The Devil's In the Details on the Choice Between Christ and the Government Cheese

[L] Kay Daly, Executive Director of Christian Family Ministry (photo: Suwaunee Valley Times)

Fox News Radio's Todd Starnes reported how Christian  Service Center of Lake City Florida is being forced between choosing Jesus or Government Cheese.  For 31 years, this north  Florida ministry had been providing food the the hungry without controversy.  But when a state government worker showed up to negotiate  an agreement , Christian Service Ministry Executive Director Kay Daley was told that a "slight change" in the contract.  Now the governmental guidelines about where USDA food is distributed, there can be no religious information under the premise of "the separation of church and state". 

The Executive Order for Equal Protection of Faith Based and Community Organizations is supposed to allow governmental assistance as long as the religious activity does not create a barrier to individuals receiving their governmental assistance.   Yet the Christian Service Center was told that they were prohibited from distributing Bibles but this ban religious information that included  religious decorations, like "Jesus is Lord" banners and a copy of the Ten Commandments, where ever  USDA food is distributed.  Hence Stern's characterization of choosing Jesus or government cheese.

The organization asked if they needed to change their name from the Christian Service Ministry to comply and they were told no, but no praying, mentioning of chapel, distributing Bibles or beign around religious decoration.  The Christian Service Ministry chose to forgo USDA assistance in their ministering to the hungry.  Kay Daly mused:

“If God can multiply fish and loaves for 10,000 people, he can certainly bring in food for our food pantry so we can continue to feed the hungry.”

The Christian Service Ministry decided that they were a Christian ministry, which included helping people in need by praying with them, providing the Good News, worshiping and providing physical nutrition without government "help" and interference.  Other churches are reportedly pitching in the fill the void from the governmental help in feeding the hungry was withdrawn.  

President George W. Bush

Media Matters sought to mollify this righteous indigation from the right by arguing that George W. Bush did it and provided links to the Executive Order.  While it is true that the original ExecutiveOrder 13279 from December 12, 2002 does provide some guidelines for faith based organizations receiving governmental aid, the progressive media "watchdog" failed to include a link to President Obama's extensiveamendment to the Executive Order in 2010.   The devil in the details is understanding what the streamlined new legislative language means

There were major changes in sections 2(e) which was the provision that mandated that faith based organizations must conducting religious activity at a separate time or place than the federallly funded social service program.  This clause reminded the governement that it had to abide by the Free Speech and Equal Protection Clause when administering Federal Programs. 

In the Obama Amended Section 2(e) the Federal government is tasked with monitoring and enforcing "standards regarding the relationship between religion and government in ways that avoid excessive entanglement between religious bodies and governmental entities.  So the emphasis is taken away from faith based organizations complying with the prohibition on proselizing to federal aid recipients to the Federal government acting as referee to ensure that

Excessive entanglements are avoided.  

So despite retaining the Free Speech and Equal Protection language, the avoiding excessive entanglement clause in the amended 2(e) makes moot a faith based organizations First Amendment rights, as a blanket prohibition of religious information treats all equally when operating as an agency of the government.

There were more significant changes in the amended 2(f) clause which originally prohibited faith base organizations from using federal funds for inherently religious activity.  The 2010 Executive Order re-write severed the connection with section 2(e) as well as dropping mentions of Free Speech and Equal Protection. While the revised section 2(f) is more concisely composed, it recasts the clause as a bright line rule for separate time or location, without  the clarifying examples or the intent to emphasis to protect the independent spiritual mission of faith based ministries which engage in social services. 

So the Christian Service Ministry was probably within their legal rights to conduct their social service ministry in their own space, but since a federal functionary did not probably interpret the lawcorrectly (and understands this Administration), it would cost big bucks to litigate to keep federal funds flowing to feed the hungry. No wonder why the Christian Service Ministry chose to forgo their cut of the Government Cheese.

Nevertheless, as Bob Dylan put it: "You don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows." The Obama Administration has been hostile for respecting the free exercise of religion, as has been seen in the HHS Qualified Health Plan(Contraception) Mandate arguing that the Freedom of Religion means the Freedom of Worship--so believe whatever you want in the pews but that respect ends at the church doors. Ministers are now routinely barred from mass casualtysituations like the Boston Marathon bombing, for fear of the separation of church and state.  This is a fundamental misunderstanding of Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Church of 1802 and is a reaction to aggressive atheism in small segments of the American polity.

