Thursday, February 24, 2005

DO NOT PRAY FOR THIS POPE!

My Way News

In addition to this, here two more press reference quickly scanned from the net:

Memoria e identità
Il libro, il quinto di Giovanni Paolo II, avrà edizioni in 14 lingue oltre all'italiano.In uno dei passaggi destinati a suscitare maggiore dibattito, il Papa definisce l'aborto come un nuovo Olocausto, denuncia per altro già ribadita in diverse occasioni. Il pontefice ricorda lo "sterminio legale degli essere concepiti e non ancora nati", uno "sterminio deciso addirittura da parlamenti eletti democraticamente". Nel libro, si legge inoltre delle "gravi forme di violazione della legge di Dio", tra cui mette le "forti pressioni del parlamento europeo" sulle "unioni omosessuali" riconosciute "come una forma alternativa di famiglia". "È lecito e anzi doveroso - scrive il papa - porsi la domanda se qui non operi ancora una nuova ideologia del male, forse la più subdola e celata, che tenta di sfruttare, contro l'uomo e contro la famiglia, perfino i diritti dell'uomo".

Pope: "Traditional Family" Trumps Human RightsIn a new book, "Memory and Identity"
Pope John Paul II accuses European lawmakers of acting out of an ideology of evil by advocating for marriage equality for gay men and lesbians.
"In one section about the role of lawmakers, the Pope takes another swipe at gay marriages when he refers to 'pressures' on the European Parliament to allow them.
'It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man,' he writes."
The Pope fails to explain how human rights could constitute an "ideology of evil" or how efforts to secure marriage equality -- which have involved years of public discussion -- could be "hidden."

With this type of reactionary, anti-englightenment ideology, this pope proves what a reactionary anti-humanist is leading the organization of fundamentalists called the "Catholic Church".
I will not be praying for this pope: there is no reason whatsoever to hope he ever leaves the hospital it is reported he reentered today.
The world WILL NOT be worse off without him!

Thursday, February 17, 2005

The Good-Morrow by John Donne

I wonder by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we lov'd? Were we not wean'd till then,
But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the seven sleepers' den?
'Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desir'd, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.

And now good morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room, an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;
Where can we find two better hemispheres,
Without sharp north, without declining west?
Whatever dies, was not mix'd equally;
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

Friday, February 4, 2005

The Tempest / Epilogue / Spoken by Prospero

ORIGINAL:
Now my charms are all o’erthrown,
And what strength I have’s my own,
Which is most faint. Now ‘tis true,
I must be here confin’d by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got,
And pardon’d the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell,
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands.
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant
And my ending is despair
Unless I be relieved by prayer
Which pierces so, that it assaults
Mercy itself, and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon’d be,
Let your indulgence set me free.

- W. Shakespeare
And my new German translation:
Mein ganzer Charme ist am Ende;
nur die eigne, ist die Stärke, die ich verwende,
und sie schwindet. Wahrlich sag‘ ich,
haltet mich hier fest, oder schicket mich
nach Neapel. Doch lasset nicht zu,
daß ich, da mir die Grafschaft gehörte im Nu
und ich den Betrüger verzieh, hier verweil'
von euch verbannt auf diesem kahlen Eil',
sondern entlasset mich von diesen Bänden
mit Hilfe von euren gütigen Händen.
Nur wenn sanfter Atemzug von euch meine Segel erweitert,
kann ich sichern, daß mein Plan nicht scheitert,
der euch zu gefallen war. Nun fehlt mir ein Hauch
von Kraft zu handeln, die Kunst zu verzaubern auch.
Und Verdruß wird meiner Geschichte Schluß,
wenn meine Bitte ungehört bleiben muß,
wo sie so durchdringt, daß sie selbst die Gnade breit
bestürmt und jeden von jeder Schuld befreit.
So wie ihr eure Sünden verziehen wissen wollt,
ihr mit eurer Nachsicht mich befreien sollt.
- transl. R. Gardner