Pelosi

[Shammu]

"I know!  We could have a spelling contest!"
Val Kilmer in "Tombstone"

I know it's my second reference to that movie this week but it fits and I love Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday in it.  Anyone ever see it besides me?  I'm sure you have. It's one of my all time favorites.  Good over evil. 
Okay, okay, I'll stop.  I realize I'm not in the "Movies" section of the forum......

Yes sister, I have Tombstone on video tape. Yes it is a classic, good over evil. For those of you that haven't seen it, I won't ruin the ending either..............

[Shammu]

Pelosi gets unwanted lesson in Catholic theology
Aug. 28, 2008

By RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion Writer

Politics can be treacherous. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi walked on even riskier ground in a recent TV interview when she attempted a theological defense of her support for abortion rights.

Roman Catholic bishops consider her arguments on St. Augustine and free will so far out of line with church teaching that they have issued a steady stream of statements to correct her.

The latest came Wednesday from Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik, who said Pelosi, D-Calif., "stepped out of her political role and completely misrepresented the teaching of the Catholic Church in regard to abortion."

It has been a harsh week of rebuke for the Democratic congresswoman, a Catholic school graduate who repeatedly has expressed pride in and love for her religious heritage.

Cardinals and archbishops in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York and Denver are among those who have criticized her remarks. Archbishop George Niederauer, in Pelosi's hometown of San Francisco, will take up the issue in the Sept. 5 edition of the archdiocesan newspaper, his spokesman said.

Sunday, on NBC's "Meet the Press" program, Pelosi said "doctors of the church" have not been able to define when life begins.

She also cited the role of individual conscience. "God has given us, each of us, a free will and a responsibility to answer for our actions," she said.

Brendan Daly, a spokesman for Pelosi, said in a statement defending her remarks that she "fully appreciates the sanctity of family" and based her views on conception on the "views of Saint Augustine, who said, 'The law does not provide that the act (abortion) pertains to homicide, for there cannot yet be said to be a live soul in a body that lacks sensation.'"

But whether or not parishioners choose to accept it, the theology on the procedure is clear. From its earliest days, Christianity has considered abortion evil.

"This teaching has remained unchanged and remains unchangeable," according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. "Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law."

The Rev. Douglas Milewski, a Seton Hall University theologian who specializes in Augustine, said Pelosi seems to be confusing church teaching on abortion with the theological debate over when a fetus receives a soul.

"Saint Augustine wondered about the stages of human development before birth, how this related to the question of ensoulment and what it meant for life in the Kingdom of God," Milewski said.

Questions about ensoulment related to determining penalties under church law for early and later abortions, not deciding whether the procedure is permissible, according to the U.S. Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

Augustine was "quite clear on the immorality of abortion as evil violence, destructive of the very fabric of human bonds and society," Milewski said.

Regarding individual decision-making, the church teaches that Catholics are obliged to use their conscience in considering moral issues. However, that doesn't mean parishioners can pick and choose what to believe and still be in line with the church.

Lisa Sowle Cahill, a theologian at Boston College, said conscience must be formed by Catholic teaching and philosophical insights. "It's not just a personal opinion that you came up with randomly," she said.

Catholic theologians today overwhelmingly consider debate over the morality of abortion settled. Thinkers and activists who attempt to challenge the theology are often considered on the fringes of church life.

However, there is a rigorous debate over how the teaching should guide voters and public officials. Are Catholics required to choose the candidate who opposes abortion? Or can they back a politician based on his or her policies on reducing, not outlawing, the procedure?

The U.S. bishops addressed this question in their election-year public policy guide, "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship."

They said that voting for a candidate specifically because he or she supports "an intrinsic evil" such as abortion amounts to "formal cooperation in grave evil."

In some cases, Catholics may vote for a candidate with a position contrary to church teaching, but only for "truly grave moral reasons, not to advance narrow interests or partisan preferences," according to the document.

It is a complex discussion. The Rev. Thomas Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, has some advice for candidates who seek to join the debate: Stick to politics - and support programs that truly help reduce the number of abortions.

"It is a big mistake," Reese said, "for politicians to talk theology."

Pelosi gets unwanted lesson in Catholic theology 

[HisDaughter]

She also cited the role of individual conscience. "God has given us, each of us, a free will and a responsibility to answer for our actions," she said.

....And you will Darlin'.  You will.

[HisDaughter]

EXCLUSIVE: Pelosi paid husband with PAC funds
$99,000 for rent, utilities, accounting fees

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has directed nearly $100,000 from her political action committee to her husband's real estate and investment firm over the past decade, a practice of paying a spouse with political donations that she voted to ban last year.

Financial Leasing Services Inc. (FLS), owned by Paul F. Pelosi, has received $99,000 in rent, utilities and accounting fees from the speaker's "PAC to the Future" over the PAC's nine-year history.

