Republicans Raise Money for Sodomite Agenda

"While Karl Rove is not listed as a sponsor of the homosexual fundraiser, his criticism of Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell is seen by some conservatives as based largely on her strong stand in favor of pro-family policies and not any personal problems she may have had in her distant past. A staunch Catholic, O’Donnell accepts church teachings about sexuality and opposes gay rights."

From Accuracy in Media
By Cliff Kincaid

The civil war in the Republican Party takes another turn on Wednesday night when Sarah Palin basher Nicolle Wallace lends her name to a fundraiser for a pro-homosexual group called American Foundation for Equal Rights. Wallace, an adviser to the 2008 McCain for President campaign, figures prominently in Sarah Palin’s book, Going Rogue, as someone determined to get her on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric so that she could be sandbagged by the left-wing anchorwoman.

American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) supports the “right” of a homosexual judge in California to unilaterally overturn the state’s ban on homosexual marriage.

Meanwhile, with Senator John McCain adamantly opposed, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled a vote Tuesday on legislation to repeal the 1993 law against open homosexuals serving in the military. Repeal has already passed the House.

Palin, whose selection as the vice presidential nominee gave McCain some hope of winning the 2008 presidential election, has since been actively supporting conservatives for public office who believe in traditional values. She even campaigned for McCain in the Arizona Republican Senate primary.

The emergence of former McCain aide Nicolle Wallace in the pro-gay movement has raised questions about whether Palin’s charges against her, made in her best-selling book, were true.

Palin’s sabotage accusations, a subject of some controversy when her book came out, seem to find confirmation in the fact that Nicolle Wallace and her husband Mark are among the liberal Republicans listed as sponsors of a September 22 “cocktail reception” to raise money for the pro-gay organization.

The Palin book had called the Katie Couric interview a trap and she blamed Wallace for the debacle and questioned Wallace’s Republican credentials. Wallace, who insisted that Palin’s charges against her were false, had been a CBS political analyst after serving in the Bush-Cheney White House as an associate of Karl Rove. She has recently been promoting a novel, Eighteen Acres, about a White House sex scandal.

But the real-life scandal seems to be how many secret homosexuals and homosexual sympathizers have assumed positions of prominence in the Republican Party. In this regard, it is noteworthy that the heads of Republican congressional campaign committees, Senator John Cornyn and Rep. Pete Sessions, are scheduled to attend a national fundraising dinner of the homosexual Log Cabin Republicans on the same night, September 22.

The Log Cabin group, which filed suit against the Pentagon’s homosexual exclusion policy and advocates its repeal, has issued a statement hailing the participation of Cornyn and Sessions in their event. They are also giving an award to Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

Nicolle Wallace’s emergence on behalf of the gay rights cause is significant in view of her Republican credentials. Her bio says that, in addition to being a senior adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign from May to November 2008, “She served President George W. Bush as an assistant to the president and director of communications for the White House, as well as communications director for President Bush’s 2004 campaign.”

The hosts of the gay rights fundraiser she supports include hedge fund managers and Republican financial contributors Paul Singer and Peter Thiel. A billionaire, Thiel is a homosexual activist who co-founded the PayPal company and has links to libertarian think tanks such as the Cato Institute.

Thiel runs Clarium Capital Management, a $2 billion hedge fund, and Singer runs Elliott Management, a $17 billion hedge fund. Both are members of the powerful Managed Funds Association that also includes George Soros.

Another host is former Republican chairman Kenneth B. Mehlman, the Bush campaign manager in 2004 who recently admitted being a secret homosexual during the time he worked for the party. Publicly, Mehlman had lied, insisting he wasn’t a homosexual.

But the event is hardly a Republicans-only affair. Other sponsors include John Podesta, former Clinton chief of staff and president of the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress, and Democratic Party strategist Steve Elmendorf.

The co-chairs of AFER are Podesta and Robert A. Levy, chairman of the Cato Institute.

While Karl Rove is not listed as a sponsor of the homosexual fundraiser, his criticism of Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell is seen by some conservatives as based largely on her strong stand in favor of pro-family policies and not any personal problems she may have had in her distant past. A staunch Catholic, O’Donnell accepts church teachings about sexuality and opposes gay rights.

Palin, who supported O’Donnell, reveals in her book that during the 2008 campaign she discussed homosexual issues with the McCain advisers and made it clear that she opposed gay marriage. After McCain went down to defeat, McCain senior campaign adviser Steve Schmidt gave a speech to the Log Cabin Republicans, a homosexual group, endorsing gay marriage. Schmidt was a close associate of Karl Rove and his name also appears on the list of AFER sponsors.

