Birth control and church teaching | National Catholic Reporter

Birth control and church teaching | National Catholic Reporter by Nicholas Collura.  MB: The fact is that the teaching on contraception started out as a teacing on Eugenics - running  counter to the idea that certain people should not be allowed to breed, even if they wanted to.  Paul VI forgot that piece on self-governance, added some of the usual mysogyny about sex that seems to go as much from Marcus Aurelius as any apostle or doctor of the Church and relies on a really bad understanding of embryology - essentially views that would cause a High School Bio teacher to mark the answer wrong.  Resisting attempts to limit the population - especially among brown people - are certainly consistent with Gospels.  Continuing with myogyny do not - especially in Church that refuses to ordain women.

Links for 01/30/15 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 01/30/15 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Jeffrey Sachs' piece is interesting and does reflect MSW's piece, with slighly different reasoning.  I still like what I said on the MSW piece more - that the real solution is to match taxation and debt with currency - meaning go EU wide with all of it.  The proper state of both Germany and Greece is in constituent parts of the EU, with a Hamiltonian debt consolidation leaving no nation superior.



Its sad that the same president of Duke who allowed the Palestinians to confer had to cave before his donors.  I think the difference is that Facebook and other Internet communications can be used to rally a bigger and noisier crowd - often without providing a way for the other side to demonstrate their feelings.  Of course, this is the same North Carolina that took so well to voter suppression over the last few years.  Can you say retrogression?



As to the possibility of Satanists at Trinity College, Satanism is simply more creative atheism.  As long as they behaved themselves, it might be interesting to provide the lesson.  If the voice of prophesy is surpressed in the Church, then God will let it lose among the likes of Daniel Dennett, the late Christopher Hitchens and Marilyn Manson.  Would they rather have them meet in a dorm?  Of course, full blown Satanism or Atheism is less likely at Trinity. Still, they are rather apt at pointing out the flaws of the Church.  Listening may be helpful and humble. Not listening, by the way, is a form of Triumphalism and does not please God.



Rocco's piece on Bishop Coyne is interesting.  He set the table on who Bishop Chris is, because while the bishop talked about things he had done or seen, he didn't talk about himself.  He talked about the Church and they are words everyone should hear.  One wonders if the remark about the young woman saying we mourn our Church might have something to do with the new translation (which went back to pre-Vatican II languaging, just in English).  The fact that we have become captive to certain political debates in service of the well being of one political party in particulare (rather than to the unborn), may also be what we mourn.  Sad. Of course, not even Chris could blog that without getting the attention that the Duke Chaplain got on the call to prayer.

Austerity Foolishness | National Catholic Reporter

Austerity Foolishness | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Greece, because it has the Euro and not its own currency, is not unlike small nations that peg to or use the dollar while being told to cut social services.  Of course, the difference is that Greece and Germany are in the same polity.  What is happening is akin to Kansas cutting taxes and going into a budget spiral, only to have the Federal Reserve raise interest rates on all banks in the state.  Unconscionable.  Greece and Germany should be under the same tax system and have a common debt.  Of course, this does not stop the stupidity of austerity that has ravaged both the EU and England - who self inflicted it by electing the Tories.  Nor did it stop the non-sense in the U.S. with a squester that is preventing growth, which will only come with MORE spending, not less.

Links for 01/29/15 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 01/29/15 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Francis always gives a good homily - its a main way priests are judged.  Good preachers become bishops.  Great preachers become cardinals, etc.  That, in essence, is why faith is not privatized - although in one sense, it must be - both in terms of the reality of the encounter with God and with conscience.



Congressman Ryan is spot on concerning what is wrong with the pro-life movement, although I am sure that getting the women's vote might have something to do with it as well.  Of course, the movement is lucky that Ryan did not come out and say that the movement was an electoral scam with no intention of ever accomplishing its mission.  That would be too bluntly truthful.



Millenium has an iteresting perspective on why the Church is involved with the causes it has been.  Of course, the Civil Rights movement, while the organizations exist, is happily no longer mobilizing like it did (except in Ferugson and sadly, not so much in DC).  The same will occur with Immigration.  Sadly, it is the pro-life movement itself that wishes to go on like it is - rather than win and go home. Indeed, if it was able to do all it said, women would be the ones we would be marching to protect.  Annointing Black and Latino priests was evidence of its solidarity.  What about with women?  Until the Gospel of Life comes from an ordained woman's voice, it is just noise.  Argue that point.



Leave it to Catholic Health and CCUSA to file a brief on the right side of the issue on subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.  Would that the Bishops joined them.  What would the kids at Millenium say about that?  Sadly, this shows why the way the Bishops deal with abortion is faux social justice - I am sure that some of the membership did not want to do anything on this issue that affiliateed themselves with Obama - since nothing is more important to the GOP and its allies than abortion than beating Obama on healthcare.



As for Germany and Greece, Harold gets it right but not far enough.  It should not be a nation to nation transaction - Europe should be one on taxation, debt and currency - or else it will not survive - nor should it. While Germany is reveling in national economic power, such power only exists if its fellow nations, especially in Europe, find its exercise mutually beneficial.  Clearly, Greek voters do not think it is.

In Praise of Conservatism | National Catholic Reporter

In Praise of Conservatism | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Burke is an intersting figure.  He was a working Tory politician - who no one ever mentions was in a party that wanted to back King George on continung the war in America (indeed, had the Tories not lost an election that was a referrendum on the war, it would have resumed and frankly, the Brits would have won).  When I was in college I read a book called Burke's Politics by FA Dryer, although I think the newest definitive work is called The Reactionary Mind by Corey Robin. I truly believe that Sir Edmund would have been kicked out of the Republican Party (though interestingly, not the Whigs) and wouldhave been much more comfortable with Barack Obama than anyone in the House Republican Study Groups - especially Bachmann, King and the rest and he would have blanced at McConnell's intransigence and Palin's stupidity. Like Obama, he would not want the ACA overturned just to give his party a victory (at least I hope not, if so, he would have no principles - as most of the principles in the Act are Conservative).



The Tridentine issue would have meant nothing to Burke, as he was not Catholic - indeed, the Book of Common Prayer of his day looked a lot like the New Order Mass.  It might have been a bit more traditional, but they were roughly equilvalent.  While there are some who missed the Latin and the paegentry, many just missed the speed at which the Latin Mass flew by - I suspect including some priests.  As for its language, the current Mass could have been lifted from the old Roman Rite - which is why some liberal parishes are upset by the term "and with your Spirit" - that being the most noticeable change - although any of us who have an old Tridentine Missal can recognize some of the old language on the translated page.  The new Mass is essentially a reactionary thing as the modern GOP is reactionary.



The modern GOP, on marriage and abortion issues, is also all about propoganda and raising the ire of its faithful - and it will continue to do so until the people it reaches with this message have died off.  Again, they are reactionaries, not conservative (and many don't believe the reactionary message except when it has to do with getting elected again).  Burke would not have approved of these things, nor of the racial tones in oppossing Obama, which play well in Selma and the Hillbilly Riviera (the Florida panhandle).  If you want to read further, see Senator Al Franken's piece on Rush Limbaugh - "Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot."  I suspect Burke would have thought it funny.

Links for 01/28/15 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 01/28/15 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: As for the Mormons, it is good that they are doing basic anti-discrimination.  As for Same Sex Marriage, however, which they dislike, the Courts have already forced it on them - which the Salt Lake Tribune fails to mention - although it is as much a capitve paper of the Church as most diocesan news rags. It is good that the Apostles are now supporting what the Catholic Church already endorses in principle (though is week on practice) - but neither makes the point that moral scorn is not religious speech, it is the equivalent of yelling fire in a theater.  Accepting gay equal rights, including marriage, will soon call for the courage to submit - the fun part will be when gay church members request that their unions be blessed (as well as polygamists - who have never gone away in Utah).  The issue is that many pastors (bishops) and priests will gladly do just that - it is the hierarchy that stops them now



On the fundamentalist who doubt climate change - a little real biblical scholarship reveals that the Noah story was a myth and the promise is assumed to come from God in a story, not in reality.  The same is true of fire and ice in second Peter.  Indeed, the evidence for man-made global warming is stronger than the evidence for the reality of Genesis (including the story of Abraham).



Nice verse for St. Thomas' feast.  My father took Thomas as his confirmation based on his writings - although much, if not all, that Aquinas said in the areas of sex and biology turned out to be wrong - although his not attaching a full ensoulment to the blastocyst should be more vexing to the Humane Vitae supporters - and probably is - though they won't admit it.  I wonder what Thomas would do if given the knowledge of gastrulaion.  I would hope the same thing I have.  For my Confirmation, my father urged me to take St. Thomas (he did not explain that he had).  I thought he meant Thomas (Juda Bar Jonah) the Apostle, who doubted - I should have taken it, as Thomas is the patron saint of the Romany, who  converted us in India.

