The Masculinity Deficit

I am evidently an anachronism.  In many respects, I do not appreciate the “progress” we have made via the women’s liberation movement when it comes to how our boys have been indoctrinated.  I don’t like the fact that guys are seemingly no longer guys in the younger generations.  They seem to have all been feminized or out-right neutered.  What really strikes me as odd is the fact that the new American culture seems to encourage this, as the discernible differences between young men and women appears to be narrowing.

Many of the signs of this are immediately apparent when simply looking at the young men of today.  Evidently you women-folk are okay if your “man” goes and gets a manicure and his hair highlighted right along with you.  I mean, a manicure?  A guy used to do his own “manicure” with a pocketknife to get the grease or dirt out from under his fingernails.  Nowadays one would be hard put to even find one of these new metro-sexual men even carrying a pocket knife, let alone having a need to get grease out from under his nails.   

As for the clothing donned by young men today, it usually goes to one of two extremes: pants that are worn so low and baggy that his boxer shorts are showing (and just begging for a power wedgie) or they are so skinny and tight that it appears they got them from the junior girls department.

We won't even begin talking about chest waxings.

The attitudes of these men are decidedly un-masculine as well.  There is no sense of respect, let alone any modicum of a chivalrous attitude displayed towards women by these boys.  Girls are considered as objects or “Ho’s” by these self-centered punks, instead of young women with dignity whom are deserving of respect.  The fact that many of these women are as coarse and undignified and accepting of such treatment only ensures that such despicable attitudes by these men-children will continue.

I think the feminization/neutering of our young men starts in the elementary school playground these days.  No longer are boys allowed to play dodge-ball, or cops and robbers, or cowboys and Indians, let alone smear the queer.  Those games are WAY too violent for our sensitive boys of this new millennium.  We mustn’t regress and allow our little boys to run and rough-house anymore by playing such games in this new enlightened age of caring.  Heck, even making an imaginary gun with your thumb and forefinger today in such game play will likely get you expelled for violent tendencies, with a follow up trip to the psychologist to find out why little Timmy exhibited such abhorrent anti-social behavior.  Further, “robbers” aren’t really bad guys.  They are just the unfortunate victims who are negatively impacted by the draconian welfare cuts that those evil conservatives wish to enact.  As for cowboys and Indians… well talk about politically incorrect!  Why the very name of the game is offensive today!  And changing the name to “cowboys and native Americans” really tends to lose something in the translation.   I wonder if today’s youngsters even have heard of such  vile games?  And smear the queer!?!  Why even saying the name of that game in front of a teacher will likely get you a trip to the principal’s office; never mind that we older folks never even thought of the word “queer” as being a pejorative… or at least not until we reached high school.

It used to be that little Johnny would join the local Little League team and be expected to show up to practices, work to improve his fielding, throwing, and batting skills, and absolutely he had to pay attention to the games when they were in progress.  Nowadays, everyone can join and the focus is ONLY on “fun”, or so they tell us.  Why sometimes the score isn’t even kept.  Indeed, half of the kids are goofing off so much during the game that they have to ask if they won after the final inning is completed.  And of course, at the end of the season, everyone gets a trophy.  We wouldn’t want to hurt these little guys’ feelings or crush their artificially manufactured self-esteem that has been inflated through accomplishing… nothing.  Indeed, there is no incentive to work, to improve, and to achieve a goal.  It is all about “fun”, despite the fact that there really isn’t much fun without real competition, and hence most of these boys are bored accordingly.  In other words, it has no semblance to the real world.  I seem to remember that through improving my skills and working hard to get better that I actually had REAL fun.  I must have been the exception to this new age rule today, though.

And what becomes of these youngsters as they reach high school now-a-days?  Well, they look for the easy way through school.  They have been taught that they are wonderful and brilliant without ever having experienced failure or defeat and having to pick themselves up, work harder, and succeed accordingly.   Failure is something to be feared and avoided by taking the path of least resistance.  They don’t want challenges; they want undeserved praise.  They want spell-check and calculators to do the work for them.  Those few that seek excellence are castigated.  Why some schools have even gone so far as to eliminate their valedictorian so as not to make those others that didn’t work their tails off to achieve that status feel badly.  Evidently failure is something to be avoided at all cost, even if that means never challenging our young men.  They don’t learn how to effectively deal with failure and disappointment, so when real life shows up and failure does occur, these boys do not know how to pick themselves up, brush off the dirt, and walk it off.  They don’t learn that failure is often a great teacher and makes your better, if you are willing to keep working and are able to learn the lessons that such failure was trying to teach you.  Instead you see them pout, cry, and bemoan the unfairness of their situation.  Why some will even join Occupy Wall Street rallies accordingly!

