Tea Parties – Same Song, Second Verse
Published July 23, 2010 | 
…Citizens are angry about the current direction of government. As John Zubly, a member of the Continental Congress in 1775, reminded the British: “My Lord, the Americans are no idiots, and they appear determined not to be slaves. Oppression will make wise men mad.”….
David Barton, WallBuilders, July, 2010
America’s first Tea Party in 1773 was not an act of wanton lawlessness but rather a deliberate protest against heavy-handed government and excessive taxation. 1 Its leaders took great care to ensure that nothing but tea was thrown overboard – no other items were damaged. The “Indians” even swept the decks of the ships before they left. 2
Tea Parties occurred not only in Boston but also in numerous other locales. 3 And those who participated were just ordinary citizens expressing their frustration over a government that had refused to listen to them for almost a decade. Their reasonable requests had fallen on deaf ears. Of course, the out-of-touch British claimed that the Tea Parties were lawless and violent, 4 but such was not the case.
Interestingly, in many ways, today’s Tea Parties parallel those of long ago. But rather than protesting a tax on tea, today they are protesting dozens of taxes represented by what they call the Porkulus/Generational Theft Act of 2009 (officially called the “American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act”). For Tea Party members (and for most Americans), that act and the way it was passed epitomizes a broken system whose arrogant leaders often scorn the concerns of the citizens they purport to represent.
Tea Party folks agree with the economic logic of our Founders.
- “To contract new debts is not the way to pay off old ones.” 5 “Avoid occasions of expense…and avoid likewise the accumulation of debt not only by shunning occasions of expense but by vigorous exertions…to discharge the debts.” 6 GEORGE WASHINGTON
- “Nothing can more [affect] national credit and prosperity than a constant and systematic attention to…extinguish the present debt and to avoid as much as possible the incurring of any new debt.” 7 ALEXANDER HAMILTON
- “The maxim of buying nothing but what we have money in our pockets to pay for lays the broadest foundation for happiness.” 8 “The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.” 9 THOMAS JEFFERSON
These are not radical positions – nor are the others set forth in the Tea Party platform – that Congress should:
(1) provide the constitutional basis for the bills it passes;
(2) reduce intrusive government regulations;
(3) balance the budget;
(4) limit the increase of government spending to the rate of population growth
(5) and eliminate earmarks unless approved by 2/3rds of Congress.
10 Are these positions dangerous or extreme? Certainly not. In fact, polling shows that Americans support these Tea Party goals by a margin of two-to-one. 11
Citizens are angry about the current direction of government. As John Zubly, a member of the Continental Congress in 1775, reminded the British: “My Lord, the Americans are no idiots, and they appear determined not to be slaves. Oppression will make wise men mad.” 12 But does that anger automatically equate to violence? Of course not. It does equate to action, however; but instead of throwing tea overboard, modern Tea Parties are throwing out-of-touch politicians from both parties overboard.
The Tea Parties represent much of what is right in America – citizens reacquainting themselves with the Constitution and holding their elected officials accountable to its standards. Two centuries ago, Daniel Webster could have been talking to today’s Tea Party rallies when he said: “Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster and what has happened once in 6,000 years may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution!” 13
Endnotes Continue reading
American Thinker Headlines: July 22, 2010
Published July 23, 2010 | 
The Age of the Yoyo
J.R. Dunn
We’ve entered a kind of Age of the Yoyo. The incompetents rule. More
Does Barack Obama Have a Learning Disability?
Michael Applebaum, MD
It seems like an outlandish question to ask, but the actions of President Obama suggest that he may suffer from one. More
John Galt in Skirts in Connecticut
Stuart Schwartz
In historically Democratic Connecticut, Atlas has shrugged. More
Why the Revolution Will Prevail and Why It Will Last
Bruce Walker
Why RINOs cannot stop the conservative reforms America needs. More
The Coming Nullification Non-Crisis
D.L. Adams
The radical, and so far ineffectual but significantly costly, programs and policies of the current resident of the White House suggest that a new “Nullification Crisis” will soon be upon us. More
‘Progressive’? Awww, Grow Up!
