As General Smedley Butler said about war ; religion is a racket.

Q. 1394. Why do we show respect for the bodies of the dead?

A. We show respect for the bodies of the dead because they were the dwelling-place of the soul, the medium through which it received the Sacraments, and because they were created to occupy a place in heaven.

Though I consider graveyards an enormous waste of resources and real estate, this is wrong on a lot of levels but leave it to the Catholics to make a bad situation worse.

Odd, isn’t it that we spend so much time and energy looking after something nobody can prove to actually exist? While Soul Music and Soul Food can be described accurately, the human “soul” cannot be described, quantified or even shown to be.n I mean, if we’re talking about the 40 watts or so of current that is in the living human brain, then light bulbs have “souls”.

Speaking of Catholics, NBC is saying the Pope is going to resign. I never knew that Popes could resign. There must be something really ugly about to come out.

Good morning all,

Phew I thought from the lack of young bodies being available they were digging up thee dead for their jollies.

That’s cold but Lenny Bruce nailed them years ago, Christ and Moses reappearing at high mass naked in the back of the church.

Good morning, pups. Today we have Keller and Krugman. In “The Conscience of a Corporation” Mr. Keller discusses stretching religious freedom to the breaking point. Prof. Krugman, in “The Ignorance Caucus,” says the G.O.P. refuses to live in an evidence-based world.

Here they are, and

here’s Krugman’s blog.

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and the biscuits are out of the oven. I’ve got some things to catch up on first thing this morning, so I’m off to fortify myself with more tea and get cracking. (Mondays — ugh!) Have a great day.

Yep, and pretty much another guy racket also and too.

The Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe and the Chicago Tribune all also have the story. It’s being put out that it’s for failing health. Here’s the text of what the Chicago Trib had under a HUGE headline and picture:

Pope Benedict on Monday said he would resign on Feb 28 because he no longer had the strength to fulfill the duties of his office.

“For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter,” he said according to a statement from the Vatican.

Here’s hoping that they don’t come up with someone even worse. The world could use another one like John XXIII…

The good news is they’re probably running really low on WWII era Nazis.

We can but hope…

Here’s hoping the next one is even worse. Folks starting to catch on to the racket now lets keep it going. (Humming “Imagine” to himself)

Good morning. Pope Ratzinger’s apparently nearing his eternal reward. Approving and abetting Cardinal Mahony’s looting of the dead of Los Angeles is something else that will be weighed in the balance.

And ya know what? I doubt there’s a single thing anybody can do about it except the pope. And he’s resigning due to health.

Boxturtle (Wonder if Germany will indict him now)

He’s claiming it’s due to health. But I’m with you, something ugly is about to come out.

Rumor was the Germany was ready to indict him for covering up child abuse when he was elected pope and they declined to indict a sovereign.

Boxturtle (He may become an exile in the Vatican)

As an atheist, I don’t even comfort myself with the thought of ultimate, divine justice. His body will fail, his brain will lose electrical potential and then he’ll be gone.

Here’s hoping that they don’t come up with someone even worse. The world could use another one like John XXIII

Maybe in 400 years.

Exactly! John Paul II couldn’t even speak as well as Stephen Hawking for years but he never resigned. I don’t know if it’s unheard of but certainly all the Popes in my lifetime have died in office.

G.O.P. refuses to live in an evidence-based world

That’s okay. Science doesn’t care if you believe in it or not.

Boxturtle (Msg to GOP: Try not believing in Gravity and see if you float)

Dave Weigel at Slate is the leader with this last line of his report:

And on February 28, the Santorum for Pope campaign can begin.

Pope Frothy? Hilarious!

There have been other resignations, but CNN is saying the most recent one was Gregory XII in 1415.

Boxturtle (Geez, those guys hold on harder than Supreme Court justices!)

Perfect

Gravity is only a theory after all, in some cases not as well described as biological evolution. Maybe there will be a church of gravity is only a theory. They could have high platforms to take a “leap of faith” from. Maybe over an alligator pit.

Gotta go to work.

Dunno if Frothy is in the running, but the Vatican may want to borrow the GOP’s clown car.

Boxturtle (How many Cardinals can you fit in a Volkswagen?)

The smart money’s on Cardinal Cipriani of Lima, Peru.

It’s not unheard of, but hasn’t happened in over 600 years. Here’s a Wiki.

Oh, shit… An Opus Dei conservative.

Not sure if there is such a thing as gravity, Peg, I’ve never seen it so don’t believe in it. Now magnets are real, I have a nice collection of different kinds. They have a mysterious power so I pray to them every day.

I predict a Kardasian is involved!

I believe you just won a basket of internets.

Never heard of the Kardasians Is that some middle eastern schism? Are they violent?

Bawhaha!

Boxturtle (I’m stealing that, btw)

Never heard of the Kardasians

Thank you. You have given me some hope for the future of humanity on this Monday.

Boxturtle (And I gather either your do not do the grocery shopping or you’re legally blind)

Had to give up grocery shopping, took me hours, too many people to remind to tuck in their shirtails.

the human “soul” cannot be described

my human soul is a little wrinkled and as of late seems a bit dry too…I have a nice arch but very ugly toes

My toes are so bad I am going to buy a toe truck

Actually though I’ve heard what was done was supposedly legally, actually I’m thinking it was illegal. The justification was that the funding was still sufficient despite the gutting of the Perpetual Fund, but I’d think this would be actionable under the FTC Funeral Rules around misrepresentation:
http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus05-complying-funeral-rule/#misreps
Unless people were told their cemetery purchases could be used as a general purpose slush fund outside of just maintaining the cemeteries, that would seem to be actionable.

Supposedly Nostradamus, way back when, named every Pope up to the present one where his list ended.

So, either Nostradamus gained access to a “secret” list of Pope names for the next six hundred years or, perhaps, he really did see into the future, or, something else. Perhaps the Church is simply following the suggestions of Nostradamus. Could be interesting for members of the “Red Beanie Clan”.

That is completely incorrect. The Church’s complaint department has never had one complaint filed, ever, from its past congregationalists.