TWILIGHT
ZONE
***The Boy Scouts gotta go says ACLU. From New York City to Chicago to Portland, OR the ACLU orchestrates the attack on the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). They successfully sue to boot the scouts out of public schools and off public property for holding fast to their commitment to God and moral straightness. In San Diego in 2003 the scouts were banned from Balboa Park, a recreation area they leased, developed, and maintained for almost a century. The community which also used the park was a major beneficiary of a million dollars worth of scout investment over the years. No more. It violates the separation of church and state says a U.S. district judge. San Diego paid the ACLU almost a million dollars in court costs and lawyers fees because U.S. Code 42, section 1988 says judges may award plaintiffs damages in “civil rights” cases. [Yippee! WE PAY the ACLU to trash the Ten Commandments, censor nativity displays, and beat up the Boy Scouts. Talk about being mugged twice!] The ACLU’s agenda includes forcing BSA to make their campouts and jamborees trolling grounds for sodomite leaders. [Parents, just think of your 12-year-old son sharing a tent with a man who finds him sexually attractive.] A boy scout promises to keep himself “physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.” That’s a problem? Absolutely say the pimps at the ACLU.
***Gay/Straight alliance clubs gotta stay. And pimps they are! The ACLU’s Every Student, Every School program, run by their Gay and Lesbian Project, targets kids from elementary through high school, (particularly in rural areas) with “gay” propaganda. The gay/straight clubs are an integral part of the agenda to redefine same sex deviance as normal. [Gotta change that red election map to blue and get rid of those “values voter!”] A 96 page training manual gives activists detailed tips on infiltrating the system. While clubs pretend to be about ending harassment, they are, in reality, all about making “gays” a privileged minority above criticism. And they’re doing it. Hundreds of gay/straight clubs have formed over the past few years including one at Harrisonburg High School in the Shenandoah Valley of VA. It became the center of controversy recently when state delegate Glenn M. Weatherholtz indicated he would introduce a bill banning the groups in VA schools. It won’t be easy. According to the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) at least 40 gay/straight clubs operate in Virginia, two in Washington, D.C. and 54 in Maryland. [Another reason home schooling continues to grow exponentially.] Demand for these clubs is NOT coming from students, but outside agitators like the ACLU and “gay” and lesbian groups. The ACLU solicits students with the motto, “Get busy, get equal: start a gay/straight alliance.” What they don’t tell kids is the price they’ll pay if they practice this diseased lifestyle.
***It’s almost tax time. Do you know where your wallet is? Between federal, state, and county income tax, payroll tax, real estate, gas, and sales tax, taxes on your phone, heat, water, and sewer, personal property tax, unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation tax, Medicare and Social Security tax… [Have we got them all yet?] airplane, train, and hotel tax when you travel, restaurant tax, cigarette tax if you smoke, breathing tax. [Oops, no charge for that yet.] most of us work until sometime in May before we’ve paid Uncle Sam his “share.” That’s 5 months out of 12. But for many so-called social justice advocates that isn’t enough. Last year All Saints Church in Manassas ran a half page bulletin notice on February 15 bemoaning the fact that Virginia doesn’t provide enough government services or rake in enough taxes. The state “ranked 12th among the 50 states in per capita personal income, but 38th in per capita state spending.” [Play those violins!] The article called the tax system in the state unfair comparing the percentage of income paid by the lowest 20% with those in the highest 1%. The implication of the article was that most of us don’t pay enough taxes and government doesn’t provide enough services. The pastor’s column reiterated the message saying, “We can invest heavily in the world’s riches or invest in the Kingdom of God. [Hmm...If you have season tickets to the theatre, or the Redskins’ games are you “heavily invested” in the world?]
