Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary - Blame Weakland Not Pope for Millwaukee Scandal

A sidebar to the Irish Pastoral Letter has been the attempts to personally embroil Benedict XVI in the sex abuse scandals.
The New York Times on March 25, and parroted by other newspapers, accused Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of intervening to prevent a Wisconsin priest, Father Lawrence Murphy, from facing penalties for cases of sexual abuse of minors. The story is not even supported by the evidence of the Times.
Cardinal Ratzinger does not appear in the record as taking any decision. His office, in the person of his deputy, Archbishop (Tarcisio) Bertone, agreed that there should be a full canonical trial. When it became apparent that Father Murphy was in failing health, Archbishop Bertone suggested more expeditious means of removing him from any ministry.
Furthermore, under canon law at the time, the principal responsibility for sexual abuse cases lay with the local bishop. Archbishop (Rembert) Weakland had from 1977 onward the responsibility of administering penalties to Father Murphy. He did nothing until 1996. It was at that point that Cardinal Ratzinger's office became involved, and it subsequently did nothing to impede the local process.
In August 1998, Archbishop Weakland writes that he has halted the canonical trial and penal process against Father Murphy and has immediately begun the process to remove him from ministry. That same month, Father Murphy dies.
The New York Times flatly got the story wrong. Readers may want to speculate on why. (Charitable way of saying there is an ulterior motive. I submit my recent post, Memo to Main Stream Media Slimeballing of Pope: BASTA!!!!. for some suggestions as to what that motive might be. )

Taken from It's wrong to point finger at Pope in sex abuse scandals, a pastoral letter appearing in The Calgary Herald

Cardinal Newman Society Issues Challenge to Pray for Papa Benedetto

Easter Prayer Campaign in Defense of Pope Benedict XVI Launched by Cardinal Newman Society

Manassas, Va. – On Wednesday, March 31, 2010, The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) launched an Easter Prayer Campaign for Pope Benedict XVI in response to New York Archbishop Dolan’s call last Sunday for Catholics to pray for the Holy Father. CNS is inviting everyone to offer their prayers for the Pope by signing the spiritual bouquet located here.

To initiate the Prayer Campaign, CNS sent the following e-mail to nearly 300,000 people:

Dear Fellow Catholic,

Urgently, we ask you TODAY to join Catholics nationwide in an an Easter Prayer Campaign for Pope Benedict. . . and spread the word!

Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, is suffering "some of the same unjust accusations, shouts of the mob, and scourging at the pillar as did Jesus"!

Those are the words of Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, who on Palm Sunday urged prayers for Pope Benedict as he is viciously and unfairly attacked by the secular media and sadly even many dissident Catholics.

Pope Benedict is being assaulted with "unrelenting insinuations," said Archbishop Dolan, ". . .as certain sources seem frenzied to implicate the man who, perhaps more than anyone else, has been the leader in purification, reform and renewal that the Church so needs."

When he was installed as Pope five years ago, the Holy Father himself asked us to help him, saying:

"Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. Let us pray for one another, that the Lord will carry us and that we will learn to carry one another."

Pope Benedict has never fled from the wolves, and he remains dedicated to renewing Christ's Church built on a foundation of strong Catholic identity. It is by his example that The Cardinal Newman Society and so many others are struggling to renew Catholic life in America.

We are assembling an Eastertide spiritual bouquet for the Holy Father and need your prayers for him today!

Please pledge to pray for the Pope during the 50 days of Eastertide by joining our spiritual bouquet.

Last year, thanks to your help, we collected more than 722,000 prayers for U.S. bishops, including 146,944 Rosaries and 28,862 days of fasting, as a token of appreciation for their strong stand for Catholic identity at Notre Dame.

But now, "The father of our family, 'il papa,' needs our love, support, and prayers," as Archbishop Dolan has pleaded.

Catholics nationwide are praying for Pope Benedict, won't you join us?

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle! And may God bless you and your family.

Yours in Christ,

The Cardinal Newman Society

If Adams, Franklin & Jefferson Were Arround Today It Might Read Like This. . . .

The Declaration of Independence (Throw the Bums Out Edition)

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these People; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the Present Congress of United States is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
They have imposed their will upon the people in regards to the care of our own health, ignoring the wishes of the people and the laws upon which we rely for the preservation of our freedom.
They have made Backroom deals, Practicing the most Heinous of Political practices; Bribing, Arm-Twisting, and Vote Selling. By way of the “Louisiana Purchase” and the “Cornhusker Throwback” they have Proven this to be so.
They have practiced Hypocrisy of the utmost degree. They Promised among other things, Especially in the case of “Pro-Life” Democrats, to ensure that the HealthCare Bill would not be passed. The Majority have Reneged on this Promise to their constituents, proving Themselves Unworthy of the Sacred Trust vested in them.
They have enslaved those Most Esteemed members of the Community, the Doctors, Nurses, and Other Workers who take care of the sick, the injured, and the Dying. These may no longer work for Themselves and their Patients, but must now instead Spend their Lives laboring to obey mandates imposed upon them by the no-longer Federal Government.
They have deemed it Necessary to Take Private Property, that cornerstone of Freedom, whenever it suites them. A Doctor is no longer Owner of Their Talents, Banks must Answer to the Government, not their Clients, And Industry is Being Driven from this Nation by means of Government Interference.
They have displayed an Egregious Ignorance in Regards to Matters of Economics. One Cannot receive Something for Nothing. And Increasing Spending Cannot Decrease Debt. They have Spent the Money of the People recklessly, pouring Billions into Failed Programs with Alarming Frequency.
They have Enslaved the Young and Unborn Generations of this Nation. For the Federal Debt has been raised to the extent that only by sacrificing Half or More of our Lives, represented by our Earnings, can we hope to Decrease this Monstrosity of Government Spending.
They have Ignored the Tenth Amendment, addressing States, not as Powerful Entities in their Own Right, but as Subservient to the Central Government, having no true Power of their Own.
They have degraded their Own People. Labeling Peaceful Protestors as Violent, Racist, Extremist, and Dangerous despite Myriad Evidence to the Contrary. They have ignored the multi-racial, multi-party, cross-class, and cross Ages nature of those who oppose Their actions. This Contempt of the American People is more fitting of the Kings we once Overthrew than of Elected Officials.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Congress and President, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Main Stream Media brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by Congress’ legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the People of the United States of America, in Protest, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of Ourselves, solemnly publish and declare, That these United States are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from Obligation to uphold Unconstitutional Laws, and that all political connection between them and their current Representatives, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to Throw the Bums Out, elect Fair and Just replacements, to Preserve the Constitution by Voting in November, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

To paraphrase a line that John Hankcock is supposed to have said to explain his large signature: Hopefully that is large enough for Barry, Harry & Nancy to read without their glasses.

& shere is my John Hancock to sign on:

Allen J. Troupe

H/T: Vodkapundit

This Just In - The Democrats are Really the Daleks

1st we have this revelation from Capitol South:

& here are a couple of pictures of Dalek Sec:

This sure would explain a lot, wouldn't it???

This does raise another question that I have to ask. Is Nancy Pelosi an Auton?

Terri's Day 2010

Today marks the 5th Anniversary of conclusion of the slow murder of Terri Schiavo by starvation & dehydration.

The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, in collaboration with Priests for Life, have declared it the “International Day of Prayer and Remembrance for Terri Schindler Schiavo, and All of Our Vulnerable Brothers and Sisters.”

There will be a National Mass for Terri's Day @ The Oratory, Ave Maria University, Annunciation Circle, 5040 Ave Maria Ave, Ave Maria, Fl. Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, & Father Thomas Euteneuer, President of Human Life International, will be joined by many other priests & faithful for the Mass at 5 PM on Wednesday, 31 March.

