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Now the Catholic bishops speak up?

“Dear Jim,

Over the past few weeks, the Catholic bishops have initiated an unprecedented campaign opposing new health insurance rules that will expand coverage of contraception. Church leaders are angry that Catholic-affiliated hospitals, universities, and social service agencies were not exempted, and, for this reason, are now reading letters in all 19,000 parishes across the country publicly opposing the new rule.
Catholics United understands that contraception use is a sensitive issue for the Catholic Church, but it is hard to stomach this level of outrage when the bishops have been relatively silent on so many pressing issues of our day.  Where was the public outcry over our nation's past use of torture or our involvement in unjust wars?  Why aren't the bishops reading letters at Mass about the moral scandal of unemployment and poverty in America?  
On top of this, many bishops are using misleading statements and unnecessarily heated rhetoric to intensify the conflict.  In order to help set the record straight, Catholics United wants to make sure that you have the facts about the new health care regulations as they relate to contraception:

• Churches are exempt from these rules.  The new rules require that institutions that employ and serve non-Catholics, such as hospitals and universities, are required to include contraception coverage in their health insurance plans.  No Catholic church or diocesan office will be affected.

• No one is being forced to use contraception against their will.  The new rules simply require that employees have access to these services. Individuals who are opposed to the use of contraception do not have to make use of the coverage.

• There will be fewer abortions because of this decision.  Regardless of your beliefs about contraception, everyone should recognize that greater access to prevention services will result in fewer unplanned pregnancies.  Fewer unplanned pregnancies will result in fewer abortions.  And despite many false claims to the contrary, the contraception covered by this rule does not include abortifacients, like RU-486, that induce abortion.

It saddens me that at a time when so many American families suffer from unemployment and poverty, the leadership of the Catholic Church reserves its loudest voice of moral outrage for issues related to human sexuality.  I sincerely hope and pray that our Church leaders can tone down their rhetoric, refocus their priorities, and begin using their powerful voice to address the vast economic insecurities and conflict in the world and honor the rich heritage of Catholic social teaching.
In the coming months, let's hope that both sides of this debate can come together and find a solution that both meets the medical needs of all employees and protects the religious identity of Catholic institutions.
Sincerely,

James Salt

Executive Director

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Santorum is no Huckabee

  OK you all know I am a liberal Democrat.  There is no way I am going to vote for any of the Republicans.
  Santorum has a big big win tonight.
  Santorum is a Catholic and I happen to be a Catholic.
 
  I can understand why the conservative Republicans would want  Santorum instead of Romney or Gingrich.  Romney is more liberal than conservative and he does change his positions.
  And I can understand why they would not want Gingrich.  Hell who would want him?
 
  I think conservative Republicans see Santorum as a man like Mike Huckabee. 

  I do not agree that they are like each other.
  I think there is something deep down wrong with Rick Santorum.
  I think that deep down Mike Huckabee is a decent human being.

  I think that if say the United States was 80% Catholic.  I think that Rick Santorum would be willing to turn the United States into a Catholic state the way Spain was and other nations in the past.  I could see him following the directions of the Vatican.
  If the United States was 80% Baptist that sure Mike Huckabee would be talking more and more about religion but I do not think he would try and change the United States and have it have a state religion.
  I think that deep down that Mike Huckabee attempts to live a good Christian life.  I think if he was President of the United States he would try and make sure that the poor and the old were taken care of as Christ wanted and preached.
  I think Rick Santorum’s true religion is authority control.  He likes the Catholic faith because of the controls of the strong church.  I think he loves authority.  He wants to direct and control everything. 

  Right now I do not care who the Republicans run.  All of them have major problems.  All of them look bad and the more we learn about them the worst they look.

  If Romney was elected President of the United States.  Things would not be much different than they are right now.  The problem would be the evil empire members around him and who he would appoint to the courts etc.
  If Gingrich was elected as President of the United States I would be scared.  I think he has mental problems.  I would be scared to think he had the power to launch nuclear weapons.  I do think he is very smart.  But because of his ego and his mental problems I do not think he could listen to others. 
  If Rick Santorum was elected as president I know we would have major problems but I am not sure what they would be.  I think he has some major problems and I think he is very odd and strange.
  If Mike Huckabee was elected I think we would have someone that would try and do the right things.  I think he would be something like President Carter. 

