Posts Tagged ‘obamacare’

…and I recommend his impromptus column in the same way as Hemingway recommended C. S. Forester…”to every literate I know“.

Today I have a bone to pick with him. He says something very true about the obamacare bill going through congress:

I am not a liberal Democrat, and you may not be, either. But if we were: Don’t you think we’d be embarrassed at the way Pelosi et al. are going about getting “Obamacare” through? The parliamentary maneuvering, the skullduggery? Especially after Obama and the party at large promised openness, transparency, orderliness, and so on? The Democrats’ legislation would mark a major change in the way we operate in this country. Don’t you think the legislation should be handled with honesty and dignity? Don’t you think that most of the country, or at least a good deal of it, should have a feeling of pride and satisfaction about the process?

Very true and well put but then he hits a pet peeve of mine…

Yes, yes, I know all about “sausage and legislation”

As I wrote to Jay today:

If more laws were made like his (Romano’s) sausages the country would be in fine shape.

When I see that quote in the future I’ll be dropping a small line along with the link to my post on the subject. I hope I have better luck than Tim Blair and the plastic Turkey stuff.

Update: Jay acknowledges Romano.

It’s stuff like this.

Some 60 leaders of religious orders representing 59,000 Catholic nuns Wednesday sent lawmakers a letter urging them to pass the Senate health care bill. It contains restrictions on abortion funding that the bishops say don’t go far enough.

Of Course that fine Catholic Norah O’Donnell who I’m sure as a good catholic is opposed publicly to the intrinsic evil of abortion celebrates this stuff. Maybe the St. Patrick’s day people might want to consider who they have lead parades celebrating saints in the future.

I’m told that Joe Scarborough reads this blog, before he talks about the split between the bishops and nuns and beclowns himself doing so I suggest he read a few people who are actually in the know such as, oh I don’t know the Anchoress:

The sisters (not nuns) who signed this endorsement are part of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). While they do represent some 59,000 sisters in the US, that should not be taken representative of the feelings of all those sisters. Just as the Firefighters Unions regularly endorse Democrats while the firefighters themselves tend to vote more conservatively, not all of the sisters whose leadership belongs to the LCWR will endorse or agree with this December/March statement.

I wrote a little about the LCWR here, from which I invite you to draw your own conclusions.

These religious are basically what is left of the leftist sisters – the mostly boomer sisters who have issues with the authority of the hierarchy and have come to rather delight in sticking their fingers into the eyes of Catholic orthodoxy. I would never recommend anyone casually passing judgment on their overall faithfulness; that would probably be unwise and uncharitable, too. But I do not think it is inaccurate or uncharitable to suggest that some of these sisters “self-actualized” in 1972, and have decided to stay right there, in that heady chapter, as the narrative has moved on.

Most of the orders these women are attached to are dying out because young Catholics are not attracted to their way.

And of course big Journalism notes (via the Jammiewearingfool) that the going rate of 30 pieces of silver has increased with inflation:

You see, the Catholic Health Association is a for-profit company that works for some Catholic hospitals as a sort of trade association. It isn’t part of the Church nor does it represent any official group of religious Catholics, nor does it serve as a source of Catholic teachings.

The truth is that CHA chief Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity nun, is paid around $800,000 a year to advocate for this trade association, not the Catholic Church. She is not an altruist like nearly every other member of the actual Church that serves in an official capacity.

As I said there is a reason why the Vatican has spent a year investigating religious orders in the US.

Lets remind my fellow Catholics (such as Norah O’Donnell) and inform non Catholics (such as Joe Scarborough) about the rules concerning Mortal Sin:

1857 For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”

1858 Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: “Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother.”132 The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.

1859 Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.

Ironically Little Miss Attila had a post yesterday quoting a slew of different bibles all using different wording but all of the same quote:

NIV: It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied round his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin…I hope and trust that the message is coming through.

It isn’t an easy thing at times to resist membership in the millstone club, there can be incredible incentives to lead others to sin. $800k is a pretty incredible incentive.

