Is America Exceptional?
In pursuit of the truth - cinops be gone - Monday, Jan. 7, 2013
We have excerpts from an insightful speech given by Norman Podhoretz delivered Sept. 12, 2012 at the Hillsdale College, and posted in IMPRIS, Oct. 2012, Vol. 41, Number 10.
First of all, unlike all other nations past or present, this one accepted as a self-evident truth that all men are created equal. What is meant was that its Founders aimed to create a society in which, for the first time in the history of the world, the individual’s fate would be determined not by who his father was, but by his own freely chosen pursuit of his own ambition…
Secondly, in all other countries membership or citizenship was a matter of birth, of blood, of lineage, or rootedness in the soil. Thus foreigners who were admitted for one reason or another could never become full-fledged members of the society. But America was the incarnation of an idea, and therefore no such factors came into play. To become a full-fledged American, it was only necessary to pledge allegiance to the new Republic and to the principles for which it stood.
Thirdly, in all other nations, the rights, if any, enjoyed by their citizens were conferred by human agencies: … In America, by contrast, the citizen’s rights were declared from the beginning to have come from God and to be “inalienable” - that is immune to legitimate revocation…
We have excelled by following our Founding Fathers in directing our energies, as our Constitution exhorts us to do, to the preservation of the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, as well as to the pursuit of happiness tacitly understood by the Declaration of Independence to require prosperity as a precondition. (In his original draft of the Declaration, of course, Jefferson used the word “property” instead of “pursuit of happiness.”) …
So far as liberty is concerned, until recently no one but libertarian have been arguing that we were insufficiently free in the United States… Judging by what they say and the policies they pursue modern liberals are not all that concerned about liberty. What they really care about, and what they assign a higher value to, is economic equality( as reflected in the now famous phrase, “spread the wealth around”)…
Yet after surveying the numbers, the economist Walter Williams of George Mason University asks an excellent question: “What standard of fairness dictates that the top ten percent of income earners pay 71 percent of the federal income tax burden while 47% percent of Americans pay absolutely nothing?” … The petering out of the Occupy Wall Street movement has recently confirmed, what Tocqueville observed on this point in the 1830s remains true today, Americans, unlike Europeans, he wrote, “do not hate the higher classes of society” even if “they are not favorable inclined toward them…”…
With all exceptions duly noted, I think it is fair to say that what liberals mainly see when they look at America today is injustice and oppression crying out for redress. By sharp contrast, conservatives see a complex of traditions and institutions built upon the principles that animated the American Revolution and have made it possible … for more freedom and more prosperity to be enjoyed by more of its citizens than in any other society in human history…
Consider the many apologies President Obama has issued for misdeeds of which he imagines Americans have been guilty in our relations with other countries in general and Muslim world in particular. Never mind that the U.S. has spilled blood and treasure to liberate and protect many millions of people from the totalitarian horrors first of Nazism and then of Communism…
The liberal community seems to think that the rest of the world would be better off without the United States… but most conservatives do not believe that a radical diminution of American power and influence would be good for us or for the world….
George H. Kubeck - The reelection of Obama was a tragedy and our country will experience it.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Ted Cruz Wins US Senate Seat in Texas
Ted Cruz Wins US Senate Seat in Texas
In pursuit of the truth - cinops be gone - Sunday, Jan. 6th, 2013
Preface: How fortunate the citizens of Texas are in having a Republican Party that respects and works directly with pro-life, pro-marriage and pro-family citizens. And that includes all who are also associated with the Tea Party Patriots which well-informed Catholics are also members.
Texas is a state that has about the same make-up of citizens like California. They passed the Parental Notification law to inform parents of a minor’s abortion years ago. (about 60%) They also have laws protecting the unborn and de-funding of Planned Parenthood. Thanks to the CINOP (Catholic-in-name-only politician) we failed to pass California’s Parental Notification at least twice. Texas is a Right to Work State. We in California failed to pass Proposition 32 which would have protected an individual’s choice to contribute monies for political agendas.
Proposition 32 is about: you pay for your political and social agenda and I will pay for mine. But don’t force me to pay for yours as condition for my employment. Well in California you are required to pay the union dues. You can’t decide. The union bosses know what is best for you. Recall the teacher unions forcing their members with their money contributions to defeat Proposition 8 - Marriage between a man and woman in California.
As a retired public school teacher this is an insult to the teaching profession which is supposed to be independent-minded. Well thanks to the union teacher Rodda Act of 1975 signed by CINOP Governor Brown we have a politicized leftist social engineering teaching profession in California. This is a tragedy for our children’s education. We are also stuck with two pro-abort, gay-sex marriage Senators Feinstein and Boxer. Thanks to the CINOP, like Beccerra and others.
