Schneck on Euthanasia and Medicaid

Schneck on Euthanasia and Medicaid by MSW.  MGB: As a left libertarian, I find the notion that I would support Euthanasia for fiscal reasons insulting.  It may be arguable to relieve actual suffering, but not to evade economic responsibility for the elderly.  Left libertarians, also known as libertarian socialists, would simply find a way for employee-owned firms to provide decent care to those in nursing homes - most likely by having such firms include such facilities as a service to cooperative members.  No where do we believe that the elderly should hurry up and die.  Shame on you for repeating such nonsense.  You obviously don't know much about left-libertarianism.  Perhaps you should read my stuff more and comment on it - as writing about something tends to sharpen ones understanding of it because it forces you to PAY ATTENTION!

Scheiber on Ryan's Drag on The Ticket

Scheiber on Ryan's Drag on The Ticket by MSW.  MGB: This was always the Achilles Heel of the Tea Party.  Also receiving coverage is the proposal in the Ryan budget to block grant and cut Medicaid.  Among these beneficiaries are seniors and Medicaid funds are the difference between a decent nursing home and facilities that are a living Hell.  Once that message gets out, its game over.  Bill Clinton has been the most effective voice on this issue, giving everyone else permission to bring it up.

Sullivan Calls Out Ryan & His Episcopal Defenders

Sullivan Calls Out Ryan & His Episcopal Defenders by MSW.  MGB: Ryan is very clear.  Giving flexibility to the states is supposed to wring out administrative waste so that spending is not really cut, only bureaucracy.  This is, of course, demonstrably false.  On the other hand, giving refundable tax credits to the poor is a valid strategy - indeed, giving them to all families would be a worthy endeavor and very much in line with Catholic teaching.  I somehow doubt either Ryan or Romney would favor such an action, even though Bush and Obama did and do.

Dolan & DiMarzio on Poverty

Dolan & DiMarzio on Poverty by MSW.  MGB: Justice is not optional, neither is it charity, nor is it optional that that public funds be used for this purpose.  The question of how to do so is prudential.  That we do so is not.  That really can't lead to a non-partisan response, given who is running and what they believe in.  The Church has never regarded the payment of taxes to be optional or theft.

RC Vote Breaking To Obama

RC Vote Breaking To Obama by MSW.  MGB: I have always thought it particularly arrogant for the bishops to speak in the name of the Church on politics without first conducting a few listening sessions with the laity for whom they are speaking - and who are perfectly capable of ignoring their political guidance without the least consciousness of sin.  Indeed, the Church as employer should be under the control of the laity, not the clergy.  On the religious freedom argument having to do with contraception, the fact is still that all Church institutions currently provide this coverage if they provide preventative care through third party insurance - and have done so since December 2000.  Any analysis that omits this fact is lying by omission.

Romney's Problem

Romney's Problem MGB: MSW has hit the nail on the head.  Romney has not released any tax plan because the best tax plan he could come up with would cost him votes from the base while not getting him any votes on the right or in the center, again sending him down in flames.  There is a reason Christian Leftist Mike Huckabee sat this one out.  There was never any chance Romney could win and Ann's recent comments on concerns on what winning would do to him prove this out.

A Story No Campaign Wants

A Story No Campaign Wants by MSW.  MGB: The Romney campaign likely has three factions: Romney loyalists, party professionals and Ryan loyalists.  If Romney can't even manage this, he certainly can't be trusted to handle a White House staff, especially in the age of the Patriot Act.  I would foresee something on the order of All the President's Men rather than Game Change.

Cupich on Same-Sex Marriage Referendum

Cupich on Same-Sex Marriage Referendum by MSW.  MGB: The Bishop, as pastor, has reason to be afraid.  In the history of the sacrament, its religious celebration often follows the legal norms.  Note the example of polygamy in the time of the patriarchs and now.  I am sure he fears that Catholic families will demand a religious celebration to compliment the civil one - and that many gay priests will comply, albeit quietly.  He might also fear that more gay men will seek the married life as a legitimate alternative to the priesthood, which will hurt his numbers, or that some will leave the priesthood to acknowledge publicly relationships now taking place in secret.

There is no danger of gender mangling of marriage law, and if there is, it is not the Church's concern.  The Church's bigger concern is that in a rethinking of marriage, it will have to rethink its entire sexual morality, especially with regard to homosexuality - which tarnishes its self-image of having a never changing teaching (which is patently untrue, by the way).  As for the fecundity argument, it is getting tired.  My uncle and his wife married when he was 62 and she 52.  There was no danger of fecundity, yet it was a canonically valid marriage.  Canon law demands functionality, not fecundity.

