“President” Cyrus;  No Leader In the World is Powerful Enough to Thwart God’s Purposes

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Bishop Morlino: Difficult Week?  Rejoice!

This Week’s Bad News (not reported by mainstream media, of course!):

To start with, this week’s news was less than cheerful for the 80% of us who are Christians:

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  mandate=dictate

  President Obama and his administration continue to mandate (or dictate, as in dictatorship) the ObamaCare Contraception provision by Catholic employers.  Many fail to realize that this issue is not about contraception, but about whether a President can mandate ANYTHING, particularly against the religious beliefs of people, like making Jews serve pork.  Obama has given Obamacare exemptions to the Amish, and eagle-hunting permits to an Indian tribe in Wyoming based on religious exemptions, but Catholics get an exemption for religious beliefs? No way.  They’re just the largest religion in the United States, and 24% of Americans belong.

• Catholic Bishops have had to issue another protest, explaining the civil rights violations involved, and requesting dialogue with the Obama administration.  
• Now Obama’s administration (Department of Health and Human Services, HHS) has added another mandate to ObamaCare, mandate #2 is abortion! Not only will Catholic employers have to pay for abortifacients and contraception, but all Americans will have to pay for abortion.  This, despite the fact that 70% of Americans oppose federal funding of abortion, and the fact that we were repeatedly promised by the Obama administration (remember Stupak?)  that abortion would not be included in ObamaCare.
• It’s also turning out that the cost of Obamacare will be more than double the previously promised cost. 
• Contraception and Abortion added to Obamacare not enough to get you down?  HHS has just added mandatory provision of sterilizations for all female college students to ObamaCare, free of charge.  Yes, between the ages of 17 and 21, when young women are not yet decided on what they wish to do with their lives, while they are experimenting with decisions and with belief systems at college, let them make the irreversible decision never to have children, so that they could never have the joys of family life or pass on their education to future citizens.  Let’s hurry up and sterilize them before they know any better!
• Not enough bad news yet?  HHS has approved the use of aborted babies’ brains for experimentation in humans.  Aborted babies’ brain cells are being injected into people’s eyeballs in an attempt to reverse macular degeneration.  Yes, those same elders whom ObamaCare wants to euthanize will now be the beneficiaries of the deaths of pre-born infants. That is, if there is any benefit, and if no monstrous result comes from the experiments.
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  Global Rule by Mandate Next?

  Wait, there’s more!  Agenda 21, a United Nations action plan started 20 years ago towards global control of “sustainable development,” a global, national and local plan, is making tremendous strides towards establishing a world government based on environmentalism.   To be truthful, this was not this week’s news, but I found out about it from an email this week.  Did you know that more thatn 600  American cities are participating in this plan through ICLEI, though most residents of those cities are unaware that their local governments are agreeing to rules and regulations dictated by a UN-based organization regarding property rights?  This organization is funded by George Soros, and opposes private property and energy usage, and supports depopulation of the earth.  Tenessee has just passed a bill in opposition to implementation of Agenda 21.    Bill Gates supports the depopulation plans of Agenda 21, pretending to support it with flimsy “science.”   Meanwhile, increasing numbers of scientists are calling the population/pollution/CO2 alarmists just plain wrong.

And, just for good measure, let’s add a local Madison scandal into the news cocktail:  Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Prosser has just been accused, yet again, of misconduct.  All my previous investigations into this issue 9 months ago, including reading the Dane County Sheriff’s report on this incident, indicate to me that this man is an innocent victim of Alinsky tactics, in which Madison liberals are trying to accomplish with false accusations and lies what they could not accomplish in the ballot box last year- to change the majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from conservative to liberal.

Is it just me, or are Obama and liberals on all levels, global, national and local, issuing mandates that trample human rights faster than anybody can keep up with them, doing it before the election, and doing it unilaterally?  And isn’t Obama forcing America to do to small human beings all that Hitler did to larger human beings, only in far, far larger numbers?  See Abortion: a Much Bigger Deal Than You Think.

So What Do We Do?
Rejoice!

So Bishop Morlino’s has a message for all of us: Rejoice!

Rejoice!

He also sends a message to all our families and friends.
As usual, Bishop Morlino is inspiring and he is right.

