The Mormon Church has several laudable aspects. Their aggressive, globe-spanning missionary program is definitely not one of them ( Read more... )

I am not easily offended. I don't consider anything sacred. Some of my favorite humor falls into the extremely tasteless category. While outrageous racism and religious bigotry will make my shake my head in sorrow, on account of the infinite stupidity of humanity, such atrocities against human fellowship and common sense don't offend me ( Read more... )

In a truly incredible display of irony, a trade magazine calling itself Green Car Journal named its 2008 Green Car of the Year: the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, an SUV that delivers a whopping 21 miles per gallon in combined highway/city driving. With near-miraculous fuel efficiency like that, we can only assume it comes with a free clip-on ponytail, ( Read more... )

Now House Resolution 888, currently in the US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform, is simply terrifying. It promotes a alternate Evangelical Christian version of American history that simply isn't true. Chris Rodda has systematically debunked more than a dozen of the most outrageous historical claims, and a ( Read more... )

Long ago-in 1989, to be exact-the Evil Girlfiend* and I attended a public forum, in Salt Lake City where I lived at the time, on whether women should be allowed into the Mormon priesthood. It seemed rather moot to debate an issue on which only God can judge. Still, as recently as 1978 God had changed His omniscient mind on excluding Black males ( Read more... )

I got back from my meeting in San Diego weeks ago, but I still want to rant about the newest means by which technology magnifies the bone-headed stupidity of inconsiderate fools ( Read more... )

It's been over a month since I last posted an entry, mostly on account of a secret research project I've been doing in my spare time. (I may get a primary-author book chapter out of it, so I'm quite motivated to complete the project, which has at least another six weeks to go before the deadline for contrubutions.) In the meantime, I've slowly ( Read more... )

I haven't found much time to write here in recent months, but I'd like to start a new recurring feature: The Scary Fundie Series. In retrospect, my rant about the nitwit parents of the Duggar family started off the Scary Fundie Series, and thus I've retroactively given that entry the designation of Scary Fundies Mark I ( Read more... )

The journal Science recently published an unsurprising but horribly depressing article1 about the acceptance of evolutionary theory by the public in Japan, the United States and Europe. As the graph (under the cut; large version here) shows, evolution is more often rejected in the United States than anywhere in Europe except Turkey.

( Cut for pictures and obscene content-obscene to any well-educated, thinking American, that is. )

A disturbing article appeared in the New York Times last Sunday (may require registration to read). It explores George W. Bush's continuing popularity in Utah, hinting at the reason behind this anomaly without quite explaining it. The outrageous quotes therein from Bush-faithful Utahns just make me want to fly back there and slap a few people ( Read more... )