ASSUME THE POSITION

THE BISHOPS AND CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE - SPREADING ERROR IS OUR BUSINESS

The corruption of the USCCB is being laid open for all of the world to see. How long will it be before Rome acts? This organization needs to be overhauled and made to conform with the Church it purports to represent.

"Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Christian faithful had ready access to reliable media sources that consistently address important issues truthfully and completely while also communicating the authentic doctrine of the faith so dependably that the information provided could be received with complete confidence?...

...Enter Catholic News Service (CNS) - an agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that was created more than forty years before the Council specifically for the purpose of carrying out this very mission...

...Catholic News Service has long been viewed with a suspicious eye by "conservative" Catholic groups, but any perception that this wariness is confined to some traditionalist fringe, however, was officially put to rest earlier this year.

By January 2009, CNS' failure to consistently apply reliably Catholic editorial standards had become so problematic that Archbishop Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura at the Vatican, was moved to take the extraordinarily bold step of criticizing CNS from Rome.

"The bishops need to look at our Catholic News Service; they need to review their coverage of [the Church's moral and social teachings] and give some new direction," he said.

The problems at CNS, which has been under the directorship of Editor-in-Chief Tony Spence since 2004, are well illustrated by the case of Pepperdine law professor Douglas Kmiec.

In the months leading up to the recent U.S. Presidential election, Kmiec - a Catholic - not only campaigned for Barack Obama, he became the self-appointed spokesperson for moral relativists everywhere by publically insisting that Obama's radically pro-abortion agenda fits comfortably within authentic Catholic social doctrine.

Naturally, Kmiec's views drew the criticism of a number of American bishops, including Archbishop Charles Chaput who said that Kmiec had "done a disservice to the Church, confused the natural priorities of Catholic social teaching, and provided an excuse for some Catholics to abandon the abortion issue."...

...How then can anyone explain why Catholic News Service - an organ of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops - would grant Kmiec's opinions a de facto Imprimatur by syndicating his columns for distribution to Catholic publications all over the world?"

Life News

STATES RIGHTS - THE ONLY REAL SOLUTION

I'm posting this article in its entirety because I believe it is vitally important that the steps laid out by the author be seriously considered. The states must exercise their legal rights and moral responsibility; they must enforce the Tenth Amendment. This is the only way to get our country back. It is our last, best hope.

TEA PARTIES NEED TEETH

By Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D., J.D.
November 17, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
[The following is the full text of an address presented to the National Heritage Center for Constitutional Studies at its 2009 Constitution Day conference.]

The Tenth-Amendment Resolutions from State Legislatures, the Tea Parties, the Town Hall Meetings, and other manifestations of WE THE PEOPLE’S feedupidness with monkey-business as usual in the Disgrace of Columbia—even the massive congregation on the Mall last September—are some of the most enlightening, encouraging, and energizing developments that American patriots have witnessed in a long time. For these events are all premised on the idea: “We don’t want you!”—that WE THE PEOPLE do not want any more, indeed they demand a great deal less, interference in their lives from rogue public officials in the General Government.

These events notwithstanding, the problem remains that too many among WE THE PEOPLE will start but then stop right there, with “We don’t want you!” That is not enough.
The complaint “We don’t want you!” needs to go further, to the resolve, “We won’t have you!” — that WE THE PEOPLE intend to rid themselves of the General Government’s interference.

And to make this resolve effective, WE THE PEOPLE need to design and put into effect remedial action, so that they can say with finality: “We don’t need you!”
The sequence must be—
(i) We don’t NEED you!” which makes it realistic to say:
(ii) We don’t WANT you!” which combined with the ability to make WE THE PEOPLE’S wants effective will lead to the necessary and sufficient action:
(iii) We won’t HAVE you!” and finally will yield the desired result:
(iv) We are RID of you!”

If WE THE PEOPLE have the ability they can give “teeth” to the desire, take the necessary action, and thereby accomplish their goal.
But what will all of this require?

