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Another Foggy Moment
These are the continuing adventures of a typical resident
of the self-proclaimed center of the Pugetopolis universe -
Seattle. Most are true stories but some are made of whole-
cloth. I ain't the Mayor, the Governor or a Big Shot. Just
another Working Stiff with a Bad Attitude.
------------------------------------------------
WARNING: This is not a Child-Proof Neighborhood.
If you're a kid - scram!, beat it! you little
punk before your Old Lady catches you and calls
the cops. They'll throw you in the Big House in
Walla Walla and won't let you out until you're
89 years old. There. Don't say I didn't warn you.
-------------------------------------------------
- 150 -
That Annular Solar Eclipse tonight (Mon 6/10):
starts - 5:02pm PDT
max - 6:03pm PDT I assume you know how to find the Sun
ends - 7:00pm PDT
From the looks of things, it should make the Sun appear something
like Pacman - a good chunk out of the SW quadrant.
WARNING: While only an idiot would stare at the Sun even under
normal conditions, it's especially important that you resist
the temptation during the eclipse. It can and will do nasty
things to your eyes. Don't even take a quick peek.
The Seattle Astronomical Society will have stuff set up for
viewing near the theater at the north end of Green Lake Park
and at Sunset Park. Grab a coffee and something to knosh on
at Green Lake's Urban Bakery after work and walk on over.
Now listen up. If you ever want to see the Sun again, this is
what you must do. I'm about to spill the beans on astronomy's
greatest secret - the Chicken Sacrifice. For centuries, astro
geeks have employed it to assure clear skies. But because of
it's esoteric nature and the danger of misinterpretation by
ignorant laymen, all astro geeks have sworn a blood vow to
keep it secret. In the wrong hands, it could easily turn moist,
green and lovely places like our Northwest into blistering,
barren hellholes like Arizona. We wouldn't want that, now
would we. Iconoclast that I am, I've chosen to defy the Sacred
Brotherhood. What the hell have they done for me lately?
Bugger all.
First off, get yourself a dead chicken - preferrably without
the feathers. Vegans can use molded tofu if they like but the
effect will be diminished. Marinate your chicken in Sacred
Solar Sauce overnight if possible. I prefer Uncle Bubba's
Possum Fixins but then it's custom made and I got connections.
Just as the Sun first begins to disappear behind the shadow,
fire up your BBQ and get that charcoal glowing red hot. Then,
at the crucial moment when the shadow maxs out the Sun, hold
your dripping, gooey chicken up with both hands as an offering
to the Sun God while chanting this refrain: "Mmmm Mmmm Finger
Lick'n Good...Mmmm Mmmm Finger Lick'n Good" before placing
your Sin Offering on your Altar of Immolation. That's your
BBQ if you haven't guessed. This will lure the Sun God into
re-emerging to see what's cook'n. If all goes well, by the
time your chicken's cooked, the Sun will be back out in all
its glory and the Universe will be restored to it Proper
Order. Chow down. You earned it.
Works every time. I've never had a single instance of an
eclipse in which the Sun didn't come back out. It's also
effective on other solar system objects. While somewhat
less reliable for clearing cloudy skies, you do have the
compensation of a delicious chicken dinner to ease your
disappointment. Waste not, want not.
*
It was two years ago yesterday that retired Seattle University
prof Jacob Lawrence died. One of this nation's greatest Black
painters, his brilliant and beautiful works depicting African-
American history rocketed him out of obscurity in Harlem during
the 30's and made him the first Black artist in America to get
real respectability. He became a tenured prof at SU in '71 and
retired in 1986. He's missed by many.
Ref: Daily Bleed
*
Speaking of retired profs...
DAY: 103
Mr. Trummel's humble webpages remain up:
Contracabal.net [Washington State version]
Contracabal.org [International version]
That can only mean that KingCo Inferior Court's Judge Jimmy
"The Token Twinkie" Doerty, hasn't yet succeeded in killing
Paul off. Even amongst the other bigots, Yahoos and low-life
on the Inferior Court bench, Jimmy kind of stands out - most
of the baliffs and janitors are more qualified to be a judge
than he is. He's a little short on background and experience.
