The Classical Virtues of Ronald Reagan
The best political leaders embody the classical virtues of courage, prudence, justice, and wisdom. President Ronald Reagan had all these qualities and in abundance.
Federal judge rules health care law unconstitutional
A federal judge on Monday ruled that the entire health care overhaul is unconstitutional, the most striking blow yet to President Obama’s signature domestic legislation. Vinson ruled that the law’s requirement that nearly all Americans purchase health insurance coverage is not within the legal bounds of Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause.
Obama Doctrine is Failing in the Middle East
The Middle East was meant to be the crowning achievement of the Obama Doctrine. Once in the White House, President Obama focused laser-like on a “charm offensive” with Iran. When voices rose against the regime in Tehran in the wake of a disputed national election, Obama offered virtually no support for the cries for freedom. Nevertheless, the “playing nice initiative” with Tehran fell flat. Today, the regime is more aggressive than ever—backing a terrorist take-over of the government in Lebanon, snubbing Western nuclear negotiators, and promoting an Islamist agenda across the region.
MB: ‘Prepare Egyptians for war with Israel'
A leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt told the Arabic-language Iranian news network Al-Alam on Monday that he would like to see the Egyptian people prepare for war against Israel.
Muslim Brotherhood Gaining Influence in Egypt
The leader of Jordan's powerful Muslim Brotherhood warned Saturday that unrest in Egypt will spread across the Mideast and Arabs will topple leaders allied with the United States.
White House Shuts Out Press Corps
After being shut out of the President’s Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) is appealing to the White House to give the press corps access to an event that’s been called one of the President’s most important foreign policy priorities for almost a year – the signing of the START Treaty. In a letter to Press Sec. Robert Gibbs, the WHCA Board complained about their lack of access to the President throughout the crisis in Egypt and outlined their request to open today’s treaty signing to the White House pool.
Muslim Brotherhood Throws Support to ElBaradei
Egypt’s fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, considered the largest opposition party in Egypt, announced Sunday that it is throwing its support behind Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei’s efforts to form a unity transitional government to succeed Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak.
Regulatory Costs Are Boiling Over
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been ordered to issue job-killing regulations that the agency and industry both agree are faulty and unfeasible. The EPA’s blunder is an object lesson on the costly consequences of reckless rulemaking and regulatory excess. The impending regulations address emissions from industrial boilers and incinerators. Agency officials have projected that the new standards will kill (yes, kill!) between 5,000 and 10,000 jobs—and cost nearly $10 billion to implement. In contrast, an independent study by IHS Global Insight, an economic forecasting firm, determined that 16,000 jobs would be at risk for every $1 billion spent on compliance.
Armed Gangs Free Muslim Extremist From Prison
Gangs of armed men attacked at least four jails across Egypt before dawn Sunday, helping to free hundreds of Muslim militants and thousands of other inmates as police vanished from the streets of Cairo and other cities.
Planned Parenthood offering advice to pimps
Live Action released another undercover expose of Planned Parenthood today, this time at the Perth Amboy, New Jersey clinic. Posing as a pimp and a prostitute, the pair asked the PP manager how best to avoid legal consequences while getting prostitutes as young as 14 and 15 abortions and tests for STDs.
TSA shuts door on private airport screening program
A program that allows airports to replace government screeners with private screeners is being brought to a standstill, just a month after the Transportation Security Administration said it was "neutral" on the program. TSA chief John Pistole said Friday he has decided not to expand the program beyond the current 16 airports, saying he does not see any advantage to it. Though little known, the Screening Partnership Program allowed airports to replace government screeners with private contractors who wear TSA-like uniforms, meet TSA standards and work under TSA oversight. Among the airports that have "opted out" of government screening are San Francisco and Kansas City.
Have American Teachers Moved “To The Left” Of President Obama?
It’s a concept that has become so popular with parents in recent years that presidential candidates can no longer politically afford to reject it. Still the concept of “charter schools” - schools that are publicly funded, yet managed by private sector individuals and organizations -creates market competition for conventional government-run schools and school districts, and the NEA rejects the idea outright. In fact, the NEA publicly denounced President Obama’s “Race To The Top” agenda at their annual convention last July, precisely because the agenda entailed support for charter schools.
Palin a Hit at Safari Club Speech
Rocking the house at the Safari Club International annual convention, Sarah Palin warned Obama was out for their gun rights—and dangles a major hint about 2012.
