The Right Wing and its smear machine is at it again. One of President Obama's nominees needs your help.

President Obama has nominated Chai Feldblum to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Feldblum has had an exemplary career culminating in her current role as a Full Professor of Law at Georgetown University and Director of the  Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic.

But since her nomination, she has been vilified by the Right Wing, and attacked specifically by the Catholic Right Wing. In an editorial on CatholicOnline, Deacon Keith Fournier wrote:

Founier is essentially saying that Feldbaum's advocacy of basic human rights under the law somehow threatens the very fabric of the nation. We must counter this hysterical nonsense.

Show your support by signing this petition, and contacting your elected representitives.

I was born a Catholic, baptized within a week of my birth and raised in a Catholic family and Catholic community.  I attended Catholic schools and weekly Mass, received my childhood sacraments with my classmates, and participated enthusiastically in Catholic youth programs, retreats, and community service activities.   Most of our families’ social connections were also Catholic – our doctors, our plumber, our scout troops, and our swimming pool were all from within the local Catholic community.  I was a Catholic every day of the week, and my identity and my expectations of myself were firmly grounded in Catholic thought.

As a teenager in a Catholic high school in the 1970s, I studied the Documents of Vatican II in religion class, debating the role of the Church in the modern world and our social responsibilities to those who were less fortunate or whose beliefs differed from ours.   We discussed the nuances of conscience formation and discernment, social and ethical implications of the Gospel message, and our obligations to put our faith into action.  We considered all these issues within the framework of Catholic Catechism and teachings.  This solid religious upbringing stayed with me as I moved through college and graduate school, and I remain a committed Catholic.

I am no casual Catholic; I attend Sunday Mass as well as weekday and holiday celebrations, and my religion permeates every aspect of my life.  I am a Democrat because I believe that the actions that the Republicans have taken on issues such as war, poverty, health care, discrimination, and religious tolerance are completely at odds with my religious beliefs.  Admittedly, the stances of those in the Democratic Party are not always aligned with my religious beliefs either, but their center is much closer to my beliefs and the message of Christian compassion with which I was raised.

My Republican friends will often throw the abortion issue at me; I am told that if I don’t vote only for candidates who support the unqualified criminalization of abortion, then that somehow makes me un-Catholic.  Not only does that completely ignore all the other important life issues facing us as Americans, but it simplifies the abortion issue to focus only on its legal status, rather than its actual practice.   We know that the best way to reduce abortions is to address issues of poverty and health care, yet Republicans refuse to consider those issues.  We know that desperate women will find ways to terminate pregnancies even if those methods are illegal, dangerous or difficult, yet I find few Republicans who are willing to consider providing the services that will prevent those desperate unplanned pregnancies in the first place.   It seems to me that too much of the Republican approach to social issues is based on a sexual Puritanism that is rooted in fantasy rather than the reality of our diverse American culture.  My Catholic perspective causes me to reject that puritanical moralizing; I feel that the Democratic message of tolerance and understanding is far better aligned with the teachings of Christ.

It is strange to me that so many assume that a religious Catholic will also be a Republican.  I am dismayed when I hear the Catholic Republicans around me proudly use their politics as a testament to their religiosity, while in the same breath cheerfully endorsing the death penalty, aggression toward other countries, discrimination against others, denial of health care, and intolerance toward other religions.  This, to me, is no way to be a faithful Catholic.  I am a Democrat because that is where my faith has led me, and I could not possibly be anything else.

I am a Catholic Democrat because of my strong social beliefs . First and foremost, I am anti-war. I would not send someone else's child into war, if I am not willing to send my own child into that same war. I have become very involved in the peace movement in this country to try and stop the senseless killing.

I also have compassion for the poor, care about the environment, and believe every working person is entitled to a fair wage and fair housing. Healthcare is another issue that should be a basic right and not for the few privileged who can afford to pay whatever the insurance companies charge.

How can someone call themselves a Catholic and ignore the following: All those killed by war, the poor in this country who go hungry every day,those that must choose between getting the medicine they need or putting food on the table, workers who do not earn enough to provide proper housing for themselves and their families,and the children born into poverty, to name a few.

For those who are now thinking this person must be pro-abortion. I personally would never have an abortion. Although abortion is an important issue, it is not the only issue. Some of the other social problems affect many more people than abortion ever will. I feel very strongly about these social issues, and for that reason cannot identify with the Republican party.