Notes: Wednesday, February 13-Tuesday, March 26, 2013 (part 1 of 2)

1. "Vatican Apostolic Library uploads 256 digitized manuscripts"

See the article "Vatican Apostolic Library uploads 256 digitized manuscripts", no author credited, dated January 30, 2013, downloaded from the Rome Reports website:

http://www.romereports.com/palio/vatican-apostolic-library-uploads-256-digitized-manuscripts-english-8886.html

or go straight to the relevant webpage of the Apostolic Library's website:

http://www.vaticanlibrary.va/home.php?pag=mss_digitalizzati

(That Rome Reports article came to my attention via this Catholica thread-starter.)

Labels: books

2. "these two documents, on religious freedom and Nostra Aetate, linked to Gaudium et Spes, make a very important trilogy"

The quotation, including its italics and hyperlinks, in that headline comes from the Vatican website's translation of the Address of H.H. The Pope Emeritus (then gloriously reigning) at the Meeting with the Parish Priests and the Clergy of the Rome Diocese on Thursday, February 14, 2013 in the Paul VI. Audience Hall. (That Address came to my attention via this article from the Vatican Radio website.)

Labels: Dignitatis Humanæ, Vatican II

3. "about one in five students at Sydney Catholic schools comes from other faith backgrounds or is not religious"

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "School choice is not just keeping the faith", by Josephine Tovey and Georgina Mitchell, dated February 18, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/school-choice-is-not-just-keeping-the-faith-20130217-2el4a.html?skin=text-only

That quotation is the authors' report of what "the executive director of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Sydney, Dan White", told them.

Labels: Catholic schools

4. Mr. Gutierrez on how, in his opinion, "Dignitatis Humanae, the Council document on religious freedom, represented a development of Church teaching, not a reversal of it."

See the article "Vatican II and Religious Liberty", by Omar F. A. Gutierrez, dated January 14, 2013, downloaded from The Catholic World Report website:

http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/1883/Vatican_II_and_Religious_Liberty.aspx

(That article came to my attention via this True Catholic thread.)

Labels: Dignitatis Humanæ, religious liberty

5. A couple of recent items regarding the death penalty

5.1 A potentially useful website on the death penalty

See here:

http://tcreek.jimdo.com/

(That came to my attention via this comment.)

Labels: death penalty

5.2 Prof. Feser on the death penalty

See his blog post "Capital punishment lecture", dated Wednesday, March 13, 2013:

http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/capital-punishment-lecture.html

(I log that post because Prof. Feser doesn't use subject labels for his blog posts, so if I need to see what he's written on the topic I can refer to that post.)

Labels: death penalty

6. "All [U.S. ]states are within a couple of percentage points of the overall LGBT national average of 3.5%."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "LGBT Percentage Highest in D.C., Lowest in North Dakota", by Gary J. Gates and Frank Newport, dated February 15, 2013, downloaded from the Gallup Politics website:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/160517/lgbt-percentage-highest-lowest-north-dakota.aspx

See also the press release "LGBT Percentages Highest in Washington, DC, and Hawaii", no author credited, dated February 15, 2013, downloaded from the website of The Williams Institute (a "national think tank at UCLA Law", which (think tank) "is dedicated to conducting rigorous, independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy"):

http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/press-releases/lgbt-percentages-highest-in-washington-dc-and-hawaii/

(I found both that article and that press release at this Williams Institute webpage, and the findings originally came to my attention via this or this Sydney Morning Herald article.)

Labels: demography, G.L.B.T.

7. The report, by one of the (Australian) Senate Standing Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, on the Exposure Draft of the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012 is available here:

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=legcon_ctte/anti_discrimination_2012/report/index.htm

(That report came to my attention via the article "Criminals on payroll", by Natasha Bita, p. 19, the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Friday, February 22, 2013, Vol. 1, No. 2779, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd., available online under the headline "Crime doesn't pay, unless you're promoted", by the same author, dated February 22, 2013, at The Daily Telegraph's website here:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/crime-doesnt-pay-unless-youre-promoted/story-fncvk70o-1226583085494)

Labels: discrimination, human rights, law

8. A couple of recent items regarding the 2013 Sydney Gay Mardi Gras

8.1 "Mardi Gras spending" "has already been given more than $600,000 in funding and in-kind works from the [Sydney City ]council"

(Presumably the $600000 refers to this year's funding, rather than the funding over all the years during which the Council has been funding it. I say that because in this "Facts and figures" post from early 2009 I logged that Sydney City Council was spending $240000 in cash and in-kind support, collectively, on the Mardi Gras that year; even assuming that the nominal value of the support hasn't increased, clearly it would have greatly exceeded $600000 just for the years 2009, 2010, and 2011, collectively.)

