"When Work is Punished" "It Does Not Pay To Work" "Why work? You're Better Off Collecting Welfare"

Those are some of the headline responses to a recent presentation given by Gary Alexander, Secretary of Public Welfare for the State of Pennsylvania. Mr Alexander shows at what point a single mother with two children would be financially better off working less and collecting various welfare benefits or working not at all and collecting various welfare benefits.

I first saw this chart from Mr. Alexander's report in an article by Tim Shaughnessy at catholicvote.org.

Click the image for a larger version. Mr. Shaughnessy wrote:

"(the chart) shows the after-tax wages (bottom blue bars) and welfare benefits (upper multicolored bars) available for a hypothetical single mom with two children at various income levels. The glass-half-full observation is that the family is able to maintain a standard of living of at least $40,000, even if the mother earns no income at all at a job. The glass-half-empty observation is reflected in the text box:

'The single mom is better off earning gross income of $29,000 with $57,327 in net income & benefits than to earn gross income of $69,000 with net income & benefits of $57,045.'

If you can spot it, there’s even an odd range between wages of $44,000 and $50,000 where, even after receiving CHIP, the mother takes home less than if she didn’t earn any income at all. A single mom who simply worked and didn’t want to receive any assistance from the state would be worse off working at a job of $54,000 than if she didn’t work at all."

 John Hinderaker (along with many others) notes the moral dimension of the issue: "Let’s start by cutting welfare, and cutting it deeply. (I agree, but with proper discrimination.) Not only because it is wasteful, but because by devaluing work it threatens to cripple not merely our economy, but our culture. An America where you are better off cashing welfare checks than working is an America that cannot long survive."

Mr. Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com notes the same thing. And he calls it a tragedy:

"Exactly two years ago, some of the more politically biased progressive media outlets (who are quite adept at creating and taking down their own strawmen arguments, if not quite as adept at using an abacus, let alone a calculator) took offense at our article "In Entitlement America, The Head Of A Household Of Four Making Minimum Wage Has More Disposable Income Than A Family Making $60,000 A Year." In it we merely explained what has become the painful reality in America: for increasingly more it is now more lucrative - in the form of actual disposable income - to sit, do nothing, and collect various welfare entitlements, than to work. This is graphically, and very painfully confirmed, in the below chart from Gary Alexander, Secretary of Public Welfare, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (a state best known for its broke capital Harrisburg). As quantitied, and explained by Alexander, 'the single mom is better off earnings gross income of $29,000 with $57,327 in net income & benefits than to earn gross income of $69,000 with net income and benefits of $57,045.'"

Mr. Durden also links to another page from Mr. Alexander's study, showing the ratio of private sector employees to welfare recipients and public sector employees (again, click image for a larger version). This is not sustainable:

Supremes to Decide Tomorrow Whether to Hear Prop 8 Appeal?

Maybe.

Will the court allow the people of the state of California to have their voices heard? Or will they back the outrageous Judge Vaughn Walker and the Ninth Circuit, the most overturned court in the land?

We've always said the case would go to the Supreme Court, so we think they will decide to hear the appeal.

What the Marriage Debate is Really About

The Public Interest has an important article by R.J. Snell  on the real issue in the fight over same-sex "marriage." This is why we, at A Shepherd's Voice always distinguish between real man/woman marriage and counterfeit "marriage."

Reason and Compassion in the Marriage Debate

Discourse about marriage is often short on reason and compassion. Arguments and objections can be mercilessly logical, forgetful of persons behind the positions; at other times reason seems to have taken a holiday, replaced with a kind of shrill indignation.

Perhaps failure is inevitable when marriage means too many things. Interlocutors cannot avoid speaking at cross-purposes when terms are in flux, and positions cannot but appear arbitrary if marriage is formless and mutable.

Given the confusion, it is understandable why the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy article “What Is Marriage?” by Sherif Girgis, Robert P. George, and Ryan T. Anderson drew so much attention, because they asked the marriage debate’s vital question. Definitions clear away weeds, clarity fosters productive disagreement, and subsequent rejoinders to the essay were numerous and pointed—a good sign that tackling the definition was needed.

Given the conversation stirred by the article, this winter’s release of What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense by Girgis, George, and Anderson is welcome (eBooks go on sale today; hard copies in early December). Augmenting and developing their earlier arguments, the book responds to objections, while tackling an impressive range of philosophical, legal, and social-scientific issues in a relatively slim volume.

The authors explain why debates over gay marriage are only indirectly about homosexuality; the real issue is “not about whom to let marry, but about what marriage is.”

Read the full article here.

"What Is Marriage: Man and Woman: A Defense" is available here.

Our friend Bill May, of Catholics for the Common Good, has just released a book on the same subject, called "Getting the Marriage Conversation Right." You can find that book here.

