Bishops' anti-gay hatred may harm immigrants

In an article about how Roman Catholic bishops intend to kill the US immigration bill because, ahem, it respects gay people, there are many gems. Here's one:

It seems unlikely the bishops would accept any provision for same-sex partners—even for an issue as important to the church as immigration. In their drive for greater orthodoxy among Catholics, bishops have made preserving traditional marriage a priority. Last week, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who leads the bishops' marriage efforts, said the struggle against gay marriage is a gift from God "and by overcoming it we may achieve spiritual greatness." He made the comments in an interview with The Catholic Herald, a news outlet in Britain.

This is very much like the Roman Catholic approach to adoption. They close down Catholic adoption facilities in areas where gays gain the right to adopt children. They actually do this. They deny homes to all the children in their care to avoid placing one child with a loving, gay family. How's that for morals?

So it comes as no surprise that they're ready to throw immigrants overboard rather than allow the rules of immigration to respect gay couples. That's some church they've got there. Raping kids, denying kids loving homes, and now slamming the doors in the faces of immigrants -- that's the ugly face of the Roman Catholic church. It is evil personified.

Lutheran pastor sorry for praying with infidels

Updated to include link --

They're all nuts, including the Lutherans. A pastor apparently committed a dastardly deed when he (gasp!) prayed with people of other faiths at a Sandy Hook ceremony. Horrors!

Earlier this month, the president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Pastor Matthew Harrison, wrote a letter to church members saying he had requested an apology from Morris for his participation in "joint worship with other religions."

"There is sometimes a real tension between wanting to bear witness to Christ and at the same time avoiding situations which may give the impression that our differences with respect to who God is, who Jesus is, how he deals with us, and how we get to heaven, really don't matter in the end," Harrison wrote.

Pastor, the truth is that your crazy little religion is no different from all the other crazy little religions. They're all fairytales. Top of the mornin' to ya.

Lots of snow on the way

If you don't see me here tomorrow, it means I've lost electricity. According to the weather folks, my area is expecting between 9 and 33 inches of snow. I'm hoping for the big-time: 33. We haven't had a real snowfall in years. It's definitely time.

The computer forecast that shows 33 inches is the European model. You may recall that it was the European model that correctly predicted the course of "superstorm" Sandy. So I guess we're in for a huge snowfall.

I think that's great. The Australian Baseball Championship Series is on ESPN this weekend. Three games, starting on Friday. Given satellite TV's difficulties in a big snowfall, I may miss the Friday game. But I'll still have two more.

One last thing. It's nice that normal, everyday people will be able to earn money by shoveling snow. That's one of the best things about snow and it comes at an opportune time, when many people's wallets are empty.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

The pope's sex crimes

Sounds like the new sex crimes czar at the Vatican would like to crack the whip. But there's a curious disconnect in the story (and his thinking).

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican's new sex crimes prosecutor has insisted on the need for transparency about the church's failures to protect children from sex abuse by priests. 

In his first public comments since taking office, the Rev. Robert Oliver quoted Pope Benedict XVI in saying the church must recognize the "grave errors in judgment that were often committed by the church's leadership."

Hmmm. Now, let's see. He's quoting the pope's words here. Something about grave errors having been committed by "the church's leadership". Who could this refer to? Why, I do believe the pope himself was in charge of all this for the past couple of decades. So those "errors" committed by "the church's leadership" refer to the popey guy himself. He is the man who is most responsible for hiding the sexual abuse committed by priests.

But sssshhhhh! No one's supposed to notice. Everything's fine. Move along.

The stories write themselves

Germany's education minister has been stripped of her doctorate following an investigation into allegations that she plagiarized parts of her thesis, which explored the formation of conscience.

I wonder if the woman experienced an Irony Alert at any point in this process.

Malala Yousafzai inspires world

Did you see the video of Malala Yousafzai that was released yesterday? If not, go watch the first video on this page. I'll wait. (Taps fingers impatiently on desk.)

Okay. Was that amazing, or what? This child is obviously a living saint. I felt privileged to hear her words. They were that inspiring. And to think that she's only 14 and has suffered so much because of her advocacy for girls' education. She truly is a living saint.

(I can't help but wonder what happened at the Vatican as they watched this video and saw an actual, you know, saint. I imagine blood vessels burst in the dried-up skulls of many old men. Because they don't really make saints in Vatican City. They just gather shady anecdotes and then pick someone from a country they wish had more Catholics. It's a gimmick and they all know it. And then along comes a real saint. That must hurt.)

My new game

You're standing in front of the microwave, waiting for that last 30 or 45 seconds to expire. Inside, you feel like Homer Simpson and it's all you can do not to scream, "c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" at the thing. Having done this a few times, I thought there had to be a better way. So I invented a game.

I look at the timer. It might say five minutes, it might say 35 seconds -- whatever it is, the game is on! My goal is to find something I can fully accomplish in that small allotment of time. Turns out, it's a fun game.

I've learned that I can make the bed in less than three minutes, and can set up a new pot of coffee in a minute and 30 seconds. I might look at a pile of dishes, glance at the clock, and then dive in mightily, doing the dishes in less than 45 seconds. It's fun!

So the next time you find yourself staring at an unforgiving microwave, see what you can accomplish in that amount of time. I'm tellin' ya. This could become an exciting "reality" TV show. (It's gotta be better than American Idol, no? Okay, that's setting the bar too low. But try it!)