Roaring

Today was my weekend - tomorrow I have to go into work for Slugfest. BUT, as weekends go, it was relaxing. I hung some pictures while Kevin put up some plasterboard in the space where the pretend fireplace used to be, and I contemplated whether we were doing work of equal value. I was contemplating it in a rather tongue-in-cheek fashion but nonetheless, it`s valid. His took more muscle power, mine took a practised eye.

The Equal Pay Act of 1970 in Britain (and dear Lord, how many dates of various Acts of Parliament did we have to memorise in History) not only ended the scurrilous practice of having different rates of pay for men and women, but also introduced the notion of equal pay for `like work`. You cannot begin to imagine how often I think about this.
The Guardian has a great article on the women machinists at the Ford Motor Company who walked out in 1968 in protest at male colleagues, doing EXACTLY the same job as them earning more.

I`m still smouldering over an article that Sleepy`s blog pointed to yesterday. The Vatican has send out a decree that all the world should be taxed. No, that`s not it, no, they sent out a decree that Bishops ordaining women would be excommunicated.
Now this pisses me off no end because it`s based on their own deliberate misinterpretation. Apparently, since Jesus only had male Apostles, only men can be priests. Clearly this was because at the time, women were seen to have different roles in Jewish society. Whereas now, we`re not.
Unless the man Jesus actually said, and it`s reported by more than one source,
'Oh, btw, just in case any of you are thinking of setting up a religion in my name after I`ve been horribly put to death by the Roman administration on the insistence of my own people, remember, NO WOMEN PRIESTS,' then frankly, sod right off.

Secondly, how dare the Vatican think they can excommunicate anyone? That may have worked in more superstitious times, but basically, today, the magic is in the act itself. If some worthy in my church said I could no longer take communion, it would make no difference to me at all. I would take it myself, go to a different church, whatever, but communion, both with God and with the rest of the communicant members of the Faith is not dependant on my receiving the bread and the wine from the hand of a priest.
AND, in Tudor times, when excommunications were flying around like bugs, the idea was to cut off access to the afterlife.
Well, guess what, that's not the prerogative of some bloke.

I agree with Sleepy wholeheartedly on this one. Bring it on bozos, bring it on. The more stupid they make themselves look, the more they pour their hatred and venom out, the more they damage themselves.

Over the years the church has burnt at the stake, broken on the wheel, mutilated, humiliated, violated and tortured women and this in spite of the worship of the Mother of God. But hear us roar, made stronger by the sacrifice of those who have gone before.