'Also, a ham and cheese sandwich for the Israeli Ambassador, please'

By Smitty (thanks: Dan Collins)

The Vatican has quietly rejected at least three of President Obama's candidates to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See because they support abortion, and the White House might be running out of time to find an acceptable envoy before Mr. Obama travels to Rome in July, when he hopes to meet Pope Benedict XVI.

Yeah, smart diplomacy: yeah.

UPDATE: 'Lanched!

UPDATE II (RSM): Also linked by Tigerhawk, Little Miss Attila, No Sheeples Here. and Please Hit The Tip Jar. (OK, "Please Hit The Tip Jar" is not the name of a blog, but perhaps it should be.)

Pope Homophobe XVI

If the gay left is having conniptions over Rick Warren -- and, indeed, they are -- maybe Obama can soothe their anger by inviting this other religious dude to speak at the inauguration:

Pope Benedict said on Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.
"(The Church) should also protect man from the destruction of himself. A sort of ecology of man is needed," the pontiff said in a holiday address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration.
"The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less."
The pope said humanity needed to "listen to the language of creation" to understand the intended roles of man and woman. He compared behavior beyond traditional heterosexual relations as "a destruction of God's work."
He also defended the Church's right to "speak of human nature as man and woman, and ask that this order of creation be respected."

OK, try this: Joe Biden is a Catholic, right? Caroline Kennedy, Catholic, too. So, how about some reporter ask these two Democratic Catholics what they think about the Pope's statements about homosexuality and "the language of creation"?

Never gonna happen. Nobody in the press corps ever thinks to ask these questions of Democrats, so Biden and Kennedy get to parade around as if they're pious Catholics without ever having to discuss the church's actual doctrine or theology. But let a Republican evangelical like Sarah Palin speak of "God's will" and it's "ooged-boogedy" time!

Deport the Pope?

I think that's what Michelle Malkin's saying:

Open borders benefit Catholic churches looking to fill their pews and collection baskets. The Vatican and American bishops, led by radical L.A. Cardinal Roger Mahony, have long promoted immigration anarchy and lawlesness. Their campaign continues . . .

And then this AP story:

"Americans have always been a people of hope," he said. "Your ancestors came to this country with the experience of finding new freedom and opportunity.
"To be sure, this promise was not experienced by all the inhabitants of this land; one thinks of the injustices endured by the native American peoples and by those brought here forcibly from Africa as slaves." . . .
Following a White House visit, a joint statement from the U.S. and the Vatican hinted that Benedict raised concerns with President Bush about punitive immigration laws. It said the leaders discussed "the need for a coordinated policy regarding immigration, especially the humane treatment of immigrants and the well-being of their families."

You want to talk about "injustices," Herr Ratzinger? No, I don't think you want to go there.

Instead, let's talk about that little American history lesson you recited. I don't know about other people's ancestors, but my ancestors came over in wooden sailing ships, at a time when the trans-Atlantic crossing was a dangerous journey. My ancestors risked their lives to reach an America that was then a roadless wilderness of dark forests, wild beasts, deadly diseases and (potentially) hostile savages.

My ancestors didn't just hop a bus to Laredo or book a flight to LAX. My ancestors didn't overstay a tourist visa. My ancestors didn't come to a fully developed industrial nation of 300 million people, a representative democracy c0mplete with air conditioning, cable TV, interstate highways, public schools, and a generous welfare state.

My ancestors fought and bled for America. Dad took a nice hunk of shrapnel while fighting the Nazis in France. So, please, Herr Ratzinger, don't talk to me about my ancestors as if their experience somehow legitimizes your open-borders ideology.

That kind of moral-equivalence crap doesn't fool me. America is our country, and if somebody else wants to come here, they have to ask our permission and follow our laws.

Auf Wiedersehen.