In her book, Palin says that Wallace convinced her to do the interview with Couric by claiming that “Katie really needed a career boost” and that Palin could provide it by sitting down for an interview. “Katie really likes you,” Wallace told Palin. “She’s a working mom and admires you as a working mom. She has teenage daughters like you. She just relates to you.”

Palin says she wanted to talk to The Wall Street Journal and Fox News. However, “from the beginning, Nicolle pushed for Katie Couric and the CBS Evening News.” For some reason, Palin went on to say, “Nicolle seemed compelled to get me on the Katie bandwagon.”

Palin writes that Wallace had a “peculiar” attitude and “didn’t have much to say that was positive” about working for a Republican president.

This could very well be explained by the fact that Wallace and other liberal Republicans were secretly opposed to the Bush campaign stance in favor of traditional marriage between a man and a woman. Bush’s re-election in 2004 has frequently been attributed to his stand in favor of marriage between a man and a woman and the fact that pro-traditional marriage amendments were on the ballots in 11 states and helped increase turnout for the Republican ticket.

Earlier this year, however, Bush’s wife Laura said she now accepts gay marriage.

Other sponsors of the gay rights fundraiser include Fox News contributor Margaret Hoover; Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney; and Benjamin Ginsberg, who served as national counsel to the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign.

Speaking for conservatives, Rep. Mike Pence told the Values Voter Summit in Washington over the weekend that Republicans should continue to oppose the homosexual agenda.

On the issue of a strong national defense, he said, “It means defending those who defend us from being used to advance a liberal domestic agenda. For our soldiers, their families, for readiness, recruitment and unit cohesion, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell must remain the policy of the United States Armed Forces.”

He said, “Finally, a vision for a better America must recognize that our present crisis is not merely economic and political, but moral in nature…We will not restore this nation with public policy alone. It will require public virtue, and that emanates from the traditional institutions of our nation—life, family and religion.

“Now I know some say that Republicans should stay away from such issues this year—that the American people are focused on jobs and spending and our movement would do well to stand aside, bank the win and return to fight after this fiscal and economic crisis has passed.

“But we do not live in a world where an American leader can just focus on our financial ledger. A political party that would govern this great nation must be able to handle more than one issue at a time. We must focus on our fiscal crisis and support our troops. We must work to create jobs and protect innocent human life, defend traditional marriage and secure religious liberty.

“To those who say that marriage is not relevant to our budget crisis, I say, ‘you would not be able to print enough money in a thousand years to pay for the government you would need if the traditional family continues to collapse.’”

House Republicans Introduce 'Pledge to America' (Full Text)

The Statue of Liberty by Edward Moran

Later this morning, House Republicans will formally introduce a "Pledge to America," a 21-page legislative agenda that they promise to advance in the next Congress.

Freedom demands action, and we could not agree more with this introductory statement:

An unchecked executive, a compliant legislature, and an overreaching judiciary have combined to thwart the will of the people and overturn their votes and their values, striking down longstanding laws and institutions and scorning the deepest beliefs of the American people.

An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many.

There is, indeed, need for "urgent action" and for the sake of our Constitutional foundations and America's future, we all need to insist that this pledge to repeal Obamunism and restore Constitutional government be boldly implemented as soon as possible.

The full text is here.

Mosteller: Haley Puts GOP Principles at Risk

From The State
By Cyndi C. Mosteller

Vincent Sheheen’s opening words on his first TV ad, “South Carolina is at a crossroads,” are one intersection over from our state’s political realities. In the governor’s race, it is the state Republican Party that finds itself uncomfortably driven to the crossroads. With a 55 percent win in the last gubernatorial election and seven of eight constitutional offices, Republican, conservative and tea party voters together hold mathematical strength to elect our next governor. In a nation led by Barack Obama and a state led by Mark Sanford, this decision has never been more critical or more complicated.

Since the June 2009 Sanford-Chapur expose, our state’s reputation has been tarnished by a leader compromised. A decade earlier, Congressman Mark Sanford stood for Bill Clinton’s resignation on the Lewinsky affair, declaring that “it would be much better for the country and for him personally” to resign. Unfortunately, a lack of shame is often the closest companion to lack of honor, and both leaders held tight their power of title, even after having lost the power of principle. With Nikki Haley, Republicans might be approaching that unfamiliar crossroads where victory of title and victory of principle are more perpendicular than parallel.

