While the Catholic Church hasn’t taken the trouble to establish a season specifically for the celebration of our native sinfulness, it’s the sort of subject the laity’s been able to undress, I mean, address of its own initiative.

“Winter Ordinary Time,” that brief period of the year set between the splendor and light of Christmas and the mournful cast of Lent is ideal for such a dirge… the darkness and chill of the world around us is a compelling argument for diffidence, decadence, and excess.

COUNTRY OF THE DAY

Turks and Caicos Islands (Territory of the United Kingdom)

WORD OF THE DAY

Hubris

NEWS OF THE DAY

New York Times: Abducted Catholic Archibushop of Mosul is Freed in Iraq

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Wellington crowds on election night, 1931 : http://www.elections.org.nz/pandr/vote/image-pages/evening-post.html

Dear Readers,

Of course, the holiday I should have celebrated first I left for the last. That’s the problem with trying to crescendo your blog on a busy day…

Some have said that Martin Luther King day is a day of work, not rest.

COUNTRY OF THE DAY

Suriname

WORD OF THE DAY

Profuse

NEWS OF THE DAY

The Economist: The man who came too late

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Titan, moon of Saturn: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0410/titan_cassini_PIA06139.jpg

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Also borrowed from the Straight Dope message board: What critically panned work of art/music/film/literature/etc.

Dear President Bush,

As you may know, Benjamin Franklin, one of our founding fathers, was born on this date in the year 1706. He was a brilliant scientist, a savvy entrepreneur, and an invested civic leader. He also had a warm familiarity with associates I think you’d admire.

Dear Andy Kaufman,

As you know, you were born on this date in the year 1949. You were an inspired comic, a persistent enigma, and a prophetic voice. You died of cancer on May 16, 1984. I was five at the time.

STATE OF THE DAY

Delaware

WORD OF THE DAY

Macaroni

NEWS OF THE DAY

The New York Times: Social Security Agency Is Enlisted to Push Its Own Revision

PICTURE OF THE DAY

http://www.uncwil.edu/tc/antarctica/Pictures/Rothe010.JPG

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Borrowed from the Straight Dope message board: What “sacred cow” of art/music/literature/film would you slay?

COUNTRY OF THE DAY

Jordan

WORD OF THE DAY

Ebola

NEWS OF THE DAY

The London Times: Scientists hail Titan Touchdown

PICTURE OF THE DAY

QUESTION OF THE DAY

What was your favorite newspaper in 2004?

CHAPTER FIVE: The Harlequin and the Tsunami

#1. Did you hear about how Santa was too busy to stop in Sri Lanka this year?

– Yeah, he just sent them a big wave.

#2. Why has there been a recent outbreak of diarrhea among sharks to the Indian Ocean?

CHAPTER FOUR: Homilies and the Tsunami

There is a hideous homily that cycles through a dozen parishes each hour. It’s multiplied for years, and it is probably delivered approximately 155,000 times around the world each year.

This is the “Why does God do bad things to good people,” or as I like to call it, the “why, God, why?”