"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Saturday, December 22, 2012

And Good Will Toward Men


From the pope:

"People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given to them by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being," he said. "They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves."

"The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes man's fundamental choice where he himself is concerned," he said.

If that sounds incoherent, it's because it is. It's supposed to be his usual rant against same-sex marriage and gay people in general, but to me it sounds like a condemnation of ex-gay therapies. You have to be supremely ignorant about the origins of sexual orientation to think that something like that is making your point against homosexuality.

This is good:

"When freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God," Benedict said.

The one trying to strip me of my dignity is Benedict.

When people are obviously senile, I think we should have pity on them and not allow them to make fools of themselves in public.

Here's the full text of his speech.

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