++++++++++++
Breadth of Fresh Air Report: Think about it. Senator Fred Cruz beat his Democratic opponent Paul Sadler 57% to 40%. Could you imagine this happening in California? Fred Cruz had to win the Republican primary. He ran against a well known and established Republican. He was 11 points behind and in the runoff beat him by 14 points. Why?
Let’s get to some excerpts from the newsletter of the Leadership Institute V. 19, No. 8 Winter/12 - www.leadershipinstitute.org - 1101 North Highland St., Arlington, Virginia 22201
“Cruz served as a leadership Institute volunteer faculty member. He hired LI alumni to help in his campaign… Tea Party-backed Cruz won the endorsement of individuals like Senators Jim Demint and Rand Paul, former Senator Rick Santorium, Congressman Ron Paul, and former Governor Sarah Palin…
“Cruz chose Leadership Institute graduate Nick Dyer as his Youth Coordinator, whose job was to identify and organize conservative leaders on campuses throughout the state. “ I worked with them to facilitate projects that I learned about in LI’s Youth Leadership School. We built a network of volunteers that were integral to the success of the campaign,” said Dyer… “LI’s training has given me an invaluable foundation for political action. Whether it is techniques for Get Out The Vote, messaging, volunteer recruitment, or youth outreach, I use something I have learned from LI every day… We recruited, activated, and motivated thousands of volunteer.”…
“Leadership Institute faculty member Vincent Harris managed Cruz’s digital strategy and online presence… “The Cruz campaign ran the most integrated statewide digital strategy in the history of American politics.”… article written by Shane Seegers.
George H. Kubeck, I hope the above can happen in California. It is also a false idea to parrot that same-sex marriage is a conservative or Republican idea.
In pursuit of the truth - cinops be gone - Sunday, Jan. 6th, 2013
Preface: How fortunate the citizens of Texas are in having a Republican Party that respects and works directly with pro-life, pro-marriage and pro-family citizens. And that includes all who are also associated with the Tea Party Patriots which well-informed Catholics are also members.
Texas is a state that has about the same make-up of citizens like California. They passed the Parental Notification law to inform parents of a minor’s abortion years ago. (about 60%) They also have laws protecting the unborn and de-funding of Planned Parenthood. Thanks to the CINOP (Catholic-in-name-only politician) we failed to pass California’s Parental Notification at least twice. Texas is a Right to Work State. We in California failed to pass Proposition 32 which would have protected an individual’s choice to contribute monies for political agendas.
Proposition 32 is about: you pay for your political and social agenda and I will pay for mine. But don’t force me to pay for yours as condition for my employment. Well in California you are required to pay the union dues. You can’t decide. The union bosses know what is best for you. Recall the teacher unions forcing their members with their money contributions to defeat Proposition 8 - Marriage between a man and woman in California.
As a retired public school teacher this is an insult to the teaching profession which is supposed to be independent-minded. Well thanks to the union teacher Rodda Act of 1975 signed by CINOP Governor Brown we have a politicized leftist social engineering teaching profession in California. This is a tragedy for our children’s education. We are also stuck with two pro-abort, gay-sex marriage Senators Feinstein and Boxer. Thanks to the CINOP, like Beccerra and others.
++++++++++++
Breadth of Fresh Air Report: Think about it. Senator Fred Cruz beat his Democratic opponent Paul Sadler 57% to 40%. Could you imagine this happening in California? Fred Cruz had to win the Republican primary. He ran against a well known and established Republican. He was 11 points behind and in the runoff beat him by 14 points. Why?
Let’s get to some excerpts from the newsletter of the Leadership Institute V. 19, No. 8 Winter/12 - www.leadershipinstitute.org - 1101 North Highland St., Arlington, Virginia 22201
“Cruz served as a leadership Institute volunteer faculty member. He hired LI alumni to help in his campaign… Tea Party-backed Cruz won the endorsement of individuals like Senators Jim Demint and Rand Paul, former Senator Rick Santorium, Congressman Ron Paul, and former Governor Sarah Palin…
“Cruz chose Leadership Institute graduate Nick Dyer as his Youth Coordinator, whose job was to identify and organize conservative leaders on campuses throughout the state. “ I worked with them to facilitate projects that I learned about in LI’s Youth Leadership School. We built a network of volunteers that were integral to the success of the campaign,” said Dyer… “LI’s training has given me an invaluable foundation for political action. Whether it is techniques for Get Out The Vote, messaging, volunteer recruitment, or youth outreach, I use something I have learned from LI every day… We recruited, activated, and motivated thousands of volunteer.”…
“Leadership Institute faculty member Vincent Harris managed Cruz’s digital strategy and online presence… “The Cruz campaign ran the most integrated statewide digital strategy in the history of American politics.”… article written by Shane Seegers.
George H. Kubeck, I hope the above can happen in California. It is also a false idea to parrot that same-sex marriage is a conservative or Republican idea.
