New York?s Archbishop Timothy Dolan has indicated that he would welcome any sign that the Obama administration is prepared to back away from its mandate requiring coverage of contraception and sterilization in employers? health plans.

The New York prelate, who will soon receive a cardinal?s red hat from Pope Benedict XVI, said that he would be happy to hear indications from federal officials that ?we?re willing to rethink this.? Although the White House has hinted that some compromise might be possible, no such gesture has yet been forthcoming.

Archbishop Dolan, who is also president of the US bishops? conference, told a reporter: ?The federal government should do what it?s traditionally done since July 4, 1776, namely back out of intruding into the internal life of a Church.?

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Fidel Castro

President Chavez presented his annual report on activities carried out in 2011 and his program for 2012 to the Venezuelan Parliament. After thoroughly carrying out the formalities required by this important activity, he addressed the official state authorities, members of parliament from all parties, and supporters and opposition members who had come to the Assembly to participate in the country?s most solemn act.

As usual, the Bolivarian leader was gracious and respectful to all those present. When anyone asked for the floor to make a clarification, he granted it as soon as possible. When one of the members of parliament, who had warmly greeted Chavez as did other opposition members, asked to speak, in a great political gesture Chavez interrupted his report presentation and gave her the floor. What surprised me was the extreme severity of the rebuke, launched against the president with words that really put to test Chavez? chivalry and cold blood. The MPs statement was undoubtedly an insult, although this was not her intention. He alone was capable of calmly responding to the offensive word ?thief? that she had used to judge the president?s conduct in terms of the adopted laws and measures.

After verifying the exact term that was used, Chavez responded to the individual challenge for debate with an elegant and sedated phrase, ?An eagle does not hunt flies,? and without adding another word he calmly proceeded with his report.

It represented an insurmountable test of mental agility and self control. Another woman, of unquestionable humble origins, expressed her astonishment in moving and heartfelt words over what she had just witnessed and the overwhelming majority present broke out in applause. Judging by the sheer volume, the applause seemed to be coming from all of Chavez? friends and many of his adversaries as well.

Chavez? report lasted more than nine hours without the people ever losing interest. Maybe because of that incident, his words were heard by an immeasurable number of people. Many times I have given extensive speeches on difficult topics, always striving to make the ideas I was transmitting understandable. And I was really at a loss to explain how that soldier of humble origins was able to keep his mind so agile and his incomparable talent to deliver such an address without losing his voice or strength.

To me politics is an extensive and decisive battle of ideas. Publicity is the work of publicists, who perhaps know the techniques to get listeners, spectators and readers to do what they are told to do. If that science, or art, or whatever they call it is employed for the good of human beings, they deserve some respect; the same respect merited by those who teach people how to think.

Venezuela today is the site of a great battle. Internal and external enemies of the revolution prefer chaos ?as Chavez has said? to the just, organized and peaceful development of the country. Being accustomed to analyzing the events that have occurred over more than half a century, and to observing, with greater foundations for judgment, the eventful history of our time and human behavior, one learns to almost predict the future development of events.

To promote a far-reaching Revolution in Venezuela was no easy task. Venezuela is a country full of glorious history, but extraordinarily rich in resources that are of vital importance to the imperialist powers that have, and continue to map out guidelines in the world.

Political leaders the likes of Romulo Betancourt and Carlos Andres Perez lack the most minimal personal qualities to carry out such a task. Furthermore, Betancourt was excessively vain and hypocritical. He had many opportunities to learn about the situation in Venezuela. As a young man he was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Costa Rica. He had a strong grasp of Latin American history and the role of imperialism, of poverty rates, and the ruthless plundering of natural resources in South America. He could not ignore that in a vastly rich country such as Venezuela, the majority of the people lived in extreme poverty. The archival footage is irrefutable proof of that reality of life.

As Chavez has explained many times, for more than half a century Venezuela was the world?s major oil exporter. At the beginning of the 20^th century, European and Yankee warships intervened to support an illegal and tyrannical government that handed the country over to foreign monopolies. It is well known that incalculable funds flowed out of Venezuela to swell the wealth of monopolies and the Venezuelan oligarchy.

