More on the "Blessed" Season . . . .

As Rodney King would say:  "Why can't we all get along?"

From the CBC and other sources today:

Clergymen brawl at Bethlehem church

Fight erupts at traditional site of Jesus' birth

The annual cleaning of one of Christianity's holiest churches deteriorated into a brawl between rival clergy Wednesday, as dozens of monks feuding over sacred space at the Church of the Nativity battled each other with brooms until police intervened.

The ancient church, built over the traditional site of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, is shared by three Christian denominations — Roman Catholics, Armenians and Greek Orthodox. Wednesday's fight erupted between Greek and Armenian clergy, with both sides accusing each other of encroaching on parts of the church to which they lay claim.

_______________

A fragile status quo governs relations among the denominations at the ancient church, and to repair or clean a part of the structure is to own it, according to accepted practice. That means that letting other sects clean part of the church could allow one to gain ground at another's expense.

_______________

Although the roof has needed urgent work for decades, and leaking rainwater has ruined much of the priceless artwork inside, a renovation has been delayed all these years by disagreements among the denominations over who would pay.

Why is this not at all surprising?

How very moral and upright of them . . . .

Bennie's Bedazzled . . . .

Check out Bennie's leer at the 0:56 mark and tell me he's not having impure thoughts . . . .

Clean Catholic Cash . . . .

bennie and his Jerks are the gift that keeps on giving.

Check this out via The Guardian UK today:

Vatican bank chief investigated over money laundering claims

In unprecedented move, judge freezes €23m held in account at financial institution with close church links

* John Hooper in Rome* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 September 2010

The head of the Vatican bank has formally been placed under investigation in an inquiry into a suspected violation of Italy's money-laundering laws, judicial sources said today.

At the same time, a judge in Rome ordered a freeze on €23m (£19.5m) held in an account opened by the Vatican bank, the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), at another financial institution in the Italian capital. It was thought to be the first time such action had been authorised against the IOR in Italy.
_______________

The Vatican has a long history of withholding co-operation from Italian investigators seeking access to its bank's books. The IOR was involved in a major scandal in 1982 arising from the fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano, then Italy's largest private bank.

Well.

Maybe now we have the definitive answer as to how bennie affords all those fabulous pumps he struts around in . . . .

Matt Weighs In . . . .

Matt Taibbi weighs in on the "Vati-scum" - aka, "bennie and the jerks" - in action.

A sample:

That’s all the church is. They’re a giant for-profit company using predatory salesmanship to sell what they themselves know is a defective, outmoded, basically unnecessary product.

The full article here.

As usual, his writing is on-target and verbiage more than entertaining . . . .

True Believers

The two thousand member Baptist church was filled to overflowing capacity one Sunday morning. The preacher was ready to start the sermon when two men, dressed in long black coats and black hats entered thru the rear of the church. 

One of the two men walked to the middle of the church while the other stayed at the back of the church. They both then reached under their coats and withdrew automatic weapons. 

The one in the middle announced, "Everyone willing to take a bullet for Jesus stay in your seats!" 

Naturally, the pews emptied, followed by the choir. The deacons ran out the door, followed by the choir director and the assistant pastor. 

After a few moments, there were about twenty people left sitting in the church. The preacher was holding steady in the pulpit. 

The men put their weapons away and said, gently, to the preacher, "All right, pastor, the hypocrites are gone now. You may begin the service."

The Chris and Stephen Show . . . .

Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry fire shots across the bow at the catholic church.

These are two clips from the BBC's Intelligence Squared presentation of "The catholic church is a Force for Good." Hitchens is up first followed by Ann Widdecombe - a recent convert to catholocism - and Fry finishes up.





bennie and the jerks: 0

Our side: 1 . . . .


H/T BTO

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

bishop Kiddie Porn . . . .

Another of pope bennie's jerks makes the news.

CBC reports today:

Former N.S. bishop charged with possession of child porn
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - CBC

A former Roman Catholic bishop from Nova Scotia is facing child pornography charges.

