2006 Forecast: Hurricanes, Armageddon & Brokeback Mountain

The Great Magda Sees All: 'The spirits are revealing to me a vision...I see a man...yes, a man on his knees...giving another man...in a cowboy hat...something I cannot see...wait, it's becoming clear now...yes...it's a blowjob. The Great Magda has spoken!'

Crystal Ball for 2006 Sees Giant Asteroid Crash (or Not)

from AFP

PARIS - In 2006, Arnold Schwarzenegger will be re-elected governor of California, Internet giant Google will suffer a setback - and Brazil will hang on to the World Cup.

If Earth doesn't get wiped out by a giant comet first, that is.

Maybe it will all come true and maybe not, but a legion of soothsayers - from business gurus to Bible decoders - is full of predictions for the year to come.

Some use elaborate computer programs like "Torah4U" to ferret out remarkably precise predictions allegedly hidden within the Hebrew text of the Old Testament and the Torah.

One Website complete with diagrammed excerpts from Holy scripture, exodus2006.com, foresees the November re-election of Schwarzenegger along with the re-establishment of a military draft in the United States.

It also predicts that August 3, 2006 will be a blood-drenched day - yet just a mere shadow of the calamity that will befall us in 2010.

Annie Stanton, one of countless psychics plying her trade on the Internet, predicts that catastrophe will come this year in the form of a massive asteroid crashing into the planet.

Another mystic seer, Anita Nigam from India, has extended her powers of the paranormal into another realm - the outcomes of English football's Premier League matches. Rumor has it she's keen on Brazil.

Bill Gray of Colorado University uses turbo-charged computer models that crunch data on global sea-surface temperatures and atmospheric conditions to forecast the number and intensity of hurricanes that will hit the US each year. Gray, whose track record is startlingly good, says 2006 will be no picnic - 17 named tropical storms, nine hurricanes and five major, high-wind hurricanes, nearly twice the historical average in all categories.

Meanwhile Wired magazine co-founder John Battelle, whose crystal ball is closely watched by the Internet technology faithful, says "Google will stumble" due to a bad partnership or a legal setback.

With the possible exception of the Apocalypse, no single event inspires more fevered speculation that the Oscars - who will be nominated, and who will win.

Odds-makers have cooled considerably on King Kong after the release of Brokeback Mountain, but Memoirs of a Geisha and Jarhead have loyal supporters too.

A] When You're the Majority, You Don't Add DiversityB] Religion Is a Choice, Not TraitC] 'Christian Victim' = Oxymoron

Court Rules GM Program Not Discriminatory

from The Associated Press

Indianapolis - A General Motors Corp. program that lets Hispanics, blacks, or lesbians - but not Christians - organize in employee groups does not commit religious discrimination, a federal court ruled.

The company's Affinity Group diversity program treats all religions equally because no groups are allowed to promote religious positions, the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled. The program recognizes nine groups, including ones for people with disabilities, gays and lesbians, women and veterans, and five for people of Hispanic, African or Asian ancestry.

The claim arose after John Moranski, a born-again Christian who works at GM's Allison Transmission plant in Indianapolis, applied in December 2002 to start an interdenominational Christian employees group as part of the diversity program, according to court documents.

GM rejected the application because program guidelines do not allow the groups to promote religious positions, the documents say. Moranski filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and then filed a federal lawsuit claiming religious discrimination.

A federal judge in Indianapolis dismissed the suit, and the appeals court upheld the decision, agreeing that the program handled all religions equally.

'In da Begizzle, Was da Word!'Bionic Bible? Niggapleez! Ebonic Bible, Fool! Izzle da Shit!

The Bible Translated into Gullah

from United Press International

St. Helena Island, S.C. - Descendants of slaves brought to the Sea Islands off South Carolina have helped translate the Bible into Gullah--the language of their ancestors.

