24
Sep
15
160 Responses to “Chat Away”
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The People’s View
- Follow me at my new venture: Reclaim the Fight Spandan Chakrabarti
- Ignore the bait: Why it’s the right strategy for Democrats to focus SCOTUS fight on health care Spandan Chakrabarti
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- Trump doesn't want peaceful transition of power. Legally, it doesn’t matter. Spandan Chakrabarti
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Smartypants
- Why Kristen Clarke Scares the Shit Out of John Cornyn
- Deb Haaland Is the Answer to the Prayers of Her Grandmothers and Grandfathers
- "White Lives Matter" Protests are a Total Flop
- Prosecutors in the Chauvin Trial Have Made a Very Strong Case
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Steve Benen
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- Sen. Murphy: Biden made the right decision on Afghanistan
- The women over 50 fighting to protect voting rights
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Bringing this over for Bill R from the last post:
Thanks LL. I have a similar background. I grew up Roman Catholic in an Italian immigrant family. I was quite devout and entered the seminary when still in high school. (They used to do that in old days.) As a young adult I became a practitioner of Zen Buddhism, lured mainly by the meditation practice.(Many Christian/Buddhists have dual citizenship as practitioners of Zen and adherents of Christianity.) Eventually I re-entered the Christian world, tried to make a go of it as a Catholic but found I could better identify with the Anglo-Cathoicism and progressive theology of the Episcopal Church. Yes, I think you are right about contraception. The Church could change on that. Paul VI went against the recommendations of the Vatican Commission on birth control to the great consternation of most. Interestingly enough, if you explore the history of the teaching on abortion the church has changed its position over the centuries. The central theologian of Catholicism, St. Thomas Aquinas taught that the critical difference that makes a human being is ensoulment, the moment when a fetus is infused with an immortal soul. He taught that this event happens sometime after third month of pregnancy. In the beginning of pregnancy he says the fetus has a “plant soul”. Later an “animal soul”, but not until the second trimester does “human ensoulment” take place. Therefore forms of abortion were permitted in earlier centuries in the church. The present teaching on abortion and ensoulment didn’t occur until the 19th century under Pope Pius IV, who was certifiably insane. He is also the pope that declared himself “infallible” and the “doctrine” of papal infallibility. He declared that ensoulment happens at the moment of conception, a new teaching. (And a strange idea, when you consider that about 2/3 to 3/4 of all fertilized embryos do not implant or stay implanted in the uterus and end up being flushed down the toilet. A rather bizarre notion that a large majority of human beings with immortal souls never reach birth and are discarded as waste.)
In Catholicism there is a tradition that teaching and doctrine can evolve from a process called “Sensus Fidelium”, the Sense of the Faithful. In the matter of contraception there is near unanimous rejection of the teaching on contraception and it is simply ignored. Even priests don’t like to talk about it because they know it has no standing. Hence the “Sensus Fidelium” on contraception along with growing understanding of contraception may incline the hierarchy to change the teaching eventually.
Cardinal Bernardin, the former popular social justice Archbishop of Chicago called pro-life a “seamless garment” as it applied to supporting life all through the stages of human development and mean abolishing the death penalty. His position is the same as Pope Francis, and is the orthodox position of pro-life teaching in Catholicism as I understand it. The right wing Catholics in the US have tried to distort that as they don’t support the safety net for children and families and are strongly in favor of the death penalty, contrary to the teachings of their hierarchy. In recent history all the popes have been in favor of a strong safety net, including govt. provide health care. ( As recently as 2012 the conservative Pope Benedict made a speech proclaiming the govt. responsibility to provide health care for all its citizens.) In recent years popes have also proclaimed a rather progressive social doctrine of equality and workers rights and against war. I appreciate you pointing out these things.
Thank you, Bill. It’s interesting to think that women have Pope Pius IV to thank for more than a century of abuse and disrespect regarding the fetuses they carry and that modern day abortion absolutists are unknowing followers of a deluded 19th century pope. Also interesting that no pope has bothered to correct Pius IV’s decrees in all the years since then.
I made a small mistake on my roman numeral. That should be Pope Pius IX.
Jackie, a central teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas’ theology, too often ignored by the institutional Catholic Church, is the primacy of individual conscience. Aquinas taught that individual conscience trumps rules when it comes to moral discernment. The hierarchy would argue one must have an “informed” conscience of course. So many of its canon laws have the weight of mortal sin if you disobey them. One reason I left the RCC is that it places itself between the individual soul and God, the mediator of God. When I was in the seminary as an adolescent, I was molested by two priests. That was it for me. No more mediators. As the medieval mystic, Julian of Norwich, stated, “between God and the soul” there is no between.
Brilliant, BillR. Thank you. TY, Chipsticks, for bringing it over, I got lost back a ways, and now read up on the bus crash in Seattle. Not good, at all.
