"... we show that measures of subjective well-being indicate that women's happiness has declined both absolutely and relative to men. ... women's declining relative well-being is found across various datasets, measures of subjective well-being, and is pervasive across demographic groups and industrialized countries.
... women in the 1970s typically reported higher subjective well-being than did men.
... a new gender gap is emerging -- one with higher subjective well-being for men."
Betsey Stevenson, Justin Wolfers
National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 14969
May 2009
31.5.09
RESULTADO CIENTÍFICO: Feminismo torna mais felizes ... os homens
30.5.09
MISSING LINK STILL MISSING: Afinal, o Lémur pré-histórico ... é um lémur pré-histórico
The Times, 28/05/2009:
"The Ida team is facing opposition over its scientific interpretation of the fossil, which it claims is a “missing link” between humans, apes and monkeys and their distant past. They suggest that, if not a direct ancestor, Ida lies on the broad ancestral branch, known as the haplorhines, that led to monkeys, apes and humans. “She’s on our ancestral line,” Dr Hurum said.As semelhanças entre este episódio e a encenação à volta do chamado "evangelho de judas", serão coincidência?
It is thought that the majority of palaeontologists believe that Ida is more likely to lie on the strepsirhine branch that led to modern-day lemurs."
29.5.09
27.5.09
The Midas Touch
"Very simply, there is a gold mine in Rosia Montana, a village in Romania. This is not news; there has always been a gold mine Rosia Montana, and one can still explore the tunnels dug by the Romans, from whom Romania is named. Gold is not Rosia Monana's only form of wealth. The mountain also gives silver and copper, but even that is not the end of it. It is a place of stunning beauty, as you may see in the film, but it also has fertile fields, verdant pastures, and rivers brimming with fish. There is no end of the natural wealth and there ought to be no end of natural prosperity and happiness.
But there is not. There is, in fact, poverty. None of this is news. What is new is that a Canadian company wants to mine in Rosia Montana. But “mine” is perhaps not the right word. Rather, they want to destroy the mountain, and in destroying the mountain they must destroy the village. They want to replace the village with a lake of cyanide to reduce a ton of rock to a grain of gold. In only 17 years, it is their plan to reduce the mountain of gold to a heap of slag. This is not to say that the Canadians are being unfair; they are more than willing to pay the villagers. Some have accepted, others are resisting. And they promise to turn the slag into a garden.
Now, it is not my place to tell the villagers what they should do. It is neither my village nor my country, and these are decisions which only the people of Rosia Montana and the government of Romania can make. But whether the villagers decide to stay or go, the decision they make is a sign and symbol of something much wider, and part of something much greater. To be specific, it is part of a great joke about capitalism. But it is a joke that no one seems to get. So here is the punchline: Rosia Montana is a place of great natural wealth, BUT THERE IS NO INCOME (as one of the villagers in the film put it). Now, here is a place that has received every gift that a loving God could bestow on any piece of ground: mountains full of minerals, valleys full of farms, pastures full of animals, rivers full of fish. It is a place that could—and has—supported tens of thousands in peace and prosperity, but under capitalism, it cannot provide work for a thousand. An area that should be prosperous and happy becomes an area of forced idleness. There is wealth, real wealth, but there are no jobs, and people, young people especially—that is, the future—feel they must leave. And if they leave with a few Euros provided by the Canadians, who can blame them?
But still there is the joke. The joke is that while the villagers have real wealth, the Canadians have financial wealth, and under capitalism, the latter is more important than the former. The bits of paper with the € printed on them are heavier than gold; the sterile bankers notes more fecund than fertile fields. ...
Under capitalism, the natural order of things is reversed. The money that should serve as a convenience for the trade of real things becomes the master of real things—and real people. The natural connection between wealth and work is broken, and those who hold real wealth got with real work become the servants of those with financial wealth who do no work.
... Gold comes out of the ground very slowly. That is as it should be. It is a resource for the ages, and not just for one generation, and certainly not for a generation of foreigners. To each generation, the mountain gives a few flakes, so that they might make merry at the end of the day, or bring the wife and children some small gifts. And the children will grow up to bring a gift to their wives. But the Canadians want to compress 2,000 years of mining into 17 years, to take all the wealth of the red mountains in one fell swoop, and leave behind a desert. True, they say they will leave behind a garden, and they may actually mean that. But once all the battles are over, once the gold is gone, there will be little reason to fulfill the promises. Soon after the mine is opened and the mountain begins to shrink, the Canadian director will call the Romanian manager and tell him, “We made €100 million, last year; we need to make €120 this year. Cut the budget.” And the next year they will say 140, and then 200. What budget do you think they will cut?
They made the same promises in Baia Mare, in the North of Romania. But in the year 2000, the cyanide lake broke, and wound its way into the valley and the river Tisza and the Danube, rendering the valley sterile and dangerous and the fish poisoned. It was the biggest environmental disaster in Europe since Chernobyl. They cannot farm or fish the area for 20 years. Some garden. “Ah, but here it will be different. Our lake will never break; we will break the mountain, but it will not break our lake; we are stronger than nature.” Maybe, but the cyanide must go somewhere, some day.
This whole process is called “investment,” which means that nations like Romania with real wealth must go hat in hand to countries with financial wealth. They must beg in Bruxelles for permission to eat their own bread, for the bits of paper without which (apparently) wheat will not grow and fish will not bite. As it is, the farmers and factories cannot compete with the system of organized subsidies and exploitation known as “globalization,” a system meant to suck the life out of poor countries for the benefit of (financially) rich ones. If things proceed as the usually do in these cases, it will be impossible for the government of Romania to resist the pressure to sell the real wealth of Romania for the “investment” wealth of the Canadians. Yet there is something else that may stop the project: the death of a system that demands such projects.
There are people in Romania who are old enough to have witnessed the death of empires; they have see the passing of the kingdom, of the fascists, of the communists, and soon, I am convinced, the passing of the capitalists; that system, like the others, cannot survive its own “success”; the bits of paper aren't real wealth, and the people who have real wealth got with real work will tire of working for others and demand to work for themselves.
It should be a trivial matter to organize the wealth of Romania into a real economic system. It should not be much of problem to make fertile fields prosperous, to make good and useful things for their neighbors, to trade with the other cities of Romania and with the neighboring countries, all of whom need some of what Romania has, just as Romania can use something of their surplus. If bits of paper are all that stand in the way, then such paper can be printed in Bucharest, backed by the real wealth of the nation. It takes only the will to do so. If small nations can realize their own wealth, no one can stop them; if not, they must work for Canadians, for such work as can be found, and there won't be much of it. For the rest, they must go to Spain or Germany; they must enrich another country and forget their own language.
The other joke about such projects is that they are not good investments. They are too capital intensive, and depend on gold staying at or above a certain price. But ten years ago, the price was only $250/oz., and if the current troubles pass without incident, it may be that again, in which case the mine would be unprofitable. But if this really is the passing of an era, the fall of an empire, then the price might go to $5,000/oz. In that case, Romania will need its gold, and whoever rules Romania will not let it out, whatever promises they have made to the Canadians. The Canadians have no army to enforce their claims, and the rest of Europe will have concerns of its own. The Canadians will lose their investment, just as the people of Rosia Montana lost their village.
I have called capitalism a great joke, but it is also a grand myth, namely the Myth of Midas, he whose touch turned everything to gold. Capitalism also turns all it touches into gold, but a strange gold that, as for the King, can not feed itself, and which turns every beloved thing, everything of real value, into something cold and heartless and still. Nobody knows what will happen, but it would be dangerous to think that what worked yesterday will work in the future. But it is a myth that these things ever worked for places like Romania, and a greater myth to think that Romania needs them to work. She has both the gold and the food to feed herself, and feed on a grand scale."
But there is not. There is, in fact, poverty. None of this is news. What is new is that a Canadian company wants to mine in Rosia Montana. But “mine” is perhaps not the right word. Rather, they want to destroy the mountain, and in destroying the mountain they must destroy the village. They want to replace the village with a lake of cyanide to reduce a ton of rock to a grain of gold. In only 17 years, it is their plan to reduce the mountain of gold to a heap of slag. This is not to say that the Canadians are being unfair; they are more than willing to pay the villagers. Some have accepted, others are resisting. And they promise to turn the slag into a garden.
Now, it is not my place to tell the villagers what they should do. It is neither my village nor my country, and these are decisions which only the people of Rosia Montana and the government of Romania can make. But whether the villagers decide to stay or go, the decision they make is a sign and symbol of something much wider, and part of something much greater. To be specific, it is part of a great joke about capitalism. But it is a joke that no one seems to get. So here is the punchline: Rosia Montana is a place of great natural wealth, BUT THERE IS NO INCOME (as one of the villagers in the film put it). Now, here is a place that has received every gift that a loving God could bestow on any piece of ground: mountains full of minerals, valleys full of farms, pastures full of animals, rivers full of fish. It is a place that could—and has—supported tens of thousands in peace and prosperity, but under capitalism, it cannot provide work for a thousand. An area that should be prosperous and happy becomes an area of forced idleness. There is wealth, real wealth, but there are no jobs, and people, young people especially—that is, the future—feel they must leave. And if they leave with a few Euros provided by the Canadians, who can blame them?
