Best of VCR: "Even in Death She Had Kept Her Promise..."

Obviously, our prayers tonight are with our fellow Americans in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi as they face Gustav. Many of these people are abandoning their lives and homes for the second time in 3 years.

I also ask that we take this opportunity to remember some very courageous nuns, at the turn of the last century, who did not have the benefit of radar but did have the grace of their love in facing a category 5 hurricane. This was posted on VCR in the first week of June of this year. Say a special prayer for their souls tonight, as you will see by reading their story, they have earned our prayers.

Post from June 3, 2008:
"This next post is directed for all those lapsed Catholics out there who think joking about nuns with rulers from their past is a socially acceptable way to take shots at our Faith.

This news piece had a teacher in Sichuan, China, reacting to a natural disaster: “A secondary school teacher has set himself dramatically against the tales of heroism arising from the Sichuan earthquake by describing how he callously abandoned his pupils to their fate. In an act of moral foolhardiness, Fan Meizhong set out on a blog his guiding principle: in matters of life and death, it's every man for himself.”

This story drew stark contrast for me remembering the story of the famous Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in Galveston, TX, reacting to their natural disaster. (Please note all the children mentioned were orphans; that these nuns took in when they had no one and as you will see, cared for them as their own.)

“By nightfall, 150 mile an hour [hurricane] winds howled and the sisters took desperate measures. They had cut the clothesline down and each sister had about six or eight children tied to her side like mountain climbers. In this way, they had hoped to hold on to the children and lead them to safety. Their efforts were to no avail.

Eventually, the girls dormitory collapsed, dumping 93 children and 10 sisters into the raging waters. Only three boys, who clung to a tree, survived. When the bodies of the others were discovered, many were still tied together. One of the [surviving] boys remembered a sister tightly holding two small children in her arms, promising not to let go...

Two of the sisters [bodies]were found together across the bay on the mainland. One of them was tightly holding two small children in her arms. Even in death she had kept her promise not to let go.”

So the next time someone breaks out a joke about ruler-toting nuns, asked them if they know all the uses for a clothesline. May these nuns rest in God's mercy, and may God bless all the nuns whose lives center around serving Christ by bringing his love to others.

Sarah Palin: A True Feminist

The Governor Sarah Palin VP announcement yesterday sent shock waves through all America. From elite, Ivy League halls to the kitchen tables of America’s poor she was all the discussion.

As the liberal press started their assault of hostility towards her instantaneously, there was one group in America that would surpass the main stream media and offer her even more hostility. Militant feminists.

The human psyche is a very complex and involved study. Many times when something is presented to the psyche, that it knows deep down inside as the being the truth but that is not being acknowledged as the truth, it will be met with rage of unprecedented proportions. This will set the stage for Governor Palin's relationship with militant feminists.

Militant feminists believe that women have to be "masculine tough" and deny any beauty that is inherent in their feminist nature not to be slaves of this world that is dictated by men. Sarah Palin was tough enough to defeat two Alaskan governors in elections, clean up corruption in the 50th state, and still put on lipstick as a former beauty queen. This must have infuriated their delusion.

Militant feminists believe that children take away from success in your professional life. Family and career are mutually exclusive; they can’t be done together. This is their reason for not having a family or even getting married. Sarah Palin was then up on stage accepting John McCain’s invitation to be his Vice-President with her beautiful family standing behind her. She was seen many times during the rally bending over to direct one of her daughters in a motherly way. This must have infuriated their delusion.

Militant feminists believe that women should have birth control and abortion clinics available on ever corner in America to prevent hardships. Sarah Palin rejected this Planned Parenthood mentality and defined the true essence of motherhood as protecting even a less-than-perfect child in her womb as she willingly brought a Down Syndrome child into the world wrapping her son in true maternal, unselfish love. A love that would sacrifice any hardship for any one of her children. A mother of not the mandatory 2.5 children, but five! This must have infuriated their delusion.

Militant feminists believe that one of their own (one who unceasingly promotes the culture of death; who absolutely refuses any male-centric society or male-founded Judeo-Christian religion with a faith-based sexual morals) should be the first to reach the promised land proving to the world the validity of their lies and the delusions of their cause. Then comes Sarah Palin who subscribes to the culture of life, and whose life is anchored and dictated by her Christian faith. This, in November, will greatly infuriate their delusion.

A Prayer Answered... Amen!

That rumbling thunder in the distance that you are hearing is millions of Social Conservatives now fiercly rushing to the voting booth to pull a lever for the McCain ticket. The base is energized! The battle has been joined!

Webster Cook Kicked Off UCF Senate!

Webster Cook, the UCF student who took the Eucharist hostage and changed his stated motive from a political protest to just showing the Eucharist to a friend when the outrage ensued, was voted off the UCF Senate last night.

As reported by the Central Florida Future, UCF's newspaper:

"The vote on the charge of misfeasance was 22-7-1 against Cook. After the vote was tallied, Cook was officially removed from office.
...misfeasance, which is defined by SGA as a lawful act performed in a wrongful manner by a Student Government official in execution of his or her duties."

Maybe this will be a lesson learned for him. He believed that he could charm and lie his way of what he did. 22 members of the UCF Senate, his contemporaries, said that he couldn't. He might be a little less cocky this morning, but I doubt it.

It is worth noting how 20-year-old college students know what is right in their hearts and have the courage to act, but this can't be said of 50-year-old administrators at the University of Minnesota.

Two More Bishops Speakout out Against Nancy Pelosi

From Life News:

"Bishop [Michael] Sheridan [of Coloroda Springs] warned Catholics in his statement Tuesday that Pelosi's picture of Church history and teaching is categorically false. "Speaker Pelosi's outrageous attempt to present what she considers the teaching of the Catholic Church regarding abortion is simply wrong and should be disregarded by every faithful Catholic...

"The teachings of the Church on abortion are consistent and unambiguous, and it is very disturbing to hear someone who claims to be a Catholic distort these teachings and sow seeds of confusion among the faithful by attempting to relativize the right to life...""

"Bishop [David A.] Zubik [of Pittsburgh] on Wednesday also condemned Pelosi for going too far: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stepped out of her political role and completely misrepresented the teaching of the Catholic Church in regard to abortion." The bishop went on to reject the notion that Church condemnation of abortion "is somehow new and therefore unsettled.""

Eight prelates and counting...

How Close is the 2008 Presidental Race?

Real Clear Politics has an electoral map of where the 2008 Presidental election is right now, today, with all the most recent polls incorporated.

Obama has 273 electoral votes, McCain has 265. There is a 4 electoral vote swing to make this an absolute deadlock. That is how close this race is!

Brownback Confirmation: McCain's VP is Pro-Life!!!!

NTV Nebraska reports, through an AP press release, that Kansas Senator Sam Brownback will nominate McCain's VP at the convention. Brownback is one of the most pro-life advocates in America and would NEVER nominate a VP candidate who is in not pro-life:

"Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback has been selected to formally nominate John McCain's choice for vice president at the Republican National Convention next week.

Spokesman Brian Hart says Brownback will place the candidate's name into nomination on Thursday night, the convention's final night, when the Kansan is also scheduled to be a featured speaker."

Let me be clear in my thinking. The McCain camp would love to have Brownback nominate a pro-choice vice-president to make it more palatable to the Social Conservatives in the party, but Brownback would turn the request down for principled reasons.

Republican VP: Do The Bookmakers Know Something?