• WE THE PEOPLE need to create actual workable institutions that take advantage of the political and legal position THE PEOPLE hold—i.e., as the ultimate sovereigns.
• WE THE PEOPLE need to create actual workable institutions that take advantage of the economic resources THE PEOPLE command—that THE PEOPLE are the true source of all real wealth in this country, and are in actual physical possession of most of it.
True enough, the Establishment holds bundles of paper claims to wealth, many (if not most) of them generated through the unconstitutional Federal Reserve System. But the insuperable problem for the Establishment will be how to collect on those claims if WE THE PEOPLE simply refuse to honor them. Anyone in the paper-currency racket who doubts that these claims can be declared unenforceable should read the Supreme Court’s decision in Craig v. Missouri, 29 U.S. (4 Peters) 410 (1830).
• WE THE PEOPLE need to create actual workable institutions that are politically, economically, and legally independent of the General Government:
Institutions that can compete with the faulty and fraudulent mechanisms that rogue officials in the General Government have foisted on this country in the key areas of economic and political control, particularly in the areas of (i) money and banking and (ii) what is called “homeland security”.
Institutions that can replace these fraudulent control-mechanisms with proper means to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”. And Institutions that will enable WE THE PEOPLE to defend themselves against retaliation from rogue officials in the General Government and from the private centers of multinational economic power.

In sum, WE THE PEOPLE must combine their economic resources and abilities with political and legal authority in large-scale organizations that will reflect the power inherent in numbers.

This cannot be done by or through the General Government at the present time, because the General Government is the main locus of this country’s problem, not the source of any solution for them.
It cannot be done through political parties, because parties (along with other factions and special-interest groups) are the control-mechanisms in the “divide and conquer” strategy the Establishment employs to prevent WE THE PEOPLE from asserting their political sovereignty in their own interest.
It cannot be done by individuals or private groups alone, primarily because: (i) private individuals and groups enjoy no independent legal authority; and (ii) there is probably no way to create a sufficiently large and effective private operation in any State, let alone throughout the entire country, in time.
It cannot be done by the State governments alone, because it is not simply a political question of governmental finance and administration, but will require a revamping of the entire private economies in each State, too.

Therefore, it will require both (i) participation by the State governments, because they have the legal authority and the ability to mobilize people in sufficient numbers, and (ii) mass action by WE THE PEOPLE as a whole.
The only establishment or institution that combines all of these elements is “the Militia of the several States”, the “well regulated Militia” that the Second Amendment tells us are “necessary to the security of a free State”.
But a true constitutional “well regulated Militia” exists in not one State in this Union today.

So, WE THE PEOPLE need to revitalize “the Militia of the several States” in order to regain and retain popular control over State governments, and through them to regain and retain control over the two fundamental powers of sovereignty: (i) the Power of the Purse—i.e., currency and credit, and (ii) the Power of the Sword—i.e., community self-defense.

Revitalization of the Militia will enable WE THE PEOPLE to exercise community self-reliance and ultimately true self-government in “a free State” with a sound free-market economy.

Americans need to combine all of the following elements in a single plan for mass action:

1. Revitalization of “the Militia of the several States”.
•The Second Amendment instructs every American that “[a] well regulated Militia” is “necessary to the security of a free State”—not just “useful”, and certainly not “optional”, but “necessary”. And not “necessary” in only some general sense, but specifically with respect to “the security of a free State”—which means that, according to “the supreme Law of the Land” itself, the very survival of constitutional freedom in this country depends upon the Militia.
The Constitution identifies no other establishment, institution, or entity as “necessary” for this vital purpose, or for any other purpose.
So why is not revitalization of the Militia, immediately if not sooner, “job one” on the agenda of every constitutionalist? How can patriots continue to deny in their actions what the Constitution tells them is “necessary” for the maintenance of constitutional government? Americans may say that they have faith in the Constitution—but faith without works is dead; and the Constitution is not self-executing.
•The purpose of revitalizing the Militia is to combine all the elements of each State’s “homeland security”—including police, emergency response, and so on—under the Militia, in order to obviate “top down” control by the police-state apparatus being set up through the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C., and its various satellites, transmission-belts, and fellow travelers around the country. Revitalization of the Militia will return control to whom it belongs, in the hands of WE THE PEOPLE directly, with:
(i) total organizing, arming, disciplining, and training of THE PEOPLE to handle any emergency;
(ii) State production and provision of arms, ammunition, and accoutrements for the Militia—with all individuals to possess their arms and ammunition, whenever obtained from whatever source, as part of their Militia service—thus ending all of the General Government’s oppressive “gun control”; and, perhaps of most immediate importance,
(iii) assignment to the Militia of oversight over all new institutions of “economic homeland security” within the State.

