text:
Friday, October 31, 2008
A Note about Anonymous Comments
It does get very difficult to follow message threads, however, when everybody is anonymous. And 'anonymous' is the most regular poster on this blog. Perhaps anonymous posters could at least identify themselves by a couple of initials, even if they're not real, in the interest of keeping our conversations cogent.
I'm not going to block anonymous postings, because I want this blog to engage all opinions, even those from persons who would feel threatened posting their name here. But I do ask that 'anonymous' be used with a little more discretion than it is right now.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
KC Charity Engages Local Kids
The approach is a natural fit for children, and beyond the benefit provided to those sponsored, CFCA programs instill in youth an appreciation of our common humanity.
Marty Denzer wrote about a recent encounter between a youth in El Salvador and students at St John LaLande in Blue Springs, MO in this week's paper edition of The Catholic Key.
Here's a little video about the girl they spoke with, Mirna:
Learn more about CFCA or sponsor a child yourself.
NARAL vs' Doug Kmiec - Who's Lying?
Dear Pro-Choice Activist,
This is it. If pro-choice Americans go to the polls on Tuesday, we will win.
That's why we got a few friends—from Hollywood to Washington and everywhere in between—to go on the record in support of pro-choice Barack Obama.
Click here to watch the message from Jack Black, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, Harold Ramis, Suzanne Whang, and people just like you and me—and then share it with your friends.
If there were any doubts about John McCain's anti-choice extremism, they were put to rest in the last presidential debate. You remember—that was when Sen. McCain used mocking air quotes in discussing the "health" of the woman as a factor in the difficult decision to end a pregnancy.
I think that kind of sarcasm and disrespect was the last straw for many pro-choice women, especially Independent and Republican women who may have been undecided. We all want a president like Barack Obama who trusts women to make these most private decisions with their families and doctors.
Vote for Barack Obama on Tuesday, friend. And share this video with your friends, so they remember to vote, too.
I'm hoping to celebrate a historic victory with you next week. But there's still so much work to do—we're counting on you to help make sure every pro-choice American votes on Tuesday.
Nancy Keenan
President, NARAL Pro-Choice America
With this one?
Can you be pro-life and support Senator Obama? The answer - upon even a moment's reflection - is unequivocally yes.
Welcome to Pro-Life, Pro-Obama, an online resource, created by Pro-life supporters of Senator Barack Obama.
Barack Obama's life has been one dedicated in service to the needs of others.
We are all called to build a culture of life - but there's more to it than just hoping that the next Supreme Court justice somehow deals with Roe v. Wade. A bad economy is threatening to human life. Women facing the moral tragedy of abortion - are facing it, now, today - and they need a supportive community and tangible help, not condemnation.
As Ronald Reagan's legal counsel and as a dean and professor at Catholic University and Notre Dame, I have worked to put the law on the side of life where it belongs.
But after 35 years, a new approach is needed. Too many unborn lives are being lost as we wait for judges to get it right. Barack Obama's strengthening of support for prenatal care, health care, maternity leave, and adoption will make the difference. Studies confirm it.
We are but a few weeks away from a new beginning in America.
I am inspired by what Senator Obama calls "the promise of America -- the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation in the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper. That's the promise we need to keep."
It is because of the hope of this promise, that I have written Can a Catholic Support Him? Asking the Big Question About Barack Obama. While especially aimed at Catholic citizens, the book and the material here are devoted to opening every heart and mind to the prospect of transcending the partisanship on these difficult issues.
That is the change we need right now. And it is within our grasp.
Thank you for visiting this site and we look forward to being in touch,
Douglas W. Kmiec
It's a sad day for Prof. Kmiec when Nancy Keenan is more honest about abortion than he is.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Bishop Finn's Latest Column
Warriors with Our Eyes Fixed on Heaven
Last Saturday I had the privilege of consecrating the restored church of Old St. Patrick. This is the oldest existing Catholic church in Kansas City. It will serve as the Oratory for the Latin Mass community which first began here under Bishop John Sullivan, and for many years has shared the parish of Our Lady of Sorrows.
One of the beauties of the Traditional Latin High Mass that I celebrated is that it highlights a most profound aspect of the Mass, namely our participation with the Communion of Saints. The high altar, multiple candles, incense and Gregorian chant, collectively give us a striking image of the Heavenly Jerusalem which is our ultimate home. Every Mass celebrates this reality, but I must admit that the traditional Mass captured this magnificent expression of the ultimate hope and goal of Christians in a powerful way. We should reflect on this often, because the ultimate goal of everything we do is to get ourselves to heaven and bring with us as many as we can.
The month of November begins with the two great celebrations: All Saints day (November 1) and the Commemoration of All Souls (November 2). These feasts celebrate our communion with the "Church triumphant" in heaven, and the "Church suffering" in purgatory. Today I would like to share a few brief comments about what we have sometimes called the "Church militant," the Church here on earth.
We, the Church on earth, have a very special challenge as participants in the grace and life of Jesus Christ to "fight" against the enemies of Christ's justice and truth and light and life. We must be attentive to the demands of this daily "battle" in a peaceable but serious manner.
I am sometimes amazed at the casual manner with which Christians, Catholics included, take up our life within what Pope John Paul II rightly called the "culture of death." The Church, by comparison, reminds us that we are engaged - by reason of our Baptism and Confirmation - in a battle, "not with flesh and blood, but with the principalities and powers, with the rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in heaven." (Eph 6:12) Jesus Christ has won the ultimate battle, but we, in the course of our human life must make our choice, determining on whose side we will live and die. Whose side will you choose?!
What is at stake in this battle is our immortal soul, our salvation. My responsibility as bishop is with the eternal destiny of those entrusted to my care. My total energies must be directed to the well being of those who otherwise may come under the spell of a radically flawed and fundamentally distorted moral sense, at odds with what our Mother the Church teaches. There are objective and transcendent truths. There is such a thing as right and wrong. There is a legitimate hierarchy of moral evils, and the direct willful destruction of human life can never be justified; it can never be supported. Do you believe this firm teaching of the Church?
Did you know that in Canada priests and Christian ministers have already been brought before tribunals for preaching and teaching in support of marriage? They are charged with "hate speech" against homosexuality. In light of the tyranny of choice growing each day in our own beloved country, we ought to be ready for similar attacks on religious freedom. We must not fail to preach the Gospel. We can not withhold the truth of our faith. That is why I will never be silent about human life. It is why I am proud of so many others - bishops, priests, deacons, religious and laity - who are not afraid to speak out about the values that matter most. What about you?!
Our Lord told His apostles that they would be hated by the world, just as He was. Nearly all of them died a martyr's death. As warriors in the Church militant, we must never resort to violence. But we must stand up fearlessly against the agents of death, the enemies of human life. Human beings are not Satan, but we know too well that they can come under his spell. They can become willing agents of death, numbed and poisoned in this culture of death. What about you?!
As we begin this month of November, the month of the Church, let us call upon the Saints to inspire us, befriend us, and pray for us. Let us offer many prayers and sacrifices for the poor souls who have gone before us. They need our meritorious suffrages to help them reach heaven.
And let us resolve to be warriors of the Church militant; warriors with our eyes fixed on heaven. Let us ask God's mercy and strength to persevere in our call - individual and collective - to holiness. Mary, Mother of the Church, Pray for us! o
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Scranton Diocese Warns Against False Prophets
The Catholic Key Blog has previously reported on these groups here and here. Please watch this important video from the Diocese of Scranton. It addresses many of the concerns The Catholic Key has received from Catholics in swing-states, Ohio and Pennsylvania mostly, who are being bombarded with false Catholic teaching from these pro-abort funded partisan front groups.
Below is a partial transcript:
"In this election cycle we have heard much about Catholic teaching . . .
Some individuals and groups are arriving at their own interpretations regarding the demands of Catholic Social Teaching. Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good are two such groups.
You may have received a postcard from them recently. They call themselves non-partisan and claim to be concerned about Catholic teaching and the common good.
