extreme Catholic 

 
When being a Good Samaritan becomes a choice between competing goods.

Financial talk show host, Bob Brinker is more extreme than me. He believes that as a percentage, relatively few residents will return to the low ground in and near New Orleans and it makes little sense to make this area weatherproof to a cat-5 hurricane. He also believes that wherever they are now, the displaced people may need financial assistance.

In the weeks to come, I think the question of land vs. people will grow in visibility and importance. Is it the best use of money from all Americans to make every square foot of Katrina's Ground Zero floodproof?

In other word's: Are we restoring private real estate to its pre-hurriance value with public money?

I'd directly support the families with vouchers for food, clothing, shelter, and schools.

Forget about debit cards! The records show that they were used in strip clubs, casinos, bars, etc.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:51 PM   Permalink  

 

After 55 Years, Korean War Veteran to Get Medal : AP Tibor Rubin kept his promise to join the U.S. Army after American troops freed him from the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria during World War II. A Hungarian Jew, Rubin immigrated to New York after the war, joined the Army and fought as an infantryman in the Korean War. In 1951, Chinese troops captured Cpl. Rubin and other U.S. soldiers and he became a prisoner of war for 2 1/2 years. More than five decades later, after a relentless campaign by grateful comrades and Jewish war veterans, President Bush on Sept. 23 will give Rubin the Medal of Honor. As with all Medal of Honor winners, Corporal Rubin's story is both painful and inspirational.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:38 PM   Permalink  

 
The Inspector General

There's a scandal in New York that bears greatly on the anticipated $200 billion proposal to rebuild New Orleans and other devastated areas of the south.

We know that about half the money went to businesses outside of lower Manhattan.

Here's an example of the coverage: 36 Million in 9/11 loans went to Tampa : Tamba Bay 10

and another Congress must keep 9/11 loan disaster from repeating : Yakima Herald

and a more complete account from the Associated Press

The government's $5 billion effort to help small businesses recover from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was so loosely managed that it gave low-interest loans to companies that didn't need terrorism relief - or even know they were getting it, the Associated Press has discovered.

While some at New York's ground zero couldn't get assistance they desperately sought, companies far removed from the devastation - a South Dakota country radio station, a Virgin Islands perfume shop, a Utah dog boutique and more than 100 Dunkin' Donuts and Subway sandwich shops - had no problem winning the government-guaranteed loans.

Like the waste, fraud, and abuse from so many other programs, we face it now on a grand scale. Already Congress threw money at FEMA. Congress can be very generous with other people's money.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:15 PM   Permalink  

 
The President's Speech on the Rebuild of La.,Ala.,Miss.

I thought it was a good speech but not a great speech and it had nothing that I'd consider memorable.

The President needed to make a speech to avoid the criticism that he didn't have an idea how to proceed.

I think the poorest of the areas affected and especially New Orleans will probably obtain a better quality of life whereever they settle down while the rebuilt happens.

Now the property owners in the flood zone will want to rebuilt upscale apartments and I suspect that New Orleans will have in 10 years a larger much more focused city on entertainment like Las Vegas and have entirely new demographics.

The Democratic party lock that this state had is doomed. The returning property owners will make this a red Republican state.

It's important to recognize how scattered the people vicitms are now. There's a family in my parish from La. and the kids will be going to my son's school. Helping rebuild the infrastructure and helping the victims may require writing two big checks.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:23 AM   Permalink  

 
He beat the system

'Drunk Boating' Fracas

Mayhem broke out in a Long Island courthouse yesterday after drunken-boating charges against an air-traffic controller were thrown out — and his lawyer and pals started throwing punches at reporters covering the tragedy that took the life of a young girl.

The family of victim Brianna Lineck was outraged at the prosecution's decision and left the proceedings in Central Islip early rather than see Steven Fleischer walk out of court a free man...

Suffolk prosecutor Nancy Clifford asked Judge Glenn Murphy to drop the charges against Fleischer because no booze was found in his blood.

Fleischer initially refused to take a Breathalyzer test and cops were not able to get a warrant forcing him to do so for four hours.

Another look at this story in Newsday

I'm not a boater, so how do boats collide like this unless there's some negligence? It's not as if there's lanes that the boats have to travel in.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:05 AM   Permalink  

 
Pray after you get over the shock of this story

Baby's Corpse Found At Building Where Newborn Thrown Out Window

A mummified corpse of an infant was found Wednesday in the same airshaft where police had rescued a newborn allegedly tossed out a bathroom window by his teenage mother just a day earlier, authorities said.

Lucila Ventura, 18, a high school junior, was arrested Wednesday and charged with throwing her newborn son out a third-story window and into the air shaft at the West New York apartment building. Ventura was charged with attempted murder and other charges.

Trash piled at the bottom of the shaft broke the baby's fall, and he survived. The baby was in critical condition at Jersey City Medical Center with a skull fracture.

When investigators returned to the scene Wednesday, they discovered the remains of a full-term baby beneath the cigarette packages and other trash.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said the baby died at least a year ago, but its gender and cause of death haven't been determined.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:38 PM   Permalink  

 
Choosing between Caesar and Christ

Catholic judge to take leave from Chappaqua church: Westchester Journal-News

Westchester County Judge Charles Devlin is taking a leave of absence as deacon of a Roman Catholic church in Chappaqua to comply with Cardinal Edward Egan's ban on deacons holding public office.

