HHS Mandate Serves Totalitarian Mindset

The mandate is not anti-Catholic; it's anti-American values.

Rev Up Your Engines Updated

Monday reading for concerned American citizens:

1. A cheery way to brighten your Monday morning would be to read the clever "Why I Vote Democratic" at Brutally Honest.

2.This administration and its public relations agents, a.k. mass media, apparently have no clue when it comes to economics. Every single report comes with a variation of the word "unexpected." In last Friday's dump of unpleasant news, Geithner says economy growing faster than expected. In light of the fact most people have not yet discerned any real growth, one wonders exactly what they were expecting.

3. Finally, some real coverage of the beating of 2 young Republicans in New Orleans after the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. The girl is still in the hospital after surgery to repair broken leg; the boy had a broken jaw. PowerLine links the attack to Democratic party. Big Government gives details of the attack and the injuries suffered. Mass media is too busy claiming that Tea Partiers are neo Klan members to notice that only real violence has come from Democrats in Pittsburg, St. Louis, and New Orleans.

4. The Catholic Church gets support from an unlikely source - a Jewish businessman in Cleveland. Refreshing to see that someone outside of the Church recognizes the recent attacks on Catholics and the Pope are based on prejudice, not facts. There have been point by point refutations of the instances when outright lies were told and when relevant facts were omitted on these stories dealing with decades old stories. But this man puts it all in perspective and looks at the big picture instead.

Neuropsychology in Liberals and Conservatives

If you've ever wondered what alternative universe some politicians inhabit, you will enjoy this article in American Thinker today. In in Ms. Tyler explains, "The neurons of the human prefrontal cortex are the only objects in the known universe that are functionally altered by exposure to abstract concepts such as God, truth, freedom, and justice." Read it to find out how different people answer the important questions in life, and why we need to train our children to honor God and seek the Truth at all costs.

Happy Mardi Gras!*

Today is the day that Christians all over the world celebrate and thank God for the abundance He showers upon us before entering the austere lessons of Lent. A Mardi Gras prayer includes these words:

As our feasting fills us with gratitude, so may our fasting and abstinence hollow out in us a place for deeper desires and an attentiveness to hear the cry of the poor.

Those who participated in last fall’s prayer campaign (If My People) should also include thanks and heartfelt gratitude for these answers to our prayers for the United States:

* The elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts
* The failure of the Underwear Bomber’s attempt to blow up a plane load of passengers over a densely populated area
* The exposure of lying and fraud by the primary scientists behind the global warming theories
* The continued unraveling of the massive health care proposals
* The resignations of many politicians

Once again let’s join other Americans in praying for our country during Lent, which starts tomorrow. Much needs to change in our government, in our culture, and in our personal lives; let’s pray for improvement (i.e. realignment with God’s purposes) in all areas. Then after Easter, take note of the miracles that unfold.

Although I have often been Missing-In-Action for the last three months, I am returning to the daily blog today. I promise to have brief meditations every day to remind you to pray, as well as tidbits of political news you may have missed.

Or, there are other sites on the Internet where you might find inspiration:
1. 40 Days for Life is dedicated to prayers to end abortion in the U.S. They will begin a new initiative tomorrow.
2. Spiritual Exercises is a website for those who use Lent to examine their lives in the light of the Gospel. These exercises were first promulgated by St. Ignatius of Loyola and have inspired Christians for over 450 years. I have used them twice and found them quite helpful.
3. Once again the Aggie Catholics have come up with their Lenten website, which is full of information, many answers to questions, and links to other sites.

* Due to the mass media's deleterious emphasis and influence, few people still understand the true meaning of Mardi Gras, or St. Valentine's Day, or St. Patrick's Day, or Christmas, . . . .

Pro-Lifers Are Winning!

"Because there's a Democratic majority in Congress and the president is pro-choice, it sometimes gets lost how truly numerically challenged we are."...Nancy Keenan, the current director of NARAL. See New York Magazine for the whole article, written by a Pro Abortion advocate worrying about the fate for their movement.

Good News!

After years of innuendo and rumor, the Vatican has announced:

“In this Apostolic Constitution the Holy Father has introduced a canonical structure that provides for such corporate reunion by establishing Personal Ordinariates which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony.”

