Yearly Archives: 2005

Catholic Church moves to ban gay priests

The Pope is considering banning gay men from becoming priests and removing priests who are gay from service. Interesting on so many levels, really. My thoughts:

  1. I wonder when they’re going to remove all the lesbian nuns.
  2. The pedophile scandals will continue, because the priests molesting kids aren’t gay, and the gay priests aren’t molesting kids.
  3. With the gay priests gone, they may as well fold up the church and go home, because no one else is joining the priesthood except the pedophiles.
  4. I feel terrible for the retired priest from my mom’s parish, Father James Bates, who is gay, openly celibate, and an active part of the gay community. He is a great guy who served devotedly his whole life, kept his vows, but still acknowledged who he is. I sat and talked to him one night at a gay bar downtown about the church and its treatment of gay people. What the church is doing is both shortsighted and disrespectful of wonderful people like Father Jim.

Sounds like the church has it all worked out. Good luck with that one, guys. I’m so glad I left.

Continue ReadingCatholic Church moves to ban gay priests

Weekend Update 2005-08-29

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Journal

We had out garage sale over the weekend, and it was a lot of work for very little result, unfortunately. I made $63, Stephanie made something like $20, and both of us practically killed ourselves preparing and tearing everything down. Most of it was that we didn’t have enough traffic; there were lots of people in the morning, but no one in the afternoon at all. I wonder how much advertising the neighborhood did… but that’s not really fair to blame the people who volunteered their time to set up the sale, either, because I know that’s hard work, too, and they deserve thanks for taking it on.
It’s also a little depressing to sell (or not sell) your own things, actually, which didn’t help my mood. I like all this stuff, really, it’s just that I have too much or it doesn’t work in my house or whatever. But I feel like it still has some value.
I should publicly thank our neighbors, also, for helping out. Patrick and Samika (I hope I’m spelling her name right) next door were great; they loaned us folding tables, and Samika helped carry stuff in out of the torrential downpour at the end of the day, as did our brand-new (as of this weekend) neighbor, whose name, I think, is Kyle.
Also, several of our friends showed up, which is hugely cool; Jen came by, Rachel visited, Bil and Jerame stopped in, Elizabeth and Joe were there, and Barb and Robin came by, too. Thank you all for supporting us!
Then I put gas in my truck this morning, and it cost me $36.19 for 13.715 gallons. That sucks, frankly. If I hadn’t been on fumes, I could have tried to shop around for a better price, but I haven’t been good with this vehicle about filling up before the tank is empty. I always was before. I need to get back in that habit quick, because the price of gas is too high to just stop at the nearest station out of necessity.
I kind of feel like Morgan Spurlock in the first episode of “30” where they were living on minimum wage, and the money kept going down the drain…

Continue ReadingWeekend Update 2005-08-29

Robertson and Venezuela

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Politics

I try not to cut and paste other people’s writing wholesale into my blog, because I think my blog should be my writing, not other peoples. But I have done it recently, and I’m doing it again today, because there’s a lot of information in a recent post from Americablog that’s worth thinking about:

A lot of things have annoyed me about the coverage of Pat Robertson’s latest unChristian, unAmerican and unbelievable broadside — this one calling for the assassination of Venezuela’s leader. First, as Jon Stewart so nimbly demonstrated, Robertson is an esteemed, beloved figure on the Republican side. They use him to raise money and get votes and generally treat him like a major figure. He is NOT the wacky uncle that everyone ignores. And when Robertson tosses off one of these vicious and wacky comments, Bush and most far right “Christian” groups can’t even bring themselves to denounce cold-blooded murder.
But the part that annoyed me the most? Almost none of the coverage made clear that Chavez is the democratically elected leader of his country. Bush encouraged a military coup — which overthrew Chavez’s government — and then gave the thumbs up to the junta that wanted to replace him. Only a stirring demonstration of people power forced the military to back down (much to Bush’s chagrin) and Chavez was put back in place. He’s since won reelection under a vote that was less contested than Bush’s two paths to glory in 2000 and 2004. How can anyone call Chavez a critic of Bush and then fail to point out that Bush encouraged his overthrow? Especially since this proves Bush is lying when he claims to be spreading democracy. You can’t support democracy just when it suits you — as Bush has done his entire presidency.
And yet even middle of the road USA Today referred to Chavez as a “populist strongman.” He is NOT a strongman (whatever you think of his pronouncements or policies). Chavez is the democratically elected leader of Venezuela and sits on one of the world’s largest supplies of oil — and Bush wanted him overthrown. He has every reason to distrust and dislike Bush, as does any Venezuelan who believes in democracy and the sovereign rights of nations to be left alone.

