The day I was born there were approximately 3.4 billion people on earth. The world’s population is now more than twice that. Geez. I’m old, but I didn’t think I was that old.
Anyway, The Guardian has a neat little calculator for “How big was the world’s population when you were born?”
“Park Plaza Co-op Residents Making Park Their Own”
The Fridley (Minn.) Patch reports that the members of the Park Plaza manufactured-home community are thriving and prospering after converting their community from a landless rent-paying neighborhood to a place where people own the land under their homes.
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson: “Eliminating bribery will treat only one symptom of political corruption in this State. To cure the larger disease, it is essential to address with equal force the politics of racial prejudice and exclusion.”
“Twelve Pretty Racist or Just Crazy Quotes From Pat Buchanan’s New Book”
Charlie Pierce on why nice is different than good:
“What’s going on in Washington” has nothing to do with a mutual intolerance and inability to speak to each other. It has to do with specific politicians with a specific ideological view and a specific political intent who will do anything they can to get what they want, including wreck the country. They really don’t care what you think of them, so feel free to think as little of them as possible.
Jonathan Dudley: “Evangelicals and Gay Marriage: Why ‘Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin’ Doesn’t Work”
And that’s why “love the sinner, hate the sin” doesn’t cut it. Christians are too prone to mistake their own prejudice and fear of social change for God’s will. As a result, love cannot only require holding others accountable to systems of morality; it requires reconsidering systems of morality too. Part of “loving the sinner” must be making sure that legitimate desires are not classified as “sin.”
A related reminder: “NARTH is not primarily composed of mental health professionals”
The group that calls itself the “National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality” consists mostly of people involved in neither research nor therapy. Kind of an odd choice of name, then, isn’t it?
Kevin Drum on “The Harrowing Politics of Mortgage Relief” — the solutions are obvious, but indignant crabs in a bucket of indignation won’t allow them:
Voters may say they hate bailing out the banks — and they do! — but they hate bailing out the profligate next-door neighbors even worse. No politician in America seriously wants to risk voter wrath by doing that.
David Hayward of Nakedpastor had the same reaction as I did to Harold Camping’s latest deadline.
Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing
Jon Bon Jovi’s Soul Kitchen feeds the hungry in New Jersey
“How to get rid of spiders in your house”
“Swedow” — “Haiti Doesn’t Need Your Old T-Shirt”
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