Raymond Lahey, the former bishop of the diocese of Antigonish, is known as the man who oversaw a $15-million settlement with people who said they had been sexually abused by priests in the diocese dating back to 1950.
















He was returning to Canada from the United States when he was arrested at the Ottawa Airport last week after members of the Canada Border Services Agency performed a random check of his laptop computer.

Lahey has been charged with distributing and selling child pornography. No court date has been set.

_______________


On Saturday, Lahey, 69, announced his resignation as bishop of the Antigonish diocese, which the Vatican accepted.

"We are grateful to him for his dedicated and generous service to the diocese," said Anthony Mancini, archbishop of Halifax, in a statement on Saturday.

In a letter to parishioners, Lahey said he needed time for "personal renewal."

I'm guessing some of that "personal renewal" may be renewing acquaintances with an attorney or two from those settlement days. Those were good times, weren't they, raymond?

Poor bennie.

His jerks just keep messin' up . . . .

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

Southern Baptist Morality Police to the Rescue . . . .

Rednecks, gays and religion.

As Rodney King would say: "Why can't we all get along?"

Per the Star-Telegram.com:

Southern Baptists cut ties with Fort Worth’s Broadway Baptist

June 23, 2009 | By LEE WILLIAMS | Star-Telegram.com

The Southern Baptist Convention kicked out Fort Worth’s Broadway Baptist Church on Tuesday, saying its stance on homosexuality is too lenient.

Convention delegates, known as messengers, voted to end the 127-year relationship with the historic Fort Worth church during the annual convention being held in Louisville, Ky.

_______________


The impasse came to a head last year during a public debate over whether Broadway should allow photographs of same-sex couples in its church directory. The photographs eventually were rejected in favor of group pictures of all church members.

One reason for not allowing photographs of gay couples was to emphasize that the church is in line with the Baptist constitution, which does not include churches that "affirm, approve or endorse" homosexual behavior, according to a letter written to the Southern Bapist Executive Committee.

_______________


Stephen Wilson, a member of the Executive Committee and vice president for academic affairs at Mid-Continent University, said the issue with Broadway is about the church allowing members who are openly homosexual and unrepentant.

"If churches are ministering to homosexuals, they are doing nothing more than what our own convention’s task force has asked us to do," Wilson said. "But in Broadway’s case … the church was in effect saying that it was OK to have members who are open homosexuals."

Dana Carvey's Church Lady might put it this way:

"Well, isn't that special ? ? ? ? "


(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

rick warren "Sick With Exhaustion" . . . .

Does the good pastor really expect us to believe that one?

Per Huffington Post:

Rick Warren Cancels ABC Appearance "Moments Before," Claims "Exhaustion"
The Huffington Post | Rachel Weiner | April 12, 2009

Pastor Rick Warren who last week denied ever supporting California's anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 despite evidence to the contrary, has now bailed on an opportunity to explain himself.

Warren canceled an Easter Sunday appearance on ABC's "This Week" just "moments before the scheduled interview," host George Stephanopoulos told viewers.

Even 2008's winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics Paul Krugman weighs in on this one.

The next time the rev. is preachin' the ten commandments, he may want to pay particular attention to the ninth one . . . .

(Cross posted from Moved to Vancouver)

Beehive State Abuzz in Pornography . . .

Apparently the practise of polygamy isn't the only sexual anomaly in the Beehive State of Utah. The fine residents rank at the top of online porn consumers.

Per The Salt Lake Tribune:

Utah is No. 1 - for online pornography consumption
By Dawn House | The Salt Lake Tribune | 03/03/2009

Besides its political bent, Utah's per capita appetite for online pornography makes it the nation's run-away red-light state.

A study by a Harvard Business School professor shows that Utah outpaces the more conservative states -- which all tend to purchase more Internet porn than other states.

