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New York, 9:53 PM
Sun Nov 29
11 posts in the last 24 hours
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I'm pretty sure it was the songs of Tom Lehrer that set me on the path to DFH-style liberalism in the sixties. He was a genius, and funny as fuck.
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And arguing that Christian missionaries in Africa are without fault themselves is not only beside the point, but not necessarily true. It's thinly veiled religious imperialism.
10/11/09
Also, considering that there exist over one billion Roman Catholics, and about 15 million Jews, I absolutely believe you when you say that more Catholics have done aid work. It would be embarrassing if they HADN'T done a lot more aid work.
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10/12/09
There are plenty of secular charity orgs, like Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders that don't have weird fairy tale issues about birth control or using condoms to prevent the spread of infectious disease.
And why a former Nazi Pope form Germany? Yes, I know, I know: he redeemed himself from a very brief period of being a member of the Third Reich.
But in case anyone hasn't noticed: the Catholics are predominantly from the Third World and this last selection makes the Vatican look very post-colonial. It's a typical Old Europe paternal-colonial mentality that caused them to ensure an African or Latin American pope was off the table. I find that creepy.
10/12/09
10/12/09
The comedy routines that are most likely to make me laugh so hard that I cry are about the Church. The South Park episodes with "The Catholic Boat, the miraculous statue and the boys taking First Communion are priceless. I howl whenever I hear George Carlin, Cheech Marin, or Don Novello do their bits on the Church. Why? Because as a not-terribly-devout Catholic in the 21st Century, I'm the first to admit that we believe in, and practice, some crazy shit.
10/12/09
FYI, the Vatican bureaucracy doesn't elect the Pope, nor do the national churches; the College of Cardinals does that. The last time I looked, it was still a very Euro-American body, but depending on how long Benedict lives and who he appoints, that could change.
You make it sound like Benedict volunteered to be a Nazi, when nothing could be further from the truth. The Third Reich wasn't a club to which one applied for membership; teenage boys were required to join the Hitler Youth. (The boys in the White Rose resistance group were also in the HJ.)
It never ceases to amaze me that some people still haven't grasped this simple truth: the Third Reich was the legally-recognized government of Germany. By no stretch of the imagination does this excuse the evil of the Nazi leadership, but as I've said elsewhere, if you're going to make value judgements, at least understand some basic facts.
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i'm not offended either, i just don't find that funny.
also, doesn't the US spend more than that on defense??
logic was not her friend with this one.
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