What a Legacy!

This appears to be for real -San Francisco County had a Proposition R for renaming the Oceanside Water Treatment Plant of the City of San Francisco to - yes, you read it right -the "George W Bush Sewage Plant." Luckily for Mr. Bush, the proposition failed with 69% voting no.

Human bling-bling

Now when your spouse or loved one dies, you can have them made into jewelery, and flash your new-found bling in public. No kidding. A Swiss company named Algordanza will take human ashes and turn them into diamonds. Never mind the sacredness of the human body. There are reports that Christians are their best customers.

Oh, in case you didn't already know, after the cremation process, when the body has been torched for two hours at temperatures of up to 2100 degrees F, what remains is bone fragments, not ashes. These bone fragments are sifted, collected and then pulverized in a device that uses a rotating and grinding mechanism to produce what we call ashes. It's no wonder the Catholic Church was against cremation for so many centuries (until the 1960's fell upon us).

This is your brain on drugs

Similar to a chicken with its head cut off...

By The Associated Press

MODESTO, Calif. - Police say a man tried to cut off his own arm at a restaurant in Modesto, Calif., because he thought he had injected air into a vein while shooting cocaine and feared he would die unless he took drastic action.

Authorities say 33-year-old Michael Lasiter rushed into the Denny's restaurant late Friday and started stabbing himself in one arm with a butter knife he grabbed from a table.

They say that when that knife didn't work Lasiter took a butcher knife from the kitchen and dug it into his arm.

Police Sgt. Brian Findlen says Lasiter told officers he thought he needed to amputate his arm to keep himself from dying from the cocaine injection.

Lasiter was taken to a hospital for treatment of severe cuts.

The Denny's closed for the night.

Sister Vanity

An Italian priest is organizing a beauty pageant for nuns, with over one thousand entries expected. It's disgraceful. I thought nuns had a spiritual mission to pray for the Church, in particular, to be part of the spiritual army of prayer warriors that intercede with God for good, holy priests. Apparently this particular priest thinks the contest will help attract young women to a vocation as a nun. Here's a news flash for you, Father. We need nuns who pray and set a good example of holiness, chastity and humility. There is not enough of that to go around.

The Raccoon

Raccoons sure are cute little animals. As long as they don't take up residence in your house, that is. My neighbour investigated strange noises in his attic a few days ago, and discovered a mother raccoon had moved in. She crawled up a hollow post that supports the roof over his entrance and made herself right at home, and proceeded to give birth to three little raccoons.

He chased her out with noise; first a loud radio, and then an air compressor. Until this morning, she lived in the neighbour's honeysuckle jungle that overhangs our mutual fence.

Today, when my little dog wouldn't stop barking, I went outside to investigate. There she was, standing on the fence, threatening to attack my dog. I'm pretty sure she would rip him to pieces, as he is just fourteen pounds. I threw pebbles at the metal ladder below her, and the noise scared her away. I watched as she reappeared with a baby in her mouth. She climbed along the fence and I tossed more pebbles at the ladder. She dropped the baby into the honeysuckle, and dared me to approach her. There's nothing like a wild animal guarding its babies, so I just made enough noise to scare her.


I decided to stay back, camera in hand and observe her. It wasn't long until she had that baby by the scruff of its neck once again, and she climbed up the fence with it and down the other side into our front yard. I ran around the house to catch the tail end of her disappearing into our boat! We have a tarp over the boat that is snapped tightly in place, and she squeezed in through the outboard motor.



The challenge was how to get rid of her in a humane way. First, we frightened her out of the boat by shaking it and making noise. She was on the attack, ready to defend her babies, but a quick spray of water with the garden hose made her run away. Not far, though; she stayed about twenty feet away, hiding behind a flower pot, waiting to see what our plans were for her babies.

Using the fishing net, we scooped each baby out of the bow of the boat where she had concealed them, and set the little raccoon down where mama could see it. I directed them away from our yard by spraying the hose underneath the boat, and each time a baby was freed, the mother ran over to it and shielded it with her body, while anxiously waiting for the next one.


