Day Two of Forty Days for Freedom

This clip is important whether or not one political. In fact, I don't see any difference between the political and spiritual. The spiritual warfare we fight has been on the physical plain since the Garden and was consumated on the Cross. We battle powers and principalities who use wicked men and women to kill infants and the sick and elderly, who use wicked men and women to try to take from us our freedom to worship God in holiness and righteousness.

So I recommend this clip and if you feel so moved, join us in Washington, DC this Thursday, Nov. 5th at noon. Wouldn't it be awesome if a group of us descended on the Capitol and prayed for our nation and for ourselves, that we might cherish the gift that God has given us, that He might heal us. If I'm well enough, I'll be there.

Day One of Forty Days

It is my intent to post each day for the next forty days. Today, I have been writing a post on prayer but can't get it ready before the end of the day. I may not like the feel of it but I must obey reality as much as everyone else. My joints aren't at all happy and I am terribly, terribly tired. God tends to take as He please from me, so perhaps this is the way He wants me to spend day one.*

Oh, and for those who haven't done so, I want to recommend my post on hope. Enduring, I'll stick with you no matter where you take me sort of hope is what we need.

Meanwhile know that I am praying and fasting and soon, resting for the remainder of the day. We'll see what tomorrow brings. God bless us all.

*It's certainly my pleasure and my honour that God does so. I belong to Him, what else would I want?

God Gave Us The Freedom to Laugh Too!

Just click and be joyful!

How Do We Even Begin to Decide Whom To Act As Our Representatives

So many Catholics and other Christians fail to interact in the public forum. But when power is vested in the citizens, the public forum is the primary place in which government occurs; we cannot expect a representative govenment to be responsive to us if we remain silent. And, we cannot expect a representative government to be responsive to us if we limit our interchange to those who are like us: those who belong to my faith, those who belong to my particular tradition within my faith. We can only keep the freedom to worship God if we actually participate across all levels of society. We must do real things in the real world such as speak our minds. The Internet is a powerful tool for doing so, if we know how to use it. So here's a question:

Poll: Would You Support Jim Demint for President if Nominated by the GOP in 2012?

Please vote based on what you know of Jim DeMint. If you don't know who Sen. DeMint is, here is his site site which includes videos of his speeches before the Senate and the press. Also, read his voting record (just scroll down). He's impressive on life issues and conservative issues in general.

Please click the link and vote yes or no. The poll is anonymous and is only being used amongst a few bloggers to determine the amount of support there is for Senator DeMint.

Fasting: Why Not Give Up A Food

After air and water, food is the first, most basic thing we need in order to survive. Most of us love it, and well we should. Jesus describes the Kingdom of Heaven as a feast. In the developed world, most of us do not understand the power the word feast conveys. But if you’ve ever been hungry, you do.

When I was a girl there were locks on the food cupboards and refrigerator. Eating food was a crime except when, what and in the amount my foster-father determined. Until I began working at the age of twelve, I was hungry most of the time. Having a sick digestive tract made it all the worse because I often vomited and so lost what I ate. The only snack I was offered was raw apples. I just happen to be one of those rare people who are allergic to raw apples, they cause me to have asthma attacks. But my foster-father didn’t believe in allergies, at least not for me, so I gave my apple to one of my foster brothers. Vomiting meant I should “rest my stomach” so I was given two saltine crackers and a cup of clear broth.

You must understand, when I say I was hungry, I don’t mean I was politely interested in food, I was terribly, terribly hungry with a swollen stomach and thin limbs. I was very underweight, couldn’t sleep, had headaches all the time, was anaemic. I tried to feed myself by making pancakes by adding water to the flour and salt that were left out in canisters on the counter – without butter or oil, they just stuck to the pan in lumps. On those rare occasions that the cookie jar was left on the counter, I’d try to take just one or two so there wouldn’t be a noticeable diminution but always found myself sneaking back and eating as many as I could – once or twice, nearly the entire jar.* A few times I found the pantry unlocked and was mesmerized by all the food. It was beautiful and I always spent a few moments just looking at it and smelling it. You’d be amazed at how wonderful a raw potato smells or how delicious a hard green banana can be. Once I ate an entire tin of tomato aspic because, for some reason, I thought it would be the least missed item. But finding a jar of cookies left on the counter or the pantry unlocked were rare so I usually ate dry dog food. It was the only food kept in an unlocked cupboard. When my foster-mother found some in my pocket, I told her I was using it to train the dog. I even created an advertising campaign in my mind: Crispy Treats! Packed with nutrition and flavour! I could never come up with a jingle though.

