Good morning and welcome to Daily View. With just 28 days until the end of a year, what an ideal time to hear Delia on Woman’s Hour and prepare for Christmas – whatever your gender.
Today is the anniversary both of Elvis’s ’68 Comeback Special and the awful Indian Bhopal disaster where, in 1984, a chemical leak killed thousands and injured hundreds of thousands. The Guardian has a photo series.
Today we also sing happy birthday to Eamonn Holmes and remember International Day of Disabled Persons.
2 Big Stories
Gays won’t go to heaven, says cardinal
Over in the Telegraph is the latest skirmish in the battle between Catholics and homosexuals.
“Transsexuals and homosexuals will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven and it is not me who says this, but Saint Paul,” said Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, 76. In remarks which outraged gay rights groups, he claimed that people were not born gay, but chose to embrace homosexuality of their own free will.
I hope he’s at least heard the joke about the guy who goes to heaven and sees a huge wall fencing millions of people off. He asks what it is and is told, “Oh, that’s for the Catholics. They like to think they’re up here by themselves.”
BBC show accused of faking ‘flying caravan stunt
The Telegraph bravely takes on Top Gear
The BBC2’s show’s episode, which aired on Sunday night, featured a segment where May, 46, appeared to accidentally stray over Norwich airport, which lead to a police helicopter being deployed. He was later seen crashing to the ground, shouting “mayday, mayday” in panic after the craft was dragged across the ground.
And who does the accusing? Why, that would be Telegraph and, erm, no-one else, as far as I can see.
Mind you, at least gays can go to Top Gear, even if we can’t get into heaven.
2 Must-Read Blog Posts
What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:
- Exiled Jane recounts George Monbiot’s dreadful week
- Liberal England considers the insolence of the lambs
First he reacted to “climategate” by calling on Professor Phil Jones, one of the world’s leading climate scientists, to resign. That article is now being quoted, gleefully and selectively, by climate change deniers all over the internet. Then he flew to Canada.
Do any other animals, apart from humans, experience adolescence?
Yes, sheep do, but it’s shortlived. For a few weeks the lambs skip and play, keeping well in sight of Mum. Then suddenly they seem altogether more muscular. The look in their eye changes. They escape under gates and over hedges, and hang about in small groups on the corner of lanes. The stance is unmistakable: huddled, heads together, mostly backs to the road and casting surly glances over their shoulders at passers-by. As a former teacher I have a strong urge to tell them off.
Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.
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3 Comments
1. was criticised by the Vatican for his comments, but I suppose that would weaken the effect of the snark, and at the end of the day isn’t that what many find attractive about the party?
The Telegraph article gives the Vatican’s response as follows:
It’s not exactly trenchant criticism is it? “Not be subject to discrimination” – no indication of whether that includes the pearly gates or not?
It is “a Catholic” not “Catholics”. One could find other comments from other cardinals taking completely different viewpoints, but that wouldn’t be news, would it?
One rather fears that the line taken here may be a response to the Catholic Church in Brazil being under heavy challenge from Protestant evangelicals pushing this sort of line. The evangelicals in these places are not above circulating selected liberal quotes from cardinals to get e.g. a “shock, horror Catholics say gays will go to heaven” response. The official position of the RC Church is that who enters the Kingdom of Heaven is up to God’s judgment, to say someone “will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven” is actually a rather serious heresy.
The passage from Paul the cardinal notes but does not actually quote does not say anything about the men in question not entering the Kingdom of Heaven. Perhaps the cardinal should try reading his Bible. Paul’s main line tends to be that entering the kingdom of heaven is about belief not adherence to the law. True Protestants recognise this, so would also see why the “Fags will burn in hell” line is so wrong. James was conscious of how Paul’s line could be misinterpreted, but in his riposte to it (well worth reading for its message today) he makes no mention of homosexuality. Jesus, of course, is not recorded as having made any mention of the subject. Jesus is full of lines about how the wealthy who leave the poor to suffer will be condemned in God’s judgement. Funny how the evangelicals never bother mentioning any of that, but scour their Bibles for the one or two passages which could be interpreted as anti-gay.