DETROIT: Quit spitting at people trying to help you or else...

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Image via Wikipedia

This morning’s paper got my blood boiling again.

I have been ranting against certain Detroiters making a big deal about the emergency manager law which will put Detroit and its residence under a manager with “dictatorial” power. Every sane person knows that Detroit is in a hopeless financial situation and only “extreme” measures will save its ass from bankruptcy.

And yet, the race card is being played not only by the mayor but, as I mentioned before, religious pastors of Detroit and now they are being joined by the REVEREND Jessie Jackson who is the biggest hypocrite (adulterer) and racist social activist as they come.

One thing Jackson said really went to the core of this nonsense; He said WHERE IS THE MONEY?

His rationale is since the government bailed out banks and auto companies, why can’t it bail out Detroit.

Note: I have not figured out why Detroit religious pastors are taking up the battle against the emergency manager law…what do they have to gain or what do they have to lose? How does an emergency manager impact local churches?

I know Detroit pastors are courted during elections for their endorsement so are they scared of losing political power since elected officials may just be fired by the emergency manager? Do the pastors somehow lose out financially?

More importantly, do the pastors realize that an emergency manager is actually good for the city and its residents and can prevent the city from going into bankruptcy which would be disastrous for the city and its residents?

Back to Jackson and: where is the money? This is a common question Detroit has been asking federal politicians for years. Democratic presidents showered Detroit with all sorts of money throughout the years and what does Detroit have to show for it: nada!!!

That is because the culture of incompetence and corruption which has existed in Detroit for ever and still does to this day, takes millions of dollars from the state and federal government and makes them disappear without a trace AND THEY WANT THIS PRACTICE TO CONTINUE?

I have been saying all along that keeping Detroit black, corrupt and incompetent does benefit a number of people and it appears those people include the pastors of the various Baptist churches in Detroit.

I wish the local newspapers would conduct some investigative reporting and reveal the real reasons these people are objecting to someone “fixing” Detroit’s financial morass, once and for all.

I will have to add another point and that is “alienation”. I know of many people, myself included, that grew up in Detroit and then moved to the suburbs mainly for safety reasons and for better educational opportunities for our children BUT we have always called ourselves Detroiters or from Detroit and honestly cared about the city and wished nothing but the best for the city and its residents and many of us actually did things to help the city.

Throw in race card playing twits that remind everybody THIS IS OUR CITY and don’t be TRYING TO TAKE OVER OUR CITY but give us MONEY so we can keep governing in the same incompetent and corrupt way we always have and some of us may just say OK…go bankrupt and see what happens!

You can only spit in the eye of people honestly trying to help the city so many times…over time, we may tire of the racist language and may vote with our tax dollars to bulldoze the place and start from fresh!

Related articles

• Gov. Rick Snyder Releases Video On Detroit's Financial Situation (huffingtonpost.com)
• Civil disobedience possible to fight emergency law (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Jesse Jackson Attacks Law That Lets Manager Fire Elected Officials (huffingtonpost.com)
• State finds 'probable financial stress' in Detroit (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Andy Dillion Requests Full Review Of Detroit Finances (huffingtonpost.com)
• State finds 'probable financial stress' in Detroit (sfgate.com)
• Freedom Failed: And the Thunder Rolls into ABRA Detroit (whitelocust.wordpress.com)

SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY CLAIMS: Have you noticed all the ads on TV lately?

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I have been noticing the proliferation of ads that have lawyer types with deep voices, saying that if you had your SICIAL SECURITY DISABILITY CLAIM denied, you need to call us…implying that they could get that claim denial reversed.

When I saw CALL SAM commercials and LAWYERS.COM commercials advertising the same claims, I grew suspicious.

Sam Burstein, Geoffrey Fieger and Zammler & Company, have always advertised for clients that have been injured in some way. These firms would sue the so-called responsible party and obtain judgment awards out of which they kept a percentage; I can understand the concept of ambulance chasing which has made these firms pretty rich but social security disability claims?

I could not figure out how the law firms made money if they got a client's disability claim approved by the government which usually means a modest monthly payment.

The Wall Street Journal explained it all to me. Firms make millions on these claims because the government pays them. The Social Security Administration has so many claims that they actually pay firms (you do not have to be a lawyer to get into this business) to help expedite the process.

