Camelot for the Masses – “Obamalot”

According  to Hot Air, the Washington Times found “the motherload.” Says Hot Air, “While publicly identifying with the nation’s have-nots, the Obama administration has been cultivating the Beltway social elite behind the scenes.”

In the vernacular of the tax-paying masses, Obama’s hobb-nobbings are just another “loada’ __.” Obama seeks to ingratiate himself with high society despite the imprinted image of  just-plain-folk representing “the humble masses yearning to breath free.”  Not much free for the tax-paying middle class,while the air of  neo-Camelot-ary reigns in Obamalot.  While Obama reaches into our pockets, his “outreach to the luxury lifestyle glossies, which cater to the region’s highest socioeconomic strata with knowing coverage of everything from the choicest real estate and most exclusive parties to the plushest resorts and spas, is not the only recent evidence that the Obama administration is eager to forge ties with the nation’s social and style arbiters.”

Says Hot Air:

Charming the local (and not so local) power structure is good, smart politics, as is having dozens of interest groups aligned on your side coordinating their message with a daily phone call. And just as conservative groups could never get away with that without dark media insinuations about the “right-wing noise machine” building a wall of propaganda around the White House, George W. Bush could never have gotten away with holding a strategy session on how to glad-hand the D.C. glitterati while issuing near-hourly warnings about how we’re on the brink of Great Depression II. I can just picture the mocking nut-roots YouTube clips, destined to be recycled on “Hardball” and “Countdown”: First a quote from a story about Bush’s interest in socializing, then a clip of him and Laura dressed in finery and dancing at an inaugural ball as graphics about the market’s implosion and this year’s $1.75 trillion deficit roll merrily by. They’re … out of touch, you see. Exit question: Couldn’t the meeting have been postponed until, oh, say, after Geithner came up with a bank rescue plan and Treasury had been staffed? This isn’t going to reassure George Will or Tom Friedman about Obama’s ability to prioritize.

Expansion of Human Embryo Experimentation.

Thoughts of the Great Unwashed point  here for a read on the label given Obama as the “abortion president”:

One of the most outspoken abortion opponents in Congress labeled President Obama the “abortion president” on Friday in response to news that Obama intended to sign an executive order Monday lifting restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., accused Obama of launching two attacks on pro-life measures. In addition to lifting President Bush’s stem cell restrictions, Obama intends to lift regulations from the Bush administration that allow health care providers and institutions to refuse to participate in abortions on grounds of conscience.

“Why does the president persist in the dehumanizing of nascent human life when better alternatives exist? Human embryo-destroying stem cell research is not only unethical, unworkable and unreliable- it is now, demonstrably unnecessary,” Smith said.Smith labeled Obama’s stem cell policy an expansion of “human embryo experimentation.”

Keeping Liberty – Preserving Freedom and Faith

The good news is that people took action.  There is no sleeping for Connecticut Catholics.

FIC Action President Peter Wolfgang will be on the Laura Ingraham show at 10:35 March 12th to discuss the anti-Catholic bill S.B. 1098, the two legislators–Lawlor and McDonald–who were behind it, and the incredible response by outraged citizens of all faiths at the state Capitol on March 11th. You can listen to Laura’s program here

“There were about 5,000 people at the state capitol yesterday– a weekday!–to protest this blatantly unconstitutional attack on religious liberty.  Legislators of both parties are suddenly showing a greater level of deference and respect toward the Catholic Church and other faiths than FIC Action has ever seen.”

“Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your follow believers throughout the world undergo the same suffering.” 1 Peter 5: 8-9

Connecticut Catholic Parishes Beware – Prepare!

Connecticut Catholic and the bishops of the Catholic Church had better get their ducks in order for the next volley.

Ed Morrissey writes that Connecticut lawmakers “finally got around to reading the founding documents”

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

As a result of the mass outcry,the bill that would have deprived bishops of  legitimate power in their parishes was cancelled  on the grounds of it being clearly unconstitutional.

As soon as word spread about the bill, the Legislative Office Building was flooded with telephone calls and e-mails on Monday. The bill, virtually overnight, became the hottest issue at the state Capitol.