I remember when I visited Venezuela for the first time ?after the triumph of the Revolution, to give thanks for the support and friendliness afforded to our struggle?, oil was worth barely two dollars a barrel.

Afterwards when I went to Venezuela to take part in the swearing-in ceremony for Chavez, the day he took an oath on the ?dying constitution? held by Calderas, oil was worth seven dollars a barrel, despite 40 years having passed since my first visit and almost 30 years since the ?distinguished? Richard Nixon had cancelled the direct convertibility of the United States dollar to gold and the US began to buy the world with pieces of paper. For a century, Venezuela was a supplier of cheap fuel to the empire?s economy and a net exporter of capital to developed and rich countries.

Why did these repugnant situations dominate for more than a century?

Latin American Armed Forces? officials went to their privileged schools in the United States, where the Olympic champions of democracies gave them special courses on maintaining imperialist and bourgeois order. Coups d?état were always welcomed if their objective was to ?defend democracies,? safeguarding and guaranteeing this repugnant system, in league with the oligarchies. Whether voters knew how to read and write, whether they had homes, employment, medical services and education were unimportant as long as the sacred right to property was maintained. Chavez brilliantly explains this situation. No one knows as well as him what happened in our countries.

Even worse was that the sophisticated nature of weapons, the complex workings and use of modern armaments that require years of learning, the training of highly qualified specialists, and the almost prohibitive cost of such weapons for the weak economies of the continent created a very strong mechanism of subordination and dependence. The US Government, employing mechanisms that did not require prior consultation with the other governments, set guidelines and policies for the military. The most sophisticated techniques of torture were passed on to the so-called security agencies to interrogate those who rebelled against the dirty and repugnant system of hunger and exploitation.

Despite all this, many honest officials, tired of so many indignations, bravely attempted to eradicate that embarrassing treason against the history of our independence struggles.

In Argentina, military official Juan Domingo Peron was able to design an independent and worker-based policy in his country. A bloody military coup overthrew him, expelled him from his country, and kept him in exile from 1955 to 1973. Years later, under the aegis of the Yankees, they once again attacked the government, murdering, torturing and disappearing tens of thousands of Argentines. They were not even able to defend the country during the colonial war that England carried out against Argentina with the conspiratorial support of the United States and henchman Augusto Pinochet with his cohort of fascists officers trained at the School of the Americas.

In Santo Domingo, Colonel Francisco Caamaño Deño; in Peru, General Velazco Alvarado; in Panama, General Omar Torrijos; and in other countries captains and officers who gave their lives anonymously were the antithesis of the traitorous behavior embodied by Somoza, Trujillo, Stroessner and the cruel tyrannies in Uruguay, El Salvador and other countries in Central and South America. The revolutionary military personnel did not expound elaborate theories, nor was this to be expected. They were not academicians educated in political science, but rather men with a sense of honor who loved their country.

But how far can honest men ?who deplore injustice and crime? go along the path of revolution?

Venezuela is an outstanding example of the theoretical and practical role that the military can play in the revolutionary struggle for the independence of our peoples, as they did two centuries ago under the brilliant leadership of Simon Bolivar?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30433.htm

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“Today He sits on the throne of His Majesty on high, and He holds out to us the sceptre of His power.  Shall we touch it and tell Him our desires?  He bids us take of His treasures.  He yearns to grant us “according to the riches of His glory,” that we may “be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.”  He tells us that our strength and our fruitfulness depend upon our prayers.  He reminds us that our very joy depends upon answered prayer.

And yet we allow the devil to persuade us to neglect prayer! He makes us believe that we can do more by our own efforts than by our prayers–by our intercourse with men than by our intercession with God.”

“Shall we begin today to be (wo)men of prayer, if we have never done so before?  Let us not put it off till a more convenient season.  God wants me to pray.  The dear Savior wants me to pray.  He needs my prayers.  So much–in fact, everything–depends upon prayer.  How dare we hold back?” 

“Do we spend ten minutes a day in prayer? Do we consider it important enough for that? Ten minutes a day on our knees in prayer–when the Kingdom of Heaven can be had for the asking?  Ten minutes?  It seems a very inadequate portion of our time to spend in taking hold of God!  If God were to answer the words we repeated on our knees this morning should we know it?  Should we recognize the answer?  Do we even remember what we asked for?”