Now the firms only are paid IF the claim is accepted; nothing if claim is denied…so the firms make sure the claims are NEVER denied.

How do they do that; they keep out medical information that would cause an administrative judge to deny the claim. An example would be a claim that a person was injured and cannot perform his or her job of lifting boxes. Medical results that show that they should have no physical reasons not to be able to pick up boxes are left out of the file so the judge never sees it.

Some insurance agencies hire private detectives to follow claimants and video them playing basketball or some other strenuous exercise while at the same time claiming they can barely move.

Since unemployment has grown in our current recession, there are many more people filing for disability with the Social Security Administration and since these firms practically guarantee the claims acceptance, why not file.

On the other hand, the Social Security Administration has no one to represent the agency at the hearings, no one to challenge some of the claims being presented so the claimant nearly always gets approved.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is just another way our tax dollars are thrown in the garbage by our government. The Democrats want to tax the wealthy but they are not willing to stop this outrageous and absurd waste of out tax dollars and that is why I am not willing to give the Democrats any more tax money until they show me they can cut waste.

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• Social Security Law Firm Helps You Avail Benefits Quickly (socyberty.com)
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END OF IRAQ WAR: My ass...

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I don't know if you noticed but the day after we, as a nation, celebrated the end of the Iraq War, multiple explosions went off in Baghdad with a sizeable loss of life.

The reasons for the attacks are the reasons we have been predicting since the ill fated and ill advised War on Iraq began a long, long nine (9) years ago with over 4,000 American deaths and countless thousands wounded; sectarian violence.

I guess what continues to piss me off is the fact that we knew this would happen or at least people with a brain did (maybe not Bush, Cheney or their fellow NeoCons).

By "sectarian violence" we mean specific groups waging war on other groups to gain control over all the groups.

Since Iraq was a "created" country, i.e. a country created by drawing a geographic outline on the map (by the British) and compelling everyone within that outline as belonging to this created country.

These groups include Muslim Shiites and Muslim Sunni which practice Islam but hate each other to the point of being willing to massacre each other. We also throw in the Kurds, who are nominally Muslim but ethnically separate from the other two groups. We can now add a "secularist" element which represents people that do not want to live under a theocracy (religious dictatorship) and this group, believe it or not, is growing.

Add to this melting pot al-Qaeda which is Sunni Muslim but a terrorist organization willing to destroy everyone to gain dominance or to just destroy everything for the hell of it, which is what they like to do.

Add also Iran which is Shiite and would like to have Iraq as a partner or better yet, a puppet that Iran could control in its quest to destroy the West.

A plan that was proposed years ago and which I favored was to split the country into three (3) generally autonomous areas joined as a federation: Sunni, Shiite and Kurd. The only duty of the federation was to divide all oil revenues on a per-capita basis since most of the oil is either in the Kurd area or the southern Sunni area. This was a neat and doable plan that was rejected by the Bush Administration almost immediately and so we will now have civil war.

The tragedy here, caused by utter stupidity and arrogance on our part, is that over 4,000 American soldiers died for absolutely nothing and countless thousands of Iraqis died for nothing also BUT the greater tragedy is that countless thousands of Iraqis will die in the near future, also for nothing.

If you want to talk money and I mean billions if not trillions that was wasted and helped bring on our recession/depression, well just remember that yes, our military has left Iraq but a huge diplomatic delegation will stay permanently and will be protected by private security forces which will cost us billions if not trillions into the future.

The Republicans, who started this war and who authorized Bush to blow billions with no accountability, will now blame Obama for the approaching civil war in Iraq…love politics!

History will never forget what happened here and what will happen; I hope Bush and his NeoCons will be labeled for centuries to come, as the total morons that brought this much death and suffering to the world to feed their own arrogance and idiotic plans. Hopefully this will be a lesson for future generations that will not want to repeat the mistakes of history.

Related articles

• Iraq's VP wanted over the assasination of government officials - ABC Online (abc.net.au)
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• Bombs kill 57 in Baghdad (israelsurvivalupdates.wordpress.com)
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• Iraq PM Tells Kurds to Hand Over Sunni VP (abcnews.go.com)

TODAY IS THE REAL DAY WE CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS...

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Well today was the day that people have celebrated for thousands of years; it is the WINTER SOLSTICE.