Here is the press release for the Mass:

Ave Maria University to Host National Mass for Terri's Day

NEW YORK, Feb. 23 /Christian Newswire/ -- Terri's Foundation and Priests for Life are happy to announce that Ave Maria University will once again host "The National Mass for Terri's Day" at the Ave Maria Oratory at Ave Maria University, located near Naples, Florida.

Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, and Father Thomas Euteneuer, President of Human Life International, will be joined by many other priests and faithful for the Mass at 5 PM on Wednesday, March 31.

Priests for Life and Terri's Foundation established the "International Day of Prayer and Remembrance for Terri Schindler Schiavo, and All of Our Vulnerable Brothers and Sisters" ("Terri's Day") two years ago.

Its purpose is to foster education, prayer, and activism regarding discrimination against the disabled, and advocacy for people in situations similar to what Terri and her family faced so that no one will again suffer as she did. Terri's Day is recognized each year on March 31st, the date of Terri's death.

_____________

As you may know by now, Family Guy recently mocked what Terri & her famiglia went through. I saw the video & saw absolutely nothing funny about mocking the suffering they endured in seeing their daughter executed via a slow death. & like so many others they made the husband into a hero he never was. For more on what to do to let FOX & Seth McFarland know about how you feel

Iowa Dems as Screwed Up as National Dems

From IA Rep. Paulsen's page on The Iowa Republican:

IaHouserepubs: RT@electstevelukan:Not hiring troopers but state going to start buying "reproductive health items" for men @ 300% of poverty? <--#budgetfail March 29, 2010

Taking a lead from ObamaCare apparently.

Memo to Main Stream Media Slimeballing of Pope: BASTA!!!!

Originally, I wans't going to comment on the whole recent attack on Papa Benedetto & his handling of some abuse cases over the years. Plenty of other people have done an excellent job. But then yesterday something my paisan, Fr. Trigilio, wrote on his blog got me thinking. In the post (An Inconvenient Truth) he was talking about how the secular press is being manipulated by dissident Catholics. & while I agree the dissidents are using the press & the recent scandals to forward their agenda, I suspect the Main Stream Media is lot more willing than even they would like to admit. Mainly because they both have the same agenda, to undermine the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church to forward a pro-abortion, pro-contraception, pro-gay rights, pro-radical feminist agenda.

& in doing so they are, as Fr. Trigilio so rightly points out, "abusing the abuse cases by using them for their own agenda. They are taking facts out of context and manipulating the conclusion so as to promote their own ideology. Since they had no ammunition to discredit then Cardinal Ratzinger and now Pope Benedict, they throw as much mud and filth as possible HOPING something will stick."

Child abuse is always horrible. & I say so for some very personal reasons. (& no they have nothing to do with any priests or religious.) I know people who have been sexually abused as well as physically. It can never be condoned.

Yet, that is exactly what the MSM is doing. Why o I say that? Simple, they are trumping up these charges against the Pope. Yet how much attention have they payed to all the willingness of aborton clinics like those Planned Parenthood runs to cover up statuatory rape & incest so they can give undeage girls who have been sexually abused an abortion.

Live Action has worked for years to show how Planned Parenthood has covered up rape & sexual abuse, yet how much attention has the MSM payed to their efforts? How much attention has the MSM paid to those victims who have come forward & sued PP? Little to none. & when they have paid any attention the MSM lets the claims that PP didn't know what the tapes show they actually did know. (Video of Planned Parenthood Hiding Sexual Abuse Sent to Wisconsin Officials) Other times the MSM has attacked the victims or Live Action to make them the bad guys. As Fr. Trigilio said, they abuse the abused.

Planned Parenthood is guilty of covering up child abuse. Planned Parenthood is guilty of helping enable child abusers to continue to sexually abuse children.

So this brings up the obvious question. Why is the MSM giving PP a pass? Simple, PP promotes abortion, pre-marital sex & the same homosexual agenda that the MSM & their dissident Catholic buddies want.

This IS NOT about the abused children. While some of the reporters probably do care about the children, I suspect the majority just see them as a means to an end, to attack & destroy the Catholic Church. If it was about the children the MSM wouldn't be as guilty, if not more guilty, that those Bishops who betrayed their vows by intentionally covering up the actions of priests who sexually abused children & teens. & I say more guilty because most of these Bishops, wrong as their actions were, didn't compound it by abetting abortions as the MSM is by abetting PP. & some of what has been called covering up wasn't covering up as those Bishops did send those priests in for treatment, the same type covered by ObamaCare that I recently put a post up about. If it was wrong for the Bishops to do send priest for treatment & then assign them to a new parish, why is the current requirement being tauted as protecting children? Again, because ObamaCare promotes abortion.

As I said, those Bishops who did cover up what the priests did, or were guilty themselves as Archbishop Weakland was, were wrong. They betrayed the teachings of the Church. As another aside, do you notice the pass that pro-homosexual agenda, pro-radical feminist &, I suspect, pro-abortion Weakland was given by the MSM, esp in the incident of the Milwaukee priest currently being used to attack the Pope. Just more proof of my point.

On the other hand, as has been proven time after time, PP wasn't violating anything in its policy, it was actually following policy. & that policy is to cover up rape & incest because it will cut into their business should they report these rapes & acts of incest. As has been sad many a time by myself & others, abortion is the sacrament of their secular humanist religion. & by child abusing rapists & those guilty of incest forcing their victims to get an abortion, PP, the MSM & dissident Catholics see the abortion as granting these child abusers of their sin, not making themselves guilty of aiding & abetting in it.

& don't forget that there are members of the Obama administration that are in favor of the very thing the Catholic Church is being attacked for coving up. In particular I am refering to Kevin Jennings, the Obama administration's "safe schools czar." Heis a professed admirer of Harry Hay, radical homosexual rights activist & ardent promoter of pedophilia. (Obama School Appointee Admired Ardent Promoter of Child Molestation, Eye-Witness Teacher Says Safe Schools Czar Present at "Fistgate" Conference., etc) Where is the MSM on that. Oh wait, Obama & he are both ardent supporters of their agenda.

Like I said, the MSM & the dissident Catholics don't care about the victims of priestly sexual abuse. If they did they would be screaming just as loudly against PP & people like Kevin Jennings. They would be paying more attention to the amount of sexual abuse done by teachers & other liberal "Christian" religions. Oh wait, the teachers union is pro-abort, gay etc. & so are many of these Churches. Still more proof of my point. No, all they care about is attacking the Catholic Church because it, depsite the flaws of members in it, against abortion, against sin, against so many of the things the MSM, Obama, PP & the dissidents want. The Catholic Church is the bastion of truth that proclaims the truth, Jesus. The Catholic Church calls sin sin. The Catholic Church proclaims the only true way to salvation, through Jesus' death on the Cross & His Resurrection from the dead. The Catholic Church proclaims that a person cannot continue in sin but MUST repent.

The Catholic Church will continue to be attacked from without as well as from within. There have been Bishops & priests since Judas Iscariot who have betrayed their call & will continue to do so. There have been people from without who have tried to destroy the Catholic Church as well. They may do harm in the short term, but in the end they will fail. Why? Because Jesus promised us that the Catholic Church will not only survive, it WILL triumph even should it attack the gates of Hell (Matt 16).

When there is wrong done by those inside the Church, we must stand up & speak out against it, not cover it up. But we must also realize that these disident Catholics & the MSM etc, don't care about the Catholic Church except in so far as it is a sign that reminds them they are on the path to eternal destruction. & that is what these attacks in the press boil down to, an attempt to silence the Catholic Church so that they don't have to face their sins as well as bringing as many others as they can down to destruction with them.