When I did begin working, I spent a good amount of what I earned on food for myself and my foster-siblings. There were many lunch and ice cream cone treats. I bought snacks. And I ate – sausages on a roll, pastrami sandwiches, Hostess pies and Snowballs, candy bars, avocados, corn chips, bananas – food, amazing food. And, after my foster-mother died, for a year or so, when I was Cinderella, I was given the keys to the food cupboard and expected to keep the food safe. It is only now that I have begun to realize how horrid that was. The cruelty of giving me keys to the food and expecting me to remain hungry and to allow my foster-siblings to go hungry is unspeakable. I had reason to loathe them, to despise them, but not to starve them, just to wish they’d go away and leave me alone.

There was always plenty of food. Each day, we’d watch my foster-father eat whatever he wanted. He’d regularly bring home donuts and cake and all sorts of goodies for himself and his wife. But only small amounts of them trickled down to us. After my foster mother died, there were times when my foster-father would leave on business trips without having done the marketing. There would be no food in the house and we didn’t know when he would return. But the lack wasn’t a lack of money. It was a failure to use his money to feed us. When he left us alone, my foster brothers stole food and eventually, so did I. I went shopping. Put food in the basket just as if I was making a regular shopping trip and then bagged it in an unwatched corner. After bagging, I’d push the cart to the back and ask to use the lavatory. The manager would graciously watch my groceries. I’d spend the time in the toilet begging God not to be caught. Then I’d come out, thank the manager and take my groceries home.

I tell you this bit from my childhood to stimulate your own elemental needs and longings for food. Food is beautiful. Very beautiful. So why not give some favourite bit of beautiful food up? Giving up food is the usual meaning of the concept of fasting. It would be foolish, with no preparation, to go on a juice or water fast. But what about giving up one favourite food? Coffee or orange juice or your morning muffin or dessert? Those who are sick should be very careful about giving up food. Instead, we can perhaps substitute some food that has the same nutrition for a food that we love or forego a treat we don’t need. (I’ve decided to freeze the huge slab of chocolate I got for my birthday – I can wait 40 days to finish eating it.)

So that’s my suggestion for today. Plan to give up a food. Doing so is a way of clearing a path within our selves for the Lord. We are so separated from our bodies – there are too many of us who live in fantastic worlds generated in our own minds, worlds with no connection with the real world God has made. Such are the people who would deprive us of freedom. But we aren’t deprived. We can choose to give up some food to help us make way for the kind of hunger that we need. Because we do need to be hungry – for freedom, the freedom God has provided us by giving us citizenship in this country, the freedom to worship Him in holiness and righteousness. We must be as hungry for freedom as the pilgrims, as our founding fathers, as Christ Himself: Didn’t he die for our freedom?

[I]f my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

* Please don’t think for one moment that I was a good little girl and ‘fessed up to my thefts. When the shout rang out, “Who ate all the cookies!” I kept my mouth closed and allowed one of my foster siblings to take the blame and the punishment.

40 Days For Freedom

At the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen from December 7 through December 18, a treaty will be offered, in which signatories cede their sovereignty to a world government, one that does not yet exist and for which we will have no vote. First, and remember this, this is the United States so President Obama's signature is not enough to cede sovereignty, the treaty must be ratified by two-thirds of both houses of Congress. So we won’t immediately find ourselves ruled by the U.N. But his signature would send the message that many Americans actually want world government, that many of us want to give up governing ourselves and be governed by U.N. committees that we aren’t allowed to elect.

