Shining the light of the Catholic faith on the Culture of Death - paxchristi3's Blog - Bakersfield.com

ADL regards Obama's critics as anti-Semites?

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:18:24 PST

Looks like WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah is having a taste of Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" ...

The ADL targets WND
Exclusive: Joseph Farah is suddenly anti-Semitic due to 'birther' issue

Posted: November 21, 2009
1:00 am Eastern

By Joseph Farah

Go figure.

I've been labeled everything from a tool of the international Zionist conspiracy to Israel's best friend to "the Arabian Knight" to "a righteous gentile."

I am asked to speak to more Jewish audiences, including many chapters of the B'nai Brith, both in the U.S. and Canada, than Christian audiences, even though I am an Arab-American Christian.

I'm a former columnist for the Jerusalem Post, and my coverage and analysis of the Middle East has been hailed by Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as thousands of other prominent Jewish leaders in Israel and the U.S.

Nevertheless, the ADL is after me and my news organization.

In case you don't know what the ADL stands for, it is the Anti-Defamation League – formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith. It was founded, the group's website explains, "to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all."

Now, the group, which bills itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency," claims to fight "anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry" and defend democratic ideals and civil rights for all.

So, why would the ADL go after me?

"Since the election of Barack Obama as president, a current of anti-government hostility has swept across the United States, creating a climate of fervor and activism with manifestations ranging from incivility in public forums to acts of intimidation and violence," the group explains in its latest special report. "What characterizes this anti-government hostility is a shared belief that Obama and his administration actually pose a threat to the future of the United States. Some accuse Obama of plotting to bring socialism to the United States, while others claim he will bring about Nazism or fascism. All believe that Obama and his administration will trample on individual freedoms and civil liberties, due to some sinister agenda, and they see his economic and social policies as manifestations of this agenda. In particular, anti-government activists used the issue of health-care reform as a rallying point, accusing Obama and his administration of dark designs ranging from 'socialized medicine' to 'death panels,' even when the Obama administration had not come out with a specific health-care reform plan. Some even compared the Obama administration's intentions to Nazi eugenics programs."

Well, to the aforementioned, I plead guilty.

If that's the new definition of anti-Semitism in America, I guess I am one.

But I won't be lonely, according to the ADL's sweeping indictment of what has become popular American opinion.

Anyone who participated in a tea party is one also.

Anyone who got raucous at a town hall meeting is one, too.

Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., is one for shouting "You lie" to the president – even though he apologized and even though he was right in his initial statement.

Glenn Beck is one for "raising anxiety about and distrust towards the government."

But, as for me, my biggest "hate crime" appears to be the fact that I have continued to ask a question that few others in the media have been willing to ask – "Where's the birth certificate?"

Did you know that is, according to the ADL, a sign of being a hate-monger and an anti-Semite?

It's also an expression of "anti-government hostility or anger" and serves to proliferate "anti-government conspiracy theories."

"One of the newest such theories, the so-called 'birther' movement, which rapidly spread during and after the 2008 election campaign, targeted Obama himself," the ADL special report states. "'Birthers' claim that Obama is not a legitimate president because he allegedly was not born in the United States (as the Constitution requires), but rather in Kenya. Especially disturbing are the mainstream media figures and politicians who implicitly or explicitly endorse the 'birther' conspiracy theory, or refuse to condemn it. Two attorneys, Philip Berg of Pennsylvania and Orly Taitz of California, have been particularly active in spreading the 'birther' arguments, as has an on-line right-wing newspaper, World Net Daily (sic)."

Of course, no one at WND to my knowledge has ever said Obama wasn't born in the U.S. or suggested he was born in Kenya. What I have done, both through my commentaries and our news reporting, is to look for evidence and to ask Obama to provide it – as the Constitution clearly requires. Simply being born in the U.S., by the way, does not necessarily fulfill the constitutional requirement of "natural born citizenship."

But I digress.

I'm not here to defend myself. I'm here to plead guilty to being very suspicious of government – even cynical at times.

By the way, has anyone pointed out to the ADL that is precisely the role of a free press in a free society?