“He does answer.  He has given us His word for it.  He always answers every real prayer of faith.”

 The Kneeling Christian, author unknown

Oh Lord Jesus, will you teach us to pray?  Will you give us the unquenchable desire to come before you each and every day and lay our lives down before your Throne, asking for your will be done, seeking your desire, aching as your heart aches?  Father, will you beckon us to your Throne room, kneeling at your feet, soaking in your Radiance, bowing before your Glory.  Show us your heart, Lord, so that our prayers may be in step with the Spirit.  Draw us close, Jesus.  In your name, Amen.

Source: http://www.heartandsoulreflections.com/2012/02/prayer-life-that-alludes.html

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City of Brotherly Love Event Promotes War and Hate

by Stephen Lendman

On February 2, notorious hatemonger Alan Dershowitz keynoted a Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia (JFGP)/Hillel of Greater Philadelphia ?Evening of Unity & Community Solidarity? with Israel.

Inviting him was disgraceful. He?s a shameless bigot, a longstanding Islamophobe, a perverter of fundamental US and international law, an advocate of war, torture targeted assassinations, and collective punishment, as well as a committed Zionist and apologist for Israel?s worst crimes.

Distinguished Law Professor Francis Boyle once wrote:

He?s ?a self-incriminated war criminal who publicly admitted that he serves on a Mossad Committee that authorizes the murder and assassination of Palestinians.?

He?s ?also infamous around the world for being this country?s foremost advocate for torture.?

Abhorring truth and rule of law standards, he?s ?nothing more than an Errand Boy for those in Power.?

In his own words, he believes ?the laws of war and the rules of morality must adapt to (new) realities.? As a result, he supports preventive and preemptive aggression against nonbelligerent countries. Only Western interests matter, not truth, equity, justice, or fundamental rule of law principles.

Longstanding ones are inviolable. Dershowitz dismisses them. His Harvard Law School students learn this stuff. Boyle calls it a ?school for torturers,? and advises parents not to send their children there.

Along with JFGP and Hillel, event sponsors included Penn Israel Sector, Jewish Student Law Association, Penn Democrats, College Republicans, Camera (a shameless pro-Israeli media lobby), StandWithUs (another pro-Israeli front group), and the University of Pennsylvania Political Science, Philosophy, Politics and Economics departments.

Representing U of P President Amy Gutmann, Penn Board of Trustees chairman David Cohen introduced the event, saying:

?We are unwavering in our support of Israel. We do not support the message or the goals of BDS.?

Sponsors billed his talk as ?Why Israel Matters to You, Me, and Penn: A Conversation with Alan Dershowitz.? He shamelessly calls BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) activism ?immoral, illegal and despicable concepts around academia today.?

He called sympathetic U of P professors ?complacent with evil.?

The ?unity and solidarity? with Israel event preceded U of P?s February 3 ? 5 BDS conference. More on it below.

A Max Blumenthal February 2 Daily Pennsylvanian article headlined, ?Torture, violence advocate to keynote anti-BDS event,? saying:

Pro-Israeli flacks smeared BDS conference speakers ?predicabl(y).? Electronic Intifada co-founder Ali Abuninamah was accused of ?incit(ing) violence against Israelis.?

Hillel?s Wayne Firestone said the conference advocates anti-Israeli ?warfare? and ?hatred.? The demagogic Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called invited speakers:

?longtime activists who have pursued a wide range of delegitimization efforts against Israel, including lawfare initiatives (ie battling Israeli policy in the international courts), branding Israel?s (hypocritical) LGBT efforts as an attempt to ?pink-wash? its ?alleged? crimes against Palestinians, and academic anti-Israeli arguments.?

Many are ?Jewish anti-Zionists?.with a long history of anti-Israel rhetoric, including expressions of support for (spuriously characterized) terrorist groups that violently attack Israeli citizens, comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany, and blanket statements about Israelis in general that appear to border on anti-Semitism.?

Throughout its century-long history, ADL hyped unfounded anti-Semitism hysteria as cover for backing Jewish supremacy and rights of Israelis over Arabs. They include militarized occupation and belligerently enforced apartheid.

