sunday funnies

catholic hierarchy needs to take a hike regarding issues of morality

My blood is still boiling over the fact that the Catholic Bishops were invited into Speaker Pelosi’s office to craft language that would take away women’s access to abortion in what should now be called the health care NON-REFORM bill.

The call came in from Rome, just as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her top lieutenants were scrambling to round up scarce votes to pass their sweeping health overhaul.

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, was on the line for Pelosi, calling to discuss adding strict abortion restrictions to the House bill. [...]

It was Stupak who told Pelosi last Friday that if she wanted a deal on the health bill, she’d be well advised to invite the bishops’ staff, who were already in his office, to her table. “I said, ‘Well, they’re here, and they’re one of the key groups you want to have on your side, so why don’t we just bring them in and work this out,” Stupak said.

Pelosi did, and the result was a final measure that — much to the outrage of abortion rights supporters — bars a new government-run insurance plan from covering abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or the life of the mother being in danger, and prohibits any health plan that receives federal subsidies in a new insurance marketplace from offering abortion coverage. If women wanted to purchase abortion coverage through such plans, they’d have to buy it separately, as a so-called rider on their insurance policies.

This is completely outrageous. No ONE religious group should have this much power in shaping public policy.

Who could have predicted that progressives would have more to fear under Democrat leadership, than we did when Republicans were in power. This is just unconscionable.

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., a prominent abortion rights supporter who spearheaded the call for talks with Obama and has gathered the signatures of more than 40 representatives who refuse to back a health bill that contains the restrictions, said the bishops had been allowed to overstep their bounds.

“No one group should get to dictate the outcome of legislation in Congress,” DeGette said. “Every group should be listened to, but I don’t think one group should be given veto authority over what we do.”

As if that weren’t enough, the Catholic Church has given Washington, DC an ultimatum:

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn’t change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.

File this under WTF?

I say let them quit! AND, the government should take away all the funding IT provides to Catholic Charities.

Catholic Charities, the church’s social services arm, is one of dozens of nonprofit organizations that partner with the District. It serves 68,000 people in the city, including the one-third of Washington’s homeless people who go to city-owned shelters managed by the church. City leaders said the church is not the dominant provider of any particular social service, but the church pointed out that it supplements funding for city programs with $10 million from its own coffers.

Let them pay for the buildings and provide the service on their own. Isn’t that part of their mission anyway?

It’s time our elected officials get a spine and tell the Catholic Hierarchy to take a hike! They lost their moral authority years ago with the disclosure of pedophile priests who were protected by the Church.

more violence against women

If these men are so damned unhappy why don’t they just kill themselves and be done with it!! Why do they feel the need to take others with them.

A woman was killed and two of her co-workers were injured when the woman’s estranged husband opened fire Tuesday at a drug-testing laboratory in suburban Portland before turning the gun on himself, police said.

The woman who was killed was identified as Teresa Marie Beiser, 36, of Gladstone. Her husband, Robert James Beiser, 39, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Teresa Beiser worked at the Legacy MetroLab in an office park across from a strip mall in Tualatin (pronounced too-ALL-a-tin), about 13 miles south of Portland.

house passes health care non-reform for women

~click image to play video~

I am simply furious about this, and EVERYONE needs to be calling their Senators to DEMAND that no “Stupak-type” amendment is included in the Senate version of so-called health care reform.

And don’t think for a second that we can count on the president to help with this.

CALL NOW!!

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sunday funnies

This last cartoon might be more funny if women HAD equal rights in this country. The health care non-reform bill passed by the House last night is a disgrace. You MUST call your Senators and urge them to STAND UP FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS!

ps: Sorry for the late post — very busy weekend. Did get to see some of my favorite bloggers!

sunday funnies

baltimore woman first ‘U.N. citizen ambassador’ from U.S.

The Baltimore Sun reports:

The United States’ first and only United Nations Citizen Ambassador lives in an apartment above her father’s garage in Catonsville with a couple of Persian cats, a few sticks of furniture, cameras and several computers. She doesn’t have a car, so there’s no way to know if the customary diplomatic parking privileges will apply, nor do lavish cocktail parties appear to be in the offing.

Still, Emily Troutman cannot help seeing her new status as an opportunity to take her international pursuits to another level, and that is apparently reward enough.

“I have the ear of the U.N.,” said Troutman, one of five winners of the first and just-completed Citizen Ambassador video competition, and the only one in the United States.

For a few years now, Troutman – a graduate of Catonsville High School with a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Minnesota – has been traveling, taking pictures and blogging about her experiences. She drew on that experience to create a three-minute video in response to a U.N. call for submissions last month that took the form of a question: If you could speak to world leaders, what would you say?

U.N. public information officer Einat Temkin said the contest builds on the partnership the organization established with YouTube a year ago in an effort to “engage young people with the work of the U.N.” [...]

At 30, Troutman is the oldest of the five winners, who also include two men and two women from Canada, Mexico and Brazil. The five – whose videos were selected by a panel of six U.N. judges from 477 initial submissions – gathered at U.N. headquarters in New York last week to briefly meet Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and to attend the annual U.N. Day concert dedicated this year to the organization’s 115,000 peacekeepers.

As the Citizen Ambassador is a new creation, Troutman said the role is still being figured out.

“They’re hoping that we’re going to be able to spread the message” of global citizenship through online media, she said, adding that she hopes her success in this contest will expand her opportunities to travel. In the meantime, she plans to head back to the Congo in December, dismissing concerns about safety.

“It’s hard to go anywhere if you’re afraid,” she said.

Congratulations to Emily Troutman.

thank you for being a friend …

From The Advocate:

The estate of late actress Bea Arthur gave a top homeless youth service organization $300,000 for its operations.

Carl Siciliano, executive director of the Ali Forney Center in New York City, said his organization was “overwhelmed with gratitude that Bea saw that LGBT youth deserve as much love and support as any other young person and that she placed so much value in the work we do to protect them and to help them rebuild lives.”

The announcement comes after the center released details on a plan to establish a house to accommodate 12 homeless youths and name the building in Arthur’s honor.

The Ali Forney Center offers food, emergency housing, medical treatment, HIV testing, and educational training for as many as 1,000 young people annually.

Just one more reason why I continue to love Bea Arthur.

sunday funnies

republicans in congress