Wow, just barely made it out of reporting for Jury Duty today. I missed the cut by seven spots. So, unless they manage to seat the juries today, it looks like I’ll be stuck reporting tomorrow. Not that not I’m thrilled at the prospect of serving my community by sitting on my butt all day, but, geez, how tough is it to pick a few dozen jurors? Well, here’s hoping I can slide by, one more time. Otherwise, I’m behind in pretty much everything, and better get busy doing some work. See ya.
half-assed hello sheeple :blech:
:?::!::?::!::?::!::?::!::?::!::?::!::?::?::!::?::!::?::!:
:yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck: Its Thursday :yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck:
❓ whatever :sheep:le
Hurricane GORDON
http://tinyurl.com/hm86z
———————————
He’s out in the middle of the North Atlantic
Tropical Storm HELENE
http://tinyurl.com/gfqqk
————————————
Gordon’s kid
Tropical Storm LANE
http://tinyurl.com/hoov7
——————————————
Going to attack southern Calif
rain rain rain rain here for the next couple of days, they say. Did I tell anyone how sick of rain I am? ❗
KKZN’s new schedule
Mark Riley 3 AM to 4 AM
The Young Turks 4 AM to 6 AM
Jay Marvin 6 to 10 AM
Al Franken 10AM to 1 PM
Ed Schultz 1Pm to 4PM
Randi Rhodes 3PM to 7 PM
Rachel Maddow 7Pm to 9PM
Politically Direct 9PM to 10 PM
Eco Talk 10 PM to 11 PM
Peter Werbe 11PM to 2 AM
Al Franken Replay 2 Am to 3AM
=============================
Marvin remains on opposite Seder :crap::yuck:
I think Jay’s stand on the Lebanon/Israeli altercation lost him significant audience:fustrate::eek:
We haven’t had our afternoon/evening/midnight thunder storm since late last week.. It will without a doubt rain over the weekend so I won’t
be able to mow the grass. :eek::eek::yuck::paranoid:
What, is Jay Marvin really pro Israel? Too bad about the Ed Schultz thing. At least in NYC I think they have enough sense to know people would think he’s a hick so we won’t have to hear him.
House Republicans Will Push for 700 Miles of Fencing on Mexico Border
By RACHEL L. SWARNS
Published: September 14, 2006
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 — House Republicans announced Wednesday that they would move swiftly to pass legislation requiring the Bush administration to build 700 miles of fencing along the Mexican border to help stem the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into the United States.
The legislation, which is expected to go to the House floor for a vote on Thursday, would require construction of two layers of reinforced fencing along stretches of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas that are considered among the most porous parts of the border.
It would also require officials of the Department of Homeland Security to establish “operational control” over all American land and sea borders by using Border Patrol agents, fencing, satellites, cameras and unmanned aerial vehicles.
The bill is the first in a series of border security measures House Republicans have promised to pass before the midterm elections in November….
***
Democrats promptly criticized the plan as political grandstanding intended to energize conservative voters before the elections….Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, has publicly raised doubt about the effectiveness of border fencing, particularly in remote desert areas….
http://tinyurl.com/gydx9
==============================
So ElPaso, Browsville and San Diego will become the new Berlins ..:eek::eek:
You have three guesses who the contractor will be and the first two don’t count.:yuck:
Read the comments on the article at DU
http://tinyurl.com/hw7a5
Marvin was as rabid as Shultz was on the issues that Hezzbollah and Hamas are terrorist groups as apposed to freedom fighters or just ticked off Palestinians.:eek:
Once one inserts their head you need a 5 ton jack to remove it. :yuck::fustrate::paranoid:
looks like the “war against immigrants” is going to be about as effective as the war on drugs….or terrorism….You know something? War. Good God ya’ll, what is it good for? :omg:…
The rethugs are really good at doing things that look like they are doing something as far as the “stupids” and their base are concerned but in reality waste a lot of money and accomplish nothing. :barf::yuck::eek::paranoid:
So I’m watching the news last night (shame on me that it was the local Fox affiliate, but it comes on earlier and I needed snooze), and reporter Craig Patrick is doing a story about a gas station in Tallahassee that has installed an ethanol pump. (They received a grant from ADM, I guess.)
