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This is an excerpt from a speech given this last weekend at Mundelein Seminary in Illinois by Archbishop Burke and published at the American Papist Blog.
Archbishop Burke always speaks the hard words needed to be heard by the faithful. While he was in St. Louis he never backed down from a fight, taking on everyone from a local schismatic parish to Bob Costas and Sheryl Crow.
I wonder if this speech is laying the groundwork for additional Vatican action against these religious orders that refuse to obey the rightful authority of the Church? If so, it's about time and thank you Archbishop Burke.
"[...Our joy today is] overshadowed by the public and obstinate betrayal of religious life by certain religious. Who ever could have imagined that religious congregations of pontifical right, would openly organize to resist and attempt to frustrate an apostolic visitation, that is, a visit to their congregations carried out under the authority of the vicar of Christ on earth, to whom all religious are bound by the strongest bonds of loyalty and obedience?
Who could imagine that consecrated religious would openly, and in defiance of the bishops as successors of the apostles publicly endorse legislation containing provisions which violated the natural moral law in its most fundamental tenets – the safeguarding and promoting of innocence and defenseless life, and fail to safeguard the demands of the free exercise of conscience for health care workers?
We witness a growing tendency among certain consecrated religious to view themselves outside and above the body of Christ as a parallel institution looking in upon the Church with an autonomy which contradicts their very nature. We have certainly come a long way from the total loyalty to the Roman Pontiff which was at the heart of the foundation of the Society of Jesus and of every religious congregation. Religious life lived in the heart of the Church, and for that reason religious congregations are, by their very nature, bound in strictest loyalty to the Roman Pontiff. It is of course an absurdity of the most tragic kind to have consecrated religious knowingly and obstinately acting against the moral law.
The spiritual harm done to the individual religious who are disobedient and also the grave scandal caused to the faithful and people in general are of incalculable dimensions.
[Do not doubt the influence of consecrated persons] … Was not the Speaker of the House [Nancy Pelosi] glowing to report that so many religious sisters were in support of her proposed health care plan? Was not a religious sister [Sr. Carol Keehan, President of CHA] one of the recipients of a pen used by the President of the United States to sign the health care plan into law?
Now is the time for us all, and in particular for consecrated persons to stand up for the truth and to call upon our fellow Catholics in leadership to do the same or to cease identifying themselves as Catholics."
"Is this Another Backroom Deal to Force Obama’s Bill Down the American People’s Throats?
As a vote approaches on Obama and Pelosi’s government takeover of healthcare, Code Red is now considering two supposedly “undecided” California Democrats, Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa, to now be “yes” votes.
The U.S. Department of Interior announced yesterday that it is increasing water allocations for the Central Valley of California, a region that depends on these water allocations to support local agriculture and jobs. The region has recently been starved for water and as a result unemployment has soared. Not surprisingly, Cardoza and Costa had a hand in the announcement:
“Typically, Reclamation would release the March allocation update around March 22nd, but moved up the announcement at the urging of Senators Feinstein and Boxer, and Congressmen Costa and Cardoza.”(“Interior Announces Increased Water Supply Allocations in California,” U.S. Department of Interior news release, 3/16/10)
Will Cardoza and Costa come clean about this apparent backroom deal for their votes?
Call Cardoza's district office at (209) 383-4455 and Costa's district office at (559) 495-1620 and ask."
National Republican Congressional Committee
Evil. Pure, unadulterated, undiluted evil.
..."What are Democratic leaders saying? “If you pass the Stupak amendment, more children will be born, and therefore it will cost us millions more. That’s one of the arguments I’ve been hearing,” Stupak says. “Money is their hang-up. Is this how we now value life in America? If money is the issue — come on, we can find room in the budget. This is life we’re talking about.”
National Review
It's an election year and their still going to try to shove healthcare through. Why? What is so important about this that they're willing to risk everything to get it passed? Control, power, wealth? All of these are important to politicians yet I've never seen them so fixated on gaining any of them that they are willing to lose it all. They aren't even trying to hedge their bets.
Maybe it's not they, just he. Maybe Obama is so ideologically driven that none of the traditional political rules apply. Maybe he's so blinded by ideology and his own faith in his superior moral position that he figures we'll eventually come 'round to his point once we see that he just wants the "best" for us. After all, plebeians can't be expected to understand such complex matters; they need to be led.
Obama is courting political disaster but he is too arrogant and narcissistic to see it. Or maybe he knows something we don't. This whole healthcare thing is politically counterintuitive. Somethings up and it can't be good for the Republic. I'm interested to see if the Democrat Party goes along with this. Personal survival generally trumps party loyalty with any politician.
Personally, I'm getting tired of this and I would imagine so are a number of others. This is probably what they're hoping for; to wear us down. We may be tired of it but I think the administration is in for a surprise if they think we'll roll over. Is it possible they could be this inept? I don't think so and that's what worries me.
"President Barack Obama is expected to publish his healthcare plan as early as Sunday or Monday, combining features of the two Democratic bills passed by the Senate and House of Representatives, congressional aides and healthcare advocates said on Friday.
The administration's bill will aim to jump-start the stalled healthcare overhaul and comes just days ahead of a planned televised White House summit with congressional Republicans, who are calling on Democrats to scrap the bills and start over with a far less sweeping proposal.
