Back here, I wrote that a religion professor at the University of Kansas (the state where the intelligent design debate is taking place) was planning to offer a course entitled "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies.” According to this article, the professor decided to cancel the course yesterday. Oh, and somethng else happened yesterday, too: … Read More
SCOTUS Update: Rumsfeld v FAIR
This is arguably one of the most important cases of this term, and I simply didn’t have time to summarize it before oral arguments today. Below is a summary from the folks at SCOTUSblog. Before I begin, I want to make a prediction that the Solomon Amendment will survive this case. The Court is simply too conservative to let it … Read More
In Which I Actually Side With Religious Conservatives
I have had — and will continue to have — a lot of fun mocking religious conservatives who complain endlessly about their values being under attack, simply because (for example) the people at Walmart say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". They talk about the "secular agenda", as if the ultimate goal of "librels" is to remove God from all … Read More
Everything’s Out Of Whack In Kansas City
…but they haven’t gone as fer as they can go. A group of concerned parents in the Blue Valley School District want to ban certain books from the high schooler English curriculum. The petition objects to the "quality of the books", although as far as I can tell, literary "quality" is measured largely by the number of polite words (the … Read More
The Abstinence Wars
What’s more important? Young girls learning to have safe sex so that they don’t get pregnant and/or sick — or young girls being sexually abstinent? Logically, these two positions are not incompatible. Most would agree (I hope) that we would want young girls to be knowledgeable about safe sex, and then choose abstinence (until they are ready). But sadly, much … Read More
Vatican vs. Me
The Vatican (as reported by Reuters): The Vatican newspaper said on Tuesday that homosexuality risked "destabilizing people and society," had no social or moral value and could never match the importance of the relationship between a man and a woman. Me: "The segmentation of people based on their sexual preference destabilizes people and society, has no social or moral value, … Read More
AIDS Relief in Africa: Strings Attached
AIDS in Africa could reach pandemic perportions: The HIV/AIDS scourge on the African continent could worsen in 2006 if developed nations do not deliver on their financial pledges, the U.N.’s top AIDS official in Africa said on Monday. Stephen Lewis, U.N. special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, said treatment, prevention and care programs on the continent will start losing out … Read More
Anti-Homosexuality Balls: It’s What’s For (Thanksgiving) Dinner!
As I’ve blogged before, social conservatives and religious zealots are gearing up to make Christmas the latest battleground for their whiny I’m-being-oppressed-because-not-everybody-feels-like-"witnessing"-a-thon. But that doesn’t mean they’ve left Thanksgiving off their plate. Here’s James Dobson’s latest crusade: Focus on the Family has announced plans to distribute 5,000 balls during Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to promote a website it operates that … Read More
Does The Absence Of Fathers Cause ADHD?
That’s the question raised by a new book entitled Destructive Trends in Mental Health: The Well-Intentioned Path to Harm. The authors there assert that ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) might be related to a lack of a positive father figure. Or more precisely, a lack of a disciplinary father figure. I’m actually in accord with much conservative thinking on this … Read More
The Dirtiest Picture You’ve Ever Seen
[Via Cynical-C] Well, somebody took every single Playboy centerfold from January 1999 through December 1997, and digitally averaged the images together into a composite image. The result is below the fold.
Election Night 2005
First of all, am I prescient or what? Second of all, what The Talent Show says: This is a really weird election night. I’ve got this strange feeling that I can’t put my finger on. It’s not like envy, or even hungry. It sort of like funny, that’s not it because I never feel that way on election nights. For … Read More
Why They Call It “Fantasy Football”
I’m not sure if this has become a nationwide story, but it certainly is the topic du jour here in North Carolina. It’s got it all: sex, violence, and a mystery. A weekend bar brawl involving a cheerleader for the Carolina Panthers has sparked charges and questions over an apparent mistaken identity. Panther cheerleader Angela Keathley, 26, and another woman … Read More
For Once, I’m Ahead Of The Curve
Everyone on the right and left seems to be blogging today about something I wrote about twice before (here and here), i.e., the religious right’s opposition to a 100% effective vaccine that prevents cervical cancer, a terrible illness that kills over 10,000 American woman per year. The reason for the fundamentalist rejection? They think that this vaccine will cause women … Read More
People I’m Glad I Don’t Know
This guy: A passenger woke up from a nap, raised his fist and punched out the interior pane of an airplane window on a flight from Las Vegas to Florida, authorities said. Ryan J. Marchione, 24, shattered the inner plastic shield covering the glass window and disconnected its frame about 90 minutes into the America West flight, according to an … Read More
Culture Of Life Update
Several months ago, I wrote this: "It’s really cute that the citizens of Wingnuttia, who truly should be given their own homeland somewhere (they can call it the Christian States of America, or whatever, I don’t care), would prefer women to die of cancer if the alternative is maybe, just maybe, increasing the likelihood of them engaging in any sexual … Read More