Contra Tim Busch | National Catholic Reporter

Contra Tim Busch | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The quandry of Tim Busch is interesting, but not to Tim Busch - who writes triumphantly on how is particular brand of ideology - where establishment campitalism and the free market really don't need to be distinguished and who exist in the warm cocoon of Catholic morality.  Sounds to me like he prefers that kind of morality that most of us on the Christian Left would call authoritarian - which is what Capitalism is as well.  Of course, because the Dean is likely an organization man (remember the term), he would not dream of turning back the money at this late stage.  I would only hope that some scholar at CUA (one with tenure and certainly not George Weigel - who buys into Busch's ideology hook, line and sinker and probably angeled the grant) does say something about the need for more collectivism, more unionism and eventually more employee ownership that eases the plutocratic capitalists out of control.  Sadly, I see no one who will do that at CUA, not even MSW. While it would be lovely if Pope Francis looked into and denounced this all - I suspect he has bigger fish to fry than a could of plutocrats funding what is self-described as the premier Catholic University in America (Georgetown may argue - both academcially and athletically with good effect).

Links for 01/27/15 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 01/27/15 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Politico ran a story about the Koch brothers using almost a billion dollars for the next election cycle.  Dog bites man.  The Holy Father did a homily to his housemates about submitting to God's will - which hopefully every pastor gave given tht Gospel - that and someone left the toilet seats down (just kidding).  Interestingly, that is also the theme of most teachings at the Mosque (Islam means submission - of Obama talked about submission the right wing would freak).  The report of the Empowerment Project AFJN is online - as is their donate button if supporting Africa is something you do financially.



Noted Neocon, Peter Berkowitz (and yes, MSW, that is exactly what he is and you should look in a mirror) writes about free expression issues on campus.  The nineties are coming back with the whole speech codes debate. That he is riffing off of the murders in Paris is shameful, given that this has nothing to do with what happened at the University of Chicago. (sounds like a conservative protection program). Most libertarians would say that you get the free speech you buy as a student, since you bring our tuition and aid dollars to the party yourself.  Where I want to see free speech is at work - although since they are buying my speech they reserve the right to not use it anymore.  Employee ownership would solve that problem.

Weigel's 'To See Things as They Are' | National Catholic Reporter

Weigel's 'To See Things as They Are' | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: A few points, I am doubtful about whether Weigel is a neoconservative - for neoconservatives are folks who are otherwise liberal who support Israel and all the militarism that this implies.  If Jesus were here now, he would be standing with the Samaritans - i.e., the Palestinians, which include both the Samaritans and his family's surviving members.  As for Evangelical Catholicism, I still think this is a gambit to make nice with the Christian Right Evangelicals.  Since they are Calvinists economically, that is a bad idea.  Consumerism, by the way, is a safety valve for capitalism - and the percentage of the economy in consumption cannot be sustained. It is too low.  The other items in GDP are government purchases (excluding transfer payments) and investments.  Unless one is a supply sider or a socialist, there is nothing wrong with consumption in its current range.



This essay seems to pander to Weigel's funders or the funders of those who read his column.  That must include the Koch brothers, so this attack is stealthy.  The subtext has to be the coming encyclical on the environment - and Weigel, like most Koch apologists, fails to mention that the Pope is a head of state as well as Vicar of Christ.  Unless he is suggesting that this bit change, it is not Weigel's place to delegitimize his role on the Environment.  As for the bishops, they love this stuff - because they want aborton to be the number one issue - even though nothing can really be done about it except urging Catholics to vote Republican.  That is the true nature of the movement and the scandal is that the bishops are so deeply involved in a fraud.

Links for 01/26/15 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 01/26/15 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: I like where E.J. declares victory on gay marriage and acknowledges the status quo in items on abortion - but also the change for Republican women.  Sadly, however, no columnist or politician has clearly laid out that the fight to overturn Roe v. Wade is a red herring - whose purpose is fundraising and to distract the working class of the Republican Party with, what is the term, intrinsic evils (sounds like Carl Rove) so that they don't notice that Capitalism is screwing them.  Immigration is the new homphobia.



I commented on the Nuncio remarks.  He seems like he does not like his post in the Ukraine.  Pity, as he could do much good there in bring in piece.  I suspect that instead he will be posted to Malta, not the country, the order.  Burke needs a flunkee.



The Archbishop of Chicago has interesting remarks that I agree with - however in reality he is baptizing historicism - but that is not bad.  The truth is that the understanding of the truth changes with our languages.  That this is part of God's plan kind of puts Benedict's fears of the tyranny of relativism to rest.

MSW Responds to Professor George | National Catholic Reporter

MSW Responds to Professor George | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: On the Church and the Blastocyst, let us get our terms straight - one is only an embryo after gastrulation - and embryos are worthy of protection.  The same protection is not owed to blastocysts - and I don't know that any woman uses contraception lightly - its a serious thing - which is why it should be left to the women, not the Church (which, I keep yelling from the housetops, is wrong.  Period - and before Evangelicum Vitae, it was not entirely wrong.  Earlier, when the right of the disabled to not be sterilized was proclaimed (and nothing else) the Church was absolutely right - and still is when it rejects eugenics of the mentally disabled or the poor in developing countries.



As to warming.  It is a scientific question.  What are not scientific questions, however, are whether the science opposed to warming is bought and paid for by the Koch brothers or arises from independent research.  Everyone will agree, of course, that when people are hurt by warming - especially flooding - we must help them, mostly without regard to cost.  The sticky point comes when we address the degree to which capitalism is involved in keeping people poor or in harms way - or in doing those things, like burn coal, that are probably making things worse.  The burning of coal is not so much the problem as the capitalist motivation of it all.  And that is where the Pope's writing will pack the biggest punch - one which right wing Catholic writers, like Robbie George, may be quite fluxomend by.

Nuncio Disses Pope | National Catholic Reporter

Nuncio Disses Pope | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: All I have to ask is this,Thomas who?  Seriously, does anyone care about the opinons of an apparent American in Ukraine?  While I think the Vatican Secreatariat of State should cut the fool loose, that may only mean that some Archdiocese is stuck with him - and there is no justice in that either.  Still, I seriously doubt he is of any use either in defusing the Ukrainian crisis, as I suspect he has no love for the President either.  Pity that Malta is already taken.

Links for 01/23/15 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 01/23/15 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The Pope's call to confession is the same one that any priest puts in his homily at this time of year, as Lent approaches. It matches the Gospel of the day and is hardly new doctrine.



As for Mollie Hemingway, the fact that she writes for the Federalist demonstrates her views are skewed and reading them is doubly proof. The 20 week ban has nothing to do with viability - that is 24 or higher (24 year old neonates will have a lifetime of issues). The 20 week ban comes from ultrasound findings that show this age has a response to stimuli - and most doctors consider this to be a reaction rather than suffering pain. As for the strength of the GOP leadership, I suspect that they were responding to funders who did not want a win here - as this would essentially settle the issue for now (although not in the right way). The grass roots may have lost but the people who profit from the issue won big - which no one at Federalist will ever admit.



As for Joni Ernst, no farm family can ignore subsidies unless their entire purpose is a family garden. No hypocracy there at all. My family in that part of Iowa has likely received much more than she.

The Mideast Mess | National Catholic Reporter

The Mideast Mess | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The resignation of the Yemeni government over peace talks actually clears the air.  We now know why AQAP has been given free reign in their wastelands. Hopefully they can resolve this, but a stubborn AQAP political class invites increased bombinb, not by drones but by B-52s.  Call it the Nixonian strategy for peace - and yes, it did work.



My sympathies to the Saudi Royals, who quickly had a crown prince ready and able to carry on the regime.  They are firmly in the grip of the Wahabi faith and as long as that happens, the floggings, beheadings and support for ISIL and al Queda will continue.  I have no objection to the bombings in ISIL territory, but another place for some Nixonian diplomacy is with the House of Saud.  One bombing run should do it - and that is the one that is designed not to kill anyone. While Saudi is our friend, sometimes with friends like this, who needs enemies?  I think when they can sell us oil, friendship abounds - not so much in how they sponsor their version of Islam.



As to  the Cheneys, the Bushes are as friendly to the Saud family as they are.  Maybe more so.



Netanyahu is another of our friends who say they like our ideology unless it is inconvenient for him, which seems to alwys be the case with the Palestinian question.  Iran, however, is a red herring.  Any nuclear attack on Israel will kill as many Muslims as Jews (and some of those Muslims are actually ethnically Samaritan) - and that is before you count nearby nations and the fact that Iran is downwind of Israel.  Any nuclear action would be the ultimate suicde bombing and the new President is not that stupid, nor are the Iranian nuclear scientists.  Bibi has to know this, so all of these comments are for  public consumption.  The speech will have not impact - as only really intense partisans will watch it on C-SPAN. What is a lingering question is the choice between aparthied and something worse - and in Gaza worse seems to be the answer. As for Boehner, no one will remember his part in this.



