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Why we should remember what we remember today
Great Editorial for Memorial Day:
Fly the flag. Wrench yourself away from the TV to tell your children that the reason they are not going to school today is because we are remembering the fallen soldiers. Tell them how, if those farm boys hadn’t left their fields, taken their muskets and faced the British army, we might still be a colony. Tell them that if U.S. Rangers hadn’t gone up those cliffs at Normandy, into the teeth of the German machineguns, then the Nazis might still be there. That the world, terrible as it often is, could be far worse, and throughout history it was the United States soldier who placed his life between us and the onslaught of tyranny. Remember the fallen soldiers as if they were your father, your brother, your sister, your son. Because they are.

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Limbaugh’s Prosecution: A Summary
Remember Rush Limbaugh and his addiction struggle? Here’s a good rundown on the latest twists and turns.

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Gay advocates denied communion at Holy Name

Fissues such as this are black and white. I hope this one doesn’t come off that way. Here we go:
Its a question of beliefs and rights.
A Church has the right to withold communion from those who do not share the Church’s beliefs. Roman Catholics are taking a stand across the cultural spectrum. Abortion, Gay Rights etc.

This makes them a target for the Left, using the same tactics honed from years of defending a disgraced President. “What about the sex abuse scandal? How dare you make judgements on us and our behavior (especially while we are so busily judging yours) and tell us what is right and wrong?”

Paul speaks to this in First Corinthians Five:

9:I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people– 10: not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11: But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
12: What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13: God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

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Excerpted from Compton’s Interactive Bible NIV
Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

Tough words. Spoken to those in the Church, not outside it. Spoken to a Church in trouble. Spoken to a Church tolerating all sorts of sexual sin, up to and including incest.

And this is where what happened yesterday connects with the stand the Church is taking on Abortion.

This week I posted an article from Intellectual Conservative, ten questions and answers to refusing Communion to Pro-Abortion Politicians. Question 9 speaks to what happened yesterday:

9. When gays and lesbians march up to the altar arm and arm for Communion, should they be denied?
Answer: Canon 915 states that if they are gravely manifest, obstinate, and persistent in their sins, then they must be denied. The Church condemns the sin of sodomy.26

Homosexuals who approach the Eucharist wearing �Rainbow sashes� or are living known lives of perversion are certainly manifest, obstinate and persistent in their grave sin.27

Legal recognition of same-sex unions actually does homosexual persons a disfavor by encouraging them to persist in what is an objectively immoral arrangement.

There are absolutely no grounds for considering same-sex unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family. Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law. Homosexual acts �close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.�28

Believe it or not, this post is NOT about gay rights in the United States. I am firmly in favor of equal rights, period. It is, however, about the rights of Churches and organizations (yes, I do mean the Boy Scouts) to set their own beliefs and membership requirements. And be allowed to live by them. This too, is tolerance.
Its easy for the Radical Gay community to yell all sorts of perjoratives, from “homophobe” to “racist”, seeking to compare their struggle to the Civil Rights movement of the 60’s
Its harder for them to acknowledge the rights of others to peaceful assembly even when that assembly disagrees with their agenda.

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Recalling a time when setbacks didn’t deter us
Proportion and History. Mark Steyn recalls both.

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Abortion and Roman Catholicism
Ten Questions about the debate, specifically for Roman Catholics.

An Editorial Note:
I am not Roman Catholic. Most of my inlaws are. I have a deep and abiding respect for the Church of Rome, though I most certainly do not agree with all its teachings. Because I do not abide by all the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, I do not take communion when attending a Roman Catholic wedding or other service. On the issue of abortion, however, I am firmly on the side of the Church in Rome.

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Abortion and Christianity

There has been an attempt to somehow make the decision of some Roman Catholic Bishops to with hold communion from Democratic politians favoring abortion as political. The argument goes that this is a private matter between themselves and God.

It’s not.

For Catholics, and Evangelicals like myself who agree with them, this is very different.

Two Catholics may disagree on taxes. We may even disagree on certain forms of government, monarchy vs. democracy for example. These are not fundamental tenets of faith.

Life and death is.

Abortion is about life and death for Christians.

The pastoral statement below, from priests for life.org, expresses it well.

“A Time for Honesty”
A Pastoral Statement by The Most Reverend John J. Myers,
Archbishop of Newark
May 5, 2004

Here is a quote.

But with abortion (and for example slavery, racism, euthanasia and trafficking in human persons) there can be no legitimate diversity of opinion. The direct killing of the innocent is always a grave injustice. One should not permit unjust killing any more than one should permit slave-holding, racist actions, or other grave injustices. From the perspective of justice, to say “I am personally opposed to abortion but�” is like saying “I personally am against slavery, but I can not impose my personal beliefs on my neighbor.” Obviously, recognizing the grave injustice of slavery requires one to ensure that no one suffers such degradation. Similarly recognizing that abortion is unjust killing requires one�in love and justice�to work to overcome the injustice.

Among my most important responsibilities is that of pastor and teacher. In light of recent developments in our nation, I wish once again to affirm the teaching of the Church. Human life is a gift from God and as Catholics we have a most grave obligation to defend all human life from the moment of conception until natural death. God help us if we fail in this most fundamental obligation.

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Fundrace.org
I am sooooo addicted to this site. Fundraising maps from across the country. While you have to spend time on the whole site, especially check out the Candidate rankings.
Who has the most grassroots support? George. With Reverend Al a distant 2nd.
Who has the highest Devotion ratings, those who are repeat givers? George
Who has the most Fat Cats contributing to his campaign?
John F Kerry. Hmmmmmm.

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Victor Davis Hanson:Just Win, Baby
My style has been to refer you to articles, not spend alot of time doing my own writing. Probably wrote more of my own opinion today that I have in weeks. Here’s a great perspective on winning from one of my favorites. Enjoy.

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The Battle of Iraq
Frank Gaffney puts the Battle of Iraq in the perspective it deserves. Much like the Battle of Britain, a protracted attempt by Hitler to soften up England before invasion, the Battle of Iraq is but one theater in a global conflict.

That’s the difference between Bush and Kerry. Mr. Kerry and his ilk want to see Iraq as a contained conflict. Hence the reason for the constant, incessant comparisons to Vietnam. They wish to fight the same war, the same way. Why not? In their worldview, they won.

But Iraq is not Vietnam. Failure here would not merely mean the death of thousands and the subjugation of multiple countries as did our abandonment of Vietnam, while the United States remained free to wallow in Watergate and elect Jimmy Carter.

Political, and therefore military failure in Iraq would bring on multiple 9/11’s.

Here.

In Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Diego, Greensborough.

We fight the Battle of Iraq so the Battle of America need not happen.

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The Connection
An upcoming book by Stephen Hayes. Some details in this article. So let’s review:
Mr. Kerry, Mr. Gore et al.
“Bush lied! He LIED to the American people!”

Sarin gas? yep. More to come
Al Qaeda Connections with Saddam? yep. More to come
The UN losing credibility as they would not take a stand to enforce their own mandates?
Yep. A whole lot more to come on that, as the Oil for Food scandal grows to a point whee even Mainstream Media has to take notice.

The only liars out there this Memorial Day weekend are those on the left desperately trying to lie to themselves and the American people that we are not at war. As the Memorial to The Second World War is dedicated, let’s pay heed to the fact that since 9/11/01 we have been actively engaged in The Third World War. Let us pray that we are able to perform as well as that generation we honor today.