Gay Couple Weds In DC After 60 Years Together

The Advocate reports: After a 60-year romance, a gay couple in their 80s tied the knot in Washington, D.C., June 20. Henry Schalizki and Bob Davis exchanged their vows at the J. W. Marriott in Washington in front of 60 friends and family members, according to The Washington Post. The couple reveals that while Schalizki immediately […]

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One Nation Indivisible

Just Monday morning I was riding along a Florida Highway staring with irritation at a giant billboard looking just like the one below except it had the giant word “GOD” in the middle contributing to three phrases.   Atop and to the left of the word God it said “One Nation Under”, on the left […]

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Judge This: No Gay Kissing On Modern Family?

I am a bit late on this story but wanted to offer a contrary viewpoint to the dominant one of the outraged blogosphere. Though I have never seen the show, I was interested in the controversy over the show Modern Family which apparently features a gay couple among its lead characters.  The controversy centers not […]

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Lord Mayor Bans Lord Mayor Bans “Intrusive And Outdated” Christian Prayers Before Council Meetings

From the Telegraph: Colin Hall said religion had no role to play in the conduct of council business. Mr Hall, who has just taken over the mayorship in Leicester, said the “majority” of councillors and city council staff were not practising Christians therefore there was little point in having the prayers, which were introduced in […]

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Starvation

This ripped my guts out to watch. Thanks to the “Let’s Lodge A Complaint Against God” Facebook page for the video.  But the takeaway from this video should not be just another reiteration of the problem of evil, it should be refreshed urgency in our thinking about proactively remedying the problem through humane human efforts. […]

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McChrystal The Torturer

I have never liked General McChrystal being allowed to run our Afghanistan operations.  Long before his current foolish comments in Rolling Stone that have gotten him fired and replaced by General Petraeus, he should have been brought up on charges of war crimes: “Once, somebody brought it up with the colonel. ‘Will [the Red Cross] […]

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“The Law Of God Which Is Above Human Rights”

Any religion, or interpretation of a religion which takes the view that the law of God can be above human rights cannot be immune to violating human rights.  In this case, we have an Iranian cleric calling for unveiled women to be treated like criminals as though they were drug traffickers, robbers, or terrorists: Guardian […]

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Muslims Illegally Shutting Down Streets Of Paris For Prayer

Last week we mentioned that a proposed street festival of pork and wine protesting Muslims praying in the streets was prohibited from occurring in Paris.  Here is footage of such prayer sessions, which apparently are meant to be an act of civil disobedience: Thanks to Tony for the link. Your Thoughts?

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Pakistani Police Investigating Mark Zuckerberg On Charges Of Blasphemy From Lawyer

In response to “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day”: Last month, according to English-language Pakistani newspaper The News International, a Pakistani High Court judge summoned the police after lawyer Muhammad Azhar Siddique filed an application for a First Information Report (FIR), claiming that the owners of Facebook had committed a heinous and serious crime under Section 295-C of […]

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The Asian Sex Trade

“The sex trade now accounts for 14% of Thailand’s economy.” Your Thoughts?

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Louisiana To Require Ultrasounds Before Abortions

It was a unanimous 79-0 vote: Women seeking abortions in Louisiana will be required to get an ultrasound first, even if they are a victim of rape or incest, under a bill that received final legislative passage Wednesday. The bill by Democratic state Sen. Sharon Broome of Baton Rouge was sent to the governor’s desk […]

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How The Texas Textbook Standards Got Corrupted

People For The American Way have an analysis of the process by which Texas’s textbook standards became tools for rewriting history according to a contemporary right wing religious political viewpoint.  Here are just a few glimpses of the changes, both those merely proposed and those actually accepted by the school board, which I had not […]

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Paris Bans A “Sausage And Wine” Protest Of Muslims Who Close Down Roads By Praying In The Streets

From Reuters’s FaithWorld blog: A giant “sausage and wine” party planned later this week in a Paris neighbourhood with many Muslim residents risks sparking disturbances and will therefore be banned, police in the French capital announced on Tuesday. The event, announced on the social networking site Facebook late last month (see page here in French), […]

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Haiti’s Human Trafficking Problem Exacerbated By Earthquake

Your Thoughts?

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Russian Orthodox Church Wants Creationism In Schools

Sigh. The Russian Orthodox Church called recently for creationism to be taught along with evolution in Russian schools, according to Reuters. Senior Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion said, “The time has come for the monopoly of Darwinism and the deceptive idea that science in general contradicts religion. These ideas should be left in the past,” Reuters […]

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Spanish Singer Prosecuted For Cooking A Crucifix In 1978

Here’s the offending video: And the story of the penalties to be paid for it: Musician Javier Krahe faces a fine of £159,000 after stills from the spoof cookery show, which involved baking an effigy of Christ for three days, were shown on television in 2004 during an interview with the star. Despite the length […]

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Nigerian Oil Spill Victims Fight Foreign Oil Companies

1.5 million tons of oil spilled in Nigeria over the last 50 years, with no accountability from foreign oil companies: Your Thoughts?

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Is Shari’a Law “Inevitable” For UK Muslims?

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, claims it is: Dr Rowan Williams told Radio 4′s World at One that the UK has to “face up to the fact” that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system. Dr Williams argues that adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law would help maintain social […]

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Taliban Executes 7 Year Old Boy, Accusing Him Of Spying

So despicable. Your Thoughts?

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Creepy Pro-Geert Wilders Propaganda

I’m as troubled by Islam’s authoritarianism of thought and practice as any one but Christian crusading is is not much better.  This is called “Geert Wilders The Lion Heart” and unless it’s just an exceptional satire, it’s a really unsettling, unrestrained glorification of Christian warfare against Islam. How long until the Christian theocrats begin embracing […]

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Exit Polls Say Geert Wilders’s Anti-Islamic Party Doubles Its Seats In Dutch Parliament

The Guardian: The Netherlands’ anti-Islamic MP Geert Wilders appeared on course for major gains in a general election yesterday, more than doubling his party’s seats in the Dutch parliament and overtaking the incumbent ruling Christian Democrats, according to exit polls last night. Wilders’ Freedom party looked to have taken third place in a close-fought election […]

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Why A Biologist Says We Should Kill, Not Clean, The Oil-Covered Birds

Tree Hugger explains the advice of Sylvia Gaus, biologist at the Wattenmeer National Park along the North Sea in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, in Der Spiegel: This may shock many, and the advice certainly appears contrary to that of the myriad conservationists who have set up centers around the Gulf to care for oiled birds. Despite […]

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Who Super-Soaks The Watch Dogs?

Glenn Greenwald rightly excoriates members of the press for frolicking with the members of the White House last weekend: On Friday, CNN’s Ed Henry posted a series of giggly, adolescent updates on his Twitter feed, describing the events that took place at a “beach” party thrown by Joe Biden, at the Vice President’s mansion, for various […]

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Angry Atheist Debate About A Mosque Near Ground Zerosts

Saturday I put together a large post highlighting a spectrum of thoughtful and/or provocative opinions on the recently approved plan to build a mosque a couple of blocks away from the former site of the World Trade Center in New York.  That day, for the sake of balance, I wanted to find someone who could […]

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Aspiration

“If I have one goal in life, it is to be known as the guy who doesn’t surprise acquaintances when he punches a shark.” Your Thoughts?

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