QH’s – Coal mining, Cardinal Mahoney and TGD

Today’s quick hitters:

  • It’s always terrible to hear about tragedies like the coal miners in West Virginia. What frustrates me is when I see people use incidents like this to make political points. Why we need nuclear (of which I’m a big fan) or solar (like it too) or hydro (thumbs up) or wind (I’m a sailor for crying out loud, we love wind!). But is this really the time for that? A year from now when debating the issue, bringing up statistics of how many people die mining coal, that’s a reasonable thing to do. But right now, it’s just a time to mourn those who have died and help save those trapped and comfort those who have lost loved ones.
  • For those not involved in “inside” Catholic politics, they wouldn’t make much of this, but it’s a big deal: Pope Names San Antonio Archbishop José Gomez Coadjutor Archbishop Of Los Angeles. This means that existing archbishop/Cardinal Mahoney, who’s both a liberal in the Church and has not had the best handling of the sexual abuse crisis (he’s a stone-wall’er) will be replaced when he reached his “mandatory” retirement age of 75. The reality is that a guy of Mahoney’s stature is generally allowed to keep going long after the retirement age or at a minimum the Pope doesn’t start looking for a replacement until after the guy’s 75th birthday. In this case, he’s named the successor a full 9 months in advance. That’s not insignificant. Here’s a fairly balanced commentary on it. Also interesting to see the local paper with an article on it.
  • I finally got my copy of The God Delusion (TGD) from the public library (as to put as little money in the pockets of Dawkins as possible. Expect to see the reviewing start shortly.

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