***Before you melt into a guilt puddle… let’s take a closer look at this. Must one choose between God and Mammon? Absolutely! The goods of this world must serve the Master. But can you “invest heavily in the world’s riches AND invest in the Kingdom of God?” Of course! A millionaire businessman (and friend of Les Femmes) who runs a box factory providing jobs for thirty-five families, pays fair wages, gives generous bonuses, attends church, promotes family values among his workers, supports community charities, etc. is doing more to advance the kingdom of God than 50 liberal nuns taking time out from picketing the Pentagon to lobby for more tax dollars for their pet projects. Yes, there are legitimate functions of government and we should pay taxes to meet those responsibilities, but government charity is an oxymoron. Government accrues power. Give it a function, say helping the homeless. It creates and staffs a bureaucracy, hires consultants to study the issue, holds regular meetings, [at fancy hotels where bureaucrats eat bagels and danish and pontificate eloquently about the homeless with whom they NEVER dirty their hands], etc. How much money or service gets to the actual man on the grate? A penny on a dollar? A nickel for every $20? [Are we being optimistic?]
Jesus didn’t tell government to do charity. He told individuals to love their neighbors. Maybe this year at tax time All Saints will do a story on Legatus, a group of corporate CEOs dedicated to living their Catholic faith in the marketplace. Legatus means ambassador. These men and women promise to spread the faith by good example, good deeds, and high ethical standards. If every business in the U.S. lived by Legatus ideals, we’d be well on the way to eliminating poverty. Remember, Uncle Sam uses your money to fund abortion, contraception, sodomy, etc. And you can’t boycott! Fight higher taxes at every opportunity and send YOUR MONEY to the charities YOU CHOOSE. Be generous “for with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you.” Luke 6:38
***VIRTUS: Protecting our bishops! We’d all like to think programs like VIRTUS will protect our children from predators. But they seem to be more about protecting our bishops from future damages. VIRTUS, used in 77 dioceses, is a project of the National Catholic Risk Retention Group (NCRRG) an insurance company owned by a number of U.S. bishops. VIRTUS is described as the “Cadillac” of safe environment programs with a cost in the same ballpark. According to the NCRRG website, their first goal is “to design, implement and monitor such risk financing plans as will maximize earnings and minimize risk.” (our emphasis) Of course! It’s an insurance program. Note well: The risk here is NOT the risk to our children but the liability risk to the insured, i.e., the dioceses/bishops. VIRTUS and other diocesan insurance programs are about liability limitation FOR THE BISHOPS. With Weakland, MacCormack, Law, O’Brien, etc. it was the ordinaries who committed criminal acts. O’Brien, of Phoenix went so far as to relinquish diocesan administration to the state to save his own skin. This is not primarily about protecting children.
Which brings us back to Arlington. We are using the VIRTUS adult program and Harrisburg’s Formation in Christian Chastity for the children. Most of the training in grades 1– 4 is done at home, but first grade has ONE classroom session. Its objective? “Students will understand the difference between good touch – bad touch.” [Have we been here before?] Why this ONE class in four years at the very beginning? A still unanswered question may explain it: “Will a parent who opts his child out of the classroom component be accused of negligence if [God forbid!] the child is molested by a diocesan employee?” Sadly this question must be asked because shifting blame from dioceses to abuse victims and their parents has been a key strategy of diocesan lawyers in the past. In view of the 25-page diocesan policy outlining reporting requirements for employers and volunteers, a second question arises. “Will the blame for failing to stop abuse/negligence be shifted from the bishops to pastors, parents, teachers, and volunteers because they should have recognized abuse and reported it? The bishop has insurance, lawyers, and the diocesan bank account to manage his risk. Not so the rest of us. The question remains on the table: Will the bishop promise parents the diocese will never use against them their decision to opt their children out of classroom touching programs?
***Ecumenism in the streets! Ecumenism isn’t happening so much at joint religious services that muddy doctrinal differences and promote spiritual indifferentism. It’s happening outside abortion mills where pro-lifers from all faiths fight for God’s precious ones. Recently in Wichita an evangelical group picketed the La Quinta Inn (LQ) which was being used by infamous late term abortionist George Tiller as a medical annex to his mill. Nurses staffed rented rooms to monitor patients and dispense medication while the mothers went through the several days’ procedure required to kill their late-term infants. Thousands of pro-lifers protested to LQ’s corporate headquarters. As a result, they sent an investigative team to Wichita and ordered the LQ there to stop using rooms for medical purposes. LQ also notified Tiller he may not use LQ’s name in his brochures or on his website. This was a major victory for people of faith!