Maybe they missed that. Maybe they are too busy looking for anti-Semites under their beds to have forgotten the First Amendment protections of the press were specifically written and ratified by the founders because they were as suspicious of government as I am – maybe even more so. It's a good thing the ADL wasn't around back then. Otherwise, we'd still be subjects of the British Crown – and already be enjoying the benefits of socialized medicine.

So, where do I turn myself in for the show trial?

U.S. Christians strike back with the "Manhattan Declaration"

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:59:43 PST

Let's hear it for these folks who would make our Founding Fathers proud: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/nov/09112004.html The most telling statement:

"We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God's."

Senate OKs motion to debate health care bill

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:50:49 PST

The Democrats just eked out the votes they needed to move the bill to a full debate on the Senate floor: http://www.lifenews.com/nat5695.html

As the Creative Minority Report points out, just one pro-life Democrat is needed to trip it, and that might be Sen. Ben Nelson. Even if he betrays his principles, there's still the Stupak Amendment in the House bill to deal with: http://www.creativeminorityreport.com/2009/11/just-one-pro-life-dem.html

Nice to see the bishops send a shot across the bow of the Senate on this isssue: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/20/bishops-unacceptable-health-care-bill/

Just like abortion is going to make or break the health care bill, it's going to be the sword that Christ said he came to bring instead of peace, dividing up the Catholics between those who stand with Peter and his successors and those who don't: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091120/ARTICLES/911209852/1350?Title=Catholic-debate-Health-care-vs-abortion Indeed, as the retired nurse says in the article, abortion is not an issue that Catholics should compromise on.

Sodom in America

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:36:36 PST

Ray saw fit to trash traditional marriage and block me from commenting. So, Ray, if marriage is that important for you to hijack as if to somehow diminish the perversion of gay marriage and yet you schizophrenically stab traditional marriage in the back, would you help us to make sense of your motives?

The way I look at it, buddy, is that the wife abuser is just as much an abomination as the gays, both of whom distort what George Washington calls the "indispensable supports" of religion and morality, which Star Parker cited in her latest column that shows we have a helluva bigger problem than the wacko who lusts for beating up his wife:

Star Parker: Nation's capital city has thoroughly rejected values of its namesake

Posted: November 21, 2009
1:00 am Eastern

By Star Parker

At a time when our country is sick, it shouldn't be surprising that one of our sickest places is our nation's capital.

The poverty rate of Washington, D.C., almost 20 percent, is one of the highest in the nation. Its child poverty rate is the nation's highest.

D.C.'s public school system, with a graduation rate of less than 50 percent, is one of the worst in the country.

According to D.C.'s HIV/AIDS office, 3 percent of the local population has HIV or AIDS. The administrator of this office notes that this HIV/AIDS incidence is "… higher than West Africa … on par with Uganda and some parts of Kenya." And the principal way that HIV is transmitted continues to be through male homosexual activity.

Amidst this dismal picture, the D.C. City Council, perhaps on the theory that serving up another glass of wine is the way to help a drunk, is scheduled to vote on Dec. 1 to legalize same-sex marriage in America's capital city.

Looking at realities in Washington, D.C., should make clear why George Washington said, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."

But the America that our first president had in mind was very different from the vision of our D.C. government officials.

George Washington's America was one in which the point of freedom is to allow man to rise to what he can become. To do this, the greatest challenge he faces is conquering himself, to rise above his baser instincts, to rise above the many temptations that lead him astray. And to achieve this end, as Washington said, "religion and morality are indispensable supports."

In left-wing America, of which the D.C. government is a poster child, freedom means to indulge every instinct that the tradition and religion of George Washington would have us overcome.

Where does it lead? Well, look at D.C.

It is tempting to look at D.C.'s realities and just call this a black thing. And by and large it is.

D.C. is largely black – almost 60 percent. Its poverty is black poverty. Its public school system serves mostly black children. And its AIDS crisis is mostly among blacks.

But the pathologies that strike the weakest parts of our population most brutally are nonetheless pathologies of the nation.

The Brookings Institution is one of our oldest policy institutes and certainly no bastion of conservatism.

But in a recently published volume, Brookings scholars Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill point out the centrality of the traditional family to the American dream of opportunity and the centrality of family breakdown to poverty.

