Cain getting smeared...

Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;'

Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;

But he that filches from me my good name

Robs me of that which not enriches him,

And makes me poor indeed.

Othello; Act 3, Scene 3

So now Herman Cain is getting dogged over old (unsubstantiated) accusations of sexual harassment. Story here: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/cain-campaign-prepares-for-scrutiny-of-harassment-allegations/?hp

Gee, why doesn't this surprise me? Maybe because the smear merchants have worked for Obama before: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/26/us/candidate-under-pressure-quits-senate-race-in-illinois.html

IMO this affair is proof positive that some supporters of B.O. consider Cain a threat to his reelection.

Do I believe Obama has any knowledge or involvement in this? Nope.

Do I think it's being done at the behest of George Soros or some other "puppet master"? Nope.

Do I think theres a high level conspiracy to take out the most likely threats to B.O.'s reelection? Nope.

All it takes is somebody who wants to win at any cost, rationalizing that the end justifies the means. That's a mindset VERY prevalent amongst those who Obama consorts with (don't let a good crisis go to waste).

So Herman Cain has risen high enough on the national radar to pose a threat for Obama. Somebody decided to do something, it didn't even have to be a noteworthy person, just a true believer with access to the right information.

We'll see more of this. I'd bet a dollar to a donut on that. We'll see Cain increasingly smeared, Romney mocked for his religion and flip-flops on issues, the hits will just keep on coming.

They'll keep coming until the only contenders Obama has to deal with are suffering under insurmountable handicaps toward their election. I'm thinking specifically of Ron Paul here.

What can be done? Just pick a candidate based on how they present themselves and their stance on various issues AT THIS MOMENT and stick with that candidate.

Just my two cents.

Right now I'm reminded of how Ronald Reagan once opined that politics was the second oldest profession in the world and it bore a close resembalance to the first.

How did this scumsucker make parole?

Found this at www.bioedge.org;

Mentally challenged can be “walking targets”

by Jared Yee

A horrifying story from Philadelphia has brought to light the complexity of the issue of autonomy. Paroled murderer Linda Ann Weston dragged several mentally challenged adults along to Social Security offices to sign off as their representative payee – someone who helps manage their monthly benefits of between US$600 and $900, authorities say. Weston, previously found mentally unfit to stand trial, was arrested after her Philadelphia landlord found 4 starving, mentally disabled adults in a basement crawl space, one chained to a boiler. They also found her burned, severely abused teenage niece trapped in a closet. Since then, police have learned that another disabled woman died under Weston’s supervision in Virginia, of severe malnutrition and meningitis.

The case shows the vulnerability of the disabled if family and friends do not protect them. One expert says their Social Security cheques lure predators. “Anyone with a cognitive impairment is a walking target,” for Social Security fraud, said Nora Baladerian, a Los Angeles-based clinical psychologist who works with disabled victims of crime. “It's not just the money. It's sexual abuse. It's physical assault.”

While such crimes are shocking, and neighbours attempt to get authorities involved when they suspect wrongdoing, fraud and abuse can continue for years. Police are often reluctant to pursue crimes involving disabled because they have difficulty communicating with them, Baladerian says. However, she argues that shouldn’t be an obstacle. “It's no more of a challenge than dealing with elder abuse or children, who have difficulty talking like adults,” she said. “And you're a cop. You can go to Social Security and see who's cashing that check.” ~ AP, Oct 22

(End of story, my comments follow.)

IMO this two legged walking waste of human flesh should be made a poster child for the death penalty. A "paroled murderer"? Hello!! Hey MacFly, anyone home in there? WTF is she doing walking the streets unsupervised to the point of being able to imprison helpless humans?

Being the father of two autistic children really has me pay attention to these stories. I'll stop ranting now, my blood pressure meds aren't up to this.

A Halloween safety message....

Want independence? Get off the government tit!

Here's a story illustrating that he who pays the piper gets to call the tune: http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/Article/Index/5639

Now I don't know if the Freedmen mentioned were wrongly removed from the tribal roles or not. I have no idea what the requirements for tribal membership are. Following along with that, I wonder if HUD has any real knowledge of tribal law for the Cherokees.

My last observation on this particular story is that our Executive Branch will cheerfully stick its nose into the affairs of Native Americans and cite a concern for human rights while doing it. But this same Executive Branch is absolutely mum on any human rights violations by China or any other totalitarian nation it wishes to suck up to.

Regardless, this story out of Oklahoma only illustrates the need for anyone wishing the freedom to exercise any sort of autonomy to absolutely cut all ties to the Feds. It's something our Catholic hospitals, universities and other institutions need to take heed of.

Because the withholding of funds is a tactic guaranteed to get attention. It also works.

So in a time when we don't want our institutions to perform abortions, endorse the gay lifestyle or anything else that goes against the Faith, keeping ourselves free from any binding ties is just common sense.

I wonder if the USCCB has given this any thought?

Halloween, the paranormal, etc....

Anthony S. Layne over at Outside The Asylum has an interesting post up about the paranormal, here it is: http://tonylayne.blogspot.com/2011/10/things-that-go-bump-in-lab.html

Since it's "that" time of year again, I guess a lot of folks will be thinking of things supernatural, diabolic, etc. My kids are on fire about it. If I hear much more about ghosts & such I'll start screaming. Thats just me, they're normal in that respect.

I have no use for Halloween since over the years it's grown into a full blown holiday with almost all the recognition given Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. About all thats missing is having the schools shut down for it. It wouldn't surprise me if that happens soon, we live in nutty times.

My antipathy isn't fueled solely by the inordinate emphasis on the day, I've known some folks who suffered at the hands of satanists (one lady I knew up in Connecticut had been sold as an infant to a witches coven) and the tie in with Halloween is inescapable.

So I've no use for the day, even though I'll spend the evening doling out candies while my wife and kids head to the grandparents' home to show off their costumes. Big whoop. Let's get it over and done with.

Having said all of that, I've no problem in believing in the paranormal and supernatural. There are just too many unexplained occurrences in this life to NOT admit to their existence.

One very handy example is the house we currently live in. Several times over the past few years we've had unexplainable phenomena occur. Since I'm bored (and if you're reading this you're probably the same) I'll list a few:

1) We had a brief power outage once while I was using our CD player. No biggie. Once the power came back on the machine stayed off, I was doing other things by then and left it that way. Two days later, as my daughter and I played on the living room floor, the sucker fired back up with a different CD than had been selected when the juice went away. You tell me what it was all about, I have no idea.

