Washington does not run the Catholic Church – the Vatican does. Obama and his pro-abort minions can try to obfuscate the issue all they want – pretending this is a “woman’s health” issue, demagoguing the controversy as a “war against women” but at the end of the day, this is a religious freedom issue. It was worrying to hear leaders in the church speak defensively – as though the government had the power to force them to violate their consciences.
As Richard Viguerie and Mark Fitzgibbons at The American Thinkerpointed out, earlier in the week:
In response to the Obama administration mandate requiring Catholic institutions to pay for insurance covering contraception, U.S. Catholic bishops announced that they will not “obey” that “law”.
The bishops have gotten it wrong and backwards, and in doing so have yielded the moral high ground that is rightfully theirs.
It looked like Catholic leaders were going to allow the left to bait and switch this issue into a debate about women’s health.
USCCB President Timothy Cardinal Dolan has issued a new letter to his fellow Catholic bishops that is one of the strongest condemnations yet of the revised Obama mandate that pro-life advocates have blasted for trampling on religious freedoms.
In the new letter issued Wednesday and co-signed by Bishop William Lori, Dolan condemns the mandate and urges support for the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act, which would overturn the revision of the original mandate that forced religious employers to pay for birth control and drugs that cause abortions. The new mandate puts the onus for paying for them on insurance companies but religious employers may still have to pay and will be required to make referrals for their employees.
Dolan obliterates the mandate, saying religious rights and freedoms are a God-given right that and it “does not depend on any government’s decision to grant it.”
We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, endowed – – – with certain inalienable rights, life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness…
“If the government can, for example, tell Catholics that they cannot be in the insurance business today without violating their religious convictions, where does it end?” Dolan asks.
Well they can’t force Catholics to violate their consciences and remain faithful to our founding documents at the same time – and Obama knows it. That’s why he kept leaving that pesky little phrase out of his recitations of the Declaration of Independence. In Obamerica we aren’t endowed by any imaginary “creator”. All our rights come from the State.
Alarmed?
You should be.
Make sure you get everyone you know to vote. If you know any elderly people who have moved recently – help them get registered at their new address. 2012 may be this nation’s last chance at surviving as a Democratic Republic.
Totalitarianism relies on one main concept – the death of belief. Not simply the belief in God, but of all belief – in one’s nation, community, church, and even self. Totalitarianism can only exist when the majority of people have no belief in a nation’s moral standards, political reality and society; who, during that crisis in belief, reach out and embrace the resolution that the totalitarian regime offers as a life-line.
This life-line is the totalitarian state itself – a Marxist Utopia, the State as God and giver of all to all. By offering the panacea of the all-knowing and providing State, the totalitarian regime seeks to supplant all the beliefs of the people with the State as God and its agenda. Cultural Marxism is the tool they are using.
Now, I’m sure you’ll say that’s communism, or socialism, or fascism. Those are three roads that lead to the same end – totalitarianism – like in Nazi Germany, the former Soviet Union and Red China. All three ended up as totalitarian regimes under brutal leaders – Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Mao Tse Tung.
The Senate is expected to vote Tuesday or Wednesday of next week on this legislation, which would repeal the HHS mandate – and provide conscience protections for ALL Americans.
The legislation is sponsored by Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri and it would protect the rights of conscience for religious organizations and for businesses so they wouldn’t be forced by the federal government to pay for medical procedures which violate their moral beliefs.
My sources in Washington tell me that we are in need of several critical swing votes, especially the following Senators.
Here are ten Senators we need to contact IMMEDIATELY:
202-224-2043 – Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota
202-224-2523 – Sen. Susan Collins of Maine
202-224-5344 – Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine
202-224-5824 – Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana
202-224-4041 – Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut
202-224-3954 – Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia
202-224-6154 – Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri
202-224-5274 – Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida
202-224-2353 – Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas
202-224-2644 – Sen. Jon Tester of Montana
.
U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama attend the ground breaking ceremony for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington February 22, 2012. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
Let me make a prediction based on this picture – if he wins the election, this November, there will be no more moments like this. There will be no more National Anthems or Pledge of Allegiances at presidential events, period. The charade will be over.
Rick Santorum is right. Pushing back against Democrats’ attempts to frame him as a religious menace, the GOP presidential candidate forcefully turned the tables on the White House: “When it comes to the management of the Earth, they are the anti-science ones.”
Scrutiny of the White House anti-science brigade couldn’t come at a better time (which is why Santorum’s detractors prefer to froth at the mouth about comments he made four years ago on the existence of Satan). It’s not just big-ticket scandals like the stimulus-subsidized Solyndra bankruptcy or the Keystone pipeline debacle bedeviling America. In every corner of the Obama administration, the radical green machinery is hard at work — destroying jobs, shredding truth and sacrificing our economic well-being at the altar of environmentalism.
