Some numbers that blow my mind...

According to a recent Gallup poll, "40% of Americans... describe their political views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as liberal."  A few weeks ago, another Gallup poll told us that the majority of Americans now consider themselves "Pro-Life."

Only 35% of Americans supported President Obama's decision to allow government money to go to organizations that provide abortion overseas.  The vast majority of Americans opposed Obama's executive order to close Gitmo.

According to a June 1st Rasmussen Poll, 58% of Americans think that Obama's spending bill had no effect or made things worse (31% of Americans think the bill made things worse.)  In a June 8th poll, they found that more Americans now trust Republicans on economic issues than democrats.

Going through the issues, people disapprove of Obama's economic policies, disapprove of his security policies, disagree with his social policies and are torn about his dealings with foreign states... and yet, 60% "approve" of the Obama presidency.  How?  Is it just pure cult of personality? 

Write to your Senators

Time is short, so shooting them an e-mail might be the way to go. The Senate will soon vote on the Foreign Relations Authorization Act. This bill disastrously creates the Office for Global Women's Issues, which is frightening seeing as Secretary Clinton has claimed that it should be a policy goal of the United States to promote "reproductive rights" around the world, including intervening in domestic political debates to advocate the repeal of any laws that protect unborn lives. This is inappropriate on so many levels. Not only am I bothered by its support for abortion, but I'm bothered that the State Department is actually trying to use our money to engage in political lobbying about domestic issues that have nothing at all to do with the security of the United States. It's one thing when our government tries to bully other countries to override the wills of their people to promote policies for our business interests... but doing it to promote the abortion agenda? That takes things to a whole new level.

My letter to Senator Casey:

Senator Casey, I urge you to stand up for the values of the majority of Americans and to respect the rights of American taxpayers by voting against the current iteration of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act. Passage of this act will create the Office for Global Women's Issues within the State Department. The creation of this office would serve as a major advance to Secretary Clinton's stated goal to make the global promotion of "abortion rights" a fundamental policy goal of the United States. The State Department cannot be allowed to interject itself inappropriately into the domestic political issues of other countries, particularly on issues that are so divisive in the United States. The American people should not be forced to fund the promotion of an agenda that many of us believe is murderous, particularly when it has no obvious relationship with our security. In the House, Congressman Mike Pence argued that "We deserve a foreign relations budget that respects our pocketbooks and our values." While apparently the House of Representatives lacked the courage to stand up for such an idea, please show America and the world that you do. Sincerely, [Collegiate Catholic]

Tiller a Martyr?

To follow up on yesterday's post, today on AC360, one of Tiller's partners at his clinic proclaimed Dr. Tiller a martyr.  The same guy has compared him to MLK Jr., and predicts that his murder will be like the sinking of the RMS Lusitania or the bombing of Pearl Harbor for the abortionist cause.  We must make sure our message is expressed, and expressed clearly, in order to prevent this from becoming the case.  

Also related to this incident, the Tiller family has decided to close his clinic, so some good has come out of it.  

PFAW E-Mail

I like to hear a wide variety of viewpoints, even when I strongly disagree.  If I don't hear what others have to say, I can't do a very good job disagreeing.  So, I sign up to get the e-mails from all sorts of group from all over the political spectrum as one way of keeping up with what different people are saying

Today, I received an e-mail from People for the American Way, which, if you didn't guess, is a group with whom I disagree on pretty much everything...

Here's their e-mail and my response... my comments on their email will be [Bracketed Blue Italics]

Dear [Collegiate Catholic],

Extreme, overheated rhetoric can have dangerous consequences.

By now, you may have heard or read that last Sunday, Dr. George Tiller, a physician who has been targeted for years for his willingness to provide abortion procedures often in the most difficult circumstances, was assassinated in his church in Kansas. [Are we really going to start using the word "assasinated," now?  While I think I've made clear that I see his murder as a tragedy, we need to be on guard against those who would make him out as some kind of martyr.]

