Groupie No.1-I confess.
When Joe Biden goes on TV and talks about the many jobs saved and created by the Stimulus
money, and looks the camera in the eye and says "Honey, it's going to be all right" I actually think he is talking directly to me.
Can you imagine a world leader so humble that he tells the story of how his out of work father had to compromise his dignity to leave his children with his father- in- law while he sought work out of state? Biden is just so real- he talks about being a 3rd grader in a depressed time, presumably in Scranton (which experienced post-industrial slumps and huge unemployment)- when his Dad travelled to Delaware to find work promising to come back and get them. Heart wrenching.
Biden knows what struggle means- he understands first hand the struggles of middle America-how it can break a man. He knows he never wants this hardship visited on his children or his children's children.
I have a grandfather crush.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Anglicans Wishing To Enter the Catholic Church
Will No Longer Be Anglican.
You don't say? You almost fooled me.
A clarification on the new rules follows:
http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/EN1/Articolo.asp?c=330866
Contrary to speculation that the delay in finalizing the rules has anything to do with the "celibacy norm" it's really about getting the Latin translations right.
So just to reiterate what was earlier stated on this blog- The new Anglican-Catholic merger
isn't exactly a 'hostile take-over' but there is one big poison pill in it. No Anglican joining who is currently single and wishes to enter a seminary may ever have his own family.
Do you fully grasp this?
Here's the rub- do you actually hate women priests and gay people more than you would love to have a wife and your own kids if you are an aspiring priest? If you are a layperson, do you hate gay people and women priests more so much you wish all your priests be people who don't care about having their own families or would give up the hope for a family for the priesthood. Do you want going forward all your priests in the next generation to be celibates and have you not figured out what types of persons that will likely attract to the priesthood? (No offense to the many fine RC priests I love- but the rule does create issues.)
When the rules finally come down- I expect lots of new conservative Anglican parishes forming that don't want to jump on this train. I believe people appreciate that the wives of Anglican priests are not window dressing or decoration- they are part of the spiritual direction in a deep and serious way-and that is in God's plan.
The balance and choice might just be what keeps them honest.
You don't say? You almost fooled me.
A clarification on the new rules follows:
http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/EN1/Articolo.asp?c=330866
Contrary to speculation that the delay in finalizing the rules has anything to do with the "celibacy norm" it's really about getting the Latin translations right.
So just to reiterate what was earlier stated on this blog- The new Anglican-Catholic merger
isn't exactly a 'hostile take-over' but there is one big poison pill in it. No Anglican joining who is currently single and wishes to enter a seminary may ever have his own family.
Do you fully grasp this?
Here's the rub- do you actually hate women priests and gay people more than you would love to have a wife and your own kids if you are an aspiring priest? If you are a layperson, do you hate gay people and women priests more so much you wish all your priests be people who don't care about having their own families or would give up the hope for a family for the priesthood. Do you want going forward all your priests in the next generation to be celibates and have you not figured out what types of persons that will likely attract to the priesthood? (No offense to the many fine RC priests I love- but the rule does create issues.)
When the rules finally come down- I expect lots of new conservative Anglican parishes forming that don't want to jump on this train. I believe people appreciate that the wives of Anglican priests are not window dressing or decoration- they are part of the spiritual direction in a deep and serious way-and that is in God's plan.
The balance and choice might just be what keeps them honest.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wish You Were Here?
Salve a Tutti,
The National Gallery of Art and the Italian Cultural Institute are happy to offer a special screening of Tevere (The River Tiber), a documentary by Catia Ott celebrating the 2,761st birthday of Rome.
The Italian director will introduce the screening of this film only on October 31.
The documentary offers an unusual look at Rome, its history and its monuments, as they appear from the surface of the water of the Tiber crossing the city. We observe some remains of industrial archaeology, some neighborhoods undergoing deep changes, as well as the places that inspired Pasolini’s early novels. Starting from Ponte Milvio in Rome, the Northernmost stop of tour boats, and ending the journey at Ostia Antica and Fiumicino, Tevere takes us through the stops of Castel Sant’Angelo, Isola Tiberina, Trastevere and others. Each stop has its own history, told by the images and by some residents of the area.
The director moved to Paris after her studies in Political sciences and an experience as a production assistant for foreign correspondents (BBC, CBS, RAI) in Rome. In 2007 she completed her first documentary, Tevere, a cultural and sociological historical walk in Rome along the river which crosses the city.
TEVERE has won the El Capitan Film Award 2009 (Best Documentary) at the Yosemite Film Festival.
Organized by: National Gallery of Art In collaboration with: Italian Cultural Institute in Washington, DC
As always, films shown at the National Gallery are free admission.
The film will be shown in the East Building Concourse Auditorium.
Ted Kennedy Pray For Us
Universal Health Care
Could It Really Happen this time? Roger Hickey thinks we need to get it done for uncle Ted.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roger-hickey/lets-pass-ted-kennedys-he_b_272340.html
Could It Really Happen this time? Roger Hickey thinks we need to get it done for uncle Ted.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roger-hickey/lets-pass-ted-kennedys-he_b_272340.html
Technology Traps
And Twitter Twits
The beauty of the new electronic communication technology is that it is transmitted to the world in lightening speed. But as anyone knows who has regretted sending a 'dear John' email too hastily or wished they were a bit more discreet with their tweets knows, the drawback of the new electronic communication technology is that it is transmitted to the world in lightening speed. So even the most wise, most mature of us need to Face the Facebook reality. There are things you don't need to tell the world and you wish they didn't tell you.
I love Archbishop Dolan from what I know of him-and I saw him in action at a Mass. But he clearly needs a media PR counsellor to give him some blog tips. Like, why rebroadcast all the objectionable material you find all over the New York Times to criticize it and the authors? I actually missed the whole bit about the Franciscan who fathered a child and wish I didn't read it. It just made me madder that the church doesn't have a married priest option and made my point for me. Anyone who would rather that a father disown his children and abandon his lover in service of the altar isn't really following what I hope Jesus would do. It's just beyond scurrilous. How the church could wish anyone go to confession to someone who did that is beyond me. The guy working behind a pizza counter who feeds his kids is holier.
Maureen's disdain was, I thought rather appropriate- and even more so given the fact that so few women are courageous enough to tell it like it is. So my advice to Archbishop Dolan would be, you are doing a fine job there in one of my favorite cities, but roll with the punches a little- and have an open mind about where the grievances are coming from. Try to walk in their shoes- these bemoaning women who want what everyone else does- a little genuine sincere love and people living up to their responsibilities. You don't have to mock them, or deride them or call them blasphemers. No one changed anything wrong without speaking out about it. Now we see only as in a glass dimly, then shall we see face to face. We are not perfect here, we don't have the whole picture. The call is to love not mock, not judge. It only makes people look small when they belittle people who have a genuine beef- the sex scandals in the church are outrageous. Don't minimize or hide from it. Deal with it head on. Have an open mind concerning how the fact that a "married option" in the Roman Rite (like the Byzantine, Eastern Orthodox and all Protestantism worlds) might actually help the situation profoundly. Commission a study. We don't need to know all the dirty laundry-we need to know you are trying to figure out how to make it right going forward.
All the links on this blog just make my point for me. You didn't need to do that.
http://www.archny.org/news-events/columns-and-blogs/blog---the-gospel-in-the-digital-age/index.cfm?i=14042
The beauty of the new electronic communication technology is that it is transmitted to the world in lightening speed. But as anyone knows who has regretted sending a 'dear John' email too hastily or wished they were a bit more discreet with their tweets knows, the drawback of the new electronic communication technology is that it is transmitted to the world in lightening speed. So even the most wise, most mature of us need to Face the Facebook reality. There are things you don't need to tell the world and you wish they didn't tell you.
I love Archbishop Dolan from what I know of him-and I saw him in action at a Mass. But he clearly needs a media PR counsellor to give him some blog tips. Like, why rebroadcast all the objectionable material you find all over the New York Times to criticize it and the authors? I actually missed the whole bit about the Franciscan who fathered a child and wish I didn't read it. It just made me madder that the church doesn't have a married priest option and made my point for me. Anyone who would rather that a father disown his children and abandon his lover in service of the altar isn't really following what I hope Jesus would do. It's just beyond scurrilous. How the church could wish anyone go to confession to someone who did that is beyond me. The guy working behind a pizza counter who feeds his kids is holier.
Maureen's disdain was, I thought rather appropriate- and even more so given the fact that so few women are courageous enough to tell it like it is. So my advice to Archbishop Dolan would be, you are doing a fine job there in one of my favorite cities, but roll with the punches a little- and have an open mind about where the grievances are coming from. Try to walk in their shoes- these bemoaning women who want what everyone else does- a little genuine sincere love and people living up to their responsibilities. You don't have to mock them, or deride them or call them blasphemers. No one changed anything wrong without speaking out about it. Now we see only as in a glass dimly, then shall we see face to face. We are not perfect here, we don't have the whole picture. The call is to love not mock, not judge. It only makes people look small when they belittle people who have a genuine beef- the sex scandals in the church are outrageous. Don't minimize or hide from it. Deal with it head on. Have an open mind concerning how the fact that a "married option" in the Roman Rite (like the Byzantine, Eastern Orthodox and all Protestantism worlds) might actually help the situation profoundly. Commission a study. We don't need to know all the dirty laundry-we need to know you are trying to figure out how to make it right going forward.
All the links on this blog just make my point for me. You didn't need to do that.
http://www.archny.org/news-events/columns-and-blogs/blog---the-gospel-in-the-digital-age/index.cfm?i=14042
It's My Party, I Can Cry If I Want To
Blogs the Courtier Blogster
Who can't handle the truth, or anything that deviates from his views-right or wrong. Down right insulting gets he- name calls (calls people his height "trolls" and the like as if the Bridge to
Georgetown was something he bought from someone and he's got the deed in his dresser.) Perhaps he is just still sore over the fact that Jenkins was appointed another term at Notre Dame and his ploy to mobilize the flailing right wing- nuts over Obama's speech didn't quite work. Perhaps his shining inferiority complex masked as arrogance comes from not getting into Yale Law School-don't know, don't care.
I point this out not because I give a whit about whether he will take me up on my invitation to let him tour me and a few pals around Barcelona when I get to Spain (even though I bet he didn't know about that high speed train from Madrid to Barcelona until I told him about it)- I note that it is more endemic of a really awful spirit of condemnation that does not come from the Lord but from the opposite direction. It is an Anti-Love Your Neighbor vitriol that is really misplaced in someone who thinks himself a higher spiritual body.
All that said, I encourage everyone to pray for a Mr. William Newton, (http://www.theblogofthecourtier.blogspot.com/) who clearly needs it as much as I. I encourage all his friends to gather and say a Novena for the both of us. I recommend Saint Therese. If she can make peace with high Anglicanism and Catholic orthodoxy surely she can make peace between two of the Archdiocsan Lectors.
And by the way Mr. Newton, whom I have respectfully declined calling Mr. Fig, while you fancy yourself rather Anglified for your degree time in London, and knowing your way around Sothebys I actually lived in the center of London for 7 years so I find your affected Wumpole of the Bailey snobbery highly amusing.
Saint Rita of Cascia is another one of my favorites.
Who can't handle the truth, or anything that deviates from his views-right or wrong. Down right insulting gets he- name calls (calls people his height "trolls" and the like as if the Bridge to
Georgetown was something he bought from someone and he's got the deed in his dresser.) Perhaps he is just still sore over the fact that Jenkins was appointed another term at Notre Dame and his ploy to mobilize the flailing right wing- nuts over Obama's speech didn't quite work. Perhaps his shining inferiority complex masked as arrogance comes from not getting into Yale Law School-don't know, don't care.
I point this out not because I give a whit about whether he will take me up on my invitation to let him tour me and a few pals around Barcelona when I get to Spain (even though I bet he didn't know about that high speed train from Madrid to Barcelona until I told him about it)- I note that it is more endemic of a really awful spirit of condemnation that does not come from the Lord but from the opposite direction. It is an Anti-Love Your Neighbor vitriol that is really misplaced in someone who thinks himself a higher spiritual body.
All that said, I encourage everyone to pray for a Mr. William Newton, (http://www.theblogofthecourtier.blogspot.com/) who clearly needs it as much as I. I encourage all his friends to gather and say a Novena for the both of us. I recommend Saint Therese. If she can make peace with high Anglicanism and Catholic orthodoxy surely she can make peace between two of the Archdiocsan Lectors.
And by the way Mr. Newton, whom I have respectfully declined calling Mr. Fig, while you fancy yourself rather Anglified for your degree time in London, and knowing your way around Sothebys I actually lived in the center of London for 7 years so I find your affected Wumpole of the Bailey snobbery highly amusing.
Saint Rita of Cascia is another one of my favorites.
This week's OTT (over the top) Award goes to......Another One For the Christian Legal Society
This week's OTT Award- Home Depot for not letting an employee wear a button with the first line of the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE in it because it has the word GOD in it. You don't say? The pledge of allegiance has the word "God" in it? You mean I went through K-5th grade of public American elementary school and I was NOT supposed to say the Pledge of Allegiance with the word God in it? Imagine my trauma now.
Someone tell the guy that 42 USC 2000e et seq (Title VII) prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of religion and he has a serious federal case. (this is not legal advice-seek counsel in your own jurisdiction, I'm just sayin....)
Thought I was Kidding
This Will Appear in Every Catholic Church Bulletin This Week-or else.
