Vatican Angry at White House over Abortion

While President Obama's special envoy tries to broker peace in the Middle East and the White House dangles an olive branch before a near-nuclear Iran, a new foreign policy confrontation is in the making -- with the Vatican.

After he ended a ban last week on federal funding to international groups that perform or promote abortions, Obama is taking heat from the Roman Catholic Church, that political powerhouse based overseas.

Vatican officials said last weekend that they were disappointed by the president's decision to reverse the so-called Mexico City policy.

"Among the many good things that he could have done, Barack Obama instead chose the worst," said Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, a top official with the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life.

And abortion isn't the only issue on which the new president may rile the Vatican. His positions on stem cell research, gay rights and faith-based initiatives, too, are generally at odds with the church hierarchy.

How this will affect Obama's appeal to Catholic voters remains to be seen. According to exit polls, the president got 53 percent of the Catholic vote in November -- 13 percent more than John Kerry, a Catholic, got in 2004.

Pelosi Urges Abortions To Help Economy

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stirred up a hornet's nest by promoting the idea of spending of millions of tax dollars on birth control and abortion as part of the economic stimulus package.

"Contraception," argued Pelosi, "will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government." Her comments came on ABC's This Week when asked by host George Stephanopoulos how expanding "family-planning services" to the tune of millions of dollars will stimulate the economy. Pelosi is a Catholic but the Vatican is against abortion and contraception. Equally odd is how Pelosi suggests less people saves the government money one week, but the next week, urges Amnesty (renamed "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" by supporters). Amnesty would legalize another 18 to 30 million poor people to our population and attract millions more. (The poor population pays the least taxes but uses the government services.) Yet the leading Democrat in the House seems to feel rewarding millions of illegals is okay as long as millions of innocents are killed or prevented from being born. See Chick's WHO MURDERED CLARICE?

Obama Promises Terrorists Release from Git-mo

One of Obama's first (and most controversial) acts as President was announcing his intent to shut down Guantanamo prison in Cuba. It is currently housing the worst terrorist the US has captured to date. The earlier release of nearly 600 of the less dangerous terrorists has already resulted in 11% returning to service as terrorists for Al-Quaida.

The most recent example is Ali al-Shihri, who was released in 2007 after six years of confinement. A U.S. counterterrorism official confirmed Friday that al-Shihri is now one of a small group of deputies in what's known as "al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula." An Internet site commonly used by militants had announced that al-Shihri is the group's second-in-command in Yemen. The Internet statement said the detainee returned to his home in Saudi Arabia after his release from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and then went to Yemen to help lead al-Qaida.

Obama had a 90% approval rating as he took office but before he actually did anything. Now a new AOL poll shows that 58% of respondents think his first act was "stupid". (48% said it was "very stupid".) It is assumed the terrorists themselves are delighted with the move. Some will be freed, others transferred to US prisons where they will receive tax payer-paid lawyers and all the same legal rights as the American citizens they murdered. Others will be transferred to third party countries (if anyone will take them). See Chick's MEN OF PEACE?

Obama Irks People of Faith

Not everyone was happy with President Barack Obama's nod to nonbelievers and non-Christians in his inaugural address. And some of the stiff criticism about Obama’s religious inclusiveness is coming from African-American Christians who maintain that no, all faiths were actually not created equal.

"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness," the new president said. "We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers."

By providing the "shout out" to aethiests, and his recent decision to fund overseas abortions, Obama has offended many in the religious community... including many black churches. See Chick's WHY NO REVIVAL?

Obama Retakes Oath

After flubbing the oath during the inauguration (some blame the Chief Justice, others say it was because Obama had no tele-prompter), the new President takes the oath again in private. He has an approval rating of over 90%... having done nothing yet. Makes you wonder what the ratings will be AFTER he starts to govern. We'll see soon enough. See Chick's GOD WITH US.

Obama Flipped on Gay Marriage

On the eve of the swearing in of the new President, a newly-uncovered questionnaire Barack Obama filled out in 1996 for a Chicago pro-homosexual newspaper reveals that while running for the Illinois State Senate, he favored legalizing same-sex marriages and vowed he "would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages."

