As I understand it, the power a pope has to declare someone a saint is tied to Jesus's telling Peter that whatever Peter "bound on Earth would be bound in Heaven". The Pope is said by those in the Roman Catholic church to be in the line of Peter and thus able to declare someone to be a saint. The CBC has an article declaring that Pope John Paul II will get his ride to sainthood sped up.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI is fast-tracking his predecessor's nomination for sainthood, telling clergy in Rome Friday that the traditional five-year waiting period will be waived for John Paul II.

It strikes me as odd to have what is supposed to be a special authority bestowed on the Pope by God become manifest as a beaurocratic process that can be fast-tracked.

To be declared a saint by the Pope, a person is required to perform a miracle from beyond the grave. I wonder what miracles John Paul will do post-ascendum. Hopefully he will come through with one or two. Otherwise he'd be slowing down the fast-tracking.

Or perhaps, like Peter, the current Pope will have a vision in which he is told that now that Christ has risen there is no longer a distinction between Jew and Gentile, slave or free, ordinary believer and saint. Perhaps, as with Peter's vision, if such a dream came to the current Pope he'd have to see it in re-run several times before he saw through the veil of tradition.

Acts 10:34 Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.

Woody Allen Quote

"I think that I'm cynical in general, but for me cynical is reality, with a different spelling."

CBC Commentary item on anti-semetism

Heard a commentary item on the CBC yesterday on anti-semetism to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. While the topic is vital I don't agree with the way the argument was put. Essentially, Murray Teitel, the author, says that criticizing Israel is tantamount to anti-semetism by other means.

While those who rail against Israel may be anti-Semitic, I can't see how this is necessarily so and I also am puzzled that Mr. Teitel, a lawyer, would think so. Surely one can criticize the actions of a country's government because one genuinely believes that they are wrong.

I personally am no fan of the current Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon. I find him to be swaggering, predatory, and opportunistic, not at all admirable or the man to lead Israel to peaceful co-existence with its neighbours. I am on the other hand a great admirer of a previous Israeli prime minister Yizhak Rabin. Nancy and I seriously considered naming our son Yizhak, after both the biblical and political figures. Where does that place me? Is one an anti-Semite if one is horrified at the continued suicide bombings by Palestinians yet also notes that many of the Palestinian children killed by Israeli troops were shot in the head or chest (i.e. probably not accidentally)? I think that the truth is that there's plenty of hatred to go around and that the painting someone as anti-Semitic for criticizing Israeli government policy is yet another foolish attempt to try to make black and white something that clearly is not.

Painting people with valid criticisms with the same brush as one paints true purveyors of hatred is illogical and has the effect of allowing those who really are anti-Semitic to hide amidst the resulting confusion. I think that an extra effect of aggressive arguments such as the one expressed by Mr. Teitel is to foster a sense of invulnerability amongst those in charge in Israel. This can lead to a weakened sense of accountability and an increase in ill-considered action.

Finally, the aggressiveness of Mr. Teitel's argument and its all-encompassing scope seems to me to put it push it away from the realm of the rational and toward that of propaganda. I don't trust propaganda from any source.

This commentary piece was made to mark Holocause Memorial Day. I wish we could do so with more clarity, for clarity and resolve are truly required to both remember the Holocaust and act on its lessons.

Looking at Wikipedia, I examined its section on logical fallacies. Mr. Teitel suggests that because other countries have committed horrible atrocities, those committed by the state of Israel are not significant. This would seem to be an example of a suppressed correlative fallacy. When Mr. Teitel suggests that since if you are anti-Semites you will criticize Israel therefore if you criticize Israel you must be anti-Semitic, he is using the fallacy of affirming the consequent.

Real estate tactics

Wired has a good article outlining findings related to real estate agents and their behaviours when selling a house. Holding out for an extra few percentage points when selling is not really worth the effort and so is not often done. The study this article is discussing compared ad wording and selling prices for homes sold by real estate agents versus ad wording and selling prices for homes sold by and owned by the agents. When selling their own homes bide their time and hold out for more money. Also, wording used in ads is telling. Less concrete words (e.g. well maintained, cozy) are hints to other agents to bid low and more concrete words (oak flooring) are hints to bid high. The name of the game is to move product at the most efficient combination of time on market and price for the agent.

One conclusion of the article is that knowing what's going on in terms of motivation, tactics, and language can put the person selling a home more in the driver's seat.