The Obama administration has been proposing to tax Christmas trees but the tree tax got run over by a runaway public-relations disaster reindeer. With the one-year clock ticking on a difficult re-election bid, the president didn’t want the label Grinch anywhere near his campaign. Critics said that Washington couldn’t have it both ways. A government that shies away from Read more
Pushed for space, a Spanish cemetery has begun placing stickers on thousands of burial sites whose leases are up as a warning to relatives or caretakers to pay up or face possible eviction. Torrero, like many Spanish cemeteries, no longer allows people to buy grave sites. It instead leases them out for periods of five Read more
A small-town judge in Alabama is giving non-violent offenders a choice at sentencing: go to gaol or go to church. Under a program dubbed “Operation Restore Our Community,” the city judge in Bay Minette lets misdemeanor offenders serve time and pay a fine or go to church every Sunday for a year, according to WKRG.com. Read more
While coaches provide for players’ physical training, Ray McKenna is one who wants to ensure baseball players get spiritual care as well. A federal government lawyer for 20 years, and later working for President George W. Bush’s administration, McKenna has moved outside the D.C. Beltway in recent years. While maintaining a private law practice, in 2006, he Read more
According to recently excavated clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform script, thousands of Sumerians were working on their sophisticated irrigation systems when the Father of All Creation reached down from the ether and blew the divine spirit of life into their thriving civilization. “I do not understand,” reads an ancient line of pictographs depicting the sun, Read more
Rev. Bit, a programmed computer, has presided over a wedding between two Houston tech geeks. Miguel Hanson programmed the computer to greet the guests, talk about their relationship and go through the ceremony as he said “I do” to his bride, Diana Wesley. According to the AP story: The computer-officiated wedding won’t be legally binding. Hanson and Read more
About 40 pumpkins were smashed outside of United Methodist Church Whitefish Bay Milwaukee last Saturday night. The church was growing the pumpkins as a missions fundraiser through the end of the month. The smashed pumpkins blocked Silver Spring Drive in front of the church, and police responded at 5 a.m. Sunday to clear the roadway. The Read more
Betting firm Paddy Power have spent £10,000 sponsoring a confession box. Bosses at the bookmaker say they made the odd move after they were contacted by fundraisers for a church in the racing town of Newmarket late last year.Officials from Our Lady & St Etheldreda church had asked if the firm would be interested in Read more
Industrial designer Ben Forman (benformandesign.co.uk) has introduced a new dollhouse to help today’s modern preschooler prepare for the inevitable unhappy changes in her family structure. It’s called Detacho. Detacho families, like so many families, can reconfigure themselves, either expanding with the birth of new siblings, or separating into smaller groups of married or divorced or Read more
Religion is far too important to be taken seriously. Faith can be and should be fun according to the pitchman for Tom Sheridan’s 3 volume series of Catholic jokes. “We don’t stop laughing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop laughing,” he says. But, of course, we should not take him too seriously. Watch the Video