On Ministering in Tragedy

As America commemorates the 12th anniversary of the jihadist terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, one of the iconic images which personalized the atrocity was the photo of Father Mychal Judge, OFM.   Fr. Judge was a 68 year old Franciscan Friar who was the pastor at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Manhattan as well as being a chaplain for the New York Fire Department since 1994.

After the World Trade Center was burning from the plane bombs which were deliberately flown into the office towers, Fr. Judge rushed to the scene of the attacks to minister to those in need. [Editor's Note - Fr. Judge was not mortally wounded while administering last rites but from falling debris standing alongside his Firefighting Brothers on the World Trade Center grounds]


 

After administering last rites to an injured firefighter, Fr. Judge was struck by falling debris and killed.  Fr. Judge was the first recorded fatality following the terror attack. Some have dubbed the image of five emergency workers carrying the remains of the fallen Fr. Judge as the "American Pietà"

Fr. Judge's example of heroic ministry to those in their time of need is an excellent counter-example to the trend of barring clergy at mass casualty events.  After the Boston Bombing on Patriots Day 2013, priests in adjacent parishes rushed to the scene of the Boston Marathon Massacre to anoint the dying, but  police refused  them access to the bomb victims. As eight year old Martin Richard lay dying from shrapnel from the pressure cooker bomb, two priests were denied access to the scene, which may have prevented him from receiving Last Rites.

While Fr. Tom Curzon, OMV, who was one of the priests turned away from the Boston Marathon Bombing, later said that he understood that:

They [law enforcement] were trying to keep safe a very unstable, chaotic area. Even the police who were there on the perimeter, they had no idea what was behind them. All they knew was that they needed to clear out the area, and they had no idea how much they themselves were standing in harm's way.

The clergy who rushed to minister to the bombing casualties resorted to set up a table to distribute fruit and water to those who approached them.

While safely securing a perimeter by law enforcement makes sense, it is premised on the presumably unimpeachable "safety" provision.  This ignores decades of tradition where ministers worked side by side with what we would today call emergency workers to do their spiritual work. Asymmetrical warfare and terror  tactics may provoke some caution in emergencies, but priests and ministers have long heeded Christ's exhortation that: “No greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15: 13), especially in emergencies.

Sixty years after his death,  Fr. Emil Kapaun, an Army Chaplain was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery on the battlefield and in prison camp during the Korean War.  When his commanders ordered an evacuation of their position, Fr. Kapaun stayed with the wounded, comforting the injured and the dying.  In prison camp, his comfort and ministering, Fr. Kapaun's faith was instrumental.  As President Barack Obama put it during the presentation of the medal:

That faith -- that they might be delivered from evil, that they could make it home -- was perhaps the greatest gift to those men; that even amidst such hardship and despair, there could be hope; amid their misery in the temporal they could see those truths that are eternal; that even in such hell, there could be a touch of the divine. Looking back, one of them said that that is what “kept a lot of us alive.”

Even though Fr. Kapaun was ministering to the military on the battlefield, the virtues of giving hope to those in their time of despair and caring for the spiritual health of their souls at a time of trauma. 

 While there certainly is a security element in the impetus to bar ministers from mass casualty circumstances, it may also be an imposition of secular civics, either out of political correctness or atheist over-expansion of the "separation of church and state".

On September 10th, 2001, Fr. Judge gave what turned out to be his final homily to firefighters. Fr. Judge's  peroration  was focused on firemen, but his words ring true to ministers in a mass casualty situation:

What great people.  We love the job.  We all do.  What a blessing that is.  A difficult, difficult job and God calls you to it.  And then He gives you a love for it so that a difficult job will be well done.  Isn't He a wonderful God?  Isn't He good to you?  To each one of you?  And to me!  Turn to Him each day.  Put your faith and your trust and your hope and your life in His hands, and He'll take care of you and you'll have a good life.

Fr. Judge embodied that exhortation.  A prayer was found in the pocket of the fallen New York Fire Department's Chaplain which has been put on plaques and prayer cards and epitomizes the call of ministry.

Remembering 9/11 Victims

A dozen years ago, two planes were hijacked by jihadist terrorists under the direction of Osama bin Laden and they were deliberately flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.  Within two hours, both towers fell, killing 2,118 civilians in the building, 147 crew and passengers from American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 along with 11 hijackers.

Here is raw footage with raw sound from that chaotic day in lower Manhattan--

New York City chose to memorialize all of the innocent dead by creating a park with two waterfalls in the footprints of the Twin Towers, building a 1,176 foot high One World Trade Center (originally designated the Freedom Tower) and a $600 Million  museum to memorialize the horrific day.

