The Holy Shit Hit The Fan!

I just finished reading the book “Sua Santità. Le carte segrete di Benedetto XVI” by Gianluigi Nuzzi or what it’s better known as the Vatileaks.

Ever since the book came out in September of 2012, I have been after it. I read it in Italian but couldn’t understand every word reason why I contacted the writer and offered my services as a translator, free of charge, to have the book translated into English and Spanish. Mr. Nuzzi informed me that the publisher already had the translators. Now the Spanish version, translated by Juan Carlos Gentile Vitale, obviously an Italian even when they tried to make his name into Spanish instead of Giancarlo as it should be, has been published and I bought it. The translation is not fluid and contains quite a few errors, but it’s good enough to understand it.

I expected much more from this book. The book is full of transcripts of events that involved the Vatican but it is obvious that Mr. Nuzzi desperately tries to blame the people around the pope for everything that happened, anyone except the pope.  I am sorry, but if a leader of a State, which is what the pope really is, is so disconnected as to what is happening at all levels of his administration – in this case apparently completely unaware of the corruptions at the spiritual and moral levels, the corruptions at the financial level and the corruptions at the ethical level, then that person should not be the leader of that or any other State. I can understand that no leader can be fully aware of all the intricacies that take place within the State they are governing but, completely and utterly unaware? I doubt it.

The book is not easy to follow and it’s, quite honestly, boring; it lacks that spark that keeps you from putting a book down.  Given the subject, I was not expecting it to be this boring but it was.

According to this book, and to the many letters and documentations from the Vatican attached at the end of the book, the crimes that take place behind the walls of the Vatican are beyond what many of us could imagine and in my opinion the reason why Benedict XVI – formerly known as Joseph Ratzinger – is resigning: The holy shit has hit the proverbial fan.

Through this book, the reader finds out that the Catholic Church received rents from brothels and from pornographic publications for years; they have covered murders (most of us knew that), they've ignored pleas to help Christians in other countries if those pleas interfered in any way, shape or form with the political agenda of the Church. Money and money laundering, as well as almost every type of crime you can think of, has been committed by the Catholic Church and the book provides you with copies of the Vatican’s communications and their incessant efforts to hide the truth from the public eye.

But it is towards the end of the book where I find something very telling, in a letter written by Gott Tedeschi, president of The Institute for Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican Bank, (IOR, Instituto per le Opere de Religione) dated June 2011 about the global economic crisis.

Following is a translation of this letter.

“The ongoing economic crisis (that has not ended yet, rather it's just beginning) and the unbalanced consequences of the globalization process that has accelerated the relocation of many productive activities, has transformed the world into two economic areas: the West (U.S. and European) into consumers who are producing increasingly less and the Eastern countries (Asia and India) balanced producers but not yet consumers. This process has created, therefore, a conflict between the three economies and the Western men roles: that of workers and income producers, consumers of convenient goods, the savers and investors of whatever they can find greater prospects for gain. The apparent paradox is that the Western man still produces income by working in domestic companies, but is less and less competitive and therefore at risk of instability. They buy more competitive goods produced elsewhere. Invest in non-domestic companies, in countries where the economy grows because it produces. In practice, strengthens businesses that create employment elsewhere and even compete with the businesses where they work, until that man is without work, and not able to consume and even less to save.

This conflict it’s not being managed and is causing a structural crisis in the economy of the Western world, which was once wealthy. But the Western world is also one whose roots are Christian (Europe and USA), which is evangelized and so far it has sustained the Church with its economic resources. In practice, due to the relocation process, wealth is being transferred from the Christian West to the East not Christianized. Specifically, for the West, this means:

- Less developed (or even negative), lower income, lower savings, lower investment returns, unsustainable higher costs for the aging population, etc.

- Therefore a greater involvement of the state in the economy, increased government spending and higher costs. Demand for higher taxes, fewer privileges and exemptions, greater risks.

Because of the globalization and the economic crisis, the world that is to be Christianized is the one that is becoming "wealthy" and the already Christianized, who was once wealthy, is becoming poor, with consequences on the economic resources of the Church. The end result is that the resources that have traditionally contributed to the needs of the Church (donations, rentals, etc.) may decrease while the necessary requirements should grow for evangelization. In addition, the "secularism" could be harnessed to create a second "Roman Persecution" of attacks on church property (through taxation, retirement privileges and exaggerated increase of controls, etc.). The "Roman Persecution" of the XXI century will not be in the expropriation of the property of the Church, but the loss of their value by lower contributions, by impoverishment of the Christian world, in order of the greatest privileges and predictable rate on goods.”