As for the case of Washington State, the ruling of the 9th Circuit would seem to apply here - that it is a denial of equal protection of the law if a state has domestic partnerships to not call such relationships marriage because the social stigma of not doing so violates the rights of homosexuals.  No referendum should be necessary, as the courts have already spoken (and that will be final if the Supreme Court leaves the Proposition 8 decision in place).

MSW Responds to Paprocki

MSW Responds to Paprocki MGB: Life issues cannot be considered the most important in Presidential and legislative elections because there is simply no bill on the table to extend personhood to the unborn that intelligently deals with the equal protection issues inherent in such a task.  Using what we in economics and public finance call sensitivity analysis, being pro-life has little to do with reducing abortion.  On the other hand, supporting more liberal economic measures - including those which shift more tax credits to the poor (as Milton Freedman recommended - no socialist he) than government programs is a key life issue.  Whether to use refundable tax credits or direct subsidies is a matter of prudential judgment.  The decision whether to use tax and spending policy to do economic justice is not and the bishop and those in his camp risk the fires of Hell for suggesting otherwise.  (The cynical would say that he is bucking for a promotion to Rome by being outrageous - like Burke got).

Conscience of a Conservative

Conscience of a Conservative by MSW.  MGB: I usually comment on Gerson's work when reprinted by the Center for Public Justice in its weekly Capital Commentary.  I will hold off for now, except to say that he has a very cynical formulation to defend doing what is simply right.

Election 2012: Foreign Policy

Election 2012: Foreign Policy by MSW.  MGB: Romney is simply an idiot on foreign policy.  Sadly, he has surrounded himself with cold warriors who want to preserve the defense industry to the greatest extent possible, which is another reason there is so much focus on Iran (as I don't believe it is about revenging the honor of Jimmy Carter in response to the hostage crisis).  As for Latin American, the answer is drug legalization on both sides of the border, which would rob the cartels of their power and the need for violence.  Setting up reasonable boundaries for Afghanistan is a job for Wesley Clark, who has street cred for his work in Bosnia with Muslims.  We simply need to leave.  Overall, we need to gut the military budget and increase space exploration spending so that doing this does not destroy the economy.  There is no need to project American power so far.  Other nation's have naval forces - they do not need us to policy the seas.

Reducing Religion to Ethics

Reducing Religion to Ethics by MSW.  MGB: Morality says an awful lot about one's theology.  If one believes that God is an ogre, one will have a morality that is based on prohibitions rather than on charity.  On the other had, if one has a theology where morality is a gift from God to man to help people live fully human lives, than morality will be based on our human nature, not on some unattainable divine ideal.  To use the modern words of therapy, Weigel's God seems a bit codependent.  In truth, Jesus is gentle and humble of heart.  His yoke is easy and his burden light.  Under such a morality, no one's sexuality is disordered just because the Curia can't see fit to admit error and accept gay marriage and contraception.  There is nothing wrong with passion and pleasure in the marital relationship - regardless of what our sexually immature pastors say.  As for the creed, the reason it exists is because none of it can be demonstrated in the world - it is purely about what we agree to as common belief - however we are in no way qualified to have an opinion on what is really true about the nature of God.  Justice and charity must also be sourced in a sharing of God's love, not in something we are doing because God cannot.  The truth is that we cannot be just or charitable without God's aid.  It is just too hard otherwise.

Today's readings and the Catholic bishops

Today, we have readings from Numbers, the Epistle of James and the Gospel of Matthew.  They are extremely interesting, given the events of the day.

In Numbers, we hear the story of the 72 elders who were taken to the mountain of God, where the Spirit rested upon them and they prophesied.  Two elders who had remained behind prophesied while in the camp.  Bystanders wanted them to be rebuked, but Moses answered that he would rather that the entire people prophesy.

This story is a counter-point to the Gospel story with disciples rebuking someone not of their number who was casting out demons in Jesus' name.  Jesus counters that if someone is doing works in His name, he cannot be against Him.

Both of these accounts point out the anti-authoritarian streak in Christianity, where in the early Church, the Spirit of Prophesy was not just about predicting future events, but was about the purification of the community, in particular when the elders have gone off course.  There is supposed to be room for the people to speak up when the leaders do wrong.

