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Afghan Kills 3 International Troops
Gunman Wore Uniform in Apparent Insider Attack
KABUL—A man wearing an Afghan uniform opened fire on coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan Saturday, killing three service members in an apparent insider attack, coalition officials said.
Further details on the circumstances of the attack weren't immediately available. Afghan and coalition officials are investigating the incident, the International Security Assistance Force said in a statement.
If confirmed, this would be the eighth such case in which an Afghan soldier or policeman turned a weapon on coalition allies this year. The most recent incident took place in Kandahar in July, when an Afghan soldier shot and killed a Slovak soldier before defecting to the Taliban.
So-called "green-on-blue" attacks became a major crisis for the international coalition last year. At least 61 coalition troops were killed in 48 separate attacks, undermining trust between Afghan and coalition troops and adding to the unpopularity of the 12-year war.
"It's absolutely devastating because you break that bond of trust," a senior coalition official said in a recent interview before Saturday's attack.
In response to last year's wave of attacks, the coalition and its Afghan allies introduced tighter security measures, sharply curbing the number of insider attacks. Members of the coalition who work closely with Afghan troops are now accompanied by armed "guardian angels," and new Afghan recruits are closely scrutinized to reduce the chances of Taliban infiltration.
Joint patrols between Afghan and coalition forces are also much less common, further reducing the potential for green-on-blue attacks.
"We are constantly refining our approach to reduce the potential for insider threats to coalition and ANSF [Afghan national security force] personnel," said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Will Griffin.
The Taliban often exploit such incidents for propaganda purposes.
"We have always given a hero welcome to these young fighters," said Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in a message released earlier this summer.
Write to Margherita Stancati at firstname.lastname@example.com


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6 Historical Events Happening More Recently Than You Think
We define our historical eras, naturally, by things that we associate with them. We started making tools in the Bronze Age, the plague was in the Dark Ages, we strapped dogs and monkeys to rockets in the Space Age, and for a brief time in the '90s people wore shirts that changed color when they sweat.
But not everything is so cut and dried; sometimes things that you only thought existed in the black and white world were still around until just a few years ago. For instance ...
#6. The (Original) VW Bug Was Still Being Produced Until 2003
First of all, we're not talking about the redesigned VW Beetle that Volkswagen introduced in 1998. We're talking about the original rear-engine Beetle, the car that symbolized the 1960s in the way the Model T symbolized the early 1900s. The "love bug" was contractually obligated to be featured in every film, TV show, book, play, dramatic reading, poetry slam and conversation held from 1967 to 1972.
Via Weheartit.com
The peace and love is so thick, it's sticky.
You don't see the classic Beetle around much nowadays, with the exception of those ancient collector cars carefully maintained by people who literally have rebuilt them with a mixture of gum, tinfoil and marijuana residue.
But Actually ...
Or, they could have just bought one from the factory as recently as 2003. That's the last year that Volkswagen produced the classic Beetle -- and yes, we mean the trunk-under-the-hood, 1960s-style Herbie version that we all know and love.
Via Netcarshow.com
The 2003 Volkswagen Beetle. Really.
Via Netcarshow.com
See? It has a CD player and everything!
From the 1930s to 1978, Volkswagen spit out car after car from its factory before deciding, decades before America made it popular, to move the Beetle factories to Mexico. But production didn't stop -- from 1978 until 2003, the Mexican plants continued flooding the market with the bubble-shaped cars that sold for around $6,000. On July 30, 2003, the last ever Beetle to be made rolled off the factory line.
Via BBC
Finally phased out because the windshield decorations made them unsafe to drive.
Who the hell was buying these things? Well, while the U.S. pressed forward with that pricey "New Beetle" in the late '90s, Volkswagen found that the rest of the world preferred things old school. Primarily used as taxis in Mexico, regulations requiring four-door cabs finally did them in. Without that, it's possible that production would have continued. Not bad for a car dreamed up by Hitler.
#5. Ships Were Still Using Morse Code Until 1999
Back when the fastest way to get a message to somebody was tying it to a trained bird, the invention of the telegraph had to have seemed like a goddamned miracle. Sure, it couldn't transmit your voice, but you could instantly send a signal by hitting a little lever, so it was almost as good, as long as the person at the other end knew what your lever presses meant. That's where Morse code came in, a language of "dots" and "dashes" (short and long presses on the lever) established in the 1840s that would tell the recipient you had something to say, and that it wasn't just a dog chewing on the machine.
It was also a lifesaver for ships, as they quickly adopted a wireless system that let them send out the now-famous "SOS" emergency message, beckoning help by tapping out those three letters over and over again on their telegraph. Primitive, yes. But a hell of a lot better than, say, blowing into a conch shell in hopes Aquaman would rescue you.
As if that drunk would get off his ass long enough to help anything without fins.
Of course, radio came along a short time after that, and then phones, then satellite communications, etc. Nobody has heard that series of "SOS" beeps since, what, the Titanic era?
But Actually ...
That's almost right -- if you're referring to the movie. Morse code was still the standard ship distress call until they phased it out in 1999.
"Told you so."
In an era when cellphones were slowly taking over and email had replaced the postal service, ships were still yelling at each other over a long monotone string of dots and dashes. Until, finally, the International Convention for Ships Under Distress, who possibly have the most specific purpose for a convention ever, finally decided to stop using Morse code and upgrade to satellites and high-frequency radio.
Some stations continued to monitor Morse transmissions for a few months after the change-over. Finally, people started saying goodbye in Morse by trying to see how poetic they could get with their last messages on the old system. Among the last was the French Coast Guard's "Calling all. This is our last cry before our eternal silence" and Landsend Radios' last message, "But now the time has come, ours is not to reason why, the satellites are calling, our Morse transmissions die."
"P.S. I just wanted you to love me, dad."
Today, Morse has been replaced by the GMDSS, or Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, which, by the way, leaves Antarctica and the North Pole totally uncovered, so have fun if your ship sinks around those areas. But still, after 170 years of service, it was probably about time for Morse to go.
#4. The U.S. Military Still Fought on Horseback in 2001
You have to feel sorry for whatever poor bastard in World War I first rode into battle on horseback against brand new tanks on the other side. We're pretty sure that guy's last words, before he was squished under tank treads, were, "That's cheating!"
Keep in mind, a horse-mounted cavalry was the way to win a war for centuries before that moment -- a bunch of guys on horses versus a bunch of dudes on foot wasn't much more fair than tank vs. horse. But once that technology came along around 1915, horses were doomed to be relegated to places far away from the action, like in parades and under Canadian cops.
"All social unrest can be solved by jousting."
But Actually ...
That last cavalry charge by U.S. troops happened in, wait for it, 2001.
In the invasion of Afghanistan, U.S. Special Forces were sent in to locate and fight alongside Afghani Northern Alliance soldiers, who shared the Americans' desire to get rid of the Taliban government. The troops weren't on horseback as some sort of dare or cruel punishment from their superiors. And it wasn't because the U.S. military forgot to pay their tank bill.
Due to a typo, we accidentally built 200,000 of them out of cake.
It has to do with the "Special" in "Special Forces" -- the entire point of those troops is that they wage "unconventional" warfare, which means improvising and adapting on the fly. In this case, they needed to blend in with the locals who, due to their culture and a need to traverse terrain that featured steep, two-foot-wide mountain paths, still got around the old-fashioned way.
Via Daily Voice
"Haha! Am I high?"
By the way, the American troops had no training on horses whatsoever -- only one of them had even been on horseback before. The U.S. command, like the rest of us, kind of thought the horse fad had passed. But this was Afghanistan, a place where time stands still, and thus in the Battle of Mazari Sharif, about 300 Northern Alliance soldiers and U.S. Special Forces, armed with M-16s, AK-47s and RPGs, saddled up and attacked Taliban defensive lines armed with freaking tanks. And won. Decisively.
Via History.army.mil
"Haha! My Jeep poops!"
But, of course, after the invasion, horses were once again relegated to ... wait, what's that? In Russia, the Cossacks still retain actual cavalry regiments ready for combat at a moment's notice? And have been used as recently as the 2008 South Ossetia War?

subset: commoncrawl


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Okay so I have read over the Website before coming here and found the Setting, Tools Tutorials Page for Canon.
I have ordered my Nodal Ninja 4 with the R-D16 II Rotator.
While I am eagerly awaiting for it to arrive I thought i would do some research, on the above website page it gives a bunch of camera types but does not list my setup so please help me.
What would my setup be with a Canon 500D and a Sigma 10-20 Wide angle lens? I look forward to seeing your replies and your help.


