Comments Posted By bobwire
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DEFENDING THE POPE AND OTHER COUNTERINTUITIVE UNDERTAKINGS
I remember the stations of the cross, and the rosemary. the rosemary is some long beaded chain. How the hell did we get through that as kids? What were we supposed to do? I did that. Am I now saved? If not, what is the shortest route to salvation? I am your keenest student and sharpest critic. Pascal's wager.
Comment Posted By bobwire On 24.04.2008 @ 22:36
I also was raised a Catholic; here is my story.
Apparently when a catholic marries a non- the other must relent and let the offspring be brought up in the catholic faith. So there I was, undergoing the sacraments at parochial schools with nuns and non-nun teachers.I don't remember communion, and the first penance that perforce was needed. But I do recall later penances, where I had to confess my failings against the ten commandments. Because I was a good kid, I made up some trite to the priest. I did not have the strength to say I had not sinned. So I made something up and prayed a few Our Fathers and Hail Marys...I must have done something wrong, even as a kid. My head spins now about this psychological torture...original sin was supposed to be absolved by baptism!
My first stronger exposure came in the third grade when our secular teacher Mrs. Angster (her real name!) declared that she had a sure place in heaven because she had converted two people to catholicism. Further, I learned from her that if you died with a scapula around your neck you would also go straight to heaven. Choosing the easier route, I wore a scapula for a while...like dog tags I suppose.
Fourth grade the doubt begins...was it Nina Punaro or Elizabeth Schmoller, I'm not sure but there I was/we were seeing a wet pool gather about her desk. All she had to do was to say she had to go to the bathroom, but somehow it was easier for her to face the shame of a puddle of urine at her feet than to raise her hand. At that early age my heart went out to her, and against the institution.
Time for confirmation, robes, the bishop and his pointy hat. Sure, I kissed his ring, but did not stand up when there was a call for those who would abstain from alcohol until I don't know when...21? There were many of us who did not stand up, and although I had not tasted alcohol, I saw no reason to make a pledge against something I did not know...my parents were not in my early eyes alcoholics...the whole exercise seemed preposterous. I would pass...
Fast forward to senior year at a Christian brothers high school. I am sure I have not gone to penance before the Eucharist for quite a while. There we are discussing divorce, and one of my best friends holds forth. But I beg to differ. I feel that divorce is it's own punishment, that the Lord God need not weigh in on this matter. Are not choices already served? Need we be punished doubly? I was seventeen. I felt that divorce was its own punishment. I felt somewhat vindicated by our Brother's knowing nod.
Off to university, not being dragged to Mass by my mother, I never went again. Papal infallability I could never get behind after learning about Galileo, and the pope's children. It's OK if you're a pope, it's ok if you're a king, it's ok if you're a republican.
Still, I had connections to my past...so I learned about liberation theology! Imagine if the downtrodden of the earth only wanted enough rice and beans. Or corn and beans. And that these meek might inherit enough to not protest so loudly!
who was it who gunned down archbishop romero in El Salvador? It was Reagan supported death squads. rick moran what can you say?
Comment Posted By bobwire On 24.04.2008 @ 22:22
ONLY A REPUBLICAN COULD BE SO STUPID...
Rick, you for the moment put your heart on your sleeve...and what do you get...psychopathy from some on your readers.
Our holy grail is empiricism, we can achieve this daily if we choose. Let me suggest to those that feel that 'boy' is not a perjorative, that they should test their beliefs and say 'boy' in a sentence to an african american. Boy this, boy that, I don't care except for the feedback it engenders.
So there you are testing out the PCness of saying/exclaiming/demanding 'boy' from your black skinned fellow americans.
How did that go? Did you find that it was OK to call adult black Americans 'boy'?
those of you that say boy is ok, go try it out and offer up your own psychopathy!
Comment Posted By bobwire On 18.04.2008 @ 21:30
CAN WE JUST WALK AWAY FROM IRAQ?
If we look at it this way...Iraq has a Shiite majority regarding population. They are likely to control the government via democracy.