Surprise, surprise, Jeb is there to do a photo op. As he sticks the pump into the gas tank of the SUV (way to save energy, Jeb!), Patrick is heard breathlessly entoning:
“Governor Bush is HIGH ON ETHANOL!”
:rofl2::rofl2::rofl2:
Pick your own punchline:
1) That explains why he thinks No Child Left Behind is a success. He’s HIGH!
2) Unfortunate choice of words if you remember that Jeb’s daughter was busted a few years ago for trying to purchase prescription drugs with stolen prescriptions. See you in the drive-through lane at Walgreens, Noelle.
3) REALLY unfortunate choice of words when the rest of the country is wondering what his simian brother is high on this week.
And we thought Jeb was the SMART one.
:rofl2::rofl2::rofl2:
I think this ABC crapudrama will be just the first of a series of attempts by the M$M to discredit the Democrats in the time before the fall election. There are enough people needing to justify their 200 inch LCD TVs that they will watch this crap and believe it or pay no attention, watch American Idol and just vote for rethugs just like Mommy and Daddy told them to do.
There has to be some way to intimidate the M$M and get these uninterested people interested… Would loud noises wake people up ?? :eek::eek::yuck::fustrate::paranoid:
Kevin… The words Bush and smart can not be used in the same sentence. :spank::spank::eek::smack::shock:
The thugbots ( mostly crusty old guys) calling C-span this morning all seem to think the hammer and nail approach is the solution to the middle east problems. Forty years ago I remember the same approach was suggested ( Goldwater even suggested nuking North Vietnam) and history tells us it worked so well :bf: .. isn’t the phrase that those who fail to read their history are bound to repeat it. :gate::omg::jason::jason:
One thugbot said that the solution to the problem is to neutralize the leadership of the enemy.. I will go for that approach.. I see the rethugs as the enemy. :jason::jason::jason::gate::omg::jason::jason:
Well .. I have to get ready to get ready to think about gathering together all the :crap:for the Thursday morning meeting..:yuck::yuck::eek::eek: blog with ya all later :paranoid:
Given the rumored updates to AAR’s schedule finally being announced (somewhat), I was poking through the site and clicked on Maron’s. I was suprised to see it still there, and even MORE surprised to see a new page with the message
The new MarcMaron.com will be here soon!
on it!
No sheeple-mail in my inbox on it… anyone else have any info?
I just heard a great quote from the late Gov Anne Richards, “Poor George, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth.” :rofl2:
The Maron site looks like he cribbed from The Partridge Family with some groovy 70’s lettering too.
It would be nice if he linked this blog.
hey everyone….Will off on his overnight trip….eeekkkk!!…Yay!
Where is he going Melina?
I kind of like the little tree on the MM website :tongue:
I think it’s too late for us :nod:
http://www.wikihow.com/Dissuade-Yourself-from-Becoming-a-Blogger
March 30, 2006
Common Dreams xenophobia
Filed under: immigration — louisproyect @ 6:41 pm
Posted to http://www.marxmail.org on March 30, 2006
On today’s Common Dreams website (a pro-Democratic Party outlet founded by nonprofit foundation entrepreneur Don Hazen), there’s a completely rancid article on immigration written by Thom Hartmann, an Air America radio host and author of such groundbreaking books as “Focus Your Energy”, which is described on his website as a way to succeed in business even if you suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder. Just what suffering humanity has been waiting for. Although I lack the patience to do a thorough study of Hartmann-thought, he strikes me as a combination of New Age hustler and woozy-headed liberal.
He basically describes “illegal immigration” as a corporatist plot to keep the wages of U.S. workers down. In order for him to establish his progressive bona fides, he invokes the late Cesar Chavez as an ally:..
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/tag/immigration/
We are onto you, Tyger Thom.
They are going to an overnight camp thing where they do all sorts of challenging exercises like zip lines and whatever…he wouldnt tell me much of what went on in the meeting. It was a big question about whether he should go…but I figure its worth it to try….
Its some sorta bonding experience. …they sleep in cabins in sleeping bags.
ugh…
I just hope he’ll be OK….
Its raining like hell.
At least I bought him rain gear.