To be President, one must be an optimist (and a little bit ignorant of how much time you will spend on the Middle East - and you certainly cannot campaign on a reasonable position).  There are solutions, such as a larger Pan Arab state under the Hashemite Dynasty - under a constitional monarchy.  Israel is solvable too if you realize that there was no large migration into it by the Palestinians - they were Samaritan Christians before the Muslim Conquest.  Realizing that fact ends the question of ethnicity - since the Samaritans are of the same ethnicity as the Jews - probably more so because they did not mix with Europeans.  The real problem is religion.  If Israel was really true to its claim of being a western style democracy, that should not be a problem, save for their American enablers in the Evangelical community.

Links for 01/22/15 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 01/22/15 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Not really news that Jindal and Huckabee are both running for the GOP nomination and appealing to its evangelical base, which is why Bobby is calling himself and Evangalical Catholic.  Frankly, I like Grits and Gravy - and love Barbeque - though I don't think that Huck can escape his Christian Left governing history - I wish he would quit trying to.  Putin is an idiot and his stock goes up by looking like an idiot (at least with himself).  I would rather New York go for Catholic Charter Schools than tax credits, but I can see why the Cardinal wants it the other way.  Cuomo is willing to appease since he has his eyes on the White Houe as well and has his Almost Homemade problem.  I like her better than her show.

March (and More) for Life | National Catholic Reporter

March (and More) for Life | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: As I have said before, the March for Life is ill-timed, because it focuses on Roe v. Wade and its repeal - something that won't happen ever - as doing so would overturn all the equal protection law passed in his wake.  While many right wing bishops would love to get rid of gay marriage, legal sodomy and a variety of other things, while many Republicans would also stop counting Latinos as a protected class - doing any of that would be a disaster for liberty and charity.  The reason both sides have dug in is because the controversy is great for raising money on each side, both for staffs and campaigns.  No one wants to end that.  This is why I say the issue is a fraud - one that the USCCB should step away from.  If you want to shake things up - do that.  Withdraw from the March and leave the school kids at home until the pro-life side is ready to deal.



It was a pity that the Cardinal did not have a copy of the State of the Union Address when he wrote is speech.  Imagine the howls from the right if he had endorsed Obama's tax plan, which is what scripture demands, actually.  Acting like this all the time would change the nature of the movement.  It is not enough to scold the pro-business Republicans (is there any other kind?) once a year.  It should be a constant focus.  Let beatings commence until morale improves!



The pro-choice side needs to act like this message on economics is welcome - at least meet the Church half way.  Indeed, Obama himself endorsed a more robust protection of late term pregnancies in his second debate with McCain.  I am sure both sides said no thanks. This is the time for Obama to bo harder. It is not actually hard to find a total comrpomise on abortion - first trimester embryos probably cannot be saved by making them persons, because first trimester miscarriages would receive the same protection in law - and this would be difficult - especially for those families who have miscarried who face an interview with law enforcement (its already been suggested by the pro-life side).



After the first trimester, the problems multiply, because usually abortions at this point have a medical reason - althugh sometimes not a good one.  Of couse, if we want to save Downs Syndrome babies, we need to give the parents and the children a lot of free help - and by that I mean lifelong help (we should help all of the disabled as much). I dout the right wing is willing to do that - or to double down on Obama's call for a higher Child Tax Credit ($1,000 a month per child seems like the right level to me - so this is a double-double).



The Church also needs to ease up on its protection of every pregnancy.  A pregnancy that is doomed to end before live birth due to defects is better ended as early as possible for the health, if not the life, of the mother.  The moral standard for juding this issue is not the innocence of the child, but the danger to the mother.  Until that is realized, the Church has no place in the debate over late term abortion - even within the Church.



There is the whole sex thing too.  Pro-lifers, when challenged about the money thing go back to sexual responsibility and personal financial responsiblity. Sadly, the Church often encourages the former and does little to condemn the latter (one homily a year - anything more hurts donations to the Lenten Appeal).  Indeed, condemning teenage and collegiate sex leads young women and their parents to cover it up with an abortion. If you doubt that, survey a Catholic high school anonymously. We parents seem to be part of the problem here.  Encourage marriage instead - even the non-canonical kind - and provide for young families (fathers included) who seek an education - and not just through high school. Concerned that a sex plan will be used to pay for college?  Then find another way so that all youth, especially youth with children, can go.



Right now, its cool to celibate when you go to the March for Life.  Indeed, the sign at this year's March says that this view is generational.  This is usually only the case until virginity is lost, usually well in advance of marriage.  Men learn tolerance real quick about their partner's reproductive issues.  These young Republicans start thinking that the Demorcats have something to say after all - which is why some change is inevitable once the older marchers die off and end their role in the GOP nomination process.  Something might change, but not this year.  Not in time for Obama to get his tax bill through.



Where does that leave us? About where we are now in terms of abortion (unless aid to families increases).  I suspect that this is why the fundraisers for both sides care little about actually ending abortion.  The most they could do is not so different from the status quo, at least on the legal side.  Pity that.

Links for 01/21/14 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 01/21/14 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Interesting links for, well, yesterday.  There are photos for the Battle of the Bulge, where Patton had to rescue forces that had gone too far anyway.  Oops.  The death rate at this meat grinder shows the how gross war is, even if it is necessary.



We are reminded that the March for Life is today - with Democrats for Life providing an option for liberals on everything but abortion rights.  As I have written in previous year, this event should be ended - for the movement, not the left's sake, because it keeps alive the meme that Roe can or should ever be overturned.  It won't happen and that focus keeps the movement right where the GOP wants it, as a tool to raise volunteers and money while doing nothing.



Ben Wittes, writing at Lawfare, is wrong.  The GITMO debate and how the prisoners are treated should center on international law.  These people are prisoners of war. While it could have been argued that the war was over once the occupation began, it is certainly over now.  It is not even a matter for US law.  Except for those involved in September 11th, everyone should be sent home - its what you do when your forces pull out of active engagement and Congress has no authority to stop it.  Indeed, Bush should probably be tried for not honoring the Geneva conventions on these "detainees" who are either POWs or kidnap victims.  At least Obama is allowing the Red Cross in.



Holt v. Hobbs came off as planned.  Alito's decision, while on the same vein as his writing in Hobby Lobby, shows tha the issues are different in the case but the law is the same.  He may become the go to guy for religious freedom issues in the future.  Interesting. Of course, there are a few lawyers I know who, had they been appointed, would have been equally great on this issue - whether they followed the same line or not - and you know who you are and are invited to comment on my page.

Obama's SOTU | National Catholic Reporter

Obama's SOTU | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: As a member of the working poor, without a digital converter on my TV (they are no longer $7), I was otherwise engaged selling tickets to American Sniper, et al when the speech came off.  I am not sure I would have listened anyway.  These things are now mostly political theater, especially when the President and Congress are of different parties.  This is mostly PR.  The best of these addresses, however, was the one hour talk that Bill Clinton gave without the teleprompter - because it had gone down.  Its the best speech we have ever seen.



The Middle Class is a nice theme, and Jim Webb's comments show he is positioning himself as at one time being the class warrior in the 2016 Presidential race who does not use the word class.  Sadly, talk of class warfare missed the lingering problem of people whose mortgages exceed the value of their homes.  This is one thing he could do by working with Fed Chair Yellen - but the issue did not come up.  It would have been nice to focus on the working class a bit more - if so they might actually come out and vote - there is little problem gettng the middle class to the polls.  Maybe if he were the socialist the GOP accuses him of being, it would be easier to do so.



ISIL, which is a varient of what they call themselves - the L is for the Levant, has Obama trying to do what worked in Libya.  Use American air power and let others put boots on the ground.  It might actually work - and I suspect his reference to American leadership refers to the almost automatic role American generals have in commanding any joint operation - even if it is behind the scenes.  The attempts to go after ISIL money are interesting, but I suspect the President was talking about the Wahabi money from Saudi Arabia, although it is impolitic to mention these things directly - it certainly got Sen. Kerry no love by doing so.