People have also called it the day WINTER BEGINS or the day of the LONGEST NIGHT or the day of the SHORTEST DAY. The very next day, the nights are shorter and the days longer.

Many have also celebrated that day as the NEW YEAR because the New Year really starts astronomically with the day after and not on our calendar New Year January 1.

The Christians have usurped this perfectly natural, pagan holiday and substituted their made-up holiday which has nothing to do with nature or the beginning of a New Year.

Christmas did keep a lot of the pagan rituals like the “holiday tree” and the giving of presents, etc. I do think our children should be made aware that this time of year was special for many thousands of years, to people like us, celebrating the passage of time on earth and the dawning of a brand new year and with it, brand new opportunities and adventures.

I don’t mind sharing this holiday with Christmas Christians but I do mind when they imply that somehow their religious observance was the original reason for the holiday and our secular celebrations somehow demean the religiousness of the holiday and I say Bah Humbug, you are obviously ignorant of the facts of history and I totally understand; I was raised that way too but that does not mean you stop seeking out the truth; I did.

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Pope Benedict Resign?

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I have just read an article that talks about Pope Benedict and how tired and run-down he has become to the point where he no longer even talks to visitors, etc.

This is unfortunate but predictable for someone that will be 85 in April. He is supposedly in good health, both physically and mentally and genetically too; he has an older brother that is doing quite well.

The interesting point to all of this, is that the pope himself has said that when a pope can no longer do the job that is required of him, he should resign.

I have checked and Vatican law does allow for a papal resignation for cause; the last one to resign was Pope Gregory XII in 1415 and that was not for ill health but to end The Great Western Schism where a number of popes claimed the papal throne.

Also, I think Benedict was alluding to the physical state of the last pope which was pretty bad and painful to watch as he tried speaking when clearly his physical condition prevented him from doing that in a normal manner.

So will Benedict be the first modern pope to resign and retire? Our presidents do with no problems but would it be a problem when a pope does the same?

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• Pope heads into busy Christmas season tired, weak (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Pope's health arises as slowdown noted (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Pope ends individual speeches to new Vatican ambassadors (catholicnewsagency.com)
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BAN ALL TEXTING/CELL PHONE USE WHILE DRIVING?

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Our government just suggested that all forms of electronic communicating (talking on cell phone, texting, etc.) be banned while a person is driving.

I have been hearing a flood of objections to this proposal which would (I hope) carry a substantial penalty for disobeying the law if enacted.

Yes, the proposal is quite intrusive and basically dictates how we are to behave?

The government department pushing the proposal says that this law would add to our safety while we are in our automobiles and I don’t think any one can argue with that.

Personally, I have had numerous close calls, some inches away from a collision, where the driver that nearly rammed me was on a cell phone. In my case, the drivers were mostly women and when I laid on the horn, they had the audacity to give me the finger…good thing most of us don’t carry guns in our cars…

Also, in my auto, I have the Ford Sync system where all calls coming to me are directed through my radio so I can speak without having to use my cell phone BUT even when I talk with both hands on the wheel, I feel like my brain is paying more attention to the conversation than to my driving.

There are tons of statistics that point to fatal wrecks on the road caused by the distraction of communication devices; the poster crash for this proposal is the truck driver that was texting as he slammed into the back of a school bus.

I guess I am slightly conflicted here because there probably are occasions where you might need to make a call or take a call while driving but would that be only in an emergency (which the law would allow) or just as a matter of convenience.

I guess more discussion is needed but right now, if I was to make a decision today, I would vote for the law.

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CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: God is not great!

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Christopher Hitchens is dead at 62. Many do not know who he was and what he did. To me, he is the author of the book GOD IS NOT GREAT: How religion poisons everything. He also authored countless essays about religion and our religious society.

He was brash and outspoken and one of the first of the new atheists (he called himself an anti-theist) who took the confrontational approach to religion instead of just politely co-existing with it.

He called himself an anti-theist because he maintained that no evidence exists for the belief in a god(s) so why are we pretending that one exists.

I did not agree with him on many topics and issues but he was a ground breaker for the new atheism and the new way of looking at religion and talking about religion and for that he will be remembered by history.

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OCCUPY PROTEST AT SNYDER'S HOUSE?