2. Adoption of an alternative currency.
This is an idea which began in New Hampshire, and subsequently spread to other States, including Indiana, Colorado, and Montana. An alternative-currency bill has yet to be reported out of committee in any State legislature. But as the national economy melts down, the pressure for serious consideration and then passage of such a bill will become overwhelming, simply because there is no workable alternative consistent with the maintenance of America’s national economic sovereignty that can be put into operation in time.
The alternative-currency system will require not just the State to participate through its own public financial operations, but also will require every individual member of the Militia—that is, every able-bodied adult man and women—to participate in his or her own private economic transactions, in order to move both the State’s government and the State’s private economy as quickly as possible out from under the control of the Federal Reserve System and the rotten financial power-structure of the New York City-Washington, D.C. axis of fraud.
The actual silver and gold will be held: (i) in a State vault controlled by the Militia, and (ii) in the hands of Militiamen (the private holding of silver and gold will be as important as the private possession of arms). And,
Experts drawn from and subject to supervision by the Militia will be in charge of or will provide oversight for the system.

3. Establishment of a State Credit Exchange.
This Exchange will deal solely in so-called “real bills” financed with actual deposits of the alternative currency (no “fractional reserves”). This will be necessary in order to protect the State’s private economy from retaliation by the multinational financial power-structure, which will doubtlessly attempt to cut off credit to the State’s businessmen, farmers, and others, so as to sabotage the alternative-currency system.
Experts drawn from and subject to supervision by the Militia will be in charge of or will provide oversight for this Exchange, too.

4. Additional areas of concern and action could include:
Food independence and security through the suppression of multinational corporate agribusinesses.
Energy independence and security through mobilization of local resources and radical innovation in the provision of energy.
Assertion of local control over land and water usage, and other natural resources.
...et cetera...
All of these arrangements will be statutorily structured as functions of the State government and thereby extensions of direct popular sovereignty, and will be administered through the Militia, thus coming under the Second and Tenth Amendments’ guarantees of reserved powers to the States and the people.

5. Considerations for the selection of an initial State in which to bring this project to fruition.
In the nature of things, the necessary legislation will have to be drafted one State at a time. (No “one size fits all” bill is possible). Inevitably, therefore, this work will require the commitment of a great deal of time, effort, and expertise. Before such a commitment can be expected, let alone requested, of anyone, adequate groundwork must be laid:
There must be an extensive local grass-roots “freedom movement” in existence in that State and prepared specifically to promote the reform legislation.

There must be a solid legislative caucus in existence in that State’s legislature, preferably in each house (where a bicameral legislature exists).
There must be a workable plan, ready to implement and adequately funded, for mobilizing large numbers of activists from across the country to work in the targeted State to promote the reform legislation.

