DogfightAtBankstown

how does that song smell?

And what colour did you hear?

the dynasty

Continues.

Or should I say, nineteen and already a marked man:

NAUDERO, Pakistan (Thomson Financial) - The 19-year-old son of Benazir Bhutto was appointed Sunday as leader of the assassinated Pakistani opposition leader's party, with her husband as co-chairman, party officials said.

The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) named Bhutto's son Bilawal, an Oxford University student, as its chairman after a marathon meeting at the family's ancestral home, three senior party officials told AFP.

The decision came just three days after Bhutto was assassinated, leaving a void at the head of the PPP, the largest political party in the nuclear-armed Islamic nation.

'Bilawal is the new chairman of the party and Asif Ali Zardari will assist him as co-chairman,' one of the officials said. Zardari, 51, is Bhutto's husband.

Bilawal was named in the will left by Bhutto as her successor in the event of her death, the official said. He himself read the contents of the will to the meeting of the party's top brass.

Bhutto's 51-year-old sister Sanam, who was supported by many PPP members to take over, had refused to accept any responsibility in the party because of her family commitments in London, another of the officials said.

The appointment means the party leadership follows the bloodline for a third generation, some four decades after it was founded by Bilawal's grandfather and former prime minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

Look, I know you can't expect much from a country that is as fractuous as Pakistan and has only been in existence for some fifty years, with barely an understanding of democracy - it does after all rely on the army to keep the country together.  And I know Benazir Bhutto had many fine points despite her many flaws. But promulgating  dynasty-based personality cults to run for office is not democracy. Especially with so much smelly baggage. (Yeah looking at you too Ms. Ghandi.)

And while I am at it, I don't think unity governments, be they in Palestine, Lebanon, Pakistan or wherever, are such a brilliant idea either - if that's what others were pushing for Bhutto, Musharraf and co.

I have said before that I think the best one could hope for Iraq, is that it would look like Pakistan in some fifty years time, army and all, except perhaps still without an air force and hopefully without the nukes.   But reading this latest bit of news - which was not entirely unexpected -  is making me think that in the longer term, Iraq might just end up looking a tad better, a hell of a lot faster.

Update: the other side of Benazir Bhutto.  Plus the gossip:

On November 3, Pakistan's President Musharraf declared a state of emergency and suspended elections.

Suddenly, after being snubbed for nine years, Benazir was being feted by Washington. She thought this was fantastic news and that President Bush's support would help her win the election in Pakistan.

But Asif asked me to check with my own contacts in Washington and Islamabad. I did and the information I got was that as soon as Musharraf ended the state of emergency, the Bush Administration would abandon its support for Benazir. She would be left extremely vulnerable. I thought it was a death trap.

On November 8, Benazir was placed under house arrest after threatening to join a protest rally against Musharraf. I rang several times before I managed to get my call answered.

I didn't speak to her but she later called me back. She couldn't talk freely as she knew her conversation would be overheard. She sounded frantic.

I asked her if she needed anything, meaning a book, face cream, perfume or me to contact anybody. She replied: "Yes. I need a bulldozer." I couldn't understand what she meant and thought she was talking in code.

Later Asif called me and said her house was surrounded by so many guards, Benazir needed a bulldozer to get out.

In one of our last phone calls, Benazir told me: "Washington is behind me. I can't lose this opportunity. I have been waiting for it for nine years. We need to get Pakistan democratic again. I am needed here. It is now or never."

Update 2: Interesting succession planning.

Bilawal read his mother's will to a closed meeting of senior party officials on Sunday afternoon. The document, which Benazir wrote two days before she returned to Pakistan last October, after eight years of self-imposed exile, apparently called for Zardari to take the reigns of the party. But Bhutto's controversial husband says he wanted the family's political legacy to pass to his son, who he said would now be known as Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Party supporters immediately began chanting, "Long live Bilawal Bhutto."

Bilawal, who has spent much of his life outside Pakistan, said that his father will handle the day-to-day affairs of the PPP until he finishes his studies in England. The younger man will then return to lead the party. Zidari was openly protective of his son during the press conference, at one point saying that he, not Bilawal, would answer all questions because while the young man may be the head of one of Pakistan's biggest parties he was "of a tender age."

things must be looking up in iraq

If Bin Laden is supposedly peeing in his pants.

Now is the time too, to put the pincers on the militants and terrorist supporters in Afghanistan and Pakistan and keep a steady eye on other hot spots around the world.

Update: A profile of the latest foreign-born jihadis entering Iraq.  All the usual suspects.

patently god

Here we go again:

Puri (India) -- The US-based online shopping place came under the attack from Hindu activists at Puri, one of the most hallowed destinations in India, following the misuse of Hindu gods and goddesses. The website sold undergarments embossed with the images of famous Hindu deities like Jagannath, Krishna, Rama, Siva, Mahalaxmi among others. A number of priests alongside some Hindu brigades poured into streets of Puri expressing their displeasure at the online shop.

