An Italian court is tackling Jesus — and whether the Roman Catholic Church may be breaking the law by teaching that he existed 2,000 years ago.
I’m Not a Marriage Counselor
…but I play one on my blog. Conservative columnist and radio host Dennis Prager, a frequent commentator on marriage and family values, announced this to his listeners this week: I have a sad personal announcement to make. After seventeen years of marriage, my wife Fran and I are divorcing. This is sad first and foremost for Fran and for me. … Read More
God’s Predictions For 2006
At this time of year, a lot of people like to make their political predictions for 2006. Seems like an awful waste of time. God is omniscient and already knows what will happen. And we know what God’s predictions are, because he speaks to Pat Robertson, and Pat tells the rest of us. On his “700 Club” program today, Robertson … Read More
Barbie Promotes Gayness
The religious right, having ruined nobody’s Christmas but their own by complaining about how everybody is ruining Christmas, is not content to fade away now that the holidays are over. Via Americablog, we learn their next target (and no, it’s not Target). It’s Barbie. Yup. The Concerned Women For America are all upset because Barbie, the Mattel doll, promotes "gender … Read More
John Avarosis Is Thinking Today
You can read his post here, or my summary below. John points out that proponents of intelligent design argue that, even if ID is flawed, schools should "teach the controversy". And to do that, they argue, schools need to inform students as to what intelligent design actually is. "Give the students all the arguments for Darwinism and intelligent design, and … Read More
The Religious Wars Get Fashionable
Two stories: (1) "Devilish" Jeans A Hot Seller In Sweden Cheap Monday jeans are a hot commodity among young Swedes thanks to their trendy tight fit and low price, even if a few buyers are turned off by the logo: a skull with a cross turned upside down on its forehead. Logo designer Bjorn Atldax says he’s not just trying … Read More
Gay Kisses = Terrorist Threat
I recently reported that the Pentagon was spying on domestic anti-war protest groups — groups which the Pentagon believed posed a threat to national security. NBC broke the story last week when it obtained the Pentagon’s secret database of "suspicious groups" which it had spied upon. You may have heard about some of these groups. Like a group of elderly … Read More
Only Stupid People Go On Reality Shows
I’m convinced of this now more than ever: Three contestants have spoken of their disbelief after being fooled into thinking they went into space for the UK reality show Space Cadets. The three believed they had blasted off from a cosmonaut training camp in Russia, but were in fact in a fake spaceship in a warehouse in Suffolk. They cheered … Read More
Breaking News: From The War On Evolution Front Lines
CNN and MSNBC have "breaking news" that the federal judge in the Dover, PA "intelligent design" case has issued an opinion. Details are coming, but it appears to be a victory: "intelligent design" cannot be taught in Pennsylvania schools. Frankly, I’m not celebrating. I’m still too embarassed as an American that this is even an issue. UPDATE: MSNBC has the … Read More
What Was The Most Looked-Up Word In The Dictionary In 2005?
"Integrity" No kidding. "Integrity" was the word most looked-up on Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, as reported here. Speaks highly of us as a culture, don’t it? Then again, maybe people were looking up the spelling, not the definition. Here’s the top ten list: Top 10 most looked-up words of 2005 1. integrity n. firm adherence to a code, especially moral or … Read More
Taking The Fun Out Of Sudoku
How many Sudoku problems are there? If you visit your local bookstore, where Sudoku puzzle books abound, you would think there are millions. The Sudoku craze is boffo box office (so to speak). And it looks like there are plenty of puzzles to be had. Actually, for a typical 9 x 9 Sudoku grid, there are 6,670,903,752,021,072,936,960 possible arrangments where … Read More
Barbarism And Barbie
I don’t have much patience for scientists who insist that violent video games lead to violence in children. Yesm, I know — there are plenty of those studies, so it must be true. And politicians — including Hillary Clinton — are happy to jump on the "family values" bandwagon, as evidenced by her bill to protect children from violent video … Read More
Another War on Christmas Battle That Never Happened
From Sadly, No: I’ve decided to start debunking some of the misleading "War on Christmas" stories posted on WorldNetDaily. It’s a big pain in the ass, but I don’t wanna let MediaMatters do all the work. Let’s start with this one, called "Housing Officials ‘Cancel’ Christmas": Managers in charge of two federally subsidized housing facilities have told residents in one … Read More
O’Reilly’s War on the “War On Christmas”
Guess who’s partially responsible for the terrible terrible War on Christmas now? According to blowhard O’Reilly, you can blame Catholics. Here’s the charming conversation he had with Reverand Richard O’Brien, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. McBRIEN: Well, first of all, Bill, this is a very different sort of issue. I mean, the pedophilia crisis and scandal … Read More
John Spencer Dead
As a fan of West Wing, it is sad to see that John Spencer, who played Chief of Staff Leo McGarry to Martin Sheen’s POTUS, died today of a heart attack. A bit ironic, as his character suffered a heart attack toward the end of last season, just after he was fired as Chief of Staff. (He came out of … Read More