I am aiming to summarize, for my own understanding, the case for voting for Obama.
Republicans set themselves up for being undermined by not immediately coming down on Rudy in the primaries and allowing a pro-ESCR guy to win the nomination. They also set themselves up with their arguments for torture and zealous support for an increasingly unpopular war. They undermined their "pro-life" credentials. The logic from there goes like this:
1) The GOP is primarily interested in pro-life votes ONLY seeking to pass laws to pacify that end. They are, after all, politicians seeking votes and seeking to keep voting blocks in place. The GOP has little interest in reducing or eliminating abortion because they will lose a large block of hostage pro-life voters (the reluctant otherwise Democrat-leaning pro-lifers) 2) The laws they have passed have done very little to actually reduce abortion. 3) Other ways to reduce abortions such as fighting poverty and handing out contraception (consider most Catholics reject Church teaching here) and "education" will have more immediate returns in fighting abortion than the "divisive" legal route. 4) Even if we reverse Roe v. Wade then it returns to the states. States that have high percentages of abortions will retain the "right". This will not reduce abortions that much if at all.
In other words, the legal route will do very little and other means will have a better outcome. Consider it "outcome based" abortion elimination. They consider this a more pragmatic solution and thus use it to decide that the "proportionate reason" to support Obama exists because his OTHER policies will bear more fruit in reducing abortions. They also claim that other Obama policies are more in line with the Church. Remember, they don't see him as a platform Democrat. The change rhetoric was designed to set him apart from platform Democrats, and more importantly, set him apart from Bush.
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IMHO the US bishops made the case against this reasoning and thus unequivocally against a vote for Obama. They argued the proportionate reason didn't exist ... The way *I* saw it, third party or a *very* reluctant vote for McCain were your two best choices.
Zippy Catholic is right ... the Catholics who voted for Obama have a responsibility to be first in line to fight him on FOCA. I expect others will remind them of their line of reasoning should Obama's policies fail to reduce abortions.
Now that we have a President elect, you see, there is no longer any justification for remote material cooperation in his wicked policies. Justified remote material cooperation with evil may have (I think it objectively did not, but lets set that aside) made it possible to choose him over McCain; but now we have the absolute condition of a chosen President. If proportionate reason ever existed for remote material cooperation with his evil policies before the election, they no longer do now. Now your obligation is reversed, as I alluded to earlier. Now your obligation is to oppose his evil policies with all your heart, mind, and strength; all the more so because of your choice to vote for him.
Also, I think it best not to assign evil motive to those who voted for Obama. I might think their reasoning is greatly clouded but its uncharitable to go beyond that. Consider them works in progress and more importantly, ask for your own humility on that which you fail to understand.
For larger versions of the images (amongst other images) go to the Art category of this blog.
I modified the pictures using mostly favorites of my own .... I may switch a few .. comments would be appreciated
Crucifix
Fra Angelico - San Dominic adoring the Crucifixion
Sorrowful
1 Carl Heinrich Bloch - Agony In the Garden 2 William Bouguereau The Flagellation of Our Lord Jesus Christ 3 Unknown 1490 altarpiece - Crowning by Thorns 4 Master Thomas de Coloswar - Christ Carrying the Cross 5 Josse Lieferinxe - Crucifixion
Joyful
1 Sandro Botticelli - Annunciation 2 Dominico Ghirlandaio - Visitation 3 Lorenzo Lotto - The Nativity 4 Philippe de Champaigne - The Presentation in the Temple 5 William Holman Hunt Finding Jesus in the Temple
Glorious
1 Pierre Paul Rubens - Érection de la Croix 2 Garofalo - Ascension of Christ 3 Jean Restout - Pentacost 4 Poussin Assumption 5 Velazquez Crowning mary
Luminous
1 Francesco Albani - Baptism of Christ 2 Marten de Vos - The Marriage at Cana 3 Carl Heinrich Bloch - Sermon on the Mount 4 Raphael - Transfiguration 5 Juan de Flandes - Last Supper
I tried to map the Bishops that have spoken out on priority of life issues ... The blue circles are individual bishops that made statement and the yellow states represent a joint statement issued by a number of bishops in that state. Looks like the so-called battleground states were well represented.