Friday, January 4, 2013
A Lesson About European Socialism
A Lesson About European Socialism
In pursuit of the truth- cinops be gone - Friday, Jan. 4, 2013
By a Danish bank executive on LI-organized speaking tour
Newsletter of the Leadership Institute, Vol. XIX - No. 19 - Winter/13 - www.leadershipinstitute.org
Saxo Bank CEO Lars Seier Christensen speaks to students at Liberty University about the dangers of socialism. As Shakespeare wrote, something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
“Many who are fighting socialism in the United States, very frankly, don’t have a clear or systematic understanding of what socialism actually does to a country.” With these words, Morton Blackwell, president of the Leadership Institute, launched a week-long speaking tour and introduced Lars Seier Christensen to an audAb to hear vivid, first-hand illustration of socialist policies and their effects in Denmark.
Dane warns Americans about socialist danger: Christensen, founder and co-CEO of Saxo Bank in Denmark, embarked on a five-day speaking and media tour October 15-19 organized by the Leadership Institute across three states and Washington, D.C. The tour included lectures at the University of North Carolina, Liberty University, and the Heritage Foundation, and several interviews, including the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business News, and Glenn Beck TV.
…“America stands at a crossroads between capitalism and prosperity or European-style socialism and economic decline. Mr. Christensen’s message could neither be more timely nor more important.”
Denmark: people addicted to handouts: Christensen used his homeland of Denmark to teach what America will become if its current course is not changed. Since Denmark is so far down the road of socialism, it is almost impossible to change the hearts and minds of its citizens who are addicted to government handouts and entitlements.
To pay for these handouts, the government levies a tax burden on each middle-class citizen of 80-85%. This rate is higher than in Cuba or other dictatorships. With a political spectrum further to the left than the US, only one party in Denmark can be considered opposed to socialism, and its push for lower taxes, limited government, and reduced public sector expenditures now garners only 5% of the vote. The conservative message is marginalized and distrusted because of its association with capitalism. Most Danes believe private sector financial success can only be achieved at the expense of others or by bending or breaking the law. Socialist create the illusion of tax reform by shifting the money from one pocket to the other.
Socialism destroys the will to work, and the state sponsors it: Christensen shared with his audience an example of the outrageous state-sponsored abuse of entitlements. In Denmark, a dispute arose between two politician. The socialist argued for more entitlements to help the “poor.” The conservative challenged the socialist to find a poor person in Denmark. The best example the socialist could find was a woman, late called “Carina the Pauper” by the media. Carina, a 36-year old able-bodied woman who never worked a day in her life, receives a $2,600-a-month government stipend. After expenses of housing, utilities, internet, big-screen cable TV, pet food, cigarettes, and her son’s soccer lessons, she is still left with $1,000 per month. Many Danish citizens were shocked to learn about Carina, who appeared ungrateful even after receiving more income from tax-derived handouts than the working class earns.
Snoopers for the nanny state: To maintain this welfare state, the government has set up telephone hotlines for citizens to report neighbors who many be cheating the social welfare programs or not paying their taxes properly. The Danish tax authorities can walk into a person’s home on suspicion, whereas permission to search for a suspected terrorist is much more difficult.
Lars Christensen’s lectures opened the eyes of many thousands of students and citizens. Americans would do well to heed Christensen as a prophet who has seen the future of socialism and how a country is dragged down when the incentives to work and produce are destroyed.
George H. Kubeck- Obama’s policies will become today’s Denmark in America.
In pursuit of the truth- cinops be gone - Friday, Jan. 4, 2013
By a Danish bank executive on LI-organized speaking tour
Newsletter of the Leadership Institute, Vol. XIX - No. 19 - Winter/13 - www.leadershipinstitute.org
Saxo Bank CEO Lars Seier Christensen speaks to students at Liberty University about the dangers of socialism. As Shakespeare wrote, something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
“Many who are fighting socialism in the United States, very frankly, don’t have a clear or systematic understanding of what socialism actually does to a country.” With these words, Morton Blackwell, president of the Leadership Institute, launched a week-long speaking tour and introduced Lars Seier Christensen to an audAb to hear vivid, first-hand illustration of socialist policies and their effects in Denmark.
Dane warns Americans about socialist danger: Christensen, founder and co-CEO of Saxo Bank in Denmark, embarked on a five-day speaking and media tour October 15-19 organized by the Leadership Institute across three states and Washington, D.C. The tour included lectures at the University of North Carolina, Liberty University, and the Heritage Foundation, and several interviews, including the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business News, and Glenn Beck TV.
…“America stands at a crossroads between capitalism and prosperity or European-style socialism and economic decline. Mr. Christensen’s message could neither be more timely nor more important.”
