The Pope landed in Mexico today and doubled down on the failed drug war.
“We must do whatever is possible to combat this destructive evil against humanity and our youth,” he told reporters, referring to the some 50,000 people killed since 2007 as rival drug trafficking cartels fight each other and the state.
“It is the responsibility of the Church to educate consciences, to teach moral responsibility and to unmask the evil, to unmask this idolatry of money which enslaves man, to unmask the false promises, the lies, the fraud that is behind drugs,” he said. […]
The pope’s strong words on the drug menace should offer comfort to Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who has staked his reputation on beating down the cartels.
The fraud that is behind drugs? Drugs aren’t beheading people. As far as unmasking the idolatry of money, well, it wasn’t really masked.
Identifying the traffickers as evil doesn’t do anything. It isn’t even news. Calling for “whatever is possible to combat it” is exactly what got us in this mess.
Having been raised in the Roman Catholic church, I expected nothing less than mindless zealotry.
Indeed, as it is yet another of their many wars:
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2008/07/roman-catholic-church-cocaine.html
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2011/01/luis-martin-sj-punishment-for-drug-war.html
http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2011/04/wiley-in-rome-april-1906.html
The “drug war” is the latest incarnation of the Inquisition. Not too surprised he approves.
It would be more appropriate if the infallible one said it this way:
“It is the responsibility of the Church to educate consciences, to teach moral responsibility and to unmask the evil, to unmask this idolatry of money which enslaves man, to unmask the false promises, the lies, the fraud that is behind PROHIBITION.â€
Just look at what the Pope’s said about Coca just before the campaign to demonify “cocaine” – see the first link in my comment above.
coca is a great example of how blind our ignorance…
native peoples use coca for thousands of years, no problem.
Europenisans wander in and 100 years later or so are driven batshit crazy by their own vain attempt at improving nature. And then they blame it on nature… “evil” my ass.
Napoleon Bonaparte’s method for getting the Vatican to cooperate was to surround it with stationed troops who pointed loaded cannons directly at it, to be fired on the command of Napoleon. He then suppressed the Inquisition in every region of Europe he conquered. Sadly, Napoleon is not available for aiding in the current war against prohibition.
I can imagine the difficulty the Vatican would face were the Holy See to condemn the drug war and make it a sin. Catholic DEA agents show up for work one day, only to discover they’ve been declared sinners condemned to burn in hell forever. Smokin’.
Drug enforcement recruiting has long been done from within churches where prohibition can be hugely popular. This is unfortunate. It’s happened before with the ‘war on heresy’ (a phrase actually used by inquisitors). Aiding and abetting prohibition will not make friends out of drug heretics.
does anyone intend on telling the pope what it is in the wine that makes it different from grape juice?
He already knows it contains the Blood of Christ, kant.
“It is the responsibility of the Church to educate consciences, to teach moral responsibility and to unmask the evil, to unmask this idolatry of money which enslaves man, to unmask the false promises, the lies, the fraud that is behind RELIGION”.
Fixed.
Fuck the rich and powerful (including the Vatican and their pedophile priests) and the corrupt form of law they push on the rest of us.
What else can one expect from a man who was raised in a dogmatic and repressive faith, who went on to become a priest separate from normal people by virtue of being “married to the church” and ever prohibited by said church from engaging in normal human activities (which by the way is completely incorrect, to remain celibate is to remain unmarried, but not to maintain a life without any sexual interaction with other humans). He is so far removed from the world of normal humanity he could not possibly relate in any way to our daily lives. To him, EVERYTHING that is not related to religious activity and purity is a sin.
Wait, why are we assuming that wasn’t a call for legalization? After all, that’s the only possible solution to the problem of black market violence.