2477 Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury.278 He becomes guilty:
- of rash judgment who, even tacitly, assumes as true, without sufficient foundation, the moral fault of a neighbor;
- of detraction who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another's faults and failings to persons who did not know them;279
- of calumny who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them.
2478 To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor's thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way:
Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another's statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved.280
2479 Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one's neighbor. Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus, detraction and calumny offend against the virtues of justice and charity.
First off Obama is our president. He deserves our prayers and our active participation in the system. I have not lost hope that a miraculous conversion of heart on his part will still give us a pro-life president of the "consistent life ethic" kind. It is the responsiblity of Catholics to fight against he evil he stands for and support the good he stands for. I am oddly calm but I think that has a lot to do with where I put my trust ... In God. I lost my trust in the Republicans when my becoming Catholic made quite evident their warts and I remain ever skeptical of the Democrats and Obama. I think both will eventually disappoint. They are human and their institutions are man-made.
I have read some Catholic commentary this morning mostly lamenting how "un-Catholic" our voting numbers turned out to be. How is it that Catholics supported Obama in the numbers they did? .... And worse, how is it that Evangelicals demonstrated by number that they are "more Catholic" than Catholics on life issues? ... Consider that
I think if you broke that figure down into Catholics who attend Mass regularly versus those who don't, you'd see something a little different. (source)
I think this is a very important point. Protestantism (of which Evangelicalism is a subset) is a collection of denominations that, if thrust together, wouldn't look all that different from Catholicism. We have our dissenters within. Theirs just form new denominations or leave for ones more consistent with their worldview. Thus many of the more liberal folks magically disappear from the rolls of Evangelicals on election day.
A second thing I noticed is the immediate need for people to blame someone for the outcome. First and foremost in the minds of many Catholics is blaming the United States bishops. Before we lay blame at the feet of the bishops I think we first need to be a little realistic about what a completely galvanized effort by them would have resulted in. The same folks who already listen would have. A few more would have. The dissenters would have turned away. Its part and parcel of being a dissenter. We also need to keep in mind that over 100 bishops in the United States made statements of some sort urging strong consideration of life issues as first and foremost. Compare that to what you remember from the Kerry election ... too little too late? Maybe ... but certainly not completely passive and certainly not the cause.
A third thing that totally mystifies me is the relative silence of placing the blame on said institutions of men that I mentioned above. Shouldn't we level some criticism at the Republican party for drifting to the middle and offering up a candidate that was so easy for liberal Catholics to undermine with their "economics reduces abortion" and "well he ain't exactly pro-life" and "like the Republicans are really going to do something about abortion" cases? Furthermore the third party case was more compelling for Catholics in this election than in any election I can remember. Divided we fall ... its that simple.
Catholics make up some 25 percent of the population, but we exercise an influence far smaller than our numbers. We have been manipulated and divided by partisan political hacks: Whenever someone raises the point of the primacy of life issues in making political decisions, he is automatically considered by those on the Left to be shilling for Republicans. Whenever someone makes an argument for protecting those who are injured by the rough-and-tumble of the free market, he is automatically dismissed as a tool of the Democrats. Surely we can do better as disciples of Christ.
Also when they (meaning the Republicans) are not with us we owe them no allegiance. Voting Republican is not part of the creed and as a whole they have been very poor at being "with us".
It will be interesting if the bishops will have any real solutions to the problem of a divided Catholic voice in American politics.
Finally this outcome is not unexpected and I suspect in the long run it will not be as doomsday as some people believe. Maybe that is my forever childish optimism. Meanwhile the correct course is this ... Be not afraid, pray, be an active citizen ... Our first battle will be FOCA. I have high hopes that this legislation cannot pass but it will take a concerted and UNDIVIDED effort by all who are pro-life.
In our neighborhood rich homeowners have huge stashes of candy. They earned those stashes by working hard. Some people want that candy and they want to give it to people who do not work. They think everyone deserves candy. They want control of it so everyone can have some.