The reading from James, which seems out of place, really is not.  It is about the dangers of wealth.  Indeed, it is likely one of the earliest of such tracts where being rich is specifically condemned.

Also in today's Gospel is the story about how it is better to be cast into the sea with a millstone around ones neck than to lead one of the little children into sin.  This has been used since ancient times to enforce doctrinal conformity, however I believe it has more to do with the life-long problem of the Church in corrupting the young sexually.  Just as the sexual revolution did not invent really good sex, I suspect that the problem of sexual abuse also dates to ancient times, even though the shameful nature of the crime led the Gospel writers to talk around it.  There was no organized doctrine in the first century, but there likely was pederasty, which was rampant in ancient society.

How does this apply to 21st Century Catholicism in the Washington and Arlington diocese?  I am certainly not accusing either of having less than exemplary child protection policies.  As far as anyone knows, both are models for the nation to emulate.

What I am counseling against is their desire that the people in the pews follow a specific political agenda which also serves the interests of the rich and powerful.  A focus on life issues, where as I have said previously there is really no well crafted legislation on the table, at the expense of economic issues, is troubling.  This is especially true with regard to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops sponsoring 40 Days for Life, when it would perhaps be more useful to focus on what St. James says today and work for 40 Days for Economic Justice, which would also serve the cause of life better than anything the National Right to Life Committee has put on the table.

This is why I find this Sunday's readings particularly ironic.

Rotondaro on Income Inequality

Rotondaro on Income Inequality by MSW.  Exactly!

Clark on Entitlements

Clark on Entitlements by MSW.  MGB: She hits the nail on the head on the fact that welfare is justice, not charity, although some conservatives don't seem to know the difference.  Maybe it is because they are guilty of injustice?  How can there be any doubt on whom to vote for, when abortion is being used for smoke and mirrors.  Our choice is clear and its time to make it.

Redistribution & The Parallel Universe at Fox

Redistribution & The Parallel Universe at Fox by MSW.  MGB: The reason that the Fox chattering class and Romney defenders are mentioning this is that they actually believe what Romney said, whether Romney does or not.  They are incapable of differentiating the demands of justice from the opportunity for voluntary charity.  Justice means a living wage regardless of family size for a day of effort.  If the private market does not provide this (which also includes something for retirement) then the public sector must.  All the placards showing unborn fetuses does not detract from the fact that most were sacrificed to Mammon or Baal, or to keep the mother alive or healthy.  If only most of the 47% actually agreed with Obama - sadly, many vote for Romney on issues having nothing to do with their own economic or spiritual interests.

More on New Evangelicals

More on New Evangelicals by MSW.  MGB: Brian is one of the leaders in the Christian Left, from the Protestant side.  Their are Catholics who do this kind of thing too.  Really interesting stuff.

WOW: Ryan the Randian at Full Throttle

WOW: Ryan the Randian at Full Throttle by MSW.  MGB: Randian apologists will put their heads in the sand as they always do or trust George Wegel to point out the pieces of Caritas in Veritate that they can safely ignore as "prudential judgment" even though the central tenant, after and including the resurrection, is the uplifting of the poor.  Heaven is for the unwashed, not the self-reliant.

Robert Christian Takes on Romney

Robert Christian Takes on Romney by MSW.  MGB: The link does not work.  That being said, I am amazed at how some Republican apologists are digging the hole deeper by arguing Romney's point further rather than chalking it up to his speaking to the prejudices of his donors to give him money.  We really don't know what Romney really thinks about anything.

Albacete on Pope's Trip to Lebanon

Albacete on Pope's Trip to Lebanon by MSW.  MGB:  Just because something is consistent is no guarantee that its arguments are sound when compared to the world the rest of us live in.  The Church needs to listen.  Life is messier than doctrine and what the Church preaches on a great many things is not helping.  This Pope needs to focus on the people.  We are not a class back at the University where he used to teach.

More on Reyes Appointment

More on Reyes Appointment by MSW.  MGB: The problem is still that the bishops don't seem to thrive in an atmosphere of intellectual vigor (or rigor in the case of their history on life issues).  Reyes is neither the problem or the solution.

Weigel & Secularism

Weigel & Secularism by MSW.  MGB: The Church succeeds best when it is the object of scorn, as it was in America when it was associated with the plight of its immigrant members.  If it is to survive, it must face some persecution, or like Weigel it will become ignore-able.  As for the Catholic left, most of us include a heavy dose of spirituality in our social justice theology - which MSW would know if he really listened.

