Israel admits using white phosphorous in attacks on Gaza

Two weeks ago I spoke at the local Rotary Club on the morality of war. I brought up the report about the use of White Phosphorous in Gaza. One of the people in attendance told me to becarful of the sources I used for my reports when I mentioned this. Well I guess I was right along with the so called “liberal media”

After weeks of denying that it used white phosphorus in the heavily populated Gaza Strip, Israel finally admitted yesterday that the weapon was deployed in its offensive.

The army’s use of white phosphorus – which makes a distinctive shellburst of dozens of smoke trails – was reported first by The Times on January 5, when it was strenuously denied by the army. Now, in the face of mounting evidence and international outcry, Israel has been forced to backtrack on that initial denial. “Yes, phosphorus was used but not in any illegal manner,” Yigal Palmor, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, told The Times. “Some practices could be illegal but we are going into that. The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) is holding an investigation concerning one specific incident.”

The incident in question is thought to be the firing of phosphorus shells at a UN school in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on January 17. The weapon is legal if used as a smokescreen in battle but it is banned from deployment in civilian areas. Pictures of the attack show Palestinian medics fleeing as blobs of burning phosphorus rain down on the compound.

The Rest of the Story

Back from DC

I have been trying all day to summarize my thoughts from the March for Life in Washington, DC. Part of the problem is I am operating on very little sleep. It was an amazing experience. I am a relative late comer to the pro life movement. Not that I am now pro life when before I was not but it was just not one of my things. Now I have to say it is. We all need to participate in this.

I was very proud of my Archbishop, Nicolae and the new Metropolitan Jonah of the OCA for being there. The question I have where were the rest of our bishops, why were they not there with their people marching hand in hand. At one point in the speaking before the march began, all of the Catholic bishops that were present were introduced. Archbishop Nicolae turned to me and said, look how many of them came, and my response was, where are the rest of our bishops, he responded that we will do better next year. At that point someone standing near by said let’s pray there will be no need for a next year. Amen I said but I realize we will have a next year and maybe a year after that. Ask your bishop why they did not come to the March. Ask your priest why they did not come to the March! Ask yourself why you did not come to the March and then join us next year. I asked Archbishop Nicolae to attend and he did. Next year invite your bishop to attend.

I have many emotions on this and will share them over the next few days. Huw posted about the March and his reason for not going and I have to say I agree with his position. “the issue is not Pro-Abortion Laws, it is the culture that creates the need for abortion.” He is correct! We need to change out culture and we do that by speaking out. We do that by changing our economy and how we do business. We need to bring morality back to the center. We need to make morality hip again.

At some point in history the church stopped speaking about morality and became politically correct. We should not judge but we clergy need to teach our people what the church teaches and not our take on what the church teaches. If we become authentic teachers the culture will change, slowly but it will change. We did not get here overnight and we will not get out overnight. One day at a time!

Media Part 2

Last week I posted on the media and got a few responses. I will follow up with these comments.

The media is biased, all of it. There is not one media outlet that reports the news in a fair way. We are human beings and humans report the news and we see things by what influences us. We all could see an event and report on it from a different perspective. This is why I said during the campaign that we need to read the words themselves and not someone opinion on them. If you only get your news from one source then you are only going to get that one station, news paper, magazine, whatever it may be, you will only get their take on it.

Last night, or perhaps it was very early thins morning I have lost track. I was listening to a talk show on WBZ 1030 am. They host was speaking about Rush L and what his real job is. Anyone who is on the radio with a talk show, and I put myself in that same category, has one job and that is to make money for the stations we work for or our show is on. How does this happen? Advertisers. We sell stuff on our shows that what we do. Companies advertise on the stations that carry Rush and others because he gets an audience. How do we get an audience? By saying what they want to hear? If Rush or Michael Regan or any of them decided to change their opinion they would loose their audience. It is all ratings driven. Controversy sells and we are all part of the process.

So next time you want to talk about the liberal bias of the media or the conservative talk show hosts, think about what has created this. We have, we buy the stuff they sell and they do it very good or they would not be doing it.

March for Life

UPDATE: I am off to the March so blogging might be light until I return on Friday.

Tonight a group of us from the area will be traveling by bus to Washington, DC for the Annual March for life. It is interesting that this March should come right after we swear in the new President. I hope many people make the journey to DC to make our voices heard.

If you are going look for me. This will be my first trip for the March and I understand the the groups March by denomination so I will be with the Orthodox folks. If you cannot make it please pray for those who will be there. Many churches are hosting vigils for the March so check around your area and see if there is one going on near you and consider going for an hour or so and pray for us, and pray for those who have no voice.

Orthodox Understanding of Salvation

In Orthodox understanding, salvation is the divine gift through which mean and women are delivered from sin and death, united to Christ, and brought into His eternal kingdom. Those who heard St. Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost asked what they must do to be saved. He answered, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

Salvation begins with these steps:

1. Repent
2. Be Baptized
3. Receive the Holy Spirit

To repent means to change our mind about how we have been, to turn from our sin and to commit ourselves to Christ. To be baptized means to be born again by being joined into union with Christ. And to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit means to receive the Spirit who empowers us to enter a new life in Christ, to be nurtured in the Church, and to be conformed to God’s image.

Salvation demands faith in Jesus Christ. People cannot save themselves by their own good works. Salvation is “faith working through love.” It is an ongoing, life-long process. Salvation is past tense in that, through the death and Resurrection of Christ, we have been saved. It is present tense, for we are “being saved” by our active participation through faith in our union with Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Salvation is also future, for we must yet be saved at His glorious Second Coming.

Community Gardens

Last week on my radio program, Father Peter Live, we talked about starting a community garden here at the church. I think that in this climate that we find ourselves in we need to do all we can to assist each other. We have this large parcel of land here at the church for for the most part goes unused during the year.

A community garden would be a good idea to help each other. We would volunteer to work side by side, share in the labor, and then share in the reward. This is not a wild and new idea but one I would like to have a further discussion about. Anyone else interested in this idea?

Live Blogging the Inauguration

I dropped the ball on this one I was so listening to the speech I forgot to blog about it. I have to re-read his words and I will prepare some reactions. Now thw real work begins.

12:07 – President Obama has been introduced and is now giving his speech.

12:01 – Even though he has not taken the oath yet we have a new President.

11:56 – John Paul Stevens administering the oath of office to Joe Biden

11:49 – Rick Warren is praying, got some booos when he tool the rostrum.

11:43 – President Elect just introduced…

11:38 – All the guests are seated and we are waiting for Obama to come out and take his place. The Lincoln Bible has not been used since President Lincoln used it. That’s kind of cool I think.

Inaugural Address

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land – a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America – they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted – for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things – some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act – not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions – who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them – that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account – to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day – because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control – and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart – not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort – even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West – know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment – a moment that will define a generation – it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends – hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism – these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence – the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed – why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

“Let it be told to the future world…that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive…that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].”

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

The Media

I find it interesting the the Conservatives always blame the media for everything that goes wrong. I should say they blame the liberal media.

The vast majority of radio talk programs are hosted by conservatives. And the current statistic out there is that 90% of people over 12 will listen to the radio. The demographic of people who listen to talk radio is 40-70, white, upper middle class. Newspapers and news magazines, like Time and Newsweek, are laying people off left and right as they cannot compete with the Internet.

So with this being the case it would seem to me that the media, for the most part, is conservative. So I do not see how the media can be blamed for all of this. Perhaps the print media is biased but I think it just makes things “fair and balanced” with talk radio.

Just some thoughts.

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