News Updates, 5/27

Minnesota Catholics receive new shepherd
The Catholics in Minneapolis and St. Paul received a gift from Pope Benedict today when the Vatican announced that the Pope has appointed Father Lee Piché as an auxiliary bishop for the more than 850,000 faithful in the area. Bishop-elect Piché replaces the Most Reverend Richard E. Pates, who was installed as the Bishop of the Diocese of Des Moines in May of 2008. The bishop-elect’s ordination will be on June 29, the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, in St. Paul Cathedral.

Raad Salah: Netanyahu will Try to Rebuild the Jewish Temple
Sheikh Raad Salah, leader of the Northern Wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel, believes Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will try to rebuild the Jewish Temple...

Homosexual Group’s IRS Complaint is ‘Bogus,’ Maine Catholic Diocese Says
A San Diego-based homosexual activist group has filed a formal complaint with the Internal Revenue Service charging the Roman Catholic diocese of Portland, Me., with violating federal tax rules by taking part in a referendum campaign aimed at repealing the state's new same-sex marriage law...

Commentary: Will the New England Catholic Health Care System Participate in Abortion?
...Most Americans are familiar with the term “Pandora’s Box’ but that same percentage has no idea what “Caritas Christi” is so this is where my story must begin....

Obama nominates pro-abort Catholic for Court
Sonia Sotomayor would become first Hispanic Justice

Sotomayor blurs lines in abortion war
Is there such a thing as an 'abortion centrist'?

Sotomayor Another Catholic on the Supreme Court
Catholic League president Bill Donohue reacts to President Obama’s choice of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court:
"When John Roberts was nominated to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, left-wingers accused President Bush of “Playing the Catholic card.” When Samuel Alito was selected by Bush, these same critics sounded the alarms over the prospect of a “majority” of the Supreme Court justices being Catholic. One would think that the selection of yet another Catholic to sit on the high court would drive these folks right over the edge. But for some reason, Sotomayor’s Catholic credentials don’t seem to matter. Is that because she is seen as reliably liberal?..."

Novak Fed Up with Vatican Newspaper: "We asked Rome for Bread they Give us Stones"
A recent string of "star struck teenage" articles praising...[Baraq Hussein] Obama by the Vatican daily newspaper is scandalizing Catholics around the world, according to a prominent American conservative commentator. Michael Novak, a US Catholic writer, philosopher and diplomat, wrote on the website of the National Review magazine today that the editors of L'Osservatore Romano have failed to grasp either "the full threat Obama poses for the American Catholic conscience" or the "immense scandal" they are causing the Church by praising him...
[IF I had a subscription to L'Osservatore Romano, I would have cancelled it by now...praising a spawn of Satan is beyond scandalous!]

Irish bishops urged to consider expelling orders
If they fail to adequately compensate victims of abuse

Calif. court upholds same-sex marriage ban
Decision rejects argument by homosexual rights activists

Church of Scientology on trial in France
Charges of organized fraud could lead to outright ban

Conn. court: Unseal priest abuse documents
Public should have access to diocese's 12,000 pages

American activist priest slain in Guatemala
Missionary to homeless shot, killed during carjacking

Diocese adds three men to list of sex abusers
Names bring to 31 the clergy from the Davenport, Iowa

Catholic group works to preserve churches in Penn.
Parishioners fear Bishop Adamec will demolish them

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Other Issues
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IRS tax revenue falls along with taxpayers' income
Federal tax revenue plunged $138 billion, or 34%, in April vs. a year ago — the biggest April drop since 1981, a study released Tuesday by the American Institute for Economic Research says.

Trouble Brewing for AIG and Federal Government:
Constitutional Challenge of AIG Bailout Allowed to Proceed

North Korea Threatens Armed Strike Against South, End to Armistice
North Korea threatened a military response to South Korean participation in a U.S.-led program to seize weapons of mass destruction, and said it will no longer abide by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.

Sotomayor Cases Reviewed by the Supreme Court
Note: this is NOT a selection of cases. This is the totality of her decisions reviewed by SCOTUS. The only time she was affirmed was with a caveat unanimously rejecting her reasoning. Sounds like we have a brilliant legal mind here...(sarcasm off)

Axelrod: Obama Wants Sotomayor To "Adapt" Laws To A "Modern Context"
Senior presidential adviser David Axelrod said Obama wanted someone whose judicial philosophy is similar to his. He wanted someone who would appreciate constitutional principles but "be ready to adapt them to a modern context."
[This is wordsmithing for destroying the Constitution and writing a new "manifesto" from the bench]

Chrysler dealers shut down in Obama bankruptcy are mostly Republican
I’m skeptical that this is as bad as it looks — it’d be politically suicidal, for no benefit greater than petty revenge — but consider it your must-read of the day. Don’t stop before the updates either or you’ll miss profitable dealers scratching their heads trying to figure out what mysterious sin they could have committed to warrant termination...
[This should come as no surprise to anyone...]

China warns Federal Reserve over 'printing money'
Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, said: "Senior officials of the Chinese government grilled me about whether or not we are going to monetise the actions of our legislature."

Narcissus And Echo: Obama And The Mainstream Media
It is troubling that our [Usurper] is a pathological narcissist caught up in the thought patterns of Darwin, Marx, and Alinsky. Even more troubling is the fact that the Mainstream Media (MSM), suffering from an Obama-inspired narcosis, shirks its duty, refusing to publish or even explore any aspect of Obama's dark side. There is room for much optimism, however. If the ancient story of Narcissus and Echo plays itself out as Ovid recorded it, and Obama and the MSM are their contemporary counterparts, both will fade away in the not too distant future...