I guess reality caught up: Exodus International, the oldest and largest Christian ministry dealing with faith and homosexuality announced tonight that it’s closing its doors after three-plus decades of ministry. The Board of Directors reached a decision after a year of dialogue and prayer about the organization’s place in a changing culture. “We’re not negating the ways God used Exodus … Read More
Plan B Attack on Plan B
Now that Plan B is available to all women, conservatives are going to try to limit it at the state level. In Arkansas, for example, abortion opponents are already pushing the legislature to consider imposing either an age limit or a total ban on Plan B sales next year. Jerry Cox, the director of the state’s conservative Christian Family Council, told … Read More
GOP Priorities
In the constant internal GOP tug-of-war between "tone it down to appeal to sane voters" and "ramp it up for the wingnut base", guess which side is winning? The Republican-led House on Tuesday sought to shore up their support from conservatives with a vote on one of the most far-reaching anti-abortion bills in years. The measure to restrict abortions to the … Read More
Happy 84th Birthday, Anne
This footage, discovered within the last decade, was originally shot on July 22 1941. It shows the wedding of a person living at Merwedeplein 39, Amsterdam. For a few brief seconds, the camera shows a young girl looking down from the second floor at the events transpiring below her. This is the only known footage of Anne Frank.
Miss Utah Crowned As New Youtube Babbling Pageant Contestant
It’s been six years, but the memory of Miss South Carolina Teen USA contestant Caite Upton tackling a pretty straightforward question about the geographical ignorance of our fellow Americans with words fished out of the garbage disposal is as fresh as ever: “People in our nation don’t have maps, The Iraq, like, everywhere such as, something something schools in the U.S. should … Read More
Jan Brewer Is Too Crazy Even For Scalia
In an opinion by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, a 7-2 Supreme Court held this morning that an Arizona law requiring voting officials to reject voter registration forms that are “not accompanied by concrete evidence of citizenship” conflicts with a federal law requiring states to use a uniform voter registration form for federal elections. Scalia once justified an anti-immigrant opinion with … Read More
We Live In A Reactive World
Yesterday, two girls, fans of The Hobbit, posted a video of their reaction to Peter Jackson's video about the new Hobbit movie. They were very excited. So director Peter Jackson decided to get all meta on everybody, and have charactors from the movie react to the girls' reaction video.
45 Years Ago Today
I often wonder how different the world would have been had it not been for June 5, 1968. No President Nixon. An earlier Vietnam withdrawal. An all-out effort to end poverty and starvation. Different lessons learned. Probably a much kinder nation.
Shezow
Shezow is an animated cartoon, imported from Australia, which debuted this past weekend on The Hub (the channel once known as Discovery Kids). It's about a little boy who finds a magic ring that transforms him into a legendary crime-fighting superhero, SheZow, who happens to be a girl. Even though the show is not about, or even hints at, transgenderism, it is … Read More
Wild Videos
The train derailment and explosion yesterday in Baltimore (wait until the end of the video): Shot two days ago in Kansas, this is what it looks like INSIDE a tornado:
Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Planned Parenthood Appeal
This is good news. Indiana passed a law attempting to strip Planned Parenthood of all of its Medicaid funding because it performs abortions among its medical services. The courts, including the Seventh Circuit, said this was unconstitutional because the federal-state Medicaid health program for the poor is for general health services including cancer screening. The state appealed to the U.S Supreme … Read More
Another Creationism Story To Drive Me Crazy
HuffPo: The Springboro, Ohio, school board is currently considering a proposal that would allow the district to teach creationism, despite objections from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and local parents. The issue, which was discussed at Thursday night’s board meeting, is part of a larger proposal that would open up a variety of controversial issues for classroom discussion. According to … Read More
Boy Scouts To Allow For Gay Scouts, But Continue Discrimination Against LGBT Leaders
The roughly 1,400 voting members of the Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) National Council voted 61-38 percent Thursday to end the ban on gay youth participating in the program, but reaffirmed their policy of mandatory discrimination against LGBT leaders and volunteers. The move — suggested by the national leadership as an attempted compromise — represents a modest step forward, but still comes as … Read More
God-Evoking During Tragedies
Well, this is a refreshing change: You’d think by now CNN would have learned to stop treating its assumptions as truths. But when Wolf Blitzer made a casual comment Tuesday, it turned out to be a teachable moment both for the newsman and television viewers. Speaking live to a survivor of the deadly tornado in Moore, Okla., Blitzer declared the woman … Read More