Chow Down . . . .

Now for a break from our regularly scheduled program:



Hungry now ? ? ? ?

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.

_______________

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 . . . .

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.
_______________


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 . . . ."

 .

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 . . . .

"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."

_______________


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 . . . .

Bennie's Bedazzled . . . .

Check out Bennie's leer at the 0:56 mark and tell me he's not having impure thoughts . . . .

Clean Catholic Cash . . . .

bennie and his Jerks are the gift that keeps on giving.

Check this out via The Guardian UK today:

Vatican bank chief investigated over money laundering claims

In unprecedented move, judge freezes €23m held in account at financial institution with close church links

* John Hooper in Rome* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 September 2010

The head of the Vatican bank has formally been placed under investigation in an inquiry into a suspected violation of Italy's money-laundering laws, judicial sources said today.

At the same time, a judge in Rome ordered a freeze on €23m (£19.5m) held in an account opened by the Vatican bank, the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), at another financial institution in the Italian capital. It was thought to be the first time such action had been authorised against the IOR in Italy.
_______________

The Vatican has a long history of withholding co-operation from Italian investigators seeking access to its bank's books. The IOR was involved in a major scandal in 1982 arising from the fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano, then Italy's largest private bank.

Well.

Maybe now we have the definitive answer as to how bennie affords all those fabulous pumps he struts around in . . . .

Wanna do a pole trick ? ? ? ?

This article from the local paper in our former homeland is too good to pass up. Here in it's entirety because as "drf" says, there's too many good lines to single out just a few*:

Bikini-clad strippers protest church in rural Ohio
August 27, 2010

By JEANNIE NUSS
Associated Press Writer

Strippers dressed in bikinis sunbathe in lawn chairs, their backs turned toward the gray clapboard church where men in ties and women in full-length skirts flock to Sunday morning services.

The strippers, fueled by Cheetos and nicotine, are protesting a fundamentalist Christian church whose Bible-brandishing congregants have picketed the club where they work.

The dancers roll up with signs carrying messages adapted from Scripture, such as "Do unto others as you would have done unto you," to counter church members who for four years have photographed license plates of patrons and asked them if their mothers and wives know their whereabouts.

The dueling demonstrations play out in central Ohio, where nine miles of cornfields and Amish-buggy crossing signs separate The Fox Hole strip club from New Beginnings Ministries.

Club owner Tommy George met with the preacher and offered to call off his not-quite-nude crew from their three-month-long protest if the church responds in kind. But pastor Bill Dunfee believes that a higher power has tasked him with shutting down the strip club.

"As a Christian community, we cannot share territory with the devil," Dunfee said. "Light and darkness cannot exist together, so The Fox Hole has got to go."

New Beginnings is one of four churches in this one-traffic-light village of 900 people, 60 miles outside Columbus. There's one gas station and a sit-down restaurant that serves country staples like mashed potatoes with gravy and Salisbury steak.

On Sunday, four of The Fox Hole's seven strippers and more than a dozen supporters garnered both scorn and compassion from churchgoers — and quite a few honks from pickup trucks and other passing vehicles.

One woman offered her skills as a hair dresser to the dancers: "If you or your kids ever need a haircut, give me a holler." Another woman from the church waited on the protesters with plates of noodles and chocolate cake.

Laura Meske — known as Lola, stage age 36 but really 42 — hid behind a sign proclaiming, "Jesus loves the children of the world!" as the preacher extended his hand for a shake.

Two nights earlier, Dunfee and more than a dozen churchgoers stood outside the club, one of them calling out Meske's stripper name.

"He who casts the first stone ... ," Meske said Sunday.

The pastor cut her off and repeated, "Lola, Lord bless you."

"Everybody has sinned, and that doesn't mean I'm not gonna get into heaven," she said, the stud piercing in her chin shimmering in the sunlight. "I believe in Jesus. I don't believe what they preach. They preach hate."

Debi Durr, who attends the church, disagreed. "You don't stand up there for four years for hate. That's not hate. That's love," she said. Durr left Meske with a copy of Jeremiah 3:13 — a Bible passage that urges sinners to acknowledge their guilt.

Inside the church, voices from the 121 congregants seemed to float to the cedar rafters as they sang lyrics projected on a screen. Outside, a man strummed a guitar and sang, "God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in her shoes."

Dunfee has offered to help the strippers pay for food, rent, utilities and gas if they leave The Fox Hole. But many of the women say their jobs are only a stopover on the way to work in cosmetology or the medical field — a meal ticket that shelters them from another stigma: welfare.