So we end up with young “men” that have been told by society not to act like boys used to act.  We have told them that they are special and winners, despite having never really worked and struggled to actually achieve anything more meaningful than a X-box high score.

These young men, at best, graduate with a mediocre education, which is usually weak on mathematics and sciences.  If they go to college, it is usually to pursue a relatively easier course of studies in the liberal arts or something equally useless for the job market today.   They then are baffled why they are unable to get a $60,000 a year starting salary with their newly attained art-history degree.  Further, if they don’t go to college, they typically will live at home with mommy and daddy still providing for them as they may work a part time job and hang out with their friends, thus delaying adding any more responsibility on their already “over-burdened” shoulders.  Delaying manhood becomes the goal as far as responsibilities are concerned.  When it comes to rights and privileges of manhood, well those things must be bestowed upon these man-children immediately.  Theirs is a world where instant gratification is absolutely required for them.

These young men would rather live at home in Mom & Dad’s basement instead of venturing out on their own and making their own mark in the world.  They seem to be either incapable or unwilling to provide for their own needs.  I mean, why go through all of the hassle of actually having to get up before noon and go to work at some low-paying job where the boss doesn’t understand how brilliant Johnny is and how he is deserving of so much more money and authority, but no more responsibility… thank you.  After all, Mom and Dad will still provide for him and his needs and wants.  They want to be taken care of by their mommies and daddies rather than have the burden of taking care of a wife and family of their own, or even attempting to better themselves so that might one day be a possibility.

They expect their girlfriend to take over Mom’s job in providing for their domestic needs with the addition of sex, of course, while they both live at his parent's home.  We won't even start with the avoidance of his taking responsibility and actually marrying the woman that is supposedly loved by the boy.  The man-child isn’t interested in taking care of, providing for, or protecting a wife.  It is all about continuing to maintain his artificially created self-esteem and what HE wants.   And the young women seem to accept and be okay with these boys, until they realize after the babies start coming, that it is a lot of work when your “man” doesn’t want to provide and actually expects the women to still cater to his whims.  He simply is another child for which the woman must care and provide.  The young woman doesn't have a man and a husband on whom she can depend.  She has her baby's daddy instead.

So after a few generations now of this post-women’s-liberation and feminization of men, we are now hard-pressed to find a young man these days that has a sense of purpose, a willingness to work hard to improve life for himself and his family, and a notion that God in His wisdom created the wonderful differences between men and women for a very good reason.

Today's young men are more likely to idolize Justin Bieber or find their heroes in sparkly vampires instead of the rugged self-sufficient John Wayne hero-types of my youth.  Yep, the masculinity deficit that our post-women’s lib nation has wrought is now full of these man-boys that have been coddled and protected from real life.  They are growing up and have achieved nothing of significance accordingly.  It is exceptionally rare to find a young man these days that is willing to work hard, take personal responsibility, and try to better himself and his world.  Such real men of honor and integrity are all the more remarkable because of their scarcity these days, and lucky is the young lady that can find one and have the sense to realize the quality of his character.

On the other hand, I guess the good news for these other “men-children” is that they evidently are still qualified under today’s standards to win a Nobel Prize or perhaps even grow up to be President of the United States one day.  Yep, I am indeed an anachronism.

Democrat 2012 Convention Schedule

With the Republican  convention taking place in Tampa, Florida this week, and in the spirit of bi-partisanship, I wanted to provide the schedule for the upcoming Democrat  convention in Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday September 4^th. 

