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Europe
Buttiglione cites 'anti-Christian' fad
2004-12-12
Italian politician Rocco Buttiglione, a conservative Catholic and confidant of Pope John Paul II who was recently denied a position in the European Union's Cabinet for having called homosexuality a sin, found a receptive audience in Washington last week. "In Europe, it is fashionable to be anti-Christian," Mr. Buttiglione told the American Enterprise Institute.

Mr. Buttiglione, Italy's minister for relations with the European Union, recently led an unsuccessful effort to have the Continent's new constitution include an acknowledgment that Christianity played a role in the development of Western democracy. "I wanted to add the Christian roots in the constitution in order to make it clear that this Europe is the Europe that has arisen out of Solidarnosc," he said. He was referring to the Vatican-backed trade union Solidarity, which in the early 1980s inspired the collapse of communism in Poland and began a revolution that spread throughout Eastern Europe. "This is the spirit of Europe [that constitution writers] did not want to recognize. They wanted a Europe that goes back to the anti-clericalism of the Third French Republic," Mr. Buttiglione said.
Posted by:Fred

#15  When y'all get out of Kindergarten, let me know. You think it's about "sensitivity", Brett? It's not -- if I were so easily hurt, I'd have died long time ago.

It's about *contempt*, instead. Time and again people of this forum seems to like finding ways to increase my contempt towards them by constantly representing themselves as even stupider and less worthy of discussion than I'd already considered them.

Oh, American assistance towards Greece in WW2 and shortly thereafter! Wow, I've *never* heard that one before in this forum-- nor have I ever seen efforts by idiots to think that it makes them less personally contemptible when they attempt to distract from their own *personal* ugliness and stupidity of mind by mentioning good actions of worthy compatriots in decades past.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris   2004-12-12 7:14:48 PM  

#14  Sniff, sniff. AK, you are soooooo sensitive. Those terrible Amis are so cruel!

AK, ever heard of a man named James Van Fleet? You might not be aware, but he could be considered the father of modern greece. Check it out, dude! (i.e. google his name and 'greece')
Posted by: Brett_the_Quarkian   2004-12-12 6:18:03 PM  

#13  Brett> AK, Pretty much all of the European countries qualify under the "Little, Shitty" program

I know -- that's the kind of everlasting American gratitude of the "we will remember and honour and never forget your support" I had been talking about that the Eastern European so-called "New Europe" nations will receive for their assistance in Iraq.

A poem from me to you:

"Memories are truly short /
when comes the time to insult."
Posted by: Aris Katsaris   2004-12-12 5:40:37 PM  

#12  AK, Pretty much all of the European countries qualify under the "Little, Shitty" program with Greece being among the leader in both qualifications.
Posted by: Brett_the_Quarkian   2004-12-12 5:35:17 PM  

#11  Oh, Aris, you're so effective when you stomp your little feet and turn blue in the face! Do it again, do it agin! So cute! I'm about to capitulate!
Posted by: Asedwich   2004-12-12 5:34:53 PM  

#10  Last post was in response to Asedwich, not too true.

too true> "France, with a population that is less than 1/4 of the US and about 4.5% of China could reasonably be said to be a "small" country."

Yeah, compared to those countries. Not compared to the rest of the EU member states, where France is second largest (alongside UK and Italy), behind Germany -- and since this thread is a reference to a dispute between EU member states, it wouldn't make much sense for Shipman to be making a comparison between France and China.

So try again.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris   2004-12-12 5:29:57 PM  

#9  Ah, more members of the troll-brigade. Whatever, assholes.

Don't you people even *care* about trying to appear sentient? Which at some point means that you'll need to actually think and respond to what a person *says* rather than simply initiate your automatic insult program, to be applied regardless of topic or content of thread?
Posted by: Aris Katsaris   2004-12-12 5:22:51 PM  

#8  Which brave little countries are you talking about, Shipman? France? Not so little.

I guess it depends on your perspective. 2000 population figures:

Italy, 58 million.
France, 60 million.
UK, 60 million.
Turkey, 67 million.
Germany, 83 million.

And:

Greece, 10 million.
New York City and close-in suburbs (w/in 20 miles of Manhattan), 14 million.

And of course the huge (in population countries):

India was at a billion in 2000 and China was at 1.3 billion - but India's birthrate (1.38%) was higher than China's (0.9%) so they may be on the verge of catching up

Whereas France's birthrate was 0.38%, Germany's was 0.29% and Italy's was 0.09%.

So France, with a population that is less than 1/4 of the US and about 4.5% of China could reasonably be said to be a "small" country. Ditto for natural resources, by the way, if you don't like population as a measure.
Just for comparison .... The US was at 276 million with a birthrate of 0.9%, but our immigration rate is high and those populations will swell the birthrate as well if previous trends hold true over the next decade.
Posted by: too true   2004-12-12 5:22:44 PM  

#7  It's OK, Aris, we already know Buttiglione's cock is bigger than yours. You can chill out now.
Posted by: Asedwich   2004-12-12 5:07:21 PM  

#6  Which brave little countries are you talking about, Shipman? France? Not so little.

But if your stupid trollish ignorant-beyond-belief clueless self is talking about Greece, I assure you that it being the leader of conservatism in the European Union, it was definitely among the nations that desired to have such a reference to so-called "Christian roots" inserted in the preamble.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris   2004-12-12 3:16:22 PM  

#5  Thank God for brave little countries showing the path. Thanks again!
Posted by: Shipman   2004-12-12 2:44:19 PM  

#4  "I wanted to add the Christian roots in the constitution in order to make it clear that this Europe is the Europe that has arisen out of Solidarnosc,"

If that had been the case he'd have urged for a mention of the Solidarnosc in the preamble rather than for mention of Christian roots.

"They wanted a Europe that goes back to the anti-clericalism of the Third French Republic"

If that had been the case we'd have included "All religions must die" in the preamble.

Buttiglione is a little me-so-very-very-oppressed theocratic jerk. He's just disappointed that the flimsy facade he had tried to erect, pretending to be a fellow indeed personally religious but in favour of secularism, wasn't capable of deceiving the European Parliament.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris   2004-12-12 2:10:39 PM  

#3  It also is a fad in certain blue states.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2004-12-12 10:20:38 AM  

#2  "In Europe, it is fashionable to be anti-Christian,"
No, in Europe it is still fashionable to be Marxist even with its massive failure laying right in front of it. Marxism is practiced like a religion and like the boys in Islam, is intolerant of competition. Given the opportunity and power, they'd oppress the Christians as much as the Jews have been.
Posted by: Don   2004-12-12 9:57:39 AM  

#1  Send that man a pizza!
Posted by: Shipman   2004-12-12 8:57:18 AM  

00:00