The only thing that concerns the Catholic Church is not the impoverishing of the Western man and the tribulations they will go through, but the lack of funds that will stop funneling to the Church’s bank accounts. However, I find it very telling that what Mr. Tedeschi described is what we, on the Left, have been saying for years and the Right ignores and even mocks: the economic crisis in our country is due to the continuous outsourcing of American jobs, the carte blanche given to Walmart to inundate our market with cheap products, all sporting the labels “Made in Taiwan," “Made in India,” “Made in Mexico” or whatever other country except “Made in the USA.” And because we have less and less money, we flock to Walmart like moths to the light. Blinded by the prices without thinking, not even once, that the more we buy from them, the deeper we are digging our own graves.

The Catholic Church is not worried about us, their worry is the money that will not be going to the Vatican’s vault. Their concern is not how are we are going to make ends meet, their worry is that governments around the world will start taxing them to compensate for the lack of funds. I would be extremely happy if our country could lead the way, since for the last 30 years the religious institutions (not only the Catholic Church) have decided to get involved in politics, to politically influence their parishioners thus rendering their tax exemption null.

I am glad to see this pope go, perhaps what the book said it’s true and he was unaware of everything that transpired in the Catholic Church, I seriously doubt it, but if it is true then he was useless and should go.  If on the other hand he was aware of the corruption, then he was a son of a bitch whose only concern was money (the main concern of most religious leaders) and he won’t be missed, at least not by me... but then again, I've never missed any of them!

Ms. Sandra Fluke goes to Washington

I have been receiving many emails asking me to sign a petition to force the obnoxious Rush to apologize for his heinous behavior and insulting language towards a 3rd year law student, Ms. Sandra Fluke. I’ve been bombarded with article after article in Facebook from friends relating the story or, once more, to sign more petitions demanding that Rush apologizes. I ignore them.

First of all, this individual that does not deserve to be called a man, Rush, and I refuse to dignify him by even calling him by his full name or last name, the bastard doesn’t deserve that distinction and I must apologize to any bastard in the real sense of the word that might be out there, he thrives on this type of revolt. By keeping his name afloat, he is rejoicing by the free publicity we ‘liberals’ are giving him. No. I refuse to give him any reason to inflate his ego more than already is, I actually don’t know what’s greater, his weight or his ego.

What we must be talking about and focusing our efforts on is the courage, integrity and eloquence of this young lady, Ms. Sandra Fluke, who at the young age of 23 stood before Congress and said it like it is. A young woman that spoke softly, clearly and addressed the many issues that concerns million of women in this country, while she kept her calm and demeanor. That’s admirable and more so when facing a group of people that considered her not fit to give her statement when the so-called “experts” gave theirs in front of Congress weeks before. According to Congress, these so-called experts were composed of men, not one single woman exposing her views on the matter. No, every single one of them were men, but that’s not all, there were all representing a religious group. They were: Rev. Matthew Harrison, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Dr. Craig Mitchell, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Roman Catholic Bishop William Lori, Rev. Jonah Paffhausen, Washington archbishop of the Orthodox Church in America and Rabbi Meir Soloveichik. None of these men have any, I repeat, any medical background. Apparently, they were experts in women issues much more than a woman and Ms. Sandra Fluke was denied her participation. I salute the congresswomen that decided to ask where the women were in that panel and walked out on such charade!  

Also, notice should be taken that the Congressmen that have actively tried to block President Obama’s mandate on contraception are all men too. The bills that Senators Fortenberry and Rubio as well as Representative Blunt brought before Congress were not co-sponsored by any woman, which makes me wonder what it is that these men think they know about women that women don’t? How can these men, political and religious men, say that if the need for contraceptive pills was for medical reasons other than preventing a pregnancy they would not be fighting it, when it is a medical fact that these pills are used for many female conditions besides preventing a pregnancy; yet, they want the insurance companies not to provide contraceptives in their plans, even when women will be paying for it. That is absurd! Why is it then that Viagra is covered under the insurance plans offered to the religious clergy? For crying out loud, it is on the Catholic Priests plans! Aren’t they supposed to be celibate? What possible explanation can there be for the inclusion of Viagra other than sexual? Ah! They will claim that Viagra controls hypertension but, if the contraceptive pills that control many illness suffered by women can’t be included because the side effect is preventing a pregnancy, therefore going against their religious believes then, Viagra shouldn’t be included either – there are other medications without the so welcomed side effect of an erection to treat hypertension – and, since the priests are not supposed to fornicate because that too is against their religious beliefs… What the heck is Viagra doing in their plan? What’s good for a dick must be good for a vagina! 