Online porn subscription rates are higher in states that enacted conservative legislation banning same-sex marriage or civil unions and where surveys show support for conservative positions on religion, gender roles and sexuality, according to an analysis published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives.

_______________


Utah's No. 1 score may have to do with its demographics, said the author of the study, Benjamin Edelman.

For instance, Internet porn subscriptions are particularly widespread in states with young populations, in the 15 to 24 age group, while people over 65 are less likely to subscribe. Income can be a another factor, with each $1,000 increase in average household income pushing up the number of subscribers. Rates also go up with a college education and among people who are divorced, although marriage and graduate degrees have the opposite effect.

______________


Although Utah is headquarters for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Edelman found that regions where people regularly attend religious services are not statistically different from their counterparts in more secular regions. But users who do attend religious services tend to shift their adult entertainment sessions to other days of the week than the day of services.

_______________


Daniel Weis, spokesman for the Colorado-based Christian group, Focus on The Family, said the study "is credible only for what it is studying, which is very little."

"My caution is that people do not extrapolate that this is a report for the entire nation," said. "The fact that conservative-minded people are fighting porn doesn't mean that they go home and look at it."

The Focus on The Family spokesman was also quoted as saying "There is a Santa Claus and a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow."

OK, OK, that last line I made up.

But is it really that much of a stretch ? ? ? ?

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

Taibbi = 1. Friedman = 0 . . . .

Matt Taibbi on AlterNet today gives the definitive "burn" to Thomas Friedman.

Friedman Digs in Bethesda, MD

Go.

Read.

You too can fully understand the relationship between the size of Valerie Bertinelli's Ass and Happiness . . . .

H/T Lloyd

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

Sunday Sermonette

None of us is so pure as those who stand in robes and throw rocks from the balcony of a glass castle.

Go read Simon.

Sunday Sermonette original concept by Lindsay Beyerstein

Goose, Gander, etc., etc., etc. . . . .

Per Reuters:

China spying on Olympics hotel guests: U.S. senator
Tue Jul 29, 2008 - By Richard Cowan


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China has installed Internet-spying equipment in all the major hotel chains serving the 2008 Summer Olympics, a U.S. senator charged on Tuesday.

"The Chinese government has put in place a system to spy on and gather information about every guest at hotels where Olympic visitors are staying," said Sen. Sam Brownback.

The conservative Republican from Kansas, citing hotel documents he received, added that journalists, athletes' families and others attending the Olympics next month "will be subjected to invasive intelligence-gathering" by China's Public Security Bureau. He said the agency will be monitoring Internet communications at the hotels.

_______________


The senator called on China to reverse its policy, but said the hotels are advising guests that "your communications and Web site activity are not private" and that e-mails and Web sites being visited are accessible to local law enforcement.

Exactly how is this any different from the US government with the "new and improved" FISA legislation passed by a democratic Congress and signed by gwbush?

What a bunch of hypocrites . . . .

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

Money for Nuthin' . . . .

Per Reuters today:

Clear Channel in $400 million deal with Limbaugh

Thu Jul 3, 2008
(Reporting by Pratish Narayanan in Bangalore; Editing by Erica Billingham)

(Reuters) - Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh signed an eight-year contract extension worth as much as $400 million with Clear Channel Communications Inc, The New York Times said on its website on Wednesday citing an interview with Limbaugh.

Clear Channel said on Wednesday that Limbaugh renewed his contract with units Premiere Radio Networks and Clear Channel Radio, but did not disclose financial details.

Limbaugh's paycheck of $50 million a year represents a raise of about $14.4 million a year over his current contract, which was paying him $285 million over eight years and was set to expire in 2009, the newspaper's website said.

Separately, Clear Channel's Premiere is in advanced talks with another conservative talk radio host Sean Hannity to try to sign him for an eight-year contract worth about $200 million, The Wall Street Journal said, citing a person familiar with the situation.

Clear Channel was not immediately available to comment. Limbaugh and Hannity could not be immediately reached for comment.

I guess you can put a price on Stupid after all . . . .