There has been some controversy concerning the 9/11 memorials at Ground Zero in NYC.  It took over a decade to erect a new building which was meant to show American resolve.  The signature new World Trade Center building legally changed its name from the 102 story $3.1 Billion Freedom Tower to accommodate a 21 year lease with Vantone, a Chinese commercial realty company.  The 9/11 museum drew fire for featuring the jihadist hijackers "for the  historical narrative".  Some have complained that political correctness has gone made at Ground Zero erasing anything heroic, patriotic or influencing the narrative.  Atheists even tried to exclude a cross formed by two steel beams in the WTC collapse that gave many Ground Zero rescue workers solace, but fortunately courts denied this claim.



On September 11th 2001 at 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 flew into a first floor western facing wall of the Pentagon.  The crash killing 125 people on the ground (including 55 civilians)   53 passengers, six crew and five jihadist hijackers

Defense Secretary (third from right) assists with the injured at the Pentagon 9/11/2001

.

The 184 victims of the attack on the Pentagon were honored in an outdoor memorial on the southwest corner of the Pentagon which was designed by Julie Beckman and Steve Kaseman with 184 illuminated benches arranged by age and whether they were in the building or aboard the terrorist hijacked aircraft.




United Airlines Flight 93, the Newark to San Francisco scheduled flight with a crew of seven and 33 passengers was hijacked by four jihadist terrorists.




The passengers revolted against the hijackers after learning of the other hijackings. Flight 93 crashed in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania.  It was  believed that had the jihadist hijackers prevailed, the plane was headed to crash into the US Capitol.  But in 2009 a high ranking al Qaeda detainee revealed that Flight 93's specific target was  White House. Whatever the case, these heroic passengers were first conscious US combatants in the War on Terrorism.




There was some controversy with the original design of the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The memorial originally was supposed to include 40 groves of red maple trees shaped like a crescent.  To quiet the debate, the 93 foot Tower of Voices has 40 wind chimes and a grove of 40 red maple trees which circle the walkway, following the bowl shape of the former surface mine.

As time has passed, the September 11th 2001 attack could fall into the recesses of memory for many Americans directly untouched by the fanatical atrocity. May we always remember the 9/11 victims and never forget the American virtues which made US a target of those wishing to establish a world-wide Caliphate.

Servicemens' Selfies Skeptical of Syrian Strike

After news of a chemical weapons  in Syria on August 21st , American President and 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Barack Hussein Obama and his Administration rattled the sabre about striking Syria, claiming that Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad had crossed "the red line."  But after the British House of Commons rejected supporting military action  in Syria and the American people were reminded of Mr. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden's hypocrisy about imperial presidencies,  Mr. Obama has shilly shallied and will let Congress vote. 

Now there is a phenomenon on social media which seems new and surprising-- Servicemen posting selfies.  Thankfully, it is not as revolting as Geraldo Rivera's recent Twitter  self expose, as they are pictures with a public policy purpose that are skeptical about American involvement in the Syrian Civil War. 

Unlike convicted Wiki-Leaker "I Want to Change My Privates" Bradley (a.k.a. Chelsea) Manning, he did not want to shame the military.  And the military members are not rebelling like convicted Ft. Hood shooter Nidal Hasan who did not want to deploy in Muslim countries so he killed 13 and wounded 34 in a so called  "workplace violence"  incident.  

Normally, our brave voluntary members of the Armed Forces salute smartly when the Commander-in-Chief speaks.  Why would they risk prosecution under Article 88 of the UCMJ which prohibits contemptuous words against "the President, Vice-President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense" et ali. Moreover, they could also be pursued under the catch all Article 134 which prohibits acts of speech "that are prejudicial to good order and discipline or that could bring discredit upon the Armed Forces"?

While President Obama has claimed that he has decided to respond to the chemical weapons attack, he deferred to Congress.  Multiple leaks from the Obama Administration indicated that it was going to be a short (two to three day) aerial assault to degrade deployment capabilities and not aim for regime change.  

While it may be a questionable geopolitical objective to be the world's policeman, waiting for so long before action while leaking what the US was considering doing certainly gave the Assad regime time to hide the munitions and move innocents into place so a Tomahawk Cruise Missile strike would look like an American atrocity. 

As that President Obama has supposedly deferred to Congress without calling them back into session means at least another fortnight's delay.  Would a limited strike do any good?  What will the Obama Administration send to Congress?  

Even if the limited strike does what was intended, degrading the Assad regime's capabilities throws US into a Syrian Civil War supporting rebels that includes actual cannibals and Al Qaeda elements who remain at war with US. 