The quotations in that heading come from the comment piece "This is a rainbow that's costing us a pot of gold", by Vikki Campion, immediately below her article "$110,000 wasted with gay abandon at Taylor Square", dated February 27, 2013, downloaded from the Sydney Daily Telegraph's website:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/wasted-with-gay-abandon-at-taylor-square/story-e6freuy9-1226586361494

(The information in this Notes item's headline came to my attention via the comment piece "A pot of gold to pay for rainbow" (commenting on the article "$110,000 wasted with gay abandon", by the same author, immediately above the comment piece), by Vikki Campion, p. 16, the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Wednesday, February 27, 2013, Vol. 1, No. 2783, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd.)

Labels: G.L.B.T., Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

8.2 "Gay members of Australia's defence force (ADF) marched in their uniforms for the first time"

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Mardi Gras celebrates its founders in Sydney", no byline, dated March 3, 2013, downloaded from The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/mardi-gras-celebrates-its-founders-in-sydney/story-e6frg6nf-1226589176589

The article also reports that one of those who marched in uniform, namely the R.A.A.F.'s Squadron Leader Vince Chong

said the decision to allow members to march, reflected the ADF's policy to encourage more workplace inclusion.

“It shows the priority that's been placed on diversion and inclusion in the Australian Defence Force. This is just the start of many things to come under the pathway to change. We will see more and more about generating a culture of inclusion.”

Labels: A.D.F., G.L.B.T., Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

9.1 Dr. van Gend on how "making abortion legal or illegal has never, historically, made the slightest detectable difference to the safety of women", because "medicine alone, not the law, has achieved all the magnificent gains in maternal safety."

See the article "Backyard distortions", by Dr. David van Gend, downloaded from the website of Life Ministries:

http://lifeministries.org.au/internal.php?content_id=125

(That article came to my attention via the comment of 17.2.13 / 3pm by one Philip J. Rayment in the comments section of this blog post by Mr. Muehlenberg.)

Labels: abortion

9.2 Dr. Summers on recent changes in pro-abortion rhetoric:

… the words[ "safe, legal and rare"] were removed from the Democratic Party platform in 2008. No one uses them any more and for a very good reason: women find them offensive.

Dawn Laguens, of US Planned Parenthood, said earlier this year that language about making abortion ''rare'' polled very poorly because women found it judgmental and shaming.

Similarly, Planned Parenthood has made the momentous decision to drop the language of ''pro-choice'' after research that shows most Americans feels the pro-choice/pro-life polarity fails to represent the actual complications of what it's like to find yourself with an unwanted pregnancy. Women complained that the word ''choice'' made the decision seem frivolous.
["Abortion zealots a risk for Abbott", by Dr. Anne Summers A.O., dated March 16, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/abortion-zealots-a-risk-for-abbott-20130315-2g5sn.html?skin=text-only
Dr. Summers' article is also available at the same website and with the same date under the headline "It's a woman's right to choose":
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/its-a-womans-right-to-choose-20130317-2g8d8.html?skin=text-only]

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the headline "Abortion zealots a risk for Abbott", by the same author, on p. 12 in the "OPINION" pages of the "News Review" supplement of The Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Edition, March 16-17, 2013, No. 54738, ISSN 0312-6315.)

Labels: abortion

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Tuesday in Holy Week, A.D. 2013

Notes: Tuesday, February 7-Monday, February 27, 2012 (part 1 of 2)

1. "With identical twins, where the genetic heritage is identical, … if one twin is gay or lesbian, [then] there is 50 per cent likelihood the other twin is gay or lesbian"

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/blogs/godless-gross/gayness-and-godliness-20120206-1r173.html

But if the genetic heritage is identical, i.e., 100% the same, then why is that likelihood so low, a mere 50%?

