Media Bias

We know it's there. They're not telling us everything. And when I say "they" I mean all mainstream and cable media outlets (yes, even your favorite cable news channel--they're all guilty).

Take a look at the Vortex episode posted below that exposes just one blaring example of media bias. (The actual video starts at about 0.30 if you want to skip the ad & intro.)

If the mainstream and cable media outlets would withhold information in order to slant Republican primary results, can you imagine what else they're not telling us? When information is withheld from We the People, how can we possibly make the right decisions for ourselves, for our families, for this nation and for the future? If we're not getting the right information, or all the information, how can we tell when we're being lied to?

There are so many examples of media bias out there that it would take years to post them all, and quite frankly, we don't have that kind of time. In the sidebar of this blog (<= that one) is a link to CatholicVote.org. There you'll get truth in journalism and plenty of resources to help you vote your conscience.

More resources from a Catholic perspective:

Catholic Culture
Notes on the Culture Wars
Catholic Online
Catholic News Agency
RealCatholicTV: Catholic News Roundup

I also recommend surfing the web for alternative, privately owned resources for current events, as far too often subsidized and publicly-traded companies have a vested interest in serving and protecting their benefactors.

And if you be unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15

Know Your Enemy

The HHS mandate should have given all of us some things to ponder. I think these days we often want to always see the best in everyone, to assume that no one really wants to bring harm to others. We think that deep down everyone is good at heart, tries to keep their word, are basically working toward the same thing that we are.

Over the years, I've learned that this is a fantasy.

There are, in fact, people who aren't good at heart, who sell their word to the highest bidder and work only toward their own agendas regardless the price the rest of us have to pay. Worst of all, we can't distinguish them from the crowd by simply looking at them.

Doesn't St. Paul warn us of this?

And what I do I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. 2 Cor 11:12-15

We living here on earth are called the Church Militant for a reason, and that reason is that we are at war with Hell. Yes, the war has been won, but every war has casualties. Time has not played out, and the casualty list is growing larger and larger. How many have already been lost because we have been living in a feel-good age we don't want to be reminded of such unpleasentries? We've not done ourselves any favors with all the nicey-nice hand holding. Too many of us Catholics don't know our faith, which means that too many of us don't understand our enemy.

Consider this a reminder.


St. Joan of Arc, pray for us.

Saying It Doesn't Make It So

Actions speak louder than words. Cliche? sure, but still true. Take the following excerpt from CNS' Aug 31 news briefs:

The office of Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis includes images of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a glass crucifix and a sculpture of Mary and Jesus. Her Catholic faith, she said, "is a part of my life. My faith is what motivates me." The lessons her faith teaches about hope, about helping others, about seeking higher things is something woven into the fabric of her daily life, she said. "I do it in a quiet way," she said.

Thanks to RealCatholicTV and California Catholic Daily for bringing this buried item to the surface..and I do mean "buried". Though this brief appears dead-last on the page linked above, it's still problematic that CNS would print it at all. Why? Let's have a look at Ms. Solis' "quiet way" of being motivated by her faith:

• She quietly acquired her 100% pro-choice rating from NARAL.
• She quietly voted for national and international spending on providing contraception and abortion. 
• She quietly voted against criminalizing harm to a wanted unborn child. 
• She quietly voted against banning the atrocity of partial birth abortion. 
• She quietly voted against preventing underage mothers from crossing state lines and obtaining abortions. 
• She quietly voted for the use of human beings as science experiments such as human cloning and embryonic stem cell research.

(Click here for the details on Ms. Solis' voting record.)

Is CNS really serious about letting this woman get away with saying that her faith has shaped her? Solis can wallpaper her office with religious images and surround herself with dozens of crucifixes.  She can wax poetic about her parents' faith until the end of time. Material compliance with evil is as bad as the evil itself.

CNS, you may want to stop bragging on politicians such as Solis.They give Catholics a bad name.