BLACK FRIDAY---MURDER

The day after Thanksgiving, known to many as "Black Friday", is the unofficial start to the Christmas shopping season and a day to take advantage of some of the best deals of the season. But for one South Florida Planned Parenthood, it is means a chance to offer cheap abortions to frightened women.

In a an email message to supporters, Planned Parenthood offered "$10.00 off" for a visit on Friday, November 23, between the hours of 10 am and 2pm, in addition to offering $5.00 off for "emergency contraception".

Planned Parenthood is trying to cheapen life to a disgusting degree! This letter makes it sound like they are selling haircuts, but instead they are selling the destruction of a human life!

As the largest Personhood group in the United States, it is on us to stand up against this horrific dehumanizing attempt by Planned Parenthood. For too long, this organization has been ending innocent human life by preying on young women and telling them that they have their best interests in mind. It's a lie!,
Keith Mason
Founder
Personhood USA

When a letter of congratulations contains a warning

The Metropolitan of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations for the Russian Orthodox Church, and a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow, Bishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, has written a letter of congratulations to Right Reverend Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham and nominee as Archbishop of Canterbury.

+Hilarion
Metropolitan of Volokolamsk

Dear Brother and Lord Bishop,

 I would like to extend to you wholehearted congratulations on your election as Head of one of the oldest episcopal chairs founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in the 7th century.

You have been entrusted with the spiritual guidance of the entire Anglican Communion, a unique union of like-minded people, which, however diverse the forms of its existence in the world may be, needs one ‘steward of God’ (Tit. 1:7) the guardian of the faith and witness to the Truth (cf. Jn. 18:37).

The Russian Orthodox Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion are bonded by age-old friendly relations initiated in the 15th century. For centuries, our Churches would preserve good and truly brotherly relations encouraged both by frequent mutual visits and established theological dialogue and certainly by a spirit of respect and love which used to accompany the meetings of our hierarchs, clergy and ordinary believers.

Regrettably, the late 20th century and the beginning of the third millennium have brought tangible difficulties in relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion. The introduction female priesthood and now episcopate, the blessing of same-sex ‘unions’ and ‘marriages’, the ordination of homosexuals as pastors and bishops – all these innovations are seen by the Orthodox as deviations from the tradition of the Early Church, which increasingly estrange Anglicanism from the Orthodox Church and contribute to a further division of Christendom as a whole.

We hope that the voice of the Orthodox Church will be heard by the Church of England and Churches of the Anglican Communion, and good fraternal relationships between us will revive.

I wish you God’s help in your important work.

“May the God of love and peace be with you” (2 Cor. 13:11).

+Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk

Obama's Soviet Mistake

Putin in 2009 outlined his strategy for economic success. Alas, poor Obama did the opposite but nevertheless was re-elected. Bye, bye Miss American Pie. The Communists have won in America with Obama but failed miserably in Russia with Zyuganov who only received 17% of the vote. Vladimir Putin was re-elected as President keeping the NWO order out of Russia while America continues to repeat the Soviet mistake.

After Obama was elected in his first term as president the then Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January of 2009. Ignored by the West as usual, Putin gave insightful and helpful advice to help the world economy and saying the world should avoid the Soviet mistake.

Recently, Obama has been re-elected for a 2nd term by an illiterate society and he is ready to continue his lies of less taxes while he raises them. He gives speeches of peace and love in the world while he promotes wars as he did in Egypt, Libya and Syria. He plans his next war is with Iran as he fires or demotes his generals who get in the way.

Putin said regarding the military,

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"...instead of solving the problem, militarization pushes it to a deeper level. It draws away from the economy immense financial and material resources, which could have been used much more efficiently elsewhere."

Well, any normal individual understands that as true but liberalism is a psychosis . O'bomber even keeps the war going along the Mexican border with projects like "fast and furious" and there is still no sign of ending it. He is a Communist without question promoting the Communist Manifesto without calling it so. How shrewd he is in America. His cult of personality mesmerizes those who cannot go beyond their ignorance. They will continue to follow him like those fools who still praise Lenin and Stalin in Russia. Obama's fools and Stalin's fools share the same drink of illusion.

Reading Putin's speech without knowing the author, one would think it was written by Reagan or another conservative in America. The speech promotes smaller government and less taxes. It comes as no surprise to those who know Putin as a conservative. Vladimir Putin went on to say:

"...we are reducing taxes on production, investing money in the economy. We are optimizing state expenses.

The second possible mistake would be excessive interference into the economic life of the country and the absolute faith into the all-mightiness of the state.

There are no grounds to suggest that by putting the responsibility over to the state, one can achieve better results.

Unreasonable expansion of the budget deficit, accumulation of the national debt - are as destructive as an adventurous stock market game.