Advanced copy here:
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 FOURTH STREET NE WASHINGTON DC 20017-1194 202-541-3100 FAX 202-541-3166 (Call them and tell them what you think; I'm sure they already cleared it with the 501-c-3 guys. Does Congress have some sort of overflow switchboard or what happens to National Defense and Homeland Security if the switchboard is bombarded and something scary happens?)
USCCB NATIONWIDE BULLETIN INSERT
Tell Congress: Remove Abortion Funding & Mandates from Needed Health Care Reform
Congress is preparing to debate health care reform legislation on the House and Senate floors.
Genuine health care reform should protect the life and dignity of all people from the moment of
conception until natural death. The U.S. bishops’ conference has concluded that all committee approved
bills are seriously deficient on the issues of abortion and conscience, and do not provide
adequate access to health care for immigrants and the poor. The bills will have to change or the
bishops have pledged to oppose them.
Our nation is at a crossroads. Policies adopted in health care reform will have an impact for good or
ill for years to come. None of the bills retains longstanding current policies against abortion funding
or abortion coverage mandates, and none fully protects conscience rights in health care.
As the U.S. bishops’ letter of October 8 states:
“No one should be required to pay for or participate in abortion. It is essential that the
legislation clearly apply to this new program longstanding and widely supported federal
restrictions on abortion funding and mandates, and protections for rights of conscience.
No current bill meets this test…. If acceptable language in these areas cannot be found,
we will have to oppose the health care bill vigorously.”
For the full text of this letter and more information on proposed legislation and the bishops’ advocacy
for authentic health care reform, visit: www.usccb.org/healthcare
.
Congressional leaders are attempting to put together final bills for floor consideration. Please contact
your Representative and Senators today and urge them to fix these bills with the pro-life amendments
noted below. Otherwise much needed health care reform will have to be opposed. Health care reform
should be about saving lives, not destroying them.
ACTION: Contact Members through e-mail, phone calls or
FAX letters.
To send a pre-written, instant e-mail to Congress go to www.usccb.org/action.
Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at: 202-224-3121, or call your Members’ local offices.
Full contact info can be found on Members’ web sites at www.house.gov & www.senate.gov.
MESSAGE to SENATE:
“During floor debate on the health care reform bill, please support an amendment to
incorporate longstanding policies against abortion funding and in favor of conscience rights.
If these serious concerns are not addressed, the final bill should be opposed.”
MESSAGE to HOUSE:
“Please support the Stupak Amendment that addresses essential pro-life concerns on abortion
funding and conscience rights in the health care reform bill. Help ensure that the Rule for the
bill allows a vote on this amendment. If these serious concerns are not addressed, the final bill
should be opposed.”
WHEN: Both House and Senate are preparing for floor votes now. Act today! Thank you!
Advanced copy here:
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 FOURTH STREET NE WASHINGTON DC 20017-1194 202-541-3100 FAX 202-541-3166 (Call them and tell them what you think; I'm sure they already cleared it with the 501-c-3 guys. Does Congress have some sort of overflow switchboard or what happens to National Defense and Homeland Security if the switchboard is bombarded and something scary happens?)
USCCB NATIONWIDE BULLETIN INSERT
Tell Congress: Remove Abortion Funding & Mandates from Needed Health Care Reform
Congress is preparing to debate health care reform legislation on the House and Senate floors.
Genuine health care reform should protect the life and dignity of all people from the moment of
conception until natural death. The U.S. bishops’ conference has concluded that all committee approved
bills are seriously deficient on the issues of abortion and conscience, and do not provide
adequate access to health care for immigrants and the poor. The bills will have to change or the
bishops have pledged to oppose them.
Our nation is at a crossroads. Policies adopted in health care reform will have an impact for good or
ill for years to come. None of the bills retains longstanding current policies against abortion funding
or abortion coverage mandates, and none fully protects conscience rights in health care.
As the U.S. bishops’ letter of October 8 states:
“No one should be required to pay for or participate in abortion. It is essential that the
legislation clearly apply to this new program longstanding and widely supported federal
restrictions on abortion funding and mandates, and protections for rights of conscience.
No current bill meets this test…. If acceptable language in these areas cannot be found,
we will have to oppose the health care bill vigorously.”
For the full text of this letter and more information on proposed legislation and the bishops’ advocacy
for authentic health care reform, visit: www.usccb.org/healthcare
.
Congressional leaders are attempting to put together final bills for floor consideration. Please contact
your Representative and Senators today and urge them to fix these bills with the pro-life amendments
noted below. Otherwise much needed health care reform will have to be opposed. Health care reform
should be about saving lives, not destroying them.
ACTION: Contact Members through e-mail, phone calls or
FAX letters.
To send a pre-written, instant e-mail to Congress go to www.usccb.org/action.
Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at: 202-224-3121, or call your Members’ local offices.
Full contact info can be found on Members’ web sites at www.house.gov & www.senate.gov.
MESSAGE to SENATE:
“During floor debate on the health care reform bill, please support an amendment to
incorporate longstanding policies against abortion funding and in favor of conscience rights.
If these serious concerns are not addressed, the final bill should be opposed.”
MESSAGE to HOUSE:
“Please support the Stupak Amendment that addresses essential pro-life concerns on abortion
funding and conscience rights in the health care reform bill. Help ensure that the Rule for the
bill allows a vote on this amendment. If these serious concerns are not addressed, the final bill
should be opposed.”
WHEN: Both House and Senate are preparing for floor votes now. Act today! Thank you!
Friday's Freak Show: How To Drive The Canon Lawyer Fathers Crazy
Nadya, the OctoMommie Dearest dressed all her munchkins up for Halloween in devils' costumes and herself as a pregnant Nun. Could you be any more "in your face" with your disdain of the orthodoxy. I don't think Madonna has ever even been this outrageous. Does she not think Devils actually exist? Or has she just sold her soul to Him for a bag of candycorn?
I don't knock responsible fertility treatments, but 14 kids without a job, without a husband, and no contract for a baseball team franchise is just not adult behavior.
In Hock Up To Our Eyeballs
To The Chinese
They own us. We borrow too much from them to fight our wars of "choice." Another reason not to appropriate another doomed "surge."
This has disasterous consequences on American competitiveness. The Chinese don't abide by the WTO rules. They pay lipservice only to the trade agreements that they break with impunity and without serious consequence. They hold too much market power for industries seeking a foothold there or use of cheap labor with factories there. They boldly misappropriate intellectual property, they flood the market with cheap goods. They manipulate their currency.
If your brother-in -law is out of work and your sister is sleeping at your house BUY AMERICAN. If you Buy American products, that means more Americans are going to find jobs.
Seems too simple to believe, but true.
This has tilted the justice corporations can find prosecuting violations at the ITC.
The ITC has to be statutorily restructured.
This can be easily done- the hard part is insulating it from any governmental pressure to do the Chinese favors.
The first step has to be to stop borrowing from China, stop selling them T bills or government bonds. Maybe then we can trade with them on a fair level playing field and they will stop acting like a bunch of communists.
They own us. We borrow too much from them to fight our wars of "choice." Another reason not to appropriate another doomed "surge."
This has disasterous consequences on American competitiveness. The Chinese don't abide by the WTO rules. They pay lipservice only to the trade agreements that they break with impunity and without serious consequence. They hold too much market power for industries seeking a foothold there or use of cheap labor with factories there. They boldly misappropriate intellectual property, they flood the market with cheap goods. They manipulate their currency.
If your brother-in -law is out of work and your sister is sleeping at your house BUY AMERICAN. If you Buy American products, that means more Americans are going to find jobs.
Seems too simple to believe, but true.
This has tilted the justice corporations can find prosecuting violations at the ITC.
The ITC has to be statutorily restructured.
This can be easily done- the hard part is insulating it from any governmental pressure to do the Chinese favors.
The first step has to be to stop borrowing from China, stop selling them T bills or government bonds. Maybe then we can trade with them on a fair level playing field and they will stop acting like a bunch of communists.
Proud To Be An American
Proud It's Made In America
http://socialsecurity.ourfuture.org/
That was the general theme of the brilliant conference sponsored by Robert Borsage, Roger Hickey, the Institute for America's Future in partnership with the Alliance For American Manufacturing.
What a thoroughly impressive crowd of people thinking deeply about the future of the country. What an honor and a privilege to get to hear the speakers that came to the Washington Court Hotel to address the people trying to make a difference now and in the years to come. Big Thank You to all the organizers, especially Roger Hickey and Robert Borsage.
Imagine an America where we don't make anything, where wealth is just financial transactions on e-paper, where there are no factories in which we make anything to export. In such a scenario how would we fare fighting a war against a tyrant threatening the western world such as took place in WWII. If we had no steel industry how would we make tanks, how would we make helicopters to special order, how would we outfit our ships?
Lest you think this a ludicrous prospect, speakers at this event were there to remind us that there is a frightening trend taking over international trade- the China Cheat factor where subquality goods (even Steel) are flooding a market with stocked surpluses to under bid any US competitor and dump on our markets with subquality product. The Bay Bridge which has experienced collapses and fractures bid out its segmented steel to the Chinese who produced and shipped it cheaper than Pittsburgh could make it. Knowing what he knows, Ed Rendell, the Governor of Pennsylvania declared that he will never ride on the Bay Bridge.
Ed Rendell is someone who should be listened to intently when considering Industrial Policy. Let's start there. Consider an Intentional Industrial Policy and a Trade Policy that actually favors Americans and things Made in America. Pennsylvania has been at the forefront of finding other 'green' uses for closed steel plants revitalizing communities.
The story was echoed by a Senior Executive at Corning. Corning, famous for the Corningwear that your grandma made every casserole dish in, it has now been converted into a manufacturer of solar cells- a green innovation.
The issue of jobs in America, and not outsourcing overseas but keeping jobs in America helps keep industry in America and this directly translates into a National Security issue. When you rely on other countries for the components of your military needs you make yourself intolerably vulnerable. It's not just that we like to keep families fed in America (and what would be wrong with that) or towns fully functioning with a strong tax base (and what would be wrong with that)
or that the green revolution saves the planet (what's wrong with that) but that if we don't adopt a well conceived Industrial Policy and Trade Policy we will not be able to defend or protect ourselves much less our lifestyles.
Ed Rendell noted that T. Boone Pickens was crazy-like a fox. He believed in Natural Gas as a huge source of renewable clean energy that could help pave the way out of the woods of foreign fossil fuel dependence. We have coal in abundance in America- clean coal technology is something with carbon capture technologies that should be invested in.
All of this takes an intentional redirection of policy and assets to fund a program that will beat our competitors (the Chinese) to the commercialization of R&D that we develop. Strong Intellectual property law enforcement of Chinese cheaters has to happen at the ITC level which should have as a component Federal Enforcement, not just private enforcement that is somehow insulated from the coercive pressures beholden to Chinese market controls. This would require a restructuring of the ITC such that it should have something like the EEOC has, a Federal investigative component and Federal Prosecution component where the government is fighting for American Industry. It could be done somehow under the umbrella of Commerce. It needs to be rethought- because American Industry is not adequately protected from piracy and intellectual property theft.
The remarkable thing about the conference is that it was jointly hosted by the Alliance for American Manufacturing, which is an organization comprised of both management and labor in the Steel Industry that is being replicated in other industries. They both see the need to work together to serve everyone's common interests in making American Industry strong. I grew up with stories of Westinghouse in Pittsburgh hiring private security guards to guard my mother's house during labor negotiations because my grandfather was a Vice President and chief management labor negotiation attorney who was visited by "Union Goons." I also had a father who did a few summers working in the Pittsburgh "Mills"- So against the backdrop of this sort of historic management-labor hostility it is deeply refreshing that labor and management have created a productive mutually respectful Alliance to help rebuild an industry on the skids. "Will American Steel Survive" (paraphrased) was the theme of this year's Steel conference noted the CEO of US Steel. It is frightening that this is even a serious question.
The Conference sounded a Wake Up Call.
We have to get real about the sort of melt-down we are witnessing, and we have to now buckle down, put all our cards on the table, and figure out a way that we don't implode. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has to work with the AFL-CIO, the "union goons" have to work with the Daddy Warbucks- because we are all Americans who love our country.
From concept to creation, we have to figure out how to fix this together.
http://socialsecurity.ourfuture.org/
That was the general theme of the brilliant conference sponsored by Robert Borsage, Roger Hickey, the Institute for America's Future in partnership with the Alliance For American Manufacturing.
What a thoroughly impressive crowd of people thinking deeply about the future of the country. What an honor and a privilege to get to hear the speakers that came to the Washington Court Hotel to address the people trying to make a difference now and in the years to come. Big Thank You to all the organizers, especially Roger Hickey and Robert Borsage.
Imagine an America where we don't make anything, where wealth is just financial transactions on e-paper, where there are no factories in which we make anything to export. In such a scenario how would we fare fighting a war against a tyrant threatening the western world such as took place in WWII. If we had no steel industry how would we make tanks, how would we make helicopters to special order, how would we outfit our ships?
Lest you think this a ludicrous prospect, speakers at this event were there to remind us that there is a frightening trend taking over international trade- the China Cheat factor where subquality goods (even Steel) are flooding a market with stocked surpluses to under bid any US competitor and dump on our markets with subquality product. The Bay Bridge which has experienced collapses and fractures bid out its segmented steel to the Chinese who produced and shipped it cheaper than Pittsburgh could make it. Knowing what he knows, Ed Rendell, the Governor of Pennsylvania declared that he will never ride on the Bay Bridge.
