How are

Canadian Conservatives and U.S. Republicans alike?




They don't believe in being answerable to anyone (such as the voters)
and don't care who they hurt with their politics...
(This is just so people know what Harper's proroguing of
parliament is really about.)

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Good article

The WWJD Stick

You may have to know a bit about American secular politics and American Catholic politics to follow the bases of the article, but Simcha Fisher lays things out pretty good.

Besides, how the heck would any of us know what Jesus would do in any specific situation? He spent his entire public ministry confounding people...

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Despite what the average American thinks

the United States pursued a general policy of Isolationism up until their entry into the 2nd World War. It's only one example.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Isolationism

It takes a direct threat to themselves to make the U.S. jump up to save the world...

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It does make one wonder

$10 M to Fight Honest Food Labels

Why would a company fight against a law requiring labeling foods with their ingredients?

I can think of a number of reasons, none of them good...

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Today

in 1968,

Robert F. Kennedy

died of gunshot wounds while campaigning in the U.S. primary elections...

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I don't mean to laugh

but, well, yes, I do, really...

China fake parts 'used in US military equipment'

And given that it is the U.S. military, they probably paid premium prices for the parts, as well. I guess I do find it ironic that the foe of Chinese Communism gets suckered in like this. And ironic, too, that they are having counterfeit parts supplied by one of the countries that they are always playing brinkmanship with,and who they fear they may one day be at war with.

Of course, they're laying the blame on China and the supply chain rather than taking any of the blame themselves. Naturally.

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I first read

about this wonderful character about 10 years ago. Utterly fascinating!

Emperor Norton: Monarch of San Francisco

What a person can achieve peacefully, really!

Here's a point-form article:

Norton I - the Virtual Museum of San Francisco

and this is a more in-depth article than both of the previous ones from the Encyclopedia of San Francisco, for those who are as intrigued by this individual as I was:

Emperor Norton

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I wonder,

are there any extant images of her from the period?

Toronto pilgrims to take in canonization of Blessed Kateri

I wonder only because, as happy as I am about this event, probably as happy as most people in fact, the picture they're using to depict Blessed Kateri presents a pretty Anglo look, and I don't mean this in any racist manner. Even her colour seems to be a product of shade and surrounding colour and not her race. I'm only wondering because of what so many artists have done to our Lord in their art, making him as Caucasion as possible, leaving out any trace of his real heritage...

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Amazing

Supreme Court questions validity of Obama healthcare law

I will forever be amazed at a country that wants healthcare only if a person can afford it, and fights tooth and nail against a system that would provide healthcare for everyone.

(Mind you, watch closely in Canada, as that's the direction the conservative element in politics is trying to steer things, they're just not being blatant about it...)

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Such a tragedy

Man who shot black Florida teen fears for safety, supporters say

As much as there is the knee-jerk reaction of racism by those who respond this way usually and as they would would like to paint it, it is getting harder to find your defined group to pin the charge on. A Hispanic shooting a Black is racism? Possibly, but where's the stereotypical white guy racist? It's a much more confused thing to claim when both groups often claim racism. I suppose that anyone can be racist, but the Hispanics could get just as upset.

No, this was a terrible case of someone with a firearm, with the ability to carry it and use it, using it in a situation where bravado, courage and machismo failed. He never should have been there, never should have followed the young man and should have just let the police do their job. In this case it's the firearms laws, I think...

It's still a horrible tragedy for both parties, the family of the person killed, and the person who killed him, who I really believe is going through a terrible time right now. They both need our prayers, and we need to keep a sane thought in our heads about what happened...

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Interesting

Pastor of Florida's Unique Drive-In Church Retires

He officiated at it for 17 years. They choose to worship God outside, but has anyone ever told them that while Jesus may have prayed outside he wasn't in a convertable?

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I don't doubt it

Attorneys for RFK convicted killer Sirhan push 'second gunman' argument

So much has come out in recent years about the CIA and FBI and others that I wouldn't doubt that the conservative element of the political world may very well have wanted Robert Kennedy 'removed' from the scene. The politics of the Right really is the politics of violence and deceit...

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I can't understand

the American habit of naming their deciding events as if the date is a special sports date or something.

A Guide to Super Tuesday Possibilities

Only 10 States are voting on 'Super Tuesday'? What makes it 'super'? It's been seen over and over in recent years about their political events, but why? Why this need to label a deciding event (almost) of a political nature in the manner a football event is named? Will they soon start calling the Presidential Election the 'Washington Bowl' or something? It's really too weird...

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You're not allowed

to talk about religion privately if someone else can hear you.

Irony: Bar boots Denver bishop giving private talk on threats to religious liberty

The general public reaction to religion today, outside of glass cathedrals and churches, or when it has something to do with an athlete, is disdain, mockery and jeering. People make fun of religion (though spending time in bars trying to make themselves happy??).

They should call these events 'mockery on tap' given the response of other patrons...

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What is this all about?

He's either taking the prayers for 'the office of Bishops' in each new Mass translation too seriously, or something else is happening. One doesn't make an apology for something so serious and then say that they shouldn't have apologized.

Egan's remarks on priest abuse scandal draw fire

The people who are out to destroy the Church as it is are always looking for more ammunition.

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Further on down the road

of history...

Prosecutors rebut jailed RFK assassin's claims in freedom quest

...and very few people are going to care because of 2 possible reasons:

1) he was still a shooter so he shouldn't go free, or
2) there was some sort of conspiracy, and he shouldn't go free to keep it quiet

What with all we know about the CIA and others during that time, I'm not slipping this one into the 'conspiracy theorist' category, because, despite the hypnotism claim, it seems pretty sure that there was more than one shooter.

What I want to know, though, is how so many other people get out of prison after killing someone, but they stay in forever if they kill a politician. What makes politicians so much more important that the average person? Given what keeps coming out about politicians, it seems that they often behave the same as, or worse than, the average person. That's fair? (Just like our current Prime Minister who seems to believe that the average person should wait an extra two years for their old age pension but politicians should still start getting their pension the moment they either retire or aren't re-elected, no matter their age. Why do they think they're so special? But that's off-topic. Sorry.)

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He's either evil

or he's a complete idiot.


Gingrich sketches Day 1 agenda for his presidency

Health Care? Who needs it? People with health problems brought it on themselves.

Wall Street controls? Why would free enterprise need controls? What has Wall Street ever done to hurt anyone?

People to help deal with all the important things that one person can't take care of? Heck, he can do it in his sleep. Even if it's not his wife he's sleeping with.

The man is a complete something, but I'm not sure what, his conversion to Catholicism notwithstanding...

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Everything is complicated

Are Mormons Christian? It’s complicated

Why are people asking this question now? Only because of politics. Religion and politics. Two items we're warned never to discuss in polite gatherings but which always fill the news sources.

And people thought religion was an issue when John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, became President of the U.S.. Time marches on...

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So,

the

Stop SOPA

one-day strike is over. Will it accomplish anything? Why was it important?

It's about business, and making certain that U.S. business continues to make every cent that they feel they're entitled to. But it is more than that. I believe that the U.S. government is using business as a means of creating a way to control the internet, and to make certain that something is in place to be able to censor what the U.S. public sees if it so chooses. It's not an accident that the bill being presented to the U.S. Congress is so far-reaching. Much like the previous act, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, it will be abused by all sectors to get what they want, at enormous expense and trouble to little people who can't compete against big corporations or big government. What these large entities say will win. Always. And that's what they want.

Since it began, the DMCA has largely proven a failure. So now we have this. It's not going to stop, but people need to continue the fight.

So, the one-day strike is over, but the war isn't won. Keep these things in mind if you're asked to support a protest against something like this. Don't think that your recreational blogging/surfing/listening/watching won't be affected, because it will.

Seriously.

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An issue of a rather serious nature

No, seriously.
Click the image above to find out why the U.S. wants to
censor foreign websites. They claim it's all about helping
their friends in business, but it's just the beginning.
And it's about foreign websites. That includes Canada.
Seriously.

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