- As has been gently pointed out in yesterday’s Comments, my very own Mom’s new book is out! Buy it. Heck, buy two, so that you can read it stereoscopically.
- How do I feel about the Pope’s death? I don’t know - he was okay, as Popes go. I admired him somewhat, agreed with him on some things, disagreed on others, and will never forget our summer together at drama camp. Is that enough? But I’m hoping for the new Pope to be a guy who will stop telling the 1 billion Catholics who live in this overpopulated and AIDS-ridden world that condom wrappers are Hell’s lift tickets.
- Speaking of tickets to Hell, I’m pretty sure that Senator John Cornyn earned himself at least a season pass with his assertion that recent courthouse violence might be connected to that dang judiciary overstepping its bounds by… judging things. The two big-headline assailants in the news lately are 1) a concerned American on trial for rape who expressed his disapproval for activist judges by gunning down a judge and four other people before fleeing the scene, and 2) a thoughtful conservative theorist who lobbied for a shift in the separation of powers by slaughtering a judge’s husband and mother after she’d ruled against his umpteenth malpractice suit. Despite the fact that he won’t apologize for that bit of dangerous idiocy, Senator Cornyn is not an idiot, mind you. He’s just living proof that total one party power is the cure for common decency.
- The Arab Human Development Report is finally out, detailing just how Freedom is on march, where it’s marching to, and whom exactly it’s marching over to get there. Expect to read about this again and again in the coming days.*
*Provided, of course, that you read this paragraph again and again in the coming days.
Fanny Roborat
41 comments
Jacobo
April 5, 2005 at 10:26 pm
1But I’m hoping for the new Pope to be a guy who will stop telling the 1 billion Catholics who live in this overpopulated and AIDS-ridden world that condom wrappers are Hell’s lift tickets.
God-damn fuckin’ eh right.
Momma
April 5, 2005 at 10:33 pm
2I’m so pleased that in the midst of all this politcal/social/ethical sturm und drang you remembered me!
Points, definitely, points for you!
smoochies,
Old Romantic Mom
hedera
April 6, 2005 at 12:03 am
3I think the comments are broken on your “March” page, Adam - I was checking back and they don’t come up when I click…
Auros
April 6, 2005 at 12:52 am
4Personally, I was glad to see that there was still somebody out there willing to speak ill of the dead.
JP1 had the potential to be a great pope. JP2 was mired in doctrine that was stale by 19th century. He was responsible for a mass exodus of moderate Catholics to saner denominations (Episcopal, Congregationalist, etc).
tess
April 6, 2005 at 2:12 am
5Some people suggest that maybe it’s not the pope, per se, but his cardinals that were propping him up like Terry Schiavo for a video. The next pope shouldn’t have an excuse . . . unless he’s got the mental capacity of the Ol’ Gipper.
jelli belli
April 6, 2005 at 2:20 am
6oh my goodness adam! i just have to say that you made me laugh so hard with your sanctity of marriage piece that i had to pull my car over. wow. i shared it with everyone here at the Phoenix gay straight alliance on campus ( i attend Bemidji State University in MN) wow. just wow.
also, for your reading pleasure, http://www.gooseware.org/iawsbb3/ is an interesting read. brutal jabs about current events from some rude but educated college students.
bjd
April 6, 2005 at 5:06 am
7i think it is just *sad* when your *mom* posts on your blog.
Lynne
April 6, 2005 at 8:06 am
8I get so confused.
Pulling Ms. Schiavo’s feeding tube = bad
Advocating killing Judge Greer = good
Abortion = bad
Death Penalty = good
Paying for Ms. Schiavo’s care with Medicaid and a “frivolous” law suit = good
Medicaid and damages from lawsuits = bad
Tax and Spend Liberals = bad
Borrow and Spend Conservatives = good
The Republicans are the Hallmark of politics - a principle for every occasion.
Susie
April 6, 2005 at 9:05 am
9Dear bjd,
May I call you bjd?
I too think it’s *sad* when Adam’s mom, the novelist, posts on his blog. Why what could be worse than a mother who supports her son and a son who is proud of his mom?