We live in a republic. It’s not a democracy though we do have a representative form of government. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a republic as a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law. We hold the supreme power. We govern ourselves. Our elected officials and representatives serve us. We, ourselves, are responsible for our public lives (and private too) within the boundaries of the Constitution of the United States of America. Though Catholics (and other Christians) are taught to obey the state, what do we do when we are the state? The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us:

1915 As far as possible citizens should take an active part in public life. The manner of this participation may vary from one country or culture to another. "One must pay tribute to those nations whose systems permit the largest possible number of the citizens to take part in public life in a climate of genuine freedom."(1)

We live in the nation where “the largest possible number of the citizens [] take part in public life in a climate of genuine freedom.” That’s the gift God has given American citizens. And we are responsible to Him for what we do with this gift. We must decide whether we will be the light of the world, [a] city set on a hill or if we will set our light under a bushel. We must decide if we will let all see []our good works and give glory to []our Father who is in heaven. This is a Catholic issue. This is a Baptist issue. It is a Methodist and Evangelical and Non-denominational issue. This is a Christian issue. This is an issue of what we are in our very essence, creatures whose work is to glorify God.

We are in a time of great anxiety and fear: there is much corruption in both parties; we are governed by bullies and thugs, by the greedy and the selfish and the envious. In fact, the exceptions are those who humbly serve us. Along with the freedom God has given us comes the responsibility to act to address the fraud and corruption that “are incompatible with the requirements of justice.”(2) Corruption is not a party issue, it is a human issue, an issue of original sin. I believe many of us want to act but we don’t really know what to do. From this day, I pledge to make this blog a place that points out actions we can take. Often, they will be things I myself am doing. We all know I’m sick so if I can do it, then practically anyone else can too. Fallen Sparrow is also working on this project with me (3) and in fact suggested the first act.

And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry. (Matthew 4:2)

Let’s begin with a 40 Day Fast For Freedom. Let’s become hungry too. Hungry to do the jobs God has given us, to do the work for freedom. It’s quite simple: the United Nations Climate Change Conference begins on December 7. On October 30th, we begin 40 days of fasting, sacrifice and prayer for freedom. Our fast will culminate on December 8th, which Catholics and some other Christians celebrate as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. We might pray the Rosary, or the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, or the Lord's Prayer, pray extemporaneously, or just set aside a period of five or ten minutes each day to pray the Psalms: Psalm 127 comes to mind first. But also Psalms 23, 51, 54, 55 and 138 through 143 come to mind as particularly appropriate. People might come together in groups to pray (and groups are a powerful way to battle fear).

Fasting and sacrifice can be just as simple. For those same 40 days, give up a an hour of TV to read Scripture. Spend time writing or calling your Congressman and Senators (4) instead of going shopping. Give up a favourite food or beverage. Choose something simple to do or give up for the next 40 days. Follow our Lord into the desert so that we might each be prepared to do the job of preserving the freedom He has given us. Copy the people of Nineveh whom our Lord praised.(5) Let’s join together as a nation in prayer, sacrifice and fasting humbly begging God to grant us what we need to reclaim and preserve our freedom.

Let us make a special offering of ourselves, through prayer and sacrifice, on November 3rd, election day. Several important elections are taking place that day throughout the country: governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey, a special Congressional election in New York State, a gay marriage ballot question in Maine, and countless local and municipal elections nationwide. Pray that God's will and a spirit of freedom guide the electorate in those races.

We have been promised freedom. The freedom to worship God in holiness and righteousness. That’s why the pilgrims came to these shores, for the freedom to worship God in holiness and righteousness. That’s why we have the first amendment to the Constitution, that we might be free to worship God in holiness and righteousness. And we know, if we think about it for the merest second, most of the world does not have such freedom. Most of the world is constrained to worship God as their states dictate. Why would we trust those who do not even allow their own citizens the freedom to worship God in holiness and righteousness with imposing a world government on us? How foolish we would be to trade the freedom God has given us for the tyranny of the United Nations.

