Saturday, January 03, 2009

Jane Brennan to be in Mesa AZ and Washington DC

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Taken Into Custody by Stephen Baskerville

Friday, January 02, 2009

WND: "Newsweek's Lies about Divorce"

This came today, and should be read by everyone... God bless! WI Catholic

Congratulations to Ned Holstein and Fathers & Families for the great mention in the Newsweek article in divorce.  Despite the coverage, I could not resist raising some objections to Newsweek's coverage.  This is just published in WorldNetDaily
 
Sorry for the delay in cirulating this.  Thanks to Jeremy Swanson, Lindsay Jackel, and others for doing so.  And thanks to John Murtari, as always.
 
Best wishes to all for the new year.
 
Stephen
 
 
 
WorldNetDaily

Newsweek's lies about divorce
December 30, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

 

By Stephen Baskerville
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=84810

 

Divorce is the main cause of family destruction today, and fatherless children are the principal source of virtually every major social pathology. Yet divorce is ignored by the mainstream media to the point of blackout. Now, Newsweek magazine offers a revealing exception that proves the rule. Newsweek's depiction of divorce is so trite and clichéd that it seriously distorts what is happening.

 

Most Americans would be shocked if they knew what takes place today in the name of divorce. Indeed, millions are appalled when they discover that they can be forced into divorce, lose their children and even be jailed without trial – all without having violated any law and through procedures entirely beyond their control. Comprised of courts, bar associations and federally funded social services bureaucracies that wield police powers, the divorce machinery has become the most repressive and predatory sector of government ever created in the United States and today's greatest threat to constitutional freedom.

 

Yet, we hear not a word of this from Newsweek. As is de rigueur in journalism today, reporter Susanna Schrobsdorff begins not with objective facts or disinterested analysis but by publicly displaying her own divorce. And what a joyous occasion it was. Despite pretentious pathos (also obligatory in today's media), it is clear that no one forced her into this.

 

The usual assortment of divorce lawyers and feminists are then trotted out to mouth the standard clichés of the divorce industry: parents must "cooperate" and "put the children first," caring courts are now generous to fathers, etc. "Their dad and I had read the divorce books and rehearsed our speech about how none of this was their fault, that we loved them," she recounts. "All of this was true, but it seemed insufficient."

 

 

 

 

It was insufficient (by her own account, the children went berserk) because it was not true. Love demands we put the needs of those we claim to love before our own desires. If divorce proceeds from love, then the word has become meaningless.

 

Fifteen-year-old Amy Harris, quoted in the Sunday Times, offers a scathing rejoinder to Ms. Schrobsdorff's rehearsed speech: "Parents always say they are not leaving because of the children. Is that supposed to make the children feel better?" she asks. Amy continues:

 

Does that take all the guilt off the child's shoulder? No, it's all rubbish. Children feel that they weren't enough to keep their parents, that their parents didn't love them enough to keep them together. I know I did not drive my father away, but I did not keep him either.

 

Newsweek offers no recognition that parents who oppose divorce in principle are simply divorced without their consent, whereupon their children (with everything else they have) are seized without any further reason given. What Newsweek presents as cooperation "for the children" in reality means "cooperate with the divorce if you ever want to see your children again."

 

The mendacity is especially glaring regarding fathers. "Changes in child-support laws, and a push by fathers for equal time, are transforming the way this generation of ex-spouses raise [sic] their children," claims the carefully worded headline. Yet, Newsweek provides no evidence of any such changes; in fact, it concedes that "Most often, children still end up living primarily with the mother" and that "moms are the official primary residential parent after a divorce in five out of six cases, a number that hasn't changed much since the mid-'90s."

 

One divorce lawyer claims that "most states have provisions that say gender can't be the determining factor in deciding who is going to be the primary custodial parent," but he does not tell us that such provisions are ignored.

 

The magazine's account of child support is likewise distorted. Advertised as providing for children who have been "abandoned" by their fathers, child support is in reality the financial engine driving divorce, offering generous windfalls to mothers who break their vows, while criminalizing fathers with debts most have done nothing to incur and that are far beyond their means.

 

"Most states have passed legislation that ties child-support payments to how much time a child spends with the nonresident parent paying the support," says Newsweek, commenting that "if a father spends more than a given threshold of nights with his kids, he can have his child support adjusted according to formulas that vary by state." No, what this means is that he is less likely to see his children, because both the mother and the state government will lose child support money. Both have a financial incentive to reduce his time with his children as much as possible. Child support makes children fatherless.

 

A lawyer from the American Academy of "Matrimonial" Lawyers claims that men want custody half the time so that they can pay half the support. This dishonest slur on fathers constitutes an open admission that child support payments vastly exceed the cost of raising children.

 

Divorce destroys many more families than same-sex "marriage" – which itself has arisen only because of the debasement of marriage through divorce. It is time for the responsible media to expose the unconstitutional divorce apparat. Otherwise, our professed concern for marriage and the family will ring hollow.

 


 

Stephen Baskerville, PhD
Associate Professor of Government
Patrick Henry College
1 Patrick Henry Circle
Purcellville, Virginia  20132
 

 
Now Available from Cumberland House Publishing:
 
Taken Into Custody: The War Against Fatherhood, Marriage, and the Family
 

Thursday, January 01, 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! And May God....

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Merry Christmas! from Marty

This letter from my dear friends Marty and Irene needs to be shared, as it offers a teaching that many of us often have never learned, and some may never read, since they do not read Maccabees.

This year Hanukkah began at sundown on Sunday December 21, and continues for a total of 8 days. *Until sundown tomorrow night...the 8th Candle was lit at sundown today.