During the time of the Soviet Union the role of the state in economy was made absolute, which eventually lead to the total non-competitiveness of the economy. That lesson cost us very dearly. I am sure no one would want history to repeat itself."

President Vladimir Putin could never have imagined anyone so ignorant or so willing to destroy their people like Obama much less seeing millions vote for someone like Obama. They read history in America don't they? Alas, the schools in the U.S. were conquered by the Communists long ago and history was revised thus paving the way for their Communist presidents. Obama has bailed out those businesses that voted for him and increased the debt to over 16 trillion with an ever increasing unemployment rate especially among blacks and other minorities. All the while promoting his agenda.

"We must seek support in the moral values that have ensured the progress of our civilization. Honesty and hard work, responsibility and faith in our strength are bound to bring us success."- Vladimir Putin

The red, white and blue still flies happily but only in Russia. Russia still has St George defeating the Dragon with the symbol of the cross on its' flag. The ACLU and other atheist groups in America would never allow the US flag with such religious symbols. Lawsuits a plenty against religious freedom and expression in the land of the free. Christianity in the U.S. is under attack as it was during the early period of the Soviet Union when religious symbols were against the law.

Let's give American voters the benefit of the doubt and say it was all voter fraud and not ignorance or stupidity in electing a man who does not even know what to do and refuses help from Russia when there was an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead we'll say it's true that the Communists usage of electronic voting was just a plan to manipulate the vote. Soros and his ownership of the company that counts the US votes in Spain helped put their puppet in power in the White House. According to the Huffington Post, residents in all 50 states have filed petitions to secede from the Unites States. We'll say that these Americans are hostages to the Communists in power. How long will their government reign tyranny upon them?

Russia lost its' civil war with the Reds and millions suffered torture and death for almost 75 years under the tyranny of the United Soviet Socialist Republic. Russians survived with a new and stronger faith in God and ever growing Christian Church. The question is how long will the once "Land of the Free" remain the United Socialist States of America? Their suffering has only begun. Bye bye Miss American Pie! You know the song you hippies. Sing it! Don't you remember? The 1971 hit song by American song writer Don McLean:

"And, as I watched him on the stage my hands were clenched in fists of rage.

No angel born in Hell could break that Satan's spell

And, as the flames climbed high into the night to light the sacrificial rite, I saw...

Satan laughing with delight the day the music died

He was singing, bye bye Miss American Pie

Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry

Them good ol' boys were drinking whiskey and rye, singing...

This'll be the day that I die

This'll be the day that I die

So, the question remains:

How long will America suffer and to what depths?

Xavier Lerma

Contact Xavier Lerma at xlermanov@swissmail.org

His popular articles can be seen at http://xlerma.wordpress.com/

Hyperlink to Pravda is mandatory if you republish this article

Open Season

It’s open season on Catholicism. In Ireland and in Australia, public opinion is being whipped into frenzy in crusades against Church teachings. In both cases the arguments are thoroughly irrational.

• In Ireland, Savita Halappanavar died a horrible, painful, needless death. But rather than mourning her death, and demanding a full accounting of where the doctors went wrong, pundits are blaming the tragedy on teachings of the Catholic Church. We really don’t know, at this point, what caused her death. But one thing is quite clear already: it was not due to Catholic teaching, nor to Catholic influence on Ireland's laws.
• In Australia, there are angry demands for Catholic priests to break the confessional seal. This campaign is fueled by the notion that the seal has protected perpetrators of sexual abuse. There is zero evidence—zero—to support that notion. And there is ample evidence that the campaign against the Catholic Church is tinged by political motives..

CatholicCulure.org

Catholic Crisis--USA

President Obama's re-election and the prospect of a second Obama administration, freed from the constraints imposed by the necessity of running for re-election, have created a crisis for the Catholic Church in the United States.
In the thought-world and vocabulary of the Bible, "crisis" has two meanings: the conventional sense (a grave threat) and a deeper sense (a great moment of opportunity). Both are applicable to the Church in America these next four years.

The immediate threat, of course, is the HHS (Health and Human Services) mandate requiring Catholic institutions and Catholic employers to include coverage of contraceptives, sterilizations, and abortifacient drugs in the health insurance offered to their employees. The legal challenges mounted against this obvious violation of the first freedom, religious freedom, may well be vindicated. But with Obamacare now seemingly set in concrete, the Church will face a host of such implementing "mandates" and it will be imperative to contest those that are morally unacceptable, time and time again. Authentically Catholic health care in America is now in mortal danger, and it is going to take a concerted effort to save it for future generations.

A further threat comes from the gay insurgency, which will press the administration to find some way to federalize the marriage issue and to compel acceptance of the chimera of "gay marriage." Thus it seems important to accelerate a serious debate within American Catholicism on whether the Church ought not pre-emptively withdraw from the civil marriage business, its clergy declining to act as agents of government in witnessing marriages for purposes of state law.