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people,
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies,
and from the hand of all who hate us;
to perform the mercy promised to our fathers,
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath which he swore to our father Abraham,
to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
through the tender mercy of our God,
when the day shall dawn upon us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace." (Luke 1:68-79)

(1) The Catechism of the Catholic Church
(2) Please make further suggestions for prayers in the comments box.
(3) Others, who would like to participate, please email me @ allisurdatgmaildotcom (replace the usual)
(4) You can find your representatives at: http://www.govtrack.us/
(5) Matthew 12:41

I figured out how to connect to Twitter!

Now, if I send any exciting tweets, they'll appear in the little window. Of course, my mundane tweets will appear there too but you'll just ignore those - right?

Refreshing Biblical Times

Every few years, I read the entire Bible as if it is one book. Beginning with Genesis, I continue on through Revelations. It is a practice I began when I was just five, before anyone taught me that I was supposed to understand what I read before I read it. Perhaps that first experience of reading something that I couldn't understand very well prepared me to ignore my teachers much of the time, which is what I usually did at least until I became a wise teenager. They didn't make much sense and most of them didn't seem to konw God (my litmus test for wisdom). I tried to take the knowledge they could impart and use it to go my own way - I wasn't an easy child.

I strongly reccomend reading the Bible in this fashion as well as studying particular books, reading the lessons in the Divine office, reading and rereading particular, perhaps favourite passages - as well as reading Scripture any way you normally would. One finds the Bible is exciting, more exciting than any novel. It's a history of God's relationship with His people. The Bible shows us so much about them and how they are just like us. It is filled with human beings who are as wicked as we are, as good as we are, significantly better than we are - we can see that we are God's people; He has chosen to continue the story in our lives. The Bible belongs to us and we would be wise to listen to what God is telling us through it.

I am a very fast reader and usually make it through the entire Bible in a month to six weeks. Because my illness affects memory, concentration and other cognitive functions, it will probably take me two years or more this time - I began sometime last year and am only now at Isaiah. That seems to be a blessing because my limited focus is on one chapter or less at each reading and new things jump out at me, old favourites reveal new depths. Isaiah is one of my all time favourite books. A portion of the chapter I read this morning seems quite timely so here it is. Read and be refreshed. May God bless all those who come here.

[12] "I, I am he that comforts you;
who are you that you are afraid of man who dies,
of the son of man who is made like grass,
[13] and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker,
who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth,
and fear continually all the day
because of the fury of the oppressor,
when he sets himself to destroy?
And where is the fury of the oppressor?
[14] He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;
he shall not die and go down to the Pit,
neither shall his bread fail.
[15] For I am the LORD your God,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar --
the LORD of hosts is his name.
[16] And I have put my words in your mouth,
and hid you in the shadow of my hand,
stretching out the heavens
and laying the foundations of the earth,
and saying to Zion, `You are my people.'"
[17] Rouse yourself, rouse yourself,
stand up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk at the hand of the LORD
the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
the bowl of staggering.
[18] There is none to guide her
among all the sons she has borne;
there is none to take her by the hand
among all the sons she has brought up.
[19] These two things have befallen you --
who will condole with you? --
devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
who will comfort you?
[20] Your sons have fainted,
they lie at the head of every street
like an antelope in a net;
they are full of the wrath of the LORD,
the rebuke of your God.
[21] Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
who are drunk, but not with wine:
[22] Thus says your Lord, the LORD,
your God who pleads the cause of his people:
"Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;
the bowl of my wrath
you shall drink no more;
[23] and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
who have said to you,
`Bow down, that we may pass over';
and you have made your back like the ground
and like the street for them to pass over." (Isaiah 51:12-23)

It's A Faith Issue

We average, ordinary Americans have been given a priceless gift, American citizenship. As part of that priceless gift, we average, ordinary American ciizens have been given the responsibility to govern ourselves. As a child in grammar school, I was taught that this country is a democracy. That is not true. We do have a democratic form of government but actually, we are citizens of a republic.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a republic as a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law. The supreme power rests with us. We elect our representatives and they are responsible to us which is rather difficult to take in: we've been taught to obey the state. But it turns out, we are the state. So whom do we obey? Well we haven't been left to do exactly as we please. Our republic is a nation of laws and most particulary, we live within the boundaries of the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution is another priceless gift.

