Good Morning, America's Suckers

Watching Good Morning, America is masochistic these days. The spin on everything from the election to the bailout is so patently obvious to anyone with a brain it's outrageous. I only watched a few minutes this morning but it made me so angry my blood pressure went up twenty points. Diane Sawyer was interviewing representatives from the Democratic and Republican campaigns about the upcoming vice presidential debates. Every time she asked the speakers a question she gave the Democrat more time. But even more blatently, when he had spoken for about five seconds his talking head was replaced with a clip showing Obama or Biden surrounded by worshiping supporters. When the Republican spoke, she was given time for a few sentences with no similar background clip of McCain and Palin. To call it obvious bias just doesn't illustrate how egregious it was. Which means GMA thinks the American people are such ignorant suckers they will swallow their sewage and think it's Perrier.

The media is doing the same thing on the bailout with their hysterical handwringing. And they are helping the democrats hide that these deals (which change by the minute) include earmarks for community organizers like ACORN who helped create the problem by agitating to pass the irresponsible Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). CRA forced banks to make bad loans. Economist Tom DiLorenzo has a great article outlining the problem.

Barak Obama is part of the clique that precipitated the crisis. Now the blame game is on to claim it was the Republicans' fault. NO WAY. The video below shows how the Republicans were stymied in their attempts to get regulatory control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac YEARS AGO. The Dems wouldn't hear of it. And now they want to get their hands on more taxpayer money to "solve" the crisis. It's a game, folks. Keep encouraging your representatives to just say no on the bailout. Christian economist Dave Ramsey has a recommendation to help the situation that is apparently on the table in the discussions. Read it and you can click on his link to send a message to your Senators and Congressman. Hold firm with a big NO NO NO on the $700 billion bailout!

Lawler's Book Banned at the Shrine

The bishops policies following the sex abuse scandals are based on openness and transparency right? Shouldn't we all welcome an analysis of how it all happened so we can make sure it never happens again. Apparently not. Eminent Catholic laymen, Phil Lawler who was scheduled to do a book signing at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception bookstore has been given the boot along with his book by Msgr. Walter Rossi, the Shrine rector. It's just too negative to talk about these things. Time to move on. (See Julia Duin's Washington Times article.) On the other hand homosexuals are still being trained for the priesthood. In July Tom Roeser blogged about the Rockford Diocese pulling seminarians out of Mundelein after two upperclassmen propositioned an underclassman. Rockford now says it isn't true and Roeser is being threatened with legal action. He stands by his story at the time he published it and is fighting back. (Does anyone really believe the diocese will go to court on this? After all the deals and money spent to avoid going to court with the - gasp - possibility of entering into legal discovery. It ain't gonna happen!)

Anyway, Lawler has obviously touched a nerve. The bishops (and those who hope to be bishops - last Shrine rector is now the bishop of Wheeling/Charleston) want to "just move on," but as Lawler said at the Brent Society Communion Breakfast today, "If you have cancer the doctor doesn't tell you to move on; he cuts out the cancer." That hasn't happened; the Church in the United States is in deep trouble. And Msgr. Rossi's inexcusable action is one more example of shooting the messenger. (Hey, they've told us they've solved the problem; who are the riff-raff in the pews to disagree?)

Please call, fax, or email Msgr. Rossi and tell him what you think of his cancellation of Lawler's book signing. And order the book, The Faithful Departed: the Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture. I bought it at the breakfast today and can't wait to read it. You may have to wait to get it. The first run has pretty much sold out, Msgr. Rossi and others of his ilk notwithstanding.

Here's the contact information:

Reverend Monsignor Walter R. Rossi

RectorEmail wrr@bnsic.org

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

400 Michigan Avenue NEWashington, DC 20017-1566Tel 202-526-8300Fax 202-526-8313

Is Joe Biden Smarter than a Fifth Grader?

Remember when Dan Quayle misspelled potatoe (or is that potato?). The media hounded him for weeks. Well, now there's a full-time gaffe machine named Joe Biden, but he's not getting nearly as much ridicule even though it's more than well-deserved. Biden's latest goof was to claim that when the country went into depression in 1929 FDR went on national TV to explain what happened. What's wrong with this scenario? Two things: Herbert Hoover was president and TV wasn't around yet. Tyler Kent commenting on an L.A. Times on-line article about the episode made an interesting point:
"The trouble with Biden's remark about FDR is simply this: He did not 'goof.' He did not simply mix up his facts. It was not a slip of the tongue, or an error. It was not a case of a faulty memory. It was, in fact, a pure fabrication. Biden simply made up the entire story!!! FDR was not president when the stock market crashed, and there were no televisions. Fact is, he made up a lie in order to give emphasis to what he thought was terrific rhetoric. The trouble here is that a candidate for vice president was quite willing to tell a lie on national television, all in the vain hope that he would look good. Biden is simply a liar whose future discourse cannot be trusted."
In view of Biden's making up Catholic doctine on Meet the Press, Tyler's point is well taken. Is Biden just dumb or is he a liar? Whichever is the correct assessment, he better stay off the popular quiz show. He's probably not as smart as a fifth grader and maybe not as honest either.

Barney and Fannie -- what a relationship!

The Democrats are busy spinning the economic meltdown to blame the Republicans. No doubt there's plenty of blame to go around, but it's particularly interesting to watch Barney Frank blather on in view of the cozy relationship he had with Fannie Mae (and one of Fannie's execs). The Business and Media Institute has a very interesting article on its site, Media Mum on Barney Frank's Fannie Mae Love Connection. A couple of excerpts below will give you an idea of Frank's involvement which involves serious ethical violations. Maybe it's time for the House to take action against this character for his corrupt behavior. He was in bed (literally) with Fannie Mae.

"Frank was and remains a stalwart defender of Fannie Mae, which is now under FBI investigation along with its sister organization Freddie Mac, American International Group Inc. (NYSE:AIG) and Lehman Brothers (NYSE:LEH) – all recently participants in government bailouts. But Frank has derailed efforts to regulate the institution, as well as denying it posed any financial risk. Frank’s office has been unresponsive to efforts by the Business & Media Institute to comment on these potential conflicts of interest."

The article goes on to say Frank was in an on-going affair with an executive of Fannie Mae:
"While the relationship reportedly ended 10 years ago, Frank was serving on the House Banking Committee the entire 10 years they were together. The committee is the primary House body which along with the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) has jurisdiction over the government-sponsored enterprises."

And another interesting piece of information:
"According to an article by Kathleen Day in the Oct. 8, 2003, Washington Post, Frank opposed giving the Bush administration the right to approve or disapprove business activities that 'could pose risk to the taxpayers.' He told the Post he worried the Treasury Department 'would sacrifice activities that are good for consumers in the name of lowering the companies’ market risks.'

"Just a month before, Frank had aggressively thwarted reform efforts by the Bush administration. He told The New York Times on Sept. 11, 2003, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s problems were 'exaggerated,' a gross miscalculation some five years later with costs estimated to be in the hundreds of billions.

"Frank has also reaped campaign contribution benefits from Fannie Mae and its counterpart Freddie Mac. According a front page story in the Sept. 19, 2008, Investor’s Business Daily by Terry Jones, Frank has received $40,100 in campaign cash over the past two decades from the GSEs." [Along with many other politiicians including Barack Obama, who raked in over $126,000.]

And one more excerpt from Media Mum:
"According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets.org, political action committees financed by both Freddie and Fannie have contributed $3,017,797 to members of Congress since 1989. And according to the July 16 issue of Politico, the two entities have spent a whopping $200 million to buy influence – including not only campaign donations to members of Congress, but also presidential campaigns and lobbying efforts."

Well, the American taxpayer will be left holding the bag for this graphic example of one of the seven deadly sins -- GREED.

Dissing the Organizer: Obama, ACORN, and Catholic Action

When the Catholic Church takes up the collection November 23 for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, will Catholics in the pew know they are supporting abortion and other immoral causes?

