The Progressive Puppy

The Vatican Ragged

There's a reason why the early Catholic Church fought tooth and nail to keep the Bible out of the hands of the laity.  It's the same reason why priests once celebrated mass with their backs turned to worshippers and mumbled their prayers and magical incantations in an unfamiliar language (dead, dead Latin).  Enlightened believers could only spell trouble for the Vatican's make-it-up-as-they-went religious dogma.  As is the case with most organized religions around the planet, keeping the sheeple in line requires keeping the sheeple uninformed.

Definitions of what constitutes "heresy" and "sin" have evolved considerably over the centuries as various ecclesiastical councils and synods slowly adapted to the times.  Fasting on Fridays, selling indulgences, slavery, papal dispensations to marry relatives (available, willy-nilly and often for a price, to the nobility), and a ban on the study of astronomy are just five examples of, ahem, fluid Catholic doctrine.

In the fifteenth century, papal inquisitors developed ingenious methods for inflicting agony on their fellow human beings.  Horrific acts that would have confounded the bloodthirsty state torturers of the Ch'in Dynasty were perfected and joyously administered on anybody who dared question the authority of Mother Church.  (Merely standing in the way of a wealthy prelate's rise to power could lead to trumped up charges of blasphemy.)  They did this in part to combat the protestant reformation which was sweeping Europe.  I say "in part" because the Holy See was just as likely to sanction the torture of non-Christians who didn't fall in line with the "true faith."  The Roman Catholic Church now frowns upon torture - except perhaps in the context of altar boys (and prepubescent girls, who will make up the next generation of abuse victims as their stories receive notice).  But just glance back into the shade of yeasteryear and you'll find a religious institution that routinely resorted to torture in order to maintain its control over society.

The current pontiff keeps saying how appalled he is by his underlings' systematic molestation of children and the subsequent coverup of the crimes - but the fact is, it's a sort of "I'm sorry I was caught" contrition that turns the stomachs of humanists and advocates for child welfare.  Pope Benedict XVI no doubt wishes the ongoing scandals would simply go away since it's been shown that as Prefect for the Doctrine of Faith, then Cardinal Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger used his unique authority to shield more than a few deviant priests from justice.

In the Pope's yearly address to his cardinals and bishops, the clueless Benedict/Ratzy suggested that the church's pedophilia problem could be blamed on moral relativism - this comes after 12 months of blaming everything but the fishes in the sea for the monstrous behavior of those warped "men of the cloth."  Ed Brayton writes on Dispatches From The Culture Wars:  Governments around the world today take pedophilia and child molestation far more seriously than they ever have before. That's why we've seen laws passed that require anyone in a position of authority over children - teachers, doctors, nurses, therapists, counselors, etc - to report any evidence of such abuse to law enforcement on penalty of punishment if they fail to do so.  There is only one institution in the entire world that has firmly resisted such laws and refused to comply with them - the Catholic Church. And it was Benedict himself, as Cardinal Ratzinger, who ordered all cardinals and bishops not to cooperate with the police when a priest was caught molesting children but to treat it as an internal church matter... 

The only one showing any moral relativism on this issue is you, Mr. Ratzinger. The rest of the world has left you far behind on this moral question.  (And others, it goes without saying.)

Despite its gruesome past and an unwholesome present, the Catholic Church might still achieve a degree of  legitimacy with the installment of progressive leaders and a determination to take responsibility for its own sins.  That's unlikely to happen, however, while this current pontiff's ass is planted on St. Peter's throne.

ProPup's Dog Tick of the Year: NC Commissioner Bill James

TAR HEEL HATER EXTRAORDINAIRE

Matt Comer reports for Q-Notes:  Anti-gay, Republican Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James today said gays are "sexual predators" in an email to his colleagues on the board.  James' remarks were made in response to County Commissioner Chair Jennifer Roberts' request to send a letter thanking some members of the Charlotte-area congressional delegation for their "yes" votes on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) repeal this month. Roberts was to send the letter to U.S. Reps. Larry Kissell and Mel Watt and U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan. President Barack Obama last week signed the repeal act into law.

