Scientology Movie Battlefield Earth gets Suckiest Movie Ever Award

How do you make the suckiest movie in the world? Why, by mixing committees and religion, of course! Take the screenwriter's masterpiece, let a bunch of religious executives chop out key scenes, add irrelevant subplots, change characters and design stupid sets.

That makes a bad movie. But to really make it the worst movie of the decade, use Scientologists, who are gullible and irrational to begin with, then throw in John Travolta, their famous mouthpiece (and a good actor), and let him suck in the big Hollywood money so that you can REALLY screw up.

This year the Razzi for the "Worst Movie of the Decade" went to J.D. Shapiro, author of Battlefield Earth, the mega-blockbuster based on the novel by Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard. Not one to duck, Shapiro accepted the award in person, and his speech is a real hoot.

Is the Collective Republican IQ Really This Low?

Here's a rather frightening poll. If these statistics are true, the Republican party should be ashamed of itself. Either that, or else the collective IQ of the Republican Party is so abysmal it's not smart enough to be ashamed. According to a new poll:

• 57% of Republicans still believe Obama is a Muslim. (Ironic, given that he actually may be a closet atheist.)
• 45% of Republicans still believe Obama wasn't born in the United States, even though the State of Hawaii produced his official birth certificate, and a notice of his birth was published in the newspaper.

You think those numbers are scary? There's one more:

• 24% of Republicans think Obama is the antichrist. (Do they even know what an antichrist is?)

I think I'm in the wrong line of work. Spreading truth and wisdom is such an uphill battle, maybe I should give up and instead just spread drivel that people want to believe. It's so much easier.

How can people believe this utter nonsense in the face of clear and compelling facts?

I'd be willing to bet that the the fraction of Republicans who believe this drivel are the same ones who were raised in fundamentalist, evangelical churches.

Pope Benedict XVI: The Heat is Turned Up

The Vatican is starting to feel more heat for Ratzinger (aka Pope Benedict XVI). In just a couple days, it's gone from a NY Times story to a worldwide scandal that is engulfing the Pope himself. Here are the headlines:

Pope Benedict faces child abuse cover-up queries - BBC
Abuse Scandal's Ripples Spread Across Europe – New York Times
Vatican defends decision not to defrock U.S. priest – Reuters
Vatican says it was unaware of alleged American priest abuse – CNN
Vatican halted trial for man accused by deaf boys – Associated Press
Pope 'failed to discipline US priest' who abused deaf children – The Guardian
Pope “failed to act” over abuse – Aljazeera.net
Father Murphy, molester of deaf children – beliefnet.com

These and dozens more headlines are what happens to a religion that utterly denies our human sexuality.

Luck Versus Religion: I'll Take Luck Any Day

One of the truly damaging aspects of religion is that takes away our pride and belittles our accomplishments. God gets all the credit, we get all the blame.

I was contemplating in bed this morning, enjoying a lazy morning, thinking about how I should be in here blogging, but instead watching the sunrise, talking lazily, listening to the birds singing their springtime songs, and enjoying the beautiful lagoon out my window with the beach and ocean in the distance.

A religious person might wake up on a beautiful day like this and say, "God has been good to me," with an undercurrent of, "... even though I'm an undeserving sinner." That's sick. It takes away our pride in our accomplishments. Even on the very best days of our lives, religion (especially Christianity) tries to knock us down, tell us we're flawed sinners, and convince us that in spite of our awfulness, God has begrudged us a nice day.

Bishop Darth Vader

Life is keeping me busy today so I'll just leave you with a little bit of humor ...



Thanks to lol god!

Pope Benedict XVI: "The Stench of Evil"

The Irish are rightfully angry at the Pope's newest apology for his priests raping their children – his holiness seems good at abject grovelling, but the Irish have noticed that the Pope forgot to kick any of his priests and bishops in the ass. The Irish might understandably want a few priests kicked forcibly out the door, but the Pope apparently forgot.

But if the latest allegations against the Pope himself prove true, things are going to get mighty interesting. It looks like the vicar of Christ on Earth himself was responsible for protecting the very priests who went on to commit some of these terrible crimes.

Did you know that a priest or bishop can be excommunicated for revealing a sex crime to law-enforcement authorities, but not for raping a child? Think about that: two men show up at the Pearly Gates. "Next! What's your sin?" "I raped a child, but I'm really sorry." "No prob, come on in. Next! What's your sin?" "I turned that last guy in to the police." "You jerk! Sinner! You traitor against Christ's own Church! Get out of here!! GOD WON'T FORGIVE YOU!"

And who do you suppose was responsible for this? Why, Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, the man who is now the Pope.

Catholic Exorcist is as Crazy as Bat Guano

I'm sometimes incredulous at people's superstitions, but who would have thought that an exorcist would have an official position at the Vatican? It's really quite stunning, that in this day and age, when the Vatican officially supports the Theory of Evolution, hosts important scientific conferences, and has apologized to Galileo, that there is still a Catholic official who chases ghosts out of people's bodies and has a personal relationship with Satan.

Father Gabriele Amorth is the Vatican's Chief Exorcist. Seriously!

This guy not only believes in Satan, he believes in a personal Satan, a guy sort of like Father Gabriel himself, just really, really bad. And this Satan fellow is so bad that all evil is his work. Pedophile priests and bishops? Satan. War, poverty and terrorism? Satan. That dude is so bad he has even "infiltrated the Vatican corridors" and is the reason for all of the trouble the Roman Catholic Church is having!

But Satan can't corrupt Father Gabriel! Oh no, he has one over on Satan! Satan is actually afraid of Father Gabriel, because Father Gabriel is on God's side.