By Stephanie Block

Over at the Catholics for Obama blog, the headline screams, “Palin Continues to Smear Catholic Action.” This preposterous thesis has been crafted from her comments about Barak Obama’s past as a community organizer. The blog contends, “Catholics across the country continue to be outraged by Republican politician Sarah Palin who repeated her smear against Catholic Action by mocking Barack Obama’s service as director of a community group sponsored by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (an arm of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) and led by eight Catholic parishes on the South Side of Chicago.”
Well! That’s quite a leap. Ms. Palin said nothing whatsoever about Catholic Action. It was the Catholics for Obama blogger who drew the connection between community organizing, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). There’s no secret here. The CCHD gives between a third and a half of its grants to Alinskyian organizing networks.
Alinskyian what?

If you are saying “Alinskyian, what?” you need to know that there are over 200 organizations operating in cities around the United States training social justice activists according to the theories of Saul Alinsky. Over the past 30 years, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has given millions of dollars from Catholic donations to these groups. That’s a lot of money going to train people in a very distinctive way of looking at the world and its problems.

Alinsky’s writings contain a number of disturbing premises:

“The third rule of the ethics of means and ends is that … the end justifies almost any means.”
“The seventh rule of the ethics of means and ends is that generally success or failure is a mighty detriment of ethics. ... There can be no such thing as a suc­cessful traitor, for if one succeeds, he becomes a found­ing father.”
“The tenth rule of the ethics of means and ends is that you do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral garments. ... Moral rationalization is indis­pensable at all tunes of action whether to justify the selection or the use of ends or means.”
“An orga­nizer working for change ... does not have a fixed truth — truth to him is relative and changing.”

The book from which those “rules” are taken is called Rules for Radicals and it opens with the disturbing lines: “What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away.”
The reader can glean a great deal of information from those opening remarks. Machiavelli’s The Prince used to be on the Catholic index as forbidden reading (when the Church had an index) because Machiavelli was so completely amoral. The Prince and Machiavelli’s companion piece, “Discourses,” are cold-blooded examinations of political power, how it is obtained, maintained and expanded. In “Discourses” one reads: “Cunning and deceit will serve a man better than force to rise from a base condition to great fortune” and “A prince cannot live securely in a state so long as those live whom he has deprived of it.”
In The Prince, Machiavelli makes it clear that he believes the moral law does not apply to leaders. He says, for example: “So you see a wise ruler cannot, and should not, keep his word when doing so is to his disadvantage, and when the reasons that led him to promise to do so no longer apply. Of course, if all men were good, this advice would be bad; but since men are wicked and will not keep faith with you, you need not keep faith with them…But it is essential to know how to conceal how crafty one is, to know how to be a clever counterfeit and hypocrite.” (54) Elsewhere, he writes: “So a ruler…should do what is right if he can; but he must be prepared to do wrong if necessary.”
This is Alinsky’s model, rewritten for “the people.” It’s the antithesis of Catholic teaching. It cannot, therefore, be used to promote Catholic Action.

Ditching moral truth

Marxism teaches that “truth” is a social construction, determined by consensus. Alinsky teaches the same thing, writing, “An organizer....does not have a fixed truth – truth to him is relative and changing.” The organizer, for whom the “ends justify the means,” can’t be bound by moral absolutes. To support a ut ilitarian ethics, the truth must be fluid.
This is not what scripture or the Church teaches, of course. It isn’t enough that organizations acquire “good things” for their constituencies. They must accept and teach moral truth; they must be principled. A lying or bribing political lobby may win all its temporal battles, but it will have lost its soul.
Contemporary Alinskyian networks, far from repudiating Alinsky, have built upon his work: Mary Beth Rogers writes, “All participants in the Industrial Areas Foundation [the first Alinskyian network, founded in 1940] national training programs are given a reprint of a 1933 article by John H. Randall, Jr. titled ‘The Importance of Being Unprincipled’. ...The thesis is that because politics is nothing but the ‘practical method of compromise,’ only two kinds of people can afford the luxury of acting on principle...everyone else who wants to be effective in politics has to learn to be ‘unprincipled’ enough to compromise in order to see their principles succeed.”
Civic action predicated on “truth by consensus” is the antithesis of Catholic truth. It cannot, therefore, be used to promote Catholic Action.

Liberationism

Alinskyian organizing, operating within faith-based institutions, is liberationist – as in liberation theology. Liberationism uses religious language to promote socialism.
Consider again, for example, the words quoted above: “What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away.”
Christians don’t think in those terms. Catholic social teaching stresses the mutual dependency on God and one another that exists between the Haves and the Have-nots. They aren’t rivals. It’s an entirely different worldview.
Then there’s the pedagogy – the teaching method by which liberationists educate people into their worldview. Charlie Curran, a dissident Catholic theologian who admired Alinskyian organizing, writes: “Although Alinsky does not use the word ‘conscientization,’ there is no doubt that such a process is the cornerstone of his method….The people must learn that through their power they can bring about change. Raising consciousness is a part of Alinsky’s overarching commitment to popular education.”
Contemporary Alinskyian networks continue to use this pedagogy. Maryann Eklaund, in her Master’s thesis on one of these networks organizing in southern Texas, details the values clarification exercises – her term – its organizers used to get people to change their perspective on things. We’re talking serious manipulation of people.
Another writer, Mary Beth Rodgers, describes the same thing. “Cortes [an organizer for the Industrial Areas Foundation network, southwest region] knew that Mexican parents willingly sacrificed for their children – and often for their church. By talking about family values, could you motivate and organize people to act politically in their own genuine self-interest?...the new organization had to reach into the heart...The idea of protecting and enhancing families might make that possible.” The implication of this passage is that the religious and family values of Catholics have been used to generate a conversation between them and the organizers. The organizers use the relationship built from the Catholic values of the Mexicans to introduce another set of values – those of the organization.
That brings us to yet another element of liberationism, which is its deliberate use of scriptures and religious symbols for a political end. For example, St. Timothy’s Catholic Church in San Antonio used “new catechisms” that connected biblical and Mexican historical and cultural themes with the current issues of the Alinskyian organization to which it belonged. Now, Catholic catechisms don’t contain this sort of information. These “catechisms” were not designed to present Church teachings but the organizers’ teachings.
Liberation theology isn’t Catholic. It doesn’t support the Catholic faith any more than it supports authentic justice or truth. It cannot, therefore, be considered Catholic Action.

The big picture

What are contemporary Alinskyian organizations trying to build?
In general terms, their “vision” can be expressed as a practical philosophy of governance called variously a third way,” “participatory democracy,” or “democratic socialism.” All these terms, and others, describe a system of government that seeks to use “mediating institutions” – churches, unions, schools, and the like, held together by the relationships they have forged through the Alinskyian organization – to control all facets of its citizens’ lives.
To achieve this, Alinskyian networks are engaged in “restructuring” activities of all kinds. On the political level, they work among the Democratic Socialists of America, the New Democrats, and the New Party, and the Democratic Party. In the economic arena, they have promoted and overseen the Empowerment Enterprise Community Zones in dozens of communities. They support universal health care and are experimenting with church-based health-care clinics. They have driven federal education “reform” and are insinuated in many school-to-work programs. In short, the programs they support involve centralizing benefits that effect larger and larger groups of people.
Catholic social teaching has never supported socialism. In fact, Pius XI writes “No one can be at the same time a sincere Catholic and a true socialist.” The work of Alinskyian organizations cannot be considered – by any stretch of the imagination – to be Catholic Action.

