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Tuesday, June 30, 2009
As White House Readies Abortion Plan, Packaging Emerges as Major Issue Abortion Article in USNews.com: June 29, 2009 By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country As the White House readies its plan for finding "common ground" on reproductive health issues and reducing the need for abortion, a major debate has emerged over how to package the plan's two major components: preventing unwanted pregnancies and reducing the need for abortion. One of the comments to this article was from Hopeful of FL "I am at a loss. Please explain to me the "right to life" movements displeasure with contraception and education. Also, pro choice doesn't mean pro abortion. No body wants abortions. The pro choice side just wants to stop them in with all the tool in the tool box. The pro life side wants to stop them through prayer and abstinence, which if we were honest, both sides know doesn't work." My comments: To Hopeful of FL: The explaination of why artificial contraception is sinful is a big topic. If you want to know, read the book, Theology of the Body for Beginners by Christopher West. In addition to the reasons given in the book, artificial contraception also fails to prevent the emotional damage of fornication and adultery, fails to prevent the spread of STDs, and destabilizes marriages. The pro-choicers say it is OK to murder an unborn baby. A bill to reduce the number of abortions? How long will that take and how many babies will die in the meantime? I am part of a group who are working on starting a homeless shelter for pregnant women in Illinois, near St. Louis. We are having a hard time getting zoning approval from neighbors who are yelling, "Not in my back yard." And getting any government funding for building it is non-existant. I would welcome the Pregnant Women Support Act. Give women a real choice -- the choice to bring their baby into this world. The article is at http://www.usnews.com/blogs/god-and-country/2009/06/29/as-white-house-readies-abortion-plan-packaging-emerges-as-major-issue.html Sunday, May 31, 2009
The Problem of Evil I have never thought about how the doctrines of original sin and free will are related and what the implications of these doctrines are. As Catholics, we believe that pain, suffering and death entered the world (Genesis 3) because of the sin of Adam and Eve. We inherited a weakened body that is vulnerable, where before the fall of Adam, God created us "very good" as Genesis 1 tells us. St. Ambrose said that God allows us to die to limit the amount of suffering we have to endure in this world. Death, then, is a loving method of reuniting ourselves to God eternally. Therefore, pain, suffering and death are part of the human condition. The Old Testament paints God as wrathful; and always smiting people for their disobedience. How can God be both loving, merciful, kind and yet be punishing? That is a contradiction. Without the doctrines of original sin and free will, we would have to believe that suffering is inflicted by a vindictive God as punishment for sin. In Catholic theology, punishment for sin is the loss of grace that helps us to grow in virtue, and if serious and unrepented, will result in the loss of salvation. In this way, mortal sin is a far greater punishment than temporary physical sickness. On the other hand, God is patient and usually gives us a lot of time to repent. Hopefully, the loss of God's friendship leads to conversion. Because I love my children, I discipline them with natural consequences, such as grounding them from being with friends and watching TV. My children see me as a cruel and vindictive. That would be true if I abused them physically, but I am merely taking away a privilege. They don't understand that I am trying to teach them to do the right thing out of love for them. They don't see the big picture. I hope they will see it when they become parents. It is their free will that has resulted in the consequences. By choosing to disobey, they are choosing the punishment. It is the same way when we sin. We choose to disobey God, so we deserve to lose God's grace. Sinners may think God is mean and vengeful, but that is a failure to take responsibility for their choices. Sin does often have physical side effects. Sexual sins may result in sexually transmitted diseases. A drinking binge causes brain cells to die and, if it becomes a habit, can lead to cirrhosis of the liver. These sins may also have an emotional consequence of a wrecked relationship. However, these illnesses and pain are not inflicted by God for punishing the sin. They are a result of free will. In Catholic theology, Original sin deprived us of grace and weakened us, but did not make us totally depraved. We have the freedom to do evil or the freedom to chose good. The benefit of obedience to God is that we grow in holiness and friendship with Him. We enjoy the guidance of the Holy Spirit which dwells within us. We are members of God's family and so we receive an inheritance of eternal life which is a free gift. Sirach 15:11-20 supports the doctrine of free will. "Say not: "It was God's doing that I fell away"; for what he hates he does not do. Say not: "It was he who set me astray"; for he has no need of wicked man. Abominable wickedness the Lord hates, he does not let it befall those who fear him. When God, in the beginning, created man, he made him subject to his own free choice. If you choose you can keep the commandments; it is loyalty to do his will. There are set before you fire and water; to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand. Before man are life and death, whichever he chooses shall be given him. Immense is the wisdom of the LORD; he is mighty in power, and all-seeing. The eyes of God see all he has made; he understands man's every deed. No man does he command to sin, to none does he give strength for lies." If instead we believed that we are incapable of doing anything but sin, it would be indeed a cruel God for punishing us when we can't do anything good. That would be like a father that beats his developmentally disabled son for disobeying him in not doing his trigonometry homework. That is not my idea of a good, loving father. I could not praise a God that treated us that way. Does God punish us for sin by inflicting sickness? In Job 1:12, God told Satan "do not lay a hand upon his person." Satan disobeys God. Job 2:7 says, "So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with severe boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head." The last chapter of the book of Job also gives us a clue about suffering. Job 42:7-8 says, "And it came to pass after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and with your two friends; for you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job. Now, therefore, take seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up a holocaust for yourselves; and let my servant Job pray for you; for his prayer I will accept, not to punish you severely. For you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job." If you remember, Eliphaz and two other of Job's friends had told Job that he must have sinned or God would not have caused the loss of his family and property. So the Lord tells Job's friends that they were not telling the truth; that is, suffering in this world is not necessarily a punishment for sin. The just man will also suffer. The Lord does not owe us an explanation. In humility, we trust that sometimes God allows us to suffer when something really good can come from it. In the end of Job, God restores everything to Job. Job has set a good example to others of faithfulness and has learned humility. Job 42:10 "the Lord restored the prosperity of Job, after he had prayed for his friends; the Lord even gave to Job twice as much as he had before." God knew a good result would come from this test. Another aspect of suffering is that it can become a way of teaching us what we can't learn otherwise. Instead of asking, "Why me?" and wallowing in self-pity, perhaps we need to ask "Why not me?" Though we can't totally avoid suffering, when it comes to us, we can try to get something good out of it. Perhaps we can learn to be more grateful for what is still good in our lives. Perhaps we can be more empathic to those who are suffering in the same way as we are. Perhaps we can grow in the virtue of patience. Perhaps, like the Prodigal Son, it leads to repentance. If there can be good effects from suffering, we should ask "Who among us is so good that we can't gain something from a little pain?" Some saints practiced fasting for this reason. God is so good to us, but we tend to forget that he treats us better than we deserve. We frequently react with self-pity. Self-pity in the face of suffering increases our pain. In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us that we are not alone in our suffering. "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you." The Catechism, no. 164, says, "Our experiences of evil and suffering, injustice, and death, seem to contradict the Good News; they can shake our faith and become a temptation against it" . God provided a remedy for self-pity. Col 1:24 says, "Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church." While some believe that nothing is lacking in Christ's suffering, this verse says otherwise. We can offer our sufferings in union with the sufferings of Christ for the redemption of others. We can bear our sufferings patiently while offering them to God for the benefit of others. Catholics have a term for this called redemptive suffering. The suffering of Christ gives meaning to our suffering. Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Salvifici Doloris, "On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering" agrees with this. This encyclical also says that while we have revelation about why mankind suffers, the reason a particular individual suffers is a mystery. In the same way, each individual will react differently. The challenge of suffering is to react in a faithful, hopeful, and loving way. That requires grace, so let us ask for the Lord's help daily to carry our cross. Labels: the problem of evil Does God Cause Evil? It is important to begin by defining what we mean by evil if we are going to understand it. Whether something is evil depends on the nature of the one who experiences it. If a human was born without eyes, we might think that is evil because it is the nature of humans to have eyes. If a stone does not have eyes, we do not think that is evil because sight is not the nature of a stone. When God created Adam and Eve, Genesis 1:27,31 says, "God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them... God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good." The nature of humans changed after Adam and Eve sinned. As Genesis 2:17-19 says, "To the man [Adam] he [God] said: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat, "Cursed be the ground because of you! In toil shall you eat its yield all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, as you eat of the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return." After the fall, humans inherited a weakened, vulnerable body. If sickness, pain and death became part of our human nature because of the fall, then it is not evil if we lose our health. It is to be expected. If we never had sickness, pain and death, it would be abnormal. It would be as strange as a chair having eyes. Sickness is an absence of health, not the act of a vindictive God. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, evil is also not a thing, but instead it is an absence of good. Since it is not a thing, it cannot be created. An analogy to this is a shadow. No one can create a shadow, because it is an absence of light. One can cast a shadow by blocking a light, but it is not a thing. Things cannot, of themselves, be evil. God can make a tree that has the ability to oxidize and thus burn. But God does not light the fire. The fire can be either a good thing or a harmful thing, depending on how it is used. Fire can heat us on a cold day or cook our food. It can also burn down a building and kill people. So it is not the fire itself that is evil. What can be evil is the reason, or the will, of the person who starts the fire. The US Court system recognizes this intention as a factor in whether something is a crime or an accident. A person that is insane, severely mentally retarded, or acting in self-defense is treated differently than one who commits a premeditated act. A person who burns a building may be doing a good thing if it is a storage facility for the enemy’s weapons, because that would protect others. The story of Adam and Eve shows that God created humans with free will. We can choose to do good or we can sin. We can obey or disobey God. For a sin to be mortal, it must be grave matter, we must be capable of knowing and know it is a grave matter, and of our free will decide to do it anyway. It is the nature of humans to go either way. Can God do evil? We can observe from experience that some things are better than others. There is a continuum that ranges from an absence of good, to better, to best, the ultimate goodness. As humans, we neither have an absence of good or ultimate goodness, since we are capable of sin. If we define the nature of God as having the ultimate goodness, then it is not possible for God to will evil. Why? Doing evil would cause an absence of goodness. To use an analogy, if I put ice in a pot of boiling water, it would not be boiling water until it again reached the temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit. With the absence of heat, it would lose its boiling nature. It would not be at the ultimately highest temperature that water can be. In the same way, if you mix a will to do evil with the ultimate goodness of God, God would lose his ultimate goodness and, therefore, would not be God. The nature of this being would be the same as humans. Is evil, then, caused by God lacking the power to stop it? There are some things God can't do. He can't make a square circle. We have to trust that God made us according to his loving plan. He gave us free will, because we would be like puppets if we did not have it. He can't make us have both free will and not able to choose to do evil. Also, he could not let the sin of Adam and Eve go unpunished, because God is totally just. Despite our sinful choices, God makes it possible to turn evil to good. We do this by uniting our sufferings with the sufferings of Christ for the redemption of the world. It is not evil for God to remove his grace from us when we sin. He warned us what would happen if we die in unrepented mortal sin. He is merely giving us what he promised he would. God wills the salvation of all. He gives us all the grace we need to be holy. By our Baptism, we are given an inheritance of eternal life. We don't have to earn it, because it is a free gift. Yet we can choose to lose it through serious sin. Ultimately, the responsibility for obeying God is ours. To summarize, evil:
Labels: the problem of evil Monday, March 09, 2009
Obama Signs Order Lifting Restrictions on Stem Cell Research Funding Supporters say it will open up a broad front of research to find better treatments for ailments from diabetes to Parkinson's disease; opponents saying destroying embryos for research is morally wrong. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/09/obama-lift-restrictions-stem-cell-research-funding/ What this article fails to say is that embryonic stem cell research has found zero cures so far, so it is wasting taxpayer lives and wasting taxpayer dollars. If it were so promising, there would be a ton of private funding. Also, it neglects to say that adult stem cells can now be made as flexible (Pluripotent) as embryonic stem cells. See http://www.stemcellresearch.org/ for a list of the 73 cures using adult stem cells. This leads me to suspect that its real purpose of embryonic stem cell research is to keep abortion legal. The logic behind it is that if embryos are no more valuable than any other cell, then how can abortion be morally wrong? embryonic stem cell research treats these cells as property in the same way that slaves were thought of as property. How can an African-American president allow anyone to be treated like a slave? Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Comments on the Inaugeration of Obama In St. Augustine's City of God, Chapter 1, Augustine refers to the sacking of the city of Rome by the West-Gothic King Alaric in 410 AD. He was the most humane of the barbaric invaders and conquerors of Rome, and had embraced Arian Christianity. Augustine asks a question, "Are not those very Romans, who were spared by the barbarians through their respect for Christ, become enemies to the name of Christ? " He asks this because the invaders spared those who went inside churches. The Catholic churches were a sanctuary from harm. "Thus escaped multitudes who now reproach the Christian religion, and impute to Christ the ills that have befallen their city; but the preservation of their own life—a boon which they owe to the respect entertained for Christ by the barbarians—they attribute not to our Christ, but to their own good luck. They ought rather, had they any right perceptions, to attribute the severities and hardships inflicted by their enemies, to that divine providence which is wont to reform the depraved manners of men by chastisement, and which exercises with similar afflictions the righteous and praiseworthy,—either translating them, when they have passed through the trial, to a better world, or detaining them still on earth for ulterior purposes. And they ought to attribute it to the spirit of these Christian times, that, contrary to the custom of war, these bloodthirsty barbarians spared them, and spared them for Christ’s sake, whether this mercy was actually shown in promiscuous places, or in those places specially dedicated to Christ’s name, and of which the very largest were selected as sanctuaries, that full scope might thus be given to the expansive compassion which desired that a large multitude might find shelter there." I see a parallel here with the American economy and issues most dear to the religious right. The way the mainstream media is catastrophizing, you would think the Goths were at our door. Perhaps they are right. Conservatives are joining this chorus of doom and gloom. Are we really on the verge of becoming a socialist nation? If this doesn't happen in the Obama administration, I think we are getting close to the brink. As in any crisis, the fingers are pointing in many directions is typical blame game stuff. It seems to me, the religious right is blaming the pagan secular humanists, while the irreligious left is blaming the Christians. History is repeating itself. I think we can learn some things from Augustine's defense of Christianity. "Therefore ought they to give God thanks, and with sincere confession flee for refuge to His name, that so they may escape the punishment of eternal fire—they who with lying lips took upon them this name, that they might escape the punishment of present destruction. For of those whom you see insolently and shamelessly insulting the servants of Christ, there are numbers who would not have escaped that destruction and slaughter had they not pretended that they themselves were Christ’s servants. Yet now, in ungrateful pride and most impious madness, and at the risk of being punished in everlasting darkness, they perversely oppose that name under which they fraudulently protected themselves for the sake of enjoying the light of this brief life." Leftists are saying that conservatives should gladly subscribe to redistribution of wealth. They say that capitalists are too greedy, and that is the reason for the collapse of the financial institutions. In their book, Christians are homophobic and are holding women back if the pro-lifers restrict abortion. Leftists say defending our country from terrorists through the Patriot Act is dangerous to our freedoms. Totalitarianism is just around the corner. All would be well if not for the Christians telling them what to do. The financial conservatives accuse the liberals of stealing their paychecks with higher taxes that are being redistributed to welfare recipients. The religious right points the finger at the secular humanists for the decline in morality, high divorce rate, unwed pregnancy, higher STDs, and high rate of abortion. The Right blames this on the ban on public school prayer, the removal of religion from the public square due to the protests of atheists. Armegedon is just around the corner. God will punish our pagan country, so we better shape up. Who is right? That is something we cannot know for sure now. History will tell us someday. What does seem clear is that catastrophizing