Well, another busy Christmas season is over. We still have New Year’s Eve to grapple with, but we’ll worry about that later. As usual, my children did very well for themselves and my wife and I got some nice things, too. I took a couple of days off from writing my column and worrying about this website; however, I suppose it’s time to get back to work.
Right. And before I get into today’s news, there’s an article on Cracked that deserves your immediate attention; it’s called A Guide to Holiday Cocktails After Drinking Them All. Sometimes during a long article—like the one that I just mentioned—the reader can actually see the writer’s sobriety and dexterity deteriorate.
Catholic Charities in Illinois is whining and closing some of their facilities because they can no longer receive state money and simultaneously turn away same-sex couples as potential foster care and adoptive parents.
Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki
“In the name of tolerance, we’re not being tolerated,” said Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois.
Well … that’s just too damned bad, isn’t it? If the Catholics want to go on practicing their discriminatory and superstitious policies, then they can do so on their own dime. No one is saying that they can’t hold on to their beliefs; however, the state isn’t going to fund them any more than they would if they were turning away African-American couples.
According to MSNBC: Tim Kee, a teacher in Marion, Ill., who was turned away by Catholic Charities three years ago when he and his longtime partner, Rick Wade, tried to adopt a child, said: “We’re both Catholic, we love our church, but Catholic Charities closed the door to us. To add insult to injury, my tax dollars went to provide discrimination against me.”
The Catholics are also losing their shit because they want to continue to receive funding for their hospitals, universities, and charity groups; however, they do not want to cover contraception in their employees’ health plans. Furthermore, they’ve been denied a federal contract to provide care for victims of sex-trafficking because their program does not provide the survivors of sex-trafficking, some of whom are rape victims, with referrals for abortions or contraceptives.
Catholic Charities receives most of its money from the government, which is funny, because it’s like George Carlin once said, referring to God: “He needs money!” If they want to go on helping people—and they do—then they ought to get with the times and help all people.
In other news, according to a recent poll, Americans are mostly worried about an economic collapse. It is unclear how many of those people are aware that such a collapse is not only inevitable, but is in fact looming on the horizon—probably only a year or two away.
Tragedy struck here in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Monday night when a three-year-old boy was killed by a stray bullet … and as awful as that is, I would like to make it clear that I support law-abiding citizens’ right to carry firearms. Whoever was cranking off the rounds that killed that little boy did not have a gun permit—I guarantee it. To illustrate what happens when you put guns into the hands of responsible, trained adults, I would like to mention the 46-year-old woman in Philadelphia who interrupted a violent robbery in the stairwell of her apartment building. Her son and his girlfriend were being pistol whipped and had already been shot once by their assailant when the woman shot and killed their attacker. She has not been arrested.
The benevolent Newt Gingrich is "fine" with losing to the likes of Rick Santorum in Iowa next week
In political news, Mitt Romney is leading in the Iowa polls. Newt Gingrich, who is reluctant to put anything but a positive spin on his hopeless position, says that he’s “fine” with coming in fourth—behind Rick Santorum. Let’s face it, Newt: if you get beaten by Rick Santorum, you might as well go home. Then again, Newt is still polling better than Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, and Jon Huntsman, who came in dead last with just 1% in Iowa. And who’s polling last in New Hampshire, where it really counts? Well, that dubious honor goes to none other than Rick Perry, who was only popular until he started giving drunken speeches and going on TV and making an ignoramus of himself.
Whatever. If I’ve learned just one thing, it’s that polls don’t matter. We have to wait until next week, but Mitt Romney is going to get the nod from the GOP. My wife, for her money, has predicted that Romney will get the nomination with Chris Christie on the ballot as his VP, which is the only way Republicans would ever let that happen. As for me, I tend to agree with her; hopefully, history will not make fools of us.
According to the Associated Press: Ron Paul wants to legalize pot and shut down the Federal Reserve. He thinks the federal government has no authority to outlaw abortion, no business bombing Iran to keep it from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and no justification to print money unless it’s backed up by gold bars.
All of which makes him sound like an excellent candidate for the presidency of the United States; however, that line about abortion is misleading. Ron Paul is against abortion—even in cases of rape and incest; furthermore, he supports an “every man for himself” attitude when it comes to just about everything. I, on the other hand, believe that the government should do for the people what they cannot do for themselves—such as schools, roads, healthcare, police, etc.
Forget about Ron Paul—his own party thinks that he’s just as mad as a hatter and they’re probably right.
Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich’s Super PAC has been saturating Iowa with anti-Romney literature, this just a week after Newt went on every major network who would have him and called Mitt an asshole for allowing his Super PAC to run a smear campaign against the fat former House Speaker. Newt promised anyone who would listen that he would never stoop to such nefarious tactics, preferring instead to take the high road … and now that he’s broken that promise, he’s oddly silent.
“He [Mitt Romney] can say that he condemns negative ads and I ask that PAC to run only positive ads. It is very simple. Anything short of that is bologna. We ought to understand these are his people, running his ads, doing his dirty work while he pretends to be above it,” Gingrich said in Ottumwa, Iowa, on December 20.
Yeah, now that Christmas is behind us, the real fun can begin.
Here’s your wisdom:
John T. Schmitz
John T. Schmitz is the editor & publisher of Secret Laboratory; he is the founder of Maple Hills Press and has also freelanced as a writer and photographer, contributing to various local and international publications. Mr. Schmitz lives in Minnesota with his wife, Megan, and their two children; he is the author of four books.
E-mail Mr. Schmitz at editor@secretlaboratory.org.