Bishop Morlino’s Remarkable Laetare Sunday Homily

Audio: click here

Transcript : click here

Summarizing the Bishop’s three major points, which he drew from the Mass readings today:

• We should not forget God is in charge and does not discard us.  We need to acknowledge our sins; Catholics ought to use the Sacrament of confession.
• No earthly leader is powerful enough to thwart God’s purposes. King Cyrus, a pagan who cared nothing for God, was inspired by God to become God’s instrument and to save God’s people.
• We , the children of the Light, are attracted to the Light, to the Truth, and we must seek and speak the truth.  We must vote, and we must not allow campaign advertising to influence us. Why are we being attacked?  Those who want to work evil in darkness need to put out the lights.

These points really do not do justice to the Bishop’s very inspiring homily; nor do I claim to have paraphrased it correctly; you should really read it or listen to it yourself at the above links.

Audio: click here

Transcript : click here

Conclusion:

Bishop Morlino has wisely reminded us is that all will work out as it must. We should fret less, trust more, pray more, confess more, sacrifice more this Lent, and rejoice!

We also need to pursue the Truth, share the truth, and vote for the truth.
President Obama does not seem to see the Truth at present.

President Obama is very swiftly mandating dictating what opposes all that America stands for .  America was founded on Judeo-Christian values.  80% of us are still Christians, and we still vote Christian values.  No number of billions in advertising can sway us. Our future and our souls are not for sale.

Why is he going after Catholics with such determination?  He needs to knock out the lights and the video cameras, the conscience of America.  Catholics are the Christians with the largest numbers and the biggest organization.  If he can knock out Catholics, others will soon follow.

Cyrus Restoring the Vessels in the Temple

Barring a Cyrus-like conversion in President Obama, (which is not completely outside the realm of possibility; remember the Soviet Union?), it is incumbent on us to fix the problem by voting him out of office.

God has actually already achieved through Obama what all us us Christians have not been able to achieve in decades of ecumenical effort:  he has galvanized a massive reunion of Judeo-Christian faiths.  It warmed my heart to hear a Rabbi defending the freedom of Catholics to exercise their religion before the Senate! Who would have thought that President Obama would do more for ecumenism than we could accomplish ourselves?!

That is the mystery of God, Who works in mysterious ways.
Take heart, and pray, pray, pray.
Fast.
Speak out.
Vote.

My Lithuanian IRISH son is preparing for St. Patrick’s Day:

Kilt for St. Patricks Day!

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone!

Who was St. Patrick?

Saint Patrick

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6 interesting facts about St. Patrick

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St. Patrick’s Prayer

May the Strength of God pilot us.
May the Power of God preserve us.
May the Wisdom of God instruct us.
May the Hand of God protect us.
May the Way of God direct us.
May the Shield of God defend us.
May the Host of God guard us.
Against the snares of the evil ones.
Against temptations of the world

May Christ be with us!
May Christ be before us!
May Christ be in us,
Christ be over all!
May Thy Salvation, Lord,
Always be ours,
This day, O Lord, and evermore. Amen.

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Translation of FFRF ‘Quit the Catholic Church” NY Times Ad

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It’s Not Easy Being Free From Religion

The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) published a full-page ad in the New York Times on Friday, March 9, 2012.  The ad mocks and demonizes the leadership of the Catholic Church, while inviting “liberal” and “nominal” Catholics to join FFRF.

It begins:

FFRFs New York Times ad, March 9, 2012

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The logic behind spending $52,000 in an attempt to recruit from a group (the Catholic Church) whose beliefs are diametrically opposed to one’s own group’s (radical atheists) is questionable at best.  The ad comes across either as an excuse to spew bigoted hate speech and ridicule towards the Catholic Church, or as a sign of desperation and instability in FFRF.

TRANSLATION of the FFRF New York Times ad:

We at FFRF have been laboring for decades (for two generations), trying to wipe out all mention of religion in the United States.
Ours has been a difficult road fraught with obstacles, and progress has been slow.
After all these years, our membership only represents 0.003 of 1% of America’s population.

Even fellow atheists keep their distance from us; only 1 out of 1,000 U.S. atheists have joined us.
Imagine, the other 999 out of 1,000 atheists tolerate Christian America (80% of America), and even join them in the more secular aspects of celebrating their holidays!  It makes us sick to our stomachs to watch people buying Christmas trees and buying toys for their children each Christmas.

We valiantly try to spread our creed in any way we can imagine.
We have tried to appeal to people’s intellects, asking them to be “free” thinkers, to question what they are taught and to conclude that we are right; that there is no God.
We have tried to put up golden plaques in State Capitol buildings at Christmas, calling on people to reject gods and to join us in celebrating the pagan Winter Solstice.  Unfortunately, no takers. Our Christmas plaques have informed people that their hearts are hardened by religion and that their minds are enslaved by religion.  Yet people do not flock to us.  They still put up a Christmas tree in the Capitol rotunda that dwarfs our signs by orders of magnitude, and they dare to call it a CHRISTmas tree, as generations of their ancestors have done.