In the meantime, until the SM starts to treat what has gone on within the Catholic Church accurately & quits giving PP, NAMBLA, dissident Catholics like Archbishop Weakland & the Obama administration a pass for doing the same & worse, then all I have to say to them is: BASTA!!!!! You have lost all moral authority as well as any credibility you may think you have. Abortion is not a sacrament that allows for the covering up of sexual abuse, rape & incest. It doesn't allow you to condone homosexual acts, pre-martital sex, artificial birth control & a radical anti God agenda. Abortion is an intrinsic evil that you wholeheartedly approve of thus making you agents of evil, not God.

I pray that God will lead you to repentance before it is too late. If not some day you will have to answer for those deeds that condoned sin as well as shut the door of salvation to others by your attacking of God's 1 True Holy Catholic & Apostolic Church.

& for the rest of us, we need to remember that what the MSM is doing isn't about the children, it is about advancing their anti-God agenda. Yes, I am angry, just as Jesus was angry at the Moneychangers as well as the Pharasees & Saducees. Yes, I am zealous, just as St, John the Baptist was, just as Jesus was when he was here on Earth & just as the Apostles & saints were down through the ages. I love this Church that Jesus founded. & I WILL defend her from all attacks, within as well as without.

_____________________

For more on how the MSM is twisting things & misrepresenting things: Setting the record straight in the case of abusive Milwaukee priest Father Lawrence Murphy (H/T: Fr. Z Judicial vicar of Milwaukee gives his account, corrects NYT )

At 88 Yrs Old, Fr. Hesburgh is Still Betraying the Catholic Church

As if 40+ years of damage done to the Catholic Church, esp in the area of higher education that Fr. Hesburgh did by spearheaded the creation of infamous Land O'Lakes statement wasn't enough.

Pelosi Invoked Fr. Hesburgh to Turn 'No' Health Bill Vote to 'Yes'

By Kathleen Gilbert
SOUTH BEND, Indiana, March 29, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, the prestigious former president of the University of Notre Dame, may have helped swing a critical House Democrat vote to the "yes" column after House Speaker Pelosi asked for his help, reported the LA Times and the Associated Press last Tuesday.
The South Bend Tribune confirmed the report on Friday.
Hesburgh was called in to persuade U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) to vote for the health care bill despite the vast expansion of abortion funding embedded in it. Donnelly had been a member of the group of Democrats led by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who opposed the bill without Hyde-amendment restrictions on abortion funding. Stupak and several other Democrats eventually agreed to vote for the legislation in exchange for a presidential executive order purporting to ban federal abortion funding.
The order, however, was dubbed meaningless and "a symbolic gesture" by both the National Right to Life Committee and Planned Parenthood.
The LA Times' Richard Simon and Faye Fiore hailed the Speaker's initiative. "The key to Pelosi's success on the healthcare vote is intimate knowledge of her members and the kinds of influences that will move them," they wrote.
Elizabeth Shappell, Donnelly's press secretary, claims Hesburgh did not tell Donnelly how to vote but only advised him to "vote your conscience."
As president of Notre Dame in 1967, Fr. Hesburgh spearheaded the infamous Land O'Lakes statement, in which the heads of several American universities declared their separation from the authority of the Catholic Church.
The University of Notre Dame has been struggling to repair its pro-life credentials ever since its invitation to President Obama to speak and receive an honorary degree at the school's commencement exercises last year - a decision supported by Fr. Hesburgh. In pursuit of this goal, President Fr. John Jenkins' this year attended the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. and the university has created a "Task Force on Supporting the Choice for Life."
Yet critics such as Notre Dame professor emeritus Charles Rice have said out that such efforts are a "mockery" as the Notre Dame 88, arrested last year at Jenkins' behest for offering a pro-life witness against the Obama honor on campus, continue to face charges.
When Joe Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League confronted Jenkins over the "ND 88" at the 2010 March for Life, Scheidler complained that the experience was like talking to a "stone."

Queen Nancy wasn't kidding when she said this:



She knew that without "the fog" the outrage would have been so great that they wouldn't be able to ram it through. As I have already pointed out, it cuts back on 1 of the best benefits for us on the lower end of the pay scale by reducing what we can put into a flex spending plan as well as what we can use it to pay for. This was a backdoor tax increase for those of us that were told our taxes wouldn't go up. So much for that promise. Speaking of promises, these kids with preexisting conditions fund out how hollow the promise of coverage for them was. & the 100% of those currently not covered didn't happen either. Then there is the viagra for child molesters portion. It just keeps getting worse.

Well, here is the latest:

So, you can supposedly opt out. When were they going to tell us we had a choice? & given the track record of how they have worked to be sure the money that should be there for Social Security & Medicare when I retire won't, why should I even think this money will be there should I need it if I let them get my hands on it? This is just more ways of getting their hands on all our money, rich or poor & ensuring that we have a total dependence on the Federal government for our very lives.

Remember, this is only the tip of the iceberg. The worst is yet to come. Sorry to say.

Hollywood Exports It's Distorted Theology

Hollywood's Convoluted Theology

Since Maynor and I arrived in Nairobi last Tuesday, beginning with the fast food supper we picked up at a convenience store after coming from the airport, it seems that at every turn we have been confronted with an advertisement for the new movie, Legion. Some of the more modern shopping centers in Nairobi have screens that play a cycle of commercials. The trailer for Legion features a scene in which a pleasantly smiling elderly woman enters a diner and approaches the counter using a walker, then flips out, bites a man on the neck, and climbs up the wall onto the ceiling before being picked off by someone with a shot gun. I think the scene is meant to be scary, but the image of a “diabolical granny” is so incongruous that it comes off as comical.

The combination of a possessed old lady with the obviously demoniacal title Legion piqued my curiosity, though, and I did a little research. Apparently the plot line of the film has to do with the Archangel Michael rebelling against God to protect the human race from Him because He plans to destroy it. It seems that Hollywood can’t touch a theological theme without totally distorting it. From what I gather, there are also two new films that return to the topic of the Greek gods and the projection of humanity onto deity. The real drama of salvation and the genuine message of the Gospel, it would seem, are not interesting enough to capture the restless imaginations of pagan filmmakers.

Our celebration of Holy Week reminds us that, far from being “against us,” God is for us, on our side, so much so that He is willing to ransom us with the blood of His Son. Jesus is no titan or demi-god with a will to power, but rather the real God who “emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave,” embracing our wounded humanity to rescue us by His obedience “even unto death on a Cross” (Phil 2).

To donate online, please CLICK HERE.
Posted by Fr. Herald Joseph Brock, CFR

__________________

Fr. Brock is a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal who is currently proclaiming the Gospel as a missionary in Sudan.

Europa - A World Declaring the Glory of God, For Those Who Have Ears to Hear

It never ceases to amaze me how far "Science" has divorced itself from the author of "science". So-called scientists look for things to prove that God couldn't exist rather than looking at things to see how God ordered things to operate. That is how the 1st true scientists operated, all of whom were Catholic. They sought to understand God's divine order as exhibited in His creation. & please DON'T bring up the Myth of Galileo. Like I said, the Catholic Church always encouraged science, not discouraged it.

A part of me would love them to find microbiological life elsewhere that was absolutely identical to that on Earth despite the conditions beiing impossible for it being identical. The fact that scientists hate to admit is that they ar still finding biological life here on Earth in 'impossible" places. Why shouldn't an infinite God be able to put life in infinite places just as he would design an infinitely wide number of planets & stars.

