Politics: A new beginning

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by leagleaze
I can attest to the laughability of the homophobia and the naziism.

He's probably a fascist, but who am I to talk, I'm a benevolent dictator.

Yes, that's why I asked whether we were talking Slave or Pope. I think Slave is just a garden variety fascist.

As to you, dictator, yes, but certainly not of the fascist kind. I think more of the kind of the populist banana republic kind. I'm in charge, don't mess with me, but everybody have a good time, drink lot's of state booze, take over a few plantations here and there, and and please just don't be seen with the coca leaf in my office while the Ambassador is here.

[leagleaze]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

As to you, dictator, yes, but certainly not of the fascist kind. I think more of the kind of the populist banana republic kind. I'm in charge, don't mess with me, but everybody have a good time, drink lot's of state booze, take over a few plantations here and there, and and please just don't be seen with the coca leaf in my office while the Ambassador is here.

Yup, that's me.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
Probably in some cases, but not in the case of Christianity, at least. ... [Lots and lots of the kind of stuff that makes me swoon.] ...

But what about homosexuality and marriage in the good old days? If we go to classical Greece, my recollection is that homosexual acts were quite accepted but "on the side"; so a man (and in a lesser set of cases a woman) might engage in them, but still took a spouse of the opposite sex and had that marriage recognized by the state and for inheritance and other purposes. Any interesting insight in homosexual practices among the tribes of the north or the post-ancients?

edited to add: did y'all forget Rule No. 1 of the Internet: that the first one to say "Nazi" or "Hitler" automatically loses?

I gave up playing long ago. Just trying to take others down with me.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
The Church didn't authorize, sanctify, bless, conduct or otherwise condone marriage until quite late in the game. Then, they would give a blessing on a marriage, bur as they might to someone starting a new business venture or heading off to join the army, but marriages were still not conducted as ceremonies or sacraments withing the church (until the 1500s at least weddings were usually performed at the church door, if within a religious context at all, because the priest and the church had no role whatsoever in the marriage itself except to bless it afterwards). It wasn't until the 16th centuries that it became standard to have a priest basically run the show.

As usual, the Catholic Encyclopedia, which is always good for a laugh, begs to differ. After a discourse on the history of wife capture, symbolic wife capture, and wife purchase, the entry elides into a "modern" sacramental view without describing when it came about.

By many uncivilized races, and by most civilized ones, the marriage ceremony is regarded as a religious rite or includes religious features, although the religious element is not always regarded as necessary to the validity of the union. Under the Christian dispensation marriage is a religious act of the very highest kind, namely, one of the seven sacraments. Although Luther declared that marriage was not a sacrament but a "worldly thing", all the Protestant sects have continued to regard it as religious in the sense that it ought normally to be contracted in the presence of a clergyman. Owing to the influence of the Lutheran view and of the French Revolution, civil marriage has been instituted in almost all the countries of Europe and North America, as well as in some of the states of South America. In some countries it is essential to the validity of the union before the civil law, while in others, e.g., in the United States, it is merely one of the ways in which marriage may be contracted. Civil marriage, is not, however a post-Reformation institution, for it existed among the ancient Peruvians, and among the Aborigines of North America.

Whether as a state or as a contract whether from the viewpoint of religion and morals or from that of the social welfare, marriage appears in its highest form in the teaching and practice of the Catholic Church. The fact that the contract is a sacrament impresses the popular mind with the importance and sacredness of the relation thus begun. The fact the union is indissoluble and monogamous promotes in the highest degree the welfare of parents and children, and stimulates in the whole community the practice of those qualities of self-restraint and altruism which are essential to social well-being, physical, mental, and moral (see FAMILY; DIVORCE; CELIBACY).

Link to Catholic encyclopedia; avoid if your IT dept is communist or otherwise anti-papist.

Another howler:

On the other hand, the religious celibacy taught and encourage by the Church is socially beneficial, since it shows that continence is practicable, and since religious celibates exemplify a higher degree of altruism than any other section of society.

[SlaveNoMore]

Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
Yes, that's why I asked whether we were talking Slave or Pope. I think Slave is just a garden variety fascist.

