Thinking is Against the Law

Tags

Catholics, foreign affairs, GOP, labor, labor unions, LGBTQ rights, Libya, Maine, Obama, Wisconsin

I was one of those who believed that the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya was needed. I was and am all too aware of the dangers involved.

As predicted, those of the Right are not satisfied regardless. No matter what President Obama chose to do, it would be wrong and they would shout it out to their base.

Obama said American involvement in any leadership vein, would be short, a matter of days rather than weeks.

It seems he was truthful. Rebels have been able to retake the town of Ajdabiya. Given air support and the taking out of large artillery, they can fight Qaddafi forces and prevail. What is of even more significance is that Qatar and the UAE are both flying jets in the no-fly zone.

It may come to be that once again we have underestimated Barack Obama. I can but imagine that the naysayers those who are GOP presidential hopefuls and others are chewing their hats about now. They pray for failure to enhance their power. That’s the GOP way.

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You may have missed this: Maine’s ReCorpricans are at it. The Guv, has declared that murals which depict Maine’s labor history will be taken down from the State Department of Labor. Additionally, conference rooms long named for labor leaders like Caesar Chavez are being changed, to reflect “pro business” goals. [h/t to Infidel753]

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If you listen to Foxy Noise, or any of the typically wingnut GOP leadership, the power and prestige of the US is at an all time low, due to the “bungling foreign policy” of one Barack H. Obama. Oddly enough, that doesn’t seem to be the way the WORLD thinks of us. A Gallup poll suggests that we have rebounded quite nicely from the abysmal low Chimpy left us in to a respectable level once again. Read it and weep teabuggers. [h/t to Infidel753]

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Guv Walker in Wisconsin has decided to defy a restraining order issued by a Madison judge, and has published the union killing bill anyway, giving rise to the question of whether it goes lawfully into effect or not. Under the Lobsterscope has the story with plenty of links.

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Official Vatican teaching is one thing. American Catholics are quite another. Recent polling by PPPI shows what has been consistent in other polls (Pew for instance) for some time. Namely that Catholics in the US support LGBTQ rights including marriage at a higher rate than any Christian group.

The Progressive Catholic Voice reports that Catholics retain an “underlying social justice” position that prevails over the official teaching of the Church. I of course, applaud this fact. Basically most Catholics I think agree that Magisterial teaching is basic to formation of conscious, but as the writer states here, is not absolutely controlling. Primacy of conscience, long upheld by the Church itself, causes Catholics to weigh the circumstances alongside of doctrine and decide moral issues in light of many factors.

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What’s on the stove? scallops with linguine in a lemon butter sauce, with foccacia and salad.

Related Articles

• Libyan rebels regain besieged city of Ajdabiya (independent.co.uk)
• News From Obama’s Iraq (slog.thestranger.com)
• NOM Denounces Catholic Marriage Poll (joemygod.blogspot.com)
• Surprising Results in Evangelical Poll (whitehouse2012.wordpress.com)

Ready, Set, Go!

Tags

bible, Catholics, Don't ask don't tell, Dream Act, GOP, John McCain, patriarchy, social justice issues, Women's issues

Well, I trust that everyone is busy, being busy, cuz this is sure the time of year when that is required. Even for those who don’t make a big to-do with all the gifting and partying, there is extra busyness forced upon them.

I went grocery shopping today as is my usual practice on the 3rd of the month. The food stores are much busier than usual, and so more patience and smiling is required.

We are expecting our first snow tonight. We are supposed to get in the 1-3 inch range, but you know how reliable that is, and depending on wind, it could be of no import or a lot.

Suffice it to say, I bought for two full weeks but enough extras that I can make it several more weeks if I have to. I don’t expect that, but it’s best to be prepared.

Being prepared here also means getting up enough wood so that Christmas week is not a flurry of trips out to cut, drag, log, split and stack. I mean there should be some relaxation to this time of year.

I have lots of obligatory church masses to make. I’ll do my best, but weather controls all now, and I don’t obsess about it any longer.

I read an uplifting little piece at Vox Nova about the Republicans and how they are not even coming close on Catholic thinking on a number of issues. Unemployment benefits, the Dream Act, and the START treaty are all things that Catholics and many other Christians agree need to be enacted. Republican intransigence on these issues may come back to haunt them.

Roger Ebert has a new post and it’s a lovely one on women, and the patriarchy of the secular world, but also of the Roman Catholic Church. I whole-heartedly agree. Women’s importance has been vastly unrepresented in scripture. What is there has been downplayed. Jesus would not be happy.