James Lewis
Here, try a little experiment. Google the phrase I am a progressive. How many hits do you get? More
Obama to Louisiana: Drop Dead
Published July 23, 2010 | Obama’s oil drilling moratorium and budget decisions are destroying the Louisiana economy.
By Jeff Crouere, Human Events, 7/23/2010
This commission was formed by President Obama to study the oil spill disaster and to make sure that another one does not happen in the future. There have already been hearings in both Washington, D.C., and New Orleans. Much is known about why the disaster occurred and the mistakes that were made by both BP and the federal agency charged with oversight of the drilling operations.
To prevent future mishaps, more vigorous oversight is needed, but drilling in the Gulf does not need to be stopped.
Unfortunately, the President decided to issue a six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling that will have a very negative impact on the economy of Louisiana. According to oil industry analysts, the moratorium will cost the state of Louisiana at least 46,000 jobs. Top positions in the industry are already being eliminated, and at least six rigs have left for foreign countries such as Egypt and the Congo. Once these rigs leave, they will not be coming back to Louisiana and the resulting job loss will be permanent.
When the initial deep-water drilling moratorium was struck down in the federal court, the President responded with another moratorium, disregarding both the directive of the judge and the wishes of the people of Louisiana. Even the President’s hand-picked science commission recommended against a moratorium.
The moratorium is not only harming our local economy, but it is also making our country more dependent on foreign oil and putting our national security at risk. Continue reading
President Big Brother’s Doublethink
Published July 23, 2010 | Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, July 22, 2010
People you’ve never met are about to know intimate details about you, thanks to last year’s stimulus law. Under Section 3001, President Obama put the wheels in motion for massive online health care records registry. By 2014, every American will be forced to put a detailed health profile online so that bureaucrats in Washington can better micromanage your care. Once the medical records are put into this massive Internet database, Big Brother can monitor–not just whether your care is medically effective but also “cost-effective.”
That’s where Dr. Donald “One-Man Death Panel” Berwick comes in. It will be up to his office, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), to decide whether your care should be rationed. At the very least, everyone will be ordered to disclose “diagnostic test results, problem lists, medication lists, allergy lists, and procedures” so that bureaucratic strangers can access this very personal information.
FRC was already wary about the idea of a federal health care registry, but new details about what will and won’t be included have made us question the usefulness of the system. On Tuesday, reporters from CNSNews caught up with the President’s National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Dr. David Blumenthal, and asked him some pointed questions about the rules of his electronic health records (EHR).
CNSNews: “So when it says a ‘test result,’ if they did an HIV test, they wouldn’t have to put it in the record?”
Blumenthal: “[That's] between the doctor and the patient.”
CNSNews: “So what does have to go in there?”
Blumenthal: “The information that the patient and the physician agree needs to be in the record.”
CNSNews: “So you can say, ‘I don’t want this in my health record, I don’t want that in my health record?’”
Blumenthal: “Exactly the same thing in the paper world would pertain in the electronic world.”
In other words, patients can choose to withhold information from their records. Obviously, protecting individual privacy is important (in fact, it’s why we oppose the idea in the first place.) But if the administration has demanded an online registry to “maintain an up-to-date problem list [in America],” why would it tell people to omit their HIV status? Unlike other illnesses, this virus is a direct threat to public health. If the government is going to catalog anything, HIV/AIDS should be at the top of the list.
Instead, it appears that Blumenthal is promoting a politically correct a la carte record system, where Americans can pick and choose what they want to exclude. Which begs the question: why bother with the registry at all? Why not let people opt out entirely? If this mandate doesn’t exasperate you, Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski’s new op-ed on the health care law might. Check out their Wall Street Journal column, “Why the ObamaCare Tax Penalty Is Unconstitutional.”
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU10G13&f=PG07J01
JINDAL TO OBAMA: “Let Us Go Back to Work!”
Published July 23, 2010 | Over 11,000 in attendance at Rally for Economic Survival in Lafayette
Gov. Bobby Jindal spoke at the Rally for Economic Survival in Lafayette, La. against the Obama Administration’s job-killing offshore drilling moratorium, saying it would be bad for their security and economy.