As former vice chairman of the state Republican Party, my political hemoglobin runs iron-strong red. I’m down the line for Republicans Alan Wilson, Mick Zais and Tim Scott — not just for their stands, but for their character. In contrast, facts and allegations regarding Mrs. Haley raise valid questions in many a Republican conscience.

Though running on a platform of transparency and accountability, Mrs. Haley has not paid her taxes by April 15 for the past five years, and has not even filed them by the end of her extension in three of those years — years she served in our General Assembly. And Mrs. Haley’s company, where she was the accountant, incurred three liens for withholding and income taxes not paid until 19 months past due. Yet Mrs. Haley continues to campaign on such statements as: “I know I’m the right person to go into this next position because I’m an accountant, who knows what it means to stretch a dollar.”

And what of the sexual allegations? They are so removed from core Republican values that if it weren’t for Mark Sanford, we could never imagine them possibly being true — nor imagine that any candidate would consider himself or herself worthy of governing if they were. When former Sanford press secretary Will Folks asserted “an inappropriate physical relationship with Nikki,” released more than 60 damage-control texts made to Haley’s campaign and published a detailed log of late night-calls with Mrs. Haley, she called them “categorically and totally false” and insisted, “I have been 100 percent faithful to my husband throughout our 13 years of marriage.” That denial drew an unequivocal “that is not true” from Republican lobbyist Larry Marchant, who said he had sex with Mrs. Haley and “I know in my heart it happened, and she knows in her heart it happened.”

But what do We the People know? We know:

1. Someone here is lying big to 2.5 million registered voters of South Carolina.

2. If, as founding father Gouverneur Morris wrote President-elect Washington, “the exercise of authority depends on personal character,” then the competency of a Haley governorship would be compromised should these allegations be true.

3. If an informed electorate is essential to a democratic republic, then South Carolinians have every right to know if a candidate asking for their sacred vote is worthy of their sacred trust.

As a Republican woman, I concur with the admonition from Clemson political scientist David Woodard, who told the July meeting of the Greenville Republican Women’s Club: “I think the most dangerous thing is that these accusations about her personal life need to be addressed in some way. …To get women into elected office in South Carolina, we cannot afford any shred of scandal in our first statewide elected female governor. … I think she has some problems of transparency.”

Now what do We the People do? We respectfully and resolutely call for transparency. Mr. Folks, Mr. Marchant and Mrs. Haley should sign by sworn oath to the veracity of their respective public statements. Any additional mechanisms available to them for making the truth transparent should be employed without delay. And others who may have corroborating information one way or the other should have the courage to send it forward now.

In response to a question on “marital fidelity while in political office” at the Palmetto Family Council forum, Mrs. Haley responded: “You are being held to a higher standard. … You’re a role model to everybody that follows you.” On the campaign trail, pro-life Democratic candidate Vincent Sheheen has repeatedly said “we need a governor we can trust.”

With both statements, I couldn’t agree more.

Ms. Mosteller is former first vice chairman of the S.C. Republican Party and former chairman of the Charleston County Republican Party. She is a Sanford appointee to the S.C. Commission on Higher Education and has appeared numerous times as a conservative guest on ABC’s Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher. Reach her at cyndimosteller@bellsouth.net.

From Our Mail: Senate Protects Military With Vote to Block Gays-in-the-Military Law Repeal

From: The Center for Military Readiness

Re: Vote to Block Gays-in-the-Military Law Repeal

In response to today’s vote to prevent hasty and premature legislative action on the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010, Elaine Donnelly, President of the Center for Military Readiness, issued the following statement:

“The vote today was a huge victory for the United States military. Forty-three senators, on a bi-partisan vote, stepped up to fulfill their constitutional responsibility to provide oversight in matters affecting the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.

She continued, “The military is a strong institution, but the fact that it is subject to civilian control makes it vulnerable to political pressures from civilian activist groups that do not understand the military’s unique culture and mission. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Barack Obama tried to use the defense bill to score political points with LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) activists and other groups they are counting on to get re-elected.

“The annual Defense Authorization Act should be used to strengthen our armed forces, not to provide political payoffs to liberal constituency groups. We are grateful that 43 responsible senators rejected this self-serving attempt to force a pre-election vote on legislation that would have imposed an LGBT policy on our military, authorized abortions in military hospitals, and circumvented orderly systems for legal immigration.