To be good Christians, we must accept the gifts God has given us. And the responsibilities that go along with them. If we don't, we fail to accept God's gifts; if we will not rule ourselves, we will be ruled by men such as this one*:



Let us remember that God does not give gifts because we are worthy of them but rather because He loves us, rather for the glory of His name, so as to make us able to "declare [His] glory among the nations." We haven't been doing so well at that one either but I honestly believe if we will govern ourselves as our founding fathers conceived, we will begin to declare His glory.

As far as possible citizens should take an active part in public life. The manner of this participation may vary from one country or culture to another. "One must pay tribute to those nations whose systems permit the largest possible number of the citizens to take part in public life in a climate of genuine freedom."**

* Video of Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton
** The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Para. 1

more later

FCC Vote on Internet Freedom

I can't say it better (and I'm too tired to try):

Tomorrow, the FCC votes on "what it calls a "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" (NPRM) on Net Neutrality. In the event the NPRM passes, it will trigger a comment period in which the public will be allowed to file opinions.

"The Internet has become a powerful communications and economic force because it has been free from government interference. To make sure the power and promise of the Internet continues, we need to keep it free of government interference.

We oppose three basic threats to Internet Freedom:

- Taxes
- Regulations
- and any attempt by the United Nations to manage the Internet"

This concerns every one of us who uses the Internet. Please read this, sign the petition and follow the link (and try) to comment on the FCC's website. (I've tried all week and can never get through.) Thanks and God bless.

Why Wait for Copenhagen When You Can Do It At the G20

Praying and fasting and suffering don't let us off informing ourselves and exercizing our responsibilities as citizens of the United States. So watch this video and really take in what he is saying - at the G20 conference, Obama ceded the sovreignity over our economy to the IMF. If you don't understand the terminology, do the research, ask questions, invest some of your frittering away time on becoming an awake and aware citizen and on learning what all this means to us as Americans and as Catholics.

We Can't Let Them Pull A Fast One

Fallen Sparrow brought this post to my attention. It's worth reading the entire piece but here are some of the relevant excerpts:

At [the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in] Copenhagen, this December, weeks away, a treaty will be signed. Your president will sign it. Most of the third world countries will sign it, because they think they’re going to get money out of it. Most of the left-wing regime from the European Union will rubber stamp it. Virtually nobody won’t sign it.

I read that treaty. And what it says is this, that a world government is going to be created. The word “government” actually appears as the first of three purposes of the new entity. The second purpose is the transfer of wealth from the countries of the West to third world countries, in satisfication of what is called, coyly, “climate debt” – because we’ve been burning CO2 and they haven’t. We’ve been screwing up the climate and they haven’t. And the third purpose of this new entity, this government, is enforcement.

How many of you think that the word “election” or “democracy” or “vote” or “ballot” occurs anywhere in the 200 pages of that treaty? Quite right, it doesn’t appear once. So, at last, the communists who piled out of the Berlin Wall and into the environmental movement, who took over Greenpeace so that my friends who funded it left within a year, because [the communists] captured it – Now the apotheosis as at hand. They are about to impose a communist world government on the world. You have a president who has very strong sympathies with that point of view. He’s going to sign it. He’ll sign anything. He’s a Nobel Peace Prize [winner]; of course he’ll sign it.

[laughter]

And the trouble is this; if that treaty is signed, if your Constitution says that it takes precedence over your Constitution (sic), and you can’t resign from that treaty unless you get agreement from all the other state parties – And because you’ll be the biggest paying country, they’re not going to let you out of it.