The Los Angeles Times reported De Nyew Testament was unveiled in South Carolina last month at an annual festival to celebrate Gullah culture. The Gullah gospel was written by descendants of slaves under the direction of traveling missionaries. Gullah developed as a way for 17th-century slaves brought to the islands from West Africa to communicate with one another. The islands were so isolated that Gullah never evolved toward standard English.

No more than 10,000 people speak Gullah as their primary language; most are elderly and isolated on the Sea Islands off the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

The newspaper said Gullah sounds a bit like the modern African-American vernacular known as Ebonics, but scholars say Gullah is a distinct language.

Good Work, Boys!

Between the horrors of the Inquisition, the Crusades, the molested children, why, the karmic balance has hardly shifted at all! Boys, next stop: The Vatican.

Twice As Many Catholics Killed in 2005

from Australian

Almost twice as many Catholic priests, other religious and lay workers were killed in violent incidents in the past year than in 2004, the Vatican's Fides news agency reported overnight.

Of the 26 deaths, four priests and a nun were killed in Colombia, where Fides said "the Church is paying a heavy price for its commitment to reconciliation and social justice in the name of Gospel."

Other countries in the Americas where killings occurred were Mexico, Brazil, and Jamaica, Fides said.

The agency stressed that some of those who died were victims "of a social context marked by violence, human misery and poverty that they were seeking to alleviate by their presence and their acts."

Fides also referred to the "long list of 'unknown soldiers of the faith"' who lost their lives in 2005 and "of whom perhaps nothing will be known."

The Pope: 'A Chick Bleeding Out Her Vagina Is No Miracle'

'Bloody Mary' Episode Ensures South Park Guys a Bungalow in Hell

from Defamer

Perhaps the most outrageous and offensive South Park episode of all time (and that’s really saying something), "Bloody Mary," which first aired Dec. 7 as this season's finale, was pulled from the network schedule last night.

Its plot involves a statue of the Virgin Mary, which appears to be miraculously bleeding from its rectum. Pope Benedict XVI is called in to investigate, and upon discovering the statue is instead hemorrhaging from its vagina, says, ahem, "A chick bleeding out her vagina is no miracle. Chicks bleed out their vaginas all the time." Then the Catholic League got a look at it, and the Immaculate menstrual blood really hit the fan:

Somewhat predictably, the Catholic League was incensed by the satirical portrayal of the Virgin Mary and the pope and by the fact that the episode aired on the day before the Catholic Church celebrated its Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

The conservative group demanded an apology from Viacom, Comedy Central’s parent company, to Roman Catholics everywhere and "a pledge that this episode be permanently retired and not be made available on DVD."

The Catholic League also sought a personal condemnation from Viacom board member Joseph A. Califano Jr., who the group noted is a "practicing Catholic."

Califano was only too happy to oblige. After viewing the episode, he released a statement calling the episode an "appalling and disgusting portrayal of the Virgin Mary."

"It is particularly troubling to me as a Roman Catholic that the segment has run on the eve and day of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day for Roman Catholics," Califano said.

Califano also pledged to have Viacom president and CEO Tom Freston review the episode.

It would appear the Catholic League managed to accomplish what Tom Cruise couldn’t. As to how Freston will apply his laid back executive style to put out this particularly incendiary fire, that's anybody’s guess. It is worth noting that his recent staff e-mail managed to give nearly every property under the Viacom corporate umbrella its own bullet point, yet Comedy Central was almost completely glossed over. Perhaps in the midst of all the self-congratulatory hoopla, it would have been awkward to suddenly read, "And Comedy Central managed to blow $50 mil on a no-show comedian while still having enough energy left over to offend a billion Catholics worldwide. Thanks for nothing, assholes!"

Yo Quiero Exorcismo!

Lunes: Ahh...la nina bonita! Hola, nina! Hola! Nina? Hola?

Exorcisms Rise in Mexico, Keeping Father Mendoza, Healers Busy

from Bloomberg

Father Pedro Mendoza Pantoja, the Roman Catholic Church's highest-ranking exorcist in Mexico City, has never been busier.