More details will emerge in time, but this long awaited announcement will encourage thousands of Episcopalians in the US and Anglicans in England and Africa to become Roman Catholics.

The Anchoress, Atonement Online, and Standing On My Head have more information. The last two blogs are written by former priests in the Anglican communion who have become Catholic priests.

If My People, XIII

Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them. God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God. Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work. Psalm 62:10-12

On this thirteenth day of united prayer for our country, we once again affirm that true renewal begins with individual renewal.

At American Thinker, Selwyn Duke has explained America's problem more openly and more completely than I ever dared. I suggest you read Do Not Blame Barack and find out why 107 out of 109 comments highly praised his work. Here's a teaser:

But if we want to have any chance of winning the war, we must move on to graduate work and fight it on the deepest levels, the spiritual and cultural. We must scrutinize ourselves and evaluate how we have been complicit in empowering the culture that spawns Barack Obamas. We must remember that those of us who are engaged are a minority weighed against an apathetic majority. A few stones however, can be substantial enough to tip the scales against a million pebbles. But this can only happen if we so greatly increase the weight of our virtue that it outweighs the vice that is everywhere.

Great Insight

Please go to the A True Story of Passion, Profit, and Contribution today to read about people with special needs. For too long Americans have averted their eyes, crossed the street, or otherwise avoided less than perfect looking people. Or, if they did meet someone in a wheel chair, for instance, they talked loudly, as if the person were deaf, or talked only with the person's companion, as if the person were imbecilic. Each one of us is invaluable with contributions to make to society, if society will just allow us to share our gifts.

Nepotism Alert: The article was written by my beloved eldest child.

If My People, III

To you all flesh will come with its burden of sin. Too heavy for us, our offenses, but you wipe them away. Psalm 65:2,3

Sin disfigures and cripples us, both individually and as a group. Admitting our mistakes and asking for forgiveness gives us a chance to "be all that we can be." Pray for yourself and for your country today. Your happiness depends on it.

If My People

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. II Chronicles 7:14

I apologize for the light posting lately. Frankly I've been overwhelmed by the blatant hypocrisy and unconcealed corruption that I see in the USA now. I've never been so discouraged about my beloved country that for two centuries has stood as a shining light of hope to downtrodden people around the world.

There are so many stories to cover and that demand investigation that no one can take it all in, much less marshal the forces to fight them. I now believe that the battle we face is more than Tea Party Patriots can accomplish, no matter how earnest and committed they may be. America is involved in spiritual warfare for her survival and we must use spiritual weapons as well as common sense and individual acts of bravery if we are to get our country back.

Please join your fellow countrymen who are praying for an end to abortion and add your petitions to God for an end to corruption and evil wherever it may be: the federal government, state government, local governments, and in our own hearts.

Listen to The Silence

The silence of the mass media about the murder of a prolife activist in Michigan is a dramatic contrast to the keening over the murder of Dr. Tiller, an abortionist. As of today there have been 19 stories about James Pouillion who was shot as he stood in front of a high school holding a pro life sign, while there were at least 643 different stories about Tiller in the mass media.

When Tiller was killed, every Pro Life organization leader in the United States, Catholic Bishops, and Protestant pastors immediately condemned the murder and offered prayers for Tiller and his family. So far, I have heard of no one who has condemned Pouillion's killer.

Neither have there been blanket accusations about all abortion supporters being budding terrorists. However all prolife supporters are still on the Homeland Security Watch list for terrorism. And no one has called for a ban on private ownership of guns because Pouillion was murdered with a gun.

No wonder most mass media outlets are going broke. They have become public relations offices, not news organizations.

The Inmates Are Running the Asylum or The Truth Shall Set You Free*

The relationship of truth to freedom has been known for so long that it is warp and weft of human existence. Whether or not one believes in God and whether or not one always tells the truth to others, everyone believes freedom lies in knowing the truth and working within the framework of reality, at least for himself.

