Long ago in a time far away, angry Sydney Anglicans once stalked the pond's pages in the cause of a Sunday meditation ... and given the religious tone of a few of today's lizard Oz offerings, it seemed only fair to note that the bigots are still in business, and ducking and weaving at what their Uganda forays have produced ...
For once the pond must stray from the lizard Oz for Sydney at centre of global Anglican stand-off over sex and colonialism ...
Well if you can't find a complimentary woman to do your bidding, why not hang a gay?
There's more at the link, and there's more religion to follow, but first the pond must get past prattling Polonius, doing a fierce impression of a knee-capping hard man ...
Yes, yes, the pond swore it would never go there again, but the pond simply couldn't go past the splendid notion of parliamentary debate being "robust".
Put it another Salem-hunting way ...
And so to a little sidebar before the pond gets to its pièce de bromancer résistance ... what with the Angelic one having built up quite a cult following with her weekly bearing of the Calvary cross ...
Oh dear, this just in from The Canberra Times a day ago...
Why the pond could just as easily have run an El Greco featuring the ideal town of Toledo ... hilly setting, nice suburbs, great views ...
What an evocative landscape, with dark and murky sky, and so to the last gobbet of the Angelic one moaning and whining, as only Catholics can do in the manner which suits the lizard Oz ...
Ah, there it was in the last par, talk of "Truman-like perfection", as feeble an excuse as a desperate graphics sub dig up, and with that, the reptile sub was triggered, and rushed off to the image library for the cheapest rights-free snap they could find ...
As for the Angelic one hoping that this storm in a tyke teacup might become a national ideological issue, good luck with that, but no doubt she's brought joy to the Angelic cultists who lurk around the pond, and savour each tear, better than the brew you might find in the gold chalice on a Sunday ...
And now to the bromancer pièce de résistance, with a warning to more fragile readers.
It's incredibly long and barking mad tyke, and there's simply no way to make it entertaining, beyond perhaps the pleasure of seeing Mr. Dick having fun flying assorted kites as respite from madness... because remember, in other guises, the bromancer is alleged to be an authority on war, peace, defence, tanks, missiles, climate science, the torturing of Boris and the unfairness dished out to the Donald ... and yet lurking beneath it all is this Mr Hyde ...
But that just gets the pond into the arcane world of Catholic politics - it's very much like wandering back to the bromancer's days with B. A. Santamaria and the NCC - and as far removed from heaven as the Flash multiverse is from reality ...
Better just to downsize the snap and move on ...
Oh sheesh, but even the sight of men in frocks couldn't persuade the pond to keep the snaps of a size ...
As for that bromancer blather as to the reality of hell, what about the hell of heaven?
And so on to the next short gobbet, with the bromancer intent on establishing that he's not just a tyke, he's of the rabid ratbag fundie persuasion ...
Yes, the pond repeats itself, but then when it comes to certain aspects of religion, be it angry Sydney Anglican or rabid fundamentalist tyke, some things never change ...
On the upside, the bromancer gobbets stay chunky and can be taken at a gulp ...
Douthat is currently a turgid 43 and perennially a dropkick. You only have to spend a little time in his company to work it out, as you can at The Bulwark ...
Never mind, another short gobbet, ars longa, vita brevis or if you will, creo quia absurdum est ...
But that's the bromancer for you. He can hold conflicting thoughts in his head and be too silly a mindless chook to realise that they're in any way in conflict ...
And a moment's reflection would suggest the false polarities that the bromancer works with all the time.
There's all sorts of good music with a Latin setting - the pond still has an affection for Hayden's Nelson Mass.
And while Janáček's Glagolitic Mass is old church Slavonic, its movements correspond to the Catholic ordinary in Latin ...
It's true the pond preferred its time with pagan Roman Latin, but the debased Latin of the Catholic church is fun, and it is entirely possible to be an atheist and enjoy a myth ...they can be fun, at least if they're happening elsewhere, Boris Johnson is gone, but his toxic Brexit myths will go on poisoning UK politics ...
In much the same way, the bromancer goes on poisoning the lizard Oz, the body politic and the pond, but before the pond could go on, at that point the reptiles interrupted with another couple of huge snaps ...
