'The Passion' … for Its Author, Is a Mass

Vittorio Messori, the first journalist in history to publish a book-length interview with a pope, the multimillion-selling "Crossing the Threshold of Hope" (1994), offers his thoughts on Mel Gibson's Passion:

"the theological importance attributed to the Madonna, as well as to the Eucharist -- an importance not spiritualized, not reduced to a 'memorial' but seen in the most material, and therefore Catholic, way (the Transubstantiation) -- will create some uneasiness in American Protestant churches which, without having seen the film, have already organized themselves to support its distribution. "

Gibson's not stupid: by marketing the film to evangelical protestants who are predisposed to this type of film, they'll flock (pun intended) to it, and get a dose of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church that may shock them into thinking about the truth that lies beyond their own version of Christianity. Given the recent views of Americans on the Bible as literal truth - Gibson included - the separation isn't philosophically deep as may be envisioned. If those who already accept Jesus can be shown that they can be closer through the blessed sacrament...boy, I shudder to think how effective of a tool for the church this movie could be.

I've been quiet about this, but knowing how devout Gibson is, I knew his film would reflect his beliefs. Boom! A ticking time bomb of Catholic evangelism is about to go off! And millions of unsuspecting converts are headed to a theater near you like lambs to the slaughter.

Woman Fined for Registering Cows As Voters

"For the second year running, the woman from Newmarket, near Cambridge in eastern England, has listed two names on the registration form who turned out to be cows, East Cambridgeshire District Council said Thursday.

The previous year, in addition to registering two cows as 'Henry and Sophie Bull,' she listed 'Jake Woofles,' later found to be a dog, as eligible to vote in local government elections, the council said."

California will reject altered marriage forms

"California has a standard application form for marriage licenses, 'and if it has been altered in any way, then it will not be registered and recorded. It will be sent back to the county of origin,' said Nicole Evans, spokeswoman for Kim Belshe, the California Health and Human Services secretary.

"The more than 2,600 homosexual couples who have been 'married' since last week with the help of San Francisco city and county officials have been crossing out 'groom' and 'bride' as printed on the standard application and writing in phrases such as 'Applicant #1' and 'Applicant #2' or 'spouses for life.'

"None of these forms will be accepted, Ms. Evans said yesterday."

Once again, the rule of law gets in the way of liberals and their endless, simple-mnded pie-in-the-sky activities. "We're just going to start issuing marriage licenses to gay couples" doesn't quite cut it. If anything, this farce has obscured the real issue for gay activists, which is to change the system to favor their agenda. In the end, nothing real has been accomplished. If they actually think that what has been going on will change any minds in middle America, remember that anything done inside the Bay Area is dismissed by anybody outside of the Bay Area as unrepresentative of what normal people believe. This sort of behavior is to be expected "out there."

District To Ban Unusual Hair Colors For Students

New policy: purple hair disruptive, swastikas okay.

Hundreds Of Coins Found In Man's Belly

Only in...France: "'When he was invited and came in some homes, he liked to steal coins and eat them."

If this is a "disease," somebody please get this man some treatment.

Join the clubbed: Catholics know pain of being bashed:

Three cheers to Richard Roeper! He knows that the Church's history isn't pretty, like most of human history isn't pretty. But he also knows that dumping on the church is politically correct, whilst dumping on other religious groups is not. His commentary includes a laundry list of films in the past four years alone that have dumped on the church. As he points out:

"In these movies, priests are suicidal, corrupt and/or lascivious. Nuns are heartless and sadistic.

Before you run to your keyboard: yes, I'm aware of scandals, past and present, involving the church. And yes, some of the films listed above are powerful, important works based on true stories.
But a lot of this stuff is just exploitative garbage. And no other religious group gets bashed with such frequency. Can you imagine a similar number of films with Jewish leaders playing villains and moral weaklings?

Me neither."

Some Famous Cousins of Senator John Forbes Kerry President George Walker Bush

Genealogists call Bush and Kerry kin

"Playboy founder Hugh Hefner is the president's ninth cousin, twice removed, while Kerry can count Johnny Appleseed as his sixth cousin, six times removed. Both the president and the Massachusetts senator can claim ties to figures ranging from Charlemagne to Walt Disney to Marilyn Monroe, Harrison said."

Absolutely fascinating!

CRUNCHY TOOTHPASTE?

Mark Krikorian on National Review's blog "The Corner":

"At the risk of reigniting the whole 'crunchy-con' debate of a couple years ago, I was drawn to a piece in today's Washington Post Style section on how using Tom's of Maine toothpaste is supposedly a sign of leftist politics. I've been using the stuff for 18 years and it beats the super-sweet kiddie toothpaste made by consumer-products conglomerates, so I suppose that makes me a crunchy con (yes, I also shop at Fresh Fields). But choosing (or shunning) toothpaste based on its 'politics' is just too ridiculous for words."

I attest that I too have used Tom's of Maine over the years, particularly the Silly Strawberry flavor intended for kids. It tastes so great that I was hooked upon the first brush. The only reason I'm not using it now is because that flavor has proved elusive in my local stores.

There's nothing ideological about toothpaste unless you're so wrapped up in your ideology that everything has been ideologized.