Although it would be difficult to prove, I have a strong feeling that the ability of rightwing millionaires to gain control over the media in New York City, a bastion of liberalism, has been a decisive factor in the election of Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg. Not only have these Republicans been elected as mayor, the Democrats have moved to the right as well, adopting “law and order” and fiscal austerity rhetoric.
happened a long time ago, but yes….
Charles Goyette will be talking about Air America on his show today. Which is kind of weird because he is on another station now and I always got the impression that it is verboten to say the names of other radio stations on the air. Not sure when it will be on yet though, Charles is really good at stringing you along. Maybe the last hour.
http://www.1100kfnx.com/
Time For Us To Go
Conservatives on why the GOP should lose in 2006.
With Republicans controlling Congress and the White House, conservatives these days ought to be happy, but most aren’t. They see expanding government, runaway spending, Middle East entanglements, and government corruption, and they wonder why, exactly, the country should be grateful for Republican dominance. Some accuse Bush and the Republicans today of not being true conservatives. Others see a grab bag of stated policies and wonder how they cohere. Everyone thinks something’s got to change.
Now seven prominent conservatives dare to speak the unspeakable: They hope the Republicans lose in 2006. Well, let’s be diplomatic and say they’d prefer divided government—soon. (Perhaps that formulation will fool Dennis Hastert.) Of course, all of them wish for the long-term health of conservatism, and most are loyal to the GOP. What they also believe, however, is that even if a Speaker Pelosi looms in the wings, sometimes the best remedy for a party gone astray is to give it a session in the time-out chair.
Let’s quit while we’re behind
By Christopher Buckley
Bring on Pelosi
By Bruce Bartlett
And we thought Clinton had no self-control
By Joe Scarborough
Give divided government a chance
By William A. Niskanen
Restrain this White House
By Bruce Fein
Idéologie has taken over
By Jeffrey Hart
The show must not go on
By Richard A. Viguerie
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0610.forum.html
Watch and donate. If this has already been posted, sorry, I’m way behaind on my blog reading.
They’re at it again
U.N. Inspectors Dispute Iran Report By House Panel
By Dafna Linzer
U.N. inspectors investigating Iran’s nuclear program angrily complained to the Bush administration and to a Republican congressman yesterday about a recent House committee report on Iran’s capabilities, calling parts of the document “outrageous and dishonest” and offering evidence to refute its…
http://tinyurl.com/l3mm3
A New Bird Species Is Confirmed in India
Article Tools Sponsored By
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 13, 2006
NEW DELHI, Sept. 12 — A new bird species has been found in India, the first such discovery here in more than 50 years, the amateur ornithologist who first spotted the bird said Tuesday.
The multicolored bird species, Liocichla bugunorum, was first sighted in May.
The multicolored bird, Liocichla bugunorum, was first sighted in May in the remote Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, a northeastern state near the border with China, by Ramana Athreya, an astronomer as well as amateur ornithologist.
Mr. Athreya said he named it after the Bugun tribe, which lives in the area. The bird has a black cap, a bright yellow patch around the eyes and yellow, crimson, black and white patches on the wings.
Mr. Athreya caught two of the species, but released them after making detailed notes and taking photographs — and keeping feathers that had worked loose in his net.
“We thought the bird was just too rare for one to be killed,” he said. “With today’s modern technology, we could gather all the information we needed to confirm it as a new species. We took feathers and photographs and recorded the bird’s songs.”
Though the bird was discovered in May, the news was kept under wraps until the bird was confirmed as a new species.
Mr. Athreya said he first spotted the bird in 1995, “but it was only this year I had a sufficiently good look that we could move into the matter.”
US Iran report branded dishonest
You tell’ em, Mary.
That was a great clip, PJ!
Marc Maron, Janeane Garofalo, Todd Barry, Margaret Cho, David Cross and on and on
Oh, man. This is one of the juries they were trying to seat. I’m sooooo glad I didn’t get on this one – it’s probably gonna last a long, long time.
This creep can’t be out of office soon enough.
Just a quick notice: this site will be undergoing a configuration change in the next day or so. If all goes well, nobody will notice anything different, with the possible exception of better performance. If things don’t go as planned, then this site may never work again. In which case, well, see ya.
everything better go as planned, PJ!:mad:
If things don’t go as planned, then this site may never work again. In which case, well, see ya.
