Today, even though I really don’t support recall elections, I exercised my right to vote as a citizen of the United States of America. While I believe that recalls are meant for political misfeasance or malfeasance, I also believe that any election is an opportunity to express one’s opinion in the electoral process.
Personally, I think it’s a shame that we take for granted this sacred right secured for us by so many who fought and died for our freedoms. It always disturbs me when someone says, “Oh, I don’t think that I’ll vote. I’m really not that interested in politics.” Unfortunately, others believe their votes are so insignificant, that voting really doesn’t matter.
As Christians, we have an obligation to participate in our political process. The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” states: “As far as possible citizens should take an active part in public life. The manner of this participation may vary from one country to another. ‘One must pay tribute to those nations whose systems permit the largest possible number of the citizens to take part in public life in a climate of genuine freedom.’” (1915) It seems that the exercise of one’s right to vote is at least a minimal participation in public life.
Many people feel that politicians are corrupt. Perhaps there is some truth to that statement. However, every social endeavor is subject to corruption. In our Utopian idealism, there’s a little aspect that some Catholics have forgotten, “Original Sin” (I’ll bet that’s a theological term you haven’t heard in awhile).[at least not at Marquette]Our nature has been flawed due to a tendency to rank our own interests over the needs of our communities. Through God’s grace, we can rise above our flawed vision and seek what is possible for the common good.
I respect the candidates and elected officials who engage in politics. These citizens – our neighbors – expose themselves to criticisms and personal attacks; a challenging way of life for them and their families. Hopefully, this personal sacrifice is for the sake of public service. So, whatever your political persuasion, exercise your right to vote, for too many have sacrificed for any of us to act with indifference.
Remember, our ultimate motivation in every action is to LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
Hope starts here,
Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki
Archbishop of Milwaukee
Recall elections will be held tomorrow, Tuesday, June 5. The PLW Victory Fund political action committee (PAC) has proudly endorsed four candidates in the recall elections: Governor Scott Walker, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, State Senator Scott Fitzgerald and State Representative Jerry Petrowski.
Scott Walker, Rebecca Kleefisch and Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau are incumbents running to defend their positions while Jerry Petrowski of Marathon is running to fill the Wausau-area senate seat vacated by former senator Pam Galloway who resigned earlier this year. All four have worked hard to build a culture of life in Wisconsin.
Democrat gubernatorial challenger Tom Barrett has a long pro-abortion voting record and Democrat lieutenant governor challenger Mahlon Mitchell is pro-abortion. Both Barrett and Mitchell have been endorsed by Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, the state's number one abortion provider.
NOTE: The recall elections for governor and lieutenant governor are separate elections. The Republican incumbents (Walker/Kleefisch) and Democrat challengers (Barrett/Mitchell) are NOT running on the same ticket. You must vote for these seats separately.
Not a surprise, really, since he is a liberal. But when Wisconsin got to vote on the issue, it decisively voted against gay marriage.
With Barrett, as with Obama, this has to be seen as an appeal to the socially liberal base of the Democratic Party. The political calculation, obviously, is that the increased intensity of support from gay activists and their liberal allies will outweigh the loss of social conservatives who might otherwise be inclined to vote for the Democrat.
Embattled Republican Governor Scott Walker holds a five-point lead over his newly nominated Democratic challenger Tom Barrett in Wisconsin’s special recall election.
A new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey shows that 50% of the state’s Likely Voters prefer Walker while 45% choose Barrett. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate and another two percent (2%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Shrugging off millions of dollars spent by labor groups to defeat him, Tom Barrett strolled to victory in Tuesday's Democratic primary and set up a more taxing sprint toward June 5 - a historic recall that will be a rematch of his unsuccessful 2010 race against Gov. Scott Walker.
In the recall primary, the Milwaukee mayor easily defeated former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, showing that more than $4 million from outside groups doesn't necessarily buy a close race.
As Barrett was campaigning Tuesday, Walker was barnstorming the state and showing the fight he will bring to what is expected to be a brutal month of canvassing for one of the most important elections to state office in Wisconsin history. A poll last week showed Walker and Barrett in a dead heat.
Walker, who won over 600,000 votes despite facing only token opposition Tuesday, has been preparing for months for the fast-approaching election, raising a record $25 mil lion, while Barrett must now pivot toward this race with far fewer resources.
A new television ad from gubernatorial candidate and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett takes aim at Gov. Scott Walker for what he calls an "ideological war" that has targeted women.