But still there is the joke. The joke is that while the villagers have real wealth, the Canadians have financial wealth, and under capitalism, the latter is more important than the former. The bits of paper with the € printed on them are heavier than gold; the sterile bankers notes more fecund than fertile fields. ...
Under capitalism, the natural order of things is reversed. The money that should serve as a convenience for the trade of real things becomes the master of real things—and real people. The natural connection between wealth and work is broken, and those who hold real wealth got with real work become the servants of those with financial wealth who do no work.
... Gold comes out of the ground very slowly. That is as it should be. It is a resource for the ages, and not just for one generation, and certainly not for a generation of foreigners. To each generation, the mountain gives a few flakes, so that they might make merry at the end of the day, or bring the wife and children some small gifts. And the children will grow up to bring a gift to their wives. But the Canadians want to compress 2,000 years of mining into 17 years, to take all the wealth of the red mountains in one fell swoop, and leave behind a desert. True, they say they will leave behind a garden, and they may actually mean that. But once all the battles are over, once the gold is gone, there will be little reason to fulfill the promises. Soon after the mine is opened and the mountain begins to shrink, the Canadian director will call the Romanian manager and tell him, “We made €100 million, last year; we need to make €120 this year. Cut the budget.” And the next year they will say 140, and then 200. What budget do you think they will cut?
They made the same promises in Baia Mare, in the North of Romania. But in the year 2000, the cyanide lake broke, and wound its way into the valley and the river Tisza and the Danube, rendering the valley sterile and dangerous and the fish poisoned. It was the biggest environmental disaster in Europe since Chernobyl. They cannot farm or fish the area for 20 years. Some garden. “Ah, but here it will be different. Our lake will never break; we will break the mountain, but it will not break our lake; we are stronger than nature.” Maybe, but the cyanide must go somewhere, some day.
This whole process is called “investment,” which means that nations like Romania with real wealth must go hat in hand to countries with financial wealth. They must beg in Bruxelles for permission to eat their own bread, for the bits of paper without which (apparently) wheat will not grow and fish will not bite. As it is, the farmers and factories cannot compete with the system of organized subsidies and exploitation known as “globalization,” a system meant to suck the life out of poor countries for the benefit of (financially) rich ones. If things proceed as the usually do in these cases, it will be impossible for the government of Romania to resist the pressure to sell the real wealth of Romania for the “investment” wealth of the Canadians. Yet there is something else that may stop the project: the death of a system that demands such projects.
There are people in Romania who are old enough to have witnessed the death of empires; they have see the passing of the kingdom, of the fascists, of the communists, and soon, I am convinced, the passing of the capitalists; that system, like the others, cannot survive its own “success”; the bits of paper aren't real wealth, and the people who have real wealth got with real work will tire of working for others and demand to work for themselves.
It should be a trivial matter to organize the wealth of Romania into a real economic system. It should not be much of problem to make fertile fields prosperous, to make good and useful things for their neighbors, to trade with the other cities of Romania and with the neighboring countries, all of whom need some of what Romania has, just as Romania can use something of their surplus. If bits of paper are all that stand in the way, then such paper can be printed in Bucharest, backed by the real wealth of the nation. It takes only the will to do so. If small nations can realize their own wealth, no one can stop them; if not, they must work for Canadians, for such work as can be found, and there won't be much of it. For the rest, they must go to Spain or Germany; they must enrich another country and forget their own language.
The other joke about such projects is that they are not good investments. They are too capital intensive, and depend on gold staying at or above a certain price. But ten years ago, the price was only $250/oz., and if the current troubles pass without incident, it may be that again, in which case the mine would be unprofitable. But if this really is the passing of an era, the fall of an empire, then the price might go to $5,000/oz. In that case, Romania will need its gold, and whoever rules Romania will not let it out, whatever promises they have made to the Canadians. The Canadians have no army to enforce their claims, and the rest of Europe will have concerns of its own. The Canadians will lose their investment, just as the people of Rosia Montana lost their village.
I have called capitalism a great joke, but it is also a grand myth, namely the Myth of Midas, he whose touch turned everything to gold. Capitalism also turns all it touches into gold, but a strange gold that, as for the King, can not feed itself, and which turns every beloved thing, everything of real value, into something cold and heartless and still. Nobody knows what will happen, but it would be dangerous to think that what worked yesterday will work in the future. But it is a myth that these things ever worked for places like Romania, and a greater myth to think that Romania needs them to work. She has both the gold and the food to feed herself, and feed on a grand scale."
26.5.09
The Case for Working With Your Hands
NYT, 26/05/2009:
"... Many of us do work that feels more surreal than real. Working in an office, you often find it difficult to see any tangible result from your efforts. What exactly have you accomplished at the end of any given day? Where the chain of cause and effect is opaque and responsibility diffuse, the experience of individual agency can be elusive...
... The imperative of the last 20 years to round up every warm body and send it to college, then to the cubicle, was tied to a vision of the future in which we somehow take leave of material reality and glide about in a pure information economy. This has not come to pass. To begin with, such work often feels more enervating than gliding. More fundamentally, now as ever, somebody has to actually do things: fix our cars, unclog our toilets, build our houses...
... If the goal is to earn a living, then, maybe it isn’t really true that 18-year-olds need to be imparted with a sense of panic about getting into college ...
... The trades suffer from low prestige, and I believe this is based on a simple mistake. Because the work is dirty, many people assume it is also stupid. This is not my experience.
... After finishing a Ph.D. in political philosophy at the University of Chicago in 2000... [t]he academic job market was utterly bleak. In a state of professional panic, I retreated to a makeshift workshop I set up in the basement of a Hyde Park apartment building, where I spent the winter tearing down an old Honda motorcycle and rebuilding it. The physicality of it, and the clear specificity of what the project required of me, was a balm. Stumped by a starter motor that seemed to check out in every way but wouldn’t work, I started asking around at Honda dealerships.
... Over the next six months I spent a lot of time at Fred’s shop, learning ... I was rediscovering the intensely absorbing nature of the work, and it got me thinking about possible livelihoods.
... I quit and went into business fixing bikes. My shop rate is ... $20 per hour — a modest but decent wage...
... The work is sometimes frustrating, but it is never irrational. And it frequently requires complex thinking...
As in any learned profession, you just have to know a lot. ... It would probably be impossible to do such work in isolation, without access to a collective historical memory; you have to be embedded in a community of mechanic-antiquarians. These relationships are maintained by telephone, in a network of reciprocal favors that spans the country...
... mechanical work has required me to cultivate different intellectual habits.
... As is the case with many independent mechanics, my business is based entirely on word of mouth. I sometimes barter services with machinists and metal fabricators. This has a very different feel than transactions with money; it situates me in a community. The result is that I really don’t want to mess up anybody’s motorcycle or charge more than a fair price. You often hear people complain about mechanics and other tradespeople whom they take to be dishonest or incompetent. I am sure this is sometimes justified. But it is also true that the mechanic deals with a large element of chance.
... The escalating demand for academic credentials in the job market gives the impression of an ever-more-knowledgeable society, whose members perform cognitive feats their unschooled parents could scarcely conceive of. ... Yet my M.A. obscures a more real stupidification of the work I secured with that credential, and a wage to match. When I first got the degree, I felt as if I had been inducted to a certain order of society. But despite the beautiful ties I wore, it turned out to be a more proletarian existence than I had known as an electrician. In that job I had made quite a bit more money. I also felt free and active, rather than confined and stultified.
... A good job requires a field of action where you can put your best capacities to work and see an effect in the world. Academic credentials do not guarantee this.
Nor can big business or big government — those idols of the right and the left — reliably secure such work for us. Everyone is rightly concerned about economic growth on the one hand or unemployment and wages on the other, but the character of work doesn’t figure much in political debate. ... on the nature of the job itself, the dominant political and economic paradigms are mute. Yet work forms us, and deforms us, with broad public consequences.
... An economy that is more entrepreneurial, less managerial, would be less subject to the kind of distortions that occur when corporate managers’ compensation is tied to the short-term profit of distant shareholders. For most entrepreneurs, profit is at once a more capacious and a more concrete thing than this. It is a calculation in which the intrinsic satisfactions of work count — not least, the exercise of your own powers of reason.
Ultimately it is enlightened self-interest, then, not a harangue about humility or public-spiritedness, that will compel us to take a fresh look at the trades. The good life comes in a variety of forms. This variety has become difficult to see; our field of aspiration has narrowed into certain channels. But the current perplexity in the economy seems to be softening our gaze. Our peripheral vision is perhaps recovering, allowing us to consider the full range of lives worth choosing. For anyone who feels ill suited by disposition to spend his days sitting in an office, the question of what a good job looks like is now wide open."
