Defrocked Priest's Funeral Full of Pomp

The Toledo Catholic Diocese never can shut the door on pedophile priests. This Catholic hierarchy is in continual denial and cover-up of priest sexual abuse. Today a defrocked priest was given a glorious funeral: it was celebrated by Bishop Donnelly and the school attached to the church was closed because the pastor did not know how large the crowd would be.

After the burial, all were invited to a country club to remember the priest who went astray. Claudi Vercellotti, SNAP local chapter leader said, "I'm not saying that people shouldn't pray for him and remember him, but honoring Neil Lucas like this almost looks like an attempt to negate what he did wrong,." Perhaps, Ms. Vercellotti, one could change your word 'negate' to 'cover-up' for a more accurate reading of the event.

Toledo has had more than its fair share of notoriety in this priest abuse scandal. The film, Twist of Faith, is but one episode in this sordid tale of hierarchical cover-up by the Catholic church in this diocese.

God-pimping Fails to Seat in Governor's Races in Miss and Ky

The hapless and crooked governor of Kentucky, Ernie Fletcher, pulled out the 10 Commandments in a last ditch hope that the voters would fall for his God-pimping and keep him in office. It didn't work; he lost badly. In Mississippi a fundamentalist challenger to Gov. Barbour who wanted to teach creationism in the schools of the state tried to woo voters. Voters rejected him soundly.

What does this say for the '08 election? Are these examples of what is to come when politicians try to wrap themselves around God in their pandering for votes?

U.S. in Decline

PetroChina overnight has becom the world's first trillion dollar company.
ExxonMobile, the US company, has yet to reach a trillion. Hello? Does
this ring an alarm bell? Is anyone this morning asking, "China? How is
it that China has the first trillion dollar company?" American Gov't policy
and American corporation greed have championed the idea that if the
US trades and sends American technology, business, factories, and labor
to China, the result will be the opening up of China to democracy, liberty,
and freedom. China will give up its communist government because of a
revolution of rising expectations of the Chinese people. China will join the
"peace-loving" capitalist countries of the world. Secretary of Defense, Gates,
has been in China this last week, asking the Chinese to roll back a new, large
increase in military spending. The chinese told him "to hit the road." Isn't
it comforting to know that all our trade deficit monies that we have sent to
China and all the manufacturing factories and associated jobs, all that money
and all the technology, China is using to greatly enlarge and modernize their
offensive military position. I wonder why and what power in the Pacific could
possibly be viewed as a threat. With chinese industry and manufacturing being
built daily on the backs of American laboring men and women and chinese gov't
wealthy increasing because of the unfair trade policies which forces the US to
borrow huge amounts of financial resources from China, the US and especially
the american middle class have lost. Both the Democrat and Republican Parties
have purposely and with intention set this into motion due to the Big Business
flow of money into each Party's coffers. They have taken us from a creditor
nation to a debtor nation and offer no way out. They have destroyed our
manufacturing base. They have watched all American income to be stagnant(no
growth, even for inflation) or decrease for 96% of all workers, 96%......What is
to be done?

No [All] Child Left Behind Going Down Sewer

Who could have imagined that President Bush’s 'signature domestic achievement' has met a dead end? Why not? Everything else he's touched has tarnished. The New York Times reports:

"The leaders ofthe Senate and House education committees are signaling that time has run out for reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act this year, leaving prospects for rewriting it uncertain during the presidential campaign in 2008."

This defeat is a great win for American school children. No longer will they be subjected to teaching to the high-stakes testing. Perhaps teachers can now plan lessons appropriate for the children, lessons that both might enjoy.

Evangelical Regrets His Bush Vote Seven Years Too Late

Evangelicals losing faith in President is the title of a letter to the editor of The Blade on this election day. He begins:

"Millions of evangelicals around the United States are beginning to lose faith in our President. He has taken a position that is not consistent with biblical teaching."

He goes on to say,

"President Bush at times has been out of touch with what is really happening and what people are thinking, especially in the evangelical and Bible belts in our country. This lack of understanding and not being open to other people's views will certainly be the downfall of the Republican Party, not only now but more importantly in November, 2008."

The letter writer apparently had an epiphany, albeit 7 years too late. He now worries about 'the aggression and killing of innocent people' in Iraq. "Mr. Bush...will be held accountable for his actions and decisions that continue to cost the lives of thousands of people without regard to the wishes of the American people and the citizens of this world."

While I applaud his confession, I cannot forgive his sin. The Bible Belt to which he refers and the evangelicals there and here in Ohio put him into office in 2000 and then re-elected him in 2004 after watching him lie to the American people about the 'mushroom cloud' and 'uranium from Africa.'

