Cleo's Mom

Let us not forget that the bible says that all generations will call Mary blessed. Here is one explanation: Why do Catholics pray to Mary and the Saints? A. When we “pray to Mary” we are merely asking Mary and/or the Saints to pray for us in exactly the same way as when we ask another Christian to pray for us. This is nothing more than asking for intercessory prayer. And just like most Christians ,when we are in need of prayer we ask those we consider to be closest to God. If I need prayer for healing for my mom with cancer I will not ask the drug dealer on the corner or even a nominal Christian to pray for me. Instead, I ask the holiest Christians I know. After all, James 5:16 says, “the fervent prayer of a righteous man is very powerful”. Misunderstanding arises between Protestants and Catholics because of our use of the phrase “pray to Mary” or “pray to St. Francis” etc. For Protestants, with a shorter history, prayer is only and always directed to God. However, for Catholics the older uses of the English “pray” have endured through the centuries. In medieval English it was common to use the word “pray” as a synonym for “ask”. I pray thee, good king, give me …. Plus, as usual in human speech this phraseology has endured because it is short and sweet. It is easier to say, I will pray to Mary than to say, I will ask Mary to pray to God for me. While the second sentence is more theologically accurate it is also more than twice as long. So, no one uses it in everyday speech. Despite this colloquialism, the prayers of the Church are theologically correct. For instance, in the Hail Mary we say, “Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.” and in the I Confess we say, “And I ask blessed Mary, all the angels and saints, and you my brothers and sisters to pray for me to the Lord our God.” Another difference between Protestants and Catholics is how we view those Christians who have died. Protestants remember them and miss them but once they are dead they are beyond this world and our prayers. And although Protestants certainly believe in the Body of Christ they tend to think of this consisting of living Christians only. Dead Christians are either in Heaven or Hell and no longer connected or affected or interested in events in this world. But ,for Catholics, all Christians both the living and the “dead” are a part of the Body of Christ. We remain connected to each other. We continue to love, care and pray for each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Therefore, intercessory prayer continues through the power of God, among the members of the Body of Christ, because we are all alive. POINT TO PONDER FROM JOHNNY LEE CLARY: Protestants teach that eternal life begins for Christians the moment they accept Jesus as their Savior. It is taught that the soul of man never dies and that if you are born again, then you just pass from one home to the other. Therefore, after reading the above explanation of prayers asking Mary to interceed for us to Jesus,(James 5:16 the prayers of the righteous avail much) what is wrong with it and why is it a so-called 'sin' in the eyes of Protestants if in fact the Christian never dies? Can't they interceed for us to God just like a Christian here on Earth?

I like your writing style. Did you ever consider writing for Mother Jones or The Nation? I quit posting on the whole mosque thread because it had disintegrated into just emotional, factless rants with sweeping generalizations.

Is anyone else having this problem with this R&R forum? I see the last person who posted and the time but it isn't showing up. Like it shows BJean as having posted here at 9:08 AM today but the last post showing up for me is April 10th by BJean. This has been happening more and more. Did the last poster delete their message? I don't know why I can see the last message.

I am due for my second fill and didn't receive any numbing agent for the first one so I am just wondering how many of you get something to numb you first. I called the nurse today and she said they don't promote it - whatever that means (I guess it means no, never). I'm going to try to post this with a poll but I'm not sure how to do it. So it may not work.

Colorado Republican Ken Buck Caught On Tape (Again!) -- This Time Calling Birthers 'Dumbasses' By the time his campaign's over, they're going to need the jaws of life to extract Ken Buck's foot from his mouth. Buck is the Tea Party candidate running against establishment pick Jane Norton in Colorado's Republican Senate primary. His latest gaffe is being caught on tape by a Democratic operative saying, "Will you tell those dumbasses at the Tea Party to stop asking questions about birth certificates while I'm on the camera?" according to The Denver Post. Without walking it completely back, Buck has already told the Post the language was inappropriate. I never thought I'd agree with a republican on anything but Ken Buck sure got this right in calling the tea party dumbasses. That being said, his hypocrisy is staggering, but I'll bet he's not alone in the republican party for taking what he can get from the tea party ($$$, support) while thinking they're dumbasses.