East Timor Resisting Legalized Abortion: UN Committee Calls Current Policies "Discriminatory"
De facto, em Timor, a grande reforma que a ONU tem de promover é a liberalização do aborto.
25.5.09
Dos políticos católicos, livrai-nos Senhor
Nuno Serras Pereira, 25. 05. 2009:
"Como sabemos pela história do Cristianismo, em tempos de grandes calamidades enchiam-se as Igrejas e rezavam-se preces apropriadas à catástrofe. Exemplos tão comprovados pela sua eficácia devem ser seguidos por todos aqueles que olham com olhos de ver os tempos que estamos vivendo, ou sobrevivendo…
Em Portugal a Lei de Deus, a saber, a Lei que Deus inscreveu no coração de todo e qualquer ser humano, quer dizer, a Lei Moral Natural, isto é, a Lei da Natureza Racional da Pessoa, a que podemos chamar princípios irrenunciáveis ou valores inegociáveis tem sido sistematicamente contestada, verbal e praticamente, por muitos dos que se auto-proclamam políticos católicos praticantes. Como o Episcopado, por razões insondáveis, não denuncia as suas infidelidades e continua, como se nada fosse, a conceder-lhes honras eclesiais, a convidá-los para palestrantes em simpósios ou congressos de doutrinação católica, a dar-lhes a Sagrada Comunhão o povo católico só pode concluir que essas gravíssimas iniquidades são não só de todo compatíveis com a Fé, mas devem ser tidas como virtudes a imitar.
O catolicíssimo Guterres quando deputado votou favoravelmente quer a liberalização total do aborto até às 12 semanas quer a “lei” 6/84 que veio a ser aprovada e esteve em vigor até ao último referendo sobre o aborto. Como Primeiro-ministro deixou introduzir a pílula abortiva do dia seguinte e apoiou o alargamento dos prazos, proposto por Strecht Monteiro e que veio a ser aprovado. Cavaco Silva quando teve maioria absoluta recusou-se a derrogar a “lei” abortista 6/84 apesar da insistência de membros da comissão política do seu partido. No dia seguinte a ter promulgado, como Presidente da República, a monstruosa “lei” da fecundação artificial, da experimentação em embriões e clonagem foi publicamente coberto de louvores pelo então Bispo do Porto, numa visita que fez àquela cidade. Poucos dias antes de proclamar a “lei” perversa da liberalização do aborto foi lisonjeado pela actual Bispo da mesma cidade, numa entrevista a um órgão de comunicação social. Maria de Belém, íntima do monsenhor, poderosa nas Misericórdias, Barbie telegénica, engendrou e pariu a tal monstruosidade que Cavaco proclamou, afanou-se e desdobrou-se na campanha referendária a favor do aborto e agora empenha-se em introduzir a eutanásia sob o eufemismo de testamento vital. Nessa campanha tivemos muitos católicos tais como José Manuel Pureza e Pedro Silva Pereira. A contracepção entrou por meio do voto e empenho de católicos do ps e do psd e Albino Aroso aclamado como o herói que fez descer a mortalidade infantil em Portugal é na verdade um dos principais responsáveis pelo seu aumento exponencial através do aborto químico, mecânico, hormonal e cirúrgico. Os católicos destes partidos têm votado favoravelmente as várias “leis” de educação sexual nas escolas que têm comprovadamente aumentado todos os problemas que dizem pretender resolver, com a agravante de escandalizarem e perverterem a inocência das crianças e jovens. Ainda ontem Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa invocava como razões para distribuir preservativos nas escolas as que aconselham exactamente o contrário. E não se desculpe o homem dizendo que ele o ignora, porque se não sabe tem maior culpa, pois tinha a estrita obrigação de o saber. Mas que se pode esperar de um católico que, como também Paulo Portas andou a proclamar aos quatro ventos que a “lei” 6/84 era justa, equilibrada e boa? Paulo Rangel já deu o tiro de partida com o “casamento” entre pessoas do mesmo sexo, que poderá começar por um nome diferente, mas que com a devida engenharia social acabará por ter o mesmo nome e conceder o “direito” à adopção.
Os exemplos podiam continuar, mas os que se deram são suficientes para perceber que nenhum destes graves males poderia entrar em vigor sem a cumplicidade dos políticos católicos que dividiram e desuniram profundamente a Igreja, incutiram a confusão no povo crente, açaimaram os Bispos, semearam o erro, produziram heresias morais, existenciais. Estas, como explica Stanley Jaki[1], são mais danosas e têm mais graves consequências do que as intelectuais[2]. Isto nada tem a ver com moralismo, muito pelo contrário, tem antes a ver com a identidade do Cristianismo, com a verdadeira relação com Jesus Cristo, com a Comunhão com a Igreja, com a Fé que opera pela Justiça e pela Caridade.
Nunca os inimigos de Deus e do género humano teriam conseguido alcançar estes objectivos, em Portugal, sem a traição e infidelidade dos políticos católicos, uma vez que seriam imediatamente reconhecidos como tais, sendo logo combatidos e rebatidos. Fomos infiltrados, enganados e derrotados. Eu não sei se essa malta católica pertence à maçonaria, mas sei que a sua forma de pensar e de actuar é tipicamente maçónica.
Nós não temos necessidade alguma de políticos católicos, temos é que nos livrar deles, e o mais depressa possível. O que precisamos, isso sim é de Católicos fiéis que sejam políticos, e urgentemente. O Católico não é adjectivo, é substantivo, o político é que adjectiva o católico. O Católico está primeiro, é a base, a substância, o fundamento, a identidade que depois se desdobra coerentemente na política.
Por isso proponho uma ladainha para quem a queira rezar:
Senhor, tende piedade de nós.
Cristo, tende piedade de nós.
Senhor, tende piedade de nós.
Jesus Cristo, ouvi-nos.
Jesus Cristo, atendei-nos.
Pai do Céu que sois Deus, tende piedade de nós.
Filho Redentor do mundo, que sois Deus, tende piedade de nós.
Espírito Santo, que sois Deus, tende piedade de nós.
Santíssima Trindade que sois um só Deus, tende piedade de nós.
Dos políticos católicos, livrai-nos, Senhor. (repete-se 10 vezes)
Da imoralidade da fecundação artificial, livrai-nos, Senhor.
Da imoralidade da contracepção, livrai-nos, Senhor.
Da injustiça do divórcio, livrai-nos, Senhor.
Do ensino da perversão sexual nas escolas, livrai-nos, Senhor.
Do ensino estatal centralizado e totalitário, livrai-nos, Senhor.
Da abominação do aborto hormonal, livrai-nos, Senhor.
Da abominação do aborto mecânico, livrai-nos, Senhor.
Da abominação do aborto químico, livrai-nos, Senhor.
Da abominação do aborto cirúrgico, livrai-nos, Senhor.
Dos horrores da experimentação em seres humanos embrionários, livrai-nos Senhor.
Dos horrores da clonagem reprodutiva, livrai-nos Senhor.
Dos horrores da clonagem terapêutica, livrai-nos Senhor.
Da execrável eutanásia, livrai-nos Senhor.
Do execrável suicídio assistido, livrai-nos Senhor.
Das depravações sodomitas, livrai-nos Senhor.
Do “casamento” ou emparelhamento entre pessoas do mesmo sexo, livrai-nos Senhor.
Dos políticos católicos, livrai-nos Senhor. (repetir 10 vezes)
Católicos fiéis na política, concedei-nos, Senhor. (repete-se 20 vezes)
Amor e defesa da vida de cada ser humano em todas as fases da sua existência, da concepção até à morte natural, concedei-nos, Senhor. (repete-se 5 vezes)
A união dos casais, um varão e uma mulher, até que a morte os separe, concedei-nos, Senhor.
A união das famílias, concedei-nos, Senhor.
Liberdade de ensino, concedei-nos, Senhor.
Castidade nos pensamentos, palavras e actos, concedei-nos, Senhor.
Amor e defesa da vida de cada ser humano em todas as fases da sua existência, da concepção até à morte natural, concedei-nos, Senhor. (repete-se 5 vezes)
Católicos fiéis na política, concedei-nos, Senhor. (repete-se 20 vezes)
Cordeiro de Deus que tirais o pecado do mundo. Perdoai-nos, Senhor.
Cordeiro de Deus que tirais o pecado do mundo. Ouvi-nos, Senhor.
Cordeiro de Deus que tirais o pecado do mundo. Tende piedade de nós Senhor.
Pai Santo que inscrevestes a Vossa Bondade no coração de cada pessoa humana, fazei que vivamos segundo essa verdade, para que amando-Vos em todos, sem excepção alguma, possamos viver uma vida pacífica e tranquila e terminada a nossa peregrinação alcancemos a felicidade eterna. Por Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo Vosso Filho que é Deus convosco na unidade do Espírito Santo."
