Up to about 2003, Lou Dobb's show on CNN was one of my favorites; however, his isolationist and bigoted attitudes became highly offensive to the point where I could no longer watch the show but followed it only in the printed media. His views contradict my religious beliefs.
I'm a devout Roman Catholic, and our bishops have repeatedly stated that each person has a basic human right to migrate, especially in the case where they are seeking to support themselves or their families.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Update: Voting One's Conscience isn't a Mortal Sin
The Diocese of Charleston repudiated the priest who claimed that the mere act of voting Democratic was a mortal sin by posting a video and .pdf statement on their website at http://www.catholic-doc.org/
Friday, November 14, 2008
AP: Priest in SC denies communion
http://tinyurl.com/5felxs
U.S. Catholic Bishops have specifically addressed the issue of worthiness to receive communion: “Happy Are Those Who Are Called to His Supper”: On Preparing to Receive Christ Worthily in the Eucharist, Copyright © 2006, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Canon Law is explicit: CIC, c. 912: “Any baptized person not prohibited by law can and must be admitted to holy communion.” Prohibited by canon law means (a) excommunicated (and there is a specific procedure for so doing that does NOT consist in a priest's "because I say so") or (2) in a state of mortal sin. In the latter case, the onus is on the communicant and not on the minister.
So, the issue becomes whether or not the act of casting a vote for one political party over another can be a mortal sin. Some Bishops also claim that Catholics are in a state of mortal sin simply by refusing to vote as they are ordered, i.e. that they are "Acting in serious disobedience against proper authority" when they refuse to support a politician who advocates overturning Roe vs Wade over one who doesn't. Another argument rests on the idea of scandal, i.e. that removing legal penalties for a behavior condones it.
Why is one mortal sin a "litmus test" when another one is not? The same position paper quoted above condemns such mortal sins slandering the good name of another and racism. Is it valid to claim that those supporting Sarah Palin, who was manifestly complicit in both these mortal sins and persistently bearing false witness, should be similarly condemned despite her pro-life stance?
Had this priest confessed those he "suspects" and refused them absolution, he may have legitimate reason to refuse them communion. Should he refuse parishioners Eucharist without such knowledge, isn't he the one who violates Canon Law? Isn't he in a much more grave position in his relationship with Christ and the Church than those he condemns?
Some Catholic voters who voted Democratic, including me, believe that a political agenda that violates every tenet of Catholic policy but gives lip service to our position on abortion is the greater abomination. I thought that a GOP vote was an intrinsically evil act of cooperation with sinful behavior. The Bishops should recall the parable of the "disobedient" son who does the will of his Father vs the one who says "yes" with his lips and willingly disobeys in fact.
By their fruits shall you know the false prophets from the true, and boy do we have a lot of rotten fruit to eat...
U.S. Catholic Bishops have specifically addressed the issue of worthiness to receive communion: “Happy Are Those Who Are Called to His Supper”: On Preparing to Receive Christ Worthily in the Eucharist, Copyright © 2006, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Canon Law is explicit: CIC, c. 912: “Any baptized person not prohibited by law can and must be admitted to holy communion.” Prohibited by canon law means (a) excommunicated (and there is a specific procedure for so doing that does NOT consist in a priest's "because I say so") or (2) in a state of mortal sin. In the latter case, the onus is on the communicant and not on the minister.
So, the issue becomes whether or not the act of casting a vote for one political party over another can be a mortal sin. Some Bishops also claim that Catholics are in a state of mortal sin simply by refusing to vote as they are ordered, i.e. that they are "Acting in serious disobedience against proper authority" when they refuse to support a politician who advocates overturning Roe vs Wade over one who doesn't. Another argument rests on the idea of scandal, i.e. that removing legal penalties for a behavior condones it.
Why is one mortal sin a "litmus test" when another one is not? The same position paper quoted above condemns such mortal sins slandering the good name of another and racism. Is it valid to claim that those supporting Sarah Palin, who was manifestly complicit in both these mortal sins and persistently bearing false witness, should be similarly condemned despite her pro-life stance?
Had this priest confessed those he "suspects" and refused them absolution, he may have legitimate reason to refuse them communion. Should he refuse parishioners Eucharist without such knowledge, isn't he the one who violates Canon Law? Isn't he in a much more grave position in his relationship with Christ and the Church than those he condemns?
Some Catholic voters who voted Democratic, including me, believe that a political agenda that violates every tenet of Catholic policy but gives lip service to our position on abortion is the greater abomination. I thought that a GOP vote was an intrinsically evil act of cooperation with sinful behavior. The Bishops should recall the parable of the "disobedient" son who does the will of his Father vs the one who says "yes" with his lips and willingly disobeys in fact.
