Sir Winston Churchill's "Finest Hour" Speech, on the Great Man's 136th Birthday

"What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us.

Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.

Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'"

Winston Churchill's famous "Finest Hour" speech of June 1940 was a rallying cry to the people of Britain to prepare themselves for the dark days of World War II. In the above video, the military historian, Max Arthur, meets Allen Packwood, the Director of the Churchill Archives Centre at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, to learn some of the secrets of that memorable speech.

Americans Would Rather Cut Services Than Raise Taxes to Balance Budget, Poll Shows

To ease surging budget deficits, Americans prefer cutting federal services to raising taxes by nearly 2-1 in a new poll. Yet there is little consensus on specific, meaningful steps -- and a wariness about touching two gargantuan programs, Social Security and Medicare.

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One Man Militia

My good friend, Father John Roddy, Pastor of St. Hilda of Whitby Anglican Catholic Church in Atlanta and author of the Anglican Catholic Priest blog, posted the following poignant reminder of the persecution and murder of Christians that is underway in Islamic countries. Please see his appeal for help.

ONE MAN MILITIA

Photo: Son of Fr. Mushtaq Andrew stands guard outside of tent where his Father is holding a service.

Not far from Lahore, Pakistan is an Anglican Catholic parish of the Diocese of Lahore/Pakistan, Church of India, Pakistan, Burma, and Ceylon. This is the same country where Asia Bibi lives. Christians are not safe in this country, the government has proven repeatedly that it cannot protect the Christian minority from attacks from violent Muslims, murderous attacks.

Fr. Mushtaq Andrew is the archdeacon of this tiny diocese and leads a small flock of Christians. This group of Christians also provide medical and social services to the poor. Now they feel so threatened that Father has posted his own son to guard the tent where the parish holds religious services lest they be attacked while at prayer. His son is in effect a one man Christian militia. This is a situation that elicits both admiration and horror at the same time. Admiration for one so young and all alone to bravely stand watch so that his earthly father might preach the gospel of the heavenly Father, and horror at the prospect that the daunting odds against this young Christian might get him killed.

The events of the past few weeks in Iraq, Egypt and Pakistan reveal a new tactic on the part of al-Qaeda that calls for direct attacks on native Christian populations in Islamic dominated lands. In Iraq and Egypt there is no Christian militia to defend the faithful from these attacks. The national governments seem incapable of defending Christian homes and churches from attacks, in fact often the government is aiding in covering up for the attackers and even on occasion arresting Christians who call the police for protection.

With a sister parish of my own church under threat, the horror of what is transpiring in these countries is made real to me in a way that others perhaps cannot comprehend. We need to pray earnestly for Christians in all of these countries and we need to support them financially so that they can create a more secure environment for their families. They need a building to worship in. In a tent they are most vulnerable. If you want to help them build a church please contact me and I will tell you how you can help.

In Christ,
Fr. John

An Amazing Little Girl Tells the Story of Jonah

Food Court Flash Mob Sings Hallelujah Chorus

This is a wonderful new phenomenon that brings fine art to the public square. This performance was sponsored by Alphabet Photography of Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Similar surprise performances are being sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which has targeted 8 American cities for what they are calling "Random Acts of Culture."

Report Warns Obama About 'New' Dark Ages

'Airplanes would fall from sky, cars would stop, networks fail'

Two national-security experts have issued a report through the Heritage Foundation that warns Obama administration officials to start working now to prevent – and mitigate the damage from – an electromagnetic pulse attack on the United States because of the potential for "unimaginable devastation."

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Choir of the Basilica of San Marco, Milan "Alma Redemptoris Mater" - Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Alma Redemptoris Mater or, in English, "Loving Mother of our Savior," is one of four liturgical Marian antiphons (the other three being: Ave Regina caelorum, Regina coeli and Salve Regina), and sung at the end of the office of Compline. It is mentioned in "The Prioress's Tale", one of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Formerly it was recited at compline only from the first Sunday in Advent until the Feast of the Purification (February 2).

English Translation:

Loving Mother of our Savior, hear thou thy people's cry

Star of the deep and Portal of the sky!

Mother of Him who thee made from nothing made.

Sinking we strive and call to thee for aid:

Oh, by what joy which Gabriel brought to thee,

Thou Virgin first and last, let us thy mercy see.

The Augusta Chronicle in the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia Reports: “Ads Call Catholics Back to Church”

The Catholics Come Home® TV Commercials will be airing in the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia and state-wide in less than a month. The Augusta Chronicle reports, below:

By Kelly Jasper

Staff Writer

Twenty years ago, Cristine Bays left the Catholic Church. There was no big pronouncement or public protest.