Deseducação sexual: o ministério da educação é um menino do coro
Prof. João César das Neves, 25/05/2009:
Mas os seus defensores deveriam meditar no insucesso da escola pública na transmissão de conhecimentos menos controversos e mais simples, como sejam a aritmética e a ortografia, e o desinteresse que a mesma escola tem fomentado entre a juventude sobre estes e outros temas académicos. Será quase caso para dizer que, se quiseres que "os jovens" ganhem aversão à matéria "A", bastará solicitar ao Ministério da Educação que opere a sua mágica e insira a dita matéria no programa do ano B como matéria obrigatória e sujeita a avaliação (?).
Caros revolucionários culturais, nestas coisas de "vender" a fornicação, o adultério, a contracepção, o acto anti-natural, a masturbação, a impureza e a imodéstia o sector público demonstrará a sua ineficência e promoverá efeitos inesperados e contrários aos objectivos iniciais. Melhor será deixar a coisa "ao mercado", que tão bons resultados tem conseguido nesta área. A solução é a hollywood capitalista e o complexo pornográfico-industrial; o ministério da educação, neste particular, é um menino do coro.
"... A educação política ... é essencial e as escolas devem incluí-la. Mas que pensaria se esses programas lectivos fossem baseados nos projectos de um partido minoritário e extremista, por exemplo o Bloco de Esquerda? Que acharia se na escola as crianças e jovens aprendessem que "a energia deve ser pública" (porque não o pão?), que no meio da crise se deve adoptar a semana de 35 horas e palermices semelhantes? Para não falar na ditadura do proletariado e revolução permanente, escondidas nas suas raízes maoístas e trotskistas. Seria um terrível abuso do sistema educativo.Esta questão da deseducação sexual nas escolas é grave e insere-se no processo de revolução cultural em curso.
É exactamente essa infâmia que tem sido cometida nos últimos anos no campo da educação sexual escolar. ...
... tem-se assistido a intensa campanha para coagir a sociedade a seguir alguns princípios, autodenominados de progressistas, justos e livres. Esses princípios são aqueles a que a sociedade até há pouco chamava "porcalhões". As aulas devem mostrar órgãos sexuais às crianças e explicar os detalhes de carícias, coito e contracepção. A masturbação é natural, o impulso sexual deve ser promovido, se praticado com segurança, e há perfeita equivalência entre todas as opções sexuais. Pudor, castidade e matrimónio são disparates.
... são os ... activistas revolucionários que, órfãos dessas antigas lutas político-económicas, vêm agora atacar a instituição familiar com a fúria dos velhos combates laborais. A alcova substituiu a empresa e o direito à greve foi trocado pelo direito ao deboche. Os esquerdistas andam agora paradoxalmente aliados a marialvas e proxenetas.
Em consequência, o Governo, incapaz de resolver desemprego e falências, preocupa- -se com a facilitação do divórcio dos casais e a promoção do casamento de homossexuais. Os ministros, que fizeram explodir o défice, subsidiam abortos e querem distribuir preservativos gratuitos nas escolas...
... Em breve, as posições extremistas contra o matrimónio e a castidade, hoje julgadas indiscutíveis e gritadas com fúria, serão tão cómicas e obsoletas como são as ideias económicas do Bloco de Esquerda, tão respeitadas há 50 anos (altura em que também o PS as defendia). As tolices acabam sempre vencidas. O mal são as vítimas que criam entretanto...."
Mas os seus defensores deveriam meditar no insucesso da escola pública na transmissão de conhecimentos menos controversos e mais simples, como sejam a aritmética e a ortografia, e o desinteresse que a mesma escola tem fomentado entre a juventude sobre estes e outros temas académicos. Será quase caso para dizer que, se quiseres que "os jovens" ganhem aversão à matéria "A", bastará solicitar ao Ministério da Educação que opere a sua mágica e insira a dita matéria no programa do ano B como matéria obrigatória e sujeita a avaliação (?).
Caros revolucionários culturais, nestas coisas de "vender" a fornicação, o adultério, a contracepção, o acto anti-natural, a masturbação, a impureza e a imodéstia o sector público demonstrará a sua ineficência e promoverá efeitos inesperados e contrários aos objectivos iniciais. Melhor será deixar a coisa "ao mercado", que tão bons resultados tem conseguido nesta área. A solução é a hollywood capitalista e o complexo pornográfico-industrial; o ministério da educação, neste particular, é um menino do coro.
24.5.09
Arcebispo de Westminster critica Paulo Rangel: "Não assino por baixo"
The Times, May 24, 2009:
CORRECÇÃO (FILIAL): Um lamentável erro de impressão alterou o conteúdo deste post. Onde se lê "Paulo Rangel" deve ler-se "Tony Blair". Esperemos que, um dia, se venha a descobrir que, afinal, o erro era "Westminster": Onde está "Westminster" poderia estar "Lisboa", "Porto" ou mesmo "ordinariato castrense"..."What does [The Archbishop of Westminster] think about Paulo Rangel lecturing the church in this way...?
“I think it was extraordinary. I also think his political instincts, which are very strong, are not a good guide to the teachings of the Catholic Church, and a bit more reflection is needed as to the relationship between political instinct in general – and certainly his – and the nature of the truth that the Church tries to put forward . . . Maybe he lacks a bit of experience in Catholic life.”
23.5.09
Se os professores se pudessem casar; se as mulheres pudessem ser professoras, nada disto teria acontecido
[não se aconselha a leitura integral destas notícias saídas no nosso newspaper of record]
- Professor suspeito de abuso sexual na Escola EB1+Jardim-de-Infância em Lagos, 23 Abril 2009
- Professora de Português Acusada de abusar de alunas, 15 Abril 2009
- Professor pedófilo na cadeia, 29 de Março de 2009
- Professor condenado por abuso de alunas pode dar aulas, 20 Fevereiro 2009
- Reino Unido: Professore pedófilos banidos das escolas, 20 Janeiro 2006
- Pedofilia: professor começa hoje a ser julgado na Anadia acusado de abusar de alunas, 31 Maio 2004
- Professor pedófilo apanha 12 anos, 12 Maio 2004
Assino por baixo !
Prof. César das Neves, Destak, 21/0/2009:
"Vivemos num tempo que... não dá atenção ao que mete no cérebro.
... todos passam horas a absorver o pior lixo mental na televisão, computador, livros e revistas.
Filmes boçais, sites infames, programas idiotas, revistas escabrosas, videojogos obscenos, séries imbecis constituem a dieta intelectual dos cidadãos, tão conscientes da sua saúde física. Na ficção como nas notícias, a violência extrema, pornografia descarada, egoísmo, gula, desonestidade são produtos comuns.
Assim é inevitável a descida ao abismo espiritual a que se assiste... Não admira portanto que, recusando-nos a formular orientações para o espírito, se acabe na decadência ética e estética. Isso em nome da liberdade, que rejeitamos na saúde e ambiente.
... Os nossos netos saudáveis terão muito mais dificuldade em recuperar da porcaria intelectual [e da ditadura moral] em que ... os educámos."
20.5.09
As 95 teses de Lutero ? Ele assina por baixo...
[Com as minhas descupas aos amigos protestantes que, apesar de provavelmente estarem já condenados, são mais católicos que muitos freis bentos]
19.5.09
Commander of the Iranian army: It will take us 11 days "to wipe Israel out of existence"
Deve estar quase a começar a onda de condenações internacionais promovida pela internacional do anti-anti-semitismo selectivo.
A "guerra de civilizações" não é propriamente entre cristãos e muçulmanos. Mas, como diria o Obama, o regime iraniano é uma 'distracção indesejável' que impede uma visão clara das verdadeiras linhas de batalha.
A "guerra de civilizações" não é propriamente entre cristãos e muçulmanos. Mas, como diria o Obama, o regime iraniano é uma 'distracção indesejável' que impede uma visão clara das verdadeiras linhas de batalha.
Scientists have unveiled a 47-million-year-old fossilised skeleton of a monkey hailed as the missing link in human evolution
Passados 200 anos ainda se anda à procura do fóssil que irá confirmar que a teoria da evolução se aplica à espécie humana.
A maioria dos defensores Pop da teoria da evolução - que não faz mínima ideia do que é que defende - acredita piamente que o registo fóssil os confirma na fé.
Mas não.
De vez em quandos surgem este notícias, com grande destaque nas primeiras páginas, nas quais normalmente se afirma que:
Um dos candidatos recentes a missing link até foi descoberto em Portugal: era o "menino do Lapedo". Mas a criança afinal não era bem aquilo que os cientistas inicialmente pensavam.
Este lémur pré-histórico é o novo candidato.
Wait and See. Ver para crer.
P.S. Uma investigação internética sobre a compatibilidade entre Fé e evolucionismo
A maioria dos defensores Pop da teoria da evolução - que não faz mínima ideia do que é que defende - acredita piamente que o registo fóssil os confirma na fé.
