Snark in Pictures - Thanksgiving, Pope Francis, Filibusters and Obamacare

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers!

Pope Francis on Atheism

Pope Francis made an amazing point last week, informing believers that non-Catholics must be accepted if they do good works, and that atheists are to be accepted if they do good works. True, the Pope wasn't speaking "Ex Cathedra" and therefore this isn't official Catholic Church Canon now, but words matter, and this Pope seems to know what real Christianity is all about instead of mere lip-service. I like his "back to the Bible" inclusive approach. Jesus never said "Go ye therefore and hate all nations" - instead, the opposite, in the name of peace.

From The Vatican Radio Address, May 22, 2013

"The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can. He must. Not can: must! Because he has this commandment within him. Instead, this ‘closing off’ that imagines that those outside, everyone, cannot do good is a wall that leads to war and also to what some people throughout history have conceived of: killing in the name of God. That we can kill in the name of God. And that, simply, is blasphemy. To say that you can kill in the name of God is blasphemy.”

. . . Instead the Lord has created us in His image and likeness, and has given us this commandment in the depths of our heart: do good and do not do evil”:

"The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”

GOP in Galilee ~ Drunken Skinny-Dipping or Naked Baptism?

Why did 20 Republican members of Congress and their staff members go skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee while on a supposed "educational" trip to the Holy Land?

Was it some strange form of group Baptism? Or merely a drunken revel?

Either way, the FBI wants to know:

During a fact-finding congressional trip to the Holy Land last summer, Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) took off his clothes and jumped into the sea, joining a number of members, their families and GOP staff during a night out in Israel, the sources told POLITICO. Other participants, including the daughter of another congressman, swam fully clothed while some lawmakers partially disrobed. More than 20 people took part in the late-night dip in the sea, according to sources who were participants in the trip.

. . . The Sea of Galilee, a Christian holy site, is where Jesus is said in the Bible to have walked on water.

The FBI looked into whether any inappropriate behavior occurred, but the interviews do not appear to have resulted in any formal allegations of wrongdoing.

But Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who was the senior most GOP lawmaker in Israel on the trip, was so upset about the antics that he rebuked the 30 lawmakers the morning after the Aug. 18, 2011, incident, saying they were distracting from the mission of the trip.

Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was also on the privately funded excursion, which means two of the three top Republicans were a part of this trip. Neither Cantor nor McCarthy went swimming that night, the sources said. Some of their staff did.

The Tweets about this have been hilarious, as you might expect:

Show me in the Constitution where it says I shouldn't soak my taint in the Sea of Galilee on an official delegation! politico.com/news/stories/0…

— David Waldman (@KagroX) August 20, 2012

Jeeze. I thought what happened in the Sea of Galilee stayed in the Sea of Galilee. #GOP

— Christina Gomez (@stayupearly) August 20, 2012

BREAKING: Kansas GOP congressman claims "legitimate shrinkage" after late night skinny-dip in Sea of Galilee

— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) August 20, 2012

And yet who among us has not skinny-dipped in the Sea of Galilee? politi.co/TOockL

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) August 20, 2012