Gov. Quinn cuts foster-care contracts with Catholic Charities

Question: When a Catholic refuses to uphold Catholic teaching regardless the situation, should that person continue to call himself/herself a Catholic? To quote my friend Judi, "I can't know what's in a person's heart, but I can sure see his actions." Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is certainly acting like a hypocrite by publically going against an organization built by his own Church. CLICK HERE for the full story.

My favorite quote from the article is by Chicago Rep. Greg Harris:

“They’re totally within their rights to determine who can or cannot be married under their church law or who can be married by a priest or rabbi or in their facilities, but this is different...But here, they’re coming to the state to get contracts to provide government services on behalf of the state. They can’t pick and choose which Illinoisans they think are worthy of those services. (emphasis mine)"

Can you also see the flaw in his argument here?

I thought it was the children who were receiving services, Rep. Harris, not homosexual couples. Since it's your government deciding to cancel the contracts, wouldn't it, therefore, be your government determining who is worthy of the services Catholic Charities provides in your state?

Does the word "SCAPEGOATING" mean anything to you, Mr. Harris?

2011 National Prayer

Today, on this 60th National Day of Prayer, join me in a prayer for our Nation written by Joni Eareckson Tada, 2011 Honorary Chairman of the National Prayer Task Force:

Almighty God, you are our Mighty Fortress, our refuge and the God in whom we place our trust. As our nation faces great distress and uncertainty, we ask your Holy Spirit to fall afresh upon your people — convict us of sin and inflame within us a passion to pray for our land and its people. Grant the leaders of our country an awareness of their desperate need of wisdom and salvation in You until sin becomes a reproach to all and righteousness exalts this nation.

Protect and defend us against our enemies and may the cause of Christ always prevail in our schools, courts, homes, and churches. Lord God, send a spirit of revival and may it begin in our own hearts.

Remember America, we pray. Remember the foundations on which this country was built. Remember the prayers of our nation’s fathers and mothers, and do not forget us in our time of need.

In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

nationaldayofprayer.org

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas,
PRAY FOR US.

The Gravest Threat to Freedom

With the position papers for the cause for beatification of Abp. Fulton J. Sheen slated for presentation to the Pope, his work most definitely deserves some circulation. To say he was a man ahead of his time would be an understatement. Abp. Sheen lived and taught from an eternal perspective; thus his work is timeless.

From a 1943 address titled Freedom in Danger:

[T]he gravest threat to freedom comes from within; I do not mean within America alone, I mean within the hearts and souls of men throughout the world. While the world is attempting to preserve freedom in the political order, it is surrendering it in those deeper realms upon which the political reposes.

Picture a group of men on a roof-top proclaiming in song and story the glories of architecture, while below saboteurs have already knocked out half the foundations of the house—and you have the picture of modern freedom. Politicians in the upper stories are glorifying freedom while false philosophy in education, and so-called Liberal Christianity, have knocked away its supports.

[F]reedom is denied in education today. This may sound bizarre to some educators who have been shouting catch-words about freedom for decades. But I submit they are talking about license—not freedom. They are concerned with freedom from something; not freedom for something; they are interested only in freedom without law rather than freedom within the law. And the proof? Do not many educators today assume that evil and sin are due to ignorance, and that if we educate, we will remove evil? Do not others assume that evil is due to bad environment, bad teeth, or bad glands, and that an increase of material wealth will obliterate evil? Can they not see that these assumptions destroy freedom; for if evil is the result of ignorance, and not the result of a perverse use of freedom, then Hitler is an ignoramus, but he is not a villain? Can they not see that education without a proper philosophy of life can be made the servant of evil, as well as of good? Have they not the vision to see that if evil and sin are to be attributed solely to external circumstances, then man is not free to do wrong? Then wrong is in our environment, but not in us. Is it not inconsistent to praise a free man for choosing what is right, and at the same time, when he does wrong, to deny that he is free?
Click here to read the entire transcript of the presentation "Freedom in Danger", published at www.fultonsheen.com.

Insurance Health Assessment Going Too Far?