Freedom of speech is one of our most cherished constitutional values and rights -- and should always be protected. But just because speech might be constitutionally protected does not make it right or decent. [Much of this e-mail is garbage, but let's remember this very valid distinction.  I have a feeling PFAW types won't appreciate it when this is applied in other circumstances.]

There can be little doubt that the irresponsible, inflammatory, dehumanizing and violent speech of some around the abortion debate -- much of it targeted [Warning... this link is pretty bogus.  It tries to characterize complaints about Sebelius' Tiller ties, similar to the one I directed to Senator Casey, as hate-mongering rhetoric.] at Dr. Tiller himself -- contributed to this tragedy. [Perhaps.  We do, however, have to distinguish between true statements and "dehumanizing" speech.] The reaction to the assassination by some of these same people has been pretty shocking.

Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry said Tiller "reaped what he sowed."[Terry was guilty of insensitive timing, but in context, his point was perhaps a valid one.  Tiller was an integral part of the culture of death.  His murder was another symptom of that culture.  If you watch the video of what he said at the first link in the paragraph, you'll probably see that the comment was misrepresented here.]

Ann Coulter basically equated a woman's decision to have an abortion with a would-be assassin's decision to kill an abortion doctor. [Ann is a font of obnoxious, offensive statements.  She's an entertainer and that's her schtick.  But, abortion does take an innocent life.]

And Wiley Drake, a former vice president of Southern Baptist Convention who last year was Alan Keyes' running mate, called Tiller's death "an answer to prayer." Drake then unabashedly told FOX broadcaster Alan Colmes on his radio show that he prays for the death of President Obama! [On the radio, Drake indicated that he gave up on praying for Tiller's salvation after years of doing so.  I understand his frustration, but we have to rely on God not gunmen.  When we let the challenges Satan gives us turn our love to hate, he wins.]

Dr. Tiller's death is a sad reminder that stoking the flames of hate has serious ramifications, yet the Radical Right [I don't like that phrase at all.  WHo, exactly, is the "Radical Right" ?] is seemingly doing everything it can to continue the extreme demonization of its opponents, even suggesting violence with the use of images.

In the wake of Tiller's death, a Religious Right group calling itself Answers in Genesis has a billboard up in Texas and a TV ad comparing Atheism to murder [Answers in Genesis believes in that Young Earth stuff and what not... they're a little out there, IMO.  But, it's a gross mischaracterization to say that the billboard compares atheism to murder.]. And the FOX Nation web site actually featured side-by-side articles with images that appear to have firearms aimed at the heads of progressive leaders who also happen to be African American. The absolute best that can be said of this is that FOX Nation is guilty of sloppy and irresponsible negligence. [Oh, Puh-leez.  Grasp at straws much?]

It's incredibly important that we all stay vigilant in exposing the fear mongering and hate that drive people inclined towards violence to take action. PFAW's RightWingWatch.org blog is one such place for activists like you to stay informed [if by "informed," you mean that you're actually seeking a left-wing brand of fear mongering and hate]. Please visit the blog often, sign up for regular "Best of the Blog"updates and help spread the word about this resource.

Thank you for all you do. [Obviously not intended for me...]

-- Michael B. Keegan, President

P.S. On a far more positive note [If they think it's positive...], New Hampshire Governor John Lynch on Thursday signed into law legislation that makes New Hampshire the sixth state in which same-sex couples now enjoy legal marriage equality. This is a tremendous step in the fight to make sure ALL of our LGBT Americans have equal protection under the law. A special thanks to all PFAW members and activists in New Hampshire who took action in the effort to pass these bills (New Hampshire folks, please consider calling your legislators to thank them as well as Gov. Lynch).  [I'm hoping to put up what I think will be a rare sane look at the gay marriage debate sometime in the near future.]

And here was my response:

Mr. Keegan,

I often disagree with PFAW, but usually the contents of your e-mails don't bother me enough to respond.  This time, however, was a different story.