Ms. Sandra Fluke tried desperately to express the importance contraceptives play in treating medical illnesses that many women suffer in our country.  Every woman doesn’t take the infamous pill just for sex; many take it for health reasons. I knew of a little girl that was prescribed contraceptives by her pediatrician because her ovaries were not developing properly, so yes, there are many other uses for contraceptives.  (for a transcript of Ms. Fluke Statement to Congress, click here)

These extreme right-wing Senators and Representatives in an effort to gain the pious vote by siding with the religious institutions have opened a Pandora’s box. It is obvious that they know so much about women that didn’t think they would turn in masses against them. They stupidly decided to secure religious freedom, to side with religious institutions that by the way, contribute zero to the finances of our government since they are tax exempted and are supposed to respect the statute 501c3 by making no contributions to any political candidate or party. These Congressmen decided to go against the rights of millions of women who do vote, pay taxes and unlike a theological ideology, are breathing and living human beings. I am certain these Congressmen didn’t think of the huge favor they were doing to the Democrats, you see… they’ve decided to wage a war against women by trying to control their reproductive system over a decadent and perverted Catholic Church. At the end, we must thank the retrograde Republican Party for waging this war against women; nothing worse than an enraged woman, Catholic women do take contraceptives and they do vote, and their rage will be felt on November 2012!


To read a transcript of Rush and a caller opinion on Ms. Fluke and contraceptives, click here
To read a transcript of Rush ironically called "Pearls of Wisdom" where he once more trashes Ms. Fluke, click here
To read the transcript and listen to Rush questioning why did Ms. Fluke selected to go to Georgetown, click here
To watch The Young Turks commentary and the video of Rush Limbaugh calling Ms. Fluke a slut, click here

The Times they are a Changin'

I am in one of those days where I feel as if I forgot to pay my electric bill… Everything seems dark and of course, my humor can’t be any different.

Every time I read the news, I am faced with horrible stories, whether these stories are a catastrophe somewhere, a murder, a report of child abuse, the never-ending war in the Middle East and the many wars being fought right here at home, amid an already unnerving and unstable situation.  Yes, you heard me right, wars that are being fought right here in our homeland: war against women, war against the middle class, war against the poor, war against the citizens, war against integrity, war against education, war against homosexuals, war against the elderly, war against race, war against ethnicity and the worst war of them all, the war against our intelligence.

We are being attacked on a daily basis in every way imaginable.  On-line, on the news – regardless if the news you watch is local news or propagandistic news such as Fox "News” which we all know by now is anything but real news and Liberal news that doesn’t offer us a much better scenario.  We are watching everyday how the local governments are restricting people from exercising their constitutional right to peaceably assemble (Amendment I of the Constitution), and are treated as enemies of the State while those that were elected into office by those same individuals being arrested, ignore the constitution while claiming how much they adhere to it.  Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that in order to assemble you must have a permit.  Nowhere.  Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that you can only peaceably assemble if you agree with the current status, what need would the people have to assemble if in agreement?  Yet, these officials send out the troops as if to combat a member of Al-Qaeda, in full riot gear, pepper spray and batons in hand, guns and weapons that up to now have had rubber bullets, to fight, arrest and disband those that dare to exercise the first amendment.  This extreme use of force was NEVER used on the "peaceably assemblies" of the Tea Party members sporting guns.   We are witnessing similar situations taking place all over the country; we’re outraged, we go crazy posting in Facebook, Twitter, signing petitions and talking about it.  I’m guilty as sin of the same thing.  When are we going to join these groups?  When are we going to be physically offering our support?  Can’t we understand that there are many of us and few of them and if we all grew a pair of balls, leave the comfort of our homes and join them no one could stop us?  Yes we do, but we are always hoping for others to do what we could do ourselves and we prefer to stay home and remain safe.  