Here are the odds Betfair.com is giving on who will be the Republican Vice President on the 2008 ticket:

Sarah Palin 1.7 to 1. She is not even 2 to 1! What do they know? She was 8 to 1 yesterday. This either means they know something, or tons of money is coming in betting on her. Rush Limbaugh has endorsed her so maybe the volume betting on her is from his radio audience.
Mitt Romney 2.12 to 1.
Kay Bailey Hutchinsen 2.16 to 1.
Condeleezza Rice 3.05 to 1. (3 out of 4 front runners are women.)
Tom Pawlenty 3.15 to 1.
Tom Ridge 7 to 1.
Joe Lieberman 12.5 to 1.
Rudy Giuliani 21 to 1.
Mike Huckabee 21 to 1.
Charlie Crist 50 to 1.
John Kasich 210 to 1.
Fred Thompson 310 to 1.

For bang for the buck I would bet 50 to 1 with Crist, then 21 to 1 on Huckabee, and I would throw $5 on Kasich. Palin would be my prime choice but the odds are not high enough.

SF Archbishop Niederauer Will Issue a Nancy Pelosi Statement Sept. 5th

From Rick DelVecchio's column in the San Francisco Catholic (the newspaper for the Archdiocese of San Francisco which is Nancy Pelosi's home diocese):

"The Archdiocese of San Francisco received hundreds of e - mails from around the country, many urging that the Church correct Pelosi. A "horrified" Bill Kelly of Carolina Shores, N.C., wrote: "Since she spoke as a Catholic will there be any action taken by the Archdiocese to refute her?"

Archbishop George Niederauer will address recent comments by Pelosi in a column in the Sept. 5 issue of Catholic San Francisco, archdiocesan spokesman Maurice Healy said."

DelVecchio did a very thorough job in covering the story from every Catholic angle.
Vive Christus Rex was one of the Catholic blogs quoted in the story as well.

Biden as Delusional as Pelosi

Joe Biden, like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, believes he lives his life in alignment with the Roman Catholic Church:

"My views are totally consistent with Catholic social doctrine," Biden said in a 2007 interview with the Christian Science Monitor. "There are elements within the church who say that if you are at odds with any of the teachings of the church, you are at odds with the church. I think the church is bigger than that."

He is "consistent with the Church’s social doctrine". You know… beliefs like feeding the poor, clothing the naked, giving alms to relieve suffering in the world… stuff that we devout Catholics never do.

"Consistent with the Church’s social doctrine." Like being against any and all violence. He’s a pacifist. Yes, a pacifist, I understand.

Biden made that clear in 2005 when, quoted in the Cincinnati Enquirer, he said:

"The next Republican that tells me I'm not religious, I'm going to shove my rosary beads down their throat."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: It's a Scandal; No Really...

So what is really happening now with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Joe Biden and the Roman Catholic Church?

In my opinion, and I obviously do not speak for the Magisterium of the Church, the recent high-profile American Catholic politicians publicly speaking and acting in violation to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church have become so bold as a group that it has reached the level of scandal. Not the scandal that you see on the cover of the National Inquirer at the checkout counter, the scandal that is addressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Respect for the souls of others: scandal

(2284) Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.

These offenses, that have always taken place, by American "Catholic" politicians who used their Catholic Faith to gain votes while mortally sinning and ignoring the Catechism all the way to the voting booth, have been dealt with in the past for the most part in a private setting. The responsible clergy for the soul of the offender would quietly discuss Church teaching and why their position endangered their soul, and others, in hopes of saving the soul.

In the last year, the severity of these offenses has increased in magnitude while having being done in multiple, high-profile, public settings. These scandals were now public and had to be met definitively and publicly by the Church.

It started with former-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani receiving Communion in the presence of the Holy Father at the Yankee Stadium Mass in April. Giuliani did this ignoring a private agreement he had with Cardinal Egan that he would respect the Church’s Catechism. Giuliani was in violation of the Church’s teaching in many ways.

Joe Biden within the last week threw out his Catholic Faith every chance he got nationally to win Catholic voters, but was also attending Sunday Mass and receiving the Eucharist while supporting abortion on demand, the killing of babies, publicly.

And finally, the "beaut" by Nancy Pelosi this weekend stating that her history of the Catholic Church does condone abortion on a national news show for all America to witness.

It was time for the Roman Catholic Church to not put up with this garbage anymore. It was a scandal!

Nancy Pelosi should read the Catechism of the Church a little further considering all the research she has done on abortion and the Catholic Church:

(2285) Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."[85] Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others.

Enough said.

Joe Biden Not Welcomed in Catholic Schools within His Home Diocese

Bishop Michael Saltarelli states that VP nominee will not be welcomed to speak at any Catholic schools in Biden's home diocese:

"In that document Bishop Saltarelli notes that, in line with the US Bishops Conference policy, "Our Catholic institutions will not honor Catholic politicians who take pro-abortion legislative positions or invite them to speak at our functions or schools.

In ... 2004..., Bishop Saltarelli singled out Catholic politicians like Biden who claim a personal opposition to abortion but that they could not impose their faith's beliefs on others. Wrote the Bishop: "No one today would accept this statement from any public servant: 'I am personally opposed to human slavery and racism but will not impose my personal conviction in the legislative arena.' Likewise, none of us should accept this statement from any public servant: 'I am personally opposed to abortion but will not impose my personal conviction in the legislative arena."

Princes of the Church Speak Out Against Nancy Pelosi

New York Cardinal Edward Egan Scolds Pelosi:

"What the Speaker had to say about theologians and their positions regarding abortion was not only misinformed; it was also, and especially, utterly incredible in this day and age.

... “Anyone who dares to defend that they may be legitimately killed because another human being ‘chooses’ to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name.”

Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop William E. Lori, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine today set the House Speaker right:

"In fact, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, "Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law." (No. 2271)"

Two Archbishops Correct Nancy Pelosi on Catholic Faith

From the Associated Press:

"Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl, citing the teaching responsibility entrusted to bishops, issued a statement late Monday that read, in part: "Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable."

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput and his auxiliary bishop, James Conley, said in a statement posted on the archdiocesan Web site: "Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is a gifted public servant of strong convictions and many professional skills. Regrettably, knowledge of Catholic history and teaching does not seem to be one of them."

Abortion "is always gravely evil, and so are the evasions employed to justify it," the statement continued.

Over the weekend, Chaput said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that Democratic vice presidential nominee-in-waiting Sen. Joseph Biden should refrain from receiving Communion because of his abortion stance."

There are many things here that are headed for a conflict and truthful resolve. There will be a priest, or bishop, somewhere that will refuse Biden and/or Pelosi Communion and all their rhetorics on how they are practicing Catholics will be exposed as false.

A Closer Look at Sarah Palin for Vice-President

I would like to discuss more why Alaskan Governor Sara Palin would be a strong pick for the McCain ticket:

1) She is an extremely pro-life that would ignite McCain’s social conservative base to action. Something that he has not been able to do yet. As mentioned in a previous post, Palin brought her youngest son to term after learning he had Down Syndrome. It is a heart-warming and appealing story that would resonate with voters.

2) Barack Obama has been having trouble in securing Hillary Clinton's female supporters after his primaries with Clinton. This could help some of these disgruntal women find a way to the McCain ticket.

3) She is an extremely popular governor, with an approval rating floating between 80-90%.

4) She is fiscally conservative and cut $1.6 billion from the state’s construction budget by canceling non-necessary projects.

5) She is extremely likable and unique. A former beauty pageant contestant who is a lifetime member of the NRA and loves to fish, hunt and snow mobile.

6) She would neutralize the Obama minority story; also being a minority on the ballet with a historic opportunity.

7) She would neutralize Obama’s age and youth appeal. She is three years younger than Obama but, unlike Obama, she has executive branch experience.

8) Sarah Palin has beaten two, elected governors on her ascent to the governorship. She beat sitting, Republican governor Frank Murkowski in the primaries, then former Democratic Governor Tony Knowles in the general election. Do not underestimate her as a formidable candidate.