“This moratorium will turn Louisiana into a state of bankrupt businesses.”
- Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser
Colson: Knowing and Naming the Enemy
Published July 23, 2010 | By Charles Colson, Catholic Exchange, July 23, 2010
The Obama administration understands we’re in a war, but is strangely unwilling to name the enemy. Instead they’re using the vague and general term “violent extremism.”
President Obama wants to be kind and gentle to Muslims, at least 90 percent of whom are peaceful and are not at war with the United States. I can appreciate that. But talking about “violent extremism” without indentifying the violent extremists it isn’t doing anyone—including peaceful Muslims—any favors. It only takes our focus off the real threat.
That real threat reared its head a few weeks ago when the radical, American-born Muslim cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki announced that he wants terrorists to target American civilians. Al-Awlaki, you see, is a disciple of Sayyid Qutb and Qutb’s worldview is the root of the problem.
Qutb, an Egyptian, visited the United States in 1949. Here he saw what he considered unspeakable moral decay, which led him to conclude that Christianity had failed completely. When he returned to the Middle East, he was seething with hatred for Christians and the West. In Egypt he was arrested and while in prison he studied not only radical Islamists, but Nazis as well. And out of these he created a toxic worldview to challenge the West.
Before he was executed, his book, In The Shade of the Quran was published, and is now the handbook for the Muslim Brotherhood. Now, there are always going to be nuts who use religion as a pretext for violence, but what we are up against is more than that. Qutb and his followers—including Anwar al-Awlaki and Osama bin Laden—are ideological fascists. In fact, almost everything that’s being stirred up in Pakistan, Indonesia, Afghanistan, and throughout the Middle East can be traced back to the fascist worldview of Sayyid Qutb.
And at least somebody in Washington gets it: Senator Joseph Lieberman. And I’d like to nominate Lieberman for profiles in courage for bravely breaking with his own president and party. He is an honest man who thoroughly understands the nature of the threat.
“There is no question,” Lieberman wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “that violent Islamist extremists seek to provoke a ‘clash of civilizations,’ and we must discredit this hateful lie….We must recognize the nature of the fight we are in, not paper it over.” Exactly. Then he went on to note, “Muslims across the world see the ideological nature of the struggle.” Why, he asks, doesn’t the Obama administration?
Near the end of the article, Lieberman cites Dean Acheson. As President Truman’s secretary of state, Acheson announced a zone of influence which excluded South Korea. In 1950, the Communist North Koreans seized that opportunity to attack the South, and Acheson learned a valuable, costly lesson the hard way.
He later said, “No people in history have ever survived who thought they could protect their freedom by making themselves inoffensive to their enemies.”
Our enemies hold a worldview that is an ugly synthesis of Nazism and the most extreme reading of the Quran. Trying not to offend such enemies by refusing to name them is the height of foreign policy foolishness and a flat refusal to think seriously about the power of worldviews.
TOP 10 Reasons to Use NFP
Published July 23, 2010 | By Steve Pokorny, Catholic Exchange, July 21, 2010
We’re not talking the “Rhythm Method” here! The rhythm, or calendar, method is the “Model T” of today’s NFP methods, which are based on over 30 years of scientific research on human fertility.
9. NFP users learn more about their bodies and about their fertility.
With NFP, both spouses are taught to understand the nature of fertility and work with it – family planning becomes a joint effort! A woman’s body provides naturally occurring signs that identify the fertile time in her cycle – any woman can use NFP even if she does not have “regular cycles.” The husband is encouraged to “tune in” to his wife’s body and both are encouraged to speak openly and often about their sexual desires and thoughts about family size.
8. NFP is between 97– 99% effective when avoiding or postponing a pregnancy.
Scientific evidence verifies this. For example, see: Maclyn E. Wady, Phyllis McCarthy, et al., “A random prospective study of the use-effectiveness of two methods of natural family planning,” Am. J. Ob and Gyn 141:4 (15 Oct 1981) 368-376.