2) The wife's wristwatch, a 24 hour timepiece, inexplicably set itself 12 hours ahead. She figured this out when the alarm she'd programmed some time before that went off in the middle of the night. Again, no idea of what might be going on.

3) I do all the cooking here so I have a pretty good handle on where my utensils are. Recently a favorite spatula went missing for a week, I searched for the sucker fairly thoroughly but with no luck. Two nights ago I opened the utensil drawer and it's sitting dead center on top of everything else. My kids don't play with the items I use and they certainly WOULDN'T put them back when they're done with them (welcome to parenthood). The wife doesn't do any cooking and disavowed all knowledge of this incident. I dunno, maybe it's mice?

These are just a few items I can cite, there are a lot more. Some of them could be attributed to memory loss, the kids getting into things, etc. But not all.

They seem to happen more frequently when some kind of spiritually themed undertaking gets going. The first two I listed happened right about the time of my men's CRHP retreat. The last occurred after I decided to seek counseling for an increase in my faith.

We once spoke to a Dominican friar the wife knows, asking him for his input about this. He opined we either had a disgruntled spirit in the house or a poltergeist. Either way, he didn't jump up and start screaming for exorcism of our domicile.

To tell the truth, it's more an annoyance than anything else. Coping with our sons' autism is more aggravating than this crap.

How to have your entire day's schedule upended...

All it takes is a six year old boy vomiting his last meal of creamed spinach into the computer keyboard.

No going to school for at least a day. No spelling test for him. No taking his grandmother out to lunch. No taking his sister to the playground.

New keyboard. New mouse pad. New wrist rest. New video to watch while recuperating. Dad jumps up and makes chocolate chip muffins on request. Sister doesn't bug the batsnot out of him. Older brother gets to ride the bus in peace. Maximum nap time after taking Tylenol and Benedryl.

Yep, all it takes is one good heave into the keyboard while Mom helps with spelling homework.

Pretty simple.

I didn't know keyboards were so cheap these days.

Welcome to parenthood.

Hank Williams Jr. and his comment about Obama...

Hank Williams Jr. apologized for comparing President Obama to Adolf Hitler Sunday in a Fox News interview.

Monday, the surviving members of the Hitler family appeared on German television and accepted Hank's apology.

The ability to silence all MSM broadcasts, what could go wrong?

This just seems like a bad idea: Feds Will Temporarily Cut Off All TV and Radio Broadcasts on Nov. 9

No, I don't believe we'll see a massive "Night of the Long Knives" scenario where the current Administration wipes out all opposition. I think it'll go as planned and advertised with no problems. Everything will go just fine.

I just don't like a central control for so much of our news sources. Yes, the MSM is so far left it isn't funny. But they ARE available to put out needed information in the event of natural disasters, acts of terrorism, etc. A central "kill switch" that will enable some nogoodnik to take out a major part of our national communications capability is a case of carrying all the eggs in one basket.

Just my paranoid opinion.

The TSA kraken keeps growing...

Found this via Drudge at www.newschannel5.com:


By Adam Ghassemi
PORTLAND, Tenn. – You're probably used to seeing TSA's signature blue uniforms at the airport, but now agents are hitting the interstates to fight terrorism with Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR).

"Where is a terrorist more apt to be found? Not these days on an airplane more likely on the interstate," said Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons.

Tuesday Tennessee was first to deploy VIPR simultaneously at five weigh stations and two bus stations across the state.

Agents are recruiting truck drivers, like Rudy Gonzales, into the First Observer Highway Security Program to say something if they see something.

"Not only truck drivers, but cars, everybody should be aware of what's going on, on the road," said Gonzales.

It's all meant to urge every driver to call authorities if they see something suspicious.

"Somebody sees something somewhere and we want them to be responsible citizens, report that and let us work it through our processes to abet the concern that they had when they saw something suspicious," said Paul Armes, TSA Federal Security Director for Nashville International Airport.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol checked trucks with drug and bomb sniffing dogs during random inspections.

"The bottom line is this: if you see something suspicious say something about it," Gibbons said Tuesday.

The random inspections really aren't any more thorough normal, according to Tennessee Highway Patrol Colonel Tracy Trott who says paying attention to details can make a difference. Trott pointed out it was an Oklahoma state trooper who stopped Timothy McVeigh for not having a license plate after the Oklahoma City bombing in the early 1990s.

Tuesday's statewide "VIPR" operation isn't in response to any particular threat, according to officials.

Armes said intelligence indicates law enforcement should focus on the highways as well as the airports.

(End of story, my comments follow.)

I haven't paid much heed to the actions of the TSA, I really don't see me ever flying in an airplane again. There is just no reason for it.

So stories of them groping young children and women in a highly sexual manner disgusted me more than anything else.

Hearing about mothers forced to drink their own breast milk from the bottles it was in to prove it was harmless had me rolling my eyes. But not much more.

Hearing that they'd soon be deployed to the subways of NYC made me yawn. My little farming community northeast of Dallas doesn't even have freight trains passing through it. No biggie. You can't be pissed about everything outrageous, you'll go flat insane. Pick what really jerks your chain and focus ranting on that.

But this one gets my attention NOW because 1) I can see the searches growing beyond trucks at weigh stations to random selection of cars on the highway. 2) I don't trust our government.

Ruby Ridge, David Koresh @ Waco, the stormtrooper tactics to return Elian Gonzalez to Cuba. Do I need to say more?

How soon before we wake up to the degree the government has undermined the Constitution?

Here's a scenario for ya: A fat, middleaged retired sub sailor playing "Mr. Mom" in Texas posts a highly critical rant against "Dear Leader" on his blog. The man is none too bright, his blog is used mainly to blow off steam. Otherwise his suffering bride would cheerfully shoot him for burning her ears with his fussing & fuming.

But he posts the rant and it catches the eye of a government cube ape monitoring the Internet for possible leads to terrorists.

Since the Dept. of Homeland Security believes that anyone who is a veteran or strongly prolife or believes in limited government or supports the exercise of the 2nd Amendment or even is somewhat religious may be a potential right-wing extremist, the cube ape's pointed little ears prick right up after reading our hero's profile.

The cube ape gets all the personal data about the blogger the server carries, notifies the TSA who have the local authorities monitor the man. Shortly thereafter he's stopped on the local road for a "random" check.

