Archive for March 16, 2021

Common sense in South Dakota

Posted: March 16, 2021 by chrisharper in politics
Tags: , ,

By Christopher Harper

If you want some common sense in this uncommon time, you should look toward South Dakota and its governor, Kristi Noem.

I have a strong fondness for South Dakota since I went to high school there and wrote a book about my teenage cronies.

But Noem makes sense when it comes to politics and policies.

At 49, she’s a rising star in the GOP and may have enough heft to seek the presidency in 2024. She served from 2007 to 2001 in the South Dakota legislature and then eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives until she became the state’s first female government in 2019.

During the pandemic, she took a rational approach to COVID-19. She did not implement face mask mandates and left communities the flexibility to do so. She expressed her doubts about mask-wearing for children because of studies on the decreased risk from exposure to the virus. As a result, she encouraged schools to stay open.

When vaccines became available, South Dakota’s distribution system was so flawless that The Wall Street Journal dubbed Noem “The Vaccine Queen.”

Noem is a pro-life, fiscal conservative who has railed against federal spending, such as the recent stimulus package.

She said she believes the package “bails out those states that shut down their economies” and “rewards them for making people stay in their homes and for taking away a business’ right to be open and take care of their customers and their employees.

“So it’s incredibly detrimental to our state because we made the right decisions. We trusted people,” she said. “We have the lowest unemployment rate in the nation and are tied for it with Nebraska, and we’re getting through this together.”

Noem complained that the package rewards Democrat strongholds like California, Illinois, and New York and punishes Republican states like South Dakota.

When MSNBC’s Joy Reid recently did a hit job, attacking Noem and the public event she attended last year at Mount Rushmore with President Trump, the South Dakota governor didn’t take back down.

“Some of today’s radical Left just hates America–and rather than being shunned, the most toxic voices are rewarded with TV shows and newspaper columns. Criticism of my policies isn’t enough. They must also attack America’s history and most basic institutions,” she told supporters. “I will fight back by doubling down on conservative principles. I’m only a target because we’ve been effective, and this is no time to let up.”

Kristi Noem talks common sense. It’s what makes her a serious possibility for 2024.

Flash! The Catholic Church and Francis are Still Catholic

Posted: March 16, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized

There is a half century old management concept called the “Peter Principle” that states that a person will get promoted until they reach a level where they are not competent for the job they have been raised to.

When dealing with the current occupant of the Vatican one might call it the “St. Peter Principle” where Francis skills and approach might be effective as a parish priest or even as a Bishop or Cardinal are not that effective in the top chair. He may be personally holy and may believe but his skill set has not been all that effective as Pope.

However despite these skills or lack thereof there are still times when the Catholic Church under Francis reminds the world that they are still in fact Catholic: To wit:

Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a dubium
regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex

TO THE QUESTION PROPOSED:
Does the Church have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex?

RESPONSE:
Negative.

This statement included an explaination:

For this reason, it is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex[6]. The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which are in themselves to be valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of an ecclesial blessing, since the positive elements exist within the context of a union not ordered to the Creator’s plan.

And in fact it goes further (emphasis mine)

Furthermore, since blessings on persons are in relationship with the sacraments, the blessing of homosexual unions cannot be considered licit. This is because they would constitute a certain imitation or analogue of the nuptial blessing invoked on the man and woman united in the sacrament of Matrimony, while in fact “there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family”

In an age where people are afraid to define “woman” the affirmation that you can’t bless a relationship in sin (hetrosexual OR homosexual) this is an earthquake.

But the left / media can take comfort in the knowledge that this is in fact coming from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and not from Pope Francis himself…

…oh wait:

The Sovereign Pontiff Francis, at the Audience granted to the undersigned Secretary of this Congregation, was informed and gave his assent to the publication of the above-mentioned Responsum ad dubium, with the annexed Explanatory Note.

In other words Pope Francis gives his blessing to this statement.

Now it’s worth nothing that this doesn’t preclude a blessing to Gay individuals who as the document states” manifest the will to live in fidelity to the revealed plans of God as proposed by Church teaching, but this didn’t stop CNN from twisting the words of the statement nor making blatantly false statements concerning the teaching of the Catholic Church vs certain Protestant denominations Then again given CNN being CNN if they managed to report it straight and accurately it would be a real manifestation of God miraculous works.

But the bottom line is that despite all their collective faults, the Catholic Church in General and Pope Francis in particular remain Catholic.

The left and media hardest hit.

Can’t wait to see the administration of that faithful practicing Catholic Joe Biden’s comment on this.