Obama Threatens Veto on any EPA Limits
The Obama administration Wednesday repeated its threat to veto legislation that would curb its ability to regulate greenhouse gases. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said that the White House continues to oppose any efforts from Capitol Hill to hamstring her agency on climate change.
NYC mayor conducts gun-sale sting in Arizona
Weeks after the shooting in Tucson, sellers at an Arizona gun show allowed undercover investigators hired by New York City to buy semiautomatic pistols even after they said they probably couldn't pass a background check, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday. Bloomberg has authorized similar sting operations around the country as part of a push for tougher federal laws to help keep guns off the streets of New York.
British Airways Employee Assist Terrorist Cell
Bangladeshi national Rajib Karim, a former British Airways employee, is on trial in England for terror-related charges after prosecutors say he plotted with al-Awlaki in 2010 to carry out both cyber and physical attacks against British Airlines passengers, including potentially bringing down a trans-Atlantic flight.
Bastardi: Five Next Winters Could be as Colder
This winter is on track to become the coldest for the nation as a whole since the 1980s or possibly even the late 1910s. According to AccuWeather.com Chief Long Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi, three or four out of the next five winters could be just as cold, if not colder.
Robert Redford: The Hypocrite
Actor Robert Redford is heavily involved in the “Green” movement but does his actions equal his acts?
Study: Marriage Good For Mental & Physical Health
In an editorial published by student BMJ, David and John Gallacher from Cardiff University say that on average married people live longer. They say that women in committed relationships have better mental health, while men in committed relationships have better physical health.
When Fathers Are Absent, Society Feels the Effects
We have a tendency to point our finger at the government when our society tends to become frayed at the edges. We assume it will help solve problems we create. When adult males remove themselves from their offspring and their family, what do they think the results will be? It’s no mystery now, and it won’t be in the next century. Our youth need the love, guidance, discipline and trust of their fathers to grow up in our complex society.
What Popes Have Said About Socialism
"Hideous", "destructive", "wicked", and "perverted" are only some of the adjectives used by the Popes to describe socialism. From Pius IX to Benedict XVI, the popes have thoroughly and consistently condemned socialism.
Shock Investigation: Planned Parenthood Advises ‘Pimp’ on Underage Sex
Trafficking, Secret Abortions for Minors
How many more abortionists and Planned Parenthoods must be exposed before people realize that "choice" is not about the woman or about making abortion rare, safe and legal? It is about MONEY. It disturbs me to think of the Planned Parenthood supporters who will watch this video and still refuse to believe their own eyes and ears. To these people I ask: What more will it take?
Former Pregnant Alaska Teen Writes Check for $10K
44-year-old native Alaskan Brenda Kolerok-Schott of Anchorage walked unannounced into the offices of Catholic Social Services to write a $10,000 check to the organization. It was a deeply personal one for the once pregnant, homeless teenager.
aAdult Stem Cells assist Women w/ Breast Reconstruction
An announcement recently from Japanese universities that they are establishing an institute to use adult stem cells for breast reconstruction is welcome news, recognizing the current uses as well as future potential of adult stem cells for patients. The most common methods of breast reconstruction are silicon injections and fat implants, which pose risks of infection as well as long-term maintenance.
American Missionary Shot in Mexico Dies
A 59-year-old American missionary was shot in the head and killed in northern Mexico, possibly because one of the local drug cartels coveted her heavy-duty pickup truck, authorities said on Thursday. The Davises have spent decades as missionaries in Mexico and owned a home in the state of Nuevo Leon, friends told reporters. They founded a group called the Gospel Proclaimers Missionary Association in Weslaco, Texas.
Mexico: Seek Christ's Love in Order to End Violence
Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City has called on Mexicans to seek out the love and peace of Christ as a response to the terrible wave of violence that has swept the country. “If any word in the gospel is key, it is ‘conversion,’ which is an invitation to change, transformation, the renewal of persons and of the community,” the cardinal added.
Atheist Turned Christian: Explore Your Doubts
Explore your doubts, but do so in peace. God is love, love itself, so keep in mind that a quest to find the truth about God is a quest to find the truth about Love. And it doesn’t take much life experience to know that the way we approach love can be easily tainted by bad experiences and woundedness.
