The archbishop and the governor

[Photo of Joseph Naumann from Catholic.org]

Once again, in recent days, we have seen a Roman Catholic archbishop flex his godly muscles in an attempt to extort piety from one of the Roman Catholic faithful.

First of all, we should note that according to the most recent polls, Catholics by and large, view things like abortion, birth control, homosexuality, sex outside of marriage, gambling, etc., in a more liberal fashion than their non-Catholic neighbors.

Secondly, it is important to reiterate that studies have shown at least 25% of Roman Catholic priests/seminarians are homosexuals, and some insist the figure is probably closer to 50%, in spite of the fact that the Church considers homosexuality a "disorder," and believes homosexuals should not be priests.

Thirdly, we cannot forget that literally thousands of Roman Catholic priests have abused little children, both boys and girls, for decades. The Roman Catholic bishops and other poohbahs have known all about this abuse, but instead of reporting it to the authorities, they deliberately covered it up, and then fought every attempt to bring it to light and take appropriate action.
They didn't even remove these pedophile priests from the ministry. What they did do was move them from one parish to another, without informing the parish leaders or telling them that they should watch their children as they had a predator priest in their midst.


With those three points before us, we can now consider the case of the Archbishop of the Kansas City, Kansas, archdiocese, one Joseph Naumann.

Naumann is pissed off at the governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, who is a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Sebelius, you recall, has been nominated by President Obama to head up the Department of Health and Human Services.

[Rightwingnuts everywhere are up in arms about Sebelius and have innundated our Senators with dire warnings of disaster to come if they dare vote in her favor!]

The reason? Abortion, of course. Sebelius is pro-choice and thinks women should be able to choose relative to abortion without government interference or priestly dictates. Thus, she has seen fit to veto at least a couple of bills which would restrict abortion rights in Kansas.


The Archbishop is unhappy because Sebelius won't kiss his ring on this issue. According to Joshua Holland at Alternet, the archbishop was interviewed by Catholics for Faith and Family. In this intervew he explains his efforts to get Sebelius to toe the party line.

For example, the Archbishop conducted a "long dialogue" with Sibelius after which he wrote her a letter telling her she must not partake of the magical cracker. She did it anyway, and some dipshit priest tattled on her to the Archbishop.

So Naumann "went public," and told the whole world that the governor had been banned from the altar until she accepted the RC teaching on abortion.


I don't know that Governor Sebelius intends to do. Probably the same thing that John Kerry and Joe Biden do - ignor the rantings of the hyper hierarchical keepers of the keys to the Kingdom.

Also, consider this: Forty percent of American Catholics reject the official Catholic teaching on abortion! They simply don't hear the rantings of their skirted pontificators of piety, having recognized long ago that many of them don't have a clue as to what real life is all about.

What is especially poignant about all this is the fact that an archbishop of the Roman Church, in spite of the fact that 25-50% of the priests of the Church are in flagrant disobedience of the church's teaching on homosexuality, and in spite of the fact that the church has disobeyed the law and its own teachings by protecting thousands of pedophile priests, believes he has some moral authority to exert over the governor of Kansas or anybody else.

In his view, Governor Sebelius is unworthy to take Communion at the altar of a Roman Catholic Church where the odds are about even the priest is a homosexual, or in some cases, a pedophile, because she rejects the right of a church run by celibate (more or less) men to tell women what to do with their bodies.

There's something radically wrong with that picture.

Maybe there are too many archbishopricks in the Roman Church.

What's going on in Kansas?

The answer to that question is "Same old, same old."

Seems a bunch of youngish females out partying in Wichita had a bit too much to drink the other night and when a police officer on a horse checked them out, a friend with a 5 foot-long inflatable penis rammed the police horse, which spooked. By the time this little melee was over two of the women were under arrest. One of them was from McPherson, Kansas, a quiet, quite religious town where such goings on would be mightily frowned upon! I know that for a fact as a number of my very religious relatives come from McPherson!

More importantly, however, there is underway an attempt in the Kansas Legislature to increase the minimum wage in that state. The minimum wage in Kansas has not been raised in 20 years, and now stands at the incredibly high rate of $2.65!!!


Republicans have, as usual, fought any increases. But it looks now like there's a chance. Senate Bill 160 is to be voted on today and there is a possibility it will pass which will mean that 15,000 people in Kansas will be bumped from $2.65 per hour to $7.25 per hour.

Whoopee!

But before you get too excited, ask your self how the hell anyone can live on $7.25 per hour. That's $290 per week, before taxes. That's a whole $15,080 per year, before taxes. You can't pay rent and eat on that kind of money.

Still, some Repugnicans want to keep the minimum wage at $2.65! Figures, right? I mean Jesus said we'll always have poor people around, so why give them a break? Right?

Let 'em join the Army. Or a bread line!

Wall Street CEO's should live on the minimum wage...

in Kansas!

Currently, the federal minimum wage level is $6.55. It is to increase to $7.25 on July 24.

Our paragons of financial disaster on the street of Wall are crying because a few of them - and only a few - are going to be forced to make-do with a mere $500k for a whole year! Omigod! Some of their nannies' wages run as high as $40-45,000 alone!

I think Wall Street CEO's and other nogoodniks responsible for this global financial crisis should be forced to live on Kansas' minimum wage - for a year, at least. Kansas' minimum wage is $2.65 per hour.

That works out to a whopping $5,412 every single year!


Evidently, some people, like labor advocates and Kansans with disabilities are trying to raise Kansas' minimum wage. It is an "embarrassment," says Kansas AFL-CIO exec Andy Sanchez. You think?

Who could possibly oppose raising the minimum wage in Kansas? Yes, you're right! According to Kansas Jackass, the opposition is coming from "Kansas business interests- and, interestingly, my favorite anti-government tax group Americans for Prosperity."

Raising the minumum wage, they weep, will "hurt Kansas workers."

Yup.

Chamber of Commerce types, like Kent Eckles, claim the "free market" should determine wages. Unfortunately, that's been the mantra of the anti-people, anti-union, anti-worker SOBs since the beginning of time.

Or, as Kansas Jackass put its: "God bless the heartless idolaters of 'The Market' - they really just are clueless, aren't they? The minimum wage was established to correct the failing of the Market - to make sure greedy business people couldn't take advantage of their employees who were desperately in need of work by only paying them, oh, $2.65 an hour."

Actually, I don't think these "heartless idolaters" are clueless, at all. They know exactly what the hell they are doing. And what they are doing is keeping almost all the loot they con out of the people in their own sweaty, greedy, little hands! Hell, they'd pay workers NOTHING if they thought they could get by with it.

In fact, in some areas of Florida, I've heard that's exactly what happens to migrant workers, who have, of course, no recourse at all!


Andy Sanchez, of the Kansas AFL-CIO, says only about 20,000 Kansas workers are paid according to the Kansas minimum wage because in most cases, the Kansas minimum wage is co-opted by the federal minimum wage.

Still, 20,000 is one hell of a lot of people living at 50% percent BELOW the poverty line!


I think the first person to be forced to live on $2.65 an hour should be Mr. Eckles of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce. We'd hear him howling all the way to Florida!