“I had just drifted away,” said Bays, an Evans mother of three.

The same is true for millions of Catholics who don’t attend weekly Mass, or who have fallen away from religion entirely or become Protestant.

A new program — half evangelism effort, half public relations campaign — issues an invitation to out-of-practice Catholics across Georgia.

Television commercials created by the nonprofit lay organization Catholics Come Home will air on network and cable television from Dec. 17 to Jan. 23. The commercials, in English and Spanish, will air during prime time. Some celebrate church history; others show the testimony of Catholics who have “come home.”

The Catholic Diocese of Savannah raised $160,000 to air the commercials throughout its 90 counties, including Richmond and Columbia.

The Catholics Come Home ad campaign will air in prime time cable and network television from Dec. 17 through Jan. 23 in the 90 counties of the Diocese of Savannah. Watch the commercials and learn more at catholicscomehome.org

The average American watches four hours of TV a day, making the campaign one of the most effective ways to bring Catholics back to the church, said Tom Peterson, a former marketing executive who founded Georgia-based Catholics Come Home in 1998.

He was “nominally Catholic” until attending a retreat in Arizona, which renewed his faith.

“God was calling me to use my advertising talents to serve him,” Peterson said. “The light bulbs went off, and the adventure began.”

He moved to Roswell, Ga., to grow the ministry. Since its founding, some 200,000 Catholics have returned to the church. When the commercials were launched in the Phoenix market, 92,000 Catholics returned. “That was just in one city,” Peterson said.

On average, each diocese sees Mass attendance increase 10 percent.

Most, like Bays, don’t have serious issues with the church but have fallen out of the habit of regular church attendance, Peterson said. Catholics Come Home’s research has shown that the average Catholic who leaves then returns to the church has been away for nine years.

It took a personal invitation for Bays to return, she said. During a hospital stay three years ago, she was visited daily by churchgoers.

“It was the push I needed,” said Bays, now a member of St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church in Grovetown, where her husband, Brian, will soon convert to Catholicism.

Augusta parishes were recently visited by Bishop J. Kevin Boland and other leaders in the diocese. They’re traveling the state to deliver workshops on how to deal with the influx of members.

“We know we have to be more welcoming. It’s everything from opening doors to saying hello and offering a doughnut or two. It’s the stuff Protestants figured out years ago,” Joe Soparas said with a laugh. He and his wife, Mary, are coordinators of St. Teresa’s Catholics Come Home program.

Priests are also setting aside time to meet with those returning to the church or grappling with issues, said the Rev. Michael Lubinsky, the parochial vicar of The Church of the Most Holy Trinity in downtown Augusta.

“Catholics Come Home is a process for all Catholics, inactive and active, by which all are invited to come to the Lord by the holy sacraments of love and mercy and affection and forgiveness,” he said.

From 2000 to 2010, only 22 percent of U.S. Catholics attended Mass on a weekly basis, according to a poll by CARA, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, a nonprofit Georgetown University-affiliated research center that studies the Catholic Church. That speaks to the millions of Americans who identify as Catholic but aren’t practicing Catholics, Peterson said.

“This is an invitation for them, too,” he said.

With at least 68 million members, the Catholic Church claims more adherents than any other American denomination, about 22 percent of the U.S. population. With membership waning, 1 in 10 Americans identifies as a former Catholic, according to the most recent Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, compiled in 2008.

“For the most part, it’s really the secular lures of the world that pull people away. Life gets busy,” Peterson said. “Ninety percent say they’d come back if someone invited them.”

Catholics Come Home usually runs its six-week campaigns through the Christmas season or Lent.

“It’s a great time to issue an invitation,” Peterson said.

“Most people see the ad on TV and say, ‘I started to tear up. I felt like God was personally calling me home.’ ”

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Robert Shaw Chamber Singers - "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"

Grandma: 'I Prayed for Obama to Convert to Islam'

Kenyan family member says 'only Allah knows' if president will win second term

President Obama's Muslim grandmother has said she prayed in Mecca for the U.S. leader to convert to Islam.

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US Immigration by the Numbers: Off the Charts

We Still Hold These Truths

Georgetown GOP's Swatzel Uses Hard-Hitting Mail Campaign to Oust Entrenched Incumbent

Could he do the same to RINO Lindsey Graham?

Georgetown GOP Chairman Tom Swatzel Addresses School Choice Rally at South Carolina State House in 2007.

(This story was not written at the behest of, or with the collaboration or knowledge of Tom Swatzel, the Georgetown Republican Committee, or any other state or local party official. It is based entirely on information provided by political insiders with intimate knowledge of the behind-the-scenes story.)

