Action Alert!

The single dumbest statement of 2006.

By ( articles ) | Dec 04, 2006

It comes, not surprisingly, from James Carroll of the Boston Globe, writing about what he always writes about: the intellectual deficiencies of the Catholic Church leadership, which has the temerity to disagree with him.

This time, in a disconnected ramble prompted by the Pope's visit to Turkey, Carroll notes that St. Benedict was not officially named the patron saint of Europe until 1964. Perhaps you don't grasp the significance:

That the patron of Europe could be a man from Rome, associated with the Benedictine monasteries that flourished from Italy to Ireland and back, was an implicit affirmation less of the whole culture than of the NATO alliance.

Elsewhere in the column our hero announces: "The old structures of mind must be dismantled." He's got a head start.

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  • Posted by: - Aug. 10, 2010 4:07 PM ET USA

    I have always wondered about that "need to conceal his sexuality" bit. When I was on active duty, I did not have to "conceal" my heterosexuality. Neither did I have to openly display it. I was a soldier; my duty had nothing to do with my genitals.

  • Posted by: - Aug. 09, 2010 6:49 PM ET USA

    These are very damning charges against young "brighter than thou" Bradley Manning. If proved in court and with the distinct possibility that his actions result in loss of life, he belongs in federal prison for life. Moreover, the NYT has for decades skated along the thin ice of misinformation, deception and sedition.

  • Posted by: Defender - Aug. 09, 2010 2:30 PM ET USA

    Unfortunately, the military responds to the will of the President and the Congress...and we know which way they swing.

  • Posted by: Gil125 - Aug. 09, 2010 2:26 PM ET USA

    wolfdavef3415, you're thinking of the wrong paper. The New York Times doesn't care any more about the people of Afghanistan than it did about the people of South Vietnam when it published the Pentagon Papers.

  • Posted by: wolfdavef3415 - Aug. 09, 2010 12:51 PM ET USA

    You know who else is facing the consequences? The Afghanistan citizens who were tired of the Taliban and decided to help the US military to get rid of them. Did the NYT mention that in their story?

  • Posted by: New Sister - Aug. 09, 2010 12:36 PM ET USA

    Nor will we see charges of sodomy added on to his court martial, even if there is proof of it (e.g., his own admission)

  • Posted by: New Sister - Aug. 09, 2010 12:33 PM ET USA

    Now watch political commentators get scared to accuse him -- I bet we see a drop in the "merits death penalty" rhetoric we heard at first.