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Image by Bernt Rostad via Flickr

There is a lot being written about Detroit and its financial travails and many columnists, black and white, have been dancing around the issues of incompetence, corruption and race.

A recent headline caught my eye: CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS PLAN AN “OCCUPY” PROTEST AT SNYDER’S HOME.

Rick Snyder is the governor of Michigan and a very able businessman. He does not have a racist bone in his body and in fact racism per se is a foreign subject to him as he sees spreadsheets and numbers and not people’s skin color.

If a city is in financial distress and close to bankruptcy, the governor appoints an emergency manager (dictator if you will) that will make the decisions necessary to bring the city into financial health and I do mean “all steps necessary” which may include firing elected officials for incompetence, vacating union contracts as unsustainable, selling city assets to raise cash and privatizing city services that are not operated in a fiscally responsible manner.

Yes, these are dictatorial powers but they are also the “last” resort the state has in bringing the city under financial control and I think we all can understand that if we have a just a sliver of economic know-how.

It is true that the cities currently under an emergency manager (Flint, Benton Harbor, Pontiac & Detroit Public Schools) are predominantly black but the charge that the emergency manager law “unfairly” targets predominantly African-American communities is absurd.

If what triggers the emergency manager law for specific communities is solely based on financial reality as demonstrated by actual accounting ledgers, how can it be in any way “unfair”?

The so called Michigan civil rights leaders using race as a weapon against the emergency manager law are mostly Detroit church leaders with some connection to Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition.

These leaders attempt to somehow justify their protest  by charging that “democracy” is at stake in the state of Michigan and by that they mean that “democratically” elected officials may be fired and replaced by “competent” individuals that are “not democratically elected”, hence “democracy is denied” to the people of Detroit.

Again, technically they are correct, the law appoints a dictator of sorts and that dictator currently is installed in predominantly African-American communities.

Since there are no other options for financially saving these communities except to appoint a financial manager, why are these people protesting and why do they resort to playing the repugnant and unnecessary race card?

Here is where local columnists, especially the well respected black columnists like Rochelle Riley, et.al.,  should attempt to address what is going on and explain why and not be afraid to call it what it is; the use of racism for one’s own benefit.

The way the protest appears to many of us, I am sure, is that this group of so called community leaders has something to lose if and when an emergency manager is appointed to run the city. Since the financial hole the city is in was caused by incompetence and corruption, these same leaders and the people they lead, must have benefited somehow from that status and will lose something, once incompetence and corruption is eliminated from the city administration. That the city has been a gravy train for so many in Detroit is well documented and new revelations of corruption appear practically every day so the above premise is not so far fetched.

My question is why are Detroiters allowing these bozos to mislead the masses in this way and in so doing, harm the city and its residents and make Detroit look like a hopeless cause only fit to be bulldozed over?

WAR ON RELIGION?

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I have just been talking about a WAR ON CHRISTMAS in my last blog and now I hear about a WAR ON RELIGION.

Rick Perry, the presidential candidate, has slipped in the polls to a level that basically gives him no chance at becoming president of the United States. He slipped because he made stupid mistakes and behaved in a way that made him look very dumb and therefore not presidential material but he is nothing but persistent…

To win in IOWA and still have a chance at the presidency, Perry decided to appeal to the conservative, religious and fundamentalist  nature of people in IOWA in a recent television ad.

In the ad that has been seen by millions of people, he states that he is not ashamed to admit that he is a Christian and adds that everyone knows there is something “wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in schools.”

“As president, I’ll END OBAMA’S WAR ON RELIGION and I’ll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage.”

In politics, many of you may say that hey, you got to do whatever it takes to get elected; politics are dirty and always have been, so?  Perry may very well get Iowans to vote for him because of the message in the ad but as far as the rest of the country is concerned, he came off as being plain dumb again and the reason?

School prayer has been banned by the Supreme Court in 1962 as violating the First Amendment and Obama had nothing to do with that. Obama did support allowing gays in the military but how is that an assault on religious faith.

Perry’s ad has drawn many parody videos that essentially make Perry out to be a joke. I like the one where Jesus is shown saying “I’m ashamed to admit that you are a Christian.” -  mainly because of all the hatred he harbors against people that do not fit into his neat and narrow Christian mold. …love thy neighbor anyone?