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As I was watching Biggest Loser last night, I saw stories of abuse and discrimination toward people who were overweight! The thing that struck me was it seems many people find discrimination toward those who are overweight to be ok! Now perhaps I am little more sensative than most because I too have endured the same type of discrimination, but the show last night showed that someones's outward appearance isn't what makes them an beautiful person, it's what is on the inside! My hope is that we all learn NOT TO JUDGE, at times, we all are guilty, but in Christ, there is no room for such behavior.
I found a quote of what True Beauty is all about!
"There is only one kind of beauty that can transcend time, and many women possess it. It is, of course, beauty of the spirit that lights the eyes and transforms even a plain woman into a beautiful one. Women with wit, charm, and warmth, who are interested in others and forget themselves, and who accept each stage of life gracefully, are the lasting beauties of this World--and the happiest."
Toys R Us has released the list of toys that they predict will be top sellers this Christmas. Got us thinking...what toy did you REALLY want as a kid?! Did you get it? Share your story here!
Now Playing: Good Good Father
Artist: Chris Tomlin
On-Air: Morgan Wood
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This is a classic trick to do with a IR camera:
Bu why is the plastic bag transparent, while the glasses aren't? I've also heard that water is not transparent in IR light. What causes this phenomena?
This is a classic trick to do with a IR camera:
Bu why is the plastic bag transparent, while the glasses aren't? I've also heard that water is not transparent in IR light. What causes this phenomena?
the physical reason why this is happening is that absorption of a medium is frequency dependent.
Mathematical description
The most prominent example of a natural description might be the Lambert-Beer law that states that the change of a quantity $q$, $dq/dx$ is related to its value at $x$ multiplied by a scalar factor $\lambda$, which might depend on some further parameters like the frequency $\nu$, $$\frac{dq}{dx} = -\lambda(\nu) q$$
which has the solution $$q(x) = q_0 e^{-\lambda(\nu) x}\, .$$
For our scenario, $x$ might be the distance a light ray already traveled into the plastic bag, $x\in[0,D_{bag}]$. In optics, one often uses the extinction coefficient $n''(\nu)$, the imaginary part of the index of refraction or the absorbance $A_\lambda$ giving the same information for $\Delta x=\lambda$ (to clearify: $\lambda$ here is the wavelength, not the parameter above).
Electromagnetic case - penetration depth
Let us look directly at electrodynamics and how the Lambert-Beer law can be applied here.
We know that the absolute of the wave vector in a medium described by the (frequency dependent) refractive index $n(\omega) = n'(\omega) + \mathrm{i}n''(\omega)$ is given by $$k = \sqrt{n'(\omega) + \mathrm{i}n''(\omega)}\frac{\omega}{c}\, .$$
If now $n' \gg n'' $ (which is true far away for resonances), we can expand it as $$k = \sqrt{n'}\left(1 + \frac{\mathrm{i}}{2} \frac{n''}{n'} +\mathcal{O}\left(\frac{n''}{n'}\right)^2 \right)\frac{\omega}{c}\, .$$
Then, for a field $$\mathbf{E} \sim \mathbf{E_0} e^{\mathrm{i}{\mathbf{k\cdot r}-\omega t}}$$
we find that $$\frac{|\mathbf{E}|}{|\mathbf{E_0}|} \leq \frac{1}{e}$$
after a penetration depth of $$d_p \approx 2 \frac{\sqrt{n'}}{n''}\frac{c}{\omega}\, .$$
This quantity can be seen as a characteristic propagation length.
Light absorption of a plastic bag
Since plastic bags are often made of polyethylene, we have to search for the spectral properties of it in the visible and infrared range to be able to answer the question. A quick search revealed that in Optical Properties of Polyethylene: Measurement and Applications on page four $n''(\nu)$ is given depending on the frequency in terms of eV (visible light ranges roughly in 1.5 - 3 eV, IR is energetically lower).
With an $n''\leq 10^{-5}$ as may be interpreted from the figure given in the paper, we can calculate $$d_p \approx 6\mathrm{cm}$$
if I did not miscalculate totally. So, we have to state that polyethylene cannot be accounted for the absorption alone as stated by gigacyan and Georg - other absorbing effects need to be considered (In the given case we can only speculate that it maybe was doping with carbon which causes the bag to appear black). These effects will result in a change of $n(\omega)$ including its imaginary part, hence resulting in a changed penetration depth.
But this discussion is beyond the scope of this answer - one would have to calculate the electronic band structure of the material which is not an easy task of solid-state physics.
Nevertheless, I hope my explanations are sufficient to explain makroskopic absorption phenomena including the one considered here.
I am not a specialist in thermal vision so I will just answer your last question: what causes these phenomena?
Electromagnetic radiation (e.g. visible light) propagates through matter by polarizing it. Oscillating electromagnetic field polarizes molecule that, in turn, begins to emit electromagnetic radiation, and this cycle continues until the light comes from the other side.
Except, often it doesn't. If the frequency of the field is close to a resonant frequency of the molecule, the photon can be absorbed and its energy will be converted to heat. These resonances can be of different nature: absorption in the visible range is caused by electrons whereas nuclear motion is resonant with lower frequencies in the IR range. These resonances are individual and can be used for identifying molecules by measuring light absorption versus wavelength (it's called Spectrophotometry).
Update: In case of conductors like metals or, in this case, black carbon, free electrons are resonant to any frequency and these materials can observe light of any wavelength. However, as Georg pointed out, particles of carbon black are much smaller than the wavelength of thermal IR (10 $\mu$m) and this could be the reason of small absorption efficiency.


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NEW ORLEANS – Prior to opening its outdoor slate at Wingate's Tri-Meet on Saturday, the Anderson University women's track and field team remained steady at No. 7 in the Southeast Region in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Indoor poll.
For the first time this season, the top eight teams in the poll remained the same, with fellow South Atlantic Conference member Queens remaining at the top of the rankings for the third consecutive week.
Conference Carolinas' member Mount Olive stayed in the second spot, with Wingate in third. Clayton State remained fourth this week, while King and Limestone were fifth and sixth, respectively, just ahead of the Trojans. Mars Hill remained eighth, while Limestone made an appearance at ninth after moving up two spots. Belmont Abbey dropped one notch to 10th, with Barton falling out of the top-10.


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Would you join me in wishing Pemberducky a Happy BIrthday
Rumors say that today (June 6th) is Ms. Pemberducky's birthday, and she's worried about it.
I just wanted to let her know that she looks wonderful and we all love her.
33 Answers answer
Happy birthday, Ms. Pemberducky.
I'd wear my "The cake is a liar" shirt today in honor of your "cake day", but as luck would have it, I wore it yesterday. Happy birthday!
happy birthday Pemberducky!
@rprebel: we promise not to whisper about you, just wear it again! :)
happy birthday pemberducky!
i heard you like Rihanna so i'll sing some Rihanna birthday-type songs for you today
Happy Birthday!
@w00tgurl: I spent most of the afternoon working outside, and it was almost 100 degrees. If I wear that shirt again before washing it, I'll be funkier than George Clinton and the P Funk All Stars.
Happy BD to you, Happy BD to you, Happy BD dear sweet cheeks, HB to YOU!
Have a wonderful day, Mrs. PemberDucky! I'm glad you were born; the world is better w/you in it.
Hippo Birdie Two Ewe
Happy Birthday! It just gets better.
happy birthday! Pemberducky
Happy birthday! May it be filled with cash, prizes and deals!
hip hip hoooray!!!
Happy Birthday pemberducky! May your day be full of sunshine and happiness!
And presents, everyone loves presents! :)
May all your pembers be ducky, happy birthday!
Happy Birthday Ducky!
I will chime in as long as there is no singing.
Happy Birthday, and I love you.
Happy birthday, of course.
@balalahumphrey: Why would anyone recommend that ugly thing? I think you are a ROBOT And happy Birthday to the DUCK!
Happy Birthday Pemberducky!
no i refuse
Happy Birthday Pemberducky. Word around Woot! is you still look fantastic. And being the jealous and bitter woman that I am you know I will have to now make a catty remark to make myself feel better...
whispers I heard she's had work done.
Happy Birthday @pemberducky !
jeez, you guyez are too kind. i must express my gratitude for your indulging me during this little neurotic crisis of mine.
it's a timing thing.
thank you and, yes, i love you, deals.woot.
in fact, hey, if you guys aren't busy, maybe we could get together sometime? have some drinks? see some art? remove our pants?
no? too forward?
man, i am so bad at this.
@pemberducky: Oh, my GOSH! We are kindred spirits! I love having drinks while viewing art pantless. If I lived anywhere near you I would SO be there!
@pemberducky: That sounds like last Tuesday!! We need to PARTY!!!
@pemberducky: @abitterwoman: count me in! where do i leave these pants?
@w00tgurl: I guess just leave your pants at the door!


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Originally Posted by CNN
If you've ever hung up your own shingle on the Web, you've probably gotten an e-mail to this effect at some point: "Dear So-and-so, I believe your site and mine could benefit from exchanging links."
We probably get eight to 10 a week in the CNET News general mailbox, mostly from technology-related companies but occasionally from auto-parts suppliers and watch retailers who either have no idea what we do or few moral qualms about spam.
The idea is that if you can coax a link out of a large site like CNET, Google and other search engines will record that link as a vote of confidence in your site's worthiness and improve your ranking in searches for certain topics, thereby boosting traffic to your site. The technique is quite old, dating back even before Google and its PageRank system emerged as the Web's dominant search engine.


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Every recipe I have tried the bread turns very hard within an hour of baking, and I'd like something I could eat over the course of a couple days (breakfast toast and such). The 100% whole wheat bread from the store lasts two weeks - how do they do it?
Industrial breads use 'dough conditioners' that soften the dough and make working with it easier. You can buy such mixes online, here for instance, and I've seen them for sale in natural food stores and the like. Other things that might work are adding a starch or a fat, or heat treating some of your flour in the microwave (a minute for a cup, don't do this to all the flour, it destroys some of the gluten). Guar gum or xanthan gum will help to keep things moist as well.
I've never used these techniques, so some experimentation might be necessary. Store bread in plastic bags as soon as it cools, and don't slice right away.
They do it via liberal use of sugar, mainly, as well as a host of industrial techniques that are simply not replicable in the home kitchen. Bear in mind that such breads are made for longevity and not flavour.
If your bread is going that hard an hour after baking, you may well be overcooking it.
Most bread is made from wheat and / or barley flour. A "hard" flour contains more wheat.
The higher the proportion of wheat flour, the better it tastes (especially the crust) but the poorer its keeping qualities.
Commercial bread that keeps for a long time has more barley flour. In addition, some bakeries add a little vinegar to the dough after proving, which also makes the bread keep longer.
Another trick is to add more fat. I have been told that harder fats (butter, lard) are better this way, but I normally use olive or rape oil. (About 5% or flour weight.) It impedes the rise a little bit, but not too bad. (I think it interferes with the gluten formation, but I'm not 100% sure how.)
They use ground up bird feathers to make bread stay fresh for longer


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I was using Thunderbird on 12.04 and upgraded to 12.10 with the option that keeps my current data 3 days ago. When I entered Thunderbird, it asked for account data, but all of the email from the previous version and all the rules I had defined are gone. But my other files like documents and photos are there.
Is there a way I can recover my old email?


