I guess I got what I deserved for gloating. I sustained a serious ankle injury on Saturday and wasn't able to see Loney at the United Church on Sunday. (Heh. That's me trying to restore some strength to my ankle in the photo above. What a strange coincidence.) There was some local and national TV coverage, however.
[ 29 October 2007: Message edited by: N.Beltov ]
Really sorry to hear that, N.Beltov. Keep off that ankle and spend more therapeutic time on babble, and have a speedy recovery.
Judging by some of the dung flinging this morning, it's not clear to me that time on babble would be therapeutic. But thanks for the words of encouragement anyway. Sometimes an injury can be an opportunity to reflect and take a new direction.
Thought I'd bump this old thread. The UN Security Council is currently considering Abousfian Abdelrazik's request to have his name removed from their "no-fly" list, and someone at CSIS has just leaked a 10-year-old piece of slander, already dismissed by Canadian courts as unproven, that he and Charkaoui discussed bombing an airliner. James Loney, after all he did and went through, also championed Abdelrazik's cause at personal risk:
Loney was one of 250 Canadians who risked charges under Canada’s anti-terrorism legislation in the spring of 2009 for contributing towards a plane ticket for Abousfian Abdelrazik, a Canadian man who was detained by the Sudanese government at Canada’s request, tortured, imprisoned for two years without charge and then denied travel documents to return to Canada. The ticket Loney helped purchase exposed how the government was actively blocking his return and led to the June 2009 court ruling which forced the Canadian government to bring him home. Loney was one of thirty supporters who were on hand to welcome Abdelrazik home upon his arrival at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport on June 27, 2009.
May the Catholic Church stand condemned for its reflexive opposition to all that is progressive and enlightened in this world.
quote:
Originally posted by RosaL:
[b]
It seems to me that you and the Catholic church (or elements of it) agree on one thing: it all hinges on homosexuality![/b]
I'm rather bewildered that you should have got that impression, especially since I saw your name in [url=http://www.rabble.ca/babble/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=24&t=001273#0... recent thread yesterday[/url] where I clearly explained my issues with the Catholic Church (and other religions):
quote:
Every religion I know - without any exception whatsoever - has to be dragged, kicking and screaming - long after society as a whole has made an advance - into recognizing:* the rights and dignity of women
* the rights and dignity of children
* the rights and dignity of people with "non-standard" sexual orientations
* the right of people around the world to live in peace and not fight "faith-based" wars with each other
* the right of people to fall in love and marry outside their religious sect
* the right of the masses (not just the priesthood) to literacy and education
* the importance of respecting the discoveries of science as opposed to the "revealed" nonsense of various hokey old books
* Darwinian evolution as opposed to creationism
* the need for children to be in the same schools rather than be segregated according to the superstition of their parents
* the need for rational verifiable explanations of the world rather than fairy tales
* fill in your own.Isn't it odd that organized religion, which pats itself on the back as being the moral "leader" of the society, indeed the fount of all morality, is usually the last to abandon the kinds of evils I have listed above?
If I had been speaking specifically of the Catholic Church, of course the list would have been much longer.
The only positive thing I know that the Catholic Church (as opposed to Catholics - [b]I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT CATHOLICS, BUT RATHER ABOUT THE CHURCH[/b]) has done in recent history is the deceased Pope's admonition to Bush not to invade Iraq. I hereby, publicly, praise him for that gesture.
Of course, if you have some other items that I have overlooked, please list them and I'll praise any good deeds or words that may have got drowned in the overall anti-human panorama.
quote:
[b]ETA: I agree with Beltov. The church changes. The whole question of same sex relationships is (relatively) new.[/b]
Yeah really? How about:
* equality of women and men
* right to abortion
* right to divorce
* right to practise birth control
* right to love people outside of wedlock
What date would you say those things got recognized by people outside the Church?
[ 26 October 2007: Message edited by: unionist ]
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spam
Thanks for bumping this thread, spambot! Is Tory Burch related to Ken?
I just deleted about 40 of that fucking spambots posts, which, thanks to babble's moderator-hostile interface took over half an hour.
GRRRRRR!
BTW, I'm moderating this week as Rebecca is otherwise disposed.
Thanks for bumping this thread, spambot! Is Tory Burch related to Ken?
No...and they never even give me a discount!
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