Here, you are guilty of the sort of overheated rhetoric, demonization, and mischaracterizations that are leading to the growing rift in society.  
I'm not big fan of Randall Terry, but you ripped his quote far out of context.  You are fear mongering about the "radical right," without defining it.  Pretending that a significant number of people are in the camp of "Sovereign Citizen" tax-protester abortionist-murderer Scott Roeder (who also happens to suffer from mental illness) is disingenuous at best.

If you're so scared about the dangers of stoking the flames of hate, stop doing it yourselves.

Sincerely,

[Collegiate Catholic]

Connecticut Government at it Again

Many of you likely followed the story a few months ago from Connecticut where the CT legislature was forced to back down after an attempt to intervene within the financial and power structure of the Catholic Church, apparently in retaliation for Catholic opposition to same sex marriage.

Public outcry over the blatant First Amendment violation and growing opposition in the state senate forced the bigots in the CT House to table the bill with little hope of bringing it back for further consideration (at least in this term.)

The bigots, however, have not gotten enough.  They're still seeking retaliation against the One True Church.  Now, the Office of State Ethics (OSE) is investigating the Church, accusing it of ethics violations for failing to file the appropriate forms for being... get this... a lobbying group.  Apparently, if you ask people to contact their legislature about bills that not only specifically pertain to your membership but mention your organization by name, you are "a lobbying group."

According to Catholic News Service, Bishop of Bridgeport William E. Lori asked:

"Following the surprise introduction of Bill 1098, a proposal that singled out Catholic parishes and would have forced them to reorganize contrary to Church law and the First Amendment, our Diocese responded in the most natural, spontaneous, and frankly, American, of ways: we alerted our membership – in person and through our website; we encouraged them to exercise their free speech by contacting their elected representatives; and, we organized a rally at the State Capitol.

“How can this possibly be called lobbying?"

In a letter to the faithful, he wrote:

'Lobbying'? Exhortations from the pulpit, information posted to the world wide web, a rally in the middle of the day on the State’s most public piece of property? This cannot possibly be what our Legislature had in mind when it enacted lobbying laws to bring more transparency and oversight to a legislative process that has been corrupted by special interests and backroom deals.

“Let’s be clear: we violated no law.”

Americans of all faith backgrounds should decry this absurd violation of our First Amendment rights.  For the legislature to have first attempted to violate the establishment clause by intervening in the structure of the Catholic Church, and then to jump in and seek to discipline the Church when Catholics exercised their rights to free speech and assembly is against everything the United States is supposed to represent.  Even pro-gay-marriage atheists should be united with Catholics here in defense of our Constitutional liberties.  People of all political and religious perspectives must stand together in favor of our right to have our beliefs, free from government attack.

The Archdiocese of Bridgeport is now filing suits in the Federal District Court against OSE Ethics Enforcement Officer, Thomas Jones, and against the OSE's Executive Director, Carol Carson.  They are asking that the Court bar the OSE from applying these lobbying regulations to the Church, allowing it to continue to provide its religious and social services without intimidation.  Without such a prohibition, the Church and all its agents would have to operate in fear of financial punishments and even criminal prosecution.

The Diocese of Bridgeport has its comments here.

It's a sad time to be an American, folks.  Hopefully the necessary groundswell against the Democratic Party's current onslaught against all that America has stood for will develop, and quickly... and hopefully that will bring some change to our government.  It's sad that the neoconservatives are comparatively a beacon of civil liberties and free enterprise.

Tiller Murder Update

The identity of the man suspected of carrying out the murder of George Tiller has come to light.  He is 51 year old Scott Roeder from Merriam, KS.  He has not, at this point, been charged in this case, but is being held for parole violations related to a previous conviction from 1996.  He violated his parole when he failed to fill out required tax forms and refused to provide his social security number to his employer.  

Roeder has been active in the Sovereign Citizen Movement and is a tax protestor.  The Sovereign Citizen Movement is a fringe movement of people who claim that under common law principles they are unaccountable to Federal Law.