Ed Rendell is someone who should be listened to intently when considering Industrial Policy. Let's start there. Consider an Intentional Industrial Policy and a Trade Policy that actually favors Americans and things Made in America. Pennsylvania has been at the forefront of finding other 'green' uses for closed steel plants revitalizing communities.
The story was echoed by a Senior Executive at Corning. Corning, famous for the Corningwear that your grandma made every casserole dish in, it has now been converted into a manufacturer of solar cells- a green innovation.
The issue of jobs in America, and not outsourcing overseas but keeping jobs in America helps keep industry in America and this directly translates into a National Security issue. When you rely on other countries for the components of your military needs you make yourself intolerably vulnerable. It's not just that we like to keep families fed in America (and what would be wrong with that) or towns fully functioning with a strong tax base (and what would be wrong with that)
or that the green revolution saves the planet (what's wrong with that) but that if we don't adopt a well conceived Industrial Policy and Trade Policy we will not be able to defend or protect ourselves much less our lifestyles.
Ed Rendell noted that T. Boone Pickens was crazy-like a fox. He believed in Natural Gas as a huge source of renewable clean energy that could help pave the way out of the woods of foreign fossil fuel dependence. We have coal in abundance in America- clean coal technology is something with carbon capture technologies that should be invested in.
All of this takes an intentional redirection of policy and assets to fund a program that will beat our competitors (the Chinese) to the commercialization of R&D that we develop. Strong Intellectual property law enforcement of Chinese cheaters has to happen at the ITC level which should have as a component Federal Enforcement, not just private enforcement that is somehow insulated from the coercive pressures beholden to Chinese market controls. This would require a restructuring of the ITC such that it should have something like the EEOC has, a Federal investigative component and Federal Prosecution component where the government is fighting for American Industry. It could be done somehow under the umbrella of Commerce. It needs to be rethought- because American Industry is not adequately protected from piracy and intellectual property theft.
The remarkable thing about the conference is that it was jointly hosted by the Alliance for American Manufacturing, which is an organization comprised of both management and labor in the Steel Industry that is being replicated in other industries. They both see the need to work together to serve everyone's common interests in making American Industry strong. I grew up with stories of Westinghouse in Pittsburgh hiring private security guards to guard my mother's house during labor negotiations because my grandfather was a Vice President and chief management labor negotiation attorney who was visited by "Union Goons." I also had a father who did a few summers working in the Pittsburgh "Mills"- So against the backdrop of this sort of historic management-labor hostility it is deeply refreshing that labor and management have created a productive mutually respectful Alliance to help rebuild an industry on the skids. "Will American Steel Survive" (paraphrased) was the theme of this year's Steel conference noted the CEO of US Steel. It is frightening that this is even a serious question.
The Conference sounded a Wake Up Call.
We have to get real about the sort of melt-down we are witnessing, and we have to now buckle down, put all our cards on the table, and figure out a way that we don't implode. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has to work with the AFL-CIO, the "union goons" have to work with the Daddy Warbucks- because we are all Americans who love our country.
From concept to creation, we have to figure out how to fix this together.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
RUMI FORUM PEACE AND DIALOGUE AWARDS DC
Rare Appearance by John Conyers, Chair of House Judiciary.
The Rumi Forum this week hosted it's awards. The awardees were diverse and included a wise-cracking Nun (who has written a book undermining Papal infallability by tracking all Papal policy positions and statements which have changed over the ages which she was sure would get her in trouble) who runs an interfaith public radio show at 3:00 pm on WAMU every Sunday, an esteemed Catholic U. professor of ancient middle eastern languages, Congress-persons and other esteemed notables.
John Conyers, it is worth noting made a delightful appearance at which he indicated that he ran on a platform on "Jobs, Justice and Peace" more years ago than most of us remember but it is still as timely a message and mission as when he first ran for Congress. He very strongly denounced the anticipated "Surge" of troops in Afghanistan and decidedly indicated he would let his buddy Obama know that such a move would not solve ultimately the crisis that country faces. He believes if we surge or not we will still be facing the same mess, more or less, which cannot be solved militarily.
The room, full of people with a mind to bridge the religious divide to make hostilities cease and peace reign heartily applauded this House veteran who reminded us that he is the only sitting House member who was officially endorsed by Martin Luther King, Jr. himself. That's how old he is, but don't tell him, because he is as boldly vibrant as any of the youth in the House now. It was a huge thrill to get to see him address the collection of prayer warriers at the Rumi Forum event.
Many thanks to the Forum for hosting such a delightfully inspiring evening.
http://www.catholicsinalliance.org/node/21265
The Rumi Forum this week hosted it's awards. The awardees were diverse and included a wise-cracking Nun (who has written a book undermining Papal infallability by tracking all Papal policy positions and statements which have changed over the ages which she was sure would get her in trouble) who runs an interfaith public radio show at 3:00 pm on WAMU every Sunday, an esteemed Catholic U. professor of ancient middle eastern languages, Congress-persons and other esteemed notables.
John Conyers, it is worth noting made a delightful appearance at which he indicated that he ran on a platform on "Jobs, Justice and Peace" more years ago than most of us remember but it is still as timely a message and mission as when he first ran for Congress. He very strongly denounced the anticipated "Surge" of troops in Afghanistan and decidedly indicated he would let his buddy Obama know that such a move would not solve ultimately the crisis that country faces. He believes if we surge or not we will still be facing the same mess, more or less, which cannot be solved militarily.
The room, full of people with a mind to bridge the religious divide to make hostilities cease and peace reign heartily applauded this House veteran who reminded us that he is the only sitting House member who was officially endorsed by Martin Luther King, Jr. himself. That's how old he is, but don't tell him, because he is as boldly vibrant as any of the youth in the House now. It was a huge thrill to get to see him address the collection of prayer warriers at the Rumi Forum event.
Many thanks to the Forum for hosting such a delightfully inspiring evening.
http://www.catholicsinalliance.org/node/21265
Fashion Police Strike Again
This time in Indonesia
Pants are OK if not skin tight and if your shirt is not tucked in and if you have a skirt or long shirt over them covering to your ankles. While a floppy blouse not tucked in might by Western standards be deemed a bit unkempt, it seems mandatory under Sharia Law in predominantly Muslim Indonesia where modest dressing is regulated finely. Beyonce is even out of bounds. I would be shocked if Madonna or Aguilar or Britney could even get a Visa. The silver lining here: if you can't afford the regulation dress the government will buy you a skirt. Perhaps you can redeem it for a Macy's or Saks' gift card. http://www.stylelist.com/blog/2009/10/28/indonesian-province-says-no-tight-pants-on-women/?icid=mainmaindl8link5http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stylelist.com%2Fblog%2F2009%2F10%2F28%2Findonesian-province-says-no-tight-pants-on-women%2F
Pants are OK if not skin tight and if your shirt is not tucked in and if you have a skirt or long shirt over them covering to your ankles. While a floppy blouse not tucked in might by Western standards be deemed a bit unkempt, it seems mandatory under Sharia Law in predominantly Muslim Indonesia where modest dressing is regulated finely. Beyonce is even out of bounds. I would be shocked if Madonna or Aguilar or Britney could even get a Visa. The silver lining here: if you can't afford the regulation dress the government will buy you a skirt. Perhaps you can redeem it for a Macy's or Saks' gift card. http://www.stylelist.com/blog/2009/10/28/indonesian-province-says-no-tight-pants-on-women/?icid=mainmaindl8link5http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stylelist.com%2Fblog%2F2009%2F10%2F28%2Findonesian-province-says-no-tight-pants-on-women%2F
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
All that Glitters Isn't Gold.
Not even Gold Plated Veneer.
And the Pope's move on Anglicans in the Church is not an Endorsement of a Married Clergy
I knew it was too good to be true. This Zenit article http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-27352 makes clear that the Pope will provide through the ordinate mechanism married Episcopalian/Anglican clergy means by which they can enter into the catholic priesthood. Anyone already in Seminary and married doesn't have to get a divorce (nice of him.) But ALL FUTURE SEMINARIANS of this new Anglican/Episcopalian fold have to enter CATHOLIC seminaries and be celibate. They have to fill the rosters of that new enormous 8-12 million dollar Dominican House extension somehow. And by the way, married Episcopalian/Anglican clergy already have this vehicle to enter the catholic priesthood.
It's not like the Pope is finally agreeing now that the state of married clergy is as holy as the celibate one- this "institutional discipline" which serves an estimated 30 percent latent repressed gay men who are responsible for over 2 Billion in damages for sodomistic sexual assault and other crimes against children , it's just that they are biting the bullet and allowing a few wives in to cover the bills for the temporary being, and anyone going forward has to be free of any conjugal attachment to women. Because that is holier than the emotional polygamous philandering tolerated now.
My take on it is that this is a whole lot less about getting it theologically right than about the bucks. After all, how many diocese can afford to go belly up without people wondering if it is as morally bankrupt as the coffers.
And a sad spectacle appeared on the evening news last night when coverage of the debate in DC City Counsel chambers regarding whether in the "same sex marriage" bills there should be allowed a referendum vote of all DC's citizens, Susan Gibbs, the PR Director of the Archdiocese launches into the speculation (paraphrased) 'What if gay people getting married want to rent our Halls? Can we be sued for discrimination if we don't let them?" As the mouthpiece of an organization that insists upon it's ENTIRE clergy living together in de facto committed same sex marriages under threat of defamation regarding their character and immediate termination from their jobs if they wake up to the hypocrisy and perversion of it, I thought to myself "at least someone wants to get married and call it what it is!"
They will probably find a way to build in a 'religious exemption' so religions can do their thing. The buildings are private, they can reserve the right to let whomever they want in or not. It wouldn't be any more discriminatory than kicking someone out of the Dominican House for wearing garments deemed too immodest (showing more arm than a habit) or being a "distraction" or having the unmitigated audacity of being female while praying- all of which they have done. (It's part of their Formation to beat up on anyone tempting them to be healthy heterosexuals-and they have no idea how sick this is.) They get away with TONS of completely ignorant institutional discrimination. I am sure they will find a way to buy another random exemption for gay weddings.
Oh, and those Presbyterians? They aren't even asking to be catholic so don't bother. That President of Princeton John Witherspoon would rather rot in a Scottish castle prison than side with Jacobians to make England Catholic again, and he did before being exiled to America.
POSTSCRIPT:
If you are wondering how this will all play out, you are not alone- see the America mag. editor's comments: http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=11963
Note that this entire issue has caused more than a bit of hostility with motives questioned as fiercely as implementing mechanisms and dissenting theologians like Hans Kung getting formally (what's news) castigated.
Some see it as the spirit of ecumenicism it appears and others see it rather as a kick in the pants to the doctrine of married clergy, viewed as more puristically what Jesus intended in appointing Peter, a clearly married man, as the head of his church- a doctrine embraced by all of Christendom outside the Roman rite. Byzantine, Eastern Orthodox, and all Protestant churches acknowledge this Petrine Fact: Peter was a Married Man- to a flesh and blood woman. While some in the Catholic world like to view those who hold this belief as anti-catholic, nothing could be further than the truth, because "catholic" means universal and the Roman Rite is in the minority in holding that only unmarried men qualify as Priests.
And the Pope's move on Anglicans in the Church is not an Endorsement of a Married Clergy
I knew it was too good to be true. This Zenit article http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-27352 makes clear that the Pope will provide through the ordinate mechanism married Episcopalian/Anglican clergy means by which they can enter into the catholic priesthood. Anyone already in Seminary and married doesn't have to get a divorce (nice of him.) But ALL FUTURE SEMINARIANS of this new Anglican/Episcopalian fold have to enter CATHOLIC seminaries and be celibate. They have to fill the rosters of that new enormous 8-12 million dollar Dominican House extension somehow. And by the way, married Episcopalian/Anglican clergy already have this vehicle to enter the catholic priesthood.
It's not like the Pope is finally agreeing now that the state of married clergy is as holy as the celibate one- this "institutional discipline" which serves an estimated 30 percent latent repressed gay men who are responsible for over 2 Billion in damages for sodomistic sexual assault and other crimes against children , it's just that they are biting the bullet and allowing a few wives in to cover the bills for the temporary being, and anyone going forward has to be free of any conjugal attachment to women. Because that is holier than the emotional polygamous philandering tolerated now.
My take on it is that this is a whole lot less about getting it theologically right than about the bucks. After all, how many diocese can afford to go belly up without people wondering if it is as morally bankrupt as the coffers.
And a sad spectacle appeared on the evening news last night when coverage of the debate in DC City Counsel chambers regarding whether in the "same sex marriage" bills there should be allowed a referendum vote of all DC's citizens, Susan Gibbs, the PR Director of the Archdiocese launches into the speculation (paraphrased) 'What if gay people getting married want to rent our Halls? Can we be sued for discrimination if we don't let them?" As the mouthpiece of an organization that insists upon it's ENTIRE clergy living together in de facto committed same sex marriages under threat of defamation regarding their character and immediate termination from their jobs if they wake up to the hypocrisy and perversion of it, I thought to myself "at least someone wants to get married and call it what it is!"
They will probably find a way to build in a 'religious exemption' so religions can do their thing. The buildings are private, they can reserve the right to let whomever they want in or not. It wouldn't be any more discriminatory than kicking someone out of the Dominican House for wearing garments deemed too immodest (showing more arm than a habit) or being a "distraction" or having the unmitigated audacity of being female while praying- all of which they have done. (It's part of their Formation to beat up on anyone tempting them to be healthy heterosexuals-and they have no idea how sick this is.) They get away with TONS of completely ignorant institutional discrimination. I am sure they will find a way to buy another random exemption for gay weddings.
