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James M. Thunder chastizes the president of Notre Dame for the travesty of inviting pro-abortion Barack Obama to give the commencement address.
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On Friday, March 20, it was announced that President Obama had
accepted an invitation by the president of the University of
Notre Dame, Father John Jenkins, to give the commencement address
on May 19 and receive an honorary degree. What fire could not do,
Father Jenkins and his Academic Council may succeed in doing —
destroying a major Catholic institution. -
Maybe Father Jenkins wants to honor Obama as the first
African-American to become president. Undoubtedly this fact will
be prominent in the biography the school will recite just prior
to conferring the honorary doctorate upon him. (Frankly, there is
no other achievement in his biography.) But this would be looking
at the color of his skin over his policies. -
Consider these policies and the burdens of Notre Dame honoring
Obama. We must assume that Father Jenkins knows how hostile
Obama, as state legislator, as U.S. senator, and now as
president, has been to innocent human life and to the Catholic
Church which tries to protect it. And Father Jenkins must have
thought about the fact that inviting Obama would offend large
numbers of students, the graduating seniors, alumni/ae,
benefactors, and all pro-lifers through the country and the
world. Moreover, it would constitute an attack on the pastoral
authority of the local bishop, the American bishops as a group,
and the Pope who have prohibited Catholic institutions from
granting platforms to pro-abortion speakers — even if their
talks would not be about abortion and other human life issues. -
It was just last month that Speaker Pelosi who, no doubt, sees
herself as the Supreme Head of the Catholic Church in America,
visited Pope Benedict, but Pope Benedict was politically aware
and refused to give her a photo opportunity. Father Jenkins
thinks he is smarter than the Pope and will purposefully smile
with Obama for the cameras. -
Obama’s visit to Notre Dame will be a one-way street — in favor
of Obama. Father Jenkins will not be taking Obama to Notre Dame’s
woodshed, to speak truth to power. No, Obama will be doing all
the talking. Obama will co-opt a major Catholic institution. -
Father Jenkins
will allow Obama to take Mary’s mantle and wear it on his
shoulders for all the world to see.The day Father Jenkins’ presidency is over (soon one hopes),
the new president, the loyal faculty and alumni/ae, and
friends throughout the world will repeat Father Sorin’s
words, “Tomorrow, we will build again, and build it [better].”
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I hope and pray that a STRONG rebuke does come!
Not that I could ever afford it anyway but I would NEVER send one of my kids to Notre Dame – and my mother is a graduate of their sister college – St. Mary’s.
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Longtime Notre Dame philosophy professor Ralph McInerny poses a related question. If it is seriously wrong for a Catholic to support abortion, he asks: “Is it any worse to celebrate such a politician as Barack Obama? So where does that put ND President Father Jenkins?” McInerny argues:
By inviting Barack Obama to be the 2009 commencement speaker, Notre Dame has forfeited its right to call itself a Catholic university. It invites an official rebuke. May it come.
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School spokesman Dennis Brown tells The Associated Press that he doesn’t foresee a circumstance in which the school would rescind Obama’s invitation to speak at the May 17 event.Ronald Reagan at the 1981 Notre Dame commencement
Four of the past five presidents have spoken at the Notre Dame graduation. Obama will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree.
He will be the ninth president to receive an honorary degree from Notre Dame and the sixth to deliver a commencement address. The others were: Dwight Eisenhower (1960), Jimmy Carter (1977), Ronald Reagan (1981), George H.W. Bush (1992), and George W. Bush (2001).
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Jean Heimann is following the trial of famed abortionist George Tiller on her blog.
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Until last week, Obama was able to shove blame for the recession onto the Republicans. Now, thanks to his own bungling and worse, Obama risks becoming more identified with the worst aspects of it than his predecessor.
Obama’s behavior in recent days raises questions about what he really means by the word audacity, as in his book “The Audacity of Hope.” Many voters took this term as a new brand of courage, boldness and innovation. A handful are beginning to wonder whether audacity in Obama’s mind really means he thinks he can talk his way out of anything.
As in picking basketball winners and losers on ESPN, or flying to Los Angeles to appear on a late-night comedy show, leaving White House aides and pliant media personalities to deal with the AIG bonus scandal.
Duke University Coach Mike Krzyzewski said the president could make better use of his time fixing the economy. Other than Krzyzewski, it may be that nobody cares about AIG’s handing bonuses to incompetent executives after getting billions in taxpayer bailout money. Rahm Emanuel, White House chief of staff, brushed it off as a mere “distraction.” Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod said “people are not sitting around their kitchen tables thinking about AIG.” Audacious or not, Emanuel, Axelrod and Obama may be right. -
However, Obama has one big lemon hanging around his neck that he can’t shake off. And that is Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the ethically challenged man Obama put in charge of economic recovery. Geithner, as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, helped design the AIG and other bailouts. It is as much Geithner’s responsibility as anyone that almost no information is available on where $360 billion in money went, and who got bonuses. This indispensable man couldn’t manage to send anyone from Treasury to testify at a House hearing on why bailout funds went to banks that already owed $220 million in unpaid federal taxes.
Despite attempts by Emanuel and Axelrod to brush off the AIG scandal, panicked House Democrats passed a bill to tax $165 million in AIG bonuses retroactively. Spokesmen for Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, said it is constitutional. I doubt it.
Now Obama aides are sowing confusion over when, if ever, Geithner told his president about the bonuses over the last four months. So instead of transparency in the White House, which Obama promised, we have deniability.
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More change you can believe in!
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By Mike McGraw | Kansas City Star
Call it a condom conundrum.
At a time when the federal government is spending billions of stimulus dollars to stem the tide of U.S. layoffs, should that same government put even more Americans out of work by buying cheaper foreign products?
In this case, Chinese condoms.That’s the dilemma for the folks at the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has distributed an estimated 10 billion U.S.-made AIDS-preventing condoms in poor countries around the world.
But not anymore.
In a move expected to cost 300 American jobs, the government is switching to cheaper off-shore condoms, including some made in China.
The switch comes despite implied assurances over the years that the agency would continue to buy American whenever possible
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This has certainly been my experience on liberal forums and blogs, and even a bit in real life verbal discussions.
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When challenged, liberals often strike back emotionally, with name calling, character assassinations and discrediting anyone that disagrees with them because their feelings and self esteem are hurt when someone tries to prove that their opinion is faulty. Liberals often think that those who challenge their ideas are attacking them personally and they become combative. They would much rather discuss topics with like minded people who validate their opinions, rather than those who would challenge them. Liberal views are generally based on their own self esteem. They espouse opinions that make them feel good about themselves. This is why good intentions often out-way unintended consequences. Liberals are easily duped into supporting those who articulate positions that make them feel better about themselves. Tough love is wasted on liberals. Liberals often dismiss the cold hard truth as mean spirited.
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There are growing indications that the Obama administration is melting down, unraveling and falling apart. The clearest indication is Barack Obama and his treasury secretary failing to come up with a plan to fix the bank/credit crisis. He is proposing solutions for every social problem ever identified by liberal Democrats, but doesn’t seem to be dealing with what should be his No. 1 priority. The bank fix is supposed to be announced by Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, during this week.
Nero fiddled while Rome burned, but the early days of the Obama administration will be remembered for his picking NCAA basketball tournament winners, appearing on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and making fun of special needs children — while the American economy is burning.
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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.