      

A blasphemous use of images of Hindu deities?

Even though that website has put the images and slogans of other religions on undergarments, there was not any reaction from people of other communities here at Puri as the place is largely inhabited by Hindus.
 
But the Puri police slapped a case against the website based on a First Information Report (FIR) of Priyadarshan Pattnaik, the president of Jagannath Sena, a Puri-based religious outfit. Police also admitted that the website was found with selling undergarments emblazoned with the pictures of Hindu Gods and Goddesses through its online marketplace. “We registered a case under sections 295 (A) and 153 (A) of Indian Penal Code for maliciously hurting and damaging the religious sentiments and promoting enmity between classes, respectively. Though the crime has taken place somewhere else, we were bound to register a case looking at its sensitivity and link with the presiding god (Jagannath) at Jagannath temple. Investigation is on,” said Asheet Kumar Panigarhi, the superintendent of police (Puri). “This is a difficult case. We are facing such a case for the first time. We will see what we can do,” Panigarhi said.

We are talking Cafe Press here.  A novel solution:

Bibudha Ranjan, a city-based author said that the only way to stop this is to patent all Hindu Gods and Goddesses. “I know that gods are not objects for sale, but there seems to be no other way out. It is better to patent Hindu Gods. Else, one can do whatever they want,” Bibudha Ranjan said.

tales of the unexpected

OTTAWA (Reuters) - In early October 1942, Flight Lieutenant Donald McLarty was shot down over Libya on his 199th mission of World War Two. Although he was flying for Britain's Royal Air Force, his uniform was emblazoned with an unexpected word: Argentina.

Many foreigners fought for the various Allied air forces, but until now historians have largely focused on pilots from Czechoslovakia, Poland, France and Norway -- all of which were occupied by German forces.

Few realize that more than 800 young men from neutral Argentina, some of them schoolboys, rushed to sign up as pilots and then made the long, dangerous trip to Europe by boat.

Few realise that some of their stories are better than fiction: 

"It was a very stupid operation ... the moment we crossed the coast I could see the soldiers waiting," recalled McLarty, now 85.

"I was hit immediately by ground fire in the engine and had oil all over my windscreen. All I could do was fly in formation with the guy next to me and then my tail was blown off."

McLarty's plane smacked into the ground, barreled straight through two parked German fighters and ended up in a pile of empty gasoline drums.

German officers produced a glass of White Horse whisky for the 20-year-old and then shipped him off to a prison camp.

Yep, reckon that deserved a toast.

tell it to someone who cares

While I think the whole Hicks saga was a political and legal cock up of monstrous proportions, I don't know whom I dislike more: David Hicks or his dad. 

Mind you, it does go to show that an apple never falls far from the apple tree.

I'm with the editor on this.  And any media outlet or book publisher who pays for Hicks's story or dingbats who will pay to read or view it, better think again.

Source

Update: Darryl delivers a dose of reality:

Here's a preview of the next decade of tabloid headlines : 'Hicks Gets Job', 'Hicks Assaults Daily Telegraph Photographer', Hicks Public Breakdown', 'Hicks Falls In Love With FHM Model', 'Hicks To Become Father Again', 'Hicks Marries In Secret Ceremony', 'Exclusive : Terror Dave Wedding Pix', 'Hicks' Divorce Drama', 'Hicks Found Unconscious In Nightclub Toilet', 'Hicks Goes Into Rehab', 'Terry Hicks' Heartbreak : "At Least In Gitmo He Was Off The Gear".

Update 2: Oh boo hoo

Mr Hicks's family said that, despite his relief, he was crippled by fears that he would be a target for Muslim or far-right extremists, or inadvertently breach his plea bargain agreement and be sent back to Guantanamo Bay or be punished by the Australian or South Australian governments if he spoke out or be hounded by the media, exposing him to all these risks.

Mr McLeod said his client had concerns for himself and his family because extremist groups believed that, by renouncing his Islamic faith in 2002, he had dropped his allegiance to Osama bin Laden. His al-Qaeda training and capture among Taliban forces in Afghanistan could also anger nationalist groups, he said.

Mr McLeod declined to detail the nature of any threats that had been made and whether intelligence from police or the Federal Government had prompted these concerns.

"David is concerned about the safety of his family from people who hold views he was purported to share," he said. "There are also a number of far-right nationalist groups in Australia who have spoken out about David."

So are the Hicks now telling us now there a wingnuts in Australia like those who recruited David Hicks for his boy's own adventure?  You know, his bwuvvas. Or that Muslims don't kill apostates?  Or that David still supports Osama bin Laden? Or that somehow far-right nationalists are somehow worse than wannabe jihadis and their far left supporters? 