Matt Barber, the director of cultural affairs at Liberty Counsel and Liberty Alliance Action, says it is not surprising that Obama was for homosexual marriage before he was against it. "Despite the platitudes that he's thrown out during the election saying that he believes in traditional marriage, his actions and prior words show that he unequivocally defends and agrees with the ridiculous and oxymoronic notion of same-sex marriage," he contends. "He has called for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). He has congratulated homosexuals in California who entered into so-called marriages after the activist California court out there imposed same-sex marriage on the people of California."

No Obama must decide which promise he will honor. The early on to the fringe group, or the later one to his mainstream audience. He recently invited an openly gay minister (Gene Robinson) to deliver the prayer at one of his events, to dampen the protest against having Rick Warren also speak, so he seems to be wanting to have it both ways. See Chick's SIN CITY.

China Rewrites Tibet History

In an Orwell like attempt to rewrite the Chinese invasion of its neighbor, Tibet's Communist Party-controlled legislature has voted to create a holiday to mark China's defeat of a pro-independence uprising 50 years ago in the Himalayan region, calling it a day of liberation from feudalism, state media reported Monday.

The 382 legislators attending the session unanimously voted to designate March 28 as "Serf Liberation Day," the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing Legqog, director of the Standing Committee of the Tibetan Autonomous Regional People's Congress.

The politically sensitive date marks the flight of Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, into exile in India as Chinese troops attacked in March 1959. On March 28 of that year, Beijing announced the dissolution of the Tibetan government and the establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region under Communist rule.

China says Tibet has always been part of its territory, while many Tibetans say their land was virtually independent for centuries. The UN condemned the invasion of the independent nation, but like many UN declarations, nothing has been done to change the situation as the Chinese continue to occupy and colonize Tibet. See Chick's KINGS OF THE EAST.

Reborn In Christ Roof Caves In On Members

At least seven people were killed and more than 50 were injured on Sunday after the ceiling of an evangelical church in Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city, collapsed, fire officials said.

Television footage showed firemen and emergency workers sifting through a vast pile of rubble and broken rafters. Two rescue workers pulled a corpse on a stretcher from beneath a tangle of wooden beams. Hundreds of other church members had be there earlier, but the disaster happened during a break in services. See Chick's SUPERMAN?

Obama Invites Gay Bishop and Warren Applauds

Rick Warren is applauding Barack Obama's decision to invite homosexual Episcopal bishop V. Gene Robinson to pray at an inauguration event next week in Washington, DC.

The Left-leaning Christianity Today quotes a statement from Warren, who says "President-elect Obama has again demonstrated his genuine commitment to bringing all Americans of goodwill together in search of common ground. I applaud his desire to be the president of every citizen." Warren's comment came in the wake of a controversy over Obama's decision to invite Warren to give the invocation prayer at the swearing-in ceremony at next Tuesday's Presidential Inauguration. Gays were angry Warren supported traditional marriages during California's Prop 8 debate. (It is one of the few issues that Warren is conservative about.) See Chick's REVEREND WONDERFUL.

Atheists Urge Obama to Snub Boy Scouts

The Center for Inquiry and the Council for Secular Humanism, in collaboration with the American Humanist Association and seventeen other nontheistic organizations, have banded together to call for President-elect Barack Obama to decline an invitation by the Boy Scouts of America to receive the honorary presidency of the group. The Boy Scouts expects members to believe in God, and the atheists think that discriminates. Obama professes to be Christian (although he was a member of what many considered a racist church for 20 years). He has not indicated if he will accept or reject the Boy Scouts offer. See Chick's WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS?

Israel Continues Invasion

Israel continues its invasion of Gaza. The current body count is over 900 Palestinians (40% of which were women and children, according to the UN) and 13 Israelis. Meanwhile, Israel's Parliament has outlawed the various non-Jewish parties that have protested the war from being able to run in the upcoming election. The move effectively prevents Israeli Arabs from having any representatives and disenfranchises the two largest Arab-Israeli parties. See Chick's LOVE THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

Follow Up on Senate Seat Snatch

Senate Leader Harry Reid changed his mind about a promise to allow Minnesota's Senator Norm Coleman to continue to serve while the recount mess is sorted out. Coleman won the Senate seat in the first two recounts, but in the third, after new unsecured votes were found in the trunk of a car, and various Coleman votes were disputed, comedian Al Franken claimed the lead by 225 votes. Now Reid has locked Senator Coleman out, and Democrats are trying to devise a way to force Franken into the seat without proper certification. The old "Possession is 9/10ths to the law" ploy is clearly in play. See Chick's THE WICKED MAGISTRATE. For details, see: http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/37098269.html

