“I want to be very clear. We can’t find any social or moral justification, no justification whatsoever, for lack of housing." Pope Francis
"The truth is we are all caught in an economic system which is heartless."
Woodrow Wilson
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Pope Francis On Homelessness: There Is "No Justification Whatsoever For Lack Of Housing"
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Is Masturbation A Homosexual Act?
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"The 1 Line Pope Francis Left Out Of His Speech," NPR
The 1 Line Pope Francis Left Out Of His Speech
A potentially controversial sentence in the prepared text of Pope Francis' address went unspoken when he delivered the speech to Congress.
The line appears to challenge the dominant role of money in American politics.
A paragraph in the prepared text quotes briefly from the Declaration of Independence — the passage on self-evident truths — and then says, "If politics must truly be at the service of the human person, it follows that it cannot be a slave to the economy and finance."
The paragraph defines politics in terms of the "compelling need to live as one" and building a common good that "sacrifices particular interests in order to share, in justice and peace, its goods, its interests, its social life."
That passage would have come up 20 minutes into the speech, but Francis omitted it. It's unclear whether that was purposeful or he inadvertently skipped it. Francis, who has said English is difficult for him, spoke verbatim from his prepared remarks for the entirety of the rest of his speech.
The message would have fit other remarks he made — and has made previously — about economic and political inequality. Last March, the Crux reported on an interview in which Francis criticized political money in Argentina, his home country.
"In the financing of electoral campaigns, many interests get into the mix, and then they send you the bill," Francis was quoted as saying.
He added, "Everything needs to be transparent and clean."
He also and spoke approvingly of public financing: "Perhaps public financing would allow for me, the citizen, to know that I'm financing each candidate with a given amount of money."
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Is Pope Francis Overly-Eager To Preach At The Expense Of Listening? Fred Owens
Thanks for your email.
Someone said "the first duty of a Christian is to listen."
Whether or not listening is our "first" duty, it is a sacred obligation. (Maryknoll lay missioners spend 3-6 months preparing for their assignments. When sent to their final destination they are given this directive: "Spend six months listening to the people." http://www.mklm.org/)
I do not think Francis could have developed his highly "de-conditioned" world-view if he were not a skilled listener.
The flip side of Francis' remarkable de-conditioning is that those who do not listen -- those who refuse to listen, those who are motivated by uncharitable and often cruel adherence to dry doctrine -- end up spouting The Party Line.
The doctrinaire listen to no one but reflections of themselves.
Indeed, they arrange their lives to avoid "the other."
Personally, I cannot conceive that anyone so ready to mingle, touch and embrace as the pope is would not be a good listener.
Not mingling, not touching, not embracing are insular characteristics of those who refuse to listen, those who take pains to avoid situations where they might have opportunity to listen.
I encourage you to keep in mind that this is a whirlwind tour and that the pope's invitation to visit America "contained" an implicit understanding that public appearances would focus on sharing the wisdom he has already embodied, not papal variations of "town hall meetings" or The Jerry Springer Show.
Some hold that Francis' trip to Philadelphia to focus The World Meeting Of Families informed his decision to visit the United States. By all reports he has been listening carefully to what participants are saying.
For my part, I assume Francis has "answers" and that unlike most other world celebrities, he is wise enough to express them by word and deed. Not just by "pontification."
I also assume that Francis will learn a great deal in America and that his meetings with homeless people -- and Fidel Castro! -- are visible emblems of his determination to be open, to meet "the other."
Consider this moment: https://bobsullivan.net/personal/the-little-girl-who-stole-the-show-during-the-popes-visit/
Can you imagine another "world leader" opening to this kind of encounter?
Other world leaders would heed their plutocratic job description and stay within "the bubble."
Francis delights in bursting it.
"Plutocracy Triumphant"Cartoon Compendium
Pax tecum
Alan
Pope Francis: Quotations On Finance, Economics, Capitalism And Inequality
Pope Francis: Quotations On Finance, Economics, Capitalism And Inequality
Pope Francis: One Of The Most Powerful Critiques Of Capitalism You Will Ever Read
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/03/pope-francis-one-of-most-powerful.html
Pope Francis: "This Economy Kills"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/01/pope-francis-this-economy-kills.html
Catholic Social Teaching
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/01/catholic-social-teaching.html
Pope Francis: Moving The Moral Compass
From "The Individual" Toward "The Collective"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/01/pope-francis-moving-moral-judgment-from.html
Pope Francis Takes On The Catholic Bureaucracy
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/12/pope-francis-takes-on-catholic.html
Pro-Science Pontiff: Pope Francis On Climate Change, Evolution And The Big Bang
Pope Francis: What Christianity Looks Like When Believers Realize "God Is Love"
On Fri, Sep 25, 2015 at 10:33 AM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:
The Pope comes to America and talks. He should listen too. He should ask, "how can I help you?"Instead he seems to know the answers and to have the solutions.--My writing blog is Frog Hospital
A photo of Pope Francis on his daily subway commute when bishop of Buenos Aires.
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Fox News Columnist Goes Off The Rails, Links Pope Francis to Satan
"Pope Francis The Destroyer"
"The Thinking Housewife" Slags Pope Francis As "Sloganeering Papal Impostor"
Laura Wood, "The Thinking Housewife," On "Bergolio's Ideology"
Compendium Of "Pax" Posts On "The Thinking Housewife," Laura Wood
Fox News Columnist Goes Off The Rails, Links Pope Francis to Satan
Dartagnan
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Glenn Beck's Regrets Time At Fox: "I Played A Role In Tearing This Country Apart"
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124 Second Video Encapsulates Right-Wing Hatred For Pope Francis
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"John Boehner Was Really Bad At His Job. Things Are About To Get Epically Worse"
EnlargeHouse Speaker John Boehner of Ohio listens during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 13, 2015. The House debates and votes for final passage on NSA Surveillance legislation, known as the USA Freedom Act. The measure seeks to codify President Barack Obama's proposal to end the NSA's collection of domestic calling records. It would allow the agency to request certain records held by the telephone companies under a court order in terrorism investigations. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (Credit: AP)John Boehner was really bad at his job. Now things are about to get epically worse
The right was never controllable. Boehner's enduring shame will be having not reached across the aisle to govern
Yesterday, House Speaker John Boehner was his usual weepy self as Pope Francis spoke to a joint meeting of Congress. Boehner, a Catholic, had invited three popes to address Congress, and Francis finally took him up on the offer—a first in U.S. history. So it wasn’t that surprising to see Boehner, in the background, leaking like a water faucet in disrepair. Only now, we can see those tears in a different light, as Boehner announced his stunning resignation from Congress, effective at the end of October.