“Today’s vote protected the right of our military men and women to be heard in this debate—an opportunity they would have been denied otherwise. We hope that we will never again see such a blatant attempt to use the Defense Bill for political payoffs and misguided expediency. Our military is the finest in the world, and we intend to keep it that way.”

Obama Committed to Zakat

In Cairo, President Obama promised to ensure that his fellow Muslims could fulfill "ZAKAT." What is "ZAKAT"? And what are the implications of this promise?

Pope Benedict's Farewell Message to Great Britain

FAREWELL CEREMONY

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

International Airport of Birmingham

Sunday, 19 September 2010

Prime Minister,

Thank you for your kind words of farewell on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government and the people of the United Kingdom. I am very grateful for all the hard work of preparation, on the part of both the present and the previous Government, the civil service, local authorities and police, and the many volunteers who patiently helped to prepare for the events of these four days. Thank you for the warmth of your welcome and for the hospitality that I have enjoyed.

During my time with you, I have been able to meet representatives of the many communities, cultures, languages and religions that make up British society. The very diversity of modern Britain is a challenge to its Government and people, but it also represents a great opportunity to further intercultural and interreligious dialogue for the enrichment of the entire community.

In these days, I was grateful for the opportunity to meet Her Majesty The Queen, as well as yourself and other political leaders, and to be able to discuss matters of common interest, both at home and abroad. I was particularly honoured to be invited to address both Houses of Parliament in the historic precincts of Westminster Hall.

I sincerely hope that these occasions will contribute to confirming and strengthening the excellent relations between the Holy See and the United Kingdom, especially in cooperation for international development, in care for the natural environment, and in the building of a civil society with a renewed sense of shared values and common purpose.

It was also my pleasure to visit His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of the Church of England, and later to pray with them and our fellow Christians in the evocative surroundings of Westminster Abbey, a place which speaks so eloquently of our shared traditions and culture. As Britain is home to so many religious traditions, I was grateful to have the opportunity to meet their representatives and to share some thoughts with them about the contribution that the religions can offer to the development of a healthy pluralistic society.

Naturally, my visit was directed in a special way to the Catholics of the United Kingdom. I treasure the time spent with the bishops, clergy, religious and laity, and with teachers, pupils and older people. It was especially moving to celebrate with them, here in Birmingham, the beatification of a great son of England, Cardinal John Henry Newman. With his vast legacy of scholarly and spiritual writings, I am certain that he still has much to teach us about Christian living and witness amid the challenges of today’s world, challenges which he foresaw with such remarkable clarity.

As I take my leave of you, let me assure you once again of my good wishes and prayers for the peace and prosperity of Great Britain.

Thank you very much and God bless you all!

Pope Benedict's Address to British Bishops

MEETING WITH THE BISHOPS OF ENGLAND,
SCOTLAND AND WALES

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

Chapel of the Francis Martin House, Oscott College - Birmingham

Sunday, 19 September 2010

My dear Brother Bishops,

This has been a day of great joy for the Catholic community in these islands. Blessed John Henry Newman, as we may now call him, has been raised to the altars as an example of heroic faithfulness to the Gospel and an intercessor for the Church in this land that he loved and served so well. Here in this very chapel in 1852, he gave voice to the new confidence and vitality of the Catholic community in England and Wales after the restoration of the hierarchy, and his words could be applied equally to Scotland a quarter of a century later. His beatification today is a reminder of the Holy Spirit’s continuing action in calling forth gifts of holiness from among the people of Great Britain, so that from east to west and from north to south, a perfect offering of praise and thanksgiving may be made to the glory of God’s name.

I thank Cardinal O’Brien and Archbishop Nichols for their words, and in so doing, I am reminded how recently I was able to welcome all of you to Rome for the Ad Limina visits of your respective Episcopal Conferences. We spoke then about some of the challenges you face as you lead your people in faith, particularly regarding the urgent need to proclaim the Gospel afresh in a highly secularized environment. In the course of my visit it has become clear to me how deep a thirst there is among the British people for the Good News of Jesus Christ. You have been chosen by God to offer them the living water of the Gospel, encouraging them to place their hopes, not in the vain enticements of this world, but in the firm assurances of the next. As you proclaim the coming of the Kingdom, with its promise of hope for the poor and the needy, the sick and the elderly, the unborn and the neglected, be sure to present in its fulness the life-giving message of the Gospel, including those elements which call into question the widespread assumptions of today’s culture. As you know, a Pontifical Council has recently been established for the New Evangelization of countries of long-standing Christian tradition, and I would encourage you to avail yourselves of its services in addressing the task before you. Moreover, many of the new ecclesial movements have a particular charism for evangelization, and I know that you will continue to explore appropriate and effective ways of involving them in the mission of the Church.