Labels: biology, G.L.B.T., genes

2. "Proposition 8 therefore could not have been enacted to advance California's interest in childrearing or responsible procreation," ["Judge Stephen Reinhardt"] wrote, "for it had no effect on the rights of same-sex couples to raise children or on the procreative practices of other couples"

http://www.smh.com.au/world/validation-for-us-as-a-couple-california-gay-marriage-ban-overturned-20120208-1r959.html?skin=text-only

Labels: discrimination, families, G.L.B.T., marriage

3. "Family Planning Queensland’s revolutionary book, Is This Normal? Understanding your child’s sexual behaviour"

http://fpq.com.au/pdf/media/MR_IsThisNormal.pdf

http://fpq.com.au/publications/fsBrochures/Br_Sexual_Behaviours.php

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-nsw/red-light-on-abnormal-child-sex-behaviour/story-e6freuzi-1226264151190

http://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/parents-set-right-on-sex-myths/story-fn6ck45n-1226264102996

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/lifestyle/sexual-behaviour-in-children-whats-normal-20120206-1r1nm.html?skin=text-only

Labels: education, Holly Brennan, Judy Graham, vice, youngsters

4. "The thrice-married [French] President[, M. Nicolas Sarkozy,] … lauds the importance of traditional marriage and opposes moves to legalise homosexual marriage on the grounds it would lead to gay adoption"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/nicolas-sarkozy-woos-far-right-vote-to-see-off-marine-le-pen-juggernaut/story-e6frg6so-1226268138630

Labels: families, France, G.L.B.T., marriage

5. "[At] a Mardi Gras meeting in the early '90s[,] a vote barring bisexuals from membership was carried"

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/about-town/showgirl-returns-20120213-1t0t0.html?skin=text-only

Labels: discrimination, G.L.B.T., Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

6. Some recent figures on Australian popular support for so-called Gay marriage

http://www.smh.com.au/national/new-poll-backs-samesex-marriage-20120213-1t1h4.html?skin=text-only

Labels: G.L.B.T., marriage

7. "There's no such thing as a good divorce: the kids always suffer"

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-good-divorce-the-kids-always-suffer-20120210-1sl3d.html?skin=text-only

Labels: divorce, families, marriage, youngsters

8. "Some months ago [Catholica Australia] had nearly 750 registered members and ["an assistant administrator on Catholica" has] now cut it back to about 560. By the time he's finished[, Mr Brian Coyne, C.A.'s editor and publisher,] said to him [that Mr. Coyne] expect[s that] it might get down to somewhere between four and five hundred."

http://members7.boardhost.com/TrueCatholic/thread/1328095044.html

Labels: Catholica Australia

Reginaldvs Cantvar
27.II.2012

Notes: Tuesday, March 8-Tuesday, March 15, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

1. A couple of recent developments regarding euthanasia

1.1 "TASMANIA is poised to become the first state to legalise voluntary euthanasia"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/state-to-push-for-mercy-killing/story-e6frg6nf-1226017319925

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=25378

Labels: euthanasia, Tasmania

1.2 "SUPPORT for voluntary euthanasia in NSW is running at 83 per cent, with only 10 per cent of people implacably opposed"

http://www.smh.com.au/national/state-election-2011/support-for-voluntary-euthanasia-at-85-20110310-1bpsm.html?skin=text-only

Labels: euthanasia

2. An amusing example of gay outrage

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/a-channel-ten-newsreader-has-apologised-after-calling-mardi-gras-disgusting-on-air/story-e6freuy9-1226017840089

When I blogged in late 2008 on the revelation that the N.S.W. State government was directly to fund the Sodomites' Parade, a commenter asked jokingly

But, Pole, it's so *colourful* - how could you possibly object?
[http://cardinalpole.blogspot.com/2008/10/taxpayers-to-fund-sodomites-parade.html?showComment=1223032140000#c296515895030110427]

Luckily I didn't say the following, or I might have been reported to some Anti-Discrimination Commissar:

“With respect, there’s a difference between colourful and disgusting in some cases.”