"No little girl is growing up like, `I wanna do a pole trick,'" said Anny Donewald, a former stripper who lives in Grand Rapids, Mich., and ministers to dancers, prostitutes and porn stars.

She and other Christian groups that work with women in the adult entertainment industry have criticized Dunfee's methods of ministry as a means of putting the strippers on the defensive instead of showing support.

"I never saw Jesus with a picket sign," Donewald said.

Community advocacy groups, including Citizens for Community Values in Cincinnati, support Dunfee's protests. But the group's president, Phil Burress, said the strip club has a right to be there.

"It's a legal business whether he likes it or I like it or not," Burress said.

The club operates in a white plywood box of a building. Beer cans and a dollar bill peaked out from the grass like Easter eggs last Sunday.

The Fox Hole encourages customers to check out its $30 private dance special, promoting it on the kind of sign convenience stores use to advertise cheap milk and cigarettes. Out back, letters on a bulletin board have faded away so that "No touching" now reads "ouch."

It's here where dancers strip down to panties and pasties for cash. Meske — a tattooed mother of four — said she made $30 instead of a couple hundred dollars last Friday with the protesters outside.

"I'm not the most beautiful woman in the world," she said. "I go out there and I try to make my money."

A few houses and a ribs joint called Peggy Sue's separate the club from another white building, a church where some of the strippers donate blood during drives for the American Red Cross.

"I got a church 900 feet down the street that causes me no problems," club owner George said. "And I got this moron nine miles down the street that causes me more headaches."

Rae Anderson, who heads New Castle Ministries with her husband, says her church believes Dunfee is doing what the Lord called him to do, but her parish takes a different approach.

"You can share the truth, but you can't make anyone believe what you believe."

Life in the Excited States.

Rather nice looking at it from up here north of the 49th . . . .

* Although, this one did give me particular chuckles: But many of the women say their jobs are only a stopover on the way to work in cosmetology

"Praise the Lord" and Pass the Bullets . . . .

Jeebuz, these people are really whacked.

Bring your gun to church to protect yourself from what, fer cryin' out loud? Disciple gangs? Meth lab zealots?

Get a grip down there, ya'll . . . .

The Road to Armageddon . . . .

This morning I completed "The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada" by Marci McDonald.

Her book is highly recommended as a wake-up call (I hope it's not too late!) for Canadians to avoid the mess religious zealots have ingrained in the US political system. With the short period of time harperco has been in office, the infiltration of "faith-based" radicals is astounding. Some excerpts follow.





On the "Change you can believe in" president:

On both sides of the border, Obama's election was hailed as a tipping point, the moment when a majority of Americans finally revolted against years of overheated piety in favour of an appeal for spiritual tolerance. . . . .

. . . . As it turned out, those elegies were premature. Rather than banishing Bush's faith-based bureaucracy and rhetoric from the White House, Obama has actually outdone him in public religiosity. From the invocation by celebrity pastor Rick Warren at the inauguration to his own address to the Islamic world enunciating his belief in Jesus Christ, he has “embraced faith in a more visible way than any other president in recent memory,” according to Dan Gilgoff, the religion writer for U.S. News & World Report. While Bush was careful, even covert, in his scriptural allusions, Obama opened major presidential rallies with prayers solicited from local pastors, and mentioned Jesus with a frequency his predecessor would never have dared. Instead of scrapping Bush's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, he expanded its mission and named a new twenty-five-member Faith Advisory Council, prompting Gilgoff, the founder of Beliefnet's “God-o-meter,” to dub him the “faithiest” president in American history.

On the "feel-good" methods of the snake oil salesmen:

Waving their bright flags on the lawns of the Parliament Buildings, extolling the country's Christian roots to a compelling soft-rock beat, they might seem to offer a refreshing recipe for morality and national pride, but their agenda – while outwardly inclusive and multi-racial – is ultimately exclusionary. In their idealized Christian nation, non-believers – atheists, non-Christians and even Christian secularists – have no place, and those in violation of biblical law, notably homosexuals and adulterers, would merit severe punishment and the sort of shunning that once characterized a society where suspected witches were burned. Theirs is a dark and dangerous vision, one that brooks no dissent and requires the dismantling of key democratic institutions. A preview is on display south of the border, where decades of religious-right triumphs have left a nation bitterly splintered along lines of faith and ideology, trapped in the hysteria of overcharged rhetoric and resentment.

In her final words, a warning: (Emphasis mine.)