ADL deplores human rights and rule of law standards. In the 1930s and 40s, it spied illegally on lawful citizens for the House Un-American Activities (HUAC). In the 1980s, it engaged in private spying. It viciously assails anti-Israeli activists. It condemned Palestinian efforts for full de jure UN membership, calling it ?an obstacle to peace.?

Like Dershowitz and other pro-Israeli hatemongers, ADL espouses violence and brute force.

BDS activists endorse confronting Israel nonviolently until it complies with international law and human rights standards. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said:

??.I have seen (firsthand) how the Palestinians are oppressed, dispossessed and exiled. (BDS) is a growing worldwide movement on the part of citizens and the private sector to support by non-violent tangible acts the Palestinian struggle for justice and self-determination.?

Other distinguished figures support the same views. PennBDS said conference participants included ?academics, activists, students and community leaders from across the US.?

Meeting on U of P?s main campus, they ?(p)ick(ed) up where the 2009 Hampshire conference left off.? Speakers included ?journalists, professors, artists, writers, lawyers, and human and civil rights activists from various ethnic, religious, cultural and social communities.?

Special attention focused on uniting with other initiatives against bigotry in all forms. Other talks discussed ?comparative historical, sociological and philosophical analysis of BDS, both in its Israeli-Palestinian context and as a general tactic.? Movement-building was also stressed.

Conference sponsors called the event ?an invaluable resource for new activists and a momentum-building opportunity for those already engaged with the fight for Palestinian freedom and equality.?

Other events will follow to build global momentum for justice too strong to stop. Hatemongers like Dershowitz and ADL can?t stop it.

A Final Comment

Ruben Gur is a U of P Professor of Psychiatry at its Mahoney Institute of Neurological Sciences. On February 1, his Daily Pennsylvanian article headlined, ?BDS is ?hateful,? ?discriminatory,? ? saying:

?It is bad enough that Penn has allowed itself to be associated with this hateful genocidal organization, but for (the Daily Pennsylvanian) to give? it op-ed space ?and then dignify this outpouring of misinformation and anti-Semitism?.without any balancing opinion (is un)balanced journalism.?

His article wreaked of racist hate, misinformation, and bald-faced lies. His agenda supports wrong over right. His students likely get the same ?medicine? instead of what they pay for and deserve. Choosing another teacher would help.

He blamed Arabs for Israeli crimes. He called the purpose of BDS ?similar to what was apparently stated in their version of ?Mein Kampf.? He referred to Omar Barghouti?s book titled, ?Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights.?

Barghouti?s an independent Palestinian commentator and human rights activist. He?s also a founding BDS member. This writer?s a cultural member and strong supporter. Maybe Gur will notice and attack me. If so, a reasoned response will follow, focusing on truth and full disclosure too strong to dispute.

He claimed BDS rhetoric aims ?to delegitimize Israel in preparation for the ultimate goal of its destruction.? In fact, Israel?s doing it well on its own. It makes more enemies than friends, and growing numbers of fed-up Israelis vote with their feet and leave. One day perhaps they all will except for diehard racist supporters like Gur.

He compared BDS with Nazi Germany boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Jews. He called PennBDS organizers ?tarnish(ish the university) for generations to come.? He condemned ?Penn?s moral backbone? for letting them do it ?as long as it singles out Jews and Israel.?

As Dershowitz is to Harvard Law, Gur is to Penn?s Neurological Sciences department. Both schools give them classroom space to spew hate. In the 1950s, this writer attended both universities, unexposed to their agendas.

Today it?s much different, especially on issues of war and peace and wholehearted support for Israel?s worst crimes.

Thankfully, many students abhor them enough to resist. Global momentum adds greater numbers to their ranks. Perhaps one day they?ll be too robust to stop. It can?t happen a moment too soon.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Source: http://yourworldnews.org/blog/?p=2851&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=city-of-brotherly-love-event-promotes-war-and-hate

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From the upcoming edition of the Catholic Key:

Praying With Our Eyes Fixed on Heaven

By Most. Rev. Robert W. Finn
Bishop of Kansas City ? St. Joseph

In every Mass after the Consecration we express an affirmation about the power and promise of Jesus. The proclamation of the Mystery of Faith takes different forms, but it is a reminder to us that the profound truth that is taking place at the altar ? the death and rising of Jesus truly made present – also tells us to look forward to the Day when we shall see the Lord in glory.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass unites us with Jesus and with a Communion of Saints and Souls who have gone before us. Throughout the history of Christian art and architecture some churches have fittingly provided reminders to us of the heavenly goal to which God calls us. Even while the orientation of the church may keep us aware of those with whom we are worshipping, at the same time many of the great churches provide us with images of God in heaven and the saints: They show us the heavenly Jerusalem which is our ultimate home. It is right for us to keep such realities in mind. I have often said that no matter what is going on in our life ? sufferings or joys ? the most important goal of everything we do is to get ourselves to heaven and bring with us as many as we can.

The month of November begins with the two great celebrations: All Saints day (November 1) and the Commemoration of All Souls (November 2). These feasts celebrate our communion with the ?Church triumphant? in heaven, and the ?Church suffering? in purgatory.

Near these feast days I have gathered with the priests to celebrate the Purgatorial Mass for all our deceased priests. I hope you also remember your family members, friends and ?heavenly heroes? who have gone before us. Those in heaven intercede for us.

To me this is such a natural and beautiful part of our faith: that the saints are alive and they pray with us, just as we might ask a friend to remember our intentions in their prayers. This sense of saintly intercession and patronage has been lost in many Christian traditions, perhaps seeing this practice of turning toward Mary or the saints as a distraction away from Christ. In one of the Prefaces used at Masses for the Holy Men and Women, we acclaim God: ?You are glorified in Your saints. In their lives on earth You give us an example. In our communion with them, You give us their friendship. In their prayer for the Church You give us strength and protection.? All Saints Day provides us with a special ?feast day? when we can celebrate God?s power at work, not only among the extraordinary saints canonized or officially recognized by the Church, but also in ?our saints;? our Moms and Dads, tiny babies who have died in innocence, and others who were instrumental in helping us know and love God.

The Commemoration of All Souls is likewise a meaningful reminder to us to pray for those who have died who may still need our prayers as they await the Day of the Lord. We know very well that our lives are not always perfect and faithful. We cling too often to selfishness and sin: things that keep us from loving God and our neighbor. In her wisdom and with the Light of the Holy Spirit, the Church teaches clearly about purgatory, that ?All who have died in God?s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, ? after death undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.? (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1030).

In the Old Testament Book of Maccabees, we see how the faithful prayed and offered sacrifices for the salvation of those who died (2 Macc 12:46). We should never cease to pray for those who have gone before us. We can be sure that these loving prayers will never be wasted, even if our loved one has already reached heaven.

Throughout November ? and indeed at all times in the Church?s liturgical year ? we can renew our focus on the eternal life to which we are called by Christ. We do not travel alone. We continue to support, pray for, and encourage one another. And we have a host of heavenly friends supporting us on our journey of faith. We often miss having the physical presence of our loved ones with us. It is at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass when we are very closely united to the faithfully departed, the Church throughout the world, and the saints in heaven.

Mary, Mother of the Church, Queen of All Saints and All Souls, keep us on a safe path to your Son.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheCatholicKeyBlog/~3/ysbA-1476XE/saints-are-alive-and-they-pray-with-us.html

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It seems these days I?m getting ?called out? for going to McDonald?s too much.  I admit, it?s part of my daily ritual. Evidently people out there are having a problem with this (smile wink). It would be nice if people were actually concerned about my physical well-being, but no, this has evidently become a problem of my moral duplicity. This is what tweeting will get you.

First it was my friend Will Clegg who dares to ask me about this privately (at least he did it privately) with the following FB message:

?David, on occasion you criticize American politics, capitalism and other facets of American life.(I have no problem with that) What I wonder about is why you go to McDonald?s on a daily basis? Isn?t McDonald?s the epitome of much of what you say is wrong with America??

Will

Again, notice, no concern for my health, diet or physical well being (wink, wink).

