Saw this story this morning and didn't have time to blog it unfortunately. Had to get this in though.

Germans Force Women Into Prostitution is the story.

Man, Fric... There you go again. Making stuff up.

Nope. Germany has some interesting laws and lack of laws concerning unemployment benefits and brothels. Brothels are legal in Germany. They pay taxes and the workers get health coverage. The owners also get access to state employment applicants. Apparently, there have been lawsuits or the threat of them for not carrying brothel ads. And if a girl is sent to one for an interview, but won't take the job, she can lose her unemployment benefits for refusing a valid, legal job.

There was some thought of making an exception for brothels but the Germans decided it would be too hard to differentiate between some bars/nightclubs and a normal brothel. So they dropped the exception.

So a law legalizing and normalizing brothels that was designed to stop women from being forced into sexual servitude has instead done just that. Only the difference now is that it isn't even shady, sleazy pimps. This time it's the GOVERNMENT! And it's all legal. Take the job or lose your benefits.

What has happened to the culture there that makes this all right to begin with? What is wrong with the culture that says that you can have anything done to your body for money and it's all right? Where are the feminists and liberals on this?

When you give too much power to the State, this is what you get. People are not persons. They are just bodies in the economy. There is no distinction between good and evil. Just do what you are told. It also proves the maxim that if the government desires less of something, it should tax it and regulate it to death. If it wants to promote something, reduce the red tape, taxes and regulation. Make it no different than anything else. Now sex for money is equal to being a doctor or nurse or teacher or cook or accountant in Germany.

May God have mercy on them.

I help a friend with the technical details on some internet "church" work he does. I don't necessarily agree with his approach or interpretations all the time of course. Most of the time I'd say he preaches on the fringe of what might be acceptable to the Church.

But tonight I was watching the chat window available to the virtual pew-sitters as he was doing his thing and it crossed my mind that I see a lot of the same comments each week. Lots are meant as prayer. Others as emotional outcries. Some as simple comments.

But still they are similar and consistently so at that. Most of these people are going to be of the evangelical and fundamentalist stripe. The types that would likely give us Catholics some grief over our vain repetitive prayers. Yet I see the same things each week.

Are they secretly Catholics?

Do they realize they say/pray the same things each week?

Some seem to be sloganesque. Something that you would expect to see on a poster or sign.

Do they see us that way? Catholics certainly repeat the same prayers each week. Of course we do it mostly in context of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours and the Rosary. All chock-full of Scripture beginning to end. We intentionally say the same things. Do they? We have significant meaning behind all of them too.

Just an interesting thing I was thinking tonight. Anyone else notice this or have comment?

I scan Dave Armstrong's blog on a regular basis. Read it less regularly. Too much sometimes and too hard to track when he's posting these virtural debates. But one trait I have noticed, especially from the more virulent anti-Catholics there and the fundies and evangelicals on the radio is a certain term.

The Clear/Plain Meaning of Scripture (tm)

How often have you heard someone argue a point of theology and refer to this? Usually it seems to be when referring to a passage that Catholics interpret in a, well... Catholic way.

Or they will refer to some specific doctrine that seems odd to Catholics or others and gloss over it by referring to the above phrase.

It's kind of funny in a way. Can't explain your position? Catholics refuted that one?

No problem!

"It's all right there in Plain Meaning of the Scriptures!"

Gotta love that one. Many times I have listened to the local "Christian" radio station after the Catholic one goes off the air. I like to keep abreast of what the others do ya know. Never know when you might be exposed to some thing useful. Sometimes it's pretty mundane. Sometimes it's pretty good, actually.

But sometimes one of these radio preachers will say something that makes no sense at all. Or will make some weird "prophecy" about current events leading to the End Times. Eagerly I await some explanation to be amused with and BAM!

The Clear/Plain Meaning of Scripture!

Most of the time you don't even get any proof texts or passages to refer to.

Ah well. If you can't back it up, I guess it's best to gloss it over.

Anyone else notice this?

Just a couple of days after the 32nd anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that legalized the murder of unborn children up to and during delivery, Hillary Clinton has the audacity to come out and make a speech about how we need to find some common ground so that we can make abortion safe, legal and rare.

What a load of Bovine Excrement!

I am sure she tipped Planned Parenthood and NARAL ahead of time that she was giving this speech to try and trick us ignernt red-staters into voting for baby-killers. Otherwise, there might have been a decline in donations to her Presidential campaign (upcoming). After all Planned Parenthood would likely go out of business if abortions were safe and rare. Neither of which would be true today. PP makes a significant amount of money providing executions of babies in utero and partially out of utero.

Safe? When half the patients involved in a procedure die?

Rare? When it would mean going out of business?

Common ground? What's the common ground between these two positions?

1. Abortion at any time you want. And that is what safe, legal and rare means. You can have it any time you want. Theoretically, we hope you don't but will support you wholeheartedly if you do and maybe even do it anyway if you change your mind in the middle right before it's too late.

2. No abortion. Ever. Mind you this does not include removal of ectopic pregnancies where the intent is to save the mother's life and the resulting death is an unintended consequence, or similar circumstances.

Waiting....

Waiting....

Waiting....

Waiting....

(sound of crickets chirping)

You would... Wouldn't you?

Well, I guess it's not a matter of enthusiasm so much as a hectic schedule. I had hoped when we opened the Maniacs Blog to the local core group, it would cover any lapse in blogging by any one of us.

So much for that.

I know that the three actual Catholics who blog here are super busy all the time. And HeathenBoy generally prefers to comment on others' posts. Him being a Heathen and all.

Anyway, I am going to make a sincere and sustained effort to do some blogging here on out. Thinking about commentary on news articles and some exploration of my understanding of the Faith. Also thinking about some Catholic fiction and maybe my own conversion story.
Definitely more to come.

Also, in the next few weeks, I am going to get some new links on the right here and a link where you can buy CatholicManiac merchandise to help support our server and maybe to do some outreach and evangelization projects.