But that is not the case.
Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good are telling you that a Catholic may vote for a candidate who supports abortion . . . They claim that support for their possition is found in . . . Faithful Citizenship.
By trading on the name 'Catholic,' these groups give the impression that their reading of the bishops' statement is authentic Church teaching. It is not.
Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good are neither united nor allied with authentic Catholic teaching. Catholics and non-Catholics alike should not be misled by them. . ."
Anti-Catholic Al Franken and His Supporters
And doggone it - I do like him! But apparently he doesn't like you or me or Catholicism at all for that matter. A sampling of Franken's anti-Catholicism from the release:
"· He has mocked the Eucharist
· He has ridiculed the crucifixion of Jesus
· He has belittled practicing Catholics (e.g., Knights of Columbus)
· He has disparaged the Church's teaching on embryonic stem cell research
· He made crude jokes about a dying woman, Terri Schiavo, and then misrepresented her condition by passing her off as already dead."
Franken also addressed a New York audience on the topic of that city's late, great archbishop asking, "Isn't Cardinal O'Connor an a**hole?"
All to which I'd add another curious fact. Like so many other staunchly pro-abortion candidates for various offices this season, Franken's campaign has the financial assistance of the chairperson of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good - the George Soros funded group offering targetted "Catholic social teaching" for swing-state voters.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Two Notes
2. Apologies to Old St. Pat's pic viewers on square screens. I posted the pics on my widescreen at home which looked fine. Come to work on my low-res square screen, I see they're cut off on the right. If you have this problem on your monitor, just click the pic and you can see the whole thing at flickr.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Old St. Pat's Consecration Pics Pt. 2
On to the pics:
Procession of Relics to be buried in the Altar
Censing the Relics
Part of the choir in the balcony. Another choir pic is below, and I'll sort out who's from where in the printed edition.
Kansas City has the world's tallest bishop. Here, actually, Bishop Finn climbs a ladder to anoint the twelve crosses on the wall in the church. The imagery is from Revelation, where John describes the Wall of the Great City, Jerusalem, having 12 foundations - the 12 Apostles.
If you look closely, you can see incense is burnt directly on the altar as part of its consecration. The incense is atop 5 crosses representing the 5 Glorious wounds. Not shown, the same procedure is taking place simultaneously on the two side altars.
The Altar is now being "clothed". It's starting to get smoky.
Combined choir
Altar clothing continues.
Procession for the Mass itself.
Father and Sisters and Knights. The empty spot was my seat. OSP was kind enough to set me where I could get close shots.
Bishop Finn is censed - not sure if that's the right term.
Elevation of the chalice.
A view of the remarkable restoration.
A great job done by all.
To the reception.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Old Saint Patrick Consecration Photos
Knights of Columbus
Acolytes, Crucifer and Torchbearers
Bishop Finn performs sacramental cleansing of the church exterior.
Entrance into the church
Preparation of sand
Bishop Finn writes the Greek and Roman Alphabets in sand with his crozier.
More tomorrow. UPDATE - Part 2 is posted.
Dedication of Old St. Patrick in KC
Sermon for the Consecration of Old St. Patrick Church
Most Reverend Robert W. Finn
Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph
Then came a loud voice from the heavenly throne, "Behold the dwelling place of God with men. … Behold, I make all things new."
Dear friends, I greet you with great joy on this day of Solemn Consecration. This is the dwelling place of God with men. This is the place where heaven meets earth, where the mystery of salvation touches the human heart. Here, even sadness and death are given flight – so full of hope, so full of grace and light are the truths and supernatural actions that unfold in this place, where God dwells with man.
In the Gospel account of the meeting between the Lord Jesus Christ and the tax collector, Zachaeus, we see the power of conversion in the encounter with God. When the human heart receives the Lord, a saving change can transform us. Here in this magnificent church such miracles have been occurring for more than 130 years. Now, again we have set it apart as the House of God. What a happy and historic day this is in our Diocese.
It was on
Out of a motive of true love for God and dedication to the Church you have done something great in the history of the Diocese. You have renewed this holy temple in a way that is equal to the sacrifice and commitment of those who first built it, and which may indeed surpass its original beauty. Deo Gratias!
Three years ago this month we welcomed Father Denis Buchholz who served you as proto-Rector of the Oratory. I am very thankful to him, as I know you are, for his steadfast spiritual leadership. In the last months the new Rector, Fr. William Avis has seamlessly continued the work that has helped to hold together this small but burgeoning community.
Many have been involved with this significant effort which reaches a certain fruition today when we offer here again for the first time in several years the Holy and Saving Sacrifice of the
Such a project as we mark today also requires generous help from many, many benefactors. Mr. Joseph Faris helped to lead this part of the effort, and I thank you all who have made sacrificial gifts, and all on whose assistance the Oratory will continue to rely. May the Lord inspire the necessary means to complete and prosper this new beginning.
We are also thankful today to both the diocesan and Redemptorist priests, and the parishioners of Our Lady of Sorrows who have shared their home with the Latin Mass community for more than a dozen years. There is much to be thankful for; much to be proud of; many challenges along the way; all for God's glory; all in accord with His Providence and mercy.
Even while I know many challenges remain, I am full of confidence as I renew today my entrustment of the Oratory to the Institute of Christ the King, for whom "doing the truth in love," is much more than an ecclesial motto – but indeed, a dynamic interior motive of outgoing apostolic love. Through Monsignor Schmitz, I express my profound thanks to Reverend Monsignor Gilles Wach, Founder and Prior General of the Institute, for his solicitude to the Diocese, in providing this spiritual foundation for our Oratory.
Now, dear friends, what will God accomplish in this place? His love and grace, alive in the Church, will be a source of supernatural aid to many individuals and, we pray, He will kindle something blessed in this neighborhood and throughout the Diocese.
I pray that this church will be a center of reverent and obedient worship in spirit and truth for all who come here. Here you will bring your babies to be baptized. Here your sins will be forgiven. Here holy matrimony will be solemnly ratified. All the sacraments will give God glory, perhaps none more than the re-presentation of
Dear friends, may this place also be a home of reconciliation for Catholics who, within the praxis of these venerable rites, still long for a more perfect communion with the Vicar of Christ and me his unworthy servant. I welcome you. Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest Himself seeks you out. He who came to seek and save the lost looks, searches, to see us. "Make haste and come down, Zachaeus." And we must humbly invite him to the house of our soul as did the tax collector in whom already the transformation was beginning to take place.
Today, Dear friends, Let salvation come to this house! Let salvation be found here in the ineffable mysteries of which the Church is the one faithful and prudent steward.
There is one more precious intercession I wish to lift today. In collaboration with the Catholic bishops of
In this month of Angels I ask you to join me in calling upon the Guardian Angels of 47 million babies lost to the crime of abortion in our country, to carry the cry of these Holy Innocents before the throne of Mercy: not to condemn us, but to fortify and inspire us to be the Guardians of life.
On this happy day Lord, let us not forget the responsibility that is forever ours to give back to you the obedience of our faith, to seek holiness with a pure heart, and to spend ourselves in apostolic charity. Let the faith and good will of the many find a new start here. "For this is the dwelling place of God with men." Let the voice from heaven resound in our joyful and thankful hearts, "Behold, I make all things new."
Friday, October 24, 2008
A Grab Bag of Bishop's Statements
1. New York Cardinal Edward Egan just wants you to look at this picture:
Well not just. Read his column too.
2. Saint Louis Bishop Robert Hermann "thought you should know . . .Judgement Day is on its way," excerpt:
"If I value the good of the economy and my current lifestyle more than I do the right to life itself, then I am in trouble. . .
"The right of our children to be protected from destruction is greater than my right to a thriving economy. . .
"My parents got married about one year before the stock market crash of 1929, and yet they raised 15 children in the midst of the Great Depression. They had no money. My mother made her own wedding gown and her own bouquet of flowers. I have my parents' wedding picture on the wall of my office, and I am reminded every day of the sacrifices they made for life."