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There, now on to politics. Andrew Sullivan has a rant that is well worth your reading. The GOP is simply insane by and large these days, and I do expect and believe that they will pay a terrible and well-deserved price for it in the end. You cannot sail to power on a message of NO. They have zero in the way of detailed legislation on anything.

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The Reaction suggests that John McCain will never support DADT because, essentially the man is a bigot. Well, I conclude that, but they agree that he will never change. If you didn’t see Jon Stewart’s scathing attack on McCain, then do follow the link and hit the link to the video. Stewart says it all. As the Contrarian says, McCain has destroyed himself. His legacy will be as a bigoted homophobe–in other words, this generation’s Strom Thurmond.

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Meanwhile, former Bush officials chortle how they “laid a trap” in pushing through the tax cuts that would be “almost impossible to allow to expire.” They expected that a decade later the Democrats would get stuck and be on the defensive in trying to end them. So far, that seems, sadly to be true. Will they ever wake up?

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Short one today, folks, I’m tired and it’s getting late and snowing. I’m going to hide under the covers!

Related Articles

• The Mystery of John McCain (theatlantic.com)
• Dear John McCain, (patryansblog.com)

Feeling SOOOOO Self-Satisfied

Tags

Catholics, Christianity, DeMitt, Fox Noise, fundamentalism, Glenn Beck, GOP, Iowa, Islam, Media, Obama, teabaggers, tenets of faith, wacko right

It’s 10:00 am and all is wellllllll!

Oh, I’m just sitting here feeling quite self-satisfied. I’ve accomplished a journey-woman’s amount of work today. I’ve made the bed, dressed, coffeed, done morning prayer, prayed a rosary, meditated, swept and vacuumed all the floors, flurried around with the swiffer duster, collected 25 return bottles for the grocery store, filled the pasta kettle with water for dinner, poured new popcorn into its jar, and ate breakfast.

Nothing makes me happier than to sit down before the Window to the World, aka computer, having fought my way through a hearty list of “shoulds.” It’s the way I roll.

I figure there are probably better ways, but it’s the one that works for me. I literally cannot really enjoy anything until I’ve got a provable enumeration of completed tasks.  So sue me. I’ve got my housework for the day done. Do you? *smirk*

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By now you all know the appalling truth that Christians score badly when it comes to knowing even the basics of their faith. Atheists and agnostics score better. Jews and Evangelicals do decently and Mormons next, with Catholics falling badly along with mainstream Protestants. The test, ( I took the 15 question version, scoring 100%) is quite simple really and it’s shocking that average Christians know so little. Ahab at Republic of Gilead has a fine review and a few important things to say about fundamentalists.

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Shocking at it is getting to be, at least some GOPers are not happy with the twit-who-would-be king. Jimmy DeMint. Seems his incestuous relationship with Teabaggers is getting a bit much. DeMint, like his swooning-for idol, Sarah (that woman is an idiot) Palin, is prone to threatening other GOPers who don’t seem quite as crazy as they. Either be with us, or we will bury you! they say, in the best 1st Amendment interpretation they are capable of. Several old line Rethugs have been grousing that DeMint is not being particularly helpful to the GOP cause. It remains to be seen, who will still be standing after the November elections.

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Rolling Stone continues to get the best interviews around. (recall McChrystal’s tell-all that doomed his career).  Obama was recently interviewed. Everyone is all agaga about the threat to the electorate to “wake up” but there was lots of other juicy tidbits collected. Obama noted that the “golden” age of journalism was brief, and most of our history demonstrates a very opinionated press. Fox he says is “wildly” successful in that vein. As to the teabaggers:

There’s no doubt that the infrastructure and the financing of the Tea Party come from some very traditional, very powerful, special-interest lobbies. I don’t think this is a secret. Dick Armey and FreedomWorks, which was one of the first organizational mechanisms to bring Tea Party folks together, are financed by very conservative industries and forces that are opposed to enforcement of environmental laws, that are opposed to an energy policy that would be different than the fossil-fuel-based approach we’ve been taking, that don’t believe in regulations that protect workers from safety violations in the workplace, that want to make sure that we are not regulating the financial industries in ways that we have.

 

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If you like your political commentary a little more gritty and shall we say, colorful? then do stop over and read thump and whip, who profiles a number of teabagger candidates and rulers. A bit salty perhaps, but right on in analysis I’d say. Thanks to tengrain and Crooks and Liars for the H/T.

