Thanks - I had read that info on the AP. I wondered about it...

I appreciate your comments, BigJ.

I am sorry if you think I am "holier than thou."

I am sorry - but by telling me that the Roman Catholic Church needs to change their policies - it sounds just as "holier than thou" from you.

So does your 1-4 options on your list. So - when you critique me for using harsh words, realize you are doing the same thing. I know life isn't perfect, but it is my right to be able to say what I want and campaign for what cause I want - as I see fit. You may not agree with the methods I use or the statements I say - but that is ok - that is our own right.

I just find it ironic that you say I have to "understand my own words and my attitude behind them," in the same comment that you say I am "holier than thou." Who are you to make me understand the "right" way to have an opinion? Isn't that a little pompous?

I was not playing a victim card, and yes there were assumptions being made about contraceptives and my sex life within my marriage.

Thank you for speaking your mind - I do appreciate your comments.

ToniAnne---do you not recognize YOUR OWN WORDS?  The contribution/information reference was YOUR second paragraph, slightly altered.

I don't care what is wrong with the lady, and I am truly glad she is better, but as far as getting any useful info from the Paul website--didn't happen because the unregistered visitor isn't getting past the first page or so.  I could have read a zillion blog postings about how we're all so glad she'd taken a turn for the better. 

As far as my comments being out of line, what do you want me to think about the situation?  I can only go on what I have which is very little at best, and very secretive at worst.

You know, this started as a simple question.  I have spent way too much time trying to get info out of folks who don't want to share.  I am not looking for gossip.  And yes, you do know more about the Pauls than many others because you are the local voice who provides all of the info on the Pauls and the campaign.

Best wishes for a very speedy recovery, Mrs. Paul.

Sorry :( I didn't mean that you wrote them. I just meant I only know what has been posted on the Advocate or the CFL website.

You said that you went to the Ron Paul website I suggested and "Evidently, if you paid the [Paul] campaign enough money, you were allowed in on this [text] message..."

I had not heard that anywhere? The Pauls are not sending out any extra info via a text message you can pay for? When I referenced that it was about Obama's camp. I read that if you donated a certain amount that Obama's campaign (in efforts to get money and contact info) would put you in a special list that got text messages from him before the press did.

And I don't understand how someone not telling all of their medical problems to someone (or the press) makes it look as if their problems were self-inflicted. That statement is REALLY out of line.

I don't tell everyone I meet my whole medical history - but that doesn't mean I am hiding anything or that I have self-inflicted wounds/problems?

As for being in the know, I am not. I know what you know. I can only imagine that they just don't feel it is the "public's" business? I mean - I personally pray for her, but it isn't my business to know her medical history/file... not matter who her husband is.

As for being an overly protective local: You lost me.

Again - I know what you know. Sorry I don't have any "gossip."

Okay, just for clarity's sake-I did not write the two news articles about Carol Paul being admitted to the ICU of some hospital and subsequently having several surgeries in just a few days.  I did read them, and my interest was piqued. 

I am thrilled to death that she is doing better.  I just wanted to know what the problem was--the Ron Paul press folks are the ones who are making this so secretive.  I went to the website as you suggested, but "Evidently, if you paid the [Paul] campaign enough money, you were allowed in on this [text] message..."

I guess rather than just say, "the poor lady has a heart condition or whatever" and letting it go at that, they have to get all sneaky looking and let those of us not 'in the know' assume the worst, like her condition could be self inflicted?

Whatever--seriously glad that Carol Paul is better.  Besides, why would I wish her anything but well because of a few overly protective locals?

I thank you Toni Anne for bringing up Biden's pro-abortion Catholic stance and speaking so forcefully in favor of life.

I understand where you are coming from too, MaryAnn - thanks! You comments are refreshing to read.

As for Obama's stats - it is sickening.

How can a person who wants to lead our country have such disregard for human life?

How can someone ignore a beating heart? I have never - ever understood that. The baby's is fully functional and beating... pumping life into their small body. Having an abortion stops the beating heart - killing the baby.

How is this not murder?

Obama's stance:

When asked: Do you personally believe that life begins at conception?

This is something that I have not come to a firm resolution on. I think it's very hard to know what that means, when life begins.

A beating heart... enough said.

"Throughout his career, in both the Illinois Senate & the US Senate, Obama has stood up for a women's right to choose, consistently earning 100% ratings from pro-choice groups."

Obama is 100% AGAINST unborn babies and THEIR rights to life. He is 100% FOR women having unprotected sex and not having to take personal repsonsiblity and deal with the consequences of their actions.

In June, Obama said, "The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act," Obama said in his July speech to abortion advocates worried about the increase of pro-life legislation at the state level.

The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is legislation Obama has co-sponsored along with 18 other senators that would annihilate every single state law limiting or regulating abortion, including the federal ban on partial birth abortion.