Don't bother looking in the Times or P-I for news about
Mr. Trummel. There ain't any. Never has been. Seattle
Weekly is the only local rag keeping tabs on the situation.
Otherwise you might try Wired magazine. They ran this
article about Paul a few days ago:
Retiree Stuck in Netter's Prison
And Cheryl over at Unknownnews.net ran another piece on
his situation earlier in the week. If you want to know
what's going on in Seattle don't bother with the local
News Nazis. They ain't got a clue.
June 17th is the Big Day. That's when Judge Jimmy skips
his usual trip to the steam baths to briefly take another
gander at Paul's case. The sassy, ancient and sickly Mr.
Trummel with a history of serious heart and prostrate
problems, has now also acquired TB thanks to KingCo Jail.
That filthy dump breeds the stuff. Needless to say, KingCo
doesn't hold itself to the same health standards it does
you and I. And to top it all off, Judge Jimmy has now
put him in Solitary Confinement - the most physically and
emotionally severe form of imprisonment allowed under the
law. It's normally reserved for the most violent and
recalcitrant prisoners, not retired old U Dub Journalism
profs. Judge Jimmy has wandered off into the judicial
Twilight Zone. The punishment bears little resemblance
to the crime.
Joe Harkins of the National Writers Union and United Auto
Workers is picking up the slack that our News Nazis have
left. He has established an informational webpage dedicated
to freeing Paul. It's at:
Freepaultrummel.com
Judge Jimmy's email address is:
james.doerty@metrokc.gov
By most accounts, he's both computer and Net illiterate.
He don't know how to work e-mail. So don't be expecting
a reply let alone an acknowledgement. But just so he'll
have to lie to say he got no complaints, give him Joe
Welch's great line from the McCarthy Hearings: "Have you
no decency, sir?" It's worth a try.
*
Speaking of 'abject journalistic suck-ups'...
How about that dumbass Bimbo at KIRO who called around to
the grieving families and friends of people who recently died.
One of their much-awarded Star Reporters, she fished back
through the obitutary columns digging up names attached to
bodies. She was trying to figure out whose ashes got plunked
on the roof of Butt-Ugly Field a while back. Imagine getting
a call from KIRO about your old dad/ma/uncle/aunt/whatever
inquiring as to whether they were Mariners fans and what you
did with their leftovers! Here you thought you had all that
behind you and could get on with your life and out of the
blue, some smug jerk from KIRO calls accusing you of being
the Ash Dumper. You'd think a Big Shot Reporter like her
would have the clout and chutzpah to tell her PD where he
could stick a dumbass idea like that. Nope. She's a Good
Girl. She does whatever Daddy tells her to do. I'll bet
she's a blonde eh.
*
Baseball draft...
It was a study in contrasts. On the one hand, there were the
Purple Puppies of U Dub whose highest pick was an 8th rounder
and #237th overall (Tyler Davidson). One the other hand, there
was the University of British Columbia whose highest pick was
a 1st rounder and #9 overall. Just to rub it in, another 1st
rounder and #4 pick overall was a kid from Vancouver's suburb
of Surrey! It says a lot about the quality of our baseball
program. Despite enormous resources, no end of freeloaders
piling on and the challenge of Pac10 competition, we fail to
even come close to a place where they have a minimal program,
no freeloaders, few resources and only mediocre competition.
It must be the kids fault eh. Gotta be.
Speaking of Canuks...
One of the delights of Vancouver (BC) is Stanley Park. It's
a part of the downtown area that has been preserved in its
original, primordial grandeur. You can literally walk a few
blocks from the urban canyons of the core and be in a natural
forest. Seattle doesn't have anything vaguely like it. Nor
does Hooterville have any beaches worthy of the name (aside
from that tiny dump on Alkai Point) while Vancouver boasts
a ring of many large and beautiful beaches around English Bay.
It makes Seattle look like what it is - an ugly dirt hole.
This past week, a young Korean lady who was jogging in Stanley
Park was viciously attacked and beaten very nearly to death.
Though she's hanging in there, the sort of brain damage she
suffered is so profound it normally results in death. Despite
its reputation, Vancouver is a VERY violent city. I'd say it's
worse than Seattle in that respect. This lady's family back in
Korea were also in shock over this as you might expect. But
they have made an odd request of Vancouverites.