The 30-second ad starts with Barrett delivering a speech while the screen displays a headline detailing the enactment of the Equal Pay Enforcement Act. The next screen displays a DailyKos headline from April 2012 saying "Walker's war on women escalates."
"Legislation that was on the books dealing with equal pay for equal work, to ensure that women would be treated fairly in the state," Barrett says. "Pow. He went after that."
The screen then displays another headline detailing an "all-out attack" on women, while Barrett describes the passage of a law regulating abortions that he claims would "make it more difficult for women to have the most intimate conversations with their health care providers."
"All part of this ideological war, a war against women, a war against working people, a war against Wisconsin values," he concludes as the screen displays Barrett's name with the slogan "A Governor who will fight for what's right."
Below is a debate between Scott Walker and Tom Barrett from October 15, 2010, during the 2010 race for governor. The debate was held at Marquette University and moderated by Mike Gousha, a Milwaukee-area news anchor.
It's interesting to re-watch; you can see how some of the issues played out -- stabilizing property taxes, education funding as a sacred cow, cutting taxes for small business owners to encourage growth, government employees contributing to their pensions, and so on. It's a civil debate, but gosh, I hate politics like this. And Barrett is annoying as all get-out.
Below the debate is queued to 59:50 for the question about funding/encouraging stem cell research at UW-Madison. In response to the question, Barrett states:
I support stem cell research. I support embryonic stem cell research. That's where the difference lies [you got that right!] I believe that this research is breathtaking in its potential. I was in Madison recently, and I was at the Weisman Center, and I met a woman who's doing research on chromosomal damage to infants, maybe it's before they're even born. And the impact it has on learning, particularly for the boys. And I listened to this woman, and I thought two things. I thought, This woman is a lot smarter than I am; and second, I thought, this woman is doing the Lord's work. She's using these embryonic stem cells and she's gonna improve the quality of life for these kids.
He continues but you get the point. [And the audience looks really angry at this point, LOL!]
Barrett, a practicing Catholic, refers to embryonic stem cell research as "the Lord's work."
Democratic candidate for governor and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said he would work to overturn the law that imposes criminal penalties on doctors who do not follow new requirements for provision of medication-induced abortions.
Barrett is one of four Democrats running against Gov. Scott Walker in the June 5 recall election. A fifth candidate is running as an acknowledged fake Democrat in the May 8 primary.
Wisconsin Right to Life, a major backer of the bill, called the decision to stop offering so-called pill abortions at Planned Parenthood clinics in Appleton, Madison and Milwaukee "a true victory for Wisconsin women."
Act 217, also known as the Coercive and Web Cam Abortion Protection Act, requires doctors to determine through a private consultation whether a woman is being coerced into having an abortion. State law already requires written consent before an abortion is performed.
On January 4th, a new era began as Bishop Jerome Listecki was installed as Milwaukee's next Archbishop. The installation was a tightly restricted invitation-only ceremony reserved for influential Catholics and some political dignitaries like gubernatorial candidates Scott Walker and Tom Barrett. It did not appear, however, that Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Neumann received an invitation to attend the ceremony. This would not be surprising since he has quickly become forgettable.
During the ceremony, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett partook in the communion - a ritual of substantial importance for Catholics that signifies spiritual devotion to Christ. This occurs at a time when Catholic Bishops have taken an increasing role in denying pro-choice politicians the rite of communion. Why is this relevant? In the late 90s when Tom Barrett was a Wisconsin Congressman, he voted against a proposed ban on partial birth abortion; and he did this not just once, but twice. His vote opposed a bill that, if passed, would have protected unborn children from a cruel and unusual form of medical execution.
Abp. Listecki cannot be blamed for this incident as he would have no knowledge of the landscape prior to his arrival. What is clear is that the Catholic country club has been open in Milwaukee for some time. The public has not been informed as to the status of someone as merciless as Tom Barrett. Since he is receiving Communion, is it in defiance of his bishop or because he has never been corrected? It would be interesting if a reporter asked Barrett if he has ever had anyone from the archdiocese meet with him to discuss the matter.
Top Wisconsin Democrats acknowledge that labor issues are not “moving” voters in the state, so a major part of the Democratic recall campaign against Scott Walker will involve an effort to portray him as a belligerent in the so-called “war on women.” But it’s not at all clear that this is a battle the Democrats can win. The two leading Democratic candidates, Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett and Dane county executive Kathleen Falk, have staked out deeply unpopular positions on the issue of abortion that could prove toxic in the general election.