NPR interviews BIG LOVE producers

National Public Radio's FRESH AIR interviewed the producers of BIG LOVE, the television series about a Mormon who has three wives and three separate families. The two producers are not Mormons, but are gay "life partners", as are many writers for their show, including another one who was interviewed during the same program for his BIG LOVE scripts and his new Sean Penn film on Harvey Milk. Milk was the gay San Francisco City Supervisor who was shot and killed by Dan White, a former City Supervisor whom Milk had helped oust. All three writers made it clear they used their writing as a means to promote their agenda. See Chick's ending to the comic, PRIMAL MAN.

Doctor Demands His Organ Back From Ex-wife

A Long Island doctor whose wife dumped him for her physical therapist after he gave her his kidney is suing the mother of three for the $1.5 million that he claims the organ is worth.

"I saved her life and then to be betrayed like this is unfathomable. It's incomprehensible," said Dr. Richard Batista, 49.

He said his wife, Dawnell Batista, started running around behind his back with a physical therapist she met in 2003 while recovering from a knee injury she suffered during karate lessons.

"She engaged in an extramarital affair and refused to go to marital counseling and reconciliation," he said.

"She slapped me with divorce papers in the operating room while I was trying to save another patient's life."

The doctor, who works as a vascular surgeon at Nassau University Medical Center, said that since filed for divorce in 2005, she has refused to let him see his three children, ages, 8, 11 and 14.

"The main reason the doctor is doing this is because of how he's been treated in this case," said Dominic Barbara, Batista's lawyer.

They are asking for the $1.5 million as part of the distribution of assets in the divorce.

See Chick's THE ROYAL AFFAIR.

Comedian Makes Joke of Senate

After two recounts that found Republican Norm Coleman won reelection, wise guy Al Frankin and his lawyers "found" enough new votes to flip the election around on recount #3. Frankin, a partisan comedian, tried to force the Senate to seat him, and at first, Fellow Democrat Harry Reid seemed eager to oblige. Now, however, Democrats have been shamed enough to wait until Coleman's lawyers have also had a shot to present their case. Being here in Tallahassee, it's amazing to see how the media treated Florida and Minnesota's recounts so differently. One gets the distinct feeling that Hollywood won't be interested in doing a "Recount" movie if Coleman is denied the seat, either. Haw-haw! See Chick's THE TRIAL.

Atheists Sue for Atheist Inauguration

A number of atheists and non-religious organizations want Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony to leave out all references to God and religion. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Washington, the plaintiffs demand that the words "so help me God" not be added to the end of the president's oath of office. In addition, the lawsuit objects to plans for ministers to deliver an invocation and a benediction in which they may discuss God and religion. An advance copy of the lawsuit was posted online by Michael Newdow, a California doctor and lawyer who has filed similar and unsuccessful suits over inauguration ceremonies in 2001 and 2005.

Joining Newdow in the suit are groups advocating religious freedom or atheism, including the American Humanist Association, the Freedom from Religion Foundation and atheist groups from Minnesota; Seattle, Washington; and Florida. The new lawsuit says in part, "There can be no purpose for placing 'so help me God' in an oath or sponsoring prayers to God, other than promoting the particular point of view that God exists."

Newdow said references to God during inauguration ceremonies violate the Constitution's ban on the establishment of religion. Newdow and other plaintiffs say they want to watch the inaugural either in person or on television. As atheists, they contend, having to watch a ceremony with religious components will make them feel excluded and stigmatized. See Chick's THE TRIAL.

African Woman Fights Rare Monkey Meat Charge

A federal judge in Brooklyn has rejected a Liberian woman's religious reasons for smuggling endangered monkey meat into the country. U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie ruled Wednesday that Mamie Manneh's faith didn't preclude her from applying for permits to import exotic food or explain why she misled officials. Manneh was charged with smuggling the meat three years ago after customs agents seized a shipment of primate parts as it passed through Kennedy Airport on the way to her home in Staten Island. Manneh's lawyers claimed a First Amendment right, arguing that some Liberian Christians eat monkey meat for spiritual reasons. Her lawyer didn't respond to phone messages Saturday. She faces up to five years in prison and deportation if convicted. See Chick's MOVING ON UP.