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

god, Gays, and Billable Hours . . . .

From McClatchy today:

Episcopal church split headed to court in California
Brad Branan - Fresno Bee - April 26, 2008

The U.S. Episcopal Church has filed a lawsuit to reclaim property from the Diocese of San Joaquin, which voted last year to leave the national church largely over differences with the national body's approval of same-sex blessings, ordination of a gay bishop, the role of women in the church, and how to interpret the Bible over such issues.

In a 30-page lawsuit filed this week in Fresno County Superior Court, the church argues that the vote by 42 of the diocese's 48 parishes doesn't entitle them to keep any property. The national church wants all the diocesan property, including titles to its church buildings, including the diocesan headquarters, St. James Cathedral of Fresno.

The lawsuit asks John-David Schofield, whom the national church deposed March 12 as bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin, to vacate his Fresno office and turn over the property occupied by parishes that voted to leave. A Schofield spokesman, the Rev. Van McCalister, speaking on his behalf, said the diocese will likely fight the legal action.

The lawsuit raises the question of who makes up the diocese and who's the bishop. Six of 48 parishes voted to stay with the national church and later elected Jerry Lamb as bishop. The smaller diocese has set up temporary offices in Stockton. The breakaway diocese has aligned with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of South America, based in Argentina.

'Ya gotta love it when the go-godders get in a pissing match with each other that includes lawyers.

A happy ending is doubtful.

Snicker, snicker . . . .

(Cross-posted from Moving to Vancouver)

You have a long row to hoe King Abdullah

I agree with Cat who sent this in. It's hard to accept at face value.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah plans to launch an effort at dialogue between Islam, Christianity and Judaism to help end inter-religious tension, Saudi media said on Tuesday. State television showed the octogenarian king telling a forum in Riyadh that he would hold meetings with Muslims around the world to build a consensus for a new dialogue with Christians and Jews. "I want to call for conferences between the religions to protect humanity from folly," he said in a speech where he spoke positively of his meeting last year with Pope Benedict. "I wanted to visit the Vatican and I did and I thank him. He met me in a meeting I will not forget, a meeting of one human being with another. I suggested this idea," he said.

In all honesty, if this is real it's a step in the right direction. I suspect however, that it is an 83-year old man, nearing the end of his life, reflecting on what a waste it has been to fight over religion.

The trouble is, Saudi Arabia uses religion not as a means to provide a sense of community to willing followers; it uses religion to control its population and enforce draconian laws. It uses religion to subjugate people.

However appealing all that may be to Pope Benedict, the House of Saud has a lot of in-house cleaning to do and a lot to answer for before the rest of the world, religious or otherwise gives them a place at the table of human do-gooders.

Abdullah has reigned over a society which embraces Wahhabism and which has persecuted the Ahmadi sect of Muslims. The Saudis can't even hold a dialogue between the Muslim denominations within its own borders.

And now Abdullah wants to wet his toes in the waters of religions which have their own internal problems?

Yeah, right. When he quits using boot polish on his beard.

New York's Governor is....

Toast.

ALBANY - Gov. Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, an administration official said this morning. Mr. Spitzer, who was huddled with his top aides inside his Fifth Avenue apartment early this afternoon, had hours earlier abruptly canceled his scheduled public events for the day. He scheduled an announcement for 2:15 after inquiries from the Times. [...]

Just last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation. Administration officials would not say that this was the ring with which the governor had become involved.

But a person with knowledge of the governor’s role said that the person believes the governor is one of the men identified as clients in court papers.

Spread a little hypocrisy on that.

Mr. Spitzer gained national attention when he served as attorney general with his relentless pursuit of Wall Street wrongdoing. As attorney general, he also had prosecuted at least two prostitution rings as head of the state’s organized crime task force.

In one such case in 2004, Mr. Spitzer spoke with revulsion and anger after announcing the arrest of 16 people for operating a high-end prostitution ring out of Staten Island.