I have stated before that our Constitution, expressly notes that religion can never be used as a test for public office which means that one’s religion cannot be used as a requirement for public office and yet in this country, it appears that to be elected you have to profess some form of belief in the supernatural; no atheists need apply.

Rick Perry takes this religion phenomenon one step further and makes religion a top priority for holding the presidential office and not just any religion; his form of religion – fundamentalist Christianity.

This ad of his may appeal to people in IOWA and get him a victory but I doubt it. I think people in Iowa care about what the rest of Americans care about and that is jobs and better economic opportunities and for that they don’t need a dumb, plodding, nitwit that is incapable of grasping complicated economic issues and therefore resorts to emotional social issues mired in superstition and ignorance.

But he is not alone; Romney was defending his flip-flops on gay marriage and Gingrich actually took a pledge to be faithful to his wife (if you can believe it) and of course the abortion issue will be raised once again; Cain was pro-choice by the way.

BUT I will go back to Perry’s charge that somehow OBAMA is waging a WAR ON RELIGION and I will ask you how in the world can politicians just flat out lie and face no consequences; well maybe they do face the consequence of losing the election because of their behavior…at least we can hope.

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THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS?

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Image via Wikipedia

Jon Stewart of the Daily Show was making fun of the FOX News Network and all their right wing talking heads about inventing another WAR ON CHRISTMAS to garner more viewers.

FOX was making a big deal out of a governor calling the decorated tree of the season as the HOLIDAY TREE instead of a CHRISTMAS TREE as in “taking Christ out of Christmas.”  What the idiots at Fox did not know is that every governor in that state (Republican and Democrat) has always called the tree a holiday tree; its tradition so quit manufacturing news to get higher ratings.

Every year we hear the same ole’ crap about people taking Christ out of Christmas and every year I have to respond by saying Christ was never in the holiday celebrating the WINTER SOLSTICE (December 21 this year) which has been celebrated for thousands of years BEFORE Christianity was even invented.

The Winter Solstice, if you don’t know, is the time of year that has the longest night and the shortest day. The day after the Solstice, the nights gets shorter and the days get longer or a NEW YEAR is born and therefore it is a time of celebration.

Christians could not stand letting pagans celebrate their pagan but “natural” as in celebrations of occurrences in nature, go on without changing the reasons for the celebrating to something Christian and so they invented CHRISTMAS as the time Jesus was born and supplanting the initial reason for celebration.

Historians will tell you that nobody knows when Jesus was born and they are nearly certain, He was not born in Bethlehem but I digress.

My point is simple; many people of various religions and cultures celebrate, at this time of year, for their own specific reasons but we all do share in the natural celebration of a New Year, so let me just say to0 those Christians who, through ignorance I am sure, think that this holiday time of year usually referred to as Christmas, is somehow THEIR holiday alone; IT IS NOT so quit the griping!

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LOWES bows to religious loony birds...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Well in this joyous season of good will to all we have LOWES, a giant hardware store, pulling its ads from a reality show on the TLC Network ALL AMERICAN MUSLIM which showcases five (5) Muslim families that live in Dearborn, Michigan, the largest Muslim community in the U.S. and close to where I live.

LOWES pulled the ads because an ultra conservative, Christian lunatic group called FLORIDA FAMILY ASSOCIATION called the show “propaganda that riskily (sic) hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.” And the group probably indicated to Lowes that Christians just may avoid shopping at Lowes if the ads are not removed…and the mindless twits at Lowes fell for that nonsense.

The reality show ALL AMERICAN MUSLIM showcases the fact that Muslim families are just like all American families of whatever religious persuasion, and have the same wants, desires and plans for the future that we all have.

For religious bigots to blackmail a company is one thing but for a company to yield to those demands is unacceptable, un-American and bigoted as they come and those companies need to made into examples by the majority of Americans that believe in the founding principles of this nation like inclusion and diversity.

A backlash has started and I hope it continues until Lowes reinstates their ads on the show; an apology just will not do the trick. 

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ANOTHER ROUND OF CHURCH CLOSINGS...

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Another big change in our area’s Catholic community is the plan to close 9 metro parishes and consolidate 60 parishes into 21; we have 270 parishes in the greater Detroit Metro area.

I remember the last big parish closing plan 20 years ago under then Cardinal Szoka; people were really ticked off at that time too but it’s a numbers game; no people, no parish.

