God's Men

It's past time. [More]

A priest was assaulted in an area Catholic church.  The response was to have an "Only One" assigned to be present during Masses at all area churches. The "No Guns" signs remained. And of course, now that the danger's over (!!!) everything has returned to Conditon White.

As with all organizations, RHIP.

And plenty more mundanes where they came from...

[Via Mack H]

Is the Pope Catholic?

So there's a heretic in the Vatican...? [More]

Pity. I used to love him in those old movies where he teamed up with Donald O'Connor.

I look at the totality of this guy since he put on the beanie and can't help but think of Epheisans 6:12.

[Via Michael G]

Meanwhile, Across the Pond in Piers Morgan Paradise

ILLUMINATI-THEMED FASHION SHOW HELD AT LONDON CATHOLIC CHURCH -- St. Andrews Church used as location for black mass fashion show [More]

As if the Islamists don't feel justified enough...

Paying the Price

Enrollment is down more than 2,000. The campus has had to take seven dormitories out of service. [More]

Mizzou's loss is Gonzaga's gain, presumably because nothing says "progressive  Catholic values" like Marxist violence inciters?

[Via bondmen]

Upon this Crock

Instead, Cardinal Wuerl, Pope Francis and other hierarchs who should know better reiterate politically correct anti-gun propaganda.  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops even wants to criminalize civilian handgun possession. [More]

What better place to infiltrate?

Pfleger Gun Turn-In Raises Legality and Safety Questions

His involvement of St. Sabina Catholic Church in advocating for anti-gun legislation (and even involving himself in partisan politics) have earned him rebukes from the Church and even a suspension, but they’ve been afraid to replace him, fearing too many parishioners who place a collectivist “social justice” agenda over religion would follow him out the door. And so far, he’s managed to skate by without official scrutiny of his church’s tax exempt status. [More]

Snuffy is still going full Pfleger. Never go full Pfleger.

The Spirit of the Season

A CATHOLIC priest has sparked outrage after he cancelled a nativity scene out of fear it could offend Muslims. [More]

And after all, isn't that what Christmas is really about?

'Charity' Begins at Home

OSU Attacker Abdul Razak Ali Artan Was Unvetted Somali Refugee Via Catholic Charities… [More]

Oh, you mean via the Red-Green Axis?

Rigorous!

[Via Keith B]

Meanwhile, Across the Pond in Piers Morgan Caliphate...

Muslim illegal immigrant father who shot dead his daughter, 7, in 'spite' after her Catholic mother renounced Islam was accidentally sent the little girl's address by her SOLICITORS [More]

"Progressives" making idiot decisions -- is there any group on the planet more toxic to freedom solutions?

I can't even muster any sympathy for the mother in this case, only for the child. Give her a couple more years being raised like that and she'd have become unsalvageable, too, at least by man.

[Via Mack H]

So Ripe It's Rotten

America Has Never Been So Ripe for Tyranny [More]

Andrew Sullivan does a fair job identifying some of the conditions that lead to the perceived need for a demagogue savior, but falls on his face when it comes to solutions.

The guy himself is a walking Opposite Day "progressive" contradiction-- a self-described "conservative" gay Roman Catholic Brit who was an editor for The Nation.  It's not surprising he begins with a discourse on Plato and winds up defending the concept of Hillary as philosopher queen being just the ticket needed to save us rabble from ourselves.

[Via Benny B]

And Now, the Rest of the Story

[More]

Yes, but the Buddhist by choice was adopted and therefore not raised Muslim, plus the law at the time discouraged his unmarried Catholic biological mother from "choosing" to scrape him out.  But hey, Huff-Po, it's your narrative, so please do go on.

Nun But the Brave

The Little Sisters of the Poor is an international Catholic institute that takes care of the elderly. The Sisters consider it a sin to provide their employees health coverage for contraceptives (including drugs classified by the FDA as abortion-inducing) as required under Obamacare, and want the same kind of exemption given to churches. [More]

Has the administration checked to make sure these guys are compliant?

Sympathy for the Devil

Gimme that old time religion?

Opportunistic political panderers from both parties, along with special interests are having a field day attacking Ben Carson for saying he does not believe Islam is consistent with the Constitution, and that he "would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.”