Denmark: people addicted to handouts: Christensen used his homeland of Denmark to teach what America will become if its current course is not changed. Since Denmark is so far down the road of socialism, it is almost impossible to change the hearts and minds of its citizens who are addicted to government handouts and entitlements.
To pay for these handouts, the government levies a tax burden on each middle-class citizen of 80-85%. This rate is higher than in Cuba or other dictatorships. With a political spectrum further to the left than the US, only one party in Denmark can be considered opposed to socialism, and its push for lower taxes, limited government, and reduced public sector expenditures now garners only 5% of the vote. The conservative message is marginalized and distrusted because of its association with capitalism. Most Danes believe private sector financial success can only be achieved at the expense of others or by bending or breaking the law. Socialist create the illusion of tax reform by shifting the money from one pocket to the other.
Socialism destroys the will to work, and the state sponsors it: Christensen shared with his audience an example of the outrageous state-sponsored abuse of entitlements. In Denmark, a dispute arose between two politician. The socialist argued for more entitlements to help the “poor.” The conservative challenged the socialist to find a poor person in Denmark. The best example the socialist could find was a woman, late called “Carina the Pauper” by the media. Carina, a 36-year old able-bodied woman who never worked a day in her life, receives a $2,600-a-month government stipend. After expenses of housing, utilities, internet, big-screen cable TV, pet food, cigarettes, and her son’s soccer lessons, she is still left with $1,000 per month. Many Danish citizens were shocked to learn about Carina, who appeared ungrateful even after receiving more income from tax-derived handouts than the working class earns.
Snoopers for the nanny state: To maintain this welfare state, the government has set up telephone hotlines for citizens to report neighbors who many be cheating the social welfare programs or not paying their taxes properly. The Danish tax authorities can walk into a person’s home on suspicion, whereas permission to search for a suspected terrorist is much more difficult.
Lars Christensen’s lectures opened the eyes of many thousands of students and citizens. Americans would do well to heed Christensen as a prophet who has seen the future of socialism and how a country is dragged down when the incentives to work and produce are destroyed.
George H. Kubeck- Obama’s policies will become today’s Denmark in America.
Monday, December 31, 2012
The Catholic Vote in 2012
The Catholic Vote in 2012
Let the light of truth open your mind! - cinops be gone - Monday, Dec. 31, 2012
We have the winners and the losers!
Prologue: 1) “O Lord, my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot in your hands.” (Ps. 16:5)
“Because the cup is in his hands, the only losing lot would be refusal to accept at all the lot from his hands.” Pope Benedict XVI, “Co-Workers of the Truth” - Meditation, Dec. 31st.
2) Just prior to the election in November of 1884, our founder of the Knights of Columbus, the Venerable Servant of God Father Michael McGivney gave his congregation some important advice about the upcoming election. He said: “In casting your ballots, you should look well to the responsibilities under which every citizen of this free government is place. Let not the soft or alluring words of tricky politicians, or the seductive dollar turn you a hair’s breadth from your lawful path. Vote not as other men dictate, but rather like men with the interest of your country at heart. Vote according to the dictates of your own consciences.” Vote with a well formed conscience.
References: a) The 1600 letters on my blog. They seems idealistic, naïve to reality, too honest and truthful. Cinops be gone supports loyalty to the Pope, the Magisterium and The Catechism of the Catholic Church. b) http://cal-catholic.com/wordpress/2012/10/11/lets-be-clear-about-confusion/
Public Notice: The meeting of “Co-Workers of the Truth Fellowship” will be on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, 9-10:15 A.M. at Chick-Fil-A, corner of 605 Freeway and Carson St. in Long Beach.
There is no religious or political power greater than the truth. The truth is shunned not only in secular but also in religious society. The winners of the Catholic Vote in 2012 were dissident Catholics within the American Catholic Church. The losers were faithful Catholics who try to follow the ten commandments and believe in The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Recall we won in the 2010 elections. Many CINO politicians were defeated. We will win again in 2014.
When you have 50% of the so-called Catholics vote for Obama and only 20% of Evangelicals voted for Obama, what does that mean? It means that Evangelicals are Christian, understand the issues, and have a well-formed conscience. One day Catholics will do likewise. May I share with you several loser organizations which we have financially supported.
Losers Organizations: National Right to Life, Human Life International, Catholic Advocate, Catholics for the Common Good, Priests for Life, Catholic Answers, American Life League, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, National Pro-Life Alliance, Lifesitenews.com, EWTN, Knights of Columbus, Cardinal Newman Society, Fellowship of Catholic University Students, National Catholic Register, First Things, Mindszenty Report, Eagle Forum etc. Losers were also Talk Radio, Voters Guide for Serious Catholics, the Test of Fire Video, CatholicVote.org, Catholic.com., etc.
