Catholic church to FINALLY pay taxes…in Italy

 General Blatherings
Apr 152013
 

This makes me so very happy.  Time to bring this kind of sanity to America!  Best quote from the story?  Right here, my friends:  ”They own the most beautiful buildings in downtown Rome, on Italian soil, and rent them out at market prices.  They don’t give them for free or at low prices for charity.”  BAM!

Italy’s Catholic Church will be forced to pay taxes starting in 2013 after the EU pressured the country’s government to pass a controversial law stripping the Church of its historic property tax exemption.

The Catholic Church in Italy is excluded from paying taxes on its land if at least a part of a Church property is used non-commercially – for instance, a chapel in a bed-and-breakfast. “The regulatory framework will be definite by January 1, 2013 – the start of the fiscal year – and will fully respect the [European] Community law,” Italian premier Mario Monti’s government said in a statement on Tuesday.

The move could net Italy revenues of 500 million to 2 billion euros annually across the country, municipal government associations said. The extra income from previously exempt properties in Rome alone – including hotels, restaurants and sports centres – could reach 25.5 million euros a year, La Repubblica daily newspaper reported.

via National Secular Society

 Permalink  General Blatherings
Apr 092013
 

Kiwis slate scathing Dane MP

What’s wrong with this woman??  Ohhhh, right:  being a far-right wingnut means you can’t enjoy mostly-naked men dancing in front of you because it’s so culturally “weird” to you.

Hate mail from angry New Zealanders is landing on the desk of a Danish MP who ridiculed her Maori welcome.

Right-wing politician Marie Krarup dubbed the powhiri an “uncivilised” ritual, and marae a “grotesque” mark of multicultural worship.

Krarup, in an opinion piece in Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende, said she was shocked to be welcomed by a dancing, barely-clothed man, instead of a handshake or salute.

“When we came to a naval base, we were not received with a handshake or salute by uniformed men as usual,” she wrote.

“No, we were welcomed with a Maori dance ritual, with a half-naked man in grass skirt, shouting and screaming in Maori.”

Krarup, who was in New Zealand on a defence committee visit in March, said the man performed “strange rituals and poked his tongue out”.

She said she felt like an “idiot” when giving a hongi, and was relieved to catch a big kiss on the cheek by one man instead of the traditional nose touching.

When it was time to sing, Krarup said the waiata sounded like a Danish children’s song about a happy ladybird. She said it was accompanied by a “kindergarten-teacher-guitar-accompaniment”.

The marae, or “Maori temple”, was a form of cultural self-destruction, according to Krarup.

“It was decorated with God-figures with angry faces and large erect penises,” she said.

“It’s a mystery to me how the poor naval officers could endure both the ceremony and the surroundings.”

 Permalink  General Blatherings
Apr 082013
 

Response to Controversy : Sam Harris

Interesting read:  prominent atheist Sam Harris is being attacked by the secular left for daring to criticize Islam and the violent actions of some of its practitioners.  People are saying he “makes atheists look bad”, but he’s he’s actually one of the “celebrity” atheists who makes atheists look better because he doesn’t have the elitism of Dawkins or the assholery of Hitchens.  It’s not that I don’t appreciate those things–Hitchens’ brutal way of stating his case was brilliant–but I feel they tend to shut most believers down instead of opening them up to their ideas.  Sam knows how to make a topic like this conversational instead of confrontational, and for someone to call him a “racist” for his views (which are well-stated and clearly written) is beyond ridiculous.

 Permalink  General Blatherings
Feb 252013
 

Reading comments in the gun control debate makes me feel like America has already lost its struggle against gun violence, and a chunk of its soul as well. The pro-gun population has its share of rational and responsible people, but it’s also infested with paranoid barrel-strokers fantasizing about gun bans and society’s collapse so they have an excuse to gear up and run through the streets with guns blazing. They will not hear of any middle ground or compromise. Fine: let’s just arm everyone with bullet-sprayers, rockets, and tanks. It’s our right, after all. I should be able to hunt some possum with this here bazooka. DON’T OPPRESS ME YA OBAMA-LOVIN’ COMMIE! OK, I’m done. *grumble*

 Permalink  General Blatherings
Feb 222013
 

Gay Mormon Comes Out To Family, Records Their Reactions

Neat video, but I felt sad for him at the end. He’s saying he’ll have to remain single forever because he’ll always be a Mormon and they don’t approve of The Gay. His next step should be to quit the church and live his life free of the restrictions they place on love and companionship for certain people. Either that, or stay a Mormon and date who he wants. Those who truly love him won’t care.

 Permalink  General Blatherings
Feb 202013
 

I’m taking the plunge and signing up for the Amazon Cloud Player’s premium account, $25/yr for storing 250,000 songs. I looked into iTunes Match but it rudely bars me from using it because I have over 25,000 songs in my library. Google Play Music is good too and it’s free, but it caps at 20,000 songs which means I have to maintain a playlist and manually delete stuff from Play when I get too much in there. Bah! Amazon looks like it’s got the best bang for the buck so we’ll see how it goes…

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