7. NFP can also be very effective in achieving a pregnancy.
When couples are taught by a competent instructor and follow the rules of the method, NFP is highly successful in helping couples reach their family planning goals, whether they choose to achieve or avoid a pregnancy. NFP is the safe and healthy alternative to reproductive procedures that are expensive and dangerous to a woman’s heath.
6. NFP is easy to use.
According to the World Heath Organization (WHO), 98% or women can learn to identify their own times of fertility and infertility in the cycle.
5. NFP is all-natural and very “organic.”
NFP is very “green!” NFP enables couples to respect their bodies, their relationship, and the environment. Every form of contraception involves some medical risk. NFP is completely safe with NO harmful side effects. No chemicals, drugs or devices are put inside the woman’s body.
4. NFP is very inexpensive.
In these strenuous financial times, this is very important. NFP costs nothing more than the initial price of learning the method and the materials.
3. NFP is “marriage insurance.”
The divorce rate for NFP users is between 2-5%. With the overall divorce rate topping 50%, this “insurance” is well worth the investment! For more info, see: Kippley, John & Sheila. The Art of Natural Family Planning. (Cincinnati: CCLI, 1996) 288.
2. NFP fosters authentic marital love, respect, honesty and good communication.
Sexual intercourse is meant to be a free and total self-gift. Acting out of uncontrollable desire or compulsion is not a free self-gift. NFP requires self-mastery which in turn shows the value of the “yes” of sexual intercourse. By using NFP, couples are encouraged to communicate honestly about needs, desires, and goals, thus fostering a healthy relationship.
1. NFP respects God’s plan for marital love and sexuality.
God created both marriage and sexual intercourse – both are sacramental. Sexual intercourse is the symbolic renewal of the marriage vows. NFP is the way a couples’ call to “responsible parenthood” is lived out, for it respects the order and structure of God’s design, while at the same time esteeming human freedom.
KENGOR: “Economic Justice” as “Social Justice”
Published July 23, 2010 | …Speaking in January 2001 . . . Obama lamented: “[A]s radical as people tried to characterize the Warren court, it wasn’t that radical.” No, in Obama’s view, the Warren Court had not been radical enough. Why? Because, averred Obama, it hadn’t “ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice.”….
By Dr. Paul Kengor, Catholic Exchange, July 23, 2010
Historically, social justice has meant different things to different people [1], and equally so today, where the term remains as frustratingly elusive as ever. Like the very progressives that champion the term, the definition seems to evolve based on progressives’ ever-evolving purposes.
Most exasperating is that many who speak the language of social justice really mean “economic justice.” Unlike traditional practitioners of social justice, whose occasional noble interests ranged from prison reform to child-labor laws, many modern practitioners seek wealth redistribution, “living wages,” progressive income taxes, and an eternally-widening net of federal government power and central planning; they are inclined to class interests rather than human rights. And, by their estimate, achieving economic justice requires collectivism. They invoke social justice not to try to resolve conventional social differences as much as class/income differences.
This is why, in many modern eyes, including those of the much-maligned Glenn Beck, mention of “social justice” seems a red flag for socialism.
In truth, many of those who mouth the language of “social justice” have long meant “economic justice.” As a matter of plain, undeniable historical fact, American communists have cynically employed this tactic for decades, since at least the launching of Communist Party USA in the 1920s. They have talked “social justice” because they know it appeals to the naïve, particularly to trusting, gullible liberal Christians. It’s a quite excellent duping mechanism to hoodwink non-communist/non-socialist liberals.
Of course, every now and then, some of those on the far left slip up and blurt out the words “economic justice.” And it’s indeed a “slip up,” especially for a politician. By and large, you can’t think that way—or, more accurately, talk that way—and get elected in America. Politicians who privately view the world according to contours of economic justice must publicly avoid such Marxist-socialistic rhetoric while running for office—running, that is, as mainstream Democrats.
That’s a somewhat long way of getting to a dramatic case in point: the current president of the United States of America, the man in charge of the most prosperous free-market system in history.