For a 50% reduction in our health insurance payroll deduction, our insurance carrier is offering all of its participants employed by my company a health assessment and wellness program.

The program requires annual check-ups and blood screenings, along with the completion of an online questionaire which generates a wellness report containing an overall look at your physical health and some general health advice.

I have some troubling feelings about this program. In theory it's a good idea to offer an incentive to get people to the doctor. Too many people, including me, wait until there's something wrong before darkening a doctor's doorstep. This program got me to a doctor for the first time in years.

What don't I like? Well, there's this questionnaire that we're required to fill out. I'm required to provide the results of my blood screen and checkup. I'm not comfortable with a third party having access to my personal health information, particularly my medical insurance provider.

More importantly, I didn't expect to be asked the following questions on the assessment, even after I indicated that I was married:

1. Are you sexually active?
2. How many sex partners have you had in the last 5 years?
3. Do you use birth control?

Aside from the fact that the results didn't discuss anything related to any of these points, these are the kinds of issues for your confessor and your physician, NOT YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY. How, exactly, does wedging itself like this into my marriage help my health?  I was not the only person offended by these questions.

We all know how insurance companies operate. They determine what health care you will get by determining what they will or will not pay; and thanks to ObamaCare they have a green light from our government, since every American will be required to carry medical insurance by 2014.

It all stinks of socialism.

Recently I was sent an article titled "What the Popes Really Say About Socialism" by the folks over at  America Needs Fatima. It's great stuff, take a look at it when you have a few minutes. While I was filling out the questionnaire it was Pope Leo XIII's quote that rang a bell. The excerpt that follows is directly from his encyclical titled Quod Apostolici Muneris:

(Socialists) debase the natural union of man and woman, which is held sacred even among barbarous peoples; and its bond, by which the family is chiefly held together, they weaken, or even deliver up to lust. Lured, in fine, by the greed of present goods, which is "the root of all evils, which some coveting have erred from the faith," they assail the right of property sanctioned by natural law; and by a scheme of horrible wickedness, while they seem desirous of caring for the needs and satisfying the desires of all men, they strive to seize and hold in common whatever has been acquired either by title of lawful inheritance, or by labor of brain and hands, or by thrift in one's mode of life.

Some "benefits", eh?  Eddie-Ray, we will be having a talk about all this.

The Government-Funded Arm of the WHC

In 2007-2008 The Planned Parenthood Federation of America received $349,600,000 from government grants and contracts according to their own Annual Report. That's a pretty big chunk of our tax money, which is why Angela Franz's article titled The Ethic of Control: Margaret Sanger, Eugenics, and Planned Parenthood should be an eye opener.

From the article: "One would expect that the aims and agenda of such a huge organization would come under severe scrutiny, but Planned Parenthood has been immune from such questions, largely because its stated goals of population control and family planning are supposedly in agreement with America's interests at home and abroad. But is PPFA's stated agenda the whole story?"

Of course it's not. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood and eugenicist, was known to have said, "The most merciful thing a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.". Nice, eh?  Here's more from Franz's article:

Sanger's involvement with eugenics was extensive. In her essay, "The Need of Birth Control in America," published in Birth Control: Facts and Responsibilities, Sanger defines "what we mean by birth control today: hygienic, scientific, and harmless control of procreative powers [italics hers]. Thus comprehended, birth control places in our hands the key to that greatest of all human problems -- how to reconcile individual freedom with the necessities of race hygiene.This was indeed the central dilemma for Sanger, and she solved it by determining who was and was not worthy of "individual freedom," in light of the race's needs. Contemporary family planning advocates, under the rallying cry of "choice," insist that they are only interested in the freedom part of the equation, but it seems the second factor weighs as heavily as ever, albeit under new names, such as the need to protect "society" or "the environment" or, more recently, "public genetic accountability."