Take it from there. If you think nothing will be found and the suspected perp will cheerfully drive away, just Google "Jose Guerena of Tucson, Arizona".

So who gets sued next?

Found this via Pewsitter:

Residents of a West Tennessee town are responding to a request for city officials to take down a cross displayed on a public water tower.

Roger Alston, who is co-owner of Whiteville Auto Parts and Hardware, told The Jackson Sun that he has put a cross that is 10 feet tall and 5 feet wide on a small plot of land near his business. In addition, he says he is helping organize a community cross giveaway.

"They may get the cross down, but at the same time they're not going to destroy the spirit," he said.

The actions come after the Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened to sue the town over the location of the cross after officials ignored repeated requests to remove it.

The foundation, which is the nation's largest association of atheists and agnostics, said it made the complaints on behalf of a Whiteville resident.

"It is unlawful for the Town of Whiteville to display a patently religious symbol such as a Christian cross on public property," foundation Senior Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert said in a statement. "The Whiteville cross, displayed on the Town water tower, unabashedly creates the perception of government endorsement of Christianity."

Freedom From Religion Foundation Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor said last week that the law has not changed, "and our opinion hasn't changed."

The water tower cross may come down, but Alston said more crosses would go up around the community on private property.

He said a volunteer effort will be held at his store where crosses will be made for Whiteville residents who want to display them on their property.

Tim Lewis, who owns an animal feed company in Whiteville, said he plans to put a cross on top of his business, which is one of the tallest buildings in town.

"Our country was built on that cross," he said. (AP)

(End of story, my comments follow.)

So now the next move for the atheists is to push for whatever code enforcement would bar the crosses on private property. From the sounds of things, they might be in for a long battle.

Somewhere in the ensuing dustup the name of the original complainer will be divulged. In a small town you can just bet their popularity will soar. Just like a mud seeking missile. Yep.

The freedom to associate (or not) with whoever we want is still intact. So the person lodging the original complaint can look forward to many years of peace and quiet as they're completely ignored/ostracized by their neighbors.

"More trouble than it's worth" will be a phrase that will be used somewhere along the line.

Serves 'em right.

A simple pleasure...

The Wife: "Now why does that not surprise me?"

Me: "What?"

The Wife: "I returned that call and theres a voice message saying they don't accept blocked calls."

Time for a little background information, sorry about that.

The wife now works from home, perfoming pediatric phone triage for those doctors signing up for the service with her company. It doesn't pay as well as the hospital, but it's steady with no work cancellations (increasingly common at the last hospital where she worked). So the money can be counted on, she's home at night, gets to see more of the kids and have more to do with them. I continue on, playing the male version of Donna Reed (no pearl necklace) or Mister Mom if you prefer. Whatever.

So on the night in question a mom had left a message with the answering service that the oncall rep from her doctor's office was to call back IMMEDIATELY! Achtung to you too, baby.

The above exchange between the better half and myself was what transpired when she tried returning the call. As sure as God made little green apples, when someone refuses to accept a blocked call it's a potential setup for the dingbat to consider the wife her personal medical "go to" rep from now until death do they part.

We return you now to the aforementioned conversation;

Me: "Since they don't accept blocked calls, just call them with my cell phone. They'll get my number and I've no problem telling someone to pack sand."

The Wife: "You got it!"

Me: "Hell, just do it anytime you want and let me know afterwards. I'll enjoy the conversations."

The Wife: "I know."

So now I've something to look forward to, i.e. antagonizing various dingbats calling for cheap medical advice for their kids and themselves. What are they going to do? Send me to sea on a submarine? BFD, DILLIGAF, LAMDILLIGAF.

It's life's little pleasures that make a day worth getting out of bed for.

Gay kiss during a high school musical causes walkout.

HARTFORD, Conn. (CBS Connecticut) — A Connecticut high school musical causes a public walkout after two men in the cast kissed during the performance.

It happened during the “Zanna Don’t!” musical at Hartford Public High School last Friday.

“There are always circumstances (in organizing these programs) under which the values of the student or their family come into play,” said Adam Johnson, principal of the Government and Law Academy at the high school, told CBS Connecticut.

He added that many students expressed a desire to skip the show due to the subject matter.

“It’s a balancing act of individual values and the expectations of the school … (and) it was interesting, actually, seeing the apprehension,” Johnson explained.

“Zanna Don’t!” depicts life at the fictitious Heartsville High, where students with academically-charged interests sit atop the popularity echelon while football players are the outcasts, and heterosexuals must conceal their sexual preference to avoid public scrutiny.

During the show, two men in the cast share a brief kiss — a lip lock that became a great point of contention.

“There was a public walkout by a bunch of students (when the kiss happened) … mostly male,” Johnson said. “It was visually evident (due to the jerseys the team was wearing) that a lot of football players got up and walked out. It was almost a symbolic kind of thing.”

Reportedly, the school began receiving a great number of phone calls. The dean of students was even allegedly paid a visit by a Bible-wielding parent that spoke about homosexuals in an unflattering manner.

“In the weeks prior … we were told by those organizing the play that there was going to be a boy-boy kiss,” said Johnson, noting the importance of accepting homosexual intimacy as society accepts heterosexual intimacy. “When one teacher asked if I wanted to remove it, I said absolutely not.”

The production was produced by a joint effort between a task force created by Leadership Greater Hartford’s Quest program and True Colors. It was one of 16 projects available for the taking by task forces involved in Quest, participant Louise Provenzano explained.

“Our specific task force voted for this project because we believe in it, especially in light of national and local stories about LGBTQ issues and bullying,” Provenzano, who worked on the marketing committee for the project, told CBS Connecticut. “It’s not a comfortable topic for many folks … but our group is very passionate about bringing the message of inclusiveness and … compassion to the community.”

And with Spirit Day – a holiday during which celebrants promote awareness and widespread acceptance of the LGBTQ community – coming up on Oct. 20, the timing seemed perfect.

“Through humor … and music, we’re able to address uncomfortable topics and very serious issues for many,” Provenzano said.

“Most change that comes about does require a certain amount of movement through the uncomfortable – the change process can be a bit messy and disruptive,” Ted Carroll, president of Leadership Greater Hartford, told CBS Connecticut.

After the performance, a talk back session was held to promote a dialog between students, administrators and moderators, and materials were handed out for those seeking more information about issues that affect the LGBTQ community.