Oh, and those Presbyterians? They aren't even asking to be catholic so don't bother. That President of Princeton John Witherspoon would rather rot in a Scottish castle prison than side with Jacobians to make England Catholic again, and he did before being exiled to America.
POSTSCRIPT:
If you are wondering how this will all play out, you are not alone- see the America mag. editor's comments: http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=11963
Note that this entire issue has caused more than a bit of hostility with motives questioned as fiercely as implementing mechanisms and dissenting theologians like Hans Kung getting formally (what's news) castigated.
Some see it as the spirit of ecumenicism it appears and others see it rather as a kick in the pants to the doctrine of married clergy, viewed as more puristically what Jesus intended in appointing Peter, a clearly married man, as the head of his church- a doctrine embraced by all of Christendom outside the Roman rite. Byzantine, Eastern Orthodox, and all Protestant churches acknowledge this Petrine Fact: Peter was a Married Man- to a flesh and blood woman. While some in the Catholic world like to view those who hold this belief as anti-catholic, nothing could be further than the truth, because "catholic" means universal and the Roman Rite is in the minority in holding that only unmarried men qualify as Priests.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Thank You
To That America Loves Fatima guy for this wonderful picture.
http://americaneedsfatima.blogspot.com/2009/10/hummingbird-precious-gem-created-by-god.html
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Sins of the Fathers Visiting the Third Generation
Have You Ever Paid For Anyone's Abortion or Had One?
That should be on the 'character' qualification questionaire for higher office anywhere. I think it's more relevant to anyone's character than "have you ever been sued."
If it were, then we could see exactly which congress persons were speaking from self-defense of their own moral failings in this regard tilting the public debate. Doesn't necessarily make them bad legislatures, just makes them biased because they prefer not to think of themselves as "pre-infanticidal homicide suspects."
I would like to know-wouldn't you? Who sitting in the Congress of either House or the White House has had or paid for an abortion. Be honest now.
I recall a story once told by my uncle who played football at Harvard with a very famous politician (if you read this blog regularly you will know who I am talking about.) My uncle knew that there were two guys he played football with who were at the time dating the same girl.
Could have been a 'Smithy' Could have been a "Cliffy"- don't care. The story goes that the girl got pregnant. It was one of the two Harvard football players' fault. One of them was from a very famous family and refused to take credit. No DNA testing on the fetus was done. One of them paid for an abortion.
Now, can you imagine what scandal it would have been if the one from the famous family had a child out of wedlock with someone while in college? I can tell you that it very well might have derailed a few political careers. No one knows about this today- except perhaps for my uncle and a few living Harvard football players. No one knows for sure whose kid got "terminated."
All they know is that the problem was solved- and it would have been a monsterous problem.
So someone with experiences like that in their family might have a bias-a strong legislative bias- to protect the ability to do this. They might have an inculturated belief that the knocking off of an invitro unwanted barely acknowledged little fetus is in the higher good and interest of all parties concerned.
So that is why I believe it imperative, as the "abortion" debate is now and ever shall be front and center of the responsible social policy discussion (45 Million Americans were "terminated"
since Row in 1973) that we all know who has paid for an abortion and who has had one.
Think I'm not serious?
That should be on the 'character' qualification questionaire for higher office anywhere. I think it's more relevant to anyone's character than "have you ever been sued."
If it were, then we could see exactly which congress persons were speaking from self-defense of their own moral failings in this regard tilting the public debate. Doesn't necessarily make them bad legislatures, just makes them biased because they prefer not to think of themselves as "pre-infanticidal homicide suspects."
I would like to know-wouldn't you? Who sitting in the Congress of either House or the White House has had or paid for an abortion. Be honest now.
I recall a story once told by my uncle who played football at Harvard with a very famous politician (if you read this blog regularly you will know who I am talking about.) My uncle knew that there were two guys he played football with who were at the time dating the same girl.
Could have been a 'Smithy' Could have been a "Cliffy"- don't care. The story goes that the girl got pregnant. It was one of the two Harvard football players' fault. One of them was from a very famous family and refused to take credit. No DNA testing on the fetus was done. One of them paid for an abortion.
Now, can you imagine what scandal it would have been if the one from the famous family had a child out of wedlock with someone while in college? I can tell you that it very well might have derailed a few political careers. No one knows about this today- except perhaps for my uncle and a few living Harvard football players. No one knows for sure whose kid got "terminated."
All they know is that the problem was solved- and it would have been a monsterous problem.
So someone with experiences like that in their family might have a bias-a strong legislative bias- to protect the ability to do this. They might have an inculturated belief that the knocking off of an invitro unwanted barely acknowledged little fetus is in the higher good and interest of all parties concerned.
So that is why I believe it imperative, as the "abortion" debate is now and ever shall be front and center of the responsible social policy discussion (45 Million Americans were "terminated"
since Row in 1973) that we all know who has paid for an abortion and who has had one.
Think I'm not serious?
Imagination At Work- Brilliant Guys
Can I Have One?
The latest GE genius involves a portable ultra-sound- no bigger than your I-pod, that can be used for monitoring fetal life as well as other uses- like checking that persistent lymph node to see if it is an infected follicle or the start of a breast cancerous lump. Ask your doctor how many other fun things you can see with one of these- an absessed tooth rotting your brains out? Could it even stop heart attacks by detecting blockages in advance? When is the home model coming out in kitchen avacado green?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/22/ge-vscan-portable-ultrasound-earns-the-leonard-mccoy-seal-of-app/
People might find great use for it in 'sidewalk' counseling to educate people about what they are thinking of "terminating"- hint- it isn't just a blob of undefined tissue and knocking it off isn't like your nose job or getting your wisdom teeth out- it's actually moving with a heartbeat there. In less than nine months it is going to hold your finger.
I recommend every Parish have one handy -especially for their "Gabriel" projects and the troops who go praying with the Rosary around Planned Non-Parenthood.
The latest GE genius involves a portable ultra-sound- no bigger than your I-pod, that can be used for monitoring fetal life as well as other uses- like checking that persistent lymph node to see if it is an infected follicle or the start of a breast cancerous lump. Ask your doctor how many other fun things you can see with one of these- an absessed tooth rotting your brains out? Could it even stop heart attacks by detecting blockages in advance? When is the home model coming out in kitchen avacado green?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/22/ge-vscan-portable-ultrasound-earns-the-leonard-mccoy-seal-of-app/
People might find great use for it in 'sidewalk' counseling to educate people about what they are thinking of "terminating"- hint- it isn't just a blob of undefined tissue and knocking it off isn't like your nose job or getting your wisdom teeth out- it's actually moving with a heartbeat there. In less than nine months it is going to hold your finger.
I recommend every Parish have one handy -especially for their "Gabriel" projects and the troops who go praying with the Rosary around Planned Non-Parenthood.
It's Still A Man's World
Married Priests Model Biblical Honor
When one reads the qualifications for "Bishop" in the New Testament, one of the first qualifications out of the Box is that the person must be "married to one wife." Not a polygamous harem of church basement ladies, not none. ONE. Why? Because this models an essential character trait of honor. It speaks to loyalty, faithfulness, moral sexual integrity and respect for women. It means a Bishop cannot be a trifler with emotions, a dallier with hearts, an emotional con man snagging and snaring a bunch of women. He can't be pimped out for the Gospel.
He has one wife. He has a house in order. It is the first listed qualification. Top of the list of qualifications. Key-integral and essential to the proper functioning of a healthy church.
A person who does not know how to keep a wife in a marriage has little experience with the emotional needs of a woman or the demands of family. If a man has not dealt with family issues he does not have street cred on issues touching on families, which includes family planning and contraceptive issues as well as the abortion dialogue.
When you have an all male hierarchy it is too easy to ignore a woman's emotional or mental health and be disrespectful if not outright harmful. With all the new rules admitting congregations of Anglicans into the Catholic Fold with their married clergy what you rarely if ever hear concerning the married priesthood debate is "how do the women feel." In the Catholic world it is considered almost "holy" to persecute women who get too entangled emotionally with priests, or who create by the mere fact of their attractive existence a litigation threat according to those monitoring the abuse litigation. This causes a sort of spiritual cannibalism where people are getting paid to persecute other people in the fold for fear that the abuse will generate inevitable litigation.
Gayness in the priesthood is tolerated. Sex scandals with minors have completely bankrupted entire diocese in America, with Wilmington, Delaware being the latest, and over 2 Billion dollars paid to settle these disputes (which have involved things like people actually being so distraught at their abuse by their trusted clergy that they literally kill themselves).
God is Wise beyond our understanding. He gave us a pretty clear plan for his church. It involves a married clergy hierarchy.
It involves respect for women.
It is a-bloody-bout time that the Pope recognized that married clergy are in God's plan for his church.
When one reads the qualifications for "Bishop" in the New Testament, one of the first qualifications out of the Box is that the person must be "married to one wife." Not a polygamous harem of church basement ladies, not none. ONE. Why? Because this models an essential character trait of honor. It speaks to loyalty, faithfulness, moral sexual integrity and respect for women. It means a Bishop cannot be a trifler with emotions, a dallier with hearts, an emotional con man snagging and snaring a bunch of women. He can't be pimped out for the Gospel.
He has one wife. He has a house in order. It is the first listed qualification. Top of the list of qualifications. Key-integral and essential to the proper functioning of a healthy church.
A person who does not know how to keep a wife in a marriage has little experience with the emotional needs of a woman or the demands of family. If a man has not dealt with family issues he does not have street cred on issues touching on families, which includes family planning and contraceptive issues as well as the abortion dialogue.
When you have an all male hierarchy it is too easy to ignore a woman's emotional or mental health and be disrespectful if not outright harmful. With all the new rules admitting congregations of Anglicans into the Catholic Fold with their married clergy what you rarely if ever hear concerning the married priesthood debate is "how do the women feel." In the Catholic world it is considered almost "holy" to persecute women who get too entangled emotionally with priests, or who create by the mere fact of their attractive existence a litigation threat according to those monitoring the abuse litigation. This causes a sort of spiritual cannibalism where people are getting paid to persecute other people in the fold for fear that the abuse will generate inevitable litigation.
Gayness in the priesthood is tolerated. Sex scandals with minors have completely bankrupted entire diocese in America, with Wilmington, Delaware being the latest, and over 2 Billion dollars paid to settle these disputes (which have involved things like people actually being so distraught at their abuse by their trusted clergy that they literally kill themselves).
God is Wise beyond our understanding. He gave us a pretty clear plan for his church. It involves a married clergy hierarchy.
It involves respect for women.
It is a-bloody-bout time that the Pope recognized that married clergy are in God's plan for his church.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Fess Up to the Mess Up: Can We TAWK?
Peace through Dialogue, But First Fess Up to the Mess Up so I can Forgive You.
This is the theory behind the program underlying the "Abrahamic Family Reunion" project.
The grand mia culpa has to come before hurts can be swallowed, healed and forgiveness offered. Or at least it is a good first step to any reconciliation. It is enormously healing to hear someone say they acknowledge what they did was wrong or harmful and they regret it. Then the 'I am sorry' has some meaning. Otherwise it is an empty gesture that sits on a trust vacuum.
This, explained Joe Montville to the Rumi Forum (http://www.rumiforum.org/) this week in discussing the efforts of the project he founded [see, http://www.abrahamicfamilyreunion.org/] has to be done with some authority in cultural groups for cultural or ethnic sins to be forgiven to reconcile conflicting peoples to peaceful co-existence.
Sometimes the harm was done deliberately, and the harming agent still thinks unjustifiably that they were justified or right in doing it. Both sides of the Crusades thought the slaughter served God. In that case forgiveness is downright nearly impossible one might think- But not with Christ- all things are possible with Christ who, after all, said "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Jesus forgives people even when and while they don't have a clue how insanely idiotic they were, how wrong-headed (perhaps evil even) even while well -meaningly they think that they are in God's will. Every person who condemned Jesus was sure they were doing God's will and work. People on both sides of any Holy War or Religious war always think that they are on the side of the Angels. The value structures that perpetuate one's belief in one's rightness do not always concurrently jibe with the conflicting party's value structures. Self-delusion persists as fiercely as bad translations of religious texts.
The Abrahamic Family Reunion tries it appears to humbly bring people together- like one big happy family, airing grievances, and being totally honest about where religion went off the rails.
Healing the Abrahamic family is Montville's goal after a long career as an official State Department diplomat who got tired of taking shuttles to the National Cathedral to attend funerals of his fallen collegues who served in the Middle East. He coined the "track II" moniker for unofficial diplomatic parallel planes of more personal individual cultural healing approaches.
Montville touched on some of the things intellectual honesty begs more exposure of: Pogroms, the slaughter of Jews in towns wholesale through history, the bad doctrine or dogma that pinned the death of Jesus before Vatican II onto "the Jews"- collectively which fuelled anti-semitism in Europe that still bubbles under its currents.
Intellectual honesty about whose butter swathes your bread is key. Corruption breeds compulsions that are destructive.
The Peace through Dialogue folks it seems are not just about jabberwalky flap-jaw-boning for the sake of it. They are after the roots of the discontent to see if root canal is feasible. Root canal is always painful, but once the rot is identified, it has to be pulled out or the whole mouth remains infected. Yes, the Catholic church must admit, he said that it engaged in some evil happenings, just as all sides of any religious conflict must admit that it went over the top.
