Peoria Bishop referred to the IRS

A prominent advocate of church-state separation filed a formal complaint with the Internal Revenue Service on Thursday, accusing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria of violating federal law by intervening in a political campaign.

The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, alleges that a fiery homily delivered by Peoria Bishop Daniel Jenky last Sunday effectively urged Catholics to vote against President Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election.  (That's the "alleged" perpetrator in the above photo.)


If you were at all worried about the constitutionality of "hate speech" laws because they charge you for what you MIGHT have been thinking, step up your worrying.  Notice the use of the words "alleges" and "effectively" in the above quoted excerpt from this story in yesterday's Chicago Tribune.

In case you missed our earlier post on the Bishop's homily last Sunday, you can read it HERE and decide for yourself.

Time to Stand Up for Life, Marriage, and Freedom

This is from the Catholics Called To Witness website, as is the following:

Will you vote the values that will stand the test of fire? Some things are more important than high gas prices or a faltering economy. They are life, marriage and freedom. This November, Catholics must stand up and protect their sacred rights and duties.

Surely it can go without saying that the message is not only for Catholics, but for all religions that cherish Life, Marriage, and Freedom.

H/T: bmck1

Pearl Harbor Remembered, 12/7/2011

(Click to enlarge)

Ronald Reagan and the Duplicitous Democrats

H/T: jpa1948

Liberals Will Never Understand Ayn Rand

Bill McGurn writing at Ricochet.com yesterday discussed the "great idea" the Liberal Democrats have to use Ayn Rand against Republican Conservatives in the 2012 election show about to unfold (be sure to watch the video).

Liberals just refuse to understand what it is that Conservatives admire about the author of Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and other similar masterpieces. Her ideas about government control of citizens, and the curtailment of individual freedom that goes with that control, are the things we admire about her. I don't know of one Conservative who admires her lack of a personal moral compass, nor could I name one Conservative who would vote for her (were she still with us) for president. Some of the greatest Conservative voices in America, in fact, condemned her weaknesses - especially her apparent total lack of compassion for the truly needy and her doctrinaire treatment of religion among other things. It cannot be denied, though, that her ability to write with passion about individual freedom and the right to protect one's property, is almost unparalleled.

So, good luck to the Liberals who think the attack mounted in the video will convince voters to turn their backs on Conservatives. They should be wary that it might cause another run at Amazon.com by folks wanting to read more of her work. They ought to know already about the incredible number of sales of Atlas Shrugged caused by the socialist policies of the current administration.

Why Ladies Love 'Atlas Shrugged' the Movie

That's Amy Holmes, who apparently is no longer with CNN since she's making videos for PJTV. In the below video she talks with Katie Pavlich and Kristen Soltis about part 1 of the just released movie "Atlas Shrugged." They're in agreement that this is a film that women (especially women of strength) will love.

http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=mpg&mpid=174&load=5269

Atlas Shrugged: The Trailer

Daniel Hannan, writing in The Telegraph today:

Since the credit crunch hit, Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged hasn’t been out of the best-seller lists. Its depiction of a world in which “in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing” is eerily apt to our present discontents.

To watch the trailer for Part 1 of the movie, go here.

In theaters April 15, 2011.

Dutch Elites Want Crocodile To Eat Them Last

Geert Wilders, who was on trial in The Netherlands facing five charges of inciting racial and religious hatred for remarks which included equating Islam with fascism, has won a retrial after it came to light that one of the judges attempted to influence an expert witness before the trial.

Even the prosecutors in the case, Amsterdam public prosecutors Birgit van Roessel and Paul Velleman, testified in court that Wilders was not guilty of discrimination against Muslims and inciting hatred against them.

"In June 2008, Dutch prosecutors had initially refused to bring charges against Wilders, arguing that he was protected by the right to free speech. But in January 2009, they were overruled by an appeals court led by Judge Tom Schalken, who ordered that Wilders be charged for 'sowing hatred'." Judge Schalken, by the way, is the judge who "attempted to influence an expert witness before the trial."

Joe Hicks, a former Leftist, now at PJTV, talked about all this the other day, and had some harsh words for European (especially the Dutch) Elites who can accurately be described as appeasers in this whole controversy. You can watch the Joe Hicks video by clicking below.

http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=mpg&mpid=74&load=4327

U. S. Constitution in Peril after 223 Years

Today, the 223rd anniversary of our Constitution, The Heritage Foundation published this essay by Former Attorney General Edwin Meese.

In Cuba: Paradise Lost

So government control of the economy (communism, socialism, statism) just hasn't worked out for Cuba. They've been trying to make it work since ousting Fulgencio Batista in 1959, and it really should not have taken them this long to realize that the alternative they were trying would not work; it never does.

This piece in the Wall Street Journal spells it out. Cuba is now pursuing a market-oriented system, which is not quite a free-market system, but it's a step in the right direction.

Cuba will lay off more than half a million state workers and try to create hundreds of thousands of private-sector jobs, a dramatic attempt by the hemisphere's only Communist country to shift its nearly bankrupt economy toward a more market-oriented system.

Now if our current administration would just learn the same lesson, things will get better for everybody, and we won't end up like the elderly couple pictured above. Of course, the lesson still needed to be learned by both governments is: governments don't create jobs; the private sector does.

Angelo Codevilla: THEM vs US

Angelo Codevilla, professor emeritus of international relations at Boston University, writing in the current issue of The American Spectator, discusses the differences between America's Ruling Class and her Country Class, and the "Perils of Revolution."