Immigration is the great failure of the last term of Congress - not because it did not pass - it was never going to - Tysons Chicken et al want their low wage slaves (not an exageration) and both parties ove the Food, Inc. money (indeed, when it looked like a plan was going to pass in 2010 the Anchor Baby issue came up to really poison the well).  This is yet another instance where strategy had political optics turmp progress - just like the failure to get a tax bill passed in the first part of Obama's first term.  This backfired when Massachusetts sent Scott Brown, the naked Republican, to the Senate.  It took 2013 in the waning days of the first term to get the promised tax legislation passed.  This time, instead of having the Senate propose a really good immigration law that could not be passed, it was loaded with compromise punitive language in hopes of embarrassing the GOP for not passing it.  The sound of crickets at Latino precincts shows exactly how that worked. Schmoozing instead of golf would not have helped - indeed, no one says no to golf with the POTUS, as long as the folks back home don't find out.  Duh! so much for for that personal touch.



Abortion is interesting.  His dig at the movement was justified - this unspeakably pro-choice President has indeed lowered the abortion rate - however going higher on the Child Tax Credit - much higher than he proposed, could have used a mention.  Missing was any talk of a compromise on late term abortion (which would have really riled NARAL Pro-Choice America (a term worthy of Karl Rove)) which would amend the Partial Birth Abortion Law to time limit it while including other forms of abortion, some that are actually more grissley than those prohibited by the Law.  He made a promise in the 2008 debates that he so far has not kept - although I suspect the GOP does not really care, since the law was designed not to be enforced but to give the Pro-Life movement a shot at overturning Roe yet again - putting their hopes on Roberts and Alito - who proved to be in the Kennedy-O'Connor wing, not the Scalia wing on abortion.



This may have been the last major State of the Union for Obama.  Next year the speech will occur in the shadow of the Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire Primary.  I expect something very rote, designed not to rain on Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton's parade (both of whom I met the night that Obama announced his candidacy in Illinois - and if Obama had followed Biden's advice - which I gave him - ISIL would not be a threat).  The next on, in 2017, may not even happen - the tradition being to give the new President the floor soon after the inauguration in a speech that is not technically the SOTU, but does get everyone's attention. (I think the required speech is actually delivered in writing unless he uses it as a farewell address).



This was the last hurrah.  From what I hear, it was worth the price of admission. I did not see the speech in order to write this column.  It does not  appear that MSW needed to either.  The memes are a bit familiar.  Looking at the pictures is interesting, however. Obama is significantly greyer this year.  The office is aging him, as expected.  It means he is not phoning it in from the Andrews AFB 19th Hole.

Links for 1/20/15 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 1/20/15 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: It seems that Fr. Z misses John Paul II and his insistence on giving Communion on the tongue.  Z needs to grow up.  More important is the work of the Chaldean Church in the U.S. - mostly because of its service to Chaldean Catholic refugees from Iraq (and now Syria) - see the link, which pulls no punches on the effects of our optional war.  Bobby Jindahl seems to have stepped in it again by toeing the GOP line at a State of the Union address.  Poor guy can't catch a break.  I wonder if he was set up by the powers that be at the GOP?

Remembering Rev. King | National Catholic Reporter

Remembering Rev. King | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Milton Friedman once pointed out that segregation was allowed to end when automated cotton harvesting machines were invented.  That is not far from the truth.  Dr. King and company helped society make an exit from a system that had outlived its usefulness - yet some clinged go for reasons of personal animus - and it seems they still do in the policing world and in the world of Presidential politics.  Using the criinal justice system to force labor from black men at a low wage is as old as the 13th Amendmentt.  The drug laws, which send whites to rehab and blacks to prison is another example of this - thanks to Jesse Helmes.



The economic policies that are meant to stop dependence simply made many people hungy - including many who are not black - thank you Bill Clinton.  Those neighborhood where sufferng has increased are less likely to work with the police in making the neighborhood better becaue they don't trust the police - and for good reasons - showing that the economic blight is related to police racsim.



While the Church was integral to the civil rights movement - lately it is hardly a friend to Obama and was not exactly a paragon of courage when the issue of segregated Communion rails came up.  Indeed, some of the current hiearchy seems to be in the forefront of those who would oppose this President, largely for political purposes while hiding behind concern for the unborn.  Needs work.



Before Ferguson, many of us said that the last great challenge of the Civil Rights movement was full freedom for Washington, DC (which is also an example of how some black neighborhoods thrive and others remain in poverty).  In the movement here, the Black Church is crucial - following King's legacy of mixing preaching the Gospel and seeking justice.  One leading pastor in the movement, Rev. Walter Fauntroy tells of how he an Marion Barry were setting up a headquarters for Dr. King at 14th and U Street where the McDonalds is now.  Dr. King's next stop was that office and he was going to dig in his heels to free DC.  We all know what happened next, leading many of us to believe that DC was a bridge to far for the establishment.  Sadly, commemorations seem to center around small acts of justice and annual eulogies and not around finishing his work.  Free DC!

Links for 1/19/15 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 1/19/15 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: E.J is right on the new views on Reagan (who got it wrong).  Summers is right now on deflation - and was wrong on fixing it when he was with Obama - he should have pushed for mortgage forgiveness. He is correct, however, on the need for better income distribution. Sadly, he does not talk about poverty.  Meanwhile, in the MLK Mass, Cardinal Wuerl's homily echoed the message that black lives matter.  Excellent.

Francis just finished the most exciting week of his papacy | National Catholic Reporter

Francis just finished the most exciting week of his papacy | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The comment about being the beggar is interesting - because it shows what is reqired for solidarity to be real, not just a show.  It is also why we know Jesus was in dire mental straights when he called out to the Father from the cross (after having abandonned his mother and his ministry) - that was his poverty (the other kind he could do in a walk).  Of course, if you do know solidarity, you can speak powerfully.  MSW could not evict an addict crashing over.  I have thrown people who relapsed into the street and expect others to do the same if I do.  That comes from the power of solidarity and humility.  Indeed, when one speaks from authority, solidarity goes out the window.  This is why the fight for gay marriage to be recognized by the Church, as it is by the state, is falling on deaf ears.  It is the gay couples who have had to demand their rights, but with humility, as it is an open question.  Marriage is always relative to the culture - that is what scares so many in the Church.



As for materialism, without it, workers have to revolt - but a consumer surplus allows the comfort not to do that - although a little discomfort and radicalization may be good in pushing back against the capitalists - who are expanding their reach because the rest of us are not pushing back.  Poverty, here we come.  One can argye that those who get aborton are in a type of poverty - sometimes the real kind - and because we have no solidarity with them (both economically and spiritually), they have no choice but to do what we find unthinkable.  Poverty does that to you.  It also has you use birth control - both for economic poverty and a spiritual poverty.  If men were required to be the stay at home parent, some of that poverty would end. Back to solidarity - a bit of solidarity would have prevented Paul VI from ignoring his advisory committee and going with what the Curia said.



American aid requiring pushing birth control is another kind of spiitual poverty that says nothing about solidarity.  It does not stop poverty to simply have less poor people - indeed, a surplus of people often brings on both industry and consumerism.  That is simply how things work - so ZPG efforts, if designed to retard growith are exactly the wrong thing.  Still, a Corinthian theology is not an item for foregn policy.



Solidarity for the Pope meant taking it all in - saying nothing and weeping when faced with the stories of poverty and survivl from the recent typhoon.  Silence sometimes speaks volumes.  As MSW says, much nore so than the dogma of he Curia.

Links for 1/16/15 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 1/16/15 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Congrats to Rep. Caron, our first Muslim Intelligence Committee member - interesting choice after Paris and likey the right one.  Daniel DiLeo does an interesting piece on the level of authoritative teaching the Ecology Encyclical will have, although he does not stress much about his secular power as the head of state of Vatican City to be heard at that level - my original comments to his and others writings on the encyclical are much more direct on how we must help the poor in harms way (not so much on the non-human environment - which some focus on but I don't find a moral concern).  There is a jewel here for Flannery Connor devotees, especially regarding her prayer journals.



Michael Gerson writes about cosmology and religion - whether it is organized or random (he does not mention first the religiousity then the atheism of Hawking), but does include exloration of a multiverse - which I don't find convincing, since the variation of a single subatomic particle, much more than a split human decision (meaningles really) should theoretically produce a new unverse - but an awful lot of duplication between them - although they would theoretically be of infinite number and we could not sense them anyway. Still, the best proofs of God are not scientific - they are a belief in God causing or not causing existence or reality - especially the non-pysical kind. Of course, physicists are less likely to take a philosphy course than philosophers read a physics paper or watch the Science Channel.

Perpetrators & Victims, Humans All | National Catholic Reporter

Perpetrators & Victims, Humans All | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Its an interesting topic, paraticulary the Pope's remarks about punching an aide who insulted his mother (of course, if that aide were a priest, the Pope would be excommunicated if the aide were a cleric - althugh there might be an exception for the Pontiff.  Violence toward each other and other species (like the beef hot dog I am eating now) is hardwired into our DNA. We need Christ to overcome it - and sometimes that is not even enough.  Were it not for the Pope's brilliant idea to liberate the Holy Land and have Crusades, we would have no problems with our Muslim brothers. So its a valid question - although the math questions should use convention. The dead include everyone, but the three killers are not listed as victims.  Suicides, probably, but not victims.



