Reading is dead in Mexico

The Country That Stopped Reading is an op-ed by David Toscana. It's about Mexico's vast illiteracy. Even the teachers don't read. Amazing.

So red, so royal, so popely!

This, from an AP article at the NYT:

In the latest disclosure, Turin's La Stampa newspaper reported Thursday that Benedict hit his head on a sink and bled profusely when he got up in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar bedroom in Leon, Mexico. The report said papal blood stained Benedict's hair, his pillow and the floor. 

Heavens! I wonder what color the blood was.

Mexico's religious crazies

Mexican religious loons don't want public education for their kids because that would cause them to encounter, you know, ideas. Can't have that.

According to traditionalists, the government-mandated uniforms, school books and lesson plans, not to mention the computers and televisions now used in many Mexican classrooms, would violate the Virgin Mary's orders, on her own sacred ground. 

The faith of the people here is built on messages purportedly passed from the Virgin Mary to a defrocked Catholic priest, an illiterate old woman and a clairvoyant. 

Same song, different key and country. Religion poisons minds.

Gee, I wonder why

Traces of blood and fragments of muscle, tendon, skin and hair found on 2,000-year-old stone knives have given researchers the first conclusive evidence that the obsidian blades were used for human sacrifice long ago in Mexico.

"These finds confirm that the knives were used for sacrifices," Mainou said.

Sky gods, anyone? And of course, today we see Catholics imbibing the "body and blood" of jeebus -- every day, if they want to. Religion is sickening on so many levels.

Sounds like fun but don't do it

Anonymous

Anonymous killed the popey guy's web site, the one intended for use during his imminent tour of Mexico. Although this seems humorous because it involves our favorite villain (the popey guy, not Anonymous), I don't approve. We can't just cut off people's main means of communication because we don't like them. It's not right.

Let them have their little site. I have no problem with religious twits talking to each other. In fact, I wish they'd talk to each other more so they wouldn't have time to force their values on normal people.

But really: let people communicate. Imagine if progressive blogs were blocked by rightwing hackers. (Ha! Like they understand computers and can accomplish things.) It wouldn't be cool at all.

Think of Egypt and Syria. People must be free to communicate. It's the new inalienable right.

Nobody likes the popey guy

It's true. No one in the whole world likes this popey guy. He is a bad popey guy.

Hoping that the Mexican faithful will make action figures of him after he's gone, the popey guy will soon visit Mexico. Now, if only the Mexican people cared.

I liked this bit in the linked story. First they say that Mexican religious shops sell a ton of statues and photos and whatnot depicting the popey guy's predecessor, John Paul popey guy. But, they say:

There are no Benedict-related items for sale here. 

"That Holiness is not very commercial," explained Jorge Sanchez, a 30-year-old vendor.

Indeed. The popey guy doesn't have a warm and fuzzy exterior and it's doubtful that he has any interior at all. When people look at the current popey guy, they see a shady Nazi character from some old movie. He is the Pedophile-in-Chief of the Roman Catholic church -- the man who, above all others, hid the child rapes while protecting the pedophile priests. The popey guy's fingerprints are all over the church's pedophilia scandal.

Cuddly indeed. This is one creepy popey guy. Even Mexicans think so and their country is 90% Catholic. Go, popey guy. Dzzzzt.