More on the "Blessed" Season . . . .

As Rodney King would say:  "Why can't we all get along?"

From the CBC and other sources today:

Clergymen brawl at Bethlehem church

Fight erupts at traditional site of Jesus' birth

The annual cleaning of one of Christianity's holiest churches deteriorated into a brawl between rival clergy Wednesday, as dozens of monks feuding over sacred space at the Church of the Nativity battled each other with brooms until police intervened.

The ancient church, built over the traditional site of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, is shared by three Christian denominations — Roman Catholics, Armenians and Greek Orthodox. Wednesday's fight erupted between Greek and Armenian clergy, with both sides accusing each other of encroaching on parts of the church to which they lay claim.

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A fragile status quo governs relations among the denominations at the ancient church, and to repair or clean a part of the structure is to own it, according to accepted practice. That means that letting other sects clean part of the church could allow one to gain ground at another's expense.

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Although the roof has needed urgent work for decades, and leaking rainwater has ruined much of the priceless artwork inside, a renovation has been delayed all these years by disagreements among the denominations over who would pay.

Why is this not at all surprising?

How very moral and upright of them . . . .

bennie Speaks . . . .

But should anyone listen?

From Global Post yesterday:

Pope Benedict XVI urges faithful to see through "superficial glitter" of Christmas

Pope Benedict XVI lamented the commercialization of Christmas during the traditional Christmas Eve Mass at St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

“Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and simplicity,” he said, Euronews reported.

He went on to urge worshippers to "see through the superficial glitter of this season" and to discover its true meaning, "the child in the stable in Bethlehem," according to the BBC.

 

Of course, he was surrounded by the glittering gold in the pic above and in the article itself while making this astute observation.

No doubt wearing the nifty little red numbers to the left, also.

His hypocrisy knows no bounds . . . .

It's Time . . . .

We're fortunate here north of the 49th - Not the same on the south side, tho . . . .

.

Oh, Come On . . . .

The name Mullet and bad haircuts?

Someone couldn't have seen this coming?!?

The Toronto Star has more:

The leader of a breakaway Amish group allowed the beatings of those who disobeyed him, made some members sleep in a chicken coop and had sexual relations with married women to “cleanse them,” federal authorities said Wednesday as they charged him and six others with hate crimes in haircutting attacks against other Amish.

Authorities raided the group’s compound in eastern Ohio earlier in the day and arrested seven men, including group leader Sam Mullet and three of his sons.
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Johnny Mullet told detectives that it was his idea to cut the hair and beards and that he discussed the idea with his father, who gave him the addresses of two victims, the affidavit said.

Lester Mullet told detectives that after two attacks in late September, the men went home and told Sam Mullet what happened. He said his father laughed and called them nuts, the court document said.

Like I said:  "Oh, come on . . . ."

 .

1% Smackdown . . . .

Poor hank and condescending.

They don't look happy, do they?

Maybe 'cuz of this bit of news from SocialistWorker.org today?

OCCUPY CHICAGO won a victory on November 14 when the University of Chicago was forced to cancel a scheduled lecture from former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and ex-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

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The University of Chicago announced on its website that Rice and Paulson's presentations had been canceled "due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict"--but many wondered if the "conflict" actually lay in the university's plans to hold the event, and Occupy Chicago's plans to shut it down.

The truth is this: When threatened with a disruption organized by a movement that rejects the entirety of what they stand for, Paulson and Rice simply threw in the towel.

Even barry's former Chief of Staff, rahm-repuglican-lite gets a shout-out:

The effective derailing of the lecture represents a victory for Occupy Chicago, which has had to struggle for its right to exist. Over the past month, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has overseen two mass arrests conducted against Occupy activists involving more than 300 people. Emanuel's administration has also unambiguously denied the movement's right to a permanent space to occupy.

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In May 2012, the NATO/Group of 8 summit is scheduled to come to the Windy City. Shutting down that event won't be so easy, but with this victory under their belt, we can be sure that the voices of Occupy Chicago will echo around the world.

Anyone up for a trip to Chicago next May ? ? ? ?

Robert Scheer Remembers bill clinton . . . .

In honour of bill clinton's latest book tour, this video of Robert Scheer recalling the "rest of the story" at an Occupy LA event sheds a bit more light on the clinton legacy:



Still wanna buy the book ? ? ? ?

H/T Tiana

Occupy Denver Elects a Leader . . . .

and our Four-Footed-Child heartily agrees with the choice . . . .



Boris: Who's the speaker at the 8:12 mark ? ? ? ?

Have a koch and a $mile ? ? ? ?

The right-wing-billionaire-zealot brother$ koch are about to fully engage their database war on the rest of the civilized world.

Feature article in today's GuardianUK reveals the details:

The secretive oil billionaires the Koch brothers are close to launching a nationwide database connecting millions of Americans who share their anti-government and libertarian views, a move that will further enhance the tycoons' political influence and that could prove significant in next year's presidential election.

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The database will bring together information from a plethora of right-wing groups, tea party organisations and conservative-leaning thinktanks. Each one has valuable data on their membership – including personal email addresses and phone numbers, as well as more general information useful to political campaign strategists such as occupation, income bracket and so on.

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At their most recent billionaires' gathering in Vail, Colorado in June, Charles Koch described next year's presidential contest as "the mother of all wars". A tape of his private speech obtained by Mother Jones said the fight for the White House would be a battle "for the life or death of this country".

Exhorting the 300 guests in attendance to open their sizeable wallets and donate to the Koch election coffers, he went on: "It isn't just your money we need. We need you bringing in new partners, new people. We can't do it alone. We have to multiply ourselves."