There’s little doubt that the proximal cause of Boehner leaving is the GOP’s internal fight over whether to do another government shutdown—this time, aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood, an organization that (at 45 percent) is currently viewed about three more favorably than Congress.
But it’s equally clear the push to oust Boehner has bubbling for some time, though characteristically not with much method or discipline. In late July, North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows surprised everyone with a motion to vacate the chair, which Politico described as “an extraordinarily rare procedural move that represents the most serious expression of opposition to Boehner’s speakership,” going on to note:
GOP leaders were taken completely by surprise. Meadows, a second-term Republican, hadn’t even asked for a meeting with Boehner or other top Republicans to air his gripes.
Boehner had faced a challenge to his leadership before, but not in his most recent election. So the ebbs and flows of opposition have remained relatively opaque, aided by a generally incurious press. Rachel Maddow represents a distinctly discordant view, having repeatedly run segments arguing that “John Boehner is bad at his job.”But it can be argued that Maddow is wrong to blame Boehner for problems that are much bigger than the office he holds, or even the GOP House caucus.
Indeed, viewed through an institutional lens, Boehner’s troubles go back much further, encompassing the all three of his GOP predecessors. In 1998, Newt Gingrich resigned as Speaker, and from Congress, after the GOP lost seats in mid-term elections after intensely pursuing a Clinton impeachment agenda. Just days after the election, CNN reported, “Faced with a brewing rebellion within the Republican Party over the disappointing midterm election, House Speaker Newt Gingrich made the stunning decision Friday to step down not just from the speakership but also from Congress.”
Gingrich’s replacement, Louisiana’s Bob Livingston, resigned just over a month later [video], before even taking office, after his own extra-marital affairs were revealed by Hustler publisher Larry Flynt. Amazingly, Livingston, who had been part of Gingrich’s leadership team devoted to hounding Clinton from office, said in his remarks, “I want so very much to pacify and cool our raging tempers and return to an era when differences were confined to the debate, and not a personal attack or assassination of character.”
Livingston’s deliberately low-key successor, Dennis Hastert, had some troubles in office, but managed to survive with dignity and reputation reasonably intact through eight years of leadership—the longest tenure ever for a Republican—until Democrats retook the House in the 2006 mid-terms. It was only this year that he was criminally charged for lying to federal agents and evading financial reporting requirements, reportedly as part of an attempt to conceal sexual misconduct with a minor, which in turn raised new doubts about his handling of similar problems in the Mark Foley affair, just prior to the 2006 election.
At one level, this record speaks to a lack of personal morality—a key GOP hobby horse for at least the past half century, if not virtually forever. But more deeply, it highlights the inherent dangers stirred up by running political campaigns as moral crusades, which simply cannot be sustained as a means of government in a secular, pluralistic system. The attempt to demonize Planned Parenthood as evil incarnate involves spectacular levels of fraud and deception. Such deception may be sustainable within the bubble of the GOP base, driving the latest mania which appears to have exhausted Boehner’s endurance, but it cannot prevail in the polity at large, unless the elite media are fully on board—as they were in attacking ACORN, orselling the Iraq War—but not for this fight.
Thus, Boehner bows out as an institutional sacrificial lamb. But the only question is: for what? His office offered the following:
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Fareed Zakaria: "If You Have A Problem With Pope Francis... You Have A Problem With Christ"
Jairo Diaz of Fort Lauderdale, FL attends a climate rally the National Mall on Thursday September 24, 2015 in Washington, DC.
Pope Francis: Moving The Moral Compass
From "The Individual" Toward "The Collective"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/01/pope-francis-moving-moral-judgment-from.html
Pope Francis Takes On The Catholic Bureaucracy
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/12/pope-francis-takes-on-catholic.html
Pope Francis: What Christianity Looks Like When Believers Realize "God Is Love"
Pope Francis Links"
http://paxonbothhouses.
Pope Francis Links"
http://paxonbothhouses.
http://paxonbothhouses.
Pope Francis: Quotations On Finance, Economics, Capitalism And Inequality
Pope Francis: Quotations On Finance, Economics, Capitalism And Inequality
Pope Francis: One Of The Most Powerful Critiques Of Capitalism You Will Ever Read
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/03/pope-francis-one-of-most-powerful.html
Pope Francis: "This Economy Kills"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/01/pope-francis-this-economy-kills.html
Catholic Social Teaching
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/01/catholic-social-teaching.html
If you have a problem with Pope Francis’s message, you have a problem with Christ
I am not a Christian. But growing up in India, I was immersed in Christianity. I attended Catholic and Anglican schools from ages 5 to 18, where we would sing hymns, recite prayers and study the Scriptures. The words and actions of Pope Francis have reminded me what I, as an outsider, have always admired deeply about Christianity, that its central message is simple and powerful: Be nice to the poor.
When I came to the United States in the 1980s, I remember being surprised to see what “Christian values” had come to mean in American culture and politics — heated debates over abortion, abstinence, contraception and gays. In 13 years of reading, reciting and studying the Bible, I didn’t recall seeing much about these topics.
That’s because there is very little in there about them. As Garry Wills points out in his perceptive new book, “The Future of the Catholic Church with Pope Francis,” “Many of the most prominent and contested stands taken by Catholic authorities (most of them dealing with sex) have nothing to do with the Gospel.”
The church’s positions on these matters were arrived at through interpretations of “natural law,” which is not based on anything in the Bible. But because those grounds looked weak, conservative clergy sought to bolster their views with biblical sanction. So contraception was condemned by Pope Pius XI, Wills notes, through a pretty tortuous interpretation of a couple of lines in Genesis that say Onan “spilled his seed on the ground” — since it involves ejaculation without the intent of conception.