9) Obama’s campaign could not attack her with full force since he would risk upseting a key constituent of the Democratic Party - women. This was very similar to how Hillary Clinton could not unleash a full fledge attack against Obama because she would alienate African Americans within the Democratic Party. In addition, he could not attack her on her resume because with 2 years of executive branch experience, it is more accomplished than his own.

10) She has been successful as governor. In 2007, she created a sub-cabinet to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gases. This would appeal to environmentalists.

In the same year, Palin presented and carried through to law the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act. A legal vehicle for building a natural gas pipeline from the state's North Slope. Just one representative voted against it. She is knowledgeable in oil and drilling, a hot button issue.

However, there are some problems with Governor Palin:

1) She gave same-sex partners state health care coverage by personally vetoing a bill. This could be a sticking point with Evangelicals.

2) She admitted to using marijuana when it was legal in Alaska in saying she did not like it. This could draw comparisons to the "I did not inhale..." line.

3) There is an investigation going on pertaining to her firing Alaska’s Public Safety Commissioner. The investigation is to make sure he was not fired because he refused to fire Mike Wooten, her ex brother-in-law.

She is scheduled to address the convention on Tuesday night. Maybe they will be moving her speech back a few days.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: An Absolute Disgrace

In my many years of following the Pro-life issue, I have seen many and all pro-abortion politicians squirm, weasel, deflect, hide behind euphemisms and try to confuse the issue when trying to explain why they support killing babies inutero. This morning, on Meet the Press, I heard House Speaker Nancy Pelosi give the most disgraceful and dark answer that I have ever heard in my life.

Tom Brokaw: …"I if [Obama] were to come to you and say ‘help me out here, Madam Speaker, when does life begin,’ what would you tell him?

Nancy Pelosi: "I would say that as an ardent practicing Catholic this is an issue that I have studied for a long time, and what I know is over the centuries the doctors of the Church have not been able to make that definition. And St. Augustine said three months. We don’t know. The point is it that it shouldn’t have an impact on a woman’s right to chose."

Pelosi was exploiting a Saint of the Catholic Church to defend her political expedient view allowing babies to be burned alive and dismembered to death in the womb. I can not say anything else but she is an evil woman who has no fear of her God. I do not use the term evil lightly or often. There is no other explanation for this.

Here is Pelosi's e-mail for anyone who wants to set her straight about what St. Augustine would think: sf.nancy@mail.house.gov

Postnote 8/25: The Catholic League today issued a press release on this topic saying the have sent Nancy Pelosi the book, Catholicism for Dummies. She should really read it before she opens her mouth on Catholicism again.

Obama Picked Biden to Help with Catholic Voters…

… but is he truly Catholic to the point where he will be seen as one of our own?:

From OntheIssues.org

Q: Do you believe that life begins at conception?
Sen. Biden: I am prepared to accept my church's view. I think it's a tough one. I have to accept that on faith. That's why the late-term abortion ban, where there's clearly viability.

So the Senator from Delaware says he is prepared to accept his Church’s view of life starting at conception, but then tries to prove this support by saying I don’t support partial-birth (notice he did not even use this name) abortion that happens in the last stages in pregnancy. A procedure so horrific, that pro-choice Daniel Patrick Moynihan called it "infanticide". You are really a Profile in Courage, Joe.

Even his answer is politician-in-a-can. He is "prepared to accept it." Meaning he has not yet accepted it and has an out after the interview.

In Dec. of 2006, the National Right to Life gave Senator Biden a 0% (Zero Percent) rating in regard to being pro-life.

Jacques Berlinerblau in the Washington Post does a nice job pointing out how a strategy of trying to gain Catholic votes with a Catholic politician whose pro-abortion view is against their Church to begin with is futile and has more problems than it is worth:

"Biden is a Catholic. He is reliably liberal. He is reliably pro-Choice. But nothing I have seen in the general election indicates that Obama has difficulties with reliably liberal, pro-Choice Catholics.

But--note this--there is reason to believe that pro-Choice Catholic politicians can have tremendous difficulties with the Church. These difficulties can become debilitating distractions. The case study here was the candidacy of John Kerry in 2004. As I have noted elsewhere, the "communion denial" stories that trailed him from archdiocese to archdiocese for months mired his campaign in awful publicity.

It's hard, I would surmise, to claim to religious Americans that you share their esteem for the importance of faith when a representative of your own Church is criticizing you at every campaign stop. Although he didn't hang around for long, Rudy Giuliani found himself dogged by the same storyline this past fall.

In terms of getting a faith-based edge, Obama could certainly find a better sidekick than Joe Biden."

Bishop Michael Saltarelli of Wilmington, Delaware, issued the following statements:

"No one today would accept this statement from any public servant: 'I am personally opposed to human slavery and racism but will not impose my personal conviction in the legislative arena.' Likewise, none of us should accept this statement from any public servant: "I am personally opposed to abortion but will not impose my personal conviction in the legislative arena."

"The promotion of abortion by any Catholic is a grave and serious matter. Objectively, according to the constant teaching of the Scriptures and the Church, it would be more spiritually beneficial for such a person to refrain from receiving the Body and Blood of Christ. I ask Catholics in this position to have the integrity to respect the Eucharist, Catholic teaching and the Catholic faithful."

There should be no doubt as to which specific, hometown soul Bishop Saltarelli was speaking to.

VP Joe Biden and Late Text Message: Two Mistakes Before Dawn

I could not be happier with Senator Obama’s pick of Joe Biden as a Vice-President. It is going to be such a complete disaster for him. Like an anchor around Obama’s neck.

First, kudos to my favorite political reporter, Howard Fineman, who nailed the story of Biden as the pick earlier in the week.

Biden is known for putting his foot in his mouth every Tuesday and for the high esteem he holds himself in. He has a huge ego, which drives every comment out of his mouth and thought out of his head, and has teeth that are five shades too white for his age. He reeks of politician.

As Texas Congressman Chet Edwards' name emerged yesterday as a potential VP, I said to myself… "Oh, no…" He was standing on his front lawn affectionately hugging his son who was telling reporters, "My dad would make a great Vice-President!" Edwards had the press eating out of his hand as he told them he is more known at his sons' little league games than in Washington circles. He was extremely likable and could upset the electoral votes in Texas. Thankfully, Obama did not pick Edwards.

In watching CNN in the wee hours of the morning, I realized another miscue came out of this disastrous pick. All Obama’s supporters, mostly trusting, young people new to the political process, who handed over their privacy (their personal e-mail and contact information to Obama) to be the very first to know whom Obama’s choice was, were not the first to know. Confirmation of Biden as Obama’s pick leaked before any text message was sent. All cable news stations confirmed the pick before the promised text message hit one cell phone. A commentator on CNN rightfully said Obama broke his "social contract" with everyone and lost trust with a lot of people tonight. The campaign was forced to send out a text message at 3AM because of this leak blunder. What a disaster; what incompetence. They had all yesterday to send this out. It turned out to be a text message that bakery and sanitation workers weren’t even awake for. Priceless.

The text message closed with "Spread the word." Who are people going to spread the word to at 3AM in the morning? The raccoons in their garbage?

I consider only three people to be in the elite realm of "Political Guru". Karl Rove, Dick Morris and James Carville. These are the pundits I will stop to listen to and find out what is happening, and what should be happening in the political world.

Dick Morris was on Fox last night saying how unhappy the women voters in the Democratic Party are with Obama, and Hillary’s fate. He said that if McCain selected a female Vice-President, he could "peel" off a good amount of these core party voters. He suggested Kay Bailey Hutchinson from Texas. Another female choice that is winning people over quickly is Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Gov. Palin recently showed her "culture of life" commitment by giving birth to a baby with Down Syndrome. Here are her comments on her son, Trig:

"Trig is beautiful and already adored by us. We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives."