The Winning Persons and Organizations: The CINOP (Catholic-in-name-only politician and persons), V.P. Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Governors Jerry Brown and Andrew Cuomo, Senators Dick Durbin and John Kerry, Father Michael Pfleger, Chicago’s pastor of Community of Saint Sabrina all liberal Catholics, Chris Matthews, Bill Press, E.J. Dionne, Mark Shields, Commonweal, America, National Catholic Reporter, Dissident Catholic professors and teachers, Jesuit Colleges, Catholics United, Catholics for Free Choice, Catholic Alliance for the Common Good, The guide Forming Consciences of Faithful Citizenship, also bishops and priests who are Democrats first & priest second.
Happy New Year,
George H. Kubeck, - Maybe you can go to the following conference and ask questions.
P.S. Ave Maria Communications Presents: “Catholic Witness In a Nation Divided”, Sat. Jan. 12, 2013, 9 AM - to 5 PM - Grand Ballroom in Eastern Michigan University’s Student Center, 900 Oakwood St., Ypsilanti, Mi 4819, Speakers include Gerald Bradley, Bill May, Fr. Frank Pavone, Deal Hudson, Dick Thompson, Monica Miller, David Grobbel, Teresa Tomeo, Kevin Appleby, Rob Muise, Greg Popcack, Fr. Robert Sirico, Al Kesta etc. Tickets are $40., and at the door $50. Lunch provided. For more info tel. 734-358-9876 or www.avemariaradio.net
Let the light of truth open your mind! - cinops be gone - Monday, Dec. 31, 2012
We have the winners and the losers!
Prologue: 1) “O Lord, my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot in your hands.” (Ps. 16:5)
“Because the cup is in his hands, the only losing lot would be refusal to accept at all the lot from his hands.” Pope Benedict XVI, “Co-Workers of the Truth” - Meditation, Dec. 31st.
2) Just prior to the election in November of 1884, our founder of the Knights of Columbus, the Venerable Servant of God Father Michael McGivney gave his congregation some important advice about the upcoming election. He said: “In casting your ballots, you should look well to the responsibilities under which every citizen of this free government is place. Let not the soft or alluring words of tricky politicians, or the seductive dollar turn you a hair’s breadth from your lawful path. Vote not as other men dictate, but rather like men with the interest of your country at heart. Vote according to the dictates of your own consciences.” Vote with a well formed conscience.
References: a) The 1600 letters on my blog. They seems idealistic, naïve to reality, too honest and truthful. Cinops be gone supports loyalty to the Pope, the Magisterium and The Catechism of the Catholic Church. b) http://cal-catholic.com/wordpress/2012/10/11/lets-be-clear-about-confusion/
Public Notice: The meeting of “Co-Workers of the Truth Fellowship” will be on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, 9-10:15 A.M. at Chick-Fil-A, corner of 605 Freeway and Carson St. in Long Beach.
There is no religious or political power greater than the truth. The truth is shunned not only in secular but also in religious society. The winners of the Catholic Vote in 2012 were dissident Catholics within the American Catholic Church. The losers were faithful Catholics who try to follow the ten commandments and believe in The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Recall we won in the 2010 elections. Many CINO politicians were defeated. We will win again in 2014.
When you have 50% of the so-called Catholics vote for Obama and only 20% of Evangelicals voted for Obama, what does that mean? It means that Evangelicals are Christian, understand the issues, and have a well-formed conscience. One day Catholics will do likewise. May I share with you several loser organizations which we have financially supported.
Losers Organizations: National Right to Life, Human Life International, Catholic Advocate, Catholics for the Common Good, Priests for Life, Catholic Answers, American Life League, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, National Pro-Life Alliance, Lifesitenews.com, EWTN, Knights of Columbus, Cardinal Newman Society, Fellowship of Catholic University Students, National Catholic Register, First Things, Mindszenty Report, Eagle Forum etc. Losers were also Talk Radio, Voters Guide for Serious Catholics, the Test of Fire Video, CatholicVote.org, Catholic.com., etc.
The Winning Persons and Organizations: The CINOP (Catholic-in-name-only politician and persons), V.P. Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Governors Jerry Brown and Andrew Cuomo, Senators Dick Durbin and John Kerry, Father Michael Pfleger, Chicago’s pastor of Community of Saint Sabrina all liberal Catholics, Chris Matthews, Bill Press, E.J. Dionne, Mark Shields, Commonweal, America, National Catholic Reporter, Dissident Catholic professors and teachers, Jesuit Colleges, Catholics United, Catholics for Free Choice, Catholic Alliance for the Common Good, The guide Forming Consciences of Faithful Citizenship, also bishops and priests who are Democrats first & priest second.
Happy New Year,
George H. Kubeck, - Maybe you can go to the following conference and ask questions.