This is a long article but well worth the time to read and digest as it makes clear the distinction between those who consider themselves our betters (think Gore, Kerry, Obama, Pelosi et al.) and those of us who believe in God, family, and the America created by our Founding Fathers. Codevilla even outlines the steps necessary to rescue the America loved and honored by her Country Class.

Donald Rumsfeld: America Remains the Greatest Republic

Donald Rumsfeld participated in the unveiling of his official portrait on Friday at the Pentagon. The portrait commemorates his service as our 21st Secretary of Defense. Excerpts from his remarks at the unveiling were posted yesterday at the Heritage Foundation Blog: The Foundry.

Donald Rumsfeld: America Remains the Greatest Republic Ever Established | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.

Here are some excerpts from those excerpts:

Yet, America remains the greatest republic ever established, with the finest military ever assembled, and still stands as the brightest symbol of humankind’s best hopes and aspirations. And that, I would add, is not something for which we need to apologize to anyone – here or abroad.

Some might ask how our country has endured? Well, it should be no mystery. It is because we are a free people, blessed with a free political and a free economic system –

The night satellite image of the Korean Peninsula, my favorite as many of you know well, captured many miles above the earth, tells the whole story.

Below the 38th parallel, South Korea is bathed in the light of dozens of cities, monuments to that nation’s freedom. In one of the most successful economies in the world, millions of South Koreans go about their work, creating opportunity and prosperity for themselves and their families.

North of the DMZ is darkness. There live exactly the same people, with the same natural resources. But those millions of Koreans labor not for themselves or their families, but for a regime that enslaves them.

This country – which has treated me so well, and which offers so much opportunity for us all – exists and prospers because the members of the United States armed forces, have stepped forward and volunteered to protect it. In a very real sense, America is their gift to the future …

Cass Sunstein on "Fairness"

That's Cass Sunstein, the White House Information Czar. He wants to regulate the Internet so that all us crazy right wing bloggers will have to include links to all those crazy left wing bloggers on our blog sites - and, he adds, vice versa. He actually goes further than that as you'll learn by reading this post from the Minnesotans for Global Warming Blog. Please make sure to watch the video.

An astute caller to Rush Limbaugh yesterday had a great idea as a follow-up to Czar Sunstein's ridiculous idea: Place a Conservative professor in every college class to give the opposing view to the one typically espoused by the ensconced liberal professor so students can be exposed to both sides. Don't look for Czar Sunstein to adopt that suggestion.

Sunstein taught at the University of Chicago Law School for 27 years (seem to recall someone else from this administration being affiliated with that school) and then moved on to Harvard Law School, where he is currently on leave since joining the Obama administration. That explains everything.

Tea Party Terrorists?

Mark Alexander of The Patriot Post titled today's Essay:
Army Preps for Tea Party 'Terrorists'

Here are some clips (emphasis added):

A few months back, the commander in chief of our Armed Forces, that erstwhile community organizer Barack Hussein Obama, denigrated a large cross section of Americans who identify with the Tea Party movement -- those who advocate for Essential Liberty and Rule of Law.

Obama identified them as malcontents, "waving their little tea bags." (Does that sound like a president of the United States?)

Since then, the Obama administration and their Leftmedia sycophants have endeavored to characterize Tea Party attendees as rude, radical, racist, redneck, enemies of the state.

This week, I was contacted by a number of military personnel, enlisted and officer ranks, who expressed concern about a military exercise underway at Ft. Knox, the U.S. Bullion Depository. As with most such exercises, the Ft. Knox alert occurred in stages, as if real time intelligence was being provided at various intervals.

The first intel advisory was issued on Friday, 23 April 2010, and identifies the terrorist threat adversaries as "Local Militia Groups / Anti-Government Protesters / TEA Party."

The alert states that plans for the demonstration may have been interrupted by "Federal and local law enforcement" raids on a "White Supremacists Organization," but "TEA Party organizers have stated that they will protest at the Gold Vault at a future date."

Further, the intel advisory states, "Anti-Government - Health Care Protesters have stated that they would join the TEA Party as a sign of solidarity."

In accordance with the exercise, Ft. Knox post security is placed on high alert because, "these groups are armed, have combative training and some are former Military Snipers. Some may have explosives training / experience," and "a rally at their compound / training area is scheduled."

Perhaps the writers of such exercises today should focus on response plans for, say, an Islamic terrorist who attacks a post. (See Ft. Hood / Major Nidal Malik Hasan.)

..."Whether this is complacency by officers who do not see such orders as a problem, or worse, officers who recognize the problem but do not insist the orders are changed, this is a serious problem. We are discussing the training of American citizen soldiers in the use of potentially deadly force against a specific group of political dissenters..."


You can read the whole essay here, and you can subscribe to The Patriot Post (it's free) by by clicking in the box at the bottom of this page.

Saving Freedom From Fascism

It would be difficult to imagine a more enlightening or entertaining panel at the recently concluded C-PAC meeting in Washington, or at any such meeting anywhere. The video is a little long, but you can listen to one of the three speakers at a time (when you have time). Jonah Goldberg, Amity Shlaes and Herb London are names that freedom loving Americans should be more than acquainted with: they should be intimately familiar with each, and should read what they have written on this and other subjects.

Seen and Heard at CPAC: Former Examiner associate editorial page editor chairs panel on saving freedom from fascism | Washington Examiner