WTF?!?

There are cages. Cages!!!

More Church Ranting

In the last few days, I have learned more about the laws and procedures of the Roman Catholic Church than I ever wanted to know. As it turns out, the bishops whose excommunication Pope Benedict revoked are still under suspension. I'm not entirely sure what that looks like - maybe they are back in the arms of the Church, but held at arms' length.
On the other hand, excommunications are traditionally only revoked once certain pre-set conditions are met. It's the same basic system as confession - your sins will be forgiven, IF...
The Society of Saint Pius X, for the first time ever, was not given conditions. There were none. Not even three Hail Marys. Officially, this step was taken to start a dialogue towards reconciliation.
This, in turn, begs the question whether reconciliation is an option, considering that we're talking about a group that called Pope John Paul II an apostate. They reject Vatican II as a whole, from the part about priests facing the congregation during mass, all the way to the part about Jews being our "elder brothers in faith" rather than "the unenlightened murderers of Christ".
The latter is why the current issue is about more than one Holocaust-denying nutjob who clings to debunked "theories" in the face of a reality he doesn't care for. Williamson is extreme, if not actually in his opinions (I wouldn't know...although I have my hopes, and my suspicions), then at least in his willingness to publicize them. The SSPX advocate a return to that deep-rooted antisemitism that has taken centuries to cultivate.

The message this sends is worrying.
It's clumsy, because the current Pope is a German man above a certain age and will therefore always have to be wary of being perceived as antisemitic, even if he were morally flawless and actually knew what all those Communications Staff in the Vatican were there for.
It's embarrassing, because the Vatican's refrain of "This was not anti-semitic because the Pope is not an anti-semite" is a fallacy anyone calling themselves a scholar ought to be ashamed of.
It's disingenuous, because the other common theme from apologists, about the importance of reaching out to those who can be brought back into the fold, seems to hold true only for those to the far right of the spectrum. Theology of Liberation is discouraged, to say the least, Feminist Theology is, at best, laughed at, and even ecumenical dialogue has been scaled back.
But all of this could, probably, be explained in some way or another, if it weren't the last in an ever lengthening string of worrying messages.
It follows the re-instatement of the old-fashioned lithurgy for Good Friday Mass, complete with the prayer for Jews to see the light and accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Historically, progroms along the lines of "Baptism or death!" were likely to start after Easter. That's just one of those odd coincidences, I guess.
There have been other messages, too, harkening back to the good old days before God became "dear": Stating that the indigenous population of Latin America was "yearning" to be conquered and christianized was a feat of revisionist history that puts Holocaust-denial to shame. There were voices lower down the church hierarchy that called the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina divine punishment for "moral pollution". (The priest who used those actual words in a sermon has just been appointed by Rome to become a Bishop in Austria. Just to let you know that such callousness Has Consequences.)
Apparently, it isn't enough to go back to the 15th century. It's time to go right back to the Old Testament. Whee!

But I'm afraid it will rain manna from heaven before this Pope apologizes, let alone changes his course.


[My internet connection is trying my patience today, so you'll have to forgive me for not citing/linking my sources. Der Spiegel has good coverage online, and Google, as always, is omniscent.]

How evolutionary psychology is letting me down

I'm a heterosexual woman. I like children. I'd even like to have some of my own (in the not too immediate future).
According to evolutionary psychologists, I should be an instant expert in all things child-related.
My instincts should just take over, switching me to super-maternal auto-pilot. In some situations, that would be awesome. Because I'm really, really, *really* helpless with babies. Put me in a room with children above the age of 2, and I will love it. But babies...I don't really know what to do with them. I don't know what they want from me. Hell, I'm absolutely mortified that I might break them.
That's why, when I was sitting in a café with one of my best friends yesterday, and she wanted to go to the toilet, she handed me her little girl with the words: "Okay, I need you to be very brave now." She wasn't talking to the baby, and she wasn't kidding either, because she knows me very well.

Amazingly, I didn't break the baby. I didn't even make her cry (Go me!!!). But that mixture of nervousness, and helplessness, and vague dread didn't go away until my friend came back.

