Sister Lacy appeared and spoke as part of THE RECTOR'S SERIES ON HEALTHCARE: at
ST. MARK'S in CLIFFORD Virginia.
Sister Mary Ellen Lacy, a Daughter of Charity, and one of the famous and controversial "NUNS ON THE BUS" is a lobbyist for Network, a catholic leader in the global movement for justice and peace, which educates, organizes and lobbies for economic and social transformation. Sister Mary Ellen's work focuses primarily on Immigration, Healthcare, Nutrition and Gulf Coast Restoration issues. She is a licensed Registered nurse, nursing home administrator and attorney.
This week the Sisters are being "Nuns on the Staten Island Ferry" in New York City, advocating for universal healthcare.
Arrangements were made for the Sister to fly to our area and appear at St Mark's and she is the guest of Lynn and Ned Kable while in the area. Lynn and Ned are well known Democratic activists and deeply interested in all matters that can improve the living standards of our area.
Here's some background on the adventure known as Nuns on the Bus.
A group of Catholic nuns ended its nine-state bus tour in Washington D.C., speaking out against a Republican federal budget proposal they say favors wealthy Americans at the expense of poor families.
Led by Sister Simone Campbell, the "Nuns on the Bus" rejected the budget proposal of Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., which it called "immoral" and "unpatriotic."
Ryan's budget "rejects church teaching about solidarity, inequality, the choice for the poor, and the common good. That's wrong," said Campbell, executive director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobby.
Nuns on the Bus claims that the Ryan budget would raise taxes on low-income families while cutting taxes for millionaires and corporations, push families into poverty, and kick 8 million people off of food stamps.
Ryan previously defended his budget cuts by saying they were informed by his Catholic faith. Ryan, a long time follower of Ayn Rand has recently disclaimed the Rand Philosophy after it was pointed out that Rand was an atheist.
"Many politicians offer deeply flawed theological justifications for the federal budget. They ought to get some theological help," Campbell said.
She rejected the argument that aid programs create dependence. "Food stamps create not complacency, but opportunity," she said.
The two-week, 2,700-mile tour concluded with a prayer service and press conference on Capitol Hill.
The nuns have been compared by some to rock stars, greeted by screaming fans holding signs and wearing commemorative T-shirts. That was also the scene outside the United Methodist Building on Monday as scores of attendees cheered the arriving bus.
"Nuns on the bus speak for not just Catholics, not for Christians only, not for Jews. They speak for all of us," said Sayyid Sayeed, national interfaith director of the Islamic Society of North America.
With the Capitol building in view, speakers at the event argued that they have a plan that offers a moral alternative to partisan gridlock.
Sister Mary Ellen Lacy, a lobbyist for Network, said a proposal crafted by an interfaith group, the "Faithful Budget," is a moral alternative informed by religious ideas.
"Religion is your core, and we worked with our core ideas for the common good," Lacy said. "It was hard, but we worked it out. All we're saying is that's what we want Congress to do."
Network and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious were subject to recent disciplinary action by the Vatican over doctrinal issues, including support of President Obama's health care reform.
However, speakers emphasized their "faithful budget" coincides with the goal of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Thank You Sister Mary Ellen Lacy for a very entertaining talk. Every time I hear about the Nuns on the Bus on Television or read about you guy's in the paper I'll think back to the evening at St. Marks in Cliffort.
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Why is Mitt Romney so Disliked?
No other presidential candidate has racked up unfavorable ratings as high during a campaign, according to a Pew Survey. Why is Mitt Romney so disliked?
His “47 percent” comment resonated because it reinforced the negative narrative about Mitt as an out-of-touch member of the superrich with little feeling for policy, politics or people—a million miles away from W’s “compassionate conservative” mantra. He comes across as an awkward mix of Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller, without any of the redeeming qualities. And it’s arguable which is worse—whether Romney essentially believes what he said at the $50,000-a-plate fundraiser, or was simply pandering to the well-heeled audience.
"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the President no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what... These are people who pay no income tax ...
"My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
At least three Republican Senate nominees—Scott Brown, Linda McMahon, and Dean Heller—quickly distanced themselves from his comments, followed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich and condemnations from a half-dozen high-profile conservative columnists, including Bill Kristol and Peggy Noonan. According to a new Pew Survey, no other presidential candidate’s unfavorable ratings have been as high at this point in a campaign.
His problems are compounded by an open secret in Republican politics—no one who has ever run against Mitt Romney walks away liking the guy.
This feeling about a candidate is not always the case—George W. Bush was acknowledged to be a ‘hail fellow well met’ even by his sometimes brutally vanquished foes. Likewise, John McCain was widely admired for his courage and character, even by rivals who disagreed with him deeply on policy. But with Mitt it’s something different.
It’s telling that during and after the 2008 Republican primary, warm feelings did not abound for Mitt Romney. All the other candidates basically got along, even after the fierce competition. There was a sense of camaraderie that came from the surreality of their situation. But the easy off-camera humor never extended to Mitt. Instead there was stiff formality and a simmering resentment.
“Four years ago, the other candidates couldn’t stand him,” said a longtime Republican operative affiliated with another competing campaign in 2008. “There was just this aloofness to him and an elitism that set the tone. There wasn’t the comradeship that you normally have with candidates—you know, when you get to know each other in the course of the campaign and you kind of like each other and respect each other, no matter how badly you beat the daylights out of each other. Romney hammered every single candidate with negative advertising above and beyond what was needed—and his attitude seemed to be ‘I didn’t say it.’ It was this mysterious ad agency off somewhere.’ His aloofness is just what sort of puts people off.”
