parole in musica/3

ante litteram

recensitoli

Qui. via.

island-mountain glacier

Information is beautiful gets the CO2 emission figures for the volcano wrong, their graph goes viral. Apologies and new visual here - way less extreme than the first.

I have the impression people coming back from overland trips happy for the adventure, challenge, poetry of an out-of-time journey will go back on a plane as soon as the authorities allow it. Still, I'm wondering if the landslide of offers on carpooling websites will increase in the long term the number of people using this kind of transport, maybe for shorter distances.

Whoa pictures of the volcano, here.

WMO says the effect of the eruption on global warming will be "very insignificant" (too small, too low, too sparse), and could only affect the regional climate if it went on for years. here.

It's sad to notice, though, how financial crisis, depressions, natural disasters are among our biggest achievements in terms of climate change mitigation. The fact that we could consider these disruptions as success stories is the biggest evidence for the unsustainability of our economies.

ecco, appunto

green/orange

Nel frattempo, Bossi dichiara che la Lega si prenderà le banche del Nord, perché il popolo sovrano lo vuole. A me viene un po' nostalgia degli olandesi.

già

Si possono avere nemici in missione di pace?

pezze a colore

On Monday, speaking from Chile, Cardinal Tarciso Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State - basically, the Pope's prime minister, said that psychiatrists and sociologists have proved that pedophilia is not related to celibacy, rather to homosexuality.

After the immediate and not surprising reaction of various GLBT associations, even the French Government has officially defined his declaration unacceptable. Trying to make things look slightly better, today the Holy See spokesperson declared that Bertone was referring to the specific issue of pedophilia cases inside the Church.

Provided that I obviously don't believe gays are horny pigs more likely to be pedophiles than straights, and that I am not sure wether allowing the catholic priests to marry would actually solve the problem, what I really don't get is how the psychiatrists and sociologists the guy was mentioning have denied any relation between pedophilia and celibacy, since the specimens studied should all be consecrated "with undivided heart to the Lord".

How about giving a frank thought, for once, to the fact that the vocation-seminary-ministerial practice cycle, as a system, is producing a disproportionate amount of criminals? How about a mea culpa?

so far so close?

ingiustizie elevate a diritto

Emma Bonino, a member of the Radical Party and former Italian Minister, EU Commissioner, divorce and abortion activist, upon being defeated last weekend in the elections for governor of Lazio, declared she lost from a true alliance between Berlusconi and the Catholic Church.

A couple of days before the elections, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, currently president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, invited catholic electors to vote pro-life parties, with the clear aim of influencing the elections in Lazio and in Piemonte, where Berlusconi's candidates were opposing strong pro-choice figures, Emma Bonino and Mercedes Bresso. The issue is especially relevant because health is, in Italy, a sector of regional competence, and the introduction of the abortion pill is currently being discussed both at the political and administrative level. Roberto Cota, the Lega Nord candidate who defeated Bresso in Piemonte, as a discreet "thank you for your support", few hours upon his election declared the pills will "rot in warehouses".

Emma Bonino also said she considered this alliance to be legitimate, blaming her defeat rather on the disproportionate coverage given by the media to Berlusconi's position, and to the complete absence of space for its critics. Still, although absolutely unsurprising, Bagnasco's last intervention has probably been the most explicit indication the Church has ever given before an election.

I am really upset by the hypocritical way the Church continues to openly support Berlusconi and his comrades (variously involved in sexual scandals, modern kinds of family, rituals to pagan gods, violent acts against migrants, etc), but I don't feel there's much more to do about it than to remark such contradictions, or try to drive the people's attention to different subjects.

In the end, it is just another lobby, and has the right to speak. Politicians and electors have the right to follow. But I assume it speaks everywhere in the world, and not everywhere is heard, not to mention followed. Does really the scarce 30% of Italian population (including children, non-voting and progressive or even critical catholics) that actually is faithful make a difference? Or are most of us, even those who couldn't care less in the day-to-day life, still trying not to give up all hope of eternal salvation and making their best on Christmas, Easter, and political elections? Or are they really convinced abortion and gay rights are the meteorites that will destroy our civilization?

Oh, by the way, would it help if the home page of "la Repubblica" didn't look like this? Breaking news: pro-life declaration by the Pope. The big picture: 2 interventions by his PRs.