There is a danger in the ignorance of voters

         From the Catholic Church in 1910, I give you...

Dangers to a Government by the People 

"The safety of the Republic lies in the vigilant and active patriotism of the American people. 

There is a danger in the ignorance of voters. As a rule, the man who does not read and write intelligently cannot vote intelligently. Americans understand the necessity of popular instruction, and spare no expense spreading it. They cannot be too zealous in the matter. They need to have laws in every State which will punish, as guilty the crime against the country, the parent who neglects to send his children to school. 

There is a danger-and a most serious one- in corrupt morals. A people without good morals is incapable of self-government. At the basis of the proper exercise of the suffrage lie unselfishness and the spirit of sacrifice. A corrupt man is selfish; an appeal to duty finds no response in his conscience; he is incapable of the high-mindedness and generous acts which are the elements of patriotism; he is ready to sell the country for pelf or pleasure. Patriotism takes alarm at the spread of intemperance, lasciviousness, dishonesty, perjury; for country’s sake it should arm against those dire evils all the country’s forces, its legislatures, its courts, and above all else, public opinion. Materialism and the denial of a living, supreme God annihilate conscience, and break down the barriers to sensuality; they sow broadcast the seeds of moral death; they are fatal to liberty and the social order. A people without a belief in God and a future life of the soul will not remain a free people. The age of the democracy must, for its own protection, be an age of religion." 

Source: The Catholic Instructor, Published by The Office of Catholic Publications NY-1910– page 122 



In Christ,

Julie 

Mass shootings

I feel sick and heart broken every time I hear of another mass shooting. 

I don't know how to stop it. 

I don't believe removing guns is the answer, and I know messing with the 2nd Amendment would be detrimental to our nation. 

All we have to do is look at places in the world where the people aren't allowed to arm themselves and see that those governments sooner or later take complete control. Socialism, communism, dictators...etc. We don't want this in the United States.

Governments are corrupt...the moment the people no longer have the right to arm themselves to fight back against their governments is the moment that the people of the nation lose their rights and the government takes over. 

My own thoughts on these shootings is that several facts play a part, not just one. Gun's don't shoot people, people pull the trigger and kill people.

We know mental illness plays a part in many of these tragedies. I fully support laws that remove guns from people who show a potential to harm themselves or others (Gifford's shooter & the movie theater shooter, etc). 

It's also my opinion that the moment we legalized abortion and now in many states we've legalized euthanasia, that we told society 'life has little to no value'. Human beings have become disposable. 

Then add entire generations of kids growing up playing violent video games where to 'win' the game, you must kill the most people. These games are nothing like the games I had as a kid. 

Add decades of multi-million dollar movies, making guns and explosions fun and exciting. Kids absorbing all of this as normal. It's amazing to me that society worked so hard to remove smoking from movies and television shows because it influenced viewers to smoke, yet no one seems to think that watching mega amounts of violence might have the same effect on some people. 

Now toss in today's television that is packed with pornographic images and scenes, and we have warped the minds of children and adults alike. What is "normal" in media today would have been illegal and shocking decades ago.

PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS

PORNOGRAPHY AND VIOLENCE IN THE COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA: A PASTORAL RESPONSE  

12. Frequent exposure to violence in the media can be confusing to children, who may not be able to distinguish readily between fantasy and reality. At a later stage, violence in the media can condition impressionable persons, especially those who are young, to regard this as normal and acceptable behaviour, suitable for imitation.

And most of all, add in the fact that God has and is, being removed more and more from places where God once held a place. Even in churches we hear more about social issues and the environment than we do about God and how life is precious. Prayers have been removed from schools, government assemblies, courts and sadly homes. 

Remove God and you make room for the devil.

Until our society turns to God and begins living decent moral lives, I don't see the end to mass slaughter of innocent people or an end to violence in our communities and homes. 

We need God. 

On August 15 on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the 54 day Rosary for the nation begins. If you weren't planning on joining, please reconsider. 

NOVENA FOR OUR NATION: AUGUST 15 TO OCT. 7, 2019
"The time is now to call upon God, through the powerful intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary, to heal our country and return it to holiness.
This is a nationwide prayer campaign called the “Novena for Our Nation.” Everyone from around the nation is encouraged to join ranks as, united, we pray the very powerful 54 Day Rosary Novena from the Feast of the Assumption on August 15 to the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7.
We continue to live in peace-less times with laws and court rulings in conflict with God’s laws; especially the disregard for the rights of the unborn, elderly and weak in our society and the attacks on marriage and family values. Society and many levels of government continue to demonstrate intolerance towards biblically based religious belief and practice. In conflict with First Amendment constitutional rights, persecution of traditional religious expression has reached historically high levels. We are in a Spiritual Battle.
We are called upon to help turn our country back towards God. We will accomplish that through prayer; prayer that can change hearts, change families, change our communities and change our country. There is no stronger weapon in this Spiritual Battle than the Rosary."