We are working hard to sue Christians who profess their faith publicly, but most of our lawsuits are defeated.  People claim that the Constitution guarantees them the freedom to express their religion publicly, not what we claim, the right not to see any religious beliefs expressed anywhere by anybody except us (atheists are classified on most US campuses as religious organizations).
Even the Constitution makes it hard for us; the Founding Fathers used the term freedom OF religion instead of freedom FROM religion.  You can’t imagine how hard that makes our battle.

We are a modest outfit, with only 4 employees and a $500,000 per year budget.  There is just so much a tiny group can do with that.  We are really doing our best.  Our staff and budget is smaller than the average Christian Church’s staff and budget in Madison, and we are only one group, contrasted with almost 300 Churches in Madison.

So it’s not easy.  We can’t sue everybody.  We try to single out small communities with small budgets (like Marshfield, a small WI town that hardly has any cell phone coverage),  and we sue them whenever their teenagers try to pray on a sports field or their teachers hang the ten commandments in a hallway.  We hope that they will stop expressing their beliefs out of fear of our lawsuit which they cannot afford.  That way, we do not have to go to court and risk losing the case, or use up our meager budget. But people have no sympathy for us.  They don’t understand our pain.  They accuse us of jousting at windmills.

It’s been getting harder and harder.  Now more people have noticed what we are up to.  Organizations have turned up which help small communities when we try intimidation by litigation.  Outfits like the American Center for Law and Justice help the small outfits we try to sue.

Oh, we’ve valiantly tried many things, including suing against the National Day of Prayer.  We fought for 3 years, but lost that one.  People just seem to insist on praying and praying.

In our desperation, we have turned to ridicule.  Last Christmas, we ridiculed the birth of Christ.  We put up a fake “Nativity Scene” at the

FFRF's mockery of the Nativity

Wisconsin State Capitol.  It was a modest effort, reminiscent of the shoebox dioramas we make in grammar school.  But, heck, we don’t have the budget that some of those Christian groups have.  Little attention was paid to our ridicule efforts, and nobody flocked to  join our creed, which is based on the negation and the ridicule of the beliefs of others. Quite a few Madison bloggers laughed off our efforts — life is so hard when nobody takes you seriously!

Now, we are at our wits’ end over our lack of success in recruiting more than 0.003 of 1% of America to our membership in all these years.  Golly, we can’t even expand our ranks biologically; so many of our members do not have children at all, have children who reject our beliefs, or are members who promote and practice abortion. You have no idea how hard it is for an organization to expand amongst radical abortionists!

The last straw came when the world’s most famous atheist admitted last month that he is not sure whether God exists!  What’s an atheist to do? It’s just too depressing.

S0 we had a brainstorm.
We looked for an organization that has it all.
An organization whose creed is followed by the largest number of Americans.
An organization whose membership embraces half the population of Madison.
An organization whose national membership is growing.
An organization which has the best schools in the United States.  And the best hospitals.  And the best charities.
(Unfortunately, we have no schools or hospitals ourselves. We can’t do everything!)
An organization which encourages having children and is successful in passing on beliefs.
Yes, the Catholic Church!
We will recruit from the Catholic Church!
We will steal members from the Catholic Church!

And what is the best way to do that?
With an ad in the New York Times, of course!

So here’s the ad.

Low budget, of course; remember, we don’t have a big budget.
Like the “Nativity” mocking Christ’s birth, we threw it together ourselves.
Never mind that it’s not very professional.That doesn’t matter.
Never mind that it ridicules a quarter of America.
Never mind that 80% of America is Christian and may not like our tactics.
If we lie enough and ridicule enough, maybe we can steal just 0.025 of 1 % of their membership.
That would double our membership overnight!

Heh, heh, heh, wink, wink, wink, drool, drool, drool, what a great plan!
This will really work!

Our next group to target for ridicule and recruitment will be Islam…
let’s see how that works out…

The Bigotry of the Left

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Defending Rush Limbaugh

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Knights in Shining Armor

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Rush Limbaugh, Sandra Fluke

Rush Limbaugh Called a Woman Names

Rush Limbaugh recently called a one woman a slut and prostitute on his radio program.  I happened to be listening to the broadcast at the time, and found his tirade to be “Rush Limbaugh.”   I did not think he meant it literally; he seemed to be doing it for comic effect.