Romney and the 47%

Romney and the 47% by MSW.  MGB: Romney's problem is that he learned too well to tailor his speech to his audience and that he assumed confidentiality.  Whether he actually believes what he says is an open question.  That he is too clueless not to get caught says something about his fitness for the Presidency.

Women's Liberation

Women's Liberation by MSW.  MGB: If the Church ordained women as priests and bishops, it would make their argument on life issues much stronger.  If it were more informed on the medical benefits of contraception, the misogynistic origins of its teachings on sexuality within marriage and the fact that contraception is not a life issue, the policy would change - though the Church is not open to that.  Resisting the need for contraception (including Natural Family Planning) on the grounds of freedom from Eugenics and economic liberty and empowerment would be a much better place to come from than sexuality.  Until the Church faces some its own demons on sex and power, the world can be excused for not thinking it is simply trying to hold women in their place when standing for the unborn, even if this is not their intent.  The answer is to ordain women, pay families well and get over itself on sex.  And take a biology class.

Does Romney Think Before Speaking?

Does Romney Think Before Speaking? by MSW.  MGB: Romney is a sock puppet who needs to find better handlers.  This was not a problem of shooting from the hip, it is about having a staff whose first love is to the boss and not the country.  This campaign desperately needs an adult in the room to stop such obvious mistakes from happening - and that adult needs to have the ability to fire people, including long time Romney loyalists, if they continue to show disregard for the facts.  Not only can the media see through such things, but so can the voters.  There is an episode of the West Wing where the staff was having a bad day and Leo sets them right by getting them to see that they all serve at the pleasure of the President - meaning no one is to important on their own or too close to the candidate to be let go. Romney needs to take a lesson.  He can start with Etch-a-Skech guy and whomever is pushing the no apology meme.

WaPo Grand Slam

WaPo Grand Slam by MSW. MGB: I suspect Dana has shown that Congressional Republicans are running away from the ticket as fast as they can.  As for Kathleen Parker, I suspect she is forgetting that part of likability is trust - and we just don't trust Mitt Romney.  I did not find Meyerson to be equivocating.  He is clearly on the side of the teachers.  As a parent  and a PTA president, whose child is made to take a standardized test, I can't help but agree with the teachers on this issue - these tests are a deliberate attack on their teachers because they often have no relationship to the approved curriculum.  Rahm, Duncan and Obama are wrong on this issue.  Ruth Marcus is right in the need for really good questions - especially since Romney is an empty suit or pretending to be because his own base would reject what he really believes.  Such questions would give Obama an opportunity to clarify, but Romney would use them to further obfuscate.

On The Other Hand

On The Other Hand by MSW.  MGB: The argument over moral conformity needs to take into account the reason for morality.  It is not about the life of the Church but the life of the individual soul.  Anything that goes beyond that is hubris, which is what we see from the Curia.  There are no two hands here.

Int'l Religious Liberty

Int'l Religious Liberty by MSW.  MGB: It is bordering on the bizarre that this conference is being held on a morning where reports are coming in of the death of the American Ambassador and attacks on US embassies in reprisal for an insulting film about the Prophet being released by an American pastor.  I'd like to think that religious liberty post Council means that we would be above such reprisals, but our history says otherwise.

Religious liberty essentially means that the group rights of the faithful do not trump the conscience rights of individuals - and that has to include individuals within the faith.  More importantly, the responsibility to obey the teachings of the Church must be seen for our own moral good - not as some act of loyalty to the group.  Indeed, as thinking Catholics, what we sometimes owe the Church is to not be silent when we know her bishops are taking her down the garden path.  The Church still has much to learn from modernity - given the recent events in Philadelphia and Kansas City.  The egotism of certain bishops on doctrinal matters is no more worthy of protection than it is on governance issues and compliance with Dallas norms.  The Spirit of Prophesy demands that we speak out when the Church is wrong.  Indeed, as Ezekiel says, we cannot be silent lest the consequences of the error we refuse to speak against rebound upon us.

Sometimes to love the Church, we must protest against it.  Pandering to the bishops does not help them.