Yet, This Is What the Campaign for Human Development Supports

Those are the foundational problems with the CCHD. Its political problems are twofold.
In the first place, millions of charitable Catholic dollars are being poured into organizing networks that are furthering a pro-abortion, pro-homosexual civic agenda. Nearly every legislative healthcare package they propose has an abortion-supportive element to it. There is not one politician of which I’m aware who has been endorsed by or emerged from these networks who publicly opposes abortion or homosexual “rights.”
By funding the Alinskyian networks, Catholics have become practical allies of the very groups they profess to oppose in the public square.
The second political problem with the CCHD collection is much worse, however. Not only does CCHD fund people whose goals are antithetical to Catholic Action but it provides the vehicle through which Catholics are systematical educated to work against Catholic Action.
How? CCHD-funded Alinskyian organizations organize in Catholic parishes, reeducating Catholic activists to work according to liberationist principles (not Catholic Action principles). There is widespread use throughout American-Catholic parishes of materials crafted to support Alinskyian organizing. The confusion, therefore, that Catholics express over fundamental moral issues and their comparative weight and urgency in public affairs isn’t just zeitgeist. It’s been systematically inculcated.

Obama and the Alinskyian Organizations

If one must fault Governor Palin comments about Obama’s community organizing experience, it’s that she minimized the seriousness of that experience. CCHD gave $40,000 in 1985 and $33,000 in 1986 to the Chicago Developing Communities Project, of which Obama was then lead organizer. It also gave millions to Gamaliel and ACORN, the Alinskyian networks that trained Obama and which today are stumping for his election.
The most recent accounting of CCHD grantees available (2006-2007) indicate that in just that one year, $1,146,000 was given to the ACORN network and well over $2 million went into the other major Alinskyian networks.
What did ACORN give us for that investment? Last year, The Seattle Times reported the biggest voter-registration fraud scheme in Washington history. Three ACORN employees pleaded guilty, and four more were charged for filling out and submitting more than 1,800 fictitious voter-registration cards during a 2006 registration drive in King and Pierce counties.” (Keith Ervin, “Three plead guilty in fake voter scheme,” 10-30-2007)
This year, an ACORN employee in West Reading, PA, was sentenced for to up to 23 months in prison for identity theft and tampering with records. A second ACORN worker pleaded not guilty to the same charges and is free on $10,000 bail.
Those are convictions from the past year. There are also examples of indictments this year, such as the four ACORN employees in Kansas City charged with identity theft and filing false registrations during the 2006 election and the Reynoldsburg fellow indicted on two felony counts of illegal voting and false registration, after being registered by ACORN to vote in two separate counties. And there are current investigations into ACORN for voter fraud all over the map:
the Milwaukee ACORN for 200 to 300 fraudulent voter registration cards;
the Cleveland ACORN for its submission of 75,000 voter registrations, many of which are fraudulent;
the New Mexico ACORN, which claims to have taken 72,000 new voter registrations in the state since January, is under suspicion for 1,100 possibly fraudulent voter registration cards turned in to the Bernalillo County clerk’s office recently.

These are recent complaints, but ACORN’s history is riddled with criminal activity. During the last major election, the Wall Street Journal did a story about ACORN. Four ACORN workers had been indicted by a federal grand jury for submitting false voter registration forms to the Kansas City, Missouri, election board; other ACORN workers were convicted in Wisconsin and Colorado and investigations, at the time the article was written, were under way in Ohio, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. [“The Acorn Indictments,” WSJ 11-3-06]

Programs that don’t work

The Wall Street Journal article points out some additional facts that have particular interest to us, two years later. “Operating in at least 38 states (as well as Canada and Mexico), ACORN pushes a highly partisan agenda, and its organizers are best understood as shock troops for the AFL-CIO and even the Democratic Party. As part of the Fannie Mae reform bill, House Democrats pushed an ‘affordable housing trust fund’ designed to use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac profits to subsidize ACORN, among other groups. A version of this trust fund actually passed the Republican House and will surely be on the agenda again next year.”
ACORN was a tremendous force for the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), created in the late 70s to force banks to make loans to low-income borrowers. Besides fighting for passage of this act, ACORN monitored banks9 9 compliance. Some analysts of the current housing crisis contend the CRA policies are in good part to blame. Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota), a member of the House Financial Services Committee, takes the analysis a step further. The “housing bailout” package signed into law to rescue Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae with an unlimited credit line not only increases the federal debt but also gives millions of dollars to La Raza and the ACORN. [Elizabeth Williamson & Brody Mullins, “Democratic Ally Mobilizes In Housing Crunch: Acorn Leads Drive to Register Voters Likely to Back Obama; New Federal Funds,” WSJ, 7-31-08]

Brought to you, ladies and gentleman, in part by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Remember that in November

More Desecration of the Eucharist

Desecrating the Holy Eucharist is getting to be epidemic. YouTube is filled with videos of poor deluded individuals finding mindless ways to treat the Body of Christ with disrespect and blasphemy. I think it's pointless to comment on these things. As Jesus said, don't cast your pearls before swine. A priest explained that reading to me one time. He said swine will tear to pieces anything cast into their pens. Placing the truth before someone who essentially has identified himself with swine will just see him tearing into the truth while it has no effect on his state of soul. Pray for these poor deluded individuals. Put YouTube on notice about this by visiting America Needs Fatima and joining their petition to YouTube.

40 Days for Life -- Putting an end to abortion through prayer and fasting.

This week, in more than 170 cities nationwide, the 40 Days of Life campaign will once again engage thousands of pro-life prayer warriors seeking an end to abortion. Wherever Christians have entered spiritual battle in the abortion wars, miracles have happened. You can read about them in articles posted on the website. Last year's campaign saw many victories. In Richmond a prayer warrior shared her story saying, “The highlight of my day was having a young woman roll down her car window as they drove away from the abortion clinic and say with a smile on her face, 'Thanks for the brochure. We decided not to go through with it.’" In El Paso sixteen babies were saved. Eighty-four mothers chose life in Pensacola, Fl and several post-aborted women sought healing. Stories like this come in from every corner of the nation.

Join a campaign near your town. You can find the locations here. If there is no city near you, commit to prayer and fasting for the 40 days from September 24 until November 2. Give up one thing that will remind you every day to pray: coffee, TV (even if it's only one show you always watch), alcohol, sweets, your choice. Then add something: a daily novena of memorares or Hail Marys, an extra rosary, the chaplet of Divine Mercy. Sign up for the inspiring updates. At the end of the 40 days you'll know that you were part of the solution.

"To save one life is as if you have saved the world."

Expel Pro-abortion Politicians from the Knights of Columbus

Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, released an open letter to Senator Joe Biden on Friday, September 19th challenging his scandalous pronouncements on NBC's Meet the Press. The letter is a powerful defense of Church teaching and calls Biden to account urging him "to work to secure the rights of the unborn to share in the fruits of our hard-won liberty."

This is a great opportunity to write to Mr. Anderson praising him for taking action and asking him to follow it up by formally removing the many, many pro-abortion Catholic politicians (at least 72 in Congress alone -- how many at the state level is anybody's guess) who are members of the Knights of Columbus. They could begin with Ted Kennedy. The Knights' own policies call for removing members who are a scandal to the order. Unfortunately, whenever a local council attempts to take action, they are overruled, declared out of order, or ruled unconsitutional. Unfortunately, Carl Anderson who has been head of the Knights since 2000 has done nothing about the scandal of pro-abortion politicians in their ranks. This is a case where one can't help thinking that human respect takes precedence over respect for God.

Concerned Roman Catholics of America have been following the situation with the Knights for years. In a press release earlier this summer they exposed the horrendous scandal in Massachusetts where 16 Knight/politicians helped to pass legislation allowing gay marriage in the state.

I applaud Carl Anderson's open letter, but now I remind him of what every mom on earth tells her children: "Actions Speak Louder than Words!" Expel pro-abortion politicians from the Knights of Columbus NOW! Including Joe Biden, who, according to CRCOA, was a Knight as of 2006.

Spare us, O Lord: a shepherd misleading the flock - again!

The October 16th Al Smith dinner, sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York, is slated to feature co-guest speakers John McCain and Barack Obama. Hosted by Cardinal Edward Egan, the dinner gives the politicians the "opportunity to show how well they speak when they aren't on a political stage" according to Catholic News Agency. The Alfred E. Smith Foundation website says the organization was "founded by His Eminence, Francis Cardinal Spellman in 1946, to honor the memory of Alfred Emanuel Smith, New York's renowned Governor and patron of the 'Little People'. The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation supports and aids the poor, sick, and underprivileged of the Archdiocese of New York, regardless of race, creed, or color."