When everyone sits down and admits the errors of their ways, then we can say "I am sorry" and mean it, hold hands and sing Cumbayah, he seemed to say. I'm game for a big chat if I don't have to hold my breath at the same time.
Forgive them Father, They Don't Know What the Hell They Are Doing.
----------------
At the forefront of the pedagogy of peace inter-faith initiatives is the Rumi Forum in Washington, DC and internationally. Many thanks for the fine lectures they regularly offer to the public. See their website for events, www.rumiforum.org and especially sign up for the upcoming Religion and Peace in the Middle East event on Nov.18th.
Thursday (tomorrow) Saint Matthews Cathedral in DC is hosting a talk on Islam and Catholicism at 7:00pm.
This is the theory behind the program underlying the "Abrahamic Family Reunion" project.
The grand mia culpa has to come before hurts can be swallowed, healed and forgiveness offered. Or at least it is a good first step to any reconciliation. It is enormously healing to hear someone say they acknowledge what they did was wrong or harmful and they regret it. Then the 'I am sorry' has some meaning. Otherwise it is an empty gesture that sits on a trust vacuum.
This, explained Joe Montville to the Rumi Forum (http://www.rumiforum.org/) this week in discussing the efforts of the project he founded [see, http://www.abrahamicfamilyreunion.org/] has to be done with some authority in cultural groups for cultural or ethnic sins to be forgiven to reconcile conflicting peoples to peaceful co-existence.
Sometimes the harm was done deliberately, and the harming agent still thinks unjustifiably that they were justified or right in doing it. Both sides of the Crusades thought the slaughter served God. In that case forgiveness is downright nearly impossible one might think- But not with Christ- all things are possible with Christ who, after all, said "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Jesus forgives people even when and while they don't have a clue how insanely idiotic they were, how wrong-headed (perhaps evil even) even while well -meaningly they think that they are in God's will. Every person who condemned Jesus was sure they were doing God's will and work. People on both sides of any Holy War or Religious war always think that they are on the side of the Angels. The value structures that perpetuate one's belief in one's rightness do not always concurrently jibe with the conflicting party's value structures. Self-delusion persists as fiercely as bad translations of religious texts.
The Abrahamic Family Reunion tries it appears to humbly bring people together- like one big happy family, airing grievances, and being totally honest about where religion went off the rails.
Healing the Abrahamic family is Montville's goal after a long career as an official State Department diplomat who got tired of taking shuttles to the National Cathedral to attend funerals of his fallen collegues who served in the Middle East. He coined the "track II" moniker for unofficial diplomatic parallel planes of more personal individual cultural healing approaches.
Montville touched on some of the things intellectual honesty begs more exposure of: Pogroms, the slaughter of Jews in towns wholesale through history, the bad doctrine or dogma that pinned the death of Jesus before Vatican II onto "the Jews"- collectively which fuelled anti-semitism in Europe that still bubbles under its currents.
Intellectual honesty about whose butter swathes your bread is key. Corruption breeds compulsions that are destructive.
The Peace through Dialogue folks it seems are not just about jabberwalky flap-jaw-boning for the sake of it. They are after the roots of the discontent to see if root canal is feasible. Root canal is always painful, but once the rot is identified, it has to be pulled out or the whole mouth remains infected. Yes, the Catholic church must admit, he said that it engaged in some evil happenings, just as all sides of any religious conflict must admit that it went over the top.
When everyone sits down and admits the errors of their ways, then we can say "I am sorry" and mean it, hold hands and sing Cumbayah, he seemed to say. I'm game for a big chat if I don't have to hold my breath at the same time.
Forgive them Father, They Don't Know What the Hell They Are Doing.
----------------
At the forefront of the pedagogy of peace inter-faith initiatives is the Rumi Forum in Washington, DC and internationally. Many thanks for the fine lectures they regularly offer to the public. See their website for events, www.rumiforum.org and especially sign up for the upcoming Religion and Peace in the Middle East event on Nov.18th.
Thursday (tomorrow) Saint Matthews Cathedral in DC is hosting a talk on Islam and Catholicism at 7:00pm.
From the Front Lines of the Health Scare
Many Thanks to the grand poobah Supreme Knight of Columbus Potomac Chapter
and the CIC (Catholic Info Center)
Can you think of another name- it sounds too much like the Klan and you are really a nice guy. Thanks anyway for airing the issues with the laundry on the Health Care agenda. Here is what I learned. Catholics still care that Obama not go back on his word (spoken on National TV before the entire country who cared to tune in) that Abortion NOT be in any federally funded coverage. They care so much that the Bishops are gearing up to tank the whole thing unless it is expressly excluded (they think they can and apparently you aint seen nuthin yet with the town hall craziness). Why should this matter when current insurance is partially subsidized and elective abortions are covered in half the current private insurance now anyway? Because the country really by all recent polls, does not want to overtly pay for "elective" oooops abortions. Your sleazy mistake, your sleazy problem is the sentiment, I don't want to pay for it. Make your "choices" before you get pregnant-after refusing to make the choice not to sleep with someone you don't want a child with, or not to have a bottle of merlot on an empty stomach, or making the choice not to separate or get your tubes tied, you want the rest of us to pay for as many abortions as you want-just because you want them?
Bad enough we will have to pay for the elevated health costs due to steady diets of soda, donuts, double bacon cheezeburgers, and transfatified doritos with an astoundingly large number of "morbidly obese" folks racking up all the health care needs. Bad enough we have to pay for drunk driving accidents, folks who refuse to get any more exercise than the walk from their cars to the grocery store and the chronic couch potatos. Bad enough we pay for smokers, people who abuse prescription drugs and those making other self inflicted health hazards a national sport- the American people just do not want to pay for your elective abortion after your sleazy irresponsible night out at the clubs or with the man of last years dreams who dumped you for the secretary and you didn't figure it out soon enough. They don't want to pay for your failure to ask the hard questions like "do you really truly love me always even if I get pregnant" or "are you sure you can support another child" or "how are we going to pay for this baby if I get pregnant."
So far it hasn't been expressly excluded and the bills that sought to expressly exclude them got shot down. So there is a concern out there that it is one of those sly slick piggy backing under the wire gotcha hidden clause costs we all will somehow shoulder.
No one has read all the concurrent bills cover to cover who thinks this, but everyone will be frightened into thinking it is there unless there is an affirmative disavowal. Obama just appears at too many Planned Parenthood functions on You-tube and looking too chummy with Naral, Emily's List, et al.
For the good of the country, and for the good of what is good in the rest of the combined bills, please just keep your word and exclude abortion expressly as clear as daylight to take the wind out of those sails. If you don't you get what you deserve. (The rest of us don't deserve it.)
If the "grow the F up and take responsibility for your own behavior" ethic doesn't persuade, there is always that dogged belief by the folks who don't want to pay for abortions that what an "abortion" is really is a misnomer for a "preinfanticidal murder" and it is a profound question of conscience. I am not a hit man. I am not paying a hit man. What-I look like John Gotti to you?
and the CIC (Catholic Info Center)
Can you think of another name- it sounds too much like the Klan and you are really a nice guy. Thanks anyway for airing the issues with the laundry on the Health Care agenda. Here is what I learned. Catholics still care that Obama not go back on his word (spoken on National TV before the entire country who cared to tune in) that Abortion NOT be in any federally funded coverage. They care so much that the Bishops are gearing up to tank the whole thing unless it is expressly excluded (they think they can and apparently you aint seen nuthin yet with the town hall craziness). Why should this matter when current insurance is partially subsidized and elective abortions are covered in half the current private insurance now anyway? Because the country really by all recent polls, does not want to overtly pay for "elective" oooops abortions. Your sleazy mistake, your sleazy problem is the sentiment, I don't want to pay for it. Make your "choices" before you get pregnant-after refusing to make the choice not to sleep with someone you don't want a child with, or not to have a bottle of merlot on an empty stomach, or making the choice not to separate or get your tubes tied, you want the rest of us to pay for as many abortions as you want-just because you want them?
Bad enough we will have to pay for the elevated health costs due to steady diets of soda, donuts, double bacon cheezeburgers, and transfatified doritos with an astoundingly large number of "morbidly obese" folks racking up all the health care needs. Bad enough we have to pay for drunk driving accidents, folks who refuse to get any more exercise than the walk from their cars to the grocery store and the chronic couch potatos. Bad enough we pay for smokers, people who abuse prescription drugs and those making other self inflicted health hazards a national sport- the American people just do not want to pay for your elective abortion after your sleazy irresponsible night out at the clubs or with the man of last years dreams who dumped you for the secretary and you didn't figure it out soon enough. They don't want to pay for your failure to ask the hard questions like "do you really truly love me always even if I get pregnant" or "are you sure you can support another child" or "how are we going to pay for this baby if I get pregnant."
So far it hasn't been expressly excluded and the bills that sought to expressly exclude them got shot down. So there is a concern out there that it is one of those sly slick piggy backing under the wire gotcha hidden clause costs we all will somehow shoulder.
No one has read all the concurrent bills cover to cover who thinks this, but everyone will be frightened into thinking it is there unless there is an affirmative disavowal. Obama just appears at too many Planned Parenthood functions on You-tube and looking too chummy with Naral, Emily's List, et al.
For the good of the country, and for the good of what is good in the rest of the combined bills, please just keep your word and exclude abortion expressly as clear as daylight to take the wind out of those sails. If you don't you get what you deserve. (The rest of us don't deserve it.)
If the "grow the F up and take responsibility for your own behavior" ethic doesn't persuade, there is always that dogged belief by the folks who don't want to pay for abortions that what an "abortion" is really is a misnomer for a "preinfanticidal murder" and it is a profound question of conscience. I am not a hit man. I am not paying a hit man. What-I look like John Gotti to you?
Theology Without Love
Is like Reading an ABA Journal without practicing Medicine.
Interesting but doesn't get you or anyone any healthier.
Theology without Faith is just academic- says the Pope.
(cut and paste to browser or click on H2O News link on right)
http://www.h2onews.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21244
What if what Jesus really meant when he said at the Wedding in Cana that his time had not yet come- Give me a break Mom, it's not miracle man time- I'm in the middle of getting married!
Interesting but doesn't get you or anyone any healthier.
Theology without Faith is just academic- says the Pope.
(cut and paste to browser or click on H2O News link on right)
http://www.h2onews.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21244
What if what Jesus really meant when he said at the Wedding in Cana that his time had not yet come- Give me a break Mom, it's not miracle man time- I'm in the middle of getting married!
How the Lying for a Living Crowd Sold You on A War Of Choice
And Made You Think It Was a Holy War.
Don't you Feel Schnookered Now! BIG OIL- They can buy anything- even the Pentagon.
(Cut and paste to browser)
\http://rawstory.com/2009/10/bryan-whitman-2/
Don't you Feel Schnookered Now! BIG OIL- They can buy anything- even the Pentagon.
(Cut and paste to browser)
\http://rawstory.com/2009/10/bryan-whitman-2/
Someone Tell Os Guiness
Watch more AOL News videos on AOL Video
So the Queen is left with only congregations with Gay and Women's ordinations?
Imagine what they are saying in Ireland- the prods and the harps are UNITED? Like Manchester United? What will become of the IRA if we all go to the same church? Is it possible JESUS really does love EVERYONE?
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
A Traditional Wedding; and a Princess Bride
Doesn't get much sweeter. CONGRATULATIONS Megan and Mark. Have fun in Fiji. [Yes, they are blood relatives on top of being my godkiddies:-) Please don't say 'what happened to you!']
So How Does A Nice Irish Catholic Girl From Philadelphia
Have a Son Who Rules one of the Richest Countries in the World?
She goes to Hollywood and marries a Prince-
Grace Kelly's Kid- the PRINCE of Monaco. Nice going homie.
http://www.h2onews.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21171
She goes to Hollywood and marries a Prince-
Grace Kelly's Kid- the PRINCE of Monaco. Nice going homie.
http://www.h2onews.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21171
Good Enough for Them, Good Enough For Me
I hear Etta James and Beyonce singing "At Last."
Lots more married priests as new rules allow conservative Episcopalians in full Catholic communion with their married clergy.
http://news.aol.com/article/vatican-creates-new-structure-to-ease/728295?icid=mainmaindl2link1http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fvatican-creates-new-structure-to-ease%2F728295
That cute American Papist pipsqueak chimes in also on this one- with his usual "I was born in the wrong Century" reactionary disbelief.
Lots more married priests as new rules allow conservative Episcopalians in full Catholic communion with their married clergy.
http://news.aol.com/article/vatican-creates-new-structure-to-ease/728295?icid=mainmaindl2link1http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fvatican-creates-new-structure-to-ease%2F728295
That cute American Papist pipsqueak chimes in also on this one- with his usual "I was born in the wrong Century" reactionary disbelief.
Non-Vanity plates
Cute--Some states have them, some don't. What say you? 
It's a constitutional thing- I say the First Amendment says this is fine.
It's a constitutional thing- I say the First Amendment says this is fine.Hatred Is Like
The Curved Scythe
When you wield it like a weapon
It Cuts Mostly You in Your Side.
Hatred is a poison
in your soul's hide
that festers rotting sores
of bleeding pride
When you wield it like a weapon
It Cuts Mostly You in Your Side.
Hatred is a poison
in your soul's hide
that festers rotting sores
of bleeding pride
How Asleep Have I Actually Been
To have missed this NY Times best-seller book?