Bp Finn Must Go

Bp Finn Must Go by MSW.  MGB: The problem is not simply their misbehavior in this scandal but the entire status quo which turns the property of the faithful to the personal fiefdom of the bishop.  It is time to convert both management and ownership of all Church property to non-profit corporate models and impose poverty on all of our shepherds.  At the very least, it will keep the wrong kind of people out of the Bishop's Chair.  The prosecutions should be expanded beyond Finn to as many bishops as it takes to get them to turn over the loot they have kept for so long.  This cannot be an isolated case, given the other recent events in Philadelphia.  The bishops listen too much to their lawyers, who serve the bishops rather than the Church as a whole.  As long as the bishops claim to be the Church, in the same way Louis XIV claimed to be the State - such situations will be endemic.   I for one have had enough - but I am not the one who should leave.  While there are those who follow the protestant impulse and do so, I urge those disgusted by the bishops to stay and fight, whether the issue is conscience protection for hierarchs over employees or sexual abuse, the fight is exactly the same.

Judis: Romney a Neo-Con

Judis: Romney a Neo-Con by MSW. MGB: Romney has surrounded himself with the national security experts that his donors told him to surround himself with and is spewing 25 year old cold war aphorisms in an attempt to be the next Reagan.  The time for such non-sense to be anywhere near our foreign policy is long since passed.  Continuing with such an agenda, whether the target by the Communists or the Middle East is much more about preserving defense profits and brass hat jobs than the actual security of the United States.  This crowd must not be allowed to regain power.

Religious Leaders Back Medicaid

Religious Leaders Back Medicaid by MSW.  MGB: Blocking the expansion of Medicaid while at the same time trying to block grant it are the two main reasons why Medicaid itself should be entirely federalized, with the expansion in funding coming from imposing some kind of consumption tax on employers - with an offset for those who provide adequate coverage to employees and retirees.

Remembering 9/11

Remembering 9/11 by MSW.  MGB: Actually, they had access to too many oil wells, and that was the problem.  Bin Laden was part of an entitled minority and his whole efforts was not due to some geopolitical dynamic but his own personal insanity.  Killing him was a bet that this drive to a personal global caliphate would not survive the death of the pretender to such a throne.  Its a bet I am willing to take.

Kansas City bishop's guilty verdict raises national questions

Kansas City bishop's guilty verdict raises national questions  My only question is how many more of these guys do we need to prosecute before they realize their governance model for the Church is bankrupt and its time to put the people back in charge, like in ancient times?

Religion, politics collide at interfaith Notre Dame forum

Religion, politics collide at interfaith Notre Dame forum Sadly, the Catholic bishops tend to listen to the wrong advice when advising people on moral issues in the political realm.  In truth, an issue cannot be considered non-negotiable if there is nothing that can be done about it and the partisans are using it for electoral purposes only.  Abortion is such an issue.  Until a real personhood bill that takes into account all equal protection, criminality and police power concerns and is done in Congress - there really is no issue to be discussed.

Franciscans Call for More Focus on Climate Change

Franciscans Call for More Focus on Climate Change by MSW.  MGB: Will cap and trade, a Republican idea, pass if the House goes Democrat, Obama is re-elected and the Dems keep the Senate and make some gains?   Will carbon stabilize before a real greenhouse is triggered or can we stop short once Greenland again becomes agriculturally productive?  I am still much more concerned about direct toxic pollution, which often impacts the poor, than I am about carbon - and I certainly favor a much more muscular approach involving simply confiscating offending sites and factories, cleaning them up and fining the owners for the cost of the repairs.

More on Dems' Abortion-palooza

More on Dems' Abortion-palooza by MSW.  MGB: There is a lot of ambiguity in thinking on this issue because what it means to be pro-life is largely left vague.  It is harder to demagogue with specifics and there is a double standard in what is pro-life for Democrats and what is pro-life for Republicans.  The movement has less tolerance for anyone not toeing the GOP party line, which is more evidence that this is primarily a fundraising and electoral issue - not one where there is an achievable end point clearly defined - nor is there any serious discussion of such definition.  Most young Catholics grow up on this issue when they hit their mid 20s.

Election 2012: Medicare

Election 2012: Medicare by MSW.  MGB: Premium support may actually work in the context of a system of Medicare for everyone - where Medicare is expanded to the entire population and everyone gets a voucher and is community rated - which was previously proposed by Len Burman in the Virginia Tax Review. http://www.urban.org/publications/1001262.html Medicare is actually a small issue in health care reform.  More importantly is whether the new requirements for community rating and guaranteed issue sink the private insurance market altogether - in which case we will be left with single payer or a public option if they act before the market collapses.  This decision will largely be made by the stock market.  If the market is more risk averse than the uninsured - reform will have to be changed.

