Comeuppance

St. Louis. The "Arched' gateway to the West. The St. Louis Cardinals the reigning World Champs of baseball for the 11th time in their storied history. The homeland of Anheuser Busch, the king of beers. Missouri Botanical the finest garden in North America is in St. Louis. St. Louis is my birthplace and the home of the Corrigans from County Carlow for five generations. St. Louis remains an opportunity for immigrants and the industrious. Catholicism and decency still reigns in St. Louis. Pride in my homeland? You bet!

But all that aside, I've never been more proud to be a native St. Louisan than right now. Why? Because of one man. He is another native St. Louisan, recently named Cardinal (not with the birds on the bat but with the angels above) by the sitting Pope Benedict XVI in Rome, his name, a fellow Irish Catholic, Timothy Dolan.

Presently, Cardinal Dolan is the top Catholic Bishop in all of the United States. His physical address is St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City. That is he in the top picture above. The bottom picture is of President Obama and his Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Kathleen Sebelius. These two are locked in a major fight for America's moral conscience or what is left of it. Take a good look at those two pictures above. Striking contrast. Dolan looking fierce for what he believes in. Obama and Sebelius looking cunning and unctous. Authentic versus fake. So what's the big deal?

What's at stake is the protection of the basic tenents in the Constitution and our governance as a democracy. Dolan represents his church of 60 million American Catholics. Obama represents an over-reaching government who is telling the Church what to do and when to do it in full violation of the First Amendment. The Constitution's very first words are "We the People..." not, we the ruling party. Obama's misreading of the Constitution and of his own learned leitmotif that more government is better than less government whatever the costs, has placed him at odds with not only Catholics but millions of citizens that believe in the rights as protected in our Constitution.

Mistakenly and with great hubris, Obama cavalierly ordered Catholic institutions to adhere to his ObamaCare's flawed and unseemly governmental mandate of including access to free birth control and abortifacient drugs. Problem. It violated the beliefs of the Catholic Church. What happened to church and state separation as protected in the First Amendment? President Obama, by his own constitutional miscalculation and EVERYTHING he does is calculated, awakened the great big sleeping dog, the Catholic Church. Enter Timothy Dolan.

Dolan is Obama's worse nightmare. Regardless of the apparent insitutional evisceration of many Church leaders over the last few years, Dolan is the exception. Maybe the disgusting and nagging church pedophilia issue had something to do with this collective church emasculation and shuttering of forceful opinion. In any event, whatever dirty laundry the Catholic Church may have, it hasn't effected the ferocity of one Timothy Dolan, in being a lion for his faith. Dolan is the backbone of the American Catholic Church of today. This is his private fight against tyranny but he's not alone. Millions of Main Street Catholics and other faith-based groups are lining up behind him with purpose afoot...much to "voter-loss angst" of President Obama.

The Catholic Church has endured centuries of attack. This is minor moment in history compared to the last pagan Emperor of Rome, Julian "the Apostate", in 360AD, one of the worst persecuters of Christianity ever. But this current headline shall soon pass with President Obama's glorious defeat in November. For I'm certain, we have Timothy Dolan on the side of conscience instead of Obama's peculiar secularism.

So, you go Bro Dolan...return President Obama back to that political paradiso called Chicago...permanently. A broken Chicago will embrace him more than a bruised and battered country he left behind.

tick...tick...tick...

Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel and Ehud Barak, Israeli Defense Minister

Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, describes Israel as a "cancerous tumor of a state"

Khamenei's latest hateful quote about the State of Israel

Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense

You're a country of 6 million human beings surrounded by adversarial countries that want to murder all of your citizens. All they need is a device to perform that act...and the device is in the oven. And if that country is Israel, with a 4,000 year history of horrors against its' people, most recently the WWII German holocaust which murdered 6 million Jews, what would you do as Israeli leaders? Bibi Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, pictured above, entrusted with the future of the Jewish people, know what to do and they aren't telling.

Iran's leadership, the most demonstratively hate-filled government on planet earth, is allegedly a few months away from producing their own "Doomsday weapon". All the while, the Israelis watch, wait and plan.

