And more's the pity:
Former Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith is claiming President George W. Bush was unaware that there were two major sects of Islam just two months before the President ordered troops to invade Iraq
The national media are obsessed with Mel Gibson's drunken, anti-Semitic tirade. You can't turn on a cable news channel without being affronted by "expert" panels meticulously dissecting Herr Gibson's psyche every which way 'til Tuesday.
Yeah, let's condemn it but can we drop the sanctimony? I'm sure that none of those talking-heads feigning breathless outrage have ever, even once, uttered a racial, ethnic, or religious slur. I sure haven't! And neither, I'm certain, have any of you good people...
It's ironic, though, that during the Gibson maelstrom -- throughout which, we've unanimously agreed that religious bigotry and "hate" are to be condemned from the ramparts -- Comedy Central chose to rerun its infamous South Park episode: Bloody Mary.
In a nutshell: a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary is found to be bleeding "from her ass" and rubes (including a caricature of Pope Benedict XVI) line up to have their heads signed with the anal blood.
So here we have a wildly successful, award winning cartoon on a major cable network -- shored up by Corporate America's advertising dollars -- mocking the pope and dragging Jesus Christ's Mother through the sewer. (For the second time. The show originally aired last Christmas...) And, predictably, there's no outrage.
I've yet to see the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad aired on the Daily Show (another Comedy Central offering) and I'm sure the Gibson saga will be played until his career is boxed and planted but attacks on Christianity -- from corporate boardrooms - will proceed with impunity.
You can freely assault the faith of billions, drag the most sacred feminine religious symbol in human history through the mud, and portray Pope Benedict with (farted) anal blood all over his face but never, ever forget that Mel Gibson is an anti-Semite.
Ok, well, just "truth and justice" then if it'll bring in more bean overseas... (Dropping "American way" from the Man of Steel's motto wounded my traditionalist soul...)
I can't write movie reviews, I'm terrible at it. But after sitting in an IMAX theater for 2 1/2 hours watching Superman, I just have to say a word or two. Not a review -- or even a commentary -- just a series of observations.
I would have hated this movie if I didn't like it so damned much. My expectations were low going in so keeping me awake for 2 1/2 hours made it a genuine hit.
What I liked:
James Bamford's MUST READ at Rolling Stone. Here's the intro:
Even before the bombs fell on Baghdad, a group of senior Pentagon officials were plotting to invade another country. Their covert campaign once again relied on false intelligence and shady allies. But this time, the target was Iran.
This morning I was searching for info on the amazing discovery of a 9th Century Psalter in an Irish field (found it) and stumbled upon some suprisingly strong comments by the Irish Government relative to the war in Lebanon.
I guess Kofi isn't alone in suggesting that the Israeli attack on the UN post was something less than accidental:
He [Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern] said events during the conflict would lead one to believe that there was targeting of some of these areas or at least some reckless activity by the Israeli forces.
[snip]
Earlier the Taoiseach [Prime Minister], Bertie Ahern, said he was appalled by the UN deaths and condemned the continuing use by Israel of reckless and disproportionate force.
Folks in Idaho like the president. And that's a good thing because it's one of only four states where the Emperor currently enjoys a plurality of support. [The others being: Texas +1%), Wyoming (+3%), and Utah, which loves him best at (+18%)!]
The other 46 states give a collective thumbs down to the "Commander-in-Chief" (with varying degrees of intensity) but my next door neighbor, Rhode Island, gets the prize for giving His Honor his worst overall approval rating at an abysmal 23/75%!
My guess is that there won't be any suprise presidential visits to the Newport Jazz Festival this year...
The Joementum's in the shitter...
Yesterday, President Clinton came to Connecticut to stump -- it would appear, reluctantly -- for Uncle Joe.
The choice of Waterbury for a venue would seem significant. It was in that Democrat-ridden city on November 6, 1960, that more than 40,000 people waited on the Green until 3 AM for (candidate) John F. Kennedy to make a brief campaign stop on his way back to Boston. Stunned by the size of the early morning crowd, Kennedy said:
My debt to Connecticut is great, and I come here in the last 48 hours of this campaign to the greatest rally that we have had in this entire campaign, right here in this city.
[snip]
Anyway, New England has not had a Democratic President since Franklin Pierce, 104 years ago, and I think it is about time! [Applause]
[snip]
I promised the mayor that I would have you all in bed by three. [Response from the audience.] I want to just say, and I mean it: No.1, this is the biggest crowd we have had in a city of this size in the United States; No.2, it is not 12 o'clock, it is 3 o'clock in the morning. [Applause.] And I must say every day I keep reading the Vice President [Nixon] says the tide is suddenly going in his direction. [Response from the audience.] Well, I think the tide is rising in Connecticut that is just going to wash him all the way out. [Applause.]
