Reinke Faces Life

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/08/
obama_biden_and_the_catholic_v.html

http://tinyurl.com/6lu54c

Kyle-Anne Shiver is an independent journalist and a frequent contributor to American Thinker. She welcomes your comments at kyleanneshiver.com.

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Or, was Obama thinking that he might allay Catholic voters’ disgust with his votes to uphold infanticide in Illinois, by picking a Catholic, somewhat more moderate, pro-abortion candidate?

Biden did vote for the partial birth abortion ban, but then he roundly criticized the Supreme Court decision last year, which upheld the ban. Biden does hold a lower approval rating with NARAL (36%) than Obama’s 100%, but as any voting-age citizen already knows, the Vice President has zero, zilch, nada to say on abortion law. The only time the Vice President could even have a vote would be as a tiebreaker in the Senate on legislation, which is not going to happen in the next 4 years.

Senator Obama may have been thinking that he would help himself by putting a Catholic on the ticket, but he seems to have not taken any note of the fact that the Catholic Church is now guided by a new, very conservative Pope. There is not a single dictum emanating from this Pope, nor from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which lets a single Catholic off the hook on the matter of voting for pro-abortion candidates. If anything, the strictures against such votes have become much more important under Pope Benedict XVI than under Pope John Paul II.

It is entirely possible that Senator Joseph Biden will publicly be denied the Sacrament of Holy Communion during the course of this campaign. This, of course, will invite a siege of press attacks against the Catholic Church, but it will also signal to the Catholic laity, who make up a full 25% of the American electorate, that this Pope takes the abortion issue more seriously than any other at the moment.

Obama seems not to have paid much heed to the fact that John Kerry was the first Democrat to lose a majority of the Catholic vote to George W. Bush. He seems also not to have taken note of the new Pope’s resolve on this issue. Perhaps Obama has been persuaded to believe that Father Pfleger is more the rule than the exception, and if this is the case, then he has been squarely bamboozled.

Why in the world would Obama think Biden helps his bid for the Presidency?

In one fell swoop, Senator Obama has stated uncategorically that he is flying by the seat of his pants on foreign policy and needs a Daddy figure to guide him. And this particular Daddy figure, Biden, has stated repeatedly that Obama’s positions are wrong and McCain’s are right.

Bonus for McCain.

Also, Obama has brought a pro-abortion Catholic politician to the glaring attention of Pope Benedict XVI, while unnecessarily putting the U.S. Bishops on the spot. The Vatican has lately been reminding priests and Bishops that they are not to offer Communion to pro-abortion politicians. It’s always been a no-no, but Biden’s position on the ticket will highlight the issue once again for one quarter of the American electorate, while putting Bishops on a hotter seat with the Vatican.

So, what in the world was Obama thinking?

Not much, it would seem.

The VP choice was perhaps another thing “above” Obama’s “pay grade.”

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Will the American Catholic Bishops grow a backbone? My prediction … no. Why you say? One word …. pedopholia!

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http://www.centerforsmallgovernment.com/

3 BIG LIES: OUR OPPOSITION SUPPORTS “REASONABLE” CUTS IN GOVERNMENT SPENDING, TAXES, OR WASTE by Michael Cloud

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“I support reasonable reductions in Massachusetts government spending, but ending the income tax would decimate the state,” said several elected politicians.

“I support sensible tax cuts, but eliminating the income tax is too extreme,” said a local government official.

“Of course, we want measured and moderate reductions of unneeded government spending, but abolishing the income tax is ridiculous,” said several opponents.

They publicly empathize and sympathize with workers and taxpayers. They tell us they understand our frustration with economic conditions. They feel our financial pain.

When pressed, the opposition to ENDing the Income tax tells interviewers, reporters, and audiences… 3 Big Lies.

Big Lie Number 1: They support ‘reasonable’ reductions in government spending – but not the extreme and devastating reductions Ballot Question 1 would cause.

Big Lie Number 2: They support ‘reasonable’ tax cuts – but not the drastic step of repealing the income tax.

Big Lie Number 3: They support ‘reasonable’ efforts to reduce government waste – who doesn’t? – but they’re against using Ballot Question 1 to squeeze out waste.

How can you be sure that the opposition is lying when they say these 3 things?

“Watch what they do, not what they say,” advised Attorney General John N. Mitchell.*

“By their fruits shall ye know them,” says Scripture.

“Actions speak louder,” says the proverb.

Test what the speaker says against what he does. And has done. Look at his political actions for the last 10 years, 20 years, or 30 years.

Ask the Opposition Massachusetts Teachers Union official to show you, say, any 3 ‘reasonable’ tax reductions for the 3,400,000 workers and taxpayers that they donated to and campaigned for. Any 3.

Ask the Opposition politician to give you 3 ‘reasonable’ government spending cuts that he personally sponsored or cosponsored in the legislature in the last 10 years.