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To the editor:
Next week (May 6-12), the Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center, part of VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System honors the dedicated men and women we in the Department of Veterans Affairs consider to be the compassionate backbone of the Veterans' health care system – nurses.
The theme of National Nurses Week 2013 is "Nurses: Delivering Quality & Innovation in Patient Care," and no one puts more passion into the health care profession than VA nurses. VA is the nation's largest single employer of nurses and VA nurses lead their profession in education and training, clinical responsibility and research. But their passion comes from VA's mission – caring for Veterans.
VA nurses are integral and equal members of our health care team of professionals.
No health care professional is closer to the Veterans we care for than a VA nurse. Veterans and families rely on them for their compassion and the VA relies on them for setting the highest clinical care standards. That reliance is well placed. VA's recognition as a leader in health care, patient safety and research is due in large part to nurses.
I am deeply proud to be associated with the nurses who serve Veterans at the VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System and of all of our nation's 3.1 million registered nurses who work tirelessly to keep us well and save lives around the clock every day.
Location, ST | website.com


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I need to install Ubuntu 10.04 on a new Asus Windows 8 laptop (s300). I need to do this for a development project which required that specific version.
I have successfully been able to install 12.10 from a USB stick. But if I try the same process using 10.04 it the machine ignores the USB stick even when I am explicitly booting from it and goes straight to booting Windows.
I think it has something to do with EFI / UEFI on newer machines, since any installation guides demand 12.10 as a pre-requisite for EFI systems.
I am not fluent in Linux or Windows 8 and I am stuck.
Is it in anyway possible to accomplish this or am I out of luck?
Any help / advice would be hugely appreciated.
Thanks in advance.


text:
SAULT STE. MARIE — In a move designed to turn the tide on the rising wave of red ink, the Eastern Upper Peninsula Transportation Authority Board of Directors unanimously approved increases for ferry travel to Drummond, Neebish and Sugar Island on Monday.
The increases, given the lag time for printing new frequent user tickets, could come as early as two weeks.
"As soon as the tickets can be printed we should put this into effect," said Chairman Frank Sasso.
Drummond Island cash fares for a car and driver will increase by $2 for a round-trip ticket jumping from $12 to $14. Those utilizing the 20 frequent user ticket booklets will see their purchase price go from $88 to $100, as the cost will go from $4.40 to $5 per trip.
A ride to Neebish Island will increase by $1 for a car and driver from $11 to $12. The 20-trip rate will increase from the current $86 — amounting to $4.30 per trip — to $94 or $4.70 for the service.
Sugar island will see a $2 increase for a car and driver paying cash going from $10 for a round-trip ticket to $12. The 20-trip booklets will include an $8 price hike from $64 to $72 with the rates on these fares jumping from $3.20 to $3.60.
"We've gone back and tried to fix it so things were proportional," said Sasso of the necessary changes made to the approved fare hikes since last week's public hearing. "We found out how much money we had to raise and plugged it back in."
Location, ST | website.com


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Conference rooms and offices
Business facilities, including Internet access, telephones, newspapers, magazines and video stations with updated stock exchange figures are available at Club SEA lounges. Club SEA membership is required for the use of these lounges (tel: (02) 7485 2841/2432). Airlines also provide executive lounges in Domestic and International Departures. There is a business centre situated on the ground floor.


text:
For Eye Care Professionals
Boston Brand Lens Cases are specially designed lens case for gas permeable (GP) contact lenses for use during GP lens disinfection, protein removal, and storage.
For safe and healthy gas permeable lens wear, replace GP lens case monthly.
To purchase Bausch + Lomb products online, visit:


