Irish bookmakers take bets on next pope

The early favorites are Dionigi Tettamanzi of Italy and Francis Arinze of Nigeria, both listed on 11-4 odds.

Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras is third with 9-2 odds, while Joseph Ratzinger of Germany and Claudio Hummes of Brazil both follow with odds of 7-1.

Tettamanzi is a member of the sharply right-wing cult-like Opus Dei, whose members allegedly include Supreme Court Justices Scalia and Thomas as well as ex-FBI Director Freeh. The deceased Pope’s top advisor is a member, and the Pope was close and friendly to the group. Such arch-conservatives in the Church generally loathe the reforms of Vatican II and stand in sharp opposition to the taught-to-question and intellectually rigorous Jesuits.

There is much to imply that Opus Dei is a religious cult. Its members are targeted for recruitment, (preferably, impressionable college-age idealists) sworn to secrecy, told they are the “elite guard of God”, trained in isolation, censored in their reading and, indoctrinated in the group ideology.

Grossman recounts some of the details related to Opus Dei’s founder, Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, who was a young priest in Spain during the 1930’s. “Because the Church was identified with the ruling class, many priests were killed, a fate Escriva narrowly escaped by going into hiding. When Gen. Francisco Franco won the war, Escriva allied his movement with Franco’s authoritarian regime, with several Opus Dei members occupying key positions in his government,” avers Grossman.

What Mr. Grossman conveniently leaves out, is that he has just provided a detailed description of an ultra-conservative group that has its roots in European fascism.

Here’s a run-down on the top candidates, most of whom are highly conservative, if not reactionary. Most of the current cardinals, who will elect the next Pope, were appointed by Pope John Paul, and they share his conservative bias. Thus, there is no chance of a Cardinal who favors liberation theology, like Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, being elected, None, zero, zip. I also doubt they will elect a Black African, which puts Francis Arinze of Nigeria out of contention.

My guess. The Cardinals will elect an ultra-conservative Italian.

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Is there such a thing as too much profit? In some of continental Europe’s biggest economies, it seems a nervous political establishment has decided that there is.

Corporate France has turned out record profits in the latest reporting season. But rather than celebrate the economic achievement, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the prime minister, has warned businesses not to be too greedy.

“When I hear … about the profit generated by a certain number of companies, I tell myself that if they want to continue making profits they will have to share them out,” he said recently.

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SF tries to restrict bloggers.

It’s not just the FEC bloggers need to worry about. Local governments will likely try to get into the act, as this ridiculous San Francisco effort proves.

Just when you thought the Federal Election Commission had it out for the blogosphere, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors took it up a notch and announced yesterday that it will soon vote on a city ordinance (PDF) that would require local bloggers to register with the city Ethics Commission and report all blog-related costs that exceed $1,000 in the aggregate.

Blogs that mention candidates for local office that receive more than 500 hits will be forced to pay a registration fee and will be subject to website traffic audits, according to Chad Jacobs, a San Francisco City Attorney.

The entire Board is set to vote on the measure on April 5th, 2005. I wonder if they’ll be forced to register their own blogs!

The legislation was written by Supervisor Sophie Maxwell. If this ordinance passes, I will be the first to flash Sophie Maxwell and San Francisco a big middle finger. But if we make enough noise, it may not come down to that.

Sophie Maxwell
sophie.maxwell@sfgov.org
(415) 554-7670 - voice
(415) 554-7674 - fax

Note, this won’t be the last such effort. But the more pain we inflict, the less likely other governments will be to try to regulate free speech on the Internet.

Whether this ordinance is a poorly worded honest mistake, or whether its a deliberate attack on citizen media, it cannot be allowed to stand. [Daily Kos]

This noxious attack on freedom of speech deserves a loud and unmistakable Fuck You in response.

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