The venacular language bibles in the Middle ages: what prohibition?

Yesterday, I read Bill's interesting post on reformations in both Christanity and Islam I came across a passage about the Bible during the Middle Ages that I frankly disagreed with. Bill claims that the medieval Catholic Church prohibited the vernacular translations of the Bible. That's simple not the case but I didn't have any sources to support my contrarian position. So I contacted a well-known Catholic blogger and he provided me with a few links.
Here's one of them . Note that the poster directs her answer to both the curious Catholic and prototypical anti-Catholic and isn't an attack on a respectful secularist like Bill. Nonetheless, the poster's exposition is still relevant to the discussion at hand.

The same blogger also recommended that I ask Bill 2 question: if the Bible was indeed prohibited how could've Chaucher- who wrote in the 1300s- so casually took for granted that his readers knew the Bible if the Church suppressed it? The same question applies to Dante who wrote in the 1200s.
Another question that comes to mind are the various passion plays, the stained glass windows in the cathedrals as well as the stations of the cross? If the Bible was indeed prohibited, why then would the Church authorize reprsentation of the various biblical stories and characters through different media? Even a cursory look at the various European languages show a deep influence of the Bible- long before the printing press and the Reformation came.
Indeed, the second link the blogger provided me was one for the Old English Bibles In any case, it's the one area of yesterday's post where I respectfully disagreed with Bill. He surprising recites received ideas about the Bible's place during the Middle Ages that simply don't jibe with the historical record

Du registre des armes

Pinning the medal: or the Arab way of war

I'm not being sarcastic about this article when I refer to the Arab way of war in the title of this post. The columnist is quite incorrect when he argues that long range killing is something new in war It's not. At least not in the Western way of war which has preferred to engage its enemy and obliterate it from the battlefield at a distance with a minimum of military casualties on the Western side.

In any case, the columnist would do well to read Victor Davis Hanson's book: Culture and Carnage which answers his queries as to why the U.S. perfects its weaponry at a relentless pace.
I'm unsurprised by his befuddlement at the Western way of war. His confusion merely underscores his culture's culture of warfare. It's basically that of hit and run raid punctuated by periods of peace based on payment of protection money. Further, war is an individual contest of strength, guile, elaborate ritualism and bravery in battle with no decisive moment in which th enemy is effectively destroyed as a fighting force. A retreat from battle and the plundering of the camp/baggage train constitutes victory

Hence, it's understandable that Turki's sarcasm about whether the medals should be pinned on the machine or on the operator. Yet he doesn't grasp that one of the consequences of constant technological adaption and weapons' refinement has compelled Western societies to confront the vexing problem of how to kill the enemy while minimizing non-combatants casualties. Contrary to Turki's assertion, Western societies have agonized and debated on weapons technology- nuclear weapons being the foremost that comes to mind.

Turki's real intent in the end isn't a meditation on the Arab or Western ways of war but the very reasonable fear

L'Italie a coupé les rélations avec l'Autorité palestinienne?

The Axis of evil: So Bush wasn't wrong

I remember the State of the Union when Bush first gave us the term. I remember everyone pretty much cringing but me; I just nodded. Everyone made fun of Bush for his black and white views of international relations. Well turns out that Bush was right. North Korea is a charter member of the Axis of evil

The intercepted Scuds on their way purportedly to Yemen is the definite wake up call to those who disbelieve that N Korea isn't a threat. After all, this is regime so uncaring, so callous so morally numb that it starves its people to death while pouring all of its scare resources into building ballistic missiles and exporting its technology to other unsavoury country for hard currency.

Update: At CNN and other news outlets, Yemen claims the Scuds as theirs. Right. we believe that a pathetically impoverished country like Yemen found enough money to buy 15 Scuds. The distance of those missiles and the alleged end country buyer make me suspect that the American/Allied fleet as well as commercial shipping would be threatened. Everyone quite rightly believes that the missiles are for elsewhere with Yemen as a cutout

Further CNN alleges that no international laws were broken and that North Korea had every right to sell them and Yemen to buy them. Un-huh except that international law was broken. The law in question are the various non-proliferation treaties of mass destruction. Also let's not forget that a Scud isn't Junior's toy rocket from Fisher Scientific that you just order off the NET. A Scud is a ballistic missile that with some modifications is a vector of mass destruction. So some creative interpretation of those various treaties will occur.

Germany's labour problem:fun's not the problem

I read today in my local newspaper of a German businesswoman who started a 'counterrevolution' in the workplace (London Telegraph article requires registration) Basically she wants to ban 'fun' or more precisely the relaxed work ethic that pervaded the Internet bubble. She obliges her staff to wear a uniform, a rigid punctuality, a n obligatory 30 minute lunch, the workers work from 9-1800 and are not allowed to take work home with her. She banned words such as team spirit She's even written a book advocating a return to the old values of hard work, discipline and rigid punctuality

Herein lies the problem. It's not the 'fun' that's the problem; it's Germany's, and by extension Europe's, rigid labour market that's in dire need of reform. A case in point is that in Spain if a small business person want to get rid of an incompetent worker or clear out the dead wood it's impossible because the amount of indemnity that the employer would have to pay the worker would signify the business' liquidation. Even large companies balk at paying the indemnities. So small business and large companies sometimes have to put up with slackers and incompetents thereby inhibiting the employment of more suitable employees. It's one reason why young workers have such a high unemployment rate and eek out on a pathetic salary.

Another way in which employeers bypass the rigid labour laws is to give 'temporary' contract of 6 months that are perpetually renewed. Why? Because as soon as an employee reaches 2 years of employment, he falls under the labour laws and all of the protection that it accords. Ironically Judith Mair will start a management fad that she so deplores; yet it too will fail. Unfortunately, she advocates a work ethic that's more attuned for the 19^th century than the 21^th. Nevertheless, she's not totally wrong either. Like Scott Adams- creator of Dilbert- she denounces the management buzzword mentality of flextime, team spirit, etc as exploitative mechanisms that erode the private and public sphere of a person's life and demoralize the workers who have 2 or 3 additional responsibilities but are only paid for their original employment.

The solution isn't to ban 'fun' or return to the patronizingly rigid work ethic of the past. Rather, Germany need to debate profoundly its labour laws and what kind of society they want. The country has changed since the postwar consensus and it's time to reevaluate what works and what doesn't.

Hotmail: pissing off your customers one renovation at a time

Why a reformation isn't possible in Islam

Opposing the gun registry isn't and affront to justice

Why a reformation isn't possible in Islam

Opposing the gun registry isn't and affront to justice