The ban of women in the Catholic clergy is a similar stretch. When the Anglicans decided to ordain female priests in 1976, Pope Paul VI presented a theological reason not to follow that path. Women could not be priests, he decreed, because Jesus never ordained a female priest. “True enough,” Wills writes. “But neither did he ordain any men. There are no priests (other than the Jewish ones) in the four Gospels. Peter and Paul and their fellows neither call themselves priests nor are called priests by others.”
Pope Francis discusses immigration, climate change, the death penalty and more during his address to Congress.
Wills even takes on abortion, opposition to which some Catholics have taken as fundamental to their faith. “This is odd,” Wills writes, “since the matter is nowhere mentioned in the Old Testament or New Testament, or in the early creeds. But some people are convinced that God must hate such an immense evil and must have expressed that hatred somewhere in his Bible.” In fact, Wills points out, the ban is based on a complex extrapolation from vague language in one verse, Psalm 139:13.
If you want to understand the main message of Jesus Christ, you don’t have to search the Scriptures. He says it again and again. “Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.”
Jesus has specific advice on how to handle the poor. Treat them as you would Christ himself, sell your possessions and give to the poor. When you hold a banquet, Jesus says, do not invite the wealthy and powerful, because you do so in the hope that they will return the favor and reward you. Instead, invite the dispossessed — and you will be rewarded by God. It is because he expects so much from the rich that he said that it was easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get to heaven.
We live in a meritocratic age and believe that people who are successful are more admirable in some way than the rest of us. But the Bible notes that “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise . . . but time and chance happeneth to them all.” In the Kingdom of Heaven, it warns, “the last shall be first, and the first last.” In other words, be thankful for your success, but don’t think it makes you superior in any deep sense.
Commentators have taken Francis’s speeches and sayings and attacked him or claimed him as a Marxist, a unionist and a radical environmentalist. I don’t think the pope is proposing an alternative system of politics or economics. He is simply reminding each of us that we have a moral obligation to be kind and generous to the poor and disadvantaged — especially if we have been fortunate. If you have a problem with this message, you have a problem not with Pope Francis, but with Jesus Christ.
"Pope Francis Recommends Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day And Thomas Merton"
Read more from Fareed Zakaria’s archive, follow him on Twitter orsubscribe to his updates on Facebook.
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The Borowitz Report: "Boehner to Continue Repealing Obamacare After Leaving Congress"
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Boehner to Continue Repealing Obamacare After Leaving CongressBoehner said that he plans to begin every day with a good breakfast, some exercise, and a vote to repeal Obamacare before lunch.CONTINUE READING »
"Obamacare: Where's The Train Wreck?"
"Republicans For Revolution," A Study In Anarchic Apocalypticism Bill Maher: The Zombie Life Cycle Of Republican Lies. They Never - Ever - Die
"American Conservatives And Oppositional-Defiant Disorder" http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/09/arrested-development-american.html
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"Point of View: Dorothy Day And Thomas Merton," Patrick O'Neill
"Pope Francis Recommends Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day And Thomas Merton"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/09/pope-francis-recommends-abraham-lincoln.html
Co-founder of the Garner, North Carolina Catholic Worker House
GARNER -- Following his speech before a joint session of Congress Thursday, Pope Francis had plenty of people turning to their internet search engines to find the identities of two Catholics whose names the pontiff mentioned in the same sentence with Lincoln and Martin Luther King.
Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton -- two of the most influential and inspiring American Catholics of the 20th century -- are rarely mentioned in major speeches by Catholic leaders or from the pulpits of the world's thousands of Catholic churches. That ended when the Pope said of Day: "In these times when social concerns are so important, I cannot fail to mention the Servant of God Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Movement. Her social activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of the saints."
The lead Internet story on Friday's Yahoo News was headlined: "The pope’s favorite American Catholic troublemakers: Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton."
Day, a Catholic pacifist, who is being considered for sainthood, died Nov. 29, 1980 in New York City where she founded the first Catholic Worker House, a place of hospitality and refuge for the down and out who lived in the Bowery section of Manhattan's Lower East Side.
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At her funeral, just around the corner from Mary House, where Day lived and died, mourners were greeted at the church door by Terence Cardinal Cooke of the Archdiocese of New York. Also there were Abbie Hoffman, I.F. Stone, Caesar Chavez, Fr. Daniel Berrigan SJ, among many others.
Until more than two decades after her death, Day was an outlier in the U.S. Church, too radical in her anti-war, pro-worker, anti-government views to be taken seriously. As the years passed, however, Day's story, which she chronicled in her autobiography, "The Long Loneliness," which included her regret over an abortion and her conversion to Catholicism, began to gain followers among Catholic educators and seminary students. Her studies of the lives of the saints fed her love of the Church.
Arrested many times for nonviolent direct action, Day attended mass daily and never strayed from Church doctrine, holding Church leaders accountable for their actions whenever they strayed from Jesus' injunctions or Catholic Social Teaching. An accomplished journalist, Day also published, The Catholic Worker newspaper, which first appeared in 1933 for "a penny a copy," which is still the price today. Her writings against World War II, the Vietnam War, in support of civil rights, workers rights and about the suffering of the poor, were often told in first-person accounts of Day's meetings with those Jesus called "outcasts." Day said, "It's the little works we do," but she also said: "Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy rotten system."
Merton, a Trappist monk and mystic, was also a Catholic convert. He died in an accident on Dec. 10, 1968. A contemporary of Day's and better known of the two, Merton's 1948 autobiography, "The Seven Storey Mountain," which the pope quoted in his speech, was an international best seller, and is still highly regarded. Like Day, Merton maintained a disciplined prayer life, a reverence for the sacraments; he vehemently opposed war, the nuclear arms race, segregation, and various forms of social injustice. Both shared the distinction of having to endure almost unending efforts -- mostly from fellow Catholics -- to stifle their "radical message" that essentially called on humanity to recognize the primacy of Love in a world that was spending more and more of its resources on war making. In their writings, Day and Merton often questioned their own motivations, expressing a depth of humility that helped their readers feel spiritually joined with them in the struggle to fulfill God's will.
Merton's prayer for all people is oft quoted:
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.”
