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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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P.O. Box 33524
Washington, DC 20033
United States”

 

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.

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.

I’m not concerned about the very poor…

  Is Mitt Romney an undercover Democrat?  Is his plan to become the Republican running to beat President Obama but in truth he is going to do everything in his power to hand the election to President Obama?
  Or is Mitt Romney just stupid?   No, I think he is a very smart guy.
  Mitt Romney said on TV today “I’m not concerned about the very poor; we have a safety net there.  If it needs repair, I’ll fix it.”

  My God think how many times we are going to see that video clip running during the election.  In the debates with President Obama he better have some good statement to come up with when he is asked about that statement or when President Obama makes some statement about it.

  Mitt Romney has now another problem and that is with the statement “If it needs repair, I’ll fix it.”  The right wing Republicans do not want someone that is going to “fix it” they want someone that is going to smash it and do away with the safety net.
  So Mitt Romney will not even get any support from the right wing on his full statement.

 

 

  Mitt Romney is so rich that he is just out of touch with the rest of us.  It is sort of sad that he could be so smart but so out of touch with the real America and the real Americans.
  I hate to bring religion into this discussion.  I do not think it should matter what religion someone is to hold any political office in the United States.
  BUT no Catholic or even right wing Baptist or any other person from any of the religions would every say “I am not worried about the poor.”  I hate to say it but I think Romney’s religion and his teaching has something to do with him thinking and saying something like that.
 
  If you are a Catholic and you decided to be poor and work with the poor you would be saint.  If you were a Baptist and spent a life helping the poor your fellow Baptist would think you were living your life like Jesus Christ and following the Bible.
  I do not know much about the Mormon religion.  But I think that they expect each Mormon to be a success and to get ahead in life  and take care of their family and get big time to the church.  I do not think that they teach that Jesus loves the poor and the meek.

Kansas Speaker O’Neal ask House GOP to pray for Obama’s death!

  The following is from Examiner.Com:

“Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal is under fire after asking Republican House members to pray for President Barack Obama’s death. O’Neal made the request via an email he forwarded to GOP colleagues in the House. In an email sent in December, O’Neal asked his fellow Republicans to pray Psalm 109, which contains the following lines:

Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

The email has become the subject of a mini-media frenzy. Numerous major news outlets began reporting the details surrounding the disturbing prayer request on Friday.

The relevant verse from Psalm 109 is considered a prayer for vengeance, a prayer for the death of a leader. The most damning part of the prayer is lines 7-12:

'When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labor.
Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children.'

Think Progress reports that O’Neal forwarded the prayer with his own message:

“At last — I can honestly voice a Biblical prayer for our president! Look it up — it is word for word! Let us all bow our heads and pray. Brothers and Sisters, can I get an AMEN? AMEN!!!!!!”

News of the email is a sad commentary on Republican politics in Kansas.  In addition, the email prayer request indicates an astonishing disregard and disrespect for the office of the presidency. For a government official to pray for the death of President Obama, and encourage other government officials to do the same, is not only morally reprehensible, it is also treason.”

 

  Is it treason?   If you believe in pray then I think it is treason.  If you believe in God then I think it is treason.
  It is un-American for sure. 
  I think not only should he resign as Speaker of the House but I think he should resign from the House.  Plus everyone that he sent that email to and did not object to it and call for him to resign should not hold office of any sort.

  Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal sent an email in the past to his follow House Republicans and called Michelle Obama “Mrs. YoMama.” 

   Some Kansas ministers have a 30,000 signature petition calling on House Speaker Mike O’Neal to resign.
   I read some comments made about the ministers and most of the comments attack the ministers;  “bozos posiing as reverends”,  “dishonest ‘reverends’” etc. 
   Again you can see the true color of the Republicans.  They wrap themselves in the American flag but they are un-American to their very core.

Let’s make a deal

“WASHINGTON -- U.S. intelligence officials acknowledged Tuesday that the United States may release several Afghan Taliban prisoners from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as an incentive to bring the Taliban to peace talks. Meanwhile, Afghan officials told The Associated Press that a plan to give Afghanistan a form of legal custody over the men if they are released satisfied their earlier objection to sending the prisoners to a third country…”

 

  My guess is that the Christian right of the  Republican Party will object to this action.  They will attack President Obama if it happens.
  They should welcome it.  Because the Taliban and the Christian right are the same sort of people.  The Christian right would act like the Taliban if they got control of the United States.  They would want to impose right wing Christian beliefs in the United States.  They would have Christian pray in schools.  There would be censorship of radio, television and movies.  There would be dress codes and certain speech would not be allowed.
  There would not be much difference between the Taliban and the Christian right if the right could get control here.