Okay, so this is clearly a Catholic organization. Now let's get this straight: a Catholic group is holding a Catholic event hosted by a prince of the Church that will give a position of honor and prominence to 1) the most pro-abortion, pro-infanticide politician ever to walk the halls of Congress and 2) a politician who supports embryonic stem cell research. Neither of these gentlemen is allowed under the bishops' own guidelines to speak at this event, particularly Obama who holds the most radically pro-abortion position of almost any politician in the country. How many have refused to help babies born alive after a failed abortion? Obama is an icon for the culture of death.

In 2004 the bishops approved a document at their General meeting called "Catholics in Political Life." It states, "The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions. (my emphasis) Obviously the Al Smith dinner gives both Obama and McCain positions of prominence. It is confusing and likely to make people assume that their positions are equal and that Obama's abortion extremism is perfectly fine with the Cardinal as he appears in media photographs laughing and chatting up the the abortion extremist.

During the 2000 presidential campaign George Bush and Al Gore spoke at the dinner, but in 2004 presidential candidates George Bush and John Kerry were passed over for Bush senior and former New York Governor Hugh Carey. It is not a tradition set in stone to feature the presidential candidates and this is one year someone else should have received the invite. To bring a man whose policies are so evil he is the soulmate of the worst mass murdering tyrants in history is scandalous.

Please protest this scandalous event!

Contact Cardinal Egan's office at
1011 First Ave
New York, NY 10022
Phone: 212-371-1000
Fax: 212-308-2674

If anyone has the Cardinal's email, please leave it in the comments section.

I'm no expert, but isn't this common sense?

First issue:
I don't pretend to have any deep understanding of economics, but I know I need to make sure the money in my checkbook is enough to pay the bills every month if I want to stay out of debt. And I know that debt is an albatross. Millions of people learn that lesson when they get themselves buried in monthly 18-29% credit card charges for the junk they just can't live without. Hey! Go to the thrift store and only buy what you really need.

Now, why can't the U.S. learn that lesson? How can the men and women in Congress who are supposedly intelligent understand that deficit spending is irresponsible (not to say immoral - burdening our children and grandchildren with our debt). At some point you have to pay the piper. I'm not sure what the outcome of all the bank failings will be, but I do know as a parent that if you constantly bail your kids out of problems, they never learn anything from their bad or stupid behavior. The government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac makes every taxpayer in the U.S. the fall guy for their bad loans -- to the tune of billions of dollars. Now that the government has taken on all those debts, WE OWE IT ALL. The government doesn't have any money except what it takes out of our pockets. So, face it folks, we are shafted again.

And why should taxpayers be penalized because the banks made bad loans? People like Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and Chuck Schumer should be held to account for pushing policies that penalized financial institutions for not making bad loans and pressured them to meet quotas on loans to the poor who couldn't afford them. No one has a "right" to a house and there's no shame in renting. The way to get a house is to work and save and buy small when you can afford it without jeopardizing your next meal.

The best thing that taxpayers can do at this point is to get out of personal debt. Cut up your credit cards, pay them off, and buy with cash. If you can't pay for it, go without. We all have too much stuff in our lives anyway.

***********

Second point:
I can't claim to have any expertise on foreign affairs either, but I'm furious about the plan to put nuclear missiles in Poland. Using the recent Russia/Georgia conflict as an excuse is baloney. Georgia provoked Russia. Why would anyone be surprised at her response? Was it too much? Maybe. But it is no excuse to renew the cold war.

Maybe it's time to review our own history. Remember the Cuban Missile Crisis? We didn't want all those nukes aimed at us from an island not that far from our coast. And we demanded the Soviets remove them. Do we really expect Russia not to oppose nukes pointing at her? Look at a world map. It's about 700 miles from Warsaw to Moscow. How would you feel if you lived in Albuquerque and New Orleans had nukes pointed in your direction? That's an 1100 mile distance.

Seems to me the golden rule applies here. Do unto others as you would have them do to you. We demanded the Soviet Union pull the nukes out of Cuba. We should do the same with regard to nukes in Eastern Europe. It's reasonable not to engage in provocative moves that escalate hostilities with Russia and other countries. Let's stop acting like the biggest bully on the block.

Sometimes I think our leaders are like little children rattling their sabres in their war games. (Maybe they all spend too much time playing World of Warcraft.) It ain't a game, folks. We need to demand that our leaders act like grownups instead of moving us closer to World War III. Besides war is expensive and we can't afford any more of it.

Down's Children are Angels!

Sarah Palin holds Chloe, the five year old daughter of Kurt (striped shirt) from Pittsburgh. Read the transcript from the Rush Limbaugh show that describes how this meeting happened.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Kurt in Pittsburgh, hello, sir. Nice to have you on the EIB Network, and how about the Steelers defense?

CALLER: How about those Steelers, huh?

RUSH: How about that?

CALLER: Hey, listen, Rush, longtime listener, first-time caller, one of those Bible, family, gun clingers from western Pennsylvania.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: And I wanted to share a story with you. A week ago last Saturday we went to the Palin-McCain rally in Washington, Pennsylvania, was the day after he announced her, and we have a five-year-old daughter with Down syndrome, and we made a sign that said: "We Love Kids with Down Syndrome." So when they pulled in in their bus the sign did catch their, McCain and Palin and the rest of their family, it caught their eye, we could tell, they gave us a thumbs-up from the bus, so we were all excited just by that --
RUSH: Wait, wait, wait. Who gave you the thumbs up, McCain and Palin?

CALLER: McCain, Palin, Cindy McCain, we could see them from the bus. We were in a position where we had eye contact with them --

RUSH: Oh, cool!

CALLER: My wife was holding our daughter.

RUSH: Very, very, very cool.

CALLER: It was really cool, Rush. I was like, "Wow, that's awesome," because I love Governor Palin and so I thought that's really neat. So then we moved around as the bus was getting ready to pull out, we kind of positioned ourselves so we could just wave them on and a Secret Service agent came up to us and said, "Hey, can you come with us?" I was like, "Do we have a choice?"

RUSH: (laughing) You shouldn't have worried. It's not the Clinton administration.
CALLER: Right. So we accompanied them up the hill, we went right to the bus, where it was, and Governor Palin, Senator McCain, Cindy, Todd Palin, they're all standing there. We're in this inner circle with just us and them, and the Secret Service agent, and they came right up to us and thanked us for coming out, said they loved our sign, and Governor Palin immediately said, "May I hold your daughter?" and our daughter Chloe, who's five, went right to her, and I have some pictures I'd love to send you maybe when I'm done here, but Governor Palin was hugging Chloe, and then her little daughter brought their baby Trig who has Down syndrome from the bus, he was napping, and Chloe went right over and kissed him on the cheek, and my son Nolan who's nine, he thanked her.

RUSH: This is amazing.

CALLER: I will send you all the stuff, Senator McCain was talking to my son, and we thanked him for his service, and he asked my son if he wanted to see the bus, and we were hanging out and it was very surreal. I felt like we could have had a pizza and a beer with them, they were so warm.

RUSH: You know what? I want to put you on hold. I want Snerdley to give you our super-secret, known-only-to-three-people here, e-mail address.

CALLER: I will send you everything, Rush.

RUSH: And then could you send us these pictures? Would you mind if we put them on the website?

CALLER: I would be honored, and my main thing is they are warm, kind, genuine people, and they represent the best of this country.

RUSH: That's right. And when you send these pictures, make sure you identify them. I mean, we'll know Palin and McCain, of course. Identify yourselves.

CALLER: I will, I will identify everybody in the picture, Rush, and God bless you for being a beacon of hope and truth in this country.

RUSH: Oh, no, no. It's nothing, it's nothing. You're doing the Lord's work.

CALLER: Well, we're very blessed and I want people to know what a blessing it is to have a child with Down syndrome. These kids, they're angels.
RUSH: That's the thing. There's always good to be found in everything that happens. It may be a while before it reveals itself.