In so many ways Pope Francis is maintaining the status quo when its comes to Church doctrine, but his points of emphasis are unprecedented when it comes to making people think in new ways about scripture and Church teachings -- an effort that links the pontiff intimately with the lives of Day and Merton.
The days of anonymity for the two "American Catholic troublemakers" are no more, and our world will be a better place because of it. A quote from Day says it all: "The only solution is love."
(Patrick O'Neill and his wife, Mary Rider, are cofounders of Garner's Fr. Charlie Mulholland Catholic Worker House, an intentional pacifist, Christian community that offers hospitality to people in crisis. O'Neill attended Dorothy Day's wake and funeral.)
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Pope Francis' Address To The United Nations General Assembly (Full Transcript)
Pope Francis's Address to Congress: Read His Full Speech
As prepared for delivery.
Mr. Vice-President, Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members of Congress, Dear Friends,
I am most grateful for your invitation to address this Joint Session of Congress in “the land of the free and the home of the brave”. I would like to think that the reason for this is that I too am a son of this great continent, from which we have all received so much and toward which we share a common responsibility.
Each son or daughter of a given country has a mission, a personal and social responsibility. Your own responsibility as members of Congress is to enable this country, by your legislative activity, to grow as a nation. You are the face of its people, their representatives. You are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics. A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk. Legislative activity is always based on care for the people. To this you have been invited, called and convened by those who elected you.
Yours is a work which makes me reflect in two ways on the figure of Moses. On the one hand, the patriarch and lawgiver of the people of Israel symbolizes the need of peoples to keep alive their sense of unity by means of just legislation. On the other, the figure of Moses leads us directly to God and thus to the transcendent dignity of the human being. Moses provides us with a good synthesis of your work: you are asked to protect, by means of the law, the image and likeness fashioned by God on every human face.
Today I would like not only to address you, but through you the entire people of the United States. Here, together with their representatives, I would like to take this opportunity to dialogue with the many thousands of men and women who strive each day to do an honest day’s work, to bring home their daily bread, to save money and—one step at a time—to build a better life for their families. These are men and women who are not concerned simply with paying their taxes, but in their own quiet way sustain the life of society. They generate solidarity by their actions, and they create organizations which offer a helping hand to those most in need.
I would also like to enter into dialogue with the many elderly persons who are a storehouse of wisdom forged by experience, and who seek in many ways, especially through volunteer work, to share their stories and their insights. I know that many of them are retired, but still active; they keep working to build up this land. I also want to dialogue with all those young people who are working to realize their great and noble aspirations, who are not led astray by facile proposals, and who face difficult situations, often as a result of immaturity on the part of many adults. I wish to dialogue with all of you, and I would like to do so through the historical memory of your people.
My visit takes place at a time when men and women of good will are marking the anniversaries of several great Americans. The complexities of history and the reality of human weakness notwithstanding, these men and women, for all their many differences and limitations, were able by hard work and self-sacrifice—some at the cost of their lives—to build a better future. They shaped fundamental values which will endure forever in the spirit of the American people. A people with this spirit can live through many crises, tensions and conflicts, while always finding the resources to move forward, and to do so with dignity. These men and women offer us a way of seeing and interpreting reality. In honoring their memory, we are inspired, even amid conflicts, and in the here and now of each day, to draw upon our deepest cultural reserves.
I would like to mention four of these Americans: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton.
This year marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, the guardian of liberty, who labored tirelessly that “this nation, under God, [might] have a new birth of freedom”. Building a future of freedom requires love of the common good and cooperation in a spirit of subsidiarity and solidarity.
All of us are quite aware of, and deeply worried by, the disturbing social and political situation of the world today. Our world is increasingly a place of violent conflict, hatred and brutal atrocities, committed even in the name of God and of religion. We know that no religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism. This means that we must be especially attentive to every type of fundamentalism, whether religious or of any other kind. A delicate balance is required to combat violence perpetrated in the name of a religion, an ideology or an economic system, while also safeguarding religious freedom, intellectual freedom and individual freedoms. But there is another temptation which we must especially guard against: the simplistic reductionism which sees only good or evil; or, if you will, the righteous and sinners. The contemporary world, with its open wounds which affect so many of our brothers and sisters, demands that we confront every form of polarization which would divide it into these two camps. We know that in the attempt to be freed of the enemy without, we can be tempted to feed the enemy within. To imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place. That is something which you, as a people, reject.
Our response must instead be one of hope and healing, of peace and justice. We are asked to summon the courage and the intelligence to resolve today’s many geopolitical and economic crises. Even in the developed world, the effects of unjust structures and actions are all too apparent. Our efforts must aim at restoring hope, righting wrongs, maintaining commitments, and thus promoting the well-being of individuals and of peoples. We must move forward together, as one, in a renewed spirit of fraternity and solidarity, cooperating generously for the common good.
The challenges facing us today call for a renewal of that spirit of cooperation, which has accomplished so much good throughout the history of the United States. The complexity, the gravity and the urgency of these challenges demand that we pool our resources and talents, and resolve to support one another, with respect for our differences and our convictions of conscience.
In this land, the various religious denominations have greatly contributed to building and strengthening society. It is important that today, as in the past, the voice of faith continue to be heard, for it is a voice of fraternity and love, which tries to bring out the best in each person and in each society. Such cooperation is a powerful resource in the battle to eliminate new global forms of slavery, born of grave injustices which can be overcome only through new policies and new forms of social consensus.
Here I think of the political history of the United States, where democracy is deeply rooted in the mind of the American people. All political activity must serve and promote the good of the human person and be based on respect for his or her dignity. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776). If politics must truly be at the service of the human person, it follows that it cannot be a slave to the economy and finance. Politics is, instead, an expression of our compelling need to live as one, in order to build as one the greatest common good: that of a community which sacrifices particular interests in order to share, in justice and peace, its goods, its interests, its social life. I do not underestimate the difficulty that this involves, but I encourage you in this effort.
Here too I think of the march which Martin Luther King led from Selma to Montgomery fifty years ago as part of the campaign to fulfill his “dream” of full civil and political rights for African Americans. That dream continues to inspire us all. I am happy that America continues to be, for many, a land of “dreams”. Dreams which lead to action, to participation, to commitment. Dreams which awaken what is deepest and truest in the life of a people.
