Catholic Church in Florida puts Osama Bin Laden on Prayer List

This is what can happen when Churches get lukewarm. A parishioner at a Catholic church in West Palm Beach, FL submitted a prayer request for none other than Osama Bin Laden. The church apparently took the next step and published the request in its bulletin. Some may have seen it as some kind of mistake but the pastor appears to have doubled down and is defending the act by saying those who don't like it are simply being ruled by irrational emotions.

Via WPTV 5:

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The name of Osama bin Laden appears in the Holy Name of Jesus Sunday bulletin. There's a cross next to it.

A parishioner made a prayer request for the mastermind behind the 9/11 attack on America.

A church secretary took the Mass intention a week ago. She admitted she thought it was a joke at first. But few are laughing.

"I think it's totally wrong, he doesn't belong in the Catholic religion. For what he did to Americans, he doesn't belong anywhere," says Lois Pizzano, a Catholic Church member. "It's unconscionable, it's sacrilegious," said Pizzano.

Father Gavin Badway admits many in his congregation are unhappy. But he says the church has never turned down a prayer request before. He says making the right decision isn't always easy.

"Their hearts are troubled because they're thinking emotionally about what he has done and he has done a lot of evil. Nevertheless, Jesus tells us, love and forgive," says Father Badway, who is the church pastor.

Just because Christians are commanded to love their enemies doesn't mean Osama Bin Laden's name should appear in the church bulletin and be read aloud in prayer. Someone should ask the priest the last time a Jew or Christian appeared in a Mosque bulletin as anything other than a target of hate.

This is beyond shameful.

h/t Weasel Zippers

ATF Whistleblower Translates Univision Interview with Mexican President

Rene Jacquez is one of the ATF agents who decided to blow the whistle on his agency months ago. He has just translated an interview that Univision conducted with Mexican president Felipe Calderon about the gun crimes in Calderon's country. Calderon denies having had any prior knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious, an ATF operation that allowed guns to 'walk' into Mexico. There are two very specific things from this interview that should at the very least, cause one to question the premise that says Calderon was unaware.

First, note how Mexico's president makes the case for reinstating the Assault Weapons Ban that expired in 2004. He manipulates statistics in order to call for bringing it back. Evidence points to the ATF's Fast and Furious having the same objective. By instructing gun dealers to sell weapons to bad guys, the ATF - and by extension, the Obama administration - could blame the violence on American gun dealers. Why is Calderon still advocating for the gun ban in light of this evidence?

The second red flag is Calderon's admission that Mexico is indeed going after American gun dealers and manufacturers. Again, why would Mexico be doing that in light of what is now known?

Here is Jacquez's post Via CleanupATF via David Codrea:

UNIVISION NEWS TRANSCRIPT

Program: Al Punto

Content: Interview with Felipe Calderon, President of Mexico

Air Date: May 15, 2011
Key
PSC: Pamela Silva Conde
FC: President Felipe Calderon


PSC: Speaking of those bilateral relations, in your last interview with Univision, you said and I quote, “if there wasn't a flow of U.S. weapons to criminals in Mexico, we wouldn't have the death rate we have.” Do you blame the U.S. for the most part for those deaths in Mexico?

FC: I insist that it is a crucial factor. Look, it is clear that after the Assault Weapons Ban, the law banning the sale of assault weapons in the United States, which expired in 2004, the spiral of violence in Mexico began in 2005. In the four years I have been president of Mexico, we have already confiscated or seized more than 100,000 weapons.

PSC: PRESIDENT OBAMA TOLD US IN AN UNIVISION INTERVIEW THAT HE DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THE “FAST AND FURIOUS” OPERATION, AND THAT YOU ALSO DID NOT KNOW. WHEN DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT THIS OPERATION AND IS THERE ALREADY A COUNT OF MEXICAN DEATHS DUE TO “FAST AND FURIOUS”?

FC: Basically I heard about it through the media when this subject started to surface with statements by some members of the ATF. Obviously it is an issue of great concern. This operation has to be investigated in its entirety, but certainly we are unaffiliated with the operation itself. One of those weapons was the one that killed officer Zapata, an American agent in Mexico. So the “would have” does not exist in this case. The fact is that we did not know; what I will continue to support are the actions, within the law and respect that we owe each other as countries, that American agencies take to stop the criminal flow of arms into Mexico. Look I will tell you the truth. In my view the sale of arms is fundamentally a matter of economic interest for those who manufacture and sell guns in the United States. And this interest cannot be put above the lives of thousands of people who are dying due to that indiscriminate flow.

PSC: AND PRECISELY, IS IT TRUE THAT MEXICO HAS HIRED NORTH-AMERICAN LAWYERS TO ANALYZE THE POSSIBILITY OF FILING LAWSUITS AGAINST U.S. FIREARMS MANUFACTURERS AND DEALERS? AT WHAT STAGE IS THIS PROCESS?

FC: It is true. We are exploring the possibility of legal action because don’t have other options. We have sometimes “shouted in the desert,” as the Scripture says, for this nonsense to stop. In other words, those thousands of guns sold is pure business that is killing people. So, yes, we are exploring the legal avenues by which we can stop this.

Here is Jacquez in an interview with CBS's Sharyl Attkisson back in March:

ATF Shuffling the Deck in Preparation for Hearings?

If actions do speak louder than words, the ATF is screaming from the rooftops. There are major shakeups taking place within the agency as Eric Holder and the Justice Department continue to stonewall over serious and legitimate questions about the agency's handling of Project Gunrunner's Fast and Furious operation. An insider also calls the lengths to which the agency is going with respect to the staff changes as 'unprecedented.' This could be a very clear sign that the ATF is shuffling the deck in preparation for hearings in front of Darrell Issa's Oversight committee.

Via CBS News:

CBS News has learned that virtually all the top ATF managers in Phoenix involved in the controversial "Fast and Furious" operation have been reassigned and replaced. The shake-up comes in the wake of the gunwalking scandal in which ATF allegedly allowed more than 2500 weapons to hit the streets or "walk."

Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Bill Newell has been replaced by the former Detroit SAC Tom Brandon. Newell was reassigned to ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. shortly after CBS News interviewed an ATF agent-turned-whistleblower about the alleged gunwalking.

Two new Assistant Special Agents in Charge (ASACs) have also moved into the ATF Phoenix office: Joe Anarumo of Miami and Tom Atteberry of Kansas City. Sources say they replace the ASACs who oversaw Fast and Furious in Phoenix: George Gillett, who's being reassigned to Washington D.C. headquarters; and Jim Needles, who's been tasked to the Phoenix U.S. Attorney's office.

"This is unprecedented and welcome," says one insider, who describes the new Phoenix management as "the A-Team" and "respected."

This is what happens when you turn the light on in a room full of cockroaches.

Sipsey Street has also posted an internal ATF memo that tells employees what to produce in response to the subpoena Darrell Issa issued several weeks ago. It looks like May 27th is the deadline the agency is imposing on getting all of the documents ready for Issa's committee.

Check it out. It's VERY LENGTHY.