The Fifth Candle of the Menorah spoken of by Marty was just being lit by the time my extended family began to arrive at the hotel where we met for the 20th year in a row, for a three day/two night reunion. It was really nice to see it in the window, and watch the next candle 'lit' as our time there progressed. When we checked out, there were two remaining candles still waiting (one at sundown on Saturday, the final one at sundown on Sunday--today).

Knowing about the 'Servant Candle' above the rest was nice, as I was able to mention that to my own children (and wish I had also thought to mention to my grandchildren, as I am sure that their parents would not have remembered to do...).

In my room, I put up a smaller Nativity Scene with just the basics... an Angel, some shepherds, sheep, and the Holy Family, with Jesus in the manger. That was a reminder to everyone who came to see our mother, grandmother, great-grandmother (my Mom) of the real reason for o ur gathering. That Infant in the Manger is the 'Servant' who came to save us, and will come again in Glory.

God bless!


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Marty
Date: Thu, Dec 25, 2008 at 9:11 AM

Hi Dear Friends,

We wish you a most deeply Merry Christmas. But much more, we wish you a Holy and Blessed Christmas! This is the moment of the arrival on earth of the Son of God! He redeemed us from the original sin of Adam and Eve, opened the kingdom of heaven for us, taught us how to prepare for heaven, and gave us the sanctifying grace to be able to prepare.

This year, our Jewish friends will still be celebrating Hanukkah while we celebrate the arrival on earth of the living God who created the heavens and the earth. After we have enjoyed our Christmas repast, opened the presents under the tree, sung our carols and all the rest, after the sun sets, our Jewish friends will be lighting the fifth Hanukkah candle. Hanukkah celebrates a true series of historical events 165 years before Christmas. Each year our Jewish friends sing this song to celebrate Yehuda haMaccabi's heroic Hanukkah, re-dedication of the Temple:

*Maoz tzur yeshuati, lecha nae leshabeakh – tikon bet tefilati,
vesham todah nezabeakh*.
"The rock of my salvation, to you we send our praises,
my house of prayer is up, and there we will give thanks with sacrifices."

Our Jewish friends remember (2 Macc 6:18-31) Eleazar's heroic acceptance of death rather than violate God's Law given by Moses. They remember (2 Macc 7:1-41) the mother and her seven sons, all of whom also accepted death rather than violate God's Law. And they remember Yehuda haMaccabi's (Judah the Hammer) awesome military victory over Antiochus IV, his Hanukkah, (re-dedication) of the Temple, and how, to complete the Hanukkah he needed
eight days to press and prepare new oil but had only one day's olive oil for the eternal lamp
(Lev 6:13), yet the lamp miraculously remained lit all that time. To this day, Jews celebrate the Hanukkah by lighting a menorah with eight candles, one for each of the eight days. It also has one candle above the rest, the shamash, the humble servant candle, not counted among the eight, but used to light the others, reminding us of the joyful birth of the Light of the World.

We owe God first but also our Jewish friends, particularly Judah the Hammer of God, for his victory against the forces of the murderous Antiochus IV, who had tried to blot out Judaism from the face of the earth. If Judah and his army had not fought with magnificent faith and courage, Antiochus might have succeeded. If he had, there might have been no Christmas. Jesus had to be in the line of David. No Jews, no line of David, no Mary, no Jesus.

So, this Christmas, let us remember Eleazar's martyrdom, and the martyrdom of the mother and her seven sons, all of whom also accepted death rather than violate God's Law. We have many heroic martyrs to emulate--my favorite is St. Ignatius of Antioch (see his Letter to the Romans)--but this year I'd like to hold up Eleazer, the mother and her seven sons, and Judah the Hammer of God.
May we too be so focused on God that we would give our very lives for Him. This was extraordinary heroism in the Hebrew Scriptures, but in the New Testament it is simply what the Son of God calls us to do. Jesus said,
(Mt 10:39) "He who finds his life will lose it,
and he who loses his life for my sake will find it."

And we are called to witness:

(Mt 10:40) "He who receives you receives me,
and he who receives me receives
him who sent me."

At every moment of our lives, let us reflect Christ's glory back to Him, and to one another.

Let us remember too that Christmas will not be over after the Christmas dinner is completed, the gifts are opened, the singing is done, night falls, and our Jewish friends have lit their fifth candle. The Twelve Days of Christmas are traditionally the days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany. Catholic Culture tells us that the Christmas season thisyear continues for 17 days, until the feast of the Baptism of Christ. Let's celebrate them all!

At the same time, let's recall that we're living in an extraordinary age of salvation history, one in which Satan is far more active than usual. It's fascinating to watch the phony "religions" celebrated only once a year, all of them around Christmas time, deliberately to distract us from Christmas. Offices all over this land celebrate the winter solstice with parties and festivities, yet not one celebrates the summer solstice, or the spring and fall equinoxes. Along with the phony religions are phony charges against the Catholic faith. Let's look at particularly at the charge, "It comes from pagans." These distractions are placed before us to make us lose track of our pure
celebration of Christmas.


Let us celebrate our own Hanukkah by re-dedicating our temple to the living Christ. (1 Cor 3:16) "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are." Let us empty ourselves to let Christ fill us. If you're so inclined, after everyone has gone home, night has fallen, and our Jewish friends have lit their fifth candle, open your Bible to
St. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 5, re-read the entire Sermon on the Mount, perhaps by candle light, and reflect on how we might live as He lived.

Have a Holy and Blessed Christmas!

With all our love,

Marty & Irene <><


Wreaths Across America

This is my response to an email I was sent, which was also checked by another recipient of the email for validity on snopes.com.

Because I have seen photos of wreaths at Arlington, I had no need to check it out. But I think that this is a tribute that is worth mentioning...

God bless!