On Nazi Germany, the eradication (which probably did not stop any fascism from happening underground) should definitely be discussed because there is a deep debt of sin to be remembered which may never be expiated (except when others decide to forgive).  For the killing of Romany, I need to see some more public contrition and public examination before I am willing to forgive the Parajmos.  Ineed, such an examination my be a good reminder for those who currently pesecute my people.  Yes, we do have our faults - but possibly come of them have to with past acts of persecution and mass murder (a claim that some Muslims can make in the current world, with its merciless drone strikes that kill the children with the soldiers - because in a revolutionary war, that's how most live - with the family).



Of course, the history of drones starts with a little test program in the mid 70s developing mini-remote piloted vehicles and morped to the ability to deliver death for the Pentagon, local Headquarters and the CIA.  Its death by development contract and it is all so anti-septic unless you are being bombed. Something starting at a kitchen table on a Sunday afternoon to meet a proposal deadline leading to death from above. No perpetrators have been killed today in Drone attacks, but many have died.  The newspaper have have used fighting words (which in the US is not protected speech), but I can find no protection in death from above and afar (and becaue the program lasted so long, from beyond grave - aside from history, how is one judged for murders peretrated by someone else with the weapon you designed which occurred after you died?  Deeper question than counting the death of three terrorists.



So who bares responsibility?  The children of the genius whose inventions resulted in death from above - death that also includes children?  Most priests would say it is not the sin of the child or the father - but ultimately those who decide to use the weapon to kill villiages in pursuit of combatants.  Even then, we rely on the mercy of Christ - which includes the will to forgive in Paris - for that is how his message of forgiveness works - as we forgive the sins of others.



This also comes back to Palestine - and the cousins of the Palestinian Arabs whose ancestors were Samaritans and are akin to the Romany (who were killed by the Germans).  Fix this and the Muslim world's hate largely disappears - but can our forgiveness go that far?  It has to or the blood on both sides will continue to flow - and with Zionists in Israel in deep trouble as I am sure there are those as brilliant as the long dead Romany of Belgian ancestry who desingned the drone avionics that was used to kill those related to him.  This question is about more than the last two weeks - but maybe we must start by going back to our foundational prayer and say it like we mean it - remembering who is our neighbor and the fact that he probably is or supports a Samaritan.

Links for 1/15/15 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 1/15/15 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: E.J.'s piece may make you a Georgist, although he might not think so.  Depends on a citizens dividend.  I suspect welfare reform, which came from Clinton and Gingrich, caused much of this - as well as the simplistic desire by the Republicans to let the states fund their operations with less and less federal support - which is bass ackwards considering that, while state income taxes are more supported (or were) they are less and less progressive (and replaceable by a VAT).  The GOP and Paul Ryan cannot have it both ways - if you move things to the states from some misguided view of subsidiarity, then you must make the states as progressive as the national government - which the GOP will not do.



On religious freedom, I think Eric got the better of Steven - or at least I agreed with him.  In the cases cited (contraception and gay marriage) consevatives really do want to assert religious control over others (and I doubt most Hobby Lobby employees were about to order an IUD and hated the idea they could not - the case should not have been heard due to lack of a contested issue- and no blastocysts were saved by the solution granted).  As for gay marriage, its all homophobia and that is not a religious principle.  In these examples (where the Evangalical Right is mimicking the Catholics), the difference from the old consensus is that the Catholics are trying to enter the main stream of what was the Protestant world view and its milquetoast spirituality (mainline, not evangelical). The mainlines have become liberal and that is where the consesus should be. Of course, let us not ignore the point that on other people's rights, consensus is not that important - individual rights are decided by courts, not legislature - and that is a good thing.  The Catholics were trying to back their original play, which was to deny visitation to long time companions and keep the family as next of kin.  Bad choice and this whole gay marriage thing is about upending this injustice.  We have no religious freedom to do bad things.



I am glad Bishop O'Connell of Trenton survived his surgery.  His spirituality is an example for the sick, especially as a counterpart to the right to die movement.  He may, in fact, die - but it will be out of serenity, not fear of the future.

Trade, Violence

Trade, Violence by MSW. MGB: Industrialization can be a good thing, provided it is accompanied by consumerism.  Britian's industrialization also happened when farmers were thrown off the land - but it did not happen that way in the U.S., because land was so plentiful (unless you were native - then they killed you rather than giving you a job).  This situation does show how corrupt NAFTA and CAFTA are - and why they should be the last agreements.  Of course, domestic labor is no picnic either nowadays.  We need to start by transfering the ownership of American firms to the workers - which will then apply employee-ownership to their supply chains and foreign subsidiaries.  Imagine how different this story would be and how unnecessary trade agreements would be under that model.

The Dems Find Their Voice | National Catholic Reporter

The Dems Find Their Voice | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The Van Hollen proposal is a beautiful symbol - especially the CEO bonus restriction.  The dirty secret about CEO bonuses is that they are usually the result of cost cutting - of labor costs primarily.  These cost cutting efforts do usually go with a dividend, but only at what would be considered a normal return (i.e., what everyone else is paying in that sector in percentage terms).  The CEO and a few staff get the rest.  Turning that on its head is good for America and good for workers.  The Buffett thing is actually not as true as it used to be - at least in health care where everyone above $250,000 in income pays a surtax on their non-wage income - however this is for health, not Social Security.



We could take off the cap or we could fund the employer contribution with a Value Added Tax - essentially getting rid of most of the Buffett rule problem (I would lower the cap on the employee contribution, so as to lower the benefit for the wealthy).  Thing is, the Democrats are not at all sure they want to touch Social Security - and especially don't want to use it socialisticly - say be doing personal accounts for employees holding employer voting stock with equal crediting for each worker. Nothing would be more socialistic and that scares them because the consensus is inequality, at least among the Social Security intelligentsia.



The proposal also takes a fly at the Tobin Tax.  That might make for some interesting hearings, but it won't pass.  Indeed, while using it for redistribution is an interesting idea - I suspect it is far better to put the rate high enough to eliminate the computerized trading that is based on essentially tapping the communication lines between brokers and the exchange.  This should just be illegal but for some reason it is not considered so.  A tax would take away some of that advantage - maybe all of it.  Of course, the people who benefit from this trading are a broader swath than is generally admitted - and the Tobin Tax hearing should include that as well.  Of course, the hearing might just lead to an enforcement action after all and short circuit the call for the tax.



You get the pattern.  The Van Hollen levies are symbolic and won't be passed.  Indeed, even as a symbol, they may not go beyond the wonk community.  2014 was not about bad issues - it was about bad GOTV - worse than I had thought.  We had it good in Virginia and in Maryland the Democrats have natural advantages.  Sadly, voter suppression worked - even if the Justice Department can later enact some retribution - it won't reverse the election.  That would have really been a strong message - but DOJ can't be too partisan, if they were life would be worse with a GOP President.  The other thing that went too far was a continued war on women meme.  That worked because Cardinal Dolan and company all testified at once on contraception. It was a bad optic - but an old one - especially after the contraception mandate compromise had already gone forward.

Silk: 'Francis climate change freak-out' | National Catholic Reporter

Silk: 'Francis climate change freak-out' | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: What Silk says is exactly true - government makes doing the right thing on climate possible for firms because it keeps the playing field level. And yet the Koch Brothers and their friends want to stop all action, since that would cut into profits - regardless of whether or not competitive advantage is deal with.

Contra Christiansen & Aldajani, Part II | National Catholic Reporter

Contra Christiansen & Aldajani, Part II | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: I would respond that on settlments, Israel has about as much due process as it can handle.  Most of their neighborhood is not a fair comparison - they claim to be a western style republic.  Any Zionist would shudder at what any US District Court would do if given the case of Israel and the Territories.  Palestine should not exist as its own state.  It should be part of either a larger Arab multi-state or Israel proper with full citizenship to the Palestinians - something the Israeli Arabs really don't even enjoy.



I am not and have never been a friend of Hamas, but the firecrackers they launched at Israel deserved no response at all, while I would love to see how a federal court in the US would deal with how Israel treats Gaza.



The claims by Drew and Ra'fat are not a claim about land, but about personhood.  Unless someone can point to either a mass migration or a slow one, the reality is likely that the Palestinians had been Christians when the Muslims invaded and before that were Samaritans - the first mass converts.  It is their land, to be shared with the tribe of Judah and with those Samaritans who are in exile, the Romany (my people). This is why resettlement is an insult.  The Palestinian cause, which they do not yet know about, is inclusion as full citizens - or it has to be independence under its own flag and sovereignty - or that of an Arab state.  It shall not be anything that looks like Gaza, which I have heard is not a state but a concentration camp.