Of course, there are those that know how to manipulate the masses.  We have so many important things to do, such as watching the football game (October and end in February); Golf (January – November); Baseball (April – October); Indy (March – September); Basketball (October – June); Hockey (October – June); Tennis (January – November); Miss Universe, The Oscars, The Grammys and so much more that we get easily distracted with and they succeed at keeping us entertained and with our eyes off the ball.  There is not one month of the year without a sporting event, heck, there is not one day of the year without one and, this is a nation that loves sports and it seems that this nation loves sports much more than they love liberty.  Perhaps that is the reason why the last civil war took place so long ago, in a time when sports didn’t run the course of this country, civil duty and honor did.

The latest thing they’ve tried to keep us away from the important issues, on an election year, is the same thing they’ve been whining about for the last three years: the Health Care Reform.  This time, since the Catholic Church decided that it was against their “moral” and religious views to supply contraceptives in their insurance plans and they were enraged by the interference of government in their “business.”  The Catholic Church backed by the extreme right wing Senators and Representatives and most if not all of the Republican members of Congress – particularly Senator Rubio, Senator Blunt and Representative Fortenberry – decided to openly and defiantly fight the bill in Washington.  President Obama amended the bill in an effort to respect the religious views of the Catholic Church and any other religious institution that might feel the same by ensuring that these institutions will not financially contribute to these contraceptives.  Obama changed it so all insurance companies had to offer them, free of charge, to any employee or beneficiary under a religious institution’s plan.  Since the matter was never a financial matter – even when they said it was offensive for them to pay for something that went against their beliefs and was the argument originally used.  In reality was just an effort to repeal the Health Care bill, these institutions still "cried" wolf, and the right wing behind them cried wolf even louder!  So, in a move that I can only categorize as the stupidest political move in ages, that began as nothing more than a distraction from the Republican Presidential Race (they have so many inapt candidates that I can’t blame them) congress and the religious institutions waged a war against women… They sure didn’t expect the outrage of the women and the support these women received from people from all political groups, all genders, from all races, ethnicity and age groups.  

I don’t know what the mentality of the new Republican party is, it is as if they are trying to push their boundaries and try to come up with more and more outrageous ideas the closer we are to the elections.  I know they are conservatives, and as the meaning of the word conservative (1) they prefer to keep things as they are and which makes them comfortable they are confused with the meaning of conservative and retrogress.  We can say, without a doubt, that the Republican party is NOT a conservative party, it’s been a long time since they ceased to be conservatives; they are a retrograde (2) party and that will work against them, there is no nation that can move forward while moving backwards – it is physically impossible.

We must renew our efforts in moving forward.  We can’t go back to the time where only white men had a voice and the rest of society had little or none, as the case of women long ago.  We can’t allow this to be a religious nation, it is imperative that it remains, as our Founding Fathers wanted it to be: a secular nation!

Don’t stay home, don’t stay idle, keep a diary of all the proposals, advocacies, ideas and ideals of the GOP so you will not forget when they throw at us another distraction.  These are dangerous times, our future is on the line, if we are not to march and protest against them, let us at least make our voices heard by writing to them, calling them, email them and write to your local newspapers denouncing them and most importantly… On Tuesday, November 6th, let’s kick the rats out of Washington!

⁽¹⁾ adj. tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions: traditional

⁽²⁾ (1) moving, occurring, or performed in a backward direction (2): occurring or performed in a direction opposite to the normal or forward direction of conduction or flow

Can someone pass Santorum a bucket?

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“I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.”

- John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Greater Houston Ministerial Association, September 12, 1960

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Back in December 4th, 2010, Rick Santorum publicly rejected the separation of Church and State in a speech delivered at the St. Thomas More College of Liberal Art’s Symposium, referring to John F. Kennedy’s famous speech delivered on September 12, 1960. Recently when CBS host, George Stephanopoulos, asked Santorum about his speech, Santorum went as far as to say that he felt like throwing up when he first read Kennedy's famous speech script. Apparently, the reason for this repulsion was that John F. Kennedy (a Senator running for President at the time) stated in front of a Protestant congregation that his Catholicism was not going to be an impediment in his Presidency because he firmly believed in Separation of Church and State. It seems that Santorum has a "weak" stomach and even weaker intelligence.