If you put up Gov. Palin with her charm and sincerity against Biden’s arrogance and narcissism up on stage in a debate, the actual debating points would not matter and the VP end-game would be over. I mean look at the photos in this post. Who would you want at your dinner party?

I Will Stump, But No Questions Please...

A couple of thoughts on the Presidential race:

Two weeks ago, I concluded that this year's Presidential race was sizing up to be a flawed candidate verses a flawed campaign.

The flawed candidate was Barack Obama. His meteoric rise and the accompanying excitement that surrounded this young, charismatic politician was flawed as well. At the same moment this excitement was being unleashed, it was being met with an underlying realization that we would have to trust someone we knew very little about with handling our nation's most important Office. This excitement was also tempered due to the uneasiness and fear that his lack of inexperience brought. The charisma from his ear-to-ear smile faded as the American people, one by one, discovered his extremist views as a legislator. Even the Democrats within his own party, one by one, experienced his political double-speak. As Obama told a pro-life crowd at Saddleback Church that determining life's beginning was "above [his] pay grade," he also told pro-choice people he had no principled view so his position could change on them as well.

The flawed campaign in my conclusion was John McCain’s. It was a dormant campaign that let his rival stir up excitement exclusively, and a sizable war chest, while putting up no fight. This was inexcusable. It was a campaign that fled from the party's social conservative base; which delivered George W. Bush the Presidency twice. This was ineptness. The campaign not only ignored the P.R. game, it allowed Obama to define the race. Obama was a young vibrant man surfing in the Hawaiian surf; McCain was a senior citizen with dermatologist appointments on his calendar to get melanomas removed from his face when he wasn’t covering up from the sunlight wearing blue-blocker sunglasses.

So what happened this week?

McCain’s campaign became less flawed:

McCain forcefully served up everything that the social conservatives wanted to hear in the Saddleback debate and started attacking Obama's weaknesses. In short, he started running a campaign. The Zogby poll reported McCain overtook Obama by five points within the past week.

Then, the flawed candidate became more flawed:

Obama spent most of this debate surgically choosing his words like he was the accused at a legal deposition giving the appearance that he is covering something up. I personally noticed that his eyes for the majority of the time as he spoke where looking down and to the right, similar to what a used car salesman does before he asks you to sign on the dotted line.

With this understanding, I had a new belief this week that explained the voter swing very succinctly.

Barack Obama is a great auditor who can excite crowds of tens of thousands of people with a speech, but can’t handle an intimate debate. He becomes a distinguished, evening anchorman with pre-written cue cards, but an arrogant, slithering trial lawyer that you would not want at your barbecue when he has to think on his feet and when he is not in absolute control of the situation. He is a manufactured candidate.

To prove this, I will stay within the Democratic Party. The momentum for their primaries abruptly changed, almost mortally for Obama, starting at the New Hampshire primary debate. Obama achieved the unbelievable feet of making the human Ice Queen, Hillary Clinton, look warm and approachable. His response to the moderator’s question, “Why don’t people like you, Hillary?” was as canned as it was pre-written. He said, “You’re likable enough, Hillary...” The consonant politician. He gave a response that would sound positive to Clinton’s supporters, but leave out an absolute confirmation, using the term “enough”, which still left Hillary’s likability needing. Note: He made this cocky statement while looking down, again.

After this disturbing round of intimacies/debates with Obama, the Democrats started to flee to Clinton. Clinton started winning primaries, and fell just short in primaries and time to win the nomination. If this debate happened a month sooner, it is my opinion the Democrats would have a different nominee.

A comment that was unleashed to the media during this Clinton resurgence was that Obama was having a tough time in “closing the deal.” I have a feeling that this came from James Carville, a top Clinton’s adviser - - it sounds like him, and underscores all the points I have made. The more you are exposed to Obama candidly, the more you are likely to vote for someone else, consequently the more difficulty he has with a prolonged campaign.

There are many more Presidential debates to go. Many more times for the American people to have intimacy with Barack Obama and see him in an uncontrolled environment. These debates won’t serve Obama well. He does not have any electoral votes under his belt to serve as his safety net as he did in the Democratic primaries. The debates will serve McCain well who has more than enough time to let Obama expose himself some more. Going forward, McCain will just have to count his houses correctly before the debates.

Conservative Catholics Need Not Apply...

From LifeNews.com:

"The Democratic Party is refusing to invite the highest ranking Catholic official to its national convention that begins next week. Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is the leader of the largest religious denomination in Colorado but he won't take part in the convention.

...Chaput isn't getting an invitation -- and it likely stems from his comments saying faithful Catholics should obey the Church's pro-life teachings and not support candidates, like Obama, who support abortion."

From Belief Net:

"Advance applause goes to the Democratic National Convention Committee for its decision to include Sister Helen Prejean author of Dead Man Walking in the historic interfaith service opening the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver on August 24th."

A socially liberal, high-profile Catholic gets invited to hold a prayer service and be photographed; a dogmatically conservative, high-profile Catholic can't get in the door.

It is very forward looking to not invite Archbishop Chaput considering he is on the fast-track to becoming a Cardinal, a prince of the Church, and his influence will only grow. I guess them Dem's didn't consult Obama's Catholic Advisory Council. Oh wait, he dissolved that farce.

Sr. Helen Prejean should respectfully turn down her invitation for the disrespecting of the Archbishop, and for many other reasons.

Spiritual Guidance to College Students

As noted in a past post, Msgr. James McDonald, the Rector of The Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, NY, is one of my heroes in life. Here is a letter he published in the church bulletin a few years back to young people going off to college. With the college school year starting, it is worth printing this out, and putting it in your college student's suitcase between the Ziploc bag of chocolate chip cookies and the envelop with the emergency $20.00 in it.

"Dear Friends:

There will be a lot of high school graduations this weekend and many of our Catholic High Schools have already conducted theirs. Now there is that last summer at home and the preparation for the big move in late August or early September. I thought in this letter I would like to talk realistically to our new graduates and soon-to-be freshmen. You have serious responsibilities to yourself and your parents and certainly to Christ.

Those of you who are going away will be entering a far different world. You will have to make adjustments and compromises with roommates; in short you will have to learn to live with people other than members of your own family. Some of these people may be great but others can be annoying and definitely unpleasant. I'm hoping that you get a roommate who is a decent, considerate human being. And by the way, be that kind of roommate yourself. You represent your family and all the values you have been taught in your home.

That very different world of college has very definite moral problems. Often enough, the atmosphere is poisoned by immorality. Practically every school considers itself a big drinking school and there is enormous pressure to fit in with an established pattern of drinking that is a considered a part of college life. Don't! Any dope can be a drunk in college - it takes no ability and is an indication of a lack of moral backbone.

Drunkenness kills and if it doesn't do that immediately, it destroys lives through the tragedy of alcoholism. You are a follower of Jesus Christ and not a follower of the world. Be different! You will find others who share your same point of view.

The sixth commandment, which forbids all sexual activity outside of marriage, is not suspended by God during the four years of college. No matter how lonely you may feel or romantically inclined you may be, you are expected to be a living image of Christ at all times. Your parents brought you up with distinct and definite moral values. Please don't disappoint them! Happy marriages do not begin with college immorality.

You have a definite responsibility to go to Mass each and every Sunday or Saturday evening. I'm counting on you to go even if an awful lot of others don't. I urge you to participate in the campus ministry program and make yourself known to the chaplain. Help prepare for Mass if you are fortunate enough to have Mass on campus. Try to participate in the ministry programs. You should meet some wonderful people there.