I have the same thing to say about “Sister” Keehan as I did about another nun Donna Quinn, and her public and active support of abortion:

As I’ve said before Catholicism is a voluntary activity. If sister Quinn wants to push Abortion and aid at abortion clinics, it’s a free country, she just shouldn’t do it as a Catholic nun. If she insists on doing it as a Catholic Nun and her superiors do nothing then they ought not to be whining about the Vatican investigating them. It’s a variation of the murder your parents cry as an orphan business.

Sr. Keehan will do what she wants and the left, the White House and the media will fawn on her as we saw today on Morning Joe and she will be celebrated for the rest of their lives…

…after that they’re on their own.

Your choice ladies. I’m include you in my prayers today.

…you are doing yourself and your country a real service.

Dennis Kucinich has stood fast and strong for the public option. He maintained on TV just one week ago that this bill was a giveaway to the insurance companies and that he would fight for a robust public option.

There is nothing like a pol willing to defy party and president in order to stand up for what he knows is right

oh nevermind.

“I know I have to make a decision, not on the bill as I would like to see, it but on the bill as it is,” the longtime congressman said in a 30-minute press conference on Capitol Hill where he detailed his vote change. “I have doubts about this bill,” he said. “…This is not the bill I wanted to support.”

“However, after careful discussions with President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, my wife Elizabeth and close friends, I have decided to cast a vote in favor of the legislation,” he said.

How about that? From Hotair:

Blue Dog moderates who already don’t want to be linked to Nancy Pelosi in upcoming midterms may find being linked to Kucinich even less palatable. We’ll see. In this case, the real test may not be Kucinich’s switch but who will be the first to follow him.

Michelle Malkin:

Selling out his progressive principles is worth the 15 minutes of fame.

Plus, ooh, la, lah, President Obama showered with him attention. Kucinich revealed that he met four times(!) with the cajoler-in-chief — the last time on Air Force One.

Contest time: What else did Congress’s favorite UFO/alien-spotter get in return for his vote?

The Other McCain keeps his eyes on the…prize?

This just in – Dennis Kucinich’s wife is still hot. You got to give the guy credit for that, eh?

Meanwhile, CNN reports “no” votes from five other Democrats whose wives aren’t nearly as hot as Elizabeth Kucinich.

Liberal Vales asks a relevant question:

One question is whether Kucinich is changing his votes due to receiving major concessions, or if this is an example of the type of pressure being placed on Democratic Congressmen to support passage of the bill.

Has everybody forgotten that the bill in question is the senate bill? There ARE no concessions to offer yet. The bill being offered is the unamended senate bill and a vote for that bill means neither the White House nor the Democratic Leadership have to deliver on any concession. And if reconciliation on this matter loses in the court and the president ends up with the senate bill. Oh Well!

Finally Firedoglake gives the bottom line:

If on the other hand he settles for some worthless reassurances that “Obama will work toward it in the future” (which nobody but Lynn Woolsey is dumb enough to actually believe), or a meaningless symbolic vote that achieves little more than 15 minutes of futile grandstanding, good luck to him. A thousand people have donated over $16,000 to Dennis since yesterday to thank him for standing up for what he believes in. We’ll be asking him to return it.

I still think this is going down.

Update: Forget last week Bill Jacobson reports that Bold Sir Dennis excoriated Obamacare in an op ed just two days ago.

Barack “Don’t worry Martha Coakley I’ll come to Massachusetts to save you” Obama has decided to lay down the law for wavering democrats:

The president will refuse to make fund-raising visits during November elections to any district whose representative has not backed the bill.

A one-night presidential appearance can bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds which would otherwise take months to accumulate through cold-calling by campaign volunteers.

We all saw how anxious John Boccieri was to attend the Obama event in Ohio, I’m sure other congressmen in swing districts are just as anxious to have him there.

Between this and the sudden shifts by newspapers things are going to get very interesting.

FYI around the blogroll will return tomorrow.