has been tone-deaf to the needs of the American people and his actions may soon lead to his being considered, effectively, a lame-duck President who is steering the Democratic Party to political disaster this fall.
Brian Darling is director of U.S. Senate Relations at The Heritage Foundation.
Purification of Church from ‘serious sins’ a long process, says Fr. Lombardi
Published July 19, 2010 | Catholic News Agency, July 17, 2010
Vatican City (CNA) – Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said Saturday that the new norms on sexual abuse are an “important step,” but, he warned, law “is not everything” in the battle against serious sins. He observed that the Church’s path to a “purer and more evangelical witness” will not be short.
Fr. Lombardi reflected on the effects of the updates to Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) norms concerning the “most serious” sins on his weekly Vatican Television editorial “Octava dies.” The details of the updates were released during a press briefing he gave on Thursday with CDF promoter of justice, Msgr. Charles Scicluna.
In his editorial, the Vatican spokesman said that with the publication of the norms, “the Church has taken an important step in addressing the question (of sexual abuse) with responses that will be lasting and have a profound impact.
“Clear and well-known laws are an essential guide for any large community, such as the Catholic Church, which must have its own common rules.” These rules remain autonomous from those of the many countries in which it exists, he explained, adding that “the just civil laws must obviously be respected and put into practice by men of the Church, as by every citizen, also for the crimes of abuse.”
Highlighting some of the standout elements of the quite extensive updates to canonical procedures, he said that the modifications enable “faster and more effective” trials and greater assistance due to the presence of lay experts on ecclesiastical tribunals. They also increase the statute of limitations and officially consider abusing those with “a limited use of reason” and the possession of pedophile pornography as among the gravest of sins, he outlined.
But, while “law is necessary” to combating sexual abuses within the Church, “it is not everything,” Fr. Lombardi pointed out.
Change must come about through “commitment to education, the formation of clergy and staff who work in institutions linked to the Church, information and prevention, dialogue with and personal care for the victims,” he said, noting that it is a “huge area in which the Church has mobilized itself, as urged for by the Pope, in many countries.
“For its part, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith continues to work to give aid to local bishops in formulating coherent and effective guidelines,” Fr. Lombardi underscored. “The new law is important, but we know well that our commitment to a purer and more evangelical witness must be a long road.”
Michael Voris: Catholic Inferiority Complex
Published July 19, 2010 | The late Fr. Vincent Miceli gives advice for this time in the Church
To view online: http://www.realcatholictv.com/free/index.php?vidID=vort-2010-07-16
This program is from RealCatholicTV.com
US gives $23 million to push new Kenyan constitution, charges Rep. Smith
Published July 19, 2010 | Catholic News Agency, July 17, 2010
Washington D.C. (CNA).- Despite the U.S. Embassy to Kenya’s claim that the U.S. government is neutral in the Kenyan constitutional referendum, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) charged that the United States has given over $23 million to push the new legislation.
The proposed constitution has faced criticism for creating a more permissive abortion law and for recognizing Muslim courts.
On July 12, the U.S. Embassy to Kenya argued in a statement that “some leaders” are being divisive and spreading “categorically” false claims that the U.S. Embassy is “providing funding to Members of Parliament to support the ‘yes’ campaign.”
Although the embassy denied the U.S. is funding Members of Parliament, Congressman Smith stated that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been supporting non-government groups specifically to encourage votes for the proposed constitution.
“There is no doubt that the Obama Administration is funding the ‘yes’ campaign in Kenya,” Rep. Smith commented in July 14 statement, charging that the administration has “crossed the line.”
“Directly supporting efforts to register ‘yes’ voters and ‘get out the yes vote’ means the U.S. government is running a political campaign in Kenya,” the congressman continued. “U.S. taxpayer funds should not be used to support one side or the other.”
Rep. Smith further claimed on July 16 that Donald Gambatesa, Inspector General (IG) for USAID, provided information showing that the US Government is spending over $23 million for activities in Kenya to influence the voter approval on the new constitution. The Representative said that changes within the new document include overturning Kenyan’s current life of the mother only restriction on abortion.