Attacks on Fr. Drew from third party sources are undignified without giving him a chance to answer them.  Nor is it up to Fr. Drew to keep track of the retractions of other authors he admires.  As for Fr. Drew being the tool of anti-Semites - let me continue that all Arabs are Semites - Palestinians are doubly so for the likelihood of their membership in the Samaritan community (do you really think the small band we see on TV every Passover sticking lamb into a pit is all that is left of half of the original Canaanites?).



To end, MSW seems to think his Zionism is the Goyim Catholic's burden.  It might me.  So is affirming the rights of the Romany who died in the Holocaust in what we call the Parajmos. Look into it MSW.  The brothers of those who died are the Palestinians.  The question is not whether there is anti-Semetism in Hamas.  Of course there is.  Like I said yesterday, if the English took over a financially failed U.S. and was faced with Irish American violence, how would MSW characterize that?  The fatal flaw in Israel is that it claims to be an American style state.  Yet if you look closely, it is not.  Period.

Silk Spanks Donohue | National Catholic Reporter

Silk Spanks Donohue | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: I like my piece better.  I brought up the fact that due process for the aggrieved Muslims might have prevented a fire bombing.  I did not bring in Bill Donohue (who, if he really has protested, it is what we call astroturf - paid protesters rather than something spontaneous) - my counter example was Lenny Bruce - whose case and whose suicide showed a world where freedom of thought was not so important as people say it is now (just ask Snowden how free dissent really is).

Smart, Unbiased Commentary on Mideast | National Catholic Reporter

Smart, Unbiased Commentary on Mideast | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: My guess from MSW endorsing it would be a left of center Zionist POV.  A run through the stories for the past two weeks looks like my guess is not too far off.

Kudos to OSV | National Catholic Reporter

Kudos to OSV | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: I remember reading this as a child, mostly because my father was the parish distributor.  It is an obvious list, including the dying Cardinal George.  I wonder how MSW would react if they included, because of his courage in speaking out against the Pope, Cardinal Burke (look, you can still have courage and be wrong).

Contra Christiansen & Aldajani, Part I | National Catholic Reporter

Contra Christiansen & Aldajani, Part I | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Two things on the 1993 deals and the Palestinian desire for their land - one that the do not even realize.  First, they did not trust the IDF and its leaders and it seems in the last 21 that they had good reason not two.  Second, its their land - and I don't mean from the days before the Balfour Declaration and the end of the Ottoman Empire - or even from the days when Islam came sweeping in on a white horse to attack weak Byzantium.  I am talking from the Roman Empire and the time of Jesus - as well as the time after Solomon and the first exile, the one of the Assyrian.  (and probably to the Caananites).  Romany historians are finding, based on the similar of ancient writings and religion, that the people know as the Romany and derisively as Gypsy, are the people now called the Samaritans, who were the first nation to accept Christ - both in Samaria and in India.  There is nothing to contravert either scenario.  I won't allow the history of my family's Christianity to be contraverted (we beat the Irish by 1000 years) and have never heard of an alternate Palestinian migration scenario - other than the story Moses (where we eat Lamb, as written, not brisket).



I suspect that if non-violence became the fashion among my Palestinian cousins, we would be massacred and the world press would say nothing, including MSW. There is a whole narrative, surviving from the Cold War and lingering Holocaust guilt (and we Romany lost all of ours to Hitler in the Parajmos - something it took forever to get Eli Wissel to accept, but he did, but I now know why) that drives the nation's Neoconservative handling of this issue.  Its what makes me laugh when MSW talks about Neo-con Catholics when he is their voice on Palestine. Denial is not just a river in Egypt.



The Lanza comparison is interesting.  No, there were no public celebrations about an autistic teenager blowing away his mother and a bunch of kids and teachers.  Indeed, there was great determination to use this as a way to move reasonable gun control.  Nothing happened, due almost entirely to the evil offices of the NRA and its gun industry major donors.  I am sure that the following December, at Christmas parties throughout the NRA network, there were indeed celebrations that nothing was done to curtail either gun rights or sales and bonuses were provided to all concerned.



Now for an alternative scenario.  Let's say the government falls due to the national debt and the world decides that the United Kingdom shall again take control of the colonies (plus gains from Manifest Destiny).  Thing is, this sticks in the craw of most Irish Americans (as someone whose Grandfather, while of Pilgrim stock, has several links to the Crown, most of us part-Brits would go along - I also have Jewish and Romany roots).  Instead of going after everyone, the Viceroy, under the direction of Parliament, goes after Irish Americans who dissent (no more First Amendment) and start blowing up people's houses.  Since MSW would likely dissent, how long until his house is rubble?   Consider the scenario if you want to understand what empathy means.



As to the video from Palestine, that was an example of radicalization.  The goal of any revolution is not to overthrow the oppressor as much as to change the minds and hearts of your own people.  You often do that by goading the government into action against you - i.e. find out why they blow up houses and do that.  The Palestinians are ancient - they are now Muslim, were among the first Christian, were Samaritan, Israelite, Caananite and whatever came first.  It too the Babylonian exile to get them to stop worshiping Baal (actually, all of the Jews too).  Like most people, they want to have a job, have a home, eat, maybe go to Mosque (if someone is watching), raising their kids.  Quite boring.  It takes a lot to get them out of their complacency and I am not sure they have to.



If the IDF did nothing for months or even years, Palestine would be a great group to become Israeli Arabs - or even Samaritans or a new and true arrangement called Samaritan Muslims (Romany are the even odder Samaritan Christians).  The hard thing is to get the Palestinian leadership and the   Zionists to agree on not just peace, but inclusion (that means the territories are not outside Israel and Palestinians can live anywhere and vote as if Jewish).  Problem is, the government is entirely against such a proposition - so their radicalization is the occasional Intefada, the video shown in the article and rockets of Gaza which only hit something by blind luck.  Don't blame this thing entirely on my people.  We don't have a demographic problem.

Finally, Sanity on Francis' Encyclical | National Catholic Reporter

Finally, Sanity on Francis' Encyclical | National Catholic Reporter by MS W. MGB: It is good to see a post from a friendly voice, and how is more friendly to the Pope than his brother Jesuits.  Linking poverty to the environment, especially regarding who is hurt by climate change, is the key and is the reason the right wing is attacking in droves - mostly right wing libertarians.  Left wing libertarians, while believing in legal and safe abortion - do not necessarily believe in the Eugenics of others, both of the poor and to cut down on population growth.  While there really are some who think that way, the harder core Marxists look at childbirth as part of a healthy society.  It is the middle class left libertarians who even consider ZPG. Mutualists don't - at least not this one.  I have held, since Caritas in Veritate, that the approach to Obama on stopping international family planning is to remind him that it is families like his in Africa that they want to limit (and by they I mean the Gates Foundation and Warren Buffett).

Good Bye Boxer; Hello Chaos | National Catholic Reporter

Good Bye Boxer; Hello Chaos | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Barbara Boxer has hardly torn the national apart over the abortion issue - blame for that can be given to the Pro Life side, who has turned abortion into a fundraising bonaza for individuals and candidates and especially for the Republican Party.Is she pro choice?  Yes.  Being pro-choice means not wanting legal restrictions on abortion - it is not advocacy of abortion.  It is a subtle difference, but necessary to defuse this issue.  Look at Tea Party websites and you will see who is tearing this nation apart for all the wrong reasons.  Would she stand in the way of a legislative compromise on abortion.  Probably - but so would the entire right wing.  I don't recall her being on the legal team for Roe v Wade, although she did stop the Stupak amendment in the Senate - probably because it went a far, or could have.  As for Diane Feinstein, glad you like her - although I suspect she voted against Stupak as well.  California politics are great for reform.  If the Democrats are shut out by running two strong candidates, that could be a problem.  Of course, so could he GOP in running two strong candidates, as unlikely as that sounds.  Primary voting tends to be depressed, so my guess is that two Democrats will run and win.  Of course, a Green could get into thee mix too.  I would like that because I am a party member.  As for the diminuation of parties, this can be traced to the Supreme Court decisions that say money is speech - not to Barbara Boxer.    The campaign money is also why we don't really do anything about inequality.  The people writing the checks would not like that (another reason to vote Green.