Likewise, look at the Republican primary candidates Mitt faced off with this year. Rick Perry still seems to be barely on speaking terms with Romney, even though he’s playing the role of good soldier. Rick Santorum waited almost a month before mouthing his support. Newt Gingrich’s nervous tick is to remind his audience that the contest isn’t between Romney and Reagan, but Romney and Obama. But the bitterness of his primary campaign complaint—"How can somebody run a campaign this dishonest and think he’s going to have any credibility running for president?—still resonates with more authenticity than his endorsement. The only unifying factor is intense opposition to President Obama.
It’s often said that when it comes to presidential nominees, Democrats fall in love and Republicans fall in line. Conservatives have long warned about the inability of Romney to excite the base, but the new Pew Survey quantified this dynamic, showing that “roughly half of Romney’s supporters say they are voting against Obama rather than for the Republican nominee.”
I’ve come to believe this disconnect is rooted in Mitt Romney’s essentially businesslike approach to politics.
Most Republican politicians who came of age in the Reagan Era are Conviction Politicians. They were moved to public service by a deep commitment to a set of principles and policies.
Mitt Romney approaches politics in a more transactional way. He wants to improve the country but he is fundamentally a salesman and in this world view, it would be illogical not to tailor sales to the needs of different audiences. Why would Mitt try to make the same pitch to a Massachusetts electorate as Republican primaries voters? It’s not personal; it’s business.
This businesslike approach to politics also explains Mitt’s willingness to go negative. On the surface, the “death star” approach of burying opponents in an avalanche of negative ads, as Romney did in Iowa and Florida, seems inconsistent with a man of deep morals and religious faith.
But if you believe that politics is essentially a dirty business—a necessary evil to get ahead and eventually do good, then you make a mental division: you render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s. And so going negative is simply the coin of the realm. Honor in politics is misplaced.
The combination of these two factors ends up alienating many of Mitt’s fellow political figures. Those who have run against him feel that he is quick to amplify dishonest attacks—and the sting is more infuriating because it comes with a base alloy of hypocrisy.
It is almost hackneyed to say Romney doesn’t seem to have any core political beliefs, but it’s rooted in his record. He moved left to win the Massachusetts governorship; he moved right to win the Republican nomination; and now to win the presidency, he wants to disappear into a cloud of unoffending generalities whenever possible, running an essentially policy-free campaign before picking Paul Ryan as VP.
His career-long litany of flip-flops, from abortion to gay rights to health-care reform to climate change to the assault weapons ban, only reinforces the point.
On the surface, the “death star” approach of burying opponents in an avalanche of negative ads, as Romney did in Iowa and Florida, seems inconsistent with a man of deep morals and religious faith.
One of Romney’s few consistent policy stands has been his tough anti-illegal immigration talk. But on Wednesday, in his Univision interview, he casually abandoned even that by saying, “We're not going to round up people around the country and deport them.”
Either Romney hasn’t listened to his own rhetoric, read his own policy papers, or just can’t resist the impulse to pander to an audience.
All this is difficult to respect, especially for fellow political practitioners, even in his own party.
Things are unraveling at the Romney campaign.
Univision says that during his townhall with them, not only did the Romney campaign pack the hall with non-students because they couldn’t find enough supporters on campus, but when the anchor gave an introduction to Mitt that he didn’t like, he refused to go on until they re-taped it. A Republican present called it a “temper tantrum”.
Buzzfeed reports:
That wouldn’t be the last demand from the campaign: Romney himself almost pulled the plug on the whole thing minutes before the broadcast, Salinas said.
While introducing Romney at the top of the broadcast, Salinas’s co-anchor, Jorge Ramos, noted that the Republican candidate had agreed to give the network 35 minutes, and that Obama had agreed to a full hour the next night. Ramos then invited the audience to welcome Romney to the stage — but the candidate didn’t materialize.
“It was a very awkward moment, believe me,” Salinas said.
Apparently, Romney took issue with the anchors beginning the broadcast that way, said Salinas, and he refused to go on stage until they re-taped the introduction. (One Republican present at the taping said Romney “threw a tantrum.”)
Making last minute “demands” that would ensure his success, indeed threatening to “reschedule” if he wasn’t allowed an exemption to the student only rule and then packing the forum with rowdy, bused-in supporters who ignored the rules not to applaud, the Romney campaign later gloated that the Hispanic forum was more “excited” for Mitt than for Obama, whose also partisan crowd did not ignore the rules.
The image of “excitement” was apparently nothing but a carefully constructed mirage, propped up backstage manipulations and string pulling. The Univision host seemed put out by the disrespect shown by the bused-in Romney crowd, who booed questions while cheering the candidate as if the forum were a rally. All the worlds a stage.
This behavior is reminiscent of Mitt Romney’s temper tantrum as Governor after his party lost the midterms. He reportedly was hardly ever seen after that, spending 212 days out of the state campaigning for the presidency in his last year on office. In 2006, “his disapproval ratings hit a new low with 65 percent of residents disapproving of his job performance, as residents grumbled that he was never around.”
Mitt Romney’s Republican opponents during the primaries also observed this sort of behavior, saying he was cold and aloof, and came after them with unnecessarily negative ads.
Mitt has been telling reporters that he is not his campaign and therefor his comments about the 47 percent of Americans can’t be held against him. Meanwhile, his wife Ann (his “secret weapon”) canceled her interviews with reporters after her “stop it” debacle. If Mitt is out of his campaign as a person and Ann is being hidden in a time out until she can stop ordering Republicans around, you have to wonder just who will carry the mantle for the tax the poor ruse.
Paul Ryan? The architect of turn Medicare into a voucher program and kill Social Security Paul Ryan, who was booed even though he brought his mother with him to the AARP townhall?
“Look at those clouds. It’s beautiful.”
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