More urgent for the election is the proposed Medicaid cuts.  Two-thirds of Medicaid is for seniors in nursing homes and the disabled, although healthier, richer seniors don't like to think about it until they are too sick to vote. Still, the Ryan proposals in this area will affect seniors as a whole much more than anything proposed on Medicare.

Henneberger on "Abortion-Palooza"

Henneberger on "Abortion-Palooza" by MSW.  MGB: The most relevant point is still mine - that this is not a political issue because abortion rights were not granted legislatively.  The Supreme Court said that states simply do not have the power to make abortion law unless the unborn child is a legally recognized person, which it is not under the Constitution (see Article X of Roe).  While the Congress could make it so (no human life amendment is required) under both their sovereign power over citizenship and the enforcement section of the 14th Amendment, they are not likely to do so because of the equal protection problems of granting rights to some embryos in the first trimester and not others (who will inevitably miscarry) and the lack pro-life movement stance that mothers not be held criminally responsible (impossible if the embryo is a legal person).  The Democrats would love a definition of life that starts at assisted viability or at the start of the first trimester, as it would make the issue go away and that would hurt the GOP more than the Dems.  The reason a first trimester ban is never offered is because the exceptions would make enforcement impossible and nothing at all would change.  Until the Pro-Life forces offer a bill that handles all the relevant issues - there is no issue outside of convention speeches, party platforms and ill-advised messages from the Ambo on Pro-life Sunday (which are largely ignored - because there is no bill to support).

Bad News/Good News on Jobs

Bad News/Good News on Jobs by MSW.  MGB: I suspect that a whole lot of recent graduates are going to grad school and gave up looking for work in August.  That drives down both Unemployment and the size of the labor force.  For the future, it is not a bad thing that people are doing this.  Indeed, its a good thing.  My brother in law is going, as is my former house mate, just to name two (and they aren't even recent undergrads).

Obama's Speech

Obama's Speech by MSW.  MGB: The lack of specifics was disappointing, but the best lines were the ones about Romney and Ryan being new to foreign policy and the line cribbed from the movie, The American President ("I am the President.").  He made is point - and because there are not really many undecided voters left who have no opinion on either candidate, it is all about the base.  He nailed it for the base.  Next come the debates - but in reality the electoral vote math was never kind to Romney and nothing has happened to change that.  All this month's job report shows is that lots of recent college graduates are likely in grad school this month.

The Voice Vote in Jerusalem and God

The Voice Vote in Jerusalem and God by MSW.  MGB: They were shouting no because the items lacked discussion in committee.  The Platform Committee should have been reconvened and because of the super majority requirement, a roll call vote held.  The voice vote is impossible to judge, because the audience, visitors and alternates could have been yelling no. Still, it looked bad.  Even though they were restoring a previous plank on Jerusalem, it does not help make the case that Romney is walking all over established U.S. policy when they make a visible change to do the same thing.  The party in power should respect U.S. law - and I say that as a Romany who would like a right of return as well (and acceptance of the Palestinians as fellow Samaritans).

Sr. Simone vs. Sandra Fluke

Sr. Simone vs. Sandra Fluke by MSW.  MGB: The matter of HHS mandates is entirely about publicity - because coverage of contraceptive care has been mandated in all policies offering preventative services has been mandatory for almost 12 years now.  It is a sin of omission to not say so.  Ms. Fluke is paying for her law school benefits - they are not a gift from Georgetown Law Center.  As for Sister Simone, she should have been in prime time, although from what I have seen, she is getting a lot of Internet play - at least on Facebook, and the networks supposedly waited until Clinton started to begin covering the podium rather than their own talking heads - at least until President Clinton came on, so scheduling differently would not have mattered.

Bill's Show in Charlotte

Bill's Show in Charlotte by MSW.  MGB: Clinton effectively demolished the Republican case for removing Obama and did so in such a way that people of conscience cannot vote for Romney without explicitly endorsing hate, partisanship, lying and bad arithmetic.

DNC forum explores: Can you be a Democrat and be pro-life?