I have never advocated dirty fighting or name-calling, and I make an effort to eliminate such tactics from my own writing.  But in this case, I must rush to Rush Limbaugh’s defense.  Rush Limbaugh’s name-calling was pretty unremarkable, given the 2012 cultural benchmark for salty language set by the likes of Ed Schultz, Jon Stewart, Jay Leno, and even local middle school playgrounds in Madison, WI, where I live.

Transcript of Rush’s Offending Statement:

RUSH: What does it say about the college co-ed Sandra Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex, what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex. What does that make us? We’re the pimps. (interruption) The johns? We would be the johns? No! We’re not the johns. (interruption) Yeah, that’s right. Pimp’s not the right word. Okay, so she’s not a slut. She’s “round heeled.” I take it back.

Rush Limbaugh’s Message

Although Rush Limbaugh’s name-calling was not very remarkable, his main message preceding the comical name-calling tirade was remarkable.   The point that sexually over-active people are not making wise choices and that there is no reason the rest of us should be paying for their questionable recreational sexual activities, which we do not ourselves approve of or participate in, is a good one.  Rush’s passionate defense of traditional morality, under which people who behave promiscuously are regarded as sources of moral and medical risk, Rush’s defense of a morality which 70% of America supports, warmed my heart.  This man’s courage in stating the truth with some passion made him a knight in shining armor in my book.

Crucifixion by the Left

But the left, assisted by the (left-dominated) media, completely ignored the logical analysis Rush Limbaugh provided of government-guaranteed, free-of-charge, free-of-consequence government-encouraged and public school-taught sexual experimentation, which will only destroy our society if permitted to proceed. continue reading…

Our Lady of Good Counsel

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Doug Erickson of the Wisconsin State Journal (WSJ) recently contacted me for a “faithful Catholic” view of Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton.
His article can be found at Holy Wisdom Monastery provides church services for disaffected local Catholics.

Doug’s WSJ article discusses the membership and philosophy of the Holy Wisdom group in some detail, but relegates input from real Catholics, including from the Diocese of Madison (quoting space limitations), to a last paragraph entitled “detractors.”

For the sake of accuracy, the Diocese’s complete statement and my complete statement to the WSJ are provided here:

Diocese of Madison’s clarification: click here for PDF statement.

My complete statement:

Doug’s Questions:

About 335 people are members of the weekly Sunday congregation at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton, a community of Benedictine sisters. More than half are estimated to be disaffected Catholics who’ve left parishes in the Madison diocese over disagreements with Catholic Church doctrine in general or Bishop Morlino specifically.

The service is called a “Sunday Assembly with Eucharist.” It used to be a Catholic Mass, and still is structured like one, but the sisters are no longer under the jurisdiction of the diocese (as of 2006). Consequently, it is an ecumenical service where women preach and distribute the communion bread and wine. The language is “inclusive,” with no gender-specific references to God. Same-sex relationships are celebrated and same-sex marriage advocated.

1.) Have you heard of the service and, if so, what are your thoughts about it?
2.) Many of the people who worship there still call themselves Catholics, despite disagreeing with the Church on issues such as birth control, abortion, same-sex marriage and female priests. In your opinion, are they Catholics? Why or why not?
3.) As someone who supports the bishop and Church doctrine in general, does it bother you when hear about parishioners who leave their parishes for these types of reasons?

Benedictines of Middleton

Thanks, Doug, for your questions.  I welcome the opportunity to answer them.

The faithful Catholics of Madison who are aware of the existence of the community you mention, Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton, are aware that it has departed from the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Bishop Morlino and Pope Benedict graciously granted the nuns’ petition to abandon their Catholic identity in 2006, and wished them well in their ecumenical efforts.  They are no longer Catholic Benedictine sisters.  One of their three members is Presbyterian, and they are no longer a Catholic religious order.  Perhaps a more appropriate name for them would be Ecumenical Women of Madison to avoid confusion. continue reading…

World’s Most Famous Atheist Not Sure Whether God Exists

From: The Telegraph (UK), Feb 24, 2012 :

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So… on the 15% probability that God exists (Dawkin’s calculation of 1 out of 7), Richard Dawkins’ plan is? …

Mudslinging Santorum-Style:  Rombo!

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Rick Santorum seems to be taking the lead over Mitt Romney in the Republican primary race.

Quite a few are surprised.

