Ponderstorm My Brainstorm on Life & Politics

The following guest post was originally published on March 24, 2009 for PonderPost. It was written by Tim Jones and is republished here with his permission to preserve it while PonderPost is renovated.

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The University of Notre Dame has invited President Obama to give the commencement speech at the spring graduation ceremony.  Additionally, the university will bestow an honorary doctor of laws degree upon the President.

This has the Catholic community in quite a stir, as parishioners from both sides of the discussion weigh in.  On one side, many are happy to have the President speak, including a growing Facebook group called, “We Will Be Honored to Have President Obama at Notre Dame.” On the other, you have ardent, pro-life groups that wholeheartedly oppose the President speaking at the premier Catholic university in the country.

While I try to see both sides of the coin, I believe Notre Dame has made an egregious error by inviting President Obama to give the commencement address at, if not the premier Catholic university in the US, the most well-known Catholic university.

The Catholic Church represents one of the most fervent supporters of the pro-life movement, while President Obama represents one of the most pro-abortion politicians, ever.  President Obama has gone so far as to repeatedly vote for so-called pro-choice legislation that really amounts to infanticide, in the case of refusing medical care to live babies born after botched abortions.  His current administration threatens to, at the very least, lessen the ability for Catholic hospitals to operate with the elimination of healthcare conscience rule and to increase abortions by 125,000 per year with his Freedom of Choice Act.

It would seem that Notre Dame would prefer a commencement speech given by someone that more closely represents the Church’s positions, not just with regard to abortion, but across the board.  Doesn’t the Church have enough difficulty promoting it’s staunchly pro-life position without endorsing the exact opposite activity with President Obama as the commencement speaker?

As a Catholic and pro-life advocate, I’m disappointed with the Read More…

Posted under Barack Obama
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This guest post was originally published on PonderPost on March 29, 2009 by Tim Jones. It is reprinted here with permission due to the changing mission of PonderPost.com.

I was born and grew up in the Red River valley (that’s Red River of the north) in Breckenridge and Moorhead, Minnesota. As happens every year, the Red River is flooding this valley, as the spring thaw occurs. This year, however, the river is projected to rise higher than ever recorded  (although, recent reports show it will not be as high as projected) – already above the previous record set in 1997.

I still have many friends in this area, although all of my family has since moved out of the region (one due to the fact that she lost her home in the 2006 flood). These floods can be as damaging as a hurricane is to those of us along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, only these floods occur in freezing cold weather. Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers, as they fight to save their homes and families.

I do wonder, however, why you don’t hear any reports of WHY the river is cresting so high.

You see, in order to crest at record levels, the snowfall for the previous winter, as well as the depth of the freeze must also have been at record levels to produce so much water as the snow and ice melt.  This in the time of critical “man-made” global warming?  Something doesn’t seem right, here.

Maybe Al Gore has a good explanation for it.  Then again, I doubt it.

Posted under Environment
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This article of mine was originally published on PonderPost on April 18, 2009. With the coming relaunch of PonderPost, this post is being republished here so you can see if anything has changed for the better in the past year. I suggest if anything we are much worse off.

During the Presidential campaign season we heard lots of talk about change. Barack Obama told us he would deliver change and, as President, that is exactly what he is doing. Few would doubt that he’s keeping that promise.

In no particular order, let’s look at some of the changes we’ve seen so far in these first 100 days.

• Ordered the closure of Gitmo within one year (learn more).
• Allowed travel and financial transactions to communist Cuba (learn more).
• Ended harsh interrogation methods for terrorist detainees (learn more).
• Releases secret Bush Administration documents about methods for handling terrorist prisoners (learn more).
• Called for nuclear disarmament and an end to nuclear testing (learn more).
• No longer calls the war against radical Islamic terrorists a “war on terror” (learn more).
• Allows federal tax dollars to fund embryonic stem cell research (learn more).
• Reverses the Mexico City policy and lifts the ban on federal funding of foreign abortions (learn more).
• Speaks at the Catholic Georgetown University but asks them to Read More…

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This is a guest post by Tim Jones that originally appeared on PonderPost. It was published on May 11, 2009 and is republished her with the permission of Tim Jones since PonderPost is being restructured for a future relaunch.

I live in Florida and know a few gay couples that were married, here in Florida.  You might be saying, “I thought gay marriage had not been legalized in Florida?”  Well, you’re right.  As far as the government is concerned, it’s not a legally binding contract, as a standard marriage.

However, they were married, in a church, in Florida, with the full bridal party, and rings.  We’ll come back to that, in a minute.

Marriage is a sacrament — a state of grace or a vocation between you, your spouse, and God.  When I got married, I wasn’t particularly concerned with what the government thought or did with respect to my marriage.  I just wanted to be married to my wife.  I wanted my church’s blessing and my parent’s blessing, but I did not concern myself with the state’s blessing.

Many churches (not the Roman Catholic faith to which I belong) in Florida will perform weddings for gay couples.  You can have the full ceremony, complete with flowers, music, and reception.  With the blessing of these churches and your family, you can be a married couple — what would seem to be the most important part of this sacred union.

With that in mind, I’m not stopping anyone from getting married in Read More…

Posted under Politics
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This guest post was originally written for PonderPost on May 20, 2009 by Tim Jones. Since PonderPost is being reworked for a new yet-to-be-announced project, Tim let me publish it on Ponderstorm for our readers:

I found these videos on Jimmy Akin’s Catholic blog.  They are amazingly good at illustrating Obama’s budget cuts and spending, so I thought I would share them with the PonderPost readers.  Enjoy! Read More…

Posted under Barack Obama, Video
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