Sadly on Oct 31 of every year "the system" coerces that candy from the rich and places it firmly in the hands of those looking for a handout. You are likely thinking to yourself that these wealthy candy owners should simply keep their candy or hide it in tax advantaged IRA's ... but its not that simple. For one thing it is not legal to put candy in tax advantaged IRA's. Who do you think is responsible for that? Worse, this candy is taken by a CIVILIAN POLICE FORCE OF SUPERHEROS, ALIENS AND GHOSTS. And you wonder why immigration is such a big issue? Residents are cornered by this mob and then they are asked questions ... the right KIND of questions. They are helpless in the face of the onslaught. To make matters worse this civilian police force is staffed mostly by children. These children sometimes come alone but they are often led by complicit adult offenders -- These adults may even be our own neighbors.
This egregious exhibition of wealth redistribution occurs mere days before critical national elections. Make no mistake. This scheme is designed with one purpose in mind. Who do you think the beneficiaries of this redistribution scheme will overwhelmingly vote for?
THINK ABOUT IT PEOPLE!!! For the sake of the youth and before its too late FIGHT THE SYSTEM... Next year hide your hard earned candy. They are coming for it and days later they will vote their candy filled pumpkins.
I am so happy its over. Now maybe Catholic blogs will be about Catholicism and not voting.
I am praying for a clear victory by the presidential election winner. No hanging chads and even if there are make it NOT MATTER. I could not stand this election lingering on any longer (like in 2000) ...
I made some changes -- essentially commenting out the resize code and manually sizing the rosary to start off. It now works for IE.
It also works better for the iPhone except for some image caching issues that I need to look into ... For some reason the first mystery image doesn't cache properly while praying the "crucifix" related prayers.
I'll deal with that in the future.
Nevermind ... easy fix. Forgot to include static scale value in one part of the code.
Remember the code is completely contained in the source. You can view it, save it, change it and whatnot ... The scaling for images I do is not necessary so if you retool it to remove that you can use static images.
I am glad to read this. I got frustrated when I read that some Catholics say that those of us who didn't pray the rosary were not good Catholics -- hell bound even. It was so hard to me being a convert to "buy in".
I struggle so much with it I spent two weeks doing something I DO like to do -- coding. I wrote an online rosary designed to be used on the iPhone. (no, its not an app you can get from the app store -- its a web page) ... The goal was to make a teaching tool for me. The interface is weird (perfect for us programmer types) ... It has all the prayer texts. It lists the mysteries. It has bible verses. It even has pictures and it comes up with the right mysteries for the right day ... except for lent. That is what I needed.
It helped me learn it and because I put the effort into it, I actually pray it. Shameful, I know but that's my confession.
If you are interested in looking at it ... there is a link at the top. It does not work in IE. It does work on the iPhone.
I feel a surge of deep satisfaction Much as a king astride his noble steed When I return from daily strife to hearth and wife How pleasant is the life I lead!
I run my home precisely on schedule At 6:01, I march through my door My slippers, sherry, and pipe are due at 6:02 Consistent is the life I lead!
It's grand to be an Englishman in 1910 King Edward's on the throne; It's the age of men I'm the lord of my castle The sov'reign, the liege! I treat my subjects: servants, children, wife With a firm but gentle hand Noblesse oblige!
It's 6:03 and the heirs to my dominion Are scrubbed and tubbed and adequately fed And so I'll pat them on the head And send them off to bed Ah! Lordly is the life I lead!
....
A British nanny must be a gen'ral! The future empire lies within her hands And so the person that we need to mold the breed Is a nanny who can give commands!
A British bank is run with precision A British home requires nothing less! Tradition, discipline, and rules must be the tools Without them - disorder! Catastrophe! Anarchy! - In short, we have a ghastly mess!