Thanks for bringing this over. Chips!
I FIND IT QUITE INTERESTING THAT THE PUBLIC AND MEDIA ACCEPTS THE POPE’S DISCUSSION REGARDING HUMANITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE…BUT NOT THE PRESIDENT’S VERBAGE WHICH IS AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN THE SAME!
Hi Sue. That has been the problem on every issue since he was elected. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.
NO SURPRSE JACKIE…JUST NAUSEATES ME…GOD WILL JUSTIFY THE CROOKED FENCE…BELIEVE ME!
To RWers, President Obama sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher, because their hatred has blocked their hearing.
I DO BELIEVE AMERICA’S FENCE LEANS TO THE RIGHT!
Waving at Donna! ❤️
I BELIEVE THE POPE SEES THRU THE CONGRESSIONAL FOOTBALL GAMES…HE WAS BEING POLITE IN AN EFFORT TO GET HIS MESSAGE OUT…HE’S NOT GULLIBLE OR STUPID…HE IS SPIRIT LED!
Love these Chips! 🙂
His face is almost as smiley as PBO’s!! 🙂
Look at the security dude’s face though. 😀
This Pope must FREAK them out!!!!
Zantac is probably standard issue on all papal security details. 🙂
Pope Francis has pure enjoyment on his face ❤
OFF TO FEED THE CATS…GOD BLESS YOU ALL…I WILL TRY TO CHECK BACK LATER…:)
Flight to NYC from Andrews is, what, 45 minutes?
Meta and I aren’t the only ones who noticed Boehner’s 2nd awkard moment of the day
Boehner’s first awkward moment
Dudette, you can dress him up, give him a hefty salary and even hand him the gavel and he’s still an uncouth jackass.
Cringeworthy. Can Boner please go away, now?
He’s probably working on his third one this very moment at a bar somewhere in DC.
http://bcove.me/flb52k89
Empire – “Batshit Crazy
I loved last night’s episode and I couldn’t believe my luck when I ran across this video
They must have so much fun on that show.
As much fun as I do watching them. 🙂
Terence & Taraji got me hooked on them working together on the movie “Hustle n Flow”
I still haven’t seen that movie.
Maybe I need to watch it again but I was kind of underwhelmed. I thought the walk on cameos (Sharpton, Talley and Lemon) were gratuitous and it seemed like it was all about shock value and rehashing the fight for control rather than advancing the plot. But I’ll watch again and see if maybe I just missed something!
Yeah, I kind of was like “WTH?” when Sharpton, Talley & Lemon appeared, but if you listen to Cookie you will crack up at her reactions to each one – especially Lemon
Now about the rest of the episode – you really do need to watch it again. It had some GREAT little moments and then some GREAT big moments – about family – loving them even when you’re mad at them – coming together in spite of past events, etc, etc. Girl, what Lucious does leading up to “bye bye Chris Rock” – you really need to listen and watch him. Holy moly! I almost fell off my bed! 😀 😀
Yeah, I will definitely watch again because I got interrupted a couple of times. Cookie is just incredible! The end when she’s confronting her son is STRONG! Thanks, GG.
You’re welcome meta 🙂
Oh cool! Thanks for sharing this! I missed the episode. Gotta catch it OnDemand before next week, so I can be up on all the dirty! 🙂
It’s goooooood dirt too 🙂
I agree with Taraji’s statement
“So after however many years I’ve been in this business, I finally have Hollywood’s attention,” says Taraji P. Henson (who plays Cookie Lyon), photographed along with her castmates Aug. 23 on ‘Empire’s’ soundstage at Cinespace Studios in Chicago.
LL, or more affectionately Lib Lib, there is a post that started a month and 1/2 ago called “The Invasion of Europe” on the Politics.ie blog. If you can stand what is in there, you will get an idea of how some in Ireland are reacting to the migrant crisis.
http://www.politics.ie/forum/europe/239928-invasion-europe.html
Keep a barf bucket handy. My stomach can only stand so much of these people.
Ugh, I’ll have to fortify myself with some spirits before I venture there.
VP Biden is Everywhere these days.
On MSNBC’s global festival Saturday night which I had NO plans to watch but now will try to catch the Vice President.
Then, leading the Pope Francis goodbye ceremony in Philadelphia on Sunday.
Our Peacemaker Trio is highly visible. John Kerry today with The Pope was beautiful to see.
I am so proud of the Obama Administration. Both for what splendid human beings they are and for what they have accomplished.
I realize that these images will not counteract the Doom and Gloom scenario that the Left and the Right are offering up. It has been too overwhelming. Doris Kearns Goodwin got into the act on the air a few moments ago. Praising the Pope and saying that “leadership was what our country longs for.”
WTF do you think President Barack Obama has been providing for the past 61/2 years, you ignorant bigmouth?