Thinking they've found a prime "Gotcha!" to exploit, people who ignore the Constitution whenever they find it an impediment are dragging out the First Amendment Establishment Clause, and the Article VI prohibition on religious tests. The thing is, Carson never said there oughtta be a law -- he merely stated what he made clear was his personal viewpoint, and last I checked, we're still allowed to have those, even if some might take offense and issue fatwahs.

Here's the thing. Were a Muslim to be elected president (and yes, I know some will say one already has been), if he did not hold Shariah "law" above the secular as the "supreme Law of the Land," prevailing worldwide Islamic thought would brand him an apostate. And this is the person who would appoint an Attorney General, Supreme Court Justices, and... Again, there can be no law against those positions being filled by the "faithful," so whether or not you're OK with that is up to you. But as with all the politically correct uproar following Carson's response, the devil is in the details, because the implication is that anyone not OK must be a xenophobe, an extremist, a bigot...

Since we're talking about religions, do you think there'd be such an uproar if Carson had opined he wouldn't feel comfortable with a chicken-sacrificing Santeria practitioner in the White House?

Hell, let's cut to the chase. Let's talk about an ancient and established religion, one that is recognized by the government, one with practitioners throughout  the land, and one that involves itself in vigorous legal and outreach actions centered around all kinds of Constitutional issues, including, as a plus for those who value "progressive" causes, women's reproductive rights and same sex marriages.

I'm talking, of course, about Satanism.

I'm also talking about moral and logical consistency, which means if the "outraged" rival candidates and pundits are going to exhibit any, they have to agree that they could support a Satanist for president, and condemn as intolerant anyone who would venture that they are disqualified by "virtue" of their religion.

If what everyone in the field is professing truly reveals their unwavering principle that religion doesn't matter, they should have no problem publicly agreeing with consistent substitutions. Whether such a candidate would have a chance is not the point. And would the establishment candidates decry that as unacceptable intolerance?

Let's test some convictions, shall we? How would these alterations to on-the-record statements of conviction fly with the respective campaigns?

Marco Rubio: "I personally do not believe that your religious denomination being a Satanist should disqualify you from serving in office."

Jeb Bush: "The former Florida governor believes an individual’s faith being a Satanist is irrelevant to seeking the White House or any public office..."

Lindsey Graham: “[Carson] is not ready to be Commander-in-Chief. America is an idea, not owned by a particular religion ... [he]needs to apologize to American Muslims Satanists."

Ted Cruz: In trying to navigate a minefield, Sen. Cruz got it right that the Constitution prohibits religious tests as a matter of law, which, as we've already noted, is irrelevant to what Carson actually said.  Cruz should now weigh in on if he'd have issued a different statement had Carson said he "would not advocate that we put a Satanist in charge of this nation."

John Kasich: "Although Kasich did not say he would have a problem with a Muslim Satanist president, he did not directly address the issue and answered the question more broadly." (Kasich being a weasel-wording equivocator...? Say it ain't so!)

Bobby Jindal:“If you can find me a Muslim Satanist candidate who is a Republican, who will fight hard to protect religious liberty, who will respect the Judeo-Christian heritage of America ... I will be happy to consider voting for him or her.”

Rand Paul: "...did not indicate he would have any objections to a Muslim Satanist president in an interview on CBS Sunday."

Donald Trump: "Would I be comfortable?" (Well, would you be?)

Mike Huckabee: "I don’t think we ought to just disqualify from somebody because of his or her Satanist faith."

George Pataki: "You know, they said the same thing back in the past, you couldn’t have a Catholic president, you couldn’t have a Jewish president, you couldn’t have an African American or a women president and now Dr Carson is saying you can’t have a Muslim Satanist president and I think it is just wrong.”

Carly Fiorina: "When host Jimmy Fallon asked Fiorina if she was affirming that she would be fine with a Muslim Satanist president, she confirmed, 'Yes, I would be fine with that.'”

Bernie Sanders: "I am very disappointed that Dr Carson would suggest that a Muslim Satanist should not become president of the United States."

Hillary Clinton: "Hail Lord Sata... uh, not really, but she did tweet:

Martin O'Malley: “American people are better than latest Trump/Carson/GOP anti-Muslim Satanic bigotry. Hate is not an American value. #diversityisourgreateststrength. It’s sad to see the party of Lincoln being led by candidates who choose bigotry against Muslim Satanic-Americans over 'united we stand.’”