Though there were members of the community put off by the show’s content, many also received it positively, Johnson said.

Its message of acceptance is especially important to proponents of “Zanna Don’t!” – which is why two more productions of the show will be performed at Hartford Public High School on Oct. 21. One performance will be for the school’s two remaining academies, and the other will be for the general public.

“I think that we’re at a time in history where there is tremendous focus on bullying and the way students are treating each other, and how they are treated, in school,” Johnson said. “We have to teach students how to respect and honor each other. (The students) need to learn about the diversity of the world and respecting the rights of all people. (I’m) really glad that we did this program.”

(End of story, my comments follow.)

And so the brainwashing/indoctrination of our children continues. I'm almost surprised that those students walking out weren't threatened with some form of retribution such as suspension. But in a few years, after the pro gay groups feel more sure of themselves I'll bet we'll see such measures. At the very least, double secret probation.

Just how much further does the rotting of our society go before we see a point of no return? Maybe we're already there.

I don't see why public funds should be used for this sort of propaganda. Even if it only involves turning on the lights of the auditorium, public funds are involved.

This is the sort of issue where organizations such as the Knights of Columbus and their non Catholic counterparts need to get involved. This is where the local Pentecostal churches need to voice their displeasure. It's time for those who believe they're doing the will of God to stand up and be counted.

Because a direct lack of that attitude and it's associated actions is whats brought us to this.

Sue me, I couldn't pass this one up...

(H/T to Moonbattery)

Damned right I'd pay to see this...

Seen on Facebook;

I have four extra tickets for the Robbie Knievel (son of Evil Knievel) event at Dodger Stadium next weekend in Los Angeles, if anybody wants them.
Robbie is going to jump over 1,000 Obama supporters with a Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer....

I'm certain he's gotten rid of them by now.

Only one kid and her parent objected?

Did you ever feel so pissed off your jaws seized up and you were speechless? It happened to me after reading this: TX High School Students Made to Recite Mexican National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance

Gee Ma, why not have the kids recite OUR Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish? How about something from the Cristero War? THAT last is a part of Mexican history and their culture, why not go with that?

This is just so fubar that words to describe it fail me.

This'll keep them in their seats...

How soon before the pogroms start?

So now the "Occupy Wall St." groups have started voicing anti Semitic rants. They've been endorsed by both the American Nazi's and the American Communists. This is in addition to the approval they've already received from Pelosi, Obama, Sharpton, and a host of other pols including Eric Cantor. That last proves the moonbat frame of mind isn't limited to the Democrats.

I wonder how long it will be before the USCCB joins in the lovefest?

How many folks have noticed the silence of the ADL about the Semitic slurs?

IMO there are a whole slew of idiots trying to fan the flames of this dingbat movement for whatever political gain might be had. They're all willing to ride that tiger named "Kill The Jews" for a while.

Have the damned fools thought of how interesting life gets when you try to climb off a tiger?

UPDATE: Evidently the ADL has called on “organizers, participants and supporters of these rallies to condemn such bigoted statements clearly and forcefully.” Bravo.

The more things change...

So now B.O. has dispatched troops to Uganda as "advisers".

But isn't that how we initially got into Viet Nam? Yeah, I know we began over there by helping an ally against the perceived threat of Red Chinese intervention and Uganda has no such problem.

But isn't it time to quit the halfhearted measures whenever we send troops anywhere? If we're going to get ourselves involved via the military in any part of the world, let's not do it in a halfassed, slipshod fashion. That's been proven to drain our men and resources until we're so heartily sick of thing we forget why the hell our involvement was justified in the first place. Look at Viet Nam, Afghanistan and Iraq as great examples of that.

As jingoistic as it sounds, whenever our troops go into a new theater of war they should do it completely unleashed and with our full support. The inevitable casualties some of them will suffer require nothing less.

Otherwise we're using our troops as pawns in some sort of game. That is just plain evil.

They deserve better and so do we.

"Arab Spring", where we're at and where we're going...

This is a first hand account of whats going on in Egypt: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/503496

Yet the talking heads in the MSM are giddy about the supposed freedoms being brought about by the ousting of Mubarak. More lies, more spin in order to further the aims of our present Administration.

The same Administration that stayed mum while the Iranian dissidents were dying in the streets two years ago.

The same Administration that spoke out when the Honduran military, acting in accordance with their nation's Constitution, ousted President Manuel Zelaya after he sought to extend his reign.

The same Administration that assured China any concern over human rights would be tabled in favor of trade negotiations.

Do I have to go on?

Now the fools in Foggy Bottom are aligning themselves with the "Occupy Wall Street" tantrum throwers. Is this in hopes of riding a soon to be born tiger of social change in our nation?

Could the tiger's birth be brought about by the EPA regulations set to go into effect in January? These regulations are projected to remove anywhere from 8-25% of our electric power generating capability, resulting in nationwide rolling blackouts and skyrocketing electrical rates. When those rates go up, so will the cost of everything else.

Prior to Hitler's rise, a loaf of bread cost a wheelbarrow full of German currency. The lousy economy was instrumental in bringing "Der Fuhrer" to power. In Germany of the 1930's a large part of their problem were the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles. Could a deliberately engineered repetition of those conditions here help another demagogue to power? Just as the Nazis could use the Jews as scapegoats in energizing their base, could various groups in this nation (Jews, wealthy, Religious Right, etc.) serve the same purpose?

But a comparison to Hitler and Germany of his time isn't the only one that can be made. I'm thinking of Mao's takeover, where property owners were executed, professors were sent off for "rehabilitation". Or Russia when the Soviets took over and all farm land was collectivized.

Sinclair Lewis wrote, "It Can't Happen Here" in 1935. Read the sucker if you can. Maybe he was onto something. The possible parallels to our own time are just a bit scary.

I began this post on the topic of the "Arab Spring" and how it is anything but a new dawning of freedom for those living in Muslim countries. The post seems to have morphed into an observation of how our nation is heading down a path it never should have gone, led by those who keep quiet whenever true freedom lovers are oppressed but speak out in favor of despots. It's also become an open question of just where the Hell we're headed.

My guess is, nowhere anyone sane would want to go.