The whole column is available at the Saint Louis Review.
3. Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva says abortion is (my emphasis in bold):
"the most widespread – and the only legal – form of domestic violence. It is a cancer that erodes our respect for one another in many different ways. It is a hidden source of anger, depression and denial for those who cannot admit what they know in their heart of hearts, that it is the deliberate taking of the life of a real human girl or boy."
Read the whole column at Catholic Hawaii.
4. Wichita Bishop Michael Jackels says:
"Christians believe too that we are responsible to provide for and protect not only our own life, health and dignity, but others as well, in particular those unable to provide for or protect themselves. In fact, our responsibility for others is greatest when their ability is least.
The responsibility we have to provide for and protect others begins and is greatest at the moment of conception until birth. Our duty towards others lessens (but never entirely) as they grow into adulthood, and then increases again as they age or become sick. Of course, our responsibility remains great towards adults who are mentally or physically disabled, or unable to secure for themselves the basics of a dignified life.
As a consequence of our belief, whether or not a candidate gets our vote should depend on their positions on issues related to the sacredness of human life and the dignity of the human person. A candidate can make attractive promises on the economy or the environment, but those should take second place to a candidate's positions related to the sacredness of human life and the dignity of the human person. A candidate who is indifferent to or worse yet antagonistic to these preeminent positions is not worthy of consideration."
Bishop Jackels' full pastoral is available at the Catholic Advance.
5. Please remember Bishop Finn asks us all to pray.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Archbishop Naumann on Voting at KU
This video seems to end at about 30 minutes, and it could be my conversion software cut it off there. If I can recover the rest, we'll post a part 2. UPDATE - Thanks to Jennifer and Grace at the center we've got two more clips. I'll upload them tonight.
If you don't have time to watch, the Lawrence Journal has a report on the talk (hat tip to Whispers in the Loggia) excerpt:
"Our democratic institutions are founded upon the premise that there are certain inalienable rights," including the right to life. Without that, other campaign issues like the economy and the war in Iraq mean nothing, he said.
In a speech organized by KU's St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center, Naumann sought to discuss how Catholics should live their lives in public and how numerous social issues are in play during the campaign. He spent much of the evening discussing the Catholic Church's opposition to abortion and mapping out the church's moral platform.
"The church in the United States always cherished its rights and its responsibility to form the moral (conscience) of the country," he said.
He stopped short of endorsing a candidate, saying, "We (the church) don't really believe that is the role of the church in a democratic society."
Naumann told the crowd of more than 100 that sometimes there is no perfect candidate and sometimes it's a choice between the lesser of two evils. Catholics should weigh their beliefs before voting, he said.
He blamed cultural relativism for forming beliefs that "(impair) a culture from what is imperatively true."
Naumann said this election was part of a battle for the soul of our society, and warned that bowing to pressure from pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage groups could lead down the road to totalitarianism, because democracy could "(devolve) into the will of the majority trampling on the rights of the" minority.
"If liberty becomes distracted from truth, it leaves society vulnerable to totalitarianism," he said. "Remember, Hitler was elected."
Marriage Matters To Kids - Yes on Prop. 8
Here's some more information about the video and the MarriageMattersToKids website sent by my friend:
"The video was made by a group of San Francisco Catholics who thought that the adult-centered individual rights focus of the current marriage debate in California did not tell the whole story--in fact was a very superficial view of marriage of what marriage means and is. We decided to make a video on what marriage means to the family, society, but especially what it means to kids. We interviewed families, experts, parish priests and Bishops and asked
the following questions:
What is the meaning of Marriage?
Do Children have a fundamental right to a Mother and a Father?
Do Mothers matter? Do Fathers matter?
Does natural marriage benefit society? If so, what are the dangers of redefining marriage?
What about equality, and the dignity of the homosexual person?
On MarriageMattersToKids.org there are also extended interviews with Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Diego, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco, and Bishop Allen Vigneron of Oakland as well as a Constitutional Analysis by Laurie Messerly Stewart."
(Ed. Note - Unfortunately, due to Jack Smith's lack of tech talent, the preview picture is not the same as on the original video, but the video is the same.)
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Bishop Finn Asks Parishes to Pray for Life
Week of Prayer for Our Country
Dear Friends in Christ,
As we approach this monumental election, our choices are as clear as the Scriptures themselves: "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live." (Deut 30:19)
Pope Benedict XVI similarly guides us in the proper ordering of our values as he teaches, "The fundamental human right, the presupposition of every other right, is the right to life itself. This is true of life from the moment of conception until its natural end. Abortion, consequently, cannot be a human right – it is the very opposite. It is 'a deep wound in society.'"
Our Catholic moral principles teach that a candidate's promise of economic prosperity is insufficient to justify their constant support of abortion laws, including partial-birth abortion, and infanticide for born-alive infants. Promotion of the Freedom of Choice Act is a pledge to eliminate every single limit on abortions achieved over the last thirty-five years. The real freedom that is ours in Jesus Christ compels us, not to take life, but to defend it.
Together with the other Bishops of Missouri I am calling on all the faithful to make this last week before the election a week of prayer for our nation - a week of prayer for the protection of Human Life.
Join me in calling upon Mary in this month of the rosary. In 1571, in the midst of the Battle of Lepanto, when the future of Christian Europe was in the balance and the odds against them were overwhelming, prayer to Our Lady of the Rosary brought the decisive victory. We ask her now to watch over our country and bring us the victory of life.
This is also the month of the Angels. I ask you to join me in invoking the Guardian Angels of 47 million babies lost through abortion in our country in the last thirty-five years. This horrendous loss of life remains one of the greatest threats to human civilization we have ever faced.
This week, please pray and make some sacrifices for our country. I ask every parish to provide some additional opportunity for prayer in the church: an evening Mass, or rosary, or time of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. Say the rosary as individuals or as a family, or even simply a decade each night with your children. Say the election prayer. Give up meat, or do without some convenience this week. Make a good Act of Contrition and get to Confession. Offer a worthy Communion.
On Monday, November 3, at 7:00 p.m., I will celebrate an Eve of the Election Mass at St. Therese Parish, North. Join me as we pray for God's assistance and Mary's maternal aid.
Dear friends, we have great hope in Jesus Christ and His victory over sin and death. Let us keep this last week before the election as a time of prayer for our country, that we may experience His mercy and safeguard human life.
In Christ and Mary,
Most Reverend Robert W. Finn
Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph
Monday, October 20, 2008
George Soros Funds Catholics in Alliance
"Why is this relevant? Because this same bigot is connected to two apologists for abortion rights, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United. In 2006, Soros' Open Society Institute gave Catholics in Alliance $100,000 (double the amount he gave in 2005), and in the same year Catholics in Alliance listed Catholics United on its 990 (IRS form for non-profits) as an organization with which it has a formal relationship. John Podesta, who runs the Soros-funded organization, Center for American Progress, admits that he works closely with Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United. The Center for American Progress is also the sponsor of Faith and Public Life.
"Why would any Catholic organization take money from a man like George Soros? Because legitimate sources of revenue aren't available? And why would Soros have any interest in funding Catholic groups? He doesn't give the Catholic League any money, and if he offered, I would refuse it.
"The reason Soros funds the Catholic Left is the same reason he lavishly funds Catholics for Choice, the pro-abortion group that has twice been condemned as a fraud by Catholic bishops: they all service his agenda, namely, to make support for abortion rights a respectable Catholic position. On October 17, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput accused Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United as doing a 'disservice' to the Catholic Church. He's right. And now we know what really makes them tick."
The Catholic Key Blog has reported on Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United before, demonstrating their close ties to the DNC, excerpt:
"The Chair of the Board of Directors for Catholics in Alliance is Ambassador Elizabeth Frawley Bagley. She served in a number of capacities in the Clinton State Department and is the wife of former Democratic National Committee finance chair, Smith Bagley. Ambassador Bagley has herself given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the DNC, as well as to numerous stridently pro-choice Democratic candidates including, Barack Obama, Al Franken, Barbara Boxer, Claire McCaskill, Charles Schumer and The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund."