As a Ranking Member of the Africa and Global Health Subcommittee, Rep. Smith and U.S. lawmakers recently received a chart listing recipients of USAID-funded activities related to the proposed constitution and a summary of their agreements.
Although previous estimates indicated that $2 million was being spent – later updated to $11 million – the congressman reported that the figure identified by the IG’s office now exceeds $23 million.
“The Obama Administration should not be spending $23 million in American tax dollars on the specific “Yes” campaign, pushing a determined outcome on the proposed constitution in Kenya,” Rep. Smith said. “The U.S. government can be supportive of the process, helping to secure a free and fair referendum. But we must respect the Kenyan people and let them decide for themselves. U.S. dollars should not be used to tell the Kenyan people how to vote.” Continue reading
Founder’s Quote Daily
Published July 19, 2010 | 
“The great leading objects of the federal government, in which revenue is concerned, are to maintain domestic peace, and provide for the common defense. In these are comprehended the regulation of commerce that is, the whole system of foreign intercourse; the support of armies and navies, and of the civil administration.”
—Alexander Hamilton, remarks to the New York Ratifying Convention, 1788
GOSPEL & MEDITATION: “They Love Me… They Love Me Not…”
Published July 19, 2010 | July 19, 2010
Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Father Patrick Murphy, LC
Matthew 12:38-42
Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” He said to them in reply, “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here. At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here.”
Introductory Prayer: Lord, my prayer will “work” only if I have humility in your presence. So I am approaching you with meekness and humility of heart. I have an infinite need for you and your grace. Thinking about this helps me grow in humility. I trust in you and your grace. Thank you for the unfathomable gift of your love.
Petition: Lord, let me love the way you love – with self-giving generosity.
1. The Hurdle of Pride “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” The relationship of the scribes and Pharisees with Jesus is uni-directional. They demand that he perform a sign if he wishes to be found worthy of their esteem, but they have closed their hearts to any possible openness toward him in advance. Pride makes impossible demands on others and will not be satisfied until these impossible demands are met! Thus pride is never satisfied. It is the cause of division, resentment and bitterness in relationships. Rather than make demands on Christ, we need to make demands on ourselves. We need to make demands that we grow in humility, selflessness and authentic love in imitation of the Lord.
2. To Love or Not to Love Pope Benedict XVI teaches us about self-giving love in his encyclical letter, Deus Caritas Est. Commenting on the Song of Songs, he writes: “The poems contained in this book were originally love-songs, perhaps intended for a Jewish wedding feast and meant to exalt conjugal love. In this context it is highly instructive to note that in the course of the book two different Hebrew words are used to indicate ‘love.’ First there is the word dodim, a plural form suggesting a love that is still insecure, indeterminate and searching. This comes to be replaced by the word ahabà. By contrast with an indeterminate, ‘searching’ love, this word expresses the experience of a love which involves a real discovery of the other, moving beyond the selfish character that prevailed earlier. Love now becomes concern and care for the other. No longer is it self-seeking, a sinking in the intoxication of happiness; instead it seeks the good of the beloved, it becomes renunciation and it is ready, and even willing, for sacrifice” (no. 6).
3. Nineveh and Love Jesus tells us that at the Judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with the generation of people surrounding him and condemn it. The reason is that the contemporaries of Jonah repented at his preaching. True self-giving love begins with repentance. When I repent I acknowledge the person of God who is worthy of all my love. I feel remorse for having loved him so little or for having offended him who is all love. Love-filled remorse implies a bending of my will affectionately toward the other. This is a form a self-giving love that we can all achieve at any moment of our lives.
Conversation with Christ: Lord, I love you. I want to strengthen the habit of self-giving love within me. Presently my love is weak and short-lived. I can always practice loving sorrow for having offended you. Lord, grant me the grace of practicing contrition of heart throughout the day.