Who says raccoons can't count? She knows she has three babies and she's not budging until the last one comes out!


It only took about fifteen minutes before the raccoon family was trotting down the street looking for new digs. I hope she finds a secure place to raise her family.

Is it something in our water...

Or is this story for real? Canadian women are being asked to mail their underpants - yes, you read it right- to Myanmar to aid the international effort to shame Myanmar's ruling junta into giving citizens greater access to humanitarian aid and human rights. It seems the men of Myanmar believe that contact with women's undergarments drains them of their power, and this is an attempt to play on that superstition. I can't help wondering...whatever happened to plain old Kryptonite?

The Deception

I bought this statue of the Sacred Heart from a little Catholic shop on Rue du Petit-Champlain in Quebec City a few years ago. Beautiful, isn't it? It is hand made by the nuns who run the shop; in fact, they make all the statues with their own hands, and sell them in one of the busiest, oldest and most picturesque shopping districts in all of North America.

I was quite taken by a beautiful statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and planned on ordering it from the shop once I got back home. I tucked away the contact information and only came across it tonight while searching for something else.

I still remember the nun who sold me this statue; she was dressed in a light blue and white habit, reminiscent of the colours of the Blessed Virgin, and before handing my purchase over to me, she blessed the statue, making the sign of the cross over it just the way a priest would, while whispering a silent prayer. I thought that was really odd, so as soon as I got back home, I had my parish priest bless it.

Fast forward to tonight. I found their 2006 calendar, complete with incredibly beautiful sacred scenes that says they are all original paintings of their own members. The order's name is The Apostles of Infinite Love, and I Goggled them to find out more about them. Something had struck me as odd about them, and sure enough, my search shows that they are a cult based out of Quebec, with a fake priest and brainwashed followers. The leader of their little group is Jean- Gaston Tremblay, who is well into his seventies, and who thinks he is the real pope.

I guess I won't be ordering that statue of the Blessed Virgin after all. I don't want to help fund their little ministry.

Who makes these things up, anyway?

If you are Australian, you may not want to visit Canada. They have placed Canada on their "Exercise Caution" list for countries to visit.

According to the Australian government, we are a dangerous country where terrorism, forest fires and avalanches can strike at any moment. And don't forget the treacherous incidence of earthquakes, tornadoes, and tsunamis! I've never seen one in my lifetime, but apparently they are a real danger. Oh, and stay clear of our wildlife. You never know when one of our ferociously dangerous furry forest critters are going to jump out and attack. Yup, you better just stay home.

Two heads are better than one!

Siamese twins can happen to turtles too, apparently.

Plumber, gangster, it's all the same fashion

Don't you just hate it when you see young guys with their pants halfway down their backsides, strutting along like they are oblivious to the fact that their butts are exposed and their pants have fallen to their knees? I wonder how they manage to take any steps with their waistband around their thighs? My first impression of this fashion was one of a toddler walking around with a fully loaded, saggy diaper. Really, there is nothing appealing about it!

The look apparently started after prisoners, who aren't allowed to wear belts for safety reasons, spread the style to gangster rap videos, which was mimicked by skateboarders who spread it like a disease to impressionable youth who copy just about anything they see.

I guess I'm not alone in my dislike of this bizarre fashion, because now some states in the US are banning the gangsta look, making it illegal to the tune of six months in jail or a $500 fine to be caught with your pants down. Maybe they should just call it the Plumber's Law. Now, that's a welcome crackdown!

Illogical Logic

Wow. A Mexican priest has an affair that produces a son, then he kills him sixteen years to later so the Church won't find out he broke his vow of celibacy. What kind of logic is that? I guess he forgot that on the General Judgment the whole world will know that he broke his vow of celibacy and then murdered his son in the hope that no one would find out about him. Yeah. Great logic.