Fellow Catholics in Alliance board member Agnes Williams has given similar sums to the DNC and stridently pro-abortion politicians.
A report on each can be found by plugging in their names at the FEC.
Catholics in Alliance Executive Director Alexia Kelley previously worked for the DNC in an effort to sideline abortion as a Catholic issue on behalf of John Kerry's 2004 campaign.
According to Catholics United website, their director of organizing, James Salt, previously "oversaw the Kansas Democratic Party's faith outreach efforts, including messaging work for Governor Sebelius and development of faith-based messaging resources." That's pretty tough 'messaging,' since Sebelius is the most pro-abort governor in the country. She is so in the tank for abortion, she hosted a party in the governor's mansion for notorious late-term abortionist George Tiller and his staff. Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas has publicly asked her not to present herself for Communion.
A supreme irony, or perhaps just a demonstration of the group's true colors, can be found in the candidacy of Tom Perriello for Virginia's 5th district congressional seat.
In the course of a favorable article outlining the efforts of Catholics in Alliance and others to reframe (or sideline) the abortion debate in the 2006 election cycle, Patricia Zapor at Catholic News Service wrote, "Perriello is optimistic about that success meaning the end of the sense that Democratic candidates must support abortion 'rights' to get anywhere within the party."
After co-founding Catholics in Alliance, Perriello went on to co-found Avaaz.org in alliance with Soros-funded MoveOn.org. He's now running as a pro-choice Democrat in an effort to unseat Virginia's Rep. Virgil Goode. In Perriello's own words to the DownWithTyranny blog:
"Confusion ...[about] my position on abortion may stem either from my public association with Catholicism as co-founder of the progressive Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good or from being badly misquoted in a New York Times article following the 2004 election. I firmly believe that abortion should not be criminalized, nor can we allow any action that seeks to coerce women by reducing access to care or making the process less safe."
Bishop Wenski on Immigration Policy
"As the presidential election heads into its final days, the issue of immigration remains largely unaddressed. It was not examined during the debates and is not high on either candidate's list of talking points. Congress has left the issue on the table. Sadly, this congressional reluctance has created a policy vacuum that has widened America's political divisions and left us with an inconsistent, ineffective and, in many cases, inhumane national policy.
The failure of comprehensive immigration reform last year, when Congress bowed to a vocal minority, unleashed a torrent of initiatives designed to demonstrate that the U.S. government can enforce our laws and secure our borders. In truth, intermittent work site raids, increased local law enforcement involvement and the creation of a wall along parts of our southern border, among other efforts, have done little to address the challenges presented by illegal immigration. . .
. . .To many elected officials, immigration has become the new "third rail" of American politics. Refraining from addressing this pressing domestic issue, however, will elevate tensions in states and localities, further alienate immigrants and their communities, and tacitly affirm the acceptance of a hidden and permanent underclass in our country."
Turn on the radio here in Missouri and candidates for state-level races boast how tough they are on an issue that is fundamentally outside their jurisdiction. Missouri definitely can be counted as among the states where an absence of comprehensive federal immigration reform has led to elevated tensions.
A dramatic demonstration of this can be seen in this year's Missouri Catholic Conference candidate survey for state-level offices. The conference asks whether the candidate supports or opposes a simple statement of common sense and established consitutional law - "Immigration laws and policies should be determined by the federal government and not the state of Missouri." That statement loses 67-61 among candidates who responded.
It's worth reading all of Bishop Wenski's article. Also check back on Archbishop Gomez' excellent keynote from this year's MCC Annual Assembly.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Catholics United, Catholics in Alliance and ACORN
" . . {Speaking of Doug Kmiec} I think his activism for Senator Obama, and the work of Democratic-friendly groups like Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, have done a disservice to the Church, confused the natural priorities of Catholic social teaching, undermined the progress prolifers have made, and provided an excuse for some Catholics to abandon the abortion issue instead of fighting within their parties and at the ballot box to protect the unborn.
. . .The truth is that for some Catholics, the abortion issue has never been a comfortable cause. It's embarrassing. It's not the kind of social justice they like to talk about. It interferes with their natural political alliances. And because the homicides involved in abortion are ''little murders'' - the kind of private, legally protected murders that kill conveniently unseen lives - it's easy to look the other way. . ."
Whole article.
Also, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development announced through Catholic News Service on Friday that it has cut off its traditional and greatly expanding funding for ACORN. Their support of ACORN is made possible by your donations to the annual CCHD collection. CCHD claims their funding of ACORN stopped when they discovered a $1 million embezzlement scheme by the brother of ACORN's founder in June. Why CCHD is announcing the cancellation of more than $1 million in announced grants several months after the fact is a big open question in this controversy.
The Catholic Key Blog will have much more in the coming week. Please check back.
For now, read the CNS article on CCHD and ACORN, excerpt:
The Catholic Campaign for Human Development suspended funding a nationwide community organizing group after it was disclosed June 2 that nearly $1 million had been embezzled. . .
. . .McCloud said the suspension came soon after his office learned that ACORN disclosed that Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, had embezzled nearly $1 million from the organization and its affiliates in 1999 and 2000. Dale Rathke stepped down from his position with the organization in June when the matter became public; no charges were filed against him. Wade Rathke stepped down as the group's lead organizer at the same time but remains chief organizer for ACORN International LLC.
Whole article.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Bishop Finn's Catholic Voter Statements
Can a Catholic Vote in Support of Abortion?
Homily from Feast of the Holy Rosary Mass Broadcast on EWTN
Bishop Finn Urges 'No' on Missouri English Only Law
Bishop Finn on FOCA and its Supporters
Bishop Finn's Red Mass Homily
Join Pastoral with Archbishop Naumann on 'Our Moral Responsibility as Catholic Citizens'
Let Your Hospitality and Good Works Abound
The full text of his speech tracing the history of the Christian imperative to welcome the stranger and its implication today was too long to print in The Key or post on the blog, but it is now available on google sites.
Julian came to be known for all time as "Julian the Apostate." He got that notorious label because, although he had been baptized and raised a Christian, he abandoned his faith immediately upon becoming emperor. Julian then used his "bully pulpit" as emperor to scorn the Church and Christianity and to promote devotion to the pagan gods and goddesses of ancient Greece and Rome—Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite, and the rest.
Julian called the Christians "Galileans." It was a kind of ethnic and class slur. And he wrote a big book against the Church. He said his aim was to strip that "new-fangled Galilean god" of "the divinity falsely ascribed to him" (Wilken, The Christians as the Romans Saw Them, 177).
But there was something that Julian couldn't shake about the Christians. Something he couldn't get out of his mind. And that was the Christians' virtue. Their charity. And especially their hospitality to those they didn't even know. In fact, Julian once issued an order to try to get pagan believers to start imitating the Christians in what he called their "benevolence toward strangers."
Here's a quote from a letter he wrote, and you can tell he's not very happy. He complains that Christians' care for strangers and their holiness is contributing to the spread of "atheism." (He called Christians "atheists" because they didn't believe in the pagan gods.)
Here's what Julian wrote: "Why do we not observe that it is their benevolence to strangers … and the pretended holiness of their lives that have done the most to increase atheism. … It is disgraceful that when … the impious Galileans support not only their own poor but ours as well, all men should see how our people lack aid from us." (Macmullen and Lane, Paganism and Christianity, 100–425 C.E.: A Sourcebook, 271–272).
You see he's embarrassed. Ashamed. The Christians are so generous that they're helping the poor Romans and that exposes how the Romans themselves don't take care of their poor.
My friends, my point in this little history lesson is this: From the beginning there was something very different about Christians. Something even their enemies, like Julian, couldn't help but notice—and admire, no matter how reluctantly.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Candidate Forum at St. Peter's
St. Peter's is located at 815 E. Meyer Blvd. in Kansas City.