As James Lewis, in “Indulging Craziness,” reminded us last Sunday, psychiatrists and therapists know that crazy patients will never improve if those around him accept his warped view of reality. Indulging in a flawed version of reality makes the patient and, eventually, those around him crazier than ever. For the last half century, American society has cosseted those with grievances until our ability to function is almost permanently crippled. We have acted like indulgent parents who allow their miscreant children to ignore reality until they terrorize the whole neighborhood instead of growing up to become assets to the community.

At first, many questioned their victim status, but churches, YMCA’s, and other groups began conducting “consciousness raising” workshops to teach different groups just how oppressed they were. It is now part of the curricula from kindergarten to graduate school.

As a result, entire groups of people, including our current President and most Congressional Clowns, know nothing of the generosity and bravery exhibited throughout American history as compared to other nations, but they can speak at length on a moment’s notice about every flaw and misstep of the last 234 years.

Thus, we just had the sad experience of watching a noted Harvard scholar screech “racial profiling” when a patrolman merely checked on the possibility of burglary at his home because of a neighbor’s call. We cringed when Obama insisted on taking sides without checking on the facts. And we suffered with an innocent policeman who was brave enough to answer the call without knowing what he would encounter behind that front door.

Police brutality happens, and rightfully outrages everyone when it does. But it hasn’t happened enough for innocent citizens to cringe at the sight of a policeman or to refuse to offer identification when requested.

After decades of allowing the insanity of grievance politics to dominate the public square, we have begun to accept symbolic acts in lieu of real, honest change by “perpetrators” or their “victims.” It has encouraged the festering of grievances, like cancerous tumors poisoning the whole body.

For example, many Americans believed last November if they did the symbolic act of voting for Obama, it would erase racial tensions in the United States. Instead, we just witnessed a wealthy, influential black professor yelling insane accusation to a while police officer in a town run by a black mayor, in a state with a black governor, while his black president agreed with his crazy accusations.

“The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.” Herbert Spencer

It's time to grow up, forgive our enemies, and insist on facing the truth in every situation, not feel good platitudes or ill founded accusations.

*St. John 8:32

Please Read the Encyclical before Commenting

Finally someone with access to the latest Papal encyclical, Love in Truth, actually read it before writing or speaking about it. It does NOT promote one world government or call for more power in the UN despite the claims of the New York Times, Reuters, conspiracy bloggers, et al. Non-Catholic reporters usually only skim Pope Benedict’s writings, looking for fodder to bolster their own preconceived notions whether they support “a new world order” or believe that the Pope is the anti-Christ.

His work to too dense to be treated so cavalierly. One must read the whole thing, noting his digressions and illustrations, as well as conclusions.

John Henry Westen of LifeSite News has an editorial explaining it that has also been carried by Canada Free Press. Check it out if you want a better understanding of Pope Benedict’s work.

Pravda Assesses The US

Read yesterday’s Pravda article (yes, that Pravda) to find some truths about “the American descent into Marxism.” Conservative Americans are routinely excoriated as alarmists for saying what Pravda journalists accept as plain truth. The article traces our descent in three levels:
1. The dumbing down of our educational system where pop culture is substituted for true education.
2. Removal of faith in God until church services have become “Sunday circuses.”
3. The election of Barack Obama created the final collapse with spending that has been record setting in the history of the world.

Pravda predicts that we’ll end up somewhere between the Weimar Republic and Zimbabwe. And explains that the proposed taxes (however disguised) of the current administration to fund “thefts, losses, and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars” make Russian oligarchs look like petty thieves.

God Bless (And Protect) Archbishop Burke!

Archbishop Burke needs prayer support from all believers, both Catholic and Protestant. He spoke at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast yesterday about the Notre Dama affair and about being a Christian witness in a secular environment. The medis is currently ignoring his bold message, but a whirlwind of reaction will surely hit soon from the pro abortion establishment.

Father Zuhlsdorf has the transcript on his Blog, complete with explanations and comments. You will be inspired and encouraged if you read it.

First Ms. Prejean, Then Black Pastors in DC

The homosexual activists want homosexual marriage in the US, no matter what. First they denigrated the majority in California who voted against the proposition in November, then they started the process of trying to change the effects of the vote. Next, in response to a direct question about her opinion, Ms. Prejean, without any negative connotations to the words she used, said that she personally believed that marriage could only occur between a man and a woman. And she not only lost the beauty pageant, she has been hunted down and pilloried by the activists ever since.

