Professor Ellen van Wolde, a world acclaimed Old Testament scholar, may have introduced a considerable problem for creationists. What if the Bible never actually said God “created the Heaven and the Earth”? Van Wolde has issued an intriguing paper suggesting that a mistranslation is responsible for an error in the first sentence of Genesis and that in reality the Bible says that God merely rearranged things on the pre-existing Earth. Much of this turns on the Hebrew verb “bara”, which she says did not mean “to create” but to “spatially separate.” That would require Creationists to rename themselves as “separatists.” “Baristas” may cause trademark issues with Starbucks.
Continue reading “Creationism to Be Renamed Separatism After New Interpretation Released of Genesis”
Category: International
Muslim extremists in Somalia are taking to the streets to address the latest threat to Islam under Sharia law: bras. The men from Al Shabaab have been whipping women found to be wearing the “deceptive” garments.
Continue reading “Somalia Extremists Crackdown on “UnIslamic” Use of Bras”
There is an interesting potential contract case brewing in New York and other cities with large Orthodox Jewish populations. Various buildings in New York cater to Orthodox residents in offering such things as Shabbos elevators, which stop on every floor from Friday evening to Saturday evening so that residents do not have to push floor buttons. Talmudic rules prohibit the use of electrical devices. However, a group of powerful rabbis have now issued a new judgment on the use of Shabbos elevators that they may indeed be a prohibited practice — even if you simply step into one.
Continue reading “My Way or the Yahweh: Rabbis Ground Shabbos Elevators With New Religious Interpretation”
City officials in Stockholm are feeling the heat over rabbit fuel. The city relies on green technology, including biofuel to reduce pollution and global warming. So, when thousands of rabbits had to be culled from Sweden’s parks and streets, they were used as fuel in the city heating plant. Now, people are hopping mad, but officials are having “burn, bunny, burn.”
Continue reading “Bunny Briquettes: Stockholm Burns Rabbits to Heat City”
This video is hard to watch. However, the most extraordinary thing is that this six-month-old baby boy survived with only a small bump on the head.
Continue reading “Video: Baby Rolls in Stroller In Front of Passing Train”
An Italian couple has filed a provocative lawsuit seeking damages from a cruise that took them from Italy to Spain. After setting sail, the couple found out that they were on the “Revuelta” (“Revolution”) cruise for gay couples. They insist that it was a breach of their agreement not to inform them of the “theme” of the cruise while others are charging that they are homophobic.
Continue reading “Italian Couple Files Suit After Setting Sail on a Gay Cruise”
In light of the recent disclosure that President Obama was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize just 12 days after taking office and was initially opposed from the majority of the Committee (here), there is some interest on who was stepped over for the honor. The most striking “loser” in the competition was Dr. Sima Samar, an amazingly brave Afghan woman who has risked her life to fight for the rights of women and girls in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Continue reading “Meet Dr. Sima Samar — The Person Obama Beat Out for the Nobel Prize”
Various people, including civil libertarians, have criticized the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama given his expansion on Bush policies and his opposition to war crimes investigations. Others have criticized the fact that he was nominated after less than two weeks in office and selected after less than a year in office. Now, it appears that the majority of the Nobel committee had the same objections and had rejected him for the award.
Continue reading “Majority of Nobel Committee Reportedly Objected to Awarding Obama Prize”
President BarackN Obama, the world’s newest Nobel peace laureate, is again expanding on the policies of former President George Bush and fighting to conceal evidence of U.S. torture and abuse. As did the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration is seeking to change the law after courts rejected its absurd argument that the President can withhold photos of detainee abuse simply because they are embarrassing to the United States. Democrats in Congress are assisting in the effort to try to stop the Supreme Court from considering the issue by preempting the litigation.
First there was Al Qaeda, then Swine Flu, and . . . now that you think you are over the worst of it . . . here come the Gnome Nazis.
It appears that when I suggested Woody Allen was the last person Polanski who want as an advocate (here), I spoke too hastily. As the French continue their campaign to force the return of Roman Polanski to their country (and avoid extradition to the United States for his rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1997), a new controversy has emerged from the Sarkozy government. The culture minister advocating for the famed director is the nephew of the late Socialist French president Francois Mitterand — Frédéric Mitterrand. Mitterrand appears to have more than a platonic interest in the underlying controversy.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to allow any Israelis to stand trial for war crimes even if demanded by the United Nations or world court. It is a position that defies the entire basis of international legal process created by the Nuremberg Tribunals since no country has a right to determine its own innocence. As previously noted, the Goldstone Commission found credible evidence of war crimes in the Gaza campaign.
Continue reading “Netanyahu Vows to Block Any War Crimes Trial of Israeli Official”
Given our earlier story of how English parents are no longer allowed to buy alcohol with their teenagers present at the store, this may be a bit of a mixed message. A study has concluded that parents should supply alcohol to their teenagers at home rather than have them venture out for more dangerous liaisons. The researchers propose a weekly alcohol allowance for teens.
Continue reading “Teen Happy Hours: Study Proposes a Weekly Alcohol Allowance for the Children”
Management consultant Jackie Slater is over fifty and wanted to buy two bottles of wine when she was stopped at a store counter in England. The Morrisons clerk told her that she could not purchase wine because she was accompanied by her 17-year-old daughter Emily. In a London library, Lorna Watts, 26, asked to borrow some scissors and was refused by a librarian who explained that she “might stab a member of staff”. These are stories from what many of our English cousins are calling the evolution of a “nanny state” where the government and companies dictate an ever-widening range of rules for citizens who are treated as little more than errant children.
The Gaza zoo had a problem. They were missing two things: zebras and the money to buy them. The solution came in the form of some masking tape, paint, and two confused donkeys.
Continue reading “Gaza Zoo Invents the Instant Zebra”