Speaking in January 2001, when he couldn’t conceive that the typical American would elect to the presidency someone with views as far to the left as his own, Barack Obama gave an interview to the Chicago Public Radio station, WBEZ, 91.5 FM. There, only a few years before he pursued a successful bid to lead the greatest free-market powerhouse in human history, Obama used the words “economic justice” and “redistributive change.” (Click here to listen [2] and here for transcript [3].)
It was a remarkably revealing interview for a would-be president. Speaking of the super-liberal Warren Court, infamous for its unparalleled judicial activism, Obama lamented: “[A]s radical as people tried to characterize the Warren court, it wasn’t that radical.” No, in Obama’s view, the Warren Court had not been radical enough. Why? Because, averred Obama, it hadn’t “ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice.”
The implications of that assessment are staggering. Obama spoke the heart of a true believer. It was a refreshingly candid moment, breathtaking from a politician able to rise so high and so fast in a country like America, anchored in economic freedom.
Politically, the young Obama was sloppy. He wasn’t yet savvy enough to cloak his “economic justice” language in the more palatable jargon of “social justice.” Today, Obama knows better, slipping only rarely, as he did to “Joe the Plumber” in 2008.
Needless to say, this doesn’t mean that everyone who mutters “social justice” means “economic justice,” or socialism. It’s crucial to understand that. Often, however, that’s indeed the case, as the far left has co-opted these buzzwords to dupe fellow travelers on the soft left.
As for liberal Christians angry at being accused of socialism when they speak of social justice … they often have themselves to blame; it is they who have bedded down (usually unwittingly) with the socialists, the collectivists, and the central planners, allowing them to hijack their language. It is they who have been duped again and again.
Too bad. The redistributionist left has perverted and appropriated respectable language [4]. And, thanks to concealed intentions—this has been happening for 100 years now [5]—we must be extra vigilant each time we hear words like “social justice.” We need to probe deeper: What do you really mean by “social justice?” How would that translate into policy? What kind of government control and taxation do you have in mind? Do you really mean “economic justice?”
Alas, America’s crisis continues, made possible by an even larger group of gullible innocents who obliviously elected the very crew that uses them and their language.
Editor’s Note: A longer version of this article first appeared in American Thinker [6].
LifeNews.com Headlines: July 22, 2010
Published July 23, 2010 | SENATOR LUGAR BECOMES SECOND REPUBLICAN TO BACK PRO-ABORTION ELENA KAGAN
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) – Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a pro-life moderate who sometimes upsets his party and pro-life advocates, has announced he will become the second Republican to support the nomination of pro-abortion Solicitor General Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court.
FACTCHECK CONFIRMS PRO-LIFE GROUP RIGHT ON OBAMA ADMINISTRATION FUNDING ABORTIONS
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) – A new report issued by the respected FactCheck.org web site based at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania confirms the claims made last week by the National Right to Life Committee that the Obama administration had authorized abortion funding in three states.
OBAMA AMBASSADOR TO KENYA OPENLY ENDORSES PROPOSED PRO-ABORTION CONSTITUTION
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) – After initially saying the Obama administration is not technically supporting the proposed pro-abortion constitution in Kenya and insisting it is merely supporting the voting process itself, United States Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger is now openly supporting it.
CONGRESSMAN FLOATS TOTAL BAN ON ABORTION FUNDING, HYDE AMENDMENT PLUS MORE
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) – When it comes to taxpayer funding of abortions from the federal government, pro-life advocates have to wage a set of battles annually to ensure abortion funding isn’t present in various funding bills — from HHS and USAID to health care and the District of Columbia.
POLL: GOP MORE EXCITED ABOUT ELECTIONS THAN DEMOCRATS, COULD RETAKE HOUSE
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) – A new poll finds Republican voters are more excited about the upcoming November congressional elections than are Democrats. That enthusiasm gap has produced victories for pro-life candidates already in off-year elections and it could result in more victories and potentially retaking one or both houses of Congress.
CATHOLICS UNITED TO SPEND $500K FOR PRO-LIFE DEMOCRATS BACKING PRO-ABORTION HCR
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) – The organization Catholics United, which has been much maligned in the pro-life community for warping and twisting pro-life Catholic principles, says it plans to spend $500,000 this election cycle supporting the pro-life Democrats in Congress who voted for the pro-abortion health care bill.