Democratic Convention Schedule

4:00 PM – Opening Flag Burning Ceremony
4:05 PM – Singing of "God Damn America" led by Rev. Jeremiah Wright
4:10 PM – Pledge of Allegiance to Obama
4:15 PM – Ceremonial I hate America led by Michelle Obama
4:30 PM – Tips on Dodging Sniper Fire – Hillary Clinton
4:45 PM – Rev Jessie Jackson Leads Castrati Choir in Singing "Great Balls of Fire"
5:00 PM – UFO Abduction Survival – Joe Biden
5:15 PM -- Ceremonial Abortion Performed by Planned Parenthood
5:30 PM – Eliot Spitzer Speaks on "Family Values" via Satellite
5:45 PM – Tribute to All 57 States
6:00 PM – Joe Biden Delivers 100,000-Word Speech Featuring  a 23-Minute Question and
2-Hour Answer
8:30 PM – Airing of Grievances by the Clintons
9:00 PM – Bill Clinton Delivers Rousing Endorsement of Obama Girl
9:15 PM – Tribute Film to Freedom Fighters at Gitmo – Michael Moore
9:45 PM – Personal Finance Seminar - Charlie Rangel
10:00 PM – Denunciation of Bitter Gun Owners
10:30 PM – Ceremonial Waving of White Flag for IRAQ & Afghanistan
11:00 PM – Obama Energy Plan Symposium/Tire Gauge Demonstration
11:15 PM – Free Gov. Blagojevich rally
11:30 PM – Obama Accepts Tony and Latin Grammy Awards
11:45 PM – Feeding of the Delegates with 5 Loaves and 2 Fish – Obama Presiding
12:00 AM – Official Nomination of Obama by Bill Maher
12:01 AM – Obama Accepts Nomination for Lord and Savior
12:05 AM – Celestial Choirs Sing
3:00 AM – Biden Delivers Acceptance Speech

Morning/Mourning in America

In 1984 Ronald Reagan ran for re-election against Jimmy Carter's Vice President, Walter Mondale.  President Reagan restored America's horrendous economy to great prosperity.  He improved our strength and standing in the world.  He made us all proud to be Americans once again.  Reagan won reelection in a landslide and took 49 of 50 states in doing so, losing only Mondale's home state of Minnesota.

Now, in 2012, we have seemingly returned to the Carter years in many of the worst aspects of it.  Our true unemployment figures have been in double digits for nearly all of President Obama's first term.  People are afraid.  Our businesses and economy are in shambles.  We face ever greater dangers in the world, and seemingly turn a blind eye to them.  We have become a divided people and many folks are no longer proud to be an American, with the possible exception of Michelle Obama who famously stated that "for the first time in her life", she was "proud to be an American".

Now, Mr. Romney is not Ronald Reagan, and he certainly is not the candidate that many conservatives had hoped would be the eventual Republican nominee for president.  That said, he is a good and decent man.  He is a man that will strengthen our country both economically and in its standing throughout the world. 

Once again, we have a pivotal choice.  We can elect a man that actually will follow the Constitution and has a real plan for restoring America, or we can continue on the path of certain bankruptcy... both morally and economically... by re-electing President Obama.  Come November 7th, will there once again be hope and morning in America?  Or will we end this great 236-year experiment in freedom and have mourning in America?  It is truly a sad statement that the question must even be asked this close to the election.  I fervently pray that America will wake up and that Obama and his hyper-progressivism will be thoroughly rejected this November, just like Mondale was back in November of 1984.



Melinda Gates and Her Misplaced Philanthropy

I came across this amazing letter at Catholic Online that was written so beautifully and with great eloquence by a 32 year old Nigerian woman named Obianuju Ekeocha.  For the last six years Ms. Ekeocha has been living and working as a biomedical scientist in Canterbury, England.  Ms. Ekeocha has many friends and family still living in her native Nigeria and was inspired to write her open letter when she learned that Melinda Gates was planning on giving $4.6 billion dollars’ worth of contraceptive devices and drugs to some of the poorest countries in the world, including Ms. Ekeocha’s native homeland.  It is Ms. Ekeocha’s fervent hope that Melinda Gates will hear her "as the voice of the African woman" and reconsider how she would be better able to help the people there.  It is my hope and prayer too.  Her letter follows :

 ************

Growing up in a remote town in Africa, I have always known that a new life is welcomed with much mirth and joy. In fact we have a special "clarion" call (or song) in our village reserved for births and another special one for marriages.

The first day of every baby's life is celebrated by the entire village with dancing (real dancing!) and clapping and singing - a sort of "Gloria in excelsis Deo."

All I can say with certainty is that we, as a society, LOVE and welcome babies.

With all the challenges and difficulties of Africa, people complain and lament their problems openly. I have grown up in this environment and I have heard women (just as much as men) complain about all sorts of things. But I have NEVER heard a woman complain about her baby (born or unborn).

