Christmas Dinner Causes Global Warming
December 25th, 2008 12:31 PM
First it's Christmas lights, now it's Christmas dinner...causing global warming.Yep. People who cook more than their guests will eat and throw the food away are destroying the planet.I'm not kidding.ABCNews.com in Australia reported the following absurdity on Christmas Eve:
'Today' Christmas Gift: Lauer's Apolitical Chat With Rick Warren
December 25th, 2008 8:11 AM
When during its first half-hour this Christmas morning "Today" moved to a conversation between Matt Lauer and Pastor Rick Warren, I braced myself. Don't tell me, I thought, they're going to get into the invitation Pres.-elect Obama extended him to give the invocation at the Inauguration, and the reaction of some gay-rights groups. Well, surprise! They didn't: not in word or implication. Warren…
Christmas Eve Funnies: Santa Claus Demands Massive Bailout
December 24th, 2008 1:41 PM
This is really delicious, and should cheer up the grinchiest of Grinches and the scroogiest of Scrooges:Rumors that Santa Claus may be the latest and most high-profile victim of the worldwide credit crisis sent world stock markets roiling and children's hopes plummeting today as Wall Street analysts warned that Santa's entire production and distribution network could collapse by the end of the…
What Time of Year Is It? (Year 4, Part
December 23rd, 2008 4:10 PM
In 2005, I sensed that journalists in general prefer to call this time of the year in commerce that of “holiday shopping” instead of “Christmas shopping,” but that when it came to people losing their jobs, they preferred to describe layoffs as relating to “Christmas.” My instincts have been proven correct during the past three years. So did anything change in 2008? Not that much, but slightly in…
Eleanor Clift: Wright Had 'Prophetic Theology', Rick Warren 'Extremely
December 22nd, 2008 4:17 PM
Rev. Jeremiah Wright was a voice crying in the wilderness that the mainstream media and middle class America weren't quite ready for and megachurch pastor Rick Warren is an ignorant evangelical rube who isn't totally without hope, given his awareness of AIDS and other favored liberal causes. That's essentially what Eleanor Clift preached to her choir in her December 19 "Capitol Letter" column, "…
Will Media Report Baghdad's First Public Christmas Celebration
December 22nd, 2008 11:43 AM
An astonishing thing happened in Baghdad on Saturday: Christians, apparently for the first time in the city's history, publicly celebrated Christmas.CNN's Jill Dougherty published an article about this extraordinary event at the network's website Sunday which included a video of her interviewing Iraqis of varied religious beliefs at the scene.However, from what I can tell, this extremely charming…
Dallas News Religion Blogger: Did You Hear the One About the Priest
December 22nd, 2008 11:37 AM
...who pulled President-elect Obama's books from a Catholic school library? "Hey, at least he didn't burn them!" goes the punchline. Wocka, wocka, wocka!That was Dallas Morning News religion blogger Bruce Tomaso's take on a Missouri Catholic priest's decision to yank Obama's tomes from the shelves of St. John LaLande Catholic School's library (see screencap at right).Tomaso noted that Fr. Ron…
LAT Protests Playboy Mexico's 'Naked Mary': Did It Do Same for US Outr
December 21st, 2008 5:01 PM
As NewsBuster Dan Gainor has noted, Playboy Mexico thought it could make some pesos by peddling an issue with a scantily-clad Virgin Mary on the cover—just in time for Christmas. Today's Los Angeles Times contains an editorial denouncing the tasteless stunt. All well and good. But it set me to wondering. Did the LAT protest similar outrages against religous symbols when they appeared in the…
Matthews: Jeremiah Wright on 'Left,' Rick Warren 'Far Right
December 19th, 2008 6:44 PM
Surely no one would view Rev. Jeremiah Wright as closer to the centerpoint of American politics than Pastor Rick Warren, right? Wrong. Here's Chris Matthews on this evening's Hardball.CHRIS MATTHEWS: It seems like Barack Obama, as much as seems to inspire people, including me, has a problem with pastors. I don't know what it is. You get him hooked up with a pastor, whether it's Jeremiah Wright…
Sally Quinn's Condescending Suggestion to the Faithful
December 19th, 2008 4:34 PM
In his December 19 blog post, "You too can be a spiritual dilettante," Get Religion contributor Douglas LeBlanc shared his bemusement with self-admitted atheist Sally Quinn's helpful suggestions to Newsweek/Washington Post's "On Faith" readers about interfaith dialogue. LeBlanc noted that Quinn gave her readers this assignment:Try a new faith (or non-faith) for one day. That exploration can…