Millions of Americans were not fooled by the naive governor back in 2000 and millions more knew, four years later, that he was clearly a jackass and incompetent leader of our nation.

Yet, these Bible Belt-ers and evangelicals marched lock-step to the voting booths and mindlessly checked off the box of the 'right-to-life' candidate who, as the author of today's letter finally admits, 'cost the lives of thousands of people.' Or a million.

That's what we get from one-issue voters. Scoundrels like Bush and Cheney depend on these one-issue voters to be duped into believing the rhetoric. No doubt, today as I type this post, some person is marking their 'X' because of some issue unrelated to governance.

What's a Naive Texas Governor Gotten Us Into?

He looks into Putin's eyes and saw a clean soul. Shouldn't that have been a wake-up call to all of us? George W. Bush: the ne'erdowell, naive governor with a lucky last name. The man who lost the presidency then magically was placed into the White House. Did that ring any bell?

Were this a sit-com we could have had some fun. Of course, the bungler did present us with some laughs- at that press dinner when he played the game, 'Where are those WMD's?' We all thought that clever skit was a hoot, except the widows of our military.

Each day we hold our breath to see what new college frat-boy prank he'll pull on us. 'Pull my finger, I need to fart' gets lots of laughs inside the White House. Gosh, what fun. Does he throw soap in the fountains to watch the bubbles?

We haven't had such fun with a president since, well, ever! I like those tin 'Medal of Freedom' badges he hangs around the other goofs in the show. That gets lots of laughs. The one to Don Rumsfeld was a particular hoot, wasn't it? I thought George Tenet's was the best until that one came aboard. Of course, the one to L. Paul Bremer takes the cake. Did FEMA Director Michael Brown get one?

So today, one of his buds, Pervez Musharaf, has pulled the constitution, declared martial law, shut down the press, and is jailing the lawyers and dissenters. What fun! I wonder if our frat-boy-in-chief wants to copy-cat that prank here? He's love to be able to pull off that one.

Quick, pull his finger!

George Bush's "Pig Pen" Effect

He's that curious Schultz character continually in a cloud of dirt. Reminds me much of George W. Seems his entire life has been a dirt ball of one sort or another. Everything that both lads touched turned to ruin.

Cartoon creator Charles Schultz penned these words in defense of the sooty boy: "Don't think of it as dust. Just think of it as the dirt and dust of far-off lands blowing over here and settling on Pig-Pen! It staggers the imagination! He may be carrying the soil that was trod upon by Solomon or Nebuchadnezzar or Genghis Khan!"

Indeed it may. Then again, it might just be fool's dust, of, by and from a fool.

Today it's Pakistan's Pervez Muschariff; a few years ago it was Saddam Hussein. Where is Osama bin Laden? Can't forget Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Oh, and Valdimir Putin.

Wouldn't this make a great new episode for all of the Peanuts Gang?

Sadly, we can't turn off the DVD. Nope. Pig Pen is for real and he's with us for another whole year. Lord knows what other misadventures the little ne'erdowell rascal will get into with all that time to play with.

American Election Reform

It seems to me that it is about time that American elections
are won for the people and not bought by the corporations
and wealthy interests groups. Here are some suggestions
that are worthy of consideration. It seems to me that there
needs to be a complete package of election reform measures.
Just one or two reforms will not correct our election efforts.

The measures are:

No PAC monies;
No corporation monies;
Mandatory public campaign funding;
Only 40% of campaign contributions can be from outside the candidate's district;
No gifts or monies from lobbyists or private interests seeking favorable legislation;
Public officeholders forbidden from any lobbying for 8 years after serving;
Term limits;
Members cannot vote themselves pay raises.

These are up for discussion. Please contribute your thoughts on the massive
political corruption on all levels of government and what we need to accomplish
for clean and honest politicians. Make additions to the above list, too........

Whither Pakistan?

Well, well now....Musharraf declares martial law....Imagine that....Bush's good
comrade in arms, Musharraf, the man Bush and Cheney and Republicans said
would bring democracy to Pakistan, has "suspended" the Pakistan Constitution
and arrested the top judges and lawyers. He has issued orders for the army to
use assault rifles and round up oppostition leaders, including human rights and
democracy advocates. According to news sources any one opposed to his military
rule is being hunted down and arrested. The Parliament and Supreme Court are
surrounded by military troops. Any one who "ridicules" Musharraf or the armed
forces is to be arrested for up to three years.