It is too late for parochialism on this subject: Everyone throughout this country has an interest in seeing this project succeed in the first State that undertakes it, because that State will be the exemplar for the others.
No one can deny that a crisis of overwhelming proportions is overtaking this country at an ever-accelerating speed. And each day appears darker than the one before it. But that in itself is a cause for hope—because, as the old saying goes, it is always darkest just before the dawn.
© 2009 Edwin Vieira, Jr. - All Rights Reserved
________________________________________
Edwin Vieira, Jr., holds four degrees from Harvard: A.B. (Harvard College), A.M. and Ph.D. (Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), and J.D. (Harvard Law School).
For more than thirty years he has practiced law, with emphasis on constitutional issues. In the Supreme Court of the United States he successfully argued or briefed the cases leading to the landmark decisions Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, and Communications Workers of America v. Beck, which established constitutional and statutory limitations on the uses to which labor unions, in both the private and the public sectors, may apply fees extracted from nonunion workers as a condition of their employment.
He has written numerous monographs and articles in scholarly journals, and lectured throughout the county. His most recent work on money and banking is the two-volume Pieces of Eight: The Monetary Powers and Disabilities of the United States Constitution (2002), the most comprehensive study in existence of American monetary law and history viewed from a constitutional perspective. www.piecesofeight.us
He is also the co-author (under a nom de plume) of the political novel CRA$HMAKER: A Federal Affaire (2000), a not-so-fictional story of an engineered crash of the Federal Reserve System, and the political upheaval it causes. www.crashmaker.com
His latest book is: "How To Dethrone the Imperial Judiciary" ... and Constitutional "Homeland Security," Volume One, The Nation in Arms...
He can be reached at his new address:
52 Stonegate Court
Front Royal, VA 22630.
E-Mail: Not available
________________________________________

News With Views

DORNAN AMENDMENT BANNING FUNDING FOR ABORTION IN D.C. OVERTURNED IN HOUSE

I wonder how many Catholics in name only voted for this? Again, Bishops, will we hear anything from you of substance? Or will we just get the normal wringing of hands while those that open the door to murder go unpunished? Stand up for life! Stand up for the truth! Stir up the waters and get everybody pissed off! Do what's right! Make us proud to belong to the one, true faith. Or don't you believe that anymore? Is Rome just one path among many, all equally sufficient, all leading to some nirvana of social justice and clean air? Because that is what it sounds like from out here.

"The House of Representatives on Thursday approved an omnibus spending bill that would overturn a decades-long policy preventing taxpayer funding of abortions in the nation's capital. One pro-life group suggests overturning the policy could increase abortions by as much as 1,000 a year.

The Dornan Amendment has prevented the federal government from paying for abortions in the District of Columbia, whose budget is overseen by Congress.

But the omnibus spending bill, a collection of appropriations bills needed to fund the federal government, includes language overturning the amendment.

House members approved the omnibus bill on a vote of 221-202-1 despite calls from pro-life groups to oppose the legislation because of the taxpayer funding of abortion.

No Republicans voted for the measure and 28 Democrats were concerned enough about the abortion funding (or other issues) to vote against the measure as well. A survey of the Democrats voting against the measure reveals many who have longstanding pro-life voting records.

The omnibus bill now heads to the Senate, where 35 pro-life lawmakers have already said they plan to filibuster the bill because of the abortion funding."

Life News

THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE IN THIS COUNTRY

"The government is running out of ways to help the economy as the US faces major issues regarding credit and employment ahead, banking analyst Meredith Whitney told CNBC.

"I think they're out of bullets," Whitney said in an interview during which she reinforced remarks she made last month indicating she is strongly pessimistic about the prospects for recovery.

Primary among her concerns is the lack of credit access for consumers who she said are "getting kicked out of the financial system." She said that will be the prevailing trend in 2010...

...The solution, she said, is for the government to take proactive steps that will give consumers more money to spend.

"I don't think you can cut taxes enough to stimulate demand," Whitney said. "For a 2010 prediction, which is so disturbing on so many levels to have so many Americans be kicked out of the financial system and the consequences both political and economic of that, it's a real issue. You can't get around it. This has never happened before in this country."

CNBC

(H/T The Coming Depression)

"This has never happened before in this country." This is true on so many levels. Sure, we've been through a depression or two before so why is this different?

I've been thinking about this. How do the people of today compare to the generation that went through the Great Depression of the 30's? I'm 51 years old so I knew a lot of people that went through this time, from family to friends. My parents were both children in the 30's. The one thing that has always stood out in my mind was that times were tough but so were the people.

For working class people in the beginning of the 20th century life was not all that much different than it had been throughout most of recorded time.