As for intelligent life elsewhere, I already know there are other intelligent beings created by God before He created the Earth, They are called angels. 1/3 of them fell & are now known as devils & demons. As for biological life? I don't know. There is nothing in Scripture to affirm or deny it. & even if there was, it wouldn't change anything. God still created it. & man's sin harmed it. Creation is groaning for the day when it sees the total effects of Jesus' redemptive act on the Cross. (Romans 8:20-22) & at Jesus' return it too will be restored to its original state (Revelation 21:1)

What they will or won't find on Europa I have no idea. But we will learn something, if we are truly open to the lessons being taught. What we will learn if we are truly willing to learn is more about the Divinely ordered way His creation operates.

Rare Arctic Springs Hold Clues to Jupiter's Moon Europa

By Charles Q. Choi
Astrobiology Magazine

Extraordinarily rare springs high above the rest of the world in the Arctic could serve as Earth's own little version of Europa, helping scientists picture what life might face on the mysterious Jovian moon.
Europa is covered with sulfur-rich materials concentrated along cracks and ridges on its icy surface, which could hold the only clues we currently have about the composition of its hidden underground ocean. These compounds in the ice might even contain organic material that migrated upward from the sea below.
"Europa's liquid water layer contains twice the volume of all the Earth's oceans combined, an enormous potentially habitable environment, not billions of years in the past but at the present day," said astrobiologist Damhnait Gleeson at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "The composition of the ocean directly controls our view of the habitability of the environment, our understanding of whether microbial life could survive there, and if so, what metabolic pathways or geochemical gradients it could utilize to gain energy."

The Galileo space probe's spectrometers captured near-infrared signals from Europa — a "spectral fingerprint" that could help identify what these substances are, just as a specific mix of colors might help identify a painting. However, so far it remains uncertain what exact blend of compounds matches up with this fingerprint.
To help identify the mystery compounds on Europa, Gleeson and her colleagues investigated potential copycats here on Earth. Combinations of sulfur-rich springs and glacial ice are very rare on Earth, but the researchers found one at Ellesmere Island in the Canadian High Arctic, where springs at the Borup Fiord Pass stain the surrounding glacier yellow with sulfur, gypsum and calcite.
"We're pretty limited when we're looking for terrestrial analogs of something like Europa, since the environments are so different, but the site they found is probably as close to something as we're going to find," said geologist Ed Cloutis at the University of Winnipeg, who researches Mars analogs.
In a two-week expedition to the site in the summer of 2006, the researchers analyzed samples from these springs in near-freezing temperatures with backpack spectrometers, flown to the valley in a small plane and shuttled out to their camp by helicopter.
"The first three days it rained non-stop, but after that it cleared up nicely -- much to our relief -- and I was able to haul my spectrometer up to the glacier," Gleeson recalled. "I'm not sure how much the spectrometer weighed on my back — it was 70 pounds in the box — but all I know is that when I lost my balance while wading through waist deep snow with it on, it was close to impossible to get up again. Entertaining for the others to watch me, though."
The scientists not only examined samples out in the field, but also investigated how these materials appear at different scales, from orbital remotely-sensed data to high-resolution laboratory analysis. The spectral properties of the glacial ice proved similar to those of materials seen on Europa.
"These results represent the first data on the detection of sulfur minerals on ice in a terrestrial setting," Gleeson said. "These new data improve our ability to correctly identify these minerals in other locations."
Minor constituents of the glacial ice seen through lab analysis, such as gypsum and calcite, went partially or completely undetected in satellite data, findings that must be taken account when interpreting spectra collected during planetary missions, Gleeson said.
"Technology under development for future missions could benefit from field-testing in this Europa-relevant environment," she noted.
This arctic location is not a perfect analog for Europa — the temperatures at the pass are higher, the radiation is far lower, and oxygen is everywhere, influencing the chemistry. Collecting spectra of the arctic materials under very low temperatures could make them more useful as Europa analogs, Gleeson noted, while subjecting them to radiation could help determine whether they represent likely precursors to Europa's non-ice materials.
Any mission to determine the potential habitability of Europa requires spacecraft that can both operate independently of Earth, given the incredible distances involved, and spot ideal places on the surface to explore. If there is life on Europa, this arctic site could give vital clues as to what to focus on with the limited resources any probe sent there would have.
"We can take a look at whether and what kind of biology can survive on that island, which is one of the nastier environments around," said Cloutis, who did not take part in this study. "Seeing how life survives and how biology interacts with the geology gives clues to what to look for in Europa."
The findings of the Borup Fiord Pass expedition were detailed online March 6 in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment.

Schoolhouse Rock Then & Now - I'm Just a Bill

Many of us have happy memories of the 70s Schoolhouse Rock that taught us about math, science, history, government, etc. 1 of my favorites was the 1 that explained how a bill became a law. It showed the basics of how Congress was supposed to work to pass a law. Key phrase "supposed to work", according to the Constitution.

However if they made it today & they wanted it to reflect how things are really done, this is probably how they would have to make it:

Making the Case to Apply Canon 915 to Nancy Pelosi

One canon 915 case at a time: Nancy Pelosi

Some who believe that Canon 915 is meant to be enforced might yet harbor reservations about actually barring from Communion this pro-abortion Catholic politician or that one, for fear of igniting endless debates about why one does not also bar that pro-abortion Catholic politician or this one. The prospect of being criticized for "imperfectly" applying the law might cause some prelates otherwise inclined to invoke the law to hesitate doing so.

I understand their concern, and have argued elsewhere that enforcement of Canon 915 is not as simple as some seem to believe. But, lest the perfect become the enemy of the good, I am convinced that one has to start what one might call the 'national application'* of Canon 915 somewhere, and that the best case to start with is that of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Before proceeding, let's be very clear about something: verification of the conditions described in Canon 915 does not merely authorize ministers to withhold holy Communion from those 'obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin'; it requires ministers to withhold holy Communion in such cases, this, upon pain of dereliction of their sacred office (1983 CIC 128, 1389).

Now, I suggest that there is no US Catholic politician whose conduct at the national level is more stridently and widely pro-abortion (to name just one area in which Pelosi's machinations are gravely objectionable) and whose scandalous rhetoric is more overtly Catholic (many of her bizarre assertions the bishops have had to stop and refute) than is Nancy Pelosi's. If her prolonged public conduct does not qualify as obstinate perseverance in manifest grave sin, then, in all sincerity, I must admit to not knowing what would constitute obstinate perseverance in manifest grave sin.

But, if I am right about the objectively evil quality of Pelosi's public conduct, then hers should be the first case in which Canon 915 is applied, even if no one else follows suit (although frankly, I think others would follow suit, ad bonum Ecclesiae et salutem animarum, which cases should be dealt with on their own merits). One is not required to commit to doing every conceivable good before one is required to do the good right in front of one's nose. One acts on what life presents, and life has presented us with Pelosi. She is our responsibility, not our parents', not our children's.

Of course, the bishops with immediate authority to act in regard to Pelosi are the Archbishop of San Francisco CA, George Niederauer, followed by the Archbishop of Washington DC, Donald Wuerl. The decision to apply Canon 915 to Pelosi is, and must be, theirs (and recall that Abp. Wuerl, joined by Bp. Loverde of Arlington VA, has already signalled his willingness to honor the banns imposed by "home" bishops on politicians when they are in DC, though I think Wuerl's authority is more extensive than that).** Pretty clearly, some people are already thinking this one through, and I am sure other prudent and qualified persons are available to assist if needed.