Reporting data showing the general breakdown of the traditional American family, they say, "Some claim that anyone who is concerned about these trends is simply out of touch with modern culture; we respond that, if that be the case, then, 'modern culture is out of touch with the needs of children.'"

The Catholic Archdiocese of D.C. announced that legalization of same-sex marriage would make it impossible to continue its relationship with the D.C. government and require termination of the social services it provides to some 68,000 of the city's poor – including about one-third of its homeless.

The reaction of D.C. Councilmember David Catania was essentially "so what?" According to him, "their services are not indispensable."

Is Catania out of touch with the needs of D.C.'s poor?

No. He just has different priorities. More important to him, and more important to D.C.'s left-wing city council, is advancing moral relativism and the indulgences it feeds.

This is more important to them than feeding the poor or recognizing the values that would get them out of poverty.

It should concern every American as we watch our nation's capital city transform officially into Sodom.

Triple whammy against gay marriage

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:18:04 PST

If thin-skinned Ray hadn't blocked me from his post about the reports that he would have us believe show that Christians have nothing to fear from the new hate crimes law, I would have asked if it's true that the Lavender Mafia is out to break some D.C. priests' kneecaps as Catholic League's Bill Donohue tells us: http://www.catholicleague.com/release.php?id=1721

The most telling quote:

The Catholic League is prepared to assist any priest in the Archdiocese of Washington who is the victim of harassment, intimidation or stalking. Whatever resources the priest needs, we will see to it that he is served. If radical gay activists want a showdown with the Catholic League, we will not disappoint them.

WOOOOOOOOOO! That's talkin' smack, man! Reminds me of last night's valley championship match in volleyball between Frontier and Garces. But rather than root for the Catholic girls, I was cheering on my niece's Frontier squad, which stormed back to win in five sets, with the final play a vicious kill off the face of a Garces player.

Anyway, it's edifying that the U.S. Catholic bishops in their fall meeting this week resoundingly voted in favor of a pastoral letter that calls out same-sex marriage as a "multifaceted threat to the very fabric of society": http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=b66259ae-0712-4c81-a5ae-b3f0d52dffb5

That is especially heartening in light of TBC columnist Valerie Schulz's recent column in which she betrayed the Catholic Church's teachings in calling for legalizing gay marriage so that she could not feel so guilty about her daughter getting hitched with a same-sex partner in Oregon. To solve a problem like Schulz, I am going to do the charitable thing and send a letter to the diocese's bishop and ask that he do the right thing and remove her from teaching catchecism (assuming she is still doing that as she mentioned in a previous column). After all, a lay minister in Maine recently was removed from her post when she wrote a letter to the editor in support of gay marriage.

Lastly, I wish to share the latest email that I received from the guy who looks gay but is a happily married straight man with kids:

The great victories in Maine and New York-23 for pro-marriage forces continue to reverberate up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

NJ.com reported on Nov. 18 ("Gay Marriage... Now!"): "The word on the street is that the gay marriage initiative in the New Jersey State House is in big trouble. Apparently, the Democrats can't get enough votes to pass it, even though outgoing Governor Jon Corzine is prepared to sign it."

Praise God! And pray harder--this fight is not finished yet.

No wonder even New Jersey Democrats are having second thoughts. Jon Corzine ran on a pro-gay-marriage platform and he lost. Dede Scozzafava voted for gay marriage twice in New York--and she was trounced by an unknown third party candidate. Do these New Jersey politicians want to follow Jon Corzine over the political cliff?

If we can hold off this juggernaut over the next six weeks, we can prevent the New Jersey legislature from imposing gay marriage on voters whether they like it or not! I promised you, when I asked you to join with NOM, that we would fight for marriage wherever and whenever we needed. We knew that after Maine we would have to pivot and turn to New Jersey, where gay marriage advocates has promised their supporters they would push a bill through the lame duck session. NOM is different from most organizations--we go where the fight needs to be, to make sure that your voice and your values are heard.

