Report from the pond

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Three mated pairs of geese from our local pond produced chicks this Spring. Milo, the leader of the flock, is one of the lucky fathers.

This year the brood totals were high. One couple had five chicks, another six, and the third had 11! These are larger broods than they typically produce. I suspect this is because they didn't have to migrate this year, what with winter never arriving. Without that grueling, life-or-death flight, they had a ton of energy left over for making babies.

The sad thing is that the clutch of 11 chicks is down to eight now, and the group of six is down to four. There's been a lot of predation out there this year. With foxes, coyotes, hawks and crows on the prowl, it's difficult to raise a family in the wild, especially when nature doesn't give you weapons to fight with. Let's face it: geese are not scary.

The adults bring the chicks over to me to let them know that I'm a good guy. I love hanging out with them. The babies that survived appear very strong. I think there will be no more disappearing of chicks this year. This has been your report from the pond. Treasure it.

Translation widget

I added a translation widget to the blog. That's it at top left. So far I've only been able to add it to the web version of the blog, which is weird since Blogger said it could only be added to the mobile version. It did just the opposite. Anyway, if you're on the web version of this blog, now you can read it in many different languages. I played around with it and it was fun to see my posts in Bulgarian, French and Russian. They look so odd!

If you speak a language other than English as your primary language, give it a try. And let me know how it goes. I'm particularly intrigued by the idea that it will have to translate "popey guy" into other languages. I can just imagine what it'll do with that. Fun!

Speaking of the popey guy, this blog is way too focused on Roman Catholic nonsense lately. I'm going to try to ignore the evil church for a while, and write posts about other things. Sounds refreshing.

Like I told you

No religion, too.

An excerpt from the popey guy's tour promoting "families" appears in a story headlined, Pope looks forward to families meeting in Philly:

Chaput, who heads the five-county archdiocese that has about 1.5 million Catholics, also said the visit would highlight the importance of the family, which he said "is founded on a deep and loving union between one man and one woman for mutual support and the nurturing of children" and is "the basic evangelizing unit of the Church." 

It ain't got nuthin' to do with families. The families who flock to these events are pawns in the pope's campaign to destroy the lives of gay men, lesbians and transgendered people everywhere in the world.

There is no rational reason for the church to oppose gays. None at all. Whenever you see a priest, ask him why the church attacks gays. Everyone should do this, all day long, every day. They can offer no answer, only mumbles and senseless words. This is a campaign of hatred. Call it what it is, and do so to their faces. They should not be allowed to get away with this.

Note that the NY Times story about the pope's "family tour" ends with this:

The announcement of the papal visit comes as jurors are deliberating in the landmark trial of a former Roman Catholic church official charged with conspiring to hide priest-abuse complaints and endangering children by keeping predators in ministry. 

Monsignor William Lynn, the former secretary for clergy, is the first U.S. church official charged for his handling of child sex-abuse complaints. He said he tried to get the Philadelphia archdiocese to address the problem, only to be rebuffed by his archbishop, the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua. Prosecutors maintain that Lynn could have quit or called police.

They can't hide what they are anymore. Those days are a distant memory.

Best atheist song

Someone finally remastered "Dear God" by XTC. It's still not great but the original was very poor quality. This is much better. It's one of my favorite songs.

Nuns don't sit still for Vatican trashing

Sister Christine Schenk.

I'm sure readers of this blog are aware that the Vatican attacked American nuns with unusual, public viciousness a few weeks ago. "Radical feminist agenda" indeed. American Catholics aren't pleased about this development -- and the nuns aren't taking it lying down. Two days ago, they responded.

Let's take this from the top. The boys club that is the Roman Catholic church is upset that American nuns won't echo the Vatican's hateful teachings about gay people and women. You must engage in the Vatican's hate campaigns in order to be an official Catholic these days. That is the Vatican's message.

But it's basically a man vs. woman thing. This male-only church hates women. And the very idea that American nuns question this antipathy drives them wild. So what is the Vatican going to do? Put a man on the case, of course.

Archbishop Sartain was assigned by the Vatican to spend five years revising the statutes of the sisters’ organization, vetting their speakers and publications, and making sure their events featured the eucharist, which can be administered only by a priest.