They are asking that someone legally adopt their daughter.
The reason given by the family is a curious one: if their
daughter survives, she will likely be severely brain-damaged
and there is such significant social stigma attached to the
mentally-disabled in Korea that the parents fear she would
suffer further if brought home. That fear was obviously
substantial enough that they risked the public embarassment
of making such a controversial request to the people of a
foreign nation. Like us, Koreans are very proud people. Can
you imagine an American making such a request of the people
of say Singapore or Nigeria? Me neither.
BTW - Canada helps cover the cost of foreign nationals who
have to retrieve sick/injured/dead family members. We
don't of course.
*
Ever since that story came out about how the Pakistanis
don't have much of a clue as to what a nuclear bomb really
is, there have been no end of News Nazis bigots and other
Media Morons goof'n 'em. "Ha! Ha! Look at them stupid
Ragheads. They ain't gonna know what hit when the nukes
fly.", is the general line.
Fact is, none of the jackasses pushing this line is any
smarter than the Pakistanis they're making fun of. They
universally have this fantasy that nukes are completely
a local event with few, if any, consequences for the rest
of us. Oh, maybe if the wind is blowing the wrong way,
we might get a little radioactive fallout, but that's
it. Clue. Anybody who says anything like that is a retard.
They got their head up their ass. They don't know what
they're talking about.
There is only one reason Ronny Ray-gun, notorious Lap
Boy to the Military-Industrial Complex, signed a nuke
disarmament treaty with the Rooskies back in the 80's.
It was because both our own and the Soviet's physicists
were able to demonstrate to Ron & Gorby that even a
limited nuclear exchange would in effect be an act of
suicide for both sides and have devistating global
effects.
Aside from the local damage and the radioactive fallout,
it would trigger a Nuclear Winter scenario. When a nuke
goes off, it generates temperatures in excess of those at
the center of our Sun. Think for a second. The Sun is 92
million miles away, and yet we can feel its heat. Need I
say, this is Serious Heat. Far greater than that generated
by Saddam's oil fires in Kuwait. Millions of tons of debris
is rocketed at high speed far up into the atmosphere where
it is dispersed by the upper air winds instead of falling
back down to the ground. This ain't smoke like Saddam's
fires, this is big stuff. Over time, it gradually becomes
evenly dispersed with most it remaining in circulation for
many years while the rest gradually seeds cloud formation
as it sifts down.
Things get complicated from there. But basically, this stuff
blocks off incoming sunlight. The temperatures drop. Without
sunlight and with significantly diminished temperatures, crops
don't grow. Neither we nor our cattle have anything to eat.
The algae in the ocean don't produce oxygen. While the extent
of this effect is determined by the scale of the attack, the
threshold is very low. An all-out exchange between India and
Pakistan would be plenty. And as far as Ma Nature is concerned,
she don't care who pulled the trigger.
The more general scenario that Nuclear Winter is part of, is
not just theoretical mumbo-jumbo. Volcanic eruptions have
produced similar effects that have lasted for decades. Think
of each nuke as a super-volcano and you get closer to the
idea. It would be like having hundreds, maybe thousands, of
mega-volcanos blasting off all at the same time. It's highly
unlikely only India and Pakistan will be nuking. This theory
is also thought to explain radical climate shifts that have
occurred in the far distant past by comet/meteorite impacts.
Bucky Fuller had one of the best analogies of our situation.
He said it's like we're on this spaceship. But instead of
having one Captain, it's got 200 of them. They're all crowded
onto the bridge. Many of them are carrying loaded pistols and
hand-grenades. A few of them have belt-bombs around their
waists. And they all want to be in charge and they're all
willing to blow the whole ship up to get control. We've
survived largely through luck so far. Our luck may be about
to run out. Say goodbye to your kids. You just stole their
future.
...............................................................
"It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand.
I beat people up."
- Muhammed Ali -
...............................................................
THE NEIGHBOR
I had a neighbor a couple years ago who was a professional
who suffered a stroke. We weren't close friends or nothing -
just friends is all. While his stroke didn't cripple him,
it left him very weak - he was exhausted after walking just
a couple blocks. And it seriously diminished his mental
capacity. He couldn't concentrate on anything any more.