These social media postings show that some servicemen have gotten the picture in Syria. Will Congress and the American people, or will we continue to be seduced by the bluster and balderdash from this Administration?

Editor's Note 9/02/2013 22:30 EDT

The answer to why servicemen risked so much to posted skeptical signs about the Syrian strike is for propaganda purposes.

The Syrian Electronic Army hacked and hijacked the Marines.com for several hours on Labor Day  and used the striking servicemens' collage.  This suggests that the photos were staged and meant to stoke up anti-war sentiment or that a prospective enemy is capitalizing on organic opposition.  

While the spoofing cyber-attack may be an astro-turf opinion shaping, the message about involvement in an international civil war deserves vigorous debate by Congress.  Our government should conduct a cost/benefit analysis, discern if it is truly an American national interest and if the objective can be easily accomplished by a short strike or if our involvement would complicate the situation without solving the crisis. 

Al Jazeera America Begins Broadcasting

Al Jazeera America (AJAM), a division of the Doha based global media empire owned by the royal family of Qatar began broadcasting in 48 million American cable and satellite households. In January 2013, Al Jazeera acquired the assets of Current TV for a reported $400 million (of which Al Gore is thought to have pocketed $100 million).  Current TV's most important asset was carriage on most cable and satellite services. Time Warner Cable, which has franchises in New York City and Los Angeles, immediately pulled the plug on Current TV upon the announcement of the sale to Al Jazeera. 

Al Jazeera America hopes to distinguish itself by unbiased news, compelling story telling, long-form journalism, American focused but leveraging Al Jazeera's world-wide resources. Al Jazeera America will have twelve American news bureaus, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, Detroit (surprising that it's not Dearborn), Miami and Nashville.   And Al Jazeera will have fewer commercials, showing only six minutes per hour compared with 15 minutes with other cable channels. 

Some of Al Jazeera America's promotional propaganda requires parsing.  Al Jazeera America may cite the hunger of American audiences for unbiased news, but it is worth remembering that Al Jazeera was Usama bin Laden's favorite channel for releasing unfiltered messages. Language used when referring to news events may jaundice the aspiration to be unbiased.  For example, are Islamist suicide bombers referred to as martyrs? What about news that does not jibe with the Qatari Al Thami royal family's international interests?  Per Bloomberg, the Qatari emiate "lent" Egypt $8 billion after the Arab Spring overthrow of ex-Egyptian President Hosni Murbarak, but a score of Al Jazeera employees quit over what they characterized as the biased coverage of the Muslim Brotherhood.

New Al Jazeera anchor Ali Veshi insisted in a Maclean's interview that the new network will aspire to give unbiased news:

I think we have created a world in which extreme views push out moderate views... We are going to put the resources behind commercializing real news. We are going to track those people who are NPR listeners, who watch BBC America. They exist. And we're going after them with real resources. The reason that dumbed-down news has prevailed is because there's a lot of money in producing it. And it's ubiquitous.

Former journalists from Al Jazeera have expressed concerns that the Qatari government is exerting undue pressure upon Al Jazeera journalists to further its political interests.  Former Al Jazeera Berlin correspondent Aktham Suliman has said:

You notice with these cases that it involves governments who have fallen out of favor with Qatar's rulers. Libya, Syria and Yemen, for example. Other countries like Jordan and Bahrain are experiencing similar phenomena - rebellion and protest against their ruling classes. But there's far less reporting on them. You'll notice how that corresponds to the state of Qatar's foreign policy. This is a very serious issue, because we at Al Jazeera were always proud to say: We're financed by Qatar, but the state never interferes with our reporting. Now we suddenly find ourselves in a situation in which our reporting is precisely aligned with Qatari foreign policy.

A discerning news consumer knows that it is impossible to get unbiased news coverage, but one must account for their weltanschaaung and be aware of their bias. Some corporate interests like  G.E. (or Comcast)  powered NBC, or the Mouse House served ABC's interest influence coverage.  Even conservatives are chary of Fox News Channel because News Corps increased 18.5% interest in the Rotana  media entity owned by Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal. So it is incumbent for news consumers to account for being educated by an Emirate which has been hands on in tweaking the reportage. 

 Long-story reporting is a rarity among American news networks but if so called journalists serve as stenographers for their favored sources, it is simply propaganda.  For instance, during the Israeli incursions into Lebanon in 2006, Israel was initially condemned for bombing an ambulance.  But it was later shown that the incident was a hoax, but not before long-form reporting got out the propaganda.  Or consider the a heart wrenching candlelight march in Gaza.  But will Al Jazeera America appreciate that the Gaza government might have deliberately cut the power to dramatize the issue?

