Now that it's almost time to say "Vaya con Dios" to Fidel Castro, will Hugo Chavez become the darling of some of this country's leftist "elected dictator" worshipers? With remarks like this, it's almost a sure bet:
His right hand raised, Chavez declared: "Fatherland, socialism or death — I swear it," invoking the Cuban leader's famous call to arms.
Ah, Pat is at it again:
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - In what has become an annual tradition of prognostications, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said Tuesday God has told him that a terrorist attack on the United States would result in "mass killing" late in 2007.
What are we fighting against? The fundamentalists who think this is what civilization should be like:
Muslims who fail to pray five times daily will be sentenced to death under the rule of Islamic clerics who have taken over the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Go ahead. Blame such insanity on Western deecadence and imperialist arrogance.
Some changes to beloved traditions of major institutions can be compared to improving the decor of a restaurant -- spiffier waitress uniforms, more soothing colors, better traffic flow -- just to get more customers in, who then find the same familiar food on the menu. I would put the Catholic Church's decision to do away with all the Latin and start using guitar-strumming singers into this category. Some changes are like keeping the restaurant but changing the menu.
So, we have a list of the most controversial films of all time, which includes such titles as "Deep Throat," "Natural Born Killers," "A Clockwork Orange," "Basic Instinct" and "The Deer Hunter." And the No. 1, most controversial film of all time:
Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" ranks as the most controversial film of all time, according to Entertainment Weekly. The magazine ranks the 25 films that have most shocked, disgusted and divided moviegoers, in its June 16 issue, on newsstands Monday.
This can't possibly be controversial -- Louisiana legislators want to put the Ten Commandments into a state law, but they don't want to offend Jews or Protestant or Catholic Christians, so they're spending all this time trying to get the wording just right. Yes, legislators have actually taken it upon themselves to rewrite the Ten Commandments. I wonder if they might end up with something like this:
1. Only me, OK?
2. I mean it, not even a photo or a line drawing of somebody else.
Make of this what you will:
Atheists are America's least trusted group, according to a national survey conducted by University sociology researchers.
Based on a telephone survey of more than 2,000 households and in-depth interviews with more than 140 people, researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, homosexuals and other groups as "sharing their vision of American society." Americans are also least willing to let their children marry atheists.
A couple of commenters on a previous post take me to task for disparaging raging atheist Michael Newdow and say no "reasonable person" could be against some of his efforts, such as restoring the Pledge of Allegiance to its original form and eliminating the "In God we trust" motto from coins.
Well, OK, maybe this possible change in policy by the Catholic Church is "historic," but it doesn't seem that earth-shattering:
"We are conducting a very profound scientific, technical and moral study," said the head of the Vatican Council for Health Pastoral Care. The church is expected to give a guarded, provisional blessing to the use of condoms by married couples when one of them suffers from Aids, as a way of protecting the health of the other partner.
Just in case you thought the chasing of religion away from public spaces had gotten as silly as it possibly could:
So long, Easter Bunny.
A toy rabbit decorating the entrance of the St. Paul City Council offices went hop-hop-hoppin' on down the bunny trail Wednesday after the city's human rights director said non-Christians might be offended by it.
