Wednesday, November 28, 2007

A Bad Day for McIlheran

The local right wing media sure like to strut their pseudo-machismo, with all sorts of blustery opining to show that they're real tough guys.

But unlike the local right wing media, our own Brew City Brawler has earned his moniker. He works out much harder than Charlie and Patrick together. You see, where those two consider supporting evidence to be a link to another conservative blogger's site, Brawler is a well read man that actually purveys the news sources and actually reads books that he hasn't written himself.

Yes, the mighty Brawler is a fine specimen of intellectual fitness, and he knows how to use it.
In a post he did today, Brawler gives McIlheran a one-two punch that I don't think the intellectual lightweight will quickly recover from.

The Brawler points out how the Vatican and Iran are working on establishing a common ground to work from. In other words, the Holy See, home of the Catholic Church to which McIlheran belongs, and the heathen Islamists are actually learning to coexist. Brawler delivers a sharp left jab with this:

Indeed, while home to a relatively small Christian minority, Iran is seen at the Vatican as a key player in the broader context of inter-faith relations. Religious experts say that Catholicism and Shi'a Islam have a surprisingly similar structure and approach to their different faiths. "What you have in Iran is a strong academic tradition, with both philosophical and mystical aspects — in many ways like Catholicism," says Father Daniel Madigan, a Jesuit scholar of islam, and a member of the Vatican's commission for religious relations with Islam who helped arrange for Khatami's visit. There is also a clerical hierarchy in Shi'ism that is absent in other forms of Islam. Madigan notes that Iranians have long studied other cultures and religions. "They know their Western stuff," he said. "Right now, they're isolated because of sanctions, but they really do want to interact with the world." And Rome is one place the interaction has already begun.

In the very same post, the Brawler delivers the right in a knock-out punch with this:

In 2003, then serving as a senior Vatican Cardinal, the current Pope was firmly behind John Paul II's opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Indeed, many in Rome cite parallels between the current push from American hardliners to confront Iran and the walkup to the war in Iraq. "The Holy See hasn't forgotten what happened in Iraq," says one Vatican insider. "Seeing how that situation has developed, there is great, great prudence on the part of the Holy See. The judgment shown on Iraq weighs on the Iran situation."

The sound you hear is McIlheran hitting the mat for the 10 count.

But all is not lost for McIlheran. If he would recover from the beating at the hands of Brawler, and decides he's not so macho after all, and wants to give up journalism, Mike Mathias has a suggestion for a new career for him-waterboard guinea pig.

1 comment:

  1. I dunno. Cognitive dissonance time. I think the Republican half of the brain usually wins.

    ReplyDelete