The payments have quadrupled since Mr. Pelosi took over as treasurer of his wife's committee in 2007, Federal Election Commission records show. FLS is on track to take in $48,000 in payments this year alone - eight times as much as it received annually from 2000 to 2005, when the committee was run by another treasurer.

Lawmakers' frequent use of campaign donations to pay relatives emerged as an issue in the 2006 election campaigns, when the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal gave Democrats fodder to criticize Republicans such as former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and Rep. John T. Doolittle of California for putting their wives on their campaign and PAC payrolls for fundraising work.

Last year, Mrs. Pelosi supported a bill that would have banned members of Congress from putting spouses on their campaign staffs. The bill - which passed the House in a voice vote but did not get out of a Senate committee - banned not only direct payments by congressional campaign committees and PACs to spouses for services including consulting and fundraising, but also "indirect compensation," such as payments to companies that employ spouses.

"Democrats are committed to reforming the way Washington does business," Mrs. Pelosi said in a press release at the time. "Congressman [Adam] Schiff's bill will help us accomplish that goal by increasing transparency in election campaigns and preventing the misuse of funds."

Last week, Mrs. Pelosi's office said the payments to her husband's firm were perfectly legal, insisting she is compensating her husband at fair market value for the work his firm has performed for the PAC. But ethical watchdogs said the arrangement sends the wrong message.

"It's problematic," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a nonprofit ethics and watchdog group. "From what I understand, Mr. Pelosi doesn't need the money, but this isn't the issue. ... As speaker of the House, it sends the wrong message. She shouldn't be putting family members on the payroll."

A senior adviser to Mrs. Pelosi described the payments to FLS as "business expenses."

"She's followed all the appropriate rules and regulations in terms of records and paperwork," said Brendan Daly, Mrs. Pelosi's spokesman. "When [former treasurer] Leo McCarthy became ill, she thought that it was best that that firm did the accounting and she's paid fair market value in San Francisco."

Between 1999 and 2006, FLS collected $500 per month to cover rent, utilities and equipment for the leadership PAC, according to the FEC records. The PAC's address is listed as a personal mailbox in San Francisco, across the street from FLS's Montgomery Street office building, but the rent payments went to an office space.

In early 2007, the PAC's treasurer, Leo T. McCarthy, former Democratic speaker of the state assembly and lieutenant governor in California, died. Mr. Pelosi took over as treasurer and his company's PAC payouts rose.

At that point, FLS started charging the PAC $24,000 per year for accounting work. In January 2008, the PAC's rent - paid to FLS - also quadrupled from $500 to $2,000 per month.

 
Katie Falkenberg/The Washington Times PARTNERSHIP: Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul F. Pelosi, was by her side at a Democratic event in 2006.

Mr. McCarthy, the previous treasurer, had done the work as a volunteer, according to FEC documents and Jennifer Crider, a senior adviser to Mrs. Pelosi and spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She said FLS' accounting fees are in line with costs for other PACs.

The jump in rent was an adjustment to reflect San Francisco's pricey real estate market, Miss Crider said. The rent was adjusted to $1,250 per month, with $750 in back rent to reflect that the rent should have been increased in mid-2007. This was the first increase since the PAC was established in mid-1999, records show.

Over the first six months of 2008, FLS was the largest vendor for Mrs. Pelosi's PAC. Brian Wolff, a political consultant, is the second-largest vendor, bringing in $22,500 this year.

FLS' payments represent 11 percent of the $213,900 the PAC raised over the first half of this year, according to the FEC documents.

PACs, which are designed to help politicians contribute to other candidates and build influence with colleagues, operate under lighter restrictions than traditional campaign committees.

Meredith McGehee, policy director at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, said putting family members on a PAC payroll is bound to raise questions and, in some cases, allow for abuse.

"The reality is that under the current system, PACs are rife with self-dealing transactions," she said. "The laws and regulations could and should be strengthened.

"There is a point now that you're starting to talk about real money," she said of Mrs. Pelosi's PAC. "This is not just a mom-and-pop operation and any self-dealing transaction by a member of Congress is going to get scrutiny, particularly with large amounts of money and prominent members."

It is illegal for members of Congress to hire family members to work on their official staff, but hiring relatives to work on a campaign or PAC is legal.

To be sure, many political action committees employ or work with family businesses. Last year, CREW found that 19 members of Congress used campaign committees or PACs to purchase services from a family member between 2002 and 2006.

Mrs. Pelosi's PACs have been in trouble before. In 2004, one of her political action committees, Team Majority, was fined $21,000 by the FEC for accepting donations over federal limits. It was one of two PACs she operated at the same time. The Team Majority PAC was closed shortly after the fine was levied.

[nChrist]

Can anyone remember a time of such open corruption? Could it have anything to do with the reign of the WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST?

