Bruni and Dowd for your Sunday

In the NY Times today, both Frank Bruni and Maureen Dowd have excellent columns about the Pope and Roman Catholicism. It's a Mother's Day extravaganza. Since the Times keeps its stories behind a paywall, I'm providing readers with free links to both. Here you go.

Bruni says:

Those matters take center stage in an expanded employment contract that the Archdiocese of Cincinnati is forcing on more than 2,000 teachers, some of whom are refusing to sign it. In what the document does and doesn’t spell out, it sends the tired message that virtue resides in whom you share your bed with and how you do or don’t procreate.

And Dowd says:

The cool pope suddenly doesn’t seem so cool, allowing Rome’s grand inquisitors to torque up the derogation this Mother’s Day of the American sisters who have mothered so many — even as an endless parade of ghoulish priests were shielded as they defiled vulnerable kids in their care.

Both columns are terrific. What are you waiting for? Go read them.

Slimy Vatican tactics at the UN

If you thought Pope Francis changed everything, think again. The U.N. is looking into the, you know, child-raping that Catholic priests engage in without ever facing legal consequences.

The link leads to a BBC story about a UN panel that demanded answers from the "Holy See", in the person of Archbishop Tomasi. Just listen to the responses made by the Vatican rep:

At the Geneva hearing, CRC member Sara Oviedo said: "The Holy See has not established any mechanism to investigate those accused of perpetrating sexual abuse, nor to prosecute them."

Another question from the panel asked why the Vatican continued to describe abuse as an offence against morals rather than a crime against children.

"Does the Holy See believe that paedophilia is something that can be successfully overcome?" was another question.

"To prevent abuse of minors is a real, immediate concern," Archbishop Tomasi said.

On prosecution of offenders, he said priests were "not functionaries of the Vatican but citizens of their countries and fall under the jurisdiction of their own countries".

When asked if the Vatican would hand over Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a Polish papal envoy recalled from the Dominican Republic in September amid claims of sexual abuse there, Archbishop Tomasi said he was being investigated by the Vatican's own prosecutors.

A member of the CRC asked about the Church's practice of moving priests suspected of abuse.

"The question of what I would call offender mobility is of great concern," said Bishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican's former chief prosecutor of clerical sexual abuse. "It is a no-go simply to move people from one diocese to another... That is policy that has to be followed."

Every one of those responses is craven. It's like the Vatican thinks there is nothing to apologize for, nothing to fix, no reason to invite criminal investigation of the rapes. Hey, Pope Francis: new leaf, my ass -- or rather, the kids' asses. The church sounds like the goddamn mafia -- or some lowlife firm hired to defend the GOP.

These aren't the responses of "moral" people. They're excuses and prevarications that make no sense and have no reality at their core. The church is doing absolutely nothing to stop the child-raping proclivities of its priests. And they don't believe they're responsible for any of it. Not. One. Thing.

Hey, pope Frankie, either you get real or some legal entity needs to figure out how to jail the thousands of priests that you're protecting. And then you need to hold massive meetings at the "Holy See" to try and figure out if any of you have a clue what the word "morality" means. Good luck with that.

Timmy Dolan wins "Most Craven" award

There's an article in the NYT this morning with this headline: "Dolan calls Pope's tone on sexual morality a breath of fresh air". Are you roaring with laughter? You should be.

Archbishop Timmy Dolan has been the Catholic voice of anti-gay hatred in the United States for many years. It is he, more than any other Catholic cleric, who has fought acceptance of gay people in every state of our country. He is, without a doubt, the primary voice of anti-gay Catholic hatred in the United States.

Ah, but then the new pope says nice things about gay people...and suddenly we hear that Timmeh:

"embraced the 'magnificent interview' in which the pope chastised the church for its obsession with sexual morality, and called him 'a breath of fresh air'.”  

Craven. There's no other word for this man. Here's a bit more:

The pope’s message, Cardinal Dolan said, was that “we don’t look at people first and foremost as their sexual orientation or sexual identification; we look at him as a child of God, made in his image and likeness.” He added: “That’s the glasses we use. Everything else is secondary, so I hope that hits home.” 

But Timmy, you're a hateful, anti-gay bigot. Remember? No, well we do and we'll never forget. Hypocrisy seems to be built into this church.