Musharraf has decided to take the path of dictatorship. And, this is the person Bush
called his firmist ally. Might ask, ally for what? So far, the Bush response has been
to say that the emergency declaration does not impact our military support of the
Muslim nation nor its efforts in the war on terror. Rice, however, has issued a
statement asking for a "return" to democracy. As if there ever was democracy under
Musharraf. Bush's hypocrisy of fronting Musharraf as a force for democracy in
Pakistan is now out in the open. Bush and Rice and the Republicans did nothing to
promote democracy in Pakistan. (Does any one remember Bush's Second Inaugural
Address where he would promote democracy?) The Bush Cabal has totally ignored
the real democratic leaders and forces in Pakistan. They have refused to even meet
with Sharif and Bhutto. Instead they gave all support and praise to Musharraf in the
form of massive financial support and huge supplies of military equipment and
technology. Moreover, they gave him their support as he cracked down on dissidents
and democratic activists in Pakistan, which turned these people to the more radical
elements in Pakistani society.

The bottom line: The Bush Administration and the Republicans have said that Musharraf
put Pakistan on the road to democracy. Double talk pure and simple. A nuclear nation,
possibly falling under radical Islamic control, which was stated for some time to be the
most dangerous place in the world, not Iran or North Korea, but Pakistan because it already
possessed nuclear weapons, nuclear materials for the suitcase bombs, and missles to
deliever warheads. Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, neo-cons, Republicans have made the
US more unsafe, not safer.

Oh, to Have a Daily McClatchy Newspaper

Only a few large cities in the U.S. are fortunate enough to have a McClatchy Newspaper as their daily. I wish that Toledo was one, but unfortunately we have The Blade. Fortunately for the folks in Kansas City, Fort Worth, Sacramento and Miami, they open a daily McClatchy to read the fine journalism associated with this publishing group.

Their OP-eds are especially keen as is one today that appeared in the Fort worth Star-Telegram this morning by Joe Galloway titled, "What kind of a nut wants a war with Iran?" The sidebar to the article: General H. Norman Schwarzkopf has called Joseph L. Galloway, a military columnist for McClatchy Newspapers, "The finest combat correspondent of our generation — a soldier's reporter and a soldier's friend."

I enjoy this no-nonsense, hit them over the head style of journalism which is often displayed in this blog. Galloway begins:

"There were some things far more frightening last week than Halloween's small ghouls and goblins -- and the scariest of all is the Bush administration's seemingly inexorable march toward military confrontation with Iran.

What are they smoking at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.? The very idea is dumb as a fencepost and best left to the biggest pied piper of what passes for neoconservative thought, Norman Podhoretz. Yet President Bush and his able assistant, Vice President Dick Cheney, are marching to that tune and humming along lustily."

Nutcase. Stupid. Dumb. Good descriptive words. I'd add Dictatorship, New World Order and Fascism.

Beyond the labels and the political rhetoric, Galloway makes a great economic case against the absurdity: oil. Remember those pre-invasion anti-war rally signs, "No Blood for Oil!" Galloway says, "Shutting down not only Iran's oil production but Iraq's as well, and possibly triggering Iranian retaliation against the oil production and shipping in other nations around the Persian Gulf. Are we ready for $300 a barrel oil?"

Then he brings up Putin, the man whose soul the naive Texas governor saw, as the man whose hand is on the spigot:

"Putin has his hand on the natural gas and oil pipelines that keep our presumed allies in Europe from freezing to death, so it is wise to assume that any support for a U.S. attack on his ally Iran would be slim to none."

Imagine that: the oil execs in the White House now facing the awkward stalemate of their neocon goals because of that which made them wealthy. Isn't that an excellent irony?

Unfortunately, a stalemate would be a logical conclusion for anybody but Bush. Many times on this blog I have questioned the mental stability of Mr. Bush. Many times. His mental health is dangerously unstable, and a man with adolescent tendencies will not stand to be caged up in a stale mate.

Perhaps that is why Galloway ended his op ed with this: "Be afraid. Be very afraid.."

I Tread in Murky Waters: AIPAC and Congress

In the past several weeks I have noticed several disturbing bits of news which led me to this post. The latest was just yesterday when I read that Senators Schumer and Feinstein, liberal Democrats, approved the nomination of Michael Makasey as Attorney General, even though he balked at classifying waterboarding as torture. All three are of the Jewish faith.

Three days ago I read an article by Ray McGovern, Attacking Iran for Israel, in which he said, " Vice President Dick Cheney reiterated, “We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” That remark followed closely on President George W. Bush’s apocalyptic warning of World War III, should Tehran acquire the knowledge to produce a nuclear weapon.
The Israelis appear convinced they have extracted a promise from Bush and Cheney that they will help Israel nip Iran’s nuclear program in the bud before they leave office. That is why the Israeli ambassador says there is “very little time”-less than 15 months."

