Is the White House threatening pro-life Sen. Nelson (D-NE)?

This is from the Catholic Key, blog of the newspaper of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph:

Evil’s Afoot – Pray for Senator Ben Nelson

If a Senate source is accurate, things are getting nasty for the pro-life Senator from Nebraska. Michael Goldfarb at the Weekly Standard writes today that:

    According to a Senate aide, the White House is now threatening to put Nebraska’s Offutt Air Force Base on the BRAC list if Nelson doesn’t fall into line. . .

    . . .As our source put it, this is a "naked effort by Rahm Emanuel and the White House to extort Nelson’s vote." They are "threatening to close a base vital to national security for what?" asked the Senate staffer.

To force American’s to pay for their neighbors’ elective abortions is what.

It was a carrot this week for Senator Joe Lieberman, but for brave defenders of human life like Senator Nelson, it will always be the stick. Perhaps it is a good time to put the late Bishop Michael Saltarelli’s Litany to St. Thomas More to good use and pray for strength and encouragement for Senator Nelson:

    Litany of St. Thomas More,
    Martyr and Patron Saint of Statesmen, Politicians and Lawyers

    V. Lord, have mercy
    R. Lord have mercy
    V. Christ, have mercy
    R. Christ have mercy
    V. Lord, have mercy
    R. Lord have mercy
    V. Christ hear us
    R. Christ, graciously hear us

    V. St. Thomas More, Saint and Martyr,
    R. Pray for us (Repeat after each invocation)
    St. Thomas More, Patron of Statesmen, Politicians and Lawyers
    St. Thomas More, Patron of Justices, Judges and Magistrates
    St. Thomas More, Model of Integrity and Virtue in Public and Private Life
    St. Thomas More, Servant of the Word of God and the Body and Blood of Christ
    St. Thomas More, Model of Holiness in the Sacrament of Marriage
    St. Thomas More, Teacher of his Children in the Catholic Faith
    St. Thomas More, Defender of the Weak and the Poor
    St. Thomas More, Promoter of Human Life and Dignity

    V. Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world
    R. Spare us O Lord
    V. Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world
    R. Graciously hear us O Lord
    V. Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world
    R. Have mercy on us

    Let us pray:

    O Glorious St. Thomas More, Patron of Statesmen, Politicians, Judges and Lawyers, your life of prayer and penance and your zeal for justice, integrity and firm principle in public and family life led you to the path of martyrdom and sainthood. Intercede for our Statesmen, Politicians, Judges and Lawyers, that they may be courageous and effective in their defense and promotion of the sanctity of human life – the foundation of all other human rights. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

    R. Amen.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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21 Comments

  1. Peggy R says:

    Par for the course for this evil Administration and party. Nothing must stop this evil legislation in their eyes. Mrs. Lieberman’s job was nearly threatened. So, what are they going to do to Roland Burris for sticking a spoke in their healthcare wheel as well? I don’t think they can touch him.

    Sen Nelson, you are in my prayers. St. Thomas Moore pray for us!

  2. Steve K. says:

    BRAC Offutt?!

    Offutt AFB is a major headquarters base. It is home to US Strategic Command, the command which operates all our nuclear weapons forces, amongst other things. BRAC is meant to rationalize basing in the DOD, and is aimed at marginal bases whose functions can be more cost effectively transferred to other, larger facilities. Not close major combatant command headquarters whose facilities will have to be rebuilt elsewhere at great, great expense. Talk about in your face political corruption. I bet Rahm wants to move the headquarters to somewhere near Chicago?

    So dedicated the WH is to infanticide that they’d even play games with our strategic nuclear forces. Moloch must be a hard master indeed.

  3. JARay says:

    Many thanks for the Litany of St. Thomas Moore

  4. ckdexterhaven says:

    Thank you for posting this. I just prayed, will do so again. I also prayed (and will continue) to pray a fervent St. Michael the Archangel prayer for any lawmaker who knows abortion is a moral evil. I pray their hearts be changed.

  5. JohnE says:

    What? They couldn’t think of a bribe like what they did for Mary Landrieu of Louisiana?
    http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/11/the-100-million-health-care-vote.html

    I smell desperation. Futile desperation I hope.

  6. Rose in NE says:

    As I live in Nebraska, Sen. Nelson has been on my prayer list for some time now. Pray especially that he will stand firm against this despicable kind of bullying. This is so evil.

  7. MarkJ says:

    I prayed for the Senator and will continue to do so. I also went to his website and sent him an e-mail letting him know we are praying for him… I included the prayer to St. Thomas More in the e-mail. Thank you, Fr. Z, for alerting us to this. I will add an extra Prayer to St. Michael for the Senator’s protection from the forces of Evil who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.

    “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.” Ephesians 6:12

  8. Doc Angelicus says:

    Obama said he wanted to change the way business is done in Washington. He succeeded. I give him an A+ on the Machiaveli-Corleone scale.

  9. bookworm says:

    “I bet Rahm wants to move the headquarters to somewhere near Chicago?”