–Take Obama’s head of the National Park Service, please. While serving as the Pacific West regional director of the NPS, Jon Jarvis was accused of at least 21 instances of scientific misconduct (pdf) by Dr. Corey Goodman, a high-ranking member of the National Academy of Sciences. Extensive information about Jarvis’ alleged role in cooking data about a California oyster farm’s impact on harbor seals at Point Reyes was withheld during the 2009 nomination process. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has ignored complaints and follow-up from both Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Republican Sens. James Inhofe and David Vitter.
Does the humilation ever end under this president? Will this man every let us hold our heads up as Americans under his reign?
It was stomach churning to watch this video yesterday of a US four star General groveling for forgiveness to jihadists for “mishandling” extremist materials. The fish stinks from the head down and this is Obama’s foreign policy. Is it any wonder that jihadist attempts in this country have skyrocketed under this asshat?
Religious materials — including Qurans that were burned at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, sparking Afghan protests — were removed from the library of a detainee center “because of extremist inscriptions” on them, a military official said Tuesday.
There was “an appearance that these documents were being used to facilitate extremist communications,” a military official said.
“Additionally, some of the documents were extremist in and of themselves, apparently originating from outside of Afghanistan,” the official said.
The official said the material was burned, but authorities are attempting to determine how much.
Line-o-the-day, right here:
Obama is forcing the Catholic church to violate its doctrines while cravenly submitting to Islamic teachings about the quran. Where is the respect to Christians that he demands we give to Muslims? And where the hell is the GOP?
The craven appeasers in this administration understand there will be no deadly riots in the streetswhen it tries to force its will on Catholics.
The TSA said the incident was not a security issue. “Continental Flight 1113, Portland to Houston, returned to Portland when a passenger refused to obey the ‘No Smoking” sign. The passenger and traveling companion were taken off the plane,” Christen David of United/ Continental Corporate Communications said in a released a statement.It was not known what charges would be filed.
Not a security issue. Little old ladies and and young children are getting groped in the groin by TSA screeners, while “non security threats” like this guy get on – Houston, we’ve got a problem.
Ironic Surrealism noted the same Muslim was arrested two days earlier:
An intoxicated Saudi Arabian man visiting relatives in the area led police on a car chase around Ashland Sunday night and rammed two patrol cars before he was arrested, police said.
Yazeed Mohammeda Abunayyan, 19, drove the wrong way on Siskiyou Boulevard “several times,” with at least three police cars in pursuit, Ashland police Sgt. Bob Smith said Monday.
Smith said Ashland Sgt. Art Le Cours located Abunayyan as he drove his California-licensed silver Ford sedan into the Safeway parking lot. There, Abunayyan clipped the front passenger side of Le Cours’ patrol car, then attempted to run over a pedestrian in the parking lot, Smith said.
While we’re on the subject of the Muslim Brotherhood, this February 16 report from Steve Emerson at the Investigative Project on Terrorism will be an eye-opener. As I mentioned in my column over the weekend, the FBI — following the administration’s lead — is purging its training materials of publications that are deemed offensive to Muslims (you know, crazy stuff like claims that passages in the Koran and Hadith promote violent jihad, Islamic supremacism, killing of apostates, oppression of women, etc.). So what are the criteria the Bureau uses to figure out what materials are offensive? And who decides?
There is festering parasite clinging to the underbelly of the Dextrosphere…
Consider yourselves forewarned – this cretin is a has had a presence in the right-wing blogosphere for years under various blog titles. Best to avoid it.
The only thing they don’t ask Republican candidates about much is economic questions and debt questions. Instead they ask horribly slanted, often irrelevant questions designed to make them look bad and help Obama. We’ve heard questions about contraceptives, religion, Newt’s angry ex-wife, Cain’s employees, Romney’s personal wealth, Gardasil, etc. Newt’s rise was because of the way he attacked the media and Obama in the debates because of the stupid and obviously planted questions.
So, what would happen if the mainstream media treated Barack Obama the exact same way they treat Republicans? The questions might sound a little something like this.
1) Numerous Mexican citizens and an American citizen have been murdered with weapons knowingly provided to criminals by our own government during Operation Fast and Furious. If Eric Holder was aware that was going on, do you think he should step down as Attorney General? Were you aware of Fast and Furious and if so, shouldn’t you resign?
2) In 2010 you said Solyndra, a company that donated heavily to your political campaign, was “leading the way toward a brighter and more prosperous future.” Today, Solyndra is bankrupt and the taxpayers lost over $500 million on loans that your administration knew might never be paid off when you made them. How do you respond to citizens who say this is evidence of corruption in your administration?