I see a bunch of damned fools aligning themselves with clueless anarchists occupying Wall Street and other financial districts in the land. I see an Administration up to it's neck in an operation that provided high powered firearms to the Mexican drug cartels. I see a President who favors killing the unborn at all times of a pregnancy for whatever reason may present itself. I see a Health & Human Services under his sway trying to mandate the dispensing of birth control pills, abortion on demand, etc from all hospitals no matter what their religious affiliation. An EPA gone hog wild and trampling over the rights of anyone in their path. A Department of Homeland Security that furtively issues a memo for all the nation's police to be aware of "right wing extremists" and their groups being the fertile recruiting grounds for domestic terrorists. That same agency, along with the Department of Justice, does backflips through hoops to avoid placing followers of Islam in the same category. The aforementioned Dept. of Justice has dismissed a case of outright voter intimidation, solely on the grounds of the ethnicity of the perpetrators. The same agency that refuses to enforce DOMA (a duly enacted law of the land).

I see all of this and I wonder what the future holds for my kids? What does it hold for any one of us?

Now I think I'll get some more ammo. It'll eventually get used at the range if nowhere else. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Iran in bed with the Zetas?

So here is the story: http://news.yahoo.com/u-says-iran-tied-terror-plot-washington-d-145047487.html

Just a few stupid questions that go through my brain here; Is it possible there have been other more successful contacts between various Muslim groups and the narco gangs of Mexico?

Are we looking at the shape of things to come?

Since many of our police are actively discouraged from asking about the immigration status of Hispanics, wouldn't this provide an easy access for 9/11-style massacres?

Or something worse?

On "Occupy Wall Street" and a possible outcome...

Adrienne posted on the Wall Street idiocy that is growing across the nation. Here is her take on it: http://adriennescatholiccorner.blogspot.com/2011/10/occupy-wall-street.html#disqus_thread

In the wrap up she notices the predictions of violence from various sources and asks who the nitwits will battle since Tea Party type conservatives won't play. That got my wheels spinning in their paranoid fashion.

Who will the dingbats get violent with? Well the police will do for starters.

If you're middle aged you probably remember when being a cop had a certain appeal to honor, integrity, courage, sacrifice. All the civic virtues many of us grew up to respect & admire.

But since the late 60's the police officers of this nation have been vilified, denigrated, held up for scorn & ridicule on a continuous nonstop basis. If you're around my age (59) you may put all of that into the mental circular file, knowing that it's pure unadulterated bullshit. To be a cop DOES still entail a lot of admirable virtues.

But if you're in Generation X or beyond you don't have that frame of reference we Baby Boomers do. You've probably been brought up to expect cops to be violent, crooked, lying abusers of John & Joan Q. Public.

So when the morons presently occupying Wall St. and other financial districts across the nation start mixing it up with the cops, we'll see some heavily edited videos appearing on YouTube, Facebook, etc. If you've guessed they won't be flattering to anyone wearing the blue, go to the head of the class.

The outrage over supposed thuggish Brownshirt tactics will mushroom, soon the fools presently protesting will be joined by any/all of the following: SEIU, New Black Panthers, Code Pink, and a whole slew of other fools that we're all familiar with but I can't bring to mind right now.

It won't make a rat's patoot how many other videos show the cops actually using restraint in their response. Too many people believe only what they want to. Many of them are college educated respected members of the community. Just remember some of the scares we've had over the years. Those scares would include avian flu, swine flu, Y2K, etc. Common sense really isn't too common.

The protests will grow, more videos will surface, soon police stations will be attacked. The response will (again) appear on the various outlets already mentioned.

The Executive Branch of the Federal Government gets involved, declaring martial law throughout the land. The Internet will be heavily monitored for seditious postings, all suspect groups will be put under a microscope.

But in the fashion we've seen since 9/11/01, those groups WON'T be the ones most folk would associate with starting this violence. Instead, we'll see all the ones mentioned some time back in the Homeland Security memo that went to all police departments across the nation. I'm sure you remember, it was the one describing "right wing terrorists" being recruited from religious groups, those supporting limited government, supporters of the 2nd Amendment, and veterans.

So the clampdown will start. Any criticism of "Dear Leader" or his policies will be dealt with swiftly. Those portions of the MSM still allowed to function will give the nation it's daily dose of propaganda/news.

Just as Goldstein in "1984" and Snowball in "Animal Farm" became the scapegoats that never die, so we'll see another such figure emerge from the rewritten recent history of our nation. G.W. Bush may want to move overseas soon.

Don't look for the military to step in, their top ranks are firmly in the pocket of this administration. The weeding out of malcontents is being accomplished by the repeal of DADT and open-armed embrace of active homosexuals. A further weakening has been accomplished (though unintentionally) by the troops serving multiple tours in two war fronts under completely asinine Rules of Engagement. These rules have included among other things the ban against bombing any congregation of enemy combatants in a cemetery. This is done out of "respect" for the Muslims. My ass! That is just one of many such idiocies our armed forces work under.

So who will stand and protect John & Joan Q. Public? Go look in the mirror and while doing that, reach down and find the biggest, hairiest "set" you have. You're gonna need them.

Now granted this all could be just the rantings of a middle-aged paranoid retired sub sailor who spent one too many times diving into a bottle of booze. But given how things have gone for the past 40-50 years, how unlikely is this scenario?

"Your religious beliefs be damned!"

(CNSNews.com) - Bantering with the audience at a fundraiser in St. Louis yesterday, President Barack Obama bragged about a new regulation, proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services, that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has denounced as an “unprecedented attack on religious liberty.”

"Darn right!" an audience member at the fundraiser shouted as Obama described the regulation.

“Darn tooting!” Obama said back.

The proposed regulation, designed to implement part of Obamacare, will require all private health plans in the United States to cover sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives--including those that cause abortions—without charging any fees or co-pay. These regulations were drawn to implement a provision in Obama’s health-care law that calls for all health-care plans to cover “preventive services.”

Combined with Obamacare’s mandate that all individuals must buy health insurance, the “preventive services” regulation would require all American Catholics to buy health care plans that pay for sterilizations, contraceptives and abortions--all of which violate Catholic moral teaching.

A “religious exemption” in the regulation is so narrowly drawn that it does not include any lay Catholics, or any Catholic hospitals, charitable organizations, or colleges or universities. Thus, many major Catholic institutions in the United States would be forced to choose between dropping health insurance coverage for their employees and students or violating the moral teachings of their own church.

In comments on the regulation submitted to HHS last month, the Catholic bishops called for the regulation to be “rescinded in its entirety” and described the proposal as “government coercion of religious people.”