You need to get a copy of the disk of the upper GI as well as the report. You can call hospital records and request one. Then take it for a second opinion to an experienced bariatric surgeon who has a good reputation. Get copies of your operative report, all other tests and your follow up visits with fill records. Take all of this with you. If you have a band floating around somewhere in your abdomen, that it a problem that needs to be addressed. I know that some radiologists aren't that experienced with band patients but to have your stomach look perfectly normal with no band is troublesome. Good luck.

Well, he doesn't interfere in mine. I take responsibility for what I can and just look at the rest as random. There are some people who are hit with extraordinary bad things happening to them while others live like kings and queens and for neither does it have anything to do with their beliefs or lack thereof or with their prayers or lack thereof. Stuff happens and life's not fair. Only for some people it's more unfair than for others. Period.

I absolutely agree with this. This is what I believe, too. And I don't believe that praying to God with a laundry list of wishes does any good because things will or will not happen according to what we do and nature does. We have some control but much is random.

Here is what voters need to know: This Democratic president and congress have made historical progress. Stimulus bill, Lilly Ledbetter, Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, Tobacco regulation, Credit Card Reform, Health Care Reform, the first latina Supreme Court Justice, and just this week Financial Reform, extension of unemployment benefits, and Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act. Watch Video of President Recapping Week Republicans have voted against every measure to stimulate the economy, create jobs and provide a safety net. They voted against tax cuts for working families, tax cuts for small business, health care reform, deficit commission, pay go. They would rather bring down the economy in order to beat President Obama than vote for economic policies that will save this countries economies. Republicans are hypocrites. They created the deficit but blame the President Obama. They are fighting for the deficit creating tax cuts for the rich, but fighting against extendingunemployment benefits for working families. They wave the flag but would rather see the President of the United States fail than succeed. They claim to be the party of god and church but would rather leave the most vulnerable, the children, the poor and the elderly to their own devises. dailykos I just put my new bumper sticker on today. It says: I stand with Main Street and the Middle Class. I vote Democratic

This is b.s. I do not believe that satan wins when some a$$hole, coming off a night of alcohol and drugs doesn't secure a wood chipper properly which then comes loose, hits a van and kills a father and two of the three triplets. And I never said God wasn't real or doesn't care. I said he doesn't interfere. That wood chipper coming loose was the result of human error and a random freak accident. It could have come loose and not hit a car. He could have secured it better. Lots of things could have happened but didn't. Random acts of nature and purposeful acts of humans - that's what life is about. Not God interfering in everything.

By christians, do you mean the conservative christian right? Because if you mean christians in general, then you are wrong because most of those who voted for President Obama were christian. Don't highjack the term christian to only mean the conservative born-agains. That is unfair to the rest of us. And what we are stuck with is a great president who is digging us out of the hole that bush and 8 years of his failed policies got us into.

Tea Party Caucus by Chan Lowe, Comics.com (South Florida Sun-Sentinel I WISH!!!