And so to up the tragedy quotient, here I am: Adam’s sister.
I think you, my fair bjd, are not *sad* — not at all! What could be more noble than anonymously posting snarky comments in the comments section of a blog done by a working television writer, radio personality and soon-to-be novelist?
Oh my! Do I seem too defensive of my family? Too heavy handed? Am I — heaven forfend — feeding the trolls?
Yes, I suppose I am… Eat llama manure and die, bjd.
Have a great day!
Susie “Pit Bull” Felber
Johnnyboy
April 6, 2005 at 9:32 am
10My oh my, is the whole Felber Family here ? Could it be the time for a sitcom ?
By the way dude, this pope was *not* OK. I’m so tired of the white-washing that the corpses of evil people receive (JP2, the gipper, etc…). This pope, with his dogmatically retrograde pronouncements on condoms, contraception, homosexuality and even stem cells, probably did the most harm to the most people that any pope could, this side of the Inquisition. I couldn’t wait for him to finally croak.
(mean-spirited, moi ?)
Tom M
April 6, 2005 at 9:54 am
11I’ve gotta say, I think this thing about condoms is a red herring. If these guys were really such great Catholics then they’d not be having extra-marital sex (straight or otherwise) or injecting drugs. I find it highly comical (or at least I would if it wasn’t so sad), that the spread of AIDS is blamed on people following one rule, while at the same time widely ignoring a whole host of others, which, were they followed, would have prevented there ever being a problem. What was the church going to say; “thou shalt not use condoms, unless you’re sleeping around, having gay sex or inject drugs, in which case condoms are OK.”? I think probably not.
Thompson
April 6, 2005 at 10:13 am
12Johnny, I wouldn’t call you mean-spirited so much as… shortsighted is a little harsh, but unfortunately the only accurate term I can give it. Point-blank, you’re condemning this pope for holding a line held by popes pretty much since their inception. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with your disagreement with the pope on the issues so cited. There are plenty of reasons I’m not Catholic and never considered becoming one. But when I look at his condemnation of contraceptives, homosexuality, and stem cell research, I don’t see it as advancing a negative doctrine so much as reinforcing the belief system they already had in place. Quite simply, he wouldn’t have been the pope if he didn’t hold those beliefs.
Accepting as a given that the Inquisition didn’t officially end until the 1800’s, and that until JPII the Catholic church didn’t issue an official apology for its role in the holocaust, I think it’s just a tad extreme to say that he caused more damage than any pope since.
No, he wasn’t perfect by my standard. Yeah, I think he was quite backwards in a lot of ways. But let’s not dip him in tar just because his supporters want to paint him in whitewash.
Skerlnik
April 6, 2005 at 12:18 pm
13What, the policy of infiltrating 3rd world countries, and convincing the poorest masses to out-breed the other religions at the expense of their own social and economic viability, scared that any prevention of conception, or even the enjoyment of sex is a sin is a BAD THING?
Why, don’t you know that “every sperm is sacred”? If not, then… NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION! Cardinal, the rack!
=========
If you talk to God, that’s called prayer.
If God talks to you, that’s called schizophrenia.
Deno the Untergeek
April 6, 2005 at 1:37 pm
14AHahahaha….llama manure…I love it Susie. Awesome thing, family is. That’s grand on a scale not met since the bigfoot jokes started around my brother (size 16-17 and STILL growing). But llama manure…that’s just so great!
Adam, it must be hard having to come up with quips fast enough to match the family’s. It’s all good though.
Bob
April 6, 2005 at 1:46 pm
15The title “Alas, My Love 10% Off” describes most of the relationships I’ve had.
Ann
April 6, 2005 at 2:59 pm
16But, Tom M, condoms are also useful for contraception between married people. And many faithful wives whose husbands are NOT faithful would like to be able to use condoms as AIDS prevention.
Auros
April 6, 2005 at 4:13 pm
17The leading cause of new infections of HIV is heterosexual sex. And about half of those new infections are within marriages — the husband goes to the city to work, picks it up from a prostitute, then brings it home to his wife.