Further on in the article, McGovern says, "If the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) with its overflowing coffers supports an attack on Iran, so will most of our spineless lawmakers."

Four weeks ago 76 members of the Senate voted in favor of the non-binding resolution of Kyl-Lieberman calling for the designation of its Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization responsible for killing U.S. troops. Many see it as the first step that Bush/Cheney can use to defend the bombing of military sites in Iran.

Interestingly, of the 13 members of the Senate who are Jews, Boxer, Feingold, Sanders, and Wyden voted 'NO." The other 9 voted "YES." Many of these 9 are generally liberal in other voting such as Charles Schumer, Karl Levin, Herb Kohl and Frank Lautenberg.

I also note that Norman Podhoretz, the god-father of the Neoconservative movement, wrote a WSJ op ed with the self-explanatory title, "The Case for Bombing Iran I hope and pray that President Bush will do it." Podhoertz recently spent time in the Oval Office with George W. Bush.

Norman and John Podhoretz, Douglas Feith, Lewis Libby, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Elliott Abrams, and Bill Kristol are all members of PNAC as well as Neocons and, coincidentally, of the Jewish faith. They were terribly influential on the naive governor of Texas shortly after 9-11. They along with Cheney and Rumsfeld convinced the young Bush to attack Iraq. Who's to change his mind on Iran? After all, if both Iraq and Iran are humbled and crushed militarily, the state of Israel will be the sole masters of the Middle East.

The foolish Christian Zionists have easily walked into this trap and are most welcomed by the neocons. The Nation published an article, AIPAC's Hold, which, besides exposing the Israeli Lobby, saying, "Christian conservatives increasingly aligned with AIPAC demand unwavering support for Israel from their Republican leaders. "

The website Democracy Now posted an article with this title, "Christians United for Israel: New Christian Zionism Lobby Hopes to Rival AIPAC." It says, " A new group was recently established called Christians United for Israel - CUFI. They're an evangelical organization that believes supporting expansionist policies of the Israeli government is: "a biblical imperative." In a new article for The Nation, journalist Max Blumenthal reports group members have held several meetings with White House officials to talk about US policy in the Middle East. They've apparently lobbied the administration to adopt a confrontational posture toward Iran, refuse aid to the Palestinians and give Israel a free hand in its attack on Lebanon."

John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago's Department of Political Science and Stephen M.Walt of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government contend that the centerpiece of U.S. Middle East policy is its intimate relationship with Israel. The authors argue that although often justified as reflecting shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, the U.S. commitment to Israel is due primarily to the activities of the “Israel Lobby." This paper goes on to describe the various activities that pro-Israel groups have undertaken in order to shift U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction.

OK. Those are the facts that lead me to this question: Do political interest groups who support the state of Israel have undue influence in the government and policies of the United States?

I am particularly worried at this moment about a preemptive strike by the Bush/Cheney administration on Iran. I see many signs that this attack is in the works. I see votes in Congress, many from members of the Jewish faith, that will lead to such an attack.

I am terribly concerned that the foreign policy of this administration on the Middle East is unduly influenced by AIPAC and Christian Zionists. Nowhere in our Constitution is there permission for a foreign nation to determine our policies. Nowhere in our Constitution is there permission for a pre-emptive strike on another nation unless that nation is imminently posed to strike our nation.

It's the Constitution. It is being shredded.

What's Up Chuck [and Dianne]?

Charles Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California are both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and both have said that will vote FOR the nomination of George Bush's pick, Michael Mukasey, for AG. The other 8 Dems on the committee will vote against him due to the deviant answers on 'waterboarding.' The math is clear: 8 GOP + 2 Dems = recommendation to Senate floor.

What's up with that? Why these two senators? What do they see in Mukasey that the other Dems miss? The only connections that I can see is that they are all of the Jewish faith. Is that the connection that pushes him into the Attorney General's office?

Catholic Public Activism Must Become More Focused on Common Good

This story from the Catholic News Service:

Catholics involved in the public square must above all follow the principles of the common good, though that's a countercultural approach in both politics and contemporary American life, said the chairman of the department of politics at The Catholic University of America in Washington. Speaking Oct. 30 to a gathering of the group Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Stephen Schneck, who also heads the university's Life Cycle Institute, a public policy research program, outlined a five-step agenda for bringing a "common good agenda" to American public policy. "The foundation for Catholic thinking about politics, governance and policy is the idea of the common good," Schneck said. But that's "a hard notion for contemporary Americans to understand."

And the momentum in American politics "is one accelerating (away) from anything like the common good," he said. "Let's remember that ours is a politics where citizens are encouraged - after a terrorist attack - to go shopping. Where even military service is sometimes privatized."

