That's Spring Spheres to you, bunny!

Every year I find a news item or an urgent issue that inspires a post about Easter.

In 2011, this has to be the one.

A teenager volunteering at a Seattle elementary school was apparently told to use the politically correct name “spring spheres” when she tried giving kids plastic Easter eggs filled with candy.

But a Seattle school board spokesperson told the Star it has not been able to confirm whether the incident actually happened.

“They said I could do it as long as I called the treats ‘spring spheres.’ I couldn’t call them Easter eggs,” a 16-year-old named Jessica told a Seattle radio station.

Ah, "political correctness", a term now pejoratively used by those who are too intellectually lazy, too ideologically religious or too politically entrenched to accept a challenge to their bigotry.

The incident above sounds like a humour-challenged fundamentalist misunderstood a comment or invented one to create the perception that there's some anti-christian "War on Easter" being waged.

That's actually quite amusing, given the pagan origins of Easter and the christians' systemic appropriation of beliefs and traditions that pre-date the alleged resurrection of their saviour.

Consider the squeamishness of RWNJ (right wing nut jobs) when certain words from *down there* are uttered publicly. From here:

At one point [Democratic State Representative Scott] Randolph suggested that his wife "incorporate her uterus" to stop Republicans from pushing measures that would restrict abortions. Republicans, after all, wouldn't want to further regulate a Florida business.

Apparently the GOP leadership of the House didn't like the one-liner.

They told Democrats that Randolph is not to discuss body parts on the House floor.

This led to a hysterically witty tweet campaign, in response to the Republican Stoopidity, with evocative Twitter hashtags: #uterati #GOPnames4uterus #OMGuterus #uterusmovielines, and more.

And also. The Raging Grannies sing out in their typical fashion.

Speaking of eggs ...

Eggs!

These are not eggs left by the Easter bunny.

If you click on this link, it takes you to a video cam live-streaming the action from an eyrie located in a tall tree on Hornby Island. The parent eagles each take turns sitting on two eggs that were laid in March. The ambient sound is lovely - many other birds are heard in the background - but sit back from your speakers when Mama or Papa Eagle decides to let loose with an eardrum-piercing cry. There's also a wide-angle view camera installed in a perch above the nest that gives you a different perspective of its location, with regard to other trees, the shoreline, a couple of buildings and even a road far below.

Be patient. Mama and Papa often adjust their position and when they do, you'll catch a glimpse of the eggs. And soon there will be eaglets pecking their way out of the shell, keeping their parents busy with the task of feeding them and tending to their needs.

Today is a noisy day at the Hornby Eagles' eyrie; unfortunately the wind flow is playing havoc with the microphone.

The Pope pontificates on why the chicken crossed the road.

This morning on Christiane Charest the corrosively witty Zapartistes did a drive-by-excoriation. Listen to the whole piece.

Their imitation of Pope Benedict pontificating on why the chicken crossed the road (that bit is found at 4:50) just cracked me up.

Imagine a creaky voice ...

"That chicken was excommunicated. That chicken is a sinner because she laid eggs - which are aborted chicks. May God have mercy on her soul."

The Pope as chicken comes from this website.

Is that a gun in your pocket or

did you just catch a whiff of past-their-freshness-date eggs?

A malodorous gas behind the smell of rotting eggs has been found to play a key role in giving men erections. ...

A study has shown that, prior to sexual intercourse, minute quantities of hydrogen sulphide are released within the key nerve cells of the penis which control the engorgement of the male organ with blood to stiffen it.

Scientists believe that the discovery could lead to the development of a new class of drugs to combat erectile dysfunction by affecting a different biochemical pathway to the one targeted by Viagra.

So, the smell of sulphur makes some men hawt. That goes a long way towards explaining the the .... ah, fervour that many priests and male preachers in fundamentalist religions exhibit when launching into rants about the torments of Hell.