As a congressman from Milwaukee in 1993, Tom Barrett broke ranks with the other eight other members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation (three Democrats and five Republicans) when he voted against the Hyde amendment, a measure that prohibited federal funding of elective abortions for Medicaid recipients (the amendment made exceptions for the cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is at stake). At an event in Madison last week, Barrett reaffirmed his support for taxpayer-funding of elective abortions under Medicaid.
“In Congress you voted against the Hyde amendment on Medicaid abortion funding. Do you still oppose the Hyde amendment?” Barrett was asked by THE WEEKLY STANDARD following a candidates forum in Madison on Wednesday.
In a nutshell, Barrett supports taxpayer-funded abortion.
Photo, l-r: At a 2010 fundraiser for Barrett’s failed gubernatorial
bid. Milwaukee mayor and gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett; Planned
Parenthood of America president Cecile Richards; and former Gov. Jim
Doyle, also a pro- abortion Catholic.
Pro-life Gov. Scott Walker is facing a recall election, and Barrett is running against him. Walker recently signed three pro-life pieces of legislation, cut funding to Planned Parenthood in his 2011 budget and ended PPWI’s eligibility to participate in a state program that provided cancer screenings to low-income women.
Barrett’s pro-abortion view should come as no surprise — in July 2010, Cecile Richards headlined three Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin fundraisers for Barrett (photo, above, from the Milwaukee fundraiser).
Barrett calls himself a practicing Catholic and was recently given a forum in the Milwaukee Catholic Herald.
When the Golden Eagles are on the court, shouts of “We Are Marquette” ring through the Bradley Center.
Thanks to the 15-year presidency of Jesuit Fr. Robert A. Wild, the university has a more distinct identity, making that cheer a virtual rallying cry campus-wide.
Reflecting on his retirement during an interview with your Catholic Herald in mid-July, just before his retirement effective July 31, Fr. Wild said “addressing our Jesuit, Catholic identity in a more explicit way[ROFL]” was one of his most important accomplishments at Marquette.
Fr. Wild served as a provincial in the 1980s, and when he met with other provincials “we spent more time on the issue of Jesuit higher education than anything else,” he said.
“When I became president of Marquette (in 1996), I said we’d better walk the walk here[aka, moonwalk away from the pope],” Fr. Wild said.
An important step, Fr. Wild said, was the crafting of a mission statement in 2000, summarized by four words: excellence, faith[Would be nice to see that defined... uh and maybe first on the list?], leadership and service. [Hmm, I was waiting for hospitality]
“We worked to put flesh on those bones,” he added, noting the work of “two A-Team players,” Stephanie Russell and Jesuit Fr. Douglas Leonhardt in Marquette’s Office of Mission and Ministry.
Faculty and administrators were given more background on Catholic and Jesuit spirituality[apparently they are different?]. With input from then-Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, a semester-long seminar was developed for new hires, Fr. Wild said. [Interesting, I hope drums were not involved.]
“It gives people an understanding of what’s at stake in Catholic education,” he explained. [Here's what "Catholic education" means to the establishment.]
Another key player was the late Howard Eisenberg, dean of the law school, who described himself as a “conservadox Jew,” according to Fr. Wild.
“He would say, ‘I’m not Catholic, but I really value this mission, so I’m not going to be shy about talking about it,’” Fr. Wild recalled. “It moved us into areas like pro bono service to the poor and a variety of things that were important.” [These thing are important, but who decides which Church teachings are acceptable to be taught and which are not at Marquette?]
Fr. Wild said his other two major goals in the job were continuing to strengthen academic quality, and getting the university more fiscally sound.
A glowing piece that doesn't address any of the scandal in his tenure, particularly the Infanticide Feingold hire and his rightful reversal of the hire of Dr. Jodi O'Brien after pressure from Abp. Listecki amongst others. Let's face it, the problem is that entrenched liberals at Marquette cannot be fired(tenure) and replaced by a solid faculty. It would take a miracle for Marquette to go it alone and reestablish itself with a truly Catholic Identity(or a Fr. Michael Scanlan). Marquette isn't a leader, it's a follower. If an earthquake hit Notre Dame and all of the sudden the administration had second thoughts about abortion, dissent, ect, Marquette then would follow. All of that said, Fr. Wild is solid on the administrative side, fundraising, facilities ect. But a point in time will come when folks chose the Faith first. I hope all these wonderful new building don't have to become empty before that lesson is learned. The again, what's the point of filling up the seats if it will cost students their souls.