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Archbishop Nienstedt under investigation. (UPDATED)
Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis is being investigated for "multiple allegations" of inappropriate sexual conduct with seminarians, priests, and other men, according to the archbishop's former top canon lawyer, Jennifer Haselberger. The investigation is being conducted by a law firm hired by the archdiocese. Nienstedt denies the allegations.
The investigation was spurred by information the archdiocese received late last year, according to another person with knowledge of the investigation. (This inquiry is not related to a December 2013 accusation that Nienstedt touched a boy's buttocks during a confirmation photo shoot. The archbishop denied that allegation, and, following an investigation, the county prosecutor did not bring charges. Reportedly the case has been reopened.) Near the end of the year, it came to light that a former Twin Cities priest had accused Nienstedt of making unwanted sexual advances.
The archbishop agreed to hire an outside law firm to investigate the accusation. By early 2014, the archdiocese had selected the top-ranked Minneapolis firm of Greene Espel. Nienstedt, along with auxiliary bishops Lee Piché and Andrew Cozzens, flew to Washington, D.C., to inform the apostolic nuncio of the allegations. Over the course of the investigation, lawyers have interviewed current and former associates and employees of Nienstedt—including Haselberger, who resigned in protest in April 2013.
"Based on my interview with Greene Espel—as well as conversations with other interviewees—I believe that the investigators have received about ten sworn statements alleging sexual impropriety on the part of the archbishop dating from his time as a priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit, as Bishop of New Ulm, and while coadjutor and archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis," Haselberger told me. What's more, "he also stands accused of retaliating against those who refused his advances or otherwise questioned his conduct."
The allegations are nothing more than a "personal attack against me due to my unwavering stance on issues consistent with church teaching, such as opposition to so-called same-sex marriage," Nienstedt said in a written statement. He also suspects that accusers are coming forward because of "difficult decisions" he has made, but, citing privacy laws, he would not elaborate.
"I have never engaged in sexual misconduct and certainly have not made any sexual advances toward anyone," Nienstedt told me. "The allegations are a decade old or more, prior to my service as archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis," he continued, emphasizing that "none of the allegations involve minors or illegal or criminal behavior." The "only accusation," Nienstedt explained, is of "improper touching (of the person's neck)," and was made by a former priest.
The archbishop has been under intense scrutiny since September 2013, when Haselberger went public with damning accounts of the way the archdiocese had dealt with clerics accused of sexual misconduct. One of those priests was Curtis Wehmeyer, a man with a history of inappropriate sexual behavior who was nevertheless promoted by Nienstedt to become pastor of two parishes. Wehmeyer went on to molest children at one of those parishes. One of the questions investigators have been asking is whether the archbishop had an unprofessional relationship with Wehmeyer.
"Fr. Curtis Wehmeyer was an archdiocesan priest and I was his archbishop," Nienstedt said. He characterized his relationship with Wehmeyer as "professional" and "pastoral," and explained that it preceded his "learning of [Wehmeyer's] sexual abuse of minors."
Nienstedt was named an auxiliary bishop of Detroit in 1996, and became bishop of New Ulm, Minnesota, in 2001. Just six years later he was appointed coadjutor of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He was installed as archbishop in 2008. Before long, Nienstedt had established one of the signature issues of his episcopate: homosexuality. His statements on that issue add controversy to the investigation of his own behavior.
"Those who actively encourage or promote homosexual acts…formally cooperate in a grave evil and, if they do so knowingly and willingly, are guilty of mortal sin," Nienstedt wrote late in 2007. That echoed a column he wrote the year before—while bishop of New Ulm—cautioning Catholics against watching Brokeback Mountain, a film about two married cowboys who fall for one another. He wondered whether Hollywood knew just how dangerous their "agenda" was: "Surely they must be aware that they have turned their backs on God and the standards of God in their quest to make evil look so attractive."
Before the 2010 midterm elections, Nienstedt turned his attention to the burgeoning gay-marriage movement. He recorded an introduction on a DVD opposing gay marriage, which was sent to four hundred thousand Minnesota Catholics. The same year a Catholic mother wrote to him pleading for acceptance for her gay son. He recommended she consult the Catechism. "Your eternal salvation may well depend upon a conversation [sic] of heart on this topic," he replied. And in 2012, Nienstedt led a coalition of religious leaders pushing for an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Reportedly, Nienstedt committed $650,000 to those efforts. The amendment failed.
But by the fall of 2013, Nienstedt's focus would be pulled away from gay marriage to an issue of greater urgency: the sexual abuse of children by priests. In September of last year, Minnesota Public Radio reported that the archdiocese was aware of Fr. Curtis Wehmeyer's history of misconduct when Nienstedt promoted him to pastor. He refused to inform the parish staff of Wehmeyer's troubling past. The cleric eventually molested the children of a parish employee.
As MPR and other news outlets continued coverage of that and related stories, Archbishop Nienstedt announced a task force that would review "any and all issues" related to clergy misconduct. Its fifty-three page report—released April 14—criticized the archdiocese for "serious shortcomings," but did not mention the investigation of Nienstedt. That's because the task force "was established to review the archdiocesan policies on clergy misconduct toward minors," Nienstedt said. By the time Greene Espel learned about the task force, the group had "disbanded," having completed its report, according to Bishop Piché. "Nevertheless," he continued, "a call from an archdiocesan official promptly was made to a former member of the task force." The task force has stated that it will not speak publicly about its report. [Update: MPR reports that the chair of the task force "said she knew nothing about the investigation."] *
Around the time the task force published its report, Greene Espel attorneys phoned Haselberger to set up a meeting, but she was skeptical. "There is no precedent in the church for an investigation of this kind," she told me. Since she resigned last year, "the archdiocese has been distinctly hostile toward me." That "caused me to wonder if this was some sort of trick." Her skepticism diminished when she met with the lawyers days later. They produced a January 31 letter from Nienstedt to auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché authorizing him to oversee an investigation, Haselberger said, along with an e-mail naming another priest to act as a liaison between the archdiocese and the investigators.
"I did this for the benefit of the archdiocese," Nienstedt explained, because "I knew it would be unfair to ignore the allegations simply because I knew them to be false." And that's what he would have done if he learned of similar allegations against any priest, the archbishop said.
Haselberger informed Greene Espel attorneys of a letter she'd seen from Wehmeyer to Nienstedt thanking the archbishop for a recent dinner. She also told investigators that the archbishop had asked for assistance in arranging for him to visit Wehmeyer in the inpatient sex-offender treatment program where he was residing before sentencing. At the time he had not met with Wehmeyer's victims or their family, according to Haselberger. The archbishop denied that he sought such assistance, and said he never visited Wehmeyer in prison or at any treatment facility.
Greene Espel lawyers wanted to know whether Nienstedt asked to visit any other detained priests. Two other priests had been in jail while Nienstedt was in St. Paul. They had both been released by January of 2013, when Nienstedt wanted to visit Wehmeyer. "To my knowledge," Haselberger replied, "he never visited them or expressed any desire to do so." As far as she could recall, Nienstedt struck up a friendship with Wehmeyer "after I warned him about Wehmeyer's history in 2009." Nienstedt said that the two had a "professional, pastoral relationship" before he learned that Wehmeyer had abused children.
Haselberger asked the Green Espel attorneys what the firm planned to do with the information it was gathering. "They said that their task was to investigate, and that they would be providing a report to the archdiocese," she said. Once the report is complete, Nienstedt told me, it will be given to the pope's ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who will presumably inform the pope about its contents.
"I pray that the truth would come out as a result of the investigation," Nienstedt said.
* This paragraph has been corrected. The original version included a comment from Nienstedt erroneously claiming that Greene Espel had advised the archdiocese not to inform the task force of the investigation of the archbishop.
Update: Archbishop Nienstedt released this statement after my story was published. Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché also released a statement.
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Riveting. Appreciate your work Grant. Paradoxically, the Archbishop makes history by authorizing an outside investigation into his own behavior. The positive is that this sets a precedent, unless there is another case, where the head of a diocese is investigated by ecclesiastical permission.
Reminiscent of Cardinal O'Brien.
I can't help but wonder whether the Archbishop is actually hoping that the investigative group will find and reveal the truth -- truth that he himself has repressed. Yes, he's reminscent of Cardinal O'Brien. Tragic.
Self-hating, psychosexually immature, deeply closeted gay men tend to be the most homophobic of public figures.
On one hand I feel deeply sorry for him. On the other, I viscerally am shouting: "Yes, yes. Get the SOB."
All corruption of power in the church hierarchy needs to get stopped. The full truth needs to be exposed in order for children to be protected today.
Sadly the sex abuse and cover up within the church is still going on to this day. Cardinals and bishops are still not removing accused predator clergy, and they are still not reporting to law enforcement. Their so called "zero tolerance" policy is not being followed by the bishops who created it. They don't have to, because there is no punishment to force the bishops to change their ways. Until many of these bishops are demoted, disciplined, and held accountable for their crimes of enabling child predators nothing has changed. It is still business as usual.
Sex abuse thrives in secrecy and secret systems that allow it to continue to this day.
Silence is not an option anymore, it only hurts, and by speaking up there is a chance for healing, exposing the truth, and therefore protecting others
Judy Jones, SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
I am wondering if, in the statment attributed to Archbishop Nienstedt, "Your eternal salvation may well depend on a conversation of heart . . . ," the word "conversion" is meant instead of "conversation."
While "unwanted sexual advances" towards other adults may make him unfit to be a bishop, its not a crime. If these unwanted advances involved force or coercion, that would be different (and I imagine, then it would be a crime). But is the claim, basically, that he hit on people? I think most of us have been the recipient of those kinds of "advances" at different times, I don't know -if that;s all there is- that it makes sense to lump it in with sexual abusers.
Facebook: Question any action by anyLBGTQ and you are a bigot, hateful person.
Make any unproven allegation against a member of the Catholic clergy- Gotta be true-say no more!
-Only on Facebook.
While "unwanted sexual advances" towards other adults may make him unfit to be a bishop, its not a crime.
Unless the other adults are working under his authority and he risks retaliating against them if they reject his advances. Like, for example, a professor and one of his non-minor students.
A widespread lament here in Minnesota: How long, O Lord?
You must have discovered the " Da-Vinci Code"!
The allegations will stop when the million dollar settlements stop.
First announce that there will be no cash reward. After that the investigation may start to have some credibility.
This was all so predictable and oh so very pathetic. Archbishop Nienstedt is a strong Bishop who came into the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and started cleaning up the parishes, especially those which had gone too long with rogue and unfaithful priests.
He built up the Seminary which is overflowing with dedicated young men. He is a holy and strong leader. He had the nerve though to go against the large LBGT community in Minnesota and the secular soulless elite with the campaign against the false premise of gay marriage. That was the reason why he is being attacked non stop. This is how the enemy works
The false accusation by the young man of being groped while having a group picture taken didn't work for the LGBT community so they have now found another way to attack. I am sure they have plenty of men who are willing to come forward and lie to further their attack against the Archbishop. The problem is that they always try to attack in the media first because they know they can create havoc and unrest and suspicion in those who are not solid in their faith and in the end, when, their lies are exposed, the media is nowhere to be found.
Everyone has to live with what they do and will be judged in the end by a higher power, the Lord God. As the Lord said to Saul, Why are you persecuting me? When you attack His followers, you attack Him. I will pray that the Lord will bring this evil to an early end and that those involved in it, will be able to see themselves as the Lord sees them.
Sexual harrassment in the "workplace" is a crime ... http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment.cfm
Deb and Pat,
That's pretty much Phil Donahue's line before (and even after) the magnitude of the coverups of sexual abuse became public. We should reserve judgement until the investigation provides us with evidence on which to base our judgements. Asserting that this is an evil plot is a good way to protect the guilty.
Ms. Brunsberg - please save us from your propoganda.
Archdiocese - has roughly 400 priests for 850,000 catholics; 25% of these priests are religious. Average age is well over 60 years old.
Nienstedt ordained six men this year; ten last year which was the largest class since 2005 (before Neinstedt's time). Half those ordained are older candidates - more than 35 years old.
He built up the seminary - really? The stats indicate that this is an embellishment that isn't convincing. Next year - he hopes to have 8 students in 3rd theology, 8 in 2nd theology, and 11 in 1st theology. If anything, appears to be an expensive use of archdiocesan money to maintain a theology seminary when you barely have 25 students residing there?
As Neinstedt's antics become more and more publicized, let's see what the long term impact is on both the seminary numbers and the archdiocese. Even if all of these students were ordained, it would not keep up with those dying and retiring and leaving.
On anothe rnote - you reference the *false* allegation of the young man - it appears that the case has now been re-opemed. Wouldn't be too quick to jump to the use of the term *false* - yes, it is still an allegation but we don't know enough in terms of whether it is false or not.
Finally, your homophobia is showing in your comment.
Pat and Deb --
You talk as though Archbishop Nienstedt has given no evidence of being an enabler of homosexual behavior, when in fact he clearly enabled Fr. Wehmeyer to engage in child abuse by appointing pastor not once but twice after Wehmeyer had been credibly accused of abuse. These appointments clearly put him on the side of the abuser.
Apparenly there really is such a thing as repression -- the refusal of the unconscious to allow socially unacceptable feelings into consciousness. But repression does not excuse his enabling -- his conscious self knows that it is wrong. Time you recognized that fact for the sake of the children. If you care about him, you'll pray for him, not make excuses in the face of clear evidence of wrongdoing.
Kind of like all those lies they told about Marciel Maciel of the Legionnaires of Christ, right?
Oh...wait...they were true.
10 allegations? I can understand 1 being a fake but how many allegation of multiple contacts have been fake.
Keep up with the paranoia about the gay community. It's served you folks well in the past up until the time the truth came out.
Jim McC. --
Do you know how the psychiatrists explain such repression and consequent misbehavior? On the surface such a theory does seem totally counter-intuitive, but apparently it is quite real. Poor man.
Bill deH. --
Those clergy figurers sound like the boast by an English order several years ago that its convent population had increased by 20% in just the last two years. When someone checked out the figures they found something like this: instead of the of 4 novices of the previous year, the novice population went up to 5. Vatican statistics.
The Archdiocese of St Paul has both an undergraduate and a graduate seminary. I do not know the enrollment of either, but do know that the undergraduate institution at least, and possibly the graduate one as well, enrolls students from all over the country. This helps explain a large enrollment, but does not answer the question about how many students are studying for the Archdiocese itself.
I believe the situation is where someone splits off behavior or views they cannot face consciously and therefore reject. Denial can be very powerful. It's actually the perfect cover.
But how often have we seen the outspoken opponent actually trying to convince him or herself when the reality is otherwise? The unconscious exposes the lie.
Yes, may the truth be known.
Thank you, Bill, for your comments to Pat and Deb. Their ignorance about survivors is encyclopedic.
Yes, Archbishop showed strength in his fight against same sex 'marriage', and now the gay mob will not stop until they have him, but he's strong and will continue to fight the good fight.
Michael - only cited the graduate seminary, St. Paul's. The divinity school is actually part of St. Thomas University and trains both clerical and lay students. So, was focusing just on the seminary (obviously, the divinity school as part of St. Thomas is very large)......the college has more but that is meaningless at this point in time. There is a substantial and significant drop out rate from undergraduate to diaconate. But, your point is correct - the seminary houses both undergraduate and graduate and could find one example of other diocesan students - reference to 26 Theology I students (11 of these are from the archdiocese).
If it accepts students from other dioceses, then that might mitigate the operating expenses but it doesn't change the fact that the archdiocesan vocation picture is still not as robust as the original commenter tried to pass off.
Ann - psychiatrists do explain the alleged Nienstedt behaviors and Jim McCrea did a good job of summarizing it - self-hatred that is so deep and has become so ingrained that a permanent defensive posture is taken that attacks all homosexuals in order to over-compensate for his own homosexuality which he has denied, shoved down, etc. Eventually, the denial mechanisms no longer work and you begin to see acting out behaviors. These may be sporadic - momentary loss of control before the self-loathing hatred expressed in total control re-exerts itself.
Eventually, you can reach a point in which the core identity is questionned - so, it can be much more than just immature psycho-sexual development.
Pat and Deb, it's exactly such an unsympathetic attitude toward sex-crimes survivors that keeps them from coming forward.
Bill deH. --
Thanks. It just seems to be totally irrational -- to think that loathing others will somehow cure one's self-hatred. But Freud never said the unconscious is rational, quite the contrary. And that's why I do feel sorry for anyone with such a problem.
Maybe if people talked more openly about this particular possibility the bishops who suffer from the problem, as well as others, might not hate themselves so much. But then we'd have to wonder what's going on in our own unconscious selves, and we don't want to do that either.
Exactly, Angela. The summary judgment is survivors are just money-grubbers. To walk with a survivor for years through the diocesan legal meatgrinder, while dealing with the mendacity of bishops, is sadtly beyond their understanding.
Shouldn't Pope Francis order Archishop Nienstedt to suspend his ministry and not wear clerical garb during the investigation?
William, that error is in the original. I've added "sic" to the quote.
Pat Mallory:
You wrote,
First announce that there will be no cash reward. After that the investigation may start to have some credibility.
Are you saying there should never be cash awards? If so, why do you think that? And if you do think that, do you believe that any form of compensation should be given in cases in which sexual abuse has been established? If so, what forms of compensation?
The Archbishop did not show strength. He exposed weakness. He gave legislators proof about the actual voters in their districts felt about marriage equality.
So, Grant, not trying to be cynical here but in reading Nienstedt's response to these reports, he appears to state that any allegations about criminal behaviors are false.
Does this mean that it is possible that other allegations about behaviors with adults may not be false? Could one imagine that he is splitting hairs with this public statement?
And what if some of the allegations come from priests serving in his archdiocese or former diocese? Under most legal statutes, this would be considered a form of sexual harassment and criminal activity?