With Republicans gaining more state legislative seats nationwide than at any time since 1928, it is easy to overlook the gain of a mere 3 state house seats in South Carolina. However, one race in particular – that of South Carolina House District 108 – is a primer on how a clear, bold, uncompromisingly conservative message, coupled with savvy party leadership, can dislodge even the safest, most entrenched incumbent.

Representative Vida Miller, D-Pawleys Island, a local gallery owner, former school board member, and 14-year state House incumbent, was probably confident of an eighth term in Columbia when her only Republican opponent turned out to be Kevin Ryan, a 22 year-old grad student and political neophyte who still lives at home with Mom and Dad.

While Ryan did the things that successful candidates do – spent hours on the phone calling voters and walking door-to-door throughout the district -- political experts in Columbia believe it was a powerful postcard campaign crafted by Georgetown County GOP Chairman Tom Swatzel that defeated Miller, who had represented the district since her opponent was 8 years old.

Despite liberal associations and a decidedly liberal voting record, Miller had passed herself off as a “conservative” Democrat, winning by large margins every two years regardless of how her party fared in state or federal elections. This time, Swatzel was determined to put an end to any misunderstanding about Miller’s record and political leanings. Targeting swing precincts, Swatzel drew striking contrasts between what voters assumed about their state representative and Miller’s extensive voting record.

The Marriage Postcard

The county party's mailing on South Carolina’s Marriage Protection Amendment pointed out that on the 2006 ballot, 77 percent of South Carolinians had supported defining marriage as only between ONE MAN and ONE WOMAN. Yet when the House voted 96 to 3 to put a Marriage Protection Amendment on the ballot in the first place, Miller abstained, and even after voters overwhelmingly supported the measure, including in her own district, Miller abstained again on a 2007 motion to ratify the people's vote.

The double sided postcard included a photo of Miller “with multi-millionaire lesbian Linda Ketner, who bankrolled the campaign against South Carolina’s Marriage Protection Amendment.”

Even though every statement on the card is true, including the characterization of Ketner as an openly lesbian activist, Georgetown County Democrats manufactured as much outrage as they could in response, and predictably, squishy and squeamish “moderates” among the Republican ranks began wringing their hands over Swatzel’s hard-hitting postcard campaign, some even demanding that he cancel mailing the remaining postcards.

Swatzel deftly outmaneuvered the outraged Democrats, challenging them in a guest commentary published by local papers to point out anything in the cards that wasn't true -- they couldn't, with former county Democratic chairman Jamie Sanderson even admitting on his blog that "nobody questioned whether (the postcards) were true or not." Swatzel just as effectively bucked up or ignored the hand-wringing Republicans, and the rest of the entire series of postcards made their way as planned, one every three or four days, to voters' mailboxes.

The Gas Tax Postcard

Swatzel recognized that motorists, facing the highest gas prices in several years, would not appreciate Miller's support for higher gas taxes and the resulting increased cost of groceries.

The Pork Postcard

South Carolinians love pork barbecue, cooked low and slow, but pork-barrel spending is quite another thing. The Club for Growth had compiled a list of 50 of the state's most egregious pork projects - tens of millions for local festivals which Columbia politicians have used to buy votes. Swatzel made sure that voters in District 108 knew that "Vida Miller supported all fifty — the worst pork record in the state House!"

Taxpayer-funded Campaign Debit Card Mailing

Swatzel knew that a state reeling from budget deficits, out-of-control spending, and high unemployment would not appreciate Miller's support for taxpayer funded political campaigns. This mailing was sure to sway more than a few voters. This card also featured a photo of Miller and lesbian activist Linda Ketner, but this time with a one-two punch message: it reminded voters once again of Miller's refusal to support the overwhelmingly popular Marriage Protection Amendment, but also pointed out that under Miller's taxpayer-financed campaigns scheme, even a multi-millionaire such as Ketner, an unsuccessful 2008 Congressional candidate, could force taxpayers to finance her future political campaigns, including voters who disagree with her left-wing political ideology.

Liberals for Vida Postcard

National left-wing politicians such as John Edwards, Joe Biden, Howard Dean, and John Kerry, among others, are not particularly popular politicians in South Carolina, but they all have one thing in common: they've all financially supported Vida Miller's political campaigns, and Swatzel made sure that voters in Georgetown County knew it. This card featured photos of all of them and, once again, Ketner, also pointing out how Miller had suported policies in Columbia pushed by the all but openly admitted socialist Obama Administration.

The Pro-Life Postcard

Perhaps the most powerful mailing of all was this card -- targeted only to households identified by the county party's voter identification surveys as being pro-life -- summing up the pro-life position and exposing Vida Miller's record of support for a culture of death and campaign support from national abortion industry PACs.

