The Catholic vote shifts

MoonHowler

 

From the Daily Beast:

A small word of thanks to Cardinal Dolan, Robert George and K-Lo for helping shift the Catholic vote massively toward Obama with their summer campaign for religious liberty. And special thanks to Paul Ryan. No actual Catholic could ever find anything but puerile cruelty in the works of Ayn Rand, or rally to the idea that home-care for the elderly should be sacrificed to reduce tax rates for the super-rich. Paul Ryan believes that the basic principles of Rand can be compatible with Catholicism. American Catholics are just not that dumb or confused about their faith.

 

How does word get out?  This is all getting into some heavy duty stuff that I don’t think I understand.  Enlighten me.  It sounds to me that most catholics want social justice as part of America and that faith without works is rather empty.  That’s quite the opposite from what some would have us believe.

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Jon Stewart: Solving labor disputes

MoonHowler

From the New York Times:

The National Football League reached agreement on a new labor deal with its game officials late Wednesday night, ending a lockout that forced unprepared replacement officials onto the field, creating three weeks of botched calls, acute criticism, furious coaches and players, and a blemish  however temporary on the integrity of the country’s most popular sport.

 

How strange that the football  referee labor dispute causes more of an outcry than the teacher labor dispute in Chicago.  The bottom line is Americans think football is more important than education.  Perhaps it is.

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UC Davis to write a big check to pepper sprayed students

MoonHowler

Remember those students sitting in a row across a bike path?  You know, the ones who were pepper sprayed in the face with some noxious substance?

Observing the video, it seemed to be clear police over-reach.  There was no reason to spray the students, especially with such gusto.

It appears that the courts also agree.  According to the Washington Post:

SAN FRANCISCO — The University of California has agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by demonstrators who were pepper-sprayed during an Occupy protest at UC Davis last fall, according to a preliminary settlement filed Wednesday.

The Nov. 18, 2011, incident prompted national outrage, angry campus protests and calls for the resignation of Chancellor Linda Katehi after online videos shot by witnesses went viral.

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Romney risks a firestorm in his own party

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

by , 9/26

As President Obama has surged in the polls, Republicans have been quick to identify the problem: Mitt Romney. Peggy Noonan eloquently voiced what many conservatives believe when she said that Romney’s campaign has been a “rolling calamity.” Others have been equally critical of his candidacy. And yet, shouldn’t it puzzle us that Romney is so “incompetent” (also from Noonan), given his deserved reputation for, well, competence? He founded one of this country’s most successful financial firms, turned around the flailing Salt Lake City Olympics and was a successful governor. How did he get so clumsy so fast?

In fact, the problem is not Romney but the new Republican Party. Given the direction in which it has moved and the pressures from its most extreme — yet most powerful — elements, any nominee would face the same challenge: Can you be a serious candidate for the general election while not outraging the Republican base?’

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