Uh-huh. Real deep.

Pope Francis and the archbishop of Canterbury denounced human trafficking as a crime against human dignity Monday and pledged to combat it jointly — finding common ground on a social issue amid deep theological divisions over the Anglicans' ordination of women bishops.

I'm sure this is a very deep and highly theological disagreement -- as opposed to one where the pope simply sees women as inferior and is mortally (not morally; mortally) opposed to doing anything about the inequality of the sexes in his church. It's just that Jesus doesn't like women. That's the whole shebang right there. And the pope can't do a damn thing about it. He couldn't, you know, change the rules or anything. Nuh-uh. Remember: he's only the pope.

Another outtake from the article:

The Catholic Church doesn't permit women to be ordained priests, much less bishops, on the grounds that Christ's apostles were all male.

Hmmm, so let's see. There was once an all-boys club about two thousand years ago ... and they haven't updated the rules in, oh, about two thousand years. Makes perfect sense to me.

Ominous news tidbit

The Obama administration is advising local police not to disclose details about surveillance technology they are using to sweep up basic cellphone data from entire neighborhoods.

Nothing to see here. Move along. 

(No link; it's too depressing. What country is this, again?)

The oddness of the rightwing brain

Seriously, how do rightwingers become so deluded? The following is a display of one typical brain dysfunction they seem to suffer on a daily basis. It comes from the Southern Baptist Convention, where they just elected a new leader who's sticking with the whole anti-GLBT bigotry thing:

On Tuesday at their annual meeting in Baltimore, members of the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution opposing efforts by governments to "validate transgender identity as morally praiseworthy."

What goes on their brains that makes them see the according of equality as equivalent to the awarding of praise? That's nothing more than a brain fart, and they do it all the time. To say gays are equal to straights, to say transfolk are equal to cisfolk, is to them, the equivalent of awarding an Oscar to the person. 

This is similar to their cries about gay marriage being a threat to straight marriage. How, exactly? Show us one straight marriage that has been affected in any way by a gay marriage.

I'm waiting. Oh, actually, I just remembered that I have to go give some gay guy an award -- just for being so wonderful, you know? Be right back.

Humanity's fatal flaw

I hesitated as my hand reached for the red hairband. I'd worn that hairband for the past two days -- and things hadn't gone well. I reached for the black one. It was safer. 

That's a true outtake from my day. Each morning, my hand actually hesitates as I reach for one of the many, colored bands sitting in a small dish by my bed, trying to suss out the "lucky one". And I don't believe in nonsense. Still, it's there.
 
We humans are prone to superstition. That's why religion still exists in the year 2014: we're idiots. Something in our evolutionary history implanted this susceptibility to supernatural notions. It's burned-in; we can't escape it. This is our fate.

There was always a predator out there, trying to eat us. It seemed evil. And we reached for anything we could (figuratively) lay our hands on, to assuage the fear, to reassure us and make us think we'd go on living for another day.

This mindless tendency is still with us, and apparently it will never go away. We know it's based on nonsense but we give in to it anyway. We have a natural affinity for this.

Today, our reliance on supernatural nonsense is killing us. Consider why people are fighting in countries all across the globe. For the most part, it's because people think their fairytale creature is more powerful than the other guy's fairytale creature. It makes no sense, it has no basis in reality, but we continue on this path. It leads to doomsday, but we just can't help ourselves.

I opted for a nice, safe, black hairband today. Phew. I'm safe -- at least for today.

New respect for people with asthma

I just experienced a very bad week. I couldn't breathe. By this I don't mean that I had difficulty breathing. I mean I couldn't breathe. I swear, if I didn't have the right medicine at hand, I don't know what would have happened. It was like there was no room in my lungs for air. The space was already occupied.

I still have no clue why this happened to me. I got one of those "maybe it's a severe allergic reaction, maybe your immune system is attacking your lungs, maybe..." responses from doctors (I saw two). That's kinda creepy because if something triggered it, I can't avoid it since I don't know what it is.

In any case, this leads me to say two things. First, let's hear it for nebulizers! Hooray!!! They're those machines with a long tube, and a contraption that you put in your mouth, which seems to dribble smoke (it's vapor) as you suck on it. What a fabulous machine this is! I will never be without one again.

The second thing is I think I understand now how frightening asthma (and other respiratory distress) can be. For me, this was just one week out of an otherwise free-breathing life. But for those with chronic difficulty breathing, this problem goes on and on. I empathize with anyone who suffers like this, especially children. It's a nightmare.

Anyway, it seems to be over and I should return to regular blogging in the days ahead. Phew. Let's hear it for air: hooray!!!

The appalling cuteness of Japanese robots

A story in today's news made me ill. No, it wasn't about another senseless murder; it was about a "cute" robot made in Japan. Named "Pepper", no less.

A cooing, gesturing humanoid on wheels that can decipher emotions has been unveiled in Japan by billionaire Masayoshi Son who says robots should be tender and make people smile. 

That is disgusting. Cute isn't a virtue, it's a fatal flaw. The idea of encountering a robot like this makes me ill. Hell, reading about it made me ill.

The machine, which has no legs, but has gently gesticulating hands appeared on a stage in a Tokyo suburb, cooing and humming. It dramatically touched hands with Son [its creator] in a Genesis or "E.T." moment.

Isn't that special? If you recall, they sent one of their "cute" robots to the International Space Station, where people were trapped inside a tin can with it, with no way to escape. I swear, if I was one of those astronauts and this thing came near me, I'd rip off its head and toss it out the airlock.

In Thursday's demonstration, Pepper sang, "I want to be loved."

Yeah, well good luck with that, Pepper. C'mon people, admit it. This is the kind of thing we'll encounter in Hell, when we get there. It'll be extra-extra-cute and you won't be able to shut it off or get away from it, no matter how hard you try. Cute, my ass.

Frank Bruni's take on today's journalism

Today's NYT column by Frank Bruni is called "Full Screed Ahead". Here's an excerpt:

Grandstanding is booming as traditional news gathering struggles to survive: It’s more easily summoned, more cheaply produced. It doesn’t require opening bureaus around the country or picking up correspondents’ travel expenses or paying them for weeks on end just to dig. So it fills publications, websites and television airtime the way noodles stretch out a casserole, until we’re looking at a media meal that’s almost all Hamburger Helper and no beef.

I often try to provide a Bruni link on Sundays since it lies behind the Times paywall (which you hit if you visit the NYT "too often"). Links from blogs will always get through. So what are you waiting for? Grab a cuppa coffee and go read it.