Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Get this, by Eusebio Val in La Vanguardia from Washington reporting on the Pope's visit:

Despite being a Methodist, (Bush) is very much attracted to aspects of Catholic morality and the attitude of this Pope in particular. It has even been said that, secretly, Bush is a Catholic. It is true that he has given a great deal of protagonism and power to Catholic public figures, among them the two new Supreme Court justices he nominated, the conservatives John Roberts--the Chief Justice--and Samuel Alito.

Wow. I didn't know Bush was a secret Catholic. I thought he was one of those crazy evangelicals who thinks God speaks to him personally, as La Vangua has so often repeated. I also had no idea that the Catholicism of Bush's Supreme Court appointees had anything to do with their nomination. By the way, Val also calls the Church "the most numerous religious minority in the country." I've never thought of the Catholics as a minority; I've always thought of them as the largest US Christian denomination.

And get this one, from Público yesterday, by a fellow named Enrique Meneses:

The USA, which has made a totem out of machismo (sic) throughout its history, will have difficulty in facing a withdrawal from this war without an exit with the flag flying and martial music. The memory of Saigon lives on in the collective memory. A troop withdrawal in stages was vetoed by George Bush a long time ago. He is leaving that job for his successor. His excuse: the threat of a civil war in Iraq.

But isn't what is happening now in Basora a civil war? Is it necessary to keep lying? There are only two ways out for the Americans: close themselves off in two or three well-fortified bases in strategic places and withdraw the majority of their troops, or leave as Spain did, in an orderly manner while protecting their rearguard in order to suffer the smallest amount of casualties. In the first case the two Shiite sides and the Sunnis, financed by the USA, will end up finding a leader who can negotiate about petroleum. Even if he's a dictator.

Wishful thinking, of course; Mr. Meneses would love to see the Coalition flee Iraq, and he doesn't seem to give a damn about the Iraqi people. And since when has the US been particularly noted for its historical machismo? What the hell is historical machismo?

Mr. Meneses includes his e-mail address in his article: it's enrimeneses@gmail.com. Should you decide to drop him a note, please be polite.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's not a coincidence that Bush appointed Catholics; The 5 more conservative judges are all Catholic, while the liberal judges are 2 Protestants and 2 Jews.

I tend to think that this is because Evangelical Protestants are not capable of producing people with necessary intellectual caliber required of Supreme Court judges (no offense to anyone, you have to be really smart to be a Supreme Court judge). What this means is that if COnservatives want a 'pro-life' they have to pick Catholics.

Of course, I don't imagine that Spanish newspaper are aware of such things.

-Danny