A large percentage had either lived on a farm and produced their own food or lived with some one that had. This is no longer true. Food comes from the store processed and sometimes cooked for us.

My Dad lived in North St. Louis, part of what at the time was one of the largest and most advanced cities in the nation. His family had an outhouse. Of course, it was a two holer so they were justly proud. How many in America today use an outhouse as their primary toilet, in even rural areas?

Heat came from a furnace that burned coal. The coal had to be shoveled in at regular intervals and was delivered by coal chute into the basement. If you wanted heat you had to man the shovel. Unless you just had a stove in your living area. My dad talks about burning the floor in the kitchen as fuel just to stay warm.

My Mom lived on the South Side. Her grandma raised rabbits in the backyard for food. Again, this is in the City of St. Louis.

When I was a kid all of my Great Aunts lived in the city. Because of their having grown up on the farm around the turn of the century they still kept to the old ways. They had a room in the basement that was always full of canned goods and other supplies. They washed clothes by hand in a big copper kettle over a burner in the basement and hung them out to dry. They paid their bills in cash and had no debt. They always knew the economy could fall apart and they were going to be ready.

All of the older people in my family, even though they had lived in an urban environment most of their lives never lost the sense of self reliance that so marked their generation. These were tough people, physically and spiritually. They remained the product of life as it had been lived for centuries, before cheap oil changed everything. They expected life to be hard and didn't complain. They were the last of their kind, the greatest generation.

Today we are facing an economic cataclysm that has the potential to dwarf anything that has come before. Are we prepared? I don't know, let me go talk to my analyst and see if I've worked through all of the issues that my parents caused during my childhood.

Let me make sure that I've got my latte and that the battery on my IPod is charged. Oh, and this needs to be over by 4 o'clock because I have an appointment with my personal trainer.

I've got a light bulb that needs to be changed. Could you call someone about that? Thank you, dear.

We are the weakest generation. Most people can't cut up a chicken from the grocery store much less kill and clean an animal. We don't know where food comes from or how to find water if it doesn't come out of the tap. We've never worked in a physically punishing job and seek medical attention for the slightest scratch. We've been coddled and taught that the world revolves around us. We are special, the product of a generation that believed their kids would never have it as tough as they did. Our parents were wrong.

I believe that we are about to make a swift and violent change in direction. We are returning to a standard of living much closer to the historical norm, much closer to the way our grandparents lived. As the economy continues to crash and the availability of cheap oil becomes a thing of the past we are going to have to learn to fend for ourselves. We will need to be self reliant in a world without modern technology to carry us through. As James Kunstler says, "A World Made by Hand".

And we have not been prepared. We will focus on ourselves at the expense of others. Our self centered behavior will put us at each others throats, scratching and clawing for the basics of life. Because we're special, we deserve it. We won't be able to objectively assess our situation and make rational decisions to insure our survival because we'll be to busy whining about the unfairness of it all. Because, in the end, all we are and have ever been is a generation of self important, whiny, special little losers, reliant on advanced technology to even use the toilet.

Ms. Whitney is right. This country has never been through anything like this before. Prepare yourself and your family and friends for the unthinkable. Prepare to lose 100 years of societal evolution over a very, very short period of time.

Think real hard about all of the areas that cheap oil touches in your life. The clothes, water, food, tools, fuel, communications, furniture and damned near everything else. Read about this country in the time period between 1870-1890. This is where we are headed. The time when steam was king and most people were responsible for producing the clothes they wore and the food they ate.

Think how you are going to survive the trip backwards 150 years into the future. If you don't prepare yourself now you won't make the trip. You will end up buried in an unmarked grave along the trail, just as so many pioneers did before you.

GET OUT YOUR CANDLES - CHANUKKAH STARTS AT SUNDOWN TONIGHT

HAPPY CHANUKKAH!
To all my Jewish friends, have fun. When I was a kid a lot of my friends were Jewish. This was always a great time of year for kids. In a neighborhood that was split between Jews and Christians Chanukkah, a minor religious event, became like the Jewish Christmas. We all got involved (in a public school, no less) making menorahs and learning to dance in circles to some really great music. The Jewish kids had Santa Claus decorations and we had dreidels.

