Kresta In The Afternoon

"To Hell With You"

2012-01-27T17:26:00.000-05:00

HHS Edict Will Force Catholics to Violate Conscience

By Bishop David A. Zubik

It is really hard to believe that it happened. It comes like a slap in the face. The Obama administration has just told the Catholics of the United States, “To Hell with you!” There is no other way to put it.

In early August, the Department for Health and Human Services in the Obama administration released guidelines as part of the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The guidelines mandated that by Summer 2012 all individual and group health insurance plans, including self-insured plans, cover all FDA-approved contraception, sterilization procedures and pharmaceuticals that even result in abortion.

A million things are wrong with this: equating pregnancy with disease; mandating that every employer pay for contraception procedures including alleged contraceptives that are actually abortion-inducing drugs; forcing American citizens to chose between violating their consciences or providing health care services; mandating such coverage on every individual woman without allowing her to even choose not to have it; forcing every person to pay for that coverage no matter the dictates of their conscience.

Let’s be blunt. This whole process of mandating these guidelines undermines the democratic process itself. In this instance, the mandate declares pregnancy a disease, forces a culture of contraception and abortion on society, all while completely bypassing the legislative process.

This is government by fiat that attacks the rights of everyone – not only Catholics; not only people of all religion. At no other time in memory or history has there been such a governmental intrusion on freedom not only with regard to religion, but even across-the-board with all citizens. It forces every employer to subsidize an ideology or pay a penalty while searching for alternatives to health care coverage. It undermines the whole concept and hope for health care reform by inextricably linking it to the zealotry of pro-abortion bureaucrats.

For our Church this mandate would apply in virtually every instance where the Catholic Church serves as an employer. The mandate would require the Catholic Church as an employer to violate its fundamental beliefs concerning human life and human dignity by forcing Catholic entities to provide contraceptive, sterilization coverage and even pharmaceuticals that result in abortion.

There was a so-called “religious exemption” to the mandate, but it was so narrowly drawn that, as critics charged, Jesus Christ and his Apostles would not fit the exemption. The so-called exemption would only apply to the vast array of Catholic institutions where the following applied:

•Only Catholics are employed;

•The primary purpose of the institution or service provided is the direct instruction in Catholic belief;

•The only persons served by the institution are those that share Catholic religious tenets. (Try to fit this in with our local Catholic Charities that serve 80,000 every year without discrimination according to faith. It would be impossible!)

Practically speaking under the proposed mandate there would be no “religious exemption” for Catholic hospitals universities, colleges, nursing homes and numerous Catholic social service agencies such as Catholic Charities. It could easily be determined that the “religious exemption” would not apply as well to Catholic high schools, elementary schools and Catholic parishes since many employ non-Catholics and serve both students and, through social outreach, many who do not share Catholic religious beliefs. Such a narrow “religious exemption” is simply unprecedented in federal law.

Last September I asked you to protest those guidelines to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services, and contact your political leadership in the federal government. I asked that you request that this flawed mandate be withdrawn because of its unprecedented interference in the religious liberty and freedom of conscience of the Catholic community, and our basic democratic process.

You did. And you were joined by Catholics throughout the country (and many others as well) who raised their voices against the mandate, raised their voices against a meaningless religious exemption.

On January 20, 2012, the Obama administration answered you and me. The response was very simple: “To Hell with You.”

Kathleen Sebelius announced that the mandate would not be withdrawn and the religious exemption would not be expanded. Instead, she stated that nonprofit groups – which include the Catholic Church – will get a year “to adapt to this new rule.” She simply dismissed Catholic concerns as standing in the way of allegedly respecting the health concerns and choices of women.

Could Catholics be insulted any more, suggesting that we have no concern for women’s health issues? The Catholic Church and the Catholic people have erected health care facilities that are recognized worldwide for their compassionate care for everyone regardless of their creed, their economic circumstances and, most certainly, their gender. In so many parts of the globe – the United States included – the Church is health care.

Kathleen Sebelius and through her, the Obama administration, have said “To Hell with You” to the Catholic faithful of the United States.

•To Hell with your religious beliefs,
•To Hell with your religious liberty,
•To Hell with your freedom of conscience.

We’ll give you a year, they are saying, and then you have to knuckle under. As Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops responded, “in effect, the president is saying that we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences.”

As I wrote to you last September, with this mandate the democratic process is being ignored while we are being ordered to ignore our religious beliefs. And we are being told not only to violate our beliefs, but to pay directly for that violation; to subsidize the imposition of a contraceptive and abortion culture on every person in the United States.

It is time to go back to work. They have given us a year to adapt to this rule. We can’t! We simply cannot!

Pope: Without faith, ecumenism is like a social contract"

2012-01-27T17:24:00.002-05:00

Obama pushes colleges to keep tuition under control

2012-01-27T17:22:00.002-05:00

ANN ARBOR, Michigan (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, appearing before thousands of cheering students at the University of Michigan, touted his plan on Friday to reward colleges that keep their tuition under control with more federal aid as he makes school affordability a top election-year priority.

Obama, seeking to reform federal aid for students to pay spiraling college costs, unveiled fresh details of a proposal to make higher education affordable for more families that he first announced on Tuesday in his State of the Union address.

His plan is aimed at helping students pay for a higher education, which is seen as crucial for employment as the country is grappling with an 8.5 percent jobless rate. It also specifically targets the issue of income and access, a central focus of the November 6 presidential race that has zeroed in on the nation's widening wealth gap.

Obama's plan would have his administration redistribute campus-based aid, which is handled directly by schools, based on schools' performance: colleges that keep tuition costs in check and get students to graduate would get more money than other schools that do not.

"We're putting colleges on notice: you can't assume that you'll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can't stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down," the Democratic president said at the speech that had all the trappings of a campaign event with striped bunting and a crowd-filled stage.

Obama couched his remarks in the broad populist themes of his re-election campaign - of sticking up for the middle class, rewarding companies for bringing jobs back home, and ensuring that the rich pay higher taxes.

"We should push colleges to do better. We should hold them accountable if they don't," he told a crowd of about 4,000 people.

Low-interest federal Perkins loans for poor students will also be expanded to $10 billion a year, the White House said in a statement. Another $1 billion grant will go to states that reform their higher education systems, it added.

Obama also called for a "college scorecard" that would give prospective students and families a uniform, easy-to-read look at information such as tuition and graduation rates across all universities -- just as labels on food packages offer a standard look at essential facts.

Other proposed changes would require congressional action, something many analysts and others see as unlikely in an election year.

Obama wants lawmakers to increase the number of work-study jobs over the next five years. He also has called on Congress to block an increase in interest rates on federal student loans set to take effect July 1, doubling from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent for about 7.4 million students with Stafford loans, low-interest loans directly from the Department of Education.

Defend Tradition in ecumenical work, Pope says

2012-01-27T17:20:00.000-05:00

(CNS) Pope Benedict XVI underlined the urgent need to address “a profound crisis of faith,” and drew a distinction between true and false ecumenism, in a January 27 address to members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

Speaking to the participants in a plenary session of the Congregation that he headed for nearly 24 years, the Pope warned that “in vast areas of the earth the faith risks being extinguished, like a flame without fuel.” The crisis of faith, he said, is “a loss of a religious sense which represents one of the greatest challenges for the Church today.”

Pope Benedict reminded the Congregation that he has proclaimed a Year of Faith in a bid to revive that religious sense, and has made the “new evangelization” a priority of his pontificate and the topic of this year’s meeting of the Synod of Bishops.

The plenary meeting of the CDF will discuss the challenges of ecumenical work, and the Pope devoted much of his talk to that subject. He welcomed the fruits of ecumenical dialogue, but cautioned against the inappropriate use of that process:

Yet we must also recognize that the risks of indifference and of false Iienicism, completely alien to the mindset of Vatican Council II, require us to be vigilant. Such indifference is caused by the increasingly widespread opinion that truth is not accessible to man and that, therefore, we must limit ourselves to finding rules to improve this world. In this scenario, faith comes to be replaced by a shallow-rooted moralism. By contrast, the core of true ecumenism is faith, in which man encounters the truth revealed in the Word of God.
To guard against false ecumenism, the Pope suggested making a careful distinction between the Tradition of the Church, denoted with a “capital T,” and the different (“small t”) traditions of Christian denominations. He suggested that Anglicanorum Coetibus opened a way for the Catholic Church to accept the distinct traditions of the Anglican community without compromising the Tradition of the universal Church. In ecumenical work, the Pope continued, the Catholic Church should work with all interested ecumenical partners to preserve the teachings of Tradition in today’s world. Such a united witness is important, he said, on “the great moral questions about human life, family, sexuality, bioethics, freedom, justice and peace.”

Cartoon of the Day - Attack of the Attack Ads

2012-01-27T17:16:00.001-05:00

MSF withdraws staff over Libya torture cases

2012-01-27T17:16:00.000-05:00

(The Telegraph) Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said it was withdrawing staff because it was effectively keeping prisoners alive so that authorities could continue to torture them.

The withdrawal came as Amnesty International reported separately that up to a dozen people had died after being tortured at the hand of the new National Military Security agency.
Senior UN figures expressed concern over the government's failure to exert control over militias, accused of rampant abuse of the estimated 8,500 held in arbitrary detention.

Christopher Stokes, the General Director of MSF, said the scale of torture in two detention centres in the city of Misurata was accelerating despite repeated pleas from the organisation for mistreatment to stop.
Some of the 115 inmates among the 1,500 strong prison population that MSF staff treated after torture were beaten so badly they could not stand, had suffered kidney failure and bore signs of electric shock.
Hundreds of prisoners, many of them black Africans, also told the organisation of suffering torture.
Mr Stokes said MSF medics feared that their work could be used to sustain the process of torturing prisoners. "When you patch people up and then they get taken back to be tortured again in the same evening, you become part of the process," he said.

"We have protested and in some cases they have said they will stop but in other cases they say it happens everywhere, like Abu Ghraib. If anything, the number of cases has been accelerating."

Navi Pillay, the UN human rights chief, said she had serious concerns over the fate of the 8,500 prisoners held in around 60 centres by revolutionary forces that were not accountable to a national government.
"The majority of detainees are accused of being Gaddafi loyalists and include a large number of sub-saharan, African nationals," she said. "The lack of oversight by the central authority creates an environment conducive to torture and ill treatment."

Amnesty said the Libyan authorities who moved to Tripoli as the new government in September had failed to open an inquiry into any of the cases it had documented.

"After all the promises to get detention centres under control, it is horrifying to find that there has been no progress to stop the use of torture," said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty Libya adviser. "We are not aware of any proper investigations into cases of torture, and neither the survivors or relatives of those who have died in detention have had any recourse to justice or redress for what they have suffered."
But Libya's defence minister angrily dismissed the Amnesty allegations as unsubstantiated.

Osama Jueili, the defence minister and head of the Zintan Brigade, one of the most active militias, said: "We have no documented cases and we guarantee access for the international NGOs to our prisons, including the Red Cross. If something happened in some unofficial territory it can happen like any place in the world.
"But on what basis do Amnesty say this? It is not correct. All jails are open to international organisations, including the Red Cross."

Ian Martin, the UN envoy for Libya, added a second warning that the new Libyan authorities were failing to exert authority in the former dictatorship.

As a result the law of gun dominated a country scarred by the dictatorship of Gaddafi.
"The former regime may have been toppled, but the harsh reality is that the Libyan people continue to have to live with its deep-rooted legacy," said Mr Martin. There were "weak, at times absent, state institutions, coupled with the long absence of political parties and civil society organisations, which render the country's transition more difficult".

Dave Hartwell, an analyst with IHS Global Insight, said the Western allies that had backed the uprising against Gaddafi had failed to provide enough support for the fledgling government. "We should have a better appreciation of what the Libyans are actually facing. A smooth transition hasn't happened," he said. "They are clearly having trouble exerting influence."

Street Preacher Fights Campus Speech Restrictions

2012-01-27T16:32:00.000-05:00

Ryan Arneson started visiting South Mountain Community College in 2009 to hand out tracts and talk to students about Jesus. The busy urban campus, in southern Phoenix, was a perfect venue for sidewalk evangelism. Campus administrators approved Arneson’s visits ahead of time and even escorted him to a patio table in front of the school’s library where he could easily interact with students and visitors making their way across campus.

For the next 18 months, Arneson came back to the campus regularly and never had any problems with the students or school officials. But in January 2011, when Arneson again requested permission to visit the school during the upcoming semester, administrators told him the school had a new solicitation policy.

If Arneson wanted to continue visiting campus, he would have to pay $50 a day or $125 a week for the privilege of expressing his views in public.

Last month, the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit against the Maricopa Community College District on Arneson’s behalf, arguing the solicitation policy violates his rights to free speech, due process and equal protection.

“Free speech is protected by the First Amendment, which means it can’t come with a price tag and a burdensome waiting period,” said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Jonathan Scruggs in a prepared statement.

In addition to paying for campus visits, the school’s solicitation policy requires people to give 14 days advance notice, have $1 million in liability insurance coverage and stay within certain areas. It also limits the amount of time any individual or group can spend on campus to 50 hours per semester. Only political groups are exempt.

Samantha Harris, director of speech code research for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said such policies are not uncommon.

“We have found that 65 percent of colleges and universities maintain policies that would not pass First Amendment muster,” she said.

Only 14 of the 392 colleges FIRE surveyed as part of its annual campus speech code report did not have any policy restricting free expression. The rest of the schools have varying levels of restrictions on what students and visitors can say and where and when they can say it, Harris said. The overall effect is teaching students to fear punishment for expressing their views, especially if they’re unpopular, she said.

“So what students learn is that they have a right not to be offended,” Harris said.

FIRE regularly asks school administrations to reconsider restrictive speech policies, a strategy that has mixed results. But earlier this month, the organization succeeded in persuading the University of Mississippi to abandon its policies, including one that limited unplanned demonstrations to a few designated free speech zones.

The Alliance Defense Fund tried to convince officials at South Mountain Community College to abandon its new policy without going to court, but when administrators failed to respond, the organization filed suit.

In a similar case in Southern California last year, the Life Legal Defense Foundation reached a mediated settlement with Cypress College in a case involving pro-life group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust. The community college agreed to revise its restrictive speech policy and pay the group’s legal bills.

If Arneson’s case makes it to court, the college has a good chance of losing, said Scruggs, the ADF attorney.

“The courts have routinely ruled policies like this one unconstitutional,” he said. “Christians visiting public college campuses shouldn’t be deterred from expressing their beliefs because of cumbersome, unconstitutional policies.”

Free-Speech Case Appealed to Supreme Court

2012-01-27T16:30:00.000-05:00

The Thomas More Law Center on Jan. 24 appealed the case of a Southern California teacher to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bradley Johnson, a high school math teacher in the Poway Unified School District near San Diego, had banners hanging in his classroom for 25 years with mottos such as “In God We Trust,” “One Nation Under God” and “God Bless America.”

For the last 30 years, the school district has had a policy allowing teachers to use their classrooms for displays of personal belief — a policy other teachers at Johnson’s school have taken advantage of by hanging up Tibetan prayer flags and posters of the Dalai Lama, Malcolm X and Hindu sayings.

In 2007, the school told Johnson his banners needed to be removed, while the other displays remained. A federal district court in 2008 upheld Johnson’s First Amendment rights, but a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the decision last year — then turned down a request for an en banc hearing by the full court.

That leaves the U.S. Supreme Court as a last resort, said Thomas More Law Center President Richard Thompson.

“This case is a prime example of how public schools across our nation are cleansing our classrooms of our Christian heritage, while promoting atheism and other non-Christian religions under the guise of cultural diversity,” he said.

Kentucky Pastor Opens Legislative Session with Controversial Prayer

2012-01-27T16:27:00.000-05:00

A Kentucky pastor invited to open a budget address in January shocked everyone by praying fervently — and specifically — against a gambling expansion bill just moments before Gov. Steven Beshear took the podium to tell legislators why they need to pass it.

As more of the states surrounding Kentucky authorize casinos, the governor is worried about seeing residents’ dollars flowing out of state — and believes a gambling-expansion bill will stop the fiscal bleeding.

“We might as well be backing trucks filled with cash up to the Ohio River and dumping that money into the water,” Beshear said in a Jan. 4 speech.

But that’s not how Hershael York, a pastor at Frankfort’s Buck Run Baptist Church, and a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, sees the situation.

After asking God to bless all the legislators and the governor with wisdom, he prayed, “May they never resort to leveraging vice and avarice to pay our bills. Help us to admit we cannot truly love our neighbor has ourselves and then scheme to get his money by enticing him with vain hope.

“May they not lead this state to share profits from an industry that preys on greed or desperation. Help us to foster salaries, not slot machines, to build cars and enable jobs, not license casinos and seduce the simple into losing what they have. May our greatest concern not be that we get our share of a family’s losses, but that we foster a sense of hope and justice that creates opportunity and leads to success. May the decisions they make and the judgments they render be consistent with Your eternal character and truth.”

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" for January 27, 2012

2012-01-27T14:00:00.000-05:00

Talking about the "things that matter most" on January 27

4:00 - Jesus, Lord of Finances
Here at Kresta in the Afternoon we have a slogan that Jesus is Lord over all areas of life. And that certainly includes our finances. From proper stewardship to tithing, savings to debt, Marty Bodnar of Exchange Capital Management is here to discuss Jesus, Lord of Finances.

4:20 – Thomas More Law Center Appeals Ninth Circuit’s Anti-God Decision to the U.S. Supreme Court
The Thomas More Law Center announced this week that it has appealed a controversial decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal was filed in the case of Bradley Johnson v. Poway Unified School District. For the past twenty-five years, Bradley Johnson, a high school math teacher in California had been displaying red, white and blue banners in his classroom that contained patriotic phrases such as: “In God We Trust,” “One Nation Under God,” and “God Bless America.” However school officials ordered Johnson to remove his banners because they promoted a “Judeo-Christian” viewpoint. In an outrageous case of double standard, school officials allowed other teachers to display non-Christian religious displays in their classrooms including a 40-foot string of Tibetan prayer flags with images of Buddha, poster with Hindu leader Mahatma Gandhi’s “7 Social Sins;” a poster of Muslim leader Malcolm X; a poster of the Buddhist leader Dali Lama; and a poster containing the lyrics of John Lennon’s anti-religion song “Imagine,” which begins, Imagine there’s no Heaven. Richard Thompson of the Law Center is here.

4:40 – Kresta Comments

5:00 – Online Piracy and SOPA: Beware of Unintended Consequences
It is one of the most contentious but least understood issues now before Congress—one that does not align neatly along party lines and has split the business community. The issue is online piracy, the illegal sale of copyrighted and trademarked products on rogue pirate websites. Since last week, the House Judiciary Committee has been struggling with legislation called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The bill would strengthen restrictions on foreign-based rogue websites, while imposing new obligations on U.S.-based firms that facilitate their operation. The legislation addresses a legitimate problem, but it may have unintended negative consequences for the operation of the Internet and free speech. Congress should carefully consider these factors before moving forward with any legislation. That’s the opinion of James Gattuso who joins us today.

5:20 – “Out of the Darkness”
"Out of the Darkness" tells the stories of Shelley Lubben and Mark Houck; both victims of the sexual revolution and sexual utilitarian philosophy. Shelley Lubben is a former porn actress who spent 8 years in the sex industry and suffered terribly at its hands. Mark Houck is one of the millions of men who became addicted to pornography and suffered for years under its yoke. World-renowned experts Dr. Judith Reisman and Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons provide important insights and their own moving stories to this compelling and important film. Their years of experience and study allow them to see more clearly what has happened to our society and why. And perhaps more importantly, they are able to point people towards the road out. We discuss the film with Executive Producer John Saffian.

5:40 – Oscar Noms Are Out: Steven Greydanus Reacts
The 2012 Academy Award nominations were announced Tuesday, with Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” leading the way with 11 nominations and the silent, black-and-white film “The Artist” collecting 10. First-time nominees included Jonah Hill as best supporting actor for “Moneyball,” Gary Oldman as best actor for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” and Demian Bichir for “A Better Life.” Steven Greydanus has the analysis.

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" for January 26, 2012

2012-01-26T12:54:00.000-05:00

Talking about the "things that matter most" on January 26

4:00 - How to Go from Being a Good Evangelical to a Committed Catholic in Ninety-Five Difficult Steps
American evangelicalism has recently experienced a new openness to Roman Catholicism, and many evangelicals, both famous and ordinary, have joined the Catholic Church or are considering the possibility. Christian Smith helps evangelicals who are exploring Roman Catholicism to sort out the kinds of concerns that typically come up in discerning whether to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church. In simple language, he explains many theological misunderstandings that evangelicals often have about Roman Catholicism, and suggests the kind of practical steps many take to enter the Catholic Church. He joins us.

5:00 – Dean Koontz: 77 Shadow Street
Inexplicable shadows caper across walls, security cameras relay impossible images, phantom voices mutter in strange tongues, not-quite-human figures lurk in the basement, elevators plunge into unknown depths. With each passing hour, a terrifying certainty grows: It’s the latest novel from Catholic writer Dean Koontz 77 Shadow Street He joins us.

5:20 – Jesus: Lord of Politics and Lord of Our Consciences

Islamists, liberals square off in Egypt's Tahrir

2012-01-25T17:28:00.000-05:00

(AP) CAIRO — Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians thronged major squares across Egypt on Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, in rallies that turned into a show of strength by secular groups in their competition with the country's powerful Islamists over demands for an end to military rule.

Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the 18 days of protests against Mubarak, was transformed into the focal point of the rivalry between revolutionary activists who want to show they can still mobilize the street and the Muslim Brotherhood, who emerged as Egypt's dominant political force after a landslide victory in parliament elections.

The secular activists urge continued protests to force the immediate ouster of the generals who took power after Mubarak's fall, saying they are just as dictatorial as the former president. The activists touted their powerful turnout as a sign they can pressure the Brotherhood, who they fear will accommodate the military in order to ensure their own political dominance.

"I have hope that these marches will be a message to the Brotherhood as much as the military council," said Sahar Abdel-Mohsen, who walked 3½ miles (5 kilometers) in a giant march across Cairo to Tahrir.

"We all know even if the Brotherhood are strong, the military council is still stronger. ... What we all want is an end to military rule," she said.

Both sides were intent on bringing out as many supporters as possible to show their weight in a nation still reeling from the aftershocks of Mubarak's ouster.

The Islamists got off to a strong start, taking up positions in Tahrir in the morning and claiming the right to police it, with Brotherhood volunteers checking the bags of those entering.

From a large stage with 10 loudspeakers, they blared religious songs and chants of "Allahu akbar" and set a tone of celebration for what they called the successes of the revolution — particularly the newly elected parliament.

But around a dozen large marches organized by secular groups converged on Tahrir from various parts of the city, chanting "Down, down with military rule!" and filling large boulevards as passers-by joined in along the way. The "non-Islamists" swarmed into the downtown plaza before sunset, jam-packing it to outnumber the Islamists.

Some marched to the sober beat of drums to pay tribute to the hundreds of protesters killed over the past year — by Mubarak's regime and the military — and to emphasize that this was not a joyous anniversary, with so many demands for democratic reform left unachieved. Many wore masks with pictures of the faces of slain protesters. Once in the square they erected a pharaonic-style wooden obelisk with the names of the "martyrs."

"I am not here to celebrate. I am here for a second revolution," said Attiya Mohammed Attiya, a 35-year-old father of four who is unemployed. "The military council is made of remnants of the Mubarak regime. We will only succeed when we remove them from power."

Together the two sides packed Tahrir in one of the biggest gatherings since the height of the protests against Mubarak and the frenzied celebrations on the night he fell on Feb. 11. There were no army troops or police in Tahrir or at the marches, a sign the military was looking to avoid an eruption of new clashes after deadly violence in October, November and December.

The competition for influence between the secular forces and the Brotherhood centers on the issue of the ruling military, led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak's defense minister for 20 years.

The revolutionaries say the generals must surrender power to civilians immediately, accusing them of perpetuating their former mentor's authoritarian system, bungling the transition and committing large-scale human rights violations. The Brotherhood says the generals should go, but are willing to accept their promise to step down by the end of June.

The revolutionaries, however, have been unable to agree on an alternative plan for the handover.

The Brotherhood and other Islamists have been the biggest beneficiaries of the military's handling of the transition. Elections held over the past two months gave the Brotherhood just under half the seats in the new parliament that convened Monday, and the ultraconservative Salafis snapped up another quarter. Liberals and left-leaning groups credited with leading the protests that ousted Mubarak garnered less than 10 percent.

In the eyes of the secularists, the Islamists' triumph underlined their obsession with power after decades of persecution by successive governments, as well as their waning interest in pressing the demands of the "revolution" for real change to dismantle the legacy of 60 years of autocratic rule. Many fear the Brotherhood will compromise with the military, ceding it future political power to seal their dominant status.

"A message to the Brotherhood: The revolutionaries love the square more than they love parliament," read one poster in Tahrir. In one march, a protester shouted: "For those who won in the elections, now is time to mete out justice for those killed."

After the arrival of the secular-led marches, the tone of the Brotherhood speakers slightly changed, trying to cleave closer to the revolutionaries. Earlier in the day, Brotherhood speeches were strongly religious — one speaker proclaimed the need to face Egypt's "enemies" who aim to strike against Islam. But later, several speakers underlined the need for justice for slain protesters and for the military to hand over power to civilians — issues closer to those of the secular-led marches.

Many of the secular youth groups called for a sit-in in Tahrir for the next days to press their demands. Such overnight sit-ins in the past have been hit by violent security crackdowns. Islamists said they would hold "celebrations" in the square until Friday, though not a sit-in.

Khaled Abol-Naga, a movie actor and protester, said despite the differences, the square was united Wednesday in the desire for an end to military rule. Even the Islamists want this because they don't want to lose their credibility, he said.

"The pact between the Islamists and the military won't survive this pressure," he added.

Ismail Badawi, a 55-year-old Brotherhood backer, said he was determined to see the military leave power, but that must be achieved through parliament, not the street.

"Parliament is the voice of the nation," he said. "We are here to support parliament."

"A confrontation will come, when the military tries to determine who will be president," he added, referring to fears the ruling generals will try to push through their own candidate in presidential elections due by the end of June.

"The Brotherhood will go down (to the street) when it is time."

The secular-led marches attracted a broad cross-section of society, similar to the biggest days of the anti-Mubarak protests. Young people, university students, middle-class men and women joined the processions.

"Tantawi, come and kill more revolutionaries, we want your execution," they chanted, alluding to the more than 80 protesters killed by army troops since October. Thousands of civilians have been hauled before military tribunals for trial since Mubarak's ouster.

"Don't mess with the people," others chanted. "Go, field marshal."

Pro-reform leader Mohammed ElBaradei participated in prayers at a mosque with one group of marchers before the procession set off toward Tahrir.

Unlike many of the demonstrators, ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said that the immediate return of the military to the barracks was not the main issue.

Instead, he told The Associated Press the focus should be on "the revolution's goals" — drafting "a proper constitution," fixing the economy, establishing independent media and courts and prosecuting those who killed protesters.

Emad el-Hadidi, a 66-year-old pharmacist, watched from the sidewalk as the marchers went by, chanting, "Bread, freedom and social justice."

El-Hadidi said the activists were too hurried and should give the military time to hand over power. But he also admired the protesters, his eyes tearing up because he felt he was too old join them.

"We are a generation brought up with fear," he said.

U.S. commandos free two hostages in daring Somalia raid

2012-01-25T17:24:00.000-05:00

(Reuters) - U.S. special forces swooped into Somalia on Wednesday and rescued an American and a Dane after a killing their nine kidnappers, in a rare raid into the Horn of Africa nation to free foreign captives.

American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, of Denmark, humanitarian aid workers for a demining group, had been kidnapped from the town of Galkayo in the semi-autonomous Galmudug region in October.

"This is yet another message to the world that the United States of America will stand strongly against any threats to our people," U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement.

The rescue team included forces hailing from the same elite Navy SEAL unit that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden last year in a raid on his compound in Pakistan, a U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But other services also formed part of the assault team, and it was not clear that any of the same SEALs were involved in both raids even if they came from the same unit, known as SEAL Team Six.

"All nine captors were killed during the assault," the U.S. military's Germany-based Africa Command said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed no American soldiers were killed in the operation.

Buchanan and Thisted were flown to neighboring Djibouti, home to the only U.S. military base in Africa and France's largest base on the continent, another U.S. official said on condition of anonymity. They were under the care of U.S. military doctors, officials said.

The Pentagon appeared to dismiss any known links by the kidnappers to Islamic militant groups and spokesman Captain John Kirby said the U.S. military did not have any firm indication they were connected to piracy.

Still, locals did describe the kidnappers as pirates.

Somali pirate gangs typically seize ships in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden and hold the crews until they receive a ransom. The kidnapping of the aid workers in Galkayo would be an unusual case of a pirate gang being behind a seizure on land.

U.S. and French forces have intervened to rescue pirate hostages at sea, but attacks on pirate bases are rare.

Danish Foreign Minister Villy Sovndal earlier said the poor health of one hostage had led the United States to take action.

People involved with the hostages had said earlier this month Buchanan was suffering from a possible kidney infection. Pentagon officials, who would not elaborate on her condition, said the sense of urgency about her health had increased over the past two weeks.

"About 12 U.S. helicopters are now at Galkayo. We thank the United States. Pirates have spoilt the whole region's peace and ethics. They are mafia," Mohamed Ahmed Alim, leader of the Galmudug region, told Reuters.

He was speaking from Hobyo, a pirate base north of Haradheere, where he said he was negotiating the release of an American journalist seized on Saturday, also from Galkayo.

"GOOD JOB TONIGHT"

Pirates and local elders say the American journalist and a number of sailors from India, South Korea, the Philippines and Denmark are being held by pirate gangs.

A British tourist kidnapped from Kenya on September 11, 2011 is also still held captive in Somalia.

The raiding party arrived prepared to detain the kidnappers but was not able to do that and all nine were killed, Pentagon officials said. The kidnappers were heavily armed and had explosives nearby, said the officials.

Obama was overheard congratulating Panetta on the success of the operation as the president entered the U.S. House of Representatives chamber on Tuesday for his annual State of the Union speech.

Panetta had been at the White House, where he had monitored the progress of the operation, before the speech. The raid was still being wrapped up when the president spoke to him.

"Leon. Good job tonight. Good job tonight," said Obama.

Obama authorized the raid on Monday and military commanders gave the final go-ahead on Tuesday, Pentagon officials said. They said a confluence of factors, from the health of the hostages to the available intelligence, prompted Washington to move ahead with the raid.

"We're confident that there was enough of a sense of urgency, there was enough actionable intelligence to take the action that we did, for the president to make the decision that he did," said Navy Captain John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman.

Panetta visited U.S. troops in Djibouti last month on his way to Afghanistan and Iraq, in a stopover that reflected Obama's growing focus on the militant and piracy threats from Yemen and the eastern edge of Africa.

In Djibouti, the United States has a platform to monitor al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen and Somalia's al Shabaab, a hardline rebel group with links to al Qaeda.

Somalia's government applauded the mission and said it welcomed any operation against pirates.

U.S. special forces killed senior al Qaeda militant Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan in a raid in southern Somalia in 2009. Several other al Qaeda or al Shabaab officials have been killed in U.S. drone strikes in Somalia over the past few years.

Evangelization can never be just a marginal concern, pope says

2012-01-25T17:23:00.000-05:00

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Evangelization must never be a marginal concern for the church, Pope Benedict XVI said.

From bishops to religious and the lay community, "All elements of the great mosaic of the church must feel themselves strongly called on by the Lord's mandate to preach the Gospel, so that Christ may be proclaimed everywhere," the pope said in his message for World Mission Sunday.

The annual observance will be marked Oct. 21 at the Vatican and in most countries.

In his message, released in Italian Jan. 25 at the Vatican, the pope said there is a "renewed urgency" for the missionary mandate even as the church celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity ("Ad Gentes").

That urgency is based on the increasing number of people around the world who still have not heard the Gospel message and the growing secularism seen in traditionally Christian countries, he said.

"It's necessary to renew enthusiasm for sharing the faith so as to promote new evangelization in traditionally Christian communities and countries that are losing their reference to God, and to help them rediscover the joy of believing," the pope said.

"We need to recover the same apostolic zeal of the early Christian communities who, small and defenseless, were still capable of spreading the Gospel through proclamation and witness," he said.

One of the biggest challenges to evangelization, he said, "is the crisis of faith, not just in the Western world, but among a large part of humankind, which nonetheless hungers and thirsts for God and must be invited and led to the bread of life and living water."

The message's theme, "Called to radiate the word of truth," comes from the pope's apostolic letter "Porta Fidei" ("The Door of Faith"), released last October to formally announce the Year of Faith starting this October.

"Concern for evangelization must never remain on the margins of church activity and the personal lives of Christians;" people of faith need to identify with their faith much more strongly and understand that they are not just recipients but also missionaries of the Gospel, Pope Benedict said.

Given the complexity of the modern world, new ways of communicating the word of God must be found, he said.

Preaching the Gospel effectively in an ever-changing world "requires constantly adapting lifestyles, pastoral plans and diocesan organization to this fundamental dimension of the church's being," that is, evangelization, he said.

"Faith is a gift that was given so that it could be shared," he said; it's "a light that must not stay hidden, but shine throughout the whole house. It is the most important gift ever given in our lives, and we cannot keep it for ourselves."

The pope thanked the work of the pontifical missionary societies, which announce the Gospel by offering "assistance to others, justice for the poorest, the possibility for education in isolated villages, medical care in remote areas, an escape from poverty, rehabilitation for the marginalized, support for human development, a way to overcome ethnic divisions and respect for all stages of life."

LA archbishop calls on Catholics to oppose HHS mandate

2012-01-25T17:21:00.000-05:00

(CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles urged lay Catholics to defend the faith after the Department of Health and Human Services refused to reverse a contraception mandate set to take effect in Aug. 2013.

“In this case, the government is imposing a narrow, radically individualistic idea of religion,” Archbishop Gomez said in a column published this week in his archdiocesan newspaper, the Tidings.

On Jan. 20, Department of Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the administration would not expand a religious exemption for employers who object to its “preventative services” mandate.

The policy, originally introduced in an Aug. 2011 interim rule, requires health insurance plans to cover contraception – including drugs that cause abortion – and sterilization free of charge.

To qualify for a religious exemption under the policy, religious organizations must employ and serve primarily members of their own faith and must exist for the purpose of teaching religious values.

Many religious organizations objected to the rule, however, saying that they would not qualify because they provide education, health care and other services to people of all religions. But the Obama administration dismissed their requests, saying that the religious exemption would not be expanded.

“As many have noted,” Archbishop Gomez said, the exemption for religious groups is so narrow that “much of what Jesus Christ did would not qualify as a 'religious' ministry.”

Everything the Church does, including healthcare, education and ministry to the poor, is “religious,” he emphasized. “All of our ministries and institutions are motivated by our love for God and our mission to spread the Gospel.”

“We don't do these things,” he added, “because we are social workers or philanthropists. We do them because we are disciples.”

Archbishop Gomez said that what he finds most disturbing about the recent announcement is the government's attempt to redefine Catholic charities, hospitals and colleges as non-religious institutions.

The administration is “presuming to have to competence and authority” to define what “religious faith is and how believers should express their faith commitments,” he warned.

“These are powers our government has never before assumed itself to have.”

He called on all Catholics, especially the laity, to “step up to their responsibilities for the Church's mission” and “to be leaders in helping to shape the values and moral foundations of America's future.”

The archbishop also noted the “prophetic advice” that Pope Benedict gave in his Jan. 19 address to U.S. bishops.

The Pope told the bishops of “the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity” that has the “courage to counter a reductive secularism” which is determining “the future of American society.”

Archbishop Gomez encouraged Catholics to pray for the nation's leaders and entrusted his intentions to Mary Immaculate, Patroness of America.

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" for January 25, 2012

2012-01-25T12:42:00.000-05:00

Talking about the "things that matter most" on January 25

4:00 – National School Choice Week: Vouchers, Charter Schools and More
In this National School Choice Week which will feature 400 events spanning all 50 states, parents are increasingly asking what they can do to bring additional educational options to their states — from school vouchers and tax credits to public school choice and public charter schools. Lisa Graham Keegan is a pioneer in the education reform movement who is widely recognized as one of the leaders who developed and expanded the concept of charter schooling and scholarship tax credits. She is here to discuss the future of school choice.

4:20 – Analyzing Last Night’s State of the Union Speech
By using his State of the Union speech to draw sharp contrasts with Republicans on such high-profile issues as taxes and the housing market, President Obama opened an election-year debate on the role of government that could be more intense than any in decades. Warning Congress that "I intend to fight obstruction with action," he painted a confrontational picture that is sure to last for the next 10 months. Paul Kengor is here to analyze the speech.

4:40 – Benjamin Franklin’s Thoughts on the “State of the Union”
Its Ben Franklin’s birthday month and with President Obama’s “state of the union” address last night, we thought it might be fun to hear Ben Franklin’s thoughts on the state of our union. In honor of the legendary statesman, inventor and author, Tom Fitzgerald has given new life to Franklin. He is here to discuss Franklin’s opinions on the economy, the state of American innovation, Franklin’s personal failings, and Franklin’s thoughts on leadership—which are particularly poignant going into the election.

5:40 – Direct to My Desk – Building a Catholic “Bucket List”
Bucket lists (i.e., lists of stuff you should oughtta wanna do before you kick the bucket) are hot these days. Recently on the pages of Our Sunday Visitor Mark Shea put together a bucket list of 10 things a Catholic should oughtta wanna do before he or she meets their Maker. We expand on his list and build our own list with your help.

March for Life Bias: You Won't Believe It Until You See it Yourself

2012-01-24T20:51:00.000-05:00

While media bias is nothing new when it comes to the March for Life, CBS's DC bureau has taken it to a new low this year. One strategy has always been to report that "abortion supporters and protesters converged on Washington today to mark the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade." The play up that "both sides" of the abortion debate showed up, when the reality of the situation is that hundreds of thousands are pro-life vs a couple hundred pro-aborts if that.

On Monday, the day of the March, CBS's local site for the DC posted a photo essay entitled "Activists Hold Annual March For Life On Roe v. Wade Anniversary." The photo essay contains seven photos, ALL SEVEN OF WHICH are of pro-aborts, pro-abort signs, pro-abort slogans. Not a single picture of the March, the rally, the pro-life signs. Not a single picture of the ~400,000 pro-lifers that came to DC.

In all of the photos they posted of pro-aborts, the DIDN'T show the most disgusting sign from the abortion supporters - "Good Women Have Abortions."

If you can't believe it (as I couldn't) you can see it for yourself here.

Washington State Marriage Defenders vs. Dissenting Senators

2012-01-24T16:31:00.000-05:00

The National Organization for Marriage plans to oust those voting against party platform.

by TRENT BEATTIE
National Catholic Register

Gov. Christine Gregoire intends to sign a bill that would redefine marriage, but the National Organization for Marriage wants to prevent the bill from getting to her desk in the first place.

But with another state senator, Mary Margaret Haugen, a Democrat from Camano Island, coming out in favor of the measure, the bill has the 25 votes it needs to pass out of the upper chamber. The bill is also expected to pass the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives.

Gregoire, a Democrat who is not seeking re-election, recently changed course on the issue and requested the legislation to change the legal definition of marriage.

Washingtonians voted against this stance in 1998 when they passed a law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The law was upheld by the state Supreme Court in 2006. In 2009, a domestic-partnership law, which has been called the “everything but marriage” law, was passed.

This has not gone unnoticed by Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).

“It’s fairly incredible that some legislators would try to legalize homosexual ‘marriage’ so soon after giving same-sex couples all the rights and privileges of marriage through domestic partnerships,” said Brown in a press release.

“This effort proves that the question is not one of rights, but preserving marriage as a child-focused institution that has served families since the dawn of time. All legislators need to know that the same-sex ‘marriage’ lobby wants to destroy the institution of marriage, redefining not just marriage, but also ‘husband,’ ‘wife,’ ‘mother’ and ‘father.’”

On Jan. 18, NOM pledged $250,000 to oust any Washington state Republican senator who votes to redefine marriage. The money would be spent to support primary challengers of incumbents voting against their party’s pro-marriage platform.

“We intend to hold every legislator accountable for his or her vote on marriage,” Brown promised. “Any Republican who votes to redefine marriage can count on funding of a primary challenge to them.” NOM has already done this in California, Minnesota and Maine.

‘Irreplaceable Potential’

NOM also intends to work with pro-marriage grassroots organizations to ensure that citizens in the state of Washington have the chance to vote on marriage in November 2012. Brown said, “If the (state) Legislature forces through same-sex ‘marriage,’ they need to know that marriage will be on the ballot in November and the people of Washington will hold them accountable.”

In 31 other states, voters have voted on marriage, and in each case, traditional marriage has won. Brown noted that “every time the people have voted to protect the definition of marriage as one man and one woman. The people of Washington state deserve the same right.”

Kirby Wilbur, chairman of the Washington State Republican Party, said that senators can expect primary challengers when they vote against basic tenets firmly held by a large number of voters.

“When they vote contrary to the traditional definition of marriage — the same one that is found in our party’s platform — they can’t be surprised when there’s a backlash. The National Organization for Marriage has every right to do what they’re doing.”

The bishops of Washington state have urged citizens to contact their legislators in an effort to preserve the state’s legal definition of marriage. In a letter titled “Marriage and the Common Good,” the bishops presented an appeal based on reason.

The letter read, in part: “Washington state’s present law defining marriage as ‘a civil contract between a male and a female’ is grounded not in faith, but in reason and the experience of society. It recognizes the value of marriage as a bond of personal relationships, but also in terms of the unique and irreplaceable potential of a man and woman to conceive and nurture new life, thus contributing to the continuation of the human race.”

The letter continued: “A change in legislation would mean that the state would no longer recognize the unique sacrifices and contributions made by these couples, thereby adding to the forces already undermining family life today.”

The Persecuted Church

2012-01-24T16:27:00.000-05:00

Nigeria: bishop describes Islamist terrorist attack

Bishop John Namanzah Niyiring has offered an account of the recent attack on Kano, Nigeria’s second-largest city, by the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram. Nearly 200 lost their lives in the attack on the largely Muslim city of 3.4 million.

“The attackers seemed well trained and wore camouflage uniforms like those used by the mobile police force,” the Bishop of Kano told the Fides news agency. “This misled some civilians that directed themselves towards the terrorists, believing them to be policemen, and were killed without mercy. Among the targets hit with explosive devices are the headquarters of the Regional Police, the Security Service, Customs and Immigration Department, in addition to the police station.”

“A good number of terrorists were foreigners, especially from Niger and Chad,” Bishop Niyiring added. “Some of these are probably foreigners waiting for legal regulation and were recruited by Boko Haram. Even some of the Catholic Church structures were damaged, but priests and religious were not affected. But we have news of some of our parishioners among the victims.”

Mexico: gunmen storm chapel, kill 7

On Saturday night, January 21, a group of armed men burst into a chapel in the community of Corral Falso, in the municipality of Atoyac de Alvarez, and opened fire on the faithful who had gathered in prayer for the mass of a community member’s soul killed the previous week: the toll of the tragic violence is seven were killed and five were injured, according to a statement from the Attorney General in the region of Guerrero. The police said they had received a phone call on Saturday night, January 21, which denounced that three men had fired on a group of faithful. The agents of the State Police then visited the scene, where they found the dead and wounded. These were taken to the general hospital Atoyac de Alvarez for medical care. At the same time of the Corral Falso aggression, there were 2 other episodes of violence in the area of the coast, in the municipality of Benito Juarez, in the region of San Jeronimo, and in the municipality of San Marcos, in the region of the Costa Chica. The total is a further 15 more deaths.

Indonesia: radical Muslim groups surround house church

At least 70 members of two radical Muslim groups--the Indonesian Muslim Communication Forum and the Islamic Reform Movement--surrounded a home where a Protestant service was taking place. Police who were guarding the home did not intervene until the service was cut short, according to an Indonesian media report.

The incident took place in Bogor, a city of 950,000 on the island of Java. Since 2008, local officials have prevented the congregation from worshipping in their church, resulting in services on the sidewalk and in homes.

Cardinal Mahony blasts HHS contraception mandate

2012-01-24T16:17:00.000-05:00

Cardinal Roger Mahony, who served as Archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 to 2011, has blasted the Obama administration for announcing that Church-related institutions will be required to provide contraceptive and sterilization coverage for employees in their health-care plans. The new rule confirmed on January 20 does not apply directly to houses of worship, but does affect schools, hospitals, and charitable organizations.

Calling the mandate “probably the most expansive decision on the part of the US Federal government ever,” Cardinal Mahony said that “I cannot imagine that this decision was released without the explicit knowledge and approval of President Barack Obama. And I cannot imagine a more direct and frontal attack on freedom of conscience than this ruling today. This decision must be fought against with all the energies the Catholic Community can muster.”

Cardinal Mahony added:

For me there is no other fundamental issue as important as this one as we enter into the Presidential and Congressional campaigns. Every candidate must be pressed to declare his/her position on all of the fundamental life issues, especially the role of government to determine what conscience decision must be followed: either the person's own moral and conscience decision, or that dictated/enforced by the Federal government. For me the answer is clear: we stand with our moral principles and heritage over the centuries, not what a particular Federal government agency determines.

As Bishops we do not recommend candidates for any elected office. My vote on November 6 will be for the candidate for President of the United States and members of Congress who intend to recognize the full spectrum of rights under the many conscience clauses of morality and public policy. If any candidate refuses to acknowledge and to promote those rights, then that candidate will not receive my vote.
“This is a sad moment in the life of our country, where religious freedom and freedom of conscience led to the formation of this new Nation under God,” he concluded. “Let us all pray that the power of the Holy Spirit will come upon all elected officials of our country, and that all will make decisions based upon God's revealed truth.”

Political Pulpit: Obama’s Top Adviser Uses MLK’s Church To Bash GOP

2012-01-24T16:13:00.001-05:00

This is about a week old, but valuable to see nonetheless.

"Teachers, and firefighters, and policemen, whose jobs are now in jeopardy because Congress--well let me be specific--because the Republicans in Congress," Jarrett told the crowd. According to the CBS affiliate in Atlanta, at this point, "Before she could finish her sentence, people in the congregation were laughing, and applauding."

At the end of Sunday's sermon, after Jarrett had delivered her remarks to the congregation, the church held a voter registration drive.

Cartoon of the Day - Online Stops SOPA

2012-01-24T15:58:00.000-05:00

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" for January 24, 2012

2012-01-24T14:59:00.000-05:00

Talking about the "things that matter most" on January 24

4:00 – The Problem of Suffering: A Thomistic Approach
Journalist and best-selling author Lee Strobel commissioned George Barna, the public-opinion pollster, to conduct a nationwide survey. The survey included the question “If you could ask God only one question and you knew he would give you an answer, what would you ask?” The most common response, offered by 17% of those who could think of a question was “Why is there pain and suffering in the world?” If God is all-powerful, all-knowing and perfectly good, why does he let so many bad things happen? This question raises what philosophers call “the problem of evil.” We talk with Dr. Eleonore Stump about that very “problem.”

4:40 – Kresta Commentary

5:00 – Raised by the Church: Growing up in New York City's Catholic Orphanages
In 1946 Edward Rohs was left by his unwed parents at the Angel Guardian Home to be raised by the Sisters of Mercy. The Sisters hoped that the parents would one day return for him. In time they married and had other children, but Ed's parents never came back for him. And they never signed the legal papers so he could be adopted by another family. Raised by the Church chronicles the extraordinary life of Ed Rohs, a bright, mischievous boy who was raised in five institutions of the Catholic orphanage system in postwar Brooklyn. Rohs was one of thousands of children taken in by Catholic institutions during the tumultuous post-WWII years: out-of-wedlock infants, children whose fathers had been killed in the war, and children of parents in crisis. It’s a personal testimony and a testimony to the Church that raised him.

5:40 – Kathleen Sebelius, Alexia Kelley, and the Obama Administration’s Twisted War on Religion
Champions of Change is a weekly initiative from the Obama Administration’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Its purpose is to “highlight Americans who are making an impact in their communities and helping our country rise to meet the many challenges of the 21st century.” The office is led by Catholic Obama supporter Alexia Kelley, who co-founded the group “Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good” which acted as a Catholic apologetic agency for Obama in 2008. The office is also under the umbrella of the Department of Health and Human Services, led by another Catholic, Kathleen Sebelius. Yesterday the office announced that tomorrow they will be honoring “nine leaders in Catholic education from across the country as Champions of Change.” This comes just a few days after Sebelius betrayed Catholics of all stripes in her decision on the health care mandate. Al ties this all together.

Obama to take on economy in State of the Union

2012-01-24T14:48:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is ready to reclaim the spotlight with a plea for economic fairness in a State of Union address that opposition Republicans panned in advance as a rehash of old ideas.

Obama delivers his third State of the Union address Tuesday in a capital and country shot through with politics, with his re-election campaign well under way and his potential GOP opponents lobbing attacks against him daily as they scrap for the right to take him on.

Obama's 9 p.m. EST address to a joint session of Congress and millions of television viewers will be as much as anything an argument for his re-election, the president's biggest, best chance so far to offer a vision for a second term.

Senior political adviser David Plouffe said Tuesday morning the president is "happy to have a debate" about his performance.

Bill Galston, a former Clinton administration domestic policy adviser now at the Brookings Institution, said, "Almost by definition it's going to be at least as much a political speech as a governing speech."

"The president must run on his record," Galston said, "and that means talking candidly and persuasively with the country about the very distinctive nature of the challenges the American economy faced when he took office and what has gone right for the past three years, and what needs to be done in addition."

With economic anxiety showing through everywhere, the speech will focus on a vision for restoring the middle class, with Obama facing the tricky task of persuading voters to stick with him even as joblessness remains high at 8.5 percent. Obama can point to positive signs, including continued if sluggish growth; his argument will be that he is the one to restore economic equality for middle-class voters.

Implicit in the argument, even if he never names frontrunners Gingrich and Mitt Romney, is that they are on the other side.

Obama's speech will come as Gingrich and Romney have transformed the Republican campaign into a real contest ahead of Florida's crucial primary next week. And he'll be speaking on the same day that Romney, a multimillionaire, released his tax returns, offering a vivid illustration of wealth that could play into Obama's argument about the growing divide between rich and poor.

Asked in an interview Tuesday about Romney's relatively modest tax rate in the range of 15 percent, given that he's a multi-millionaire, Plouffe said, "We need to change our tax system. We need to change our tax code so that everybody is doing their fair share."

Obama will frame the campaign to come as a fight for fairness for those who are struggling to keep a job, a home or college savings and losing faith in how the country works.

The speech will feature the themes of manufacturing, clean energy, education and American values. The president is expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose ways to make college more affordable, offer new steps to tackle a debilitating housing crisis and push to help U.S. manufacturers expand hiring.

Aides said the president would also outline more specifics about the so-called "Buffett Rule", which Obama has previously said would establish a minimum tax on people making $1 million or more in income. The rule was named after billionaire Warren Buffett, who has said it is unfair that his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does.

White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said on Twitter Tuesday that Buffett's secretary, Debbie Bosanek, would attend the State of the Union in the first lady's box.

Even before Obama delivered his speech, Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, said he already felt "a sense of disappointment."

"While we don't yet know all of the specifics, we do know the goal," he said. "Based on what the president's aides have been telling reporters, the goal isn't to conquer the nation's problems. It's to conquer Republicans. The goal isn't to prevent gridlock, but to guarantee it."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has called the themes of Obama's speech a "pathetic" rehash of unhelpful policies. But he said Tuesday he hoped Obama would "extend somewhat of an olive branch" to work with Republicans on the economy during his prime-time address.

For three days following his speech, Obama will promote his ideas in five states key to his re-election bid. On Wednesday he'll visit Iowa and Arizona to promote ideas to boost American manufacturing; on Thursday in Nevada and Colorado he'll discuss energy; and in Michigan Friday he'll talk about college affordability, education and training. Polling shows Americans are divided about Obama's overall job performance but unsatisfied with his handling of the economy.

The lines of argument between Obama and his rivals are already stark, with America's economic insecurity and the role of government at the center.

The president has offered signals about his speech, telling campaign supporters he wants an economy "that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few." Gingrich, on the other hand, calls Obama "the most effective food stamp president in history." Romney says Obama "wants to turn America into a European-style entitlement society."

Obama will make bipartisan overtures to lawmakers but will leave little doubt he will act without their help when it's necessary and possible, an approach his aides say has let him stay on offense.

The public is more concerned about domestic troubles over foreign policy than at any other time in the past 15 years, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. Some 81 percent want Obama to focus his speech on domestic affairs, not foreign ones; just five years ago, the view was evenly split.

On the day before Obama's speech, his campaign released a short Web ad showing monthly job losses during the end of the Bush administration and the beginning of the Obama administration, with positive job growth for nearly two Obama years. Republicans assail him for failing to achieve a lot more.

Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that Obama is not conceding the next 10 months to "campaigning alone" when people need economic help. On the goals of helping people get a fair shot, Carney said, "There's ample room within those boundaries for bipartisan cooperation and for getting this done."

Plouffe appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" and was interviewed on NBC's "Today" show and "CBS This Morning."

Arabs seek U.N. support for Syria peace plan

2012-01-24T14:46:00.000-05:00

(Reuters) - Arab states are appealing to world powers to help end the crisis in Syria after months of failed efforts to persuade President Bashar al-Assad to halt a 10-month crackdown on his opponents.

The cornerstone of their efforts - a 165-strong peace monitoring effort - was thrown into doubt on Tuesday when Gulf Arab states began withdrawing 55 of their monitors, saying they had failed to stem the violence.

The deputy head of the 22-member Arab League said the remaining monitors would continue their work.

However, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby and Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, who heads the organization's committee on Syria, wrote to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon requesting a meeting to seek the Security Council's support for the League's faltering peace effort.

One ambassador to the League said that bringing in the United Nations Security Council could lead to a tougher set of measures if Assad fails to comply.

"The Syrian regime did not implement the Arab plan under existing Arab pressure, so there was no other way except to approach the Security Council," the ambassador at the League said before the announcement of the letter and on condition of anonymity.

The League's new plan agreed at the weekend calls on Assad to step down, transfer power to his deputy and allow the formation of a unity government.

If the plan is adopted, he said, the Security Council would determine measures to push Syria to comply, such as economic sanctions similar to those imposed by Arab states, an arms embargo or restrictions on movements by Syrian diplomats.

SANCTIONS STILL OPPOSED

The next steps are unclear, with both the Arab League and the Security Council split on how much pressure to exert on Assad and how.

Security Council member Russia is one of Assad's few remaining allies and is still selling arms to Syria. In October it joined fellow permanent member China in vetoing a Western-crafted resolution that threatened an arms embargo.

The head of the monitors, Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, left Cairo to return to Damascus on Tuesday after telling the League the level of violence had fallen since they arrived in Syria in late December, an assertion hotly contested by Assad's opponents.

The decision to enlist U.N. support came after a weekend meeting of Arab foreign ministers that revealed differences, with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, regional rivals of Syria's ally Iran, pressing for the monitors to be recalled and tougher measures implemented. Iraq, Lebanon and others resisted.

Iraq is seen as wary of antagonizing its neighbor Iran and an ally of Syria, while Lebanon's politics have long been overshadowed by its larger neighbor Syria. However, only Lebanon failed to back the League's latest plan.

The League agreed sanctions on Damascus back in November when Syria's presence in the body was suspended, but they were not implemented by all Arab states and some oppose them still.

"We reject sanctions because they have a negative effect on the people and not the regime," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said after a meeting at the League's Cairo headquarters. He added that Iraq still supported the Arab League's efforts to end the Syrian crisis.

The ambassador to the League said the Arab sanctions had not been fully effective because states around Syria - Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon - did not implement them.

He said the line being followed by the League on Syria was similar to the Gulf Arab stance towards Yemen, where Gulf states called upon President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.

In contrast, the League took a more drastic approach with Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi when it referred Libya to the Security Council, providing an opening to foreign intervention.

Gaddafi was killed after NATO air power weakened his attempts to end an insurrection.

"The Arab League is trying to work a Yemeni-style model as opposed to any Libyan model, which means it is more focused on this kind of political transition with a handover of power rather than foreign intervention," said Salman Shaikh of the Brookings Doha Center.

March for Life speakers urge national pro-life leadership

2012-01-24T14:42:00.000-05:00

Washington D.C., Jan 23, 2012 (CNA/EWTN News) — Pro-life politicians spoke to participants at the March for Life in Washington, D.C. about the need for America’s leaders to guide the country in affirming the value of every human life.

U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) explained that “life and liberty” are two foundational principles that are intertwined to “form the core of our national character.”

“When we affirm the dignity of life, we affirm our commitment to freedom,” he said. When we fail to defend life, “freedom itself is diminished.”

Hundreds of thousands of Americans, including many young people, gathered in the nation’s capital for the annual March for Life on Jan. 23, one day after the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States.

Prior to a march to Capitol Hill, attendees gathered on the National Mall to hear from congressmen and pro-life leaders.

Speaker Boehner delivered opening remarks at the march, in which he affirmed that “human life is not a political or economic commodity.”

The Speaker explained that he has 11 siblings. “So I’ve never considered ‘pro-life’ to be a label or a position,” he said. “It’s just who I am.”

Defending life is “not a matter of party,” he said. Rather, it is “about standing on principle.”

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who is co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, told the crowd that the violent death of innocent children “is not an American value.”

He thanked those present at the march for their “selfless struggle by prayer, fasting and works” to participate in what he called “the greatest human rights movement on earth.”

The congressman also criticized President Obama for instituting policies and funding decisions that promote abortion throughout his last three years in office.

He explained that by appointing abortion advocates to key administrative positions, the president has worked to integrate abortion into national and international programs.

Rep. Smith observed that under President Obama the federal government has given more than $100 million dollars to the U.N. Population Fund, an organization that supports China’s one child policy, which relies on forced abortions and sterilizations.

The administration is also “lavishly” funding embryo-destroying stem cell research, he added, and organizations including Planned Parenthood are now titled “partners” of the U.S. government.

In addition, Congressman Smith warned, the pro-life movement is being threatened by the president’s “systematic undermining of conscience protections.”

He pointed to a federal contraception mandate that was finalized by the Health and Human Services Department on Jan. 20, as one of those actions by the Obama administration that is targeting people with pro-life convictions.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Jan. 20 that the administration would not expand a religious exemption for employers who object to a requirement that insurance plans cover contraception as part of “preventative services.” The policy requires free coverage for sterilization and contraception, including some drugs that can cause abortions.

“Everyone must comply regardless of moral objections or religious tenets simply because Obama says so,” Rep. Smith said.

He also noted that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was recently “thrown out” of a federal grant program to aid human trafficking victims because it would not offer referrals for abortion and contraception.

The congressman emphasized the importance of the 2012 presidential election and said that if President Obama is elected to a second term, he will work “aggressively” to force “conformity and complicity” on the matter of abortion.

“No one who values life can sit this one out,” he said.

U.S. Bishops vow to fight against contraception mandate

2012-01-24T14:40:00.000-05:00

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" for January 23, 2012

2012-01-23T14:44:00.000-05:00

Talking about the "things that matter most" on January 23

4:00 - Catholic Leaders Respond Nationwide to HHS "Preventive Services" Mandate
Both the president of the U.S. bishops and the bishops’ Pro-Life chairman called on the thousands of Catholics gathered today at the March for Life to speak out for the protection of conscience rights and religious liberty. “From a human point of view, we may be tempted to surrender, when our government places conception, pregnancy and birth under the ‘center for disease control,’ when chemically blocking conception or aborting the baby in the womb is considered a ‘right’ to be subsidized by others who abhor it,” said Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). His words referred to the January 20 announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that nearly all employers will be forced to cover drugs and procedures that violate their conscience in their health insurance plans Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron is here to discuss it.

4:20 – Kresta Comments: The March for Life, Stomping on the Catholic Conscience and How Catholics in America Proceed

5:20 – Obama Admin: Birth Control Mandate is Final; Bishops Vow to Fight
On Friday, in a statement from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the Obama administration announced it would not reconsider its “contraceptive mandate” — that is, the unprecedented command it issued last August forcing all private health plans to cover contraceptive and sterilization services, including drugs that cause early-term abortions. From the outset, the administration sought to camouflage the mandate’s radical assault on conscience by inserting an exemption for “religious employers” who objected to paying for contraception and abortion. It is a pitifully small fig leaf, however. Attorney Kyle Duncan is here to explain.

5:40 – Live at the March for Life
An unborn baby’s heart begins beating 18 days after conception – a tiny heartbeat, a human heartbeat, and a vulnerable one. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade made it legal to kill unborn human beings at any stage of development, at any time before birth, in all 50 states. Though abortion might be legal, not every American supports this travesty of justice. In January of every year, hundreds of thousands of Americans gather in our nation’s capital to protest the Supreme Court’s decision, denounce legalized abortion, and stand in defense of defenseless unborn human life. Teresa Tomeo is there reporting and joins us to share the events of the day.

EU bans Iranian oil, Tehran responds with threats

2012-01-23T08:39:00.000-05:00

View Larger Map

Jan 23 (Reuters) - The European Union banned imports of oil from Iran on Monday and imposed a number of other economic sanctions, joining the United States in a new round of measures aimed at deflecting Tehran's nuclear development programme.

In Iran, one politician responded by renewing a threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, an oil exporting route vital to the global economy, and another said Tehran should cut off oil to the EU immediately.

That might hurt Greece, Italy and other ailing economies which depend heavily on Iranian crude and, as a result, won as part of the EU agreement a grace period until July 1 before the embargo takes full effect.

A day after a U.S. aircraft carrier, accompanied by a flotilla that included French and British warships, made a symbolically loaded voyage into the Gulf in defiance of Iranian hostility, the widely expected EU sanctions move was likely to set off further bellicose rhetoric in an already tense region.

Some analysts say Iran, which denies accusations that it seeking nuclear weapons, could be in a position to make them next year. So, with Israel warning it could use force to prevent that happening, the row over Tehran's plans is an increasingly pressing challenge for world leaders, not least U.S. President Barack Obama as he campaigns for re-election in November.

Meeting in Brussels, foreign ministers from the 27-state EU, which as a bloc is Iran's second-biggest customer for crude after China, agreed to an immediate ban on all new contracts to import, purchase or transport Iranian crude oil and petroleum products. However, EU countries with existing contracts to buy oil and petroleum products can honour them up to July 1.

EU officials said they also agreed to freeze the assets of Iran's central bank and ban trade in gold and other precious metals with the bank and state bodies.

Along with U.S. sanctions imposed on Dec. 31, the Western powers hope choking exports and hence funding can force Iran's leaders to agree to curbs on a nuclear programme the West says is intended to yield weapons.

EU SEEKS TALKS

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said: "I want the pressure of these sanctions to result in negotiations.

"I want to see Iran come back to the table and either pick up all the ideas that we left on the table ... last year ... or to come forward with its own ideas."

Iran has said lately that it is willing to hold talks with Western powers, though there have been mixed signals on whether conditions imposed by either side make new negotiations likely.

The Islamic Republic insists it is enriching uranium only for electricity and other civilian uses.

It has powerful defenders against the Western action in the form of Russia and China, which argue that the new sanctions are unnecessary, and can also probably count on China and other Asian countries to go on buying much of its oil, despite U.S. and European efforts to dissuade them.

A member of Iran's influential Assembly of Experts, former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian, said Tehran should respond to the delayed-action EU sanctions by stopping sales to the bloc immediately, denying the Europeans time to arrange alternative supplies and damaging their economies with higher oil prices.

"The best way is to stop exporting oil ourselves before the end of this six months and before the implementation of the plan," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted him as saying.

He also reiterated that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow channel between the Gulf and open sea through which a third of all oil tanker traffic passes to importers around the world.

Washington has said it will not tolerate any closure, a position underlined by Sunday's passage through the strait of a U.S. flotilla around the carrier Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by two European frigates, Britain's Argyll and France's La Motte-Picquet.

HORMUZ THREAT

While Iran's Revolutionary Guards, possibly aware of their impending arrival, had backed away on Saturday from a threat made by a vice president last month to prevent "even one drop of oil" passing through the strait if the West embargoed Iran's crude, a senior member of parliament said on Monday that the closure remained an option if exports were disrupted.

"If any disruption happens regarding the sale of Iranian oil, the Strait of Hormuz will definitely be closed," Mohammad Kossari, deputy head of parliament's foreign affairs and national security committee, told Fars.

While the Western powers were at pains to describe their naval movement through the strait as routine, a view echoed by the Revolutionary Guards, they also stressed its symbolism.

"On this occasion HMS Argyll and a French vessel joined a U.S. carrier group transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, to underline the unwavering international commitment to maintaining rights of passage under international law," Britain's defence ministry said in a statement.

In Paris, spokesman Thierry Burkhard said: "It's a sign to Iran if they want to consider it like that."

Iran, the world's No. 5 oil exporter and also rich in natural gas, says it is enriching uranium and developing other nuclear technologies to meet rising energy needs. But the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency reported in November that it had evidence suggesting Iran had worked on designing an atomic bomb.

The unprecedented effort to take Iran's 2.6 million barrels of oil per day off international markets has kept global prices high, pushed down Iran's rial currency and caused a surge in the cost of basic goods for Iranians.

Obama administration refuses to change contraception mandate

2012-01-23T08:34:00.000-05:00

Washington D.C. (EWTN) —The Obama administration announced Jan. 20 that it will not expand an exemption for religious groups that object to its requirement for health insurance plans to cover sterilization and contraception – including abortion-causing drugs – free of charge.

Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in a Jan. 20 statement that religious employers who object to providing the coverage will be required to comply with the new law by Aug. 1, 2013, one year later than the initial deadline.
Sebelius noted that “important concerns” had been “raised about religious liberty.”

Those speaking out against the mandate included many Catholic organizations, such as schools, hospitals and social agencies, which serve all people in need, regardless of their religious affiliation.

During the comment period that followed the announcement of the rule, the administration received an outpouring of criticism from believers of various religious backgrounds.

Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee, argued against the regulation, warning that Jesus himself would not qualify for the religious exemption.

In December, a group of more than 60 evangelical, Baptist and Jewish leaders voiced their objection to the mandate in a letter to President Obama. They observed that “religious organizations beyond the Catholic community have deep moral objections” to the proposed mandate.

Sebelius said that those concerns were given “very careful consideration” and asserted that the final rule “strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services.”

While the rule will take effect for most employers on Aug. 1, 2012, Sebelius said that there will be a one-year “delayed implementation” of the mandate for nonprofit employers who do not currently provide contraceptive coverage in their insurance plans due to religious beliefs.

“This additional year will allow these organizations more time and flexibility to adapt to this new rule,” she said.

Sebelius added that these employers will be required to inform employees “that contraceptive services are available at sites such as community health centers, public clinics, and hospitals with income-based support.”
The announcement comes one day after Pope Benedict XVI warned of “grave threats” to religious liberty in the U.S.
In an address to a group of U.S. bishops visiting the Vatican, the Pope voiced great concern over “certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion.”
He said that it is “imperative” for “the entire Catholic community” in the U.S. to realize that the threats are “hostile to Christianity.”
Concerns about freedom of conscience were raised in Aug. 2011, when Sebelius issued an interim final rule outlining the initial “preventive health services” requirement.
Although the interim rule included an exemption for religious employers, many religious organization said it was too narrow and would not include many church ministries.
To qualify for the exemption, an employer must have the purpose of teaching religious values, and must employ and serve primarily those who share its religious beliefs.
The Health and Human Services Department is currently being sued by attorneys for The Becket Fund in separate lawsuits on behalf of Belmont Abbey College and Colorado Christian University.
Hannah Smith, senior legal counsel for The Becket Fund, called the move “a shameless attempt to kick the can down the road in an election year.”
Smith said that the Obama administration knows that the mandate “cannot survive constitutional scrutiny” and is therefore “trying to delay the inevitable judgment day.”

Pope expresses concern over hostility toward Christianity in US

2012-01-20T13:26:00.003-05:00

Gov. Snyder to business leaders: Roads, bridges need billions in funding

2012-01-20T13:26:00.000-05:00

(Detroit Free Press) Gov. Rick Snyder told Detroit business leaders this morning that Michigan needs to sharply increase its spending on roads and bridges to ensure a brighter future for the state.

Speaking to the Detroit Regional Chamber at the MGM Grand Casino in Detroit, Snyder said Michigan needs to spend billions of dollars more on roads and bridges over the next 20 years.

“If we don’t make that investment, what happens?” Snyder asked his audience of several hundred chamber members. “Once you have a road drop from good to fair to bad, it can cost you five times as much” to get it back to just fair. “All we’ve done is dump a huge liability on our kids.”

And Snyder repeated his call to build his proposed New International Trade Crossing bridge between Detroit and Windsor. State lawmakers in Lansing stymied those plans last year by refusing to back Snyder’s proposal.

“Everything says building this bridge is a fairly straightforward decision,” Snyder said. “The main impediment is a single special interest that has spent over $5 million on misleading ads,” he added, referring to the media campaign run by Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel (Matty) Moroun and his family.

“I’m going to keep plugging away on this bridge,” Snyder said. “It’s about jobs. It’s about international trade. …We’re right in the middle of one third of North America’s economy.”

Snyder also touted his 2011 accomplishments, repeating remarks he made earlier this week in his State of the State address.

“We got rid of the Michigan Business Tax, the dumbest tax in the United States,” he said. But he also repeated his warning that Michigan residents need to do more to fight obesity, including diet and exercise.

“The greatest thing we can do for health care costs in our country is personal responsibility,” he said.

And Snyder defended his decision to sharply limit the tax incentives previously given to Michigan filmmakers. Snyder said he dislikes tax credits in general, and that the money spent on film incentives, while creating some jobs, would produce greater benefits if put to programs like the state's Pure Michigan marketing effort.

Congress puts anti-piracy bills on ice

2012-01-20T13:24:00.000-05:00

(Reuters) - Lawmakers on Friday indefinitely postponed anti-piracy legislation that pits Hollywood against Silicon Valley, two days after major Internet companies staged an online protest by blacking out parts of prominent websites.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid postponed a showdown vote in his chamber on the Protect Intellectual Property Act, or PIPA for short, that had been scheduled for January 24.

Lamar Smith, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, followed suit, saying his panel would delay action on similar legislation called the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, until there is wider agreement on the legislation.

"It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products," Smith said in a statement.

The bills are aimed at curbing access to overseas websites that traffic in pirated content and counterfeit products, such as movies and music. But support for the legislation has eroded in recent days because of fears that legitimate websites could end up in legal jeopardy.

The entertainment industry wants legislation to protect its movies and music from counterfeiters, but technology companies are concerned the laws would undermine Internet freedoms, be difficult to enforce and encourage frivolous lawsuits.

On Wednesday protests blanketed the Internet, turning Wikipedia and other popular websites dark for 24 hours. Google, Facebook, Twitter and others protested the proposed legislation but did not shut down.

In a brief statement, Reid said there was no reason why concerns about the legislation cannot be resolved. He offered no new date for the vote.

Reid's action comes a day after a senior Democratic aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the measure lacked the 60 votes needed to clear a procedural hurdle in the 100-member Senate.

A handful of senators who had co-sponsored the legislation dropped their support after Wednesday's protests started.

Reid expressed hope on Friday that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, who has been shepherding the bill through Congress, could help resolve differences in the legislation.

"I am optimistic that we can reach a compromise in the coming weeks," Reid said.

Leahy said in a statement that he was committed to addressing online piracy and hoped other members of Congress would work with him to get a bill signed into law this year.

"But the day will come when the Senators who forced this move will look back and realize they made a knee-jerk reaction to a monumental problem," he said.

"Criminals who do nothing but peddle in counterfeit products and stolen American content are smugly watching how the United States Senate decided it was not even worth debating how to stop the overseas criminals from draining our economy," Leahy said.

26 homes lost in Reno fire and 2,000 evacuated

2012-01-20T13:22:00.000-05:00

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Firefighters worked to hold the line Friday on a fast-moving brush fire that tore through the Reno area, destroyed 26 houses and forced thousands of residents to flee. The forecast of rain and snow would help douse the flames but also increase the chance of flooding on the charred land, authorities said.
The blaze started shortly after noon Thursday and, fueled by wind gusts reaching 82 mph, mushroomed to more than 6 square miles before firefighters stopped its surge toward Reno.

"The fire moved very, very fast," Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley said Friday at a briefing. "Firefighters did an enormously good job of holding the number of structures down to 26."

The fire's cause isn't known. It started in a valley along U.S. Highway 395, which remained closed because the heat destroyed some of the guardrails that will need to be replaced, said Chris Perry, director, Department of Public Safety.

At one point, the flames got within 100 yards of Galena High School, where Vice President Joe Biden spoke earlier Thursday. Three nearby schools were closed Friday and about 200 customers were without electricity.
The fire held steady at about 3,900 acres and was 50 percent contained. More than 10,000 people were told to leave their homes during the height of the blaze, and about 2,000 of them remained under evacuation orders.

At least 700 people were expected to fight the blaze Friday, including law enforcement, crews from the National Guard and firefighters from California.

By nightfall Thursday, the fire had burned to Reno's southern outskirts. Flames were visible from the downtown casino district, about 10 miles away.

Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez said there was one fatality in the fire area but declined to provide more details, saying an autopsy would be needed to determine the cause of death.

The blaze was "almost a carbon copy" of a huge wild fire on the edge of the Sierra foothills that destroyed 30 homes in southwest Reno in November, the fire chief said. It burned about 3 square miles and also forced the evacuation of 10,000 people.

"It's inconceivable that this community has been struck by tragedy again," said Gov. Brian Sandoval, who declared a state of emergency Thursday afternoon.

The flames, up to 40 feet high, raced through sage brush, grass and pines in an area where small neighborhoods are dispersed among an otherwise rural landscape.
"The area burned is absolutely devastated," Haley said.

About 300 elementary school students were taken to an evacuation center, and deputies went door to door asking people to leave their homes in Pleasant Valley, Old Washoe Valley and Saint James Village, Washoe County sheriff's Deputy Armando Avina said.

Erika Minnberry, 28, said she didn't become concerned at first because smoke from the fire appeared far enough away.

"Probably 30 minutes later, it was up to our house because of the high winds," she said. "I felt pure survival adrenaline. When we drove away, the smoke was so thick, we could barely see ahead of us. Now I feel anxiety. I couldn't find my two cats at the time and I hope they're OK."

With the smell of smoke in the air, Biden was about 25 minutes into his address when aides summoned him off stage. He told the audience he would have to move onto a question-and-answer period before officials "made me get out of here."

As with the November fire, which was sparked by downed power lines, strong winds and dry conditions helped fuel the latest blaze. The Reno area had gone a winter-record 56 days without any precipitation until light snow fell earlier this week.

A Q&A on contested Internet anti-piracy bills

2012-01-18T20:53:00.000-05:00

Google.com' s homepage on 1/18/12

WASHINGTON (AP) – Online piracy costs U.S. copyright owners and producers billions of dollars every year, but legislation in Congress to block foreign Internet thieves and swindlers has met strong resistance from high-tech companies, spotlighted by Wikipedia's protest blackout on Wednesday, warning of a threat to Internet freedom.
House and Senate bills that once seemed to be on a path toward approval now face a rockier future. House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday said it was "pretty clear to many of us that there is a lack of consensus at this point."

Amid the high-tech campaign against the bills, several lawmakers came out in opposition. At least four Senate Republicans who had previously cosponsored the Senate bill — Orrin Hatch of Utah, Roy Blunt of Missouri, John Boozman of Arkansas and Charles Grassley of Iowa — issued statements Wednesday saying they were withdrawing their support. Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland last week said that, after listening to constituent concerns, he could not vote for the Senate bill as it is currently written.

On the House side, Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., issued a statement that he had heard from many of his constituents and come to the conclusion that the House and Senate bills "create unacceptable threats to free speech and free access to the Internet."
Here are some of the some of the questions being raised about the bills being considered:

Q. Why is legislation needed?

A. There's no argument that more needs to be done to protect artists, innovators and industries from copyright thieves and shield consumers from products sold on the Internet that are fake, faulty and unsafe. Creative America, a coalition of Hollywood studios, networks and unions, says content theft costs U.S. workers $5.5 billion a year. The pharmaceutical industry loses billions to Internet sellers of drugs that are falsely advertised and may be harmful.

Q. What is Congress trying to accomplish?

A. The two main bills are the Protect Intellectual Property Act, or PIPA, in the Senate, and the similar Stop Online Privacy Act, or SOPA, in the House. There are already laws on the books to combat domestic websites trafficking in counterfeit or pirated goods, but little to counter foreign violators.

The bills would allow the Justice Department, and copyright holders, to seek court orders against foreign websites accused of perpetrating or facilitating copyright infringement. While there is little the United States can do to take down those websites, the bills would bar online advertising networks and payment facilitators such as credit card companies and PayPal from doing business with an alleged violator. It also would forbid search engines from linking to such sites.

The original bills would have let copyright holders and Internet service providers block access to pirate websites. Critics and Internet engineers complained that would allow copyright holders to interfere in the behind-the-scenes system that seamlessly directs computer users to websites. They said that causing deliberate failures in the lookup system to prevent visits to pirate websites could more easily allow hackers to trick users into inadvertently visiting websites that could infect their computers. The White House also took issue with that approach, saying "We must avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet."

Responding to the critics, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said he is taking the blocking measure out of his bill. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., also is reworking his bill to address those cybersecurity issues.

Q. What are other concerns with the bills?

A. Critics say they would constrain free speech, curtail innovation and discourage new digital distribution methods. NetCoalition, a group of leading Internet and technology companies, says they could be forced to pre-screen all user comments, pictures and videos — effectively killing social media. Search engines, Internet service providers and social networks could be forced shut down websites linked to any type of pirated content.

In addition, critics contend that young, developing businesses and smaller websites could be saddled with expensive litigation costs. And, they contend existing rights holders could impede new investment in the technology sector.

The White House said it would "not support any legislation that reduces freedom of expression ... or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet."

Leahy responded that there is nothing in the legislation that would require websites, Internet service providers, search engines, ad networks, payment processors or others to monitor their networks. He said his bill protects third parties from liability that may arise from actions to comply with a court order.

Michael O'Leary, a senior vice president at the Motion Picture Association of America, a key supporter of the legislation, said his industry is built upon a vibrant First Amendment. "We would never support any legislation that would limit this fundamental American right," he said. Neither PIPA nor SOPA "implicate free expression but focus solely on illegal conduct, which is not free speech."

Q. Who else supports the bills?

A. The most visible supporters are entertainment-related groups such as the MPAA and the National Music Publishers' Association. But the bills also enjoy support from the pharmaceutical industry, which is trying to shut down illegal online drug operations, and electronic and auto industries concerned about people going online to buy counterfeit parts that may be substandard. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and several law enforcement groups also back the legislation.

Q. Who are the opponents?

A. In addition to Wikipedia, many major Internet and technology companies, including Google, Yahoo!, Amazon.com and eBay, are part of the NetCoalition group opposing the bills. Disparate political groups such as the liberal Democracy for America and the conservative Heritage Action have also voiced concerns about censorship.

Q. What is the status of the bills?

A. Momentum for the bills has slowed, giving the edge to Silicon Valley over Hollywood. The Senate, as its first major business when it returns to session next Tuesday, is to vote on whether to take up the bill. Sixty votes are needed to clear that legislative hurdle. It's unclear whether supporters have the votes.

Six Republicans on the Judiciary Committee last week wrote Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., saying that while the problem of intellectual property theft must be addressed, "the process at this point is moving too quickly" and a vote on moving to the bill "may be premature."

Reid replied that the vote will occur as scheduled, saying that while the bill was not perfect and he had urged Leahy to make changes, the issue was "too important to delay."
In the House, Judiciary Committee Chairman Smith said his panel would resume deliberations on SOPA in February. Meanwhile, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and an ally of the high-tech industry, said he had received assurances from GOP leaders that anti-piracy legislation would not move to the House floor this year unless there is a consensus on it.

Issa, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., are pushing an alternative to SOPA and PIPA that would make the International Trade Commission, which already is in charge of patent infringements, responsible for taking steps to prevent money and advertising from going to rogue sites.

Issa formally introduced his bill Wednesday, saying the Internet blackout had "underscored the flawed approach taken by SOPA and PIPA" and his bill was "a smarter way to protect taxpayers' rights while protecting the Internet."

Archbishop Broglio speaks with pope about spiritual care of US military

2012-01-18T20:43:00.000-05:00

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a tremendous toll on members of the military and their families, said Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, but military service also has strengthened the faith of many Catholics and even been a source of vocations.

"We will continue to see the effects of this war -- Iraq and Afghanistan -- on family life for many decades to come," the archbishop told Catholic News Service Jan. 18.

The archbishop, who was making his first "ad limina" visit to the Vatican to report on the status of his archdiocese, met with Pope Benedict XVI Jan. 17 and said the pope asked him very specific questions about pastoral services to members of the military.

He said his meeting with the pope was "a very, very significant moment in which the Holy Father really dedicated himself completely to the reality of the Archdiocese for Military Services; he asked specifically about the situation in the war zones (and) he asked how we take care of such a vast area," said Archbishop Broglio, whose priests and faithful are stationed around the globe.

Serving in the military and, especially the experience of "being in a war zone or being on a ship, is a moment that a Catholic asks significant questions and looks for responses," he said. If there is access to a Catholic chaplain or well-trained lay leader nearby, "it can be a moment of tremendous growth. In other circumstances, it can be a moment of frustration, particularly if you're in a small f.o.b. (forward operating base), you might not have much contact with a priest."

For the families as well, "the role of the faith community at the time of deployment is very, very important because families have paid a tremendous price for these wars," being separated from spouses and parents, having to take on more responsibility at home and then, upon their return, dealing with the struggles they may have readjusting.

"Almost anyone who has been deployed comes back certainly afflicted to some degree, to a lesser or a greater degree, by post-traumatic syndrome. If the individual is able to deal with this and reintegrate himself into his family life, then it doesn't become a disorder, but if it persists," both the returning military member and his or her family will need counseling and spiritual support, he said.

For the past three years, Archbishop Broglio has spent Christmas with the troops in the Middle East. He said he has been struck by how grateful the men and women are to have their archbishop spend the holiday with them. In December, he was in Kuwait, on the supercarrier USS John C. Stennis, and in Kyrgyzstan, the location of the transfer base for troops going in and out of Afghanistan.

Catholics in the military who are involved in chaplaincy activities "certainly become more articulate" Catholics, he said.

But the old saying that "there are no atheists in a foxhole," he said, "has to be modified because there are those who question religious beliefs, even among the military." In fact, some -- "call them free thinkers, call them agnostics" -- have asked for meeting facilities on military bases and even for chaplains, he said.

Archbishop Broglio said he was surprised that Pope Benedict did not ask him about how the archdiocese presents Catholic social teaching, particularly on justice and peace, in the unique context of the military.

"I have yet to meet anybody in the military who wants to be at war," he said. "And I see the enormous toll that the longest war in U.S. history has had on the men and women I am privileged to serve."

In addition, he said, the Catholic chaplains are "able counselors for men and women who have conscientious objections to what they might be asked to do."

During the "ad limina" visits, the bishops meet with all the Vatican congregations and many of the pontifical councils. Some questions that come up in the meetings -- for instance, relations with religious congregations resident in a diocese -- don't apply directly to the military archdiocese, Archbishop Broglio said. Others, such as vocations promotion and the preparation of seminarians are very relevant, he said, proudly claiming the military archdiocese "provides 10 percent of the vocations in the United States," since 10 percent of the men ordained priests each year have served time in the U.S. military.

The military archdiocese does not have any of its own priests. Dioceses and religious orders release priests to serve as chaplains for a period of time. However, the military archdiocese does co-sponsor seminarians with other dioceses. Currently, he said, there are 28 co-sponsored seminarians who have agreed to go on active military duty after serving three years as a priest in their diocese.

Priest kidnapping in Sudan heightens tensions

2012-01-18T20:41:00.000-05:00

Khartoum, Sudan (CNA) — A truckload of attackers kidnapped two Catholic priests from their rectory in Sudan on Jan. 15, causing fears for their safety at a time of continued regional tensions.

The attack took place at St. Josephine Bakhita’s Catholic Church in the town of Rabak, south of Khartoum. The perpetrators, who arrived in a large truck, smashed through the gates of the parish compound and broke down the rectory door.

The victims of the kidnapping are Fr. Joseph Makwey, who is in his 40s, and Fr. Sylvester Mogga, who is in his mid-thirties, according to Aid to the Church in Need.

The assailants also looted the property, taking electronics and valuables like laptops and other computer equipment.

The two priests’ whereabouts are still unknown.

“We are worried about the two priests,” said Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Adwok Kur of Khartoum.

Fr. Sylvester, though he is young, is “sick and in need of medical help,” the bishop reported.

The police have been notified and investigations are at an early stage.

It is impossible to speculate on the identity of the kidnappers and their motives, Bishop Adwok stated. However, he feared the priests may be conscripted to fight amid reports of internal conflicts in Sudan and the newly independent South Sudan.

The abduction seemed deliberate, he said.

“The kidnappers would have known that these men were priests.”

Bishop Adwok, who lives in the town of Kosti, which is close to Rabak, said that across Sudan militants are intimidating people originally from what is now South Sudan and pressuring them to leave.

“The abduction of young men has frightened practically everybody here,” he added.

The bishop criticized the Sudanese government for appearing dismissive towards the kidnappings and saying that the abductors are foreigners who cannot be controlled.

“Innocent people are not there to be brutalized and the authorities must be called to account for what is going on,” he said. “It is not only in Kosti that this is happening. It is also taking place in Khartoum.”

Meanwhile, tensions continue between Sudan and South Sudan, which officially became a new country on July 9, 2011. South Sudan’s oil minister has accused Sudan of stealing 120,000 barrels of its oil a day.

Tribal violence also continues to be a problem. On Jan. 16, 47 people were killed by a South Sudanese tribe that itself had been targeted in a massive ethnic assault, the Associated Press reports.

Vatican asks police to evict protesters from St. Peter's Square

2012-01-18T20:39:00.000-05:00

(EWTN News) Vatican officials requested the help of police on Jan. 14 as demonstrators attempted to set up a protest camp in St. Peter's Square.

The group “evidently wanted to use the piazza in an improper way, not in keeping with the spirit of the place and it was therefore considered just and opportune to move them out with the cooperation of the police,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told The Guardian.

The mainly French and Spanish gathering – which identified with the Spanish “indignado” protest movement – convened in the piazza to show their disapproval for tax breaks the Italian government gives the Catholic Church.

The “indignado” or “indignant heart” movement criticizes what it believes to be unequal distribution of wealth in Spain but has also spread to other European countries.

Dozens of protesters, including one dressed as Pope Benedict, came together in the square on Saturday carrying signs, shouting slogans and attempting to pitch tents.

As one demonstrator began to scale a Christmas tree, police in riot gear moved in to break up the protest. Violence broke out when police attempted to detain three protesters for identification behind the Vatican's Nativity display. Two protesters and one police officer were injured in the scuffle.

Pro-life protests help close Illinois abortion clinic

2012-01-17T21:51:00.000-05:00

(EWTN News) A Rockford, Illinois abortion clinic that violated state health codes and was known for setting up insulting displays directed against pro-life demonstrators has closed permanently, after 40 years of operation.

Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League, told EWTN News the closure is “an incredible victory” for grassroots activism.

“The key factor is that people were out there sidewalk counseling, praying, doing community outreach,” he said.

“We’re thrilled,” said Thomas Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Chicago-based Thomas More Society. “The conditions inside the clinic were just abominable … it was a clear danger to public health.”

Rockford’s Northern Illinois Women’s Center had been temporarily closed since September because of health violations. At a Jan. 5 Department of Public Health hearing, it won the right to reopen upon paying a $9,750 fine, or it could pay a $1,000 fine and give up its operating license.

All three of the clinic’s operating rooms failed to ensure a sanitary environment, the Thomas More Society said. The abortion facility also did not meet the legal requirements for a qualified registered nurse to be present in the operating room during procedures.

Doctors also lacked admitting privileges at local hospitals, possibly putting patients at risk of serious injury or death.

The clinic said it based its decision to close on a lack of support from the community, the local and national political environment surrounding the abortion issue, and the challenge the clinic would face in rebuilding its staff.

The clinic is the region’s only abortion clinic. The nearest facilities are in Madison, Wisc., 70 miles to the north or in the Chicago suburbs about 70 miles to the east.

Brejcha said the clinic’s owner had put signs and objects in the windows that were “absolutely outrageous,” including a nun doll that was pierced with a pin, a crucifix that carried a “macabre” message, a picture of Jesus Christ making obscene gestures, and rubber chickens hanging by nooses.

They were “just horrible anti-Catholic, anti-Christian symbols” that were “too outrageous to be believed,” Brejcha said.

One sign reportedly said, “You morons couldn’t close a Jack-in-the-Box,” referring to efforts to close the clinic.

Brejcha credited the resumption of inspections to a “heroic” registered nurse who examined health inspection records under Freedom of Information Act requests and contacted public health authorities about various concerns. Mold was growing outside the clinic and rats were spotted outside the clinic entrance.

“This is not an isolated case,” Brejcha said, noting a clinic in Philadelphia which maintained “horrible conditions” before it was shut down in the course of a murder investigation.

“Abortion clinics are given a pass on regulations required of other surgical centers. There’s a great need for tougher standards and tougher law enforcement,” Brejcha stated.

“The truth is that Roe v. Wade simply allowed these ‘back alley abortionists’ to move their shingles out onto Main Streets. The standards legally have been really less than those expected of veterinary clinics. This is an outrage, and ought to be stopped,” he said.

Scheidler said pro-life advocates should learn the various regulations governing local abortion facilities and determine whether the facilities in their area are following the rules. They can petition the health board to inspect the facilities to make sure they meet standards for health and certifications. They can also check to see if any facilities are involved in lawsuits.
He emphasized the clinic’s statement that community opposition was a major factor.

“The kind of activism that worked in Rockford can work in other communities around the country. Let’s take this victory and win another closure through pro-life activism.”

Though the closure is a “great pro-life victory” for children whose lives have been spared, he said, it is a “scandal” that it took so long for “a horrible place” to receive state scrutiny.

Sr. Rosalia Bauer, who had visited the clinic to hold a vigil for the past 12 years, said it was “a tremendous relief” that the clinic was closed.

“Now the women will have a choice to go to a safe environment and hopefully have more opportunity to rethink their decisions,” she told the Rockford Register Star.

She said she will now have more time for other pro-life work, such as helping families who have kept their babies or bringing free mobile ultrasound units to other places.

Coastguard heard pleading with Italian ship captain

2012-01-17T21:50:00.000-05:00

(Reuters) - Italian coastguards urged the captain of a stricken cruise liner to return to his listing ship, leaked recordings showed, as divers continued their search for survivors into the night after finding five more bodies in the half-submerged wreck.

The discoveries took the known death toll to 11. A list of 28 missing people was posted on an Italian interior ministry web site, though authorities said that likely included the five found dead on Tuesday that are so far unidentified.

Captain Francesco Schettino has been allowed to leave jail but is under house arrest, blamed by his employer for risking the lives of more than 4,200 passengers and crew and half a billion dollars of ship in a reckless display of bravado.

Rescuers used explosives to blast through the maze of luxury cabins, bars and spas, fast losing hope of finding anyone alive inside the Costa Concordia, which lies semi-submerged on its side after being ripped open by rocks off a Tuscan island.

Dutch maritime services company SMIT said it was ready to start pumping fuel from the stricken liner as early as Wednesday once search operations for missing people have ended and they get the go-ahead from local authorities.

SMIT has been asked by the ship's owner and insurer to salvage up to 2,300 tons of fuel from the 114,500-ton ship and clean up if fuel on the vessel starts to leak.

The giant cruise ship, a floating pleasure palace of bars, spas, state rooms and tennis courts, slid a little on Monday, threatening to plunge below the Mediterranean waters of the surrounding marine nature reserve.

This forced a brief suspension of rescue efforts, which were also halted overnight on Monday though searches were continuing through Tuesday night. A coastguard said they would go on until the entire ship had been checked.

The list of people still unaccounted for on Tuesday evening included 13 German, four French, five Italian and two American passengers, together with four crew members from Italy, India, Hungary and Peru.

Captain Schettino is accused of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck by sailing too close to shore and abandoning ship before all his passengers and crew scrambled off.

He has denied the charges and told magistrates on Tuesday he believed he should be credited with saving "hundreds, if not thousands" of lives because he brought the ship close to shore after it hit a rock, lawyer Bruno Leporatti said.

A judge ruled he could be allowed out of jail on Tuesday and will be placed under house arrest at his home near Sorrento in southern Italy.

The skipper, who underwent toxicology tests, claims he did not abandon the ship while passengers were still aboard.

But newspaper Corriere della Sera released what it said was a recording of ship-to-shore radio communications in which the enraged coastguards repeatedly order him back on board.

"GO BACK ON BOARD!"

"Listen Schettino, perhaps you have saved yourself from the sea, but I will make you look very bad. I will make you pay for this. Damn it, go back on board!" one coastguard says.

Speaking by radio from a lifeboat, Schettino pleads: "Do you realize that it is dark and we can't see anything?"

The coastguard shouts back: "So, what do you want to do, to go home, Schettino?! It's dark and you want to go home? Go to the bow of the ship where the ladder is and tell me what needs to be done, how many people there are, and what they need! Now!"

Officials did not confirm the tape's origins but other shouts heard in the background added authenticity. The Coast Guard official on the tape told a local newspaper he could tell by the "tone of the captain's voice" that something was very wrong. Schettino's lawyer said he would not comment.

The owners of the vessel - the biggest passenger ship ever wrecked and twice the tonnage of the Titanic - accused their captain of causing the disaster by sharply deviating from the charted course.

The ship foundered after striking a rock as dinner was being served on Friday night. The owners say the captain swung inshore to "make a bow" to the islanders, who included a retired Italian admiral. Investigators say it was within 150 meters of shore.

Most of the passengers and crew survived despite hours of chaos and confusion after the collision. The alarm was raised not by an SOS from the ship but mobile phone calls from passengers on board to Italian police on the mainland.

Video taken from a rescue helicopter in the early hours of Saturday, using a night vision camera, showed an extraordinary scene of dozens of passengers being gingerly lowered on ropes down the upturned hull of the ship into rescue boats.

The wreck, with a long gash below the waterline, looms over the normally tranquil island of Giglio.

The father of the ship's head waiter told Reuters his son had telephoned him before the accident to say the crew would salute him by blowing the ship's whistle as they passed close by Giglio, where both the waiter, Antonello Tievoli, and his 82-year-old father Giuseppe live.

Costa Cruises chief executive Pier Luigi Foschi on Monday blamed errors by Schettino for the disaster. He told a news conference the company would provide its captain with any assistance he required. "But we need to acknowledge the facts and we cannot deny human error," he added.

Foschi said company vessels were forbidden to come closer than 500 meters to the Giglio coast. Schettino denies being too close and says the rock he hit was not marked on charts.

The ship is resting in about 20 meters (60 feet) of water but could go down by as much as 130 meters if it shifts free from the rocks.

Ruling over teacher's firing could have far-reaching implications

2012-01-17T21:47:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The direction the courts will take with other cases related to religious employment is far from clear, but the Supreme Court's Jan. 11 ruling opens a whole track of possibilities.

The decision in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC held that fired teacher Cheryl Perich could not sue under federal disability discrimination laws, because the Michigan Lutheran school where she worked considered her a "called" minister.

Writing for a unanimous court, Chief Justice John Roberts said the government cannot require a church to retain an unwanted minister because doing so "intrudes upon more than a mere employment decision. Such action interferes with the internal governance of the church, depriving the church of control over the selection of those who will personify its beliefs."

Some commentators have been quick to hail the ruling. It's "the greatest Supreme Court religious liberty decision in decades," opined the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which acted as co-counsel to Hosanna-Tabor.

On the other side, David Gibson, a columnist for Commonweal, observed in a post on the magazine's blog that while the ruling "is clearly the right one," celebration seems premature. Under the headline "High court: Religions are free to be jerks," Gibson cautioned about how churches might exercise their protected right.

"How can churches be held to account?" he wrote. "This is a real difficulty, given that religious institutions behave just as badly as secular groups, and often worse. And that truly does hurt the witness of religious communities."

Anthony Picarello, general counsel and an associate general secretary for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told Catholic News Service Jan. 13 that the ruling is rich with potential for mining material on a wide variety of religious rights issues. But more immediately, two cases involving Catholic dioceses that are pending before the Supreme Court ask related questions.

In Skrzypczak v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa, Monica Skrzypczak sued the Oklahoma diocese for gender and age discrimination after being fired from her job as director of the Department of Religious Formation. In a second case, former math teacher Madeline Weishuhn sued the Diocese of Lansing, Mich., alleging retaliation that violated anti-discrimination laws.

Lower courts in both cases have held that under the ministerial exception, the decisions fell within the bounds of a church's protection from state interference in employment decisions.

Picarello predicted both cases might now be dismissed or sent back to lower courts to review in light of the ruling in Hosanna-Tabor.

He also theorized the ruling could affect a final decision by the Department of Health and Human Services over its mandate that employers provide no-cost coverage of contraception and sterilization in their health insurance plans.

A final rule is pending for the regulations, which have been challenged by the USCCB and other church organizations as an infringement on religious liberty. The Catholic Church teaches the use of artificial contraception is morally wrong and objects to a requirement for such coverage for its employees. Picarello said the exception for churches that is part of the pending regulation is a provision the size of an "eye of the needle."

As Chief Justice John Roberts made clear, while the court was declaring for the first time that a ministerial exception exists and Perich clearly fell subject to it, how that exception is applied to others will have to be decided later.

"The case before us is an employment discrimination suit brought on behalf of a minister, challenging her church's decision to fire her," Roberts wrote. "Today we hold only that the ministerial exception bars such a suit. We express no view on whether the exception bars other types of suits, including actions by employees alleging breach of contract or tortious conduct by their religious employers. There will be time enough to address the applicability of the exception to other circumstances if and when they arise."

In concurring briefs, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito added to the discussion about what happens next.

"The line is hardly a bright one, and an organization might understandably be concerned that a judge would not understand its religious tenets and sense of mission," Thomas wrote, saying he would have gone further in declaring a church's rights should always prevail in such matters. "Fear of potential liability might affect the way an organization carried out what it understood to be its religious mission. These are certainly dangers that the First Amendment was designed to guard against."

Alito, joined by Justice Elena Kagan, said the definition of who is a "minister," by whatever terminology a faith uses, should always be left to the faith group. For a court to be expected to decide that, they said, would require a civil court or a jury to make a judgment about church doctrine.

"The mere adjudication of such questions would pose grave problems for religious autonomy," Alito wrote.

The definition of minister "should apply to any 'employee' who leads a religious organization, conducts worship services or important religious ceremonies or rituals, or serves as a messenger or teacher of its faith," Alito said. "If a religious group believes that the ability of such an employee to perform these key functions has been compromised, then the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom protects the group's right to remove the employee from his or her position."

Church in Czech Republic welcomes return of property

2012-01-17T21:44:00.000-05:00

PRAGUE, Czech Republic, JAN. 16, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The bishops of the Czech Republic have publicly thanked the Council of Ministers for a law that provides for the devolution of the properties of the Catholic Church and of other religious bodies.

On Wednesday the Web page of the Episcopal Conference of the Czech Republic reported that the bishops issued a public statement on the recently approved law of the liquidation of assets, which provides for the devolution of Christian churches and properties, and those of other religious bodies, confiscated by the state during the Communist period.

After the Communist Party took power in 1948 it confiscated all the properties owned by the various churches. Churches had to submit to state control and the government paid priests' salaries.
The Czech episcopal conference (CEC) thanked the Council of Ministers' support of the law that normalizes relations between the state and churches, and for the fact that there was no opposition to it by the parties that make up the governing coalition.

The CEC hopes that other measures will be taken in the same line, and that the law will be approved by the Czech Republic's parliament.

Prime Minister Petr Necas threatened to expel the ministers of the Public Affairs party -- who are in the government's coalition -- and eventually dissolve the government if the that party decided to impede the approval of the plan, which includes indemnity payments.

The party did not consider it timely to approve the plan, given the 0.1% shrinkage of the Czech economy in the last quarter of 2011, and the predicted lack of growth in 2012.

Vice Premier Peake, who is also vice president of the party opposed to the measure, said in a communiqué that her party would no longer oppose the plan and the executive finally approved it. She explained that, given the prime minister's ultimatum, the party sought the most responsible way to resolve a situation it considered absurd.

The plan, agreed by the government and 17 religious bodies headed by the Catholic Church, provides both for the return of just over half the property and for monetary compensation. The estimated value of the property is 75 billion koruna, ($3.7 billion), and the compensation, to be payed over a 30 year period is 59 billion koruna, ($2.9 billion).

The plan also provides for the end of the arrangement by which the government paid priests' salaries.

Pope talks about vocations during Sunday's Angelus

2012-01-16T12:02:00.002-05:00

Michigan's public universities see 24% increase in 'unrestricted' net assets

2012-01-16T12:01:00.000-05:00

(Detroit Free Press) Michigan's public universities increased the amount of money listed on their books as "unrestricted" net assets to about $4.2 billion, or by 24% over the previous fiscal year, a Free Press review of financial documents shows. That fact is likely to renew frustrations among students, faculty and universities' staffs with recent tuition increases, wage freezes and layoffs approved at some schools to meet operating budgets.

Some parents and university students say officials should tap at least some of the money in the reserve accounts to lower tuition rates, which universities have increased as they work to cover cuts to state aid.

But officials at several of Michigan's state universities said using that money -- generally meant for special one-time projects -- would have negative long-term effects.
The money is listed in university documents as "unrestricted," which means it can be used however governing boards wish. Though that is technically true, universities say the money is spoken for and that they should not follow the state's example of tapping reserves to cover recurring costs.

"MSU has chosen not to shortchange long-term needs in order to ease near-term fiscal challenges," said spokesman Kent Cassella.

Michigan State University increased the assets by about 24% to $789 million from the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010, to June 30, 2011. Oakland University increased the assets by about 20% to $145.8 million during that time.

At the University of Michigan, unrestricted net assets climbed about 42%, the biggest one-year gain among the 12 schools reporting numbers. U-M has $2.6 billion among its three campuses and health system. Wayne State University is on a different fiscal year, and its new numbers are not yet available.

The Free Press reported in May on the increasing amount of unrestricted assets as rising tuition and fees were squeezing students.

Spending of funds at Michigan's state universities questioned
Eastern Michigan University's $42-million renovation of its oldest classroom building, Pray-Harrold, this past school year touched just about every part of the building.

EMU installed a coffee shop, added study areas, changed the mechanical system and refurbished faculty offices.

It cost EMU $10.5 million, and the state picked up the rest of the bill. EMU administrators used money from funds classified in financial records as "unrestricted" net assets.

EMU officials, and administrators at other Michigan public universities, say using the funds for that type of renovation is how the assets are supposed to be spent. Financial officers salt the money away and then spend it on one-time efforts to benefit students and improve the campus.

However, some parents and students said they want to see the universities spend the money with more flexibility.

They cite descriptions from experts and university financial audits that say unrestricted net assets are free to be used however administrations and governing boards wish.

EMU was the only one of the state's 13 public universities to spend down its unrestricted net assets at the end of the 2010-11 fiscal year when compared with the previous fiscal year.

The state's public universities increased their unrestricted net assets by about 24% or to $4.2 billion at the end of the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2011, from about $3.4 billion the previous fiscal year, a Free Press review of financial documents shows.

That total doesn't include Wayne State University's information. WSU operates under a fiscal year that ends later than the other schools and its final number is not yet ready, WSU officials said.

University officials said it is technically true that the money could be diverted for other purposes, but they stress that boards and management have already designated most of it for specific projects, such as construction.

"All of the designated purposes ultimately benefit students through scholarship support, capital improvement, faculty support and student service improvements," said Oakland University Chief Financial Officer John Beaghan.

But the key defining characteristic of unrestricted net assets is that they are unrestricted by external conditions.

"It's good to have money for new buildings, but what if no one can afford to go to them?" said Mike Clancy of Lansing, whose daughter is a sophomore at Grand Valley State University.

Tuition increases averaging 6.5% coming into this school year on top of hikes in previous years have students and parents complaining, especially when they see money they think could be spent to hold their costs down.

"Universities are pricing themselves way too high," said WSU student Tyrese McMillan of Detroit. "I don't understand why they can't use some of that money to give us a tuition break. They just keep sitting on piles of money that keep getting bigger every year."

Unrestricted net assets aren't just set aside for buildings. They are also ticketed to cover other items, such as insurance claims that might have to be paid out, or other one-time costs.

The money is different from endowments, which are made up mostly of gifts from people, businesses and foundations mandated for specific expenditures, like building a certain laboratory or paying for a faculty member.

The University of Michigan increased its assets to $2.6 billion from $1.8 billion. U-M posted the highest amount and one-year increase among the 12 Michigan public universities that reported. More than 70% of that total resides in the U-M health system.

Michigan State University increased its unrestricted net assets to $789 million from $638 million, a one-year increase of 24%.

MSU spokesman Kent Cassella said that number is misleading because only $8 million isn't already targeted for special projects, including rebuilding its 100-year-old steam tunnel system. He argues that such a large amount of money has to be set aside to cover capital improvements the State of Michigan used to help pay for. The state still helps with capital projects but has shrunk its contributions over the last decade for operating costs and capital projects.

Squirreling away the unrestricted assets is the right thing to do, university officials say, comparing it with how a person slices up a paycheck.

The financially prudent thing for a person to do is to use some of the money to cover their bills, university officials said, and then take the rest and set it aside for a new roof, a vacation or to have in case of a job dismissal.

"There are no external rules that restrict how we spend that paycheck," U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said. "But that does not mean we don't have obligations to meet with that paycheck. Prudent management means we don't have to stop buying groceries when something unexpected happens. ... That's comparable to how the university commits its unrestricted (net) assets."

Not everyone buys that explanation. They say in family budgeting when times are tough, the basics have to get covered first. And university priorities should be keeping tuition down and not laying off employees to cover operating budgets.

India reports new strain of 'totally drug-resistant tuberculosis'

2012-01-16T11:59:00.000-05:00

(AP) Indian doctors have reported the country's first cases of "totally drug-resistant tuberculosis," a long-feared and virtually untreatable form of the killer lung disease.

It's not the first time highly resistant cases like this have been seen. Since 2003, patients have been documented in Italy and Iran. It has mostly been limited to impoverished areas, and has not spread widely. But experts believe there could be many undocumented cases.

No one expects the Indian TB strains to rapidly spread elsewhere. The airborne disease is mainly transmitted through close personal contact and isn't nearly as contagious as the flu. Indeed, most of the cases of this kind of TB were not from person-to-person infection but were mutations that occurred in poorly treated patients.
What's more, there's a debate within the public health community about whether to even label TB infections as totally drug resistant. The World Health Organization hasn't accepted the term and still considers the cases to be what's now called extensively drug-resistant TB, or XDR. However, Dr. Paul Nunn, a coordinator at the WHO's Stop TB Department in Geneva, said there is ample proof that these virtually untreatable cases do exist.

The Indian hospital that saw the initial cases tested a dozen medicines and none of them worked, a pretty comprehensive assessment. A TB expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they do appear to be totally resistant to available drugs.

"It is concerning," said Dr. Kenneth Castro, director of the CDC's Division of Tuberculosis Elimination. "Anytime we see something like this, we better get on top of it before it becomes a more widespread problem."

Ordinary TB is easily cured by taking antibiotics for six to nine months. However, if that treatment is interrupted or the dose is cut down, the stubborn bacteria battle back and mutate into a tougher strain that can no longer be killed by standard drugs. The disease becomes harder and more expensive to treat.
Little hope for surviving patients

In India, doctors in Mumbai have reported a total of 12 patients who failed initial treatment and also didn't respond to the medicines tried next over an average of two to three years. Three have died. None of the others have been successfully treated.

The doctors detailed the first four cases in a letter to a U.S. medical journal last month, blaming private doctors for prescribing inappropriate drug plans that sparked greater resistance in three of those four patients.
"These three patients had received erratic, unsupervised second-line drugs, added individually and often in incorrect doses, from multiple private practitioners," wrote the doctors from P.D. Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Center in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

One of the doctors, Zarir Udwadia, in a phone interview, said there is little hope for the surviving nine patients, all poor slum dwellers living in the community. He said he has detected one case of a mother passing the strain to a daughter living in close quarters. One of the patients was also infected with HIV, which typically results in faster death.

Udwadia criticized the testing and treatment methods of the Indian government's TB program, which he says forces patients to turn to private doctors, many of whom do not understand how to properly treat TB or the risks of increasing drug resistance by prescribing the wrong drugs.

"It was a given that this would happen," Udwadia said. "They have had no help from the Indian TB system. They are the untouchables, so no one is making a fuss. They don't have the power to vocalize. There's going to be more family contacts. It's going to spread for sure."
India's Health Ministry did not respond to phone calls and written requests for comment Monday and last week.

Quarter of all TB types found in India
Similar highly resistant cases have been noted before. In 2003, two Italian women died and there were 15 cases reported from Iran in 2009. That same year, The Associated Press reported on a case of a Peruvian teenager who was infected at home but diagnosed while visiting Florida. He was successfully treated for a year and a half with experimental high doses of medicines not typically used for TB, costing about $500,000.
Those resources are unthinkable in the developing world, where TB remains a menacing killer and where few hospitals can perform tests to find out which antibiotics might work.
"For there to be another report coming out from India is no surprise at all. Indeed, in a sense, it's surprising it's taken so long," said WHO's Nunn. This is "yet another alarm call for countries and others engaged in TB control to do their jobs properly."

Tuberculosis is an age-old scourge that lies dormant in an estimated 1 in 3 people worldwide. About 10 percent of those people eventually develop active TB, which kills roughly 2 million a year, according to the WHO. Each victim infects an average of 10 to 15 others every year, typically through sneezing or coughing.
If a TB case is found to be resistant to the two most powerful anti-TB drugs, the patient is classified as having multi drug-resistant TB (MDR). An even worse classification of TB — one the WHO accepts — is extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR), a form of the disease that was first reported in 2006 and is virtually resistant to all drugs.

An estimated 20 percent of the world's multi-drug-resistant cases are found in India, which is home to a quarter of all types of tuberculosis cases worldwide.

2012-01-16T11:57:00.000-05:00

Pyongyang (AP) - The Associated Press opened its newest bureau here Monday, becoming the first international news organization with a full-time presence to cover news from North Korea in words, pictures and video.

In a ceremony that came less than a month after the death of longtime ruler Kim Jong Il and capped nearly a year of discussions, AP President and CEO Tom Curley and a delegation of top AP editors inaugurated the office, situated inside the headquarters of the state-run Korean Central News Agency in downtown Pyongyang.

The bureau expands the AP's presence in North Korea, building on the breakthrough in 2006 when AP opened a video bureau in Pyongyang for the first time by an international news organization. Exclusive video from AP video staffers in Pyongyang was used by media outlets around the world following Kim's death.

Now, AP writers and photojournalists will also be allowed to work in North Korea on a regular basis.

For North Korea, which for decades has remained largely off-limits to international journalists, the opening marked an important gesture, particularly because North Korea and the United States have never had formal diplomatic relations. The AP, an independent 165-year-old news cooperative founded in New York and owned by its U.S. newspaper membership, has operations in more than 100 countries and employs nearly 2,500 journalists across the world in 300 locations.
The bureau puts AP in a position to document the people, places and politics of North Korea across all media platforms at a critical moment in its history, with Kim's death and the ascension of his young son as the country's new leader, Curley said in remarks prepared for the opening.

"Beyond this door lies a path to vastly larger understanding and cultural enrichment for millions around the world," Curley said. "Regardless of whether you were born in Pyongyang or Pennsylvania, you are aware of the bridge being created today."

Curley said the Pyongyang bureau will operate under the same standards and practices as AP bureaus worldwide.

"Everyone at The Associated Press takes his or her responsibilities of a free and fair press with utmost seriousness," he said. "We pledge to do our best to reflect accurately the people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as well as what they do and say."

"The world knows very little about the DPRK, and this gives us a unique opportunity to bring the world news that it doesn't now have," Curley said.

KCNA President Kim Pyong Ho called the occasion "a significant meeting."

"I believe that the reason we are able to conduct all these projects in less than a year is that President and CEO Thomas Curley and the other members of the AP have promised to report on the DPRK with fairness, balance and accuracy, and have tried to follow through in collaboration with KCNA," he said in remarks prepared to mark the occasion.

Only 13 percent of Spain's Catholics say they practice faith

2012-01-16T11:53:00.000-05:00

Madrid, Spain, Jan 13, 2012 / 06:05 pm (CNA/Europa Press) - New data shows that despite over 70 percent of Spaniards identifying themselves as Catholic, only 13.6 percent say they practice their faith and attend services on Sunday and holy days.

A new study from the Center for Sociological Studies in Spain showed the number of those who claim to be Catholic remains practically unchanged from last year, with just a small 0.2 percent decrease.

According to the data, of all those polled by the survey who claim to be believers – both Catholics (73.4 percent) and those of other religions (1.9 percent) – 58.2 percent “almost never” attend Mass, up from 57.8 percent last year.

Respondents who said they attend religious services – excluding weddings, First Communions or funerals – “several times a year” increased from 16.4 percent to 17.7 percent, while those who practice their faith “once a month” fell from 10.1 percent to 7.3 percent.

The poll also showed that believers of other religions decreased from 2.5 percent to 1.9 percent, while those who claim to be non-believers fell from 15 percent to 14.7 percent.

Cardinal celebrates mass and birthday, before offering required resignation letter

2012-01-16T11:09:00.000-05:00

(Chicago Tribune) With cake and song, parishioners at St. Linus Roman Catholic Church in Oak Lawn wished Cardinal Francis George a happy birthday Sunday, the day before Chicago's archbishop turns 75 and submits his mandatory letter of resignation to Pope Benedict XVI.

George does not expect the pope to accept that resignation for at least two years, a common practice for cardinals, who remain eligible to participate in papal elections until they turn 80.

In addition to the pro forma resignation letter required on his 75th birthday, George said he likely would write a more personal missive to the pope. But he declined to reveal details.

"I'm not going to rehearse my letter to the pope in this forum," he said in a Tribune interview last month. "The letter of resignation is simple. It's formula almost. 'Father, having achieved the age of 75, which according to the code is the age of relinquishing of pastoral authority, I hereby offer my letter of resignation as Archbishop of Chicago.' "

"You send another letter with that, saying what you think the situation is really like," he added with a laugh.

George also expects to have a one-on-one conversation with Pope Benedict in February when he travels to Rome with other Midwestern bishops for a regularly scheduled trip, called an ad limina visit, that every bishop is required to make to report on the condition of his diocese.

"That will be a topic of conversation I'll bring up," George said. "If we weren't going over in February, I don't know that I'd have a chance to talk to him."

Last week, George named a new chief operating officer for the archdiocese and announced other key changes to local governance, "so that the health of the archdiocese as it transitions to a new archbishop, whenever the Holy See makes that appointment, will be as strong as possible."

Sunday's service not only marked one of the last masses George would celebrate before he reaches retirement age, it also commemorated St. Linus Catholic School's receipt of a Blue Ribbon award from theU.S. Department of Education, a top honor for schools whose test scores are among the highest in the state.

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" for January 16, 2012

2012-01-16T09:44:00.000-05:00

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Jan. 16

4:00 – In the Beginning: A Theology of the Body
One of the most significant contributions of Pope John Paul II to the church, and arguably to the culture, was his development of a theology of the body. This theology explores the rich meaning and vocation of human embodiment, of the body-person, in light of the fundamental truths of creation, fall into sin, and redemption in Jesus Christ. Eduardo Echeverria is here to inquire into the biblical, theological, and philosophical foundations of the Pope's theology of the body. In a wide-ranging discussion of a Catholic theology of revelation, biblical hermeneutics, and a biblical perspective on the Christ-centered dynamics of the moral life, Echeverria clearly establishes the fundamental principles needed for a full understanding of John Paul II's thought.

5:00 - How to Go from Being a Good Evangelical to a Committed Catholic in Ninety-Five Difficult Steps
American evangelicalism has recently experienced a new openness to Roman Catholicism, and many evangelicals, both famous and ordinary, have joined the Catholic Church or are considering the possibility. Christian Smith helps evangelicals who are exploring Roman Catholicism to sort out the kinds of concerns that typically come up in discerning whether to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church. In simple language, he explains many theological misunderstandings that evangelicals often have about Roman Catholicism, and suggests the kind of practical steps many take to enter the Catholic Church. He joins us.

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" for January 13, 2012

2012-01-13T11:48:00.000-05:00

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Jan. 13

4:00 – 6:00 – Direct to My Desk: How to be political without losing your soul
On today’s program we take the full two hours to allow you to call in and let you set the agenda and ask the questions or raise the issues that matter most to you. One topic we will discuss one cure for election madness. Mark DeMoss, concerned about the increasingly harsh tone of public discourse, launched the Civility Project in January 2009. The Republican businessman and political adviser enlisted Democratic lobbyist and former Clinton aide Lanny Davis to help him. Together the two friends wrote to all 100 United States Senators, all 435 members of the House of Representatives, and all 50 state governors, asking each to sign a pledge promising, "I will be civil in my public discourse and behavior. I will be respectful of others whether or not I agree with them. I will stand against incivility when I see it." How many of the 585 recipients agreed? Three. We ask why.

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" for January 12, 2012

2012-01-12T13:45:00.000-05:00

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Jan. 12

4:00 – Jimmy Carter: The Presidency, Roe V Wade, the Religious Right, Religious Liberty and More
Today we talk with former President Jimmy Carter. He has just released a book entitled Through the Year with Jimmy Carter: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President, which is based on his more than three decades of practical Bible teaching. But we also talk about his presidency, abortion, Roe v Wade, religious liberty and the Religious Right.

4:40 – Guadalupe Partners for Life. Urgent Need!!!
Guadalupe Partners is a partnership of pro-life people who help abortion-minded women to make life-affirming choices for themselves, for their unborn children, and for their families. The Partners offer un-questioning material aid to mothers, including help with utility bills, rent payments, diapers, groceries, cribs and automobiles. Support for the mothers continues through the pregnancy and beyond. And they have an urgent need. Co-founders Alecia Wong and Edmund Miller are here.

5:00 – Kresta Comments: Jimmy Carter on Abortion and Religious Liberty

5:20 – Supreme Court Sides with Church 9-0 in Landmark First Amendment Ruling
In what may be its most significant religious liberty decision in two decades, the Supreme Court on Wednesday for the first time recognized a “ministerial exception” to employment discrimination laws, saying that churches and other religious groups must be free to choose and dismiss their leaders and employees without government interference. Bishop William E. Lori, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ ad hoc committee for religious liberty, called the ruling “a great day for the First Amendment.” “This decision,” he said in a statement, “makes resoundingly clear the historical and constitutional importance of keeping internal church affairs off limits to the government — because whoever chooses the minister chooses the message.” We talk to attorney Mark Rienzi of the Beckett Fund, which argued this case.

5:40 – Good Girl Comeback
Chelsea Gheesling describes herself as a “real-life ‘good girl’”. Though she says she is far from perfect, she was blessed to hear a very important message at a young age….living a Good Girl lifestyle is the only way to true happiness and fulfillment. From that moment on, she was on a mission to be a “good girl” and bring as many as possible with her. She now has a ministry called “Good Girl Comeback” and joins us today.

Romney rolls into SC; GOP nomination in sight?

2012-01-11T17:59:00.000-05:00

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Mitt Romney swept into South Carolina on Wednesday in pursuit of a confirming victory in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, buoyed by a second straight electoral triumph, bulging campaign coffers and warm words from the state's pre-eminent practitioner of tea party politics.
"I don't want to be overconfident," said the Republican front-runner. But increasingly, he was talking about his plans for challenging President Barack Obama in the fall, not his primary foes of the moment.
Running out of time, his GOP rivals showed no sign of surrender.

Newt Gingrich welcomed Romney into the first Southern primary state with a fresh attack on his business career and a new television ad painting him as a flip-flopper on abortion. Said former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, "South Carolina is going to be different. It is wide open for anyone." Texas Gov. Rick Perry drawled his way through a busy campaign day, displaying a Southern attribute that Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, could not hope to match.

But on the morning after a solid win in New Hampshire, Romney got help from two unlikely sources.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who ran second in New Hampshire, chastised Gingrich and Perry for criticizing the front-runner's experience as a venture capitalist whose firm acquired, slimmed down and then spun off existing companies, often earning large profits in the process.

"I just wonder whether they're totally ignorant of economics or whether they're willing to demagogue just with the hopes of getting a vote or two," he said, without mentioning anyone by name.
South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint echoed Paul's remarks, and declared, "I think Romney's going to win here. ... He's hitting a lot of hot buttons for me about balancing the budget, and frankly I'm a little concerned about the few Republicans who have criticized some of what I consider to be free market principles here."
DeMint has been lobbied heavily by several of the presidential contenders eager for his endorsement and has so far chosen to remain neutral. Still, the remarks by a man who has sometimes taken the tea party's side in clashes with the Republican establishment sent a clear signal that Romney was to be viewed as worthy of support.

The day's events marked the unofficial start of a 10-day campaign that includes a pair of televised debates, millions of dollars in television ads and the first competition of the year in a state with high unemployment, a major military presence and a large population of evangelicals. Joblessness in South Carolina, at 9.9 percent, is almost as high as in Iowa (5.7 percent) and New Hampshire (5.2 percent) combined. By some estimates, as much as 60 percent of the primary electorate here is comprised of evangelicals.

Culturally and historically, the state has relatively little in common with either Iowa or New Hampshire.
Southwesterner Perry tried to emphasize a regional affinity.

"There wouldn't be a Texas without South Carolina," Perry said, referring to the Southern fighters who helped Texas gain independence from Mexico in the 1830s. As the other contenders arrived, his campaign began airing a television commercial in which decorated military veterans vouched for his commitment to the armed forces.

Given the political state of play, a victory by Romney could signal a quick end to what for months looked like it might be a long war of attrition for the nomination.

Gingrich conceded as much. "There's no more time for talking about stopping Mitt Romney," he wrote in a "Dear Conservative" fundraising appeal. "We're going to do it next week in South Carolina or he's almost certain to be the Republican nominee."

On the other hand, should Romney stumble, it would call into question his ability to win Southern primaries, and no Republican in 30 years has won the nomination without a first-place finish in the state.
On the morning after his victory in New Hampshire, polls show him ahead in the state, but he sought to manage expectations.

"I don't know if we can win South Carolina," he said, noting that he finished fourth here in 2008, the first time he sought the White House.

At the same time, he parried questions about his conservatism and the possible impact his Mormon faith would have on his efforts.

"The conservatives in New Hampshire, the people who called themselves very conservative, the tea partyers in New Hampshire, supported me," he said.

As for religion, he said, "There are people who want to elect a commander in chief. They're not worried about electing a pastor in chief.

Interviews on Tuesday with New Hampshire voters as they left their polling places showed Romney outpaced his rivals among people who called themselves very conservative, somewhat conservative and moderate to liberal.

He drew 21 percent support among white evangelical voters, a better showing than any other contender, and the backing of 51 percent of the voters who said they support the tea party, more than double what he gained in the Iowa caucuses a week earlier.

Perhaps most significant was his strength among primary goers who said the ability to defeat Obama was the most important factor for them as they settled on a candidate. Romney won the votes of 63 percent of those, improving on the 48 percent from the same category in Iowa.

As if to demonstrate Romney's strength, his campaign announced it had $19 million cash on hand and rolled out a Spanish-language television commercial in advance of Florida's Jan. 31 primary.

The former governor brushed aside the advertising attack from Gingrich, saying, "Like Ronald Reagan before me, many years ago I changed from being pro-choice to pro-life." It was a pointed rebuttal to the former House speaker, who has campaigned for months as the true conservative heir to Reagan.

Iran asks U.N. to condemn killing of nuclear scientist

2012-01-11T17:56:00.001-05:00

(Reuters) - Iran urged the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday to condemn the latest in a series of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, which it said were "cruel, inhumane and criminal acts of terrorism."

Despite Tehran's outrage at the killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist in broad daylight, Iran has no viable avenues for international prosecution or condemnation of what may be an attempt by Western powers or Israel to sabotage a nuclear program they fear is intended to produce weapons.

Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and has defied Security Council demands - backed up by four rounds of U.N. sanctions - that it stop enriching uranium.

Iran's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee appealed to Ban and the 15-nation council "to condemn, in the strongest terms, these inhumane terrorist acts and to take effective steps towards elimination of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations."

"Any kind of political and economic pressures or terrorist attacks targeting the Iranian nuclear scientists, could not prevent our nation in exercising this right" to pursue its nuclear program, Khazaee said in a letter, obtained by Reuters.

The United Nations has not heeded previous Iranian calls for condemnations of similar assassinations. Even if the Security Council were to take up the issue, the United States could use its veto power to block even the mildest condemnation.

Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters earlier on Wednesday that the United Nations was aware of the reports out of Tehran but had no immediate comment.

But Christof Heyns, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, said in a statement to Reuters the Wednesday assassination seemed to reflect a "worrying trend of extrajudicial executions of nuclear scientists in Iran."

"The killings are unlawful and should be condemned," Heyns said. "The onus is on the Iranian authorities to investigate what has happened, to make the evidence known and to bring the perpetrators to book."

Tehran blamed the United States and Israel for the attack, although Khazaee left that out of his letter. The White House denied any U.S. role and Israel declined to comment.

"STICKY MAGNETIC BOMB"

"Based on the existing evidence collected by the relevant Iranian security authorities, similar to previous incidents, perpetrators used the same terrorist method in assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists," Khazaee said.

He said the assassins worked by attaching "a sticky magnetic bomb to the car carrying the scientists and detonating it."

In October 2011, Khazaee complained to the council and Ban Ki-moon about the hits on Iranian scientists in a letter responding to U.S. allegations that Iran had plotted to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington.

In early November, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he had 100 "undeniable documents" proving the Washington was behind the "terrorist acts" in Iran.

Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Iran was handing over to the United Nations all the evidence of U.S. plots. Nothing came of the Iranian complaints.

Later in November, the overwhelming majority of the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly voted to condemn the alleged Iranian plot. Unlike the Saudis, Iran was unable to secure a condemnation of the assassinations of its scientists.

In the absence of war, targeted killings are illegal under international law. If Israel or the United States were found to be involved in the assassinations, it would violate the U.N. Charter, which bans the use of force against sovereign states.

Tehran could launch legal proceedings in Iran. The International Court of Justice in The Hague, established by the U.N. Charter, would be the most obvious international forum for Iran to bring a legal case. But the court will only hear cases where states involved jointly request its involvement.

One of the reasons the Saudi plot angered U.N. member states was that it was aimed at an envoy of a sovereign government. U.N. member states traditionally have no tolerance for threats against diplomats, whether friend or foe.

In 2010, Israel's Mossad intelligence agency was accused of sending a hit squad to assassinate a Hamas militant in a Dubai hotel. The suspected agents were caught on videotape following their target in the hotel.

Authorities in Britain and other European capitals launched their own investigations into the Dubai hit, but not because a member of Hamas had been killed. They were irritated by the fact that fraudulent European passports were used by the hit squad.

Significant Pro-Life Victory for Texas in Fifth Circuit

2012-01-11T17:54:00.000-05:00

(National Review Online) Yesterday the Fifth Circuit, in an excellent opinion by Chief Judge Edith H. Jones, rejected a challenge to informed-consent provisions governing abortion that Texas enacted in May 2011. The opinion faithfully applied the principles of the Supreme Court’s 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

Among other things, the Texas provisions at issue provide that when a woman (or minor female) seeks to undergo an abortion, the “physician who is to perform the abortion” must first perform a sonogram, make it available for the woman to view (if she wishes), explain (except in some instances) what the sonogram shows, and (in most cases) wait 24 hours before proceeding with the abortion.

The Fifth Circuit carefully considered and rejected claims that the provisions abridge the First Amendment rights of abortion providers and are unconstitutionally vague.

In the particular procedural posture of the appeal, the Fifth Circuit only vacated the preliminary injunction that the district court had entered against various of the new provisions. But the Fifth Circuit’s reasoning dictates that the district court should grant summary judgment in favor of the state of Texas. (And in case the district court were tempted to disobey the panel’s clear guidance, the panel has expressly stated that “any further appeals in this matter will be heard by this panel.”)

General Audience: Pope reflects on prayer at the Last Supper

2012-01-11T17:48:00.002-05:00

IMAGE Journal Artist of the Month: Steven Greydanus!!

2012-01-10T17:29:00.000-05:00

Our friend, frequent guest, and film critic extraordinairre Steven Greydanus has been featured as the "Image Journal" Artist of the Month. "Image" is an American quarterly literary journal that explores the relationship between Judeo-Christian tradition and contemporary art and literature. The journal's motto is "Art, Faith, Mystery." A snapshot of the profile is below. Great work and well-deserved Steven!

Artist of the Month: January 2012
Steven Greydanus

Film reviewer Steven Greydanus is an omnivore, but a discriminating one. In his prolific reviews at his blog, DecentFilms.com, and at the National Catholic Register, he covers nearly every film that comes to theaters, from The Tree of Life to Mission Impossible to The Smurfs—with a particular but not exclusive focus on religious resonances. (He also does a number of thirty-second video reviews that are both playful and informative—and concise!) An unabashedly orthodox Catholic who is not shy about making moral judgments, he can be bracingly caustic about the vagaries and vanities of mainstream Hollywood, but he is willing to recognize profound and artful filmmaking wherever it may occur, from The Muppets to Moneyball.

His prose is energetic and crisp (“Putting Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in Stetsons is clearly an excellent idea”), but it can also probe deeply, as in this quote from a review of The Way: “The catch-phrase ‘spiritual but not religious’ is among the most glib and insipid pieties of our times. The Way, with its centuries of tradition, its ritual gestures and formalities, its institutions and symbols, its physically demanding regimen, and its cultural, Christian and Catholic particularity, is a gratifying reminder of how religion grounds and enriches us in ways that ‘spirituality’ can’t.” A father of six, Greydanus gives special attention to films for children and families, in reviews that go deeper than warnings about sex, language, and violence, instead exploring what films teach children about culture, consequences, redemption, and the natural world.

Read an excerpt from his essay in Image issue 70 on family films about "broken homes"--where houses themselves are transformed by the dramas that happen inside.

Read more of the profile here...

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" for January 10, 2012

2012-01-10T14:50:00.000-05:00

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Jan. 10

4:00 – The Other Law of Moses: God’s Remarkable Plan for Prosperity
John Kelly is here to take us on an epic journey from Moses to the present, proving that God has given us the tools for prosperity and justice. He shows God's great respect and love for mankind while illuminating His plan for universal freedom and prosperity. Not many know – and it seems that no one has written – that the ancient Israelites were the most prosperous people of their time. Because of a little-known law-within-The-Law, they became the world’s first middle class nation, enjoying freedom and justice. John is author of The Other Law of Moses: God’s Remarkable Plan for Prosperity and joins us today.

4:40 – Kresta Comments

5:00 – Kresta Comments: Ann Coulter Complains That Rick Santorum is “More Catholic Than Conservative”
In her most recent column, conservative bomb-thrower Ann Coulter wrote this: “He is more of a Catholic than a conservative, which means he's good on 60 percent of the issues, but bad on others, such as big government social programs. He'd be Ted Kennedy if he didn't believe in God.” Al has some comments.

5:20 – Supreme Court Case Reignites Indecency Fight in a Digital Age
A potentially landmark Supreme Court case on broadcast indecency may be the beginning rather than the end of a renewed fight over content on TV and radio in an age of almost unlimited media sources. Today the Court is hearing oral arguments in a legal battle between Fox and ABC and the Federal Communications Commission over whether federal indecency regulations are unconstitutionally vague. Media analyst Teresa Tomeo is here to look at the impact this case may have.

5:40 – Film / DVD Reviews: “There Be Dragons” / “The Devil Inside”
Arising out of the horror of the Spanish Civil War, a candidate for canonization is investigated by a journalist who discovers his own estranged father had a deep, dark and devastating connection to the saint's life. It’s the film “There Be Dragons” and is released on DVD today. Steven Greydanus has the review. Also Nick Thomm has a review of the latest Hollywood fascination with exorcism in “The Devil Inside”.

Top Obama aide Daley steps down, budget chief takes over

2012-01-09T17:31:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday his budget chief Jack Lew would take over as White House chief of staff, replacing former businessman Bill Daley, who is stepping down after a troubled one-year tenure.

Though popular with staff, Daley alienated parts of Obama's liberal-leaning base, particularly Democrats in Congress, who bristled at presidential criticism that grouped them together with the Republican opposition.

Lew, who served as budget director under President Bill Clinton and was a deputy to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has strong relationships with lawmakers. He was instrumental in negotiating a deal with Republicans last summer to raise the U.S. debt ceiling and avert a first-ever default.

Obama told reporters at the White House that Daley had approached him about resigning last week. Obama said he first rejected the offer, asking Daley to think it over.

Daley decided it was time to return to his native Chicago. Obama's first chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is now mayor there.

"There is no question I'm going to miss having Bill at my side at the White House," Obama said. "I plan to continue to seek Bill's counsel in the months and years to come."

Daley handed over day-to-day White House management duties in November to another Obama aide, Pete Rouse, setting the stage for his resignation two months later. He was in the job for roughly a year.

A former businessman and U.S. commerce secretary, Daley took over as Obama's top aide last year with a mandate to improve relations with the corporate community and streamline White House operations.

Relations with business remained rocky, however, and lawmakers complained that his outreach to Capitol Hill was minimal.

Lew's management skills and calm demeanor are prized within the Obama administration. The soft-spoken manager fits in with the "No Drama Obama" attitude the White House and Obama's presidential campaign like to project.

WORKING WITH DEMOCRATS

A senior Democratic congressional aide said Lew works well with Democrats in Congress, many of whom felt Daley seemed more interested in cutting deals with Republicans than protecting their concerns.

"Lew has great relationships on the Hill and it's virtually impossible to see him making the same mistakes his predecessor did," the aide said.

One analyst said the timing of Obama's announcement was good while public attention remained on the Republican presidential nominating battle.

"This is a good time for a shake-up, since public attention is focused on the GOP, thereby diminishing the chances this will become a story about unrest in the White House," said Princeton University history professor Julian Zelizer.

"This is part of President Obama's effort to display a new direction in his administration, listening more closely to the critics on the left who say that he has maintained too close of a relationship with the big business community. Daley comes from this world."

Utah Supreme Court rules unborn baby is ‘minor child’

2012-01-09T17:25:00.000-05:00

(EWTN) - The Supreme Court of Utah ruled that an unborn baby can be considered a “minor child” in cases dealing with the state’s wrongful death statute. Paul Linton, special counsel for the Thomas More Society, said the decision was particularly important because it included unborn children at any stage of development.
“There aren’t a lot of decisions like that out there,” he told EWTN News on Jan. 5.

The court’s Dec. 20 ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in 2007 by a Utah couple who claimed that the negligence of doctors providing prenatal care had resulted in the death of their unborn child.
During the course of the proceedings, the parents filed a motion to certify a question of law to the Supreme Court of Utah.

The federal district court granted the request and asked the Utah Supreme Court to determine whether unborn children are included in Utah’s wrongful death statute, which referenced the death or injury of a “minor child.”

Although no majority opinion was released, four of the five justices on the state’s highest court agreed that fetuses are included in the law’s use of the term “minor child.”

“In my view, a plain language reading reveals that the term ‘minor child,’ as used in this statute, includes an unborn child,” said Chief Justice Christine Durham.

“The statute does not itself define the term ‘minor child,’ but in general usage the term ‘child’ may refer to a young person, a baby or a fetus,” she explained.

“The term ‘minor’ then, may refer to the period from conception to the age of majority, thereby encompassing an unborn child.”

Because the ruling only addressed the term “minor child” as it is used in Utah’s wrongful death statute, it will not prohibit abortions.

However, Linton explained, the ruling could set an important pro-life precedent in the state.
Utah has several pro-life laws already in place, and according to the Guttmacher Institute, the state’s abortion rates have remained significantly below the national average over the past two decades.

Nigerian cardinal vows: Christians will not flee

2012-01-09T16:35:00.000-05:00

Despite the threats of violence by Boko Haram, Christians will not leave northern Nigeria, vows Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie of Lagos.

“The Nigerian Church is strong and vital, it will not be intimidated and like Jesus on the cross, it is ready to testify its faith to the ultimate sacrifice,” the Nigerian cardinal told Vatican Insider. He said that Boko Haram, an Islamic extremist group, does not represent the sentiments of most Muslims in the north of the country. Nevertheless, he said, the government has not shown the ability or willingness to protect Christians from attacks.

Terrified that the Islamist group Boko Haram will continue its recent spate of attacks on Christians, some indigenous Christians in the northern part of the nation are preparing to heed the terrorist group’s ultimatum and leave their ancestral homes for the south.

Following a recent trip to Nigeria, Father Timothy Lehane Barrett, secretary general of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, emphasized that “Boko Haram does not represent Nigerian Muslims: I have seen many manifestations of interreligious dialogue and solidarity, because Muslims see the good works carried out by Christians.”

Nonetheless, tensions between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria have grown in recent days after a Protestant leader said that “the pattern of these killings does suggest to us a systematic ethnic and religious cleansing.”

“We have the legitimate right to defend ourselves and ... we will do whatever it takes,” said Ayo Oritsejafor, head of the Christian Association of Nigeria.

“We find the utterances ... an intimidation and a threat to Nigerian Muslims,” responded Sheikh Khalid Aliyu, secretary-general of an umbrella group of the nation’s Muslims. “Pronouncements calling for ... Christians to defend themselves are unacceptable to us and are meant to wage attacks on Muslims.”

Pope meets with ambassadors, calls on international community to protect religious freedom

2012-01-09T16:32:00.003-05:00

Cartoon of the Day - Strait of Hormuz

2012-01-09T16:26:00.000-05:00

Pope Benedict XVI appeals for end to discrimination against Christians

2012-01-09T14:18:00.000-05:00

(The Guardian) Pope Benedict XVI has made a fervent appeal for religious tolerance and an end to discrimination against Christians, two weeks after the lethal Christmas Day bombing of a church in Nigeria.

He told an annual reception for diplomats in the Vatican on Monday: "In many countries, Christians are deprived of fundamental rights and sidelined from public life; in other countries they endure violent attacks against their churches and their homes."

In an apparent reference to the exodus of Catholics from Muslim countries in the Middle East, Benedict said: "At times [Christians] are forced to leave the countries they have helped to build because of persistent tensions and policies which frequently relegate them to being second-class spectators of national life."

At least 15 people were killed on 25 December when a bomb exploded outside a church in Madala, a satellite town of the Nigerian capital, Abuja. An Islamist sect that aims to impose sharia law claimed responsibility for the attack. The Boko Haram group was also blamed for two other blasts in the north.

Benedict singled out the Christmas bloodshed for special mention, along with the assassination last March of Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's only Christian cabinet minister. The pope said Bhatti, a Roman Catholic, had waged "an untiring battle for the rights of minorities".

Repeating an appeal he made last year at an inter-religious meeting at Assisi in central Italy, Benedict said religious leaders needed to make clear "firmly and forcefully" that religiously motivated terrorism was "not the true nature of religion. It is the antithesis of religion and contributes to its destruction."

He said, however, that 2011 had also brought "encouraging signs in the area of religious freedom". One had come from the European court of human rights, which upheld the presence of crucifixes in Italian school classrooms, the pope said.

The Holy See has diplomatic relations with 179 nations. But its international status was dealt a stunning blow in November when Ireland, a country with a long Catholic tradition, closed its embassy to the Vatican.

The closure followed a row earlier in the year over Rome's handling of clerical sex abuse cases. The pope made no reference to the affair in his speech, but noted instead that last year had seen the opening of relations with Malaysia and the start of talks on diplomatic recognition with three other countries.

Iran sentences U.S.-Iranian man to death for spying

2012-01-09T14:16:00.000-05:00

(Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Court has sentenced an Iranian-American man to death for spying for the CIA, officials said on Monday, a move likely to aggravate U.S.-Iranian tensions already high because of Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

The United States denies that Amir Mirza Hekmati is a spy and has demanded his immediate release. The White House said it was trying to verify the report on his sentencing.

"If true, we strongly condemn such a verdict and will work with our partners to convey our condemnation to the Iranian government," said Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.

Western nations have recently expanded punitive economic sanctions against Iran over suspicions it is trying to develop atomic bombs under the cover of a civilian atomic energy program. The Islamic Republic denies this.

But word from diplomatic sources in Vienna, headquarters of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, that Iran has begun enriching uranium in a mountain bunker protected from possible Western air strikes is likely to heat the atmosphere further.

"Amir Mirza Hekmati was sentenced to death...for cooperating with the hostile country America and spying for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)," the student news agency ISNA quoted judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei as saying.

"The court found him Corrupt on the Earth and Mohareb (one who wages war on God). Hekmati can appeal to the Supreme Court."

Iran's highest court must confirm all death sentences. When it will rule in Hekmati's case was not known.

Hekmati, a 28-year-old of Iranian descent born in the state of Arizona, was arrested in December and Iran's Intelligence Ministry accused him of receiving training at U.S. bases in neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Allegations that Mr. Hekmati either worked for, or was sent to Iran by the CIA are false," Vietor said. "The Iranian regime has a history of falsely accusing people of being spies, of eliciting forced confessions, and of holding innocent Americans for political reasons."

The United States urged Iran to grant Hekmati access to legal counsel and to "release him without delay."

Iran's judiciary said Hekmati admitted to having links with the CIA but denied any intention of harming Iran, which has had no relations with the United States since its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Mutual antagonism has reigned since.

Hekmati's parents issued a statement, signed by his mother, Behnaz Hekmati, denying their son was a spy and asking for mercy for him. They said the former U.S. military translator was visiting relatives in Iran for the first time when he was arrested.

"My husband Ali and I are shocked and terrified by the news that our son, Amir, has been sentenced to death," it said.

"Amir did not engage in any acts of spying, or 'fighting against God,' as the convicting Judge has claimed in his sentence. Amir is not a criminal. His very life is being exploited for political gain."

The State Department has said Iran did not permit diplomats from the Swiss Embassy, which represents U.S. interests in Iran, to see him before or during his trial.

Hekmati graduated from a Michigan high school. His father Ali is a professor at a community college in Flint, Michigan.

SPY NETWORK UNCOVERED

Hekmati, whose trial ended on January 2, was shown on Iranian state television in December saying he was a CIA operative sent to infiltrate the Iranian intelligence ministry.

Iran also said on Monday it had broken up an alleged U.S.-linked spy network that planned to "fuel unrest" before the

March parliamentary election, the first nationwide vote since the country's 2009 disputed presidential vote.

"The detained spies were in contact with foreign countries through cyberspace," Intelligence Minister Haydar Moslehi was quoted by state television as saying. He gave no information about the nationalities and the number of those detained.

Iran, which often accuses its foes of trying to destabilize its Islamic system, said in May it had arrested 30 people on suspicion of spying for the United States and later 15 people were indicted for spying for Washington and Israel.

Despite mounting international pressure and sharpened rhetoric, Iran seems determined to stick to its nuclear course ahead of the parliamentary election, to be followed by a presidential ballot in 2013.

The United States is leading efforts to tighten sanctions on Iran. Washington and Israel say they do not rule out carrying out pre-emptive military strikes on Iran's nuclear sites if diplomacy fails to resolve the row.

Iran has threatened to close Gulf oil shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz that are vital to the global economy if the West carries out plans to bar Iranian crude exports, or if Iranian nuclear sites came under military attack.

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" for January 9, 2012

2012-01-09T13:43:00.000-05:00

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Jan. 9

4:00 – Kresta Comments: Controversial Michigan Pastor with Bizarre Notions of Hell Leaves Megachurch
A western Michigan pastor who has drawn thousands to Sunday services and written a controversial book about hell has said good-bye to his congregation. He is leaving Mars Hills Bible Church in Grandville and heading to Los Angeles to work on a TV drama based loosely on his life. Bell is the author of "Love Wins," which questions traditional Christian beliefs about hell. Al comments on his view of hell.

4:20 – Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America
Popular culture has divorced itself from the life of the mind. Who has time for great books or deep thought when there is Jersey Shore to watch, a txt 2 respond 2, and World of Warcraft to play? At the same time, those who pursue the life of the mind have insulated themselves from popular culture. Speaking in insider jargon and writing unread books, intellectuals have locked themselves away in a ghetto of their own creation. Daniel Flynn is here to show us how much everyone intellectual and everyman alike has suffered from mass culture’s crowding out of higher things and the elite’s failure to engage the masses.

5:00 – Pope Names 22 new cardinals
Pope Benedict XVI has named 22 new cardinals, including two prelates from the US. At his Angelus audience on January 6, the Pope announced that a consistory will be held on February 18, and named the 22 prelates who will receive red hats. Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York will be among the new cardinals, as will Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, the former Archbishop of Baltimore who was named last year as grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto was also on the Pope’s list. We look at the significance of this announcement with Matthew Bunson.

5:20 – Boston Globe Breaks Church Sex Abuse Story Wide Open: 10 Years Later
Ten years have passed since the Boston archdiocese was engulfed in scandal, as the result of investigative reporting by the Boston Globe. Today the faithful in Boston are still struggling to shake off the lingering effects of that scandal. But a full recovery is delayed because of two popular misconceptions, which should be corrected. Phil Lawler explains.

5:40 – Kresta Comments: Anti-Catholicism Gets Big Attention in Prime-Time GOP Debate
During Saturday night’s GOP primary debate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich blasted what he said was anti-Christian bigotry in the media, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry promised to end what he sees as the Obama administration’s “war on religion.” “The bigotry question goes both ways,” Gingrich said, inserting himself into the discussion after a series of questions related to contraception, gay marriage and gay adoption. He went on to say “Should the Catholic Church be forced to close its adoption services in Massachusetts because it won’t accept gay couples, which is exactly what the state has done? Should the Catholic Church be driven out of providing charitable services in the District of Columbia because it won’t give in to secular bigotry? Should the Catholic Church find itself discriminated against by the Obama administration on key delivery of services because of the bias and the bigotry of the administration?” We play the clips and Al has the commentary.

Newt Blasts Media for Ignoring Anti-Christian Bigotry

2012-01-09T09:32:00.002-05:00

Guidelines for celebrating Year of Faith revealed

2012-01-06T09:06:00.000-05:00

Vatican City (CNA/EWTN News) - The Vatican issued guidelines Jan. 5 for how the Church at all levels should celebrate the Year of Faith, which starts in October 2012.

A summary of the guideline document, which was produced by the Congregation for the Doctrine, was released on Jan. 5, but the full text will be published Saturday, Jan. 7.

The introduction to the guidelines explains that the Year of Faith is “intended to contribute to a renewed conversion to the Lord Jesus and to the rediscovery of faith, so that the members of the Church will be credible and joy-filled witnesses to the Risen Lord, capable of leading those many people who are seeking it to the door of faith.”

The Year of Faith was announced by Pope Benedict XVI last year in his apostolic letter “Porta Fidei.” It will begin on October 11, 2012, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. It also coincides with the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The year will end on November 24, 2013, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Universal King.

The document from the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation offers a sketch of what should take place at every level of the Church during the Year of Faith.

At the universal level, the Pope will engage in various events, including the solemn opening of the Year of Faith, the Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome, and World Youth Day 2013 in Brazil. There will also be “various ecumenical initiatives” aimed at “the restoration of unity among all Christians,” including “a solemn ecumenical celebration in which all of the baptized will reaffirm their faith in Christ.”

Bishops’ conferences will focus on increasing the “quality of catechesis.” Some of the efforts in this area will involve examining “local catechisms and various catechetical supplements in use in the particular Churches,” in order “to ensure their complete conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.”

The Vatican body also hopes that the bishops’ conferences will use the media to evangelize, such as “television and radio transmissions, films and publications focusing on the faith, its principles and content.”

At the level of dioceses, the Year of Faith is expected to provide an occasion for “renewed creative dialogue between faith and reason,” among both the academic and artistic communities. It should also be a year for “penitential celebrations” in which Catholics can “ask for God's forgiveness, especially for sins against faith.”

In local parishes, the Vatican would like to see a focus on the liturgy, especially the Eucharist, since in it the “mystery of faith and source of the new evangelization, the faith of the Church is proclaimed, celebrated and strengthened.”

Religious institutes, new communities and ecclesial movements are also expected to take their lead in celebrating the Year from the pastoral guidelines.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith hopes that the Year of Faith will make the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism “more widely and deeply known” throughout the Church.

“From the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI has worked decisively for a correct understanding of the Council,” says the document, “rejecting as erroneous the so-called ‘hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture’ and promoting what he himself has termed ‘the ‘hermeneutic of reform,’ of renewal in continuity.’”

The Vatican’s doctrinal congregation says that their pastoral recommendations are aimed at helping people encounter Christ and grow in their understanding of the Catholic faith. At the same time, it adds, the guidelines are not meant to rule out “other initiatives which the Holy Spirit will inspire among Pastors and faithful in various parts of the world.”

The document concludes by announcing the creation of a secretariat to help coordinate the Year of Faith. It will be established within the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.

Nigerian church shootings kill six

2012-01-06T09:03:00.000-05:00

(The Guardian) Gunmen attacked a church in north-east Nigeria during a prayer service, spraying the congregation with gunfire and killing at least six people, including the pastor's wife.

The attack, which happened late on Thursday, came only weeks after a radical Muslim sect claimed responsibility for a series of deadly bombings at churches in northern Nigeria.

Ahmed Muhammad, a spokesman for Gombe state police, said eight others were wounded in the shootings at the Deeper Life church in Gombe.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the church attack, but suspicion fell on the radical Muslim Boko Haram sect, which has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict sharia law across Nigeria.

Boko Haram, whose name means "western education is sacrilege" in Hausa, was responsible for more than 500 killings last year.

The group claimed responsibility for an attack that killed at least 42 people in a Christmas Day bombing of a Catholic church near Abuja, as well as a suicide car bombing at the UN headquarters in the capital that killed 25 people and wounded more than 100.

Nigeria's weak central government has been slow to respond to the sect.

The Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, recently put regions of the country under a state of emergency, but that did not include Gombe.

Regions of Borno, Niger, Plateau and Yobe states were put under the state of emergency on 31 December, allowing the authorities to make arrests without proof and conduct searches without warrants. International borders near Borno and Yobe state were closed.

However, it remains unclear what impact that will have on a sect that has used hit-and-run attacks and suicide bombings againstg the military and police as well as civilians.

UK Bishop asks if church should stop funding schools that are 'Catholic in name only'

2012-01-06T09:02:00.001-05:00

(The Telegraph) The Rt Rev Michael Campbell, Bishop of Lancaster, asked if it was right for parishioners to continue paying for the upkeep of schools where the majority of pupils and teachers belong to other faiths and none.
He said faith schools are meant to help the church in its mission of evangelisation, and that mergers should be considered in parishes that are now “quiet and empty”.

His comments will be welcomed by traditionalists who want church schools to retain their Christian ethos, but will be seen as controversial elsewhere.

The hierarchies of both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England have been accused of trying to make their schools more secular by relaxing admissions rules for the less devout.

Official figures show that faith schools outperform state-run primaries and secondaries, with the result that middle-class parents in some areas start attending church or even falsely claiming their children had been baptised in the hope of winning them sought-after places.

Elsewhere there are so few churchgoers that schools are dominated by followers of other religions or none, even though dioceses still own the buildings and pay for 10 per cent of their running costs.
In parts of Lancaster diocese, more than 80 per cent of the pupils at some schools are non-Catholics. In Salford diocese, a primary school could become the first to be converted into an Islamic faith school because so many pupils are Muslim.

Catholic schools also struggle to find headteachers because of a stipulation that they follow the faith.
Bishop Campbell wrote in his New Year’s pastoral letter to parishes that they needed to “address some demanding questions that will grow larger the longer we put them off”.

“Is it right or sustainable to expect our Mass-going population of 21,000 to support our schools and colleges in which often the majority of pupils, and sometimes teachers, are not practising Catholics?
“Is it time for us to admit that we can no longer maintain schools that are Catholic in name only?
“Faced with fewer priests and smaller congregations, where should our parishes and schools of the future be located? Where should we consolidate and merge others?”

He said 25 years ago some parishes in “wonderful neighbourhoods” were “teeming with large, young families” but are now “quiet and empty”, while those in outlying areas “seem to be thriving”.

Admitting that his flock will know friends, colleagues and family members for whom the Gospel message has become “stale”, he said they should be the “primary object of our missionary or evangelising efforts”.
“The Church only exists to evangelise – that means buildings, churches, parishes, schools and colleges are only valuable insofar as they help the Church in that mission of salvation.”

A spokesman for the Diocese of Lancaster, which oversees 87 schools, added to his comments, telling the Catholic Herald: “Is it right that our old folk are supporting the kids they won’t ever see at church?
“The real issue is not the Muslims, but our own people who won’t darken our doors. And unlike in London, we don’t have significant numbers of immigrants in the north to bolster that.”

The Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, the Bishop of Nottingham who chairs the Catholic Education Service of England and Wales, said in a statement: “Bishop Michael Campbell has raised an important question during a time in which we are all having to examine our priorities. The Church has established her own schools because she considers them as a privileged means of promoting human formation and education in the Catholic faith; as such, Catholic schools contribute to the common good of society and support the Church’s evangelising mission, and are a valuable investment in our young people.”

But some Catholic dioceses are at odds with the governors of local schools over the way they give preference to more devout families.

Westminster reported the highly successful Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School to the admissions watchdog, claiming parts of its policy for 11 year-olds were “unlawful” and “unfair”.

Southwark also complained about the entry rules at Coloma Convent Girls’ Schools, which give more “points” to families to take part in parish activities, on the grounds that they discriminate against single parents.
Meanwhile Opus Dei, the strict Catholic organisation made famous by the Da Vinci Code novel, hopes to open two new single-sex schools in south London.

Economy adds 200,000 jobs in December

2012-01-06T08:59:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. job market strengthened in the second half of 2011, and added 200,000 jobs in December while the unemployment rate fell to 8.5% from a revised 8.7% a month earlier.

That's an even stronger finish than economists had forecast. They had expected employers added a net 150,000 jobs last month, according to a survey by Factset. They also predict that the unemployment rate ticked up to 8.7% from 8.6%, which was the lowest rate since March 2009.

The projected hiring gains would mark a six-month stretch in which the economy generated 100,000 jobs or more in each month. The last time that happened was in April 2006 — more than a year and a half before the country plunged into the Great Recession.

President Barack Obama still could face voters in November with the highest unemployment rate of a sitting president seeking election since World War II. Unemployment was 7.8% when Obama took office in January 2009.

But Obama could benefit if the unemployment rate continues to dip. History suggests that presidents' re-election prospects depend less on the unemployment rate itself than on the rate's direction during the year or two before Election Day.

A more robust hiring market would coincide with other positive data that show the economy ended the year with some momentum.

Weekly applications for unemployment benefits have fallen to levels last seen more than three years ago. Holiday sales were solid. And November and December were the strongest months of 2011 for U.S. auto sales.

Many businesses say they are ready to increase hiring in early 2012 after seeing stronger consumer confidence and greater demand for their products.

Even the projected increase in the unemployment rate could be a positive sign. The rate is expected to rise as more people feel better about their chances to find employment and resume looking for work. The government counts out-of-work people as unemployed only if they are looking for work.

The government uses a survey of mostly large companies and government agencies to determine how many jobs were added or lost each month. It uses a separate survey of households to determine the unemployment rate.

The household survey picks up hiring by companies of all sizes, including small businesses and companies just getting off the ground. It also includes farm workers and the self-employed, who aren't included in the survey of companies.

The household survey has shown an average of 321,000 jobs created per month since July, compared with an average of 13,000 the first seven months of the year.

When the economy is either improving or slipping into recession, many economists say, the household survey does the better job of picking up the shift because it detects small business hiring.

Economists surveyed by the Associated Press project that the economy will generate an average of 175,000 jobs per month this year. That would be a step up from average monthly gains of 130,000 last year and 78,000 in 2010.

The pickup in hiring reflects some modest improvement in the economy. Growth will likely top 3% at an annual rate in the final three months of this year, economists expect. That would be a sharp improvement over the 1.8% growth in the July-September quarter.

Even so, many economists forecast that growth could slow to roughly 2% this year. Europe is almost certain to fall into recession because of its financial troubles. And without more jobs and higher incomes, consumers may have to cut back on spending. That could drag on growth in 2012.

Pope Benedict Names 22 New Cardinals

2012-01-06T08:58:00.000-05:00

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan has been named cardinal by the Vatican. Dolan is one of 22 prelates who will be elevated to cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church in a formal ceremony Feb. 18. Pope Benedict XVI made the announcement on Friday following an Epiphany Mass that ends the Vatican's top Christmas celebrations. Eighteen of them, including Archbishop Dolan, are under the age of 80 and are therefore eligible to participate in the conclave to elect a new pope after Benedict dies.

The new cardinals named by the Vatican include archbishops from Florence, Berlin, Hong Kong, Prague and Toronto. About half of the new group currently serves in the Vatican hierarchy, known as the Roman Curia.

The new appointments raise to 125 the number of cardinals who can serve in a conclave. They bring to 214 the total number of cardinals, of whom half are from Europe, including 52 Italians.

Vatican watchers say that since Pope Benedict was elected pope in 2005, the Vatican hierarchy has been increasingly dominated by Italians and Europeans, even as the majority of the world’s Catholics live in Latin America and Africa.

The full list:

1. Msgr. Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples;

2. Msgr. Manuel Monteiro de Castro, Major Penitentiary;

3. Msgr. Santos Abril Y Castellò, Archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major;

4. Msgr Antonio Maria Veglio, President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People;

5. Msgr. Giuseppe Bertello, President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and President of the Governorate of the same State;

6. Msgr Francesco Coccopalmerio, President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts;

7. Msgr Joao Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life;

8. Msgr Edwin O’Brien, Pro Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem;

9. Msgr. Domenico Calcagno, President of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See;

10. Msgr Giuseppe Versaldi, President of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See;

11. His Beatitude George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro Malabar (India);

12. Msgr Thomas Christopher Collins, Archbishop of Toronto (Canada);

13. Msgr Dominik Duka, Archbishop of Prague (Czech Republic);

14. Msgr Willem Jacobus Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht (Netherlands);

15. Msgr. Giuseppe Betori, Archbishop of Florence (Italy);

16. Msgr Timothy Michael Dolan, Archbishop of New York (United States);

17. Msgr. Rainer Maria Woelk, Archbishop of Berlin (Federal Republic of Germany);

18. Msgr John Tong Hon, Bishop of Hong Kong (China);

The Holy Father has also decided to raise to the dignity of Cardinal a revered prelate, who carries out his ministry as Pastor and Father of the Church, and three clergymen recognized for their distinguished service to the Church.

They are:

1. His Beatitude Lucian Muresan, Major Archbishop of Fagaras and Alba Julia of the Romanians (Romania);

2. Rev. Julien Ries, priest of the Diocese of Namur and professor emeritus of history of religions at the Catholic University of Louvain;

3. Fr. Prospero Grech, OSA, Professor Emeritus of various Roman universities and Consultant to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith;

4. Fr. Karl Becker, SJ, Professor Emeritus of the Pontifical Gregorian University, Consultant for many years the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Holy Father asked all the faithful “to pray for the newly elected members, asking for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, that they bear witness always with courage and dedication to their love for Christ and his Church.”

Iraq War Drives Military Divorce Rate Up

2012-01-06T08:44:00.000-05:00

A study released Jan. 2 by the nonprofit group Family Life shows that since the Iraq War began 10 years ago, the divorce rate among military service members has shot up by 42 percent.

Family Life Founder and President Dennis Rainey said in a statement that the first 90 days of a deployment are the most critical, because that’s when couples develop new habits that set the tone of their marriages.

But Corie Weathers, a licensed professional counselor who is the wife of an Army chaplain stationed in Georgia and the mother of two, said the first 90 days after a soldier comes home are just as critical.

“The younger soldiers don’t have coping skills to deal with what they saw in battle, so they come home and get into video games, pornography and social media,” she said. “Women develop this mentality that says, ‘I don’t want to relinquish control, even though I really want you to take it from me.’ “

Reintegration — which can take up to a full year — is a key time to take advantage of a chaplain-led military marriage retreat.

“You’ve got to get to know each other again, so the first 90 days are when we try to throw in a retreat, to learn new coping and communication skills,” Weathers said. “It’s like hitting the re-set button.”

Study: A Home with a Mom and a Dad Improves Boys’ Behavior in School

2012-01-06T08:43:00.000-05:00

An analysis of 20 years’ worth of school suspension rates nationwide shows that the greatest influence on boys’ behavior at school is not the type of school they attend or teacher they have, but the type of home in which they’re being raised.

Researchers at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business found that boys being raised in intact homes with both parents had the least behavioral problems and school suspensions, while those being raised by single mothers had the most. However, this was not found to be the case among girls.

Glenn T. Stanton, director of Global Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family, said intact families are the best for children of either gender.

“This supports over three decades of consistent research showing that kids who grow up in a home with their married parents tend to do better in all measures of educational attainment than their peers being raised in single, divorced and cohabiting-parent homes,” he said. “This is true from everything from grade-point average, behavioral issues, high school graduation and going on to graduate from college. Moms and dads both matter here, as well as the type of relationship between them.”

Washington Governor to Sponsor Same-Sex Marriage Bill

2012-01-06T08:40:00.003-05:00

On Jan. 4, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire announced her plans to make the state the seventh to legalize same-sex marriage.

Gregoire — a Catholic — said in the 20-minute press conference announcing the legislation she will sponsor that she has “been on my own journey” and that “it has been a battle for me with my religion,” but that her beliefs should have no bearing on how she does her job.

Same-sex civil unions, which Washington legalized in 2009, are not the same as marriage, she said.

The announcement marks Gregoire’s first public affirmation of same-sex marriage. Though she’s supported homosexual rights since taking office, she said in her 2004 gubernatorial campaign the state wasn’t ready to take the step into marriage; four years later, she said, “To me, the state’s responsibility is to absolutely ensure equality. The other is a religious issue, and I leave it to the churches to make that call about marriage.”

\Joseph Backholm, executive director of the Family Policy Institute of Washington, said he’s fairly optimistic the bill ultimately won’t pass; though both chambers of the Legislature are controlled by Democrats, some have voted with Republicans to oppose bills advancing the gay agenda in the past.

The state’s best interest is served by creating “the greatest probability that children will be raised by their mother and father,” he said.

Facebook Makes Millennials More Likely to Vote

2012-01-06T08:38:00.000-05:00

A survey released Dec. 20 shows that Facebook messages may be the most effective way to get young people to the polls.

According to the survey, commissioned by the nonprofit group Generation Opportunity and conducted by inc./Woman Trend, 66 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds said they’d be most likely to vote when reminded through Facebook messages. Meanwhile, 58 percent said text messages would be the best way to reach them. Only 38 percent said e-mail messages would get them to the polls, followed by 28 percent who preferred public service announcements and 13 percent who preferred phone calls.

“Our data underscores the ongoing power of social media and text messaging among the generation hardest hit by record unemployment and the poor economy,” said Generation Opportunity President Paul T. Conway. “Young adults use these technologies daily to discuss how the economy has delayed their futures and how to manage their lives in the midst of very little economic opportunity.”

Another part of the same survey showed that 69 percent of respondents believe the current leaders in federal government fail to represent their interests.

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - January 6, 2012

2012-01-06T08:25:00.000-05:00

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Jan. 6

4:00 – Kresta Comments – Faith as the Oppressor of Science: Mendel vs. Galileo as a Case Study

4:20 – The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers: Reclaiming Our Passion, Purpose, and Sanity
Arguing that many moms have gone overboard in their quest for perfection, Dr. Meg Meeker, pediatrician and mother of four, presents 10 "new habits" that will help moms maintain their passion, purpose, and sanity. Meeker addresses understanding your value as a mother, maintaining key friendships, valuing and practicing faith, saying no to competition, creating a healthier relationship with money, making time for solitude, giving and getting love in healthy ways, finding ways to live simply, letting go of fear, and embracing hope. Meg is with us.

4:40 – The Feast of the Epiphany
The Solemn feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, traditionally occurs on January 6 following the twelve days of Christmas. Epiphany commemorates three scriptural events: the visit of the Magi to the stable of Bethlehem following the nativity of Jesus, Christ's Baptism in the Jordan, and his first miracle at the wedding feast at Cana. This Epiphany article focuses on the significance of the Magi or three wise men who follow the star in search of the King of kings. We look at these events with apologist Marcellino D’Ambrosio.

5:00 – The Feasts of Epiphany and the Baptism of Christ
The feast of the Epiphany of the Lord is traditionally celebrated on January 6, marking the culmination of the twelve days of Christmas celebrates three events: the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus, Christ's Baptism, and Jesus’ first public miracle at the wedding feast at Cana. These events have now been separated into individual feast days, but Steve Ray is here today to tie them all together and explain the history.

Judge fines attorneys for anti-Catholic slurs, orders arrest of one

2012-01-05T16:17:00.000-05:00

Less than a month after a Minnesota attorney filed a court document laden with anti-Catholic slurs, the judge who bore the brunt of her comments has ordered her arrested.

Referring to Judge Nancy Dreher, who is not a Catholic, as a “popess” and “a secret Catholic Knight Witch Hunter,” attorney Nancy Isaacson’s filing had stated that “we may as well flush her papal bull order down the toilet.”

“The Catholic Church has millions of Jesuits working undercover around the country to fulfill the Church's agenda,” the memo continued. “They give orders, pull the strings, and their puppets like Nancy Dreher jump like zombies.”

Citing “unsupported and outrageous allegations of bigotry, deceit, conspiracy and scandalous statements against this court,” Judge Dreher ordered Isaacson arrested on contempt-of-court charges after she failed to appear on January 4 to explain her document.

Dreher fined Isaacson $5,000 and also fined Rebekah Nutt--Isaacson’s attorney--$5,000.

Describing the judge and other court employees as “dirty Catholics,” Nutt had said in an earlier court filing that “across the country the court systems and particularly the Bankruptcy Court in Minnesota are composed of a bunch of ignoramus, bigoted Catholic beasts that carry the sword of the church.”

“Catholic deeds throughout the history have been bloody and murderous,” added Nutt’s memorandum.