Apparently the Pope commands some respect among the narcos for steadfastly advocating their profits.
http://wapo.st/FPGdds
“He said the banners were found Saturday hanging from pedestrian bridges and carried messages about “a sort of truce for peace and said they are going to keep the peace during the pope’s visit.â€
The official did not reveal the exact wording of the messages, but the newspaper Reforma’s Sunday edition said one banner read: “The Knights Templar disavow any military action, we are not murders, welcome to the Pope.—
hahaha. The Pope historically has usually been the one on the evil, manipulative, dangerous, secret side with his successors always damning them before becoming apart of that themself or something different. Looking to the Pope for any kind of support in the reform world would be as pointless as looking at Gil Kerlikowske. Isn’t it always refreshing to see that we still live in a world where EVIL exists… how noble isnt it? GOOD VS EVIL! BLACK VS WHITE! DRUGS ARE EVIL! well Mr. Pope, why weren’t they evil before the first opium laws were passed…like a hundred years ago.. why have they only been evil for a hundred years and before that they weren’t for thousands of years?? MR POPE, DONT SAY THAT THE PAST IS THE PAST! DON’T EVEN TRY TO SAY THAT SOME THINGS WE THOUGHT WERE GOOD IN THE PAST WERE REALLY EVIL! BECAUSE IF YOU SAY THAT… then maybe… just maybe, you ought to look in the mirror because youre whole existence is based on the past, bro. If you say that, well, whats to say that dude you like so much, you know, the one who was human but was the offspring of a woman who had never did whoopy with noone? lol. Let me tell you speaking from the evil heart of an evil heroin lover, i have met many, many a man (and sometimes women!) in my days who look strikingly similar to that dude you idolize… and after a shot of dope, they were just as peaceful too. You dont get that kinda hair and beard and dirt and happiness/serenity/peace drinking holy water.. not even the kind of holy water a boring alcoholic likes. no sir. Certainly one thing we must adamantly avoid as reformers are those folks who attest to a conspiracy theory, those who’ll throw around accusations of freemasons, the illuminati, new world order and all that insane stuff. It’s a bad, national T.V show at late night at best (oooh lemme guess by saying that im somehow a footsoldier for the illuminati? well i was a big new world order fan but the head of the group wasnt a ceo really it was the million dollar man ted dibiase and the evil hulkster- AH there goes that word.. EVIL again!) anyway yea we definitely lose points i can tell you i was once at a methadone clinic with someone i believed was quite the astute reformist, brilliant kid, my age, super intelligent etc. we had the director agreeing with us, we had the ‘doners (methadoners, not blood donors, financial donors etc) agreeing with us etc. i held my tongue, my buddy in reform doing a splendid job when suddenly he began making this claims of the illuminati and freemasons and all this stuff… the director left, needless to say, and my buddies audience became a rabid mass of donors… whom all went off and based by the pound, i never saw much of him again after that. Anyhow, my point is, there is certainly an agenda, a big business, big politician (and little politician) agenda. No question about it. I am an Italian citizen (born in the USA, live in the USA, but adopted by italian immigrant and got my EU citizenship with hopes of leaving this country one day) so dont misunderstand me, but Italy was much like Mexico is now… well, not exactly but there were and are some similarities.. Italy is not kicking butt in any capacity other than the Serie A, it’s in dire straights from the north to the south, the Pope and Vatican City can say what they want but they’re apart of Italy and they want a happy italy. Italy is one of the strange EU nations when it comes to this stuff because theyre active in both extremes but like the USA, for the most part, they act hard line and are behind in the times. There is no way the Pope or really most main stream Italian officials are going to offer us anything in the way of reform momentum. EVIL and GOOD… well, it gives young folks hope doesnt it? That we too can still rely on saturday morning cartoons as serious analogies when we’re old and grey and we dont have to worry about being committed, thrown in a home or called old and crazy because everybody else will feel the same. It’s such a nice world when good and evil exist LOL. how pathetic. how simple. like girls and boys. boys write songs for girls, what a simple world… until she sees up his sleeve, love letters from john, josh, bruno & steve. 😉
OT: Police Warn of Synthetic Marijuana Resurgence
Anyone else suspect that this Detective was a little more honest than he intended to be?
Ok, great, “it’s not like marijuana” so can we please stop calling it “synthetic marijuana”? Oh, and can we also stop locking people in cages when they choose to responsibly enjoy an infinitely-safer alternative? I also loved this line from the article:
It “may actually be more dangerous” than cannabis? God help us all!