Mas não.
De vez em quandos surgem este notícias, com grande destaque nas primeiras páginas, nas quais normalmente se afirma que:
"Researchers say proof of this transitional species finally confirms Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and the then radical, outlandish ideas he came up with during his time aboard the Beagle...Passados uns meses, na p. 56, lá vem o desmentido. Ainda não foi desta.
... people can say 'okay we are primates, show us the link'.
"The link they would have said up to now is missing - well it's no longer missing."
Um dos candidatos recentes a missing link até foi descoberto em Portugal: era o "menino do Lapedo". Mas a criança afinal não era bem aquilo que os cientistas inicialmente pensavam.
Este lémur pré-histórico é o novo candidato.
Wait and See. Ver para crer.
P.S. Uma investigação internética sobre a compatibilidade entre Fé e evolucionismo
O Escândalo de Paulo Rangel
Pe Serras Pereira, 19. 05. 2009:
"O jornal i traz hoje uma entrevista com o Dr. Paulo Rangel[1], cabeça de lista do partido social-democrata (psd) às eleições europeias. Nela depois de se dizer católico praticante logo proclama o seu dissídio da Verdade anunciada pela Igreja no que diz respeito à Ordenação das mulheres, ao “casamento” entre pessoas do mesmo sexo, à indissolubilidade do matrimónio, à moral sexual em geral, e em particular no que se refere à contracepção, confessando-se, neste caso, um activista radical contra as posições da Igreja.Já houve membros do Clero que defenderam publicamente e por escrito coisas iguais e mesmo piores e não há notícia que tenham sido, no mínimo, questionados pelos nossos Pastores. Aliás, antes insistem nos erros. Portanto, o Dr. Rangel, suposto Católico praticantes (onde é que ele vai à Missa ? Quem o confessa ?), poderá dormir descansado (ele é daqueles que dormiria descansado, mesmo que os nossos Pastores cumprissem o seu dever).
Estas tomadas de posição, largamente publicitadas pelos mais diversos meios de comunicação social, constituem um escândalo, na verdadeira acepção deste termo, a saber, constituem uma pedra de tropeço, uma ocasião de queda, de pecado. Importa, por isso, que o Bispo da Diocese a que pertence publique uma Nota ou comunicado que esclareça os fiéis e os confirme na Verdade. Claro que o Senhor Bispo deverá também corresponder-se ou conversar privadamente com o político em causa para o reconduzir à Verdade, fazendo-o compreender que se colocou num posição em que não está em plena comunhão com a Igreja. E uma vez que no dizer do então Cardeal Ratzinger, no seguimento de Santo Agostinho, Cristo já não se pode pensar sozinho, é sempre Ele e a Sua Igreja, o Cristo total, seria uma incoerência profanadora e sacrílega receber a Sagrada Comunhão, enquanto mantiver essas divergências com a Verdade anunciada pela Igreja.
Se não deve receber a Sagrada Comunhão, então nenhum Ministro da Eucaristia lha pode dar, caso ele se aproxime para a receber, sem ter alterado a sua posição, isto é, sem que tenha acolhido plenamente a Doutrina da Igreja. O sacerdote ou o diácono, num caso destes, não responde, primeiramente, perante o Bispo, nem sequer o Papa, mas sim perante Deus, Supremo Juiz."
A má fé do jovem Rangel
O Paulo Rangel professa opiniões heréticas.
E expressa-as publicamente de uma forma que revela grande ignorância sobre estas matérias. Trata-se de má fé; de uma fé de má qualidade ... Esperemos que sobre os outros temas fale com mais propriedade.
Não seria esta razão suficiente para não merecer o meu voto, especialmente tendo em conta as alternativas. O problema é que as suas palavras revelam que o jovem Rangel é, para além de um dos missing links no processo evolutivo que conduz ao bloquismo neoliberal, demasiado euro-optimista.
O PSD e o CDS têm demasiados jovens para o meu gosto. Seriam estes a herdar o meu voto, caso eu votasse nos seus partidos.
Divorciemo-nos amigavelmente: eles não votam em mim, eu não voto neles. Live and let die.
E expressa-as publicamente de uma forma que revela grande ignorância sobre estas matérias. Trata-se de má fé; de uma fé de má qualidade ... Esperemos que sobre os outros temas fale com mais propriedade.
Não seria esta razão suficiente para não merecer o meu voto, especialmente tendo em conta as alternativas. O problema é que as suas palavras revelam que o jovem Rangel é, para além de um dos missing links no processo evolutivo que conduz ao bloquismo neoliberal, demasiado euro-optimista.
O PSD e o CDS têm demasiados jovens para o meu gosto. Seriam estes a herdar o meu voto, caso eu votasse nos seus partidos.
Divorciemo-nos amigavelmente: eles não votam em mim, eu não voto neles. Live and let die.
18.5.09
15.5.09
A importância de fazer o que a Mãe pede
"Monsignor William Kerr has died. Among other things, he was famous for having administered the last rites to one of serial killer Ted Bundy's victims and then became a spiritual counselor for Bundy on death row.
... Kevin told us the story Msgr. Kerr told him about that awful night in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1978. He said Kerr got the call from the police in the middle of the night to rush out to the sorority house. When he arrived he was told that all but one of the girls in the house were dead or near death, killed by a serial killer who was later to be known to the world as Ted Bundy. After giving those last rites to the dying college girl, then-Fr. Kerr was asked by the police on the scene to talk to the girl who survived unscathed. They wanted to know how she survived the brutal attacks, because Bundy had stopped right inside the door to her room, dropped his weapon, and left without touching her. But the girl would talk to no one but a priest.
When Fr. Kerr approached the near-catatonic girl, she told him that her mother had made her promise before going off to college for the first time that she would pray the Rosary every night before bed for protection; even if she fell asleep praying the Rosary, which she had that night so that when Bundy came into her room with murder on his mind, the beads were still clutched in her hands.
Later, Bundy would tell Monsignor that when he entered the girl's room, he just couldn't go on, he dropped his weapon, and he fled. Such is the power of our Mother's protective mantle..."
GALLUP: "More Americans “Pro-Life” Than “Pro-Choice” for First Time"
"A new Gallup Poll, conducted May 7-10, finds 51% of Americans calling themselves "pro-life" on the issue of abortion and 42% "pro-choice." This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995."Change & Hope ?
13.5.09
Comunicação ao País do Presidente da República
"... desde a posse do XVI Governo Constitucional, e depois de lhe ter assegurado todas as condições necessárias para o desempenho da sua missão, o País assistiu a uma série de episódios que ensombrou decisivamente a credibilidade do Governo e a sua capacidade para enfrentar a crise que o País vive.É uma sorte o PS ser de esquerda e o Presidente não ser do PS.
Refiro-me a sucessivos incidentes e declarações, contradições e descoordenações que contribuíram para o desprestígio do Governo, dos seus membros e das instituições, em geral. Dispenso-me de os mencionar um a um, pois são do conhecimento do País.
A sucessão negativa desses acontecimentos ... criou uma grave crise de credibilidade do Governo... Aliás, por diversas vezes e por formas diferentes, dei sinais do meu descontentamento com o que se estava a passar.
A persistência e mesmo o agravamento desta situação inviabilizou as indispensáveis garantias de recuperação da normalidade e tornou claro que a instabilidade ameaçava continuar, com sério dano para as instituições e para o País, que não pode perder mais tempo nem adiar reformas.
Criou-se uma instabilidade substancial que acentuou a crise na relação de confiança entre o Estado e a sociedade, com efeitos negativos na posição portuguesa face aos grandes desafios da Europa, no combate pelo crescimento e pela competitividade da economia, na solidez e prestígio das instituições democráticas.
A insustentável situação a que se chegou – e que certos comportamentos e reacções dos últimos dias só têm contribuído para confirmar – mostra que as tendências de crise e instabilidade se revelaram mais fortes que o Governo e a maioria parlamentar, que se tornaram incapazes de as conter e inverter. Neste quadro, que revelou um padrão de comportamento sem qualquer sinal de mudança ou possibilidade de regeneração, entendi que a manutenção em funções do Governo significaria a manutenção da instabilidade e da inconsistência. Entendi ainda que se tinha esgotado a capacidade da maioria parlamentar para gerar novos governos.
Assim, e face a uma situação cuja continuação seria cada vez mais grave para Portugal, entendi, em consciência, que só a dissolução parlamentar representava uma saída..."
Jorge Sampaio
10/12/2004
11.5.09
CORRECÇÃO: Os muçulmanos não precisam de 'um Papa'...
... os muçulmanos precisam d'O Papa'.
P.S. O resto do pessoal também ...
P.S. O resto do pessoal também ...
9.5.09
Does Islam Need a Luther or a Pope?