Even with substandard medical care in most places, women are valiant in pregnancy. And once the baby arrives, they gracefully and heroically rise into the maternal mode.

I trained and worked for almost five years in a medical setting in Africa, yet I never heard of the clinical term "postpartum depression" until I came to live in Europe. I never heard it because I never experienced or witnessed it, even with the relatively high birth rate around me. (I would estimate that I had at least one family member or close friend give birth every single month. So I saw at least 12 babies born in my life every year.) 

Amidst all our African afflictions and difficulties, amidst all the socioeconomic and political instabilities, our babies are always a firm symbol of hope, a promise of life, a reason to strive for the legacy of a bright future.

So a few weeks ago I stumbled upon the plan and promise of Melinda Gates to implant the seeds of her "legacy" in 69 of the poorest countries in the world (most of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa).

Her pledge is to collect pledges for almost $5 billion in order to ensure that the African woman is less fertile, less encumbered and, yes, she says, more "liberated." With her incredible wealth she wants to replace the legacy of an African woman (which is her child with the legacy of "child-free sex." 

Many of the 69 targeted countries are Catholic countries with millions of Catholic women of child-bearing age.  These Catholic women have been rightly taught by the Church that the contraceptive drug and device is inherently divisive.

Unlike what we see in the developed Western world, there is actually very high compliance with Pope Paul VI's "Humanae Vitae." For these African women, in all humility, have heard, understood and accepted the precious words of the prophetic pope. Funny how people with a much lower literacy level could clearly understand that which the average Vogue- and Cosmo-reading-high-class woman has refused to understand. I guess humility makes all the difference.

With most African women faithfully practicing and adhering to a faith (mainly Christian or in some cases Muslim), there is a high regard for sex in society, especially among the women. Sex is sacred and private.

The moment these huge amounts of contraceptive drugs and devices are injected into the roots of our society, they will undoubtedly start to erode and poison the moral sexual ethics that have been woven into our societal DNA by our faith, not unlike the erosion that befell the Western world after the 1930 Lambeth conference!  In one fell swoop and one "clean" slice, the faithful could be severed from their professed faith.

Both the frontline healthcare worker dispensing Melinda's legacy gift and the women fettered and shackled by this gift, would be separated from their religious beliefs. They would be put in a precarious position to defy their faith - all for "safe sex."

Even at a glance, anyone could see that the unlimited and easy availability of contraceptives in Africa would surely increase infidelity and sexual promiscuity as sex is presented by this multi-billion dollar project as a casual pleasure sport that can indeed come with no strings - or babies - attached. Think of the exponential spread of HIV and other STDs as men and women with abundant access to contraceptives take up multiple, concurrent sex partners.

And of course there are bound to be inconsistencies and failures in the use of these drugs and devices, so health complications could result; one of which is unintended abortion. Add also other health risks such as cancer, blood clots, etc. Where Europe and America have their well-oiled health care system, a woman in Africa with a contraception-induced blood clot does not have access to 911 or an ambulance or a paramedic. No, she dies.

And what about disposal of the medical waste? Despite advanced sewage disposal in the First-world countries, we hear that aquatic life there is still adversely affected by drugs in the system. In Africa, be rest assured that both in the biggest cities and smaller rural villages, sewage constitutes a real problem. So as $4.6 billion worth of drugs, IUDs and condoms get used, they will need safe disposal. Can someone please show us how and where will that be? On our farm lands where we get all our food? In our streams and rivers from whence comes our drinking water?

I see this $4.6 billion buying us misery. I see it buying us unfaithful husbands. I see it buying us streets devoid of the innocent chatter of children. I see it buying us disease and untimely death. I see it buying us a retirement without the tender loving care of our children.

Please Melinda, listen to the heart-felt cry of an African woman and mercifully channel your funds to pay for what we REALLY need.

We need:

- Good healthcare systems (especially prenatal, neonatal and pediatric care).

Needless to say that postpartum and neonatal deaths are alarmingly high in many Sub-Saharan African countries. This is due to the paucity of specialized medical personnel, equipment and systems. Women are not dying because they are having "too many" babies but because they are not getting even the most basic postpartum care. A childbirth or labor complication can very easily be fatal, for both mother and baby. To alleviate this problem new, well-equipped and well-staffed birthing centers with neonatal units need to be built in easily accessible parts of the poorest communities. And if Melinda Gates really insists on reducing population, she can have highly trained Natural Family Planning (NFP) instructors strategically placed in these women's healthcare facilities.  At least then there would be a natural and holistic approach.