People need to remember that, and I stress this a LOT, according to current law parental rights end when you put your kid on the bus. The Ninth circuit went that way on the sex ed survey in school. I know conservatives were outraged but if it goes to the SC it is likely to not only stand, but it could be a 9-0 decision. If the majority of the parents keep electing folks who push that stuff then that is what the "needs of the state" are determined to be. As long as they are not violating some other law the "parenting" of your children at a public school is THEIR right to control. It would be too unwieldy and expensive any other way. They cannot send out surveys to the Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, atheists etc. to account for parenting and education desires for every child. Since the constitution does not enumerate those rights a "strict constitutionalist" interpretation would side with the schools on this stuff. You already know the "living document" folks would. They want control of the kids. I find it interesting that the Ninth Circuit becomes a strict consitutionalist court when it suits their liberal agenda but becomes very activist otherwise. Sooner or later the NEA will start fighting to eliminate parental notification on this type of agenda and, should the 9th circuit ruling hold, there will be NOTHING parents can do about it except pull their kids OUT of the system ... That is why homeschooling is a fundamental right ALL parents should fight for. Sooner or later you may have no choice.
I noted this elsewhere:
If Obama wins I expect the next 4 years to show a sharp increase in homeschooling and private schooling. At this point the system will realize it doesn't have control of a high percentage of the population and they will start to actively fight homeschooling.
I think its next to impossible to make illegal -- constitutionaly speaking -- then again, we have Roe v. Wade. I never underestimate the cleverness of evil.
FWIW Obama in his book Audacity of Hope comes out vaguely in support of homeschooling. I am skeptical of how that will play out with his proposed education policies and his support from the NEA but its there.
A church-state watchdog group has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether the Roman Catholic bishop of Paterson, N.J., violated tax laws by denouncing Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama.
In a letter sent to the IRS on Wednesday (Oct. 22), Americans United for Separation of Church and State accused Paterson Bishop Arthur Serratelli of illegal partisanship for lambasting Obama's support of abortion rights.
In a column posted on the Diocese of Paterson's website and published in its weekly newspaper, Serratelli also compared Obama to King Herod, the biblical monarch who ordered the death of John the Baptist.
The bishop did not refer to Obama by name but only as "the present democratic (sic) candidate."
Archbishop Chaput did mention him by name as well as "the most committed 'abortion-rights' presidential candidate of either major party since the Roe v. Wade abortion decision in 1973." ... facts are facts. He didn't exactly endorse McCain.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. With ~25% of voters in the US being Catholic I have a sneaking suspicion that the Democrats will be cowards and back off this. The Catholic vote they retain is not one they can afford to lose going forward.
FWIW tonight or this weekend you MIGHT get a long winded post on contraception and the responsibility of Catholic pharmacists ... I had a long discussion about this and I would like to summarize the content.
Local parish calls for Catholics to contact legislators regarding FOCA
Friday, October 24, 2008
American citizens concerned for the lives of the unborn have reason to be fearful that all our efforts to protect those lives since the Supreme Court decision Roe v Wade will be summarily vanquished. In January, our Federal Legislature will be considering a bill known at the “Freedom of Choice Act.” Read it for yourself (it is not that long): What our Federal Legislature can do, without our vote of approval, is require any doctor or any hospital facility to provide abortions to any woman requesting it at any time, even after the child is viable (can live outside the womb). The refusal to offer or perform an abortion will become a crime!
Contact your State Representative and State Senators to let them know how you feel about this Pro-Abortion proposal. (source)
AmericanPapist summarized yesterday that 1/4 of our bishops to this date have issued statements stressing the importance of abortion in this election. TWO bishops have apparently made the seamless garment statement to their flock.
IMHO the Faithful Citizenship document leaves itself open to interpretation but it stresses the intrinsic evils, abortion, euthanasia, stem-cell research -- and racism (interesting given the number of "not voting for Obama is racist" arguments out there) ... As of now 3/4 of the bishops have not issued statements.
Of course these bishops are increasingly labeled controversial by the press. Did you ever think you would see the day when 1/4 of our bishops would be labeled controversial? It has even caused a VERY Protestant sports forum I visit to stand up and take notice. They say "I wish our churches would do like the Catholics" ...
I saw a voters guide yesterday ... it was stunningly biased. Anyway, I thought I would give my effort to the voters guide world. I am not a PAC, although I do accept donations -- preferably of the large kind. If its big enough I will eliminate some rows in my guide as it suits your purpose and enter a more flattering picture of your preferred candidate. The guide I saw looked kind of like this ...