By their fruits shall you know the false prophets from the true, and boy do we have a lot of rotten fruit to eat...
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Stop GOP Obstructionists: Bi-Partisanship Starts At Home
I watched C-Span a lot over the summer, and the hypocrisy of the GOP's actions really started to get to me. My impression was that they were deliberately throwing monkey wrenches into the legislative process in order to condemn the failure of the legislative process. Were they breaking government by the people in order to keep it permanently broken?
Just out of curiosity, I went to the Thomas.gov archive for Congress. I researched how often the term "cloture on the motion" appeared in the record when the Dems were in the minority vs when the Reps were.
YEAR No. of times cloture invoked
2000 32
2001 26
2002 20
2003 20
2004 67
2005 20
LOOK AT THIS!
2006 86 <---start of the Democratic majority
2007 124
2008 138 <--as of 8/28/08
Sure enough, the GOP's abuse of the government was atrocious. We should all give a sigh of relief if the Dems can achieve a filibuster-proof majority.
Just out of curiosity, I went to the Thomas.gov archive for Congress. I researched how often the term "cloture on the motion" appeared in the record when the Dems were in the minority vs when the Reps were.
YEAR No. of times cloture invoked
2000 32
2001 26
2002 20
2003 20
2004 67
2005 20
LOOK AT THIS!
2006 86 <---start of the Democratic majority
2007 124
2008 138 <--as of 8/28/08
Sure enough, the GOP's abuse of the government was atrocious. We should all give a sigh of relief if the Dems can achieve a filibuster-proof majority.
Why Worry About a Deficit Now?
The Chicago school of economics destroyed Chile's economy by 1989 with right-wing ideology that privatized social programs, castrated trade unions, and promoted completely "free" trade by abdicating any responsibility to regulate the financial markets. Now they've done the same here, and the American wealth that hasn't been dissipated is mostly in the Cayman Islands.
Tinkering with monetary policy can't pull the nation from this recession; Neo-Keynesian policy offers the greatest chance of minimizing the coming depression. Shift sacrifices back onto the backs of those who can bear them and increase government spending in programs that favor labor over banks. Dwight David Eisenhower warned the country of the dangers of coupling our economy too tightly to defense industries, but instead of listening, Nixon just hid the numbers by pulling reserve fund accounting into the fiscal accounting. Ever since Ronald Reagan encouraged firms to plunder employee pension funds, the financial sector has played an artificially high role in GDP to the detriment of production and investment in real assets. Republican policies have transformed our nation from a capitalist society to an oligopoly with a hereditary aristocracy. We have to get back to nuts and bolts with a tax policy that encourages investments that help the American people and punish those who speculate to our detriment. We need a fiscal policy that levels the playing field for local businesses so that retailers can compete with Walmart, Staples, and Home Depot and manufacturers can supply more of our domestic needs.
The government has lied for years about the unemployment rate: we have a glut of workers and surfeit of jobs that is worsening with each generation. We lie about inflation: household debt levels are atrocious because lowered household incomes are not a living wage. The government lies about fiscal policy to gain public support to fight a "welfare state" that simply doesn't exist. The real problem is "jobs, jobs, jobs" and has been for years. First the jobs left the rust belt for the sun belt; then they left the country altogether. Monetary policy for a "strong" dollar undermines the best long-term interests of our people, encouraging reckless reliance on fossil fuels and imported goods to the detriment of our own citizens.
Regardless of the toxic debt run up by this administration to little purpose, some government deficit spending will be essential for the next few years. Some of the pain that the increased debt will entail should be borne by those who profited the most under the policies that favored capital over people; however,
In troubled economic times, we should follow President-elect Obama's lead to promote investment in infrastructure and a green economy.
Friday, November 7, 2008
CBS: "O'Reilly be Thy Name"
Interesting profile and interview of Bill O'Reilly with CBS Early Show anchor Harry Smith
Watch CBS Videos Online
Watch CBS Videos Online
Thursday, November 6, 2008
FAREWELL, SILLY SAM!
It's time to restore capitalism and democracy to our republic. The long nightmare is over.
I just have to repeat previous comments, http://tinyurl.com/69frs8 before we kiss Silly Sam aka 'Joe the Plumber' goodbye forever: I've about had it with the 'Silly Sam' socialist garbage. You know who I mean: the guy who isn't Joe, isn't a plumber, has no brain between his ear and his mouth, who SHOULD vote for Obama this year but doesn't know enough to understand why. Yeah, THAT Silly Sam.
Facts are, Obama's policies will actually help 'Joe' save enough money to actually do what the lying jerk claims he wants to do. Further,his policies will help small businesses in general, since all of their CUSTOMERS will have higher disposable incomes. By giving more money to those at the bottom, i.e. 'spreading the wealth around' instead of concentrating it at the top, small business will see higher sales figures and ultimately greater profits.