Another 'Prebuttal' of Pope's Encyclical on Environment | National Catholic Reporter

Another 'Prebuttal' of Pope's Encyclical on Environment | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: This person with Acton is an idiot.  The Trinity was set by the Council of Calderon and the Pope was not there = as Rome was not an essential player at anything in the Church, New Rome was.  As for abortion, that abortion is greatly sinful is not up for debate (unless it is medically necessary - and that is debated and should be, the RTL movement and bishops mostly get that one wrong). Interestingly, Abortion and Birth Control are Population Grown issues that should be discussed in this encyclical that our Acton colleagues seems to want to ignore, although Benedict has plowed that ground before in Caritas in Veritate - pity that no one has discussed it with Obama and pointed out that population control in Kenya is aimed at HIS family.  Still we all know that the real issue Acton and the conservatives are pursuing (likely with the ham handed funding and coordination of the Koch Brothers) is an apparent attack on Capitalism and the oil, gas and coal industries and the need to build up structures to assure the survival of the poor in low lying areas, which their sponsors seem to care little about.

Je ne suis pas Charlie | National Catholic Reporter

Je ne suis pas Charlie | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: This tragedy provides an interesting case which MSW unwittingly raises.  The fact is that there was no where that the bombers and their sponsors could complain about the tenor and tone of the satire that offended them. They could not go to an Office of Offensive Comedy and Media an, as the local obscenity police did to the great Lenny Bruce after he skewered both the cops and the Church on a regular basis - although until the early sixties, the local Monsignor surely could (so don't put on airs for our magnanimity - we don't have any and there are those in society who would put Lenny on trial now had he not meted out the ultimate punishment to himself - so sad, he would have loved skewering Reagan until there were no consequences - and the Tea Party would have provided him no end of amusement - and he would have gone after MSW with a passion for having his orthodoxy and spitting on it too).  The cops became street thugs when they took on Lenny, but no one killed him in the name of their own dignity.



Not true for Charie -he was killed for assaulting someone else's dignity.  Would that the system in France has the ability to require those that hated Charie to come out of the woodwork and demanded their right to state their complaints.  It would have been interesting to watch and we might have learned something about how far we go and how it lands on the other end.  Due process of law IS where things things are supposed to occur - not in bombings or murders.  However, that is what occurs in both drug deals and religious satire where an outlet cannot be devised.  This is particularly sad for Wahabi nations like Saudi Arabi who give women no role and no route to complain without discipline.  Mark my words that it is the sisters and daughters and mothers of the terrorists in Paris who will seek ultimate solutions in voicing their displeasure.  Good or bad?  Not sure.  Necessary?  Very sure. (for those of you who don't know, that is what we in the Romany community call a first class curse. Their is only one way to lift it and it does not involve murdering me.  Give in to your women, King Abdullah, or your funeral may be next).

Silk on RC Decline and Rise of the Nones | National Catholic Reporter

Silk on RC Decline and Rise of the Nones | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: He hit the nail on the head in mentioning the sex abuse scandal and cover-up, especially around Boston.  I suspect that the Nones were already in the generation who were not forced to go to Church by their parents and now find more community in going to Brunch with family and friends than going to Mass.  It used to be that 20 somethings would stop going to Church, only to return when they have kids.  So far, the re-Christianization of parents has not happened - probably because they don't trust the Church with their children.  Also, in this economy, some of the Nones are probably working brunch or at a theater or somewhere else where their low wage job takes them.  Saying None is more convenient than making working on Sunday (and making good tips) a moral issue.

The Right Preempts the Pope | National Catholic Reporter

The Right Preempts the Pope | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Robbie George forgets that the Pope is the head of the Vatican City State and a member of the community of nations.  Sometimes his job is to speak politically and join with other nations who do so.  On the moral side, his concern is not so much the environment as it is how inequality has climate change hurt some more than others.  It is about time the Popes really drew the line on riches and capitalism.  Jesus did and those popes who did not were letting their politics trump the truth.  Because human life is concerned, this is a life issue, much more so than contraception (which kills cells that may or may not become life - and embryology is clear on that one too.



Mullarky is an idiot, as climate change, Palestine and all the rest are the Pope's purview and have been since he was head of the Papal States and could confirm or reject Catholic princes.  Poor little Francis has no tanks, only the power of truth.  Maureen, however, is not even important enough to fire.



Steve Moore seems a total disaster as a Catholic.  His employer was always ideologically conservative, but now it just plain whacko..  He seems more concerned with the freedom of capitalists than the well being of everyone else.  He accuses the Pope of being a part of the radical Green movement.  As a member of that movement, I must say that I would welcome His Holiness as a member of the Party.  We would gladly add him to the roster of Green heads of state.  We are certainly not anti-Catholic. When I was married, a huge number of Greens came to my wedding at St. Ann's in DC.  I recall only one of my Republican friends attending.



The organized nature of these attacks comes from the organized nature of conservative fundraising - which is usually tied to the energy industry and fears any carbon tax or its share of blame for warming.  Interestingly enough, it is probably over reacting.  Sadly, I don't expect those bishops involved in the conservative intelligentsia on life issues to say anything to rebuke these attacks.  And that is very sad.

The New GOP Myth: Dynamic Scoring | National Catholic Reporter

The New GOP Myth: Dynamic Scoring | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Dynamic scoring is not new, by any means.  It has been a GOP goal to justify tax cuts in just this way, largely because their impact on the deficit is horrible in the short term (and I don't need Pete Peterson's funded budget watch dog to tell me that).  Of course, should the Joint Tax Committee find a way to score these cuts in a way that says deficits are the only way tax cuts can lead to growth - the GOP may abandon this after going into a hissy fit.  Note that I gave JTC such an analysis a few years ago and that they were looking at it.  I hope they found something they can use.

The Right's Preemptive Strikes on Pope Francis | National Catholic Reporter

The Right's Preemptive Strikes on Pope Francis | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Climate change is a funny thing.  It comes slowly, allowing idiots like Prager to get a pay check from Charles and David Koch and not look like the environmental terrorists that they are.  Indeed, the speed of change is about the speed at which Encyclicals tend to work on such issues - until, of course, something sudden happens.  As troubling for our environment - so much so that I hope the Pope mentions it, is the loss of species currently underway - mostly because they cannot adapt to the presence of man, who after all is a part of the environment - some of divine conservator (indeed, as a conservator, we are doing a crappy job - best to be part of it and look at the environment from the perspective of our own well being - although I doubt Francis will make that point).

Remembering Mario Cuomo | National Catholic Reporter

Remembering Mario Cuomo | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: No doubt Mario was an intellectual heavyweight.  There is also no doubt,however, that he had talented speech writers and senior advisers who helped him hone his message for maximum political gain.  The venue ironic, in retrospect and it goes to why some bishops were so averse to Obama going there.  Is there a Catholic politician who could deliver this speech?  Maybe Biden if it was written for him - indeed I wish he would do an abortion speech, but be less kind to the Church.  Not sure Joe could do that.



The comments about consumerism being the enemy of religion are true to the extent that the pursuit of wealth is the enemy of faith.  Of course, as a New York Governor, one could hardly expect a full throated attack on capitalism, especially from a possible presidential candidate.  That takes money from capitalists.  Consumerism is the one thing that makes capitalism bearable for most workers - without the outlet of consumer goods there would certainly be a revolt by workers - of course, many of us would not mind such a revolt at all.  Indeed, I would have put this at the end and joined it to a call for much higher aid to families with children, irregardless of income, as a way to reduce the number of abortions.  As it was, these remarks were simply throwing a bone to the hierarchy.  It didn't work.



The Church as a whole has stayed out of endorsing candidates based on abortion, but they have spoken in code about the issue ever since more than one bishop has joined the National Right to Life Committee (you can see them at the March for Life every January 22nd).  Anyone who has been to Mass during  the 40 day for life before each election knows that the Church is playing favorites, even though abortion is not an electoral issue (unless Congress were to enact the status quo into law and end this controversy).



On the other side, the pro choice vote is important, mostly because the teachers unions are important to the Democrats - and the women who staff the political conventions, from counties to the nominating convention for President, are mostly pro-choice teachers.  NARAL-Pro Choice America has a rather small staff, with a large group of supporters and Planned Parenthood staff at the local level are hardly a political force - its the teachers that make a difference.  It is true that Alice Germond is a force in the Democratic Party, but that is because of her force of character, not her ties to NARAL.



The meat of the speech was Cuomo describing how he was personally pro life, but that he had to respect other organizations, especially churches, who were pro-choice.  His call for a conversation may have been interesting, but it would not have been honest.  The result of this speech was on out for every Catholic politician in the Democratic Party, up to and including Vice President Biden and a number of Catholic Supreme Court Justices.  The counter punch are bishops like Raymond Burke who would and have denied these politicians Communion - although any and all Justices who this was tried on would have to recuse themselves from any and all abortion cases - essentially thwarting the GOP's stated strategy of overturning Roe in the Court.