May God help us all.

In Christ, 

Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner 

links: 

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_07051989_pornography_en.html

https://usgraceforce.com/rise-up-join-tens-of-thousands-praying-for-our-nation-for-54-days/ 

What rights should human beings have in the United States?

Liberal Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted... 

...in response to Rep. Niraj Antani making fun of her "chambers of government" comment. 

Ocasio-Cortez is no doubt a liberal fruit cake who is and will be adored by the Left as long as she continues with her socialism platform. The Left wants the "right" to free birth control, abortion, gay marriage etc. 

I oppose this 100%. 

What I want to look at is our "rights" as United States citizens vs basic human rights. 

We are very blessed to have the rights we do, "freedom of speech", "freedom of religion" being (in my opinion) the most important. We also have the 2nd Amendment which gives us the freedom and right to own guns (which I support), we've (male, female, black/white) got the right to vote, and the right to trial by a jury of our peers, etc.  

These are all good things. 

But what about basic human rights? 

In a country as rich as the United States, should not every U.S. citizen have a "right" to the basics without socialism? Food, clean water, clothing, shelter and care when they are sick? 

Without becoming a nation of socialism, can't we figure out a way that every U.S. citizen can have an actual "right" to the basics? We are taxed to near death in this nation...how is that money spent? We need tax overhaul...but I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen. 

In our wonderful enterprising rich capitalist nation, where the rich have the right to own as many homes as they want with closets the size gymnasiums full of clothes is there no way the poor can have the basics? 

The rich can rightfully afford luxuries because they have the money-earned or inherited. I don't begrudge them a dime. It's theirs to spend as they please. I don't advocate targeting them to take their money. 

I only question a nation so rich and prosperous as to be the envy of the world, that can't seem to figure out how to give our own poor citizens basic human rights. We give away so much to other nations while too often neglecting our own. 

Seems it shouldn't be that difficult for the United States of America to figure out how to better help our poor, but somehow we've been unable to do so. 

Instead of giving other nations $BILLIONS of our tax dollars for them to spend on their citizens betterment, how about we reinvest those $billions into our own citizens struggling with poverty? 

Why do we have to be the world police and piggy bank?

United States tax dollars in foreign aid...

$5.1 billion to Afghanistan 

$1.2 billion to Egypt 

$916 million to Syria

$780 million to Pakistan 

$474 million to Liberia 

$325 million to Columbia

$305 million to Yemen

$179 million to India

$155 million to Turkey

$127 million to Honduras

$117 million to Chad

Do these nations need some help? Sure, do they need all that money at the expense of the poor in the United States? I question that. 

Some say "food, shelter, water, healthcare and clothing" are not human rights for our government to grant its citizens. 

I see what Jesse Wien is saying, but I believe that way of viewing this situation is flawed. Perhaps we need to look at how we have defined a "right" for our citizens in this country. Perhaps we need to stop being the worlds police and piggy bank and put those funds to work in our nation for our poor so they can have a better life right here at home.  

I think we can do better without becoming socialist with a nanny government. There has to be a way...

Catholic Catechism: 2425 "The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with "communism" or "socialism." She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of "capitalism," individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor. 207 Regulating the economy solely by centralized planning perverts the basis of social bonds; regulating it solely by the law of the marketplace fails social justice, for "there are many human needs which cannot be satisfied by the market." 208 Reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives, in keeping with a just hierarchy of values and a view to the common good, is to be commended."

To be clear, I don't want a socialized healthcare like the UK has where they allow patients like little Alfie to die and their courts refuse to allow him to leave the country to seek treatment elsewhere- this is heinous. 

The United States can and should do better. We need to figure this out. 