Finally, you are in college to study. Do it! And, oh yes, use that cell phone to call mom and dad very, very frequently. They will be missing you more than you'll ever know.

In Jesus and Mary, Monsignor James M. McDonald"

Robert P. Casey: A Lionheart Among Men

With the Democratic Convention this week in Denver, my thoughts are drawn to a great Pro-Life warrior who was silenced at the 1992 Democratic Convention.

Governor Robert P. Casey was truly a Profile in Courage and a lionheart among men.

One of the most popular governors in the history of Pennsylvania, he turned the political landscape upside down by being a strong vocal supporter of the "Culture of Life" within the Democratic Party and faced the hostility, humiliation and alienation of his party when he was not permitted to speak at his own convention. Governor Casey met his heavenly reward in 2000.

Here are the words of a great statesmen:

“It’s hard to think of anything more foreign to the principles of the Democratic Party or the whole American experience [than abortion]. Far from being “inclusive”, it excludes an entire class of fellow human beings from our care and protection. It’s the only “constitutional right” we’re ashamed of, avoiding the word abortion with contorted euphemisms like “reproductive rights” and “termination” and “evacuation”.

"Far from liberating women, abortion has become a lucrative industry, exploiting young women beyond anything ever imagined. When pregnancy comes at a difficult time, which is the worthier response of society: To surround mother and child alike with protection and love, or to hold out the cold comfort of an abortion clinic? Where is America’s true character to be seen- in an adoptive home or at the abortion clinic? In which role is a woman more empowered – giving life or taking it?

"These are questions that rest uneasily on the conscience of today’s Democratic Party. We have traded our principles for power – the fleeting power offered by loud and well financed factions like NARAL and Planned Parenthood…. "We can choose to extend once again the mantle of protection to all members of the human family, including the unborn. We can choose to provide effective care of mothers and children."”

And from a Speech at St. Louis University in 1993:

"Alexander Hamilton put it this way: "The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of Divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power. Even the more secular-minded Thomas Jefferson agreed: the "only firm basis" of freedom, he wrote, is "a conviction in the minds of people that their liberties are gifts of God."

American History has had its dark moments, but only twice has this principle been radically betrayed. Only twice has mortal power, using the instrument of the law itself, sought to exclude an entire class of people from their most sacred rights.

One-hundred and thirty-six years ago, a human being was declared a piece of property, literally led off in chains as people of good conscience sat paralyzed by the ruling of the court. [The Dred Scott decision]
The other time was January 22, 1973. An entire class of human beings was excluded from the protection of the state, their fate declared a "private" matter. That "sunbeam" that Hamilton envisioned, the Creator's signature on each new life, was deflected by human hands. No one has ever described what happened more concisely than Justice Byron White in his dissent. It was an act of "raw judicial power" -- power stripped of all moral and constitutional authority.

Roe vs. Wade was not one more natural adaptation in our constitutional evolution. It was not like Brown vs. Board of Education, a refinement extending law and liberty to an entire class. [It was] just the opposite: It was an abrupt mutation, a defiance of all precedent, a disjuncture of law and authority. Where we used to think of law above politics, in Roe, law and politics become indistinguishable. How strange it is to hear abortion now defended in the name of "consensus." Roe itself, the product of a contrived and fraudulent case, was a judicial decree overruling a consensus expressed in the laws of most states.

It arose not from the wisdom of the ages, or from the voice of the people, but from the ideology of the day and the will of a determined minority. It compels us to ignore the consensus of mankind about the treatment of the unborn. It commands us to disregard the clearest of Commandments. After 20 long years, the people of the United States have refused to heed the command.

Roe vs. Wade is a law we must observe, but never honor. In Hamilton's phrase, it's a piece of "parchment," a musty record bearing raw coercive power and devoid of moral authority. It has done its harm, and will do much more. But those who say we must learn to live with it still don't get it. Ultimately, Roe cannot survive alongside our enduring, unshakeable sense of justice. It is no more permanent than any other act of human arrogance. It is no more unchangeable that the laws which sent Dred Scott back to his master.

...This has been the generation of what Malcom Muggeridge called "the humane holocaust." The loss can never be recovered. Indeed, it can't even be calculated.

Not even the familiar statistic -- 1.6 million a year -- begins to express the enormity of it. One person's life touches so many others. How can you measure the void left when so many people aren't even permitted to live among us?"

I would highly recommend the Govenor's book Fighting for Life. It will change the way you think about how politicians can selflessly serve their constituents.

Post Note, A Profile in Courage Story: In 1990, James Carville, who was running Robert P. Casey's campaign for reelection as governor of Pennsylvania, pleaded with him to modify his position on abortion. Carville bluntly told him that if he did not give in on the question of permitting abortion in cases of rape and incest he would lose the election. "If that's true," the governor replied, "then I'll just have to accept defeat." Casey hated losing. But the prospect of winning with the blood of abortion's tiny victims on his hands was worse. As it happened, Casey stood firm, and won by more than a million votes, carrying 66 of the state's 67 counties.

Let's Play Spot the Professional Politician...

...with the Q & A at Saddleback Church over the weekend:

RICK WARREN: "NOW, LET'S DEAL WITH ABORTION. 40 MILLION ABORTIONS SINCE ROE V. WADE. YOU KNOW, AS A PASTOR I HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS ALL OF THE TIME. ALL OF THE PAIN AND ALL OF THE CONFLICTS. I KNOW THIS IS A VERY COMPLEX ISSUE. 40 MILLION ABORTIONS. AT WHAT POINT DOES A BABY GET HUMAN RIGHTS IN YOUR VIEW?"

BARACK OBAMA: "WELL, I THINK THAT WHETHER YOU ARE LOOKING AT IT FROM A THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OR A SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE, ANSWERING THAT QUESTION WITH SPECIFICITY, YOU KNOW, IS ABOVE MY PAY GRADE."

JOHN MCCAIN: "AT THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTION."

Why do Catholics Pray to the Blessed Mother Mary?

Many non-Catholic Christians have such difficulty in understanding and accepting why Catholics pray to our Blessed Mother instead of going directly with our needs to Christ.

To facilitate some understanding and shed some insight to non-Catholics, I would like to reference a passage in scripture, specifically the Wedding Feast of Cana.

I always felt if Catholics were asked to rank the 10 most important Scriptural Events (ex: Resurrection, Incarnation, Crucifixion, Beatitudes, Transfiguration, Passion, etc…), this event would most likely be left off their list. It would not be left off mine. This sacred text has so many different levels of importance and reflection. It is the official starting point of Christ’s public ministry. The passage also has strong contemporary and spiritual value in the fact that Christ chose a wedding as the place of his first recorded miracle when considering the tremendous hostility that the sacrament of marriage faces today in our society. With all of this being stated, most importantly it also shows us the way to present a petition to Christ that can not be refused.

As the sacred scripture tells us, the Blessed Mother asked her Son to help with a wine shortage that the embarrassed wedding hosts were experiencing by performing a miracle. Christ replied:

"Woman, what have I to do with thee? My hour is not yet come." (John 2:4)

It is two small sentences… but it tells us everything of the Blessed Mother’s relationship with Christ.

First, the phrase "Woman" used by Jesus to address the Virgin Mother, was a title of respect. Christ did not use the term, "Mother" when addressing her as you would think he might, He elevated her beyond this relationship title (Mother) with an all encompassing title (Woman). It would be similar to calling Tiger Woods, "Golfer", or Michael Jordan "Basketball Player". It was her essence and her perfection.

Biblical scholars also would say this title of "Woman" reflects back to Eve in Genesis. The "Woman" that turned her back on God at the time of creation was now being replaced by a "Woman" who would never disobey or disappoint Him. The "New Eve."