Since 2002, Iran has been not-so-furtively building a deliverable weapon with the help of the Russians and the Pakistani mad scientist, Abdul Kahn. Their very public motivation for a nuclear arsenal is fourfold: "wipe Israel off the face of the map" because of their "Zionist" treatment of their beloved Palestinian Muslim brothers, conquer and control the oil-producing countries of the Mideast, deter the United States from any future military action against them or their Moslem brotherhood and foment and bankroll criminal mayhem in the United States and elsewhere around the globe. Today, Iran is a dangerous hostile country hellbent on Israel's total destruction. Tomorrow, with nukes, Iran becomes 1000 times more dangerous and threatening to the entire world.

Iranian leaders have proclaimed that with nuclear weapons "Israel can be eliminated in nine minutes" and with that 4000 years of history. And what is Israel's response to this proclaimed madness? Israel has a right to exist and they will defend their country and their people regardless of world opinion.

Israel's point of response to their dovish critics is clear with a posited question: if America was the recepient of endless violence and rocket launches against their homeland by neighbors, what would America do? Diplomacy. Sanctions. Covert missions. Surrender. Military action. Simple answer. Hopefully, America would defend itself with aggressive military action against their enemies. So, why would anybody expect Israel be any different or is there a different standard of behaviour expected of Israel?

Recently, the chatter about a preemptive Israeli attack is increasing in volume. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta revealed in a curiously-timed controversial opinion with David Ignatius of the Washington Post that "there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June before Iran enters what the Israelis describe as a 'zone of immunity' to commence building a nuclear bomb." Israel's response to Panetta's comments by the former head of Mossad, Israel's CIA, Meir Amit, "suprise is one of the secrets" that Israel will employ with great effectiveness as they employed in the 6 Day War against Egypt 45 years ago. Little Israel defeated the massive Egyptian army then, as they plan to do against the Iranians now. And if they strike first, it will become very messy for both sides and their allies. As an Israeli general said recently, "we're not perfect but if we don't do something, we will all be perfectly dead."

But it's not a question of if, it's a question of when. Israel will defend itself. They always have regardless of what other countries try to impose upon them.

And what of the Iranian people? How do they think and feel about this pending doom? Tragically, they have no say on the matter. The deranged emboldened Mullahs of theocratic Iran are leading them right over the cliff....and for what?

Welcome to the Mideast, the land of a million questions and very few answers.

The True Conservative

On a frigid Monday evening in Denver before today's Colorado Republican caucus, 300 of Senator Rick Santorum's closest allies and friends in the neighborhood assembled to hear him speak at University of Denver's Cable Center.

His speech was short and to the point. This honorable man of faith-freedom-family all presently under seige from the Obama adminstration, asked a simple question: can this country survive four more years of an administration that censures faith groups, increases government control at the expense of individual freedom and imperils the sanctity of family? From the audience resounded a thunderous NO!

On the subject of faith, Santorum pointed to the current mandate from our federal government and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), that forces Catholic hospitals, schools and other charities to provide health insurance that covers free contraception, including abortifacient drugs to their employees. To adhere to this mandate would totally violate the moral conscience and belief of the Catholic Church. Furthermore, if the Catholic groups refuse to comply, they will face prohibitive penalties. 150 plus Catholic bishops around the country have spoken out against this mandate in recent weeks. This past week, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, in charge of Catholic military chaplains, sent out a letter to their outposts around the world to be read on Sunday services challenging the governmental mandate. However, the Catholic chaplains around the globe were "forbidden" from reading this letter. Why? The Army's Chief of Chaplains sent out a bulletin that read, "by reading the letter...it would encourage civil disobedience and could be read as seditious against the Commander-in Chief." The letter was censured and subsequently watered-down by our own United States government.