If the Church were to take this dramatic step now, it would be acting prophetically: it would be challenging the state (and the culture) by underscoring that what the state means by "marriage" and what Catholics mean by "marriage" are radically different, and that what the state means by " marriage" is wrong. If, however, the Church is forced to take this step after "gay marriage" is the law of the land, Catholics will be pilloried as bad losers who've picked up their marbles and fled the game — and any witness-value to the Church's withdrawal from the civil marriage business will be lost. Many thoughtful young priests are discussing this dramatic option among themselves; it's time for the rest of the Church to join the conversation.   ...     

GEORGE WEIGEL

 

Life in the Kingdom of Whatever

 Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., looks at where we are as a culture and how we got here. His Grace explains:

"In the United States, our political tensions flow from our cultural problems.  Exceptions clearly exist, but today our culture routinely places rights over duties, individual fulfillment over community, and doubt over belief.  In effect, the glue that now holds us together is our right to go mall-crawling and buy more junk.  It's hard to live a life of virtue when all around us, in the mass media and even in the lives of colleagues and neighbors, discipline, restraint, and self-sacrifice seem irrelevant."

But Chaput's article is not another lament.  He quickly veers off productively, digging back to the historical sources of our cultural and spiritual malaise in order to arrive at a fresh vision.  Summarizing a book by Notre Dame historian Brad Gregory, Chaput explains:

"...today's relativism and cult of the consumer — what he (Brad Gregory) ironically calls "the goods life" — have roots that run centuries deep.  He wastes no time on nostalgia for a golden age that never existed.  But he does show with riveting clarity that in the sixteenth century, Protestant Reformers unintentionally set in motion certain ideas that eventually enabled today's radical self-centeredness."

Shameful: Obama Administration Hid Benghazi Al Qaeda Connection for Political Gain

Lying about the deaths of four Americans--including their own Ambassador.  Why did they do it? Because Obama's crowning achievement was the killing of Usama Bin Laden, and by extension, the crippling of Al Qaeda. But Al Qaeda's participation in the Benghazi disaster proved that "narrative" to be false. So they came up with the fantasy of that stupid video being responsible--and continued to assert that long after the absurdity of that explanation became obvious.

From Fox News earlier today:

"Former CIA Director David Petraeus stoked the controversy over the Obama administration's handling of the Libya terror attack, testifying Friday that references to "Al Qaeda involvement" were stripped from his agency's original talking points -- while other intelligence officials were unable to say who changed the memo, according to a top lawmaker who was briefed. 
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., told Fox News that intelligence officials who testified in a closed-door hearing a day earlier, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Acting CIA Director Mike Morell, said they did not know who changed the talking points. He said they went out to multiple departments, including the State Department, National Security Council, Justice Department and White House. 

"To me the question right now is who changed those talking points and why. ... I'd say it was somebody in the administration had to have taken it out," King told Fox News. "That, to me, has to be pursued."

Lying about the deaths of four Americans--including their own Ambassador.  We repeat Congressman King's sentence: "To me the question right now is who changed those talking points and why." Let's apply the old "Cui Bono?" Who benefits?

The Obama administration thought it would benefit them for the reasons given in our first paragraph.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

San Francisco to Offer Taxpayer-Funded "Sex-Change" Operations

From the Associated Press:

"San Francisco has approved a measure that utilizes taxpayer funds to pay for the sex-change operations of the uninsured, becoming the first city in the nation to do so."

The city's Public Health Director Barbara Garcia  "...described the move as 'a symbolic process' for now because the city currently does not have the expertise, capacity or protocols in place to provide the surgeries through its clinics and public hospital.'The community felt the exclusion on Healthy San Francisco was discriminatory and we wanted to change that as the first step,' she said.

Instead of expanding the existing plan, the Health Commission approved the establishment of a separate program that covers all aspects of transgender health, including gender transition. Garcia hopes to have it running by late next year, but said her department first needs to study how many people it would serve, how much it would cost, who would perform the surgeries and where they would be performed."

In addition to enabling those living in a fantasy world, the move comes as city officials are trying everything to retain existing services. Christian News reports:

"It was approved despite Mayor Ed Lee’s slashing of other city services and increased taxes due to record budget needs of $7 billion dollars....'Taxpayers cannot afford this, as there are unintended costs and unintended consequences unrelated to the actual surgery, such as their longer-term hormone treatment, psychology needs and other longer term health issues,' said resident Thomas Moyer.

According to reports, male to female surgeries cost approximately $37,000 and female to male surgeries cost $77,000."

The move coincides with newly released Census Bureau statistics that show California has the highest poverty rate in the nation.