“”This was a sophisticated and lucrative operation with a multitiered management structure,” Mr. Spitzer said at the time. ”It was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring.”

In a way, it's almost refreshing that it's not a Republican this time.

And speaking of the "Values"crowd...

One of the most prominent Roman Catholics in Britain is simply outraged over being called a hypocrite by the Daily Mail. In fact, he's so outraged that he's suing the Daily Mail for libel. (That's not a rare event for the Daily Mail).

The former spokesman for the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales was "robbed of his moral authority" by a newspaper article which accused him of hypocrisy over abortion, the high court heard yesterday.

Austen Ivereigh, 41, says that he lost his £46,000-a-year job as head of public affairs for Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor because of the June 2006 article in the Daily Mail.

His QC, Ronald Thwaites, told Mr Justice Eady and a jury at the high court in London that the article robbed Ivereigh, a Catholic, of all moral authority, destroyed his credibility and ruined his reputation.

The devil, so to speak, is in the details of course.

The article claimed that an ex-lover of Ivereigh's had accused him of hypocrisy over an abortion she had in 1989. It alleged that he had given her "no choice but to have a termination". Ivereigh told the court that the abortion had taken place against his will after he had got his then-girlfriend pregnant when they were both students at Oxford in 1989. Although brought up as a Catholic, he was not a practising Christian at the time, he said. He added that neither he, his mother nor his girlfriend wanted the pregnancy terminated, but her mother had overruled them. After the abortion he had paid half the costs of the operation to placate her mother, he said. The relationship ended soon afterwards.

I am not now, nor have I ever been a Catholic, but I wasn't aware that one could sort of... go on leave. I mean, I know people drop and adopt religion all the time... but anyway.

While working for Murphy-O'Connor, Ivereigh began a relationship with a divorced mother of two. When she became pregnant with twins in early 2006 Ivereigh told the court the couple agreed to have the babies and get married. But after relations between them deteriorated and he felt that they should not get married, she said she had been contemplating an abortion, which, he said, left him "completely gutted and devastated".

Hmmm. At the time of the second event, with a woman the court only identifies as "X", Ivereigh was working in the court of the Roman Catholic Cardinal of England and Wales. He was a practicing Roman Catholic. That means he kind of has to obey church law.

Anyone with an attention span longer than that of a dog in a Milkbone factory knows that, in the Roman Catholic church, sex outside of marriage is Mortal Sin 6.3. It says that everywhere you look.

Ivereigh can claim anything he wants, but if he got "Madame X" pregnant, and he wasn't married to her, he is, by Roman Catholic definition, a fornicator. A grave sinner who has engaged in a lustful carnal union with a woman who was not his wife.

At what point in the Roman Catholic church does hypocrisy kick in anyway?

The party of "Family Values" strikes again

This is one I would probably leave alone. The black evening gown and fishnet stockings were simply a fashion statement. There being no history of attempting to deny rights to others, a guy can dress any way he wants. Hell, I'm betting he was more tastefully attired than some of the businessmen I passed this morning.

Just because a Bush appointed federal judge exercises poor judgment and gets behind the wheel... pissed...

OK. That's a reason to criticize. Still, he had the good sense to resign after pleading guilty.

However, this next one is a little different. Robert McKee, a Republican delegate to the Maryland state legislature and child protection crusader has found himself forced to resign.

Robert A. McKee, a long-serving Republican delegate from Western Maryland, announced his resignation yesterday after authorities, who say they are conducting a child pornography investigation, seized two computers, videotapes and printed materials from his Hagerstown home.

First elected to the House of Delegates in 1994, McKee was chairman of the Western Maryland delegation and sponsored legislation to protect minors from sexual predators. McKee, 58, also resigned yesterday from his post as executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County, a child mentorship program where he has worked for 29 years.

"For me, this is deeply embarrassing," McKee said in a statement. "It reflects poorly on my service to the community."

Gee. Ya think?!