OT: Here’s a story from a few years ago claiming that marijuana use can increase your risk of stroke.
Here’s a recent story noting evidence that cannabis significantly DECREASES your risk of stroke.
You know, I’m not sure when it happened, but at some point the “Francis’ Law” thing became less funny and more spooky. 😉
Interesting… the first scientist, (no doubt an “addictionologist”) works for NIDA and is, of course, completely without any other agenda when suggesting a link between cannabis and stroke. In contrast, the second is a cardiologist who actually works in the field of heart attacks and strokes and who, coincidently, recommends cannabis as a preventative AGAINST stroke. Now, which one are you going to believe?
“We must do . . . ” Strap on a gun, your holiness. In case you hadn’t noticed, “we” are in the middle of a war.
Never mention a strap on around a Catholic man unless you’re prepared to use it!
Bazinga!
best double-take of the night, thanks Duncan!
LOL
Here’s more on the Templars and the banners, which it looks like were used to negotiate a temporary treaty for the Pope’s visit.
http://justiceinmexico.org/2012/02/07/los-caballeros-templarios-accept-a-truce-during-popes-upcoming-visit-to-mexico/
Real easy to tell others not to worry about money when your church made a 10 million euro profit in 2010…
I, for one, will be glad when he’s gone. Maybe we’ll get back to normal. One good thing is almost everyone left town.
He’s sure not getting the same accolades as John Paul II.
OT: Sorry for yet another off-topic post but here’s a letter to the editor Marijuana won’t satisfy that’s just crying out for some comments. It’s got some real gems, e.g.:
and
He shoots down one myth the (hippies’)garden of eden only to replace it with another, god sending his son to be cruxified….I almost expected him to include the easter bunny
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I always enjoy a fine rabbit stew for dinner on Easter.
But could someone explain to me why a rabbit delivers chicken eggs?
… under extreme environmental duress the female Komodo Dragon is able to reproduce on her own. What’s so strange about bunnies laying eggs? Maybe they’re marsupial bunnies…
Altho’, now that I think about it long tail rabbit is a far more prolific meat source in the urban environs. The drawback of course is that long tailed rabbits don’t lay eggs. Hmmm… quite a conundrum you’ve raised. Well I’ll see your conundrum and raise you an ethicyst (I can’t give Jack Marshall away, may as well lose him on a bet of nonsense).
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Gerbils mate for life. Deprived of the opportunity to mate with a male two females will mate with each other and quite often one female will become pregnant, going through the entire gestation as would one impregnated by a male would. The only difference is there aren’t any offspring in a lesbian gerbil’s uteri (they have 2). I kept rodents when I was a wee lad and actually got to watch the process.
Gerbils are very weird creatures. They have a deficient digestive system and have to digest their food twice or they’ll starve to death. That does mean they have to eat their own shit in order to survive. It certainly gives new meaning to having leftovers for dinner.
Its pagan. The goddess ishtar was born from an egg as a rabbit.
The Pope and his predecessors have done more damage to the human race than all of natures drugs could ever do,,fuck him and anyone that rides a horse that looks like his horse.
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The truly amusing thing is that if catholics obeyed the law there wouldn’t be any catholics. Their religion was illegal for a few centuries subsequent to the alleged life of Christ.
I find it both ludicrous and sad that a stone cold atheist like myself would give bible lessons to the religionists.
The difference between Catholics and Christians? Catholics keep Christ nailed to the cross. The Christian cross is bare. Says a lot!
amen to that… I’ve long thought that after 2,000 years it was about time someone let the poor fellow down from there. But then I like songs like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmLlE6JE3EI
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Just being a bit OCD here…catholics are christians. I think you mean the difference between catholic and protestant crosses. Still, that’s a fairly obscure piece of trivia of which I’ve observed that most people aren’t aware.
Mariology is another place where they disagree. Protestants reject the practice and catholics embrace it. (Mariology = worship of the Virgin Mary)
Praise Jesus while I ruin your life!