As Al Jazeera America began broadcasting, their headlines were: Turmoil in Egypt; School Shooting Outside Atlanta; Wildfires in the West; and the New Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bridge.  But their website had other interesting deviations.  For example, the lead story was an accusation of widespread overuse of mind altering anti-malarial drugs at Guantanimo Bay  a feature about  U.S. soldier Staff Sgt. Bates who was convicted of a massacre in Afghanistan who is seeking a reduction of his life sentence and a headline that the CIA admitted involvement with the overthrow of the Iranian government in 1953.  Is that dogged reportage or catering to an Islamist audience?

It is amusing to dissect Al Jazeera America's brag that they are only broadcasting six minutes of commercials an hour.  Might this be because the fledgling network can't sell commercial time?  It's not a total commercial blackout as Gillette and Vonage has been in heavy rotation 

There are lots of promos for Al Jazeera America to fill the time.  But to be fair, this was not uncommon with cable news networks which have not gained the approbation of Madison Avenue.  Fox News Channel was still showing Miss Cleo ads in 2000.  Moreover, when opponents of Glenn Beck's old FNC 5 PM show, major advertisers pulled out so there were more Goldline ads.  

Al Jazeera America is seeking to have a distinctive visual aesthetic during their 14 hours a day of live programming.  In the Al Jazeera America's New York Studios, the camera shots offer a full body shot of the anchors standing before large 10 foot video screen when not sitting behind the brushed metal desk.  Alas, the picture does not look as stunning through DirectTV as it is only a standard definition picture which looks somewhat fuzzy on a large screen television.  Another quirk of Al Jazeera America's news ticker is the time shown.  The network premiered at 4 PM ET, but the Al Jazeera ticker indicated 23.00 ET, which might be right for Doha  but not GMT which is often an international standard.

Al Jazeera America has tried to buy credibility by attracting some well known names in broadcast journalism.  Soledad O'Brien  was lured from NBC to do special reports for Al Jazeera America.  The flagship show, America Tonight, will be hosted by long-time CNN alumna Joie Chen.  Al Jazeera America's financial show Real Money will be hosted by former CNN chief business correspondent Ali Veshi. A weeknight talk show Consider This will be hosted by former ABC News correspondent Antonio Mora. And don't forget about former CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and Current TV anchor David Shuster, who will now host a show on Al Jazeera America.  

 To a conservative news junkie's ears in the District of Calamity (sic), these names sound like C List reporters, some of whom give a nodding name recognition but seemingly not remarkable reporters.  It's too bad that ESPN re-hired Keith Olbermann, as Al Jazeera America sounds like a refuge for misfit reporters. But Olbermann's sports reincarnation has just begun. But could the former King of Countdown take having his opinion influenced by the Qatari powers that be lest Olbermann himself become "The Worst Person in the World."?

Al Jazeera America also gained some prime studio space in the nation's capital at the Newseum.  When ABC's This Week moved back to the ABC DC Bureau for its once a month show with Martha Radditz, Al Jazeera America moved into the Newseum.  It is unknown how much  Al Jazeera America pays for the privilege of being at the Newseum, but when a network is backed by an oil rich emirate, ordinary economics of news gathering are inapplicable. 

Al Jazeera America is not the only new news network which is vying for space on the digital TV dial.  Glenn Beck's The Blaze TV has been seeking to get carriage on more cable and satellite services along with the subscription streaming internet medium.  Glenn Beck welcome Al Jazeera America as the voice of [Sunni] Terrorists. The Blaze Network used the occasion of Al Jazeera America's premiere as a day of action to promote more carriage. 

One America News  launched on July 4th 2013.  One America News is a joint project between San Diego based Herring Broadcasting and the Washington Times. One America News seeks to fill the libertarian, independent and conservative views on the news.  It is struggling with carriage issues but One America News can be watched via livestream.

As for Al Jazeera America, their aspiration to be unbiased journalists will be tested with their coverage of the so called Million American March (a.k.a. the Million Muslim March) on Washington set for September 11th, 2013 as well as how Al Jazeera America treats coverage with the turmoil in Egypt and the Syrian Civil War.  In the early going, Al Jazeera America seemed like a somnolent Sunni version of CNN.  Such an impression might not boost ratings, but ratings (or advertising dollars) may not be the ultimate goal of Al Jazeera America. 

Reconsidering the Assumption

The Dormition of the Theotokis by Svitozar Nenyuk

The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the feast when the Church commemorates Mary's assumption of body and soul into heaven. As the young Immaculate Virgin said yes to God's call, her body was the first temple for the Son of God. Catholics believe that Mary's holy body now enjoys full union with her Son in eternal glory.