CALLER: Absolutely.

RUSH: Right,

CALLER: And when she hugged my daughter I said, here's the difference, this candidate embraces life and all its limitless possibilities.

RUSH: All right.

CALLER: That's what she is.

RUSH: Terrific, okay, I gotta run here, but I'm going to put you on hold.

CALLER: Thank you, Rush.

RUSH: Thank you, Kurt. I really appreciate it.
END TRANSCRIPT

From Crayons to Condoms - Phyllis Schlafly Report

From Crayons to Condoms



"You're the only parent who has complained" is a refrain that runs all through the stories of faddish methods, biased curricula, obscene assignments, and invasive surveys related in this new book by Steve Baldwin and Karen Holgate called From Crayons to Condoms: The Ugly Truth About America's Public Schools (WND Books 2008).
The "ugly truth" about public schools includes describing high schoolers who can't read, write or spell because they are victims of trendy "whole language" instruction, required courses in "death education" that actually encourage teen depression and suicide, and math classes where students write how they "feel" about math problems instead of learning multiplication tables, fractions, or algebra.
The chapter titles in this book give accurate clues to its sensational eye-witness evidence: "The Curriculum of Social Engineering," "Self-Esteem Trumps Learning," "The X-Rated Classroom," "Pushing the Homosexual Agenda," and "Parental Rights — Going, Going, Gone."
Public school administrators sometimes try to shame parents out of their efforts to change the system for the better. Students, too, who raise objections often end up ostracized by teachers and peers. But as this book shows, you are not the only parent or student with complaints against these trends. Parents, students, and teachers all speak up in From Crayons to Condoms about their worst experiences with the public school bureaucracy. These are the experiences of average people in average school districts, so they reveal the extent of the problem as well as the prevalence of families' frustration. Only a few of these dozens of stories have ever appeared in the media.
"It is not the job of the school system to fix all of society's ills. I send my children to school for an education, not for social programs, risk surveys, or 'preventive maintenance,'" writes Linda Rice, a parent whose children were subjected to invasive surveys, endless group work, and one ineffective prevention and awareness program after another.
The book affirms there are many good teachers in the public schools, and many teachers and administrators who don't attempt to overstep their role in students' lives. Others, however, repeatedly infringe on the integrity of the family by taking over as amateur psychologists, preachers of a secular world view, and deciders of what children need to know about sex, death and suicide, and other sensitive topics.
"Legislators have given schools this power," the editors remind us. "They assume that with the breakdown of the family, all students are at-risk and in need of government intervention." Many legislators and educators believe that "they are the ones that need to step in and make all these sick children well."
The book concludes with a chapter on "What Can Parents Do?" Especially useful is the "school checklist" of almost 100 questions to ask about a school's instructional practices and philosophy. Most of these questions apply also to private school instruction and even homeschooling, and can help parents discern the strengths and weaknesses of their children's school.

Media Trickery and Game Playing

History is an interesting teacher. Looking back at the Kennedy-Nixon debates people pretty much agree that Nixon won on the issues, but Kennedy won the hearts of enough voters to win -- with a little help from the media who made him look good while ambushing Nixon. Nixon's makeup job was bad and he looked like he had five o'clock shadow. It would be interesting to review the TV coverage and see how lighting, camera angle, etc. were used during the debate.

Why am I bringing that up? Because a Hollywood director started a blog comparing the Obama/Gibson interview with the Palin/Gibson interview. It's a fascinating piece of work showing how lighting, camera angle, position, etc. make Palin look weak against the dominant Gibson. This is media bias, of course, but from the sneaky school. Can you see the backroom meeting at Good Morning America?

Charlie: Let's see. I have to be careful in my interview not to be too aggressive because if our bias is too blatant it will damage Obama. Hey, Joe (cameraman), what can you do with camera shots to make Palin look bad?

Joe: Hey, I'm your man. We got lots of ways: angle, position. I'll take care of it.

Charlie: Jane (lighting), how about working with Joe on this. I'm sure you have some lighting tricks that can help make the point that she's a dumb brunette unfit to be next in line for the presidency.

Jane: You got it, boss.

Charlie: Kay (editor), I'll need your help too.

Kay: Sure, Charlie. You want waffle? weak? shifty? I can do 'em all. We'll make her look like the idiot she is. Damn! It'll be fun.

Charlie: I trust all you guys to make sure this interview loses votes for the McCain/Palin ticket. Let's roll.

Is this far-fetched? In view of the Atlantic Monthly scandal over Jill Greenberg's photo manipulation, I'd say it's downright understated. I'm sad, though. I used to like Charlie Gibson when he was a host on the morning show. Since he took over as an anchor, his bias is just too blatantly obvious. Gosh, next it'll be Robin Roberts.

For the real dope on media bias visit the Media Research Center. They have a section on the trashing of Sarah Palin. All this liberal hysteria to discredit Sarah Palin, sure makes her an attractive candidate.

Liberal Charity: Is that an Oxymoron?

I love liberals; they care so much. You can tell by their generosity. The homeless, the downtrodden are always on their minds. Take Al Gore. In 1992 he gave $1727 of his almost $200,000 salary to charity, less than 1%. But his friends tell us, he gives of himself. Wow, what an edifying thought. Al Gore serving soup to the homeless while MSNBC takes his picture.

And now comes Joe Biden. Joe's concern for the poor is absolutely mind-boggling. Since 1998 he's given a quarter of one percent of his income to charity. Of course, you have to consider that poor Joe has a lot of expenses: kids to put through college and aging parents. You know, the kind of challenges average Americans never face.

And speaking of the average American, he gives two percent of his income to charity, twice as much as Gore and ten times as much as Biden. But Gore and Biden no doubt care more than the average Joe. And they will happily make sure Americans are taxed more so they can put taxpayer dollars in the pockets of illegal aliens, the homeless, Planned Parenthood, and the administrators of homeless shelters and other charitable programs.

Yes, indeed, I love liberals; they are always good for a laugh.

Bear break!

I love living in the country! Ever since we moved to the Shenandoah Valley we've had a continuous source of entertainment in our own yard. Deer wander through our field and nibble off the apple trees next to the house. A doe and her two small spotted fawns are regular visitors. We have an on-going contest with the resident groundhog to see who will get the most tomatoes from the garden. If we could train him to eat whole tomatoes instead of taking bites out of a dozen, we'd be satisfied. The hummingbirds engage in a continuous argument at the feeder over who will eat first. When we trade the hummingbird feeders for birdseed in a few weeks we'll have a wide variety of feathery friends coming to the window. The wildlife can even engage the grandchildren more than a video or computer game!

But yesterday was a real first for us. Our next door neighbor called at lunchtime to say there was a bear in a tree down the street. We hopped in the car along with three visiting grandkids and, sure enough, a few blocks from the town's "business district" was a little bear up a tree right in front of a house, only about fifty feet from the its front door. According to our neighbor a full-grown bear was hit by a car and killed last week and she guessed this might have been her cub. The little one was drawing a crowd and the poor thing looked frightened. Our four-year-old grandson, Ryan, immediately claimed the critter calling him "my bear."

A few minutes after we arrived the police came and shooed everyone off. We asked for St. Francis' intercession on the way home to lead the little beast to safety. Later my husband passed by on the way to an appointment and saw three police cars with officers standing around the tree scratching their heads about the situation. What does one do with an underage bear trespassing in a tree?

Well they must have figured it out because when my husband returned a few hours later the police and the bear were gone. We hope the little one got taken back up into the mountains. He was an adolescent, old enough to be on his own, but he certainly needs to be in a less tense environment.

Which brings me to a good point for Christians. When Jesus told his followers to "flee the city" he probably didn't have our bear in mind - but living in the country is surely a friendlier environment for the human species. If you want proof, talk to my grandchildren.

Is Chastity the New Cool?

Teens are rebels right? In the culture of death where lust, drugs, body piercings, tattoos, etc. are the norm how's a kid to rebel? Perhaps by embracing chastity. Let's hope it becomes the new cool.

