__
According to Google Translate, the song is called “Tight-fisted Girl”. I can only hope the lyrics aren’t hideously inappropriate/embarrassing, or at least that no one among the Balloon Juice commentariat will tell us if they are.
__
On a completely unrelated topic, the NYTimes‘ doggedly pragmatic Nicholas Kristoff finds the answer to a question that has been raised by a number of you:
… I wondered what other religiously affiliated organizations do in this situation. Christian Science traditionally opposed medical care. Does The Christian Science Monitor deny health insurance to employees?
__
“We offer a standard health insurance package,” John Yemma, the editor, told me.
__
That makes sense. After all, do we really want to make accommodations across the range of faith? What if organizations affiliated with Jehovah’s Witnesses insisted on health insurance that did not cover blood transfusions? What if ultraconservative Muslim or Jewish organizations objected to health care except at sex-segregated clinics?
Cermet
Logic? WTF? This is the purity of our body fluids at stake! We don’t need no stupid badges … I mean logic!
Baud
My religion requires me to get health care from the government. Accommodate that, motherfuckers.
capt
I guess atheists are just SOL?
The only “logic” the other side uses is anything against Obama – perfectly logical to them.
Triassic Sands
@Baud:
In the name of sanity, my “religion” requires me to call for the end to all other religions. (Except yours, it’s OK.)
Triassic Sands
I’m really sick of all the Christian whining in this country. The Catholic Church is mired in the Dark Ages, with reproductive tenets suitable for a world of 250 million people, not seven billion. Just as bad, or even worse, their policies are hopelessly sexist, even misogynistic. Women are essentially baby machines, and the fact that sex is pleasurable is apparently some kind of trick pulled by Satan when the Big Dog wasn’t looking. So, even though sex is one of the most thrilling and sublimely satisfying physical and emotional experiences available to humans, they have to forgo it unless they’re seeking another mouth to feed, body to clothe, and mind to educate. The Catholic patriarchy treats sex like something to be feared, rather than a source of intimacy that can help strengthen the marital bond between husband and wife (and h&h, and w&w). The inappropriateness and, yes, gross stupidity of Catholic teaching on this subject is obvious, but emphasized by the way almost all American Catholics completely ignore the Church’s reproductive teachings. I would like to see American Catholics (joined by hundreds of millions of other Catholics around the world) give Rome an ultimatum — humanize your reproductive policies or we’re going to find a new Chairman and Board of Directors.
MonkeyBoy
Huh? According to this Google translate the title might be “Wasteful Peacock” or “Wasteful Maiden”, and the lyrics are so butchered by Google that I can’t figure them out.
I like Finnish singing, though nothing so far has topped Loituma – “Ievan Polkka” in terms of pure feel good.
SRW1
Nothing embarrassing in the lyrics. Any female teen/twen stuck in a rural area probably can relate to it.
Summary of the lyrics:
Many kinds of suitors came
courting me. The most hand-
some boys of the village and
the smutty liquor-likers, too.
I didn’t take any of them.
Now they call me a prude.
http://www.golyr.de/vaerttinae/songtext-pihi-neito-613583.html
The style of music is fusion based on Eastern-Karelia folk music.
Warren Terra
Another good one is organ transplantation. Apparently a number of cultures and faiths have real problems with organ donation, because they believe that the afterlife or the eventual resurrection is affected by the removal of organs (Orthodox Judaism also has problems with cadaveric organ donation, not because of an afterlife but because of very strict and detailed rules about burial, but they’ve been mostly overridden by the imperative to help people). I seem to recall that one of the countries affected by these beliefs about organ donation is Korea (it was explained that this was why the Koreans prioritized cloning research, leading to their fraudulent claim to have cloned a human – they need to develop technology to grow transpant organs, because people won’t donate); I therefore wonder whether this is part of the beliefs of The Unification Church, and whether it’s reflected in the health plan offered to employees of The Washington Times.
