Justice Antonin Scalia, R.I.P.

There's a delightful interview with the late Justice Scalia that you can find by clicking here.  Please do so; it's well-worth the time.  You'll thank me.

A sample:

I don’t know how, by your lights, that’s going to be regarded in 50 years.
I don’t know either. And, frankly, I don’t care. Maybe the world is spinning toward a wider acceptance of homosexual rights, and here’s Scalia, standing athwart it. At least standing athwart it as a constitutional entitlement. But I have never been custodian of my legacy. When I’m dead and gone, I’ll either be sublimely happy or terribly unhappy.
You believe in heaven and hell? Oh, of course I do. Don’t you believe in heaven and hell?
No. Oh, my.
Does that mean I’m not going? [Laughing.] Unfortunately not!
Wait, to heaven or hell?
It doesn’t mean you’re not going to hell, just because you don’t believe in it. That’s Catholic doctrine! Everyone is going one place or the other.

From the Morning Paper

Blog posts should really include links to the referenced material.  I don't think it's statutory yet, but failure to do so seems to be synonymous with moral laxity.

Nevertheless, I will continue.  The reference is to an advertisement and they don't include print advertisements in the paper's web edition.  So you'll have to trust me.  The advertisement was for a mausoleum in, I think, Orange County.  I know; I should've paid attention to name and location.  But  I didn't.  I was so struck by the amenities in this establishment, for this "affordable prestige" mausoleum provided 24/7 "climate-controlled comfort".  Isn't that wonderful?   You or your loved one can decompose in perfect climate-controlled comfort for all eterni- . . . um, well, no I don't suppose for all eternity.  But for a very long time.  At least until the outfit goes belly-up and someone dumps you in a landfill and redevelops the property into luxury apartments.

I should've saved the advertisement.  Maybe they'll re-run it next week.

Pet Peeve Dept

It's September now and time for all of those religious institutes that don't believe in Purgatory to start trolling for  money so they can "remember" my loved ones on All Souls Day.

I got my second oh-so-sweet appeal today.  There are seven pieces in this mailing and not  one mention of the word "Purgatory" anywhere.  Or suffering souls, for that matter.  Everyone, immediately upon expiration, seems to have toddled along happily right into heaven.

So . . . what exactly do these people think they're praying for?

Thoughts at a Very Secular Funeral

You know what is extraordinary?  Well, yes, that  too.  But what I had in mind was the people with no thought of God one way or the other but who have a very definite and detailed - complete with furniture - belief in heaven.  It wouldn't be quite correct to call them agnostic.  That would imply that they'd given the matter some thought.  But heaven is definitely there and everyone they know and like is definitely there also.

But God. . . .not so much.