If you only get your national news from the major networks then you’ve surely missed what should be the biggest story of the week:
May 21, 2012 ~ Cardinal Dolan of NY, Cardinal Wuerl of D.C., Notre Dame–And 40 Other Catholic Dioceses and Organizations–Sue Obama Administration
The suits allege that, under the HHS mandate, the Obama administration is violating the freedom of religion guaranteed under the First Amendment to the Constitution. (Which it clearly is!)
From CNS News:
The dioceses and organizations, in different combinations, are filing 12 different lawsuits in federal courts around the country.
“This lawsuit is about an unprecedented attack by the federal government on one of America’s most cherished freedoms: the freedom to practice one’s religion without government interference,” the Washington D.C. Archdiocese says on its website [Preserve Religious Freedom].
“It is not about whether people have access to certain services; it is about whether the government may force religious institutions and individuals to facilitate and fund services which violate their religious beliefs.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When any office commands that which is contrary to the Word of
God, those who hold that office abrogate their authority and they
are not to be obeyed. And that includes the state.
~ Francis A. Schaeffer (A Christian Manifesto) ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New York’s Cardinal Dolan had this to say about the lawsuits:
“We have tried negotiation with the Administration and legislation with the Congress–and we’ll keep at it–but there’s still no fix,” said Cardinal Dolan (he’s also president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops)…
“Time is running out, and our valuable ministries and fundamental rights hang in the balance, so we have to resort to the courts now. Though the Conference is not a party to the lawsuits, we applaud this courageous action by so many individual dioceses, charities, hospitals and schools across the nation, in coordination with the law firm of Jones Day. It is also a compelling display of the unity of the Church in defense of religious liberty.”
This is HUGE. The largest lawsuit ever by a religious institution against the federal government. All the big-letter networks should be covering the story. And – other than Fox – what do we get from the msm… crickets.
Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center is outraged at the way this story is being ignored by the three major networks:
“This is the worst bias by omission I have seen in the quarter century history of the Media Research Center. Every American knows about the Chinese communists withholding for 20 years the news that the US had landed on the moon, because it reflected poorly on the government. Our US media today are no different. They are now withholding news from the American people if it is harmful to the re-election of Barack Obama.
“This is not a mistake, nor is it an editorial oversight by the broadcast networks. This is a deliberate and insidious withholding of national news to protect the ‘Chosen One’ who ABC, CBS and NBC have worked so hard to elect and are now abusing their journalistic influence to reelect. And when a network like CBS mentions the suit ever-so-briefly, they deliberately distort the issue by framing it as a contraception lawsuit instead of what they know it to be: a religious freedom issue. It’s bogus, dishonest – a flat out lie.
“The fact is that the Catholic Church has unleashed legal Armageddon on the administration, promising ‘we will not comply’ with a health law that strips Catholics of their religious liberty. If this isn’t ‘news’ then there’s no such thing as news. This should be leading newscasts and the subject of special, in-depth reports. Instead, these networks are sending a clear message to all Americans that the networks will go to any lengths – even censoring from the public an event of this historic magnitude – to prevent the release of any information that will hurt Obama’s chances of re-election.
“The so-called ‘news’ media have sunk to a new low. This is despicable.”
In A Christian Manifesto, Francis Schaeffer noted the media bias as far back as 1981 when his book was published:
We must realize that the communications media function much like the unelected federal bureaucracy. They are so powerful that they act as if they were the fourth branch of government in the United States.
Ah yes, the omnipotent Fourth Estate – as Edmund Burke called the press.
Their ability to change our perception of any event raises serious questions about the democratic processes.
Schaffer knew that somehow this fourth branch of government had to be neutralized, their influence blunted.
The solution is to limit somehow television’s power to use its bias in “the editorial” reporting of events, and most specifically to keep it from shaping the political process.
Well today we actually have the ability to limit that all-powerful influence… the INTERNET: alternate newsites, blogs, email, social media networks (Yes, I’ll admit even Facebook can be useful sometimes.).
One-by-one we can all play a part as present-day Paul Reveres, as Mark Levin calls us. So please exercise another right that we Americans still have under the First Amendment – Freedom of Speech. Share links, email this story to everyone in your address book, and help get the message out. We simply can’t afford to let the msm manipulate the masses anymore, because…
“The Leftists are coming! The Leftists are coming!”
The Catholic bishops have large supplies of newsprint, ink along with editors and reporters for their diocesan organs. This is pitiful…to lament what other aren’t doing. Not unlike the Empire State Building declining to illuminate for the new cardinal. They did not refuse and it was no snub or judgment.
Please don’t overreact about what others don’t do.
Every American with a cable connection knows about the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman story (although the major networks have stopped mentioning it now that Zimmerman’s version is being vindicated). Yet how many know that the Catholic Church has filed a massive lawsuit against the feds for violation of the First Amendment?
It’s the mainstream media’s job to report NEWS – not just the stories that fit their narrative (inform – don’t indoctrinate). Until they do, I’ll exercise my freedom of speech to blog about it.