Cuomo's slavery discussion is interesting, although legal slavery's end with the war did not really stop the bondage of black workers who were enslaved by southern justice and often sold to capitalist countries from the north.  Indeed, until the sixties, some Catholic Communion rails were still segregated - but the difference is that the Church began taking a leadership role against segregation and is a partner in the Civil Rights movement of today.  This is akin to some hierarchs coming out as pro-choice as a legal matter while pushing hard for an expanded child tax credit and higher minimum wage.  Maybe in a generation.



There is an alternate scenario for Catholic politicians.  It would be to tell the truth about legal abortion - not the usual dead fetus pictures, which are very rare, by the way - but a discussion on why abortion is and must be legal and the impossibility of overturning Roe in the Court while preserving much of the equal protection law now on the books. The bishops actually hate this body of law - as it mandates gay marriage and allows sodomy and birth control under the name of privacy - while keeping these issues federalized.  Justice Scalia and his friends in the USCCB would overturn all of that - however this would also overturn the equal protection rights the Church absolutely needs in much of the South (where the Pope is still thought of as the ant-Christ) and this body of law is the best hope we have for overturning Blaine Amendments preventing pubic money for Catholic Schools.



A Catholic politician could also lay out how using other means to give personhood to the unborn would make dealing with miscarriage as a legal matter much more complicated, since every such case would become a public event.  No one who has ever been married and had to face this wants such nonsense to happen.



A Catholic pro-choice politician could even administer the coup de grace and lay out the fact that the pro-life movement knows and understands these things (including the code endorsing a Human Life Amendment which really means that I am with you but I won't do anything that will pass) and makes the same arguments anyway - not to actually overturn abortion, but to keep it alive as an issue for their own electoral and financial well being.  That would be something to see - although this is a high risk strategy because the USCCB is complicit in the scam that is the pro-life movement - and speaking that truth could alienate brainwashed Catholic voters who really believe that abortion is the issue of our times.  Its not, taxes are and they always will be.  Indeed, the GOP faithful supports the party on life issues for the interests of those who support it and control it for tax issues - those 400 families who support Americans for Tax Reform and their agenda.



I hope someone connects the dots soon.  The anti-abortion sanctimony is about to make me hurl.  If only Cuomo had had the political courage to make such an attack in 1984.  If only Biden would today.  Or Clinton (who is not Catholic but who could make most of the argument with a straight face in 2016.  Or maybe even one of Cuomo's own sons.  Now that would be ironic.

Red States v. Blue States | National Catholic Reporter

Red States v. Blue States | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The inequality within blue states is not just about race - it is about those "Reagan Democrats" who have a Tea Party state of mind and keep the financial and liberal citizens as much out of their lives as possible.  An example is that thug from Staten Island who is now in trouble with the IRS (the one who threatened a reporter for asking him about the inconvenient truths in his life.  The kind of peace Christ taught goes beyond the shaky truce of our Red v. Blue nation.

The New Cardinals | National Catholic Reporter

The New Cardinals | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: A few thoughts on the next Consistory since I made them earlier when the news was announced.  First, the appointment of cardinals in new areas might be tokenism or it might be designed for each man's skill set when the inevitably join the Curia - now that would upset the apple cart.



Second, on America and the lack of appointments.  I would have loved to see Gregory and Cupich, as well as Gomez, but I am equally glad that Chaput and some others did not get a the hat.  I would call it a mixed blessing, but it is probably due to the intervention of O'Malley or Dolan, who likely did not want the appointments to deepen cultural rifts among both the people and the bishops.



Third, one wonders if Francis has adopted the harmless fascination with the prophesies of St. Malachy.  If he has, then there is no point in having cardinals because he is the last Pope (technically Benedict was supposed to be.  The next Pope is Peter the Roman, who will be an anti-pope and whose death was predicted by both Malachy and our Lady of Fatima in the third secret. If so, why not appoint people who will never vote anyway (as very soon we will - indeed we formally have- developed full Communion with Orthodoxy)?  If only we would adopt their leadership structure with autocephalic patriarchs for each nation or linguistic group.  I suspect we will not know if any of this is true until he tells us in a homily in daily Mass or in the Consistory address.

Francis diversifies cardinals, choosing prelates from Asia, island nations | National Catholic Reporter

Francis diversifies cardinals, choosing prelates from Asia, island nations | National Catholic Reporter The bad news is that Archbishop Blaise Cupich is left out.  He will understand.  The good is that Archbishop Chaput was left out.  I don't think he will take it well, at least privately.

Francis & the Environment in NYTimes | National Catholic Reporter

Francis & the Environment in NYTimes | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: If the speakers are correct from these conferences, the Pope has it exactly right - the problem for the environment is poverty caused by Capitalism.  Global warming, while it does hurt the environment, is mostly a problem because it hurts the poor - indeed, it kills them (as does capitalism, frankly).  If the new Encyclical goes down that road, it upends those who say we are worried more about trees than people.   It is about the people, especially the poor and how they are being kept there (regardless of warming).

Challenges to the Catholic Left | National Catholic Reporter

Challenges to the Catholic Left | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: There are two types of truth in the Church.  The first are those which deal with mysteries, such as the incarnation and the divinity and humanity of Christ.  These were not handed down by Jesus - but were developed by the early Catholic writers - with some degree of discord (some call it heresy, but until the doctrine is set, there is no heresy) and finally Church Councils where God spoke through the consensus of the Council fathers - fathers who were really pastors elected by their city Churches (some akin to parishes today). The second type is natural law.  This is still the province of the individual - although the Curia likes to think they have a monopoly over.  The faithful, as they have always done, ignore them when their hubris shows.  The Synod process is all about natural law - and liberals love it because it involves conversation with the right people - the laity. It will only fail where bishops return with their own views and not those of the people.



A word about political correctness - it is simply the desire to refer to people as they refer to themselves.  It is simple politeness.  It has nothing to do with tact or using the right words when dealing with authority and there is nothing unchristian or even liberal out it.  The question of the USCCB looking at the liturgy is an interesting one.  This seems to be in reaction to the priests who really hate the new words for the Collect and other spoken prayers of the day.  The people really aren't paying enough attention to even notice the clunkers the new translation has given us.  In Mass on Christmas, however, I found it interesting to hear the number of people responding with "and also with you" rather than "and with your spirit."  Still, Mass highlights what is important in the liturgy.  It is an us thing.  We do not consecrate the Host and go to Communion to be alone with Jesus - otherwise we could have a Rite for Mass at Home. We don't, we take Communion together - which is why the stubbornness by the Church and the Protestants is so vexing - especially because most of the faithful on both sides believe what they have been given - and I suspect most don't know or care about the real issues - which are as much about who is in charge as theology and natural law.  I think that was what Francis was getting at - not submission to everything but participation in community.  BTW, this is another occasion where he was speaking more as a parish priest than the Roman Patriarch and Pontiff - even though we all pay so much attention - probably too much. In this role, the observations of our own Pastors are as valid - although I suspect more people read about this Mass than attended the one at their parish.

Number of states legalizing same-sex marriage doubles in 2014 | National Catholic Reporter

Number of states legalizing same-sex marriage doubles in 2014 | National Catholic Reporter The problem the bishops have is not someone forcing them or their priests to perform marriages for gays as a matter of law.  What they expect to happen (and won't say) is the families of gay Catholics to insist on a religious gay wedding - or for civilly married gays and lesbians to find a friendly gay priest (about half) who will provide a blessing for the wedding.  More scary to them is that gay men may decide to get married rather than continue on with a priestly calling.  This will only get more acute as more state marriage bans are overturned by the federal courts - indeed, if the Cincinnati Circuit rehears their case with the full court, no Supreme Court ruling may be needed.  As for the Church as an employer for health insurance, et al, I suspect most of the actions against gay families are about making a statement - and unless other civil marriages, which are also disallowed for Catholics, lead to the same lack of benefits then the message is homophobia.



Sadly, the Synod on the Family did not bring up the subject of gay marriage - but did bring up how to deal pastorally with gay kids (so they don't get the message that they are better off dead or drunk).  That is a start, but hopefully the Sense of the Faithful will prevail in the US, Canada and Europe about opening the issue.  In reality, if gays are not given the right to leave their families and become one flesh (legally and sexually), then they are forever infants bound to their families of origin in the eyes of civil and canon law.  This violates the Scripture on marriage more than an openness to same sex unions would - since the main sources against gay unions are in Genesis (therefore mythical) and Leviticus (designed for moral separatism during the Exile in Babylon).

Hard-line positions such as anti-abortion carry costs | National Catholic Reporter

Hard-line positions such as anti-abortion carry costs | National Catholic Reporter by Kelly Stewart.  MGB: An Irish example of what happens when you ban abortion.  My question is still whether the American pro-life movement really has a goal or if it is entirely electoral and fundraising.