It’s all well and good to say that the husbands shouldn’t visit prostitutes, but the fact is, humans are fallible. The Church tells them that condoms are an additional sin, and that they don’t work anyways. They’re compounding the problem, not fixing it.
Mary
April 6, 2005 at 4:39 pm
18Auros- The last thing the church wants is an educated congregation- be it about sex, birth control or the ability to read the Bible in all its various forms.
(A confusion for me- if “The Bible” is infallible and set, why are there different translations and compilations? Wouldn’t/shouldn’t they all be the same?)
Jerry
April 6, 2005 at 5:19 pm
19C’mon, folks! It doesn’t matter who is Pope.
1) JPII “reached out to young people,” ensnaring millions in the RC camp. ooo, “I’m doing my Polish dance.” How cute.
2) He “fought” Communism by “supporting” proxies, in an area that the Church expected (rightly) to return to the fold (and start sending money to the Church again!)
He was just the latest in a string of Pontiffs as titular head of an institution that has a nearly 2,000 year history of hideous actions against it’s opponents (or even it’s friends…ask the Christians in 13th century Constantinople (and yeah, tell me Innocent III tried to stop them bringing the loot back home!))and everyone it could either lure into it’s clutches, or fell under the authority of states it virtually controlled.
It has never balked at torture, murder, slavery, or theft. Ask the indigenous people of Mexico, Central and South America. Or just about anyone in Europe for that matter.
The Church is a monolith, determinded to stand forever, sanctified in it’s belief that it is moved by the hand of God (much like a certain President) and unmoved by the “mortification of the flesh” it inspires in it’s adherents, be it poverty, disease, hunger, or whatever. They are not responsible, and anyway, it moves the soul toward heaven.
It has never stood up to genocide. Ask the Jews, Roms, Episcopalians, or unionists under Hitler and Mussolini.
The only people I know who got rid of them was the Japanese at the end of the 16th century, when they “threw the rascals out.”
Who is Pope, and changing Popes, is less significant than Nike changing it’s logo.
Mike Z
April 6, 2005 at 5:34 pm
20Last I heard, sexual intercourse is not the only way to catch HIV.
Further, some of those people who caught HIV from non-sexual means may want to get married and have sex without infecting their spouses. There doesn’t seem to be any reason for the church to condemn that practice. What sin can they point to?
Murray
April 6, 2005 at 5:56 pm
21Congratulations Mommy in New Yawk, even though this isn’t my style, I’ll get a few copies for the friends of mine whose this is.
Yea it’s time for a new pope. Their dogma and tradition seem to lock them into a position that inadvertently promotes unwanted births, abortions, AIDS and STD’s. Better to righteously rail from a soap box than prevent what you are preaching against.
Saying that activist judges are bringing violence upon them selves is similar to saying that 9/11 was the result of God’s wrath on Homosexuals and Pagans. Only those unable to apply the “2 second think about it test” won’t see the absurdity. (In other words half of America, most Republicans).
Am I the only one who almost choked this morning when I heard of the President’s visit to the Dept. of Debt to point out that our SS trust fund is on paper (Treasury Bonds) and in a file cabinet? Were there no reporters or Democrats to point out?
1. No one is more responsible than Bush for the looting of the trust fund.
2. As long as we have a functioning government we are obligated by the CONSTITUTION to pay for these bonds.
3. Throwing (false) doubt on these bonds will only make foreign investors (all that is keeping our debt ridden economy afloat) more likely to invest in Euros and send us into an economic tailspin.
4. None of the plans he has talked about do anything to shore up the problem that he claims exist.
It must be my innate dullness that makes me astounded anew every time the President does something so outrageous and no one calls him on it.