Archbishop: "A major political party that has intrinsic evils among its basic principles"

That would be the Papal Nuncio, His Excellency Carlo Maria Vignano, who also notes that influential "Catholics" and  professors at ostensibly Catholic universities are among the guilty. From Catholic News Agency:

"Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano has told the University of Notre Dame that there is a concrete 'menace' to religious liberty in the U.S. that is advancing in part because some influential Catholic public figures and university professors are allied with those opposed to Church teaching.

'Evidence is emerging which demonstrates that the threat to religious freedom is not solely a concern for non-democratic and totalitarian regimes,' he said. 'Unfortunately it is surfacing with greater regularity in what many consider the great democracies of the world.'

The apostolic nuncio, who serves as the Pope’s diplomatic representative to the U.S., said this is a 'tragedy' for both the believer and for democratic society.

Archbishop Vigano’s Nov. 4 speech keynoted the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life conference. He discussed martyrdom, persecution, and religious freedom, with a particular focus on the United States.

 He cited Catholics’ duties to be disciples of Christ, not elements of a political or secular ideology. He lamented the fact that many Catholics are publicly supporting 'a major political party' that has 'intrinsic evils among its basic principles.'"

His Excellency is not talking about the Whigs. Or the Republicans. He's talking about the Democrats, and their allies within Catholic institutions.

 “There is a divisive strategy at work here, an intentional dividing of the Church; through this strategy, the body of the Church is weakened, and thus the Church can be more easily persecuted,” the nuncio said."
 Archbishop Vigano observed that some influential Catholic public officials and university professors are allied with forces opposed to the Church’s fundamental moral teachings on 'critical issues' like abortion, population control, the redefinition of marriage, embryonic stem cell research and 'problematic adoptions.'”

Exposing and combatting this is one of the reasons this blog was created.

At USCCB Meeting, Archbishop Cordileone Reminds Catholics: Abortion IS a Social Justice Issue

From LifeSiteNews:

"San Francisco’s new archbishop lamented the false distinction between 'social justice' and 'moral values'  issues at the U.S. Bishops’ annual meeting on Monday as he reflected on the results of last Tuesday’s presidential election.

If Catholics reflected on the Gospel in the light of Catholic social teaching, they would 'see the consistency' between issues such as immigration reform and the right to life for the unborn, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said at a press conference, where he was joined by Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore and Cardinal Seán O’Malley.

'They would not make the separation between so-called social justice issues and so-called moral value issues,' said Cordileone. 'They would see that they all have to do with social justice, with the common good, and a healthy thriving society...

At the press conference, Cordileone bemoaned the fact that many Catholics 'view these issues politically rather than through the lens of the Gospel and through the lens of the common good based on our Catholic social teaching.'

'The challenge for us as bishops, as clergy, is to educate our people in that, form them in seeing through the lens of the Gospel as interpreted through Catholic social teaching so they’ll see the consistency of the Church’s position on these issues,' he said."

Obama Administration Benghazi Resignations

CIA Director General Petraeus--resigned. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton--an aide says she will resign.

The Democrat-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee said General Petraeus will not be testifying about the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and 3 other Americans in the administration's Benghazi disaster.

Congressman Trey Gowdy is not accepting that. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein seems to agree.

As for Secretary Clinton, she says she is too busy to testify before congress about the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and 3 other Americans in the administration's Benghazi disaster.

As usual, there is a deafening silence from the mainstream media on the first murder of an American Ambassador in 30 years. Patrick Cadell, the former Democratic poll wizard, is "appalled" by the mainstream media's non-coverage of Benghazi, and described them as "an enemy of the American people."

Meanwhile, Attorney General Eric Holder, of "Operation Fast and Furious" fame, is "undecided" on whether to remain. "Only" four Americans were killed in the Benghazi disaster, whereas "Operation Fast and Furious" has been called "The Biggest, Bloodiest Scandal in U.S. Presidential History."   And who covered it? Univision, the Spanish language network.

"The Catholic Church. Outlasting Oppressive Governments Since 33 AD"

 

That's the cool motto on a product line at Cafe Press by IamCatholic.

Caution: DON'T buy the doggie sweater--it says it is made by American Apparel, which is a Culture of Death promoter. See here and here.

Hemlock Society Essay Contest

“Compassion and Choices” Essay Contest Promoted by at Least One Catholic School

For the fourth year, Compassion and Choices of Northern California (and its other chapters around the country) has invited has invited high school students to submit essays on the subject “Matters of Life and Death.” The winning essayist receives a college scholarship in the amount of $1,000. The second-place winner receives $500. Under the name “Compassion and Choices”  the organization may not be familiar to many people. But it is quite well known under its previous name—the Hemlock Society.

An August, 2011 press release from the "Compassion and Choices" of the state of Washington announced that year’s essay contest winners.