To some, it makes a lot of sense:

• Santorum halted his campaign for two days to stay with his sick daughter.  That’s American values.

• Santorum’s wife quit professional life to stay home with the kids. Smart lady. Lots of Americans do that, or at least wish they could.

• Santorum has a demonstrated history of upholding conservative values, values resembling Tea Party values.  He was Tea Party before there was a Tea Party. Tea Party will like that.

• Santorum is a dedicated family man, the model of a good husband and good father.

• Santorum’s faith is lived out in his politics.   Americans are religious; 80% are Christian, 80% say that prayer is important to their daily lives , and  65% support Prayer in Public Schools.

• Santorum is the only candidate who has avoided mud-slinging tactics in his campaign.  America does not like mud-slinging.

• Santorum is a gentleman.  Glen Beck has called him the next George Washington.

• Santorum has finally produced a “mud-slinging” ad; it doesn’t sling mud, except literally, and it’s funny.  America likes funny.

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Rick Santorum’s latest funny, funny ad:

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One more Santorum ad:

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Santorum is what America admires

Americans are not Godless, promiscuous, radical, socialist, politically-correct, spineless people, as the radicals who dominate the media would like to make us think. We are not clones of what Hollywood has flooded movies and media with.

Americans are actually religious, faithful, conservative, democratic, and are courageous enough to resist being steered by radicals.  Remember, 80% of Americans say that prayer is important to their daily lives.  Is it surprising that Americans might choose a Godly man? Or that God might help him?

Still surprised at Rick Santorum’s recent success?

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A Tale of Two Presidents – the Drama Continues

Background

The Obama administration recently attempted to establish free sterilization, contraception and abortifacients as a “right” which transcends First Amendment rights of freedom of religion.  This attempt was challenged by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

Background described at A Tale of Two Presidents; President Obama vs. President of the USCCB, Archbishop Cardinal-elect Timothy Dolan.
Obama’s move was particularly shocking, since he had previously and vehemently promised non-inclusion of abortion in ObamaCare.  Obama’s present inclusion of abortifacient drugs in ObamaCare, and his insistence on forcing Catholics to pay for them, makes it appear that Obama has no problem with falsification/outright lying.

Baracchio and Timothy Cricket. In the popular children's tale of Pinocchio, Pinocchio fell in with a bad crowd of pleasure-seeking boys. This resulted in their turning into donkeys who would be enslaved by a coachman. Pinocchio's conscience, represented by Jiminy Cricket (played here by Archbishop Timothy Dolan) saves Pinocchio from his bad judgement, and the tale ends happily.

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Obama’s Latest Move

Now President Obama, without consultation with the US Bishops, has unilaterally announced a “solution” to the conflict between religious and sexual “rights.”

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Obama: Americans – Including Catholics – Will Still Be Forced to Buy Coverage for Sterilization, Contraception, Abortifacients – CNS News, 2-10-12
Video of Obama’s 6 minute  Statement on Contraceptive Health Care Rule – C-Span – 2-10-12
Obama’s Act of Tyranny – CNS News, 2-10-12

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Bishops Respond

The Catholic Bishops have pronounced Obama’s “solution” unacceptable.

Catholic Bishops: Obama’s Solution ‘Is Unacceptable’ CNS News, 2-11-12
Entire Cathlolic Bishops Statement – USCCB 2-10-12

Obama’s proposal

Obama’s “solution” involves side-stepping direct payment for these population-control procedures by Churches, while still requiring Church organizations to provide these services indirectly, and still requiring Catholics and other Christians with religious objections to the procedueres to pay for the procedures indirectly.  Essentially, all insurance companies in the U.S. would be required to cover the population-control procedures, and thus all Americans would be required to pay for the procedures, regardless of religious objection, through the insurance policies that citizens must purchase as required by ObamaCare. Escape from payment for morning-after pills and for sterilization of minorities would not be possible without civil disobedience under the currently proposed Obama administration rules.

Will Americans Go For This?

America’s values are still quite conservative; 80% of Americans are religious, 70% are Christian, 2/3 oppose federal funding of abortion and 2/3 favor abstinence before marriage. Obama’s attempts to establish these free sexual services thus represents quite a governmental imposition of unwanted values.  The government has essentially declared that all citizens have the right to unlimited promiscuous activity with a guaranteed freedom from consequences, paid for by the government (by all of us).

What the Contraception Mandate (actually Population Control Mandate) Would Mean

The majority will be forced to pay for the injudicious sexual behavior of a minority, without limits.
This does not differ significantly from government encouragement of unlimited gluttony, with guaranteed free liposuction for all.
Or government encouragement of theft, with guaranteed freedom from prosecution for thieves.