Sorry, but the infamous Bill Clinton's statement about *is* continues to echo in my mind.
Ann Olivier,
We have a tendency to try to make our lives balance out on some scale. The closeted homophobe will see what he calls a moment of weakness as something that is relatively minor compared to all the supposed good he is doing by pushing society against the gays.
The Archbishop's position was widely known; he was incredibly brave. What other catholic clergy in recent days has shown this kind of courage? Half of the voters, or nearly half voted for the state constitution to be amended to be only between one man and one woman. He spoke for a huge segment of society, actually, and not just for those in Minnesota.
One wonders what Hazelberger's position on this must be.
Missy - try to at least spell her name correctly.
And your conspiracy theory holds no water - there is no connection between Nienstedt's ridiuclous gay marriage stance and what she knows about the cover ups in the chancery and by the bishop.
If you want to talk about *bravery* - why don't you review her actions and life; that she resigned based upon principle (not ideology) in an effort to protect the children and their families in the church.
Your allegation is snarky; if not, slanderous.
I suspect that her position is that we should treat allegations of abuse seriously rather than automatically demonizing people who might be victims of sexual abuse as greedy and part of some grand conspiracy.
Ann: what Bill deH said @ 10:42 closely replicates the experience I have had. If a man (I can't speak for lesbians/women) is either so fearful of being discovered to be gay or so self-loathing about the idea, he will usually project that fear/self-loathing on to others who he views to be what he is but doesn't want to be. He will also, if he is a public figure, do all he can to divert any attention from himself, quite often by directing negative criticism of those who he can use as pre-emptive scapegoats.
Fear and/or self-loathing are terrible conditions that can not only damage the individual but people around him, either unintentionally or, in many cases, intentionally. "Lord, I am not like those other people."
My apologies for misspelling her name.
But I suggest you review the spelling of 'ridiculous' considering especially the content of your post.
I did not dispute that the disgusting actions of the gay priests. They should have been made public, and Archbishop did not do his job there, no doubt. The pope should come down hard on all of these men, but fails to do so.
But, this doesn't mean that her own ideas about what marriage should be did not come into play regarding this Archbishop and his actions with adult men. Whether what she says about his actions, the Archbishop's, is true or not, they are not crimes and her publicly discussing them serves only one side of the argument.
Jim McC. --
Thank you. Interesting, isn't it, that the Vatican and some American bishops direct their nastiness at homosexual men in the seminaries and at priests, but they never seem to bother about lesbian nuns. In other words, the issue for them is really gay priests -- and that is consistent with the psychological diagnosis that their motives are simply their own deep psychological problems. If the problem were really homosexuality as such they would also try to eliminate lesbian nuns. So very, very sad.
So, Missy, let me get this straight. Even if the allegations against Neindstadt do turn out to be true, we shouldn't discuss them because doing so "serves only one side of the argument" about same-sex marriage?
Right now, the allegations about this bishop are still unproven. However, since there are apparently quite a few allegations, one might suspect fire because of the amount of smoke. We can't really judge the man right now because we don't yet know what is needed to know to come to a judgment.
That said, a couple of questions for you -
Missy, does the "gay mob" you refer to include gay bishops? Gay priests?
Are you able to differentiate between homosexuality and pedophilia?
Are you aware of how the term "gay mob" comes across? How it conveys a strong and unchristian scent of homophobia and seems to deny the church's teaching that all must respect the dignity of gay people?
Are bishops part of the "gay mob" except when they oppose civil marriage for gays?
You say there is no "criminal behavior" - which is pretty much the same thing the bishop himself said - is this an attempt to mislead? If someone is intimidated by a superior, they often can be forced into a relationship they don't want. Is it not the same for clerics? Is it not against the law for a bishop to use his position of authority over seminarians and priests to sexually harrass them? It is not yet known if Nienstedt is guilty of that, but, many bishops have had to step down from office because of their gay relationships (consensual and non) with seminarians and priests.
Cardinal O'Brien of Scotland was a loud and vocal opponent of civil gay marriage in Britain, sometimes resorting to insulting and very extreme language (madness, grotesque, etc). As senior prelate in Scotland, he also prevented an audit into the sexual abuse of children by priests (pedophiles) from going forward. Eventually the priests whom he had sexually harrassed summoned up enough courage to speak out. The current case and the O'Brien case have many similarities, with both prelates failing to take action on the sexual abuse of children, as well as both opposing gay marriage in the civil sector in terms that could only be called "unchristian".
Finally, there is the issue of hypocrisy. It is very clear that O'Brien was hypocritical - not only in violating his vows, but in condemning all gay sexual relationships while engaging in them. We already know that Nienstedt protected a priest-pedophile, but we do not yet know if Nienstedt also broke his vows and broke them while abusing his authority as bishop.
What will be your response if this investigation proves the allegations are true?
You seem to believe that this bishop was "courageous" in opposing gay marriage, but, normally, defending the status quo takes little courage. The courage is shown by those who are no longer willing to accept a status quo that involves injustice under the laws of the country. Many African Americans showed great courage when they finally decided to oppose the status quo - to oppose the laws and those who supported laws that denied them equal rights under the law. The bishops are fighting civil laws - nobody is suggesting changing the laws of the various religious groups who believe that matrimony, as a religious solemnification of marriage, is reserved to opposite sex couples only.
What courage is found in opposing civil rights for minorities? What courage is found in trying to impose one's own religious beliefs in the civil sector on those who do not share them?
Drop the stones at least until the investigation has run its course.
Well, let me see. How about this? Let's begin by discussing all of YOUR non-illegal actions, publicly.
The Archbishop has made mistakes no doubt. But that didn't stop him from defending marriage the way God intended it to be. He showed courage.
Now, if he had tried to drag fellow priests kicking and screaming into a marriage contract of some kind with him, this would be different.
All homosexual activity is a sin, and he knows that.
Wait. Are you actually claiming that traditional marriage is the status quo?!! hahaha
There seems a palpable hatred of LGBT people in Missy's comments. It's because of stuff like this that the church should be *against* discrimination instead of trying to justify it (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-18/obamas-anti-gay-discrimi...)
Faulty logic. And not true.
The palpable hatred is what you have for our beloved Catholic church, and its true teachings about homosexuality.
The "true teaching" of the church about homosexuality is a combination of a misinterpretation of scripture and a misplaced evotion to Aquinas' view of Arssitotle. It's not an intriniscally Christian view, as many other Christian denominations have dumped that "true teaching".
evotion = devotion
I agree with Bill about his parsing. He stated that none of the allegations involve minors and none criminal behaviour. He is probably correct but there is a raft of messy civil cases that can come forward that can prove to be embarrassing. 10 sworn affidavits already! I would be sweating if I were him and certainly not coming out swinging. Hubris.
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
I've been in a few homes that have, or had, a reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" hanging on the dining-room wall. I can't help wondering how many gay-hating "good Christians" sit down to eat under a masterpiece painted by a gay man.
And even perhaps with one or two gay men represented in the painting.
"Right now, the allegations about this bishop are still unproven. However, since there are apparently quite a few allegations, one might suspect fire because of the amount of smoke. We can't really judge the man right now because we don't yet know what is needed to know to come to a judgment."
Strange how you whisk away Matthew 7:1-5.
"It is very clear that O'Brien was hypocritical - not only in violating his vows, but in condemning all gay sexual relationships while engaging in them."
First, secular clergy do not take vows. Second, you could claim on the same basis that all Catholics who are in conflict with the letter of church sex ethics are hypocrites. Third, O'Brien was against gay marriage but he did not condemn gay relationships in concreto, but had the usual pastoral outlook of understanding accommodation. Fourth, you do not know what the state of his conscience was about the gay relationships he had.
Jim McCrea, when you write: "On one hand I feel deeply sorry for him. On the other, I viscerally am shouting: "Yes, yes. Get the SOB."" you give credence to those who talk of the "gay mob".
"You talk as though Archbishop Nienstedt has given no evidence of being an enabler of homosexual behavior, when in fact he clearly enabled Fr. Wehmeyer to engage in child abuse by appointing pastor not once but twice after Wehmeyer had been credibly accused of abuse. These appointments clearly put him on the side of the abuser."
Ann Olivier, it is very hurtful to gay folk to have "homosexual behavior" amalgamated with "child abuse" as you do here, I hope not deliberately. Also, diocesan officials know of Wehmeyer's interested in 19 year old boys, viz "homosexual behavior". That is what your are referring to when you say the bishop know that Wehmeyer was "credibly accused of abuse". You write in such a way as to suggest that the bishop knew that Wehmeyer was known to be credibly accused of child abuse, a very different thing.
" Interesting, isn't it, that the Vatican and some American bishops direct their nastiness at homosexual men in the seminaries and at priests, but they never seem to bother about lesbian nuns. In other words, the issue for them is really gay priests -- and that is consistent with the psychological diagnosis that their motives are simply their own deep psychological problems. If the problem were really homosexuality as such they would also try to eliminate lesbian nuns."
I never heard anyone complain that they could not stay in a convent because of a prevailing lesbian atmosphere, and I never heard that lesbian sisters are sexually active to a high degree. The Vatican have presumably not heard such complaints either. The women in Irish Magdalene Laundries were never sexually abused by the sisters, perhaps an indication that sisters are sexually more sober and respectful than male clerics.
"The irony is most sweet and I for one hope that Nienstedt ends up being exposed for exactly what he condemns in others. The hypocrisy of the man would be shown to be complete. Note how Nienstedt defends himself by saying that the allegations did not involve minors. Isn't that just special!"
This is Michael-in-Norfolk in "gay mob" mode.
He continues: "I hope the allegations prove true. About the only thing that could make the situation more delicious would be to learn that among those with whom Nienstedt had relationships are Ken Cuccinelli and Rick Santorum, two other tortured, self-loathing closeted gays."
This is where Commonweal and the NCR seem to hang out these days.
Fr. O'Leary: re: your comment of July 3rd, 4:37 am (your most recent as I compose this comment): I didn't see the comment here from which you quote - the one referencing Ken Cuccinelli and Rick Santorum? From what are you quoting?
Ah yes, JOL to the rescue. The endless posts now from the underground gay clerical ranks to protect one of their own. Are we furiously circling the wagons?
Let's just let this play out rather than be subjected to your endless Lancan fivorlities and ridiculousnesses?
Why don't you pay attention to what his former second in command said and did - Laird resigned and told Nienstedt to do the same. Read his deposition-it might slow your rantings.
Maybe everyone should take the high road and stop the innuendo, against Niendstedt, Haselberger, those individuals who have accused Nienstedt, the so-called GLBT "community" (as if we are not part of their "community" or they are not part of ours), and those who have the effrontery to ask for compensation for having been the object of abuse. One and all.
Also, sexual harassment of employees is not criminal (assuming it didn't involve an actual criminal assault).
And the problem I have with the idea of repressed homosexuality giving rise to especially virulent gay bashing is that for every example I can think of, I can also think of especially virulent gay bashing by indisputably straight people. Like, say, some of the comments in this thread.
Barbara - thank you!
JOL: to me, there is nothing more despicable than a Roman Catholic churchman who wraps himself in disgusting (self-)righteousness and does all he can do to repress the LGBT communities (we are not a homogeneous group but as many and varied as heterosexuals), all the while he himself is guilty of acting out his sexual repression on those over whom he has some form of power or control. I am quite happy when one of these men is revealed for the hypocrite that he is.
I put these men on a plane even lower than politicians who are guilty of the same because politicians (usually) claim no moral status for themselves nor their pontifications or actions, nor rely on their organization that makes a point of bolstering this claim.
If that makes me a member of the "gay mob," so be it.
...indisputably straight people.
From time to time, intrepid explorers return from remote areas of the world with reports that straight people exist, but there is no scientific consensus about them. And at this level of discourse, nothing is beyond dispute.
I always learn something from Barbara's comments, and I admire her habits of thought: prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude.
The quote I gave above is from : http://michael-in-norfolk.blogspot.jp/2014/07/karma-bites-back-homophobi...
Generally, I like Michael's postings -- he is a friend of Andrew Sullivan (who seems to be more cautious on his issue).
Let's all reread Matthew 7:1-5.
checking, this is what Sullivan has: http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2014/07/01/an-archbishop-heightens-the-co...(The+Dish)
He does seem to jump the gun as well, but possibly less ardently given his huge blooper over the Tuam Babies story.
John Prior: True. Nothing is certain or beyond dispute. One is always working with probabilities.
P.S. John, if you approach this from the side of GLBT identity (especially the "T"), I think you understand what I mean -- there is nothing more infuriating than having other people seek to define you from their own perspective and values. That is the ecosystem which generates a belief in the possibility of "converting" gay men and women to heterosexuals.
Although I do understand that a person is more likely to "pretend" to be something they are not when society considers the assumed status to be normative, nonetheless, trying to define someone else is not a less suspect undertaking just because the object of the undertaking self-identifies as being part of a majority.
...there is nothing more infuriating than having other people seek to define you from their own perspective and values.
And nothing more confusing, either. Because the next day, if the rhetorical occasion calls for it, they will declare themselves sinners hopelessly astray and in need of redemption. Yet still utterly sure of their prescriptions for other people's lives.
Maybe it's just a matter of having too much time on one's hands. If you have renounced sexual expression in all its forms and chosen a life of celibacy, you will have the leisure to work out "natural law," bind life tightly in syllogisms, and make everything tidy and clear.
Nature scoffs and life moves on. But real people suffer needlessly.
John Prior, for all you or I know, the bishop may really be trying to honor a commitment to celibate continence. He is mocked for that as if it were impossible. He may have all sorts of problems and may have made foolish, ambiguous gestures or simply been misinterpreted -- as could happen to anyone. People seem to be in a huge rush to convict him of hypocrisy, perhaps fearing that be the time the investigation is complete the story will have paled and will not offer the same juicy red meat for venting rage. All very typical of American society today.
I confess that when I wrote that second paragraph. I was scarcely thinking of John Nienstedt or of difficulties in maintaining celibacy. I had Thomas Aquinas more in mind, and all the long train of experts down to the present day who are sure they can discern God's will for others as well as for themselves without getting up from their chairs and going out to examine his masterwork in any detail. The world as it actually exists confounds such assurance. It seems to me.
As for Nienstedt, I am in no rush to convict him of hypocrisy. I would be content never to have heard of him. But I think that something is lost when any bishop becomes the center of attention in his see.
Barbara: > "One is always working with probabilities."
Decision-making in the real world almost always means working with partial infornation, including information that has unknown accuracy and ranging precision. In these circumstances, it is useful to use the mathematics of stochastic processes (including "personal probabiltes" for some problems) to help guide good decisons. This may be true even when a "true" condition exists. If summoned to a jury, I must reach a decision under uncertainty, and so I will use me sort of "probabilitie" as guides.
I took your initial point to be that we Commonweal readers hoave no pending decision, judgment is not called for. [Which also is one non-theological way of reading Mark, too.] The Nuncio will reach a decision, peraps the Pope, too. If we were members of the Diocese of Minneapolis, we might have other decisions to make. Right now, I do not.
But others may make a condiional proposition: If the is true, then I am justified to feel ...
Mark L
John Prior, I don't disagree with you. And especially -- the focus on the person (here, Nienstedt) obliterates true discussion -- whether these allegations are true or whether they are false does not resolve anything or help people who are suffering needlessly, as you say. I think people want these allegations to be true because they want to show that the emperor has no clothes so definitively that it must shift the paradigm of the discussion. As you also say, it might shitf the paradigm, but probalby only back to the "we are all sinners in need of redemption," rather than, maybe we need to recognize the natural order has more dimensions than we want to admit. This is why I no longer grace the Catholic Church with my presence, I just can't stand this endless, closed loop.
Obviously, we have to wait and see what plays out - the firm hired by the church to investigate the church - sounds suspiciously like the church appointing Whitt to "oversee" and limit data, on the supposedly independent council earlier in the year. As far as the allegations go, first off, I personally don't want this to cloud the child abuse crisis that's apparently ongoing - two consenting adults... I have a small issue with the supervisor/ underling relationship, but not really.
I do find it beyond ironic though if it turns out to be true, after his hate-filled rage toward homosexuals, and their parents. And often, where there's smoke, there's a guy sitting on the edge of the bed, or in an easy chair, smoking a cigarette, with a relaxed look on his face......
Reading Jennifer Haselberger's testimony, what a courageous woman, what a nightmare she was exposed to. http://www.andersonadvocates.com/Posts/News-or-Event/1855/Affidavit-of-Jennifer-Haselberger.aspx
It's going to take a long time to heal.
One ought to begin an examination of the problem of "sexuality and the priesthood" with the understanding that the Church's rule of celibacy contradicts the prctice ofJesus who according to tradition called eleven married men (and one unmarried -- John) to be the Apostles from whom all ordained receive their authority. The Orthodox Churches allow a married clergy and their decent from the Apostles is as valid as that of the Bishop of Rome. The Church's teachings condemning masturbation as a mortal sin; the Church's demand that every conjugal act have procreation as its primary goal; the Church's condemning al sexual relations outside of marriage -- These are all denials of the person as an embodied being, and therefore they are "disordered teachings." With this understanding I believe that:
If a priest or Bishop has mature sexual relations with another freely consenting human being, male or female, I find no fault and hope that the experience of his own humanity would make him compassionate toward others suffering from the "disorded" Church teachings on homosexuality and on sex outside of marriage..
If a priest or Bishop uses his position of authority to coerce another under his supervision into a sexual relationship, this is a grievous offense against justice and mercy.
If a priest or Bishop lets another know that he is sexually interested but respects the other's rejection and does nothing to harm the other's interests, this is in the nature of sexuality and there is no fault.
If a priest or Bishop enters into a freely consenting sexual relationship with another and in return allows the other to commit acts of injustice like preying on young children this is a grievous offense against justice and mercy.
Please forgive the spelling and grammar errors. I didn't review the wording.