As you can see from the postcards themselves, it was not just their hard-hitting and factual content that proved effective, but their clever eye-catching and in some cases humorous design and graphics. On a local online forum, former Georgetown mayoral candidate Marty Tennant wrote after receiving one of the cards: "Anyone seen today's mailer? I am now officially shocked. I've never seen this kind of activity. The local party wants to get rid of Vida, and BAD! The person designing them is a genius in my opinion. Let's hope it sticks on Election Day.”

In the last week of the campaign, Swatzel and the Georgetown GOP reinforced its postcard campaign by running this very effective radio ad.

And on election day, it did stick.

Fellow blogger Earle Capps wrote that even in a GOP tsunami election, the result was shocking: "Democratic Rep. Vida Miller had held onto this GOP-leaning district since 1996 through good years and bad, so her upset at the hands of CofC graduate student Republican Kevin Ryan, who carried 52% of the vote, stunned just about everyone."

Besides the obvious -- the election results themselves -- there's even more definitive proof of just how effective Swatzel's postcard campaign was in swaying voters to produce the stunning outcome.

At the end of September, before the postcards were mailed, a candidate preference phone survey was conducted of registered voter households in Georgetown County.

At the end of October, after the postcard campaign, the 680 voters previously I.D.'ed as supporting Miller were resurveyed. (Note that in the interim, the campaign materials circulated by 22-year old GOP challenger Kevin Ryan's campaign focused exclusively on providing voters a strictly positive message about his well-meaning but -- simply because of his age -- somewhat limited qualifications for the office. None of Ryan's material contained any criticism of Miller's voting record, campaign finances, or ideology.)

Of the 376 previously ID'ed Miller supporters who responded the second time:

13% had switched from Miller to Ryan.

45% had moved from Miller to undecided.

Less than half remained committed to Miller!

Given that in political races featuring a long-time, well-known incumbent, self-professed "undecideds" really mean they're no longer comfortable voting for the incumbent, these results indicate Swatzel's dramatic success in persuading even those previously identified as definitely supporting Miller to vote against the Democratic incumbent.

In his last election cycle as GOP county chair, Tom Swatzel proved himself again to be one of the most savvy and effective political leaders in the state of South Carolina. He was a Shrine Bowl football standout, licensed U.S. Merchant Marine officer, and respected longtime marina and deep sea sportfishing business owner in Murrells Inlet before entering electoral politics for the first time in 1994, when he became the first Republican elected to Georgetown County office since Reconstruction, winning 62 percent of the vote to oust a two-term incumbent Democratic county councilman. He helped other Republicans win office thereafter, and when he honored a self-imposed term limits pledge after two terms on county council, he helped his longtime business partner win the seat to replace him. By 2008, under Swatzel's chairmanship, the county GOP captured a majority on the county council for the first time in history.

He is a prominent statewide leader in the School Choice movement, having served for five years as chairman of South Carolinians for Responsible Government, a statewide organization dedicated to improving public education and parental choice by financially empowering Palmetto State parents, including low-income and minorities, to be able to choose the best and safest schools for their children.

He was just renominated by the governor and reappointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to a second term on the federal South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council, which earlier this year -- over Swatzel's objections -- unveiled a plan to ban fishing of certain fish populations off the coasts of N.C., S.C., Georgia, and Florida. Swatzel is credited by some observers as having literally saved South Carolina's coastal fishing, tourist, and restaurant industries after he successfully orchestrated a grassroots, political, and media campaign demanding that South Carolina be removed from the federal fishing ban. He authored resolutions adopted by both the General Assembly and numerous city and county councils along the coast objecting to the ban, then remarkably succeeded in shepherding through the fisheries council itself a motion to exempt South Carolina, and South Carolina only.

Unfortunately for the Georgetown GOP, and after having ousted Miller, one of the top goals he outlined when he agreed to serve as chairman four years ago, Swatzel this week will announce that he'll once again honor a self-imposed term limits pledge and won't run for reelection as county chairman. Having sold his sport-fishing business, it's expected he'll announce the launch of a political campaign, public relations, lobbying, and consulting firm to, at least for a while, make a living doing what he's previously done effectively as a volunteer.

However, given his proven ability to produce public policy results and win voter support with clear, hard-hitting, fact-based campaigns, we can't think of a better challenger to take on South Carolina's rogue RINO Senator Lindsey Grahamnesty in the 2014 GOP primary.