... if the problem with Islam is that it seems constantly to give rise to sects violently hostile to secular institutions, to reason, and to cultured sentiment; that the countries in which it predominates have a chronic tendency toward theocratic despotism; and that as a religion it exhibits no institutional structure that might finally impose some discipline on the chaotic and lawless spiritual impulses that it generates -- if all that is the problem (which it surely is), then it is absurd to hold that the solution is for Islam to find its Martin Luther. It has already had its Luther, not to mention its Calvin and its Henry VIII, all rolled into one: his name was Muhammad. What Islam needs is a Pope.
8.5.09
Lição de Filosofia (3): the issue of homosexuality
"Fr. Ernest. We turn now to the issue of homosexuality. It is a more difficult subject since the natural inclination to carnality centers on heterosexual sinning. Conventional wisdom is that homosexuality is contained in the genes. I beg to differ. Carnality is contained in the genes. Yielding to carnality either via heterosexuality or homosexuality springs from spiritual vacuity. There is a widespread supposition that for males, lusting after females is normal but lusting after males is not. Again: lust is the operative word. Seeking to attain what we call carnal knowledge outside the married state is the sin. I see Mr. Bede Hall has a question but it will just have to wait until I make a few points, Mr. Hall.
Beginning with the misnamed, so-called Enlightenment, the idea has grown that man can conduct himself by reason alone and that spirituality ought to remain out of it. That has led to relativism, the notion that what is good for me may be bad for you and vice-versa. Which in turn has led to the conjecture that every man should be the master of his own enjoyment-so long as…the popular dictum goes…he “does not hurt anyone.” But widespread licentiousness hurts everyone. When I see my neighbor running around with either my neighbor’s wife or his brother, the nature of my human condition is that I wonder what it would be like to enjoy such carnality.
But the Enlightenment was and is wrong. God has made His will known not just by means of reason but by supernatural revelation-something the Enlightenment denied existed-or at the least ignored. Thus the Church teaches several absolutes. One is that the sexual nature of man is essentially superior to lower forms of life. Why? Because it pertains to marriage and the conception of children. Animals copulate with no realization. Humans are meant to fall in love, be monogamous and generate progeny. Now, Mr. Hall your question.
What? WHAT? Although he is an ex-GI who went through long and distinguished wartime service in the South Pacific, Mr. Hall has emerged to us with a thoroughly disreputable vocabulary-and I am tempted to clean it up for the benefit of some of the younger men who are here. But I will not clean up after Mr. Hall but will abjure him to refrain from such explicit questioning in the future in this class. But we will consider his question in the ugly language with which it was asked of me. Mr. Hall says he read somewhere…he even thinks it’s in an epistle of Saint Paul…that, to quote him in his scatology, allegedly the statement goes “it is better for a man to plant his seed in the belly of a whore than to spill it on the ground.” First of all, nothing like this is in the Bible but has gone around for centuries. You are wrong, Mr. Hall and are enjoined from repeating this with some kind of secret knowledge which would mislead that you are a Biblical scholar when you are not. [Laughter].
Second, the reference to “spilling one’s seed” IS in the Bible but is related to the sin of Onan which is known as coitus interruptus, not masturbation-although masturbation is itself a grave sin. I can tell Mr. Hall that this fiction about the belly of a whore is cited by people…no personal reflection on you necessarily meant, Mr. Hall…who are likely to seek justification for deriving illicit pleasure with prostitutes. [Extended laughter]. Aha, Mr. Hall says that he is done asking questions for this class period-for which we are very grateful, Mr. Hall. [Laughter].
What is the reason for homosexual occurrence? It is nothing more than what the Bible has called sodomy which has been with the human condition almost since the beginning. One major reason is the acceptance on the part of a growing number that sexual congress is acceptable BEFORE marriage. The human condition then says “if heterosexual congress is okay before marriage, why not this?” It thus presents the sin of two people having mutual sexual experience free of the purpose for which God created the two genders. Homosexual relations exclude procreation of offspring. It is the sexual indulgence of two persons of the same gender whose claim that they love one another excludes the love of children who cannot be conceived.
Then you may ask: what is the prevailing attitude of those who may defend homosexuality? Essentially we are back to the misnamed Enlightenment again: each person has the right to determine what is morally good or bad. A great fallacy. Why? Because it gives to the human will the right that belongs to God alone-the determining of what is morally virtuous and what is sinful. There are those who defend homosexual practice by saying that there is no injunction against it in the Bible. Not true. The story of Sodom is described in Genesis 19:1-11 and Leviticus 18:22, 20:13. It is condemned by Paul in Corinthians 6:9, in Romans 1:18-32; and in the first chapter of Timothy.
The bell is ringing and I thank you for indulging this disquisition, a departure from our lesson, really but which is needed in my view for the occurrences that have happened leading to the expulsion of two men from this university."
Beginning with the misnamed, so-called Enlightenment, the idea has grown that man can conduct himself by reason alone and that spirituality ought to remain out of it. That has led to relativism, the notion that what is good for me may be bad for you and vice-versa. Which in turn has led to the conjecture that every man should be the master of his own enjoyment-so long as…the popular dictum goes…he “does not hurt anyone.” But widespread licentiousness hurts everyone. When I see my neighbor running around with either my neighbor’s wife or his brother, the nature of my human condition is that I wonder what it would be like to enjoy such carnality.
But the Enlightenment was and is wrong. God has made His will known not just by means of reason but by supernatural revelation-something the Enlightenment denied existed-or at the least ignored. Thus the Church teaches several absolutes. One is that the sexual nature of man is essentially superior to lower forms of life. Why? Because it pertains to marriage and the conception of children. Animals copulate with no realization. Humans are meant to fall in love, be monogamous and generate progeny. Now, Mr. Hall your question.
What? WHAT? Although he is an ex-GI who went through long and distinguished wartime service in the South Pacific, Mr. Hall has emerged to us with a thoroughly disreputable vocabulary-and I am tempted to clean it up for the benefit of some of the younger men who are here. But I will not clean up after Mr. Hall but will abjure him to refrain from such explicit questioning in the future in this class. But we will consider his question in the ugly language with which it was asked of me. Mr. Hall says he read somewhere…he even thinks it’s in an epistle of Saint Paul…that, to quote him in his scatology, allegedly the statement goes “it is better for a man to plant his seed in the belly of a whore than to spill it on the ground.” First of all, nothing like this is in the Bible but has gone around for centuries. You are wrong, Mr. Hall and are enjoined from repeating this with some kind of secret knowledge which would mislead that you are a Biblical scholar when you are not. [Laughter].
Second, the reference to “spilling one’s seed” IS in the Bible but is related to the sin of Onan which is known as coitus interruptus, not masturbation-although masturbation is itself a grave sin. I can tell Mr. Hall that this fiction about the belly of a whore is cited by people…no personal reflection on you necessarily meant, Mr. Hall…who are likely to seek justification for deriving illicit pleasure with prostitutes. [Extended laughter]. Aha, Mr. Hall says that he is done asking questions for this class period-for which we are very grateful, Mr. Hall. [Laughter].
What is the reason for homosexual occurrence? It is nothing more than what the Bible has called sodomy which has been with the human condition almost since the beginning. One major reason is the acceptance on the part of a growing number that sexual congress is acceptable BEFORE marriage. The human condition then says “if heterosexual congress is okay before marriage, why not this?” It thus presents the sin of two people having mutual sexual experience free of the purpose for which God created the two genders. Homosexual relations exclude procreation of offspring. It is the sexual indulgence of two persons of the same gender whose claim that they love one another excludes the love of children who cannot be conceived.
Then you may ask: what is the prevailing attitude of those who may defend homosexuality? Essentially we are back to the misnamed Enlightenment again: each person has the right to determine what is morally good or bad. A great fallacy. Why? Because it gives to the human will the right that belongs to God alone-the determining of what is morally virtuous and what is sinful. There are those who defend homosexual practice by saying that there is no injunction against it in the Bible. Not true. The story of Sodom is described in Genesis 19:1-11 and Leviticus 18:22, 20:13. It is condemned by Paul in Corinthians 6:9, in Romans 1:18-32; and in the first chapter of Timothy.
The bell is ringing and I thank you for indulging this disquisition, a departure from our lesson, really but which is needed in my view for the occurrences that have happened leading to the expulsion of two men from this university."
7.5.09
Crise faz o teu dever
O Professor César das Neves julga que existe jornalismo e, ainda por cima, "de referência".
Tem razão naquilo denuncia, é claro. Mas a verdade verdadinha é que a única forma de andar bem informado é não ler jornais, nem ver TV.
Quem são os sacerdotes, escribas e fariseus da 'relevância jornalística': Grupos económicos e governos estrangeiros com quintas colunas informativas, agências de comunicação mercenárias, o governo, jornalistas "com ideologia própria", bloquistas transvestidos de jornalistas (e vice-versa), assessores governamentais com crónica paga e função apagada, editores que leram os clássicos comunas na juventude ou que, tendo fugido da matemática no 9.º ano, foram ensinados pelos primeiros, os departamentos de marketing e as agências de publicidade que determinam já quase tudo ... e outros homens (M/F) de cerviz mole.