Santorum said that “Kennedy chose not just to dispel fear, he chose to expel faith.” He went as far as to affirm that there was no separation of Church and State, “The idea of strict or absolute separation of church and state is not and never was the American model. It’s a model used in countries like France and until recently Turkey, but it found little support in America until it was introduced into the public discourse by Justice Hugo Black in the case of Everson v. The Board of Education in 1947.” It is not only sad but shameful that a person, any person, running for the highest position of the United States to be so misinformed and to know so little about the history of the country he or she is seeking to represent. It is his complete and utter ignorance about the history of this great nation that might have urged him to say that “the First Amendment was designed to protect churches from the government and nothing more.” How can a person be so ignorant and misinformed and be running for President? That is beyond my comprehension.

For those of you that might agree with his point of views, I have to implore you to read the history of this great country. I do know that most of you hate history and therefore don’t bother to read it and prefer just to repeat what others say, as long as you agree with it; but history has been written so we don’t repeat the same mistakes, for future generations to know what, why and how it happened and for all of us to understand it.

To begin with, many affirm that this nation was founded by Christians and that is not entirely true. Not all the Founding Fathers were Christians; actually, the majority were Deists. I will not try to proof or disproof this since that will lead us nowhere. However, the idea that they wanted to have religion as part of our way of government it’s completely false, quite contrary, they made sure to keep Church and State separate and I will try to prove this, not with my opinion which is just as good as yours, but with facts.

What John F. Kennedy said back in 1960 was and still is completely correct. Our Founding Fathers wanted the separation of Church and State – after all, the Separatist Pilgrims came to this country fleeing from England escaping religious persecution from the Church of England. That is the first unsubstantial proof; the Pilgrims were seeking religious freedom, from a Church not a government. When the Founding Fathers wrote Article VI of the Constitution stating that “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” I am certain that they were reinforcing that religion shouldn’t be part of or a requirement to hold a position in government. Actually, nowhere in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights or any other document drafted by the Founding Fathers you will see that the Bible was needed to take the Oath or Affirmation; actually not all presidents have used a bible  when taking the oath and the above article is the only mention of religion in the Original Constitution. You will think that if religion was that important for the Founding Fathers they would have mentioned religion or God more often, but they didn’t. Further, this separation is ratified by the First Amendment (adopted on December 15, 1791 and the one Santorum mentioned and used to reinforce his opinion) which reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” It is unbelievable that Santorum interprets this Amendment as the Church being protected from government but not the other way around. This Amendment is clearly separating the two, government can’t enforce a religion because we are free to worship as we wish, hence, government can’t worship, can’t be affiliated, associated or related to any religion. It is extremely difficult for me to understand why Santorum or the extreme religious people of this country can’t understand something as simple as this, except that fanaticism blinds them. I do know that those people will argue that they do know what the Founding Fathers wanted, how Christians were they, etc. You see, they tend to interpret things their own way, just like they do with the Bible… The problem is that, unlike the Bible, there are documents from the time, LEGAL DOCUMENTS, that destroys those arguments completely and without a trace of a doubt shows that the Founding Fathers wanted the separation of Church and State. Back in November 4, 1796 the new nation of the United States entered in their first treaty, this treaty was with Tripolitania, and was signed by John Adams.  This document leaves no doubt about the religious founding of this country. In the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States of America and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary, commonly known as the Treaty of Tripoli, this becomes irrefutably clear:

“As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen,—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”

This document is never mentioned because its not a very known document, but it states in no uncertain terms that this country, the United States of America, was not founded on Christianity.

So Mr. Santorum, vomit all you want… but Religion never had and shall never have a place in government just as government has no place in religion. You want God in your life? Do all of us a favor, go to church, pray privately and adore whoever you want, just don’t force the citizens of this country, who will be paying your salary, to believe in what you believe, after all, there are Atheists and Agnostics too and they constitute the 4th largest group in this country, there are more Atheist and Agnostics than there are Jewish, Mormons and Muslims… combined!



My Uterus is my Temple... not theirs

The debate about contraceptives continues in Washington and of course, the religious groups negotiating with congress are, in the vast majority, composed of men, out of those the representatives of the Catholic Church are not even – hypothetically – engaged in a sexual relationship. However, these men think that they have the right to impose their opinions and beliefs on every woman walking on the face of the earth, not only Catholic women. These same "holy" men (and I am using the term "holy" very, very loosely) do not seem to object to vasectomies or to the use of Viagra for men to fornicate for pleasure and not necessarily for procreation… the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church is unbelievable!