In recent centuries, millions of people came to this land to pursue their dream of building a future in freedom. We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners. I say this to you as the son of immigrants, knowing that so many of you are also descended from immigrants. Tragically, the rights of those who were here long before us were not always respected. For those peoples and their nations, from the heart of American democracy, I wish to reaffirm my highest esteem and appreciation. Those first contacts were often turbulent and violent, but it is difficult to judge the past by the criteria of the present. Nonetheless, when the stranger in our midst appeals to us, we must not repeat the sins and the errors of the past. We must resolve now to live as nobly and as justly as possible, as we educate new generations not to turn their back on our “neighbors” and everything around us. Building a nation calls us to recognize that we must constantly relate to others, rejecting a mindset of hostility in order to adopt one of reciprocal subsidiarity, in a constant effort to do our best. I am confident that we can do this.
Our world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Second World War. This presents us with great challenges and many hard decisions. On this continent, too, thousands of persons are led to travel north in search of a better life for themselves and for their loved ones, in search of greater opportunities. Is this not what we want for our own children? We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation. To respond in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal. We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to discard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Mt 7:12).
This Rule points us in a clear direction. Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves. In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us. The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development.
This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global abolition of the death penalty. I am convinced that this way is the best, since every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes. Recently my brother bishops here in the United States renewed their call for the abolition of the death penalty. Not only do I support them, but I also offer encouragement to all those who are convinced that a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation.
In these times when social concerns are so important, I cannot fail to mention the Servant of God Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Movement. Her social activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of the saints.
How much progress has been made in this area in so many parts of the world! How much has been done in these first years of the third millennium to raise people out of extreme poverty! I know that you share my conviction that much more still needs to be done, and that in times of crisis and economic hardship a spirit of global solidarity must not be lost. At the same time I would encourage you to keep in mind all those people around us who are trapped in a cycle of poverty. They too need to be given hope. The fight against poverty and hunger must be fought constantly and on many fronts, especially in its causes. I know that many Americans today, as in the past, are working to deal with this problem.
It goes without saying that part of this great effort is the creation and distribution of wealth. The right use of natural resources, the proper application of technology and the harnessing of the spirit of enterprise are essential elements of an economy which seeks to be modern, inclusive and sustainable. “Business is a noble vocation, directed to producing wealth and improving the world. It can be a fruitful source of prosperity for the area in which it operates, especially if it sees the creation of jobs as an essential part of its service to the common good” (Laudato Si’, 129). This common good also includes the earth, a central theme of the encyclical which I recently wrote in order to “enter into dialogue with all people about our common home” (ibid., 3). “We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all” (ibid., 14).
In Laudato Si’, I call for a courageous and responsible effort to “redirect our steps” (ibid., 61), and to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity. I am convinced that we can make a difference and I have no doubt that the United States – and this Congress – have an important role to play. Now is the time for courageous actions and strategies, aimed at implementing a “culture of care” (ibid., 231) and “an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature” (ibid., 139). “We have the freedom needed to limit and direct technology” (ibid., 112); “to devise intelligent ways of... developing and limiting our power” (ibid., 78); and to put technology “at the service of another type of progress, one which is healthier, more human, more social, more integral” (ibid., 112). In this regard, I am confident that America’s outstanding academic and research institutions can make a vital contribution in the years ahead.
A century ago, at the beginning of the Great War, which Pope Benedict XV termed a “pointless slaughter”, another notable American was born: the Cistercian monk Thomas Merton. He remains a source of spiritual inspiration and a guide for many people. In his autobiography he wrote: “I came into the world. Free by nature, in the image of God, I was nevertheless the prisoner of my own violence and my own selfishness, in the image of the world into which I was born. That world was the picture of Hell, full of men like myself, loving God, and yet hating him; born to love him, living instead in fear of hopeless self-contradictory hungers”. Merton was above all a man of prayer, a thinker who challenged the certitudes of his time and opened new horizons for souls and for the Church. He was also a man of dialogue, a promoter of peace between peoples and religions.
From this perspective of dialogue, I would like to recognize the efforts made in recent months to help overcome historic differences linked to painful episodes of the past. It is my duty to build bridges and to help all men and women, in any way possible, to do the same. When countries which have been at odds resume the path of dialogue—a dialogue which may have been interrupted for the most legitimate of reasons—new opportunities open up for all. This has required, and requires, courage and daring, which is not the same as irresponsibility. A good political leader is one who, with the interests of all in mind, seizes the moment in a spirit of openness and pragmatism. A good political leader always opts to initiate processes rather than possessing spaces (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 222-223).
Being at the service of dialogue and peace also means being truly determined to minimize and, in the long term, to end the many armed conflicts throughout our world. Here we have to ask ourselves: Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society? Sadly, the answer, as we all know, is simply for money: money that is drenched in blood, often innocent blood. In the face of this shameful and culpable silence, it is our duty to confront the problem and to stop the arms trade.
Three sons and a daughter of this land, four individuals and four dreams: Lincoln, liberty; Martin Luther King, liberty in plurality and non-exclusion; Dorothy Day, social justice and the rights of persons; and Thomas Merton, the capacity for dialogue and openness to God.
Four representatives of the American people.
I will end my visit to your country in Philadelphia, where I will take part in the World Meeting of Families. It is my wish that throughout my visit the family should be a recurrent theme. How essential the family has been to the building of this country! And how worthy it remains of our support and encouragement! Yet I cannot hide my concern for the family, which is threatened, perhaps as never before, from within and without. Fundamental relationships are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family. I can only reiterate the importance and, above all, the richness and the beauty of family life.
In particular, I would like to call attention to those family members who are the most vulnerable, the young. For many of them, a future filled with countless possibilities beckons, yet so many others seem disoriented and aimless, trapped in a hopeless maze of violence, abuse and despair. Their problems are our problems. We cannot avoid them. We need to face them together, to talk about them and to seek effective solutions rather than getting bogged down in discussions. At the risk of oversimplifying, we might say that we live in a culture which pressures young people not to start a family, because they lack possibilities for the future. Yet this same culture presents others with so many options that they too are dissuaded from starting a family.