In Christ, 

Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner 

Sources: 

https://twitter.com/Ocasio2018/status/1064354368256966659 

https://twitter.com/wiendows/status/1064931042346352641 

Aid to other countries: https://explorer.usaid.gov/cd

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/25/health/alfie-evans-appeal-bn/index.html  

America's Golden Calf

By Contributor Tim Siggia


""These are your gods, O Israel, that have led you out of the land of Egypt." -- Ex 32:4

"and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people." -- Matt. 24:11

If recent events have not conclusively proven that the American people made a grievous error in 2008 when they elected Barack Hussein Obama President of the United States, nothing ever will. In situation after situation in which leadership was called for, Obama presented us instead with indifference and indecision. Our current misadventures in Libya are only the latest example of this. We saw it just last year when a British Petroleum oil platform ruptured, spilling countless tons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. We saw it again just recently with the uprising in Egypt that ended up in the deposing of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. Now we're seeing it again in Libya, where Obama first declared (Libyan dictator Muammar) Khadafi must go, then flip-flopped on that objective, and now refuses to call that which fits every definition of war a war, calling it instead a "kinetic military action." In each situation, where nearly every previous president would have stepped forward and taken decisive action, Obama has instead sat on his hands, dithered and procrastinated, and, when he finally decided to act, offered up too little too late.

Yet he has been anything but indecisive when it comes to his own personal agenda of stripping the American people of their freedom and moving the United States from an economy of free-market capitalism to one of communism. He wasted no time in exercising government power grabs, from the banking and insurance industries, to the automotive industry, and finally, to health care, which by itself accounts for one-sixth of the total economy. The laughingly mislabeled Affordable Health Care Act was railroaded through Congress by an extremely partisan Democrat majority, when poll after poll bore out that the majority of Americans opposed such a program. This act, called Obamacare by its many critics, is still being treated as law of the land by the Obama Administration despite having been ruled unconstitutional by two federal judges, and having been legally challenged by the attorneys-general of 21 additional states. And his blueprint for realizing all this? It's a book by a fellow "community organizer," a man named Saul Alinsky, entitled Rules For Radicals, which, among other things, was dedicated to the World's First Rebel, Lucifer -- Satan -- The Devil -- and is Obama's personal bible.

Barack Obama has shown himself to be more than just a non-Party communist, more than just a "community organizer," which was his background before being elected to the United States Senate, and later to the Presidency of the United States. He is, in a word, America's Golden Calf. From the days of Obama-Mania, just two years ago, he was presented as the New Messiah, The Anointed One, or, simply, The One. He was supposed to unite a divided country, end all discord in the Middle East, capture and bring Osama bin Laden to justice, and make America prosperous once more. Instead, bin Laden remains at large, the Middle East is in unprecedented upheaval, and the United States is now more politically polarized than in any time previous since the Civil War. And we are now trillions of dollars in debt.

Yet all this in fact has been foretold in Scripture. In Exodus 32, the Bible relates how Aaron, the brother of Moses, fashioned a representation of a calf made out of the melted-down gold and jewelry of the Israelites, and presented it to the Israelites as their God. Jesus Christ himself warned of false Christs who would arise and lead their followers astray (Matt. 24).

Does Barack Obama fit into such categorization? Consider the following:

Upon hearing Obama speak, one listener remarked, "That, sir, is the voice of God, the voice of God!" It was soon afterward learned that Obama made all his speeches with the aid of a Teleprompter, and was virtually helpless without it.

Commentator Chris Matthews reported having felt "a thrill run up his leg" upon hearing Obama speak. Has this ever been publicly said by anyone about any other American president?

A teacher in a New Jersey township forced her students to sing hymns of praise to Barack Obama. Another teacher had his students repeat after him the words, "I am an Obama Scholar."

Throughout all this, to be fair, Obama himself never expressly asked for deification. But, just as noteworthy, he never refuted any of it either, as any president before him surely would have.

And what have we seen in the meantime of that president who was supposed to change and reform the world with his physical presence alone, so his minions would have had us believe?

We have seen a president who stands helplessly by as events unfold before him, rather than stepping in and taking charge. We have seen a president who continually presents the United States of America in the worst possible light, jetting around the world apologizing for the very things that have made America great, bowing to foreign dictators, and wasting our tax dollars with ineffective government programs (Obamacare, the Stimulus, "Cash For Clunkers"). We have seen a president who pays more attention to basketball than to foreign policy, who cold-shoulders our longtime allies (Israel and Great Britain), and plays golf while his country crumbles all around him.

We have, to sum it all up, seen the most inexperienced, unprepared, unfit and unworthy President of the United States ever to hold the office prove to us on almost a daily basis that he is in fact all of that. As previously noted, Obama never expressly asked to be deified, but neither did he say or do a thing to discourage such treatment. On the contrary, he seemed, at every turn, to encourage it.

He is not a God. He does not have superhuman powers. He is only one man among multitudes of the same, and, as he continually proves, a most fallible one at that. What does Jesus say about such people, in Gospel after Gospel and parable after parable?

"He who exalts himself shall be humbled."

Will Obama himself, or those who even now continue to worship at his altar, ever finally learn this?

-Tim Siggia-
Connecticut Catholic Corner Contributor

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