Deacon Larry Weber, Executive Director of the Missouri Catholic Conference, will moderate the forum.
Both District 5 incumbent Emanuel Cleaver II and challenger Jacob Turk have been invited. Please call Congressman Cleaver's office at (816) 842-4545 and ask him to attend. Turk has already confirmed.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Can a Catholic Vote in Support of Abortion?
Following is Bishop Finn's column in the upcoming issue of The Catholic Key:
Can a Catholic vote, in good conscience, for a candidate who supports abortion? This is the question I am asked over and over again.
The recent Pastoral Letter, Our Moral Responsibility as Catholic Citizens, which I co-wrote with Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in
There the Archbishop and I acknowledge that we are often faced with "imperfect candidates." Specifically we offered the example of two candidates who were permissive on abortion. We taught that, in such an instance, we should choose the candidate whose position will likely do the least grave evil, or whose position will do the most to limit the specific grave evil of abortion. But, again and again, I am asked, "Can a Catholic vote for the candidate who is perhaps the most extreme in favor of abortion, even if they promote other policies which we judge to be good?"
I must say that there is another question I would pose. What is the effect on Catholics of a candidate who has been consistently supportive of abortion?
When a candidate supports ready access to abortion on demand, they are inviting Catholics to put aside their conscience on this life and death issue. Such a candidate is inviting conscientious Catholics to look elsewhere for moral leadership.
When a candidate promotes total unhindered "choice," he or she discourages the Catholic vote, and at the same time tempts the voter to betray one of the most obvious intuitions of our humanity and to support the continuation of the willful destruction of human life.
If the candidate has supported partial birth abortion, he or she asks the voter to affirm the continuation of an act that 75% of the population has rejected as repulsive.
When a candidate regards the unborn child as unworthy of the defense of law, then he or she asks us to join them in ignoring the lessons of history by which African Americans in this country were once regarded as non-persons; or the Jews of Europe were once marked for genocide or racial purification. Had we known, would we have supported the "choice" to enslave or destroy these brothers and sisters of ours? Can a candidate expect us as Catholics to ignore the classification of the unborn as non-persons? Will he or she expect us to look aside while these babies are quietly exterminated at a rate of 4000 per day? This is precisely what they are asking us to do.
Some groups calling themselves "Catholic" have suggested that generous programs for the poor will reduce abortions more than the repeal of Roe v. Wade. But a candidate who pledges that he or she will seek to immediately ratify the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), signals to voters that the reduction of abortions is not a goal. They are asking voters to suspend the effort to constitutionally protect human life, and – at the same time - to discard all the good progress we have made to actually reduce the number of abortions in the last thirty-five years. Such a candidate is asking Catholics to "give up" on abortion. They want us to deny our conscience and ignore their callous disregard for the most vulnerable human life.
If the candidate has addressed their legislative assembly, urging opposition to the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, then it must be concluded that this candidate wishes Catholic voters to be complicit in infanticide. Rejection of this Act, which would require that a baby who survived an unsuccessful abortion attempt be cared for and not laid aside to die with no medical assistance, is a convincing example of the numbing of our moral sensibility. The candidate who supports this fatal neglect of life and asks our vote, asks too much of any fellow human being.
Our country is at the edge of the precipice concerning the protection of the life and dignity of the human person. A significant new attack on innocent human life will likely send us into a moral freefall that would rival any financial decline. The price for such a "walk over the cliff" is millions more human lives for many more years to come.
A candidate who asks us to add our weight to such a destructive momentum in our society, asks us to be participants in their own gravely immoral act. This is something which, in good conscience, we can never justify. Despite hardship, beyond partisanship, for the sake of our eternal salvation: This we should never do.
Click here for links to all of Bishop Finn's recent Catholic voter statements.
Friday, October 10, 2008
What Reduces Abortion?
Sometimes election years produce more policy myths than good ideas. This year one myth is about abortion. It goes like this: The Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision is here to stay, and that's fine because laws against abortion don't reduce abortions much anyway. Rather, "support for women and families" will greatly reduce abortions, without changing the law or continuing a "divisive" abortion debate.
Various false claims are used to bolster this myth. It is said that over three-quarters of women having abortions cite expense as the most important factor in their decision. Actually the figure is less than one-fourth, 23%. It is said that abortion rates declined dramatically (30%) during the Clinton years, but the decline stopped under the ostensibly pro-life Bush administration. Actually the abortion rate has dropped 30% from 1981 to 2005; the decline started 12 years before Clinton took office, and has continued fairly steadily to the present day.
The steepest decline is among minors. Is it plausible that economic factors reduced abortions for teens but not their older sisters, or their mothers who support them?
The reality is this: In 1980 the Supreme Court upheld the Hyde amendment, and federally funded abortions went from 300,000 a year to nearly zero. With its decisions in Webster (1989) and Casey (1992), the Court began to uphold other abortion laws previously invalidated under Roe. States passed hundreds of modest but effective laws: bans on use of public funds and facilities; informed consent laws; parental involvement when minors seek abortion; etc. Dr. Michael New's rigorous research has shown that these laws significantly reduce abortions. In the 1990s, debate on partial-birth abortion – kept in the public eye, ironically, by President Clinton's repeated vetoes of a ban on this grisly late-term procedure – alerted many Americans to the violence of abortion and shifted public attitudes in a pro-life direction, just as growing concern over AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases was giving new force to the abstinence message for teens. Now the Court has upheld a partial-birth abortion ban, and signaled that other laws to save unborn children and their mothers from the horrors of abortion may be valid. If Roe is reversed outright, that will allow more laws that can further reduce abortions.
By contrast, a pending federal "Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA) would knock down current laws reducing abortions, and require public programs for pregnant women to fund abortion. No one supporting that bill can claim to favor reducing abortions.
Many women are pressured toward abortion, and they need our help. The pressures are partly, but only partly, economic in nature. Women are influenced by husbands, boyfriends, parents and friends, and by a culture and legal system that tells them the child they carry has no rights and is of no consequence. Law cannot solve all problems, but it can tell us which solutions are unacceptable – and today Roe still teaches that killing the unborn child is an acceptable solution, even a "right." Without ever forgetting the need to support pregnant women and their families, that tragic and unjust error must be corrected if we are to build a society that respects all human life.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Dissent has Consequences for Moral Life
Where Did We Go Wrong?
As Catholics we appreciate the gift of divine mercy and peace that is ours through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which "offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1446). In other words, we realize we're spiritually sick, and so we desire the appropriate remedy.
As we pray the Act of Contrition after receiving the sacrament, we "firmly resolve with the help of God's grace to sin no more." We're banking on God's help, but in this prayer we're telling Our Lord that we are absolutely serious about avoiding sin in the future. In other words, we're committed to doing whatever we can to help reverse the cycle of sin in our life, to wipe it out at the source.
Given our resolve to "sin no more," it would be extremely helpful to have some understanding of the underlying causes of our sins. I'm sure we all ask ourselves on occasion, "Where did I go wrong?" Surely we're all prone to sin because of our fallen nature, and it's also true that sin isn't all that innovative or trendy. My sins and your sins are not all that original. Ask any confessor! It's actually quite possible to trace most of our sins to some very basic moral errors.
That's why paragraph no. 1792 is one of the most enlightening entries in the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church. It lists some of the main reasons why we go astray. Here's what it says:
"Ignorance of Christ and His Gospel, bad example given by others, enslavement to one's passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, rejection of the Church's authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct" (emphasis added).
Several of these items jump off the page to me. Doctrinal dissent has consequences in the moral life. My bad example (known as "scandal") can lead others to sin. Ignorance is not "bliss" when it comes to the Gospel.
And this Catechism quote makes abundantly clear that an erroneous approach to conscience leads to errors in moral judgment.
Conscience is vitally important. It's God's way of revealing His truth to us in concrete circumstances, so that we can choose the good He desires for us. So having a well-formed conscience is about doing what God wants, not what "I want." There are many voices--internal (e.g., our own preferences, memories, motivations, and disordered desires) and external (e.g., family, friends, and the media)--competing for our attention. We need a certain interiority to be able to hear the Shepherd's voice, to discern God's law that is already on our hearts.
