The Catholic Canard

Canard: “1a : a false or unfounded report or story especially : a fabricated report The report about a conspiracy proved to be a canard. b : a groundless rumor or belief the widespread canard that every lawyer is dishonest”

Webster’s Dictionary (on line version)

In a contentious exchange with Sinclair Broadcast Group reporter James Rosen* who had asked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-NY) whether she “hated” President Donald Trump, Ms. Pelosi tersely declared:

“As a Catholic, I resent your using the word ‘hate’ in a sentence that addresses me. I don’t hate anyone.”

“I was raised in a way that is a heart full of love, and always pray for the president,” she continued. “And I still pray for the president. I pray for the president all the time. So don’t mess with me when it comes to words like that.”

Of course the hallelujah chorus in the mainstream media (MSNBC, CNN etc.) – none of whom know diddily about the tenets of the Catholic Church reassured us of Ms. Pelosi “strong” Catholic upbringing while continuing to vilify Mr. Trump as regularly as Ms. Pelosi.

Now you might think that I take issue with Ms. Pelosi’s assertion that she doesn’t hate Mr. Trump. No one knows what lies in Ms. Pelosi’s heart but the tone of her comments about Mr. Trump wouldn’t support “love in her heart.” No, I take issue with her repeated “double back” to her professed loyalty to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Ms. Pelosi would be best described as a “convenient Catholic” – one who trots out her “affinity” for the Church when she wants to create some “moral authority” for her purely political actions. Those most painful one was watching her stumble and stutter over her assertion that the Catholic Church actually supported abortion on demand – a position which is actually and staunchly opposed by the Church. A position that has been roundly criticized repeatedly by Catholic clergy, Catholic publications and
Catholic charities and that criticism has been directed at the position in general and Ms. Pelosi specifically.

But that is not the only time Ms. Pelosi has tried to justify her political actions by asserting her version of Catholic doctrine. At various times she has insisted that gay marriage (two men or two women) are consistent with Catholic dogma. She cited the Church as favoring illegal immigration. She has sought to deny the Little Sisters of the Poor their religious freedom. Ms. Pelosi has even gone so far as to invent her own passage from the Bible:

“To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.”

Poetic as it may be it simply does not exist in the Bible. Ms. Pelosi’s frequent playing fast and loose with the tenets of the Catholic Church hardly qualifies her a beacon of Catholic faith regardless of Rachel Maddow’s ignorance.

But there is a finer line to be drawn here. Your religion defines the tenets by which you are to live. Your family tends to define how those tenets are applied in practice. Ms. Pelosi is the daughter of Thomas D’Alesandro – a former Democrat congressman and mayor of Baltimore. He ran for governor of Maryland in 1954 but was forced to withdraw amidst a scandal involving taking unreported money from a contractor who held the city parking lots. According to USA Headline News:

“Nancy Pelosi’s father Thomas D’Alesandro Jr. allegedly was a ‘constant companion’ of notorious mobster Benjamin ‘Benny Trotta’ Magliano and other underworld figures during his political years in Baltimore, MD. D’Alesandro was a Congressman for five terms from 1938 to 1947, and Baltimore mayor for three terms from 1947 to 1959.

“Magliano was identified by the FBI as one of Baltimore’s “top hoodlums,” and he widely was acknowledged as the representative for New York’s Frankie Carbo who made his bones with Murder, Inc. and later became a made guy in the Lucchese family. The allegations are included in D’Alesandro’s recently-released FBI files which Friends of Ours has obtained pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.”

Baltimore has been one of the most corrupt cities in the United States for nearly a century and, at one time, was overrun by organized crime who paid a shifting allegiance to whichever New York crime boss was on top. That corruption continues today and is a widely known and accepted fact of political life in Baltimore.

Ms. Pelosi has bragged that she learned politics and her father’s knee and well she did. According to Heavy.com:

“In 2011, 60 Minutes aired a segment called ‘Pelosi Insider Trading.’ The episode detailed the Pelosi’s involvement in initial public offerings while having inside information. In one example, the Pelosis profited from an IPO from Visa while regulations on credit card companies were being considered in Congress. This was not illegal at the time.

“’… Insider trading on the stock market. If you are a member of Congress, those laws are deemed not to apply,’ The Hoover Institution’s Peter Schweizer told Newsmax. ‘The fact is, if you sit on a healthcare committee and you know that Medicare, for example, is — is considering not reimbursing for a certain drug that’s market moving information. And if you can trade stock on — off of that information and do so legally, that’s a great profit making opportunity. And that sort of behavior goes on.’”

Using your government position to line your pockets may not have been deemed illegal but it is certainly unethical. (In contrast if you or I used such insider information we would be arrested, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned – just ask Martha Stewart.) And neither tenets of the Catholic Church or the teachings of the Bible embrace such conduct.

Ms. Pelosi is just another sleaze-bag politician who lines her pockets while feigning concern for the “little people.” That’s bad enough but her continuous prostitution of the teachings of the Catholic Church in support of her politics is heretical.

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* Mr. Rosen was subject to a criminal investigation by President Barack Obama’s Justice Department including a super secret search warrant that, according to Wikipedia, authorized timing his phone calls, tracking his movements and reading his emails for having the audacity to publish reports critical of the Obama administrations handling of North Korea. Former Attorney General Eric Holder personally authorized the warrant. In point of fact Mr. Rosen committed no crimes except to challenge Mr. Obama’s policies publicly.

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