Paul Krugman: Addicted to Bush Republicans reinvent the past, promise calamity for the future Saturday, July 24, 2010 For a couple of years, it was the love that dared not speak his name. In 2008, Republican candidates hardly ever mentioned the president still sitting in the White House. After the election, the GOP did its best to shout down all talk about how we got into the mess we're in, insisting that we needed to look forward, not back. And many in the news media played along, acting as if it was somehow uncouth for Democrats even to mention the Bush era and its legacy. The truth, however, is that the only problem Republicans ever had with George W. Bush was his low approval rating. They always loved his policies and his governing style -- and they want them back. In recent weeks, GOP leaders have come out for a complete return to the Bush agenda, including tax breaks for the rich and financial deregulation. They've even resurrected the plan to cut future Social Security benefits. But they have a problem: How can they embrace President Bush's policies, given his record? After all, Mr. Bush's two signature initiatives were tax cuts and the invasion of Iraq; both, in the eyes of the public, were abject failures. Tax cuts never yielded the promised prosperity, but along with other policies -- especially the unfunded war in Iraq -- they converted a budget surplus into a persistent deficit. Meanwhile, the WMD we invaded Iraq to eliminate turned out not to exist, and by 2008 a majority of the public believed not just that the invasion was a mistake but that the Bush administration deliberately misled the nation into war. What's a Republican to do? You know the answer. There's now a concerted effort under way to rehabilitate Mr. Bush's image on at least three fronts: the economy, the deficit and the war. • On the economy: Last week Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, declared that "there's no evidence whatsoever that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue, because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy." So now the word is that the Bush-era economy was characterized by "vibrancy." I guess it depends on the meaning of the word "vibrant." The actual record of the Bush years was (1) two and half years of declining employment, followed by (2) four and a half years of modest job growth, at a pace significantly below the eight-year average under Bill Clinton, followed by (3) a year of economic catastrophe. In 2007, at the height of the "Bush boom," such as it was, median household income, adjusted for inflation, was still lower than it had been in 2000. But the Bush apologists hope that you won't remember all that. And they also have a theory, which I've been hearing more and more -- namely, that President Barack Obama, though not yet in office or even elected, caused the 2008 slump.(The only ones who believe this are those who drink the kool-aid by the gallon) You see, people were worried in advance about his future policies, and that's what caused the economy to tank. Seriously. • On the deficit: Republicans are now claiming that the Bush administration was actually a paragon of fiscal responsibility and that the deficit is Mr. Obama's fault. "The last year of the Bush administration," said Mr. McConnell recently, "the deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product was 3.2 percent, well within the range of what most economists think is manageable. A year and a half later, it's almost 10 percent." But that 3.2 percent figure, it turns out, is for fiscal 2008 -- which wasn't the last year of the Bush administration, because it ended in September of 2008. In other words, it ended just as the failure of Lehman Brothers -- on Mr. Bush's watch -- was triggering a broad financial and economic collapse. This collapse caused the deficit to soar: By the first quarter of 2009 -- with only a trickle of stimulus funds flowing -- federal borrowing had already reached almost 9 percent of GDP. To some of us, this says that the economic crisis that began under Mr. Bush is responsible for the great bulk of our current deficit. But the Republican Party is having none of it. • Finally, on the war: For most Americans, the whole debate about the war is old if painful news -- but not for those obsessed with refurbishing the Bush image. Karl Rove now claims that his biggest mistake was letting Democrats get away with the "shameful" claim that the Bush administration hyped the case for invading Iraq. Let the whitewashing begin! Again, Republicans aren't trying to rescue George W. Bush's reputation for sentimental reasons; they're trying to clear the way for a return to Bush policies. And this carries a message for anyone hoping that the next time Republicans are in power, they'll behave differently. If you believe that they've learned something -- say, about fiscal prudence or the importance of effective regulation -- you're kidding yourself. You might as well face it: They're addicted to Bush.

Secretary LaHood: Republicans Tell Me In Private The Stimulus Is Working Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Wednesday that despite all their public criticism, Republican lawmakers tell him in private that they think the administration's stimulus package has been a success. "I believe the economic recovery plan has worked," LaHood said, in an interview with the Huffington Post, "and I've had Republican members tell me that when I've gone in and done projects or been with them or visited them in their offices... They know that we have dollars that have put people to work." Speaking days before he was set to address a conference of progressive activists, LaHood's remarks were offered as part of a broader defense of the president's economic recovery agenda. The Transportation Secretary has been one of the administration's main pitchmen and administrators for the stimulus package, overseeing the roughly $50 billion that has been set aside for infrastructure projects. But his unique expertise comes from having served -- prior to his current post -- as a Republican member of the House of Representatives. LaHood was largely diplomatic when asked to reflect on his former colleagues' criticism. But in saying that Republicans have privately told him that the stimulus is working, he added fuel to the debate over whether the GOP has been duplicitous or unfair in their critiques. Already, there have been numerous press reports of lawmakers attending stimulus-related ribbon cutting ceremonies in their districts as well as lobbying different government agencies for stimulus funds. "There would be thousands of people out of work if it weren't for the economic recovery program. Thousands of people," LaHood said of the Recovery Act. "We know that thousands of jobs have been created. We know that thousands of projects are underway. All you have to do is travel around American, see the orange cones, and see the men and women working on infrastructure, working on projects, resurfacing roads... there is a lot of activity in America and a lot of people working. This would not have happened if not for the economic recovery." "So what I say to people is, 'Take a few steps in my footsteps.'" He added, "Travel the country like I have for the last 18 months and you will know that America is working and wouldn't be working if it hadn't been for this plan." One of the more frank and affable members of the White House, LaHood's Republican roots provide him with a certain credibility in the stimulus debate. To this point, however, he's done much of his work out of the public spotlight, spending his time instead traveling to more than 80 cities and 30 states to launch and oversee various projects. His bullishness with respect to the stimulus is not shared by the public, which is largely skeptical about its reach. To which LaHood blames both the media and the country's prevailing unemployment problem. More republican hypocrisy. Some are more public, though, opting to bash the stimulus in public and then show up in public for photo-ops holding giant stimulus checks.

