A promotion in St. Louis

Papa Ratzi has named Archbishop Raymond Burke as the first American to lead the Vatican supreme court.

This makes perfect sense for him to do. But the “A Pee” reporter dwells on the “controversy”; i.e., Burke’s belief that the Church should stand for something. And of course she gets this little detail wrong:

Burke also excommunicated three women for participating in a women’s ordination that is forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church.

Uh, if you accept ordination and you’re a woman, or you ordain a woman, you are out of communion with the Church, and all an archbishop can do is state the spiritual facts of the matter. And if you’re in the business of promoting abortions, you are equally out of communion, and if John Kerry doesn’t like that, perhaps he should abstain from a few votes. It really isn’t an issue of the Eucharist Nazi saying “No Host for you!”

Repeal the 2nd Amendment

…so says the Chicago Tribune.

Well, fine. Let’s make it a package deal; we’ll get rid of the 1st as well. After all, “it takes a significant public policy issue out of the hands of citizens. The people of Washington no longer have the authority to decide that, as a matter of public safety, they will prohibit [the practice of religion or journalism] within their borders.”

Tempest in a libation bowl

I’ve heard that the paganosphere has gotten exercised over a remark by Kathy Lee Gifford about why people wear wedding rings on their left hand. “Pagans … the nasty, bad pagans believed it was bad luck to carry metal on your right side.” Well, I suppose it WAS bad luck if you were right handed and wore your sword on your right side, but in fact that was not the correct answer to the question; it comes from some other pagans, the Egyptians. It’s an odd comment, perhaps humorously over-the-top…I mean, what’s the nastybad moral issue about what hand you wear your rings on? I suspect that she felt sorry for the first male to be asked a question in this little quiz, and was subtly attempting to steer him away from that answer. But oh noez, it was a deliberate slam at modern American Neo-Pagans, and they have to sign petitions to the Today show, and create a big fuss, so that people will take them seriously. Or not.

Who in the world takes Kathy Lee seriously anyway? She’s probably the most expendable person on the planet.

And tell me, which pagans came up with the right-hand thing? If your typical modern witchy-poo encountered any European paleopagans, they probably would find them nastybad. They weren’t terribly Green (what’s the carbon footprint of a wicker man or a good Baltic bonfire anyway?) They sacrificed humans and kept slaves, and raided other tribes for wives. These are not modern Pagans. And if modern Pagans believe anything about metal and the hands, observation suggests that it is that it’s bad luck to leave any finger, right or left hand, unadorned with a ring.

Then there’s the gross hypocrisy involved. It’s doubleplusungood to call Pagans nasty and bad. But listen to the typical witchy-poo talk about Christians, and “nasty” and “bad” sound like the words of an apologist. I grew up with Polack jokes, most told by Polish-Americans, and nobody hated Poles, or even thought that they were particularly stupid. But for a lot of Pagans out there, the highest use for a Christian is as lion chow. It’s politically correct to hate the people who wiped out The Peaceful Matriarchal Earth Religion (TM), and quite incorrect to reproach TPMER’s followers in any way, even when they deserve it.

No, I don’t hate Pagans. I hate, and have always hated, the whining and vicimology from people who think that “persecution” is not being able to wear a weapons-grade pentacle around your neck at a retail job. These folks need to learn how “tolerance” works in the rest of the world. I hear there are no public open circles in Riyadh; maybe somebody needs to go over and start one.

All Pagans are not humorless, however; go here for “The Pagan Hierarchy” and find out where your practices stand in the pecking order.

I believe, I guess

Carey Cockerell, commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, will leave his post on Aug. 31.

I don’t know whether he was making any operative decisions in the YFZ Ranch fiasco. But I suspect that, beyond any earlier plans he may have had, it’s a good time to avoid being splattered with the blood of your underlings.

Anheiser-Busch to defang Bud Extra

OK, I think caffeinated beer is a stupid idea. I’m a two-fisted drinker who believes in having my alcohol in beer and my caffeine in coffee. But let the market decide that, not the thugs of the Vampire State and Ohio.

WWMD?

Well, he married a 6 year old, and consummated when she was 9 . And since “The Prophet Muhammad [piss be upon him] is the model we follow”, that’s OK. per Saudi Arabian marriage officient Ahmad Al-Mu’bi. Marriage at ONE is OK, if that’s what your Daddy wants…but sex is a different issue. It’s almost like NAMBLA, but instead of “Sex before 8, or else it’s too late,” it can be “Sex at 9 is perfectly fine.”

Maybe we can persuade the Texas Dept. of Child and Family Services to invade Saudi Arabia. Let them take the children of somebody who won’t just fall on their knees and pray when the APC comes.

Excellence not allowed in Beachwood OH

15.5% of Beachwood residents are of Russian ancestry. Clearly, there are some unreconstructed Soviets in there.

Beachwood has cancelled its annual 4th of July Rec League All-Star Game for 9 to 12 year olds.

In a letter to coaches, Assistant Recreation Supervisor Frank Vicchiarelli announced that the decades old tradition would end because certain kids were being singled out as better players than others.

Clearly, some players are more equal than others. We can’t have that. But isn’t that the point of an All-Star Game? Maybe they should have an all-bench game, for the kids who really suck.

Sauce for the goose

“I have always believed that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms, but I also identify with the need for crime-ravaged communities to save their children from the violence that plagues our streets through commonsense, effective safety measures,”

Yeah, well, I have always believed that the First Amendment protects the rights of individuals to speak, but I also identify with the need for politician-ravaged nations to save their children from looting of their future income through commonsense, effective measures.

So shut the fuck up, Obama.

“Crush your enemies…and hear the lamentations of their women!”

The girlie-men were certainly lamenting last night:

“You just wish the Supreme Court could spend a week in public housing and then come out with this decision.” — Gavin Newsom

“It’s a very frightening decision. We believe every mayor will be outraged by this.” — Richard Daley

Would you like some cheese with that whine?

The best line:

But all the talk about greater freedoms for gun owners doesn’t begin to explain what the ruling means in Chicago, which has seen a recent spate of gun violence.

Well, duh, I guess your gun laws are working, eh?

Obligatory Heller post

If you care at all, you know already and have been to Volokh and SCOTUSblog.

I would so much like to be more excited about this than I am. It doesn’t change a damn thing except for the folks in Dee Cee. It gives us a tool to change things. But given that we’ll soon have a president who past record on guns makes Sarah Brady look like L. Neil Smith, it’s well to remember that it’ll be a long hard fight. That the court could be so split is evidence of that.

Beck’s pissing in the Cheerios too:

Right now, however, you can bet that bureaubots across the whole country are breaking their asses to try to figure out how to legislate around this.

And that says nothing to the issue of whether those nine individuals on the Court are more or less morally competent to decide the matter than you or me. Or: “Why do you think they call ‘em ‘opinions’, dummy?”

I am momentarily relieved. (“Thank bleeding Christ for small favors.”) I am not impressed.

More of the same over here, though I personally can’t get that pessimistic about things.

Fenty and the pussy Lanier have announced that they will do as little as possible:

First, all firearms must be registered with the Metropolitan Police Department’s Firearms Registration Section before they may be lawfully possessed. Second, automatic and semiautomatic handguns generally remain illegal and may not be registered.

WTF? Revolvers and single-shot derringers only??

More later,maybe; gotta work.