"Indeed, such nationwide government coercion of religious people and groups to sell, broker, or purchase 'services' to which they have a moral or religious objection represents an unprecedented attack on religious liberty," the bishops said.

At a Democratic National Committee fundraiser at the Renaissance Hotel in St. Louis last night, Obama touted the “preventive services” regulation to an appreciative audience.

“And, yes, we passed health care reform because no one in America should go bankrupt because somebody in their family gets sick,” said Obama, according to the official White House transcript of his remarks.

“Insurance companies can’t drop your coverage for no good reason,” said Obama. “They won’t be able to deny your coverage because of preexisting conditions. Think about what that means for families all across America. Think about what it means for women.”

At that point, an audience member shouted: “Birth control.”

“Absolutely. You’re stealing my line,” said Obama.

“Breast cancer, cervical cancer, are no longer preexisting conditions,” Obama continued. “No longer can insurance companies discriminate against women just because you guys are the ones who have to give birth.”

At this point, a member of a laughing audience shouted out: “Darn right!”

“Darn tooting,” Obama answered back—to laughter. “They have to cover things like mammograms and contraception as preventive care, no more out-of-pocket costs.”

Last week, the Catholic bishops distributed an insert for placement in church bulletins all across the country. It called on Catholics to contact HHS to object to the regulation. On their website the bishops are now asking Catholic to write Congress to urge members to support legislation that would overturn the regulation,

(End of story, my comments follow.)

So someone tell me again why 56% of those who identify themselves as Catholic voted for this jerk?

"We'll decide who is/is not clergy in your church"

Found this at online.wsj.com:

Washington Wants a Say Over Your Minister

By MICHAEL W. MCCONNELL

Today, the Obama administration will invite the Supreme Court to open a new front in the culture wars. Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC concerns a commissioned minister, Cheryl Perich, who taught elementary school and led chapel devotions at a small Lutheran school outside Detroit. Ms. Perich became ill and was replaced in the classroom by a substitute. In the middle of the school year she sought to return and then, instead of attempting to work out the dispute through the church's reconciliation process, she threatened to sue.

As relations broke down, the church congregation voted to withdraw her "call" to the ministry, and she ceased to be eligible for her prior job. She sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act, with the support of the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The federal statutes outlawing employment discrimination based on race, sex, age and disability contain no express exception for church employers. But for 40 years lower courts have applied a "ministerial exception," which bars the government from any role in deciding who should be a minister. Courts have reasoned that the separation between church and state protects the ability of churches to choose their own clergy just as it protects the state from any control by churches. The Supreme Court has never spoken to the issue.

But who counts as a minister? Cheryl Perich's duties included leading students in prayer and worship, but she also taught secular subjects, using ordinary secular textbooks. The sole disagreement in the lower courts was whether her job was sufficiently religious to be considered ministerial. The Supreme Court will consider, for the first time, how to make that determination.
But the Obama Justice Department has now asked the court to disavow the ministerial exception altogether. This would mean that, in every future case, a court—and not the church—would decide whether the church's reasons for firing or not hiring a minister were good enough

But the government, including the judiciary, is not entitled under the First Amendment to decide what qualifications a minister should have, or to weigh religious considerations against others. Is a secular court to decide, for example, whether confining Catholic priests or Orthodox rabbis to males is a correct interpretation of scripture, or merely a vestige of outmoded and stereotypical bias?

James Madison famously declared that the civil magistrate is not a "competent Judge of Religious truth." Yet every discrimination claim about the hiring of a minister necessarily comes down to the question of whether the church had a bona fide religious reason for its decision. That places the courts squarely in the business of adjudicating the validity of a church's claims about its own religious practice.

The Justice Department's brief grudgingly concedes that there may be an exception for employees performing "exclusively religious functions," but this is an illusory protection. Every church officer—even the pope—performs at least some nonreligious administrative duties. If the government's position were accepted, the courts would be embroiled in disputes about the selection of clergy at all levels and in every denomination. This would be a radical reversal of our nation's long constitutional tradition.

In the colonial era, with an established Church of England, the government controlled who would preach the gospel. The royal governor of Virginia licensed ministers in the colony, and Madison's first known writing on religious liberty was a letter protesting the jailing of Baptist ministers for preaching without a license.

When the First Amendment declared that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion," it meant that churches would support themselves and control themselves. And the separation of church and state is a two-way street: It protects the autonomy of religious institutions from governmental interference no less than it prevents advancement of religion by government power.

That tradition of church-state separation has continued to the present day. After the Civil War, for example, the framers of the 14th Amendment, which applied the Establishment Clause to the states, voted against legislation to subject churches to antidiscrimination laws, concluding this would violate the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has held (Bishop v. Amos, 1987) that religious organizations must be "free to select their own leaders, define their own doctrines, resolve their own disputes, and run their own institutions." Even EEOC guidelines a few years ago reaffirmed the ministerial exception.

Perhaps American churches should be more open to female clergy and more accommodating toward elderly pastors or disabled chaplains. But if the separation between church and state means anything, such changes must come from within.

As a lower court judge, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote: "Federal court entanglement in matters as fundamental as a religious institution's selection or dismissal of its spiritual leaders risks an unconstitutional trespass on the most spiritually intimate grounds of a religious community's existence." It is unfortunate that the Department of Justice does not see it that way.

Mr. McConnell is the director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford University. He wrote a friend-of-the-court brief in this case on behalf of major Protestant denominations.

(End of story, my comments follow.)

Should the government win, I wonder how a dissident priest who came out as a practicing homosexual would fare? What sort of assinine guidelines would they come up with in Foggy Bottom to determine who is clergy and who is not?

China is currently butting heads with the Vatican over the selection of bishops. How soon before we see something similar here?

"Fast & Furious", indictments and equivalence...

The "Fast & Furious saga continues. Much to my surprise it seems to be growing legs as Rep. Issa and his committee keep digging out the dirt.

Now Eric Holder is backtracking and saying he didn't properly understand the question when asked how long he knew of this fubar operation. This comes right on the heels of proof he knew of it months before the shit hit the fan, vice the "few weeks" he initially claimed.

The AP is doing damage control for B.O., citing what they claim was a similar operation (named "Wide Receiver") that was run by the Bush Administration. This sounds like, "We're no worse than the other guys" which is a great way to justify being accomplice to murder.