For the terrorists
For corporate greed
For the common good
For America
Against family values
Against the environment
Against national security
Against the poor
I figure my effort is worth the mountains of donations that funded the voters guide I saw. Seriously, consider the source and the funding of your "voters guides".
Music milestone: I have over 30,000 listens on Last.fm
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
WOO HOO!!! The rolling charts are the reason I started using Last.fm in the first place. Trust me, if you use anything else, I recommend seeking to log it to Last.fm. Eventually your efforts will pay off.
A few Catholics we know all noticed that people when they notice we have lots of kids close together are real quick to offer us a litany of reasons why they cannot have more kids.
"I cannot handle it" "They are too expensive" "I have a medical condition"
etc. We hear this all the time.
I am just curious. Why? You don't have to justify your choice to me.
My wife and I go back and forth on this. We even used those flushable disposable inserts for a while which were a happy medium. LESS washing, no waste but you add the cost of the inserts. I liked them personally. Still, from having a child that pooped in his pants until he was 6 (they tell us it was medical) I can tell you that you might as well skip the diapers and just buy a lot of underwear. Its not that much more difficult to clean. I learned more about God cleaning underwear than I did changing diapers. It fostered patience and cultured humility.
Still, we are using disposables right now because the convenience is useful in our search for household peace right now ... On the environmental impact -- I'm over it. Some study -- similar to this story -- is going to tell me I am cool eventually and it will likely be paid for by Luvs, Pampers, Huggies etc. The green movement will cry conspiracy. Other parents will sigh knowing that they can use disposable diapers in good conscience. Public sentiment will shift on some other hot topic (especially if this cooling trend continues) ...
Quite frankly, I am tired of having to form every nook and cranny of my life based on the bleeding edge and forefront of statistical wizardry(also this). Its a royal pain to completely rework your life every 2 weeks because of some study gathering lots of weak associations and bold assertions says you MUST. Its even better to see it reversed by a more sophisticated and much more documented study 5 years down the road. It all seems like public sentiment to me and more fad than fact. Cloth diapers are cuter after all ... Good for the economy I say ...
I want my kids to go to heaven. Period. What they poop on during their path is only of mild consideration to me.
William still hates garbage disposal units and has determined that plumbing wil NOT be any sort of future career path for me :(. 10:11pm - 5 Comments
(friend) at 10:23pm October 18 uh oh! What happened!...
William at 3:19am October 19 I installed a new unit at our old house. At the time I felt the exposure to months of,well, ummm toxic waste that gets caught in weird places on garbage disposal units justified copius amounts of money to a trained plumber/waste removal specialist. I have re-positioned and re-installed the unit we have in our new home at least four times. Twice because manufacturers of children s cups conspired with all the evil forces of the dark side to make cups EXACTLY the size to fit INTO the opening but never come out without hours of frustration, power tools, and finally the removal of the unit ... only to have it pop out easily ONLY after destruction of the cup. I only wish I had a lake of fire for the disposal of said cups.
William at 3:23am October 19 Today is the mysterious voluminous leak. I have applied, liberally of course, amounts of plumbers putty in all possible leaking areas and followed all installation instructions with the great care of a Washington lawyer ... yet I fail. One half of our sink remains in a state of discord and we are expecting guests tomorrow. I angrily ripped all the wood out from under the disposal unit because it gave me a good physical object on which to project my frustration. My justification was that it was water soaked and the health hazard needed removing ... trust me, it was the need for anger management. So there .. that is my love affair with garbage disposals. In the famous words of a Severed Heads album cover "may their arms swell and drop off". .... and its little dog too.
William at 3:25am October 19 and its past 3am ... I will continue to upload pastoral scenes from my day and then huddle in the corner with my thumb in my mouth.
William at 3:27am October 19 argh ... and my keyboard is messed up. Its spelled copious.
This is a "fresh" blogroll. It tends to list blogs most frequently updated at the top. It will also drop blogs not updated for a few days. Never fear though, if you post, it will show back up. If you are interested in how I did it see this post.
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This is a "fresh" blogroll. It tends to list blogs most frequently updated at the top. It will also drop blogs not updated for a few days. Never fear though, if you post, it will show back up. If you are interested in how I did it see 
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