So, thank you, America. You were the beacon of freedom to the world. It is a privilege merely to stand on this soil of freedom while it is still free. But, in the next few weeks, unless you stop it, your president will sign your freedom, your democracy, and your humanity away forever. And neither you nor any subsequent government you may elect will have any power whatsoever to take it back. That is how serious it is. I’ve read the treaty. I’ve seen this stuff about [world] government and climate debt and enforcement. They are going to do this to you whether you like it or not.

But I think it is here, here in your great nation, which I so love and I so admire – it is here that perhaps, at this eleventh hour, at the fifty-ninth minute and fifty-ninth second, you will rise up and you will stop your president from signing that dreadful treaty, that purposeless treaty. For there is no problem with climate and, even if there were, an economic treaty does nothing to [help] it.

So I end by saying to you the words that Winston Churchill addressed to your president in the darkest hour before the dawn of freedom in the Second World War. He quoted from your great poet Longfellow:

Sail on, O Ship of State!
Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!

Also:

Lord Monckton received a standing ovation and took a series of questions from members of the audience. Among those questions were these relevent to the forthcoming Copenhagen treaty:

Question: The current administration and the Democratic majority in Congress has shown little regard for the will of the people. They’re trying to pass a serious government agenda, and serious taxation and burdens on future generations. And there seems to be little to stop them. How do you propose we stop Obama from doing this, because I see no way to stop him from signing anything in Copenhagen. I believe that’s his agenda and he’ll do it.

I don’t minimize the difficulty. But on this subject – I don’t really do politics, because it’s not right. In the end, your politics is for you. The correct procedure is for you to get onto your representatives, both in the US Senate where the bill has yet to go through (you can try and stop that) and in [the House], and get them to demand their right of audience (which they all have) with the president and tell him about this treaty. There are many very powerful people in this room, wealthy people, influential people. Get onto the media, tell them about this treaty. If they go to www.wattsupwiththat.com, they will find (if they look carefully enough) a copy of that treaty, because I arranged for it to be posted there not so long ago. Let them read it, and let the press tell the people that their democracy is about to be taken away for no good purpose, at least [with] no scientific basis [in reference to climate change]. Tell the press to say this. Tell the press to say that, even if there is a problem [with climate change], you don’t want your democracy taken away. It really is as simple as that.

Do read the entire treaty. Here is a most relevant excerpt (I've left in their editorializing and emphasis since they're helpful):

38. The scheme for the new institutional arrangement under the Convention will be based on three basic pillars: government; facilitative mechanism; and financial mechanism, and the basic organization of which will include the following:

World Government (heading added)
a) The government will be ruled by the COP with the support of a new subsidiary body on adaptation, and of an Executive Board responsible for the management of the new funds and the related facilitative processes and bodies. The current Convention secretariat will operate as such, as appropriate.

To Redistribute Wealth (heading added)
b) The Convention’s financial mechanism will include a multilateral climate change fund including five windows: (a) an Adaptation window, (b) a Compensation window, to address loss and damage from climate change impacts [read: the "climate debt" Monckton refers to], including insurance, rehabilitation and compensatory components, (c) Technology window; (d) a Mitigation window; and (e) a REDD window, to support a multi-phases process for positive forest incentives relating to REDD actions.

With Enforcement Authority (heading added)
c) The Convention’s facilitative mechanism will include: (a) work programmes for adaptation and mitigation; (b) a long-term REDD process; (c) a short-term technology action plan; (d) an expert group on adaptation established by the subsidiary body on adaptation, and expert groups on mitigation, technologies and on monitoring, reporting and verification; and (e) an international registry for the monitoring, reporting and verification of compliance of emission reduction commitments, and the transfer of technical and financial resources from developed countries to developing countries. The secretariat will provide technical and administrative support, including a new centre for information exchange [read; enforcement].

We must do everything we can, more than we think we can to certain that this is not signed. We can and will cast off the evil and mischief that is being perpetrated by both parties in this country. And we must become vigilant so that it doesn't seep in again. But the evil that can be unleashed by a treaty that would deprive us of our sovreignity is unthinkable. This is truly scary stuff (and I don't scare easily). If you agree, start making a lot of noise. I've emailed and tweeted everyone I can think of. Please do the same. And don't stop. Make this the topic of conversation for as long as necessary. Let's make it clear that we refuse to become a party to any treaty on climate change without the full consent of the actual people of the United States of America.