Heaven helps us all if whacko Bachman's republican/tea party regains power, but at least I am encouraged by the responses that there are some, other than me, that get it: Bachmann: 'All we should do' is issue subpoenas and hold hearings Should Republicans take back the House in November, Rep. Michele Bachmann said she wants the GOP to focus all of its attention on issuing subpoenas and holding hearings investigating the Obama administration and Democrats. “I think that’s all we should do,” Bachmann said at the GOP Youth Convention in Washington on Thursday. “I think all we should do is issue subpoenas and have one hearing after another and expose all the nonsense that has gone on." Bachmann said that Republicans have all their chips on the table in November. “This is the year — this is it,” she said. Republicans need to gain 39 seats in November in order to retake the House, which even President Obama’s Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has admitted is possible. By winning the House, Republicans would be able to issue subpoenas through controlling the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which has subpoena power. Currently, ranking member Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has not been granted access to subpoenas. Bachmann is not a member of the Oversight Committee. That's her answer to the Democrats and Obama? Just issuing subpeonas? Then what? Put them on trial for treason? How about this, Congresswoman. Pull your own weight in Congress and actually get some work done for your district. posted by cags777 on Jul 22, 10 at 3:37 pm | 13 of 13 people liked this comment. So Much for New Ideas The party of no is now the party of no ideas. We've been there and done that -- the Republican majority spent the 90s wasting our time and money investigating every hiccup out of the Clinton Administration. More political games. posted by davemec on Jul 22, 10 at 3:40 pm | 11 of 11 people liked this comment. All she knows how to do Rep. Bachmann's Congressional career is all about posturing so it is not surprising that she shows no interest in legislation or in finding solutions to problems. Ms. Bachmann has attributed her lack of legislation to her status in the minority part, but there must be more to the story since she obviously intends to continue to forgo legislating if her party gains the majority.How will this help anyone in the 6th district? Seems that she cares more about her own celebrity more than the real concerns of her constituents. posted by cheekybadger on Jul 22, 10 at 3:44 pm | 10 of 10 people liked this comment. shelly shelly shelly Should Republicans take back the House in November, Rep. Michele Bachmann said she wants the GOP to focus all of its attention on issuing subpoenas and holding hearings investigating the Obama administration and DemocratsThats all the repubs are doing now,they have not done jack since Obamma took office except fight every bit of legislation to try and help this country get back to work. posted by minnowsota on Jul 22, 10 at 4:05 pm | 7 of 7 people liked this comment. shelly should you get reelected in november I think you should concentrate on doing what you were elected to do. posted by minnowsota on Jul 22, 10 at 4:07 pm | 5 of 5 people liked this comment. Isn't that what trial lawyers do? Don't Republicans hate trial lawyers? Vote Republican if you want your country to grind to a halt. Vote Republican if you want full employment for lawyers and judges. Vote Republican if you want to kill any signs of progress or climbing out of this recession and only want to sue people and hold hearings. Maybe Bachmann can create her own Tea-Bagger Supreme Court and appoint herself Chief Justice.

