Rome, IT (or thereabouts)—Vatican officials, along with someone known only as the Albino Priest, have decided to “switch it up” for their next pope picking extravaganza.

When asked if the decision to use the ‘Sorting Hat’ from the wildly popular Harry Potter series might be deemed “way too f-ing Pagan” by some of the parishioners, the Vatican had this to say, “The gig is up, the cat is out of the bag, the fat lady is singing, and the altar boys are pressing charges. In no way will people continue to buy the whole ‘divinely picked thing’ at this point. Besides, it’s not like we haven’t absorbed some Pagan stuff before.”

The Vatican believes that “whatever they choose to pick the next Pope couldn’t be worse.”

The Albino Priest had this to say, “We hope to just incorporate parts of the Potter series into our faith. The Gospel of Dumbledore is due to release in June, and you can’t tell me we won’t gain some popularity with the young’ins with our Christ Church of Wizardry.”

As part of the deal, R.K. Rowling will be awarded an entire wing of the Vatican for weekly treasure baths.

“Rumors to divide the Catholic Church into congregations like Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff are just that, rumors,” said the Albino Priest. “Now if we could only get the sorting hat to stop picking Cardinal Snape.”

Vatican City, um, Vatican City – According to Discord sources, Jesus Christ, alias “Dave,” was recently issued a subpoena in the ongoing Catholic Church child molestation investigation. As the “Christ” figure in the “Vicar of Christ” moniker, he is being painted as the kingpin of an organized child molestation community.

“’Suffer the little children cum unto me [Luke 18:16]’? I think that says it all,” stated Hymie Fez, Chief Lawsuit Filer. “On top of that, he’s the guy that appointed that Pope…um…accomplice.”

At a minimum, the Savior is in grave danger of losing his position as hiring manager.

The Discord’s own Cokie McGrath, did some seedy investigation and turned up some publicly known evidence. Apparently Jesus and his alleged father were behind a series of nine, mass ride-through slashings beginning in 1095.

“We also have him tied to some 278,000 counts of the sale of indulgences,” said Fez. “Imagine a guy in his position being stupid enough to get into petty number-running.”

The FBI, in conjunction with Interpol, are setting up a series of sting operations in order to capture this fiend. Every month there is a landslide of reports of pictures of the culprit in places like potato chips, cheese sandwiches, and insane asylums, but the Lord is proving to be evasive. This has led to the formation of vigil-ente patrols.

“We get leads from the media,” remarked  Wil Gettum, leader of the vigil-ente organization. “We hear that he’ll be in town every now and then. Cosmic alignments, comet-passings, and big-shit droppings all bring in a lot of reports. But he has yet to show himself.”

Until concrete evidence comes to light, the vigil-ente community will be spending a lot of time in church.

As journalists with more integrity than you can crush a puppy with, it is time, yet again, to right our wrongs, correct our errors, and apologize for the horrible consequences our shortcomings have had on various institutions, individuals, and society as a whole. 

Our recent headline Christ and Fabio’s Spandex Battle should have read Crist and Rubio’s Spending Battle.

Our headline Thai Prostitutes Tango with Army, should have read Thai Protestors Tangle with Army.  Don’t know what the hell happened with that one, heh, heh.

Our headline Why is Breast Cancer Rate Drooping?, should have read: Why is Breast Cancer Rate Dropping?  We really feel like boobs about that one.

And, whereas our article Human Remains Discovered in Local Cemetery may have been accurate, in retrospect, it isn’t particularly news worthy.  We would also like to extend a heartfelt apology to the Paulson family for the unnecessary, and quite unauthorized, exhuming of their Beloved Dorothy. 

In defense of our editing staff…er, we don’t really have an editing staff.  We do have Microsoft Word’s grammar check, which puts annoying red and green lines under things.  We believe Red means stop and Green means go.  It’s worked so far.  We do encourage the people at Microsoft Office to consider Yellow, meaning that this may be usable in small circles, but proceed with caution.

Warsaw, PL—The Polish Government released the following transcript from last week’s doomed flight to Smolensk:

President Kaczynski:  When is the last time you heard a really good Polish joke?

Pilot:  It’s been years, Mr. President.

President Kaczynski: Exactly.  So land the plane.

Pilot:  We can’t.  The fog…the control tower said—

President Kaczynski: We must restore the Polish joke to its original glory.  Just think of it!  We need to be known for more than just kielbasa.

Pilot:  Actually, the origin of the kielbasa is unknown, but it is commonly credited to all of Eastern Europe.

President Kaczynski: Exactly my point. Now…are all of our top military and political leaders on board?

Pilot:  Yes, Mr. President.

President Kaczynski:  Good, then land the plane.

Pilot:  Should I hit the control tower?

President Kaczynski:  Naaah, that’s a little over the top.

Pilot:  Not the way I fly (laughter)…so what’s the joke going to be?

President Kaczynski:  I was thinking, how many Pollock leaders does it take to land a—

(inaudible)

Washington, DC – To win the Global War on Terror, which the Obama Administration refers to as the Mild Mideast Squabble, Secretary of Defense Gates is requesting a radical approach.

“If the mouth of the Vice President could be weaponized, it might stop being a hindrance and become a key weapon in our fight against global jihadists.”

When questioned about unleashing Joe Biden’s mouth on an entire region, and if the collateral damage could be contained, Gates backed off.