The Catholic Church is debating the contraceptive mandate on the grounds that it is against their belief and morals. Can someone ask these Bishops and the Pope why don’t they make such a fuss over the death penalty? Among the capital sins, I believe, there is the “Thou Shall Not Kill” commandment; yet, they do not revolt every time someone is fried in this country or anywhere else. They solemnly give the last rites to the poor soul that is going to be executed, but that’s about it.

Then, we must remember that nowhere among those 10 commandments was a commandment saying “Thou shall not take the pill”, I have really  tried to find it but no, it’s nowhere to be found. Furthermore, these representatives from the Catholic Church are themselves breaking a mandate given to all mankind by the almighty Jesus: “Love and procreate,” what happened to them then? Why they can’t procreate/fornicate/make love? If we are to follow the mandates of the New Testament to the extreme as they want us to, we should demand the same from them.

I still believe that the penis and uterus belongs to whoever owns it and not the church, not the government, not you not me unless, of course, it’s your own organ. If contraceptives means "preventing an egg from being fertilized" good, no "babies" were killed, just prevented from forming; if an abortion during the very first weeks means murder, the judgment for that should be between that woman and her god and not a public or church affair. God, presumably, gave us free will and that includes making a reproductive decision, even if a wrong decision.

There are thousands if not millions of children languishing in orphanages all around the world; thousands more have been abused and even murdered after being born because the mother was not fit for that role and it would have been much better for her to take contraceptives or damn, have an abortion before giving birth to a live baby to kill or abuse it. But of course, the Catholic Church doesn’t see it that way, I think their main concern is running out of children for them to abuse – who will they sexually take advantage of if there is a limited amount of children? I really think that is their main worry, a decreasing number of children to focus their sexual depravation on.

Until the Catholic Church picks up the tab for every child born, for every woman whose future is destroyed by having a child when she is a child herself, for every child that has been sexually abused by the predatory church… when the Catholic Church does this, then and only then it may have the right to interfere with a political mandate that concerns women and express their opinion, but until that happens, they should keep out of women’s uterus… We all know that they don’t care for a woman’s uterus or vulva for that matter, its no wonder why they’re celibate…. Only children matter to them, and not necessarily in a pure and holy way.

To be or not to be

Today, when I heard the news that President Obama had compromised with the Catholic Church I was appalled! Without listening to the President, I assumed – and I know one never must do that – that Catholic women were going to be denied that very important coverage and I couldn’t believe it! As it turned out to be, the Catholic Church managed to save a few dollars, as well as their employees, since the new mandate requires for insurance companies to ‘pick-up’ the tab. I am glad for the women employed by the Catholic Church but… there’s always a but, that means that the Catholic Church not only pays no taxes, but that the insurance premium that they will pay will be cheaper too. Once again, the wealthiest of institutions get away with not spending a dime and someone else paying for it, or do you honestly think that the insurance companies will pay for this? Of course not! They will distribute that expense onto the paying individuals and companies enrolled with them.

I am so fed up with religion institutions, particularly the Catholic Church, getting away with murder! From influencing in politics, not only in the United States but worldwide to hiding pedophiles, from not paying taxes and contributing like any other corporation – which is what they truly are – to picking and choosing who deserves their help in the form of charity. Thus far, the Catholic Church has enough money to help all the children from being killed in Somalia, but they don’t. We only need to look at the luxury in the Vatican; one of the gems in any of the jewels in the Vatican could save those children… One of the paintings stored in the Vatican could save those children but no, it is guarded and cherished while children are being murdered. And now, through their manipulation and false indignation they have, once more, got their way.

I call for action. Action to demand for all religious institutions that take part in making a political comment, whether these comments are made from the pulpit or publicly, or openly criticizing any political party, rule, law or leader – to nullify their 501c3 application. Churches receive that special treatment of no paying any taxes thanks to that application in exchange, they (the church) can’t openly speak out, organize in opposition to, anything that the government declares “legal,” even if it is immoral (e.g. abortion, homosexuality, contraception, etc.), a church that openly express their opinion and instigate their congregation against a political figure or against a law or mandate jeopardizes their tax exempt status. So, when on earth are we going to remove their free ride? Let’s pull the rug from under their feet – talk all they want but PAY for it!