Running Purity Rings around MTV - Chastity enjoys a resurgence among some teen stars.

By L. Brent Bozell III Media Research Center September 12, 2008

Dressing with Dignity

Colleen Hammond on Chastity Issues

Chastity Questions

Is the misuse of annual Catholic Campaign for Human Development funds behind Obama?

By Stephanie Block



Whether or not Barak Obama becomes the next president of the United States, the annual Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) bears responsibility for raising this community organizer to his current national prominence. Through CCHD funding, he received a Machiavellian practicum. Through CCHD-funded organizations, Catholics sponsored his education - not at Harvard but in the Chicago streets. Thanks to CCHD grants, this convicted pro-abort has been backed by Catholics every step of his short, meteoric rise....continued

The Unjust Steward and the Democrats

As I was reflecting on Saul Alinsky today, I recalled the parable of the unjust steward. Jesus praised the shrewdness of a man who was a cheat and a liar and did what he had to do to succeed - sure sounds like a protege of Alinsky to me. In the same parable, Jesus implied that the children of light are naive and easily fooled. Unfortunately, that's often true.

I remember talking to a pro-lifer, a fellow Catholic, after Bill Clinton's first run for office. Clinton had already overturned every pro-life initiative he could through executive orders, and my friend was lamenting his vote. "Oh, Joe, not you too. How could you vote for him?" I asked. "He did everything he said he would do."

My friend replied, "But I thought he was a Christian. He carried his Bible."

Didn't you ever notice," I said, "how palm-readers have statues of Jesus and the Blessed Mother in the window?" Well, that experience woke up one naive Catholic, but there are plenty more out there and that's exactly what the Alinskyites depend on.

Take a look at the move to convince people with traditional moral values that the Democratic party is the Christian party. After the 2004 red state/blue state debacle, liberals vowed not to let that happen again. They decided to neutralize pro-lifers and those who oppose sodomite-rights. How? By positioning themselves as the compassionate ones and repeating the mantra over and over that morality is more than one issue. They claim to care about the poor and homeless, and maybe some of them do; but they care even more about advancing the wider liberal agenda of abortion, homosexuality, and personal licentiousness (whatever form it takes) which they call freedom. Jim Wallis of Sojourners, Robert Edgar of the National Council of Churches, and a long list of fellow travelers all sing the same song advancing a political party that formally embraces sodomy, same-sex "marriage," abortion and infaticide, forced enrollment of children in Godless state schools, promotion of Planned Parenthood and NOW's radical agendas, income redistribution, open borders, amnesty for those who invade the country illegally, control of free speech (think "hate crimes" legislation, FACE, RICO, and bubble zones used to control Christians who oppose abortion and sodomy, etc.) Columnist Joe Sobran definitely had it right when he called the Democrats the "evil party." And at some point those who advance its agenda share the same judgment. If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.

How, in the name of common sense, can anyone believe that socialistic, big-government solutions are compassionate? But the Alinskyites persuade some - primarily by using Alinsky's tactic of dressing their agenda in moral trappings. Groups like Faith in Public Life and Matthew 25 try to convince voters who care about traditional values to support liberalism. If you look at the groups affiliated with them, many support homosexual rights and abortion, but they don't talk about that part of their agenda. They stress more palatable issues talking about the preferential option for the poor, etc. Since Alinskyites will use any tactic to succeed, these groups may just be able to pull off their charade.

On the other hand, maybe not. Because they leave out the real deal: God. God isn't schizophrenic. If a group endorses "choice" it's not from God. If it defends same-sex marriage, ditto. Certain issues provide the litmus test that show when something is from God or from the pit. Since Faith in Public Life and Matthew 25 include many organizations that champion the murder of the innocent -- they cannot be from God.

So will enough people be fooled to elect Barrack Obama, the most pro-abortion, socialistic candidate in history? Let's hope not. But, like the parable of the unjust steward says, the children of dark are resourceful, which points up the big job in front of us: praying and fasting for leaders who defend the right to life of the innocent and working for the election of those who do the least harm.

As the saying goes, pray like everything depends on God and work like everything depends on you.

Check out this impressive video: http://www.catholicvote.com/

Picking the pockets of pew-sitters - Saul Alinsky and the Campaign for Human Development

Saul Alinsky was smart enough to know that money equals power and the Catholic Church has access to huge amounts every Sunday. He wanted to get some of the action for his Industrial Areas Foundation. With the help of Jack Egan, a Chicago priest and protege, the beginnings of a Catholic charity to support the poor was born: The Campaign for Human Development (later The Catholic Campaign for Human Development, CCHD).

The bishops' website describes the organization: "Founded in 1969, CCHD's pastoral strategy is empowerment of the poor through a methodology of participation and education for justice, leading toward solidarity between poor and non-poor as impelled by the Church's biblical tradition, modern Catholic social teaching, and the pervasive presence of poverty in the United States. This ministry for justice is rooted in our baptism and faith commitment." Note the language which is typical of liberation theology movements. CCHD has a history of funding exactly that type of "charity."

How could the Church possibly be involved in a movement founded by a Jewish agnostic known as Machiavelli in a suit? One whose ethics diametrically oppose Catholic principles? To a large degree it was because of his connections to modern-minded clerics who were ready to see big changes in the Church after Vatican II and apparently had few moral compunctions. Fr. Jack Egan, later a monsignor, was a protege of Alinsky's and a founder of the campaign. He also was a facilitator of the original Call to Action conference in Detroit in 1976 organized by the bishops to listen to the concerns of the people. The conference was taken over by change agents in the church, horrifying some of the naive bishops but leaving liberal Catholics chortling and optimistic that doctrinal change was coming on a wide range of issues. There was nothing accidental about all this. It was the culmination of strategies right out of the Alinsky handbook.

Read the Wanderer Forum report A Commentary on Catholic Campaign for Human Development Funding of the Industrial Areas Foundation

Saul Alinsky,the premier community organizer

There's an old saying about democracy. It only works until 51% of the voters realize they can vote themselves goodies from the public treasury. Once that happens they begin to economically rape and pillage the other 49%. That's why the Founding Fathers established a republic instead of a pure democracy.

But today there are many with their hands in the pockets of the taxpayers and their snouts in the public trough and America is moving ever closer to becoming a socialistic state. Not only that but the values that made America great are being systematically attacked by groups who's mantra is "my will be done." Just take a look at how government funds the gay agenda and Planned Parenthood as two examples. If you scratch the surface of their successes you may very well find the influence and tactics of one man -- Saul Alinsky.

Saul Alinsky, the "father of community organizing," was a radical activist and atheist, a brilliant man who formulated a system to give the illusion of power to the masses while manipulating them into accepting Marxist ideas and embracing socialism. His famous book, Rules for Radicals, dedicated to Lucifer, the "first radical," set down his Machiavellian approach, although he distinguished himself from Machiavelli saying that, "The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-nots on how to take it away." Alinsky didn't try to organize the poor so much as the middle class where he felt the power was. but Alinsky had nothing but contempt for the group he wanted to use for his own purposes.

"Our rebels have contemptuously rejected the values and the way of life of the middle class. They have stigmatized it as materialistic, decadent, bourgeois, degenerate, imperialistic, war-mongering, brutalized and corrupt. They are right; but we must begin from where we are if we are to build power for change, and the power and the people are in the middle class majority."

From that point of view Alinsky developed rules to manipulate the middle class (for whom he felt such contempt) into doing the will of their handlers.

Among Alinsky's rules were these: (reprinted from: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook/rules.html)
Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what an opponent thinks you have. If your organization is small, hide your numbers in the dark and raise a din that will make everyone think you have many more people than you do.

Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people. The result is confusion, fear, and retreat.

Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.

Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. “You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”

Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.

Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. “If your people aren’t having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.”

Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag. Commitment may become ritualistic as people turn to other issues.

Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.”

Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself. When Alinsky leaked word that large numbers of poor people were going to tie up the washrooms of O’Hare Airport, Chicago city authorities quickly agreed to act on a longstanding commitment to a ghetto organization. They imagined the mayhem as thousands of passengers poured off airplanes to discover every washroom occupied. Then they imagined the international embarrassment and the damage to the city’s reputation.

Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, “Okay, what would you do?”

Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.According to Alinsky, the main job of the organizer is to bait an opponent into reacting. “The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.”

Alinsky made it clear that the community organizer was at war and, "in war the ends justifies almost any means." He encouraged dressing ideas in moral disguise to make them more palatable, in other words using a moral pretense to accomplish the goal. "Moral rationalization is indispensable," he said. In the end, success is the measure of your effectiveness no matter how immoral the means used to accomplish it. "There can be no such thing as a successful traitor, for if one succeeds, he becomes a founding father."

And finally, Alinsky elevated the community organizer to the level of God's competitor, "reaching for the highest level for which a man can reach -- to create, to be a 'great creator', to play God." Alinsky and the organization he founded, The Industrial Areas Foundation, have been faithful to their creed, "to play God." They have been active in promoting abortion and attacking marriage. To have power over life and death and to reject natural law, created by God, is indeed encroaching on God's power. It is no surprise then that Alinsky dedicated his book to Lucifer. Like Lucifer he refused to serve.

Next: The Industrial Areas Foundation and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development

What the H*** is a Community Organizer?

We've all been hearing more about community organizing than we really want to know, but it's a subject Catholics need to learn about. Community organizers have been infiltrating the Church for decades undermining her teachings and funneling Catholic money into very un-Catholic causes like abortion. Community organizers with money from the Catholic Church defeated pro-life congressman Bob Dornan and replaced him with pro-abortion Loretta Sanchez. Community organizing tactics have been used to wreckovate churches and manipulate parishioners into accepting safe touch programs and sex ed. They've been used to elect pro-abortion and pro-homosexual candidates. Does money you drop in the collection basket go to advance social evils you abhor? Very likely.

Over the next few days, I'll be giving some background on the influence of Saul Alinsky, the Chicago atheist who, with the help of Chicago priest Msgr. Jack Egan, figured out how to co-opt the collection plate to advance liberalism. Msgr. Egan is described as the "godfather of Call to Action," a liberal dissent group that has done so much damage to the Catholic faith by endorsing sexual immorality, sodomy, divorce and remarriage, ordination of women, etc. These two men, Alinsky and Egan, the atheist and the heretical priest, formed a termites' nest that continues to eat away at the foundations of the Church.

In fact, orthodox Catholics can thank Alinsky and Egan for Barrack Obama's candidacy. Catholic money helped launch Obama's career. Thanks, Father, for giving us the most pro-abortion, infanticide-supporting, candidate in history. (Please pray for Msgr. Egan who died in 2001.)

Stephanie Block of Albuquerque, NM has done a great service by connecting the dots that show groups all over the country working to organize and network to advance socialism and liberalism through community organizing. The organizers want your money. Who collects it for them? the government through taxation and the church by passing the basket. They filter the money into their leftist programs using manipulation and dishonest tactics to advance abortion, homosexuality, and socialism. You need to know who these groups are and the methods they use. Knowledge is power. Next: Saul Alinsky and his Rules for Radicals.

Remember the fallen.

9/11 is a memorial day.

It's a day to pray for the innocent who were ruthlessly murdered because of the hatred of a few. If you want to see the face of evil look at the black smoke and flames rising from the burning buildings and clouds of dust and debris filling the streets as the towers collapsed. Pray for the victims.

But don't only focus on the destruction. Remember the generosity of the rescuers, many of whom also died that day. Remember those who rushed to hospitals to donate blood, those who hurried to comfort their neighbors touched by disaster, the clergymen who rushed to the site to anoint, to pray, to listen, to comfort, to forgive. Pray for the hero-vicitms like Todd Beamer who didn't just sit on a plane in fear but, with his fellow passengers, prevented a plane from being the bomb that hit a Washington, D.C. target, perhaps the White House or the Capitol.

And pray for those who committed the evil as well: the plotters who organized it and the evil men who carried it out.

Remember, love always overcomes evil, because evil, like dark, is nothing. One match dispels the dark and one act of love defeats all evil.

9/11 didn't overcome America. It demonstrated the goodness in America's people.

America, America,

God mend thine every flaw;

Confirm they soul in self-control

Thy liberty in law.

Huh? A Washington Post Op-Ed got it right?

Believe it or not, sometimes The Post gets it right. An incredible op-ed in today's paper by Michael Gerson talks about Trig's accomplishment at the Republican convention: "there was a third civil rights barrier broken at the political conventions this year. Trig Paxson Van Palin -- pronounced by his mother "beautiful" and "perfect" and applauded at center stage of the Republican convention -- smashed the chromosomal barrier. And it was all the more moving for the innocence and indifference of this 4-month-old civil rights leader."

Gerson's article exposes the elimination of Down's children for what it is -- eugenics, a result of Social Darwinism that believes the answer to "imperfect" lives is imposed death. Don't miss this great article, Trig's Breakthrough.

I Think I'm in Love!

I just watched the new internet TV station, RealCatholicTV.com and I think I'm in love! Vic Faust and Mike Voris are terrific! Faust does the news and Voris does commentary. The Voris commentary on Joe Biden's Meet the Press interview is brilliant. He shows Biden speaking, then comments on Biden's statements. He's not afraid to call a spade a spade and label Biden's lies and hypocrisies for what they are.

Besides these two programs, Real Catholic TV has strong messages from several Catholic bishops on the role of Catholics in politics, gay marriage, Christian unity, etc. Real Catholic TV has a free section and a $10 a month premium offering. A particularly interesting preview is for "Shadow Priest" beginning in October. "You may not see him, but you will definitely want to hear him., says the promo. Then Shadow Priest says, "They replaced the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with the egotistical trinity of me, myself, and I." Does that sound like liberalism and a description of Obama?

Hey, I'm sold on Real Catholic TV and look forward to watching the development of this exciting new Catholic media. Go, Real Catholic, go!

Marriage California Style: Brides and Grooms may not apply

If anyone wonders why California has so many natural disasters he only has to look at the latest lunacy on the left coast. Couples who register for marriage fill out a politically correct form identifying "Party A" and "Party B" as the loving couple to be wed. California is just being sensitive to its citizens, and inclusive right? Well, not exactly. Some citizens (i.e. homosexuals) are more equal than others. Every applicant for a marriage license must fit into the same-sex friendly cookie-cutter enforced by little brown-shirted clerks.

Here's the evidence. World Net Daily reports today on a pastor, Doug Bird of Abundant Life Fellowship in Rosedale, who said he had a marriage license returned with the application refused. Why? because the couple crossed out the terms "Party A" and "Party B" replacing them with "bride" and "groom." The County Recorder's office rejected the form and called it an "unacceptable alteration" that "does not comply with California State registration laws." No brides and grooms allowed in the state of California. It might offend Tom and Dick.

The state of California has thrown down the gauntlet. It's time for the Catholic Church in California to remove itself as an agent of the state with regard to marriage. The state doesn't register baptisms or first Communions or Confirmations. If the state doesn't recognize traditional marriage, it's time to remove it from the sacrament of marriage as well. Let Catholics marry in the Church before their priest-witnesses and to hell (which is where this originated) with registering with the state. California and other states recognizing same-sex unions don't have a clue about the true nature of marriage. The Church needs to reject the illegitimate power of the state as strongly as possible. When same-sex marriage is the law of the land, how can Catholics participate in this evil charade?

Is Sarah Palin for real? One man's opinion

David Murrow, author of Why Men Hate Going to Church knows Sarah Palin personally. He paints a fascinating picture of the Alaska governor as a woman of faith who lives by her Christian convictions. Visit his blog and read his article, Sarah Palin, a friend of mine.

Are you a real Catholic?

If a mouse is in the cookie jar, is he a cookie? Would you want to take a bite out of that fat, cookie-filled mouse? Yuck! Absolutely not; you know the difference between a white-chocolate-chip madacamia nut cookie and a disease-carrying rodent.

