Occasionally you have to replace the lamb

Sylvia Browne and others conspire to 'explain' what happens to pets when they die. This book is careful not to refer to the other side as 'heaven', probably because of the inevitable backlash from morons, partly because it isn't good business to exclude other religions by being heaven-centric.

Just so you know, the 'Other Side' has Unicorns and warm fluffy snow to play in and architecture from Europe dotting the landscape. Traditional predator and prey relationships are no more and they get along famously. There are no icky bugs over there. Or skunks. I guess as long as you were cute when you lived, or fiction-based, you get to go there. No ugly animals need apply.

Any parent that exposes their kid to this book should be charged with child abuse and be declared an unfit guardian. Before they get their kids back they must be sent back to a school that is not in the vicinity of Kansas with the hope that the second time around they will learn something before they graduate again.

It's bad enough it is in the children's section of the library, but at least it is appropriately assigned to the 100 class (Philosophy & Psychology) of the Dewey Decimal system. Fortunately this book is not in the Science (500), Religion (200) or non-fiction section of the library. If it was, I'd start a campaign to get it reclassified and sitting on the shelf next to the Hobbits.

Hey, know what happens when a pet dies? It's dead.

For more about the author go here.

8-12-05, Update: Words fail me...

Tags: Skeptic