A nation can be considered great when it defends liberty as Lincoln did, when it fosters a culture which enables people to “dream” of full rights for all their brothers and sisters, as Martin Luther King sought to do; when it strives for justice and the cause of the oppressed, as Dorothy Day did by her tireless work, the fruit of a faith which becomes dialogue and sows peace in the contemplative style of Thomas Merton.
In these remarks I have sought to present some of the richness of your cultural heritage, of the spirit of the American people. It is my desire that this spirit continue to develop and grow, so that as many young people as possible can inherit and dwell in a land which has inspired so many people to dream.
God bless America!
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Shaker Aamer: Last British Resident Detainee to Be Released From Guantanamo
An undated handout photo released by Reprieve UK shows Shaker Aamer, the last British resident held at Guantanamo Bay who will be released by the U.S. to Br
Shaker Aamer
Wikipedia
U.K. Detainee Shaker Aamer to Be Released From Guantanamo
Former charity volunteer in Afghanistan has been held in U.S. facility since February 2002
itain after over 13 years at the detention facility. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
LONDON—The last British resident being held in Guantanamo Bay will be released and returned to the U.K., the British government said Friday.
“We have been notified by the U.S. government that it has decided to release Shaker Aamer to the U.K.,” a British government spokesman said. “The government has regularly raised Mr. Aamer’s case with the U.S. authorities and we support PresidentObama’s commitment to closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.”
Mr. Aamer was first cleared for release in 2007 but had continued to remain in custody. Prime Minister David Cameron raised the matter during a meeting in January with President Barack Obama, after which a White House spokesman said the administration had agreed to “prioritize” Mr. Aamer’s transfer. In March, Parliament voted to demand his return to the U.K.
Mr. Aamer’s U.K.-based lawyer, Clive Stafford-Smith, said the release of his client was “great news, albeit about 13 years too late.”
“He should be on a plane tomorrow, so that Shaker’s family do not have to endure more of the agony of waiting, uncertain every time a phone rings,” Mr. Stafford-Smith said.
Mr. Aamer, a Saudi citizen, moved in 1996 to Britain, where he worked as a translator for a legal firm. He later met and married a British woman, which entitled him to British resident status.
He was volunteering for a charity in Afghanistan in 2001 when he was arrested by U.S. forces, which had arrived in the country in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks to oust the Taliban and pursue al Qaeda.
His lawyers said he was kidnapped and sold for a bounty to the coalition, who extracted a false confession out of him under duress. In February 2002, he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay.
In Britain, Mr. Aamer’s cause has been taken up by campaigners across the political spectrum. Demonstrations in support of Mr. Aamer have been an occasional feature of public life; in the spring, Birmingham neurologist David Nicholl ran the London Marathon dressed in an orange jump suit mimicking the outfit worn by Guantanamo inmates in a bid to draw attention to Mr. Aamer’s cause.
Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was released in 2005 and is now an outspoken civil-rights activist on behalf of British Muslims, welcomed the news.
“What he endured is beyond comprehension for most people in the U.K. There is no escaping the story of Shaker Aamer and those who instigated his mistreatment. This will be a black page in the history of the U.K. and U.S.,” said Mr. Begg.
The other 15 British citizens and residents held at Guantanamo have all been sent back to the U.K. Former U.S. President George W. Bush intervened in that prosecution and returned the detainees to Britain at the request of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair.
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What Is Taking Joe Biden So Long?
What Is Taking Joe Biden So Long?
By Jamelle Bouie
Is he this unsure, or does he actually have a plan?
Joe Biden is still thinking. The vice president’s self-imposed summer deadline for deciding whether to enter the Democratic primary will lapse this week. In an interview with the Catholic America magazine, Biden described his continued ambivalence: “It’s just not there yet and it may not get there in time to make it feasible to be able to run and succeed, because there are certain windows that will close. But if that’s it, that’s it. It’s not like I can rush it.”
At the same time, prominent Democrats think he’s essentially in the race. “Top Democrats increasingly believe Vice President Joe Biden is going to enter the presidential race, setting up a battle with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination,” reports the Hill. The Biden camp, for its part, is cagey on its plans for an announcement. “Various deadlines have been floated,” reportsPolitico. “End of summer, Oct. 1, the first Democratic debate on Oct. 13, the Iowa Jefferson-Jackson dinner on Oct. 24. But none of these is looking like a hard deadline. Neither are any of the cutoff dates for getting his name on state ballots.”
This all raises a question: What, exactly, is Biden doing?
Right now, Hillary Clinton is completely dominant. Even with her email scandal and unprecedented decline in favorability and popularity, she leads the national Democratic field—including Biden—by double digits. Clinton has 44 percent support in the Democratic primary, to 26 percent for Bernie Sanders and just over 20 percent for the vice president. She trails Sanders in New Hampshire but holds solid leads in Iowa and South Carolina.
Right now, Hillary Clinton is completely dominant. Even with her email scandal and unprecedented decline in favorability and popularity, she leads the national Democratic field—including Biden—by double digits. Clinton has 44 percent support in the Democratic primary, to 26 percent for Bernie Sanders and just over 20 percent for the vice president. She trails Sanders in New Hampshire but holds solid leads in Iowa and South Carolina.
Most importantly, she’s winning endorsements from party elites and interest groups. Last week, she won endorsements from New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and the state’s chapter of the National Education Association. She also has two surrogates from Sanders’ home state of Vermont: Gov. Peter Shumlin and former Gov. Howard Dean. And on Tuesday, she got a big endorsement from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, a major union with more than half a million members. Overall, she has an unprecedented lead in the “endorsement primary,” with support from dozens of senators, governors, and members of Congress. Voters are debating the Clinton campaign, but the party infrastructure has largely decided.
Now, none of this means Clinton is destined to win the Democratic primary. As with everyone who runs for president, there’s always a nonzero chance for catastrophic collapse, from an indictment over her private email server to some unforeseen and fatal blow to her campaign. But if the evidence means anything, then the most likely outcome—by far—is an eventual Clinton win.
The truth, in fact, is this was the case from the beginning—after President Obama won re-election in 2012—and it has shaped the race in important ways. If Clinton were a typical candidate, she would have more opponents than a liberal insurgent: She would face other establishment candidates with similar credentials and bona fides. But Clinton isn’t typical; she’s a former first lady, a former senator, a runner-up to Barack Obama with 18 million votes to her name, and a former secretary of state. She’s the Galactus of the Democratic Party, and as soon as she chose to run again, she cleared the field of potential competitors and rival political machines.