Space Opera Galore

I'm a sci-fi nerd. Only a few people who have spent any amount of time with me (or read my blogs) are unaware of this fact.

So, naturally, when I stumbled upon a very, very sweet deal on Babylon 5 DVD Box Sets (all five seasons of them), I stopped, blinked, drooled and promptly hoisted my debit card.
I remembered watching the show on TV and liking it, and I was aware of its acclaim for complexity, depth, good dialogue, and also - indirectly - saving DS9 from total irrelevance ^^

Surprisingly, the show holds up not only to the cult status, but also to my own fond memories.
If anything, I love it more than I did before, although I admit this might be because I'm no longer 12 years old. (Also, the sheer number of gratuitous roundhouse kicks adds a hitherto underappreciated level of awesome.)

For the Region 2 DVDs I own, the images have been digitally remastered, which has improved the quality (although it still pales in comparison to HDTV and serves only to demonstrate just how dated the CGI really is by today's standards), which is great and follows the convention of changing something (no matter how small) for the DVD release to make it new and exciting.
Unfortunately, everybody got soooo excited about enhancing the image and animating a really crappy DVD menu, no attention was paid to the sound. And trust me, they should have done something. Anything. The relative volumes of dialogue and effects/music are so different, it's impossible for me to let the remote out of myhand for even a moment. I have to turn up the volume to get what people are saying, but then a jumpgate opens, or something explodes, or somebody wins in the casino, or a fucking tree falls over in a fucking forest, and the sound is so loud it's almost painful, so I turn the volume back down. But then they cut back to people talking, ... *sigh* Especially the battle sequences are no fun at all that way, and I haven't even started on Season 3, where the real fun begins...er...sorry...where "the Great War comes upon us all".

But even without their screeching sound effect at a volume that makes my ears ring, those Shadow ships are still right up there among the creepiest things ever seen in television sci-fi.

On a roll...

I was raised a Catholic.
Having been born in one of the most important sites of Catholic pilgrimage in Europe, there never seemed to be much of a question about that. It is the way things are. The way it is done. Alternatives were (and still are), at most, something purely theoretical that happened to other people.

The issues I have with my faith as a whole and the institution of the church in particular don't belong here. Suffice to say that I'm not happy, and I haven't been happy for a long time.

But lately, the church has really been on a roll.
Let's recap:

- Homosexuals are as big a threat to civilisation as global warming (and they go to hell).
- Women who take the pill make men impotent (and they go to hell).
- Women who don't dress the way Bishops would like them to are basically asking to be raped and mistreated (and they probably go to hell).
- Women who marry Muslims are in for a pile of trouble (and probably go to hell).
- Men who wear condoms, because they want to be safe are just being stupid (and probably go to hell).
- The President who repealed the Global Gag Rule is "arrogant" and aiding and abetting the "slaughter of innocents" (he's SO going to hell).

But there's no reason to worry, because denying the Holocaust is perfectly alright.
Great move, Ratzi!
Stay classy.

Seriously...if I weren't absolutely sure that it would break my grandmother's heart, I'd be out of this club in an instant. (And if they go on like that, I might just chance it anyway.)

Note: I should probably have added links to this post, but it's the middle of the night and I can't be arsed, so I'll just refer you to our Google overlords.

No pressure...

Today, I came across "President Obama - The Book" in a bookshop.

Of course, the Inauguratathon was awesome, and the First Couple's stamina was admirable. (Did they really visit ALL the banquets?)
Killing all those pieces of Bush legislation that were still in the pipeline was great, and suspending the military tribunals in Gitmo was even better (I'll go back to worrying with the Human Rights lawyers sometime next week, when the giddy glow wears off).

But a book? After less than 24 hours??

(And yes, I *know* it was written even earlier than that, which makes the whole thing even more surreal.)

Richard Falk on Gaza

Richard Falk, Superhero of International Law and UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian territories, is on Al Jazeera's "Riz Khan" today.
He is the go-to guy for nuanced analysis from a perspective of peace and peace studies.
Some of the stuff he wrote on the assault on Gaza can be found here.

I developed a major academic crush on the man when he became the first person to explain Int Law to me in terms I actually understood.