The GOP has destroyed both capitalism and democracy over the past generation. We now live in a plutocracy, ruled by an aristocracy in all but name. We owe our thanks to what one pundit on HuffPost called "Reagan and his conservative confederates, who had nothing but ideas, almost all of them toxic."
Free markets are very effective at creating surpluses and allocating resources, but only in a static, short-term model. Over time, rewards become concentrated and ultimately help destroy the very competition fueling its efficiency, leading to cycles of boom and bust. Markets have to be 'free' to work properly, but that means that the role of government is exactly the opposite of what the radical right claims. While bad regulation can stifle markets, good law stabilizes and fosters them.
My Christian faith and life experience assures me that most people rarely lie, cheat, or steal. Most people try to do their best, and their sins tend to be those of indifference, pride, and ignorance. Liars, cheats, and thieves that I've met tend to rationalize actions that they know are wrong by claiming that everyone else is like them; a few are sociopaths who lack any empathy or moral sense at all.
with a few ground rules to preserve our democratic principles. These include:
1. Capitalism increases short-term efficiencies of resource allocation by competition; however, in the long-term, this concentrates wealth and destroys competition. Policies must actively favor the former by encouraging the existence of dozens of small and medium-sized businesses and minimizing the latter penalize conditions mandate two Walmarts and one grocery chain in every town, creating oligopoly and preventing competition.
2. There is a free flow of information-------not news filtering through a few corporations.
3. Government mandates and enforces labor laws that prevent anyone from making money by slavery-like control over any citizen or resident alien.
4. Costs associated with destroying public goods like the environment should be borne solely by those responsible.
5. Human life relies on drinking water. No one can 'own' the water supply.
6. Corporations and businesses are not 'people' and they have no 'rights'.
I just have to repeat previous comments, http://tinyurl.com/69frs8 before we kiss Silly Sam aka 'Joe the Plumber' goodbye forever: I've about had it with the 'Silly Sam' socialist garbage. You know who I mean: the guy who isn't Joe, isn't a plumber, has no brain between his ear and his mouth, who SHOULD vote for Obama this year but doesn't know enough to understand why. Yeah, THAT Silly Sam.
Facts are, Obama's policies will actually help 'Joe' save enough money to actually do what the lying jerk claims he wants to do. Further,his policies will help small businesses in general, since all of their CUSTOMERS will have higher disposable incomes. By giving more money to those at the bottom, i.e. 'spreading the wealth around' instead of concentrating it at the top, small business will see higher sales figures and ultimately greater profits.
The GOP has destroyed both capitalism and democracy over the past generation. We now live in a plutocracy, ruled by an aristocracy in all but name. We owe our thanks to what one pundit on HuffPost called "Reagan and his conservative confederates, who had nothing but ideas, almost all of them toxic."
Free markets are very effective at creating surpluses and allocating resources, but only in a static, short-term model. Over time, rewards become concentrated and ultimately help destroy the very competition fueling its efficiency, leading to cycles of boom and bust. Markets have to be 'free' to work properly, but that means that the role of government is exactly the opposite of what the radical right claims. While bad regulation can stifle markets, good law stabilizes and fosters them.
My Christian faith and life experience assures me that most people rarely lie, cheat, or steal. Most people try to do their best, and their sins tend to be those of indifference, pride, and ignorance. Liars, cheats, and thieves that I've met tend to rationalize actions that they know are wrong by claiming that everyone else is like them; a few are sociopaths who lack any empathy or moral sense at all.
with a few ground rules to preserve our democratic principles. These include:
1. Capitalism increases short-term efficiencies of resource allocation by competition; however, in the long-term, this concentrates wealth and destroys competition. Policies must actively favor the former by encouraging the existence of dozens of small and medium-sized businesses and minimizing the latter penalize conditions mandate two Walmarts and one grocery chain in every town, creating oligopoly and preventing competition.
2. There is a free flow of information-------not news filtering through a few corporations.
3. Government mandates and enforces labor laws that prevent anyone from making money by slavery-like control over any citizen or resident alien.
4. Costs associated with destroying public goods like the environment should be borne solely by those responsible.
5. Human life relies on drinking water. No one can 'own' the water supply.
6. Corporations and businesses are not 'people' and they have no 'rights'.
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I've been very ashamed that prominent so-called Catholics like Pat Buchanon and Bill O'Reilly have completely disregarded and/or contradicted our Church's teaching in these matters. Those on the political right wing are the worst "cafeteria Catholics" of all!
Our USA Catholic Bishop's website on the issue: http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/
The Pontifical Council on Migrants and Itinerant Peoples of the Holy See (Vatican Curia office)can be found at: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_...