Sanger is responsible for such reasoning. In Woman and the New Race, she argues that women incur a "debt to society" through their thoughtless reproducing, "unknowingly creating slums, filling asylums with the insane, and institutions with other defectives." Drawing on the pseudoscientific eugenic studies of her day, she compares "typical" small and large families in "The Need of Birth Control," concluding that the latter group "is correlated for the most part with poverty, distress, tuberculosis, delinquency, mental defect, and crime. Poverty and the large family generally go hand in hand," she concludes. "[T]his type is pari passu multiplying and perpetuating those direst evils which we must, if civilization is to survive, extirpate by the very roots.

The phrase "this type" shows the ideology at work. A large family is the sign of being unfit. In Sanger's world, the poor are poor because they are unfit, and they have large families because they are unfit. In the June 1917 issue of the Birth Control Review (which Sanger edited), she refers contemptuously to "the great horde of unwanted" that lacks the "courage to control its own destiny." The real problem, she notes in The Pivot of Civilization, arises when "the incurably defective are permitted to procreate and thus increase their numbers." At this point the state should interfere "either by force or persuasion."

Enter Planned Parenthood, now a government-subsidized birth control dispensary and abortion clinic. Sure, its tried to put space between themselves and the diabolical beliefs of its founder, but just a few minutes at their Website tells me that nothing has changed. The emphasis is on body image, sexuality and how to end a pregnancy which is described as a disease, a burden, or as President Barack Obama has said, a punishment,  rather than on the dignity of the human being, and on the natural result of a loving relationship between a man and a woman.

See, ladies, you're nothing more than a walking sex object, and you should hate yourself for your reproductive capabilities. Your looks and your sexuality are so much more important than your biology, which gets in the way of having the productive life that PPFA wants you to have, which obviously revolves around body image and sexuality. If you don't reproduce, all the better, and if you're one of the smart people, than you will believe this.

...and PPFA can quite effectively distance themselves from Sanger's and her eugenicist colleagues' shtick, because Americans already buy the lie...the names are now irrelevant.

(Please not that I have not provided a link to PPFA's website. If you want to see it, Google it, as I do not want my site showing up as a link to theirs.)

Pray in reparation for the injuries to and deaths of women 

because of Abortion and Birth Control.

ALWAYS VOTE FOR LIFE

Voting Smart

We as Catholics must vote according to our faith, and according to our consciences. We need to know our candidates for public office, but commercials tell us nothing, and candidate websites tell us less.  How can we know who stands for what this election? 

By clicking here: PROJECT VOTE SMART


Before you cast your ballot, learn everything you can about your candidates:

• Voting Records

• Issue Positions

• Interest Group Ratings

• Public Statements

• Campaign Finances

I think this is a much better way to learn about your candidates than those ridiculous commercials.

Because...

Separation of Church and State

With the next election right around the corner, this homily given by Fr. Greg Maturi, O.P. on the feast of Christ the King in 2009 couldn't be more relevant.

Rosary Rally 2010

From the America Needs Fatima Blog:  October 16, 2010, America Needs Fatima’s (ANF) successfully carried out 5,963 Rosary rallies all over America including far-off Alaska, Hawaii and Guam, and in some other countries.

Thanks to the zealous efforts of rosary captains around the nation, thousands of faithful Catholics armed with their rosaries and banners trooped to the public square to pray for America’s conversion and heed the message of Our Lady of Fatima. 
(photo:Rally in New York City courtesy of America Needs Fatima Blog)

Msgr. Cariglio, Poland Twp., OH

Here in the Mahoning Valley, over 100 Catholics of all ages gathered at 3 different sites to pray for our nation. America today is under the grave influence of a secular idealism that would kick God and His law to the curb. Said Msgr. Michael Cariglio of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Youngstown, OH, who led the Rally in Poland Twp., OH: "We gather today to pray for our country, to make a stand against the darkness that plagues our nation."  It's the same darkness that was tearing Portugal apart during the early 1900s.

Our Lady of Fatima told the three children to whom she appeared in 1917 that the Rosary is the solution to the many problems that not only faced their society, but that faced all the nations of the world, and promised: "My Immaculate Heart Will Triumph."