Then today, while diligently minding my own business toiling away in my other office (McDonald?s cubicle 2, Rolling Meadows), my new Anabaptist revolutionary bro Brian Gumm, writes a post calling me out for my duplicitous McDonald?s misbehavior (smile wryly). He says among other things:

? one thing in particular strikes me about Fitch: He?s at McDonald?s a lot. I know this from his tweets. Just this morning he reported, ?Gathering early at McD? s w/ triad in the back to read, pray, check in and ask the questions ? ahhh discipleship #fb.? What?s the deal?
I have a love/hate attitude about McDonald?s, and the fast food industry in general. To me, McDonald?s is an icon of the neo-colonial powers of late modern consumerist hypercapitalism. For instance, when I saw commercials for McD?s in Ethiopia ? piped across an Arab satellite network ? I cringed. (Thankfully there are no McD?s in Ethiopia?the government is very strict about foreign chains setting up shop in the country.)

That?s the hate side. The ?love? side is that I?m an American who was a child in the 80s, bathed in  advertising with catchy jingles like the ?menu song?. (Note how much the word ?love? has been used in their advertising over the years. That matters.) We didn?t eat at McDonald?s frequently when I was a kid, but it wasn?t unusual and I was usually pretty excited to be there getting cheeseburgers and the occasional ?Happy Meal.? Now with a family of my own, we?ve mostly exorcized fast food from our diet, but it?s still an option when we?re on road trips. We recently stopped at one in Pittsburg on the way home to Virginia from Iowa, wherein I grudgingly munched on a chicken sandwich from The Man. (I kind of liked it?but just a little.

But this David Fitch at McDonald?s thing?!

I?m sure he?s read all the stuff that I?ve read and more that would give one a bad attitude about the systems and clusters of practices surrounding fast food. But there he is. I imagine having this conversation with Fitch, at McDonald?s of course, with me giving all the reasons stated above. Fitch would nod and grin, barely concealing a mouth full of sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit. So why?

In all fairness to Brian Gumm, he gives a heroic answer to my dilemma on his post. Thanks man! I needed that. Read the entire post here. But what I love about this post is the way Gumm brings up this whole issue of inhabiting the evil empire. How do we do it when in fact we might be supporting it by just being there? Afterall, I am notorious for asking American Evangelical Christians why they insist on elevating the practice of ?voting? in an American election to the equivalent of the Eucharist. In fact, we might make it higher than the Eucharist for as best I can tell the majority of Christians I know aren?t really bothered when they miss the Eucharist a time or two, but hell would have to freeze over before they would miss voting. (I suggest we could even bring down this empire if 37 million evangelicals would just refuse to vote! But I digress). At the risk of sounding trite (and making too much of my habit of going to McDonalds), I think resisting the powers of injustice is mostly about doing the small things. We have to sit, be present, and cooperate with what is just, resist what is not, and of course bring the peace and reconciliation of God in Christ to everything in these places we inhabit. At the risk of making my McDonald?s habit more holy than it is (I admit I first started going to this McDonald?s because of it?s PlayLand. I took my 3 year-old and I was able to get some work done too. In other words, my McD?s habit might reflect poorly on my parenting as well as my eating habits if I were to be totally honest ), I think we must beware of concentrating too much on every way every system corrupts and/or undermines God?s justice and salvation in the world. Let?s pay attention for sure. Avoid what we can. But let?s not end up refusing to participate entirely in the systems (I?m thinking about voting this election!). We might find ourselves in paralysis by analysis. We might not even be able to walk out the door in the morning. We have to start somewhere and for me that somewhere is local. With my neighbor. Hanging where he or she hangs. Watching, praying, being with, all the while staying in integrity and doing what I?m called to be doing.  For me, in Rolling Meadows/Arlington Heights Illinois, that?s my local McDonald?s.

In answer to Will Clegg I said the following:

Will,
McD?s is where my peeps go ? it is the intersection of Rolling Meadows/middle class Arlington Heights(to be distinguished from upper class Arlington heights) where I live. I admit it?s a bit of a compromise ? but I follow Aquinas?s dictum ?to my neighbors first.? Justice starts in my relationships communally in the neighborhood ? here at McD?s is excellent place to have those relationships ?
Now I admit, supporting McD?s and some of its overtly capitalist excesses might seem a problem. But the peeps here might indeed be undermining it. They can?t be making money on us. We mostly drink the coffee, and alot of these peeps take advantage of the ?senior? discount. McD?s at times is forced to see injustice issues in the store (at times) ? say treatment of immigrants etc?
If I had alternatives in the hood, that were not McD?s, I?d probably prefer it ? but as is?given the ubiquity of McD?s everywhere ? I just don?t see the advantage of singularly avoiding it when so many people go there ? My strategy is to go and subvert ? participate as much as possible .. ceasing to participate when it is sin (i.e. eating a Big Mac) ? Perhaps this alone will bring McD?s to become a more just place?
? til then ? til maybe we all meet at each others? homes (which the McD?s peeps do sometimes) ? I?ll continue to infest these places for Kingdom!!
Blessings .. good to hear from you!!