Jerry
April 6, 2005 at 6:51 pm
22Murray, are you referring to those “worthless IOUs” (or “US Treasury Bills”, as others call them)? The ones our elders will be depending on if the current SS system is allowed to careen through this country like a bull in a Waterford crystal shop? I thought so! And you are expecting reporters and Democratic pols (or “Republican fellow-travelers,” as I now think of them) to point out the absurdity of this absolute nonsense? Oh, hell, I guess I share the “inate dullness” thing. As much as I tell myself there is no deeper part of the septic tank they can dive to, they always prove me wrong, and I get upset again.
chrisanthemama
April 6, 2005 at 7:28 pm
23Josh Marshall said it best about W going to the Department of Debt: he’s casing the joint.
Pete in Van Diemen's Land
April 6, 2005 at 7:29 pm
24Is the Pope a Catholic? Not any more.
There are millions of reasons why it’s good to wear a condom, as many reasons as there are ways of transmitting HIV. There is only one reason why it’s bad to wear a condom - an eighty year old celibate (we hope!) man, supported by hundreds of thousands of (some partially) celibate old men, tell people who genuinely, honestly don’t know any better that it is a bad thing.
For every one of the “oops, sorry!” statements that the Catholic church has owed (with interest) for hundreds of years, there is always the entrenched unwillingness to allow people to make the best decision for themselves, instead of for the Vatican’s bottomless coffers.
Only the Catholic church could proudly point to “Global Feudalism” as a means of controlling people. Shyah. Don’t get me started.
Jerry, Murray, it’s true. Despite our unwillingness to think the worst of people, sometimes you just gotta expect it, then it stings less sometimes. Don’t make my mistake of thinking “How bad can it get?”
Hey, I’m jealous, Adam. You get the whole Felber tribe on here, and I just wish I could get my mum off the phone and on the Internet… alas, broadband and reliable dialup access are dirty words in regional VDL. So I’ll do it by proxy.
dee
April 6, 2005 at 7:51 pm
25Would that my loves had only been 10% off.
Murray
April 6, 2005 at 8:33 pm
26Dee,
Yea, most of mine were way more than 10% off. But I got lucky with the last one.
Deno the Untergeek
April 6, 2005 at 9:53 pm
27Gee, seems like more and more loves are a full 110% off…at least, that’s been experiences of…er, my friend Bob. Poor Bob.
Emmarie
April 6, 2005 at 10:01 pm
28Jerry, thank you for bringing up the Latin America thing. Were I ever to see JP2, that’s the first thing I would bash his head in for.
Even the anti-women/insanse idealized women/no idea what a woman is thing comes second.
I’m with all those people who think there’s no hope for the church. The only things I’ve seen good about it are the Sisters of Loretto and some decent high schools.
Johnnyboy
April 7, 2005 at 12:49 pm
29I’m occasionally impressed by the work of catholic missionaries abroad, the ones who actually fight for the poor and downtrodden, and seem to care more about helping people than about forbidding condoms. And who care enough to sometimes die for their cause. Example
(sorry, don’t know how to make active links):
http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2206/stories/20050325000406000.htm
Such people have probably very little in common with the old dogmatic farts who make Vatican policy.
Anne
April 7, 2005 at 2:01 pm
30Oh, thanks Adam. After one click on your mother’s book Amazon now thinks that I’m all about the bodice-ripping. They’re offering me all kinds of books with dark, mysterious sexy strangers and the innocent, yet slutty maidens who love them. Damn. And I had been working so hard to get them to offer me every military history book they sell. Now I’m going to make the homeland security list of “odd ducks to watch and perhaps stop a little ‘civil right’s on.”
David
April 7, 2005 at 2:03 pm
31chrisanthemama,
You got it, and it took only four words (well, Josh Marshall provided the four words, but thanks to you for posting it). That’s exactly what he was doing.
MAKING THE CASE FOR DEFAULTING ON THE LOANS would be a great newscast logo whenever the topic is Bush on social security.
Regarding the political septic tank, under Team Bush think Mariannas Trench.
Mike Z
April 7, 2005 at 2:07 pm
32I agree with the sentiment about the Loretto sisters, and I would include also the Jesuits. Both were instrumental in providing me with what I consider to be a good education and an ability for independent thought. In fact, it was a 70-something year old Loretto nun that first got me to think of the bible in non-literal terms when I was in fifth grade.