Taylor Marshall wrote an interesting essay "Did the Virgin Mary Die?  The Answer May Surprise You" which sought to use art, iconography and writings of the Early Church Fathers to clear up any ambiguities from Pope Venerable Pius XII's dogmatic declaration  Munificentissimus Deus (1950). Marshall concluded that Mary was laid in the tomb and hear death when her soul was detached from her earthly body but that her Assumption from living a sinless life that was totally oriented towards Christ that the Lord allowed for the Assumption of her body into heaven.  Moreover, Marshall concluded that sin Mary died without sin that she was given dominion over Purgatory as prophesized in Ecclesiastes 24. 

Orthodox Christianity also revere the end of Mary's life on earth. In the Eastern Churches, The Dormition of the Theotokis or, to use more contemporary parlance, "the Falling Asleep of the God-bearer" is sn as a transformation of Mary's life into a heavenly and immortal existence without the shadows of gloom or death.

There is a persistent legend among Orthodox Christian believers that all of the disciples, save Thomas who was preaching in India, were present for Mary's dormition and burial. These disciples were said to guard the tomb for three days. On the third day, Thomas saw Mary's body rising to heaven. Mary greeted him as "My friend" as Thomas was escorted by angels to proclaim the assumption. This tradition echos the Church of Jerusalem's sense that Mary's dormition had a deep sense of the resurrection.

Marshall's musing that Mary's death involved separation of her soul from her body as well as appreciating the Assumption compliments the Eastern Christian's notions of the Dormition of Mary. 

Sola Scriptura Protestants probably have problems with theology premised on this Dormition tradition, particularly on practices not christologically focused. However, the Early Church clearly revered this dormition/assumption before the scriptural canon was determined. The solemnity is not a quasi-deitization of Mary but a recognition of her place in salvific history and points to Christ.

Pope Francis meets with Coptic Orthodox Pope  Tawadros II

One of the lesser appreciated virtues of Vatican II is for the Roman Catholic Church to appreciate the riches from the Eastern Church. It is worth noting that when Pope Francis (as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio) was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he also acted as the Ordinary of the Eastern Rite Catholics in the region. Cardinal Bergoligio was known for trying to close the 1000 year estrangement with the Orthodox Christianity and advocated on behalf of the Orthodox while in dialogue with the Argentine government. 


In fact, during airline interview with the press corps on the way to World Youth day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Pope Francis said:

In the Orthodox Churches they have kept that pristine liturgy, so beautiful.

We have lost a bit the sense of adoration. They keep, they praise God, they adore God, they sing, time doesn’t count. God is the center, and this is a richness that I would like to say on this occasion in which you ask me this question. Once, speaking of the Western Church, of Western Europe, especially the Church that has grown most, they said this phrase to me: “Lux ex oriente, ex occidente luxus.”Consumerism, wellbeing, have done us so much harm. Instead  you keep this beauty of God at the center, the reference.  When one reads Dostoyevsky – I believe that for us all he must be an author to read and reread, because he has wisdom – one perceives what the Russian spirit is, the Eastern spirit. It’s something that will do us so much good. We are in need of this renewal, of this fresh air of the East, of this light of the East. John Paul II wrote it in his Letter. But so many times the luxus of the West makes us lose the horizon.

 So it would not be surprising if Pope Francis' papacy features more appreciation of the riches of Christian faith from the East.

Prayer for the Assumption of Mary

Father in heaven,
all creation rightly gives you praise,
for all life and all holiness come from you.
In the plan of your wisdom
she who bore the Christ in her womb
was raised body and soul in glory to be with him in heaven.
May we follow her example in reflecting your holiness
and join in her hymn of endless love and praise.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

h/t: The American Conservative
      Taylor Marshall

Dr. Dean's Delayed Diagnosis of IPABs

Although  former Vermont Governor and 2004 Presidential Candidate Howard Dean (D-VT) has been out of the practice of medicine for a number of years in lieu of politics, the Doctors delayed diagnosis of IPABs is right on the money.

Recently, Howard Dean wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal in which he prognosticated:  "The IPAB will be able to stop certain treatments its members do not favor by simply setting rates to levels where no doctor or hospital will perform them."  

For those who did not thoroughly study the 2,700 pages of legislation that comprised the ironically titled "Affordable Care Act", otherwise know as Obamacare, IPABs are the 15 member Independent Payment Advisory Board which the HHS Secretary Sebilus appoints that decides the amount that the government will reimburse physicians for medical procedures. 