Secondly, in this one line of scripture, Christ’s words validate that Mary had an intimacy with Christ and prior knowledge of His planned ministry. She was His close confidant. Christ is not saying, "Sorry Mom, I have to inform you now…it’s not My time yet to start My ministry yet." He takes the tone, "What does this have to do with Me, Mom… you know My plan... and you know it is not My time."

Catholics give Mary the title, "Co-Redemptress" because of the supporting role she played in Christ’s redemption of the world. She was there every step of the way. Mel Gibson has a very powerful scene in The Passion of the Christ, where, while being tortured, Christ locks eyes with His Mother from a distance and they rise to their feet together, she providing strength for Him to complete His mission. Now this is not based in Scripture, but it is reflective of the relationship they had. What is in Scripture was the support she gave her Son during His Passion. Archbishop Fulton Sheen said that when every human word is written and spoken, the saddest of words in human history will be, "There was no room at the inn." In this quote, I propose the saddest event of human history was the Crucifixion, a creation destroying their loving God, and this event could have even been more sorrowful if Christ had died alone by Himself up on Calvary. Like an unloved dog in an alleyway. Mary’s presence prevented this from happening. Our Lady of Perpetual Help (left) is a holy image of Our Blessed Mother that depicts Christ as a young boy having a premonition of His Passion and in fear running into the comfort of His mother’s arms. She served this same purpose though His Passion. She was the loving presence at the foot of the cross that served as a comforting focus point for Him in a sea of hatred and torture. We should never underestimate the eternal gratitude Christ must have towards His Mother.

Finally, getting back to the Wedding Feast scripture and the point of this post, after stating it is not His time to perform a miracle, Christ actually does grant the wish of his Beloved Mother. So there was a historical destiny that was planned out for His all-important ministry that should have taken its course, but a request from The Blessed Mother to Christ changed this historic destiny. It altered human history.

The Marian shrines throughout the world are littered with piles of crutches from people who had an inescapable human destiny of suffering and sickness that was altered by a request from the Virgin Mother on their behalf to Jesus. Christ could not refuse the request because of who was asking it from Him. It was the mother who caressed Him inutero for 9 months. The mother who smothered His face with kisses when He was a baby. The mother who held Him in the middle of the night when He had nightmares as a little boy. The mother who taught Him how to walk and to laugh. The mother who kissed His face as an adult. The mother whose presence was always just a few footsteps behind Him while He was carrying His cross and who sanctified His wake with her tears. The mother whose kind eyes looked up at Him hanging on the cross to meet His blood-dripping, swollen eyes looking down on her sharing in His suffering. The mother who must have given Him a non-ending embrace after the Resurrection for all they had been through together.

This is why Catholics ask the Blessed Mother to intercede for us. It is a realization that Christ would never refuse her anything she requests on our behalf and many times we are in desperate need to change what is our human destiny.

An Interesting Libel Suit Against PZ Myers

Author Stuart Pivar filed a libel and slander law suit last year against PZ Myers. The suit centered around Myers calling Pivar a "crackpot" on his blog. The lawsuit was dismissed by plaintiff Pivar less than two weeks after it was filed.

But here are some interesting tidbits from the filing:

First, how nasty some of the Board of Directors (as stated in the filing) to the parent company, SEED MEDIA GROUP, are/were that hosts the Myers' blog:

Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein in June was sentenced to 18 months in prison and now is registered as a sex offender.
James Watson, whose extreme "culture of death" views I described in a previous post, and whom had to step down from Long Island's Cold Spring Harbor Science Lab for racist statements.

But here is something that speaks more to the issue of PZ Myers. The complaint says Myers receives a monthly stipend for having his blog on scienceblogs.com (pg. 6 #26). So when he was presumably posting all those times during his 3-hour science labs while he was supposed to be teaching, he may have been moon-lighting, and making money. This also brings up many questions of conflict of interests if he is doing both of these at the same time. Which job gets his priority and attention?

Moreover, now it appears Myers is an employee of SEED MEDIA GROUP while blogging, so this corporation can be brought into this mess.

Finally, my Irish grandmother in her brogue would frequently say there is always something in life to laugh at.

The University of Minnesota claims Myers' anti-Catholic postings are soley his personal business. Apparently, it might be anything but that. (Again, UMM's inability to have any clue as to what is actually going on).

There is a possibility that he is collecting two salaries from two employers at the same time while posting. First, if he does post during that 3-hour science lab, as his posting times would make us think, he is collecting an university salary. In addition to this possibility, he would be collecting a salary from SEED MEDIA GROUP at the same exact time if the lawsuit information is accurate. Maybe Myers is not that dumb.

PZ Myers Cites His Blog in His Tenure Review

An Anonymous Poster to VCR this morning drew our attention to a PZ Myers' post in 2005, where he mentions that his blog is referenced in his tenure review. It is getting more and more dishonest for Chancellor Jacqueline Johnson to state this blogger and his vile opinions are separate from the University when he is citing it in a professional review with the University and it is officially in his file:

"I think my website might have gotten two sentences in there. A couple of the reviewers also mentioned it. But it was a miniscule part of the whole story. That will probably change a little bit when I update it."
-P.Z. Myers

I wonder how much it is referenced after his update?

Webster Cook Will Not Be Suspended/Expelled; Still Faces Senate Hearing

From Fox News Orlando:

"The University of Central Florida student who stole something sacred from a Catholic mass will not be kicked out of school.

On Tuesday, a panel of four students and two administrators, voted unanimously to dismiss all charges against Webster Cook and his friend Ben Collard, saying there was no hard evidence that the two did anything which would merit expulsion or suspension.

...Tuesday's hearing took about seven hours, but the panel has two days to reverse that decision. Cook's impeachment hearing from the student Senate is scheduled for August 28."

No evidence but the meeting took 7 hours???

Okay, here is some evidence for the panel of Cook disrupting a religious service to make a political statement. Here are Webster's comments on the Orlando Sentinel posting right after the sacrilege, stating he did it as a protest, then switching his story... again... mid-post saying he did it only to show his friend (this excuse only emerged when outrage came his way):

"...the State of Florida is required to uphold this separation of church and state. All UCF Student Government Association funds are property of the State of Florida. Therefore, it is illegal to allocate funds to a religious organization, such as Catholic Campus Ministry..."

I guess this panel really didn't dig too deep, or have internet access, to have an understanding of his many lies and motives.

Once again, he plays the victim for sympathy in this post saying he was roughed up by little Michelle Drucker.

We still have the Senate Vote. The charge is he lied about his identity during the offense, which is easy to prove with witnesses there. If found guilty, he can be bounced off the Student Senate. Also, it is noteworthy that if found guilty of giving false identity, why did he feel the need to do this if he wasn't doing something wrong? We will see. Set your calendar for August 28th.

Best of VCR: 334 Blog Posts by PZ Myers Funded by Taxpayers

8/12/08 Note: Click here to complain to the Minnesota Board of Regents in regard to P.Z. Myers' Catholic bigotry and Chancellor Jacqueline Johnson's ineptness.

Jacqueline Johnson, the chancellor of the University of Minnesota-Morris, recently refused to take corrective actions against P.Z. Myers, a biology professor under her supervision who publicly desecrated both a consecrated Eucharist and the Koran. Myers posted a picture of the desecration on his blog joking, "I pierced it [the Host] with a rusty nail (I hope Jesus’s tetanus shots are up to date). And then I simply threw it in the trash."

Johnson has issued multiple statements saying that Myers’ sacrilege was done by Myers "the individual" and not associated with the university. According to Johnson, no punitive actions were warranted.