Did I hear any apology or remorse? Or did I just hear the endless whining that life's a bitch, especially for those who want to kill people. How can The Age print this crap?  Oh wait...

no-god but allah

Finally, Muslims concede that the "allah" they worship is not the God of Christians, the one whom Christans know as Father, Son and Holy Spirit:

A MALAYSIAN church and a Christian weekly newspaper are suing the Government for banning them from using the word "Allah", alleging the prohibition is unconstitutional and against freedom of religion.

The move follows the Government's declaration that "Allah" — which means God in the Malay language — refers to the Muslim God and can be used only by Muslims.

They are the first legal challenges against the mainly Muslim Government's decision, amid concerns that rights were being trampled on.

The Herald, the newspaper of Malaysia's Catholic Church, filed suit in early December.

The Sabah Evangelical Church of Borneo also took legal action this month.

While it is true that "allah" means nothing more than "god" and that there is a legitimate argument that this edit further restricts religious freedom (for all non-Muslims, not just these particular Christians) in a country where there is anything but religious freedom, the real issue of course is "who is god". 

So what would these Muslim bureaucrats say if Christians sought to ban Muslims at the local mosque using the name "Jesus" or "Issa", as it refers to the Christian God, and can therefore only be used by Christians, or sought to ban the use of the word "Father" because that is how we address God...That's right, they wouldn't be too happy because they understand the real issue is "who is god" and their real beef is that it's their god or no god at all.   

Of course we Christians don't go around seeking to ban the use of the word "god" in any language (we do have plenty of secular humanists and political advisors in the world who are happy to do that). Because there is only one who is god - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and he is god of all, whether you chose to acknowledge him or not. And he is god without anyone's help.  He is god even without the Malaysian government's support and intervention and was god even before the Malaysian government existed and hec, I reckon He will still be god way, way after the Malaysian government passes away.  So while this little edit is just dhimmitude in action, I kind of think on the other hand, that it would be cute to let the Muslims have their "allah" - cute if it wasn't so dangerous. 

I mean, the idea that the god known as "Allah" to Muslims would be dependent on human recognition or support for his survival really kind of makes him no god at all. 

islamic rage boy

Has competition. 

From Pallywood of course.  No doubt vying for B-grade stardom.

So help him out.  Photoshop competition is on.

(This one from Free Pioneer)

i guess

You have all heard about the tiger which escaped its enclosure at the San Franscisco Zoo and killed 17 year old Carlos Sousa Jr, and injured two brothers before being shot to death by policemen. You may have heard that Sousa was late for Christmas dinner and his parents had been trying to find him, and were even lied to by the brothers when they rang them earlier in the day to ask if he was with them.

Not much you can say to the Sousas is there?

Umm nope.  Unless you really want to be the dolt of the year. 

An animal rights activist of course:

The zoo remained closed Wednesday, its gates chained. The only sounds reaching the periphery were trees rustling in the cool breeze and faint yowls from the monkey exhibit. A lone protester, Leigh Lawson, a 25-year-old Humboldt State student, stood watch near the service entrance. Her hand-lettered sign read, "Honk If You Miss Our Tiger."

And here's a photo of Ms Lawson, just from the for your record.

Honk if you, like Ms Lawson, missed the definition of intelligence.

(via a friend of this blog who forgot to wipe out an email trail)

free fall

Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated.

Al-Qaeda is claiming responsibility.

Update: It was the sun roof. No doubt its spontaneous combustion also killed the other victims.

Update 2: Still talking spontaneous combustion of sun roof. Like there were no bullets or bombs. Al-Qaeda linked militants now deny responsibility.  A further 33 people have been killed in the post-assassination violence.  And an interesting tid-bit:

Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, told the BBC her will would be read out to a meeting of the PPP by her son on Sunday.

Asked if he wanted to lead the party, Zardari replied: "It depends on the party and it depends on the will."

young canadian anglicans

Bring you a cavalcade of seriously bad nativities.

What child is this?

penis envy

Honestly, guys.
Grow up.

today in the church of the zeitgeist

As one commenter named 'Bob' said about the female ECUSA priest arguing for abortion as a moral choice:

What an outrage.  A woman in ECUSA sleeping with a *man* ??

Happy Multicultural Feminist Celebration Day, from the church which is so exclusive in its inclusiveness, even images of men are not allowed.

sex, politics, religion

Is that his hand in your pocket? Richard realises Ramadan just doesn't quite have the same ring.  Or, Muslims don't part with their cash as easily as they'd like to part you from your head.

Good Communists and bad Christians: spot the difference.

Tis the Season.  The season of Islam is Peace.  Brought to you by your local terrorist network.   

Infinitely demanding: Note to cry babies - resistance is surrender.

Spreading the love. Now showing in Britain.

Pope talks with Muslims.  Al Qaeda kacks itself.