Democrats are struggling to push healthcare legislation over the finish line in the face of sagging public support and solid Republican opposition bolstered by recent election victories in Massachusetts, Virginia and New Jersey.
The legislation the White House will post on its website is expected to reflect common ground negotiated over the past several weeks by House and Senate Democratic leaders.
Those agreements are likely to be combined as a privileged budget reconciliation bill, which only needs a simple 51-vote majority to pass the 100-member Senate instead of the 60-vote supermajority that has become routine in the Senate and gives Republicans power to block the healthcare bill."
So while our President is giving a speech today once again promising to ram health care through we get the stories below. Besides the obvious Constitutional problems with the government providing health care, let's just focus on the strategic problem. China just about owns us now and WILL use the power they have gained to control America as surely as if they had conquered us in war. Yet, our President and his Progressive friends in Congress intend to borrow even more money to gives us the health care we have repeatedly told them we don't want.
They aren't this stupid. America is being destroyed from within by the very people that we elected. This is being done purposely; I cannot come to any other conclusion. We are on the brink of becoming a Chinese satellite state or a hollow shell, without a single shot being fired.
If we don't get our act together now we are going to lose our country and the greatest experiment in freedom ever carried out on this earth will have failed. I'm afraid that we are going to be left with very few options; none of them good.
Somebody tell me how in the hell we're going to save ourselves. The push is on in Washington to to close the deal on health care. I heard part of Obama's speech today and he said that if the doesn't get the appointments he wants he will put them in during the Congressional recess. In the speech last week he mentioned using executive orders to implement programs the Congress refused to pass. We are seeing the Executive Branch elevated to a level of power not seen since the Lincoln Administration. Obama will surpass FDR in control of the Congress and the country. And, he will see it destroyed. No one in the government will stand up to him. It is the responsibility of the Congress to push back when the Executive Branch tries to take power it wasn't intended to have. But they won't do it. Not even the Republicans seem capable of anything more than a half-assed effort.
The Chinese are rattling their sword and the EU is starting to crumble. Central and South America are powder kegs. And Iran is threatening to do something on Thursday that they promise will amaze and frighten the West. And once again our elected leaders are focusing on health care. Is it a distraction? I don't know. Nothing makes sense anymore.
Pray, pray, pray. And prepare. We are on the verge of cataclysmic disruptions in our lives. No one can predict what, when or how but I feel confident that something is coming. Chaos cannot create order, it can only collapse into deeper and more intense chaos.
"By their carelessness Congress and the Obama administration are steadily handing over control of America's economic and financial future to a handful of Chinese officials and generals in Beijing. Those who think the Chinese won't use that control if they feel they have to are ignoring history -- and the Chinese.
The ancient military strategist Sun Tzu said that the best strategy was to render an opponent's army helpless even before the battle began. America may still have the biggest and best military in the world.
But many at the Pentagon are starting to realize that, thanks to our growing fiscal irresponsibility, we may be surrendering control of America's destiny to a rival superpower -- and all without a shot being fired."
The Burning Platform
"Senior Chinese military officers have proposed that their country boost defense spending, adjust PLA deployments, and possibly sell some U.S. bonds to punish Washington for its latest round of arms sales to Taiwan.
The calls for broad retaliation over the planned U.S. weapons sales to the disputed island came from officers at China's National Defence University and Academy of Military Sciences, interviewed by Outlook Weekly, a Chinese-language magazine published by the official Xinhua news agency.
The interviews with Major Generals Zhu Chenghu and Luo Yuan and Senior Colonel Ke Chunqiao appeared in the issue published on Monday.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) plays no role in setting policy for China's foreign exchange holdings. Officials in charge of that area have given no sign of any moves to sell U.S. Treasury bonds over the weapons sales, a move that could alarm markets and damage the value of China's own holdings.
While far from representing fixed government policy, the open demands for retaliation by the PLA officers underscored the domestic pressures on Beijing to deliver on its threats to punish the Obama administration over the arms sales.
"Our retaliation should not be restricted to merely military matters, and we should adopt a strategic package of counter-punches covering politics, military affairs, diplomacy and economics to treat both the symptoms and root cause of this disease," said Luo Yuan, a researcher at the Academy of Military Sciences."
Reuters
So I just finish writing about the IRS and healthcare and look at what pops up on my bloglist. Coincidence?
"We should have seen this coming.
TheObama IRS needs your money – purchases guns.
FBO.gov reported, via Archer:
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) intends to purchase sixty Remington Model 870 Police RAMAC #24587 12 gauge pump-action shotguns for the Criminal Investigation Division. The Remington parkerized shotguns, with fourteen inch barrel, modified choke, Wilson Combat Ghost Ring rear sight and XS4 Contour Bead front sight, Knoxx Reduced Recoil Adjustable Stock, and Speedfeed ribbed black forend, are designated as the only shotguns authorized for IRS duty based on compatibility with IRS existing shotgun inventory, certified armorer and combat training and protocol, maintenance, and parts.
Submit quotes including 11% Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax (FAET) and shipping to Washington DC."
Gateway Pundit
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