The Lindsey Graham Standard: 'Three Strikes and You're Out'

Calls for General James Clapper's Resignation

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testifies on Capitol Hill Feb. 10 before the House Intelligence Committee. 

 We don't often agree with Lindsey Graham, but with regard to the befuddled and uninformed so-called Director of National Intelligence, he is right.  Director Clapper should go or be fired.

We would also apply the "Graham Standard" to United States Senators who have called their constituents "racists," who defy public opinion and support amnesty for illegal aliens, who support the nationalization of US banks, who favor massive new taxes under cap and trade legislation, advocate the fingerprinting and imposition of ID cards for law-abiding Americans, and have provided the key committee vote ensuring the appointment of Marxists to the US Supreme Court.  

Don't let the doorknob hit you, Lindsey.

From Fox News

A prominent Republican senator called on Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to resign Thursday after he said Russia and China pose the biggest "mortal threat" to the United States, stunning lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said it's time for Clapper to go after his testimony on Capitol Hill, but the White House said it has the "full faith and confidence" of the director.

Pope's New Book Goes on Sale Today

The death of Jesus of Nazareth remains controversial, even after almost 2000 years. Pope Benedict XVI revisits the debate in his new book, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, the second volume of his work on the figure of Jesus.

Some interpreters have identified the Jewish people as a whole as responsible for Jesus’ death – a position often used to justify the persecution of Jews. Some modern scholars argue that the Roman authorities are to blame. Others claim that a group within the Jewish Temple establishment worked with the Roman authority to execute Jesus for insurrection, which is what the Gospel writers maintain. Benedict XVI directly confronts the arguments and the evidence.

“Many readers will find this section of the book particularly interesting as the Pope reviews the historical positions taken about this,” said Fr. Joseph Fessio, founder and publisher of Ignatius Press. “He discusses some very controversial claims that have been made, and draws on some contemporary scholarly resources to reach a conclusion that I am certain will generate a lot of discussion.”

Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week – From the Entrance Into Jerusalem to the Resurrection will be available March 10 from Ignatius Press. It is the follow-up to the Pope’s best-selling first volume,

Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration.

In Part Two, the Pope tackles many of history’s most volatile questions about the final week of Jesus’ earthly life :

• Was Jesus a political revolutionary?

• Was he the Messiah, the Son of God?

• What did Jesus teach about the end of the world?

• Did Jesus establish a community of disciples—the Church—to continue his work?

• How did Jesus interpret his death?

• What does the evidence tell us about Jesus’ ultimate fate? Did he really rise from the dead?

• Did the early Christians believe Jesus would return immediately?

Benedict answers those questions and more. The figure of Jesus that emerges from this study is of someone who is both divine and human; God’s self-disclosure in his Son, who tells us about God but also about ourselves. “It’s clear that what interests the Holy Father is helping people to know and love someone whom he knows and loves,” Fr. Fessio said. “But he does this as a scholar. This book,” he added, “is a bright star in the constellation of books about Jesus.”

Striking a Blow for Good Governance

From CatholicVote.org

By Tom Crowe

The Wisconsin Senate has passed the measure stripping government unions of the ability to collude with willing partisans to increase their largesse in exchange for loads of political support and campaign contributions. The state Assembly is expected to take up the legislation today.

In other words, the Wisconsin Senate voted to end collective bargaining for government unions.

This is not about hatin’ on teachers. This is not about trying to destroy all unions. This is about ending a corrupt system.

Prominent Mormon Blogger Labels Romney "Chameleon-Like"

By Gary Glenn

Connor Boyack of Levi, Utah -- well-known religion and politics blogger , Brigham Young University graduate, active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and self-described former Mitt Romney supporter -- nails Romney's "chameleon-like qualities" on a broad array of issues, up to and including Romney's personal responsibility for the executive order that actually implemented so-called homosexual "marriage" in Massachusetts.

Boyack posted on MormonBloggers.com:

"Governor Romney took it upon himself -- absent any authority or legal mandate -- to order town clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to homosexual couples, making Massachusetts the first state in the country to allow them.