Weapon of mass distraction is haram: Muslims protest.

Where's the sex you ask? I don't advocate for sex outside of marriage. 
So here's Liu and Xu: a love story.

christmas card

From a hooker in Minneapolis.

Tom Waits.

syphilis is back

The sexually transmitted disease long associated with 19th Century bohemian life is making an alarming resurgence in Europe.

"Syphilis used to be a very rare disease," said Dr. Marita van de Laar, an expert in sexually transmitted diseases at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. "I'm not sure we can say that anymore."

Most cases of syphilis are in men, and experts point to more risky sex among gay men as the chief cause for the resurgence. But more cases are being seen among heterosexuals, both men and women, too.

The stats:

• In Britain, syphilis cases have leapt more than tenfold for men and women in the past decade to 3,702 in 2006, according to the Health Protection Agency. Among men in England, the syphilis rate jumped from one per 100,000 in 1997 to nine per 100,000 last year.

• In Germany, the rate among men was fewer than two per 100,000 in 1991; by 2003, it was six per 100,000.

• In France, there were 428 cases in 2003 — almost 16 times the number just three years earlier.

• In the Netherlands, cases doubled from 2000 to 2004. In Amsterdam, up to 31 men per 100,000 were infected, while the rate was much lower in other regions.

Similar trends have been seen in the United States.

In 2000, syphilis infection rates were so low that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention embarked on a plan to eliminate the disease. But about 9,800 cases were reported in 2006.

Oh and next time someone bleats about more sex education and protection:

Advances made in treating AIDS may have inadvertently boosted syphilis' spread.

"The evidence points to an increase in unsafe sexual behavior since anti-retrovirals for AIDS came along in 1996," said van de Laar.

After decades of being instructed to use condoms and to limit the number of sexual partners, some people are probably suffering from "safe sex fatigue," van de Laar said. The Internet has also allowed people to find sexual partners more easily than before, and some experts link the rise of dating Web sites to the jump in syphilis cases.

Seems to me no one wants to take responsibility for the consequences of their behaviour.  Just. Want. An. Out. Clause.

why is it so?

Well some of us are old enough to remember this crazy grey-haired gentleman. 

So it amuses me to find the grey lady mentioning another crazy grey-haired gentleman.

Yep, that's entertainment.

if you can't name your teddy bear mohammed

Without being run out of the country (yeah I know all Sudanese aren't that ridiculous) then don't be surprised if some Muslims continue to do their darndest to make all Muslims look ridiculous.  Or that some Canadians are happy to comply. 

The latest which has been circulating the news and the blogosphere: Mark Steyn being sued for quoting a Norwegian Mullah, and proving his words true.  The accuser, the CAIR wannabe CIC.  The charge?  Something like Islamophophia.

Maybe CAIR could sue CIC for plagiarism or perhaps quoting mullahs out of context.

beam me up molech

Only the ECUSA - that's the American Anglicans (well some of them anyway) - could ever argue for abortion as a moral choice.  Yes, I tend to quote CJ a lot, but hey, what can I add?

Notice the progression.  Woman, pursuing "Christian" ordination, sleeps with sleazebag she's not married to.  Woman, pursuing "Christian" ordination, gets pregnant by sleazebag she's not married to.  Woman, pursuing "Christian" ordination, doesn't want to marry sleazebag who knocked her up.  Woman, pursuing "Christian" ordination, makes the "easy" decision to whack the unborn baby.

Pay particular attention to the order in which this woman justifies all this.  Killing an unborn baby was (1) right for her and her circumstances (2) morally correct in its context.  (3) practical, and fruitful in its outcome.  It made the life of this woman easier, therefore it was "morally correct."  Not only "morally correct" but "practical" and "fruitful."

That this woman considers it a calling to tell the murderers of the unborn that God approves of what they do for a living suggests to me that Anne Fowler doesn't really believe in God at all.  Her "deity" certainly doesn't seem to ever get in her way.  Understandable since her "deity" seems to be nothing more than a heavenly notary public, stamping his/her seal on anything Ms. Fowler decides is right.  Kind of the whole Episcopal "Church" in a nutshell, pretty much.

Oh I can add more.  Grease her up, here comes Melbourne:

AN ALL-FEMALE committee representing the Anglican Church's Melbourne diocese has recommended that abortion be decriminalised, in what is believed to be the first official approval of abortion by Australian Anglicans.

Archdeacon Alison Taylor said yesterday the church recognised there were circumstances, especially foetal abnormality, when abortion was "the least problematic solution".

And let me be blunt. If I hear another whinge about more sex education and contraception I will scream.  Kids are now starting sex education at age 6.  Your condoms are in your local supermarket, do you want them in your kid's lunch box as well?  Nope, must scream.  There goes Alison Taylor wth the same-o balderdash.

