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Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Papal Encyclical Vexes America's Religious Right and Big Business Catholics

A papal letter sent to all bishops of the Roman Catholic Church is a welcome relief in contrast to dogmatic and short sightedness of the fundamentalistic religious right. It is good that it's also vexing for many big business Catholics. .....

"It turns out that environmental issues are particularly vexing for the Catholic Church, especially in the United States. They carry implications for Big Business, often with ties to wealthy Catholics, as well as for the world’s growing population, which brings up questions of birth control. For the religious right, the Vatican’s endorsement of the U.N. alarm about global warming amounts to an endorsement of the U.N. agenda to give women access to contraception and abortion."......

http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/before-francis-long-line-of-popes-voiced-environment-alarm/

Comment: What's amusing is the fact that this same encyclical indirectly confronts every group both big and small that has invaded neighboring territories all the way down through history up through Western imperialism, America's gunboat diplomacy in 19th century Japan, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, Russia's seizure of Crimea, etcetra, etc.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/04/30/pope-francis-has-given-the-climate-movement-just-what-it-needed-faith/

Movie: " The Earthling" -- Growing Up The Hard Way Fast

Movie: " The Earthling" -- Growing Up The Hard Way Fast

When I was a secondary school teacher, I always found an appropriate way to integrate this movie into my curriculum. I even own three VHS tapes of it to ensure I can always have it on hand. It's a rare classic that all teenagers are touched by when they see it. And adults that aren't too callous appreciate it, also.

"Patrick Foley (William Holden) has been on the move all his life, indeed a life of adventure truly lived. Tired of drifting and now ill, he wants to spend his last days in the isolated Australian valley where he grew up. On his difficult journey he encounters Shawn (Ricky Schroeder), a city-boy whose parents were killed in an accident in this remote, inhospitable territory. Being unable to accompany the boy back to the civilized world Foley reluctantly takes the boy with him on his trip to the valley of his own boyhood. Along the way, and when the two finally reach the valley, Foley teaches Shawn the ways of the Australian Outback, how to survive what most would call an incredibly rugged way of life. He empowers the boy, teaching him among many things perhaps the most powerful lesson of all, to embrace and overcome fear. While Foley teaches Shawn how to survive, he in turn receives a priceless gift and lesson of his own, that of love."

"The Earthling":