Sleazy Putin

Sleazy is the perfect word for an op-ed in the NYT today, allegedly written by Vlad Putin hisself. I won't run it down here. Russia is trying to sound more sensible than Obama; that's it in a nutshell. But I think it's amusing that the op-ed ends with this sentence:

We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal. 

Are you roaring with laughter? You should be.

Kerry's little Syria chat

I found it difficult to watch John Kerry emote yesterday on the subject of Syria.

The whole bit stank. See, you can't assume the high ground when you're not standing on it. His words could just as easily apply to things the US has done repeatedly:

"What we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world. It defies any code of morality. Let me be clear. The indiscriminate torture of random suspects, the launching of a pre-emptive war against the wrong country, the use of drones to attack people who may or may not be terrorists, and the consequent drone attacks on those who come to help the afflicted after such drone attacks, indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by waterboarding, drone attack chemical weapons is a moral obscenity. By any standard, it is inexcusable."

Sorry, John. The US doesn't get to talk like that anymore. Tell you what, why don't you just go sit in a back room and listen in on some American conversations? Maybe it's best to let, you know, the other countries handle this one.

America's decline has real-life consequences. The US no longer has the right to pontificate to other countries. So get off the high horse, John. You can't ride it anymore.

Piggy Timmy drops another turd: Pope was "high"

Cardinal Timmy Dolan is an ugly man. And he has a blog. In a post called "What the Holy Father Said", he further "clarifies" the pope's kind words toward gays. I guess Timmy didn't say enough nasty shit on TV, so he moved to the internet to let loose. Here's how he begins his post:

Well, since everybody else is talking about it, I guess I should.

Timmy, you haven't shut up about it since it happened. He goes on (and on, and on):

I’m speaking about, of course, the Holy Father’s remarks to the journalists on the plane returning from World Youth Days in Brazil. For one, the Pope was visibly “on a high” from his first international pastoral visit in Rio.

So the poor pope didn't even know what he was saying? Cuz he was too high from all the adulation? Apparently, at least according to Timmy.

Two, mercy is the word that seems to summarize Francis’ talks...Three, mercy was not just the theme of those radiant World Youth Days in Rio, but also of his now renowned hour-and-twenty minute comfortable conversation with the press on the plane.

So that explains it. The pope was just feeling too merciful when he said those kind words about gays. Cuz he was too "high" from his trip. Ah, now we see.

So, his brief remarks on homosexuality were about mercy...No change in Church teaching here . . . or no intended “correction” to a more “dour” approach by his predecessors. 

He's referring here to Benedict's dyspeptic remarks about gays. We all know how hateful closet cases can be, and Benedict was a major closet case. But according to Timmeh, the new pope's kind words do not erase the old pope's hateful words. (Benedict said those with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" shouldn't be accepted for the priesthood, and it is he who invented the tag "intrinsically disordered" for gay lives.) Sweet, sweet man, that Benedict. Kinda like Timmy Dolan, come to think of it. But no, Timmy assures us the new, kind words mean absolutely nothing. Gay is still very, very bad. Thanks, Timmy!

Then he veers aside for a moment to take a gratuitous stab at women priests, saying women "hardly need a Roman collar to lead and serve in the Church."

Ah, so the church won't ordain them because they "hardly need a Roman collar", eh? Sweet, Timmy. Just like everything you say. And it's very "catholic" of you to take the time to stab women when you're mostly knifing gays.

Then he wonders if the "Holy Father is frustrated" by all the coverage generated by his remarks about gays.

But, as usual, the press predictably brought these weary issues up, and have given them more ink than any of the other noble themes that rang through Copacabana Beach.  It’s not the Church that is obsessed with those topics, but the media!

Yes, Timmy. And that's why you spend 80% of your time fighting gay marriage. Because the media is "obsessed" by these topics. But not you. You're a rootin', tootin', prayin' man made in jeebus' image. How lucky for you. If you'd been born a girl, you probably would have become a waitress -- because it would allow you to flap your mouth at the customers all day long. But jeebus had a plan for you. That's why he gave you a penis. God sure knows what he's doing, huh?