After reading a synopsis of the latest attempt by the GOP Congress to fortify the unchecked power of the executive branch (via Independent Country), I was reminded of a quote I once read on the subject of liberty.
It took some doing, but I finally found the quote in an old American History textbook:
We have always looked upon men as a set of beings naturally free: - And it is a truth, which the history of the ages and the common experience of mankind have fully confirmed, that a people can never be divested of those individual rights and liberties which are necessary to their happiness, to the well-being of communities or to a well regulated state, but by their own negligence, imprudence, timidity or rashness. They are seldom lost, but when foolishly forfeited or tamely resigned.
Jonas Clarke
Pastor of Lexington Church
On the Eve of the American Revolution
I envy people who can see the world and its myriad crises in black and white. No shades of gray for them; just a rigid manichæism that banishes all doubt.
They exist on both ends of the political spectrum and nothing illuminates their poltical philosophy better than the Israeli-Arab conflict.
The hardcore Left villifies Israel and the extreme neo-right get out their pom-poms and lead the cheers whenever Israel "gets tough" with terrorists. (Or Arab civilians and critical infrastructure, for that matter.) The latter position is, of course, the one held by the Bush administration.
As Boston University Anthropology and International Relations professor, Augustus Norton, offers:
I've been studying American foreign policy in the Middle East for 34 years and I can't recall any U.S. president who has subordinated American interests to Israeli interests like this one. The administration is being naïve about how this is going to reverberate elsewhere, in places like Iraq. Israel is primarily targeting Shiite Muslims and that's going to fuel the sectarianism that is feeding the civil war in Iraq. We have other concerns we should be looking out for—but George Bush apparently feels that American interests and Israeli interests coincide, so we have a no-show foreign policy.
I know that Evangelicals subscribe to a rather peculiar Christology, but their ability to (mis)use the Gospel to justify -- and even to celebrate -- war, without enduring even the slightest pang of conscience, leaves me at a loss for words.
Let's face it, even Christians with a highly developed Theology of war (See Catholic Encyclopedia entry here) have to sense an uneasy contradiction between "justified violence" and the message of the Prince of Peace.
For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son—both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die. [Ezekiel 18:4]
“Lord, please hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen.”
Look high up into the dome of the US Capitol and you'll see Constantine Brumidi's (in)famous fresco, "The Apotheosis of George Washington".
Disturbing from a republican (small "r") perspective, Brumidi depicted the Father of Our Country in beatific glory with the triumphs of American arts and sciences (as well as a few pagan deities) as his eternal companions.
It's all very nice but it -- like the god-awful building that houses it -- is a bit too imperial for my tastes. (It grieves my Libertarian soul...)
Enter General Washington's 42nd successor...
Putting aside the very real possibility that George W. Bush has absolutely no idea who the first president was, he's not exactly immune to the royal pretensions that were thrust upon General Washington long after his death. (We all know that Washington refused the crown; let alone the halo). But George W. Bush suffers from no such republican angst. (again, notice the small "r" there) He hasn't been offered the crown (yet) but thanks to a boot licking Afghan rug maker, he's got his halo.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Apotheosis of George W. Bush:
There's Jesus showering blessings upon his High Priest, George W. Bush, while the angels look on in absolute rapture. Here's the scoop:
[...US Army reservist and Pulaski County State's Attorney, Grayson]Gile's mission - one he chose to embrace - involves a very special rug handcrafted by an Afghan man anxious to show his gratitude to President George W. Bush for this country's efforts to bring democracy to Afghanistan.
The colorful and beautifully crafted rug was hand-knotted by an elderly Hazara man from Kabul. The Hazaras, believed to be descendants of Ghengis Khan, were one of the most persecuted ethnic minorities in the Middle Eastern country prior to the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance's war with the Taliban.
[snip]
Gile was astonished when he saw the hand-knotted rug, a portrait of Bush, filled with Christian and Catholic symbolism. Filling the center of the rug is an incredible likeness of Bush, dressed in religious vestments, standing at a podium decorated with the official seal of the country and flanked by two waving American flags.
Directly above Bush is Jesus with a sacred heart and stigmata carefully knotted into the rug's pattern. The rug also shows cherubs and, apparently in an homage to both Bush and a fallen Northern Alliance leader, two lions.
If Americans know anything at all about history (or grammar, or math) then credit TV.
Every Saturday morning -- interspersed among our animated favorites -- ABC would run three minute Schoolhouse Rock cartoons which have to be the most successful educational experiment in American history. (They definitely had it all over the public schools!)
When I was in high school, we had to write the preamble to the Constitution on a history exam. Before we could even put pen to paper the teacher shouted, "and you can't sing it!!" (Most people will get that reference.)
Here's an old fav that made an entire generation of Americans hate those tyrannical old Brits!