Providing a platform for pro-abortion Catholics hurts the pro-life movement and insults the Catholic faith. Newspapers such as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel are only too happy to print op-eds from dissenting Catholics. But our very own Catholic newspaper? An editorial on violence, written by a pro-abortion Catholic politician, sorely misses the mark.
Tom Barrett, pro-abortion Catholic Mayor of Milwaukee
From a reader
The Milwaukee Catholic Herald this week printed an article by radical pro-abort Mayor Tom Barrett proclaiming that Catholic involvement is needed to end gun violence. Hey, Tom, would abortion bother you if they used guns to kill the baby? Shame on the Milwaukee Catholic Herald for giving a forum to this man who buys votes with the blood of the innocent.
Wisconsin now has a pro-life governor. Sconnie's now have a "pro-life" senator for the first time since 1993 and the first time a pro-life Republican defeated a pro-abortion incumbent since 1980 in the Reagan election.
Here's lookin at you Herbie in 2012. Kohl will be 77 at that point. I think I read he stated he has no intention of retiring but we will see the mood of the country. He's won his last 2 of his last 3 elections by 20% and the last election by over 30%. It takes alot of money which Kohl has.
Pro-lifers like Badger Catholic endorsed Sean Duffy beats pro-abortion "Catholic" Julie Lassa in district 7. Also pro-life Reed Ribble wins district 8.
Pro-life Dan Kapanke came up a little short in WI District 3. One thing that worked against Kapanke was the Eau Claire doctors claiming Ron Kind staffers wanted to charge them for an audience. Kind then laid the victim card down and I think that was a big help to him. Not to mention Kind outspent Kapanke 4-1. Had national GOP recognized it was a close race and chipped in, we would be seeing another pro-abort booted out.
Kind had harsh words for his opponent Tuesday night, calling the attacks desperate campaigning by a desperate candidate.
“Take a look at who he surrounded himself with. I expected this kind of last-minute assassination on my integrity and my character,” Kind said. “For him to take such a low road, I think he’s made a pact with the devil that he’s going to have to live with for a long time.”
In an open letter to Kind after the state Democratic Party accused Kapanke of money laundering[to pay for lights at a city owned ballpark], Kapanke urged his opponent to stay above the fray so they can greet each other in church on good terms.
Yet the campaigns unfolded decidedly negative.
Kind says Kapanke's unprovoked letter to the editor Sept. 5, which accuses Kind of mudslinging, shouldn't be mistaken for the opening bell.
"From day one, given Sen. Kapanke's website, his campaign has been nothing but slash-and-burn politics against me[He's the 2 million dollar victim I guess]," he said. "Although he wasn't buying TV and radio, that campaign was certainly doing everything they could to attack me." [Kind outspent Kapanke 4-1]
That letter dragged him into the fight, Kind said. Kapanke was assailing him, rather than taking responsibility for his ethics breach.
"Dan's had some problems that he's had to resolve, and then he turned around and made me part of the story. That was uncalled for," Kind said. "That was going too far." [I think support for taxpayer funded abortions is a real ethical breach, doncha think?]
"This isn't about Ron Kind as a person. I know his family. I like his family, which is why I've stayed really focused on the issues. If I was happy with the job Ron was doing, I probably wouldn't be doing this. A couple votes here and there, I wouldn't run," Kapanke said.
In contests that drew national attention, Democrats lost control of both the state Assembly and Senate in Tuesday's voting, giving Republicans control of all of state government for the first time since 1998.
The stunning victory amid high unemployment and economic turmoil in the state represented the first time a political party had won both houses of the Legislature in a single day of voting since 1938, when Republicans swept out the waning Progressive Party.
The new GOP majorities will have the potential power to pass tax and spending cuts sought by Governor-elect Scott Walker as well as redraw the lines of political districts to make it easier to elect Republican congressional and legislative candidates. But they also face the challenge of balancing a $3 billion budget deficit projected for the next two years.
In a key Senate race, Rep. Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) defeated freshman Sen. Jim Sullivan (D-Wauwatosa) in the 5th District. Adding to the sting, Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Wausau) and Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan (D-Janesville) both conceded their re-election battles.
The Trib does ignorantly declares Walker has to change his stance and waste money on embryonic stem cell research instead of focusing money on the real science of adult stem cell research. Read the stats. It is way behind the times to still be stuck in that fantasy.