- Food programs for young children.

This would serve a two-fold purpose if it is incorporated into free or highly subsidized nursery school programs. It would nourish and strengthen the growth of these children, who are so, so vulnerable to malnutrition, and it would also serve to encourage parents to bring their youngsters, ages 3 or 4, to nursery school. In so many parts of Africa, children miss out on nursery school education because it is expensive and considered a luxury reserved for the rich and middle class. As a result, the children miss the first few crucial years when basic math and reading are easily learned.  By the time they are considered "ready" for school, at age 7 or 8, they struggle academically. Many of them never quite catch up and so drop out after six or seven years. This is when a lot of young girls are married off as mid- to late-teenage wives who unfortunately would become the perfect recipient of the Melinda Gates comprehensive contraceptive care!

- Good higher education opportunities

Not just new school buildings or books, but carefully laid out educational programs that work - scholarships, internships at higher levels, etc. - are needed. Despite the problems and obstacles to primary and secondary education, a significant number of young girls make it into universities, polytechnics or colleges. The problem however is that, most of the schools and resources are substandard and outdated. As such, the quality of higher education is low and cannot compare to that of more privileged countries. Even though the teachers put in their very best and the students work hard, the system is inadequate and will always produce disadvantaged graduates who are not confident enough to stand with their counterparts who have studied in other parts of the world.

 - Chastity programs

Such programs in secondary schools, universities and churches would create a solid support system to form, inform and reassure our young girls and women that real love is that which is healthy and holy. Many African girls are no longer sure about moral sexual ethics thanks to the widespread influence of Western media, movies and magazines. More support should be given to programs that encourage abstinence before marriage and fidelity in marriage. This approach would go a long way to combating the spread of HIV and other STDs through the continent. And it would certainly lead to happier marriages!

- Support for micro-business opportunities for women

 The average African women is incredibly happy, hard-working and resilient. Any support both economic and through training would most probably be used well and wisely.

 - Fortify already established NGOs that are aimed at protecting women from sex-trafficking, prostitution, forced marriage, child labor, domestic violence, sex crimes, etc.

 Many of these NGOs do not have much success because they are not well-funded. Though most of them have good intentions, they lack professional input from those such as psychologists, logisticians or medical personnel needed to tackle various problems.

$4.6 billion dollars can indeed be your legacy to Africa and other poor parts of the world. But let it be a legacy that leads life, love and laughter into the world in need.

********

May Mrs. Gates truly hear and be moved by Obianuju Ekeocha's letter so that she will help with her well-intentioned philanthropy where it is truly needed the most, and not in a manner that will degrade families, societies, and life for these faithful people in some of the world's poorest nations.

What Progressives Have Wrought for the Economy

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  With that in mind, I thought I would share a few pictures, charts, and graphs that illustrate perfectly what a disastrous job President Obama and the progressives in congress have done with their "help" of our economy.   

With all of this highly relevant data, it seems fairly  obvious that re-electing Obama and the Democrats is not the solution to our economic problems.  And it doesn't take anywhere near a thousand words to come up with that painfully apparent conclusion.

An Observation from Archbishop Chaput

We live in a culture where our marketers and entertainment media compulsively mislead us about the sustainability of youth; the indignity of old age; the avoidance of suffering; the denial of death; the nature of real beauty; the impermanence of every human love; the oppressiveness of children and family; the silliness of virtue; and the cynicism of religious faith. It’s a culture of fantasy, selfishness, sexual confusion and illness that we’ve brought upon ourselves. And we’ve done it by misusing the freedom that other — and greater — generations than our own worked for, bled for and bequeathed to our safe-keeping. 

~ Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia from “A Thread for Weaving Joy” 

A Taxing and De-"Grading" Issue

It would seem that a coalition of rabid Democrats, partisan leftists, Euro-style socialists, uber-progressives, and assorted American Marxists have all devised a brilliant plan to distract the American people’s attention and thus help their inept would-be champion, Barack Obama,  gain re-election.  You see, Obama was swept into office on the magnificent-sounding themes of “hope and change”.  What we have since discovered over the course of these last 3 ½ years though is that the magnificence promised in restoring the economy, strengthening friendships throughout the world, and even healing the earth are nothing more than empty rhetoric.  In other words, despite assurances to the contrary that if only we would pass the gargantuan stimulus package, we would see unemployment not rise above 8%. It has not been below 8% since. Obama’s policies would see jobs return, the housing market rebound, and the world overall transformed to a safer place.  Fast forward to the end of Obama’s first (and hopefully only) term and by any objective standard, President Obama’s stewardship has proven to be an utter failure.  So what is one to do when one cannot run on the ruin and destruction of one’s own record?  Well, unleash your surrogates to launch a scorched earth campaign against your opponent, of course.  If you look horrible on paper, make the other guy look even worse… even if you have to lie and fabricate non-existent issues to do so.  It is a Chicago thing, you see.