Now now Vicki, you just returned from a holy holiday, a time of reflection and forgiveness! 🙂
Hello, my loves. ❤
How are you all doing, today?
Good, GB, how are you?
Hey, Jackie. I’m good. Going to be an exciting night. 😄
Hi GB! How are you? 👋🏼
Chillin’. Getting some rest in preparation for Kerry and Viola.
That sounds good. Enjoy! 😊
Well hello yourself love ❤
LIVE NOW: Awaiting Pope Francis’ arrival at JFK – http://www.cbsnews.com/liveFeed/widget.shtml
Dude is begging for a caption contest 🙂
VP Biden’s face says it all! Pope Francis is amused, but not really. More a look of disbelief.
Yep. VP: “Did I just hear him say ‘Good Luck’? Bwahaha!”
VP Biden is trying his best to hold it together and he’s making me laugh more each time I look at his face 😀 😀
And the Pope is looking at Boehner like “so this is what a human jackass looks like”
i can only imagine the courage it took to stare down that hateful group…
Upcoming Vatican Stream
Pope Francis in the USA-Vespers with Clergy
This starts at 6:30 tonight!
Pope Francis about to land in NYC:
http://www.cbsnews.com/liveFeed/widget.shtml
By the way here’s the Vatican’s YouTube Channel where you can see all the video recordings of the Pope’s visit, both those completed and those upcoming
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7E-LYc1wivk33iyt5bR5zQ
Pope Francis in the USA-Visit to the Charity Center and meeting with the homeless
From earlier today
Yep saw that last night. These are just some LOW DOWN, dirty scoundrels. Can’t win on message, can’t win on their policies, so they come up with more ways to cheat. Sickening!
The Pope has landed. Plane is coming down the tarmac.
I just wandered over to Boehner’s tweet site and did not find ONE picture of him sitting before the Pope sat down. NOT one! 😀 😀 😀 😀
I wonder what language Pope Francis will use in his UN address.
Went to the First Lady of New York’s TL to see if she was tweeting about the Pope, ran across this cute tweet instead 😀
I thought that was a dad’s primary function…
LOL! My Dad certainly excels at it! 😀
My day started in what felt like the middle of the night. 😯
I got to my transfer station on the subway all alone at a little after 5:00 AM. My girlfriend backed out at the last minute because she wasn’t feeling well last night and decided to stay home. While waiting for the train an AA woman (about my age) walked up to me and asked if I was going to see the Pope. I told her I was. She was extremely excited about today’s event. We chatted and decided which stop we were going to take to get the closets to the Capitol building. As we started to walk the few blocks along with the crowd to the Capitol she shared with me that she was night blind and had a hard time seeing objects without sunlight. I told her to grab my arm and stay on my hip and I guided her to the Mall. That air of comradery was on display throughout the morning as we went through the security check and waded in the crowd. Her tickets placed us a little closer than mine so we used hers and we had a great vantage of sight to see the Pope. We were in the standing area but up very close to the Capitol Building. The Capitol is under construction and wrapped in scaffolding but even in all the metal it was a magnificent sight against the backdrop of lights just before dawn.
The crowd was excited and laughed and sang and danced and shouted for the Pope in many languages. His speech mesmerized the crowd. We were rapt through most of it. There were high fives when he spoke of accepting immigrants, abolishing the Death Penalty, stopping the deranged from having access to arms and most of all caring for the least of these. At one point someone around us shouted that PBO could be giving this speech and the folks around us cheered. TOD, there were people from all over the world in that crowd today.
It was a long, exhausting day that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Papa coming out to give us his blessing, asking us to pray for him and blessing our country was the icing on the cake. I live in wonderful times!!!!
p.s And I made a new friend for life. 🙂
❤ DD4O, you are a superstar!! ❤
It was a wonderful day MP!
Thanks for the report. Looking forward to seeing your pics!
YW Jazziz. I’ll post some pics this evening.
Cherish it, Donna! I feel privileged to share in your joy at witnessing this historic day!
I watched the speech to Congress on Al Jazeera this morning and after the Pope spoke to the crowd, one of their reporters noted how the crowd listened so intently to everyone of the Pope’s words. The reporter mentioned the warm feelings among the crowd was palpable. Sounds glorious! Thanks for taking the time to tell us what it was like for you. What an awesome day!
Thank you for making us part of this wonderful experience, donna.
Wow! Way cool….. thanks for the report on your marvelous day!
Donna thanks so much for sharing your experience with us. It’s nice, too, that you made a new friend for life.
OMG, what a magnificent day you had, Donna. I was just spellbound watching the whole event and I thought of you as he and VP Joe came out on the balcony. The Vatican YouTube channel has really good cameras follow the Pope everywhere as he entered the Capitol building.
So glad you got close enough to really enjoy. And the crowd sounds like it was right in sync. Congrats on such a FABULOUS day!!