Lincoln Chaffee: “Regarding Dr Carson’s statement that a Muslim Satanist shouldn’t be president, Article II Section 1 of our Constitution clearly states the qualifications for the presidency. Dr Carson should discontinue his campaign based on making such an uninformed and discriminatory statement that a Muslim Satanist shouldn’t be able to ask American voters to have the freedom to make that decision.” (First of all, Carson never said that, and second of all, who seriously gives a damn what Lincoln Chaffee has to say about anything?)

Lest anyone think this comparison for the sake of establishing consistency is insulting to Muslims or Satanists, and God forbid I'd ever want to do that, I'd presume to think the latter would agree that the candidates ought to extend to them comparable recognition to their beliefs. As for the Islamic community, I'll offer them the most respectful acknowledgement I can: Equal treatment.

So how about it, fellas? Can I put you on record as agreeing with and embracing this change?

And maybe getting some of your high ranking religious leaders to endorse it...?

Captain's Log

• JPFO/SAF
• Resupplying the Stock of Martyrs
• Forget it Jake, It's Chi-Town
• Notes

In re the JPFO/SAF deal, I wrote an update here.

In re Christian's requiring the flock to bare their throats to those who would revel in slitting them, I know a former Lebanese Christian militia member -- good man, and we'd better pray to God we never experience a fraction of what he's had to survive.  Also, "Gun Dean" John Snyder has some comments specifically from a Catholic perspective.

In re the Chi-Town phenomenon, as I said the other day, I'm not convinced things have percolated down to the street level on that yet.  Give it time, but I'm not convinced we have the data to establish causality with certainty.

Meanwhile, Over at the Wall of Separation

John Andrews, communications director for the Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino, told WND that the diocese is working directly with the Department of Homeland Security to temporarily house the illegal immigrants. [More]

Funny, how the Prozis aren't howling about church/state collaboration...

Sunday Sermon

I typically don't blog here on weekends except to announce new columns and radio appearances.  I saw this, though, about Catholic chaplains being told they may not perform Mass, and it just struck me as so typical of the in-your-face arrogance of our "progressive" would-be rulers that I felt compelled to ask the reporter a follow-up question:

What do you think the jihadists will want to do if the answer is "Yes"?

I don't wear my religious beliefs on my sleeve around here, but damn...

Y'know, being the object of reverent adoration in "An American Prayer,"I guess it's no surprise that acolytes of the Idol-in-Chief are making sure no other gods are worshiped before him.  After all, we're dealing with a being who presumes to control the seas...

And why does Salish come to mind?

Bueno para Mí, pero No para Ti

The program had the help of the church and local Catholic parishes were used as collections centers for the firearms.  Among the leaders who helped push the program included Distrito Federal president Miguel Angel Mancera... [More]

Say, that wouldn't be the same Miguel Angel Mancera who gets followed everywhere by armed bodyguards who shot and killed a man in 2007 for trying to rob him of his his watch...?

A Catholic Perspective

If "pro-life" doesn't also mean "pro-self-defense," it's an absurd contradiction. [More]

This reminds me: Andrew Greeley passed away recently. I won't speak ill of the dead, but I will share what I said to him and about him when he was living and able to respond.

Pool Transcript of Bidens Comments to "Sportsmen's" Groups

I just received this via email from the press pool. This is from the 11:45 AM: Sportsmen and Women and Wildlife Interest Groups meeting listed in today's GRE, and before the NRA and "gun groups" meeting.

-----

Below is your pooler's transcript of Biden's remarks. Ellipses are included where the pool audio did not pick up his words. 

"Let me begin by thanking you all for being here. You represent the bulk of the sportsmen in this country and you all know this is a complicated issue. There is no singular solution to how we deal with the crime that happened up in Newtown, or in Colorado, or in the general gun violence that takes place in America today. The President and I and the Cabinet understand that it’s a complicated issue.