Here's the MSNBC transcript on the Immigration bill:
It is a pig story! It’s animal farm all over again. And also make no bones about it, it’s the greedy Jews that were behind it because the people of America walked away from them and they need to bring in people from the Third World who are still gullible enough to sit there and listen to the Zionists…the Jews were behind this, the Jews started this a year ago. The neocons flooded the streets because they cannot get blind obedience anymore amongst educated white people who have caught onto the racket and instead they need to import dummies. That’s the story and it is not difficult for you to understand—I’m telling you the truth. It’s all about greed. It’s greed at the top of the Jewish establishment.
Make no mistake about why this is happening. This has nothing to do with compassion for Mexican workers. This has nothing to do with fairness for Mexican workers—it has to do with the greed…. That’s all there is to it. And that includes the Zionist pigs. And if you don’t like it, don’t listen to the show—I really don’t care anymore. I’m not going to be duped by this sanctimonious garbage that all religions are good and that the institution itself is good. Bah humbug. Judaism is rotten from the top to the bottom.
I'm not a big fan of the online quiz but there are times when I just can't help myself. This was one of them:
| You scored as Sox Fanatic.
|
I love this country...
Poll: Most Say U.S. Needs Warrant to Snoop
WASHINGTON - A majority of Americans want the Bush administration to get court approval before eavesdropping on people inside the United States, even if those calls might involve suspected terrorists, an AP-Ipsos poll shows.
[snip]
Yet 56 percent of respondents in an AP-Ipsos poll said the government should be required to first get a court warrant to eavesdrop on the overseas calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens when those communications are believed to be tied to terrorism.
Agreeing with the White House, some 42 percent of those surveyed do not believe the court approval is necessary. [Emphasis mine]
And he wasn't kidding!
Has anyone noticed the Pope's wardrobe? I know most people could care less but I think the Vaticanologists and religion reporters are missing a quiet revolution going on right before our eyes. More important, it seems, than what Pope Benedict writes or how Pope Benedict speaks is what Pope Benedict wears.
John Paul liked to dress down. Memories of his mega-Masses call to mind simple, solid color vestments and a no-frills style. Benedict, by contrast, presents as a pontiff straight out of the 18th Century. Consider:
This man likes being pope...
John Paul showed up everywhere in a simple white cassock and sensible brown shoes. Benedict is all about the red velvet cape (mozzetta) and brocade stolls:
And ya gotta dig the pontifical footwear:
But this is the most jarring image of all:
No, the Holy Father isn't playing Santa Claus - that red, ermine trimmed cap is called a camoura. And as far as ecclesiastical dress codes go, only the pope is allowed to wear one. Thing is, no pope has worn one publically in decades. (Even though John Paul wore the camoura for an official portrait early in his pontificate, he would not have been caught dead wearing one in public. And speaking of dead, John XXIII was buried -- over 40 years ago -- with a camoura on his head. So there ya go!)
And with the change of wardrobe came an overhaul of Vatican communications. The late pope did his writing in Polish and had it translated into Latin just before its official release. Not so with Pope Benedict. Word has it that official communications to and from the Pope are composed in Latin in the first instance. So popular, in fact, has Latin become that aspiring young seminarians have oversubscribed Latin classes at Rome's pontifical universities.
And with the uptick in Latin comes the rumor that by next Christmas, Benedict will have restored the Latin Mass alongside the vernacular in parish churches throughout Christendom.
So when that old Cardinal strode out on the balcony of St Peter's last April and announced, "Habemus Papam!", he wasn't kidding!
Out of sheer laziness, I'll just re-run the Christmas Eve post from last year. On second thought, let's not call it laziness, let's call it a blogging tradition:
___________________
It's Christmas Eve and I'm taking a two day vacation from this pitiful blog.
Whatever you are - Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile, Muslim or Hindu, Democrat or Rebublican, good American or Massachusetts Liberal - I wish peace and goodwill to you all.
"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." [St. Luke 2:1-14]
New Englanders are cheap...
PORTLAND, Maine - New Englanders remain among the most tightfisted in the country when it comes to charitable giving while Bible Belt residents are among the most generous, according to an annual index.
[snip]
Using that standard, the 10 most generous states were, in descending order, Mississippi, Arkansas, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Utah, South Carolina and West Virginia.
The 10 stingiest, starting from the bottom, were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Minnesota, Colorado, Hawaii and Michigan.
AP Headline - Monday, November 7: "Bush Declares: 'We Do Not Torture'"
AP Headline - Saturday, November 5: "Cheney Seeks CIA Exemption to Torture Ban"
I don't get it but, hey, I just read that beer fights disease so there must be a God who is infinitely wise and, ultimately, capable of figuring out George W. Bush...
God Loves Soldiers but, for some reason or another, He hates Swedes. (Brought to you by the God Hates Fags folks.)
.......... St. John 11:35