The Obama administration has promoted payment for reckless human sexuality to a status of higher importance than providing aspirin to heart patients or insulin to diabetics.  Heart patients and diabetics do not get free medication and free surgery without co-pay.
Pregnancy, a normal human condition which is essential to the propagation of the human race, has been promoted to disease status, a disease that trumps all other human diseases, for which free medication and free surgery are not provided.

The Obama administration’s obvious prioritization of population control over freedom of religion, over majority opinion, over political expediency, and over fiscal responsibility, was discussed in detail in Abortion – A Much Bigger Deal Than You Think. The motivation for such extreme population control measures cannot be explained by overpopulation concerns; these do not exist in the United States.   If anything, we are short of workers and of taxpayers at the present time.  Population control is usually a mark of political tyranny, and has already progressed in the United States to a level that few have noticed and few would find credible.  Abortion is by far, the leading cause of death in the United States today, and the black population of America is suffering from it way more than the rest of us. Abortion – A Much Bigger Deal Than You Think

The Future

Obama is pushing an agenda that makes no sense to anyone who is grounded in reality.
The development of this drama will affect the future prosperity of the United States radically.

Let us hope, fast, and pray that Barachhio listens to Timothy Cricket and our story has a happy ending.  Would hate to turn into enslaved donkies, all of us!

Related Coverage:

TV Network Started by Cloistered Nun Sues Sebelius – CNS News, 2-9-11

A Tale of Two Presidents: Timothy & Barak

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What’s Sneaking in Under the Radar?

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Boy, Did Bart Stupak Get Duped!

The media has been brimming with reports on the conflict between President Barak Obama and the President of the USCCB (United States Council of Catholic Bishops), Archbishop Cardinal-elect Timothy Dolan.   The issue involves recent ObamaCare regulations that threaten first amendment rights of Catholics, and of numerous other religious groups.

• The main players are imposing.
• Coverage is sensational.
• The issues are important:

Freedom of religion

Redefinition of rights and of essentials

The players are imposing

President Obama’s administration announced in August 2011 that the now-mandatory ObamaCare would contain regulations requiring the provision of free birth-control/abortifacient drug services by all employers.

The President of the USCCB, Archbishop Dolan, objected in September 2011, calling the regulation an “unprecedented attack on religious freedom” and urging that it be rescinded.  Catholic institutions could not be forced to provide morning-after pills and contraceptives to their employees.  This would constitute a violation of conscience.  For the first time in history, the USCCB formed an Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, to respond to six specific attacks on religious freedom in the United States since June 2011. 

Darn Tootin'

On October 4^th, 2011, President Obama, ignoring the objections of the Catholic Bishops, bragged at a DNC fundraiser about the inclusion of contraception in ObamaCare regulations, quipping “Darn tooting!,”  a slang expression for “damn right,” derived from a 1928 Laurel & Hardy silent comedy short, You’re Darn Tootin’.

The President of the USCCB Dolan met with President Obama in November 2011, explaining to Obama the Catholic Church’s objections to the regulation.

On January 20, 2012, it became clear that the Obama administration was not planning to satisfy the Catholic Bishops’ concerns.  Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the regulations would go forward.  Catholic hospitals, universities and charitable organizations would have to comply by August 1, 2013.  The appeal by Catholic Bishops for a religious exemption was denied.

The USCCB made the next move: mobilizing Catholics to pressure their elected representatives to restore 1^st amendment rights to Catholics.  An appeal went out February 5^th, 2012 to all Catholics in the United States, to fast, to pray and to approach their legislators opposing this violation of religious freedom.  Catholic parishes in the U.S. heard letters from their Bishop on February 5^th.

The USCCB website summarized the concerns of the Bishops of the United States and suggested courses of action for interested citizens (including non-Catholics)  .  The site has been swamped with response, often requiring more than one attempt to access the site.

Locally, Madison’s Cathedral Parish’s Rector Monsignor Holmes explained the background for the religious freedom violation.  Cllick here for mp3 of Msgr. Holmes’ talk.

Bishop Morlino of Madison appealed to Catholics to act in protection of our religious freedoms – click here for Bishop Morlino’s letter to all Diocese of Madison Catholics. continue reading…

The Cardinal and the President

Coming soon…

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See A Tale of Two Presidents – Timothy and Barak

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A Tale of Two Presidents – the Drama Continues