In D.C. the city councilmembers appear to be men with hardened hearts. We suspect they will not listen to reason or to their constituents and will instead push a gay marriage bill through the council. But the fight will not end there. Not with Bishop Harry Jackson and others leading the charge to fight through the legal fog and the media spin to give the people of D.C. the power to take control of the future of marriage. Sitting in the council chambers watching liberal politicians condescend and lecture to these brave black pastors about civil rights would give anyone with any sense of history an odd feeling. Still, the room burst out in wild applause when these leaders of the black church stood up for their--for our--right to vote for marriage.

Why do we fight so hard? This week the Catholic bishops released a statement, "Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan." It's a document worth reading by any person of faith, or anyone who cares about the future of marriage.

On same-sex marriage the Catholic bishops remind us that we hold these truths to be self-evident: "Marriage, this clinging together of husband and wife as one flesh, is based on the fact that
man and woman are both different and the same. They are different as male and female, but the
same as human persons who are uniquely suited to be partners or helpmates for each other."

I've included a link below if you want to read more. (I've also included NOM president Maggie Gallagher's statement in her column on Carrie Prejean--keep her in your prayers.)

What do we have on our side in this fight? Nothing but truth, justice, and the majority of the American people! And a God who watches over each and every one of us.

You are the reason NOM can do all that we do. Thank you.

Faithfully,

Brian S. Brown
Executive Director
National Organization for Marriage
20 Nassau Street, Suite 242

Twas the month before Christmas

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:51:29 PST

*Twas the month before Christmas*

*When all through our land,*

*Not a Christian was praying*

*Nor taking a stand.*

*See the PC Police had taken away,*

*The reason for Christmas - no one could say.*

*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*

*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*

*It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say*

* December 25th is just a ' Holiday '.*

*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*

*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*

*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*

*Something was changing, something quite odd! *

*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*

*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*

*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*

* At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.*

*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears*

*You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.*

*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty*

*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*

*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*

*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!*

*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*

*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*

*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*

* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*

*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*

*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*

*So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'*

*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*

*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*

*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,

not Happy Holiday!*

Please, all Christians join together and

wish everyone you meet during the holidays a

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christ is The Reason for the Christ-mas Season!

Firefighter catches heat for anti-Obama stickers

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:14:54 PST

Freedom of speech is still in the Constitution, is it not? http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=116553

Furthermore, the same document requires the president to be a natural-born citizen instead of a native-born citizen, does it not? http://www.therightsideoflife.com/?p=7588

Palin right, HuffPost wrong

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:03:41 PST

Joseph Farah of World Net Daily slaps down the pseudo-news organization:

As for Sarah Palin, keep on doing what you're doing, baby! You got 'em on the run. You scare them to death! When they have to lie about what you say and do to make their point, you know you're saying and doing something right.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=116539

Trying terrorists--or Bush-Cheney?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:50:19 PST

Ouch.

The Obama administration is more dangerous to America in many ways than any terrorist organization. What this cabal is doing to the country in stripping it of its most cherished values, its basic morality, its foundation on the rule of law, its liberties and its economy is more devastating than anything Mohammed and his zealots could have ever imagined.

Let's hear it for Joseph Farah: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=116415

Why 'Rogue' is a better book than 'Dreams'

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:47:14 PST

Ouch.

Halfway through "Going Rogue," I look forward to the further adventures of our plucky heroine and the Palin family, especially husband Todd whose history is so much more "diverse" and manly than Obama's that "Dreams" should have been written about him.

Let's hear it for Jack Cashill: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=116451

Note to Catholics on this weekend's second collection

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:31:58 PST

Fellow Catholics, a second collection will be taken up this weekend for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, which has donated to left-wing organizations that openly oppose the Church's teachings, including infamously to that odious organization known as ACORN to the tune of $7 million over the years.

Instead of giving any money, download and print a coupon from the article at the following link to put into the basket: http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=33e0d9fa-02b6-4149-a0c6-5702854d50e8

That'll teach 'em to get their priorities straight and stop their unholy alliances.

Their president or life; no middle ground

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:56:41 PST

Remember when the Democrats were giddy over the prospect of a widening rift in the Republican camp when the traditional faction abandoned a pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage Republican in favor of a third-party candidate who shares its values in the recent New York congressional race?