Etc. Keep reading. Sometimes it’s fun to play make-believe.
Obama’s campaign is running an ad in Michigan promoting rescue of the car business, and bashing Republicans for opposing government assistance to once-ailing industry.
“Don’t bet against the American worker,” Obama says in the ad.
The commercial also features a picture of Republican candidate Mitt Romney over a newspaper headline, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”
Will Obama’s ad push some votes in Tuesday’s primary to Romney opponents, particularly Rick Santorum?
You want “freaking hilarious”? See the Pic of the Day via Looking Spoon, as seen atLarwyn’s Links – it made me spit out my coffee, this morning.
Incidentally, let me go on the record here: For any Paul fans who are thinking “This is his time,” I heretofore state I will not support, or vote for, Ron Paul, under any circumstances whatsoever.
That’s where I’m coming form. Under no circumstances whatsoever will I vote for this reactionary, anti-semitic peacenik “We brought 9/11 ourselves” pacifist Chomnskyite crank.
And I’ll say it: I will, yes, be amenable to Barack Obama being re-elected under those circumstances. As members of the Purity Brigade used to tell me– Sometimes you win by losing.
I would decide at that point to use my own “Sometimes we win by losing” chits at that point. As was said of Mike Castle — it’s better that we lose, because at least the guy in office won’t be one of our own, making those bad decisions.
Anyway, that’s my line in the sand. I figure a lot of people agree. Might as well just put that on the record, that for some of us, Ron Paul is not an acceptable third, fourth, or fifth choice.
Paul thinks he can possibly win, and so goes after Gingrich.
Now, it’s worse – he doesn’t even think he can win, but he’s going after Santorum, now, just so he can “have a presence at the convention”. Or perhaps more…
I think the whole thing is grotesque, but that’s just me.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which has worked vigilantly to protect religious freedom across the country, prevails in a key health care case involving pharmacists and abortion pills:
A new poll from Franklin and Marshall College shows Mr. Santorum gaining steam in Pennsylvania and now leading former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 45%-16%. The other two candidates are in single digits: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich comes it a 9% and Ron Paul at 7%.
Rick Santorum continues to lead the Michigan Republican presidential primary. Santorum leads with 38% and is followed by Mitt Romney with 34%, Ron Paul with 12%, and Newt Gingrich with 7%.
Santorum has gained 1 percentage point since a similar survey conducted February 15-16, 2012, Romney has gained 2 percentage points, and Gingrich has lost 3 percentage points since the last survey.
Santorum leads Romney 40% to 36% among self-identified Republicans, followed by Gingrich and Paul with 7% each. Among self-identified independents and Democrats, Santorum leads with 33%, followed by Romney with 31%, Paul with 21%, and Gingrich with 6%.
SACRAMENTO — California’s Republican voters have warmed up to the surging candidacy of Rick Santorum but also are expressing growing dissatisfaction with the field of GOP presidential candidates, according to a Field Poll released Wednesday.
The former Pennsylvania senator is preferred by 25 percent of the state’s registered Republicans, a turn-around that has come partly at the expense of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose support in the state has plunged.
Santorum was supported by just 2 percent of California GOP voters in a Field Poll taken last November. His growing popularity since then has been driven in part by those who said they identify with the tea party or classify themselves as strongly conservative.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney remained Republicans’ top choice, getting support from 31 percent.
The survey’s timing was key. Field interviewed Republicans Feb. 2-18, a period that included Santorum victories in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado.
***
I’d be remiss not to mention this latest example of internet jackassery from the left:
ROMNEY: John, you know, I think as Rick has just said, this isn’t an argument about contraceptives, this is a discussion about, are we going to have a nation which preserves the foundation of the nation, which is the family, or are we not? And Rick is absolutely right.
When you have 40 percent of kids being born out of wedlock, and among certain ethnic groups the vast majority being born out of wedlock, you ask yourself, how are we going to have a society in the future? Because these kids are raised in poverty in many cases, they’re in abusive settings. The likelihood of them being able to finish high school or college drops dramatically in single-family homes. And we haven’t been willing to talk about this.
Romney alludes to the fact that Rick Santorum made a similar point earlier, yet he didn’t draw any Blow-tweets about his Magic Rosary – whatever.
Is it possible that Romney and Santorum had a point about the perils of broken homes? Let’s cut to a Times columnist for guidance:
Keep reading. Turns out the Times have had much to say about the “perils of broken homes”…
See also, Ace of Spades, who had a little bit of fun with Blow, this afternoon, onTwitter.
Nice Deb 