But what about the mice in the Church? A person can call himself anything he likes, but, is he the real thing? Is he Catholic in his beliefs and actions? Or is he the mouse in the cookie jar? Can a Catholic be pro-choice? No. Can a Catholic vote for abortion? No. Can a Catholic use contraception? No. Can a Catholic dissent from Church doctrine and defy the magisterium by embracing heresy and dissent? No. These things are evil and Catholics cannot cooperate with evil.

How many so-called Catholics will embrace the most pro-abortion, pro-infanticide candidate in the history of our country? Many. How many real Catholics will mark their ballot for the infanticide candidate? None. A Catholic cannot vote for someone who embraces actions that are intrinsically evil. When both candidates support intrinsic evils, the real Catholic "should vote in such a way as to allow the least harm to innocent human life and dignity." [Moral Principles for Catholic Voters, Kansas Catholic Conference]

The Democratic party has, for the most part, disenfranchised real Catholics. Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Christopher Dodd, Ted Kennedy, and other pro-abortion Catholic democrats show exactly how malformed their consciences are whenever they open their mouths. A real Catholic votes for them to the peril of their souls.

A well-formed Catholic conscience recognizes that the life issues take precedence over every other issue in an election. When candidates are wrong about those issues, it doesn't matter how right they are on anything else. Their embrace of the gravest evil of our time, the murder of the innocent, disqualifies them from consideration.

The only way one can vote for an anti-life candidate, as the Kansas bishops say in their document, is to minimize to the degree possible the harm toward the innocent.

Be a real Catholic: inform your conscience, not according to the ear tickling world, but according to the Church. Jesus Himself said that not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord," will enter into the kingdom, but only "those who hear the word of God and keep it." You can be sure - there are no rodents in heaven.

USEFUL RESOURCES:
Moral Principles for Catholic Voters
Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics
A Brief Catechism for Catholic Voters
American Life League Voter's Guide

A Shepherd on the Front Lines

See below an interview with a dear Arlington priest who is serving in Iraq. Fr. Eric Albertson used to fight in the abortion wars before he became an army chaplain. Father and I sidewalk counseled together at Commonwealth abortion mill in Falls Church, VA. One day he was reamed out by a lady leaving daily Mass at St. James next door. She yelled at him to "stay away from that place." Can you imagine a real Catholic chastising a priest for standing up to the murder of the unborn? She should have been thanking him. His actions were the mark of a good shepherd. Another mark of a good shepherd is boldly speaking the unpopular truth. See Fr. Albertson's, A Way to Understand Why Contraception is Wrong.

This is a man who is not afraid to defend the truth. It's been 40 years since Humanae Vitae and liberal Catholics still haven't seen the light of that prophetic encyclical. If you've never read it, do yourself a favor and see how Pope Paul VI predicted many of today's evils that stem directly from contraception/abortion.

US Military Edified by Presence of Purple Heart Chaplain-Priest in Baghdad

19Aug2008, Baghdad: Recently, CatholicMil.org re-connected with Arlington Diocese priest, Army chaplain, Purple Heart recipient, Fr. Eric Albertson currently serving in the sandbox. An award winning photo journalist, Albertson candidly and vividly offers his firsthand account of success in Iraq, its cost, and the need to more fully appreciate all the good being accomplished "over there". – Judy L. McCloskey

What area in Iraq do you cover as the chaplain? I am assigned to Multi-National Division Center (MND-C), Baghdad, Iraq...

Happy Birthday, Blessed Mother!

We celebrate the Blessed Mother's birthday today, nine months after the feast of her Immaculate Conception on December 8th. What better present can you give her today (especially if you've already been to Mass) than to take a rosary walk with her entrusting your prayers into her hands with all the graces to be dispensed as she wishes. You can be sure that they will be used in a way most beneficial to you and your family.

St. Louis de Montfort tells us if we want to know Jesus better, come to Him through Mary: "Since she is the sure means, the direct and immaculate way to Jesus and the perfect guide to him, it is through her that souls who are to shine forth in sanctity, must find him. He who finds Mary finds life, that is, Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life. But no one can find Mary who does not look for her. No one can look for her who does not know her, for no one seeks or desires something unknown. Mary then must be better known than ever for the deeper understanding and the greater glory of the Blessed Trinity."

Remember what Mary said to Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill. "Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything."

Thank you, dear Mother, for loving us so well.

Thomas Sowell on "Foreign Policy 'Experience'"

Now that the Democrats have recovered from the shock of Governor Sarah Palin's nomination as the Republican's candidate for vice president, they have suddenly discovered that her lack of experience in general— and foreign policy experience in particular— is a terrible danger in someone just a heartbeat away from being President of the United States.
[continue at http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell0904408.php3]

Move over Nancy; Joe's here

Nancy Pelosi sparked a firestorm when she played the theologian and presented a distorted and just downright wrong view of Catholic teaching on abortion. A number of bishops refuted her ignorant statements as did a group of her Catholic associates in Congress. Well, Joe Biden appeared on Meet the Press today and showed he is just as ignorant of the Catholic faith as Nancy and ignorant of science as well.

When Tom Brokaw asked Biden how he would advise Barrack Obama on when life begins he responded, "Look, I know when it begins for me. It's a personal and private issue."

Uh...no Joe. Actually, it's a scientific issue. Every first year medical student knows the answer described in a major embryology textbook: "Human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm ... unites with a female gamete or oocyte ... to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual." [The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 6th ed.Keith L. Moore, Ph.D. & T.V.N. Persaud, Md., (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1998), 2-18.]

Biden went on to say, "I am prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception, but that is my judgment." No, that is medical fact. "For me to impose that judgement on everyone else...seems to me inappropriate in a pluralistic society." Is it imposing a judgment to teach science in school? Scientific facts are not acts of personal judgment.

Like Nancy did, Biden misstated Aquinas' view claiming there is a "debate in the Church" about when human life begins. "Back in Summa Theologica, when Thomas Aquinas wrote Summa Theologica he said there was no, it didn't occur until quickening, 40 days after conception." NOT TRUE! Aquinas was not talking about the beginning of life; he was talking about ensoulment. One can argue that theological point, but the Church has always defended the right to life from the beginning. The first century catechism, The Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) forbade abortion.

Biden described abortion as a "matter between a person's God...their doctor, and themselves." This takes the debate right back to 1973 when NARAL, NOW, Planned Parenthood, etc. claimed that no one knows when human life begins. It was absurd then and, with the new methods of ultrasound, etc. that provide a window into the womb, it is even more absurd today.

The last thing Biden claimed was the rehashed slogan from the Clinton era about making abortion rare. "What we're going to be spending our time doing is making sure that we reduce considerably the amount of abortions that take place by providing the care, the assistance, and the encouragement for people to be able to carry to term and raise their children."

This is a laughable statement coming from the liberal left. There is not a single crisis pregnancy center in the country operated by the "pro-choice" crowd. They are ALL run by pro-lifers who offer a woman a real choice -- LIFE.

Is Biden really as stupid as this interview indicated or is he a hypocrite and a liar? And does he really believe the American people will swallow this hogwash? One last question: How is Biden going to explain away Obama's support for the infanticide of babies who survive abortion? When they are outside the womb moving and whimpering will he claim not to know that their lives have begun?

You can watch the portion of the interview on abortion at this url:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26591116#26591154

Getting started

In 1996 Les Femmes began publishing a quarterly newsletter to promote and defend authentic Catholic faith and culture. Five years later we joined the internet revolution by starting a website to spread our message to a wider audience. Today we enter a new stage by joining the blogosphere where we hope to make many new friends and, perhaps, challenge some of our secularist culture's silly and savage ideas. We are living the Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." Not only are the times interesting (look at the election circus), but they are dangerous as well. The journey is definitely category five white water. So we all need our life vests secured (the sacraments), rosaries in our pockets, and smiles on our faces in a determined effort not to be sour saints-in-the-making. Bon Voyage!