... I just wish your name was anything but "Palin." Because the spotlight that shines on you — because of your name — is the same one that shines on two-headed kittens, and Jessica Simpson. The spotlight that says "Oh, look, all you people sitting there with really nothing better to do, and no mind to figure out what you might be doing, here's something SUUWEEET!!!!" Bristol Palin is now a blogger. Yes, THAT Bristol Palin. … [Read more...]
On My Slaveholding Ancestors
February 20, 2012 By 16 Comments
Regarding ancestral slave owning (which accusation some complete and utter idiot has attempted to smear Richard Dawkins with — and no, I'm not linking to it, because I don't link to complete and utter idiots): Just in case the charge is ever leveled at me: … [Read more...]
Hurrah! Cure for Alzheimer’s Discovered!
February 12, 2012 By 13 Comments
Yes, I'm doing that "sensationalist headline" thing the popular news media is so famous for. But ... I hope this is true. It would be damned cool if it was. At the same time, I've learned — not as a scientist, because I'm not one, but as a reader of news and onetime newspaper editor — that what you read in headlines is often misleading. And you can't even trust the stories that follow. But here it is: Breaking News from the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine … [Read more...]
A Magnitude of Horror, Inhumanly High
February 9, 2012 By 13 Comments
One of our human failings is that there are plenty of things we can know intellectually without feeling them viscerally. You can go to a dozen funerals, and not be very deeply touched by it all, until someone you really love dies. You can read or hear about the Holocaust in high school history class, and even see pictures of death camp inmates, and not really have any least idea about what the whole thing means until you walk through the Holocaust Museum, holding the card of a little kid who was … [Read more...]
Coincidence? I think NOT.
February 8, 2012 By 3 Comments
After Neil deGrasse Tyson posted a request on Facebook on Monday, asking for things he might say to President Obama on Tuesday ... I hardly ever ask questions on this wall, but I feel compelled: Tuesday I’ll be at the White House. If you had one sentence for the President, what would it be? ... and I replied on Monday with my ABCD by 2023 idea ... Mr. President, let’s amp up U.S. science education by devoting ourselves as a nation to an Apollo-type program in medicine: Launch “ABCD by … [Read more...]
Church Claims God Heals, Gov’t Heels God Claims
February 5, 2012 By 8 Comments
According to a BBC story, Great Britain's Advertising Standards Authority concluded that a certain downloadable leaflet was misleading. Healing on the Streets (HOTS), the group distributing the misleading message, was banned from spreading it. The claim? God can heal you. … [Read more...]
Sikh sect sick over lame Leno lark
January 23, 2012 By 41 Comments
India is up in arms over a joke made by Jay Leno. Judge the heinousness of it yourself: httpv://youtu.be/WfGlyjY5bJU Right. In the midst of a very mild joke about Romney's summer home, Leno flashed a brief image of the Temple of Amritsar, the "Golden Temple," in the state of Punjab in northern India. … [Read more...]
Announcing: Save The Christians!™
January 17, 2012 By 22 Comments
My atheist brothers and sisters, I have seen the light. At last I understand the true threat. And I need your help. Last week in South Carolina, former House Speaker and current GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich laid into the media for its ugly inclination against Christians. … [Read more...]
Remembering MLK
January 16, 2012 By 2 Comments
This first video always brings me to tears. The second one, made for the film "Freedom Writers," is just fun. … [Read more...]
Israeli Women: Accomplished … and Unclean
January 16, 2012 By 9 Comments
Generally, I’ve kept my mouth shut about Israel. Honestly, I haven’t taken the time to really delve into the country's history, or its politics. My hands-off-ness grows out of that – I know I’m not well-enough informed to hold strong opinions about it all. I’m sure there are some larger issues I don’t understand. Still, there have been news stories over the years that have sometimes made it difficult for me to feel friendly toward the country. Mostly, I like the joke I heard years … [Read more...]
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