We relish the thought of what Tom Swatzel, the Georgetown giantslayer, might do with an incumbent who has called South Carolinians "racists" for opposing amnesty for illegal aliens, and who has supported the nationalization of US banks, massive new taxes under cap and trade legislation, the fingerprinting and imposition of ID cards for law-abiding Americans, and the appointment of Marxist lesbians to the US Supreme Court.

What might he do you ask? Just ask Vida Miller.

World’s Tallest Jesus Statue Unveiled in Poland

A man stands near the crowned head of the statue

of Jesus while under construction on November 4.

From National Post
By Rob Strybel

About 15,000 Christian pilgrims and tourists streamed into the western Polish town of Swiebodzin on Sunday for the unveiling of what has been billed as the world’s tallest statue of Jesus, police said.

Polish television stations showed throngs of worshippers marching in procession with religious banners and placards proclaiming “Christ the King of the Universe.”

“This monument is a visible sign of faith in Christ,” said Bishop Stefan Regmunt who blessed the statue at a ceremony presided over by Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz.

The brain child of retired local Roman Catholic priest Sylwester Zawadzki, the figure soars to a height of 33 metres (108 ft) which he said symbolised the 33 years Jesus lived on earth.

It is three metres taller than Brazil’s statue of Christ the Redeemer which stands on a mountain top overlooking Rio de Janeiro.

The three-metre gold crown gracing the 440-tonne Polish statue, said to symbolise the three years of Christ’s ministry on earth, would bring the monument’s overall height to 36 metres.

“Christ the King will welcome visitors to Catholic Poland,” the 78-year-old Father Zawadzki has repeatedly said of his creation which stands on an artificial 16-metre mound. “The monument has been erected to fulfil a religious mission, not as an attraction.”

But tourists have been arriving from Germany wanting to take souvenir photos of the monument about 90 km (55 miles) from the German border, news channel TVN24 reported.

The fibreglass and plaster figure with outstretched arms was financed entirely through donations by parishioners and other advocates of the project.

Obama the Groper Strip Searches 4-Year-Old

As we reported previously, the indignities and outrages being inflicted on the American people at the nation's airports were personally approved by Barack Hussein Obama. At one time we read about such abuse at the hands of "the authorities" in communist, totalitarian countries. But we have that kind of "leader" here now. We suspect these unconstitutional actions are to soften up the American psyche for even more statist control and tyranny. We pray that the American people will resist before these outrages go any further.

Before the video started, the boy went through a metal detector and didn't set it off but was selected for a pat down. The boy was shy, so the TSA couldn't complete the full pat down. The father tried several times to just hold the boy's arms out for the TSA agent, but that wasn't enough for TSA. The enraged father pulled his son's shirt off and gave it to the TSA agent to search; that's when this video begins.

Obama's Continuing and Very Public Mental Breakdown

Quips about landing Air Force 1 in Chavez backyard

On the flight home from the European Summit today, Barack Obama stopped in the press cabin of Air Force 1 and joked that he was stopping the plane in South America to see Hugo Chavez.

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Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King

Preparations

The Oxford Book of English Verse
Anonymous, 16th century

Yet if His Majesty, our sovereign lord,
Should of his own accord,
Friendly himself invite
And say, “I’ll be your guest tomorrow night,”
How should we stir ourselves, call and command
All hands to work! “let no man idle stand!

Set me fine Spanish tables in the hall;
See they be fitted all;
Let there be room to eat
And order taken that there lack no meat.
See ev’ry sconce and candlestick made bright
That of themselves they may give a light.

Look to the Presence: are the carpets spread,
The dazie o’er the head,
The cushions on the chairs
And all the candles lighted on the stairs?
Perfume the chambers, and in any case
Let each man give attendance in his place!”

Thus, if the king were coming, we would do;
And ‘twere good reason too;
For ‘tis a duteous thing
To show all honour to an earthly king
And after all our travail and our cost,
So he be pleased, to think no labour lost.

But at the coming of the King of Heaven
All’s at six and seven;
We wallow in our sin,
Christ cannot find a chamber at the inn.
We entertain Him always as a stranger,
And, as at first, still lodge Him in the manger.

Frank Patterson - "Hail Redeemer, King Divine!"

Hail Redeemer, King divine!
Priest and Lamb, the throne is thine;
King, whose reign shall never cease,
Prince of everlasting peace.

Angels, saints and nations sing :
"Praise be Jesus Christ our King;
Lord of life, earth, sky and sea,
King of love on Calvary!"

King most holy, King of truth,
guard the lowly, guide the youth;
Christ the King of glory bright,
be to us eternal light.

Shepherd-king, o'er mountains steep
homeward bring the wandering sheep;
shelter in one royal fold
states and kingdoms, new and old.