DNC forum explores: Can you be a Democrat and be pro-life? They still did not go far enough.  They should have highlighted that abortion is NOT a legislative issue unless the GOP is willing to deal with the equal protection problems of recognizing life in the first trimester having to do with criminality and miscarriage (or agrees to ignore them and compromise at the outset of the second).  Further, enabling pregnancy and adoption is not enough, nor is preserving social services.  One must gaurantee family income (starting by increasing the Child Tax Credit to $500 per month per child per level of government and making it refundable - that means both state and federal credits).  The bishops need to pay such a salary bump, even before such a cut is enacted - and if they don't we should shame them into doing so.

At DNC, Simone Campbell echoes bishops: 'Ryan budget fails moral test'

At DNC, Simone Campbell echoes bishops: 'Ryan budget fails moral test'

Catholic bishop says church's credibility on sexual abuse is 'shredded'

Catholic bishop says church's credibility on sexual abuse is 'shredded' This could be the beginning of the end of a feudalistic ecclesiology.  Time to modernize how the faithful manage their personnel and assets, joining the rest of the world using non-profit corporations rather than making everything the personal property of the bishop.

What is said in the pulpit stays in the pulpit

What is said in the pulpit stays in the pulpit by Nicole Sotelo.  MGB: The lack of respect for employees also extends to hypocrisy on paying a living wage and making a big deal on insurance coverage of contraception, which the Church has been quietly paying for since December 2000.

Morna Murray: Truth Matters

Morna Murray: Truth Matters  reprinted by MSW. Read if you want the facts.

Garnett on Exec Overreach

Garnett on Exec Overreach by MSW.  MGB: The job of the executive is almost undo-able because of the problem of scale and the desire by the White House staff to control everything.  It would be better to have regional vice presidencies and legislative caucuses to handle most domestic affairs, including taxation.  Interestingly, while regional governments can be done inside current constitutional rules, a region specific tax requires an amendment.

Pro-Life Dems make a Splash!

Pro-Life Dems make a Splash! by MSW.  MGB: Adequate socials services are just part of the mix.  We need to argue for adequate incomes and most especially, both Catholic pro-life and Catholic pro-choice politicians need to be honest about the prospects of the various methods set out to ban abortion - and above all stress that there is no "abortion law" that allows it so much as a denial of power to state governments to do anything in the first trimester, and little in the first half of the second and a lot in the third (when abortions are absolutely rare anyway).  Most of all, they should be clear that Roe not only won't be overturned, it should not be - that a human life amendment will never be ratified (much less submitted to the states) and that anything a human life amendment can do, the Congress could do to extend legal recognition to the unborn (only if that is struck down is an amendment necessary).  Most especially, the reason there is no such law is not the pro-choice Democrats, or even the pro-life Democrats, but the National Right to Life Committee - who would lose too much in political power if such a law were passed - and could never get their membership to be fine with the inherent compromises necessary to to equal protection.  For those that disagree with me, show me the bill that deals with the problems of miscarriage and criminality without doing violence to equal protection.

The Dems' First Night

The Dems' First Night by MSW.  MGB: It seems that in the GOP people were positioning themselves for the future and knew Mitt was not part of it.  The Dems are working on the present and have a pretty good feeling that, media reports on the existence of any kind of horse race aside, Obama will win.  The key is, the Dems are encouraging their side to work harder.  Not so on the GOP side, who will mostly try to use propaganda to make their last run.

NYTimes on Valerie Jarrett

NYTimes on Valerie Jarrett by MSW.  MGB: I had heard it was Axelrod that picked the fight, but this makes much more sense.  When I saw the article in the Times at Starbucks over the weekend, I guessed that you would be commenting on it.  The bishops were definitely set up - but they agreed to pay their part by overreacting and ignoring the fact that their insurance policies have been covering contraception, like everyone else's, since December 2000 when the EEOC required them to do so.  While I would have preferred that neither side had decided to create this bit of unnecessary drama over a small issue of co-pays, I can see how it serves the organizational interests of both (not just those of the White House).  I would hope that in a second term, Obama makes good on his promise to deal with the issue of late term abortion, as he promised to do when debating McCain.  A legislative compromise here will go along way to defang the pro-life movement, which relies on demagoguery to exist more than a real agenda for the unborn.  If Valerie worked with the Bishops on this, rather than against them, it will send shivers down the spines of conservative operatives.

WaPo on John Carr

WaPo on John Carr by MSW.  MGB: I had not heard that he would be at CUA after going to Boston.  Good for him, although I would rather he have a more independent position so that he could tell the truth to the bishops that their own staff won't tell them.  They certainly need to listen to the voice of dissent once in a while, since they don't seem to accept it from most of the laity and certainly not from the nuns.