Unfortunately, if Johnson were empathetic enough to the Catholic community to expand at least a moderate effort to investigate this offense, it would be clear the facts do not support her statement.

When considering only the days UMM was in session for the spring semester of 2008 and cross-referencing these with standard university hours (8a.m. to 4 p.m.), during this time Myers posted 334 times to his blog. That is Three-Hundred Thirty-Four Posts! He averaged close to five posts a day to his blog during university hours. Note to the chancellor: This information was there for the taking. I did not even have easy access to his Internet records as the university does.

Now, this gets a little more interesting when looking at Myers’ class assignments. Many times Myers posts just before class as well as in-between classes. Frequently there are posts during a three-hour biology lab that Myers was in charge of. Sort of, "I’ll keep the students busy and post on my blog." His professional duties obvious were secondary to supporting his hobby and hate-mongering.

U.S. News and World Report puts the yearly tuition of UMM at near $10,000. I wonder how the sacraficing parents struggling to pay tuition, trying to provide a better life for their children, would feel about the dedication in which Myers approaches his job?

Specifically, on Jan. 30 during university hours Myers engaged in Catholic-bashing with a post: "I’m just finding the old boy [Pope Benedict XVI] increasingly irrelevant as he continues his reactionary slide into medieval thinking. More and more it’s like hearing reports of what some random homeless man in a Philadelphia subway station ranted about."

On Jan. 25, also during university hours, he added to his sacrilegious offenses by posting a picture of a light switch depicting Christ with children that he inferred looked like Christ was aroused. Myers again joked, "I dare you to look at it and not have wildly inappropriate thoughts skitter through your brain."

Back to Chancellor Johnson. It shows a great dereliction of her duty not to access Myers’ Internet records to see if any of this nonsense has been going on during university hours and with the taxpayers' dime.

The correct questions for Johnson to have asked during this time were two-folded. First, and foremost, did any of this bigotry happen on university time and with university equipment? Secondly, if not, can any of these diatribes in anyway be connected back to the university? What Chancellor Johnson did in her actions was to completely skip the primary, most important question and jumped to the lesser, secondary question, in which the university took down a link from their Web site to Myers’ blog.

The ineptness of handling this situation now turns the focus to Johnson. She now comes across as coddling a bigot and not investigating fully as opposed to being a fiduciary to the university acting appropriately. Her defense of Myers that these bigoted views were his personal views and not related to the university no longer carries weight or truth. Yes, they were his views, but they were posted from the university grounds, with university property and, many times as it appears, during class on the taxpayers’ dime.

When coupling the bumbling of this situation with UMM’s past history of not being sensitive to the Catholic community’s outrage by putting on an anti-Catholic play last year, a new reality is obvious.

The time has come for Chancellor Johnson to be replaced with someone who can handle these offenses professionally, thoroughly and act appropriately in the best interests of the university, the 60 million Catholics in America and the people of Minnesota who are funding the chancellor's salary.

Fr. Joe Jenkins Blog

Father Joseph Jenkins is a Roman Catholic priest from Maryland who has a very worthwhile blog. He has been very forthright with the PZ Myers’ sacrilege, saying it is intolerable and PZ Myers has to go. Many good Catholics suffer for their beliefs, but there is never a lightning rod that attracts more hostility than a Roman Collar worn by a dogmatic priest who preaches the unfiltered gospel. Over the past few days he has been inundated with hostile e-mails because of this position due to a link from a sewer site. I would like to give him some good traffic, please visit his blog over the next few days. God Bless, Father!

If You Think Our Faith is Not Under Attack...

From DelawareOnline:

"Thieves broke into St. Michael the Archangel in Georgetown last weekend, tore the tabernacle from the wall, took it outside and threw it on the ground. Communion wafers were scattered around, and a chalice and monstrance were stolen.

The church has been defiled and has been closed to worship," said Joan Ilgenfritz, administrative assistant at the church at 202 Edward St.

It will be reopened after the pastor, the Rev. Daniel J. McCloskey, can sprinkle the sanctuary with holy water and offer a special set of prayers to resanctify the space, said Monsignor Joseph Rebman, vicar general of the Diocese of Wilmington."

Police said they were looking for cash, but the poor boxes were not hit. I will write the local police and tell them to go over to Pharyngula and check patrons who live in Delaware. It, in my opinion, will shorten their search.

Some Great Catholic Questions from Pat Buchanan Today

Written by Pat Buchanan today:

"Thrice in the Illinois legislature, Obama helped block a bill that was designed solely to protect the life of infants already born, and outside the womb, who had miraculously survived the attempt to kill them during an abortion. Thrice, Obama voted to let doctors and nurses allow these tiny human beings die of neglect and be tossed out with the medical waste.

How can a man who purports to be a Christian justify this?

If, as its advocates contend, abortion has to remain legal to protect the life and health, mental and physical, of the mother, how is a mother’s life or health in the least threatened by a baby no longer inside her — but lying on a table or in a pan fighting for life and breath?

...For if, as Catholics believe, abortion is the killing of an unborn child, and participation in an abortion entails automatic excommunication, how can a good Catholic support a candidate who will appoint justices to make Roe v. Wade eternal and eliminate all restrictions on a practice Catholics legislators have fought for three decades to curtail?"

As usual, Buchanan gets straight to the truth of the matter.

PZ Myers' Reaction: 1,300,000 vs. 6,000

To align every one's scorecard, let's review the scope of organizations that have alerted their membership to PZ Myers' sacrilege so they can contact UMM Chancellor Johnson's office:

Critical of PZ Myers' bigotry#; stating he should be fired*:
American Life League* - 300,000 members
The Catholic League* - 350,000 members
The National Catholic Register# 70,000-100,0000 Readership
St. Cloud, MN Diocese* 150,000 Members
Catholics in the Diocese of Dallas that read Ron Dreher's column* 500,000
Christian Anti-Defamation Commission* ?
Confraternity of Catholic Clergy# 600 members
Totaling over +1.3 Million people

For PZ Myers' bigotry:
Myers' friend, Annie Laurie Gaylor, at the family-operated Freedom of Religion Foundation: Per their 2005 report: "6,000 members and growing..."

There was a recent comment from the UM-Morris that the majority of the contacts to the university have been against Myers. ...YA' THINK???

American Life League Calls for Myers to be "Fired"

I don't know how I missed this one... The American Life League, representing its membership of 300,000, issued a Press Release demanding that P.Z. Myers be fired:

"Following the hate-filled blog rant of Paul Zachary Myers, a professor at the University of Minnesota Morris, Judie Brown, president of American Life League, called upon university administrators to fire him."

It's one thing for someone to express an opinion on a matter," said Brown. "But Paul Myers specifically called on his readers to participate in a deliberate and malicious act of violence against the very center of Catholic worship. That is hate speech, and he should be fired for it."

Feast Day of St. Lawrence

Today is the Feast Day of St. Lawrence, Deacon of Rome. St. Lawrence has one of the greatest and most theatrical martyr stories of all the saints.

By Catholic tradition, St. Lawrence followed Pope St. Sixtus II to the Holy Father's execution, under the persecution of Emperor Valerian, by traveling a few steps behind him the whole way. The legend states that the Holy Father told Lawrence that he would follow his martyrdom three days later.

After the death of the pontiff, the prefect of Roman demanded that Lawrence bring all the Church's treasures to him, so they could use it to support Rome's military agenda. Lawrence asked for a few days to get all the treasures together. Over the next few days, Lawrence distributed anything of value that the Church had to the poorest of Rome.

On the third day, Lawrence filled the prefect's auditory "with great number of blind, lame, maimed, leprous, orphaned and widowed persons and put them in rows. When the prefect arrived, Lawrence simply said, “These are the treasure of the Church.”"