For all his subsequent grandstanding -- criticizing the Court, participating in pro-traditional marriage rallies, and endorsing changes to the U.S. Constitution to require marriage be between a man and a woman -- Romney was either ignorant in regards to his duties as governor, or duplicitous in his actions.

Being bound in no way (and having no authority) to issue such an executive order prior to legislative action, the first homosexual marriages -- and no doubt the impetus for other states to follow suit -- occurred due to Mitt Romney's actions alone."

Many of the issues Connor covers were discussed by multiple critics during the 2008 presidential election cycle, but Connor's critiques -- to the extent they become broadly known -- are something new: he threatens to dramatically multiply the damage to Romney's credibility precisely because, as a practicing member of the LDS Church, he is immune to Romney apologists' knee-jerk weapon of first (or at least eventual) resort: the false characterization of any and all criticism of Romney's public policy record as being motivated by religious "bigotry."

Why Walker Won't Back Down

From Wisconsin State Journal

By Clay Barbour

Gov. Scott Walker announces his controversial budget repair bill last month. Despite daily protests and dwindling public support, Walker remains resolute in his push to curb collective bargaining rights for public employees to give government more flexibility in budgeting.

The crowds are angry, the polls unfavorable, but Gov. Scott Walker has so far refused to compromise on key pieces of his controversial budget repair bill.

Such resolve would be impressive in a politician with the resume of a Tommy Thompson or Russ Feingold, but it's a little shocking for a governor with just eight weeks under his belt.

Except, when it comes to Walker, it isn't.

"Anyone who thinks he will change his mind has another thing coming," said Milwaukee County Supervisor Joe Sanfelippo, a Walker ally during his tenure as county executive. "He ignores the polls and the protests and does what he thinks is right. And I can tell you, he will not give in."

Read the rest of this entry >>

Pope Benedict Opens Lenten Season

From Vatican Radio

Pope Benedict officially opens the Lenten season with a traditional Ash Wednesday afternoon procession and mass here in Rome. Each year on this day, the Pope crosses the Tiber river and goes to the Church of Saint Anselm on the Aventine hill where he joins the Benedictine friars and other religious for a moment of prayer. Afterwards, the Holy Father and his entourage of cardinals and bishops proceed just down the street to the basilica of Saint Sabina to celebrate mass and for the blessing and imposition of ashes on the faithful.

The Basilica of Santa Sabina as it’s known here is nestled amidst orange groves and gardens hidden behind old stone walls. It is one of the oldest churches in Rome, dating as far back as about the year 422. Santa Sabina became one of the so-called station churches where Rome’s early Christian community would gather for processions and liturgies in Lent and other periods holy to the Christian calendar.

The priory of the Dominican order is attached to Santa Sabina and most of the friars and religious there participate in the Ash Wednesday services with the Pope. Tracey McClure popped in and asked the order’s procurator general, Fr. Robert Ombres, to accompany her to the basilica for a peek inside... 

"Rise Like Lions"

"... there were not many. There were only a few and true"

From Brits at their Best

Rise like Lions after slumber

In unvanquished number -

Shake your chains to earth like dew

Which in sleep had fallen on you -

Ye are many. . .

- Percy Bysshe Shelley

Hundreds of people who believe in the "rights and liberties" enshrined in the British Constitution turned out to support justice under British common law and Magna Carta. Specifically they turned out to support Roger Hayes of the British Constitution Group who is fighting a council tax he calls unconstitutional in a court in Birkenhead.

The BCG claim the right to lawful rebellion under Article 61 of Magna Carta . They contend that their rights and liberties have not been protected by Parliament, which has made Great Britain a fiefdom of the European Union; have not been defended by the courts which have slept long and deeply during attacks on the Constitution; and have not been shielded by The Queen, who has given her Royal Assent to the unconstitutional transfer of British sovereignty to the EU.

Rise like lions, no matter that ye may not be many.

In the beginning of common law, in the beginning of Magna Carta, in the beginning of freedom of religious conscience, in the beginning of the abolition of the slave trade and slavery, in the beginning of the British Bill of Rights, there were not many. There were only a few and true.