The seven-woman committee — including an obstetrician, a medical ethicist and a theologian — was appointed by Archbishop Philip Freier, "who felt men had said enough", one member said.

You mean there are men in the Anglican church in Melbourne?  Anyway, if there was an ethicist or a theologian, even a priest amongst that lot, you wouldn't know it by reading their submission.  Although I note that Muriel Porter features again. (For my American readers who know ECUSA shenanigans, Muriel Porter is the Louie Crew of Australian Anglicanism, especially in Melbourne, except that her doctorate is at least worth something and she occasionally writes for serious newspapers. Apart from that, her views aren't that much different to ol Louie, although her dress size may be different.  Once could easily think, reading the papers, that Muriel was the only Anglican laywoman in Australia.)

It is preparing pastoral and liturgical resources for the wider church. Archdeacon Taylor said the Anglican Church had not always supported women well. "Recently, I met a woman with three children who had a severe foetal abnormality. They found the decision very painful, and wanted a funeral for the foetus, whom they mourned," she said.

Recently I read of Austin John Swenby, who died last week, aged 11 minutes. His parents, who already had three daughters, were given a diagnosis of anencephaly earlier in the pregnancy, and were advised to abort.  They chose a different road.

This video is his parents' tribute to their son and was played at his funeral.  Austin John Swenby was not a foetus, but a son and brother, grandson and nephew; loved, named, known, and remembered.  Especially by God.

As was the "foetus" of the woman whom Taylor met.

Remember that.  Because one day He will ask you about him as he will Taylor and co.

(via Amy)

all things death

I think this photo, taken in a cemetery in Budapest, is beautiful even if the theme of the post from which I sourced it is not.

I've posted a few links on the subject of death and funerals this year - mostly links to articles which raise the question of how our approach to death and funerals says a lot about us as a society.

Cashing in on it, and offering satellite broadcast obits, says more.

baked ham

If some of us Aussies were tired of the year long election campaign we had, when we were not having an election campaign, after which, we had the longest six week campaign in history to see Prime Minister Howard lose his seat and pass into the cohort of suburban pensioner, while the Coalition lost government and quietly imploded, then spare a thought for our American friends.  Their presidential campaigns now seem to run for years.

And while their individual candidates may each have one or two redeeming features, all of them seem to be in need of redemption as a whole, when viewed from this distance.  Makes our non-choice seem like an economist's dream.

What makes this current lot of Presidential candidates interesting is, as always, the interplay between politics and religion.  I get the impression that it is almost anathema for a public figure to declare themselves anything but Christian (atheist never!) in America. Almost like signing your own political death warrant.  Better to mouth the words: after all, the divide between what you say and what you do can be as wide as you care to make it.  Contrast with here, where in general, and perhaps until recently, making declarations of faith much less how your faith influences your political life and decision-making is generally seen as political death, or at least a no-no. Or perhaps softly, not so stridently, as it may serve to expose a few false prophets, ay Danny-boy? 

Well it would make it interesting if it were not for the media, many of whom seem to beat up on the wrong issues and then avoid all the hot potatoes.  When it comes to religion that is. It needs a ham-fisted Huckabee to throw a penny-banger over to a tightly-prancing Romney to show what the dancing is all about.

From a profile of Huckabee in the only-we-really-get-religion New York Times:

Huckabee normally starts his mornings by running 6 to 10 miles and reading a chapter from the Book of Proverbs. Today he was too pressed to do either, but he planned to catch up later. Anyway, he knew much of the day’s assignment, Chapter 3, by heart. “Trust in the Lord,” he quoted, “and lean not upon thine own understanding.” Not a bad motto for a campaign that is still too broke to do any independent polling.

Chapter 3 also contains the admonition to “keep sound wisdom and discretion.” Huckabee is, indeed, a discreet fellow, but he has no trouble making his feelings known. He mentioned how much he respected his fellow candidates John McCain and Rudolph W. Giuliani. The name of his principal rival in Iowa, Mitt Romney, went unmentioned. Romney, a Mormon, had promised that he would be addressing the subject of his religion a few days later. I asked Huckabee, who describes himself as the only Republican candidate with a degree in theology, if he considered Mormonism a cult or a religion. “I think it’s a religion,” he said. “I really don’t know much about it.”

I was about to jot down this piece of boilerplate when Huckabee surprised me with a question of his own: “Don’t Mormons,” he asked in an innocent voice, “believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?”

Says the Divine Ms. M at GetReligion:

Oh yeah. He went there.

She continues:

While I think he said this before Romney’s landmark religious freedom speech last week, there’s quite a bit to unpack there as far as what’s fair game for discussion in a political horserace. So let’s look at how the mainstream media are covering this.

Umm. Not very well it seems. 

Although one journo did manage to locate official LDS doctrine that does indeed affirm that Jesus and Satan were brothers.