  Right now.. as a Democrat I am loving all of this.

Jesus versus the GOP

  Salon has a good post called “Jesus versus the GOP.” 

  I have commented on that subject many times here.   That the Republicans are not the party of Jesus Christ.  Jesus would not approve of the evil empire. 
  (Of course I am not sure he would embrace the Democrats.)  But for sure He would not approve of the Republicans and their creed of money.   The Republicans should be worshiping a golden cow or should it be a bull?

  I love to point out but no one else seems notice it … That the Bible and the people of the Book do not approve of interest.  

 

“Usury ( /ˈjuːʒəri/^[1] is the practice of charging excessive, unreasonably high, and often illegal interest rates on loans.^[2][3]

Originally, when the charging of interest was still banned by Christian churches, usury simply meant the charging of interest at any rate (as well as charging a fee for the use of money, such as at a bureau de change). In countries where the charging of interest became acceptable, the term came to be used for interest above the rate allowed by law. The term is largely derived from Christian religious principles; Riba is the corresponding Arabic term and ribbitis the Hebrew word.

The pivotal change in the English-speaking world seems to have come with the permission to charge interest on lent money^[4]: particularly the 1545 act "An Acte Agaynst Usurie" (37 H.viii 9) of King Henry VIII of England (see book references)…”

 

Check out Usury in Wikipedia

  I learned a great deal, just now, from reading that information.  I guess mostly the objection is high interest or charging interest to the people of your own religion or people that are poor.

FrackNation vs GasLand

  Fracking is big in Texas.  I saw the documentary GasLand and that is about the first time that I learned about fracking.  I had seen some stories about problems here in Texas with fracking and with the corporations refusing to tell about the stuff they were pumping into the ground.  There was also reports of it being done next to schools and parks.  So little pipes were sticking up from the ground and no one knew there were even there.
  But I learned a lot from the GasLand documentary.  Now I am not a Republican so I don’t take anything I see as fact until I hear other points of view and do some research on my own.

  I guess the right and the fracking people are going to put out their own documentary called FrackNation soon.

mea maxima culpa

  The way the Internet seems to have worked out is that many people just read blogs that they agree with and do not seek out the other point of view.  Well it is not just the Internet.  Many Republicans will not watch CNN and sure will not watch MSNBC. Democrats, and I am one of them, will not watch Fox News.  
  For some reason the choice in a TV station does not brother me so much.  Even the fact that Republicans hate the New York Times does not seem like a problem.
  But, to me, it seems like when you are surfing the Internet you should check out all points of views.  I do not think it is happening.  

  It would be good if both sides could check out the blogs and sites they like and check sometimes moderate sites from the other side.  But I do not think that is happening.
 
  I do check out right wing hard core blogs from time to time.  I want to know what they are talking about and what is important to them and what they are going crazy about at the current time.
  But it is hard for me to read the Republican sites.  They are filled with hate speech.  They attack everyone.  Right now they are attacking each other.  OK that is not hard for me to read. 

  Today I checked RedState.Com and they are calling other Republicans “terrorists!” 
They make statements about “legalized mass infanticide.” 
  Now the statement about Newt being guilty of being of “serial adultery” I do not have a problem with it.  It is a true statement.
  But mostly that site is a hate site.  Why can’t sites present their point of view?  Why can’t they give facts and information?  Why do they have to use such hateful no-hold slash and burn statements?

  One word I hear all the time and it weakens the word and the charge and that is “terrorist.”  We should only use that word for true terrorist and their acts.
  We should not be calling each other terrorist.  (I admit to calling all the Republicans in Congress terrorist for refusing to increase the debt limit and trying to shut down the government.  mea maxima culpa)

  You often read something about a teen being arrested and charged as a “terrorist.” What is the crime?  Calling in a bomb threat or something like that.  