Noutros tempos, mais ou menos por esta altura do post, manifestaria a minha fé nas virtudes redentoras da concorrência no mercado jornalístico. Mas contra factos não há fé que aguente.
Tem razão naquilo denuncia, é claro. Mas a verdade verdadinha é que a única forma de andar bem informado é não ler jornais, nem ver TV.
Quem são os sacerdotes, escribas e fariseus da 'relevância jornalística': Grupos económicos e governos estrangeiros com quintas colunas informativas, agências de comunicação mercenárias, o governo, jornalistas "com ideologia própria", bloquistas transvestidos de jornalistas (e vice-versa), assessores governamentais com crónica paga e função apagada, editores que leram os clássicos comunas na juventude ou que, tendo fugido da matemática no 9.º ano, foram ensinados pelos primeiros, os departamentos de marketing e as agências de publicidade que determinam já quase tudo ... e outros homens (M/F) de cerviz mole.
Noutros tempos, mais ou menos por esta altura do post, manifestaria a minha fé nas virtudes redentoras da concorrência no mercado jornalístico. Mas contra factos não há fé que aguente.
O novo jornal começa mal: a Santa Sé diz que "anjos e demónios" é inofensivo ?
Fui dar uma vista de olhos pelo novo jornal "i", e dei de caras com esta notícia: "Vaticano diz que "Anjos e Demónios" é inofensivo ... O filme de Ron Howard é um "vídeojogo que chama a atenção e, por vezes, é divertido".
A fonte destas notícias são duas (?) críticas cinematográficas ASSINADAS. Não se trata de nenhuma posição oficial da Cúria ou do Papa.
Os textos são bastante críticos em relação ao filme, embora ressalvem a actuação do actor principal, os cenários e um ou outro pormernor do filme. Aliás, por alguma razão o Sr. Howard foi impedido de filmar dentro nas Basílicas romanas e no Vaticano (facto que o artigo em questão também não refere).
Mas entre as críticas e o desprezo generalizado, as agências internacionais encontraram o seguinte:
E na segunda crónica, encontraram isto:
Vejam bem as notícias que se poderiam escrever sobre esta matéria se, em vez das expressões (mal) escolhidas pelas agências internacionais, tivessem sido destacadas as seguintes citações:
A fonte destas notícias são duas (?) críticas cinematográficas ASSINADAS. Não se trata de nenhuma posição oficial da Cúria ou do Papa.
Os textos são bastante críticos em relação ao filme, embora ressalvem a actuação do actor principal, os cenários e um ou outro pormernor do filme. Aliás, por alguma razão o Sr. Howard foi impedido de filmar dentro nas Basílicas romanas e no Vaticano (facto que o artigo em questão também não refere).
Mas entre as críticas e o desprezo generalizado, as agências internacionais encontraram o seguinte:
"Questa volta, con Angeli e demoni, la Chiesa è dalla parte dei buoni, anche se paga il prezzo di immaginarie efferatezze passate. Nel Codice da Vinci i buoni, invece, erano fuori della Chiesa, e ne minavano, addirittura, la base. Piuttosto innocuo, dunque, è questo secondo romanzo (e film), che però era stato scritto prima, a dimostrare che il vero successo poteva venire solo dal rovesciamento della tradizione osato nel Codice da Vinci."Este parágrafo nem é particularmente elogioso. Mas serve para efeitos da revolução cultura em curso e para os promotores do filme.
E na segunda crónica, encontraram isto:
Non vale la pena elencare le incongruenze storiche e le iperboliche cerimonie che si susseguono irreversibili nel film (il camerlengo, i cardinali "preferiti", l'assassinio di un Papa, i riti e i ruoli), anzi può essere un divertimento aggiuntivo quelle di scoprirle, annotarle e vincere come in un gioco."Ou seja, descobrir os erros do filme pode ser um divertido jogo, logo, dizem os 'jornalistas', o filme é divertido ...
Vejam bem as notícias que se poderiam escrever sobre esta matéria se, em vez das expressões (mal) escolhidas pelas agências internacionais, tivessem sido destacadas as seguintes citações:
- "incongruenze storiche e le iperboliche cerimonie che si susseguono"
- "Demoni confusi nel parco giochi di Ron Howard"
- "il romanzo è modesto, così come il film"
- "le opere di Dan Brown trattano della Chiesa, e più precisamente si inseriscono nel filone del fantavaticano"
- "i buoni sono sempre i progressisti a favore del sesso e della scienza, siano essi eretici o Papi, e cattivi quanti si oppongono in nome della fedeltà a una tradizione dura e chiusa, che si sarebbe sempre macchiata di delitti."
- "semplicistica e parziale visione della Chiesa"
- "inverosimile romanzo di Dan Brown"
- "gigantesca e furbesca operazione commerciale"
- "un film pretenzioso"
- "un immenso - e per Hollywood assai redditizio [lucrativo]- parco giochi"
6.5.09
The Copts: Persecuted Christians of Egypt
"The word “Copt” is derived from the Greek word, “Ai-gypt-os” meaning Egypt. The middle part of the word “gypt” was later pronounced as “Copt” and used to mean Egyptian. From the time Egypt embraced Christianity in 54AD to the time Islam invaded Egypt in 642 AD, all people of Egypt were called Copts, After the Islamic invasion, some Copts embraced Islam and excluded themselves from the name. Those who remained faithful to their Christian faith clung to their Coptic identity, and still do.
Christianity was introduced to Egypt in 54 AD by St. Mark, a North African Jew and one of the 70 apostles of the early church. St. Mark is the writer of the Gospel of Mark, one of the four gospels of the New Testament. He was the first Patriarch of an unbroken 117 patriarchy of the Coptic Orthodox church. St Mark was the first martyr of many Coptic martyrs who gave their life for the faith. In 68 AD, St Mark was killed when he was seized and dragged with a rope through the main streets of the city of Alexandria.
St. Mark put the foundation of the Church of Alexandria, one of the ancient pillar churches at the time. The other churches were the mother Church in Jerusalem, the Church of Antioch, the Church of Rome, the Church of Ephesus, and the Church of Constantinople. St Mark also founded the school of Alexandria which produced great theologians in the history of Christianity such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen.
In the year 642 AD the Arabs led by Amre Ibn El As invaded Egypt under the banner of Islam thus ending the Coptic era. Islam soon spread in Egypt as a result of imposing a high tax on Copts (People of the Book) called Jizya. Those among the Copts, who were able to pay the tax, did so and remained as Christians. The poor Copts were offered two choices, either to convert to Islam or be killed. Many Copts were martyred. Those Copts who remained Christians were reduced to the Dhemmi status, a third class citizenship, after the Arab Muslims and the Egyptian Muslims. It is a class of people who are allowed just to exist with little or no rights. Soon the Arabic language was forced onto all Egyptians and the Coptic language was restricted until it completely disappeared except in church liturgy.
The Copts in modern Egypt are suffering from discrimination and persecution. They are frequently subject to terrorist attacks on their persons, homes, businesses and churches. Not a month passes by without a major assault taking place. According to a study made by Ibn Khaldoun Research Center, more than 240 major attacks took place just between the years 1972- 2003.
Hundreds of Coptic young girls, including many under aged, are being kidnapped, raped, forced to convert to Islam and marry Muslim men..."
Lição de Filosofia II: Heterosexual Promiscuity
"Fr. Ernie. I notice a much larger attendance for this class than normal due to the fact that others not of this class have decided to audit this lecture for today…and I welcome them. However understand, the only questions to be entertained will be from regular class members as their grades depend often on the quality of their questions or comments. Mr. Bede Hall’s questions are exempt from this, of course. [Laughter].
As the two scandals have been well publicized at Saint John’s. I do not need to repeat the details, save to say that as you know, one episode involved immoral heterosexual sexual conduct and the other while not consummated importuned homosexual conduct. I shall observe that like many of you, I was in the bleachers at the basketball game and heard the shouting from the gym basement. And like many of you, I ran down there, drew the obvious conclusion…viewed the scene that had its comedic ironies by the way… and was witness to the expulsion on the spot of one of our colleague-students by the Dean of Men-an action with which I fully approve. Several days later, I was consulted by the Dean of Men on the expulsion of the other colleague of ours…but in Phil 101…with which I also fully approve.
And so now we begin.
Heterosexual Promiscuity.
I shall begin with the Church’s and the traditional Catholic attitude of the morality of sexual pleasure as contained in the 6th and 9th commandments of the Decalogue. They cite these facts: first, that sexual organs were given to men and women by God for an exquisitely noble purpose-the continuation of the human race….second, that the sexual act in marriage is not just good but desirable for a twofold purpose: generation of children and an expression of mutual love between the spouses…third, that sex among believing Catholics and Christians is inherently unselfish since it is directed proximately to one’s marriage partner and ultimately to the progeny that God may give to us as reward…fourth that when contraception is used-as was attempted in the gym basement, by the way-sex’s ultimate purpose is frustrated to satisfy one or both partners’ selfish desires for pleasure, transgressing the privilege belonging only to married partners between themselves.