Couldn't read a book. Couldn't follow the plot line on a
TV show. Working for a living was no longer an option. He
was both physically and mentally incapable of it. This
reduced him to a disability check to live on. Most of his
savings evaporated in the medical bills. All his old
friends and workmates drifted away. It's surprising how
quickly a man's life can evaporate. Money is the measure
of all things in America - you got none, you're Nobody.
Needing help and being vaguely Jewish, he signed up with a
Jewish help agency. They promised to help him find a more
affordable place to live and to manage his money for him.
It cost him $40/month for their services. That's a lot of
money for somebody on a disability check. But he knew he
wasn't up to taking care of things himself anymore. And he
figured, since they were a religious group, they'd be more
reliable and more likely to take a personal interest than
a government agency would. That attitude didn't last long.
The place they found him was a grubby little room in an old
dump of a house. One of the agency's 'patrons' properties
no doubt. He hated the place - it was old, dirty and run
down. It bummed him out being there. But he couldn't handle
looking for a place on his own and he didn't have much money
to work with. So, with a little help from his friends, he
registered with Seattle Housing to get on their very long
waiting list for subsidized housing, and hunkered down to
ride out the wait in this dump he was now living in. It
would take two years.
He had a hard time adjusting to this new regime. He felt
pretty isolated and spent his day cooped up in his little
room. He kept the TV on for background noise. He was bored
out of his gourd. But he tried to make the best of it. The
agency sent a cute little social-worker around to see him
every once in a while to make sure he was taking care of
himself: eating properly, keeping his clothes clean, making
his bed, etc. At first he was very conscienious about those
things and made a great effort to maintain his old standards.
While he was far from a dandy before, he certainly wasn't a
slob neither. Often, him and his cute worker would go out to
a restaurant for a bite to eat or take a short ride. He liked
that a great deal. It was almost like things were briefly
'normal' again.
But then some of the bums living in this place found out he
had a few bucks. They started hitting on him for beer money,
smokes, whatever they could squeeze out of him. He was lonely
and they were the only company he had. He tried to accomodate
them. In return they became his 'buddies'. As long as he was
paying for the beer and providing the smokes, they'd happily
come up to visit him and listen to him chatter away. No beer?
no smokes? Sorry, no time. Hold out on them and they'd start
to get nasty.
He told me of how once one of them found enough money to get
a Hooker off The Ave - one of the little Ave Rat girlies. The
Ave Rats are this sort of nomadic tribe of run-away kids who
wander up and down the coast. Kurt Colbain from Nirvana was an
Ave Rat of sorts. The U District's "Ave" was their local hang
out. This guy had his Ratette peel a little and let his buddies
stick their heads in the door for a peek - in exchange for a
couple Bucks. Just so they'd remember what a woman looks like.
Figuring she was on her own and pretty helpless, he of course
planned on stiffing her when it came time to pay. He was a bum.
He didn't have much money. But the joke was on him. She wouldn't
do nothing until she got her money up front. Being pretty Hot
to Trot, he paid. She took off like a big bird. That's when he
discovered she had friends. They were waiting outside the door
for him. They relieved him of his assets, his ass and a few
other things. No point in calling the Cops eh. They'd just
laugh at him. The Ave Rats were well known for fleecing the
old perverts around here. More than a few U Dub profs in search
of Young Love got the same treatment.
If my neighbor held back to save up for something he wanted
to buy, the Boyz leaned on him and told him to pony up or they
wouldn't be his 'buddies' no more. He started hitting the beer
pretty heavy too on account of his new friends. He never used
to drink at all. Maybe some wine with dinner at a restaurant -
max. Everytime I'd drop by to see him, he'd always have a couple
half-empty big quart bottles on his desk and the place started
looking and smelling pretty shabby. Smoked like a chimney too.
The boredom was the worst of it - no place to go, nobody to
see, nothing to do and no money to do it with. He was losing
it. But he insisted he would be okay.
Instead of helping him out with the situation they put him
in, the nice ladies at the agency wrote him off as a lost cause.
