Good Nun, Bad Nun

From Religion Dispatches: 

Catholic Nun Excommunicated for 

Saving Pregnant Woman’s Life! 

Post by Jonathan L. Walton 

Last year a gravely ill pregnant woman was admitted to St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix with heart failure. Doctors advised the woman that the pregnancy was literally killing her. She agreed to an abortion. One major problem: St. Joseph’s is a Catholic hospital.

Since the woman was too ill to be transferred to another hospital in time to save her life, Sister Margaret McBride, hospital administrator, approved the procedure. Yet when Bishop Thomas Olmsted received word that Sister McBride approved an abortion, he passed down the harshest penalty of the Catholic church, excommunicatio   

Here is my comment on this atrocity:

 

Catholic Nun Excommunication Abortion  

Posted by Daniel Vojir posting anonymously on May 20, 2010 at 7:41 PM

I saw this article and felt compelled to comment for personal reasons, so please bear with me.

I was born in St. Vincent's Infant Asylum and Maternity Hospital in Chicago. It was an orphanage and I was put up from birth immediately. So, I literally popped out of the womb into the arms of a nun.

I know I screamed "PUT ME BACK!!" but nobody listened to me. I was handled by nuns for the first 15 months of my life. I went through Catholic grade school with flying colors. Others were not so lucky. To say the nuns were harsh ... They were also very, very old and undereducated. They had bizarre quirks that they fostered in the extreme. They used kids (like me) to further their own political stance within the parish or with their mother superior. They worshiped the ground the priests walked on.

After my grade school incarceration, I then went from the frying pan into the fire: a college prep school taught by Dominican priests. No, I wasn't molested (I wasn't cute enough), but they certainly beat us into submission.

I am now a recovering Catholic.

Several years ago, I found out about the Duplessis Orphan scandal that rocked not only Canada but the rest of the world. I was struck dumb, for you see, my birth mother was French Canadian and I was born at the very height of the atrocious abuse. There but for the grace of God...

My point is this: the Catholic church wouldn't know a good nun from a bad one. The nun in question made the right decision, but if the situation were put forth in front of any of the nuns who handled me, I am positive that the pregnant woman would have been sacrificed.

Up until the 1980's the sadistic Magdalene Laundries operated with impunity. 'Wayward girls" were to be treated as worthless slaves: physically, emotionally and, yes, even sexually.

The present pope still believes in the subjugation of women.

Sister Mary McBride I salute you. I only wish you were around when I was growing up.

Bonehead Of The Month Redux: Rep. Souder Resigns

The Hypocrisy Machine continues To drone on:

from USA Today:

 

WASHINGTON — The announcement Tuesday by Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., that he will resign after acknowledging an affair with a female aide demonstrates the increasingly tough stance House leaders have taken on scandals in advance of November's high-stakes congressional elections, political observers say.

 Hmmm. Let's wait and see which House leaders will be using the word "contempt" the most. After all, they might be next to resign. The greatest hypocrite is always the most vocal critic.

 

 

How Far Will They Get? Torture Porn And The Jack Bauer Republicans

The article in today's  Crooks and Liars is one of the most disturbing things I have read in a long time.

It's sad how conservatives have been influenced by FOX's "24" and adopted Jack Bauer's persona all for themselves. The torture scenes seem to have seeped into their consciousnesses and made them believe that this is how all good Americans should handle impossibly dangerous situations. ... Check out the [below] video ... It's torture porn.

The extent of the torture and violence of 24 led the dean of West Point, U.S. Army Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan, to visit the set of 24 last fall to:

...voice their concern that the show's central political premise--that the letter of American law must be sacrificed for the country's security--was having a toxic effect.

And now that "toxic effect" is taking hold in bold and almost unimaginable of ways.

Two former veterans of the Iraq war are running for congress. They both were fired from the military under charges of murder and torture of detainees.  And they've both made the charges the centers of their campaigns. 

The Daily Beast has labeled them Jack Bauer Republicans.


The Daily Beast:

Last week, Ilario Pantano won the Republican nomination in North Carolina’s 7th District...

... In April 2004, Pantano killed two unarmed Iraqi detainees, twice unloading his gun into their bodies and firing between 50 and 60 shots in total. Afterward, he placed a sign over the corpses featuring the Marines' slogan “No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy” as a message to the local population.   

His excuse was "self defense." Two unarmed men. 60 bullets. Self defense. Sidetrack: In the musical Chicago, one of the women on Murderers' Row explains her case: "I was carving up the chicken for dinner minding my own business when in comes my husband Wilber in a jealous rage. 'You been screwin' the milkman?' He was crazy. 'You been screwin' the milkman?!' And then that's when he ran into my knife. He ran into my knife ten times!" (The Cell Block Tango). 

Sorry, but the analogy was too good to pass up. 60 bullets can't be any part of a defense. It's just as ridiculous as someone running into a knife ten times. Both are the definition of overkill. And the sign only demonstrated his intense hatred for the people.

While Pantano says that he doesn't want his campaign to dwell in the past, the same cannot be said for retired Lt. Col. Allen West, running in Florida’s 22nd District to replace Democratic Rep. Ron Klein.

West was forced to retire from the Army and fined $5,000 after he admitted to apprehending an Iraqi policeman he suspected of planning an ambush, watching as his troops beat him, and then firing a gunshot by the Iraqi’s head in order to scare him into divulging information. West said the decision saved lives by preventing an ambush. But no plot was ever discovered and the policeman in question later told The New York Times that he had no knowledge of any attacks.

"... I made the decision where I sacrificed my military career for the lives of my men, ...I will sacrifice every ounce of me to be your next congressman."

Of course, Sarah Palin has endorsed West on her Facebook page claiming he served "with distinction." But she also pointed out (unwittingly) the scary part of his campaign: his popularity has garnered twice as much in campaign donations than the cash raised by Democratic Florida Congressman Klein.

The Rabid Right is becoming bold enough to promote military sadists to congressional seats. How far will they go next? Will these two actually win their respective elections?  Watch this video posted by Crooks and Liars and ask yourself whether or not you want a "Jack Bauer  Republican" to represent you in Congress.

Warning: it's not for the squeamish.

Then watch this newscast about 24 and its influence.