Crimson streams, O King of grace,
drenched thy thorn-crowned head and face;
floods of love's redeeming tide
tore thy hands, thy feet, and side.

Eucharistic King, what love
draws thee daily from above,
clad in signs of bread and wine :
feed us, lead us, keep us thine!

King, whose name creation thrills,
rule our hearts, our minds, our wills;
till in peace, each nation rings
with thy praises, King of kings.

Sing with joy in ev'ry home :
"Christ our King, thy kingdom come!
To the King of ages, then,
honour, glory, love : Amen!"

A Call to Freedom

Pope Benedict in Spain 2010

By Sister Janet Fearns, Missio

The UK media has repeatedly stated that Pope Benedict’s visit to Spain has touched on familiar themes. Yet, as usual, it has been left to the Catholic press to identify the central point of his message: freedom. Whilst the secular reports quote the Pope as calling Europe to return to its Christian roots, they frequently omit the reason for such a challenge: freedom.

To a society that often fails to distinguish between freedom and licence, yet is deeply concerned for human rights and justice, on his arrival at Compostella airport the Holy Father declared:

"In his deepest being, man is always on a journey, ever in search of truth… I too wish to encourage Spain and Europe to build their present and to project their future on the basis of the authentic truth about man, on the basis of the freedom which respects this truth and never harms it, and on the basis of justice for all, beginning with the poorest and the most defenceless, a Spain and a Europe concerned not only with people’s material needs but also with their moral and social, spiritual and religious needs, since all these are genuine requirements of our common humanity and only in this way can work be done effectively, integrally and fruitfully for man’s good".

If any statement can be said to summarise the content and significance of the Pope’s visit to Spain, this is it! Yet he goes one step further:

"The Church, which desires to serve unreservedly the human person and his dignity, stands at the service of both truth and freedom. She cannot renounce either, because what is at stake is man himself."

Recalling the struggles and bloodshed of Spain’s Civil War, Pope Benedict thus shows that there is something deeper and more important than the fight for civil liberties, vital as they are. What is the absolute crux of the matter is the freedom of the human heart, "because without this aspiration for truth, justice and freedom, man would lose his very self".

The Pope returned to this theme at Compostella, the burial place of the Apostle St James, who gave his life for the freedom to preach the Word of God.

"The Europe of civilization and culture must be open to the fraternity with other Continents…" to "the true and living God…" and abandon the "tragic belief that God is somehow man’s antagonist and an enemy of his freedom".

The relationship between God and humanity is fundamental to any understanding and appreciation of the meaning of life. Freedom without God is false. Society cannot relegate religious belief to the private and the hidden, because it will never reach the enlightenment for which it searches:

"God is the origin of our being and the foundation and apex of our freedom, not its opponent. How can mortal man build a firm foundation and how can the sinner be reconciled with himself? How can it be that there is public silence with regard to the first and essential reality of human life? How can what is most decisive in life be confined to the purely private sphere or banished to the shadows? We cannot live in darkness, without seeing the light of the sun. How is it then that God, who is the light of every mind, the power of every will and the magnet of every heart, be denied the right to propose the light that dissipates all darkness?"

Again and again, Pope Benedict has, in the five years of his papacy, emphasised that if God is given priority, everything else falls into place:

"One cannot worship God without taking care of his sons and daughters…"

The Holy Father’s message, in imitation of that which St James bore to the people of Spain, goes beyond national borders: it embraces all aspects of life, culture and civilisation. Social progress is possible only as a result of openness to God. The Church is thus promoting freedom, not restricting it.

"The Europe of science and technology, the Europe of civilization and culture, must be at the same time a Europe open to transcendence and fraternity with other continents, and open to the living and true God, starting with the living and true man. This is what the Church wishes to contribute to Europe: to be watchful for God and for man, based on the understanding of both which is offered to us in Jesus Christ."

Since his election to the See of Peter, Pope Benedict’s constant theme has been the importance of truth in the ongoing search for freedom. In stressing that: "One can not live without truth and freedom", he is pointing to all that is fundamental to the culture of Europe… but Europe needs to open its eyes and rediscover God.

Republican Renee Ellmers Defeats Congressman Bob Etheridge After Recount

From Vision To America

Remember career politician Bob Etheridge? The North Carolina Democrat was considered a shoo-in for reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives on November 2. That was until he became unglued and assaulted a man merely for asking the congressman if he supported the Obama agenda.

Apparently Etheridge’s behavior did not sit well with the electorate. Come January, Etheridge will no longer be representing the state’s 2nd Congressional district. Registered nurse Renee Ellmers, a Tea Party-endorsed Republican and Obamacare foe, has been declared the winner after a recount according to WRAL.com. State officials are expected to certify the election results early next week but Etheridge has already conceded.