I love that. With this bit of prestidigitation, the nuns must include a bigoted male priest in all their activities. I roared laughing when I read about this. As Sister Christine Schenk, executive director of futurechurch, put it:

“Here you see women, very competent, highly educated, doctorates in theology, masters in ministry, C.E.O.’s of hospitals, heads of school systems, being treated as if they were children,” she said. “That in itself goes to the issue of where are the women in the decision-making structures in Rome.”

Indeed. This won't fly in America. Won't fly at all. The popey guy really stepped in it this time.

In Cleveland on Wednesday night, about 650 people, including laypeople, about 100 nuns and a handful of priests in their Roman collars, gathered for a prayer service inside a Catholic church to honor the nuns. When the nuns were asked to stand for a blessing, the congregation responded with a spontaneous standing ovation that lasted nearly five minutes, said several people who attended. 

And that's the way it's going to go in this country. Popey guy: no; nuns: yes!
 
PS: Even I like nuns.

Must-read post

Digby's got a great post about the church. You really have to read this one.

Wow. Just wow.

As the church goes down the toilet...

The popey guy.

Pope Benedict XVI praised the performance of Beethoven's Ninth symphony on Friday evening at Milan's La Scala theater as "a moment of elevation of the soul."

This is one holy guy, let me tell you. Here's a tidbit directly from his holy mouth:

Pope Benedict XVI praised the performance of Beethoven's Ninth symphony on Friday evening at Milan's La Scala theater as "a moment of elevation of the soul."

And he would know. C'mon, admit it -- you feel uplifted. He's such a spiritual popey guy. Meanwhile, behind the scenes:

Benedict's three-day trip to Milan for events focusing on the institution of the family is a welcome pastoral respite from an embarrassing and damaging leaks scandal at the Vatican that has engulfed the pontiff's personal butler.

The code words in bold tell us that he's on his usual hateful mission. When the church mentions the "institution of family", they're not talking about supporting anyone's family. What they mean is "let's make sure we deny gays the right to form families." This is just another message of anti-gay hatred by the popey guy.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the pope is a closet case. He lashes out at gays because he hates himself. It's a good thing there is no god because this popey guy would be smote and sent to hell for all eternity.

Timmy Dolan pays huge bonus to abusive priests

It's a wonderful story. Dolan pays off pedophile priests, lies about it and then won't talk about it. He's quite the Cardinal, isn't he? Makes you wonder about those rumors that he'll be the popey guy one day. It must be true. He's showing all the right colors.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York authorized payments of as much as $20,000 to sexually abusive priests as an incentive for them to agree to dismissal from the priesthood when he was the archbishop of Milwaukee. .

Questioned at the time about the news that one particularly notorious pedophile cleric had been given a “payoff” to leave the priesthood, Cardinal Dolan, then the archbishop, responded that such an inference was “false, preposterous and unjust.”

But a document unearthed during bankruptcy proceedings for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and made public by victims’ advocates reveals that the archdiocese did make such payments to multiple accused priests to encourage them to seek dismissal, thereby allowing the church to remove them from the payroll.

That's the paying and the lying. Here's the hiding:

Cardinal Dolan, who is president of the national bishops’ conference and fast becoming the nation’s most high-profile Roman Catholic cleric, did not respond to several requests for comment. 

He's always ready to show us the true nature of Catholic morality. He attacks gays, attacks women, attacks nuns -- and then turns around and pays a bonus to priests who rape kids. Thanks, Cardinal Timmy! Now we really know how to get to heaven!

Mayor Mikey Jackboots

So mayor Mikey Bloomberg wants super-sized sodas off the menu. Because he cares about people so much. Uh-huh. And then he sends his troops out nightly to scour the city for young people of color to harass and intimidate.

I swear this frisking of young people, based totally on race, drives me wild. And he doesn't even see anything wrong with it. When questioned about it, he says, "It's working." The man doesn't get it. He is blind to the existence of other people. To Mikey, there's only him and his rich friends living on this Earth.

Perhaps this will wake him up a bit. This practice has to end immediately.

That incredible time

Booman posted a great excerpt from Hunter Thompson today. It's about the 1960s and what it was like to be young back then. You have to read it.