Lynn and Foster Friess are donating $1 million to victims of the Moore, Oklahoma, tornado that killed dozens and flattened a community–and they are encouraging others to match this amount. Everyone is encouraged to give, but in particular, in spirit with the LeftRightLeftRightForwardMarch! initiative’s goal of unifying Americans wherever possible, it could be a healing act if a prominent Democrat also agreed to give $1 million. In the tradition of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton joining forces to support Katrina relief, this could be an excellent opportunity to heal not only the physical wounds in Moore but also the political and emotional wounds that so often divide us.

Have an idea for a coalition to help out the victims of the Oklahoma tornado? You can submit them here.

Here’s the story from CNN (1 page).

Hundreds of volunteers and sponsors, including the LeftRightLeftRightForwardMarch! initiative, came together to bring both material necessities and the spiritual virtue of hope to help carry the burdens of their neighbors in need. The joyful atmosphere, with rousing live music for all and a bounce house and face painting for kids, made the gathering a festival of giving, sharing, and feasting in the spirit of mutual charity.

Here are some photos from the great day:

As this video by Janet Porter shows, the fundamental issue is not whether the government should recognize same-sex unions, but whether people have the right to express their beliefs, religious or otherwise, without being labeled as hateful and without becoming vulnerable to hate crime legislation. Janet’s video raises the question: Is religious freedom at risk in our nation as a result of the government permitting only one perspective on marriage—namely, changing that institution into something it has never been in human history?

Watch Janet’s video here (6:19 min).

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

August 1, 2013 is the deadline for certain organizations in the Diocese such as Catholic Charities and Catholic Health Services of Long Island to comply with the HHS mandate that they provide free artificial contraception and abortifacient medications as part of their compliance with the Affordable Care Act. Without being specific, indications from the Obama Administration are that they will no longer listen to our claims or those who share our religious and conscience convictions.

The latest Administration pronouncements were a disappointment. After a week of analyzing this latest proposal from the Administration, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, expressed our willingness to continue to try to convince the government that the objectively inadequate “accommodation” from the HHS continues to fall far short of the mark.

To me, the major problem is in the very word the Administration uses: accommodation. The state is not the giver of rights, especially religious freedom. We as citizens possess the right to religious freedom without government pronouncement and, in truth, the Administration cannot “accommodate” what is already ours. We should not be treated as if we are second class citizens because we disagree with the government’s new and arbitrary insistence that all of us have to follow their prescriptions despite our religious beliefs and our right to freedom of conscience. Those rights are God-given, not state-granted. Every person and every religious institution already has from God what is guaranteed in our Constitution and Bill of Rights: freedom of religion and of conscience.

Now in the middle of Lent I write to you to ask you first of all to pray that God will protect us and our God- given rights as persons and as a Church. Second, I invite you to stay informed and be ready to respond to our calls for help as needed.

Keep your eye on the website of the US Bishops www.usccb.org as well as our news website www.licatholic.org to keep up-to-date and find concrete ways for concerted action. To get involved, please consider joining grass roots advocacy groups forming in parishes across the Diocese, such as Catholics for Freedom of Religion www.catholicsforfreedomofreligion.com. I encourage you to consider participation in such a group. Let our Senators and your Congressperson know that you and I have not lost interest. Tell them we are resolute in insisting on this most basic freedom, the freedom of religious belief and the protection of conscience. To contact your US Senators and Representatives, go to the website of the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment www.nchla.org. Send an email to your Representatives to demand the overturning of the HHS mandate. Plans are also being made for the Second Fortnight for Freedom that will take place this summer. More details about the Fortnight will be forthcoming.

Continue to pray that what is ours by right will be recognized and honored for the good of all. And continue to stand together. Your witness is needed now more than ever.

Devotedly yours in Christ,

Bishop William Murphy

When Obama signed the stimulus bill in 2009, he promised it would provide “help for those hardest hit by our economic crisis.” Clearly, it did not. The states hurt the most, the ones with more foreclosures, unemployment and bankruptcy, got less money than richer states closer to power. Washington, D.C. got the most stimulus money: $7,602 per capita. –Orange County Register

We use this quote a lot on this site. I don’t know if Alexis De Tocqueville ever actually said it. Some say he did some say he didn’t. I don’t care because it’s brilliant and I’m going to beat it into the ground:

“The American republic will endure until the day the Congress realizes it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”

Lewis thinks it is possible for the GOP to not only win the White House in 2016, but to keep the House and take over the Senate next year:

Meanwhile, the Senate seems poised for Republican pickups next year. Democratic incumbents are defending seats in states like Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, North Carolina, and the news keeps getting worse. As the AP’s Thomas Beaumont and David Espo write,

“Republicans must gain six seats to win a majority in the Senate, and South Dakota now leaps to the top of the party’s list of most favorable states. Republican Mike Rounds, a popular former two-term governor, has been campaigning for the seat since last year, though he declined to comment Monday on [U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson's] retirement.”

Full story from Lewis (1 page)

That student, Nick D’Aloisio, a programming whiz who wasn’t even born when Yahoo was founded in 1994, sold his news-reading app, Summly, to the company on Monday for a sum said to be in the tens of millions of dollars. Yahoo said it would incorporate his algorithmic invention, which takes long-form stories and shortens them for readers using smartphones, in its own mobile apps, with Mr. D’Aloisio’s help. –New York Times

There are two ways to date the captain of the cheerleading team in high school: 1) Play quarterback 2) Develop a $30 million smartphone app. Good for Nick D’Aloisio. Revenge of the Nerds, indeed.

Even the Pentagon is trying to go green. It’s spending $510 million over three years to develop new biofuels for ships and tanks. Biofuels cost $27 per gallon, rather than $3.80 per gallon for conventional fuel. With the Pentagon facing a $43 billion sequester this year, in addition to previous cuts of $260 billion over five years, this is not the time for a $510 million experimental program.—MarketWatch (2 pages)

It really brings things into perspective when you realize that a quarter of the jobs in a given industry are dedicated to creating new laws that hurt competing industries—and it still can’t succeed. The EPA does everything it possibly can to squeeze traditional energy out of existence and yet green projects drop dead like its going out of style.

The government is trying to legislate and spend its way to green energy proliferation but they are just grasping for straws. Let the private sector figure it out on its own and just get out of the way.