SRW1
@MonkeyBoy:
You might also enjoy this one:
Luman valo – Maa on niin kaunis
amk
Speaking religions and fanatics (aka rc’s), is this the new face of modern islam ? Or not as the case may be.
gene108
Something has to fire up the GOP base to vote in November. Their Presidential candidates aren’t doing it for them, so I guess its going to be the “War on
ChristianityReligion” that has to do the trick.I do wonder, if conservative women will realize they are talking about birth-control, which conservative women also enjoy using.
So far it seems only men have piped up in support of this poutrage. I don’t hear many women jumping up to endorse this in the media.
MonkeyBoy
@SRW1:
Nice singing, but the music isn’t particularly Finnish – it is the too common bog standard church hymn Fairest Lord Jesus/Schönster Herr Jesu.
Mino
Among all the hysterical ranting, Karl Marx must have invaded Santorum’s brain for a second, because Little Rick sure spoke the truth about religion.
As a population becomes more secular, it becomes harder for the elite to hold total power and the guillotine does raise its blade.
Wait for the birthcontrol guillotine, suckers.
Warren Terra
@amk:
You might like to hear the half-hour radio documentary version.
(Short version: if he’s for real, and if people listen to him, his vision of Islam would be a very welcome development).
scav
Speaking of Islam, why couldn’t one of those CorporationsArePeopleOfFaith,MyFriend insist they employees conform to Sharia?
scav
Or, maybe this is just their corporatism MBA outsourcing ethos writ large? Foreign Policy has clearly been outsourced to Israel so now it’s Heath Care Policy to the Vatican.
Villago Delenda Est
@gene108:
If the GOP is going to try to frame this as a “War on
ChristianityReligion”, then let’s be brutally honest: this country was founded by a bunch of men who explicitly intended to do exactly that.If you don’t like the separation of church and state, get the fuck out. Now.
jurassicpork
No pun intended but even paying down our rent next month is a pipe dream. Any help would be seriously appreciated.
brantl
The Catholic church has also always felt itself to be especially privileged to indulge in self-victimhood. Woe is them.
Samara Morgan
wallah.
the Moustache of Understanding actually makes a coherent argument.
republicans should sit this one out
Samara Morgan
@brantl: the catholic church steeps you in guilt.
i grew up catholic, and no one is more guilty than a catholic grrl.
azlib
Logic and consistency does not seem to have a place at the table in our political discourse. Hurrah for Kristof at least trying to inject some sense in the discussion, but I fear it is a lost cause.
Dr. Squid
@MonkeyBoy: Lots of Finnish lyrics sound feel-good…
FlipYrWhig
@Mino:
You mean vagina dentata?
patrick II
@Samara Morgan:
Friedman does his usual schtick. He gives a list of specific Republican follies:
but then says:
The problems he has with republicans is specific, but I have to say as a democrat, I don’t know how to stop my “magical thinking.” Perhaps I shouldn’t wish most money is controlled by so few, or that a few old men in funny red hats should have a say in who gets to have birth control. Or perhaps kids shouldn’t have to mortgage their future to attend college, or those that can’t afford college work for a pittance, or go off to winless wars fought for the illusions of those who want to sustain their money and power.
I guess we need a third party to explain it to us.
Mike G
If the Catholic bishops get their way on health coverage, I expect a rash of businesspeople claiming to be Christian Scientists so they can end all medical insurance for their employees “on religious grounds”.
kideni
Finns roll their r’s like no one else. Hedningarna was awesome (it was originally a Swedish group that did mostly instrumentals, but their later incarnation had two fantastic Finnish women singing and playing various instruments). Tuuli has the added bonus of Wimme, a Saami joik singer, adding some vocals.
marv
@MonkeyBoy:
loved the loituma (seriously thought of going all caps I liked it so bad, but I think there are rules about that) many thanks
pat_s
What an engaging and spirited performance. The artists’ enthusiasm is infectious – erhaps because the Finns are the largest consumers of coffee in the world per capita. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_coffee_consumption_per_capita