Seriously, what's wrong with minarets? So random (except that it's not, but architectural bans strikes me as an odd way to go about repressing religion).

The hubbub about Caster Semenya has been percolating at the back of my mind, and today I was reminded again about it because of an email from the National Sexuality Resource Center. Caster's the South African runner who's shown a great deal of promise and won the 800m at the World Championships. Her biological sex has been questioned on the basis ( Read more... )

The family of the assistant principal who was New York City's first swine flu victim has filed court papers with the intention of suing the city and its health and education departments.
Mitchell Wiener's widow and three sons said in a notice of claim last week that they intend to file a $40 million wrongful death lawsuit. The notice claims the ( Read more... )

So who's following the protests in Iran?

I think it's interesting that I haven't yet heard any sort of defense as to why the elections were not rigged. This graph of election results as they were announced shows that the vote totals were always proportional to each other, which is beyond unlikely in an unrigged election where results from different ( Read more... )

Pope Benedict did what popes do best today: marched into Amman, Jordan, and urged the local populace to show greater respect for women.

Really? What about Canon 1024, "only a baptized man can validly receive sacred ordination"?

What about 1 Corinthians 10:13 - "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is ( Read more... )

A man is on his own property and hears his own SUV start up. He takes a gun and stands in its path, ordering the occupants to stop. The car continues towards him, and he shoots at it. One person in the car dies.

The other occupant (the attempted thief) is charged with second-degree murder for causing a murder in the act of a felony.

See, I think this ( Read more... )

Ok, this is a complex and convoluted story that will make you question your 'faith' in humanity. Ready? Alright.....

Once upon a time, a college student attended a mass and decided not to eat the wafer that was placed in his mouth during communion. He took it home, and showed it to his non-Catholic friend. A complete shitstorm ensued, and there was ( Read more... )

"In an interview this week with "Relevant," a Christian magazine, Obama said prohibitions on late-term abortions must contain "a strict, well defined exception for the health of the mother."
Obama then added: "Now, I don't think that 'mental distress' qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in ( Read more... )

Wow. George Carlin just died, folks. This is horrible.

I kind of wanted to see him on his current tour, but $90 is quite a bit too steep for me.

And now...

He's one of the few male comics who seemed actively interested in women's issues, not just in jokes about nagging and the suffering involved in wearing a condom and going on the prowl (though he ( Read more... )

The prospect of gay marriage legalization is one of the few social debates that brings can make me teary-eyed. I'm just not very teary-eyed by nature, but the fact that gays can't marry in even in relatively democratic areas of the world is just egregious, and it's a pretty personal issue for me.


( Read more... )