The 2007 version of FOCA proposed: "It is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman."

What about the rights of the baby? The Freedom of Choice Act? SERIOUSLY?

Why not just call it: The Freedom to Have Sex and Make a Child and Then Murder It?

Women NEED to start taking responsibility for their ACTIONS. If you have sex - there is a chance you can get pregnant. EVERYONE knows this. Don't do it - unless you are ready to deal with the consequences of your actions.

Ronald Regan said: I notice that all of the people for abortion have already been born.

(Again, enough said.)

Hello Toni Anne,

I think Ron Paul was ignored by a great deal of Catholics, but not by me, nor some of my in-laws  here in Lavaca County, who have been long time Ron Paul supporters and held a fundraiser for him several years ago.

I do try to understand your third-party point of view, and you certainly have to follow your conscience and allow others to do so as well.

What you have posted about McCain is dead-on target- pun intended. I wish you had put some Obama stats. up there to give a full picture of what could lie ahead for us.

I will follow Catholic teaching, and Catholic teaching does say that in an upcoming election as we have coming, one can vote for someone such as John McCain because he will do the least amount of damage to unborn children, and the sick and the infirm.

President George W. Bush supported abortion in cases of rape and incest too, as well as abortifacient birth control, yet he put two very strong, pro-life judges on the Supreme Court, signed into law the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, supported Terry Schiavo's right to life, promoted abstinence over throwing birth control at children, agreed to defund the United Nations Population Fund which supports forced abortions, signed back into law the Mexico City Policy prohibing the funding of overseas NGOs to support abortion.

Bully for him and the unborn.

I think the relationship that Pope Benedict and our current President Bush have sheds much light on this subject. Benedict and George Bush discussed pro-life issues in public and private during B16's wonderful trip to the White House. On the front lawn, Bush talked about defending life, and  made it clear that the American nation rests on the same pro-life Christian ideals that prompt the Catholic Church to be so outspoken on abortion and bioethics concerns.

According to Lifenews, in his own introductory speech, the Pope agreed with President Bush that the United States was founded based on a respect for human life.

"The framers of this nation's founding documents drew upon this conviction when they proclaimed the 'self-evident truth' that all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights grounded in the laws of nature and of nature's God," he said.http://www.lifenews.com/nat...

Obviously, Benedict does have an affinity for George W. Bush- and is willing to work with him, even though they differ on views over the death penalty, contraception, and restrictions on abortions. That's because past presidents such as Clinton or candidates such as Kerry or Gore make Bush look even better on life issues.

I did not hear any rebukes from Pope Benedict XVI about Bush's stance on life issues, though I think I did recall his mentioning the Iraqi War at another American venue.

BTW, I do have to add that the abortion issue will never be solved through politics. It will come about by the grace of God to change people's hearts and minds. Prayer, fasting, and repentance are a large part of this. I think the country is changing, especially the young, but not because of politicos.

I know what has been posted.

You can check www.CampaignForLiberty.com (the blog area) for more info too.

On a side note, if I had a loved one (mom, grandma, husband) in that situation - I would want a little privacy. I am sure that is why they aren't saying anything. My grandma was sick a couple of years ago and just having to tell immediate family was hard. I can't imagine having to answer to the press and other media.

I know this is off-topic, but I still want to know what is the ailment/injury/condition that afficts Carol Paul.  No one seems to be asking except me, so it must be some kind of insider thing.  If the two news articles I read did not go to such lengths to state that they were not going to disclose this information, I probably would't be so interested in finding out. 

ToniAnne--you claim to be tight with this bunch, what gives?

BigJ - I still think you aren't getting what I am saying. I do not think the church should govern. NO. Not in any way.

What I am saying is that IF YOU ARE A CATHOLIC, you should know that NEITHER candidate is Pro-Life and as a Catholic - you shouldn't vote for either one. That is criteria for Catholics and the rules and faith we follow. I am in no way saying that we need to govern the world and I am only reaching out to Catholics and any of Christians who may not know this fact: Neither candidate is 100% Pro-Life.

I understand what you are saying and it is clear that somewhere you have misinterpreted me. As for sex just for procreation - I am right on that (as Mary Ann showed). You can look it up for yourself. I was not raised Catholic. After having my first son, I realized that I wanted to take the steps of learning about the Catholic faith and see if it was were I wanted to lead me and my son. I also visited other churches here during this time (in addition to "studying" other religions in my life).

I took a 9 month long class (required to become Catholic). I asked questions and I immersed myself in this decision - so I knew it was the right one. During that class time, I learned that there is so much that people do not know about the Catholic Church. The class is taught by a priest, nuns, and other Catholics.