Hate religion, love Jesus

“(CNN) - With so many atheists coming out of the closet, it’s not difficult to imagine a video decrying religion racking up millions of hits on YouTube.

But a video along those lines has been viewed 15 million times and liked more than a quarter-million times since it was posted on January 10, featuring an enthusiastic young Christian from Washington state…”

 

“Uploaded by bball1989 on Jan 10, 2012

A poem I wrote to highlight the difference between Jesus and false religion. In the scriptures Jesus received the most opposition from the most religious people of his day. At it's core Jesus' gospel and the good news of the Cross is in pure opposition to self-righteousness/self-justification. Religion is man centered, Jesus is God-centered. This poem highlights my journey to discover this truth. Religion either ends in pride or despair. Pride because you make a list and can do it and act better than everyone, or despair because you can't do your own list of rules and feel "not good enough" for God. With Jesus though you have humble confident joy because He represents you, you don't represent yourself and His sacrifice is perfect putting us in perfect standing with God!
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jefferson-Bethke/339101236109342
Video Editor email: matthew@robgroup.com
Video website: http://www.cikproductions.com
music by Tony Anderson: http://www.soundcloud.com/23violins
iTunes of soundtrack: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-prophecy-feat.-aubrey/id495688128?fb_sou...
Website: http://chiselseason.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/jeffuhsonbethke
To contact regarding booking, speaking, etc email with "speaking request" in subject line for easier organization : jeffersonbethke@gmail.com
download link to word document of poem:http://www.box.com/s/z3k53ec3ssbo800ppeld
Wanna start helping and serving Jesus in a practical way? checkout the company of the watch I am wearing in the video! They give 10-25% of all proceeds to non profits and the bands and faces are interchangeable!http://www.cruxwatches.com”

Santorum is no Huckabee and is no John Kennedy

 
  I have never voted for a Republican.  I will never vote for a Republican.  They are part of an evil empire that has hurt the United States since before FDR.

  The current lot of Republicans running for President are scary and stupid.
  The Republicans are having one hell of a fight with each other and they hate each other.  

  There is a Republican that could have been their candidate but he decided not to run.  That is Huckabee.  He decided to not run this time.  He had a good deal with Fox News and sold out to them. 
  Mike Huckabee, I think, was a decent good God fearing man.  I think he did care about the 99% and I think as President he would have attempted to help all Americans.  But he got a good deal from Fox News.  Since he has been with them he has had to sell out to the dark side and he has had to give them some blood.  A shame that a good man has been lost to the dark side.

  Rick Santorum is not Mike Huckabee. 

  About four years ago Americans were very happy.  We felt that by the Democrats picking a black man and by him winning that we had made major steps in getting rid of racism.  We see now that racism is still strong and is gaining power.
  Back when JFK was elected there was a feeling that we had taken a big step away from anti-Catholic hate.  We still feel after all this time that way.  
  Rick Santorum is not a JFK.  But Rick Santorum is a Catholic. 

  The Republican right wing evangelicals hate Romney because he is a Mormon.  They do not want him because of his religion. 
  Mormons are good decent people.  They have a stilly stupid religion but those that follow it are good people.  If Romney is the Republican candidate we are going to hear a lot of ugly attacks on him and his religion.  But the Republicans will all vote for him.

  Rick Santorum is a Catholic.  He is a old time conservative Catholic.  Right now the right wing think he is a “good” Catholic.  They think he is just anti-gay, anti-birth control …
  But if he turns out to be their candidate they will start taking a longer and harder look at him and they are not going to like what they see.  We are going to be hearing about the Knights of Malta.  We will hear about the Jesuits and Pope and the Vatican. 
  The Baptist and others have a long history of hating and fearing the Catholic Church and Rick Santorum has all of that baggage plus more.  He is the poster child for the anti-Catholic hate.

  Anyone have a photo of Rick Santorum in his Knights of Malta dress  uniform. 

God talks to Pat Robertson

  We miss Pat Robertson.  Remember when he was running a few years ago and trying to be the Republican candidate for President of the United States?  He got the evangelical Christian vote that year.  God, we miss him.

  But the Rev. Pat Robertson is still around and God is still talking to him.  God told him who the next President will be. 

  Pat Roberson will not tell us who God said will be the next President.  But he did say:

 
  “Your country will be torn apart by internal stress. A house divided cannot stand. Your president holds a radical view of the direction of your country which is at odds with the majority. Expect chaos and paralysis. Your president holds a view which is at the odds with the majority -- it's a radical view of the future of this country, and so that's why we're having this division. This is a spiritual battle which can only be won by overwhelming prayer. The future of the world is at stake because if America falls, there's no longer a strong champion of freedom and a champion of the oppressed of the world. There must be an urgent call to prayer.”