On the subject of freedom, Santorum cited ObamaCare, federal bailouts and cap and trade, Obama's trifecta for revolutionary change that emboldens government and decreases individual liberties. As we all know by now, ObamaCare is about as popular in the country as a root canal for various reasons. As Santorum noted, the same Bishops that are now raising holy hell against the HHS mandate, stupidly and regrettably supported ObamaCare including contraception in 2008. In fact, Santorum stated that the Bishops were so enamored with ObamaCare, that Obama gave a rousing commencement address at the "not-so-Catholic-anymore" University of Notre Dame in 2009, when Obama said: "Let's honor the conscience of those who disagree wth abortion and draft a sensible conscience clause." Seems like Obama changed his mind about accomodating conscience since his duplicitous speech at Notre Dame. Santorum warned the bishops then and reminds them now, "...be careful who you lie in bed with." The chagrined bishops learned the hard way.

On the subject of family, Santorum cited the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman and warned against the present day assault on the sacredness of that sacrament from the gay and lesbian block. Santorum must have known something was up to bring this topic to the fore. The day after his speech, "the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that Proposition 8 of 2008, voter-approved ban on same sex marriages is unconstitutional because it violates the 14th Amendment of equal protection under the law." The voters voted YES for the ban on same sex marriages in 2008. The court in San Francisco ruled 2-1 NO against the ban in 2012 and overruled the vote of the people. An appeal to the US Supreme Court is now imminent. Major showdown a-comin' next year.

After noting the differences between himself and Governor Romney, who Santorum said, "is uniquely unqualified to take on Obama over the issue of ObamaCare because of RomneyCare which is the very template used for ObamaCare", he asked one final question of all of us in the hall: "how much are you willing to fight for this country and for freedom?" He answered his own rhetorical question quoting from the final sentence of the Declaration of Independence of 1776, "And the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."

This honest man from Pennsylvania came to Denver last night, spoke with clarity of conviction, a faith based compassion for others, with honor, with integrity and an authentic sense of what is right and what is wrong. He has not wavered and not capitulated in his convictions over time. Love him or hate him, he is the truest conservative left standing in this complex and confusing race.

Finally, he challenged all of us in the hall last night with a generational call to action in preserving our freedom and rights as protected in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. "Our country needs us now", he bellowed. Suggesting, if we don't act with honor, freedom as we have known it, is in peril for us and for our children.

Think about that when you're inside the voting booth or by absentee ballot in November.

The Wind Under Robert's Wings

On this Super Sunday, I pay a special tribute to Myra Kraft, Robert Kraft's wife of 48 years, who died in July after an 18 month battle against ovarian cancer. As you may know, Robert Kraft is the owner of the New England Patriots, winners of three previous Super Bowls, who today are facing the New York Giants in the 46th Super Bowl in Indianapolis.

But what you may not know, is that Myra was not only Robert's wife but as Jonathan Kraft, oldest of four sons, said of his mother at her funeral, "Anything my father has achieved in life, was a joint effort with my mother. She had a hand in everything he did." Myra was Robert's mensch. Robert would concur with the powerfully moving words as sung by Bette Midler in, Wind Beneath My Wings, that Myra was indeed "my hero, and everything I would like to be...I can fly higher than an eagle, 'cause you are the wind beneath my wings."

But Myra was much more than Robert's energetic and faithful life partner. She was a mother of four sons, an educated woman, one of Boston's largest philanthropists and a spiritual woman of Jewish faith that gave generously to all causes both in this country and abroad. Additionally, Myra possessed the caring loving heart of a mother but also the heart of a lionness for those less fortunate, neglected or abused.

In 1996, when the Patriots drafted a fifth round defensive tackle from University of Nebraska, Christian Peter, Myra sooon discovered that Peter had a history of violence against women. Peter was dismissed before training camp. It was the first time in NFL history that a drafted player was waived before training camp. Myra's strong hand at work.

Last summer while Myra was dying, Robert was at her side heartbroken. Myra, though weak, exhorted her husband to attend the negotiating sessions with the other owners and players in hammering out a new labor deal. She knew of her husband's special skills in negotiating. She commanded him to go...he went to New York conflicted. But every night, he returned to Boston by private jet to be by her side.