P.S. Ave Maria Communications Presents: “Catholic Witness In a Nation Divided”, Sat. Jan. 12, 2013, 9 AM - to 5 PM - Grand Ballroom in Eastern Michigan University’s Student Center, 900 Oakwood St., Ypsilanti, Mi 4819, Speakers include Gerald Bradley, Bill May, Fr. Frank Pavone, Deal Hudson, Dick Thompson, Monica Miller, David Grobbel, Teresa Tomeo, Kevin Appleby, Rob Muise, Greg Popcack, Fr. Robert Sirico, Al Kesta etc. Tickets are $40., and at the door $50. Lunch provided. For more info tel. 734-358-9876 or www.avemariaradio.net
Saturday, December 29, 2012
The Mystery of Creation
The Mystery of Creation
In pursuit of the truth - cinops be gone - Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012
Excerpts from “The Catechism of the Catholic Church”
IV. The Mystery of Creation - God creates by wisdom and love
295. We believe that God created the world according to his wisdom. It is not the product of any necessity whatever, nor of blind fate or chance. We believe that it proceeds from God’s free will, he wanted to make his creatures share in his being, wisdom and goodness.
296. We believe that God need no preexistent thing or any help in order to create, nor is creation any sort of necessary emanation from the divine substance. God creates freely, “out of nothing.”
297. Scripture bears witness to faith in creation “out of nothing” as a truth full of promise and hope. Thus the mother of seven sons encourages them for martyrdom….
298. Since God could create everything out of nothing, he can also through the Holy Spirit, give spiritual life to sinners by creating a pure heart in them….
God creates an ordered a good world
299. Because God creates through wisdom, his creation is ordered: “You have arranged all things by measure and number and weight.”… “And God saw that it was good … very good” for God willed creation as a gift addressed to man, an inheritance destined for and entrusted to him….
God transcends creation and is present to it
300. God is infinitely greater than all his works: “You have set your glory above the heavens.” Indeed, God’s “greatness is unsearchable.” …
God upholds and sustains creation
30l. With creation, God does not abandon his creatures to themselves. He not only gives them being and existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being, enables them to act and brings them to their final end….
V. God Carries Out His Plan: Divine Providence
302. Creation has it own goodness and proper perfection, but it did not spring forth complete from the hands of the Creator. The universe was created “in a state of journeying” (in statu viae) toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained, to which God has destined it. We call “divine providence” the disposition by which God guides his creation toward this perfection:….
303. The witness of Scripture is unanimous that the solicitude of divine providence concrete and immediate; God cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history.
304. And so we see the Holy Spirit, the principal author of Sacred Scripture, often attributing actions to God without mentioning any secondary causes….
305. Jesus acts for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father who takes care of his children’s smaller needs: ….
Providence and secondary causes
306. God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it out he also makes use of his creature’s cooperation….
307. To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of “subduing” the earth and having dominion over it….
308. The truth that God is at work in all the actions of his creatures is inseparable from faith in God the Creator. God is the first cause who operates in and through secondary causes:…
Providence and the scandal of evil
309. If God the Father almighty, the Creator of the ordered and good world, care for all his creatures, why does evil exist? … Only Christian faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this question: … There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an answer to the question of evil…. ghk
In pursuit of the truth - cinops be gone - Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012
Excerpts from “The Catechism of the Catholic Church”
IV. The Mystery of Creation - God creates by wisdom and love
295. We believe that God created the world according to his wisdom. It is not the product of any necessity whatever, nor of blind fate or chance. We believe that it proceeds from God’s free will, he wanted to make his creatures share in his being, wisdom and goodness.
296. We believe that God need no preexistent thing or any help in order to create, nor is creation any sort of necessary emanation from the divine substance. God creates freely, “out of nothing.”
297. Scripture bears witness to faith in creation “out of nothing” as a truth full of promise and hope. Thus the mother of seven sons encourages them for martyrdom….
298. Since God could create everything out of nothing, he can also through the Holy Spirit, give spiritual life to sinners by creating a pure heart in them….
God creates an ordered a good world
299. Because God creates through wisdom, his creation is ordered: “You have arranged all things by measure and number and weight.”… “And God saw that it was good … very good” for God willed creation as a gift addressed to man, an inheritance destined for and entrusted to him….
God transcends creation and is present to it
300. God is infinitely greater than all his works: “You have set your glory above the heavens.” Indeed, God’s “greatness is unsearchable.” …
God upholds and sustains creation
30l. With creation, God does not abandon his creatures to themselves. He not only gives them being and existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being, enables them to act and brings them to their final end….
V. God Carries Out His Plan: Divine Providence
302. Creation has it own goodness and proper perfection, but it did not spring forth complete from the hands of the Creator. The universe was created “in a state of journeying” (in statu viae) toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained, to which God has destined it. We call “divine providence” the disposition by which God guides his creation toward this perfection:….
303. The witness of Scripture is unanimous that the solicitude of divine providence concrete and immediate; God cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history.