In short, when engaging the systems of injustice in the world, we might have to actually inhabit, engage and be present in order to bring justice to overwhelmingly large systems. In the words of Brian Gumm, we might have to ?find small fissures in the empire, enter in, and subvert from within to whatever limited degree we can.?

So what say you? Yes or No to McDonald?s. And if anyone suggests I need to switch to Starbuck?s, I?ve got one sentence for you: ?Fair Trade? is a Consumerist Label the Capitalist Empire Has Absorbed to Make You feel Better When You Go To A Upper Class Snob Fest.

There, I feel better (smile, wink). (That?s for my Portland and Seattle bros ? especially Bob Hyatt).

OK, Am I in trouble now?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reclaimingthemission/go/~3/rlAUpz_lULA/

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Memphis police briefly detained a photojournalist and erased images he had recorded on his cell phone on Sunday, Jan. 29, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Police are investigating the incident, the group added.

Casey Monroe, a photographer with ABC 24 News, had used his cell phone to film the arrest of a man who had gotten into an argument with an officer over a parking violation, ABC 24 reported.

On Tuesday, Jan. 31, the National Press Photographers Association (NPAA) sent a letter to the Memphis Police Department calling the police’s actions “reprehensible” as “behavior that chills free speech and unreasonably seizes property is extremely unprofessional, at worst it is criminal.” The letter, written by Mickey H. Osterreicher, general counsel for the NPAA, went on to say that taking photos or videos in public is “protected by the First Amendment and may not be restricted by officers wishing to avoid the documentation of their actions. This is just the most recent incident in a rash of similar police abuses across the country.”

The Ohio Newspaper Association also noted “increasing reports from around the country of police deleting content from citizens? and journalists? cell phones and cameras without warrants or probable cause,” adding that this “activity by police likely is illegal.”

Monroe’s detention comes just as six more journalists were arrested covering the Occupy protests.

The November arrest of another reporter, Katelyn Ferral of the News & Observer newspaper in Raleigh, N.C., prompted the town of Chapel Hill to apologize to the journalist for the Chapel Hill Police Department?s actions, the Raleigh Telegram reported. Ferral, who was covering the SWAT team forcibly removing Occupy Chapel Hill protesters, was arrested, handcuffed, and forced to stay face-down on the pavement.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kcblogen/~3/9vXKdNTsICU/memphis-police-detain-tv-photojournalist-delete-his-cell-phone-images

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The 26-year-old Brazilian newspaper Já was forced to close after a court sentenced the publication to pay damages to the mother of the ex-governor of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Germano Rigotto, reported the newspaper O Expresso on Jan. 26. The newspaper had a circulation of five thousand in the city of Porto Alegre.

The newspaper, edited by Elmar Bones da Costa, faced civil and criminal charges for publishing a story in May 2001, titled “The Rigotto Case–$65 million and two unsolved deaths” about the governor’s brother’s involvement in a corruption ring. The piece was awarded the ARI prize from the Rio Grande do Sul Press Association and a regional Esso prize in journalism, according to the website Sul 21.

Despite successfully defeating the criminal charges, Bones was charged in civil court to pay the Rigotto family more than $9,800 in 2003. The editor appealed the decision but, in 2009, when the fine had reached almost $32,000, the plaintiffs asked that 20 percent of the newspaper’s gross revenue be frozen. In 2010, Rigotto’s lawyers successfully petitioned the court to freeze the personal bank accounts of Bones and his associate, journalist Kenny Braga, reported Conversa Afiada.

In an interview with the newspaper Sul 21, Bones said that “the intimidation that a civil suit provokes in a newsroom is a feeling experienced more and more frequently in the Brazilian press, suffocated by ‘financial censorship’ from court cases used to silence criticisms of dishonest politicians and officials.”

