Quote of the day--on the Federal Government shutdown

The Pope's boyfriend and more huge Catholic developments

From the "It's What They've Said All Along" file, people are saying the Pope has a boyfriend.

Don't look now but that's rather what's being at least suggested:

Two Popes, One Secretary

This writing, above, is from Andrew Sullivan at his blog The Dish.

He's getting his information from yet another writer, lest we dismiss this just because it is, after all, Andrew Sullivan, for those who would dismiss him. One critic, Colm Toibin, writing on Italian Angelo Quatrrochi's book. Seems his book was published back in 2010 and Mr. Sullivan wrote on this situation some time ago. It's news to me. his book:

Actually, the discussion of the Pope and his assistant and whatever their relationship is, has been going on since at least 2010. Mr. Sullivan's latest writing just filled out the story a bit more.

It seems that, in a very unusual move, the Pope's "right hand person"--a man--his "personal secretary", will serve the eventual new pope in the daytime and be with Benedict XVI in the evening, at night.  Or so Mr. Sullivan and the others describe it.

In the meantime, there is some good--no, great news that just broke today on the Catholic Church's worldwide sexual abuse scandals:

Vatican Summoned Before UN Committee on Rights of the Child

From the above article:

February 28, 2013, New York and Rome – Today, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed an alternate report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child documenting the ongoing worldwide sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. The UN committee has summoned the Vatican to report on its record of ensuring children are protected from sexual violence and safeguarding children’s well-being and dignity, the first time the Holy See will have been called to account for its actions on these issues before an international body with authority. The first meeting will take place in Geneva in June. 

This is some HUGE news and quite a development, folks, whether you're aware of that or not. That takes some of the Catholic Church's age-old ability to keep their sexual abuse cases under their own wraps and out of their own control.  The world is finally,  finally dragging this out into the public square where it needs to be and where it should have been long, long before now.

The Catholic Church is at an extremely turbulent time in its history, clearly:

Troubles for the Holy See Ahead of Papal Elections

As the author of the famous, international blog Whispers in the Loggia  said, this is going to get crazier and crazier for the Pope--and Catholic Church--no doubt.

Quote of the day--on "safety nets"

 "This is what I mean by my constant insistence on ‘moderation’ in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."  -- Dwight Eisenhower

And yet this is now precisely what some Republican leaders are attempting.

Link to original post:  http://mattpayton.tumblr.com/post/3464786643
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2011/02/quote-9.html

Reasons not to be a Republican today

Though I loathe Andrew Sullivan for being the self-hating hypocrite he is--almost solely for being a gay Republican--I have to say, he finally, in 2009, woke up to what the Republican Party is in the US and has decided to leave them.

How overdue can you get?

And even then, he only did it because another, fellow blogger came out before him and beat him to it.

Though he's way overdue, as I said, for leaving this hateful, exclusive bunch of small-minded radicals, at least he had the decency to describe why he was, finally, pushing them away.

Herewith are, in his words, great reasons for not being a Republican in the United States today:

I cannot support a movement that claims to believe in limited government but backed an unlimited domestic and foreign policy presidency that assumed illegal, extra-constitutional dictatorial powers until forced by the system to return to the rule of law.

I cannot support a movement that exploded spending and borrowing and blames its successor for the debt.

I cannot support a movement that so abandoned government's minimal and vital role to police markets and address natural disasters that it gave us Katrina and the financial meltdown of 2008.

I cannot support a movement that holds torture as a core value.

I cannot support a movement that holds that purely religious doctrine should govern civil political decisions and that uses the sacredness of religious faith for the pursuit of worldly power.

I cannot support a movement that is deeply homophobic, cynically deploys fear of homosexuals to win votes, and gives off such a racist vibe that its share of the minority vote remains pitiful.

I cannot support a movement which has no real respect for the institutions of government and is prepared to use any tactic and any means to fight political warfare rather than conduct a political conversation.

I cannot support a movement that sees permanent war as compatible with liberal democratic norms and limited government.

I cannot support a movement that criminalizes private behavior in the war on drugs.

I cannot support a movement that would back a vice-presidential candidate manifestly unqualified and duplicitous because of identity politics and electoral cynicism.

I cannot support a movement that regards gay people as threats to their own families.

I cannot support a movement that does not accept evolution as a fact.

I cannot support a movement that sees climate change as a hoax and offers domestic oil exploration as the core plank of an energy policy.

I cannot support a movement that refuses ever to raise taxes, while proposing no meaningful reductions in government spending.

I cannot support a movement that refuses to distance itself from a demagogue like Rush Limbaugh or a nutjob like Glenn Beck.

I cannot support a movement that believes that the United States should be the sole global power, should sustain a permanent war machine to police the entire planet, and sees violence as the core tool for international relations.

_________________________

While years, if not a decade or more overdue, I couldn't agree more.

Link:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/12/leaving-the-right.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/03/andrew-sullivan-im-breaki_n_378625.html