The price of a soul

A twelve year old girl who is an acquaintance of my family has twice asked me about selling her soul to the devil in exchange for fame and fortune. She isn't Catholic, and has never been baptized, but she has been exposed to enough Catholicism in her short life to understand about God, heaven and hell, the devil, and the dangers of evil to the eternal life of the soul. The first time she mentioned selling her soul was months ago, and she recently brought it up again, wondering what would happen to her eternal soul if she exchanged it for fame and fortune.

I told her about the sufferings of hell, as seen through the eyes of the saints, and made sure she understood that eternity is forever; that if your soul goes to hell, it has to endure the most terrible torments for time everlasting. Likewise, I told her that the joys of heaven are forever, and that she could just as easily ask God for what she wants without jeopardizing her soul.

I think she came across this idea from exposure to movies, and clearly she has not yet put it out of her mind, though I think I managed to impart a fear of hell into her with my descriptions of endless sufferings and torments that she would be buying into. One of the questions she wanted answered was how long she would have to live once she made the pact with the devil, clearly wanting to hear that she would have a long life of riches and good fortune, making the trade off more acceptable to her desire for instant gratification. I tried to make her understand that God is the author of life, that He can take a life at any time, and no one knows how much time they have before He calls them to their judgment.

I thought about talking to her mom, but she is raised in a home with no religion, and I'm not sure it would have the desired benefit. I'm hoping that all of you who read this will keep this girl in your payers. I see the innocence of youth in this girl, and I believe she will respond to the grace of God, but she needs our prayers to overcome the temptations she is facing. Please pray for her. Her name is Alycia.

So this is where my union dues go!

From World Net Daily, of all places, I just learned that the left-wing union I belong to through my employer has helped to fund the recent fifth annual Cairo Conference, largely sponsored by the Muslim Brotherhood, also known as radical right wing fascists. Do you see the irony in this? The Canadian Union of Public Employees, lovers of secularism and all that attaches to it, out of tolerance, makes a grant to a conference that is out to destroy everything they stand for. It must be a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. The Union of Universalism funding the Religion of Pieces.

Horizontal Adoration

From Domus Dei - This sounds just like a bad dream, but who knows, there may be a parish out there who is planning something like this...

What Was She Thinking?

What could possibly have motivated an elementary school teacher in the Vancouver area to have her students perform a mock massacre to mimic the deadly Virginia Tech shootings? Is she off her rocker? Sure she is regretful, and probably afraid for her job, now that she has to face the consequences of her extremely poor judgment. Having grade 6 and 7 students do a practice session of killing and mayhem isn't drama. It's frightening. Not to mention insensitive to the families of those who are grieving for their loved ones.

The teacher is reportedly expressing regret at her inappropriate actions. You don't say!

Question of the Day

If you eat a sheep that's 15% human, does this mean that you are 15% cannibal?

Weird News

A good reason for a man to have only one wife - too many of them, and they just might cut off his nose to spite his face.

Tourist Attraction or True Penance?

Talk about penance! In the Philippines, seven Catholic believers were actually nailed to crosses on Good Friday -- in honor of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made. They actually used four inch nails that had been soaked in alcohol, after they carried their crosses on their backs for nearly a mile to their place of crucifixion.

Tourists flock to the site to see this annual event. They have a huge audience, with a stage at the mound where the crucifixions take place, but religious leaders are opposed to the spectacle. Some of the men have taken part in this ritual up to twenty one times. Others flog themselves with bamboo sticks to do acts of penance for the Lenten season.

Makes my Lenten penance seem pretty soft...

No Wonder We're all Banned in China - They Eat Body Parts of Babies

Planning on visiting China? If this story is true, you might want to reconsider. At least don't go to Liaoning province, where they eat infants as a delicacy. Be sure you have the stomach for this story - it's really evil.

Weird Catholic News

This story is so weird that I had to create a new label category. It reads like a soap opera. Unfortunately, it's true. A girl found murdered beneath the floor of a Catholic Church, an extramarital affair, and a priest confessing to having an affair with the girl who was murdered. Strange times, indeed.