"Democrat Party Will Disappear From the Political Scene"

From Vision To America

Conservative activist and best-selling author David Horowitz tells Newsmax that the Democratic Party has been “seized by a religious cult” of leftists and will go the way of the 19th-century Whig Party — disappearing from the political scene.

He also declares that giving terrorist suspects the rights of American citizens and trying them in civilian courts is “a form of national suicide” and says the tea party movement is a “huge development” that will keep Republicans true to conservative principles.

Horowitz is founder and president of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, founder of Students for Academic Freedom, and co-author of “The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and Sixties Radicals Seized Control of the Democratic Party.”

Mike Pence on 'The Constitution and the Presidency'

Repealing Obamacare, State by State

From The San Diego Union-Tribune
By Tim Pawlenty

After a historic election reflecting six in ten voters wanting to repeal Obamacare, the question now facing conservatives is how.

As long as President Barack Obama holds his veto pen, undoing this misguided piece of legislation will not be easy. But we can make progress. While Congress takes important steps toward eventual repeal, governors can use their authority to stop or delay implementation of Obamacare. It must be fought not only in Washington but in state capitols.

In Minnesota, I issued an executive order directing state agencies to reject participation in Obamacare unless required by law or consistent with existing state policy. I also joined the federal lawsuit that challenges Obamacare’s individual mandate and invokes the 10th Amendment in defense of states’ rights and a proper view of federalism. Newly elected Republican governors should consider taking similar actions.

Fighting Obamacare, however, is not enough. Merely restoring the status quo of skyrocketing costs, narrowing access, and structural dysfunction would be a mistake. Our health care system needs to be more effective and affordable. Reforms should feature timeless conservative principles applied to the challenges and opportunities of our time.

The great tragedy of Obamacare is not only that we know it will fail, but that we have not implemented health care reforms that we know will succeed.

In recent years, Minnesotans have embraced innovative, conservative health care reform. We focused on improving quality and containing cost, not just expanded access. We made it easier for consumers to use HSA plans (Minnesota is second in the nation on HSAs). We provided online cost and quality information for the 100 most common health services. We passed tort reform to curb frivolous lawsuits. And we engaged the private sector as a partner, not as an opponent.

Today, Minnesotans enjoy one of the finest health care systems in the country. We continue to have some of the healthiest people in the nation and one of the lowest rates of uninsured. We have learned through trial and error what works, and we know what doesn’t.

We know that we need to give people more power over the use of their health care dollars and decisions. Today, six of every seven health care dollars is spent by someone other than the person receiving the care. Health care today is like an open bar. When someone else is paying the bill, people behave differently. For decades, this open bar approach has encouraged wasteful spending by individuals and providers rather than a sober assessment of costs and benefits. But our struggling economy and deficit-ridden budgets are flashing warning lights that closing time is near.

Obamacare was a missed opportunity to fix this systemic problem and the new law only made matters worse by taking control away from people. In fact, the new law allows the government to eventually control over half of all health care spending. True reform must turn our government-run system right side up, giving patients control over their health care dollars and decisions, while subjecting providers and insurers to the competitive forces of a real market.

Giving Americans more choice, ownership and responsibility will bring about greater efficiency and lower costs. Making this shift from the government to purchasers will not happen overnight, but here are some ideas for Congress to get us moving in the right direction.

Congress should change the tax code to end the bias against people who purchase their own health insurance. People who buy insurance through their employer get a tax break on the value of the benefits. Individual and group purchasers should be treated the same.

Congress should allow individuals to shop across state lines for health insurance. Doing so would dramatically increase insurance choices and cut costs through better competition.

Most importantly, Congress should back off and give the states latitude. If states can demonstrate a better way to reach policy goals, Congress should permit states to do what works best. A one-size-fits-all approach has not and will never work in a country as diverse as ours. This is what federalism is all about.

Obamacare is one of the most misguided pieces of legislation in the modern history of our country. A 2,000-page, trillion-dollar, politically driven takeover of one-sixth of our economy, Obamacare is both too complicated to succeed and too broken to repair. Voters this year sent a strong message that they want it stopped. The newly elected Republican governors gathering in San Diego this week have an opportunity to do just that.

Tim Pawlenty is in his second term as governor of Minnesota. He is vice chair of the Republican Governors Association, which is meeting this week in San Diego.

Dominican Sisters to Appear Again on 'Oprah'

We are loath to recommend that anyone watch 'Oprah,' but if you were to make an exception, the second appearance of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist on Tuesday, November 23, might be the time to watch. Founded in 1997 with just 4 Sisters, they have grown to over 100 Sisters in just 13 years, and the average age is 26. This vibrant and fast-growing community of women religious gives great hope and is a sign of God's grace for our country and the Church.