Couldn't they have gone with another El Greco, perhaps St Jerome being scholarly, as a reminder that the bromancer is anything but that ...
Well it's been a long and tedious wallow, but the pond thinks the essential point - that the bromancer is barking mad - has been demonstrated clearly enough.
Quod erat demonstrandum ... or if you will, testis lupanaris sufficit ad factum in lupanari (to save the google machine, "a lewd person is a sufficient witness to an act committed in a lizard Oz brothel").
Indeed, indeed, and the pond humbly apologises, and likely will never again make the mistake of relying on the dog botherer for a Sunday meditation ...
And so to a concluding celebration of all that's good and Xian in American life ...
The reference to Polonius “counting the numbers” reminded me of a particular aspect of vampire lore. It holds that many vampires can be distracted by scattering a large number of small objects - seeds or grains of rice, for example - in front of them. The vamp is then subject to an irresistible temptation to stop and count the objects, unable to do anything else until this task is completed.
ReplyDeleteNow I can’t say with certainty that Polonius is one of the Undead, but it could explain quite a lot.
Early on today, the Bro opines that leading the Catholic Church is an impossible job.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn’t stop him babbling on for several thousand more words though.
I can’t help but wonder though - does this stuff actually go past an editor? Or does some poor junior Reptile simply receive it, check the word count, utter a silent thanks that a big hole in the next edition has now been filled to overflowing, and drop it into the layout unread?
Errr, do you mean an 'editor' like Maj. Mitch, Anony ? Or whoever replaced him, of whom it would have made no difference whether they'd read the article(s) or not ?
DeleteSorry, Ange - another week’s gone by, and there’s still no sign of an angry Catholic mob wielding pitchforks and flaming torches descending on the Arid Green-Left ACT Legislative Assembly. Matter of fact, most of the little public comment I’ve seen on the issue has been supportive of the acquisition of Calvary. Still, keep on trying and you might eventually get that nation-wide Crusade up and running.
ReplyDeleteYou know that the ACT had the third highest count of 'non religious' in 2021 (44.2% compared with Tasmania 50% and South Australia - yes, the State of the "city of churches" - at 45.8%)
Deletehttps://www.abs.gov.au/articles/religious-affiliation-australia
The most religious was NSW (only 33.2% 'non-religious')
Oh, how is a mighty empire fallen.
Umm, that was me, don't blame the un-named.
DeleteNot to worry, after posting, the pond heard the Canavan caravan is now on the job, so that Calvary can feel perfectly safe, up there with the coal that batters ...
DeletePolonius: "But utopia never has, nor will, prevail over the earth." Do you actually mean "prevail over Terra or the Earth", Polonius ? But then maybe one day, perhaps just a few years before the heat death of the planet as Sol (aka 'the Sun') expands to red-giant, we might be replaced by a species that has a good memory and a modicum of intelligence combined with a lack of deadly aggression. Or maybe our species can evolve into such. Utopia doesn't need much, just basic tolerance and indifference to the idiocies that plague us now. Like Catholicism.
ReplyDeleteAhh yes I remember as a child attending the latin mass that seemed interminably long looking at the back of the priest and alter boys and being distracted by the colourfull hats of the ladies only to be bought back from my reverie by a dig in the ribs from my mother. I also remember the indignation of relatives when the latin was replaced by english and the fear that it may be the work of the great deceiver.
ReplyDeleteWell it was, wasn't it: the RC Church has just gone further and further downhill ever since.
DeleteDeparting weekend guests bestowed on me their weekend Flagship. I look at front page of print version to assess the issues that are important to my fellow occupants of Girtby. On top, EXCLUSIVE continuing attempt to blow on the embers of Ms Higgins. Below - EXCLUSIVE Brain damaged footballer. EXCLUSIVE Defence secrets hacked - yep, all absolutely kitchen table conversation, for those who have a kitchen table still. For what 'polling' supposedly shows as major concern for us - so concerning that it drives out any consideration of 'The Voice' - housing, there is, if you squint, a little entry bottom left, noting that the Albanese government is to provide $2 billion for social housing. Quick measurement shows that that occupies just under 2% of the entire front page. Well, it doesn't rate the EXCLUSIVE (in red, or any other shade) so - whatever.
