| AARP 08 Video |
 |
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Election 2008 - Who Can Really Solve Our Problems?
This is fun! Go to AARP and create your own political ad!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Light a Candle for an American Hero
This morning (October 19, 2008) on Meet the Press, former Secretary of State Colin Powell related the simple and touching story of Army Cpl. Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, a 20-year-old American soldier who died in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Powell eloquently noted that religion should not be a factor in any political discourse and that Muslim-American children have the same right to aspire to the Presidency that non-Muslim American children do. The same day The New York Times did a more in-depth follow-up on Cpl. Khan's all-too-short life and heroic sacrifice.
During my internet search for more information, I stumbled upon what I think is a gentle and caring way to let Cpl. Khan's family know that you appreciate the sacrifice that their son made for his country.
You can go to the website for the Thibadeau Mortuary and light a virtual candle for Cpl. Khan.
Here's the link:
Light a Candle
It will take a few seconds and make a statement that you agree with Gen. Powell.
Powell eloquently noted that religion should not be a factor in any political discourse and that Muslim-American children have the same right to aspire to the Presidency that non-Muslim American children do. The same day The New York Times did a more in-depth follow-up on Cpl. Khan's all-too-short life and heroic sacrifice.
During my internet search for more information, I stumbled upon what I think is a gentle and caring way to let Cpl. Khan's family know that you appreciate the sacrifice that their son made for his country.
You can go to the website for the Thibadeau Mortuary and light a virtual candle for Cpl. Khan.
Here's the link:
Light a Candle
It will take a few seconds and make a statement that you agree with Gen. Powell.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Catholic Church Engaged in Stealth Campaign That Clearly Steers Believers to GOP
Right off the bat, I'll tell you that I was baptized Catholic and attended sixteen years of Catholic school. I studied Classical Greek, Theology, Medieval History and Philosophy at Fordham University and left the Church at age 20. About ten years ago, I tried to reconnect. Did the reconciliation, went to mass regularly, etc. I finally decided that what had driven me away originally still hadn't been fixed. Women were still second-class citizens in the Catholic God's world.
Today, when I opened my email account, I discovered the video below, sent to me by a woman friend, also a lapsed Catholic. She has been inundated with videos and literature like this by her still-practicing family, people who routinely vote against their own economic self-interest because their Church "tells" them to vote against abortion.
In the video, a surrogate organization, shilling for the Catholic Church, clearly tells Catholic viewers that abortion is the ONLY issue that is important in the upcoming election. As you will see, in what can only be described as propaganda, the video juxtaposes photos of a voting booth, a fetus, the sign for high gas prices and global warming with the following words superimposed on the images:
MANY ISSUES ARE AT STAKE.
SOME ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OTHERS.
NO ISSUE CAN BE IGNORED
BUT NONE ARE MORE CRUCIAL
TO THE FOUNDATION OF OUR COUNTRY THAN
LIFE.
The message is extremely clear, even to those not raised Catholic.
Vote for the party that labels itself pro-life.
Now, exactly what party would that be?
As far as I'm concerned, that Catholic Church - through this surrogate site - has endorsed a political party just as surely as if every priest stood in the pulpit next Sunday morning and ordered his congregation to vote for McCain and Palin.
Never mind that the Catholic Church and fundamentalist Protestants like Sarah Palin would make a 12-year-old girl carry her father's baby to term (now, why doesn't someone ask McCain about THAT in the next debate?!!)
This is blatant use of the internet and modern marketing techniques to sway the votes of millions of Americans. Catholics are in awe of the power of the Pope. The clever cutting and pasting of powerful archetypical images, co-mingled with historical images of proud Catholic Americans, leads to only one possible conclusion for a devout Catholic to draw. And that is: Vote Republican.
This video was produced (at some cost, I would imagine) by CatholicVote.com, the brain-child of another Catholic organization called Fidelis.
From the Fidelis website:
"Fidelis (Latin for faithful) is the universal name for a group of Catholic-based political, legal, research and educational organizations whose collective mission it is to formulate, promote, and defend public policies that uphold religious freedom, human life from conception to natural death, and the traditional institutions of marriage and family.
"Our structure and approach is designed to coordinate the efforts of four related organizations under a comprehensive structure and unifying vision in order to effectively shape public debate, influence public policy, and defend critical freedoms in areas consistent with its mission. In this objective, Fidelis is unique in combining political, legal, policy and educational components at the service of one mission."
###
Recently dozens of evangelical pastors put their tax-exempt status at risk when they defied the IRS prohibition against preaching politics from the pulpit and began instructing their congregants to vote for the McCain-Palin ticket.
The Catholic Church, through groups like Fidelis, is doing precisely the same thing, only in a way designed to preserve that all-important tax exemption!
Watch and decide for yourself.
Today, when I opened my email account, I discovered the video below, sent to me by a woman friend, also a lapsed Catholic. She has been inundated with videos and literature like this by her still-practicing family, people who routinely vote against their own economic self-interest because their Church "tells" them to vote against abortion.
In the video, a surrogate organization, shilling for the Catholic Church, clearly tells Catholic viewers that abortion is the ONLY issue that is important in the upcoming election. As you will see, in what can only be described as propaganda, the video juxtaposes photos of a voting booth, a fetus, the sign for high gas prices and global warming with the following words superimposed on the images:
MANY ISSUES ARE AT STAKE.
SOME ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OTHERS.
NO ISSUE CAN BE IGNORED
BUT NONE ARE MORE CRUCIAL
TO THE FOUNDATION OF OUR COUNTRY THAN
LIFE.
The message is extremely clear, even to those not raised Catholic.
Vote for the party that labels itself pro-life.
Now, exactly what party would that be?
As far as I'm concerned, that Catholic Church - through this surrogate site - has endorsed a political party just as surely as if every priest stood in the pulpit next Sunday morning and ordered his congregation to vote for McCain and Palin.
Never mind that the Catholic Church and fundamentalist Protestants like Sarah Palin would make a 12-year-old girl carry her father's baby to term (now, why doesn't someone ask McCain about THAT in the next debate?!!)
This is blatant use of the internet and modern marketing techniques to sway the votes of millions of Americans. Catholics are in awe of the power of the Pope. The clever cutting and pasting of powerful archetypical images, co-mingled with historical images of proud Catholic Americans, leads to only one possible conclusion for a devout Catholic to draw. And that is: Vote Republican.
This video was produced (at some cost, I would imagine) by CatholicVote.com, the brain-child of another Catholic organization called Fidelis.
From the Fidelis website:
"Fidelis (Latin for faithful) is the universal name for a group of Catholic-based political, legal, research and educational organizations whose collective mission it is to formulate, promote, and defend public policies that uphold religious freedom, human life from conception to natural death, and the traditional institutions of marriage and family.
"Our structure and approach is designed to coordinate the efforts of four related organizations under a comprehensive structure and unifying vision in order to effectively shape public debate, influence public policy, and defend critical freedoms in areas consistent with its mission. In this objective, Fidelis is unique in combining political, legal, policy and educational components at the service of one mission."
###
Recently dozens of evangelical pastors put their tax-exempt status at risk when they defied the IRS prohibition against preaching politics from the pulpit and began instructing their congregants to vote for the McCain-Palin ticket.
The Catholic Church, through groups like Fidelis, is doing precisely the same thing, only in a way designed to preserve that all-important tax exemption!
Watch and decide for yourself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