Mendoza, 70, takes 15 phone calls a day from people who say they are possessed by the devil and sees about five of them for in-office consultations. They're part of the increasing number of Mexicans demanding exorcisms.

"Growing up, I don't remember a single person possessed by a demon," Mendoza said from his parish in Cuajimalpa, a town on the outskirts of Mexico City. "Every time a girl gets sick or acts strange, they send her over."


Nartes: 'La meme!'

Mexico is part of a global surge in exorcisms sparked by the Vatican's decision in 1999 to issue a new manual for the process, said Scott Lilienfeld, a professor of psychology at Emory University in Atlanta. Ninety-two percent of Mexico's 106 million people are Catholic.

The instructions on carrying out exorcisms are contained in the 84-page Roman Ritual, a book produced by the Vatican to outline how prayers and ceremonies should be handled. The revision to the section on exorcisms, the first since 1614, was made to reduce injuries and deaths, Lilienfeld said.

"I have to wonder if inadvertently they may have made it more popular by giving it a veneer of legitimacy," Lilienfeld said in a telephone interview. "The Vatican guidelines urge it be done with a medical professional. It may make it look like this is a real medical practice, which it is not."


Miercoles: 'La puerca es mia!'

A year after the Vatican published its new guidelines, the movie The Exorcist was re-released in theaters in the U.S. Mendoza said the movie, the second-highest-grossing U.S. horror film behind Jaws, also spurred demand for exorcisms. The film was originally released in 1973.

In Mexico, belief in possession and exorcism predates the arrival of the Spanish in 1519. Aztec healers burned herbs and prayed to ward off spirits. After the Spanish conquest, indigenous beliefs merged with Catholicism and the worship of saints.

According to a woman called Rosey, who describes herself as a healer and goes by only one name, people who believe they are possessed also seek out treatment in places such as Mexico City's Sonora Market. The market is a gathering place for such healers, who also sell herbs and candles used in saint worship.


Jueves: 'Que dia tan bello para un exorcismo.'

Rosey attributes the demand for demonic expulsions to the rise of infidelity and the breakdown in the Mexican family.

"I've had people come in and ask how much I will charge to kill their husbands," she said in an interview in the market.

Rosey said she knows a person is possessed when she touches them and a cold feeling passes through her body that hurts her bones. That's when she performs a "breaking." Rosey charges anywhere from $9 for a cleansing to 7,000 pesos for a full exorcism, which involves the burning of herbs and wood and evoking saints such as Elegua, known as the guardian of the crossroads. The Catholic Church doesn't charge for exorcisms.

Healers such as Rosey are part of the problem, Father Mendoza said. Many people who are suffering from a mental illness or drug addiction turn to healers, "where they then really do pick up a demonic influence or possession."


Viernes: 'El poder de Christo la obliga! El poder de Christo la obliga! El poder de Christo la obliga!'

Mendoza said he looks for the tell-tale signs of possession described by the Vatican guidelines, such as speaking in a foreign language the person has "no reason to know" or being "familiar with events in far away places or in other times.''

Some of those who aren't fully possessed by the devil suffer from "diabolic oppression," a lesser form of demonic invasion, Mendoza said. For those people, some Catholic churches in Mexico do mass ceremonies - called prayers of liberation - where hundreds are exorcised at the same time.

"Many exorcisms cure the oppressed and not the possessed," Mendoza said after he spent his whole day attending to people who said they were possessed. "True demonic possessions result from making a pact with the devil, from inviting the devil inside, sometimes without realizing it."


Sabado: 'Deje que Jesus la coja! Deje que Jesus la coja!'

In an exorcism, a priest performs a ceremony that includes sprinkling holy water onto the possessed person and reciting prayers ordering the devil to depart.

In August 2004, Father Mendoza coordinated Mexico's first national meeting of exorcists and "auxiliaries of liberation." The auxiliaries are those who aren't trained exorcists themselves. They aid the priest or bishop in his work. Mendoza declined to say how many exorcisms he performs.