The cancellation came less than 24 hours after Senate Republican John McKinney of Fairfield called for the cancellation, saying that his caucus was unanimously against the bill because they believe it is clearly unconstitutional.

The bill itself according to Morrissey, and the agreeing protesters, was “a piece of work

(a) A corporation may be organized in connection with any Roman Catholic Church or congregation in this state, by filing in the office of the Secretary of the State a certificate signed by the archbishop or bishop and the vicar-general of the archdiocese or of the diocese in which such congregation is located and the pastor and two laymen belonging to such congregation, stating that they have so organized for the purposes hereinafter mentioned. [Such archbishop or bishop, vicar-general and pastor of such congregation and, in case of the death or other disability of the archbishop or bishop, the administrator of the archdiocese or diocese for the time being, the chancellor of the archdiocese or diocese and the pastor of such congregation shall be members, ex officio, of such corporation, and, upon their death, resignation, removal or preferment, their successors in office shall become such members in their stead. The two lay members shall be appointed annually, in writing, during the month of January from the lay members of the congregation by a majority of the ex-officio members of the corporation; and three members of the corporation, of whom one shall be a layman, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.]

(b) The corporation shall have a board of directors consisting of not less than seven nor more than thirteen lay members. The archbishop or bishop of the diocese or his designee shall serve as an ex-officio member of the board of directors without the right to vote.

We do live in interesting times.  Sleep only with one eye open!

Bishops Speak Loudly for Christ -Clearly for the Church

Some thoughts apart from the daily news:

Bishops of the Church: focusing on their duty to lead the People of God.

A bishop is not just one voice among many, or even one important voice among others.  In his diocese, he is the unique leader of the Faithful.  For Christians, the bishop’s voice speaks with clarity for Christ. It is important to note that even a body of bishops serving the church such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) do not speak with the authority of the Bishop of the Diocese.

These are days of darkness and times of confusion. In our loud and intrusive culture, we listen to more voices than we can stand. Exhortations like “listen to your bishop” have long since faded in the background of our day to day struggle. For this reason,  we need the Church more than ever.  We need the Church to speak over and above the world. This is a time of vigilance and a time to choose sides.  Our fallen natures find it hard to submit to valid authority, but now is not the time for self-serving arrogance or pettiness.  We need our bishops and we need our bishops to speak and speak clearly.

The Fathers of the Church write:

St. Ignatius of Antioch to the Magnesians:

Let nothing exist among you that may divide you ; but be ye united with your bishop, and those that preside over you, as a type and evidence of your immortality.

As therefore the Lord did nothing without the Father, being united to Him, neither by Himself nor by the apostles, so neither do ye anything without the bishop and presbyters. Neither endeavor that anything appear reasonable and proper to yourselves apart; but being come together into the same place, let there be one prayer, one supplication, one mind, one hope, in love and in joy undefiled. There is one Jesus Christ, than whom nothing is more excellent. Do ye therefore all run together as into one temple of God, as to one altar, as to one Jesus Christ, who came forth from one Father, and is with and has gone to one.

Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans:

It is reasonable for the future to be vigilant, and while we have yet time, to repent unto God. It is well to honor God and the bishop; he who honors the bishop, is honored of God; he who does anything without the knowledge of the bishop, serves the devil.

These days are so troubling and leadership so wanting that I make so bold as to suggest that those of other Christian persuasions would do well in days yet to come to give Peter, the Bishop of Rome, an ear.  Beyond our failures, beyond our broken unity, beyond prejudice is Christ breathing His Spirit upon His Apostles, upon His Church, upon His Body.

Style vs. Substance

Seems Obama can make them swoooooon but they remember Limbaugh.

They Remember Limbaugh

You go, Guy!

Rick Tucker writing for TownHall.com says Obama’s address to Congress accrued kudos for a day.  Front pages  applauded his audacious plans.  By the weekend Barak was old news and lining garbage cans.  Rush on the other hand mouthed four words that are still lighting fires and making headlines.

The words, part if a diatribe decrying socialist plans for America, were that Rush wanted “Barack Obama to fail.  ” They were clearly and easily understood by people who understand context. That’s really all that matters.  People do understand what Limbaugh meant.  Some people just can’t stand that Limbaugh puts such a memorable stamp on it.