Judicial prosecutions are becoming a threat to press freedom in Brazil. Community-based and small-scale media outlets are especially vulnerable, considering the economic and logistical hurdles involved in defending lawsuits. The website Congresso em Foco is currently the target of a legal strategy utilizing the courts as a tool for censorship.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kcblogen/~3/uu0knDIhZZ4/community-newspaper-brazil-forced-close-after-years-lawsuits

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I don’t know if you guys are familiar with LifeWay Women, but they have some incredible bible studies over there!  I am really excited that their newest study, Nehemiah: A Heart That Can Break, by Kelly Minter, will be kicked off  tomorrow with a live webcast and Facebook party at 11 a.m. (CST) Feb. 1, 2012!
The party will get started with live segments and online guests participation with special guests Beth Moore and Lisa Harper.  Oh and did I mentioned giveaways?  The ?Nehemiah? Facebook party giveaways include:

? Kindle Fire
? $100 LifeWay Gift Card
? Bundle of other LifeWay Women products, such as No Other Gods Bible study,
Ruth Bible study, Loss, Love & Legacy CD, and a Nehemiah kit
? Nehemiah kit
? Tickets to LifeWay?s new Abundance event

Here is what the author, Kelly Minter had to say about the study, ?My goal in this study is not to uncover every word [in Nehemiah], but to follow missional themes about service, Kingdom work, tender hearts, prayer, love of the poor and the sacredness of Scripture,? said Minter.

WOW!  I don’t know about you, but that sounds like an amazing study to me!  I can’t wait to get my hands on this book!!

I hope to see you over at the party tomorrow!

Source: http://www.heartandsoulreflections.com/2012/01/lifeway-womens-newest-study-nehemiah.html

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Last night I had dinner with a friend I had not seen in over a year. During that time We kept in touch through short emails and phone calls, but it wasn?t the same as spending time with her. When she walked into the restaurant and we sat down to talk, it was like we never were separated. We quickly caught up with each others family, and then started talking about ourselves ? the highs and lows of our lives, our common friends and plans for the future. Later that evening , when we each went our separate ways, I felt like I was wrapped in a warm blanket of love and friendship.

Isn?t it amazing how a couple of hours of friendship can buoy your heart and soul?

Last fall I had the opportunity to share God?s love and offer friendship to a young lady from Beijing. I met her while I was visiting Vatican City and had stopped to rest in the main plaza. We were talking about our travels and common things, like the importance of having comfortable shoes when traveling. Out of the blue she asked me if I believed in God. Wow, I thought, Jesus hold on to me now!

She told me that her grandmother believed in Buddha and that her mother and her believed in ?nothing.? Her visits to the large Catholic churches in Italy had concerned her because she could not understand how or why women would be praying to God and crying. Why would these women be crying when they were praying? What would God do for them? How did they know if God answered their prayers?

I took a few moments to consider the best way to approach these questions. I wanted her to know the joy and friendship Jesus offers believers, and that prayer works. I asked if when something wonderful happens she had ever wondered why. She replied it was just good luck. I asked her if she could consider that maybe God heard her desires and granted them. She said she had never thought of it that way. I then asked where she took her problems. It took her a few minutes, but she replied she had nowhere to take her problems; she just dealt with them herself.

I asked her to pray the next time she had a problem. Give God the burden, I said, just as those women in church were doing when they were weeping and praying. I asked her to open her heart and let God in, he would be there forever. I explained to her I have never felt utterly alone because I knew Jesus was with me everyday.

I saw interest in my new friend?s face. She left to explore Vatican City, I hope a different person. I hope she too felt like she was wrapped in a warm blanket of love and friendship.

Featured image: Ecoasis/Photoxpress

About the Author

Tammy Monjaras

Tammy Monjaras serves the St. Anthony Messenger Press as the Division Director of Customer Satisfaction. As an avid reader herself she loves speaking to customers about the latest books St. Anthony Messenger Press offers. Tammy is a native Texan but has called Cincinnati home for the past 15 years with her husband Richard, three children and 2 grandchildren.

Source: http://blog.americancatholic.org/2012/01/a-warm-blanket-of-love-and-friendship/

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