The problem with that is while "Wide Receiver" had ATF agents nailing the gun purchasers shortly after they'd made a buy for various nogoodniks, "Fast & Furious" let the buyers fade into the sunset with guns in hand, ostensibly leading to bigger fish.

That means we won't be seeing any illegally purchased firearms that could be traced to "Wide Receiver" showing up at crime scenes. Too bad the same can't be said about "Fast & Furious".

So the story won't go away, now theres speculation of having a special prosecutor assigned to look into who knew what and when did they know it.

Return with me now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when Slick Willie eventually found himself facing impeachment for perjury after the infamous blue dress came to light. At the time I thought all too many people were too damned eager to push impeachment, not realizing what goes around will come back around. Proof of that was when constant calls for impeaching G.W. Bush arose for little or no justifiable reason.

So the idea of impeaching ANYBODY is distasteful to me. Politics are partisan enough without idiots trying to even a score.

But this is an entirely different kettle of fish. Innocent people died as a direct result of "Fast & Furious". Theres also a faint stench of "setup" to allowing a flow of illegal American firearms into the narcostate Mexico is becoming while at the same time the gun grabbers start wailing about the cartels being supplied all too happily from Americans looking to make a fast buck.

So yeah, in this case the string needs to be pulled right up to a complete unearthing of any and all involved. Whatever charges can be brought, should be.

Theres a hell of a difference between a horndog in the Oval Office with an intern eagerly gobbling his goop and the arming of murderous animals who cheerfully kill anyone they want.

Same sex military weddings; a line is drawn in the sand...

(CNSNews.com) – Will same-sex marriage ceremonies be allowed at the Catholic Chapel of the Most Holy Trinity at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point?

“The answer is ‘no,’” said Taylor Henry, director of public affairs and media relations for the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and spokesman for Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who certifies all Catholic chaplains for the armed services.

“Holy Trinity is an actual Catholic parish, unlike the non-denominational chapels that are found on other military installations, and the only services held there are Catholic services. The Catholic Church does not perform the sacrament of matrimony for same-sex couples,” he said.

What about other Catholic chapels on other military bases?

“What non-Catholic chaplains do in nondenominational chapels on U.S. military grounds around the world will be up to the military, but no Catholic chaplain is authorized to perform a same-sex marriage under any circumstances,” Henry added.

Archbishop Broglio, meanwhile, has denounced directives issued last week by Under Secretary of Defense Clifford Stanley and DoD General Counsel Jeh Johnson clearing military chaplains to perform same-sex weddings in military chapels.

“The Pentagon's new policy, as outlined in these two memos, appears to ignore the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which was signed into law 15 years ago and remains in effect,” Broglio said in a statement released last week.

“Undersecretary Stanley cannot say, on the one hand, that chaplains may take part in any private ceremony as long as it is ‘not prohibited by applicable state and local law,’ and on the other, say nothing of the federal law.

“Nor can DOD's General Counsel say that determinations regarding use of military facilities should be made on a 'sexual-orientation neutral basis, provided such use is not prohibited by applicable state and local laws' while neglecting to take DOMA into account.

Broglio pointed out that voters in 29 states have affirmed marriage as the union of one man and one woman by referendum – and 41 states total have adopted laws or constitutional amendments protecting marriage. .

“Fundamentally the new policy seeks to circumvent the clear will of the majority, whose unquestionable sovereignty has the last word in the system of government enshrined in the Federal Constitution,” Broglio said.

“It cannot be forgotten that the 1996 enactment of DOMA was due to the efforts of a substantial, bi-partisan majority in Congress and to then-President Clinton. As a Nation we walk down a dangerous path when appointed officials are allowed to thwart the will of the people.

He added: “The women and men I am privileged to serve place their lives on the line every day to defend the Country whose government is of the people, by the people, and for the people. Let us pray that the millions who have died to ensure those liberties did not die in vain."

The Archdiocese for the Military Services is the sole endorser (certifier) of Roman Catholic chaplains to the United States government. A Roman Catholic priest cannot serve within the United States military as a priest without the express permission of the Archdiocese.

As of 2008, there were 285 Roman Catholic priests certified for active-duty military service.

(End of story, my comments follow)

This will be what those pushing the agenda of not just tolerance, but outright endorsement of active homosexuals in the military have been waiting for.

The stage is set. Now it'll take just one gay couple to be refused the use of this chapel for the dance to start. We'll see the ACLU get involved, look for the separation of church and state to be invoked and stand by for the recent pedophile priest scandal to be resurrected (again).

When the dust settles we'll be just a bit further down the same road traveled by Sodom & Gomorrah. Catholics faithful to Rome will also be closer to outright persecution.

I covered this recently: http://agangershome.blogspot.com/2011/09/this-gives-me-bad-feeling.html

It didn't take long at all for the ball to start rolling. A public stance such as the one taken here won't go unanswered.

A worthy cause deserving of support.

Go here for more information: http://sadcatholic.blogspot.com/2011/10/they-miscalculated-you-can-help.html

A breathing piece of cat food = a human life

Anti-whalers launch kamikaze operation
By Tamara McLean in Auckland

RADICAL anti-whaling operation Sea Shepherd is promising dramatic attacks against Japanese whalers in coming months, with volunteers warning they're prepared to die for the cause.

The group has announced "Operation Divine Wind" against the Japanese whalers, who plan to begin their annual hunt in the Southern Ocean in December.

The name translates to the Japanese word kamikaze, the name given to World War II pilots sent on suicide missions.

In launching the mission at the weekend, Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson promised on the group's Facebook page a "very dramatic and adventurous three months beginning in December".

"I am confident that we will be able to stop them once again," he wrote in a statement "liked" by more than 2000 Sea Shepherd Facebook fans.

The Sea Shepherd has become increasingly successful in recent years at disrupting the Japanese fleet, last year taking it further when New Zealand activist Peter Bethune illegally boarded a whaling ship and was briefly jailed.

Angered by the campaign, which reduced the catch, the Japanese government has injected $US27 million ($27.71 million) into the program to improve the safety for its crew.

Undeterred, Sea Shepherd announced it will send 100 volunteers to the Southern Ocean and is prepared to lose lives if necessary.

"They will have to kill us to prevent us from intervening once again," Capt Watson said.

"Are the Japanese people ready to take human lives in defence of this horrifically cruel and illegal slaughter of endangered and protected species of whales?

