John Cory is Angry. Waah !

There is a petition making the rounds among the Left; this petition was originally an essay for readersupportednews.com - written by John Cory - entitled I Am Angry. Evidently, the readers of readersupportednews.com were so impressed by this piece of drivel that there was a demand to transform it into a petition for other angry progressives to sign and have forwarded to an unspecified entity in DC.

The essay is filled with cliches, half-truths and leftist paranoia. Addressing everything Cory gets wrong in his rant would be a Herculien task. The essay is nearly 800 words long and while Hercules may have been up to cleaning the King Augeas' stables, there is far too much crap in this essay for me to comment on every turd dropped by Mr.Cory. I'll do what I can.

In his 2nd sentence, Cory writes,
"I'm tired of pundits and know-nothing media gasbags." and then, immediately becomes a pundit and a know-nothing media gasbag.

He goes on,
"I'm tired of snarky 'inside politics' programming." and then proceeds to write the "snarkiest", hate filled tripe I've come across in quite a long time.

He's angry with the "activist conservative Supreme Court". I suppose it's OK when we have an activist Liberal Supreme Court. He's angry with "A Supreme Court that says money is free speech and corporations are persons except when real people try to hold them accountable for their greed and poisonous ways." In the Progressive's world, "live nude girls" and porn are examples of free speech but corporations paying for political ads isn't. He seems blissfully unaware that the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech was meant to apply to political speech above all else.
The courts don't protect real people who "try to hold them [corporations] accountable for their greed and poisonous ways" ? Our courts are overwhelmed by the lawsuits filed against corporations by real people looking to make a fast buck. The words "lawsuit" "McDonald's" "hot coffee" immediately come to mind.

Mr. Cory doesn't approve of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). FISA was introduced by Ted Kennedy in 1977 and signed into law by Jimmy Carter in 1978. "The act was created to provide Judicial and congressional oversight of the government's covert surveillance activities of foreign entities and individuals in the United States, while maintaining the secrecy needed to protect national security."(source)

He's unhappy about our two wars. He doesn't mention that Noble Peace prize winner, Barack Obama has escalated the war in Afghanistan. I guess Progressives only protest wars started by Republicans. Where are the angry protesters storming the White House over Obama's increased use of Predator drones in the Afghan war?

Concerning the Tea Parties, Cory writes,
"When some Tea Party crank says, 'I want my country back,' I respond, 'No madam, you want your country backward.' " He must have thought this was clever. He uses the "country backwards" line more than once. This reminds me of the uproar from the Left over General Petraeus .....calling him General BetrayUs. All they had was a pun. They seem to think a play on words trumps substance.

Mr. Cory writes,

"They champion superstition over science because it entrenches ignorance and bigotry and captures the easily frightened." The Progressives are hardly champions of science. The Left has attempted to stifle any argument which calls into question man-made global warming. Skepticism is good .....unless it contradicts a Liberal's pre-conceived notion. The Left also conveniently ignores the scientific evidence that a human fetus is a human being. They have no qualms over abortion on demand. They push for embryonic stem cell research which destroys human embryos. Experiments involving embryonic stem cells have never brought about any cure or medical treatment - while adult stem cells have.

He goes on,
"Republicans preach the gospel of fear because fear is darkness and darkness covers their theft of civil liberties and Constitutional principles."
Fear is darkness? The Left preaches fear of the "evil corporations" as well as fear and hatred of the "rich". Progressives long for "equality" but their methods for reaching equality would impoverish the "haves" without enriching the "have-nots". If anything, we should be fearful of the Big Government proposed by the Democrats. As has been said, "Any government large enough to give you everything you want is large enough to take away everything you have."

Of course, what would a Progressive rant be without accusing the Republicans of wanting government to "put its hands inside a woman's body." ? The Left would have us believe that the "anti-choicers", as they call the pro-lifers, are simply men who want to keep all women "barefoot and pregnant". The pro-life stance does not come from any desire to restrict a woman's freedom. As Feminists for Life rightly point out, "Women deserve better than abortion". The pro-life point of view comes from our desire to protect all human beings. Mr. Cory believes that "Empathy, compassion and equality are not pejoratives.They are American values proven again and again throughout our history." That is, unless the empathy, compassion and equality is for the unborn.