This is great for Clinton, but a mixed-bag for the Democratic Party. Not only does it lose the benefit of a hypercompetitive primary, which builds energy and infrastructure, but if Clinton falls—if she has to leave the race—then there’s no alternative, no John Edwards to John Kerry, or even a Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama. Moderate and conservative Democrats will likely reject Sanders, to say nothing of donors and establishment figures. Which brings us back to Biden.
What is the vice president doing? He’s running as the backup. “[Biden] is running for Clinton’s understudy—as the candidate who will go on at the last minute, if necessary, if she’s unable to continue for any reason,” explains political scientist and Bloomberg columnist Jonathan Bernstein. He grants that it isn’t clear that this is what Biden is thinking, but he thinks it is what’s happening.
The Democratic Party, or at least its establishment, needs a B Team—a candidate and a campaign to run if Clinton can’t. Sanders doesn’t fit the bill, and Martin O’Malley—who sits near the bottom of the polls, with 1 percent—isn’t visible enough to meet the challenge. Biden, the sitting vice president, is the natural choice. And so he does the work: He talks with lawmakers, sits with officials, meets with donors, and builds the skeleton of a campaign, with enough muscle to move if necessary. In the meantime, he’ll enjoy the attention of media and supporters. After all, it’s nice.
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Paralyzed Man Walks For The First Time In Five Years Using Harnessed Brainwaves
Paralyzed man walks for the first time in five years using harnessed brainwavesBy Rob Thubron on
A man who has been unable to move both legs after his spinal cord was completely severed in a motorcycle accident five years ago has made medical history after doctors reconnected brain signals to his legs, according to a study published in the Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation.
26-year-old Adam Fritz used a functional electric stimulation (FES) device to walk 13 feet simply by thinking about it. The device works by using a special electrode-studded cap to transmit signals from his brain to electrodes around his knees, bypassing damaged nerves in the spine. The signals stimulate his muscles, allowing him to swing his legs.
Fritz had to undergo mental training to reactivate his brain’s ability to walk before the test took place. He also required months of physical work to prepare his leg muscles which had not been used in over half a decade. Part of his training to operate the electroencephalogram (EEG) cap involved using it to control a character in a video game.
It took 19 unsuccessful attempts before Fritz managed to walk with assistance. Although he is still a long way off being able to walk unaided, the feat has been called a medical milestone. It is the first time a paralyzed person has been able to use their own legs to walk rather than an exoskeleton.
"It was incredible. When you're first injured, you're sitting in hospital hoping you'll walk again but when it actually happened, it was a dream come true. I actually did it and it was something I'll never forget," Fritz told Sky News. "I think, just watching the way technology evolves, this is something that will continue to grow."
Neurologist Dr An Do, part of the team behind the project at the University of California in Irvine, said: “Even after years of paralysis the brain can still generate robust brainwaves that can be harnessed to enable basic walking. We showed you can restore intuitive, brain-controlled walking after a complete spinal cord injury.”
Experts say further studies are needed to determine whether the device can help others who are wheelchair-bound. Scientists hope the technology will advance to the point where a chip can be implanted into the brain to send signals to the legs, rather than using a cap, as this would give the person greater control and balance thanks to the brainwaves being recorded at a higher quality. It’s also hoped that the legs will eventually be able to send signals in the opposite direction – allowing the person to actually feel their lower limbs and the floor beneath them.
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Different Time Magazine Covers For Different Global Markets: The Discrepancies Are Stunning
Each week, TIME Magazine designs covers for four markets: the U.S., Europe, Asia and the South Pacific. Often, America's cover is quite, well – different. This week offers a stark example.
Yes, what you see is TIME devoting its cover in international markets to a critical moment in Egypt's revolution – perhaps the most important global story this week – while offering Americans the chance to contemplate their collective navels (with a rather banal topic and supposition, to boot).This is not an isolated incident, for perusing TIME's covers reveals countless examples of the publication tempting the world with critical events, ideas or figures, while dangling before Americans the chance to indulge in trite self-absorption.
American Dimwittedness And The Neverending Search For Middle School Sound Bites
Witness these stunning dichotomies:
Viewing these covers, a question must be asked: do these moments of marketing (through a choice in covers) reveal more about Americans, or about the state of American journalism?
![What Do You Buy For the Children]()
David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, now out from Oneworld Publications.
I fear the answer.
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David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, now out from Oneworld Publications.
Author's Note: It should be noted that, in many instances, the cover story projected to international audiences is included, if buried, in the American editions. However, the point is the projection itself – the marketing of a "news" magazine to its various audiences, and what that projection says (or doesn't say).
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Ten All-American Facts That Contradict The Conservative Credo: Did Reagan Do That?!?
What Would Reagan Really Do?
Newsweek
Pax On Both Houses: Compendium Of Ronald Reagan Posts
Ten Facts Guaranteed to Short-Circuit Republican Brains
Richard Riis
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Another Study Proves Fox News Makes You Blonde
"People Who Watch Only Fox News
Know Less Than People Who Watch No News"
Yet another study has been released that proves that watching Fox News is detrimental to your intelligence. World Public Opinion, a project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland,↧
Boehner's 23 Years In Office, Reviewed By NewsCorpse.Com (A Satirical Site Worth Noting)
"You Didn't Build That." Falsehood By Decontextualization
If You Have A Boehner Lasting Longer Than 23 Years, Seek Immediate Medical Attention
Posted by Mark NC on September 25, 2015 at 11:32 am. 4Comments :
In the midst of an uncommonly busy news day that included the Pope speaking at the United Nations and President Obama welcoming Chinese President Xi to the White House, GOP House Speaker John Boehner chose to announce that he is resigning as Speaker and leaving Congress effective October 31, 2015 (Halloween?).
Boehner held a press conference to address his reasons for this surprise resignation, but avoided saying outright why the decision came so suddenly. He alluded to the truth when he mentioned that he didn’t want to put Congress through some unspecified turmoil. What he was covertly referencing was the opposition to his leadership by his GOP peers and the prospect of a motion to vacate the post, in effect a vote of no confidence that could have led to a new Speaker’s election. Rather than face that humiliation, Boehner chose to bug out.