We are not serfs. Our elected officials do not reign over us and take care of us since we're unable to care for ourselves. Neither are we blind. And we must not be silent. This climate change garbage has gone far enough. Let's pray, yes! And let's also use every talent God has given us, even if it's just a soft whisper, to do something about it!

Sometimes There's Only the Job

Today I found a new blog, Autographed Letter Signed. The piece, Sunday Soliloquy: Chicken Soup For The Motherless Daughter’s Soul, is so heartbreakingly lovely, it made me realize that I must write one of the posts that has been ruminating in my mind these past days.

There is so much I want to do. There are so many ways I want to participate in the great drama that God continues to unfold in our nation and our world. The time I spend in bed irritates me. Doing laundry on one day should not knock me out the next and the next. I should be able to go to a friend's birthday party and then get up and do something, anything, the next day. I want to be stronger than I am and I really haven't understood why I am so overwhelmingly fatigued. Then last Monday my doctor (who is really a wonderful doctor and among my favourite people) took a look at my bloodwork and said, "Hmm. Your kidneys are only functioning at 60%."

I am rather stupid about these things particularly since I decided to stop searching the internet for every word on every report. I have no way to put all that information in context and reading Lancet* is really no help. So he explained to me that kidneys are supposed to function at 90% or better and 60% wasn't good. He did tell me that they wouldn't think of rushing me to hospital until functioning was down to 20% but I was a bit preoccupied with that 60%. He instructed me to tell my rheumatologist that I have kidney disease associated with autoimmune disease.

I don't know if the disease can be treated, if functioning can be restored. (Well it can - but you know what I mean.) And of course, the internet is still no help. This kind of kidney problem is the most difficult to treat but who, besides a doctor, knows what that means. My rheumatologist will have all the information this week and hopefully, she will have more answers.

But I do understand why I am so much weaker, so overwhelmingly fatigued. Right now, my primary job is to be ill and so I shall do the best job I can. And when I can type out a few coherent paragraphs or twitter 140 characters that make sense, I shall.

To do the job, that's enough. I needn't define it - I can't define it. But when it presents itself, when it stares you in the face, when you know this is the job I must do, the only thing is to do it. And to be grateful that God trusts us so much. And maybe He'll have a different job for me next month.

*I think I have previously intimated my nerdiness. I understand a subscription to Lancet is absolute proof.

** Two friends have already offered me kidneys which is just so absolutely lovely but let's still hope I don't need them.

Important Thing To Do With Frittering Away Money

This is important. Money that we might fritter away on stuff we don't even recall buying would be well spent on helping Belmont Abbey College. And, the repercussions could be great - we could help stop such attacks or at least slow them down; we could help limit the evil that would just love to take over every life in this country. God bless.

from: Rick Santorum
ricksantorum@becketfund.org

Re: Defending Belmont Abbey College

The Obama Administration is working to erase respect for conscience from health insurance and the law in general…

… Don’t believe me?

In his address at the University of Notre Dame, Obama talked a good game about respecting conscience on abortion rights. He did the same thing when he met the Pope. But that was all it was -- talk.

The Obama Administration’s attack on Belmont Abbey College proves that.

Belmont Abbey College is a small, private, Catholic college located in North Carolina. For 130 years, it and the Benedictine monks who run it have been dedicated to handing on the Catholic faith.

But the Obama Administration is now trying to force them to abandon that faith or go out of business.

You see, the Administration at Belmont Abbey College removed contraception, abortion, and voluntary sterilization from its faculty's health care policy after discovering it had accidentally been a part of existing plans.

Employees of the school who objected to this change in policy brought a complaint against the school accusing them of “gender discrimination.”

This accusation against Belmont Abbey College couldn’t be further from the truth.