So today I think that I'll teach my granddaughter to make a dreidel, cook some latkes and break out the Mogen David. Enjoy the holiday. How am I going to break it to my granddaughter that she only gets presents on one day when other kids get them for eight? Maybe she doesn't need to know.

"The story of Chanukkah begins in the reign of Alexander the Great. Alexander conquered Syria, Egypt and Palestine, but allowed the lands under his control to continue observing their own religions and retain a certain degree of autonomy. Under this relatively benevolent rule, many Jews assimilated much of Hellenistic culture, adopting the language, the customs and the dress of the Greeks, in much the same way that Jews in America today blend into the secular American society.

More than a century later, a successor of Alexander, Antiochus IV was in control of the region. He began to oppress the Jews severely, placing a Hellenistic priest in the Temple, massacring Jews, prohibiting the practice of the Jewish religion, and desecrating the Temple by requiring the sacrifice of pigs (a non-kosher animal) on the altar. Two groups opposed Antiochus: a basically nationalistic group led by Mattathias the Hasmonean and his son Judah Maccabee, and a religious traditionalist group known as the Chasidim, the forerunners of the Pharisees (no direct connection to the modern movement known as Chasidism). They joined forces in a revolt against both the assimilation of the Hellenistic Jews and oppression by the Seleucid Greek government. The revolution succeeded and the Temple was rededicated.

According to tradition as recorded in the Talmud, at the time of the rededication, there was very little oil left that had not been defiled by the Greeks. Oil was needed for the menorah (candelabrum) in the Temple, which was supposed to burn throughout the night every night. There was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight day festival was declared to commemorate this miracle. Note that the holiday commemorates the miracle of the oil, not the military victory: Jews do not glorify war."

Jewfaq

JOURNALIST FIRED FOR SUPPORTNG TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE

Where is the ACLU? Persecutions such as this will begin to become more and more obvious in the future. Christians and others of faith will be penalized for speaking up. The personal cost will be high but we must accept it and offer it up. We have no choice but to fight for freedom and truth.

St. Michael, pray for us.

"A journalist in Maine has been fired from a publication after 19 years for replying to a homosexual activist's e-mail.

Larry Grard, 58, of Winslow covered the November election for Maine Today, the vote in which Maine citizens rejected homosexual "marriage." Subsequently, he received a press release at work from a homosexual activist which read: "We will not allow the lies and hate – the foundation on which our opponents build their campaign – to break our spirits." Being a devout Catholic, Grard was offended by the release's blanket reference to opponents of same-sex marriage."

One News Now

CATHOLIC SENATORS KILL NELSON - HATCH - CASEY AMENDMENT

A note to the American Bishops: This is a moment that cries out for action. Begin the process of excommunication against every Catholic Senator that voted to keep abortion funding in the Health Control Bill. The case is clear; these people have brazenly violated the most basic of Church teachings in the most flagrant of manners. They have called into question your authority and that of the Church. If you don't act, what is the average Catholic to think? Obviously the message you will be sending is that adherence to Church law is optional at best. At worst you call into question the nature of truth and the Church's authority to preach it.

So, come on boys. Grow a pair and do the right thing. It won't be easy; you could even lose your tax exempt status and political perks. But, so what. Compared to the lives of the children you could save and the faith of the people, what's a little bling?

"A total of fifteen self-described Catholic Senators voted to table the Nelson-Hatch-Casey Amendment, which would have significantly restricted abortion funding from the Senate health care bill...

...The Catholic Democratic Senators who voted against the Nelson Amendment were Patrick Leahy of Vermont, John Kerry and Paul Kirk of Massachusetts, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Richard Durbin of Illinois, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray of Washington state, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Mark Begich of Alaska...

...Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the only Catholic Republican to vote to table the Nelson Amendment."

Catholic News Agency