Thursday, 24 Apr 2003

What price will we pay for the blind arrogance we practice as a nation? Yesterday we, who invaded a sovereign nation and are establishing (by force) a government styled in a way we approve of warned Iran not to interfere in Iraq’s affairs. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said “”We have made clear to Iran that we would oppose any outside organisations’ interference in Iraq and interfering with the road to democracy” That’s interesting - I guess because we invaded and got there first we are not an “outside organization”? Pfeh. [update: It seems it isn't necessarily Iran itself that "we" object to, it just that while we are establishing a democratic governement we want to make sure that the government the people choose is not an islamic government. Democracy, the freedom to choose your leaders, as long as the occupying country approves?]

Monday, 21 Apr 2003

s: new jc-e tunes, focus on the family radio theatre (and other oddly entertaining xian radio), conversations with H&J, jamming with PromKing half of Cellar Door and John v:the mouse that roared, pink panther movies, road signs, traffic, Pattern Recognition (W. Gibson), excepts from Tina and Tony and Funny thing-Forum, decorated records, blue tile table top, waterfalls, woods, Cellar Door videos, t:mushroom pizza and guacamole spaghetti sauce, motion: rollerblading, throwing and catching objects (frisbee , football), walking in PA woods.

Tuesday, 8 Apr 2003

Ever wonder if the Catholic church really understands and accepts the extent of their responsibility to keep pedophile priests away from children, and why the public is so incensed at them? Here’s a horrifying peek into the mindset of some in the upper echelons of the church. Scandal Called Threat to Free Worship From the article, here a few choice quotes

“Professor Schiltz, who has represented churches of many denominations against hundreds of sexual abuse claims, also said churches were so wary of crippling financial liability that they had become too conservative in choosing pastors.

“Even the least risk-averse bishops will now take a lot more priests out of the ministry than the John Geoghans and Paul Shanleys,” he said, referring to two former priests who are accused of abusing scores of people here.
>br>

Douglas Laycock, a law professor at the University of Texas, agreed that lawsuits against churches could alter the composition of the ministry.

“The pursuit of zero incidents is a mistake and an illusion,” Professor Laycock said. “You won’t have a priesthood left if you do that. You should not let these cases not only blacken the name of the church and scandalize the faithful but also fundamentally change how churches operate.”

Several of the speakers sought to compare churches to news and political organizations, which receive heightened protection from libel and similar suits under the speech and press clauses of the First Amendment. These speakers questioned why religious organizations were not entitled to increased protection under the religious liberty clauses of the same amendment.

“Freedom of religion is every bit as important as freedom of speech,” the dean of Boston College Law School, John H. Garvey, said.”

Tuesday, 1 Apr 2003

Just finished (after a few week hiatus when I misplaced the book) The Return of the King. I had forgotten just how much of the book occurs _after_ the climactic moment of truth. Very nicely done. Something resonated with the idea that despite all the huge plans and effort and sacrifice that went into defeating this large threatening evil, that smaller evils could continue to do damage and poison the world. There was no “final” defeat of evil, just defeat of some individuals who acted with malice and who did evil acts.