The Vatican guidelines require a trained professional, such as a psychologist, to examine anyone before an exorcism, Lilienfeld said. The professionals determine whether someone is suffering from a mental illness such as schizophrenia or from epilepsy, conditions that priests commonly mistake for demonic possession.

"Sometimes exorcisms can go wrong, and a few people have been harmed or even killed by exorcisms when they have been accidentally strangled or beaten," he said. "It's dangerous, because a belief in exorcism can encourage the misdiagnosis of genuine psychiatric problems and encourage people to think of their problems as the result of indwelling entities."


Domingo: 'Su madre chupa verga en el Infierno, Karras, pinche basura sin fe!'

Don King Presents:Jesus vs. God: The Harmageddon!

'Not since Luke vanquished Vader! [that's right!] Not since Oedipus killed the king! [no sir!] Not since America pounded the Crown! [revolution!] Not since Lizzy diced daddy! [lordy!] Not since Zeus crushed Kronos! [say it!] Not since Hamlet clobbered Claudius! [not to be!] Not since Carrie mangled mommy! [they're all gonna stab at you!] Not since Set beset Osiris! [oh no!] Not since Cristina jacked Joan! [mommie deadest!] Not since Menendez massacred Menendez! [yessir!] Not since...'

Pa. Teacher Found Nude Faces Charges

from The Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A high school teacher faces charges of assaulting a police officer and possession of illegal drugs after being arrested earlier this month while standing naked in the snow, police said.

Curtis Lofton, 23, was arrested Dec. 10 after police found him nude outside his home. When asked where he lived and why he was naked, Lofton said that he was Jesus Christ and that the officer must be God, according to court papers.

A scuffle broke out between the two men during which Lofton, is alleged to have hit the officer over the head with a plastic toy trumpet he found nearby.

Lofton, a second-year French teacher, was charged with aggravated assault involving a police officer, resisting arrest, open lewdness, possession of a small amount of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and unlawful possession of the prescription drug oxycodone.

'Oy Vey! Again with the Darwin!?'

Darwin This

from Miami New Times

On a recent Tuesday evening, Moshe Tendler, an influential Orthodox rabbi and Yeshiva University biology professor, ambled onto the stage at Kovens Conference Center in North Miami. He surveyed the 300-strong crowd of scientists and intellectuals and urged them to spread the word that Darwin was wrong. "It is our task to inform the world [about intelligent design]," he implored. "Or the child growing up will grow up with unintelligent design...Unintelligent design is our ignorance, our stupidity."

This may seem an unlikely message from a prominent Jewish biologist. After all, intelligent design theory — which holds that life is too complex to be a fluke of evolution — has been crafted primarily by evangelical Christians and spurned by most scientists.

But some Jewish leaders, like Tendler, have begun to quietly embrace the theory. And several of them went public with their support during the Sixth Miami International Conference on Torah and Science, which ran from December 13 to 15. The event attracted about 1000 Jewish researchers, intellectuals, teachers, and students. There was also one prominent evangelical: Intelligent design luminary William Dembski was among the event's featured speakers.

The conversation proved divisive. Tendler kicked off the conference by attacking the idea that complex life could flow from "random evolution."

"That is irrational," he said.

As soon as Tendler finished speaking, biologist Sheldon Gottlieb rushed to one of two microphones perched in the aisles. "We all know evolution is not random," he grumbled. "It goes through the filter of natural selection...You cannot use those arguments with this audience." Tendler and Gottlieb sparred for about five minutes. Meanwhile long lines began to form at the mikes. But the moderator cut the question-and-answer session short and sent the crowd home.

Dembski spoke the following morning, and more than 400 people packed in to see him. Much of Dembski's talk concentrated on the evidence of design in nature. He offered the classic example of the tiny flagella that bacteria use to propel themselves through their environment. "They can spin at 100,000 rpm," Dembski marveled. "And then in a quarter-turn, they're spinning the other direction. Imagine if a blender could do that...Is it such a stretch to think a real engineer was involved?"