The prefect was so furious that he condemn Lawrence on the spot to the horrible death of being grilled alive. A while into his martyrdom, dying on the grill, St. Lawrence kept his joy and joke to his executioners that he was done on one side and should be flipped over.

St. Lawrence was martyred on August 10, in the year 258 A.D. When you see dates like 258 A.D., you realize the powerful heritage of our Faith.

Add The Center for Catholic and Jewish Studies to the List...

An inter-faith denouncement of PZ Myers from the Center for Catholic and Jewish Studies:

"...Catholics have already begun deep personal prayer and reparation to God for such grievous actions. At the same time, we should all be aware that persons who say and do such things as we have seen and heard obviously do not value or for some reason are not able to value the rights or beliefs of others. Therefore, we also hold the perpetrators of such acts in our prayers, calling upon the Spirit to lead them to a conversion of heart and mind, even as we seek justice. We join all persons of good-will who value a free society where people of different faiths thrive together in a wonderful and passionate pursuit of justice, peace, tolerance and mutual respect. We envision a new world where all live as brothers and sisters. Catholics and their friends do not seek retaliation, but a sense of contrition and reparation so that healing can continue. We long for the day when such actions against any religious person will be seen as a true hate crime against all humanity."

Mathematical Proof For the Existence of God:

I have heard this proof for the existence of God a few times. It is a good thing to post this week:

"How did the first protein originate? The theory of evolution has no answer to this question either.Proteins are the building blocks of the cell. If we compare the cell to a huge skyscraper, proteins are the bricks of the skyscraper. Proteins are made up of smaller structures, or molecules, called "amino acids", which are formed by the different combinations made by carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen atoms. There are 500-1,000 amino acids in an average protein.

The important point is that amino acids have to line up in a certain sequence to form a protein. There are 20 different amino acid types used in living organisms. These amino acids do not combine at random to form proteins. Every protein has a certain amino acid sequence and this sequence must be precisely matched. Even the deficiency or the replacement of a single amino acid renders that protein a useless lump of molecules. For this reason, every amino acid must be just at the right place in the right sequence. The instructions for this sequence are stored in the DNA of the cell and, according to them, the proteins are produced.

The theory of evolution claims that the first proteins formed "by chance". Probabilistic calculations, however, show that this is by no means possible. For instance, the probability of the amino acid sequence of a protein made up of 500 amino acids being in the correct order is 1 in 10^950.10^950 is an incomprehensible figure formed by placing 950 zeros after 1. In mathematics, a probability smaller than 1 over 1050 is considered to be almost impossible.Even a single protein cannot form by chance, and there are billions of Protein in human body. and there are billions of people here in this world. Calculation would be [ 10^950 x Number of protein molecules in human body x number of people in the world ever existed ]. Can you imagine this figure. The probability that human life can form by chance is nothing but 0.

Finally, the time necessary [to test all these possible combinations] or the molecule to form was 10^243 billion years.This was far greater than the supposed age of the universe - only about 2 billion years. It was impossible for the universe to have created itself, and for life to randomly form. The only answer left is that there is a creation, and when there is a creation , there is a CREATOR."

Blogger: So to translate all of this scientific/numbers talk, the odds of forming the correct sequence needed for amino acids to form just one life-sustaining protein by random is:

One in 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
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The green highlighted number in the beginning represents your chances at winning a Powerball lottery. To think there is not an intelligent, all-powerful Creator behind these numbers, you are aligning yourself with a nil probability. Something no legitimate scientist would ever do.

Gardner's PZ Myers' NCR Interview

I think Jeff Gardner's National Catholic Register's piece on Myers is worthy of praise and an individual post as well. Gardner skillfully prevented Myers' delusions from defining the situation and/or the interview:

" That Myers has the equivalent of a junior high school education in religion is glaring. He understands little about the history and function of the Catholic Church and even less about the place of the Eucharist in the lives of Catholics. When I told him that many have laid their lives on the line to protect the Blessed Sacrament, he recoiled in disbelief, saying, “Really? People really do that!?”

...I decided to call [Myers'] bluff. “Has Christianity contributed anything to humanity?” I asked him.

“Well,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone, “there is this general property of religion — it’s great at building community. Religion has been a good thing for many individuals; it has brought them together and given them comfort. But over all, religion … holds back humanity.”

What, I asked, about the Church’s role in founding the first Western hospitals, universities, banks and even many breakthroughs in science? He interrupted me, irate and incredulous:
“No, people made those contributions to Western Civilization.”

That the Church was involved in the very foundations of our Western culture is, according to Myers, irrelevant.

...I asked Myers, “You have, throughout your blog, described Catholics as stupid, stupider, scary, dark age fanatics” and words that we can’t print. This language doesn’t strike you as bigoted?”

“Why should it?” he replied. “I am making honest characterizations of individual people.”

“But in desecrating the Eucharist,” I continued, “you have insulted and hurt thousands of Catholics. What do you have to say for that?”

Myers’ answer was true to form: “The whole silly part of this whole episode is that I’ve got so many people writing me and saying that I have seriously hurt them. But what have I done? I have thrown away a cracker.”

I think Myers greatly underestimated Gardner based on the civility Gardner extended to him on the Catholic Radio International interview.

The best thing Gardner did in this piece was to ask the right questions that let Myers define [read incriminate] himself. There was also no wiggle room in the article that would let Myers interpret or exploit the piece for his benefit. Gardner also kept bringing the interview, and Myers, back into reality. This is no small task. Trying to pin Myers in the realm of reality is like trying to nail jello to a wall.

Atheists Denounce Myers

Atheist Matthew Nisbet, Ph.D, is a professor in the School of Communication at American University, and a blogger on Scienceblogs, the site hosting P.Z. Myers' vile.

Yesterday morning, he distanced himself from Myers' bigotry understanding how much fanatic extremists like Myers hurts their atheist cause. Surprisingly, he draws attention to Jeff Gardner's piece at the National Catholic Register in regard to focusing on the damage Myers has done within the faith-based community and its byproduct of deteriorating society's overall perception of Atheists:

Atheists have a major image problem. There's a reason that when people ask me what I believe I have to say with a smile: "I'm an atheist...but a friendly atheist."

...These "new atheists" are the dark under belly of atheism. In books, blogs, and public statements, they sell us ideological porn, sophomoric rants that feed our dark sides and reinforce our own unfair stereotypes about the "other," i.e. the religious.

Yet all of this does far more harm than good. The addictive nature of their rhetoric radicalizes us and leads us to an ever more closed off conversation about how we are superior and everyone else is delusional.

In the process, we miss out on working together with religious communities around shared common values and problems. And when their self-promoting atheist punditry is picked up by either the mainstream press or the religious media, we as a community of atheists incur deep self-inflicted wounds, with news coverage feeding the stereotype that we are a bunch of intolerant and arrogant eccentrics.

Consider this recent article at the National Catholic Register. Titled "The Face of the New Atheism," it profiles PZ Myers and his rants against the Eucharist and the Catholic community. Notice the key words emphasized. The dominant image of atheism portrayed in the article is one of "hate," "contempt," "dogmatism," "a junior high level understanding of religion," "irate," "incredulous," "bigoted"...the list goes on.

Is this how we really want Catholics to view us? Do we really want a group of moderately religious Americans--who polls show otherwise prize science, reason, and stand for many of the same values that we hold dear--to think of us through the prism of PZ Myers?

The image of atheism doesn't have to be this way....

The points of emphasis for the rest of the public should be on "strong community member and leaders," "teachers," "listeners," "working with others on common problems," "tolerant," "engaged," "open-minded," "pragmatic," "improving society," "cares about people and social issues..."

This is the "new atheism" that we should promote, not an image of attacks and intolerance.