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AP/Oded Balilty
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — In winning election as Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio defied the papal pundits, even though they should have seen him coming. His rise marks the decisive shift within Roman Catholicism toward Latin America and the developing world.
Posted on Mar 14, 2013
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Fabio Pozzebom / Agencia Brasil
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Pope Benedict’s resignation shouldn’t have surprised us as much as it did. As an institutionalist who believes in the Roman Catholic Church as the carrier of truth in a sinful world, he would worry a great deal about the impact of his own infirmities on the institution’s capacity to thrive.
Posted on Feb 11, 2013
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AP/L'Osservatore Romano
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Whatever messages Pope Benedict tried to convey during his tenure were “drowned out” by the child abuse scandal and other controversies that rocked the Vatican during his reign, John Hooper writes at The Guardian.
Posted on Feb 11, 2013
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Zuade Kaufman / Truthdig
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Gore Vidal reads an essay first published in 2007, in which the author and iconoclast suggested that perhaps there was a more sinister explanation for President Bush’s fiascoes than mere incompetence: He was out to destroy the American empire.
Posted on Aug 3, 2012
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KendraKaptures (CC BY-ND 2.0)
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By Rebecca Solnit, TomDispatch —
We have a new science fiction trilogy that’s perfect for our moment: Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games,” a dystopian vision set in a North America ruled by decadent, luxurious oligarchs who sacrifice young people in an annual televised Roman-style blood contest.
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Life for most of us can be carefully—if unintentionally—structured to avoid confrontation with the sea of human misery, despair and hopelessness around us. Whatever his intention, British photographer Lee Jeffries is interrupting the arrangement.
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Moyan_Brenn (CC-BY)
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Historians used the Gini coefficient, a modern measure of wealth inequality, to compare disparities between the classes in the Roman Empire 150 years after the death of Christ and those in the United States today. The ancients, with their ranks of plebeians, patricians and senators, scored slightly better than we did. (more)
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Wikimedia Commons / FSU Guy CC-BY-3.0
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Police walking a beat in Rome have more than pickpockets to look out for. A new rash of vandals and treasure hunters has afflicted the home of the Roman Empire and the Catholic Church, a city so stuffed with artifacts it is difficult to protect. (more)
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Flickr / Adam Blicharski
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The Roman Catholic Church has beatified Pope John Paul II despite the many child abuse scandals that took place while he was the church’s leader. The ceremony was held Sunday at the Vatican.
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Wikimedia Commons / Agência Brasil
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Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi’s political rap sheet is already quite appalling, from alleged under-age sexcapades to anti-Semitic jokes. But new allegations by state prosecutors have added another blotch on the billionaire’s bill: He’s accused of buying votes to stay in power.
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Wikimedia Commons / nicolas genin (CC-BY-SA)
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So, as per usual, Italy’s own media baron and embarrassment-in-chief Silvio Berlusconi is embroiled in another sex scandal involving another teenage girl. This time, however, he’s made it worse with homophobic commentary that didn’t fly with actress Julianne Moore.
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AP / Riccardo De Luca
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An Iranian representative is now included in a league of international envoys from the EU, NATO, the U.S. and elsewhere—aka the International Contact Group on Afghanistan—that is engaging in an ongoing conversation about Afghanistan’s future.
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Wikimedia Commons
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One wonders if there is a smutty equivalent to Nero’s fiddling while Rome burns. If there is, it might be applicable to the senior staffers at the SEC who spent hours watching pornography on government computers instead of policing the nation’s financial system.
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No, it’s not shaped like a boot, but a new Italian-themed McDonald’s sandwich with the straightforward moniker “McItaly” is causing a stir in Italy, where even the nation’s agriculture minister has weighed in on the controversy. For the record, he endorses the burger and thinks those who oppose it are “ignorant Stalinists.”
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The whip-smart and ever-sly Gore Vidal visited “Real Time” on Friday, giving his historical and sometimes hysterically funny take on the state of the United States. He also revisited a few key moments from his personal history, illustrated by some priceless archival footage found by Bill Maher’s crack research team. Is it too soon to make an Amelia Earhart joke?
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iwatchstuff.com
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It would appear that the pope is not a Dan Brown fan. The Vatican has refused to allow star Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard to film scenes from author Brown’s “Da Vinci Code” prequel, “Angels and Demons,” on its holy territory.
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Flickr / mattdente
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Humankind’s steady migration from fields to cities may have to take a slight detour. There are a lot of people in the world now and feeding them is becoming a problem. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told world leaders we face a “historic opportunity to revitalize agriculture,” warning that production would have to go up by 50 percent over the next 20 or so years.
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U.S. Air Force / Tech. Sgt. Jeremy Lock
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Zimbabwe’s president plans to stop by Rome for a food summit sponsored by the United Nations, a fact that Australia’s foreign minister finds “frankly obscene.” He’s not alone in his disdain for Robert Mugabe, who has transformed Zimbabwe from one of Africa’s bread baskets into a place of chronic hunger.
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time.com
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Hollywood stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney and Nicole Kidman are now personae non gratae in Rome, according to the Italian capital’s new mayor, Gianni Alemanno, a former fascist who thinks American stars shouldn’t be hyped at Rome’s annual film festival at the expense of Italian actors and directors.
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The revered myth holds that Rome was founded by the twins Romulus and Remus, rescued and raised as infants by a she-wolf. Now, scientists say they have discovered an ornate cave that ancient Romans believed to be the wolf’s lair.
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Cullen Murphy joins Stephen Colbert to compare and contrast the American and Roman empires. For all the old empire’s glory, its rampant poverty, disease and corruption, combined with endless war, make for an unwelcome comparison.
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Zuade Kaufman / Truthdig
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By Gore Vidal — The iconic author, historian and patriot suggests that perhaps there’s a more sinister explanation for the president’s fiascos than mere incompetence: He’s out to destroy the American empire.
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The pop queen staged a mock crucifixion in a stadium a mile away from Vatican City, ignoring accusations of blasphemy by the Catholic Church, and even inviting Pope Benedict to come and watch.
Of course, Madonna has been fending off Vatican blasphemy accusations since 1989—in the pre-“covering up for child molestors” era, when many people still felt the Catholic Church held the moral high ground.
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Remember the uranium ore that Hussein supposedly purchased from Niger? A contract documenting the sale was used as evidence of the need to invade Iraq and was included in a 2002 U.S. State Department fact sheet on Iraq’s weapons program. Remember how the IAEA denounced the documents as fakes shortly before the invasion of Iraq? Well, according to the Times Online, the forgers have finally been named.
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Greenland’s Great Melt Is Pinned on Climate Change
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