Well, let's see if they don't end up peeing in their pants should the Stupak-Pitts amendment restricting abortion funding in the House version of the health-care reform bill cause a divide in their own camp: http://www.creativeminorityreport.com/2009/11/their-president-or-life-no-middle.html

If the amendment is kept, no doubt the pro-abortion maniacs will scream bloody murder. If it is stripped, it will be interesting to see if those who voted for the amendment will stick to their principles or be exposed as liars.

Science and religion a heavenly mix

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:01:15 PST

Wouldn't it bust a gut to see the secularists who delight in caricaturing the faithful as being anti-science start to wail and gnash their teeth in realization that their "god" is betraying them by affirming the truths as taught by religion and faith, as Star Parker tells us? http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=115969

Why, technology may even help us to understand the universe through something as innocuous as a piece of ancient cloth: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=116126

No need to order the DVD when you can watch it free on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58CwQBdxNHk

Speaking of levitation, looks like our master may still be up to his old tricks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDp3nPQqL_o

Times of apocalypse are upon us

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:06:56 PST

And why do I say that? Just a hunch, yet in keeping with today's reading from the Gospel of Mark: http://ewtn.com/vbible/search.asp?abbr=Mark&ch=13&bv1=24&ev1=32

But there's also the raft of heavenly messages that a new book (given an imprimatur by a cardinal) chronicles, making "Catholics believe Mary has come to warn her children that humanity is about to suffer an increase in natural disasters, a great apostasy, and God’s justice and divine wrath, due to the increase of sin in the world today": http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/catholics-agree-with-prophecies-contained,1044716.shtml

If indeed it's just a matter of when during our lifetimes, not if, the events that will include a Warning followed by a Great Miracle will take place, then it may behoove you to know what to expect. And it's not a pretty picture.

I was going to add something snarky here about those who are the impetus of the prophecies, but Berean has been hounding me to dispense sugar instead of vinegar.

So have a nice day and enjoy life while you can.

Inclusiveness not what it used to be?

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:13:27 PST

How odd that a former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic suddenly is a persona non grata at the Episcopalian church she attends after having a change of heart and becoming pro-life: http://www.lifenews.com/state4578.html

Perhaps she can go back to the old Baptist church that kicked her out now that she has repented of her pro-choice ways. Berean should be thrilled to hear that, as well as see the wisdom of the carrot and stick approach.

By the way, does anyone know whether our undocumented president ever cracked open the document that was given to him by the pope during their meeting some time ago? http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/nov/09111307.html

'Birther' stories led to Lou Dobbs resignation

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:00:28 PST

Chee, and all Lou did was ask for the undocumented president to shut the "Birthers" up by proving that he is an American citizen as Lou believed he was. Instead, the Obazombies went bananas: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=115966

Somebody should have warned Rep. Nathan Deal before doing a Lou Dobbs himself: http://www.therightsideoflife.com/?p=7515

It doesn't help that a court is making what attorney Leo Donofrio calls "a lame judicial attempt at defining the 'natural born citizen' clause": http://naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/indian-court-of-appeals-trips-over-natural-born-citizen-issue/

But I digress. The focus of this posting should be on Lou, whom World Net Daily's founder, Joseph Farah, hails as a real newsman who will be the Communist News Network's loss: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=115929

Like Farah, I hope Fox News swoops in to get him. But even Farah has his doubts about Fox. But it worked out well for Glenn Beck.

Unwritten story: New VA & NJ governors are strong Catholics

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:51:55 PST

Hat tip to the American Papist for the revelation that the new New Jersey and Virginia governors are strong Catholics. I had known that Christie was one, but had no idea that McDonnell is likewise. That makes the recent elections that much more sweeter. Looks like the tide is indeed turning.

On January 19th 2009 the new governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, will be sworn-in to office at 11:30 AM.

But earlier that day, at 9:00 AM, he will attend a Mass celebrated by Archbishop John Myers at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

Chris Christie, you see, is a practicing pro-life, pro-family Catholic. I wrote in my posts leading up to the November elections as much.

He opposes gay marriage and wants to allow the people of his state to vote on it, while on the other side, the Democrat Legislature is trying to legalize gay marriage during the upcoming lameduck session.