Go away, Timmy. Just go away. All you do in these appearances is flaunt the rotten state of your soul. Then again, your remarks probably push more people away from your evil church, so I guess it doesn't matter. But you sure are sickening.

Pope Francis not very nice, really

The Catholic church continues to amaze me. Readers might at first experience pink, fuzzy, hopeful thoughts on seeing this in the news today:

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis overhauled the laws that govern the Vatican City State on Thursday, criminalizing leaks of Vatican information and specifically listing sexual violence, prostitution and possession of child pornography as crimes against children that can be punished by up to 12 years in prison. 

Swell, huh? But then you read a little further and come upon this:

It was issued at a critical time, as the Vatican gears up for a grilling by a U.N. committee on its efforts to protect children under a key U.N. convention and prevent priests from sexually abusing them. The Vatican signed and ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990 yet only now — 23 years later — has it updated its legislation to reflect some of the treaty's core provisions. 

So this law was enacted under pressure and it only took 23 years for a pope to pipe up and say something about protecting kids. Oh, and the law only covers priests and lay people who work or live in Vatican City. For Catholic priests stationed all around the world, it's business as usual.

That's quite a religion they've got there.

The United States has lost its bearings

I think the reason why I put up two silly posts today (see below) is that I'm depressed. Seeing yet another hero attacked for divulging information about the United States' unconstitutional activities is depressing.

First Bradley Manning and now Edward Snowden. They're heroes. And if the US survives the next two decades in a form that can still be called a democracy, there will be high schools named after them.

The government's vicious pursuit of whistleblowers is so backward, I don't know what to say. The only people who give us accurate information about what our government is doing are persecuted. There's no other word for their treatment.

And at the same time, we read news like this:

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from two American whistleblowers who claim U.S. forces tortured them in Iraq and who want to sue former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Nobama (that's how I think of him, since there's no Obama there -- or at least no person resembling the individual he portrayed himself to be) refuses to go after those who commit the most heinous crimes -- people like Bush and Cheney. But he'll attack with vengeance anyone who steps on his secretive toes. I'm sickened by the state of our country.

Catholic church mumbles about "morality"

They just can't shut up, these Catholic leaders. Let's analyze this for a bit.

In Ohio, a Catholic school (actually, two schools) fired an unmarried female teacher when she became pregnant. So now the woman is suing the diocese in federal court because that's against the law. You cannot fire a woman because she becomes pregnant.

So of course the church, having done something immoral, uses this "opportunity" to expound about morality.

The archdiocese says she was fired because artificial insemination is immoral and violates church doctrine and a contract requiring all employees to "comply with and act consistently in accordance with the stated philosophy and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church." 

Umm, do priests have to sign such a document, or do they have such a promise in their vows? After all, it's widely known that the church doesn't immediately fire a male who rapes a child. In fact, they hardly ever fire such a priest, even after he rapes scads of other kids. That's a minor thing, apparently. But when a woman -- a single filthy woman -- gets pregnant, that's the signal to haul out the heavy artillery. This illustrates the church's priorities nicely.

This is a disgusting church. They still talk about morality, even though they violate all normal senses of the concept -- regularly, often and apparently, in perpetuity. Males don't do wrong; females do. This is a Catholic concept, illustrated through the church's words and actions.

I hope they get shafted by the courts. The woman (Christa Dias) "taught computer technology and had no ministerial duties." There's absolutely no reason why the church should meddle in her private life. That the church did so is immoral.

Try telling that to these bozos. Morality, indeed. They know nothing of the concept. How can anyone be Catholic?

AP finally notices the surveillance state

The Justice Department has secretly obtained two months of telephone records of journalists for The Associated Press in what AP's top executive says is an unprecedented intrusion into newsgathering.

Suddenly, Associated Press cares about this issue. It's disgusting. Now that it's happened to them, it somehow leaps onto their radar. And now they really, really care. Stupid twits.

Bishop has no sense of morality

The leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester, Mass., has been arrested on drunken driving charges in Rhode Island.

Police say Bishop Robert McManus was arrested Saturday night after a hit-and-run accident in Narragansett, R.I. 

What are you gonna do? The bible doesn't say a thing about hit-and-runs while driving drunk -- so it must be okay. I guess that's why this bishop didn't stay behind after hitting someone with his car. The story says they found him at his "vacation house". 