The title of the essay of the first prize winner, perhaps unintentionally, provides food for thought. It was written by 18-year old Megan Brennan, and was titled “Thinking About Death Is Just for Old People, Right?”  Whether or not thinking about death is just for old people, encouraging young people to reflect on suicide as a solution to life’s difficulties is unquestionably a bad idea. According to suicide.org, drawing on statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, while suicide as a whole has dropped from 13.2 per 100,000 persons in 1950 to 10.8 in 2003, suicide among those aged 5-14 has tripled from 0.2 to 0.6 per 100,000. In the same time period suicide among those aged 15-19 has more than tripled, rising from 2.7 per 100,000 to 7.3 per 100,000. In 2007, the CDC reported that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for Americans age 10-14, the third leading cause of death for Americans aged 15-24, and the second leading cause of death for Americans aged 25-34.

The press release also mentioned the second place winner from Washington, a young man named Davis Kennedy from Gig Harbor. “Compassion and Choices” made their attitude to suicide quite clear, writing that Mr. Davis “…earned $500 for his second-place essay which was opposed to the option of Death With Dignity titled ‘Where There Is Life, There Is Hope.’”

Catholic High Schools have been targeted as well, and at least one is playing ball with the Hemlock Society.   In its February2010, February 2011, March 2011, and May 2011 “College and Career Center” webpage, Carondelet High School of Concord, founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet included a blurb for the scholarship, as well as a link to the “Compassion and Choices” website.

Counterfeit "Marriage" Wins in Three States

The fantasy continues--on many levels.

Only  a people who would re-elect a manifestly unqualified Barack Obama to a second term as President would also believe that one man can "marry" another man, or that simply voting on something makes it so.

Rush Limbaugh Nails It

Here's what Mr. Limbaugh said today:

"Now, everybody is jumping on Romney's chain today, getting in his chili. Look, he may have not been the most optimal candidate, but he's a fine man. He would have been great for this country. Mitt Romney and his family would have been the essence of exactly what this country needs. But what was Romney's recipe? Romney's recipe was the old standby: American route to success, hard work. That gets sneered at. I'm sorry. In a country of children where the option is Santa Claus or work, what wins? And say what you want, but Romney did offer a vision of traditional America. In his way, he put forth a great vision of traditional America, and it was rejected. It was rejected in favor of a guy who thinks that those who are working aren't doing enough to help those who aren't. And that resonated."

Here's what I was writing this just before I checked his page out:

"The Democrats convince people because they compete on the level of myth while conservatives have nothing to offer but reality.

Their myth is of a golden age that is only being prevented from coming in to being by the actions of the rich or reactionaries. This is always enticing because the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. This myth appears over and over again throughout history, of course. Barack Obama’s promise to 'fundamentally transform' America is one example. All conservatives have to offer in exchange are old truths: get married, have kids, go to church, work hard. While that is true, and the only effective way to build a good life and a healthy society, it’s not very romantic, and cannot compete with the myth."

It is obvious.

An Odd Election, an Odd Electorate

What an odd election.

Back on September 28, I predicted a Romney victory. I was wrong but I can't really blame myself. As the AP Reported this morning:

 

"Obama won even though exit polls showed that only about 4 in 10 voters thought the economy is getting better, just one-quarter thought they're better off financially than four years ago and a little more than half think the country is on the wrong track."

Yet they elected him. One remarkable fact is that Obama has received 10 million fewer votes than he did in 2008. Of course votes are still being counted, but he will not make up that 10 million deficit, or even close to it.  And Romney, as of now, has received fewer votes than McCain did in 2008.

 

The situation is equally odd in California. The state is in the worst shape ever, yet the voters have rewarded the Democrats, who controlled the Governership and both the state senate and assembly, with total one-party supermajorities:

"California Democrats picked up a supermajority in both houses of the state Legislature Tuesday night, a surprise outcome that gives the party the ability to unilaterally raise taxes and leaves Republicans essentially irrelevant in Sacramento.

Democrats were long expected to gain a two-thirds advantage in the Senate, but Assembly Speaker John Pérez had downplayed expectations that the party could win a supermajority in the lower house. The party's apparent capture of at least 54 seats in the Assembly and 27 in the Senate would mark the first time in nearly 80 years that one party controlled two-thirds of both houses, according to Senate President pro tem Darrell Steinberg."

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Judge Orders PA Democrats to stop Ejecting Republican Election Officials

The Democrats are utterly lawless and unAmerican. From Fox News:

"A Pennsylvania judge is issuing an order to reinstate Republican election officials across Philadelphia who allegedly were ejected or refused entry by on-site Democratic voting chief judges, GOP officials tell Fox News.

One Republican official claimed that "just under 70" Republican election officials were blocked from Philadelphia polling sites Tuesday morning by Democrats on site. One of them, the official claimed, "was shoved out of the polling place." 