I'm not "garden variety" anything, bub

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
I'm not "garden variety" anything, bub

Maybe then "Just your average fascist?"

Could be a reality TV idea, too.

[SlaveNoMore]

Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
Maybe then "Just your average fascist?"

Could be a reality TV idea, too.

Extraordinary Fascist.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Extraordinary Fascist.

Conquer a country first. Spain's been taken. The Vatican would work for me.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Extraordinary Fascist.

Big Brother?

Project Lebensraum?


American Duce?


The Amazing Race?

Jackass?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Big Brother?

Project Lebensraum?

American Duce?

The Amazing Race?

Jackass?

Crystal Nights, or maybr Final Solutions

[Say_hello_for_me]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Crystal Nights, or maybr Final Solutions

I just read this stuff like 4 or 5 years ago, but I already forgot it. I thought old Adolph could not be properly classified as an Il Duce-style fascist. And since Il Duce invented fascism, it meant corporal elbowroom couldn't be properly classified as a fascist.

Yikes! More reading and writing for this weekend.

[Say_hello_for_me]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
Lots of religious stuff

Gotcha. But I'm not sure that the Church *first* recognizing their marital duties in the 1600s or 1700s means the Church did not antedate most (all?) modern political systems. Granted, the Magna Carta was sometime before I was born, but parliaments and democracies and modern political stuff for most countries ain't really that old, is it? Kings and Queens and Dictators sure, but modern continuous democracy?

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
The Church didn't authorize... or otherwise condone marriage until quite late in the game.

Having said that, I'd avoid guys in robes at your door or in dark alleys for a few centuries. The child molestation scandals would pale in comparison to the damage that could result from this, if this became public.

I'm picturing a lot of "sweetie, why do you want a church wedding, the church didn't even authorize or condone marriage until [they realized they could make some money from it]. Let's just do the Elvis thing in Vegas".

Sorry, but tomorrow I'm gonna have to confess what I heard you say.

Yes Father, Bad Rich Chic said it, but there were like 50 of us that heard it. Joey and Tommy were there, and Greedy, Greedy, Greedy. And then they started chanting "God is dead". Please don't let me burn in hell.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
edited to add: did y'all forget Rule No. 1 of the Internet: that the first one to say "Nazi" or "Hitler" automatically loses?

I'm not the Board Parlimentarian, but I believe you overstate the rule. It is true that 2 'ems in an argument cannot throw out a Nazi charge without losing.

However, this has never been the case when arguing/complaining about those in authority above. thus "I can't open that, the IT Nazis would have my ass...." Or " GP Benito Hitler is making me work this weekend...", have always been acceptable, and no concession to losing.

in a sense, this logic was based upon a realization that the Empire in the form of IT or GP had in fact already won, and would always win. nothing em could do would change whether em did win or lose against IT/GP.

Here, someone threw a Nazi charge at one of the wise and powerful who run this fair site. We were all shocked, and I hope it safe to say, most of us do not agree with the allegation. However, since it was "aimed upstairs" it is not of the automatic loss variety.

[Say_hello_for_me]

Two things:

First: (mo fo everybody): I don't know why this article is even appearing, let alone phrased the way it is, but the NYT is questioning why a young Mr. Dean got a medical deferment from the draft in 1970 for a bad back, but then went on a 10 month orgy in Aspen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/22/po...22DRAF.html?hp

(NYT article)

B: A new cartoon by someone's favorite cartoonist starts tomorrow in 150 newspapers. It will be called "Opus", and the la times has an article about it today, mostly an interview with Berkeley Breathed. Yay!

And fourth: According to today's Chicago Tribune, Chicago's homicides are down 5% this year. LA's are down 24% this year. NYC's are up 1.4% this year. Despite having the lowest population of the three, Chicago has the most murders in the nation so far and, by far, the highest homicide rate of the three largest cities. Conclusion? Democrats live longer when Republicans are in charge.

and now that you mention it, what the hell is happening in Georgia. I'd seen reports that the leader was nuts before, but does this stuff mean anything to anybody? Should it?

Hello

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by leagleaze
Yes I know, lesbians are fascinating.

truer words were never spoken