Go America, GO! Even the Pope says so!

It is a time of renewal for both the Catholic Church and Americans, as evidenced by the meeting today on the White House lawn between President Bush and Pope Benedict.

Plagued by the priest scandal, questioned by both society and some of its own members as to the role women play in the church, and various other issues, the Catholic Church in America, similar to America itself, has been on unsteady ground. In his speech, Pope Benedict stated:

“As I begin my visit, I trust that my presence will be a source of renewal and hope for the Church in the United States, and strengthen the resolve of Catholics to contribute ever more responsibly to the life of this nation, of which they are proud to be citizens.

Freedom is not only a gift, but also a summons to personal responsibility. Americans know this from experience - almost every town in this country has its monuments honoring those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, both at home and abroad. The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self-discipline, sacrifice for the common good and a sense of responsibility towards the less fortunate. It also demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one’s deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate. In a word, freedom is ever new. It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over for the cause of good (cf. Spe Salvi, 24).”

All Americans, regardless of their faith, should look upon the Pope’s visit to America as a symbol of national renewal and an opportunity to appreciate the freedoms that this great country affords its citizens. Each American should evaluate his or her own situation in today’s era. Despite rising gas prices, a war that has no clear end, and a presidential election where negativity garners too much attention, each American should find the good in their lives and the good in our country and appreciate what we all have as Americans. May each American examine their own lives to evaluate whether he or she is truly achieving their full potential, in a nation that allows its citizens such freedom to attain their highest goals.

God Bless America!

Time for the President of Harvard to Go!

Harvard President Gilpin Must Resign

The Harvard Islamic Society, representing among of the world’s least tolerant religions, requests Harvard University, perhaps the most prestigious place of higher learning in the world, to ban men from the school gym at certain hours. The request was made so Muslim women might not be seen by a man as they exercise. Harvard University, wishing to demonstrate it tolerance, complies.

In a most stupendous feat of creative reasoning, Harvard University has banned half the student body, based solely on their gender, so as to accommodate a small minority of Muslim women who have had the tradition of cloaking themselves foisted upon them. A tradition, furthermore, that is fundamentally repressive to women, though the victims are sometimes unaware or have been convinced of the opposite.

Bravo Harvard! They can chalk up an A for rationalizing the insane. They get an F, however, in representing the core American values of justice and liberty.  This is a consideration more important than the repressive nature of Islam.  The United States and the West, though our relative preeminence is on the wane, remain the most successful societies on human record. This is a consequence of our Judeo-Christian heritage.  Harvard was founded as a divinity school.  The preachers produced by Harvard made it what it is today.  Harvard and its distinguished alumni were at the vanguard of those in the North who stood up and declared slavery to be wrong.  They did not blunder into perverse reasoning that we should “tolerate” the South’s long-standing “tradition” of human bondage.  Harvard preachers and alumni were once taught to prize and, despite any opposition, promote a tradition in Western civilization of seeking justice for all.

Harvard claims a desire respect the Muslim tradition.  Islamic tradition holds that a women’s skin should not be defiled by the gaze of the opposite sex.  Muslims fear, based on their experience in a highly sexually repressed society, a situation which breeds all manners of perversion and neurosis, that mayhem and rape would occur were women not bundled up like mediaeval nuns.  Were these women at home, I would understand their fears. Forget the men on the streets; they would be arrested by the religious police in many places.

America, thank God, unlike Saudi Arabia, is a civilized nation. Women are generally free from the fear of being groped or raped for wearing shorts and certainly don’t need to worry about being beaten by the religious police if they do chose to wear a T-shirt.

For a storied University of this great country to be pandering to the almost mediaeval repression and prejudice is flat our sickening.   What is Harvard teaching America’s future elite:  That we have no values of our own; that we should jettison our own traditions, irrespective of their nobility, if they offend anyone at all?  By such logic, Harvard should ban beef so as not to offend Hindus, and pork for the sake of orthodox Jewish students.  Certainly any accommodation of Christianity, the religion which provided Harvard University and this country with its foundation, would be out of the question.  

Of all the crazy things I have heard, this is among the top. Harvard prides itself with having an open mind. In this case, it is so wide open that their brains have leaked out. The schools agenda, in this case, is being dictated to by a religion that bonds and enslaves women.  Growing elements of Islam have declared death to our nation and way of life. Worst of all, Harvard has abandoned the praiseworthy values of freedom and tolerance they to profess, at least, allegiance.

Harvard forced the resignation of Larry Summers when he commented that men and women think differently. That comment was apparent too outrageous to be tolerated by Harvard. Apparently direct, gender-based discrimination is not.  The President of Harvard University, Ms. Drew Gilpin Faust, should resign.

Go Ahead, Mr. Chavez, Make Our Day!

 Hugo Chavez, the Britney Spears of geopolitics, is at it again. To mask the increasingly desperate state of internal affairs, he fuels a rush of international media attention through a political stunt. Chavez threatens Colombia, a key US ally, with war. The world ignores that limp Venezuelan military does not have the capacity to attack Colombia in the first place, that Chavez furthermore has nothing to gain even if his defeat were not certain, and  rewards him with the shower of attention he so desperately craves.  Our Colombian friends should simply call his bluff. The President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, a proven and effective leader, should ask Chavez to invade or shut up. This may appear to be a trite way to deal with the prospect of war, but Venezuela has already effectively declared war on Colombia by sending some $300 million in aid to the FARC terrorists. The FARC, fueled with drug money, has waged a ruthless guerilla war against their democratic countrymen for over four decades.  At least our Colombian allies will have the opportunity to punch Chavez in the mouth.The Colombian army, equipped largely by the US, is a well-oiled fighting force that has in recent years been inflicting severe setbacks on the well-funded and equipped FARC guerilla terrorists.  It would quickly make short work of Venezuela’s impotent ground forces. Venezuela’s air force is marginally more formidable, however, with barely two dozen modern attack aircraft in service (10 F-16’s and 14 Russian Sukhoi’s); its capacity to project power is nevertheless limited. Furthermore, a delivery of Stinger missiles would greatly increase Colombia’s ability to neutralize the threat.Mr. Chavez is causing real trouble by supporting of terrorists in Colombia.  His power is, however, magnified by global attention. Just as our fascination with the bizarre and surreal actually fueled the Britney Spears phenomenon, so too does international reaction to her political equivalent.  We do not reward a puppy for soiling the rug with a biscuit, so why reward Senior Chavez with the attention he’s seeking? In any event, a Venezuelan attack would be a strategic and tactical gift to Colombia and the United States. Chavez would be exposed as the threat to world peace. His military would be smashed if they actually succeeded in making it into Colombia. He would find himself a marginalized internationally and unpopular at home. Though quite a joker, Mr. Chavez is not stupid. His most recent publicity stunt is designed to divert the attention of Venezuelans from the fact Chavez’s communist policies have been wrecking their economy to the point where basic foodstuffs are in short supply. (One wonders when people will learn that communism doesn’t work.) Let’s not give him the attention Chavez lusts after. The United States should ignore him and not repeat the errors we made in turning Fidel Castro into a hero by dignifying him with our attention. He is, albeit a dangerous one, a Clown. Mongering a fundamentally flawed socioeconomic model, he will self-implode in his quest to be relevant. Colombia, our only real ally in the Latin America, deserves the full support of the United States. Happily, in this case, they are well-equipped to deal with the situation.

Bill O’Reilly interviews Raj Peter Bhakta about his border demonstration

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