Getting it Right - January 22, 2009
Mother Teresa and the Inauguration
By Matt Kinnaman
http://mattkinnaman.blogspot.com/
Thirty-six years ago today, on January 22, 1973, Lyndon Johnson died. Only ten years earlier, President Lyndon Johnson had employed all his political muscle to move civil rights legislation through Congress, but was stonewalled by Representative Howard W. Smith, Democrat of Virginia, and Chairman of the House Rules Committee. Rep. Smith was adamant in his refusal to give the legislation a hearing in his committee.
According to materials published by the National Archives, Johnson pressured the Washington Post to run articles and editorials “every day, front page” to build a public case against Smith and other recalcitrant congressmen, forcing them to agree to a hearing. “We ought to say, ‘Here is the party of Lincoln. Here is the image of Lincoln, and whoever it is that is against a hearing and against a vote in the House of Representatives, is not a man who believes in giving humanity a fair shake…’” By January, 1964, Harold Smith allowed hearings in the Rules Committee, and on July 2, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Having placed his hand on Lincoln’s Bible, Barack Obama, in his first moments as president, affirmed “the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.” Barack Obama’s inauguration put an exclamation point on Thomas Jefferson’s articulation of the unalienable civil rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence, rights which Jefferson assured the people originated in “their Creator,” and on which Lyndon Johnson depended to shepherd his landmark legislative guarantee of America’s civil rights legacy forty-five years before.
On the day Johnson died, the Supreme Court handed down its 7-2 decision in Roe v. Wade, holding that state laws prohibiting abortion violated an implied constitutional right to privacy protected by the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment.
One wonders what one of humanity’s greatest champions of civil rights, Mother Teresa, might say today, on the thirty-sixth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, if asked to comment on the high themes and promises of President Obama’s inaugural, including his admonition that “America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity.”
In February of 1994, speaking before Barack Obama’s Democratic presidential predecessor Bill Clinton, she addressed the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC. “I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion,” said Mother Teresa. “Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.”
The rhetoric of civil rights has grown more inclusive since abortion was declared an inviolate legal guarantee in all fifty states thirty-six years ago today, but the practice of civil rights has quantitatively decreased, measured by more than 40 million abortions performed in the intervening years.
Many will say that the complexities are too difficult and the costs are too high to change this. In his own words on Tuesday, President Obama, speaking of great American commitments, seemed to disagree. “Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.”
Citing the words of Scripture, Obama encouraged America to “choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation.” In spirit, he was echoing the words spoken by Mother Teresa near that same spot fifteen years earlier: “From here, a sign of care for the weakest of the weak— the unborn child—must go out to the world. If you become a burning light of justice and peace in the world, then really you will be true to what the founders of this country stood for.”
Today, how can those facing the uncertainties of unwanted childbirth confidently provide their unborn with “a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness?” President Obama provided an answer: “This is the source of our confidence,” he said, “the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.”
In this week of new beginnings celebrated alongside sad commemorations, few words speak more loudly.
Matt Kinnaman’s Getting it Right column appears every week in the Transcript www.thetranscript.com
Thursday, January 22, 2009
New Matt Kinnaman Column
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Foxborough RTC Hosts Michael Graham to Kickoff 2009!
Some news from Foxborough RTC Chair Angela Davis...
The Foxborough Republican Town Committee hit the New Year with a smashing fundraiser on Thursday January 8th 2009 at the Lafayette House in Foxborough. Headlining the event and guest of honor was conservative comic and WTKK 96.9 FM Talk Radio Host and Boston Herald Columnist Michael Graham.
Michael signs copies of his book...
There was a full house at the Lafayette Restaurant in Foxborough. Angela F. F. Davis, Chair of the Foxborough Republican Town Committee welcomed the room and the officials that attended from Beacon Hill. Among those in attendance included State Rep. Betty Poirier (R) and State Rep. George Ross (R), former State Rep. Kevin Poirier (R) and former State Rep. Ginny Coppola (R). Republican Town Committee Chairs and members from Walpole, Sharon, Attleboro and Mansfield all were in attendance as well.
Graham worked the room and went from table to table prior to his remarks. He kicked off the event with his signature radio high-pitch intro voice, and the crowd roared.
He joked about his early days in campaign management when he fell into spearheading a campaign in New Hampshire. He laughed as he spoke about knowing nothing about politics until he took the job and realized he could make a living off off of his full time involvement. Then he went on to speak about the tax and spend liberals on Beacon Hill and how the future of politics depends on how Republicans decide to run for office.
He finished off the evening with a book signing, and was very gracious with his time.
It was an amazing event and Graham knows his Foxborough fans are anxious for his next visit! He is a good friend to Foxborough!
Be sure to tune in to his show weekdays on 96.9FM, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.
(graham signing book for Foxborough Republican Town Committee member, January 8, 2009. photo courtesy of Michael Davis)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Who's In Charge?
So, who's in charge? State House News Service reports:
Senate President Therese Murray questioned Tuesday whether Transportation Secretary James Aloisi was speaking for Gov. Deval Patrick when he unveiled a proposal to sell or lease the 11 service area plazas on the Mass. Turnpike. “Did that come from the governor? I thought that came from Jim Aloisi,” Murray said when asked about the privatization move. “When I talked to Jim when he was going to take the job, he told me he’d be his own person and he had been told that he’d be his own person, so I assume it just came from Jim.”
I thought Aloisi was just supposed to be the "fixer" with the legislature?
Thursday, January 8, 2009
MRPFDDDPR
Our Press Release Today...
Boston, MA - The Massachusetts Republican Party today announced the creation of a formula to calculate what the actual size of the pay raise for the DiMasi Democrats should be.
MassGOP Communications Director
The
- The amount of State Senators forced to resign in 2008 = 2
- Multiply by the amount Governor Patrick pays Massachusetts for the Cadillac: 2 x 543 = 1086
- Add the increase in the unemployed under the Democrats failed economic agenda: 1086 + 42,297 = 43,383
- Divide by the number of counts in the indictment against DiMasi friend Richard Vitale: 43,383 / 7 = 6198
- Take Transportation Secretary Jim “Big Dig” Aloisi’s salary, and divide it by the result of Step 4: 150,000 / 6198 = 24
- Add the amount of money raised by State Treasurer Tim Cahill for his potential primary challenge against Governor Patrick: 24 + 145,000 = 145,024
- Multiply that by the amount of money Governor Patrick made as a member of the board of Subprime lender Ameriquest: 145,024 x 360,000 = 52,208,640,000
- Divide by the amount of Governor Patrick’s book deal: 52,208,640,000 / 1,350,000 = 38673
- Add $657,000,000 in new taxes last year: 657,000,000 + 38673 = 657,038,673
- Multiply that number by the amount of property tax relief given to the people of
Final Suggested MRPFDDDPR Pay Raise = $0.00
*"I believe a rational revenue structure, sensible tax policy and fair distribution of state resources to cities and towns – so that property taxes can be lowered and kept low – are essential elements of a true partnership between state and local government" (Deval Patrick – ‘Moving Massachusetts Forward’ p. 36)