My main point is this: if anyone is hesitating to apply Canon 915 to an obvious case because he thinks he would be quickly forced to apply it to several others only nearly as obvious, such hesitation is ungrounded. + + +

* My supposition is not that Canon 915 can only be effective at the "national level", but rather that, the most prominent Canon 915 cases are invariably going to be those with national repercussions, and that those factors might as well be anticpated from the outset. Obviously, a few Canon 915 cases have already arisen at regional levels, and some seem quite instructive.

** Conceivably other prelates with sufficient notice of Pelosi's intent to take Communion in their territory (say, during a visit there) could act to prevent such scandal, but that is, I think, to place them in a difficult position administratively, if nothing else.

Posted by Dr. Edward Peters

Meet Some of the Victims of the "Religion of Peace"

Why Does Iowa Keep Electing This Idiot?????

If anyone has any doubts as to what an incompetent idiot Harkin is, this video shoould put them to rest. He is a disgrazia to us Iowans.

Don't blame me, I don't vote for him!!

Not only that, I cannot understand why Iowa keep reelecting this idiot. Every time he is up for reelection I work to see that he can retire to the 1 home he owns, in the Bahamas, not Iowa.

As If I Didn't Already Have Enough Reasons to Hate ObamaCare

10 Ways the New Healthcare Bill May Affect You

8. Flexible Spending Accounts Will Become Less Flexible
Three years from now, flexible spending accounts (FSAs) will have lower contribution limits - meaning you won't be able to have as much money deducted from your paycheck pre-tax and deposited into an FSA for medical expenses as is currently allowed. The new maximum amount allowed will be $2,500. In addition, fewer expenses will qualify for FSA spending. For example, you will no longer be able to use your FSA to help defray the cost of over-the-counter drugs. (emphasis mine)

So Much for the Free Exchange of Ideas on College Campuses

Not that it hasn't already been on life support or about to have the plig pulled here in the USA at most "Liberal" Colleges as well about everywhere in Canada as well.

The other day I put up a post about the letter François Houle, Provost of the University of Ottawa sent to Ann Coulter in an attempt to intimidate her into silence by threatening her with being arrested. (Do They Really Think This Will Get Her to Tone It Down???) Well, as expected, she was willing to go ahead & let the threats be damned. But in the end, thanks to hundreds of shouting student protesters showed up threatening disruption & violence if she was allowed to speak, she was forced to cancel.

IMHO opinion, Houle's letter is to blame. Houle told her "to weigh your words with respect and civility in mind." So why didn't he demand the same of the students before her appearance. Because he knew what they would do. & it wouldn't be to act with respect & civility.

The students knew that Houle didn't want her speaking out at all, let alone saying anything that wasn't PC so they took their lead from him & shut her down. It is as plain & simple as that.

& I am not the only 1 who feels this way.

Ezra Levant, who is on the university tour with Miss Coulter, called Mr. Houle's letter a "veiled threat." After the speech was cancelled he went on to say Tuesday “an embarrassing day for the University of Ottawa and their student body, who could not debate Ann Coulter ... who chose to silence her through threats and intimidation, just like their vice-president did.” (emphasis mine) He went on to add “A fish rots from the head down. Francois Houle got his wish. He telegraphed to the community that the University of Ottawa is not a place for free debate.”

Levant spoke to CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday morning. he told them "Last night, I went on a Facebook page for some of the protesters and there were clear calls for violence. And not just in an abstract way, I mean there were instructions to bring vegetables and eggs to throw."

Ann Coulter reported that the police “had been warning my bodyguard all day that they were putting up [messages] on Facebook: ‘Bring rocks, bring sticks, you gotta hurt Ann Coulter tonight, don’t let her speak.’ And the cops eventually said, we’ve got a bad feeling, this isn’t gonna happen. And they shut it down.”

Coulter made it clear she sees that the email from Houle set the tone for & encouraged the protesters. In her inimitable style she told the Citizen “I’m pretty sure little Francois A-Houle does not need to travel with a bodyguard. I would like to know when this sort of violence, this sort of protest, has been inflicted upon a Muslim — who appear to be, from what I’ve read of the human rights complaints, the only protected group in Canada. I think I’ll give my speech tomorrow night in a burka. That will protect me.”

On Wednesday the University of Ottawa did issue a statement, or as they called it, a comment. In it the University claims "a crowd of about one thousand people had peacefully gathered at Marion Hall." They mention that it was the organizers decision to cancel. No mention at all as to the hundreds of students threatening Coulter with violence that led to that decision. No mention of the police's concern that a huge number of these students presented a threat to Coulter. & esp no mention of an investigation into those threats.

Instead they try & paint themselves as being welcoming to Coulter. "The University of Ottawa has always promoted and defended freedom of expression. For that reason, we did not at any time oppose Ann Coulter’s appearance." While technically true, Houle's letter wasn't exactly welcoming or promting, let alone defending freedom of expression. & he was doing so as an official of the University.

This whole thing is turning into a PR nightmare for the University of Ottawa. & their making that comment their only official staement isn't going to stop things. people are not buying their attempts to picture themselves "as an open forum for diverse opinions." Nor are they buying the claim that UO "is a safe and democratic environment for the expression of views," let alone that they "will keep it that way.”

On Thursday Canadian Senator Doug Finley rose in the Senate to give notice that he would "call the attention of the Senate to the issue of the erosion of Freedom of Speech in our country" by means of an inquiry to be held as early as next week. (See Hansard/Debates of the Senate record of Finley’s notice here.)

While Funley doesn't specificly mention the Coulter incident conservative blogger & political commentator Stephen Taylor remarked that Senator Finley's move "is likely in reaction to recent events by university officials and students at the University of Ottawa to intimidate US conservative commentator Ann Coulter from appearing on campus." He also observed that, "The Senator will also rise during a time when federal and provincial human rights commissions have run amok, hearing complaints by politically offended groups and individuals."

Another group that isn't buying the UO comments is The Canadian Association of University Teachers (AUT). The AUT which represents more than 67,000 academic & general staff at college & universities across Canada. They sent a letter to University of Ottawa Provost Francois Houle demanding he apologize to Ann Coulter for the letter he wrote to her. "We feel you [Houle] owe an apology to Ms. Coulter and, even more importantly, you owe the University of Ottawa community an assurance that the administration of the university strongly supports freedom of expression, academic freedom and views the role of the university as fostering and defending these values."

AUT President Penni Stewart & executive director James Turk added that Mr. Houle's action also "raises serious questions about the University of Ottawa's respect for freedom of expression and academic freedom." Like I said, they aren't exactly buying UO's claims either.

The Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR) issued a press release on Thursday lambasting The University of Ottawa’s actions. CCBR Co-Founder and Executive Director Stephanie Gray said "Mob rule on Canadian universities should trouble all Canadians. The University of Ottawa’s appalling behavior towards Ann Coulter is the most recent example of how universities are ceasing to be a place of higher learning. By sending Coulter a letter warning her not to violate Canada’s hate speech rules, the university seems to suggest that controversial speech could be illegal."

The statement said that "The CCBR urges universities to combat the stifling of free speech just because it is deemed ‘offensive’ by a small group of angry students."

"This highlights a disturbing trend in Canada: bullies have been taught that they need only shout, threaten to disrupt an event, or mis-label people or activities as ‘hate’ or ‘harassment’ and the innocent will be censored. All too often the authorities listen to these thugs and limit or suppress peaceful speech for fear of what the bullies will do. This is especially true of pro-life speech."

The CCBR release (here) also describes instances of “mob rule” at Canadian universities, where protesters have disrupted or shut down numerous school-approved pro-life and pro-free-speech events.