They ragged on him about how messy his little room was and how
dirty he looked, how his breath smelled like stale beer and
how he smoked too much. They no longer had time to go out for
a bite to eat or a ride anymore. The visits, which he used to
look forward to, now became unpleasant. He dumped them. I guess
he figured he was better off spending the $40/month on beer.
The friends he got with that were less demanding, much more
forgiving and a lot more predictable. Paying somebody to add
to your misery didn't make a lot of sense either. He needed
help, he didn't need misery. He already had plenty of that.
A year and change later, just when he'd about given up on ever
being able to escape, he got good news. Seattle Housing said
he was near the top of the list and they had a couple nice
places lined up for him. It wouldn't be long now. This boosted
his spirits considerably. Finally - a chance at something better.
He underwent a surprising transformation. He stopped drinking,
blew off his bum buddies and decided to be a Jew again. He never
said why he decided to do this. While his parents were Jewish,
giving him the necessary credentials, they weren't practicing
Jews. Quite the opposite. He said they were dead against all
that religious Mojo and brought their kids up the same way.
But somehow this Jewish thing of his stuck in his mind and he
was quietly proud of it. He kept it at arms length but he didn't
just drop it. It meant something to him but I doubt if even he
knew quite what.
I encouraged him. Damn! He needed SOMETHING besides beer in the
middle of his life. Coming from a Catholic, he found this most
peculiar. "You like Jews so much, why don't you become a Jew
too?", he says. I explained to him that your better off going
with what you got. I was born a Catholic, it's a great tradition
so it makes sense I stick with being a Catholic. He was born a
Jew, it's a terrific tradition so it makes since he sticks with
being a Jew. It all points in the same direction anyways. He
liked that. Good thing too - I didn't know what the hell I was
talking about. It just came off the top of my head.
He had already found himself a Rabbi and started learning how
to be a Jew. He wasn't fanatical about it. He was just looking
for an anchor in the storm his life had become. He wanted a
place to belong to, people to be with, something to be part
of. Something clean and decent. He found it there. If he
finds something more, more power to him. I was happy for him.
I haven't seen him for about a year now, but last I knew he had
a nice apartment in one of Seattle Housing's projects and almost
had his "Shema Yisrael" down. The effort it took to learn some
Hebrew and the other things needed to become a Jew greatly
improved his concentration. He was getting some of his intellectual
abilities back and walking around more now that he had some place
to go, people to see and things to do. He looked happy and his
life had a new sense of purpose. But he literally had to lose
everything before he found what he really needed all along.
Stuff happens like that sometimes.
.....................................................................
'OL YELLER'S TWAT
(aka The War Against Terrorism)
Acting on a tip-off from an anonymous White House informer,
a joint Homeland-Security/FBI/BATF/Secret-Service SWAT team
raided the home of famous American daredevil exhibitionist
Evil bin Knievel this week. "Anybody with a name like that
has GOT to be an Al Qaida", said an FBI spokesperson. Asked
for comment, President Yellowbelly began yelling, "He's EVIL!
He's EVIL!" Denied an attorney, Mr. bin Knievel is being held
incommunicado in a Dirt Cage at an undisclosed Federal facility
in the Arizona desert. His agent, Mr. Elvis "Rattlesnake"
Schmelvis, announced his intention to have his client's name
changed to "Just Plain Bob Smith" as soon as the courthouse
opens tomorrow. "It's just a name dang it all anyways. He's
a Good 'Ol Boy. He aint really evil. And where in the hell
that 'bin' come from?", was Rattlesnake's tearful comment.
The strain is starting to show on Yellowbelly. Our News Nazis
kept it under wraps, but many Euro reporters were amazed at
how goofy our Executive coon-ass hillbilly was acting during
the French leg of his trip after a well-libricated reception
the previous night. Choking on peanuts again no doubt - hit'n
the Sauce. His no-booze schtick is as phony as the rest
of him. Like they say at AA: once a drunk, always a drunk.