Too often we do whatever is expedient, agreeable, or enjoyable, and then we claim that we're just following our conscience. All we're doing then is adopting a relativistic--and ultimately atheistic--mindset and giving it the veneer of religiosity. The rejection of the objective moral law is not an exercise of authentic freedom, but rather is the submission to slavery. As the Catechism teaches, this is nothing other than the licentious assertion of one's autonomy from God and from the moral order.
And especially in light of the upcoming election, as we strive to take to heart Bishop Finn and Archbishop Naumann's pastoral letter on "Our Moral Responsibility as Catholic Citizens," Catechism, no. 1792 gives all of us a firm basis for examining our consciences. It leads us to ask these and similar questions of ourselves as we strive to be "faithful citizens" in the voting booth next month:
· Am I ignorant of Christ and His Gospel? Do I seek the Lord's guidance through regular, humble prayer? Do I assiduously study and internalize the Bible as well as other reliable sources of Catholic teaching and spiritual wisdom?
· Is my primary loyalty to a political party or agenda, or to being a faithful disciple of Christ? Does Catholic teaching, as reflected in Bishop Finn's pastoral letter, inform my political decision-making?
· Am I a slave to my passions? Am I mired in habitual sin that colors my attitude toward some sensitive moral issues?
· Do I try to justify conduct that Our Lord considers sinful? Is there a part of my life that I haven't turned over to God? Are there Church teachings I refuse to accept? Do I strive to form my conscience based on the firm foundation of Catholic truth, or do I look for teachers who will "tickle my ears" (2 Tim. 4:3)?
· Do I strive to see Christ in those around me, especially the poor and the annoying? Do I really take to heart the fact that all men and women, including those in the womb, have God-given dignity and value? Do I treat others with basic kindness, patience, and respect? Do I serve only myself?
The Divine Physician doesn't expect us to overcome these perennial difficulties on our own. In fact, we can't. However, if we can diagnose the sources of our particular sins, we can better seek out and apply the right spiritual medicine.


text:
October 3, 1985, Section D, Page 23Buy Reprints
Rock Hudson, the actor whose handsome looks and flair for comedy made him a romantic idol of the 1950's and 60's, died yesterday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 59 years old and had been suffering for more than a year from AIDS.
Mr. Hudson, whose search for medical treatment in recent months focused worldwide attention on the incurable disease, died peacefully at 9 A.M. in his sleep, according to his spokesman in Los Angeles, Dale Olson.
The actor was the first major public figure to acknowledge openly that he was suffering from acquired immune deficiency syndrome, a mysterious and usually fatal illness that primarily afflicts male homosexuals, intravenous drug users, and recipients of contaminated blood transfusions.
Mr. Hudson was in Paris in July and collapsed at the Ritz Hotel. He was taken to the American Hospital in Neuilly, a Paris suburb, where it was first said that he had liver cancer. Reports circulated, however, that he had AIDS and had gone to Paris for treatment, and a few days later, a spokesman confirmed them.
Acquaintances often described Mr. Hudson as being homosexual but the actor never publicly commented or acknowledged the reports.
An Outpouring of Concern
Mr. Hudson was flown back from Paris at the end of July to Los Angeles, where his acknowledgement of his illness prompted an outpouring of concern for him and for other victims of the disease.
For more than a decade, the name Rock Hudson was synonymous with masculine good looks. Blessed with a broad-shouldered, 6-foot-4 physique, dark, brooding eyes and a sonorous voice, Mr. Hudson was an enormously popular screen presence. In a career that included 62 movies, he twice was voted the nation's top box-office draw.
Yet he did not begin to win broad respect for his skills as an actor until he played an imperious Texas rancher in ''Giant'' (1956), a role that earned him an Academy Award nomination, and a series of romantic comedies in which he was paired with Doris Day.
Critics Pleasantly Surprised
In the first of those comedies, ''Pillow Talk'' (1959), Mr. Hudson began to poke fun at the hysteria his looks provoked. The catalyst for the plot is a telephone party line where Miss Day overhears Mr. Hudson pitching the same corny lines to a variety of cooing girls.
Critics voiced pleasant surprise at his deft performance. Then after ''Lover Come Back'' (1962), which featured Mr. Hudson as a rake who disguises his identity to trick Miss Day, and ''Send Me No Flowers'' (1964), where he plays a hypochondriac convinced he is dying, the critics deepened their respect for his comedic talent.
More recently, Mr. Hudson starred on television in two series, ''McMillan & Wife'' and ''The Devlin Connection,'' and he had a recurring role on ''Dynasty.'' The production of ''The Devlin Connection'' was interrupted in 1981 when Mr. Hudson underwent heart surgery and five heart bypasses.
Reportedly Reclusive as a Boy
Rock Hudson was named Roy Scherer Jr. when he was born in Winnetka, Ill., on Nov. 17, 1925. During the Depression, his father lost his job as an automobile mechanic and left the family. His mother, a telephone operator, remarried, and the actor, then 8 years old, took the surname of his stepfather, Wallace Fitzgerald. His mother's second marriage ended after nine years.
The reportedly rather reclusive boy took odd jobs to help support the family and tried out for school plays, but could not hold parts because he could not remember lines. That failing dogged him in his early years in Hollywood, where he took 38 repetitions to say correctly the line: ''Pretty soon you're going to have to get a bigger blackboard.''
In 1944, he joined the Navy and served in the Philippines as an airplane mechanic. After his discharge in 1946, he worked as a piano mover, then moved to Los Angeles to live with his father, who had remarried.
After doing poorly as a vacuum cleaner salesman in his father's appliance store, he took a job as a truck driver. Desirous of lining up work as an actor, he bought a tan gabardine suit and started parking his truck outside a film studio's gates, waiting to be discovered.
Name Changed by Agent
Henry Willson, a talent scout for Selznik Studio, liked photographs the actor had sent him and took him under his wing in 1947. One of the first things he did was change the actor's name from Roy Fitzgerald to Rock Hudson. Years later, the actor confided to an interviewer that he hated the name.
The director Raoul Walsh put Mr. Hudson under contract and gave him acting lessons, but a year later sold Mr. Hudson's contract to Universal-International Pictures. The studio paid Mr. Hudson $125 a week and gave him small roles in 28 pictures.
His career did not really take off until the film ''Magnificent Obsession'' (1954), where he appeared opposite Jane Wyman as a playboy who causes Miss Wyman's blindness and then becomes a surgeon to cure her.
That role was followed by a few lackluster films, but ''Giant,'' the story of how the growth of oil in Texas unhinged the feudalistic culture of the ranch barons, catapulted him into the ranks of the top stars. The 3-hour-17-minute film, based on a novel by Edna Ferber, was directed by George Stevens and also starred Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean.
Other Films Cited
To take advantage of Mr. Hudson's popularity, the studio released an earlier film called ''Something of Value'' (1957), in which Mr. Hudson played a white settler in a Kenya torn by the Mau Mau uprisings. He went on to play Lieut. Frederick Henry in ''A Farewell to Arms'' (1958), based on Ernest Hemingway's novel of World War I.
His other films included ''Written on the Wind'' (1956), ''Twilight for the Gods'' (1959), ''Come September'' (1961), ''The Spiral Road'' (1962) ''Ice Station Zebra'' (1968), and ''Darlin'
Lili'' (1969)
In 1955, he married Phyllis Gates, who had been the secretary of his agent, Mr. Willson. The marriage ended in divorce three years later.
On Sept. 19 many well-known entertainers joined in a special performance to help raise money to find a cure for AIDS, and although Mr. Hudson, who bought $10,000 worth of tickets, was reported too ill to attend, he did send a telegram. It said in part:
''I am not happy that I am sick. I am not happy that I have AIDS. But if that is helping others, I can at least know that my own misfortune has had some positive worth.''