Roman Catholicism has nothing to do with morality. Absolutely nothing. This should be obvious to everyone by now.

CNN on whether Christians are "persecuted"

This is a long article. I read the whole thing and was irritated by the first half, which quoted too many Christian bigots who oppose gay people. But it did include the other side (ours), and did so forcefully. (And then ended with a quote from the twits. Sigh.) Still, if you enjoy these sorts of arguments (Did Christ say homosexuality was wrong? No!) then you might enjoy reading "When Christians Become a Hated Minority". 

There's too much there to excerpt, but I'll toss out this tidbit about Christians saying they are oppressed when they can't shout their hatred of gays from the rooftops:

“That’s whining on the part of people who spend their days and nights attacking gay people and then some people criticize them and they don’t like it,” he says. “That’s pathetic. It reminds me of slave owners complaining that people are saying ugly things about them.”

So our side does make an appearance. I guess overall, I liked the article. As it suggests, at least we're talking about the "controversy". But of course, these gay-hating Christians are just bigots, pure and simple. And that's the truth.

Violent Bangladeshis seek theocracy

Police in Bangladesh's capital fired rubber bullets to disperse stone-throwing Islamic activists Sunday during a protest to demand that the government enact an anti-blasphemy law. 

Police said protesters also set many shops and at least 30 vehicles on fire. Authorities deployed more than 15,000 security forces in the capital.

So why were these gits hell-bent on forcing the country to enact an anti-blasphemy law? Something huge must have precipitated this event, right?

The group says some Internet users have recently used their blogs to spread atheism and lies about Islam. 

There you go. Just another day in the life of god's peaceful people, doing god's work. One man was killed and 45 were injured. But it was done for god, so everything's okay. God is sort of a universal Get Out Of Jail Free card. You can do anything in god's name -- even nuke countries, probably. It must be great to have god on your side.

Conflicting messages on gay players in pro sports

So on the same day that an NBA player comes out, and the NFL distributes a flyer to players, reiterating its "anti-discrimination policy on sexual orientation", it seems Kris Kluwe might lose his NFL job.

He's the very outspoken punter who always stands up for gay rights, like a lion protecting its young. I love the guy because he's wildly intelligent and writes in a wonderful, slashing way. This guy can tear you into ribbons if he wants to. And if you're anti-gay, he wants to. He really, really wants to.

Seriously, on the same day all this happens, they're going to can a guy for his support for gay rights? Here's an outtake from an article about it:

“It’s a shame that in a league with players given multiple second chances after arrests, including felony arrests, that speaking out on human rights has a chance of getting you cut,” Kluwe reportedly told Pro Football Talk via a text message.

You see why I like him. He's never at a loss for words. Let's hope the aura of a good day for gay people in sports will prevail, and Kluwe will keep his job. I think of him as the Dan Choi of the NFL. We have to protect our allies. It's not like we've got a ton of them in pro sports.

The church of sex

Last night while watching the local (NYC) news, I heard a righteous rant. The station has a fairly rightwing guy who opines late in the show (along with a great leftwing funny guy, so you don't mind it so much). Anyway, he chose the Vatican as his sparring partner last night.

What he said was why is my church totally focused on sex? What happened to god and religion? Today's Roman Catholic church is just about opposing contraception, belittling gay couples, fighting against abortion and raping little kids when no one is looking. He was aghast and hoped the new pope would return the religion's focus to, you know, religion.

It was a great rant because it made sense and was easy to understand. The Roman Catholic church is all about sex -- which isn't allowed for priests (right!), single people and teh gays. The only thing priests do anymore is rant about everyone else's sex lives (while refusing to talk about the sex lives of priests). How did this come to pass? When exactly did the Vatican turn Roman Catholicism into the church of sex? And lastly and most importantly, why?

I went to a Catholic high school in the 1960s and even did a semester at a Catholic college. And I assure you no one, including the priests and brothers, was focused on this stuff. This is a new, sick addiction for the church -- and it needs to move on. Somehow, some way, the church must learn that people have a right to govern their own sex lives. And after the priests shut up about sex, if they have something to say about, you know, religion, they should let us know. Until then, the church of sex should be shunned.