Like I said, this isn't going to go away. & the UO statement isn't pouring oil on the troubled waters. What the UO statement does show is their arrogance & feeling of superiority to the rest of us. they think that we will be dumb enough to buy into what they are saying just because they are UO. Well, as I have shown, it isn't working. UO will have to do a whole lot more to prove that it has really disavowed the actions of these students. & that includes disciplinary actions for those who did disrupt the speech & shut it down by their threats ecouraged by Houle's threats. Until then Houle's e-mail stands as the proof that they actually condoned those actions instead.

As Levant so rightly pointed out, the spectacle showed “just how eroded our Canadian values of free speech have become” — especially on university campuses. Unfortunately it just isn't in Canada. Similar incidents have occured here in the USA as well.

“I think this has turned into a teaching moment for the entire country, a reminder that freedom of speech is a Canadian value,” he said. I hope he is right, but I doubt that those who need to hear will listen. So far they haven't done so here in the USA & I don't hold out much hope up there in the immediate future either.

Sources: U of Ottawa Student Rioters Shut Down Ann Coulter Talk

Uproar over Ann Coulter Speech Cancellation Continues

Planned Parenthood's Cecile Richards Applauds Sisters Who Signed NETWORK Letter

A few days ago Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, put up a column on HufPo applauding those sisters like Sr. Patricia Mulcahey OP, Prioress of the Sinsinawa Dominicans, who signed the NETWORK letter calling for the House to pass the HealthCare bill. (Call on Women to Get the Job Done Right)

Now why would Richards be applauding them for their help in getting ObamaCare passed? Maybe because they helped with what PP sees as "a huge victory for women's reproductive health, this bill will significantly increase insurance coverage of reproductive health care, including family planning."

"Reproductive health care" is the code word the abortion industry uses to talk about abortion being legal & insurance paying for those abortions.

Family planning includes the distribution of artificial birth control.

Cecile Richards also points out that Pelosi had "vowed that there would be no health care bill if it included the Stupak abortion ban." She was applauding Pelosi for her fight to the end to ensure that it didn't include a ban on abortion.

I know they will continue to deny it, but Sr. Patricia, et al, by have signed on to endorse the Health Care Package that passed have endorsed abortion & birth control as well. By this rejection of Church Teaching they have made it clear that they have broken with the Catholic Church. This means they no longer have the right to call themselves Catholic.

H/T: Donald R. McClarey@ The American Catholic (Planned Parenthood Gives Thanks To Nuns)

Somehow Ticker Tape Sunday Doesn't Have the Same Ring

Umbert the Unborn

Palm Sunday

Hosanna in the highest, Hosanna to the King who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hoshanna fil'alee, mubarakun il atee bismir Rub. Hoshanna Ibn-Daood, mubarakun il atee bismir Rub.

Lord our God, You are seated upon the throne of the Cherubim, and by Your sublime power, You have sent Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to save the world by His crucifixion, burial and resurrection. And when He entered Jerusalem to suffer the crucifixion by His own free will, the people sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death took branches of olive and palm trees as the symbols of victory and proclaimed beforehand His Resurrection.
Therefore, O Lord, as we imitate these same people, preserve and keep us while we carry in our hands palms and branches of trees on this vigil of the Feast. And like the crowds and children who shouted to You, "Hosanna!" make us worthy through our praises, chants and spiritual hymns, to see the glorious Resurrection on the third day by the same Jesus Christ our Lord, with whom You are blessed together with Your all-holy good and life-giving Spirit, now and always and forever and ever.
R: Amen.

(This Blessing of Palm and Olive Branches text is from Lenten Triodion, Volume 4, Weeks 5 and 6 of Great Lent and from Byzantine Melkite Catholic Euchologion )

Recently Passed Health Care Bill Provides for Treatment for Native American Child Molesters

I kid you not, ObamaCare actually pays for treatment for native Americans who are child molesters to get psychatric treatment for that problem. Remember these are the same type of programs many Bishops trusted back in the 60s & 70s. Remember, the Bishops let these priests they sent to these treatment programs & were told it had worked back into parish work. The supposedly cured priests who went on to molest after getting out of those programs. This is not to justify any coverups. But, I get very POed by the fact that those programs are not only getting off scott free for their part in past molestations, but are also being rewarded to allow the same things to happen again. & using our tax dollars to do so.

Speaking of the Religion of Peace

Pakistani Christian burned alive, wife raped by police for refusing to convert to Islam
The Qur'an says there is "no compulsion in religion " (2:256) but Islamic law and the Qur'an itself are actually full of subtle and not-at-all-subtle means of coercion of non-believers (e.g., dhimmi status, the jizya tax, and of course, warfare). Add to that a situation where authorities, steeped in hatred of unbelievers (cf. Qur'an 98:6) are not accountable, and this is what happens.

Go here for story:

NEWS ALERT: Pakistan Christian “Burned”, Wife “Raped”, For Refusing Islam

Original Source: Patrick Madrid (Heroic Christians Pay Terrible Price for Refusing to Convert to the Religion of Peace

NPR Admits It Pro Choice IS Pro-Abortion

Recently NPR sent out a memo about how NPR wll now identify people who support or oppose abortion. They decided to no longer use "pro-choice" or "pro-life." Now they are to use "abortion rights supporter(s)/advocate(s)" & "abortion rights opponent(s)" or deriviatives thereof. While most people got the 1 side of this right, it shows the Main Stream Media bias against the Pro-Life Movement, I haven't seen 1 person who caught the other side of this. That it is no longer using Pro-choice as the default description for those who support abortion.

Here is the memo with my comments:

This updated policy is aimed at ensuring the words we speak and write are as clear, consistent and neutral (LOL, by the mere fact that they paint pro-lifers as opposed to a "right" that we don't see as a right & they know isn't really a right shows that they are being anything but neutral. Rather they are trying to paint us even more so as the bad guys. But, as I have said before, when you support killing what is a little false witness?) as possible. This is important given that written text is such an integral part of our work.
On the air, we should use "abortion rights supporter(s)/advocate(s)" and "abortion rights opponent(s)" or derivations thereof (for example: "advocates of abortion rights"). (Note that they don't extend the same respect to us by condoning the use of "advocates of unborn rights". But that is because they are NOT neutral, they see abortion as a right, not as something even open to debate. This proves they are not neutral.) It is acceptable to use the phrase "anti-abortion", (again evidence that shows they are not neutral, but are actually pro-abortion. It is OK to show Pro-lifers in a negative sense, but not pro-aborts. If that isn't bias, I don't know what is.) but do not use the term "pro-abortion rights". (I suspect that they knew that if they went this far it would spell things out just a little clearer than they want, not realizing that is what they have already all but said.)
Digital News will continue to use the AP style book for online content, which mirrors the revised NPR policy.
Do not use "pro-life" (Which IS what we are.) and "pro-choice" (But, isn't Pro-choice what most of them, except the abortion industry, want to be known as to cover up the fact that they are pro-abortion?) in copy except when used in the name of a group. Of course, when the terms are used in an actuality they should remain." [An actuality is a clip of tape of someone talking. So if a source uses those terms, NPR will not edit them out.] (This is the only place where they ARE neutral.) (NPR Changes Abortion Language)

What is really sad is that up to now NPR would use the term "Pro-life" for those of us who are. They changed because Pro-aborts didn't like us being described that way. 1 of those in particular was unhappy because she thought that being against the death penalty while supporting abortion makes her pro-life. Talk about a disconnect. Even the Catholic Church allows for the death penalty under certain very limited circumstances (Catholic Catechism 2266-67), yet makes it clear abortion IS an intrinsic evil that is never allowed (Cathechism 2270-75). (For more on what the Catholic Church actually teaches on the death penalty: Cardinal Avery Dulles, Catholicism and Capital Punishment (2001). Even death penalty opponant Cardinal Renato R. Martino admits "Many state — and accurately — that the Church has never absolutely banned the death penalty."