The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by the same author as Tuesdays with Morrie, is a gem of a must read.
I had two hours till my flight took off from Atlanta- so I wandered over to Nathan's and grabbed a boat of fries, doused with catch-up (how my 3 yr. old nephew says ketsup) for lunch and wandered into the book-store. This small paperback looked lonely as there was only one copy left. I never heard of it before and it was flying off the rack. So on the theory that someone must know something I picked it up and couldn't put it down until it was finished through the Charlotte lay-over and back to DC.
The theory is that there are folks who guided your path in life, some of whom you didn't realize impacted the trajectory of your journey quite in the way you imagined- until they play the tapes back for you, alice through the looking-glass style in heaven.
He sees what his father was really about and makes peace with it. He sees how much his wife always really loved him, and he sees a few people who knew him and helped him without him even knowing.
This guy's journey to peace of heart and fullness of joy is something worth reading. You won't put it down. Oh -and the guy's name? Eddie.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Wedding Week-End.
Wish you were here. Admit it, so do you.
If you are stuck in DC or thereabouts, take your kiddies here:
http://www.kidseurofestival.org/
If you are stuck in DC or thereabouts, take your kiddies here:http://www.kidseurofestival.org/
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Faith Rocks and Ranks
Enough to be a Washington Post Blog -ON FAITH
Hot Topic of the Day: When a religious organization gets public funding should it be allowed to discriminate in hiring its own? There are federal funds given for all kinds of church based programs (abstinence, drug rehab, pregnancy prevention, and a host of other helpful issues). Does the Federal purse give the Feds a say over whether the orgs can discriminate or does this run afoul of any federal statutes or constitutional principles? What say you?
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/09/should_religious_charities_dis/all.html
Hot Topic of the Day: When a religious organization gets public funding should it be allowed to discriminate in hiring its own? There are federal funds given for all kinds of church based programs (abstinence, drug rehab, pregnancy prevention, and a host of other helpful issues). Does the Federal purse give the Feds a say over whether the orgs can discriminate or does this run afoul of any federal statutes or constitutional principles? What say you?
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/09/should_religious_charities_dis/all.html
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Just Sayin
ON LINE
MEDIA PROMOTING THE CULTURE OF PEACE
And it's getting too techie over my head.
There's a new Portal for Catholic Media/Communications and you want to be plugged in.
http://www.intermirifica.net/information/search.aspx
THE CULTURE OF PEACE: FIRST IN THE HOME AND IN YOUR WOMB
MEDIA PROMOTING THE CULTURE OF PEACE
And it's getting too techie over my head.
There's a new Portal for Catholic Media/Communications and you want to be plugged in.
http://www.intermirifica.net/information/search.aspx
THE CULTURE OF PEACE: FIRST IN THE HOME AND IN YOUR WOMB
From the tales of the too sick to speak of....
And how Men Can Mentally Destroy Women:
Self-described abortion "addict" also, not surprisingly, suicidal. In a story of psychological compulsion to commit abortion, another dark tale from the anals of "terminating" life because it's too small to speak back and say "What the Hell Do You Think You Are Doing Mommy?"
http://news.aol.com/article/abortion-addict-irene-vilar-writes/716566
"I feel the greatest destroyer of Peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child- a direct killing of the innocent child-murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another."
Mother Theresa of Calcutta, India.
Self-described abortion "addict" also, not surprisingly, suicidal. In a story of psychological compulsion to commit abortion, another dark tale from the anals of "terminating" life because it's too small to speak back and say "What the Hell Do You Think You Are Doing Mommy?"
http://news.aol.com/article/abortion-addict-irene-vilar-writes/716566
"I feel the greatest destroyer of Peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child- a direct killing of the innocent child-murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another."
Mother Theresa of Calcutta, India.
On PRAYER
Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.
- Mahatma Gandhi
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
The 13th Day
New Fatima Movie to Show At Your Parish
www.CatholicScreenings.com
Advanced Showing at the JPII Center October 13th at 7:00pm.
www.CatholicScreenings.com
Advanced Showing at the JPII Center October 13th at 7:00pm.
The Only One Who Could Ever Reach Me
Was A Jesuit.
How many times have you heard that verse in which the "rich young ruler" asked Jesus "Good Rabbi, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-27158
Jesus says-why are you calling me "good?"
Only the Father in Heaven is good" (I think he says that tongue in cheek knowing that 'I and the Father are one' thus he is prodding the kid to recognize that he already knows this here.)
Jesus says, you know the commandments- and begins to recite a few of the key ones. The guy then says- 'but I have done all these and more since my youth.' Then Jesus says to him "Then Go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor and come follow me."
How many times have you heard that Sermon and thought it was a plug for another stewardship campaign, or because the water bills at the rectory are past due, or for some other self dealing improper purpose? .....Or just perhaps because Jesus wants to take care of poor people and make you one in the process to develop your compassion, which you resist and resent.
This time something else hit me. There is a verse in the middle of this in which it says Jesus "looked on him with Love." He loved him. Of course, he loves us all, but probably this guy all the more for bothering to ask.
Enter the Jesuit. He suggests something else by a Jesus-like parable. He said his niece, when she was four years old went on her first plane ride. The little girl as she was entering the plane asked her mother "Mommy, why are we not smaller when we ride on the plane?" Her mother perplexed asked her to repeat what she said and what she meant. "Why are we not smaller when we ride on the plane?" The little girl explained. "Everytime we look at a plane from a distance it looks really small, so why are we not smaller when we ride the plane?"
Can you Trust Jesus when he says you will gain eternal life by, after following the commandments, doing what he says, if it is selling off the things you are most earthily attached to even when it looks like it will make you really small from a distance? Can you trust him that you don't actually get smaller on a plane, you actually get to go somewhere amazing you never imagined standing in the same place on the ground. Do you really believe him when he says what you need to do?
You may not be rich, all that young or ruling anything. This was the earthly attachment to material goods that Jesus was asking that person to not place his trust and confidence in, but in Jesus himself. "You are not off the hook" just because you are not rich, all that young or ruling anything, suggested the good Jesuit. You have to ask yourself where you place your confidence and trust, and what you are willing to do to show Jesus that it is in Him alone- your maker and the maker of Heaven and Earth. Why wouldn't you trust him?
How many times have you heard that verse in which the "rich young ruler" asked Jesus "Good Rabbi, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-27158
Jesus says-why are you calling me "good?"
Only the Father in Heaven is good" (I think he says that tongue in cheek knowing that 'I and the Father are one' thus he is prodding the kid to recognize that he already knows this here.)
Jesus says, you know the commandments- and begins to recite a few of the key ones. The guy then says- 'but I have done all these and more since my youth.' Then Jesus says to him "Then Go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor and come follow me."
How many times have you heard that Sermon and thought it was a plug for another stewardship campaign, or because the water bills at the rectory are past due, or for some other self dealing improper purpose? .....Or just perhaps because Jesus wants to take care of poor people and make you one in the process to develop your compassion, which you resist and resent.
This time something else hit me. There is a verse in the middle of this in which it says Jesus "looked on him with Love." He loved him. Of course, he loves us all, but probably this guy all the more for bothering to ask.
Enter the Jesuit. He suggests something else by a Jesus-like parable. He said his niece, when she was four years old went on her first plane ride. The little girl as she was entering the plane asked her mother "Mommy, why are we not smaller when we ride on the plane?" Her mother perplexed asked her to repeat what she said and what she meant. "Why are we not smaller when we ride on the plane?" The little girl explained. "Everytime we look at a plane from a distance it looks really small, so why are we not smaller when we ride the plane?"
Can you Trust Jesus when he says you will gain eternal life by, after following the commandments, doing what he says, if it is selling off the things you are most earthily attached to even when it looks like it will make you really small from a distance? Can you trust him that you don't actually get smaller on a plane, you actually get to go somewhere amazing you never imagined standing in the same place on the ground. Do you really believe him when he says what you need to do?
You may not be rich, all that young or ruling anything. This was the earthly attachment to material goods that Jesus was asking that person to not place his trust and confidence in, but in Jesus himself. "You are not off the hook" just because you are not rich, all that young or ruling anything, suggested the good Jesuit. You have to ask yourself where you place your confidence and trust, and what you are willing to do to show Jesus that it is in Him alone- your maker and the maker of Heaven and Earth. Why wouldn't you trust him?
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Can I Have My Priest Back Please?
Can We All Agree Inter-Faith Dialogue Does Not Permit Kidnapping Priests?
It happened again in the Philippines. Not Nice Fellas. Give Him Back. In One Piece Please. http://news.aol.com/article/irish-priest-michael-sinnott-kidnapped/712978
I don't care how Senile he is, or whether you don't like his miracles- he's not your priest to
take. We want him back. Please deliver him back to his garden with all his senses about him and all his parts in the same place.
You can take me instead. I am good stock. I even do windows.
Thank you.
It happened again in the Philippines. Not Nice Fellas. Give Him Back. In One Piece Please. http://news.aol.com/article/irish-priest-michael-sinnott-kidnapped/712978
I don't care how Senile he is, or whether you don't like his miracles- he's not your priest to
take. We want him back. Please deliver him back to his garden with all his senses about him and all his parts in the same place.
You can take me instead. I am good stock. I even do windows.
Thank you.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The Holy Land; Building Peace Through Faith and Dialogue Conference
http://www.hcef.org/October 23-24, 2009
“Building Peace through Faith & Dialogue”
"Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God" Matthew 5:9
ESTEEMED PASTOR DR. CRAIG BARNES of Shadyside Presbyterian Church and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, former Pastor of National Presbyterian Church among the Notables to Address the Conference.
Conference to be held at: The Pope John Paul II Cultural Center
3900 Harewood Road, NE, Washington, DC
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Awards Banquet
Bethesda Marriott,
5151 Pooks Hill Road, Bethesda, MD Friday, October 23, 2009
Sign up on line: http://www.hcef.org/
ALL ARE WELCOME HERE
PRAYER ON THE SQUARE - TODAY.
TEXT OF PRESIDENT OBAMA'S LETTER RE: THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
This morning, Michelle and I awoke to some surprising and humbling news. At 6 a.m., we received word that I'd been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.
To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize -- men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.
But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.
That is why I've said that I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations and all peoples to confront the common challenges of the 21st century. These challenges won't all be met during my presidency, or even my lifetime. But I know these challenges can be met so long as it's recognized that they will not be met by one person or one nation alone.
This award -- and the call to action that comes with it -- does not belong simply to me or my administration; it belongs to all people around the world who have fought for justice and for peace. And most of all, it belongs to you, the men and women of America, who have dared to hope and have worked so hard to make our world a little better.
So today we humbly recommit to the important work that we've begun together. I'm grateful that you've stood with me thus far, and I'm honored to continue our vital work in the years to come.
Thank you,
President Barack Obama
This morning, Michelle and I awoke to some surprising and humbling news. At 6 a.m., we received word that I'd been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.
To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize -- men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.
But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.
That is why I've said that I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations and all peoples to confront the common challenges of the 21st century. These challenges won't all be met during my presidency, or even my lifetime. But I know these challenges can be met so long as it's recognized that they will not be met by one person or one nation alone.
This award -- and the call to action that comes with it -- does not belong simply to me or my administration; it belongs to all people around the world who have fought for justice and for peace. And most of all, it belongs to you, the men and women of America, who have dared to hope and have worked so hard to make our world a little better.
So today we humbly recommit to the important work that we've begun together. I'm grateful that you've stood with me thus far, and I'm honored to continue our vital work in the years to come.
Thank you,
President Barack Obama
Friday, October 09, 2009
ROSARY DIVINE MERCY PRAYER RALLY
SATURDAY LAFAYETTE SQUARE PARK IN FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE-3:00pm. The Hour of the Divine Mercy.
Be There In The Square. 3:00pm.
Be There In The Square. 3:00pm.
Oct.10-Saturday.
We are called to Pray For Our President. There will be a prayer meeting this Saturday.
We Give THANKS that PRESIDENT OBAMA has been awarded the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE!
CONGRATULATIONS!
We Pray for the Protection of the Country under the consecrated Divine Guidance and Power of God, the Blessed Mother and her son Jesus, in the Trinity, the Lord.
Recognizing that there is a great need to invoke the Holy Spirit on the Executive Branch of the Administration, YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED to join praying people who will pray all decades of the Rosary and the Divine Mercy at 3:00pm THIS SATURDAY in front of the White House at Lafayette Square Park. Meet between 2:00-2:30 at the Catholic Information Center to pray in the chapel first before heading over or meet over there by 3:00pm.
This is sponsored by the "AMERICA NEEDS FATIMA" national movement. http://www.americaneedsfatima.org/
We are called to Pray For Our President. There will be a prayer meeting this Saturday.
We Give THANKS that PRESIDENT OBAMA has been awarded the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE!
CONGRATULATIONS!
We Pray for the Protection of the Country under the consecrated Divine Guidance and Power of God, the Blessed Mother and her son Jesus, in the Trinity, the Lord.
Recognizing that there is a great need to invoke the Holy Spirit on the Executive Branch of the Administration, YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED to join praying people who will pray all decades of the Rosary and the Divine Mercy at 3:00pm THIS SATURDAY in front of the White House at Lafayette Square Park. Meet between 2:00-2:30 at the Catholic Information Center to pray in the chapel first before heading over or meet over there by 3:00pm.