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Oh boy, it has been days since we had a thing to say about our favorite INSANE Human-pretender, Glenny Beck. I figured you needed a fix. NYTimes Magazine has an interview, and you are going to enjoy it, *bounce* *bounce*. It’s a looooongggg piece so be prepared–get a snack!

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For those of you in the Iowa area, please note that there will be an all-Muslim panel to discuss “What it means to be an American Muslim” sponsored by Stanley Richards Revocable Trust, at Drake Sheslow Auditorium, October 7, at 7pm. Admission is free. (moderator Dr. Mahmoud Hamad of Drake University)

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What’s on the stove? leftovers–or as the Contrarian maintains “your leftovers are better than most people’s firstovers!” today we choose from venison stroganoff and chicken cacciatore, with salad and rolls.

Related Articles

• Dick Armey Tells Those Trusting Teabaggers He Wants To Use Them To Push Legislation (crooksandliars.com)
• Obama Takes on Fox News Again, Calls Its Political Views ‘Destructive’ (politicsdaily.com)

Short Takes on the Day 11/07/08

Tags

Barack Obama, Catholics, chocolate, Democrats, dessert, Election 2008, GOP, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, Neo-cons, pie, Presidency, Sarah Palin, voters

I keep toying with the idea of doing a “How McCain lost” post. And yet I think it’s too near in time to events to be quite ready. In the meantime MYDD has an excellent synopsis of the Palin factor that is worth looking at. It wraps up the choice quite well in my opinion. Take a look and judge for yourself.

Don’t miss the dressing down that Michelle Malkin gives her fellow Rethugs over their nasty drubbing of all things Palin. I mean poor Sarah, who had so much integrity! So much character! Yes, lying is a virtue Michelle and mean spirited race baiting is a clear sign of a good person. It’s fun reading from none other than that flag ship of truth and justice the National Review. Don’t miss the laugh.

Professor at Harvard, Orlando Patterson, in the NYTimes, offers an analysis of Obama’s climb to the Presidency. He places it in the prospective of history, our constitutional mandate, and the rise of minorities. It’s good reading. He cautions that Mr. Obama is not necessarily the Second coming, but a direct result of several earlier events.

Attackerman has a great post on the Neo-Cons and their search for a new “host.” Randy Schuenemann lost his job as chief of McCain’s national security team a week before the election. That they managed to keep this from leaking is a tribute, since they kept very little else inside the campaign. Schuenemann had the gall to choose Palin over McCain and was leaking to the Weekly Standard apparently. It’s all juicy, and does suggest that that the Neo-Cons are ready to descend upon the unknowing Ms. Palin and attempt to use her as they used Dubya to do their bidding. It does require a dim wit and Sarah would appear to fit that bill rather well. American Street has a similar post here.

Mona at The Art of the Possible, talks about the neo-con phenom and how the Republicans cannot get foreign policy right until they purge themselves of the likes of Kristol and Barnes and others of that Foxy ilk. Her analysis relies on Brad R. from Sadly No. You should check out the link and read it. It’s serious and well done.

Joe Lieberman met with Harry Reid yesterday. I’m told that Reid offered Lieberman a sub committee chairmanship and loss of his present Homeland Security Committee chairmanship. He would be allowed to continue caucusing with the Dems. Lieberman turned that down we understand. According to The Washington Independent, word still is that Reid at leans leans to stripping him from his chairmanship. I think it should be done. Endorsing McCain on security issues is one thing. Campaigning, giving an address at the RNC convention, and speaking in favor of Palin and helping to fuel the fires of Obama’s “socialist, Muslim” connections is quite another. Lieberman went way to far and the Dems need to cut him loose.

Episcopal Cafe has a good report on the Catholic vote this year. Roman Catholics for the most part did not buy into the “non-negotiables” of abortion and gay marriage as calling for a McCain vote. They voted their economic interests pretty much as everyone else did. Similarly, there is a nice post by Bishop Gene Robinson on his meeting with Obama.

This seemed quite appropriate:

Downward facing dog?

Hey, its November with Thanksgiving on the way. And so you have all the excuses in the world to make something utterly yummy and caloric. Try Chocolate Cinnamon Cream Pie! Oh, doesn’t it sound good? Check out the recipe at Epicurious.

And that about does it for today! Enjoy!