On a visit to Canada in late 2006, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges was alarmed to discover that, in a country he had always regarded as “a bit saner” than the U.S., Harper was putting out the welcome mat for the religious right. The son of a Presbyterian minister and a; graduate of Harvard Divinity School, Hedges warned Canadians against following the lead of those Americans who “stood sleepily by as Pat Robertson and other religious bigots hijacked the Republican Party and moved into the legislative and executive branches of government.” As he made clear, the growth of the U.S. Christian right was a long and insidious process, but one that could only have happened because the media and political moderates watched in passive disbelief or wishful denial. In tracing the influence of that emergent force in this country, I have attempted to sound a wake-up call, but, in the end, it is up to Canadian voters to write the next chapter. Only they can decide the kind of country in which they want to live.

For lack of a better term, Marci, "amen" . . . .

Matt Weighs In . . . .

Matt Taibbi weighs in on the "Vati-scum" - aka, "bennie and the jerks" - in action.

A sample:

That’s all the church is. They’re a giant for-profit company using predatory salesmanship to sell what they themselves know is a defective, outmoded, basically unnecessary product.

The full article here.

As usual, his writing is on-target and verbiage more than entertaining . . . .

The Chris and Stephen Show . . . .

Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry fire shots across the bow at the catholic church.

These are two clips from the BBC's Intelligence Squared presentation of "The catholic church is a Force for Good." Hitchens is up first followed by Ann Widdecombe - a recent convert to catholocism - and Fry finishes up.





bennie and the jerks: 0

Our side: 1 . . . .


H/T BTO

Help! It's Here Now ! ! ! !

If you think the influence of the US christian right "wrong" is creeping north across the 49th, there's now proof.

On a trip to the US southland last summer I was not surprised to see this ad on television down there. Unfortunately, it is now here.

Two, count 'em two ads for the item within the past hour on "ahem," "choke," "gasp" CTV.

It appears harper is winning, ya'll . . . .

Cross Out in Italy . . . .

Today's BBC notes the Italians are a bit miffed at the European Court of Human Rights:

Italy school crucifixes 'barred'
BBC News | Tuesday, 3 November 2009

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against the use of crucifixes in classrooms in Italy.

It said the practice violated the right of parents to educate their children as they saw fit, and ran counter to the child's right to freedom of religion.

The case was brought by an Italian mother, Soile Lautsi, who wants to give her children a secular education.

The Vatican said it was shocked by the ruling, calling it "wrong and myopic" to exclude the crucifix from education.

The ruling has sparked anger in the largely Catholic country, with one politician calling the move "shameful".

The Strasbourg court found that: "The compulsory display of a symbol of a given confession in premises used by the public authorities... restricted the right of parents to educate their children in conformity with their convictions."

It also restricted the "right of children to believe or not to believe", the seven judges ruling on the case said in a statement quoted by AFP news agency

________________


Vatican spokesman the Rev Federico Lombardi said the European court had no right intervening in such a profoundly Italian matter, the Associated Press reported.

"It seems as if the court wanted to ignore the role of Christianity in forming Europe's identity, which was and remains essential."

He told Italian TV: "The crucifix has always been a sign of God's love, unity and hospitality to all humanity.

"It is unpleasant that it is considered a sign of division, exclusion or a restriction of freedom."

_______________


The government says it will appeal against the decision.

Well, at least little Jewish and Muslim kiddies won't have to stare at "the sign of God's love, unity and hospitality" represented by a guy dying nailed to a couple of boards all day.

Good grief . . . .

H/T Penny

Circum(cised)stantial Evidence ? ? ? ?

And I thought all the whackos lived in Florida. Look what we've got right here in BC, via CBC News:

Home circumcision of 4-year-old ends in conviction

Friday, October 16, 2009 | CBC News

A Vancouver-area father has been found guilty of negligence causing bodily harm after botching a home-circumcision attempt on his four-year-old son as part of a spiritual quest to make things right with God.

The bizarre case centred on a battle over the religious freedoms of the former Jehovah's Witness, who was trying to follow a literal interpretation of the Bible after a series of misfortunes hit his family.

During the trial, the B.C. Supreme Court heard that after a bad motorcycle accident in 2002 left both the man and his wife with brain injuries, he began the religious quest that eventually led him to believe that both he and son needed to be circumcised to celebrate Passover.

_______________


I'll spare you the graphic details of the attempt as you can view them in the original piece should you be so inclined.

_______________

Religious freedom argued

In court, the man's lawyer, Douglas Christie, argued the man's desire to fulfil his religious duty negated any criminal intent.

And in her ruling issued on Wednesday, Judge Marion Allan found the man not guilty on charges of aggravated assault and assault with a weapon, saying the man did not seriously harm the boy and the razor blade was not used as a weapon.