Enter the progressive coalition and their despicable and mendacious poster-boy Harry Reid.  They must distract the American people from noticing the complete failure of Obama’s executive administration if he is to stand a chance at re-election.  How best to do that is to manufacture a seemingly slanderous scandal regarding Mitt Romney and his income taxes.  The left wants to know why Romney won’t release more than two years of his past income taxes if he has nothing to hide; never mind the fact that this is all that is legally required when running for office.   In the attempt to create even the appearance of possible malfeasance on Romney’s behalf, they bemoan the fact that Romney refuses to even acknowledge their sincere requests.  Now there are plenty of legitimate issues to criticize Romney on without having to create one as foolish as this.  But, the left is desperate it would seem.

Unfortunately, despite the mendacity of the plan by the left, it is probably smart politics nonetheless.  Why even the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid came out and said that some “un-named source” that worked with Romney in the past had told Prince Harry that the reason Romney won’t release the whole last decade of his tax records is because he didn’t pay taxes for most of those years.  Of course there is no proof whatsoever… not even the name of the source to verify the veracity of it.  But that didn’t stop Harry Reid, who even had the gumption to take these unsubstantiated, un-sourced, and exceptionally-unlikely and untrue allegations and pontificate for all of the world and MSNBC to report while he was on the Senate floor.  (Side note: Harry Reid refuses to release the last decade of his taxes too, but when asked about the glaring hypocrisy, he stated that he wasn’t running for president.)

So what is poor Mitt to do? 

I think I have a solution for him. 

You see, President Obama has sealed all of his college records and transcripts so that they would not be made public.  A reasonable explanation for this has never been given by Obama.  If Obama’s grades were good and reflected his supposed brilliance, why would he not want to release them for all of America and the world to see?  If his grades were bad, why would he not release those anyway?  After all, he is President of the United States of America now and the grades he had from nearly thirty years ago are pretty much irrelevant to his job today.  Besides, Al Gore, John Kerry, and George W. Bush all were “C” students, so if he had mediocre or poor grades, he wouldn’t be without company.  But, Obama doesn’t put this issue to rest.  One has to wonder why?  What does he have to lose by disclosing those records to the public?  What is President Obama trying to hide?

I read an interesting hypothesis on this the other day that was put forth by the former Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee, Wayne Root. 

First, Mr. Root just happened to go to Columbia University and was a supposed class mate of Barack Obama (or Barry Soetoro as he was then-known).  They both were from the class of 1983.  The only problem is that Mr. Root never met Obama in all of his years there.  In fact, he never even heard of him.  Further, the Wall Street Journal reported that an investigation was done that included the calling of 400 Columbia classmates at random in 2008 and did not find one of them that had ever met Barack Obama.   Mr. Root was even a Pre-law and Political Science major, just like Obama, and yet had never heard of him.  So Mr. Root’s theory is this:

A) He (Obama) rarely ever attended class.

B) His grades were not those typical of what we understand it takes to get into Harvard Law School.

C) He attended Columbia as a foreign exchange student.

D) He paid little for either undergraduate college or Harvard Law School because of foreign aid scholarships given to a poor foreign students like this kid Barry Soetoro from Indonesia.

 

Now I don’t necessarily buy this hypothesis, but it certainly does offer a plausible explanation for Obama’s reticence in exposing his college records.  Further, if Harry Reid can go and make completely unsubstantiated charges out of thin air with no proof whatsoever, then why can’t a classmate with the same major as Obama who never met the guy in all of his years at Columbia raise legitimate questions and go on a similar fishing expedition?