Wuh-ell.  Mr. James wasn't having any of that pro-equality bunk coming out of the Tar Heel State, not on his bigoted watch - and he was determined to let his asssss-ociates know where he and other prayer warriors stand on the issue, filling co-workers' inboxes with the following bile:  "Homosexuals are sexual predators. Allowing homosexuals to serve in the US military with the endorsement of the Mecklenburg County Commission ignores a host of serious problems related to maintaining US military readiness and effectiveness not the least of which is the current Democrat plan to allow homosexuals (male and female) to share showers with those they are attracted to."

Pam Spaulding at Pam's House Blend snaps the leash:  There he goes again. Bill "anal probe" James, a notorious anti-gay Republican Mecklenburg County Commissioner who likes to send out anti-gay screeds from his official email address, is trying to wrap up 2010 with a big finish.

Spaulding then helpfully provides this tidbit from an earlier email blast by the fanatical Christianist commissioner: You really think that a pool of people (homosexuals) where 45% of them eat feces from the rear end of another male is "normal"?  If you do, you are frankly nuts.  A lifestyle where one of their past times is buying gerbils and hamsters from the pet store and cramming them up their rears in an activity called feltching?  (Literary Bill obviously meant to write 'pastimes.'  His punctuation we'll let go unremarked.)  A group of people who like to urinate on their partners and call them "golden showers"?  (Of course heterosexual couples engage in this moist activity as well.  They actually invented it.)  Where one of the honored members of the Gay Alliance is an organization called the "Man-Boy Love Association" that promotes sex with underage boys?  (Like all hurtful gossip inside the Church of Deception, James and his filthy-minded cohorts toss out the same tired homophobic smears we've heard since Anita Bryant first made her pact with Old Scratch back in 1977, hoping that some of them will eventually land in the ballot box.)

More Sucking From Bill James

You may remember Mr. James as the monster - yes, I said monster and I mean monster - who used gay slurs in public to describe a Democratic colleague's own son who had recently died from AIDS - and then refused to apologize for those mean-spirited words, proclaiming self-righteously:  "It is akin to someone whose son is an alcoholic and died from the disease, using his death from drinking as justification to have the taxpayers pay for more booze."

In the past, James has called on the local police to "de-infest" places where gays and lesbians congregate.  Clubs, LGBT welcoming churches, support groups... summoning his personal right-wing Christian exterminators to belch their poison into God's good air.  If Mr. James weren't so certain to enjoy it, I might suggest where they stick that particular hose.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have several dozen gerbils to wash and blow dry.

Porno Pete Calls Obama a "Lost Man Without a Biblical Conscience"

That nauseating prima donna of piety Peter LaBarbera, who like the decomposing Fred Phelps and creepy Baptist pastor Steven Anderson has built a cottage industry out of his loathing for LGBT Americans, is calling President Obama a "lost man without a Biblical conscience."  (Yes, the Evangelical Irony Gauge just jumped to 99.)  Over at the fundie-fueled Christian website OneNewsNow, Porno Pete bloviates:  "President Obama has already said that homosexual relationships are as valid as normal heterosexual relationships - of course, he didn't use the word normal - but I predict, give him a few years and he'll be for so-called homosexual marriage."  (One can only hope.)  "Obviously this is the most committed pro-homosexual president that the homosexual lobby has ever had."  (If this were true; gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered persons would no longer be fighting for equal rights.  Zealots could return to, I dunno, feeding the poor?)

LaBarbera should know what he's talking about.  His Eyes have seen the Glory Hole of the Coming.  Credit due:  Wayne Besen at Truth WIns Out originally dubbed The Peter 'porno' "because of his bizarre fascination with naughty gay magazines and his penchant to go 'undercover' at leather events and photograph naked men."  Honestly, old Petey gets more action than most twenty-somethings I know - gay or straight.  What a strain relief this must put on be for his wife, languishing at home while her hubby luxuriates at all those dare-not-miss Mr. Leather contests.)  "What we have here is a president without a Biblical conscience," LaBarbera proclaims. "He affirms homosexuality as if he's God, but we know what God says" (the Almighty consults regularly with Peter) "and we have to stay true to that.  President Obama is just sort of a lost man on this issue.  He may be President of the United States, but that doesn't give him the right to redefine timeless morality."

