Monthly Archives: February 2009

REMEMBER TO LOOK OUT THE WINDOW

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I’m still dreaming at 55 and thinking it is damn good to be alive.

I wonder and worry about the furrowed brows and hunched shoulders I see scuffling along sidewalks, stuck on stoops, bent in sadness over counters and table.tops I wonder why some folks think the sun doesn’t rise for them too, because it does, and they have a right to know that. At least I think so.

It seems to me sunrises and sunsets are there for all of us. Yet so many seem to be hemmed in by their histories, messages they may have gotten early on (or still) that they are not worth as much as other people or, equally disabling, that they are worth more than others. I’ve run across both. I imagine you have too.

This last year plus has been one helluva ride, I can tell you. I’ve gone from being knocked flat to standing again. The getting-up-again process sure makes it clear who you can count on and who you can’t count on. Nothing unique there.

What I can tell you is remember to live. I try to keep that as a mantra with varying degrees of success. Whether I am advocating for someone or a group of people or working on the memoir or writing an expose, or a piece like this for the blog, I try and remember to look out the window and see the beauty of nature that is always there for me.

I suppose that might be what I am saying here. We can become so task oriented that we forget to look out the window and see the wonder of the world we live in. There is a lot of beauty out there, a lot of magic, and it is there for all of us.

So, as you go through your day or night, remember to look out the window. The joy and wonder of life is there for all of us.

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THE NON-CHRISTIAN PAPACY MARCHES ON

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An unsigned statement from the Vatican claiming Pope Benedict XVI was unaware of Bishop Richard Williamson’s statements denying the holocaust makes the ludicrous look reasonable. Unless of course we are to assume the Vatican has it’s vetting process conducted by, say, a tree stump.

And why is the statement unsigned? Is the Pope so George Bush-like that he too is incapable of admitting a mistake?

By the way, if you are one of the few who believes the Vatican statement, I know of a wonderful Bridge in Brooklyn that I’d like to sell you.

The unsigned Vatican statement asks Williamson to take back his statements denying the Holocaust and the existence of gas chambers as well as his insistence that no more than 300,000 Jews died in the concentrations camps.

Take it back? Are you kidding me? Are we in some school yard when one kid demands another kid, who has said something to anger him, take it back? What’s the reasoning here? If he takes it back it means he didn’t mean it? Are you kidding me?

No one frees themselves of the poison of Antisemitism or any form of bigotry by simply taking it back. And if we were talking about Christianity here, then no Christian, clergy or layperson, would claim the holocaust didn’t happen. Moreover, no Christian would say what Austrian clergyman Gerhard Maria Wagner said when he said Hurricane Katrina was an act of “divine retribution” for New Orleans’ sexual permissiveness. The non-Christian Pope leaped into action on that front as well by promoting Wagner to Bishop.

The non-Christian Papacy marches on.
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POPE BENEDICT’S NON CHRISTIAN PAPACY

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Cardinal Walter Kasper’s claim that the Pope’s decision to reinstate a Bishop who denies the Holocaust was poorly handled would be laughable were the subject matter not so wrenchingly brutal and tragic.



Bishop Richard Williamson not only denies the Holocaust but says no more than 300,000 Jews died in the concentration camps. Williams says he does not believe there were any gas chambers and no more than 300,000 Jews died in the concentration camps.

One is tempted to grab this despicable anti-Semite by the scruff of the neck and say, First of all, it was 6 million, but let me ask you something while I’ve got your attention. Is 300,000 a low number in your world? It would seem his answer would be yes. One would be tempted to tighten their grip when he or she learned that William’s apologized on a blog for having caused the Pope stress.

German chancellor, Angela Merkel, sharply criticized the Pope. “”When a decision by the Vatican gives rise to the impression that the Holocaust may be denied this cannot be allowed to stand … it’s a matter of affirming very clearly on the part of the Pope and the Vatican that there must be no denial here.”

Denying the Holocaust is a crime in Germany. Having said that, one would think the Pope would have no problem remembering the holocaust since he was alive and in Germany at the time and for a period was a member of the Hitler Youth.

Lest anyone think the Pope’s behavior is restricted to reinstating the likes of Williams, he also promoted Austrian clergyman, Gerhard Maria Wagner to the status of Bishop. Which makes sense given the kind of character the Pope looks for in a someone. After all, it was Wagner who said Hurricane Katrina was an act of “divine retribution” for New Orleans’ sexual permissiveness.

There is certainly one thing Pope Benedict does have in common with Williams and Wagner; none of the them are Christians.

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