I still remember growing up in a tightly knit Polish community on the West side of Detroit.

Our local parish was St. Cunegunda and it had a grade school through 8^th grade taught by nuns in the old garb. The church and school were both within walking distance.

The parish next to us (also within walking distance) was St. Andrew and it had a high school but a small one and there was no room for me so I had to take two buses to go all the way to Holy Redeemer which had room for me and for many from the downriver area. I did have a public school within walking distance (Chadsey) but that was a no, no for a good Catholic boy like me.

I think those parishes are closed now although St. Cunegunda may be catering to a large Hispanic population that replaced the Polish population that left. Chadsey, the public school has also closed.

Here in Canton, I have one parish within walking distance (Resurrection Church) on Warren and another one mile down Warren (St. John Neumann) and there is also St. Thomas a’ Becket in Canton.

I can understand the movement of parishes following population shifts but current closings and consolidations are also due to lack of priests to service those parishes and here lies the real problem.

Reading the letters to the editor in today’s paper there were many with negative views of the liturgy changes; many consider the changes as backward. There were also letter addressing the closing of parishes in our area and many of those letters suggested allowing women to be priests and also allowing married men to become priests; ending the celibacy rule.

Time marches on…

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MORE FOREIGN BORN PRIESTS?

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We have been talking about the changes in the Catholic mass but there are other changes in the news.

Because of the shortage of priests, there are many more foreign born priests coming into the country. Many Catholics have mixed emotions about that. In my sister’s parish, they now have a priest from the Philippines. He probably is a good person but he is not from OUR culture and that may be a problem.

I remember in the old days where the Poles had priests that spoke Polish and the Italians, etc. had theirs. As things got melted together, you at least had American priests that grew up in the same traditions as the parishioners did.

But now, due to the lack of priests, foreign priests are being imported some with very little command of the English language.

Out of the 293 priests serving the metro Detroit area, 50 are foreign born from countries like: India, Vietnam, Mexico, Philippines, Africa, Poland and Ireland.

Obviously the lack of priests is not a temporary problem; it will continue till there is only a handful and the Church has to deal with that. The priesthood could be expanded simply by allowing priest to marry which could also help in eliminating the potential for more priestly sexual abuse cases.

I recently heard a bishop defending the celibacy requirement by saying if Jesus was celibate, so will we. But how in the hell does he know Jesus was celibate?  Most historians surmise that he was definitely NOT celibate from what the Gospels seem to indicate. Anyway, I don’t think the Church will have many options in the very near future.

As to the foreign born priests; I guess it will depend on how much American Catholics will be willing to put up with. There will always be priests in other countries desperate to come to America and live the American dream so it is very good for them but is that necessarily good for the American Catholic?

Related articles

• Guest post: why are Catholic priests celibate? (whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com)
• Why are Orthodox priests allowed to marry and Catholic priests and nuns are not allowed to marry (wiki.answers.com)
• Letters: Celibacy of priests is an open argument in the Catholic church (guardian.co.uk)
• Bishop of Derry calls for end to celibacy in Catholic church (guardian.co.uk)
• 5 Myths about Celibacy: Guest Response (intentious.com)
• The Catholic Spring Spreads: Belgian Catholics issue reform manifesto (queeringthechurch.com)

DETROIT: Playing the race card to keep the gravy train rolling...

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Well it looks like Governor Snyder is not going to wait till Detroiters fix THEIR city but has ordered a financial review of the city which is usually followed by the governor appointing an emergency manager.

The governor is smart to do that because, like always, Detroiters are going to do their usual which is NOTHING. Even Rochelle Riley, a staunch supporter of the city remarked how on the day after Bing made his rousing speech about fixing the city, he went to some public relations events and did nothing about his plan to save the city…as expected.

But what really burns my ass is that Detroiters (those that will lose big time under an emergency manager) started a petition drive to overturn Michigan’s emergency manager law saying that the governor was out to strip Detroiters of their right to elect officials to represent them.

Well so far Detroiters used their right to elect a mayor that scammed the city of millions and landed in jail. They elected a city council whose members accepted bribes and landed in jail. They elected school board members that took money from student programs to enrich themselves with many landing in jail AND THEY HAVE THE GALL TO DEMAND THEIR RIGHTS TO ELECT WHAT…MORE CROOKS, MORE INCOMPETENT TWITS that landed them in this mess?