Comment by pjsauter — September 14, 2006 @ 4:22 pm
So no one will know what’s going on until the moment it happens? Hey, just like Air America!
:rofl2:
Yay! :pup: I’m off the hook for Jury Duty! Man, that sure was close, but now I’m good to go for another four years.
Not that I wouldn’t have loved to spend the next three months on the jury for a serial killer, but it woulda made school a real pain in the butt.
Maron is going to be on the Will and Willie Show on The Quake in SF Friday morning.
I posted their new weekday schedule yesterday late but in case someone missed it.
A lot of AAR is MIA.
http://www.quakeradio.com/pages/programming.html
6a – 7a Stephanie Miller
7a – 10a Will and Willie
10a – 12p Al Franken
12p – 3p Ed Schultz
3p – 6p Randi Rhodes
6p – 7p ECO Talk hosted by environmentalist broadcaster Betsy Rosenberg
7p – 10p Thom Hartman
10p-2a Lionel
2a-3a Mark Riley
3a-6a Bill Press
For more information, visit http://www.quakeradio.com .
Hey PJ I have told people that line many a time.. never.. never.. tell anyone ahead of time :spank::spank:
Oh, just wanted to say goodbye, in case everything goes away.
El Financiero en línea
Mexico, September 14.- Leaders of three Mexican political parties formed a coalition to oppose President-elect Felipe Calderon in congress, a move that will make it tougher for him to push through legislation allowing private investment in the oil industry.
The Party of the Democratic Revolution, which is led by second-place presidential finisher Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, united with the Workers Party and the Convergence Party to counter what they call a “right-wing movement” led by Calderon. The three-party front holds 157 seats in the 500-seat lower house and 34 seats in the 128-member Senate.
“We’re never going to negotiate with Calderon because he’s an illegitimate president, said Jesus Ortega, Lopez Obrador’s campaign manager and former senator. “We’re going to be in the streets as well as in Congress”.
Such a coalition could thwart Calderon’s promise to amend Mexico’s constitution to allow private investment in the oil industry — a key to bolstering growth in Latin America’s second-biggest economy — and to change legislation to allow oral testimony from crime victims. Amendments require a two- thirds majority in congress in Mexico.
Calderon, 44, has vowed to shift his agenda to placate supporters of Lopez Obrador before pushing for private investment in the oil industry.
http://tinyurl.com/zjk68
==============================
:?::?::?::?::?::?:
I think we have your email address you can not escape..will find you .. :eek::eek::paranoid::paranoid:
😯
Thanks for the head’s-up wvmc3d!
“Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers union have agreed to offer buyouts to all of the auto maker’s approximately 75,000 UAW workers in the U.S., according to local union officials,” the Wall Street Journal reported on its website today.
“The agreement comes one day ahead of Ford’s expected announcement detailing its plans to accelerate a previous restructuring and cost cutting plan, called Way Forward,” the article continues.
http://tinyurl.com/fbxzr
================================
While Rhodes is babbling away incoherently blaming Bush for everything and asking for checks and balances all the good jobs are scampering away never to be seen again. :omg::growl::jason::jason::jason::gate::omg::fist::fist:
I wonder if Rhodes has any idea that the average age of the solder in Iraq is like 36 😮
TRENTON, New Jersey – Three animal rights activists convicted under a U.S. anti-terrorism law were sentenced to between 48 and 72 months prison on Tuesday for a campaign to drive out of business Huntingdon Life Sciences, a company that tests pharmaceuticals and chemicals on animals.
http://tinyurl.com/ekdyn
==============================
While Rhodes is babbling away incoherently blaming Bush for everything and asking for checks and balances we see Fascism at its worse :omg::jason::jason::jason::jason::gate::omg::jason::jason::fist::fist::fist:
jeezus:
from isi’s #37
I think it may be notoriously American where people go in denial and separate their political views from their friends. I find it really tough to have a meaningful friendship when I strongly disagree with someone politically.
Re: 54 While Rhodes is babbling away incoherently blaming Bush for everything and asking for checks and balances we see Fascism at its worse..again …:omg::jason::jason::jason::gate::omg::jason::jason::jason::fist:
Judge strikes down Missouri voter ID law!
Well, that link is not cooperating. The judge had a lot of good things to say in his ruling.