text:
I'm playing Portal 2 with my girlfriend, and she gets motion sick. We found out a console option to reduce the field of view, which drastically reduces her sickness (cl_fov_75). However, this option is not persisted, so if we forget to input the command she'll get sick again. Is there any command in the Portal 2 console to make this persistant (either with another command, or by modifying some kind of ini file)?
It's not recommended to modify config.cfg, since it can easily be overwritten by the game. The proper file to write your scripts and commands is autoexec.cfg which should be located in the same folder ([steam location]\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2\cfg). If it's not there - create it. This file is executed automaticly when you load a map.
should solve your problem.
In your Steam folder for the game, there's a folder inside the "portal2" folder called "cfg" (I think the default C:\Program Files\Steam[usernamehere]\Portal 2\portal2\cfg) inside that folder there's a file called "config.cfg".
In that file there's a line called fov_desired "90.000000"
Changing that to 75 might work.
If not, then adding "cl_fov_75" as another line at the end should.
Don't know if you've already sorted this, but.. I own Portal 2 on 360 rather than PC, but I looked around anyway. I read that Portal has problems with actually using autoexec.cfg files, but it appears that setting custom launch options might work.
Right-click Portal 2 in Steam > Click 'Properties' > Click 'Set launch options'. In this you can put your cvar as a launch option, so put in
Hopefully that actually sets the cvar for you.