From Catholic World News

One of the nation’s most thriving religious communities has announced that some of its members will be featured for a second time this year on the Oprah Winfrey Show. The show will air on November 23.

“The response from the first show was so positive that the Sisters were asked if we would be open to another opportunity to share our life,” the community said in a statement. “We have accepted this invitation in the hopes of reaching an audience we might not otherwise reach with the witness of our life and the Gospel. Please join us in praying that the show will be for the good of souls and the honor of God.”

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Watch the Sisters on Oprah - Tuesday, November 23rd! (Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist)
• Dominican sisters to purchase John Paul II Cultural Center (CWN, 10/27/10)
• Harvard commencement speaker discusses decision to enter convent (CWN, 8/26/10)

Soros Group Plots Bypass of the American People

Urges president to use executive powers to push 'progressive agenda'

A George Soros-funded think tank with deep ties to the White House has written a roadmap for President Obama to bypass the new Republican Congress and rule for the next two years via executive order.

Read the rest of this entry >>

Senate Bill S 510 Food Safety Modernization Act Vote Imminent: Would Outlaw Gardening and Saving Seeds

Obama Garden Plot Police?

From Vision To America

Senate Bill 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, has been called "the most dangerous bill in the history of the United States of America." It would grant the U.S. government new authority over the public's right to grow, trade and transport any foods. This would give Big brother the power to regulate the tomato plants in your backyard. It would grant them the power to arrest and imprison people selling cucumbers at farmer's markets. It would criminalize the transporting of organic produce if you don't comply with the authoritarian rules of the federal government.

"It will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation, trade and consumption of food and agricultural products of one's choice. It will be unconstitutional and contrary to natural law or, if you like, the will of God." - Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canada Health whistle-blower

This tyrannical law puts all food production (yes, even food produced in your own garden) under the authority of the Department of Homeland Security. Yep -- the very same people running the TSA and its naked body scanner / passenger groping programs.

Feast of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary

Archbishop Dolan Wins Upset Election as Head of Bishops' Conference

The American Catholic bishops avoided a public relations disaster by passing up "the next in line" and electing in his stead one of the best and brightest of their number. This, added to their decision to freeze at last year's level the budget for the liberal, staff-run US Conference of Catholic Bishops, is a hopeful sign that Pope Benedict's episcopal appointments are having an effect.

From LifeSiteNews
By Patrick B. Craine

In a surprise vote that was described as a “seismic shift” by one prominent Catholic commentator, the strongly pro-life Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York today beat out controversial sitting Vice President Bishop Gerald Kicanas to become the next president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

Archbishop Dolan’s election is only the second time in history that the U.S. Bishops broke from their tradition of elevating the sitting vice president of the conference. Bishop Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona had been expected to take the role, but was the subject of criticism in the lead-up to the election over his connection to a Chicago priest convicted of child molestation, as well as his heavily liberal reputation on issues such as abortion and homosexuality.

Archbishop Dolan won on the third round of ballots with 128 votes to Bishop Kicanas’ 111. Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver came in at third in each round.

“No one runs for this office. As bishops, we’re concerned with what’s going on in our own dioceses,” said Archbishop Dolan, according to the National Catholic Register. “No one seeks this office. My brother bishops elected me.”

Archbishop Dolan has a solid reputation as an outspoken pro-life leader. He has insisted that Catholics should never honor anyone taking a pro-abortion position, and he was a strong opponent of Notre Dame's decision to honour President Obama at their 2009 commencement. This fall, he joined the bishops of New York in calling on Catholics to make the right to life their primary concern at the ballot box.

Numerous Catholic commentators had warned that Bishop Kicanas, on the other hand, is made in the mold of his mentor Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, who is known for his support of liberal movements in the Church. This week, Bishop Kicanas won an endorsement from the Rainbow Sash Movement, a militant ‘Catholic’ homosexualist group.

For vice president of the conference, the bishops chose Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky. He received 147 votes to Archbishop Chaput’s 91.

Archbishop Kurtz has led the bishops’ effort to defend true marriage, and has called that battle “one of the premier social justice issues of our time.”

He warned at the bishops’ meeting yesterday that if the courts are allowed to overturn Proposition 8 – which established true marriage in California – the impact will be “akin to Roe v. Wade.” “In a sense, today is like 1970 for marriage,” he told the bishops, according to Catholic News Agency. “If, in 1970, you knew that Roe v. Wade were coming in two or three years, what would you have done differently?”