"For this many inspectors to be ejected from polling places is rare, even for Philadelphia," the official told FoxNews.com.

Elsewhere in the city, a representative from the New Black Panther Party was also spotted outside a polling site. The New Black Panthers stirred controversy in 2008 when members appeared outside a polling site, one of them holding a billy club. The representative seen Tuesday morning was not armed. 

The flap over the election judges, though, was widespread. Republicans claim they are obtaining a series of court orders to seat the so-called election "inspectors," and sheriff's deputies will be available to escort them..."

MORE:

Chicago Election Judge Wearing Obama Cap

 
"This photo, taken by a voter this morning at the Ward 4, Precinct 37 polling place (1212 South Plymouth Court, Chicago), shows an election judge checking in voters while wearing an Obama hat," a source writes. "Chicago's 4th ward is home to President Barack Obama."

The voter who took the photo says: "Woman in front of me also given an extra ballot."

And the voter adds that she has in the past been an election observer abroad. "I had greater confidence votes mattered [in a foreign election in a transitioning country] than I did about my own vote today," says the voter.

MORE (Philadelphia):

Obama mural in Philadelphia Polling Place:

"Pennsylvania election law states "no person within a polling place may electioneer or solicit votes for any political party, political body, or candidate, nor may any unauthorized written or printed materials be posted within the polling place." 

MORE: Same-Sex "Marriage" Supporter Steals Yard Sign In Minnesota:



MORE: In Oregon, A Poll Worker Cheats for Republicans

"An elections worker in Oregon was fired after she was accused of tampering with ballots, in a case that has since been referred to the state's Department of Justice for investigation.

Fox 12 in Oregon reports that Deanna Swenson, who was working part-time in Clackamas County, allegedly voted for Republican candidates on two ballots where voters had left sections blank. County commissioners reportedly claimed they saw her fill in the blanks on Oct. 31."


MORE: In Minnesota, Propaganda Photo of Obama in Polling Place

"Photos obtained by The Daily Caller show that students at Saint John’s University in Minnesota voted Tuesday at a polling place where a wall-sized enlargement of a photo from the Obama White House situation room was displayed prominently."

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Bishop Jenky Teaches: "This Assault on our Religious Freedom is Simply Without Precedent"

As the election looms, Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Illinois instructed his priests to read a pastoral letter at Sunday's Masses. Excerpts from the letter, via LifeSiteNews:

"He singled out the Obama Administration’s controversial HHS birth control mandate, which would force Catholic employers to fund coverage of contraception, sterilization and abortion-causing pills for women workers, free of charge. 'This assault upon our religious freedom is simply without precedent,' he wrote. 'I do not think there has ever been a time more threatening to our religious liberty.'

He compared Catholic politicians and voters who support legalized abortion to the mob that cheered as Jesus Christ was tortured and killed. 

'Nearly two thousand years ago,' he wrote, 'after our Savior had been bound, beaten, scourged, mocked, and crowned with thorns, a pagan Roman Procurator displayed Jesus to a hostile crowd by sarcastically declaring: ‘Behold your King.’ The mob roared back: 'We have no king but Caesar.'” 

“'Today,' he wrote, 'Catholic politicians, bureaucrats, and their electoral supporters who callously enable the destruction of innocent human life in the womb also thereby reject Jesus as their Lord.'”

Nevada’s Biggest Paper: Obama 'Unworthy Commander-in-Chief' After Benghazi

  http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/obama-benghazi-attacks-security/2012/11/01/id/462368

The Art of Speaking Catholic Nonsese

 'The question is whether you can make words mean so many different things.'
SWith Election Day upon uis, it's no surprise that Obama's Catholics are engaging in the art of speaking Catholic nonsense.

Lewis Carroll, the British author of the "Alice" stories, was a trained logician in addition to being a gifted writer. His Alice in Wonderland is filled with characters who speak nonsense, a habit which Carroll repeatedly underscores with lines like this:

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."

More from "Alice" later, because we should pause to mention just which Obama Catholics are sounding like Humpty Dumpty lately. First, and most notably, our nation's first Catholic Vice President, Joe Biden, who rather pathetically, yesterday, had to release a video reminding voters that he is a "practicing Catholic."

The script read by Biden into the camera is classic Humpty Dumpty, containing words that Biden delivered as if they meant he was a "believing Catholic," that is, one who believes and accepts the teachings of the Church. As everyone knows, or should know, Biden rejects an entire list of moral and social teachings that protect persons and society from the destruction of innocent human life, the family, and our natural right to obey God without interference from the State.

As Alice replies to Humpty Dumpty, "The question is whether you can make words mean so many different things."