But the judge also ruled the child could not have consented to the operation and the father should have known he needed a trained professional to perform it — especially given his own first-hand experience — and found him guilty of negligence causing bodily harm.

"Indeed his motivations could be characterized as selfish or even deluded insofar as he believed that he was unable to live in his home at Passover with any uncircumcised male, including his four-year-old son," wrote the judge in her ruling.

The man's lawyer is reportedly considering an appeal on constitutional grounds, and a sentence has yet to be handed down.

Amazing.

Freakin' amazing . . . .

bishop Kiddie Porn . . . .

Another of pope bennie's jerks makes the news.

CBC reports today:

Former N.S. bishop charged with possession of child porn
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - CBC

A former Roman Catholic bishop from Nova Scotia is facing child pornography charges.

Raymond Lahey, the former bishop of the diocese of Antigonish, is known as the man who oversaw a $15-million settlement with people who said they had been sexually abused by priests in the diocese dating back to 1950.

He was returning to Canada from the United States when he was arrested at the Ottawa Airport last week after members of the Canada Border Services Agency performed a random check of his laptop computer.

Lahey has been charged with distributing and selling child pornography. No court date has been set.

_______________


On Saturday, Lahey, 69, announced his resignation as bishop of the Antigonish diocese, which the Vatican accepted.

"We are grateful to him for his dedicated and generous service to the diocese," said Anthony Mancini, archbishop of Halifax, in a statement on Saturday.

In a letter to parishioners, Lahey said he needed time for "personal renewal."

I'm guessing some of that "personal renewal" may be renewing acquaintances with an attorney or two from those settlement days. Those were good times, weren't they, raymond?

Poor bennie.

His jerks just keep messin' up . . . .

Out of Work? Great ! ! ! !

Finally!

Some good news on the unemployment front.

fern hill over at DAMMIT JANET! has the story.

It's a story that will give you a warm and fuzzy feeling.




Promise . . . .

Gog and Magog. Good Grief george . . . .

According to this month's edition of the Council for Secular Humanism's "Free Inquiry", g.w. bush felt "that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse."




This is not a joke - no doubt to Bill Maher's chagrin - and James A. Haught details the story in his article "A French Revelation, or The Burning Bush."

Check out the whole article, but here are some of the highlights:

A French Revelation, or The Burning Bush

James A. Haught

Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse.

Honest. This isn’t a joke. The president of the United States, in a top-secret phone call to a major European ally, asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God.

Now out of office, Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their “common faith” (Christianity) and told him: “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.”

_______________

After the 2003 call, the puzzled French leader didn’t comply with Bush’s request. Instead, his staff asked Thomas Romer, a theologian at the University of Lausanne, to analyze the weird appeal. Dr. Romer explained that the Old Testament book of Ezekiel contains two chapters (38 and 39) in which God rages against Gog and Magog, sinister and mysterious forces menacing Israel. Jehovah vows to smite them savagely, to “turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,” and slaughter them ruthlessly. In the New Testament, the mystical book of Revelation envisions Gog and Magog gathering nations for battle, “and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”

_______________

Oddly, mainstream media are ignoring this alarming revelation that Bush may have been half-cracked when he started his Iraq war. My own paper, The Charleston Gazette in West Virginia, is the only U.S. newspaper to report it so far. Canada’s Toronto Star recounted the story, calling it a “stranger-than-fiction disclosure … which suggests that apocalyptic fervor may have held sway within the walls of the White House.” Fortunately, online commentary sites are spreading the news, filling the press void.

The French revelation jibes with other known aspects of Bush’s renowned evangelical certitude. For example, a few months after his phone call to Chirac, Bush attended a 2003 summit in Egypt. The Palestinian foreign minister later said the American president told him he was “on a mission from God” to defeat Iraq. At that time, the White House called this claim “absurd.”

_______________

It’s awkward to say openly, but now-departed President Bush is a religious crackpot, an ex-drunk of small intellect who “got saved.” He never should have been entrusted with the power to start wars.

Truth really is stranger than fiction at times . . . .

H/T Joylene

Salvation Shopping . . . .

In addition to the local television commercials mentioned here, today's discovery is captured below. Have your credit cards handy, as I know you'll leap at the chance to get your holiday shopping done early.



Since I've not been privy to local US TV in quite some time, this may not be a recently released marketing blitz. It is, however, the first time I've had the pleasure (?) of enjoying it.

"Taxi*!! Airport, please . . . . "


* That's actually an attempt at humour. There are no taxis within 25 miles of here.