This is sponsored by the "AMERICA NEEDS FATIMA" national movement. http://www.americaneedsfatima.org/
PRAY THE DIVINE MERCY
IN THE NAME of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pray The Our Father, The Hail Mary, and The Apostles Creed.
OUR FATHER, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
HAIL MARY, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
I BELIEVE IN GOD, the Father almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into Hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father almighty. He shall come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.
On the center medal pray the Eternal Father.
ETERNAL FATHER, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
On the sequence of ten clear beads pray:
FOR THE SAKE OF HIS SORROWFUL PASSION, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
On the red beads pray:
ETERNAL FATHER, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
Continue the pattern of praying ten clear beads followed by a red bead until you come back to the center medal.
On the center medal pray three times:
HOLY GOD, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world. End by touching the crucifix and pray The Sign of the Cross.
OCTOBER IS THE MONTH OF THE ROSARY
Pray The Our Father, The Hail Mary, and The Apostles Creed.
OUR FATHER, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
HAIL MARY, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
I BELIEVE IN GOD, the Father almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into Hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father almighty. He shall come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.
On the center medal pray the Eternal Father.
ETERNAL FATHER, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
On the sequence of ten clear beads pray:
FOR THE SAKE OF HIS SORROWFUL PASSION, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
On the red beads pray:
ETERNAL FATHER, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
Continue the pattern of praying ten clear beads followed by a red bead until you come back to the center medal.
On the center medal pray three times:
HOLY GOD, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world. End by touching the crucifix and pray The Sign of the Cross.
OCTOBER IS THE MONTH OF THE ROSARY
Thursday, October 08, 2009
What's a Eunich
Not a Priest According to the God of the First Testament
No one who had a deformity could be a Priest or enter the Temple for service. Lepers could not enter. Gentiles could not enter. There were strict cleansing routines. Women were considered impure for a time every month and could not enter until they bathed in the purification waters (hence the significance of there being healing purification waters at Lourdes where the Blessed Mother showed up) Jewish Priests were not "eunichs."
The "Eunichs For The Kingdom" reference is not a reference to Priesthood. It is a reference to functions of eunich-hood. Eunichs guarded highly placed women- because they could be trusted not to seduce them. They held trusted places in a "Queen's Court" for example (the Ethiopian Queen in one case we all know about) because the King would trust nothing would happen. They could be body guards. They were sort of butlers in household service. They could be a priest's household help. They could guard treasuries because they didn't have families typically and thus less need for larger material provision. They were cheaper to keep.
"Eunichs for the Kingdom" were servants doing things that could not be priestly service functions because they would not be allowed to enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple.
How does your world change if the Wedding at Cana was Jesus' wedding?
A hypothesis Worthy of More Linguistic Investigation:
Is the name "Magdalene" or "Magdalena" a diminutive nick name rather than a town attribution for Mary. (He made nick names for all his pals, there was Peter, his Rock, the Sons of Thunder, etc...)
It comes from "Migdal"-same Hebrew derrivative which appears in English as variously Magdal (ene means it's female) or Migdal. Now read
Micah 4:8. There, the proverbial Daughter of Zion is called a Tower (as in Tower of Strength) or "WatchTower." (Crossref. WatchTower)- Was Jesus calling Mary his Tower of Strengh, his WatchTower, this Daughter of Zion.
Perhaps this is why there are so many belltowers called Magdalene Tower (google it;one at Magdalene College, Oxford, one in Ireland, etc...)
Was Jesus affectionately calling Mary, this daughter of Zion, once plagued with 7 demons, his Tower of Strengh, his WatchTower? Would that be like calling someone "my better half" "my guardian angel" or simply - "my Love."
No one who had a deformity could be a Priest or enter the Temple for service. Lepers could not enter. Gentiles could not enter. There were strict cleansing routines. Women were considered impure for a time every month and could not enter until they bathed in the purification waters (hence the significance of there being healing purification waters at Lourdes where the Blessed Mother showed up) Jewish Priests were not "eunichs."
The "Eunichs For The Kingdom" reference is not a reference to Priesthood. It is a reference to functions of eunich-hood. Eunichs guarded highly placed women- because they could be trusted not to seduce them. They held trusted places in a "Queen's Court" for example (the Ethiopian Queen in one case we all know about) because the King would trust nothing would happen. They could be body guards. They were sort of butlers in household service. They could be a priest's household help. They could guard treasuries because they didn't have families typically and thus less need for larger material provision. They were cheaper to keep.
"Eunichs for the Kingdom" were servants doing things that could not be priestly service functions because they would not be allowed to enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple.
How does your world change if the Wedding at Cana was Jesus' wedding?
A hypothesis Worthy of More Linguistic Investigation:
Is the name "Magdalene" or "Magdalena" a diminutive nick name rather than a town attribution for Mary. (He made nick names for all his pals, there was Peter, his Rock, the Sons of Thunder, etc...)
It comes from "Migdal"-same Hebrew derrivative which appears in English as variously Magdal (ene means it's female) or Migdal. Now read
Micah 4:8. There, the proverbial Daughter of Zion is called a Tower (as in Tower of Strength) or "WatchTower." (Crossref. WatchTower)- Was Jesus calling Mary his Tower of Strengh, his WatchTower, this Daughter of Zion.
Perhaps this is why there are so many belltowers called Magdalene Tower (google it;one at Magdalene College, Oxford, one in Ireland, etc...)
Was Jesus affectionately calling Mary, this daughter of Zion, once plagued with 7 demons, his Tower of Strengh, his WatchTower? Would that be like calling someone "my better half" "my guardian angel" or simply - "my Love."
Read this and Learn Something I bet You Never Thought About:
To Mary he said: She has followed the better course- right beside him, close to him, listening to him rather than busying herself with Martha's chores.
Jesus told off Judas- a male disciple- for objecting to her dousing him with expensive oils- he defended her against the budgetary objections.
STILL CONFUSED??:http://magdal-eder.nventure.com/
What's in a name? EVERYTHING. Click on their "About our name" page.
What's in a name? EVERYTHING. Click on their "About our name" page.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
I Did Not Come To Violate or Void the Laws
But To Fulfill Them.
(said Jesus.)
There are 613 basic ones, 10 core ones. The "Sum of all the laws and the prophets" are Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and your neighbor as yourself.
There are laws against breaking vows. You cannot do it. It is against the laws.
There are at least 4 laws concerning making vows of marriage as they pertain to Kohein (Cohen) Priests. They could not marry a "harlot" a widow, a divorced or "profaned" person, meaning they had to marry virgins. There are no such requirement restrictions in the 613 for the Levitical priests who had other priestly duties and partook of the tithes concerning whom they could marry. There is NO LAW prohibiting marriage for either Kohein or Levitical priests as they were expected to marry. There is a blanket prohibition against any "Eunich" marrying a Daughter of Zion. Because Daughters of Zion deserve better than eunichs and are supposed to fulfill the requirement to "be fruitful and multiply."
You figure it out. "I did not come to Violate or Void the Laws, but to fulfill them."
http://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm
(said Jesus.)
There are 613 basic ones, 10 core ones. The "Sum of all the laws and the prophets" are Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and your neighbor as yourself.
There are laws against breaking vows. You cannot do it. It is against the laws.
There are at least 4 laws concerning making vows of marriage as they pertain to Kohein (Cohen) Priests. They could not marry a "harlot" a widow, a divorced or "profaned" person, meaning they had to marry virgins. There are no such requirement restrictions in the 613 for the Levitical priests who had other priestly duties and partook of the tithes concerning whom they could marry. There is NO LAW prohibiting marriage for either Kohein or Levitical priests as they were expected to marry. There is a blanket prohibition against any "Eunich" marrying a Daughter of Zion. Because Daughters of Zion deserve better than eunichs and are supposed to fulfill the requirement to "be fruitful and multiply."
You figure it out. "I did not come to Violate or Void the Laws, but to fulfill them."
http://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm
Princeton Presbyterian Discussed Liberation Theology and all things Money, Greed and God.
Thanks for the Invite- I wish I came.
You can watch the video here:
http://www.aei.org/video/101154
You can watch the video here:
http://www.aei.org/video/101154
Why We Need A Woman President
To Counter the King Henry the VIIIth Mentality
Wonder how old Henry felt about decapitating his wife and dumping another one on her head. Apparently not bad enough to just find another wench to call Queen.
Wonder how Letterman really felt about his in-office screwing around- was it all really Love?
Wonder how Bill Clinton really felt about Monica or whether the rest of the marriage was a political marriage of convenience that Hillary suffered through to get her end of the bargain for standing by her man like the Tammy Wynette she said she wasn't. Wonder how King David felt when he sent his wife Bathsheeba's cuckolded husband out to battle to his known death to get rid of him.
The My Kingdom My Business mentality seems to have eclipsed any definition of character in this society. Infidelity gets dismissed as simply "weakness" that everyone has to excuse because boys will be boys, and kings will be kings. If your budget and credit is in order you can pretty much get away with whatever in this area. The richer you are, the more nobody cares. The higher socially placed you are the more nobody is allowed to care. Your Kingdom Your business. It's almost expected in higher political circles in militantly secular France that Ministers can have mistresses and they are even seen at State Funerals (Mitterand**). Letterman's foibles get just
laughed at like this is all just funny- and so long as the ratings go up, good for him. John Edwards and his -'what, who me, what baby' BS. And don't even start with me with Berto-butthead in Italy. Italians-oye.
From a woman's perspective I have to say that the loss of any sense of moral integrity in the HONOR department is more than chagrinable. It is deplorable. It is disgusting. It is outrageous. and it is Intolerable. I, and some women I know who suffered ironing their husband's shirts for 30 years and eating generic peanut butter to maintain the budget want to see these men taken to the public square, their pants wrapped around their ankles and their private parts hanging in stockades for all the pain and humiliation that they cause their wives and serious girl-friends. Really.
CHARACTER means more than a good credit score, more than balancing a budget and more than having right opinions on public policy. It means HOW you respect people you claim you love. If you are all Talk, Just WALK. And don't come back.
Wonder how old Henry felt about decapitating his wife and dumping another one on her head. Apparently not bad enough to just find another wench to call Queen.
Wonder how Letterman really felt about his in-office screwing around- was it all really Love?
Wonder how Bill Clinton really felt about Monica or whether the rest of the marriage was a political marriage of convenience that Hillary suffered through to get her end of the bargain for standing by her man like the Tammy Wynette she said she wasn't. Wonder how King David felt when he sent his wife Bathsheeba's cuckolded husband out to battle to his known death to get rid of him.
The My Kingdom My Business mentality seems to have eclipsed any definition of character in this society. Infidelity gets dismissed as simply "weakness" that everyone has to excuse because boys will be boys, and kings will be kings. If your budget and credit is in order you can pretty much get away with whatever in this area. The richer you are, the more nobody cares. The higher socially placed you are the more nobody is allowed to care. Your Kingdom Your business. It's almost expected in higher political circles in militantly secular France that Ministers can have mistresses and they are even seen at State Funerals (Mitterand**). Letterman's foibles get just
laughed at like this is all just funny- and so long as the ratings go up, good for him. John Edwards and his -'what, who me, what baby' BS. And don't even start with me with Berto-butthead in Italy. Italians-oye.
From a woman's perspective I have to say that the loss of any sense of moral integrity in the HONOR department is more than chagrinable. It is deplorable. It is disgusting. It is outrageous. and it is Intolerable. I, and some women I know who suffered ironing their husband's shirts for 30 years and eating generic peanut butter to maintain the budget want to see these men taken to the public square, their pants wrapped around their ankles and their private parts hanging in stockades for all the pain and humiliation that they cause their wives and serious girl-friends. Really.
CHARACTER means more than a good credit score, more than balancing a budget and more than having right opinions on public policy. It means HOW you respect people you claim you love. If you are all Talk, Just WALK. And don't come back.
POSTSCRIPT:
**Mitterand: The Nephew of the Late French Pres. Mitterand, also named Mitterand, it is reported today in the EXPRESS, is the Culture Minister of France, and under pressure to resign because it has been reported that he is in vigorous denials of having had sex with boy prostitutes and those episodes in a book he wrote on the topic were not autobiographic. His defense/explanation: he has paid for sex but only with men around his age. Really. That's his defense. And this is the "MINISTER OF CULTURE". What Culture do they want to develop exactly. BYE BYE !! [New York Times on line today reports he refuses to resign.]
GO
And Learn What This Means
(because apparently you still don't get it)
I Desire Mercy Not Sacrifice.
I Desire Love Not Sacrifice.
(because apparently you still don't get it)
I Desire Mercy Not Sacrifice.
I Desire Love Not Sacrifice.
There is No Mediator
Between God and Man
...but the LORD JESUS CHRIST. There is ONE Mediator between God and Man-and that alone is Jesus Christ.
At the mere sound of the name JESUS, every knee should bow.
Why? Because without him you, and I and the entire planet are up the creek without a paddle. No Hope of Heaven, but for the LORD Jesus Christ. No hope of life in paradise, but for the LORD Jesus Christ. No hope of eternity without Him. He is the Truth, The Way and the Life. The Life.
Nobody gets to the Father but through HIM. No way around it- no back door, side alley, over the fence. The gate is narrow. And there is only one way through. Through Him.
The Eucharist is Necessary but not Sufficient. Do not worship the Creation (which the flesh or food that his body is) over the Creator who made Heaven and Earth and everything in it. A cook in the kitchen does not want you to obsess over the meal to the distraction of the family sitting around the table.
The EARTH is the Lord's and EVERYTHING In It.