I learned that one of the MANY (many) myths is that people think Catholics only have sex to procreate. That is simply not true. It is disturbing and hurtful when people make these assumptions about my faith and my marriage. That isn't what it is about - at all.

Mary Ann - Reading your comment, it only pains me more to know that there WAS a 100% pro-life candidate running a few months ago - and he was ignored (by Catholics too). Now - because of that - we are stuck with this choice? As for the quote in your comment: "In order to sustain a healthy democracy, all citizens have a moral obligation to vote. Deciding not to vote therefore is an unacceptable solution, even to this difficult situation. "

I did vote. I tried to help "sustain a healthy democracy." Now, that we are given these two candidates, I look towards a 3rd party candidate to see their stances and views. I am finding it hard to "toe the party line" and vote for my Republican candidate - just because he is just that.

By doing that - I am telling my party that it is ok to keep pushing THESE kinds of candidates to the top. It is not ok. As for McCain being pro-life, I will add below this part of a letter I wrote to someone who told me that McCain was pro-life.

I am sorry - but you are either pro-life or not. As you can see below, McCain thinks that he can decide the value of a child's life dependent upon how they were concieved. He doesn't have that right and by voting for him - I am giving him that right.

Voting for him only tells people that it is ok to abort certain babies. I refuse at this point.

-----

John McCain has repeatedly shown that he is NOT protecting the lives of millions (MILLIONS) of unborn children.

         & nbsp;  1. http://asp.usatoday.com/new...

McCain supports abortions in the case of incest or rape. Implying that a baby born of incest or rape has any less value than a baby conceived another way is extremely disheartening to me.

Making these kinds of decisions is the same as playing God. You cannot be pro-life and pro-choice at the same time. It contradicts itself and only says that the person uttering those words simply wants to please everyone and doesn’t want to go on the record as having a firm stance one way or the other.

You can’t say, “I don’t like killing unborn babies, but if you want to – go ahead.”

He also told the AP (Ron Fournier) in 1999 that he would support FUNDING for abortions for women who were impregnated by rape or incest.        & nbsp;  

McCain is not supporting legislation in the US Senate similar to US House bills HR 618 (”Right to Life Act” - with over 100 co-sponsors) and HR 2597 (”Sanctity of Life Act” - which also invokes the Article III., Section 2. authority in the US Constitution for the US Congress to remove this legislation from the (appellate) jurisdiction of the US Supreme Court). If HR 618 or HR 2597 were to become law, they would end abortion in America; especially in the case of HR 2597, which removes appellate jurisdiction from the US Supreme Court. 

2. McCain also supports the FEDERAL funding of human embryonic stem cell research. Do you know what that means? Human embryos…

It isn’t enough that he allows some of them to be killed, but he doesn’t care if they are used for research? It has been proven time and time again that human embryos aren’t the ONLY way to accomplish stem cell research. Even the pro-choice people agree that the only reason human embryos are sought out is because there just happens to be a large number of them – because it is currently a woman’s choice to have unprotected sex and get an abortion… so she doesn’t have to deal with real life and the consequences of her actions.

3. McCain does not support the Republican Party PLATFORM that calls for a Human Life amendment to the US Constitution.

 
The 2004 Republican Party National Platform states, concerning the sanctity of human life: "We say the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution," and "we endorse legislation to make it clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to unborn children. Our purpose is to have legislative and judicial protection of that right against those who perform abortions."

(text of 2004 Republican Party National Platform according to Tim Russert, "Meet the Press," during an interview on November 4, 2007, with another Republican candidate in the GOP presidential primary - www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21623208/page/3/ )

Thanks for posting that Rman. It makes incredible sense, when you have sex ONLY for pleasure and leave out the life-giving aspects of the act, the other person can easily become an object of gratificaton.

On the flip side, when someone takes out the unative aspect and only has sex for procreation, we reduce ourselves to something akin to Nazi breeding machines or dumb animals.

According to Catholic teaching, the marital act mirrors the love of God for his people, it is both fruitful and loving. Of course, God's love is on a higher, spiriual plane, but we're made in His image.

Catholic Answers

Nature

Contraception is wrong because it’s a deliberate violation of the design God built into the human race, often referred to as "natural law." The natural law purpose of sex is procreation. The pleasure that sexual intercourse provides is an additional blessing from God, intended to offer the possibility of new life while strengthening the bond of intimacy, respect, and love between husband and wife. The loving environment this bond creates is the perfect setting for nurturing children.

But sexual pleasure within marriage becomes unnatural, and even harmful to the spouses, when it is used in a way that deliberately excludes the basic purpose of sex, which is procreation. God’s gift of the sex act, along with its pleasure and intimacy, must not be abused by deliberately frustrating its natural end—procreation.

NIHIL OBSTAT: I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004

I only know what I have read.  Again, no assumptions made. Just asking questions.