is keeping us from the unity we need to deal with the mess our country is in. Pagans blaming Christians, and Christians blaming Pagans will accomplish nothing. When one points the finger at others, remember three fingers are pointing back toward the accuser. Instead of despair about the Inaugeration of Obama, Christians need to get to work to make the country a better place, a City of God, in spite of the leftists pagans ignoring how they benefit from the Christian's moral imperative to love one's neighbor. It should be obvious, after numerous bankruptcies, foreclosures, bail outs, the failure of the Madoff Ponzi scheme and the fall of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, that capitalism is dependent on morality, yet it is not obvious to enough of us. Pagans want morality in business, but free reign in sexual behavior. This inconsistency is laughable, but ignored. We need to point it out whether the mainstream media does or not. Conversion doesn't happen overnight. They need to be warned that those who "perversely oppose that name" [Christ] and are "enjoying the light of this brief life" will be dealt with in the hereafter. Reaching out to them is being merciful, but be prepared to turn the other cheek. The Roman pagans trusted their gods to protect them, but ran to church when their gods failed to do that. Despite my great fear of what the Obama administration will do, I will not put my trust in the United States government. I hope you will join me in getting down on the knees to pray for our country. I know who my Messiah is. I know where my true home is. Tuesday, November 11, 2008
I wrote another e-mail to my German cousin. This is what it said: I do not share your opinion about Bush, but let's agree to disagree about that. I am very sad that the unborn have been betrayed because some want to put more coins in their pockets. We are a nation like Judas, who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Some think that if the economy gets better, there will be fewer abortions, but I ask, "How long will that take and how many millions of unborn babies will die before then?" Some say we will always need legal abortion, but isn't that like saying there will always be a need for legal murder?If Hitler had been a candidate that had promised to improve the economy, but I knew he wanted to kill 12 million people, would it be right for me to vote for him? That is what Americans did last week. The killing of innocents will be permanently legal. This article says what I am really concerned about: http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4825&Itemid=100 "Senator Obama has promised to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), whichThe same thing can be said will happen if homosexual marriage becomes legal. Anyone who opposes it could lose their job or lose tax-exempt status, which means the government can take away your business. Currently, the right of Americans to refuse to do things they believe are sinful is under attack. A recent court case in California is an example. A homosexual couple of women went to a doctor to get help getting pregnant artifically. The doctor believes it is wrong for a child to be born and raised by homosexuals, so he refused to help. Instead, he gave them the name of another doctor who would do it. After the couple had a baby, the couple sued the first doctor. The doctor lost and had to pay a lot of money to the couple, in spite of the fact this was not an emergency procedure. The pharmacists are being sued and losing their jobs for not giving out medicine that causes abortion. This could mean that Catholic churches and schools would be forced to teach that homosexuality is good and not sinful as the Bible says it is. Any priest that says it is not could be jailed for "hate speech." Our freedom of speech and conscience will be lost forever. Americans do not realize the danger we are in because the newspapers and TV are telling us what to think and they think that abortion and homosexual marriage is good. They have become like a government Department of Mind Control. Americans are fools if they let this happen. The good news is that three states passed laws against homosexual marriages in this election and one outlawed adoption by these couples. This country already has enough laws that let people give their money to anyone they want after they die and to make health care decisions for them. No one tells them they can't live together or not get a job. They have the same freedoms they need without the problems of letting them adopt children or making others think the way they do . Yes, love the sinner, but hate the sin. Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim were destroyed by "brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven" (Genesis 19) because homosexuals wanted to rape men. I fear God will destroy our country for our sins. Wednesday, November 05, 2008
"The End Of The World" Nina Gordon Why does the sun go on shining Why does the sea rush to shore Don't they know it's the end of the world 'Cause pro-lifers failed to score Why do the birds go on singing Why do the stars glow above Don't they know it's the end of the world It ended when Obama won I wake up in the morning and I wonder Why everything's the same as it was I can't understand, no, I can't understand How life goes on the way it does Why does my heart go on beating Why do these eyes of mine cry Don't they know it's the end of the world It ended 'cause unborn babes will die Why does my heart go on beating Why do these eyes of mine cry Don't they know it's the end of the world It ended 'cause unborn babes will die Obama as Antichrist? No, an apocalyptic author explains. November 04, 2008 "The influential Canadian Catholic artist and novelist Michael O'Brien has disclosed in his private newsletter that many readers see "an uncanny resemblance" between Senator Barack Obama and the figure of the Antichrist portrayed in O'Brien's apocalyptic novel Father Elijah. While acknowledging similarities, O'Brien concludes that Obama is not the Antichrist. Nevertheles, he says: "I also also believe that he is a carrier of a deadly moral virus, indeed a kind of anti-apostle spreading concepts and agendas that are not only anti-Christ but anti-human as well. In this sense he is of the spirit of Antichrist (perhaps without knowing it), and probably is one of several key figures in the world who (knowingly or unknowingly) will be instrumental in ushering in the time of great trial for the Church…" http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/081103a.html The Last President of a Free Democracy in Free Republic "But what of those ”Bitter Clingers” who stand in fear of what his [Obama's] ascension to power really means? When their leaders are declared enemies of the state and the laws are changed to stifle their dissent? What will they do when the country they loved resembles the tin horn dictatorships of South America? What will become of them, after their enemy has destroyed their way of life? Will they ever be able to mobilize as a force to take back their country? And what of their God, whom the friends of the “Anointed One” will inevitably declare illegal on grounds of tolerance?" http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2125896/posts Welcome to the Obamanation! Nov 5, 2008 Neal Boortz "The big question for me today is whether or not freedom, economic liberty and self-sufficiency can make a comeback in America. Right now it seems that a dismaying number of Americans think that they are owed a living; that it is the government's job to guarantee their economic security. Can we ever turn that around and return to a time when people accept the responsibility for their own lives and eschew the idea of using government as a tool of legalized plunder?" http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2125803/posts Sunday, November 02, 2008
Obama's Planned Parenthood Speech Friday, July 11, 2008 This is a chilling reminder why we have to vote pro-life on Tuesday, Nov 4. http://ppgi.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-planned-parenthood-speech.html Obama will wipe out all the small victories we have had in protecting babies. I don't agree with his vision for American women. Vote pro-life to save black babies too. Black Genocide Between 1882 and 1968, 3,446 Blacks were lynched in the U.S. That number is surpassed in less than 3 days by abortion. 1,452 African-American children are killed each day by the heinous act of abortion. 3 out of 5 pregnant African-American women will abort their child. Since 1973 there has been over 13 million Black children killed and their precious mothers victimized by the U.S. abortion industry. http://blackgenocide.org/home.html I am vacillating between anxiety and hope about this election. I am anxious because so much is at stake for the pro-life movement. I don't think I'll get much sleep Tuesday night. I am hopeful because I know that God is in control. Holy Spirit, please inspire the undecided voters to remember unborn babies as they cast their vote. Friday, October 31, 2008