Hate works both ways

Sorry Jim but I'm gonna have to call you  out  - your most recent two posts are just too close in time and adjacent on my screen at the moment. 

At 0807:

"  I just do not understand why there is so much hate for President Obama. "

And adjacent at 0728:

  " I HATE the blog RedState.Com with a passion.  They are such a right wing hate site."  

Those two aren't exactly equivalent  - you're wondering why so much hatred for a person,  Barack Obama, on one hand while you yourself express hate for a website and by extension for a Party on the other but hate is hate and it's a short trip from hating "something" like redstate.com to hating the people behind it and the people it supports.  

I do agree with you that there is a whole industry and movement out there built on hating Barack Obama and working to bring him down.  An intelligent, thoughful man is seen as a threat and portrayed in the most inflammatory terms the right can dream up. It is beyond reason and does not bring credit on those who have become hate-mongers.  Do they deserve hate in return? Well they sure don't deserve admiration and it is hard to understand the depth of their venom but should we hate the haters? Easy to do but it just raises the rhetoric level another notch and both sides are slinging mud - with everybody diminished.

Better to rise above it - call them out for what they are and what they are doing to civility and honest dialogue but let them have the low road to themselves.  Maybe they'll slide off it and  those who aren't of their persuasion will see them as the shrill bullies they are. 

It used to be just Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity - now they've got competition and fellow travelers. Come to think of it I'm not very fond of Sean Hannity myself. In fact I've probably said I hate him so I need to do some talking to myself on the topic. 

I sure don't like those three and lots more of their ilk but I think I can hold it in and try to not fall into their league and language.  Any true independents  - those who swing elections - will see them for what they are - unreasonable people who aren't nearly as well informed as they think they are and and are following some very flawed leaders and media outlets. Nothing very fair or balanced about their sources. 

 

Girls with involuntary movement aka mass hysteria

  Am I the only person in the United States that is a big Seinfeld fan?  Remember the episode with George and his “involuntary” arm movement? 
  I think the 11 school girls with Tourette-like tics must have also seen that episode.
 

  When I saw the girls on TV with their tics I was thinking it was a promo for a new Salem witch trial movie. 

  As I watched them I wanted to laugh.
  Now I understand if those are you kids you are going to believe them and being worry about them.  Plus if you are people at the school or medical people you got to look into it. 
  It would be so bad to write off a real sickness.  So you got to check everything and be 100% sure.

  But then you need to take those girls and take a belt to their asses.
  NO NO.. but fucking ground them…   no cell phones, no TV, no games … they need rest in their rooms and work around the house until they turn 18 years of age.
  And if you are a boy stay away from those girls.  Do not date them.  Do not look at them.
 
  If this was the 1600s there would be people in that town that would be arrested for witchcraft.  There would be people in that town that would be hanged because of girls like that.

  You know the first warning bell for me was that it was all girls.  Not one boy.

   Everyone say after me “MASS HYSTERIA.”

Let us not forget false allegations of sexual abuse in the L.A. case

  A second teacher at the L.A. school arrested.   He “fondled” two girls about 7 years of age.  It might be true but could it have been he hugged two girls?  I fear this smells of a witch hunt now.  Plus the charge is that he fondled two girls in the class room and his bail is set at 2 MILLION dollars!  It looks like they are going to make it so he can not defend himself.
  Now the first teacher is guilty as hell.  He needs a high bail but I do think $23 million is to high. 
Right wing Republicans will not agree with me and the born again gang will not agree with me.  But it is funny they support freedom of religion and gun ownership and they bow their heads and hold their hands up to God because those are in the Bill of Rights.  Well the right to bail is in the Bill of Rights.
  Now again.. I am sitting here on my ass in Fort Worth and I have no details on what is going on out in L.A. at the school but for this second guy I do fear false allegations of sexual abuse. 
  If I worked at that school doing anything I would be scared shitless right now.  Mommy and daddy are going to be asking little kids scary questions and what are those little kids going to say? 
  Also I am sure that everyone is putting pressure on the DA and the police.  They are going to be asking questions and looking at everyone.