304. And so we see the Holy Spirit, the principal author of Sacred Scripture, often attributing actions to God without mentioning any secondary causes….
305. Jesus acts for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father who takes care of his children’s smaller needs: ….
Providence and secondary causes
306. God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it out he also makes use of his creature’s cooperation….
307. To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of “subduing” the earth and having dominion over it….
308. The truth that God is at work in all the actions of his creatures is inseparable from faith in God the Creator. God is the first cause who operates in and through secondary causes:…
Providence and the scandal of evil
309. If God the Father almighty, the Creator of the ordered and good world, care for all his creatures, why does evil exist? … Only Christian faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this question: … There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an answer to the question of evil…. ghk
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Dr. Larry P. Arnn's Imprimis answers Questions
Dr. Larry P. Arnn’s Imprimis answers Questions
In pursuit of the truth - cinops be gone - Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012
Dr. Arnn is the twelfth president of Hillsdale College. Imprimis is a publication of the College with over 2,600,000 readers monthly. It is free. www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis.asp
The following is adapted from an interview by Hugh Hewitt for the Hugh Hewitt Radio Show on the day after the election, Nov. 7, 2012. (December 2012 Issue) (Hugh is on daily 3-6 PM., KLAC 870)
Hugh Hewitt: (HH) In his introduction to The City and Man, Leo Strauss wrote this: “The crisis of the West consists in the West’s having become uncertain of its purpose.” Is that applicable to what we see in our politics today?
Larry P. Arnn: (LPA) It is certainly true that the vast majority of our nation’s elites today - those who welcome the results of yesterday’s election - are creatures of modern historicist thought, which explicitly rejects the kind of objective principles - equality under God, inalienable rights - equality under God, inalienable rights - on which America was founded. According to modern historicism, the only objective truth is that one can’t know an objective truth.
President Obama embraces this view in no uncertain terms in his book The Audacity of Hope: “Implicit … in the very idea of ordered liberty,” he writes, is “a rejection of absolute truth, the infallibility of any idea or ideology or ‘ism,’ any tyrannical consistency that might lock future generations into a single unalterable course ….” So much for individual rights & limited government.
HH: You mentioned Reagan, who always seemed to know, as Solzhenitsyn knew, that it was all papier-mâché in the Soviet Union - that you could poke a stick through it and it would fall apart. It was held together by fear. But modern bureaucratic government operates in such a way as to gain people’s allegiance and trust. Isn’t that a significant difference between the two?
LPA: The experts who run the modern bureaucratic state think they are architects of a perfectly rational society. They think of themselves as scientists, and of the running of government as something more like science - the science of administration - than politics.
They think they can coordinate society comprehensively so that no one is left out. That’s why they think of their work as something good and as something high.
The problem is that what they are trying to do defies human nature - the human nature that led James Madison to write famously that men are not angels, and that led the Framers of the Constitution to divide government in order to limit government - and so what these experts are doing will ultimately lead to despotism.
But to speak directly to your question, Hugh, there are many indications that there’s a deep and even intensifying opposition to bureaucratic government today. People don’t like it, and they don’t trust it. They want less of it. And I don’t believe that yesterday’s election signified any change in that. Now, how to harness that opinion politically is the challenge. No one has yet been able to capitalize upon it.
HH: What would be your advice as to what constitutional conservatives should be saying?
LPA: One obvious theme to strike is that people didn’t vote for, and don’t support, higher taxes and bigger government. But conservative statesmen have to get better. Calvin Coolidge once said that great statesman are “ambassadors of providence, sent to reveal to us our unknown selves.”
What that means is that great statesmen are not going to be around very often. I’d say that the standard of conservative statesmanship today is improving, but too few prominent conservatives are skillful at explaining the problem of the modern bureaucratic state.
This form of government proceeds by rules, and rules upon rules, and compliance with those rules, and compliance with those rules become a key activity of the entire nation. That results in bureaucracy, and in the inefficiencies of bureaucracy. Constitutional government, on the other hand, proceeds by clearly states laws…
George H. Kubeck
In pursuit of the truth - cinops be gone - Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012
Dr. Arnn is the twelfth president of Hillsdale College. Imprimis is a publication of the College with over 2,600,000 readers monthly. It is free. www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis.asp
The following is adapted from an interview by Hugh Hewitt for the Hugh Hewitt Radio Show on the day after the election, Nov. 7, 2012. (December 2012 Issue) (Hugh is on daily 3-6 PM., KLAC 870)
Hugh Hewitt: (HH) In his introduction to The City and Man, Leo Strauss wrote this: “The crisis of the West consists in the West’s having become uncertain of its purpose.” Is that applicable to what we see in our politics today?
