You Don't Have To Be Religious To Have A Bullseye On Your Chest

Sacred Heart parish in Hackensack, Minnesota is my lake home house of worship. The winter congregation numbers around fifty. In summer it can reach upwards of 500. Mercifully, the builders took this into consideration when the church was constructed.
Today's homily was given by a lay person and I was mentally aroused at it's conclusion. Lizzie and I are members of three different Catholic churches in the Columbus, Ohio area and we have not yet heard one priest speak of the ramifications of Obama's edict on the attack on the Catholic Church and associated affiliate hospitals, charity organizations, schools, etc. until today. You see, we Catholics, have a bullseye on our chests. If our leaders don't acquiesce to the dictates of the federal government on health care our organizations will go out of business. If you think there's high unemployment now wait until ObamaCare, if it does, goes into effect.
Furthermore, we will be labeled as traitors to the nation. If we remain silent on the subject, in the minds of many, we will automatically be judged guilty. If you think I'm demented go back into history to the early 20th Century. My grandfather lived in Boone, Iowa at the start of World War I. He was a twenty-seven year old young man and newly married. When the war began Woodrow Wilson created a Committee of Public Information headed by George Creel. It was a propaganda arm of the government to sell the war to the American people. The largest percent of foreigners in this country were German. Right away you can understand how this could create angst among the people. It was Creel's job to get the American people to hate everything from the land of the Kaiser. Sauerkraut became Liberty Cabbage. Dachshunds were no longer to be bred. People put a capital O' in front of their names for deflection. You get the picture. If you look down at the bottom of every one of my posts you'll see the spelling of my name. Back to Gramps. He lived in a town of 12,000 so he had an immediate two strikes against him when "The War To End All Wars" began. He was a Roman Catholic and he was of German heritage. He also kept the umlauts over the letter O. There was no letter E in the name. The correct pronunciation was 'Lair'. In 1917 the KKK marched in Boone. Now, my grandfather valued life and property so he immediately dropped the umlaut and changed the pronunciation to a long O to throw the bad guys off guard. Thankfully, he didn't give up on his religion.
In 1960 I was a freshman in high school. I had transferred from the Catholic school after my 8th grade year to the public high school.
With my parent's blessing I did it for one reason only. I was a potentially good athlete in basketball and baseball. The public high school coaches beat a path to our door, flattered my parents and the next year off I went. Regardless, I had one teacher/coach who had a very strong personality. I respected him but I was deathly afraid of him. That's really not all that bad. I also had him as my 9th grade Western Civilization instructor. Maybe it was because it was John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, who was running for president but as I look back on the situation now this teacher said some very hurtful statements to me. I was known as a 'minnow muncher', a mackerel snapper'. He would ask me if my knees hurt. "They'd have to", he said, "from standing and kneeling so much at church on Sunday". Do you think this type of behavior would be overlooked today? Of course, it is. Check out the number of stories taking place in schools where teachers are forcing their own political philosophies onto your children. Parents are even restricted on what their own children can put in their lunch bags. Students who see another after a summer vacation and give them a hug are suspended. It might be that you are one of those people who like what is being said BUT someday, and maybe sooner than you think, there could be another issue with which you don't agree. Then what will you do? It's not like you can take your ball and go home.
Last week Pres. Obama violated the first amendment to the Constitution. Only the Congress can decide on laws of naturalization. Where is the outcry? I wrote my congressman a letter and called his office. His representative said he'd get back to me. Fat chance of that.
I am proud to be a political and social conservative. If you aren't I could care less. The major difference between liberals and conservatives, in my opinion, is liberals will scream until their lungs burst if they don't get their way. They'll picket stores, tell us how unfair life is to them, harass and cajole until the proverbial cows come home because they feel they are the most important people in the world. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't hear much about conservatives picketing Target Corporate or their stores because they now market Gay Pride t-shirts. Will conservatives march on General Mills Corporate because they, too, have come out in support of marriage between Bill and Bill? I don't think so. Can you imagine the outcry from Liberals if Dairy Queen or Five Guys Hamburgers decided to denounce Obama's gay causes. It'd be an Occupy Movement all across the nation. Conservatives have strong values but they also have families to think about and silly things like how to feed and clothe them.
This government has hoodwinked millions people in the last three years. As a former high school history instructor, and I've written this before, I never, ever, thought I'd see the day when a presidential administration included so many avowed communists and socialists. I know World War II veterans who are not bothered by this and they fought to protect our Four Freedoms values.
I am more appalled at the American people who have buckled under. But, then again, I'm not a member of the entitlement class. I only support them through taxation.
In closing, read the short bio and poem placed in this blog. Give it some serious thought. It's very significant for our times. And it applies to all of us. We, the American people, have bulleyes on our chests.

Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.
Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for the quotation:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.