  My God let us not forget the McMartin case.  That was such a miscarriage of justice that it brings shame to our justice system and to the United States.
  I have seen reports on TV of other cases like it.  One was a small town and a couple of people were charged with sexual abuse of a child or children and before long just about everyone in town was being charged and if you just drove down the highway in the town you might get stopped and charged with child sexual abuse.

  I hope they find anyone guilty out there in L.A.  But I hope they find people that are “guilty.”
If the second teacher is not guilty … Just think how he must feel.  Sitting in jail charged with about the worst thing that you can be charged with and having everyone hating your guts and wanting you dead and your bail is set at two million dollars.

God must be a Democrat!

  Republicans think they own religion and God.  The Republican right wing think that they are on God’s side. 
  They must be pissed right now because it looks like God is a Democrat.
  The unemployment rate is now 8.3%.  
  For five months in a roll the unemployment rate has been falling.   With everything the Republicans could do to de-rail improvements in the economic recovery.  Yes, the Republicans more than anything want to make sure that President Obama does not get a second term.
 

  Most of us are scared and fearful about the economy and want a recovery.  President Bush and the Republican caused all of the current problems that we have and they want to make sure things stay bad.
  You would think the would want things to improve.  Of course the fact is that things never got bad for the one percent.  They hate President Obama but the one percent even with the massive crash are making money hand over fist.  No matter what happens they seem to be protected. 
  They control the system and they make sure they are taken care of at all times.

  It is not just the unemployment rate but job creation is looking good each month.

  Housing is the problem.   Americans have always felt that home ownership was as American as mom and apple pie. 
  Americans would spend to much… They would run up credit card bills and then refinance their homes and get a lot of money and pay off all their credit card bills and buy some big ticket items.  It was great for America.  No so good for them but they were happy.   But when the bottom fell out of the housing market because Wall Street and corporations were fucking with the loans everything went to hell ….for the home owners.. the banks, Wall Street and the 1% got bailed out.  They made money on the deal.
 

  It must hurt to find out that God is not on your side.  It must suck to be an “American” Republican have to pray and work for the United States economy system to fail.
  It looks like it is going to fall to the Republicans in Congress to prevent the economic recovery.  I think they are up to the task even if God is not on their side.

The American Dream : American Airlines Bankruptcy

  The Star-Telegram has an interesting story on the American Airlines Bankruptcy. 

 

“When AMR Corp. announced its plan Wednesday to terminate all four of its employee pension plans, it joined a long line of U.S. employers that have abandoned what was long seen as a birthright of American workers.

In 1980, 84 percent of Americans working for large or midsize private employers were eligible for a traditional pension, known as a defined benefit plan because it promises to pay a specific benefit based on earnings and years of service. By 2010, that was down to 30 percent, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a not-for-profit research organization in Washington, D.C…”

 

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/02/01/3705574/amr-wants-to-terminate-all-four.html#storylink=cpy

 

  Back when I was young…  A long long time ago… I worked as a welder for a corporation (Hess Trucks).  We made trucks that carried beer, soft drinks and stuff like that.  It was sometime in the 60s I think.  It was a union job of course.  We were UAW members.  The pay was good.  I enjoyed the work.  I did take off my hard hat one time when I was welding under a truck and the workers on top were pounding with sledgehammers and a c-clamp came loose and came down and hit me in the head.  Yes, that is how I became a Democrat.  Hit in the head by a hammer.
  I was in my early 20s then.  The company hired in about five guys and they looked old to me. Very old men.  They all came to work at the same time and all had worked at another company before.  The company they had worked at went out of business.  All of these old guys had been a year or two from retirement age and they all had worked for the company most if not all of their lives.  They lost their company pensions.  They ended up with zero for all those years of work.  They would, of course, get Social Security.

  I remember thinking at the time that it was not right that a person could work for a company and then have them just cancel the pension and say get lost. 
  It looks like after all these years this sort of thing is still happening.
  Thank God for Social Security.
  But we need government regulation in this area and in a lot of areas.  That is one of the reasons for government.