Ask the Opposition speaker to give you 3 specific examples of ‘reasonable’ waste cuts that he publicly campaigned for in the last 10 years.

Ask the Opposition organization to show you any 3 tax cuts, spending cuts, or waste cuts they lobbied the state legislature for – or lobbied their city government for.

If any of them can give you just 3 examples of actions they took on behalf of ‘reasonable cuts’, follow up with a money question: “If we added up every dollar of your 3 ‘reasonable cuts,’ how much money would your cuts give back to taxpayers?”

The Massachusetts state budget is $47.3 billion. In light of that number, how reasonable are their “reasonable cuts?”

True values are expressed in action.

Big Lies are limited to words.

Earlier this year, we asked Governor Deval Patrick and the state legislature to: “Show Us the Tax Money: Open the Government Books.”

Today, we challenge the Massachusetts Teachers Union and their allies, Governor Deval Patrick, and the other elected politicians:

“Show Us your ‘reasonable’ tax cuts, spending cuts, and waste cuts. Your deeds, not words. Your results, not rhetoric. Your actions, not intentions. Show us your Tax Cuts.”

And stop telling 3,400,000 Massachusetts workers and taxpayers the 3 Big Lies.

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* John Mitchell wanted the Nixon Administration to be judged by its actions, not its words. So he said, “Watch what we do, not what we say.”

It’s still good advice.

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Anyone who lives in Taxachusetts has a real chance to send the “tax and spend” D’s and the “borrow and spend” R’s a real message.

If Massachusetts can do it, why not New Jersey?

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http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/08/obamacide.html

http://tinyurl.com/5p4j3m

August 23, 2008
Obamacide
By J. Matt Barber

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How does one properly describe another who would — for purely selfish political reasons and with deliberation — intentionally refuse a thirsty child water or a hungry child food?

More specifically, what does one call a lawmaker who would condemn to death the child survivor of a botched abortion by permitting doctors to refuse that child, once born alive, potentially life-saving medical treatment and nutrition?

A number of things come to mind. Mr. President isn’t one of them.

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It’s hard to imagine how this issue can swept under the rug under the rubric of “hope & change”!

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http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/08/obama_campaign_finance_shenani.html

August 22, 2008
Obama Campaign Finance Shenanigans

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With all that money rolling in, it is to be expected that some of it is being used in a way that either skirts the letter of the law or breaks it.

Michelle Malkin is on the story of $800 thousand that went to the far left group ACORN for “advance work” that was funneled to them not by the Obama campaign but through an organization called “Citizen Services, Inc.”

It turns out that Citizens Service, Inc. and ACORN share the same address in New Orleans. And the more than $800,000 given by the Obama campaign to this group was remarkable considering that the average amount paid for “advance work” in 1200 other entries on Obama’s FEC report was around $540.

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But, said Blair Latoff, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee: “Barack Obama’s failure to accurately report his campaign’s financial records is an incredibly suspicious situation that appears to be an attempt to hide his campaign’s interaction with a left-wing organization previously convicted of voter fraud. For a candidate who claims to be practicing ‘new’ politics, his FEC reports look an awful lot like the ‘old-style’ Chicago politics of yesterday.”

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Watch for this breaking story of Obama returning money used illegally by ACORN on your national news tonight…

Yeah, right.

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Ahh, those rules are for others!

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http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D92NROBG0&show_article=1

Obama taps Biden to be running mate
Aug 23 03:25 AM US/Eastern
By LIZ SIDOTI and NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writers

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WASHINGTON (AP) – Barack Obama named Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware as his vice presidential running mate early Saturday, balancing his ticket with a seasoned congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues.

[JR: Highlighting the shortcoming at the top of the ticket!]

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Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator.

[JR: Another CINO politician. How does JoeB align with O’s extreme abortion position? What a joke! Catholics, Right to Lifers, and people with a moral conscience should not be fooled by this fellow. It’s about politics!]

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Obama’s decision leaked to the media several hours before his aides planned to send a text message announcing the running mate, negating a promise that people who turned over their phone numbers would be the first to know who Obama had chosen. The campaign scrambled to send the text message after the leak, sending phones buzzing at the inconvenient time of just after 3 a.m. on the East coast.

[JR: SO much for the vaunted announcement to supporters first. LOL]

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Biden is seeking a new Senate term in the fall. there was no immediate word whether he intended to change plans as he reaches for national office.

[JR: This will be the indicator of how committed he is to the ticket. If he keeps running for “his” Senate seat, then he’s not. And, that’s red flag. If he does commit to the national run, then at least we have one less liberal in the Senate! I’d wager, he won’t commit.]

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“For Obama supporters, this is like finding out from your neighbor instead of your sister that she’s engaged—not how you want or expect the news to be delivered,” Silberman said.