His daddy took a couple years to fall apart. Yeller's doing
it in record short time. With the November elections looming
ever closer and his Party's hold on the House at stake, the
enormous slack the American people gave him in the wake of
9/11 has been all but completely hauled in. The 50% that were
a-gin him are a-gin once again. With over half the country
now convinced he knew in advance about the 9/11 attacks and
either deliberately or incompetently failed to respond to the
clues; with his approval rating steadily sliding ever further
down, he's quickly losing it.
Regardless of what the Euros or anybody else thinks, he's going
to HAVE to play his Iraq Invasion card this fall. It's his only
hope to recoup his political losses. The consequences for us,
for that region of the world and for the world at large will be
disasterous. Worse, it ain't gonna do him a bit of good. We're
wise to him now. Just like we got wise to his Daddy.
Hard to believe only a couple years ago we were riding the
crest of an economic boom with the sky as our only limit.
And, as happened so often in the past, we reached deep down
to find a way to blow it all. This was what the pre-Vietnam
60's were like - good times gone bad. The deep nastiness
of asassinations/riots/social-upheaval that came later in
those times is yet to come. We haven't yet begun to experience
the full economic and social consequences of this past year.
It'll get pretty Hairy when we do. Bad Moon a-rise'n.
.................................................................
Canon 290
After it has been validly received, sacred ordination never
becomes invalid. ^^^^^
from: Roman Catholic Code of Canon Law
....................................................................
- MONDO VATICANO -
CAT FIGHT IN THE VATICAN! Wow! Who would ever have believed
it possible? Cardinal "Ratso" Ratzinger, JP-2's Teutonic
Terror as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith - aka The Inquistion - has reigned for over a decade
as Minister of Doctrinal Purity and unofficial Vice-Pope.
He's got the dirt on EVERYBODY. He knows where all all the
Queers are hiding and can likely rattle off from memory the
names and addresses of every kid/nun/dog/cat/horse who's
ever been Porked by a priest anywhere in the world in the
past century. Anyone screws around with Ratso they end up
singing castrato in the Vatican Choir. He's the J. Edgar
Hoover of Roma. No one has ever dared to challenge him.
Until now. With Future-Super-Saint JP-2 off on an eternal
tour of the solar system, the pouty and ever so bitchy
Twinkie who pushes around his wheelchair, Navarro-Valls,
has taken full advantage of his strategic postition to
make a power-play for Vice-Pope! This clown doesn't even
use an ecclesiastic title like Father or Monsignor or
whatever. He's just Navarro-Valls. It's just a wild guess
on my part, but I'd say he's 100% Opus Dei. Those fascist
thugs have been JP-2's unofficial body-guards since Day
One. If it weren't for them, the Curia Queens would have
nailed him with one of their Magic Pillows ages ago.
The ODs permeate the Vatican's bureaucracy like a fine
mist. They're everywhere.
The battleground for this showdown between the Twinkie
and the Inquisitor is JP-2's future. The old Pollock has
become an embarassment. Suffering serious brain-rot and
physically reduced to a pathetic visage, Ratso wants him
outta there. Even arranged to have him shuffled off to
some nice Old Popes Home in Poland in August. The Church
has BIG problems to deal with. Forget the Sacraments -
we're talking BILLIONS of Bucks. It needs a living Pope
not some shuffling Zombie like JP-2. But the Opus Dei
thugs are standing by their man and insisting that he
stays put until he croaks. Their influence evaporates as
soon as JP-2 is out the door. The Twinkie is their Front
Man in this little Turf War.
This could get interesting. There are no 'progressives'
in the Vatican. Those, like Brazilian Fr. Leonardo Boff,
who weren't flushed out of the Church, have been bludgeoned
into submission - like Bishop Belasuriya. There are only
fascists and conservatives in Roma. Time for everybody to
take sides. They better step on it. The Church is rapidly
going down the toilet and the Pollock ain't long for this
world with or without a respirator.
+ +
The American Bishops are warming up for their little
conference in Dallas on the 13th amidst the ever growing
pervert priest scandal. At least those that aren't under
indictment or scheduled for deposition anyways. They
tried to flog some sort of "first-one-is-free" notion for
pervert priests and now seem to have settled on an even
more bizarre "two-strikes" plan! What freak'n planet do
these clowns come from?