Jerry
April 7, 2005 at 9:39 pm
33Johnnyboy - Please note, I am talking about the RC church/state as a whole. I know there have been many people who have given their lives, both through long service and sacrifice to early death, to the welfare of others. I applaude those who uphold the ideals of their faith. I condemn the cynicism and worldliness of those that have and do run the “Church of St Peter.”
hedera
April 7, 2005 at 11:36 pm
34The chorus I sing with is rehearsing
Leonard Bernstein’s Mass - written for the opening of the Kennedy Center in 1971. Some of the lyrics are relevant to the discussions going on here:
God said it’s good to be poor,
Good men must not be secure,
So if we steal from you,
It’s just to help you stay pure.
God said take care of my zoo,
I made these creatures for you;
So he won’t mind if we
Wipe out a species or two.
God said to spread his commands
To folks in far-away lands.
They may not want us there,
But, man, it’s out of our hands.
And so on. This is not your ordinary Kyrie Eleison; it’s probably the most astonishing piece of music I’ve ever sung (not that my experience is that broad, but this - this is wild!). If you EVER get a chance to see it performed, go. The most astonishing thing about it is that it was performed - AT THE VATICAN, for the late JPII. The video is available at Amazon for the curious…
Here’s the link to the web site for the performance, for the interested:
http://www.oebs.org/page/may.htm
hedera
April 7, 2005 at 11:37 pm
35I don’t mean to seem to be touting for ticket sales. But I had to share those lyrics.
Jerry
April 8, 2005 at 3:02 am
36hedera - I thought you had to be cleverly jesting, but *there* it is, and more. Thanks for turning me on to this, shall we say, different Bernstein!
God said that sex should repulse
Unless it leads to results
And so we crowd the world
Full of consenting adults
Hee hee
Katie
April 8, 2005 at 10:18 pm
37Are there any tickets left??
I want to come out with a friend of mine.
katie
hedera
April 8, 2005 at 10:29 pm
38Katie, I think the Friday night performance is sold out, at least for 2 decent seats together; but you can probably get tickets for the Sunday matinee (3 PM on 5/22). Use the promotional code MASSMAT for 20% off. They added a second performance after the first one sold out so early. The link in my April 7 post leads to a web site where you can order tickets online.
hedera
April 8, 2005 at 10:41 pm
39Jerry, the lyrics to the Bernstein Mass are only half of it. The music is amazing. Kyrie Eleison set to music that sounds like Prokofiev writing the theme for a merry-go-round (”Lord, have mercy”, oom-pah-pah). Agnus Dei that sounds like Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. A heartbreaking solo complaining that “I miss the Gloria … I don’t sing Gratia Deo” any more (”I don’t quite remember how it happened”). “Half of the people are stoned, and the other half are waiting for the next election…”
Here’s another review I found, which you might enjoy reading, it has some more lyrics.
Jerry
April 10, 2005 at 3:36 am
40hedera - I feel like a real rube. All excitedly I wrote some friends about this, and two of them sent me same link you just did. It’s sorta like, “Hey, did you hear about this paper called the New York Times? I hear it has some really good stories about stuff!” Doh
So I looked it up on Amazon and listened to the cuts there. No kidding “Prokofiev writing the theme for a merry-go-round (”Lord, have mercy”, oom-pah-pah)!” That must be a bitch to conduct…let alone perform! Bernstein conducts on the CD set available…do you think it is a good version to get?
hedera
April 10, 2005 at 9:09 pm
41Jerry, I have the Bernstein CD and it’s excellent, I recommend it. Bitch to conduct, you have no clue: I don’t think there are 2 consecutive pages in the entire piece that are in the same time signature throughout. I entered the alto part of the Confiteor manually into Melody Assistant, a program where you can work with MIDI files and copy from music text into electronic form, and I had to enter a new time signature, in some sections, every bar. And I’m talking compound times: 7/8, 5/8, 9/8, 4/4, 3/4, 12/8… The Agnus Dei swaps back and forth between 5/8 and 3/8 every measure.