That wimpiness is emblematic of Boehner’s legacy as Speaker. Ever since his ascendancy to the post he has wobbled in fear of the Tea Party caucus that demanded a radical and uncompromising agenda. Boehner has presided over an embarrassing reign of failure and capitulation. The tiny Tea Party cell of extremists in the House has utterly dominated him and reduced him to a dysfunctional figurehead who cannot complete even the simplest tasks of governing. He even set failure as a standard when he said that Congress “should not be judged on how many new laws we create. We ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal.” [Note: Number of laws Congress repealed while Boehner was Speaker: Zero] As a result, Boehner’s tenure is notable for being the most ineffectual Congress in history. It has managed to produce fewer bills, and work fewer days, than any Congress in modern times.
While achieving that dubious honor, they also held more than fifty votes attempting (unsuccessfully) to repeal or otherwise cripple the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare); filed a futile lawsuit against Obama over immigration; orchestrated a costly and unnecessary shutdown of the government; and formed the Special Committee on Politicizing Benghazi. All the while missing real opportunities by declining to hold votes for bills that would have passed merely because they didn’t have a majority of Republicans. What Boehner seemed to fail to grasp is that he was the Speaker of the whole House, not just the Republican caucus – and certainly not the Tea Party.
His departure will create a vacuum at the top that will not be filled without a bloody battle for control. Boehner’s chief lieutenant, and staunch ally, Kevin McCarthy, will not be welcomed by the GOP’s Wingnut Caucus. There will almost certainly be one or more conservatives entering the contest to be his successor. Maybe even Louie Gohmert (if we’re lucky) who got three whole votes when he ran against Boehner earlier this year (despite having endorsements from Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin). Consequently, Boehner’s alleged hopes of preventing the House from undergoing turmoil is going to have the opposite effect. It is just Boehner who will avoid the turmoil.
It is clear that Boehner’s rush to the exits is due to more than just a desire to spend more time with his family. You don’t ditch a job that puts you second in line for the presidency of the United States without serious concerns. Especially during an election year that is so consequential to his party. However, this opening may present an opportunity for Boehner’s last Republican primary opponent in his Ohio district to run again for the seat. J.D. Winteregg may not have had a realistic chance of unseating Boehner back then, but he did have one of the best campaign videos ever.
How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.
Hey John!
Here's what Lincoln really said.
Pass it on!
"Abraham Lincoln And The Relationship Between Labor And Capital"
Lincoln And "Promotion Of The General Welfare"
On the topic of taxes, consider Ben Franklin's view:
Ben Franklin: All Property Not Necessary For Survival/Reproduction Is "Property Of The Publick"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/09/ben-franklin-all-property-not-necessary.html↧
Ben Franklin: All Property Not Necessary For Survival/Reproduction Is "Property Of The Publick"
Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.
"Launch Of 1910 Income Tax Promised To Never Shift Burden From Richest 1 - 4%"
Alan: The following passage requires multiple careful readings. It is probably the most vehement endorsement of robust taxation ever set forth by a major American politician.
Benjamin Franklin to Robert Morris: On Taxes
25 December, 1783
"The Remissness of our People in Paying Taxes is highly blameable; the Unwillingness to pay them is still more so. I see, in some Resolutions of Town Meetings, a Remonstrance against giving Congress a Power to take, as they call it, the People's Money out of their Pockets, tho' only to pay the Interest and Principal of Debts duly contracted. They seem to mistake the Point. Money, justly due from the People, is their Creditors' Money, and no longer the Money of the People, who, if they withold it, should be compell'd to pay by some Law. All Property, indeed, except the Savage's temporary Cabin, his Bow, his Matchcoat, and other little Acquisitions, absolutely necessary for his Subsistence, seems to me to be the Creature of public Convention. Hence the Public has the Right of Regulating Descents, and all other Conveyances of Property, and even of limiting the Quantity and the Uses of it. All the Property that is necessary to a Man, for the Conservation of the Individual and the Propagation of the Species, is his natural Right, which none can justly deprive him of: But all Property superfluous to such purposes is the Property of the Publick, who, by their Laws, have created it, and who may therefore by other Laws dispose of it, whenever the Welfare of the Publick shall demand such Disposition. He that does not like civil Society on these Terms, let him retire and live among Savages. He can have no right to the benefits of Society, who will not pay his Club towards the Support of it." http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s12.html
Alan: The following passage requires multiple careful readings. It is probably the most vehement endorsement of robust taxation ever set forth by a major American politician.
Benjamin Franklin to Robert Morris: On Taxes
25 December, 1783
"The Remissness of our People in Paying Taxes is highly blameable; the Unwillingness to pay them is still more so. I see, in some Resolutions of Town Meetings, a Remonstrance against giving Congress a Power to take, as they call it, the People's Money out of their Pockets, tho' only to pay the Interest and Principal of Debts duly contracted. They seem to mistake the Point. Money, justly due from the People, is their Creditors' Money, and no longer the Money of the People, who, if they withold it, should be compell'd to pay by some Law. All Property, indeed, except the Savage's temporary Cabin, his Bow, his Matchcoat, and other little Acquisitions, absolutely necessary for his Subsistence, seems to me to be the Creature of public Convention. Hence the Public has the Right of Regulating Descents, and all other Conveyances of Property, and even of limiting the Quantity and the Uses of it. All the Property that is necessary to a Man, for the Conservation of the Individual and the Propagation of the Species, is his natural Right, which none can justly deprive him of: But all Property superfluous to such purposes is the Property of the Publick, who, by their Laws, have created it, and who may therefore by other Laws dispose of it, whenever the Welfare of the Publick shall demand such Disposition. He that does not like civil Society on these Terms, let him retire and live among Savages. He can have no right to the benefits of Society, who will not pay his Club towards the Support of it." http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s12.html
"Politics And Economics: The 101 Courses You Wish You Had"
http://paxonbothhouses.
"Politics And Economics: The 101 Courses You Wish You Had"
http://paxonbothhouses.
http://paxonbothhouses.
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