My next big trip?
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Thought of the day, Tuscany bike tour | 5 Comments »
The Catholic Church does not get it
Posted on May 19, 2011 by Michael
A study relieving the priesthood of many common charges has been released:
Researchers hired by the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops to determine the causes of the sex crisis that convulsed the church dismissed all the usual suspects:
Few of the offenders were pedophiles. The abusers were not acting on their homosexuality. Mandatory celibacy did not turn clerics into molesters.
The first two points are incorrect. The offenders are pedophiles by definition – they raped and molested underaged boys – and the vast majority of instances involved men whose interest in children was limited to males. The third point may have nothing to do with many of the acts, but sexual repression is never good and almost always due to sexual immaturity, something the Church and many Christians have routinely displayed.
But I’m being a stickler for facts. The important point here is that the greatest complaints against the Church as an institution have to do with its record. It has again and again covered up its acts. It shifted priests from one church to another, fully aware of the accusations. Hell, even the current Pope did this before he reached his current place.
If the Church thinks that this in any way absolves it of its responsibility for its horrific acts, it’s wrong. It’s dead wrong. But that isn’t going to stop these monsters from making excuses:
Instead, most of the priest-offenders came from seminary classes of the 1940s and 1950s who were not properly trained to confront the upheavals of the 1960s, when behavioral norms were upended and crime overall in the United States spiked, the researchers said.
You see, it was just all that sex and junk from the 60’s. If society had have just listened to the Church, none of this would have happened. Hell, if you think about it, it was really those pre- and early baby boomers who raped all those boys, amirite?
This has to be the single most revolting study I have seen in quite some time. The Church has been pushing this gross narrative for years now where they attempt to absolve themselves by pointing out that people besides priests rape boys too. They don’t get it: That is not the point. The Church protected rapists and then tried to cover itself up after information started to come out. That is devastating to any sense of morality.
These antiquated rape-hiders need to understand what this is all about if they ever want to address the crimes of their institution in any way approaching adequacy.
Filed under: News, Religions | Tagged: Blatanly homosexual, Boy Rape, Catholic Church, John Jay College of Criminal Justice | 20 Comments »
Strap-on condom for drunk people
Posted on May 19, 2011 by Michael
Huh.
The Sensis sheath is being hailed as a breakthrough for all men who have experienced passion-killing delays at the crucial moment.
Mr Thompson, a former carpenter now attending to an entirely different type of wood, said he got the idea after unsuccessfully trying to put on an ordinary condom after a night on the town.
He said: ‘I couldn’t see anything so I tried to open the window to take advantage of the street lights, but I couldn’t really see anything. Between the alcohol and the fumbling it was one big flop.’
It seems to me that if you’re so drunk that you can’t get a condom on, perhaps you shouldn’t have sex. At least if it’s the first time with the person. And besides, such a lack of dexterity and motor skills seem a foreboding sign for the rest of the night.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Strap-on condom | 1 Comment »
Court: U.S. constitution invalid in Indiana
Posted on May 18, 2011 by Michael
At least that’s the only reasonable interpretation to this awful ruling:
Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into their homes.
In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court said if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer’s entry…
The court’s decision stems from a Vanderburgh County case in which police were called to investigate a husband and wife arguing outside their apartment.
When the couple went back inside their apartment, the husband told police they were not needed and blocked the doorway so they could not enter. When an officer entered anyway, the husband shoved the officer against a wall. A second officer then used a stun gun on the husband and arrested him.
Despite a couple of bad political justices, I see this getting overturned when it surely gets to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Illegal entry, Indiana, Indiana Supreme Court, Steven David, Vanderburgh County | 6 Comments »
Hawking says afterlife is a fairy story
Posted on May 17, 2011 by Michael
I think he’s being too generous:
I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first. I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.
I’m glad Hawking has made it abundantly clear that he is an atheist. Now only the most dishonest of Christians can attempt to claim him for their own.
Filed under: Atheism/Humanism, Science | Tagged: Stephen Hawking | 1 Comment »
I had okay seats
Posted on May 17, 2011 by Michael
At least for a walk-off win.
Filed under: sports | Tagged: Awesome seats, Fenway, Red Sox | 1 Comment »
Thought of the day
Posted on May 16, 2011 by Michael
I will be here for a good chunk of the day:
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Cheers, Thought of the day | Leave a comment »
The lammergeier
Posted on May 16, 2011 by Michael
I had the honor of viewing this bird not once but twice while in Africa:
For those who need convincing to watch the video:
- It grabs large animal bones, flies over cliff sides, and then drops its payload so that it can smash everything open and access the marrow.
- David Attenborough narrates this version of the “Life” series.
- Oprah Winfrey does not ruin anything by narrating (which, in the American version, she does as if she is reading to children).
- In case you missed the first bullet, the bird smashes bones on rocks.
- On cliff sides.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: David Attenborough, Lammergeier, Life | Leave a comment »
For the Sake of Science 