Resolution: Today I will practice contrition in order to grow in effective love.
http://www.regnumchristi.org/english/articulos/articulo.phtml?se=363&ca=975&te=735&id=20302
TODAY’S SAINT: ST. ARSENIUS
Published July 19, 2010 | CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY, JULY 19, 2010
Coming one day to see his children at their studies, Theodosius found them sitting while Arsenius talked to them standing. This he would not tolerate, and caused the teacher to sit and the pupils to stand. On his arrival at court Arsenius had been given a splendid establishment, and probably because the Emperor so desired, he lived in great pomp, but all the time felt a growing inclination to renounce the world. After praying long to be enlightened as to what he should do, he heard a voice saying “Arsenius, flee the company of men, and thou shalt be saved.” Thereupon he embarked secretly for Alexandria, and hastening to the desert of Scetis, asked to be admitted among the solitaries who dwelt there. St. John the Dwarf, to whose cell he was conducted, though previously warned of the quality of his visitor, took no notice of him and left him standing by himself while he invited the rest to sit down at table. When the repast was half finished he threw down some bread before him, bidding him with an air of indifference eat if he would. Arsenius meekly picked up the bread and ate, sitting on the ground. Satisfied with this proof of humility, St. John kept him under his direction. The new solitary was from the first most exemplary yet unwittingly retained certain of his old habits, such as sitting cross-legged or laying one foot over the other. Noticing this, the abbot requested some one to imitate Arsenius’s posture at the next gathering of the brethren, and upon his doing so, forthwith rebuked him publicly. Arsenius took the hint and corrected himself. During the fifty-five years of his solitary life he was always the most meanly clad of all, thus punishing himself for his former seeming vanity in the world. In like manner, to atone for having used perfumes at court, he never changed the water in which he moistened the palm leaves of which he made mats, but only poured in fresh water upon it as it wasted, thus letting it become stenchy in the extreme. Even while engaged in manual labour he never relaxed in his application to prayer. At all times copious tears of devotion fell from his eyes. But what distinguished him most was his disinclination to all that might interrupt his union with God. When, after long search, his place of retreat was discovered, he not only refused to return to court and act as adviser to his former pupil the Emperor Arcadius, but he would not even be his almoner to the poor and the monasteries of the neighbourhood. He invariably denied himself to visitors, no matter what their rank and condition and left to his disciples the care of entertaining them. His contemporaries so admired him as to surname him “the Great”.
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Where are Niederauer & Wuerl?
San Francisco Archbishop Niederauer
Washington Archbishop Wuerl
I know this is a rhetorical question.
The open, prima facie, nature of the apostasy on the part of some “Catholic” politicians seems to increase daily.
Cecile Richards, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Youth Initiatives Director Charlie Cook pose with young summit attendees.
Planned Parenthood’s Champions of Women’s Health Awards
— Report and photographs by Christina Wilkie
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was honored on Thursday by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), who celebrated the Speaker with one of two annual Champions of Women’s Health Awards.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) was also recognized for her longtime advocacy on behalf of women’s reproductive rights.
The Rayburn reception room was filled with participants in the annual Planned Parenthood Youth Initiative summit, and their pink t-shirts drenched the room in color.
Adding to the warm, sisterly feeling of the event was PPFA president Cecile Richards, daughter of late Texas Gov. Ann Richards (D). Cecile Richards had formerly served as deputy chief of staff to Speaker Pelosi during Pelosi’s years as Minority Whip, and the personal bond between the two women was palpable.
Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.) added comic relief to the formal presentation portion of the evening, introducing Speaker Pelosi and joking about how she was proud to be one of “Nancy’s girls.” As Pelosi took the stage, Moore even blew her a kiss.”
SOURCE: http://washingtonscene.thehill.com/party-events-pictures/archive/5115-planned-parenthoods-champions-of-womens-health-awards
OR: http://romancatholicblog.typepad.com/roman_catholic_blog/2010/07/where-are-niederauer-wuerl.html