Belmont Abbey College was not discriminating against women. Unlike many “believers in name only” the college was adhering to the principles of its faith.

At first, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) found no evidence of gender discrimination by Belmont Abbey College…..

After a few weeks, the EEOC mysteriously reversed course and announced, in effect, that the college had better toe the Administration’s line, or else.

They are now demanding the school go against the very principles it exists to serve.

Don’t be fooled.

Killing or funding the killing of unborn children has nothing to do with promoting human health. And including these atrocities in every “health care” plan -- no matter how shrewdly hidden or diplomatically stated – violates the consciences of Catholics everywhere.
No Catholic college or other religious institution should ever be required by the government to violate its moral beliefs ...

... Which is why I’m asking for your help today.

Your immediate support for the defense of Belmont Abbey College is VITAL, not only for Belmont Abbey, but for all religious institutions in America.

Too many were silent when Obama went to Notre Dame. As a result his Administration has been emboldened to attack all Catholic institutions. Now, they are shamelessly picking on a small Catholic college – Belmont Abbey.

Tomorrow it could be your local church, the parochial school you send your kids to, it could be the Jesus bumper sticker on your car…

If Obama is given the opportunity to attack even the oldest and most respected religious establishments across the country, what will be next?

The President of Belmont Abbey College has bravely stated that he would rather close the school than go against the church’s most fundamental teachings ...

I commend him for his moral conviction, but I’m afraid for the future of religious freedom in our country.

… Think I’m overreacting?

The impact of even one Catholic college knuckling under or closing would be a catastrophe for all religious institutions.

Which is why I am asking for your help.

Will you stand with me against the Obama Administration’s war on conscience?

Luckily, the Belmont Abbey College has enlisted the help of a law firm that specializes in defending against this type of travesty. It’s called the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

The Becket Fund has a solid reputation for being the best in the business.

I know first hand how effective the Becket Fund is in preserving our freedom of religion. I’ve known them for years.

Way back in the Clinton Administration when Clinton threatened to court-martial military chaplains who followed their consciences by preaching against Clinton’s veto of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, it was the Becket Fund that filed suit in federal court and got that gag order struck down.

And just this past week, when the Freedom from Religion Foundation sued to strike “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance, it was the Becket Fund that intervened in the case and successfully defended the Pledge.

In between they have successfully defended all sorts of believers and religious institutions.

Archbishop Chaput knows them well too. As he likes to say, “The work of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is more than ‘good.’ It’s vital.”

By contributing to the Becket Fund, you can directly support religious freedom — for Belmont Abbey — and every other religious school or institution in the country.

Make no mistake, this will not be easy. The Obama Administration is relentless about silencing religious believers.

Will you do me a personal favor, in the name of religious freedom, and contribute – today -- to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty’s fight for Belmont Abbey College and for all other religious institutions?

Time is of the essence. Belmont Abbey College stands for the moral teachings and principles of the Catholic Church -- it stands for life.

... You and I simply cannot allow the radical leftists in this country to succeed in demanding Belmont Abbey College turn its back on the most basic and fundamental teachings of the church or else close.

Belmont Abbey President William Thierfelder recently said, "All of us need to have moral courage in today's world." He added. "We are so resolute in our commitment to the teachings of the Catholic Church that there is no possible way we would ever deviate from it, and if it came down to it ... we would close the school rather than give in ...”

.... Will you exercise your moral courage and help me defend Belmont Abbey College with an urgent and immediate contribution of $500, $250, $100, $35, or whatever you can afford, to prevent religious freedom from becoming a thing of the past?

I’m counting on you to act TODAY!



God Bless,

Hon. Rick Santorum
United State Senator 1995-2007

P.S. I’m tired of hearing outsiders and insiders tell Catholics and other devout religious believers to keep quiet about our religious and moral views in society. That's a kind of bullying. And I don't think Catholics or persons of any faith should accept it.... For the sake and the right of religious liberty for all, I urge you to contribute to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and support the Belmont Abbey College, TODAY!