Northern Ireland Bishop Responds to Obama's Call for an End to Catholic Schools

"I, the Light-bringer, bring to you my criticisms of your religions and schools. What?! Do you truly believe that you can solve your problems without my pithy advice?"

What?! Obama would publicly make an inaccurate analysis of a situation so he could throw in an attack against his usual suspects? Never. Not since Gates' arrest, or demanding an arrest in the Trayvon Martin case, or misrepresenting a Supreme Court decision and calling out a private citizen in a State of the Union Address, or jailing a scapegoat following the Benghazi attacks, or saying that Fast & Furious was an operation under Bush that he stopped, or...

From The Catholic Register article by Michael Kelly (h/t to Gateway Pundit):

A bishop in Northern Ireland accused President Barack Obama of a "hackneyed" analysis of the political situation in the region.

Auxiliary Bishop Donal McKeown of Down and Connor said some parts of the president's June 17 speech in Belfast, Northern Ireland, echoed "the Protestant/Catholic caricature that has actually receded into the background in Northern Ireland."  

[...]  

Obama addressed 2,000 young people and community leaders at Waterfront Hall and called for a renewed focus on reconciliation, 15 years after the Good Friday peace agreement. 

Looking to the future, the president said, "if towns remain divided -- if Catholics have their schools and buildings and Protestants have theirs, if we can't see ourselves in one another and fear or resentment are allowed to harden -- that too encourages division and discourages cooperation." 

Bishop McKeown said the 1998 accord "was clear that the core problem in Northern Ireland was a political one. ... It is significant that religion did not appear in the agreement on what is primarily a political problem." 

He said that "it is the Catholic schools in Northern Ireland that are now actually among the most racially and linguistically mixed. And, while so many young people are very open to new friendships and opportunities, it needs to be stated that it is adults outside schools who promote mistrust for their own political and personal agendas." 

"A simplistic denominational vocabulary fails to do justice to where we are," added Bishop McKeown, who chairs the Northern Ireland Commission for Catholic Education.
"We all welcome the president's presence," the bishop said, "but would encourage his speechwriters to support a less hackneyed analysis of our situation and prospects."

Heck, just because Obama's calling for an end to religious differences 15 years after the fact doesn't make him wrong. The Irish should be overjoyed at having some American who's ignorant on their issues criticizing their religions and religious institutions to solve a problem that they themselves addressed more than a decade ago. What's wrong with them?

Smart Diplomacy: Obama Calls for End of Catholic Schools in Northern Ireland

Other religions just get in the way of the proper veneration of the Light-bringer, right Mark Morford?

Of course for Obama, all religions (except perhaps Islam) are the fall backs for weak and cowardly people who don't have enough work and knowledge to cling to-- well, that plus guns and bigotry. It's a basic American Marxist belief-- a slightly modernized version of the "opiate for the mass" shtick.

From the Scottish Catholic Observer article by Ian Dunn (h/t BizPac Review):

The US President has made an alarming call for an end to Catholic education in Northern Ireland in spite of the fact that Archbishop Gerhard Müller told Scots that Catholic education was 'a critical component of the Church.’ 

President Barack Obama, repeated the oft disproved claim that Catholic education increases division in front of an audience of 2000 young people, including many Catholics, at Belfast’s Waterfront hall when he arrived in the country this morning. 

“If towns remain divided—if Catholics have their schools and buildings and Protestants have theirs, if we can’t see ourselves in one another and fear or resentment are allowed to harden—that too encourages division and discourages cooperation,” the US president said. 

The US politician made the unfounded claim despite a top Vatican official spelling out the undeniable good done by Catholic education in a speech in Glasgow on Saturday and in his homily at Mass on Friday.

Smart diplomacy... Do you remember when that was the buzzword for the Obama administration? It's hard to be smart when you have a lot of axes to grind and religion to attack.

Irish Government Plans to Raid Private Pensions for Govt. Spending

Not an uncommon tactic in South and Central America... And it's something to watch for here in the US.

From the Business Insider article by Joe Weisenthal and Gregory White:

"The Irish government plans to institute a tax on private pensions to drive jobs growth, according to its jobs program strategy, delivered today.

"Without the ability sell debt due to soaring interest rates, and with severe spending rules in place due to its EU-IMF bailout, Ireland has few ways of spending to stimulate the economy. Today's jobs program includes specific tax increases, including the tax on pensions, aimed at keeping government jobs spending from adding to the national debt.

"The tax on private pensions will be 0.6%, and last for four years, according to the report."

These temporary taxes have a way of not being so temporary as government spending increases-- which is what usually happens when money is raided-- er, taxed-- from private accounts.

"Ireland's ability to levy further taxes on other parts of the economy is restricted because its economic growth has been inhibited in the wake of a financial crisis that crippled its banking sector and decimated its public finances.

"Unwilling to budge on the country's low corporate tax rate, Enda Kenny's Irish government has chosen to target pensioners for funds to grow the economy. Whether it turns out to be an example to other countries seeking alternative ways to raise revenues with aging populations is yet unknown."

Ah, the wonders of overspending government...