It appears that nearly everything is being either manipulated or controlled, certainly including the news media. When they are caught EVEN WITH VIDEO, they still deny any wrong-doing. The actual corruption is several layers thick, and the people have no idea how bad things really are. We are only seeing the first layer of corruption being revealed at this time, and the mainstream news media still won't report it. SO, most voters don't know.

[Soldier4Christ]

Can anyone remember a time of such open corruption? Could it have anything to do with the reign of the WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST?

ROFL   ...    Yep.

[HisDaughter]

Nope.  Most voters won't know.  The other day at work, one of the clients had on an Obama T-shirt.  She's an African American woman and I didn't want to offend her but I told her, "Let's talk".  I went on line and printed off an article about Obama and gave it to her.  It was written by an African American coalition of christians that basically was saying for blacks to vote for the moral candidate on to not base their vote on color.  After she read it she came back to me and said, "Ya know, I've never voted before.  This will be my first time."  The article made sense to her and she said that her brother was for Obama and she was going to ask him why.  Of course this encouraged me so when I got home I printed of some of our articles posted here and took them to her yesterday.  I hope that at least one uninformed family can change their minds and see the truth.
I also have to share that when I was going to work yesterday I was stopped by a couple on the side walk with either a petition or wanting to register foks to vote.  Their line to me was had I heard about the planet?  I told them that I knew all about the planet.  They wanted to know if I had joined Green Peace yet.  I told them no.  Then they said "Why?  You just haven't had a chance yet?"  I told, them, "Let me tell you something.  Global warming is a terrible joke and lie perpetrated by a con man."  And I walked off.  Would've loved to have stayed and debated and let my mouth run like I'm so fond of but I had to get to work!

[Soldier4Christ]

I would have loved to see the face of that Green Peace worker.

[nChrist]

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!

Grammyluv, you did good. Maybe we can give you 20 BILLION of that bailout money to go tell folks the TRUTH. I'll join you if they'll give me 20 BILLION, and I think that I know of several others who would be happy to join us. However, one of the first things we need to do is come up with a catchy name for our group. I like Sean Hannity on Fox News, so I think that a good name for the group might be HANNITIZE A LIBERAL! This would be more than enough money for all of us to become COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS, and we could go around the country RESCUING entire cities from LIBERALS!   

REF. Green Peace, I'm already doing more than my part. I have two trees in my back yard that I hug and sing to daily. I can assure you that my trees are happy and not stressed out. I even water them on a regular basis. By the way, I also have a large family of squirrels living in those trees, and they are happy also. AND, I recently checked my CARBON FOOTPRINT! I stepped in some mud and went back with a magnifying glass to check things thoroughly. There wasn't a single speck of black carbon in my footprint, so my CARBON FOOTPRINT IS ZERO!   

[HisDaughter]

REF. Green Peace, I'm already doing more than my part. I have two trees in my back yard that I hug and sing to daily. I can assure you that my trees are happy and not stressed out. I even water them on a regular basis. By the way, I also have a large family of squirrels living in those trees, and they are happy also. AND, I recently checked my CARBON FOOTPRINT! I stepped in some mud and went back with a magnifying glass to check things thoroughly. There wasn't a single speck of black carbon in my footprint, so my CARBON FOOTPRINT IS ZERO!  

Also I was just thinking this morning that the only show I really miss by not having TV is Hannity and Combes.  Of course I don't miss that nit wit Alan Combes at all though.  They can just take him off because, he is only an irritation factor anyway.

[Soldier4Christ]

My carbon footprint is a size 10. The only carbon that can be found in my foot print though is from the charcoal I use to cook my hamburgers and hot dogs. Oh yes, I forgot ... this is coal country so some of that might be there also.

HANNITIZE A LIBERAL!

That sounds good to me. Combes wears a tin foil body suit and helmet to keep from being Hannitized. Have you ever noticed how many times he has a blank look on his face?

[nChrist]

    

YES, I have noticed that blank look on Combes face fairly often. I just mark it up as MENTAL ILLNESS. I think that is the primary problem for the ultra-left and the reason why they need adult supervision. 

COAL - YES - I need to get some and increase my carbon footprint. I think that carbon-burning cars might also be a good idea.

[Soldier4Christ]

The return of coal powered steam engines. Sounds good to me. I'm sure that I could send you some coal. There is plenty just laying around on the ground around here. I scoop some coal dust up all the time for putting in my house plants. They love it.

[HisDaughter]

 Have you ever noticed how many times he has a blank look on his face?

I think that is his natual look.  Some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth, is so off the wall that when I hear it I think, "He can't really believe that.  This must be rigged just to make a show."  But he probably does believe himself.  It's just amazing that's all.

[Soldier4Christ]

What's even more amazing is that there are many others that believe him.