We believe her promise even today. At the Poland Twp. Rally, Msgr. Cariglio led a small but diverse group of faithful Catholics in the Luminous Mysteries, that the light of the Gospel would inspire our leaders. We sang, we prayed, and we consecrated ourselves to the Queen of Heaven. Many of us were strangers; yet there was a profound spirit of Christian love and unity among all of us, and we left united under Our Lady's mantle. It was an experience that I will not soon forget.

Many thanks to America Needs Fatima, and to our Rally Captain.

Pew Forum Quiz

I just finished taking a 15 question quiz at The Pew Forum, where those infamous test scores embarrassed the Christian world by their lack of basic knowledge.

I gotta admit, I have mixed feelings about the results.  I got a 93%, 14 out of 15.  (Yea, I don't know what the heck "The First Great Awakening" is.)  I'm glad I did quite well--I outperformed 97% of the tested sample. I'm not impressed with myself because the questions were very elementary. I'm discouraged because this means that on average, many Americans, regardless what they believe, don't know basic facts about religion. I'm not that discouraged, because the questions were so general they don't really indicate anything, other than maybe people don't know much about religions other than their own.

Click here to take the quiz yourself...and let me know how you did!

Religion and Politics

"There are two subjects you should never discuss: Religion and Politics."

"Heck, what else is there?" My mother always retorted.

Politics is all about living in this world, Religion about reaching the next. Isn't eternity permanent, and this life a determinate of our eternity? Doesn't, therefore, our religion determine our politics? So, like mother, like daughter: HECK, WHAT ELSE IS THERE?

A good question, particularly in light of the disturbing results of a recent survey by The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Americans on average only got half the questions correct. Atheists and Agnostics did the best, but they still got a failing grade.

How did the Catholics do? Why, with all the effort from much of the Catholic education system, especially higher education, to suck up to the worldly and blend in with America's crumbling culture, we succeeded in matching the national average.

A Friday Morning Quiz

Read the following quotation, and let's see if you can guess it's origin:

“There are cases of sexual abuse that come to light every day against a large number of members of the Catholic clergy. Unfortunately it’s not a matter of individual cases, but a collective moral crisis that perhaps the cultural history of humanity has never before known with such a frightening and disconcerting dimension. Numerous priests and religious have confessed. There’s no doubt that the thousands of cases which have come to the attention of the justice system represent only a small fraction of the true total, given that many molesters have been covered and hidden by the hierarchy.”

This quotation is from:

A.  The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
B.  The April 20, 2010 cover story of Newsweek titled "What Would Mary Do?"
C.  A speech given in 1937 by Joseph Goebbels, the Third Reich's Minister of Propaganda

CLICK HERE for the answer.

(Thanks to Patrick Madrid for posting this article yesterday)

Here are two facts that I'd like you to ponder: 
1.  There are over 80,000 reports of child sexual abuse every year.
2.  Of these 80,000+ reports, less than 350 are reports implicating a member of the Catholic clergy, representing less than 0.43% of all reports.

Note, these are REPORTS, not convictions. I found these numbers myself by simply googling them. It took a while, as there's a lot of junk out there on the internet, but I found some good sources that all reported the same findings. I'm sure if you look for these sources yourself, you'll find similar statistics. The question that came to my mind, and that I hope is coming to your mind by now, is this: If the media is so concerned for the well being of our nation's children, where, then, is the media frenzy over the other 99.57% of child sexual abusers?

If understanding the truth about this disturbing topic is something you're called to do, I suggest you study the work of Dr. Judith Reisman. Your eyes will definitely be opened.  Don't get suckered by spin-media and their talking head counterparts living in Boob-Tube Land. (You already know what I think about television.  If not, click here.)

The Foundation of America

As Socialism's beastly head rears back with it's mouth wide open, ready to take a bite out of the United States of America, maybe we'd better brush up on our history.

CLICK HERE to read the documents upon which this nation was founded.  If you've read these and still have the warm and fuzzies for the sitting President, you may have a problem with reading comprehension.

Thanks, Mom, for passing it along.