Indeed, it seems that most journos have once again failed to ask the right questions.

Now I’m not sure what the heck this has to do with who one votes for in the caucuses and primaries, but at the very least we should ask reporters to be careful when covering this hot potato. Just because many — including, perhaps, reporters — might view Huckabee’s comments about Mormonism as a low blow and an unfair insertion of religious doctrine into politics does not mean that Huckabee’s leading question was technically incorrect. Having said that, Mormons teach that Jesus and Lucifer are at cross purposes and that Lucifer rejected God’s plan and was cast out of heaven as a result. Highlighting the Mormon belief that they are brothers could imply that they have similar goals or purposes.

Okay, now onto another angle that I find surprisingly undercovered. Huckabee is an ordained Southern Baptist pastor. I think a legitimate journalistic inquiry would be whether he really doesn’t know much about Mormonism. Southern Baptists are known for taking Mormonism very seriously and engaging LDS doctrine aggressively. Baptist Press is running a series on specifics about Mormon doctrine right now. Your average Southern Baptist tends to know quite a bit about Mormon doctrine, so I am not sure how plausible Huckabee’s claim of ignorance is. A reporter who was a bit more familiar with the largest Protestant church body might have followed up better when Huckabee claimed he was ignorant of Mormon doctrine.

Good questions.  But you know, I personally am also interested in what this has to do with who one votes for in the caucuses and primaries. 

Here in Oz, we have a small contigent of voters who pee in their pants at the thought of anyone of any faith (except an adolescent form of neo-atheism) being in government or positions of authority lest we go hurtling down some road of what they perceive as an American theocracy (I do apologize to my few American readers, but we have dumb-arses here too).  This despite the fact that if they examine their own lives and experiences, they would find that they have related to and worked with and for, and dealt with all sorts of people with all sorts of beliefs in all sorts of contexts, without really rating a mention.  If they were really honest, these perpetual pant-wetters would still place people who worship anything from Paris Hiltion to Zeus - bar a handful of exceptions - on that vastly broad spectrum of normal people.  All with the usual baggage that comes with being human. 

Indeed outside of that small group, most Aussies are honest and fairly laid back about  others' religious beliefs. Happy to have a dig at nutcases, happy to live and let live.  Except for now and then, when worlds collide. 

And they sometimes do.  Because both the pant-wetters and the rest of us know that  beliefs, religious beliefs, do matter. 

The question is which beliefs.  When, who, how.

So when do strange religious beliefs  - at least from one's own point of view, or at least from the dominant culture's point of view - matter?  Does it matter if Romney believes Jesus was a brother to Satan?  Would it matter if Romney, despite claiming to be a devout Mormon, didn't believe Mormon teaching?  Would it matter more or less if he did?  Would it matter just to Mormons or should it matter to everyone else?  Why?  And why should it matter in Romney's case when we have people with even more whacked out beliefs teaching in our universities, yet not matter if say, he decided, like Maree Osmond, to compete on Dancing with the Stars?   

Does that mean it matters if Giuliani says he's a Catholic but doesn't uphold Catholic teaching in private or public life?  Would it be better if he just said, nope I don't believe in Christ any more?

Is it what one says? Or what one does?  Or maybe the great big divide between both?

Update: The saga continues - and it gets a journalistic ethics vs a lying(?) ignorant (?) innocent(?) politician twist. Meaning context is everything.  I've since read elsewhere on another blog, but have not sought to confirm from other, more reliable sources, that Huckabee has made public statements claiming to have a degree in theology but he allegedly dropped out of Seminary after a year and only has a BA (the equivalent of Aussie associate degrees not our BAs) in Bible. Which leads me to another question, related to something I have noted in the course of my working life.  Why do many (and mostly men in my experience), spin, beef up or else straight out lie on their CVs?  And coming back to this sorry saga that just adds an extra twist to truth telling in both journalism and politics:

Wednesday afternoon, Huckabee described to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer how the interview with Chafets had gone. “Actually, if you’ll talk to the reporter, because he was shocked that that was characterized out of an 8,100-word story, as we were, we thought, good heavens. We were having a conversation. It was over several hours, and the conversation was about religion, and he was trying to press me on my thoughts of Mitt Romney’s religion.

“And I said I don’t want to go there. I don’t know that much about it. I barely know enough about being a Baptist. And I really didn’t know,” the GOP presidential candidate continued.

the germans

Can tell the difference between reality and pretense.

merry kitschmas

It's not yet Christmas and I'm already exhausted (and since when can some schools suddenly announce they are finishing term a week early? But I digress).  So in order to amuse myself, the first of a series on the usual war on Christmas.

