Anti-Catholic

Taking a break form my sad try at fixing the world to bring you this.

I like to read FoxNews.com. I no longer think of it as news but as propaganda. I do not mean that as a slight against Fox News. After all propaganda is just 'a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position.' I engage in the very same thing here.

I was reading this story: Conservative leaders demand apology from Huffington over anti-Catholic column they even wrote a letter about Letter to Arianna Huffington from Christian and conservative leaders.

The meat of the story is that some people are upset at the Huffington Post over this: The Jesus-Eating Cult of Rick Santorum found in the comedy selection of the Huffington Post.

While it is a comedy piece, the fact remains that it is all true. I do not understand as the 'conservative leaders' seem to how this is 'anti Catholic or bigoted' in anyway. It is after, all that was written about was what catholics and many Christians believe in. 

Catholics as do most Christian faiths believe in transubstantiation. Which basically says that in communion the bread that one eats is the body of Jesus and the wine is his blood. The real body and the real blood of Jesus. Even if the faiths says that they do not believe that the wine and bread is the real 'body'. They still praise it as the symbolic body of Jesus. 

Supporters of the claim that it is the actual body of Jesus point to John 6:35 in which Jesus says that he is 'the bread' and to 1st Corinthians 11:24 were at the last supper Jesus says as the faithful are eating the bread "This is my body" and as they are drinking the wine "This is my blood."

So calling Catholics "Jesus eaters" is not bigotry, it is a matter of faith. As the  the Council of Trent officially stated "by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood." This is official doctrine, Catholics do in fact believe that they are eating and drinking Jesus. While one may find it crude it is a true to say that Catholics believe that they eat Jesus. After all it was they officially say. 

Catholics, as well as most Christians, believe is that Jesus is God (while at the same time is the son of God) and that Jesus was "born of a woman" Galatians 4:4. Thus, Jesus is a human. So if they believe that the bread is real body and the wine is the real blood of Jesus and that Jesus was a human. Then calling the whole affair cannibalistic is not anti Catholic or bigoted but exactly what the faith is saying is happening every time one eats the bread and drinks the wine. Again this the very words of the faith.

The conservative leaders say 'anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable form of bigotry' but I do not think that they fully understand what bigotry means (Irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, or religion: intolerance, prejudice). It is not the words of bigot being used here but the very tenants of the Catholic faith that are being highlighted. This is their faith. They say that these things really happen.

To say a Catholic takes orders form the Pope is not a lie after all he is the leader of the faith. Catholics believe that the Pope speaks 'ex cathedra' meaning that "when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, (the Pope) defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church." So it is not a lie or hate speak to once again write about what the Catholic believe in.

As for the pedophile problems in the church it is all too well known at this time. The Cloyne Report is just one of many reports on the subject. The abuse of children by Priests is constantly being brought to light. That is chilling enough but the evidence of the church hiding the abuse is disgusting.

What is interesting is that in the middle of the of the conservative leaders letter is this rather odd paragraph: "The Obama administration's recent mandate forcing religious institutions to provide insurance which violates their most sacred teachings is the outgrowth of a media, including The Huffington Post, complicit in the persecution of religion. Timothy Cardinal Dolan has called this mandate an unprecedented attack on conscience."

How odd, I will get into this in another post. Nevertheless, how nice of them to bring up the latest religious fundamentalist talking point in the middle of a letter about a completely different subject.    

The letter ends with demands to "Withdraw Doyle’s piece from your site and issue an apology to all the millions of faithful Catholics you have deliberately offended in publishing this piece. If you choose not to, then your so called news outlet cannot be seen as anything but an anti-Catholic talking piece." 

What is so striking about this is how it is now offensive for someone to even speak about what a faith claims. Catholics believe that you eat and drink the actual body of Jesus. They believe that the Pope speaks for the the faith and there is massive amounts of evidence to the church protecting pedophiles.

It is strange to think that the faithful are now finding their own faith to be bigoted, offensive, and anti Catholic. One could almost look at this as progress.   

America Part 2

America Part 2

I want a Good Job!

What's wrong with America. On the surface not much. No Huns are at the gate, cities are not in riot, the leadership has been elected in a fair and open election. There is no great food shortage, there is no hordes of armed thugs that are attacking officials in the street.

So whats the problem and what can be done to fix it? 

One problem is Jobs. For one thing they are hard to find. If you happen to find one they don't pay very well and odds are they don't have many benefits. There are now cries for the Government to get involved. However that isn't very likely. Because the funny thing is that is not the government's problem.

America is a capitalist state. Employment outside of government work is not in the purview of the state. Sure there are few laws dealing with minimum wage, overtime, and workplace safety. There is this thing called the department of labor. But all of that was born out of the labor movements of the past. All of which have come and gone. Just the minimum nothing to crushing to the employer.

Hell its one of the reasons that America had the Cold War going on for so long. Free people means free enterprise or something to that affect. Many like to point out that America 'won' the cold war, so that proves that the state should have nothing to do the economy. Why It is the end of history. We have found the 'best' system and that system is capitalism. The freer the better.

That's the story and America is sticking to it.  

No one with any real power in this nation questions it. None in the media actively question the system. Any dissent is fringe at best and why should anyone question it? Before the downturn everything was rosy anyone could get rich if they just tried. Just look at the stock market. While your house value just kept going up more and more. Even with the downturn taken into account. It all does seem very successful. America still has the world's biggest economy after all. Plus more than its far share of millionaires. It seems like just about every major company is based in America.

If America has a state religion it is Capitalism. Besides what else is there?

But you still can't find a good job. Well did you go to school? To quote the article only "55.7 percent of last year's (2011) graduates have jobs." That is just the numbers for Columbia a 2nd rate ivy league school. Education doesn't seem to help in fact it seems to hurt. College isn't free and those student loans don't pay for themselves.