"That’s why the President asked me to do this in conjunction with my colleagues in the cabinet. What we did was put together a pretty extensive list what we considered the stakeholders in wanting to deal with the issue of gun violence in America. The first groups we met with will not surprise you…all the national law enforcement organizations. But also just to give you a sense of what we have done so far… We have met with the medical community, the Academy of Family Physicians, the Academy of Neurology, Pediatrics, etc, a group of about 15 leading medical doctors who represent an organization across the country… We’ve met with at risk youth, and children advocacy groups from the After School Alliance, to Promise America, to Boys and Girls Clubs, because part of this is cultural as well as it is the actual weapons themselves. We have met with the domestic violence prevention community.

"We’ve met with justice organizations like the ABA . . . the National Legal Aide and Defense Association, prosecutors. We’ve met with civil rights organizations. We’ve met with national service organizations… Kiwanis, Rotary International. We’ve met with youth groups. We’ve met with gun safety advocates. Yesterday that meeting took place here. Probably best known is the Brady Campaign, but also a dozen other organizations that are concerned about gun safety. And then we met with educators and parents from the school boards to the state school officers associations, we met a dozen or so of those folks. And then one of the most important things we have been focusing on is the mental health community. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Mental Health of America, the National Empowerment Center, the National Council of Community Behavioral Health Centers, because there is an argument among health providers that this is a major component, to deal with particularly a lot of suicides as well that we see today.

"And yesterday we finished up in this room with I think it was 17 members of the faith community, which in all the years I have been doing this, the first time there has been an overwhelming consensus, from the evangelical groups nationwide, and particularly those in rural areas, to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops to the National Conference of Churches, the Muslim community, because this does have a significant moral dimension—how we make the American community safer and how we go about it. Today we meet with you. Later I meet with some industry representatives as well as the NRA, and executive director of the Defense Small Arms Advisory Council, importers, etc.

"So the point I am trying to make to you is we realize this requires all the stakeholders to give us their best ideas to what is, as I said at the outset, a complicated problem. There is no single answer. I go back,like a lot of you, having been dealing with this issue since my days as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and all the way back to the 1970s. If you at every one of the tragic events  that have attracted so much attention it’s hard to be able to pinpoint what you should have done to assure that wouldn’t have happened. But there’s also things we know. We know that there are certain actions we take that have diminished the extent of the gun violence that otherwise would be occurring in the United States.

"There is an emerging set of recommendations not coming from me, but coming from the groups we have met with. And I’m going to focus on the ones that relate primarily to gun ownership, and the type of weapons we own. And one is there is a surprising—so far—a surprising recurrence of suggestions that we have universal background checks, not just close the gun show loophole but totally universal background checks including private sales. There has been a lot of discussion from the groups we have met with so far, and I think the attorney general has been in almost all the meetings will tell you, is how we strengthen our background checks. What additional information should be available, if any, and how do we get the information. For example, convicted felons in a state—how do they get on the NICS, that is the thing the gun dealer goes to  check when you are a felon. It doesn’t do a lot of good when in some states they have a backlog of forty-, fifty-, sixty-thousand felons that they never registered here. So we have got to talk about, there is a lot of talk about how we entice, or what is the impediment keeping states from relaying this information.

"There is also a good deal of talk about gun safety, and what responsibility goes along with gun ownership, which is something I would really like to talk to all of you about. There has also been a surprise. Among my colleagues, my former colleagues in the Senate, who have been pretty universally opposed to any restrictions on gun ownership or what type of weapons can be purchased etc., I have never quite heard as much talk about the need to do something about high capacity magazines as I have heard spontaneously from every group I have met with so far.

"And the last area, which is an area that has come up, has to do with the ability of any agency to do any  research on the issue of gun violence. For example, we’re meeting before the week is out with the gaming industry—I don’t mean gambling—with the video game industry. To use Pay Moynihan’s expression, when we first started talking about the Biden crime bill back in the ‘80s, he used the example of, he said ‘We’ve been defining deviancy down.’ He used the example of the assassination of a mob boss in 1936… making the front page of every paper in America. And then he stood on the Senate floor and he held up the New York Times and on page 54, he picked it up, at the very back of the paper, where an entire family,including grandmother, mother, father, children, were basically assassinated in their apartment, thinking it may have been about a drug deal, and it made page 54. And he said, ‘We’ve defined deviancy down.’