Mark Goodacre of Duke University's Department of Religion on how to turn a badly worded survey into a news story:

It's a regular feature around this time of year to have a survey like this.  A couple of year's ago, The Times attempted to trick clergy into providing wrong answers to questions too in order to grab a headline. The article pulls a classic stunt in the presentation of dull statistics and instead of drawing attention to the bland but relevant fact that according to its survey, the vast majority answered the key question correctly, it focuses instead on the 27% figure who did not.

I guess "Most Brits know the Nativity story" isn't such a good beat up.

For the politically bereft, your very own nativity set, from where else but the Ship of Fools:

At £12 for the small version, and £50 for the large, church version, the Walled Nativity is a steal.  But I will leave it to you to work out who's stealing what, from whom. A decorative item those who so badly want to insert politics into religion but balk at religion in politics.

And given we are talking the Church of the Zeitgeist, here is the Christmas message from the high priestess herself, the Presiding Bishop of the ECUSA.  Take it away CJ:

It's Advent so Katharine Jefferts Schori goes down into her basement and brings up her boxes of Christmas ornaments, her decorations, her Christmas lights, her Christmas tree stand and her prized collection of traditional leftist Christmas analogies:

One of the great gifts of the way in which those in our cultural surroundings celebrate Christmas is the focus on children and on those who have few human helpers. We delight in the wonder of children as Christmas approaches, and many of us make an extra effort to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and care for the needy. The challenge is to let our seasonal "seeing" transform the way we meet our neighbors through the rest of the year, and through all the coming years. How might we begin to see that child in those around us: strangers and aliens (both Immanuel and Immigrants); wanderers (Homeless, like Mary and Joseph, for whom there was no room); widows and orphans (Social Outcasts); babe born in Bethlehem (Palestinian and Israeli alike; or the boy babies whom both Pharaoh and Herod sought to kill); divine feeder of thousands (Soup Kitchen worker); and savior of the world (Peacemaker, Bringer of Justice for All, Reconciler, Just and Gracious Lawgiver...). If God comes among us as a helpless child, then the divine presence is truly all around us. Where will you meet Jesus this Christmas?

For the last FREAKING time.  The Holy Family was NOT HOMELESS!! Joseph had a home and a good job.  I don't know how they do things where you come from, Kate, but if my daughter ever came to me and said she wanted to marry a homeless guy with no prospects, I'm going Old-Fashioned Fifties Neanderthal Dad on her rear end.

Another thing.  The only reason Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem in the first place was because they were ordered to go there merely to fill out some imperial paperwork.  The Romans were basically areligious bullies; you can relate, can't you, Kate? And would those silly people who think that the reason Sodom and Gomorrah were wiped off the map was because of a lack of hospitality explain why Bethlehem is still standing?

All that said, this isn't a bad message.  Seems a bit dashed off at the last minute, though, and just about everybody who is anybody gets a mention.  I'm surprised Kate didn't work in New Orleans one more time or bring up the Millennium Development Goals[peace and blessings be upon them].  But on the subject of helpless children, it is nice to see Kate admit that killing babies is a bad thing.

It's just having babies in the first place that's only for uneducated Catholics who damage the environment, according to Kate. 

But while on the subject of peace and blessings, and in the best Christmas turkey tradition, some clown lawyer in Turkey has filed a complaint to Uefa after Italian team Inter wore a shirt with "an offensive symbol", at least to Islamic culture, in their recent match against Turkey's Fenerbahce. While playing on their home ground.

In Milan.

We will leave aside wondering some Turks' view of history. I wonder if that is a "magic Christmas pudding finger to you, too. Sunshine."

Although I wonder too, why we won't see any rioting and litigation in New York.

note to morons

Political correctness does not deliver justice.  On the contrary, it just becomes another tool of oppression.

Case in point: the gang-rape of a ten year old girl.

If the prize idiot crown prosecutor Steve Carter was stood down, so should the prize idiot judge Sarah Bradley - "well-known in Aboriginal communities for her efforts to keep people out of jail".

Some people deserve jail, idiots. 

A ten year old girl who doesn't know better deserves protection from idiots like Carter and Bradley as much as she deserves protection from her assailants, the oldest of whom was twenty-six.  Twenty-six is not some frigging "naughty boy" for Christ's sake.  I wonder if they would say the same if the girl was their daughter.

Abominable. Disgusting. Unbelievable.

Christ have mercy on us all.

there is a reason

Why Kevin Rudd is resisting the Bali greenhouse gas targets.  We do after all, have the eco-friendly, farting kangaroo. 

Take that Qantas.

this one

For those who have to write.  Essays, reports, thesis, papers.

But can't help procrastinating.

Perhaps one should suggest blogging as a strategy to combat procrastination.

The best thing about blogging is that you don't have to blog.

So you can never procrastinate.

And you can't use your blog to procrastinate writing.   