PRO-LIFE ADVOCATES PRPEARE FOR NEXT 40 DAYS FOR LIFE CAMPAIGN AGAINST ABORTION
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) – Thousands of pro-life advocates from around the country can start making preparations for the next 40 Days for Life campaign that will begin this Fall. The new campaign, which builds on successful previous ones that have saved lives from abortion and closed down abortion centers, begins in September.
LifeSiteNews.com Headlines: July 23, 2010
Published July 23, 2010 |
Rep. Chris Smith to Introduce “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act”
Thu Jul 22 13:59:08 EDT
U. of IL Says Catholic Prof ‘Not Fired’ – Just Can’t Teach
Thu Jul 22 17:55:06 EDT
Georgia Voters Support Personhood Amendment in Non-Binding Poll
Thu Jul 22 13:43:05 EDT
Health Order Shuts Down Pennsylvania Abortion Clinics
Thu Jul 22 18:12:49 EDT
Abuse Scandal Rooted in Homosexuality, Not Pedophilia, Says Catholic League President
Published July 23, 2010 | 
Washington D.C. (CNA).- Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, spoke out in an article on the Washington Post’s website on Thursday, defending his assertion that the widespread perception of a “pedophilia crisis in the Catholic Church” is not supported by data and research. The more significant problem, Donohue argued, is the incidence of homosexuality among priests.
Citing a number of medical journals in the field of human sexuality research, Donohue explained in his submission to the Washington Post’s “On Faith” section that “homosexuals are disproportionately represented among child molesters.” Statistically, he said, the evidence for a “link between homosexuality and the sexual abuse of minors” in the general population is “overwhelming.”
This link is borne out in the majority of sex offenses committed by priests, according to Donohue. “As I have said many times, most gay priests are not molesters, but most of the molesters have been gay.”
In applying this correlation to the sex abuse crisis within the Church, he reiterated the findings of Roderick MacLeish Jr., who examined the full archives of the Archdiocese of Boston during his lawsuit against the Church. MacLeish represented nearly 400 victims of abuse in court, 90 percent of whom were male, and three-quarters post-pubescent. Continue reading
Founder’s Quote Daily
Published July 23, 2010 | 
“While the constitution continues to be read, and its principles known, the states, must, by every rational man, be considered as essential component parts of the union; and therefore the idea of sacrificing the former to the latter is totally inadmissible.”
—Alexander Hamilton, speech to the New York Ratifying Convention, 1788
GOSPEL & MEDITATION: The Farmer and the Field
Published July 23, 2010 | July 23, 2010
Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Father Patrick Murphy, LC
Matthew 13:18-23
Jesus said to his disciples: “Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the Kingdom without understanding it, and the Evil One comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirty fold.”
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe in your Incarnation. You became flesh for love of us. You were not forced to leave the bliss and glory of heaven. You chose to leave in order to save us. I believe in you. I hope in you. I love you. You took the first step of love toward me. I want to respond in kind.
Petition: Grant me the grace to follow you with conviction and willpower.
1. Like a Thief in the Night Our Lord often speaks of the enemy of God, the devil, as a real being, who has real influence over our lives. When we hear the word of God, good intentions grow within us. The Evil One attempts to “steal” these intentions away from our heart. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that the devil and demons made a radical and irrevocable free choice to reject God and his reign (no. 392). The devil tries to uproot our good resolutions with the same goal in mind. We must make a firm commitment to allow God’s word to take root and grow in our lives.
2. Convictions over Emotions The seed sown on rocky ground represents those who receive the word with joy at first, in other words, those easily governed by emotions and sentiments. When they feel joy, they respond to God positively. When they receive comforts from Christ, they are ready to follow him. But when their moods are bad or gloomy, they leave aside their previous resolutions and abandon the Lord for the wide and spacious road of ease and comforts. They are not seeking Christ but rather their own consolation. Above all they want warm, cozy feelings. Christ shows us the way of true loyalty and love by his crucifixion and death on the cross for love of his Father and souls.