ReplyDeleteAnd the reptiles keep that wonderful level of news and brilliant comment up to their "readers" day after day after day. Every day is 'groundhog' day ?
DeleteGeorge Carlin would make these catholics from Murdochracy mad as hell when he said that the religious zealots put the captains of industry to shame when it comes spreading bullshit.
ReplyDeleteSheridan will find that all that remains of him will be just the same as the pauper down the grave with six feet of soil on top will be all that remains of him and as yogi from India has a saying if Heaven is so good why would you wait to go there.
I now only think of religions as businesses - they have their CEOs, products, brands, market share, boards of management, etcetera. They have various management structures which invariably provide significant taxation and accountability advantages, especially for the 'trustees', who are one and the same as the management. Their products vary; some products are useful - eg certain social welfare actions; and some products are worse than useless, often harmful - eg particular social mores. They engage in what might be called corporate philanthropy, but always, with a view to customer recruitment and loyalty. Once you see religion as purely business, it is much easier to evaluate it, relative to any other business. In modern times, science and philosophy, increasingly guiding secular states, has overtaken the tired old products that religions have on offer, but religions continue to milk their traditional markets for all they are worth. As Greg makes clear, any impression of modernity is just that, and at heart, these businesses are still operating under the same old management structures with the same old mission statements. AG.
DeleteThere's only one reason for waiting to get into heaven which is that once you're there, it's for eternity (along with the 100 billion or so other homo sapiens sapiens souls that are already there. So, no sex, no footy, no beer, no politics, no Loonpond ... just nothing but hanging around in perpetual ecstacy singing the praises of some nut who thinks this the best possible universe that there could ever - that's for eternity - exist.
DeleteLooks like The Australian has morphed into the old Catholic Tribune.
ReplyDeleteThere’s Gerard referencing the biblical fall from grace as some sort of evidence that there’s no point expecting decent behaviour in parliament.
Then Angela complains that a democratically elected government is “aridly secular”. Well, yes, as distinct from being a theocracy. She acknowledges that Calvary is part of the secular health system (although she puts this description in inverted commas for some reason known only to herself), in which case the secular state government has a right to acquire the hospital which is receiving secular government funding, no matter who currently runs it.
Finally, we have sometime theological writer (among his other hobbies.), Greg, who even before Francis has retired or left this mortal coil is telling us – even those billions of people who aren’t Catholic (there are at least 8 billion in the world, so what’s 1.3 billion?) to be careful what we wish for, it seems Greg is wishing for as hard line conservative old time Pope as one can get. Perhaps a new pope will surprise him.
Is it beyond belief that the Daily Mail would employ Boris? Well, The Australian has Tony Abbott as a columnist and, according to Niki Savva’s “The Road to Ruin”, one of Tony’s own colleagues described him as a pathological liar.
Really ? I would describe the Muncher actually as a vigorous and enthusiastic liar.
DeleteBoris was previously a columnist for Britain’s “Telegraph”. I get the impression that the “Mail” is a little further down the journalistic food chain, but perhaps it pays more. Or it may be that Boris, who always seems desperate for cash, just took the first offer that came along. Whatever the reason, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to read his waffle.
DeleteMe either, Anony, but now that BlowJo can't offer peerages in return for large "donations" I guess he's got to take what he can get. And any'ow, he has "worked" in media before:
Delete"He started as a reporter for The Times in 1987 but was fired for fabricating a quotation. He then began working for The Daily Telegraph, where he served as a correspondent covering the European Community (1989–94) and later as an assistant editor (1994–99). In 1994 Johnson became a political columnist for The Spectator, and in 1999 he was named the magazine’s editor, continuing in that role until 2005."
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Boris-Johnson
A man of so very many talents.
Ooh, my, Shannahanna: "we have an entrenched socialist-green government". Now surely only a Shanna would think that there is any connection at all between "socialist" and "Left" in these latter days - so what exactly did she really mean ? Any'ow moving right along: "the government's ideology is aridly secular and anti-faith." Oh I do very much hope so, we don't want to go on being controlled and dominated by the George Pells of the world. We'd like to have some honesty and decency in our public institutions.
