Vatican Updates Its Thou-Shalt-Not List

By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer

VATICAN CITY - In olden days, the deadly sins included lust, gluttony and greed. Now, the Catholic Church says pollution, mind-damaging drugs and genetic experiments are on its updated thou-shalt-not list. Also receiving fresh attention by the Vatican was social injustice, along the lines of the age-old maxim: "The rich get richer while the poor get poorer."

In the Vatican's latest update on how God's law is being violated in today's world, Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, was asked by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano what, in his opinion, are the "new sins."

He cited "violations of the basic rights of human nature" through genetic manipulation, drugs that "weaken the mind and cloud intelligence," and the imbalance between the rich and the poor.


Apparently, Jesus faxed this in recently from General Headquarters to the junior branches here on Earth. He felt that the old deadly sins were, "so 20th century", according to one source. Glad to see that "being trendy, fashionable, and keepin' it real" has not been designated as a sin, at least not as of yet!

Krazy Aights

8 Things I’m Passionate About:

1. The welfare of children (copied from Willowtree, but true for me too!)

2. Fairness

3. Accuracy in thought and scholarship (i.e., hearing that Barack Obama is a Muslim, and then just running with it, would be one counter-example of just stupidness. Also, assuming that being Muslim is a problem; it is not.)

4. Reading (Russian novelists like Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy on one end, crazy UFO stuff on the other end of the spectrum)

5. Buying bargain books for reading at the Tattered Cover

6. Travel and learning about others - More of this by more of us, would lead to less of #3

7. Lasagna

8. That there is only one race, which is the human race, and that we are all related and have a common origin. Anthropology teaches me this, scientifically, and the best of Buddhism and Christianity confirm it for me, philosophically.

8 Things I Want To Do Before I Die:

1. Go to France
2. Get out of graduate school, for good
3. Hike the Appalachian Trail
4. Road trip across America
5. Teach young minds to be the best that they can be
6. Complete a Ph.D., maybe
7. Realize that a Ph.D. may not be all that it's cracked up to be
8. Read all of the classic literature that I haven't got to yet


8 Things I Often Say:

1. Get out of the city! (from Balki Bartakomous)
2. Wuh?
3. Wha Happened? (from A Mighty Wind)
4. Huh?
5. Ya better check yourself, before ya wreck yourself!
6. That's so stupid!
7. Are you going to eat that?
8. See that stop sign, genius?

8 Books I’ve Recently Read (°Or Am Still Reading; *Or want to read really soon):

1. Against The Day -Thomas Pynchon

2. Anna Karennina - Leo Tolstoy

3. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

4. Short Stories of Anton Chekov

5. Liberating the Gospels - John Shelby Spong (reading now)

6. Gang Leader For A Day - Subrir Venkatesh

7. Confrontation At Lepanto - TCF Hopkins

8. My Battle of Algiers - Ted Morgan



8 Songs I Could Listen To Over And Over:

1. Always and Forever - Heatwave
2. Arms of the Angel - Sara McLachlan
3. Don't Know Why - Norah Jones
4. Melissa - Allman Bros.
5. One More Silver Dollar - Allman Bros.
6. Don't Think Twice, It's Alright - Bob Dylan
7. Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell
8. Mainstreet - Bob Seger


8 Things That Attract Me To My Best Friends:

1. Intelligence
2. Caring
3. Kind heartedness
4. Curiosity
5. Humour
6. Courage
7. Open-minded
8. Independent