    Well, he’s already decided to effectively move Gitmo (or at least some of its inmates) to somewhere near Chicago, if you define a town over on the Mississippi River as “near” Chicago:

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091215/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_detainee_prison

    The Sen. Nelson rumor, like many other political rumors reported by anonymous sources, may not be true at all, or it may only be partly true (for example, a different military facility or some smaller unit or task based at Offutt may be slated for closure, rather than the entire base).

    But regardless of whether the rumor is true or not, Sen. Nelson still needs our prayers.

  10. muckemdanno says:

    bookworm is right. Nothing in the W.S. or a Goldfarb column is trustworthy, although this is how business is done in Washington…Obama did not invent arm-twisting.

  11. Clinton says:

    If I understand the setup of the 2005 BRAC, its closure recommendations were set in stone when they were released years ago. To
    add a base to the list years later would mean that all other scheduled closures already on the list would be opened to dispute. The
    BRAC was designed to be non-partisan and impartial inasmuch as that is possible in such a hot political subject as base closures.
    I don’t know if the administration has both the political and legal means to subvert the BRAC and simply add a base on a whim.

    To do so to a major base, employing something like 10,000 people on a massive complex that cost untold billions to build, in an
    effort to deliberately damage the economy of Nebraska, while we are engaged in two theaters of war–all merely to punish a Senator
    that has annoyed the White House? Unbelievable.

    If this rumor is indeed true, I beg Senator Nelson to confirm it, for it would mean we have a pack of sociopaths in this administration.

  12. bookworm says:

    Also, the proposed or rumored military base closure MAY have no connection to Sen. Nelson’s vote on the healthcare plan. It MAY be something that has been in the works for some time, and happened to resurface right now.

    I myself have seen too many rumors like this prove to be wrong, or only partially true, to take this report as (pardon the expression) gospel just yet.

    But that being said, I will continue to pray for Sen. Nelson and others to stand firm.

  13. Nathan says:

    I’d be a little skeptical about the details. While no doubt arm-twisting is going on, the White House would have to open up a whole can of political worms to re-visit BRAC. As it’s written in law now, the process has to start with a lengthy review by the Pentagon, then by an independent, bipartisan commission, and then the White House presents the whole list to Congress for a up-or-down vote on the whole list. The process was designed to take politics such as this out of BRAC.

    While it is possible that this was used, it seems that the time and cost of targeting Offutt AFB for BRAC would be pretty high.

    I would think there are a lot more immediate ways (perhaps the Agriculture Appropriation) to influence this vote.

    In Christ,

  14. gloriainexcelsis says:

    If this is indeed true, I would hope that the good Senator has the courage to stand before a microphone and tell the American people that he was threatened with economic disaster in his State should he vote against the bill. It might give other lawmakers the courage to do the same. This Administration’s tactics are thuggery. Thank you for the Litany.

  15. Mark01 says:

    But for Whales?…

  16. The Astronomer says:

    If Barak and Rahm Emmanuel do not deliver some sort of pro-infanticide ‘health’ bill to their far left base, they know there will be Hell to pay. Literally. Sadly, I think they will achieve their Luciferian goal….

    Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

  17. John 6:54 says:

    And word where Stupak and the House Pro-Lifers stand if the Senate passes a bill without a Hyde like amendment?

  18. Subvet says:

    My own experience with bases involved with BRAC was the sub base in Connecticut, that sucker makes every closure list and the locals always successfully fight it. It’s a security nightmare from the standpoint of discouraging covert attacks from across the local river. SEAL teams that verify base security procedures regularly punch holes in it. Yet that base defies all attempts at closure. An example of political arm twisting.

    On a different note, the base in Kings Bay, Georgia initiated construction during the Carter years (surprise!). They had to literally drain a major swamp to build that bad boy. It got done despite the fact that Charleston, S.C. already had facilities in place that would have been suitable at much less cost. Again, political arm twisting at work. If you think the Department of Defense isn’t routinely rolled like a drunken sailor on payday night, all in the name of pork and favoritism, think again.

    Having said all that, what happens if this ploy doesn’t work with Senator Nelson? Will he wake up some morning with a horse’s head beside him?

  19. Amerikaner says:

    Sen. Nelson stated yesterday afternoon that this is a false rumor.

  20. Liz F says:

    I’ve been calling Sen. Nelson so much in the past month it’s like he’s a long lost cousin! I called recently to thank him for a change for his attempted ammendment. Yesterday, when I heard all of this I wondered if the ammendment was a scam. (I’m getting really cynical these days. Ugh!)He has insisted that he is pro-life all along and perhaps he really is; on the other hand, he almost always votes in line with the democrats. (For example he voted for Sonya Sottemeier(sp?)for the Supreme Court even though she is hardly pro-life.) I really appreciate the litany because I get so worried and discouraged about our country. Prayer is the best answer and one I actually am able to do when I feel so helpless. God have mercy on us!

  21. Aaron says:

    If there’s a silver lining to all this, perhaps it’s that some pro-life Democrats are getting exposure, and putting the lie to claims that pro-lifers are exclusively a radical offshoot of the GOP, the way Acorn is for the Democrats. I mean, who knew pro-life Democrats even existed at the federal level a year ago?

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