Larry P. Arnn: (LPA) It is certainly true that the vast majority of our nation’s elites today - those who welcome the results of yesterday’s election - are creatures of modern historicist thought, which explicitly rejects the kind of objective principles - equality under God, inalienable rights - equality under God, inalienable rights - on which America was founded. According to modern historicism, the only objective truth is that one can’t know an objective truth.
President Obama embraces this view in no uncertain terms in his book The Audacity of Hope: “Implicit … in the very idea of ordered liberty,” he writes, is “a rejection of absolute truth, the infallibility of any idea or ideology or ‘ism,’ any tyrannical consistency that might lock future generations into a single unalterable course ….” So much for individual rights & limited government.
HH: You mentioned Reagan, who always seemed to know, as Solzhenitsyn knew, that it was all papier-mâché in the Soviet Union - that you could poke a stick through it and it would fall apart. It was held together by fear. But modern bureaucratic government operates in such a way as to gain people’s allegiance and trust. Isn’t that a significant difference between the two?
LPA: The experts who run the modern bureaucratic state think they are architects of a perfectly rational society. They think of themselves as scientists, and of the running of government as something more like science - the science of administration - than politics.
They think they can coordinate society comprehensively so that no one is left out. That’s why they think of their work as something good and as something high.
The problem is that what they are trying to do defies human nature - the human nature that led James Madison to write famously that men are not angels, and that led the Framers of the Constitution to divide government in order to limit government - and so what these experts are doing will ultimately lead to despotism.
But to speak directly to your question, Hugh, there are many indications that there’s a deep and even intensifying opposition to bureaucratic government today. People don’t like it, and they don’t trust it. They want less of it. And I don’t believe that yesterday’s election signified any change in that. Now, how to harness that opinion politically is the challenge. No one has yet been able to capitalize upon it.
HH: What would be your advice as to what constitutional conservatives should be saying?
LPA: One obvious theme to strike is that people didn’t vote for, and don’t support, higher taxes and bigger government. But conservative statesmen have to get better. Calvin Coolidge once said that great statesman are “ambassadors of providence, sent to reveal to us our unknown selves.”
What that means is that great statesmen are not going to be around very often. I’d say that the standard of conservative statesmanship today is improving, but too few prominent conservatives are skillful at explaining the problem of the modern bureaucratic state.
This form of government proceeds by rules, and rules upon rules, and compliance with those rules, and compliance with those rules become a key activity of the entire nation. That results in bureaucracy, and in the inefficiencies of bureaucracy. Constitutional government, on the other hand, proceeds by clearly states laws…
George H. Kubeck
Monday, December 24, 2012
Feast of the Holy Innocents
Feast of the Holy Innocents
Procession and Eucharistic Celebration
Please join us in Prayer for the Unborn
Friday, December 28 - 7 pm to 9 pm
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church,
900 W. La Habra Blvd.
La Habra, 90631
7:00 pm Candlelight Procession from City Hall,
221 E. La Habra Blvd. (just east of Euclid)
7:30 pm Eucharistic Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe
8:30 pm Refreshments in Msgr. Coleman Center
For information: Bob Kurtz at 714-447-9281 or Mecki 714-871-5382
++++++++++++
Festividades de los Santos Inocentes
Procession y Celebracion de Misa
Por favor unase a nosotros en Oracion por los ninos que no han nacido todavia
Viernes, Diciembre 28, 2012 - 4:45 pm - 6:45 pm
Inglesia Sacred Heart Church, Palm Desert
5 pm Salida del Christ of the Desert Chapel
Fred Waring & San Pablo
5:30 pm Misa en law Iglesia de Nuestra Sacred Heart
Fred Waring & Deep Canyon
6:30 pm Tiempo Para tomar Refrescos en el St. Theresa Meeting Room
Favor llamar Barbara - 760 - 902 - 1315
Procession and Eucharistic Celebration
Please join us in Prayer for the Unborn
Friday, December 28 - 7 pm to 9 pm
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church,
900 W. La Habra Blvd.
La Habra, 90631
7:00 pm Candlelight Procession from City Hall,
221 E. La Habra Blvd. (just east of Euclid)
7:30 pm Eucharistic Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe
8:30 pm Refreshments in Msgr. Coleman Center
For information: Bob Kurtz at 714-447-9281 or Mecki 714-871-5382
++++++++++++
Festividades de los Santos Inocentes
Procession y Celebracion de Misa
Por favor unase a nosotros en Oracion por los ninos que no han nacido todavia
Viernes, Diciembre 28, 2012 - 4:45 pm - 6:45 pm
Inglesia Sacred Heart Church, Palm Desert
5 pm Salida del Christ of the Desert Chapel
Fred Waring & San Pablo
5:30 pm Misa en law Iglesia de Nuestra Sacred Heart
Fred Waring & Deep Canyon
6:30 pm Tiempo Para tomar Refrescos en el St. Theresa Meeting Room
Favor llamar Barbara - 760 - 902 - 1315
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