After about 45 minutes, Dembski wrapped up his talk, and dozens of attendees swarmed the microphones again, many of them eager to air their objections. "Our speaker has fuzzied the main issue," complained Nathan Aviezar, who teaches physics at Bar Ilan University in Israel. "The whole enterprise of science is to explain life without invoking supernatural explanations. Intelligent design is not science, it's religion, and it shouldn't be taught in science class."

The contentious Q&A lasted 25 minutes.

Sholom Lipskar ranks among Miami's most influential rabbis. And like Tendler, he believes Jews should back the intelligent design movement. "The fundamental question the theory answers is, accidental or intentional?" he explains. "If it's accidental, then what's the point? But if there's design, we're here for a reason." Lipskar also advocates bringing intelligent design into Jewish classrooms. "It should be taught together with chemistry and physics," he says.

What do the students think? Many of those who heard Dembski speak said they would like to study his ideas in class. "His words make sense," commented Annale Fleisher, a seventeen-year-old senior at Miami Beach's Hebrew Academy. "Saying life comes from evolution is like saying a library was made by someone spilling a bottle of ink."

The enthusiasm some Torah devotees express for intelligent design reflects a growing alliance between traditional Jews and evangelical Christians. The two groups have found themselves on the same side of many culture war battles. And evangelicals have funneled tens of millions of dollars into Israel.

For his part, Dembski hopes the conversation that began at the Torah and Science conference will continue, and that some Jewish scientists will eventually lend their talents to the intelligent design movement. "It would be huge in terms of PR because it would give lie to this idea that this is just a conservative Christian thing," he explains. "It would also expand our talent pool immensely."

But critics in the audience at the conference chafed at the prospect of Jewish scientists contributing to a movement that has stated as its goal the "overthrow" of "scientific materialism." "We would be helping to eliminate science as a discipline," said Aviezar. "And that would put us back in the Fifteenth Century. It would be a disaster."

'Oy Vey! Again with the Evangelicals!?'

The Last Straw

from I News

The recent scandal over Christian proselytizing at the U.S. Air Force Academy has done more than just shake things up at the prestigious school north of Colorado Springs.

For some Jewish groups, it also has proven the last straw in a series of incidents that have strained relations between them and powerful evangelical organizations.

Complaining that the religious right has gone too far in pushing to "Christianize" America, some prominent Jews now say enough is enough.

The issue was brought to the forefront last month by Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, an organization dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism. In a highly publicized speech, Foxman blasted a "sophisticated, coordinated, unified, energized, and organized coalition of groups" for trying to "implement their Christian worldview."

Among the groups Foxman singled out was Focus on the Family, the powerful evangelical ministry in north Colorado Springs whose founder, James Dobson, has called for restoring America's "biblical foundations."

"Make no mistake," Foxman said. "We are facing an emerging Christian right leadership that intends to 'Christianize' all aspects of American life, from the halls of government to the libraries, to the movies, to recording studios, to the playing fields and locker rooms of professional, collegiate and amateur sports, from the military to SpongeBob SquarePants."

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism - representing 900 Reform synagogues in North America - has joined Foxman in his criticism, warning that Christian "zealots" are trying to "make their religion the religion of everyone else."

A few weeks ago in New York, Foxman, Yoffie and other Jewish leaders met behind closed doors to discuss how to fight back. Participants since have said that although they disagreed on many things, they agreed recent developments were worrisome.

Asked which specific incidents sparked the concern, Ken Jacobson, associate national director of the Anti-Defamation League, brings up the recent debacle at the Air Force Academy.

Dozens of complaints, and a lawsuit by a graduate, allege that the academy routinely coerced cadets to participate in Christian prayers and ceremonies. The complaints caused the Pentagon to issue new guidelines to encourage religious sensitivity and restrict proselytizing. However, evangelical groups have attacked the new guidelines as "anti-Christian."

