Amusing note of the day

The Vatican has registered one of its worst budget deficits in years, plunging back into the red with a €15 million ($19 million) deficit in 2011 after a brief respite of profit.

Karma, anyone? I can just see the Pope walking around his ultra-mansion, picking up this gold thing and that gold thing, and putting each down as he yells, "Never! I'll never sell this!"

PS: I'm going to say "Pope" rather than "popey guy" from now on. The reason is that this blog is translated into many languages (via that Translate widget on the top left). And I don't think "popey guy" will translate very well.

PPS: When I added the translation widget, my hits picked up. There are people from all around the world reading this blog now. I think that's so cool. I welcome you all!

The weird voting system for the All-Star game

My fave: R.A. Dickey.

This "vote for your favorite player for the All-Star Game" thing is meaningless. How can this vote matter in any way when the rules say you can vote as many times as you want?

What are they tallying, exactly? The OCD quotient of certain baseball fans? The stupidity of baseball fans? To do your favorite player any good you'd have to be manic, dimwitted and willing to sit at your computer for days, clicking on the same button.

And these jokers at MLB require your email address to register your vote! Do you think Major League Baseball will misuse your email address? Duh. These guys sell everything they can get their mitts on.

It's just aggravating, as is the All-Star Game itself. MLB ruins baseball every year. They did it big-time this year with all that idiotic interleague play. The season was so good before the very long period of interleague play. And now it's lost its mojo. Thanks, MLB, for everything!

Not impressed

I am so not impressed with Anderson Cooper's decision to come out now that it's perfectly safe to do so. I suppose he'll be called a "hero" for this. After all, Americans call just about anyone a hero these days.

When I was a teenager in the 1950s, I made sure everyone knew I was gay. I was educating them. Now, that was coming out. Just saying.

The most vapid couple in America

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California couple has passed the halfway mark in their quest to visit Disneyland every day this year.

And on this July 4th, to thee we sing. America, your vapidity precedes you. Now go get drunk and eat. USA! USA! Meh.

More logic from the logic-less

On Ed Brayton's blog this morning I found this bit of nonsense. It's from hatemonger and bigot extraordinaire, Bryan Fischer:

"You look at the average liberal in the United States, they believe things that are folly. They believe things that are irrational. They believe things that make no sense, that cannot stand up to the test of reason and logic. Why do they believe that? Because they are dupes, they have been deceived and fooled by the Prince of Lies, the Father of Lies and that’s why they believe and do what they do."

He's talking about our lack of logic. That's just so funny. The man actually has the nerve to say that liberals believe things that make no sense, while in the same breath he attributes all liberal beliefs to Satan. Highly logical. These people are a tiresome, evil joke and they really need to go away.

What is this?

Mystery animal.

I've been feeding this guy for a couple of years and I still have no idea what he is. Some furry thing -- that's as close as I've come to identifying him. Kinda shy; likes peanuts (but who doesn't?).

He had a baby last year, though I've never seen a female (or male, if this is a female). Usually, he forages alone, though the little one is with him at times. So, naturalists out there: what is this?

By the way, Milo the flock leader took all the geese away when it got really hot. They've been gone for weeks. But one of the geese -- a female, I think -- has a bum leg and she stayed behind. I suspect a coyote bit the leg, or perhaps a fox. In any case, the poor thing can hardly walk and she is the only adult goose remaining. Her little ones stayed behind with her. There are about six of them, rapidly approaching full size now. The poor thing can only hobble. I wish I could get a doc to fix her but I don't think she'd stand still as we approached. This one isn't a personal friend of mine, like Milo. Should I call someone anyway? It's sad to watch her try to fulfill her motherly duties after she was dealt such a terrible hand.

I'll bet Milo took the brood north, seeking cool air. Geese hate it when it's super hot. Poor guy. He had to migrate in reverse this year.

Just saying

I love that Wonkette calls New Jersey's Chris Christie "Governor Sammiches". When the world gets me down, I just tromp over to Wonkette's place. It's always fun over there.

Bad sentence

Here's the lede in an AP article this morning:

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The pope has fired a 52-year-old Slovak bishop for apparently mismanaging his diocese in a rare show of papal power. 

This says the bishop committed mismanagement "in a rare show of papal power". Then again, maybe he did. Here's more:

Benedict sacked Bishop William Morris of Toowoomba, Australia last year after he called for the church to consider ordaining women and married men.

So it seems the bishop did act in a popey way, saying things that only the popey guy should (but won't) say. So this misplaced phrase actually works, sorta. Just kidding. It's a terrible sentence that should never have appeared on a news site.

Religion and logic: mortal enemies

Eating brains won't give you logic.

I've been thinking about intelligent friends who are Christian. It seems to be an oxymoron. How can you be intelligent and believe in gods?

Though I've certainly known some normal, liberal Christians with big hearts, overall I'd have to say that the smartest Christians I've met share the following characteristics. They are Republican. They read the Wall Street Journal and watch Fox News. They deny global warming. And they consider Thomas Friedman to be the greatest intellectual who ever lived. How this can be? How can intelligent people fall for obvious nonsense?

I think it's because they lack logic. They don't know even what it is. Obviously, this prevents them from being logical when they think about, well, anything. Scarily, it seems to be a missing ingredient in their mental make-up.

It takes logic to understand that Thomas Friedman has never said anything sensible. And logic is the pepper spray that wards off the evils of the Wall Street Journal, Fox News and the Roman Catholic bishops. None of these three evils speaks with a logical voice -- ever. And of course, Republicans and logic have never met -- not even once in a dark room while drunk.

So is logic the gift that protects liberals from the toxic stew that is the belief system of most Americans? We're not attracted to any of their "grand ideas" because they are neither grand nor logical. They're not worth a moment of our time. And yet the dimwits flock to these arguments on TV, in church and in the election booth.

It's like they're a different species. What do you think? Is it because they know nothing of logic (or kindness, but that's another post)?

Seasonal Dysfluxia

Okay, I made that word up. But I am totally confused by the weather and this condition needs a name. A couple of weeks ago it was sweltering, so I knew it was Summer. But then it got cold, and I found myself wearing heavy clothes to keep warm. It was obviously Autumn, if not Winter. But now we're heading into a stretch of hazy, hot and humid weather. It's confusing.

If we don't have a nice, normal, cold Winter in the northeast this year, that's it. I'm leaving Earth. There's only so much I can put up with.

PS: Have you noticed that hardly anyone is blogging the past few days? Is it the heat?