McClellan gets reamed about Bush’s service record
From therevealerfeed—Unfortunately, I don’t read Hebrew:
Too hum-drum? Max Gross recommends J.T. Waldman’s “180-page graphic novel [about] an orphan… taken to a brothel. She meets an alcoholic, lecherous king. He succumbs to her charms and makes her his queen. She uncovers a murderous plot to kill thousands of her people and—through her wits—saves the day.”
That’s right—the biblical Esther makes her debut on the funny pages. Unroll the scroll here
MANDATORY CELIBACY AND SEXUAL ETHICS IN THE LATIN RITE OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH .
By the twelfth century, as we have illustrated, Rome had consolidated an enormous amount of power in itself. For the most part, however, it was “paper power,” the power flowing from signed concordats, papal pronouncements, decrees of its marriage tribunal, and so forth. To make that power more “real” Rome needed real estate. Many bishops were living like feudal lords, owning large tracts of land, and the priesthood was frequently passed on from father to son as an inheritance. Part of that inheritance was land, often given as “a benefice” to the local bishop or priest by a rich patron. Rome saw a possible bonanza here, if it could find a way to get its hands on all that real estate. Celibacy was the key. The inheritance lines had to be cut. That would bring all benefices under the control of the Church’s bureaucracy and the appropriated lands could be leased out to fatten the papal coffers. Celibacy made Rome an important power broker in the real estate business.
And Christians claim they’re “persecuted” here in the US:
A struggle for spiritual freedom in China
Better late than never?
Gay GOP group challenges Bush on marriage
Log Cabin Republicans to air TV ad in D.C., seven states
The ad features grainy black-and-white footage of Dick Cheney talking encouragingly about gay relations during an October 2000 vice presidential debate in Kentucky.
“The fact of the matter is we live in a free society, and freedom means freedom for everybody,” said Cheney, whose daughter Mary is openly gay and works on his campaign.
“We don’t get to chose, and shouldn’t be able to chose, and say you get to live free but you don’t. People should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to enter into. That matter is regulated by the states.”
The Embarrassment President
Move over, Howard Dean. Piece by piece the Bush administration is self-cannibalizing, offering future administrations a detailed tutorial on political implosion. Each week brings another misstep, another miscalculation, another boneheaded move.
Miscounts, Changed Votes, No Paper Trail: Is Electronic Voting a Threat to Democracy? led me to Verified Votings – Campaign to Demand Verifiable Election Results
From democracynow‘s headlines today:
South Dakota Prepares to Ban Abortions
South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds said Tuesday that he supports a bill that would ban almost all abortions in South Dakota. The signing of the law could lead to a Supreme Court challenge to Roe vs. Wade.