He’s making an excellent point — that democracy doesn’t mean crap to George Bush if the democracy in question doesn’t do what we say, and jump when we say jump. They’re perfectly happy to overthrow democracies. And if they’ll do it to other countries, who’s to say they won’t do it to ours?

Continue ReadingRobertson and Venezuela

How many Bush administration officials does it take to change a light bulb?

  1. One to deny that a light bulb needs to be changed;
  2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the light bulb needs to be changed;
  3. One to blame Clinton for burning out the light bulb;
  4. One to arrange the invasion of a country rumored to have a secret stockpile of light bulbs;
  5. One to give a billion dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton for the new light bulb;
  6. One to arrange a photograph of Bush, dressed as a janitor, standing on a step ladder under the banner: Light Bulb Change Accomplished;
  7. One administration insider to resign and write a book documenting in detail how Bush was literally in the dark;
  8. One to viciously smear #7;
  9. One surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong light-bulb-changing policy all along;
  10. And finally one to confuse Americans about the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.
Continue ReadingHow many Bush administration officials does it take to change a light bulb?

The Flying Spaghetti Monster and “Pastafarianism”

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Religion

Flying Spaghetti Monster
I put a new emblem on my car last night. It’s the image of the “Flying Spaghetti Monster.”

Wikipedia explains it best:

Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is a parody religion created to protest the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to allow intelligent design to be taught in science classes alongside evolution.

The “religion” has since become an Internet phenomenon garnering many followers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (sometimes referring to themselves as “Pastafarians”, a pun on Rastafarians) who claim to have been touched by “His Noodly Appendage” and preach the word of their “noodly master” as the one true religion. Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is primarily the invention of Bobby Henderson, a graduate of Oregon State University with a degree in physics.

In June 2005, Bobby Henderson submitted an open letter to the Kansas Board of Education in response to their decision on giving intelligent design equal time with evolution by natural selection in biology classes. He demanded that Flying Spaghetti Monsterism also be given equal time in classrooms, along with the other, more traditional religious creation stories.

I’m not sure right now whether I actually am interested in becoming a Pastafarian. I started out Catholic, of course, until the church decided it hated me. I got a degree in philosophy in college for which I had to study world religions, and I really appreciated Taoism. And for the past couple years, Hanuman the Hindu monkey God has been my very favorite imaginary friend.

On the other hand, the designated outfit for worshipers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster IS full pirate regalia, so that’s a major plus in his column.

So I don’t know if I’m ready to convert again. Maybe Hanuman and the FSM can be best pals. I’ll see what Hanuman thinks.

Continue ReadingThe Flying Spaghetti Monster and “Pastafarianism”

Bullshit Protector – I NEED some of these!

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Politics

From the National Post: Bill Moyer, 73, wears a “Bullshit Protector” flap over his ear while President George W. Bush addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Bullshit Protector

** EDS NOTE OBSCENITY – CORRECTS MOYER’S SERVICE IN WWII AS POST-WAR OCCUPATION OF GERMANY, NOT IN THE WAR ITSELF ** Bill Moyer, 73, wears a “Bullshit Protector” flap over his ear while President George W. Bush, on screen at rear, addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars at their 106th convention Monday, Aug. 22, 2005, in Salt Lake City. Moyer served in Korea and Vietnam, and in the post- WWII occupation of Germany. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)

That’s the coolest thing ever, no doubt. And kudos to the the dude wearing them, too. Although, if I were making them, I’d call them a “Bullshit Deflector.”

2022-03-15 Update:
Original news story from the AP long gone, but Snopes.com covered this story later when the same photo was deceptively circulated by right-wing nuts as “veterans against Obama.”
Continue ReadingBullshit Protector – I NEED some of these!