ReplyDeleteBut I do like this: "She [Katy Gallagher] really didn't think that Calvary should be part of the health system despite being there before the ACT government even existed." But then she doesn't think that any religion - including Judaism - should be part of the religious observance system despite having been there for millennia before the Catholic Church. Why so, I wonder.
Just what sort of Catholic Church does the Bro want? An extremely conservative - okay, reactionary- doctrinal line, obviously - a return to the approach of JP2 and Benny the Rat at the very least. But beyond that? The reintroduction of the Latin Mass, perhaps - and certainly the banning of folk hymns (actually, I think he may be on a winner with that last one). Hardline rules on sex outside marriage (and on anything against straightforward heterosexuality ), divorce, remarriage, birth control and anything else you’d like to mention, with severe penalties for infringement (perhaps with the reopening of those fine Irish “laundries” for unwed mothers, and their establishment in other countries). Greater resistance to unjust secular persecution of priests and brothers falsely accused of abuse (which, naturally, os _always_ false…). Increased centralisation of Church power and authority in Rome with a corresponding emphasis on Papal infallibility. Greater efforts to exercise temporal political power, both covertly and overtly, particularly in nations with large Catholic populations.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful world that would be. And the Church would only accelerate its progress towards complete irrelevance and extinction.
So, Bromancer: "Cardinal George Pell stayed in Rome to have hip replacement surgery this January shortly after which he dies, for one reason." Yeah, yeah we know, Bro: he died because God wanted his soul in heaven where he couldn't protect child pederasts and plot against the Pope. We know, Bro, that nothing happens in this universe without God willing it; from the death of every single small insect or even bacteria, to the passing of a 'great man' like George. You don't have to explain that to us, we know already.
ReplyDeleteBut hey, is the Bro trying to tell us that some Catholics are denying the holy godliness of the Pope ? The Pope who is appointed as a result of the Cardinals clearly stating the word, and the choice, of God ? Is he trying to get Francis declared "a Pope of unhappy memory" ?
So that: "Francis presents traditional Catholic teaching as a beautiful ideal." And how else could he be expected to present it ? As a bunch of stuff created by people like George Pell ? Now that would be one sure way of getting "such ideals are not always practical or reasonable." So, the Bromancer is directly criticising God !
Then we get this: "Ross Douthat, a brilliant young New York Times columnist...". So let's see: "Douthat is currently a turgid 43 and perennially a dropkick." - yep, that's him thanks DP. Anyway, Ross claims that "moral relativism of the kind Francis sometimes seems to favour contradicts Christ..." So Trinity Part 1 (aka God) appoints Francis who then "contradicts" Trinity Part 2 while Trinity Part 3, as usual, has no input or output whatsoever.
But hey: "with the church in continuing radical decline in Western societies..." Is the Trinity asleep on the job yet again ?
So, DP, about the Bro: "But that's the bromancer for you. He can hold conflicting thoughts in his head and be too silly a mindless chook to realise that they're in any way in conflict ..." Yep, just like I keep saying: via the wonder of mental compartmentalisation, human beings can hold contradictory beliefs at the same time because they never have both compartments open simultaneously.
If I really wanted insights into religious thought and philosophy ( and I don’t), would I look towards newspaper columnists for enlightenment?
DeleteProbably not, Anony, and in any case certainly not from the likes of the Bromancer or Ross Douthat. But they could be examined as fine examples of 'abnormal psychology':
Delete"Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology that studies unusual patterns of behavior, emotion, and thought, which could possibly be understood as a mental disorder."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abnormal_psychology
According to the Fin Review -
ReplyDelete>>News Corp’s Australian business is relying on deeper cost cuts and higher print advertising sales to make up for lower-than-expected digital advertising and subscription revenues, internal documents show>>
https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.afr.com%2Fcompanies%2Fmedia-and-marketing%2Fnews-corp-digital-and-subscription-revenues-sag-in-a-tough-year-20230616-p5dh2o
But, but, but… haven’t the Reptiles been telling us that their digital subscription numbers have been booming? Surely they wouldn’t be misrepresenting the data - okay, fiddling the numbers - would they?