Somewhere down the road the pro-aborts will realize that even this is going to far in blowing their cover they hide under in using the term "pro-choice". You will see abortion supporters again refered to as "pro-choice" by pro-lifers will continue to be described as anti-abortion rights. In the mean time, whether they may have realized it or not, they have admitted what we have known all along, pro-choice IS pro-abortion.

Source: Michelle Malkin (NPR Drops ‘Pro-Life’ for ‘Abortion Rights Opponents’) via The American Catholic (Media Bias, What Media Bias?)

What ObamaCare Does & Doesn't Cover

(No, I Thought YOU Read It)

I wish this were a joke, but it isn't. It DOES allow sex offenders to get Viagra or similar prescriptions in the insurance markets. On the other hand, the 2000-page bill fails to give promised coverage to kids with pre-existing illnesses.

Then there is some potetial good news. The bill lacks the $10 billion in funding the IRS will need to monitor every American for "health insurance compliance." While it would be nice that the IRS wouldn't be able to expand its ability to stick its nose where it shouldn't, I suspect that oversight will be quickly corrected

What Planned Parenthood Means When It Talks About Being Pro-Family

Note the scare tactics used to keep her from telling her parents. IMHO what they did was blackmail so that she wouldn't. Why? Because they are NOT Pro-family. Everything in their agenda is aimed at undermining parental authority. This is just another in a long series of examples.

In a post on this, Jill Stanek makes an excellent point about what this tells us the real definition of "reproductive health care" is. "For the past few years we've been ardently trying to tell the American people that "reproductive health care" encompasses abortion, 1st when battling FOCA and then socialized healthcare. Well, here you go, an object lesson.
But really, the school system was obfuscating. Why not clearly say consent covers "abortion"?" (Clandestine minor abortions in Seattle: Why the shock?)

I know the question is rhetorical. But the answer is simple, if they publicly admitted it was included, they knew the outrage would be so long & loud & most parents would never have signed the permission slips.

OK, this time it isn't Planned Parenthood, but this is the same tactics they use.

& another fact that Jill Stanek points out, the abortion WAS on the taxpayers dime. Remember, these are the type of clinics that ObamaCare will provide for schools & PP will be in line to run a good majority of them. Given PP's track record as unclovered by Live Action & others, we can be sure that they will be doing the same thing we see here.

School-Assisted Abortion a Shocking Lesson

March 25, 2010 - 10:37 AM by: Dan Springer
Parents of school children in Seattle are learning a shocking lesson, when it comes to some very important decisions they don't have a say. The mother of a 15-year old girl recently discovered that Ballard High School helped her daughter get an abortion and never informed her.
But it doesn't end there. The school can also send children off campus for mental health care and drug addiction treatment without their parents ever knowing. Supporters say the confidentiality allows teens who are too afraid to tell mom and dad to get necessary treatment.
Parents signed consent forms for off-school treatment thinking it was limited to emergency health care when the parents could not be reached. But the teen health clinics at 14 Seattle schools are about much more. They have a full-time registered nurse, counselor and nursing assistant on hand to help kids with more sensitive issues.
When the 15-year old girl's pregnancy was confirmed, they counseled her on the options. The mother says they encouraged her to have an abortion and not tell her parents. She claims her daughter was told that if she informed her parents they would have to pay for the abortion, otherwise it's free.
The teen clinics are administered by the King County Health Department. Officials say school clinic workers are supposed to encourage girls to include their parents in the decision. They will not comment on the specifics of the case.
As for the fact the girl was called a taxi and transported by herself to a clinic to have her abortion then driven back to finish her school day, officials say that's not unusual. They would not say how many girls have been helped to have an abortion.
Washington State is one of thirteen states that does not have either a parental consent or parental notification law. Girls of any age can obtain an abortion without having to tell a parent.
State lawmakers included mental health care and drug counseling on the list of services kids can get without parental notification.

Video H/T: How Planned Parenthood Encourages Secret Abortions On Our Children

Catholic Teaching: Not Even Moderate Socialism Acceptable

"34. Pope Pius XI further emphasized the fundamental opposition between Communism and Christianity, and made it clear that no Catholic could subscribe even to moderate Socialism. The reason is that Socialism is founded on a doctrine of human society which is bounded by time and takes no account of any objective other than that of material well-being. Since, therefore, it proposes a form of social organization which aims solely at production, it places too severe a restraint on human liberty, at the same time flouting the true notion of social authority." - Pope John XXIII, Mater et Magistra (emphasis mine)

"28 b) Love—caritas—will always prove necessary, even in the most just society. There is no ordering of the State so just that it can eliminate the need for a service of love. Whoever wants to eliminate love is preparing to eliminate man as such. There will always be suffering which cries out for consolation and help. There will always be loneliness. There will always be situations of material need where help in the form of concrete love of neighbour is indispensable.[20] The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person—every person—needs: namely, loving personal concern. We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need. The Church is one of those living forces: she is alive with the love enkindled by the Spirit of Christ. This love does not simply offer people material help, but refreshment and care for their souls, something which often is even more necessary than material support. In the end, the claim that just social structures would make works of charity superfluous masks a materialist conception of man: the mistaken notion that man can live “by bread alone” (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3)—a conviction that demeans man and ultimately disregards all that is specifically human." - Papa Benedetto, Deus caritas est (emphasis mine)

If Congress Can Thrive Without Obeying the Constitution Then Maybe. . . .

& IMHO there is a greater likelihood of them finding intelligent life out there as well.

Or as Monty Python put it:

And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.



Can Life on Titan Thrive Without Water?

New discoveries have a way of messing with old definitions. Take, for example, the concept of a habitable world.
The standard definition of a "habitable world" is a world with liquid water at its surface; the "habitable zone" around a star is defined as that Goldilocks region — not too hot, not too cold — where a watery planet or moon can exist.
And then there's Titan. Saturn's giant moon Titan lies about as far from the standard definition of habitable as one can get. The temperature at its surface hovers around 94 degrees Kelvin (minus 179 C, or minus 290 F). At that temperature, water is a rock as hard as granite.