Not too many generations ago it was perfectly legal for husbands to beat disobedient youngsters and recalcitrant wives.  Preachers and priests commanded the battered women to remain tethered to their mates "for the good of the children."  Once a female was wed, she became the man's property, to be used or abused in whatever way he saw fit.  So much for LaBarbera's "timeless morality."  But you'll agree that what constitutes virtuous behaviour has, for most mainstream religions, evolved over the years.  Which is a good thing.  Haters like Porno Pete would be the very first to cast stones.  (Pictured:  LaBarbera at the podium - and you'll notice homobigot Matt Barber slouching like Pierolapithecus catalaunicus in the background.)

Home Movie History

Frank Rich at the New York Times considers the demise of American optimism in Who Killed the Disneyland Dream?  Well-drawn and piquant, Rich's opinion piece gets its title from a terribly sweet home movie shot in the 50's and re-assembled in its current form (with narration) in 1995.  He writes:  "Disneyland Dream" was made in the summer of 1956, shortly before the dawn of the Kennedy era. You can watch it on line at archive.org or on YouTube. Its narrative is simple. The young Barstow family of Wethersfield, Conn. — Robbins; his wife, Meg; and their three children aged 4 to 11 — enter a nationwide contest to win a free trip to Disneyland, then just a year old. The contest was sponsored by 3M, which asked contestants to submit imaginative encomiums to the wonders of its signature product. Danny, the 4-year-old, comes up with the winning testimonial, emblazoned on poster board: "I like 'Scotch' brand cellophane tape because when some things tear then I can just use it."

At this point Rich dissects the "bygone" in bygone days.  The following video runs about thirty minutes:

We'll now return to our regularly scheduled curmudgeonry ...

Seasonal Nonsense (videos)

First up, the incomparable Mary Edith Pitts performing "The 12 Daze of Christmas."  After that, "Christmas in Heaven" from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.

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Gay Marriage and Evolving Opinions

Vice President Joe Biden recently stated on ABC's Good Morning America that same-sex marriage will soon be a reality in these United States: "I think the country is evolving, and I think there's an inevitability for a national consensus on gay marriage."  Biden indicated that change would occur "much the same way that the idea of overturning the ban on gays in the military has become acceptable over time."  From New York Daily News:  Biden said that at the beginning of his administration President Obama told the Pentagon to gird itself for the eventual abolishment of its Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, and this helped the idea eventually gain traction with Americans. The controversial policy that (still) prohibits openly gay servicemembers from serving in the military was overturned in a historic vote by the US Senate December 18 over the objections of conservative groups.

Earlier this week President Obama was interviewed by The Advocate's indefatigable Kerry Eleveld.  On the issue of gay nuptials, our Commander-in-chief said he was continuing to "evolve."  It must be nice...  ruminating at leisure from the greatest position of power on the planet, surrounded by his lovely traditional family, unconstrained by institutionalized discrimination or the pressures of campaigning; Obama has the luxury to "wrestle" with whether or not gay and lesbian Americans deserve the same rights that he, as a citizen of mixed racial heritage, enjoys. 

About getting rid of the clearly unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act, Obama dissembled:  "I have a whole bunch of really smart lawyers who are looking at a whole range of options."  (Let's hope the President isn't referring to those legal eagles at the Department of Justice who only last year defended the constitutionality of DOMA by comparing committed same-sex unions to incest.)  "My preference wherever possible is to get things done legislatively." Obama said.  "That may not be possible in DOMA's case.  That's something that I think we have to strategize on over the next several months."  (Translation:  Obama has done his bit for equality by signing DADT repeal into law, which required no political capital on his part.  We can expect no more advances in social justice from this administration.  And you can mark that down with a red Crayola.)

I was born and raised in East Texas during an era of widespread segregation.  I was there when the first black child entered my all-white school.  I remember "white" and "colored" water fountains and restrooms in the local department stores.  I recall when blacks had to sit in the balcony of our small movie theater downtown.  Despite the fact that I'm Caucasian and had been taught at home and in our Baptist churches to believe that the races should never mix (which was supposedly laid out "plain-as-day," Me-Maw would say, in the Bible), I always knew that segregation was wrong.  I didn't need to "wrestle with" what many people, if they search their hearts, know is a matter of basic fairness.

President Obama shouldn't have to do that either.