Yesterday, Marion Barry, backed by a cadre of Black Pastors, voted against recognition of homosexual marriage in the District of Columbia. The ensuing melee was so bad, police had to be called to escort the former mayor and the pastors from the building.

Silly me. I always thought the majority ruled in the US.

HR 1913 Passed House; Fight It in The Senate Now

Last week the heavy Democrat majority in the House easily passed Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 and, in the process, even refused to amend it to specifically exclude pedophiles from the list of “protected” sexual orientations or practices. It is not yet listed on the calendar for a vote in the Senate, but Sen. Ted Kennedy and 34 co-sponsors introduced a similar bill (S 909) that is now in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

There is still time to fight it, but you must call your Senators immediately to let them know of your opposition. Also notify members of the Senate Judicial Committee; the Democrat members are: Leahy, Kohl, Feinstein, Feingold, Schumer, Durbin, Cardin, Specter, Whitehouse, Wyden, Klobuchar, and Kaufman. The seven Republicans are: Hatch, Grassley, Kyl, Sessions, Graham, Cornyn, and Coburn. The Capitol Switchboard number is 800-202 224-3121 or you can easily find their numbers on the Internet.

As written, it elevates current or perceived sexual orientation to the same legal protection that is now reserved for race. By default, it then criminalizes those who believe homosexual practices (as well as other sexual activities that have been considered deviant) to be immoral. This act will put serious constraints on both freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

It encourages prosecution for all pursuits, including speech, perceived to be hateful by inserting federal authorities and federal money into criminal cases, which are usually the jurisdiction of the states. This opens the door to double jeopardy where one could be tried twice for the same act, both in federal and state courts.

It could protect the participants in activities that are against the law in most states, such as incest, prostitution, bestiality, and pedophilia. Because the bill does not specify, but merely mentions sexual orientation, it could also normalize by federal law a range of bizarre sexual behaviors now considered deviant by the American Psychiatric Association.

Like all hate crime legislation, it punishes thought and intent, rather than visible acts, thus giving the government the authority to determine and then punish someone’s inner thoughts and motivation, a practice formerly left to God alone.

Christians, It's Time to Get Serious

It's only a matter of time until Muslims will rule Europe, the UK, Canada, and the US without firing a shot or sending in another martyr with bombs strapped to his body. Low fertility rates will cause these nations and cultures to enter into an irreversible decline, while the Muslim fertility rate remains robust, keeping their culture ascendant.

America really needs those 50,000,000 babies they've aborted, so we must stop killing our own children. And our faith requires us to love others enough to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

Separation of Church and State?

The recent claims that there should be no mention of God in our government or public discourse are just that -- recent. They arose through activists filing law suits that eventually were settled in appellate courts, not by public demand or open votes. So they reflect the beliefs of our black robed Masters of the Universe, not the people of the US. If you check out this post on What Does The Prayer Really Say, you will see a compilation of the opening lines in nearly all of our state constitutions. Guess what? They all acknowledge and thank God. Read the comments section also for additional information about the faith of our founding fathers.

On a similar note, the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus spent the last years of his life trying to restore the acknowledgement of God and Judeo-Christian thought to current discussions. He wrote The Naked Public Square as well as other books, but was best known for the magazine he founded, First Things: The Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life. The magazine is rigorously interdenominational, with contributions from some of the best thinkers of our era discussing politics and culture from a religious point of view that paints the entire picture, not some attenuated vision that ignores reality. The magazine still reflects its founder's premise; check it out for thought provoking articles.

Gunslinger's Journal: God's Reason

Gunslinger's Journal: God's Reason If you check out this post, you will understand a little better why we face emotion at every turn, but little rational thought. Sometimes we feel like Alice through The Looking Glass because so few "leaders" make sense anymore. I've been thinking along these lines for months, but never got around to writing about it. Gunslinger has. She and I might quibble over praying for miracles or experiencing the gifts of the Spirit, but basically, it's a great article.