[JR: Get used it it. Politicians always over promise and under deliver.]

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“I am not running for vice president,” he said in a Fox interview. “I would not accept it if anyone offered it to me. The fact of the matter is I’d rather stay as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee than be vice president.”

[JR: Either a fool or a liar. Maybe both.]

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It was Biden’s second try for the White House. The first ended badly in 1988 when he was caught lifting lines from a speech by British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock.

[JR: And wasn’t he a plagiarist in college? Wonder if the liberal media will bring that up. Does he have the character to be President?]

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And, he added: “I want somebody who is going to be able to challenge my thinking and not simply be a yes person when it comes to policymaking.”

[JR: Yeah, right. What’s the quote about VP? Warm useless spit?]

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It will be interesting to see if this makes any difference at all. McC can shake up the race with a good choice like that lady from Alaska. Condi, or maybe a military guy like Powell.

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http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27992

Catholic Case Against Barack
08/12/2008
Pat Buchanan

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In the Pennsylvania primary, Barack Obama rolled up more than 90 percent of the African-American vote. Among Catholics, he lost by 40 points. The cool liberal Harvard Law grad was not a good fit for the socially conservative ethnics of Altoona, Aliquippa and Johnstown.

But if Barack had a problem with Catholics then, he has a far higher hurdle to surmount in the fall, with those millions of Catholics who still take their faith and moral code seriously.

For not only is Barack the most pro-abortion member of the Senate, with his straight A+ report card from the National Abortion Rights Action League and Planned Parenthood. He supports the late-term procedure known as partial-birth abortion, where the baby’s skull is stabbed with scissors in the birth canal and the brains are sucked out to end its life swiftly and ease passage of the corpse into the pan.

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Before any devout Catholic, Evangelical Christian or Orthodox Jew votes for Obama, he or she might spend 15 minutes in Chapter 10 of Freddoso’s “Case Against Barack.” For if, as Catholics believe, abortion is the killing of an unborn child, and participation in an abortion entails automatic excommunication, how can a good Catholic support a candidate who will appoint justices to make Roe v. Wade eternal and eliminate all restrictions on a practice Catholics legislators have fought for three decades to curtail?

And which Catholic priests and prelates will it be who give invocations at Obama rallies, even as Mother Church fights to save the lives of unborn children whom Obama believes have no right to life and no rights at all?

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Pat nails the pseudo Catholic right to the Cross. How can one claim the label “Catholic” and yet be pro-aboirtion. Or, in anyway support such a pro-abortion candidate.

And, I’m not judging anyone. Far above my pay grade, and I have my own flaws to fix.

HOWEVER, I’ll make an excpetion for the pseudo Catholic politicians we see int he media today. They beg for a come uppance!

Now there are many issues that one can have a debate about, but abortion, speciifcall partial birth or live birth abortion, is hard to see the other side’s pov. Think of all the Einsteins, Pastuers, and Hawkings that have been vacuumed from their mother’s womb. The Free Love generation has given us a travesty far worse than “back alley abortions”. Now, clearly we need a lot less “laws” and a lot more common sense. I trust Moms and their Doctors to do the right thing without some politician “helping” them with a bunch of one-size fits all “laws”. Tossing people in jail or forcing folks to do what they don’t want is not the basis of a peaceful society.

I hope Pat keeps up the heat on these very confused people (aka pseudo-Catholics).

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http://www.artrenewal.org/articles/2003/Best_of_ARC/best1.asp?msg=116&forumID=18

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Q: How can you call for removal of government support for the arts? Wouldn’t it help if we were able to divert more government money to better kinds of art?

What we need is not more socialism for the museums and symphonies or government regulation of record companies and schools. What we need instead is to replace the mis-education system that removes the audiences from the symphonies, museums, art schools, and galleries. What we need to do is shrink the vast resources at their disposal and keep on plugging away trying to educate people about the good stuff. We don’t need socialism to support us. We just need the support for modernism that is extracted from the public by force to be eliminated. Suffice it to say that in cases where some genuinely desirable task is completed by the expenditure of government money, you always see manipulation of the process by those seeking special favors from the government. Generally the question in these genuinely desirable areas is not over whether the project will happen at all, but whether the government (with its typical lack of accountability, inefficiency, corruption, and power mongering) will do it or whether relatively more efficient and accountable private interests will do it

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I never had much use for art. At least how art was taught. I had a revelation, it Las Vegas (of ALL places). I dragged Frau to Wynn’s art exhibit. Paid a stiff entry price. (I thin 20$ a head). Got a forerunner of an ipod and an a walk through some painting by the Old Masters. I saw some paintings that knock my socks off.

I’m still no art fan. But, you have to admit these old birds could grab you by te ear lobe and  make you listen.

It was the eyes that seemed like they were looking at you.

Sigh, less gooferment; more old masters?

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