Like a previous post [A Question for Progressives.] a link to this post will be sent to known Progressives for response. I doubt there will be any. Liberals are afraid of reading anything that conflicts with their limited world-view. This post will go unread by the Liberals who claim to believe in Freedom of Speech while doing everything in their power to stifle it.

No Answer.

Last Thursday, I issued a challenge to an old friend. I wanted to interview him ..... or one of his fellow "Progressives"..... concerning the issue of abortion. Sadly, I have yet to receive any response - either positive or negative - from him. There's certainly been enough time. When no answer came Friday or Saturday, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, thinking he may have been too busy over the weekend to reply.

Now, Monday has arrived without an answer, so I'm assuming that no answer will ever come.

It's impossible to give an explanation for his refusal to discuss this. I can't be certain in this case, but I believe far too many who refer to themselves as Liberals or Progressives do so from some sort of automatic reflex. Far too many people refuse to face the issue of abortion and call themselves "pro-choice"; as long as someone else is making that choice, they can close their eyes to the horrors.

These former hippies, who grew up in the late 60's & early 70's, have closed their minds to the abortion question. They have become the close-minded old fogeys they railed against so long ago. Thankfully, the younger generation is not so closed-minded. The majority of Americans today identify themselves as "pro-life".

There's always hope that the day will come when those growing up today will undo the damage done by the, now aging, "flower children."

A Question for Progressives.

A Catholic blog that I follow, huh, religiously [lesfemmes-thetruth.blogspot.com/] has posted a piece on Kathleen Parker's top notch article nailing Bart Stupak for his "dropping the baby" regarding Federal monies being used to pay for abortions in Obama's health care bill. I can't improve on anything Ms. Parker has to say about Stupak.

Now, Washington Post columnist, E.J. Dionne has come to Stupak's defense. Dionne writes,
"The most vociferous critics of the anti-abortion movement think of it as an exclusively right-wing cause."
That would include me, I suppose.

Dionne goes on to say,
"It [the pro-life movement] includes a large number of pro-life progressives who strongly support government programs to lift up the poor and assist a beleaguered middle class."
I'm afraid I'll have to challenge Dionne on that. I know a few "progressives" (also known as "liberals") and I can't name one who is seriously pro-life. Every progressive I know is unashamedly pro-choice ...(read pro-abortion).

This is a good opportunity for me to issue my own challenge to the progressives I know. I've been thinking about doing this for quite some time and now I believe the time has come. I'll be sending a link to this post to a liberal I know. I'd like to invite him - or someone he might know - to allow me to interview him (or his surrogate) via email, regarding the issue of abortion. I want to publish the interview on this blog. I promise to protect that person's identity. No mad, crazed anti-abortion looney will find you and attack you. Of course, I can't guarantee that folks leaving comments on the blog won't hurt your feelings. (Does Obamacare cover hurt feelings and damaged egos?).

So, Liberals, that's the challenge. I'm willing to discuss other ground rules for the interview. Is it a deal?

The 13th Day.

When I was a child, our family had, in our home, three pieces of religious "art" given to us - I believe - by my paternal grandmother. These three pieces consisted of a large copy of the Last Supper and two paintings laminated (for lack of a better word) onto cedar; one was a portrait of Christ, the other an idealized portrait of the three children of Fatima with the Blessed Mother.

The Last Supper portrait, which hung in our dining room, now hangs in my sister's home. The portrait of Jesus laminated on cedar, which we kept in the living room, has disappeared. The Fatima portrait, which - mostly - hung in the bedroom I shared with one of my brothers, now hangs in my home.

I suppose growing up with the picture of the miracle of Fatima in my bedroom has had some influence on me. I have a connection with that particular miracle more than, say, the miracles at Lourdes or La Salette. As a matter of fact, I was in the process of reading Sister Lucia's memoirs when I learned of her death in February, 2005.

