still not getting it

just for easter, the embattled vatican manages another baby step ... deeper into purgatory:

a senior cardinal has said the roman catholic faithful will not be swayed by "petty gossip" about child sex-abuse allegations. ... during easter mass in st peter's square, cardinal sodano expressed solidarity with the pope, who has himself come under scrutiny for his role in handling past cases of abuse. "holy father, the people of god are with you and will not let themselves be influenced by the petty gossip of the moment, by the trials that sometimes assail the community of believers," the cardinal said. ... the vatican's official newspaper, l'osservatore romano, stepped up its defence of the pope in its sunday edition, publishing messages of support from around the world and denouncing the "slanderous attacks and the defamation campaign surrounding the drama of abuse by priests".

quote of the night

joe sudbay @ americablog:

the vatican has tried to distance the church from those remarks [comparing criticism of the church to anti-semitism]. but, the priest gave those remarks in front of the pope and his words were reported by the vatican newspaper. that would be like [press secretary] robert gibbs making a statement in front of obama, which was also posted on the white house website — and have the white house say gibbs wasn't speaking for them.

victims

the vatican cries "foul!" in response to withering criticism for decades of sheltering pedophiles:

the "coincidence" that passover falls in the same week as easter celebrations, said cantalamessa, a franciscan who offers reflections at vatican easter and advent services, prompted him to think about jews. "they know from experience what it means to be victims of collective violence and also because of this they are quick to recognize the recurring symptoms," the preacher said. quoting from the letter from the friend, who wasn't identified by cantalamessa, the preacher said that he was following "'with indignation the violent and concentric attacks against the church, the pope and all the faithful of the whole world.'" "'the use of stereotypes, the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-semitism,'" cantalamessa said his friend wrote him.

pope benedict:

the vatican:

jews:

see the analogy?

krollateral damage

i offer two neologisms in honor of the now-infamous chuck kroll, an overzealous right wing troll who thought sending pz meyers @ pharyngula a death threat using his wife melanie kroll's corporate email account was teh righteous pwn.

she was fired.

1) krollateral damage: noun — a loved one who becomes the inadvertent victim of thoughtless and/or venial and/or petty actions aimed at someone else. usage — "suzie's mom became the krollateral damage after suzie's ex forwarded mom the photos that suzie sent him of her balling her new dude." update: synonym — trollateral damage (so obvious i missed it!) 2) chuckroll: (also: chuckkroll, chuckkkroll) verb — to inadvertently cause harm to a loved one through thoughtless and/or venial and/or petty actions aimed at someone else. (not to be confused with "rickroll", to which it has no relation.) usage — "suzie's mom got chuckrolled when suzie's ex forwarded mom the photos that suzie sent him of her balling her new dude." origin — july 17, 2008 (you heard 'em both here first, folks!)

separated at birth

disgraced former boston cardinal bernard law

disgraced soon-to-be-former house speaker denny hastert

(hat tip to jeffrey feldman @ dailykos)