The longer the battle between Rep. Patrick Kennedy and Bishop Tobin lingers, the more attention will inevitably be paid to the Church’s very aggressive lobbying in our political process and the extent of its alleged influence over Catholic politicians in government.
The very public spat between Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island and Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin shows no sign of abating. But it should, for the sake of both men and their institutions. At the moment, the feud is focused on competing claims. Kennedy, no stranger to political woes and personal struggles with addiction, says that Tobin has effectively barred him from taking communion in his home state because he supports abortion rights; Tobin replies that he merely asked Kennedy in a private letter three years ago not to take communion and that he never spoke to the priests in his diocese about it.OK. We get it. Kennedy and Tobin clearly detest each other. But the longer their battle lingers, the more attention will inevitably be paid to the Church’s very aggressive lobbying in our political process and the extent of its alleged influence over Catholic politicians in government…
But denying, or appearing to deny a politician a holy sacrament because he disagrees with the church’s teachings can only raise questions about whether Catholics in good standing can act independently of church dogma, an issue that initially dogged Kennedy’s uncle, JFK, early in his bid for the presidency…
So how does a Fox news article connect with an Iraq Humvee photo? Judith Miller is how. On our trip, we were in stores where racks of television sets were turned on, and I recognized a voice – and when I looked, there was Judith Miller on Fox News waxing eloquent. We all remember her as the New York Times writer who broke all the prewar stories about Iraq that turned out to have come from either Amhad Chalabi’s INC or Scooter Libby [and were all incorrect]. Then she was a recipient of one of the Anthrax letters. Then she was embedded in Iraq racing around looking for WMD’s [reporting a maybe find that turned out to be wrong]. Then she went to jail for a few months as a 1st Amendment Martyr in the CIA Leak Inquiry. Then she got fired from the NYT. Now Judith Miller is back, writing and paneling on Fox News. 
There she was on t.v. punditizing about the couple that crashed Obama’s State dinner, same squeaky voice, but with plenty of Fox style sarcasm. In the article, she’s warning the Catholic Bishops off lest America finds out how active they are being meddling in our politics. In the past, I wondered if she were a Republican operative or if she were just gullible and easily used by the Administration. I still wonder some, but the operative seems to be on the ascendency.
The New York Times published an apology about her prewar articles [which turned out to be untrue and planted by the Hawks]. That won’t happen to her on Fox. They don’t care whether she’s correct or not, just that she gets on the sarcastic, contemptuous, anti-Obama band-wagon. It’s a shame. A long time ago, it seemed like she was a real reporter…
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