Biden, however, only receives our B+ grade for the audacity of his dishonesty, while the A+ goes to the president of "Catholics for Choice". In an article from the Oct. 30 Chicago Sun-Times, which looks like it belongs in the Style section rather than the news, Jon O'Brien calls himself a "real traditionalist."
O'Brien, for any who may not know, replaced Frances Kissling at the helm of a "Catholic" group that promotes abortion and contraception to a mainstream media who lap it up. (The US Catholic Bishops have formally declared, several times, that O'Brien's group is NOT a Catholic organization.)

O'Brien speaks with the firm conviction of a Humpty Dumpty without shame: "I believe in the totality of Catholic teaching, and that includes the right to dissent and freedom of conscience."

You have to admire, so to speak, a man who can say that to a newspaper reporter on the same day he received a Personal PAC. When O'Brien, and Catholics like him, start talking about "conscience," it's time either to lift your sword and shield or leave the field because anything can, and will, happen.

The reporter, to her credit, did ask O'Brien the obvious question: whether he was a "cafeteria Catholic?" "No," O'Brien answered,

"What makes you a Catholic," he said, "is your Baptism."
Whatever happened to the life-is-a-journey sort of thing that Catholics like O'Brien used to wax poetical about? All of a sudden we are in a world of once-and-for-alls and theological finality: "What makes you Catholic is your Baptism." Really? Is that all there is to it, nothing else is required? Perhaps O'Brien should watch the Biden video where he equates being a "practicing Catholic" with helping those less fortunate.
Humpty Dumpty didn't allow Alice the last word, Humpty Dumpties never do:
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master -- that's all."
Yes, to be the "master" is all that matters to the Catholics who speak nonsense. Nov. 6 will reveal whether their gibberish will prevail with Catholic voters.

By Deal W Hudson and Keith A Fournier Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

- - -

Ten Myths About Premarital Sex

 - Conversant Life
From a  recently picked up a copy of Premarital Sex in America by Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker and was pleasantly surprised at some of the insights

This blog is adapted from the last chapter in the book entitled, “The Power of Stories and Ten Myths about Sex in Emerging Adulthood.” The empirical data suggests that these are not true most of the time. There are exceptions, of course.

MYTH 1: Long-term relationships are a thing of the past
Many emerging adults (ages 18-23) tend to hold two views in tension—that sexual experimentation is valuable and yet one should not cheat on a monogamous partner. Indeed, many consider it stupid and unhealthy notto be sexually active in various relational settings. And yet most desire a lasting exclusive relationship. According to the research of Regnerus and Uecker, at least 50 percent of marriages last a lifetime, despite what most emerging adults tend to think.
MYTH 2: Sex is necessary to maintain a struggling relationship
The reality is that most relationships fail and the sooner one introduces sex into the relationship the greater chance it will fail.
MYTH 3: The sexual double standard between men and women is wrong and should be resisted
The authors of Premarital Sex in America argue that there are genuine differences in how men and women approach and experience sex that are deeply engrained. They conclude, “Unfortunately, many well-meaning adults and educators want so badly to dismantle the double standard that they work to normalize any and all consensual sexual relationships, rather than considering whether common experiences of sexual regret are in fact telling us something” (244).
MYTH 4: Boys are sexual beings and cannot be expected to follow sexual norms
This myth is both false and harmful. Young men can make wise sexual decisions if they are taught how to and the standard is set high.
MYTH 5: You are entirely in charge of your own sexuality; others’ decisions don’t matter.
Despite the individualistic mindset that dominates how emerging adults think about sexuality our choices are deeply influenced by other people’s sexual decisions. The choices of other people affect us financially, emotionally, relationally, and in terms of our expectations of sexual behavior.
MYTH 6: Porn will not affect your relationships
I have written on this elsewhere, so I won’t go into detail. The reality is that porn use has a significant negative impact on relationships.
MYTH 7: Others are having more sex than you
Most emerging adults significantly overestimate how much sex is really going on around them. Most think that other people are having more sex than they actually are. As a result, emerging adults act on this falseperception rather than reality.
MYTH 8: Sex doesn’t need to mean much
In reality sex is a very significant matter. There is nothing humans do that involves more of our minds, hearts, emotions, memories, self-image, and bodies. Sexual decisions stay with us for a lifetime.
MYTH 9: Marriage can wait for later
Despite common perceptions, the majority of emerging adults want to get married. But most want to wait awhile before doing so. The reality is that this is easier said than done. Life plans don’t always progress as young people envision.
MYTH 10: Living together is a positive step towards marriage
Between 50 and 70 percent of couples cohabit today. But only about 1 in 5 such relationships result in marriage.
I would highly recommend Premarital Sex in America for those who work with either emerging adults or younger students. It provides a deeply researched and balanced insight into the sexual lives of 18-23 year-olds.
Premarital Sex in America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think about Marrying

Mark Regnerus

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(Author), Jeremy Uecker

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