April 16, 2008
Happy Birthday Benedict
Just in case you haven't been sufficiently bombarded by the media on this subject, the Pope flew into Washington to celebrate his birthday with his new best friends. They threw a party the likes of which have not been seen since Reagan's corpse hit town. The menu - morel-encrusted diver scallops, ramp spatzle (in honor of Pope Benny's German heritage and stinky behavior), angel hair asparagus bisque, duo of veal, white truffle potato dumplings, baby carrots and boletus mushrooms, heirloom lettuces and candied pumpkin seeds, spring squash carpaccio, styrian pumpkin oil vinaigrette, raspberry crisp and mint coulis. was a state secret until unveiled.
It has been pointed out that God's Rotweiller and George W. Bush have lots in common. They share many regressive views against abortion, stem cell research, birth control and gay marriage. The media, however, failed to mention their mutual penchant for massive cover ups. We all know about George W's - .here's the pope's
Five years ago he sent out an updated version of the notorious 1962 Vatican document Crimen Sollicitationis - Latin for The Crime of Solicitation - which laid down the Vatican's strict instructions on covering up sexual scandal. It was regarded as so secret that it came with instructions that bishops had to keep it locked in a safe at all times.Cardinal Ratzinger reinforced the strict cover-up policy by introducing a new principle: that the Vatican must have what it calls Exclusive Competence. In other words, he commanded that all child abuse allegations should be dealt with direct by Rome.
The pope did have the decency to say that the sexual abuse scandal caused him shame - well deserved, and unfortunately not until it was exposed.
So Happy Birthday dear Benedict from all of us here at Dakota.
Photo note: sometimes a cigar is just a cigar
Addendum: Dan Froomkin has a wonderful column about Bush's moral relativism in which he quotes Bush to Ben:
"'In a world where some invoke the name of God to justify acts of terror and murder and hate, we need your message that God is love,' Bush said. 'In a world where some treat life as something to be debased and discarded, we need your message that all human life is sacred. . . . In a world where some no longer believe that we can distinguish between simple right and wrong, we need your message to reject this dictatorship of relativism. . . . In a world where some see freedom as simply the right to do as they wish, we need your message that true liberty requires us to live our freedom not just for ourselves, but in a spirit of mutual support.' . . ."The pope, tactfully, made no direct mention of Iraq, torture, global warming and other disputes with the administration, but he did call the Bush-hostile United Nations an 'effective voice for the legitimate aspirations of all the world's people.'"
Posted by Dakota at April 16, 2008 06:32 PM