I’m glad we have Randi. If she gets too much for me at times I just turn it off. But I would miss her if she was gone.
The states with rethug legislatures are going to attempt to disenfranchise tens of thousands of low income voters this November. When you control both houses of congress, the presidoksy, and the courts you can do pretty much anything you want to mean while Rhodes is babbling away incoherently blaming Bush for everything and asking for checks and balances..:eek::eek::yuck::yuck::rant1:
yep, same here, isi.
isi.. That link gets to the front page of the paper in KC where there is a link to the article. :nixon::peace:
it was a horrible day in Iraq for US soldiers and nbc and cbs have not led with the story. i heard there is research showing the american people don’t want to hear about iraq anymore. Gee, Iraq is a sore spot for the rethugs, you think keeping Iraq off the air has any relation to the upcoming election? 👿
That was strange, because I copied the link and pasted it yet it wouldn’t go directly to the article??
Did you all just hear that caller just now who said he was a Reverend from Muskogee, OK 😯
Does anyone know how I can remedy the problem I’ve had lately with posting. If I copy a part of an article and enter it into the message box, then go back and copy the url, when I come back my message that I just entered is GONE! That’s why I haven’t been able to post snippets with the link.
I’m sure the left sided talkers see the division in the country as excellent job security ..perhaps not with AAR but still they can go on for at least another two years complaining about the fact that the dems got slimmed by the thugs and didn’t retake the house or even though the dems retook the house the senate keeps blocking legislation and then that dam GW keeps vetoing it so we need more people in the house to override the veto and need to retake the senate .. and on and on.. mean while more jobs are lost to outsourcing and outright moves of industry out of the country and immigrants are made into the new Jews, The war in Iraq goes on and on and… and… and.. I mean a 50 cal bullet is only 1.45 .. think how many of those one can buy for 250,000 bucks. :jason::jason::jason::gate::omg::jason::jason::jason::gate::omg::fist::fist::fist:
do you use separate windows and bounce between them? I have multiple windows up at the same time, usually.
i’m going to go take the dorks out. it’s a nice evening and i need to chill out.
A new window doesn’t come up for me. It’s the same old window.
you can tell your browser to open new windows. you use xp…. can’t remember…control n opens a new one for me. try right clicking and see if that pops up for you. Can someone help isi?
gotta take off….
ciao!
(and write these news yahoos about not putting iraq on the news tonight – suicide bomber – 25 wounded 5 killed in iraq and NO freaking news.
Re #63: “America” just does not care anymore. It is a sign of moral and spiritual corruption of a once great nation.
Isi ..Try opening the browser again..Both IE and Firefox allows you have multiple instances under Windows ..from what Kat said it must do the same thing on a MAC. Once you copy something to the paste buffer it should stay there even if you switch from one browser window to the other.
With the all volunteer army the war does not effect the typical fat, lazy American who typically doesn’t watch the news anyhow… If they had a draft there would certainly be more concern. :eek::eek::paranoid::paranoid:
Did you all just hear that caller just now who said he was a Reverend from Muskogee, OK
Comment by isi — September 14, 2006 @ 6:41 pm
Reverend Dan? He called in to Stephanie Miller’s show on Tuesday and gave her about two minutes of vitriolic rant. They replayed it yesterday, trying to determine whether the Reverend was for real or someone pulling a stunt.
Unfortunately, this morning the “Reverend” killed the suspense by calling in again. He sounds a lot like Mike Judge, which would make sense since Judge has a movie out in a couple of weeks that Fox is not doing much (if any) publicity for. This may be Judge’s way of getting some free pub.
That preacher guy called Shultz this afternoon too. He is certainly good at preaching..Sounded very Southern Baptist like :eek::eek::paranoid::paranoid:
If you read everything the thugs say in a corporatist/imperialist context everything they say is both true and makes sense.. Inspecting all the containers would indeed screw up “free” trade and hence the terraists ( translated the American people) would win. :jason::jason::jason::gate::omg::jason::jason::jason::gate::omg::fist::fist:
Judge strikes down Missouri voter ID law!
Yay!
#53
“Defense attorneys argued that the defendants were exercising their constitutional rights of free speech and had not themselves committed the acts advocated by their Web site. SHAC said it was the victim of a government crackdown on dissent.”