Mr. Tim Dick wrote about the fiasco in a column in Saturday's Herald:

... on Monday, Channel Ten's Ron Wilson suggested elements of the parade crossed the line from ''colourful'' to ''disgusting'' during an interview with the organisation's co-chairman, Pete Urmson. He batted the suggestion away without too much difficulty, and at the end of the discussion, Wilson congratulated him on the success of the festival and parade.

But it prompted a brief bit of predictable ''outrage'' nonetheless. He was homophobic, he was ignorant, he was narrow-minded. His prejudice was the disgusting thing. Something must be done, and someone inevitably threatened an anti-discrimination complaint.

Wilson was duly back the next morning to apologise for any offence caused, and for good measure threw in some support for the gay marriage campaign.

I wish he hadn't. The over-apology was an over-reaction to an over-reaction.

Journalists are supposed to ask difficult questions, and despite Wilson using a clanger of a word, it was one reference in a longer interview generally positive towards Mardi Gras. ...
[http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/whats-there-to-hide-its-a-sin-to-omit-the-emitters-20110311-1br71.html?skin=text-only]

Labels: G.L.B.T., Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Ron Wilson

3. "Catholica no longer appears on the [Australian Catholic Bishops Conference] list of links"

http://beyondpews.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/quietly-removed/

Labels: A.C.B.C., Catholica Australia

4. Launch of a proposal for a N.S.W. Bill of Rights

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/shes-baaaackkk-20110309-1bnaq.html?skin=text-only

Labels: Bill of Rights, N.S.W.

5. Two "openly gay" N.S.W. Liberal election candidates "support ... removing exemptions to the Anti-Discrimination Act"

http://www.smh.com.au/national/state-election-2011/liberals-challenge-greens-for-the-gay-vote-20110311-1br84.html?skin=text-only

Labels: Adrian Bartels, Bruce Notley-Smith, discrimination, G.L.B.T., Liberal Party, N.S.W.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
15.III.2011

Notes: Saturday, February 26-Monday, February 28, 2011

1. "Study: Working moms have sicker kids"

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/02/17/2662973/study-working-moms-have-sicker.html

Labels: families, health, work

2. "Russia has unveiled the biggest rearmament program since the fall of the Soviet Union"

http://www.smh.com.au/world/billions-to-be-spent-on-russian-rearmament-20110225-1b8kz.html?skin=text-only

See also:

"China determined to rival US arsenal"
http://www.smh.com.au/world/china-determined-to-rival-us-arsenal-20110227-1ba60.html?skin=text-only

Labels: P.R.C., Russia

3. Those Herald pieces on the findings from a recent survey of Australian Catholic priests

http://www.smh.com.au/national/priests-lose-faith-in-their-church-20110225-1b8r1.html?skin=text-only
http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-essay-holy-disorder-20110225-1b8sk.html?skin=text-only

This is an excerpt from the first comment published in the comments section of a CathNews item on the matter:

We are asked to find out our polititians' views on life issues before voting for them.
It seems that we should also be finding out our parish priests' views on these issues too.
[http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=25213]

Labels: Priesthood

4. "[N.S.W. Liberal-National] Coalition guarantees [Gay] Mardi Gras future"

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/02/26/more-derelict-leadership/

It seems that Mr. O'Farrell has changed his tune from what he had to say at the time when, in October 2008, direct State funding for the Sodomites' Parade was publicly confirmed by Events NSW (direct and indirect Sydney City Council funding had been going on for the previous ten years, in the order of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year as of February 2009):

PREMIER Nathan Rees' decision to help fund Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardis Gras with taxpayer dollars shows he has his priorities wrong, Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell claimed today.

"He's confusing the hell out of people across the state,'' Mr O'Farrell said.

"If Mr Rees wants to prioritise funding, some of the announcements he's made in recent days would be further down the list for most people of this city and this state, behind infrastructure and services.''
[bold type in the original,
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw-floats-the-mardi-gras-with-financial-aid/story-e6frf0a0-1111117641186]

Labels: G.L.B.T., Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, N.S.W.