Thanks Meta!
It was a different crowd than the inaugural crowds (more spiritual and religious) but just as enthusiastic. Another day to go into my memory book.
Thanks Donna for being the TOD on-site reporter for this magnificent event.
Wow…how Wonderful your day truly was…thank you for blessing us with your events…i felt like i was there…smilin…and big hugs
Oh, Donna – What a beautiful day you had! So very happy for you!
Thank you so much for sharing donna – I’m reading late – sounds just so amazing – or awesome from the daughter.
wow what a great day you had Donna. Truly happy you could experience that – so cool! 😀 Thanks
more important (than that pope dood), didya see our wave?
Haha! Band is playing “New York, New York” 😀
… and he heads straight over to the crowd to hug and shake hands! 😀
The Anti-Pope.
LOL! [You know you ain’t right, man!] 😀
No tooling through town on the Fiat. Helicopter, baby!
Wait, there’s a STATE DINNER tonight for the Chinese President!
I almost forgot! Wow! What a day!
Can’t wait to see FLOTUS’ dress!
Just rolling leaders through like an auberge in the south of France…
Yep! Plus the fashion world is waiting with bated breath to see tonight’s dress. Remember all the fainting that went on because she wore that gorgeous red Alexander McQueen dress — a British designer instead of an American? [Gasp!] Oh da horrah! 😀
US media defined – pffft
State Dinner is tomorrow night. Friday.
Ah! Thanks! I got confused. It’s been such a whirlwind. I guess that might explain why the guest list hasn’t come out yet.
Is the State Dinner for the Chinese President today or tomorrow? I thought I read it was on Friday.
Yep, Friday. My mistake. Sorry.
No problem.
Menu for tonight’s State Dinner
[my mouth’s watering]
I’ve tried. Honestly I’ve tried. I just can’t do lamb. The couple of times I’ve had it it’s just too gamey.
I’ll take yours off your hands then. I lurve me some lamb when it’s done right — tender and juicy.
You’re right though, it can be a disaster in the hands of the wrong chef.
Oh I love love lamb
The Pope’s chopper is landing at the heliport where the Fiat is waiting! 😀
Looks like VP is landing right alongside Pope Francis!!!!
Oh, no….borrowed helicopter from WH!!
As I said earlier, Vice President Biden is Everywhere!!!!
AWESOME!!
😀 Omnipresent!
FLOTUS and VPOTUS will be in NYC Saturday night for the MSNBC global citizen thing that Stephen Colbert is co-hosting with Hugh Jackman. Beyonce is the headliner.
Unlike in all previous years no prominent member of The Obama Administration will be attending the Clinton Globalthingy. They pleaded “too busy.”
Oh right! Gotta set the DVR for that.
Yes, conspicuous isn’t it? Heh, heh, heh!
Ne-Yo is an interesting choice for tonight’s entertainment.
He’s a huge Obama supporter from early on. I’ll never forget his performance on Letterman during the 2008 campaign where he turned his back to the audience at the end to reveal an Obama logo on the back of his jacket. Cameraman whisked away quickly, but only after millions saw it! I jumped out of my seat and screamed with delight! 😀
Here’s that Letterman performance by Ne-Yo in 2008. The big reveal is at 4:20. 😀
Love this song too/ Wrong label on the YouTube upload. Actual title is “Miss Independent”
TOO too cool!!
I don’t eat either of them.
Ah! Well this explains it then the choice of entertainment.
From the NPR article: “At this dinner, tables will be decorated with coral- and salmon-colored roses and candles. The entertainment will feature a miniconcert with R&B artist Ne-Yo, who is part Chinese.”
How about that?
Alert
Oh My!! I hope she is okay.
Oh wow! Hope it’s not serious!
Oh I wish her the very best and a speedy recovery.
Here’s one peek at the guest list
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2015/09/23/empire-creator-lee-daniels-is-a-probable-for-the-state-dinner-for-chinese-president-xi/
Not a Lee Daniels fan…
I hear ya.
Video of VPOTUS greeting the Chinese President and First Lady at the airport
Notice President Xi doing the arm pat thing as he shakes hands with VP Joe! 😀
Video of the Popemobile rolling through Manhattan
the state dinner is tomorrow
Yep thanks! I was in a time warp bubble! 😀
http://www.c-span.org/video/?328326-2/white-house-state-dinner-press-preview
Neat! Thank you!
What is Guiliani doing there? Get out of the way, creep!
Not Guiliani, Chuck Schumer — the other creep.
New post.
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/09/24/a-tweet-or-two-324/
Screw ’em! RBG can take a quick nod wherever she wants!
Oh thank goodness!
i know
Great! Thanks, pf.
yw..
Phew! Too much going on!
Scandal and HTGAWM premieres tonight. I need a break! 😀