Iran is Shia dominated and in power. They have elections of some kind where the opposition is hamstrung to the point of being at least disenfranchised, but still in control.
We can then expect Iraq and Iran to become cozy. Who then becomes our ally against terrorism?
I suggest that these people transcend the borders that have been foisted upon them. And these borders have not much history. Move the goalposts all you want, and still find yourself with the short end of the stick. An inflated view of the Monroe Doctrine, hubris with a capital H. It's not easy being a superpower.
Comment Posted By bobwire On 1.04.2008 @ 21:31
MarkJ
Comment Posted By bobwire On 29.03.2008 @ 02:58
I don't know why you invoke WWII. Perhaps Hitler pulled the plug because of the Eastern Front. After all two-thirds of their war machine was sundered in Russia.
If we completely support the govt in Iraq, then they should by now have their own air support. Didn't we have death squads in El Salvador in helicopters? Cannot we buttress our ally against the war on terror in a similar fashion?
Are there no Iraqis enrolled in the School of the Americas? http://www.ciponline.org/facts/soa.htmIf we want Maliki to succeed, then give him the tools. Otherwise, are there no contractors willing to step up? Surely we can have the oil revenue pay for it.
Comment Posted By bobwire On 29.03.2008 @ 02:38
Irony is like black humour. Ever been to the cinema and been the only one laughing? Bring it on!
I'm trying to reduce irony in my diet. Since men don't men(struate!), it can build to harmful levels.
Rick, keep up the longish essays. I despise sound bytes.
Comment Posted By bobwire On 29.03.2008 @ 02:15
"We are winning the War in Iraq."
this is news? haven't we always been winning the war in Iraq for the last five years?
"The Iraqi parliament is moving slowly toward passing important legislation that would help reconcile the factions."
Petraeus: said in an interview that "no one" in the U.S. and Iraqi governments "feels that there has been sufficient progress by any means in the area of national reconciliation," or in the provision of basic public services.
"John McCain, who just got back from Baghdad, says we’re on the verge of victory."
John McCain told a crowd in New Hampshire today that he's "fine" with the US military occupying Iraq for a hundred years.
Rick: ...continuing an occupation in Iraq that...currently has no end in sight.
Manic depressive stuff. Truth continues to be the first casualty of war.
Irony obviously escapes you.
ed.
Comment Posted By bobwire On 27.03.2008 @ 21:48
THE GREAT ALL-AMERICAN HOOKER HUNT
thanks for praising our media. now let's see if they have any memory. Let us recall david vitter, Who?
Somebody remembers...
"Governor Elliot Spitzer (D-NY) has basically admitted that he has used hookers in the past. So, has Senator David Vitter (R-LA). He admitted being with the DC Madam (and he ran his whole campaign in Louisiana on family values). So, if Elliot Spitzer has to resign in disgrace, why shouldn't Vitter resign as well?"I offer up this quote from a google search to somebody on some AOL blog. Here is the link:
http://news.aol.com/newsbloggers/2008/03/12/if-spitzer-has-to-resign-so-should-vitter/rick is it OK if you're a republican? I know that you try hard to play fair...
Comment Posted By bobwire On 12.03.2008 @ 21:14
MY ADVICE: BUY A HORSE, INVEST IN BUGGY WHIP COMPANIES
thanks rick for the response, although I am not an 'anti-science dickhead'as you presume.What are the 2 studies I never mentioned? Are you on some kind of reflex?
Honestly I feel that there are technical fixes to reduce our CO2 emissions that are invisible to our american way of life. I mentioned such fixes in another post. It could or could not be true that man has or has not influenced global warming to an extent where he can mitigate or not such effects. How's that for nonsensical nuance? Yet both of us can totally agree with that.
I am totally opening up the US to oil and gas exploration. Let us lose no more american lives in the pursuit of what? remind me? No more american blood for foreign oil. Screw the Middle east, let them kill each other for all I care. Sell your Haliburton stock and come home. Paying a gas-guzzler tax becomes patriotic.
Comment Posted By bobwire On 12.03.2008 @ 21:39
