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The Daily Dose/April 12, 2010
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around the Human Experience...
GO IN PEACE, DROP YOUR PANTS: With courts in various countries either fielding lawsuits against the Vatican or looking into holding the Holy See criminally liable in the Catholic Church's international child molestation scandal, the Vatican recently began throwing out the defense that since Pope Benedict XVI is "certainly a head of state" he is, under international law, immune from the jurisdiction of foreign courts.
Maybe, Maybe Not: That the Vatican is a sovereign state has never really been questioned by us, but we thought we'd think about it anyway.
Write This Down: Basically, there are four tenants to being your own country: you have to have some land, some people that live there all the time, a functioning government and the ability to engage in international relations.
Let's take a look at each tenant:
Land Ho! The Vatican does have land. Not much, but it does have some. The Vatican is about 3,500 feet wide at it's widest point, and about 3,000 feet at its longest north/south point. It would fit nicely into Arlington National Cemetery.
I Do Solemnly Swear: The Vatican does have a government. Or, more accurately, it has a bureaucracy, a bureaucracy that exists to administer the Catholic Church and not necessarily provide services for its citizens, which is what most governments do.
For example, it does not provide for its own defense, that being the responsibility of Italy. The Vatican does provide police and fire service, but these are staffed by Italians. Italy provides water services as well.
We The People: The permanent population tenant is questionable. The Vatican has fewer than 900 residents virtually all of whom came there from somewhere else to work for the Catholic Church. Of these residents only about two-thirds have been granted Vatican citizenship. Few, if any, of these citizens were born in Vatican City which is good because there is not a noun available for an inhabitant of the Vatican.
The Vatican is rather snitty about who it confers citizenship to. The Pope has it, of course. So do a few dozen Cardinals, assorted priests serving abroad as diplomats, a few dozen lesser clergy who work in the Vatican, the officers and men of the Swiss Guard which protect the Pope, plus a few dozen assorted laymen. That's about it. If you're a spouse or a child of a citizen - not too likely in a country inhabited mainly by theoretically celibate males - then you are issued Vatican citizenship, too.
Easy Come, Easy Go: Vatican citizenship is usually forfeited at the end of the assignment which entitled you to it.
Dry, Technical Matter: The Vatican does issue passports, but only diplomatic passports and service passports, which are issued to government employees for official travel.
OTOH: That the Vatican engages in international relations is beyond question. The Holy See, which is somewhat different than the Vatican city-state, has diplomatic relations with virtually every country, except some malcontent Muslims and Communists, plus a few assorted stragglers.
Get Your Official Writer's Shack Policy Right Here: While we acknowledge the Pope is the head of state for the Vatican and we're not getting too worked up over the Vatican's status as an official country, the Pope is also head of the Catholic Church and any lawsuits are in conjunction with that role and not as his role as the head of state of Vatican City. So go ahead and sue him. We don't mind.
ROCKETS RED GLARE: The United States Civil War begins on this date in 1861, with Confederate troops firing on Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina. The bombardment would lead to the Union surrendering the fort the following afternoon.
No one died during the bombardment, though the first two deaths of the Civil War were recorded during the surrender ceremony when some cartridges exploded during a 100-gun salute to the American flag. One Union soldier was killed instantly while another died later from his wounds.
Mr. Truman, History On Line Two: President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies of a stroke in Warm Springs, Georgia on this date in 1945. He is replaced by Vice-President Harry Truman.
On The Job Training: Truman had been vice-president for just over five weeks and it wasn't as if he had been a valued member of Roosevelt's inner circle, either. He wasn't. Shortly after being inaugurated Truman had been patted on the head and told to get lost and was blissfully uninformed about a variety of rather important matters upon taking office, including the American development of the atomic bomb.
Time Passages: FDR served longer than any other president. His 12 years, one month and nine days comes out to 4,423 days, or just over 631 weeks.
Now You Know: FDR was the last president inaugurated on March 4.
3…2…1…Blastoff: Soviet Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to enter outer space on this date in 1961. Flying on Vostok 1, Gagarin spent 108 minutes in space, orbiting the Earth one time.
3…2…1…Blastoff II: The space shuttle era begins on this date in 1981 with the launching of Columbia on the first shuttle mission. Commanded by John Young and piloted by Robert Crippen. Columbia spent 54 hours in space, accomplishing its goal of taking off, orbiting and landing without killing anybody. That would come later, as Columbia would complete 27 missions before breaking up during re-entry during mission 28 in February, 2003.
The On This Date feature continues it's season-long tour of the major league baseball record book:
Hey Batter, Batter: The Cleveland Indians set a major league record for fewest hits in a doubleheader on this date in 1992, exploding for two (2) hits while splitting a doubleheader at home against Boston.
In the opener Boston's Matt Young pitches an eight-inning no-hitter as Cleveland doesn't need to bat in the ninth because they lead 2-1 after Boston had nine at-bats. The Indians got a run in the first on a walk and two stolen bases from Kenny Lofton, who scored on an error and exploded for a couple of walks, a force out and a fielder's choice for another run in the third.
In the nightcap, Roger Clemens throws a two-hit shutout in a 3-0 Boston victory.
Thought For The Day: Mere longevity is a good thing for those who watch life from the sidelines. For those who play the game, an hour may be a year, a single days work an achievement for an eternity.- Gabriel Heatter
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Roger Connor, whose home run record Babe Ruth broke, also retired as major league's all-time leader in triples. Connor retired after the 1897 season with 233 triples, a record he had set in 1888 with his 115th triple, and would hold until broken by Jake Beckley in 1905.
Today's Stumper: Who informed Harry Truman that FDR had died and he was now president? - Answer next time!
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