Booming Religious Vocations in Chinese Village
A small village on Silk Road, inhabited by 660 people, of whom 400 are Catholic (about 130 families), has given 14 vocations to the Church in recent years. Here there is never the need to prepare a list for the evenings of Eucharistic Adoration in Holy Week, or in other circumstances, because the church is always full, 24 hours a day.
American Idol Contestant Sings for Daughter
American Idol contestant: I was told to abort my baby, but she’s ‘the best thing that ever happened’. Single mom Paris Tassin appeared on the American Idol audition in Louisiana where she gave a tearful testimony about her decision to bring an unplanned, high risk pregnancy to term.
Gov Carlin Uses Shooting as Liberal Prop
"There was also a real effort to inform," he said, "not just incite voters to support a particular candidate or proposition." Loss of political sensibility was illustrated Jan. 8 when U.S. Rep. Gabriella Giffords, of Arizona, was shot in an assault that killed six people and injured 13, Carlin said. The gunman's motive is unclear, but Carlin said the poisonous environment in which much of politics is conducted endangers public servants. "Democracy cannot survive in an environment in which public officials and their constituents cannot safely engage in honest debate and interact," he said.
Gospel – Lk 2:22-40
22 And after the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord: 23 As it is written in the law of the Lord: Every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord: 24 And to offer a sacrifice, according as it is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons: 25 And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was in him. 26 And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. 27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, 28 He also took him into his arms, and blessed God, and said: 29 Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace; 30 Because my eyes have seen thy salvation, 31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: 32 A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. 33 And his father and mother were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him. 34 And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; 35 And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed. 36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser; she was far advanced in years, and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. 37 And she was a widow until fourscore and four years; who departed not from the temple, by fastings and prayers serving night and day. 38 Now she, at the same hour, coming in, confessed to the Lord; and spoke of him to all that looked for the redemption of Israel. 39 And after they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their city Nazareth. 40 And the child grew, and waxed strong, full of wisdom; and the grace of God was in him.
For Local News:
Editorial: What We Have Here is a Failure of Political Leadership
By Jordan Ballor, The Acton Institute
In yesterday’s edition of the Grand Rapids Press, editorial page editor Ed Golder reflects on the implications of the historically-high levels of government spending, the deficit, and debt.
Most impressively, Golder notes where the government is actually spending money, and it is largely not in the areas of discretionary spending that so many politicians like to talk about. Golder writes,
Neither party is forthrightly honest about what needs to be done. Making the necessary cuts touches on very large and politically sacrosanct programs. About one fifth of federal spending, for instance, is defense. Can we seriously tackle the budget without looking at some prized weapons programs?
And the biggest category of spending, the one growing at the fastest rate, is entitlements – Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and health insurance for children.
We may have to accept the idea that rich people will pay more than poorer people for medical coverage. We will almost certainly, given life expectancies, have to work longer before receiving Social Security benefits.
Reform of defense spending is important. But the real key is entitlement reform. I’ve often thought that one lasting legacy of the Bush era (beyond the wars and the Great Recession) is found in his insistence on bringing to the national discussion the issue of entitlement reform, particularly Social Security. He wasn’t successful, but it did show some principled political courage to make Social Security reform a major policy goal of his administration.
Golder also relates this entertaining little anecdote:
Speaking to the Economic Club of Grand Rapids Monday, financial forecaster Jason Trennert, was asked by an audience member to handicap Washington’s ability to make meaningful headway in tackling the debt. He wryly quoted theologian Augustine of Hippo, who famously quipped, “Lord make me chaste, but not yet.”
In other words: Sure, we’ll reform. Tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s here. Heck, tomorrow may be yesterday at this point.
That’s one other legacy of the Bush era that we are living with, the legacy of the mantra, “Lord, make me thrifty, but not yet.” That goes for the politician as well as for the citizen.
Golder rightly concludes by pointing to the need for leadership on these pressing fiscal issues. We’ve gotten to this place largely because of a lack of political leadership. “Our leaders have to talk frankly about what needs to be done – programs that will be cut, individual sacrifices that will have to be made,” writes Golder.
Instead of statesmen we’ve been electing those who could bring home the most pork for their districts and constituencies, damn the consequences. That needs to change, and it begins in the renewal of leadership in other spheres of social life, including the family, business, charity, education, and so on.