The Jewish leaders also have complained about the Christian right's efforts to dictate George W. Bush's appointments to vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court.

The leaders say their disagreement is with certain evangelical groups, not all evangelicals.

"In no way are we launching a full-scale attack on evangelicals," Jacobson says. "But we are saying that these are issues that need to be discussed."

In Colorado Springs, Rabbi Anat Moskowitz of Temple Shalom says she shares the concern about intolerance toward non-Christians.

Children in her congregation often are harassed in school by Christian kids, she says.

"They get attacked in public schools by other kids, who tell them they are going to hell because they don't believe in Jesus," says Moskowitz, adding she's had to do emergency counseling sessions with children who were "kind of freaked out" by the experience.

The Air Force Academy scandal also upset Moskowitz. Christian proselytizing "simply doesn't belong there," she says. "This is a public school; it's paid for by the government. We have this thing called separation of church and state."

Moskowitz says she'd like to start a dialogue with local evangelical leaders to promote religious tolerance in the community.

"I am getting more and more angry as time is going on, about this whole thing," she says.

Through a spokesman, Christopher Norfleet, Focus on the Family declined to comment.

Holy Hamburgers! NY Hindus Fight To Keep Filthy Cows As 'Family'

Holy Cows Remain Subject of Legal Fight

from The Associated Press

Buffalo, New York - A Hindu couple whose sacred cows were banished from the western New York village of Angelica in 2003 have renewed their fight to bring them home.

Stephen and Linda Voith are appealing a state Supreme Court decision that sided with Angelica officials, who cited rules governing farm animals within village limits.

The Voiths, members of the Krishna Consciousness branch of Hinduism, insist that their six cows are not farm animals but part of the family and integral to the practice of their religion that protects and celebrates cows.

During the earlier court proceedings, neighbors called by the village as witnesses testified about the smell, manure, and flies - complaints the Voiths chalked up to religious intolerance.


'What are you looking at?'

Lawyers Aim Lawsuits at Ohio's 'Maybe Magic' Evolution Stance

Ohio should remember that the only 'opinions' that should be 'considered' and 'respected' in deciding how science is taught are those based purely on science and the consensus of science community. If the opinions or concerns of Christians and ID advocates played any role in the development of - or are accommodate now by - Ohio's science plan, sue its ass. Sue! Sue! Sue!

Ohio's 'Critical' Teaching of Evolution Could Become Legal Battleground

from Religion News Service

Now that a Pennsylvania ruling has been made on intelligent design, Ohio could become the next legal battleground over the critical teaching of evolution in public schools.

U.S. District Judge John Jones III ruled Dec. 20 that intelligent design is creationism in disguise and cannot be taught as an alternative to evolution in public school science classes. The 139-page ruling, the result of a high-profile trial in Dover, Pa., is expected to have an impact in Ohio.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which helped bring the Dover lawsuit, has obtained boxes of records from the Ohio Department of Education pertaining to the state school board's adoption of a controversial science lesson plan nearly two years ago, as reported in The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

That action is a prelude to a possible challenge of the lesson, "Critical Analysis of Evolution," which critics contend is warmed-over intelligent design. Intelligent design is a belief that life is so complex a higher being must have had a hand in its creation.

After the ruling denouncing Dover's policy, those critics gave Ohio an ultimatum: Get rid of the plan, or face a long, costly, and potentially embarrassing lawsuit.

"We hope Ohio takes notice and cleans house," said Richard Katskee, Americans United's assistant legal director. "Whether there is a legal challenge really depends on what the Ohio Board of Education does."

State Education Department spokesman J.C. Benton said the curricula simply requires students to think critically about scientific theories such as evolution.

"There was considerable conversation on these issues and people have passionate opinions," Benton said. "However, we are confident this process not only took into consideration, but also respected, those opinions on all sides of the issue."

