Recently, I wrote a column in the Washington Post about the increasing use of faith as an issue in the 2012 presidential campaign. In the Western Republican Presidential Debate, the candidates appeared to double down on the use of politicized piety. Rick Santorum reaffirmed that a candidate’s faith was essential to his qualifications. Newt Gingrich, however, used the opportunity to again attack agnostics, atheists, and secularists – saying that you cannot trust any leader who does not pray.
Continue reading “Gingrich: You Cannot Trust Politicians Who Do Not Pray”
We just moved a little closer to making Superman obsolete. MIT scientists at the Lincoln Laboratory have announced that they have developed a new radar system that looks through walls using “ultrawideband multiple-input, multiple-output phased-array sensor.” For the rest of us, they developed x-ray vision!!!
Continue reading “MIT Scientists Discover X-Ray Vision . . . Sort Of”
A lesbian couple in California has triggered a controversy by giving their son hormone blockers to delay his puberty so that he can decided whether to be a girl or a boy. The 11-year-old boy named Tommy could decide to be a Tammy now that he is approaching puberty, but many are questioning the basis for such treatment or the ability of a minor to make such a decision. I am one of them.
Continue reading “Tommy or Tammy? California Parents Give Son Hormone Treatment To Delay Puberty To Allow Him To Explore a Female Identity”
I was curious recently about a statement by Ed Schultz, host of MSNBC’s the Ed Show, that Sen. Jim Demint, R-S.C., used racist langauge in his opposition to Obamacare when he said “If we are able to stop Obama on this [health care law], it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.” There are ample reasons to criticize this statements — not the least of which is the notion that we will destroy health care simply to gain a political advantage. However, is “break him” a racist term?
Continue reading “Is “Break” A Racist Term?”
The World Scrabble Championship was rocked by controversy this year when Chollapat Itthi-Aree, from Thailand, demanded officials take Ed Martin, an IT consultant from London, to the toilet for a strip search. The contraband was the letter “G”, which went mysteriously missing in the match.
Continue reading ““Strip Search” Worth 18 or a Lawsuit? Scrabble Competition Rocked By Controversy Over Missing G”
The Secret Service recently stopped a threat to First Lady Michele Obama during her trip to Cape Town, South Africa while sitting in her five-star hotel. They promptly called authorities to confront the culprit: the HMS Edinburgh. The agents were alarmed that the British war ships had its Sea Dart missiles turned toward the hotel . . . and the First Lady. The Secret Service is infamous for overreacting but this really takes the cake. Of course, no one will be disciplined for such an insulting and moronic objection.
Continue reading “Did The HMS Edinburgh Just Try To Murder The First Lady?”
a new book is making a shocking claim that Vincent van Gogh might did not commit suicide in 1898 but was in fact killed by a local boy named Rene Secretan. In “Van Gogh: The Life,” Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith suggest that van Gogh was shot by Secretan and then lied to protect the boy.
Continue reading “Was Van Gogh Murdered?”
A new Gallup poll just released shows a record number of Americans want marijuana legalized — 50 percent of those polled. This comes days after the prestigious California Medical Association called for legalization and regulation of pot like alcohol. Nevertheless, the Obama Administration has continued the aggressive position of the prior Administration in raiding marijuana shops and prosecuting people for federal drug violations.
Continue reading “Gallup: Half of Americans Now Support Legalization of Marijuana”
I have never hidden my concerns over the expanding claims of trademark and copyright protections over common names, symbols, and parodies (here and here and here and here). Now, Lady Gaga has sent in the lawyers to stomp on Lady Goo Goo, a cartoon character on Moshi Monsters, a website on which children adopt and name characters. Lady Goo Goo sings a popular parody called “Petty-razzi” below — a youtube hit.
Continue reading “Lagy Gaga Crushes Lady Goo Goo”
We have yet another case of an officer threatening to arrest a citizen for filming him in public. In the perfect libertarian nightmare, the officer was threatening a Ron Paul supporter who he had accused of distracting traffic with his sign in Exton, Pennsylvania.
Continue reading “Pennsylvania Officer Threatens Ron Paul Supporter With Arrest for Filming Him in Public”
California’s largest doctor group has called for legalization of marijuana. Despite its remaining uncertainty over marijuana’s medical benefits, the Trustees of the California Medical Association (representing more than 35,000 physicians statewide) adopted the policy last week and called for marijuana to be regulated in the same fashion as alcohol.
Continue reading “California Medical Association Calls For Legalization Of Marijuana”
This is a very cool story. Scientists have discovered that Mars once had a mild temperature of 64 degrees Fahrenheit. They deduced the temperature from a rock found in Antarctica that had a wild ride starting four billion years ago. (Of course, the scientists again ignore the “creation science” account and misjudge the age of the rock by just short of four billion years).
Continue reading “Rock of Ages: Scientists Determine Mars Once Had Mild Surface Temperature”
Just when you think you have planned for everything on your cross-country bike trip in South Africa . . .
Continue reading “Antelope 1, Biker 0”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
The GOP continues to wage its war on women’s rights. Last week, the House passed HR 358. HR 358, ironically named the “Protect Life Act,” could be the cause of women being left to die in hospital emergency rooms without treatment if the bill becomes a law—which is unlikely since President Obama has already released a statement in opposition to the bill.
Here’s a brief explanation of the bill from Human Rights Watch:
Bill Would Permit Hospitals to Let Women in Need of Care Die
(Washington, DC) – The United States House of Representatives approved a bill on October 13, 2011, that would put women’s lives at risk, Human Rights Watch said today. The bill, if it becomes law, would reverse longstanding federal policy requiring hospitals to provide life-saving care regardless of expense, Human Rights Watch said.
The Protect Life Act, HR 358, would amend the healthcare reform law to grant hospitals far-reaching powers to deny patients abortion care, without any exception for emergency situations. US law currently requires hospitals receiving federal funds to provide emergency care to anyone in need up to the point at which they can be stabilized or transferred, if the original hospital is incapable of providing the care they need.
“The misnamed Protect Life Act is about allowing women to die if they need an emergency abortion,” said Meghan Rhoad, women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It is a vicious attack on women’s rights and on the most basic right to life.”
Continue reading “The GOP Continues to Wage War on Women with H. R. 358”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
As an undergraduate I learned the wisdom of management guru, Peter Drucker, who reminded us that, “Efficiency is doing things right; but effectiveness is doing the right thing.” True words, indeed, but I wonder how Professor Drucker would explain Franklin, Tennessee native, Mark Burgen.