Religious people can't tell right from wrong

In recent years, we saw Roman Catholic church abandon orphans rather than allow gays to adopt. They simply closed various adoption agencies. The hell with the kids; it's more important to hate gay people. It's a moral issue, doncha know.

Well, now the Baptists are on board with this tactic. Joe Jervis tells us that a Baptist church expelled an AA group because it feared opening its doors to them would open them wide for gay weddings. As if that was even a possibility. So: the hell with AA and helping alcoholics. They'd rather hate gay people.

Isn't it odd how religions that profess to be the only arbiters of morality cannot tell right from wrong? Gee, I wonder why. Could it be that there's no god, and these folks are just flailing in the wind and being vicious because they enjoy it? Hmmmm.

Speaking of which

Utterly disgusting.

Animal activists are crying fowl over the controversial Jewish tradition of killing thousands of chickens in a pre-Yom Kippur redemption ritual.

The soon-to-be slaughtered poultry used for the Kaparot tradition are left on the street for hours — even days — in small plastic transport crates.

Last year, more than 2,000 redemption roosters in Borough Park died due to the heat before the Day of Atonement, which begins at sundown Friday this year.

But remember: religion is holy and god is good.

Ultra-orthodox Jews use the chickens in a rite, observed before Yom Kippur, in which they’re swung above the head three times in a symbolic transference of one’s sins. They’re then slaughtered and — ostensibly — donated to the poor for a pre-fast meal.

But many of the chickens are merely tossed into plastic garbage bags and taken to city landfills, videos online show. In some instances, live chickens that are too sick for a kosher slaughter are put in the bags and suffocated to death.

I wonder how long it will take before this practice moves to a football or baseball field. After all, religious nonsense mixes so well with sports. (See post below.)

Next up: sacrificing a lamb on the playing field

It's all a matter of degree, kids. People don't get that. If you let something in, you have to let similar things in - and where it stops, no one knows.

In the fourth quarter of a game on Monday night, Abdullah, a safety with the Chiefs who is Muslim, intercepted a pass by Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and returned it for a touchdown. After he entered the end zone, he slid on his knees and bowed forward with his head touching the turf.

He was given a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

An N.F.L. spokesman said Tuesday that Abdullah should not have been penalized. “Officiating mechanic is not to flag player who goes to ground for religious reasons,” Michael Signora, a league spokesman, said on Twitter.

Pitchers praying on the mound in MLB games, guys prostrating themselves on the field in football games. Seriously, what happens when a voodoo practitioner insists on killing a chicken on the field? 

Prayer doesn't belong on a playing field, especially not in a national sports game. The field is for playing the damn game. Churches and mosques are for praying. But silly wabbits don't know the difference. This will not end well.

Yard news

First, an update: Lo and behold, I wrote new scenes for my book today. Thank Dog for that. I spent the morning reviewing my (quite good) notes and then dove in. The hardest thing about picking up the pieces is starting to do it. But you know, all you have to do is pick up the first one and suddenly you realize that you can pick the others up, too. Hopefully, today's activity gave me enough of a nudge to get me going. Tomorrow will tell the tale (or rather, I will if all goes well). But because I've been writing, all I can muster for you, my precious bloggies, is a tale or two from my backyard.

Milo, the finest goose in the world - and the leader of the finest flock in the world - lives in my backyard and hangs out on the pond. (It may also be true that I have the finest pond in the world. I'm not sure about that.)

I used to feed Milo's flock but it kind of got away from me. At one point, I was feeding over 200 geese out there. That's a lotta feed and I couldn't afford it, so I stopped. The geese were horrified. How dare the human stop feeding us! Milo kept coming up to me and haranguing me in his cute, hissing voice, but I wouldn't budge.

On the other hand, I did toss out tons of peanuts for the squirrels, the groundhog (if that's what it is) and the crows, chipmunks and bluejays. Milo was incensed. He kept coming over and nosing the peanuts around - but he didn't know what to do with them. They weren't food, as far as he could tell.

Well, last week Milo learned how to open a peanut and then he taught the flock how to do it. So now when I toss peanuts out, everyone, including the geese, comes running. Milo looks very proud as he opens his peanuts. And he should be. He developed a new skill all on his own. It was fun to see it spread throughout the flock.

One final note. I was out there tossing peanuts the other day, when I noticed something new. The groundhog was standing on his hind legs, casually chomping on a peanut, a mere five feet from me. He always ran from me in the past. I think I have a new friend. Very nice!

But starting to write again is way better than having a new friend. Have any of you succeeded lately in doing something that you put off for a long time? Do tell in the comments. We want to hear all about it.

And hooray! I'm writing again.

Last day of baseball season. Aaaargh!

Today is a very sad day. There's only one game left in the regular baseball season. Baseball means a lot to me. It's everything about summer, wrapped up in one package and I will sorely miss it. I mean, imagine having to figure out what to do with your evening instead of watching a game?! How is a person supposed to handle something like that? Brrrrrr. Cold reality.

But here's the thing: I'm going back to writing fiction tomorrow morning. I fell off the writing wagon last year. I'm not even sure how it happened. I was going strong, going strong...and then I wasn't doing it at all. That'll happen if you don't prod yourself to keep going.

So something ends today, but something begins tomorrow. That's how I'll get over my baseball sadness. And I really have to write the next book. No one buys Xmas Carol, my first book, because it's the only book on my Amazon shelf. People figure you're a wingnut if you only produce one book.

But I'm not a wingnut and the book is great. BTW, right now is the perfect time for you to start reading it. It begins with the Halloween season and ends with Xmas, making it the perfect holiday book. You know you want to leave summer behind. Get a head start by reading Xmas Carol.

And in the meantime, I'll write that next book. It's going to be a zinger. I promise. But for today, I've still got baseball. Hooray! And best of all, my Nats are in the post-season. Zing!

In passing

Before this disappears into the wispy memory pile, I want to note something. I saw Bill Clinton on TV two or three days back. He was talking about the new trend for companies to move their HQ offshore to avoid taxes.

His solution? Lower the tax rate on corporations.

I've been saying for years that the Clintons -- yes, both of them -- are synonymous with American corporations. If you needed evidence, Bill just coughed it up.

Be afwaid. Be vewy afwaid.

Wow! New York Governor Andrew Cuomo just rode the NYC subway to show us all that the system is safe fwom tewwow. Yes, he actually took a subway train -- you know, like all New Yorkers do every single day. Watta man!

This is exactly  like when President Jimmy Carter took his wife Rosalind to Three Mile Island when there were actual worries that it might explode at any moment. It's exackly the same as what our brave NY governor did today. Exackly!

This guy hasta run for president! He hasta! Watta man!

Oy.