Here’s a news item that will surely bring a smile to your face, as it does to the Pope’s: some German lawyer has filed a complaint against the Pope, for failing to wear a seatbelt as he rode in his Popemobile on a recent German tour.
I’m wondering how long it will be, before environmentalists attack the Popemobile over its ‘carbon footprint’; demanding it be replaced by an electric model, or perhaps a horse-drawn carriage… Or even return to being carried on the sedia gestatoria…
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Svar
December 12, 2011 at 12:04 pm
I see that this labeled as “humour” which I’m guessing means “humor”. I can’t find anything funny about this. Popes don’t have to wear seatbelts. Plus, if not wearing a seatbelt is good enough for the Pope, it’s good enough for me. I never wear a seatbelt unless I’m driving.
Will S.
December 12, 2011 at 12:36 pm
I never realized you’re humour-impaired (sorry, humor-impaired), Svar. 😉
What’s funny, is the absurdity. Even the Pope finds it amusing, according the Vatican.
The Pope’s driver isn’t going that fast when the Pope is in the Popemobile. The speeds travelled, are akin to the sort of speeds at which parade floats carry people on them in parades all over the world, none of whom are expected to wear seatbelts while riding on such floats. But because the Pope is the Pope, some humourless leftist (or possibly Lutheran) lawyer has to take offense, and seek to ‘punish’ him.
Now, if you’re in a fast-moving car, and the car comes to a very sudden stop, you could become a projectile, which is why wearing a seatbelt is a sensible course of action, not only for yourself, but for any other people you might injure or kill as you fly through the windshield and sail through the air. So you shouldn’t base your own choices in this regard on what the Pope does, unless you ride in the back of a similar vehicle as the Pope’s, very slowly and have millions of people lining streets to catch a glimpse of you, while you stand, smile and wave at them, kiss babies, whatever. In normal circumstances, while riding in or driving a motorized vehicle, wearing a seatbelt is the smart and moral thing to do, and in many jurisdictions, it’s also the law.
Svar
December 12, 2011 at 1:03 pm
Hahaha, Will, I got it. I was just pretending to be pissy. I know how slow the Popemobile goes. To be honest, I thought the German lawyer was some Jew. You know how much they complain and stuff.
As for seatbelts, I only wear them when I’m sitting in the front or driving. I never wear them in the back, even though Texas law requires all passengers, even those in the back, to wear them. I just don’t want to.
Will S.
December 12, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Oh, my bad; I’m the humourless one. 🙂
Oh, who knows; they don’t give the lawyer’s name, alas…
A lot of people don’t wear seatbelts, and I understand the sentiment, not liking being forced to. I think it’s a good idea to wear them, though, regardless of where in the car you are.
Kathy
December 12, 2011 at 6:40 pm
Lol..Even the Holy Father can see the funny side… BTW it’s HUMOUR Svar 😉
I have a pic here that you guys might like, continuing along on the seatbelt theme, however I’ll have to email it.. Stand by ..
Will S.
December 12, 2011 at 10:27 pm
I’m glad to see that even upside-down, southern-hemisphere, English-speakers can spell right, unlike our American friends. 😉
Matthew
December 16, 2011 at 11:26 pm
I’m pretty sure the full armor of God includes a seat-belt.
Matthew
December 16, 2011 at 11:29 pm
Svar, the bad guys won with people of my generation. I feel naked and unprotected when not buckled up for safety. Even just moving my truck across a street. It’s sick.
Will S.
December 16, 2011 at 11:31 pm
@ Matthew: “I’m pretty sure the full armor of God includes a seat-belt.”
Ah, but if so, it stands for something else – as a metaphor. Which raises an intriguing question; what is the believer’s ‘seat-belt’, as he rides through life, with God as his pilot (not co-pilot; silly evangelicals missing the point; as some have responded to that “God is my co-pilot”, “Then you’d better change seats”)?
Matthew
December 16, 2011 at 11:55 pm
Did I just get Will with my dry, droll wit?
Also, I just realized that my mental image of the armor of God is based on the gear the fairies give Prince Philip in Sleeping Beauty. DISNEEEEEEY!
Will S.
December 17, 2011 at 12:00 am
You didn’t get me; I’m challenging you to actually come up with something! 😉
Matthew
December 17, 2011 at 12:12 am
Okay, Will, but first you have to tell me who, in this extended allegory, is Ralph Nader?
Will S.
December 17, 2011 at 12:17 am
Now you got me!
And I see the extrapolatio ad absurdum this can lead to, ‘Put on the whole airbag of God’…
Matthew
December 17, 2011 at 12:19 am
Lest ye be thrown through the windshield of Satan, yea even bitten by the terrible vindshield vipers as ye fly by.
Will S.
December 17, 2011 at 12:23 am
“Dearly beloved, are their flies on your windshield? Or have you let Christ scrub it clean?”
This shit writes itself…
Matthew
December 17, 2011 at 12:26 am
… reminding us, we could be torn apart. Death is everywhere! There are lambs for the slaughter, waiting to die.
Will S.
December 17, 2011 at 12:30 am
Indeed.
A Canadian musician named Washboard Hank, wrote a truck-drivin’ country song (like Red Sovine, etc.) called “Trucker, turn to Jesus”; the chorus goes:
Trucker, turn to Jesus,
You’re driving too fast,
Gear down to God,
This run, might be, your last,
Heaven or hell,
Around the next bend,
Truck driver, turn to Jesus,
For He is, your friend…
Matthew
December 17, 2011 at 12:38 am
Svar, whenever anyone says “humor” I think of this splendid song:
Incidentally, this is the melody I use for the Rivendell elves’ song “Down here in the Valley” when reading The Hobbit to my children. I think it’s fair to say that buries the needle so far beyond nerdy that it makes a full recovery into awesome.
Matthew
December 17, 2011 at 12:39 am
Tonight, after the kiddies were in bed, I tried using “Sugar Magnolia” as the melody to Tom Bombadil’s introductory song. There was much laughing.