"Well one of the things that we’ve been prohibited from doing beginning in the early part of this century in 2004 is even the Center for Disease Control gathering up information about the kinds of injuries. What are the injuries and what are the source of the injuries? … I was around in the 70s, the only guy who may remember this, I hope I don’t insult him, is Ray LaHood, because he knows about the automobile industry as well as the wholequestion of traffic safety and highway safety. There was a big fight when Ifirst got to the Senate that had begun in the late 60s and early 70s, where the automobile industry was very reluctant to allow the Department of Transportation to acquire statistics on the type of accidents that occurred. They were not able to literally acquire the information, because the concern was it would lead to calls for some rational regulation, from guardrails toautomobiles. And I remember, Ray you may remember, that when we finally broke through and NITSA started keeping this information, we find out, if my memory is correct that the vast majority of drivers operating an automobile, and killed in an automobile accident, was because the steering wheel actually broke their solar plexus, damaged their heart or penetrated their upper body cavity. The reason why the industry didn’t want everybody knowing that, at least my supposition was, it became logical: Do something about steering wheels, so they can collapse. Make sure that front end collisions had the ability to absorbshock. And what does it lead to? It lead to, all of a sudden, we said to automobile manufacturers you cannot make an automobile that doesn’t have a steering column with the following attributes. You have to make an automobile that can absorb x amount of shock. All of a sudden when we found out passengers were being killed because they were being thrown through windshields, or, if my memory serves me, skull fractures from being thrown into the crossbar, all of a sudden we started talking about, it made sense, why don’t we have airbags? They didn’t want to have airbags. Well guess what, you have airbags. We are saving lives.

"So there was a real effort to deny the government just gathering the information. Well as you know there are restrictions now on any agency in the government just gathering the information about what kind of weapons are used most to kill people. How many weapons used are trafficked weapons? Are weapons used in gang warfare in our major cities—are they legally purchased or are they purchased through strawmen? We don’t have that information. And the irony is we are prohibited under laws and appropriations bills from acquiring it.

"So I want to talk to you a little bit about—as an owner of shotguns, as a guy, I’m no great hunter, it’s mostly skeet shooting for me—I don’t quite understand why everybody would be afraid of whether or not we determine what is happening. So there is a whole lot of things that I want to talk to you about. But I did feel it wise to tell you what we have done so far and what we are doing from here. We are going to be meeting again. This afternoon we have meetings. Tomorrow I have meetings, and I am trying to set up telephone conferences with the manufactures. Because there has got to be some common ground to not solve every problem but diminish the probability that what we have seen in these mass shootings will occur, and diminish the probability that our children are at risk in our schools, and diminish the probability that weapons will be used and firearms will be used in dealing with aberrant behavior that takes place in our society.

"So that’s what this is all about. There is no conclusion that I have reached, and my colleagues and I are putting together a series of recommendations for the president. I committed to him that I would have these recommendations to him by Tuesday. It doesn’t mean that this will be the end of the discussion, but the public wants us to act.

"I will conclude by saying, in all my years involved in the issues, there is nothing that has pricked the consciousness of the Americanpeople, there is nothing that has gone to the heart of the matter more than the image people have of little six year old kids riddled, not shot, but riddled, riddled, with bullet holes in their classroom. …I’m not sure we can guarantee this will never happen again, but as the President said even if we can onlysave one life it would make sense. And I think we can do a great a great deal without in any way imposing on and impinging on the rights of the Second Amendment. That’s what this is about. And I thank you all for being here.

[He was asked by a reporter what he will talk about with the NRA later today.]

"Well we are going to talk about all the things I talked about here." 

So Much for Separation of Church and State

After at least two committee hearings on the issue, legislators have yet to explain why any person, other than law enforcement, needs to walk around the far-less-than-mean streets of Utah with a visible firearm.[More]

Good one, Jean Hill, government liaison for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City! We've seen time and again, the magic badge and costume is all it takes to calm the herd and get that cud regurgitation cycling naturally again.

Any costume, and even if those qualified to wear it are out of their minds.

And as for the "far-less than-mean streets," in 2010, Utah had 5,879 violent crimes reported in 2010, including 53 murders, 948 forcible rapes, 1,268 robberies and 3,610 aggravated assaults. Tell us where and when the next one will be, Jean, so we'll know not to walk there.

Then tell us how the Orwellian-named "Peace and Justice Ministry" advocates the ultimate use of armed force by approved costume-wearers to bend all people, including non-Catholics, to its will.