Cohn's Casuistry

Cohn's Casuistry by MSW.  MGB: First, I recommend reading the linked article, especially the last paragraph.  Second: I don't fault Ryan too much, because the speech was likely written for him as part of the overall narrative.  I blame Romney and his rather amateurish staff.  God help us if these people ever get control of the White House in the age of the Patriot Act.  Watergate will look like a walk in the park.

What the Dems Need to Say

What the Dems Need to Say by MSW.  MGB: The Democrats can win ugly in the swing states by playing up the war on women and the fact that in many such states in the industrial Midwest, things have actually improved due to the President's policies.  The whole battle over birth control was indeed a trap and this blog has led the Church straight into it.  If the bishops were better staffed, they would not have let this fight be picked.  Of course, given the fact that the Susan B. Anthony fund lied about how the ACA is an abortion bill, perhaps some dirty tricks are deserved - since that contention is an out and out lie.  If the GOP wants to win on gyno issue, it deserves to lose by them too.  What is sad is that the bishops commitment to workers rights seems to ring hollow when it is the employer.

The fact is that Romney needs to almost sweep the swing states to win this year.  Obama needs only two or three.  The election is basically over unless Romney really out debates Obama, which is not likely.  The convention itself is mainly to rally the troops.

Dear Democratic Catholics

Dear Democratic Catholics by MSW.  MGB: Those Catholics who were uncomfortable with racial justice have long ago left for the Republican Party.  They have not been Democrats for quite some time.

Abortion is an electoral issue, not a governmental issue.  Roe v. Wade took away most of the power state governments have on this issue and that is a good thing.  We need one national policy.  We do not need to repeat the antebellum mistake of abortion states and non-abortion states.  Talk of overturning Roe to allow that to happen is not helpful, because doing so would gut much in the way of equal protection and privacy protection - which although the bishops don't like those things either - the rest of us do.  The idea that the majority can criminalize birth control, adultery or sodomy is anathema to a free society.

There are two ways to extend civil rights to the unborn.  One is by constitutional amendment - which sounds like you are doing something but is really nothing but a bumper sticker because there are too many "pro-choice" states for such an amendment to ever pass.  The other is a federal statute to do so.  Most Democrats would welcome a second trimester ban with life and health objections (with health applying only to those cases where the fetus has not chance of surviving pregnancy), largely because it would end the issue.  A first trimester ban protecting embryos is much more complicated - because it would not simply make abortion a banned medical procedure but homicide.  That sounds good until you consider that it would also make those embryos doomed to miscarry legal persons as well.  Accommodations to exempt such cases from the law would either do violence to equal protection or would make any ban functionally useless.  The reason there is no such law is because in 39 years the brightest minds in the pro-life movement have not figured out how to word them and bring forth a real bill.  Until they do, Catholic politicians and Democratic voters are under no obligation to support it.

Oh, twinning is possible until gastrulation, which means birth control bans are not necessary and the whole Religious Freedom argument comes down to an opinion on the sexual morality of employees - not to life issues.  Zygotes need not be protected. Post-gastrulation embryos can be, morally - but again - the empowerment of the state to do so is problematic.  Do you really want to give society the police power to interview parents who have taken their daughter on vacation to Europe or Canada on the rumor that she was pregnant when she left but no longer is?

The answer is not merely to fund crisis pregnancies - or even to provide more support for Downs families.  It is to support a full on guaranteed income for families so that no child need even be adopted out by a pregnant teen.  Most teens would rather abort than give their children away.  While that is not rational, it does happen. Catholic infertile couples can use IVF like everyone else.  It does not kill embryos, just zygotes that are not yet individual lives.  Catholic family services has been seen by many as legalized kidnapping for a while.  We should do everything to stop that impression.  Entire families should be fostered and Catholic adopters should give up their infant fetish and adopt older kids who have been orphaned.  There are surely plenty of those.

It would actually be quite the challenge to get Catholic Democrats to buy into an economic justice agenda they should support anyway - a living family wage - irregardless of its impact on abortion.  The bishops should buy into that too - and lead by example by paying such a wage.  Until the do, there concern for the unborn rings hollow.  What matters is not purifying the law, but actually having results that reduce abortions, the need for birth control and even the need for Natural Family Planning - which is still a cop-out to the denial by modern society of the right to be as fertile as one is called to be by God, with economics never being a concern.

A new generation of labor priests

A new generation of labor priests and our future bishops.