Senator Obama's Four Tax Increases for People Earning Under $250,000 and for Those Earning as Little as $25,000 a Year By Ned Barnett Senator Obama’s two tax promises: to limit tax increases to only those making over $250,000 a year, and to not raise taxes on 95% of “working Americans,” intrigued me. As a hard-working small business owner, over the past ten years I’ve earned from $50,000 to $100,000 per year. If Senator Obama is shooting straight with us, under his presidency I could look forward to paying no additional Federal taxes – I might even get a break – and as I struggle to support a family and pay for two boys in college, a reliable tax freeze is nearly as welcome as further tax cuts. However, Senator Obama’s dual claims seemed implausible, especially when it came to my Federal income taxes. Those implausible promises to make me look at what I’d been paying before President Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, as well as what I paid after those tax cuts became law. I chose the 2000 tax tables as my baseline – they reflect the tax rates that Senator Obama will restore by letting the “Bush Tax Cuts” lapse. I wanted to see what that meant from my tax bill. Read the rest at http://www.americanthinker.com Barack Obama’s aunt is living in public housing A Boston Housing Authority director says Barack Obama’s aunt, a Kenyan woman who has lived in public housing for five years, is an “exemplary resident” and only recently did anyone know of her connection to the presidential contender. Obama’s campaign spokesman Reid Cherlin confirmed to the Herald yesterday that Zeituni Onyango, 56, who lives on Flaherty Way in South Boston, is Obama’s aunt on his father’s side. If Obama wants to spread the wealth around, why doesn't he spread his wealth to his beloved aunt? http://bostonherald.com/news/2008/view.bg?articleid=1128958&format=text ENPR Prediction: Obama Narrow Win, Dems 58 Senate Seats, 254 House Seats http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?print=yes&id=29267 But we all know how biased the polls are. The only one that counts is the one next Tuesday, Nov. 4. Please vote pro-life. Labels: Election 2008 President Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Pre-election Anxiety I wrote to my German cousin again about the election. As the days until the election shorten, I become more anxious. So much is at stake here. I don't believe polls, but I am worried that it is going to be a close one. It all depends on how many of each party actually go to vote. The conservative Republicans are more happy about McCain because of Sarah Palin. I think she will help more than she will hurt. Americans can identify with her. Unlike Obama, Biden, or McCain, she has actually managed a government. She has more useful experience than they do. I wish she were running for President. I am wondering whether the financial mess is caused by investors that are worried that Obama will win. Obama, I think, will not be able to handle the financial mess as well as McCain could. It's too bad that Americans don't know much about economics. On top of Obama's lack of experience, he is a socialist in disguise. Obama says, "Spread the wealth around." This is what his wife Michelle Obama says. "In order to get things like Universal Health Care and revamped Education System, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of the pie so that someone else can have more" I detest the way class warfare, of rich against poor, is dividing the country. I think those who encourage coveting one's neighbors goods are sinful. It is wrong to envy those who have more and to coerce them to give to others through voting. That's not charity or love of neighbor. It's robbery. Christians should care for the poor, but they should not be forced to do it or go to jail if they don't pay taxes. It will be a much poorer country when the government can decide how much one is allowed to make. The power to tax is the power to destroy. Any government that is powerful to give you anything you want is powerful enough to take away everything you have. People in Germany voted for Hitler because the economy was bad. I think the content of one's character is what really counts. I trust a survivor of prisoner of war camps much more than Obama. Do you know what is a stake for the pro-life movement in this election? At least two Supreme Court justices will retire in the next 4 years. The Supreme Court justices decide what the laws mean, but liberal ones ignore the votes of the people and use international law and their own feelings to make new laws. They could be on the court for 30 years. If Obama wins, he will pick liberal, pro-abortion justices. The pro-life movement will lose everything we have worked for since 1973! This is showdown time. We either elect a pro-life president or lose the war to protect unborn babies. It is life or death issue. The Democrats say they help the "little guy." I think they should also help the "little UNBORN guy" too. Will old people be treated as non-persons too? Yes, if Universal Health Care comes in, there will be rationing of care. Those who cost too much to treat will be left to die. I was at a workshop on health care justice last week that said this is happening in the UK. The US will be next. People screamed about $700 billion being spent on bailouts, but that amount would fund only about 6 years of Universal Health Care. It will bankrupt the whole country. We will be forced to pay for abortions with our tax money as well. McCain is a different person than George Bush. He has always been disliked by Republicans for voting sometimes with the Democrats instead of with his own party. He is a maverick, which means he goes his own way and often rebels against what people want him to do. So I am praying God will have mercy and inspire people to vote pro-life. Letter from 2012 in Obama's America What will the United States be like if Senator Obama is elected? Focus on the Family Action spells it out for us. It is very sobering. http://focusfamaction.edgeboss.net/download/focusfamaction/pdfs/10-22-08_2012letter.pdf Saturday, October 18, 2008
In the voting booth, thou shalt not covet your neighbor's goods. If you are not truly poor and, because you covet your neighbor's goods, you vote to force someone else to pay taxes that will benefit you, isn't that the same as robbing him? How can one justify this? Think again if you think that benefits come from "Uncle Sam." It is a real, flesh and blood American, either directly from a pay check or indirectly through higher prices due to higher business taxes, you are taking it from. You are coercing money from someone who would have to go to jail if he doesn't pay taxes. Being coerced to help others merits the taxpayer nothing from God for helping his neighbor. The one who receives these govenment benefits rarely accept them as a sign of love from God, unlike they would do if they were from a generous neighbor. Wouldn't it be better to encourage us all to donate money to a charity that cares for the poor instead of voting to raise taxes? If we all did that, there would be no need for the government to care for the poor. God will reward you for your love of neighbor, but not for coercing someone to pay higher taxes through the ballot box. The same people who believe they are being benevolent by voting for helping "the little guy" need to also help "the UNBORN little guy." Voting in a way that helps your pocketbook often results in voting for those who allow the holocaust of abortion to continue. We need to make the right to life our highest priority. Please vote pro-life. Saturday, October 11, 2008
Revolution? This article says it has already started. The Rebellion Has Begun by Sandy Rios Somewhere along the way while most of us were enjoying our precious freedoms, taking kids to soccer, ordering pizza and listening to our iPods, there was another group of people who were at work to destroy America. Even as they enjoyed with us its benefits, they schemed and planned and, moment by moment, inch by inch gained a footing and we never realized the ground was shifting. http://townhall.com/Columnists/SandyRios/2008/10/10/the_rebellion_has_begun http://townhall.com/Columnists/SandyRios/2008/10/10/the_rebellion_has_begun?comments=true#comments October Surprises by Oliver North Those who believe that this month's collapse of global financial markets is an unprecedented disaster need to study history. The Great Crash of 1929 -- so severe that it makes this year's meltdown pale in comparison -- began Oct. 24. In 1987, Oct. 19 became known as "Black Monday," as Wall Street investors watched the market nose-dive 22 percent and lose $500 billion in value in a single trading session -- still the biggest one-day loss of value in history. http://townhall.com/columnists/OliverNorth/2008/10/10/october_surprises Edmund Burke was remarkably prescient and wise when he said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Friday, October 10, 2008
How to Make the US Government be Socialist
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
More on who is to blame for the credit crisis: ‘SNL’ Take-Down Taken Down By Tobin Harshaw “The presidential campaign has been good for ‘Saturday Night Live’ — and for Hulu.com,” reports Advertising Age’s Michael Learmonth. “In a few short weeks, the first clip of Tina Fey impersonating Gov. Sarah Palin has become the site’s most-viewed of all time. But it appears NBC.com and Hulu.com may have run into some trouble with the latest SNL political send-up. A clip poking fun at the bailout, and specifically, at former Golden West Financial Group co-chiefs Herb and Marion Sandler, has been taken down from NBC.com and Hulu.com sometime on Monday, leaving many speculating as to why. A good guess: The clip, a fake C-SPAN news report, identifies the Sandlers, who sold their Golden West Financial S&L to Wachovia in 2006 as ‘People who should be shot’ in a graphic.” http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/snl-take-down-taken-down/?ref=opinion Who are the Sandlers? Herb and Marion Sandler, owners of Golden West Financial Corporation, was giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic Party campaigns."[6] Golden West was sold in 2006 for $24 billion to Wachovia Bank. The merger was completed in October 2006. The Sandlers owned about 10% of the company at the time of the sale, making their share of the sale price worth about $2.4 billion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Sandler Wachovia had to be sold last week, due to the subprime mortgages they aquired when they bought Golden West. How Catholic Money Funded Obama's Community Organizing By Deal W. Hudson October 7, 2008 http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/guest/2008/dwh_10071.shtml One of the untold stories in the Obama campaign is how his background in community organizing has direct links to Catholic funding -- from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (web site) Catholic journalist Stephanie Block has been writing about the CCHD for many years, but it has been difficult to stimulate any serious concern about their funding the innocuous sounding activity of "community development." Innocuous or not, Obama years as a community organizer were supported, in part, by Catholic money dispersed by the USCCB. Barak Obama - was lead organizer in Chicago for the Developing Communities Project, it received a $40,000 Catholic Campaign for Human Development grant in 1985 and a $33,000 grant in 1986. While he was in Chicago Obama was trained by the top Alinskyian organizers. One mentor was the ex-Jesuit, Greg Galuzzo, lead organizer for Gamaliel. The Developing Communities Project operated under the Gamaliel Foundation, a network of Alinskyian organizations that receive 4-5% of all Catholic Campaign for Human Development grants each year. Who is Saul Alinsky? In Rules for Radicals (his final work, published in 1971 one year before his death), he addressed the 1960s generation of radicals, outlining his views on organizing for mass power. In the first chapter, opening paragraph of the book Alinsky writes, "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".