Daily Kos is claiming that Roeder was an active member in Operation Rescue, citing an alleged posting on the OR message board under his name that read:

Bleass everyone for attending and praying in May to bring justice to Tiller and the closing of his death camp. Sometime soon, would it be feasible to organize as many people as possible to attend Tillers church (inside, not just outside) to have much more of a presence and possibly ask questions of the Pastor, Deacons, Elders and members while there? Doesn’t seem like it would hurt anything but bring more attention to Tiller.

The post at Daily Kos implies that Operation Rescue should be ashamed and tries to direct anger in that direction.  According to LifeSite News, the National Organization for Women is similarly trying to direct blame beyond Roeder to unnamed Pro-Life groups.  

Let me first say, for the record, that I don't support Operation Rescue's tactics.  I think that it's ineffective to rely on major creating spectacles to win the abortion battle and that only reinvigorating our culture with virtue, love, and respect will do the trick.

That said, we must be very clear where the blame for the murder today lies... with the murderer.  While the hateful hacks at Daily Kos and with the NOW would like to manipulate these events for their own political gain, doing so is completely illegitimate, and they should be ashamed of themselves for the attempt.

Very soon after news of the shooting broke today, Operation Rescue released the following statement:

"We are shocked at this morning's disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down.  Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning."

However one may feel about Operation Rescue's methods, they have never advocated violence.  Blaming them for today's violence is a lie.  Trying to pin the events on "the Pro-Life movement" is also illegitimate.  It would have been absurd to smear the civil rights movement due to a few violent acts in the 1960s and 70s.  Similarly, the several acts of anti-abortion violence that have occurred over the past decade are not representative of the Pro-Life movement and should not be used to smear the many good people working to protect the rights of the unborn and to provide aid to women in need.

And, to the Pro-Life movement, now is not a time to back down in shame.  We have no reason to be ashamed of being a witness to the dignity of human life.  We need to continue to affirm the dignity of all human life, from conception to natural death.  We need to clarify for any who may be confused that this dignity extends even to those who stand against us.  And, we need to take this opportunity to remind all of our own that at the core of our own beliefs must be a genuine sense of love.  For the many of us who are Christian, we need to remember that our God IS Love and commanded us to love each other.  This, of course, should also be the cue to reach out to the Tiller family... not to disrespect them by trying to politicize their family tragedy (we should show more class than NOW) but through an honest outpouring of the Love Jesus modeled for us.

Now, on a related note...

I think this is as good a time as any to plug something I've been urging for as long as I can remember.  I implore the United States government to STOP demonizing the pro-life movement, the gun ownership movement and conservative Christianity, and I ask that while they are at it, they drop the focus on the so-called "radical right," which is difficult to define.  Instead, law enforcement really needs to look harder at Christian Identity, a radical white supremacist "Christian" group.  Nearly every act of domestic terrorism committed in the past several decades in the US have been linked to this movement, and while I don't want to jump the gun and assume Roeder's guilt before the evidence has even been presented or the man has been charged (though, I don't sense much doubt out there on this one), I can't help but note that the Sovereign Citizen Movement, of which he is a part, is largely a child of Christian Identity.

So, while I doubt anyone with real power on these matters is reading this, please urge those in power that instead of a large scale politically motivated crack down, and instead of repeating the debacle at Ruby Ridge or at the Branch Davidian ranch in Waco with a continued witch hunt against the amorphous "radical right,"  law enforcement in the United States needs to hone in on the group who's always tied to the violence... Christian Identity.

George Tiller, RIP

Late-term abortionist George Tiller was shot dead outside Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita.  While I find his career reprehensible, I pray that his soul rests in peace.  I also pray that his family will find the comfort of Our Lord.

Vigilantism is not the appropriate response to the tragedy of abortion.  I hope that those who, like me, are deeply disturbed by the innocent blood of the unborn that's spilled across our country, will be filled with the Holy Spirit on this Pentecost, and that the Spirit will sharpen our tongues to beat back this genocide while teaching us to act always in Love.