It makes sense too. Everyone is effected by the downturn. Jobs aren't easy to come by and employers can be very picky. What chance does a college grad fresh out school have when they are trying for same job as a person with a family, a mortgage to pay, and years of experience in the field. If you were or are an employer what seems like a better hire a 20 something or a 40 something?

The heart of the matter of why people cannot get good jobs goes back to heart of the problem with  capitalism. The employer can only look out for itself. It is not nice or fair but it is the system. Its not that I am trying to defend the employers. I am simply pointing out that they are out for themselves. In times like these they can fire people as they please. At the same time they can hire people at whatever wage the person is willing to take.

Big companies are run by numbers, namely profit. Do what it takes to get profit up.

The system is cold. If you are not lucky enough to be rich then you have to take whatever you can get. Employers know this and act accordingly. No one should expect the government to get involved. The people in government aren't affect much by the downturn. Even if they get voted out of office they tend to find nice jobs in the private sector.

So what is the average person to do?

The simply fact there is very little that they can do. You can try to start you own business but if you lack the talent or the money. It will very likely fail or never get off the ground.

A good amount of a persons dignity comes form their labor. It is work that defines us and how we judge others. So when one cannot find a 'good' job a person loses dignity.

In order to give people 'good' jobs a balance needs to be found between capitalism and the worker. The role of the government in this is not undermined capitalism or the will of the free market but to ensure that those that are not the owners are taken advantage of. Workers need the labor in order to function in our society. While employers need workers to function.     

Part 3 will explain how the Government should do this.

America, Part 1.

Part 1

America is an ailing Republic! It is no longer a representational government! We are living in times akin to the last days of the Roman republic! America is an Oligarchy with the 1% holding all the power over the 99%! The government is ran like it is 1984! Tax and spend! We are selling away our children's future!

The above was written for dramatic reasons. To make this article more eye catching. Because one always has to drive up those views.

Nevertheless, it is all too obvious that Americans are very upset with their government. The call is being made to take back the Republic. Symbolized with the rise of Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movement. They have become the face of the discouraged. One side claiming high moral values and small government to enforce those values will fix America. While the other is a hodgepodge of left leaning ideology. A movement for the conservative and another for the liberal.

At least that is the way the news reports on both movements. It may very well be accurate too. But one does not need the news to understand what both movements are about. One can go right to the official websites, blogs, etc. With ease one can understand, in their own words, what each movement is really about.

After doing this one can see that both movements see themselves as a revolution causes. They companion cause are the most pressing in nature and of the gravest of importance to the Republic. They are fighting for the majority that is losing out. With enough power they will stop the minority who are making great gains at the expense of the majority.

Upon more review one can see just how decentralized they are. Both are 'grassroots' movements. There is no clear leadership or spokesperson on any side. Yet they have become the symbols of American discontent. Thanks in large part to their decentralized structure and populist undertones. These movements have gained much support and sympathy.

Furthermore, with no clear leadership on any side they can avoid the messy nature of personal attacks on their leadership. Moreover, without any personality directing the movements. Anyone and everyone can find some common cause with them. Thus is becomes very easy for someone to identify with the movements. Even with their decentralized nature there is still a common ideology that can be found with both movements. As both movements identity very similar targets as the root cause of most of America's problems.

The Tea Party calls out the politician's misuse of tax dollars and are in opposition to current forms of taxation. Also they see reduction of the national debt as a pressing issue. They have the Contract from America that highlights some of there main concepts.

As for the Occupy movement. They cry out against the rich's condensation and misuse of power. They are "fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations."

Off hand one may not see it, but both movements have a common cause. That cause is money. Namely who has it, what they are doing with it, and how they have mishandled it. If it is the government or the rich both cannot be trusted with the wealth of the nation.

In other words these revolutions are mostly about money.

Money has perverted America to the point that two seemly different revolutionary causes are fighting over the same thing from two different ends. Granted there are other causes that they take up. But the most important and key issue to either side is money.

It simply makes sense. Money and wealth is the way in which Americas judge the value of each other. It has become a end to itself. That is not value judgment but a reality. Americans on both sides of the political spectrum care a great deal about money. There is no right or wrong in that. Since, it is needless to say that without money one can do very little in America.

It is pointless to find a root cause or 'why' of why money is just so important to everyone. The issues here is not that a few people are too wealthy or that government misusing funds. True or false these are simply the symptoms a much greater problem at the heart of modern America.

The problem is that humans are holding something artificial in such high regard. Problems arise because money is just that, money. Forget for a moment money, bills, and all the nice things that wealth brings. Now think about what a society and individual needs.

Food, shelter, companionship, and security. Those are the basic needs of all. Despite all the issues that we have in America today. These basic needs are being met for most people. But they can effectively be met for all.

In America their is a massive disconnect in social responsibility between those with wealth and power and those without. The wealthy are seen as hoarders and their wealth as a corruptive power. While the government is viewed as ineffective and lazy. It may very well be the case. Yet the inertia of the system still keeps most people housed, feed, and safe (company being left the individual).

But much can done and no revolution would be needed.

 Part 2 coming later.

My ego has reached the point that now I now believe that starting a blog is a good idea. I have come to the mind set of person that thinks that their ideas have enough value that other people will want to read it.

So here I am writing them down in the digital cloud of ones and zeros that make up what very well maybe the best part of modern life.

I plan to write about things I like. Namely the Chicago Bears, Politics, and my work at a head shop in a hippie town. I may be even so bold and post some reviews of music and movies.

Nevertheless, the content does not matter until it is created. So whatever I put here  may very well turn out to all be lies in the future.