[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky Obama's Alinsky Jujitsu By Kyle-Anne Shiver The agitator's job, according to Alinsky, is first to bring folks to the "realization" that they are indeed miserable, that their misery is the fault of unresponsive governments or greedy corporations, then help them to bond together to demand what they deserve, and to make such an almighty stink that the dastardly governments and corporations will see imminent "self-interest" in granting whatever it is that will cause the harassment to cease. In these methods, euphemistically labeled "community organizing," Obama had a four-year education, which he often says was the best education he ever got anywhere. Is it any wonder, then, that Obama's Alinsky Jujitsu is making mincemeat of the woman who merely interviewed Alinsky, wrote about him, and spent the next 30 years in corporate law and in the lap of taxpayer-funded luxury in government mansions? http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/obamas_alinsky_jujitsu.html Barack Obama and Alinsky's Rules for Psychopaths By James Lewis A psychopath is a person without conscience; someone who constantly breaks the moral rules of the community. Saul Alinsky was a "community organizer" who found a career that fit that personality disorder. In the Orwellian upside-down world of the Left, community organizers disorganize communities. That is the meaning of revolution, to overturn whatever exists today in the raw pursuit of one's own power. Alinsky boasted about his close alliance with Frank Nitti, Al Capone's second in command in the Chicago Mob during the 1930s. Al Capone's Mob were domestic terrorists, and not for any noble cause either. They poisoned the Chicago politics of their era. Alinsky's close alliance with Frank Nitti tells us something crucially important today. Alinsky was also a lifelong ally of the Stalin-controlled Communist Party, at a time when Stalin was known to have murdered tens of millions of people. He was proud of building a bridge between organized crime and the power hungry Left. That tacit alliance may continue today. http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/barack_obama_and_alinskys_rule.html Saul Alinsky’s son: “Obama learned his lesson well” By Judi McLeod Tuesday, September 2, 2008 In Artful Dodger style, Barack Obama, plays down his mentorship with Communist author Saul Alinsky. But Alinsky’s son, L. David Alinsky, credits Obama for “learning his lesson well” from the Communist guru. Indeed, Alinsky Jr. who credits his late father for the success of last week’s Democratic National Convention, may have done something that Obama’s detractors couldn’t: blown the cover on the presidential hopeful’s communist leanings. http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/4784 Friday, October 03, 2008
Catholic Voting & the “Seamless Garment” Theory by Patrick Madrid How to vote with a clear conscience Are some [issues] more important than others? http://www.envoymagazine.com/pdf/envoy_votersguide.pdf Karl Rove Lists 10 ‘Factually Wrong’ Biden Debate Statements Karl Rove sets the record straight on 10 things Biden said in the debate last night. Biden said McCain voted the same as Obama on the budget resolution vote. Fact: McCain voted No, Obama voted "Yes" to increase taxes on those making $42,000 year. Biden said people would pay no more taxes under Obama than they did under Reagan. Fact: The top rate under Reagan was 28%, Obama wants to return it to 39.5%. Biden said it would take 10 years to get new oil into production. Fact: It would take only about 2 years. Biden said used of force resolution in Iraq was not an authorization for war. Fact: Yes it was. Biden said McCain voted the same as Obama on funding the troops. Fact: McCain voted yes, Obama voted "no." Biden said we are spending as much in 3 weeks as we have in 7 years in Iraq. Fact: Not true Biden said Article 1 of the Constitution refers to the Executive branch. Fact: Article 1 refers to Legislative branch Biden said there is a windfall profits tax in Alaska. Fact: Not true Biden repeated the lie about a nuclear weapons bill that Obama passed. Fact: Not true Biden said McCain opposed Clinton on Bosnia. Fact: Not true http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=187263 Biden doesn't understand what the Veep job really is. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/03/biden-gets-veep-role-wrong/ A 1999 New York Times article explains how we got in the financial mess we are in Read this article which appeared in the NEW YORK TIMES ON SEPTEMBER 30, 1999. It answers the question. Some of the quotes in here are eerily prophetic. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink Agency’s ’04 Rule Let Banks Pile Up New Debt, and Risk Dennis Brack for The New York Times "Many events in Washington, on Wall Street and elsewhere around the country have led to what has been called the most serious financial crisis since the 1930s. But decisions made at a brief meeting on April 28, 2004, explain why the problems could spin out of control. The agency’s failure to follow through on those decisions also explains why Washington regulators did not see what was coming." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/business/03sec.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin Thursday, October 02, 2008
A Brief Catechism for Catholic Voters from EWTN "If someone were running for state treasurer and that candidate made it a point to state publicly that he was in favor of exterminating people over the age of 70, would you vote for him?... If personal character matters in a political candidate, and personal character involves the kind of thoughts a person harbors, then such a candidate who publicly states that he is in favor of the evil of exterminating people over the age of 70 - or children who are unborn - has also disqualified himself from receiving a Catholic’s vote." http://www.ewtn.com/vote/brief_catechism.htm More Voter Guide Links As a Catholic, I have an obligation to inform my conscience before I vote. These voter guides are very helpful http://www.faithfulcitizenship.org/ http://www.usccb.org/bishops/catholicsinpoliticallife.shtml What is the Most Efficient Way to Care for the Poor? Suppose I am coerced to pay $100 in federal taxes that are for the purpose of caring for the poor. First, the legislator who makes the laws about collecting the money takes a slice, then the tax collector takes a slice, then the boss and auditor of the tax collector take a slice. Next, the social worker who determines eligibility for services and their boss and auditor of the social service agancy take a slice. Then the one who assures us that their is no fraud going on takes a slice. How much is left to give to the poor? When I donate money to charity, I want to know the administrative expense ratio. That is, is the money going to some fat cat or is it really going to the cause for which I gave it? If my goal is supporting the poor, it seems to me to be more effective to give money to Catholic Charities than it does to the federal government. I think it is foolish to vote for someone because they promise to do something "for the little guy." It seems that most of those promises are "voter bait." If they ever delivered on their promises, they would have to think of something else to bait the voters. Is it any wonder that campaign promises are quickly forgotten after the election? Wise up, Americans! Vote based on the character of the man and the one who will kill the fewest babies. That's the "little guys" I care about! More of the blame game, only this has a ring of truth to it So that's what a Community Organizer does! What did Obama do with the Community Reinvestment Act money? Did he stop the flood of money going to these bad mortgages? http://www.youtube.com/johnmccaindotcom Labels: US president election 2008 Tuesday, September 30, 2008
U.S. archbishop at Vatican says Democrats becoming 'party of death' By Cindy Wooden The Democratic Party in the United States "risks transforming itself definitively into a 'party of death,'" said U.S. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, prefect of the Vatican's highest court. http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0804933.htm Bishop calls abortion 'homicide' Scranton Diocese priests read abortion position letter to parishionersBy Laura Legere In the letter, Bishop Martino refers to abortion as “homicide” and writes, “It is a tragic irony that ‘pro-choice’ candidates have come to support homicide — the gravest injustice a society can tolerate — in the name of ‘social justice.’” http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/articles/2008/09/30/news/sc_times_trib.20080930.a.pg1.tt30bishop_s1.1980663_top.txt Catholic Answers has a wonderful Voters Guide for Serious Catholics Video. You can find it at http://www.catholic.com/ The Voter Guides booklet says there are five non-negotiables for Christians:
http://www.caaction.com/pdf/Voters-Guide-Catholic-English-1p.pdf Presidential Voter Guide at kitchentableblog Investigate the presidential candidates with our in-depth research and analysis on all the important Values Voter issues. From bioethics, marriage and family law to judicial and religious liberty issues, our policy experts present this valuable guide. http://www.kitchentableblog.com/EF08H02.pdf Secret, Foreign Money Floods into Obama Campaign By: Kenneth R. Timmerman U.S. federal law bans any foreigner from donating to a U.S. election campaign. http://www.newsmax.com/timmerman/Obama_fundraising_illegal/2008/09/29/135718.html The pro-bailout view: Recent Market Commentary From Fidelity Insight on Government Rescue Plan September 29, 2008 The first lesson learned throughout the history of financial crises is that when financial markets simply stop working on their own, the government may be the only backstop available to prevent a systemic financial collapse that jeopardizes the entire economy. http://personal.fidelity.com/misc/framesets/iw.shtml The anti-bailout view: Commentary: Bankruptcy, not bailout, is the right answer By Jeffrey A. Miron So what should the government do? Eliminate those policies that generated the current mess. This means, at a general level, abandoning the goal of home ownership independent of ability to pay. This means, in particular, getting rid of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with policies like the Community Reinvestment Act that pressure banks into subprime lending. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/29/miron.bailout/index.html?iref=mpstoryview Bailout marks Karl Marx's comeback By Martin Masse In his Communist Manifesto, published in 1848, Karl Marx proposed 10 measures to be implemented after the proletariat takes power, with the aim of centralizing all instruments of production in the hands of the state. Proposal Number Five was to bring about the “centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.” http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpcomment/archive/2008/09/29/bailout-marks-karl-marx-s-comeback.aspx Why wasn't the financial Crisis Avoided? In late 2004, Democrats Defended Freddie, Fannie ... while Republicans were asking for more regulation http://election.newsmax.com/bailout_fanniefreddy.html Watch this video on YouTube It's about who tried to prevent this problem and who helped to cause it. (OK. I'll spoil the ending a tell you. McCain tried to fix this mess years ago. Obama helped create it.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxgSubmiGt8 Monday, September 29, 2008
Since I have an MBA, I am interested in how all this happened and how we are going to get out of this crisis. Why Didn't We See This Credit Crisis Coming? This didn't happen overnight. The credit crisis has been building for years. Graphic shows timeline of credit crisis events with banking and mortgage foreclosures data; http://apnews.myway.com/image/20080915/FINANCIAL_MELTDOWN.sff_GFX890_20080915183434.html?date=20080929&docid=D93GC9FG0 Stocks fall sharply ahead of bailout vote There are new restrictions allowing Congress to limit how much of the money goes out the door at once. It also includes caps on pay packages of top executives as well as assurances that the government also would ultimately be reimbursed by the companies for any losses. The Treasury would be permitted to spend $250 billion to buy banks' risky assets, giving them a much-needed necessary cash infusion. There also would be another $100 billion for use at president's discretion and a final $350 billion if Congress signs off on it. http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080929/wall_street.html Let's put this in perspective. What Foreign News sites are saying about how we got in this financial mess: What it costs: $700 billion. Ok, in relation to some other big things it´s not that much. Financial markets help the world produce that much twice a week. And if we assume that the assets the agency buys are worth at least half of what it pays, then it´s not that far from the cost of the latest US farm bill. http://johannorberg.net/ Total cost of the 2008 US Farm Bill In the 2008 farm bill, the current ten-year spending level is approximately $600 billion. http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/wto.info/twninfo20080522.htm The US subsidizes farmers. Now we want to do the same with the financial industry? The Blame Game Blame the bubble on FDR, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton Article in theaustralian.news.com.au As usual everybody blames markets and calls for regulation when there is a financial crisis. But in Dagens Industri today (in Swedish, subscribers only), I remind the readers of some milestones in the pre-history of the crisis: The Financial Mess: How We Got Here By Abraham H. Miller of American Thinker I am not suggesting that the CRA [Community Reinvestment Act] by itself led to the current crisis, but the CRA was the first and most important part of the food chain. The CRA caused the expansion in the number of questionable loans that lending institutions made, but Wall Street and insurance underwriters were all to willing to package these loans, enhance their ratings through convenient exercises in fantasy, sell them, and insure them with reserves that were more inadequate than the incomes of the people who got the loans in the first place.. The best thing that can emerge from the current financial crisis is the realization that the government needs to stop directing economic decision making. In a sense, the government is putting out a fire it started when it both created the CRA and assessed lending institutions by how well they were doing in response to the program. When Clinton decided, in his usual arrogance, that he knew better than the market how banks should lend money, the seeds were sown for the current financial disaster. http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/the_financial_mess_how_we_got.html More information on the Community Reinvestment Act: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act http://www.ffiec.gov/cra/ http://www.policylink.org/EDTK/CRA/Why.html Labels: Credit Crisis bailout Community Reinvestment Act Wednesday, September 24, 2008
How did the economy get in this bad shape? Clinton, Republicans agree to deregulation of US financial system By Martin McLaughlin Nov. 1999 http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/nov1999/bank-n01.shtml It happened the same way with the health insurance problem. Blame Congress for HMOs by Twila Brase http://www.cchconline.org/privacy/hmoart.php3 Wasn't it Will Rogers that said that when Congress tells a joke, it is a law? Scaring Us to Death by Walter Williams Things are not nearly as gloomy as the pundits say. Most of today's economic problems, whether it's energy, health care costs, financial problems, budget deficits or national debt, are caused by policies pursued by the White House and Congress. As my colleague Dr. Thomas Sowell suggested in a recent column, we don't look to arsonists to put out fires that they've created; neither should we look to Congress to solve the problems they've created. http://townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/09/24/scaring_us_to_death What Happened to Market Discipline? by John Stossel Irresponsibility induced by government-created perverse incentives is the culprit. For decades politicians of both parties have relieved big companies of the responsibility that market discipline would have imposed. The promise -- explicit or implicit -- to bail out companies "too big to fail" weakens market discipline. That invites recklessness. We do need protection from reckless businessmen. But there is only one way to provide that: market discipline. That means: no privileges, and no bailouts. Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Quo Vadis, Catholic vote? Jeffery T. Kuhner, Washington Times http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/sep/21/quo-vadis-catholic-vote/ The Catholic bloc is the key swing vote in this year's election that will decide the next president of the United States - and shape our destiny in this watershed moment in history. Catholics must support Sen. John McCain. Both campaigns are courting Catholics vigorously. Catholics constitute America's largest single religious denomination. The church has 47 million adherents - nearly one-quarter of all registered voters. In pivotal battleground states, such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Missouri, they form almost a third of the electorate. Moreover, 41 percent of Catholics are independents. What if the bailout plan doesn't work? Under the current plan, the U.S. government will buy up to $700 billion in assets from private holders on Wall Street. That would help banks stabilize their balance sheets, and in theory provide an incentive for banks to begin extending credit among themselves again — a critical component of a functional financial system. Here’s the good news: If everything goes smoothly, it is even possible that taxpayers will profit from the deal in the long run, as the underlying assets accumulate value over the coming years and the government is able to ultimately sell them back into the market at higher prices than it’s paying now. Of course, it’s also possible that the values will never come back, in which case taxpayers would be on the hook. http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080923/pl_politico/13769 Obama: Bailout likely to delay spending programs By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says he probably would have to delay the spending programs he has called for during his campaign in light of the massive government bailout being proposed for the nation's financial industry. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080923/ap_on_el_pr/obama Does that change how you will vote? If you are voting to line your own pockets, then you have been warned that it won't happen. Campaign promises don't mean a thing after the election is over. Friday, September 19, 2008
Barack Obama's opposition to Born Alive Act Gianna Jessen was aborted. She had been left to die in a Los Angeles hospital. And she had been rescued.The saline solution had burned her body and the long time without oxygen left her with cerebral palsy. Gianna is 31 now. She still sings. She even runs in marathons! And she speaks out on behalf of other children aborted and left to die. She has spoken out in a new ad aimed at presidential candidate Barack Obama. Please watch this video. BornAliveTruth.org Gianna ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anieuWFWe8s and this one: Gianna Jessen of BornAliveTruth.org on Hannity & Colmes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZVf_o1C2nI&feature=related and this one: Jill Stanek, former nurse, on Barack Obama's opposition to Born Alive Act http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=3041755&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,407882,00.html Jill Stanek's web site http://jillstanek.com/ Gianna Jessen's web site http://bornalivetruth.org/ http://www.giannajessen.com/ http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/civil-religion/music/2008/09/gianna-jessen-sings/ Labels: abortion, Barack Obama, Born Alive Act, Election 2008 President, pro-life Monday, September 15, 2008