“Someday, hopefully soon, there will come a time when we’ll never have to hear Biden’s mouth at all—and, of course, we pray that we’ll never have to use his mouth in such an insidious capacity.”

Officially, President Obama is refusing to comment, aside from these comments, “Having heard Joe’s mouth up close, it’s an intriguing idea.”

Obama did assure the public that, “We would only use the Vice President’s mouth as a deterrent, on par with nuclear weapons or old Baywatch reruns.”

Obama perked up when Gates explained how, if Biden’s mouth became weaponized, he would need to be moved to an undisclosed location and eventually stored within the bowels of Yucca Mountain. 

Biden responded by saying the plan for his mouth is “A big fucking deal.”

Philadelphia, PA – CEO of the Daily Discord, Pierce Winslow, is furious with his editing staff.

“Exxon/Mobile? Really, people? Mobile? That was a headline!” yelled Winslow. “I am not responsible for the editing, censoring, and content butchery that you, our faithful readers, have come to expect from this less than stellar e-zine.”

Winslow’s plan to correct the ongoing proofing fiasco is to outsource the Discord’s editing needs overseas.

“Each article and cartoon is now going to be sent to an editing group from India, where they will undergo an intensive editing process before the material is returned to Philadelphia via carrier pigeon.”

When asked about keeping jobs in America, Winslow said, “Look, I tried using my contributors. They lose shit and, frankly, they’re incompetent. They have no artistic ability, no Photoshop skills, and English is almost a second language to them…and not because they know another language!”

The Daily Discord’s CEO intends to ramp up his War-on-Error and put an end to all radical exciseism by contracting out with the MOFLE Group—a band of Mercenary Overseas Free Lance Editors (MOFLEs).

“Besides, they’ll help me get rid of these lousy acronym jokes once and for all,” added Winslow. “The regular contributors are next,” warned Winslow. “It’s all part of the third stage in my India outsourcing plan. Don’t worry. I think you will all enjoy catching up on the latest Bollywood gossip. Did you hear Aishwarya Rai is pregnant with Apu of the Simpsons’ love child? Well, of course you didn’t, but that all ends today…that is, when the pigeon gets here.”

Moscow, RU—Instead of discussing the recent terrorist attack in his country, Vladimir Putin remained fixated throughout his speech today on Russia’s poor Olympic performance. Putin blamed his country’s gross underachieving on global warming.

“Climate change is real, and it’s real bad for the Winter Olympics,” said Putin.

The Russian President went on to explain how the warmer weather riddled Team Russia with obstacles.

“Except those event-specific obstacles one would expect,” clarified Putin. “Coaches reported how each time the figure skaters or hockey players practiced, the slush on the ice was almost ankle high. And don’t even get me started on curling,” added Putin.

While trying to maintain the ice, Zamboni drivers drowned almost daily.

“How many more Zamboni drivers must die before the world wakes up to the dangers we all face?!” yelled a weepy Putin. (Incidentally, if you Google ‘yelled a weepy putin’ you get a tree indigenous to Narnia.)

Russia’s utter embarrassment has drastically shifted the country’s perception of climate change. To drill that point home, Putin ended his speech with a plea to Al Gore, “If Mr. Gore would come out of hiding, Russia would like to commission him to direct our own climate change awareness film, It Could Happen To Moscow.”

Nashville, TN—Former Vice President Al Gore is downplaying his retreat into seclusion since the recent global warming scandal surfaced.

“I was not hiding for that!” insisted Gore.  “I was getting up the courage to tell the American people my real inconvenient truth.”

Gore revealed to a stunned audience that he enjoys dressing like a woman, “even more than Rudy Giuliani.”

Gore admitted to reporters that the real motivation behind his “green” activism was the fear that “if the world became too hot, people would notice my fishnet stockings.”  Gore added, “Now that my secret is out, I plan to strut my stuff whenever and wherever possible.”

Gore ended the press conference by pulling off his suit pants, revealing a pair of silky nylons, to the backdrop of Tim Curry’s version of Sweet Transvestite.

He then attempted to climb a nearby flag pole, yelling, “I am woman, hear me Gore!” before being dragged out of the room by security.  

Dear Sir,

I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms about the above faux article about the “green” activist who wears women’s clothes. Many of my best friends are eco-activists and only a few of them are transvestites.

Yours faithfully,

Brigadier Sir Charles Arthur Strong (Mrs.)

PS — I have never kissed the editor of the Daily Discord.

State College, PA—In another complete waste of the tax payer’s dime, two Daily Discord contributors used stimulus funds to conduct research on as many young coeds as they could get their hands on.

“The research was not without its challenges,” admitted head researcher, Dave Atsals. “It’s getting harder to get women to let us into their dorm rooms, because we’re older and creepier now.”

Fellow researcher, Mick Zano, could not disagree more.  “We were always creepy, Dave.” 

The two conducted a study that suggests a robust and perky correlation between marijuana use and college shindiggery.  The journal article, entitled, Dorms, Bongs, and Misdemeanors: A Quaaludeatative Study on Wine, Women, and Weed, is due to post in Lancet, if Winslow can hack into their database when no one is looking. 

The study has survived the rigorous beer-review process and was passed around in a circle along with some choice hydroponic bud.

When asked why the two researchers chose young college women as their test subjects instead of lab rats, they both replied in unison, “You’re kidding, right?”

Actually, there was a long pause before their, back-of-the-throat type, gaspy answer.  The researchers both followed up the question with a long stream of greasy smoke and several STDs.