We see that on all counts the heterosexual liaison between the two in the gym basement was immoral. Then you say, why can’t their sin be forgiven with the sacrament of confession? It can and I understand the sacrament was offered to them both. Whether they partook I have no knowledge. Notwithstanding the sacrament’s absolution, to allow them to continue in their universities would constitute grave scandal for others who are living chaste lives so the decision to expel them both was sound.
We turn now to…I see we have a question from who else? Mr. Bede Hall. You say, what? WHAT? Would it have been less serious if the man had not practiced contraception? Come now, Mr. Hall! Of course not. Contraception is morally wrong-period. Then you say, could it be said that the Church believes that if you’re going to do it, avoid contraceptive devices? No, Mr. Hall, you fail to comprehend the law of the Church and morality. The Church says don’t do it. But if they disregard the moral law and if their union results in birth of a child, great responsibility placed on them for the rearing of the child including the prospect of their marriage. Conception should never be frustrated. Intercourse can be modulated with both partners’ agreement, of course and then with the proper moral acts undertaken-rhythm, natural family planning-but birth should not be prevented artificially.
Nor at any time is birth a sin. Illicit sexual union always is. Mr. Hall has another question. What? WHAT? He asks if the same law pertains in the case of rape that conception should not be frustrated either before or after the crime. Conception should never be frustrated because that is the prevention of life, Mr. Hall. Difficult for you to understand, I know but work at it. [Laughter].
Mr. Hall was hinting that I should consider one of two deviant theories: one that it would have been less sinful to forego contraception and two that it possibly would be less sinful to conceive. Nice try, Mr. Hall [laughter] but their sin was in fornication; contraception is included in the sin of fornication, in that by this means the parties derive illicit pleasure without risk of conception. The action with and/or without is still a grave sin. But by no means is birth…by itself …ever to be categorized as sin. It must not be prevented by any means or ended by abortion. Nor does conception mitigate the essential sin of fornication. It heightens the responsibility of the parents to see the child is raised well within the strictures of the Church--which may or may not involve their marriage. In the case of rape, you do not punish the unborn child for this horrendous crime with resultant murder which is what abortion is. Illegal as it is, it is practiced under wraps and should be viewed with both hands upraised in horror.
Now do you get it, Mr. Hall? Aha! Mr. Hall does get it which undoubtedly is long after other members of the class have-but thank you for the query, Mr. Hall [laughter]."
As the two scandals have been well publicized at Saint John’s. I do not need to repeat the details, save to say that as you know, one episode involved immoral heterosexual sexual conduct and the other while not consummated importuned homosexual conduct. I shall observe that like many of you, I was in the bleachers at the basketball game and heard the shouting from the gym basement. And like many of you, I ran down there, drew the obvious conclusion…viewed the scene that had its comedic ironies by the way… and was witness to the expulsion on the spot of one of our colleague-students by the Dean of Men-an action with which I fully approve. Several days later, I was consulted by the Dean of Men on the expulsion of the other colleague of ours…but in Phil 101…with which I also fully approve.
And so now we begin.
Heterosexual Promiscuity.
I shall begin with the Church’s and the traditional Catholic attitude of the morality of sexual pleasure as contained in the 6th and 9th commandments of the Decalogue. They cite these facts: first, that sexual organs were given to men and women by God for an exquisitely noble purpose-the continuation of the human race….second, that the sexual act in marriage is not just good but desirable for a twofold purpose: generation of children and an expression of mutual love between the spouses…third, that sex among believing Catholics and Christians is inherently unselfish since it is directed proximately to one’s marriage partner and ultimately to the progeny that God may give to us as reward…fourth that when contraception is used-as was attempted in the gym basement, by the way-sex’s ultimate purpose is frustrated to satisfy one or both partners’ selfish desires for pleasure, transgressing the privilege belonging only to married partners between themselves.
We see that on all counts the heterosexual liaison between the two in the gym basement was immoral. Then you say, why can’t their sin be forgiven with the sacrament of confession? It can and I understand the sacrament was offered to them both. Whether they partook I have no knowledge. Notwithstanding the sacrament’s absolution, to allow them to continue in their universities would constitute grave scandal for others who are living chaste lives so the decision to expel them both was sound.
We turn now to…I see we have a question from who else? Mr. Bede Hall. You say, what? WHAT? Would it have been less serious if the man had not practiced contraception? Come now, Mr. Hall! Of course not. Contraception is morally wrong-period. Then you say, could it be said that the Church believes that if you’re going to do it, avoid contraceptive devices? No, Mr. Hall, you fail to comprehend the law of the Church and morality. The Church says don’t do it. But if they disregard the moral law and if their union results in birth of a child, great responsibility placed on them for the rearing of the child including the prospect of their marriage. Conception should never be frustrated. Intercourse can be modulated with both partners’ agreement, of course and then with the proper moral acts undertaken-rhythm, natural family planning-but birth should not be prevented artificially.
Nor at any time is birth a sin. Illicit sexual union always is. Mr. Hall has another question. What? WHAT? He asks if the same law pertains in the case of rape that conception should not be frustrated either before or after the crime. Conception should never be frustrated because that is the prevention of life, Mr. Hall. Difficult for you to understand, I know but work at it. [Laughter].
Mr. Hall was hinting that I should consider one of two deviant theories: one that it would have been less sinful to forego contraception and two that it possibly would be less sinful to conceive. Nice try, Mr. Hall [laughter] but their sin was in fornication; contraception is included in the sin of fornication, in that by this means the parties derive illicit pleasure without risk of conception. The action with and/or without is still a grave sin. But by no means is birth…by itself …ever to be categorized as sin. It must not be prevented by any means or ended by abortion. Nor does conception mitigate the essential sin of fornication. It heightens the responsibility of the parents to see the child is raised well within the strictures of the Church--which may or may not involve their marriage. In the case of rape, you do not punish the unborn child for this horrendous crime with resultant murder which is what abortion is. Illegal as it is, it is practiced under wraps and should be viewed with both hands upraised in horror.
Now do you get it, Mr. Hall? Aha! Mr. Hall does get it which undoubtedly is long after other members of the class have-but thank you for the query, Mr. Hall [laughter]."
4.5.09
Anjos Vs demónios (burros)
"Dan Brown claims: Copernicus was murdered by the Catholic Church.[Fonte]
Fact: Copernicus died quietly in bed at age 70 from a stroke, and his research was supported by Church officials; he even dedicated his masterwork to the Pope.
Dan Brown claims: “Antimatter is the ultimate energy source. It releases energy with 100% efficiency.”
Fact: CERN, the lab which plays an important role in his story, actually debunked this claim on their website: “The inefficiency of antimatter production is enormous: you get only a tenth of a billion of the invested energy back.”
Dan Brown claims: Churchill was a “staunch Catholic.”
Fact: Any history buff could tell you that Churchill wasn’t Catholic, he was Anglican; nor was he particularly religious. The only things Churchill was staunch about were cigars, whiskey, and defending the British Empire.
Dan Brown claims: Pope Urban VII banished Bernini’s famous statue The Ecstasy of St. Teresa “to some obscure chapel across town” because it was too racy for the Vatican.
Fact: The statue was actually commissioned by Cardinal Cornaro specifically for the Cornaro Chapel (Brown’s “obscure chapel”). Moreover, the sculpture was completed in 1652 — eight years after Urban’s death.
Dan Brown claims: Bernini and famed scientist Galileo were members of the Illuminati.
Fact: The Illuminati was founded in Bavaria in 1776. Bernini died in 1680, while Galileo died in 1642 — more than a century before the Illuminati were first formed."
1.5.09
Food for thought
"... wars of ideas are rarely settled on the merits of the ideas themselves. Instead, they tend to drag on, unless an event occurs that causes the belligerents to focus their attention elsewhere.
When conclusive outcomes do occur, they tend to follow the physical elimination or marginalization of one side’s key proponents. In other cases, a major event, such as the collapse of the Soviet Union, might occur that renders one side incapable of continuing the conflict or campaign."
Strategic Studies Institute
US Army War College
Silence de Shusaku Endo
O novo filme de Scorcese, Silence, é baseado no livro homónimo de Shusaku Endo.
Os protagonistas do livro são portugueses, mas parece que os personagens do filme são espanhóis.
Conhecendo as inclinações anti-católicas do realizador, talvez esta pequena alteração não seja má de todo.
Os protagonistas do livro são portugueses, mas parece que os personagens do filme são espanhóis.
Conhecendo as inclinações anti-católicas do realizador, talvez esta pequena alteração não seja má de todo.
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