Somebody has to fix this mess and Detroit and Detroiters have had many chances to do just that…AND THEY FAILED, TIME AFTER TIME AFTER TIME. Enough already!

The people that are screaming the loudest are those that will lose the most; the parasites that have been feeding on the city for years.

Most disappointing but not surprising is the emergence of supposedly educated and responsible people throwing the race card around which paints them as racists, opportunists and down right demagogues. 

They have the gall to equate the efforts to save the city from bankruptcy as masters just trying to rule the plantation. They have asked why other Michigan cities with emergency managers are mostly populated by blacks and why cities with a mostly white population are not under an emergency manager…maybe because they are not in danger of going bankrupt…how about that for a reason.

To say that the emergency manager law undermines protections guaranteed by the landmark VOTING RIGHTS ACT of 1965 that outlawed poll taxes, literacy tests and other discriminatory efforts used to prevent blacks from voting is to deny the reality on the ground; the city is going bankrupt!

It is a deliberate effort by those that have been milking the city dry to paint a purely financial action necessitated by the gross mismanagement of the city as somehow a devious plan by “whites” to take over a “black” city and what, steal their assets?

How about the state finally taking over a city that has been a gravy train for so many for so long…

Related articles

• John Conyers wants Eric Holder to review law that could put Detroit under an emergency manager (dailykos.com)
• Emergency Manager May Be Inevitable in Detroit (theroot.com)
• Sources Contradict Freep Report On Detroit Emergency Manager Moving Forward (huffingtonpost.com)
• Detroit mayor: Move for state takeover premature (AP) (old.news.yahoo.com)
• Michigan governor approves state takeover of Flint (Reuters) (old.news.yahoo.com)
• State of Michigan may step in to run Detroit (thegrio.com)

DETROIT: The writing is on the wall!

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Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I have been writing about Detroit and its culture of incompetence and corruption for some time now. I have also been buoyed by the election of a new mayor (Dave Bing) who I thought could reverse the downward spiral of the city into oblivion; last night my optimism was shattered.

It appears that Michigan governor Rick Snyder called Bing to tell him that the state would have to take over Detroit since Bing was not moving the city away from imminent and certain bankruptcy. This means the governor was ready to appoint an emergency manager (dictator) to do what was necessary.

Bing called a news conference at 5PM and flanked by union leaders, council members, department heads and church leaders, he announced that hell no, we can fix the city by ourselves and will not allow the state to take over OUR CITY!!!

You can take what Bing did a number of ways. One could be a ploy to finally get city unions to agree to a drastic plan of concessions and layoffs which up to now, they did not or is this a political move to brand himself as the savior of the city and get re-elected easily or is it both.

One troubling aspect of his action was that it seemed he was playing the race card which is standard for Detroit and Detroiters. Bing’s speech was all about OUR CITY and OUR CONTROL of the city and NOT THEM. A city council member, Kwame Kenyatta did not mince any words and clearly stated that a state takeover is like the MASTER COMING IN TO CONTROL THE PLANTATION.

Playing the race card is a very unfortunate move by Bing because he is aligning himself with previous mayors of Detroit like Kwame Kilpatrick who spent time in jail for his many crimes but still blamed his troubles on white money men (Jews).

Others may argue that this is a shrewd move by the mayor threatening the city with outside control if unions don’t cooperate while polishing his image as the black savior of the city.

The city is in the mess it is because of years of incompetence and corruption and therefore can only point a finger at itself as the cause.

I really think that the writing is on the wall for Detroit and the sooner the state takes over, the sooner Detroit can begin to crawl out of the hole it dug for itself.

Related articles

• Official: Gov. to Begin Review of Detroit Finances (abcnews.go.com)
• Detroit mayor: Move for state takeover premature (AP) (old.news.yahoo.com)
• Sources Contradict Freep Report On Detroit Emergency Manager Moving Forward (huffingtonpost.com)
• Detroit's Broken-Down Buses Strand Riders as City Faces Takeover (businessweek.com)
• Detroit mayor, council battle city bankruptcy (windsorstar.com)
• Dave Bing, Detroit Mayor, Outlines Financial Plan (ibtimes.com)