3. Dying of Suffocation One of the saddest categories of people in the Parable of the Sower are those who receive the word but allow “worldly anxiety and the lure of riches” to “choke the word” so that it “bears no fruit” in their lives. Materialism is an all-pervasive temptation in our world today. The only way to conquer this assault on our faith is to make the firm resolution to make time for God. We must make the proactive decision to insert moments for him in our day. Prayer, the sacraments (Mass, confession), spiritual reading and the Rosary are examples of ways to do this.
Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, in my mind you are my first priority. In reality, though, I allow other priorities to topple your rightful position in my life. I allow my feelings to govern my actions instead of my faith and convictions. Strengthen my resolve to make you the True King of my heart in my concrete choices and decisions.
Resolution: I will go over my daily and weekly schedule and, if necessary, make more quality time for the Lord.
http://www.regnumchristi.org/english/articulos/articulo.phtml?se=363&ca=975&te=735&id=20302
TODAY’S SAINT: ST. BRIDGET OF SWEDEN
Published July 23, 2010 | CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY, JULY 23, 2010
“True wisdom, then, consists in works, not in great talents, which the world admires; for the wise in the world’s estimation . . . are the foolish who set at naught the will of God, and know not how to control their passions.” –Saint Bridget of Sweden.
Daughter of Birger Persson, the governor and provincial judge of Uppland, and of Ingeborg Bengtsdotter, Bridget was born in Sweden in 1303. From the time she was a child, she was greatly devoted to the passion of Jesus. When she was only ten, she appeared to have seen Jesus on the cross and heard him say, “Look at me, my daughter.”
“Who has treated you like this?” cried little Bridget.
Jesus answered, “They who despise me and refuse my love for them.” From then on, Bridget tried to stop people from offending Jesus.
When she was 14, she married 18-year old Ulf. Like Bridget, Ulf had set his heart on serving God. They had eight children, of whom one was St. Catherine of Sweden. Bridget and Ulf served the Swedish court. Bridget was the queen’s personal maid. Bridget tried to help King Magnus and Queen Blanche lead better lives, however for the most part, they did not listen to her.
All her life, Bridget had marvelous visions and received special messages from God. In obedience to them, she visited many rulers and important people in the Church. She explained humbly what God expected of them.
After her husband died, Bridget put away her rich clothes and lived as a poor nun. Later, in 1346, she began the order of the Most Holy Savior, also known as Bridgettines. She still kept up her own busy life, traveling about doing good everywhere. And through all this activity, Jesus continued to reveal many secrets to her. These she received without the least bit of pride.
Shortly before she died, the saint went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. At the shrines there, she had visions of what Jesus had said and done in each place.
All St. Bridget’s revelations on the sufferings of Jesus were published after her death.
St. Bridget died in Rome on July 23, 1373. She was proclaimed a saint by Pope Boniface IX in 1391.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=526
Bachmann: Get ready for the subpoenas
What will Republicans do if they win control of the House in the midterms? Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) says that investigating overreach in the executive branch will be a big part of the strategy. Three Fingers of Politics has the audio of an interview with Bachmann where she makes plain the desire to restore Congressional prerogatives and executive-branch accountability:
In some sense, this may be Congressional self-defense. I wrote yesterday about the Associated Press exposé of the politicization of FOIA requests at Janet Napolitano’s DHS, including those coming from Congress. That should have prompted an immediate probe of DHS by Congress, whose requests for information are critical to its oversight responsibilities. The deliberate delay and obstruction at DHS described by the AP creates a balance-of-power issue that a less-lapdoggish Congress would act immediately to correct.
On the other hand, these efforts should be balanced by a positive agenda from Republicans that sets up a real choice in 2012 for voters, with both the White House and Senate on the line. If the GOP gets seen as merely a foil for Obama, voters may decide to keep government divided, especially in the absence of an argument for conservative governance rather than solely a check-and-balance 112th Session of Congress. Bachmann hints at that in her emphasis on “conservative leadership” and keeping promises in 2011.
We’ll ask Bachmann more about this when she appears on TEMS this afternoon. Tune in!
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/07/23/bachmann-get-ready-for-the-subpoenas/