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Day: March 1, 2008

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Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political

No Visas for Poles (going to Canada…)

From the IHT: Canada lifts visa requirments for Poland and three other Eastern European countries

TORONTO: Canada is lifting visa requirements for travelers from Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania and Hungary.

Canadian Immigration Minister Diane Finley said Saturday the visa-free status for the four countries takes effect immediately.

About 33,000 Poles came to Canada on short-term visas in 2007.

Poland welcomed the move. Warsaw lifted visa requirements for Canadians in 2004, when Poland joined the European Union.

Warsaw would like the United States to introduce a similar policy.

As would I. Of course being a staunch ally never stopped the U.S. from stepping on Poland. Yalta and all you know… Poland is slowly waking up to that fact and is pulling out of Iraq. Hopefully they do the same with the ABM installation the Bush Administration is touting, either that or force Washington to pay dearly for what they want – in advance.

Current Events, Everything Else, Perspective, Political

Incarceration rate lower for immigrants

From the San Francisco Chronicle: Study: Incarceration rate lower for immigrants

Immigrants in California are far less likely to land in prison than their U.S.-born counterparts, a finding that defies the perception that immigration and crime are connected, according to a study released Monday.

Foreign-born residents make up 35 percent of the state’s overall population, but only 17 percent of the adult prison population, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, which conducted the research.

Noncitizen men from Mexico between the ages of 18 and 40, which the study indicated were more likely to be in the country illegally, were eight times less likely to be in a “correctional setting,” the study found.

The study did not address the visa status of those included among the foreign-born, which would include citizens and noncitizens, including those in the country legally and illegally.

Nonetheless, these results have implications for the current debates over immigration policy, said Kristin Butcher, co-author of the report.

“Our research indicates that limiting immigration, requiring higher educational levels to obtain visas or spending more money to increase penalties against criminal immigrants will have little impact on public safety,” Butcher said in a statement.

While immigrants often have lower levels of education and higher poverty rates, which are normally associated with higher crimes rates, other factors are probably contributing to the underrepresentation among the foreign-born in state prisons…

The story doesn’t mention it, but I would venture to state that immigrants are representative the societies they come from, i.e., family oriented, hard working, and with a strong religious and moral code founded in the Catholic faith. They are here for the purpose of improving the lives of their families – the collective whole of their lives. Going to prison defeats that purpose.

Christian Witness, Current Events, Perspective, Political

Chaldean archbishop kidnapped

From Reuters via the Gulf News: Gunmen kidnap Iraqi Chaldean Catholic archbishop

Mosul, Iraq: Gunmen kidnapped the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul on Friday in the northern Iraqi city and killed his driver and two guards, police said.

In Rome, Pope Benedict deplored the kidnapping of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho as a “despicable” crime and urged the gunmen to free the prelate.

Provincial police spokesman Brigadier-General Khaled Abdul Sattar said Rahho was kidnapped in the al-Nour district in eastern Mosul when he left a church.

“Gunmen opened fire on the car, killed the other three and kidnapped the archbishop,” he said.

…

An assistant to Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad and spiritual leader of Iraq’s Catholics, said they had heard that three people were killed and they did not know the fate of the Rahho.

Chaldeans belong to a branch of the Roman Catholic Church that practises an ancient Eastern rite. Most of its members are in Iraq and Syria, and they form the biggest Christian community in Iraq.

The Vatican issued a statement in Rome saying the pope was saddened by “this new despicable act” which it called a premeditated criminal act.

“The Holy Father asks the universal Church to join in his fervent prayer so that reason and humanity prevails in the kidnappers and Monsignor Rahho is returned to his flock soon,” the statement said.

A number of Christian clergy have been kidnapped or killed, and churches bombed in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion.

Last June, gunmen killed Catholic priest Ragheed Aziz Kani and three assistants in Mosul, 390 km north of Baghdad, after stopping his car near a church in the eastern part of the ethnically and religiously mixed city.

The assailants dragged out the priest and his assistants and shot them dead in an attack that was condemned by Pope Benedict…

This sort of thing didn’t happen under Saddam Hussein. Now, the persecution of Christians is a regular occurrence. This under the U.S. backed government of Iraq. That’s the U.S. government run by a man who calls himself a Christian.

Of course, as I’ve said here before, Evangelicals like Mr. Bush believe Catholics aren’t Christians at all. To Mr. Bush the murder of these people is just one more step along the route to the Armageddon. Hurray for Israel, hurray for death, hurray for the second coming. My will be done.

Thankfully, real Christians of every sort have the assurance that only the Father knows the time, and that Mr. Bush’s idea of control does not affect God in any way (other than the sorrow He must feel at the deaths that Mr. Bush has inflicted).

May God return the Archbishop safely and may the perpetual light shine upon those who were murdered. Amen.

Fathers, PNCC

March 1 – St. Andrew of Crete from the Great Canon of Repentance

The Lord rained fire from the Lord, my soul, and burnt up the former land of Sodom.

Escape to the mountain like Lot, my soul, and make Zoar your refuge in time.

Run from the burning, my soul! Run from the heat of Sodom! Run from the destruction of the divine flame.

I alone have sinned against Thee, sinned above all men. O Christ my Saviour, spurn me not. Thou art the good Shepherd; seek me, Thy lamb, and neglect not me who have gone astray.

Thou art my sweet Jesus, Thou art my Creator; in Thee, O Saviour, I shall be justified.

I confess to Thee, O Saviour, I have sinned, I have sinned against Thee, but absolve and forgive me in Thy compassion. — Troparia from Ode 3, Monday of the First Week of Lent

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