...but the LORD JESUS CHRIST. There is ONE Mediator between God and Man-and that alone is Jesus Christ.
At the mere sound of the name JESUS, every knee should bow.
Why? Because without him you, and I and the entire planet are up the creek without a paddle. No Hope of Heaven, but for the LORD Jesus Christ. No hope of life in paradise, but for the LORD Jesus Christ. No hope of eternity without Him. He is the Truth, The Way and the Life. The Life.
Nobody gets to the Father but through HIM. No way around it- no back door, side alley, over the fence. The gate is narrow. And there is only one way through. Through Him.
The Eucharist is Necessary but not Sufficient. Do not worship the Creation (which the flesh or food that his body is) over the Creator who made Heaven and Earth and everything in it. A cook in the kitchen does not want you to obsess over the meal to the distraction of the family sitting around the table.
The EARTH is the Lord's and EVERYTHING In It.
Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Is Easy To Say When It's Not Your Money
Putting other people's money where your mouth is -that's called Government.
Putting other people's money where your mouth is -that's called Government.
And Today's OTT Award (Over the Top) Goes To...
The people who put Someone in Every Frame of their Wedding Reception Video.
Best Wedding Slideshow Ever from Olde English Comedy on Vimeo.
I love the guy too but, hey. Someone please invite these newlyweds to the White House to get a real snap shot with the Pres. that isn't photoshop cut and pasted.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
FTC Imposes New Blogger Disclosure Rules
And Bloggers Are Ticked.
http://news.aol.com/article/the-point-ftc-will-regulate-bloggers/705589#
In Case the IRS is reading my blog- NO, no one has ever contributed a penny donated on line and no, no one gives me jack squat nada nuthin honey for anything I endorse here. I do it for the love of God and Country for the most part- on my nickel. I don't even get a free book for any books I plug. You too can get the same "spend $25.00 and get $5.00 off the next purchase" at the Catholic Information Center (CIC). No matter how much I plug the National Shrine they still want me to put a buck in the bucket. Once in the while they send me a free calendar in the mail or a paperback book of free prayers with an envelope to send back a contribution for it. Does that count? Does it count that I get invited to a lot of free receptions with free food to write favorably about events? Would they love me anyway? I did plug a client's store- but he didn't pay me to plug him above what legal work costs, so do I have to disclose that "material connection?" even though nothing additional was gained by doing it and he didn't ask me to plug him? Just a few issues that "vagueries" might mean in all the objections. Not to mention the 64,000 one: "Am I really a Blogger?" Some days I wake up and wonder if I am really a Democrat, really a lawyer and really a Catholic. I'm sure I'm a female. Some days sure I'm an American. But Blogger? I prefer "Frustrated Epic Novelist with not enough disposable income to take off to the Italian Riviera to write the Romance of the Century and Turn It Into A Screenplay." Does one have to declare the "material connection" of membership of any organizations sponsoring events, for example? Does one have to declare one's religion on line when plugging an event or conference at which leaders of that religion attend? What if you get a free lunch out of it? Does one have to proclaim one a Democrat if one plugs an event at the Center for American Progress where you can eat all the free brownies you want by attending and call yourself "press" as a blogger?
I have an idea; Maybe I'm an Evangelist who writes as Fire Insurance. Get it?
Writing is therapy and I am generally amused by all the happenings in town. My grandfather wrote for the "About Town" column in the New Yorker before he went to night law school so it's in the blood. If I like you, I promote you. If I think you are full of baloney on rye with mustard I excoriate you politely. No one pays me. Not the DNC, not the RNC, not the CIC, not the CIA, not the DMV. If you would like me to put an FTC disclosure on all my book promotions I may have to charge you. Where should I send the bill?
There- have I satisfied my disclosure requirement or do I need to do it everytime I post a book advert? Will someone at the FTC please post comments below for clarification. Comment period here expires Dec.1.
http://news.aol.com/article/the-point-ftc-will-regulate-bloggers/705589#
In Case the IRS is reading my blog- NO, no one has ever contributed a penny donated on line and no, no one gives me jack squat nada nuthin honey for anything I endorse here. I do it for the love of God and Country for the most part- on my nickel. I don't even get a free book for any books I plug. You too can get the same "spend $25.00 and get $5.00 off the next purchase" at the Catholic Information Center (CIC). No matter how much I plug the National Shrine they still want me to put a buck in the bucket. Once in the while they send me a free calendar in the mail or a paperback book of free prayers with an envelope to send back a contribution for it. Does that count? Does it count that I get invited to a lot of free receptions with free food to write favorably about events? Would they love me anyway? I did plug a client's store- but he didn't pay me to plug him above what legal work costs, so do I have to disclose that "material connection?" even though nothing additional was gained by doing it and he didn't ask me to plug him? Just a few issues that "vagueries" might mean in all the objections. Not to mention the 64,000 one: "Am I really a Blogger?" Some days I wake up and wonder if I am really a Democrat, really a lawyer and really a Catholic. I'm sure I'm a female. Some days sure I'm an American. But Blogger? I prefer "Frustrated Epic Novelist with not enough disposable income to take off to the Italian Riviera to write the Romance of the Century and Turn It Into A Screenplay." Does one have to declare the "material connection" of membership of any organizations sponsoring events, for example? Does one have to declare one's religion on line when plugging an event or conference at which leaders of that religion attend? What if you get a free lunch out of it? Does one have to proclaim one a Democrat if one plugs an event at the Center for American Progress where you can eat all the free brownies you want by attending and call yourself "press" as a blogger?
I have an idea; Maybe I'm an Evangelist who writes as Fire Insurance. Get it?
Writing is therapy and I am generally amused by all the happenings in town. My grandfather wrote for the "About Town" column in the New Yorker before he went to night law school so it's in the blood. If I like you, I promote you. If I think you are full of baloney on rye with mustard I excoriate you politely. No one pays me. Not the DNC, not the RNC, not the CIC, not the CIA, not the DMV. If you would like me to put an FTC disclosure on all my book promotions I may have to charge you. Where should I send the bill?
There- have I satisfied my disclosure requirement or do I need to do it everytime I post a book advert? Will someone at the FTC please post comments below for clarification. Comment period here expires Dec.1.
BLESSSED ARE THE
PEACEMAKERS
A Reflection by:
Robert H. Schuller
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." – Matthew 5:9
How do you want to be remembered? What kind
of reputation do you crave? Jesus is saying in the seventh beatitude that happiness comes from caring about your reputation for the right reason. What's that? To be know as "children of God." And how do you build a reputation as a beautiful child of God? By being a peacemaker. Isaiah 58:12 says, "…be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings." We see breaches all around us. We see them in families, between labor and management, between nations, and between political parties.
Being a peacemaker is risky. But it's essential if breaches are to be repaired. When God sees a breach, he builds a bridge. And he calls us to do the same by being peacemakers.
Be a peacemaker and your reputation as a child of God will shine.
A Reflection by:
Robert H. Schuller
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." – Matthew 5:9
How do you want to be remembered? What kind
of reputation do you crave? Jesus is saying in the seventh beatitude that happiness comes from caring about your reputation for the right reason. What's that? To be know as "children of God." And how do you build a reputation as a beautiful child of God? By being a peacemaker. Isaiah 58:12 says, "…be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings." We see breaches all around us. We see them in families, between labor and management, between nations, and between political parties.
Being a peacemaker is risky. But it's essential if breaches are to be repaired. When God sees a breach, he builds a bridge. And he calls us to do the same by being peacemakers.
Be a peacemaker and your reputation as a child of God will shine.
A case I Want To Blog About- Too Interesting To Pass Up!
Hope The Supremes Grant Cert Soon
V. MARTINEZ.http://www.clsnet.org/center/litigation/christian-legal-society-v-martinez-uc-hastings
Lack-Luster Letterman
Had To Chime In
Perhaps the honeymoon should be over for Letterman. Clearly he lacks tact if nothing else. Sure he is the CBS Cash Cow and at times droll and hysterical. Personally, perhaps one could say he is charming. However, I am not buying his victim act just yet. I suspend judgment until I hear from the other side. Perhaps the guy was just asking for 'mental distress' or 'loss of consortium' damages in a settlement in lieu of filing.
The point should be well taken that anyone in a supervisory position, in management authority in a job context should not be fooling around with staff- while involved in another serious relationship with the mother of his child. The timing is a bit suspect and not clear. The current woman he is with is someone he was involved with "for a few decades" it was reported- thus, these office flings happened concurrently it would appear- hence, his on air apology to his current wife and girlfriend of a few decades. Sleazebucketry should not be heartily applauded and cheered. I am sorry. Ever hear of something called a "hostile work environment?" That can be created under Title VII (a Civil Rights Statute that prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of, among other things, gender) by the act of favortism to a female who is sleeping with the boss when others do not receive the same favored treatment- it can create a 'hostile work environment' for everyone having to deal with the situation- depending on the jurisdiction, and as a matter of common sense. It's no fun for anyone when the boss is sleeping with the help. People know and people talk.
It creates in an office or employment setting a really perverse tension. Women want to throw up. They don't get invited the special places the other chic gets invited, they don't get the inside information that pillow talk inspires and they don't enjoy the special favortism in terms of innumerable office "perks" often. Lawsuits are fought over this variety of "hostile work environment" deemed a variety of sexual harassment. It makes it twice as hard to concentrate at work. It puts a stress load on what otherwise would not have to exist. People walk on egg shells and crack a few underfoot. People get egg splattered on their faces. People feel intimidated to object to immoral conduct- because the boss is doing it which means you have to tacitly approve of it and still put on a happy face if you like your paycheck.
Typically also a profound loss of respect for both of them happens which makes it harder to do one's job. The woman can be viewed as a tramp and the boss an exploiter. If the boss is mud-ugly, it looks even more suspect (no comment on the carnal beauty of Letterman)
The nicest thing you can say about someone who is so cavalier about the perception of his conduct in this regard is that he is a bastard. Plain and Simple. Bastard. Bastards shouldn't get extorted- but that doesn't make them less a bastard.
So I am a bit discouraged that the indignant voice of female disdain has been silenced in the face of this blatant immorality here. Bad enough he had a serious girlfriend he cheated on- with a few flings in the office this makes it potentially really illegal. Really.
POSTSCRIPT: Worse than I thought: Add Adultery to Skumbucketry.
He was married during the flings. http://www.popeater.com/2009/10/06/david-letterman-affair-diary-stephanie-birkitt-extortion-plot/?icid=mainmaindl2link3http%3A%2F%2Fwww.popeater.com%2F2009%2F10%2F06%2Fdavid-letterman-affair-diary-stephanie-birkitt-extortion-plot%2F
Perhaps the honeymoon should be over for Letterman. Clearly he lacks tact if nothing else. Sure he is the CBS Cash Cow and at times droll and hysterical. Personally, perhaps one could say he is charming. However, I am not buying his victim act just yet. I suspend judgment until I hear from the other side. Perhaps the guy was just asking for 'mental distress' or 'loss of consortium' damages in a settlement in lieu of filing.
The point should be well taken that anyone in a supervisory position, in management authority in a job context should not be fooling around with staff- while involved in another serious relationship with the mother of his child. The timing is a bit suspect and not clear. The current woman he is with is someone he was involved with "for a few decades" it was reported- thus, these office flings happened concurrently it would appear- hence, his on air apology to his current wife and girlfriend of a few decades. Sleazebucketry should not be heartily applauded and cheered. I am sorry. Ever hear of something called a "hostile work environment?" That can be created under Title VII (a Civil Rights Statute that prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of, among other things, gender) by the act of favortism to a female who is sleeping with the boss when others do not receive the same favored treatment- it can create a 'hostile work environment' for everyone having to deal with the situation- depending on the jurisdiction, and as a matter of common sense. It's no fun for anyone when the boss is sleeping with the help. People know and people talk.
It creates in an office or employment setting a really perverse tension. Women want to throw up. They don't get invited the special places the other chic gets invited, they don't get the inside information that pillow talk inspires and they don't enjoy the special favortism in terms of innumerable office "perks" often. Lawsuits are fought over this variety of "hostile work environment" deemed a variety of sexual harassment. It makes it twice as hard to concentrate at work. It puts a stress load on what otherwise would not have to exist. People walk on egg shells and crack a few underfoot. People get egg splattered on their faces. People feel intimidated to object to immoral conduct- because the boss is doing it which means you have to tacitly approve of it and still put on a happy face if you like your paycheck.
Typically also a profound loss of respect for both of them happens which makes it harder to do one's job. The woman can be viewed as a tramp and the boss an exploiter. If the boss is mud-ugly, it looks even more suspect (no comment on the carnal beauty of Letterman)
The nicest thing you can say about someone who is so cavalier about the perception of his conduct in this regard is that he is a bastard. Plain and Simple. Bastard. Bastards shouldn't get extorted- but that doesn't make them less a bastard.
So I am a bit discouraged that the indignant voice of female disdain has been silenced in the face of this blatant immorality here. Bad enough he had a serious girlfriend he cheated on- with a few flings in the office this makes it potentially really illegal. Really.
POSTSCRIPT: Worse than I thought: Add Adultery to Skumbucketry.
He was married during the flings. http://www.popeater.com/2009/10/06/david-letterman-affair-diary-stephanie-birkitt-extortion-plot/?icid=mainmaindl2link3http%3A%2F%2Fwww.popeater.com%2F2009%2F10%2F06%2Fdavid-letterman-affair-diary-stephanie-birkitt-extortion-plot%2F
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)