Paraguayan President and the Pope's godlessness

[Photo by BBC News]

Pope Benedict XVI warned us against "godlessness" and "secularism" on Good Friday [see post below].

Perhaps he was thinking about his former bishop, Fernando Lugo, who is now the president of Paraguay.

Seems the president, when he was a bishop, had an affair with a 16-year old girl which resulted in the birth of a boy child.

The president, at first, denied any such shenanigans, but doggone it all, the girl, Viviana Carrillo, filed a paternity suit.

So, finally, he confessed and said he is going to "assume all responsibilities."

That's nice.


This is no big deal, of course; happens all the time; and not infrequently, it seems, of bishops in the Roman Catholic Church.

The problem is that such behavior, which I'm sure Pope Benedict would classify as "mocking" Christ, or a "desert of godlessness," does not appear to be caused by "secularism" or "the faith ... being trivialised." The man was a bishop, for Christ's sake!

Nor it is caused, I think, by the fact that "Values and norms that held societies together and drew people to higher ideals are laughed at and thrown overboard."

A bishop wouldn't do that.


In fact, the bishop was horny and his church said he could not do what was normal -- get married and have children -- so he was caught between a rock and a hard place...or hard something.

I don't think the bishop is a bad person; in fact, it seems he was a good bishop in many ways and that he's been a good president for Paraguay in other ways.

I do think the Pope and his so-called "values and norms" which insist that Catholic clergy be men and be celibate are, in fact, creating the rise in what he bemoans as "secularism."

I also think the Roman church is filled with hypocrites of the highest magnitude.

There's more here.

Obama, Palin and the Special Olympics

When President Barack Obama appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, he made a verbal gaffe, which he has indicated he sincerely regrets and for which he has apologized.

About 3 minutes plus into the interview, Obama made a joke about his bowling skills referencing the Special Olympics.

The rightwingnuts have gone batshit crazy.

Oh well. They haven't a fresh idea in their brainfogged heads, so they have to create something to get airtime.

Arnold Schwarzenegger defended the president, saying that he knows Obama's heart is in the right place and that the president is a strong supporter and defender of the Special Olympics.

Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, however, showing her desperate need to find the limelight and try to turn the conversation away from her ethical problems, pounced all over Obama claiming he was disparaging and insensitive, etc. I think Palin almost wept she was soooo upset.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the same Governor Palin who dragged her special needs child all over the country into all kinds of crazy situations while campaigning with John "the cane" McCain! Only Palin didn't even bother to take care of the child most of the time; that was the job of her pregnant, unwed daughter, Bristol!

Talk about hypocrisy!

Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-FL, advocate of BIG government

U.S. Representative Cliff Stearns, a Repugnican phenomenon from Florida, is co-sponsor with Rick Boucher, a Democratic phenomenon from Virginia, of a bill which would allow persons who hold concealed-weapons permits in one state to legally carry their concealed weapons in other states.

In other words, these two characters want a national law to usurp all state laws relative to concealed weapons.

I am not arguing in favor or against the proposal.

Rather, I would point out how, once again, Republican "principles" cave to political ideology. We hear over and over again, ad nauseum, how Republicans are opposed to BIG government; how we need less government (especially of the federal type) interference in our lives; how big government smacks of socialism; how big government will take away our freedoms; how we must stand up for states' rights, etc.

The proposal contains a few exceptions. It would not apply to people who are barred from owning or transporting firearms, and you can't carry a machine gun or a "destructive" devine across state lines.

Stearns and Boucher have all kinds of reasons why they think this is a good and appropriate law but all of that is beside the point I'm making:

Stearns is noted for being an ultra-conservative "Bush Republican." I don't know, but wouldn't be surprised if he has a statue of Ronald Reagan in a worshipful spot in his home. It is a wonder that he would be trying to establish a federal law that would trump states' rights.

Well, it really isn't a wonder at all. As we noted above, Republicans routinely trump principles for ideology.

Hyprocrisy is a part of the Republican playbook.

That's one reason Barack Obama is president.


There's more here on what an embarrassment Mr. Stearns is to Florida and his remarkable hypocrisy. Note especially why he requested that Nancy Pelosi change the House voting schedule.

Republican nuts and ACORN

[Photo of John McCain at an ACORN rally in Miami in 2006 where he was the main speaker}

It is hard to comprehend how Repugnicans can, with a straight face, accuse any other group of voter fraud. Repugnicans invented voter fraud. Repugnicans perfected voter fraud. It was Repugnican voter fraud along with the U.S. Supremes that gave Bush the White House in 2000, and it was Repugnican voter fraud that sent him back there in 2004.

The so-called Attorney General scandal is all about voter fraud; about a Bush-crony-controlled Department of Justice subverting justice in order to ensure Republican victories in several different states.

So when Sarah Palin and others complain about ACORN, all one can do is laugh at their hypocrisy.

ACORN is a community organization that registers voters. ACORN does a magnificent job. ACORN is not perfect, however, and sometimes hires people who fill out voter registrations falsely in order to get through the day without working too hard. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen sometimes.

Even the Republican governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, said the whole controversy is a tempest in a teapot, that any voter registration problems in Florida have been minor this go-around. In other words, stop beating up on ACORN.

The thing is, an occasional faux voter registration is not voter fraud. Anyone walking into a polling place on November 4th with a phony registration would not be allowed to vote. Furthermore, the reason we know that there have been some false registrations is because of ACORN itself. ACORN is required by law to turn in ALL voter registrations and the fine is steep for failure to do so. ACORN works very hard to flag registrations it suspects are illegitimate.

And NEVER, not once, has ACORN been involved in a case of voter fraud.

The Republican outcry about ACORN is a politically-motivated stunt to take attention away from the fact that the Republican candidate is a failed candidate with no viable plans to deal with any of the important issues of our time. But what's got the Repugs so pissed has nothing to do with voter fraud, it has to do with the fact that ACORN has registered 1.3 million new voters and it is suspected that most of them will vote Democratic!


Then we have Sarah Palin, the perfidious liar, out beating the bushes for votes, who, like McCain, will say or do just about anything to try to get a vote or two. And, as usual, her big lies have to do with Senator Obama who so outshines her in every way that when one compares the two she comes across as lightweight, way out of her league.

In Maine, Palin tied Obama to ACORN, and then said that he wouldn't "disavow a group committing voter fraud." She told other lies also, painting Obama as unpatriotic and not loving America - the same old shit - but hopefully the people noticed she has absolutely nothing to offer this country of a positive nature. She's an empty shell.

And Obama is NOT tied to ACORN. His only relationship to ACORN had to do with working with the United States Department of Justice in a legal action related to ACORN. Palin purposefully attacked his character by misrepresenting who he is and what he does.


The truth is, and I'm sure that Ms. Palin is too ignorant to know this, Republicans have been working with ACORN for years. In fact, one of ACORN's big supporters was John McCain.

In February 2006, John McCain landed in Miami to attend an ACORN rally at the Miami-Dade Community College. Here's the press release:

"The rally will feature sponsors of the bill, prominent leaders representing various constituencies, and immigrants themselves. Sen. John McCain, chief co-sponsor of the legislation, will be the main speaker."

The event "is being sponsored by the New American Opportunity Campaign (NAOC, a coalition of local and national advocacy organizations), in partnership with ACORN." Others involved were the Archdiocese of Miami, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, People for the American Way, and the Service Employees International.

The reason McCain was the "main speaker" at this event was because ACORN was backing his immigration bill. This bill, which he co-sponsored, he now disavows!!!!