We need more passionate elected democrats like Rep. Alan Grayson who isn't afraid to speak truth to the lies and tell it like it is. Some of the DINOs could take a lesson from him. Death Threat: The Widening Gyre‏ by Alan Grayson Thu Jul 22, 2010 at 10:51:41 AM PDT One day, a Republican operative offers $100 to anyone who'll punch me in the nose. The next day, I get a death threat. After Fox News spewed its usual clownish hatred about me yesterday, my office received a call. The caller told our receptionist - a young intern - that "10 people are going to kill the Congressman within 24 hours." We gave the information to the Capitol Police; they are investigating. Fox. You'd think that they would have learned their lesson after Dr. George Tiller was killed. And they did learn a lesson: a lesson in killing. And why? Because I told the truth: the truth that by stalling on unemployment insurance, right-wingers revealed themselves to be heartless, selfish wretches, who have been taking food out of the mouths of children. Am I the only one who has noticed this? Because if you're with me on this, I'd like your support. I need your support. First threatened assault. Then threatened murder. Do you see how they ratchet up the bullying, and try to cow us? In his poem "The Second Coming," the Irish poet William Butler Yeats described a time like ours as the "widening gyre." A time when "the centre cannot hold." A time when "anarchy is loosed upon the world." A time when "the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." Up to, and including, death threats on Members of Congress. But we have to stand up, and we have to fight back. Because what is at stake is . . . everything. Please, support our campaign. Stand with me. Fight back. TURNING and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming"

I absolutely know how this country shouldn't work and that's how it was under bush - the lost decade when we lost our retirement, savings, home values and earnings. He took a surplus and turned it into a deficit and started an unnecessary war costing billions in dollars and thousands in lives. And the necons view of how the world works comes from none other than cheney who has zero credibilty. Like any of them have any credibility when it comes to foreign policy or how the world works. They got every freakin' thing wrong with the war in Iraq, from WMD, to being greeted as liberators, to how long it would last to how much it would cost, to having no exit strategy, to saying Al-Qaeda was there - THEY GOT NOTHING RIGHT. So, yeah, like I'm going to listen to any of them about the real world. :thumbup:

Why didn't who do what? There will always be people who hate people who aren't like them and will oppose anything by and for them - whether it is blacks, women, hispanics, jews or muslims. This is just another issue for the angry, white necons to get angry over. They represent about 20% of our population, always have, always will, but have become more vocal since Obama became president.

The tea party's view on the government and property rights - but of course when it comes to muslim mosques, well then it's okay: Kelo’s fifth anniversary: a triumph of property-rights activism posted at 12:55 pm on June 23, 2010 by Ed Morrissey Did the first stirrings of the Tea Party begin five years ago today? On June 23, 2005, the Supreme Court ruled in its Kelo decision that government could seize private property through eminent domain and hand it off to another private entity, putting the private property of all Americans at the mercy of local and state governments. The decision created outrage, and then grassroots activism to protect private property rights in the face of a grasping and avaricious government, arguably setting the stage for the all-out eruption of Tea Party activism a few years later. The Institute for Justice reports on the progress made in the intervening five years:

Thank you. As I posted elsewhere, should we be offended if catholic churches are near playgrounds, elementary schools, child care centers, etc?...Isn't that insensitive to their victims? Isn't that a slap in the face to those who suffered their sexual abuse?

I'm the least ignorant poster you will find on these threads when it comes to political issues. Therefore, I stand behind everything I have posted about the tea party as correct. They do protest what they call big government, big spending, decry their loss of freedoms, and their hatred for Obama is evident. I didn't say they wanted no government. And you still haven't answered my question about private property and who has the right to dictate how it is used outside of applicable zoning laws. The original poster blamed this mosque issue on Obama if he "didn't do something about it". That's why I made that comment. No new churches aren't being built next to ground zero because land is at a premium. But I did notice a Verizon building right next to ground zero. This proposed mosque is already a building, they are just adding to it. And ground zero will be a memorial to those who died and those who tried to help them and symbol of America's strength and fortitude and a resolution that we will not be knocked down. We are stronger than that. I don't see how some mosque two blocks away will threaten that.

You're the one spinning things. The age of the building is irrelevant. As is the age of the church. You said there were no churches near ground zero. Not true. And the proposed mosque is two blocks from ground zero, not right next to it. I asked this question before but have not received an answer. This is a privately owned building. Do you want government to tell somewhat what they can do with privately owned property that doesn't violate zoning laws? I really don't care one way or another whether they build or create a mosque there or not. I just find it yet another issue that those on the right can get angry and yell about and try to blame Obama for. And when posters who argue with me have nothing, they start attacking me personally. As you have. And P.S. Still waiting for those websites.