"We have to multiply ourselves."

Not unlike rats in a garbage dump . . . .


(Alison has more on how everything really does go better with koch here.) 


 

"The Party of the People . . . ."

Is not that "people friendly" according to this piece from SocialistWorker.org.

A snippet follows, but check out the entire piece here:

More generally, the truth is this: Democratic mayors may talk about how they sympathize with the Occupy movement. They may even try to speak in its name, as Quan has. But their office requires them to keep order and protect the interests of the 1 percent--and so they will turn to repression to try to stop the struggle from disrupting business as usual.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

THE SAME truth applies further up the chain, in the White House of Barack Obama, the first African American president of the U.S.

Where was Barack Obama, who claimed to understand the "broad-based frustration" of the movement, when Occupy activists in Oakland were reclaiming Oscar Grant Plaza after enduring vicious police violence 24 hours earlier? Answer: He was across the Bay at a $5,000-a-plate fundraiser for his presidential campaign.

Quelle surprise, eh ? ? ? ?

99% Action from Home . . . .

Something we all can do from home to annoy the 1%:



H/T BTO

A Picture Is Worth . . . .

Compliments of the ACLU . . . .

Chris Hedges on Occupy TVNY . . . .

Embed Code removed. Here's the YouTube link . . . .

'Nuther Day, 'Nuther Protest in Vancouver . . . .

Only had about an hour and a half to spare, but the Occupy Vancouver facilitators were able to get thru the first side of the "Consensus Decision Making" flyer, anyway.

Lots of discussions, counter-discussions, "are we loud enough?", "where should the translators stand?" kind of stuff.




Guess there's lots of time for patience as they are planning on occupying thru December.

Don't envy them out there in the cool, damp air at that time of the year in Vancouver but "more power to 'em ! ! ! !"

dickhead Comes to Vancouver . . . .

dickhead cheney came to The Vancouver Club tonight to promote his book.

Of course I participated to see Vancouverites welcome him in style.

To the best of my knowledge, he signed no autographs for the crowd outside the facility . . . .

Daryl Hannah: NJAPF* . . . .

*Not Just Another Pretty Face

Don't limit your thoughts of Daryl Hannah to her "Steel Magnolias" and "Kill Bill" roles. She is one tough debater as the shill for Big Oil finds out in their debate on CBC's "Power and Politics" today. She handles herself very well, is well-versed on the issues and makes a strong argument for the environmental side of this issue.

At one point a comment made by the Ethical(?!?)oil rep created the same response from Daryl and I at the same moment: "Oh my god!" (I'm not even a believer in imaginary beings, but that's a whole 'nuther story.) The shill brings out Canadian values of "respect for minorities and gays and lesbians" as a reason to support "fair trade" tarsands oil. Amazing thing to see and one wonders how he sleeps at night.

Check out the video here . . . .

Match Made in ? ? ? ?

Your guess is as good as mine.

From today's Toronto Star:

TRIPOLI, LIBYA—Libyan rebels who took control of Moammar Gadhafi’s sprawling compound made a surprising discovery in one of the buildings: a photo album with pictures of Condoleezza Rice.

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“I support my darling black African woman,” he said. “I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders. . . . Leezza, Leezza, Leezza. . . . I love her very much. I admire her, and I’m proud of her, because she’s a black woman of African origin.”

Although "condescending" apparently didn't qualify for moammar's "nurse," she can be comforted in being his fantasy babe.

Eeeeewwwwww!

Excuse me while I take a shower . . . .

Ralph Nader Speaks . . . .

On the Canadian election, U.S. politics, the "security perimeter" and proportional representation.

All in less than 8 minutes.



Concentrated, rational analysis . . . .

Don't Let Life Get You Down . . . .

Two weeks from tomorrow it'll all be moot, anyway.

Stock up on emergency supplies and offer to take care of your "believing" friends' pets when they are released from their earthly ties . . . .

Too Bad It's a Holiday and Hockey Playoff Season . . . .

or more people might have tuned in to Dawna Friesen's "One on One" interview with stevie this evening.

Basically, she ripped him a new one and he didn't look at all comfortable about it. Note how he says "The platform we're not running on is real" at the 4:15 mark.

Since Kevin Newman left "Global National" I had been withholding judgment on Ms. Friesen's creds, but she outdid her MSM colleagues on this one.

Good job . . . .

Sorry, I couldn't locate a non-commercial-included copy of the video.

s*%tharperdid . . . .

The definitive record of stevie in one place.

Spread the word . . . .


H/T "drf"

"Bless Me, Father" - There's an App for That . . . .

But Bennie and his Jerks don't like it.

Via the New York Daily News:

Officials in Rome have declared that an app available on Apple's iPhones, iPads and the iPod touch cannot serve as a confessional.

"One cannot speak in any way of confessing via iPhone," Federico Lombardi, the Vatican's spokesman, said in a statement. "This cannot be substituted by any IT application."

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It also keeps track of your sins and the time between confessions, information it keeps locked away via password protection.

Guess the Vatican figured it wouldn't aid in job security for their flock of shepherds* . . . .



*Numerous other descriptive words came to mind, but I opted to not use them. Feel free to enumerate a few in Comments . . . .

Barney & Gomer Coming to Your Neighbourhood Soon . . . .

As soon as harperco "improves" their citizen's arrest legislation, we can all live like we were in Mayberry, North Carolina.



Yee haw . . . .

Welcome to 2011, Vancouver Style . . . .

It will be interesting to see the crowd estimates for this year's Polar Bear Plunge into English Bay. Under sunny skies and a "balmy" 3 degrees, the crowd was HUGE.





"Happy New Year," ya'll . . . .