This was  supposedly intended as a cost control mechanism for Medicare, but in reality will act as a rationing board.  The IPAB name implies that these opinions are advisory, but those opinions become the reality. A medical advisory board made the modest proposal in 2011 that yearly mammograms are unnecessary for women between 40 and 49, and HHS suggesting that self-examinations of breasts.  It did not seem that there were medical breakthroughs which prompted these changes in practice but it certaily would save costs for a single payer system.

At the start of his first term, Dr. Betsy Mc Caughey observed that President Obama's former Health Advisor Dr Ezekiel Emanuel (the brother of then Chief of Staff now Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel .D-Chicago) believed that doctors serve two masters: the patient and society and that medical students should be trained  to provide socially sustainable, cost-effective care."  

While public pressure forced the Obama Administration in January 2011 to drop "Complete Lives System" inspired end-of-life counseling during the elderly's annual check ups, the philosophy of cost cutting during the last 18 months of a person's life remains with IPABS.  Instead of cajoling vulnerable senior citizens to just "take a pill", the patient is cut out of the process by "Advisory Boards" which make certain treatments financially unviable, depending upon one's status. 

When Sarah Palin labled IPABs as "death panels", she was roundly criticized as a scare monger who was stupid, don't cha know?  

A couple of years later,  Dr. Dean  diagnosed IPABs as rationing boards,  it makes  more sense, right?

Howard Dean suggested that: "Getting rid of the IPAB is something Democrats and Republicans ought to agree on."  Obviously, the former DNC chair has not gotten with the program to think that Obamacare is about improving healthcare in America.  It seems that it more about control.

Unless Tea Party House Republicans are successful in defunding Obamacare from the FY2014 budget, all Americans will be mandated to participate in the program or pay a tax.  Nevertheless, the IRS will be in charge of collections and monitoring all of the health information.  Recent reports have indicated that health records will be vulnerable to hackers and scammers.  In addition, the IRS has shown political partisanship in vetting Tea Party tax exempt applications and for surrepticiously sharing this information.  Why couldn't the Obamacare cost cutting extend to denying treatment to political opponents?

Allow me to dispense a rhetorical palliative to Obamacare opponents– as P.J. O’Rourke put it: “If you thought that health care is too expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”  Alas, the Affordable Care Act is doubling many peoples’ rates and may cost some their hides. 

Cell Phone Early Upgrades– Next, Edge, Jump?

American cellular phone companies originally structured their service to entice new customers with heavily subsidized handsets in exchange for a nearly iron clad two year contract.  If a consumer wanted to ditch their contract early, they faced an Early Termination Fee (EFT) of between $175 to $350.  This EFT sought to recover losses from the subsidized handsets, but also acted as an incentive to stop churning customers.  This practice did not always settle well with consumers stuck with lemon phones or if cellular coverage was wanting so a consumer wanted to stop service

There was some legal ambiguity as to whether the EFTs were considered “rates charged” and “other terms and conditions”, which would make it subject to the Federal Communication Act and thereby preempt state lawsuits.  In 2005, the Cellular Telephone and Internet Association requested a declaratory ruling from the FCC on the matter.  Alas there was not regulatory clarity on this multi-million dollar linguistic interpretation, but many carriers started to pro-rate their fees.

In 2009, Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest cellular provider, doubled its EFT to $350 for "advanced devices” (i.e.  smart phones), at which point the Federal Government exhibited agitation. There were Congressional hearing and the chairman of the independent Federal Communications Commission Julius Genachowski spoke about the sticker shock of EFTs and vowed to step up consumer protection about early termination fees while ensuring that carriers were adequately compensated for their subsidized handsets.

Cellular service providers got the message that both Uncle Sam and consumers were unhappy, so they figured out other ways to cut their losses.  Recently, T-Mobile tried to co-opt a European approach by not offering subsidized handsets with supposedly lower monthly plan rates.  Not being locked into a contract offers the illusion of freedom, but full freight for a smart phone can be $600 up-front and consumers could walk away with their GSM phones and go to ATT or a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) such as Wal-Mart’s Straight Talk to get lower rates.

While many cellular consumers like the notion of not being bound by an iron clad contract, what they really want is to feed their fetish for a constantly current cell phone.  Whether a consumer is locked into a two year contract or paying the full sticker price for a smart phone, there are still ties to a handset which makes a consumer chary to switch. 

Several of the major cellular carriers are accommodating the consumer desire for constantly current cell phones with new programs.  