Naturally, when I learned of the release of a new film on the miracle at Fatima - The 13th Day - I knew I wanted to purchase a copy. I wrote of how it came about that I only recently ordered the DVD in an earlier post [Every Little Bit Helps.]. I promised in that post to write a review of the film after it arrived. The DVD arrived yesterday and I watched it last night after work.

I have a vague recollection of having seen the 1952 movie starring Gilbert Roland; anyone expecting The 13th Day to be a similar "Hollywood" version of the events at Fatima will be sadly disappointed. There is something oddly disconcerting about this new film.....I can't quite put my finger on why. The film is shot mostly in Black and White with limited use of color. The events in the film are an accurate account as given by Sister Lucia, but I felt an uneasiness watching these events on film - an uneasiness that I didn't have reading of the same events in Lucia's memoirs.

Don't get me wrong. I believe the film is worth seeing. However, I'm sure that not everyone will think so. Maybe it's just me, but the unending tension in the film can be a bit overwhelming. I know from Lucia's memoirs that her life was difficult during the time of the apparitions, particularly when she and her cousins were kidnapped by government officials and that comes across in the film. This is not, by any means, a "feel good movie".

This may not have been the movie I wanted to see but, it's very possible that it's the movie I needed to see.

Psalm 109

A few months ago, I received an email from someone I know to be no fan of President Obama asking we that we "Pray for Obama" - referencing Psalm 109:8 - "May his days be few; may another take his office."

When I read this, I immediately went to the USCCB website to find the entire 109 psalm online. After reading the psalm, it was clear to me that the person who came up with this email had little or no understanding of the Bible. He,or she, had taken a line out of context in an attempt to be funny or clever in his criticism of Obama. Using the 109th psalm in regards to the President actually has the opposite meaning to that which the email-er had in mind.

A footnote to the psalm shows that:
"[Psalm 109] A lament notable for the length and vehemence of its prayer against evildoers (Psalm 109:6-20); the cry to God (Psalm 109:1) and the complaint (Psalm 109:22-25) are brief in comparison. The psalmist is apparently the victim of a slander campaign, potentially devastating in a society where reputation and honor are paramount. In the emotional perspective of the psalm, there are only two types of people: the wicked and their poor victims. The psalmist is a poor victim (Psalm 108:22, 31) and by that fact a friend of God and enemy of the wicked. The psalmist seeks vindication not on the basis of personal virtue but because of God's promise to protect the poor."

Although no one can accuse me of being a fan of Barack Obama, I saw the use of this psalm as an improper use of scripture.

I had forgotten about this email until I read a link posted by an atheist I know on his Facebook wall. Christian Jihadists Call for Obama's Assassination.
In the article linked to, blogger Jerry Bowles quotes the lines immediately following 109:8 - ["May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.May his children be wandering beggars;may they be driven from their ruined homes."] and claims that this proves that the folks wearing T-shirts with the reference printed on it, are the "American version of the Taliban" who are, in his view, calling for Obama's assassination.

Bowles misses the point. If, by using, psalm 109:8, we can conclude those wearing the T-shirts also believe psalm 109:9-10, then we'd have to conclude that they also believe those portions which would show Obama as a victim of lies and slander. As I said earlier, using 109:8 in this way is to take the line out of context in an attempt to be funny or clever in criticism of Obama. In his ignorance, Bowles blows things out of proportion. He's certainly not the first atheist to do that.

Bowles ends his article this way;
"These are the same people who scream about how Islam is a religion of violence and Christianity is a religion of peace. If there is a hell, you f...ing hypocrites are going to burn in it." (I've cleaned it up a bit).

Does Christianity truly resemble Islam when it comes to violence?

Read these 3 stories:
Pakistani Christian couple refuses to convert: husband is burnt alive, wife raped by police -

Pakistani Christian burned alive to prevent reporting a rape -

Lahore: 12-year-old Christian domestic worker killed by Muslim employer-
then give me examples of Christians treating Muslims in the same manner.