George Bush proves the nonexistance of God

Because if there was a God, he/she/it/they would be chucking the thunderbolts, raining down fire and brimstone and unleashing a plague of locusts on George W. Bush's pasty hypocritical ass right now in a way that would make the Old Testament God look like a flat-out pussy and his treatment of Job on par with inflicting a minor hangover

Emphasis and links all mine:

Bush warns world must rally to confront danger of Iran

The Associated Press
By ANNE GEARAN – January 13, 2008

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — President Bush said Sunday that Iran is threatening the security of the world, and that the United States and Arab allies must join together to confront the danger "before it's too late."

Bush said Iran funds terrorist extremists, undermines stability in Lebanon, sends arms to the hardline Taliban regime (coughbullshitcough) intimidates its neighbors with alarming rhetoric and defies the United Nations by refusing to be open about its nuclear program.

"Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terror," Bush said in a speech about democracy that he delivered about midway through his eight-day Mideast trip, which began with a renewed push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace pact — an accord he said whose "time has come."

Chiding U.S. allies who have withheld civil liberties, Bush said governments will never build trust by harassing or imprisoning candidates and protesters. But his rebuke was general, and he did not single out any U.S. partner in the region for oppressive practices.

"You cannot expect people to believe in the promise of a better future when they are jailed for peacefully petitioning their government," Bush said. "And you cannot stand up a modern, confident nation when you do not allow people to voice their legitimate criticisms."

Bush's speech, reprising the call for democracy in the Middle East that he made in his second inaugural address, was delivered in one of the few countries in the region — the Emirates — where democracy has not been a vital issue. In other countries in the region, especially Egypt, the fight between democracy activists and autocratic governments has been much more pointed and controversial.

The president lauded some democratic reforms among Arab nations. He urged the Arab leaders to show support for the fragile Iraqi government, open their societies and provide backing, and possible funding, to help make an Israeli-Palestinian agreement stick.

(snip)

Bush spoke at the Emirates Palace, at an opulent, gold-trimmed hotel where a suite goes for $2,450 a night. Built at a cost of $3 billion, the hotel is a kilometer long from end to end and has a 1.3 kilometer white sand beach — every grain of it imported from Algeria, according to Steven Pike, a spokesman at the U.S. Embassy here.

Half the audience was dressed in western attire and the other half in Arabic clothes — white robes and headdresses for men and black abayas, many with jeweled edges, for women.

In renewing his "Freedom Agenda" — Bush's grand ambition to seed democracy around the globe — the president declared: "We know from experience that democracy is the only system of government that yields lasting peace and stability."

Yet he was speaking about democracy in a deeply undemocratic country, the Emirates, where an elite of royal rulers makes virtually all the decisions. Large numbers of foreign resident workers have few legal or human rights, including no right to citizenship and no right to protest working conditions.

Some human rights groups have accused the Emirates of tolerating virtual indentured servitude, where workers from poor countries like Sri Lanka are forced to work to pay off debts to employers, and have their passports seized so they can't leave.

Shortly after landing during a steady rain on the southeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, Bush met at a ceremonial palace with Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who was appointed president of the United Arab Emirates in 2004 following the death of his father, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan. The UAE president presented Bush with a ceremonial sash that looked like a thick golden necklace about two feet long. A portrait of the late president hung on the wall behind them.

After the speech, Bush ventured to a sprawling horse farm for a traditional desert dinner, outside of a tent set up in the sand. Large carpets with colorful red and white pillows were set up for the meal.

Before eating, Bush was shown several prized falcons, and even took a turn holding one. When the bird moved suddenly, Bush jumped back a bit, but quickly recovered. "You're making him nervous," Bush told the assembled media. "He never had a press conference before."

An earlier version of the same story quoted Bush as saying: "This new era is being built with the understanding that power is a trust that must be exercised with the consent of the governed."

Where is your mighty vengence now, oh great omnipotent, omniscient sky-wizard?

cross-posted from the Woodshed