And yet many scientists now believe life may have found a way to take hold on Titan. Water may all be frozen solid, but methane and ethane are liquids. In the past few years, instruments on NASA's Cassini spacecraft and images captured by ESA's Huygens probe have revealed an astonishing world with a complete liquid cycle, much like the hydrologic cycle on Earth, but based on methane and ethane rather than on water.
"What Cassini actually found on Titan, from 2004 onwards, was a methane-ethane cycle that very much echoes the kind of hydrologic cycle we see on the Earth," says Jonathan Lunine, currently at the University of Rome Tor Vergata while on leave from the University of Arizona. Cassini has revealed rivers and lakes of methane-ethane, the lakes evaporating to form clouds, the clouds raining hydrocarbons back down onto the surface, flowing through rivers and collecting in lakes. It is the only world in our solar system other than Earth where a liquid cycle like this takes place. There's just no water.
But there are plenty of hydrocarbons. Methane and ethane are the simplest hydrocarbon molecules. By themselves, they are of limited biological interest. But hydrocarbons are versatile: they can assemble themselves into fantastically complex structures. Indeed, complex hydrocarbons form the basis of what we call life. So one has to wonder: has hydrocarbon chemistry on Titan crossed the threshold from inanimate matter to some form of life?
One thing is for certain: if there is life on Titan, it is not life as we know it. There is no way that terrestrial life could have originated or could survive on Titan.
"DNA and RNA," says Lunine, "form out of compounds that require oxygen and phosphorus, and there's very little oxygen in the Titan system." And the very structure of DNA depends on liquid water. "DNA forms a helix because of its water-loving and water-repellant ends." So life on Titan "would have to find other molecules that carry information."
Moreover, because Titan is so cold, the amount of energy available for building complex biochemical structures is limited. But as Lunine points out, that's not necessarily a showstopper. "We don't have a lot of experience with the chemistry that might go on at these temperatures." We don't know what's possible.
The chance to discover a form of life with a different chemical basis than life on Earth has led some researchers to consider Titan the most important world on which to search for extraterrestrial life. In a recent paper in the journal Astrobiology, Robert Shapiro, a professor of chemistry at New York University, and Dirk Shulze-Makuch of Washington State University rated Titan a higher-priority target for investigation than even Mars.
On Mars, and on Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus as well, astrobiological efforts center on the hunt for water-based life. But such life, even if it is found, could have shared a single origin with life on Earth, getting started on one world and being transferred by meteorites to others. Not so for Titan. If there is life on Titan, it arose separately from life on Earth.
Not everyone agrees that Titan is the priority, though. NASA and ESA recently gave the nod to a Jupiter-system mission that will explore Europa as the next flagship mission to the outer solar system. It may be decades before another major mission flies to Saturn and Titan.
But a smaller-scale and less-expensive lander known as the Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) could launch as early as 2015, arriving in 2022 or 2023. Ellen Stofan of Proxemy Research in Rectortown, Va., the principal investigator for the TiME mission, described the lander as a buoy-shaped capsule that would splash down in one of Titan's northern lakes and float across its surface for a minimum of two Titan days (16 Earth days).
"We have a number of instruments on board. The most important from a pure scientific point of view is a mass spectrometer," Stofan said. "We'll take basically a sip of [the lake] liquids, several times, and analyze them to really nail down their chemical compositions. We know there's methane, we know there's ethane," but TiME would inventory more complex organic (hydrocarbon) compounds, as well.
If there is life on Titan, it may be difficult to detect. "I don't expect you to go to these lakes and see beautiful filamentary structures made of cells that are macroscopic in size or easily seen," says Lunine, who is a co-investigator on the proposed TiME mission. The clues could be subtle. "We would have to look for particular peculiarities in composition, hydrocarbons that are lacking that should be there, others that are more abundant" than expected.
No-one knows "what happens to organic chemistry in [Titan's] environment," Lunine adds. "Does it go to a kind of a chemistry that we can call life but works in liquid hydrocarbons? We don't know the answer to that. But the answer is profound." Because if the answer is yes, it means that the origin of life has taken place more than once. "If the answer is yes, then it says that life . . . must be a common outcome of planetary processes in the cosmos."
If the answer is yes, it means we are not alone.

____________________
If the answer is yes, it is simple God created it as He did here n Earth. & if the answer is no, it still means we are not alone. We have God, we have the angels & fallen angels, we have the souls of all the saints in Heaven. Do I have to go on???? Of course I know that isn't scientifically PC to talk about God. But the reality is, He does exist. He did create us. & while it would be nice to find life on other planets. But if there is, I doubt it will be any more intelligent than Congress is these days.

This Came Out of San Fran?????

This was published in the San Francisco Archdiocesan Newspaper by an employee of that Archdiocese. This is Queen Nancy's home diocese for those of you who may have forgotten it. I was directed to this by a post on the blog for the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese. The title of that post says it all: Archdiocese of San Francisco Paper Drops a Bomb - Today's MUST Read

While there are a few things at the start that seem standard boiler plate, it is in the 3rd paragraph where the admission comes out. & it gets even more interesting in the 4th paragraph. I have addedmy comments at the appropriate place.

Fissure within Church

By George Wesolek
The American Catholic Church is fractured and splintering with a deep ideological divide separating the camps. This is not news. (True) But what had been common knowledge in Church circles in private conversations is now in the headlines of the New York Times and the Washington Post.
This has come about because of the intense national debate about health care reform. The American Catholic bishops don’t like the bill (the Senate version) in its present form because it expands abortion coverage, does not cover immigrants, and does not offer enough conscience protections.
Recently, the Catholic Health Association (CHA) and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) both came out publicly in support of the Senate version of the bill. Some of their comments even went so far as to characterize the bishops’ stand, especially on abortion, as “false.” So now we have some nuns accusing the bishops of lying about abortion. Are you shocked? Don’t be because this has been going on for a long time. Di-di-di-dah!!!!
For years, most of the leadership of the LCWR and the Catholic hospitals (most of which are owned by these very same LCWR leaders) (a point ignored by the media for the most point but 1 I mentioned a few days ago) have been advancing a view of Catholic social teaching that reflects a vision that they learned in the 60s and 70s – a tired feminism that distorts the role of women and has at its center the freedom of women to “choose” to kill the infants in their womb if they so desire. (emphasis mine) Like I said, did you ever expect to see this coming out of San Fran????
This view rightly offers deep concern for justice for the poor and vulnerable, (The Church has always taught this, but never that it was the government's job. It was the Church's, hence the hospitals these orders founde in the 1st place to do so.) but like so many in this age-group, minimizes or trivializes the unborn. (True, way to true. But get ready, more is to come. he names names.) “Network,” the Washington, D.C. lobbying arm of the LCWR does not include pro-life legislation as part of its work. (Again, true, it doesn't mention anything about abortion as a social justice issue, despite Pope John Paul calling it the most important social justice issue there is.) If it does at all, it distorts the term “pro-life” to be so ambiguous and far-reaching that it includes everything. (Distorts is an understatement.) Thus, the sisters can say with a straight face that the current health care legislation is “life-affirming.” They ignore or claim as “false” what the bishops and every pro-life institution in the country has recognized as a flawed bill that will advance abortion.
Some have said that the sisters are taking this position because they have deep economic interests because of their hospitals. I disagree. Their rationale is ideological. I believe that they truly believe in health care reform…so much so that they are willing to trivialize the abortion issue and throw in their lot with the Obama administration. Ideological yes, but part of that ideology is that they support the woman's right to an abortion.
There is a value in having this private tension now public. Like an angry boil, it is better to break open than to keep festering and growing.
Fortunately, as pointed out by Mercy Sister Mary Ann Walsh, Director of Media Relations for the USCCB, the group of sisters making these statements is relatively small in comparison to the number of sisters and communities of women religious in the U.S. (To read the LCWR & the Main Stream Media coverage you wouldn't know that. Remember they claimed to be speaking for 59, sisters. A number that I often saw rounded up to 60,000.) Read Sister Walsh’s comments here:

http://usccbmedia.blogspot.com/2010/03/and-then-there-were-nun.html.
The 103 other sister communities came out with a statement in alliance with the bishops:

http://o.b5z.net/i/u/10060511/f/march_19.pdf.
George Wesolek

Director, Office of Public Policy

& Social Concerns

Archdiocese of San Francisco

This does have a few good points as I said. & I am surprized to see he was actually allowed to print it. I wonder if it wasn't in part spin-control. Now if only he would have pointed out what a few other Bishops have, this bill also fails on the issue of subsidiarity.

Still, I susect that in some parts of SF this will have caused a ripple or 2. However, unless Archbishop Niederauer follows this up with some serious words & esp serious actions (& even more esp in his dealing w/ Pelosi) it will be spin-control only, no matter how sincere the author is. The boil should have been lanced a long time ago. & even if it bursts, unless something is done to prevent a return of the underlying infection, then it doesn't matter if it is left to go on festering or not. The Vatican visitation & investigation will provide the official diagnosis of what is already known.