I agree that it’s speech being censored
I’d like to know what exactly the acts described were.
I suppose the writer of the article was afraid to spell it out because they’d be accused of the same thing.
Sick.
So I guess its a good thing I listen to Air America over XM Radio. It appears many local affiliates aren’t carrying Sam Seder. Of course those who do not have XM can always stream or listen to Sam Seder through iTunes.
Some stations aren’t picking up Sam? 😡 That really blows…yes, at least you have some options…
Thanks cnick! You remind me that I can stream Air America through itunes. Listening to Sam now…
BTW, all of you ought to download the latest update of iTunes. I think you’ll like its new features.
Nick, I listened to your last podcasts today. The end of the last one you were a little down on yourself. There is no need for that my friend. I really enjoy what you do. I appreciate your honesty and to be perfectly honest, I truly enjoy what you have to say more than the majority of AAR programming. It feels like listening to a friend in the room. Whatever you do please do not change anything. I prefer the honesty in your podcasts over the hypemeisters.:nod:
Thanks Moonlightman. No professional here man. I appreciate your kind words.
Agree also, I like your Podcasts the way they are, CNick.
Go Cnick!:banana:
Just switched from Sam to you cnick…that should tell ya something…:pup::bf:
I am not just being kind, I really mean it. The man in the street interviews were really good! I just appreciate somthing REAL and human. That “man in the street” interview(s) really opened my mind of all the preconceptions one has of Birmingham Alabama.
😳 you guys must be listening to someone else. :doh: thanks everyone.
Traditional liberals only paint Alabama as KKKland ignoring the fact that 3/4 of the population is black and you did not find one person supporting Bush. It did not sound like you were “cherry picking” either.
Yeah I like getting out and finding out what people are thinking. I tried very hard not to be leading in my questions. I’ll do that again soon.
I guess it really illustrated my position that there is no Red and Blue states. What, I really hate is the division that even AAR keeps jabbering on about. What? the “Red” states won by 2 or three points and now they are RED? All this really does is divide America. Its a media creation and it’s BULLSHIT! Look at Alabama and then look at California. So, Cali is all Blue?
http://www.princeton.edu/~rvdb/JAVA/election2004/
New York is a “Blue” state huh?
:doh:
😆
:no:
just kidding:rofl2:
hey guys….looks like no one is here but me….
:yawn:
:yawn::yawn::joe::joe::joe:
Rethugs are full of :crap:
Rethugs are 👿
Rethugs must be eliminated :jason::jason::jason::gate::omg::fist::fist:
:yuck::yuck::yuck::barf::barf::barf::crap::crap::omg::fustrate::paranoid::mad::mad::growl::growl::growl::shock::shock::eek::eek::eek:
:joe::yawn:
Vatican says pope did not intend to offend sensibilities of Muslims
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican responded to a wave of Muslim indignation over recent remarks by Pope Benedict XVI, saying the pope did not intend to “offend the sensibilities of Muslim faithful.”
Some of the strongest criticism of the pope came from Islamic leaders in Turkey, where the pontiff is scheduled to travel this fall. Church officials said Sept. 15 that there were no immediate plans to cancel or postpone the papal trip.
Vatican officials invited Muslim leaders to read the full text of the papal address, saying it would make clear that the pope was speaking in favor of all religions and not against Islam.
In his talk at the University of Regensburg, Germany, Sept. 12, the pope’s main theme was how reason and faith must be reconciled in the West, but he introduced it by quoting a medieval emperor on the errors of Islam and jihad, or holy war. The pope did not say whether he endorsed the 600-year-old criticisms of Islam that he quoted.
A few hours after the pope returned from Germany Sept. 14, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi issued a written statement in the face of mounting criticism from Islamic representatives. Father Lombardi reviewed the papal speech, saying it was very important to the pope that there be a “clear and radical rejection of the religious motivation for violence.”
But he said the pope did not intend to make a critical assessment of Islam, much less offend Muslims. On the contrary, Father Lombardi said, the pope’s talk focused primarily on the religious shortcomings of the West and the reluctance of truly religious cultures to accept a Western “exclusion of the divine.”
“What is clear, then, is the Holy Father’s desire to cultivate an attitude of respect and dialogue toward other religions and cultures, including, of course, Islam,” the Vatican spokesman said.