5. Mr. Sheehan on, among other things, the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/a-states-addiction-to-crime-20110227-1b9w8.html?skin=text-only

Labels: vice

Reginaldvs Cantvar
28.II.2011

Facts and figures: on the Sodomites’ Parade

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/letters/book-reform-fels-reading-from-the-same-old-page-20090217-8a7c.html?page=-1

I’m going to start posting at this blog some interesting facts and figures that I see in the media, not necessarily with any additional comment from me (though you, my readers, are always welcome to comment), so don’t be surprised if you see me posting quotations, links or whatever without further explanation. Today I read the following letter to The Sydney Morning Herald:

Mardi Gras money

Brad Ruting (Letters, February 13) says this is the first year any government has provided funding to the Mardi Gras. The City of Sydney has been a financial supporter of Mardi Gras for 10 years. Our current sponsorship is worth $120,000 in cash and $120,000 in kind a year.

Clover Moore, MP Lord Mayor, City of Sydney

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Simeon, Bishop, Martyr, A.D. 2009

Sydney Morning Herald or Sydney Star Observer? These days it’s hard to tell

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/mardi-gras-mulling-over-switch-to-homebush/2009/01/30/1232818725577.html

(Note: The Sydney Star Observer is the journal of the Sodomites’ League in Sydney)

The weekend Sydney Morning Herod continues to do its bit to keep the so-called gay culture in the mainstream; after last week’s centre-front-page article and accompanying picture on a pair of sodomites shopping for baby paraphernalia (and babies), this week’s edition had another article and large picture on the front cover, right-of-centre, concerning the activities of the Sodomites’ League. The topic this week was the annual (and now publicly-funded) Sodomites’ Parade, that festival of all that is tacky, trashy, crass, garish, ignoble and debauched (and that list of adjectives is not necessarily exhaustive; feel free to add your own in the combox). It seems that there has been a suggestion to move the event from its ‘spiritual home’ in Oxford Street to the old Olympic precinct at Homebush, a suggestion that has generated some controversy.

Accompanying the article was a charming photograph of a grinning, shirtless, nipple-pierced homosexual gentleman. Not so long ago the only place where one would been confronted with the sight of half-naked sodomites on a Saturday morning would have been somewhere like King’s Cross; nowadays one can’t even stroll past one’s local suburban newsagent without being confronted with such indecency. How did it all go so wrong so quickly?

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Blaise, Bishop, Martyr, A.D. 2009

Taxpayers to fund Sodomites' Parade

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24434051-5006009,00.html

According to the Sydney Daily Telegraph, the N.S.W. Government, through its Events N.S.W. arm, will start funding the annual Gay Mardi Gras directly:

Government support [hitherto] has included help with policing and public transport, and financial exemptions.

The new funding arrangement, which follows months of negotiations, will involve taxpayer dollars going directly into the colourful parade for the first time.

Strangely, New Mardi Gras chair Mr. David Imrie says that the parade “is now going to be self-sustaining and grow. We are going to see higher production values now.” It needs government funding in order to be self-sustaining?! As for higher production values, that shouldn’t be too hard; anyone who has ever seen images from this ignoble parade will know how appalingly crass and tacky it is. (Which makes one wonder whence arose the stereotype that homosexuals have better taste than heterosexuals.)

As for how the mainstream commentators react to this, we can probably expect a deafening silence from those who were quick to savage government funding for WYD08. No doubt public funding for a festival of debauchery, celebrating the darkest recesses of human nature, will be fine by them. Government funding for the worship of God: big no-no. Government funding for the worship of Bacchus and Eros: no problems!

We shouldn’t really be too surprised at this development, though, since taxpayers have long been funding the Sodomites’ League through fronts like an organisation that laughingly calls itself the A.I.D.S. Council of N.S.W. (A.C.O.N.) One might have thought that an organisation commited to ending the A.I.D.S. pandemic would be doing everything it can to discourage sodomy and other ‘sexually diverse’ activities. Not so for A.C.O.N. And yet one of this organisation’s major sources of funding is an annual grant from N.S.W. Health (Annual Report, p. 42) and donations to it are tax deductible.

Reginaldvs Cantvar