There are no known immediate survivors.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Ronald Lee "Ron" Wyden (born May 3, 1949) is the senior U.S. Senator for Oregon, serving since 1996, and a member of the Democratic Party. He previously served in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1996.
Wyden was born Ronald Lee Wyden in Wichita, Kansas, the son of Edith (née Rosenow) and Peter H. Wyden (1923-1998), both of whom were Jewish and had fled Nazi Germany a few years earlier. Wyden grew up in Palo Alto, California, where he was a basketball star for Palo Alto High School. He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara on a basketball scholarship, and later transferred to Stanford University, where he received his B.A. in 1971. He received a J.D. degree from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1974.
While teaching gerontology at several Oregon universities, Wyden founded the Oregon chapter of the Gray Panthers; he led that organization from 1974 to 1980. Wyden is also the former director of the Oregon Legal Services Center for Elderly, a nonprofit law service.


text:
|July 2008
|OKLAHOMA'S�eGOV NEWS REPORT
Welcome to Oklahoma's eGovernment News Report providing you with up-to-date information on Oklahoma's eGovernment achievements.
Online Reporting System Aims to Collect Agency's Suspected Fraud and Abuse Claims to Better Internal Operations
Oklahoma citizens, state employees, and state vendors can now report allegations of fraud, waste, or mismanagement of the Department of Central Services' (DCS) programs or funds by any person, agency, state employer or supplier utilizing a new online reporting system.
"This new online reporting system is going to help streamline our processes, not only in the auditing department, but in the whole of DCS," said John Richard, Director of the Department of Central Services. "The more feedback we get from individuals the better we can improve the service we deliver to Oklahoma."
Typical questions or allegations that can be reported through this new reporting system may include generic service complaints, misuse of state property or funds by an employee, complaints for which no grievance can be filed, allegations of fraud, waste, mismanagement of DCS programs or funds, or misconduct and failure to follow established DCS procedures. The DCS Systems of Integrity and Accountability committee will process the complaints, conduct appropriate inquiries, reviews or audits, and make recommendations for action or referral to appropriate state officials. Actions will emphasize program improvements necessary to achieve DCS core values of service, integrity and quality.
Visit the DCS Suspected Fraud and Abuse Reporting Web Site
State Encourages Chiropractors to Renew Online
Online Renewals are Secure, Convenient, and Reduce Paper Consumption
Renewing licenses is often a cumbersome paper intensive process and in its second year of online license renewals, the Oklahoma Board of Chiropractic Examiners (OBCE) reminds chiropractors that renewing online saves time, money, and consumption of paper. In fact, more than 300 sheets of paper, 300 envelopes, and 300 stamps have been saved in the first year of service, and saving the board $4,000 and 120 employee hours through the use of online renewals.�
"Instead of having our Chiropractic professionals mail in their renewal forms, we take pride in providing them with the option of renewing online," said Beth Carter, Executive Director of OBCE. "We would like to encourage all Chiropractic professionals to renew online, because it is easy, secure, and fast."�
The online renewal service enables licensees to pay online with Visa, MasterCard and electronic check payments utilizing OK.gov's secure payment engine. Upon completing the renewal process and approval from the board, licensees can print their certificates, thus reducing mailing and printing costs for the state.
Access the Chiropractor Online Renewal Service
As National Preparedness Month Approaches, Government Web Sites Provide Preparedness Tips
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced this month that more than 1,200 national, regional, state and local businesses and organizations have pledged their support and joined the 2008 National Preparedness Month Coalition. Sponsored by the department's Ready Campaign, National Preparedness Month helps to raise awareness and promote action by Americans, businesses, and communities on emergency preparedness.
"As we approach our fifth National Preparedness Month, I want to thank the hundreds of coalition members who are making a difference in their communities by helping raise the basic level of preparedness in our country," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "Individual preparedness is the cornerstone of emergency preparedness. Experience shows that if Americans take steps ahead of time, they stand a much better chance of coming through an emergency unharmed and recovering more quickly."
The Ready Campaign, the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security and Citizen Corps are specifically encouraging individuals across the nation to take important preparedness steps. These steps include: getting an emergency supply kit, making a family emergency plan, being informed about the different emergencies that may affect them, as well as taking the necessary steps to get trained and become engaged in community preparedness and response efforts.
National Preparedness Month Coalition members have agreed to distribute emergency preparedness information and sponsor activities across the country that will promote emergency preparedness. Membership is open to all public and private sector organizations.�
Register to become a National Preparedness Month Coalition Member
Visit �Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security's Ready Oklahoma Web Site�
What's Inside
Oklahoma Department of Libraries
- Susan C. McVey, State Librarian
Will Rogers Memorial Commission
- Steve Gragert, Executive Director�
How Do I Find Comprehensive Statewide Election Coverage of this Year's Primary and General Elections?
��Visit OETA's Oklahoma Votes 2008 Web Site�
How Do I Save on Energy Costs During the Heat of Summer?
�Visit OERB's Summer Savings Web Site��
Monday, September 1
Oklahoma State Art Collection at the State Capitol
Ancestor Fair at the Oklahoma History Center
Share Your eGov Story
Have an Oklahoma eGovernment story to tell? Want to give us feedback?
About OK.gov
OK.gov built and manages the official Web site for the state of Oklahoma and partners with state agencies to bring new government services online. OK.gov is managed by the Oklahoma Office of State Finance and eGovernment firm NIC Inc.
4234 North Santa Fe | Oklahoma City, OK 73118
405.524.3468 or Toll Free at 1.800.955.3468


text:
Welcome to the Hollywood Screenplay Contest
As one of the world's most visible and recognized screenplay competitions, our aim, quite simply, is to discover and recognize the brightest new talent and original voices in film and television storytelling from around the world. We identify emerging talent and place top new screenwriters firmly on the industry's radar directly in the heart of the motion picture capital of the world.
Winners and finalists in several competition categories receive prizes and benefits including cash and exclusive packages from our industry leading partners, and priceless introductions and meetings with some of Hollywood's top production companies and talent agencies. Over $45,000 in prizes, and services will be awarded to this year's winning screenwriters and finalists alone.
Additionally, the Hollywood Screenplay contest offers all applicants the unique opportunity to order a copy of their project's Official Score Report and Judge Commentary. This professional feedback can be an invaluable tool for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of a script or writing style.
Hollywood is certainly one tough nut to crack, but if you've got the skills, we'll get you the recognition you deserve. From there, where your story goes is up to you.
Entries are currently underway! Click here to submit your script today!


text:
The first Whitewater Symposium was held on October 3-5, 2003 at Zoar Outdoor on the Deerfield River in Charlemont, Massachusetts. It was a great first success and brought together key players from all aspects of the whitewater spectrum including freestyle, river running, racing, rescue and rodeo. In all, there were about 75 attendees and presenters participating.
From October 23-25, 2004, the second annual Symposium was hosted by the Nantahala Outdoor Center in Bryson City, North Carolina. There were over 70 attendees, including many of the country's top instructors, club leaders, retailers, manufacturers, kayak schools and paddlesport organizations.
The 2005 Symposium took place in Glenwood Springs, Colorado from October 8-10, using the Glenwood Canyon Resort (Rock Gardens Rafting) as a base of operations. Attendance grew to almost 100 participants, noting that the first Whitewater Courses and Parks Conference was also held in Glenwood Springs just before the Symposium and there were a number of people who attended both.
Lotus, California was the site of the fourth Symposium, hosted by Current Adventures on October 14-16, 2006. While the total range of attendees reached just over 75, the number of industry leaders and top presenters remained significant, in keeping with previous Symposiums.
The fifth Symposium was hosted by the Adventure Sports Center International at their freshly constructed mountain-top recirculating whitewater course on October 19-22, 2007.


text:
Money 4 My Tech
Recently added item(s) ×
You have no items in your shopping basket.