A “pill” too hard to swallow

According to a recent article written by Jessica Yellin and Brianna Keilar, both Correspondents for CNN, the White House is trying to adjust the health care policy to appease the Catholic Church and perhaps get the vote of some Catholics. The article claims that this adjustment is due to “an avalanche of criticism.” Apparently, the White House will try to implement the same policy that is currently used in Hawaii for religion institutions, in which women that work for Catholic charities, hospitals and the church can acquire coverage directly from the insurance company at the same price their employers would pay. I do not think it’s fair that women working for Catholic enterprises and who may or may not profess that religion have to be excluded from that benefit, unless the Catholic Church increase their salary to the same amount they would have to pay out-of-pocket to acquire it. However, this modification suggested by the White House is not being accepted by the Catholic Bishops, according to the article the leaders of the Catholic Church will only accept a total reversal on the policy – which means totally removing the contraceptive clause from the health care policy. Who on earth do the Catholic Church thinks they are?

I am so tired of having any religious institution – who pay no taxes, who at no time accept government interference in ANY of their day-to-day business (as it should be), who have no government regulations set in place, to think that the government has no business in their religious matters but that they, the religious institutions of any denomination, have any right whatsoever in changing governmental policies because it does not agrees with their views! The religious groups are overstepping their boundaries interfering with politics – both at a local and national level – forcing their views onto everyone else as if the separation of church and state didn’t exist or if it does, it simply does not apply to them. While the leaders of any religious corporation (that’s what they are) enjoy a life of luxury, no taxes paid, no need to report any of their actions to the government because if the government decided to interfere in any of their business they will cry religious prosecution, they seem to think they have "divine" power and can stick their noses where it does not belong.

Of course, as expected, we have the Speaker of the House, Mr. "Cry me a River" Boehner, accusing this administration of ‘attacking religion freedom." How is that so? How it's making contraceptives accessible, not forcing any woman to take them, an attack on religion freedom? Why is not an attack to the State what religion institutions are doing? Why does this "attack" can only be applied on one direction? I am not surprised either at the holier than God comments coming from all the Republican candidates which are all up in arms about the intrusion of government in religion… Mitt Romney, as usual, is already counting his chickens before they hatch and has added another thing he would do on his first day as President, reversing this clause. Sorry Romney, but you will not be the 45^th President of the United States.

Mr. President, keep the policy as it is! Do not allow religion to change the policies that will affect thousands of women, even millions if the Catholic Church gets its way. It is time for a real separation of church and state, it is time for any religious institution to pay their fair share of taxes – no more getting rich by preaching, no more favoritism. According to their own beliefs, money is sinful… so lets help them release some of that sin, and pay taxes after all, they can’t seem to separate religion and politics so, if they want to be involved in politics they should contribute to the country, financially, as everyone else does!

Contraceptive Controversy

There have been numerous comments and uproars about the “contraceptive mandate” in the Obama Healthcare Reform that demands that women must have access, in the healthcare provided by their employers, to pregnancy preventive services. The Catholic Church is adamant in capitulating to this mandate alleging that the mandate is a violation to their religious beliefs. I can understand but, isn’t that what they do with those of us that don’t agree with their beliefs?

Let me begin by saying that the religious groups are constantly imposing on everyone their religious values: Gay marriage is a big no-no, abortion is out of the question even for atheists and “One Nation under God” was added to our Pledge of Allegiance in 1951 forcing us to say it if we pledge allegiance to the flag, and the list goes on. Why do churches believe that they have the right to impose their views onto everyone else but not the other way around? After all, we all pay taxes.  Sorry, I forgot... Churches don’t even do that, they are tax-free “leeches.”

What amazes me is the little faith they do profess towards their female parishioners with these uproars. If they are so certain that their flock is so faithful to their religion, what’s the problem then? They can include access to these services but the religious women will not use them, or are they afraid that they would if these resources were readily available? Again, isn’t in the Bible – their holy book – that God gave men free will precisely for them to make their own decisions? Why is it that churches believe that they must control people and force them to make the "right" decision? If that is what God had intended, we would all be like zombies, no decisions to be made, no rights or wrongs.  According to their own religion and scriptures, we are supposed to have the freedom to make our own choices, but I guess that only applies to "men", women must obey.

It is obvious that I am not religious but I do not condemn those who are, they have all the right in the world to worship as they please, as long as they don’t push their beliefs down my throat as they are always trying to do. I have an equal right not to belief and to do as my principles dictates, not theirs. After all at the end if God does exist, it will be a matter between that God and myself – I don’t need an intermediary or a conscience… I already have my own!