Now that it's safe, Hillary is on our side

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced her support for gay marriage Monday, putting her in line with other potential Democratic presidential candidates on a social issue that is rapidly gaining public approval. 

What courage it must have taken for Hillary to say this now that the battle is all but over. What a brave, brave woman she must be.

How DARE they point fingers at cardinals?

I'm taking a break from writing (already!) because I couldn't resist making fun of commenting on this:

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican spokesman says a group representing church sex abuse victims is acting out of "negative prejudices" when criticizing cardinals. 

The nerve of those abuse victims! I can't imagine why they might have "negative prejudices" about the cardinals who failed to stop priestly sex abuse after they were made aware of it. Honestly, the nerve of some of these "victims".

When will these now-adult victims get their act together? And to bring this up now -- at such a sacred moment in the church's heavenly process! Don't they know the cardinals are doing the work of Christ?! These "victims" must be in the employ of Satan!

Is this a great church, or what? Every day they say something stupid. Sometimes I think they do it just for me.

UN says US must prosecute for torture

Ed Brayton's got this covered. I urge you to read his post, which isn't long. I loved the following words, which were included in the UN report:

No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.

There's really no way out of this dilemma. The US violated international treaties. Needless to say, I would love to see Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld in prison for the rest of their lives. It would give new oomph to the phrase, "Oh, joy!"

But I doubt it'll happen. The US will just sink (rise?) further into its new role as "the country that is above the law". Note that the UN is asking the US to prosecute those responsible for torture. Uh-huh. That's like when the police investigate the police; it doesn't work. I'd rather the UN insisted that an international court prosecute the US for torture. But hey, it ain't gonna happen either way.

Bush ruined the United States. It's as simple as that. We'll never be an honorable country again because we are so invested in hiding the crimes of the Bush administration -- which have segued into the crimes of the Obama administration.

And now we hear that Jeb is waiting in the wings. That's quite a family they've got there.

Being Catholic means no dissent

An errant bishop is upset that a newspaper is calling him names. Well, actually it's more than that. He's upset because a newspaper with the word "Catholic" in its name is calling him names. That's double the sin, in his special holy book.

The National Catholic Reporter, an independent Kansas City, Mo.-based weekly, called for Bishop Robert Finn's removal or resignation in September, after he was convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse.

Finn, leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, later wrote in an editorial in his own diocesan newspaper that parishioner anger is growing over the NCR's challenges to Catholic orthodoxy on topics ranging from the ordination of women to contraception.

Yeah, I'll bet it's the "parishioners" who are getting angry. Sorry, Finn, it's you. And what he means is only one thing: don't you dare criticize him. And if you do, you may not use the word "Catholic" in your paper's title.

Because Catholic means you agree to lie down and take everything the church throws at you, no matter how filthy. These bishops think they're god. They're not.

Call for O'Brien to apologize to gays

Remember the cardinal in Scotland who stepped down last week when confronted about sexual overtures to other priests? Well, it turns out he was a major homophobe. The closet cases are always the worst. (Look at Ratzinger if you doubt this. The gay pope was the scourge of gays worldwide.) O'Brien's hateful statements about gays had real-life consequences -- but apparently he doesn't care. Unfortunately for him, gays do care.

Stonewall Chief Executive Ben Summerskill said Monday that the gay-rights group noted "with sadness that the cardinal didn't find it in him to apologize to gay people, their families and friends for the harm his vicious and cruel language caused." 

O'Brien apologized for his sexual behavior, but not his hateful speech against gay people. The latter activity was holy, you see.

O'Brien, 74, had been a staunch advocate of church teaching against homosexuality, calling same-sex marriage "a grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right" and saying that British government plans to legalize same-sex marriage would "shame the United Kingdom in the eyes of the world." 

Last year, Stonewall named O'Brien "Bigot of the Year" for his hard line on homosexuality.

I doubt O'Brien will apologize to the gay community. What a filthy church this is. It's perfect for a monster like this cardinal. Seeing such heinous duplicity within the church makes me sorry there isn't a real hell. Surely O'Brien and Ratzinger would fit well in such a place.

(Just kidding; hell is the most appalling belief of Christians. To not reject the concept of hell is consummate proof that a person is less than human.)