View as
Items 1 to 12 of 100 total
Sell Now
The best place to trade in your phone, tablet, or laptop. We pay very competitively so you can be assured of a good deal!


text:
This black and white photo challenge from Cee is Walls – Inside or Outside
Here is an Inside
This is outside
This black and white photo challenge from Cee is Walls – Inside or Outside
Here is an Inside
This is outside
age is just a (biggish) number
Taking the camera for a walk!!!
Capturing the beauty of God's creation through the lens of a camera
Expressing Thought Through Photography
Reflections on Life through poetry, essays and photos
a painter´s attempt to conquer the great white canvas
Wits End Photography
Creative Exploration in Words and Pictures
Dil se Dil tak...
To participate in the Ragtag Daily Prompt, create a Pingback to your post, or copy and paste the link to your post into the comments. And while you're there, why not check out some of the other posts too!
Flash Fiction, Poetry, and Short Stories
Mostly photographs with some words by this arty scientist...
Rural doctor, mom, writes poems, dance, sing.
Lifestyle, Travel, Traditional Art and Community
Your second chance to be creative. .
Life's ups and downs, a personal journey
Aroused by Arête
Suffering from limited internet access? Low data limits for high cost? Slow speeds? Data used up suddenly? Join BIRRR's action group!
Framing Life


text:
YAPC::NA 2012 in Madison, Wisconsin is just six weeks away. With this years conference upon us, it is time to plan for 2013. The call for venue is officially open! The TPF Conference Committee will be accepting bids today through June 1st 2012.
What is YAPC::NA?
YAPC::NA is an annual Perl-focused conference held at various locations throughout North America. The conference is a grassroots symposia on the Perl programming language promoted by The Perl Foundation.
What is the "Call for Venue"?
Each year Perl Mongers groups bid to host the conference for the upcoming year in the location of their choosing. The "Call for Venue" is The Perl Foundation's official invitation for groups to send in their bids.
How do you submit a bid?
The best place to start researching is the bidding details page at yapc.org. While there, you'll find links to the venue requirements and the review criteria. You can do a little more research and peek at previous bids by searching the 'yapc' tag at The Perl Foundation blog.
Also, feel free to post your questions to this blog post or email tpf-conferences (at) perl (dot) org. If you know a previous organizer, it might not be a bad idea to chat with he or she to get some advice and see if you are ready to host a conference.
If you think you'd like to submit a bid this year, let us know that you plan on getting one together by emailing tpf-conferences (at) perl (dot) org so that we know that there might be a bid coming and so that we can help you get the bid together by the deadline.
After your done and have your bid together, just email it to tpf-conferences (at) perl (dot) org. Remember, the deadline is June 1st 2012.


text:
We've all heard about federal government technology project disasters. Many of these disasters are caused by ill-defined and constantly changing requirements, a lack of a solid understanding of who the end customer is, a contracting culture that at times incentivizes performers to bill hours rather than create a solution, and lots of cases of mission creep. The response has been to insert new levels of accountability and new processes. In many cases these steps have simply added additional costs without really solving the core issue. However, there is hope. We are entering a new era where at least three trends will lower costs and improve the quality of the solutions for the government: software solutions are unbundling; new platforms are lowering costs; and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Open Source Software (OSS) and the communities that form around them are initiating an era of continuous improvement.
- Solution Unbundling: Traditionally software and the infrastructure needed to support it were expensive. In response, buyers wanted to concentrate their costs to achieve maximum savings. That meant buying enterprise-wide software that encompassed multiple functions. Unfortunately, the more features and functionality you pack into a product, the lower your chances are of maximizing each one. So you had to take some mediocre and bad to get the good. For custom products, this feature packing often caused the entire project to collapse under its own weight.
- Low Cost Platforms: We've all hear about the cloud and know some of the key players like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and others. These platforms allow small players to quickly scale solutions as users increase without building out their own infrastructure. These services are greatly reducing the costs of developing new solutions and allowing developers to pay for only what they need.
- APIs, OSS, and Communities: APIs allow others to build on the solution you develop. APIs can create a community of developers around a platform who are continuously extending the reach of the core product. When you include open source software in the mix, you also have a community upgrading the core product as well, and the cost is low or zero.
When you combine these trends you have a new ecosystem that allows organizations to focus on discrete needs and then experiment and iterate solutions at a low cost. You don't need to buy the full service that you find out doesn't really meet the need only after you've already bought and installed it. While this ecosystem is increasingly the norm in the private sector, the federal government still has barriers it must overcome: security, procurement, and a general fear of failure no matter how small or how much you learn from it.
Despite these issues, these trends are not going away. They are already taking hold in many agencies and can only grow. Creating a culture of experimentation based on these tools and trends is key to improving the way our government functions and to revolutionizing government IT.


text:
Main Event Entertainment Is Here!
Main Event Entertainment, a facility that will feature bowling, billiards, Laser Tag, a Game Room with virtual games, dining, bars, and a new ropes course called GRAVITY, will be opening at the new Katy Ranch Crossing multi-use development located at I-10 and Katy Mills Mall Outlet in late 2012.
It will provide a premier "Eat, Bowl, Play" experience for the area. Charlie Keegan, CEO of Main Event Entertainment states, "We have been trying to get to Katy for some time. Katy is a perfect match for Main Event, and we are thrilled to be opening our next location in this vibrant, growing community."
This will be Main Event's eleventh location. It has already been voted "Best Party Place" and "Best Indoor Play" in Austin, and "Best Place to Bowl" in Dallas.


text:
Amazon Family provides Prime members a 20% discount on diapers when ordered with Subscribe & Save.
Need a last minute gift? Can't get out of the house? Realize you forgot to pick up something? With FREE Two-Day Shipping from Amazon Prime, your shopping problems are solved. You get unlimited deliveries with no minimum order size, and with millions of eligible items, the options are practically limitless. From big to small, A to Z, home to office, and everywhere in between, satisfying that shopping itch or need is just two days away.
Your Prime membership gives you exclusive access to watch Amazon Originals including The Grand Tour and award winners The Man in the High Castle, Mozart in the Jungle and Transparent. Enjoy instant streaming on Amazon's global video service, PrimeVideo.com. Watch on your computer or on the go with the Prime Video app, and download select titles to your iPhone, iPad, or Android device. The site and app are currently in English, with multi-language dubbing or subtitles available.
Prime Music gives you unlimited, ad-free access to over a million songs, hundreds of playlists and stations, and exclusive albums. Now you can listen to the music you love and find new music that fits your taste. Included with Prime membership at no additional cost.
Get free game loot like characters, vehicles, skins, and boosts for top games on Twitch, plus surprises like full indie games and other exclusives. You also receive a free monthly Twitch channel subscription to support your favourite streamer.
From their first steps to the first day of school, Prime Photos keeps your cherished memories safe in Amazon Drive and accessible anywhere you are. It's like having a virtual album of every one of your photos that you can access at any time, no matter which device you use.
You can now be among the first to decide what's hot and what's not. Get access to Lightning Deals on Amazon.ca 30 minutes before other customers can access these deals.
Prime eligible items are clearly marked. Just look for the Prime logo when you shop.


text:
IMF Survey Vol.34, No.8 May 2005
- What's On
- At a glance: IMF Financial Data
- In the news: Bernes named to head IMF's Independent Evaluation Office
- Book notes: How flat is the world?
- Research: Why is South Africa's capital inflows mix different?
- Technical assistance: Creating a beacon of stability in Bosnia
- Outreach: Timor-Leste and Cambodia: In search of growth and prosperity
- Forum: HIV/AIDS: Money, bottlenecks, and the future
- IMF lending: HIPC debt relief (status as of April 21, 2005)
- Forum: "If not now, when?"
Research: Why is South Africa's capital inflows mix different?
- International Monetary Fund. External Relations Dept.
- Published Date:
- May 2005
Show Summary Details
You are not logged in and do not have access to this content. Please login or, to subscribe to IMF eLibrary, please click here