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Apparently Stephen Schneck hopes to awaken the sleeping political Catholic giant to help them understand that there is more to being 'pro-life' than bombing abortion clinics and pasting photos of fetuses on billboards. I have been arguing that very point on this blog for a long time. I also think, if my intuition serves me well, that the Catholic fundamentalist is more likely to be persuaded to think more broadly about a mission of 'common good' than Protestant fundamentalists. Catholic social teaching is much more ingrained in the Catholic parishioner.

Already we have seen in some recent polling that the traditional support of the GOP by fundamentalist Catholics is waning. I only hope that this trend continues through the election of November '08 so that we can get this nation into a more helping role in the world instead of the Bush killing role in the world. I think the Catholic vote will swing to the more tolerant, more peaceful Democrat side.

Obama to Force Hillary's Hand on Warmongering

She voted to authorize George Bush to go to war with Iraq and has never apologized for that blunder. Perhaps she doesn't think it was a blunder. Obama doesn't let her off the hook for that vote. She also voted for the Kyl -Lieberman nonbinding resolution that designates Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization; some think that proposal was a green light for Bush to bomb Iran. Kyl and Lieberman culled Clinton's vote which Obama has also used against her in the debates.

Obama introduced a Senate resolution late Thursday that says President Bush does not have authority to use military force against Iran. Mrs. Clinton signed a letter to Bush circulated to several senators reminding him that he doesn't have the authority to bomb Iran. An Obama spokesman said the Illinois senator drafted the measure in an effort to "nullify the vote the Senate took to give the president the benefit of the doubt on Iran." That was the Kyl-Lieberman resolution. Clinton was the only Senate Democrat running for president to support the measure, and her rivals have argued that Bush could use it to justify war with Iran.

The Obama legislation is a bold move to hold Clinton's feet to the fire on warmongering. It will be interesting to see whether she will vote for the legislation. I wonder if she is talking to Harry Reid behind closed doors to have the proposed Obama legislation tabled until after the Iowa caucus. I wouldn't put it past her.

An even bolder move on Obama's part would be to fly over to Tehran and have a one-on-one with either Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He said that he will meet with them if elected, but he could use the Bush policy of preemption to show his resolve now.

The Enemy of Our Proxy Friend Becomes Our Enemy

Snarled thinking, but necessary for the cowboy diplomacy of the Bush Administration. Today Condi Rice, speaking on behalf of the United States, declared the Turkish PKK 'our enemies too.'

Irrational? Stupid? Of course, but so it the Bush 'diplomacy.' There Ms Rice is shaking hands with the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, so that his enemy becomes our enemy. The PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party ] is working to unite the Kurdish people throughout the area, but, because Turkey doesn't want their Kurds to merge with the Iraqi Kurds, the PKK is now our enemy.

Clear?

Science Discovery: Molecules Organize Themselves Into Patterns

Yes, themselves: that is the operative word in a newly released study by scientists who study nanotechnology. ScienceDaily.com has the article. When heated copper molecules were allowed only 2-dimensional movement, "those in incorrect positions move to make room for others which fit properly," says the article. The scientists further report, "The molecular-level observation of such self-selection gives, for the first time, direct insight into fundamental steps of the biological evolution from inanimate molecules to living entities."

Scientists from the USA and Germany explain that 'this observation of molecular organization at surfaces may lead to further insight of how simple, inanimate molecules can build up biological entities of increasing structural and functional complexity, such as membranes, cells, leaves, trees, etc.'

These fascinating discoveries these are at the nano-measurement level, magnification 50,000 times smaller than a human hair. The study was conducted by Alexander Langner, Dr. Steven Tait, Dr. Nian Lin, and Prof. Dr. Klaus Kern of the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research and Dr. Chandrasekar Rajadurai and Dr. Mario Ruben of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Chávez Pours Millions into Pioneering Music for Poor Venezuelan Children

The BBC this evening ran a segment on Venezuelan President Chavez who has used his nation's oil revenues to create music programs for the poorer children in his nation. The UK Guardian ran the story last month. They said, "President Hugo Chávez has thrown his weight behind a scheme which brings classical music into Venezuela's slums, following international acclaim for the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra. The Venezuelan leader announced the creation of "Misión Música", a government-funded effort to give tuition and instruments to 1 million impoverished children."

I was thinking, as I watched these youngsters and their instruments, how wonderful it would be if and American president would do such a thing for our poor and disadvantaged children. Instead, he vetoes their health care and spends our money on his war.

No wonder Chavez called Bush 'Diablo' at the United Nations last year.