a compendium of papal posts

ok, for what it's worth, i'm an atheist. totally non-religious. got that way by studying to be a presbyterian minister. completely lost my faith when i started questioning "conventional wisdom" and discovered independent thought. but i married a catholic, so i guess that makes me a "catholic, once removed", or something. why do i care about what's happening with the pope? he has a say in a shitload of people's lives, is why. and, because the "liberal element" of our country is so freaked out by "god's rotweiller", of course. so here are a couple of posts gleaned while surfing the usual suspects:

lileks bleat today carries a couple of great reminders on why it really doesn't matter to the church what the hell american's think (read that, over-arching, strident tub thumpers for change) about the selection. and he has one of the great quotes in this whole flap

Yes, yes, easy for me to say, its not my church. New age of oppression and intolerance, and all that. Write me when hot-eyed Jesuits walk into a mosque in Qom with ten pounds of Cemtex strapped to their chest.

new sisyphus examines the near hysterical caterwauling from the main stream press regarding Benny's past.


our crazy expat in japan has a few musings about the potential impact of the selection. on a side note, entirely removed from this discussion, i recommend you check out his babe theory of revolution. i laughed my ass off, and then, agreed with the basic premise.

and we can't forget the musings of our very own willyshakes, who actually IS a catholic. he posts some great references, and makes a comment or two worthy of a PhD english lit dude. (if you haven't guessed, i like pinging on him, because most engineering types find english lit academics worthy of jest. and he's BOTH. curious hybrid. i'd like to sit in one of his classes. i'd probably learn something useful, rather than get pummeled with suppositions, harebrained theories, and useless politics).

there are a lot of other posts out there, but these are pretty generic regarding reasoned postings. for a few examples of tomfoolery, i suggest checking out the following posts from the premier right wing satire site here and here and of course, here, which i've already referenced once in this blog.

edit: and THIS is why i read varifrank every day.

and what is probably one of the best lines regarding this whole papal selection was on talk radio yesterday. i can't remember who it was i was listening to, probably rush. he thought the whole issue with the MSM being in a snit was hilarious. what really tickled me is that he said "once again, the main stream media got it wrong. completely wrong".
the "conventional wisdom" in this country was that Benny was too controversial, too conservative, and nobody in their right minds would select him to be pope. i suppose that "conventional wisdom" is rapidly becoming the most overused oxymoron since "military intellegence".