Christie is also pro-life, and didn't hide that fact during the race. Like many pro-life politicians, he is forced to take an incremental approach (such as parental notification, a 24-hour waiting period and a ban on partial-birth abortions), but at least he is sincerely trying.

Jon Corzine, Christie's opponent in the race, attached him for his pro-life, pro-family positions.

The other new governor to be sworn in early next year is Bob McDonnell, equally pro-life and pro-family (from what I've heard). McDonnell was ruthlessly and relentlessly attacked for his pro-life, pro-family positions, as was his attorney general candidate friend, Ken Cuccinelli (who also won, despite the Washington Post calling him a "bigot" the weekend before the election).

Remembering off the top of my head, the Washington Post alone published something like 40 or 50 individual stories about McDonnell's thesis in school, where, among other things, McDonnell expressed conservative and/or "Catholic" perspectives on the role of women in the work place, the effects of abortion and contraception on society, etc.

I'm a bit fuzzy on all the details - and readers are welcome (as always) to correct them in the comment box - but the basic point is this: two Catholic candidates won elections this year to state-wide office without compromising their pro-life, pro-family principles.

The world didn't end, and once they are in office, they won't conduct witch hunts against those who disagree with them on these issues - but they will use their office to promote these central values, which transcend any one religion or political party. Catholics aren't pro-life and pro-family, after all, only because the Church tells them to be so, but rather, they are encouraged to hold true to these commonsense principles because of the witness and encouragement of their Catholic faith.

You read a lot, and heard a lot about how dangerous were Christie and McDonnell's "Catholic" beliefs during the election, but you won't hear much about these "dangers" now, because in the meantime, the people of Virginia and New Jersey chose them for elected office.

I think this reality scares some pro-abortion, anti-marriage individuals. But it should encourage us.

Greek Church acts on crucifix ban

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:41:31 PST

Wonder what our good Greek Orthodox fellow blogger Wayfarer/Sojourner, who has been absent since the end of July (hope he's OK), would have had to say about this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8358027.stm

Isn't it splendid that secularism and relativism have been the great unifying force in the battle between good and evil?

Why President Obama won't be re-elected if Sarah Palin runs for president in 2012

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:08:47 PST

Thanks to blogger Dad29 for bringing my attention to a well-crafted essay by a Harvard college and law school grad who doesn't share a whole lot of Sarah Palin's values but sees her as being a more qualified candidate than any of the others that both sides have put forth in recent years:

Sarah Palin and the Dysfunctional Political Class

November 8, 2009 - by James V. DeLong

The frenetic hostility to Sarah Palin, even by many on the Republican side, is unnerving, because her qualifications to be president are objectively better than those of almost anyone who has been on the national ticket over the past decade.

A reasonable conclusion is that these qualifications are precisely the cause of the hostility. To admit to the reality that the dominant political class, including the MSM and the punditocracy of both parties, has been giving us abysmal presidential candidates, to accept that a hockey mom plucked from small-town Alaska is better than the best that the political class can come up with, would require recognition of the terrible truth that the system has become deeply dysfunctional. Doing this would force our political elites to look into an abyss of serious questions about the functioning of our democracy. Palin creates a cognitive dissonance so intense that it simply cannot be accepted.

To start, compare her experience as a person, mayor, and state leader with George W. Bush’s pre-presidential career as an alcoholic, baseball executive, and ornamental governor. Whatever one thinks of his performance as president — and like most conservatives my views are complex — he was not promising material as of 2000.

Al Gore would be disqualified by knowledge of his academic career and by a reading of Earth in the Balance, an exercise in messianic ignorance. His subsequent career getting rich from climate change subsidies would reinforce this opinion. John Kerry had a Senate career of unbroken mediocrity, compounded by his unapologized-for Winter Soldier exercise and the still-unanswered Swift Boat questions.

John Edwards had no shadow of a qualification, and again the judgment is confirmed by subsequent events.

Obama’s qualifications were will-o-the-wisp. His supporters cited his “potential,” as they had to, because his only actual feat was his first book — and the claims that this was ghosted have been met by non-denial. The Asia Times characterizes these rumors as “well-established,” which tells one something about current foreign assessments of Obama. The president’s long-standing ties to the radical left should have tipped the balance to the negative.