Devlin, 57, has been a permanent deacon at the Church of St. John and St. Mary since 2000. Gov. George Pataki appointed him to the county judgeship in the spring and he is now running for a 10-year term.

One has to wonder why if he had ambitions to be a judge (or an office holder) in 2000, he would undertake the formation process for the permanent diaconate. Did he have an understanding with the Chancery that he would get a dispensation and not merely an authorized leave of absence?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:11 PM   Permalink  

 
Going to the dogs or Dogs are People, too

The concern for the dogs, at least to me, trivialized the human suffering.

I think that some pet-oriented charities are trying a bit too hard to get a piece of the Katrina compassion that ought to go to humans first.

Because of the cruel treatment by first responders and people supervising the evacuation some pets were abandoned and presumably died.

I hope that with all the cat and dog food and kennel services that these donations are buying that humans are not being denied food and shelter.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:07 PM   Permalink  

 

Raymond Arroyo reveals it all about Mother Angelica, PCPA, and EWTN

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:37 PM   Permalink  

 
Sunday Night: tapes the MSM is not playing but Drudge is

There's a bigotry of low expectations about the people of New Orleans that is disgusting:

• You couldn't expect the police to return to restore order. They had to think of their families and themselves first.
• You couldn't expect the bus drivers to report on Sunday, so the buses had to be left unused and even parked on the low ground.
• You couldn't expect a mandatory evacution to be taken seriously.
• You couldn't expect the poor of New Orleans not to loot as poor as they are.

Mayor Nagin's attitude on Sunday night as the Drudge show was airing was "No problem. It's all under control. Everyone either evacuated or made it to the Superdome for safety." There was no discussion of the actual implementation of the city's own emergency plan which called for a much greater response by first responders both before and after a hurricane landfall.

Any fair investigation of what happened is going to give the public comments by Nagin and Blanco on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday some serious criticism.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:27 PM   Permalink  

 

Required Reading The New York Public Library has issued "Books for the Teen Age 2005". Copies are being distributed now in libraries. The section on religion and philosphy "Do You Believe?" contains books on all of the world's major religions and a few obscure ones with one exception: Missing from the list is a book on Christianity. The only mention in its 40 pages of listing is as a one of several religions in a opinion analysis book of American teens. I have forwarded this to the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:21 PM   Permalink  

 
Federal, State, and Local Gas Taxes

all represent an underserved windfall to the government.

If politicians want to complain about money taken from the consumers' pockets they should look into the mirror.

I knew Schumer said no to a rollback of federal gas taxes, but it's instructive to learn that Hillary refuses to take a position and the MSM are not pressing her to.

Jeanine Pirro who is running against Hillary is pointing this out.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:51 PM   Permalink  

 
Meeting the public in the name of the Catholic Church

The first question asked as we were setting up. Where's the nearest Catholic Church? Answer: St. Joseph's on Waverly Place and Sixth Avenue.

A question was asked the bread becoming Jesus. After explaining the New Convenant and Jesus as the Lamb of God and the sacrifice for all given up to the Father. The response was "awesome". Amen to that. It is awesome.

A more sophisticated question came up on how do we change after death and become one with God.

The answer a friend gave is that we are made in the image and likeness of God, and given all sorts of gifts by him (grace and free will are at the top of the list) but it is for our human nature. We are human and will always be finite whereas God will always be infinite.

That's a great answer. I thought more about what death changes in us: we lose our bodies and our ability to act in this world. After the Final Judgment, those in the Lord will obtain a glorified body, in that sense we become more like Jesus but never become Jesus. We never lose our shared human nature and unique personal identity.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:21 PM   Permalink  

 
9/11/2001 + 4

My concern this year is not for the people like myself with a direct personal connection. Two people who died were co-workers of mine from jobs, coincidentally the same age as me. My concern is for the people of the United States whose lives were not touched. Will they remember?

I am disgusted with my local leaders lack of spine with respect to the memorial at the World Trade Center site.

Bloomberg and Pataki act as if they wish the 9/11 families would just go away and let them turn over the memorial to anti-American artists. Michelle Malkin has been blogging on this.

Rudy Giuliani said this two years ago

If we don't do this correctly—if we let some minor memorial be dwarfed by office space—people a hundred years from now will say this generation did not understand the significance of that world-altering day. Sept. 11 must not lose its resonance as time dulls the sharp edges of our collective memory. Ground zero is the site of the worst attack in the history of this country. I pray it will be the worst attack in the history of this country a hundred years from now. Done correctly, a memorial will inspire people. It should not symbolize the loss of our world before Sept. 11 or of an America that no longer exists. It should symbolize our survival and our triumph.

I hope that when I write +5 or +6 that a fitting memorial is planned and being built.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:21 PM   Permalink  

 
Could Katrina have been the greatest incident of euthanasia in U.S. history?

We had to kill our patients : Daily Mail U.K.

Doctors working in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans killed critically ill patients rather than leaving them to die in agony as they evacuated hospitals, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

With gangs of rapists and looters rampaging through wards in the flooded city, senior doctors took the harrowing decision to give massive overdoses of morphine to those they believed could not make it out alive.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:49 PM   Permalink