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it a bit strange
that these idiots are sitting around talking about whether
or not to aid and abet a felony assault on children? In
itself it constitutes conspiracy to obstruct justice. Who
do they imagine is going to pay for their forgiveness in
the subsequent lawsuits? Certainly not them. And just whose
kids are the Bishops going to 'volunteer' for the forgiven
'first and second strikes'? Their own? Of course not. They
ain't got any. They're going to use yours.
A reckoning of sort is coming. The clergy may call the shots
in the Church but we pay the bills. If we were to stop even
temporarily and the Bishops had to pay their own mortgages,
you can bet their attitudes would change radically. These
jerks have serverely abused our trust and faith in them.
They've lied to us, used our children for their sexual
gratification and taken us completely for granted. It ain't
gonna stay that way much longer. They better watch their
asses. WE are the Church, not they. Says so right there
in the Bible.
*
Fr. Andrew Greeley in Chicago is a bit of loose cannon. Aside
from writing a popular regular column in the Trib, he cranks
out a lot of harlequin-esque romantic novels with Catholic
themes. Nothing too risque or of any particular profundity
but good enough to keep those royalty checks rolling in. He's
gotten into luke-warm water with the Vatican occasionally over
his views - particularily on the Church's teachings relating
to sex and birth control. But again, he's a sociologist
by training and not a theologian, so he's not a real threat.
Besides, he ain't the kind of the guy who would stick his
neck out for reasons of conscience. He knows when to kiss
butt. Without that collar, he's Mr. Nobody.
Donning his sociology hat, he released the results of one of
his surveys this past week and paid a few Vatican dues at
the same time. The topic was the burning issue of widespread
anti-Catholic sentiment, prejudices and discrimination in
America. That's strange. I've been a Catholic all my life
and I've never run into any. Nonetheless, Fr. Greeley insists
that his fellow Americans continue to cling tenaciously to
such dog-eared cliches as:
* Catholics do what the Pope and Bishops tell them to do
(75% believed it so);
* Catholics idolize and worship the statues and images in
their churches (57% thought so);
* Catholics worship the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints
as much as God (83% thought it true).
Fortunately he didn't direct the same questions to Catholics
or he may have embarassingly found that they too cling
tenaciously to such dog-eared cliches.
Fr. Greeley attributed these perceptions not to ignorance
of Catholic doctrine but rather to a deep-seated bigotry
Americans hold for Catholics. Lacking any actual data to
substantiate that view, it is obvious he has a little
problem keeping his own bigotry out of his pseudo-scientific
analysis. In the academic world, sociology is like journalism
and psychology - Phys Ed for Pink Boys. Pretty much impossible
to flunk.
Many Catholics, unable or unwilling to distinguish between
the institutional Church embodied in the Vatican, and the
real Church embodied in the family of God's people, are
taking this pervert priest scandal VERY personally. Despite
clear and ample evidence that much of the institutional
church is rotten and morally corrupt to the core - in
desperate need of a thorough house-cleaning - these lay
Catholics insist that its really all just a conspiracy
against the Church. An attitude that the Bishops and many
clergy strongly encourage. It gets them off the hook. It
takes the focus off their corruption and perversity and
redirects it elsewhere: gays, women, liberals, News Nazis,
Evil Protestants/Jews/Muslims/Buddhists, etc. etc.
In this extraordinary time when when the Church should be
seeking atonement for its sins with humility, honesty and
candidness, it is instead being encouraged by guys like
Fr. Greeley to pursue arrogance, self-pity and a false
sense of persecution. How Christian of him. He ain't part
of the solution, he's part of the problem. He ought to
shut up and get a clue.
BTW - A CNN/USA-TODAY/GALLOP poll of U.S. Catholics this
week produced the following results:
77% say dump ANY priest guilty of abusing a young
person in the past;
75% say the Church has done a bad job of dealing
with its pervert priests (this is after the
Bishops Dog & Pony Show in Roma);
87% say the Pope should fire any cardinal or bishop
who knowingly transferred a pervert to another
parish and failed to notify the police
Sheesh! Even Catholics are turning into anti-Catholic
bigots these days. Rarely has there ever been this huge
a rift between the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the
Butts In The Pews.
----------------------------------------------------
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it into Lutefisk.
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