Because you will be writing anyway.

ebola

There's been an outbreak of the deadly ebola virus in Uganda.  From the New York Times via AP:

Health workers are among the dead in an Ebola outbreak, spreading panic among doctors and nurses needed to help treat victims of the highly contagious disease, officials said. Experts say that the Ebola strain in the outbreak is a new one and that the typical Ebola symptoms were not always present, slowing diagnosis. Doctors and nurses did not know at first what they were facing, so they failed to protect themselves, according to Jane Alisemera, the lawmaker who represents Bundibugyo District, the center of the outbreak. “We are facing a crisis in health care here,” she said. According to the Ministry of Health’s latest figures, Bundibugyo has 93 suspected cases of Ebola virus, among them 22 deaths. Four health workers were among the dead. The outbreak began Aug. 20, but the disease was not confirmed as a new strain of Ebola until Nov. 29. Infection control doctors from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently arrived to help local officials contain the outbreak.

Drs. Scott & Jennifer Myhre are currently working in Bundibugyo, Uganda as part of a mission.  They also have a blog - paradoxuganda - on which they report on the ebola outbreak up close and personal.

The sad story of Dr Jonah Kule's final days and his burial.  Dr Kule was no doubt one of the "health workers" cited in the NYT article, but a husband, father, brother and friend, including a friend to the Myhres.  And a doctor who laid down his life for others:

Friday November 23 is the day Jonah believed himself to have been infected. That was the day he and Scott examined Jeremiah Muhindo. In between two of the times they saw the patient together, Jonah went in alone and arranged a face mask of oxygen onto the dying man, hoping to provide some relief or comfort. He was not wearing gloves because he could not find any at the hospital at that moment, and he felt that his friend needed the oxygen. That was his greatest exposure.

In the latest post, Dr Jennifer Myhre writes:

I missed the briefing due to the burial, but here is what I can glean:

• Cummulative Cases: 101 
• Deaths:  22 
• New admissions:  1 in Kikyo and 0 in Bundibugyo

Hmm . . . How can new cases increase more than admissions? Well, there were five patients evaluated today by triage who were told to go into the isolation ward but somehow disappeared. Not encouraging for control of the spread . . .
But consider this dilemma. Someone comes to triage. She has a low grade fever and mild diarrhea. 10 days ago she stood in a known patient’s presence and prayed for them. She claims to have not touched the patient. Is she a contact? Is she a suspect case? If she is lying and she really did touch the patient she’d be a definite contact, and a contact with a fever and symptoms should be admitted. But she says she didn’t touch, so then she’s not a contact, just a person with diarrhea who happened to be in the room of an Ebola patient once. Yet if you are making the decisions and you take this lady’s denial of contact at face value ( in a culture where truth is very fluid and relative) then you might be condemning others to die as she gets sicker and spreads the virus. On the other hand, if she really didn’t touch the patient and she has some mild crud that is not in any way related to Ebola, yet you admit her to the isolation ward, she’ll probably get Ebola from the patients already there, and she might die. That is very very tough. And the above case scenario was actually presented to Scott today, who turfed the decision to those with more experience. No easy answers.

• Inpatients seen by Scott W in Nyahuka: 1 
• Maternity cases Scott M was on call for in Bundibugyo:  1

Lastly, the CDC epidemiologists are searching now for the earliest cases. Fascinatingly, the in-charge from Kikyo, Julius (the man who has cared for the most patients of all!) told Scott that in the first family to be affected, four brothers all died. There must have been someone who survived, because the story later came out that they had eaten a monkey together. It is not clear whether they found a dead monkey or shot one (men do hunt up in the forests that border the Rwenzori National Park, I see them sometimes on the road or an obscure bike path, suddenly emerging from the bush with their mangy little brown dogs and their bows and arrows). It is also not clear if the “monkey” was a primate, since we do have chimps in the district and we know that Ebola can infect chimps and gorillas. I hope the CDC team or one of the other epidemiology groups can shed light on how the virus suddenly appears.

And prayers that this current outbreak is contained and quickly disappears.

(Paradoxuganda link via Jesus Creed)

reports

That Rupert Murdoch has got religion have been greatly exaggerated. 

Ruth Gledhill:

Julia Duin, religion editor at The Washington Times since 2003, has started a new blog, BeliefBlog. Her blog comes amid reports that my own boss, Rupert Murdoch, has bought the faith-based website Beliefnet, founded in 1999 by Steve Waldman.

[...]

She writes: 'George Cornell, the late and revered religion writer for the Associated Press, did one of his best stories before he died in 1994: An account on how people spend millions on sports, but billions on religion. He added up the gate receipts in a given year of the 10 most-watched sports in America and compared those with giving statistics in the country's 10 largest denominations. Religion outspent sports by far as peoples' biggest source of weekend entertainment. Not only is religion big business, it's big news, which is why we felt it was about time this newspaper premiered a religion blog.'

Mr Murdoch can simply sniff out news and sniff out money, especially money-making news.

Not. Rocket. Science.