The US Economy and the Race for President The US Economy and the Race for President My German cousin wrote me about the bankruptcy of the US bank, Lehmann Brothers. He is blaming the war in Iraq. He asked my opinion of the race for president. He said he thinks Sarah Palin is a hick and is inexperienced in foreign affairs compared to Obama and Biden. He says McCain is too old. Since he does not understand how things work in the US, I have to explain things in detail. This is my response to him: The problems in the economy have nothing to do with the conflict in Iraq. Things are much better in Iraq now. The economy is a complex issue. For several years, the banks made it too easy to get a loan for a house. The interest rate set by the Federal Reserve was unusually low. Many people who normally could not afford a house when the rates were higher were able to get a loan. The greedy banks did not make these people prove they could pay the loan, because the bank would sell the loan to other investors. Many investors like to buy mortagages (house loans) because they are usually a safer investment than others.Also, many people bought homes as an investment because the increased demand for homes made the value go up. They would keep the home for only a year, then sell it and keep the profits. This is called "flipping." The loans they took had an adjustable interest rate, which means the rate can go up or down, depending on what the US Treasury charges the bank for the interest. Instead of the rate staying the same or going down as many thought it would, it instead went up. That meant that many people could no longer afford the loan payment and had to sell the home for a loss, if they were able to sell the house at all. Too many ended up losing the house when the bank took the house away from them. So there have been rising mortgage defaults and plunging home values in the U.S due to tight credit markets. When there are more houses being sold than there are buyers, the price of the house goes down. When the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, the economy cools off. It means fewer houses will be built and fewer business investments, which decreases jobs. If people lose their job, they can't make loan payments. The U.S. Treasury earlier this month seized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are agencies that make loans. They are not really owned by the government, but the Treasury took them over to keep them from going bankrupt. This means the taxpayers are going to have to pay for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's negligence. That is why there is a need for stricter financial regulation than before. As for me, the price of a house has no effect. Bob and I paid the whole loan for our house so we own it totally. As long as we don't sell before the economy gets better, we will be OK. We both have good jobs, so only the higher price of gas and food have an impact on us. Financially, we are better off than we were when Clinton was president. There is a mixture of inflation and recession going on. The price of gasoline is going up because of more competition from China for oil and hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico have stopped pumping for oil. The 2005 Hurricane Katrina is still having an effect on this. Also, there are environmentalists that want the price of gas to go up so that Americans will buy less gas. They don't allow drilling for oil in our own country and push for more corn to be turned into gasoline, which makes the price of corn go up. The increase in gas prices to fuel farm machinery and higher corn prices means higher food prices. Usually, in a recession, prices go down and that is not the case this time. Americans are dependent on gasoline to power our cars until an affordable car is on the market that requires less or no gasoline. I hope that will happen very soon. There is talk of a car that is powered by air compression being on the market soon. It is made in India. One can recharge it by plugging it into the household electric socket. It only goes 175 miles before it needs to be recharged, so it will mean that gas stations will have to make available a way to recharge the tanks. If that happens, we can pay less money to the Arabs. That would make our economy much better because we would have more money to spend on other things. Please don't believe what the media says about John McCain and Sarah Palin. They have 10 times more experience that Obama. Sarah Palin is the governor of Alaska. She manages a multi-billion dollar budget. She has cleaned up corruption in the government of her state. She has made it possible to build a natural gas pipeline through the state that will make our energy cheaper. She had to get Canada to agree to let Alaska do this. That takes a lot of work to make another country agree to this. Sarah Palin is the chief commander of the Alaska National Guard. The Alaska National Guard is on duty full-time because it is so close to Russia. They are our first line of defence against attack from Russia. That mean that the US military has to work closely with the Alaska National Guard. She has done a great job in this role. The Alaska National Guard love how Sarah Palin leads them. If Sarah Palin is a hick, then my husband is one too. Bob loves to go deer hunting. Hunting is a big sport in this country. It is necessary to manage the wild animal population. It shows she has courage and is competitive, though she is still very feminine. I admire her for being a mom to 5 children and still able to work a job. Obama was a "community organizer" which means he handed out papers for political candidates door-to-door. He was a state legislator for a few years, but wrote no legislation or got any passed. He got elected Senator because the person who ran against him had to quit the race and then the substitute candidate is a radical. Mostly, people voted for Obama because the politics in Illinois is corrupt and people feel sorry for a Black man. People feel guilty about being so racist against Blacks a long time ago. There was a lot of anger in the country against the conflict in Iraq and so he used that anger to get elected to the Senate, where he also has done no real work. He got there after the conflict started, so he can't be hated for voting in favor of it. It is getting better in Iraq in spite of what he has done to stop it. It would be a disaster to stop fighting now. Obama has never been in charge of any government and never had to balance a state or federal government. He knows nothing about how to fix the economy. He promises people he will give them government benefits that will fill their pockets, but has no way of paying for them because you can only tax people so much before the economy gets worse. That is not what is best for the country in the long run. He says he will tax only the rich, but what he would have to do to pay for all this is tax anyone who is making enough to have a spare dollar. He is almost a socialist or communist. We have never had any candidate for the president that is this extreme about the economy. Obama is a butcher. He voted in favor of letting babies who survived an abortion die by withholding medical care. The legislation would have required doctors to care for a baby after it was born even if the mother wanted it dead. That is infanticide and killing a baby is murder. Obama is a radical extremist when it comes to the abortion issue. He is like Hilter when it comes to respect for human life. We already have a million babies die each year to abortion. Obama would defeat all the effort done in the last 30 years to stop the slaughter of babies. Sarah Palin is to be praised for giving birth to her baby even though she knew it would be disabled. Her baby is the kind of baby Obama would have voted to kill. Sarah Palin is the total opposite of Hilliary Clinton. She wears a skirt and lipstick. She is a real woman and mom. She loves her husband and family. She is in this race to serve, not to be famous or popular. She is not doing this to prove women are as powerful as men. She is more like the ideal American woman than Hilliary. No person has all the experience needed to be president. Yet most of our presidents were governors of states, which is what Sarah is. Being a governor is a better qualification than being a Senator. For example, Ronald Reagan was the Governor of the state of California before he became President and Clinton was the Governor of the state of Arkansas. Governors of states are leaders, not just people who vote on legislation that was written by others. Governors of states have real responsibilies and manage huge budgets. Senators do not. In some ways, she is more qualified than McCain, Obama or Joe Biden. However, McCain has been a Senator for a lot longer than Obama, so he is more qualified than him. McCain will be a much better manager of the economy than Obama. Our country has been through times much worse than now, so I have hope that things will be better soon. What goes up must come down, and when the price goes down, the demand goes up. So what goes down will eventually go up. Our economy has done so much better since Reagan, that people forget how bad it was under Jimmy Carter (another former state governor). Just as Israel was punished for its bad leaders, I fear what will happen if we elect such an incompetent, evil man as B. Hussein Obama. I am praying that the American people will make the right decision. In the news today, polls in 11 battleground states show Obama retains narrow lead as 78 Electoral College votes are still a toss-up. Sarah Palin has made the race for the White House nearly dead-level even. Even my mom, who is a life-long Democrat, says she will not vote for Obama. She is offended that people say McCain is old at 72. She is 86, so 72 is young to her. That is an amazing change. A lot will depend on whether Catholics vote pro-life. The race is really just starting because most people don't pay much attention until the last 2 months of the campaign when the TV ads start. A lot has changed since it started almost 2 years ago. This race is going to be a lot of mud slinging, dirty politics. In other news, I am hoping the Pope's visit to France will make more Catholics go back to church. Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for the United States! Our son, Tim, started college this fall. Our youngest will start next year. I am going to start training as a hospital chaplain on October 9 for 6 months. I will keep my technical writer job, but eventually I want to work as a chaplain. Hospital chaplains minister to the sick. In this way, I would be able to serve God and his Church. God bless, Betty Labels: Election 2008 President, US Economy The US Economy and the Race for President My German cousin wrote me about the bankruptcy of the US bank, Lehmann Brothers. He is blaming the war in Iraq. He asked my opinion of the race for president. He said he thinks Sarah Palin is a hick and is inexperienced in foreign affairs compared to Obama and Biden. He says McCain is too old. This is my response to him: The problems in the economy have nothing to do with the conflict in Iraq. Things are much better in Iraq now. The economy is a complex issue. For several years, the banks made it too easy to get a loan for a house. The interest rate set by the Federal Reserve was unusually low. Many people who normally could not afford a house when the rates were higher were able to get a loan. The greedy banks did not make these people prove they could pay the loan, because the bank would sell the loan to other investors. Many investors like to buy mortagages (house loans) because they are usually a safer investment than others.Also, many people bought homes as an investment because the increased demand for homes made the value go up. They would keep the home for only a year, then sell it and keep the profits. This is called "flipping." The loans they took had an adjustable interest rate, which means the rate can go up or down, depending on what the US Treasury charges the bank for the interest. Instead of the rate staying the same or going down as many thought it would, it instead went up. That meant that many people could no longer afford the loan payment and had to sell the home for a loss, if they were able to sell the house at all. Too many ended up losing the house when the bank took the house away from them. So there have been rising mortgage defaults and plunging home values in the U.S due to tight credit markets. When there are more houses being sold than there are buyers, the price of the house goes down. When the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, the economy cools off. It means fewer houses will be built and fewer business investments, which decreases jobs. If people lose their job, they can't make loan payments. The U.S. Treasury earlier this month seized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are agencies that make loans. They are not really owned by the government, but the Treasury took them over to keep them from going bankrupt. This means the taxpayers are going to have to pay for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's negligence. That is why there is a need for stricter financial regulation than before. As for me, the price of a house has no effect. Bob and I paid the whole loan for our house so we own it totally. As long as we don't sell before the economy gets better, we will be OK. We both have good jobs, so only the higher price of gas and food have an impact on us. Financially, we are better off than we were when Clinton was president. There is a mixture of inflation and recession going on. The price of gasoline is going up because of more competition from China for oil and hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico have stopped pumping for oil. The 2005 Hurricane Katrina is still having an effect on this. Also, there are environmentalists that want the price of gas to go up so that Americans will buy less gas. They don't allow drilling for oil in our own country and push for more corn to be turned into gasoline, which makes the price of corn go up. The increase in gas prices to fuel farm machinery and higher corn prices means higher food prices. Usually, in a recession, prices go down and that is not the case this time. Americans are dependent on gasoline to power our cars until an affordable car is on the market that requires less or no gasoline. I hope that will happen very soon. There is talk of a car that is powered by air compression being on the market soon. It is made in India. One can recharge it by plugging it into the household electric socket. It only goes 175 miles before it needs to be recharged, so it will mean that gas stations will have to make available a way to recharge the tanks. If that happens, we can pay less money to the Arabs. That would make our economy much better because we would have more money to spend on other things. Please don't believe what the media says about John McCain and Sarah Palin. They have 10 times more experience that Obama. Sarah Palin is the governor of Alaska. She manages a multi-billion dollar budget. She has cleaned up corruption in the government of her state. She has made it possible to build a natural gas pipeline through the state that will make our energy cheaper. She had to get Canada to agree to let Alaska do this. That takes a lot of work to make another country agree to this. Sarah Palin is the chief commander of the Alaska National Guard. The Alaska National Guard is on duty full-time because it is so close to Russia. They are our first line of defence against attack from Russia. That mean that the US military has to work closely with the Alaska National Guard. She has done a great job in this role. The Alaska National Guard love how Sarah Palin leads them. If Sarah Palin is a hick, then my husband is one too. Bob loves to go deer hunting. Hunting is a big sport in this country. It is necessary to manage the wild animal population. It shows she has courage and is competitive, though she is still very feminine. I admire her for being a mom to 5 children and still able to work a job. Obama was a "community organizer" which means he handed out papers for political candidates door-to-door. He was a state legislator for a few years, but wrote no legislation or got any passed. He got elected Senator because the person who ran against him had to quit the race and then the substitute candidate is a radical. Mostly, people voted for Obama because the politics in Illinois is corrupt and people feel sorry for a Black man. People feel guilty about being so racist against Blacks a long time ago. There was a lot of anger in the country against the conflict in Iraq and so he used that anger to get elected to the Senate, where he also has done no real work. He got there after the conflict started, so he can't be hated for voting in favor of it. It is getting better in Iraq in spite of what he has done to stop it. It would be a disaster to stop fighting now. Obama has never been in charge of any government and never had to balance a state or federal government. He knows nothing about how to fix the economy. He promises people he will give them government benefits that will fill their pockets, but has no way of paying for them because you can only tax people so much before the economy gets worse. That is not what is best for the country in the long run. He says he will tax only the rich, but what he would have to do to pay for all this is tax anyone who is making enough to have a spare dollar. He is almost a socialist or communist. We have never had any candidate for the president that is this extreme about the economy. Obama is a butcher. He voted in favor of letting babies who survived an abortion die by withholding medical care. The legislation would have required doctors to care for a baby after it was born even if the mother wanted it dead. That is infanticide and killing a baby is murder. Obama is a radical extremist when it comes to the abortion issue. He is like Hilter when it comes to respect for human life. We already have a million babies die each year to abortion. Obama would defeat all the effort done in the last 30 years to stop the slaughter of babies. Sarah Palin is to be praised for giving birth to her baby even though she knew it would be disabled. Her baby is the kind of baby Obama would have voted to kill. Sarah Palin is the total opposite of Hilliary Clinton. She wears a skirt and lipstick. She is a real woman and mom. She loves her husband and family. She is in this race to serve, not to be famous or popular. She is not doing this to prove women are as powerful as men. She is more like the ideal American woman than Hilliary. No person has all the experience needed to be president. Yet most of our presidents were governors of states, which is what Sarah is. Being a governor is a better qualification than being a Senator. For example, Ronald Reagan was the Governor of the state of California before he became President and Clinton was the Governor of the state of Arkansas. Governors of states are leaders, not just people who vote on legislation that was written by others. Governors of states have real responsibilies and manage huge budgets. Senators do not. In some ways, she is more qualified than McCain, Obama or Joe Biden. However, McCain has been a Senator for a lot longer than Obama, so he is more qualified than him. McCain will be a much better manager of the economy than Obama. Our country has been through times much worse than now, so I have hope that things will be better soon. What goes up must come down, and when the price goes down, the demand goes up. So what goes down will eventually go up. Our economy has done so much better since Reagan, that people forget how bad it was under Jimmy Carter (another former state governor). Just as Israel was punished for its bad leaders, I fear what will happen if we elect such an incompetent, evil man as B. Hussein Obama. I am praying that the American people will make the right decision. In the news today, polls in 11 battleground states show Obama retains narrow lead as 78 Electoral College votes are still a toss-up. Sarah Palin has made the race for the White House nearly dead-level even. Even my mom, who is a life-long Democrat, says she will not vote for Obama. She is offended that people say McCain is old at 72. She is 86, so 72 is young to her. That is an amazing change. A lot will depend on whether Catholics vote pro-life. The race is really just starting because most people don't pay much attention until the last 2 months of the campaign when the TV ads start. A lot has changed since it started almost 2 years ago. This race is going to be a lot of mud slinging, dirty politics. In other news, I am hoping the Pope's visit to France will make more Catholics go back to church. Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for the United States! God bless, Betty Labels: US Economy, US president election 2008 |