Since your visit to Rome, political changes in the United Kingdom have focused attention on the consequences of the financial crisis, which has caused so much hardship to countless individuals and families. The spectre of unemployment is casting its shadow over many people’s lives, and the long-term cost of the ill-advised investment practices of recent times is becoming all too evident. In these circumstances, there will be additional calls on the characteristic generosity of British Catholics, and I know that you will take a lead in calling for solidarity with those in need. The prophetic voice of Christians has an important role in highlighting the needs of the poor and disadvantaged, who can so easily be overlooked in the allocation of limited resources. In their teaching document Choosing the Common Good, the Bishops of England and Wales underlined the importance of the practice of virtue in public life. Today’s circumstances provide a good opportunity to reinforce that message, and indeed to encourage people to aspire to higher moral values in every area of their lives, against a background of growing cynicism regarding even the possibility of virtuous living.

Another matter which has received much attention in recent months, and which seriously undermines the moral credibility of Church leaders, is the shameful abuse of children and young people by priests and religious. I have spoken on many occasions of the deep wounds that such behaviour causes, in the victims first and foremost, but also in the relationships of trust that should exist between priests and people, between priests and their bishops, and between the Church authorities and the public. I know that you have taken serious steps to remedy this situation, to ensure that children are effectively protected from harm and to deal properly and transparently with allegations as they arise. You have publicly acknowledged your deep regret over what has happened, and the often inadequate ways it was addressed in the past. Your growing awareness of the extent of child abuse in society, its devastating effects, and the need to provide proper victim support should serve as an incentive to share the lessons you have learned with the wider community. Indeed, what better way could there be of making reparation for these sins than by reaching out, in a humble spirit of compassion, towards children who continue to suffer abuse elsewhere? Our duty of care towards the young demands nothing less.

As we reflect on the human frailty that these tragic events so starkly reveal, we are reminded that, if we are to be effective Christian leaders, we must live lives of the utmost integrity, humility and holiness. As Blessed John Henry Newman once wrote, “O that God would grant the clergy to feel their weakness as sinful men, and the people to sympathize with them and love them and pray for their increase in all good gifts of grace” (Sermon, 22 March 1829). I pray that among the graces of this visit will be a renewed dedication on the part of Christian leaders to the prophetic vocation they have received, and a new appreciation on the part of the people for the great gift of the ordained ministry. Prayer for vocations will then arise spontaneously, and we may be confident that the Lord will respond by sending labourers to bring in the plentiful harvest that he has prepared throughout the United Kingdom (cf. Mt 9:37-38). In this regard, I am glad that I will shortly have the opportunity to meet the seminarians of England, Scotland and Wales, and to assure them of my prayers as they prepare to play their part in bringing in that harvest.

Finally, I should like to speak to you about two specific matters that affect your episcopal ministry at this time. One is the imminent publication of the new translation of the Roman Missal. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the contribution you have made, with such painstaking care, to the collegial exercise of reviewing and approving the texts. This has provided an immense service to Catholics throughout the English-speaking world. I encourage you now to seize the opportunity that the new translation offers for in-depth catechesis on the Eucharist and renewed devotion in the manner of its celebration. “The more lively the eucharistic faith of the people of God, the deeper is its sharing in ecclesial life in steadfast commitment to the mission entrusted by Christ to his disciples” (Sacramentum Caritatis, 6). The other matter I touched upon in February with the Bishops of England and Wales, when I asked you to be generous in implementing the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. This should be seen as a prophetic gesture that can contribute positively to the developing relations between Anglicans and Catholics. It helps us to set our sights on the ultimate goal of all ecumenical activity: the restoration of full ecclesial communion in the context of which the mutual exchange of gifts from our respective spiritual patrimonies serves as an enrichment to us all. Let us continue to pray and work unceasingly in order to hasten the joyful day when that goal can be accomplished.

With these sentiments, I thank you warmly for your hospitality over the past four days. Commending all of you and the people you serve to the intercession of Saint Andrew, Saint David and Saint George, I am pleased to impart my Apostolic Blessing to you and to all the clergy, religious and lay faithful of England, Scotland and Wales.