Father Lombardi’s statement was being translated into Arabic, in the hope that it would allay Muslim resentment, Vatican sources said.
After reading press reports of the papal speech, Ali Bardakoglu, the head of Turkey’s directorate of religious affairs, said Sept. 14 that the pope had offended Muslims and should apologize. He questioned whether the pope should visit Turkey as planned in late November; it would be the pontiff’s first visit to a Muslim country.
“I do not see any use in somebody visiting the Islamic world who thinks in this way about the holy prophet of Islam. He should first rid himself of feelings of hate,” Bardakoglu told Turkish television.
“I hope the pope apologizes and realizes how close he is to spoiling any chance of peace,” he said.
Bishop Luigi Padovese, the apostolic vicar in Anatolia, the Asian part of modern Turkey, said the pope’s remarks were being taken out of context by Turkish media, prompting widespread criticism of the pontiff.
“Even if there are pressures for the pope to apologize or cancel his trip, I think the Holy Father will follow the program that has been prepared for the trip,” he told AsiaNews, a Rome-based missionary news agency.
At the Vatican, one source said Sept. 15 that the trip plans were going ahead, at least for now. At the moment, he said, the critical reactions to the pope’s speech have come through the media and not at the diplomatic level.
Pakistan’s Parliament Sept. 15 passed a resolution criticizing the pope for making what it called “derogatory” comments about Islam and asking him to apologize for offending Muslim sentiments.
In Egypt, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood said the pope had expressed “wrong and distorted beliefs” about Islam. A similar statement came from the Indonesian Mujahedin Council.
Several Vatican officials expressed deep dismay that Muslim reactions were based on news media accounts of the papal speech.
Cardinal Paul Poupard, who heads the Vatican council that dialogues with Muslims, said a careful reading would show that the pope had offered to Islam “an outstretched hand” in the battle against an oversecularized global culture.
“I invite our Muslim friends of goodwill to take the pope’s text in hand and read it in its entirety and meditate on it. It will be clear that this can in no way be considered an attack on Islam but is rather an outstretched hand, because it defends the value of humanity’s religious cultures, including Islam,” the cardinal said in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Cardinal Poupard, head of the pontifical councils for Interreligious Dialogue and for Culture, pointed out that in quoting the 14th-century criticism of Islam, the pope had noted the “startling brusqueness” of the language.
“With this, the pope was signaling that he was not endorsing these words,” Cardinal Poupard said.
The cardinal said the idea that Islam has produced “only evil and inhuman” things, as expressed by the Byzantine emperor quoted by the pope, “cannot be held by whoever accepts the teaching of the Second Vatican Council on non-Christian religions.”
Cardinal Poupard said the main point of the pope’s speech was to show that religious cultures view efforts to “exclude the divine” as an attack on their strongest convictions.
“Don’t you think a sincere Muslim should be happy at this statement?” the cardinal said.
There had been some fears in Germany that the pope’s lecture might be misunderstood by Muslims. Father Hans Kung, a dissident Swiss theologian, said it would not be taken positively by many Muslims. “It urgently needs to be put into context,” he told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
The secretary-general of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, said he did not see the lecture as an attack on Muslims.
Mazyek told the German newspaper: “Against the background of the bloody forced Christianization in South America, the Crusades in the Muslim world, the co-option of the church by the Hitler regime, even the invention of the expression ‘holy war,’ which originally comes from the mouth of (Pope) Urban II, it would fill me with some concern if the church would come and take a superior attitude to the extremist activities of other religious communities.”
He said he was sure the pope had not meant that.
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Contributing to this story was Michael Lawton in Munich, Germany
Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.
The emperor goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul.
God is not pleased by blood, and not acting reasonably is contrary to God’s nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats… To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death….
The decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God’s nature. The editor, Theodore Khoury, observes: “For the emperor, as a Byzantine shaped by Greek philosophy, this statement is self-evident. But for Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality.” Here Khoury quotes a work of the noted French Islamist R. Arnaldez, who points out that Ibn Hazn went so far as to state that God is not bound even by his own word, and that nothing would oblige him to reveal the truth to us. Were it God’s will, we would even have to practice idolatry. . .
:priest:
At least John Paul had enough sense not to say something so effen stupid