ROME, October 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Speaking at the Human Life International World Prayer Congress Saturday, Archbishop Raymond Burke received sustained applause when he noted that Catholic politicians who support abortion are required to repent publicly.
Speaking to pro-life leaders from 45 nations, the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura (the highest Vatican court) also noted that those who recognize the scandal caused by such public, dissident Catholics assist the Church in repairing a serious breach, but are nevertheless often ridiculed for it. (Read the complete talk - in PDF format - here) Archbishop Burke stressed that “both bishops and the faithful” must be obedient to the Magisterium – which he described as the teaching of Christ as handed down through the successor of Peter and the bishops in union with him. “When the shepherds of the flock are obedient to the Magisterium, entrusted to their exercise, then surely the members of the flock grow in obedience and proceed with Christ along the way of salvation,” he said. “If the shepherd is not obedient the flock easily gives way to confusion and error.”
Burke, who is also a member of the Congregation for Bishops added: “A most tragic example of the lack of obedience of faith, also on the part of certain Bishops, was the response of many to the Encyclical Letter Humanae vitae of Pope Paul VI, published on July 25, 1968. The confusion which resulted has led many Catholics into habits of sin in what pertains to the procreation and education of human life.”
Humanae Vitae reiterated age-old Christian teaching on the immorality of the use of artificial contraception. However, after its publication the encyclical was repudiated by many within the Catholic Church, including priests and bishops, who had believed that the Church would changes its views on contraception.
Turning to the issue of scandal within the Church, the archbishop said, “We find self-professed Catholics, for example, who sustain and support the right of a woman to procure the death of the infant in her womb, or the right of two persons of the same sex to the recognition which the State gives to a man and a woman who have entered into marriage. It is not possible to be a practicing Catholic and to conduct oneself publicly in this manner.”
To resounding applause Burke said, “When a person has publicly espoused and cooperated in gravely sinful acts, leading many into confusion and error about fundamental questions of respect for human life and the integrity of marriage and the family, his repentance of such actions must also be public.”
The Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura then voiced a concern that struck a deep chord with many of the Catholic pro-life activists present at the conference. “One of the ironies of the present situation is that the person who experiences scandal at the gravely sinful public actions of a fellow Catholic is accused of a lack of charity and of causing division within the unity of the Church,” he said. “One sees the hand of the Father of Lies at work in the disregard for the situation of scandal or in the ridicule and even censure of those who experience scandal.”
The Vatican prelate concluded the point stating:
Lying or failing to tell the truth, however, is never a sign of charity. A unity which is not founded on the truth of the moral law is not the unity of the Church. The Church’s unity is founded on speaking the truth with love. The person who experiences scandal at public actions of Catholics, which are gravely contrary to the moral law, not only does not destroy unity but invites the Church to repair what is clearly a serious breach in Her life. Were he not to experience scandal at the public support of attacks on human life and the family, his conscience would be uninformed or dulled about the most sacred realities.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) is applying to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to make Wisconsin’s Medicaid Family Planning Waiver Program permanent. The program, applied for periodically, currently provides free, taxpayer-funded birth control to Wisconsin teen boys and girls as young as 15 years old without their parents’ knowledge or consent. Federal and state law prohibits parents from being notified that their minor sons and daughters are receiving free contraceptives under this program.
DHS also wants to provide birth control drugs and devices provided under this program to men and women who make as much as $32,940 (three times the federal poverty line), up from the current annual income limit of $21,660. Importantly, family income is disregarded as an eligibility factor for women under 19 who are not married and have no children. Therefore almost every teen girl in the state is financially eligible.
Pro-Life Wisconsin (PLW) has worked the last several legislative sessions to block minor girls and boys’ access to the program by raising the minimum eligibility age from 15 to 18. These efforts were unsuccessful under the pro-abortion Doyle administration and Democrat-controlled legislature, but we hope that under a pro-life Scott Walker administration and Republican legislature, we can achieve this critical goal.
This morning’s cover story in the Wisconsin State Journal quotes PLW’s legislative director, Matt Sande, on our opposition to this immoral, dangerous and wasteful program. For the full story, click here.
Archbishop Burke stressed that “both bishops and the faithful” must be obedient to the Magisterium – which he described as the teaching of Christ as handed down through the successor of Peter and the bishops in union with him. “When the shepherds of the flock are obedient to the Magisterium, entrusted to their exercise, then surely the members of the flock grow in obedience and proceed with Christ along the way of salvation,” he said. “If the shepherd is not obedient the flock easily gives way to confusion and error.”