The Indianapolis Colts center and one of the leading negotiators for the players during the labor lockout, Jeff Saturday, said of Myra, "Though even in her weakest moments, Mrs. Kraft allowed Mr. Kraft to come and fight this out. Without him, this deal does not get done." (In the middle picture above, that's Jeff Saturday hugging Robert Kraft after the labor deal was struck between owners and players.)

It is appropriate that the New England Patriots are in the Super Bowl today. For without Robert Kraft's involvement in settling the contentious labor dispute there may not be any Super Bowl this Sunday. Things were that bad...Myra knew.

So, as you settle back in your easy chair this afternoon to watch the Super Bowl, take a look at the patch worn by the Patriot players. MHK. These are Myra's initials stitched onto the players jerseys in honor of a great lady. Fittingly, the patch is over the players hearts. (In the bottom picture above, that's running back Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis pointing to the MHK patch in the AFC Championship game two weeks ago.)

Whatever happens this afternoon on that field...whomever you are rooting for, remember the love affair these two had for one another, Myra and Robert, for that trumps everything you can put on a scoreboard.

But you can bet your bottom dollar that the angel Myra wants the Pats to win...and so do I. You just don't mess with angels.

Ozzie and Harriet 21st Century Style

A striking contrast above, eh?

The top picture. 1952 in the United States. 157 million Americans. Only 20 million tvs in the USA. Television in its black and white infancy. The Ozzie and Harriet Show featuring parents, Ozzie and Harriet and their sons. It was one of the most popular shows on television through the late '50s and early '60s, depicting Hollywood's version of the happy and carefree American family life. Families, seemingly together, watching, laughing and enjoying one visual stage inside a box with compromise and without remotes.

The bottom picture. Fast forward 60 years to 2012 in the United States. 312 million Americans. 130 million tvs, 230 million cell phones and 30-50 million laptops sold each year in the USA alone. In a little more than a half of century, high definition televisions supplemented by individual laptop computers in full color and in full bloom dominate our time and our interests. Any show on television, any movie or any visual or print media event happening around the world in real time is but an effortless click away from the user's finger. Individuals and families, seemingly together, watching and enjoying whatever they desire in solitude...without compromise...with minimal conversation.

USA population has not only grown over twofold in 60 years but it has also become the most technologically-connected people in the world. When it comes to information and entertainment gathering, we want for nothing. But, has all this embrace of technology come with a heavy price to family closeness?

So, what will family interaction look like in the next 60 years? Surely, we will be connected to everything happening around us at light speed but at what cost to those closest to us?

Amidst all this glorious technology, truly, it is not what we are gaining, but, more importantly, what are we losing that should be asked?

Get the Hook. NOW!!

In yesterday's primary in Florida, Governor Mitt Romney, won a decisive victory by a 15% margin against the historian, orator, windbag, adulterer and Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich.

As the cartoon above prophetically illustrated days before the primary, most women (not including his adoringly obedient wife, #3, Callista) simply don't like or trust Newt. As a result of their innate wisdom on such matters, Newt won only 29% of the women vote. Romney won 51%. With numbers like that from the fourth most populous state in the country, Newt would never be electable. Doesn't he know this? If not, then I'm going to blog him:

Dear Newt,

Please, Newt, for the sake of the party and country spare us any more face time and runaway speeches. You just got hammered by Romney in Florida. Women really don't like or trust you. Based on the Florida results, you are not electable.

Some of your ideas are terrific, ie. 15% flat tax; others are silly, outpost on the moon, really? The electorate is facing the most serious election in recent memory. We don't need a major distraction by a narcissistic career politician such as you gumming up the gears for months "...until the Republican convention in August".

You've had your run, now it's time for you to go far, far away...and fast, before the other candidates completely deplete their resources defending themselves against your scurrilous selfish claims. The nominee will need every dollar for the war awaiting. Sorry, but it's get the hook time for you.

So, Newt, inform your primary financial backers, the Adelsons, to save their money for the bigger fight ahead. And, if it's possible in 'newtworld', put country before self. For your fight is over. Capisce?

Making me cringe in Denver,

The Write Way