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A maintenance repair sparked a vessel fire at Marine Max that injured two Columbia, Mo. people. A 2003 Regal Cruiser driven by David Thompson, 45, had just refueled at the 17 mile marker in Pogue Hollow Cove when Thompson attempted to do maintenance in the engine compartment. An unknown spark ignited the compartment causing injuries and damage. Thompson was flown by Staff for Life helicopter to University Hospital in Columbia for treatment. A passenger, Brittany Bradley, 19, sustained moderate injuries in the incident and was taken to Lake Regional Hospital by ambulance.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
April 08, 2009
Our Table Mountain
I thought I'd share a really beautiful picture of our Table Mountain. It was taken on Signal Hill.
I haven't been up to Signal Hill in years, so my husband and I decided to take the kids up there on a Friday afternoon with pizza and cooldrinks.
We were pleasantly surprised! Our little four-year-old just wants to go to back the "sunset". He especially enjoyed it when all the onlookers clapped as the sun descended into the sea. We've been back twice since then with other family members in tow.
We are blessed to have such beautiful views.
Chantal Voegt is the export manager for Gemini Marine in Epping. The company manufactures inflatable racing boats as well as the rescue boats for one of Cape Town's finest volunteering organisations – NSRI.


text:
$util.date("MMMM d, yyyy",$topLevel.timeZone)
MEXIA (November 16, 2012)--The City of Mexia is holding a blood drive on Wednesday.
From 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at 101 S. McKinney St. residents can donate blood and help save a life.
For more information call James Sloan at (254) 297-4006.
Click Here to access the online Public Inspection File
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text:
7 Celebrity Careers That Launched by Accident
Hollywood is filled with plenty of rags to riches stories. Jim Carey worked as a janitor, Demi Moore was a debt collector, Brad Pitt used to wear a chicken suit while handing out fliers and Sharon Stone worked (works?) at a McDonald's.
But some actors' beginnings can be attributed to not hard work, but sheer chance or accident. Such as...
#7. Mel Gibson
Even though he's turned into a walking punchline the last few years, there's no denying Mel Gibson will go down as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood history. His movies have made two billion dollars in the US alone and he's got two Oscars to go with it.
But Gibson's accidental stumble into stardom started in New York, where he was born (not Australia, as it turns out). Gibson's father, Hutton, filed a lawsuit against the city and won. After collecting his money, he moved his family to Australia. It was in this dingo-infested continent that a young Mel started to dabble in acting, and would get his big break due to a ridiculous, drunken stroke of luck.
What Happened?
Gibson went to the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney. There he would perform in some stage productions, including the male lead in Romeo and Juliet, with Judy Davis as his co-star.
However, Gibson didn't consider a film career until a friend told him he needed a lift to audition for a movie. It was about a desolate, waste of a world in which gasoline is hunted by gay bikers.
Apparently, he still wasn't considering a film career, because the night before the audition, Gibson got into a drunken brawl at a bar. He dragged himself to the audition sporting a face full of fist shaped bruises. The director happened to catch sight of his sorry ass. Deciding that he already looked like he was living in a dystopian future, he asked him to come back because, as he put it, the film "needed freaks."
When Gibson did return, his wounds had healed into an unrecognizable mask of handsome manliness. The director asked Gibson to read for the only character who doesn't look like a blistered freak, and he landed the titular role in Mad Max , the franchise that would make him known around the globe.
#6. Evangeline Lilly
LOST is widely thought to have become a hit for two reasons: a twisting, confounding plot and an often-moist Evangeline Lilly.
After LOST debuted, Lilly immediately shot to the top of every list ever made to chart hotness, including Maxim's (twice) and FHM's. We guess she's a pretty good actress too, since she was nominated for a Golden Globe. Of course, all the fanfare could be short lived. Lilly announced that after LOST is over, she intends to put her career on hold and become a humanitarian.
Yeah. A boner humanitarian!
What Happened?
Now usually when an actress claims to be a "humanitarian," it's because her agent had to explain to her that "vegetarian" is no longer socially-conscious enough, and "planetarium" is a type of building, and therefore also out of the question. But becoming a humanitarian isn't a stretch for Lilly. Before she was an actress, she was doing missionary work in the Philippines. After declining a two-year post, she became a flight attendant with Air Canada.
Things, however, changed one day when she was walking around Kelowna, British Columbia, and was spotted by a scout for the Ford modeling agency. She almost declined, but decided she needed the money to pay for school. While not actually doing any modeling for the company, she did do some acting for them. Like this tasteful ad.
That's right: Kate, from LOST, used to star in phone sex ads in Canada. For a young ex-missionary, we'd imagine that starring in Canadian phone sex ads was as lonely and existentially terrifying as anything the LOST writers can think up to throw at her.
#5. Marilyn Monroe
The quintessential blonde bombshell, Monroe was married to baseball great Joe DiMaggio, and romantically linked to the penises of men as famous as John F. Kennedy and Frank Sinatra (if you'd like to imagine an interlinking chain of penises here, we won't stop you). She posed nude for the first issue of some up-and-coming gentlemen's magazine called Playboy and showed up in some movies, too.
What Happened?
The original blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe was neither blonde nor named Marilyn Monroe, though her early career was closely linked to bombshells, oddly enough. Born a brunette named Norma Jeane Mortenson in LA, she spent her childhood moving between foster homes and orphanages.
When she grew up, Monroe worked at a munitions plant where she inspected parachutes and sprayed airplanes to make them fire retardant. It was at this plant that a photographer for YANK magazine (a publication intended to boost morale of troops overseas apparently through the magic of double entendres) snapped a photo of Monroe for the cover.
The photographer pointed out to her that she was smoking hot and had the kind of breasts that could change the world. So she took acting classes, cut and dyed her hair blond and became a legend.
So let that be a lesson: If some random guy shows up at your job and takes a picture of you, you should absolutely do whatever he says. He only wants what's best for you.
#4. Rosario Dawson
If you're asking who Rosario Dawson is, then we feel sorry for you. Very sorry. But despite the misfortune of landing roles in The Adventures of Pluto Nash, The Rundown and Josie and the Pussycats, Dawson's built a pretty solid career.
Her star isn't the only thing on the rise.
Those shitty roles allowed her to later pick up parts in MIB II, Rent and she even showed us the goods in Alexander. Unfortunately she was wrestling a greased up Colin Farrell at the time, but the goods were, nevertheless, delightful. More roles in movies like Sin City, Grind House and Clerks II solidified her spot as an actress with some decent range.
The other thing on the rise was our boners, by the way.
What Happened?
Born in New York City to a 17-year-old mother, Dawson grew up in the Lower East Side, living by the ethos, in her own words: "If you wanted something better, you had to do it yourself." She may have picked up this ethos from her mom, as the apartment they grew up in was initially abandoned, and only became home when her mother broke into it. She may have a New York accent, a kickass body and a distinct absence of moonshine on her breath, but until the age of 17, Rosario Dawson was basically a hobo.
There's oddly no shortage of pictures of Rosario Dawson eating things.
It should be noted, though, that when "something better" did come along, it had nothing to do with Rosario getting it herself. Rather, it had everything to do with her sitting on her extraordinarily sculpted ass in front of her (stolen) apartment.
While she was sitting on her front stoop, a photographer named Larry Clark, and a young screenwriter named Harmony Korine, walked up to her and told her that she would be perfect for one of the characters in his new screenplay. Try to keep in mind a few things about this exchange: Dawson had no acting experience whatsoever. Harmony Korine is the cracked-out mess in this Letterman interview. Larry Clark is a 66-year-old photographer whose favorite subjects are teenagers taking drugs and having sex. And guess what that screenplay she was just "perfect for" was about: One hundred odd pages jam packed with teenagers getting high and boning.
Instead of calling neighborhood watch, Dawson showed up to an audition, got the role and the movie ended up being Kids, launching her and Chloe Sevigny's careers at the same time. To any little girls reading this, we really can't stress enough how unlikely the ending to that story is. Forget a movie career, she's lucky she didn't end up in some impossibly creepy inter-generational version of Bang bus.