Christians: Under the Hood, They're All the Same

'Caller, I'm so glad you asked. My message is, simply, love. Love thy neighbor. Except, of course, if he's a fag. Or a nigger or kike or chink or a-rab or hippy or Democrat or Mormon or bitch who don't know when she should shut up. Them you kill. Yea. Next caller...'

KKK Rallies To Oppose Gay Marriage

from 365Gay

Des Moines, Iowa - The Ku Klux Klan is preparing to stage a demonstration next month in Des Moines, Iowa to protest a lawsuit seeking marriage equality for same-sex couples.

The protest and rally is being organized by the leader of the Klan's northern Iowa branch.

"We don't believe God's law should be perverted any more than it already has been," said Douglas Sadler, 41, who identified himself as the region's imperial klailiff.

"The further we go away from God's law, the further we get away from God."

Six same-sex couples filed suit earlier this month in Polk County seeking to have Iowa's Defense of Marriage Act struck down. The suit argues that under the equal protection and due process guarantees in the Iowa State Constitution it is unlawful to bar same-sex couples from marrying.

Sadler predicted a large number of Klan members would attend the rally, and suggested that gays should be exterminated.

"We don't believe they have the right to marry," Sadler told the Associated Press. "In fact, we don't think they have the right to exist."



OK, everyone! Hoods off! Suits on! Bring up some blacks! Look respectable and remember: We don't talk about murdering them with our hoods off. Dubya, put away that noose! Idiot! Cameras ready? OK, here we go. Five...four...three...

Anti-Gay Group Targets New NBC Drama

from PlanetOut

A television drama about an Episcopal priest, set to debut next week, has prompted protest from right-wing religious activists - in part because the show features a gay character as the priest's son.

The American Family Association is urging members to send letters of protest to NBC about the show, The Book of Daniel, which the group believes is not a favorable depiction of Christian people.

The series centers on a priest named Daniel Webster and his family. According to the AFA, Webster's family includes "a 23-year-old homosexual Republican son, a 16-year-old daughter who is a drug dealer, and a 16-year-old adopted son who is having sex with the bishop's daughter."

In a plot device reminiscent of Joan of Arcadia, the priest has visions of Jesus and frequent conversations with him. The AFA termed the show's depiction of Jesus "very unconventional."

Aidan Quinn, who plays the priest, called the series "wholesome" in an interview published Tuesday by the Associated Press.

"I honestly don't think it's going to be nearly as controversial as some people may now be afraid of," Quinn said. "It just has the courage to deal with some of the real issues that go on in people's lives."

The show is scheduled to air Fridays beginning Jan. 6.

If Your Catholic Is Still Raving in Hysterics, You Didn't Bitchslap Him Hard Enough...Try Again

Okay...let's see. Got it. Yes! Right. Well, naturally. OK, I think I'm ready. Pimps: Is there anything they don't know? Oh, here comes our Catholic now...

ABC Pushes Anti-Catholic "Pope Joan" Tale

from FreeRepublic

Check out the promotional ad for this Thursday evening's (December 29, 2005) episode of ABC's Primetime. The promo is for the story, "On the Trail of Pope Joan":

"Diane Sawyer takes you on the trail of a passionate mystery. Just as intriguing as The Da Vinci Code. Chasing down centuries-old clues hidden even inside the Vatican. Could a woman disguised as a man have been Pope? Thursday night. One astonishing Primetime."

It doesn't get much uglier than this, folks. Quite simply, there was never a female pope, or "Pope Joan." The tale is a complete fabrication dating back to the 13th century - nearly 400 years after the reported "reign" of the so-called "Joan." Scholars debunked the fable hundreds of years ago.



Over the centuries, the "Pope Joan" story has been used as a slanderous tool to tarnish the Catholic Church and degrade Catholics.



That a major network like ABC would lend credibility to such a vicious anti-Catholic smear is



deplorable. What



could



be



worse?


Dammit! For the love of Snoop, it's not working! This crazy bitch just keeps yapping and yapping and now my hand hur-ooh, look!