Virtual Front Page, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012

I’ve told you about a lot of this already, but just to take a moment to prioritize things:

  1. EU agrees to Iran oil embargo (The Guardian) — Seems like a fairly significant development, even though no one else is leading with it at this hour. There are caveats, of course — an agreement “in principle.”
  2. McCain Backs Romney After Santorum’s Surge in Iowa (NYT) — This puts Santorum roughly in the Romney position of four years ago — as the “conservative” alternative to the more mainstream candidate.
  3. Bachmann exits race as she entered it (WashPost) — I think the headline means, “by babbling in an eccentric manner about Obamacare.”
  4. US weapons ‘wish list’ revealed (BBC) — It includes lasers and heat beams, so you know it was really compiled by red-blooded Americans. Yeah, boy…
  5. Kodak Preps for Chapter 11 (WSJ) — Come to think of it, I haven’t bought any film in a while.
  6. LA bishop with secret family quits (BBC) — I guess he was confused by the “Father” title.

9 thoughts on “Virtual Front Page, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012”

  1. Doug Ross

    “US weapons ‘wish list’ revealed (BBC) ”

    In other news, hunger and medical care issues eliminated in America.

  2. Steven Davis

    Heat beam technology is really cool, I saw a demonstration on it a couple years ago. When someone enters the targeted area they say it’s the same sensation as opening an oven door, an immediate blast of 400 degree heat. I think it’s a great thing to use on Occupiers on these cold winter nights.

  3. Tim

    If the bishop quit because he sinned, does that mean all bishops should resign? Apparently he gets to remain a priest and bishop, so what’s the big deal? All of them violate some aspect of their vows at some point. This simply means the only one that really matters is celibacy (Cardinal Law? Really?). Also, the story does not say how long ago that the children were conceived other than they were minors. Maybe he was a bishop afterwards. Most disturbing part is that the Diocese was apparently supporting the kids (i.e. Your tax dollars at work). That’s probably not a sin, but perhaps is a crime. It at the least demands a civil remedy.

  4. bud

    This caught my attention in Brad’s link:

    “The Pope has shown no sign of relaxing the Roman Catholic Church’s rule on priestly celibacy, which has been in place since the 11th Century.”

    So let me get this straight. The celibacy rule was put in place in the 11th century, 1000 years after Christ. Many of my Catholic friends cite the fact that they are a member of the Church because it comes the closest to representing the original Christian teachings. Yet here we have an example of something put into place long after anything “original”. So how does this dangerous, unnatural celibacy rule continue to remain a part of a major church’s doctrine? It neither conforms to anything original nor does it conform to any sort of modern standard of common sense yet there it is.

    It just seems to me that any time you are part of an organization where you constantly have to explain contridictions, defend anachromisms, appologize for atrocities and in general associate with bizarre and frankly cultish traditions it’s just time to find an organization which really does comform to some sense of the original church teachings. All I see with the Catholic Church is medieval pomp and ceremony parading around as a serious religion. Give me the good ole Unitarian free spirit approach any day.

  5. David

    “It just seems to me that any time you are part of an organization where you constantly have to explain contridictions, defend anachromisms, appologize for atrocities and in general associate with bizarre and frankly cultish traditions it’s just time to find an organization which really does comform to some sense of the original church teachings.”

    Really? Bizarre, cultish traditions? Is this bizarre tradition limited to the Catholic church? And I don’t mean that as an insult. What group with a devoted following doesn’t have bizarre and seemingly cultish traditions? This tradition is certainly cultish (note that you are instructed to take a pledge before participating). This seems like a bizarre tradition to me.

    And what large organization doesn’t have to explain contradictions, defend anachronisms and apologize for wrongdoings? Hell, that sounds like you are describing the United States of America to me.

    My point is not that your criticisms of the Catholic Church aren’t valid; they are. But it seems arbitrary to apply them only to Catholics when you could easily apply them to pretty much all of us.

  6. `Kathryn Fenner

    I and some legal scholars believe the rule on celibacy arose from the need to ensure that Church property stayed in the Church. The ability to leave property to other than heirs related by blood is only a few centuries old. The Church property was (and maybe still is) owned by the bishops on up “personally” (there were no corporate “persons” back then). If they had children, the children would inherit of right.

  7. bud

    The celibacy rule, however it came about, is outdated and dangerous and needs to be repealed. It is just not natural for human beings to be forced to suppress a basic human need. Unless someone can provide a link to the original biblical teachings from Christ’s time then defending the practice is an exercise in defending the world as it existed in the dark ages. And do we really want to return to that era? Hey, maybe we can have a Bubonic plague festival.

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