text:
Home > Food > Recipes > Calzone
Categories: Comfort Foods, Cooking with Kids, Kid-friendly, Pizzas, Quick to fix
Type: Main Dishes
Type: Main Dishes
These folded pizzas have a tasty chicken, pancetta, and vegetable filling
Prep Time: 20M
Cooking Time: 25M-30M
Serves: makes 4 calzones
- 3 tbsp olive oil, plus more for the baking sheets
- 6 slices pancetta, chopped
- 1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into small pieces
- 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1/4 cup sun-dried tomato paste
- Basic Pizza Dough
- 7oz ( 200g) mozzarella cheese, sliced
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large beaten egg, to seal
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Add to shopping list
- Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta, chicken, and green pepper and cook until the chicken is opaque throughout, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let cool.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Divide the dough into four equal portions. Roll out each on a lightly floured work surface into a 9in (23cm) round.
- Spread the tomato paste over the lower half of each dough round, leaving a 1/2in (13mm) border. Divide the filling evenly over the paste, then top with equal amounts of the mozzarella and parsley. Season generously with the pepper.
- Brush the exposed edges of the dough with the beaten egg. Fold over to enclose the filling, pressing the edges together firmly with your fingers or a fork to seal.
- Brush with the remaining olive oil. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the edges are crisp and golden brown. Serve hot.
- Good with a green salad.
Spicy Calzone: Fry 1-2 tsp of dried chile flakes in the mix in step 1 for added heat.
excerpted from:
Excerpted from The Illustrated Kitchen Bible.
Copyright © 2008 Dorling Kindersley Limited.
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I talked to someone from México and when I was talking to him about my trip he said in reply " que suave" . I asked my mexican friends what it meant and they said it's like "cool" but they didn't know in what era it was used. Could anyone tell me?
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As a Native mexican, I can tell you from my personal experience that it was more common to use that expression on the 80's/90's than it is nowadays, as it sounds kinda outdated. But it's much older than that.
For example there's the movie "Fíjate qué suave" from 1947, featuring the comedian Manolín, which used "Fíjate qué suave" as his catchphrase even before before the movie.


text:
House Republicans Consider Next Move in Budget Fight
GOP-Led House Won't Pass Senate Plan Without Changes, Boehner Says
WASHINGTON—House Republicans hold a rare weekend meeting today to consider their next steps in a high-drama showdown with the Senate over the terms for avoiding a government shutdown that could begin Tuesday.
A bill to fund federal agencies for several weeks, which Congress must approve by midnight Monday to avoid a partial shutdown, has been approved by the Republican-led House. It was then was passed in a different form on Friday by the Democratic-led Senate.
That leaves House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) and his Republican conference to make the next move in the legislative volleying. In today's session, Republicans will discuss what provisions they want to attach to the spending bill before returning it to the Senate.
Mr. Boehner has said the House won't approve the Senate plan without making changes, a nod to conservatives in his conference who want to use the moment to delay or limit the new federal health law, often called Obamacare.
Federal agencies will have to suspend many nonessential services and furlough workers on Tuesday, the start of the new fiscal year, unless lawmakers can come to an agreement. The odds of a shutdown are rising as House Republicans and Senate Democrats show no sign of breaking their standoff on whether the spending bill can include provisions relating to the health law.
Today's House Republican meeting is sure to consider a proposal from more than 60 conservative lawmakers to attach a one-year delay of the health-care law to the spending bill. Senate Democrats and President Barack Obama say they will reject any attempt to limit the law.
In his weekly Saturday radio address, Mr. Obama used combative language as he placed the blame on the GOP for the impasse.
"Republicans in the House have been more concerned with appeasing an extreme faction of their party than working to pass a budget that creates new jobs or strengthens the middle class,'' he said. "And in the next couple days, these Republicans will have to decide whether to join the Senate and keep the government open, or create a crisis that will hurt people for the sole purpose of advancing their ideological agenda."
Republicans used their weekly radio address to focus on the next fiscal deadline on the horizon, the need to raise the nation's debt limit in October. Republicans have debated among themselves about which of their policy goals, such as delaying the new health-care law, they should try to attach to the spending bill, and which to link to legislation raising the debt ceiling.
"The president is now demanding that we increase the debt limit without engaging in any kind of bipartisan discussions about addressing our spending problem,'' said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., Wash.), who gave the address on behalf of Republicans. "He wants to take the easy way out—exactly the kind of foolishness that got us here in the first place."
She said the need to raise the debt ceiling presented "a golden opportunity to fix the problems coming out of Washington,'' and that the GOP had proposed pairing the debt ceiling increase with measures approving the Keystone XL pipeline and "fixing'' the tax code and the new health-care law.
Uncertainty is growing about whether lawmakers can bridge their differences on a spending bill by Monday night. On Friday, the Democratic-led Senate approved legislation to fund federal agencies for the first six weeks of the fiscal year and to restore money for the health law that the House GOP had stripped from its version of the spending bill.
The standoff both between the two major parties and within the GOP brings the federal government to the brink of a shutdown with little obvious room for resolution. Unlike in previous showdowns, there have been no major negotiations among congressional leaders or with the White House.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) on Friday added to the pressure on the House by adjourning the Senate until Monday afternoon, narrowing the window of time for any last-minute legislative volleys between the chambers.
Rep. Matt Salmon (R., Ariz.) said that delaying the health-care law for a year made sense, given that major elements of the law have been delayed, such as a provision imposing penalties on large employers who fail to provide insurance for their workers.
"We think that's fair and reasonable. Close to half of Obamacare has already been delayed," Mr. Salmon said.
Mr. Salmon also said that House lawmakers had met with tea party-aligned Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, both Republicans, on Thursday night to discuss the House's next steps, and agreed to hold out for a one-year delay of the health law. Some 15 House conservatives met with the two senators at a townhouse on Capitol Hill, according to a Republican lawmaker.
The strategy keeps House Republicans on a collision course with Senate Democrats. "We are going to accept nothing as it relates to Obamacare,'' Mr. Reid said after the Senate approved its spending plan.
Some House Republicans signaled that they were willing to affix narrower proposals to the spending measure, such as a repeal of the health law's tax on medical-device sales.
Some also talked of limiting contributions the federal government would make to lawmakers, their staff and certain White House officials to offset the cost of their premiums under the health law.
"It does seem like we're all over the place," Rep. Tom Rooney (R., Fla.) said on Friday.
So far, financial markets have largely shrugged off the budget standoff. But there are signs of growing concern, especially if there is no agreement to raise the ceiling on U.S. government borrowing by mid-October.
In the derivatives market, the cost to insure for a year against a default by the U.S. government has risen sixfold in the past week, and the price of one-month Treasury debt has fallen. But the benchmark 10-year Treasury note has rallied, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is just 2.7% below its record close. Still, if history is any guide, markets may become more tumultuous as the debt-ceiling deadline nears.
Mr. Obama in past budget and debt negotiations with Republicans has been accused by fellow Democrats of giving ground too easily. He has adopted a more confrontational style in the current budget battle, including comments on Friday in which he complained of "extremists'' and "shenanigans'' in Congress.
Speaking from the White House, Mr. Obama said he wouldn't agree to policy provisions that Republicans plan to attach to budget and debt-related bills, saying new demands would arise in the future with every routine fiscal deadline.
"That's why we have to break this cycle … Do not threaten to burn the house down simply because you haven't gotten 100% of your way,'' Mr. Obama said.
Responding to Mr. Obama, Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner, said: "The House will take action that reflects the fundamental fact that Americans don't want a government shutdown, and they don't want the train wreck that is Obamacare.''
If no agreement is reached by midnight Monday, federal agencies will have to stop providing many services and furlough many employees. Services and agency functions deemed essential would continue.
If House lawmakers alter the Senate's spending bill, the measure will return to the Senate, where legislation can take days to navigate over procedural hurdles.
That is stoking anxiety among some Republicans, who worry that their party will take the greater share of public anger if the government shuts down.
"I do believe Republicans will be blamed," said Rep. Charles Boustany (R., La.). Some House Republicans are more concerned about the prospect of a shutdown than others, he said. "There are some, I think, who would relish a shutdown. I think that's unfortunate," he said.
The stopgap spending bill passed the Senate in a 54-44 vote Friday, along strict party lines. Earlier in the day, it cleared a procedural hurdle, 79-19, with 25 Republicans joining the Democratic caucus to end debate on the bill.
Friday's Senate votes capped a week of procedural theatrics in the Senate, where a faction of tea party-backed lawmakers, led by Mr. Cruz, objected to speeding up some of the chamber's proceedings, to the irritation of veteran lawmakers in both parties. Mr. Cruz and his allies said their delaying tactics were intended to call attention to problems with the health law and to try to eliminate money for it.
—Patrick O'Connor
contributed to this article.
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