Archive for April, 2010

I see the NYT has written the closest thing…

Posted: April 12, 2010 by datechguy in catholic, opinion/news
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…to a fair story on the pope that they will likely ever produce:

This isn’t an isolated case. In the 1990s, it was Ratzinger who pushed for a full investigation of Hans Hermann Groer, the Vienna cardinal accused of pedophilia, only to have his efforts blocked in the Vatican. It was Ratzinger who persuaded John Paul, in 2001, to centralize the church’s haphazard system for handling sex abuse allegations in his office. It was Ratzinger who re-opened the long-dormant investigation into Maciel’s conduct in 2004, just days after John Paul II had honored the Legionaries in a Vatican ceremony. It was Ratzinger, as Pope Benedict, who banished Maciel to a monastery and ordered a comprehensive inquiry into his order.

So the high-flying John Paul let scandals spread beneath his feet, and the uncharismatic Ratzinger was left to clean them up. This pattern extends to other fraught issues that the last pope tended to avoid — the debasement of the Catholic liturgy, or the rise of Islam in once-Christian Europe. And it extends to the caliber of the church’s bishops, where Benedict’s appointments are widely viewed as an improvement over the choices John Paul made. It isn’t a coincidence that some of the most forthright ecclesiastical responses to the abuse scandal have come from friends and protégés of the current pope.

I haven’t seen Morning Joe use any of the links I suggested, however this comes from the preferred source, the New York Times. Let’s see if it gets any play.

China spies on journalists? NO!

Posted: April 12, 2010 by datechguy in internet/free speech, media, opinion/news
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I know for decades the NYT has acted as if communists were simply benign creatures who only have a different view than greedy capitalists. In their minds the west has always oversold the evils contained within.

So imagine my surprise when I saw this article:

Even if we have scant evidence, most foreign journalists have come to assume our phone conversations are monitored. We have learned to remove our cellphone SIM cards when meeting dissidents. At the office, we often reflexively lower our voices when discussing “politically sensitive” topics.

Whenever I see stuff like this I remember a series of Cox & Fordum cartoons where Jimmy Carter would be asking “But Why?” questions and the answer would be “I’m a communist dictator you fool!”

China has long been a source of virus’ and spyware. Anyone who thinks that this is a coincidence is just deluding themselves.

Don’t worry the next time there is a question that doesn’t cover an employee of the NYT I predict that things will be just as they were before, particularly if a republican is in office.

Here is what happens to your church…

Posted: April 11, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news
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when you are more interested in appeasing man than serving God:

On the day of judgment it won’t just be the Queen of the South who rises up and testifies against this generation of Episcopalians. Marie Antoinette will rise up against us as well. She only played at being a shepherdess while the real shepherds and peasants of France were oppressed and mistreated. Our generation has played at being bishops and priests and lay leaders while the work of the church goes undone and the church fell into what may well be irretrievable ruin.

This is why the media/world left this church alone, why bother going after a church that doesn’t post a threat to save any souls?

Saved by Her Enemy: Amazon Vine Review

Posted: April 11, 2010 by datechguy in amazon reviews, war
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My review through the Amazon Vine Program of the Book Saved by Her Enemy An Iraqi woman’s journey from the heart of war to the heartland of America by Rafraf Barack and Don Teague is available at Amazon.com here.

The title is more accurate than you might know.

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