Atheists are NOT NAZIS, Your Holiness

If you haven't heard, Pope Benedict mentioned in a speech to Queen Elizabeth that he felt the Church was threatened by "secular extremists" and thought that atheists are no better than Nazis.

(we'll just get this out of the way now: what was Benedict's summer job, again? Oh right, the Hitler Youth... And what faith were most Nazis, including Hitler? Roman Catholic... And what did the Catholic Church do during Hitler's reign? Oh yeah, pray for its success...)

Now look, I might as well say what's been on my mind for some time: GODWIN'S LAW IS OVERRATED. It's well intended, but the fact is that if you've been out in the real world you know that there are a lot of people out there who think that everyone who isn't the same nationality, skin colour, religion, or sexual orientation as themselves should be wiped out. That's not an exaggeration or "liberal bias", it's the truth -- ever heard of the Aryan Brotherhood (or anything coming out of Ann Coulter's mouth)? Heck, if you've seen my video or blog on the Qu'ran burning campaign started in the United States, you'd know that there's some disturbing parallels to the Third Reich becoming more and more common in American conservatives.

Anyway, to directly address The Pope's point... There are definitely extremists in every belief system -- and for all intents and purposes, that includes Atheism -- but to say that every Atheist is an extremist is utterly untrue and disingenuous (great, another clergyman who can't follow Jesus' teachings to save his life...). In my experience, most Atheists just want organized religion to butt out of the government, and to leave them alone personally.

If anyone in any belief system deserves to be compared the Nazis, it's the fanatics (and possibly the fundamentalists) that appear in nearly EVERY religion (the most obvious evidence of that are groups like Al Qaeda and the Westboro Baptist Church). Then again, acknowledging that would need The Pope to acknowledge that Mother Church is fallible (which goes against ecumenical policy), and it would arguably require saying that The Pope's most devoted followers could be a problem. So yeah, I'm not holding my breath.

Look, is it really too much to ask that the leader of the largest religion in the world, actually try to teach his followers to be PEACEFUL instead of thinking everyone's out to get them? With an attitude like that, it's only going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

More Vatican B.S.

So the latest lines of bullshit to come from The Pope's people, are that his main critics are pro-choice liberals and gays (WTF?) and that the accusations that Pope Benedict repeatedly covered-up pedophile priests are no more than gossip.

Ugh, where's Kanye when you NEED him?

Does the Church honestly think that it's above the law? What's the matter with them?? And why are they playing from the same pathetic gamebook as the neo-cons in North America??

This is just humiliating.

Criticizing the Pope is Anti-Semitism?

What the hell??

It seems like every time I turn around, some jerk is using "Anti-Semitic" to label valid criticism, that has nothing to due with Jews -- either as a whole, or at all. The latest example, is Pope Benedict's personal preacher, comparing criticism of the Catholic Church's sheltering for pedophile priests, to the persecution of Jews by the Nazis.

(by the way, I am aware of the irony here, given not only the Church's total non-involvement during The Holocaust, but Benedict having been in the Hitler Youth -- but that's beside the point)

It's disgusting enough, that the clergy is trying to defend what is basically the harbouring of criminals -- and some of the worst kind there is, I might add. But to deflect their critics in this way is not only appalling, but it's embarrassing -- what the hell does this even REMOTELY have to do with Antisemitism? This attitude is totally inexcusable, and illustrates perfectly that the clergy doesn't care as much about their flock as they claim to.

Incidentally, before anyone accuses me of Catholic bashing, please take a moment to actually read the news, and find out that there are a lot of Catholics who basically agree with me on this -- so much so, that they are no longer comfortable attending church, over it. They recognize, that this farce has nothing to do with Christianity.

April Fool's from Bored on the Corner

Howdy-doodily-do, Corner-ites! Welcome to the April Fool's Edition of Bored on the Corner. Let's celebrate the day, by going through these headlines from the fine people at Fox News.

[Fox News has no real affiliation with Bored on the Corner]

Now that the anti-evolution film Expelled is out on DVD, the Christian Right has declared it the best documentary they've seen, since "The Flinstones".

A traffic light in West Virginia that had been broken since Christmas, has been fixed by a mystery repairman. Even though his identity is unknown at this time, it is said that he is already being asked to fix everything else broken in the town, including old stop signs, sewers, phone lines, gas lines, and the city council.

A statue of Colonel Sanders was beached in Osaka, Japan. Unfortunately, in addition to missing his hands, legs, and glasses, the statue of the KFC founder also suffered a shotgun blast to the head, when a local man thought it was a zombie and panicked.

According to The Pope, condoms make AIDS worse. Also, sunblock will give you worse sunburns, swimming with a life jacket will make you drown faster, or gravity will ultimately make you fly.

A former official with the Bush administration recently said that several Guantanamo inmates are probably innocent. According to sources, Dick Cheney responding by wondering if the commie bastard would like to go hunting with him.

In financial news, Chrysler president Tom La Sorda is threatening to pull his company out of Canada, if the Canadian Auto Workers' Union pushes for a deal similar to the one they made with General Motors. Mr. La Sorda calls the deal unacceptable, saying that in addition to wage cuts and taking back benefits, he'd like to have the union work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no pay, food, or water.

While Hamilton steel maker Stelco remains shut down, its rival Dofasco remains thriving, as it has done for many years. When Stelco was asked if they plan on asking Dofasco how they do it, we were told "Tips from a profitable company?! No, why would we ever want those?"

Before I go, I'd like to take this moment to recommend the Bored on the Corner movie of the month: Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, in Fast and Furious: We're All Out of Ideas. That's it for me, enough said, take it easy, catch you next time, and may the forces of evil be confused on the way to your next blog.

(That oughta hold the little f***ers for another week.)