07 January 2007

what's going on here (part XV)...

Gay Icon Embraced By Anti-Gay Vatican
While the Vatican continues to condemn homosexuality, lobby against same-sex couple rights, and purge its seminaries of gays one of Pope Benedict's closest aides has published a book paying tribute to gay icon Oscar Wilde....
Fr. Leonardo Sapienza, the head of protocol at the Vatican and a close ally of the Pope, has compiled a book called "Provocations: Aphorisms for an Anti-conformist Christianity" that is chock full of Wilde quotes....
According to Sapienza Wilde is remembered more today for his plays such as "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "An Ideal Husband" as well as what Sapienza called Wilde's moral tales such as "The Picture of Dorian Gray" rather than for his promiscuity.

I'll let Oscar Wilde comment himself on this development:

I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.
--Oscar Wilde

Every great man has his disciples, and it is always Judas who writes the biography.
--Oscar Wilde
.

nuff said?


Archbishop quits, admits communist-era spying
WARSAW, Poland (Reuters) -- The newly-appointed archbishop of Warsaw resigned on Sunday after admitting he spied for Poland's former communist regime, in a major embarrassment for the Vatican and the powerful Polish Catholic Church....

The Vatican's diplomatic mission in Poland said in a statement that Wielgus was asked to resign.
A spokesman for the Polish episcopate said the legal basis for the resignation was a part of church law requiring a bishop to resign if he is "unable to properly exercise his office (and therefore) is strongly requested to submit his resignation."

okaaaay... First Oscar Wilde, now communist collaboration. What's the church coming to?


Revealed: Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran
ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons.
Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters”, according to several Israeli military sources.

Let's get this straight. They are reporting that Isreal [though officially denying the rumor] is going to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities using nuclear weapons? bit of overkill, if this is the case. don't you think? And where is the US on all this? take a guess...


Interview with Heinz Dieterich:
"In Venezuela, Conditions for Building Socialism of the 21st Century Have Been Created"

Q. In short, what does this new socialism consists of?

A. In brief: a socialism in which the majorities have the greatest historically possible degree of decision-making power in the economic, political, cultural, and military institutions that govern their lives....

Q. In your opinion, has there been any socialist country in the modern era?

A. It depends on the criteria that are used for such judgment. As a scientific economist and sociologist, I prefer the parameters that Marx and Engels used: economy of value and participatory democracy. And under those criteria, there has been no socialist society since the French Revolution, although, yes, there have been many heroic and tragic attempts to achieve it.

Talk about putting the right-wingnuts on notice. "...no socialist society since the French Revolution...?" The Reign of Terror as socialism? What an intriguing idea. [Che may not have been that far off, after all.] Europe has been having a love-hate relationship with socializing certain aspects of the society since WWII - health care and work rules, basically. They have had their problems with it; yet they are not about to abandon socialism completely. Oh, and liberal/progressives in the US are in favor of guaranteeing minimum wages, universal healthcare, etc., while the right and corporate America are fighting it tooth and nail. what is the problem with providing guarantees that everyone have basic needs met so as to improve their lives? again, just asking...


finally, i couldn't pass this one up...

Self-Cleaning Underwear Goes Weeks Without Washing
Self-cleaning fabrics could revolutionize the sport apparel industry. The technology, created by scientists working for the U.S. Air Force, has already been used to create t-shirts and underwear that can be worn hygenically for weeks without washing.
The new technology attaches nanoparticles to clothing fibers using microwaves. Then, chemicals that can repel water, oil and bacteria are directly bound to the nanoparticles. These two elements combine to create a protective coating on the fibers of the material.
This coating both kills bacteria, and forces liquids to bead and run off.

No more need for Tide, Gain, Oxydol, Shout.... What must Proctor & Gamble think about this?

Sources: 365Gay.com, cnn.com, timesonline.uk, Monthly Review mrzineonline, LiveScience.com

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