Vice President Joe Biden has a long history of blurring the line between fantasy and reality to a degree that one wonders if he sees any distinction, but 36 years of this is enough to make him “qualified.” This, too, tells a lot about the mental processes of the dominant political class.

One can deeply respect John McCain’s courage and service. But he is an erratic senator, with a tendency to reach decisions on a whim and then excoriate anyone who disagrees. As demonstrated by McCain-Feingold — which hamstrings the middle-class base of the Republicans while leaving intact the power of unions and public employees, the media, the rich, and Native American tribes — McCain does not, or cannot, think even two moves ahead.

This leaves Joe Lieberman and Dick Cheney as the only candidates with any weight, and Palin’s executive experience gives her an edge over Lieberman.

The list may not be impressive, but being number two is not bad.

The biases of the political class also explain why Palin got sandbagged at the outset. Anyone familiar with the world of Washington private schools knows that they are experts at resume building — creating scads of extracurricular activities and awards so that every student can shine for the college of his or her choice. Well, the kids learned it from their parents, who are also experts at blowing air into the CV.

Palin was called inexperienced because she had never gone on a five-photo-ops-with-foreign-leaders-in-four-days tour, held show hearings on the topic du jour, introduced meaningless legislation, or had her staff give her a list of the publications she should say she was currently reading.

In fact — and of course — negotiating with Exxon is better preparation for negotiating with Putin than is a foreign photo op. And running a town is a miles-better education than warming a Senate seat. But again, it is not in the interests of the political class to acknowledge this.

So her handlers tried to cram her into a D.C. frame of reference by stuffing her with facts on national and international issues that could withstand grilling from a gotcha! press, something that was neither possible nor the right game.

Palin should instead have conceded that of course she would not be ready to be president on day one, but that:

1. What she had turned her hand to, she had quickly learned to do successfully — and this ability, based on her solid grounding in the realities of American life, was and is the real test.

2. If she were called upon on day one, she would be the head of a government, not a lone individual, and she had the experience in handling people that would be necessary to tap into the collective intelligence of the nation.

Those are called real qualifications!

Since the election, Palin has learned her lesson about the political handlers and she has followed Mao’s advice, as channeled through Anita Dunn — “you fight your war and I’ll fight mine.”

Her resignation from the governorship, which was mostly condemned by the pundits, was dead-on shrewd. Why let herself be tied down defending perjured ethics charges from people with infinite money, whose only desire is to shut her up or bankrupt her? Her willingness to be herself and pursue her own ideas without regard to whether or not they could lead to future office is a source of great political strength. Her public pronouncements, such as the Hong Kong speech, are serious and adult, unlike most of the vapidity produced by politicians, especially Obama. And Palin is mastering the art of short, sharp statements.

None of this is winning over the political class. Indeed, Palin’s refusal to fulfill their desires that she be a clown or take a proper role in the kabuki theater of Washington is making them angrier than ever and more determined to marginalize her. But the disillusionment with government among the tea-partying middle class is so great that every attack on her builds her stature on Main Street.

Is Palin going to be nominated? Hard to tell, even assuming she wants it. The unrelenting hostility of the media does have an insidious effect. She also needs to achieve the discipline in speaking that she displays with her written pronouncements — more brevity and less nattering — but this is doable.

The cultural issues are more important. There is a middle ground of people who are against the increasing bipartisan kleptocracy but not conservative on cultural matters — personally, I am pro-choice (but with reasonable caveats about the exercise of that choice), utterly indifferent to gay marriage, pro-gun, pro-decriminalization of marijuana, in favor of a forward strategy towards the terrorist wing of Islam and with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and sympathetic to China’s extraordinary effort to remake itself economically and politically.

Ultimately, this may or may not make me into a Palin supporter. But either way, our most fundamental current crisis is the inability of the political class to produce plausible leaders, and its hostility to anyone, such as Palin, who threatens the system. The election of Obama was a symptom of our current dysfunctional politics, not a cause.

We need more Palins, not fewer.

Oh, the hypocrisies of the left

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:39:46 PST

The Creative Minority Report comes through once again in exposing the double standards of the leftists and secularists with a trifecta of doozies: