Catholics

Mitt Romney Gives Up On Senior Citizens, Hispanics, Women, And Young People With Ryan Selection!

Ronald 35 Comments

Mitt Romney may have pleased ideological conservatives with his selection of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his Vice Presidential running mate, but he has effectively ceded whole groups of voters by so doing.

Since Ryan’s budget plan called for the end of Medicare and creation of a voucher system instead, it is hard to imagine a majority of senior citizens being naive enough to vote for Romney.

Since Ryan has voted for a fence along the Mexican border and voted against the DREAM Act, how can it be assumed that the majority of Hispanic voters, particularly the two thirds who are of Mexican heritage, are going to vote for Romney?

SInce Ryan is a devout Catholic, who believes in preventing abortion rights and is for restrictions on contraceptives and other matters that concern women, it is difficult to imagine a majority of women, except for very devout women who are Catholic, evangelical Christian, or Orthodox Jewish, voting for Romney.

Beyond that, young people will come to realize that the Ryan budget plan in the House of Representatives would cut Pell Grants for their education, and that Ryan was against any action to keep interest rates on student loans at the present rate. So why would young people, particularly those who are college educated, and who will also find Republican governed states making it harder for them to vote in their college communities, vote in majorities for Romney?

In many respects, Mitt Romney has committed political suicide by his choice of Paul Ryan!

Odd And Interesting Points About Paul Ryan, And The Presidential Election Of 2012

Ronald 4 Comments

There are many odd and interesting points about Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan that have been gathered, and here are some of them!

Paul Ryan, like Mitt Romney, is handsome, and they look good together photogenically.

Paul Ryan looks as if he could be one of Mitt Romney’s sons, and actually is only 12 days older than Romney’s oldest son, Tagg!

Paul Ryan has spent his whole adult life in government, with no experience in the private sector.

Paul Ryan was affected by the narrow minded, selfish teachings of Ayn Rand, and he was involved in work with former Congressman Jack Kemp, one of the authors of what became known as Reaganomics, which started tripling the national debt in the 1980s, due to the theory of Supply Side Economics. Now, Ryan wishes to multiply what Reaganomics in the 1980s and Bushonomics in the 2000s brought about, most of the increased national debt, $7 trillion of the total $10.5 trillion debt that existed when George W. Bush left the Presidency in January, 2009!

Paul Ryan’s dad died when he was in high school, and he was supported by the social safety net of Social Security with survivors benefits while in college.

Paul Ryan has lived off the American taxpayer his entire life, and will receive better health care and pension benefits as part of the federal payroll, that he wishes to cut for everyone else in the middle and lower classes!

Paul Ryan alienated Catholic nuns when he came out for cuts in food stamps and other benefits to poor children, and called for privatizing of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, while wanting greater tax cuts for the top two percent!

Paul Ryan was booed in his own congressional district for the Ryan plan which passed the House of Representatives earlier this year, but with no Democratic support and ten Republicans voting against, as well.

Paul Ryan comes across as articulate, handsome, and charming personally, the latter much more than Mitt Romney, but he also comes across to many as arrogant, nasty, mean spirited, uncaring, hypocritical , uncompromising, and loved by the Tea Party and the right wing media which have declared war on women, senior citizens, the middle class, minorities, and the poor!

Paul Ryan has no foreign policy experience, and being only a Congressman, can be seen as not qualified to be Commander in Chief on Day One!

This is the 5th time in the past half century that a member of the House of Representatives has been selected as a Vice Presidential running mate—William E. Miller of New York with Barry Goldwater in 1964; Geraldine Ferraro of New York with Walter Mondale in 1984; Jack Kemp of New York with Bob Dole in 1996; Dick Cheney of Wyoming with George W. Bush in 2000; and now Paul Ryan of Wisconsin with Mitt Romney in 2012. Notice all four of the earlier choices LOST the election that followed, with the exception of Cheney with Bush, but remember that Al Gore actually won the popular vote in 2000 by 540,000 votes, and the Supreme Court decided the election, intervening for the first time in American history!

And as said in an earlier post, finally, this marks the fourth time in the past 60 years that the Vice Presidential nominee has been more than 20 years younger than the Presidential nominee—Richard Nixon with Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952; Dan Quayle with George H. W. Bush in 1988; Sarah Palin with John McCain in 2008; and now Paul Ryan with Mitt Romney in 2012.

Additionally, we have no one on either ticket for this upcoming election who is from the Sun Belt states, the growing part of the nation. Instead, we have a Midwesterner and an Easterner on each ticket–Barack Obama and Paul Ryan from the Midwest, and Joe Biden and Mitt Romney from the Northeast!

Also, there is no candidate with military experience on either Presidential ticket, the first time since the 1940s!

And we also have no mainline Protestant on the Republican ticket, a mainstay of the GOP, and instead have a Mormon and a Catholic.

If anything, the only true “Protestant” is Barack Obama, as Joe Biden is Catholic!

More oddities and trivia will probably arise as the campaign develops further!

America In 2012: African American President, Irish Catholic Vice President, Mormon Presidential Candidate, Supreme Court Of Catholics, Jews, Women, African American And Hispanic, And The Third Woman Secretary Of State!

Ronald 2 Comments

In the midst of all the turmoil we are going through politically, America should sit back and marvel at how far this nation has come by 2012.

We have an African American President, Barack Obama!

We have an Irish Catholic Vice President, Joe Biden, the only Catholic since John F. Kennedy in 1960.

We have a Mormon Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney.

We have a Supreme Court consisting of six Catholics (Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor) and three Jews (Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer, and Elena Kagan), and also an African American (Clarence Thomas), an Hispanic, (Sonia Sotomayor) and three women (Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan) on the Court.

And we have the third woman Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, after two earlier ones (Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice (one with Jewish heritage and one African American).

So we have a lot to be proud of in 2012, with the tremendous amount of diversity!

Firsts In Presidential Election Contests: Path Breaking Moments!

Ronald 4 Comments

Now that Mitt Romney has become the official GOP Presidential candidate, another barrier has been broken in Presidential contests.

As the first Mormon Presidential candidate, Romney has accomplished what one could call a “civil rights moment”.

We have had to wait a long time for new attitudes to develop, but we have so far accomplished the following:

1928–first Catholic nominee for President, Al Smith.
1928–first Quaker President elected, Herbert Hoover
1928–first Native American Vice President elected, Charles Curtis
1960–first Catholic President elected, John F. Kennedy
1968–first Catholic Vice Presidential candidate, Edmund Muskie
1984–first woman Vice Presidential candidate, Geraldine Ferraro
2000–first Jewish Vice Presidential candidate, Joe Lieberman
2008–first African American President elected, Barack Obama
2008–first Catholic Vice President elected, Joe Biden

And notice that with the exceptions of Hoover, Curtis and Romney, all of the “firsts” were by the Democratic Party, NOT the Republican Party!

The Dangers Of Proposed Amendment One In North Carolina Constitution: Denial Of Equal Rights Returning To The South!

Ronald 3 Comments

There is great fear that the majority of voters in North Carolina tomorrow will institutionalize discrimination, prejudice, and hate in the state constitution with the expected passage of Amendment One, endorsed by Franklin Graham, and his distinguished father, the Reverend Billy Graham, who should be totally ashamed of themselves!

North Carolina and other Southern states used to deny racial intermarriage, and institutionalized hate, prejudice and discrimination in the state constitutions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

One would think we are beyond this in the 21st century, and that we should not allow the ignorance of people to become law!

It is shameful to let people VOTE on basic human rights, including gay rights and gay marriage rights.

When it comes to personal human rights, there should NOT be any vote, as those personal human rights should be guaranteed in the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”

If we had a vote on whether women should be denied the right to vote; blacks should be segregated; job discrimination against Jews, Catholics, and others should be reinstituted; workers should be denied collective bargaining; and many other social advancements that people gave their “blood, sweat and tears” for, it is possible that the masses would vote to deny basic rights.

But that is not what a democracy is, to allow prejudice, hate, and discrimination to rule the day!

We have come too far in our national history to allow this to happen, and to sit idly by!

If North Carolina adopts Amendment One, we all should hold our heads in shame and weep!

The Problem Of Religion For Mitt Romney, And How He Deals With It: In A Demagogic Manner!

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Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has many problems on the road to the Republican Presidential nomination, and despite his wins tonight in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Wisconsin, his path to the Presidency is complicated, and it turns out, religion remains a major barrier.

Mitt Romney is a Mormon, a faith regarded by many Christian groups as a religious cult.

Mitt Romney was testy when asked a question yesterday about the tenets of his faith, regarding interracial sexual relations. He said he did not wish to discuss religion, but that is not going to make that issue go away.

When one looks at Gallup polls about how people feel about different religions, we discover that 7 percent say they would not vote for a Baptist; an equal 7 percent would not vote for a Catholic; 9 percent would not vote for a Jew; while 22 percent would not vote for a Mormon!

Only two groups rate higher in voter reluctance to vote for a candidate of that religion: 46 percent would not vote for a Muslim; and 49 percent would not vote for an atheist.

So what has Romney decided to do? Instead of arguing, as many demagogues of his party and in talk radio have done, that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim, Romney goes one better.

Romney is now claiming that Obama is promoting “secularism”, in other words, “atheism”, that Obama does not really believe in God!

How despicable and demagogic Romney has become, trying to label Obama as an atheist, due to the fact that the percentage who would not vote for an atheist is double and more that of those who would not vote for a Mormon!

Romney is exploiting religious prejudice and hatred, at a time when he has a religious problem of his own!

What could be more unprincipled? And it is clear that it will not work, and Romney, by bringing it up, deserves a walloping repudiation in November!

Hillary Clinton At Women In The World Summit: Women Must Not Let Men Control Their Destiny!

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a passionate address at the Women In The World Summit in New York City this weekend, an event hosted by Newsweek and the Daily Beast.

Prominent, as well as not so prominent, women attended, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, actresses Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Barbara and Jenna Bush, Chelsea Clinton, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and many foreign women who are fighting for women’s rights all over the world.

Hillary Clinton was highly critical of the idea that men all over the world seem to feel that they have a right to control what women do with their bodies, how they dress, what they advocate, and their ambitions to accomplish their goals for themselves and other women.

This was a sharp rejoinder to evangelical Christian and Catholic leadership, and conservative and Republican leadership in Congress, the state legislatures, and on talk radio and Fox News Channel, who have worked to push women’s rights in reverse with recent statements and actions.

These attempts at curbing women’s rights are doomed to failure, as women en masse will react against attempts to return women in America to the concept of women a century ago, and even as recently as the past 50 years.

A key goal is winning more seats in Congress, so as to have a greater impact on legislation and the agenda of the future!

Mitt Romney, Gutless Wonder: Refusal To Stand Up Against “Crazy” Rick Santorum Proves He Would Be Weak President!

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Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has proved to be a “gutless wonder”, unwilling to stand up against “Crazy” Rick Santorum, and if he cannot do this, what kind of a President would he be? How could we believe that he would fight against right wing extremism, or stand up to foreign nations, or believe anything that comes out of his mouth? He would lack all credibility in the White House!

Mitt Romney has shown he has no principles, no core, no stands he will not back down on if put under pressure!

This is not the kind of leadership that America needs in troubled times. He has not convinced America or his party that he cannot be pushed around, and that is totally scary and troubling at the same time.

If he cannot condemn Rick Santorum for saying that promoting college education for young people is a sign of snobbery; if he cannot stop being petty in advocating that “Big Bird” and PBS being cut from government support (a miniscule amount of money) as a reaction to what Santorum is saying, trying to outdo him in the attack on education; if Romney is unable to speak up for separation of church and state, as he himself is from a minority religion in America as a Mormon, just as John F. Kennedy was a Catholic; and if Romney cannot look us in the eye and say he wishes to govern as a moderate centrist, the only way to govern, rather than a hard line right wing conservative against his entire history, then Mitt Romney should not be President, and were he so, he would be a disaster in the White House!

The answer is to wish that Rick Santorum is the nominee, is walloped by Barack Obama, and that defeat would force the extremists out of the Republican Party, and allow the mainstream moderate center to reclaim control of the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike and even Reagan, to return to sanity and a future where Americans could again trust the GOP with national power in the White House and Congress! The only fear about asserting this is the concern that IF some tremendous economic or foreign policy crisis arises in the eight months to the election, that Americans might be crazy enough to vote in a right wing extremist, Rick Santorum, in a moment of fear and emotion. If that were to happen, then all faith in the common sense of the American people will have been lost, and we will be in deeper trouble than we have ever been in our entire history!

The Reverend Franklin Graham: A Hypocrite Of Massive Proportions!

Ronald 1 Comment

The Reverend Franklin Graham, the son and inheritor of the mantle of the Reverend Billy Graham, now 93 years old, has never been the equal of his father, and today on Morning Joe on MSNBC, he proved just how hypocritical a person he is!

Graham claimed he did now know if Barack Obama is a Christian, but would take him at his word, although he was troubled that Obama’s father, grandfather and great grandfather from Kenya were Muslims, and could understand that many would have doubts about his Christianity. He said he thought Obama might secretly be a Muslim, because Obama was working to give the Islamic faith a “free pass” by promoting the idea of contacts with the Islamic world, and was failing to protect Christians in Islamic nations from attack. Actually, Obama HAS issued a statement calling upon Islamic countries to protect the rights of minority religious groups, including Christians, but Graham conveniently lied about that fact. Graham has also earlier questioned whether Obama was born in the United States, making him a “birther”, at least in the past.

Franklin Graham measures whether one is a “good Christian” based on what they say, EXCEPT for Barack Obama!

Franklin Graham decides that one is religious, based on church attendance, when that proves absolutely nothing about a person.

What proves whether anyone is “religious” is his or her treatment of other human beings on a daily basis, on how he or she judges others, on whether one keeps an open mind, and does not condemn people who have other religious beliefs.

Graham also expressed doubts about Mitt Romney being a Christian, as he pointed out that many Christians thought that the Mormon Church was not a Christian church.

But he had no doubts that Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich were Christians, taking them at their word, although he pointed out that both were Catholics, and that Protestants had differences with Catholic beliefs.

Basically, for a evangelical Christian like Franklin Graham, there is a quandary as he is faced with a person he thinks may be Muslim, a Mormon, and two Catholics. This, plus the fact that the US Supreme Court has six Catholics and three Jews is troubling to those who have problems with both Catholics and Jews. He accepts Santorum and Gingrich as “better” than a ‘ secret Muslim” and a Mormon, but is obviously troubled that his way of looking at religion is not found in any of the possible Presidential candidates!

What it comes down to is that Franklin Graham is a hypocrite big time, and an embarrassment to his father, the Reverend Billy Graham. He is not the worthy successor of his father by any standard one can create!

Here We Go Again: New Hatred By Evangelical Christian Pastors!

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It is a sad reality that many Evangelical Christian pastors have made a career out of promoting divisiveness and hate, in the name of their conservative values and the almighty dollar!

How else to explain why many of these pastors have continued to promote hatred toward President Barack Obama, including that he is a Muslim, born in Kenya, a Socialist, and out to undermine American values?

How else to explain a so called “unifying” pastor, Joel Osteen, who runs the largest megachurch in America in Houston Texas, on nationwide TV on CNN advocating homophobia, knowing full well that it is a major crisis in America, particularly for young gay men and women who are committing suicide because of bullying, and has no problem continuing to quote the Bible on this matter, in a distorted way? And then to learn that Joel Osteen, who inherited his father’s leadership of their church, dropped out of college and has NO ministerial training at a seminary, so therefore is, technically, a phony minister, who is very wealthy because of the contributions of his congregants, and of course, like all religious leaders, avoids personal income taxes?

How else to explain another Evangelical Christian pastor at the Values Voters Summit In Washington, DC, supposedly asked to introduce Texas Governor Rick Perry, declaring that Mormons are not Christians, but instead are a “cult”, an attack directed against former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the frontrunner in the GOP Presidential race, and indirectly against the other Mormon in the race, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman?

It should not matter whether a candidate for President is a “good Christian”, as we have a belief in separation of church and state, and religion should no more be a barrier now than it was in 1960 when John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic to win the White House, after Al Smith, the earlier Catholic nominee in the 1928 Presidential Election, was soundly defeated because of his Catholicism. Of course, who were the leading critics of Smith and Kennedy? Evangelical Christians, who claim to be holier than thou!

It is clear that the same anti Mormon sentiments would be visited against a serious Jewish nominee in the future. These “good Christians” are excellent at promoting hate and division!

Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman should be judged for everything except their Mormon faith. Neither is out to promote or advocate their faith, anymore than Smith or Kennedy were, or a future Jewish nominee would! Why do Evangelical Christian pastors however feel they have the right to force their congregants to think their narrow minded way?

It is time for all of the non Mormon Presidential nominees to condemn this pastor and make it clear that religious bigotry of any kind is not acceptable, and will not be part of the GOP Presidential race from this day forward! But don’t bet on that happening!