"If so, my answer to the Japanese Government is hoka hey - it's a good day to die."

He also accused Japan of continuing its whale program solely to save face against activist opposition.

"It now seems they are simply obsessed with killing whales not for need, and not for profit, but because they believe they have the right to do what they wish and kill whatever they wish in an established international whale sanctuary, just for the sake of defending their misplaced honour."

He claimed the program was a "smack in the face" to foreign nations that donated funds in the wake of Japan's killer tsunami.

Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research has yet to comment on the claims.

(End of story, my comments follow.)

This isn't treated as a bunch of nuts making completely idiotic statements, its treated as hard news. In this day and age, it unfortunately is.

Not too long ago, idiots like this would have been laughed off the face of the planet. "You want to commit suicide for cat food? Have at it sweetpea!" would have been a popular sentiment. Not these days.

So the life of a whale is seen to be equal to that of a human, even those who disagree will do so with a muted voice. This is where the ideas of moral relativism and "judge not lest ye be judged" has brought us. These nutjobs will confront the Japanese whalers and you can bet they'll be sympathetically portrayed by the MSM.

I've read several places where Caesar decreed his horse be worshipped as a god and when Christians refused they were persecuted. So it's a safe bet a good portion of the populace of Rome went along with worshipping "Flicka". A lot of them probably did it with a smirk.

But how many actually bought into the insanity with a straight face?

How far from that level are we?

Catholics and the death penalty...

Found this via Pewsitter:

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church's position on capital punishment has evolved considerably over the centuries.

And as a result, "it is not a message that is immediately understood -- that there is no room for supporting the death penalty in today's world," said a Vatican's expert on capital punishment and arms control.

Because the church has only in the past few decades begun closing the window -- if not shutting it completely -- on the permissibility of the death penalty, people who give just a partial reading of the church's teachings may still think the death penalty is acceptable today, said Tommaso Di Ruzza, desk officer at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

St. Thomas Aquinas equated a dangerous criminal to an infected limb thereby making it "praiseworthy and healthful" to kill the criminal in order to spare the spread of infection and safeguard the common good.

However, over the centuries, justice has evolved from being the smiting arm of revenge toward a striving for reform and restoration, much like today's medical science, where amputation is no longer the only recourse for curing an infection.

Modern-day popes have reflected that change in attitude.

As far back as the 19th and early 20th centuries theologians pondered the seeming paradox between the Fifth Commandment, "You shall not kill," and the church's dark history of condoning state-held executions to deal with heresy and other threats and crimes.

Pope Paul VI took concrete action in distancing the church from this form of punishment, first by formally banning the use of the death penalty in Vatican City State, although no one had been executed under the authority of the Vatican's temporal governance since 1870.

Pope Paul also spoke publicly against planned executions and called for clemency for death-row inmates. Pope John Paul II also would punctuate his Angelus and general audience talks with impassioned appeals to spare the life of a prisoner on the verge of execution.

It was the Polish pope who "earnestly hoped and prayed" for a global moratorium on the use of capital punishment and the abolition of the death penalty worldwide.

Pope Benedict, too, continues to send appeals for clemency in high-profile cases via telegrams either through a country's bishops or nuncio, and he has praised a U.N. resolution calling upon states to institute a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

The 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church recognized "as well-founded the right and duty of legitimate public authority to punish malefactors by means of penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime, not excluding, in cases of extreme gravity, the death penalty." At the same time, it said, "bloodless means" that could protect human life should be used when possible.

The "extreme gravity" loophole was tightened with changes made in 1997, which reflected the pope's 1995 encyclical, "Evangelium Vitae." It specifies that the use of the death penalty is allowed only when the identity and responsibility of the condemned is certain and if capital punishment "is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor."

However, given the resources and possibilities available to governments today for restraining criminals, "cases of the absolute necessity of the suppression of the offender 'are very rare, if not practically nonexistent,'" it says.

Pope Benedict, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, had a major role in drafting the 1992 Catechism and, especially, its 1997 revised passages. When he told journalists about the changes in 1997, he said while the principles do not absolutely exclude capital punishment, they do give "very severe or limited criteria for its moral use."

"It seems to me it would be very difficult to meet the conditions today," he had said.

When a journalist said the majority of Catholics in the United States favor use of the death penalty, Cardinal Ratzinger said, "While it is important to know the thoughts of the faithful, doctrine is not made according to statistics, but according to objective criteria taking into account progress made in the church's thought on the issue."

Di Ruzza said the divergence of many Catholics in the United States from the church's current position is a sign that "the universal church must also accompany the particular churches a little bit" and help guide them on this "journey of purification," which is more a process of "maturity rather than a revolution or change in tradition."

Without reading Popes John Paul and Benedict's clear condemnations of the death penalty, the catechism will "unfortunately have the risk of being ambiguous or taken out of context," he said.

The church upholds the inherent dignity of all human beings, even the most sin-filled, and believes in hope, conversion and mercy, he said.

There is always room for conversion, he said, and forgiveness does not mean being naive about the real evil the human being is capable of committing.

The death penalty does not solve much; a victim still feels loss and crime is not deterred, he said.
Communities must strive to promote the common good, and it's dubious "that you can kill someone for the good of all," he said.

"The beauty of forgiveness must also be truly discovered; it's this that saves us," said Di Ruzza.

Otherwise, "by killing the just or the unjust without understanding that they have dignity, we will find ourselves after 2,000 years in the same courtyard shouting, 'Kill him!,' like they did with Jesus."

"God forgave us. He did not call us to death. Jesus let us overcome death" so as to more fully embrace life, he said.

END

(End of story, my comments follow)

In rebuttal I offer this from "Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion" by then Cardinal Ratzinger:

"...3. Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia."

The rest of that missive can be found here; http://www.priestsforlife.org/magisterium/bishops/04-07ratzingerommunion.htm

I've been told by some Catholics that I can't really be considered "pro-life" if I support the death penalty. Fair enough, I don't wholeheartedly and without reservation attempt to belong to any group of any persuasion. The exception to that would be the Church, which by it's very name implies a "big tent" mentality. Since membership there is wrapped up in my eternal destination I'll put a premium on the requirements, all of which are found in the Catechism, Bible and various papal encyclicals. Nor will I mindlessly follow any popular trends no matter who may promote them. Because at the end of this life I'll be standing in front of the King of Kings, ALL BY MYSELF with no one to blame for my life and how it was lived but me.