T-Mobile’s Jump program is a no-contract cellphone customers who pay an extra $10 a month for insurance and Jump plan participation.  T-Mobile typically runs a credit check on prospective new customers in order to determine how much of a down-payment is required for a phone purchase in 20 monthly installments on top of your phone plan (although T-Mobile stresses that everyone eventually pays the same price for the handset). But if you are a Jump plan participant, after six months a consumer can trade in an old handset and purchase another on a 20 month installments, but the consumer is no longer responsible for payments on the old handset. Of course, if a customer wants to keep the handset, he must pay the remainder of the balance of the installments.  

There are two caveats to T-Mobile’s Jump Plan.  Firstly, a consumer needs to pay the tax on the full phone (e.g. with a 6% tax a $600 phone would cost $36 tax on top of whatever down-payment is required).  Moreover, the Jump Plan trade in phone needs to be in working and in good condition. But since the Jump Plan also has built in insurance so one could make a claim with the Premium Handset Security Protection Plan and pay the up to $175 and trade in the fixed (or more likely refurbished) phone which T-Mobile returns to you.   Currently, T-Mobile is offering a zero down on many handsets (eliminating the down-payment) but check with T-Mobile to determine if this promotion is still available to you.

AT and T Next is a way for an AT and T customer to get a new phone every year. When a customer chooses AT and T Next, the price of their technology is broken into 20 monthly installments (with no finance charges).  At the time of purchase, the customer does not have to make a down-payment but must pay the full sales tax.  After 12 monthly payments, a customer can trade in his device and receive a new one, and no further payments are required on the old device and the customer starts over on a new installment plan with no activation or upgrade fee.  After 20 months, a customer does not need to make more monthly payments and the superannuated telephonic toy is yours to keep. 

For AT and T Next, a customer must remain in good standing and the trade in must be in good working condition. Of course AT and T reserves the rights to change terms and conditions.   A savvy consumer not committed to one major cellular carrier should closely scrutinize what the sticker price is on a cell phone.  Mac Rumors noted that AT and T needed to lower the monthly installment price for an Apple i-Phone 5 by $5.50 a month to undercut Verizon’s price. 

Now Verizon seeks to cut into this anxious upgrade consumer segment with Verizon Edge on August 25th 2013.  The Verizon Early Upgrade Program entails a consumer purchasing a phone on a month to month plan and the full retail price is broken up into 24 installments.  When purchasing the phone, the consumer makes the first equipment payment and presumably pays sales tax on the full retail price of the device. 

With Verizon’s Edge,  after six months, a consumer can choose to upgrade if he has paid 50% of the full retail price of the handset and returns the working handset. A consumer need not pony up supplemental cash to upgrade after making 12 monthly installments and also surrendering the device.  There are no upgrade fees or finance fees attached.   The other catch is that a Verizon Edge consumer still pays the high phone plan rate which other consumers have subsidized handsets with a two year contract.  

For the electronics addict who craves the latest and greatest technology, the T-Mobile Jump, AT and T Next or Verizon Edge might seem like an attractive offer.  T-Mobile’s deal requires insurance which costs extra but could effectively be seen as a $60 early upgrade fee.  The downside with T-Mobile’s early upgrade offer is potentially requiring a down-payment for the handset to less credit worthy customer.   Verizon Edge may allow for an early upgrade after six months, but one will wait a year of installment payments to get to the 50% sticker price which has no fees attached.  AT and T Next requires a consumer to wait for a year to get his “next” early upgrade, but AT and T has a track record of inflating the full retail price of its I-Phone and AT and T has not lowered its phone plan rates like T-Mobile so caveat emptor. 

These early upgrade programs are a good compromise which allows service providers to re-coop costs on handsets without EFTs while effectively locking consumers into relationships with cell phone providers without an iron clad handshake.  Consumers who opt into early upgrade programs can get the latest and greatest (at that moment) technology and not be stuck waiting so long for an upgrade. And these plans did not require government mandates or Uncle Sam engineering the marketplace. 

But this cell phone flexibility does come at a cost. CNET notes that a customer upgrading every year would pay $55 extra for the privilege of AT and T Next. But if a customer held on to the phone for 20 months, he paid full retail for a phone which others received as a subsidized handset.  So it is crucial for consumers using these programs to be sure that they actually want to do early upgrades.

Personally, I am more worried about having favorable cell phone plan rates and coverage rather than periodically having a shiny new telephony toy.  However, I appreciate that I am in the minority in the marketplace.  As for those who have a phone fetish to always have the latest and greatest, my tongue in cheek advice is : “Next, Edge, Jump”!

h/t: Mac Rumors
   George Washington Law Review
   CNET