So back to Romney and the solution to his problem with the leftist coalition.  Romney needs to call Obama and the left’s bluff.  Romney should immediately call a full press conference and issue a statement to the nation and to Obama.  He should say that he will disclose the rest of his tax records for the preceding decade if Obama will release all of his college records.  After all, what could be so horrible in Obama’s records that he is so afraid to show them to the American people?  And if indeed there is something that bad, then perhaps it would be a good idea for America to know about it.  I think it is safe to say that not another word from Obama and the leftist coalition will be uttered regarding Romney’s tax records.  And in the unlikely case that they continue to harp on this, then Romney will have managed to jujitsu his way out of it and thus put Obama on defense instead of offense.  Like Romney told Harry Reid early on in the non-existent scandal, Obama will have to “put up, or shut up”.

Defending the Faith

I am annoyed.  It seems that I keep finding conversations, blog posts, Facebook comments, news stories, political pundit diatribes, and most alarmingly even devout members of my own faith who are manipulating Christianity to fit in with their personal viewpoints and agendas lately.  (Disclaimer:  I have been guilty of this in the past too, largely due to my own ignorance.)

I am sorry to have to tell all of you good folks, and indeed many of you are wonderful and loving people, but you are NOT the arbiter of the Christian faith.  You cannot dictate what the tenets of Christianity are.  You cannot modify Christian doctrine or eliminate those parts that are inconvenient to your way of thinking, or to justify your lifestyle.  You cannot re-interpret or modify what Christ and His Apostles meant because it will make for a stronger point in an argument for you.  You cannot decide which parts of the moral law or catechism are no longer relevant. 

If you are Catholic, you cannot modify the Nicene Creed to meet your new enlightened world view.  If you are Protestant, you cannot personally interpret scripture to tell us what you are certain Christ really meant.  If you are a secularist, you cannot morph Jesus into some less than Divine, but still all-around-good-guy-philosopher-new-age guru and still call it Christianity.

You simply do not have that right or authority.

And neither do I.

It was Christ himself, the second person of the Holy Trinity, that established His church on earth.  Christ was the one who taught what the tenets of the faith were in His culmination and fulfillment of Jewish Old Testament prophecies.  It was our Lord Christ who bequeathed the power and authority to His apostles to keep and teach that Christian faith that He established.  Indeed, in the Gospel of Matthew, Christ emphatically stated to his apostle Peter the following:

“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."  -Matthew 16: 18-19

Christianity is a revealed religion.  It has been handed down from Christ to Peter and His apostles in an unbroken line of apostolic succession of popes over these last two millennia.  The authentic Christian faith is not open to interpretation.  Not by Arius, Luther, or Smith, and certainly not by politicians such as Obama, Bush, Romney, or Pelosi.

One has to either accept, or reject, the full Deposit of Faith as handed down from Christ through his apostles and their successors.  If that is not satisfactory, you may start your own church based on your own interpretations and beliefs, but don’t assume that it is also an authentic Christian church.

Now that is not to say that there aren’t many churches which do wonderful good deeds and have very loving and holy people within their congregations that try very hard to live their lives and faith as they THINK Christ would want them to do.  The problem is that often times these “Christian churches” practice their faith based on the erroneous interpretation of some pastor instead of what Christ actually revealed to us.

It is not for ANY of us to interpret what Christ meant.  That authority was given from God in the person of Christ to the very first pope, Peter.  That authority was given to His church in its Magisterium.  In other words, that authority to bind and loose and teach what Christ revealed to us lies with our current Pope Benedict XVI and his bishops.  This teaching authority of what constitutes Christianity resides within the Magisterium of the Church that Christ established on earth.  That authority does not reside with ANYONE ELSE, and it certainly doesn’t reside with me.   

The Magisterium, guided by the Holy Spirit, protects the Deposit of Faith from any deviation, addition, subtraction, reversal, contradiction, distortion, or destruction offered by those who wish Church teaching to be something it is not.   Again, not even the gates of the netherworld will prevail against Christ’s own Church.  The Holy Spirit will defend God’s Church and its teachings accordingly. 

When told something about Christianity by a well-meaning person, or sadly sometimes by a not-so-well-meaning person, that happens to be contradictory to what Christ has taught, it is incumbent upon Christians to politely but firmly point out the truth.  Truth about Christianity is not open to their interpretation or my interpretation of the faith, but rather it must come ultimately from Christ himself.  To make sure that we follow His truth, logic would suggest that we follow what His Magisterium teaches on his behalf.  Relying on any other person, no matter how well-meaning or holy, will only lead us astray accordingly.